Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Secret is Revealed, 一個秘密被透露

Pure white light filled my senses; it came from everywhere, not beginning or ending.

Oh shit, it's 'the light'…So…Does that mean that I'm dead this time?... Well, god this really sucks.

A soft murmur of worried voices echoed about.

Angels?

A blurred face peered over at me curiously. "She's awake." the voice whispered.

Hey, that must be God. Hm, well God, you're a lot younger than I thought you were supposed to be. I mean, what happened to the grey beard and all that? I think you've lost your touch.

Two other faces appeared next to God that had darker hair.

Who the hell are those guys?...Maybe they're, like, those prophet guys or something. Gee, now I wish I'd gone to church more…

A gentle hand brushed my cheek. "Komori. Komori, it's time to wake up. Can you hear me?" God's voice called, growing more and more worried.

"Yes, O heavenly Lord." I muttered, trying to impress God. Cool. I was talking to God. God tilted his head and stared at me even more curiously.

"Um, I think she's still out of it." one of the prophets said to God pointedly.

"What was your first clue?" God asked, slapping the prophet on the back of the head.

God's a lot meaner than I thought he'd be…

"God, why did you slap that prophet on the head? And when can I get my halo?" I asked God. God and the two prophets stared down at me in dumbfounded unison.

"God--?" one of the prophets asked in confused amazement.

"She thinks she's dead and that she's in heaven." the other prophet said. God grasped my hand and shook it, chuckling to himself.

"Komori. You're not in heaven--." God started.

"OH MY GOD! AM I IN THE OTHER PLACE? WHY? WHAT DID I--?" I screamed in horror. God sighed heavily.

"You're not in either place. You're still alive. You're in my lab." God tried to reason with me. My eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"So…you're not God?" I asked, starting to feel incredibly stupid.

"'Fraid not." God snickered.

"Oh, so then those guys aren't prophets, either?"

"Nope."

"Well, gee. I just feel really smart right now…"

So, I'm not in heaven or hell…that isn't God…the other two aren't prophets…and I'm in a lab………OH MY GOD!

Panic shot through me. I sprung up and tried to focus on 'God's' face. It was becoming clearer: now God had blue eyes and blonde hair…where had I seen that before?...oh dear.

I now focused on the two prophets: one I identified immediately as Kiyoshi. The other I found to be…Keiichiro! So 'God' really had to be…Ryou.

I am so severely dead.

Kiyoshi came to me and pressed me back into the bed that I now realized was there and wasn't just a big fluffy cloud in heaven. "You need to rest before you do anything else." Kiyoshi said in a scolding tone. I looked down to see which form I was in. It struck me that it didn't really matter: I was in deep trouble in either form. As I had thought, I was still in Mew form. But judging by how everyone was calling me by name, Ryou already knew everything.

"I'm so sorry, Ryou! I wanted to tell you, but I--!" I started. Ryou held up his hand and pressed me back down.

"We'll talk about all that later. Just worry about getting some rest for now." Ryou sighed. The fatigue in his voice made him seem four times his age. I nodded slowly, knowing that Ryou was going to murder me when I healed from all my injuries.

I must have fallen asleep for a while; when I woke, no one was to be seen in the lab, which I could see crystal clear now. A small twitter came from behind me; I turned to find Masha was sitting at the top of the bedpost.

"Hey, Masha. I haven't seen you for a while…What's up?" I whispered as I scratched Masha behind his fuzzy little ears.

"Twweeeeeep!" Masha crooned happily.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

Someone in the corner of the room loudly cleared their voice to get my attention. I turned my concentration from Masha to Kiyoshi, who stepped to the side of my bed.

"Did you have a nice snooze?" he asked saccharinely.

"Yeah. It's really wonderful dreaming about all the horrible stuff that Ryou's going to do to me." I said dryly. Kiyoshi shrugged his shoulders.

"I doubt it's going to be that bad. Sure, he was furious when I first told him, but he's gotten over it. He's just glad that you're okay." Kiyoshi informed me.

"Ah, so it was you who told him." I accused sourly.

"Hey, I had to! He wasn't going to treat your injuries; just leave you there to rot."

I nodded slowly. "I guess I would have done it too if I were in your position." I grumbled.

"Atta, girl. Do you want to hear all of your injuries?" Kiyoshi asked pleasantly as if it were a normal everyday topic.

"Sure." I winced. Kiyoshi started to count on his fingers.

"Let's see…A total of five broken ribs, a black eye, a sprained wrist, and bruises covering every inch of your skin." Hm. No wonder it hurt so much.

"How's our little patient doing?" Keiichiro asked amiably as he strode into the room.

"Fine…I guess." I muttered guiltily. Keiichiro came to stand next to Kiyoshi.

"It'll all work out fine. Ryou's not that angry any more." He said in an attempt to ease my guilt.

"Thanks, Keiichiro." I sighed, my morale falling a record low.

How come everything in my life always ends miserably?

"Ryou's not that what?" Ryou called as he calmly walked in.

"Oh, nothing." Keiichiro said innocently. Ryou rolled his eyes and took a seat at the edge of my bed.

"Okay, Komori. I'm not going to chew you out, I'm not going to yell at you, and I won't get mad at anything you say. I just want to know how all this happened." Ryou said a bit too calmly, trying to convince himself that he wouldn't get mad. I looked down and took a deep breath.

I hope you like long stories…

In an instant I spilled about everything that I had done: the transformation, my reclusiveness, all the battles (including all the excruciatingly painful details of the latest one). It must have taken at least two hours to tell the story and calm down Ryou, especially after I told him that I just walked into his lab. Kiyoshi had been listening intently, as if I were telling his whole life story. Keiichiro, however, was thoroughly shocked by every sentence, so to him it was like a horror film that always kept him on the edge of his seat.

When there weren't any stones left to turn, Ryou sat still, completely flabbergasted by the whole ordeal.

"Wow... I can't believe that I was so… stupid." He whispered to himself in disgust. I tried to scoot over to him to give some comfort, but my five broken ribs and skin covered in bruises halted my journey. Kiyoshi pushed me back down.

"Woah, there, Sparky. You're not completely healed." He laughed.

"HARK! Do I hear an injured Mew calling for assistance?" Kish's voice rang out of nowhere. Pai, Kish, and Tart materialized in the middle of the crowd that had begun to form around my bed.

"Hi Kish." I said lamely. Yeah, aliens make painful injuries a lot better.

Kish approached me carefully, looking me over like I was a squished bug.

"Dang, he beat you up pretty good, didn't he?" Kish exclaimed. Kiyoshi threw Kish a threatening stare; Kish returned it.

"Thanks for rubbing it in, Kish." I grumbled. Kish smiled impishly.

"You're very welcome…So, uh…you're planning on healing those injuries, right?" Kish questioned, throwing Kiyoshi another look.

"And how do you want us to go about that? I don't have anything that can heal, and I'm pretty certain that none of you three idiots can heal or you would've healed those burn injuries you sustained from the stove." Ryou stated. I saw Kish hide his gauze-swaddled hands behind his back.

Good, he finally got burned.

"I actually beg to differ. I can heal, but not that well. I just refused to heal Kish because he had it coming……If you want to get her injuries healed quickly, I suggest you seek his help." Pai said, motioning to Kiyoshi. Ryou stared at Kiyoshi in amazement.

"You can heal?" Ryou asked, shocked.

"That I can." Kiyoshi replied as he leaned towards me with his hands outstretched.

He placed his hands in the middle of my stomach, which sent little shocks of pain through my diaphragm. His hands glowed a ghostly white as they sent warm healing waves over me. The waves calmed down the pain, making it disappear completely. Kiyoshi took a deep breath and took his hands away. I pushed myself up and was able to stay that way without any prickles of discomfort. I flashed Kiyoshi my biggest smile; he looked slightly diminished, but he still tiredly returned the smile.

"Well I'll be…" Keiichiro whispered in awe. Ryou nodded his head in approval.

After the whole ordeal, I couldn't help but notice that Ryou seemed to like Kiyoshi a lot more than he used to.