Under the Right Circumstances…
Chapter 3: The Mirror Maze
Secondary Test Subject no. 1: Hanabishi Recca
Also sixteen, this ninja enthusiast's cheesy grins and laid-back attitude hides an extremely good fighter who can be serious in times of need. His relationship with the primary test subject is comparable to one which would exist between two sibling rivals. However, that could change, under the right circumstances…
["Is it just me, or is it starting to sound less like a science report and more like a soap opera?" ~K~
"Shut up." ~G~]
Recca woke up, drenched in sweat. He'd had the freakiest nightmare about being trapped in a maze like a rat by two shadowy figures. He shuddered. He definitely did not want to know what that dream meant.
After having breakfast, he popped into the work shed next to the house to look in on his dad.
"Hey Pop…" he began, then stopped when he saw the cigarette hanging out of Hanabishi Shigeo's mouth. "How many times have I told you not to smoke when you're working?!" he yelled, landing a kick on the man's face.
Shigeo blinked as he swung his head back into position with a crack. There was a red shoe imprint on his face. He sighed as he picked the squashed cigarette from his teeth. "Now I have to light another one," he muttered.
Recca just shook his head as he left the shed. The old man never learned.
"Oi," Shigeo stuck his head out, a newly-lit cigarette in his mouth, "there's a letter for you on the dining table." And with a trademark Hanabishi cheesy grin, he disappeared back in the shed.
The letter Shigeo spoke of seemed to have been hand-delivered as there was no postmark, let alone a stamp, on the envelope. 'Hmm,' Recca thought, 'it could be from Hime. But why would she have this hand-delivered?'
Curious, he tore open the envelope. Inside was a note, and attached to the note was…
"A free ticket to the new amusement park?!!" Recca excitedly read the paper in his hands, "'Congratulations! You are one of the lucky few who have been chosen to receive free admission to the new Fun World Amusement Park. This ticket entitles you to free and unlimited rides for one day only.' Wow! It's about time I had some good luck. I'll wait until Hime gets back from her grandmother's so that we can go together." He looked down at the ticket. "Valid until Saturday, 5th March… WHAT?! That's today!"
Shigeo was going back into the house to get a cup of coffee when Recca dashed past him, clutching something in his hand and jabbering to himself, "Look at the time! That could be ten less rides already! Gotta run… hurry…"
Shigeo stared after him for a while then continued on his way, muttering, "Got to get more cigarettes."
******
Gensuki Seiji scanned the small crowd trickling through the turnstiles, occasionally glancing down at the three photographs in his hand. He sighed. He so did not deserve this. Helping out two nine-year-olds spy on some unsuspecting teenagers was not his idea of fun. Still, he couldn't afford Kenji telling Mum about the *ahem* thing - which would happen if he didn't do this.
Seiji's eyes were suddenly drawn to a boy wearing a bright orange and white cap. He noted the boy's black, spiky hair; his annoyingly indolent grin; how his hand held one of the maroon tickets Seiji had painfully coaxed his boss into giving him in the place of his monthly salary.
"Sei here," he said into his walkie-talkie as he waited for the boy to pass through, and then motioned those behind him to wait, "subject number one has arrived. I repeat, subject number one has arrived. He is wearing a white and orange baseball cap, a blue shirt and dark pants. He's on your left, Kenji. No, your other left!" Seiji sighed exasperatedly as he watched his little brother give him a wave of thanks and dash off after the teenager. He waved the next batch of waiting customers in.
'This is so not going to work,' he thought.
******
Ganko gesticulated urgently to Hikaru behind Fuuko's back as she felt a vibration against her hip. Fortunately, Hikaru caught on immediately and hastily drew her daughter's attention away from the little girl.
Ganko took out the pager and read the message on the screen. It was about time, she thought as she slipped it back into her pocket.
"Hey Mum! Fuuko-neechan!" she called, pretending to look at the map of the theme park they had received at the entrance. "Why don't we head to the Mirror House? It's only a short distance ahead and it sounds really fun."
"Sure," Fuuko shrugged and Hikaru nodded as was expected.
Ganko grinned. Things were finally getting under way.
******
"Yaaaah!" Recca yelled as he fell face-first onto the pavement below.
"E-heh, sorry niichan," said a brown-haired boy several years younger than him with an embarrassed smile as he got off the flame-master's back.
"Owww…" Recca rubbed his face and scowled, "what's the big hurry anyway?"
"It's just that they're opening the new mirror house today and I heard that it's really awesome."
"Really?" Recca said excitedly, "Where is it?"
"Come on, I'll show you," Kenji replied, grinning.
Teenagers were such suckers.
******
Ganko and Hikaru turned as Kenji slipped into the control room.
"Hiya," he grinned at them, "the niichan should be joining her soon."
"Yo Ken," the young man sitting in front of a row of monitors said, flashing his teeth in a grin, "I dunno what you have over your bro to make him agree to this, but it must be something dirty."
"Heh heh," Kenji gave him a fanged smile which was not unlike a certain Kougan Anki-master's.
"I'm still not sure that I'm comfortable with this," Hikaru said uncertainly.
"Don't worry Mum," Ganko said reassuringly, "it's just a mirror house. Nothing's going to happen."
"Oho, it's not just a house of mirrors," Ryousuke (the young man) said, "it's an intricate labyrinth designed so that no-one ever gets out alive! Mwahahaha!"
Ganko and Hikaru stared at him strangely.
"Hey, I wasn't serious," he laughed, misinterpreting their looks.
["You have really strange friends," Ganko whispered to Kenji.
"Oh, and your friends are perfectly normal, aren't they?" Kenji replied sarcastically.]
"Okay people. Audio is up, and now we have visual." Ryousuke said, suddenly serious as the multitude of monitors in front of them flickered on, showing various parts of the mirror house. "Now here (he pointed to a screen where a dozen Fuukos stood) is our lady, and here (his finger moved a few screens away to a dozen Reccas making their way screen-by-screen towards the Fuukos) is our boy. All we have to do now is wait *teehee*." He gave the three another toothy grin, his serious side now nowhere to be seen. All he got were three pairs of raised eyebrows.
******
Fuuko stood hands on hip, unsure of what to do next. The place was a damn maze. First she'd lost Ganko and her mum and now she was hopelessly lost herself.
She frowned at her reflections as they frowned back. A person could go crazy trapped in a place like this for a long period of time. Speaking of which… she rubbed her eyes. Why was there a guy in her reflection?
"Ehhhh?!!" she shrieked as he turned around. "Recca?!!"
"F-fuuko?!!!" Recca exclaimed half in fright, half in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I got this free ticket in the mail and…"
"Hey! Us too!"
"Us?"
"Yeah. I'm with Ganko and Mum. At least, was…"
"There's gotta be a way out somewhere."
"Let's go left."
"Nah, let's go right."
"No, left!"
"Right!"
"Left!!"
"Right!!!"
The two teenagers glared at each other and huffed off in opposite directions.
******
"Well that didn't go well at all," Kenji sweatdropped, "they really act like brother and sister."
"U-huh," said Ganko, writing something down on a pad, "it was kinda what I expected. Um… may I ask something, Ryousuke-san?"
"Ki-heehee, just Ryousuke is fine."
"How do we know where exactly in the maze they are? If Fuuko-neechan manages to find her way out before the others arrive, it's all over."
"I was waiting for someone to ask that." Ryousuke grinned and reached over to turn on a screen that was slightly bigger than the others. "I wasn't completely joking earlier, in that this mirror house was going to be closed down because almost no-one ever got out. So the management decided to install this little feature along with the video cameras that picks up the heat signatures of any living thing in the place. Heehee, it cost them thousands of dollars to install it, and the place was closed down anyway. Here we go…" A 2-dimentional picture of the mirror maze appeared on the screen. On it were two dots, which were moving in opposite directions. "I'm guessing the green dot is the cute oneechan and the red one is the spiky-haired guy." He leaned back on his chair grinning, "As you can see, they're nowhere near the exit. Pretty nifty, huh?"
"Cool," Kenji agreed, wide-eyed.
"Are you sure no-one will find us here?" Hikaru asked anxiously.
"Absolutely, pretty lady. Nobody comes up here anymore."
"Kenji, you there?"
All of them jumped as a voice crackled over Kenji's walkie-talkie.
"I think you'd better come quickly. Number two's here."
Author's note: That was a really hard chapter to write. I was basically making it up as I went which is why it might be a bit disjointed at parts. Gomen… *bowing in apology*
And please, please excuse the fact that everything is going (so conveniently) as planned for Ganko and Kenji.
And I won't be updating for a while because of work *GRRR*!! Any suggestions for a better chapter title?
On the next chapter, Ryousuke enters the mirror house in hope of winning the cute oneechan's hea….
*Ganko and Kenji flying kick combo!!! *
"What are you doing?!" ~K, as G snatches the microphone from R~
"G-gomen…teehee…" ~dazed R makes a 'peace' sign~
On the next chapter, Ganko and Kenji's experiment hangs in the balance as something unexpected happens…