Chapter Sixteen: Things Heat Up 事情加热

"For slander lives upon succession,
For ever hous'd where it gets possession." –William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors

It was a rainy Friday before school. School had been…something short of torture, mixed in with fencing, that is. The annual fencing tournament was coming up and the coach was getting us prepared for it by working us to the bone. I laid my head down on the kitchen table. T.G.I.F. couldn't have come any sooner… Keiichiro walked in and touched me on the shoulder.

"Have you not been having a very good week?" he asked sympathetically.

"You have no idea." I sighed, with my face still plastered to the table. Whenever there's not a kirema anima to ruin the day, there's always something else that makes it worse. Keiichiro smiled and lifted my head off the table.

"I don't think the table appreciates you being stuck to it." Keiichiro snickered. I stared at him grouchily with my hair messed up.

"Right. Tell Ryou I'm going to school." I grumbled and walked over to the door.

"Oh, Komori! I forgot to tell you! They cancelled school today because of the storm." Keiichiro yelled behind me. I looked back at him and glared.

"So I got up early for…nothing?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah, pretty much." Keiichiro said.

"That was really weird." I said when I had finally made it back up to my room. When I flopped down on my bed, I heard a "Huuuh!" sound beneath me. I lifted up one of my sheets to see that Kish was lying in my bed!

"Woah! Kish! What the hell are doing in here?" I yelled.

"Well, I was waiting for you…and I kinda' got a little sleepy…" Kish yawned. I yanked the covers off him.

"Hurry up and tell me whatever it is that you need to, because I'm pretty sleepy, too." I said grumpily.

"Well, for starters: Don't look under your bed or in the closet."

"……Why?" I asked, running my fingers through my hair.

"Because that's where Pai and Tart are sleeping." He yawned.

"Okay, is there anything important that you need to say?" I asked impatiently.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Pai just wanted to see how the watch was working out." Kish said, pulling the covers back over himself.

"Yeah, it's working just fine, I guess. There haven't been any alerts so far."

"Mm-hmm." Kish replied, drifting off to sleep.

"Hey! Get out of my bed!" I yelled. It was too late; Kish was already asleep. I hate aliens. I sighed and decided to take my guitar out on the balcony to play. I opened my closet and screamed, forgetting that Pai was in there. God, stupid aliens! I grabbed my guitar from the closet and slowly shut the door. I unlocked the door to the balcony and stepped outside into the raging storm. Lucky for me, the balcony had an alcove that kept me safe from the torrents of rain. A few spots of rain flew onto my face, aided by the wild wind. Dark Aid leaned up on the banister that lined the end of the balcony. He stared at me with his eerie gaze. "Um…Why're you out here… in the rain?" I asked.

"It feels good. It's an interesting thought of how it continuously replenishes the thirsty ground." He rambled.

"So, where are you from anyways? Certainly you're not from Earth?" I questioned, laying my guitar down carefully and walking to him through the drenching rain. He pondered the question for a while.

"I have no home. I'm a wanderer, living for the sole purpose to aid in the struggle against the dark." He replied quietly, letting the rain dribble down his face as he shut his eyes.

"You're making me depressed." He came back to reality and his face beheld an expression of sincerity.

"I'm sorry. For everything…" he whispered, and looked down.

"'Everything'?" I asked, taking a seat next to him. He's so weird…

"It's my fault that Ronin came here. I chased him here. I don't know what he's up to, either." He answered.

"Why not just, you know…kill him or something?"

He let out a hoarse laugh. "It's not that simple, I'm afraid. I wish it were: I've 'killed' him several times, but he manages to regenerate." As I was about to ask more questions, my wristwatch started to flash green.

"Huh? An attack? Right now?" I muttered to myself. I ran back into my room and stored my guitar back in the closet with Dark Aid following me. I cuffed my hands to my mouth.

"ATTENTION ALL ALIENS! WE HAVE A SITUATION!" I said as loud as I could without that hallway surveillance tapes picking my voice up. Kish jumped up with a startled noise and still had a blanket over his head. I heard Tart hit his head on the top of the bed with an "Umph!" Pai just opened the closet door and stared at me with zombie-like bags under his eyes.

"Okay, guys! There's an attack! C'mon!" I yelled at them.

"Where?" Pai grumbled. I stared down at the coordinates my watch gave.

"It looks like…some daycare over by Hung Bakery." I said to Pai. Tart crawled out from under the bed and yanked the cover off Kish. Kish hopped off the bed and came up to me, along with Pai and Tart.

"Okay, let's kick it!" Kish yelled.

"Wait. Masha!" I called. Masha flew up to me and gave a feeble 'Tweet'.

"Masha, I need you to make sure Ryou doesn't find out that I'm gone. Do whatever you have to do, okay?" I instructed. Masha nodded and tweeted.

"Let's go." I said, opening the balcony doors and sloshed out of the balcony with the aliens.

"Grab onto me. We'll go faster if we fly." Dark Aid motioned to his wings. I nodded and latched myself onto his waist. The five of us took off in the pouring rain, preparing ourselves for battle.

"The rain's blocking my vision! We'll be better off walking!" Kish yelled back to us. Dark Aid nodded and landed on the soaking wet pavement with me. I let go of him and began to run towards the signal through the constant torrent of rain. The rain had completely drenched us to the bone by now. I guess I could tell Ryou that I was in the shower. More like a dive off Niagra Falls. The watch glowed red as we approached the daycare. When we stood in front of the daycare, everything seemed to be normal.

"Pai, are you sure this watch is right?" I yelled to him through the pouring rain.

"Positive. The watch tells you where the attack is going to happen about ten minutes before it actually does." He yelled back.

"Then I guess we're just a little early." Tart said.

"I think I'll go ahead and transform. MEWTEMORPHOSIS!" I yelled. I was afraid that someone was watching, but the odds of anyone sane being out in weather like this was pretty slim. Almost as soon as I had transformed, a scream and an explosion erupted from inside the daycare.

"It's Showtime, boys!" I yelled, running into the daycare with Kish, Pai, Dark Aid, and Tart at my side. The inside of the lobby was completely deserted; the screams were coming from the room that connected to it. The five of us rushed into the room and found a kirema anima bird attacking the children. Resu was in the corner of the room, laughing at the pain the bird was inflicting. I jumped in front of the group of kids and held my arms out to defend them from the bird's blows

"Don't pick on these innocent children! For your evil actions, I will make you pay!" I yelled at Resu and the bird.

"I'd like to see you try, little Mew!" Resu laughed. Kish, Pai, and Tart started to fire up lightning balls in their hands. Dark Aid pushed off of the ground and into the air to face Resu.

"Ooo! You've got your little alien friends with you. Oh, please! Someone save me from their puny little lightning!" Resu mocked. Kish threw a ball of lightning at Resu; Resu stuck his hand out and easily blocked it.

"You're so pathetic." He sneered.

"Mew Komori! Go for the kirema anima! We'll take care of Ronin." Tart yelled to me. I nodded and summoned my sword. I tried to slash out at the bird, but it flew up to the ceiling. Duh, Komori! You have wings! I flapped my wings and flew up to the kirema anima bird, managing to slash it in the shoulder, not hurting it, but making it angrier. The kirema anima roared and swatted me with its enormous beak. I wasn't able to stop myself and crashed into the wall headfirst.

Nn…My head…

The kirema anima came at me, roaring and flapping its huge wings. I shook off the pain that was encasing my head and prepared my sword. The kirema anima dive-bombed down at me, and would've killed me if I hadn't rolled to the side in time. "Prepare to die!" I yelled, running towards the kirema anima and stabbing it in the chest. The bird screeched and thrashed around wildly as it burst into rays of purple light and shrunk back to its original size. I looked over at Resu, who was staring in disbelief.

"Hmph! Next time you won't be so lucky, bat girl!" Resu sneered and disappeared. Kish, Pai, Dark Aid, and Tart were on their knees, gasping for air.

"He's pretty…tough." Kish huffed.

"Really? Maybe that's why I've been hunting him down half my life!" Dark Aid yelled in frustration.

"Mewtemorphosis!" I said, changing back to normal.

"Do you still think you have enough energy to transport us back to my room? It'd be faster than walking." I asked. They all slowly stood up.

"We'll try our…best." Tart whispered.

"One, Two…Three." Kish counted. On three the daycare faded and we found ourselves back in my room, completely wasted from battle.

"Woo, now I really need a nap." Kish said as he flopped down on my bed.

"That's not fair! It's my bed!" I argued, trying to push Kish off the bed. He laughed and pointed at my face.

"If I were you, I would go take a shower! You're covered in blood and dirt!" Kish laughed. I looked down at myself; my clothes were shredded beyond recognition and almost every inch of me was covered in blood and filth.

"Ugh, you're right." I said, defeated.

"You have no idea how stupid you look." Tart sniggered.

"Oh, ha ha." I said sarcastically, dragging myself to the bathroom.

Down in the lab 下面在实验室

A few muffled shouts echoed from upstairs. Ryou looked up from the blueprints he was working on. "What is she doing up there?" Ryou muttered to himself.

"...NOT FAIR!" echoed down.

"That's it. I'm going up there." Ryou huffed.

Back upstairs 回楼下

The hot water from the shower felt great on my skin. I looked down and saw all the blood and dirt from the battle wash off and go down the drain. That's one less thing to have to explain. I turned the shower off and stepped out, wrapping myself in a big fluffy towel.

"Komori! Komori! Where are you?" Ryou's voice came from my room. Phew. Right on cue… "I'm in here!" I yelled back.

"Well, hurry up!" he snapped. I threw on a robe and strolled out of the bathroom coolly, looking up at Ryou angelically.

"What is it?"

"I heard yelling up here. I thought that you might be hurt…" he said quietly, his eyes darting about the room.

"No, just arguing with my new roomies." I smiled.

"Roomies?" Ryou asked suspiciously.

"Go look on my bed, under my bed, and in the closet." I answered. Ryou nervously tiptoed over to my bed and looked under it. I heard a "ROWR!" from Tart and a frightened yelp from Ryou, who immediately jumped out from under the bed.

"Why…are they in here?" Ryou screamed with his hand over his heart

"I dunno. They just 'moved in' today." I crossed my arms. Tart grunted and crawled out from under the bed.

"Hee! That was fun!" he said with an evil smile on his face.

"Why are you guys--?" Ryou started. Kish popped his head over the edge of the bed and looked down on Ryou.

"Hiya, sunshine." Kish said sleepily.

"...Okay, where's Pai?" Ryou snapped.

"He's in the closet." I pointed, enjoying Ryou's anger.

"I heard my name." Pai said as he materialized next to Ryou. Dark Aid walked from his position by the balcony door to stand next to Pai. Ryou stood up and looked down on the four of them angrily.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" he yelled.

"Where else do you want us to sleep?" Tart asked.

"Oh, I don't know…How about YOUR OWN PLANET!" Ryou yelled.

"Sorry, can't do that. We're helping you catch that Mew, remember?" Pai pointed out. Catch?

"And you're not doing a very good job! You're helping her! You're supposed to catch her the next time you see her, you understand?" Ryou yelled even louder, spit flying out of his mouth.

"I have an idea: Why don't you make Komori help you catch the Mew, too?" Kish suggested. I'm going to cut off those giant ears of his…

"Hm. Good idea." Ryou thought.

"B-but Ryou! I'm way too busy to catch--!" I protested.

"Too bad. Aliens, you're going to have to stay in the living room." Ryou said.

"And what if we want to visit our good friend Komori?" Kish asked, putting his arm around my shoulder. Ryou pushed Kish's arm off.

"You can talk to her downstairs. Where there's supervision. C'mon, guys." Ryou said, walking out with the three aliens. Dark Aid gave me a brief glance and soared out of the window into the storm. I wonder where he lives. When the door shut, I dove onto my bed and gave a frustrated scream into one of the frilly pillows. Now, because of Kish, I have to hunt myself! I am so going to murder him! It was going to be a long day. I had secluded myself in my room the whole morning writing songs, hoping to stay away from Ryou. By noon I was ravenously hungry, and had to force myself to go downstairs to fix something to eat. Kish, Pai, and Tart were in the kitchen examining the blender.

"What do you think it does?" Tart asked, poking the blender.

"It looks like some sort of torture device." Pai replied, looking it over.

"Um, it's a blender, dudes," I answered, "It blends fruit and stuff into liquid."

"OOOHHHHH." All three of them replied instantaneously, still eyeing the blender. I stomped over to them and snatched the blender out of their hands.

"But I should be blending your giant elephant ears, Kish! Look at the mess you've gotten me into!" I screamed.

"Aw, it was just for the sake of entertainment. It makes everything much funner for me." Kish laughed.

"Yeah! Well it makes everything harder for me!" I yelled.

"I think it's ironic, really. You're going to waste your time hunting yourself!" Kish laughed wickedly.

"I'm going to get you back, big time, Kish!" I whispered threateningly.

"I'd like to see you try." He retorted.

"Oh, I will. You just wait!" I whispered back. I sat the blender back at its place on the kitchen counter next to the coffee maker.

"Shouldn't you guys be heading back home now, or something?" I asked, putting a frozen pizza into the oven.

"No. We're helping Ryou." Pai answered, still enchanted by the blender. Peachy…Keiichiro walked in the kitchen and looked at the aliens strangely.

"Komori, why are there aliens in the kitchen?" he asked.

"Go talk to Ryou." I grumbled.

"Ooo! What does this button do?" Kish asked, about to press down a button on the microwave. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it as hard as I could.

"Don't even think about it, alien boy." I said threateningly.

"You can't hurt me, you stupid Me--." Kish started, then remembered Keiichiro was listening.

"You stupid…malicious human!" he finished. Keiichiro stared at Kish and I for a while, then shook his head and casually walked out of the kitchen. We all breathed a sigh of relief when Keiichiro walked out.

"That was close." Tart said.

"What are you guys worried about? You're not the Mew!" I whispered angrily.

"Well, honestly, if you are exposed, then so are we. We'll get into a lot of trouble for keeping information away from Ryou. And he'll probably banish us from the house (and Earth) if he finds out that we're helping you, the ever-elusive Mew that he's been trying to catch for about a month." Pai explained.

"Oh." I said quietly.

"You'd better get some rest, Komori." Pai finished.