As Curious as You Can Get

Miya woke up the next day feeling quite under the weather.

When she propped herself up, she found out her limbs were sore and was very hard to move them.

"Ugh..." Miya groaned as she took in her surroundings.

"Miya? Is that you?" a voice yelled.

It took Miya a moment to realize that the voice was her grandmother's.

"Yeah. You needed something, grandma?" Miya called back. She regretted this action, though, as her throat failed on her and her voice sounded quite scratchy... like an old woman, with no offense to her grandmother.

Footsteps thudded the floor as Miya waited patiently for her own grandmother.

Her grandmother stood firm as she opened the door to her room. Miya always thought her grandmother as her own parent, as both of her parents divorced when she was still a kid.

"Oh, honey, your friends brought you here saying you fainted because you had a fever," her grandmother said, voice full of concern.

Miya immediately felt bad for making her grandmother worry about her. She apologized, "I'm sorry for worrying you, grandma. I must have such little stamina."

"As long as you are alright now," her grandmother replied.

Miya smiled at her grandmother.

"Now, since I know you love games so much, I'll give you freedom to use your gadgets for the rest of the day. Provided that you drink all your medicine and do what I tell you to do, okay?"

"Yes, grandma." Miya beamed at the said person.

Kairi sighed as she looked up at the Inazuma Hospital once again, for what may seem like the millionth time.

Frankly, she felt like she had memorized everything inside this hospital from all the times she had entered in here. Kairi felt as if she was also one of the workers, a nurse or even a doctor.

Kairi fixed her light blue blouse that has a black collar, in hopes of kicking those thoughts out of her head... she didn't need to be distracted now. Kairi looked down and noticed her white stockings falling, she also took the measure and cleaned her brown boots. Finally, she fixed her black shorts and her blouse, smoothing the also light blue moon printed on her blouse.

She took a deep breath and walked inside the hospital.

When Kairi tapped on the desk of the receptionist, the receptionist didn't even look up to say, "You know where she is."

And that made Kairi really think that she was a regular customer.

"Kai-san?" a soft voice was heard by Kairi.

Immediately, Kairi looked up and saw Ai staring back at her. Ai wore a nurse's outfit and also a face full of surprise. Kairi felt she should be surprised for seeing Ai here, but Kairi was not.

"Aiko? What are you doing here?" Kairi asked, though it should have been obvious by this point.

"I work part-time here. Are you visiting someone, perhaps?" Ai asked.

Kairi felt a pain in her heart at the question. She always visited her older sister, the person who has been in the hospital for ages. Kairi simply nodded and stated, "I am, actually. Do you want to come?"

Ai looked at Kairi quizzically, as if assessing the question. Ai asked, "You want me to come with you?"

Kairi shrugged, "Sure. Unless, you're busy, then feel free to reject my offer."

Ai paused. Kairi was quite idiotic, letting a complete stranger into her little secret... if it is a secret, that is. Ai just assumed everyone who visits patients in the hospital wanted it to be a secret, but maybe Ai was wrong. Or that Kairi was just idiotic, as so she presumed a while ago.

"Okay, then." Ai finally replied.

Kairi led the way to the room of her older sister. Kairi explained, "She's my sister and she's been in a coma for a long time. Her name's Yuna and, well, she's two years older than me, so she's in college."

Ai only nodded, listening to every word Kairi said.

"She became really sick. My parents say that she needed to go abroad to be cured and stuff... but we don't have enough money for that. So, Yuna's stuck here with a coma..." Kairi said bitterly.

The two of them stopped in front of a door.

Kairi sighed and opened the door. Just like all the rooms in the hospital, the walls were plain white and the floor had a gray carpet. In the center of the room was a bed with a girl sleeping and some chairs on the side.

Both of them sat on the chairs as they stared at the patient.

Kairi spoke, breaking the ice, "We were quite close, you know. Yuna and I kind of did everything together."

Ai was silent for a moment, digesting everything that happened. She wondered why Kairi would tell her all of this, she was a complete stranger for crying out loud! Not a lot of people would also confide to Ai, as she didn't trust people too easily.

Maybe Kairi just wanted Ai to pity on her, so the two would get closer and Kairi would use her. Or maybe Kairi just really trusted people too easily and was sincere about all of this.

Before Ai could think twice, she already said, "I'm an orphan."

Kairi almost jumped in surprise when Ai spoke. Regardless, Ai ignored that and explained, "I never knew my family. They just dumped me off in front of Sun Garden when I was five... or so they say. At that time, my name was Tomohiro Ai and I was befriended by Hitomiko-nee and Hiroto-nii. So, Hiroto-nii decided to adopt me and here I am: Kira Ai."

Though, my real name was Asago Yui, Ai thought, but decided not to tell Kairi as the said girl already knew too much.

Kairi merely nodded and stated, "Well, at least your whole life became more bearable. I'm sure your 'Hiroto' and 'Hitomiko' are both proud of you... are the two of them married?"

Ai almost puked at Kairi's misunderstanding. She corrected, "No! They're just siblings."

"Oh. Then, what are you doing at the hospital? Are you taking care of someone?" Kairi asked.

"I'm helping Fuyuka take care of... Amemiya Taiyou."

"Wait, isn't he one of those...?"

"Yes."

The two of them wondered why the truth has not come out yet.

"Lil' sis! How are you?" the oldest of the Okazaki family, Yukio, greeted Sato.

"Nii-san!" Sato beamed in delight.

Yukiko, the third oldest of the family, rolled her eyes and asked, "Finally back from soccer? Honestly, that's all you ever think about, even when you were quite little."

Sato laughed, "Really?"

"Well, I would say so myself that I'm the soccer freak of the neighborhood." Yukio proudly announced.

"I didn't know much about it, but our parents told me stories." Yukiko winked at Sato.

"Oh! The whole family is here! Perfect, let's go out to eat!" a voice boomed by the front door of the house.

"Nee-chan!" Yukiko and Sato exclaimed in surprise.

"The one and only Aiko... is here!" the older sister announced as she hugged her two younger siblings.

Yukio only rolled his eyes at Aiko, wondering if the idol was ever going to stop being so dramatic. But he agreed with his sister's idea as he said, "She's right. We haven't seen each other in so long, so let's go out!"

"Of course, I'm right." Aiko stuck out her tongue as soon as she said it.

Sato smiled at her family, looking at her older sibling. Immediately, she felt so small compared to them... not exactly literally (but it could be), but figuratively. Sato knew she couldn't and wouldn't achieve great things like they did.

The siblings decided to change their clothes before going out.

So, Sato walked into her room and threw on her casual clothing. She decided to wear her black salwar trousers, a clothing typically seen in Asia, and her gray hoodie. She also had decided to wear her black Converse.

Her siblings (or only Aiko) would probably scold her for wearing such casual clothing. Obviously, they wanted to go somewhere fancy and Sato's clothes would not fit in there. But even with that, Sato would stay firm that the she would wear this. Other times, the siblings (or only Aiko) would win... most times, Sato would win over them.

Thinking about her siblings made Sato feel ashamed of herself. Even when she was little, her dream was to become a kindergarten teacher, but it was too normal... too ordinary. It wasn't a job for a member of the Okazaki family.

Yukiko and Aiko simply told her to do what she wants to do, that she should follow her own dreams. But if that dream was not up to the standards (standards of whom, I do not know), then it shouldn't have been there in the first place. I mean, look at the jobs her siblings have: Yukio's a pro soccer player, Aiko's an idol and Yukiko's starting her mangaka career.

Sato felt like a shadow... something that was almost never noticed. Eri was quite right.

"Sato! Let's go, we need to hurry!" Yukio shouted.

Still, even if she was ashamed with herself whenever she was around her siblings, she wouldn't give them up either way.

"Coming!"

Eri, once again, walked out of her apartment with her aquamarine sweater and a white skirt that measured above her knee. She adjusted her orange scarf, brushed some dirt of her knee-high boots and tightened the ponytail in her hair. After, she locked her apartment door and walked to the nearby park.

Once again, she busied herself by going into the archery range that was found in the park. Picking up a bow and a quiver, she hastily picked a spot and started notching off some arrows.

For every arrow that was released, she enumerated the things that made her feel hurt and angry. Her family abandoning her, her not having a family, her being too dependent on herself, her being all alone, her not even knowing who her family is, stereotypes, judgmental people and...

"You ran out of arrows, genius, I'd think you'd know that by now," a voice commented.

Eri turned around and saw Ru, with all of her glory. Ru wore a black short sleeve hoodie, with cat ears, and a red short skirt. She matched that outfit with black Converse. So, Ru was saved along with the boys who were captured. Whoop-dee-doo.

"Fuck off." Eri scowled.

Ru brought out a dagger from her pocket, how no one saw that, even Eri didn't know. Ru used the dagger and threw it on a target and it hit right on the bulls eye. She had great aim, Eri appreciated that.

Regardless, Ru ruined Eri's supposed-to-be peaceful night. Eri asked rudely, "What do you want, Hyuuga Rukia?"

"Oh, call me Ru. What about you, Kurokawa Erika, what should I call you?" Ru asked.

"Please call me Eri-chan, Ru-chan." Eri said quite sarcastically.

"Then Eri, it is!" Ru laughed, oblivious to Eri's sarcasm.

Eri scowled, "What do you want?"

"You seem to be quite... harsh. Family problems?" Ru asked.

Eri rolled her eyes. "How would you know?"

Ru looked at Eri with empathy, "Because I was also a victim of that."

Eri was silent at first and then asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

"We both have the same problems. It's the least I could do since you did save me."

"We don't. My parents are gone, your parents are there. It's different."

"Well, it's the same. Nothing's changed. I feel like my family isn't there and your family really isn't there. See?" Ru explained.

Eri kept quiet and stared at the horizon.

"Although you seem dependent on yourself, and that's what makes us different." Ru stated.

"Thank you, then. Is that what you want me to say? Thank you for being so understanding?" Eri asked quite aggressively.

Ru shrugged, "It's quite close."

The silence swallowed them whole.

Kari yawned.

"Oi, Hikari! It's your turn to wash the dishes!" her twin brother yelled.

Kari rolled her eyes as she heard he brother's door slam close. She went downstairs and finished her chores, as suggested by her idiot of a brother (who she loves, don't get me wrong).

When her chores were finished, she went upstairs to her bedroom... where she found her kendo bamboo sword. The weapon she chose to protect herself against others.

She picked it up and started swaying it around. Kari didn't know much about kendo, but she also didn't want the other weapons, as it was sharp and she might kill somebody (which kind of is the purpose of weapons).

Kari wanted to grow stronger, however and decided she can only do that when she was inside the house. As soon as she thought that, she wore a plain white shirt and denim jeans. She tied her white Converse on her foot and hastily threw on her blue jacket.

She called out, "I'm going out for a bit!"

Her twin brother yelled, "Okay!"

Her parents were working, so she didn't have to worry about them scolding her for going out.

Once she had reached the house, she was greeted by the sight of Yuu. Immediately, Kari waved at the said girl and called, "Yuzuki-san! Over here, Yuzuki-san!"

Yuu blinked and turned around. She asked, "Why are you here, Fujisaki Hikari?"

"Ah, call me Kari, Yuzuki-san!"

Yuu nodded and repeated, "Why are you here, Kari?"

Kari grinned and said, "Can I go to the training grounds? I just want to get stronger..."

"Okay then." Yuu replied, understanding what Kari felt.

The two of them took the stairs, which Kari never knew. Kari was quite scared as the house was always dark and gloomy, but Yuu seemed quite familiar with this way, so Kari trusted her.

"I never knew there were stairs to the training grounds." Kari stated.

Yuu replied, "There are, but Sana and Kei prefer to use the elevator."

"Is that what it's called? I thought it was magic." Kari recalled how Kei and Sana asked for them to close their eyes and from a circle.

"It is... partly. They hide the elevator so no one could see it." Yuu explained.

"Oh."

Finally, they reached a door. Yuu opened it and the training grounds was present beyond the room. The two of them walked inside, Kari quite excited to do her best in practice.

"Do you want to practice your magic, also?" Yuu asked.

Kari shook her head, but asked, "I have telekinesis... what about you, Yuzuki-san? What is your magic?"

"Illusions." Yuu stated simply.

"Okay."

Kari practiced her kendo, Yuu helped her by setting up an illusion that she was fighting another kendo fighter. Kari was quite satisfied at what she accomplished in such little time.

"Congratulations." Yuu stated, and handed Kari a glass of water.

Kari drank it quickly and asked Yuu a favor, "Can I practice my magic?"

Yuu looked at Kari and nodded. Yuu searched for the vials in a nearby cabinet and, after finding it, thrust it into Kari's hands. Kari drank the vial also quickly, too.

Because of her drinking too quickly, she managed to hiccup.

And each hiccup made the objects move away from their original place.

"You shouldn't have drank so quickly." Yuu commented as she dodged a random book.

"Sorry-!" another hiccup, "Gah! I regret it now!"

"Try to hold your breath." Yuu advised.

Kari did and she failed. Another hiccup and a chair managed to bump her, she sat on it accidentally and had a fuzzy vision of a young adult with blonde hair. Now, Kari felt quite confused on what happened.

"Yuzuki, get me a book!" Kari asked, wondering if what she thought was happening was true.

Yuu looked quite confused on the favor, but handed her a book anyway. When Kari held it, she had another vision of Yuu getting hit with it by Sana, and Sana laughing it off... as always.

"D-did Sana hit you with this book?" Kari stuttered.

Yuu widened her eyes and nodded slowly. Yuu whispered, "Psychometry."

Kari fell silent and widened her eyes as she realized, "I have no more hiccups-!"

But that was said all too soon and the book Kari was holding hit Yuu once more.

Meanwhile, Tsurugi, Kurama, Kurumada and Nishiki were snooping around the house.

"What are we doing?" Kurama asked.

"We're trying to see if there's anything hidden in the storage room." Tsurugi replied.

"Why must we do this?" Kurumada asked.

Tsurugi rolled his eyes and replied, "Because there's something fishy about the mistress."

"Yeah, well, she's pretty nice." Nishiki shrugged.

Tsurugi glared at his three friends and continued searching for files in a cabinet. Kurama and Kurumada were looking at the boxes which was full of different vials, test tubes and even large containers. Nishiki decided to not take part in anything, but tried to look around the room if anything was suspicious and also if there were people who could possibly catch them.

"Hey, Kyousuke, there's a computer over... here." Nishiki stated as he pulled out a large desktop monitor from a box.

Tsurugi frowned and checked the room for other parts. In a few minutes, they rebuilt a PC computer whose parts were taken from the box they also found the computer on.

Kurama rebooted the computer.

"Holy shit..." Kurumada said as they opened the documents of the computer.

Every file was all about how the house was built and the history of the house. There were also several files about magic and how to control your own magic etc. But Tsurugi was only interested in one file.

"Norihito... that one." Tsurugi pointed.

Kurama opened the document.

'I have listed this day as one of the hardest days of my life.

I wanted to go home now. To get out of this stupid house... so I would not experience these horrors yet again.

But, I have a feeling everything would change now... since Sir Beckhendolv will not be in charge of the house.

It's a girl, the person who would be in charge now. A failed experiment of the organization and was sent here to guide us. I did not believe that one bit, the girl looked like she was a puppet of the organization... only sent to us so we may see that the organization is not bad.

The girl was still small... five to seven years at most. The organization was always like this, sending us cute things but we ended up destroying them.

Her name was Amaterasu, just like the goddess... but she was far from that.

She said she was the mistress of the house and she would do anything to protect it and the people inside.

What a load of bull.'

"Her real name's Amaterasu?" Kurumada whispered.

"What a crock of shit, this isn't real." Kurama stated.

Kurumada shrugged, "It's possible that it is real."

Nishiki glanced at Tsurugi and asked, "Kyousuke, what do you think?"

Before Tsurugi could say anything, a person entered the room.

"What are you four doing?!" Hakuryuu shrieked.

Soo late update. I'm sorry! I haven't had the time to write this chapter since it was school time...

SOOOORRRY!

But I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! :D