The Many Tales of the 2-Souls Ninjas

Chapter 2: Setting the Scene

Nemo Farid:

"I think this mask will work the best," Oscar says. Out of all the monster masks in his hands, Oscar picks my slime monster mask.

"Awesome," I say. I think back to when that mask was just a simple paper bag. I colored it black before cutting out three holes; two for the eyes and a third, larger hole for the mouth.

While Oscar examines my slime monster mask, I take back the rest of my masks and put them back into my shoulder bag.

"Okay," Oscar says with a smile. "I like this. Now that we have the monster ready, we can--"

As Oscar explains to me the plan, I hear someone yelling and look around. Only a few steps in front of us, I see Noon falling down the stairs.

"Noon," I shout, running forward. Opening my arms, Noon falls right into them. Wrapping my arms and catching Noon, I stomp my foot back and steady the two of us.

"Noon," I shout. "Hey! Noon. Are you okay? Noon?"

For some reason, Noon is out of breath. She's breathing fast and heavily. As I look at Noon with her bright green eyes and red face, I brush a strand of her long brown hair out of the way.

Ovia Afternoon Encarnacion:

As Nemo brushes a strand of my hair out of the way, we look at each other. I can see as clear as day Nemo's dark brown eyes. Combined with his neatly-combed, jet-black hair, I feel my heartbeat run like crazy. It's beating so fast that I think it might burst out of my chest and run on its own. It gets worse when I feel Nemo's cold breath against my burning skin.

"Hey," someone says. "Noon!"

I look to the right and see Emica.

"She's pointing at Nemo," I think. "Why is she pointing at Nemo? Wait, what's going on? Is Nemo holding? Oh, man. Oh, man! Oh, man! Nemo is holding me! What do I do? What do I say?"

I open my mouth to say something but whatever I wanted to say, it doesn't come out. It feels like the words are stuck in my throat. Instead, what comes out is a bunch of coughs.

Emica Kana:

"Oh dear," I say, watching as Noon coughs again. She coughs and coughs before finally standing on her own. As she coughs, Nemo and Oscar step back while Nyssa rolls her eyes.

"Sorry," Noon says in between her coughs. "So sorry! Uhh, Nemo. Are you okay?"

"Don't worry," Nemo says with a smile and a wave. He then dusts off his sand-colored jacket with many pockets. "I'm fine. In fact, I should be asking you that. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Noon answers with her own smile. She dusts off her pink jacket and white shirt with long blue pants. "I'm fine! Thank you for saving me! I really appreciate it!"

I think Nemo is about to say something but before he can, Noon grabs Nyssa's hand and pulls her away. Flying close behind them, I listen in as Noon yells at Nyssa.

"Brilliant plan," Noon says to Nyssa.

"I know," Nyssa replies with a smile.

"I do think it was a brilliant plan," I say, moving up to fly at Noon's side. As I do, Noon turns to me. From the way her eyes are looking at me, I think she's a little mad. I shrug my shoulders. "You have been looking for a reason to be close to Nemo."

"That's not what I meant," Noon whispers. "Besides, that's not even a reason. That was just Nyssa pushing me down the stairs."

"Yeah," Nyssa says, grabbing both of our attention. "I pushed you close to Nemo. In fact, I pushed you right into his arms."