Nine Judgments

Leaking Worlds

"Nope." Her hand shot out and grabbed the collar of Akira's hoodie. The frown was gone. A smile was back on Mitsuki's face. "Don't think you can hop out of this one!"

That was when she began to drag him. Began to try to drag him. There was a weight difference there. Also a height difference. They did not get very far. Not even past the one biker guy at the entrance who had been asking Haruka about something or other.

If she was thinking about this - and thinking was boring most of the time - she was a little irritated. Exploring was supposed to be fun. The old building was forbidden and spooky and she had been doing this all for kicks. But now it looked like they actually had a reason to do this and stuff to do. The message had not even explained how to disconnect these worlds. Just wanted them to do it. Like they were some sort of heroes.

If anyone was trying to be heroes, it was probably Haruka's group. Which made Mitsuki blink when Haruka ran off in tears into the darkness.

She let go of Akira's collar.

"Guess we're splitting up... Anyway, you're a upperclassman and you're supposed to watch over the underclassmen, so you're kinda responsible for following me and making sure I don't do stupid stuff." She bobbed on the balls of her feet. "So! Guess you're stuck with me, bunny-senpai."

She did not like hierarchies. But she knew when they could be used to her benefit.

... Also, had that Rika girl called him Akira-kun?

Leaking Worlds

Mitsuki stuck her tongue out at Masato.

"I don't need your permission, you know!"

After a moment she headed over to the group of people that Akira had poked awake as well. It was not as if she was following the rollerblades guy. That group just seemed interesting. And interesting was what she was here for.

What was interesting changed fast. Mitsuki bobbed over next to Haruka and her crew almost immediately when one of the bikers asked them what was going on.

"Are those words? What's it say?" She went up on tiptoes, trying to catch a glimpse over the upperclassmen's shoulders. Then she finally got a view of it. Read it.

She frowned.

"... What's it mean?"

Leaking Worlds

No offer to help her up. Chivalry was dead.

"Yeah, yeah," Mitsuki said, massaging her temples and rising shakily to her feet. It was bright out. And the sky was pink. Not sunrise orange or sunset purple. Just an unnatural shade of pink. Not exactly comforting. At least the girl testing the invisible barrier between them and home seemed amused by the scenario.

And was Mitsuki going to take orders and poke everyone she could awake? Well. The answer was usually no to the taking orders. But she would do it anyway because the reactions to waking up were bound to be amusing.

Death to Akira if he ever told anyone about her own.

She casually nudged the roller-blading interloper with her foot.

"Hey, stalker-senpai! Rise and shine." She glanced back up at the pinkish sky. "Actually, hold off on the shining."

Leaking Worlds

Saturday, April 11th, 12:04AM - The Old School Building (?)

"... in love...?" Mitsuki muttered.

Her eyes still closed, she turned over and groaned as someone touched her on the forehead.

No. No breakfast in bed please. She just wanted more sleep. Forget the pain throbbing in her head. She grabbed for a pillow to muffle her face. Instead she hit a leg. A leg belonging to someone else. Her bed was made of dirt and dead grass. Something was wrong here.

Fuck. Of course it was. She was being stupid. She was still at the old building.

Mitsuki groaned again and opened her eyes and squinted hard. Pressed the heels of her palms into her cheekbones. Everything was sore.

"Did you get the number of that truck that hit me?"

Leaking Worlds

Looked like they had a bogey on their tails. One that followed them all the way to the school.

"You're interrupting a romantic date," Mitsuki piped up. "You see, bunny-senpai and his hoodie are in-"

Midnight hit. Headache hit. Nausea hit. Everything hit all at once. She dropped like a sack of rocks.

Leaking Worlds

Nice poster.

Leaking Worlds

"All right!" Mitsuki said and took a step forward. "Toodles, then-"

Wait. Akira said he was coming. He was supposed to say "whatever" and go do his cool cat impression somewhere else.

"Ugh, but," she protested, her hands on her hips, "this is like going to the convenience store with my mom."

But the spark in her eyes returned sooner rather than later. If Akira was going to tag along she would make the best of it. It was better than getting caught by her parents. She had only sneaked out at night five or six times this year. No way she was stopping before she reached a dozen.

Rolled her eyes. An exaggerated sigh. "Oh, whatever. But you better be ready to keep up!"

She took off, her backpack bouncing on her back as she ran. Time: eleven forty-two. Destination: the old building. Estimated time to arrival: how about thirty seconds?

It took her a bit longer than that.

Friday, April 10th, 11:58PM - Old School Building

Leaking Worlds

Rest assured that our butts are coming as fast as they are able.

Leaking Worlds

Mitsuki narrowed her eyes if only for an instant.

Nobody ever called anyone a kohai explicitly. It was rude. Just like her. And Akira did not look like he cared even a single bit.

Okay. Well played. But she kept up the cheeky smirk. If Akira thought she was going to give up that easy, just because he had two years and a couple inches up on her, he had another think coming. But she also needed to get him off her back. A little honesty. A little bit of truth that he would not care about either.

"Maybe," she said. Hitched her backpack up as casually as she could. Even turned a little to the side so that she could leave when she heard his response. "Or maybe I'm just going to school. Bet you'd be scared if you knew what kind of ghosts I was hunting tonight, bunny-senpai."

Leaking Worlds

Aw. Fuck.

She did not say that out loud. It was not very fitting for her image as a quiet and proper girl - not that it mattered. Akira had seen her.

What the heck was Akira Watanabe doing out on his front porch at midnight?

It did not actually matter. She just had to amuse him long enough so that he would not decide to go rat on her to her parents.

"Yup!" Mitsuki said. Not as loudly as she usually would if he was actually one of her friends. But more enthusiastic than Akira was probably used to hearing. "What's your interest in it, neighbor-senpai?" She dragged out the "senpai" part to a frankly quite uncomfortable length, grinning the whole time. She had never been much for authority. Or hierarchies.