Slowly, I opened my eyes, the horrible stench immediately hitting my nostrils.

I puked on the disgusting covers, and my hand fell to my stomach.

"Jesus Christ... that was... horrible... no... inhumane..." Tears started to roll down from my eyes. "Agh... I... it hurt... so much... why... why was she here?!"

Suddenly, the doorknob started to move up and down. "Shoji! What is that stench?! It stinks so much! Open the door!" Kaori said in disgust.

"Fuck! Not now... not now! It's the worst moment she could've woken up!"

"Wait a second,d, Kaori! I'm doing something!" I said loudly as I got out of bed and removed my bloodied pajamas.

"Just open the door! What's keeping you from doing it? Don't tell me you're doing drugs or anything like that!" She banged on the door even more.

"Fuck! Fuck! I can't let her see all that! Everything is soaked in blood! The blankets! The covers! The pillows! The mattress! Holt shit! How can I..." I swallowed my saliva nervously. "It's dangerous... I don't really know what it does... but I need to try!"

I took off my clothes, and after throwing them on the bed, I took a step back. "But how will I do it without damaging the frame?"

"It's all about imagination, Yokubo."

"Shoji! Open the goddamn door!" Kaori screamed in fury.

I turned around and saw Taida. "Taida? What are you talking about?" I asked in confusion.

"Do you remember how you manipulated your aura in order to breathe underwater?" He said calmly.

"Yeah, I do, so what?" I asked.

"You used your imagination to do it." He grabbed my wrist and pulled my arm, pointing it at the bed. "And magic is all about imagination. When you're manipulating aura, creating things with Hilo and Yano, or setting the final outcome of the spell." He said.

"So... I just need to imagine everything besides the frame burning?" I asked.

"Yep~! Something that sounds that simple, yet isn't! Imagination can be tricky, so be focused, or else you'll burn the whole house down~!" He giggled and then disappeared.

I frowned and looked at my hand. "Motherfucker...! Dissapearing on me like that, huh?!"

Kaori started to kick the door. "Open the door! Shoji! I can't stand this stench! Just open the goddamn door!

"Fuck! It's now or never, I guess!" I closed my eyes in fear. "Ka... uhh... what was it... ehh... uhhmm..." I scratched the back of my head with my other hand. "Oh! Hoen...?" Suddenly, the purple string appeared before my eyes.

"Haven't seen this thing in some time..."

I looked at it for a moment. "Just not too much..." I imagined grabbing around four percent of the string.

I closed my eyes in fear, imagining the mattress and everything on top of it burning to crisp.

A small spark of fire was released from my fire, and ended up on the bed, setting everything on top of the frame on fire.

I opened my eyes in relief. "It worked! It worked!" I jumped in relief, but Kaori screamed even louder.

"What is that?! Is something burning in here?! Shoji! What's going on in here?! Shoji! Answer me, Shoji!" She screamed even louder.

"No! Everything's alright! Just wait a second! I need to finish doing something." I said as I was taking another pair of pajamas out of my wardrobe.

The fire disappeared after 10 seconds, leaving no trace of the mattress and everything that was on top of it. After putting my pajamas on, I opened the window and walked up to the door.

"Open the door!" Kaori screamed even louder.

"Alright! Alright! I'm opening the goddamn door!" I said as I turned the key in the lock.

The door was immediately opened, so wide that it almost hit the wall.

"What is the meaning behind all that?! I was worried, y'know?!" She grabbed my shoulders with tears in her eyes.

"Sorry! Sorry! It's just..." She then cut me off.

"It's just what, huh?! Why wouldn't you let me in?! Why is your mattress gone from your bed?!" She pointed at my bed.

"I need to come up with something... shit... something... something that she wouldn't want to see... Oh!"

"Sorry! I left the window open for the night because it was too hot in here..." I looked at the clock from the corner of my eye; it said 6 AM. "And around two hours ago, I was woken up by something falling on my stomach! And it was a dead bird! I don't know how, but it was dead and bled out like insane on me and everything! The mattress was beyond the point of saving,g so I threw it out along with everything! And I was cleaning the mess when you woke up! I just didn't want you to see all that mess and gore! It was disgusting!" I said.

She took a step back. "Huh? R-Really? Oh... uhh..." She looked at the ground. "You could've just told me..."

"No! I couldn't! I don't know how you would react to the sight of that much blood after..." She shook her head.

"Okay... okay... you don't need to bring that up..." She said with sadness in her voice.

"Oh... I think I went too far with all that... I didn't mean to bring that up to her..."

"I'm sorry again, Kaori." I patted her onnthe head.

She shook her head and smiled softly, looking up into my eyes. "So... why won't you make breakfast and tell me how you spend Thursday night, okie~?" She asked, brushing my hand off her head.

"Fine," I said.

Later, we were eating scrambled eggs in the kitchen.

So... when are you gonna give me the money~?" She asked cutely.

"Money?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah! You've lost our bet, after all, you were at Big Sister's place for an entire night... and we both know what that means, right~?" She smiled mischievously.

Taida appeared behind her, smiling smugly. "Ay ay ay~! What will you do now, Yokubo? Will you tell her the truth or make up another one of your worthless lies~?" He laughed.

"Uhh... yeah... our bet..." I looked at the food.

"Sure... what was it... a dress you wanted me to buy?" I asked.

"Yup~!" She nodded.

"Then search on the internet, or go to some shops, I don't know... I'll give you the money when you choose one..." I scratched my chin.

"What now, Yokubo? Feeling uncomfortable in such a situation? Hmm~... Imagine that if you would leave that girl and focus on yourself... there would be no uncomfortable conversations, nor giving away your money for free~!" He said.

"Oh yeah! I don't want to go alone! I want to go with someone, and that someone is Big Sister! She is beautiful and for sure has good taste when it comes to clothing~!" She smiled with happiness.

"Oh yeah... about that..."

"What? Is something wrong, Shoji?" She asked.

"Layla will be... uhh... let's say... out of reach for some time..." I said, not daring to look into her eyes.

"Huh? Why? You spent a night at her place, and now you're telling me that she's out of reach? Are you sure that you're not hiding something from me?" She asked in confusion.

"You see, Yokubo? Your lies are thin! Our little sister sees right through you~!" He laughed.

"Fucking Taida... he's so annoying... I swear to God I cannot think straight because I'm that idiot..."

"You do realize that I can hear your thoughts, Yokubo~?" He giggled.

"Uhh, I forgot to take her phone number! Yeah! We just didn't think of exchanging them!" I said.

"Oh... that's kinda... disappointing... you know, Shoji... I thought that the three of us would go together... and I will finally get to spend some time with you..." She muttered under her nose.

"Huh? You miss me, or what, huh~?" I smirked smugly.

"Yeah... I kinda am... since you've started going to that weird church... you're rarely even home, sometimes not even returning, or returning very late..." She said.

"A,h shit... I don't like where this is going."

"Well, it looks like you're being interrogated, Yokubo? Maybe you should tell her what is really going on, huh? If you will, then she will stop bothering you so much, and you'll have a free hand~!" Taida laughed, sitting on the kitchen counter.

"And... I was just wondering... if you could tell me... what are you doing in that church that it takes so much of your time?" She asked with worry.

"Uhh... it's not only the church, you know? I also have club activities that take away some of my time... and yeah, the church..." I looked at the ground and back again at her. "That priest living there is an old man... he doesn't have anyone to help him," I said.

"He has no one to help him? What about the other people in the church? Back at home when we were little, we were going to the church every Sunday, and I'm sure that a lot of priests and other people were there!" She said with confusion.

"Yeah, but this is a special case! Don't worry about me, okay?" I patted her head. "I just want to help that old man, that's it!" I smiled at her.

She pouted and shoved my hand off me. "Hmph... Stop that~! I know that you would never help anyone for free! You're hiding something, and I know that... tho to respect your privacy,y I won't ask any more questions~!" She rolled her eyes.

I leaned back on my chair as I finished eating.

"I cannot tell her anything; I don't want to scare her, nor push her away... she's the first person on my list... I love Kaori too much to just go away and abandon her completely... you should stop trying to influence... I will never listen to you because you clearly want to mess my life up..."

"I don't care about your opinion, Yokubo. I will continue doing what I was doing until now, and you can only cry about it~!" He giggled.

"So, are you going anywhere today, Kaori?" I looked at her.

She shook her head. "Nope~! I actually planned to stay home the entire weekend! There was a new VR MMO RPG Game released lately... and I have wondered if you'd like to play with me for compensation..."

"Compensation, huh?" I rolled my eyes and giggled. "Now that I think about it... I haven't played any games in some time... maybe my dopamine will rise, at least a little ~!"

"So... is that a yes?" She asked with puppy eyes.

"Yep! We can play that new game together for the whole weekend, and since it's very warm outside lately, we should go to the beach on Monday! What do you think about it?" I smiled.

"You're the best~!" She hugged me over the table.