Misora was hiding behind a bush, shaking. She didn't expect this to happen, of all things. Sure, she had an open mind and a vivid imagination, but nothing had prepared her for this! Transparent ghost-like figures roamed the area, there were weird frogs and non-human… things walking around everywhere. And she swore she saw a big white dragon in the sky.
Misora gasped as she saw Kaori walking past.
'Kaori!' she whispered furiously. Kaori paused for a second, then moved on.
'Kaori!' she whispered, louder.
'Is that one of your friends?' asked the boy she was standing next to. He was pointing at the bush Misora was hiding behind.
'Here!' whispered Misora, popping her head above the bush.
'Yeah,' said Kaori, rushing over to Misora.
'Who's that?' asked Misora.
'Hiroshi. He's really nice. He helped me out before,' said Kaori.
'Eat this,' said the boy. Misora looked to Kaori for confirmation, and she nodded. She took the berry out of the boy's hand and ate it.
'Now come with me,' he said. Misora stood up and followed him and Kaori to… wherever they were going.
x.x.x
'Daiki!' shouted Hiroshi, and a boy turned around. He had curly brown hair and bottle-green eyes, and a mischievous smile on his face.
'Yes, high and mighty Hiroshi?' asked the boy called Daiki in a teasing voice.
'Look after this girl for me?' asked Hiroshi. 'I can't handle two at once.'
'You never were good with the ladies,' teased Daiki. 'Which one, the pretty one or the one with the red hair?' he asked, laughing
Kaori looked slightly offended.
'Hey, what are you talking about?!' asked Misora.
'I'm kidding, you're friend's beautiful,' said Daiki.
'I'll take Kaori. You take the blonde one,' said Hiroshi.
'Hey! It's not-' started Misora, but decided to give up as Hiroshi turned away.
'See you soon!' she said to Kaori. 'Have fun with your boyfriend!'
Kaori simply rolled her eyes before smiling briefly and turning away.
'So your name is…' said Daiki.
'Misora. You're Daiki?' she asked. Daiki nodded.
'Well, first thing's first,' said Daiki. 'You'll have to get a job, or you're dead meat. We'll go up to Izo soon,' he said. Misora nodded.
'Why do I have to get a job?' asked Misora.
'You're a human, right?' asked Daiki; Misora nodded. 'If you don't get a job, he'll probably kill you,' he said, 'but don't worry. All you have to do is ask for a job and he has to give you one.'
'Why?' asked Misora.
'Because the bathhouse promised to give a job to anyone who asks,' said Daiki.
'Well that was stupid,' said Misora. 'Good for me, though,' she added.
Daiki laughed. 'You're lucky you didn't get left with Hiroshi. That guy is so boring.'
'Kaori'll love him then,' joked Misora.
'So how did you come to be in this world? You don't really belong,' he said.
'Well, yeah, that's a funny story. Me and my friends got lost and tried to take a shortcut, and then we ended up here… then it got dark and all these ghost things started turning up, and we got separated, because of, um… and then I found Hiroshi and Kaori, and yeah,' she said.
'Well that was a long sentence,' said Daiki. 'Up this elevator here,' he said. Misora followed him in.
'Now, the one person in this whole building that you're not allowed to be rude to is Izo. He runs the place. He's scary. Even for me. I'll go in with you, but you have to ask for the job yourself. Try not to look straight into his eyes. It freaks some people out. Not me, personally, but people have told me about it. I try not to go up there as much as possible,' he said quickly. Misora nodded.
'And what's so scary about this guy?' asked Misora.
'He's Izo,' said Daiki simply. 'I think Hiroshi and your friend are already in there - so we'll wait a little outside.'
x.x.x
'Amaya! Kohaku, you found her,' said Chihiro. They were outside the boiler room. Amaya had insisted Kohaku accompany her down there to prove it wasn't a trap.
'Chihiro? You know this guy?' asked Amaya.
'Yes,' she said, hugging Kohaku again.
Amaya raised her eyebrows.
'I'm assuming we can trust him?' she asked.
'Of course you can trust Kohaku!' said Chihiro.
Amaya looked sceptically at the boy Chihiro was hugging so tightly, and a grin started to appear on her face.
'Now we know why Chihiro never even looked at another boy,' said Amaya, grinning.
Chihiro rolled her eyes.
'Stop it Amaya,' she said, turning back to Kohaku. 'Thank you,' she said. 'Did you find any of the others?'
Kohaku shook his head.
'I'll look though, if Izo doesn't call for me,' he said.
'Izo?' asked Chihiro.
'Yeah. He runs the place now. Yubaba died and Boh went to live with Zeniba. He's even more heartless than Yubaba ever was - at least she had a soft spot for her baby. This guy has no weakness,' said Kohaku.
'Everyone has a weakness,' said Amaya.
'No,' said Kohaku.
'I'll find it, if no one else does,' said Amaya.
'You can try. I wouldn't, personally. Izo can scare the bravest of people,' said Kohaku.
'Come on, Amaya, we've got to get a job before Izo finds us,' said Chihiro, dragging her friend along. 'Bye Kohaku,' she said, hugging Kohaku one more time before he changed into a dragon and flew off.
'Is he your boyfriend?' asked Amaya.
'No,' said Chihiro, blushing.
'You like him, don't you?' said Amaya, grinning.
Chihiro simply smiled and opened the door to the boiler room.
