I do not own anything from Danball Senki Wars.

Mia had to stiff her laughter as she and Reika went to school the next day. True to her word, Catherin had trailed after them the moment they left the dorms. Of course, an amateur like her could not hide herself from the two highly trained girls.

"Mia, why is Catherin tailing us?" Reika whispered having noticed her trailing them within the first five seconds.

"I suspect it has something to do with Muraku and today's mission." Mia said with her lips curved up in amusement.

Reika covered her mouth to hide her giggles. "In that case, shouldn't we humor her?"

"Let's." Mia smirked and raised her voice. "You know, I've been thinking."

"What have you been thinking?" Reika smirked back, playing along.

"Given what Muraku told me…" Mia trailed off pretending to be in deep thought. "I doubt that he would enjoy..." Mia whispered something in Reika's ear but Catherin assumed it was about today's mission.

"Why so?"

"Given our attitudes and sense of fun, I doubt that we would make it easy for him." Mia snuck a glance at Catherin inconspicuously and was satisfied to see the girl riled up at her words. She must be wondering what Muraku had told her.

"But, I really hope I would get to see it but I might not be there." Reika groaned.

"Not everything can go our way, my dear friend." Mia comforted her. "Besides, it's not like we can't record it and show you on Skype."

Mia could sense Catherin's confusion now and gave a satisfied smirk. "I mean, he said it himself that he won't enjoy the summer because Maya's home too. We can tease him all we want and surely he would have some sort of reaction."

Reika chuckled and nodded. "Ok, too bad we can't visit at all."

"You should drop by California once." Mia motioned Reika to slip into the alley while Catherin was thrown off by their conversation. Once she was sure no one was watching, she created an illusion to hide themselves.

Catherin snapped out of her confusion long enough to notice that both Mia and Reika were gone. "Where could they have gone?" She grumbled. "They must have gone ahead."

She gave the alley a spare glance to make sure that they were not hiding inside but Mia's illusion was too strong for her to see through it and walked by it. Once she was gone, Mia and Reika burst into laughter.

"That was so good!" Reika clutched her sides which were hurting with laughter. "We tricked her real good!"

"Yeah, she thought that we were talking about the mission!" Mia slapped her thighs. Her laugher began to subside and sobered up. "But we have a problem. She thinks that we are ahead of her."

"Leave that to me~" Reika sang and threw a crystal. A light blue portal opened and they jumped into it.

Catherin halted in her tracks when she noticed a glow from the trees from the corner of her eye and went to it to investigate. She did not expect to see Mia and Reika playing with a key chain that also works as a flashlight.

"Huh!?"

"Oh, Catherin, nice of you to drop by." Reika grinned. "Check out my new flashlight key chain." She flashed it a few times to show her. "See? Cool, isn't it?"

Catherin stood frozen on the spot, not knowing what to say. "Um..

"Well, it looks like Mia's the only one interested." Reika sighed and linked her arm into hers. "Come on, let's go."

Catherin did not move as she stared at the two girls in utter confusion. Once they were a good distance away, Mia sighed in relief. "Thank goodness I sensed her when we came out or we would have some questions to answer."

"But coming up with the excuse of a flashlight was a pain." Reika moaned.

"We better be more careful then." Mia told her. "But no doubt she would give up tailing me from now on."

"You came." Muraku gave Mia a curt nod.

She returned it with a smile and looked around. "And your friends are not here. What do you want to talk to me about?"

Muraku did not answer her immediately and looked at her closely. "Can you stay out of my fight with Arata later?"

Mia quirked an eyebrow in mild surprise and went to stand beside him. "I suppose it has something to do with Arata being your rival?"

Muraku nodded. "I need to settle things right here and right now."

"No offence, but I'll say that Arata is strong enough to hold his ground against you." Mia said nonchalantly. "Besides, I understand your feelings but weren't you given a direct order to protect Angel Piece?"

"Mia, have you been in my head again?" Muraku sighed.

"Once or twice." Mia said innocently.

"I told you before that I don't appreciate you poking inside of my head without my permission." Muraku reminded her.

"Call it retaliation for criticizing my wardrobe choice, my relationship with Atsuya, my friendship and closeness with Maya…"

"Alright, I get your point." Muraku cut in. "But that does not mean you can simply look into my mind whenever you want."

"It was just a spur moment of frustration." Mia defended. "Besides, even if I didn't I would have found out through our twin bond sooner or later."

"Even so, if I remember correctly, you seldom obey direct orders, so you're one to talk." Muraku pointed out.

"Touché." Mia muttered and sighed. "I think we strayed from the main point here."

Muraku sighed too and leaned on the fence. "So are you going to participate in the fight?"

Mia thought for a moment and groaned. "I'll do as you ask, but on two conditions."

"What is it?" Muraku asked although he had a bad feeling about it.

"One. You have to go to the summer beach concert with Maya and I."

"What?!"

"You heard me." Mia said smugly. "Maya said that the youth club voted for me to do a song or two then, so I expect you to be there. You can bring your friends too. I'm sure that they'll enjoy it too."

Muraku sighed. He was not planning to go at all but he could not see any way out of it without having Mia joining the battle. "Fine."

Mia smirked victoriously and held up two fingers. "Two. Don't hold back at all. Arata is going to go all out so I'll expect you to do the same."

Muraku blinked in surprise but smiled back. "Sure. Tell him that I'm looking forward to our battle."

"Right." Mia opened the door to leave but pause before she left. "But don't blame me if Mikhail and Vanessa get defeated! It's your fault to ask me not to interfere with you and Arata!" She called over her shoulder not able to resist a joke.

Muraku opened his mouth to retaliate but Mia closed the door behind her before he could. "That girl…"

He closed his mouth and smiled. "That's just the way she is. I'm sorry, Vanessa, Mikhail. But it looks like you would have some difficulties with her."

"So how did it go?" Mikhail asked his captain when he came back to class.

"She agreed to leave Arata to me." Muraku said shortly.

"So she's going to be up against us." Vanessa confirmed. "Looks like we got a tough opponent on hand."

"Even so, be careful of the rest of Jenock." Muraku warned them.

"Don't worry, we'll definitely protect the flag." Mikhail assured him. "We'll hold them off until you win your battle with Arata."

Muraku smiled at his two best friends. "I'm counting on the both of you."

"Muraku, there's something I don't understand though." Kageto spoke up confusedly. "Why did she agree to step away from the fight?"

Muraku tensed for a few seconds and answered. "We came to an agreement."

"What sort of agreement?" Vanessa asked curiously.

"I suppose she will brag about it when we get to California next week." Muraku said mysteriously, signaling the end of the conversation.

The three friends exchanged glances and shrugged. It couldn't be too serious from what Muraku is suggesting.

"By the way, thanks for having us over for the summer." Vanessa suddenly spoke.

"It's fine." Muraku smiled. "Although don't mind Mia and my cousin, Maya, if they drag you around."

"Don't worry. It's probably better than staying at home alone." Mikhail said.

Muraku's lips twitched at his words but went unnoticeable to anyone. 'Mia and Maya would probably make him eat his words.' He thought to himself.

I had fun writing Mia's prank on Catherin and her attitude with Muraku~

Please review! Check out Kamui Pokemon Academy too!