I stepped through the door and into the relative warmth of the entry hall, closing the wind and cold outside. I’d still not heard from Aria and my initial hurt had quickly given way to fear. I glanced down at my phone again while I removed my coat and put it back onto the hanger in the closet. She still had not read my messages.

Had something happened to her? Was she sick? Had she gotten into an accident? Was her family all right? Any of a thousand fears, each more horrific than the previous, marched through my head as I removed my high heels. Aria was many things, but I doubted she would simply blow me off without a good reason. I would simply have to keep calling her like a stalker, I reasoned. Or, call Emi. If anyone knew anything it was her. I carried my coat and shoes with me as I stepped into the living room, my mom and dad turning to look at me.

“Ah!” My dad waved unsteadily from the sofa. “The first of our wayward chicks have returned to the nest!” He was plainly drunk. My dad was a biology professor at the local college and for whatever reason, whenever he got drunk the animal analogies began to flow. “How was your date?”

“Date?” My mother was just as drunk but the notion of discussing someone else’s private life, especially mine, sobered her up almost immediately. “What date? Who with?”

“I wasn’t on a date,” I sighed, not untruthfully. “I was just something for school.” Oh well, I thought, that last bit was a lie but I really had no interest in discussing anything at all with my parents. “Mio’s not here?” The number one rule in my house was deflect and dodge. I’d dodged the first question, I figured, now to deflect.

“Mio’s over at a friend’s house, she said,” My dad replied breezily, taking another sip of his drink as snippets of Christmas parades marched across the TV screen.

“Ah,” I nodded and continued to move toward my room. “Have a good night.”

“Wait! Don’t you want dinner?” My mom was plainly angling toward grilling me further about what project I would be doing at school that required a dress.

“Ah, thanks, but we ate there,” I turned my smile on and off with practiced ease. Once a lie began the ease with which I continued to expand upon it was disturbing.

“You really should dress like that more often, Kasumi,” My mom lectured me. “Doesn’t she look like a proper young lady, Jiro?” My dad adjusted his glasses uselessly, plainly not able to see me well enough to judge my level of propriety.

“Ah, yes,” He nodded. “Quite the proper young lioness.”

“I could help, you know,” My mom rushed on like a freight train getting up a head of steam. “We could do your hair up and everything.” The notion of becoming my mom’s doll did not appeal to me in any way shape or form but I smiled regardless. It was best to humor her and facilitate my retreat.

“I’ll have to think about it, definitely,” I lied again, inching toward my room.

“It’ll be just like when you did pageants!” My mom enthused, shaking my father’s shoulder excitedly. “Wasn’t that fun, Jiro?”

“Fun?” My dad had zoned out watching television and was not paying attention at all. My mom sucked her teeth in displeasure.

“Why did you stop doing that? You were so pretty back then,” My mom shook her head sadly. “Now, most of the time, I can’t even tell you’re a girl. Although I guess I do like your hair short. You and your brother have the type of face to support short hair, after all.”

“Well, I was a girl when I took my shower earlier. I had a vagina and everything.” I grinned at her. My dad chuckled, ignoring the glare my mom shot him. Being compared to Jun brought me no joy whatsoever.

“Kasumi! Don’t say that!” My mom snapped in horror.

“Don’t say vagina, got it,” I agreed, saying the word again intentionally to irritate her and moving toward my room.

“What are we going to do with her?” My mom demanded as I finally managed to make my retreat.

I hurried into my room and closed and locked the door behind me, sagging with a sigh. Honestly, there were a lot of times I hated coming home. It either ended in an argument or passive aggressive hostility. Or, as was increasingly more often the case, a bit of column a and a bit of column b.

I quickly stripped off my dress and pantyhose and dragged on my sweats and t shirt, hanging the dress back in the closet where it would doubtlessly stay for the foreseeable future. A metaphor for myself, I mused ruefully. I removed the barrettes and shook my hair out with my fingers, quickly returning to my normal unkempt self before heading to the bath. I slipped out of my clothes and into the bath, scowling as I did so. I sagged into the water, the heat washing away the cold which seemed to have settled in my bones.

Unfortunately, hurt and anger had given way and my thoughts now circled the drain of complete fear. She was probably run over by a car or someone on a motorcycle or something, I decided, my chest constricting at the notion. Motorcyclists could be quite dangerous. There were a few times when I’d almost been hit walking to school. Well, bicyclists, too, I supposed. I knew I was rather dangerous on a bicycle. I sighed, blowing bubbles in the steaming water.

What should I do? Calling did me no good if she was mangled under an errant cyclist’s wheels. Texting did me no good. What was left? Sitting in the bath and worrying impotently seemed my only answer. I couldn’t recall ever feeling more helpless and useless and I hated every second of it. Horrible thoughts of Aria lying broken and bloodied on the road somewhere in the snow played through my head on an unceasing loop and I chewed on my lip worriedly. I had to do something. I grabbed my phone and dialed Emi.

“Kasumin?” Emi yelled into the receiver, the sounds of voices and crack of fireworks going off behind her. “I thought you were dining with the colonel tonight.”

“Emi! I need your help!” I said urgently.

“Wait!” Emi cried. “Don’t touch there! Ahahahahahaha!!!” Emi giggled wildly. “I’m ticklish there!”

“Uh,”I blinked in confusion. “Emi?”

“One second! I am being assaulted,” Emi giggled. What the hell was going on? She definitely wasn’t out with her parents. “Down night beast! Down! You dare attempt to savage a witch?! Ahahahahahaha!!!” I tapped my fingers on the edge of the tub and waited for Emi to finish whatever she was doing.

Was she on a date? While I was happy for her, she hadn’t said anything to me about having a date today. Maybe she’d finally met her mysterious confessor. Well, if so, she at least seemed like she was having fun. Unlike me, of course, I scowled, tapping my fingers more irritably.

“Ok! Ok!” Emi finally gasped into the phone. “Sorry about that! What’s up, Kasumin?”

“Have you heard from Aria?” I asked quickly before whatever “night beast” she was referring to returned again.

“Weren’t you supposed to meet for Kentucky Greased Yardbird?” Emi asked.

“She never showed up,” I scowled.

“That’s not good,” Emi’s voice immediately sounded concerned. “The target is missing. Most peculiar. Fear not! I’m on the case! I’ll make some calls. I’ll find her.”

“Thank you. You scare me, but thank you,” I sighed with relief.

“I am the information witch, you know,” Emi declared proudly.

“I thought you were the pubic hair witch.”

“I am a witch of the people! I have many skills which may not be readily apparent to the untrained eye! I’ll be in touch,” Emi said. I put the phone down on the floor and lay my head back against the wall. It was nothing I’d done, of course, but I consoled myself with the knowledge I had at least done something. For some reason that made me feel better.

I washed my hair and slunk back to my room, feeling clean and a bit unsteady from the heat but definitely better. The feeling had returned to my toes, and I estimated I was about 75% human by now. A far cry better than I had felt when I’d slunk in the door. I slumped onto the bed and lay back, running my cast absently over the sheets, listening to it rustle on the blankets.

Next week it came off, I thought. I would finally lose the physical reminder of my face off with Midori, Otoha and Shuko. I flexed my hand and the muscles tensed in response. I’d have to work my strength back up to where it needed to be, I decided with a scowl. I glanced at the writing on the cast, specifically Saki’s neat, tiny writing. I’d never seen anyone’s writing be more like the person themselves. It was organized, unobtrusive and thoughtful.

“Thank you for everything you do each day, senpai. I know you will recover quickly and be better than before. Yours, Saki.”

I missed her. So much it was like a physical wound. I missed her smile and her warmth and, most of all, I missed being able to be open and honest with no worry about whether she’d judge me or think I was disgusting. It had been almost a week and, true to what she’d said, she hadn’t contacted me. I wondered briefly what had happened to her and her family. They’d all simply vanished, as if washed from the face of the earth. I wondered if the doctor would think it was strange if I wanted to keep the cast.

I lay the cast over my eyes and sighed once more, trying to let all the tension release from my body. I felt like a tightly wound spring ready to snap and hated it. I stretched my legs out and groaned as my back cracked. Honestly, I thought, I could probably use a massage. It had been several years since I’d gone but it had worked wonders for me. I was still far short of buying the tennis bracelet for Aria but if I worked even more hours at the shop I wondered if I could afford a massage and still keep on track.

The phone ringing made me snap out of the slumber I had inadvertently fallen into, and I snatched the device up and pressed the button before I was fully awake. It was already 10 o’clock? When did I fall asleep like that?

“Hello?” I nearly shouted, my heart pounding in my chest from being jolted awake.

“Did I wake you up, K-chan?” the familiar voice on the other end asked.

“Aria?” I shot upright quickly. “Are you ok?”

“I am so sorry,” she sounded tired and…drunk? “I didn’t feel good, and I laid down and just woke up not too long ago.”

“I see,” I muttered with a scowl. Was she drunk?

“My uncle gave me some brandy for my cough and I’m a bit out of it, still,” Aria said. “But I wanted to call you and tell you how very sorry I am! I am the worst girlfriend in the world.” I could hear her begin to cry across the distance and my heart ached.

“Ah, well,” I muttered, still not fully awake. “It was just fast-food chicken. It’s not a big deal. I’m just glad you’re ok.”

“I was a big deal!” Aria insisted blearily. “I swear I’ll make it up to you!”

“Like I said,” I reiterated my point, Feeling the stress and fear dissipate like it was a physical thing leaving my body, “I’m just glad you’re all right.”

“Regardless,” Aria returned, “I promise I’ll make it up to you somehow.”

“Well, I’ll let you go back to sleep,” I yawned, now more than ready to go back to sleep myself.

“Oh, ok,” Aria muttered. “Goodnight, K-chan.”

“Yep. Oyasumi,” I replied, clicking the button. I turned off the light and clambered under the blanket, yawning again. Oh! I should tell Emi Aria’s been found, I thought. Knowing her she was probably shaking someone down in an alleyway for information. I was also dying to know who she was talking to earlier but figured she’d tell me eventually on her own.

“No need to bother, Aria’s been found,” I typed out quickly. I fumbled about in the dark for the charger when the screen sprang to life with a jaunty DING.

“Are you ok?” Emi’s text lit up.

“Yeah, she was just sick, and I was worried about her,” I replied, plugging the phone in.

“I see…well, I’m going to get some sleep and think on things. Tell Mio I said, ‘It’s still a dragon’ for me,” Emi responded.

“Ok?” I scowled. What the hell was she talking about, I wondered.

“Emi the witch has spoken! And thus it is!”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I smiled, shaking my head. Emi the witch was definitely weird as hell, and I found that comforting. I lay the phone down on my dresser and within moments was fast asleep.