Daisuke yawned and sleepily opened his eyes. And moaned. He had been out all night again, as Dark, thieving and plundering and seducing innocent young maidens and outsmarting the police and all the other things Dark thought was fun. Leaving no time for sleep. Daisuke put his pillow over his face and tried to will himself back into unconsciousness.
"Dai-kun, time for school!" Emiko's voice singsonged as she smilingly came to wake him.
She's pretty cheerful, at least she got a good night's sleep
Daisuke grumbled to himself No one seems to care that I have to go to school in the morning, and Dark always runs around all night long.Feeling sorry for ourselves, Dai-kun?
Dark cut in, sounding smug, You could always sleep while you're me, you know. I sleep while you endure the tedium of school.Yeah, right.
Daisuke shot back testily, Like I can sleep while you're out risking our lives.Might make a nice change
Dark remarked, yawning soundlessly Instead of you screaming like a scared girl all night long.Daisuke felt his cheeks redden at that, and growled silently to himself. Before he could think of anything cutting to come back at Dark with, the Phantom Thief had dozed off.
Bastard
.Somehow Daisuke managed to stumble out of bed, get dressed and eat breakfast, all while still half asleep. Mumbling a goodbye to his mother, who cheerfully reminded him to be home early because she'd sent out another warning note, Daisuke picked up his school bag and went off to wait for the train.
The wind was cold this morning, and Daisuke pulled his collar up to protect his ears, keeping his head down to protect his face as much as possible. Stupid Dark, he mumbled to himself, Stupid DNA. Stupid family secret. Stupid-
Daisuke was still ranting to himself when he ran into something soft and had to struggle to retain balance. Unfortunately, his hands were still in his pockets and somehow his feet became entangled and he fell to the ground, along with the soft thing he'd run into.
Soft person, actually. Daisuke's embarrassment doubled as he realized the person he's so blithely plowed over was none other than Harada Risa, the girl who triggered his change into Dark because she was the first girl he'd had a romantic interest in.
"Niwa-kun?" She sounded startled, brushing hair out of her big, dark eyes.
Daisuke realized that he was close enough to kiss her now, which made red colour rise into his cheeks. He also realized that he had fallen so that he was lying nearly in between her legs, which made his blush deepen. He felt like he was going to throw up. Don't turn into Dark, Don't turn into Dark…He felt dizzy and was sure he was going to start transforming. Then the dizziness stopped.
"Niwa-kun? Are you ok?" Risa-chan sounded worried now, and put her hand on Daisuke's shoulder.
Daisuke opened his eyes. He hadn't changed into Dark! What's going on?
"Uh, yeah. I'm ok." Daisuke belatedly began to scramble to his feet. Bending to help Risa-chan off of the ground, Daisuke suddenly felt renewed embarrassment that overwhelmed his relief. "I'm so sorry Risa-chan! You must think I'm so clumsy…"
Risa smiled brightly at him and brushed off the back of her skirt. "It's ok, Niwa-kun. I'm not hurt."
Boarding the train, Risa settled beside Daisuke and pulled out a box full of something Daisuke was sure were supposed to be cookies. "I made these for you Niwa-kun," she said, holding them out to him, "I want you to try them and tell me if they are good. I want to make some for Dark, but they have to taste good."
Daisuke's stomach churned. He'd been through this before. Risa-chan's food experiments always left his stomach in knots and had him running for the toilet. All of which he could have endured if she were making the food for his sake, but instead he was the guinea pig for Dark.
Daisuke opened his mouth to refuse, but made the mistake of looking over at her big dark eyes shining hopefully back at him. She was too cute to refuse. Sighing, Daisuke took a cookie and obligingly put it into his mouth. It was going to be a long ride to school.