Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Cursed Wish ❯ The Contest ( Chapter 4 )

Thank you for all the great reviews! I'm so glad you like it! ^_^

 

Jenny (can I call you that?): I actually wrote them over a long (maybe 2 months) period of time, and I just posted them all at once when I joined Media Miner. I am hiding something, and it is the plot that's forming. You'll see soon enough! ^_^ You find a little out in this chapter…or at least, you get more hints at it…I promise I'll reveal some of the hidden stuff soon! And about the developing plot, it's really kind of a strange plot…and I'm turning this into a 4-story series…don't worry, I won't drag it out with the same characters and the same kind of things, it'll have a new main character for each story, and they'll find the mirror in a different way…except for the last one…that'll be different, since it's set inside a virtual reality video game, but it won't be what you expect…

 

Also, to all of you, I've drawn my own picture of each of Ashley, Hannah, Chaki, and Jeni! Check them out under my artwork!

 

And a warning: if you're used to printing your fanfics, please only print this a part at a time, and make the font smaller, or, even better, don't print it at all. This is an extra-long chapter, and I don't want to be accused of killing several trees!

 

Sorry about all the notes. To the story!

 

 

 

The Story

 

Chapter 4: The Contest

 

Bee-bee-beep! Bee-bee-beep! The alarm clock rang, awakening Hannah out of her dreams. She smacked the snooze button for the twentieth time in a row, then rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. However, this time it wasn't going to work.

 

Slam! The door to the room came flying open, revealing Ashley in her pajamas, her hair sticking out at odd angles. She stormed to the back of the room where the windows were.

 

“I told you to wake me up! But did you?!? Nooooooooo!!! You were too busy sleeping!!! And now we only have ten minutes to get ready for school!!!” Ashley screamed, while ripping open the curtains and letting the sunshine flood in.

 

Hannah sat up, blinking her forest green eyes as she adjusted to the light. She ignored Ashley, letting her continue to scream and trying to wake up. All of the sudden, Ashley came over, looking as if she was going to flip Hannah off the poof couch (she had moved during the night). But Ashley was in mid-motion before Hannah could do anything. Hannah went with a thump to the floor, her wavy, black hair sprawling out over her tiger tee shirt. She rolled over so Ashley wouldn't end up smothering her with it, then got up and bit Ashley hard in the arm.

 

“Oooooowwww!!!” Ashley wailed, smacking Hannah across the head.

 

Thus their wonderful morning began.

 

After a few more seconds of fighting, the two girls finally decided it was time to start getting ready for school. They rushed between their rooms and the bathroom (where they had to fight over the mirror), trying to go quick but look stunning for their first day at the same time. At one point, Ashley had her shirt on backwards and Hannah had her shoes on the wrong feet; they corrected each other on these mistakes.

 

Finally, they both were dressed in their blue and white plaid uniforms, had done their hair as good as they were going to get it, and had all the books Chaki gave them shoved into the bags they found in their closets (talk about convenient, huh?). They found a map lying on the kitchen table, ignored the breakfast Jeni had waiting for them (they weren't breakfast people), and headed off to the dot marked `Domino High' on the map (they assumed that was their school).

 

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“Velcome. How may Madame Zora help you?” Jeni said in an odd mixture between a German, a Swedish and an Italian accent.

 

“Whatever. Just predict my future. I mean, that is what you do, right?” A tall boy with dirty-blonde hair and brown eyes stood impatiently in front of Jeni's fortune telling stand as he made this demand. Jeni recognized this boy from before, but hoped he wouldn't recognize her.

 

“Vell, you see, Madame Zora cannot quite predict the future, she can only try. You see, us Seers can see the future, but Fate can change its mind.”

 

“Just predict my future already!” he shouted, slamming his hand down on the counter of the booth. His face started to turn red and Jeni could tell she needed to just get it over with before he exploded.

 

“Just relax and let Madame Zora take care of it, ok?” she said, trying frantically to think of which way she could use. She finally decided to pull out her deck of cards and give him her style of tarot reading. She shuffled the deck, had him breathe on the top card (“What the hell do I have to do that for?!?”), then laid out three cards with the identical pattern on the back facing up. She flipped them over one by one, then studied them for a little while, trying to decipher their meaning. She figured it out, but decided not to tell him. “Eh…”

 

“Well? What is it?!?” he asked, giving her a piercing glare.

 

“Vell…it is rather…eh…unclear…” she said, hesitating to tell him. Then she realized he probably wouldn't understand what it meant, so she decided to tell him. “Eet says zat you vill fall in love vith ze other half.”

 

“What?!? What kind of a crappy fortune is that?!? You suck! I want my money back!!!”

 

“But…but you didn't geeve Madame Zora any money!” Jeni said, pushing back the hand he thrusted at her.

 

“I don't care!!! You should pay me anyways for wasting my time like that!!!” he said, picking her up by the collar of her peasant shirt.

 

“Jonachi! Put her down! Haven't you ever heard of being polite?” A girl with short brown hair and bright blue eyes glared menacingly at Jonachi. Standing next to her was a girl with chin-length, copper hair and eyes equally as bright as Anzu's behind frameless glasses. Yes, this was Chaki. She had instantly become friends with Anzu when they had met the day before, and they had decided to walk to school together.

 

Jonachi dropped Jeni and glared at her, mumbling “waste of time” under his breath.

 

Jeni got up and brushed herself off. Then she saw Chaki. She quickly ducked behind the counter, knowing Chaki would probably recognize her, despite the fact that she was wearing a veil over her mouth and a handkerchief on her head (her eyes were easy to recognize).

 

Chaki looked at Jeni, then the `Madame Zora' sign over the booth, then Jeni again. "You have got to be kidding me..." she said to herself. "Jeni? What the heck are you on?”

 

Jeni thought fast. She decided to keep up with the charade. Keeping her phony accent, she said, “Who ees zees…Jeni you speak of?”

 

Chaki gave her a `pu-leeze' look and rolled her eyes. “Jeni, I know it's you. I'm you're friend, and friends can tell these kinds of things! And besides, you're wearing that necklace you always wear,” she said, pointing to Jeni's neck. Sure enough, there was a thin, silver chain looping around her neck and trailing down into her shirt to its secret end.

 

Jeni sighed. “Ok, you caught me,” she said in her normal voice, pulling the annoying veil down onto her neck. “So…welcome to my job.”

 

“Why the heck did you get a job? All three of us are working, so there's nothing to worry about!”

 

Jeni looked at the ground. “I felt so bad, staying in the house all day and doing nothing while you three went to school and jobs and made money so we could eat…I felt like I had to do something…”

 

“But why this?!? Why the heck didn't you just get a normal job like Ashley and Hannah did?!?”

 

“I'm the world's clumsiest person and you know it. Just about the only talent I have is psychic stuff…”

 

Jonachi and his friend, a boy with pointed brown hair and brown eyes that Jeni hadn't noticed before, stifled sniggers. “More like psycho,” the other boy said, nudging Jonachi.

 

Not again…Jeni thought, trying to ignore them.

 

“Honda! Be polite!” Anzu snapped at him in a hushed tone.

 

“But you gotta admit…Madame Zora…it is pretty funny…” Jonachi whispered back to Anzu, trying to cover a smirk with his hand.

 

Please stop…make them stop…Jeni's thoughts ran through her head, getting louder by the second.

 

Anzu had to work to keep her face straight. “But it's not nice to make fun of people,” she said, before a grin overwhelmed her face.

 

No…stop…I won't let it happen again…but it's coming, I can feel it…Her brain practically screamed this.

 

“Hi guys!” the short boy from the other day, the one with the star-shaped hair, ran up to his friends, waving at them and smiling. “What're you doing here?”

 

“I was just wasting my time trying to get my future read by Miss Zora over there,” Jonachi said, turning to Yugi and pointing his thumb back at Jeni.

 

“She's one of those phony fortune tellers. Chaki seems to know her. She doesn't even need to work and what does she do? Goes and gets this dumb job! I mean, what kind of an idiot would do that?” Honda said.

 

No…no…not again…make them stop…make it stop…it can't happen again…I promised…I promised Mom I'd keep it under control…no…no…Jeni actually muttered these thoughts out loud. Luckily, everyone was too busied by Yugi's arrival to notice. She crouched down behind the booth, covering her ears. No…make it stop…it can't happen…I won't let it…But there was nothing Jeni could do about it. It was going to happen, and there was no way to stop it. She finally gave up trying to stop it and moved on to trying to cover it up. She pulled her veil up over her eyes, then grabbed her shawl and wrapped it around her hair…

 

C-c-c-crack! An almighty splitting sound was heard, as the wooden booth was being broken in half to release her. She stood firm and tall, her hands clenched in fists on either side of her long skirt, her eyes glaring through the veil at the offenders. Everyone turned back to look at her, and everyone, including Chaki, was a bit surprised when they saw the booth lying on the ground, broken in two as if it were a stick (as Chaki once said, `Jeni couldn't hurt a fly with the world's biggest flyswatter!')

 

“Are you calling me an idiot, Mr. Honda?” she said coolly, walking slowly over to Honda.

 

“Uh…well, you see…I was just, um…” Honda stammered. He didn't feel like messing with her after she broke the booth in half.

 

“You were what?” she said, coming right up in front of him. She smirked as she saw the fear in his face.

 

“Honda, you're such a wimp! I mean, scared of a girl? What could she possibly do to you?” Jonachi said, sniggering at Honda's fear.

 

“Hey, that's-” Anzu began, but she was cut off.

 

“Would you like a live demonstration?” she said, stepping away from Honda and towards Jonachi.

 

“Like you could do anything to me?” he said, rolling his eyes.

 

“Watch me.” She turned like she was going to walk away, then turned back, aiming her fist at his jaw. The result was much pain for Jonachi.

 

“D***! I think you broke my jaw!” he said, rubbing the spot where he had punched her. And his jaw did look somewhat broken; three of his teeth were now slightly loose and the side of his tongue had gotten cut on his teeth.

 

“Now who's the wimp?” Honda said, smirking.

 

She put Honda in a headlock. “Now why on earth would you call him a wimp for being taught a simple lesson?” she said in a sickeningly sweet, fake-innocent voice (her suck-up voice). “Or do you need to be taught the same lesson?” she asked, this time in a little harsher of a tone.

 

“I'm quite fine with my head attached, thank you very much.” Honda said quickly, noticing her fist was ready for another punch.

 

“Now that that's settled, I guess I'll be going back to the booth.” She turned back to see the wooden structure she had broken in half. “Hey blondie! Come help me with this!” she shouted idly behind her, pointing to the wreckage.

 

“I am not blond!!!” Jonachi shouted, glaring at her.

 

“Then why did you respond to the name?” she said, smirking triumphantly. “Now bring triangle-head and get moving on this booth. You wouldn't want to be late for school, now, would you?”

 

“That's right! We should be heading off to school right now,” Chaki said, looking at her watch. She had never been late to a single class in her life, and had only skipped if she was sick.

 

“But we have to wait for Jonachi and Honda!” the funky hair boy said, looking towards his two friends who were working obediently but reluctantly on fixing the booth.

 

Jonachi sighed. “You three go ahead. We'll catch up,” he said, gesturing for the other three to leave.

 

“Well, if you're sure,” the boy said, but he was still reluctant to leave. Then he saw Anzu and Chaki already starting to walk away. He ran to catch up to them, looking back one last time at her monkey boys working on the booth before becoming engaged in conversation with the two girls.

 

“This sucks,” Jonachi muttered.

 

I can't believe I'm being bossed around by a girl,” Honda muttered back.

 

“Are you sure you don't want to learn the little lesson I have to teach? The offer's still up for grabs!” she said to Honda in her suck-up voice.

 

“Sorry, won't happen again,” he said, working a little faster.

 

A little while later, the booth was up and repaired.

 

“Nice job, boys. I'll take that as a `sorry' for what you did before.”

 

“Sorry, from us?!? Why I oughta…” Jonachi said, clenching his fists.

 

“Well, we have to get going now. We're already late for school as it is. Bye!” Honda said quickly, running in the direction the others had gone and dragging Jonachi by the back of his collar.

 

She watched them leave. As soon as they were out of earshot, she walked slowly back over to the booth.

 

Jeni crouched down behind it, hoping no one would see her. She pulled the shawl off her hair and pulled the veil back down to her neck. Silent tears filled her eyes and slid slowly down her cheeks. “I'm sorry, Mom.” she whispered desperately. “I promised…”

 

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“So, how was your first day of school?” Chaki asked Hannah and Ashley as they walked home. The three girls had decided to meet up after they finished work, so it was getting late at this time.

 

“Interesting,” Hannah said, for lack of a better word.

 

Ashley rolled her eyes. “More like boring,” she said, quite truthfully. It was like a normal first day of school, only they weren't quite as nervous as most times, since they were basically just absorbed into the class. They had automatically made friends with all of Chaki's friends but Jonachi and Honda, who they thought were okay yet had major problems (especially Jonachi- can you say anger management?). And Anzu. They immediately recognized her as their `second Carrie' (chapter 2) and pulled their first prank in Domino City on her. They were enemies, and unlike with Jonachi and Honda, it didn't change.

 

The only other eventful parts of the day for Ashley and Hannah (besides their prank on Anzu) had been the contest sign-ups (Ashley had signed Hannah up the second she saw the sign and it took Hannah about 10 minutes to explain how Ashley was signing her up without her permission and how she was the real Hannah) and meeting Chaki's boss, Seto Kaiba. (actually, Ashley was the only one who met him).

 

<Flashback>

 

It all started when Ashley was extremely bored. Hannah was in the bathroom, and Chaki was talking to her new friends about something completely random. Ashley had decided to tune it out. Since she had accidentally left her book at home, she decided to zone out while looking around at all the other people in the class. So while redoing her slightly-longer-than-shoulder-length, straight blonde hair, her eerie blue eyes with dark rims scanned the room. She spotted a tall boy with brown hair and blue eyes sitting all alone at his desk, sketching something in a notebook that looked vaguely like a diabolical plan of some sort.

 

“Yes, but if you summoned the Dark Magician Girl, wouldn't that make it so that you could…” Ashley heard Chaki babble as she zoned back into the real world to ask who the boy was.

 

“Who's that?” Ashley interrupted, knowing she would never know when she could insert herself if she didn't just interrupt.

 

“Who, that kid? Oh, that's Seto Kaiba. He's kind of insane, and he's always either on his cellphone or drawing in that book of his. He doesn't like to talk to anyone. Half the girls in the school have asked him out (they even have a huge fan club for him), and he's turned the all down. But he's still a perv.” Anzu said, purposely leaving out how he had put into action a sinister plot to kill Yugi and his friends.

 

Ashley ignored Anzu's description of him, fixing herself on his name. “Chaki! Your boss is hot!” she said, grinning widely.

 

“You work for him?!?” Jonachi said. “How the hell could you work for a bastard like that?!?” he half shouted, earning a hushing glare from Anzu.

 

Chaki sighed. “Well, he offered me a job, and we need money to get food, and you know how big his company is…” she said quickly, hoping to shut Ashley up before she started.

 

Too late.

 

“I think you had other reasons,” she said, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

 

“No I didn't! Shut up! Anzu had a perfect description of him, he's totally insa-”

 

“Chaki and Kaiba! Sitting in a tree!” Ashley sang at the top of her lungs.

 

Chaki reached into her pocket, pulling out a light blue cylinder, with mysterious carvings engraved all over it. She tapped on one of the sapphire blue jewels, and as her arm swung out to the side of her an light blue axe slid out from the capsule, making a shing sound similar to the one heard when a sword is pulled out of its sheath.

 

“K-I-S-S-I-N-” Ashley continued, until Chaki swung. Ashley dodged the blow, then ran, a grin still plastered on her face.

 

“You idiot! If you ever say anything like that ever again in your entire life-” Chaki threatened.

 

Once again, too late.

 

“What's this I hear?” came a cool voice from behind Chaki. “Has another person been added to my little fan club?”

 

Chaki just stood there, breathing heavily. She was so mad at the moment that she almost exploded. Instead, she decided killing Kaiba would solve her problems for the moment. She whipped around, dragging her axe through the air and aiming it straight at Kaiba's head. However, it didn't have the effect she had expected. She had wanted the blade to be driven straight into his skull. However, in her blind fury, she had aimed the wide, flat part of the axe's blade at his head instead of the sharp edge. The result was the magical flying Kaiba with half of his head in major pain.

 

After Kaiba hit the floor (smashing into desks count as the floor for this moment), he got up, brushed himself off, then narrowed his eyes at Chaki. “You have just made the wrong enemy,” he said, walking slowly back towards her.

 

All of the sudden, something very strange happened. A flash of electric blue light bolted from the door and hit Kaiba. It hit him square in the forehead. He was slightly put off balance, but he managed to stay standing. Then he rubbed the side of his head where Chaki had smacked him and said in a pained voice, “What happened?”

 

The others quickly whipped their heads towards the door, enough to see a head whip around the corner followed by long, black hair. “Wait!” Chaki said, sprinting after the person, but they were too fast. They had already disappeared into the crowds when Chaki got out into the hallway.

 

“What happened?” Kaiba repeated, staring blankly at everyone who had turned to stare at him.

 

“Uh, you don't remember?” Chaki asked, coming back into the room.

 

“All I remember is I was sitting over there,” he said, pointing to his desk, “and now I'm over here.” He pointed straight down.

 

“For once, I agree with you. He is insane.” Ashley muttered to Anzu.

 

“How strange can he possibly get?” Honda joined in.

 

“I mean, come on! You don't exactly forget when you're hit upside the head with an axe…especially the way he was!” Jonachi said this.

 

“Well, it might've had to do with that flash of blue light…” Yugi deduced.

 

“No shit, Sherlock.” Ashley said, rolling her eyes and earning a glare from everyone in the group.

 

“What are you people talking about? What did you do to me?” Kaiba said, getting a little angry.

 

“Nothing. Just shut up and go sit back down,” Chaki said to him, holding up her axe menacingly.

 

Chaki then glanced at her watch. “One minute `til class starts!” she said, hurriedly putting her axe away.

 

The group set the desks back where they belonged, forced Kaiba to get over the whole situation, and sat in their seats. Hannah entered right before the bell rang.

 

“Where were you? You missed it!” Ashley whispered to her after class had started (she chose to wait until then).

 

“What?” Hannah asked.

 

Ashley grinned. “Oh, nothing.”

 

“Tell me!” Hannah said, stomping on Ashley's foot under the desk.

 

“Nothing happened!” Ashley said, her smile growing wider by the second.

 

The rest of class basically went the same. In the end, Hannah ended up mutilating Ashley's foot, but it was Chaki who told the story.

 

</Flashback>

 

“But didn't you say something happened before school?” Hannah asked Chaki.

 

“Jeni got a job.”

 

“Where?” Ashley asked, idly.

 

“Well…she's sort of…self-employed…”

 

“Ok. What did she do this time?” Hannah asked straight out.

 

“She decided to be `Madame Zora', one of those phony fortune-tellers you always see in carnivals.”

 

Ashley rolled her eyes. “She will never learn…”

 

“But what was the strange part?” Hannah asked. This type of thing was typical of Jeni.

 

“Well, I was walking to school with Anzu, when-”

 

“You were walking with that…that thing?!?” Hannah asked in surprise.

 

“Continuing on, we spotted Jonachi picking on Jeni in her booth…” Chaki recounted the morning's events.

 

“That's odd…as you once said, `Jeni couldn't kill a fly with the world's biggest flyswatter!'” Ashley said, wondering what had gotten in to Jeni.

 

“We'll have to ask her about that…” Hannah said.

 

“No. Let me handle it. I'm not sure how she would respond if we just said, `So, why were you acting strange this morning?'” Chaki said.

 

“Are you sure you can get something out of her?” Hannah said, her voice filled with worry for Jeni.

 

“Don't worry, ok? I'll deal with it.” Chaki said confidently, though she wasn't too sure it would work.

 

By this time, the three had reached the house. As they opened the door, the sweet aroma of Jeni's wonderful cooking reached their nostrils and tempted them into the kitchen. Jeni was standing in front of the stove, stirring some ingredients together in a saucepan as some water with noodles in it boiled in a pot.

 

“We're having angel hair pasta with Alfredo sauce,” Jeni said, reading her friends' minds. She had bought some cream from the store earlier that day and had decided to use the spices left over from when she made the spaghetti sauce the other night to make Alfredo sauce. She had decided that it would be easy to find a kind of pasta to use it on, because it wasn't like their entire pantry would disappear. (Then again, it could…this story is strange like that ^_^)

 

She drained the noodles in the sink, then put them back in the pot, where she poured on the sauce and mixed it all together. Then she heaped pasta onto each of four plates and placed three of them in front of her friends who were eagerly waiting at the table. She got them each a fork before taking her place in the open chair. They ate mostly in silence, since they were all very hungry after a long day. When they had all polished off their second servings (only Jeni was able to finish a full-sized one), they all headed off to their rooms. Ashley wanted to read more of her book, Hannah wanted to procrastinate her homework, Chaki wanted to catch up on her forums and play computer games, and Jeni wanted to do whatever she did in her spare time. As it got later, Chaki felt more and more of a need to ask Jeni about what had happened before, so she finally decided to just go.

 

There was a knock on the tower room door (there was a door at the top of the stairs as well as the closet wall). There was a massive rustling sound as Jeni quickly hid whatever she had been doing. “Who is it?” her voice floated through the door.

 

“It's Chaki. Were you expecting anyone else?”

 

“No…”

 

“Open up!”

 

“Just a second…” Footsteps were heard approaching the doorway. Chaki stood back as she heard the click of the lock unlocking. The door opened a crack and Jeni peered out.

 

“What do you want to talk to me about?” she asked.

 

“Can I come in? It would be easier to talk about it if I was in there with you.”

 

“Ok,” Jeni said, sighing. The door swung fully open, and Chaki stepped inside. Jeni sat down on the edge of the bed-pit and rested her feet on the mattress, gesturing for Chaki to do the same.

 

“Well, you see…We- I mean, I-” she decided not to tell Jeni that the other two knew about it- “was wondering…is there something wrong? After all, you were acting pretty strange this morning…”

 

Jeni sighed. She looked down at her hands, which were resting in her skirt-covered lap. She didn't know what to say. Finally, she decided to say something totally relevant- only if you could read her thoughts. “You know that short kid with the spiky hair?”

 

“You mean Yugi? What about him?” Chaki asked, surprised at what Jeni had said.

 

“Could you give me his phone number?”

 

Chaki gave her a questioning look, then decided to be nice to her. She took the slip of paper and pen that Jeni had given her (she had gone and gotten it from her desk), then wrote down the number. Jeni thankfully took the paper from her, then went over to the phone on her desk and dialed. She sunk down into the chair as tears welled up in her eyes. “I- I think you should go now,” she said in a shaky, whispered voice to Chaki.

 

Chaki, utterly confused, gave Jeni a strange look before heading out of the room and closing the door softly behind her.

 

“Hello?” Yugi's childish voice came over the receiver.

 

Just then, the tears began pouring out of Jeni's eyes. Her sobs were heard over the telephone. “I just want to be normal! Why can't I just be like everyone else?”

 

Yugi was too polite to just hang up. “Um…well, I don't know who you are, and I have homework to do…so I have to go now…”

 

“No! Don't go!” Jeni screeched. “And you wouldn't know me…just my friends…”

 

“Ok then…why did you call?” he asked, wanting desperately for his grandfather to call down for him to go to bed, even though he knew full well that he was too old for that.

 

Jeni's tears eased down to a small trickle. “I need you…to help me…we both have something in common, I'm not sure what, but I know there's something…”

 

There was an awkward silence as Jeni sniffled away her last few tears.

 

Jeni broke the silence. “What's that pendant that you always wear around your neck?”

 

“Huh? Oh, that…it's a puzzle. I put it together myself.”

 

“Where did you get it?”

 

“My grandpa found it in a tomb in Egypt. He used to be an archeologist, you know…” Yugi said fondly. He was very proud of his grandfather.

 

Jeni paused for a few seconds, thinking. “Whenever you're around her, it will be safe. Now I must go. Goodbye.”

 

“Wait! Who's she?” Yugi asked, but all he got for a response was a click on the other line as Jeni hung up.

 

Tomorrow…you'll see tomorrow… Jeni thought as she changed into her pajamas and climbed into the bed-pit.

 

 

 

“Chaki! Wake up! Time for you to get ready!”

 

Chaki opened her eyes to see two blurry blobs standing over her, shouting her name. She put on her glasses, and the blobs turned into Ashley and Hannah.

 

“Get outta bed already!” Ashley shouted, pulling Chaki by the legs out of the bed.

 

“Why the heck are you two waking me up so early in the morning and dragging me out of bed?!?” Chaki screamed, after she noticed that it was only 5:45 in the morning.

 

“To get you ready for the contest, of course!” Hannah said, grinning widely at Chaki. “What're you wearing?”

 

“Contest? What contest?”

 

“The Miss Domino High contest, of course!”

 

“Ashley!!! Hannah!!!”

 

“What?” Ashley said innocently.

 

“We didn't sign you up! We just saw your name on the list! I swear!” This was Hannah.

 

Chaki sighed. “Then who did?”

 

“We thought you did!” Ashley said, surprised.

 

Chaki sat up and fell silent for a moment, deep in thought. When she finally figured out who it was, her face slowly turned red. “I'll kill him!!!” she shouted, jumping out of bed and pulling out her trans dimensional axe.

 

“Chaki! Calm down!!! There's no guys in the household, so I don't think you'll find whoever here!” Hannah said, gently pushing Chaki's axe down so that it was pointing at the floor.

 

“And besides, you wouldn't want to waste too much energy. Gotta look good for the contest!” Ashley said, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

 

“I am not going to be in that contest!!!” Chaki shouted, swinging her axe up over her shoulder again.

 

“Chaki, calm…” Hannah said, bringing Chaki's axe back down again and sitting her down on the bed. “Breathe…”

 

Chaki sighed, putting away her axe. She returned to her normal, calm, intellectual self in a matter of seconds. “Well, I guess I'm just going to have to tell the judges…” Chaki grumbled. “I'm still going to kill him…”

 

“By the way, who was it?”

 

Chaki smirked, getting up off the bed and grabbing her uniform out of her closet (Jeni does laundry every night!). “That's for me to know and you to find out,” she said, laying her uniform on the bed and pushing Ashley and Hannah out of her room so she could change. (After all, this is her room…)

 

“Who?” Hannah asked, more intrigued by the way Chaki answered. The door was closed in her face. “Well, we better get ready for school,” she said, sighing and heading to her room.

 

“I get the bathroom first!” Ashley yelled, running down the hall.

 

“Not if I can help it!” Hannah said, shoving Ashley into the wall and running forward.

 

“Keep it down! You're going to kill the bacon!” Jeni shouted up from the kitchen.

 

“Bacon?!?” both girls shouted, before shoving their way into the bathroom and getting ready as quickly as an average teenage girl can.

 

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“Hey, wait up!” Chaki called, waving one arm as she clutched her laptop with the other. She had just spotted Anzu and Yugi walking to school together, and wanted to walk with them.

 

“Hi Chaki,” Yugi said when she had caught up to them.

 

“So, where's the bitch squad? Late for school again?” Anzu asked, earning a slight glare from Chaki.

 

“We're early, so they'll probably be fine,” she said. Then she turned to Yugi. “So, what happened with you and Jeni on the phone last night?”

 

“Jeni?” Yugi asked, confused. “Oh, you mean her…how do you know her?”

 

“I…um…moved here with her, Ashley, and Hannah. I was trying to talk to her about yesterday morning, because she was acting strange, and she demanded your phone number, then kicked me out.” She sighed. “I don't know what's up with her lately. There's something she's hiding, I know it!”

 

“Well, when I first answered the phone, she was crying her eyes out, wailing `I want to be normal!' or something like that. Then, when I tried to hang up, she yelled at me to stay and said that her friends know me.”

 

“She meant me, Ashley, and Hannah, probably.” Chaki said, thinking out loud as Yugi recapped the conversation.

 

“Then I asked why she called and she stopped crying, asking me to help her and saying we both have something in common, but she didn't know what…then she asked about this,” he said, holding up the gold pendant he always wore around his neck.

 

“What did you say?” Anzu said, starting to get interested in the situation.

 

“I told her how my grandfather found it in Egypt and how I put it together. The last thing she said before she hung up was `Whenever you're around her, it will be safe.' Any idea what that means?”

 

“It could only mean one thing,” Chaki said.

 

“What?” both Anzu and Yugi said, hanging on her every word.

 

“We need more information.”

 

“Hey,” came a voice from behind them. They turned around to see Honda, who quickly fell in step with them. “Have any of you seen Jonachi?”

 

“He went to school early today.” Yugi said. “Remember? Oh yea, you weren't there…”

 

“What happened?” Honda asked.

 

“He signed up for the contest!”

 

“He what?!?” This came from everyone in the group.

 

“Oh boy, I'm gonna have fun with this!” Honda muttered, smirking. “Good thing I have my camera…”

 

Chaki smirked as well. “Predictable,” she whispered, so no one could hear.

 

“Only Jonachi, only Jonachi.” Anzu mumbled, shaking her head in disbelief.

 

“He seemed really enthusiastic about it. He almost beat up the sign-up person when he said `No', `cause he's a guy and all…” Yugi continued.

 

“Sounds just like him. Never happy with being normal, is he?” Anzu said, rolling her eyes.

 

At this point, the four friends had reached the school. Anzu saw a pretty girl with purplish-blue eyes and long, blue hair by her locker, and, recognizing this girl as her friend Miho, decided to go talk to her. “Well, I gotta go talk to Miho! See you later!” she said, turning back for a brief moment to wave goodbye.

 

“Good luck!” both Chaki and Yugi called.

 

“Sorry, but Anzu's not gonna win,” Honda said, smirking.

 

“Why not?” Chaki said defensively.

 

“Miho is,” he said, sighing as he stared at her while she talked to Anzu.

 

“Hey! What about me?” Jonachi said, glaring at Honda as he stepped in the path of his gaze.

 

“Not a chance,” Honda, Yugi, and Chaki all said at once, and Honda pushed him aside so he could stare at Miho some more.

 

“Some friends you are,” Jonachi muttered, storming off angrily.

 

Chaki and Yugi looked at each other.

 

“Wanna go sit down?” Yugi said.

 

“Yes. Then we can get really good seats. As they say, first come first serve!” Chaki responded.

 

“I want a seat right in the front row!” Yugi said enthusiastically.

 

“What are we waiting for? The sooner the better! Let's go!” Chaki said, grabbing Yugi by the wrist and dragging him off.

 

“Wait! I gotta go to my locker and get my sign!” Yugi said, pulling himself free and running to his cubby-like locker who's door was sticking up from the size of the sign. It was a light blue sign with red lettering saying, `Go Anzu! You can do it!' on it. He pulled the sign out then ran into the auditorium with Chaki. They found seats right at the front where many of the Anzu supporters were already collected with signs identical to Yugi's, but luckily, there were two open seats right up in the front.

 

Chaki scanned the room for signs of her other two friends. So far, the supporters of the other two contestants (not counting Jonachi) were collecting in groups. The Miho-supporter group was made up of mostly boys, and they were all wearing yellow sashes with green lettering stating, `The prettiest girl in Domino High! She's sure to win! Miho!'. Honda was already standing at the front of the group and leading some cheers. The other major group was for Kimankuji Kaoruka, a red-headed girl with blue eyes who was also very popular. A mixed group between her henchwomen and boys, most people were wearing red bands around their heads that said `The prettiest, the smartest, the best! Root for Kimankuji!' in blue. A chunky boy with a mop of purple was sitting in the front, glaring at Honda, and after a minute or two decided to take action. He got up in front of all the Kimankuji fans and started to lead cheers of his own.

 

Hannah and Ashley wandered in.

 

“You'd think this was a football game, wouldn't you?” Hannah said, rolling her eyes at all the cheering fans as she and Ashley took their seats.

 

“Or a baseball game,” Ashley said, grinning.

 

Hannah immediately caught on. “Yankees.” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

 

“Red Sox.” Ashley responded.

 

“Yankees.”

 

“Red Sox.”

 

“Yankees.”

 

“Red Sox.”

 

“Yankees.”

 

“Red Sox.”

 

“Yankees.”

 

“Ok. There's only one way to settle this.” Ashley said, standing up on her chair.

 

“Who here likes the Red Sox?” Ashley shouted.

 

The room grew silent, and everyone stared at her.

 

“Uh…the Boston baseball team…you know, the Boston Red Sox…”

 

This was answered by more blank stares.

 

“Um…it's an American team?” she said, hoping more people would understand.

 

Everyone started to boo Ashley.

 

“You suck!” one person shouted.

 

“Everyone knows Japan's ten million times better than America,” another person yelled.

 

Ashley jumped off her chair and sank back into it, completely embarrassed. Hannah sniggered.

 

“Well, it wasn't exactly like they were rooting for your team either,” Ashley snapped.

 

Hannah sighed and turned her attention to the stage.

 

And just in time, too.

 

While everyone had been rioting about baseball, Jonachi had made his way up the aisle and had climbed on stage. Now that things had quieted down, this was noticed.

 

“Now I have to admit, Anzu, Kimankuji, and Miho are pretty good competition…” he began in a loud voice, so the rest of the crowd would hear.

 

Everyone now fell silent to listen.

 

“…but, of course, none of them will win. Because the winner will obviously be…” he took a dramatic pause before throwing his hands into the air and shouting, “Jonachi Katsuya!”

 

There was a dead silence while everybody processed what he had just said before people started to throw their empty soda cans at him (they had already started in on their refreshments). Luckily, he stormed off the stage before this progressed into full soda cans.

 

“No one appreciates a good contestant when they see one,” he grumbled, plopping down next to Yugi, who smiled at the fact that his friend wasn't mad anymore.

 

“You're gonna be in the contest?!?” Hannah retorted from her seat behind Chaki, hoping it wasn't true.

 

Jonachi glared at her.

 

“Oh great, now we all get to get scarred for life,” Ashley mumbled. Luckily, he didn't hear her.

 

“Well, I have to go get ready, wanna look good for the big contest!” Jonachi said, getting up. “See ya!” he said, heading off towards the back of the auditorium.

 

After waving Jonachi goodbye, Yugi decided to get some Anzu cheers started. He stood up and waved his sign, calling out to all the Anzu fans in his squeaky little voice and getting them to cheer. Chaki joined in, but Hannah and Ashley just sat there, rolling their eyes.

 

Just then, a geeky-looking guy with blue-green hair and Harry Potter glasses came on to the left side of the stage, holding a microphone. Everyone settled down and sat in their seats, waiting for him to officially start the contest.

 

“Hello,” he began, “and welcome to the first annual Miss Domino High beauty contest! The following contestants will be competing to see who will get the coveted title of Miss Domino High, the most beautiful girl in school! Without further adieu, I would like to welcome Kimankuji Kaoruka!” He held his right arm out towards center stage, where a spotlight appeared, revealing the redhead in her school uniform.

 

A roaring applause came from the section with her supporters.

 

After they quieted down, the announcer began again. “Entering number two, Jonachi Katsuya!” He once again gestured towards the center of the stage, this time to Jonachi, who started cheering for himself. Everyone else just glared, so he moped off the stage.

 

Right away, the announcer started again. “Entering number three, Masaki Anzu!” She gave a little curtsey when the lights came up on her.

 

Wild cheers came from the Anzu fans, with Yugi and Chaki leading them. “Anzu! Anzu!” Yugi cried, waving his sign. Anzu turned and waved right at him.

 

“Entering number four, Nozaka Miho!” She stood there smiling rather shyly.

 

Honda screamed his head off, waving his arms and blushing like mad.

 

“And finally, entering number five, our newest student who just transferred from Egypt, Tamenkh Kanika!” The crowd was filled with anxious mutters as they awaited this strange change in the program. When she finally appeared, everyone just stared for a little while, but not as they did when Jonachi got onto the stage. This was a different kind of staring, the kind when the new student asks to sit with you at lunch or when you first meet your best friend's older brother.

 

She was unlike anyone any of them had seen. Well, almost anyone. Her long, golden brown hair hung down around her waist and was brushed so well that it glowed softly from the stage lights. She had pale skin and was tall, extremely thin, and very shapely. She had a small nose, thick lips that looked as if they had the perfect shade of lipstick, and a face that was round yet oval at the same time. In fact, the only part that really looked Egyptian about her was her eyes, and they were even too light. They were an icy blue that told you there was more to know about her than you could ever get from the surface, yet kept it all hidden from sight. But their shape was certainly Egyptian, where if you drew a line down the sides of her nose and where her sleep lines sprouted out from the corners closest to the bridge of her nose, it would look like the Egyptian eye symbol (which can be divided into sections that they use as fractions- random fact!). They were surrounded with long, thick, black eyelashes that would never need mascara. However, as a major flaw, her eyebrows that hung above her eyes were thick and dark, contrasting deeply with her hair color. However, her hair color was so unique that no one challenged that it was her natural color.

 

A small, quiet cheer began to come from the boys, getting slightly louder before the true fans of the other candidates glared at those cheering.

 

The announcer waited until she had cleared off, then began speaking again. “Now we'll move on to the `Best Dressed' division! In this section, each contestant will be wearing her own individual outfit. A selection of music chosen to fit the style of their outfit will be played in the background. Contestants will be judged on their outfit, their music, their entrance, and how well it all ties together. Now, may the second segment begin! Entering number one, Kimankuji Kaoruka!”

 

Some boards on the floor of the stage slid aside to reveal a large square hole. Traditional Japanese music played in the background as a platform slowly rose from underneath the stage with Kimankuji on it, being followed by the spotlight. Her face and neck (the only exposed skin) were painted white, and her lips a dark red color. She was wearing an elaborately styled black wig complete with about half a dozen sets of decorative chopsticks. She was wearing a beautiful traditional kimono, modernized with its pink, red, and purple cloth embroidered with delicate but uniquely colored designs. She wore tiny pink slippers on her feet that baffled the mind when one compared the size of the feet to the mass above it (including the wig, since it seemed to weigh a lot).

 

A tremendous applause came from the Kimankuji fan section, with the purple-haired boy the loudest. Another boy cheered slightly louder than him, so he screamed at him then turned back towards the stage and continued to yell to Kimankuji.

 

Even some of the Miho fans had begun to cheer. Honda sat there glaring at the purple-haired boy and shrugged, mouthing off on how Miho was so much better than Kimankuji.

 

And as for Yugi and Chaki…they were saving their voices for when Anzu came on again.

 

The curtains closed, and Kimankuji's friends ran backstage to help her off.

 

“Entering number two, Jonachi Katsuya!”

 

Face turned away from the crowd, a curvy female figure wearing a short lavender dress and red high-heels with short wavy blonde hair walked onstage from the opposite side of the stage, with the appropriate music playing in the background. Once on center stage, the face turned towards the crowd to reveal Jonachi trying to look as feminine as possible, with bright red lipstick and a red dot in the center of each cheek, along with a disgusting mass of green eyeshadow over his eyes.

 

There was a dead silence in the room. Everyone stared at Jonachi, not believing what they were seeing.

 

Hannah and Ashley, the two trouble makers, decided to break the silence and get on with the insults. Hannah yelled “You suck!” while Ashley threw her empty soda can at him.

 

The rest of the crowd followed suit, booing and jeering as they threw random objects at him. He started getting really angry, loosing what little girlish style he had had when he walked onto the stage.

 

Finally, Ashley threw the piece de resistance at him, a pie she had found on her seat (odd things are left on seats in auditoriums). The pie hit him square in the face.

 

At this point, Jonachi had had quite enough. He pulled the pie off his face, ripped the wig (yes the wavy hair was a wig) off his head, then leaped out into the audience (looking like an odd version of Superwoman) and began to beat up the people who had made fun of him. His fights were getting closer and closer to Ashley and Hannah, when suddenly, a voice came over the speakers. It was the announcer.

 

“I have just received notice that Jonachi Katsuya is now disqualified.”

 

Jonachi stopped in mid-punch. “Disqualified?” he squeaked, letting his victim drop. He slowly made his way out of the auditorium with a shameful and disappointed look on his face.

 

As soon as everyone settled down and sat back in their seats (and they had cleaned off the stage), the contest began once again.

 

“Entering number three, Masaki Anzu!”

 

Anzu came bouncing onto the stage, wearing a casual outfit: a loose, sleeveless, bright pink crop top and denim short shorts, along with pink tennis shoes, yellow socks, a bracelet on each wrist, and a huge smile on her face. Her arms were spread out wide as she welcomed the many cheers from her fans…which turned into an awed silence from them and boos from the other contestants' supporters. For the music that was playing was not the music she had chosen out, but the Japanese cultural equivalent to the Barney song. As soon as Anzu realized this, she blushed embarrassedly and ran off the stage.

 

“Anzu?” Yugi called after her, but all the booing drowned it out.

 

“I hope she's alright,” Chaki said quietly to him.

 

“Entering number four, Nozaka Miho!”

 

The curtain opened to reveal Miho in a sickeningly cute, baby pink outfit. She curtsied and smiled, blushing as her fans cheered loudly (especially Honda). The song in the background was `Let Me Be With You' (I guessed the title), also known as the Chobits theme song.

 

“Entering number five, Tamenkh Kanika!”

 

A hissing noise began, and smoke from a smoke machine hidden on either side of the stage furled across the empty floorboards. The smoke spread out to cover the whole stage and crept around the edges of the open curtain and onto the apron, reaching towards the audience. It curled upwards, stacking on top of itself and eventually reaching a height of about 6 feet. All of a sudden, the hissing stopped and the smoke began its slow descent to the ground.

 

A dark figure appeared at the far end of the stage, details hidden by the smoke. As it came closer, it became clear that it was a female figure wearing something rather odd. Finally, Kanika appeared on the apron of the stage, out of the mist and in the clear view of the audience.

 

She was wearing a white, one-armed dress similar to a toga and lots of golden jewelry, as well as a large amount of makeup. The jewelry included a fancy-looking armband on her left arm (the side of the dress with no arm) and several gold bangles, rings, and anklets, along with the crown jewels, an elaborately decorated headdress and one of those Egyptian necklaces that looked more like a collar than a necklace, for its size. As for the makeup, this included red markings on the palms of her hands and the soles of her bare feet, red blush on her cheeks (though not tacky like Jonachi's), blood red lipstick, and heavy black eyeliner surrounding her eyes and extending the outer corners. She looked positively Egyptian.

 

While all this had gone on, the song `Desert Rose' by Sting had been playing in the background. Now she started to do a little Egyptian sort of dance.

 

This was a short version of the song, so soon it was over and she was backing into the remaining smoke. People clapped lightly, sort of fazed by the oddity of her presentation (or perhaps just delirious from the smoke).

 

The judge wasted no time in moving on. “Now we move on to the talent division! In this section, each girl will perform the talent she thinks portrays her talent best. She will be judged on execution of the talent and how well her talent, costume, and (where applicable) song tie together well. I will take this time to remind you that this competition has been narrowed down to three contestants. And now, entering number one, Kimankuji Kaoruka!”

 

A large object slowly descended from the ceiling, revealing itself as a closed grand piano with none other than Kimankuji herself atop it wearing a very slutty black and gold outfit along with a top hat and black character shoes. She held a microphone, as her talent was singing, and the piano served as a drama prop (though it was real). A song called `You wanna pet me right?' by Yuji Yoshino and Yoko Ueno with lyrics `by her' (she probably hired someone to write them for her). The song started out very…fitting to the whole atmosphere, but it got kind of goofy in the middle, and ended up happy. However, the lyrics the whole time sounded just as perverted as the title.

 

Most of the boys cheered after this talent, including (to Honda's dismay) most of the Miho fans. Eventually, the cheering died down.

 

“Entering number two, Nozaka Miho!”

 

Miho entered the stage wearing a cute red white and blue costume that was obviously made for nothing but performing. She held a silver baton in her hand, and went out to center stage, facing backwards until her music started. It was very cheesy music, the kind that only fits with this. She did a very good job with her baton work though, which half made up for the cheesiness of the entire thing.

 

“Entering number three, Tamenkh Kanika!”

 

Kanika walked onto the stage as if she was some sort of Barbie doll. She indeed looked like one, wearing a pink sundress with a long slit and a pink sunhat, along with a pair of pink high-heels that matched the outfit perfectly. To confirm this, the Barbie song began playing, and she sang the part of none other than Barbie. “I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world!/Life in plastic is fantastic!/You can brush my hair, undress me anywhere;/Imagination, life is your creation!” she sang in a Barbie-like voice. The Ken voice played from the speakers, since she didn't know anyone who could sing as him, and she couldn't exactly change her voice to fit his.

 

About halfway through the song, her microphone `randomly' shut off. It was at the part where Barbie was telling Ken how she was having such a great time, which was the only part where Kanika hadn't edited Barbie's voice out.

 

People started booing, thinking she had lip-sung the whole thing, but she ignored them and waited for the singing to start again. When it did, she sang as loud as she could and proved that she hadn't lip-sung a word the entire time, but had actually sung. While she sang, she made her way over to the announcer, where she snatched the microphone from his hands and began singing into it. By the time the song finished, most people were clapping at her brilliant save. She ended up throwing her sunhat into the audience where some random guys fought over it, though disappointed that it wasn't some…other article of clothing.

 

“And this concludes the talent segment of the competition. Next up is the bathing suit competition, but in the mean time, a 15 minute intermission! Remember, afterward, don't come here, go to the pool! Class 3-D will be selling refreshments in the-” At this time, the announcer was cut off by the roar of everyone bustling out of the auditorium and talking loudly as they went. They had started to get up when he said '15 minute intermission', and everyone (but the truly hungry people) had stopped listening after `pool'.

 

“I shouldn't've thrown that pie…” Ashley groaned, rubbing her stomach. “Well actually…I'm glad I did. But anyways…where did he say the refreshments were?” She stood up and stretched as she said this to Hannah.

 

“I don't know…” Hannah replied, also standing up.

 

“I must eat! Let's go!” Ashley grabbed Hannah by the wrist and dragged her out of the auditorium, shoving her way through the crowd in her quest for food.

 

“Where's Anzu? She should be out by now…” Chaki said, scanning the crowd.

 

“I think we should go look for her…” Yugi said.

 

They made their way through the crowd, careful not to get separated. They began their search, everything turning up negative. Then they came to one of the spots that she was highly likely to be in but they couldn't look in together: the girl's locker room.

 

“Wait here,” Chaki said, heading in. She hoped Jonachi hadn't influenced him too much and trusted that he wouldn't do anything perverted. “Anzu?” she called, peeking between the rows of lockers.

 

“Over here,” Anzu called, waving her hand so Chaki could pick out her location.

 

Chaki made her way over to the hand, finding Anzu talking with Miho.

 

“Hey Chaki,” Anzu said.

 

“Are you ok?” Chaki asked.

 

Anzu smiled. “I'm fine,” she said. “But I'm going to stay here, with Miho. You know…moral support…is that ok?”

 

“Fine with me.” Chaki smiled back. “Good luck Miho!” she said, before leaving the locker room to find that Yugi had been a good little boy and stayed in place. “She's fine, but she wants to stay with Miho as moral support,” Chaki relayed.

 

“Ok,” Yugi said smiling, but with a hint of disappointment/sorrow in his voice.

 

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

 

“Settle down, settle down!” the announcer called out, hushing the many students sitting by the poolside. “It appears that most of you have arrived, so now it is time to start the swimsuit segment! The three contestants will be judged on their…”

 

“I can't believe they disqualified,” Jonachi said disappointedly, plopping down next to Yugi.

 

“Oh, hey Jonachi!” he said, smiling. He was glad his friend wasn't mad anymore. Then he looked around, seeing who was missing. “Where're Ashley and Hannah?” Yugi whispered,.

 

“Probably still looking for food…” Chaki said, rolling her eyes. “Those two…”

 

“…entering number one, Kimankuji Kaoruka!”

 

She came on wearing a yellow cape and deep red high heels. She pulled off the cape to reveal an extremely slutty bikini that matched her shoes. She grinned smugly as a wild cheer came from most of the guys, including those in all other parties.

 

Honda stood in front of the Miho fans, stretching out his arms and blocking them. “Come on! Miho will look 10,000,000 times better than her!” he yelled at them, glaring at Jonachi who had joined in looking in bad places.

 

“Entering number two, Nozaka Miho!”

 

There was a long pause. Everyone looked around for Miho, but she wasn't there. A murmur spread through the crowd.

 

“Nozaka Miho?” the announcer called again, but there was no response.

 

The murmurs became louder.

 

“My poor Miho!” Honda cried, but not loud enough for everyone to hear.

 

“Don't worry, I'm sure she'll turn up!” Yugi said, smiling.

 

The announcer gave one final attempt at getting her out there. “Nozaka Miho! This is your last call! If you don't come out now, you will be disqualified from the contest!”

 

There was an awkward pause with bated breaths. Then a murmur began to spread throughout the crowd. “Isn't that her?” someone said, pointing at the diving board.

 

And indeed, it was Miho. She was wearing a green mermaid tail and two large pink seashells tied together to create a top. She climbed the ladder with invisible feet and walked across the diving board to the edge, where she smiled as she slowly spun around.

 

“Miho-chan! Miho-chan!” Honda called, blushing and waving his arms around to get her to notice him.

 

“Go Miho!” Yugi and Chaki called simultaneously.

 

Miho smiled at the loud cheers from her adoring fans, before the announcer moved on.

 

“Entering number three, Tamenkh Kanika!”

 

Kanika walked around the edge of the pool wearing a black bikini and a black sarong, along with a matching pair of black high-heeled strappy sandals. She walked over to Kimankuji to many cheers and whistles. When she got to the other contestant, she gave her a small smirk, then began surveying the audience. She scanned the crowd until she spotted Yugi, and on Yugi, his gold pendant. She noticed Yugi staring at it and didn't want to look suspicious, so she looked around him for another target and found the perfect one. Jonachi was doing disgusting things in his mind, so she decided to take advantage of that. She gave him a flirty little wave and winked. The result was a perfect distraction for her, causing Yugi to stop thinking about her staring at his pendant and start focusing on his friend who had just practically fainted.

 

Chaki was considering taking Anzu's job of smacking Jonachi upside the head for being perverted, but she decided not to, mostly because Honda was doing so, several times in a row.

 

“That concludes the bathing suit segment. Everyone who wishes to watch the rest of the contest should assemble in the auditorium immediately.” The announcer walked off the stage.

 

The crowd once again roared into action as they stood up to file into the auditorium. Jonachi ran to catch up to Kanika, but she disappeared into the crowd, quite to his dismay. Honda grabbed him by the ear and dragged him into the auditorium, while Chaki scanned the crowd for Ashley and Hannah. By the time she found them, they were already seated in the auditorium. She and Yugi sat down with them, and Honda dragged Jonachi over to the Miho fan group and forced a Miho sash around him.

 

The crowd was restless as they waited for the final segment to start. All of the sudden, Anzu crept into the auditorium and over to Yugi. “Miho's gone!” she whispered.

 

Yugi's eyes widened, and he immediately got up and followed her out of the auditorium. Chaki watched him go, a satisfied smile on her face, for a reason no one would ever know.

 

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

 

Kanika opened the locker she had claimed and her jaw dropped. Instead of the straight black dress with long sleeves that she was expecting to see, she found a no-sleeved dress with a skirt that ended six inches above the knees and a ripped collar. It was obvious that someone had tried to deface her dress. Well, I'll just have to show them up! she thought, dawning the dress and the sleeves that were lying at the bottom if her locker. She also put on the shoes from the swimsuit part, then examined herself in a mirror before deciding this was just how she was going to go out there.

 

She headed down the hall to the backstage, then headed across to the side that all three contestants were going to walk on from. Then she heard a voice. It was very calm, cool, and collected, the kind of voice that sounded stupid if you talked about things like the weather in it. However, this boy was far from casual conversation. He was talking to Kimankuji, saying something about how he knew what she did and challenging her to some kind of game. Kanika hid behind a fly curtain and peeked around, watching what they did.

 

The boy (who looked exactly like Yugi to her) and Kimankuji were facing each other. He was holding out a bouquet of roses. They took turn pulling out roses and throwing them on the floor. Soon there were only five left. Kimankuji smirked and pulled out four of the remaining five flowers, laughing as if she had won something. Then the boy looked up at Kimankuji's hair and pulled out the rose she had used to decorate it, smirking. She dropped the remaining rose out of her hand, glaring at him.

 

“Penalty shadow game,” Kanika heard the boy say loud and clear.

 

Kimankuji rushed over to the mirror and looked at her reflection, horrified. Kanika noticed nothing, but watched the boy walk over to her and mutter something into her ear. He disappeared, just as the announcer's voice was heard over the loudspeaker.

 

“And the winner of the Miss Domino High contest is…” he paused dramatically, as everyone sat on the edges of their seats in anticipation “Kimankuji Kaoruka!” The curtains opened to reveal Kimankuji with each arm entwined in a rope. She pulled the ropes down, and a large bucket of water spilled out on her head. People sniggered as she exited the stage, the falling confetti that was supposed to be for the winner sticking in her wet hair.

 

The announcer cleared his throat and leaned into the microphone again. “And the real winner of the first and last annual Miss Domino High contest is Tamenkh Kanika!”

 

Kanika walked onto the stage, smiling a smirky smile. She walked across the stage, waving at the semi-cheering crowd, as she headed over to the announcer, who handed her a Miss Domino High sash, a cheap plastic crown, and a bouquet of fake roses for pictures. She walked back out to center stage and smiled cheesily while waving for any pictures being taken.

 

As soon as the crowd began to disperse, Kanika jumped off the stage and headed towards Chaki, Ashley, and Hannah, who were soon joined by Anzu and Jonachi.

 

“Have any of you seen the short boy with the spiky hair?” Kanika said, in an accent that was obviously not Egyptian.

 

Jonachi stared in all the wrong places, which she tried to ignore, while Chaki got right to the point. “Haven't seen him in a while. Anzu, do you know where he is?”

 

“I haven't seen him either,” she said, craning her neck over the crowd to look for him. “Oh- there he is!” she said, waving her harm at him. Because of his height, he wasn't visible until he squeezed his way over to the group. “Hello,” he said, smiling at his friends.

 

“Hello, I'm Kanika,” she said, sticking out her hand to shake. She continued on without waiting for him to shake it. “I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment…” She grabbed him by the arm and gently tugged him away from the group and the people now draining out of the auditorium. She pinned him against the wall.

 

“Look. This is important. I need to know what that pendant of yours does. I can tell it has some sort of power, I just need to know what it is, ok?”

 

He squirmed out of her grip and stepped aside. “I don't know…” he said. She could tell he was wondering about her honesty.

 

“I won't tell anyone, I swear! I just need to know this. It's a life or…well…life or life matter. I know you probably wouldn't understand, but this would mean the world to someone who's very important to me…” She looked down at the floor, a depressed look on her face.

 

Yugi sighed. “Ok. But you won't tell anyone, even this person?”

 

“No,” Kanika said. And she was telling the truth.

 

“Ok.” He sighed again. “Well, there's this…spirit inside of it, that comes out at certain times. I can't control when he comes out, but it's usually when my friends are in danger. I know it sounds weird, but it's the truth, ok?”

 

Kanika looked up at him. She wasn't smiling, but she had a truly grateful look on her face. “Thank you,” she whispered, before bowing to him and moving swiftly away.

 

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“Did you notice anything particularly unusual about her behavior, other than the violence?”

 

Anzu and Chaki were walking home. They had tired out talk about the contest, so they were on to their new favorite subject: Jeni.

 

“Well, her voice was slightly…deeper than usual. It had a more violent flare to it.” Chaki responded to Anzu's question.

 

“Anything else?” Anzu didn't know much about Jeni, and she was trying to be as helpful as possible by interrogating Chaki.

 

“Not really…”

 

Both girls fell into silence, thinking hard about the situation at hand.

 

Finally they arrived at the mansion that Chaki, Ashley, Hannah and Jeni were staying in. “Well, see you later,” she said, heading up the steps to the front door. “I'll tell you if I notice anything else.”

 

But there was nothing unusual about Jeni that night. No, she was normal as usual, worrying (or rather, fretting) about the late arrival of Hannah and Ashley, making sure they weren't missing work, cooking, cleaning, and sending them off to bed, just as a mother would.