Chapter 8

"Hehe. Hello Mitsumi!" Around the corner stepped… Mitsumi?! This one wore a long black dress and black sandals. She giggled when she saw their surprised reactions. "Aww, Mitsumi and I are good friends! Since we are each other, after all!"

The Delcatty narrowed her eyes. "We've been acquainted already. Fuck off now.'

"Haha! As if! You know, I want to see what it's like there. Although your friends will see me too, hehe."

"Calm down, Mitsumi," said Ryujin. He rested a hand on her shoulder. "Don't let your anger overwhelm you…" he cautioned.

She took a deep breath. "You're right." She crossed her arms. "How about you leave us alone? Please?"

"Hmm… I'll let you all go for now… I'm just looking for… oh, I see now." The other Mitsumi chuckled. "I'll let your friend know, Ryujin." She waved back at them before disappearing around the corner.

Ryujin seemed mortified. "Wait! This is bad… very bad…"

Kousei frowned. "Uh, am I missing something?"

"Let's just say Ryujin's reflection is… uh… a psychopath. Actually, that's an understatement. Last time, he nearly… we don't talk about…"

The Vaporeon huffed. "Let's get out of here before that stupid Vaporeon finds us."

They walked around a little more, with still no sign of the exit. "Uh, how does time pass here, Ryujin senpai?"

"We don't know. We think it passes normally."

Keira spoke up from beside Kousei. "So like… what happens if we can't find the exit?"

"Let's not find out," said Mitsumi. "I think that we've been lucky not to be attacked by an aggressive reflection."

"Yours wasn't aggressive?"

"Yeah. She won't attack us in a group… but if we get separated…" Mitsumi muttered something under her breath. "I can't stand her," was all she ended up saying.

Ryujin crouched down. "I think the exit is near here. Let's get out of here."

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

November 26, 2014

"You know, this batch is especially good," said Keira.

Kousei sat next to the pretty Espeon. She wore a pink dress even to the curry shop. She didn't need to show skin to be attractive. "You look good," he said with a slight blush.

She looked at him. "Excuse me?"

"You… look nice," he stammered.

"Well thank you." She continued eating.

"Eh? You're not going to tell me off or call me a pervert? Or blush a little? Or anything?"

She sighed. "Be quiet, you pervert."

"Is… is something bothering you?"

She looked at her bowl. "I… I just miss my father. I was always closer to him than my mother. And then… I realized that I miss my friends. You are all nice… but…"

Alright. You can do this. Comfort her. He dared to wrap an arm around her. "It's… it's… alright. We're your friends."

She looked at him, then smiled. "I guess you're right. I've got no reason to feel lonely."

He nodded. "We're all your friends. Even cranky Naruchi isn't half bad once you know him."

"I guess I was just feeling lonely. I mean, Koyuki's been padding after Ryujin nowadays… and me? Well… I've still yet to be accepted into the school…" She smiled again. "But you've got my back, so I'm fine."

"Yup. Jeez, you sure eat a lot…"

She frowned at him. "Are you saying I'm fat?"

"No no! Not at all…"

She huffed. "I should hope not. Let's start going. You made me feel self-conscious, ugh…" She telekinetically lifted up some money and left it on the table. "Thanks uncle. We'll be leaving now."

"Wait, I'll pay!" But she was already leaving.

"You always pay. I'll take care of it tonight, Kousei."

Such a perfect girl… "Th-thank you so much…" They walked back both in their clothes from earlier. "You know Keira… I've seen guys flocking to you during class… you keep ignoring them… why?"

"They're not interesting enough. They're all the same. Shameless idiots. No… somebody who can provide something different."

"Like me?" teased Kousei.

Much to his surprise, she simply shrugged. "Eh… you're better than most of 'em."

"Really?"

"Yeah." She paused, her face a little redder. "You've been real accommodating to me… and… thank you."

"You're welcome, Keira. You also have to thank Koyuki too. She's been needing a close friend for awhile now. For awhile, I thought it was Rin… but she's a little too flirty for Koyuki's good."

"She sure is. She's cute though, don't you agree?"

Kousei gasped. "What kind of question is that?! I mean…"

She chuckled. "Just kidding. Hey, what did you think of that mirror stuff?"

"It's… interesting. I still don't get it. I mean, two Mitsumis?"

"I know. It's rather mind-boggling. But… they have been following me my whole life too though."

"What do you mean?"

"Sometimes, my reflection would react funny. And then… I'd see shadows in window reflections and stuff." She shivered. "I know it's all related. But I'm still unsure of what it all means."

"That's disturbing. You saw reflections even before we entered the mirror?"

She nodded. "I know. It makes no sense…" The Espeon rubbed her eyes. "It's late. Let's go… home…"

"Yeah." They walked in silence for awhile before she spoke up.

"You know, I really enjoy hanging out with you. You're pretty cool, really."

"Heh. I sometimes think about how badass Ryujin is or how smooth Yusei is… I wish I could be like them."

Keira shook her head. "Ryujin is hiding a lot of things. I can sense it in his mind. There's something wrong with him; he's scared. And Yusei… yeah, there's also some things he's not telling us. He's dangerous… he doesn't want to hurt anybody."

"You can tell all that?! Wow… what about me?"

"You're a dark type," she said matter-of-factly. "We can't read dark types."

"Oh. That's pretty cool though."

"I guess it is. But don't worry about it. You're probably the most down-to-earth of all you males." She paused. "There is something that bothers me about Ryujin… I can't place it though. His fear… there is something strange going on here, Kousei."

He remembered the cloaked Pokemon and the Lucario rushing out of nowhere to protect him. He had known Ryujin for a little over a year now, but still didn't know much about him really other than his high GPA, his skill at Kendo, and the fact that his parents had passed away at a young age. Oh, and he was the step-brother of one of the most popular singers in Japan right now. Nobody had even known that. "Senpai is mysterious… no wonder girls are attracted to him."

"And Yusei… hmm… he is scared… but… it's similar to Ryujin… just… different also. He knows something…"

"Eh… he seems harmless."

"Perhaps. But if there is a reflection in the mirror… well, we'll have to see."

"Yeah. Umm…" She blushed slightly. "Could you maybe… I mean, I don't want to take advantage of our friendship, but… could you try let Ryujin know that Koyuki likes him? He's kind of oblivious… and Koyuki is a little…"

"Don't worry. Koyuki's my friend too. I'll help her out. In return, tell her she can't be an ass to me anymore."

"Of course. She's unfair sometimes! But you'll have to tell me what happened to you two…"

"Later."

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November 27, 2014

"You know, you still never told me what you and Keira have been doing each night."

"I told you, we just eat curry…"

Kousei, Ryujin, and Yusei were all sitting at a table outside Shimi's Market. They all had smoothies.

Kousei huffed. "Where is Naruchi?"

"He got beat up by the four girls after they found his cameras…" Yusei huffed. "For a top secret government weapon, he sure is an idiot… I mean, cameras in the bath? Really?"

"Well… I mean…"

"Even mild-mannered Keira was pissed. She didn't say anything, but that Psychic she used nearly blew up the couch."

Ryujin sighed. "Jeez, I don't know why you guys are so obsessed with naked girls…"

"Hey Ryujin. You dated Mitsumi senpai."

"That's different. She's my step-sister."

"You know… I think you and Koyuki would be adorable together," began Kousei.

Yusei looked at Ryujin for awhile. "You're right, actually. The quiet guy and bubbly girl… yeah… you'd actually be a good couple."

Ryujin sipped a blue smoothie. "I don't know. I don't think she's really into me…"

Yusei shot Kousei a glance. Is he serious? "Umm… senpai… you know, I think… she really likes you…"

Ryujin sighed. "I've got a lot more important things to worry about than some under-classman who might have a crush on me." Quietly, he leaned over. "That cloaked figure we saw earlier last night… I… I think I might know him, but I'm not certain…"

"Well… who could it be?" asked Kousei.

"He wouldn't kill anybody just for the sake of it, which is why I doubt it's him…"

"Who is it?"

The Vaporeon stood up. "I'll try find him later on…" Then his phone rang. He picked it up. "Hello? Oh, hey Mitsumi… wait, you're going to do a concert here? Oh, that's great! Yeah, everybody will come… alright. See you tonight…"

"Mitsumi's going to do a concert?" asked Kousei. "Wow! I've never heard her sing."

"She's pretty good," said Yusei. "I've listened to a couple of her songs. She's very popular with girls…"

"So how have you heard her?"

"Well, Rin showed us a few of her songs. Remember?"

"Oh yeah that's right. They were about… um…"

"Love. All moony stuff," said Yusei. "It really… makes very little sense. But she is a good singer."

"I know… girls love it…" Ryujin shrugged. "I teased her about it a little bit, but she enjoys singing."

"A show tonight? So we'll go, right?"

"It's about 1:30 now," said Yusei. "What time is the show? Don't we need tickets?"

"I'm Mitsumi's friend. She'll get us in. Don't you guys worry about that. Well, then, we should head back. We'd better at least bury Naruchi after what the girls probably did to him…"

"Hey now, we didn't hurt him too bad." Saki's voice came from behind them.

"Hmph. I wanted to rip his eyeballs out," said Keira.

Rin sighed. "What a pervert…"

"So… we're going to watch Mitsumi senpai perform tonight?" said Koyuki. "We've never actually heard her sing before… she's supposed to be really good, right?"

"Yeah… she is pretty great."

Then they heard a siren in the distance…

Haha. Well, I'm not too sure many people will expect what's going to happen next… oh well. NEasty