Tiny beads of sweat began to form on Mikomi’s brow. He knew he had been caught in a lie and now he had to act quickly to find a way out of this. Mikomi had previously stated that he often overthought things but this time, he didn’t think things through clearly enough. The golden opportunity of having his father home caused him to make an irrational judgment which, in turn, made him make an irrational move. Now, he had been caught in the proverbial web… one that he spun himself.

“I guess I can try and stick with my original story and see where it goes…”

“It was in the mailbox when I came…”

“No it wasn't,” said Karoline, cutting Mikomi off. “A mother always worries about her children when they’re out on the streets at night. I was sitting in the living room, looking out the window waiting for you to come home. You never opened the mailbox. You just came straight up the walkway and through the front door. Once I saw you home safe, I went to the restroom to freshen up for the evening. By the time I got into the restroom, I had heard you open and close the front door so even if you got it out of the mailbox, you didn’t have enough time to go back and grab it.”

“DAMN! I just got busted hard. Now that I’m caught in a lie, I need to come up with another to try and erase this. I’m usually a quick thinker but not this quick. I need to stall for some time to develop a convincing story. The longer I talk to myself, the more my mom will suspect that I’m coming up with another lie. I need to play this just right and to do that, I need to make a very bold statement.”

“I wrote it myself.”

Mikomi’s mother folded her arms and shot him a “really?” look.

“Mikomi. It’s not nice to cover a lie with another. What are you hiding from me?”

“Just as I suspected. While I know the truth, there is nobody in their right mind who would believe that a 14-year-old boy would write such a comprehensive letter like that but at least it gave me time to think and because of that, I believe I’ve thought of something even more perfect but it’s going to cause some worry. If it does, so be it. It’s time to turn Father’s suspicions into the perfect cover story… with a little help from an invisible friend”

“I’m sorry… I lied because if I told you the truth, you might get worried. A man approached me. He was wearing a white suit with a blue dress shirt. He approached me at school and asked if I was Ryunosuke Saigo’s son. I said yes and he told me to give my father this letter but not to say who it came from. I didn’t know who this guy was but it’s obvious that he’s not a bad guy. I mean, he did give Father the answer he was looking for.”

“Do you remember anything else about this man?”

“I remember he had blonde hair and blue eyes and spoke with an English accent and, for some reason, he had this gold walking cane with him but he didn’t have a limp or anything. It’s like he enjoyed carrying it around but that’s all. He gave me the letter and then just walked away. I haven’t seen him since.”

Mikomi waited to see if his mother bought the new lie. She looked a bit worried but she let out a heavy sigh.

“I won’t tell your father because if he found out that a stranger came up to you, especially at school, he wouldn’t rest until he hunted him down. I don’t know who it is you’re describing because that doesn’t sound like anyone at your father’s company.”

Karoline continued to think about who it could have been, but she couldn’t come up with anybody in particular. She shook her head to snap herself out of thought.

Okay… that’s enough. Get your butt to bed. You have school tomorrow and just to be safe, I’m bringing you.”

“Okay.”

“She bought it! Phew! Sorry, Sebastian but you were my ticket out of this mess. Now I just have to worry about my mom thinking some stalker is after me. I guess it’s a small price to pay to get out of this situation.”

Mikomi went back into his room and climbed into bed. He pulled the covers over his head and heard the water stop running from the bathroom. After a few moments, the lingering scent of his father’s cologne filled the house. He hadn’t fallen asleep yet as he could hear his parents talking in the living room.

“Is Mikomi back in bed?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. I’m going to head back to the office and get to work on this straight away! This has me pumped up!! I just really wish I knew who wrote this letter.”

Mikomi heard his father’s footsteps head towards the door and then they stopped.

“Wait… did Mikomi say he walked a girl home?”

Mikomi’s eyes snapped wide open. You could practically see the beads of sweat form and roll down his forehead.

“Yeah, she’s a very nice girl. Kind of looks like she could be Mikomi’s sister.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Ah-ha! That’s my boy!”

With that, his father left to head back to work. Mikomi groaned and pulled the blanket straight over his head. The morning came much faster after that. Mikomi was awoken by his alarm clock, which was a rarity. He typically beat the alarm every morning but last night’s fiasco caused his internal clock to get messed up. Mikomi dragged himself out of bed and went into the bathroom. As soon as he closed the door, Sebastian appeared on the edge of the tub.

“Morning, my dear Mikomi.”

Mikomi didn’t yell but he did jump back from the shock of him just materializing like that.

“Jeez… don’t do that… and why are we always meeting in the bathroom… are you a perv or something?”

“Convenience, I suppose but I came here to say bravo, good show, and all that. Using me as a scapegoat to cover up the fact that you almost got caught was simply marvelous… just… make sure not to do it again. Remember, Mikomi. I am a mere observer. If I have to materialize in front of others for the sake of bailing you out, that means I will have direct involvement with you and that is heavily against the rules. I cannot assist in the reshaping of your future. I can guide you, and I can provide you with information but I cannot assist you. Just keep that in mind the next time you decide to drag me into this.”

“Yeah… sorry. I tried to think but that was the best thing I could come up with.”

“All good and proper, lad. Now, I’ll be seeing myself off.”

“Wait…”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

“What about that other information you wanted to tell me? You said I wasn’t ready for it before.”

“I’m afraid you’re still not ready. Trust me. When the time is right, I shall reveal it to you. Now then… off I go now.”

With a quick nod, Sebastian disappeared into thin air once again. Mikomi was wasting time and needed to shower quickly so his mother could bring him to school. Mikomi finished getting ready and double-checked everything before heading out. His mom already had the car running so he hopped in. A few moments later they arrived in front of the school. His mom kissed him on the cheek and then sent him on his way.

Mikomi walked in through the school gates where he noticed Ryan standing outside, looking around. Mikomi groaned because he knew that if Ryan saw him, he would scream his name, run up and jump all over him. It’s bad enough that he did it in front of his house every day but to do it in front of the entire school… would be more embarrassing than misspeaking in front of an entire conference call of shareholders!

Luckily, Mikomi knew that the school had a rear entrance and quickly circled to the back of the building. When Mikomi rounded the corner, he dodged one person he knew but not another. Standing there up against the school building, reading her book was Serah! She seemed a bit engrossed by her book so Mikomi took the chance to walk into the building, hoping she wouldn’t see him but as he went to enter the door…

“Mikomi…”

Her voice was as soft and gentle as usual. It was quiet enough to where Mikomi could probably ignore it and just keep going but the voice inside his head made him stop and turn around.

“Ah, good morning Serah. I’m sorry, I was in a bit of a rush and didn’t see you there.”

“I totally saw you there.”

Serah simply reached into her back pocket and pulled out an envelope. She stretched her hand out towards Mikomi, offering the envelope to him. The longer she held it out there, the more her hand began to quiver. Mikomi took a couple of steps forward and took it from her. He went to open it, but Serah spoke out.

“No… open it later… please?”

Serah pulled the book up to her face to hide her expression.

“Uh.. sure. Okay.’

Mikomi swung his bookbag around and placed the letter inside it. Serah then used her free hand to shoo Mikomi away. Mikomi backed away slowly and entered the school building. He became lost in thought on his way to homeroom.

“She has trouble talking to me but dares to shoo me away? What was with that letter anyway? I’ll probably read it later. After all, I’ve had my fill of letters for the day. The last thing I need to do is involve myself with another one. Still, it’s hard to imagine her being so shy around me, yet, being perfectly normal around my mother. Needless to say, I’ve had one hell of a week and all I want to do is crawl into bed and wait until Monday comes.”

Mikomi made it to homeroom and then proceeded from class to class until the lunch bell rang. Mikomi grabbed his book bag and headed for the school’s cafeteria. He picked out a dish that looked suspiciously like Chef Bon Voyage Ravioli and sat down at an empty seat at the back table. Mikomi loaded up his fork and took a bite. His eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Totally Chef Bon Voyage…”

At that moment, Mikomi realized that he still had Serah’s letter in his book bag. He sat there and pondered if he should take it out and read it. Mikomi shrugged at the thought but eventually caved and opened his backpack, pulling the letter out. He tore it open and unfolded the paper that was inside. He then made his biggest mistake in popping another ravioli into his mouth. When he began to read the letter, he had a gag reflex and began to choke!

Mikomi coughed and coughed until he was able to dislodge the ravioli from his mouth. The entire cafeteria turned and stared at him. Mikomi looked around and saw all of the other student’s faces glaring in his direction.

“Uh... I’m fine… thanks…”

Mikomi quickly crumpled the letter and shoved it into his pocket. He picked up his book bag and hoofed it out of the cafeteria. He could feel the eyes of the other students following him as he made his exit. He ran out the back door of the building, hoping not to see Serah standing there. A slight look of relief came over his face when she was nowhere to be found but the look of dread still hadn’t vanished because he still had the letter in his pocket. With his hand trembling, Mikomi slowly pulled the letter back out of his pocket and straightened it out. The look on Mikomi’s face returned to one of pure fright. He continued to stare at the letter as if he couldn’t believe what he was looking at.

“A D-D-D-DATE!!??”