At six thirty the next day, an alarm clock went off and Ageha was roused from her sleep. After turning the alarm off, she sat up in bed and stretched, causing her back to click a few times, and then she pulled the hairband out of her hair. Ageha shook her head and her long, wavy locks fell down around her, framing her body. She stood and strode over to her dressing table, where she grabbed a brush with a black and red paisley pattern and began brushing her hair. After brushing out most of the tangles, Ageha put on a dressing gown and made her way downstairs to the dining room for breakfast.
Ageha's mother was in the kitchen cleaning pots and pans, humming a tune to herself. She wiped her hand across her brow and grabbed a scummy-looking bowl. The television in the kitchen could be heard.
"Buenos dias," she called out, vigorously scrubbing the filthy dish.
"Buenos dias, mamá," Ageha sat down at the table opening the rice cooker.
"Mi hija, we only have rice and miso soup for breakfast," the brunette woman stuck her head around the corner. Isabella Esperanza had wavy black hair tied up and draped over her shoulder, round dark-green eyes, and her ears stuck out ever so slightly. "Apparently, I misread the expiration date on the fish. I thought it was good thru August, not June. That six looked like and eight."
"Esta bien," the teenaged girl answered as she ladled miso soup into her bowl. She quietly ate her meal as she contemplated what might happen tomorrow. {Well, it's just one date,} she thought. {What could possibly happen? I mean, other than the usual 'stuff'}.
["And in other news, many locals have reported that there was some kind of attack near the Nakatomi Mall last night. Several explosions and flashing lights were apparently seen at around six o clock. One eye witness gave us a recount of the event."] Ageha heard the news report from the kitchen.
["Yah, it was dem flahin' people,"] the screen cut to a homeless man carrying an empty bottle of alcohol. Several of his teeth were missing, and he clearly had an odious stench about him because the reporter was holding the microphone at arm's length, doing her best to hide the fact she kept holding her hand over her nose. ["They jus' ZOOOM! an' thar gone. Spittin' fahr, an' shootin' latnin."] The man attempted to take a swig from his empty bottle. ["Hey, who took ahll da booze?"]
The screen cut back to the news caster. ["Authorities would like to assure the people of Nakatomi that such incidents were not acts of terrorism, but likely vandalism. The explosions and lights were probably caused by a group of junior or senior high school students setting off fireworks around the mall in an act of teenaged rebellion. Should anyone catch these prankster, please do not hesitate to inform the police."]
Isabella stepped into to the dining room and looked at her daughter, one eyebrow raised. Ageha smiled and quickly finished her soup, then rushed to her room to get dressed for school. She closed the door behind her and locked it. The Spanish girl crossed her room to her dresser and pulled open one of the drawers. She sifted through her underwear and grabbed a bra. Holding it up to her chest, she examined herself in front of the mirror, then shook her head and put it back. She pulled another one out and looked it over. Nodding in silent agreement with herself, Ageha pulled the matching pair of panties from a second drawer and slipped both garments on. Next came the stockings, which she put on with ease. Ageha turned and grabbed the blouse of her school uniform off the hanger from the hook on the wall. She squeezed the buttons around her breasts, then let out a sigh of relief when none of them popped off. After that, she took the pink plaid skirt and pulled it up around her waist. She smoothed the fabric with her hands and turned around in front of the mirror, smiling at herself. Finally, Ageha grabbed the matching necktie from her dressing table and swiftly wrapped it around her neck. Ageha slipped a watch onto her wrist, grabbed her school bag, and made her way to the front door.
"Mi hija, don't forget; your father and I will be going over to the Nishikawa's tonight," Isabella called to her daughter. "Dinner will be on you."
"İSí, mamá!" Ageha responded as she slipped her shoes on. "İHasta la noche!" The girl cried out as she left for school.
Ageha walked down the street at a brisk pace. She rounded the corner and dashed down the hill. Tsubame waited for her at the bottom of the hill. She waved to her friend and strode up to her.
"Hey, how's it going?" Tsubame asked. "Wake up alright?"
"Yeah, nothing changed here," Ageha replied. "Did you hear the news this morning?"
"You mean the one with the homeless drunk?" Tsubame yawned. "Yeah, do you think anyone will take it seriously?"
"Who knows? My mom gave me a bit of a look though. Kinda like…" Ageha contorted her face trying to mimic the expression her mother gave her.
"Ha ha! Really? That's hilarious!" The silver-haired laughed. "My mom just gave me a thumb's up."
The two girls turned onto a street and headed for Uptown Nakatomi.
"It's not funny. You know we need to keep a low profile," the Spanish girl admonished her Russian friend. "Plus, my mom's looks can be scary."
"HEEEEY!" An energetic female's voice rang out from behind them. The blonde American rushed towards the two girls. Ageha and Tsubame stopped as Yoshimitsu clamped her arms around their necks. "Didja hear? Didja hear? We were on tha news!" she cried out excitedly, bouncing up and down.
Several students on their way to school turned and looked at the three girls. Ageha grabbed Yoshimitsu by the collar and stopped her bouncing. The three girls continued to school.
"Yoshi, you need to keep quiet about that."
"Oh, right, A-chan. It's a secret. Shh," Yoshimitsu put her finger to her mouth making the shushing gesture. "But, it's so exciting. I've never been on tv before," she said with barely restrained energy.
"We shouldn't be on tv at all," a stern voice reprimanded the excitable blonde.
"She's right," a soft voice agreed. "Even with the precautions we take, we shouldn't draw too much attention to ourselves. If any at all."
"Morning Meimei. Morning Matsuri," Tsubame called to the two girls.
"Yeah, but, like, that guy really got out of control," Yoshimitsu tried to explain.
"That's no excuse," Ageha chimed in. "If you maintain the perimeter, then he wouldn't have gotten out."
Tsubame and Matsuri both nodded in agreement and Yoshimitsu just pouted.
"Speaking of which," Meimei interjected, "Who's the one who almost ran into Takanashi-san yesterday?"
That quieted Ageha. She quickened her pace and pulled ahead from her friends.
"Ah! What was that about 'perimeter'?" Yoshimitsu chided.
"İC-Cállate!" she shouted. "How did he even see me, anyway?"
The four girls laughed as Ageha stuttered.
"Yeah, how did he see you?" Tsubame inquired. "You had your camouflage on, right?"
"I did, that's what gets me," Ageha said in a confused voice. "My camouflage was on, so how was I seen?"
"Why was he even there in the first place?" Meimei added.
"I saw a girl with him," Matsuri responded. "She was quite animated, and familiar with Takanashi-san."
All five girls exchanged looks.
"I think I saw him shopping for clothes at one of the clothing stores there," Yoshimitsu said. "Yeah, the girl was tossing a bunch of clothes at Takanashi-san. She was picking out clothes for him."
"Eh, clothes?" Tsubame smirked, elbowing Ageha. "Sounds like Takanashi-san was getting ready for your big date, Ageha."
"W-what? You think so?" Ageha blushed a bit.
"But, who was the girl, then?" Tsubame put a finger to her mouth and furrowed her brow.
"Sister, perhaps?" Matsuri suggested. "Or a cousin?"
"Think so, Matsu-chin?" Yoshimitsu bounced around Matsuri.
The five girls approached the front gate of Maisen Academy and passed through it. Other students rushed past them, hurrying before the bell rings. Some kids still had toast in their mouths, trying to cram it down in a vain attempt. Others were hanging around the front door, as if they had all the time in the world. Tsubame pointed at someone as they neared the building.
"Hey, isn't that Takanashi-san there?" she said.
Ageha followed where Tsubame was pointing and saw a nondescript black-haired boy slowly plodding along the path. As the group got closer, they saw that it was indeed Satou Takanashi. Tobi Saruyama was walking next to him, camera out showing Satou its contents.
"C'mon, man. What's the big deal?" Tobi said jabbing Satou in the side.
"What's the big deal? How are you getting these pictures? That's the big deal," Satou answered in an irritated voice. "How is your photography club able to get pictures that guys could only dream of?"
"That is a trade secret," he said with a sly grin. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."
"Heh, yeah sure."
"No, I'm serious. I will have to kill you if I told you," Tobi turned to Satou with a serious look. "The things that I know, Satou. The things that I've seen. It's enough to make a man sick."
"Okay, geez. If you don't want to tell me, just say so," he said, brushing his friend off. "I get it, it's a need to know basis. And I'm not on the list that needs to know."
"Hey, Takanashi-san," a female voice called from behind the two boys.
They turned to see Ageha with her friends approaching them.
"Uh, hey, Esperanza-san," Satou stumbled over his words.
Ageha gave Satou a warm look, then turned to Tobi, "Saruyama," she said with a dour expression.
"Sup," he replied amiably.
The four other girls gave Tobi equally disgusted looks as they passed by. They entered the school building, and quickly put on their school shoes.
"I still can't believe that guy," Tsubame exclaimed. "And you're sure we haven't found any evidence incriminating him?"
"None," Meimei answered. "We've scoured the girl's locker room, yet we found nothing. It's maddening."
"And any time we try to take his camera, he mysteriously doesn't have it with him," Ageha added on. "Weirder still, is he has had it with him when we confront him, yet it just disappears."
"I dunno, I kinda like the attention," Yoshimitsu said.
"Yoshi, you know that man is selling pictures of not just us, but other girls from the school, right?" Tsubame said with an eyebrow raised.
Yoshimitsu just shrugged and slung her bag over her shoulder. The four other girls all let out an exasperated sigh.
"Alright, our class for lunch?" Tsubame asked.
"Isn't it always?" Meimei said in a snarky tone.
"Come on, girls. Let's just go to class," Ageha tried to reign in her friends.
They split up and went to their respective classrooms. Ageha and Tsubame were both in the same class on the second floor, Yoshimitsu was in the next class over. Matsuri and Meimei, however, were in a grade lower, and their class was on the first floor. As Ageha and Tsubame approached their classroom, they saw a girl with platinum blonde hair standing next to the door. She gave Ageha a somewhat dirty look, then walked away, flipping her hair in the process.
"What was that all about?" Tsubame said to Ageha.
"No sé. That girl is just crazy," Ageha shook her head.
The two girls entered the room and sat down at their desks and pulled out their textbooks. While Tsubame played on her phone before the start of class, Ageha turned in her seat and looked at Satou. Tobi was currently trying to get Satou to look at something on his camera, pictures of girls no doubt. Satou pretended to not want to see what was on the camera, but kept looking at every image he was shown. With the most recent image, he turned away in either disgust or embarrassment, Tobi cackling to himself. The boy caught Ageha looking at him. She smiled and waved, and he returned it to her.
{What should I do?} Ageha thought to herself. {I agreed to go on a date with him on a whim. No real interest or disinterest}. She opened her notebook and began scrawling in the margins. {Am I doing this for attention? Maybe I'm just being difficult? Dating isn't forbidden, but with someone like him? It's frowned upon. Well, it's too late now, right? Tomorrow is when it's happening}. The Spanish girl shaded in the rose that she had been doodling. Lost in her thoughts, she sighed heavily.
"Something bothering you?" Tsubame spoke up.
"Hmm, no, not really," Ageha breathed. "Just thinking is all."
"That can't be good for you," Tsubame put her phone in her desk as the homeroom teacher walked through the door.
"¿Qué? What can't be good? Thinking?"
"Settle down, children! I'm going to be taking role," the teacher called out. She was a woman in her thirties, long orange hair in a hime cut, with thin glasses. "Huh, is Yoshizawa-san absent again?"
"Yes," said a girl with light brown hair two rows from the front. "She's still has a fever. But she should be in on Monday."
"Very well." The teacher went through all the student's names, making note of the absent Yoshizawa-san, and set the class roster on the desk. "Okay, class, I'm sure most of you have heard about the 'incident' at the mall last night," she said looking over the class. "Regardless of who it may or may not have been, I want you all to remember that you are faces of Maisen Academy. So, don't do anything that will disgrace the honor of our school," she let her gaze linger for just a moment on Ageha and Tsubame. It was too quick for most of the students to see, but they felt the burn of her glare. "That's all, for now. Study hall begins. Please, try and keep the noise to a minimum." The teacher sat down at the desk and opened a folder.
Most of the students just sat at their desks and quietly played on their phones. A few did talk amongst themselves, but conversations consisted of short sentences. Satou flipped through his homework, taking the time in homeroom to double check his work. Tobi restlessly fiddled with his camera. Currently, he was trying to discern what was causing distortions in the pictures he would take.
"I may need to take this to an expert," he said quietly to no one in particular.
"I thought you were an expert," Satou responded in a slightly bored voice.
"Well, I'm an expert photographer, most of my expertise lie in taking pictures," Tobi unscrewed the lens from the camera. "And, while I do have knowledge of my equipment, I am in no way equipped to fix it if there is any damage." He gave a disgusted noise when he couldn't find what the problem with his camera was. "I am going to have to take this to be repaired. I just bought this thing too."
"Well, doesn't that sound like fun?" Satou said somewhat sarcastically.
"Not really. This means dealing with that guy."
"I'm going to regret this, but, what guy?"
"Old man Fujiyama Yoshito. He runs a specialty shop in Blossom Heights," Tobi said, grinding his teeth. "But, he can be…difficult to deal with."
"How so?"
"Why don't you tag along and find out? It'll make going there a little bit bearable."
"Ummmm. Ookaaay?" Satou said with a little hesitation.
"Great! It's settled. You'll be accompanying me to a trip to hell," Tobi said with a satisfied look, putting away his camera.
"Why do I feel as if I agreed to something horrible?"
"Because you did."
Meanwhile, in a dark room, a figure sat in front of six computer monitors. One large one with five smaller ones surrounding it. The figure sat at what appeared to be a control panel. The larger monitor displayed various images and videos of several people wearing colorful costumes running around, performing fantastic stunts. The five smaller monitors had displayed a shadowed figure in each of them. A discussion was being held, and a decision was soon to be deliberated.
"So, how's reconnaissance on Maisen Academy faring?" one of the people asked.
"As well as expected," the person in the dark room answered. "They currently don't suspect a thing."
"Don't let it go to your head," a second person added. "Maisen can be quite deceitful when they want to be."
"Yes, they may be a mish mash of various ethnicities," a third person stepped in, "But they are just as trained and equipped."
The figure in the room rolled their eyes and scratched at their chin. "So, what is it you want done here?"
"You have received the spell tags, correct?" the first person asked.
"Yeah, they arrived like a day ago," the figure fished around their pocket and produced a strip of paper with a series of kanji written on one side. "What are these things for, anyway?"
"Attach one to a person," a fourth voice rang out. "See if anything fun happens."
"Fun? Fun how?"
"Just trust us," the second person answered. "They will be doing patrols tonight, right?"
"Yeah, weekdays they send out two or three squads to survey an area," the figure responded. "Last night got kinda wild though."
There was a brief pause as the five people quickly conversed with themselves.
"Don't let things get too out of hand," a fifth voice echoed, a bit more forceful then the other four. "Not yet, at least. Test out a few of the spell tags, then report back to us. We will be cross-examining the results you have with the others."
"Understood."
And with that, the five smaller screens went blank. The figure pushed back the chair and stood, stretching as they did so. They looked at the spell tag in their hand and gave a wicked smile. "Alright then, let's have some fun."
At lunch, Ageha sat quietly as she ate her meal. Her friends talked excitedly, unaware of her silence at first. Something kept bothering her about yesterday's patrol, but she wasn't quite sure what. She absently chewed on her chicken stew, barely noticing the taste.
"A-chan? You alright?" Yoshimitsu said. "You've been scooping at that empty bowl for a while now."
"Huh? Oh, yeah," Ageha put the lid back on the plastic bowl and sent it inside her lunch box. "Well, I was just thinking about the patrol we did yesterday."
"Yeah, what about it?" Tsubame asked, munching on kholodets.
"Well, didn't it seem odd that those guys kept trying to move out of the barrier?"
The four girls set down their utensils and thought for a second. "Hey, you're right," Meimei exclaimed. "It was as if they wanted to escape the barrier and get noticed by people."
"But why? Wouldn't they want to remain concealed?" Matsuri said in a soft voice.
"Yeah, like, aren't we supposed to be sneaky-quiet and everything?" Yoshimitsu said bouncing in her seat.
Meanwhile across the room, Satou tapped on his phone checking his e-mail. He looked over the message Hitomi sent him last night. "Hey, get a look at this," he said to Tobi.
"What's up?"
"It's the itinerary Hi-chan made up for my date Saturday. It's quite detailed."
Tobi squinted and looked at the screen. "11:30 arrive at café. 12:00 meet with date, enter café. 12:00-1:30 allotted time for lunch, talk with her, ask about likes and dislikes," he read a few lines aloud. "Man, she practically thought of everything."
"I know. She even has things like: remember to chew with your mouth closed; listen to what she says; if it starts to feel cold, offer your jacket." Satou scrolled through the itinerary, smacking his lips. "Looks like she has me going to Hibiya Park."
"Really? That's a pretty romantic place to visit," Tobi said, picking at his lunch. "Got a nice view of the Imperial Palace."
"Still upset about your camera?"
"…Yeah. It's just that the camera's brand new. Bums me out that it has a problem already."
The rest of the day passed without much happening. Satou would peek at his phone between classes to get a look at the itinerary, Tobi kept fussing over his camera, and Ageha kept trying to discuss the situation from lunch with her friends. Finally, at the day's end, Satou's class moved the desks around to clean the room. Tobi was charged with dusting the room, and he kept horsing around with the duster pretending it was a sword.
"En garde!" he cried out.
A couple of girls giggled at his display, but most of the students just rolled their eyes.
"Tobi, just dust the room," Satou said from the dry-erase board. He sprayed windex onto the board and wiped it clean.
Ageha busied herself with window cleaning, while Tsubame collected the trash from around the room.
"So, what are we going to tell Shimatami-sensei?" she asked Ageha.
"You mean about yesterday?" Ageha responded nonchalantly. "I don't know, but I have a feeling we're really going to get an earful from her."
"Ugh, I think you're right. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps."
Tsubame picked up the waste basket and headed for the door. Satou absently cleaned the board and scooted his way toward the other end of it. He finished the chore and shuffled over to the closet to return the cleaner and wash towel. At that moment, Ageha was turning away from the closet.
"Oh, finished already?" she said with a smile. "Here, the closet's ready for you."
"Uh, yeah. Hi," Satou said rather awkwardly.
Ageha giggled at his behavior. "Well, go ahead," she gestured to the closet.
"Huh? Oh, right." Satou stumbled to the closet and set the items inside.
"So, are you ready for tomorrow?" Ageha asked in a cheery voice.
"Tomorrow?"
"The date, silly. Don't tell me you forgot."
"Um, no?"
"Alright, hasta maňana," Ageha waved and turned.
"Asta what?" Satou said in a confused voice.
"It means, 'see you tomorrow', in Spanish."
"Oh, asta man-yana," he replied with a wave. Satou felt his heart skip a beat as he stared into space with a goofy expression.
Tobi strolled over to Satou and slapped an arm around his shoulder. "So, ready to peer into the entrance to Hell?"
"Hell? Oh, you mean that shop," Satou said, snapping back to reality.
"Duh, what else could I have meant?"
The two boys made their way to the lockers. Students all clamored to leave school as fast as they could. Satou and Tobi slipped off their school shoes and put on their normal ones. The school looked as if someone had opened a flood gate as the children all rushed out. A fair-skinned girl with platinum blonde hair passed by the two boys as she talked to a dark-skinned girl with long violet hair.
"I hope we don't get placed on 'D' again," she said. "It's boring there."
"Even if we do, there's nothing we can do about it," the dark-skinned girl replied calmly.
"But, it's just so…"
She trailed off as she moved further away from Satou and Tobi.
"Ready for your big day tomorrow?" Tobi asked.
"Ugh, no," Satou responded, sounding somewhat defeated. "Just thinking about it makes me nervous."
"Aw, cheer up," Tobi said nudging him in the side. "You got a date with the third hottest girl in school."
"Third?"
"It's based on popularity. Right now, Rashida Sunakawa is in first, she has that whole regal thing going; followed by Washiko Yoshizawa, the demure Japanese young woman; and finally, Ageha Esperanza, she's quite exuberant and mature."
"Okay, jeez. Don't need all of their stats," said waved him off. "Are you reading off dossier cards?"
"No," Tobi quickly stuffed something into his bag.
Satou and Tobi exited the school campus and turned toward Blossom Height, where the specialty shop was located.