The Summer of Her Discontent, Part One:  Something For 
Me 

By John Biles

Series:  Mai Hime (future)

Home Page: 
http://www.thekeep.org/~wombat/Stories/MaiHime/index.h
tml

*****************

Erica's Tale:

	This was definitely not one of my easier missions.  
Aoi-Mom was lowering me down an air shaft; I couldn't 
touch the walls at all until I reached the right vent, or the 
alarms would go off - and it was a tight fit.  Then Aunt 
Yukino would hack the security around the right vent and I 
would have to wiggle through without touching the sides of 
it, in order to get into the office of the Epigoni corporation 
and steal Chairman Thessander Uchida's plans.

	The Chairman, you see, was smart enough NOT to 
connect his computer full of secrets to the network and thus 
Aunt Yukino couldn't hack into it.  Until I hooked up the 
new peripheral which would let her in.

	In and out, nice and simple.  And like most computers, 
there would be such a tangled mess down where the ports 
are that no one should notice a little device hooked to one 
of the USB ports until it was too late.  Chairman Uchida 
was a genius, an evil genius working for the Crimson 
Huntsman - but like most businessmen, he didn't know 
anything about his computer worked, he just used it.  So 
long as it seemed functional, he would never even think to 
look.  And with it disconnected from the network, no one 
would notice.

	I reached the vent and signalled Aunt Yukino; she 
gave me the heads up and I unscrewed it and clipped it to 
my back for now, to get it out of the way.  Now came the 
hard part, getting through the vent window without actually 
touching the sides of it.  Aunt Yukino could turn off the 
security in the vent, but the security inside the office was 
on a separate, isolated system, and there might be a touch 
sensor.  I was most of the way through, feet first, using my 
magnetic gloves to cling to the parts of the air shaft which 
had been hacked, when I discovered a problem.  My breasts 
were too big to fit through without bumping the vent.  
Kasumi had pointed this out, but I'd assumed, incorrectly, I 
wasn't that much bigger than her.

	There was no recourse but to cheat and focus my will 
on it and make the vent large enough for them to fit.  But 
cheating kind of ruins the experience.  Up to that point, it 
had merely been highly implausible.

	I can control my dreams.  Most of the time, though, I 
just let them flow unless they try to turn nasty on me.  I'm a 
big heroine in my dreams, and it's rather more pleasant to 
win without cheating.  Or at least cheating too much.

	Whereas in the real world, I tend to watch the world 
go by.  Of course, this being a dream, it's indirectly what 
I'm doing here.  This isn't real.  But it's fun.

	I dropped down into the office and planted the device.  
The computer announced, "Dave, what are you doing, 
Dave?" in a smooth voice.

	"My name isn't Dave," I said instinctively.

	Somehow, it spit the device out.  "I can't let you do 
that, Dave."

	I pulled out a very large magnet.  "Can it, or I'll use 
this."

	"I'm sorry it has to come to this, Dave."  Then the 
lasers opened fire on me.  

	The temptation to cheat was high, but I fought it 
down, instead bouncing around, dodging lasers.  
Unfortunately, I could hear security men coming and there 
was no way I was going to make it to the shaft.  "Chie-
Mom, I need backup!"

	"Magical Pet Insertion Time!" she shouted 
enthusiastically.

	While this had never happened in any previous dream, 
I felt a sudden dread as if this had happened before.  
BADLY.

	Then I heard the loudest crashing, mangling, tearing, 
shredding noise of my life, as if something huge had been 
dropped down an air shaft at high speed and it was far too 
big, so it was just crushing the air shaft as it came.  The 
building shook and the laser fire went wild, blowing up the 
computer.  Then a pair of huge tusks broke through the 
wall.  

	"Babar!" I shouted.  My faithful elephant companion.

	A name resonated in my mind.

	HANNIBAL.

	Except now I was shaken awake.  I'd fallen asleep in 
one of the deck chairs of the Commons; Aunt Natsuki had 
run Dan and I ragged on gun and cycle training out at Aunt 
Haruka's mansion.  It's cool but very tiring.  We'd intended 
to do some homework together, but this had turned into 
naptime and now it was nearly sunset.

	It was Fukuda Kenta, from the Drama club.  He's a 
short, skinny guy, only slightly taller than Ota Mandi.  
"Harada-san, I'm sorry to bother you, but I fear I must ask a 
favor of you."  He didn't seem too happy to be in this 
position of having to ask.

	Dan now stirred, rubbing his eyes.

	"What?" I asked.

	"We had to replace your cousin Tokiha Shun after he 
got grounded, as he can't participate in any interscholastic 
competition while he's grounded.  We replaced him with 
Yamato Kazuko.  Unfortunately, she got drunk this 
weekend and got in a fight with her ex-boyfriend's new 
girlfriend and now she's grounded too."  He frowned.  "I 
hate to ask this of you, but Tokiha-san said you were the 
only person he could think of who might have a chance of 
learning the lines fast enough.  Please?," he begged, getting 
down on his knees.

	I blinked.  "I really don't have much acting 
experience."  I tend to watch entertainment more than 
perform myself.  

	"That's fine.  But half our people with acting 
experience have managed to get in trouble."  He twitched.  
"Again."  He twitched a second time, then rubbed his 
forehead.  "Suguira-san, if you have any interest, we could 
use another tech person too, as we had to promote one of 
our techs to take over another role."  Twitch.  "If you can 
loosen or unloosen a vise and move large set pieces, that's 
all you need to know."

	"Hmm, you know, Mom always nags me because I 
don't do anything extracurricular," Dan said.  "And we 
don't have any big tests until after the contest, right?"

	"Yes.  So at least this time none of our people will 
flunk out."  Fukuda-san looked like one good nudge and he 
would just explode in fire or something.

	"Well, okay.  I don't normally have time for a play, but 
I'll do this for my cousin's sake," I said.  Actually, it's more 
like I'm really not good at it, but if Shun thinks I can do 
this, then I'll do it.  Cousins should help each other out.

	"Thank you, GODS AND GODDESSES!" Fukuda-
san said, dancing around.  I fought the urge to laugh.  "Here 
is the script."  He handed me a thin booklet.  "It's a one act 
play so not too long.  Your lines are underlined and Tokiha-
san can tell you everything.  A real woman in a major role.  
Truly this is the year of miracles," he said.  "Rehearsals are 
in Nichiren Hall in the auditorium.  Be there tomorrow at 
seven."

	"Okay," I said.  "Wait, what's the play?"

	"Sad Dracula in Snow.  It's a horror-comedy."

	"..."

	"It's really funny.  You're playing the romantic female 
lead who seduces Dracula," Fukuda-san said.

	"..."  I could see why they originally cast Shun in the 
role.

	"I know," he said apologetically.  "We kind of...last 
year's play cost too much for the rights and so the Drama 
directors for our three local schools kind of got coerced into 
writing a cheap play for all three schools.  But that means 
everyone is spying on each other to figure out how the 
others are doing it so we can upstage them."

	"..."

	"So don't tell anyone anything you see, right?  Okay, 
I'll see you tomorrow!"  He ran off while I was still trying 
to recover.

	I stared at the script.  Sad Dracula in Snow.

	Next time I ask the play's name in advance.

*************
	
Kasumi's Tale:

	I shouldn't have skipped track practice, but I'm still 
trying to figure out what to do.  I don't know if I can 
successfully fake being slow enough that I don't 
accidentally become world famous.

	Natasha and I were supposed to be studying but 
instead I was fretting and she'd let herself get sucked into 
some stupid hand-held video game.  I could hear orcs dying 
in droves.

	"I don't know what to do," I said to her.  We were in 
her dorm room; it was just us as her roommate and both her 
suitemates were gone to various activities.

	"Okay, the way to get the Hand of Sefmur is that you 
have to pack ice spells to kill the fire creatures and you 
HAVE GOT to have gotten the Sword of Sehlass, or else 
the Diamond Golem will kill you all," she said without 
looking.  "That's what Gin says.  I should prove him right 
in just a few minutes."

	"Not in a video game," I told her.  "About being so 
fast."

	"Kasumi, no one in their right mind would accuse you 
of being fast.  Crystal and I, we're fast.  But you take your 
relationships slow and easy, which is why you're still 
thinkng about handholding when someone in the family 
drives your boyfriend away or it turns out he just wants the 
sex," Natasha said, fingers moving wildly.  "Yes!  Here 
comes the Hand!  Come to Mama!"

	"I'm talking about running."

	"For office?  Oh wait, because of your powers."  
Natasha sounded jealous.

	I couldn't help but smile a little at that.  "Yes, my 
powers," I told her.  "I don't think I hid them very well 
today and I really don't know how to hide them in track."

	"You sucked ass at hiding them today," Natasha said.  
"But your mother...holy cow..."

***************

Natasha's Tale:

	I saluted Aunt Akane, ready for today's lesson.  I had a 
feeling I was next in line for a power-up, though my 
sensible bit told me that was my ego talking.  The rest of 
me assumed that since Kasumi and I had both gotten to 
power up in the game, then Kasumi had powered up in real 
life, ergo, I would be next.  Even if Crystal is two days 
older than I am.  

	She showed us several moves and then had us drill 
with them while she did them and critiqued us.  Kasumi, to 
my surprise, got it right the first time and then did it very 
quickly and powerfully.  I got it pretty quick because I have 
a knack.  I don't know much about my dad, but I assume I 
got my kicking of ass from him as I certainly didn't get it 
from Mom.  On the other hand, apparently he was a 
communications major, which doesn't exactly say 'ass-
kicker' to me.  Mom is working hard to improve.  It still 
comes much easier to me than her.

	But she was LAST.  Hah.

	Then it was time to spar with Aunt Akane.  I'd noticed 
Aunt Akane seemed faster.

	I hadn't really internalized HOW MUCH faster.

	Aunt Akane beat my ass like a drum.  I couldn't hit her 
to save my life and she just steamrollered me like a giant 
train crashing into a shed.  I ended up flat on my ass very 
quickly and she looked horrified.

	After that, she slowed down a lot, but it was a strain.  
When she and Kasumi went at it, they were both trying to 
go slower, but they kept having bursts of speed.  I don't 
know if everyone else was deliberately not noticing or if 
they were too busy with their own exercise and drill to 
notice.

	But I have a feeling Kasumi isn't going to be able to 
hide this from the parents too long.  Not once someone like 
Aunt Akira or Aunt Mikoto who are really good at judging 
these things watches, anyway.

*****************

Kasumi's Tale:

	"I know," Kasumi mumbled.  "It's like she decided to 
stop hiding her powers or turn the dial up to 10 or 
something."

	"You know, maybe she didn't have powers and she got 
them like you there," Natasha speculated.

	I shook my head.  "I don't think so.  I think she 
just...well, I'm not sure why.  Other than I know she had a 
conference with Aunt Akira.  Maybe Aunt Akira asked her 
to start hinting at us that she has powers?" I guessed wildly.

	"Ugh.  I want to be next but I don't want to see 
monsters rampage on campus," Natasha said, frowning.

	"Me neither," I said.  "This would be much easier if I 
could turn this on and off."

	"Maybe the parents can," Natasha said.  "Mom sure 
hasn't ever shown me any evidence of super powers, but 
maybe they can just turn it off and hide it, which is why 
we've never seen the mark on them either."

	That made sense.  Now I just have to figure out what 
to do about track.  I don't want to drop it, but...

	I don't know what to do.

****************

Shun's Tale:

	I didn't know what to expect from Aunt Akane; I've 
not seen any of her lessons, though I have to say Kasumi 
did learn fast.  Given how much damage Kasumi can do 
with her powers, I can only imagine her mother is much, 
much scarier with all these years of experience.   

	And that's hard for me to imagine, as Aunt Akane is 
normally quiet and friendly and peaceful and maybe even a 
little scared sometimes.  So I'm not sure what is going to 
happen.

	Crystal joined us and we went to the field behind the 
women's dorm, between the woods and the dorm.  It's just 
flat, open grass with a few benches near the doors.  We 
often have our 'secret' meetings here.  "Is it okay if I use my 
sword?" she asked, holding up her wooden kendo sword.

	"That's fine," Aunt Akane said.  "I'm only really 
qualified to teach tonfas, but I can talk to Mikoto about 
figuring out some way for me to help you more."

	Crystal nodded.  "We'll see how it goes."  She sounded 
excited.

	Kagami looked nervous.  I was a little excited; after 
hearing Kasumi's story about seeing her mother drill, I was 
kind of hoping she'd forget we 'haven't been told anything' 
and was going to show off.  

	"Akira is going to get you a wooden naginata and 
some drills I can teach you," Aunt Akane said to Kagami.  
"For now, you and Shun will work with the tonfas and he'll 
teach all three of us some unarmed."

	"Really?" I said.

	"I could use some unarmed training and I'm sure the 
rest of us could too.  I do Tai Chi, but I do it for exercise.  
Though I can teach you that."

	Cool.  Tai Chi is very fluid and graceful and I like 
that.

	Aunt Akane started by showing us some hand grips.  
She flicked between them so fast it was hard to follow, 
though thankfully she would then hold a grip a while.  Then 
she had us drill with them while she went to take on Crystal 
in some sparring.

	Kagami kept fumbling switching the grips, which 
clearly frustrated her, though she seemed to pick things up 
quickly that required less manual dexterity.  I, on the other 
hand, found it easy from lots of knife drills and tricks.

	Crystal bowed as did Aunt Akane, then Crystal 
charged.  Kendo tends to focus on attacking so hard your 
foe doesn't have time to counter-attack and Crystal tried to 
press Aunt Akane aggressively.

	Aunt Akane parried every blow, catching the heavy 
blade between the main bar and the side bar, while holding 
with the other end of the main bar.  She would then twist 
and push the blade back, switch grips and strike, forcing 
Crystal to retreat before another attack.

	It was like watching a bull run at a wall head on and 
bounce off over and over.

	The fact that Kendoists basically practice to strike a 
fairly limited number of points didn't help, I think.  
Crystal's got a lot of strength and power, certainly more 
than me.  But it also means she's a few-tricks pony, though 
she's very good at those few tricks.

	I'd have to dodge or indirectly parry anything she 
threw at me, but Aunt Akane was not just parrying her 
blows but doing so in a very straightforward manner.  She'd 
never shown off such strength before, but I guess she's 
stopped hiding what she can do.  

	Then she went on the offensive.  Crystal fought 
desperately, giving ground and gradually being forced 
towards the woods.  I stopped what I was supposed to be 
doing and just watched as she got more and more 
frustrated, while Aunt Akane just advanced like a 
juggernaut.  

	The last straw was Aunt Akane saying, "Come on, 
Crystal, my sons can do better than that."

	Crystal gave a KIYA like a banshee howling the 
imminent death of Macbeth. I could tell she was throwing 
everything she had into it, and while Aunt Akane blocked 
it, she stumbled back. Now Crystal pressed her advantage, 
forcing Aunt Akane to retreat, though none of the blows 
actually touched her.

	Then I noticed Crystal was breathing hard and Aunt 
Akane wasn't even half as winded as Crystal was.  I 
couldn't tell if she was letting Crystal push her or if she 
really was at her limits.  

	Until Crystal started to wobble and Aunt Akane 
stepped it up again; pretty quickly, Crystal was down on 
her butt saying, "You win!  You win!"

	Aunt Akane now looked very worried.  "That didn't 
hurt too much, did it?"

	"Mostly my pride," Crystal said, though I could tell it 
likely hurt more than she would admit.  

	Aunt Akane helped her up and gave her a hug.  "Very 
good.  You tried a lot harder when you got to the edge of 
the woods."

	"You've been holding out on us," Crystal mumbled 
ruefully.  "I was worried about hurting you at first."

	"Kasumi and I are tougher than we look," Aunt Akane 
said softly.  "Okay, you rest and then drill some, while I 
take on Shun."

	I took a deep breath. "Wish me luck, Kagami," I said 
to her.

	"Good luck, Shun," she said, kissing my cheek.   

	"Do you want me to try with the tonfas or can I go 
unarmed?" I asked.  

	"I'd like to see how good you are unarmed," she said.  

	Good.  At least I'd give a good show.

	Ironically, after we bowed, we both stood there; I 
normally wait for a foe to attack, then use their attack 
against them, but it looked like she was going to do the 
same thing.  Kagami stared at us curiously, while Crystal 
laughed.

	So I moved in cautiously, punching at her.  She 
blocked my first set of blows, then flipped over me and 
kicked me in the butt, knocking me to the ground.  I rolled, 
came up, and came at her again, mixing punches and kicks.  
She blocked the punches, dodged the kicks, then went over 
me. This time I was ready and I spun and managed to nail 
her in the stomach, while she nailed me in the legs.  We 
both fell down and I felt much better.  

	I pressed my assault and she gave a little ground and 
started to vault over me, so I started to turn and realized too 
late she was going to whack me in the head and shoulders 
as she did a flip in the air over me.  I got knocked around 
some, and then she went on the offensive.

	I kept trying to grab and throw her, but she was too 
quick.  I did get a grip on one of her tonfas, but couldn't 
hold it for long in the face of her strength.  She kept 
pounding me, not as hard as I think she could, but hard 
enough.  I could tell she didn't like hitting me, but she 
didn't stop, even though she didn't look happy with it.

	I could block some blows, but I could tell it was only 
because she was worried about maiming me if she cut loose 
totally.  Every counterattack got blocked with ease.

	Kagami was starting to get worried, and I tried to 
think of something.  Use the terrain, Mom always says.  
Use the terrain.  So I retreated to the edge of the trees, 
where the roots stick out and tried to lure her into tripping.

	She was watching me, not her feet, and so while she 
only wobbled a bit when her foot hit a root, it was enough 
for me to manage a grab and throw.  Which if she'd not 
been holding back some, I fear wouldn't have worked.

	"Hah!" Crystal shouted.

	"Good," Aunt Akane said.  "Now throw me again."

	I managed to throw her again by taking a severe 
pummelling.  Too severe for what it was worth, though she 
went even further this time.  I wobbled and Kagami ran 
over to me to hold me up.

	Aunt Akane sat up.  "Nice throw," she said, then 
looked at me and looked guilty.  "Are you okay?"

	"I'm fine," I told her.  

	"Okay, show us all how you did that throw."

	Pretty soon, I had everyone else throwing each other 
around and laughing.  Aunt Akane seemed to rather enjoy 
it.  Even when Kagami overdid it and threw her up into the 
branches of a tree.  That kind of boggled me.  I'm pretty 
sure I couldn't throw someone so far.  Kagami didn't 
normally seem to be that strong.  Unless maybe she was a 
battle princess now.  Given that the parents had so suddenly 
brought her into the circle of the family and were going to 
great lengths for her, that would make sense.  

	"How can you jump so far?" Crystal asked Aunt 
Akane.  I couldn't tell if she was digging for family secret 
gold or just wanted to do it herself.

	"Many years of Tai Chi," Aunt Akane said.

	We were all sprawled out on the grass now, watching 
the stars come out.  

	"With enough practice, you'll be able to do that too," 
she said a little dreamily.  "And a lot more."

	Kagami nodded as if this was self-evident.  "Practice 
makes perfect."

	"Did you do gymnastics in school?" Crystal asked 
curiously.

	"No, but I wanted to," Aunt Akane said.  "But you 
need to be bone skinny and I'm not and my family was too 
busy melting down to buy me lessons."  She sighed.  
"Which is why I always encouraged Kasumi when she 
decided to do track.  I wanted her to achieve her dream."

	Crystal said hesitantly, "You're rather good at jumping 
around and doing acrobatics in the air for someone who has 
no gymnastics training."

	I was pretty sure we hadn't seen the limits of what she 
could do yet.  

	"When I'm done with you, you'll be good at it too," 
Aunt Akane said confidently.

	Crystal stared at her, while Kagami nodded 
affirmatively.  I was a little surprised myself.  

	I think Aunt Akane is chafing at the bit of the family 
secret.  Or something.  She's definitely not the person she 
was last week.

	"Anyway, I will be pushing you very hard.  I promised 
Shun's mother that I would make you all break past your 
limits to your full potential and I will do my very best.  
Your mother loves you very much, you know, Shun."

	I smiled.  Dan would be squirming right now, but I 
don't hide my emotions like he does.  "Yeah, I know.  I'm 
lucky."

	"I love you too," Kagami said, putting an arm around 
me and turning a little red.

	I kissed her softly.  "And I love you," I told her.  

	"Better hope no one is watching," Crystal teased us.  

 	"Is anyone watching?" Aunt Akane said softly.

	I strained my ears to hear, and I could see Crystal 
doing the same.  Kagami was kind of obvious about it, 
while Crystal and I were trying to act casual.

	"Maybe," Kagami said.

	"Two," I whispered.

	"I just hear one," Crystal said.

	"Very good," Akane said softly, then got out her 
phone and hit a button.  I heard sneaking away.  "I'll save 
the ambush for another day."

	Crystal blinked, and I laughed.  Kagami mumbled, "I 
didn't hear anyone."

	"Who was going to ambush us?" Crystal asked 
curiously.

	"You'll find out when they do.  Maybe tomorrow.  Or 
later.  Be alert.  You never know when someone might 
surprise attack you," Aunt Akane said, sounding very 
serious.  "Even...well.  Be alert."

	Kagami nodded.  "I will."

	"Aunt Akane, how often are you going to come train 
us?" Crystal asked.

	"I'll be here everyday, Monday through Thursday and 
probably Saturdays too, giving you Friday and Sunday off.  
I promised Akira I'd make you all stronger and I will," 
Aunt Akane said firmly.

	"Okay," Crystal said.  

	"I wish I could take you all to the mansion; it has 
better facilities, but you three are still grounded, so that's 
not an option during the week, as you have your work to 
do," Aunt Akane said.

	Crystal nodded.  "Are we going to do some more 
practice?"

	Aunt Akane studied her watch.  "We should, but I'd 
best let you all catch up on homework."

	My phone rang; it was a message from Erica.  "And 
Erica needs to see me, probably about the play."

	"The play?" Aunt Akane asked, getting up.

	"Yeah, she's taking over my old role," I said.

	"Now that's very nice of her," Kagami said 
approvingly.  I got up, helping her up.

	"Crystal, I will see if I can get Mikoto to write down 
some...I don't know.  Information so I can help you train 
specificially with the sword more," Aunt Akane told her.  
"Well, that was fun.  I'll see you all tomorrow at the same 
time, okay?"

	"Okay," I said.  "See you, Auntie!"

	They took off and Kagami and I walked about halfway 
to her dorm and then I said, "Well, we probably were too 
intimate this close to the dorm, but..."  I kissed her quickly.  
"We'd best split for now."

	She nodded and smiled.  "See you later, Shun."

	"Goodbye, my fair lady."

	I kissed her hand and headed out, thinking about what 
I'd seen.  Aunt Akane had apparently decided she couldn't 
TELL us what is going on, but simply showing off a 
sudden massive amount of more skill and speed and 
strength was just fine.  Was she hairsplitting a promise?  Or 
maybe she thought it was more important to push us hard 
than to worry about secrets.

	 I soon found Dan and Erica and we sat down on one 
of the benches between the dorms.  "So you're going to be 
playing the part of Evelyn?"

	"Yes," Erica said.  "Assuming I can memorize the 
lines.  This is a very silly play."

	"It's a comedy.  If we lose half the cast to the usual 
flunking and getting in trouble, it's easier to find someone 
else to be funny than it is to find someone able to handle 
deep drama.  Our one act plays always seem plagued by 
disaster," I said, sighing.  "Anyway, we can redo my 
costume for you and I will happily help you learn the lines 
and show you what to do."

	"I'm going to help with the tech," Dan said.

	"Really?"  I was surprised but pleased.  "That's great.  
We have too many guy actors and not enough girls, but it 
doesn't matter for techs," I told him.  "Why don't we go up 
to my room and I can go through the part with you and get 
down the basics?"

	"Okay," she said, so we headed up with Dan tagging 
after us.

*****************  

Kasumi's Tale:

	Crystal swept in like a storm.  "Holy shit."

	"Is something wrong?" I asked, worried.

	"Did Aunt Akane give you the mother, father, and 
child of all beatings?" Natasha said, grinning a little.

	"I couldn't hit her until she pushed me to just go crazy 
and even then she handled me," Crystal mumbled.  "When 
did your Mom suddenly...she's not trying very hard at all to 
hide what she can do."

	"I know," I told her.

	"My ass agrees with you," Natasha said ruefully.  "I 
wonder if they're all going to start doing this, just flaunting 
their power at us."

	"She seems pretty certain we're all going to become 
like them," Crystal said.  "And she really is...she's 
different."

	"I think she must have saved Kagami from a monster 
attack and it's given her more boldness," Natasha said.  
"She must have been nervous about going out in the field 
and now she's all I AM BATTLE PRINCESS, HEAR ME 
ROAR."  She nodded approvingly.  "I bet she and Kasumi 
have the same powers from what Kasumi told us about her 
practicing with wind powers."

	"I think Kagami must know about it, too," Crystal 
said.  "As otherwise, you'd think she would seem surprised 
by this."

	"Something must have happened to make them more 
worried about us.  Or to think we'll get powers like them 
soon," I said.

	"Tallin.  If we knew what happened at Tallin, we'd 
probably know everything," Natasha said.  "They probably 
found out the Crimson Huntsman is coming for them."

	"Or one of the other things which has gotten loose," 
Crystal said, frowning.  

	"They seem to think we're safe here for some reason," 
I said.  "I guess normally there aren't many places to break 
through."

	Crystal nodded.  "If there were, monster attacks would 
show up in the news.  You can only cover up so much.  
And in a city this big, there would be enough incidents 
we'd hear about it, I'd think.  Also, we know there must be 
some source of monsters at Fuuka."

 	"Unless we unleashed those by reading the Namcub," 
Natasha said.

	"Surely they would have attacked in the cave, not 
eventually shown up later," I said.

	"Maybe," Crystal said.  "We don't even know what 
they're called."

	"Snake monsters," Natasha said, then laughed.  "So 
who do you think will be next?"

	"If it takes a monster attack, it may be a long wait," I 
said.  "Unless monsters start showing up here."

	"We need some way to check out Tallin.  Without 
getting busted," Crystal said.

	"By now, I expect it's all been cleaned up," I said.

	"Unfortunately," Crystal said.  "We learned some at 
Fuuka, but we probably could have learned more if we had 
been there unchaperoned."

	We discussed everything a while longer, then Crystal 
went to go do homework and Natasha and I worked on 
homework and I fretted about tomorrow.

*************

Erica's Tale:

	Sad Dracula in Snow was basically a vampire movie 
parody.  Evelyn Blake was my character; her fiancee is 
Robert Barker, a real estate agent in nineteenth century 
England.  Dracula has been evicted from his castle in 
Transylvania and fled to England to avoid paying his debts; 
Barker gets hired to arrange his housing in Dover Castle.   
His vampire harem gets jealous and tries to chase Evelyn 
off, but this only ends up leading to Robert thinking 
Dracula is after Evelyn, though he's too busy being emo 
and writing poetry and painting gloomy landscapes to even 
pay attention to his frustrated Harem.  She falls for him 
because her marriage is arranged and she likes 'goths' and 
writing poetry.  Eventually, she runs off with Dracula to 
become his vampire muse and Robert is carried off by the 
harem who want someone without any angst.

	It's pretty clearly written by committee.  Some parts 
are full of weepy angst and some parts are comedy and 
some parts are romantic.  Ish.  Depends on how good 
Dracula is, I guess.

	But really, I can't see how they expect this script to 
win.  Listening to Shun, though, I get the impression that 
what our school really cares about is beating Saint Mary's 
and Tokugawa's.  Other schools are basically irrelevant so 
long as our rivals go down.

	In fact, I think this is going to be a disaster, but I 
promised, and really, I need to do more than just study and 
plot with my cousins, anyway.  I tend to sit back and let life 
pass me by instead of diving in too much.   

	Plus, Dan will be there and that will help.  I just wish 
Shun could be in it; he's very good.

	We were working one of the scenes.  Dan was reading 
for Robert, I was reading for Evelyn, and Shun was reading 
for Dracula.  Who is not titled 'Sad Dracula' in the script 
but I couldn't help but think of him as that.

	"Mister Barker, It is a pleasure to meet you," Shun 
said with an attempt at a deep voice.  "And your lovely 
fiancee."  He took my hand and kissed it as we stood in my 
dorm room living room.  

	Dan frowned at that, but said amiably in his usual tone 
of voice, "It is a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Tepes."  He 
consulted the playbook.  "I understand you have a large art 
collection," he said, then passed the book to me.

	We only had one copy, but Shun seemed to have 
memorized the whole thing, which amazed me.  If he put 
that much effort into his grades, they'd be as good as mine.

	I waved the book in my face like a fan; young ladies 
of that era were usually close to passing out from wearing 
their corset too tight.  "Ooh, may I see?" I asked, trying to 
be coquettish.  I'm not good at coquettish, though.

	"Oooh, nice move with the fan," Shun said.  He 
snapped back into character.  "Of course, fair lady," he 
said, smiling a little weakly at me.  "I do my best, though 
my skills are meager at best."  He sighed.  "They do not 
appreciate a true artist in my homeland."

	"I greatly appreciate all artists," I said, deciding to try 
just going with a little smile.  Which I hoped looked right.

	Dan glanced at me and I couldn't quite tell if he was 
trying to fake jealousy or was jealous.  Surely he was just 
faking, though...

	I can't make up my mind whether to go with the fact 
that I like him or whether to hold back, given we're cousins 
now.  Cousins in name, but I get the impression the cousins 
all think of each other off limits.  I'm probably just seeing 
things I want to see, anyway.

	Shun looked at me oddly as he led me forward and I 
handed the book back to Dan, who said, "Art?  I hope this 
place has room for it all; I will make sure your final 
accomodations can hold it."

	"Thank you, sir," Shun said, then broke character.  
"Hmm, they really needed to put less scene changes in this; 
we've only got limited time to do set changes.  They're 
going to need you to hustle like crazy, Dan, as part of the 
tech force."

	Dan nodded.  "I can hustle," he said cheerfully.  "So 
who is playing Dracula?"

	"It was Junichiro.  Except his parents forced him out 
to go work on his lousy grades.  Before he could flunk 
more classes."  Shun sighed.  "Our best actors can't seem to 
do well in school."

	"I see," Dan said, grinning.

	Shun grumbled, then said, "Fukuda-san is still Igor, 
Dracula's hunchback henchman and butler, I think."

	"Well, let's practice some more, and then I need to do 
homework," I told them.

	We practiced a while and then Shun took off.  Dan and 
I finished the homework we'd been doing earlier and Dan 
took off.

	Just before bed, it hit me what I could do to catch up.  
Try and dream the play so I could practice.  

	This had mixed results.  It looked a lot better than it 
sounds, but I could only remember some bits, so I think I 
mostly dreamed something based on the overall plot.  But I 
hoped I could refine that.

	Fortunately, I am good at pounding things into my 
head.

***************	 

Kasumi's Tale:

	Some guy was staring at us at lunch. I was pretty sure 
I'd seen him somewhere before...with Shun, maybe?  I 
asked Shun.  

	"Oh, that's Fukuda Kenta.  He's in the play; he's our 
most reliable guy but he's not as good as our best, so he 
usually ends up in secondary parts and helping with tech," 
Shun said.  He glanced over.  "I think he is hypnotized by 
your beauty, Kasumi."  He grinned.

	"..."

	"Hi, Fukuda-san," Erica said.  "Come on over!"

	He now came over.  "Hello, Harada-san, Shun-san, 
everyone.  I'm Fukuda Kenta."  He looked at me.  "How 
would you like to be a vampire?"

	"..."

	Natasha managed to snort Dr. Pepper up her nose, 
then fell over clutching it.

	"I'm on the track team," I mumbled.  "I'm too busy for 
anything else."

	"In the play, I mean.  We kind of had to replace the 
harem and we need a head vampire woman," Fukuda said.  
"I think you'd be perfect."

	"I'm sorry, I really am too busy," I told him 
apologetically.

	"Hey, I could do it.  It's just a few weeks, right?" 
Natasha said.

	"You would make a fine Countess Winter," Fukuda 
said.  He glanced over at me.  "Good luck on the track 
team, Kurauchi-san."

	"Thank you," I mumbled.  

****************

Kasumi's Karma:  

	I warmed up nervously; June, one of my teammates, 
asked me, "Are you okay now?"

	"Better," I said.  "Still a little jumpy."

	"Is Ayumi-sempai still giving you shit?"

	"Yes," I said, glancing across the locker room at 
Ayumi, who had her head stuck in her locker for some 
reason.

	"Just ignore her."

	Easier said than done.

	I could feel her eyes boring into my brain as we got 
ready to run sprints.  Which is why I took off full tilt in a 
moment of panic.  I kicked up so much dust no one saw me 
blaze far ahead of everyone.  The other sprinters stumbled 
around, coughing.

	Coach got in with his notebook and started trying to 
fan it to disperse it and I stood, totally embarrassed, having 
passed the finish line in the dust.

	"Man, what the hell was that?" one of the boys asked.

	"I'm sorry," I mumbled.

	Coach looked at me while Ayumi tried to laser my 
head open with hate-vision.  "How did you kick up so 
much dust?"

	"I don't know," I mumbled.

	He frowned, then shook his head.  "Everyone back off.  
Try running it again, Kasumi."

	I did so, forcing myself to run slower.  I must have 
looked entirely bizarre.  

	Coach blinked and stared at me, looked at his watch, 
then scratched his head.  "One more time."

	I prayed I wasn't blazing at full speed.  But I could tell 
that my body wasn't moving like I was going full tilt.  I did 
my best to hit my usual speed.

	"Hmm, substantial improvement over your usual time, 
but..."  He scratched his head.  "June.  Go get some dust 
masks from the cleaning staff in case we need them.  
Everyone else, try running together."

	I clearly beat out the others; the 60 meter is so short, I 
couldn't really slow down when it became obvious I had 
the lead.  We did kick up a little dust, but not much more 
than usual.

	We did more practice; it was easier to be a little better 
without being too much better in the longer races; I could 
slow down and pace myself to the others.  But I think 
Ayumi could tell I was faking and her hate-vision kept 
getting stronger, making me more nervous.

	Fortunately, everyone had dust masks for the four 
hundred meter, when I slipped up a bit and started to go too 
fast.

	The fact that Coach kept giving me funny looks made 
me very nervous, but he didn't say anything, just worked us 
until it was time to go.  

	I bathed and changed to go home and do homework 
when Ayumi slipped up to me.  "I will find out what you 
are doing and you will regret it."

	I just ignored the urge to yell at her and stalked out 
angrily.

	I'm going to have to practice running slow.  Or 
something.  

	Aaargh.

	As I stomped off to meet with mother and Natasha and 
Aunt Shiho, I could see Iwao Taiki walking along with 
Hayao and Ota Mandi and Koyabishi Sanae.  They were all 
chatting cheerfully and for a moment, I completely resented 
all their happiness.

	But then I managed to fight down my stupid moment 
of pointless bitterness.  Somewhat.  I waved to them and 
Taiki frowned at me, but the rest all waved in a friendly 
manner, which made me feel better and came my way, 
though I could see Hayao was pushing Iwao-san along.

	"It's nice to see you," Hayao said.

	"It's nice to see you all," I said, making myself smile, 
though it probably looked fake.

	"Hey, are you going to be in the play with us?" Ota 
Mandi asked.

	"You're all in the play?" I asked in surprise.

	"Well, just Hayao and I," she said.  "Taiki has baseball 
and Sanae...has another project.  Hayao is Dracula and I'm 
part of his harem," she said, laughing.  "We need a head of 
harem, though, as the previous Countess Winter had to bail 
to avoid flunking."

	Hayao pretended to have fangs and I laughed hard.  I 
could see Iwao-san was glowering at me; I don't know why, 
unless he thinks I'm dating Crystal too or something.  I 
don't know what's bugging Iwao-san.  "Oh, Fukuda-san 
recruited Natasha for it, I think," I told them.

	"Oh she'll be good," Hayao said.  "Not as good as 
you'd be, though."

	Aaaaah, a perfect chance to spend time with him and I 
can't do it!  He even asked me.  Fiddlesticks!

	"I'm sorry, but I'm on the track team," I told him.

	"That's too bad; it would be nice to have you as my 
head wife," he said.

	"I'd want to be the only wife, anyway," I said, then 
regretted learning to speak.

	"Oooh, sassy," Ota-san said, smiling.

	"You'd be the only one in your family," Taiki grunted 
out.  

	Hayao frowned.  "Dammit, Taiki, she has nothing to 
do with that whole mess.  Don't go dumping your 
frustration on her."

	"C'mon, be nice," Koyabishi-san said.  "Karauchi-san 
is a nice girl with a good reputation who has never done a 
boy wrong, so you ought to like her, not dump on her."

	"I'm sorry, Karauchi-san," Ota-san said.  "He's been 
totally on PMS mode ever since he got dumped."

	"I do not have PMS," Iwao-san insisted.

	"You have super-PMS," Ota-san said.

	"I'm a GUY," he said.

	"That's what makes it so impressive," Ota-san said.  "I 
couldn't get that much PMS if I had it in every centimeter 
of my body.  Of course, I have less body than Taiki does."

	"Cubic centimeter," Koyabishi-san said.  "Used for 
volume."

 	Hayao and I couldn't help laughing, which just made 
him angrier.  

	 I was smiling for real now.  "I've got to meet with 
Mother," I told them.  "I'll see you later."

	"Bye, Kasumi," Hayao said, smiling.

	"Goodbye, Hayao," I said, then ambled off to find 
Mother.

************* 

Erica's Tale:

	I hooked up with Dan and Natasha and we headed 
over to the auditorium with Gin in tow; Natasha had talked 
him into offering his services for the tech crew in case they 
needed him.

	Fukuda-san met us at the door.  "Hello, everyone."  He 
studied Gin curiously.

	"I'm Houseki Gin," Gin said.  "Natasha said I should 
come in case you need more tech people."

	"Well, we can ask Mr. K," he said.

	"Mr. K?" I asked.

	"Takeshi Kaneda, our Drama director.  He goes by 
Mr. K with us," Fukuda said.

	Mr. K turned out to be a flabby balding man in an ill-
fitting suit who looked like the universe had been trying to 
kill him all day.  "Ahh, are you Harada-san and Senoh-san's 
daughter?" he asked me.

	"Yes," I said.

	"Wonders of modern technology," he said, shaking his 
head.  "It's a pleasure to meet you."  He shook my hand.  

	I introduced everyone to him.  "Good.  You look 
perfect, especially since the other two ended up short 
anyway," he said to Natasha.  "Houseki-san, we definitely 
need more techs.  Fukuda-san, we need someone to take 
over the role of Mr. Blake, as we lost our Blake."

	Fukuda-san closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.  
"Just great.  I suppose that means..."

	Mr. K turned to Dan.  "Would you be interested in the 
part?"

	"..."  Dan stared in surprise.

	Fukuda-san looked stunned, then aggravated.  

	"Our Blake now has the flu and we can't use him 
without risking wiping out our whole cast with illness," Mr. 
K said apologetically.  "It would be a great help."

	"I can try," Dan mumbled.

	"Excellent," Mr. K said.  "At this point, I will consider 
this a success if the set doesn't fall on the cast like last year.  
Fukuda-san, take Houseki-san over to Tech Lord and get 
him started."

	Fukuda-san nodded, looking somewhat frustrated.

	"Tech Lord?" I asked weakly.

	"He becomes offended if we call him anything else.  
Too much playing online games, I think," Mr. K said.  
"You get used to eccentricity in this line of work.  Did 
Tokiha-san brief you?"

	I nodded.  

	"Munakata-san, come to my office, you too Suguira-
san.  I'll get you both scripts.  Harada-san-- Masakuri-san, 
Ota-san and Koyatsu-san are on stage, waiting for things to 
get started.  You might as well go down and say hi."

	"Koyatsu Joan?" Dan asked.

	"You know her?" Mr. K asked.

	"She's my roommate's girlfriend," Dan said.  "I know 
her." He perked up a little.  "I wonder if Ken's here."

	I know her too; she's at Dan's place a lot with her 
boyfriend, Ken.  They're both basically video-game playing 
slackers and how they manage to stay at Rosewood, I don't 
know.  Bribery, maybe.  They're not bad people, just bad 
students.

	"She tried to recruit him for Blake, but he said it 
would prevent him 'defeating the lobster' whatever that 
means," Mr. K said, clearly not wanting to know.

	"The lobster isn't really that hard to beat," Natasha 
said.  "If you're ME, anyway."

	I went to the stage as Dan and Natasha exited stage 
left with Mr. K.

	Masakuri-san was goofing around pretending to have 
fangs while Koyatsu-san and Mandi laughed.  "Oh, hello, 
Harada-san," he said.

	"Hi, Erica," Mandi said.  

	"Hello, Harada-san," Koyatsu Joan said.  She was a 
groggy blonde with huge bangs and a long pony-tail.  She 
was wearing a very nice silk yellow blouse and a yellow 
skirt with the planets on it in black, along with several 
silver chains and a golden saturn pendant, along with half a 
dozen gold rings.  Her ears were pierced and she had 
golden and opal saturn earrings in them.

	"So you're going to be Evelyn?" Mandi asked.

	"Yes.  So is there anyone left of the original cast of 
this?"

	"Just Fukuda-san," Masakuri-san said.  "This is going 
to be a trainwreck, but acting is fun, so what the hey."

	I nodded.  "I've never done a one-act play before."

	"I have," Koyatsu-san said, yawning.  "I did this last 
year.  Things went pretty well until first our leading lady 
twisted her ankle and then some idiot at Tokugawa 
Memorial managed to set their stage pieces on fire."

	"..."

	"Then covered the stage with fire extinguisher foam.  
Right before we went on," Koyatsu-san said, grimacing.  

	"Well, since you're a veteran, please help us novices 
out," I asked.

	"Did I see Dan come in with you?" Koyatsu-san 
asked.
	
	"He's going to be Mr. Blake," I said.

	"Hmm, yeah, he's stiff enough," she said.

	I frowned.  "He's not stiff."

	"I practically live with the man, since I'm dating Ken," 
Koyatsu-san said.  "He's pretty stiff.  Though I've noticed 
you like touching him."

	"..."

	Mandi began laughing, while Hayao, I think, 
pretended not to have heard that.  

	"I'm just treating his injuries," I said firmly.

	"With your magic fingers," Koyatsu-san said, 
grinning.

	"He has to have ointment applied.  It doesn't apply 
itself," I said a little too frantically.

	"Is it just me or is Tokiha-san spying on us?" Hayao 
said, looking up at the back of the auditorium.

	It wasn't quite tall enough to be Shun, but someone 
with long green hair was up there.  Darker than Shun's hair, 
though, more the shade of his mother, though not quite that 
dark.

	"Could be a spy from Saint Mary's," Koyatsu-san said.  
"HEY, MISTER SPY, WE SEE YOU!"

	"I'm not spying!" a man's voice said, though it 
wobbled a bit.

	"ARE YOU HIDING FOR FUN?"

	"Yes!" the man shouted and I laughed.  "I like to 
hide!"  He sounded a little frantic.

	"HEY, MISTER K, WE HAVE ANOTHER SPY 
FROM TOKUGAWA!" she shouted.

	The guy rose and fled out the back door; he was in a 
Tokugawa uniform but I didn't think they let guys there 
have such long hair; it was almost as long as Shun's.

	"Does this happen often?" I asked.

	"They usually suck less."

	Mr. K returned with Dan and Natasha.  He then got 
Fukuda-san and put us to work doing a dramatic reading to 
work on character building with some staging while 'Tech 
Lord' (a tall skinny guy with short black hair who I think is 
a senior) ran the crew through putting up and taking down 
and changing the set.

	Fortunately, the play is short (40 minutes), giving us 
time to run through it several times without having to be 
here all night.  We got about two-thirds of the way through 
it and then we got to the next to last scene where Robert 
Blake confronts Dracula's wives and gets carried off by 
them.  

	Dan brandished a cross at Natasha, Mandi, and 
Koyatsu-san.  "Back, foul wrenches!"

	"Wrenches?" I asked.

	"Wenches," Mr. K said.

	"But they're not actually...," Dan began.

	"Don't quibble," Mr. K said.

	"See, I could ignore the business with a castle made of 
'sandstone' because most people won't notice," Dan began.

	"Suguira-san, this is not a nature documentary, it is a 
40 minute comedy," Mr. K said.  "Accept it, move on."

	Earlier, Dan had found a few things in the 
play...lacking.

	"Come on, Dan, we need to seduce you," Natasha 
said, grinning, hands on hips.

	Dan's eyes crossed a moment, then he said, "Okay."

	"ACTION!," Mr. K said.

	Dan brandished a cross at Natasha, Mandi, and 
Koyatsu-san.  "Back, foul wenches!"

	"Now, now, is that anything to call a lady?" Natasha 
said sweetly, stepping closer.  "And really, that won't work 
on us."

	"Because we know you don't really want it to," Mandi 
said enticingly, slinking closer. 

	"Now, put that down and come take a walk with us in 
the moonlight," Koyatsu-san said, stepping around to one 
side as if to come up behind him.

	I felt a burst of jealousy and told myself not to be 
stupid.  They were acting and he's not...he's just my cousin 
even if he is really cute.

	Dan shook a little.  Mr. K gave a thumbs up.  "Good, 
good, show his will starting to slip."

	Natasha looked at her script.  "Wait, why am I 
throwing garlic at him?"

	"He should be throwing garlic at you," Mr. K said, 
consulting his script.  "Well, that's not very clear.  Fix that."

	Lots of scribbling ensued.  

	Fukuda-san tossed a scrunchie to Dan.  "Here."

	Dan threw it at Natasha.  "Back, bride of darkness!"

	Natasha caught it and tucked it into her cleavage.  "If 
you want it back, you'll have to come and take it."  She 
winked and Dan's eyes crossed.

	"Igor!" Mandi shouted.

	Fukuda shuffled out; I thought he did a good job of 
faking a limp.  "Yes, Countess Spring?"

	"Please take that cross back to the chapel."

	Fukuda shuffled over towards Dan, who started to 
retreat, only to find himself encircled by the three.  Dan 
was starting to seriously vibrate.  "Better give me that 
before you accidentally poke an eye out," Fukuda-san said.  
"Though I could make you a nice fake one like my left 
eye!"  He sounded hopeful.

	Dan darted through the circle quickly, backing 
towards the right side of the stage.  "Where is my fiancee?"

	"I expect she's showing him the inside of her corset," 
Koyatsu-san said.

	"If you like, I can show you what's inside mine," 
Mandi said breathily, making a gesture as if to loosen a 
bodice.

	Dan's eyes crossed and his cross arm wavered.

	"Yes, very good!" Mr. K said.

	They slinked in on him with some more cheesy 
dialogue and Dan came more and more unglued, slurring 
his lines.  Finally, he fumbled the cross, and they pounced 
on him, and carried him off with him vibrating.

	I couldn't tell if he was acting or if he was actually 
coming unglued.

	"PERFECT," Mr. K said.  "Okay, you three carry him 
off stage and we'll go to the last scene."

	I could hear Dan babbling about Braveheart as we got 
up to practice our last scene.  

	The second time we ran through this, Dan 
disintegrated even more during the seduction scene.  I 
could tell this amused the three brides very much, but I 
wasn't so sure he was faking it.  I'd heard Dan comes 
unglued when he gets turned on or has a crush on someone.

	Which is another reason I haven't gotten more serious 
with him; he is friendly and I can tell he likes my company, 
but I don't make him come unglued.  Which means he 
probably doesn't think of me that way.  

	Dan was right about to be pounced on when I heard 
something.  In the ceiling?  I prayed it wasn't Aunt Akira 
about to ambush or something.

	"Mr. K," I said softly.

	"Hmm?"

	"I hear something in the ceiling," I said.

	He grimaced.  "Dammit, some fool is trying to spy on 
us from up there."

	"What do we do?"

	"Wait for the tiles to break and then try to save them 
from killing themselves," he said.  Also...HEY IDIOT IN 
THE CEILING, YOU ARE GOING TO FALL."

	They didn't fall and I couldn't hear them any more.  
Maybe I imagined it.

	Mandi got so startled, she crashed into Fukuda-san 
and knocked the wind out of him with her head, which 
caused Dan to start laughing and calm down some.  
Fukuda-san looked pretty irritated by this but didn't say 
anything, he just grumbled to himself, though Mandi was 
apologetic.

	After rehearsal, we headed back to the dorms to study.  
I took Dan back to my room.  "You okay?" I asked softly.  
"You seemed kind of shaken up."

	He grimaced.  "They were just..."  He laughed 
nervously.  "I guess I'll get used to it."

	"They were all laying it on thick," I said, though I was 
a little jealous.  I don't know how to do any of that well.  
I've always been kind of fumbling at relationships.  I dated 
two girls Chie-Mom tried to set me up with, but it didn't get 
very far, and I went on a couple of dates with this guy, 
Matsumoto Kunio, but he wasn't smart enough to have an 
interesting conversation.  Mostly I tend to lurk and watch 
people and dream about what dating them would be like.

	But I like Dan because we can have really interesting 
discussions because we're both smart, though he really 
needs to study more and not just rely on raw intellect.  

	"I didn't start raving about how terrible Braveheart is, 
did I?" he asked warily.

	"Maybe at one point," I said, not sure.  "What's wrong 
with it?"

	That's how I learned more than I will ever need to 
know about that movie and early fourteenth century Great 
Britain.

***************  

Shun's Tale:

	Aunt Akane was working on basic naginata drills with 
Kagami.  I was curious why she was being taught naginata 
when it's not really Mom or Aunt Akane's specialty.  But 
they were determinedly working with that, while Crystal 
and I ran through drills.  Though if she is secretly a Hime, 
it must be her magical weapon.  

	"Hey there, Tokiha-san, Tate-san," came a somewhat 
familiar voice.  "Either of you seen my brother?"

	It was Nagiki Junko; she goes to Saint Mary's and her 
brother attends Tokugawa Memorial.  She's taller than me 
but has basically the same hair, though she gets a little 
fancier about it, curling it.  She's got muscular legs and 
arms and a bosom about the same size as Erica, which is to 
say, middling.     

	"The manliest of manly men did not come by to show 
us that he, Nagiki Hikaru, is indeed, a MAN among MEN," 
Crystal said, laughing.  

	Hikaru is about as girly-looking as I am but unlike me, 
spends his time trying to assert how MANLY he is.  This 
rarely works.

	I don't know why he has his hair so long if he's trying 
to look MANLY, though.

	"Haven't seen him.  Might be trying to spy on the 
play," I said.  He's in journalism, and rather good at finding 
out secrets.  

	I swirled through another knife drill while Crystal 
continued to KIYA and pummel invisible foes.  Nagiki 
watched us for a bit; I could see Crystal kept glancing at 
her.  Interesting.

	"Going to introduce me to your cousins?" Junko 
finally asked.

	Crystal looked embarrassed.  "Oh, sorry."  She turned 
and said, "Junko-san, this is my aunt, Kurauchi Akane, 
Kasumi's mother.  Aunt Akane, this is Nagiki Junko from 
Saint Mary's.  I met her at the..."

	"The decadent parties in the woods your daughter 
always finks on us for attending," I said, grinning.  Though 
I haven't actually been since the play started, and then 
everything else.

	"And this is Mitsu Kagami, Shun's girlfriend," Crystal 
continued.  She paused, having probably just NOW 
remembered it's a secret.  "Secret girlfriend. Don't tell 
anyone."

	Junko studied Kagami, who bowed to her, then looked 
at her a little warily, as if a snake had come into the garden, 
so I walked over and kissed Kagami sloppily.  I could see 
Aunt Akane smiling goofily at us.  "I won't tell," she said, 
though she sounded curious.

	Crystal said, "Aunt Akane is in charge of our training 
right now."

	Junko sized up Aunt Akane, looking curious.  "So 
your family takes turns training you?"  She sounded a little 
envious.

	"Yes," Aunt Akane said.  "I have the freedom to come 
here every day to train them."

	Junko looked really envious now and mumbled 
something, then said, "Would you mind sparring with me, 
Kurauchi-san?"

	She blinked.  "Sure," Aunt Akane said.  "Kagami-san, 
work on the drills."

	Junko looked around as if she expected something to 
happen, but whatever it was didn't, so Crystal and I drilled 
and watched the two of them face off.

	Junko bowed to Aunt Akane and then leaped at her, 
launching a series of kicks in the air.  Aunt Akane blocked 
the whole leap, then knocked Junko to the ground, then 
sprang back.

	Junko assaulted in a frenzy, but every kick got 
blocked. She threw a few punches, but it was pretty clear 
she largely was trained in a kick-based art.  The blows 
looked pretty powerful, but Aunt Akane kept blocking 
them; then she'd strike Junko's upper body and knock her 
down.

	"Are you used to having hand weapons too?" Aunt 
Akane asked after the fourth time.

	"..."

	"You use them for blocking, right, while you go on the 
offensive with your legs?" she asked.

	"..."

	"I have more tonfas if that would help you any," Aunt 
Akane said.

	Junko got up and bowed.  "Short swords," she said.  
"Arms for weapons because you have hands, feet for 
unarmed assault and dodging," she said.  She glanced at me 
for some reason, then said, "I could try using tonfas."

	She picked up the basics quickly and they sparred 
back and forth a while.  Junko stopped falling down, but 
now Aunt Akane went on the offensive and I could see 
Junko staring in shock as Aunt Akane beleaguered her right 
into a tree.  

	"Thank you, Kurauchi-san," Junko said.  "I...my stupid 
school doesn't have any kind of combat clubs or anything."  
She grimaced.  "I mean, it has helped make me a better girl, 
I guess, but I'm just used to...anyway."  She sighed.  

	Junko doesn't scream 'I AM GIRL' as much as her 
brother screams 'I AM BOY' but I think they both had an 
odd upbringing.  

	"In our family, being feminine means hitting people," 
Crystal said, then laughed.

	Junko looked oddly envious of this.

	Aunt Akane laughed too.  

	"Want to spar with me?" Crystal asked Junko with a 
grin.  

	It now struck me that Aunt Akane hadn't really 
restrained herself in front of Junko.  She'd pressed Junko 
very hard, in fact.  I had to wonder what Junko was 
thinking.  

	"Your parents were Kendo champions, weren't they?" 
Junko asked.  She looked Crystal up and down in an 
appreciative way.  

	"Dad was," Crystal said. "Mom worked a lot to earn 
money for her brother and herself.  Aunt Mikoto was also a 
Kendo champion like Dad," she said, then saluted Junko 
and they went at it.

	Aunt Akane came over to work with me some and we 
took turns throwing each other.  Kagami looked quite 
worried the whole time and I tried to think of some way to 
reassure her.

	When Aunt Akane pinned me, I asked her softly, "Did 
you mean to show off so much in front of someone outside 
the family?"

	"..."

	I then threw her into the air and she somehow flipped 
back to land smoothly.  Dang.  

	She now glanced at Junko and looked thoughtful.

	Junko and Crystal were staring at Aunt Akane, who 
said, "Keep fighting!"

	They went back to it, but I wondered what kind of 
stories were going to spread.  For that matter, who knows 
who might be watching us?  Though generally no one looks 
back here as there isn't anything to see.  

	Another idea hit me, though it was just showing off.  I 
tried to figure out how heavy Aunt Akane is.  Probably too 
heavy.  Wait, if she does it...I'm sure she can hold me.  "Did 
Mom ever show you the hand stand standing trick?"

	Aunt Akane blinked. "The what?"

	"Do a hand stand," I said.

	She did so, staying as steady as Mom can.

	"I'm going to jump on your feet," I said, and vaulted 
up to do a handstand off her shoes.  I fell down after a few 
seconds, but I felt cool, anyway.  She rolled to her feet.

	"Mom taught me that.  I used to be able to hold it 
longer, though."

	"Then let's do it again."

	She made me do it twenty times, until finally I was 
pretty tired from holding up my own weight.  But I did 
manage to go longer by the end.

	We kept going until we were all tuckered out and 
ended up lying in the grass.  I had Kagami cuddled up to 
me on one side of Aunt Akane, and Crystal flopped down 
next to Aunt Akane on the other side, with Junko on the far 
side of her.  

	"That was fun," Junko said.  "Thank you, Kurauchi-
san, for letting me practice with you all."

	"You're very good," Aunt Akane said.

	"Thanks.  The folks want me to...anyway," Junko 
mumbled.  "You do this every day?"

	"Yeah," Crystal said.  "We just started this week, 
though.  Hey, Junko, you got plans for Friday?"

	"Dancing.  Not much else," she said.

	"Want to come see some movies at my place?  I can't 
leave campus right now, but I can have guests," Crystal 
said a little nervously.

	"Sure," Junko said, then glanced over at Aunt Akane.  
"Who trained you?"

	"I learned the basics from Dad but I have mostly 
trained myself, though I am now training with Shun's 
mother, Tokiha Akira," Aunt Akane said.  

	"Is Mom kicking your ass?" I asked teasingly.

	"Yes," Aunt Akane said ruefully.  "She's incredible."

	Man, I totally want to see Mom just cut loose.  She 
must be death on wheels.  

	Junko looked at me curiously for a moment, then 
stared up at the stars.

	Kagami began running a hand up and down my side 
which felt rather good, though getting turned on with Aunt 
Akane two feet away seemed unwise.  So I tried not to turn 
her on too much, but the way she kind of purred into my 
chest made me suspect it was happening anyway.  Aunt 
Akane either didn't notice or didn't care.  But I think she is 
very pro-us.

	"I really wish there was some way to get home faster," 
Aunt Akane said, sighing.  "It's a stupidly long drive.  I 
wish all the good schools weren't so far from where we 
live."

	"Much as I hate to say it, Dan and Erica are probably 
the...well, and Kagami," I said. "Anyway, the rest of us 
aren't really academic enough to get full benefit from 
Rosewood."

	"Yes, but we wouldn't have met if you didn't come 
here," Kagami said hesitantly.

	"And that would be a tragedy," I said, kissing her.

	"I should go," Aunt Akane said in a manner which 
indicated she was kind of hoping something would delay 
the necessity of driving for an hour.

	"You could help me with my homework," Crystal 
said.  "I wouldn't mind."

	"I really should go find my brother," Junko said, 
sighing and sitting up.  "He's not answering his phone again 
and the parents are getting antsy.  Getting antsy an hour 
ago."  She sighed.  

	"I'd better go," Aunt Akane said.  "Or I would help 
you, Crystal.  But I've got a long drive."

	"It was very nice to meet you," Junko said to her, 
shaking her hand.  "You're very good."

	"You flatter me," Aunt Akane said.  She gave Crystal, 
Kagami and I a hug and said her goodbyes and took off.  
Crystal wandered off with Junko to help her Hikaru-hunt 
and I went back towards the dorms with Kagami.

*********************

Kasumi's Tale:

	I couldn't sleep, so at 1 AM, I put on some clothing, 
opened the window and leaped out, flying down to the 
ground.  I don't have to transform to use my abilities, I 
know now, it just gives me armor and a weapon.  I can call 
either seperately or together.

	I went down to the track and I ran, just going full tilt 
and letting it all out, dust kicking up wildly around me.  I 
circled it several times, then stopped and tried practicing 
running fast but not too fast.  Only I felt weird and I think I 
must have looked fake.

	But there has to be some way to do this. Or we would 
have figured out the parental secret a long time ago.

	I tried again, feeling frustrated.  I could run any speed 
I wanted, but it had to be obvious I was NOT trying my 
very best.  Which would make people suspicious.

	I stopped, leaning on a lightpole and thinking.  Maybe 
I should wake up one of the others.  I need someone who 
can tell me if I look natural.

	"Power has its price, but without power, all you can do 
is be a victim," a teenage male now said.

	I spun and saw a boy in the junior high uniform, with 
dark red hair that cascaded down to his elbows.  He had 
blue-green eyes.  He continued, "And who wants to be a 
victim?"

	"Who are you?" I asked, feeling panicked.  He'd seen 
everything.

	"I promise I won't blab the fact that you're a battle 
princess to the whole world, Kurauchi Kasumi," he said, 
amiably.  

	"..."

	"Am I wrong?"

	"Who are you?" I asked a second time.  

	"My name is Kei," he said.  I noticed he wore a pair of 
earrings with square cut gems, both of them opals.  "My 
mother was the headmaster of Fuuka when your parents 
were there."

	My breath caught.  "Do you know what happened 
there?" I asked.

	"Yes," he said, but didn't share anything, just studied 
me.  "It is too late to back out now, Kurauchi Kasumi.  You 
have taken the oath and bound yourself to destiny.  And 
destiny is more than running track."  He stood up and 
stretched.  "But you are meant for more than this."

	"Wait, your mother was the headmistress who 
resigned after all the disasters?" I asked.  And he goes here 
with us???  Then again, after all that, no wonder his mother 
doesn't want him to go to Fuuka.  

	He looked a little embarrassed rather than arrogant for 
a moment.  "Yes."  Then he straightened back up.  "Once 
your parents were ready to rule, she passed on her duties to 
them and returned home," he said, walking over and 
studying me, then gesturing to the track. "Is it really fair to 
all these kids, you competing with them?"

	"But...I've been doing this for so long...," I said, then 
looked at the ground.

	His voice was kind.  "You will be running races with 
tornados and comets, Kurauchi Kasumi.  This is the 
cocoon," he said, spreading his arms.  "But now you are the 
butterfly.  You can't turn back into a caterpillar, nor can a 
baby crawl back into the womb."  He shook his head.  
"Your destiny calls you to higher things."

	"I can't just give up on track after all the effort I put 
into it," I said firmly.  "My folks all have destiny too, but 
they still do normal things."

	He stared into my eyes and bowed.  "As you like, 
Princess," he said, a little mockingly, which made me 
frown.  "Good luck, then, at pretending to be something 
you are not.  I'll come back when you get serious."

	"No, wait!," I said.

	But his earrings glowed softly and then he was gone.

	I slapped my forehead.  Dammit.  I put a hand over my 
mouth for swearing, even though it was inside my head.

	I wasn't going to give up just because some junior 
high kid...with magical abilities...told me to.  Mom had 
appeared normal for all my life until now, so there had to 
be some way to hide this so I could still do things like 
track.

	If I could figure out what it was.

	I yawned, but ignored it and tried running again.  But I 
couldn't see myself.  I needed someone to help me.

	Had that boy really been the old headmaster's son?  
But he knew so much and he did just show he had some 
kind of powers himself.  Of course, if he could have 
powers, that likely meant Shun and Dan could too.  

	I don't want to wake up everyone at this hour, but...

	Well, it's not that urgent.  I can try and see if Natasha 
maybe can help me some with this.  She can time me and 
everything.

	I decided to go to bed, though I didn't sleep well.  And 
I sent everyone an email that I needed to see them for a 
private family breakfast.

	Hopefully, my roommate and suitemates would all run 
off to buy breakfast as none of them liked to cook.

*****************

	Fortunately, they did.  I groggily made everyone a 
simple breakfast of toast and fruit.  It would have to do.  

	Everyone soon came; I served them breakfast while 
yawning.  

	"So what's the surprise cousin meeting for?" Erica 
asked curiously, yawning herself.

	"I met someone who claimed to be the son of the 
headmistress from Fuuka when our parents were there," I 
said.

	Natasha choked on her milk and everyone stared at 
me.

	"Whoever he is, he can magically appear and vanish 
whenever he wants, so far as I can tell," I told them.

	"Holy cow, what was he doing here?" Crystal asked.

	"He said his mother handed over power at Fuuka to 
our parents after her term of office.  Maybe she was a battle 
princess too and recruited them, knowing the trouble was 
coming," I speculated.  "But I think I made him mad at me 
and he didn't say a whole lot before he left."  I stared at my 
toast, then ate some of it, feeling a little depressed.

	"Tell us everything," Crystal said.  "Where did you 
meet him?"

	"He was wearing the junior high uniform."  I told 
them everything I remembered.

	Crystal looked very frustrated.  "Crap, sounds like he 
knows a lot."

	"Our school is not infinite.  If he's an actual student, 
we can find him," Erica said.

	"You have to tell people what they want to hear to get 
what you want from them, Kasumi," Shun said, waggling a 
finger and smiling.  I couldn't tell if he was actually chiding 
me or teasing.  Maybe some of both.

	"I was just trying to have a conversation," I mumbled, 
feeling embarrassed.  "I think he'll come back."

	Dan munched on his toast thoughtfully, then had some 
fruit.

	"Have the others been showing off at the mansion?" 
Crystal asked Natasha.

	"No, just Aunt Akane.  It seems to aggravate Aunt 
Haruka," Natasha said.  She paused.  "Ahah!"

	"What?" I asked.

	"His mother handed over power to our parents and 
left.  The Crystal Princess says in her namcub that the 
world belongs to us, that she has to leave this world, the 
battle princesses are her daughters, and so on.  So his Mom 
is the Crystal Princess, who was the Headmistress!  She 
probably gathered our parents together to fight Marduk!"  
Natasha was growing more and more excited.  "Your mom 
went to Fuuka on a special scholarship, right, Crystal?" 

	"Yes," Crystal said.

	"And Aunt Akane had one and Aunt Midori taught 
there... HIRED by the headmistress of course.  And Mom 
was from Fuuka and didn't your parents have scholarships, 
Erica?"

	"Chie-Mom was from Fuuka; she just had a small one 
she got in an essay contest.  Aoi-Mom got paid for by her 
parents."

	"I think Mom's family paid for her, but Dad and Aunt 
Mai had one together or something.  The school helped 
pay, anyway, but Aunt Mai had to work to help pay for 
Dad's medication and everything," Shun said.  

	"We can't be sure anything he said is true," Erica said.  
"Though he definitely knew some things.  One thing I'm 
wondering is how exactly he knew to show up at one in the  
morning at the track."

	"Probably can sense powers or something," Crystal 
said.

	"Shouldn't Aunt Akane be pretty much going PING 
PING PING at him?" Erica asked.  "Why hasn't he come to 
talk to her?"

	"How do we know he didn't?  She wouldn't tell us," 
Crystal said, sounding frustrated.  "She probably sends him 
secret birthday cards."

	I couldn't help laugh at that.  So did Dan.  

	"I know one of the junior high guys," Crystal said.  
"I..."

	"Ahh, your secret boyfriend?" Natasha teased.

	"...can talk to him and...WHAT?" Crystal said, staring 
at Natasha.  "He's like...okay, not half my age, but way too 
young for me."

	"Aunt Mikoto was in junior high when she met your 
Mother," Natasha said, waving her toast for emphasis and 
grinning.

	"I am not into guys younger than me!," Crystal 
protested.

	"Please stop, Natasha," I told her.  "I didn't call 
everyone so we could insult each other."

	"It's just a little teasing," Natasha said a little 
petulantly.  

	"It's too early," I said.  I generally don't like being 
teased.

	Natasha grumbled into her orange.

	"Crystal has a date this Friday, anyway, and it's not 
with him," Shun said.

	"It's...sort of a date," Crystal mumbled.

	"That reminds me, I need to get the form so my 
parents can take Kagami and I out," Shun said.

	"Dan and Natasha and I will be practicing," Erica said.

	I ate some of my orange to avoid frowning too much.  
I shouldn't be jealous, but once practice is over, I have 
nothing to do on Friday.  Though I suppose I can ask June, 
see if she can do anything with me.

	I don't want to sit around by myself.  

*****************
	
	I was extremely nervous heading into track, and June 
could tell.  "Are you okay?" she asked.

	"Just hoping I don't kick up any more dust storms," I 
said.

	"Yeah, that was kind of weird.  You really made it 
look easy, too," June said.

	I winced.  I can't let it look too easy but how am I 
going to fake it?

	I tried my best, but everyone was giving me funny 
looks.  No more dust clouds, but it had to be obvious I was 
doing better than ever before and yet I made it look easy.  
Ayumi bored a dozen holes in my head with her gaze and 
the whole experience was just awful.  I felt totally stressed 
out by the end of track.

	The fact that Coach kept just blankly watching me 
without saying anything was the worst.  I can deal with 
anger.  But knowing he's thinking something but doesn't 
say anything was making me crazy.

	"I know you're up to something," Ayumi said in the 
locker room.  "And when I can prove it, you're meat."

	I didn't say anything, just left as soon as possible, 
taking June with me; she usually goes straight to the 
library, but I got her to walk with me.

	"What's wrong?" she asked softly.  "It's not just 
Ayumi-sempai."

	I wished desperately I could talk to her.  "I...June..."

	"You're so much faster," she said softly, started to say 
something, then couldn't say it.

	"I've been training with Mom and getting stronger," I 
said.  Which is true, but most of it's magic.  No one gets 
that much stronger that fast.

	"Is she fast?" June asked, surprised.

	"Mom can run very fast," I said.  I'd only seen a little 
of that but it had to be the case.  Though I think I'm actually 
faster.

	"Wow, my mom can't run very well," June said, 
seeming to relax.  I was surprised that satisfied her, but I 
guess she just was...worried I was taking steroids or 
something.  Oh great, everyone probably thinks I'm 
shooting up drugs.

	"You ready for the meet this Saturday?" she asked.

	"Yeah," I said, praying I could get through it without 
blowing things.  "You busy Friday night?"

	"I was just going to watch TV with my roomate."

	"Want to go see a movie or something?"

	"Sure," June said, smiling.   

	We talked track a while and by the time I went off 
with Mom and Natasha, I was feeling a lot better.

*****************
	
	"Mother, how fast can you run?" I asked her in the car.

	"I have no idea," she said.  "Even at my peak, I doubt 
it was as fast as you."

	"Faster than me," Aunt Shiho said, then laughed.

	"I dunno, Aunt Akane, you seem kind of fast lately," 
Natasha said.

	"Really?" Mother said, sounding surprised.  

	"You don't have amnesia, do you?" Natasha asked.  

	"We could borrow the motorcycle track and run, I 
guess," Mother said.  "If you really want to know."

	"No, no, it's okay," I said.  They'd ask me to run and 
I'd blow everything.

	Much as I'd like to show off how fast I can run.  

***************

	Aunt Aoi called me in the middle of practice; when I 
got a break, I took the call.  "What's up, Aunt Aoi?"

	"Apparently, we will be administering a drug test for 
the athletic teams tomorrow.  A student asked for it.  Not 
that it will matter for you, I know, but just a heads up."

	Ayumi, I thought.  Well, I have nothing to hide, right?  
This isn't drugs, it's magic.  Or whatever it is.  

	It's NOT drugs.

**************
	
Erica's Tale:

	Mr. K ran us through the play several times while the 
technicians did their job.  I could see Gin was rather 
enjoying himself; he'd been given control of the lighting 
board and was getting pretty adept at tracking lights all 
over the stage.  A little more than Mr. K wanted, I think, 
though.

	I struggled with emoting properly; I could do the more 
straightforward scenes and was getting more dialogue 
down but I'm not good at being seductive, and I couldn't 
just copy the others, as Evelyn is not supposed to be as 
good as them.

	Just better than me.  

	The more angsty scenes, I kept overdoing as well.  
Overdoing the wrong way, anyway.  

	Mr. K grew more and more frantic as the evening 
progressed, and then he went off to harrass the techs and 
left us to do the last runthrough ourselves.  "I hope I didn't 
do anything to make him so mad," I said.

	Fukuda-san said, "Oh, he goes more and more insane 
the closer it is to first curtain.  And we've practically had to 
start over, as I'm the only person who left of the original 
cast."  He grimaced.  "So I got my part down a long time 
ago."  He sounded very aggravated.

	"I'm sorry," I said to him.

	"It's okay," he said, smiling weakly at me.  "I think I'm 
the only person in our usual group who never flunks out or 
gets grounded or the flu or kidnapped by aliens or 
whatever."  He sighed.

	"You're a very good Igor," I told him.

	"Thank you," he said.  "It's a rather easy role, though."  
He sighed, glanced off at Dan and frowned, looking rather 
unhappy.

	"At least one of us will be good," I told him.

	"Oh, Masakuri-san is a natural," Fukuda-san said.  
"He's very good."  Sounding a little envious, he glanced 
over at Masakuri-san, who was busy doing a scene with his 
'brides'.

	I couldn't decide whether to ask Natasha for advice on 
how to be seductive.  It would probably end up too over the 
top for what's supposed to be a repressed young victorian 
lady just starting to go to the wild side.  She makes a good 
bride, though.

	There was no sign of the green haired spy.  Hopefully, 
he'd learned his lesson.

******************	
	
Crystal's Tale:

	After Aunt Akane beat us like a beating machine 
again, I went to go see Nagisa, getting a bunch of funny 
looks from the guys at the junior high dorm.  They're full of 
hormones and not used to girls built like me.

	If any of them try to photograph my panties, they will 
discover what my shinai feels like.

	I didn't have to kill anyone; I think the sword scared 
them off.  Nagisa came down and took me up to his room.  
"What's up?" he asked.

	I told him about the guy, though not the full details.  

	"Huh, I can't think of anyone like that," he said.  "Why 
would he wear the uniform in the middle of the night?"

	"Damned if I know, but he claimed his mother was the 
old headmistress at Fuuka."

	"I will see what I can find out for you about her," he 
said.  "I found a picture for you off someone's high school 
nostalgia page," Nagisa continued.

	It was a picture of Mom dressed as a cowgirl, Aunt 
Natsuki in a nun outfit, Aunt Yukino wearing a ballerina 
outfit, Aunt Mikoto as a policewoman, Aunt Nao in a 
formal dress gown, Aunt Aoi in some sort of 'female 
Conan' outfit (pretty skimpy), and Aunt Chie in a biker 
outfit, all of them holding microphones in some club.  They 
were joined by some women I only vaguely recognized—
Mandi, Hayao, and Sanae's mothers, I think, also in 
costumes.

	He pointed to the woman who I think is Mandi's 
mother.  "Her website had that.  But here's the killer," he 
said.

	He called up another file; it showed the place where 
the bridge stands by Fuuka now, but with only a burnt out 
wreck.  High above the bay, you could see ten streaks in the 
sky like meteors or comets heading for the wreckage.

	I stared at it.  Hime in action!  Ten streaks.  But there 
are fifteen princesses.  Thirteen then.  Maybe Aunt Alyssa 
was too young for her powers yet.  So twelve.  But that's 
still two missing.  Did people get too hurt to fight?  Quite 
possible.

	"Where did you find this?"

	"A place that archives other sites.  The site that had 
this apparently got shut down fast after it went up, but they 
must not have realized it had gotten archived.  Also..."

	 It was a blurry attempt at a closeup of one of the sky 
streaks.  You could make out Aunt Midori with a giant pink 
battle axe, riding some kind of...

	"What the hell is this thing?" I asked.

	"Damned if I know," he replied.  "Some kind of weird 
armored thing pulling two giant wheels or something.  It 
looks robotic to me."  He shrugged.  "Might as well ask 
why she's wearing shorts with a jacket."

	"Who put them up?" 

	"Anonymous person in some free webspace, way back 
in 2005," he said.  "It's been sitting forgotten on the archive 
place for decades."

	I got copies of them on my flash drive.  Then it hit me.  
Nagisa didn't know about the Namcub or the battle 
princesses or anything.  What did he think this picture was?

	But I didn't know how to ask him about it.  He didn't 
seem too suprised by it.  On the other hand, a bunch of 
people must have seen this.  What were they off to fight?  
What was going on here?  And why only ten?

	"So what do you think this is?"

	"I don't know," he confessed.  "It could be a prank of 
some kind, which was then left to die once everyone got 
their laugh.  But the second photo shows your cousin 
Suguira Dan's mother, right?"

	I nodded.  

	"So I decided to show it to you.  Even if I don't know 
for sure what this could mean."

	And I can't tell you.  But man, if one person could get 
pictures of them...Unless everyone somehow forgot it all.

	This raises as many questions as it answers.

	"Anything else?"

	"Not yet," he said.  "Someone's tried to wipe out all 
evidence of what happened there, but there are bits here 
and there.  I'll keep looking."

	"Thanks," I said.  "You've been a big help to me, 
Nagisa."

	He blushed a little.  "Glad to help, Crystal."

	I need to do something nice for him as a reward.  This 
will bear thinking about.

**************  

	"I don't know what to do," Kasumi said, sighing.

	"Well, you said you needed someone to watch.  I'm 
happy to volunteer," I told her.  "It's...okay, I guess for you, 
it's safe to be out there alone at 1 AM, but..."

	She laughed softly.  "Let's nap, then we can go at 
midnight."

	I nodded.  "I can do that."

**************
	
	I stared at the stopwatch.  "Holy shit, you can run that 
fast???"

	Kasumi smiled nervously.  "Yeah."

	"Wow," I said, feeling envious.  "You run like crazy."

	"I can run at 90 kilometers per hour if I did my math 
right.  Probably faster for short bursts," Kasumi said.

	"Show me your slow running."

	Kasumi's attempt to run slower looked weirdly jerky 
and involved a lot of her starting to speed up then slowing 
down.  It looked distinctly unnatural, though her face did 
show intense concentration.  Her failure to show much 
signs of even having to kick up to a higher gear didn't help.

	I rubbed my forehead.  "This is going to take some 
work."

	"I really don't know what to do," she said, sounding 
miserable.

	"Well, the folks figured it out without...well, maybe 
they did have help."  I frowned.  If Mashiro was the Crystal 
Princess, they probably had formal training and direct 
instructions from her.  Whatever exactly she is.

	Kasumi sighed.

	"Though I think your Mom is trying to hint at us like 
crazy.  She's not hiding it at all."  I started laughing.

	"What's so funny?" Kasumi asked grumpily.

	"Imagine her in her baker outfit, zipping around the 
kitchen, flipping things in the air and catching them with 
her tonfas and twirling them around..."

	Kasumi laughed more happily this time.  "That is 
funny."

	We sat down in the stands and tried to brainstorm for a 
while, but none of our ideas helped.  Eventually, to my 
regret, we had to go to bed so we wouldn't be TOTAL 
zombies tomorrow.

**************

Erica's Tale:

	I ran through the play many times in my dreams, 
waking up a few times to check the play booklet.  I was 
feeling pretty confident by the time I woke up but I also felt 
weird.

	I met everyone for breakfast at the commons.  Kasumi 
and Crystal were zombies; everyone else was refreshed.

	"How is the play going?" Shun asked us.

	"It's going pretty well," I said.  

	"Except Mr. K is totally losing it," Natasha said.

	"Oh, he just freaks out as deadlines approach.  He'll be 
fine," Shun said.  "Oh...you need to get the costumes 
adjusted.  Though probably Mr. K thought of that."

	"Kasumi, I hate to ask," I began.

	"I have a drug test," she mumbled.

	Crystal woke up.  "What?"

	"Of course, I'm NOT on drugs, so it shouldn't be an 
issue," Kasumi said.

	"That's a pain," Dan said.  "Wait, how..."  he paused 
and fell silent.

	"What?" I asked.

	"Nothing," he mumbled.

	"They piss in a cup, Dan," Shun said.

	"Language," Kagami said to him.

	I giggled a little.  

	"They piss in a glass," Shun said, grinning a little as 
Kagami buried her face in her hands for a moment.

	"It's just a stupid formality," Kasumi said, sighing.

	"Hmm, once I get my costume, I'm going to need you 
to take a few pics of me with Gin, if you don't mind, Erica," 
Natasha said.

	"I'd be glad to," I said, smiling. I like to take photos.

	"Don't worry about it," Crystal said to Kasumi.  "You 
don't even drink, let alone do drugs.  They won't find 
anything and that will be that."

	"I hope so," Kasumi mumbled.

**************

Kasumi's Tale:

	Having everyone stare at me when running was worse 
than the drug test.  One of our female coaches had to watch 
us fill the cup, but she basically didn't stare head on; it was 
embarrassing, but I'm used to bathing naked with everyone 
else on the team, relatives, etc.  So it was more annoying 
than humiliating.  Some of the rest of the team didn't 
handle it so well.

	Ayumi practically gloated at doing it, then was pretty 
much acting like this was the greatest moment of her 
career.

	That annoyed me vastly more than the drug test.

	It would be sent off to a lab and we'd have results 
Monday.  Fortunately, this was voluntary beyond league 
requirements, so we could still compete on Saturday, 
pending results.  

	I would have gone to Coach, but I had no clue what to 
tell him.  He was trying to avoid staring at me but I could 
tell he was worried.  But not saying anything which 
worried me more.

	What could I tell him?  No wonder our parents 
dropped out of this sort of thing.  I frowned.  I don't want to 
have to drop the one thing I'm really good at.  I love this.  I 
want it.  This is totally unfair.  I don't even want super 
powers.

	But I have them, and so I'm stuck.  I wonder if Mother 
ever felt like this.  Though she seems to be revelling in it 
lately.

****************

Akane's Tale:

	It was a cheerful, fresh, sunny Friday morning.  
Customers were swarming, but with Akira's help, it was 
easy to deal with them.  I kept pumping out the food in the 
back and Akira and Kazuya sold it.  Around nine, we 
switched and I helped sell, while Kazuya baked.

	To my surprise, Kazuya's older brother Jinnai came in; 
he has short dark hair and an athletic build, even though 
he's in his mid-forties with greying hair now.  He's still 
pretty handsome, though, and his suit augments that.  

	Akira looked him up and down.  "You're in good 
shape," she said, sounding surprised.

	"Akira, this is a bakery, not a health club.  Please don't 
critique the customers," I said.  Most of the time she 
remembers, but she just can't help herself sometimes.

	"I run a mile every day," he said.  "And lift weights.  
You're in pretty good shape yourself, sir."

	Oh no.  "Brother-in-law, it's good to see you!  This is 
my dear friend Tokiha Akira, who is a woman.  Akira, this 
is my brother-in-law, Kurauchi Jinnai."  We don't see Jinnai 
much, but unlike much of my husband's family, he actually 
will talk to us.

	"It's okay," Akira said.  Thankfully, she didn't take it 
amiss.  Sometimes it just amuses her.  "Nice to meet you."

	I could see them shaking hands as vigorously as 
possible to test each other's strength, and I smiled, then 
went to the back door.  "Kazuya my love, it's your dear 
brother."

	Kazuya ran to the door.  "Jinnai!"

	"Hello, brother.  I hope I'm not imposing.  I'm down 
here until Monday on some business and thought I'd use the 
spare time to visit."  Jinnai lives in Tokyo.

	"Business?" Akira asked.

	"I have a meeting with Shell Solar and US Robots 
people," Jinnai said.  "Top secret, can't talk about it.  It is 
likely we will make stupidly large amounts of money, 
though."

	Kazuya said, "Good luck, brother.  We won't pry."  He 
leaned over the counter.  "You want something?  On the 
house."

	"Hold on."  He got out his phone for a moment and 
made a very brief call.  

 	A few seconds later a woman entered, in her early 
twenties, wearing black dress pants and a black and silver 
vest over a formal white shirt.  She had a badge over her 
heart which read, "US ROBOTICS AND MECHANICAL 
MEN COURIER MISTY JOHNSON".  She had touselled 
short brown hair under a brown newsboy's cap, and wore 
gold-rimmed glasses over green eyes.  
	
	"Never pass up free food," she said in fairly good 
Japanese.  "If I can get a cherry danish, that would be best, 
but I could go for one of those...umm...they have a kind of 
fruit paste in them...I'm sorry, we didn't study enough food 
in class."  She laughed nervously.

	"That's okay," I said kindly.  "How about 
Namagashi?"  That has sweetened bean paste and I make 
them as happy faces, as those always cheer me up.  I 
offered her one.  

	"Great!  Do you have any tea on the go?" she asked.

	I got her some tea.  Green of course; sweets go best 
with green tea.

	"This is Ms. Misty Johnson, who is driving me around 
for the visit," Jinnai said.  "Ms. Johnson, this is my younger 
brother Kazuya and his dear wife Akane and her friend 
Tokiha Akira."

	"It's nice to meet you all," she said, making an 
elaborate bow, taking her hat off in the process, then 
returning it to her head when she stood back up.  "That's an 
okay bow, right?"

	"It's fine," I said reassuringly.

	"My big sister always says I overdo it," she mumbled, 
then took a bite of the bun.  "Mmm, perfect."

	There was something oddly familiar about her, but I 
am probably imagining things.  We have the same hair 
color, that's it.  Also, she has the same hair style as 
Yuuichi.   Though it's probably the hat's fault.  It looked 
much loved.  I felt rather silly.

	Misty quickly devoured the bun.  "Don't mind me, I'm 
just a flunky."

	"How is Kasumi?" Jinnai asked.

	"She is very well," I told him.  "She has a touch of the 
usual teenagerness lately, but that's how kids are at that 
age."

	Kazuya laughed.  "She's still a sweet, well-behaved, 
hard-working child who is very good at running."

	"She's VERY fast," I said proudly.  "I'm sure she'd 
love it if you came to her meet tomorrow."

	"I will see about it.  I have an official dinner tonight, 
but I was thinking I could come to breakfast with you, if 
you don't mind," Jinnai said.  "Saturday, that is."

	"That would be great," I said.  

	"We would love to have you, brother," Kazuya said 
firmly, looking pleased.  "And the boys will be happy to 
see you."

	"I brought them some more little robots; the Crystal 
KnightBots are selling really well," Jinnai said.  "So I got a 
few that haven't officially been released yet..."  He grinned.

	"Tho..."  Akira started to speak, then shut herself up 
and frowningly worked on pushing pastries forwards so the 
displays look good.  We have a little plastic thing to push 
several rows at once.

	"They'll love it," Kazuya said.  "Honey, you should 
probably bring Kasumi home tonight so she can come to 
breakfast."

	"Actually, I was planning to just work to close here 
and come home with everyone so we could have a nice 
meal and I could make sure I was fully rested for Kasumi's 
meet tomorrow," I told him.

	He perked up at that and looked pleased.  "Good."

	Akira made the noises which I have come to learn 
mean she is pretending to be wrapped up in what she is 
doing.

	Jinnai looked down at her.  "Are you alright, Tokiha-
san?"

	"I'm fine," she said with the not fine but trying badly 
to hide it voice.  I frowned.  What was wrong?

	"Okay," he said.  "Anyway, I'm sure you all have work 
to do and I'm in the way," Jinnai said.  "Ms. Johnson, are 
you ready to go?"

	"I'm ready," she said, then bowed again, including the 
hat flourish.  "It's nice to meet you, sir and madam 
Kurauchi and Tokiha-san too."

	Kazuya and I bowed back.  What nice manners in a 
young lady.  I didn't think anyone but Nao wore hats like 
that any more, though.

	Kazuya kissed my cheek and said, "We can close a 
little early to miss the commuters.  Once lunch is over, our 
business drops off hard on Fridays anyway."
	
	I kissed his lips softly.  "I need to hit the grocery store, 
anyway."

	"Mikoto did the shopping yesterday," he said.

	I need to check the shopping she did, then.  "That was 
very nice of her," I said.

	"We ran out of mushroom soup," he said.  "So I got 
her to pick some things up for me.  Anyway, back to 
baking."  He kissed me one more time and headed to the 
back.

	Akira finished making noises and stood back up.  
"Okay, all is straight."

	"Is something wrong?" I asked.

	"Nothing," she said.  "I need to figure out something 
to wear tonight when we take Shun and Kagami out."

	"Oh, have fun," I said cheerfully.  "Kagami's a sweet 
girl and I'm sure Shun won't try anything naughty with you 
there.  I'm sorry about Jinnai-san.  He didn't mean anything 
by it."

	"Trust me, I'm used to it," Akira said, making a 
dismissive gesture, though she ran her fingers through her 
hair.

	"We could do something with this," I suggested.  

	"It's fine," she said.

****************
	
	"I look like I have been mugged by a hair salon," 
Akira said, looking at herself in the mirror much, much 
later.  I finally got to bring out my rarely-used curlers 
again; I bought them, went through a brief period of curling 
my hair, then decided it was too much work.  But I was 
happy to put them to work on her.

	"It will look great when we're done," I told her.  "Just 
sit still and meditate on oneness with the sand garden while 
I finish working on you."

	Akira grumbled, but let me go to work.  We both 
know who is good at what, and this is definitely my area of 
expertise.

	Or at least, Kazuya never has any complaints.

***********

Erica's Tale:

	The three seamstress techs took our measurements for 
making costumes over the weekend.  Hopefully they would 
be ready since we needed to start full dress rehearsals by 
next Tuesday, which I prayed we'd be ready for.  Though 
really, things are coming along better than I hoped.

	Mostly.

	Dan was flailing at the sky and trying to read off his 
lines during his scene of breakdown before Blake decides 
to go vampire hunter commando.  "What does she see in 
him?  Why must I lose all my fiancees to such seducers?  
What is wrong with me?"  He was rather overdoing it.  

	"Too much power," Mr. K said.

	Dan tried it again, barely agitated.  

	"Not enough power," he said.  "Also, you're too quiet 
when you're not freaking."

	Dan laughed nervously.

	"Get the weights," Mr. K said.

	Dan stared and Fukuda-san ran and got some stage 
weights.  "Lie down."

	Dan stared.

	"On the floor," Fukuda-san said.

	Dan nervously laid down and got weights put on his 
chest.  "What?"

	"Now, say your lines with that.  It'll force you to work 
your lungs more and develop more power so the deaf old 
lady in tennis shoes in the back can hear you."

	I looked at the back but could not see any old ladies, 
deaf or otherwise.

	Fukuda grinned and I had to fight the urge to laugh at 
how silly Dan looked like that.  

	Dan was soon delivering his lines again as Mr. K tried 
to get his histronics tuned to the right setting.

****************

Kagami's Tale:

	I have never been on a date, so I was extremely 
nervous.  "I'm sorry I dragged you over here to help me," I 
said to Kasumi.

	"It's okay," she said.  "I'm heading over to June's to 
hang out after this."  

	I felt bad for her and hoped she wouldn't feel too 
lonely with everyone gone.  Especially as she seemed kind 
of down.  I wanted to help her, but I really don't know the 
first thing about comforting people.  

	She pulled my hair into a pony-tail, released it, pulled 
it up into a bun, released it, then tapped her cheek.  "Bun or 
pony-tail?"

	"Pony-tail," I said.  "That's for fun.  I'm not old 
enough for a bun yet."

	Kasumi nodded and pulled my hair into a ribbon-tied 
pony-tail, then rifled quietly through my clothing.

	I shifted back and forth nervously, then realized 
something.  My mark is right on my back.  It's in almost 
exactly the same place as Akane-san's.  How am I going to 
hide it if I take my blouse off to change into something 
else?  Or if I bathe with the others.  I don't want to be rude 
and refuse to do so.

	It's supposed to be a secret, though I really don't 
understand why.  Especially not when they've started 
training them.  I'd much rather tell Shun everything I know, 
though I know there's a lot I don't know.  But I hate 
knowing he could be in trouble if I fail.

	I won't fail.

	I refuse to fail.  

	I won't let him get hurt because of me.  

	"Are you okay?  You're shivering," Kasumi said 
softly.

	"I'm okay," I said, looking over at her.  I try to be 
strong, but I'm so weak and I hate it.  I just come out harsh 
when I try to show strength like Mother or Father.  But 
then, they're often harsh too.  

  	I don't want to be.  

	But Kasumi just has this gentle strength and 
confidence to her.  It's so natural to her, and I kind of envy 
it.  Though right now, she seems kind of down.  

	Kasumi's phone rang and she talked on it a bit.  "My 
uncle Jinnai is visiting.  Apparently, when they bring you 
two back, Aunt Akira and Uncle Takumi are going to take 
me home so I can have breakfast with him, and then after 
breakfast tomorrow, Mom will drive me back."

	"Oh, cool," I said, feeling better for her.  "I will come 
and watch you, of course."

	"Thank you," she said.  "You don't have to."

	"We are...," I said, then hesitated, not sure of the right 
word.  Not exactly family yet, but...well, go the easy route.  
"We are friends.  And I want to see you run.  Shun says you 
are very fast."

	"I am very fast," Kasumi said proudly, then looked 
worried.  "Very fast," she mumbled.  She dove into my 
clothing again.  Not literally.

	"Don't worry.  This isn't such a big deal."  Maybe she's 
frustrated I don't have much to wear.

	"This is your first date.  It has to be special."  She 
sighed.  "Mine was a trainwreck."

	"What happened?" I asked softly.

	"Shun and Dan both decided the guy was bad news 
and started looming at him all the time and Natasha tried to 
help me out," Kasumi said.  "Everyone claims they don't 
know where the pies came from."

	"Pies?" I asked, afraid to find out.

	"Which we ended up covered in.  Supposedly Shun 
was on a date and Dan was studying but those pies didn't 
throw themselves," Kasumi said wearily.  "Here we go.  
Strip."

	I froze up.

	"Come on," Kasumi said.  "We're both girls, neither of 
us into seeing women naked.  You don't have to be nervous 
with me."  She sounded half comforting and half impatient.

	I stripped, unable to resist her tone of voice.  

	"Hmm, we have about the same build except my legs 
are stronger," Kasumi said, looking at me in my underwear.  
"Put these on," she said, tossing several pieces to me and 
then turning back to my clothing supply.

	I did so nervously.  I now was wearing a white blouse 
with a green vest over it with a mostly matching long green 
skirt and now Kasumi tried finding somewhere to put a 
matching green scarf, then decided it would be too hot still 
for it.  I ended up wearing most of my jewelry.  Then she 
took me to the sink, gently washed my face and applied 
makeup.  

	I have all the right stuff, but she knows better than me 
what to do with it.  Mom only wears minimal makeup 
except for very special occasions and left me to figure it out 
myself.  (By contrast, she spent long hours teaching me 
how to get spots out of clothing.  She really hates spots.)

	I felt very pretty when she was done.  She nodded 
approvingly.  "You'll knock Shun dead tonight," she said.

	"Thanks, Kasumi," I said.

	"Okay.  I'm off to June's and I'll meet you when you 
get back," Kasumi said.
	
	"Have fun," I said as cheerfully as I could.

	"I'll try," she said and left.

	I kicked the wall in frustration.  There had to be 
something I could do to make her happier.  She deserved it.  
But what?

**************
 
	Harada-sensei picked me up to take me to the 
rendezvous point.  I'd asked for this, as it was important to 
make sure no one saw Shun and I in our finery together.  I 
was very nervous, but determined to do this right.

	"You look great," Harada-sensei told me.

	"I almost showed off my mark to Kasumi, but I'm 
really grateful for her help," I told her.

	Senoh-sensei was with us too.  They'd both dressed up 
a fair amount.  I assumed they would be going out while I 
was out.  They would meet us later to pick me up and take 
me back to campus.

	"It might be a good idea to 'accidentally' reveal it but 
act like you never noticed it," Harada-sensei said.  "I expect 
you and Shun will be stripping each other soon and it 
means less to hide from him."

	I turned red.  "Harada-sensei, I'm a good girl," I said.  
Though I'd already dreamed about that and...and...  I 
probably looked like a beet.

	"You're so cute," Senoh-sensei said, smiling brightly.  
"But I agree.  You shouldn't have to lie to your boyfriend.  
That's no way to live."

	Alright, if they thought it was a good idea, I could do 
it.  I hated hiding anything from him.

	They took me to a gas station and soon Akira-sensei 
and Takumi-san's beat up Toyota Mokona arrived; it's ugly 
and bright red, but it's also very fuel-efficient, durable, and 
has a lot of extra storage space.  I could see Shun inside in 
a suit, looking very handsome and Takumi-san in one as 
well.  

	Then Akira-sensei got out and Senoh-sensei and 
Harada-sensei both stared with eyes wide open.  She was 
wearing a long sleeveless dress which showed off the 
strength of her arms; the dress was long, loose, and red 
with two layers, lighter red on the outside which would 
have been scanty if worn alone, and a much less revealing 
dark red under it.  It tended to both hide and perhaps 
emphasize her curves by loosely cascading around them, 
but it was her face you really noticed.  She wore very well 
done makeup which emphasized her eyes and cheeks and 
her hair had been done up in loose curls.  She looked very 
pretty and much more feminine than usual.  But seemed 
oddly nervous about it.

	"Stop making five year old faces," she said to Harada-
sensei.

	"Who are you and what have you done with Akira?"  
Harada-sensei asked teasingly.

	"You look wonderful, Kagami-san," Akira-sensei said 
firmly to me.  "You wanted a seafood restaurant, right?"

	"I love it."  But Mom has a seafood allergy so we 
never go to seafood restaurants, which is what I'm counting 
on.  I bowed to my other senseis.  "Thank you.  See you 
later tonight."

	"Have fun," Senoh-sensei said.

	"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Harada-sensei said.

	"Don't do anything she would do," Akira-sensei said, 
but there was a little teasing in it.  "And thank you, both of 
you."

	"This is totally cool," Senoh-sensei said.  "I like 
skullduggery."

	Shun smiled so brightly when I got in next to him.  
"You look wonderful," he said.

	"So do you," I said, feeling very happy.  I felt this 
would be a perfect evening.

**************

Erica's Tale:

	It was only later I realized that Dan had been lying on 
his back with the weights pressing down on him.  That had 
to hurt, but he never complained.  Though his bruises are 
almost entirely gone.  I can hardly believe they all healed 
so fast.

	I was about to ask him about it when Koyabishi Sanae 
swept in and came over to Dan; we had finished up and 
everyone was getting ready to go.

	"Suguira-san, want to go to the Science museum 
tomorrow?" she asked.  "There's an ancient history exhibit 
and..."

	"Maybe once we finish this play.  I'm going to be 
watching Kasumi run, then we have rehearsal," Dan said.  
"But I'd love to once we get this play done, Koyabishi-san."

	"Okay," Koyabishi said, looking triumphant.

	I felt a burst of jealousy and told myself not to be 
stupid.  It's not like...But I didn't want to see her swoop in 
either.

	"We'd best go back to my place," I told Dan, "So I can 
treat your back again since you've been lying on it."

	"Okay," he said, and I could see Koyabishi-san 
grimace.  Score, I thought, then got stupidly nervous.  

	Just focus, I thought.  It'll be just like normal.

****************
 
Crystal's Story:

	I told myself a dozen times to put an arm around her 
and nothing happened.  I am not normally this jumpy, but I 
couldn't quite tell if Junko wanted me to hit on her or not.  
We were having fun watching some movies, but she sat just 
close enough to be closer than normal and not close enough 
to be obvious.

	Finally, she made an ostentatious stretch, then put her 
arms on the couch back, a move I have seen done by every 
man I have ever dated.

	I reached over and pulled it down, then smiled what I 
hoped was a confident smile and not a 'I have no idea if I'm 
doing this right or if it should be the same' smile.  

	She smiled over at me and moved a touch closer.  "I 
was hoping you wanted that, but I wasn't sure," she said.

	"Me neither," I confessed and we both laughed.  

	I felt better now.  I had a feeling I wasn't going to get 
any, but much as I feel somewhat deprived, I didn't want to 
push things too hard.  I really need to call Aunt Nao and 
ask if there's anything special for dating Catholics, though.

	Still, this was a fun evening so far.

*****************

Kagami's Tale:

	I hoped dinner at The Four Seasons restaurant didn't 
cost too much; it certainly looked expensive.  I felt very 
elegant dining there; the menu was mostly seafood, though 
they had some good pasta dishes too.  I ordered lobster and 
Shun had crab and Akira-sensei and Takumi-san both got 
salmon, though Takumi-san got a lot of pasta with his.  

	"So you want to be a doctor," Akira-sensei said to me.

	"Yes, sensei," I said.  "Though I suppose..."  Then I 
remembered in time not to mention being a Hime in front 
of Shun.  Though I hate hiding this.  I want him to know I 
will do my best to protect him.  "Well, we'll see."

	Shun gave me an odd look.  He probably remembered 
me saying I had no choice.  Then he said, "I still don't know 
what I want.  I'd like to act for a living, but it's hard to make 
a living on that unless you break through into the big 
theatres or TV or the movies."

	"It's his inner me warring with his inner Takumi," 
Akira-sensei said, smiling.  

	"Yeah, you're so fluffy and idealistic, Mom," Shun 
said, then laughed and started methodically picking the 
meat out of his crab.  "And Dad is such a hardcore realist."

	We all laughed and gossipped about various things 
going on in the city. I felt strangely grownup, like we were 
a married couple having dinner with friends, instead of 
being the kids and them the adults.  

	It was completely unlike all the times I've gone out 
with my parents, where I usually ate quietly while they 
either argued over something or gossipped about people 
they know from work and might every once in a while 
interrogate me about school.

	My parents live pretty close to campus, but they don't 
come here too often as they work long hours and are 
usually exhausted at the end of the day.  Plus they're still 
angry with me over the car, though they let the school 
punish me.  I almost think I impressed Father a little by 
being able to drive it safely.  But I'm probably just telling 
myself that to feel less guilty.

	Shun is so lucky.  And he doesn't even notice it.  I 
don't even know how to make him understand how lucky 
he is.

*****************

Kasumi's Tale:

	Ayumi was chasing me through the paths of 
Rosewood, waving a drug test at me.  "I HAVE YOU 
NOW!"

	However, I was FAR too fast for her.

	Then June woke me up.  "Tired?" she asked softly.

	I'd fallen asleep in mid-movie, I realized.  June's 
roommate Hinako, and her suitemates were all looking at 
me, worried.

	"I can't sleep until I get picked up by Aunt Akira and 
Uncle Takumi," I mumbled.

	"Well, I'll try and keep you up, then," June said, 
sounding worried.  "Can't sleep?  You know none of us are 
going to get busted.  We're a clean team.  Even Ayumi-
sempai.  She's just rude."

	"Just a rough week," I mumbled.  "Please keep me 
up."  And please, let tomorrow go well.

***************

Shun's Tale:

	The ladies went to the bathroom together, leaving Dad 
and I slowly working on dessert, which for him was a bowl 
of vanilla ice cream with little candy sprinkles all over it 
and little lime and cherry streaks of flavoring on it and for 
me was a probably over rich but yummy chocolate cake.  

	"Why is Mom so fancied up?" I asked curiously.

	"I don't know," he confessed, then smiled broadly.  
"But isn't she beautiful?"

	"Mom's always beautiful," I said.  "Just by being 
Mom."

	Dad laughed, a spoonful of ice cream halfway to his 
mouth.  "I'm the one who is supposed to be saying that."

	"I guess she just wanted to help Kagami feel this 
evening is special.  Thanks a lot, Dad," I told him.  Kagami 
was really hugely enjoying herself, and I was having fun 
too.  But this isn't even close to my first date.

	Which went perfectly smoothly but was basically a 
trip to a burger place and a movie.  Fun at the time, but I 
only vaguely remember it now.

	I studied Dad as he ate his ice cream.  No sign of super 
abilities.  Mom had actually seemed less bad-ass than 
usual, but I think she was trying to avoid anything that 
might embarrass Kagami.  "So when did you and Mom 
have your first date?"

	"Well, as I think I've told you, we sort of slid into 
being boyfriend and girlfriend without formally dating," he 
said.  "So our first real date was in America after my 
operation.  She went with me.  Haven't I told you this 
before?"

	"You don't talk a lot about how you got together, other 
than me knowing it involved Mom defying her clan to be 
with you.  And I know you were originally roommates 
because Mom was pretending to be a boy," I told him.

	"Our first date featured me in a wheelchair and Akira 
trying to take me to the park, buy me lunch, and show me 
around with both of us being weak at English.  A mugger 
tried to come after us and Akira stuffed him naked in a 
garbage can."  Dad laughed loudly, then had some ice 
cream, clearly savoring it.

	"Well, you know how gentle she is when we're really 
sick," he said.

	"And how much she always killed me if I tried to fake 
it," I said, laughing, then had a bite of my cake.

	"She doesn't say it, but she loves you very, very 
much," Father said to me, almost urgently.  "She drives us 
both like a banshee sometimes, but it's only because she 
loves us and that's how she usually expresses it.  She wants 
us to be the best possible us there is."

	"I know," I said.  I grew up with Mom. I know how 
she is.  She doesn't show affection easily or admit to 
weakness.  So I always show her as much love as I can so 
she won't have to.  But I know how she feels.

	We both ate silently, then he said, "Did they fall in or 
something?"

	"Probably," I said.

	"So how is the training coming?" Dad asked curiously.  

	"Pretty well.  I must admit I never expected it to be 
Aunt Akane, but I think she's doing well," I told him.  
"She's remarkably tougher than I thought."

	"Your mother has been pressing her very hard to 
improve," Dad said.  He frowned.  "Now I'm wondering if 
Akira suddenly decided to test Kagami's skills at unarmed 
combat or something."

	That would be Mom all over.  "I'm sure it's fine," I 
told him.

	We finished our desserts and he slowly pushed the last 
little bits around with his spoon.  "Your mother made me a 
much stronger person by pushing me.  And I made her a 
softer person by teaching her when to yield."  He paused as 
if uncertain where exactly he was going with this.  "In a 
good relationship, people complement each other, cover 
each other's weaknesses and know when to yield to the 
other person's strengths."

	I nodded, listening quietly.  

	"I feel pretty confident for you and Kagami-san, but 
just be careful, okay?" he said softly.

	"Of course," I told him.

	Mom and Kagami soon returned and we paid our 
check and went dancing.  I never did find out what took 
them so long.

*****************

Erica's Tale:

	Dan's back turned out to be just fine.  You could 
hardly tell he got beaten up.  

	So we sat down to watch some TV.  We ended up 
watching some insane thing about how the Mayans 
colonized ancient Russia.  Dan went steadily more insane 
as it progressed, while I just listened to him rant, amused 
by it.

	He really does get passionate about this sort of thing, 
which I find attractive.  I'm not very passionate, though I'm 
not...well, I hope I'm not over tightly controlled.  Just 
relaxed.

***************

Kagami's Tale:

	I'd never been dancing before, but Akira-sensei 
showed me how in the bathroom, and when Shun and I 
danced, it was wonderful.  I wasn't ready yet to get really 
fancy but it was a huge amount of fun.  I got the impression 
the place cost a lot to get into, but Shun's parents insisted 
on paying.  We were soon surrounded by people dancing to 
fancy classical music and some stuff that might have been 
new thirty years ago but was old now.  But that was fine; it 
was good for dancing to.

	It was like a dream.  A beautiful dream I never ever 
wanted to wake up from.  I felt so happy.  

	Even though I couldn't think of something good to do 
for Kasumi.  

	"Shun," I asked softly.  "Kasumi seems kind of down 
and I want to help her but I don't know how," I told him.

	He frowned.  "I'd noticed that.  Maybe cook her a 
meal.  She likes homecooked food.  I'm sure having us all 
cheer her on will make her feel better too."

	Yes.  I will encourage her as much as I can.  That 
always makes me feel good.  

	Like right now.

***************
	
Natasha's Tale:

	Gin and I went dancing at the usual unofficial student 
dance in the woods after practice.  We're trying to save our 
money to have a really fancy date in a couple of weeks, so 
right now, we're just doing anything that's cheap, like this.

	I'd been dancing a while when I noticed Iwao Taiki 
lurking at the edge of the party, leaning on a tree, holding a 
rolled up piece of paper, looking cranky and definitely 
looking for someone.

	Whoever they were, they weren't here, and I suspected 
he was hoping Crystal would show up.

	Or maybe Dan, if he's looking to get in even more 
trouble.  He's lucky he got punished by a coach, which 
meant running laps, instead of someone who would bust 
him out of playing.

	You know, how do you punish track people?  Making 
them run laps wouldn't be any different from what they 
already do.

	I would have to think about that.

	My curiosity led me in his direction to try to get a 
peek at the paper.  It looked like a printed out sheet rolled 
up like a scroll...why bring a piece of paper to a party?  
Taiki wasn't the reading type, anyway.

	He noticed my approach and glowered at me.  I 
decided to just be blunt.  "Hey, Iwao-san, you looking for 
someone?"

	"None of your business, bitch," he said.

	I don't take shit from anyone.  "You come here to see 
what half-naked people look like to help you when you're 
masturbating alone because no woman will touch you?" I 
asked.

	Now he looked really mad.  He pointed the paper at 
me like it was some kind of wand.  "Fuck you, whore.  I go 
where I want and it's none of your fucking business!"

	He never used to have this much of a temper.  Though 
everyone gets crankier in the summer heat.  Including me.

	"I am not a whore!" I shouted at him.

	Now a bunch of people were staring at me.  Unlike 
most people in this country, though, I LIKE people staring 
at me.

	Gin tugged my arm.  "Come on, Natasha, we came 
here to dance, not to have a shouting match with a stupid 
jock."  Gin's rather more of a pacifist than I am.

	"He called me a whore!," I protested.

	"Who cares what an ignorant shithead like him 
thinks?" Gin asked.

	"If I'm ignorant, then you're down in the pig wallow 
with the retards, Houseki," Taiki said.  "Given your GPA is 
1.5 points lower than mine.  Of course, you're too busy 
patronizing prostitutes to study."

	Gin grimaced.  His grades aren't very good and his 
parents constantly rag him about it, as his dad is an 
aeronautics engineer and his mom is a botanist.  Well, she 
runs a gardening supplies store, but she's got an MA in 
Botany.  He's okay in English and Japanese literature, but 
his math skills are terrible and he dies in science, other than 
biology, which really makes his parents crazy.  But he's a 
very skilled artist and musician and we're going to have a 
rock band together once we're in college.

	We've got to save up the money for instruments, 
which cost an arm and a leg unless you want to use crappy 
used ones.  

	Taiki, on the other hand, is king of the assholes, but he 
gets way better grades than Gin or myself.  Not quite as 
good as Erica, but he's actually pretty smart EVEN IF YOU 
CAN'T TELL AT ALL most of the time.

	"Natasha is NOT A PROSTITUTE," Gin said angrily, 
then jumped at Iwao-san.

	I started to move and Gin punched Taiki in the gut.  
He hardly noticed it, then decked Gin with one punch to the 
chest.

	I stared, mouth wide open.  

	Everyone watching stepped back a step.

	Gin fell on me and I dragged him back.  Jesus, he's 
that strong and Dan stood up to all those blows?  Man, Dan 
must be made out of stone or something.

	"You will pay for this!," I shouted at him.  But not any 
time soon.  As while I am tougher than Gin, I'm a thousand 
times better with a sword than my fists and I can't exactly 
go around stabbing people.  If he could one-punch Gin, 
he'd just beat me unconscious.

	"He attacked me first," Taiki said, looking triumphant.  
"It was just self-defense."

	I wonder if there's a nurse on duty at night.  I also 
wondered if I could get Kasumi to come kick his ass.  But 
probably not.  She doesn't like Gin anyway and I can't 
imagine Kasumi just beating the shit out of some guy even 
if he beat up HER boyfriend.  

	Dammit.  Why'd she have to be the one to get the 
powers first?

	I quivered, torn between my instincts which said to rip 
Taiki apart and my common sense.

	Common sense won a narrow victory until Taiki said, 
"Gonna find yourself a new sugardaddy now?  Run along, 
bitch."

	I leaped at him, knowing I was probably going to be 
beaten unconscious but unable to put up with his shit.  
Much to my surprise, however, I suddenly found myself 
colliding with Hayao and we both tumbled on the ground.  

	Mandi now said to Iwao, "Are you crazy?  You could 
get suspended from the baseball team if you keep this up!"

	I yelled something incoherent as Hayao tried to 
restrain me.  "Calm down, Munakata-san," he said.  
"Fighting won't help you any either."

	"He punched out my boyfriend and now HE MUST 
DIE," I yelled.  

	I think Hayao was pretty surprised when I wrestled 
him down.  I'm not as strong as Crystal, but Hayao, though 
good looking, basically gets only moderate exercise and I 
get a LOT of exercise.  

	"It's her own fault if she attacks me first," Iwao-san 
said to Mandi.

	"I have a feeling the staff isn't going to accept that as 
an excuse when it keeps happening OVER AND OVER," 
Mandi said.  She is amazingly loud for someone so short.

	Not that I have any excuse to call her short, given I'm 
only 6 CM taller than her.  Mandi is actually shorter than 
Mom, a mere 150 CM, whereas Mom topped out at 154 
and I'm 156.   My generation tends to be taller than our 
parent's generation, due to better nutrition, but it didn't help 
me much.  I don't know if that means my Dad was tiny too 
or...really, I'm not sure how height genetics work, anyway.  
I just know Dan is freaking huge compared to either of his 
parents.  Somehow.  

	"It won't matter when he's dead!," I shouted, throwing 
myself at Taiki, only to get body-checked in the air by 
Mandi.  

	"Is everyone here insane but me?" Mandi shouted.

	Hayao peeled himself out of the dirt, brushing himself 
off.  "I'm sane.  Taiki, are you trying to get yourself kicked 
out of the school or something?"  He went over to Iwao-
san.  "There are better ways to get revenge on her than 
this."

	"Yeah, I could try something that would end up with 
me covered with bees," Taiki said grumpily.

	I tried to get loose from Mandi, but she was a lot 
stronger than I expected.  Every time I started to get loose, 
she'd somehow wiggle around and hold on to me.  

	Hayao buried his face in his hands and mumbled.

	"Who is gonna take care of Yaten if you get yourself 
expelled?" Hayao said, even as Mandi headbutted my chest 
pointlessly.  My breasts easily absorbed the shock.  

	I flailed, trying to get free from Mandi.  "Taiki, you 
coward!" I shouted at him.

	"Stay down you idiot," Mandi shouted at me.  
"Fighting him won't do any good!"

	"I need revenge!," I shouted, but I just wasn't getting 
anywhere.  I was pretty surprised she was this good a 
grappler.

	Gin now sat up, clutching his chest. I guess he must 
have just had the wind knocked out of him, though I'd 
never seen someone go down from just one punch before, 
so I don't know how long it normally lasts.  But I could tell 
it still hurt.  

	Taiki frowned, then stared at the ground.  "Let's go," 
he mumbled.  

	Hayao began dragging him off and Mandi got up.  "Go 
help your boyfriend," she told me.

	I grumbled but ran over and helped him up.  "You 
okay, baby?"

	"Glad I have a rib cage," he mumbled.

	I glowered at Taiki as he left.  Mandi looked at me 
apologetically, then ran after them.

	You're gonna pay for this, bastard, I thought.  I don't 
know how, but you will.  No one fucks up my boyfriend 
and gets away with it.

***************

Kasumi's Tale:

	I went down to the parking lot to meet with Aunt 
Akira and Uncle Takumi.  They pulled up and Shun got 
out, looking very nice in a suit.  "You look very 
handsome," I told him.

	"Thanks," he said, smiling very brightly.  I was a little 
envious of his happiness, but mostly I was glad their date 
went well.  "Have fun with your uncle.  And you're running 
tomorrow, right?"

	"Yes," I said.

	"Cool.  I'll be there with Kagami," he said.  

	I smiled a little.  "Thanks," then I got in the car and 
slumped down in the back after putting my seatbelt on.

	Shun said bye to his parents and we took off.

	"Your uncle doesn't normally cavort around with 
women half his age, does he?" Aunt Akira asked me.

	"..."  He's been divorced twice, but no.  "Umm, no."

	"Honey, she was an official transport person," Uncle 
Takumi said.  "Did you actually see any evidence of 
'cavorting'?"

	"Nothing you could prove in a court," Aunt Akira 
said, frowning.

	Uncle Takumi rolled his eyes.  "It's his own business 
if he is, and I'm sure he was just being nice to his chaffeur."

	"What?" I asked in confusion.

	"It's stupid, forget it, Kasumi," Uncle Takumi said.  
"Please tell me you didn't berate him, dear."

	"I did not, I have discretion," Aunt Akira said a little 
sulkily.  

	Great, now I had another thing to fret over.

	"Are you excited about your meet tomorrow?" Uncle 
Takumi asked.

	"Yes," I said.  I am sort of excited, but mostly 
nervous.  

	"Your Aunt Natsuki ran in high school," he told me.  

	I have been told this roughly 3 billion times.  Though 
being reminded of it made me wonder how she hid her 
powers.  

	"I know.  Everyone tells me that every time I discuss 
track with them," I told him.

	He laughed a little nervously and Aunt Akira cheered 
up, laughing happily.  I giggled too.

	"She did swim team too," he said.

	Again, 3 billion times.  

	"Which events are you running in?"

	"Sixty and Hundred meter sprints, 400 meter and the 
relay," I told him.

	"Good luck," he said.  "I will be busy dealing with one 
of my customers who is never happy."  He sighed.  "But he 
pays very generously, so..."

	"You have made the man's yard look magnificent," 
Aunt Akira said.  "He's a perfectionist, but I think he does 
make you do your best work, Takumi."

	"Did you do any sports, Aunt Akira?" I asked.  I was 
pretty sure Uncle Takumi didn't.

	"I was in the art club and I did some Kendo but I was 
never as good at it as Yuuichi or Mikoto or Reito," Aunt 
Akira said.

	That surprised me.  "Really?"

	"I could crush any of them unarmed or throwing 
things or with knives, but Kendo...compared to how I was 
trained to fight it was as if..."  Aunt Akira paused.  
"Imagine if, after your many years of track, you were told 
you had to step on certain marked spots on the ground 
during your sprinting and could only cross the finish line 
with your left hand in one of three specific positions and 
that if you went too fast, you'd be disqualified.  That was 
Kendo for me, compared to being taught to use anything 
that works when I was little."

	Suddenly, my track problems seemed much smaller 
compared to that.

	"Kendo is a sport based on fighting; I was trained to 
fight, including fighting dirty when useful," Aunt Akira 
said.

	I could see that.

	"So how is your training coming?" Aunt Akira asked.  

	"I don't know how to judge.  Good, I think," I told her.

	"Your mother should have started you once you were 
able to walk and hold things in your hands," Aunt Akira 
said firmly.

	"Honey, even you didn't start Shun at that age," Uncle 
Takumi said.  

	"I should have.  That's when Father started me," Aunt 
Akira said, staring out the window at the buildings going 
by as we drove down the highway.

	"We can't change the past," I said, staring out myself 
at all the lights of Osaka at night.

	"Honey," Uncle Takumi said softly.
	
	"I really thought the dream could last, but I was just 
lying to myself.  We all were," Aunt Akira said quietly as 
she stared out the window.  "It was a nice dream."

	Listening to her creeped me out; I was fighting off 
falling asleep and my brain filled with shadowy images, 
things like those pictures Crystal found and emailed to us.  
What on earth was that giant thing like the Battle Princess 
sign?

	"I just want to be a normal athlete with a normal love 
life and a normal high school life.  Is that too much to ask?" 
I mumbled tiredly.

	"Yes," Aunt Akira said.

	"Honey, don't slap down our neice when she's 
exhausted.  Why don't you just nap the rest of the way?," 
Uncle Takumi asked me.

	"Thanks, Uncle," I said, slumping backwards, feeling 
depressed again.

	"She's been coddled too much of her life.  Do you 
want Miyu to be right?" Aunt Akira asked Uncle Takumi 
sharply.

	"Kicking her dreams in the face when she's exhausted 
in the back of the car isn't exactly going to help her," Uncle 
Takumi said a little sharply.

	The last thing I need is for Aunt Akira and Uncle 
Takumi to have a fight all the way to my Mom's house 
while I lie here feeling exhausted and depressed.

	"Please let me rest," I mumbled.

	Aunt Akira sighed and said, "Sleep well, Kasumi."

	"Thanks, Auntie."  Then I conked out.

**************

Kagami's Tale:

	It would not have surprised me if I had started flying 
on the spot.  But apparently, only Tate-sama can fly under 
her own power out of all of us.  Still, I FELT like I was 
flying.

	As I made my way towards the dorm, I encountered 
Natasha, who was helping Houseki-san stumble along.  
"Please tell me there's a night nurse," Natasha said to me.

	"I have no clue," I confessed.  I've never needed a 
nurse at night.  "What's wrong?"

	"Taiki punched out Gin and I just want to make sure 
he doesn't need some kind of treatment," Natasha said.

	"I just got the wind knocked out of me, but I think I 
probably have the mother of all bruises," Gin mumbled.

	I frowned.  Houseki-san is kind of trashy, but he 
doesn't deserve that.  "Well, if I call Senoh-sensei, she just 
dropped me off, so she can't be too far."

	"That will work," Natasha said.

	Soon, we were in Senoh-sensei's office; she'd come 
back with Harada-sensei, thankfully.  She checked him out.  
"He'll be fine, though he's got a bruise," Senoh-sensei said.  

	I felt relieved by that.

	"Put this on it every day," Senoh-sensei said, giving 
him a small jar.  "And avoid any more fights."

	"I haven't been hit in three years," Houseki-san 
mumbled.  

	Natasha frowned darkly.  "Oh, he's going to pay for 
hurting you, honey."

	"Violence solves nothing," I told her.

	"You'd be surprised," Natasha said, looking very 
angry.

	"Now, now, there are much more elegant ways to get 
even," Harada-sensei said to Natasha.  "Of course, as a 
teacher I can't actually tell you these things, but if you were 
to ask, say, your Aunt Nao..."

	I stared.  Was she encouraging Natasha to...I think she 
is.  I was pretty unhappy with Iwao-san for what he did, but 
wasn't this going overboard?

	Natasha and Harada-sensei laughing in unison was 
one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen.

*************
	
Crystal's Tale:

	I suppose kissing shouldn't be any different by 
whether you're kissing a man or a woman, so I think 
kissing Junko went pretty well.  We were busy smooching 
with arms around each other when my suitemates came in, 
both of them splattered with mud.  

	"What happened?" I asked, worried.

	"Our double date got wrecked by some stupid blonde 
and her grey-haired grandfather cruising around in a 
Corvette.  She splashed a damn mud puddle all over both of 
us AND our dates," Noriko said.  She's tall and has long 
black hair. 

	"Grandfather?" Junko asked, sounding surprised.

	"She was maybe 25, and he was like 70," Noriko said.  
"God, I hope she's not his girlfriend."  She made a face and 
so did I.

	Junko made gagging noises, as did my other 
suitemate, Mary.  

	"Anyway, Tony gave her the finger, so she came back 
and DID IT AGAIN.  Except this time her grandfather 
chewed her out."  Noriko sounded triumphant as if 
somehow she'd caused this to happen.  "He made her come 
back and apologize, but, well, we couldn't go anywhere or 
do anything with mud all over us.  Dammit."

	"They were both Americans, I think," Mary said.  
She's average in height and wears thick glasses over green 
eyes.  "She had a really noticable accent, but he sounded 
like he was from Tokyo.  I was kind of impressed by how 
good his Japanese was.  And he called her 'granddaughter', 
Noriko."

	"I won the coinflip, so I'm bathing first.  Then Mary," 
Noriko said.  "Then I'm going to bed, so try not to make too 
much noise."

	"Goodnight," I said to her.

	Junko looked at her watch and sighed, then gave me a 
quick kiss.  "I've got to go.  I have club stuff in the 
morning.  But let's do this again some time, okay?"

	I smiled.  "Next Friday?  I'll be free then."

	"Sounds good.  Call me."  She kissed me one more 
time and then headed out, whistling.

	That went about perfectly, I thought.  Other than now 
our dorm room is going to smell like mud.  But that wasn't 
my fault.  I decided to do a little homework, then take a 
bath myself and go to bed.

***************

Kasumi's Tale:

	I woke up in my bed at home, feeling much more 
alive.  The house was full of the smell of pancakes and jam; 
I hoped I hadn't slept through breakfast.  Somehow I had 
ended up in pajamas, so I came downstairs and found that 
in fact, everyone was about to sit down and eat.  Including 
Uncle Jinnai, who said, "Hi, Kasumi-chan.  Feeling better?"

	"I feel much more alive," I told him.  "I could eat a 
horse."

	"Don't eat my horse!" Keiichi said frantically; he and 
Katsuhito were playing with some toy dinosaurs and farm 
animals; he had managed to mount a tyrannosaurus rex on a 
big horse, which made me laugh.  

	"HORSE," I said and lunged for the horse to tease 
him; he tried crouching over it, so I picked him up and 
twirled him around over my head and he started laughing.

	Dad looked worried, so I put him down.  "It's okay, I'll 
settle for Mother's cooking," I told him.

	"Do it again!" he said.

	"Put your toys away," Mother said.

	To my surprise, they actually did so, hauling them 
down the short hallway to their room.  Their bedroom is 
downstairs; the parents and I have bedrooms upstairs.  We 
have a two-story house, but both stories are pretty small.  

	Mom started serving everyone as we sat down.  "All 
ready for your meet, dear?"

	"Yes," I said nervously.

	"We're all going to come see you.  Jinnai may have to 
leave halfway through for a meeting, unfortunately."

	"I'm sorry," he said apologetically.  

	"It's okay, I'm lucky you got to come," I said as I 
started putting strawberry jam on my pancakes.  

	Mom and Dad probably won't be able to tell, but 
Uncle Jinnai knows running.  He'll know I'm running 
weird.  So...more pressure.  Great.

	He told some running stories which relaxed me a little 
and which made me glad that for all her faults, Ayumi is 
not the kind of person to put ants in your shoes.

	I hope.

************
	
	Part of me was very happy to have my cousins, my 
parents, my brothers, Uncle Jinnai, and various friends up 
in the stands watching, though Natasha looked pretty 
unhappy for some reason.  I hoped that her fangirls 
wouldn't be any trouble, though they looked subdued.

	I licked my lips nervously as I prepared for my first 
sprint.  I had decided to kick up enough dust so it wouldn't 
be as obvious how fast I was going.  The hundred and the 
four hundred and the relay would be harder to cover.

	I won, though I could see Coach rubbing his forehead 
at the dust and our competitors from Kuragi High all gave 
me dirty looks.  

	"I'm sorry, Coach, by the time I realized, we'd already 
finished the race," I said to him.

	"Just try not to do...whatever it is...again," he said.  He 
sounded distinctly baffled.  

	"I'm sorry," I mumbled.

	He started to say something, frowned, then just said, 
"Just don't do it again.  Okay?"

	"Okay, coach," I said.  

	I forced myself slower for the 100 and let Ayumi win 
it, hoping it would cheer her up a little.  Which it did.  She 
must really value victory highly.

	I noticed a purple haired girl from Kuragi staring at 
me as I waited for the 400 (the 200 was run inbetween), so 
I waved at her; she just kept watching me suspiciously, 
then went and talked to her coach.

	I paced myself on the 400, letting others lead and 
making a last few second comeback to take the first, 
praying it wasn't too blatant.  The girl who had watched me 
before ran against me; she was named Naoki, I found out; 
she came in third behind Ayumi.  

	Now she looked pretty mad at me and I saw she was 
going to be the final person in their relay team, up against 
Ayumi.  

	I was so jumpy, I ran too fast.  Mind you, this meant 
we got an easy relay victory, but now everyone was staring 
at me.  My family was going crazy with joy, which made 
me feel good, but the way several of the opposing team 
whispered to their coach, who then went off with my coach 
and the referees made me extremely nervous.

	"If this gets thrown out because of you," Ayumi 
began. 

	"What kind of stupid athlete gets angry at me for 
doing well?" I demanded of her, stepping closer.

	She stepped back.  "How the hell did you do that?"

	"I don't spend my time bitching out the rest of the 
team for doing well instead of PRACTICING," I told her, 
arms across my chest.  Which wasn't true, she practices like 
crazy, but I was just so angry with her and myself and 
everything.

	"I run every day!" she said angrily, now advancing on 
me.  She's taller and generally larger than me and normally 
I would have backed off.

	But everyone has a limit and I had hit mine.  "You 
obviously don't run enough, given I'm a freshman and I am 
BETTER than you."

	"Come on, Kasumi," June said urgently, dragging me 
back.  "We're done, so let's go get cleaned up."

	I let her drag me away and I took a shower, fretting.  
After I got clean and dressed, Coach took me aside.  "They 
tried to accuse you of being a ringer."

	"A...You mean they thought I must be a college 
student or something?" I asked.  That was kind of flattering 
and frustrating at once.

	"Of course, it was very easy to show you're not, but 
they're very angry.  But you played by the rules, so the 
referee ruled in our favor.  But..."  He took a deep breath.

	"You want to know what's going on," I mumbled.

	"I haven't said anything, because I don't normally 
complain when my students get faster.  That's what you're 
here for.  But it's pretty obvious to me that you could run 
faster even than that and you're not, and I think the others 
can tell and..."  He sighed.

	"They're jealous," I mumbled.  I could understand that.

	"Or worried.  People don't get that much better so 
fast," he said.  "Now, you've always held back, so I just 
thought you were easing up on that, but...What's going on, 
Kasumi?" I could tell he was uncomfortable confronting 
me about this, half looking at me and half-not as if studying 
someone right next to me.

	I had a moment of utter, total panic.  What could I tell 
him?  I knew this was coming and I just deliberately didn't 
think about it because I had no idea what to say.

	Stupid, stupid, stupid.

	He waited patiently as I became more and more 
agitated.

	"I think she's using steroids," Ayumi said, having 
come into the doorway of Coach's office.

	"I am NOT ON DRUGS!" I protested angrily.

	"Either that or she got artifical legs," Ayumi said.

	People exaggerate how fast or strong artificial limbs 
can make you these days.  You can't actually safely exceed 
normal human limits without damaging the rest of your 
body when you use them.  Also, the fancy ones cost a ton.  
"I am not a cyborg," I protested.  A lot of cartoons make it 
look like superpowers you can buy, but that's not true.  

	"You can just touch my leg and tell it's real," I 
protested.

	"Artificial legs make noises," Coach said to her.  "And 
I can't believe Kasumi would turn to steroids."

	"I swear I am not on drugs and we all just got tested 
anyway," I said.  "So we'll know I'm telling the truth, then."

	"Anyway, Ayumi-san, this is a private conference," 
Coach said.  "So shut the door and go and if I think you're 
listening in, you will be in trouble."

	"Ask her what's under that damn bandaid.  It's 
probably a nanomachine dispenser," Ayumi said, and 
stomped out, closing the door.  

	"You can't just slap nanomachine dispensers on your 
leg and turn into a super runner," I mumbled.  There are 
some uses for them in medicine, I think, but I'm pretty sure 
you can't just shoot up with them and turn into super 
woman.

	"What is under that bandaid?" Coach asked.

	"I stupidly got drunk and got a tattoo," I lied.

	He stared at me.

	"We were all partying at Fuuka and I kind of...was 
stupid," I mumbled.  At least this I had a good excuse for.

	"Is it embarrassing?" he asked.  "I mean, it's not vulgar 
is it?"

	"It's a Hindu thing," I mumbled.

	He blinked.

	"I was really drunk," I mumbled at the floor.  "I never 
drink so it happens easy."

	I showed it to him, then covered it back up, sighing.

	Coach looked lost in thought, then said, "Has your 
endurance improved too?"

	"Yes," I said.

	"Perhaps we should move you to some of the 
endurance events, and out of sprinting," he said.  "You're 
going to have to learn to pace yourself properly."

	I nodded.  That wasn't as bad as I feared.

	"But what is going on?  You could have run in the 
Olympics at the speed you ran that relay segment. And 
even THAT wasn't you going full tilt, I don't think."  He 
sounded both awed and nervous.

	I racked my brain.  Don't claim aliens, I told myself.  
"I don't know," I mumbled.

	He looked at me very dubiously.  "Kasumi, I need to 
know the truth."

	"I started some martial arts training with Mom and 
now I'm faster," I told him.  This was all true, if evasive.

	"Kasumi, we're not living in a martial arts movie," he 
said.  "This is not Shaolin Soccer."

	I had no idea what he was talking about.  There's a 
soccer-based kung fu art?  "What?"

	"Kasumi, if other schools want to know what is going 
on with you, I need to be able to tell them something.  I 
know you're trustworthy, but they don't," he said.

	I felt terrible that I didn't have anything to tell him.  I 
can't tell him the truth and anything else that might explain 
this would basically disqualify me.  "I don't have another 
explanation, Coach."  I stared at the ground.

	He sighed.  "Kasumi, I want to help you."

	"I want to help me too, Coach," I mumbled.  "I swear 
I'm not a cyborg or on drugs or using nanomachines or 
anything."

	He sighed.  "Well, as long as your drug test comes 
clean, I can just tell them they just suck at training their 
people."  He stared at me and I shuffled about.

	"I'm sorry," I mumbled.

	"How good is your endurance now?"

	"I'm not tired at all," I told him.

	"We'll try you on some long distance stuff starting 
Monday," he said.  "It'll mean less clashes between you and 
Ayumi, anyway."  He sighed.  "She's a great runner, but 
that temper of hers is hard to deal with."

	"I know," I said softly.  "Thank you, Coach."

	"You're a good athlete, Kasumi.  I don't want to kick 
you off the team.  But you'd better be clean or I will have 
to."

	"I swear I am, Coach," I told him.  

	"I think your family is waiting for you," he said, 
patting my shoulder.  "I'll see you on Monday."

	"Thank you," I told him, bowed and ran to find my 
family.

	Mom hugged me tightly.  "You did great!," she said, 
smiling.

	"You are really amazingly fast," Dad told me, 
clapping my shoulder.

	"Wow, you're great!," Katsuhito said.  He and Keiichi 
hugged me too and I ruffled their hair.  

	"Pick me up over your head again!" Keiichi said, so I 
lifted him and spun around with him laughing, then put him 
down again.  He really likes that.

	At least I'd made my family proud.  

	Uncle Jinnai was right behind them with some nicely 
dressed college student woman who was following him 
around like a puppy.  He said, "Very good, Kasumi, 
especially the relay."  But I could see in his eyes he had 
questions he wanted to ask but wasn't.  He knew.  He's a 
runner and unlike my parents, he could tell.  

	But I couldn't tell him either.

	I HATE this.  "Thanks, Uncle Jinnai."

	"This is my driver, Ms. Misty Johnson.  She works for 
US Robots and is driving me around while I am here," 
Uncle Jinnai said.

	Ms. Johnson's eyes widened a moment as she looked 
at me, then Ms. Johnson bowed to me, doing this elaborate 
thing with her hat.  "It's a pleasure to meet you, Kurauchi 
Kasumi.  You run very well.  You don't do the discus, by 
any chance?"  She sounded hopeful.

	"I'm afraid not," I said.

	"I did it in college," she said.  "I got some medals, but 
I could never run as fast as you.  Very impressive."  She 
bowed again.  "It's a pleasure to meet you."

	I bowed back, smiling.  "It's nice to meet you."

	Then my cousins mobbed me but that was okay, as 
they were all very enthusiastic.  Except Natasha, who 
looked rather unhappy, though she tried hard to smile at 
me.  "You were great."

	"What's wrong?" I asked, worried.

	"I'll tell you all tomorrow," she said.  "I don't want to 
dump on Kasumi's victories."

	"That's nice of you, but really, what's wrong?" I asked.

	Kagami frowned deeply, and Shun said, "She won't 
talk about it, but she's been in a bad mood all day."

	"Tomorrow," Natasha said, then glanced at Crystal, 
who didn't notice.  Had Crystal done something?

	"How about if I take everyone out?" Aunt Akane 
offered.

	"Shun and Kagami and I need to do paperwork in 
advance to leave campus," Crystal said, embarrassed.

	"If you don't mind buying us supplies, I can cook us 
all dinner in my room," Kagami said, then seemed to 
realize how big a mob we had.  "Or maybe we should just 
have takeout."

	"Let's get pizza!" Katsuhito said, waving around one 
of the 'robots' Uncle Jinnai had given him.  "Spinel Lord 
needs pepperoni!"  

	Mom looked at me.  I blinked.  "I'd love to get pizza," 
I said.

	"We can go to the Commons, move some tables 
together, and eat in a mob," Crystal said.

	"Did your meeting get cancelled?" I asked Uncle 
Jinnai.

	"It turned into a late dinner, so I will just snack a little 
right now," he said.  "Can you show me to a bathroom, 
Kasumi?"

	I nodded.  "Okay, come this way."

	Once we were alone, heading to one of the classroom 
buildings, he said softly, "If you're going to try to hide your 
true speed, you're going to have to do a lot better than that."

	I winced.  I knew he'd be able to tell.

	"I'm not surprised they thought you were a ringer.  I 
did long distance instead of sprinting, but I could tell.  Why 
are you hiding it?"

	I stopped moving and stared off across campus.  
"Uncle, I..."  

	"I know something is wrong or you wouldn't be so 
unhappy.  You're not normally like this."  He hesitated, 
then said, "Your mother seems happier than I've ever seen 
her before, but now you're unhappier than I've ever seen 
you."

	I know he's not part of the family secret.  But he must 
have seen things.  He has to be able to tell Mom and Dad 
aren't getting any older.  Especially since he grew up with 
Dad.

	"Your mother's best friend seems to hate me for some 
reason, too," Uncle Jinnai said, leaning on the wall.  
"Though some of that is my own fault, mistaking her for a 
man.  But I don't think it was just that, as she actually 
seemed amused I screwed up."

	I blinked, then realized.  "Aunt Akira?"

	He gave me an odd look.  "Yes, that's her name.  Does 
she often do the thing where she isn't saying anything and 
by not saying anything, you know she's mad but not saying 
it?"

	"That's Aunt Akira, though most of the time she says 
it," I told him, perking up a little.  Not that I should take 
pleasure in thinking of someone else's foibles, but I couldn't 
help it.

	"Her son seems to be her polar opposite," Uncle Jinnai 
said.  "Right down to being more feminine than she is."

	"Oh, Shun does that to mess with people," I told Uncle 
Jinnai.  "A lot of guys can be lead around by the nose by a 
cute girl."  I sighed.  Shun's better at romance with men 
than I am and he isn't even into men.  

 	I think.

	"I thought Akane was mostly cut off from her family, 
though, or did they reconcile?" Uncle Jinnai asked.

	"They're not blood cousins," I said.  "Our parents all 
went to Fuuka together, so they all call Mom Aunt Akane 
and so on, even though none of us are related."  I'm 
surprised Uncle Jinnai didn't at least vaguely know about 
all this.  

	"So Tokiha-san went to school with your mother?" he 
asked.

	I nodded.

	"So she's around 39 like your mother," he said.

	"Thirty-seven," I said.  "She married Aunt Mai's 
younger brother Takumi," I told him.  Why did he care 
what age she was?  He didn't have a crush on her, did he?  
He is single, I think.  He's been divorced twice.

	"Who she met at Fuuka," he said.

	"Yes," I said.  "Except for you and your kids, my 
blood relatives might as well not exist for all that I see 
them.  But this is my real family."  

	"They love you very much," he said with an odd tone 
to his voice.  "Mother and Father never understood why I 
loved to run.  Even when I got my medals, they weren't 
there.  Your father always came, though, until he left for 
Fuuka.  Then he fell out with the parents and I never saw 
him again until college, though he'd call me."  He was 
staring off into space, looking very far away, lost in 
memories.

	I put a hand on his shoulder.  "Dad loves you very 
much."

	"I understand why he left.  I like business, so I didn't 
need to leave, but our parents were very controlling.  He 
had other dreams.  And I think he's achieved them."  Uncle 
Jinnai still sounded distant.  "But he's still afraid.  Maybe 
more afraid.  But your mother isn't.  Not now.  And you're 
so sad."  He had the sound of someone who knows things 
must be connected but can't quite connect them, stumbling 
fact to fact.

	"And then there's that Mitsu girl," he said, now 
suddenly looking at me very intently.  "She acts like your 
mother is her mother and your mother dotes on her, the way 
she does with you."  He stared at me intently and I shrank 
in on myself.  "Is that what's making you sad?" 

	I shouldn't be jealous.  I don't even see it directly, as 
usually we're training seperately.  

	But I am.  They look so happy together and it's pretty 
clear she doesn't have to hide anything from Mother.  I hate 
lying to her.  Is this really necessary?  

	But I caved in and promised I wouldn't tell.  I always 
cave in.  I'm so weak.

	"Well, that answers that," Uncle Jinnai said, then 
sighed.  "She likes you very much, though.  She was very 
complimentary of you during the race and cheered for you 
very hard."

	"Kagami is always very nice to me," I said to him, 
staring at the ground.  "I helped her dress up for her date 
with Shun last night and she was very grateful."  But if I 
tried to date the guy I like, everyone would chew my head 
off.  

	Uncle Jinnai was looking at me in such a way, I 
started to wonder if he can read minds.  "And what did you 
do the rest of the night?" he asked softly.

	"Hung out with some friends, watched TV," I said, 
still staring at the ground.  "Then went home so I could 
breakfast with you."

	Uncle Jinnai stared off at the science building, then 
said, "Would I be correct in guessing there is a boy you 
like, but the family doesn't like him?"

	I looked up staring at him.  "How did you know?"

	"Several of your cousins kept staring at some boy in 
the stands who was watching you run, and they didn't seem 
pleased," Uncle Jinnai said.  "Plus, I know how people 
think."  He seemed rather proud of that.  "To do well in 
business requires a practical knowledge of psychology."

	I sighed.  "His name is Masakuri Hayao.  He's so 
handsome and friendly and he likes me but everyone will 
chew on my head if I go out with him as they all think he's 
just after sex."  I blushed a little, putting my hands on both 
sides of my face as I thought about him.

	"Is he?" Uncle Jinnai asked.

	"I don't know," I mumbled.  "He seems to be really 
nice to his cousins, anyway.  I just...nothing ever goes right 
in my love life."

	"Me too," he confessed.  "Look, your parents can 
hardly complain if you date whoever you want to, Kasumi.  
Given their own history."

	"It's not my parents, it's my cousins.  They hate him.  
And Aunt Nao really hates him."

	Uncle Jinnai said, "Why?"

	"She sicced bees on him," I mumbled.

	"..."

	"I'm just under a ton of pressure and everything and 
it's bringing me down," I told Uncle Jinnai.

	"So what is going on with your running?" he asked.

	I stared at the ground.  "I can't talk about that," I 
mumbled.

	"I promise not to tell anyone.  But it's pretty clear to 
me you have something you need to let out and you can't 
and it's eating you alive," Uncle Jinnai said, sounding 
worried.  "I know when I was your age, I never wanted to 
share my problems with adults, but I have to offer.  I hate 
seeing you so unhappy."

	I wanted to tell him.  Maybe he'd have some good 
advice.  And I had to talk to someone neutral.  Who wasn't 
part of all this.  And Uncle Jinnai is pretty reliable.

	"I..."

	"This has something to do with all that trouble at 
Fuuka 23 years ago, right?" he said softly.

	"..."

	"I've met your folks' neighbors, but this is the first 
time I actually got to meet your cousins or any of their 
parents," Uncle Jinnai said.  "Your mother sometimes 
mentions them, but this was the first time I met them.  I 
hadn't realized it before, but your folks weren't really close 
to any of their neighbors.  Which is pretty common these 
days, but I never seemed to meet anyone they were close 
to.  But now I've seen where their hearts really are.  She 
calls Tokiha-san by her first name.  But the neighbors I met 
were all addressed by their family names."  He sounded 
kind of sad and a little lonely himself.  

	"Uncle," I said, feeling very bad for him, so I hugged 
him and he hugged me back.

	"I know something happened to them and I think it 
was something terrible.  During the chaos at Fuuka 23 
years ago.  But they won't talk about it."  He sighed.  "And 
I know you went there last weekend and now you seem so 
down."

	"Something terrible?"  I asked softly.  There were only 
ten flying things in that one picture, but we know there 
were at least thirteen battle princesses then.  Maybe only 
twelve given how young Aunt Alyssa would have been.  So 
were two of our aunts injured badly?  Maybe Mom got hurt 
badly and missed the big fight and that's why everyone 
always acted like she was so fragile.

	"I just know they went missing a little before 
everything went to hell and didn't show up again until it 
was all over," he said.  "But no one was really willing to 
talk to me about it much."  He sounded rather frustrated.   

	For a moment, I was rather reminded of Crystal and I 
couldn't help smile a little at that.  "I don't know either," I 
confessed.  "They won't talk about their school days to us 
much either."

	He looked utterly stunned at that, which made me feel 
a little better.  "As for my running...I...I don't know what to 
do.  I'm really fast now, but I can't...I can't afford to get a 
lot of attention and cause trouble for everyone.  But this is 
my dream, it's the thing I do best and I don't want to have to 
give it up."  I was shaking as I said that.  "And there's this 
girl..."

	I told him all about Ayumi.

	He frowned.  "And the Coach hasn't done anything?"

	"He can't really do much unless she actually hits me.  
As yelling at her doesn't work and she's too good to get rid 
of," I said, frowning.  

	"I'll have to think about this," he said, now looking 
determined.  

	"We'd better get you to the bathroom before you 
explode," I said.

	"Oh, I just made that up so I could talk to you in 
private," he said.  He looked at me.  "So you don't know."

	"None of us know.  The parents keep it all a big 
secret," I told him.  

	He frowned rather deeply at that, then said, "I think 
you should ask the boy out."

	"..."

	"Seriously.  If you like him, that's what matters.  Even 
just invite him over for dinner.  I know you're a good cook 
like your mother," he said.  "That gives you control over 
the environment and you can get to know him better under 
conditions you're comfortable with, so you can decide for 
yourself."

	That was reasonable.  "Thanks, uncle," I said, trying to 
smile.

	"I just want to see you happy," he said softly.  "Let's 
go back before they think I fell in the toilet."

	I laughed.  "You'd have to shrink a lot."

	"See, when I was three, I did fall in the toilet when I 
was trying to use it for my toy ships..."

	I was laughing by the time we got back to the others.

*****************

Kagami's Tale:  

	Kasumi looked a little better when she came back; 
they must have had a good talk.  That made me feel better, 
as I didn't like seeing her so unhappy.  

	Right as they returned, to my surprise, Akira-sensei 
and Takumi-san arrived.  "Hello, everyone," Takumi said.  
"Akira wanted to come kill her neices and nephews and I 
thought I'd tag along."

	"Nice to see you again," Ms. Johnson said, bowing to 
them.  I didn't think Americans bow to people, but I think 
she likes doing it.  

	"Nice to see you again, Tokiha-san," Kasumi's uncle, 
Kurauchi Jinnai, said to Akira-sensei.

	Akira-sensei said, "Hello, Kurauchi-san," then turned 
to Shun.

	Takumi-san said, "It's a pleasure to meet you," and 
shook Kurauchi-san's hand.  "We've heard many stories 
about you but never met you before."

	They ended up going off to talk and I went to see how 
Kasumi was doing while we waited for pizza delivery.  
"How are you, Kasumi?" I asked.

	"I'm fine," she said, though I could tell she wasn't fine.

	"I was hoping I could maybe cook dinner for you or 
something some time to repay you for helping me."  

	That brightened her up.  "That's really nice of you," 
she said.  "Hmmm."

	I waited patiently, though curiously.

	"I'll get back to you on that," she said.  "I need to talk 
to someone."

	I blinked, but okay.  "Your uncle was very helpful; 
I've never watched a real track meet before, but he 
explained everything. You were really good."

	She smiled in an oddly sad way.  "Thanks, Kagami."

	Akane-san now came and put an arm around each of 
us.  "How are you two?" 

	"Wonderful," I said.  I was having a very good 
Saturday, though not being able to touch Shun in public 
was kind of aggravating.  But I could lurk near him, at 
least.

	"I'm fine," Kasumi said.

	I couldn't tell if she fooled her mother, or if Akane-san 
just doesn't argue with such statements.  "Well, the pizza is 
here, so come on over."

	We all ate vigorously, except for Kasumi's uncle, who 
only had a little, and then had to leave with his driver.  I 
noticed Akira-sensei kept frowning at him and her and I 
don't know why.  They seemed perfectly polite to me.

	Natasha continued to brood and wouldn't talk about it, 
which I think is totally unnatural for her.  Finally, Akira-
sensei said to her, "Spill it."

	"I don't..." she began.

	"You're raining on everyone's parade with that 
attitude," Akira-sensei said.  "Let it out; this isn't natural for 
you."

	"That fucker Taiki beat up Gin.  And I couldn't even 
get past Mandi to kick his ass myself," Natasha spat out, 
then mumbled something about her own ass.

	"Who?" Akira-sensei asked.  "Wait...Crystal's ex-
boyfriend?"

	"He did what?" Crystal asked angrily.

	Kasumi frowned and Dan buried his face in his hands.  

	"He provoked Gin into attacking him and decked him 
with one punch," Natasha said.

	"Did you report him to the school?" Aunt Akira asked.

	"Gin attacked him; Taiki would get off scot free."  
Natasha clenched her fists.  "Bastard."

	"He accused me of wanting multiple boyfriends earlier 
in the week," Kasumi mumbled.

	Everyone stared and she shrank in on herself.  

	"There's nothing wrong with that as long as everyone's 
happy with the arrangement," Crystal said firmly.

	I rubbed my forehead.

	Akane-san frowned.  "He sounds like a very mean 
boy."

	"He's a useless piece of shit," Crystal said.  "I dated 
him; I must have been possessed by a demon or 
something."  She sounded rueful.

	"Oh, you always decide your ex-boyfriends are 
demons," Shun said.

	"Not always," Crystal mumbled, though she provided 
no counter-example.

	"I'll handle it, Aunt Akane," Natasha said.

	I briefly hoped she wouldn't do anything rash, then 
realized this was Natasha and 'rash' was the less rash end of 
the scale.

	"I'm sorry, Kasumi," Natasha said to her.

	"It's okay," Kasumi said.  She paused.  "Gin isn't too 
laid up to come out of his room, is he?"

	I suddenly realized he was unusually absent.

	"He says he has homework, but I think he's hiding," 
Natasha mumbled, then buried her face in her hands.  

	Aunt Akira said, "I will get him."

	"You don't have to," Natasha mumbled.

	"I will," she said, and then she left.

	A minute later I got a phone call.  "Hello?"

	It was Akira-sensei.  "Kagami-san, can you tell me 
where to find Natasha's boyfriend?"

	I laughed, but forced myself to stop.  "You'll have to 
ask the matron at Mitsubishi Hall.  I don't know his room, 
just his dorm."

	"Okay," she said.  "Thank you."

	I wished her luck.

****************

Gin's Tale:

	Homework is boring as hell but beats getting my ass 
kicked.  My chest hurts and it's a pain in the ass to move.  
But if I lean just right over my table, I hardly feel anything.  
I'm way behind on this stupid math, anyway.  

	I got Mom's math brain (which is why she did Botany) 
and Dad's love of pretty things (which is why I'm in Art) ad 
both their musical talents (which is why I hope to have a 
rock band one day).  They play on weekends with their 
college friends and work the other five days a week.  I'm 
hoping to rock out five days a week and do art the other 
two, but we'll have to see.  If nothing else, I can go work 
for Mom, who is a good boss.  She runs a gardening shop.

	Unfortunately, my math homework had turned into a 
pretty good sketch of the math professor, haranguing us.  
That wouldn't get me over this stupid hurdle, though.  What 
a waste of my time.

	There was a knock on the door and I opened it.  I saw 
Shun's mother.  "CRAP!"  I shut the door, ran to my 
bedroom, closed the door and locked it.  I don't know what 
I did this time but I don't want to find out.

	Unfortunately, I could hear her coming for me like a 
one-woman zombie horde.  She got as far as the table and 
then the footsteps stopped.  I then ran and locked the door 
to the bathroom in case she knew to circle around.  I'm 
already hurt enough, I don't need more pain.

	"Not a bad drawing," she said through the door.  "Do 
you paint?"

	"Yes," I told her.  "I love to paint."  Which is what I 
was sort of doing when super-Mother here showed up to 
kick my ass the last time I saw her. 

	"Show me," she said.

	"Promise you won't hit me."

	"I promise," she said.

	Warily, I unlocked the door, then brought out my 
paintings I have stacked in the corner because we're not 
supposed to make any holes in the walls so I can't hang 
them up.  

	She studied them one by one.  "You have some 
talent," she said slowly.

	"Thank you."

	"Half of them are gardens and the other half are 
mostly naked women," she said, a little accusingly.  
"Including my neice."

	"I know what I like," I told her.  "Mother runs a 
gardening supplies place, so I know flowers and plants like 
I know the back of my hand."  Better, in fact.  Who goes 
around looking at the back of their hand?

	"Well, then."  She began critiquing everything, one by 
one.  I never knew she was an artist, but about half of what 
she said was what my art teachers all tell me and the other 
half was new, but valid.  With a few exceptions.

	"I tell you, that's exactly what Natasha looks like in a 
bikini.  No exaggeration," I told her.

	Shun's mother looked dubious.  "She can't be that 
thin."

	"Thin?  She's kind of muscular," I told her.  "Which is 
pretty hot.  Not nasty bodybuilder level muscular, but 
people look better with just a little development."  I studied 
the painting.  "See those leg and arm muscles?"

	"But she eats so much," Shun's mother muttered.

	"She gets huge amounts of exercise," I said.  "Given 
she trains in combat every day."

	"Take your shirt off," Shun's mother said.

	"What?"

	"Take it off," she said firmly, so I did.

	She studied my bruise, or more precisely, the bandage 
over it.  "He took you out with that?"

	"Yes," I mumbled, embarrassed.  "I just laid there 
trying to remember how to breathe."

	She frowned, then said, "I expect Natasha could one-
punch you too."

	"Probably," I said ruefully.  "But she wouldn't."

	She studied the paintings, then looked at me, then 
frowned.  "Doesn't that bother you that she's tougher than 
you?"

	"I went into this relationship knowing that," I told her.  
"I could care less about how good I am at hitting things."  I 
thought about last night.  "Usually."  At least she didn't get 
hurt.

	She studied me in a way that made me feel rather 
uncomfortable.  "Anyway, did you come here to bitch me 
out or what?" I asked.  "I have homework to do."

	"You're coming with me," she said.  "Natasha needs 
you."

	I suddenly felt pretty guilty. I'd just wanted to be alone 
for a while, as I was feeling pretty humiliated getting 
slaughtered so easily.  But I guess she must be feeling 
pretty down herself.  "Is she okay?"

	"Not even slightly," Shun's mother said.  "Further, you 
must paint this."  She showed me a photograph of some hot 
woman in a red dress.  "You have until next weekend."

	"Uh, yeah, I can do that.  Email it to me.  Who is 
that?"  Wait, the woman there has the same curly 
hair...wait, when did Shun's mom curl her hair?  Oh 
dammit!

	"..."

	Part of my brain said 'you win, you boggled her', the 
rest said 'DEATH COMES'.  

	"That is me," she said.  Which I had figured out.  Too 
late.  "I want this for my husband."  She stared at me, 
defying me to speak.

	"Yes, ma'am," I said.  "Let's go, then."

	She nodded and led me out to the commons, where 
Natasha's cousins and some of her other relatives were 
hanging out.  I went straight to her and hugged her, though 
it hurt.  "Hey, babe."

	"Hey, honey, how are you?" Natasha asked.

	"I feel fine," I lied.  "How about you?"

	"Pissed off," she said. 

	"He's just an idiot," I told her.  "Not worth your time."

	"He's going to die for hurting you," she said fiercely.  

	I kissed her softly until she relaxed a little.  "It's okay." 

	"You're too nice for your own good," she told me.

	"Probably, but I like being that guy," I told her.  
"Shun's mom wants me to do a painting of her."

	"Really?" Natasha asked in surprise.  

	"If you've got any other pictures of her, it would help; 
she gave me one but it's not her usual look."

	Natasha looked thoughtful.  "I have an idea."  She 
smiled.  "Yes, this will be good."

	I felt better, knowing she was happy again.

**************
	
Kasumi's Tale:

	Uncle Takumi and Father and my brothers took off 
after we ate, but Aunt Akira and Mother were going to stay 
and train us.  Though first we basically sat around the 
commons and talked until Mother felt our dinners should 
have settled, so then we drifted off to the field behind my 
dorm.  Erica, Dan, Natasha and Gin had to go to their play 
practice.

	I slipped off to 'get my tonfas'.  Actually, I had them, 
but I wanted to call Hayao before my courage broke.  And 
before he was knee-deep in play practice.

	He answered.  "Hello, this is Hayao."

	For a moment, I couldn't say anything.

	"Hello?" he said curiously.

	"It's me, Kasumi," I said frantically.

	"Oh hi," he said.  "You did really well today."

	"Thanks," I said.  "I...um...thing..."

	"Are you okay?" he asked, sounding worried.

	"Are you busy Wednesday night?" I asked.

	"I'm pretty much booked every night until the play 
ends.  I'm free tomorrow afternoon."

	That would have to do.  "Want to come over for lunch 
tomorrow?  I'll cook," I told him.

	For a moment, all was silence and I began to fret.

	"Sure, that would be great," he said.  "What time?"

	"Noon," I said.

	"I'll get Mandi or Sanae to bring me up," he said.  "See 
you then."

	"Okay, have fun at the play.  Please be nice to 
Natasha."

	He groaned.  "Look, I'm sorry about that.  They all 
started being nasty to each other and I don't know what the 
hell is wrong with Taiki.  He's just...I'm starting to wonder 
if maybe men can get PMS."

	"It could be Irritable Male Syndrome," I told him.  
"Men have a daily hormone cycle and it does sometimes 
malfunction."

	"..."

	"I read about it back when I first started menustrating 
and was trying to learn about it," I told him.  "Maybe he 
needs to see a doctor."

	"I don't think he'll listen to me on that," Hayao 
mumbled.  "But thanks for the advice," he said more 
clearly.  "I'll see you tomorrow."

	"I'll see you," I said, smiling, already starting to plan it 
all out.

	I headed out to join everyone, feeling much better.  At 
least I could take control of one problem.

	Mother smiled at me.  "Feeling better?" she asked.

	"Yes," I told her.  "Are we going to fight now?" I felt 
strangely eager.  This must be what Crystal feels like all the 
time.

	Aunt Akira blinked, then said, "Show me what you 
have got, Kasumi."

	Shun began showing Mother, Crystal, and Kagami 
some unarmed moves while I faced off with Aunt Akira, 
who had a pair of tonfas herself.

	I charged, pressing her with a series of strikes at chest 
level.  She gave ground, parrying them, and ably defended 
herself.  Aunt Akira is pretty strong and very skilled.  I 
pressed her as hard as I could and we circled round the 
yard.  I couldn't tell if I was actually giving her a hard time 
or if she was just letting me do it.

	Then the counter-attack came; she began pressing me 
hard and I had to retreat now.  I got whacked several times, 
though it didn't hurt half as much as I would have expected.  

	Then she spent a while showing me some new moves.  
Her expression was very blank and I couldn't tell if I'd done 
well or badly.  And wasn't sure if I should ask.

	Then she passed me to Mother and went to go beat up 
Kagami, who now spent a while getting hit a lot while Shun 
threw Crystal around the yard and I sparred with Mother, 
then did some drills.

	We kept going until everyone was exhausted but 
Mother and I, though I was a little tired.  We flopped down 
on the grass together, which seems to have become a 
custom.

	"I'm driving, right?  Takumi was going to take Kazuya 
and the boys, right?  And then I'll be taking you?" Mother 
asked Aunt Akira.

	"No, I'm driving," Aunt Akira said.  "I suppose we 
should go soon."

	"Unless you have work in the morning, why don't you 
two stay and I can make everyone breakfast," Kagami said.  
"You could stay with me, Akira-sensei.  And Akane-san 
could stay with Kasumi."

	"That would be nice," I said.  "My roommate will 
probably be at her boyfriend's room."

	Aunt Akira made mumbly noises.

	"Come on, Mom, we all know you didn't even have to 
switch rooms to be at YOUR boyfriend's room," Shun said, 
grinning.

	"We had to live seperately once I stopped pretending 
to be a boy," Aunt Akira mumbled.

	Kagami now mumbled something incoherent and 
blushed a little.  She had her head on Shun's chest; it was 
very cute.

	I've got lunch with Hayao tomorrow, I told myself.  I 
was aquiver with excitement.

	"I need to call Kazuya, but I think I can stay," Mother 
said.  

	That would be fun too.  I could make her breakfast and 
everything.  

	"I need to call Aunt Nao," Crystal said.  

	"Did Junko try to convert you?" Shun teased.

	"Just to be sure I don't do anything unintentionally 
offensive," Crystal said.  

	"Who is this?" Aunt Akira asked.

	"Is this the girl who practiced with us that one night?" 
Mother asked.

	Crystal explained everything. 

	Aunt Akira looked thoughtful, while Mother said, 
"She seemed like a nice girl.  Good luck, Crystal."

	"Thanks, Auntie," Crystal said.

	I have a date with Hayao!  Woo!

******************

Erica's Tale:

	Mister K was chain-smoking.  Fukuda-san told me 
he'll do that until the dress rehearsals, then he'll just drink 
coffee until he is able to vibrate through walls.

	I tried out my new costume; it felt pretty tight, but 
that's how they dressed.  They needed more adjustments 
but it would be ready by our first dress rehearsal on 
Tuesday.

	Thanks to my dream practicing, I have my lines down 
pat, but I'm still working on actually emoting correctly.  
Dan's struggling with learning his lines and with the 
emoting.  Though in his case, having to deliver his lines 
with weights on his chest is a big part of the problem. 
Masakuri-san, by contrast, fluffs his lines but man, he can 
act up a storm.

	Fukuda-san stood over him, feigning a hunchback and 
a limp.  "Would Master Blake like some tea?"

	"One lump or two?" Dan asked from the floor.

	"That's MY line," Fukuda-san said, irritated.

	"CUT," Mr. K said, then took a long drag on his 
cigarette.  "Back to the start."

	"It's not that hard to learn your lines," Fukuda-san 
grumbled.  "I know MY lines.  And yours."

	"I'm trying!  I started under a week ago!," Dan said.

	"START OVER," Mr. K said, trying to blow smoke 
on them, but it only made it to the 'orchestra pit' in front of 
the stage.  Not that we have an orchestra.  And it's not 
really a pit, more like the ground level of the auditorium.

	Later, Masakuri-san was doing his monologue scene 
in which he complains about his lack of a proper muse to 
his paintings and how none of his brides appreciate his art.  
We have some nice paintings, thanks to Gin, who was kind 
enough to crank out several spooky paintings for us to put 
up in the 'gallery'.   

	"Oh, this cruel and terrible fate which tenderizes me 
for 400 degrees and dammit, that was a muffin recipe." 
Masakuri-san went in the course of the sentence from 
looking anguished to laughing.  

	"A muffin recipe where you tenderize something?" I 
asked in confusion.

	"Stop trying to be funny and take this seriously," 
Fukuda-san said angrily.  "We're going to die if we all just 
fuck around."

	"I couldn't remember, so I might as well die 
memorably, right?" Masakuri-san said cheerfully.

	Mr. K grimaced. "Time runs out.  We must beat the 
other schools.  We have the best costumes, but that's not 
enough by itself.  Masakuri-san, the line is 'Oh, this cruel 
and terrible fate which has driven me from my homeland to 
this cold and foggy distant shore where no one can cook me 
a decent goulash.'  Try it."

	"Goulash is Hungarian, not Romanian," Dan said.

	"Suguira-san, are you trying to make me kill you?" 
Mr. K asked, exasperated.

	"You can't afford to kill me because then you would 
have under a week to get someone to replace me," Dan 
said, arms across his chest.

	"I could do it," Fukuda-san said hopefully.

	"Yes, but then he'd have to get a new Igor, again with 
a week to go."  Dan sounded dubious that could be pulled 
off.

	Mr. K stubbed out his cigarette and started a new one, 
smoking furiously.  "Try again, Masakuri-san."

	"Dan, it's just a play," I told him from up on the stage, 
waiting for my imminent cue.  

	"I can't stand inaccuracies," Dan said, frowning.

	"Dan, vampires are imaginary," I told him.  "His very 
existence is historically inaccurate."

	"Yes, but this is a gothic romance-comedy.  Vampires 
are in-genre and thus exempted," Dan said.  

	"We can argue literature MUCH LATER," Mr. K said.  
"RESUME!"

	"Oh, this cruel and terrible fate which has driven me 
from my homeland to this cold and foggy distant shore 
where no one can cook me a decent goulash," Masakuri-san 
wailed to his art.  He's stupidly handsome.  "Why is there 
no one who truly appreciates the love and devotion which I 
pour into my art pieces, so they must hang here alone and 
unloved?  My brides hate you, my darling paintings.  
Where will I find a muse to guide me?"

	This was my cue.  I did my best to slink clumsily, the 
gait of a woman who is trying to be attractive but doesn't 
know how.  "I like your art," I said.

	He turned and smiled at me and I felt my brain try to 
melt. Masakuri-san fumbles his lines a fair amount, but he 
can really project just about any kind of emotions with 
huge skill.  I can see why Kasumi likes him.  People 
generally don't look at me like this and now I couldn't 
remember my lines or the stage directions or what planet I 
was on.  He's so good looking you can just stare at him 
forever.  "Evelyn, it is so nice to see you.  Is your fiancee 
here too?" he asked.

	I hesitated, trying desperately to remember.  I 
normally don't have any trouble, but suddenly all I could 
think about was how good looking he is and boggling at 
myself, given I don't normally get this gaga feeling over 
guys.  Even Dan, who I think is handsome but doesn't make 
my brain totally melt on me like this and no wonder 
Kasumi is into him.  "Line," I finally conceded.

	"Do me now, Dracula!" Mandi shouted, then laughed.

	Natasha, who had been grumpy from square one, 
frowned at her intensely.  

	Fukuda slapped his forehead.
	
	Mr. K grimaced.  He started a second cigarette, even 
though he was already smoking one.  

	"He is busy haggling with Baron Bywater, the owner 
of this castle, to get you a better price, so I thought I would 
come by and say hello, good sir," Koyatsu-san read off for 
me, just as Fukuda-san started to say the line for me.

	"He is busy haggling with Baron Bywater, the owner 
of this castle, to get you a better price, so I thought I would 
come by and say hello, good sir," I said.  "I hoped you 
could show me more of your paintings, as we had to leave 
so hastily last time."  I half-reached for him, then drew the 
hand back, trying to convey repressed attraction.

	Natasha now moved into position, gazing at us from 
'around a corner' with such intent hatred that it made me 
extremely nervous.  I knew she was just acting and it was 
her pretending to be jealous, but she looked ready to rip my 
throat out and it made me rather uncomfortable.  Probably 
being pissed off at Taiki was helping her do this.

	The wall she was holding onto wobbled gently, 
making me more nervous.  Unfortunately, all plays have to 
be done with the same limited number of flats and other 
bits, which can make for very creative and unfortunately 
wobbling walls.

	Masakuri-san took my hand, and Natasha issued a 
soft, jealous hiss.  It made me jump.  And was she looking 
extra intensely at Masakuri-san too?

	"Cut, you have to NOT notice that, Erica," Mr. K said.

	"Was I too loud?" Natasha asked, still looking ready to 
bite someone herself, though I could see her trying to force 
her voice calmer when talking to Mr. K.

	"Maybe just a touch," Mr. K said, though he studied 
her silently afterwards.  He stubbed out one of his two 
active cigarettes.  "From Harada-san's last line."

 	"He is busy haggling with Baron Bywater, the owner 
of this castle, to get you a better price, so I thought I would 
come by and say hello, good sir," I said, smiling nervously.  
"I hoped you could show me more of your paintings, as we 
had to leave so hastily last time."  I half-reached for him, 
then drew the hand back to be just extended a little.

	Masakuri-san took my hand gently and I felt my brain 
try to meltdown.  Stop, hormones, stop!  

	Natasha hissed and I forced myself to ignore it, though 
the wobbling of the wall as she leaned on it made me 
nervous.  I could hear Mandy creeping into position.

	He led me over to one of the paintings, which was a 
bunch of vampire bunnies in a field.  "I call this one, 
'Eternal Hunger for Carrots'," he said.  

	Fortunately, I'd gotten over laughing at this in earlier 
rehearsals.  Mandi now popped her head up to peek through 
the 'window' in the wall to our right.  The window is 
actually a gap between four flats which had been clamped 
in positions to create a hole between them with a 
mantelpiece clamped in place above the hole to make it 
look a little more window and a little less gap in the wall.

	"You can really sense their loneliness and isolation," I 
said, squeezing his hand gently.  I'd nearly crushed it the 
very first time we did this scene, and I wasn't so sure the 
audience would get something this subtle.  Sometimes Mr. 
K seems to want us to go over the top so everyone, even 
those in the back can get things and sometimes, he goes for 
subtle.

	"It is a terrible thing, to be alone," he said.

	Natasha and Mandi both hissed this time.  

	We turned and moved closer to each other, as if about 
to kiss.

	Mandi now lunged through the window.  And took the 
whole wall with her.

	"My dear Evelyn, it is so nice to see s..." Masakuri-san 
began.  He was oblivious to the wall.  I was not.

	I grabbed him and jumped, so we just ended up with 
the wall hitting our legs and both of us on the floor next to 
each other. Masakuri-san stared at me, then at the wall.  

	Mandi said, "DAMMIT."

	Everyone began laughing, except Fukuda-san, who 
slapped his face and said, "You clumsy idiot!"  Mr. K 
wasn't happy either, but he just sighed.  "Techlord and 
minions, get the wall back up.  Suguira-san, hold up the 
wall this time.  You too, Fukuda-san."

	"Thank you, Erica," Hayao said to me, then helped me 
up.  

	Fukuda-san didn't seem to happy to be stuck holding a 
wall up; neither did Dan.  Mandi said to them, "I'm really 
sorry."

	"Just don't do it during the contest," Mr. K said.  "You 
all take a break; we'll take a couple of minutes and practice 
Ota-san coming through the window until she can do it 
without levelling the set."

	Mandi laughed embarrassedly and I ended up going 
and sitting on the edge of the stage with Masakuri-san.  
Natasha went off to go hang with her boyfriend while he 
was experimenting with the lightboard.  She kept glaring at 
Masakuri-san and Mandi as if to try and bore holes in their 
heads with her laser eyes.  I think Masakuri-san and Mandi 
didn't notice, though, as they had their backs to her.

	"This is a lot of fun," he said.  "I don't normally do it, 
as I can't keep my grades up and do plays at the same time, 
but acting is fun."

	"You seem very cheerful tonight," I said.

	"I'm having lunch with Kasumi tomorrow, so I'm 
content," he said.  "And Sanae and Yaten are keeping Taiki 
out of trouble."  He sighed.  "Houseki-san should have 
known better than to attack him."

	Gin stormed over.  "Know better?  The bastard was 
insulting my woman!  A man can't stand for that and call 
himself a man!"

	"There are better ways to deal with insults than getting 
yourself into a fight you cannot win," Masakuri-san said.

	Natasha had followed Gin.  "I would have kicked his 
fucking ass if Mandi hadn't gotten in the way."

	"I was trying to save you from a beating!" Mandi 
protested from the window.

	"All of you SHUT UP," Mr. K said.  "You can hate on 
each other when you're not on MY clock.  We're here to 
practice, not to argue over who punched who and who is 
sleeping with whose boyfriend!"

	Fukuda-san nodded as if he'd said it himself.

	Grumblingly, Natasha and Gin drifted off and I asked 
Masakuri-san.  "What is wrong with him?"

	"I don't know," Masakuri-san confessed.  "He's not 
like this.  He keeps skulking about, muttering darkly and 
getting mad really easily.  I mean, it is summer and people 
get cranky, but he's crankier than usual."  He frowned.  
"Seems like everyone in Japan's crankier than usual, 
though."

	"Yeah, I heard crime rates are up from last year this 
time," I told him, staring off across the auditorium.  

	"Okay, that's enough window practice," Mr. K said.  
"Let's try the gallery scene again, from the top."

	So we got up and went to go through it again.

****************

Kagami's Tale:

	"No, I'm fine on the couch," Akira-sensei said.  

	Unfortunately, while I have a little room to myself, the 
flip side of this is that I don't have a spare bed, though I'd 
intended to let her have mine.

	"Okay," I told her, surrpised, but kind of happy not to 
have to sleep on it myself.  "I will get you a blanket and a 
pillow."

	I turned to go and she suddenly jumped on me and a 
few seconds later, I was upside down, though my 
augmented strength enabled me to break free of the hold.  

	She shook her head.  "We have to improve your 
alertness, though that is much harder to train than combat 
skills.  There are too many ways to take a person by 
surprise."

	"Yes, sensei," I said.  

	"Unfortunately, none of us can afford the time to be 
really ready to ambush you at any time.  Which is what you 
need.  Still, it does look like Akane is trying to push you 
all.  A little."  It was clear she'd be pushing harder.  "Show 
me your forms again."

	I went and got the naginata and began to run through 
them.  It's strangely easy to learn these, I've found, though 
harder to apply them in practice.  Maybe it's part of being a 
battle princess.  This feels so natural to me, even though I'd 
never touched one before that day.  Has it only been a 
week?  It seems like so much longer.

	A week and a day since my last battle.  

	"Focus.  You're daydreaming," she said harshly.

	I nodded.  "Yes, sensei."

	She drilled me five times, then said, "This would be 
easier if you had a weapon I knew better."

	"I'm sorry, sensei," I said.

	"No need to apologize.  At least you got something I 
can be of some help with.  If your weapon was a gun or 
rings of fire or something, all I could do would be to gnash 
my teeth."  Akira-sensei sighed.  "And we can only do so 
much with you needing to attend school, anyway."  She 
pointed at me.  "Don't apologize for that."

	I laughed nervously.  "So...yes, Sensei."

	Akira-sensei sat down on the couch.  "Sit," she said.

	I put my naginata up and sat down.  "Yes, sensei?"

	"Keep drilling each day, in addition to what you do 
during your lessons."

	"Yes, sensei," I said.

	Akira-sensei looked up at the ceiling.  "Fortunately, 
you seem to learn quickly and practice hard."

	"It's why I get such good grades.  I'm not really 
smarter than anyone else, but I study harder than most 
people, so I get good grades.  My parents taught me 
discipline, for which I am grateful."

	"Shun is not very disciplined," Akira-sensei said, then 
sighed.  "If he really cares, he will work hard, but he takes 
most things lightly.  I don't know where he got that from.  
You have to push him."

	"I know, sensei.  Thank you very much for taking us 
out on the date.  It's the first date I ever had and it was just 
like I'd always hoped."  I was feeling very good still from 
it.

	"My first date with Takumi, I had to fight muggers in 
a park in California."  She shook her head.  "This is a nice 
campus," she said, looking around at the room.  "I hope that 
can last."

	"But you fear not?" I asked.

	"We reduced our campus to a ruins.  It was rebuilt, but 
still, we laid it waste."  Akira-sensei sighed.  "We hoped 
such a thing could never happen again.  That it was over.  
But it's not over.  We just had a vacation, and now I can see 
the end of vacation time approaching.  The Obsidian Lord 
had reason to keep us alive, but we can't be sure of that 
with the Crimson Huntsman.  And all the others.  And none 
of you are ready because we convinced ourselves that if we 
stuck our heads in the sand, nothing bad would ever happen 
again."  

	I had to fight the urge to apologize.  I think she could 
tell.

	"You have made a good start," she said.  "And I know 
you are very disciplined and hard working, so keep pushing 
and you will continue to improve," Akira-sensei said.  
"This is our mistake, not yours."

	"I will do my best."  I really didn't know what else I 
could say.

	"I know," she said.  "Has Shun tried to strip you naked 
yet?"

	"..."

	"Hmm?"

	"..."

	"I'm going to say no, given you are boggled rather 
than embarrassed," she said.

	"He'd see my mark," I told her.  "And I mean, we 
just...I like...but I don't...I don't even know what to do 
except vaguely.  I mean, I know how babies are made, but I 
assume there is more to it than that."

	"Well, Shun never moved this fast in the past," Akira-
sensei said.  "But boys tend to speed up as they get older."  
She paused.  "Girls too to be honest."

	"I am on the pill and I know enough to tell a boy to 
use a condom," I told her.  "But Mother didn't want me to 
have sex until I had my final degree, I think, for fear I'd end 
up like her."  I stared at the floor.

	Akira-sensei grimaced, then forced herself calm.  "I 
already know this, but to be reminded..."  She looked me up 
and down.  "We can hide this for a time, but the time will 
come when you will have to defy them to their face, 
Kagami.  And that may be messy, given you won't reach 
the age of majority for four years."

	I stared at the floor.  I don't want to hide my 
relationship with Shun for 4 years, but my parents would 
never ever accept him.  Possibly not even at gunpoint.

	Not that I would do such a thing, of course.

	"All this," she said, sweeping her arm, "may pass.  I 
don't know if you'll even be able to finish high school.  But 
I will back you to the end.  Whatever may happen, you are 
one of us now, and we will stand by you."

	"Thank you, Akira-sensei," I said.  Knowing I have 
people I can count on makes me feel a lot better than I used 
to.  "And I will stand by you."

	She yawned.  "Still, for now, I think Rosewood is safe.  
As safe as anywhere."

	I half-expected ominous music or a roll of thunder, but 
nothing happened.

	Instead, we just chatted a little longer, then went to 
bed.  

**************	

Kasumi's Tale:

	My roommate was gone, so Mother took her bed.  "So 
what happened to perk you up?"

	"Was I that obvious?" I mumbled as I sat down on my 
bed.

	"Yes."

	I flopped down.  "I'm having a boy over for lunch."

	"What's his name?"

	"Masakuri Hayao.  He's the child of your old friend 
Ichinose Sayuri."

	"Oh wow," Mother said.  "Is he nice?"

	"I think so," I said warily.

	"Well, I'll be gone by then, but I'll help you plan a nice 
lunch."

	"Thanks, Mother," I said.

	"We'd best get to bed," she said reluctantly.  "I think 
you haven't been getting enough sleep."

	"Yes," I said softly, pulling up the sheets.

	She did the same, but then said, "I haven't slept in a 
dorm like this in forever.  I feel like I'm back in high 
school."  This seemed to please her.

	"Did you enjoy high school?" I asked.  I kept 
wondering what had happened to her during the year of 
trouble.  

	"My first year was pretty rough, and I had to work all 
the time to stay afloat, but after that, it was wonderful," she 
said.  "I had so many good friends and I had my boyfriend 
who loved me so much."  Her voice was a little dreamy.  
"College was a lot of fun too, though a lot of work."

	I wanted to ask her everything, to just break down and 
confess and ask her what happened to her and what the 
giant thing like the Battle Princess sign was and everything.  
Except she might not tell me.  Why won't they tell us?  I 
just don't understand.

	Mom told me some anecdotes from her college days 
and we drifted off to sleep.

******************

Jinnai's Tale:

	"It was very nice of your friend to take the boys 
tonight," I told Kazuya.

	"Mikoto loves them very much," he said to me as we 
sat on the porch in lawnchairs with a bottle of wine and two 
glasses.  Kazuya loves wine, but he drinks it very slowly.  
"And I don't get to see you too much."

	"At least we see each other," I said, then sighed.  
"Parents are the same as ever."

	"At least they still get along," Kazuya said, then took a 
sip of wine.  "Even if they're not getting on with me."  He 
stared off across the yard at the high fence.

	There was a distant noise and he started, looking 
around hastily, but then dogs started barking at each other 
up and down the street and he relaxed.

	"You seem jumpy," I said.

	"It's nothing," he told me.

	Liar, I thought.  "Does Akane stay with Kasumi often 
on weekends?"

	"No, this is a first," he said.  "But the drive is a pain, 
so I'm not too surprised."  He sighed.  

	"So she's training them every day?"

	"Most days," he said.  "We have an assistant at the 
bakery now, who works the afternoons and closing, and 
Akira comes and helps us in the mornings, when we have 
the huge morning rush.  Then at lunch, the assistant arrives 
and they go off for training and then Akane heads up to 
Rosewood and Haruka's place."  He sighed.  

	"Why did she start getting into training the kids?" I 
asked.

	He got an evasive look.  "Kasumi's been having a hard 
time with a bully," he said.  "Plus, crime is up, so self-
defense is good."

	There's more to it than that.  But I didn't know how to 
press him.  "I'm surprised Tokiha-san doesn't do it for her."

	"She has her own students to train and can't afford the 
time."  Kazuya sounded somewhat frustrated.  "But she's 
been a huge help in the morning as that's when we get the 
most customers.  Her...sales manners need some work, 
though."

	"I noticed," I told him, laughing and sipping my own 
wine.  "It was interesting to meet Kasumi's other cousins."

	Kazuya looked somewhat embarrassed.  "We usually 
come up to your place."

	"I'd heard of them vaguely before but I hadn't realized 
you'd made such a large family for yourself," I said, feeling 
rather unperceptive for it having taken me so long to notice.  

	Kazuya laughed nervously.  "Well, I couldn't name 
many of your friends either."

	True.  "Have Tokiha-san and Akane always been so 
close?" I asked.

	"We've known them forever, but we were closer to 
Yuuichi, Mai, Mikoto, and Midori.  Mai and Midori and 
Akane and I all worked in the same restaurant at Fuuka," 
Kazuya said.  "They've gotten closer recently, though," he 
added.  "Since the training started."

	I tried to figure out what to ask.  "Kasumi is very fast," 
I said.

	"I know," he said, sounding impressed.  "She's really 
incredible."  It was clear he had no clue she was actually 
holding back.  Or that anything really was wrong with her.  
But then, he hardly ever sees her, so that's probably not 
surprising.

	We chatted about various things for a while, working 
our way through the wine.  Finally, Kazuya suddenly asked 
me, "Do you believe in destiny?"

	"No," I said.  "We make our own fate.  The world 
gives us a hand of cards and then we play it."

	He sighed.  

	I took another sip of wine.  "Do you?"

	"Not sure if I have a choice," he mumbled.  

	Now I was intrigued.  "Go on?"

	"I thought it was over, but I guess not," he said, 
sighing, taking a deeper draught of wine.  "It just seems 
like such things can't exist in a world like this."  He waved 
his arm at the whole neighborhood, not that you could see it 
through the fence.  "But they do," he said softly.  "They do.  
And people like you and me, there's nothing we can do 
about it except rely on others.  Which is pretty frustrating."  
He sounded pretty frustrated.

	"Well, isn't that why we have the police and so on?" I 
asked, guessing this might have something to do with the 
recent crime problems.

	"The police.  Fucking Police," he said, making me 
stare.  He took a deep swig of wine.  "When Akane needed 
them most, they failed her.  No one protected her.  No one."  
He was getting increasingly angry.  

	This had to relate to the time they both disappeared.  
"I know you did your best to protect her."

	"I was fucking USELESS," he said grimly, then drank 
more wine.  "I failed her and everyone failed her and now 
she has to hold the line all by herself and I worry whenever 
she's off now."

	"The school seemed perfectly safe to me," I told him, 
now very worried.  

	"I guess this is what marrying a cop feels like," he 
mumbled.

	What on earth was he talking about?  "Brother, you're 
not making any sense."

	"You're better off not knowing.  You don't have to be 
afraid," Kazuya said.  "Can't show it.  I have to be strong 
for her.  That's one thing I can do, at least.  But I'm scared."  

	"That's enough wine," I said.

	He finished his glass.  "I hardly ever drink," he said.  
"Haven't been this drunk in years."  He now tried to drink 
from his empty glass.  "You can't tell her."

	"I won't say anything," I told him.  "But what is the 
danger?"

	"You ever seen an abandoned house and what happens 
to it?" he asked.

	"Yes," I said.

	"The paint starts to fray and rats and insects creep in 
and they start hollowing out the walls and it all happens so 
slowly.  You can't see it happen, but one day, the walls give 
way and it falls down.  The rats are getting bolder," he told 
me, and tried to drink from his empty glass.  "Mikoto can 
protect my boys better than I can," he said gloomily.

	"They seem to love her very much."

	"They do," he said.  "Was I like that?"

	"You were a handful, stubborn and willful," I said.  
"That's why you had the strength to tell the parents off and 
escape."

	This seemed to relieve him.  "I never thought of it that 
way."  He definitely had perked up.  "Here's the problem.  
Even if you run away from destiny, it's still controlling you.  
Just indirectly."

	"I think destiny is an illusion," I told him.  

	"I hope you're right," he said.  "I hope you're right."  
He sighed.  "I'd better go to bed before I make a further 
idiot of myself."

	"I should sleep too," I told him.

	We stumbled off to bed; he made breakfast the next 
morning and begged me to forget his drunken ramblings.  I 
told him I would.  

	But now I'm more worried than before.  What is 
Akane doing that could be so dangerous?

***************

Erica's Tale:

	I was starting to wonder if we were ever going to go 
home.  Mr. K seemed determined to extract every last 
ounce of practice time, though I couldn't blame him.  We 
only have two more sessions before we start dress rehearsal 
and only four of those and then the contest. Thankfully this 
is only 40 minutes long, so we can go through it several 
times per session or repeat things.

	"Hmm, I can tell the kiss is fake from this side.  Going 
to have to do it for real," Mr. K said.

	"..."

	Masakuri-san said, "That's fine."

	Kasumi will kill me deader than...something very 
dead...if she finds out I have been kissing Masakuri-san 
several times a night.   

	I glanced over at Dan, but he was just staring 
mindlessly off at the far wall after doing the scene where 
the brides carry him off several times in a row.  

	I whispered to Masakuri-san, "Kasumi will kill us."

	His eyes widened.  "Sir, I..."

	"It has to be a real kiss," Mr. K said.  "You don't have 
to suck each other's faces off or anything.  Evelyn is a 
repressed Victorian, so to her, just simple kissing is deeply 
sinful.  But we need a kiss, especially since Suguira-san 
apparently can't remain conscious when women kiss him."

	Dan mumbled at the wall.

	Mr. K sighed.  Fukuda-san started to say something, 
but Mr. K cut him off.  He handed some money to Fukuda-
san.  "Buy me an ice coffee.  Buy yourself whatever you 
like; you can keep the change."

	"Yes, sir," he said and headed out.

	"Now, I want some kissing.  Repressed, passionate 
kissing which expresses her choosing to live in his world."

	"Shouldn't he be drinking her blood to make her a 
vampire, then?" Masakuri-san asked.  

	I wasn't sure if Kasumi would take that much better.

	"JUST KISS, DAMMIT!"

	We redid the scene and then we went for the kiss.  I 
have kissed people before; I wouldn't be so bothered by this 
if I wasn't worried about hurting Kasumi's feelings.  And if 
my own hormones would shut up.  

	We kissed, lips pressed together, arms around each 
other.  

	And kissed.  

	And kissed.

	And kissed.

	Mr. K still hadn't called 'cut' yet, and I was starting to 
wonder and my body was starting to tell me to do things 
which would be entirely unwise.  I could feel Masakuri-san 
slightly rocking back and forth between his two feet and 
my arms were doing the weird ant crawling thing again and 
this actually felt pretty good and I hadn't been kissed in a 
long time and it was kind of nice even if I'm into someone 
else and shut up body, you don't even know exactly how 
the tongue thing works anyway.

	Finally, Mr. K said, "You two ever going to stop?"

	We jumped back from each other.  "I thought you 
were going to say something!" I said, wobbling slightly.

	"I did, but I guess I should have SHOUTED IT," he 
shouted.

	"..."

	Hayao blinked.  "Wait, you did?"

	"He said it was okay and you two kept going," 
Fukuda-san said.

	I looked embarrassed, but Hayao looked rather 
pleased, though he now said, "Back to the start, then?"

	"Yes.  Next time, LISTEN."

	I went off to sit by Dan; the first scene involves Igor 
narrarating, so Fukuda-san took center stage.  "You okay?" 
I asked.

	"Did you just kiss Hayao or something?" Dan asked.

	"..."

	"I was lost in trying to make my brain stop melting 
from earlier.  Man, those three are really sexy when they 
want to be," he said.

	I had to fight the urge to ask if he thinks I'm sexy.  

	"I can't believe I keep falling apart," he mumbled.  
"By my age, a guy shouldn't freak out at a quick kiss which 
is part of a play.  Neither of my parents are like this.  It's 
sad."  He frowned.

	"So which of them is sexiest?" I asked, though I did 
not actually want to know.

	"Natasha," he mumbled.  "Which I shouldn't be 
thinking."

	"She has a boyfriend," I said.

	"Yeah.  Anyway, my luck with women is lousy.  I'm 
no good at romance.  Neither is Dad but at least he doesn't 
freak out."

	"Well, what you need is practice," I said.  

	"Yes, but romance is one of those things where it's 
hard to get practice," he said.  "It's hard to ask women out 
when you just unravel if they interest you enough to ask 
them out."

	Dan then rubbed his arms and I felt the ant crawling 
AGAIN.  I was starting to worry.  "You too?" I asked.

	He frowned.  "What is giving me this feeling?"

	I don't know, but I didn't like it.

**************** 
	
	We eventually finished pretty late and then we were 
about to leave, when Hayao came up to me.  "Mind if we 
walk together?  We should talk," he said.

	Dan looked at him rather suspiciously, and Natasha 
was about to say something, when I said, "Okay."

	"Well, I'll walk with you guys, then," Mandi said to 
Dan and Natasha.  "If you don't mind."

	"Me too," Koyatsu-san said.  

	We headed around one side of the science building 
and they went down the other way into the commons.  I had 
a feeling I knew what he wanted to talk about. 

	"Look, I'm trying to court Kasumi, and I don't her 
want to get the wrong idea, and it seems pretty likely to me 
that you're after Dan, which is probably...anyway, that's 
your issue."

	I frowned.  "What?"

	He paused, clearly struggling for words.  His hands 
moved as if to pull him some suitable words from the air.  
"Are you interested in Dan?" he asked bluntly.

	"I...umm..."

	"Yes," he said.  "You are.  Does Kasumi know?"

	"No one knows," I mumbled.  

	He frowned thoughtfully.  "I just don't want Kasumi to 
get the wrong idea that I'm running around on her."

	"You're not actually dating for you to run around on 
her," I told him.  "Or have you two started secretly dating?"

	"Harada-san, do you think Kasumi is the sort of girl 
who would take me seriously if I was going around kissing 
other women while asking her out?" Hayao asked.

	I thought about the Brides and Dan and felt a surge of 
jealousy.  Okay, he's right, I thought.  "No."

	"Well, then.  I don't know if Dan has even managed to 
notice we're kissing, but if you want me to, I will assure 
him that there is nothing between us.  As I don't want to 
cause you any trouble either.  Just please make sure 
Kasumi knows we're not up to anything."  He sounded 
rather worried.

	"I thought you were mad at Dan," I told him.

	"Crystal," he said, grimacing.  "Dan's just another 
pawn in her usual games."

	I frowned.  "She's not a bad person."

	"You haven't witnessed the trainwrecks she's caused," 
he said, grimacing.  "She just uses guys until she gets 
bored, then tosses them aside once the first rush wears off."  
He sounded pretty mad about this.

	"She does not just use guys and throw them away," I 
protested.  This was instinctive 'defend my cousin' 
behavior, though; I knew enough to know she basically had 
gotten bored of Iwao-san and dumped him.  I only knew 
her previous love affairs extremely vaguely, though.

	He gave me the 'oh come on' look.

	"You don't exactly have the best reputation yourself, 
you know," I said.  "Which is how you ended up covered in 
bees."

	We both glared at each other for a while, then he said, 
"Fine, have it your way," and stormed off.

	I rubbed my forehead.  For all that I'm not sure if 
Kasumi dating him is a good idea, I really don't want to 
hurt her either.

	And now I'm going to have to kiss someone who is 
angry at me.  Great, just great.

*****************

Kasumi's Tale:

 	By the time Hayao showed up, I was in a very good 
mood.  Mother gave me lots of good advice, and I had 
cooked a good meal I hoped would be a big success.  I hope 
he likes soy sauce.

	I wasn't sure what to wear, so I put on a nice skirt 
down to my knees and a nice green blouse.  And some 
earrings, my gold crosses which Aunt Nao gave me with 
the little green gems whose name I always forget.  Peridot.  
That's what they are.

	Hayao arrived wearing slacks and a nice white shirt 
and I thought he looked very handsome.  Of course, he 
usually does.

	I smiled at him nervously, then said, "Come in, come 
in."

	He came in and sniffed the air and smiled.  "Smells 
good."

	"Thank you.  It's a European dish," I told him.

	Now he looked curious.  I pulled him out a chair and 
brought out the pot and began serving two big bowls of 
Hungarian Goulash.  He sniffed it again and smiled.  "What 
is it?"

	"Hungarian Goulash," I told him.

	He blinked, then began laughing and laughing and 
laughing.  I felt confused.  "What's so funny?"

	"You know I'm in the play with your cousins, right?" 
he asked.

	"Yes," I told him.  

	"My character has a fondness for Hungarian Goulash, 
and Dan got mad because he is Romanian.  As if dishes 
can't cross borders."  Hayao shook his head.  "Has he 
always been so...nitpicking?"

	"Yes," I told him, now pouring us each some tea.  
"Dan knows too much history and can't forget it ever."

	I sat down and we ate a little, then he said very 
seriously, "Look, Kasumi..."

	"Yes, Hayao?" I asked him.  

	"You do know I'm playing Dracula, right?"

	"Yes, but it's all pretend.  Like with Hotaru."  Ibuki 
Hotaru was my roommate last year, who pretends to be a 
vampire.  It's her way of standing out. She was a good 
roomate, except she tries to stay up all night and sleep 
during the day, whereas I need lots of sleep or I ended up as 
groggy and depressed as I was by the end of Friday.  So we 
didn't room together again this year.

	He rubbed his forehead.  When he did so, I noticed 
something I'd not noticed before--he has a vaguely crab-
like birthmark on the back of his right hand.  "Good point.  
I had forgotten you roomed with her."  
	
	"She was a good roommate, but I didn't get enough 
sleep."  I sipped my tea and ate some more ghoulash.

	"Anyway, I have to kiss your cousin Erica in the play.  
But it's just for the play."  He looked at me very seriously.  
"There is nothing between us."

	I felt a huge stab of irrational jealousy.  It is just a play 
and I don't think Erica has any interest in Hayao and he's 
being honest and I shouldn't get mad and I'm getting mad.

	He could tell.  I expect people in China could tell.  I 
could feel my chopsticks trying to embed themselves in my 
hand.  

	"Kasumi, if you want me to drop out of the play, I 
will," he said very intently, looking at me seriously.  "If it 
causes you distress."

	Now I was torn between my jealousy and my instincts 
which always tell me not to cause trouble for others.  But 
I'm sick and tired of having to give in, to give up what I 
want.  Does my duty always have to mean I never get 
anything I want?

	But he was willing to give it up for me.  But they were 
all working so hard.  But I wanted him for me.  I want 
something for me, something I won't have to give up on.  Is 
that too much to ask?

	I was shaking in my chair, paralyzed by the conflicts 
in my head.

	"If it bothers you, I will."

	"Kiss me," I said.  I hadn't meant to say that, it just 
came out.

	So he got up, came around the table, pulled me to my 
feet and kissed me.  We both had ghoulash taste on our lips, 
though at least our mouths were empty.  So I could smell 
the faint scent of ghoulash as we kissed.  I've kissed before, 
but this was a much better kiss, his strong arms around me, 
his lips pressed to mine.  For a moment, I froze up entirely, 
and then I kissed back as much as I could.  

	I'm not sure how long we kissed, but after a bit, part of 
my brain started nagging me that lunch would get cold if 
we did this for too long.  I tried to ignore it but after a 
while, I couldn't stop fretting about the food getting cold, 
so I finally broke it off, smiling goofily.  "Thank you," I 
said.

	"You're welcome.  Feel free to ask any time," he said, 
grinning at me.

	I felt so wonderful.  This had to be what mother had 
meant.  'When that happens, you will find a power within 
yourself, you didn't think you had.  You'll be able to do 
things you never thought you could do.  Be able to face 
anything without fear or despair.  Love will make you 
strong.'

	I felt so strong, like I could do anything, face 
anything, no matter what.  Even my own jealousy.  "It's 
okay," I told him.  "You just have to come here and kiss me 
each night after you're done kissing her for the play."

	"Do you mind meeting me on my way home?  As I 
have to get an escort or sneak to get up here that late," he 
said.

	"That's fine," I said.  I'm not going to hide this.  If 
Crystal or the others don't like it, too bad.  This is for me.  I 
may have to give up my running, give up my normal life.  
But I want something for me and this is it.  He likes me and 
I like him and that's how it works.  "Give me a warning call 
before you finish and I'll meet you there."

	"Cool," he said.  

	"We'd better eat before it gets cold," I said.

	We sat down and ate and chatted about various school 
things.  He told me all about the play.  Thankfully, my next 
meet is Friday and the actual contest is on Saturday.  I had 
a very definite sense of afterglow even after he left, 
especially as I got another kiss from him before he went.

	I did homework for a while, and then I had an idea.  I 
didn't want to hide my relationship with Hayao.  But head-
on announcement would just produce an entirely stupid and 
pointless fight.  Further, it isn't the sort of thing I'm good at.  
I might cave in and even if I don't, we'd just end up with 
everyone sniping at each other.

	My life is too short for that.

	So I would have to be clever.  

*****************

Erica's Tale:		
	
	"I'm sorry I yelled at you yesterday," Hayao  said.  
"Can we agree to disagree?  As we can't do this if we're 
both trying to kill each other."  He sounded rather 
embarrassed by our fight of the previous night.

	"Okay," I told him.  I'm not big on feuds, unlike some 
people.  Like, say, Natasha, who was less cranky than 
Saturday but still not pleased.

	Rehearsal went fairly smoothly for the first go-round 
with only the usual problems.  Our seamstresses did more 
fitting of the costumes; the brides were all dressed rather 
scandalously, while I just ended up in a rather tight and 
uncomfortable corset under layers of white and blue.  Just 
to complicate matters, though, I had a second costume, 
which was a black version of that, but let open some in 
front, intended to represent someone fairly repressed and 
Victorian trying to be scandalous without actually reaching 
the level of the brides.  I was not sure the audience would 
actually get it, though.  It has to reflect her going what she 
thinks is wild without actually being as wild as the really 
wild women.

	But would the audience really grasp the change?  It 
needed more and I couldn't figure out what.  We had 
tonight and tomorrow before the actual dress rehearsal, but 
I couldn't quite figure out what changes to tell them.  And I 
actually practiced in just a Rosewood t-shirt and a knee-
length red skirt.

	We got through a complete runthrough with only the 
usual problems.  Dan was still coming unglued in his last 
scene, but Mr. K seems to WANT him to, so I guess that's 
okay.  Then we got to the final scene.  Before we ran it, 
Hayao said, "I still think I need to bite her or maybe she 
should try to bite me or something."

	"It's not quite working," I said.

	"This is a one-act play.  We can do clever things with 
special effects and how we set up the flats and all the 
character business, but we can't just rewrite it completely," 
Mr. K said.  "Time limit, time limit, time limit."

	I now remembered he'd helped to write it, so no 
wonder he was stubborn.  

	"Now, get up there and show me some PASSION."

	"Look, Erica, here's what you have to do," Natasha 
said, and suddenly grabbing Hayao - who looked surprised 
- and pulling him down.  Only to jump back at the last 
second, which nearly caused him to fall on her.  "Dammit, I 
have a boyfriend.  Mandi, stand in for me."

	"He's my cousin!  I can't kiss Hayao!  It would be like 
kissing the family dog!," Mandi said.

	"The family DOG?" Hayao said, now aggravated.

	"I have a boyfriend too," Koyatsu-san said.

	Natasha looked around desperately.

	"Male," Dan said.

	"Male," Fukuda-san said.

	Suddenly, it hit me.  "Natasha, I need you to stand 
outside the 'window', ready to catch something when I 
throw it out."

	She blinked.  Mr. K cocked his head, but didn't 
protest.

	We played through the scene up to where I said, "I 
have come to you, my dear Dracula, to be the muse who 
you have sought, for our love binds us together."

 	Hayao followed with his line, spoken with anguish.  
"But dear Evelyn, how can I ask you to come and dwell in 
the darkness with me?  You belong in the light!"

	"You pull me towards the dark and I will pull you 
towards the light and we will meet in the shadows where 
we both may dwell," I said, then whipped off my glasses 
and flung them out the 'window', right into Natasha's hands. 
"Make me like you and I will make you like me."  And then 
I made myself imagine he was Dan and kissed him as 
fiercely as I could.  I prayed Kasumi would not kill me for 
this.  Or at least kill me gently.

	"Then come with me, my angel," he said, sounding a 
little overwhelmed, when they finally broke it off.  "And 
together, we will walk the line between day and night, light 
and darkness."

	In unison, we both said, "Together."  And then we 
strode off.

	Mr. K shouted, "YES THAT IS EXACTLY IT."

	He likes to shout; how he can still shout after so much 
smoking, I don't know.

	Natasha held out my glasses to me now and I took 
them, putting them on.  "A repressed woman taking her 
glasses off is the universal sign for unleashing hidden 
beauty, after all.  That's a sign even the deaf old lady in 
tennis shoes will get, right, Mr. K?"  I asked, feeling 
confident.

	He nodded.  "Exactly.  Very good idea."  He was 
smiling because I used his metaphor, I think.

 	"I see you didn't get your As in literature by reading 
comic books like Natasha tried to do," Dan said, grinning a 
little.

	"Hey, those were OFFICIAL ADAPTATIONS," 
Natasha protested, arms across her chest.  "I got ripped off.  
How was I supposed to know they cut stuff?"

	We played through more practice and when 
everything was over, the doors now swept in, and a woman 
entered from outside.  She swept up the aisle and up the 
side-steps onto the stage, wearing a multi-layered black and 
red dress which must have taken twenty or thirty minutes to 
put on what with all the bows and ribbons and sashes and 
trim and a bunch of layers of black and red cut to show off 
the layers below.  The top clearly had a built in corset, 
pushing her breasts up to make them look bigger and 
coming down in front enough to show off her cleavage 
partly.  Her pitch black hair was pulled back into a large 
bun with sticks.  Her skin was pale, though I could see 
makeup had been used to make it pale.

	I could see another woman, Ibuki Hotaru, the school's 
resident 'vampire', standing at the door, looking 
EXTREMELY pleased with herself.  She was dressed 
much the same as our visitor.  Ibuki-san and Kasumi were 
roommates last year, I think.

	Then I recognized who had come in.  It was Kasumi!

	She swept up to Hayao and said, "Hello, Dracula.  
Come and kiss me."

	He grabbed her and kissed her very passionately.  I 
stared in surprise.  Have they been secretly dating?  

	Natasha said, "Ha!  Now that's how you announce 
something."

	Then Kasumi looked at all of us and her eyes widened.  
"Shouldn't you all be in costume?"

	"Not yet, dress rehearsal starts Tuesday," I said.  "But 
that's a really good one."

	Kasumi looked slightly embarrassed.  "I thought 
everyone would be wearing one."

	"You look great," Ibuki-san said to her.  "You should 
dress like that more often."  Ibuki-san dresses like that any 
time she doesn't have to wear uniform.

	"You can wear it Tuesday and we can get someone to 
take a picture," Hayao said to her.

	Kasumi smiled.  "Okay."

	"Crystal won't be happy," Dan warned her.  He didn't 
seem too happy, but he didn't seem inclined to raise a 
ruckus.

	"Glass houses, stones, etc.," Natasha said.  "Kagami 
will probably try to be self-righteous, so you just need to 
remind her..."

	Dan cut her off.  "Not to be self-righteous.  Aunt Nao's 
likely to be the real hard case, though."

	"Aunt Nao doesn't show up here all the time, though," 
Kasumi said.  "I will cross that mountain when I come to 
it."

	"Kasumi, I..."  I began.  

	"It's okay," she said, sounding more confident than 
usual.  "I know how plays are.  And he owes me two for 
every one he has to give you," she said, smiling broadly.  
"Come on, Hayao, I expect you have a lot of payments to 
make."

	Hayao laughed.  "The best debt ever."

******************

Dan's Tale:

	"Erica, Dan, you need to come with Mandi and I," 
Natasha said when I was about to head out.

	I blinked.  "What?"

	"Come," they said, dragging us to the arboretum, 
where Koyabishi Sanae was busy giving plants their plant 
food.  

	"Hi, Suguira-san, Mandi, Natasha," she said.  "And 
Harada-san too."

	"Now, I can give advice," Natasha said.  "But I have a 
boyfriend, so my role is merely supervisory."

	"Uh, what?" I asked in confusion.  I had a sudden bad 
feeling that Natasha had gotten another crazy idea in her 
head, possibly from Kasumi's dramatic entrance.  

	Koyabishi-san looked as confused as me, which made 
me feel a little better.  "What?" 

	"Look, I simply cannot stand Dan coming unglued the 
moment someone kisses him.  I'm not even kissing him on 
the lips and he freaks out.  Dan, Kasumi just did something 
three thousand times bolder than I thought humanly 
possible for her.  Therefore, we must break you of this 
tendency to come unglued when women hit on you, even in 
a play."

	"..."  WHAT????

	Koyabishi-san said, "That's just crazy!"

	Erica stared, mouth wide open.  She has very white 
teeth, I noticed with a tiny part of my brain.

	"I can go first while Erica and Sanae freak out," 
Mandi said.  "Dan's taller than I usually go for, but I have 
no boyfriend right now, so I'm totally free to kiss anyone."

	"I...but..."  I could hear someone whispering 
something.  But no one appeared to be whispering.

	"It's time to break Dan's conditioning," Natasha said.

	"I am not conditioned," I protested.  "And I am just 
fine."

	"See, if there was anyone who could actually admit 
that they like you, this kind of crowd scene wouldn't be 
necessary," Natasha said, looking around at everyone.  
Only Mandi would meet her gaze.  "But since apparently 
no one can manage that simple task, intervention is 
necessary."

	I snorted.  "I'm leaving."

	"Wait, Dan!" Natasha said, probably just realizing she 
might as well have punched me in the face.

	"I don't mock your love life," I shouted at her and I 
left without looking back, stomping off in irritation.  

	I also wasn't looking forward, which is how I realized 
I was going to the library even though it was closed and I 
needed to go home and finish my homework.

 	I felt like an idiot, so I turned around to go.  Koyabishi 
Sanae was right there, looking hesitant.  "Hey, are you 
okay?  I'm really sorry, I didn't know Munakata-san was 
going to go crazy."

	"It's okay," I said.  "She's like that and loves to tease 
me."

	"So...you're having trouble because you get 
embarrassed at the seducing scene?" Koyabishi-san asked 
hesitantly.

	"Yeah," I said, staring at the ground.  "Kinda sad."

	"Oh, I think I'd have the same problem if I had three 
handsome guys all kissing me and pretending to kiss me 
and everything."  She held up a finger.  "But I think I have 
a way to help you.  You have your script right?"

	"Yes," I said.

	"Come with me."

	Nervously, I followed her.

**************

	Koyabishi-san held up the red headed doll and touched 
my throat with it.  "Oh, you handsome man, I will show 
you things you've never seen," she said with a squeaky 
voice.

	I began laughing.  

	"That's where she fakes the kiss, right?"

	"That's the one from her," I said, laughing.  "You 
really think this will work?"

	"Well, it can't hurt to try," Koyabishi-san said.  "If you 
associate the dialogue with dolls and laughing, it should 
reduce your embarrassment."

	Well, it couldn't hurt to try, anyway.  "Thanks, 
Koyabishi-san," I told her.  

	"You're welcome, Suguira-san," she said.  "We can 
plan our museum trip tonight too."

	"Good idea.  Okay, let's take it from the top."

***************  
 
Kasumi's Tale:

	Hotaru ended up coming back to my room with me 
after I finished collecting the kisses Hayao owed me.  I 
needed her help getting out of this outfit.  She took a 
picture of us together first, though.  

	"You look so magical in this," she said.  "If you had 
the chance to get magical powers, would you?" she asked 
me.

	For a moment, I wondered if she somehow knew.  But 
how could she?  "Would you?" I asked.

	"Most definitely," she said.  "I'm surprised you had to 
ask," she continued, working on untying all the ribbons and 
sashes holding this all together.  "Wouldn't it be cool to 
have a secret you shared with your friends?  And to fight 
side by side?  Even if you couldn't tell anyone, you'd know 
your glorious deeds.  I'd love that," she said.

	"Yes, but wouldn't having to lie to everyone outside 
the circle feel bad?  And having to give things up that got 
in the way of your fighting and your secret?" I asked her.

	"I guess I don't have so many nice things as you to 
lose by that," she said a little wistfully.  "You have a really 
nice family and all those cousins who like you and a 
handsome boyfriend and you're a track star."  She stared off 
across the room.  "I'd be kind of gaining by the deal."  She 
sounded sad and I suddenly felt rather guilty.  We'd roomed 
together for a year, but we kept waking each other up 
because she likes to sleep in the afternoon, then stay up 
most of the night and I was the opposite.  So we split off, 
but I think she has the same trouble with her new 
roommate.

	"Hotaru, it was really nice of you to help me dress up 
for this, even if I picked the wrong day."  I put a hand on 
her shoulder.  
	
	"Thanks," she said.  "I'm happy to dress you up any 
time."

	An idea suddenly hit me; I decided to file it for some 
thought before rushing into it, though.

	The door opened and Crystal came in; we were in the 
living room because our cramped little bedrooms didn't 
have a lot of space for unravelling a dress this fancy.  We'd 
gotten a lot off, but I was still basically decent despite the 
amount which already came off.  

	We overdid it a little, really.

	"Kasumi, did you really kiss Hayao in front of 
everyone?" Crystal demanded.

	"She kissed Count Dracula," Hotaru said, then 
giggled, taking off a layer of skirts.

	Crystal now stared at my outfit.  "What?"

	"Yes," I said.  "Can you help me get this off?"

	Pretty soon, we had Crystal chained to the task of 
getting me undressed.  Finally I was just down to the corset 
and my panties.  Crystal had lost the heat of her fire in the 
effort of stripping me.  

	If I somehow did become a vampire, I definitely 
would want to wear something simpler than this even if I 
was undying, giving me lots of time to get dressed.  "Look, 
Crystal, I like Hayao and I'm going to date him.  So let's not 
have a fight, because it won't accomplish anything, and I 
have enough stress right now because of everything, you 
know."

	Hotaru looked a bit uncomfortable and occupied 
herself in stacking up all the clothing bits.

	"He's..."  She sighed.  "Are you sure this is a good 
idea, Kasumi?"

	"No, but we don't get any guarantees, do we?" I asked 
her.

	She stared at the floor.  "No," she said softly.  "We 
both know first loves don't necessarily last forever and 
neither do second or third."

	"All I know is that I've never felt this strong in my 
entire life," I told Crystal.  "It feels so right.  So I have to 
try."

	"I don't really demonize all my ex-boyfriends, do I?" 
she asked me softly.

	"Not every single one," I said.

	She frowned.  

	"But what Iwao-san did to Houseki-san wasn't very 
nice at all, so I won't mind if you demonize him," I told her.

	She smiled a little.  "Good.  He's got to be taught to 
stop hitting people."

	I should do something about that.  Though I need to 
figure out what.

	I changed into some more comfortable clothing, 
thanked Hotaru for her help, made plans for Tuesday, then 
chased everyone out so I could do my homework.  

	I slept very, very well.

*****************

Erica's Tale:

	After Dan ran off, I was feeling pretty embarrassed.

	"Well, shit," Natasha said.

	"Are you an idiot?" I asked Natasha.  "All you did is 
embarrass him more!"  

	I stalked off myself and tried to find Dan for a while, 
then eventually gave up and went back to my dorm to do 
homework and get some sleep.

*************

	I awoke to find Dan sitting on the edge of my bed, 
ruffling my hair.  I smiled at him.  "Hey, Dan," I whispered 
softly.  

	"I couldn't stay away from you," he said, leaning down 
over me, face close to mine.

	"We'll wake my roommate," I whispered.

	"It's okay," he said, and then he started kissing me.

	It was, unfortunately, just a dream.  That's the 
downside of lucid dreaming, that you can't easily lose 
yourself in a fantasy even when you want to, because 
you're aware you're making it happen.

	And I knew that wouldn't happen.  If Dan really 
wanted to do that, he'd have gotten caught trying to sneak 
in because his own nerves would overwhelm him.

	He likes me, but he doesn't want me.  Or if he does, he 
hides it well.

	I don't know, maybe I could change his mind, maybe 
I'm just driving into a wall over and over.  I can't just give 
up but I've never...I haven't been chased much but I'm more 
a chasee than a chaser, if you know what I mean.  

	So I'm not sure what to do.

	Besides agonize, which I'm too good at for my own 
good.  

***************

Kasumi's Tale:  

	Monday, the results came in.  I was clean.  Everyone 
was clean.  Coach was much relieved.

	I was calmer about it now.  Ayumi gave me the usual 
glares of death and I just ignored her.  Coach put me to 
work jogging long distance to test my endurance.  It was a 
lot easier to keep a consistent jogging speed and felt much 
more natural than trying to constrain myself in a sprint.  It 
felt pretty good.  

	But I don't know if I should stay.  It really isn't fair to 
any of the other runners.  They can't compete with my 
powers.  And if I have a boyfriend and family training and 
homework...I don't know if I'll have time.  I don't want to 
be exhausted any more.

	I hate to bail out on them, but it may be the only fair 
thing to do.  I'll have to see.

********************  
	
 	Mother stared, mouth open, at the picture of me in the 
vampire outfit.  I felt a bit embarrassed myself.

	"It was GREAT," Natasha said enthusiastically to 
Mother and Aunt Shiho, as we rode in Aunt Shiho's car.  
"I've got to top that, but I'm not sure how.  Maybe dress 
Gin up as the Emperor and myself as the Empress for our 
next date."

	"I don't think you'll fool anyone, Natasha," Aunt Shiho 
said, amused.

	"Yes, but I just...The only way better would have been 
to do it right in front of Crystal, so she could explode," 
Natasha said.

	"The idea was to avoid an explosion," I told her.  "You 
should go around an obstacle instead of just ramming head 
on into it."

	"Once his play is over, I will see about taking you two 
out so I can meet him, like Akira and Takumi did for 
Kagami and Shun," Mother said.

	I smiled.  "Thank you, Mother."  Everything was 
going well.  I definitely made the right decision.  No 
wonder Natasha and Crystal are so bold; it feels good to 
take a risk and win.  I usually don't win when I take risks, 
but I think my lucky number has finally come up.  It's what 
I really needed to get through this, something for me.