9 Yiyi

As the sky turned too bright yellow for their eyes, the three turned away. Saya closed her eyes to rest. Sara and Celia were considering returning, when the scream shook them out of their thoughts.

'Help.'

'What's that,' Saya asked, startled. She looked at her new friends for the answer.

'Another friend,' Sara said with a shrug.

'Come,' Celia said, reaching for Saya's hand.

And then, the three were gone from the crawlspace, reappearing under an open blue sky.

'Where,' Saya began, but couldn't finish.

'There you are,' Yiyi screamed, teary eyed. 'You were gone so long, I thought you weren't coming back.'

'What do you mean?' Celia asked. 'We were gone a night.'

'No,' Yiyi answered seriously. 'You were gone a full week. Hell broke loose in the week.'

Celia was silent a moment, wrapping her head around the new information. Sara smilingly looked between her sister and her crying friend. The silence afforded Yiyi the opportunity to notice the difference.

'What's going on?' Yiyi asked, a little lost.

'What do you mean?' Celia asked back.

'I don't know. Something feels different. It's like there's another pair of eyes and ears. Feels like there's another person.'

'Hello,' Saya greeted. With the greeting, she felt the thin veil tear and was finally able to truly see and feel this new world.

'Hello,' Yiyi greeted back, and with a click her eyes cleared. She could see the third girl, the same as she could see the twins. 'I'm Yiyi.'

'Uh,' Saya said, accepting the offered hand. 'I'm Saya.'

'You're confused,' Yiyi said kindly, seeing Saya's discomfort. 'It's okay. You'll get used to it. I think it's something to be expected around these two. But they're nice.'

The twins had very different reactions to this description. Celia didn't care. Sara beamed. Saya shook her head. Yiyi sighed. And then, Yiyi answered the call from her worrying self.

'Right. Help. It's terrible. I think. I might be in trouble. I'm not sure.'

'Stop,' Celia cut in, throwing her open hand in Yiyi's face. 'Tell us what happened. Just the details.'

Yiyi nodded, and began. 'So, you disappeared. Everyone at home was worried about me. I was right. You went home and the first thing he did was tell everyone about Min. His worried parents rushed over to mine. And everyone rushed over to me. Anyways, they're convinced, sort of, that I'm okay. I'm not pining for You anymore. Not sure how they feel about it though.'

Celia cut in again. 'Yiyi, the details, please.'

Yiyi nodded, smiling apologetically. And continued. 'The next day, the library was heated. The tainted notes were all discovered. They were all vey serious about finding out who did it. I couldn't find you no matter how hard I tried, so I thought of something. I felt it was a good idea. I sneaked a letter into You's locker, the kind he receives a lot of from his many admirers. He doesn't see the majority of them, because his more ardent admirers steal the letters, only leaving the most unimpressive for You to find. I didn't write a name, to make it seem like a shy admirer who didn't have enough courage to show her face. As expected, the letter was taken before he could find it. I wrote the lines from the library, as if I wrote them for You. The girls tore up the letter, mocking the lines. They were overheard. By Gara's admirers, who then figured it was the work of the admirers of You. And since they couldn't find the actual perpetrator, they laid the blame on You. It was fine until then. But then minor scuffles broke out between the admirers of You and Gara. When caught by teachers, the girls didn't give the true reason. The teachers figured something was up. Girls were ganging up and fighting. They gave a serious warning to everyone. And so, now everyone knows, that the admirers of You and the admirers of Gara are fighting. It's all a bit too much, isn't it?'

'No,' Celia beamed. 'You were fantastic. It's even better than what I had in mind. Just a little more and the stage would be set.'

'A little more?' Yiyi asked in a tiny voice, clearly frightened.

'Don't be such a wuss,' Saya said coldly.

Yiyi swing her head toward Saya, staring blankly. Until Saya felt a tingle in the lower back, which was sort of foreboding of danger. Saya put up her hands and silently acquiesced defeat.

Celia was unaffected. Sara was grinning curiously. Yiyi nodded, and as she turned around toward the twins, she was again teary eyed. Saya shuddered, looking at Yiyi as she would a terrifying beast.

'Yes,' Celia answered. 'A little more. Not as if Gara is the only other dark prince.'

Yiyi's eyes gleamed with understanding, and her lips slowly parted in a grin. 'Oh yes,' she admitted slowly. 'There's more. Two, actually. Two truly dark princes. We're starting a war, aren't we.'

Celia agreed with a grin of her own.

'When did you get so wicked smart?' Sara asked, looking a little sad.

'Oh stop it,' Yiyi muttered, blushing shyly. 'Who here isn't wicked?'

It was Sara's turn to blush. Celia burst out laughing. Saya pulled on an extremely innocent face, that fooled no one.