The ride to the power plant makes me nauseous. From high above, we get a perfect view of the city underneath, the sprawling metropolis that is a textbook example of urban decay at its finest. It's too dark to see well, but we get glimpses of moving forms, of mysterious shadows, and it makes me sick to the stomach to think that these forms and shadows probably belong to monstrous creatures that we will be dealing with very soon.

But at the same time, I also feel awed. The city in its full glory would be beyond beautiful. If only we could get the lights to turn back on, to have everything back in working condition—who knows, it might beat every one of the seven wonders of the world.

I feel a bit jelly-legged as Ririka pulls to a stop to what appears to be the roof of the power plant building and we hop off. Izumi and I, at least. Ririka is due to fly back to explore a creepy building, and Anna is going downtown to slay some monsters. Alone.

That makes me feel so bad for her that I give her at least ten hugs before we say goodbye. In a mind this dangerous, every goodbye could be the last, but I decide to optimistically trust in Anna's ability to stay alive.

After all, annoying people usually take a long time to die, don't they? It's part of why they are so annoying. Like cockroaches. Of course, I don't find Anna annoying anymore, but the logic still stands that—

Speaking of cockroaches, I watch horrifiedly as one flies straight towards our departing ride. One at least a hundred times the size of a normal roach. Behind us, I hear Ririka scream—she's the cockroach hater.

"Down!" Anna yells at her, and a book appears in her hand. She rips off a page, and it automatically takes the shape of a paper fan. With a quick flick of her wrist she sends it flying at the roach, slicing it in half. I close my eyes so as not to see the entrails.

"You guys go! We can handle this!" Anna shouts as she and Ririka soar out of sight, Ririka in a hurry to place as much distance between herself and any potential roaches as possible.

And then there's only Izumi and I left.

I've never felt so awkward in my entire life, not even when I'm being tongue-tied with Shun. I've never had any friend problems before, not because I'm especially likeable or anything, but because I'm simply too lazy to have fights with my friends and usually let them have their way. I'm also of the opinion that people only quarrel with those who are important in their hearts, while I'm not much of an important person so I avoid arguments easily. It's why this kind of situation is a first for me.

"Uh—" we both begin at the same time, and both pause.

"You first," we both say at the exact same moment. I bite my lip to stop the stray smile from spreading across my face. It's just hard to not find the situation funny—here we are in someone's cockroach-infested mind, and we're just kind of standing on the roof acting cheesy.

"No, you go first," Izumi says. It's so dark, so I can't tell whether she's suppressing a smile too.

"Okay, fine, I go first," I say. It's one of the reasons why I never get into fights with my friends—I back down way too easily. It's impossible to fight someone who always goes with the flow.

I take a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," I whisper.

"You really don't have to be," Izumi says softly, patting me on the head. "You could tell I was mad and touchy and stuff, right? But I shouldn't have been—I was just, ahem, feeling left out. You could have told me earlier, but I know you're the type who's embarrassed about things like this, so I was just being unfair. I guess I should apologize too."

"You—wait—what?" I exclaim, puzzled. What Izumi said didn't make sense. I had betrayed her by not saving her from her worst nightmare, and yet here she is talking about feeling left out because I didn't tell her earlier.

Didn't tell her what earlier?

"It's just that I didn't really have friends before you so I assumed that it's BFF code that you always tell your best friend about your crushes and such," Izumi tries to explain, "so that's why I felt a bit mad, but I really shouldn't have been because, you know, probably lots of people don't tell their friends about it and I just had no idea because it's not like I have a lot of friends—"

I stare, probably looking like a confused baby deer because Izumi very considerately explains further.

"Oh, you're probably wondering why I know. You see, before leaving my mind Ririka and Hiroki were explaining to me everything I'd missed, and Ririka accidentally let slip that you had a crush on Shun and she covered her mouth immediately but added that it would be painfully obvious soon anyway, and by the way it indeed was painfully obvious, so I know—"

I interrupt, feeling like this situation is too ridiculous for me to not to.

"What, you were mad at me because I didn't tell you I had a crush on Shun?"

It's Izumi's turn to stare. "Yes, of course. I thought you knew?"

I feel like choking myself on rolls of toilet paper. "Izumi, I let you face your worst fear for like half a day even though you're my best friend and I should have saved you first, and then I went into your mind and got scared and left again and was too chicken to go back in. I was the shittiest best friend ever and you were mad over something as small as Shun?"

"It's not small!" Izumi argues. "You were right to have saved the others first. I'm actually glad because that means you knew I was stronger than they were. It's a compliment! But the fact that you never told me about your crush even though I was your best friend—it hurts my fragile little heart. It's shattered in pieces all over the floor."

I smack myself on the forehead. "Izumi, there's no gentle way to break it to you, but I think you need to get your brain checked."

"My brain is perfectly fine!" Izumi refutes. "Like, in manga and books and TV, best friends always tell each others about their crushes. On the other hand, in manga and books and TV, best friends don't always mindhack each other first."

"That's because they don't mindhack each other at all," I point out, wondering if my best friend is clinically insane.

"Hmm, true. But either way, I'm glad we got this all resolved, and I'm sorry for being mad at you. Now that I know your crush on Shun, I could devise ways to get you two together. This is what best friends are for, right? At least it's like that in the movies."

I laugh, feeling that a huge burden has been lifted from my chest. Izumi isn't mad at me anymore. She is willing to help me with my crush, even though said crush is a knife-wielding serial killer. We are best friends and everything is okay.

Except everything is not okay.

"Wait, what do you mean you never had friends before? And had to learn what best friends do from books and TV and movies? Why wouldn't people want to be friends with you?"

I realize that it is a bad time to be asking Izumi about her lack of friends considering we are standing on the roof of a power plant and giant mutant roaches are gliding about like stingrays do in an aquarium, but somehow I feel like this is important.

I mean, if Izumi is offended that I didn't tell her about my crush, then I can also be offended that she didn't tell me about her friendless past. I'd always assumed that she had friends. She seems like the type who would have loads of friends and would be in the student council as secretary as well as the captain of the kendo club.

Izumi laughs dryly, as we circle around searching for a flight of stairs that will take us into the inside of the power plant. "I'm not very likable."

"That's nonsense," I retort. "You are cool and sensible and reliable and say funny things and I love you. I am told that I have excellent taste in friends, and therefore you must be very likable."

We arrive at a rusted door that seems to open inwards. There is too little light to see into it, but I guess we don't really have a choice. It creaks as we edge our way in, cringing at the coldness of the metal.

"I'm not good enough," Izumi says quietly. "It's because I'll never be good enough."

I want to ask her the meaning of her self-deprecating comments, but get distracted by the humming.

Not the humming of machines—none of the machines are on since this place has no electricity. The melodic kind of humming. Except it's certainly not a very pleasant melody.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

"I have a bad feeling about this," I mutter, and then I hear it beside my ear.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM