Vile: I've got a good rhythm going with this story, so Chapter 2 is already out and running!

Kohaku: If only GSTART chapters could be published this fast.

Vile: Hey, GSTART chapters are longer than these chapters. Not to mention they don't all revolve around the same story.

Kohaku: Meh, at least something gets published. *pulls up a seat*

Vile: Now you're thinking the right way. Disclaimer's on the first page. Enjoy, everyone!

Numbershot 69: Chaos Among Friends

Chapter 2

*Heartland Middle School*

Yuma let out a yawn, scratching his head. "Am I the only one who didn't get a lot of sleep last night…?" He groaned.

"No sleep or just lazy?" Shark said offhandedly, making Ariel giggle. Yuma just groaned again.

All of a sudden, the sound of outright bawling slowly came into earshot. The group turned and saw a sobbing Sachi barreling right in their direction. "Sachi?" Kotori wondered.

The brown-and-orange-haired girl seemed to completely ignore Kotori. Her eyes were closed, but she barreled straight into Yamoto. "OOF!" The purple-eyed boy had to stand firm to avoid being knocked over. Sachi latched onto him and began bawling into his chest. Yamoto was visibly uncomfortable with all of this. "Uh… Sachi-chan? What are you doing?"

"Y…Yamoto-kun…" Sachi sobbed. "S-Sei-chan… She w-was going to hurt me…"

Yamoto raised an eyebrow. "Sei was going to hurt you?" Sachi nodded.

"Oh, now that's a lie!" Sei's voice angrily said. The group saw her walk up to them, a glare still plastered on her face. Sachi took one look at her and immediately shrunk back into Yamoto's chest.

"I'm not sure she's entirely fine, either. Just look at her." Takashi said, pointing at Sachi. She was shaking madly. "Did something happen on your way here?"

"She ripped the card I found, so I yelled at her about it, and she completely flipped!" Sei said with a growling tone. "I swear, she's such a baby!" She noticed Tetsuo looking at her weirdly. "What?!"

"Where did those black marks on your eyes come from?" He asked.

"What marks?" Sei asked. Cathy pulled out a makeup kit and opened it, showing Sei her reflection in the mirror. Sei scrutinized her new look. "Hmm… kinda tacky." Then she smirked. "But I think I like it. It'll show people that I don't screw around."

"Not the best choice of words." Yuma whispered to Shark.

"I heard that!" Sei snapped, startling them and making Yuma fall over. Sachi yelped at Sei's outburst, making her glare at her. "Will you quit acting like such a baby already?"

"Sei-chan, calm down. I bet Sachi-chan's overreacting a bit, but don't you think YOU'RE overreacting a bit as well?" Yamoto asked. "You've been growling every single word you've said today."

Sei kept up her glare. "…Fine. Go ahead and baby the wuss." She said before stalking off.

"Sh-She's… scary…" Sachi whimpered, briefly pulling away from Yamoto.

It was then that Yamoto saw her eyes. "Huh? Sachi-chan, you've got white marks on your eyes."

"H-Huh?" Sachi wondered.

Ariel saw them. "They're in the same places as the marks on Sei's eyes. Weird."

Kotori looked skeptical. "Sachi usually is the more feminine between her and Sei, but she's no scaredy cat."

"Do you think she had a nightmare or something?" Yuma asked.

"I don't know… but it must be pretty bad." Kotori said.

"Come on, Sachi, let's get to class." Cathy said. Nervously, Sachi backed away from Yamoto and walked over to Cathy, latching onto her arm with a yelp when the intercom sounded for an announcement.

Yuma, Kotori, Tetsuo, and Yamoto gathered next to each other. "That was completely unexpected, and it felt very awkward." Yamoto admitted. "Sachi-chan's not normally like this, is she?" All three others nodded. "I didn't think so."

Yuma raised an eyebrow. "Weird change in behavior out of nowhere. This is becoming all too common."

"What are you thinking, Yuma? Numbers?" Tetsuo asked, getting a nod from Yuma. "Hmm… that might explain those weird marks on Sei and Sachi's eyes."

"Maybe we should keep an eye on them." Kotori said. All four of them agreed.

"I'm gonna go find Sei and see if I can't find something out." Tetsuo said, walking off.

"Sachi-chan seemed comfortable around me. I should keep watch on her." Yamoto decided before walking off.

That left Yuma and Kotori, as anyone else in their group had already headed off. 'Astral, Mia, did you hear any of that?' Kotori thought through mind-link.

The Key glowed, and Astral and Mia emerged. 'Yes. This may very well be a Number… Ngh.' Astral said.

'Astral? Are you all right?' Yuma thought.

'Yuma… you may not like this.' Astral told him. With another flash of the Key, a third figure emerged: Black Mist.

Yuma and Kotori freaked out. 'Black Mist!' They cried mentally, somehow not shouting out loud.

'Astral, why did you let him out?!' Yuma cried mentally.

'Stop with the attitude, we'll explain.' Black Mist said with snark. Astral, Mia, and Black Mist explained the whole situation to them.

When they were finished, Yuma and Kotori still looked skeptical, but they didn't seem hostile. 'This is just like that fire from before… We have to find those halves of the Number, and fast!' Yuma said.

'That's why my help is going to come in handy.' Black Mist said. 'I have no intention of pulling anything so long as I'm in pain. So I would really appreciate it if you wouldn't treat me with the same disrespect as normal.'

'Number 88 didn't come with you?' Kotori asked skeptically.

'I didn't unseal him. Number 88 doesn't know how important this is.' Astral said.

'I still don't trust you, Black Mist.' Mia said.

Black Mist looked at her out the corner of his eyes. 'I don't expect you to trust me. I expect you to at least tolerate me.'

The bell then went off. "Let's get to class, Yuma. We can keep an eye out for anything worse than Sei and Sachi's sudden personality changes." Kotori said. Yuma nodded, and the couple walked off to class.

Black Mist had his hand to his chin in thought. 'I get the feeling that we're closer to the Number pieces than we thought…'

*In Class*

Despite Sei's little incident earlier, most of class was going rather well. Yuma, Kotori, Tetsuo, and Cathy were in the current class with Sei, who still had a glare on her face. Black Mist materialized from the Key and looked at Sei. 'Something about that girl doesn't seem right.' Floating down to right in front of her, he looked at her with scrutiny, examining the black marks on her eyes. 'The look in her eyes is delightfully evil… but not natural. I can't know for certain unless the sign of a Number reveals itself on her person.' All of a sudden, Sei's glare was turned up in his direction, as if she was clearly looking at him. The glare said "Get lost." This freaked out Black Mist, who quickly floated up. 'Did that girl manage to see me?! This is not good.' The dark spirit quickly retreated into the Key.

*Meanwhile*

In another class, Sachi, Cathy, Shark, and Ariel were working on their latest assignment. Yamoto was in the class as a volunteer tutor for anyone who needed help. As he passed by Sachi, he couldn't help but focus on the strange white marks on her eyes. Something about them seemed… abnormal by unknown means. All of a sudden, another student who was leaning back in his chair leaned too far back. "Whaaaa! OOF!" He landed on the ground with a long BANG of the chair.

"EEK!" Sachi cried, jumping from her chair and latching her arms around Yamoto, shaking like an earthquake.

"Easy, Sachi-chan. He just fell out of his chair." Yamoto said. "Are you sure you're feeling okay today?"

"N-N-No…" The girl whimpered. "Something's… wrong with me… K-Keep me safe, Yamoto-kun…"

Yamoto's eyes flashed purple once. 'Is she really overreacting… or did Sei-chan actually do something to her?'

*Break Period*

"For the last time, no, I did not physically hurt Sachi!" Sei growled at Yuma, Kotori, Tetsuo, Cathy, and Hikaya. "What do I have to do to get that through to you?"

"You yelling at us isn't helping, Sei-chan!" Hikaya retorted.

Sei sighed with a growling tone. "If you want to grill someone, grill Sachi for acting like I threatened her life!" She bit into her rice ball angrily.

Yuma and Tetsuo sighed and walked away from Sei, Kotori staying behind to keep talking to her. They met up with Yamoto halfway. "Any luck?" Tetsuo asked.

"I'm afraid not." Yamoto said while shaking his head. "Sachi-chan's still completely scared out of her wits, and she won't get any better. I'm starting to wonder if Sei-chan is as innocent as she claims."

"I don't think Sei would lie about this. She's usually blunt about stuff that happens." Tetsuo said with his hand to his chin.

"Aaagh, this is so confusing! Who the heck is telling the truth?!" Yuma griped.

"I'm more confused as to what those markings on their eyes are." Yamoto wondered. "I haven't seen any sign of a Number on Sachi-chan, but those marks must have some connection to their new attitudes."

Yuma had a lightbulb moment. "...Did you ever get the feeling that maybe something's supposed to have happened, but didn't?"

"What do you mean, Yuma?" Tetsuo asked.

Yuma was about to speak, but one of the screams of his friends cut him off. "OH, WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!"

Yuma, Tetsuo, and Yamoto were all startled. "…I think my question just answered itself."

Vile: Uh-oh. Sounds like things are about to go downhill fast.

Yuma: Huh? *looks at my hand* Hey, you've got the script written on your hand, you cheater!

Vile: Of course I do. I'm the author, so I'm allowed to do what I want with my own script.

Yuma: *rolls eyes* Unfair, man.

Vile: *sticks out tongue* At any rate, if you guys liked this chapter, leave a review for me! Ja ne for now!

Computer Voice: Vile, logging out.