Emiko opened the door with a smile.
"Okay, you two stay out here for a little while," she said. "I'll be right back."
Chie blinked when she heard a bunch of crashing sounds. "What's that?"
Daisuke smiled. "Nothing."
Emiko opened the door and ushered them inside. She turned to Chie and smiled. "I don't believe we were properly introduced. I'm Emiko, Daisuke's mom. You're Chie, right?"
Chie nodded.
"Well, I'm going to have a talk with Daisuke. You sit here and make yourself comfortable."
Emiko grabbed Daisuke's arm and dragged him into the kitchen.
"Okay, Daisuke, please tell me you knew she was a Ryoyu before you brought her here," Emiko whispered in a very hushed voice. "Oh, a better question is why did you bring her here?"
Daisuke grew confused. "Of course I know she's a Ryoyu." He struggled to come up with an explanation for the second question. "We have to work on a class assignment together."
Emiko sighed, looking very relieved. "Oh, a class assignment? Well, that's good." She smiled and shoved Daisuke back into the living room. "Now go with Chie and work on your little assignment."
A little confused, Daisuke walked back into the living room. He saw Chie sitting on a chair with a notebook. She was humming a little tune and appeared to be writing something. Daisuke walked toward her and saw that she wasn't writing something at all. She was sketching something. It was a girl with long curls sitting down and playing a harp and another girl, this one with short curls, dancing. He stared at the sketch. It was impeccably beautiful. Daisuke could nearly hear the tunes from the harp. He could tell they were gentle notes, for the short-haired girl was dancing slowly in a small spin. The girl's clothes billowed out gently. The sleeves of her dress were gauzy and long, so Daisuke could see the graceful arms moving in time with the music the harpist was playing. The harpist looked shy, her long-lashed eyes staring shyly at the strings of the harp. She looked modest, but pleased at the same time and maybe a little in awe. It was almost as if she didn't believe she could make such beautiful music.
"It's beautiful," Daisuke whispered.
Chie's eyes widened and she nearly jumped out of her seat. "Oh, Dai-kun!" She noticed Daisuke's eyes on her sketch and blushed.
"I'm sorry," Daisuke said. "I didn't mean to startle you. And I, uh, I didn't mean to look."
Chie smiled. "It's all right."
"Can I see it?"
Blushing, Chie handed the sketch to him. "It's not that good," she mumbled.
Daisuke took it and looked at it again. He still couldn't believe the beauty of the sketch. If this was just a sketch, what would the actual painting look like?
"It really is lovely," he said and gave it back to her. "How did you come up with this?"
Chie shrugged. "I don't know. Images just come to my head every now and then."
"Like the painting of the red-haired girl in the art room?"
Chie's eyes widened. "How did you know I had painted it?"
Blushing, Daisuke took out the notebook and the sketch Chie had dropped the other day. He gave it to her and said, "I'm sorry I didn't return it earlier."
Chie stared at the sketch. "I don't know why I sketched it, much less why I painted it."
"Who is she?"
"Her name is Saki."
Daisuke's eyes widened. "Saki!"
Chie didn't notice the surprise in his outburst. "Yes. There's a legend about Saki in my family. Kiku-san told it to me often. Saki killed her best friend because she thought she was stealing her one true love. Saki was so sad that she killed herself. As a requiem of sorts for her, I guess I painted that picture."
"So you really had nothing to do with them, Dark?"
"Told you!"
"But then way did Ekisha-san say that?"
"She's just some old coot."
Chie smiled. "Well, that's that. I'd better go home."
"Uh, wait---!"
"It's late, Dai-kun. Kiku-san will be worried."
Chie got up and walked outside. Daisuke followed her.
"Chie-san, wait!"
Chie turned around. "What is it?"
Daisuke gasped. "Oh, no!"
Right behind Chie was Sana.
