Iris

Salty- Oh, thank god. I waited for a number of viewers to comment before reading the comments. Oh, I thought that people would say that the last two chapters sucked... My heart was beating so fast! So, here's the next two chapters! (Oh god. I lost count of how many months it's been...I'm soo sorryy! I got bored of fanfic for a month or so then my room got reorganized so I couldn't find or remember my password...Just found it today... TT-TT)

Chapter 17. The Meetings Part One

It was a week before school started, a week after Fuji-kun and me decided to go out with one another, when we had our first date. Let's start, as I usually do, from the beginning.

~I~R~I~S~

I was in a deep, dark forest surrounded by oak trees. There was no way to escape. I walked back and forth but the trees came neither closer no farther. It was as if I was trapped in a mirage, or I was on some sort of substance that I didn't remember taking. Then something went off far away. It came closer and closer with each passing second, like a ravenous monster who wanted desperately to get me. I wanted to run but I was suddenly locked in place. No way out. No way to defend myself. I was doomed.

The sound came closer until I recognized it. A loud, shrill sound. An alarm clock?

I jolted in my bed, seeing my ordinary canary yellow ceiling and the worried/annoyed faces of Kazuma and Ren-chan staring down at me.

"What?" They glanced at each other. "Did I die or something?" I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and watched both of them sigh in relief.

"We thought you were sick when you slept in," said Kazuma, caramel brown eyes still visibly worried. "We were afraid that Rika-chan would come back." Rika was what they called my sick alternate personality. It came from Ill Katsumi, Ill being said in English. Illka, Irka, Rika. Simple.

"And," started Ren-chan grimly. "we all know that once Rika arrives, a plague befalls us all." Ren-chan had been looking especially grim lately. The bags under her eyes had gotten heavier, her hair was a mess and she didn't even bother with her clothes anymore.

Ren-chan suddenly looked at me and smiled. "Do not worry young mortal, I am not sick nor am I injured," Her eyes and smile grew warm. "I'm just a bit tired from high school midterms." How did she know I was worried? "You looked like you were about to have a seizure." Angels damn it!

"Oh." Kazuma frowned and looked at me seriously, begrudgingly? "You got a message from Fuji." He spat his name out like a terrible taste. "He wants to take you out on a date at five."

"Where? And what've you got against Fuji-kun?" I frowned.

He rolled his eyes. "Outside of the movie theater at the Honda market center. And he's just the scumbag that's dating my sister, just to get over Tenjo-san."

"It was...a mutual agreement," I told him. "and you used to like Fuji-kun. Weren't you two, like, friends or something?"

Kazuma rolled his eyes again and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"That mortal..." Ren-chan muttered before following Kazuma out of the door. I sighed, before remembering that Fuji-kun had asked me on a date. A date?

"My first date?" I screamed to an empty canary yellow room. I heard a brief laugh in the living room, then shouting. I guessed that Ren-chan and Kazuma had been in another argument. This had been regular, ever since Kazuma got there. But why?

~I~R~I~S~

Later at five o'clock sharp, I was in front of the movie theater after my landlady, Mrs. Tsuyukawa, drove me there. She was a Sunday driver and there was a lot of traffic that day, and I thought that I was going to be very, very late. But I wasn't. I, according to my watch, was right on time. Thank the angels and Justin Timberlake!

While sitting on a bench near the ticket booth(under a light, since the sky was starting to darken)I scrutinized my outfit, neither casual nor posh. A black, layered, knee length skirt and a scarlet blouse. I wondered if it may have been too much for a horror movie, but Fuji-kun's arrival broke me out of my thoughts.

He was wearing black jeans and a white, button up shirt, rather similar to his school uniform. He smiled when he saw me-not that he hadn't already been smiling.

"Hey," he sat on the bench, something shockingly graceful. "Have you been waiting long, Saitou-chan?" I shook my head.

"Nope. I think I got here about four minutes ago." Actually, it was ten. But potato po-tah-to.

"Are you up for Gorefestiphobia 3D?" he asked, obviously psyched for the number one horror movie made that year.

"Heck yeah!" And so was I! I'd been looking forward to it since Gorefestiphobia 1. "Hope it's better than the sequel."

"Yeah, not enough gore. Way too many shirtless guys."

I laughed while we walked into the theater.

"But I want to go! I don't like scary movies, nya!"

"Deal with it Kikumaru!" Kikumaru? Nya? It had to be Eiji-kun, and the other voice was shrill and motherly, so it had to be Raki-chan!

"Hey, Fuji-kun," I prodded him in the back while making sure to keep my voice low. "Did you hear them?"

He nodded. "Want to sit by them?" I must have looked worried. "We may be trying to get over them, but they're still our friends."

I nodded. "Yeah, you're right." But I wasn't sure that it was the right thing to do.

We walked to the back rows and to the middle of the isles where Raki-chan and Eiji-kun were arguing and annoying their neighbors. They didn't even seem to notice us.

"Hey," said Fuji-kun. Both Raki-chan and Eiji-kun stopped to look at both of us, greet us, and go back to arguing. "Okay."

We both sat down next to them, pretty sure that they wouldn't mind. It was a few minutes before the lights turned down(it was then when Eiji-kun had quieted down)and the credits started rolling. The first was for a bowling game gone wrong. A boy fell within that odd crevice where the pins and bowling ball went down and discovers an evil group of aliens hiding within there. The next was something about a puppy; at that point I stopped paying attention and started texting. Eiji-kun next to me was elbowing me in ribs about it, but I ignored him.

"Tsumi-chan," he whispered to me. "The movie's starting!" I thought I heard panic in his voice and looked up at his face. There was real horror there. Why was he looking to me for answers? "HELP ME!" he mouthed. I remembered what Fuji-kun had said. Just because he and I were dating, didn't mean that I had to avoid Eiji-kun.

"Ah..." My mind was blank. Oh Justin Timberlake. I remembered why I was avoiding him. I liked him! "Just...try to ignore the movie and...do something else." I felt stupid, like my brain had been removed then punched down my esophagus.

He smiled at me, shakily, and twiddled his thumbs to get away from the...commercials? Wow, he was a bit of a wimp when it came to horror movies. Was I that scared when I was in the third grade, before I met Ren-chan? Hm...

~I~R~I~S~

?-pov

It was late afternoon as I sat in the cafe they had picked out. The window next to me allowed me to view the sun as it set below far away peer. I shifted uncomfortably as my companion sat in the booth seat across from me and her deep blue eyes stared into my hazel.

"So?" I asked, putting on a fake cheerful smile. "What is it, Yamashita-san?"

"Oh, I just had something I'd like to chat with you about, Suzuyama Kei."

~I~R~I~S~