Seiyuu Akihiko's Story

It was late in the afternoon. School had let out a long time ago, and the people remaining behind were either stuck in detention, didn't want to head home or were part of a club. The weather was sunny, with a hint of cloud, and there was just enough of a breeze to siphon the heat away to make it cool instead of swelteringly hot.

In the fields at the back of the school, Seiyuu Akihiko was stretched out on the grass, resting his head on his arms. With his eyes closed, he looked like he was taking a nap, but that was far from the case. Instead, he was reviewing the advice (if it could even be called that) Mikami-Sensei had said yesterday and the reasons for why.

Something about Fairytales fracturing reality after the stupid festival last month (he could've won! Akihiko just - didn't choose to, all the other normals should be grateful for that chance in the spotlight), and magic coming to life. Akihiko hadn't really paid attention to those bits, since they hadn't involved him. Yesterday during club activities, however, the teacher had said something to all of them.

"It'd be good if we could get more people to join the club," Mikami-Sensei had said, leaning against the wall. "If you see any people with brands, like ours, try to see if they can join the club, alright?"

Hmph. Akihiko's brows furrowed together in annoyance at the memory. Why should he, of all people, be tasked with such a boorish chore?! Surely others could do such a thing? Not that Akihiko couldn't - he could talk others into joining perfectly! (conveniently ignoring that most of his attempts at talking to people were more talking at people and had a tendency to end badly). He just didn't want to! That was all! The others could surely take over the task for him.

Still.... there was a buzzing sound near his ear. Eyes flying open, Akihiko flung himself upwards like a catapult. Still seated on the grass, he looked around wildly for the source of the buzzing.

Nothing. Not a fly in sight, just a mosquito. With a shudder, Akihiko slapped it away. Even after the curse was dealt with, Akihiko couldn't stand the sight of anything smaller than his thumbnail that could fly without shivers going down his back.

Who knew if it would come back....

Maybe he should put at least a little effort into finding out who had brands. Showing generosity by providing the poor sensei some help! Not because he couldn't handle it, of course, why ever would people ever think that. But showing kindness to those below him isn't such a bad thing! With that, Akihiko stood up. Brushing his clothes free from dirt and grass, Akihiko picked up his bag once he had made sure he'd look immaculate as always and set off for the clubs, walking towards the walkway.

Halfway to the building, he bumped into someone, a girl with brown hair who was accompanied by another girl (boy?) with blonde hair. Akihiko dusted himself off with a scowl. "Watch where you're going!" he snapped, shooting them a glance before preparing to head off.

"So I'm assigned to the loony bin again huh?" Takeshi huffed as he collected the necessary cleaning equipment from the supply room. Inside, a lot of the senior staff members were getting ready: dressing up, mixing soap and water and putting out their cigs and taking out their trash.

The loony bin AKA the Fairy Tale Club. Takeshi's always wondered what the deal was with that club. And he had seen a bunch of weird clubs back in Shikoku even. As he usually started from the first floor up, it would be some time before he gets to the club room in question.

"Hey Ichinose-san!" He calls to a fellow janitor doing the desks as he takes off the AC filter on one of the units in the first year classroom to dust it off. The way things usually go is that filters are cleaned almost daily while the actual units themselves are cleaned once a month. As it hasn't been some time since the last deep clean they've conducted, there really wasn't much to do apart from cleaning the dust off the filters.

"What is it?" The older male asked, not looking up from the windows he was wiping.

"What do they do in the loony bin anyway?" Takeshi asked. He recalls installing the lighting and ventilation in that room. Lots of books. It almost resembled a small library even.

"I don't know. Maybe they make your dreams come true if you know what I mean eh? Haha~" The older male laughed.

"Well, I suppose that's not too far off." Takeshi goes along with the joke, placing the filter back in its right spot as he balanced on the small ladder.

"Seriously kid. Have you never had those kinds of club in your old school before?"

"I've seen my fair share of weird clubs old man. This is on a whole different level of weird." Takeshi jumps down, taking the ladder with him and following the older out of the room and into the next.

"There was the occult research club run by that British chick. The drama club and their secret gatherings for "research". A club for kids who never outgrew their toys. But I've never, in my life, heard of a club that studies fairy tales." Takeshi recalls his experiences as he got to work on the next AC unit.

"Hmm...I think it's an extension of the Classics Club. This one probably just chose to specialize in children's stories." Ichinose grunted as he also started on his task. "It's probably run by a bunch of nerds who can't get their noses out of their make-believe worlds. The adviser's a good man though. I've seen him around a couple of times."

"Oh yeah, him. Got my first compliment from him. Said I was 'interesting'."

"No kidding?"

"Yep. Apparently people who almost went to jail for something they didn't do is what counts for interesting nowadays." Finishing up the second unit, Takeshi again, jumps down from the ladder, wiping off some dirt on the back of his right hand, revealing a small rash developing on it. Ichinose notices this too.

"Weird. Did you eat something funny?" He asked, thinking it may lead to something worse. "You've been hanging out with that gypsy right? Maybe you're having allergies to the things she cooks."

"I don't know. This has been around for some time. Not a whole year though and I've always eaten Stella's cooking ever since I moved in." Takeshi explained, finding the mark a lot more puzzling every time he glanced at it.

"Hmm...probably a bite from one of them nasty buggers lurking in those vents. Try rubbing toothpaste on it. See what happens." Ichinose shrugged and the two made their way to the next room. They overheard a man passing by and a sharp retort directed to a couple of students ahead.

"Kid drama?" Takeshi wondered, still with the ladder hoisted over his shoulders.

"It's that guy who gets into fights. Leave him be." Ichinose just sighed and forged on.

---

"Well, last stop's yours." Ichinose pats Takeshi on the back as they reached the landing leading to the club rooms. From this point on, only Takeshi needed to go to clean out the ACs. The rest of the cleaning were expected from the club members so Ichinose wasn't really needed at this point.

"Yeah. I'll be saving the loonies last though. Maybe I'll still be around when they start their uhh...studying."

"Yeah, you do that kid. Hey! If they do make your dreams come true, just give me a holler okay?"

"Well my dream's different from yours but fine. See you old man!"

Working in silence, Takeshi finished the right wing in record time. The ACs were positioned a little lower this time, given that these are rather new acquisitions so he didn't really need to set the ladder up to reach them on the ceiling. One last room.

"Right. Well--" Takeshi gives the door a couple of light raps before opening it and letting himself in. Non-club members are usually berated for doing so but he was a janitor right now. Ichinose assured him that he can technically walk in if he wants.

"AC cleaning reporting for duty. Will only take a few seconds--" He speaks up as he enters, towing his supplies along.

---

---

It was almost eerie how empty the hall was. It was afternoon and Sakurano Yomi, a highschool girl, sat with crossed legs on the edge of the stage of a small theatre downtown. The fold-up chairs were neatly aligned, the lamps to the side of the stage were being nudged ever so-slightly by a the after-school drama teacher. In their greeting earlier she had smiled and nodded along, pretending she hadn't heard her friend's, Seiyuu Akihiko, many rants about him. Yomi hid her smile at the thought.

Speaking of Aki, Where is that braggart? Yomi thought, peddling her legs back and forth. Akihiko had promised to help set up, but he wasn't just late, almost everything was already for the show. Within an hour, it would be the first time Yomi would try her verses at a local slam poetry competition. She rehearsed each line in her head, each reverberating her heartstrings like the violin's. Yomi had written closer to her heart than she ever thought she would. She would be baring the back of her mind in front of an unknowing audience... It was a frightening thrill.

Her phone rang in her bag; the vibrations on the platform testing the acoustics of the room. Apologetically, Yomi waved at the drama teacher, before swiping the lock off of the touchscreen and seeing the alarm was set off by Amari Sakura, her friend who was out of town to visit family. “Break a leg!” Sakura's text read; and scrolling down was a picture of her four year old cousin awkwardly giving the camera a thumbs up. Yomi giggled.

Yomi scrolled her inbox once more, just to confirm Aki hadn't sent her anything. Come on, you're kidding me. She sighed, as she pulled up the keyboard. Where. Are. You. Yomi read along silently before sending the message. Aki might have his self-centred eccentricities, but today was important to Yomi and she was sure that, willing to admit it or not, Aki had recognised that when she told him.

“Miss Sakurano, could you help me test the sound?” The drama teacher asked, waking Yomi from her thoughts, as he did his final tests on the spotlights.

“Of course.” Yomi smiled, put her phone back in her back and lifted herself up the stage. She sauntered behind the microphone and took it from its stand. “Test, test, one, two, three. This is your captain speaking.”

---

Akihiko was no stranger to detention. The teacher currently appointed, a burly middle-aged man who'd been teaching there for over ten years, had taken one look at them and sighed as if they were headaches trying to invade his brain. "Another fight, Seiyuu?" He said resignedly, more of a statement than a question. To himself, he muttered almost inaudibly, "That's the fifth one this month..."

Before anyone could answer, he shook his head. "Alright, you know the drill." He said. "Students in detention must help clean the school. Suzuki's in charge of you - he'll tell you what to do. Once you're done, you are free to leave. Now then," he finished, gesturing to the door with a shooing motion. "Out you go."

The trip to meet Suzuki was short but monotonous, Akihiko refusing to talk to anyone. Halfway there, a whistle rang from Akihiko's phone, loud but pretty, a catchy four notes. Gling, gling-gling gliing gling, gling-gli-

Akihiko opened his phone before the sound carried on. His eyes widened at the sight of Yomi's message. Very carefully, he scrolled through her message.

Then he winced.

He'd... forgotten. No, not forgotten - it’d just slipped his mind, that was all! In the fight that was definitely not his fault (Akihiko ignored the thoughts that said ‘yes it was your fault’ with the ease of a seasoned veteran). There was a twinging in his gut that felt like someone had pricked him with a blunt needle, and Akihiko frowned, placing his hand lightly over his stomach. Maybe he was having a stomach ache?

(Wrong answer! It was actually the emotion guilt, but since Akihiko was a loser with the emotional awareness of a broken brick (aka none), it was questionable if he even knew what guilt was.)

Probably a stomach ache, Akihiko decided. Thumbs flying over the keyboard of his phone, Akihiko quickly texted back.

To Sakurano:

Naturally I would have attended your slam-poetry night! Alas, there is naught that even a perfect being such as I can do to go against the whims of the school administration, and so I regret to inform you that I can’t go to your competition because those demonic teachers simply do not understand the importance of battle, and deem it a terrible offense to the state of this school. I’m now chained by the threat of suspension to the demon Suzuki, alas, and stuck with the wretched job of cleaning this school of filth until the sun sets.

However! Surely you do not need me to be there? For clearly, the people against you are fools in the making, doomed to fail against you and your training! It is a sad thing indeed that I cannot see the lambs coming in to be slayed. And as Suzuki is approaching, I must cut this message short - and so I bid you adieu!

Akihiko barely had time to press send before they came upon Suzuki. He grinned and waved at the blonde teen as he slipped his phone back into his pocket, clearly unrepentant at being back in detention. “I'm back!” He said rapidly, baring his teeth in a smile. “What do we have to clean today?”

---

"No, no, like this..." The boy said, laughing softly and brushing his well-kempt ashen black bangs behind his ear. He put one hand warmly on the child's shoulder, and the other hand on the keyboard. "Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf." He said in sequence, pressing the keys on the piano in tandem with the numbers that sprang forth from his sing-song voice. The man lifted his hand from the keyboard and put it firmly on the child's shoulder, giving him a soft squeeze. "Now, you."

"O-one, two, three, four, f-" the child stopped abruptly, hitting the wrong key, sending the melody to a halt. Frustration washed over the young child's face. "I hate this stupid thing. I want to play the sax like you, or the drums." The stubborn child said.

"If you want to be a musician, you have to master the fundamentals first." The older boy said. "You aren't going to become a saxophone prodigy or a master drummer without first learning how to play a simple melody." The child furrowed his brow. "Fine."
He turned to face his b҉r̵oth͢e҉r, but he was met with only empty space. "What? where did he.." the child turned around to face the piano once again, but was met with something different entirely. A bo͞dy҉. It was a y̗͍̼̠͕̻̣o̼̖u̡̹͇n͔̣̫g͓͟ ̷̺̠̲ͅw̛̟͍̖̟̱o̯m҉̘̹͕a̪̣͟n̠͉͎͓̜͜. She was
l͢҉̕a̵̸yì̸ng̨͘ ͢͞f̴̢̡a̢ce̴ ́d͏̶oẃ͘͠n҉̸ in a p̧̠̘͓̘͚ŏ̜͚̫̦̬̻͙o͉͚̭͕̺͙ͅl̝̩̥͈̳̝̏̅ͤ̂̿͟ ͎͇̫̮̼̩̄ͤ͗̓o͆̇̒͊ͫ͗̌f̻͚̪̝̗͗̅̂̆ͪ͑́ ̳̝̬̱͕ͩb̵͉̝͇͎̝͕l̘̤ͤͧ͐̈ͅͅǫ͍̻o̔̍҉dͬ. The child jumped up and gasped, he turned again to look for his brother, but he was nowhere to be found. I͠ņs̷t̶ead ̵h̨e ̵wa̧s ҉g̢ręȩted̶ by ̨a͏ ͢bl̵o͞o͡d͘y̧ kit͏c̵hen̢ kǹif̷e,҉ w̸hi͡c̸h͡,͝ ùpơn f͜u͘rt͘ḩer̀ ins͝pec͞tìon͢ w͟as͠ ͠se͏at͡e̵d dee͠p̷ ̴in͏ ͞h̢i͝s-͜
̡
̨

---

"That fucking dream again..." he thought, jolting up from his bed, his twelve pillows, or at least the one under his head, damp with sweat. His over sized fluffy blanket felt like a straight jacket tethering him to his bed, and beads of sweat dripped from his forehead onto his bare chest. He pushed his hair back with his trembling hand, and looked around his room to anchor himself to reality. He scanned the room, observing his many poster of famous musicians, movies and video games.

He looked at his laptop, dimly glowing on top of his oaken desk, and a cheesy lava lamp that sat beside it, which had been given as a gift to him by his mother the previous year. He noticed a spilled glass of water on the floor, which he must have knocked down in his fervor, and leaned over to pick it up. As he was doing so his heart skipped a beat as he noticed the time, which was displayed with angry crimson LEDs on his cheap department store alarm clock.

"Shit."

---

"Late again, Dojima-san..." the secretary blurted out with a sigh as Haruo entered the school building. "I've been told that you're to report immediately to detention after class." he furrowed his brow at the slightly pretty middle-aged woman who manned the front-lines of the battlefield that was high school. "Whatever." He said bitterly. "Suzuki teaches me more with his cleaning lessons then you lot do in five hour-long periods anyway." The secretary scowled. "Don't be angry at me Mr. Tardy, I'm just the messenger. " Haruo waved her off as he made his way down the hallway, toward his last/first class.

Making his way to were he knew Suzuki would be, Haruo lamented that fact that he would miss the poetry slam. Though he was one of the newer additions to the Fairy Tale club, he had begun to feel a bond to the group, and was finally beginning to appreciate the fact that he now had friends for the first time since the incident. He was exited to tag along with Akihiko. Though the boy was haughty and narcissistic, Haruo liked him and felt a kinship with him through the experience of discovering their powers and helping each other grow. It made him feel like there was something else in his life, something bigger then the dark cloud that was his brother, whom always loomed over him.

He also lamented his cowardice, which prevented him from inviting Hana to attend the poetry event with him. All of his club mates knew that he had a crush on the girl, and they encouraged him to bring her along, but his fear of rejection kept that from happening. Besides, he thought, it was just as likely that he would be decapitated by Rin, had she caught wind of him asking her sister on a date.

As he finally located Suzuki to report for detention, he noticed something odd. The blue-haired beauty himself, followed by two other students who Haruo recognized as having belonged to his class. They looked as though they had been involved in some kind of melee, which was not out of the norm for Seiyuu, and probably the reason why he was approaching Suzuki as well.

"Well well, your excellency..." He said, looking towards Seiyuu as they both approached Suzuki from opposite sides. "Guess neither of us will be going to the poetry slam, huh?"

“What do we have to do today?”

”Ah! You must be the extra hands--wait--” Takeshi turned to greet the newcomers and noticed Aki standing among them, slipping his phone into his pocket. A regular even among the maintenance team, Akihiko stood out amongst them thanks to his bright blue hair - especially in the school corridor with only four people present. Apparently, he was the person who got into that squabble he passed earlier.

”You here again Aki? Hehe, how many times have you f*cked someone up this month huh? Three?” He greeted the familiar face with his usual outgoing air.

Aki let out a huff, combing a hand through his hair. “Five, thank you very much!” He said offendedly, as if he was a victorian lady who’d just had her honor besmirched. “They were totally asking for it.”

”Not going to fly anymore man. You know what they say--always take the higher uhh, plane? Ground? I don’t know. I never listened to Sunday school haha!” Takeshi laughed at Aki’s misfortune. Well, it was his own doing anyway. ”A-ny-way...stuff,stuff…” Takeshi muttered to himself as he tried to recall what hasn’t been attended to yet. ”Right! The bins. Uhh, you guys need to empty the bins in each room. Aki, you take the ground floor. You know how stuff works already. Uhh...blondie can take the second and little lady can attend to the bins in the clubrooms.”

”It’s just a quick routine. There’s this massive bin just by the restrooms on each floor. Just chuck the remains of the smaller bins there so you can take it all down in one go. Incinerator is Aki’s job and he’s done it before so no problems on this end--” In the middle of explaining the routine, Takeshi received a call from the radio he was given.

People working with the maintenance were given small radios in order to call them over quickly when they were needed. It was also used if they were to be given new tasks to attend to.

”Alright. Got it.” Takeshi cutted contact. ”Well, let’s try to do this fast since we just got called in to help in the drama room. You know what that means? Free front row tickets to whatever’s currently being rehearsed there!”

Takeshi tried to uplift everyone’s mood as he talked, laughing and grinning all the while. It certainly worked well on Akihiko - his eyes light up with surprised glee, a relieved smile forming on his face.

“Yes!” Akihiko did a silent fist pump before he remembered that he was surrounded by other people. Quickly, he raised his fist to his lips with a fake cough, pretending that he was unaffected - not that it fooled anybody. “Ahem! I-I mean, yes! It is only natural that they require our presence!” He began to take quick strides. “Let's go!”

---

The store room might have been neat once, but thanks to a stressed rehearsal and not enough time, it was now a mess. The room was small and cluttered to the brim with objects ranging from dusty backgrounds that reached the ceiling to a small sewing kits people had forgotten to bring back. To the left stood a mass of hangers that held costumes captive, and to the right was a bunch of equipment. Overhead, the dingy lights flickered over the windowless room, casting everything in a bright, if eery glow.

Overall, it was a completely stuffy room, chilly despite the hot weather. It was also being used to practice a play by the drama club instead of the poetry slam competition, something Akihiko had only found out when he’d barged into the room with a winning smile.

Isamu and Aika, having grown up in a crowded home where constant chaos was unavoidable, gave hardly even a passing glance to the mess. Aika did, however, instantly take notice of the costume rack, rubbing her fingers over the fabric and silently admiring the stitchwork. It was very well-done sewing, each thread exactly the same distance apart and not a hole in sight. Isamu steps up beside her and brings one hand up, pinky outstretched, the other hand moving over it in a circle. Pretty? Aika nods with a smile, her hand mimicking a finger gun, the sign for “very.”

The edges of Isamu’s mouth quirk upward slightly, and Aika holds onto his sleeve as they follow Suzuki and Seiyuu through the store room. “So, what’re we gonna be doing, anyways?” Isamu questions, crossing his arms over each other and frowning.

”Alright. Staff said the lights are a little too dim for the practice today so I’ll need a couple of hands who’ll accompany me up there--” Takeshi points at the suspiciously fragile looking platform holding all the lights together. ”As you can see, that shit’s a heart attack for anyone scared of heights. The rest will do the AC temps and the old costumes.”

Takeshi noticed the abnormal cold that has settled on the room. He’d somehow grown a thicker hide ever since he started living on his own but this was a bit too much. ”Some a**holes probably jacked the temps down to below seventeen degrees...Well, who’s up for some monkey business? Blondie? Aki?” Takeshi turns to the two other boys with him, flashing them his usual cheeky grin.

“I’m willing to risk my life to fix the lighting, I have no qualms with heights.” Isamu said matter-of-factly, gesturing vaguely toward the ceiling. He figured being up high would mean less general interaction with Seiyuu, which was all he really wanted. “Aika will probably want to work with costumes, she would enjoy that.” Isamu looks at Aika as he spoke and she nodded in agreement.

“Sacrifice my life by using that rusty cat walk? Nonsense!” Akihiko tossed his hair back as if the very idea offended him. “I’ll have the AC done before you fall from that ridiculous excuse of a platform.”

Isamu follows Takeshi’s directions up to the catwalk, taking gentle steps and clinging onto the rail just in case the entire thing collapsed. He takes a moment to take in the view from the top- he can see all the way across the theater, every seat as well as the stage below. “Wow.” Thinking on the task at hand, Isamu reaches down and carefully brightens each of the stage lights until Takeshi tells him they’re bright enough, finishing quickly.

Aika tries not to worry about Isamu, being so high up on a platform that surely can’t be approved of by anyone who even vaguely knows of safety guidelines. Tearing her eyes from her friend, she heads back the way they’d come in, stopping at the racks of costumes with a smile on her face. A fairy dress with dusty rose-pink sequins sewn into the fabric catches her eye, and she runs her fingers over the intricate details, dedicating each one to memory for future reference.

Down below, the rehearsal is finishing up in its grand finale. The leading actress takes a bow, and people laugh as the actor gives them a jaunty wink. The people crowd around, chatting and encouraging and criticising amongst each other as they begin to finish their work. A few breath sighs of relief at finally being able to escape the cold room.

In the process, nobody notices the shaking of a person’s hands, the drop in temperature, or the glitter of ice crystals that began to appear on the ceiling.

”Alright! That’s a wrap. Now all we need to do is--hmm?” It may have been a slight change in the temperature in the room but Takeshi felt it drop down fast. ”Oi, Aki! Are you bringing the temps down instead of up like I said? It’s starting to feel like Sandy Claws came early in here!” He calls out to the volunteer, barely noticing small specks of white suddenly appearing from above.

When it happens, it’s sudden and fast. People scream in shock as ice flashes into being in the room. Frost flutters away in white specks as the windows and doors freeze shut, trapping Takeshi, Aika, Isamu and the rest of the drama crew in the room and leaving Haruo and the rest of the detention crew outside with no way in.

Inside the room, ice begins to frost over the ceiling as the temperature begins to drop. The temperature might be bearable, but with the rate the temperature was dropping it wouldn't be long before they all became ice popsicles for eternity.

Akihiko was not sulking. He was not sulking, and he definitely was not worried about how badly Yomi was going to take him missing her rehearsal while cleaning the windows with Haruo. No, he was instead completely focused on cleaning the windows (so clean that people could eat off them, although why they’d want to eat off a window Akihiko had no clue) so that he could get out of this stupid detention without issues and continue not worrying at the slam poetry venue hall in peace.

(alright, so maybe he was a little worried. A little. A tiny infinitesimal smidge of worry in the galaxy of confidence Akihiko was made of, nothing that’d impact him, he could totally handle her totally he was the most awesomest person in the universe why on earth would anyone else think otherwise?

He was so screwed.)

Naturally, as Akihiko did when he wasn’t worrying, he talked. “These windows are deplorable!” he exclaimed to the world at large but more specifically one Dojima Haruo. Scowling, Akihiko rubbed vigorously at the windows. Two were spotlessly clean, while the rest were covered in grime and other deplorable substances. “Did the people forgot to clean up after the reenactment of Attack of the Sludge Monster last night?! Surely these plebeians know that the windows would be affected as well, not just the floor and walls! Naturally one such as I can clean this perfectly, but - whatthefuck is this?!”

Akihiko yanked at his hands. One hand came away free. The other hand and the cleaning cloth he was using remained stuck to the window, which was rapidly covering in frost. Eyes widening, Akihiko yanked at his hand again - only to hiss in pain as his hand threatened to let go without the skin. Even as he looked at his palm, the ice was beginning to climb up past his fingers like the rising bread of doom to envelope his hand and bury it into the ice age.

Yanking would be no good. Mind calculating, Akihiko whirled to face Haruo. “Hot water!” He called imperiously, or as imperiously as a boy stuck in an awkward half crouched position could call (which was not very imperious at all). “It’ll melt the ice and -” the words ‘free me’ stuck in his throat on the way out and turn into, “- and prevent frostbite!”

No need to draw attention to the fact that he needed help - not that he needed it, oh not at all. Akihiko could free himself perfectly fine - with a little time to think of a plan, that is.

---------------

After what seemed like forever, Mikami picked up the phone.

“Mikami speaking,” The teacher’s voice rang smoothly through the phone like melted chocolate, slightly amused as if he knew a joke the others weren’t getting. Pretty much normal for him. “What’s going on?”

He listened to the entire story, giving the complimentary oo’s and aaa’s as he did so. When Mashiro finally finished, there was a few seconds of thoughtful silence. “Got it.” Mikami said briskly. “Ok. First, you need to get the girl away from the food, out of the store if necessary. Second - is the food coming to life?”

The food was, in fact, coming to life - the sounds were growing louder and louder by the second and when looked closely, the animal parts were starting to move, trembling where they were.

It might have been a trick of the eye, something caused by the rising tension in the shop. But if it wasn’t, something huge was about to happen.

“If it is - Run.” If Mikami was there, his face would have bored uncharacteristic seriousness. As it was, the voice coming through the speaker held enough gravity to pull a meteor into the atmosphere. “Find a safe space, find her mark, text me the results. Or if you need me - oops!” Thre was a large crash on the other side of the phone. When Mikami picked up again he sounded slightly breathless and a lot more cheerful. “If you need me call me! And make sure to stay safe and use protection!”

And with that suspiciously cheerful sentence, Mikami hung up.