[Day: Monday, February 3rd. Time: 2:50 p.m.] [Weather: Snowy and cold.] [It's the first school day after the dance. Which means...! Well, nothing, really. Another boring day.] [Katie bumps into Meimi and Jiro in the hall. Yay!] [Session Start] Hi, Katie. ^_^ Hiya. How's it going? Huh? Oh, hi, Katie. ^_^ * Jiro looks from Katie to Meimi. "So." * Katie grins and puts her hands behind her back. "I asked how you're doing, silly." Oh, right. I'm doin' alright. ^_^ * Meimi shrugs. Turned in another column, other than that, not much. No drug crazed nutcases. [A fellow classmate bumps into Jiro.] I think we can live without drug crazed nutcases. [This clumsy female is an older looking student in a slightly greasy Sakuragaoka uniform. She's quite cute, although her hair is now a mess and fails to cover several small burn droplets running down the side of her face. She quickly fixes her bluish-black hair into bangs to cover the marks.] Are you okay? * Haruko blushes "Yes, I'm so sorry" * Jiro is bumped into again, making that twice today already. "Huh? Oh, hey." Hey, it's no problem. You just gotta be more careful. You'll hurt somebody. * Haruko bows "Haruko Kinsha, mechanic extraordinaire at your service." Fortunately, what I break, I can normally fix. * Katie looks around Jiro at Haruko. So you work on machines, then? * Jiro blinks, and then moves out of the way so Katie doesn't have to look around him anymore. * Haruko looks at Jiro before responding to Katie. "You OK?" And yes I work with, machines, ideally the bikes and cars, but other things too. [A cloud of dust builds at the end of the hall. Chikako comes running down the hall shouting, "Katieeee! Here's the papeeeeer!" Unfortunately, she doesn't stop quite in time. So Jiro gets bumped again. And by bumped, I mean the two fall over in a heap.] * Katie eeps. * Haruko tries to redeem herself by helping Jiro up. Everyone's just bumping into you today, Jiro. * Katie helps Chikako up. "Are you guys all right?" * Jiro is felled by a speeding Chikako. "Uh... you okay?" * Jiro is helped up! "Er, thanks." * Meimi eyes Chikako. * Chikako stands up, grinning, undaunted, waving the paper. "Look! It's got a cool article on the Sakura Festival!" Yeah? Can I see? Boss, you're always in such a hurry. Slow down, or you're gonna go bald or something. * Katie snickers. Chikako's too cool to go bald. * Chikako nods enthusiastically and hands the paper to Katie. "The festival's gonna be so cool! Much cooler than the dance!" * Katie takes the paper and starts skimming. * Haruko asks Chikako for a copy. * Meimi leans against the wall calmly. * Jiro looks around idly, not caring to bring on a headache by reading. * Chikako happily hands one to Haruko. Thanks ^_^ [The paper's front page talks about the upcoming festival that Sakuragaoka is holding on March 1st, and how students who are running booths should begin preparing within the week.] * Chikako nodnods, then turns to Katie. "Say, I didn't know you and Haruko were friends. That's so cool!" Booths, huh. * Haruko has immersed herself in the paper and misses Chikako's comment. * Katie ahehs. "Well, I didn't meet her until today..." * Chikako nods enthusiastically. "I'm gonna be running the information stand. Isn't that cool? What are you gonna do?" Wait, now I'm running a stand? Oh, you're meeting for the first time? That's so cool! * Chikako blinks. "You're not? But It'd be so cool!" * Jiro blinks too. "You're runnin' a stand, Katie?" * Katie looks rather confused now. "I didn't think I was. What's allowed?" * Haruko has now finished skimming the paper and starts paying attention. * Chikako grins. "You know, you could cook cool food, or run cool games or cool stuff like that! It's so cool!" * Katie laughs. * Chikako grins wider. "You could all get together and run one! It'd be so cool!" * Jiro looks contemplative. "Yeah, that might be kinda' cool." * Katie considers. "Maybe I can do face painting. Is face painting done at these things?" * Chikako nodnodnodnodnods. "Uh huh! Cool, huh?" I'll be running a fortunetelling booth, of course. ^_^ As always. [Conveniently, Kyon arrives just now.] * Haruko begins to gather papers she lost when running into Jiro. * Katie grins. Then I'll do that. * Katie waves at Kyon. * Chikako waves to Kyon! "Cool! Kyon's here! Now we just need Satoshi and Taki! This is gonna be so cool!" Huh? Oh, hey Kyon. * Chikako grins at Haruko. "You should join them! It'd be so cool!" * Kyon nods to the group tersely, and looks at Chikako with one eyebrow raised. "What's so cool?" * Haruko looks confused. "In running a booth?" Face painting really isn't my thing. * Chikako holds out a copy of the paper to Kyon. "The upcoming Sakura festival on March 1st that the school's holding. It's gonna be so cool!" Festivals are always fun. * Chikako nods to Haruko. "Cooking, then? There's all sorts of cool stuff you could do!" You could make those cool squid sausages! * Chikako giggles to herself. "Those are so cool!" "Maybe baking I'm no good at grills." Baking is cool, too! * Haruko seems surprised that she's being drawn into running a booth. * Kyon takes the paper, and looks coolly at this new girl before shrugging and flipping the paper open. ( Wow. Chikako's even more Chikako than usual today. ...scary. c.c; ) You could have a mini-bake sale, even. I'll be doing fortune telling and magic tricks again, as always. [The paper describes pretty much what Chikako just said in greater detail. With some boring historical stuff about why the thing's being held in the first place, and the like.] If you need to do a raffle, I have some carvings I can hand over. Cool! * Katie grins. You sculpt, too? * Haruko comments quietly to Chikako, by the way, who are these people, I've seen them around school before but don't know their names. Sculpt? * Katie considers. I've done it in some art classes. I'm not as good at it as some other things, but sure. * Chikako grins. "I can't wait! This is gonna be so--" And she vanishes! * Katie blinks. "Chik- oh, no." She looks around. Sculpting? Cool. * Meimi blinks. ...did Chikako just disappear in the middle of her catchphrase? Yes. Huh? ... * Katie checks to see if Haruko's still here. * Meimi looks at Haruko. [Katie sees Saki down the hall, lumbering towards them. She seems very eager to get to the group.] * Kyon rolls his eyes, and drops the paper next to his bag on the floor, rocking back on his heels and scanning the area. * Meimi blinks twice. [And Haruko is still there!] * Katie spots Saki. "Run!" and she's confused. "What's happening?" * Meimi turns around. Wha? Don't run... Hungry. Huh? * Katie points at Saki, then grabs Haruko by the arm and starts dashing in the other direction. "Move it!" ...oh. * Haruko is still confused, but doesn't resist. * Jiro grabs Meimi and takes off after Katie. Oh my. WAH! * Meimi is pulled! @_@ * Kyon picks the bag back up, and stalks quickly down the hall after them, muttering in Chinese under his breath. [And they run! But to where?] (An exit? :P) [And they run outside!] * Katie gasps for breath and fishes out her ear helpers. She puts them on. "I so do not need this today..." [Once they get to the school gates, the other students give them puzzled looks.] [But the fact that there are other students there to begin with is probably a good thing.] What's wrong?! * Haruko looks at her savior. "Umm... What's going on?" * Katie looks over at the students and nods. "Okay, so she's not close. I think." * Kyon stops several paces back from the others, just inside the door, and turns to look back down the hall. [Kyon sees a bunch of people. None of who is Saki, derranged or otherwise.] * Haruko still talking to Katie. "And what are those things? [indicating ear helpers] they look neat." Why the heck did we just run from Saki? * Jiro lets go of/sets down Meimi, frowning in confusion. ( They're ear helpers. They give a level of superstrength to her ears. ^^ ) ( Yeah. She can use her ears to fly, they're so strong. ) Um... they're like hearing aids, kind of. Uh.... I dunno. Isn't she... y'know... our friend? Sort of? * Katie looks around again, then relaxes a bit. "She was in that... um. Want-to-eat-you thing." * Haruko seems to have completely forgetten being dragged out of the school just moments ago. "Can I see?" ^^ * Kyon steps out towards the group, and regards Haruko coolly without saying anything. ... Don't say a word, Kyon. * Haruko ignores Kyon, having not seen his motorcycle yet. * Meimi flicks her wrist and a deck of cards appears in her hand. * Meimi fans the cards toward Haruko. "Pick one, if you please." * Katie removes the ear helpers and idly tucks them away. "Sure, Haruko, in a little bit." * Haruko replies "Thanks!" and then casually draws a card. So, do I memorize it and put it back in the deck? * Jiro watches the drawing and such, since he's always liked card tricks. If you like. * Meimi waits for her to put it back. * Haruko looks at the card, and then returns it. * Meimi shuffles the deck quickly, adding a few shuffling tricks for good measure, and fans the cards for her again. Take another. * Haruko does so, watching Meimi to try to figure out the trick. * Kyon watches the whole scene, hands jammed back in his pockets. He's watching Haruko's hands. It's the same as the first one, isn't it? * Jiro just watches the cards, in an entirely non-suspicious manner. ^_^ * Haruko looks. "Yep, neat trick since I got to pick the card." * Meimi smiles broadly. * Haruko ponders how it was done. ^_^_v What card is it? Queen of Cups, hmm.. this isn't a normal deck is it? * Katie casts a vaguely worried glance at Kyon. Oh, it's a perfectly normal deck. * Kyon looks Haruko over again, and shakes his head. "Great. I get all the fledglings these days." But, cups aren't a usual suit are they? ^^; The magic is all mine. And yours. And Kyon's. And Katie's. And Jiro's. And Satoshi's, but he's probably at hockey practice. They're a suit of the tarot, silly. Dont' you read my column? * Meimi edges over to Kyon and stomps delictely on his toes with her heel. * Katie giggles. * Haruko looks embarrassed, "Oh, yeah, your column, I must have forgotten." Stop whining, Kyon. It's not good for you. * Haruko ponders. * Haruko casually looks through paper to see if she can find Meimi's column. * Meimi has a column called "Meimi-sama, Mistress of the Tarot." * Meimi also does the horoscopes for the paper. * Kyon looks irritably down at Meimi, then over to Katie. "Then you can repeat everything this time. Since you don't mind." Oh, but I repeated everything *last* time, remember? Ah, yeah, Tarot, I think I saw that in a Bond movie once. Not one of my favorites though. * Haruko ignores the Arcana talk. You think that's impressive, just watch this. ^_^ * Meimi pulls a card from the deck. It's The Moon. She hands it to Haruko. * Haruko ponders a bit more. Oh? Were they all Queen of Cups? Dang, I need a new theory * Meimi pulls another card from the deck. It's also The Moon. She hands it to Haruko. * Kyon shrugs disinterestedly. "So you won't mind doing it again." * Katie rolls her eyes, then lightly thwaps Kyon on the back of the head. "" * Haruko is impressed, but her attention is starting to wander back to the ear helpers. * Meimi flips the deck over. They're _all_ The Moon. Can I have my cards back now? Wow. Yep! [returns cards] * Katie pulls the ear helpers out of her pocket and hands them to Haruko. "Maybe we should go somewhere instead of just standing in the cold like this." * Kyon stops, and glares down softly and calmly at Katie, his eyes glinting red. * Haruko is entranced. * Katie smiles sweetly at Kyon. * Meimi shuffles the cards a bit and then flicks her wrist, making them disappear to... somewher. * Haruko tries on an ear helper, then returns to fiddling with it. * Haruko has satisfied her curiosity, cleans them off and returns them to Katie. "Thanks, neat stuff." * Katie nods and takes them back. "If you want a pair, I can point you to a site where you can get them." Naw, I just like looking at things I haven't seen before. But thanks! ^_^ * Katie smiles. "You're welcome." * Kyon smirks at Katie. "" I say we go to the lounge. * Katie blinks, then turns to Kyon. She frowns. It's nice and comfortable. [The old man who you never get to fully see speaks! "Nah, you don't want to go there."] * Meimi slips an arm around Haurko's shoulders, and her other arm around Jiro's arm, and starts walking slowly to the lounge. I certainly do, old fart. * Jiro is lead to the lounge. Come along, if you two aren't going to do it, _I_ have to explain. [As soon as Meimi turns around, she nearly bumps into her imaginary friend. "No, he's right this time."] * Katie sighs and walks after Meimi. "Um... are you sure you want to go back into the schoo- oh, hi Takeo." * Takeo waves casually. "Yo. Huh? * Haruko begins to look bored. Hello, Takeo-kun. Why don't we want to go to the lounge? * Kyon rolls his eyes at the new guy, and looks back to Katie. "" He smirks more heavily. Well, I don't have anything to do, but I had been planning to go home. It's where people get eaten! Besides, there's more important things to attend to. Eaten? That's what they say. * Katie glares at Kyon. "" * Haruko looks flummoxed. "As in cannabilism?" Yes. That's the idea, yeah. Eeep. Uh. Woa. * Takeo shrugs and grins. "But how would I know? after all, you can't eat something that's not real." * Haruko recovers, and seems disbelieving. "I obviously should start actually reading the paper." It's not in the paper. * Takeo laughs. Okay, okay. We'll go somewhere else. Oh, Haruko... meet Takeo-kun, my imaginary friend. * Kyon shakes his head bemusedly. "" * Haruko bows. "Hello Takeo; nice to meet you. What's it like to be an imaginary friend?" * Jiro tries to think of something worse than being torn up and eaten and fails. * Takeo shrugs. "Whatever Meimi feels like making me." At least, usually. Oh? [Looks strangely at Meimi] I told you, he's _my_ imaginary friend. Except that someone else is hijacking him right now. But I don't mind. He's still cool, even if he _is_ everything I'm not. [The old man speaks! "Isn't that an understatement?"] He's also everything _you're_ not, old man. I swear, sometimes I think you're another imaginary friend. So he really isn't real? [Tenatively reaches out to touch Takeo on the arm] Some friend. [He appears again! This time, he doesn't vanish. "You're so completely wrong, it's not even funny.] * Katie blinks and looks over at the man. * Takeo feels real enough. * Jiro tries to grasp the concept of having an imaginary enemy, then notices that the old guy's still there. "Huh?" * Kyon bites back his reply to spin and look at the old man levelly. * Meimi turns to look at the old dude. Uh, what the hell is going on? Mr. Fudge?! You're the old fart?! In the flesh. Well, metaphorically. * Jiro is too confused to even say "Huh?" Why the hell is my second grade teacher insulting me and then running away? ... What? Because you created me to be mean to you. You know that. ... I always picked on you, because I'm biased against you because you're so smart, remember? This is what I do. * Meimi clenches her fists. * Jiro stares vacantly. Then he clutches his head briefly and looks around for somewhere to sit. I'm over that, old man. * Katie tilts her head. [Jiro sees a very inviting concrete path :P] * Haruko has no idea what's going on but starts paying close attention. That's what you think. * Kyon rocks back on his heels and watches the man, hands jammed in his pockets. ... ...so you're a figment of my imagination? You could put it that way. * Takeo imitates Kyon! * Jiro has a seat on the concrete path. So what are you saying? That I hate myself? Well, that might have been true at some point. * Haruko moves over to Katie and quietly asks "What's happening?" * Katie glances at Haruko, then smiles a little. "Some of the mystery is being solved, maybe. We'll explain as well as we can." So if I don't hate myself anymore, why are you still around? * Kyon doesn't seem to register Takeo's movements. He just watches. I'm just part of the ploy, that's all. * Haruko nods, and returns to watching attentively. But don't worry, it looks like it failed. Part of WHAT ploy? Who the hell has hijacked Takeo-kun? Someone with greater powers of illusion than you. Like I said. Don't worry, it'll all become clear soon. ... Hmph. Too bad you won't be around to see it. Are you threatening me? What's to threaten? * Jiro blinks and looks up, about to ask a question, then stops and frowns. ... What's that supposed to mean? I'm simply stating a fact. We're almost done here. We? Yep. ... So what, you're saying I'm an illusion like you? That's right. And now there's no more use for you. ...bull. * Jiro blinks. I AM NOT AN ILLUSION! You think? Guess again. [MrFudge and Meimi start fading away!] * Katie yelps. "Meimi!" * Meimi throws herself at MrFudge. * Haruko frowns and murmurs a prayer. [When Meimi collides with him, they're both gone.] * Katie runs forward, trying to put her hands where they were before. * Jiro jumps to his feet and tries to grab onto Meimi, but, of course, fails. * Takeo sighs. "That took a bit longer than I thought." * Kyon blinks hard at Meimi's disappearance, then casually looks around at the people around them. * Katie whirls to face Takeo. "What do you mean?" [Most of the students who had been milling about have gone off by now.] [The ones who are left aren't paying attention to your group. Lucky you.] * Haruko looks at Takeo. "What has the hijacker done to her?" Hmmm... I guess it's about time. Time for *what*? Why are you people so puzzling? * Jiro stands there, looking terribly lost. Remember your old friend Taki? You ought to pay her a visit. Catch ya later! * Takeo vanishes! Why... * Katie sighs. * Katie looks at where Meimi used to be, then scowls. She starts walking to the train station. * Haruko looks determined. "Could someone please explain to me why the world has gone insane." Because the world is insane. Come on, it's time to be led by the nose. * Jiro abruptly stops standing there and starts following after Katie. * Kyon looks at where Takeo was irritably, and scowls at Haruko. "Great. Fine. C'mon, kid. I'll explain on the way. Looks like I'll need you." He starts walking off towards his bike. * Haruko scowls then sees the bike. "OK, I'll ride with you." [So a trainride/bikeride and an explanation later, they're in the hospital!] * Haruko strives mightily to take it all in, her state of mind greatly enhanced by hearing the story on the back of the motorcycle. * Katie wanders in. * Haruko absentmindedly runs her hands over the bike while waiting for everyone to get here. * Kyon locks down the bike, and hops off of it. He looks at Haruko coolly. "What are you doing?" * Jiro walks in after Katie. * Haruko looks up, "Just appreciating a fine machine." Grins. * Katie starts up the stairs to Taki's room. Because, well, she should probably get a head start. * Jiro continues following wordlessly. * Kyon shakes his head, and turns away from Haruko. "Right. Just come on." * Haruko slowly runs her hand off the back of the bike, then tearing herself away, follows the group. [So they all go to Taki's empty room! Yup, empty.] * Jiro stares. * Katie blinks. Oh, no. [The bed is nicely made, and there's no indication that she was ever there.] Could she have checked out? * Katie looks around. "This is not funny. No, she was too hurt..." * Kyon steps in, and looks over the room, frowning slightly. He pulls out his cel phone, and does a quick check through it for Taki's phone number. [Kyon finds it :P] * Katie walks over to the bed and runs her hands lightly over it. * Haruko looks for a nurse to ask about Taki. [One walks by, conveniently] * Kyon watches Katie with mingled coolness and worry, and dials out the number. Pardon me, we're looking for a friend of ours named Taki who had been in this room. Do you know where she is now? [Kyon's phone rings a few times, then an automated voice answering system tells him the number has been disconnected.] * Nurse furrows her brow. "Pardon?" * Katie sits heavily on the bed, staring blankly ahead. * Haruko looks to Katie for help. "Could you give the nurse a description?" * Katie blinks at Haruko, then the nurse. "Oh." * Kyon looks from the nurse to Katie and back, and dials in Kyoko's number. Red and blue hair. Purple eyes. Maybe fifteen years old. Went to Sakuragaoka. [No response, but she's probably at work.] * Nurse shakes her head. "I'm sorry. I don't recognize that description." It's okay. * Nurse bows and apologizes, then gets back to her duties. * Kyon curses softly in Chinese, and dials in Satoshi's number. [No response, unless he shows up in the next minute :P] * Katie sighs and closes her eyes. * Haruko bites her lip. * Takeo pops his head around the corner of the door. "See? Told ya." * Katie jumps up and grabs Takeo by the shoulders. "What the hell is going on?" * Jiro turns and glares at Takeo. * Takeo grins. "One more stop. C'mon." * Kyon looks over the people in the room, and straightens up. He looks at Takeo coolly, and pulls his hands out of his pockets. * Katie blinks, and tears run down her cheeks. "What now?" You'll see, if you haven't guessed already. Fine. Where are we going? * Takeo motions for everyone to follow, then disappears around the corner. * Katie walks after him. * Haruko follows Katie. [As they exit the room, they catch Takeo walking into the elevator. Through the doors.] * Jiro follows. * Kyon stalks to the elevator, and jams the button. * Katie frowns, but steels herself and presses the button. [Jiro walks into the doors? Either way, the elevator arrives shortly. Takeo is leaning against the far wall. "What kept ya?"] * Katie shrugs and gets into the elevator, staying close to the doors. * Jiro gets in the elevator. Down, Takeo? Yeah. * Kyon steps in, and shrugs disinterestedly. * Haruko boards and glares at Takeo. * Katie presses the appropriate button, then concentrates on not freaking out as the door closes. * Takeo pouts. "Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm not even real!" I'd be a nice guy if I had any control over my personality! Honest! [The elevator arrives on the first floor.] * Jiro scowls. * Haruko relents. OK, but could you stop being so chipper, people may be hurt, or worse. * Kyon steps off, and waits just outside the doors, scanning the corridor. Actually, I can't do that. I've got no control over myself. A bit sad, isn't it? Or funny, depending how you look at it. * Katie gets out as quickly as possible. She gasps for air. * Takeo steps out, pointing down the hall towards a distant set of double doors. "Anyhow, go down there. I'll meet you on the other side." Then he vanishes. * Jiro gets out too, and goes where indicated like a good boy. * Katie leans against the wall. She shuts her eyes for a moment, then opens them and starts down the hall. * Haruko follows along. [Eventually, they reach the doors. Moving through them, they spot Takeo leaning against the wall by the second room to the left.] * Kyon follows behind, scanning the hospital for anything interesting as he goes. * Jiro approaches Takeo. * Katie does the same, yup. [Kyon sees nothing particularly amazing.] * Takeo nods to the doorway. "This is the one. Go say hello." * Katie blinks at Takeo. * Jiro opens the door. * Kyon stands against the far wall from the door, looking in as Jiro opens it. [Inside the room is a single bed with an unmoving form inside. You can't make out details from here.] * Katie peeks in, then shakes her head. She walks (perhaps suicidally) towards the bed. * Jiro walks up to the bed. * Haruko cautiously follows. Hello? [There's an IV bag attached to whoever's in the bed. Also a bunch of other machines. Monitors, oxygen masks, and the like. There's no nurses in the room, and no guests either.] [The person does not respond to Haruko.] * Katie glances around. She tries to get a better look at the person. [Katie succeeds. The person in the bed is Meimi Sakazaki.] * Katie screams and stumbles back. * Jiro stands there. * Haruko approaches the bed, and tries to figure out what is wrong with Meimi. [There's a medical chart.] * Haruko reads the chart. * Katie stands there, trying to get ahold of herself. She doesn't seem to be doing too good a job. * Kyon stalks in quickly, and looks at the bed. He looks down at Meimi coolly. "Right." * Chart reads. "Name: Meimi Sakazaki. Age: 16" * Haruko looks for any details about her condition, or when she checked in. * Chart continues: "Subject is in a permanent coma after a car accident. Parents were killed in the accident. No known surviving relatives." * Chart goes on to describe some medical mumbo jumbo that probably isn't too useful to you anyhow, so I won't bother to relate it. [Katie understands the useless information. Wai.] * Katie wipes at her eyes. "So all this time Meimi was..." She shakes her head. * Takeo pops around the corner. "You get it now?" Meimi... she made an illusion of herself? After all, the Moon is master of deciet. * Kyon holds out a hand for the chart. "Let me see that." * Haruko hands the chart to Kyon. And who could be more powerful with illusions than the Moon herself? * Jiro keeps standing there, staring. * Katie opens her mouth, then closes it. She nods. "Was... Meimi the same Meimi, though?" She was what she was. Don't ask me. I'm not real. She's been very lonely, though. Understandable. Being in a coma has got to suck. * Kyon scans it quickly, and puts it on the bed. He turns and looks at Takeo, looking at him full on distastefully. "And she's still putting you out?" * Haruko puts a hand on Meimi and whispers a prayer for her. Well... Sorta. I- I don't understand. Why not? No, I mean, I do, but then... Why all of this, then? What about Taki, was she an illusion, too? That's right. Although whether or not a real Taki Shimiru exists, I don't know. I sure exist! Except, I'm not me. I'm someone Meimi met once but probably doesn't even remember. But you'll learn that soon enough. * Kyon raises an eyebrow, and speaks levelly. "So it's not just the Moon doing you now, then?" Oh, no. She created me. What about, what's his name, Shingo, was he real? She created me, and Taki, Shingo, and Mimi. Shingo? She created Shingo, too? Yes. But there is also a real Shingo. Remember? I told you to go meet him. So... oh my god. She even created a Saki, once. You remember her, too, I'll bet. Ah... which one is that? The one that vanished, of course. So the Saki that keeps trying to eat us is the fake? Is she? I don't know about that. * Katie frowns. "So... Takeo, maybe you know." I just know she created a Saki from Saki. It wouldn't be too hard for someone of her capabilities. But as to how many Saki's there are in the first place... Well, that's anyone's guess. How many were there? * Takeo shrugs. * Kyon shakes his head tersely, and smirks. "The biker girl'll still make a good ally. And you haven't answered my question. Is the Moon still the one running you? Or is there someone else?" Don't know. Or care, even. Of course she is! But you know, she's running many people at once. She can't keep their personalities straight. So, a different part of Meimi is the hijacker. * Takeo shrugs again. "Meimi is Meimi. Make of it what you will." * Katie wraps her arms around herself. Can we do anything to help her? Even a single illusionary life is better than a coma. * Takeo laughs. Why, that's what she's been doing! She's not very good at it, though. First there was Taki. Poor gal. She started doing well, but I guess Meimi didn't like something about her. So she confused that man with her illusions, making him think he was insane, and had him shoot her. It would have been sad. If she were real. * Katie shudders. She was real enough. Well, yeah. That's Meimi's specialty, you know. * Kyon looks away from Takeo and back towards Meimi on the bed, flicking his glance up towards the monitors. He shakes his head quickly. She tried to run Shingo at the same time. That was a mistake on her part. He didn't seem to get along with any of you, so, out he went. * Katie flinches at that. At least Taki got your attention after getting shot. * Haruko pinches herself, hoping to verify her own reality. You don't know what it was like. Next, she tried herself. For a while, it was pretty good. * Takeo nods towards Jiro. "I never understood what she saw in him, though." Jealous? If I am, it's only because she wants me to be. Fair enough. At any rate, she took more drastic measures, tried to set up some fun games for you. But that failed utterly. I suppose things got a bit out of hand recently, but they'll probably just get worse anyhow. Oh well. * Katie stares at Takeo blankly. She isn't even fidgeting. * Takeo shoves his hands in his pockets. "Anyhow, now you know the story!" * Kyon turns and looks at Takeo sidewise. "Games?" * Takeo looks at Kyon in the same manner. "You never figured it out?" You know, illusions are powerful things. You can drive people insane pretty easily. * Kyon shrugs disinterestedly. "I didn't pay attention to her much. We didn't get along." It wasn't hard for Meimi to confuse someone into causing that murder a few weeks ago. Hell, I'm not even sure she realizes she's responsible. * Haruko blanches. Her power's just a *bit* out of conrtol. But at least she's a lot more powerful than she realizes. * Kyon turns around the rest of the way, and looks at him clinically. "And there's no chance of her ever waking up?" Dunno. I'm not a doctor. She's not going to be done with you for a while, though. Why not? Beats me. Guess she's obsessed. ... Did this all start with me, or did she start with someone else? I suppose it was with you originally, yes. Don't ask me why. All I know is she isn't going to stop any time soon. And how am I supposed to know what's really happening and what's not? Beats me. What does she want? Hurting people for entertainment is not OK. I don't know. I don't think she even knows. I don't think she's fully aware of just what she's doing. Can we talk to her directly? Not a chance in hell. I think she's going to start doing more bad things, though. * Takeo smiles. "In fact, I think she's doing it right now." [Session End]