Chapter Four

Dave was restless that Monday krisimasi Night. He tried to think of anything but the encounter with Dia, and zaidi importantly, with Ira. He had apparently angered the demon of this town, and now he could only imagine what she would do.

But would she really be that bad? Maybe this was all nothing. Maybe Ira did not care, au Dia shrugged it off. Dave hoped that this was the case, but he could not shake the feeling that it was not.

So Dave began to think of a topic that had not been on his mind for a few days, school. He was thinking of how he would fit in, who he might get classes with, how much harder it might be, and he would have gone on longer if a chilling thought had not gone through his mind. “Today was Christmas… on a Monday… tomorrow I go to school.”

Dave was flabbergasted. No longer was he sleepy at all, which only stressed him zaidi due to the fact that he would be getting up early the inayofuata morning. And for once Dave prayed… for a snow-day that is. He made some other desperate cries for help, but the only one that would actually aid him was talking to his parents, and they were asleep.

He had not prepared his binders, au his back-pack, au his books; Dave planned to check the school out a siku before to see what it would be like, but now he would be seeing it as he entered the endless void of High School once again.

There was only one upside to this, though Dave did not notice it himself; he was no longer worrying about Ira.

Dave was awoken kwa his mother the inayofuata morning at six. “Get up!” She scolded. “You have school today!”

“No…” Dave whined as he pulled the covers over his face. “This is all a dream! I’ll wake up and then-“

“You’ll go to school. Your breakfast is already made downstairs. Now hurry up!” Dave was still in kitanda five dakika later, but groggily got out at some point, and slumped to the kitchen. The aroma of fresh pancakes made his eye-lids flutter a bit with their delicious smell.

The pancakes were slightly crispy on the outside, very smooth and very doughy and warm on the inside, with a tangy taste from parts that were slightly raw from still being hot. They were perfect, sadly the only perfect part of that day. After three of the lip-smacking flat-jacks, Dave got on his already-prepared backpack, and walked off towards the direction that his new school would be.

As Dave walked, he saw quite a bit of other teenagers walking casually around, with a lot of them without backpacks. He thought little of it, because he was too busy stressing over the schoolwork of that day.

The school was labeled “Mob Suez High” Original name right? It was fairly large, with a wide L-shaped parking lot that curved around a mpira wa wavu field on one side of the school, which was connected to two sets of buildings that connected in the middle kwa a very bridge-shaped three-story hallway. The building looked just like an H; a three story H.

The establishment looked surprisingly empty. Dave had guessed what had happened the sekunde he saw this. “THERE IS NO SCHOOL TODAY!!!!” He yelled, kicking his foot very hard on a statue base. He screamed in pain from the unintelligent attack, before yanking off his shoe and checking for wounds. His foot was fine, but stung as if it were on fire.

Dave slowly made his way back down the road, grumbling angrily to himself as he went. Asher noticed him as the ticked teen made his way back to his house, and jogged over to him. “Dude, wewe fine?”

Dave slowly turned to meet Asher’s stare with tired annoyed eyes. “My parents thought today was a school day. They got me up at six. I got ready. Then I HEADED out the door! DAH!” Dave kicked the air angrily, thankfully not damaging himself this time.

Asher held back a fit of laughter, and tried to sound calm over his bila mpangilio explosions of “HA!” “Sorry to hear that, man. wewe got ready and all that?”

“Yes…” Dave sighed. “When IS school starting, anyway?”

“Er… not for another week. Don’t ya just hate it when they change the dates on ya?”

“Well I would assume my parents would be able to know whether au not school was on this week!”

Asher shrugged. “Well wewe gonna talk to ‘em when ya get nyumbani ‘n all?”

“No point.”

“… Why? They don’t list’n to ya ‘r something?”

“No, they both work; my Dad for eleven hours of the day, and my mom for four, starting at seven.”

“Wow… that stinks, man. hujambo at least wewe get to raid the fridge ‘n all that.”

“Woo… hoo…” Dave could tell that Asher was trying to cheer him up, but he was too ticked to care at the moment.

“Well c’mon.” Asher waved his arm to Dave as he ran forward, gesturing for him to follow. Dave groggily complied, and kwa the time they were at Dave’s house, Asher was panting, and Dave was gasping for air.

Dave’s hands shook a bit as he slowly fit his key into the front door lock. But the door was already unlocked. “Well at least they made it so ya didn’t have ta use da key.” Noted Asher, still trying to boost Dave’s spirits.

“Oh SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS!” Dave groaned. He threw the door open and felt a stinging pain in his foot as soon as he landed a step. He instantly jerked back, flying into Asher and causing them both to thud hard on the pavement behind them. Headaches followed soon after.

“DUDE!” Yelled Asher. “THE DOOR ISN’T GONNA KILL YA!” Dave ignored Asher’s remark and slowly got up. He looked at the floor and saw a trail of water that went into the kitchen.

“Er… deadly water.” Asher joked. They walked inside, being careful not to step in the liquid, and once they got to the jikoni noticed that there was a wire hanging inside the water. When they got closer it turned out to be at least five wires. They were hooked up to a power-socket in the floor.

“WHAT IS THIS!?” Dave yelled. He opened the cupboard below the sink and pulled out a pair of rubber gloves, which he used to disconnect the wires. Asher walked up with a mop and swept the water outside.

“Someone tryin’ ta kill ya?” Asher asked.

“I think it was… Ira.” Dave guessed. It would make sense. Attacking Dave was what the others alisema would happen. But this looked like it would kill someone. She could not have meant to kill him, could she? What if it was not Ira? No… who else could it be?

“I need to call my parents.” Dave informed as he dashed to the phone. He began to dial, but the phone was not working. He looked over and saw that the cord was cut off.

“I’ll use my cell phone.” Dave substituted. In a few sekunde he had whipped out his cell and was waiting for his Dad to pick up the phone. He did not pick up. “Probably busy.” Dave sighed. He called his Mom. She did not pick up either.

“This is getting kind of freaky.” Dave noted, though he was much zaidi angry than scared. How could Ira know all of this? The time that he would call, the time that his parents would leave, the way to electrify water so easily…

He tried to think of anything else she might have done. Then he remembered what Kyle had said, “Ira attacks the leader… then the person who actually did the thing.” Casey.

Dave darted out the front door, with Asher asking what was going on as he ran after him. Dave quickly explained as they darted towards Casey’s house. As they went, Dave decided that Kyle might want to try and help, so they made a quick stop at his house.

When Kyle opened the door he had a large amount of wire in his hand. This surprised Dave a bit. “Where’d wewe get that?” He asked.

“Found it on my door-step.” Kyle answered. “There was a huge ball of it, a-“

“Get rid of it!” Dave yanked the wire away. Kyle looked a bit cross. “Why’d wewe do that?” He asked.

“Dave’s house was booby-trapped, man.” Asher informed. “Watah and wire. Would’ve blew ‘im up like a potato.”

“… Do wewe think I did that?” Kyle asked.

“No… Ira probably planted it here to make wewe look suspicious.” Dave informed.

“Did she plant these too?” Asher gestured to the many buckets of water on Dave’s front lawn.

“… I was moving snow off the porch.” Kyle explained. “My mom wanted me to get the snow into buckets once it turned to water. Don’t really know why. She left a note telling me so.”

“Kyle, can wewe onyesha us the note?” Dave asked.

Kyle ran back into the house, and came back with a piece of lined-paper, saying “move the sludge off the lawn, and put it into buckets to water the plants. upendo Mom.”

Dave sighed. “This is bad.”

“Dude, aren’t we s’possed to be goin ta Casey’s now?” Asher reminded.

“Yeah… wanna come, Kyle?”

“Okay… but why are we going?” Kyle asked, confused kwa the request.

“We need to make sure she’s okay. wewe know how wewe alisema Ira attacks the leader, then the person who-“

“Let’s go!!” Kyle darted out and rushed towards Casey’s house. He obviously knew what Dave meant. Asher and Dave followed closely behind, and the trio cane just in time to see an unconscious Casey with her face in the snow.

The three boys picked her up at the same time. When they turned her around, her head showed bruise-marks, and the snow stuck to them a bit. “She’s been like this for a while. Thank goodness she’s still breathing.” Kyle sighed in relief.

Kyle pounded on the front door. No one answered. So he decided to jimmy the knob, which was unlocked. Asher and Dave carried Casey inside, while Kyle got a hot wet-cloth for her head. Kyle slowly wiped her head with it, which caused her to groan a bit from the bruise pain.

Eventually she woke up, and promptly screamed before punching Asher in the face, and kicking Dave in the jaw. Kyle was warming the wash cloth again and therefore was not struck.

Dave knelt over to a trash can and spit out some blood from his poor tongue. “WHAT ARE wewe GUYS DOING IN MY HOUSE!?!” Casey yelled.

“WE SAVED YO’R LIFE, YA WACK-JOB!” Asher yelled back, holding his damaged nose.

“What do wewe mean?” Casey asked, slightly calmed down, yet still angry.

“We found wewe unconscious in the snow.” Kyle explained. “So we brought wewe inside and tried to help with your bruises.”

“How’d wewe get inside?” Casey narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

“Flyin carpet.” Asher scoffed, rolling his eyes. “All the rage ‘n what-not. The door was unlocked!”

“Highly unlikely.” Casey retorted.

“Fine! Don’t believe us!” Dave spoke up, finished with the trash can. “We only saved your life is all!”

“… Okay, fair enough, but why was I unconscious!? Where did the bruises come from!?”

“The snow.” Stated Kyle, with the obvious answer.

“Who knocked me out?!” She asked.

“Ira we think. au Dia.” Dave informed. “She set an electric trap in my house, cut off my phone, and I think she’s trying to frame Kyle.”

“Oh really…” Casey gave Kyle a very suspicious look. This hurt the poor boy, who had done nothing but help her so far. As soon as she saw his saddened face however lightened her stare a bit and alisema “Nah not you. You’re too nice.”

“… Thank you?” Kyle could not decide if that was a good au bad thing in the way she alisema it, but he would take it either way.

“What now?” Asher asked.

“Well we could go storm Ira’s house and pay her back.” Casey suggested with a battle-ready growl.

“That’s probably what she wants…” Dave thought. “All of us trying to attack her… then she can tell the police, and one thing leads to another; we end up in trouble.”

“Then what do wewe think we should do, Sherlock?” Casey snapped.

Dave ignored the hostility in her tone and answered “We could tell the police I guess.”

“You think they’ll believe us?” Kyle asked.

“The cops? I dunno.” Asher answered blankly, adding nothing to the subject.

“Well do we call them au go to the station?” Casey asked.

“… Station.” Dave decided. “If we call, it might be too hard to explain. Where is the police station anyway?”

“On the east side of the town. Little bit farther then the mall.” Asher informed.

“Then let’s go there.” Dave suggested as he started to get up.

“Um, hello. Injured here.” Casey said, gesturing as if lame.

“Your face was hurt. Not your legs.” Dave alisema with a look of annoyance.

“Aw, c’mon! I was hoping you’d fall for that!” Casey chuckled. Dave rolled his eyes a bit, though he was actually a little impressed with how calm and positive she had gotten in such a short amount of time.

The small group began their walk to the station, but as they did, they were caught off-guard kwa police… at Dave’s house. “What now?” Dave groaned as they walked over.

“Excuse me!” Dave called to one of the officers as they jogged up. “What are wewe doing?”

“Someone reported an attack here.” The officer answered. “Is this your house?” Dave wanted to say no but his conscience made him say “Yeah. No one was attacked though. My parents are gone, and I’ve been with my Marafiki for the past half hour.”

“Then can wewe explain the power-socket being damaged and black, the wire, the wet floor?”

Dave sighed. “I came nyumbani with a friend after thinking it was the first siku of school for me, and the door was unlocked. We walked inside and almost got killed kwa the electrified water. Me and Asher took it apart and went to see if our friend Casey was attacked, which she was.”

“And was anyone else with wewe when wewe entered the house?”

Dave shook his head no.

Before any further action could take place, Dave’s parents drove up. They looked angry, and seemed to be glaring at Dave. This hurt Dave, but more-so made him zaidi angry then he already was. Did they really think he was a reckless teen, that got in trouble with police au something?

Well Dave was not that type of person. In fact he was rarely reckless at all. He had always been a bit cautious, and did not care for much risk-taking. He also followed rules quite obediently. Granted he was rebellious at times in his pre-teen years, but in general Dave was a very respecting and obedient son, and student.

“David! What happened?” His mother demanded sternly as she flew open the door and stormed over to her son. The others scooted away slightly.

“Someone set up a trap in the house!” Dave replied.

“The police called us and alisema that a girl called them, saying that she saw a boy putting together this trap about the time that wewe were supposedly going to school!”

“Dad, back me up here!” He called to the grumbling father.

Dave’s dad gave a rather surprised look at his son asking him to help. He expected something like “You’re both wrong!” au being hostile towards his father, but apparently not. “If it wasn’t you, Dave, then who would it be?” The Dad replied eventually.

“Ira Idens!” Dave announced.

“The girl who called us WAS Ira Idens.” The cop informed. “And she alisema she saw a boy with black hair setting up the trap.”

“It wasn’t me!” Dave yelled. “Asher was with me when I walked back home, AFTER I found out there wasn’t school toda-…” Then an idea struck Dave, “Who told wewe that it was a school day, Mom?”

“The school Principal sent me the E-mail two days ago.” Dave’s mother replied.

“I can vouch for my man, Dave.” Asher defended, stepping out a bit. “He walked straight in da trap when he gotz there. Then after we tried ta fix it all up, we tried ta call wewe peeps, but the phone was cut. Doubt he could’ve done all that in like… ten minutes.”

“Actually I think he could do that in ten minutes.” The police man noted

“Well then fine! Blame me!” Dave whined. “Because for some reason I tend to make death traps and cut phone lines for a hobby all of the sudden!” Dave was furious. His parents were actually assuming he had done this? It was moments like this that made respecting your elders difficult for Dave.

Dave’s parents, both, did look a little sorry now, but only a little. The dad turned to the police officer and asked “Why not ask this Ira girl if she saw Dave au some other boy?”

{“She’ll say it’s Kyle} Dave thought.

“I was thinking about doing that.” The cop replied. “Well we’ll probably be out of your hair in about five dakika anyway, but I do need to ask your both some questions.” The officer thankfully meant Dave’s parents, and not him, so this meant he was free… hopefully.

After Twenty-four dakika the police left, doughnut breath and all. Dave’s feeling of hatred for his parent’s lack of faith in him threw the teenager into a grumbling state as he sat on the front-yard bench while the others sat around on the bench and grass.

“What should we do now?” Kyle asked. “Should we go talk with Ira?”

“Why? It’s not like we’ll convince her.” Dave mumbled.

“Then what?” Casey asked, particularly annoyed that they were not going to see Ira, the reason being that she wanted to land her fist in Ira’s nose.

“I don’t know!” Dave snapped angrily. “What am I supposed to do!? I’m not a big leader, who goes right up gives everybody orders!”

“We… we didn’t mean that…” Kyle trailed off weakly.

Dave kept his fury for a moment then let it go with a large sigh. He rubbed his head a bit and alisema “Just… I just need to be left alone for now.”

Reluctantly the others left, with Asher leaving last. He was going to say something else, but Casey dragged him with them. Dave was alone. He sat down on his front bench. The situation was not dire yet, but it seemed as if it was about to escalate.

“Ira must have extremely messed up parents.” Dave grumbled under his breath.

“Messed up family is zaidi like it.” A feminine voice alisema these words. But it was not Casey, au Rynk. Dave looked up and saw Rin.

“Chose some time to come and see me again.” Dave quipped.

Rin shrugged unaffected kwa the slight insult. “I’ve been here a while but I thought I’d wait till the cops left.”

“Why?”

“The cops don’t like me.”

“… And you’re not going to tell me are you?”

“Neeeeeope.”

Dave sighed, “What do wewe want then?”

“Well to help… if wewe want me to.”

“… How?”

“I… don’t know yet.” The hooded girl winced.

“Lovely.” Dave grumbled.

“Well at least I’m trying to help!” Rin snapped, feeling slightly hurt kwa the hostility.

“Sorry… I don’t even know why I’m so upset. She hasn’t done anything major yet.”

“SHE TRIED TO KILL YOU!” Rin yelled. “How is that not major!?”

Dave blinked a bit at this. She had tried to kill him! So why was he just sitting there? He had to do something! Sadly his mind thought this, while his body did not. He eventually replied “The police will take care of it.”

“Cheah.” Rin scoffed. “Cause they do SUCH great THINGS!”

“You got something against the law enforcement?”

“You have no idea. But this isn’t about me. I’ll go talk to Ira myself. wewe just… not get hurt.”

“… Be careful.”

Rin chuckled a bit at this warning, “I’m never careful, but thanks anyway.” Then ran off.

Dave walked back into his house. He did not speak to his parents. He just went to his room and began to play zaidi Resident Evil. During the time spent playing he noticed a bit of resemblance in Ira to the character “Ada Wong”… making Ira a creepy, semi-attractive, evil, Ada Wong.

He only came out when his parents called him for Dinner. Meatloaf was the meal, and while it was very satisfying, his thoughts were on what to do with Ira. He sat in his chair pondering, starring out the window, barely touching his food. Then… he noticed that someone was outside, sitting on his bench.

“Uh… ex-excuse me for a minute!” Dave stammered. Quickly jumping from his kiti, kiti cha and making it for the door, Dave hit his face to the floor, and barely stopped himself from landing his jaw on the wooden below. His father looked over and asked “Doing push-ups?”

“No, I fell.” Dave replied. He got up and opened the door, intent on walking out, but was stopped kwa “Where are wewe going?!” from his mother.

“Just out for a second!”

“No you’re not! You’re going to finish your Dinner, then maybe go outside! And no wolfing down your food!”

Dave got a glimpse of the person before he groggily made his way into the Dining Room again. It was Rin again, only she looked… injured. Dave wanted to go back outside so badly, but if he did, his parents would follow, and Rin would be gone in the blink of an eye.

So the girl waited in the cold for another twenty minutes. Her kofia was torn, her red hair messed up, some road-rashes on her arms and face, a good scratch on her neck, her jeans torn, and her feet covered in dry blood. She shivered slightly as she waited, but stopped, au tried to, when Dave finally came outside.

“Wh-what happened to you!? Are wewe okay?!” Dave exclaimed in concern. Rin looked down without meeting his eyes, and answered with a small smile “Ira’s going to leave wewe alone this time.”

“… What did wewe do?”

Rin looked back at Dave, allowing him to notice zaidi of her war wounds. “I fought her. She alisema if I beat her, she’d leave wewe alone, and I beat her.”

“Is anything broken?”

“My nose…” Rin sighed, turning her head down again, slightly embarrassed and not wanting Dave to see any nose-injuries (though they were not very visable).

“C-come inside! I’ve got bandages, and a sink, and-“

“It’s…” Rin bit her tongue, but continued shortly after, “It’s better I not get too close, Dave. I’ll be fine, I just-“

Before Rin could continue, Dave actually picked her up, and carried her inside the house, then sat her down on the couch. She could walk of course, but Dave was hoping she would be too shocked to do anything, and she obviously was not going to follow on her own.

Without waiting for the red-haired girl to say anything, Dave darted through the hallway and came back shortly after with a wet towel, some band-aids, and a dry towel. His parents saw it all.

“Dave what’s going on? Who is thi-“ Then Mrs. Hyatt noticed the blood on Rin’s feet. “I-is she alright???” From suspicion to concern in one second.

Dave did not reply. He was too busy trying to clean off Rin’s feet. Rin was flushed, not entirely with flattery, but more-so embarrassment. Having anyone clean her feet seemed extremely weird, let alone a guy, after she had been in a fight, and in front of his parents no less.

“You don’t have to-“

“I know, but you’re bleeding, you’re stubborn, my parents are watching; chivalry.” Dave trailed as he finished wiping off the blood. There were three deep cuts on the sides of her feet. He quickly put a few band-aids on them, then asked “What do we have for a broken nose?!”

“Broken-“ While Dave’s mother acted in surprise, his father was already getting the supplies.

“Could wewe take off your hoodie?” Dave asked.

“What? Why?!” Rin protested.

“To check for wounds on your arm.” He replied.

“But- yo-… fine.” Rin slowly took her hoodie off, which showed the rest of her slightly poofy (slightly) red, short hair, and at her arms… from her elbow to her wrist her skin was faded to red, on both arms.

“Did Ira do that?” Dave asked.

“No…” Rin replied softly.

“Where do wewe live?” Mr. Hyatt asked. Rin made no reply.

“You don’t li-“

“Of course I do! … Sorry…” Rin covered her face in her hand, cringing a bit at how mean she just sounded. “I’m… I don’t like going home.” She informed.

“Well we can’t keep her h-“ Mrs. Hyatt was interrupted kwa her husband who decided “Of course we can! Just for the night!”

The elders went into the jikoni to discuss this, though Dave and Rin could hear them perfectly.

“She’s a teenage girl! We can’t just have her in the same hou-“

“We can’t do anything else! It’s already seven! And she won’t say where she lives.”

“I’ll just leave.” Rin announced as she appeared in front of them with her kofia back on, covering her face once again. She started towards the door, but then-

“Stay!” Dave yelled out.

Rin’s hand curled into a stressed fist, and she looked to the ground. “It’s not your problem. wewe shouldn’t have to-“

“You can stay.” Mrs. Hyatt informed, forcing the words out.

Rin seemed a bit happier and sadder kwa this decision. “… Alright.” She went over to one of the couches and laid down. The others were a bit surprised. It WAS seven, but seven was not THAT late. They could at least do something before that.

“Erm… Rin?” Dave called, cringing immediately after saying her name again.

“Yes?” She replied back in a non-hostile tone.

“Do you… want to do something before it gets late?”

It took a while but Rin finally replied “Such as…?”

“Er… I’ve got… Resident Evil on my X-Box?”

“Resi- which one?”

“Um… Six?”

“Oh.” Rin sighed. “So wewe like that kind of thin-“ Rin stopped herself at the end. She felt bad to judge Dave like this so quickly. He was being nice, and she was angry because of the game’s maturity level (or lack there of.)

“I-I’ve got Portal too… and two.” Dave substituted.

After a few zaidi seconds, “Alright.” Rin got up and started to follow Dave to the family room, but stopped, turned to the parents and alisema “Thanks. I’m sorry for intruding.” Before continuing on.

During the time of playing, Dave noticed something change. At the beginning, Rin seemed nervous and quiet, but as they got zaidi into it, he found that she was actually quite energetic and funny, making lines like “NO! NOT MY CAKE! THE CANDLES ARE LONELY!” in single-player, and in multi-player she went ecstatic. The two teens found themselves laughing so much their stomachs hurt. Then they noticed it was now Ten.

“It’s late.” Dave informed.

Rin looked over at the clock, turned to Dave, alisema “Goodnight, cool game.” Perkily, then dashed into the Living Room.

Dave was still chuckling a bit when he finally got up from his lazy rear. He put away the game, and walked to his bedroom. He spent the night, au most of it, thinking about quite a few things; ironically not that much of them were about romance. He mostly thought about what must have happened between Rin when Ira and she fought. They must have been clawing at each other au something. A devious smile crept onto Dave’s face as he imagined what Ira would look like if he saw her the inayofuata day, with a black-eye perhaps.

Dave’s thoughts turned into words, which eventually gave him a dry mouth, so he went to get a glass of water, at three in the morning. He crept into the kitchen, putting the light at minimum, and slowly got a glass. He went to the sink, turned on the water, and winced as the noise slowly emerged from it.

He turned around and walked through the Living Room on his way to the hallway. Rin was not on the couch. Dave’s eyes darted to the door, assuming she had ran out, but in the cold? At night?

Dave grabbed the knob and was turning it quickly when he heard “What are wewe doing?” He flipped to the side and saw that Rin was sitting on the opposite couch, inayofuata to the window he had seen her in when she sat on the bench, and she was fully awake.

“I-I” Dave did not answer. It would be insulting to say he thought she had run off, but it was too late. She figured it out.

“I’m not going to run off.” She added, giving him a small hostile stare.

“Did I wake wewe up?” The startled tired boy asked, trying to songesha the conversation in a different direction.

“No… I don’t… sleep.” She replied reluctantly.

“You… how can wewe not sleep?”

Rin simply shrugged. “I haven’t slept in years. No dreams, nothing.”

“It sounds… stressful.”

“It can be. But I’ve learned to deal with it.”

“How do wewe get energized?”

“I just stay still for a while, energy drinks, food,” Followed kwa another shrug. “but I really don’t know how I stay awake. Anyway, wewe should go back to bed.”

“… Alright.” Dave slowly went down the hall, tripped, fell, had his water fall on his face, got up, picked up the cup that fell, then grumbled as he went into his room. He could hear a small giggle from Rin, but chose to ignored it as he dried his hair in the sheets of his bed.

The inayofuata morning, Dave woke up to find that Rin was no longer there, though he was not surprised. She did however leave a note saying “Had to get going. Sorry. I didn’t steal anything. ~Rin.”

His parents saw this before he did, and before he could have any of the pancakes made fresh and warm for him, he was forced into telling his parents everything he knew about Rin, and why she was hurt. Dave thankfully was able to leave out the part about Ira, simply saying that she would not tell him, which they believed.

Finally after breakfast, Dave decided to go to the muziki store. He thought a bit about Rin’s secrecy. What big secret did she have? As he parked he saw Grace outside, and walked up to her. “Hi, Grace!” He greeted with a wave.

Grace spun her head around with an air of hostility, but settled when she noticed it was Dave, though she seemed a bit stressed. “Hey Dave.” She replied.

“I wanted to ask wewe something.”

“Which is…?”

“Uh… Do wewe know… what happened with Rin?”

“Uh…” Grace was a bit startled kwa this question, but answered to Dave’s disappointment “No.”

Dave sighed. Great. Well he could ask someone else la- “But Rynk does.”

“… Where is she?” He asked, coming back to happy land.

Grace pointed to the arcade that she was now walking towards. Dave followed and when they walked in, they quickly found Rynk on one of the dance-step games, twisting and flipping around beyond what the normal stepping would be.

“Rynk!” When Rynk heard Grace’s voice she spun around to see them, and waved happily before continuing.

They walked over and Grace continued “Dave had something to ask you!” trying to speak over the noise and muziki and other, the other being a high-pitched girl imba in some oriental language. Dave assumed this was Miko Hastume.

“What is it?” Rynk asked between small pants as she continued the game, trying to beat her high-score.

“I wanted to know what happened to Rin!!” Dave yelled over the noise.

*ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRG!!!* Rynk stomped both feet firmly on the middle of the dancing-set; no zaidi high-score. She turned to face Dave with a rather surprised look and alisema “No wewe don’t.”

“Just talk to him, okay?!” Grace suggested.

Rynk was a bit reluctant, but with a groaning sigh, she led Dave out of the arcade and continued from there. “Rin was almost arrested for something, and that’s all I can tell you.” She informed. “I’d like to tell wewe more, but I don’t give away secrets like that.”

“Is there ANYTHING aside from that wewe can tell me?” Dave pressed.

“… Well she didn’t always be like she is now, I’ll tell wewe that. It involved… I can’t say. Sorry.”

Dave frowned. “Alright.” {I guess I’ll have to ask Rin herself.} he thought. Then he remembered Kyle and Casey. “Um… are Kyle and Casey alright?”

“You talking about how wewe saved Casey, and Kyle was framed?” Rynk guessed.

“… Yeah.” Dave was getting a little irritated kwa these psychic females.

“Well yeah, they’re fine. Anyway, wewe wanna jiunge me and Grace in the arcade? They got a rock-climbing wall, and I upendo climbing.”

“I know.” Dave chuckled. “You parkour.”

“Yep. Me and Grace, well mostly me, but she’s pretty good too.”

“Well maybe.” Maybe became yes, and Dave fell many times on the rock-climbing soon after.

Outside the arcade was Ira, standing outside, observing the area. She appeared without a scratch at all on her. No injuries whatsoever. Was she ever injured at all, au was she a super-human that could heal quickly? au maybe even something else.