Chapter 37

There.

Rima slumped herself down the wall as she sighed in relief. She could see a CCTV monitor from where she stayed, and it looks like Utau and Kukai got away for the time being. They couldn't be seen through the monitors, and it looks like the guards had lost them. Still, that wasn't enough to assure Rima. She grabbed her cell phone then dialed Kukai's number. It took about three rings before he picked up. And when he said "Hello," he sounded exasperated.

"You guys okay?" Rima asked quietly, cupping the phone and her mouth as an attempt to hide the fact that she was making a call in the middle of doing work. You know…in case there are cameras in the area, which didn't make much sense, really, since her ponytail snapped and now her hair was down. She looked just her usual self. No disguise, no shades to hide her identity.

"Y-yes…" he gasped, and Rima mentally cried in glee for hearing Kukai out of breath for the first time! "But you guys should be careful. It looks like they're in high alert now"

"Don't worry. They think we work here" she whispered. Then, a thought came to her mind. "By the way, where are you guys?"

Kirishima, who wanted to hear Kukai's reply, leaned in closer to the phone's speakers.

"We went down a chute and now we're in a pile of clothes"

"Gross"

"Aww, it's not that ba—" Kukai was cut off by the sound of Utau's voice. From what Rima could hear, the idol seemed to be saying something like, "gross" and "no time for calls" and "out of here" and "ramen after".

"Call you back!" Kukai said before hanging up. Rima sighed at the phone, deciding that getting carried away was a big no-no.

"Takashi-san!"

Rima's head jerked up. That surname was familiar.

"Takashi Meiko-san!"

Where had she heard it again?

The person who's been calling the name gave out an aggravated sigh for getting no response. Then, after huffing a breath he said, "Newbie with the ID Takeshi Meiko!"

Oh that's me! Rima thought. She abruptly turned her head and nearly smiled when she saw Kairi and Yaya walking up to them.

"What are you doing here?" Kirishima asked.

"We were also assigned to watch over the exit!" Yaya squealed, removing her shades. Kairi pushed his glasses up, slightly annoyed by how Yaya wasn't trying to blend in at all. At this rate, he thought, his brows scrunching up a little, we're going to get caught…

"So tell," Rima snapped, "have you found either Ikuto or the ugly hobbit?"

"Ugly hobbit?" Kairi muttered, confused. Yaya pat him in the shoulder then said, "It's what Rima-tan calls Nagi"

"Why?" asked Kairi. Yaya seemed to think about it for a moment. Then she said, "I guess it's because she doesn't like him? Or maybe it's their way to show affection towards each other"

Kirishima quickly spun around to see Rima's reaction. She was slowly becoming red, though from the frown, it looked like she was red because of anger.

"Denied! What affection? What's so affectionate about Nagihiko?"

"Don't worry," Kairi sighed, glancing over at Yaya who was huddling behind him, obviously clueless. "She didn't mean the romantic type of affection. I'm sure she meant the friendly type. She always says things that could otherwise lead to misunderstandings"

"O-oh…" Rima and Kirishima muttered, both red in the face. For a moment, Rima wondered how Kairi could know Yaya more that she did when she's known her for years, and he's known her for merely a few hours. However, the thought was cut off because the guard that had stopped Rima and Kirishima at the entrance suddenly came into view. Rima was the first to react. Her eyes widened and all she could do was mutter a soft, "Oh my gosh…"

"Should we run away?" Yaya whispered.

"We shouldn't. Maybe he just wants to give us further instructions, and I say that running away would just arouse his suspicions…" Kairi said, pushing his glasses up.

"YOU INTRUDERS STAY THERE! I AM TAKING YOU STRAIGHT TO THE TORTURE CHAMBER!" the man yelled, digging a gun from his pocket and pointing it at them.

Kairi felt Yaya grip him in the arm.

"Yaya says that we should run!" she cried. Then, with a quick jolt of motion, he could feel all of the wind whizzing past his face. She was dragging him like a rag doll, and he decided to feel the shame of it later on. Beside them, also leaving behind a trail of dust was Kirishima, dragging along a Rima whose mind has yet to take in the events.

The bullets strafed the air around them, and the first bullet to ever get fired streaked past Kirishima's ear, close enough to knock some of his hair aside. It was then that he remembered that they were flesh and blood, and one stroke of a bullet could mean death. Even if they run at full speed, there's no way that he can outrun a bullet.

"STOP OR I'LL SHOOT AGAIN!"

He couldn't risk that. Not when Rima's so close to the danger zone. So, he stopped. So did Yaya. And together, they held their hands up.

"Good. That's nice. Now, I want you all to—"

BANG!

Four eyes widened in fear as a bullet went through the guard's right shoulder, causing blood to seep through his uniform. His eyes widened as he let go of his gun, his left hand flying to cover the wound. He then clenched his teeth and looked back at the person who had shot him. When he saw his attacker, his eyes narrowed until they were merely slits. "Hey, how'd you get away?" he grumbled, not sounding at all like he was in any pain. Rima tried to look past the guard so she could see who fired the gun. Was it a friend or a foe? If it was a foe, then their fate was clear: imminent death.

"You could say that I beat the key out of one of your workers" was the reply of the attacker. Female, Rima thought.

"And where'd you get the gun?" asked the man.

"Quit stalling. Face me and put your hands up!"

"Oh, but you're forgetting something," the man said, moving his legs a little bit.

As he did that, Rima caught a glimpse of the attacker and felt her stomach flip. It was Nagihiko. He was the attacker. He was the one who saved them. However, before her mind could let everything sink in, in one fluid motion, the guard managed to kick his gun up, catch it, swing around and shoot Nagihiko straight at the chest. The sound of the bang was spine-tingling and dreadful. When Rima witnessed Nagihiko fall down, her blood ran cold.

"I am a professional, and I've been through much sticker situations than this" he finished.

Something clouded Rima's eyes making everything look blurry the moment that everything became clear.

Nagihiko was shot.

Nagihiko is dead.

"N-no…" she gasped, placing a stiff hand over her mouth. Her eyes went wide, the tears endlessly running down her face. T-this can't be happening. It can't be. N-Nagihiko can't be…

Yaya and Kairi, both at the back, couldn't really see what was going. They began to worry. It's rare to see Rima break down like that. After sighing, the guard turned back to them. Yaya, Kairi and Kirishima froze. The people here were ruthless. And they witnessed it when the attacker was shot.

"Now you know that I'm not kidding arou—"

SWOOSH

All four of them watched, eyes wide, as the man froze before falling forward. They waited. And waited. And when he didn't move for several seconds, they all decided that he was out cold.

Now, the first thing Rima did was glance at Nagihiko, who lay several meters away from them. She didn't care to figure out why the man suddenly fell over. The thing was, with the big man out of the way, she got a clear view of him. And when she saw him lying on the ground, limp and unmoving, she was sure that there was no chance.

"I-is that Nagi?" Yaya cried, horrified as her eyes travelled to the boy. Rima didn't want to be the one to reply. She didn't want to be the one to confirm it. She just sat there, staring at him, the tears not willing to stop.

Then, from nowhere, they heard the voice of a boy, "Gosh, I aimed well with this tranquilizer ne, Nagi-chan?"

Rima, Yaya, Kirishima and Kairi turned as they heard footsteps nearing them from behind. There stood the skinniest boy they've ever seen. He was so skinny that they could barely make out the shape of his skeleton; so skinny that for a moment, Rima thought his thick, scruffy hair would make him fall over.

"Nagi-chan, you're wearing the bullet-proof vest, right?" he said, walking past the four so he could get to Nagihiko. Rima's eyes widened. Bullet-proof vest?

"No way…" she gasped, bewildered, as she scuttled behind the boy and knelt down next to Nagihiko.

"Hey! Who are you?" the boy gasped, giving Rima a nasty glare. But Rima decided to ignore him. She just stared at Nagihiko, currently in the form of a girl. When she saw that his eyes were closed, her heart sank and she felt her eyes begin to heat up once again. But then he twitched, groaned, and opened one eye. Of course, the heat in Rima's eyes never went away.

"What's this? My ribs hurt. Couldn't that bullet-proof vest be a little bit thicker?"

"Nagi!" Yaya cried, kneeling next to Rima. Following her were Kirishima and Kairi. The skinny boy was taken aback. He wasn't used to being around so many lively, healthy-looking people!

"W-who are you people? Stop surrounding my Nagi-chan!"

"N-Nadeshiko, can you hear me?" Rima asked, not bothering to hide her desperate expression when she loomed over him, her eyes locking with his. Nagihiko opened his other eye and stared as Rima's face came into focus. And then he sighed. "M-Mikuru-san, I must've taken the hit. I can see Rima-chan…"

"Who's Rima-chan?"

"What nonsense are you sputtering, you ugly hobbit?" Rima cried, her glad expression not really matching what she was saying. The tears were out-of-control now as they fell freely down her face.

"Mikuru-san, I'm hallucinating. I may be going crazy, too!"

"Too? Who's the other crazy person you're referring to, Nagi-chan?"

Rima giggled before hugging Nagihiko and burying her face into his chest. She missed this. She wasn't going to admit it out loud but she missed this. A lot.

"Yay! Nagi! Yaya missed you!" Yaya cried, looking straight into his glassy, brown eyes.

"Oh, great. Now I'm seeing Yaya-chan too and— ugh!" he gasped as Rima tightened the hug. In the midst of his shock, He wondered how a hallucination could cause him so much pain.

"Hey! Who are you people? Evaporate! Go! Stay away from my Nagi-chan! Shoo!" the skinny boy cried, waving them all off but to no avail. It was when Rima pulled away from him did everything come crashing down.

"Rima…chan? Is that you?" he gasped, wincing as he sat up. She could only smile. Widely, must I add? "No, Nadeshiko. I am but a figment of your imagination. You are turning delusional!"

"Wait. Why are you here? Didn't you make it perfectly clear the last time we met that you didn't want to be anywhere near me?"

Kirishima's eyes widened. Yaya opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Kairi watched the scene with mild interest while the skinny boy sat there, protectively wrapping an arm around Nadeshiko. Rima would be lying if she claimed that the boy, 'Mikuru' was it, wasn't getting on her nerves. But she didn't really want to focus on anything else but Nagihiko. Still, she decided that she'd rather not talk about that incident in the blizzard now, and what better way to change the topic than to pretend to be oblivious, hence, flustering him in the process?

"What? Nadeshiko, what are you talking about? I don't remember you being there the last time I was with your brother!"

"Ack!" Nagihiko froze, cold sweat trickling down his forehead. "F-forget what I said, Rima-chan! A-anyway, why are you here?"

"Aww! Does Naddy not want to be with me?" then, to his surprise, she grabbed his arm and hugged it. "Rima is offended. Naddy, do something about it."

Nagihiko was inwardly freaking out. Not only was Rima here for reasons that he will never know. She was also being unusually cuddly, and he was more than aware of the spiteful glare that her childhood friend was throwing at him. Why? Why was she acting like this? And if he's Nadeshiko, why was Kirishima staring at him as if he was something to eat?

Meanwhile, Yaya was tilting her head to the side as she stared at "Nadeshiko" in curiosity. She was naïve, not stupid. And she already knew about the curse. She's sure that this person here was Nagihiko, but she didn't get why Rima was pretending not to know. Most of all, she didn't get why Rima, of all people, was cuddling up to him like that.

"U-um…Rima-tan…"

"Oh yes!" the blonde beamed, glancing at Yaya. "Introductions! Nadeshiko, this is Yaya, one of my closest friends. And Yaya, this is Nadeshiko. She's Nagihiko's twin brother. Remember? I mentioned her before!"

All thoughts of this person possibly becoming Nagihiko was wiped-off Yaya's mind. She grinned, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Nadeshiko from head to toe. "Wow! She's so pretty! Just like Nagi!"

Nagihiko's smile froze. Was that really supposed to be a compliment? To Nadeshiko it was but to the real him? Uh…

"Excuse me," Kairi said, catching everyone's attention. "Shouldn't we take care of the guard before anything else?"

They all directed their gaze to the guard. He was still out cold, but they knew that he would eventually have to wake up. Rima smiled, taking her phone out before dialing a number.

"Kukai," she started once the person on the other line pick-up. Nagihiko felt his eyes widened. Oh yeah! Weren't they the reason I tried to escape in the first place? "Hey, where's that chute you went into awhile ago? Mhmm…mhmm. Got it!" she shut the phone and glared at the unconscious guard. "So, I know this good place to dump him in"

After throwing the man down the chute, Kairi decided that it was time to get serious. They found a deserted corner and formed their little circle there as they spoke in hushed voices.

"So, first of all, that guy knew that we were impostors. That's something to think about. How could he have known?"

"Well," Nagihiko said, his voice still high and feminine, "I was told that he asked the boss about you guys and found out that they haven't had any newcomers since last month."

"Well that makes sense," Kairi said, pushing his glasses up. Then, he froze as some kind of realization dawned upon him. Quickly, he turned to Nagihiko, an eager look in his face. "Hey, wait a minute. Who told you that?"

"Some guy…"

"Yes, because 'some guy' is totally a specific answer" Kirishima muttered under his breath. Rima looked at him, surprised by how cold and distant he was acting. He couldn't help it, though. They had him for a few minutes and already, he was acting like he was some sort of leader. And most of all, he already had Rima wrapped around his pinky when all he had to do was play dead.

"Hey! It's mine and Nagi-chan's little secret! Don't butt in!" Mikuru cried, clinging on to "Nadeshiko's" thin arms.

"Mikuru-san, it's fine," Nagihiko smiled, patting him on the head, "Kirishima-kun does have a point. I think that it's best they know…"

A "Humph" was all that the childhood friend could utter. He was undeniably guilty, to be honest, for being disappointed when Nagihiko opened his eyes. Whenever he reflected on how glad he was when he watched him get shot, he couldn't help but feel disgusted with himself. He's a sick bastard. This jerk did nothing wrong to him. Except maybe take away the girl of his dreams— the girl he could never live his life without. And maybe he is making him look slightly like a douche right now. And maybe this Fujisaki bastard is slowly causing him to dig his own grave to hell. And yeah, he did beat him to a pulp in the only game he took great pride in.

But really, other than that, he's not really doing anything wrong, Kirishima thought, a stiff smile appearing on his face.

"Huh? No! Then we won't have our own little secret anymore!"

Now it was Rima's turn to feel the rage. She narrowed her eyes, now sure that this guy was flirting with Nagihiko— as Nadeshiko, of course, but still. And now that she thought about it, Nagihiko never introduced this "Mikuru" to them. He was just sitting there, rather comfortably, his attention solely on "Nadeshiko", must I add? Who was he? Why was he clinging so much to hi- uh…her?

Tell that guy that he's unconsciously being gay by flirting with you! She thought, hoping that it would make a connection so Nagihiko would do just that. But of course, she's no psychic.

Nagihiko paused for a moment before starting, "Actually, one of the workers here told us that. He's also the one who gave us the gun, tranquilizer and bullet-proof vest"

"He didn't really give it to us, Nagi-chan!"

Rima twitched, finally noticing how this guy called him Nagi-chan.

"Well, it's more like he 'accidentally' dropped it for us" Nagihiko shrugged, and Rima inwardly burnt with rage when she realized that he didn't seem to be bothered by the nickname at all. "Uh, Rima-chan, are you okay?" Nagihiko asked, turning to Rima. The blonde just shrugged and mumbled, "I'm just wondering where Nagihiko is."

She mentally smirked when she saw his arms stiffen.

"Wait a minute," Kairi said, his eyes widening. He turned to Rima, who stared back at him.

"What?"

"Mashiro-san, didn't you say something about a similar guy? You know, the one who helped you with the uniforms?"

Ever so slowly, her caramel eyes began to widen. So he helped Nagihiko, too? Wait. That's really fishy.

"Ne, Nadeshiko. How did this guy look?" Rima asked, her thoughts suddenly straying away from the mental drama she was going through. Nagihiko bit his lower lip.

He's hiding something, she thought. He's going to lie.

"I didn't see him very well. He was wearing a disguise,"

"Lies!" Rima said, tilting her nose up. "You're just like Nagihiko! Before you lie, you also bite your lip!"

"Oh, really?" Nagihiko smirked, a teasing look appearing on his face. Kirishima and Mikuru twitched, noticing how things between them were about to turn into a full-on flirting game. "Ri-ma-chan! How do you know that? Don't tell me that you like ogling at my brother!"

"What?" Rima squeaked, fully aware that this was Nagihiko teasing her, which didn't make such a difference, really. He does this to her, even in his male-form, but no matter how many times he does, it never failed to fluster her. "Nadeshiko, maybe I do like to observe your brother but only because I like knowing his weaknesses. It may come in handy one day, you know, to know whether or not he'd rather break his ankle or his arm"

He has had enough of anything that is gory. Nagihiko was smiling on the outside, but in the inside, he was panicking, thinking that Rima was slowly becoming like Mikuru.

Kairi brought a fist to his mouth and cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention. "Back to the topic," he started. "We can't ignore this. Tell the two other teams that we need to regroup. We need to get out of here first"

"But what about Ikuto?" Yaya asked, tilting her head to the side. "Utau-chi wouldn't want to leave without him! We promised we'll help her save him," she paused before saying in a much softer voice, "we promised…"

"But we can't accomplish anything either if we're caught ourselves. We need to take extra precaution, especially now that something fishy is going on. When we get out of here, I will hack to the computers here and look through all the staff. Mashiro-san, you will tell me who you saw"

"Don't worry, Sanjo-san" Nagihiko said, his voice low. "You don't need to go through all that. Just get Tsukiyomi-kun out of here and leave"

"We can't not worry, Fujisaki-san," he said, staring the boy (currently a girl) in the eye. Rima couldn't help but notice how he said 'san' instead of 'kun' and felt a twinge of gratefulness for knowing that he was playing along with her. "This could be a trap for all we know."

"It's not," said Nagihiko, his eyes dead serious. "I know it's not. Just trust me"

There was silence as the two just stared at each other. Several second passed and finally, Kairi was the first to look down. He made a sigh of defeat and once again pushed his glasses up. "Okay. I trust you. But everyone else here also needs to trust you if—"

"I trust her!" Yaya smiled, shooting her hand up.

"Me too!" Mikuru followed.

"Whatever she says," Rima said.

Soon, everyone was looking at Kirishima. He sighed then lazily put his hand up. "Okay, then! I trust the girl, too!"

The next voice jolted the five teens up. It was foreign. And it was female. But the most shocking thing about it was that it was coming from Mikuru's direction.

"Yay! Nagi-chan! Y'hear that? They trust you!"

'Nadeshiko' was frozen in place when Mikuru, now completely reverted back to her female form, jumped up to give him a tight hug, blind to everyone's shocked expressions. With everything that was going on, he completely forgot that the time you remain in your opposite gender was limited, and it completely backfired. I mean, yes, Mikuru wouldn't care if everyone found out that she could change genders (she's not going to get beaten to a pulp for it), but Rima was smart. She could easily make the connection. Everything about Nadeshiko is suspicious and if it clicks, she could figure out that the same thing that happened to Mikuru could also happen to "her". And who could Nadeshiko's male alter-ego possibly be?

Obviously not Godzilla!

"Mikuru…turned into a girl" Rima murmured, her expression blank. Nagihiko gulped, knowing that the silence meant that her mind was making the connections. He was right. In that short stream of silence, her mind was processing things at top-speed. But the thoughts there weren't what Nagihiko had thought.

Rima already knew about the curse. She also knew what triggers it. So obviously, of all the things running through, one stood out: "Nagihiko is a jerk." How could she be so blind? How can she not wonder why she was faced with Nadeshiko instead of Nagihiko? After seeing Mikuru revert back to what seemed like her original gender, everything clicked.

The clinging, Nadeshiko, the skinny boy, the curse…

No matter how absurd it seemed, it has to be the only logical explanation (well, logical in her standards, anyway; lately, nothing's really been logical in Rima's world).

Mikuru and Nagihiko kissed, thus, changing them both to their opposite genders!

"Say, where do you think Ikuto's locked up in?" Rima stated, her voice and expression empty.

"I don't know, but maybe we should check the basement?" Yaya shrugged, as if she hadn't seen anything strange.

Kirishima, who still hadn't made the connection, wondered why the atmosphere around him has suddenly changed. Sure, Mikuru turned out to be a girl but so what? They were well aware of the curse.

"Wait! A-aren't you guys going to say anything?" Nagihiko asked, slowly peeling Mikuru off him. Yaya shrugged and looked at him, a smile lighting up her face.

"There was really nothing surprising about seeing Mikuru-kun turn into a boy, Naddy!"

You could see the childish innocence glint from her eyes. Turns out she hasn't made a connection yet, either. She was just really unfazed. After all, she already knew about the curse so what's so surprising about witnessing a transformation with her own eyes?

"Yeah. It's not surprising at all!"

Rima's eyes, however, were different. She was smiling, but an evil glint was there. No one knew the dread of that glint better than Nagihiko for he used to see it every single day. And whenever that glint was there, only god knew what tragedy would strike.

"Ah, but, Mikuru-san just turned into a girl," he said, pointing at Mikuru who was giving Rima a quizzical look.

"Yes. I suppose she did."

"Nagi-chan! Just leave her alone! I don't like how that munchkin is treating you!"

For a split second, Nagihiko could've sworn that Rima's eyes widened before she turned away from him.

"C'mon, Nagi-chan!"

"Mikuru-san, can I talk to you for a moment," he said, deciding that Rima was in no mood to be taunted and Mikuru needed to know this. He gripped the girl's wrists, thinner now, before walking away with her.

"Oh, just take your time, Nagi-chan! Have fun with your girlfriend!" Rima yelled before smirking as she watched him trip over air in shock over what she said.

"W-what did you say, Rima-chan?" Nagihiko squeaked, looking over at Rima when he had recovered from the fall. Kirishima, Kairi and Yaya watched the scene in interest.

"I didn't say anything, Nagi-chan. It was all in your mind!"

"I-I-I'll make this fast!" He pulled Mikuru along with him and quickly disappeared inside the men's room. Rima could feel a tick mark appear on her forehead. If she didn't already know, then going straight to the men's washroom without thinking was a total giveaway.

"Rima-chan, what was that just no-"

"Ssh," she placed a finger before Kirishima's lips, though her eyes were still focused on the room Nagihiko had disappeared into. "Let's not mention it until they tell it to us themselves, Fuyuki-kun."

"Mention what?"

Kirishima realized a second too late that he shouldn't have said that because suddenly, he felt a heavy weight of sad, deadly energy as Rima turned to him, the pretty smile she wore not matching her deadly eyes.

"That they're dating, silly!" she chirped a-little-too-happily as she entwined her fingers together before bringing it up to her chest. "Fuyuki-kun, don't be so dense!"

Now, let's take a breather, shall we, as Kirishima witnesses for the first time the little devil Rima truly is.

Breath in.

Breath out.

Okay.

"R-R-Rima-chan, are you okay?"

"Of course! I've never been better!"

Then he realized, with utter dismay, the reason she could be acting like that. "Rima-chan, are you jealous?"

He felt a painful pang when he saw Rima's face fall, the deadly smile no longer "lighting up her face."

"No," was what she said, but he also saw her stare longingly at the door, her hands fumbling restlessly with the rim of her blouse. She didn't say anything afterwards, and he realized that she was stuck to her own trail of thoughts.

Yehey! Early update! Whoo! I meant to update once a week but I got this chapter done fast. I'm still on break now, too, but that's going to be over soon *sigh* so I'll try to update fast!