This got #180 in Adventure! Thank you so much everyone for being so nice >< I definitely never expected to get to this number!

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"Riri should be easy," Shun says as he hops onto a mattress. "I can guess pretty well what she's afraid of."

"What?" I ask, as I busy myself clipping wires onto an unconscious Ririka's tiny, slim arms and legs.

"Roaches. You remember that time there was one flying around in your dorm room? Riri was screaming like no tomorrow until Yukiya went over and killed it," Shun declares triumphantly.

"But all girls scream when they see roaches," I point out. "I scream too. But I wouldn't say that they were my deepest, darkest fear."

"Nah, maybe not you, but Riri is a simple kind of girl. She doesn't go that deep; emotional things don't hold her down. It's why she can fly so high when mindhacking. Wish I could be like that," Shun says with a shrug. "Anyway if it's just roaches I should be able to get her out awfully fast. Wait for the monitors to signal the okay before pulling, and don't worry, this should be relatively not hard."

I nod, quickly completing the usual procedure and as soon as Shun signals the okay I press the buttons and let the machines do their trick.

I hope with all my heart that it will indeed be that easy. Though Shun is right, if any of our classmates can be an easy hack, it would be Ririka. Shun's analysis is accurate; Ririka doesn't go that deep, which sounds like he's calling her shallow, but I know that's not what he's getting at. Rather than shallow, Ririka is... light. Like a little fairy. Gliding above the surface of things. I wouldn't say that this means shallow; shallow means caring only about superficial stuff, and Ririka doesn't care about superficial stuff. What she cares about... are on an entirely different level, I guess.

It almost makes me feel a tiny bit envious that Shun has Ririka's personality figured out so easily, which means that he's really familiar with her. Also the fact that he calls her just Riri, a fond nickname. Me, I'm always Tomomi. No nickname. That makes me sad.

I know that this is just irrational jealousy since even if Shun cares for Ririka I'm pretty sure she doesn't care back that way (she thinks on an entirely different level, remember?), but I can't help feeling those weird little twinges in my heart and hate myself for it. For being so unaccommodating, so narrow.

I sigh as I watch the monitors. Ririka's heartbeat appears to be a fast mess, though it doesn't indicate much since her heartbeat during missions is always a fast mess. She's flying, after all. Shun seems relatively relaxed. Cockroaches apparently don't faze him. I don't want to be in his position right now, though—while cockroaches certainly aren't my deepest, darkest fear, I still can't stand them. The squishy body, the oily wings, the little hooks on the legs, the crunchy sound they make when you step on the—

I need to stop describing them. I'm creeping myself out. I'm just glad that I suck at mindhacking, so I have a perfectly valid excuse to not be there inside Ririka's mind.

Around fifteen minutes have passed before the monitors start showing promising signs, the numbers dropping from a steady, higher level to a lower and calmer state. I give it another five minutes then start working on the unhooking, hands trembling, because I suddenly realize what this means.

If this doesn't work, if Ririka still doesn't wake, then we'll need another way to save our classmates. And we don't have the least idea as to how, considering how Mrs. Sato is dead and no one else seems to be in a position to help.

Alternatively, if this does work, Ririka will wake up, and as much as I love her I'll no longer be alone with Shun. This makes me somewhat sad and also somewhat mad at myself for being sad, because there really isn't any reason for me to feel like that.

I mean, if I want to be alone with Shun, I could just say so after all this is over, right?

But I know I couldn't, me and my goddamn shyness and fear of embarrassment. I want to bash myself in the head.

–

After unhooking Shun, I work on Ririka. It worked out amazingly well. As soon as I finish with the normal procedures, the sweet little girl bolts straight up from her mattress and greets me excitedly with her silvery laugh. Within one second all my stupid thoughts about being alone with Shun are cast out of the window as Ririka and I envelop each other in an excited and stifling hug.

I can't believe I was even feeling sad a minute ago. I love Ririka. This cute, fluffy, angelic ball of sunshine. I love her, I love her, I love her—

I love her so much I'm practically slobbering all over her shoulder. We embrace for another full five minutes until I remember that Shun exists. He sits on his mattress, watching us with an amused grin.

"No hug for me?" he asks.

"Yes! Hug for you!" Ririka shrieks and bounces over to him, throwing her little arms around his neck. It is my turn to watch with an amused grin and the slightest sense of envy for how easy, how naturally Ririka could do something I would never have the guts to.

I mean, I did hug Shun once or twice in the past night but those were after drastic events and I wasn't in my right mind.

"Shun was so cool," Ririka blabs to me, "he shot all those cockroaches to get to me, while I just sat there and cried because I couldn't even bring myself to look at them."

I shudder. "How many roaches?"

"Hundreds? Thousands?" Ririka says with a whimper. I pat her on the head while cursing my own vivid imagination that is already picturing hundreds of roaches flying around in superb high resolution on a 3D IMAX screen.

"Shh, it's okay now, it's over. No more roaches, yeah?" I murmur, and Ririka looks up at me with a childish, innocent smile.

"Riri's mind is a pretty great place, now that the roaches are gone. We should go visit some time or another, once this is over," Shun pipes up.

"Describe it," I say, one hand still patting Ririka like I would a scared chihuahua.

"It's... purple," Shun tells me, "deep purple little town, surrounded by the railway. Lots of cute little houses, but the doors are all on the second floor because the inhabitants fly. Little to no furniture in the houses. Air is cool and nice, smells like bakeries." He closes his eyes. "Most beautiful mind I've ever hacked."

"Now I want to see it too." I pout.

"Later, after we get the others out," Shun promises.

"What? What happened to the others?" Ririka demands.

Oh damn, now we have to explain it to her too.

–

What's best about Ririka is that it doesn't take a lot to convince her. We're perfectly aware of how weird the whole system of the things we are telling her sounds, but Ririka seems to take it all in fair stride.

"Okay, I get it, we get the others out," she says solemnly. "Can we start with Yukiya?" She points to the motionless boy, who we've left lying on one of the other mattresses in the room.

"Actually we were kinda thinking about Katsuki first..." Shun admits.

"But Yukiya looks sad," Ririka states.

Now that Ririka's mentioned it, it becomes rather hard to argue with her logic. Yukiya indeed looks like he's crying his heart out. He is normally rather loud and brash, but he doesn't exactly wear his heart on his sleeve, so seeing him crying like this is certainly very disconcerting.

"Okay," Shun says, taking a deep breath. "Change of plans. Riri, you'd be going with me into Katsuki's mind later, so for now you'd better get some rest since there's gonna be a long way to fly in Katsuki's desert. Tomomi, you come with me into Yukiya's mind. Riri, you can spot for us, yeah?"

"'Course," Ririka chirps happily. "Can I get something to eat though? I'm hungry."

Shun searches through his pockets and throws her a packet of chocolate chip cookies.

"What, you brought that with you?" I say incredulously.

"Why not? They came in handy, see?" Shun retorts.

I want to laugh, but nervousness has already overtaken me.

I will be heading into Yukiya's mind with Shun, and from the way poor Yukiya is crying, I don't think what we're going to face will be "just cockroaches".

And I still can't use a real weapon. Shun might be even better off without me being a drag.

But I want to go with him too, if not simply for the company. Besides, after what I just heard about Ririka's mind, I'm all too curious about Yukiya's.