Morning had arrived and Hiro had woken up early for school. After eating breakfast, brushing his teeth, changing into his uniform, and retrieving his school bag, he was all set to go. He walked down the stairs and back into the kitchen again to bid a 'good day' to his sister; he didn't bother to go to Hime since she would probably kick him out of the room the instant he got through the threshold, or she would probably be probably asleep. He was accustomed to finding Riza and Sawawa around this time in the mornings, but today Reiri had decided to join them. She was drinking tomato juice, leaning on the counter, while Riza was devouring bacon, scrambled eggs, and some hot dog buns. His sister was doing the dishes nearby, humming a little tune to herself.

"Ara, good morning, Hiro," said Reiri pleasantly.

"Yo, Hiro" was Riza's greeting, before she returned her attention to the meal at hand.

"Ah, g-good morning," said Hiro, taken aback. He was more concerned about Reiri's presence in the room, certainly not expecting to see her until late in the afternoon. "Um, are you attending school today, Reiri-san?"

"There's nothing to do here," Reiri said, crushing her juice box, sighing. "Plus today seems to be quite a promising one for me."

She finished her sentence by beckoning to the windows. Hiro followed her gaze and saw that the skies were cloudy and the sun's rays made few holes in the floating, gray cotton. Hiro was quickly dispirited; he enjoyed the waves of heat that accompanied him in his long walk to school, always giving him some sort of encouragement, though with global warming and all, maybe this was promising. Even so, he sighed.

"Hiro, here's your lunch box," said his sister, handing him a rigid, metal container.

"Ah, thanks, Onee-sama," said Hiro, animated once again; the stuff his sister made was always delicious.

His sister gave him the usual boobful hug and told him to take care of himself on his way to school, telling him that there are irresponsible bikers riding on the hill's road, at which Riza sipped her drink nonchalantly. Reiri threw her distorted juice box away, grabbed her bag, swished her hair gracefully, and linked arms with Hiro, suavely pulling him to the exit.

"We're leaving now," Reiri yelled out before closing the door.

Hiro and Reiri walked side by side, striking up some friendly conversation to cast aside the silence that was amounting. They commented on the various sceneries they came across before arriving at school. They parted ways at the gate, since Hiro didn't want to be seen with the school's idol, and get beaten for it afterwards. Not to mention, Reiri was his Senpai.

Once in class, Hiro earnestly jotted down the notes his teacher scrawled on the board as he spoke. The instructor then called upon a male student in the class, asking him a question which concerned the material they had previously covered. All eyes were on the fidgeting student.

"So, what is the answer, Tashimaya-kun?" he questioned.

"Um… ah…er…," the student struggled, looking around to see if he'd get some hints from his friends. "W-wait, it's on the tip of my tongue! Uh…"

Ugh, another blubbering idiot…

Eh? Hiro thought. Where did that voice come from?

The student continued to dwell in the pinch he'd found himself in as the teacher continued to watch him with more than faint distaste.

I don't know why I even bother to teach these kids, anymore…

Hiro heard the voice again, and then singled out the instructor at the front of the room as the only possible origin. Who else is teaching this class, after all? That voice, is it his? Hiro wondered.

In the end, the student wasn't able to find the correct reply and everyone had to stay in class for ten minutes extra after the lunch bell chimed. Once the ten minutes were up, the students scurried off to lunch, but Hiro was the only one that remained seated.

"Um, do you need something, Hiyorimi-kun?" the instructor asked as he packed his things.

"N-no, I just wanted to say that today's class was really interesting," Hiro said, standing up and grabbing his lunchbox.

Well, at least there's one good apple in this bunch of rotten ones…

There it is again, Hiro thought guardedly.

"Thanks, now go to the cafeteria and get something to eat, boy," the instructor said before leaving the room.

Hiro found Reiri tediously staring out the window as she drank her tomato juice, her head resting on her palm while leaning on her elbow. When she turned her head, she spotted Hiro and waved at him, earning envious looks from most of the boys within sight. He sat down and set his lunch box on the table.

Who does he think he is?

Sitting with Reiri-san like that…

Someone should teach him a lesson.

He's not even in the fan club!

How dare he?

What does Reiri-san see in him?

"R-Reiri-san, are you sure this is fine?" Hiro asked nervously. "I mean, to sit here with you…"

Reiri inadvertently stood up and pushed her chair back in the table. "Hiro, you'll have to excuse me for today, I'm not feeling very well," she said, forcing a smile.

"Ah, okay…"

Before leaving, Reiri leaned close to Hiro's ear and whispered huskily, "I'll see you at home."

Hiro face flushed instantly and he gulped, though he didn't even have time to feel overjoyed because the male population was already heading in his direction, cracking their fists and stretching.

Lucky bastard!

He's getting it…

He's a dead man as of now!

"Ah!" Hiro screamed. Please, no, I'm already dead anyway!

What is going on? a concerned Reiri thought as she breezily flew her way back to the mansion. She had asked for permission to leave the school after saying that she felt a bit light-headed, which of course was just an excuse to be properly dismissed from the building. She had heard some strange voices exhoing quietly in her head during her time in the cafeteria, most of them involving comments on Hiro and herself. She almost felt sorry for the guy, leaving him like that. Though, at the moment, the matter at hand didn't include Hiro's problems.

It had started the moment she stepped into the building: her usual circle of girlfriends surrounded her as they had always done whenever she actually showed up at school, and the boys would gather somewhere in the sidelines to worship and go ga-ga over her. That was when she heard the first set of voices.

Reiri-sama is so beautiful…

A girl's voice? Reiri thought.

I love her hair; it's so silky and soft…

Well, can't argue with that, she thought vainly.

Wow, I wonder if she'd date me…

Disturbing…, Reiri thought, her smile twitching.

I love Reiri-sama so much…

This is a girl, right? Reiri thought awkwardly.

Since then, she had been hearing these distinctive tones of speech. There was only silence as of now, though, since she was on her way to Hime's deserted mansion at the top of the hill. Once there, she blandly landed before the entrance. She opened the gates and found Riza doing sit-ups against a felled tree in the front yard.

"Reiri?" Riza said, surprised. "What are you doing here? Did they release you guys early?"

Reiri gazed intensely into Riza's, to check for the voices' return.

"Hey… uh… do you need to use the bathroom or something?" Riza asked uncomfortably.

"How distasteful," Reiri said angrily, "asking a lady something like that in such bold manner."

Reiri walked off without a single glance back at Riza.

"Oi, you take that back!" Riza growled, but Reiri had already accessed the large building, muffling out the rest of her incoherent rant after shutting the door closed.

Strange, I didn't hear anything, Reiri thought to herself. Maybe her brain is so small that she has absolutely nothing going on in there.

Oh, Reiri-chan is here, I should greet her…

"Welcome back," said Hiro's sister energetically, wearing the usual maid attire.

"Ah, yes, good afternoon," Reiri said. Was that her?

"Will you please tell Hime-sama that I'll be going out for a bit to do groceries, Reiri-chan?" the maid asked.

"Of course," said Reiri politely.

"Then I'm counting on you~" was what Sawawa said before bowing and leaving the building.

Strawberry parfait, banana parfait, kiwi parfait, orange parfait, and many more to try out! Sawawa sang in her mind, her song fading as she distanced herself further away from the mansion.

When the clock reached four o' clock in the afternoon, Hiro walked through the gigantic doors, back from school, worn out. He placed his bag pack in his room and his growling stomach helped him find his way into the kitchen. There he saw his sister preparing dinner while Riza kept her body hydrated by drinking some strange liquids that she had found in the refrigerator. He greeted them both, grabbed an apple to hold off the hunger, and left the room trudging in exhaustion. He had a horrible headache.

Once done drinking her weird liquids, Riza decided she'd go to her room to work out since nighttime would soon fall in the city. As she walked through the hallways, wiping the sweat of her body with a small yellow towel, thus blinding her vision, she bumped into Reiri, accidentally dropping the towel to the side on impact. Reiri's weight proved to be, surprisingly, heavier than Riza's, causing the vampire to fall on top of the werewolf, straddling her.

"Itata…," Reiri groaned, rubbing the back of her head with one hand. "Please watch where you're going next time, you uncoordinated beast."

"What the—you ran into me!" Riza said.

Memories of what Riza had been doing a few seconds before the collision were transmitted into Reiri's mind. Like playback, she saw everything: Riza was walking down the hall, a towel over her head, then she bumped into someone—Reiri. The vampire stopped the rubbing of her head and noticed that her body was in full contact with Riza's. Did that have any connection to what had just occurred? Her eyes widened as she stared at Riza in astonishment.

Why is she looking at me like that? Riza thought grumpily.

I can hear it, Reiri thought to herself.

What Riza said out loud was: "Oi, get off me, you're seriously heavy."

A vein popped on Reiri's temple, and she immediately jumped to her feet and off the werewolf with a stubborn huff, folding her arms once stable. Riza stood up, as well, and dusted herself off with the towel after picking it back up from the floor. Reiri narrowed her eyes, blocked out any noise that would disrupt her concentration, and focused on reaching Riza's mind. Not a thing. Could it be that before it was only possible because of the contact they had made when she fell on top of her? Then how was it possible for her to hear other people's thoughts from a distance? She was beginning to get confused.

Reiri retired from the unexpected encounter and decided she would test out one more subject before wandering off into the night to fetch herself some dinner.

"That's right, keep walking, you fatass!" yelled Riza; the vampire mustering up all her remaining bits of patience to keep herself from going back there and rearranging that dog's face.

Hiro lay on his bed, his arm draped over his eyes in a meager attempt to block out the light that hit him. He could always just get up and turn it off, but his headache was so horrid he couldn't even do that. The sound of his room's door opening resembled that of a bank's vault. He forced himself to lift his head and see who it was that had entered.

"Ara, Hiro, were you sleeping?" Reiri asked.

"Um, no, my brain is just sort of beating against my cranium," Hiro joked.

Reiri giggled. Silence followed, and the sharp vampire focused her attention on Hiro's mind, to see if she would happen to hear something. But there was nothing, again. Now it was time for method number two: hands-on, skin contact.

"Hiro, how bad is your headache?" Reiri asked, feigning concern.

"It's not so bad, really," he said, obviously trying to cover up the fact that he was dying on the inside. Ever since he arrived from school, the headache hadn't ceased. Should he tell Reiri about the mind-reading incidents that transpired throughout the day? She would probably think he was crazy and attempt to slap some sense into him.

"You may have a fever. Here"—she melodramatically ran to his side on the bed and put her hand atop his burning forehead—"let me check… Oh,my, it is certainly hot."

The reason why his forehead had reached such abnormal temperature was not because he was sick, but because of Reiri's bold touch.

R-Reiri-san is touching me, Hiro thought disbelievingly, vapor appeared to be steaming off his ears. This is not the time to worry about that. What if Hime were to see us?

Eh, what if Hime-sama sees us? Reiri asked herself.

She's going to kill me a second time! Hiro cried in his mind.

You're going to resurrect, anyhow, Reiri, supposedly, replied in her head.

Yes, but if Hime wanted—wait, huh!? Reiri-san? Hiro thought, startled. What are you doing inside my head?

W-what am I doing in yours? Reiri thought. What are you doing in mine!

We're talking, but our lips aren't moving, Hiro skeptically told Reiri.

So, you can hear me? Reiri asked, motioning to herself.

Hiro grabbed the vampire girl's hand and slipped it off his forehead. He begrudgingly ordered his body to sit up and put his shoes back on. "Reiri-san, I think we need to report this to Hime."

"Have you two ever heard of the two mechanisms that are installed on beings the moment they are born?" Hime inquired with a calm demeanor, facing the scenery out the window as Riza, Reiri, and Hiro stood by the door, intently listening to her words. "They are called the 'sender' and the 'receiver.'"

"Fuga," said Flandre, nodding.

"An average being is born with a sender, while a supernatural being is born with a receiver," the blonde aristocrat in gothic clothing explained. "There are special cases, though, in which a being is born with both of these. If that being finds a psychological manifestation field, it is enabled to grant any creature its missing mechanism, as well as telepathically communicate with it."

"Hime, is that thing, whatever it is, targeting us?" Riza asked.

"Hmph, there's only one way to know," Hime said casually.

"Which is…?" Hiro trailed off.

"Reiri, do you have a spare school uniform?" Hime asked hastily.

"U-uh, yes," replied the uncertain vampire. "May I ask why, Hime-sama?"

"Riza, you're going back to school," Hime callously announced, closing the curtains of the window.

"Eh!?"

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The mysterious stuff begins now. Reviews would really help me, everyone! ^^/