Chapter 2: The Second Wish

"Are you going to tell me what Seiya-kun wrote in his letter?" asked Miyu

Kanata looked up from tying his shoes and tried to understand her expression. It was the next morning and they were both about to leave for school. Wanya looked on with Ruu in his arms, and from his confused expression, Kanata deduced that Miyu had not filled him in on yesterday's craziness. She, meanwhile, looked calm and collected as she patiently waited for Kanata to finish. He, on the other hand, was feeling a tad anxious, thinking of the day ahead. This was such a departure from their normal routine that Kanata felt a headache coming on, and he hadn't even reached school yet.

"Um…no" he finally answered.

"Alright" said Miyu with an understanding smile as Kanata stood up. "We'll be leaving now, Wanya. Be good, Ruu-kun." With a wave, Miyu stepped out of the house, leaving two confused aliens and a shocked Kanata.

He shook himself out of his stupor and muttering dire imprecations at Seiya, he rushed after Miyu who was already going down the stairs.

"So, that's it? You aren't going to pester me today?" asked Kanata for the third time.

"I already said I wasn't going to, Kanata" said Miyu, enjoying this new Kanata, who was the opposite of aloof and calm.

They were a little distance away from the school and Kanata was still trying to understand Miyu's strange response. This patient understanding was not at all like her. Usually, she couldn't help meddling in anything and everything.

"Don't get me wrong, because I am not complaining" said Kanata "But, this is unlike you."

Miyu smirked at him, giving him another shock. He hadn't thought that she even knew how to smirk. The expression was simply too disturbing on her face, to put it mildly.

"I have realized that I can, in fact, 'cultivate patience' as Seiya-kun put it" she said. "After watching you struggle yesterday, I realized that watching you jump through hoops was too entertaining for me to mess it up by needless pestering."

"What!" exclaimed Kanata, outraged.

"Besides" continued Miyu "Seiya-kun will be here tomorrow and I can always get the truth out of him easier than out of you." She once again smirked at Kanata who was so shocked at her reasoning that he had stopped in the middle of the way.

"Come along, Kanata-kun" teased Miyu, looking over her shoulder at him "You don't want a tardy, do you?"

Kanata cursed and jogged after her.

Miyu was still chuckling to herself as she walked inside the class. Kanata had run off somewhere as soon as they reached school, no doubt to hide from his fan club.

"Ohayo, Aya-chan, Nanami-chan" she greeted her friends as she took her place next to them.

"Ohayo, Miyu-chan" returned Nanami "You're early today."

Miyu simply smiled and looked around, throwing Nanami and Aya into confusion.

"Where is Saionji-kun?" asked Aya "I want to write the next act of my new play, and he is the lead character."

She tried to spot Kanata while stars popped out of her eyes. Miyu and Nanami looked at each other and sweatdropped.

"Um, he's here somewhere" said Miyu a bit nervously, seeing the manic energy building in her drama-mad friend. Really, why did she have a bunch of friends with manic/destructive alter egos?

"Oh, Miyu-chan!" chorused a bunch of girls, imitating puppy-dog eyes at Miyu.

Kanata's fan club had arrived.

'Here we go again' thought Miyu.

"Where is Saionji-kun?" they asked.

"I don't know" replied Miyu

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck lifted and Miyu turned around fearfully. As she had suspected, Chris-chan was looking at her with a creepy grin, her hair all poofed-up and swirling in a ghostly wind.

"Have you hidden him from me, Miyu-chan?" asked Creepy Chris, conversationally (which was just creepy, I tell you!) "Are you jealous of my relationship with Kanata-kun that you seek to separate us?"

"Er…" stammered Miyu, shaking in fear. 'I'm a goner for sure today' she thought 'Sweet Buddha! Why me?'

"You are the best friend in the whole world, Kanata!"

Santa's excited shout broke the spell and suddenly, everything was back to normal. Christine looked very demure as the fan girls rushed at Kanata who had just come in with Santa. Miyu fell on the top of her desk anime-style, completely drained of energy.

"I can't take this anymore" she moaned as Nanami and Aya tried to comfort her.

Meanwhile, Santa was regaling everyone with a strange tale of how Kanata had gotten some rare record for him. Dimly registering this, Miyu turned her head towards him to listen better. Kanata had already settled at his seat, refusing to look at anyone. He was also looking a tad guilty. Seeing this, Miyu sat up and listened carefully to what Santa was saying. This was no easy task since he descended into bouts of ecstasy between sentences, dancing around the room while clutching a record to his chest.

"Ano…is Kurosku-kun saying that Kanata had given him a Tori record as a gift?" asked Chris.

"I think so" replied Nanami

"Hmm…this is gonna mess up my plot" said Aya, taking out a notebook and scribbling furiously.

They all looked at Miyu as though she held all the answers to the mystery that was Kanata.

'Honestly!' fumed Miyu internally.

"I don't know what he is talking about" she said "This is the first I ever heard of it. Besides, knowing Santa-kun, it's probably something else entirely than what he thought."

"You're probably right" agreed Nanami

Aya continued to ponder the situation and kept a close watch on the boys in question.

"Kanata-kun is a strange one, isn't he?" said Chris.

Miyu looked at her a bit fearfully lest Creepy Chris had made an appearance again. But, this was simply her kind and loving friend, so she relaxed back in her seat.

"You can say that again" agreed Miyu "The guy barely talks. How are you supposed to ever find out what is going on inside his head?" she complained.

Christine couldn't help but giggle hearing this rant.

"But, that is half the fun, isn't it" she said "If he wasn't so mysterious, he wouldn't be this popular"

"Hmm…" murmured Miyu as she looked at Kanata bent over a notebook, seemingly immersed in his studies. "Do you think he does it on purpose?"

She exchanged a looked with Chris. Both the girls began giggling as Nanami turned back to look at their antics.

Thankfully, the bell rang signaling the start of the morning's lessons which put all capers to an end until break.

Kanata let his mind wander as Mizuno sensei droned on about World War I and Buddha-only-knew what else. Usually, Kanata was interested in History, but today he was simply too exhausted to even try to listen. Avoiding the fan club and Christine had taken a lot out of his energy. His roving eye fell on Miyu who had a glazed expression on her face. She definitely was not a fan of History. Kanata once again wondered at her attitude that morning. When had Miyu become so devious? If he was honest with himself, he found her naiveté and innocence attractive. It was such fun to tease her. He sighed, thinking of 'The Lamp of Doom' (as he had come to call Seiya's gift) and couldn't wait for that meddling alien to get here so that he could be rid of the damned thing. So far today, he hadn't wished for anything much except maybe some energy. May be tonight, Seirei would hand him an energy bar as his greatest wish's fulfillment. Kanata nearly snorted at the thought and was glad he could find some humour in the situation. As he had predicted, it had been quite easy to hand over last night's 'wish' to Santa. The minute he had clapped eyes on the Tori record, Santa had barely heard what he had said. So, Kanata had done what he did best – look enigmatic and let everyone assume whatever they wanted to. He had caught Miyu looking at him a bit suspiciously from time to time, but he had ignored her as well. If things continued in this manner, maybe he could survive today without too much trouble. Of course, that's when things began to go downhill.

It was Home Science period and they were having a practical cooking session today. Normally, this was quite an easy lesson for Kanata. But today, Mizuno sensei had decided to spice things up a bit by dividing them into groups and making it out to be a competition of sorts, like a MasterChef show. It looked like his sensei was out for his blood as well. That was the only conclusion Kanata could come to when she announced the groups. He was to be doing the cooking with Miyu, Santa and Christine. Normally, he would be glad to have people he was familiar with, while doing any project. But with the way things were, Kanata could only pray that he got out of the period alive. Miyu was a hopeless cook and had once even managed to burn boiling water (he still hadn't figured out that mystery). Christine, on the other hand, was an exceptionally good cook. But being paired with Kanata had landed her in a dreamland of her imagination with 'Prince Kanata', pink hearts, stars and balloons, rendering her less than useless for cooking. Santa knew his way around the kitchen, but today, having gotten a hold of the unique Tori record, he too was off in la-la land. All this meant that Kanata was essentially left to do the job of 4 people all by himself. In her defense, Miyu did try to help, but as usual, only managed to make everything worse. By the time the bell rang signaling the end of the period (and the school day, thank Buddha!), Kanata's team was left with a couple of inedible, burned dishes. Thinking to make some quick onigiri, Kanata had asked Miyu to cook some rice, but she had somehow ended up burning the pot. It was a miracle a fire hadn't started inside the class. Seeing all the fancy dishes his classmates had cooked and presented, Kanata couldn't help wishing for at least some plain boiled rice to show for their efforts. He was bone-tired and looked like he had lost a food fight. For once, Miyu was just as tired as him, and she too looked like she had finished an epic battle, and lost. Christine and Santa were still lost in their dream worlds. Kanata was so disgusted with his day that as soon as Mizuno sensei gave the word, he walked out of the room with nary a glance behind.

"Tadaima" said Miyu tiredly as she walked into the kitchen at Saionji Temple.

"Miyu-san!" said Wanya as he hurried over "Kanata-san came home a while ago. Where were you?"

"Daa!" said Ruu, as he patted his Mama's cheeks to make sure that she was okay.

"Hey, Ruu-kun" she said "Mama's okay, just a bit tired."

"What happened?" asked a worried Wanya "Kanata-san would not answer any of my questions. He just walked into his room and slammed the door. He did not even greet Ruu-chama!"

Miyu gave a sigh as she handed Ruu over to Wanya. She padded over to the counter and poured herself a cup of jasmine-flavoured tea and came back to the table. Miyu sat down and took a sip, giving a moan of pleasure.

"Oh, the wonders of tea!" she sighed.

"Ano…Miyu-san?" Wanya was getting tired of trying to get these two to answer questions properly. Really, Earthlings were so stubborn!

"Oh! Gomen, Wanya" apologized Miyu "It was a very tiring day at school."

"You said that yesterday as well" complained Wanya "What's going on?"

"Huh..." said Miyu thoughtfully "It has been a hectic couple of days. I'm glad it's Friday tomorrow. I could do with a long and relaxing weekend."

"But what about Kanata-san?" persisted Wanya

"Daa!" said Ruu, rather firmly, as though he too was getting fed up of his adopted parents' behavior.

"Gomen, Ruu-kun" said Miyu, cuddling him affectionately. "Kanata really had a bad day today too. It's best if we leave him alone. He will calm down after a while."

"But what could have been so bad that he even ignored Ruu-chama?" That was the sore point with Wanya.

"We had a cooking session after lunch. I was one of his partners and Chris-chan was another" said Miyu

"Oh!"

"Daa!" Ruu flew off to sit on Wanya's head. Apparently that explanation was enough for both aliens to get an idea about Kanata's bad day. Miyu was torn between amusement and irritation at their reaction, but decided she was too exhausted to make a proper reply.

"Mmm…! It was stressful" she said as she stretched her arms above her head "I think I will take a bath and sleep for a bit. Wake me up for dinner, okay Wanya?"

"Okay." Murmured Wanya as Miyu went off in the direction of her room.

"Ano, Ruu-chama, ever get the feeling that life at Saionji has been turned on its head ever since Seiya-san's visit?" asked Wanya

"Daa!" said Ruu

"I do wish Kanata-san and Miyu-san would stop having these tiresome days" said Wanya with a sigh and decided to get an early start on dinner.

For the second day in a row, Kanata woke up with a start, still dressed in his school clothes.

'I have got to stop passing out after school like this' he thought. He dragged himself off the futon and set about removing his clothes. In the dark, he nearly stumbled over some things strewn all over his room.

"What the hell…?" muttered Kanata as he groped his way to the desk to switch his lamp on. As light filled his room, Kanata saw his school books and bag strewn about the room as though someone had thrown them there. The ridiculous Lamp of Doom had rolled underneath his desk. For a moment Kanata simply stared at the mess. Then he recalled that he had been so mad when he got home that he had thrown his bag to the floor to vent some anger. He remembered the bag bursting and the contents getting thrown around the room. At the time, he had been too angry and tired to care. Looking at the mess now, Kanata wished he had not lost his temper. He sighed and went about gathering the scattered books and paper. He stuffed everything back inside his bag and dropped it beside his desk. Getting on all fours, he crawled part-way underneath the desk and retrieved the lamp.

"Even-song, Kanata-sama"

Seirei's greeting startled him so much that he banged his head beneath the table. Muttering curses, he carefully backed out from under the desk and stood up. He placed the accursed lamp on his desk and turned to face his nemesis.

"You again!" scowled Kanata "I suppose you want to grant me my wish for the day, huh? Haven't you done enough?"

"Your wish is my command."

As usual, Seirei did not care about his thoughts or feelings. Stupid alien wish machine! Kanata felt his temper climb again. He did not recall losing his temper like this, ever. In fact, he hadn't even realized that he had a temper! Determined to ignore Seirei, Kanata did not stop to see if he had received anything. Instead, he simply closed his eyes and said "Stop". The projection disappeared immediately, but the damage had already been done. Kanata turned to see a steaming pot of perfectly prepared rice placed beside his futon. For a moment, Kanata did not understand the significance of what he was seeing. Then he did and did not know whether to laugh or cry; at least his temper was back to normal once again.