[You arrive in the newspaper office. It's completely empty.] * Katie walks in and glances around. * Chikako walks into the room and up to the desk. She leans on it for support and glances at Katie, looking like she can't find the words to say what she wants. Finally, she settles on, "Umm... Yesterday I ran into Kaede." * Katie closes the door behind her. "What did he say?" He, um... well, we talked about stuff, and.... ( We're getting married. Will you be the bridesmaid? ) (About time. I'd love to!) * Katie tilts her head. * Chikako sighs. "It's cool. But I need to hear it with you. Two weeks ago, what really happened with Yushiro? * Katie sighs. She looks around, spotting a chair in front of the desk and having a seat on it. * Katie folds her hands, then unfolds them, then holds the edge of her sleeve with one. She's looking down. "We went to talk to him." He's been involved in a lot of people getting hurt and also hurting his sister and letting her get beat up. We evidence, but we had no real proof. We wanted to talk to him and get him to stop, or at least get proof so someone else could make him stop. * Chikako takes a seat also, behind the desk. * Katie doesn't stop, continuing quietly, "When we got there, I heard... do you know about my hearing, Chikako?" Are you... going deaf? The opposite. Oh. Cool. * Katie presses a finger to her ear. "I hear things really well. Anyway, we got there, and Yushiro's little sister answered the door. She went in to get him because we asked, and he hit her. She cried." When he came out to talk to us, we asked him what was going on with all the hurt people, and he didn't give any real answers. And then I asked him why he hit his sister. He got angry and pulled out a knife. He stabbed Satoshi in the hand. * Chikako gasps. * Katie presses on. "We fought back, and we eventually all ended up in his house. He used Fuyuko. He commanded her to attack us, or something... I'm not sure how it worked, but she has powers, too, and swords came out of her skin. She did attack while Yushiro used the distraction to get away." I noticed. I thought the others could handle Fuyuko, and I chased him, because I didn't want... I didn't want *him* to get away. * Chikako gulps. Hesitantly she asks, "And then?" I tackled him in the rain. We ended in a puddle, and he started to strangle me. I tried to push him off or use my wind powers. It didn't work, and I was dying, so I... I pulled a knife out of my satchel and got him in the stomach. * Katie falls silent, then adds, "He said he would kill us, but he ended up dying first." * Chikako looks stunned. "And... and he died?" He died. Blood loss, really. It took too long for the ambulance to get there. * Chikako looks down, but then she looks back up. "But he tried to kill you, right? It's cool. You had no choice, right?" She sounds like she might be trying to convince herself, but she does look substantially relieved. I don't know. I guess there were other things I could have done, but I might also be dead. * Katie shrugs, still looking at her hands. She tries folding them again. "I'm not very sorry he's gone. Maybe that makes me a bad person, but he wouldn't have stopped at beating people up. He wanted us dead." * Chikako says, suddenly, "I'm sorry, Katie. I was so scared when I heard Yushiro was dead. I thought I was responsible. But..." she's smiling, but also looks on the verge of tears. "I didn't think of how you felt. That wasn't cool. I'm a horrible friend, huh?" * Katie sighs. She looks up at Chikako and smiles weakly. "No. You're not a horrible friend." I was afraid of telling you. I was afraid of what you'd say. And it just gets worse, Chikako. I don't know if you want to be friends with me anymore. * Chikako smiles. "It's cool. I didn't realize... but it's cool. We're still friends. Right?" * Katie nods slowly. * Chikako grins. "I knew you weren't a bad person. How could I have doubted? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone what happened. Your secret's cool." * Katie closes her eyes and sort of deflates in her chair. "Cool." * Chikako grins. "Cool! I'll start delivering the paper again, too. Sorry I haven't been doing that." I understand. * Chikako is doing a lot of grinning and smiling <.< (She's happy!) Well, I guess we better get back before lunch is over. I didn't give you enough time to eat, huh? * Katie hesitates, then she says, "I'm not going to eat." You're not hungry? No. I'm not hungry. And... * Katie gets to her feet and looks at Chikako. "And you don't want to be my friend anymore." * Chikako blinks. "Huh?" I was kidnapped. After the thing with Yushiro. I was kidnapped. * Chikako gets to her feet too, smiling as though she thought it was a joke. "But you just said we were still friends. We.... what?!" * Katie makes a shushing gesture. "Keep the sound down." * Chikako slaps a hand over her mouth briefly. Then she continues, "What happened?" I don't know, exactly. But I woke up... I was dirty and smelly and out of it. I was cuffed to a pipe in a basement, and I couldn't use my powers. Tenjirou and Ryo were talking about selling me. * Chikako looks confused. I think Tenjirou controlled me. That's what he can do. He can control women. And then he had fun with me, because he always does. The others came in to save us, and then the Chariot showed up... * Katie takes a breath. "Tenjirou had a gun. He shot Saki twice. He held Haruko hostage." She lets it out. "He's done some awful things. Raped a lot of girls." It turned out that they held me for over twenty hours. I don't remember any of it. And... and there are pictures of me on the Internet, from that time. * Chikako goes from looking confused to looking horrified. * Katie closes her eyes. "And now he's hurt and... I know where he is, and I want to keep him from doing it again. Because nothing is safe." * Chikako nods. That's a horrible thing. I'm sorry, Katie. * Katie hugs herself and looks away. "Me too." Well, you know where he is, right? Let's call the cops. It doesn't work that way. If we call the police, he'll get away. He will? Yeah. He has a field. That's a power that keeps normal people from seeing you. And he can make women fall in love with him to help him - including girl cops and witnesses. Oh. * Katie waves. "Sorry, not seeing you. Not seeing you and not seeing anything you do, either." * Chikako thinks. "Um... Then call... um..." ( The pope! ) ("Hi? I'd like to get in touch with the Vatican.") ( $600 a minute! ) * Chikako furrows her brow as she tries to think of something. * Katie lets her think. Umm... The Premier? * Katie shakes her head. Or.... * Chikako thinks. * Katie looks at Chikako. "We can't call anyone who will help us. At least, Tenjirou will get away, and then he'll kidnap people, or kill them, or rape them, or whatever." And he hates us. That's not cool! There's got to be someone! Well, there *isn't*. So he's just going to get his way? * Katie adjusts her satchel. "Not if I stop him first." But you said he hated you! * Katie smiles faintly. "He does. I'm not going to talk to him." * Chikako tilts her head. * Katie sighs. "I'm gonna kill him. That's why you don't want me for a friend anymore." * Chikako stares at Katie. "W... what?" * Katie nods. I'm sorry. But I have to. It's that or let him get me and people I care about, like you. That's not cool, Katie. * Chikako shakes her head. "Don't joke about stuff like that." No. It's very not cool. And I'm not joking. * Katie turns and walks to the door, putting her hand on the knob. * Chikako chases. "Wait! You can't do this, Katie!" Why not? * Katie doesn't open it yet. Because... * Chikako bites her lip. "Because it's wrong! It's totally not cool." You're right. It is wrong and not cool. But I can't do the right thing anymore. The right thing doesn't work. * Chikako shakes her head. "But you're talking about murder!" Yeah. You don't have any better ideas, either. That doesn't mean it's co- it's okay to kill someone instead! * Katie looks at Chikako. "So let me ask you which is better. Is it better for him to heal and then hurt and maybe kill people, or is it better to kill him?" It's never better to kill anyone! I-I know before it was self-defense... but that's different! It's so much different! So you do think it's better for the first to happen. * Chikako shakes her head. "No!" * Katie nods. "Yeah. It's hard." * Katie checks her watch. It doesn't have to be that way. There's got to be something else to do. If there is, I don't see it. * Katie turns and gives Chikako a hug. * Chikako is hugged. She starts crying. "There's another way. There's got to be! If we just think about it, I'm sure we can come up with something." * Katie sighs. "We're running out of time." * Chikako shakes her head. "Don't go." I have to. I'm sorry. * Chikako tugs Katie's arm. "No you don't!" * Katie looks at Chikako. "I'm not going to let him do anything to us anymore." * Chikako shakes her head. She tugs on Katie more. * Katie shakes her head. She also shakes her arm from Chikako and opens the door. Katie! * Katie looks at Chikako. D...don't go. Please! If my friendship has ever meant anything to you, don't go. * Katie winces. "Don't do that, Chikako." * Chikako shakes her head. "No... No, the Katie I know would never be like this!" And.... and if you're my friend, you'll listen to me. * Chikako sniffs. I'm listening. I just- I- I have to. For you, too. I don't want you to! * Katie grabs Chikako by the hand and squeezes it. "I'm sorry." She lets go and turns, walking out. * Chikako follows! * Katie doesn't say anything. * Chikako doesn't either. She keeps moving her lips like she's trying to find something to say, but all she manages to do is shake her head and cry. * Katie checks her watch. [Only about 15 minutes left.] W... What if he k-kills you? Then I guess he did it ahead of time. * Katie frowns a little. "Maybe wait 'till tomorrow." * Chikako doesn't find anything else to say. * Katie doesn't, either.