It was Thursday, the day before the fair, and Akira was preparing the rest of the S.A. to help Hikari win her challenge against Kei. They all needed disguises and a way to send the kids Hikari's way for the face painting.

"So what's the plan, Akira?"

"Well we need disguises first. Whatever happens, we cannot let Hikari see us."

"What kind of disguises?"

"I was thinking something simple, like a trench coat and hat."

'Won't that look kind of creepy at a little kids fair?'

"Not if we don't wear dark colors. We need something that'll hide our faces and allow us to hide our bribe for the kids."

"Our bribe?"

"Yes. We can't just tell the kids to go over to Hikari; we have to offer them something."

"Like what?"

"I was thinking candy. All kids love candy and the trench coats will be perfect to stash it in."

"Do you really think this is going to work?"

"Of course I do! It has to!"

The S.A. got a nervous look on their faces. All of them doubted Akira's plan, but if they tried to argue with her they would face dire consequences. So they thought it best just to agree with her and do as she says.

"Now that that's settled, we need to get our supplies ready. All of you are to go out and get your coat and assortment of candy. We need to be at the fair tomorrow at four o'clock ready to go."

They all nodded in agreement and went out to get their required supplies.

Ryuu, Jun, and Megumi all went out together. They walked around the shops downtown, but had no luck finding what they were looking for. Finding a trench coat wasn't hard, but finding one in a bright color was. They went in and out of every store they saw, whether it looked like they'd find what they were looking for or not.

After their numerous disappointing visits they were about to give up. Akira wouldn't like it, but if they couldn't find what they needed, what were they supposed to do? However, at the very end of the row of shops was exactly what they were looking for.

It wasn't exactly a trench coat, but it was long enough to pass for one, and there was a small variety in light colors.

"Well Jun, Megumi, Akira said we needed light colors with a hat to match. There might not be a wide variety to pick from, but it's what we need. Find a color that you like and let's get it."

Jun and Megumi nodded at Ryuu and began searching through the small rack of coats. They found a lot of ridiculously colored ones, but not a lot of plain, one colored ones. They saw a rainbow colored one, a pink and black stripped one, a red and orange blended one, a green and blue flowered one, and many more like them. The only plain colored ones came in light blue, light pink and light green.

Jun settled for the blue one, Megumi took the pink one, and that left Ryuu with the green one. They grabbed their matching hats and went to the counter to pay.

'What do we do now?'

"We need to go and find candy now, right Ryuu?"

"That's right. We'll go back to the candy store we saw a few blocks from here."

After they finished paying, the trio went back up to the candy store and picked out their treats. They each got a variety of suckers, chocolate, and hard candies. Once they were finished they went back to the greenhouse to wait for Akira. She would need to put her stamp of approval on what they picked out.

Tadashi was taking a different approach to getting his supplies. He went to the local shopping mall to get his stuff. He bought his candy first. It wasn't hard for him to find, but he was very tempted to eat some of it. But he decided he'd eat after he found his coat. He went filing in and out of stores in search of a light colored trench coat. He wasn't having much luck either.

He went to the very top level of the mall and decided to search there. He found a store in one of the corners and decided to try his luck there. To his surprise, it was a store that specialized in coats. He went looking for his trench coat, but still had no luck. He decided to ask the man behind the counter for help.

"Excuse me, sir. I need to find a light colored trench coat. Do you have any?"

"Light colored? Well I don't know about that. We have plenty of brown or tan ones. Will one of those work for you?"

"I'm afraid not. My girlfriend told me it had to be light. She doesn't want a traditional black, tan, or brown one."

"If you don't mind my asking, why do you need a light one?"

"It's a complicated story. But we're trying to help out our friend and so we need these coats."

"I can check to see if we have one in the back, but it isn't likely."

"Thank you, sir."

The man went from behind the counter into the back room of the store. He was gone for about ten minutes until he finally emerged carrying a piece of orange material.

"This is the only thing I could find. It's technically not a trench coat, but it has the appearance of one. It's orange, so it's not technically light, but-"

"Light, bright, same thing. She doesn't really care as long as it's not dark."

"Will this work then?"

"You bet! Got a hat that goes with it?"

While the man rang up Tadashi's new coat and hat, he was spacing off thinking about where he would go to eat. He'd head back to the greenhouse after he ate. He knew Akira wouldn't make them something, so he had to eat beforehand.

Back at the greenhouse, Akira waited for the rest of the S.A. to arrive. She was holding her purple trench coat with matching hat and her candy was in a bag on the table. She was tapping her foot lightly and humming a random tune.

Then she heard a car pull up and the sound of a bike and she knew it was them. Within a few minutes Ryuu, Jun, Megumi, and Tadashi were standing before her with their coats in one hand and their candy in the other.

"Man, you guys took forever! What kept you?"

'We couldn't find our coats.'

"It wasn't that hard to find."

"Only one shop downtown sells light colored coats. We were lucky to find ours there amongst the other multicolored coats."

"Yeah, and only one shop in the mall sells trench coats and I had to wait for the guy to find mine in the back. I was waiting for over ten minutes and this was all he could find."

"Well show me what all you got."

Everyone held up their coats and hats and Akira nodded in approval. Then they grabbed their candy and dumped it into a pile on the table in front of them. They kept it separate so they'd know which was theirs.

"Alright, this stuff looks great! Just remember to have it all stuffed in your coat pockets for tomorrow. Remember we need to be there at four, so you need to be ready before then."

They all gave her a nod in unison to show that they understood.

They all stayed and talked for awhile, but then it was time to leave. They all went home and started getting their disguise together. Everyone except Tadashi, that is. He went home in search of food first. However, he too would be getting ready. He knew better than to disappoint Akira when it came to Hikari.

"A/N: I'm sorry that there still seems to be more dialogue, but I'm really trying to cut that down. I would also like to note that even though it's a Thursday, they did go to school. They did all their shopping and whatnot after school was over. So don't go thinking they skipped. Also, dialogue with ' ' around it is Megumi speaking, if you couldn't tell. Anyway, the next chapter will be about the challenge, so stay tuned! Oh and please review!"