A/N: For this month, I thought I would explore a scenario that, while it hasn't happened, easily could. All in all, one could say that, in this one shot...


Something's not Heiki, Hecchara


It was a normal day at S.O.N.G. HQ, well, a mostly normal day. Everyone did what they always would when the world wasn't threated by an Alchemist or someone who happened to have access to Alca-Noise, but Tsubasa could tell something was wrong. "Yukine?" She asks the Ichaival wielder, who appeared to be lost in thought.

"Huh? Oh, hey Senpai." Chris said, only giving Tsubasa a slight glance before returning her gaze to someone else, Hibiki.

"You've been keeping an eye on Tachibana all day, Yukine." Tsubasa says to her Kouhai. "Is something wrong?"

"You could say that." Chris answers. "I can't quite tell what it is, but something's wrong with the dummy, if that is them."

"I don't follow, Yukine."

"Surely you've noticed that something's off with her today Senpai." Chris continues. "First off, she didn't try to jump on me the second she saw me. Secondly, she didn't do any training in the simulator as she normally does when there's no Alca-Noise attacks. And finally, she hasn't done her 'I can't wait to get home to My Sunshine' spiel that she always does at the end of the day."

"Maybe she's just having an off day?" Tsubasa says. "I mean even people like Tachibana have off days, no matter how rare they are."

Before Chris could argue Tsubasa's theory, two more people showed up. "Hey Tsubasa!" Kanade says, walking over to Chris and Tsubasa with Serena. "What're you two up to?"

"Hello Kanade. Yukine was just telling me how she doesn't think that's Tachibana over there." Tsubasa says, pointing to Hibiki who was talking with Kirika and Shirabe.

"Hmm... That looks like Hibiki-san to me." Serena says.

"I didn't say I thought the dummy didn't look like herself. I said she's acting stranger than usual." Chris says with a hint of anger in her voice.

"Well, do you have any proof that would suggest that she isn't Hibiki-chan?" Kanade asks.

"No. Not yet at least." Chris says, before seeing Kirika and Shirabe approach the group.

"Kanade-san! Serena Dess!" Kirika says, greeting the two wielders.

"I'm guessing you're here to see Maria, Serena?" Shirabe asks.

"Well, I decided to come a day earlier than planned to surprise her." Serena says.

"You're such a good sister, Serena!" Kirika replies.

"Yeah, yeah. That's great and all, but what did you two get out of that dummy?" Chris asks, interrupting the conversation between the Zababa duo and Serena.

"For the most part, she seems like normal Hibiki-san." Shirabe reports.

"See Yukine? Tachibana's just having an off day." Tsubasa says.

Rolling her eyes, Chris turns back to Kirika and Shirabe. "What do you mean 'For the most part'?"

"Well... I may have accidentally told Hibiki-san that you asked us to make sure she was okay dess..." Kirika answers, rubbing the back of her head while chuckling nervously.

While Chris was frustrated to hear this, she did her best to keep composed. "And?"

"Well, you may be right about something being up with Hibiki-san." Shirabe answers, making everyone curious about what she meant. "You see, after Kiri-chan let it slip, Hibiki-san's response was:"


"Hahaha. So that's why Chris was acting weird today." Hibiki said. "Well, you two can tell her that I'm completely fine. I just didn't get much sleep since Miku was sick last night and I had to do what I could to help her feel better. Speaking of, I should probably check up on Hibi-Miku. Goodnight Kirika-chan, Shirabe-chan."


Hearing this, Chris was grinning from ear to ear. "Senpai~! It looks like I was right!"

"I'm lost, what does this prove?" Serena asks.

"Two things: One: That dummy has not once called me anything other than 'Chris-chan.'" Chris explains. "Two: Why would she almost say she needed to check up on herself?"

"I will admit, that is somewhat odd." Tsubasa says. "However, that still doesn't prove that she isn't Tachibana."

"Okay, Senpai. Then explain why she almost said she needed to check up on herself?"

"Yukine, we live in a world where we can visit other versions of ourselves." Tsubasa retorts. "Who's to say another Tachibana didn't stop by and fell ill?"

Chris gave Tsubasa a doubtful look. "You're really grasping at straws with that one, Senpai."

"Chris-san's got a point, Tsubasa-san." Serena adds. "The only other reason she would say her own name would be if she had a twin sister. And last I checked, the only person here with a sibling is me." Kanade coughed audibly when Serena said that last bit, but shrugged when she got odd looks.

"Then it's settled, we shall find out once and for all if that truly is the idiot." Chris says. "By confronting her directly."

"How do you plan to confront 'Tachibana' exactly Yukine?" Tsubasa asks.

"Easy: We wait for her the one place she would be going: to the dummy and her friend's home." Chris says.


Sometime later, Chris, Tsubasa, Serena, Kanade, Kirika, and Shirabe all arrived at Hibiki's apartment, entering thanks to a spare key under the welcome mat. "And now, we wait."

"I still feel like you're overthinking this Yukine." Tsubasa says, getting a eye roll from her kouhai.

"So who wants to place bets on who they think is right?" Kanade says, trying to lighten the mood.

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea." Chris says smugly. "Alright, if you think that this doppelgänger is actually the dummy, raise your hand." Only Tsubasa raised her hand. "Okay. Now, who isn't stupid and knows that this isn't the dummy?" Everyone except Tsubasa raised their hands. "Seems pretty unanimous Senpai."

"Could've been a bit more mature with your wording..." Tsubasa mumbles.

Moments later, the sound of the front door unlocking could be heard by all present, causing them to hide immediately wherever they could. When the door opened, "Hibiki" sighed. "Hibiki! I'm home!" She shouts in a voice that was unlike Hibiki's, before noticing something strange with their lamp and clearing her throat. "K-Kirika-chan? Why are you in my apartment?"

"W-Who's Kirika dess?" Kirika says, trying her best to not blow her cover. "I'm just your average everyday lamp." Awkwardly, She pulls out her phone and turns the flashlight function on and off underneath the lampshade. "See?"

"Kirika-chan. I can obviously tell that you're not a lamp." "Hibiki" says.

"Funny. I can say the same about you, dummy." Chris says, revealing herself from behind the nearby couch. "Or should I say, Impostor!"

"C-Chris?!" Hibiki says in shock, her voice changing once again. "Y-You have it all wrong!"

"Oh I beg to differ." Chris smirks before raising her hand. "Now!" Suddenly, Kanade, Serena, and Shirabe all ambush the impostor Hibiki while Kirika continued to turn her flashlight on and off.

"Kiri-chan! That was the que to strike." Shirabe says.

"Oh! Sorry dess!" Kirika says, rushing over to the group with the lampshade still on her head.

As they all did as Chris planned, Tsubasa just emerges from her hiding spot and stands next to Chris. "You too, Tsubasa-san?" The false Hibiki asks.

"Sorry about this, Tachibana." Tsubasa apologizes. "Yukine has this absurd idea that you're not you. I for one think she's gone a little overboard trying to prove her theory."

"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing, Tsubasa-san." The false Hibiki says. "You see-"

"Miku?" A familiar, yet raspy voice calls out. Moments later, the lights turn on, revealing Hibiki in her pajamas and looking very under the weather. "Oh, hey everyone!" Hibiki says with a cough.

"Aha! I was right!" Chris shouts triumphantly. "What do you say about that Senpai?"

"Alright Yukine. I was wrong. Sorry for doubting you." Tsubasa says to her confident Kouhai. "But that leaves one more question: If that's Tachibana, then who is the one that we were with all day?"

"Let's find out dess!" Kirika says, grabbing at the impostor Hibiki's face, still with the lampshade on. "And the true identity of the fake Hibiki-san is..." Kirika pulls on the false Hibiki's face, revealing that it was actually a mask and behind the mask was:

"The dummy's friend?!/Miku-san?!/Miku-chan?!/Kohinata?!" The group shout in surprise.

"Surprise~ hehe..." Miku says, rubbing the back of her head nervously.

"Okay, now I'm confused." Chris says. "Why are you disguised as the dummy?"

"Well, I was sick yesterday and Hibiki was up all night helping me feel better." Miku explains. "And as a result, she was sick when we woke up in the morning."

"But why not just call HQ and let them know she was sick?" Shirabe asks.

"I suggested that, but Hibiki didn't want everyone to worry." Miku continues.

"So I suggested that Miku should pretend to be me for the day." Hibiki adds.

"But where did you get the disguise?" Serena asks.

"We had them prepared for Halloween." Hibiki says. "We were going to dress up as each other and try to mess with everyone."

"Oooh! Shirabe! We should do that too dess!" Kirika exclaims.

"We should wait and do that next year, Kiri-chan." Shirabe suggests. "We wouldn't fool anyone if we did it the same year they did." Kirika nodded under her lampshade.

"Back to the topic at hand, how did you perfectly imitate Hibiki-chan's voice?" Kanade asks.

Miku clears her throat before answering. "Hibiki and I have known each other since we were kids, so it was simple to manage a near-perfect imitation of her." She answers in her Hibiki voice.

"I still need to work on my version of your voice, Miku. But I'm getting there." Hibiki says before coughing again.

"By the way, what were you sick with, Kohinata?" Tsubasa asks.

"Just some 24 hour bug. It shouldn't be contagious." Miku says.


The Next Day


Back at her apartment, Chris is awoken by a phone call, which she reluctantly answers as she has a coughing fit. "Hello?"

"So you got Kohinata and Tachibana's bug too." Tsubasa says. "If anything, this is karma for sticking your nose in their business."

"Shut up Senpai." Chris replies. "What do you want?"

"Just wanted to see if you were ill like the rest of us." Tsubasa answers. "Thankfully, Maria was willing to help myself and the others while we were recovering."

"That so?" Chris says. "I bet she's real pissed off at me right now."

"Lets see." Tsubasa says, her voice getting further away from the phone. "Maria! Yukine's on the phone!"

"YUKINE CHRIS! If you ever get my sister sick again with these ridiculous schemes, you had better be ready to run like hell!" Maria shouts from another room.

"I'd say she sounds pretty upset." Tsubasa says.

"No shit." Chris replies.

"Well, I'll let you rest now. Bye Yukine." Tsubasa says.

"See ya, Senpai." Chris says, hanging up the phone before sighing heavily and coughing once again. Suddenly, Chris heard a knock at her door and, after getting the energy to get out of bed, answers it. "Oh, it's you two."

"I'm so sorry for getting you sick Chris-chan!" Hibiki apologizes.

"We felt bad for getting you and the others sick that we decided to get you all some soup and chocolates." Miku explains. "We just finished dropping off the soup and chocolates at Maria's place and since she was already taking care of everyone else, we decided to come help you feel better."

"Thanks." Chris says, taking the chocolates and letting the girls inside her home, where they spent the rest of the day.