[Day: Monday, January 28th. Time: 2:50 P.M.] [Weather: Mostly cloudy. No snowfall or rain, but still plenty of snow on the ground. Cold, as usual.] [Unfortunately, something came up on Saturday for Eriko, so she couldn't take the group to lunch after all. Shortly after, they all disbanded and went home. It's now a new week, and everyone's just getting finished with class.] [As we open, everyone just happens to bump into each other at the lockers, save Taki.] [All the PCs, that is :P] (Even Kyon? Sigh. =P) [Session Start] ( Yes, even Kyon :P ) * Shingo eyes Kyon, not saying anything. * Jiro bumps into someone at the lockers. "Er, sorry." * Satoshi is bumped. "S'okay." * Shingo puts his books away without saying a word. * Satoshi then notices who it is. Oh, hey, Jiro. * Satoshi looks around and sees the others. Oh. Hey, Satoshi. How goes? * Kyon stands with his back to the wall opposite the one with the lockers. He's carrying his jacket in one hand, and looking back and forth down the hallway. Goes pretty well. Everybody else seems to be around too. I'm doubting that's coincidence. * Katie hums to herself, not bumping into anyone because she's not going anywhere. As usual, she sits outside her locker, sketching. Weird. ( Can Satoshi be right? Naaaahhh... ) Yeah. Except... * Satoshi looks around again. I don't see Taki. *looks a little sad* * Katie doesn't look up. "I'm sure she'll show." * Shingo finishes putting away his books and starts to trudge off. * Shingo trudges away down the hall, head down, not really paying attention to what's around him. * Satoshi sighs. "Anybody wanna go chase after Shingo again?" * Kyon watches Shingo walk off, and shrugs his jacket on, surveying the people still at the lockers, then looking around again. Uh. I'd go after 'im, but I dunno if he wants to be gone after. Or something. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. He wants to be left alone, I'll leave him alone. * Katie stands, shutting her sketchbook and muttering to herself. She walks quickly after Shingo. * Katie catches up with the knight errant. "Hey, you okay?" 'm fine, why? You're even more closed in than normal, that's why. * Shingo shrugs. You guys don't want me around, so why should I bother you? Wait, wait. * Shingo stops. * Shingo turns and looks up at Katie. * Katie looks down at Shingo. "If I didn't want you around, why would I be following you?" * Shingo blinks. If you guys wanted me around, you wouldn't have tried to make me do something I didn't wanna do, right? Wha- wait, you mean the thing at the mall? Yes? What's the problem with it?! I don't need charity. I don't want it, either. * Chikako decides to ruin the mood by walking up slowly, clutching a copy of the school newspaper to herself. She's staring low at the floor. What if it's not chari- * Katie blinks and looks at Chikako. "Hey, are you all right?" * Chikako looks up, deffinately looking like she's been crying. "Katie, ah... I..." * Shingo looks up at Chikako. * Chikako shoves the paper into Katie's arms and runs off! * Shingo runs after Chikako. * Katie has paper shoved at her. "Chikako, wait!" * Satoshi walks up to Katie. "What happened?" I- I don't know. I was talking to Shingo, then Chikako showed up and... * Jiro follows. "Yeah. What was that?" [Shingo has surprising difficulty trying to keep up with her.] * Katie feels her eyes widen. She opens the paper and looks at the front page. * Shingo runs harder, then, dammit. * Satoshi looks over Katie's shoulder, rudeness be darned. * Katie starts skimming the article. [Shingo manages to chase Chikako out of the gate, but loses her a few blocks away.] ( Cripes,she should be on the damn track team. ) ( How do you know she isn't? She runs all over the place delivering papers every day :P ) * Shingo stops and looks around. * Shingo starts walking back. * Kyon strides along behind the others, carrying a sports bag, and stands next to them. "What's in it today?" [The front page headline reads "Sakuragaoka Student Injured in Shooting."] * Jiro looks over Katie's shoulder, too. I think... * Katie keeps reading. Satoshi murmurs. "Please don't let that be who I think it is..." [Unfortunately, everyones' fears are correct; the article mentions Taki by name.] * Kyon rolls his eyes and looks around for any other newspapers so he can have one to read, too. * Satoshi goes completely pale. "No..." * Jiro blinks. "Uh... shit." * Satoshi clutches Katie's shoulder as he feels his eyes begin to water. [It goes on to describe that she was taken to a local hospital, though, and is in stable condition.] * Shingo trudges back up and looks at the group from a short way away. [Kyon finds a newspaper :P] Taki... * Kyon scans the article with an impassive expression. Dammit, I... * Satoshi swallows hard. * Jiro works his jaw a bit but doesn't manage to actually say anything. ( If it makes you guys feel any better, she'll be perfectly fine as soon as RDM returns :P ) (Yes, but in the meantime, Satoshi gets to ANGST! ;p) * Kyon scans again to find the name of the hospital she's staying at. [Kyon finds it... Um... We'll call it... St. Thomas Hospital.] I'm gonna go see her. Yeah. * Katie stares at the article blankly, and her eyes start misting over. "Why?" * Kyon folds up the newspaper and stuffs it in his sports bag, then straightens again and nods. "Right. We should go. We need to keep track of our allies, after all." Is that all you can think about?! * Satoshi stands up and glares at Kyon. * Shingo is still standing a short distance away, just watching the rest of the group. * Kyon looks down at Satoshi coolly. "Yeah. My ally was shot. That bothers me. I want to make sure she's OK. You don't?" * Katie blinks and some tears trickle down her cheeks. She looks up at Shingo and walks over to him. That's not what I meant, and you know it! Of *course* I want to know if she's okay! It's this whole... ally thing! Maybe that's all she is to you, but to the rest of us she's... she's... Goddamnit, don't you even *care*?! * Katie wipes at one cheek with the back of her hand. "Shingo," she says softly. "Taki... she's been shot." * Shingo blinks. * Jiro bits his lip and looks angry, but doesn't say anything. Where is she? St. Thomas Hospital. The paper says she's in stable condition, but... * Kyon raises an eyebrow, and speaks levelly. "Yeah, I care. I care about my allies' well-being. It's important. Does it matter to you, as long as I go and look after her?" * Shingo turns around and starts walking. * Satoshi waves a hand at Kyon. "Okay, fine. Whatever makes *you* happy. I'm going." * Satoshi follows Shingo, assuming that he's heading for the hospital. * Jiro follows Shingo and Satoshi. * Kyon smirks at their backs, and shakes his head to himself as he walks off to his motorcycle. * Katie glances back at Kyon. Her eyes harden, then she walks after the other boys. [Time: 3:30 Place: St. Thomas Hospital.] [The group meets outside the front doors. Inside is a reception area, with hallways down the side. The hospital looks to be 3 floors tall.] * Satoshi pushes open a door and walks up to the reception desk. * Katie walks after Satoshi, wiping her eyes every once in a while. * Shingo walks in just behind Satoshi. * Shingo still hasn't said a word. [There's a nurse behind the desk. She finishes up with a phone call just as the group approaches.] * Jiro follows after Satoshi, still looking angry and still being silent. * Kyon comes in a minute after the others, and waits a few feet behind them. "Can I help you?" Yeah. We're here to visit a friend. Her name is Taki Shimeru. Can you please tell us what room she's in? [The nurse nods. "Room 212E. Just take the elevator to the second floor and make a right."] * Satoshi has calmed down a bit, though he's still clenching and unclenching a fist in a reflexive manner. Thank you. * Shingo walks off to the elevators. * Katie murmurs a thank you and moves towards the elevator. * Satoshi walks to the elevators, next to Shingo. * Satoshi pushes the up button. * Shingo reaches out and presses the call button. * Kyon looks around for the stairs. [The elevator comes down. It's brown inside, and you could probably cram up to twelve people in there.] * Shingo steps on and hits the button for the second floor. * Satoshi steps in, and *then* pushes the up button for the second floor. * Katie peeks in the elevator. "Um... I'm going to take the stairs." * Satoshi accidentally bumps Shingo's finger. "Sorry." * Shingo grabs Katie by the shirt and pulls. [Shingo gropes Katie. Go figure.] * Katie yelps and stumbles into the elevator. (Shingo *is* a pervert! ;p) * Jiro steps in. ( I am not a pervert! v_^_^_v ) [Meanwhile, the doors close and the elevator rises.] No, really. I want to- * Katie gulps and glances around. * Shingo turns and looks up at Katie curiously. See how it feels? [Kyon finds the stairs, since nobody waited for him :P] Shut up! * Kyon finds the stairs, and jogs up them to the second floor. He starts looking around for Taki's room.[22:52] [The elevator just seems to crawl sloooooowly up...] * Satoshi ignores Katie and Shingo, intent on getting to the second floor. [... and arrives at the second floor with a cheery *ping!*] Finally. * Satoshi gets off as soon as the doors open. [Kyon finds the room.] * Katie breathes a sigh of relief and gets off the elevator as soon as she possibly can, seeing as she refused to budge from the doors. * Shingo steps off the elevator and turns right. [So does everyone else, I'd presume.] * Kyon knocks on the door quietly. [The door is open, actually.] * Katie stays there for a moment, gasping for air. * Jiro gets off the elevator and follows the others, assuming they know where they're going. * Shingo walks into Taki's room. [Inside looks like a flower garden. Taki's lying asleep in a bed, and a grown man is staring at her worriedly.] * Shingo walks up to the side of the bed. He can barely see Taki, he's so damn short, and those beds are so damn high. * Satoshi walks up to the bed and looks down at Taki. * Kyon crouches down, and moves inside. He looks the man over, and bows slightly. "Hello. My name's Kyon Sorata. I'm the Vice President of Sakuragaoka." He looks over at Taki. "You must be her father. We at the school are all very sorry to hear about this." * Man looks up, tears falling from his eyes. From the looks of it, he's been crying for a very long time. Also looks very tired. * Jiro walk in and looks at Taki. Who... Who the hell would do this to her?! * Satoshi looks up, somewhat startled since he barely noticed Taki's father. That's a very good question. * Man holds his face. "It's not fair. It's not fair and it's not right." * Satoshi blinks very, very hard. * Katie finally makes it in. She still looks mildly shaken, but the color's returning to her face. It's so wrong... it's very wrong. * Satoshi blinks again. He's struggling noticeably to keep from crying. * Kyon nods. "I understand. It's never right, and it's never fair." He looks at Taki, and bows his head. * Satoshi swallows, and bows to Taki's father. "Satoshi Watanabe, sir. Taki and I... we... all of us..." * Satoshi looks down at Taki again. * Man shakes his head. "They say she'll be fine, and thank God for that, but... But she shouldn't..." He breaks down in more tears. * Katie finally gets a good look at Taki and starts crying silently again. She lightly puts a hand on the man's shoulder. "You're Taki's father, right?" * Man nods. * Man is Taki's father. Don't ask for a name; I'd have to remember it :P We're Taki's friends. If- if there's anything we can do to help... * MrShimiru shakes his head. "Thanks... but what can you do?" I don't know. Just be there for her, I guess. * Katie wipes at one of her eyes with the back of her hand. * Satoshi looks up. If anything happened to her, I don't know what I'd do. Yes. She'll be okay. She's too stubborn not to turn out all right. * Kyon looks solemnly down at Taki's father. "She seems like a very quick healer. And I can ask the school to send over students to sit with her as well, if you would like." No, that's not... * Katie bites her tongue at Kyon's statement. * MrShimiru shakes his head. "I'd feel more confortable watching her myself." But... you wouldn't mind if we came back and visited, would you, sir? * Satoshi looks pleadingly at Taki's father. * MrShimiru tries to laugh, but it sort of fails. "I guess... I mean, it's good to know she has so many friends..." We're worried about her too, Sir. But if you want to spend time with her alone... we can come back later, okay? Thank you. * MrShimiru nods. Yeah... * Katie smiles slightly and looks down at Taki one more time, then makes her way out of the room. * Jiro looks at Taki again and walks out. * Kyon nods to the man once more, and bows slightly. "All right. We wish your daughter and you the best of luck." He bows again, and leaves the room. * Satoshi looks down at Taki. "I... I'll come back later. I promise." * Satoshi then bows to her father and slowly walks out. * Katie sighs, wiping her eyes again, and looks for the stairs. * Shingo stands there, just looking at Taki. * Shingo turns around and leaves the room a minute or so after everybody else. * Jiro goes to the elevator and waits for the others. Kyon, did you take the stairs up? * Kyon nods quickly. "Yeah. It's only one flight." * Katie shudders. "I'd like you to show me to them, please." * Satoshi slowly follows Jiro to the elevator. * Kyon nods, walks back towards the stairs, and gestures for Katie to follow before jamming his hands in his pockets. * Shingo walks to the elevator, where Jiro and Sato are still waiting. Damn, elevators are slow. ( That and nobody bothered to hit the button. ) * Katie glances back at the group at the elevator, then walks after Kyon. * Kyon holds the door open for Katie with his foot, looking down the stairs with a scowl on his face. * Jiro jabs the 'down' button with his thumb. Thanks. [Presumeably, someone hits the button, and the elevator comes by.] * Katie blinks at Kyon's expression. "Why the frown?" * Satoshi gets on the elevator as soon as the doors open (and presuming there's nobody else trying to get off it). * Kyon waves a hand back down the hallway towards Taki's room, and starts going down the stairs two at a time. ( Which there isn't. Yay! ) * Jiro gets on the elevator too! * Katie nods and follows Kyon. (I keep expecting Sho to be on one. I've somehow formed that association. ^^;) * Shingo gets on. * Kyon stops at the bottom, and holds the door with his foot again, looking out into the hallway. ( Heh. I was planning that, but decided against it :P ) * Katie steps into the hallway. She looks over at the elevator and seems to consider something. * Kyon steps away from the door, and leans against the wall next to it. "What're you thinking?" I... don't want to see Shingo right now. * Kyon smirks slightly. "I'm going to go try to find Chikako." He starts to walk off, then looks back, his smirk full blown. "Coming?" * Katie glances back again. "I guess. I should talk to her, anyway." She starts after Kyon. "And you need to stop that. It's annoying." * Kyon raises an eyebrow, and walks over to his motorcycle. "What?" That smirking thing you always do. It's... * Katie sighs. "You're not stupid enough not to know what it does." * Jiro waits for the elevator to get to the first floor. ...and pushes the button for the first floor, in case we all forgot that. [The elevator goes to the first floor, now that Jiro pushed the button :P] [Kyon and Katie are evidently not in the lobby.] * Shingo leaves the hospital. * Jiro follows out, looking around for Kyon. * Satoshi follows the other two, after looking over his shoulder one last time. [They see them a good distance away, near Kyon's bike.] * Shingo stops and watches Katie. * Jiro spots them, and heads that way. * Satoshi stops, and waits, and thinks. [Kyon gets on his bike and hands Katie a helmet.] [They take off just as Jiro gets to them.] * Shingo walks off to the train station so he can go home. * Satoshi follows Shingo, as that's also how he'll get home. * Shingo stops mid trip and decides to go back to school. (On the train, or walking?) ( However we got here. ) ( You got here through plot manipulation ^^ ) * Satoshi continues to follow Shingo (with the appropriate form of transportation) as he doesn't feel like going back to an empty apartment yet. [Jiro takes off after Kyon and Katie, really durn fast.] [They arrive at the school!] [You two, that is.] So. * Shingo walks into the school, assuming it's still open. * Satoshi continues to follow Shingo, not really surprised that Shingo doesn't appear to be acknowledging him. [The school is indeed open; many people are still in club activities.] * Shingo heads for the roof. * Satoshi curses to himself as he realizes where Shingo is headed, but continues to follow. [The two get to the roof, where they find Eriko. Neither Ryuji or Saki seem to be around, though.] * Eriko is leaning against a wall, smoking a cigarette. * Satoshi nods to Eriko. * Shingo looks around the roof. * Eriko puffs on the cigarette. "You want somethin'?" * Satoshi shrugs. Saki. * Satoshi blinks. "We do?" * Eriko raises an eyebrow for just a second, then shrugs and puffs again. "Well, she's not here." Where is she? * Eriko looks at Shingo directly in the eye. "Not here." * Shingo shrugs. * Shingo turns around and walks back downstairs. * Satoshi nods to Eriko again, then follows Shingo. You think Saki's behind this? * Shingo shrugs. So what now? * Shingo shrugs. * Shingo looks around for a copy of the paper. [Shingo (eventually) finds one.] * Shingo starts skimming the article about Taki as he walks along, trying to figure out where the shooting happened. [It happened yesterday, in broad daylight, outside a grocery store. Witnesses provided an ID on the shooter, but he hasn't been caught yet.] * Satoshi reads over Shingo's shoulder as they walk along. (Does it give the name of the shooter?) [Ummm.. Kyosuke Morisato] (Any info about him besides that?) [28 years old. Armed and dangerous. Possibly insane.] ... Where to start, where to start... * Satoshi clenches his fist as he reads. "Kyosuke Morisato. Some random nutcase." Dammit... *why*? * Shingo shrugs and leaves for that grocery store. * Satoshi follows, because it means he's doing something. And doing someting beats going home and brooding, or going to the rink and shooting pucks until he's too tired to do any more. [They start heading for the grocery store. Since I want the other's to have a chance to catch up... They're not there 'yet'] [Several minutes later, they get there.] [Time: 4:10] * Satoshi surveys the place, arms folded across his chest. * Shingo looks around. Where... exactly, did it happen? * Shingo looks aroudn for any marked off areas. [There's a nice area with police tape across it.] * Shingo walks right over to that area. * Satoshi spots it and starts heading in that direction. [They get there. There's no police around or anything; just blocked off area.] * Shingo ducks under the tape (Not hard) and starts looking around. [There doesn't seem to be evidence just lying around.] * Satoshi follows Shingo. Again. * Shingo scowls. I lack the skills required to track this man down. I wouldn't even know where to start. I'm not sure that's such a good idea, either. Much as I want him to suffer... He's a psycho with a gun and I'm a hockey player. * Shingo shrugs. Dammit. I hate feeling this helpless. I can handle it, if we can find him. [A familiar voice that reminds you of knives through flesh speaks. "He's not a psycho."] * Satoshi turns around quickly. * Shingo turns around to face... whoever it is. [Satoshi sees a beautiful, familiar girl dressed like a stereotypical biker. Oh yeah, she tried to eat you guys before, too.] * Satoshi laughs bitterly. ...we were looking for you. Yeah. I guess you wouldn't consider him one, would you? Not in particular. Whatever. I suppose it's too much to hope that you're just here to buy groceries? She doesn't need groceries. She gets her food fresh. * Saki smirks. "Good guess." * Satoshi winces. Actually, I like microwaveable TV dinners. (Ugh! There really *is* something wrong with you! ;p) * Saki turns to the side, looking off at the horizon. "It's true, though. He wasn't a psycho. Not at first, at least." Care to explain? Isn't it obvious? He was addicted to the drugs. * Satoshi shakes his head. "Pathetic." ... So where is he now? Any idea? * Saki shrugs. "Dunno. Hiding." Figures. Probably trying to find out how to get more drugs. So what's your interest in this? Interest? * Saki taps her chin. "Hmmm..." Why do you know so much about this guy? * Saki shrugs. "Never said I did." So, what, that was all just speculation? Of course not. I know what I do because I've been investigating the drugs. Investigating? * Saki nods. "'S right." * Shingo sits back and lets the popular guy do the talking. On your own? Not entirely. Why? * Saki shrugs. "'Cause I feel like it." (If this were anyone but Saki, I'd offer to help.) ( You can help! Just pour this salt and pepper over yourself... ) Anything we should be looking for? Dunno. (*snerk* You've played Breath of Fire 2, haven't you?) * Saki puts her hands behind her head and starts to walk away. "You won't find it here, though. Already looked." Right. * Satoshi watches her leave. * Saki gets to her bike and takes off. That was... helpful. Somewhat. Yeah. And she didn't attack us, either. We're in public. True. Noplace to hide the bodies. ...she doesn't hide them, Satoshi. (Shingo, you're what we call dying for the sake of others. ^^) ( What? ) (Sorry, from Excel Saga. *cough*) * Satoshi shudders. "I was thinking that she'd have to take them somewhre first." I'm going home. * Shingo does so. * Satoshi watches Shingo leave. * Satoshi mutters. "Yeah, later, Shingo." * Satoshi shrugs, and decides that he might as well go home too. [Session End]