Vile: For any of you people who tried guessing the Number of this fic and wondering where your cookie is, I forgot to mention: No cookie until the Number actually appears. So you people will have to be patient for a little while longer, heh heh. Enjoy Chapter 3, everybody!

Numbershot 87: Sweet and Sour Dreams

Chapter 3

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BE-* *THUNK*

Rio wordlessly slammed her fist on her alarm clock, her eyes clearly showing another lack of sleep. "Son of a bitch…" She groaned, pulling herself out of bed.

After taking her morning shower and getting dressed, Rio dragged herself into the kitchen, grabbing an apple out of the fridge and plopping herself down in a chair, eating it half-heartedly. "Morning, Rio." Rio turned to see a woman with coral-colored hair and green eyes. When the woman saw Rio's eyes, however, her mood quickly changed from upbeat to concerned. "Ooh… Another rough night?"

"You don't know the half of it, Yozora-obaa-chan (Auntie Yozora)…" Rio groaned with her mouth full. She noted that her aunt was making a pot of coffee. "Can I borrow some of your coffee? I need a serious wake-up."

Yozora just looked at her for a moment. "Hmm… No problem. I've had your sort of day before. How do you want it?"

"Gimme whatever you usually do." Rio replied. When the pot was finally done, Yozora poured two cups, putting one in front of Rio with one cream and two sugars. Rio poured the contents of the cream cup and sugar packets into the coffee, slowing stirring them in.

At that moment, Shark walked into the kitchen. One look at Rio's face told him all he needed to know. "Again?" Rio nodded, taking a sip of her coffee. "Yeah, even I'd need coffee after what you've been through."

"I'm gonna collapse if this keeps up…" Rio groaned.

*At School*

"So, when that thing hit you, you woke up just like that?" Koko asked as she and Rio walked to her next class. Rio was a little more awake, but not fully.

"Mm-hmm… and I even took two of those sleeping pills, just like you said." Rio replied. "I actually had to drink coffee to get where I am now."

"Freaky. I still slept great after that, even though I will admit that I'm creeped out all to hell." Koko told her. As they walked through the hallway, though, another question hit Koko's mind. "Is it me, or does the school seem… emptier than normal?"

Rio looked around the school. There were noticeably fewer people in the school than there normally were. "Yeah… Where'd they all go?" The two of them entered their classroom and took their seats. "It even seems like some of the teachers are gone, too."

"This is too weird..." Koko breathed.

At that moment, Makie entered the classroom, looking a bit drowzy. "Hey, girls." She said sleepily.

"Makie, are you ok?" Rio asked.

"Oh, yeah, just a little…" Makie started saying slowly, before she just fell over on her face.

"M-Makie-chan!" Koko cried, she and Rio rushing over to her, turning her over.

Rio and Koko quickly rush to her, turning her over. "Makie?" Rio asked, concerned. Putting her head near her, Rio heard that Makie was still breathing in an even pace, making her sigh out of relief. "She's still alive."

"Then what…" Koko was cut off as a loud snore came from Makie.

A tic mark appeared on Rio's head. "She just... fell asleep." Rio began shaking the sleeping girl. "Darn it, Makie, this isn't funny!"

Koko looked out into the hall. "Uh... Rio-chan... It's not just her." Rio looked out to see a bunch of students lying asleep in the hall, other students looking concerned.

"What in the world? What's going on here?" Rio wondered.

"You guys didn't hear?" A boy in their class asked. "People keep falling asleep for no real reason recently."

"Seriously? Talk about your coincidences, right, Rio-chan?" Koko asked.

Rio looked at her, confused. "What do mean?"

"Well, you can't sleep, but at the same time, the whole school is falling asleep."

"It's not like I CAN'T sleep, it's just... something keeps MAKING me wake up." Rio then groaned, feeling the fatigue again. "If I can't get a full night's sleep soon, I feel like I'm gonna die."

"Whoa, easy there, drama queen." Koko said, only to follow it up with a yawn of her own.

"Oh, not you too." Rio groaned with a facepalm. However, out of the corner of her eye, Rio noticed someone hiding behind the corner of another hall. She seemed about as wide awake as Rio was (well, by comparison of the others in the building). "Eh?" The girl noticed Rio looking at her, jumped out of shock, and ran away. "Hey, wait a minute!" Rio immediately gave chase, Koko running after her.

"What's gotten into you?" Koko asked.

"That girl up ahead is acting really suspicious. I think she might know something about what's going on." Barely a second after she said that, Koko grabbed Rio by the back of her collar, bringing them both screeching to a stop. "Oi!"

"Rio-chan, I can clearly see what the lack of sleep is doing to you." Koko told her. "I've seen that girl around. She's a total wallflower. One look from anyone sends her down the hall."

Rio shook Koko off of her. "Koko, did you even look at her, like squarely in the eyes?"

"No. Why would I?"

"I just did, right before she took off. You know what I saw? Not a trance of exhaustion." Rio pointed at her. "You, on the other hand, can barely keep your eyes open."

"So she isn't *yawns* having any trouble sleeping." Koko told her, blinking sleepily. "Big deal. Not everyone here is." Koko grabbed Rio again and tried to drag her back to class.

Rio, however, broke her grip again. "Look around, Koko. This isn't normal. The school this empty, people falling asleep in the halls." A girl slides down the wall across from them as if to prove her point. "You can't tell me something bigger isn't going on here."

"Look, I believe you. This kind of thing doesn't happen." Koko said. "But do you have any clue what it could be? At all?"

"That's why I'm trying to catch that girl. If she's the wallflower you claim she is, then there's a chance she saw something while nobody was noticing her."

Koko facepalmed. "Really, Rio-chan?"

At that moment, the P.A. system switched on, the announcer yawning. He sounded very bored. "Attention students, due to an influx of drowzy students and a large absence of teachers..." He yawned again. "Classes... are… hereby… can… celled…" A clattering sound was heard along with microphone feedback, and then snoring came over the system.

Koko sweatdropped. "Talk about convenient..."

"There, you see? Now come on, we've gotta find her and find out what's going on." Rio told her.

"Look, I admit that the three of us interacting like we were in that dream last night was beyond weird, but is this something we need to look into?"

Rio rose an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're acting like your brother's crazy friend, that Tsukumo kid." Koko told her. "Don't you think lack of sleep is just making you jump to conclusions?"

"I'm not crazy, Koko!" Rio snapped. "Why wasn't she sleepy like everyone else in this school?!"

"Maybe she is, but she hides it about as well as you and me." Koko turned around and started pacing. "All I know is, there is a much more rational explanation to what's going on then pointing fingers at the quietest wallflower in school. We just need to calm down, and look-" She turned back around to see that Rio was gone, making her sweatdrop. "Ugh... Darn it, Rio-chan..."

Meanwhile, Rio was running in the direction that she saw the girl run. 'Koko, if you only knew what my brother and his 'crazy friend' have been doing. Even if I am wrong, I just gotta know if she's related to this.' Rio turned the corner, only to see that the girl was completely gone, making her growl. "Darn it, Koko! Now I've lost her." Rio tried to calm herself down. 'OK, gotta think. If I were a shy, scared girl, where's someplace on campus I'd hide?' All of a sudden, Rio was grabbed by the back of her shirt and pulled. "Whaa!" She looked back to see that it was Koko.

"I'm getting you out of here before you get yourself suspended." Koko said.

"By who? The staff is as asleep as the students."

"Yeah, but think about when they wake up. That would get ugly." Koko then started dragging Rio away yet again. Rio tried to think of an argument, but couldn't, resorting to merely crossing her arms in frustration as Koko dragged her away. However, the girl that Rio saw peeked out from behind another corner, unseen by Rio. If Rio saw her, she would've seen the bloodshot nature of weary eyes…

Vile: The mystery deepens…

Rio: Why do you pull the rug out from under us a lot?

Vile: Because… it's fun?

Rio: *sweatdrop*

Vile: Don't get bent out of shape, Rio. The fic's only half over. If you guys liked this chapter, leave a review for me! Ja ne for now!

Computer Voice: Vile, logging out.