Winter Mansion

Chapter 10

Echizen watched as she rounded the corner and went to the hall. It felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders and somehow, he couldn't move. He blew out the candle, made himself comfortable on the couch and drifted to sleep.

He awoke rather early that morning seeing that some of the windows didn't have blinds or curtains and let the sun's light in and lit up the whole room. He caught sight of a clock to see that it was way too early for him to be up. He got comfortable on the couch again, pulled the blanket to keep warm and shut his eyes only for them to snap open again.

'A blanket? Where did this come from?' He thought as he sat up. It couldn't have been from any of the regulars. Why would they be in the living room in the middle of the night anyways? It could possibly have been Ryoga but he would have more or less brought him back to the room or stayed down there with him. He thought that the only logical reason, as logical that it can get, would be that Aya came back and placed a blanket over him and thought nothing more of it.

He fell asleep for another hour or two then woke up again seeing that it was now an hour that he actually knew. No one else seemed to be up yet and despite his uncaring manner, he didn't want to wake them. Not just because he thought they needed sleep, he didn't want them to bug him. He went into the kitchen and made himself some hot chocolate, grabbed the bag of marshmallows and settled back on the couch to watch TV until everyone else was up.

"What are our plans then, Echizen-kun?" Echizen turned his head to see Aya sitting with him with a smile on her face. "What are the plans of attack?"

"Kirihara-sempai and Kaidou-sempai will believe what everyone says even if you don't want them to, Momo-sempai, Jackal-sempai, Fuji-sempai and Hiroshi-sempai seem skeptical but not too much, I think the only ones we really need to worry about will be Buchou, Inui-sempai, Renji-sempai, Yukimura-sempai and Sanada-sempai." He answered stuffing a marshmallow into his mouth.

"What about the others?"

"Kikumaru-sempai and Marui-sempai are firm believers so they won't be a problem. As for the rest, I'm not sure. They could go either way. I think that they would believe with proof and if Buchou or Yukimura-sempai were convinced, that would help."

"So the main focus will be Tezuka-kun and Yukimura-kun." She was making mental notes and counting on her fingers. "What about Ryoga-kun?"

Echizen looked into his mug of hot chocolate. "Ryoga should be alright. When I told him about this, it didn't seem like he believed me. I feel like he's humoring me but his intensions are. I think that with proof he would believe like everyone else." He took a sip of his hot cocoa. "If you could do something in front of everyone that should convince them."

Aya nodded her head indicating that she heard what Echizen said but was lost in thought about what she would do to make everyone believe that what he was saying was true. He watched and smiled. She reminded him of someone who didn't quiet remember how to do their math homework. He took a slip of his hot chocolate when a question popped into his head.

"Ne, am I the only person that can see you?"

She stopped counting on her fingers and looked at him. "Sorry?"

"Can the others see you?"

"If I make it so. Right now, if someone walked in, they would see you talking to thin air and assume you crazy." Echizen gave her a 'don't even think about it' look. "I can make it so everyone can see me if you like."

Echizen smirked. "Some things are better left hidden."

Aya smiled and got off the couch. "I'm off to plan mischief. You'll know when I start." She started happily skipping out of the room.