I've just realized that I haven't made a single anime reference. It's weird, because there's some Japanese literary references, but no anime. Not even a manga. This thing is also 51 pages long at this point, according to OpenOffice.

Huh.

Anyway...

No one had bothered to check out what happened in the library. At all. Beaten and weary, the three of them had climbed over the mess of the toppled bookshelves and followed Yuuko back to her office, and now Misha and Kenji were waiting patiently as Yuuko as searched for whatever the "something" was, tossing books and paperwork all over without a care.

Misha just stood and fidgeted nervously, occasionally running a hand through her ruined hair. It was taking quite a bit of effort for her not to lapse into another angsty monologue in her mind. She'd had enough of those, a whole week's worth. Worse than day old bread, but she was starving, so she kept biting down on it, hard as rocks oh Goddammit!

Yuuko knocked into a pile of books, which toppled onto Kenji, who was lying on the ground covering his eyes. He snapped up like a jack knife, moved to say something, but at the last second he just flopped back onto the ground. His face was marked here and there with band-aids. Luckily, the rat bites had been deep, but not so wide. Unluckily, they could only spray some generic disinfectant on the wounds, and just had to hope that the rats were the plague-bearing type.

Yuuko let out an excited gasp, and spun to meet Misha and Kenji's gazes. In her hands was a thick, leathery book. "Leathery," because the covers weren't smooth, but were quite rough, and they looked warped. If glanced at in the right angle, Misha could swear she could see the crude outline of a face.

Yuuko had been beaming happily at the book at first, but her faced darkened after a moment. "Ugh, I forgot how this thing feels."

Kenji rubbed a hand over it. "Feels beat up."

Yuuko shook her head. "No, it's... it's weird. I can feel hatred from this thing, and sadness. It's not a 'happy' book."

Misha cocked her head. "'Happy' book?"

Yuuko bit at her lip. "It's really hard to describe. It's probably best if you just never touch this thing unless it's necessary."

"How does one come across an 'unhappy' book?" Kenji asked mockingly.

Yuuko set the book down next to the computer monitor and took a seat at her desk, turning her chair to face them. "An old college roommate just gave it to me. She was pretty strange, a good person, but very strange. We had a few history courses together, and we seemed to be into the same stuff, but she looked like she took it a bit too seriously. She told me one day that she was only going to the school to see if she could get information from 'our' side, with 'our' being everyone that wasn't her. She was Japanese, but studied in England. She said she needed to get away from there." She shrugged. "She said that Japan was much more private than England, being that the Association didn't have it's hooks sunk in yet. I have no idea what she was on about. Anyway, she didn't stay long, and on the last day we lived together, she just up and gave me this book, telling me to never show anyone unless it was an emergency, and that one day she'd want it back."

Kenji cocked an eyebrow, "And you just took it?"

Yuuko started to blush, "Well, I kinda thought it looked cool. And I could read some of it, so I would look at it sometimes. Until one night I had a guy come over, and I had it sitting out, and it kinda freaked him out, so he left, so I decided I should keep it here, where if someone found it I would say I confiscated it."

Kenji just stared at her. Misha pressed on, "So what can it do?"

Yuuko brought the book into her lap, and started to leaf through it. Every page was inscribed with bizarre looking symbols, each one colored blood-red. "We need to get Larena out of Shizune's body. There might be something in here that can exercise her. Once she's out, we might be able to make Larena's spirit flesh, and then we can kill it."

Kenji spoke up, "Have you ever done this before?"

Yuuko gave an embarrassed smile, "Erm, no. And no, before you even ask, I definitely have no concrete idea on what to do. But do you have a better idea?"

Kenji lay back down.

Yuuko went back to the book, "Thought so. Now, according to the story, Larena wasn't able to bind herself to the forest and land like the half-brother did, mainly because she was too busy lashing out with her remaining power during her death throes. That means she can return to the forest, but she'll be dormant again, so she'll want to stay flying around as a spirit, attacking us. Since none of us knows how to subdue a spirit, that means using the book to make her flesh then killing her is our best bet."

Yuuko's face darkened. Misha recognized the look she had. It was the look she wore when she had something to say, but didn't want to say it. Yuuko's brow was furrowed, she was biting her lip, and her hands were twitching about in her lap. Misha took a step over to her, but Yuuko shot her head up and locked eyes with Misha. Misha stood confused. Did she do something wrong?

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she turned. Kenji was wafting his garlic breath on her from this close a range, and it made her gag a bit. Kenji frowned for a moment, but then his faced loosened, and he gently steered Misha from Yuuko, and over his shoulder, "Go ahead. It'll be alright, just say it, Yuuko."

Misha cocked an eyebrow at Kenji, but turned back to Yuuko when she started to talk, "She would be flying freely about when we released her. Which means that, well, either Misha or I could be next."

Misha's eyes shot up her forehead, "Wait a minute! I thought to call her..."

"Yes," Yuuko interrupted coolly, "to call her, you have to meet the right criteria. But once she's free, she can do almost whatever she wants. She does have some rules she has to go by, like she is essentially attached to Misha, but there aren't many, well, 'regulations.' In short, she has a goal, and she is going to do whatever she deems necessary to achieve it."

Misha thought hard. What was going to stop this bitch from swooping in and out of the three girls that were going to be present? They'd have to chant that thing from the book pretty quick.

There was a frantic rustling, and Misha looked to Yuuko. She was flipping through the pages quickly, getting more frustrated by the second. Misha started to get nervous, but even more-so when Kenji started to tighten his grip on her shoulder. As Yuuko grew more and more panicked, a cold feeling started to spread from the pit of Misha's stomach.

After a few minutes of this, Misha reached out meekly, "Yuuko? We can get this thing out of Shicchan, right? Yuuko?"

Yuuko flipped through the book faster. If she wasn't careful, she was going to start ripping out pages.

Kenji started to put himself between Misha and Yuuko.

Misha tried again, "We can, right~? Like, just say the magic words, and then poof! It's okay, right~?"

Yuuko snapped the book shut, but kept her face pointing downwards. She mumbled, "I don't see anything in here. Nothing I can read, anyway."

"What?" Misha's vision was getting a bit blurry. "What do you mean?"

Yuuko drew a breath, and then looked over Kenji's shoulder to Misha, "Misha, we... we can't."

The color drained from Misha's face.

"Misha, we're might have to kill Shizune."

There was a sound, like raging wind. It engulfed Misha completely. She felt lost. She couldn't feel Kenji's hand anymore. She couldn't even see him, everything was far too blurry. She didn't know what was going on until she felt the sudden pain in her knees. She was leaning forward, about to land smack on her own face, before Kenji recomposed himself and caught her. She continued to lean into him, but didn't make a sound. She stayed wrapped in her blurry cocoon, trying desperately to keep warm.

It took a few minutes, but Yuuko's voice managed to snip it's way to Misha, "I don't know. I really don't know. I have no idea what to say, I have no idea what to do, and I don't know if it will even work." Yuuko knelt down with them. "But..."

"But we have to...," Misha croaked. "We can't leave her."

It wasn't fair. What the hell. Just what the hell. Misha was who she was, and now, what, she was going to be punished for it? Kicked, beaten, humiliated, and forced to watch people die? All that was missing was for her to be spat on.

"But we have to." Her own voice was making her sick.

Was it her fault?

She pushed away from Kenji. "Yeah, we have to."

No. She got dealt a shit hand. She couldn't even bluff it.

No, that wasn't right. That would imply she couldn't do anything. That she wouldn't do anything. She giggled a bit. She didn't even know how to play poker anyway. Screw this bitch. She took Shizune away, and for what? She claimed that she knew Misha? This is what Misha wanted, right? A fairy tale where everyone was bent over backwards until their spines snapped, just to paint the perfect scene? No, she never wanted this. Someone had taken her pain and used it as an excuse to dominate.

She thought about her uncle. Misha was too old to play pretend. It wasn't pretend. It was Misha being Misha. The hell did he know? The man pounded fat slugs of I.W. Harper into his brain the way a shitty carpenter would slam nails into a rotting wood deck, claiming that it was just fine, if not better than it used to be. In the end, they both fell, and it was always a mess. She wasn't a mess. Maybe she wasn't perfect, maybe she had scabby knees, but she was smart enough not to look for wisdom at the bottom of a bottle.

And Misha, being Misha, was going to do what she wanted. It didn't need to be dictated, didn't need to follow some perfect plan, and it existed, it was real. It wouldn't mean anything if anyone gave her instructions, and she was nothing without it. She was going to build something with her own two hands, something that she would be proud of.

She deserved it. She didn't beat anyone down. She didn't kick the dog.

She wasn't a pushover, either.

[Come on, we both know you're tougher than this.]

"Mikado, please, you just need to focus."

She stood up. It hurt to stand. Oh, God, did it hurt. There are people out there with stone faces and hearts of iron. Misha wasn't one of them. She was flesh and bone, and she could be ripped and torn. But she still stood up.

The others rose as well. Yuuko put a hand on Kenji's shoulder, "Kenji, if Larena comes into me..."

Kenji whipped around, "Wait, what?!"

Misha spoke up, "Setou, we're serious."

Kenji flicked his head back and forth in between them, before he let out a resigned sigh. He cradled his head in his hands, "Fine. But Misha, stop calling me Setou."

Misha giggled again. "Setou's a stuffy name anyway."

Kenji smirked back. "Say what you want about Setou's, but Setou's don't run."

(A short time later...)

They pushed open the door to the track shed. There weren't many athletic clubs at Yamaku, so there wasn't much equipment for any other sports, which is why it was always the "track shed." The track shed, with little sprinkles of other flavors, but enough for them to get what they needed. Misha picked up an aluminum bat that was leaning against the wall. Kenji found an old, beat-up golf bag and pulled out a nine iron, because, "it looks the most like an ax." Misha made him promise not to yell, "Fore!"

Yuuko just held onto the book, being that she was the only one that could read it, and the only one who could remember the words out of the three of them, let alone pronounce them right. She stood back, watching them both take practice swings. "Are you two ready?"

Misha lowered the bat, "No. But I don't think there is any being 'ready' for this any..."

"Hell yea!" Kenji whipped the club about. "I was born for this shit! I've been waiting, and waiting, and now, ha! Now I get to prove it!" It would be a miracle if his wide smile would even fit out the door. "All this time, all this training..."

Yuuko clamped a hand over his mouth, "We get it, we got it then, and unfortunately, we will always understand. So please, spare us the nonsense." She pulled her hand away and walked out with Misha in tow. After a minute, Kenji sulked out as well.

Yuuko turned to Misha, "So, we go to the..."

"The Student Council Office." She pulled ahead of Yuuko and lead the way back into the main building. The three of them kept their eyes on the trees all the while.

They felt a bit safer once they re-entered the building. But there was no denying it, they really didn't have much of a plan. It was essentially to burst into the room, subdue anything in their way, chant random crap out of the book, and hopefully they got Larena out without killing Shizune.

Not a single one of them had ever even gotten into a schoolyard fight. Well, Kenji claimed to have battled the cyborg-ninjas on several occasions (it was well known that Kenji had a long standing rivalry with the Red Ninja Clan, all due to some business with the Golden Ninja Warrior... apparently), but even he had to admit that this would he be his greatest challenge yet.

Still, he kept pace with Yuuko and Misha. They say taking things slow until you are comfortable is something that you can apply to almost anything in life. It appeared that the three of them were firm believers in this philosophy.

It took them almost twenty minutes to crawl to the Student Council Office. They were constantly spinning their heads, trying to see everything all at once, but all that was doing was coating their vision in a blurry, paranoid mess. Every once in a while, one of them would loose their balance and stumble, either from fatigue, from not looking where they were going, or just the weight of the situation buckling their knees. Regardless, the misstep would echo in the hallway, causing them all to frantically press against the walls in a feeble attempt to hide. After they got over their shame, they would continue to plod along.

At long last, they stood in front of the door. They turned to look at each other and share nervous glances before Misha put her hand on the knob.

She took a deep breath.

"I'm coming, Shicchan."

She flung open the door and ran in, bat held high, and the others rushed in behind her.

Nothing.

Kenji let another swear loose, "Well that was anti-climatic."

Misha swept her eyes across the room. "It's... it's different in here."

Yuuko nodded, "Let's investigate."

Misha whipped her head back to them, "Watch out for the plants." She then started to explore.

The sanctity of this place had been fouled. Despite the fact that the room wasn't too changed, there was a heavy feeling, and it reminded Misha about what Yuuko said about the "unhappy" book; a negative edge hung in the air, and with every step that Misha took, it felt like it cut just a little bit deeper into her. On top of that, everything felt muggy. There was a humid pressure, and every breath made it feel like her lungs were getting filled with mud. It was enough to make her still drying hair start to frizz. And of course, this stained Misha's memories, of when she and Shizune would stay up for hours working. Of Misha trying to sleep in the office with Shicchan, with her in her chair and Misha spread out on a table, but she would always give in and head back to her bed, always chuckling to herself as she shut the door on Shizune still sitting in her chair, head leaning back, and mouth open in a snore. She always wondered if it would be right to tell her that she did. Of back when there was more than two of them, and then just Lilly, and the day that Lilly left, even though she was still mad at Shizune, gave Misha a hug and wished them both well.

She rubbed her temple and focused her eyes on reality. On the tables, books were strewn all over, the majority of them being encyclopedias, along with a few magazines on current fashion, and newspapers. Yuuko nudged a stack of DVD's, which ranged from spaghetti westerns, to romantic comedies, to war movies, and on, and on, and on. "I think she was studying up on us." She furrowed her brow, "She should have a decent knowledge on this time period due to her access to Shizune's mind, though."

Kenji picked up a DVD, bringing the cover close until he was face-to-face with Bruce Willis, "Hmm, she probably expected to have to deal with me at some point, and the President didn't have enough information in order to predict what I'd do. Clever girl." He threw the DVD back onto the table with a clatter. "A commendable effort, but a fruitless one, for I am a master of improvisation." Yuuko rolled her eyes.

Misha ignored them and kept flicking her eyes about the room. Something was different. What was it...?

She suddenly stood rigid. When she got an idea, it wasn't so much that a light bulb turned on as much as an entire nuclear plant was suddenly thrust into over-drive. "Ooooh, ooooh, I get it, I get it~!" Her arms were flipping about, and she was bouncing on the balls of her feet. Before either of her companions could ask her if she needed to use the bathroom, she exclaimed, "The stall building materials! For the festival! She brought them in here, to keep them out of the rain and stuff, and then brought them out when she was going to build~!"

Kenji shrugged, "So?"

Misha flung her arms around the room, "All the stuff's gone!"

"So?"

"She built the stalls?" Yuuko was looking a bit concerned. "Or maybe..."

Misha calmed down quick. She thought back to earlier in the week, when she was pretty much cut out from Shizune's activities. Shizune had looked as if she had been training for a marathon in her school uniform whenever Misha bumped into her.

[You will know soon enough.]

"Uh-oh~."

Kenji stepped up to Misha, "What? What's 'uh-oh?'"

Misha gave him a nervous look, "I think we need to head towards where we were building the stalls." Misha stepped back into the hallway, and the others followed on her heels.

When they reached the clearing, they found that all of the stalls were gone. There wasn't even a trace of them left. There were no building materials, either. All that was there was some grooves in the ground, left from something heavy being dragged, and they lead right into the forest path.

Kenji and Misha both jumped at the sound of a clacking noise, but calmed down when Yuuko clamped a free hand over her jaw. Hey, at least she wasn't crying again.

Kenji nodded in the vague direction of the woods, "So, in there?"

Misha nodded slowly, "Yeah. In there." She looked over to Yuuko and Kenji, took a deep breath, and gave them a reassuring smile. "I think it's about time we blow this scene. Everyone, get your stuff together." She started up the path.

"Okay, 3, 2, 1 let's jam~."

Dempsey locks eyes with you, and huffs at your disapproving frown. "Oh, what, did you want me be the 999th person to make a Gurren Lagann reference? She doesn't even have her drills at this point!" He leans back, crosses his arms and stares out the window, moping, "I don't care how popular it is or was or whatever, that was a sweet show. Piss off. We're almost done, anyway."

He then mumbles something about how at least he didn't take the Laughing Man too seriously like some people, and that it would have been real easy to make this nothing but Misha clone jokes, with all of them claiming to be the original, but you tune him out and go back to your cheese.

What a poseur.