Hai~! Ohmygawwwd, this chapter took forever to write X.X But at least it's pretty decent *cough* not like the other ones *cough* I wrote the whole chapter in Rin's POV, but the next chapter is going to be Len's POV. So yeah, enjoyyy~ c:

Hapiness Sunshine and Gum: Thanks for ze advice ^^ I used it for this chappie~

Rin's POV

When you're late for class, the first thing you do is think of someone to blame. Well, at least that's what I do. And so, I immediately think of Len. Damn, why did he have to bump into me? I let out an exasperated sigh. The class laughs as the teacher sends me a cold glare. She must've been lecturing me.

Oops.

"Miss Rin Hira, are you listening to me?" The teacher asks sternly. She looks at me carefully through her round beige glasses.

"Yes." I reply, a bit too quickly. Please don't ask me to repeat what you said before, please don't ask me to repeat what you said before.

Suspicion flickers in her eyes, but she seems to let it go. "Very well," she decides, "I'll issue you a late demerit. Now everyone, settle down. We're going to start our unit on macroeconomics."

I pay attention during her whole lesson to try to make up for it. When the bell rings, she assigns us some homework and dismisses us. I grab my book bag and am about to exit the classroom when the teacher calls out. "Rin, come here."

My mind fills with all the ways she could punish me, but she says none of them. "May you head down to Kyoto Mall, take the elevator, and enter Cafe Shinto to buy me a drink?"

Huh? Buy her a drink? What kind of punishment is that? Why did she make it so specific to take the elevator? I open my mouth to question her, but nothing comes out. I study her expression. Her eyes look the slightest bit mysterious, and her lips seem to be curled up in a smirk in the most unnoticeable way. Call me paranoid, but I just have a strange feeling that this simple task is the first step to something big. But what?

I'm so wrapped up in my thoughts that I don't even hear her other directions. So I just nod and she lets me go. As I walk out of the school, my mind seems to be arguing with itself, but one side wins. And that side is telling me to go.

I don't really remember what happened, but somehow my feet led me to the bus station heading to Kyoto Mall. As I board it, I notice how weird the people on the bus seem. For example, usually it's super crowded, forcing me to stand beside a suspicious looking man who has the face of a pedophile. Today however, the number of passengers seem to match the number of seats, so everyone has a seat and nobody is standing. That is extremely odd. But what is weirder is that everyone looked the same. I'm not saying they look the same, I mean they all have the same facial expression. Which, in this case, is a blank stare with eyes forever looking forward. To me, they look like a bunch of hypnotized zombies. When the bus reaches my stop, I hurry off the bus as fast as I can, because those people were really starting to creep me out.

Once inside the mall, I immediately look for the elevator. I don't know why, but suddenly my mind is determined to follow the teacher's instructions to the max, despite how suspicious it is. As I wait for the elevator, my eyes wander and I notice a large glass map placed almost right in front of me. I decide to look for Cafe Shinto on the second floor in case I get lost. I scan the second floor map and do not find it. What the heck? Why would the teacher send me to find a nonexistent cafe? I am about to scan it a second time when-

Ding!

The elevator door opens before me. I glance inside and see Len.

Wait what? Why is Len in there? He looks as shocked as I am. "Why are you here?" We both ask at the same time.

"Let me talk." Once again, we say it at the same time. I groan inwardly. For some reason, I step inside the elevator. I am about to press floor 2, but I notice that it's already lit up. "You're going to that floor too?" I ask, surprised.

"Yeah..." He replies, tilting his head to the side. "My teacher told me to buy her a drink from Cafe Shinto because I was late for class."

"Wait what? Really? My teacher said the same thing." I say. His eyes widen, but he doesn't say anything so I continue. "But here's the problem: The cafe doesn't exist. It's not on the map."

He gives me a bewildered look. "Then why did you come inside?" I'm about to respond when-

Ding!

The elevator doors open and my feet automatically step forward. Len follows. "Why did you..." I say, but my voice trails off. I come to my senses and am about to step back inside when the doors close. My hand reaches to the side of the wall, expecting to feel an elevator calling button. Instead, I feel a hard wall. Confused, I glance around the doors. To my horror, I fail to see any buttons.

"Don't panic, we can take the escalator." Len says nonchalantly. Before I can question the strangeness of the elevator, he already starts to walk off. I follow him silently.

As we walk around, I notice something really off. Seriously, everything is off today. "Um, why is there no one else here?" I ask, my voice filled with uncertainty. Len shrugs and ignores me. Ugh.

After 2 rounds around the floor, I'm about to break the news and tell him that there's no escalator when I see a shocking sight. I grab his arm to stop him from walking. "Look over there." With my free hand, I gesture towards the direction. "Isn't that Cafe Shinto?"

His eyes widen again. "Oh my god, yeah. But didn't you say it wasn't on the map?" He turns to me with a suspicious look on his face.

"It wasn't!" I insist. "And you shouldn't care about this now- we should check it out."

We walk to the entrance and an old woman greets us. "Table for two?" She asks. Her cracked voice gives me shivers.

"Um, yeah. But why is there nobody else here?" I ask before Len can say anything stupid.

"Does that concern you?" She replies coldly. Her eyes looks the slightest bit devious, but I blink and it's gone. I'm about to reply when she calls inside. "Margo, get a couple drinks ready." Looking back as us, she smiles. Well, it was more of a smirk. "Come on in." Her bony fingers gestures us inside.

I expect to see a creepy-looking room, but surprisingly, it looks like a proper cafe. Well, if you ignore the weird bottles on the sides of the room. She leads us to a small wooden table with two bottles on blue place mats. I cannot describe the color of the liquid in the bottles. It looks darker than mauve, lighter than violet, and has tints of teal mixed in. "What's this?" Len asks before I can. I pray that the old lady can ignore his rude tone. She seems like the type of person with a dark side.

"A drink." The lady replies simply. "So drink it." When we hesitate, she adds, "Don't worry. It won't kill you."

"Thanks for the reassurance." Len mutters sarcastically. I kick him. Why is he so rude? He's going to get us both into trouble.

The woman raises her eyebrows. "Why? Are you afraid?" She challenges.

Len looks at me. "I will if you will." He passes me a drink and takes one himself.

I think about it. What's worse? Drinking some unknown liquid, or making a creepy old lady mad? I guess I'll just have to take a chance with the first one. I raise the drink high. "On three."

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

Gulping sounds fill the room, while a tangy taste fills my mouth. The drink isn't half bad, and I'm actually considering asking for a second when I remember that side effects could occur any minute now. "So." I say. "We should really get going."

"Yes, you should." The old woman replies. "The escalator is on your left." Is it just me, or does the old woman seem nicer now?

Len seems to want to say something, but I drag him along in case he ruins it all by insulting her or something. We walk out of the cafe just as I remember the real reason why I came here: To get my teacher a drink. "Damn, we forgot to ask her for 2 extra drinks." I groan.

"That was what I was going to do before you dragged me away." Len hisses. "Too late now isn't it?"

"Actually..." I turn back but my eyes widen as I see a shoe store instead of a cafe. "What the heck? How is that possible...?"

Len looks as shocked as I am when he looks back. "Maybe we imagined all that." He suggests.

But we both know that's not true.

As I lay in bed at night, I start to feel a bit... Off. I wonder if it's because of the drink, but then again, maybe we never drank that. I mean, how can a cafe transform into a shoe store in a few seconds? That's not possible! And yet, I know it's real, and I'm sure Len knows it too. Then I wonder if this whole thing is just a long, long dream. Yes, then it would make sense. I smile and close my eyes. If this is a dream, then when I sleep, I'll wake up into my normal life.

Boy was I wrong.

I wake up to the rays of sunlight. Yawning, I sit up. I don't want to be late for class again and be sent for weird errands. As my eyes adjust to the light, I look around. Huh? This is not my room. I look down at myself. These are not my clothes either! What the heck! I see a mirror in the room and I walk to it. I stare into it... And see Len's reflection.

I scream.

Best cliffhanger EVAR right? c: So yeah, R&R for moree~

xo, P3