Chapter 97
The sisters had woken up abruptly as they were swept with an extreme nausea and scrambled out of the rooms they were sleeping in to find a bathroom before they got sick all over the place. Botan, Keiko, Shizuru, and Yukina had noticed them shoving each other getting out of the way while trying getting into the bathroom, Puu shouting as he could sense that something was going on.
"Don't they know that there's another bathroom in this suite?" asked Keiko. "I mean, aren't a lot of hotel suites laid out the same way?"
"They look like they're about to get sick so I doubt they were thinking about that," Shizuru replied.
Before Botan and Yukina could say anything, they saw that the sisters had pushed each other into the bathroom and heard them heaving.
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Once the sisters had made it into the bathroom, Kiyoko reached the toilet as Etsu settled for the sink and started heaving up a dark purple liquid. They couldn't be bothered with anything else as they didn't hear Botan and Yukina come into the room. Botan had knelt down next to Kiyoko to stroke her back as Yukina went to stroke Etsu's back.
"There, there, Kiyoko," said Botan. "Take deep breaths."
'Shut up, Botan!' thought Kiyoko. 'You're not the one who's dying!'
Yukina was about to comfort Etsu until she finally noticed the dark purple liquid she was throwing up into the sink and became alarmed as she had gotten Botan's attention.
"Botan, Etsu's throwing up purple!" Yukina exclaimed.
"How can that be?!" Botan exclaimed. "I'm not calling you a liar, Yukina, but that's just not possible!"
Before Yukina could reply, Botan had let out a startled yelp as Kiyoko plopped down onto the floor and let out a scream once she noticed the dark purple liquid in the toilet.
"Oh my goodness!" Botan screamed, suddenly shaking Kiyoko. "Is there something you're not telling me, Kiyoko?!"
"Stop shaking me, Botan!" Kiyoko complained. "Let me die in peace!"
Etsu had also finally stopped vomiting and plopped onto the floor, speaking up a moment later.
"Don't be melodramatic, Kiyoko, because we're not dying," said Etsu. "It may feel like we are, but we're not."
"You're white as a sheet!" Yukina exclaimed. "We need to get you both back to bed and call a doctor!"
"You girls say to me what you're not telling!" Botan demanded. "If you don't, I'll have Koenma drag it out of you!"
"It must be that stuff Suzuki gave us," Kiyoko blurted out. "He did say something about it cleansing the toxins from our body so maybe that's what the purple vomit was."
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Etsu agreed.
"Do you girls mean to tell me that you took something from that clown who was in the semi-finals yesterday?!" Botan exclaimed, the sisters not replying. "HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST YOUR MIND?! JUDGING OF HOW HE BEHAVED YESTERDAY, HE COULD HAVE POSIONED YOU!"
"He's not who you think he is, Botan!" Kiyoko protested. "He's not a bad guy!"
"Yeah, we've met him years back on one of our missions, but we didn't know it until we spoke to him today," Etsu explained. "I mean, he did disguise himself and behaved like a dumbass during the semi-finals and all."
"I don't care if you knew him from long ago or not!" Botan snapped. "He still could have poisoned you!"
"No, it's more like he's helping us," Etsu disagreed.
"Dad's the one poisoning us with those so-called medicine injections," said Kiyoko.
"How can you girls say such a thing?!" Botan exclaimed.
The sisters sighed as they decided to stop while they were ahead as they knew that Botan wouldn't get it and came up with an excuse to calm her down.
"It must be the trauma talking," said Kiyoko.
"Yeah, today hasn't been a good day for us," said Etsu.
Botan decided to brush off the subject as she checked for a fever while Yukina decided to flush the toilet and clean up the sink.
"You girls don't seem to have a fever," said Botan. "Do you think you can eat anything? Because room service should be here in any minute."
Before the sisters could reply, Shizuru came into the room to see if everything was alright.
"Is everything alright in here?" asked Shizuru. "Should I call a doctor?"
Before either Botan or Yukina could reply, the sisters had gotten up from the floor and brushed themselves off as they had spoken up.
"No, everything is fine," Etsu replied.
"Yeah, we just suffered from a usual trauma thing," Kiyoko agreed.
"Then what was Botan's screaming about?" asked Shizuru.
"I guess I must have overreacted," Botan replied.
'Nah, ya think?' thought Kiyoko.
"Anyway, the room service just came," said Shizuru, suddenly addressing the sisters. "Are you two well enough to eat? Because Botan said that she ordered us some of your favorites."
"Sure," the sisters replied. "We just need to clean up a little first."
Botan and Yukina were reluctant to leave with Shizuru, but they did once the sisters reassured them that they're feeling well again. The sisters had let out a huge sigh, took turns at the sink to rinse their mouths out, and left to rejoin Botan, Keiko, Shizuru, and Yukina in the other room so they could eat with them as they were starving.
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Keiko looked at the spread of food in confusion as they were mainly comfort food and didn't remember seeing them on the room service menu. However, that wasn't her concern as she wondered what was going on in the bathroom and hoped that everything was all right.
'I hope everything's okay in there,' thought Keiko. 'Botan was yelling pretty loud about something.'
"Puu," Puu chirped.
Keiko had started to pet Puu when Botan, Shizuru, and Yukina came back into the room and sat down a moment later.
"Is everything okay?" asked Keiko. "What was that yelling about?"
"It's nothing, sweetie," Botan replied. "I just overreacted a little."
"Are they going to eat with us?" asked Keiko. "I mean, you did go through the trouble to order their favorite foods."
"They'll be right out after they clean up," Botan replied. "Though, I won't be disappointed if they don't eat much, because they did have a rough day today."
Yukina was about to say something until she saw a couple of jewelry cases with an envelope on the food cart.
"What are those on the food cart?" asked Yukina.
"That's strange," said Botan. "I don't remember ordering anything other than dinner."
"Oh, that- the bellboy mentioned something about a guy requesting those being delivered to Etsu's and Kiyoko's room," Shizuru explained. "But sent it here instead since they knew the girls were here with us and that their suite was being cleaned."
"How did they know that they were here with us?" asked Keiko.
Botan was about to reply until the sisters came into the room to be surprised to see the food she had ordered as they knew they weren't on the menu.
"How did you get all of this, Botan?" asked Kiyoko.
"Yeah, because these aren't even on the menu," Etsu added.
"I didn't know until they told me, because I didn't bother to look through the menu," started Botan.
'Sounds about right,' thought the sisters.
"But after I explained why it was important, they decided to make it since it's rare for them to have such respectful customers of high status," Botan finished. "Of course, they mentioned that most of them were to be fixed a little differently than normally made everywhere else."
The sisters were touched by both Botan's and the hotel's gesture when the smell of the delicious food made their stomach growl, causing them to blush in embarrassment.
"What are you waiting for?" asked Shizuru. "Come sit down so we can dig in."
The sisters didn't waste any time as they had sat down with Botan, Keiko, Shizuru, and Yukina, the group starting to eat a moment later.
"I know you're not fond of eggs, Kiyoko, but you should try this omelet rice," said Etsu. "They put some shredded beef in here and it's delicious!"
Not feeling up to snubbing her nose at the omelet rice, Kiyoko had placed down a Yakitori (grilled chicken skewers), picked up a spoon, scooped up some omelet rice, and was surprised at how good it had tasted.
"Not bad," said Kiyoko. "but only because there's beef in it."
'Figured you'd say something like that," Etsu remarked.
Kiyoko shrugged in response as she continued to eat Yakitori while reaching for some curry rice, Keiko suddenly thinking of something.
"How are we going to afford all of this?" asked Keiko. "I doubt we can afford this ourselves."
"Oh don't worry about that, Keiko," Botan replied. "Spirit World will pay for everything, but I doubt Koenma will be happy about it."
'No doubt that he'd freak out once he sees the bill," Kiyoko remarked.
"Then he'd go on about how we have too expensive tastes," Etsu agreed.
"Like he has any room to talk," Kiyoko scoffed.
"Well, it doesn't seem like you have to worry about that," said Shizuru, looking at the bill. "Because someone had already paid for our dinner."
"I wonder who paid for it," said Yukina.
Shizuru didn't reply as she had attempted to pass the cheque to the sisters, but they just held up their hands to let her know that they already knew who paid for it as they didn't seem too pleased. Botan had taken the cheque from Shizuru as she was curious of who paid for it to see that a note was attached to it, bothered to see who it was from.
"Girls, I think you should read this," Botan insisted.
The sisters groaned as they rolled their eyes, Kiyoko being the one to take note attached cheque from Botan. They had read the note to see that it was unsurprisingly from Sakyo, but became concerned about what it said. It read:
Dear Daioh sisters,
Toguro has informed me that he found out one of his teammates gave you some trouble. He wishes for me to send you his sincere apologies and that actions will be taken. I decided to go out of my way to cover for your and your friends' meals and any other expenses. After all, you might as well get used to it, because once Toguro's team wins the finals, your lives will no longer belong to you. Enjoy your last day of freedom.
Sincerely,
Sakyo
Furious, Kiyoko had ripped up the note in several pieces while yelling, "That son-of-a-!"
"I know, Kiyoko," Etsu agreed. "He's full of it!"
"What I would give to clock'im in the face again!" Kiyoko exclaimed. "Show him not to mess with us like that!"
"What did the note say that made you so angry?" asked Keiko.
"It's none of your business!" Kiyoko snapped.
"I know you're mad, Kiyoko, but don't take it out on Keiko," said Botan. "She was just concerned."
"That may be true, Botan, but how can Kiyoko help it?" asked Etsu. "Our livelihood is being threatened and there's nothing we can do about it except to put our faith in the team to win. Adding insult to injury, the asshole's rubbing it in our faces while prematurely claiming victory!"
Shizuru wanted to say something, but didn't want to sound like she was defending Sakyo so she decided not to say anything.
"Oh sweetie, you shouldn't let anyone counting their chickens get to you," said Botan. "The finals aren't until tomorrow and nobody knows who's going to win even though a lot of people like to claim that they know who will. You should just calm down and take his words with a grain of salt."
The sisters nodded in response as they knew that Botan was right.
"Sorry for snapping at you, Keiko," Kiyoko apologized. "I didn't mean it."
"That's okay," said Keiko. "People do things they don't mean."
Deciding to change the subject, Etsu had asked about the jewelry cases with the envelope on the food cart as she had just noticed it.
"What are those jewelry cases all about?" asked Etsu. "I hope they're not who I think it's from."
This had gotten Kiyoko's attention as she also just noticed the jewelry cases and envelope on the food cart, getting up as Shizuru explained.
"The bellboy said that some guy requested for those to be sent to your suite," started Shizuru. "I guess you can say that the hotel staff decided to send it here instead when Botan mentioned you while ordering room service."
"The only question now is who sent it," said Botan.
"Well, I'm about to find out," said Kiyoko, picking up the envelope as she stood at the food cart. "Well, envelope's blank so it doesn't say who it's for."
"Here, let me open it," said Etsu. "The sender probably didn't want it announced."
Kiyoko nodded, took the jewelry cases with the envelope, went over to Etsu, and gave her the envelope as she sat down next to her. Etsu had taken out a folded piece of paper from the envelope and opened it to see that it only had one sentence written on it.
"It says: Thinking of you," Etsu read.
"Does it say who it's from?" asked Yukina.
"No, it doesn't," Etsu replied. "But whoever it's from, it's not from Sakyo."
"What makes you think so?" asked Shizuru.
"Well, it's not his handwriting for one thing," Etsu explained. "And it were from him, he wouldn't hesitate to be obvious about it."
"That's true," Kiyoko agreed. "Sakyo is the type of guy who'd have a letter painted on a billboard if he wanted to, but this guy is... mysterious."
"Do you think it's from Hiei?" asked Botan.
"No, it's not his handwriting, either," Etsu replied. "And Hiei doesn't understand the point of love letters or sending gifts when he can express himself in person."
"Oh yes, I forgot that Hiei doesn't have a romantic bone in his body," Botan remarked.
"That's uncalled for, Botan," Etsu protested. "It's true that he may seem standoffish, but if you really get to know him, he's a caring and loyal person. Not everyone can express themselves so easily the way society says you should."
"Calm down, sweetie, I was only teasing," said Botan.
Etsu only nodded as she had redirected her attention back to the note. Something about the handwriting had seemed familiar to her, but couldn't quite place it as it had bothered her, making her palms sweat. Noticing her sister's troubled expression, Kiyoko had taken the note from her hands and examined the note herself.
'This handwriting seems kinda familiar,' thought Kiyoko. 'But is it really worth worrying over?'
Shizuru had suddenly gotten the sisters' attention.
"Maybe it's from some kind of secret admirer weirdo," Shizuru suggested. "I know I had a couple of those from time to time."
"Ah, maybe you're right," Etsu agreed.
"It could be one of those suitors you girls rejected all of those years ago before King Yama sent you to the SDF academy," Botan recalled, the sisters groaning as they facepalmed. "They really didn't take rejection too well, did they?"
"Please don't bring up that horror show, Botan," Kiyoko complained.
"Yeah, Botan, it was irritating," Etsu agreed.
"It couldn't have been that bad," said Keiko. "Did you give them a chance?"
"Do not make us go down memory lane, Keiko," Kiyoko snapped.
"It's something we'd rather forget," Etsu agreed. "Heck, even recalling our time at the SDF academy would be more pleasant than that fiasco and we hated that damn place."
"What is a SDF academy exactly?" asked Keiko. "Is it something like a police academy?"
"Let's just say it's something like an army academy," Botan replied. "Of course, the girls didn't make the cut due to conflicting views."
"It doesn't surprise me, because they don't seem like the army type," said Keiko, suddenly addressing the sisters. "You're more like leaders than followers and leaders don't need to be led."
"Puu!" Puu agreed.
"I agree with Keiko," Yukina agreed. "More authoritative figures should be like you both."
The sisters were about to say that they didn't see themselves as authoritative at all until Shizuru had changed the subject.
"While I also think they're awesome, I doubt I'm the only one who wants to know what's in those jewelry cases," said Shizuru. "I'm not saying that you have to return the mystery guy's feelings, but there's no law that says you can't keep the jewelry."
The room fell silent a moment later as everyone waited for the sisters' response. The sisters looked at each other and nodded. They had each opened the jewelry cases to discover butterfly jewelry, one case containing butterfly necklace and the other butterfly earrings. They were golden monarch butterflies embedded with many multicolored diamonds.
"Somebody really must like you a lot to get you something covered in diamonds like that," said Shizuru. "There are even more love notes attached, too."
The sisters realized that Shizuru was right as they had also noticed the extra notes that was inside of the top lids. One note read, "Even though you loath diamonds, they look good on you." as the other commented, "You should get your ears pieced again. Since these are stud earrings, you don't have to worry about them being ripped out."
This had sent a cold chill down Etsu's spine as she forced back an unpleasant memory her mind attempted for her to remember. Something that she refused to remember, Kiyoko becoming concerned as she noticed the cold sweat on her sister's face.
"Are you alright, Etsu?" asked Kiyoko.
"I'm suddenly not feeling so well," Etsu replied, snapping the earring case shut. "I think I need to get back to our suite so I can lie down."
"You don't have to rush off," said Botan. "You can rest here."
"Believe me, I want to stay," said Etsu. "But I need to have some time to myself."
"I hope you get to be feeling better," said Yukina.
Etsu smiled in gratitude and left a moment later, concerning Kiyoko and the others.
"Oh dear, I've never seen her like this," said Botan. "I wonder what's bothering her?"
"She looked like she saw a ghost," said Keiko.
"I'll bet you anything that has something to do with a man," Shizuru assumed. "Maybe one she dated a long time ago she doesn't want to remember. A relationship that was doomed to fail from the start."
"I thought those kind of relationships only exists in fiction," said Keiko.
"That proves just how sheltered you are, Keiko," Kiyoko remarked, continuing before giving Keiko the chance to react. "Anyway, I've better go after Etsu to see if she's alright. See you guys later and thank you for dinner."
Kiyoko then left on her way back to hers and Etsu's suite a moment later.
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Once she closed the door, Etsu started walking a few paces from the girls' suite until she suddenly broke into a run on her way back to hers and Kiyoko's suite. She swung open the door and slammed it shut behind her when she got back, dropped the earring case, ran to the nearest bathroom (not acknowledging that the suite had been cleaned up), and reached the toilet just in time to retch into it.
"Why?" Etsu choked out. "Just... why?"
Etsu had suddenly broke down crying uncontrollably while holding herself in a fetal position. She then heard voices on the other side the door a few minutes later, bickering with each other.
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After leaving the girls' suite, Kiyoko was on her way back to hers and Etsu's suite to check to see if her sister was okay when she heard Koenma (in his teen form) getting her attention. Since he seemed worried, she decided to give him her attention as she turned to face him.
"Hey, Koenma," Kiyoko greeted.
"Is everything all right?" asked Koenma.
"So, I guess you heard from Botan about me and Etsu getting hurt earlier today, huh?" Kiyoko answered with a question. "I figured she'd blab her mouth off sooner or later, but we most likely gave her a scare so-"
"She did, but I wasn't worried- well, I was worried but became relieved when she told me that she and Yukina healed you girls," Koenma interrupted. "Since it seems that the only reason Toguro's teammate had manage to bang you girls up so bad was because he most likely stalked you, so I won't give you a hard time about it."
"Hm, okay then," started Kiyoko, crossing her arms. "Why bother asking if everything all right?"
"I was coming to see if you and Etsu were still at the other girls' suite when I saw her come out," Koenma explained. "I was about to call out to her until she hauled ass like a bat out of hell."
Kiyoko was about to say something until she noticed Koenma having a puzzled expression on his face.
"What?" asked Kiyoko.
"Now that I think about it, Etsu had the same hair cut," Koenma recalled. "What exactly compelled you girls to cut your hair and have it done identically?"
"Oh, we let Shizuru fix our hair since we thought it was time to change it up," Kiyoko explained. "The identical hairdo was Shizuru's idea, not ours."
"It's surprisingly fitting," said Koenma.
"It's unsurprisingly annoying!" Kiyoko snapped. "Why do people get off on giving us identical shit just because we're twins regardless of what kind we are?!"
"Don't be so dramatic," said Koenma. "You can always change it to something different."
"That's what I'm going to do after checking to see if Etsu's okay," said Kiyoko.
Kiyoko fell silent as she and Koenma continued on their back to the sisters' suite, breaking the silence a moment later.
"I think it was the anonymous gifts that freaked her out," said Kiyoko. "Not to mention the notes."
"What anonymous gifts and notes?" asked Koenma.
"While we were in the other girls' suite, a couple of gifts with notes came," Kiyoko explained. "And it's not from Sakyo just in case you ask."
Before Koenma got the chance to speak, Kiyoko handed him the necklace case and Koenma nearly tripped over himself when he saw the butterfly necklace and the note attached to it.
"Who's being dramatic now?" Kiyoko remarked.
"Etsu mentioned to me the other day about a guy she dated previously that didn't work out," said Koenma. "And I know that you tell each other almost anything, so you have to tell me who it was."
"Why do you want to know?" asked Kiyoko.
"Because it's important!" Koenma snapped.
"That's not an answer!" Kiyoko snapped.
"The handwriting is familiar," Koenma explained. "And the golden diamond embedded butterfly on this necklace is a monarch butterfly. "
"So? Monarch butterflies have many different meanings, but other than that, they're pretty common," said Kiyoko. "Of course they're not that common here in the east, but they're still pretty popular. I still don't get the diamond BS, though."
Koenma got annoyed with Kiyoko's stubbornness, but didn't stop pestering her even when they got back to the sisters' suite. He spotted the dropped earring case on the floor and picked up to discover that the earrings were also monarch butterflies with the note in the same handwriting attached.
"Look, Kiyoko, this could just end up being nothing at all but a big coincidence," started Koenma. "But you've got to tell me who Etsu dated previously!"
"I know that monarch butterflies are connected to Spirit World, spiritual meanings, and blah, blah, blah!" Kiyoko remarked. "I'd understand if it were about real butterflies, but these are just jewelry! Gaudy jewelry! So, there's nothing to be concerned about! Except for a mysterious creeper who's probably too chicken to approach Etsu himself as he's probably afraid to get his ass kicked!"
"I pretty much doubt that," Koenma disagreed. "Something about this makes me very uneasy which is why you need to-"
"Everything makes you uneasy!" Kiyoko remarked. "Now, drop it so I won't punch you in the face!"
Koenma was about to snap at Kiyoko until they heard Etsu's uncontrollable cries, rushing to see if she's okay.
A/N: This fanfiction has been put on hold temporarily as I'm nearly caught up with the chapters I've already written. I ask my readers to please be patient so I can continue to write more chapters. :)