[You pursue Hiroki. He's moving at an average pace and humming one bar of Private Idaho over and over. It's probably the only one he knows.] * Haruko slows her scurrying once she's in earshot. "Hey." * Katie is near behind Haruko. She glances back at Kyon and the other girls, barely keeping herself from laughing. * Kaede comes up behind her and sighs slightly, shifting his hands out of his coat. He breathes out softly, shrugging his shoulders. "The things I do..." [He stops and turns around halfway. "Hmm? Sakuragaoka students?"] That's the rumor. * Haruko glances back at her company. She shrugs and looks back to the guy. "Haruko Kinsha. And unless my guess is wrong, you're Izumi's brother." [He turns more fully. "You know my sister?"] * Haruko nods. "We've hung out some with her and Soliel. Izumi befriended a troubled acquaintance of ours." Haruko gives her real smile. "You're sister's really an amazing person." ["I'll tell her you said that."] * Kaede keeps half an eye on Haruko but says quietly to Katie, "So I hope you are going to let me know what you needed to talk over with Kyon? Right?" Thanks. Look, I won't waste your time. We're looking into some of the missing students. Soleil had mentioned that you also had someone you were worried about. * Katie nods. "I said I would," she responds to Kaede. ["Masami Anjou," he says. "Why? You've heard something?"] * Haruko shakes her head. "No. We just think that some of the disappearances were related to drug dealers. I don't have any reason to think Masami Anjou had anything to do with drugs, but those bad guys might have had something to do with his disappearance too." * Kaede rubs his forehead, keeping it low. "I suppose you did...I know I wouldn't expect *him* to follow through on that." ["What do you mean? Masami's not the type to do drugs."] * Katie nods. "He wouldn't unless he had to," she says, just as quietly. Her attention turns to Haruko and Hiroki's direction. * Kaede does too, before he sticks his foot either in his mouth or his own grave. * Haruko nods. "In short, they've kidnapped people. The latest drug is the sort that can be slipped in a drink so even non-users could be targeted. I don't know if they'd have a reason to go after Masami, Soleil's just mentioned him once and couldn't even give us a description." ["Kidnapping? You think he's been kidnapped?" He pauses, then asks. "Does this have anything to do with the other disappearances at our schools?"] Yeah. The other disappearances have involved drugs. I don't know about Masami, but under normal circumstances people don't disappear. So maybe there's a connection. [He frowns. "Maybe..."] That drug's very dangerous. I heard people get hooked after one try; they can't help it and go back for more. If that's true, then a spiked drink or something really can do it. * Haruko nods. "I'm just guessing here. But I'd like to do anything I can to help Izumi. So maybe we can work together on this." [He stares at Haruko. "You think my sister's involved?"] * Haruko shakes her head and blushes. "No, of course not. It's just that when I heard a friend of Izumi's brother was missing, I wanted to help." [He sighs. "Well, thanks. But I don't see what you could do about it. No offense."] * Haruko laughs. "None taken. Look, how about you tell us about Masami. If we can't do anything, you've only wasted a bit of time." [He nods. "Okay. He's a bit taller than me. I'd say five foot eight (or whatever it is in centimeters). Black hair, kinda short. He's a pretty good guy. Always optimistic. I think he has a girlfriend, too, but I'm not sure. He doesn't talk about it much. He's pretty good at math, likes art... Man, this sounds pretty stupid, huh?"] * Haruko gets out a piece of paper and jots quick notes. "That's a good description. Anyone that disliked him? Anything strange about the few days before he disappeared? [He shakes his head. "I don't think so. He was pretty popular, everything seemed fine..."] * Haruko nods. "How long ago did he disappear?" ["A few weeks ago, I think.] * Haruko nods. "Alright. We'll do what we can. One other thing, you know anything about that blue-haired girl?" ["She's a bitch?"] * Haruko snerks. "Anything else?" ["She's full of herself? She acted like it would be some big honor to go out with her. Like I care. I've never even seen her before."] * Haruko chuckles. "Alright. Thanks. Here, let's swap numbers. If I find out anything about Masami, I'll call you. If you think of anything that might be important, you can call me." [He nods and does.] [End!]