Here's to all of you who have been waiting patiently for me to complete this chapter!
J: You sound sooo pompous.
Oh, hon~ It's none of your business.
J: Hon yourself!
Tsurugi, disclaimer!
Tsurugi: Roze Hime-sama does not own IE or any of its characters. They all belong to Level-5. And BTW, why did I get turned into a cat?
Beats me. Blame Shindou!
Tsurugi: Shindou-san! /starts chasing Shindou around/
Shindou: I'm innocent!
"Where are we going, Tsurugi?" Tenma asked, trying to catch up to the navy-haired striker.
"We have to find this purple sphere that causes things to happen literally," explained Tsurugi, striding ahead of his friend.
"Oh, so that's why I froze—"Tsurugi clapped a hand on Tenma's mouth.
"Don't say anything related to idioms!"
"Okay, sorry!" Tenma pouted.
"Hurry. We have to find the sphere before things get worse."
As they passed a park, they heard a conversation between a sister and her younger brother, who was munching on his chips loudly.
"Don't eat so many chips!" scolded the sister, hands on her hips.
"Why?" asked the little boy, his mouth full.
"You are what you eat, after all!" the sister shook her finger at her brother.
"Oh, crap." Tsurugi tried to reach the siblings, but it was already too late. In the place of the boy, a huge packet of chips stood there.
The girl stared, her mouth falling open. "What happened?"
"Tsurugi!" They heard Shindou's voice.
"Yeah?" Tsurugi spotted Shindou and Kirino running towards them at top speed.
"There are more problems over there!" Shindou pointed afar, to where a distraught old man was sitting on a bench, pointing at a gigantic apple next to him with a shaking hand.
"He told his granddaughter that she was the apple of his eye, and then…" Kirino shrugged. "You know what happened."
"And… Where does the eye part come in?" asked Tenma curiously.
"He can only look at the apple now," explained Shindou.
"Oh," Tenma mused, rubbing his chin. "Now I get it. That's weird!"
Suddenly, Kirino's cell phone rang. He picked it up. "Hello?"
"Kirino-senpai!" Kariya's voice was so loud it could be heard through the phone without the speakers on, making Kirino wince.
"Yes, Kariya?" Kirino said, putting a hand to his temples.
"I and Hikaru just saw the sphere-thing! It's purple and glows, right?" Kariya said.
"And?" Kirino was growing impatient.
"It's flying over to the park! We're at the Steel Tower, so we can see where it's headed." Hikaru's voice chimed in.
When Kirino heard them finish their statement, he looked up. "Oh no," he murmured. "Okay, we're on it. Call Endou-kantoku." With that, he hung off.
"What's wrong?" Shindou noticed the worried look on his friend's face.
"The sphere is headed our way!" Kirino barely had time to say those words when a loud swoosh interrupted their conversation.
"Too late," Shindou said. "Come on!"
The sphere was huge, and glowing with energy. It had certainly grown from the last time the boys had seen it.
Running through the park, they tried to catch up with the sphere. It kept on teasing them, taunting them, floating close to them then zooming back up, out of reach.
Passing several people nearby who were engaged in a heated conversation, Tsurugi knew instantly that they were in for more literal trouble. They stopped to listen.
"Dad, why can't I have a Ferrari for my birthday?" A pudgy young man whined.
Another equally fat and grumpy-looking man sighed. "I've told you, it's too expensive!"
"Nope! You're just making excuses~" The other crossed his arms, not listening.
"You need to earn your own money and not depend on me all the time, son!" The man screeched.
"You're just an old penny-pincher!" The young man yelled, finally losing it.
Then, the man stopped. A strange look appeared on his face. Rooting in his pockets vigorously, he dumped everything out of his pockets and started to search.
"W-what are you doing, dad?" asked the younger man. He seemed to have just noticed his father's abnormality.
"Pennies…" The man mumbled. "Where are my pennies? I need to pinch them to make sure they're safe…"
The young man couldn't hold his laughter anymore at the sight of his father groveling on the ground, talking to himself about pennies. He started laughing loudly, cackling with glee, doubled over with laughter.
Tsurugi scowled angrily. He didn't like the man's attitude at all. "Right, that's the last straw!" He declared loudly, pointing at the laughing man.
Pop! There was a moment of silence.
"What did you do, Tsurugi?!" Kirino was staring at the striker.
"Erm…" For once, Tsurugi seemed lost for words. "I turned that crazy, mentally-wacked guy into a straw?"
Kirino shook his head in disbelief. "Not only did you turn that guy into a straw, you also…" He trailed off, listening to the conversation of the shop owners around him.
"Mom? Where did all the straws go?"
"I don't know, sweetheart! There was a whole jar of straws on the restaurant counter. Go ask your dad! The customers need them."
"I can't find a single straw in the whole store!"
"Well?" Shindou raised an eyebrow.
"Fine, not only did I turn a guy into a straw, I also made all of the straws in Raimon Town disappear! Happy now?" Tsurugi's scowl deepened.
Kirino was about to say a retort, but Tenma stopped him. "Kirino-san, Tsurugi! Don't we have something else to do?"
Shindou nodded. "Yeah. Priority one, find the sphere. You two can go and have a catfight later." It wasn't until he heard the mewling of two very angry and deranged cats that Shindou realized his own stupid mistake. "Oops."
"Catfight," echoed Tenma, looking at the two abnormally big cats glaring at Shindou, one pink with azure eyes, and one navy-blue with orange eyes. Their cat eyes were boring into Shindou with fierce intensity, as if they could succumb Shindou to the same fate as theirs by sheer willpower.
Shindou face-palmed himself. "I'm so sorry, Kirino, Tsurugi!" He bowed to the cats.
Tsurugi-the-cat swished his tail and held up a paw, claws glinting.
Shindou gulped at the offending gesture. "Help, Tenma!"
Tenma shrugged. "Etto… Shindou-san, I'd probably want to shred someone to pieces if I'd been turned into a cat against my will."
Shindou glared. "Not helping," he growled.
Kirino-the-cat nudged Tsurugi-the-cat, before trotting forwards, his head pointed to the sky.
Shindou sighed. "Right, we have to find that sphere."
The two felines led the two boys forward, assembling the weirdest quad in history. Two cats and two boys, searching for a purple sphere that made things happen literally. In a bad way.
How was it?
J: I like the cat part.
Tsurugi: Shindou-san! Get back here!
Shindou: /still running/ It's not my fault!
Ah, how sweet. Reviews, please!