Welcome to Gaia! :: Prompts of DOOM! {Think you can win?} EXTENDED!

guar! waiting game...

Woo! I finished! I don't even know if this contest is still running, since our esteemed hostess hasn't been online in days, and hasn't accepted my trade. But! At least I got it over and done with. It's freaking long compared to the other entries. I hope everyone likes it...
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Title: All Bottled Up
Author: Alexander_Diamont
Prompt: #3
Final Word Count: 7423

Click!

Ryuichi Sonoda looked at the stop watch in his hand and grinned. “Great job, Azuma!” he called out to his friend. “You’ve beaten your old time. Keep this up, and we’re sure to make the finals.”

Ken Azuma jogged up and leaned over, placing his hands on his knees, puffing. “You…really…think so?”

“Of course! You’re the fastest guy on our team. No way we’d lose to some other school if we’ve got you around.” Sonoda gave Ken a thumbs-up and winked. “Besides that, you’re really gonna wow the crowd at the athletics festival tomorrow. Especially a certain someone, heh heh heh!”

Ken squinted through the afternoon glare and grimaced. “Aww, c’mon. You’re treating me like I’m some sort of sideshow attraction. I’m not going to be the only one competing, you know.”

“Don’t be so modest! Koga-chan only has eyes for you, Azuma. I’m so jealous!” Sonoda turned an exaggerated expression of longing towards the heavens. “Her radiant smile… Her flowing black hair… Not to mention her cooking! You’re the luckiest guy in the world to have someone like her chasing after you.”

Ken felt a sweat drop sliding down the side of his face that had nothing to do with his laps.

He thought about his neighbor, Reika Koga. They’d been friends since they were little, but because of this, Reika had somehow gotten it into her head that this meant they were destined to be married one day. Ken’s parents thought her infatuation (which bordered on outright stalking) was adorable, so they allowed her delusions to continue. Reika’s father, on the other hand, took his daughter’s obsession seriously and believed Ken to be a worthless punk toying with his daughter’s heart.

Ken found the whole situation to be a tad unbearable. He liked Reika well enough, but to be honest, her forcefulness scared the crap out of him.

“Yoo hoo!” a female voice called out from across the field. “Azuma-kun!”

The two students looked over and saw a teacher waving at them.

“Is that Hirada-sensei?” Ken asked, and used the towel beside his gym bag to wipe his face.

Sonoda nodded. “I think so. She must’ve gotten back from her trip.”

Ken sighed and gathered his things. “I guess I’d better go see what she wants.”

His friend grinned again. “Must be tough, being so popular with the ladies.”

“Shut up.”

Sonoda laughed. “See you tomorrow, okay? Don’t be late. You have to help with the preparations for our booth.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Ken shouldered his bags and hurried across the field to where his homeroom teacher was waiting for him.

Professor Hirada was a woman in her late twenties. Today, she was dressed more like an archaeologist than a teacher, as she was wearing hiking boots, khaki shorts, a yellow polo shirt with an embroidered magnifying glass on the front, and a big straw hat. In her hands, she held a large canvas bag.

“Hello, sensei,” Ken greeted her with a little trepidation. The woman was notoriously eccentric, which meant that having her take a liking to you could spell trouble. Unfortunately for him, he was one of her favorite students.

“Azuma-kun! You’re looking well.”

“I am, thank you. How was your trip?”

She waved a hand as if swatting at flies. “It would have been nicer if the hotel had had a pool. The desert’s just too hot at this time of year.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Yes, well, what’re you going to do?” Professor Hirada reached into her sack and rummaged around. She handed him a stack of post cards. “I wrote my students every day while I was gone, talking about all the wonderful things I saw while away. I saved them until I could bring them back to you.”

Ken looked down at the postcards in confusion. “Don’t most people mail these instead of saving them?”

But his teacher ignored him. “I also got this, too, but now I’m kind of regretting it.”

Professor Hirada handed Ken a dark purple wine bottle. Even though it was transparent at the neck, the glass grew darker and darker until no light shone through it the closer it got to the bottom. At first, he assumed that it was because of the wine, but the bottle was far too light to actually contain anything, and there was no sloshing liquid when he gave it a little shake.

Professor Hirada half reached out a cautioning hand. “Whoa, easy there! Don’t jostle it around too much.”

Ken couldn’t help but ask. “What is it? It feels empty.”

“It’s a special bottle that I bought while abroad. The shop owner called it a rare antique. I got it on impulse, but you know how cluttered my office is. I decided that I really didn’t need another antique after all, and thought that someone else might better appreciate it if I sold it to a pawn shop.”

“I see.” Ken shook his head. “With all the junk you buy and then sell again, it’s a wonder that you’re not broke all the time, sensei.”

Professor Hirada laughed, raising a hand straight up over her head. “You got me there! I’m just a glutton for old things.” Then, more seriously, she asked, “So, would you mind running a little errand for me?”

“You want me to sell the bottle for you.”

Professor Hirada clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture. “Pretty please? There’s a pawn shop on the way to your house, isn’t there? I’d go myself, but I’m behind in paperwork because of my vacation. You can just bring me the money tomorrow.” She gave her student a wink. “If you do this for me, I’ll make lunch for you.”

Ken turned the bottle in his hands, examining it. Absently, he said, “That’s okay. Reika normally makes my lunches for me.”

“Okay, then. How about tea and strawberry shortcakes after the athletics festival tomorrow? That’d be the perfect way to end the day, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, that sounds good, I guess.”

There was just something so strange about the bottle, but Ken couldn’t put his finger on it. The way it absorbed the light was almost…creepy.

“Then it’s settled.” Professor Hirada pulled Ken to her in a hug that smashed his face into her ample bosom, though she didn‘t seem to notice. “You’re such a good boy, Azuma-kun! Thank you so much!”

Ken pushed her away enough to mumble, “You’re welcome.”

***

Just as he promised, Ken stopped by the old pawn shop on his way home. He leaned his bike against the side of the wooden structure so that it was out of the way and pushed through the simple cloth door.

The inside of the shop was much darker than he would have expected, but it was most likely due to the piles of unorganized knickknacks that covered every available surface, including the window sills. From books to vases, out-dated computers to jigsaw puzzles, the sheer assortment of miscellaneous odds and ends was overwhelming.

A tiny old man sat on a tall stool behind a glass jewelry counter. In his lap was a bowl of popcorn which he kept spilling everywhere with every handful he transferred to his mouth. He was so absorbed with watching the show on his ancient, static-laden TV that he hadn’t even noticed that he had a customer.

Ken waited for a while to be acknowledged, but when it became apparent that he could wind up standing there all evening, he cleared his throat to get the old man’s attention. The reaction was immediate and alarming, as the old man shrieked and fell off his stool.

Ken rushed over and peered over the countertop. “Hey, mister! Are you okay?”

The old man appeared on the other side, the upended bowl of popcorn on his head. “What’s the big idea, you little punk?! Have you no shame in scaring an elder half to death?”

Ken frowned and lifted the bowl off the pawn broker’s head. “Sorry about that, but I’ve been waiting here for ten minutes.”

“Today’s youth are so impatient!”

The old man snatched the bowl out of Ken’s hand and placed it on the countertop before righting his stool and scurrying back on top of it. He really was very short; the top of his head would barely come to Ken’s armpit.

“This isn’t some sort of arcade,” the pawn broker went on. “I don’t sell your flashy video games, here. You can find that down the street. I just sell stuff that no one wants anymore.”

“I’m not looking for video games. I have something to sell.” Ken reached into his backpack and pulled out the bottle. He set it on the countertop and waited while the old man turned it this way and that.

“What is it?”

“It’s a bottle.”

“I know that, you idiot! I may be old, but I’m not senile. I meant, is that all there is to it?”

“My teacher got it while she was on vacation. She said that it was an antique.”

The old man picked up the bottle and gave it an experimental shake, listening. When he heard nothing, he tried to pull out the cork. It squeaked a bit in the neck, but otherwise refused to budge. He tried pulling harder, the tendons standing out in his neck and veins popping up on his forehead, but to no avail. At last, out of breath and looking quite irritated, the old man gave up.

“Piece of crap,” he muttered.

Ken shifted from one foot to the other. “So, how much can I get for it?”

The old man put the bottle back on the counter. “Nothing.”

“What?”

“Clean out your ears, boy! I said, it’s not worth anything. It’s just a piece of junk, and I don’t sell junk at my store.”

Ken refrained from mentioning that everything around them appeared to be junk. Instead, he pleaded, “Aww, c’mon! It’s got to be worth something to somebody. Maybe it could be used to…I dunno. Hold flowers, or something.”

“Well, it ain’t worth anything to me. If you don’t want it, then throw it in the trash can outside. Otherwise, you’re just wasting my time.” Turning back to his TV, the old man seemed to forget about Ken’s presence altogether.

***

The streets were getting pretty dark by the time he left the shop and continued on his way back home.

Ken was feeling more than a little disgruntled. That old man didn’t have to be so rude about everything, and how was he going to explain this to Professor Hirada? She wouldn’t be mad--at least, he hoped she wouldn’t--but it wasn’t his fault if some stingy old fart wouldn’t buy the bottle.

I’ll just have to give it back to Hirada-sensei and apologize. Maybe she can find someplace else that might be willing to take it.

Even so, Ken felt bad for not being able to fulfill the request that had been made of him. Being dependable was something he took pride in. He didn’t like the idea of letting someone down, not when they had put their trust in him.

He was so busy mulling over this in his mind that he didn’t see the cat crossing the sidewalk until it was almost too late. The feline reared its back in distress, letting out a loud hiss.

“Crap!” Ken shouted, and swerved to prevent running over the animal.

His front wheel went sideways off the curb, twisting the handlebars out of his hands, even as the sudden jolt tossed him from the seat. He landed on his side and skidded along the pavement, ending up with his bike half on top of him and the contents of his book bag spilling out onto the street around him.

“Oww…”

He kicked the bike away from him and sat up to inspect the damage. His right arm and palm were scraped up pretty good. He was bleeding and stinging and there looked to be bits of dirt and gravel in the abrasions. It didn’t look bad enough to warrant a trip to the emergency room, but it was going to leave a gross series of scabs for at least a month.

“Perfect,” he sighed and winced as he got to his feet. It felt like he’d be finding some bruises later, too.

Picking up his bag, he moved about to try and collect his things. He gave up trying to locate all his pens and pencils; they’d probably flown under parked cars and into sewer drains.

What he did find, however, made his heart sink into his shoes.

“Oh no…” he moaned and looked at the shattered remains of Hirada-sensei’s bottle. It must have fallen out of his bag with the rest of his stuff. How was he going to be able to apologize for this?

It looked like something was leaking from the broken glass.

Ken knelt down to squint at it in the dark. Had there been something inside the bottle after all?

It was smoke. Little wisps of purplish fumes were being secreted from the shards of broken glass, almost indiscernible in the gloom, but it was growing more and more dense as he watched.

“What the heck…?”

Ken scrambled back as the wisps began to turn into plumes. Before he knew it, the smoke rose to about five feet tall and coalesced into a humanoid shape. In the space of a few moments, Ken found himself looking at a very strange girl. She stood with her hands on her hips, scowling at him.

“Hey! What‘s the big idea?” she demanded.

He tried to think of something to say, but couldn’t. After all, it wasn’t every day that a girl materialized right in front of him.

She was about his age, with mousy brown hair and large eyes. She was also shorter than him, with the top of her head coming up to about his shoulder. What made her unusual was how she was dressed. She was wearing red harem pants embroidered with gold cranes, a tight vest that matched and exposed her bare midriff, a box-shaped hat with a single tassel jutting from the top, and gold shoes that curled up to a point at the toes. Add to this assorted bangles around her neck, wrists, and ankles that made chime-like sounds when she moved.

If it weren’t for her weird getup, he would have found her kind of cute.

“What’re you staring at?” the girl demanded.

“Uh, nothing. S-Sorry.” Ken pointed at the bottle. “Did you just come out of there?”

“’There’ was my home,” the girl snapped back. “You destroyed it with your carelessness!”

“Sorry,” he mumbled again. What else could one say when someone claimed you destroyed their house? Except… “Why were you in a bottle, anyway?”

She plucked at the front of her vest. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m a genie!”

“Like, grant-you-a-wish type of genie?”

The girl clenched her fists at her sides. “Of all the nerve! You break my bottle and then expect me to grant wishes for you?”

Ken threw up his hands. “N-No! That’s not it at all! It’s just…kind of strange, you know? I didn’t think genies really existed.”

The girl turned her nose up at him. “Well, we do. So, what’re you going to do about this? I can’t very well live in that mess.”

Ken shook his head. “I dunno. Can’t we just find you a new bottle?” He looked around helplessly. “Maybe there’s one in that trashcan over there--”

The girl shrieked in rage and threw some sort of ball made of sparkling pink energy at him. He barely dodged out of the way, and where it hit the pavement, it left melted asphalt.

“You can’t just go digging through someone’s garbage and expect me to live in whatever you find in there! What the hell’s wrong with you? Don’t you feel any sort of guilt over destroying my home?”

Ken was really starting to get fed up. “Look,” he began, “I didn’t do it on purpose. It was an accident. I’m really sorry about your bottle, but there isn’t anything I can do about it right now. I didn’t even know you were in there in the first place! Maybe if I had, I could have taken better care of you. As it is, there’s no use crying about it now; what’s done is done.”

He turned to inspect his bike. Picking it up, he noticed that the front wheel was acting funny. He probably wouldn’t be able to ride it home.

“Just great,” he grumbled, and looked back to the strange girl.

She had wrapped her arms around herself and was staring down at the remains of her bottle. Her hair obscured her eyes, but he swore he saw the glisten of unshed tears peeking through.

“I’m really sorry,” he said again. “I swear, I’ll find another place for you to live.” He chuckled. “And it won’t be in a bottle from someone’s garbage.”

“You mean it?” Now that her earlier anger had diminished somewhat, he could see that she was actually feeling pretty vulnerable.

“Yeah. I promise.”

She nodded and turned away so he wouldn’t see her wiping at her eyes. “Okay. I’ll hold you to that.”

“In the meantime, why don’t you come back to my place? I’ll make up something to tell my parents. I’m sure they’ll let you stay with us, at least for tonight.” Then, thinking about it, Ken frowned. “But, we might have to get you a change of clothes. I don’t think they’ll believe anything I say if they see you wearing that outfit.”

The girl giggled. “That’s no problem.” She waved a hand and her red outfit changed into a replica of the female uniforms from his school.

Ken stared. “You really are a genie, aren’t you?”

“Duh! I said I was, didn’t I? You don‘t believe in things you can‘t easily understand, do you?” Lacing her fingers behind her back, she leaned forward towards him. “Before I go anywhere with you, it’s probably best if I know your name. You might be some sort of pervert, intending to kidnap me and use me for your wild, slave-girl fantasies.”

Ken blushed indignantly. “That’s not true at all! What would make you think something like that?!”

Her look grew sly. “Oh? Then why are you blushing?”

Instead of trying to answer that, he said, “I’m Ken Azuma.”

“And I’m Mimishkala Renala. But everyone calls me Mimi.”

“Mimi, huh?” Even her name was kind of cute. Shaking his head, Ken began walking down the street. “C’mon,” he said. “My house is this way.”

***

The Azuma residence sat on the corner of a quiet street. It was a Western-style, two-story house with a small garage and a tall brick fence around the outer perimeter.

Ken wheeled his bike into the garage and leaned it against the back wall. He’d have to look it over in the morning. Right now, there were other things to worry about, namely Mimi.

She looked about the garage with interest, especially the economy car that was parked in the limited space. “Eco friendly,” she commented.

Ken shrugged. “Eh, my dad uses it to commute. He’s a photographer for a big time tabloid. My mom just uses it for groceries.”

He led her inside the house through the sliding glass door.

“I’m home,” he announced, and toed off his shoes.

“Welcome back.”

A pleasant-faced woman appeared from the kitchen. Her hair was upswept into a bun, and she was wearing a lavender sweatshirt with the sleeves rolled up and an ankle-length denim skirt. Over that, she had on a white apron and pale yellow slippers.

She smiled at the two of them. “Oh, I wasn’t aware that we had a visitor.”

Mimi finished taking off her shoes and clasped her hands in front of her. She bowed. “Hello. My name is Mimishkala Renala.”

“Oh my! Such a polite and pretty young girl.”

“Mom, this is Mimi,” Ken explained. “She’s an exchange student. She doesn’t have anywhere to stay yet, so I invited her over.”

“What’s this I hear?”

Ken’s father shuffled in. His son obviously took after his wife, because Mr. Azuma was stocky, bespectacled, and had the biggest, dopiest grin ever seen. He was dressed comfortably in slacks and a button-down, short-sleeved shirt. He was still wearing his favorite red photographer’s cap, so he must have gotten home only a few minutes before Ken.

Mr. Azuma nudged his son in the side with an elbow. “You certainly are growing up fast, aren’t you? You’re not even in college yet, and already you’re bring home the ladies!”

Ken looked aghast. “D-Dad! It’s not like that!”

But Mr. Azuma went on as if he hadn’t heard. “So, it’s all about Mimi now, eh? What about poor Reika? I thought you two were destined to be married?”

Ken grimaced and looked away. “That’s just what she says.”

“At any rate,” Mrs. Azuma interjected, “we’re happy to have you with us, Mimi.”

She bowed again. “Thank you for welcoming me into your home. I’m sorry to impose.”

***

After dinner, Ken tried to do his homework, but it was very difficult with Mimi sitting on his bed and staring at him. It wasn’t just that she had very intense eyes, and hadn’t said much of anything since they’d been alone together. This was also the first time he had a girl in his room who wasn’t Reika.

Chewing on the eraser of his pencil wasn’t easing the tension any. “Can I ask you something?”

“It better not be for a wish,” Mimi replied and picked lint off her skirt. “You don’t get a thing until I get a new bottle.”

“You know, I still don’t quite believe you about that.”

She stared at him. “Even after all you’ve seen? What do I have to do to convince you? Hit you with some more magic?”

“Well, how about telling me more about yourself. How’d you become a genie, anyway?”

Mimi suddenly looked embarrassed. She got up from the bed and walked over to the window. “It’s sort of a long story,” she said at last.

Pushing aside his homework, Ken swiveled his desk chair around to better look at her. “We have time.”

She looked over her shoulder at him. “You sure?” At his nod, she said, “Alrighty then.”

Waving her hand, Ken’s bedroom began to dissolve around them. Colors and shapes bled together like smearing paint and vanished, leaving them in a black void. Even so, Ken could still see perfectly.

Freaking out, he jumped up off his chair as it too began to melt away. He ran over to Mimi, surprised to find that his feet moved across the black expanse as if it were solid ground.

“What’s going on?” he demanded.

But Mimi held a finger to her lips. “Shh! The flashback is starting.”

“Huh?”

She shook her head and pointed past him. He turned around and looked.

Two glowing figures stood about ten feet away. One was an ancient old man. He was wearing blue and silver robes and a silver turban. His long white beard nearly touched the ground, and was secured in the middle by a gold ring. In front of him looked like a younger version of Mimi. She was wearing the same red outfit she had been dressed in when they’d met. Looking back and forth between the older Mimi and the younger Mimi, Ken could see that she’d definitely filled out since then.

“What is this?” he asked. “Your memories?”

“I said, shh!” Mimi hissed. “You’ll miss everything if you keep talking.”

“Mimishkala Renala,” the old man intoned. “You are the three hundred and thirty-seventh descendant of the Renala clan. Is it your wish to learn magic and become a genie of the highest sphere?”

Little Mimi gave a determined nod. “Yes, it is!”

“The path you have chosen will not be an easy one. It is not enough to simply learn to grant the wishes of others. You must also be able to recognize the difference between what they say they want and what their heart truly yearns for. To progress to the highest order of genie, you must grant one hundred real wishes. Do you understand?”

“I…I don’t know.” Little Mimi hung her head and chewed her bottom lip. “One hundred wishes… That doesn’t sound so hard.”

But the old man chuckled. “It’s harder than you think! For you see, even though your magic will allow you to grant your master or mistress anything they desire, it is only by granting their true heart wishes that you can progress. Human beings are complex creatures who sometimes do not know what it is that they truly want. It is up to you to determine this. If you do not, you can grant millions of small wishes and never be one step closer to your goal.”

Little Mimi looked slightly worried by this announcement. She stared at the ground as if deep in thought, but then she gave a firm shake of her head. “No, I won’t let that scare me,” Ken heard her mutter to herself. She raised her head and looked the old man straight in the eyes. “I’ll do whatever it takes! I will become a genie!”

The old man smiled. “Very well then.” He stretched out his hands and between them formed a dark purple mist. It shaped itself into the wine bottle that Professor Hirada had given to Ken that afternoon. “From now on, this will be your home. You will travel inside of it on your quest to become a full-fledged genie as you are passed from owner to owner.”

Little Mimi took the bottle in her small hands with a confused and disappointed expression. “But, don’t genies get a lamp to live in?”

“Only when you have become a true genie will you be granted your own lamp. Until then, you must live like the hermit crab; as your experience and training progress, you shall fashion new bottles in which to live. Only after you have ascended to the final stage shall your bottle transform into a lamp.”

“But you broke my bottle.” Mimi shot Ken a dirty look.

“You’re not going to let that go, are you?”

“Good luck to you, Mimishkala Renala.” The old man placed a hand on the top of her head and stroked her hair. “And be safe, my dearest granddaughter.”

The black expanse began to dissolve like before. Ken found himself back in his bedroom, standing beside the window with Mimi.

“And that’s how I started on my path to becoming a genie,” she stated.

He gave her an askew look. “Why couldn’t you just tell me the story instead of making up that crazy flashback sequence?”

She closed her eyes and raised an index finger. “They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and that flashback was ten times better because it was more like a movie than a picture.”

“You’re one weird girl.”

Going back to his bed, Mimi flounced down. “So, now do you believe me?”

Ken walked back to his seat, but just looked down at it. Did he believe her? It was hard to argue with the facts, and what she’d shown him was pretty out of this world.

“Okay, so, let me get this straight. You’re a genie in training?”

“Yep.”

“Are you very far along in your training? How many wishes have you granted so far?”

Mimi played with her hair and refused to look at him. “Well…” Sheepishly, she held up one hand, palm open.

Ken’s jaw dropped. “You’ve only granted five wishes?!”

“Hey! It’s not as easy as it sounds! You heard my grandfather; small wishes don’t count. They have to be real wishes, something a person’s heart truly desires.”

Ken thought about this for a moment. “But how do you know what it is that someone really wants?”

“That’s the problem. I don’t. Most of the time, neither does my master, which is why I haven’t been able to grant many wishes up ’til now.” A bitter smile curved her lips. “As a genie, I’m no good to them. They only want superficial things that won’t make them happy in the long term. When that fleeting happiness runs out, they turn to me to fix it, but I can’t, because they don’t even know what it is they desire. After a while, they just stop wishing all together, and then they throw me away, or forget about me.”

“That’s terrible.” Ken resumed his seat. He leaned his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands in front of him. “And then I went and broke your bottle. You’ve already been through a lot, and I just made it worse. I’m really sorry.”

Mimi shook her head and brightened a bit. “I forgive you. You did promise to find me a new bottle, after all.”

“Yeah.”

Looking at the time, Ken whistled. “Wow. Would you look at that? Is it that late already? We should be getting to bed.”

“Okay.”

Without warning, Mimi began to pull off her shirt.

Ken nearly fell out of his chair in shock. “What’re you doing?!”

“Getting changed, of course. I can’t sleep in this.”

“Can’t you just use your magic again to make some pajamas?”

“It’s kind of a waste of energy, but…” She hesitated, her hands half lifting the bottom of her uniform top. He could just start to see the lacy edge of her--

Spinning about, Ken clamped a hand over his eyes. “Mom!” he hollered.

As if she had been waiting for this very moment, Mrs. Azuma opened the door and walked in. “Here we go,” she said, and deposited an oversized dress shirt in Mimi’s lap. “It’s one of my husband’s shirts from before he lost some weight. It’s too big on him now, so I use it for sleeping in. Go ahead and use this for tonight.”

“Thank you.”

Mrs. Azuma turned to her son who was still red in the face and sweating. “Ken, you go wait in the hall.”

“Yes, ma’am!” He beat a hasty retreat, slamming the door shut behind him.

After a little while, his mother reopened the door. “All right. It’s safe.”

He turned around and made a strangled noise.

Mimi was standing shyly behind his mother. The shirt was large and baggy, the hem of it coming down about mid-thigh, and the sleeves ending about mid-palm. The pale skin of her legs offset the powder blue of the material, and he had to wonder if she had anything on under that--

Pressure in his face caused him to clamp a hand over his nose. “Excuse me,” he managed to babble before darting into the bathroom before the imminent bloody nose gave away his thoughts.

He washed his face with cold water for several minutes before he felt like himself again.

Seeing Mimi the second time, he was able to keep his hormones under better control. He had to remind himself that he’d only just met her, and she wasn’t exactly a normal girl, anyway. She was a genie in training.

As if that really makes a difference, a sarcastic part of his brain snarked.

“We were just discussing where Mimi would sleep tonight,” Mrs. Azuma told him when he emerged from the bathroom.

Mr. Azuma had joined them. He was eating a mochi ice cream off a plate. “That shirt looks better on her than it ever did on me,” he laughed. “So, shall we set up the spare bedroom?”

Mimi came over and hugged Ken’s arm. “I want to sleep in his room.”

Mr. Azuma roared with laughter. “Oh ho! Looks like you’re really popular with the ladies, Ken! Reika would be so jealous right now if she knew.”

Ken glared. “Knock it off, Dad!”

Mrs. Azuma gently pried Mimi away from her son’s arm. “I know you’re nervous about staying in a strange house and all, but it’s just not right for an unmarried girl to sleep in the same room as a boy.”

“Now, honey, the times are changing,” Mr. Azuma interjected. “We have to start thinking more progressively.”

“Oh, do you think so?” But then Mrs. Azuma waved a concerned hand in front of her husband’s face. “But, oh my, what will the neighbors say?”

“If they’re in love, then who wouldn’t give this young couple their blessing?”

“That’s true. You’re right. Mimi, dear, you go right ahead and sleep in Ken’s room tonight if you want to.”

“Mom! Dad!” Ken was scandalized.

He took Mimi’s hand and dragged her to the spare room. In the blink of an eye, he unfurled a futon and set everything up so that she’d be as comfortable as possible.

“There you go. The bathroom is on the left. See you in the morning,” he said, and patted her shoulder in what he hoped was a friendly yet non-amorous way.

“Ken…”

Her voice stopped him in the doorway. He didn’t turn around, but said, “Mimi, if you don’t mind, I think I’d like to help you. Grant wishes, I mean. I know I screwed up today. But together, maybe we can find some people who need wishes granted, and that way, you can get your own wish to become a full-fledged genie fulfilled.” He hesitated a moment longer, then added, “Good night.”

He shut the door behind him and leaned his back against it. Those had been easy words to say, but he wasn’t sure if he really could help Mimi. Outside of finding her a new home, he didn’t know the first thing about what he might have gotten himself into.

His Mom and Dad were still waiting outside his room.

Mr. Azuma had wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulders. He wiped away a tear from his eye. “That’s my boy! Such a gentleman. Even after she offered herself to you, you still had the decency to wait until marriage.”

Ken clenched his fists in exasperation. “I said, knock it off!”

***

The sunlight coming in through his open blinds woke Ken up about twenty minutes before his alarm would go off. He stretched, then let out a yelp when he bumped into something. Pulling back the covers, he saw that the something was actually a someone.

Mimi was curled up on her side, facing him. She was fast asleep.

When had she snuck into his room and crawled into his bed? And had he been so tired from the previous day that he had slept through it all?

He sighed. Whatever the reason, he was pretty sure that it wasn’t because she liked him in that way. I mean, it couldn’t be. We’ve just met, for crying out loud! She must have had a bad dream, or just felt nervous about being in a strange place, like Mom had suggested.

Watching her sleep, he was reminded of the trouble she’d been through. It didn’t sound like being a genie in training was a cake walk. And all he had to worry about was school and the track team. Speaking of which…

Ken reached over and shut off the alarm before it began beeping, right at the same moment the doorbell downstairs started ringing. A female voice outside shouted, “Rise and shine, Azuma-kun! I’m here bright and early to accompany you to the athletics festival!”

“Crap!” he muttered. It was Reika. Reaching over, he began to frantically shake Mimi. “Wake up!”

She batted his hands away and rolled over. “Mmm…shtill shleepy…” she slurred. “Ten more minutes.”

From downstairs, he could hear his mother letting Reika in. “Good morning, Koga-chan. I’m not sure if Ken is up yet.”

This wasn’t good! If Reika found Mimi in his bed…

“Wake up, already!”

Ken smacked Mimi on the back with a pillow. She let out a loud, startled squeal.

“What was that?” he heard Reika ask.

“I’m not sure,” his mother replied. “The cat, maybe?”

“What’s the big idea?!” Mimi sat up and brushed hair out of her face. “I don’t want to get up yet!”

Ken slapped a hand over her mouth. “Keep your voice down! Reika’s here. I can’t let her find you with me. She’ll be furious.” He pulled at her arm. “Get up. If we hurry, we might be able to sneak you back into your room before she--”

“Azuma-kun! I’m coming up!”

“Oh, great,” he moaned. “No time for that, now.” Maybe he could hide her in the closet…

Mimi still looked half-asleep and confused as she tried to make sense of all this. “Who is this Reika girl, anyway? Why would she be mad if she saw us together? Is she your girlfriend?”

Footsteps stopped just outside his bedroom door. The three staccato knocks that followed sent shivers down his spine. “Azuma-kun? You awake?”

“H-Hold on, Reika,” he called. Damn it! There wasn’t time to hide Mimi in the closet, either. He took hold of her shoulders and gave her a serious look. “Just…just don‘t move and keep quiet,” he whispered.

Before she knew it, Mimi was shoved onto her back and Ken had clambered on top of her. He pulled the covers up over his shoulders and half-buried her head under a pillow.

The knocking grew more incessant. “Azuma-kun? Are you decent?”

“C-Come in.”

The door was kicked open with a resounding crash that nearly made both Ken and Mimi topple out of bed in surprise. In stomped Reika.

Reika Koga was tall, thin, and exceptionally attractive. She was also pushy, obnoxious, and seemed to think she owned Ken body and soul. This morning, she was still dressed in her house attire which was a replica of his mother’s: purple shirt, denim skirt, and an apron. She thought this made her look “domestic” and as Ken’s “soon to be wife” she thought it only appropriate that she dress the part from time to time.

“Just what do you think you’re doing, Ken? It’s way past the time you should have been up. You wanna be late?”

Faking a cough, Ken shook his head. “I don’t feel so well this morning. I think I’m going to skip school today.”

“What?! You can’t be serious! You’re going to let a little cough make you miss out on the athletics festival? What about Sonoda and the others? Are you just going to let them handle the track club all by themselves?”

Ken made a few wheezes. “I can’t run like this, Reika. Bring me the phone. I’ll tell Sonoda that I’m sorry. I’m sure he’ll understand.”

“This isn’t like you, Azuma. Since when did you start becoming such a slacker?” She sat down on the edge of his bed and pressed one palm against his forehead, while at the same time touching her own. “You don’t feel like you have a fever.”

“I didn’t say I had a fever. I said I have a cough.” He faked a few more rasping breaths for good measure. “You’d better not stay too long. What if it’s contagious?”

“You can’t catch laziness.” She leaned closer and gave him a suspicious look. “What is this about, really? You can tell me. Did you just not do your homework last night?”

Actually, he hadn’t, but that wasn’t the point. Ken could feel Mimi beginning to struggle a bit under him as she fought to be able to breathe with the pillow on her head.

He forced a laugh. “No, of course not.”

“Hmm.” Reika leaned even closer, her dark eyes drilling into his as if she could read his mind. “You know, you’re acting awfully funny this morning for someone with a clean conscience.”

Mimi was starting to push at his chest, now. He shifted a little and tried to ease up the pressure on the pillow, but he didn’t think it would help much. He really needed Reika to leave.

She continued to stare him down like a cop with a suspect in an interrogation room. He’d seen enough crime dramas to know that she was hoping his own guilt would start wearing him down, which unfortunately, it was.

A twinge of annoyance sparked. Reika was always like this around him. “Why’re you being so suspicious of me, all of a sudden? Isn’t my word good enough for you? Or don’t you trust me?”

She sat back. “Dunno. My feminine instincts tell me that something’s up.” She blinked. “Why’re you squirming around like that?”

Mimi couldn’t take it any more. She needed air! With a supreme amount of strength, she hefted Ken off of her and sat up, gasping.

Reika, to her credit, didn’t flip out immediately. Her face went through several changes. First her eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in anger. Her lips formed a hard line and turned white as she pressed them together. A vein started throbbing in her temple and if she had been a cat, you could have seen every hair on her body standing straight up as the single word-- “rival”-- echoed unspoken through the air.

“So, you’re sick with a cough, huh?”

Ken held up his hands in front of him as if warding off an impending blow. “Reika, I can explain!”

“Oh, there’s no need for that, Azuma. I think it’s pretty clear what’s been going on behind my back.”

“Nothing’s been going on, I swear! It’s not what it looks like.”

Having regained her breath, Mimi waved a greeting. “Good morning. I’m Mimishkala Renala, a genie in training. But most people just call me Mimi.”

Ken sighed and dropped his face into his hands. “Not helping…” he grumbled.

“Oh, right. Like I’m going to believe a man-stealing hussy like you is some magical genie.”

“But I am!” Mimi picked up Ken’s alarm clock. “Watch this.”

She concentrated really hard. The clock began to glow. The light extended and twisted and formed around the clock before solidifying. When the glow faded, they were looking at an elongated dog with stumpy legs, floppy ears, and the clock embedded in its belly.

“See? It’s a watch dog! Well, a clock dog, anyway, since…it’s a clock and not a watch.”

“Good morning!” the clock dog said in a very proper, accented voice. “The time is now 7:58 AM. Have a wonderful day!” Then it curled up on the nightstand and proceeded to go to sleep. Every time it snored, they could hear the buzzer go off a little.

“She really is a genie,” Reika murmured.

Ken nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, which is why I couldn’t tell you about her.” Then he let out a cry as Reika grabbed him in a headlock.

“You jerk! You were going to keep all those wishes to yourself, weren’t you? You were just going to use them up and not share a single one with me. How dare you treat your future wife like that!”

Mimi cocked her head to one side. “Future wife?”

Reika let go of Ken who fell off the bed. She smiled and flashed the “V” for victory pose. “Been engaged since we were little.”

Mimi clapped her hands together. “Why, how wonderful! I’m so excited for the two of you!”

“It’s not like that,” Ken groaned from the floor, but he doubted anyone heard him. Girls had a way of ignoring everything except what they wanted to hear.

“Come on, Azuma-kun,” Reika prompted, and tapped the top of his head with one of her slippers. “We need to get dressed for school, or else we’ll be late.”

He sighed. “I guess.”

“Oh, and I’m taking Mimi with me. She’ll need some clothes, too.”

Mimi didn’t seem too enthused by this statement. “I can make my own clothes.”

“That doesn’t matter. We’re friends now, right? Friends look out for each other. While Azuma gets changed, you and I can get better acquainted.”

“But…”

“Better do as she says,” Ken urged. “Reika doesn’t like to hear the word ‘no.’”

Reluctantly, Mimi allowed herself to be led out of the room by Reika.

“Don’t take too long to change,” she told him and closed the door.

Ken waited a moment until he was sure they were gone before he let out an explosive breath. What a crazy adventure this was going to turn out to be. He looked over at the sleeping clock dog and shook his head. He had a feeling it was only going to get stranger from here on in.