A/N: New poll on my profile page; I'd appreciate it if you would check it out, vote, and comment either through review or PM. You are entitled to say what you think on the subject as long as you're not overly-obnoxious or pretentious.


2

The following day Mion seemed to have just about put the doll incident behind her. When the time for club activities rolled around, she was back to her old, ultra-competitive self.

"Jack, six, three, Queen, King!" declared Mion as the five friends gathered round the table in an intense competition of Old Maid.

"For once I'd like to see you play fair, Sonozaki," grumbled Keiichi as he forfeited the correctly-guessed cards—in other words, all of them.

"For your information, I always play to win," boasted Mion. She smirked at the infuriated Keiichi. He looked cute when he was mad. At least here, when they played these games together, he viewed her as an equal, and not just some tomboy who was above dolls. When they were all playing these games together, there were no girls whose feelings he valued above the rest. No, they were all players in a game striving to win, seeing eye-to-eye.

"Keiichi," piped up Rika, "don't feel bad; you can see my own cards, too, can't you?"

Keiichi looked over at Rika's cards. "Heh, looks like I can." He smirked and declared, "Forfeit your six of diamonds, Rika!"

Rika smiled and gleefully tossed her card into the pile. "Nipah!"

Wait…there was something peculiar about that "nipah". It was the way Rika looked at Keiichi when she said it…she seemed to be smiling in an all-too friendly manner…

Well, they were friends, so of course they'd be looking at each other that way…or so Mion told herself.

The cards continued to be shuffled and the competition grew more and more intense. However, this was less so because of Keiichi repressing the urge to strangle the girls from his increasing fury, and more from Mion noticing the way the girls would look at Keiichi. She would notice him smiling over at Rika, complimenting her on what a good little girl she was. She would hear Satoko laugh her usual laugh about how she planned to take Keiichi down, sounding almost…flirtatious?

Of course, they were only little girls, but Rena…Mion knew Rena would deny it to her grave, but she could almost swear she saw Rena peeking above her cards while Keiichi was figuring out what to do, and getting this look in her eye. It was a look that strongly reminded Mion of when her twin sister, Shion, had begun to develop feelings for Satoshi and would talk endlessly about him.

No matter how much Mion told herself to ignore it, she couldn't. In fact, the more she tried to ignore it, the stronger it grew. What "it" was, she was not certain of.

But she was certain that she hated this feeling.


"Aw, come ooooonnnn," groaned Keiichi as he walked home in a maid dress alongside the other girls, "What is with you and this weird fetish of yours anyway, huh? Here's hoping my dad doesn't get "inspired" again…"

Rena cooed, "Aww, Keiichi-kun, you're so cute, so cute! I want to take you home with me!"

"Ah, ah, ah," said Mion tauntingly as she dragged Keiichi away from Rena, "He's not yours to take, Rena. I'm sure Kei-chan's dad would be pretty mad if we were to kidnap him, eh?" She playfully nudged Keiichi in the ribs, though her attempts to lighten to atmosphere still could not get rid of this dark feeling she held in her heart.

Open your eyes and look at them, look at ALL of them. They all seem really close to Keiichi, don't they? And why do you suppose they are so close?

Because we are friends.

Do 'friends' stand as close together as Rena and Keiichi did just now?

Well…yeah, why not? Some people just…get too close for comfort, right?

Denial, denial, denial—it's easier to wander with your eyes closed and trust that your friends will be there to catch you if you fall than it is to have your eyes open and realize none of your friends really have your back, now isn't it?

But—

"Hey look, there's Shion!" exclaimed Keiichi as they walked further up the path and spotted Mion's twin sister just up ahead. "Wonder what she's doing here?"

"Huh?" said Mion, promptly snapping out of her trance. What was Shion doing here? She couldn't recall inviting her to come walking with them…

Oh wait, that's right; she was supposed to take Satoko to see Dr. Irie for some reason or another. She only hoped it wasn't to convince her to accept his marriage proposal.

Shion ran up to the five friends and said, "Sis! I need to talk to Satoko for a minute!"

"Yeah, and speaking of Satoko," Keiichi began, "Did you know she rigged a bucket of water to fall on my head this morning? Or how she cheated during today's club activities? I swear, Satoko, I'll—"

"Ah, ah, ah," said Shion with a wag of her finger, "As long as I'm around, you're not allowed to lay a hand on Satoko." She smiled at the blonde girl who smirked at Keiichi before smiling up at Shion.

"Hey, didn't I meet you at Angel Mort?" said Keiichi.

"No, we met when sis introduced us," said Shion slowly, trying to remember, "Since when did we meet at Angel Mort?"

Keiichi shrugged. "Beats me. But I'll bet you'd look cute in one of those Angel Mort uniforms, though. Cute enough for Rena to take home, maybe?"

He wriggled his eyebrows at a blushing Shion. Mion rolled her eyes, yanked Keiichi by the collar, and said, "Snap out of it, Kei-chan, or else you'll be branded a pervert for the rest of your days in the club. Then again, it may just be too late."

If Keiichi were to actually go to Angel Mort and see Shion in her uniform…would he really think she was attractive? Mion had never really considered herself to be beautiful, but…

"So anyway," said Shion, "while I'm here, I thought I'd ask: Would you like to help set up the Watanagashi festival on Saturday?"

Keiichi furrowed his brow. "Hmm…remind me again what that is. I think I remember it…"

Rena explained, "Every year, on the third Sunday of every June, the town holds a festival to give thanks to Oyashiro-sama, where we give old clothes away to be shredded into cotton. Then, the priest or shrine maiden performs a dance that ends with them cutting apart the cotton." She smiled over at Rika. "This year, Rika will be the shrine maiden to play that role."

"Nipah!" smiled Rika.

Rena went on: "Afterwards, we take a small piece of cotton and drift it down the river to wash our sins away. It's really fun, Keiichi-kun. You should come check it out with all of us."

Rena seemed to have a meaningful look in her eye as she spoke the last part. By that, did she mean "check it out with us" or "check it out with me"?

"Now would I ever let my fellow club members down like that?" declared Keiichi. "I'll show up to help on Saturday, and at the festival on Sunday."

"Just so you know," said Mion, "There'll be plenty of club activities to do at the festival…" She grinned. "And I look forward to beating you in every one of them, Kei-chan!"

Keiichi grinned back. "Not if I beat you first, Sonozaki!"

For a minute there, it looked like Mion might be able to suppress her feelings after all…

"Which Sonozaki?" teased Shion.

Mion scoffed, "Bet you can't take on both of us at once. It'll only exhaust you once the activities are over."

Rika piped up, "I wish I could stick around, but I've got to leave to practice for my role as shrine maiden. I'm so sorry everybody; I'll see you all tomorrow, okay?"

As she took off, Keiichi said, "Hmm, Rika as a shrine maiden sure would be a cute sight to see…"

So there is something between him and that girl after all…

No, there isn't; they're just friends. He's like…like an older brother. He's like a brother to all of us.

If not her…then what about your sister?

Of course not; I think she might still love Satoshi.

But what if she's over him already?

Shion's not the type of person to just "get over" someone.

Then what about Rena?

"Mion?"

Mion found herself snapping out of her trance once more. She noticed only then that Satoko and Shion were walking down the path waving goodbye.

"You seemed kind of out-of-it," remarked Keiichi as he and Rena continued to walk home together with Mion, "Is something all right?"

No, Keiichi. Nothing is all right. You're giving those girls more attention than they deserve. What's more, these girls are doing nothing to stop this attention. They're…they're trying to…

"Ah, yeah," said Mion quickly, putting on a smile, "Everything's fine; I'm just a little tired from staying up late helping grandma and doing homework, that's all."

Rena asked, "It's not about yesterday, is it?"

Yes. Yes it is. It's about how Keiichi gave up that doll to that little wh—

"Eh, no, no, no, no," said Mion with a wave of her hands, "I told you, I'm just tired. C'mon, race you home!"

The three of them began running further down the path together. Mion turned her head to see Rena glancing hopefully over at Keiichi, who kept his gaze focused straight ahead. Of all the girls in the group, Rena had to be the one who held the strongest feelings for Keiichi, apart from Mion. She was always talking to him affectionately, always gentler on him during their games, always taking him out to the dumpster…

What did they do at the dumpster anyway? Look for more "treasure"?

Or…kissing?

Or…

Irrational as these worries may be, Mion could not shake them off, nor could she shake off a terrible feeling that by this time next week, things would go horribly, horribly wrong…