On Friday morning, Mitsuko slipped out of her house an hour earlier than usual, being careful not to draw any attention to what she was doing or why. She left behind a short note explaining that she was going to school early to assist with the distribution of the first issue of the school newspaper - which was not entirely a lie, because it was being printed that morning, but it wasn't exactly the truth, either. She walked the short distance to the Asazuki household swiftly, her hands tucked inside of the sleeves of her coat. It was chilly, for a mid-April morning, and she was nervous.

She arrived at the front of the cozy two-story house that belonged to Mai's parents and rang the bell, standing shivering on the front step until the door was pulled open and a tall man with reddish-purple hair and bright green eyes looked down at her. "Oh!" he exclaimed, seeing the brunette there, and immediately grinned. "Ohayou, Mitsuko-chan."

"Ohayou gozaimasu, Asazuki-san." She smiled. "Is Mai-chan ready yet?"

"Not yet. Come on in."

"Thank you." Mitsuko happily ducked inside, out of the cold, breathing out a sigh as the front door was closed and she was met with the warmth of the Asazuki house. Asazuki Kousuke, Mai's father, gave her a gentle pat on one shoulder as he locked the door, watching her kick off her shoes. "It's really cold out there this morning," she remarked, looking up at the tall man as she dropped her bag to the ground beside her shoes. "I would have run here, but I probably would have fallen..."

"Still got the grace of a ballerina with bricks for shoes, eh?" Kousuke chuckled, reaching up to adjust his glasses. "Some boys consider that kind of thing charming, you know. You might not seem so scary to your classmates if you tripped on purpose every now and again."

"I need a boyfriend like I need a hole in my head, Asazuki-san," she replied matter-of-factly, to which the redhead laughed loudly. He motioned for her to follow him and she did, entering the kitchen of the house. Ryouko stood at the stove making breakfast, and upon hearing Mitsuko's approach, looked over her shoulder and offered a slight smile. "Ohayou gozaimasu, Ryouko-san," the teenager greeted her.

"Ohayou." Mai's mother was not a morning person by any means, and she let out a yawn after returning Mitsuko's greeting, raising one hand to cover her mouth. The teenager watched as Kousuke moved to stand beside her at the stove, bending to plant a kiss on her cheek and whisper something into her ear. "Stop it," Ryouko muttered, but Mitsuko saw her lips twitch into a smile, something that made her smile, too. Growing up, Kousuke and Ryouko had been like a second aunt and uncle to her, and she'd always been amused by their constant bantering and generally easygoing ways. They fought at times, but only playfully, and Mitsuko knew full well that their daughter meant everything to them. Mai had been unplanned - she'd overheard Kousuke saying once that he never had any intentions of being a father - but she had been raised well, allowed to become whatever she wanted. There had been some initial misgivings about their daughter's choice in music and dress, and Ryouko hadn't been pleased at all when Mai began dying her hair, but the teenager's sexuality had never been an issue. Mai had declared herself gay at fourteen and neither of her parents had batted an eye - something Mitsuko thought that her younger friend should have probably been more grateful for.

Mitsuko only had to wait in the kitchen a few seconds before she heard the sound of footsteps on the floor above her head, followed by several small taps and thumps as Mai left her bedroom, rushed down the stairs, and skidded into the room with her bag slung over one shoulder. "Ohayou," she said casually, her fingers preoccupied with buttoning the front of her uniform top over what looked to be another one of her many band-related T-shirts. "Ready to go, Mitsuko?"

The brunette smiled slightly. "Yes."

"Hold on, aren't you going to eat any breakfast?" Kousuke gave both girls a confused look, one eyebrow raised. "Is handing out the school newspaper really that important?"

"It's the first issue. Mitsuko worked really hard on it. Lakkun, too." The raven-haired girl gave her father a big smile, finishing off the top button on her shirt before hurrying in the direction of the refrigerator. "Don't worry, I'll eat a big lunch," she said, opening the door and retrieving a bentou box that was casually tossed into the bag on her shoulder. "Okay?"

Ryouko smiled slightly. "If I hear one word of complaint during gym class about how hungry you are..."

"Yeah, yeah." Mai made a face at her mother, spinning around on one heel and dashing in the direction of the door. Mitsuko looked between Ryouko and Kousuke, shrugging apologetically at them before following her friend into the front room. The back-haired girl was wearing sneakers today, having already been banned from her favorite pair of heavy combat boots after the first week, and she tied the laces rapidly without so much as looking at her fingers. "Are you ready?" she asked Mitsuko, her green eyes eager behind her glasses.

"Sort of..."

"Lakkun couldn't make it?"

"No." The brunette shook her head, bending to slip on her loafers again. "His parents got back last night, and he has something to do before class." She sighed a little as she straightened, watching Mai reach for a thick black overcoat that was resting on a hook by the front door. "I don't think he liked what I was planning, either..."

"Well, that's his loss." Mai turned, looking back in the direction of the door. "I'm out!"

Kousuke poked his head through the doorway, giving his daughter a critical look over the top of his glasses, and Mitsuko couldn't help but giggle at the stern expression (and its similarity to Mai's own occasional stern looks). "What kind of person says something like that when they're leaving the house?"

The dark-haired girl rolled her eyes. "Ittekimasu."

"That's better." Her father grinned, raising a hand to wave at both girls. "Have a good day. Nice to see you again, Mitsuko-chan."

"Have a good day, Asazuki-san." Mitsuko bowed to the redhead, then turned to follow Mai through the front door and out into the chilly April air. Almost immediately she became nervous again, knowing what it was that they were about to do - but she swallowed back those feelings as her feet met the sidewalk and they started off in the direction of a nearby cafe, one where a man named Wataya Suemaru had breakfast every Friday morning.

"This is the place, yeah?"

"Looks like it." Twenty minutes later, the girls paused outside of a small, unassuming restauraunt with a billboard above the door that read "Cafe Vermillion." The shop looked as if it had been squeezed into the middle of a row of existing stores, but its small size seemed to add a warm, cozy feeling. Mitsuko looked down at her cell phone's GPS, confirming that they had arrived at the coordinates she'd been given before pressing the power button to place the phone into standby. "As long as my informant can be trusted, Wataya-san should be inside having his breakfast right now."

"Informant?" Mai laughed, crossing her arms. "You and that deep web stuff..."

"Mmhmm." The brunette swallowed hard, sliding her cell phone into her coat pocket. "Listen, Mai-chan... I know you want to barge in and try to talk to him, but if he's anything like my aunt, he'll have a really bad reaction if you start talking about cases out of the blue. So I want to - " The younger girl suddenly pushed open the door and entered, and Mitsuko groaned, slapping her palm into her forehead. "Mai-chan," she continued, urgently, following her friend inside, "listen to me. We aren't going to do it like this."

"The world's not a spy novel, Mitsuko." Mai gave her a sideways look, snorting as she removed her coat and hung it on an unoccupied hook, slipping the strap of her messenger bag over it. "You can just walk up and talk to people."

"We are going to get in so much trouble..." Mitsuko sighed, but there wasn't much they could do now: they were already inside the small cafe. Much to her surprise, the restaurant was fresh and modern, much like an American-style cafe, with walls painted white, a row of barstools at a small counter, and various round tables and cushioned booths spread out through the room. The girls lingered in the entrance as Mitsuko removed her own coat and hung up her bag, Mai already looking over the faces of the various men and women sitting at the bar or in booths. The brunette unexpectedly found herself making eye contact with a pretty young blonde woman standing behind the counter, pouring a glass of juice for a man seated there. The woman blinked at her, then smiled cheerfully, bowing slightly at Mitsuko. "I think I found my informant," she murmured to herself, hesitantly returning the smile. "Weird that she would know - "

"Right there." Mai suddenly pointed in the direction of a booth on the far end of the room. Mitsuko followed her gaze and saw a tall, bulky man with black hair graying around his temples, his large form hunched over a newspaper and a mug of something hot and steaming, probably coffee. "That's him, isn't it?"

"Looks like it - Mai! Where are you going?" The brunette stared at her friend, dumbfounded, as she started striding in the direction of the booth. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to talk to him, duh." The younger girl gave her a look over one shoulder that clearly asked if Mitsuko was mentally challenged. "Come on."

"This is not a good idea," Mitsuko muttered, but followed anyway. The girls weaved through occupied tables and chairs before arriving at the booth occupied by former detective Wataya Suemaru - yes, up close, it was obvious that they'd found him. Mai didn't ask permission before plopping down on the empty side of the booth, giving the surprised man a grin as he lifted his head over the top of his newspaper to stare at her. Mitsuko had to resist the urge to smack herself in the forehead, clearing her throat softly. "Excuse me, ojisan," she began, causing him to swivel his head in her direction, "we don't mean to interrupt your breakfast, but my friend and I had a few questions for you."

Wataya stared at them, looking back and forth for a moment, until finally his eyes settled on Mitsuko and widened. "Those are Tsukiomi uniforms," he stated, and before either girl could respond, he continued: "and the name on your badge - Narumi?"

She winced, wondering if this instant recognition was a bad thing... but could she have expected any less from a detective? "Yes... your former partner, Narumi Madoka, is my aunt."

"Ehhhhhh?" His eyes grew even wider. "Narumi-keibuhou's - ?"

"Oh boy..." Mai snorted, grinning at Mitsuko, who reluctantly dropped into the seat beside her. "Ne, ossan," she started, leaning forward, "can we ask you a couple things? Somebody's been leaving Mitsuko some weird notes, and it sounds like they tie into some of the cases you worked on back then. Madoka-san won't tell us about them, and the notes aren't doing anything but making us confused."

The detective frowned, looking from one girl to another again, and sat up straight, placing his paper to one side. "Does Narumi-keibuhou know you're here?"

Mai sounded exasperated. "Of course not. She'd probably strangle us if she did. Then my mom would find out, and I'd get kicked down a flight of stairs - "

"Er..." Mitsuko finally interrupted, giving Wataya a hesitant smile. "We should introduce ourselves. My name is Narumi Mitsuko, and this is my friend Asazuki Mai." She gave a short bow, trying to avoid knocking her chin into the tabletop - and reached out to tug hard on Mai's skirt, prompting the younger girl to quickly bow as well. "We only had a few questions, if you wouldn't mind giving us a couple minutes of your time. We aren't trying to go behind my aunt's back or anything, but she's..." She paused, trying to find the right word. "... she's reluctant," she finished, finally, "to talk about some of the things that happened back then."

"Back then?" Wataya seemed to have calmed somewhat, and fixed Mitsuko with a questioning gaze. "You mean twenty years ago?"

She blinked. "How did you know?"

"Hmmm. It was a strange time. I thought you might want to know about it, someday." He gave her a good-natured smile, and she thought to herself that he really wasn't a bad person at all - quite friendly, actually, though somewhat dramatic. She wondered, though, how he could have ever put up working with her aunt... "When Narumi-keibuhou mentioned that her little brother had gotten married and had a little girl, well... I did wonder if he'd ever tell you anything about what went on when he was at Tsukiomi."

Mai seemed annoyed at being left out of this conversation, and she spoke up, staring at the tall detective. "Like the murder of Munemiya Kana?"

"Yes... that." He nodded. "It was frightening to see high schoolers acting so brutal." He frowned slightly, the smile disappearing from his face. "But that event is a matter of public record. You're asking about things that aren't so easy to find, aren't you?"

"You got it." The black-haired girl grinned. "Either someone's leading us on a wild goose chase, or there's a bunch of things we don't know about our parents. And judging by the way you're talking, something crazy happened while they were at Tsukiomi."

"... Asazuki." A light bulb suddenly seemed to have clicked on in the man's head. "You're that redheaded guy's daughter?"

Mai leaned forward again, excited. "You know my old man?"

He sighed. "He caused a lot of trouble for us... along with that Eyes Rutherford character."

At this Mitsuko couldn't help but interrupt. "Eyes Rutherford caused you trouble, Wataya-san? But he didn't go to Tsukiomi, did he?"

"No. But he was there when - " He suddenly stopped himself, mid-sentence, and looked down into his coffee cup with a troubled expression. The teenagers exchanged worried glances, and Mitsuko was about to ask if something was wrong when he spoke again, quietly, choosing his words very carefully. "I shouldn't be telling you anything that your parents haven't," he said. "It was a troubling time for a lot of people. I'm sure that they are only trying to protect you from learning something upsetting."

"I know they are trying to protect us." The brunette nodded, slowly, her tone serious. "But someone is urging us to investigate these things. And if there is something that is important for us to know..."

"Who is this "someone"?" Wataya looked between each girl, his expression still serious. "You've mentioned that someone is leaving you notes - do you know who?"

"No." Mai began to shake her head, then stopped, smiling wryly. "Well - yes. Mitsuko's had three postcards show up addressed to her. She found out who was delivering them, but apparently there's somebody else pulling the strings. One of the girls in my class is being blackmailed into it, which makes sense because she acts like a total nutcase..."

Mitsuko looked sharply at her friend. "Mai."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Sorry." The raven-haired girl cleared her throat. "Anyway, the first note said "what are the Blade Children?" and - "

Wataya nearly spilled his coffee. Both girls stared, wide-eyed, as he fumbled with the mug, pushing it aside with his newspaper, his large hands suddenly shaking. The table was silent, and he didn't lift his eyes for a long moment, instead staring at his hands. Mitsuko managed to find her voice, feeling her heart begin to pound. "Judging by that reaction," she began, her voice nearly a whisper, "you really do know something about the Blade Children... don't you, Wataya-san?"

"Narumi-keibuhou - no, Madoka-san - " He shook his head, frowning, folding his hands together. "... she asked me to never mention that phrase again."

"My aunt - " She sucked in a breath. "She knows what the Blade Children are?"

"Mitsuko-chan... I'm sorry. But I can't tell you anything about that subject." Wataya raised his dark eyes to hers, and his expression was suddenly sorrowful. "Madoka-san would be furious with me if I told you any more than you already may know. I promised her that I would never speak a word about the Blade Children to anybody."

Mai didn't take this statement well, suddenly leaning forward in her seat. "Listen here, old man. You're gonna be in a whole new world of hurt if you don't tell us what you know."

"You can do what you want to me." The tall man lifted a trembling hand to his forehead. "But I won't say a word about the Blade Children. Ask me anything else you want and I'll tell you - but I can't break my promise to Madoka-san..." His voice cracked. "Please don't look into this any further. I know that someone is trying to dig up the past, but if that's what they are trying to tell you about... they can't have good intentions. Please don't pursue the truth about the Blade Children."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Mai seemed intrigued. "This sounds pretty serious. So it's not just something lame like a codeword for something else, is it?"

"If you learned the truth about the Blade Children, your life would be ruined." These words sent a chill down Mitsuko's spine, and even Mai seemed caught off guard by this declaration - especially because the man's dark eyes were fixed on her, not Mitsuko. The brunette stared at Wataya, forgetting to breathe, and her thoughts were moving at such a fast pace that she couldn't make sense of anything. Wataya slowly turned his eyes on her, and she let out a soft squeak, surprised, when he suddenly reached out to cover both of his hands with one of his. "Your parents are good people," he said, his voice low, "and Madoka-san is a good woman. They have been working very hard to protect you since you were born. You must tell them what is happening."

She swallowed, her mouth and throat dry. "I - but - "

"No. Don't object." His brows furrowed. "Please tell them. Before anything else happens... promise me you will tell them."

She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again, slowly nodding her head. "I... I will tell them."

"Today?"

"Yes. Today."

Mai let out an annoyed groan. "Mitsuko, they're just gonna get mad at us - !"

"And you. Mai-chan." Wataya's attention returned to the black-haired girl, who gave him a skeptical look. He lifted his hand from Mitsuko's and reached out to pat her gently on one arm - which resulted in the girl quickly yanking her limbs from the table, her green eyes narrowing at him. "I didn't know your father very well," he began, "but if he is a better person now - better than he was before - he will understand, if you tell him about the messages. The last thing he would want for you would be for you to relive what he experienced."

"The hell are you talking about?"

"Mai-chan." Mitsuko took her friend's hand in one of hers, realizing all at once that her fingers were shaking. "We should go. We're going to be late if we stay any longer."

"Go? Now?" The girl gave her a dismayed look, her emerald eyes dark. "But ossan hasn't told us anything useful - "

"Now," the brunette insisted, and yanked on Mai's hand. The black-haired girl reluctantly followed her as she slid out of the booth, and as both girls stood, Mitsuko gave Wataya a deep bow, not caring whether her friend followed suit or not. "I'm sorry that we disturbed you, Wataya-san," she said, her tone unsteady as she rose, then turned to leave the booth. "Thank you for your time."

"Mitsuko!" Mai's tone was incredulous, and the older girl could hear her friend's dismay - and anger - in each word as they crossed the cafe, leaving the booth behind. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"We need to go."

"Why? Fuck school, if that's what this is about - we could get him to tell us what the Blade Children are! We were so close!"

Mitsuko ignored the younger girl, walking quickly in the direction of the exit. She removed her coat from its hook and slid it on, looping the strap of her bag over one shoulder. Beside her, Mai's gaze was smouldering, but she reluctantly followed suit, stuffing her arms into the sleeves of her jacket and picking up her own bag. As they moved to the door, Mitsuko felt a pair of eyes on her - and when she turned back to look at the young blonde woman behind the counter, the smile she had seen before was gone, replaced by a serious, almost knowing gaze. The brunette shivered violently, and as soon as the door was open, she broke into a run down the sidewalk, wanting to get away from that cafe as quickly as possible.

"So, Mai's pretty pissed at you."

"I know she is." Hours later, Mitsuko leaned on the end of a broom, sighing heavily to herself. She and Lacuna were in the middle of cleaning the Newspaper Club room, preparing for the weekend. After the events of that morning, and the distribution of the first issue of the school newspaper, the brunette hadn't felt much like a club meeting that day... especially because concentrating in class had been difficult enough. She'd ended up standing in the hallway for ten minutes after her math instructor had caught her spacing out in the middle of a lesson. She'd never been punished like that before, and when she'd re-entered the room, Lacuna had given her hand a soft squeeze beneath her desk, his blue eyes sympathetic. She had told him the whole tale that morning, before homeroom started, and he'd been just as dismayed as she was. During lunch, however, he'd heard another version of the story from Mai, who sent him several angry text messages over the course of ten minutes. "Mitsuko ran away like a coward," one of them said, to which the brunette had snorted, rolling her eyes. Thinking about it again, in the present time, just made her angry. "She'll get over it," the brunette remarked, looking out the window of the club room, in the direction of the track. "I wasn't willing to be any more reckless than I already was."

"Hearing what you said about the whole thing, that was probably the right decision to make." Lacuna chuckled. "But you know how Mai is. She's completely convinced that you could have stuck around for another couple minutes and solved the whole mystery. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to track down your aunt's partner herself."

"She could try, but I don't think she'd get very far." The brunette frowned. "I might have to call Ryouko-san and ask for a favor, though, just to be safe..."

"Going to get your best friend grounded?" He laughed outright this time. "That's low, Mitzi. But in this case, it might be for the best..."

"Everything I've done has been for the best. Mai has to see that." She shook her head, slowly. "The way Wataya-san reacted when he heard the phrase "Blade Children"... and the way that blonde woman looked at me, too..."

"I wish I'd been there." The white-haired teen clapped two erasers together behind her, coughing as a cloud of chalk dust was created. "But my dad needed me to help him move some of the furniture around in the spare room, since my aunt's coming to visit..."

"Rio-san is?"

"Yeah. She gets in tonight. I guess they stopped to see her on the way back from London, and she was convinced to take a vacation for a while." Lacuna's voice softened. "I haven't seen her in a really long time, so it will be nice to catch up..."

"Mm." Mitsuko breathed out another sigh. "I guess you won't be able to come with me after school, then..."

"Sorry." He walked across the room to meet her at the window, erasers still in hand. "I know you want me to be there when you tell your parents about the postcards, but I can't. I mean... you could wait until tomorrow, but..."

"I promised Wataya-san I would tell them today." She lifted her eyes to his. "So that's what I'm going to do. No more lies."

He smiled slightly. "You're a good girl, Mitzi. I just hope it isn't as bad as it sounds..."

"Me too." She looked down at the floor, then to her broom, and shook her head. "I don't feel much like cleaning, or doing any club activities, or anything like that... Can we just... go?"

"Yeah. Sure." He reached out to pat her gently on one shoulder. "I'll walk you home, at least - okay?"

"If you insist."

They closed up the Newspaper Club room and gathered their things, walking down the stairs to the shoe cabinets without speaking. They parted and then met again at the main entrance, tossing on their coats before stepping out into the still chilly April afternoon. As they started their walk in the direction of the Narumi household, Mitsuko's mind went to work: she had to decide how to tell her parents what had been going on, what she already knew, and what she wanted to know. She'd heard several people indicate that her parents had been involved in painful, complicated times - and now she knew that her aunt had been involved, too, to some extent - so her approach to the situation would have to be delicate. She wanted to ask so many questions, but the one at the top of her list was simple: what are the Blade Children?

"Hey," Lacuna said, suddenly, only a minute into their walk, "why is it that you didn't tell your parents about the first postcard you got?"

"I didn't think it was going to lead to anything like this." She lifted her head, staring ahead at the mostly clear path that led in the direction of her home. "Last year, people did a lot of stupid things because of my involvement with the Newspaper Club. Girls would pass me dumb notes about who was dating who, and ask me to write an article for the paper. Boys would demand that I interview them and do a profile of their success in one sport or another. And some of my classmates would give me puzzles or things in code, and tell me to solve them - although that was probably due to my father's reputation as a detective, not the club." She paused, allowing herself a moment of annoyance at those past events. "So when I first got the postcard, I thought it was a piece of code, or something I could understand easily. But I didn't find anything online, and that just made me more determined to figure it out." She breathed in, deeply, then exhaled. "I was still working on it when I got that second postcard. But when I overheard my parents talking, and they said something about the "remaining children," I started to think that there could have been a link to the Blade Children. And some of the other things I heard..." She hesitated, realizing that she hadn't told him (or Mai) about the way she had recorded her aunt and father's conversation. "Well, it became obvious that there was something being hidden from us..."

"Yeah." He nodded, apparently following her reasoning. "I get it. And this did all happen pretty fast..."

"Really fast." She bit down on her bottom lip. "Last month, I thought I was just a normal high school student. Now it's like... little pieces of my life are being revealed as fake, or..." She frowned. "I really don't know how to describe it. But it all bothers me, and probably more than it should."

"Shouldn't it be bothering Mai?"

"That's the thing." Her expression darkened. "Wataya-san said that her life could be ruined by learning the truth about the Blade Children. He didn't say the same thing about me, even though it sounds like my aunt - and probably my parents - are the ones who were involved. But he also said something about her father not being a good person..."

"Asazuki-san?" Lacuna sounded dumbfounded. "He's never been anything but friendly to us both. He's gotta be the nicest lawyer on the planet."

"I know. People do strange things when they're young, but..." She raised her eyes to his. "Don't repeat this to Mai, but I did check before, in the past - when I was first learning to... research... these things. None of our parents have a criminal record, even one that's been expunged, or for something that occurred in another country. So if Asazuki-san did anything wrong, it wasn't anything that got the police involved." She tilted her head slightly. "And don't you have to be criminally cleared to practice law?"

"No idea." He shrugged. "But even so, I can't see why anyone would say something like that about him." He paused. "Although, there was that one time he was trying to give me a boost to reach the top of the equipment at a playground and he dropped me..."

Mitsuko giggled, abruptly, feeling some of the tension broken by Lacuna's remark. "More like you squirmed out of his arms, probably."

"No way. I was a perfect kid." He grinned down at her. "I never did anything wrong."

"I can remember plenty of evidence suggesting the contrary..."

"Pfft." He rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion. "Except for that one time I did that one thing that you got really, really, REALLY mad about - "

She looked at him sharply. "We're still not talking about that."

" ... except for that one time, I never did anything wrong." There was a beat, and then he blinked, staring down at her. "Are you still mad about that?"

"Furious."

"It's been like - " He counted on his fingers. " - five years! How can you still hold a grudge over something I did five years ago?"

"We are not talking about this, Lacuna." She was glaring, now, her arms crossed tightly in front of her chest. "You were sworn to secrecy, because if Mai ever found out, we would not hear the end of it. And, again: I am still furious." She huffed. "I have better things to think about right now. Stop distracting me."

"Hmm... Maybe you secretly liked it..."

"Shut up."

His voice was growing more playful by the second. "Maybe you'd like it more now than you did back then..."

"Lacuna. Shut up. Now."

"Maybe if I gave you just one little kiss..."

"SHUT. UP." She whirled around, lifting one hand to poke him hard in the chest with two fingers, giving him her angriest glare - the one she'd inherited from her father - and he only smiled, apparently immune to her anger in the face of his own amusement. "If I cared the least bit about romance, or boyfriends, or anything like that, I'd be mad because you stole my first kiss from me. But I don't, so I'm mad - " She jabbed him in the chest with her fingers, growing angrier when he laughed. " - because you decided to just go ahead and do something so stupid without asking me first."

He grinned. "You're so cute when you're frustrated."

"Idiot!" She turned on her heel and stormed away, her shoes pounding hard against the sidewalk. "Don't bother walking me home!" she shouted over her shoulder, angrily. "I don't want to see you again until you've gotten enough sense in your head to stop bringing up things that make me mad!"

"That's fine!" he called, and at the sound of the cheerful tone of his voice, the brunette felt positively murderous. "See you Monday, Mitzi!"

She couldn't let him go without one more comment. She stopped, turned, and yelled over her shoulder at him, at the top of her lungs: "AND STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

By the time she arrived home, Mitsuko's anger had died down to an acceptable level. She entered the house, kicking off her shoes and tossing her bag carelessly by the front door before nudging her feet into a pair of slippers and opening the door into the kitchen. "Taidaima," she called, only to be met with silence: no one was home. She glanced over her shoulder and confirmed that both parents and her brother were still out, judging by the lack of shoes. As she stepped inside, turning on a light, she remembered something about Kyou staying over at a friend's house for the night, which potentially explained why he, and perhaps her mother, weren't home. And since she was early, it was definitely possible that her father was still at work, and would be there until the early evening. So it seemed, she thought, that she would have some time to prepare herself.

"I guess I'll figure out how to bring this up," she said aloud, her voice echoing through the empty kitchen. She walked slowly to the hallway and proceeded to her room, flicking on her bedroom light with one finger. "Maybe if I show them the postcards, I won't have to say anything at all." She crossed the room and lifted her computer keyboard, sighing. "If I give them these, and if they make sense to them, they should - "

She stopped, suddenly, mid-sentence, her eyes fixed on her desk. There was nothing beneath her keyboard. The postcards were gone.

The room was silent for a long moment, and then the brunette dropped the keyboard, not hearing the banging sound it made as it impacted the desk. The postcards were gone. And the implications of that -

Her voice was soft and scared when it finally formed words that left her mouth. "Oh no."