GUYS I'M SO FREAKING SORRY AND I CAN'T EVEN EXPLAIN OR EXCUSE MY BEHAVIOR OF THE PAST WEEK. I j-just can't, so I'm going to give you guys what you've been so wonderfully, patiently, fantastically, amazingly, fabulously, awesomely-
Natsume: Shut up and give them the damn story.
"So what do we have to go off on?" Sumire asked as she plucked the remaining fries off her plate and tossed them into her mouth.
"All we really have is my message," Mikan frowned as she realized that the food on her plate was gone. Immediately her hand moved to Natsume's plate and scavenged for his remaining food. Natsume rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand, opened it up, and dropped a cookie in her pleading hands. The group had stopped at an arbitrary restaurant so that they could map out their next move.
"Read it out loud." Hotaru commanded. "It's some sort of clue as to where we're supposed to go next, I presume."
Mikan recited the poem, with a sort of detached and depressed feeling. It only reminded her of the fact that the person who wrote this snatched away her sister. Even though she didn't spent much time with Aoi because of her malicious parents while growing up, she still loved her. Natsume, as if sensing his other half's discomfort, slid his arm around her shoulders and pressed his lips discreetly against her hair. She relaxed almost instantly and finished it without choking up.
Hotaru nodded and tapped the clip she had in her hair. Everybody – with the exception of Mikan – gave her a confused look. "Recording device," she explained shortly, not feeling the need to waste her precious words on such simple minded children. "Now let's think about this logically and start with the first line."
"Well, I think that the first line was made just to represent the fact that Aoi's gone," Ruka said gingerly, tapping his empty glass with his index finger.
"I took a writing class recently," Sumire leaned into Koko slightly as she thought aloud. For once Koko didn't act like an idiot and just let things happen, for which Sumire was silently grateful. "And from what I learned, whenever authors write clues or poems in stories, a lot of times there are lines just added in so that things will rhyme. It's more of a stylistic thing rather than having an actual meaning."
"If I had to guess which lines those were, I would go with the second and the fifth one." Natsume ran his free fingers through his own midnight hair.
"The third line…" Koko snatched the bacon that Sumire was about to plop into her mouth and popped it into his own. He gave her a cheeky grin. "Well, It's hard to trap a soul with bars of stone, let's think about this SPIRITUALLY. Souls are dead, and stones, are stones."
"And once again, we get the gift of Koko enlightening us with his omnipotent knowledge!" Sumire fumed at the loss of her pork product. "Hotaru, do you have anything to say on the stone part?"
"Well if we're talking about the dead, then it's probably something similar to a grave." She nodded to herself. "Yes, a grave. Because, you have nothing to lose when you're all alone, you usually aren't buried with others when in a grave."
"Yeah," Ruka nodded, thinking. "The last line says that we're supposed to meet him at the grave of the devil. So, the grave must have something to do with the devil."
Natsume was typing on his computer at the speed of light as he searched the web. "There are three cemeteries within this area."
"Search the last name of Devil in all of the cemetery directories." Mikan squeezed his arm lightly.
Natsume tapped the search button for all three gravesites. "No, there are no people buried at any of the cemeteries with the last name of devil."
Hotaru broke the silence. "Try Diablo. That means devil in Spanish."
"One Diablo," he reported. "It's at a cemetery fairly close to here, about two miles."
"Back in the van!" Koko jumped up and grabbed Sumire's hand dragging her back to the van.
"We're not letting him drive again, right?" Ruka's eyes widened as he saw Koko shoot into the front seat. Natsume, Mikan, and Hotaru all shook their heads and walked out the door of the restaurant. Hotaru immediately walked up to the front door and swung it open. She pushed Koko into the back area and climbed into the driver's seat. Ruka hopped into the passenger seat as the other four arranged themselves in the back, though a sulking Koko made it very difficult.
"When are we going to get there?" Koko complained, being a complete and total brat because of being kicked out of the front. "This car is slower than Miss. Author Person's updates!" (Fourth wall, BROKEN)
"Koko, how long is it going to take you to finally get an A in a math course?" Hotaru called in a monotone from the wheel, expertly maneuvering her way through traffic.
"Forever?"
"There's your answer. Because we are going to sacrifice your body to Satan if you continuously whine, therefore you will never arrive there."
Hotaru couldn't help but share Ruka's small grin towards her. She was fairly proud of that one threat; and its effectiveness was clearly shown through the horror that covered Koko's face. Sumire herself didn't even bother to cover her laughter at her boyfriend's shock. Call her a sadist, but there was always a certain amount of satisfaction in seeing the talkative idiot be quiet for once.
They finally arrived to the graveyard, and to everyone's surprise, Koko was still alive. They unpacked themselves from the car and immediately split into groups to search for the grave of this "Diablo" man. Natsume marched off in one direction with Mikan tucked safe and soundly underneath his long warm arm. Koko and Ruka pranced off – Koko pranced, Ruka felt embarrassed – deeper into the cemetery, while Hotaru and Sumire scanned the part of the gravesite that wasn't being covered by the others.
"I don't see any Diablo," Sumire frowned as she walked by a man with the last name of Sklonekevichenstein. "I did find a very unfortunate last name though. Bullying through his childhood can only be assumed."
"If you can stop your tangent for just a minute, then come over here. If you would like to continue, feel free, but just know I'm not listening and I truly wouldn't care even if I was." Hotaru told her as she studied the ancient grave in front of her. It was a beautiful and sturdy marble, but it clearly read 1794, meaning it was more than two hundred years old. The other interesting thing about it, was that the last name was obviously Diablo. Once Sumire noticed this, she turned around while containing her excitement and shouted to the separated members of their group, "Guys! We found Diablo!"
"And a clue." Hotaru's eyebrows were raised. "I think Personna knew that we were going to find this, because it's not written in Braille. Point two for the psychopath."
"What was point one?"
"Kidnapping the child?"
"Ah. That did happen."
"Will you read it out loud?" Mikan requested, only hearing the part about it not being in Braille. "I would really like to hear what the sicko has to say this time."
Hotaru cleared her throat and started reading.
"Flowers bloom where they soak in the sun,
Friendship starts with two not one;
Where it all began on that fateful day,
Where it lead, who could say;
From friends to lovers all in the same place,
Back to your origins is where you must trace."
After hearing the last two lines, Mikan immediately looked up at Natsume, nervous excitement in her sightless eyes. He met her blind gaze as she whispered and he muttered at the same time, "The hospital?"
CRAP GUYS! I'M UPDATING! CRAZY RIGHT?! Seriously guys, you have no idea how sorry I am about how late this is. I've been swamped and I sprained my ankle and it's been absolutely insane, but on the bright side, I made it into the elite (meaning you have to audition) singing group in our school! I, a FRESHMAN, beat out 11 other sophomores, juniors, and seniors for my part! And by the way guys, it's my best friend's birthday today! So, if you happen to review – which would be LOVELY by the way – then please wish her a happy birthday! Thank you people so much, and I ADORE you all!