“Damn, it feels good to be a winner!” She snickered while her accomplice repeatedly banged his head against the table.
*Click*
***
-Hotaru’s POV-
Going from those frigid bindings to the warmth of my blanket was nothing less than a miracle. The feeling just stripped away from my body like I took a hot bath. That feeling was lessened by the wooziness that came over me once I tried to move.
My vision was blurry, and everything felt numb. I could make out bird chirping but, I just decided to get some more shut-eye.
At least, that was the idea.
Just as I nearly lulled myself back to sleep, I received a small poke against my cheek. 1 poke became 10 and didn’t seem to be stopping any time soon.
“Sis, you’re up?” (Yakumo)
“...”
“Hey, hey.” (Yakumo)
A vein was bulging out of my head while I tried to stay composed.
‘Remember, She’s young and adorable… young and adorable.’
“...Mm…” (Hotaru)
“Are you still playing?” (Yakumo)
“...” (Hotaru)
“...” (Yakumo)
I thought I did a pretty good job but, nooo! I thought I was around Yakumo way too much for her to recognize my habits. It wasn’t like we were always at the hip either. That’s when what day it was hit me.
‘Thursday…or as she would put it, Twinday.’
I slowly turned to the side of the bed, feeling like whatever was making my body feel that way was like a worn-out dam, slowly and surely cracking over time. I was surprised at how easy it was to turn over at the moment.
Eying the little one when the sun hasn’t risen, kneeled over the side of my bed so I could only see the top half of her head. She didn’t say anything, no– rather she didn’t have to say anything. I could see the stars in her eyes.
‘S-She really is a morning person… Wait a minute, 10 hours so…’
“What… time is it?” (Hotaru)
“Ah.” Yakumo jolted and kept quiet for the next 3 seconds.
‘And there’s her tell… Guess I know her like that too.’
“Yakumo–!” (Hotaru)
“B-but you said there was a lot to do today so…” She trailed off as she tried to hide even further to the floor.
“You need to sleep, silly. Do you want to be tired before we get to do all that fun stuff?” (Hotaru)
“Mn mn…” She kept her gaze down at the ground as she shook her head before turning back and starting to drag herself back to her side of the room.
‘Gah! Don’t take the bait, don’t take the-.’
“You know, your bed is too far. You could just sleep with me if you want...”
I couldn’t take her being sad, okay! It just made my skin crawl!
I was glad to say that it bought me an extra 4 hours before mom woke us up.
‘An extra hour! VICTORY!!!’
I waited for Yakumo to use the bathroom first, other than that we were having breakfast at 9:30.
Well…., More like I was.
Sitting down at an empty dining room table wasn’t new to me. I made sure to keep steady and moved quietly towards the kitchen sink, washed my dishes, and took a small note and Daifuku on a tray beside me before I made my way back to our room.
B: Feeling better? (Jack)
(I’m alright. What was that about?)
B: An out-of-body experience isn’t an everyday thing you know; Ella is pretty busy making sure you’re in tip-top shape while I get to play~. (Jack)
I froze in the middle of reaching the doorknob, (P-play with w-what?)
B: (Hm? Hehe, y'know, I could say it…. But what would be the fun in that?) (Jack)
M: I fucking dare you to say that again.
B: Ah! I give! I give! (Jack)
I really wished I could tell what was going on up there, imagine being able to tune into all that goes on up there but even being able to communicate was rare enough unless you were unconscious.
(So?)
B:(Oh… Hmm, I’ll tell you if you open the back window.) (Jack)
(Fine…)
That was when I knew, I fucked up.
What I unknowingly welcomed glared at me with the same lavender-blue beaty eyes before she jumped at me.
“FUCK YOU, JACK!”
B:(AHAHAHAHAHA!) (Jack)
No one could save me from the rabbit with a dark gray coat trying to go for my throat and I was shocked, baffled that our scuffle didn’t bring anyone’s attention.
Little to say, I had to comb my hair and fix my attire while being berated by a rabid rabbit who fixed the room with ease once her coat turned white.
“Okay okay, I’m sorry for throwing you, Usami.”
“Hmph!” She pouted on top of my head while I made my way out through the window to the view of a clear blue sky, I figured I’d meet Yakumo at our usual spot, so I made my move under [Stealth] to escape the compound with an irritated bunny explaining that she was to act as my spirit guide.
I kinda tuned her out after she kept blabbing on and on while I was realizing just how easy roof hopping had gotten. Waving to civilians and passing academy students before a familiar bother was on my tail.
‘Great, his day off…’
It was useless to try to escape without someone backing me up, so I did the next best thing.
“HELP! THIS PERVERT IS CHASING ME!”
Let me tell you, the number of miscellaneous things that flew his way. Beautiful. A menagerie of household items if you will. After weaving his way, one good basin straight to the head was enough of an opening for me to bounce.
“That should show him!” (Usami)
“People really can’t see you?” (Hotaru)
“If they can then we have a problem on our hands. But no, humans rarely notice our existence unless we want them to. You haven’t said where you are going by the way.” (Usami)
“We’re just visiting the school really quick.” (Hotaru)
“The school?” (Usami)
“HO-TA-RU–!”
“Hm? Ah!” I look down at Yakumo with the intended targets.
““LOOK OUT!”” The spiky blonde and rabbit called out before I slammed into a soft cushion and recovered my landing onto another one.
“Meant to do that!” (Hotaru)
“Right…” (Yakumo)
“I was testing you! Always be prepared!”
“““““...””””” The incredulous look I was getting from five people told me they weren’t buying it.
“Erm, what are we waiting for? There is a lot to do!”
““You.”” My sister replied along with the genius with a spiky ponytail.
“Urk! Well, I’m here now! Flawless execution by the way. Let’s go, slowpokes!” I pumped my fist into the air before sprinting ahead. Just for Mr. Sunshine to quickly close the distance.
“Oh, no you don’t!” I slowed down to have the others keep up letting Naruto take the lead only to not know where we were going.
Today was perfect, a perfect chance to chill out and have fun!
We made our move for a forested section I may have bobby trapped a lot so people steer clear of it with the help of a certain snake disciple.
“I wanted to do this before we do anything else. It’s gonna be a scavenger hunt!”
“But how are you going to play?” (Shikamaru)
“Who said I hid them? I got the help of a cyclops and Anko! There’s a grand total of…”
I pulled a small note out of my hoodie and stared in disbelief. I don’t want to know what happened, but something must’ve.
“... I think we might want more people to play…”
“How many things are there?”
“Yakumo, who you mind looking at this?”
“Okay? It’s uh-... oh…”
“Yeah.”
The two of us turned our backs to the boys and talked in hushed whispers.
“Why are there so many?!” (Yakumo)
“I don’t know! I just asked for their help to set up and hide things but, not this much!” (Hotaru)
***
-Uroko’s POV-
“HA-CHOO–!”
“Is everything alright? You’ve been sneezing quite a bit.” Murakumo walked into my office with a small teapot and two cups on a tray before setting everything down on my desk and placing a cup in front of me.
“I’m all right, I guess I’m just being talked about. Hehehe.” (Uroko)
‘You have a good day, girls~.’
****
-Hotaru’s POV-
“Hmm, okay. Well, if we just have us, we’ll be here the whole day.”
“Are you sure?” Yakumo raised her eyebrow at my statement
“Oh, I’m more than sure.” (Hotaru)
‘Maybe, I shouldn’t have said what I said.’
“So, who do we bring?” (Yakumo)
After taking a second to think, I turned back to the guys, “So uh, we pretty much need a couple more people if we want to do this.”
“How many are you thinking?” Choji asked with a bag of chips in his grasp.
“... I’m pretty sure there’s… Inuzuka right?” I turned back to Yakumo, rolling her eyes.
“Sentence please.” (Yakumo)
‘Fuck. Trivia. Okay, you lived here long enough, it’s a—’
“I’m pretty sure the clan that uses dogs is the Inuzuka right?” (Hotaru)
“Mhm.” (Yakumo)
‘Fuck yeah!’
“We might want someone from there.” (Hotaru)
“So, Kiba?” Naruto tilted his head at the prospect.
“Kiba sounds good, let’s just bring a bunch of classmates if we can.” I shrugged, I had enough of trying to guess what happened to make this mess.
“Mn, are you sure there’ll be enough?” (Choji)
“PLENTY, they actually made the area bigger because of it.” (Hotaru)
“Can you just say how many things we’re talking about?” Shikamaru was probably doubtful of the scale I was mentioning so I just decided to satisfy the slothfully curious.
I put my hand out with the note for us all to look at before we all decided to meet up again in a half hour. I went on my way with Yakumo to find some people when a panel appeared.
<Quest: Ultimate Scavenger Hunt!!! >
While you originally supplied the money for this Twinday event. Someone else wanted to make your day 10 times better.
-Help clear out the forest of its hidden loot.
-Beware of traps
[WORLD REACTION: You may invite your fellow Balancers to assist you.]
Players: 5/30
- Loot: 0/ 1,000
B: (AHAHA! Have Fun~. Ack!) (Jack)
S: (Oh dear… You can’t just do that without me.) (Ella)
‘What the fuck has this become?!’
*Click*
