I should really go back to my main stories wherein it's not too difficult to get into the minds of the characters. First POV is too difficult! I'm going to die I swear.

In other news, has anyone yet figured out the blue-shades wearing American that's way too frequently been making cameos and appearances here and there in the past chapters? I'm sure a majority who still read have. *sweatdrop*

Thanks for the support of this slowly progressive story! :'D

Disclaimer: New Year, new owner of the Inazumaverse? Amarayt, Level 5.

21: The American Zero

Kiss me, I'm American.

"Seriously, bro. I need your help here. I need your stupid here."

"Hey, that's rude!" He heard himself shouting at the phone that did nothing but pass the message to him. "It's called charm, you dork, and women love it!" Inside the two-story dessert shop, costumers were pointing and whispering about the particularly loud American male beside the ghost girl. "If you don't want us kicked out," Rein was barely holding in her ire as she spoke in English. "Shot up!"

The blond teen immediately stopped glaring at his phone and instead looked surprised at his silver-haired companion. "Did you just," He couldn't help snicker at the looping words in his head. "Did you just say 'shot up'?"

The red-eyed teen scoffed. "No."

"You so totally did." He was still laughing to his heart's content, and was by now showing teeth, gums and tongue. Rein could never forget this childhood friend was the very idea of boisterousness.

"Freak."

"Shot up, will you?" He wiped a tear.

Mark tapped his foot on the thick office carpet. He was still inside Donnie's office, even after Hiroki-san had left (and had given the school president her own bag of half-consumed jelly beans) to go home and do Christ knows what. Where was Dylan when he needed him and his stupid? 'No calls or text ever since. Is he waiting for my corpse to be FedEx-ed?'

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Donnie's voice was light, careful and overall calculating. She sounded almost like Mr. K, despite only having known about him for a short while after Orpheus mentioned him to the rest of the teams during his funeral. He'd heard the blond man speak a few times during the games. "And pardon the formality – it's kind of…part of work." Mark waved his hand dismissively, the brunette still feeling a little green in the face. "Right, right. Will, uh, will you be talking like that the whole day?"

"Well this is a workplace," Donnie gestured to the vast room, which was part-library (the only renovation she ever dared do) and part-office. "And I am working."

Light, careful, calculating.

Last year at the FFI she had been so different, so carefree. It was most likely because she was still a teen with at least a father (despite how evil he had seemed at the time) to make her feel that she was. After the Garshield incident, he hadn't heard much from her then, but he had seen how Donnie had been forced to quickly grow up.

"Is something the matter, Mr. Kruger?" The mature tone in her voice snapped Mark back to the present. It hadn't occurred to him that she was speaking a near accent-less English. "You did come here to query me about something, didn't you?" Donnie sounded like Shibasaki Kou, alright. "Yeah," The brunette straightened up in his plush seat. "Where is the rest of my team? Other than Dylan and Domon, we all flew in the same plane to Japan, but I lost them somewhere along the trip to the hotel."

"How'd you end up at Teikoku?"

"By some stroke of luck, I'd say." The American bit his lip and looked away, embarrassed. He heard the Japanese girl laugh softly – a laugh he knew was practiced and an act, because if anything, Donnie was Dylan's Japanese counterpart: loud and boisterous and completely un-Japanese. "Where do you think can I find Dylan?" He said, handing the school president his phone with the screen on Dylan's conversation. The blackette studied it for a moment, scrutinized the vague hints of the blond boy's whereabouts, then relaxed into a smile.

"This is all too fitting a place for him."

"You think?" Rein studied the rival dessert shop strategically located across Sherry's a little more. Then she nodded a little, making sure her parasol (A/N: I think author-san would kill me for this because this was my own contribution. X.x) covered her needlessly slim figure. "Why wouldn't it be? Mark has always been the gentleman, prince-like type," She explained as the two walked away from the shop. "Unlike his other half, who's a complete American Zero from Team Make Believe."

"Hey!" Dylan Keith, because really, who else could be Mark Kruger's other half? Protested. "I'm the star player! And you said Team Unicorn sounded legit!"

"I was twelve and retarded!"

"That is true," Dylan pretended to be pensive about the claim.

"Much like you right now."

"Hey!"

Rein smirked. Now if only Mark was with her, then she'd have a hell of a fun time mocking Dylan like they usually did when she was still studying in America. Wait a minute. Did she just say with her? She meant with them. She totally meant with them. Ugh.

"So why haven't you asked about Mark yet? You've made me do all the shy questioning like some middle schooler with her high school boyfriend," Dylan walked with his hands in his pockets, only showing the blue wristbands he sported for the heck of it. "Don't be shy, Yami-tan," Dylan grinned as his companion only became redder by the second.

"Daddy Dylan's got your back!"

"You freak!" She squeaked – squeaked, she realized – at him as she closed the umbrella and began whacking the foreigner with it. "I don't know what to do with you, seriously!"

"You're freaking killing me, that's what you're doing!" Dylan was laughing, nevertheless. He was totally enjoying the torture towards Rein. The parasol whacking? Not so much.

"God, you're so retarded!" She retaliated, almost dangerously close to taking out her hidden pistol and shooting him with a sleeping bullet; she was almost willing to drag him halfway across Inazuma Town if it meant some peace for inner thinking. "Freaking idiot!"

"Ow! Hey!"

"Shut up while I'm trying to kill you!"

"Did somebody say shot up?" Dylan cackled again as he sprinted away from her reach.

"You've done it now, Keith!" The pale girl ran faster when she didn't have her shoes on, and with two quick tugs, had them by the laces. Dylan made the mistake of stopping and turning back, which explained for the two marks of small shoeprints on his face. "Dude!"

"Yes?" Rein's naturally bloodred irises were very dangerously close to Dylan's nape. And that only meant one thing. The boy raised both hands with caution. "I admit defeat, master."

The petite beauty stepped backward to give her more toned companion space to breathe, and upon realizing her uncharacteristic behavior that anyone might have seen, much more Mark, she cleared her throat in an attempt to regain her composure. "Mighty good of you to be embarrassed," Dylan wheezed, trying to stop himself from laughing again.

"Did somebody ask for a deathwish?"

"Totally not, master."

"That's weird," Donnie blinked at the environment, as did Mark. This was where Dylan was at? It looked like a 50s retro bar with all its weird seats and waiters on roller blades. Except this was a twenty-first century dessert shop. "The shop or…?" Mark offered.

"The or," Donnie smiled helplessly back at him. "I could've sworn he meant this place. I mean, if I was Dylan, I'd be here myself."

"What's the diagnosis, Sherlock?"

"Hold on, I'll talk to the owner," Donnie said as Mark settled on a glass table with its fragile-looking glass chairs to match. "Sayuri-san would know. I'll return in a while. Order anything under my tab if you want."

"On the contrary, I'll do some sleuthing myself," Mark stood and headed for the elderly couple that had been pointing at them earlier.

"Konnichiwa."

"Konnichiwa," The woman smiled. "Osu," The man nodded. Mark swallowed and prayed he could remember all the Japanese he learned in class and on TV. "I noticed you had been pointing at me. Had you, by any chance, seen my yellow-haired friend?"

"Donnie!" Sokudone spun around in response, forgetting she had been conversing with Sayuri the Owner. "I know where they are, come on," Mark made a quick once-over on the owner, nodded as politely as he could, and grabbed Sokudone's unoccupied hand, which was something she was going to rat him out later for, if she remembered.

Mark hoped she didn't. Physical contact with those of the same age and opposite sex was totally un-Japanese.

This was very quickly written, without any intention of rushing it. On the contrary, the words just flowed through me, which explains the 1500 word count. :D I'm sorry, please review! I hope the characters turned out okay!

Also, I had trouble with my italics title. I was going to put "Oh, he definitely actually totally isn't.", because of the wordplay stereotype that American teens often say totally, but if you knew where I came up with this, then yeah. It's a song. From an American band. Lol.

And you guys might not have noticed, but this is set on the third and last year of middle school for the whole cast, which means a year after the canon events and FFI, and Tsunami would most likely be in his first year in high school. So yeah. :D

You're going to have to review you know. I'll surprise you if you do. :3

-Strawbeariiis