Kaze glared at the stack of nine jugs, carefully judging the distance and force it would take to knock them all down. Four balls later, he still couldn't manage to get more than seven jugs down. After getting what he thought to be the right idea, he reeled his arm back before letting the ball fly. The ball hit the middle jug, causing the others above and around it to quickly tumble, followed by two beneath it. The last jug started wobbling, but soon came to a halt, causing Kaze to grumble his complaints. "L-look at it this way! You did better than before," I pointed out. Kaze nodded before picking up another ball from the rack. Before he could even start focusing, my ringtone sounded. "Ah, sorry, but I should check this," I said. Kaze nodded before returning to sizing up the reset jugs.

I dodged my way through the crowd after that, making my way to the open area near the entrance to the main building of the area, where the noise was the most bearable. I pulled my phone out, checking the Caller ID. All that was there was *67. My instincts nagged at me to just ignore the call and return to Kaze, who was still struggling to get his aim together, but another part of my brain told me to answer it. What if it was someone I knew, like Rua? But... why would Rua use *67...?

That's how I ended up answering the phone. I let curiosity get the best of me. "Hello," I asked.

"Just stay where you are. We'll be there to pick you up soon." Then the caller hung up. Pick me up...? That wasn't Rua... That was a girl's voice. Was it just a wrong number call? Yeah, that had to be it. The world was safe. Our Signer marks weren't back, that was proof enough. Someone must have just had the wrong number!

Feeling heartened, I made my way back through the crowd to the game stand where I left Kaze at. Only he wasn't there anymore. "Excuse me, but did you see where my friend left to," I asked to the teen behind the table.

"Uhm, that guy wearing red, right," the boy asked. I nodded. "He got a call from someone too. Said something about he had to go meet up with someone quick," the boy said.

"He left without telling me," I asked softly. I should have known... This was... It was all too good to be true... Rei or Sherry probably called him and he left instantly to go after them... But why would they...?

My phone rang again, this time using the tone that meant I had a text message. I dug out my phone once more and opened the message. 'Come to the nurse's room in the main building of the carnival. We'll be waiting. 'From 'Anonymous'. This was just my luck... It's not like I could call or text this person back either, to tell them they had the wrong number... But... wait.. Carnival...? Main building...? What if this was really meant for me...? What if Noir came back and wanted to catch up...? Yeah, that's probably it! It's nothing strange! Kaze was probably there, waiting for me.

I nodded my thanks to the teen before walking off. It didn't take me too long to reach the designated area, but when I reached the room, the lights were all off. I reached to turn them on, but a hand caught mine, causing me to freeze. Shivers ran up my spine. Whoever was here... They more than likely weren't friendly. And they weren't Kaze.

"Just hold up, will you," a familiar voice asked through the dark.

"R-Rei," I asked.

"You can't be turning on lights all willy nilly like that! That's my job," Rei said before letting go of my hand and turning on the lights herself, apparently having some pride in that task. In the clearly unused nurse's area, both Sherry and Rei were waiting. By the way they were dressed, you would think that they were on their dates still. Rei was wearing a long blue sundress with a beret on, which was most likely borrowed from Sherry, as Rei wasn't one to wear hats. Sherry was wearing a low cut, black and white stripped shirt with a semi-long yellow skirt. Me...? I was wearing my usual pink and white attire.

"She was looking forward to doing a dramatic reveal, or something Rei-like," Sherry said.

"Well, it sure was dramatic enough," I murmured.

"Sheesh! We're here to help you, and this is what we get? We're here to help you out of this mess you've gotten yourself into," Rei said.

"Just what's going on! I didn't interrupt your guys' dates, so why are you interrupting mine," I asked, doing my best to keep my anger in check.

"It's for your own good," Sherry said, which didn't convince me any more.

"Honestly! You and your dates with Kaze! You dress so casually, you'd swear that he was your big brother or something," Rei sighed. I was about to protest that those were Rua's feelings of Kaze at the beginning of our relationship, but Rei didn't seem intent on listening. "Besides! The carnival? How can you expect anything romantic to happen at the carnival," Rei asked. To my surprise, she actually sounded a little mad.

"What do you care...? Any other time, you'd be all over a mistake like that," I said.

"Like it or not, the three of us are like sisters, fighting for the guy we like! It's painful to see one of you guys make one of the worst mistakes you'll ever make," Rei said.

"Thanks for that," I muttered. Rei quickly jumped, realizing the harshness in her words.

"Y-you know what I mean," Rei said. "But anyway, we gotta get you fixed up! We can get you a new fancy hair style and-," Rei started.

"No thanks," I said, taking the two by surprise.

"W-what do you mean," Sherry asked.

"Yeah! We're going to help you out! We'll dress you up real pretty and-," Rei started once more.

"If Kaze won't love me just because of the way I'm dressed, then it was never meant to be anyway. If Kaze really loved me, I could come here wearing something ugly, mismatching, and crazy and he'd still compliment me and everything," I said. The two before me didn't say anything. Rei bit at her fingernail, quite obvious to how awkward the atmosphere turned.

"So, ah... you don't want our help," Rei asked softly.

"I'm grateful for your offer, but no thanks. I'm content with what I look like now," I said before turning around and walking off, leaving the two even more stunned.

"Man... where have we been all these years...? Ruka's grown up so much..."

Now that I think about it, wandering off without asking Sherry and Rei where Kaze was... That probably wasn't the smartest thing I could have done. Out of options, I returned to where I last saw Kaze, hoping that he had magically returned. After confronting Rei and Sherry, my luck seemed to take a turn for the better, as he was sitting there, aiming a ball at the jugs, as if I hadn't even left. I opened my mouth to say something, but then my luck took a 360. "Kaaaaaze!" There was a crash of jugs as Rei tackled Kaze. During his interrupted throw, the ball had actually knocked all the jugs down. Kaze, the three of us girls, and the teen behind the table were all stunned. Rei recovered the quickest. "That's the power of my love, baby..."

"Uh... Ruka... help yourself to whatever prize you get... I guess... I mean, it's your date," Kaze said, clearly feeling confusing about the entry of Rei and Sherry.

"R-really...? Uh, thanks," I said before turning to the shelves which the teen designated to me.

"Just what are you guys doing here? Your dates are over and done," Kaze said.

"Woah, woah, woah," the teen shouted, interrupting my internal debates between a stuffed lion and a stuffed bear. He shot a look from me to Kaze, from Rei to Kaze, and then Sherry to Kaze, and repeated several times. "You mean to tell me that you got all these hot chicks fawning over you and you get to date them all," the teen shouted. My face quickly flushed a bright red. H-hot? No one's ever... Is that what Kaze thought now too...? I shot a glance at Kaze, who was blushing, but was doing his best to hide it.

"They aren't-" Kaze stopped in mid-sentence. He shot a glance at Sherry and Rei. Rei gave him an approving nod of holding his tongue.

"As a note, he isn't dating all of us, we're just trying to get him to chose," Rei said.

"He's failing miserably, I might add," Sherry noted.

"Ah, I see. You just want all these chicks to yourself! Props, man! You gotta teach me sometime," the teen grinned.

"Honestly...? It's not as great as you think. The cat fights are horrible," Kaze muttered. Rei promptly slammed her heel onto his foot. While wearing high heels, I imagine that it hurt quite a bit, but Kaze did his best to keep it in. "See...? Told you," Kaze mumbled.

"Not very lady like today, are we," Sherry asked.

"That's the third time he's said a comment like that! You were doing so good, Kaze! Why'd you have to regress," Rei asked.

"I'm sorry, but it's the truth," Kaze argued. He quickly raised his foot before Rei could stomp on it again.

"You so owe me some cotton candy for this," Rei muttered.

"Dude. I don't know what you're complaining about," the teen said. Kaze shot him a glance that suggested he was crazy, but the teen didn't seem to mind.

"Kaaaze! Come on, I want that cotton candy now," Rei pouted, pulling at Kaze's sleeve as she did.

"B-but what about-," Kaze started.

"Ruka's a big girl! She can pick on her own," Rei said.

"But this is-," Kaze started.

"This is a matter of life or death, Kaze! My stomach is going to explode of emptiness," Rei insisted, tugging even harder. Kaze shot me a glance, and I just smiled, giving him the approval to go. He didn't even get to walk though, as Rei promptly dragged him off towards the food, Sherry quickly following.

This was it... this was the last day I'd have with Kaze before he... No, I have to stay positive. I can't think like this after what I told Rei and Sherry. I have to stay strong... Kaze will definitely... "Can I have the bear, please," I asked. The teen nodded, but instead of grabbing the bear first, he quickly wrote something on a piece of paper, which he handed to me with the bear. I looked at the sheet and I noticed there was a number on it.

"If, ah.. You know, one or two or all of you get bored or something," the teen trailed off. I couldn't help but giggle, seeing his face turn red.

"I'll be sure to let them know."

Reviews:

The Wild Fang:You know, I should have had the titles be 'Strike One', 'Strike Two', and 'Strike Three'... Then have the last chapter be 'You're out' or something... Yes, poor Kaze is doomed to forever have his words taken the wrong way.

GodzillaG: As you probably know, I am trying to work on that right now... The file is just... somewhere on my flash drive.

Notes:

- For the first time, I was watching/listening to the TV while writing this chapter. Several things caught my interest ever so much... Such as the 'Pinesole' commercial. That just got to me, and thus it was implemented into here, said by none other than Rei. My mom was watching a soap opera or something as well, and thus the dramatic confrontation was born.