Ana closed her eyes, bracing herself for the shock. After what felt like years, it still hadn't come. Ana opened her eyes. Arisa was staring at Ariha.
"Hey! Ariha's alive!" Hachi said.
"What does that mean?" Taykoe asked.
"Nothing," Hachi lied.
"Arisa, listen to me! You need to know that Keiko is Keiro," Ariha said.
"Liar," Arisa hissed.
The lightning increased drastically.
"Quick Ana! Faint!" Misha yelled.
Hachi, Taykoe and Ahsim looked at her.
"Faint?" Taykoe inquired.
" All the good damsels do it and it works," Misha explained.
Ahsim lowered his head.
"Imagine having to live with her," he muttered.
"Arisa, I haven't been a very good sister, have I?" Ariha asked.
The question caught Arisa off guard and the lightning slowly lessened.
"I betrayed you, I ignored you, I wasn't there for you," Ariha continued.
"Oh Ana is so screwed," Ahsim mumbled as the lightning sparked to its previous intensity.
"Make your point, Queenie!" Ana yelled.
"Arisa, I'm sorry!" Ariha yelled.
Ana felt Arisa's grip on her slacken and she ripped her arm free, leaping back a few feet as a precaution. Arisa was stone still, no sign of the lightning. Slowly, Ana reached for her hammer,. Instead she touched Kei's hand.
"Don't," he whispered. "Not yet. Let's see where this goes."
"Now, Arisa. Despite what I've done, you know I never lie," Ariha went on.
Slowly, she stepped closer to Arisa.
"And that's why you've always trusted me."
"But Keiko said," Arisa began.
"Arisa," Ariha interrupted gently. "There is no Keiko. It was Keiro up to his old tricks again."
"No," Arisa said.
Her eyes darkened.
"Not even I am foolish enough to fall for that!" she yelled.
She leapt to her feet, running at Ariha, lightning at her fingertips.
"I'll make it so you never exist!" Arisa screamed.
"Now we move," Kei declared, shoving Ana's hammer into her hand.
"About time," Ana muttered.
"Duck!" Keiichi yelled.
Kei glanced back briefly. Keiichi's eyes were trained on Arisa, his fingers pressed to his head.
'Please work,' he begged.
Kei grabbed Ana, leaping aside. The air they'd once occupied rippled and distorted, surrounding Arisa. She froze in her tracks, screaming hysterically and clutching her head. In the process, she electrocuted herself. Her body was still twitching when she fell to the ground at Ariha's feet but it was obvious she was dead. Keiichi let out a deep breath and collapsed against Haru.
"Good news," he joked, looking at Haru. "I'm a mind reader again."
Ariha stared down at Arisa. A hand came to rest on her shoulder and she glanced at the owner. Hachi smiled back at her.
"Well, we did it," she said.
Hachi smiled.
"I guess we did," she agreed.
"Can we go home now?" Misha asked.
"Sure," Ahsim said sarcastically. "It's not like the house is trashed and under heavy guard."
Misha punched him in the arm.
"I know a great place we can stay," Ana said.
She looked around.
"Until Queenie and Braniac get the mew house up and running again."
(A week later)
"Oh how I missed this place!" Taykoe declared.
She dropped her bag on the couch, spinning and loving how much space there was in the mew house compared to Ana's small cramped house.
"You and me both," Hachi declared, having been Ana's roommate for the week as well as her bunkmate.
"Whiners," Ana muttered. "It wasn't that bad."
"YOU HAD A DEAD RAT IN YOUR SINK!" Hachi cried.
Ana shrugged.
"What's wrong with Leroy?" she asked.
"He was kind of cute," Keiichi added, walking in.
"In a dead sort of way," Ariha said.
Kei, the twins and Haru tailed her, carrying the last of their bags.
"The space thing was really the only the issue," Misha remarked.
"Well don't let that be one any longer," Ariha said, holding up a credit card.
She smiled at Haru.
"I added to the house a bit. Now we can each have our own rooms and your lab was rebuilt."
"I think I can live with the fact that you're the new Okami CEO," Ahsim declared.
Ariha just smiled at him.
"Live with what you want. I'm gonna live with the happiness that is a nap," Ana declared, stretching.
A loud alarm rang out from Haru's pocket, startling them.
"Looks like your nap has to wait," Haru declared. "Mission time."
They dropped their bags and ran out the door, transforming as they went.
"Think there's a retirement pension for Mews?" Ana inquired.
The others all laughed but Ana did not.
"I'm serious."
