Chapter 2. Ducky 2 shoes

"I forgave you, you know."

I didn't answer.

"What you said back then was cruel, yes. But I know you didn't mean it."

"Why would you care, anyways?"

I fiddle with my brush.

"You're not a criminal, Ai. You're someone who's been through too much. And if pretending to be the bad-."

That word hit harder than I wanted it to.

"Ok, enough therapy. You want me to kick you again?"

"Ai, I'm just trying to help here, could you just-"

"No, you aren't helping, I'm not-"

"Yes, you are, you hate yourself so much that you can’t even take a compliment without turning it into an insult!"

I clenched my fists and banged the table. 

"You know what?! Forget about it! You're impossible when you're like this!"

"Deal with it"

"Fine! Then let's just stick to business!"

Uzuki slammed a file on the table. Detailed sketches and a lot of text that I don't really get.

"Crimson Moon Society records," she said. "You wanted answers, here they are."

"So how is this going to get my mother back?"

"Okay, so first."

She takes the brush off my hands.

"This thing, wherever you got it from, allows you to change your appearance into anyone you want, as long as you hold that appearance in your mind long enough."

She brushes her hand while looking at me. Her skin fragments like holographic glass shards, morphing in a second to my image.

"There is no time limit as far as I know. You could hypothetically live your life as a lie."

"Okay but could you...turn into someone else?"

"Hey, I'm Ai Hibana, I like pretending to be a bully but in reality, I-"

I slap her.

"Watch it, Hoshino!"

Hoshino touches her cheek and looks at me with hate. She returns the slap.

"You're scum, you know?"

She brushes her hand with the brush, returning to her original form, then passes it again, now she is Hikari.

"Now, as you can see, you can only turn into one pers-"

"Wait a moment. First, why do you know all of this? And second, how do you expect me to react to something like this?!"

"First answer."

She takes out a pocket dictionary and shows it to me.

"It allows me to know how anything I touch with it works. It can do more but that's not relevant. Second."

She puts the dictionary back in her pocket and goes to her regular self.

"Back when you were a child, didn't you have a favorite pencil? Or a favorite toothbrush? Something that you used a lot because it did things better than others"

"Yes. bu-"

"Well, that's it. Forbidden items are everywhere. Humanity just accepts them as they are."

"Okay...but then what about-"

"Yeah, yeah. The elephant in the room. Hibana, I don't know a thing about items. They do stuff, the power comes from the moon when it turns red. That's it. Of course, if we know the holder has potential, we cooperate so they can help us. If not... well, goodbye memory."

"So I'll get my mother back if I help you get those items?"

"I can't assure you anything, but she had an item, so we should. Now, as these items do not follow any logic, they cannot be analyzed by any scientific means, therefore the only way to track it is with another forbidden item. They kind of get drawn to each other."

She hands me the brush.

"This is your most precious possession now. You lose it, you're done. You do anything harmful, you're more than done. Our groups operate in pairs. An attacker and a catcher. Hikari has Nozomi as catcher. And you-"

The door slid open. A girl stepped in like waiting for her cue. Short, hazel hair with a tail, eyes that shined like a star and a uniform from a different school. She's the same girl I saw back then when I was frozen with that controller. She stands in front of me and salutes.

"Akaza Sayuri, reporting for ducky! I mean...duty!"

Hoshino nods super satisfied.

"This girl is your new appointed attacker."

"My what sorry?"

The silence hangs for a while.

"Quack?"

Akaza tilted her head and looked at me curiously.

"Hoshino, who is her and why is she making duck noises?"

"Akaza Sayuri, from Mizutani high. She has been with us for two years now. She's your attacker."

"Oh, this must be a joke. Ducky two shoes as an attacker?! Please!"

I get close to her, menacing.

"Like if you could do anything to me, twerp."

"Mission, show Hikama what you can do!"

She takes her phone out and plays music. I can barely hear it and again, sounds rather old. She starts dancing. The moment she starts moving, I feel tingly.

"What are you ev-"

I drop to the ground like I was being squished by a ton of bricks.

"Ow, ow! Ok, I got it! I got it!"

She stops dancing and smiles at me.

"You could have just told me or something!"

"Sorry, Hidama-san..."

She sticks her tongue out and bonks her own head.

"It's Hibana"

"It seems you're both going to get along."

"Shut up!"

I struggle to get up and slide to a chair."

"So, now what?"

"Now you and your new buddy here will go to retrieve a new item. "

"No, absolutely no. I'm not a babysitter"

"She has your age"

"She's pretending to be a plane for god's sake!"

Akaza spreads her arms and makes sounds with her mouth.

"She's actually pretending to be a helicopter, that's two di-"

"It's the same thing!"

I slam the desk, Hoshino squeezes the bridge of her nose while frowning.

"Look, she's extremely efficient. And you need someone with her perspective. Besides, the item you're going to look for has resonance with her. Let's say you both are compatible."

"Hoshino, the only thing compatible with her is oxygen, and I'm really having my doubts on that."

"The next item may lead us to the whereabouts of your mother."

A chilling silence takes hold of the room. Except, of course, that Akaza is now making duck sounds again.

"...You know this is going to end in a disaster, right, Uzuki?"

"We may never know until you try. I'll send all information to your phones. In the meantime, go to Nekojarashi park. It's close to Akaza's school, so she will lead the way. You need to be there in 2 hours, so stay close."

Akaza get's close to me.

"She didn't mean... ugh...fine, Akaza. Let's go."

We get out of school and start walking.

"So... Mizutani high, huh?"

"Yep!"

"Is it, like, cool there?"

"Yep!"

"I see..."

We keep walking in silence.

"...do you like music?"

"Oh I adore music!"

She stops and starts digging through her backpack. She gets out a bunch of magazines, old ones, she shows them to me.
"This is Makima Shimura, she's the best idol ever. From her debut single 'Fly me to your heart', going to the classic "I can't rest without you", Makima has outperformed many of the conventional idol acts from the industry! Her best song, 'Valiant Heart', won the 'Hi! Hi! Championship' in 1996!..."

I couldn't care less. I don't like idols, let alone after what's at stake. The words just pass by. They go in, they go out.

She pics magazines and points at them, she takes out a towel that she has tucked in her backpack, like, where is her stuff? Does she even have notebooks or something to study with? Why is her backpack full of idol things? Just one idol, for worst.

Then she takes an old flip phone that doesn't even have a camera, but has plethora of stickers in it, and shows it to me. I can see a girl, 20-something-years-old, in an old TV show, the quality sucks. She sings and dances, then she goes away from stage. The camera just stays there, Akaza is not moving, locking her sparkling eyes on mine like saying "This is awesome, right?"

The screen keeps empty; it has been a minute.

"Uhm...Akaza, it's already over"

"Really?"

She turns her phone and looks, then shows it again.

"No, she's still here!"

The phone remains empty. This girl is a lost cause. I sigh and keep walking.

"Look, I tried to be empathetic but this is pretty much impossible. Let's just stick to work, ok?"

"Oh....okay..."

We keep walking, Akaza is still pointing the screen at me.

"So... what did you think about Makima?"

"Eh, she's alright, I guess. I honestly didn't pay attention to it. I hate idol music."

"Oh...I see..."

We get to a mansion, like, 16 times my house. She phones the system and we go in.

"Hold on, this is your house?!"

"Yep!"

We walk to her room, which is my entire house in size. The room is full of that idol. The walls, the bookshelves, everything. Oddly enough, on the middle of the room is an old TV with a bunch of wires and machines attached to it. The screen is displaying the same video that I saw on her phone. Other performers from the era, abruptly cut by two famous comedians that retired a few years ago.

"...what's up with the room?"

"I really like Makima! I love her, she's the best!"

"Akaza, this is a bunch of money. I think you're rich but there is a limit, you know?"

I sit on her bed.

"Wasting money on idols is stupid. I mean, who would want to spend money on a person that's never going to notice her?"

"Uhm..."

On the TV, Makima is on the screen, at the center, with the comedy due still performing in the background.

"...I am listening, you know?"