They resurfaced from the portal once the sun was already setting. The five MewMew, tired and worried, walked away turning only to look at the aliens who stood on the threshold of the passage.
"So, do we agree?" Eyner asked, "We will be back in a few days, when MoiMoi and Pai are done."
The girls nodded and watched him disappear behind the white door, followed by his companions.
Ichigo stood for a moment staring at the iridescent surface, her friends walking away in silence, and sighed heavily studying the damp grass at her feet. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the boy coming back and popping up behind her:
"In the end, we couldn't get a minute alone, eh Ichigo?"
The redhead gasped, stifling a squeal:
"Kisshu! Hey, you scared me!"
He smiled mischievously and did not answer. Ichigo tried to sustain those eyes that caressed her, or to disdain them forcefully, at least to ignore them, but the more she tried to turn her head, the more she felt that Kisshu's golden irises attracted her gaze, forcing her to look at him.
The redhead snorted annoyed and snapped her neck so quickly towards the edge of the park that she feared she had broken it.
"I mean, could you lose this horrible vice?"
He sneered, slipped beside her and, suddenly approaching her, planted a kiss on her cheek, too close to her lips:
"You're my vice, kitten," he whispered hoarse, "See ya."
"Stupid!"
She yelled to the air: he was already gone, but he had fully enjoyed the distraught and deliciously red face of his kitten, and for this he could considered himself satisfied.
Ichigo clenched her fists until she almost lost sensation to her fingers. She was so angry and embarrassed that she could only pray MoiMoi would take longer than she should, so that she would not be forced to meet Kisshu too soon.
"We know that a fragment is on Earth," MoiMoi said, "I say we could start from there; don't you think?"
Everyone had given their assent.
"For the moment I fear that I will have to delegate this task to you girls," she continued sadly, "In the meantime, Pai-chan and I will study a system that can contain the passage so that it is more stable, at least as long as we'll need it. It's going to take a couple of days."
She rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a curious hairy orange ball, which immediately reminded Ichigo of Masha.
"I know, it's not exactly discreet," MoiMoi laughed, "But it's the only working prototype I have. Were there any updates, of any kind on your side or ours, we can use it to communicate; until we stabilize it, better to use the passage as little as possible. »
She put the little ball in the hands of the mewneko and smiled, closing her fingers:
"I hope you won't have to use it, Ichigo-chan."
.
.
.
When they arrived at the Café, it wasn't easy to tell everything to Ryou and Keiichiro, just like it wasn't easy to even decide which way to start talking.
Slowly, passing the baton when one did not remember details, the girls explained everything: the passages, the Mew Aqua, the group of the Four Ancestrals, the dying planet. The two young men listened in silence with grave faces, and when it was time for the girls to admit that they accepted the proposal of Kisshu and the others, Keiichiro lowered his head, but nodded strongly; Ryou, on the other hand, let his arms fell down his sides and after muttering a whatever you want, went upstairs without adding anything else.
"Shirogane-san!"
Kei grabbed her shoulder softly and reassured her:
"Don't worry, Retasu. I think I understand him. You know it very well, he and I are very fond of you girls, and this thing… It's dangerous. Don't blame him if it takes him a while to digest it."
"Akasaka-san…"
He smiled softly, and she and the other girls reciprocated, while Purin clung to his arm.
"You will see that tomorrow we will be as always ready to help you," continued the gentle brunette, heedless of the extra fifty kilos that dangled from his hand, "Now, however, you'd better go home and rest well, especially you Zakuro, you're still fully jet-lagged."
The girls nodded and headed to the exit, in fact too tired and confused to be able to discuss anything more.
"Wait…! My bag!"
"Did you lose it, Ichigo?"
"No!" she blurted out, annoyed by Minto's tone, "I left it in the locker room… You go ahead, see you tomorrow."
She waved to the ballerina and turned fast on her heels.
She took a few seconds to retrieve her cross-body bag, but when she came back the Café was already completely empty, even the noise of Keiichiro fussing in the kitchen was gone. The redhead spent a moment contemplating the peace of that place, so dear and familiar, with the sunset light flooding with crimson the whole silent main hall, creating a warm and quiet atmosphere.
"Why still here?"
Ryou's slightly rude voice surprised her; she turned slightly, noting that the blond, under his usual flat expression, looked upset and that was very, very strange.
"I forgot my bag," she muttered "Why, you have to host a party and I can't hang around?"
He didn't answer her and continued to sip the bottle of tea he was holding with a bored air. Ichigo was increasingly surprised, it was difficult for Ryou to not respond to her provocations.
"So... Did your trip go well?"
He asked acrimoniously. Ichigo snorted weary and started chanting in the most sarcastic tone she could muster:
"Yes, boss, no one has extorted vital information about Earth, project Mew, or anything else that you might find vaguely important! In fact, I'll tell you!", she said disdainful, "I could say I had fun, I think I have made a new friend…"
"I was talking about Kisshu."
Ichigo was staggered:
"What does Kisshu have to do with it?"
"How many times has he managed to jump on you?"
A mixture of cruel irony and an incomprehensible deaf rage in those words. Ichigo, instead of feeling uncomfortable, took offense and snapped at attention:
"How dare you?! Do you think I'd allow him such a thing?!"
The embarrassment in her eyes betrayed something different; not what the blond thought, but enough to harden the look he sent to the redhead as he laid out a mocking grin:
"It's never happened, indeed."
His sarcasm only angered the mewneko:
"You're a moron!"
"Maybe. You, meanwhile, are blushing like a little girl."
"What are you implying?"
In response, he wore the most malignant and poisonous smile he was capable of. The girl was so furious that she could no longer articulate a proper insult.
How… How dare he even suggest that she…?!
She wasn't like that! She loved Masaya; she was madly in love with Masaya! She could never…!
And why would she?!
Masaya was sweet, thoughtful, he was perfect!
He was everything to her.
"I love Masaya!"
Ryou imperceptibly furrowed his brow.
Perhaps that little girl had finally decided on his funeral and wanted to give him the final blow with that sentence, at least judging by how he felt his heart addling to a grape; or maybe she enjoyed slamming her perfect love in everyone's face, regardless of where her shots got at.
He took a deep breath to calm down, he was becoming unfair. He knew perfectly well that Ichigo was not like that, that the only thing that allowed her to distribute her waves of love all around was only the ignorance of other people's feelings.
And it must stay this way.
"Yes, I know," a flat tone that betrayed nothing of the effort he was making to speak, "But you are imprudent."
He didn't know for how long he could resist from meddling between Ichigo and her environmentalist tuna, but he certainly couldn't tolerate Kisshu playing some odd game.
From Ichigo's reactions he feared that he had already tried.
He couldn't let him do it again.
He ì slowly approached the redhead, weighing the steps and movements of the hand that rose to brush her bangs; if he hadn't held back, if he hadn't thought, even for a second, he wouldn't have resisted that tenderly sulky face:
"Try to be careful. I don't want anything to happen that could hurt you."
She hushed; suddenly she found it difficult to swallow.
"W-what do you mean?"
He did not answer but rubbed a red strand between his thumb and forefinger.
A little bell in Ichigo's head was shouting not to stand there, to go home, but her legs once again did not seem willing to obey her, so she lingered, a statue of salt staring dreamlessly at the boy's blue eyes.
What held Ryou back, what made him rigidly walk back and go upstairs again, Ichigo did not know; as soon as he was far enough away, however, the redhead hugged her purse to her chest and ran out at full speed, praying that the cool evening air would wash away those terrible palpitations that still flooded every inch of skin with sweet chills.
.
.
.
She couldn't sleep that night: lying in her bed, in her comfortable pink pajama, and hugging her pillow, she rolled from side to side, agitated, nervous, confused.
What was happening to her?
She was certain of her feelings, she loved Masaya! Then why did she have to feel like that?
She laid on her side and looked at the alarm clock, it was past midnight.
She slowly reached out to her cell phone, selected the number in the address book, and called; the device remained silent for a few seconds, then an electronic voice informed her that the number was not available.
She sighed and hung up, better to avoid leaving a voicemail.
Of course it was off, it was late. Masaya was a model student, attentive and diligent, it was normal that at such an hour he was not reachable.
Ichigo sank her face into the pillow, unable to silence a malignant little voice gnawing in a corner of her brain. Always off... Didn't it ever occur to him that he could keep it on for her? She certainly wouldn't have bothered him at every hour of the night!
Didn't he ever think she wanted to hear from him? That maybe she needed to hear from him?
And didn't he care to hear her voice, the nights he stayed up a little longer?
She was craving it at that moment.
Wanted... No, she had to speak to him. She needed him, to be warmed by his sweetness, to be told I love you by her perfect prince.
Instead, she was answered by a recorded message from a speech synthesizer, which made her feel immensely alone. She felt a lump tightening her throat and tried in vain to fall asleep, curling up under the sheets.
She tried to focus on the memory of his voice, on the feeling of their kisses and their hugs.
But the thought alone failed to ward off the fresh, burning sensations of Kisshu's embraces and kiss, or to make her forget the smell of Ryou's aftershave that had invaded her lungs.
She felt dirty and mean. She wanted to cry and, mechanically, tried in vain to call another time; she was again greeted by the synthetic voice and hung up at the third word, and then called again.
Voicemail. Hang up.
Call again. Voicemail.
Voicemail.
Masaya… I need you…
.
.
.
"Ichigo, are you okay? You're so pale…!" a caring Retasu asked her.
"I'm fine, I thank you," she lied, "I just slept very badly…"
She actually had not managed to get any sleep. She had spent the night in an exhausting half-sleep, stubbornly insisting on phoning a number that wouldn't answer, until she had caved in at dawn; when, a few hours later, her mother had called her for the fifth time, forcing her to get up, she had realized that the battery of her cellphone had died: she had plunged to the socket, but when she had attached the mobile phone to the charger, it had already been too late:
"Hello baby," Masaya's voice, in her voicemail, seemed very far away, "I saw your calls... Is everything okay? I have practice again today, if you can, as soon as school is over, we can meet outside the gym."
And nothing more.
She had immediately tried to call him back, but the voicemail had again welcomed her with open arms, a sign both that the boy was already on the train and that – as a result – she was frightenedly late, so she couldn't see him before class. She couldn't even see him before going to the Café, she had already agreed with the girls that they were going to meet immediately after school to look for the Mew Aqua.
She sighed, disheartened; she couldn't catch a break…
"Ichigo-chan is very influenced by the seasons," Ayumi chuckled, "When it gets hot, she doesn't sleep at night and snoozes during the day… she's basically a cat!"
"Yeah…" Ichigo prayed that her sarcastic tone would go unnoticed, "Basically."
"So you're not coming shopping with me today?"
Ayu asked disappointed; Retasu raised her hand in an apology:
"Shirogane-san asked us to help him in some extra chores at the Café," she dissembled with a smile, "In exchange for paid hours."
"Greedy!" Ayumi teased them; then she snorted, "That Shirogane is a tyrant!"
"You can bet on that, meeeeeow…"
"But he's a hot piece of ass."
Ichigo stopped suddenly, the little bell around her neck ringing, and could not prevent the previous night's scene, nor the blond's scent, from overwhelmingly invading her mind.
Hey! First MoiMoi, now her?!
"What's the matter with you all," she lost it, exasperated, "Quit it with all these chatters!"
And she sped towards school like a fury, without turning around.
"What did I say wrong?"
.
.
.
Ichigo's mood did not improve during the day. The search had been endless and fruitless, she and the girls had only returned in the evening and between dinner, the endless questions from her father's Spanish Inquisition ("why so late?", "you were with Aoyama-kun right? He should be more careful about these things!") and the new uncompromising rule of doing at least a couple of hours of homework a day, to avoid the usual collapse of her school GPA in the middle of the year, when finally she had the calm and time to phone Masaya, it was again the voicemail that answered.
"Ah, of course!" she told herself with a smile, "Masaya-kun cannot afford to fall behind with his studies, he's aiming for the state university…"
She closed the keyboard against the screen and slumped on the bed with an exasperated sigh, pressing her arm against her already moistened eyelids.
"Damn it!"
She turned slowly on her side, crestfallen. She would have given anything to talk to someone...!
Minto?
As if she'd want to listen to my love complaints! At the very least, she'd tell me I'm too emotional.
Retasu?
I'd just make her worry... And knowing her, she would give me a political reassurance, saying it's just a moment...
Purin?
Never mind.
Zakuro?
She'd probably explain to me that taking some distance is normal in a couple growing up, and she'd probably be right.
All things she didn't want to hear.
Deep in thought, she reached in the pocket of her skirt resting on her desk chair, grabbing the colorful transmitter MoiMoi had given her, and then taking to fiddling with it by passing it from hand to hand.
"I mean, is it possible that there's always a problem?"
"What?"
The redhead screamed and squeezed the furry ball in her hands.
"Ichigo? Is that you?"
"M-M-M-MoiMoi?!"
She slowly opened her fingers and her heart began to decelerate as she comprehended the metallic voice vibrating from the small object.
"Ichigo-chan, is everything all right? " she asked worriedly, "You turned the transmitter on..."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," she stammered, "I was bored, I took it and…"
MoiMoi nodded with a small grunt.
"I'm sorry," she continued, "I'll go now, see y…"
"Ichigo. You alright?"
The redhead was surprised by the question, but she did not disagree and stayed silent; the alien's voice was calm and kind, similar to the one Zakuro sometimes used when she understood something her friends didn't want to say.
"You have a strange tone," MoiMoi continued, "Is everything okay?"
"Y-yes... I mean...," she hushed for another moment and then, sighing, couldn't restrain herself from mumbling, "MoiMoi... Would you mind chatting a bit with me?"
She heard the other girl chuckle:
"A long night of wiring awaits me, so please begin."
.
.
.
After the first unsuccessful day of research, two more followed, just as disappointing. They had combed every corner of Tokyo by now, but none of them had had even a pale reaction to a possible crystal, whether they were emotionally nervous or not.
By the third day they were beginning to worry. Maybe the crystal hadn't stopped in Tokyo, maybe it wasn't even in Japan. Purin, bored while she walked, wondered what they could possibly do if it was abroad. Search the entire globe for Mew Aqua… It might have been fun, but how could she manage with all her young siblings?
"Phew! … you can never turn the corner and puff! Mew Aqua spotted!"
She looked at her reflection in the window of a grocery store for a second, still unable to get used to that image.
In three years, she had gained at least ten centimeters in height and, from under the tartan skirt in shades of blue, her legs were peeping, too thin for her liking; the curve of her hips had just started to appear, almost with annoyance, and the sailor-style t-shirt not perfectly fitted was enough to hide the hint of breast. She didn't like seeing herself like that, she was no longer a child but not yet an adult.
I'm weird. Is this what they call puberty?
Maybe it was because she had started thinking of an annoying thing, but suddenly her body sent a slight glimmer.
"It can't be...!"
She turned exalted, at last she had found it!
Her enthusiasm, however, died out as it had exploded, seeing what was in front of her. She took the Mew pendant from her uniform's pocket and spoke in it:
"Girls, I have good news and bad news," she muttered, "Maybe it's better to start with the bad."
.
.
.
The Yakori was one of the best-known public schools in the city.
It had a monumental complex consisting of elementary, middle and high school, as well as a swimming pool, athletics field, an auditorium and two gyms; tuition and school fees were moderate, but at the same time it provided an education five times better than the average of the other schools.
An elite school among public schools.
"And we should get in there?! Are you kidding?!" Ichigo stuttered to Ryou, "No way! I could never make it!"
"Yes, I know that." he sighed resigned, "The Yakori has such a structure that students enrolled in elementary school have virtually no risk of failing the advancement of grade, but for those who enroll in the following years there is an aptitude test. I have serious doubts that you can reach the required standard."
"Are you calling me stupid?"
He didn't dignify her of a reply and Ichigo was grateful the Café was full of customers, or the rage would have awakened her tail. Retasu tried to advocate for her friend:
"I actually don't think any of us can pass it, and it would take too long anyway."
"I'm going to deal with getting you in."
"You don't want us to get us in as students, do you?!" the redhead asked, shocked, "Ryou, we're already going to school! How are we going to explain it?! What about our parents?!"
"Calm down."
He arrogantly shut her up, only increasing her anger.
"It will be a much simpler search than usual, you would find yourself in a well-defined enclosed space, wouldn't you? For a few days you can pretend to be sick, you must have classmates at school who can pass the message."
"Of course," Ichigo hissed poisonous "Unlike you, Mr. Likable, we have a social life beyond these walls!"
"I'm glad," he replied flat without even considering her provocation, "As for your parents, just say nothing; you'll go out in the mornings for school and simply, you'll go somewhere else."
The mewneko groaned angrily, in her opinion he was still making it too easy, but she was convinced that protesting would be useless: the expressions of her friends told her that they believed it was a good plan and she too should accept it.
Ryou took his chin in his hand and reflected a moment:
"Ichigo, I need Masha."
He said to her, extending his palm.
"What? Why?"
"I hope your friends want to help, don't they?" he sneered, "I need the data recorded on our last meeting. Tell them I'll take care of the rest."
"... And he said that," the redhead ceased to explain, "But of course you won't have to infiltrate yourselves!"
"No, you have to go all together."
MoiMoi said, and went back to tinker with who knew what, never looking at her again.
As soon as they had tracked down the Mew Aqua, the five Earthlings had alerted Kisshu and the others in order to decide what to do; since Pai and MoiMoi had announced that they had managed to stabilize the portal, they had asked to be joined on the other side and receive a face-to-face report.
"We don't know exactly where the drop is," MoiMoi said, rummaging in a drawer, "It could be hidden somewhere, or merged with an animal, or even with a person."
She exulted finally finding what she wanted and ran to the boys, putting something very thin on their wrists:
"It's better you stay together and sneak in among the students, some of them may have assimilated the Mew Aqua unconsciously... Et voila!"
She smiled with satisfaction as Taruto peered at the strange bracelet with a dubious face:
"What the hell are those?"
"Automatic shielding devices," Pai laconically said, "They will automatically regulate depending on the situation, so as not to let us attract any attention."
"I don't see any difference."
Minto observed skeptically.
"We set them up on purpose! You won't notice any difference," MoiMoi explained, "Other Earthlings, instead, won't see the physical characteristics that distinguish us, such as ears or complexion. If they work smoothly, they would be useful on other worlds as well, and we could make them for you too."
"Thank you MoiMoi," Ichigo smiled, "You're great!"
"I just assembled the pieces!" she chuckled with false modesty, "All the credit goes to Pai-chan!"
"Senpai, could you please ditch that 'chan'?"
Ichigo glared at the boy and clung to MoiMoi in a protective way:
"You're so rude! Calling such a pretty little girl senpai!"
Pai merely looked at her skeptically:
"I wasn't teasing her."
Ichigo soured her glance.
"Uhm, kitten, he's not kidding", Kisshu pointed to his half-brothers, Eyner and himself, "We're all her kohai."
"What?"
She pushed MoiMoi slightly away, looking at her doe-eyed:
"MoiMoi... How old are you?"
"Twenty-three."
It wasn't just Ichigo who screamed in amazement; even Zakuro seemed startled.
"I…" the mewneko stared admiringly at the smooth, childish face of MoiMoi, "I thought you were… I don't know… sixteen?"
"You are so cute!" MoiMoi squealed delighted, clinging to her neck, "You're so kind! You're embarrassing me!"
She glowered at her kohai and threatened them with her index finger:
"Is that heard?! I'm almost at a quarter of a century and I'm still a cute girl, so be kinder from now on!"
Sando, from the shadows, barely clicked his tongue. MoiMoi stopped any other comment by clapping her hands:
"All right! Everybody go, go! Remember that the passage is now stable, so you can also teleport from one side to the other."
"Oh really?"
Kisshu immediately thought he would take advantage of it.
"Shall we give it a try, Ichigo?"
He didn't even give her time to answer that he hugged her hips and teleported away, followed by the others. All alone, MoiMoi turned to look at Sando in an annoyed way:
"You're obnoxious!"
"I didn't say anything."
She glared at him and he raised his hand in apology:
"I was joking."
"I forgive you if you say I'm pretty."
She pressed her forefingers to her cheeks, and he answered with a skeptical air, a little uncomfortable. MoiMoi sulked:
"Uff…"
"Stupid stuff aside," Sando resumed with a cough, "The humans… Do they know?"
MoiMoi suddenly stopped smiling and took on a slightly sad face. Sando looked at her sternly:
"Look, it's going to get more complicated."
"C'mon!" she replied cheerfully, "Next time, and it's not that important."
"It is for you, isn't it?"
She looked at him without answering
"Are you making friends with the redhead, or am I wrong?"
"And what do you know?"
"You communicated for at least two hours the other day!"
"Snooper!"
He raised an eyebrow:
"You use experimental equipment for women chitchats and I'm the snooper?"
MoiMoi looked away and did not answer again, making Sando sigh:
"You find her nice, don't you?"
She stared at him; it was amazing the way he understood her right away.
"MoiMoi... You have to tell them. I know you don't like lying."
She was surprised by the comment that brought out a smile, but she didn't answer and went back to her job. Sando slightly massaged his neck:
"Stubbornness."
As soon as Ichigo put her feet on the ground, she tried to wriggle out of Kisshu's embrace, but he held her tightly to his chest.
"Come on, kitten, don't be always so rowdy! " he whispered in her ear, "I'm just hugging you."
"Kisshu, come on!"
She felt the alien's nose graze the skin of her neck, and her heart soared.
"Kisshu, that's enough!"
She gave one last tug and managed to get away, but Kisshu was ready to reclaim her when the redhead saw, with relief and an inexplicable note of panic, a familiar figure stepping forward in long strides, and Kisshu abandoned all attempts to grab her.
Ryou.
Why was Ryou there?
She had the impression that he had been waiting outside the portal for a while, although she didn't understand the reason. The boy didn't seem to pay any attention to Ichigo, but stayed menacing scowling at Kisshu until the others arrived; then both of them, as in a silent agreement, simply stopped taking the other into account.
There was no need to talk, they had understood each other perfectly.
If they hadn't slaughtered each other, it was only because there was something more important at the time to worry about.
"If you're done with your stupid things," the American hissed with ferocity, "We have a makeover to do."
Ichigo gave the finishing touches to her Yakori uniform and looked at the result in the mirror; she had to admit that as an uniform it was quite dull: a simple pleated grey skirt, with a white blouse and a sleeveless black sweater on top, with a bow of a tone lighter than the skirt, and white stockings.
"It feels like we're going to a funeral…"
She looked sadly in the mirror and spotted the only cheerful note of her look, MoiMoi's ribbons.
The more she looked at them the more she liked them, they were showy but not tacky and very feminine, perfect for her.
Well, at least I don't look ready to be buried.
She walked out of the locker room curious to see how her friends and their associates looked in that uniform.
"Ah Ichigo, finally!" Minto welcomed her, "It took you a while!"
The redhead frowned at her, a bit jealous: that outfit on her friend had a decidedly different effect than on her, and gave Minto a sober and very elegant air.
'Why are you like this and I look like an undertaker?'
"But no, Ichigo, it looks great on you!"
"Thank you Retasu..."
She smiled, but she kept thinking that it was the two of them who were very cute in that attire. Zakuro looked at them with an amused sigh: Ichigo thought she was going to be much more nervous, given that she had to play the student even though she had already graduated, but the mewwolf seemed to have willingly accepted the disguise.
"Ah, Zakuro nee-chan, such nostalgia!" chuckled Purin, "The braid! You look so good!"
Zakuro smiles lovingly at her, moving behind the shoulder the comfortable plait in which she always tied her hair when going to school:
"You're very pretty too, Purin."
The blonde gloated and fixed her middle school uniform, which differed from theirs only for the sailor-style shirt.
"How the hell do you wear this stuff? I'm choking!"
Taruto grumbled: it was quite strange to see him dressed like that, in those grey pants and the Korean-style jacket, but overall, he looked nice.
"You look great, Taru-Taru!"
"If you say so…"
"You complain," Kisshu reproached him, "I had to tie this noose thing around my neck! Are you crazy?!"
Ichigo clenched her lips as tight as she could so that her jaw wouldn't dangle in the air.
As for them, the high school men's uniform was a variant of the middle school's one, with cadet grey pants, a white shirt and a black blazer with a dark blue tie.
Damn Kisshu.
He looked good dressed like that, damn good; Ichigo believed her heart was going to explode.
"You're telling me that until we find that thing, I'll have to wear it every day?" he kept complaining, loosening the tie a little bit, "I will boil in here!"
Inside, Ichigo let out a scream of despair, it was not him that should have complained about the uniform, but her to wonder if she would survive having him glued to her every single day, above all dressed like that.
Kami-sama... What have I done wrong?!
"Well," Minto sneered, "At least now you look decent and not like two circus freaks anymore."
Kisshu sent her a very mean look:
"And you more than ever look like nothing but a conceited crow, all in black."
She looked at him with arrogance, refusing to reply, which irritated Kisshu even more: he loathed that superior attitude.
"Uff!" Taruto complained some more, "Where are Pai and Eyner?"
"Now that you make me think about it... Shirogane-san is missing too," Retasu looked around doubtful, "Where could they be?"
In that moment, Keiichiro appeared from the stairs with a satisfied air; immediately behind, the three abovementioned, one of whom in particular did not seem at all pleased; in seeing them Kisshu blurted out:
"Why the hell are you wearing different clothes?"
Pai merely grunted, his expression so annoyed that they would probably be set on fire if they had walked near him; Eyner, on the other hand, seemed to be philosophical about it and was looking at his garments only a little intrigued by the novelty.
"Because we have to sift through every corner of that school," Ryou told him, "And we can't do that if we limit ourselves to the student body."
Ichigo risked another heart attack.
Ryou, like Pai and Eyner, was wearing a white shirt and very simple suit pants, nothing more, but he was still very breathtakingly handsome.
"The three of us will be act as university interns."
"So you'll be our teachers? Cool!"
"One second!" Kisshu protested, "Why did I end up in the brats' group?"
"Hey!"
"Kisshu, we could never have passed off as students," Eyner pointed out, "Not even the oldest and most multi-repeating ones!"
"Are you implying that I look like an infant?"
"He's implying that you're fine where we put you," Pai hissed, very irritated by the whole situation, "So shut up and follow the plan without complaining."
Kisshu clicked his tongue, but obeyed: better not to push things too far when Pai was so revved up.
"The issue is simple," Ryou said, "The sooner we find that drop, the sooner the undercover work ends. Try to attract little attention, but you will have to comb through every corner of the school; the three of us, as fake teachers, could listen to the rumors (strange facts, or students who have been behaving in a peculiar way for some time, anything that can be influenced by the crystal) and open the way to where students normally cannot enter. We will organize to conduct searches even at night, so we will drastically decrease the time we need to find it."
"Even at night?!" Ichigo whined, "I just want to hope that you don't give homework, at least!"
"Do you have any idea what it's like to work undercover?" he replied sarcastically, "You will have to work to upkeep the image of an almost efficient student, Miss Momomiya."
A slight note of panic and another too quick heartbeat clenched her stomach at that amused smile.
Yes, in another life Ichigo Momomiya must have committed unthinkable atrocities. She saw no other explanation for the tortures sent from above.
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