On my way home from school one day, I got a text from someone I hadn't heard from in awhile. It was that Shiki girl, the one Tris and I had met in the cafe on our very first day here. The one who was a classmate and also apparently a friend of Zelda. It was weird to me that she actually contacted me. She did act friendly toward me when we'd first met, but until now, I assumed she was only saying she'd hang out with me just to be nice. I didn't think she actually wanted to. But this text told me differently.

"Heyyyyy Linkie, Zel-belle and I are totally going to go to the mall today soon, wanted to know if you and Tris like... wanted to come?"

Yeah, apparently she typed the same way she spoke. And I guessed she had a habit of giving people weird nicknames too. Still, in spite of her being... how she was, it was nice to know she actually wanted to hang out with me, and I figured I might as well go. However, I wasn't sure if Tris would want to. She probably had plans to be, uh, busy, with Ryona, as was usual at this point. When we got home, though, I showed her the text anyway.

"You can go if you want," she said. "I have to catch up on homework I've been putting off."

I gave her a look.

"Okay, yeah, and I wanted to video chat with Ryona," she admitted.

I gave her another look.

"Stop judging me," she said.

I shrugged and went to change into regular, non-school uniform clothes, so I could meet Shiki and Zelda at the local mall right after.

"I'm on my way," I texted back. "It's just me because Tris is... busy." I figured it would be a bad idea to tell Shiki that Tris was fraternizing with a Hebijo student, so I left that part out. "Where should we meet up? I'll try my best to find you but I'm so bad at directions..."

At least I'd mastered the use of my phone's GPS to get me to the mall itself. But then, I knew, I was sure to get all lost inside it. Even though I snapped a picture of the map of the building, I was crap at reading maps anyway, so I wasn't sure how much it'd help.

"We're by the fountain on the first floor, the one that's right below the food court," Zelda said to me, right in my head as usual. I wondered if Shiki knew she could do that...

I'd come into the mall using the first door I came across when I got there. There was a kiosk right by the door, with the map I took the picture of, but I was having trouble using it. Apparently I'd come in at one of the far ends of the mall, and the fountain was in the center. But there was no little "you are here" icon anywhere on the map, like... they expected people to be able to figure that out themselves? But I was crap at maps. So I wasn't sure if I was on the first floor or the second, or which end of the mall I was at. Oh, well. I guessed I'd just walk straight ahead until I found the middle, and figure it out from there.

I tried to make mental notes of the stores I passed on the way there. There was a cute accessory shop I kind of wanted to go into, to get maybe earrings or something. And there was a bookstore I also wanted to check. There were a bunch of casual fashion stores, but the problem with trying to use those as landmarks was that they all blended together in my head. Maybe it'd be easier to use the more traditional clothes stores, the ones with yukatas and stuff, as mental landmarks. Or an accessory store that only sold socks? But I wouldn't be able to remember where they were...

Finally I felt like I was getting closer to the food court, because I started passing a bunch of bakeries. They had some really cute stuff in them, stuff I wasn't used to seeing back where Tris and I came from. Like bread buns that were made to look like turtles, and ones made to look like pandas. Tons of flavors of donuts, and brightly colored macarons, some made to look like licensed cartoon characters and stuff. And of course there was a lot of mochi, from the basic ones to the expensive fancy ones you'd put in a gift box or something. And I wanted to eat, like, all of it.

Once I managed to pull myself away from staring longingly at the sweets, I figured out I was right about where I was. The next thing I got to was the food court. And I smelled it before I saw it, which made me even hungrier. But then I saw it, and got even more hungry than that. There were so many options, between super traditional stuff and the western kind of stuff I was used to. I wondered if Shiki and Zelda had already eaten, because it was kind of dinner time, and—

Then something snapped me out of my food minded revelry. I noticed a girl hanging around the food court who looked familiar to me for some reason. A very tomboyish girl with short hair that could almost be mistaken for a boy if she didn't have such a massive chest. She was followed by another girl with glasses that also looked familiar. Where did I know her from, and why was I having a bad feeling about this?

Crap. I knew why. Because that was the Miyabi girl from Hebijo that I'd spied on before, and that girl with glasses was her friend. I guessed Shiki and Zelda and I weren't the only shinobi students that thought it would be a good idea to hang out at the mall today. I guessed we'd just have to be careful to avoid those two? But then it got worse. They made their way over to a table with their food, and there was someone else already sitting at that table.

Ganondorf, dressed in casual clothes for once, and looking like she wanted to slaughter Miyabi for making her come here. She was impaling her food with her eating utensil like she was imagining the food was Miyabi's skull or something. Maybe someone else's skull. Maybe mine. It was weird, seeing her in a hoodie and a crop top. Even though the type of crop top she was wearing looked weirdly familiar, like something you'd expect a typical Gerudo to wear? Wait. What exactly was a Gerudo? I could remember the name, but all the other details seemed fuzzy.

Then it got even worse. Because of who came to sit at that table next.

Murasaki, clutching Bebe-tan in her off hand. Even though it was warm, she was wearing a turtleneck sweater, like she didn't want the sunlight to even touch her paper white shut-in skin. But turtleneck sweaters have that weird way of making big boobs look even bigger than they already are, so I got, uh, distracted for a split second. Until I noticed she looked like she was about to cry. I knew that was kind of her default state, based on the first time I'd ended up somewhere with her. I felt bad for her, having to be here hanging out with... them. And I had half a mind to send her a text or something that'd make her smile. But that struck me as a bad idea. Anything that would let Ganondorf know I was here, never mind something that would let her know I had a positive relationship with Murasaki? Bad idea.

So I scurried down the nearest flight of stairs to get to the fountain below, where Shiki and Zelda were waiting. And, since Zelda could read my mind, they were already conversing in hushed tones about what I'd just seen.

"We can't let them ruin our good time," Shiki said, sounding a bit huffy. "Like, we came here to have fun, right? So, like, we're just gonna ignore them. We're not gonna go around, like, trying to stalk them and get intel on them and stuff. Right?"

Zelda sighed, but nodded. "Yes. We're going to take the high road." She looked up at me. "Oh, there you are. I was afraid you might've already gotten into an... altercation."

I reassured her in my head that it was also my intent to avoid altercations. Even though, I kind of thought we should have a plan in advance in case we did get noticed. But she didn't react to that. Great.

"Where do we want to go first?" she asked. "It seems like Linkle wants to eat, but given... who else is at the food court right now... maybe we want to do that later?"

I still wanted to eat now, dammit. Maybe, if we were really careful, we could just go up there and stay really far away from them, and they wouldn't notice us? I didn't want to let their presence dictate where we could and couldn't go. But then again, there was a fine line between being bold and just being stupid...

I decided to be bold and stupid anyway, and pulled out my phone to text Murasaki.

"Hey, I noticed you were hanging out at the mall with Ganondorf and everyone. I'm there too, with some other people. It looks like I picked the wrong day to come here, because obviously it'd be trouble if you guys ran into us... if you see me, try really hard to pretend you don't, okay?"

She responded in a moment. "yeah i saw u. i was careful to be quiet."

"Are you guys still in the food court? How'd you even get roped into this?" I asked her.

"were almost done. give it like ten mins and u can come up here. and why im here is bc, my sister made me. she thought it would be good if i came out of my room. ew."

"Your sister?" I typed and sent it super fast, then followed it up with another message. "I mean, I know you have a sister and she goes to school with you, but I didn't know who she is."

"shes the one with glasses. her name is imu. tbh im trying to make sure she doesnt find out about me talking to u. she mite be... a lil... overprotective. rite now shes not gonna notice bc shes too busy with her obvious crush on miyabi but. we gotta be careful. oh btw u can come to get food now, we are in a store."

Ah, so glasses girl was Imu, the sister I'd heard about before. And she was another potential threat. Great. Still, it was good to know we could at least go up and get food now.

"Don't worry, I'll buy yours," Zelda said to me, even before we got upstairs. I almost argued, but thought better of it. After all, it seemed like she had a lot more money than Tris and I did, what with the rich dad and everything. And so I was able to eat my fill without worrying what it'd cost this time. Still, maybe I was a little too gluttonous sometimes...

"Did you just, like, eat that whole bread roll in one bite?" Shiki asked, her mouth wide open in shock.

"That's how it is all the time," Zelda said, exhaling sharply in amusement.

Once we'd eaten, we decided to start from one end of the mall and work our way toward the other. So we started from the big department store. This mostly consisted of us going to the makeup and accessory department, with Zelda and me standing around as Shiki gushed over everything and tried on everything she could possibly try on. We probably looked bored and weird, just being there and not really saying anything to anyone. But we were conversing. Just in our heads.

"Is she always like this?" I asked, without saying anything.

"Yes, of course," Zelda responded, equally silently. "If she gets to be shocked at how you can be such a big eater, we get to be shocked about how materialistic and fashion-conscious she can be..."

"At least she seems like a really nice person," I thought. "The day my sister and I first moved here, she started trying to befriend us in a cafe right away. At first it was suspicious, but now it seems like she's just genuinely friendly."

"Yes, she is like that." Zelda shuffled back and forth from one foot to the other, continuing to communicate with me telepathically. "Ugh, I have to go to the bathroom. I was going to wait until Shiki was done in here, but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen soon. You'll be okay on your own for a few minutes, right?"

I nodded. Of course I'd be okay on my own for a few minutes. I may have been bad at directions and at communicating, I thought to her, but I wasn't totally helpless.

Turns out I was wrong about me being okay on my own. Because, while I was standing there zoning out by myself, Imu and Murasaki showed up, and were making their way into the makeup area too.

I tried to leave, silently, hoping they wouldn't notice me. But it didn't work. Imu had come up to me before I could get away. Murasaki followed her, silently clutching at Bebe-tan, looking even more like she was about to cry now than she usually did. Crap.

"Hey, you look familiar," Imu said to me. "What school do you go to?"

"Ehhhhh..." That was all I could get out in terms of words at the moment.

"What's your deal? I'm just trying to make conversation." Sure. Like I believed that.

"Aaaaahhh."

"Can you not talk, or something?" she asked.

I almost nodded in confirmation, but then didn't. I didn't want to give her any information that could help identify me. Even though I was pretty sure she already knew who I was, and was trying to trick me into admitting it. The only thing I could do was play dumb, right?

"Yeah, I thought not." Imu crossed her arms beneath her ample chest. "I know there's a student at Hanzo who can't talk. And she's got some kind of weird beef with Hebijo, and is trying to cause trouble for us. But then, she texts my little sister, like they're all buddy buddy or something." She scowled at me. Crap, she did know who I was, like I thought she did. And she was overprotective, like Murasaki thought she would be.

"I-I'm sorry," Murasaki said, in the tiniest voice I could still hear. Yeah, she was crying. "I didn't think she'd c-catch me messaging you..."

I scowled and pulled out my phone, to type a message into it and hold it up at Imu.

"Let me clear things up. I consider Murasaki to be a good friend, and I'd gladly befriend you too if you wanted. I don't have any beef with Hebijo. I just have beef with Ganondorf. You don't have to get involved in that, and it's probably safer for all of us if you don't. Now back off, because I really, really don't want to have to hurt you."

Murasaki was glancing back and forth between me and Imu, still clutching Bebe-tan, still crying. "L-Linkle... sis... please don't fight..."

At that point, Zelda had come back from her bathroom trip. She strode over to all of us, as calm as ever.

"Is there a problem here?" she asked.

"Never mind." Imu sighed. "Come on, sis. I don't feel like dealing with this crap today." And she shoved past me, as she left. Murasaki followed, still looking miserable. I let them go. And that was that, I thought.

Until we left the department store to go back into the rest of the mall.

The second I stepped through the security things on either side of the entrance and exit, they started beeping. Like I stole something. The security lady came rushing over. I had half a mind to just book it, but that would make me even more suspicious. So I stopped. I let my hand rest on my hip for a second, and that was when I realized what happened. There was something in my pocket, something I hadn't put there. I pulled it out. It was a really, really expensive lipstick. Like, who paid that much for a lipstick? I didn't even wear lipstick.

Imu must have slipped it in there while she was starting crap with me.

I flung the lipstick at the security lady, like... here, take it, I don't even want this thing. And then I booked it. But I wasn't looking where I was going when I did. Because I ran back into the department store, instead of out of it. And I kept going without looking, into the housewares area, until I collided with a shelf. Down came a bunch of ceramic plates, cups, and bowls, clattering to the floor as they smashed into shards. I yelled and turned back to run the other way, before they could catch me and make me pay for everything I broke. As I fled the scene, I sent Zelda one last telepathic message for the day.

"I don't want you guys to get in trouble on my behalf, so don't follow me or anything. Pretend like you don't even know me, okay?"

"Got it."

I'd escaped out into the parking lot, and was hiding in a trash can until I felt like the whole thing had blown over enough, when someone lifted the lid off the can. It was Zelda, with Shiki in tow. Shiki's jaw dropped.

"How'd you, like, know she was in here?" she asked.

"Intuition," Zelda said, shrugging. "Let's just say I know her... very well."

"Like, how? I thought you two totally didn't know each other before I introduced you."

"It's a long story." Zelda shook her head. "In fact, I'm not surprised about all the ceramics that got smashed today. Honestly, I'm even more surprised it happened by accident. I'm more used to her smashing things on purpose. I suppose it was only a matter of time..."

I crossed my arms in a huff. Even I knew that smashing things on purpose was a bad idea as a shinobi. I was trying to be inconspicuous here.

"I know, I know, you're trying." She patted me on the shoulder. "Let's get out of here, before someone recognizes you from in there."

I huffed at her in my head. "I told you to pretend you didn't know me, so you wouldn't risk getting in trouble too."

"I was worried about you," she said. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Well, I'm okay as I can be, after learning that one of my good friend's sister hates me." I pouted a bit. "Other than that, I'm fine."

"You'll win her over eventually. You always do."

I sighed. "She's classmates with Ganondorf though."

"Well, maybe it'll be easier for us to be friends after we succeed in taking down Ganondorf."

I sighed again. It wasn't like we were making much progress on that front either. Especially now that Ganondorf figured out how to summon yoma. But it wasn't like we could go after her without any proof about what kind of trouble she was. What else were we supposed to do? Wait until her yoma summoning got out of hand, and then use that as a reason to attack her directly? I mean, if she got caught summoning yoma, then we'd at least have proof she is as much trouble as we think.

If this carried on for much longer... ugh. I was definitely tempted to have us all just bust into Hebijo and do whatever we could to take her down.

"There's a fine line between courage and stupidity," Zelda said, shaking her head at me.

Well, excuse me, princess. I was just thinking about trying to get the job done here.

"Maybe you should try to win over Imu first. That could be helpful."

How was I supposed to do that?

"Just be yourself. You always seem to win people over eventually."

Yeah, somehow... in spite of being an obnoxious, violent, yelling, destructive, combative, pot smashing tornado of chaos.

"I don't think that's the reason Imu has a problem with you. I think it's more due to the fact that you're involved with her little sister."

Involved? What was that supposed to mean?

"Isn't it obvious?"

No?

"You can tell that Murasaki's got a thing for you, right? I thought you liked her back, and were flirting with her on purpose." Zelda shook her head, suppressing a laugh. "Is this another instance of you not noticing when a girl is crazy about you?"

It wasn't like that! I swear it wasn't like that.

"If that's what you want to believe." And she stopped being able to hold the laughter in anymore. I grumbled to myself as I went to pick gum out of my hair from hiding in that trash can. Maybe I was in more trouble than I thought.

Why do I have to be so bad at solving problems when I can't just stab them?