a/n I'm not sure this chapter is worth the rating hike, but better safe than sorry, I just read the note about mis-rating things on the main page. again, sorry it took so long, and thank you to every one who has reviewed.

The next morning Krystal met Mike in the halls before school. He grinned, and held up the bag he carried in addition to his laptop case, backpack and instrument case, all of which he'd had the day before.

"Got my PS2 and DDR! My science teacher let me leave the dance pads in his classroom."

"Cool. What instrument?" Krystal asked.

"Today, trumpet. My sister put a dent in the bell of my baritone, so I'm getting it fixed. Takumi, from our Lit class, is coming, so we'll get to see a true DDR master at work." He spied a brown card sticking out of Krystal's bag, and asked, "You play magic? Me too!"

"You do? Great. I'm not real good at finding people to play against, so I don't get as much practice as I should, but I go to all the tournaments I can ride a bus to from where ever I'm currently living." Magic: The Gathering was Krystal's favorite card game, one that had been created in the U.S. but had spread across the globe. "What colors do you play?"

"Lately Blue-White. You?"

"Mono Red's my favorite, although I have a green deck also." Krystal checked her wrist, and realized she had forgotten her watch again. "What time is it? Have we got time for a quick game?"

"I think so". Mike said, sitting down in the hall and pulling a deck from his pocket. Krystal did like wise.

They might have had time for a quick match, but red direct damage versus blue counter spell does not a quick match make, and the bell rang on about the twentieth turn, with the contestants tied at ten life points. Krystal shrugged.

"Oh well. See ya."

After school Krystal walked in to her science teacher's classroom and beheld Kagome stumbling though "Ordinary World" next to a boy who she vaguely recognized from Lit class. The boy turned and waved, and then returned his eyes to the screen, all without missing a step. Mike was standing next to Kagome, trying to assist her by counting out the steps, but it didn't seem to be helping much. Her life bar was already empty, and she would have gotten a game over already if the other boy hadn't been doing well. His difficulty was set to standard, Kagome's to beginner. The song ended, and Mike and the other boy walked over to Krystal.

"Hi, I'm Takumi, from your lit class." The other boy said.

"I'm Krystal. Ready to take me on, Mike?"

"Go easy on me, I'm not as good at DDR as I am at Magic." Mike replied, laughing.

"Magic? Are you a wizard or something?" asked Kagome, only half kidding.

"It's a card game, Kagome. Just a card game." Mike replied, and took his place on one of the two DDR mats. Krystal took her place on the other. She had taken Kagome's place, so she tapped the down arrow twice to set it to light. Mike tapped the up arrow twice to get down from Taku's setting of standard to light mode. Krystal selected the song, and chose "End Of the Century"

"Are you nuts?" Mike asked.

"You could switch to beginner." Krystal suggested, knowing he wouldn't.

"Nah." Mike replied. The song started, and Krystal played with ease, although she wasn't in Takumi's league, and made a couple missteps. Mike kept up for a while, but then lost his place and was scrambling to regain it, when Kagome, who hadn't put her shoes back on, slipped on the tiled floor and put a hand on his shoulder to regain her balance. The sudden extra weight caused Mike to slip and fall sideways, right on top of Krystal, knocking her over as well. Kagome managed to regain her balance, but Mike and Krystal ended up sprawled on the floor with Mike on top of Krystal, his hand touching something soft...He figured out what his hand was touching at about the same instant as Krystal slapped him across the face.

"Oww! I'm sorry! It was an accident, I swear! Kagome pushed me!" he yelped, his blush momentarily hiding the handprint on his face.

"So, was it worth it?" Takumi asked casually, slipping a can of WD-40 in his jacket pocket.

"Hey, what's this black stuff all over my socks?" Kagome asked.

"Do you really think I'm stupid enough to answer that?" Mike asked Takumi, pointing at an enraged and humiliated Krystal, and a Kagome who'd just noticed a thin red straw-like thing sticking out of Takumi's pocket.

"Bastard! This is a new low, even for you!" Kagome yelled at Mike.

"What?!! You think I planned this? You pushed me into her!"

"Only because I slipped on the oil put on the floor by your helpful co-conspirator! You'd win either way, wouldn't you? Either I'd fall on you or I'd push you on to her!!"

"I don't know why there was oil on the floor, but I had nothing to do with it! For all you know Takumi could have spilled it by accident, or he could have been pulling some stunt without my knowledge! And what do you mean, even for me? Have you once ever seen me act ...improperly toward a girl?"

Finally, Kagome seemed to believe him. "Well, no. I've only known you two days, though. What do you think Krystal?"

"I am inclined to believe him. That's why I used an open hand. If I thought it wasn't an accident I would have used a fist." Krystal replied.

"I'm sorry, Mike. I guess just because you're Miroku's reincarnation doesn't make you a total pervert. I, reacted out of reflex. You look so much like him, and he pulls that crap all the time." Kagome replied. "I guess you guys had better have a rematch, huh?" she finished, pointing at the TV screen. Both sides read "Failed!" in big letters.