Help, I'm Stuck in Summer Camp!
Bonus Chapter 1: Man of Mystery
"Are you guys sure this is the order you want?"
The members of Cabin Four all nodded simultaneously.
"Are you positive?"
Again, they nodded.
"You swear?"
"Just take it!"
"Okay, okay, Aniki, no need to get testy." Kizami took the keyboard from Takumi and told the campers to go join Mejiko and Cabin Three, who were waiting in the ampitheater. She clutched the clipboard and looked up at her brother and, gathering all the sincerity she could muster, said, "Will you stay?"
Takumi shook his head and put his hands on his sister's shoulders. She continued to give him that puppy-dog look until he had to look away. "You know I can't. I have to head home soon."
"Oh, all right." Kizami relaxed her facial muscles and prodded Takumi's shoulder with the pen. "At least stay for Skit Night."
"Fine... One more thing... Where's my car?"
Kizami's eyes grew wide and she nonchalantly looked away. "I drove it home."
"I know that much. Where is it now?" He somehow knew the answer already, as much as he didn't want to, there was no changing what had already happened. "Kiza-chan..."
She looked back at him with the guiltiest expression he had ever seen. "Aniki! I'm so sorry, I drove it home, and then Satoshi drove me back, and I forgot all about your car!"
"Kizami! How am I supposed to get home now!"
Kizami bit her bottom lip. "Um... call someone for a ride?"
"Oh all right. But who am I going to call?" He darted his eyes up at the sky in thought. Satoshi had already left, and there was no chance in hell that he was actually going to ask mother and father for a ride home.
It was at the perfect moment that Kei walked towards them.
"Hey guys," Kei greeted. "I just wanted to let you guys know that you are officially ten minutes late for canoeing, and therefore, will be severely punished."
"Punished!" Kizami exclaimed.
"Yup. Punished. And by punished, I mean you're going to have to write our skit for tonight."
Kizami blinked several times before she accusingly asked, "What did you guys do when I wasn't here?"
Kei laughed nervously and answered, "Well..."
- + - + -(FLASHBACK, KEI'S POV, AS TOLD TO KIZAMI AND TAKUMI) + - + - +
We're eating breakfast right? And Meji-chan suddenly goes, "Hey, who's writing the script for our demo tonight?"
By this point, Takumi is busily drinking his orange juice, and Kiyo and I both have our mouths stuffed with cereal (Yum! Lucky Charms! They're magically delicious! Hey, do you want some, Kiza-chan? We have a bunch of them, and I bet you didn't eat breakfast yet! You must be starv-
Kizami: KEI! That's not telling me what happened!
Oh, right, right, sorry.)
As I was saying, we all looked at each other and said at once...
"NOT IT!"
- + - + -(END FLASHBACK) + - + - +
"And that's how you got stuck with the job." Kei ended his story with a satisfactory nod towards the siblings. As Kizami slapped her forehead, Kei turned to a deep-in-thought Takumi. "Hey, you okay?"
"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine. I'm just wondering how I'm going to get back home. Kiza-chan left my car at home."
"Hm... yeah..." Kei replied. "Sucks to be you!"
"Real helpful there, Kei."
"Sorry.. Oh! Hey, my penpal is coming to visit us today!" Kei's face lit up suddenly, despite the odd looks he received from Kizami and Takumi.
"What?"
"Your penpal?" Kizami asked. "What penpal?"
"My penpal," Kei replied. "I've been writing to him for six months now! It started out as a school assignment, but we clicked so well that we kept writing to each other! And he's coming to visit!" He turned to Takumi, a sudden idea in his head. "Hey! Maybe he can give you a ride home!"
Takumi sighed remorsefully. He didn't really want to be in a car with a stranger, let alone have the stranger take him HOME. But what other choice did he have? "Uh... I guess... What's his name?"
Kei glanced thoughtfully at the sky. "Um..."
"You don't know his name!" Kizami shouted.
"Of course I know it! It's..." Kei plucked a letter from his pocket and turned around for a second before facing Kizami and saying, "...Guren!"
"Great," the siblings said together.
- + - + - + - + - +
Kizami sat down next to Kiyo on the bench. She had a gnawing suspicion that Kiyo knew about Guren, and was determined to get answers. "Kiyo-kun..."
He turned his attention away from Kenny trying desperately to reach his dropped paddle and looked at Kizami. "Yes, Kiza-chan?"
"Who's Guren?"
"Kei's... penpal..."
"What do you know about him?"
Kiyo shrugged. "I don't know anything about him. Only that he's been Kei's penpal for the past six months."
Kizami looked ahead at the lake and pretended to watch Max and Kenny dangle Daichi out of the canoe to reach the paddle, but leered at Kiyo from the corners of her eyes. "Is that all you know?"
"Uh..."
"Aha!" She turned to face him and pointed a finger accusingly at him. "You do know more!"
"Okay, okay." Kiyo laid his hand on her hand and pushed her finger away from him. "Guren's an ex-con."
Kizami jumped up and stared down at Kiyo, her mouth hung open in 'oh my God are you crazy' amazement. "Kei's inviting an ex-con to our innocent little camp!"
"Shh..." Kiyo held her wrist and pulled her back down onto the bench. "Not so loud. Yes, Guren is an ex-con, but Kei insists that he's changed. I guess that's what prison does to a man."
"But he's been in prison! That's the point!"
"He's been released for good behavior!"
Kizami shifted uneasily in her seat. "Well, all right... But I'm still uncomfortable with it."
- + - + - + - + - +
CLINK CLINK CLINK.
Everyone turned to look at the counselor's table. Kizami was standing on her chair with her glass in one hand and her fork in the other. "Hi guys! I just wanted to let everyone know that the order for Skit Night is posted in the ampitheater! It'd be in your best interests to take a look!"
- + - + - + - + - +
Brooklyn, Garland, and Kai stood in front of the order list completely dumbstruck.
The list read:
1. Counselor's demo (This was in Kizami's writing)
2. Brooklyn, Garland, Kai (This was Tyson's)
3. Cabin One (This was Ray's)
4. Cabin Three (This was Lee's)
5. Cabin Two (Tyson's again)
6. Ray, Lee, Tala, Tyson (Ray and Lee)
7. Cabin Four (Hiro's)
Kai made a mental note to kill Tyson in the slowest, most painful way imaginable.
Brooklyn kicked a pebble away from him. "Why is it that we always get stuck in the worst positions?"
Garland sighed wryly. "Someone up there must hate us."
"Naww, I don't hate you. I don't even know you!"
All at once, the three bladers yelped and leaped back as a mysterious man jumped out from behind the bulletin board. He had scraggly blonde hair and mysteriously clear grey eyes that one couldn't look at for more than a few seconds before having to turn away.
"I apologize for scaring you," the man said, bowing. "My name is Guren, and I'm looking for Keitaru?"
"Guren?"
The aforementioned man turned around and beamed brightly at his caller. "Keitaru?"
"Yeah! Guren! It's so nice to finally meet you!"
That last phrase echoed in each of the three boys' minds. 'FINALLY meet you'?
- + - + - + - + - +
Kizami nodded and shook Guren's outstretched hand. "So you're Guren... It's nice to meet you. I'm Kizami."
"Nice to meet you as well, Kizami-san," Guren replied. "Keitaru described you and your friends to me in his letters"-Kizami shot Kei a death glare-"But you have no idea how far from realistic his descriptions are."
"Oh, really?" Kizami said. "Thank you... I think..."
"Guren, I'll show you around the rest of the camp!" And with that, Kei and Guren left through the door, leaving Kiyo, Mejiko, and Kizami sitting in the Counselor's Corner. Kizami pursed her lips together tightly and narrowed her eyes.
"Uh oh, I know that look," Mejiko stated, poking Kizami's cheek with her finger. "What's up?"
"I don't like him."
"Well, I have to admit, I didn't think an ex-con would be quite as charming as he was, but why don't you like him?"
Kizami shrugged and leaned back on the couch. "I just have a bad feeling about him." She looked at Mejiko matter-of-factly. "And I'm usually right! Remember what I said about your cousin Mori?"
Mejiko blinked in disbelief. "Mori? As in, Morikaze, the druggie?"
Kizami nodded.
"You said he'd one day assist the pope!"
Kizami shook her head. "Listen more closely! I said he'd someday be addicted to dope!"
Kiyo threw one of the plush pillows at Kizami. "It's not like Guren was a drug dealer anyway."
"You never know!" Kizami replied hotly. "I'd feel alot more secure if I knew what he was in the slammer for."
"I suppose I would too," Mejiko added, a hint of doubt in her voice.
"Lets find out then," Kiyo said. "But I'm pretty sure that Guren wouldn't want to talk about it."
"We'll find a way to lure it out of him," Kizami said, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
"I know that look, too," Mejiko stated, pointing at Kizami's expression.
Kiyo sighed and shook his head. "I think we all know it a little too well."
- + - + - + - + - +
(To be continued.)
AN: Here's the former chapter 11/14 (or something like that). I've turned it into a bonus chapter, so feel free to skip over this one and the next chapter if you're not interested in Kei's penpal. :D Find out what Guren was in the big house for in the next chapter!