Chapter 25: Room Searching

It didn't take long for Luka search for Teto. When she had deduced the group of girls she was looking for were neither in Gumi's room or Sonika's room, she had pulled someone aside and they had told her were Teto's room was.

Luka knocked hesitantly on the door to the room she had been led to.

"Who is it?" she heard Sonika call.

"Luka."

There was a shuffling from inside the room and soon the door was flung open. Sonika smiled lopsidedly at Luka and beckoned for her to come inside. "Come on in, Luka."

Luka shuffled inside, Sonika closing the door behind her. She looked around, Teto's room was definitely tidier than both Gumi's and Sonika's. There was only one bed, so Luka could tell Teto was the only one who stayed in that room, hence the small size. Sitting in a huddle on the small floor was Gumi, Rin and a girl with curly red hair that Luka assumed was Teto. Well, Ritsu had described Teto's hair as being curly and red but it looked more pink than red, matching the dark pink patterns on her outfit.

"You must be Teto," Luka said, giving the younger girl a warm smile. "I'm Luka."

Teto smiled back, although it was a sad smile. "I know, these girls have told me a lot about you."

Luka eyed the three other girls with a raised eyebrow. "I hope you didn't tell her anything bad."

"Just that you're obsessively in love with Gakupo, that's all." Gumi flashed Luka a cheesy grin.

Luka retorted with a mock glare, hands on hips. "Thank you very much, Gumi."

"No problem." Gumi kept grinning as she bumped her fist against Sonika's.

Luka ruined her attention to Tin, whom looked content with the company she was with. "How are you holding up down here?"

"Me? I'm cool!" Rin beamed. "I wish I came down here sooner! I've just learned how awesome humans are!"

Luka laughed. "Well that's good to hear."

"So, Luka, is there a reason why you're here?" Teto asked.

Luka shifted her weight from one foot to another. "Aren't I allowed to come meet my friends?"

"No," Gumi said seriously before laughing. "Course you are."

Luka laughed too. "Well, actually, there is a reason I came here."

"There is?" Teto looked up at Luka with her head cocked to the side.

Luka grinned. "Ritsu would like to see you."

Teto's eyes widened. "You found Ritsu."

Luka nodded. "We did, along with Oliver and Yuki."

"I must go see him!" Teto exclaimed, jumping to her feet. She sprinted pass Luka and put of the room.

"Come on, we might as well go with her!" Gumi chortled and she and Sonika left the room.

"Let's go," Luka said to Rin and they both left together, hanging back and walking at a leisurely pace.

As they were heading to the living room Luka spotted Lily.

"Where are they off to in such a hurry?" Lily asked, eying the three girls whom had just run past.

"Living room," Luka replied simply.

"Living room?" Lily raised and eyebrow. "Something special happening?"

"Luka found Oliver, Ritsu and Yuki!" Rin said with a smile. She paused. "That was their names, right?"

Luka nodded. "Don't forget Gakupo, Leon and I think his name is Tonio were there too."

"You found them? Damn, I was hoping to help." Lily muttered something else under her breath. "Well, I'm glad they're safe."

"Gonna come see them with us?" Luka inquired.

Lily shook her head. "Nah, I'm busy now."

"Doing what?" Rin asked.

Luka nudged Rin in the head. "Don't be so rude."

"I wasn't!"

"I left Meiko alone in the mess hall. I dunno where she's gone now, so I thought I'd go look for her." Lily crossed her arms. "I want to talk to her."

Luka smiled. "Seem like you became friends quicker than we did."

Lily huffed. "Whoever said we were friends?"

Luka grinned. "I did."

"I don't remember agreeing to it." A small smile tugged at Lily's lips.

"We slept together, so I guess that makes us friends." Luka mimicked Lily's pose.

Lily snorted. "I'm not so keen on how you phrased that."

Both Lily and Luka laughed, and were both interrupted by Rin. "Are we going to go with the others?"

Luka looked down the corridor. "I guess. But maybe we should go look for Meiko."

Lily grunted. "I'll look for Meiko myself, if you don't mind. I did say I needed to talk to her." She looked sternly at Luka. "And we aren't friends, far from it."

Luka stared at Lily in a confused way. "Did something happen?"

"None of your concern." Lily waved a dismissive hand and walked away.

Luka frowned after Lily. Had something happened when they'd left Lily and Meiko alone in the mess hall? Luka suddenly felt like leaving the two of them to be alone together again was a bad idea.

Rin tugged on Luka's arm. "Are we gonna go then?"

"Yeah, sure," Luka said and the two of them headed in the direction of the living room.

They were the last ones to arrive there, arriving to a room full of chatty, excited people.

"Wow, it got busy quickly," Luka remarked as she searched the crowd of people.

She could see Big Al talking to Gakupo while Sweet Ann fussed over Oliver and Ryuto simultaneously. Yuki was being hugged by Kiyoteru, as well as two teenage girls Luka assumed were her sisters. Ritsu was practically being smothered by his parents, Teto seeming delighted her little brother was okay. Leon and Kaito hovered around awkwardly while Gumi and Sonika ran over to Rin.

"Come on, Rin," Sonika said, grabbing on of Rin's arms.

"We gotta go," Gumi chipped in, grabbing Rin's other arm/

"But I just got here!" Rin complained.

"Yeah, but there's no point in us actually being here," Gumi remarked before the two green haired girls pulled the rather annoyed angel out of the room.

"She's right, you know," Gakupo said, and Luka turned to face him. He and Big Al had wondered over. "We should let them all embrace their kids, send them to bed and whatever."

"I suppose that's fair," Luka said.

"Well, I just wanted to thank you for helping find Oliver," Big Al said. "And obviously Yuki and Ritsu too."

"And Ryuto?" Luka asked. Big Al and Gakupo shared a brief glance. Luka raised her eyebrows. "What's that look for?"

"Well, we were just discussing Ryuto," Gakupo muttered.

"And?" Luka asked.

"And we think something's up," Big Al concluded.

"Something's up? With Ryuto?" Luka frowned and gazed over at the young green haired boy. Now that the two of them had mentioned it, something did seem rather odd about him. Luka couldn't place her finger on it, but he felt rather peculiar.

"Look, we should go discuss this somewhere else," Gakupo said, turning to face Big Al. "You stay here. Give it ten minutes then send the kids to bed. Come meet me in the conference room afterwards."

"All right," Big Al said, and he gave Gakupo a mock salute before returning to his wife and son.

"Leon, Kaito, we're leaving, you're coming too," Gakupo called out.

The two of them nodded and the four of them left the room together.

Lola strolled down the corridor. She was trying to find people but they'd all seemed to disappear. She couldn't find either Leon or Sonika, Luka was nowhere to be found either. It seemed like everyone she actually talked to had all vanished and ran away somewhere. Lola just shrugged to herself. She's find them all eventually.

Suddenly, as she rounded the corner, she collided with somebody.

"Sorry! I didn't see you there!" Lola exclaimed, jumping back in shock.

"Uh, it's no issue, don't worry about it."

Lola looked up to see one of the angel's that had come down the day before. She racked her brain for the angel's name but she couldn't remember it.

The angel tilted her head to the side. "Is something wrong?"

"Uh, no, well, I was just trying to remember your name." Lola smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, I forgot what it was."

The angel gave Lola a small smile. "That's fine, it's not like I remember yours either."

Lola giggled. "So, what is your name?"

"I'm Meiko."

"Well, I'm Lola."

"Nice to meet you, Lola."

"Nice to meet you, Meiko."

The two of them then stood there silently, staring at each other. They both looked like they wanted to say something but neither did. Instead they just stared. Lola just took in all of Meiko's details, short brown hair and brown eyes, she had a rather simplistic appearance, not anything eye catching. Nonetheless, she was absolutely stunning, just like Luka, her beauty extremely captivating. Were all angels that gorgeous? Was there even any such thing like an ugly angel or did they just not exist?

"You're extremely pretty," Lola said out loud. "I'm really envious."

Meiko rolled her eyes. "The male humans won't take their eyes off of me."

Lola laughed. "I'm sorry. I'll try to keep my eyes off of you."

Meiko just shook her head. "Don't worry about it."

Lola rocked back and forth on her heals. "I bet all angels are as pretty as you."

"Well, not meaning to sound not modest in any way, angels are meant to be inhumanly beautiful," Meiko said. "We're supposed to be stunning. Good looks are a part of being an angel, I guess."

Lola smiled. "Well, I wish I was an angel, could sort out my hair."

Meiko examind Lola's hair. "I think your hair is fine, it's a lot like RIn's actually, just black."

"You think so?" Lola asked then she frowned. "Rin was the small blonde angel, right?"

Meiko nodded. "And the other one was Kaito."

"The one you slept with?"

"Yes, the one I slept with."

Lola grinned. "I bet you like him."

Meiko frowned. "I don't understand what you mean."

"You know, like him, just like Luka likes Gakupo." Lola kept grinning.

"I'm just going to avoid this topic," Meiko said. "I was actually heading to my room."

"Really?" Lola asked. "Want me to take you there?"

"I can handle it myself."

"Bet you can't."

"Bet I can."

Lola just smirked and stepped aside. "Then feel free to continue walking in the opposite direction."

Meiko frowned. "Opposite direction?"

Lola pointed in the direction Meiko had come from. "Your room is that direction. Want me to take you there."

Meiko gave up, "All right, all right, take me to my room."