[You leave. There is much snow and ice.] * Katie walks, leading Nanami out, but somehow as she goes she seems more and more nervous. * Nanami yanks back her arm and stands in the cold. She left her jacket inside so seems pretty inappropriately dressed, but puts her hands on her hips. "Okay. Spill." * Katie checks out her coat. "Fine. Where do you want to talk? We could even stay here, if you really want." I don't care. I just want to know why my brother's here. Why you're here. And what you meant. Okay, come on. Back inside. I don't need to freeze while I tell you this. * Katie muses, then shakes her head. "Actually, no. Let's just... find a restaurant or something." She heads off in a randomish direction. [Katie finds a nice Okonomiyaki house.] * Nanami follows behind. "Hey, wait you!" * Katie opens the door and waits for Nanami to enter. * Nanami gives Katie a slight look, then looks in the restaurant. "I don't like this place.." I don't like that club. You think *I* do? No. If I were you, I'd be running from there and trying to keep myself from screaming. I mean, I'm lucky they even let me in in the first place. As it was, I was just trying to keep from screaming. So. * Nanami smirks slightly and brushes her braid out of her face. "Well, you're not me, are you?" * Katie smiles faintly. "I never said I was. But I'm going in, because I'm cold and tired. You can come with, if you want." * Katie walks on in. * Nanami shrugs. "Fine, fine." She walks right in after Katie. "I didn't think it'd be so cold... or I'd be out so late." Why did you decide to go there, anyway? You're not really dressed for it. * Katie goes and orders something small (from the Okonomiyaki Guy?). The Okonomiyaki Guy smiles as you step in. "Hi every-bo-di!" he says, "What can I get you to-day?" * Nanami orders one of the bigger platters despite what she said. "I told you, I was following my brother." * Katie takes it and heads to a table. "Yeah? You spy on him often?" * Nanami frowns and gives Katie a steady stare for a few minutes before hmmphing and turning away. "I don't like your attitude." I don't like yours. Come on, sit down and eat something. Yeah, yeah. Who said it really mattered? You're the ones intruding anyways. * Katie has a sip of tea and looks over at Nanami. "Your brother's a big boy. He can make his own decisions." Yeah, but what he's doing is WRONG! He shouldn't just leave us like that! I mean..I mean... * Nanami looks like she's on the verge of tears. * Katie blinks, then sighs. "Sit down." She helps Nanami sit down. "You want to know why he's gone all the time?" * Nanami frowns slightly and sniffs into a napkin. "I just...I don't know...he's supposed to be better than that..." They're saying they might have to pull the plug on grampa if we can't make the next payments... It's not a question of being better, Nanami. It's... no. I won't let them. * Katie frowns. "How much money do you need?" * Nanami looks up at Katie. "Why do you need to know?" Because I won't let them pull the plug on your grandfather. I'll do anything in my power to help stop it. So. How much money do you need? * Nanami bites her lip. "I...I can't ask for that much..." I probably can't *give* you that much. Poor high school student, right? But... maybe I could help raise it for you. Well...I think we need about 200,000 yen...it's..hard to raise with just the two of us...and if we hire someone else.. * Katie hrms. "By when?" * Nanami takes a deep breath. "A month...maybe two if the doctor is nice enough to help.." * Katie stares. "God. That's almost no time." * Nanami looks down at her food, poking it idly with her chopstick and looking glum. "I don't want grampa to die..." He's not going to die. * Katie frowns as she thinks. "I'm going to try to sell some of my artwork. Maybe a few carvings. I've got enough of those. I'll talk to the others about it, too." If we all chip in some, we can probably help you along. * Nanami looks up at Katie. "Why do you care anyways? I mean.." She bites her lip. "Sorry, that was rude..." * Katie smiles faintly and shakes her head. "It's okay." Kaede's my friend. I care about him and his family. Yeah...I guess... * Nanami stirs her tea with her other chopstick. * Katie watches Nanami. "I know." She sips at her own tea. So...how'd you guys meet then? He's in one of my classes. * Katie pauses. "And... well, you're not going to believe this without a demonstration." * Nanami looks up from her drink, brushing her braid out of her eyes. "What? * Katie glances around the restaurant, then looks down at Nanami's tea. "Okay. Watch." She concentrates, and the tea ripples. A warm breeze filters up from it, swirling around Nanami's face and toying with her hair. * Nanami screams and looks up, patting down her own hair. "Ack! How did you do that?" * Katie snaps her fingers, and the breeze stops just like that. "Magic. Kaede has it, just like the rest of the Arcana." My...my brother can do that? Not that. Something else, except I don't know what yet. * Katie smiles sheepishly. "We've known I had... something for some time, but I've only figured out some of what I can do recently." Huh...that's weird. * Nanami chuckles a little nervously, looking at her tea. "He's always seemed a bit...weird." * Katie nods. "It's weird. And dangerous." * Katie laughs. Being weird isn't a requirement, I think. * Nanami grins slightly. "You're all nuts, you know that?" * Katie shakes her head. "We've got good reason to be." She pokes at her food some, then takes a bite. * Nanami takes a bite too. "But you never really said how you met? Just because he's in a class..I mean he's had classes with other people before.." He was in a class with me when... everyone disappeared. You see, some Arcana can make these fields. And sometimes, in these fields, all people who aren't Arcana? * Katie makes a gesture. "Vanish. Like that." * Nanami looks at Katie. "You're kidding me right?" Actually? No. Take my word for it, okay? I can't show you. I don't think I can make the fields, and even if I could, you wouldn't notice. But... that's how I found out your brother's an Arcana. Because I was sitting in a full class one minute, and then the next it was just me and him. So...my brother would just disappear one second? Like that? No, the thing is, he didn't disappear. I'm meaning from me...you said people disappear too right. So it'd look like my brother disappeared to me if he was caught in one of these things? * Katie nods. "Yeah, I don't know what it looks like from a normal person's end. But they don't seem to notice anything." So it's like...a time stop sorta thing? * Katie nods and blinks as the phone rings. She activates it and puts it to her ear. "Hello?" * Katie nods. "Okay. Nobody got hurt, did they? If they did, tell me it was the guy with Nanami." * Nanami looks up, confused again at Katie. Her eyes are just staring at her. * Katie nods. "Good. I'm with Nanami, at an okonomiyaki house nearby. I was just telling her a few things. She knows, Satoshi." Just about the existance of Arcana, and that Kaede is one. Nothing more than that. I was going to tell her, but haven't gotten the chance yet. And... there are a few other things to talk about. * Katie nods. "All right." She gives him directions to where she is. * Katie hangs up and sighs, looking back to Nanami. "Where were we?" * Nanami leans over towards Katie. "So you all got, like, super cool special powers right? What do the other guys do?" Um, well. I don't know about Satoshi just yet, but he doesn't look like he cares about cold weather or anything. And they're on their way. Kyon can... make fire. I've seen Haruko heal people. Taki can teleport. And... that guy with the fishnet shirt on? He... I think he used his power on you. [Just then, everyone else arrives.]