Sometime before they had finished packing to return home, Hiei had disappeared without saying goodbye. Yusuke had explained to her that it was "just the kind of guy he was." But still, Rieka could not help but wonder when, or if, they would ever cross paths again.
It was surprising how quickly she was able to fit back into the routine of school. It was almost as if nothing had ever happened in the mountains.
Rieka and Hiro were lucky enough to be in the same class, but they didn't sit near each other. In class, they didn't speak much, as Hiro was usually flocked by girls. Rieka couldn't get a word in edgewise through the sea of female hormones. It didn't bother her though, she usually spent the time in the morning by herself, reading a book or a manga magazine.
Once class began, Rieka's ears pricked at the mention of a new student. She looked up at the girl walking into the room, "Botan!" she called.
The teacher blinked at her, "You know each other?"
Rieka stood, "Er, yes sir, we um, went to the same elementary school."
Some of her classmates whispered, "I never saw her there, did you?" But the teacher ignored them, "Well, then, Botan, you may take the open seat by Urameshi."
"What do you know? You do make a passable middle schooler," Rieka whispered as Botan sat beside her.
They didn't have much of an opportunity to speak, so Rieka was anxious to talk to her by the time the lunch bell rang. Rieka grabbed her hand, along with Hiro's and rushed up to the roof with them before Hiro's fan club could close in on him.
Hiro barely managed to hold on to the stack of bento he was given, and set it down cautiously when they made it to the roof, "Sheesh, did you have to make me run?"
"Are all of those yours?" said Botan, eyeing the stack.
"Hiro is something of a prince at our school," Rieka explained. "Girls go nuts for the whole sensitivity thing, and I guess his face isn't completely revolting."
"I'll let you have first pick of what they gave me," said Hiro.
Rieka grinned and started opening the containers and peeking inside, "But this is why you're my best friend."
"Isn't it a little rude to eat something that wasn't made for you?" Botan objected.
Hiro shrugged, "I can never eat them all and it feels rude to reject them. You want this one, Botan? It's pork cutlet."
"Besides, all the other girls in class don't like me already because I'm too close to Hiro" said Rieka as Botan reluctantly accepted the bento.
Hiro scoffed, "More like everyone is scared of you," he looked to Botan, "When I first started here, I got picked on because, y'know, I look a little different. Rieka went up to the bullies and was all 'he's my best friend so if you're messing with him, you're messing with me!'" He imitated a smaller Rieka's voice, making Botan laugh, "Some of the boys didn't like her tone, and confronted us after school, so Rieka just clobbered them."
"No," said Botan in disbelief, "Didn't you get in trouble?"
Rieka shrugged, "They were all too embarrassed to admit they got beat up by a girl, so they didn't report me. But no one's picked on Hiro ever since."
And I wonder where she picked up that behavior? Botan thought dryly, thinking of Yusuke's own fights in the schoolyard. "As much as I appreciate the food," Botan said, "I actually came with something to tell you two."
Botan thought she could have seen Rieka's ears prick forward like a dog, "What is it?" she asked.
"We have a mission for you. It's undercover and more dangerous than the ones you've undertaken in the past."
"Sounds like it may take some time," said Hiro thoughtfully.
Botan rolled her eyes, "We'll discuss payment after the job is completed."
"What will we going undercover as?" Rieka asked excitedly, "Are we sneaking into the underbelly of some kind of yokai yakuza den?"
"No, you'll be going as yourselves. To karaoke. The undercover part is that you can't show your powers."
Rieka's face fell, "Well that's lame."
"I happen to like karaoke," said Hiro.
"It seems that teenagers have been visiting this karaoke place and every once in a while, one of them doesn't come back. Their friends don't remember coming with them or leaving without them, but camera footage shows the missing kids going in and never coming out."
"Memory wiping is a Jaganashi trait," said Rieka, "Could it be that Izanagi person?"
Botan nodded, "Maybe. You release spiritual energy when you sing, so we think the karaoke could be used to measure people's spiritual levels so he can find victims that are more primed with spiritual energy. But for some reason it's only kids that go missing, no adults. Which is why we need you two to go."
Rieka looked doubtful, "Does my dad know about this?"
Botan looked abashed, "Well, um, it's pretty dangerous so..."
Rieka crossed her arms, "Who's our babysitter?"
Botan raised her hands up defensively, "No babysitter. You both will just be wearing tracking devices so we can follow where you go, and I'm giving you comms devices."
Botan placed a butterfly clip in Rieka's hair and handed Hiro something that looked like a wrist band, "Your phones will probably be taken from you, so those are your trackers, and these are your comms devices," she clipped something that looked like earrings on their ears, "Press your left ear lobe to talk, and your right to listen."
Hiro tugged on his earlobes. The earrings were small, and seemed to be held in place magnetically.
"Don't worry, you still look cool," Rieka teased.
"It would look strange if you two went to karaoke alone, so invite some human friends with low spiritual power. They shouldn't be targeted. Choose a night that's likely to be busy, maybe Saturday?"
Rieka looked surprised. Most of the Saturdays she could remember were dedicated to training or helping at her father's restaurant. She had never hung out with a large group her own age before, not outside of school activities.
"I'll invite some of the girls from our class," said Hiro, "and some of the guys. We could set it up as a mixer. It could actually be fun."
Rieka forced a smile, already picturing herself sitting awkwardly alone in a corner while Hiro was surrounded and sociable, "Yeah...fun."
Hiro invited the girls who had made him lunch along, saying he'd treat them to return the favor. He then asked an equal number of boys if they wanted to come. Rieka would not have been surprised if he convinced them to chip in a few hundred yen for the privilege.
Rieka overheard one of the boys ask if he was bringing her along.
"Of course," said Hiro, "it wouldn't be any fun without her."
His eyes darted to Rieka nervously, "Actually, I remembered I have something to do that night."
Hiro looked shocked. It would have been one thing if he had insulted her, but the avoidance left him with nothing to say.
"I mean it's not like she's ugly or anything," Rieka heard the same boy whisper to a friend, "But something about that chick is scary."
Rieka would have liked to punch him in the face for that. Of course, that would have only proved him right.
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I really didn't like the picture I made for this one, so I deleted it. Sometimes, it's just hard for me to plan one of those out! Thanks for continuing to read my story!