Chapter 6
"Why the hell would they look in the fridge for anything? Do they think they're gonna find money in there?"
"Miku, I don't the fridge is that important right now…"
"But seriously, look at this! They poured the milk out of the carton and ALL OVER THE FRIDGE! Do they think we planted diamonds in there or something? Jeez, what a dumb-ass thief! Say, what time is it?"
I looked at my watch. "9:40."
"Really?! We ought to get to school, then! Wash your face! Comb your hair! Shine your shoes! Brush your-"
"-I meant 9:40 PM, not AM."
"-Oh…that joke was in bad taste, wasn't it?"
"That was a joke?" I asked.
"'Was that a joke?' Look, now you've just gone and made me feel bad! My comedic glory is world renowned, and you've just insulted it!" Miku pouted.
"I didn't mean it that way, I just-"
"-kidding. I'm so funny, right? Now go to bed."
"What?"
"Go…to…bed. Is that hard to understand?"
"But, Miku, I can't just-"
"-Sleep after an incredibly and ridiculously hard day? I think that it's not too much to ask for, don't you think so?"
"Okay, but where will you sleep?"
"I've got that covered. You just go turn in for the night, got it?" Miku smiled and winked.
"…Alright. Good night."
"Night, Raggedy Ann."
"Huh?"
"BYE!"
Miku shoved me into my bedroom and shut the door. I looked around the room. Anything and everything in the room was either turned over or on its side. Nothing was left untouched.
I lifted the bed up and put the mattress back into place. I didn't care about the rest of the room. I would fix it tomorrow…wait…WAIT A SECOND…
I got up and ran down the hall and opened a door to another room. When I opened the door, I fell to my knees again.
Miku came up behind me. "What's the prob, Bob?"
"Who's Bob?" I asked.
"Figure of speech-and OH MY GOD."
You see, I was into something called "Monster World", a tabletop role-playing game. I put a lot of hard work into making the whole thing, and the result-total destruction. Guess the burglar looked in here, too.
"Dude, they ruined your dollhouse!" Miku yelled.
"Hey! It's not a dollhouse!"
"Oh, well excuse me, Ryou. I meant your princess castle."
"Quit teasing me, Miku! This isn't funny! Do you know hard I worked on this?"
"Well, you obviously put a lot of time and money into your little fantasy land, I can see that…" Miku looked at the remains of the RPG.
"But you don't understand! It meant much more to me than that! I worked hard on every little detail, and all of my hard work is ruined…"
"Aw, you're a nerd!" Miku said, thinking she unraveled some sort of mystery.
"…Excuse me?"
"Yeah, dude! You're a total geek! You're a man-dork over this thing! You're like one of those…what do you call it…online game addicts or whatever!"
My stomach turned.
"Miku, there is a huge, and I mean HUGE difference between tabletop RPG players and online game addicts. One difference is that I don't constantly obsess over games on the internet." I explained.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did I offend you?" Miku said sarcastically.
I sighed. "No, Miku, I was just trying to say-"
"-So, if I walk up to a, shall we say, much more violent tabletop RPG player and say, 'You must really like online games, right?' or vice versa, would you guys, I dunno…send an elf after me or something as revenge?" Miku laughed.
"Miku…"
"Oh, I can imagine it now-'OH GOD, MIKU! I SAID TO AN ONLINE GAME ADDICT THAT HE MUST REALLY LIKE TABLETOP RPGS TOO, AND NOW HE'S SENT A HOBBIT AFTER ME! EEEEK!'" Miku mocked me, using crazy hand gestures and facial expressions while doing so.
"If you said that to anyone else but me, I'm sure you'd end in up in a hospital for the night."
"HUH?"
I pictured Miku in my mind with some other person into a certain gaming franchise picking a fight with her. All I can say is, I'm sure it wouldn't be pretty.
"But anyways, what were we talking about again? Oh, yes! Your home has been ransacked and your ever-so-holy toys have been completely destroyed in the process!" Miku smiled.
You might as well just beat me up and take my lunch-money. Since that pretty much just happened, I guess she's just rubbing lemonade in my wounds…
"Don't be so blue, Bakura! We'll come back from this!"
"How? How in the world will we ever come back from this?"
Miku got down on her knees and sat with me on the floor. She slapped my back and she cleared her throat.
"Me, being a somewhat otaku-" She began.
"-Somewhat? You watch every anime that pops on screen."
"Now, don't go changing the subject. Like I was saying…through all my years of watching anime-six years and counting-I've seen my fair share of anime. And I've learned a lot of lessons from them, too. I heard a praise that was said numerous times throughout this one episode of an anime called Fruits Basket. Wanna know what it was?"
"…okay…"
"'No matter how cold it is during the winter, no matter how much snow there is, spring will always come through, without fail.'"
"That's…sweet."
"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT, IT'S SWEET! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE BEEN WAITING TO USE THAT QUOTE FOR SOMETHING?! THIS IS FREAKING AWESOME!"
"I'm glad that you found success in something today. Now, I think it's time for bed."
"Aw, come on! Now that I'm all hyped up, I'm not sleepy anymore!"
"No, go on."
"BUT BAKURA!"
"Miku…"
She scowled and stood up.
"Fine. I'll go to bed…IF YOU CAN TAKE ME ALIVE!"
Miku took off down the hallway, and about five seconds later, I heard a loud crash.
"It's okay! I didn't break anything! M-Maybe this lamp right here, but everything else is okay!" She yelled to me.
The Next Day
"~Po-pi-po-pi-po, po-PI-po..." Miku sang while walking down the sidewalk.
"What in the world are you going on about this time?" I asked.
"It's Popipo!" Miku said, looking at me like I was stupid.
"…Remind me, what is this…'Popipo'?"
"Ugh! Vegetable juice!"
"Right, right…"
"You know, you need some culture in your life, Bakura. You can't just sit there twiddling on alone. You know why? Because you don't even know what 'Popipo' is!"
"Yes, I'll work on that."
Miku glared at me. "…Is this sarcasm I hear?"
Before I could respond to Miku, Jonouchi ran up to the two of us.
"Bakura! You gotta come see this!" He said.
"See what-okay, you're dragging me…"
"HEY, BUDDY! YOU BETTER KEEP THOSE HANDS ON THE ARMS AND NOWHERE ELSE, GOT IT?" Miku yelled, following me and Jonouchi.
"Jeez, is she always like this?"Jonouchi asked.
I nodded.
"Phew! I pity you, kid!"
"I CAN HEAR YOU!" Miku screeched.
Once the three of us entered our homeroom classroom, we stopped dead in our tracks, our jaws dropped as we stared at the wreck that was sitting in front of us.
"Holy shit," Miku cursed.
"True that," Jonouchi said.
How bad was this "wreck" in the classroom? Well, first of all, there were several desks scattered around the classroom, some broken, some not. The windows were broken, and glass was all over the floor. And on the chalkboard was the most surprising part of the mess-written in chalk upon the board was "Drop the ring and the girl and this will end."
Several other students stared and whispered. Everyone wondered why this happened and why that statement was written on the board.
"Do you think…this is for you?"Jonouchi asked.
"It couldn't have been…no way…" Miku gasped and put her hands over her mouth. She looked at me and grabbed ahold of my arm.
"And I'm being dragged again,"
"W-wait! Where are you going?!" Jonouchi yelled.
Miku dragged me until we came to an empty hallway where no one could hear us.
"OH MY GOD," Miku's expression became over-exaggeratedly freaked out. "DO YOU THINK THAT WAS DONE BY THE SAME DUDE WHO MESSED UP YOUR APARTMENT? OH MY GOD, IT SO WAS, WASN'T IT? OH MY GOD, SOMEONE WANTS TO KIDNAP ME AND TAKE YOUR EGYPTIAN BACKSCRATCHER!"
Even if Miku was the number one over-exaggerater, she was right. Whoever wrecked my apartment was the one who wrecked the classroom. Okay, I can understand yet another crazy person going after the Millennium Items and my Millennium Ring, but what was the point of going after Miku as well? Unless…someone knew about her powers.
"Who did this? I'll mess them up, man! I'll shove a leek so far up their ass that they'll be tasting vegetables for the rest of their LIVES! Their children and their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren-"
"-Shh. Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
I looked down either sides of the hallway.
"I thought I heard someone." I said.
"REALLY? YOU HEARD SOMEONE WALK DOWN A HALLWAY? IN A SCHOOL? THAT'S ONE OF THE MOST RIDICULOUS THINGS I'VE EVER HEARD!"
"…Sorry. I guess I'm just…nervous."
"Uh, no kidding! Someone broke into your apartment and now they're threatening you at your school too? I think I'd be nervous too! In fact, I am nervous!" Miku shivered.
"There he is!" A voice from down the hall yelled.
"HEY! BACK OFF! IF YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE GONNA HURT US, THEN-oh, it's just you guys." Miku said.
Yugi, Jonouchi, Honda, and Anzu stood in front of us.
"We heard about what happened," Yugi said.
"We're worried about you, Bakura! Is everything okay?" Anzu asked.
"Who'd you piss off this time, Bakura?" Honda asked.
"You guys…"
"WHAT'S HAPPENING? WHAT IS IT THIS TIME? AX-MURDERER? ALIEN OCTOPUS? CRAZY FAN-GIRLS? WHAT?!" Jonouchi yelled.
"Calm down, Jonouchi. You're hyperventilating. Bakura, we want you to know that we'll be there for you, okay? It's okay if you want to tell us anything." Anzu said.
"What do you mean? I don't have any problems!"
"BAKURA…" Everyone grumbled.
"Um…well…"
Anzu smiled warmly.
"You see, a long time ago, Jonouchi, Honda, Yugi and I were in a little…'situation' that we thought we'd never make out of alive."
"Death-T," Jonouchi shivered at the thought of it.
"Yes. So, I took out a marker and drew something on all of our hands." Anzu went on.
"Huh?"
"I know, it sounds weird, but…I drew a smiley face. It stood for our friendship, meaning no matter how hard the situation got, no matter how far away we were from each other, we would still all be friends. We would always be there for each other, and the smile was a symbol of it. Though, of course, it was washed off of our hands after a while…"
"…but to us, the symbol is still there." Yugi smiled.
"Yep. So just think of that…the smiley face, and remember that we're there for you."
Miku sniffled and started tearing up. "Oh gosh, you guys…you guys are so sweet…oh, wait!" Miku dug into her pocket for something. What we saw Miku pull out was a black marker.
"You guys ever heard of Black Rock Shooter?" She said, holding the marker while smiling.
"HUH?" We all said together in unison.
Miku cleared her throat. "Black Rock Shooter is a song that was written by a man that goes by the name of 'ryo'-and no, I'm not talking about Bakura-and it's about, pretty much, Black Rock Shooter."
"Is this going anywhere?" Honda asked.
"I'm getting there! Don't get your granny panties all up in a bunch!" Miku sighed. "Anyways, the singer of the song goes on about she can't be strong without Black Rock Shooter, but finds strength in hope. And before you go on saying 'But what does hope have to do with anything? It's stupid! Waaah!' let me tell you about hope; it provides strength when it seems like there isn't any left; it gives people enough faith to make their dreams come true.; it's what keeps us alive."
"Wow. That's…deep." Anzu said.
"Indeed it is. So, to me, Black Rock Shooter is the embodiment of hope, because wherever she goes, she brings hope and strength with her. So now, if you could all do me the fine pleasure of holding out your hands…"
We all held out our hands to Miku, and then she joined her hand with ours. She drew a star on our hands.
"A star?" Yugi said.
"Yeah. That's Black Rock Shooter's symbol. So…the symbol of strength. The symbol of hope."
"Wow, Miku. I never knew you could be so-"
"-So totally awesome? I know, right?" Miku teased, sticking her tongue out. "Just remember…whenever you feel weak or worthless, remember hope. Find hope. You can find it in anything if you try hard enough. Basically, Bakura…I want you have hope. Don't let some stupid maniac take it away from you. That goes for the rest of you as well."
"Yeah…hope." Jonouchi said.
"Well, you sure did out-beat Anzu's friendship speeches with your hope speech." Honda said.
"Thank you, Miku. I'll try to keep hope." I said.
"You better, kid! Or this whole well-planned-out speech was for nothing! NOTHING!"
"Don't worry, I think I'll remember this for a long time."
…
"Something bad is about to go down. I can feel it."
"You always say that! You're just trying catch attention, Luka!"
"Well…I mean this time. Something bad…with Miku."
"What?! You better not be kidding!"
"Yeah…"
"Well, I'm gonna go check on her!"
"Gumi, we were told not to interfere."
"Well, it's your fault that you've worried me, so I guess you'll get the blame, huh?" Gumi winked.
"You know, sometimes I think that those goggles strapped onto your head cut off the blood circulation to your brain, and that's why you think like that."
"WHAT?! IS THAT POSSIBLE?!"