[Date: Monday, January 21. Time: 2:50] [Weather: Overcast skies, but no snow. It remains cold, however.] [After an uneventful Sunday spent mostly trying to recover from what happened, the group returned to school the following day. The day passed as normal, and we find Taki sitting in her last class as the bell rings, signaling the end of the school day.] [Session Start] * Taki picks up her books and dashes out the door. * Taki then slows down a bit to try an find the others, greeting a few people she passes. [Taki finds Katie outside her locker.] * Katie sketches, a small frown on her face. Hi Katie! Did Shingo come to school today? Hi Taki. I haven't seen him, but I guess so. * Katie stops and holds the drawing away from her, eyeing it critically. Is that a new one? Great. Things are getting to me. No, same one. * Katie waves for Taki to take a look. * Taki takes another look at the drawing. * Katie points out the goose and the stream. "See the lines? Soft." I think I see. * Katie then moves to the trees in the background. "Hard and angry. Scared, almost." * Katie nods. Can tell lots about a person from art. * Taki tilts her head. "Wow, that's amaizing!" * Katie chuckles. I guess so. Common sense, right? I suppose so. What can you tell from this? * Katie tilts her head. "I don't understand." * Taki digs out a sheet of notebook paper with some scatterd history notes and a stickfigure student asleep at a desk. You can tell the figure is asleep because of the great big 'ZZZZ' over her head. * Katie takes it and giggles. You were bored? Yep! * Katie laughs. * Katie hands the paper back with a grin. * Taki takes the paper back and shoves it in her bag. "It's nice to see you laugh again." Ah, happens every once in a while. * Katie looks around. "Where's Shingo?" I haven't seen him, you haven't seen him. I don't think he's here. Not here, or in trouble? * Katie frowns. "It's not safe to be alone anymore." We could go check the orphanage, if he's not there, then we can worry. * Katie rubs the back of her head. I don't know the number. Or even which orphanage. Maybe we can check records. See if he came to school today? That's a great idea. To the office! * Katie nods and puts her stuff away, then stands and heads... to the office! [Katie and Taki get to the office, where a secratary sits outside typing at something.] * Katie walks up to the secretary's desk. "Excuse me?" * Taki walks up to the secratary. "Yes?" I was wondering who we ask to find out if our friend Shingo came to school today. * Katie nods. "Shingo... Ryuuzaki? He's in with principal Nagawa right now." * Katie blinks. The principal? Why? What? "I'm not sure, exactly. If you'd like to wait for him, though, you can sit over there." Ok, thankyou. * Katie nods. "Thank you." She bows quickly and goes to do just that. * Taki bows and walks over there. * Katie considers. * Katie grins and digs in her satchel, pulling out what looks like a pair of hearing aids. She puts them in her ears. * Taki tilts her head. "What are thoes?" * Katie then digs around and pulls out her sketchbook, opening it to a blank sheet. She looks over at Taki and winks, putting her finger to her lips. * Taki grins back and sits next to Katie. * Katie considers, then switches the sketchbook with a notebook. * Katie pulls out a pen and writes, "Three people in there. I think they're talking about the trip to the construction site." * Katie continues: "One is Shingo, and another's Principal Nagawa. I don't know about the third. Male, though." I wish I could draw like that. * Katie digs around in her satchel and extracts another pen, which she hands to Taki. "Oh, it's not as hard as you think." Ohh? Yup. Here, you give it a try. * Taki takes the pen and pulls out a sheet of paper. * Katie continues to listen to the muffled conversation. * Shingo opens the principal's door and walks out. * Katie blinks and closes her notebook. "Shingo!" Hi Shingo! * Shingo blinks. * Katie winces at the loudness of her own voice. She puts the notebook away. * Katie stands and waves to Shingo. "We thought you didn't come to school today. Or..." She shrugs. [Time: 3:05 P.M.] * Taki gives Katie her pen back a walks up to Shingo. "How'd you wind up in there?" * Shingo walks right out of the principal's office. * Katie puts the pens away and walks by the principal's door, glancing at it (open?). [The door is closed.] * Katie shrugs and walks out of the office. * Taki fallows Shingo. * Katie waits until they're a good distance away, then removes the ear helpers. You okay, Shingo? I'm recovering. * Katie frowns. They found out about the construction site, didn't they. * Shingo walks to his locker, retrieves his jacket and bokken, and closes it up. * Shingo eyes Katie. * Katie looks back at Shingo. "How?" * Taki looks for an opening in this conversation. * Shingo walks for one of the exits, still silent. * Katie frowns and grabs her own jacket, putting it on in a hurry as she scrambles after Shingo. Hey, it's not safe to be alone! * Taki runs to her locker, grabs a jacket and a book she needs for her homework and then runs after Katie. Wait for mee! * Katie moves to block the door. "This is more than just going where you're not supposed to, isn't it? What did they do?" * Shingo gives Katie a warning look. * Katie returns Shingo's gaze evenly. Like it or not, we're in this together. And as your friend, I'm worried anyway. * Shingo puts a finger to his lips, silently shushing Katie. * Taki nods. "Katie's right." * Shingo pushes past Katie and goes outside. * Katie blinks, then shakes her head and hurries after him. * Taki does more fallowing. [Outside in the parking lot, the group spies Eriko, Ryuji, and Saki. The latter is already on her cycle. Ryuji says somthing, Saki nods, and drives off.] * Shingo eyes Saki. * Katie watches her leave. * Taki quitly eeps. * Shingo keeps walking, straight to a corner, and waits for the light to allow him to walk. * Katie glances at the pair of kids left, then walks after Shingo. * Taki dashes after Shingo again. [The other two leave shortly after, Eriko lighting a cigarette as soon as she's out of the gate. They go in a different direction.] * Katie takes a deep, shaky breath. "" She shakes her head. "" They were concerned about me. They thought I was under too much pressure. * Katie nods slowly. "Anything else?" They brought in a psychologist in an attempt to get me to talk. I... dislike psychology. * Katie blinks. What's wrong with it? Not the field itself. More the people who practice it. Especially the foolishness that is 'child psychology.' That is a personal matter, though. Bad experiences? * Shingo shrugs. * Katie nods. We have other business to deal with. [Katie suddenly hears someone running behind her.] * Katie turns around and waves. * Chikako skids to a halt next to the group. "Whew... I caught you guys! That's so cool!" Hmm? Oh, hi Chikako! * Katie snickers. "Right, cool. What are you up to?" * Chikako hands a copy of the school newspaper to Katie. "You know, just wanted to make sure you didn't leave without today's paper. It's cool!" Gotta run. Bye! * Chikako zooms off * Katie blinks. I'm still impressed that a high school paper manages to publish daily. I wonder how much sugar she has a day. Even if the editing and writing are often less than perfect. * Katie starts looking over the paper. "Mostly because of her." I don't know. So, what'd she write this time? Just sports. Our soccer team's up against Shunyo's in two weeks for some league or other. Anything else interesting? * Katie flips through the paper. Nope. * Katie holds the paper to the other two. "You want to read it, or not?" * Shingo takes it. Shunyo...Isn't that where that girl with the stick goes? * Katie nods. * Shingo starts reading idly. I was thinking about that Sunday. Things we could do. One is go to Shunyo, hunt down Kyoko and her brother somehow. They would know... something. If they don't try to kill us again. Her brother did tell her to stop that. Yeah, but if she doesn't listen, it's best to be ready. * Taki nods. [Time: 3:20 P.M.] In any case, I need one of you to take the knife I made. We could look up everyone who... vanished. Maybe find something that ties us all together. But this strikes me as a likely dead end. * Katie blinks. "For what?" I can't keep it with me, or in my belongings. If they find a concealed weapon on me, or in my locker... Ah. I'll take it. Well, I don't know how to use it. * Shingo takes the knife out from his jacket and hands it to Katie. I mean if I was prepairing something I'd be able to use it, but...I'm not Saki. You don't need to use it. You don't even have to carry it. I just can't be found with it, and I prefer not to leave it just lying around. Ahh, yeah, that would be bad. * Katie takes it and looks it over. "I know how to whittle, so my parents won't be scared if they find it." She opens her satchel and pulls out her box of tools, then puts the knife in there. * Katie puts the box away. So, now that that's out of the way, We should be on ours. To where? There are too many possibilities. Well, we know that people at Shunyo know something, and that there are people here who want to eat us, So I think we should go there. It's as good a starting point as any. * Katie nods. I certainly don't see any point in approaching Saki again. Not this soon. * Katie shudders. "Definitely not." Not for a looong time. Let's get going, then. Before my feet freeze. [Time: 3:40 P.M.] * Katie heads in the direction of Shunyo High. :P * Shingo follows that page! [The group arrives outside Shunyo Academy.] * Katie looks up at the building. "Okay. Now what." * Shingo looks around for any students that are still hanging around. [There are a few students still around, due to clubs.] We ask if anybody has seen Kei...Kyoa...Kyoka? Kyoko. Right, Kyoko or her brother. Go right ahead. There's a group of students right there. * Shingo points. * Katie nods and goes to those students. * Taki walks with her. * Shingo follows along at a short distance. * Student1 is holding a conversation with #2 outside the front doors. * Katie walks up and waits for a good time to break the conversation. * Taki walks up and stops a little behind Katie. So Lu Bu comes up and I try to hit him with Zhang Fei... He ignores my attack like it's nothing, hits me across the level, and... Hello? Hi. We're looking for Kyoko or her brother. Do you know if they're around? * Student2 looks the group over. "Hmm.. Sakuragaoka students? Do you..." He spots Shingo and stops, then finds his voice. "Er... Can we help you?" Kyoko...? Kyoko who? * Katie blinks. Do I what? I'm not sure actualy, we ran into them the other day and she left without something. Oh, nothing. * Katie nods. * Student1 folds his hands. "Hmm... I know at least two Kyoko's, though..." He looks at the other. "What do you think?" * Shingo starts describing Kyoko and her brother. * Student2 listens to Shingo, then turns to the other one. "Reiji has a sister whose a freshman, doesn't he?" Come to think of it, I think he does. * Student2 turns to the group. "You're probably looking for Kyoko Ozora, then." * Katie smiles. "Then you can help us?" Heh. Well, Reiji usually takes off right after school, so... Ohh...Where should we look then? Hmm... Kyoko has a part-time job at the Pao Pao cafe, but she only works three days a week... * Katie nods. The Pao Pao cafe, okay. Is there any other way we can reach them? Hmm, Do you know if she's there today? * Student2 snaps his fingers. "I've got Reiji's cell's number." * Katie grins. "You do? That would be very helpful." * Taki nods. "It'd help a lot." * Student2 scribbles the number on a piece of scrap paper and hands it to Katie. * Katie accepts the paper and smiles at him. "Thank you so much." Sure thing. * Taki thanks student1. * Katie bows to them. "We had better be going. Thanks again. Sorry if we were any trouble." It's not a problem. Nice to meet you. Nice meeting you, too. * Shingo bows and walks toward the nearest phone booth. Nice to meet you too, maybe we'll meet again. By the way... I heard something. Hmm? Is it true that another student from your school disappeared on Friday? * Katie winces. "It is." Unfortunatly. Huh. * Katie looks down at the phone number and notices that her hands are shaking slightly. "Anyway, we should make that call." * Shingo has been walking this whole time. * Student2 nods. "Sorry. I hope I didn't offend you." No, no. You didn't. Just a bad memory. * Katie bows again. "Nice meeting you. Maybe we'll meet again sometime." She turns and blinks. Hey, Shingo! It's allright. C'mon Katie, let's go make that phonecall. * Katie runs after him. Shingo! * Taki runs. * Student1 and the other watch the group leave, then continue. "So anyways, Lu Bu takes half of my life in one hit and I'm like 'What the hell?!'..." * Katie catches up to Shingo and starts walking with him as she works on catching her breath. * Taki is a few steps behind Katie. "C can we-pant- do so something that doesn't involve runing?" You're out of shape. * Taki gives Shingo an evil look. "Bah." * Katie snickers. * Katie looks down at the paper. "Hm, what to say." "Help, one of our uperclassmen tried to eat us and I think you know why?" Nahh, too direct. This might be the wrong person, too. Just tell him the truth. If you can't do that, I will. * Katie traces a finger along the phone number. * Taki tries to find better phrasing. How much how fast is the question. I want to be sure we have the right person. * Katie considers. "Hi, did we meet last week at Sakuragaoka"? No, that'd only work if we were face to face. Uhm... Okay, I think I can do this. That may work, Taki. "Hi, my name is Taki, I think we met last week at Sakuragaoka. I would like to ask you a few questions." * Katie nods as she walks. "About right. My accent is hard to miss." [They get to the phone-booth :P] "Hello, my name is Katie, I think I met you and your sister last week at Sakuragaoka. Could you answere a question?" * Katie grins. "More like last Friday." * Katie walks up to the booth and looks to the other two. "Either of you want to do this, or will I?" * Taki nods,"It seems like a lot longer though." Go ahead. I don't mind. Okay. * Katie closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, calming herself down. She then digs for some change and steps into the booth, where she dials Reiji's number. * Katie blinks. "Hello? Is this Reiji?" Katie Andrews. I think I and a couple of my friends met you and your sister on Friday, at Sakuragaoka High. * Taki waits. Who? I'm Katie Andrews, and my friends and I are in trouble... what do you mean? * Taki wishes she had Katie's ear thingies. I- I'm sorry, but I guess I don't. Of that, none of us do. We were wondering if you could help with that. Okay. I'm not sure who else to ask, though. The other reason I called is... well, the disappearances. Kyon Sorata? All right. * Katie blinks. * Katie moves the headset from her ear and frowns. * Katie hangs up the phone and steps out of the booth. Hmm? What'd he say? And what did you say? ^_^; He's the same boy from Thursday. He said that we're not safe anywhere, and that we should talk to Kyon Sorata about what we are. * Katie shrugs helplessly. "If I knew how to say it in Japanese, I would. A bad feeling, maybe?" So how do we find this Kyon Sorata? He goes to our school. * Shingo nods. Very well. [Kyon is the student council vice-president. You all know of him.] If it's _that_ Kyon Sorata, he won't be a problem to find. I was thinking the same thing. In any case, I need to go home. I don't think there are any others. * Katie shivers and stuffs her hands in her pockets as she starts walking for the train home. "Another thing that was strange. He answered the phone with 'Eight of Cups'." I'll have to play it safe for a while, or they'll start...what? Huh, I wonder why he did that. Eight of Cups. For a bit, I wondered if I got the wrong number. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (2d6-2) and gets 7. I don't know why he would use a tarot card as a greeting, though. What's a toro card? Tarot card. It's... um. * Katie thinks. They each mean something different, and a deck of them are used by fortunetellers and would-be psychics to tell the future or answer questions or things like that. Hmm. He wanted me to tell him who I was, too. My name wasn't good enough. It's odd. I seem to remember reading something about it in my psychology books, but I can't seem to remember it at all. * Katie nods. That's okay. Maybe Kyon can tell us what's going on. What was that line in my science book "The more we know, the more we know we don't know?" * Katie giggles. "Yeah." I really need to go. I'll see you all tomorrow, hopefully. * Katie nods. * Taki nods. "bye Shingo! See you then!" Okay. See you at school, Shingo. Good luck. * Shingo runs off down the street and around a corner. * Katie waves at Taki. "This is where I branch off. See you tomorrow." Ok, I'll see you too! * Katie smiles and heads off towards home. [Session End]