Last Chapter: Botan went to the rice fields with Hiei and fell asleep. When she woke up, she appeared to see him in the water, and he told her to leave. Back in Spirit World, she asked Ayame about the swords that had appeared on the temple wall, but Ayame's answer made no sense. Hiei called to her telepathically, and when she went to him, he told her to wake up.


Chapter 14: Just Wake Up

"Wake up?"

Botan paused, an unsettling feeling rising within her.

"Just wake up," Hiei said again.

"Wait," she said. "No, this isn't right–!"

Botan was cut off when Hiei dropped her hands and his body slammed against hers, his arms hooking under her armpits. She was pulled upwards and everything around her faded to black, including Hiei. She opened her mouth to ask what was happening, but she felt herself being tugged upwards again.

"Wake up!"

The voice that had spoken was unclear, Botan heard it as though she was underwater. The thought of being underwater made her think of the rice fields, and she wondered if she had fallen into them, if she was endlessly falling through the sky, drowning in a never-ending pit of water.

"Damn it Botan, wake up!"

Botan closed her eyes and her head lolled back.

"Shit, are you not done yet?"

Botan opened her eyes again but lacked the strength to lift her head. She could make out the blurry outline of Yusuke's face above her. His arms were hooked under hers, and apparently that was the only thing holding her upright. He hoisted her up again and she closed her eyes, feeling something slide over her feet.

"Got it!"

She opened her eyes in time to see Kuwabara stand up at her side, his hand forming a tiny, miniature version of his Spirit Sword.

"What do we do now?" Yusuke asked.

"Get her back to Spirit World," Kuwabara said. "I gotta go…"

"Yeah, good luck," Yusuke answered him. "Come on, Botan."

Yusuke slid one of his arms out from under hers and hooked it around the back of her knees, lifting her up into his arms and immediately breaking into a dizzyingly fast sprint. She closed her eyes and gripped a hand into his shirt. She vaguely heard him telling her to hang on, and the next moment he was laying her down on something soft.

"Make yourself useful, ogre!" she heard Koenma shout.

"Why don't you make yourself useful, Koenma?" Yusuke shouted. "Why the hell did you let Botan go back to that thing? And I thought you said you sent your best soldiers out to kill it! Another damn fine job by the useless assholes in Spirit World, huh?"

"Yusuke, this isn't helping anything!" Koenma argued back. "Where is that damn ogre!"

"I'm here, Sir," George answered.

"Botan, can you hear me?"

Botan opened her eyes and found Yusuke leaning over her.

"Botan?" he said, waving a hand in front of her eyes.

"Stop it," she moaned, slapping his hand away.

"Okay, good," he said. "You're back."

Botan froze, Yusuke's choice of words proving eerily familiar. When she connected it to the words Kurama had used when he and Kuwabara had rescued her from the Lure she immediately sat bolt upright, looking about herself in alarm. She was in Koenma's office, Koenma was standing on his desk, Yusuke was at her side and George was approaching her with a tray of tea.

"Back where?" she asked, glaring up at Yusuke.

"Back here," he answered. "In the real world. You were away in some other place, tripping your tits off, thanks to that damn Lure!"

"The Lure?" Botan repeated. "So… It is still alive?"

"Yeah, no thanks to some people!" Yusuke replied, turning his last remark on Koenma.

"Give it a rest, Yusuke!" Koenma shot back. "This won't happen again."

"It never should have happened in the first place!" Yusuke yelled.

"Glad we agree on something, Yusuke!" Koenma snarled. "Maybe, just maybe, if my two contacts in Demon World had responded to the initial reports of a demon in the human world, none of this would have happened!"

"Don't try to blame this on me and Hiei! This is your damn fault!"

"Really, it's Botan's fault."

Botan's eyes widened as all three other sets of eyes in the room turned on her.

"Why did you approach the Lure alone, Botan?" Koenma asked her. "And why did you go back to it, after it had already taken you? Look at yourself! Look what it's done to you!"

Botan looked down at herself. She was dressed in her usual pink kimono, but it was considerably dishevelled. She placed one hand on her opposite wrist and slid her sleeve upwards, exposing her arm and finding the tell-tale red circle left by the Lure. It looked redder and angrier than it had the last time around, the skin all around the wound pink and puffy, and she was sure she could see more veins in her arm than she usually could.

"I don't understand," she said softly, pulling her sleeve back down. "I only went back to talk to the Lure, and Kurama came and killed it."

"You went out with Ayame," Koenma said.

"Yes," Botan agreed.

"And as soon as she set off to collect her first soul, rather than go about your own duties, you sought out the Lure," Koenma continued.

"Yes," Botan agreed.

"You found it in a park."

"Yes."

"And it took you."

"It… Did? But… When?"

"You don't remember it actually taking you?" Yusuke asked.

He was pouring tea into a bowl for her from the tray George was still carrying. She shook her head and accepted his offer, lifting the bowl to her lips and sipping. It tasted terrible and she could not hold back the wince of disgust from her face.

"I told him to make it strong," Yusuke explained. "To help wake you up."

"I am awake!" Botan cried, looking around the others. "Aren't I?"

"Yes, Botan, you are awake," Koenma confirmed. "Now."

She sighed and looked down at her bowl, forcing herself to take another sip, shuddering at the bitter taste. There was a knock on Koenma's door and Botan almost physically deflated when Ayame let herself in. She was pushing a catering tray, covered with a perfectly pressed grey blanket. On the tray was an ornate teapot, gently steaming from the spout, a pretty bowl for tea, and a slender glass vase containing a single flower. It was so unnecessary. She quietly pushed the trolley towards Botan, her calm and collected po-face cracking when she noticed Botan was already drinking the tea George had brought her.

"What's this?" she asked, pointing at the tray of tea in George's hands.

"I made tea for Miss Botan," he said.

"No, no, this won't do!" she said, elbowing past him and snatching the bowl out of Botan's hands.

Botan did not protest, the tea had been foul anyway. Ayame sighed in clear disapproval and began pouring out some tea from her fancy teapot into the pretty bowl.

"Does it really matter?" Yusuke grumbled.

"I suppose not, to a cretin like you," Ayame muttered under her breath.

She stirred in some honey and lemon juice before passing the tea to Botan, who gladly accepted it: as much as Ayame irritated her, there was no denying she made a delicious cup of tea.

"What did you just call me, you uptight hag?" Yusuke spat at Ayame as she straightened away from Botan.

Ayame gave him a strange look but said nothing. Botan took a sip of Ayame's tea and sighed. She was not sure when she may or may not have been under the Lure's control recently, but the taste of Ayame's tea was not something even her own imagination could conjure.

"Is everything alright, Botan?" Ayame asked her.

Botan nodded.

"Is the tea to your liking?" Ayame asked.

Botan nodded again. On the inside she was groaning. As if Ayame even needed to ask that question: she was famous for her incredible tea brewing skills.

"Now Botan, I know this must all be very confusing for you," Koenma said. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask."

"Where is the Lure?"

The room fell silent and Botan took another sip of her tea.

"Is it still alive?" she asked.

"Yeah, unfortunately," Yusuke answered. "It got away again."

"Again," Koenma repeated.

"It's kinda hard to track it," Yusuke argued, glaring at Koenma. "The only time it gives off any sorta signal is when it's feeding on someone! The minute it lets her go, it disappears. It runs off, and we can't sense which way it went. And, in case you forgot, it looks just like an average little kid. Do you want us to go around rounding up all the little four-year-old girls in the area and locking them up someplace to see if any of them have a taste for brain?"

"Obviously not, Yusuke," Koenma replied. "Dial back the sarcasm, we're all tense. Now Botan, is there anything else you'd like to ask?"

"Where's Hiei?" Botan asked.

Koenma, Ayame and George all turned expectantly to Yusuke, who shrugged.

"I don't know," he admitted.

"What about Shizuru?" Botan asked. "Where is Shizuru?"

"Uh…" Yusuke began. "That I don't know either. She's probably at home though?"

Botan took another sip of her tea, trying to pretend it was not delicious, before continuing.

"Why were you talking to her about rude things?"

Yusuke's face fell.

"I heard her tell you to stop talking about Hiei's… Man parts," Botan explained. "And she also said you'd been talking about her… Boobies."

Ayame gasped, one hand flying up to cover her mouth and she shot Yusuke a horrified, disgusted look. George slid back from the group, apparently keen to avoid any further tension.

"I… Never said that," Yusuke said.

Botan nodded.

"I did hear you tell Hiei to put his you-know-what back into his pants though," she pointed out.

"Yusuke!" Koenma yelped.

"I never said that!" Yusuke responded. "Why would I say that?"

Koenma raised one eyebrow and thinned his eyes.

"I never said that, Botan," Yusuke said to her. "That must have been something you imagined. Because of the Lure. Although… Apparently the Lure only makes you see, hear and feel things you already think, so really, you're the one Koenma should be mad at. What are you doing thinking about Hiei's dick and Shizuru's tits, Botan? Something you want to tell us?"

"You can leave, Ayame," Koenma said to the ferry girl, who had gasped so much, she was at risk of fainting.

She nodded her head and bowed to him before taking her leave. George slipped out the door behind her, leaving Botan with Koenma and Yusuke.

"What are you gonna do about this?" Yusuke asked Koenma.

"That's funny Yusuke, I was just about ask you the very same question," Koenma replied.

"Okay, I am going to find that little bitch and deliver on a promise I made to her about her elbow," Yusuke replied.

Botan frowned.

"What are you gonna do?" Yusuke asked.

"Protect Botan," Koenma replied.

"Really, this time?" Yusuke pressed.

"Yes, Yusuke."

"Because you didn't do a very good job last time."

"And you haven't done a very good job of catching that Lure!"

"I'm on it."

"Make sure you are."

"Likewise."

Yusuke nodded his head in Botan's direction, before heading for the door.

"Take it easy, Botan," he called over his shoulder. "I'm gonna help Kuwabara and Kurama catch this thing."

Koenma watched Yusuke leave, waiting until the door had closed behind him before turning to Botan.

"Botan, I have genuine concerns," he said. "It's not typical for someone to become addicted to the Lure after only one encounter with it."

Botan straightened her back.

"You-you said it was," she protested. "You said it used "catch and release", that it caught people, showed them everything they wanted, and then they would go back for more!"

"You're extremely lucky Yusuke and Kuwabara found you as quickly as they did," Koenma replied. "But I can't risk you being taken a third time. You might not come back if you go again."

"Come back?" Botan asked.

Koenma sighed and looked thoughtful and then quickly relieved when there was a knock at his door and Ayame let herself back in.

"I forgot my bowl," she said, pointing at the bowl in Botan's hands.

"Oh, sorry," Botan said, holding out the bowl towards her.

"Oh, finish your tea first though, Botan," Ayame told her.

Botan nodded and drank down half the bowl.

"What did you mean, Sir?" she asked Koenma.

"Finish your tea," Koenma replied.

Botan narrowed her eyes at him, but did as he suggested, handing the bowl back to Ayame. She muttered a quiet thank you and let herself out again.

"Botan, there's a limit to how much any soul can withstand," Koenma said carefully. "And, when something like a Lure feeds off the more positive aspects of your soul, you could reach that limit very quickly."

"Are you saying the Lure will take my soul?" Botan asked.

"Yes."

Botan nodded.

"Why did you go back to it, Botan?" he asked.

"You don't understand," she replied. "I just… I needed to see it again."

"You needed to see the Lure again?"

"No, I needed to see… The things it showed me."

"What could it possibly have shown you that was worth risking your soul to get a second look at?"

Botan looked into Koenma's eyes, wondering if she ought to tell him that she was considering risking her soul for a third look.

"Get some rest," he suggested. "I'm going to arrange some counselling for you–"

"With Hiei again?"

Koenma frowned.

"Hiei?" he asked. "Again?"

"You arranged for Hiei to talk to me after my first encounter with the Lure," Botan replied.

Koenma slowly shook his head.

"That wasn't real?" she asked.

Koenma shook his head again.

"That's quite a strange thing for you to have imagined," he commented.

Botan said no more, not wishing to draw any more attention to her own confusion.

"I'll get someone to talk to you," Koenma said. "And in the mean time, I'm going to buddy you up with Ayame."

"Why?" Botan immediately asked.

"I'm going to move you into her bedroom–"

"No!"

"–and she will keep an eye on you round the clock from now on."

"I don't want that!"

"You don't have any other choice!"

"You can't make me do this! You're treating me like a child!"

"You acted like one when you chose to go back to the Lure!"

Botan wished she still had Ayame's stupid, pretty bowl, so that she could throw it against the wall and watch it shatter into a thousand pieces.

"I'm doing this for your own good, Botan," Koenma said, his voice softer. "I need to know that you'll be safe."

Botan nodded and stood up.

"Get some sleep," Koenma suggested.

"In Ayame's bed?" Botan asked.

"You'll probably have to sleep on the floor," Koenma began. "I doubt Ayame would want to share her bed…"

His voice trailed off as he seemed to realise that Botan was not receiving what he was saying very well.

"I will arrange for the staff to carry your bed through to Ayame's room," he corrected himself. "She has a big room, we'll be able to fit two beds in there."

"She has a big room?" Botan asked, picturing her own tiny bedroom and wondering if Ayame's was bigger.

"Oh, yes, it's much bigger than the rooms the other ferry girls have," Koenma replied. "She actually has a suite."

"A suite?" Botan echoed.

"Yes, she has her bedroom, a sitting room, a small kitchen, her own bathroom with a shower and a separate bath."

Botan gave Koenma a flat look, but he appeared not to realise what he was saying.

"If you need me for anything, come and see me," he told her.

She nodded and turned to take her leave.

"Uh, Botan, before you go?"

Botan stopped but did not turn around.

"Let me just get Ayame back here to escort you up there."

"You don't trust me to go to my room on my own?"

Koenma did not answer her, but he had no need to, she already knew her assumption was correct. She stayed where she was to wait for Ayame's return, which either took a long time, or it just seemed that way as she began to become aware that standing up was causing her a throbbing pain in the point in her legs where she knew she would have wounds from the Lure. Ayame finally returned and held the door open for Botan to leave. Botan did so, falling into step beside Ayame.

"How are you feeling?" Ayame asked her.

"Weird," Botan replied.

"You don't seem yourself," Ayame said. "We'll get you set up in my room, and you can have a nice sleep. After that, I'll make you breakfast, and we could go for a walk around the gardens, if you feel up for it."

"That all sounds very nice," Botan said.

"Oh good!"

It did all sound very nice, but Botan was not in the mood for nice. She began searching up her sleeves, her fingers desperately fumbling about, but she failed to find anything concealed there, least of all the one thing she wanted.

"Are you alright there?" Ayame asked her.

"I was looking for my communicator," Botan admitted.

"Would you like to borrow mine?" Ayame offered.

"If I say yes, would you have to stay with me when I made the call?"

"Who do you need to call?"

Botan and Ayame walked along in silence for a bit as Botan considered Ayame's question. She needed to find Hiei or Shizuru – or ideally both of them – but neither of them had a communicator. Her traditional way to reach Hiei was via Yusuke, and she usually just went to see Shizuru whenever she wanted to.

"Am I allowed to visit my friends?" she eventually asked.

"Of course you are!" Ayame replied with a warm smile.

"But you have to come with me?" Botan asked.

"We can visit the girls now, if you like?" Ayame offered.

Botan looked at her questioningly and Ayame then started to look as confused as Botan felt.

"You said you wanted to visit your friends?" Ayame tried. "We can go to the social room to see the other ferry girls now, if you like?"

"I wasn't talking about the other ferry girls," Botan replied. "I don't really think the other ferry girls are my friends. Not any more. Not since I was chosen to be Assistant to the Spirit Detective."

"The other ferry girls aren't really my friends either."

Botan nodded.

"Sometimes I wonder why Koenma picked me to be Yusuke's assistant," she admitted. "I sort of always thought it was just because I happened to be the one who collected his soul the day he died."

"Oh Botan, it was much more convoluted than that!" Ayame replied.

"Really?" Botan asked.

"Of course! You were chosen over all the rest of us for a good reason."

"What reason?"

"You were the only one of us who could have done that job."

Botan nodded. The other ferry girls were too scared of demons and Ayame hated demons too much. Botan had always been the only one to judge a soul based on how she found it rather than what it was or who it belonged to. Before she could give the matter any further thought – or indeed think about anything else – they arrived at Ayame's room, and Ayame held the door open for her. Botan took several steps in before realising Koenma had not been exaggerating about Ayame having her own suite.

Botan puffed her cheeks and collapsed into an armchair. She pretended that she had meant to sit down, but really it had been luck there had been a chair nearby to her in the moment that her legs had spasmed and given way beneath her. She still was not sure when she had started hallucinated and when she had stopped and she would not believe anything was real or otherwise until she had seen and spoken to Hiei and Shizuru: but it seemed she would not be able to see or speak to either of them as long as she was under Ayame's watch.

"So if you weren't talking about seeing the other ferry girls, who did you mean?" Ayame asked, almost on cue.

Botan narrowed her eyes, finding the question to have been almost too conveniently timed. Almost as though she was having an illusion, where everything fitted together a little too perfectly.

"Was it Yusuke?" Ayame asked, sitting down in an armchair that faced the one Botan was sitting in.

"No," Botan replied. "I meant my friends in the human world."

"Oh, you have friends in the human world?" Ayame asked.

"And also…" Botan began, trying to choose her words carefully. "My friends in Demon World."

A hand flew up to cover Ayame's mouth and Botan resisted the urge to respond.

"I can't go to Demon World with you," Ayame said. "But I could take you to the living world. Tomorrow, though. You should get some sleep tonight. We can go in the morning."

Botan nodded before looking around the room.

"This is a big space you have," she commented.

"For a long time, I was the only ferry girl in Spirit World," Ayame replied.

Botan refocused her attention on Ayame.

"You're a lot older than I thought you were," she commented.

Ayame smiled.

"Yes," she agreed. "In terms of my life, the other ferry girls are all quite young and new to the job. Especially you. You're the youngest and the newest."

Botan had never considered the fact that she had been the most recent ferry girl to join the team, but she supposed the others had all been in post when she had started her training, so that was probably correct. She supposed that was why Ayame was so aloof: she had been the only one for so long, she had been unique, until the others came along.

"Get some sleep," Ayame said. "You can take my bed."

Botan glanced in the direction Ayame indicated, towards a separate room, but shook her head.

"I'll just sleep here," she said, getting up and moving carefully over to a nearby sofa.

"That's a futon, it pulls out into a bed," Ayame offered.

"I'm fine," Botan lied, curling up on the sofa, turned towards the back of it.

She intended to wait until Ayame left before doing anything else, but consequently realised she must have fallen asleep before that happened, because the next thing she remembered was waking up to the sound of crockery being moved about. She sat up, her head spinning and body aching far worse than it had before she lay down, and shuffled around into a seated position on the sofa. She rubbed her eyes, but found that even that took effort, her arms feeling too heavy to be held in that position. She let her arms fall to her sides and blinked blearily, looking up at Ayame, who looked unfairly fresh and flawless.

"Would you like some breakfast?" Ayame asked her.

She was holding a butter knife in her hand, and Botan's eyes gravitated towards it. In the same moment that light from the window twinkled against the metal of the knife, Botan was on her feet and moving towards the window.

"Are you feeling better?" Ayame asked her.

Botan began fumbling with the catch of the window.

"You can open that, let some air in," Ayame offered.

Botan finally got the catch open and threw the window open as wide as it would go before hoisting herself up to sit on the edge of the window-frame.

"What are you doing?" Ayame gasped, dropping the knife with a clatter.

Botan held onto the window-frame either side of herself and leaned back, peering up at the exterior walls of the temple.

"Botan?" Ayame said warily.

Botan leaned back into the room and Ayame silently – but visibly – sighed with relief. Botan summoned her oar and dropped out of the window.

"Botan!" Ayame yelped, running over to the window.

Sitting a little clumsily on her oar, Botan drifted up, somewhat jerkily, inspecting the wall as she went.

"Botan, where are you going?"

Botan turned her head to find Ayame hovering in the air beside her.

"What happened?" Botan asked, pointing at the wall.

Ayame looked at the wall, scanning over it frantically.

"Nothing," she concluded. "Why, did you hear something?"

She looked at Botan, looking almost desperate.

"Where are the swords?" Botan asked her.

"What swords?" Ayame asked, shaking her head as she spoke.

"The big black swords," Botan asked, pointing at the vast, plain wall ahead of them. "There were two giant swords, crossed, on this wall."

Ayame shook her head.

"There was," Botan insisted. "I saw it."

"There's never been anything like that out here," Ayame said quietly. "Or anywhere on, or in, the temple."

Botan looked at the wall again.

"That doesn't make sense," she concluded. "Why would I imagine something like that? That's not something I want. I didn't like it. Looking at it made me feel funny."

"I don't know why you would imagine something like that either," Ayame said. "Unless it was something the Lure showed you to try to scare you."

Botan turned to look at Ayame again.

"That's not how the Lure works," she said.

"I think it is," Ayame replied.

Botan narrowed her eyes.

"The Lure shows its victims things that they want," she said.

"Yes, but it could also show you things you don't like, to deter you from trying to wake up," Ayame replied.

Botan turned fully towards Ayame.

"I know what I'm talking about," Botan told her.

"As do I," Ayame replied.

Botan gave Ayame a hard, scrutinising look, but she maintained her air of cool indifference.

"Have you ever been taken by a Lure?" she asked.

"No," Ayame replied. "But I have read about them. In a book."

Botan's face fell.

"When Lord Koenma said there was a Lure loose in the human world, I made a point of learning about them," Ayame continued. "Any time Lord Koenma tells me there is a demon in the human realm, I learn all I can about them. I could have met it while I was out performing my duties. I had to be prepared."

Botan nodded.

"What have you learnt then?" she asked.

"The Lure is a hybrid animal demon," Ayame replied.

Botan smiled.

"Yusuke would have enjoyed that," she said. "He loves it when the information Spirit World produce is so far from the truth."

Ayame frowned.

"The book I read told me the Lure is part spider, part–"

"It's humanoid," Botan cut in. "It looks just like a little girl."

"Really?" Ayame asked. "That wasn't in the book…"

"It does build a web though," Botan offered. "I suppose that's why the "scholars" of Spirit World thought it might be a spider."

"I see," Ayame said. "So it was part right."

"No," Botan disagreed.

"The part about the Lure having insect limbs was correct though."

Botan screwed up her face.

"What sort of little girls have you ever seen that have "insect limbs", Ayame?"

"And the feet of a–"

"Human, Ayame. It was human."

Botan drifted back in through the window and dropped off her oar, letting it vanish behind her. Ayame followed her back inside, banishing her oar and closing the window.

"I spent a lot of time researching that," Ayame muttered.

"Well you wasted your time," Botan flatly replied. "I could show you what it looks like."

Ayame paused, mid-step.

"I think I could probably find it again," Botan continued. "The last time I woke up, it spoke to me, and I was able to find it."

Ayame turned her head towards Botan.

"Are you saying you want to take me to the Lure?" she asked in a low voice.

"Just to show you what it looks like, of course," Botan replied.

Ayame shook her head.

"It could take you or me if we went anywhere near it!" she said.

Botan shook her head.

"I know what I'm doing," she said. "I'll be able to control it this time. I only went back to it to ask it a question, but I know the answer now. So if I met it again, I wouldn't have anything to say to it. I could meet it again and not let it take me."

Ayame's face flickered through a range of expressions.

"Are you saying you let it take you the last time you met it?" she asked cautiously.

Botan did not answer her, but mostly because she was not sure how to. She could not really remember how or when her last encounter with the Lure had changed from them sitting on the stone bench having a conversation to her being encased in webbing and out cold.

"It's too dangerous," Ayame said. "We'll stay here. Where it's safe."

Botan watched Ayame go back to preparing breakfast before turning her attention to the twin bookshelves her room was big enough to readily accommodate. She walked along them back and forth before stopping abruptly as she noticed something amiss. In any other bookcase, she undoubtedly would have missed what she saw, but Ayame's books were so rigidly aligned, arranged by title and each shelf hosting a different subject, the one shelf where some of the books were slightly squint stood out. Botan slid her hand into a gap between the bottom of two books, her fingers closing around a sealed plastic bag. She retrieved it, holding it up and inspecting the contents.

"What's this?" she asked, turning to Ayame with her find.

Ayame turned with a smile, but her face dropped, her eyes grew large and all the colour drained from her cheeks when she saw the plastic bag of crushed leaves, flowers and berries in Botan's hand.

"I pick my own tea leaves," Ayame said, hurrying over to join Botan. "That's why my tea tastes so good! This is my own special blend!"

She took hold of the bag and tried to pull it from Botan's hand, but Botan held onto it, glaring over it suspiciously at her fellow ferry girl.

"I save it for my friends," Ayame added, grabbing the bag with both hands and pulling harder.

"Why do you hide it?" Botan asked.

"Because if everyone tasted it, I would spend all my time just making tea!"

As Botan was still a little weakened, and only holding the bag in one hand, Ayame finally managed to wrestle it out of her grip. She hurriedly stuffed the bag back into its hiding place, realigning the books either side of it to conceal its location as best as she possibly could.

"Don't worry, I used it to make our tea this morning," Ayame assured her.

Botan turned to look at the tell-tale triangle cave between the books.

"Now I know you like tamagoyaki, would you like some toast with it?" Ayame asked, moving back over to her kitchen area.

Botan swallowed hard. She was still not really sure what was real and what was fake, but she knew that Ayame concocting secret blends of tea and hiding them was something that made no sense, something that seemed dark and sinister: something that seemed like the perfect imperfection her imagination mind impose upon an otherwise perfect person.

Botan held out one hand, her metal bat appearing in it. This was just a hallucination. She could hit Ayame as hard as she wanted. It would be alright. It was all fake.


Next Chapter: Botan escapes Ayame and heads off to the living world to find Shizuru – because Shizuru is the only person she can trust to be real, right? But when Botan does find Shizuru, she finds her in a situation that seems even more deceitful and unrealistic than Ayame hiding secrets, and so Botan goes to see the only one who can definitively tell her whether she is awake or not: the Lure. Chapter 15: In My Dreams