[Day: Monday, March 3rd. Time: 2:50 p.m.] [Weather: Cloudy, but pleasantly warm.] [It's the start of a brand new week! ... Oh goodie. Well, the students are starting to recover from the attack, thanks to the morale boost from Saturday's festival. You gather at the lockers!] [Session Start!] * Satoshi opens his locker and does the usual exchanging of books. He also pulls out a small box, wrapped in silver paper with a white bow. He looks at it nervously, then tucks it into the pocket of his pants. * Katie swaps books. Book swapping is good for you. * Kaede walks over to his locker, looking a bit dazed as he goes over to it, opening it and doing the same. It seems kind of detached. * Haruko wanders down the hall, she looks a little sleepy, but just a little. * Taki walks slowly down the hall with a large, rectangular box held carefully in front of her. * Katie finishes, closing her door with a flourish, and pulling her jacket on. She looks at the others, taking the sight in. "What's the box for, Taki? And... Kaede, are you okay?" * Satoshi walks over to the others and waves. "Afternoon, everybody." * Haruko rubs the side of her head with her hand for a moment and she leans against a locker. "Afternoon Satoshi." * Kaede closes the locker and leans against it, pushing his glasses up at Katie. "Yeah..I'm just a little exhausted. I never thought..." * Taki says in a voice that's still a little rough,but with a big grin, "This box? Birthday cakes...Well birthday cupcakes realy." * Kaede shakes his head slightly and groans. "Nanami's terrible in some respects, but she seemed to really sell us pretty well at the festival. We got swamped over the weekend." That's good to hear. I...wasn't expecting it. * Katie blinks, turning to Taki. "Birthday?" She blinks again, then says, "Today's your birthday?" Yep! * Haruko smiles broadly at Taki for a moment "Happy Birthday!" She then looks over to Kaede. "Any of the people I sent towards your stand make it there?" And I didn't know! I was working on your present, but... never mind. How old are you now? I don't know...it's... * Kaede blinks and looks at Taki. "...birthday?" * Satoshi smiles. "Yeah, Happy Birthday!" He then looks a bit nervous. "I... uh..." I know should have planned a party or something, but it's been just me and my dad for so long....And I'm sixteen now! I'm sure we can work something out. * Katie grins. "Happy birthday." I think I missed out on a few years of my life, but it realy doesn't matter now. * Haruko blinks at Taki's comment, but doesn't say anything in response. * Satoshi looks slightly confused at Taki's comment, but also doesn't say anything. * Taki stuggles to open her box, "Anyway, if anybody wants one, they're chocolate." * Katie moves to help Taki with box-opening. * Taki manages to get the box open with Katie's help and reveals that most of the frosting survived the trip still on the cupcakes. * Haruko widens eyes and eagerly looks at the cupcakes, "Thank you, I believe I'll take advantage of your generous offer." I'm...fine really. Thank you though. * Taki nods, "If you get hungry later I'm sure I'll have some left over." * Satoshi smiles brightly and takes a cupcake. "Thanks! And, um... I got something for you. I should probably give it to you later, though. When your hands aren't so full. And all." He blushes slightly and takes a bite out of the cupcake in an attempt to cover it. * Haruko glances at Taki for permission, and then gingerly takes a cupcake. * Kaede rubs his forehead as he leans back against the lockers. * Taki smiles up at Satoshi, "Thankyou." * Katie snickers. She takes a cupcake. "Thanks." [Chikako arrives! Cool!] * Katie goes to have a seat next to Kaede while unpeeling the cupcake and having a bite. "You sure you don't want one? They're really good." She waves. "Hi Chikako!" Hi Chikako! Cupcake? * Satoshi waves at Chikako, then swallows. "Heya, Chikako. Haven't seen you in a while." * Haruko takes a little bite from the cupcake. "Mmmm.. This is even better than I'd expect. Thanks!" I don't take much to too much sugar... * Chikako waves and grins! "Cupcakes? That's so cool!" No sugar? Hmm... Hi Chikako! I'd like to conspire with you at some point, but it doesn't have to be today. * Taki offers the box to Chikako as she thinks. * Kaede rubs his head again, looking slightly down at the ground. "..Hey Chikako." * Satoshi munches some more. Yummy! :9 Tell me you're not thinking about- are you sure something isn't wrong, Kaede? * Chikako grabs a cupcake and nods to Haruko. "It's cool." She eats with one hand and fishes out a small box with a gold bow in the other. She holds it out to Taki and says between bites: "Happy birthday, Taki! Birthdays are so cool!" * Kaede looks up slightly, blinking at Katie. "..You're awfully concerned." I shouldn't be? Hey, I managed not to get Taki's present done in time. At least I can be concerned right. * Kaede smirks slightly. "It's just a headache, Katie Andrews." Thanks...Uhm... ::tries to balance the box in one hand so she can take Chikakos gift:: * Satoshi finishes his cupcake. "That was really good! Thank you, Taki." * Katie sticks a somewhat chocolatey tongue out at Kaede. "Be that way." What way? Ahh! You're welcome, can you hold the rest of them for a bit? * Haruko takes another bite of the cupcake. The sugar seems to be making her a bit less sleepy. * Katie munches on cupcake. "Mmph?" She chews and swallows. "The way you are." * Kaede scratches his head. "..Shouldn't I be that way?" * Chikako finishes her cupcake. Don't hurt your head over it. More, anyway. You always hurt my head. * Chikako holds up a copy of the school newspaper. "Want the paper? It has a cool article on the festival." I'd love one, but I've run out of hands. * Haruko finishes a bite and then glances up at Taki, smiling broadly. "Oh, and while it seems like your kitchen is working just fine, if you still want it blessed just name a day. I've cleared everything by my father." She then eagerly takes another small bite. * Kaede blinks up at Chikako. "Really? I'd like to check it out." * Satoshi looks for a trashcan to deposit his cupcake wrapper in, finds one, and does so. "Sure, Chikako. Thanks." * Haruko sticks out a hand, but is still chewing so she doesn't say anything. * Chikako hands Kaede the paper! * Katie grins. "I'd like to read it. Did we make the papers?" She finishes off her cupcake. * Kaede takes the paper! He then reads the paper! * Taki nods at Haruko, "I don't have any problems in there, it's when somebody else tries that things start burning." * Chikako nods to Katie and hands her a copy, too. And Haruko, for that matter. * Katie takes the paper and reads it. It's so cool! * Chikako hands everyone a copy of the paper :P * Haruko begins to read it while holding it in one hand. She keeps taking small bites as she goes, between bites she comments to Taki. "Oh, right, you'd mentioned that. I'll pass that on too, maybe there's a specific blessing for that sort of thing." * Satoshi happily accepts his copy of the paper and begins reading it. [The paper doesn't have very much information that really relates, but it does say that the most popular attraction was the hockey-team's dunk tank. There's a big picture of a confused-looking Jin with a caption: 'Got the most dunks today.' Satoshi's probably in that picture too, behind him. See that big splash there? Yeah, that's him.] * Taki slides Chikako's gift into a pocket, uses both of her hands to close the cupcake box, and then puts it down so she can read the paper. * Satoshi gets to the article and laughs. "Yeah, I thought about half the school tried to dunk me." * Katie giggles. I didn't. Set up the tank again, Satoshi, I want a turn. Impressive..it's hard to know whether they all like you or wanted vengeance though... There! ::giggles a bit:: Sure. * Kaede blushes slightly. "I'd have come but I was too busy being auctioned off by Nanami..." * Haruko smiles and skims the rest of the paper. Nah, it was all Haruko's advertizing for us. * Satoshi grins at Katie. "No." Then he turns to Kaede. "Vengeance? I hope not. Can't imagine what I could've done to annoy that many people..." * Haruko grins at Taki, then grins somewhat more sheepishly at Satoshi. * Kaede makes a face at what he said. Well, Haruko also made sure I didn't freeze to death, so I think she's forgiven. * Kyon turns the corner at the end of the hall, his bag slung back over shoulder and jutting out, a stack of papers in his head. He glances up towards the group, sees Chikako, and stalks down towards them. [The paper also announces Takako Matsumura as the lucky winner of the lottery. She wins a signed copy of Kensuke Sorazawa's new book.] * Haruko smiles and nods. "Whew." She then looks over to Kaede. "You were being auctioned off?" * Kaede grumbles and mentions slightly undertone. "Katie can tell you about it..." Auction? * Taki turns to Katie, "What's this all about?" * Katie grins. "Yeah, and I almost had him, but Remi raised the bid." [That's everything worthy of note...] * Haruko tilts her head, bemused. "How much did he go for? And what does she get to do with him now that she's won?" * Kaede lets out a small disapproving sound and folds his arms, not looking too amused. * Katie laughs. She exists solely to torture me and you're not helping matters at all, you realize... * Katie looks at Kaede, obviously amused. "Which 'she'?" * Haruko looks over Kaede. "Yeah, it's hard to tell." * Kyon surveys the group coolly, smirks, and nods to Chikako. He holds out his free hand for a paper. * Kaede scoffs at that and rolls his eyes. * Chikako giggles. "I think it's cool!" She also hands Kyon a copy of the paper :P * Taki eyes Kaede, "...Maybe It's not that bad being an only child." * Haruko glances over to Katie. "I don't think he means one of us." Yeah. Suddenly I'm glad I don't have any younger sisters. Or older ones. ...you really are all against me... * Haruko rolls her eyes at Kaede. "Yes, that's why I actively sent people to your stand. Not the best plan to make you miserable, but I try." * Satoshi looks at Kaede. "We're not against you. Just... not exactly envious of your position right now." * Chikako checks her watch. "I gotta go!" She waves. Okay. Bye, Chikako! * Haruko waves at Chikako. "I'll catch you later! Bye!" * Kaede sighs a bit. Bye Chikako! * Chikako runs off down the hall! "Cool. Later!" * Taki waves to Chikako and then notices Kyon, "Could I offer you a birthday cupcake?" * Haruko takes yet another small bite from her cupcake, its almost gone now. So Katie... Nothing happened after Ken...you know...right? * Kyon shifts the papers to one hand, and waves quickly at Chikako's back. Then he sets down his bag, rests the stack of papers on it, and starts reading. He glances over the top of it down at Taki. "Sure. Didn't have time for lunch today." * Haruko sits down against the locker and takes the last bite of her cupcake, afterwards she tries to take crumbs off the wrapper with her finger and then eat them. * Taki kneels down and opens the box of cupcakes, before standing and holding it out to Kyon, "They're all chocolate, so just pick one." * Kyon nods quickly, bends down, and takes one out gingerly, trying not to get any frosting on his hands. He nods quickly again to Taki, then straightens, and opens his paper again. Um... no. Nothing happened. Though we all met to talk about something later; not Ken and Taro, I mean. * Katie stands, looking around. Oh. Yeah. That. * Taki closes the box and puts it down again. * Kaede takes a deep breath. "Good. I mean..." * Haruko seems satisfied she's gotten as much of the cupcake as she's going to get, she then looks up. "Oh, Katie, about that... I've got another theory for you to poke holes in." * Kaede adjusts his glasses and closes his eyes. "...Taro just...creeps me out when he does that..." He's... pretty creepy. * Satoshi looks over at Katie. "No offense or anything, but... yeah." * Kyon doesn't eat the cupcake yet. He rests his eyes on the name of the girl who won the lottery, and rolls them. As if one wasn't enough. * Taki nods. * Katie looks at Haruko. "What? And yeah, he is." * Haruko nods in agreement with the group and then continues. "If I'm remembering a few readings correctly, Emperor is probaly either the mastermind behind the producers, or perhaps is the subject of the producers' ultimate plot, whatever that may be." * Taki scratches her head for a bit and then nods. ...isn't that kind of implied in the card in a way? * Haruko nods. "I'm thinking mastermind, but the readings could go either way... I think, I'm not really great at interpretation." * Satoshi decides to go the Jiro route on this one. "Huh?" What are you getting at? * Kyon turns down the paper, folds it up, looks irritatedly at the other papers, puts it down, and leans up against the lockers. Now he starts eating the cupcake, and listens. * Haruko shrugs. "Trying to fit one more piece in the puzzle." She then glances at Satoshi. "There were readings that had Emperor and Judgment either opposed or working together. So if Judgment is involved with the drugs.. probably follows that emperor is too." Wait, Judgment is involved with the drugs? I know the timing is linked, but you mean like..directly? * Katie sighs. "Yeah, it does." She turns to Kaede. "You missed it, but yesterday, we talked to Matthias. It turns out Judgement and the drugs showed up at about the same time." ...But you still can't tell which one's on which side, or if there's even a side with the drugs on right? Yes, they both showed around the same time...at all the schools... It's really weird, that... * Haruko nods to Taki. "I certainly can't. Even if we go with the obvious possibility and assume Emperor is the mastermind, we don't know what side Judgment's on." Right. On top of that, we think that the drug dealers might just be around as a distraction. It's a little weird that there's no leaks. * Taki nods back at Haruko. And then there's that Chariot guy... he's pretty high up, right? He's gotta be powerful, if he's a card like that and not a Wand or Cup or whatever. If I'm right, he's the Emperor's chief lieutenant. * Kaede blinks at that. "The dealers are distractions?" Maybe. We don't know. I think it's pretty likely. * Katie waves vaguely. "The dealers don't know anything, or one of them had to have talked by now. There's enough, right?" * Kaede furrows his brow. "...Who told you about this again?" * Haruko looks up at Katie. "You seemed to think I was completely wrong about Jin. You have a theory about that?" Matthias. * Kaede frowns slightly. "Matthias." * Katie looks at Haruko. "I *still* don't understand where you get that Jin brought us to drug related sites twice." * Haruko tilts her head confused. Chariot. He's a druglord, Jin brought us somewhere that we could meet him. There were incidents at Tokugawa, weren't there? Okay. What about the other time? Yeah, there were. There's incidents everywhere. What I want to know is why he's never brought me. Yeah but...did Matthias mention anyone specific? Two, the dual murder scene. The sucide guy had been on drugs I thought, and the other was thought to be a drug related killing. * Kaede looks idly at Haruko. "Jin brings people everywhere though." Unless that restaurant you were eating at when we first met him was a drug related scene. And we're not even sure it was Jin who brought us to that place. * Katie eyes Haruko. He might not have brought us there. We didn't see him there, did we? * Satoshi turns to Kaede. "Exactly." And...to that freaky fortuneteller... Have any of you...talked to her again? * Haruko shrugs. "He showed up afterwards. And we arrived without knowing how we got there." The girl who goes to the same school as your sister? * Kaede nods. * Taki blinks at Katie, "So there's three of us that can teleport?" * Kaede rubs his head slightly. "I'm confused..." No, I haven't. I was thinking about doing it today. Yes, but Haruko, that doesn't mean he brought us there. Three? Who's the third? Even if you're right, every *other* time he brought us somewhere, he'd always let us know he's there. Who ever it was that took Katie to the place she's talking about and wasn't me or Jin. Ahh. Yeah. ...I've got to make a call. * Katie sighs and leans back against the lockers, putting a hand to her forehead. "Really, you have no proof behind your idea, Haruko." * Haruko rubs the side of her head. "Alright, maybe Jin can't do the teleport thing, and is just attracted by it or something." Ooh! That reminds me! ::takes off her backpack and starts diging through it:: * Kaede goes to a place where he can get some privacy when he talks on the phone and dials. * Taki comes up with a small blue and silver cellphone and an instruction booklet that's three times it's size. No, it's all circumstantial. But it's magic, it's not like I can do the math or something. I'm just trying to make sense of what's going on.. if you have a better idea idea I'll gladly hear it. I don't have a better idea because I'm *not* going to put together assumption after assumption and call them fact. * Haruko frowns slightly. "I've never called it fact. I'm guessing, and if enough of my assumptions are right, things might start fitting together." * Taki nods at Haruko, "A guess is better than nothing. You just have to remember that it might be wrong." * Taki then looks down at her new phone "...Now which button turns this on again?" * Satoshi sighs. "It's not like we have anything better to go with right now. Might as well speculate." * Haruko nods at Taki. "I try to keep that in mind. There's a difference between supported assumptions and guesses, I don't base important choices on the latter." * Katie gestures frustratedly. "You say Jin's being influenced by something to involve us with drugs. You say that like it's fact." * Kyon shrugs quickly, and looks sidewise at Satoshi. "Get Jin. I'll give him another try. Got something from him last time." What, right now? * Kyon looks over the others irritatedly. "Better than arguing about it when neither side has good enough proof either way." * Taki continues to fiddle with her phone, and after a few moments it beeps at her. * Haruko glances up at Katie, puzzled. "It's not a fact, I'm sorry if I presented it as one. I just think it may be significant that two of the four times we've mysteriously moved around, Jin ended up being there. Maybe it's the mysterious movement and Jin is a side effect. I don't know causality." Okay. If you want me to go get Jin, I guess I'd better leave now. Where should I meet you guys? Wait.. I said that wrong. All four times Jin was there, two had some links drugs. You know, Kyon? If you have a problem with me, you can tell me. * Katie looks at Haruko. "Two out of four?" * Taki turns her phone back off again and stands up. * Haruko looks a bit concerned and is speaking softly but clearly. "The other two were Kaede showing up at the dinner, and the fortune teller. Am I forgetting any?" * Kyon looks at Satoshi, cooling the irritation off his face first. "My apartment. How long will that take you?" * Katie frowns. "I'd need to think about it, and I'm not thinking clearly right now. But half the time? I don't think that's enough to be sure he's dragging us into drug related things. Half of anything about this," she waves vaguely, "is drug related." * Kyon turns back to Katie. "If I had a problem with you, I would tell you." He smirks. "You may have noticed, I'm not shy." * Haruko nods, her tone is quite agreeable. "Alright. That's true. It could be he was just introducing us to Arisu and Chariot, rather than doing drug related stuff." Okay. Give me about... *ponders* ...forty-five minutes, then. If that's what you think is the best thing to do. * Katie turns to Kyon. "I may have noticed you prefer saying things about people rather than to them." It- it really doesn't matter, though. I think I'll finish Taki's present. But if Judgement isn't related to Jin. Then there are at least two mysterious forces related to this school, Judgment in the readings, and one that seems to attract.... But yeah.. I'll let you think. * Taki blinks. * Satoshi remembers something. "Oh!" * Taki blinks again. * Haruko stands up and runs her hand through her hair, twirling a few strands around a finger. * Satoshi pulls the box out of his pocket and hands it to Taki. "I should give this to you now, before I go and I forget again." * Katie grabs her satchel and turns to Taki. "Happy birthday, really. And... I'm sorry about this." She hurries for the door. * Taki takes it. "Thankyou Satoshi I'll open when you ge...Chikako! I forgot about her preseant!" Uhm..Katie? Wha's... Katie? What's wrong? * Kyon looks over Katie and Haruko, then back to Satoshi. "Maybe not, then." He bends down to the stack of papers, and picks it up again. He watches Katie run off, then leans down again, picks up his bag, and stalks quickly after her, wordlessly. * Taki blinks in confusion... "I've missed something." * Haruko watches Katie and looks over at Taki, "Did I do something wrong?" I... I don't know. I...don't think so... * Kaede peeks up from his cellphone, blinking. Katie? * Satoshi sighs. "I don't know what's going on anymore." * Katie doesn't acknowledge Kaede; she just pushes the door open and exits. * Haruko keeps playing with her hair and paces a bit, looking a bit sad. "I know all this speculation can get annoying, but I just want to understand what's going on." * Kyon follows along behind Katie, still not saying anything yet. He looks around him as he goes, checking for people around. Uhm...I'm going to go try to find out...Do you want to take the rest of the cupcakes home with you? I know. I don't agree with you on the Jin/drug thing, but at least I'm... oh, never mind. I'll go pick up Jin. See you guys at Kyon's place. We'll get it all sorted out later. Seeya! That is where we're meeting, right? * Haruko nods. Okay. See you then. * Satoshi heads off, in the opposite direction that Katie and Kyon went. Now then, do the three of us go after Kyon and Katie, or do we just head them off at the apartment? * Kaede blinks at the phone, and curses a bit, then switches it off, walking back over. "What happened?" I.. don't know. But... I'm afraid I won't be all that helpful if we go after them. I think Katie's upset because things are happening that she doesn't have any controll over or understanding and it's starting to get to her * Haruko nods. "That makes sense... I don't know if that's everything though." * Taki looks down the hall that Katie left down, "Unless they've decided to stop around the corner, I think we've lost them anyway. Let's go to the apartment." Wait, what apartment? The one Kyon and his cat live in. Yeah... That's a good idea. Satoshi's bringing Jin. ...You're not going after Katie? I'd love to, but I could spend all day looking for her here and not find her, because I don't know where she went. I do know that she should be showing up at the apartment in 45. * Kaede sighs and grumbles. "Perfect...I screwed up for nothing..." * Haruko nods. * Haruko looks at Kaede confused. "What?" Hmm, what's wrong Kaede? * Kaede grasps the bridge of his nose between his fingers and waves off Haruko. "Go on ahead. I'll meet you there...I've just got to..call someone back first." Uhm, do you know where it is? I DID go there once before. After that, we're going to the jail. Oh, sorry...I forgot. I was kinda hoping you'd spend some of the waiting time helping me to figure out this cel...Wha? * Haruko calls after Kaede. "Alright, but... Oh?" * Kaede gets a distant look. "Just...trust me on this." You think he's still in there? Or that we can get in to see him? And that he'll talk to us? * Kaede shakes his head. "You'll see." * Haruko catches up with Kaede. "I'm willing to trust you, but at the moment everything that's going on is confusing me to no end." She sighs. "Please. Could you explain." * Kaede eyes Haruko evenly. "No, no I can't. There's just someone we've got to talk to. And it's not a him, it's a her." * Taki blinks, "Oh...I thought you were talking about that guy that framed Reimi's friend. Sorry." * Haruko looks down a bit. "Alright. Well Taki, I can probably help you with the phone." * Haruko walks over. "Technology makes sense." * Taki nods and hands it and it's book over, "So far I've managed to figure out how to turn it on, and I got it to show me it's phone number once...and I've called my apartment once. It says that you can put other peoples phone numers in and stuff but I haven't figured out how yet." * Haruko nods. "May I see the manual?" * Haruko then takes the book. It's that brick of paper under...yeah that one. Sorry.. I'm a little.. off right now. * Haruko starts leafing through the manual and poking at buttons. * Kaede sighs and walks a bit down the hall for privacy again, where he saw Katie run, but he probably won't catch her. * Taki nods, "I understand, nobody seems to be quite themselfs right now." * Taki puts Satoshi and Chikako's preasants into her bag and picks up the cupcakes. "I think I made too many of these." * Haruko sits down by the box. "Not at all, I think what I could use now is another cupcake." She fools around with the phone, trying to figure out how to get the address book working. * Taki opens the box and hands her one. * Haruko takes it gratefully and munches, she puts down the manual and devotes her other hand entirely to the phone which she speaks to as she pokes. "Don't be difficult. You'll be far more satisfied if you're being used properly." * Taki watches Haruko and her phone. * Haruko grins. "There now, isn't that better, think I've got it Taki, you put in the number." She takes another bite of the cupcake. "I'll save mine... mm.. this is good." * Haruko takes another bite. "And then you punch these buttons, see the screen guides you as you go." She intentionally proceeds a bit slowly to let Taki follow along. * Taki nods, "I'm not any good with machines, but I can cook." * Taki looks at the screen and nods a few times. * Haruko giggles and then coughs before she finishes swallowing a cupcake down. "I'm more than happy to do anything you want with machines for this quality of food." Deal. Now, to get to the address book, you hit this. ::poke poke:: There's also a shortcut for favorite numbers where you just have to hit a few key, but you may want to wait til your more comfortable to try that. Uh...yeah...What did you just do again? * Haruko grins and does a seated bow towards Taki. * Haruko does it again, bit slower she then hands the phone over. "Here, you try." * Taki takes a deep breath, "Okay...I push this one to get to the adress book and then...This one?" * Taki looks up at Haruko. * Haruko gently shakes her head. "No, it's sort of confusing that way, you hit this one instead. You have to look at the screen to tell unfortunantely." But once you've done it a few times, the motion will be natural. It's a little awkward to learn, but quick to use. Ahh. This is going to take some time. And if we sit here untill I've got this not only will I have to worry about my dad setting the kitchen on fire again, class will probibly be starting. Maybe we should get going. I might be able to help you more on the way. * Taki pushes the correct button, and then looks at the screen. * Haruko finishes off her cupcake and picks up the box. "I'll carry this for you if you like. Although I may lighten it a little more." She grins as she grabs a third treat. Go for it. I think I've eatin five of them since yesterday. One thing about being one of us...pleanty of exercise. * Haruko nods. "Even so, I should be better for the rest of the week. We had a lot of junk food at the Mechanics movie marathon last night, should have gotten to sleep sooner too." * Haruko walks towards the subway. * Taki follows Haruko. [Time: 4:00 p.m. Taki and Haruko get to the apartment, where they find Satoshi and Jin waiting in the lobby.] * Taki waves to Satoshi and Jin, "Hello again." * Satoshi waves back to Haruko and Taki as they walk in. * Jin waves. * Haruko waves at Jin. "Want a cupcake? They're really tasty, Taki made them because its her birthday and she's really nice to her friends." * Jin peers at it. "Okay." They're chocolate, which probibly isn't as good as chicken, but they still taste good. * Haruko takes the wrapper off the cupcake and hands it to Jin. ... Um, I don't have any chopsticks. (Chicken cupcakes? Ewww.) You can just pick this up and eat it with your hands, Jin. Don't worry about them, you can eat cupcakes with your hands. * Haruko nods. You can? [A few minutes later, Kaede arrives.] Yep. Yeah, most food is eaten with chopsticks, but there are exceptions. Go ahead and ask me whenever your confused. * Jin picks up a cupcake and peers at it from various angles. "Okay." * Jin eats the cupcake. So, what do you think? * Kaede opens the door. He's looking pretty much like a train wreck now. Headache...worsening. Kaede? You okay? No. * Haruko giggles a bit before noticing Kaede. "I don't care who or what is influencing you Jin. I'm glad to have you around. Is there anything we can do for you? No. * Kaede flops down somewhere that's available to sit * Haruko looks over. "What can you tell us?" * Satoshi blinks. "Um... I'm sorry?" He looks genuinely confused. Look...I promised I wouldn't say anything, so I won't... Ah. Okay. * Taki nods at Kaede. * Haruko nods. "Alright. I understand that." * Jin looks down at himself. "Uh, Satoshi influenced me to wear this jersey... And you influenced me to eat the cupcake, and..." * Kaede rubs the bridge of his nose. "But the person we need to talk to is Yurika Miataka." And she's...? In jail. * Jin turns to Taki. "It's good. And it doesn't have chicken. Odd." Or can you not say anything else about that... ah. What? Chocolate is like that. * Kaede doesn't look like he's going to say much more than that. * Haruko nods. "Alright, we'll do that, but first, is there anything we can help you with? Other than secret stuff. You seem really down." * Satoshi shakes his head. "Okay." Tell me why I screw up at every opportunity? That'd be helpful... What? What do you mean by that? I can think of lots of times you haven't screwed up. * Kaede sighs and gets a distant look. "...nothing." Because you do incompetent work on a certain event. * Satoshi folds his arms and frowns at Kaede. "Look, you've got to mean *something*. Else you wouldn't have said it. You don't have tell us anything you don't want to, but-" He stops and looks at Jin. * Haruko looks confused. "You make mistakes 'cause you're human. And more because you're young and inexperienced. Everyone does. I certainly do." * Kaede blinks at Jin. He then looks at Jin. And he cracks up. He actually cracks up. Where did *that* come from? I don't know. * Jin looks back dumbly and says, "Uh... He asked." * Kaede laughs so hard tears start streaming down his eyes. * Kaede 's laughter seems a bit hysterical though. * Taki looks into Jin's face, "Someday...someday I'm going to figure out how you think." * Satoshi stares at Kaede. "Um... Kaede? Are you *sure* you don't need any help?" * Jin nods to Taki. "Okay." * Kaede wipes his eyes. "No...no. Incompetent work! Hah!" [Satoshi's phone rings.] * Haruko bends down next to Kaede. "We don't want you to break your promise... but anything we can do..." * Satoshi blinks in surprise, then answers it. "Satoshi here." * Haruko seems completely at a loss how to respond to Kaede. * Kaede smiles at Haruko and points to Jin. "You can take a lesson from him." * Haruko thinks. "Humor? Randomness? I can do that." * Taki walks to Kaede's opposite side, "We want to help you, and if all we can give is a shoulder to cry on..at least let us do that." Okay... What do you want me to teach her? How to be utterly clueless. * Kaede snickers to himself and buries his head in his knees. Ignore everything. "All right. We're in the lobby of your building, actually. Want us to just wait?" * Haruko kneels before Jin and looks up smiling. "Please further instruct me in the ways of unwisdom Jin-sensei." Um... Doesn't work, I tried that. I'm not sure how to. You ignore everything and you fall into a hole you don't know how to get out of. * Haruko grins. "Ah, I don't uunderstand, and perhaps that is the way to deeper confusion, than you sensei." She then bows deeply. * Jin nods to Taki. "If you don't know how to get out, you're on the right track." "Got it. We'll see you in a little while, then." He hangs up. * Satoshi looks at the group. "Did I miss something?" I'm not sure. * Kaede 's half snickering into his knees still, arms wrapped around them. Kaede is having a very bad day and he can't tell us why. Other than that we're just fine. Maybe the 3:35 train to Izumo? * Haruko stands, "And that is why you are the master." * Taki puts her arm around Kaede. It is? That's good... * Haruko walks over to Kaede. Err... yeah. * Kaede looks up slightly, his head still hanging. "...leave me alone..." Okay. * Satoshi looks at Kaede. "Is that what you really want?" * Jin grabs Satoshi's arm and starts dragging him towards the doors. See? Jin gets it. * Satoshi is pulled. "Wait, Jin." * Jin stops. "Okay." We're your friends. We'll try to help you, even if that means leaving you in peace, but we'll still try. I spent eight years down that hole...I don't want to see anybody else there. * Kaede wipes his eyes and stands, very slowly. "Is Katie coming?" She and Kyon will be along in a little while. Kyon'll call when he's close. In the meantime, he said there was a nice soba place around the corner. If you're in the mood for anything. Else we can just wait here. * Taki stands with Kaede, "We could go up to the apartment...but Kyon's cat might not forgive us for going in." * Haruko wipes some crumbes off her mouth. "I'm a little full." I'm guessing he'd lock his door, too. * Taki smiles at Satoshi, "When have I let a little thing like that stop me?" * Kaede takes a long breath. "We have stuff to do..and we go to eat soba...perfect." * Satoshi puts a hand to his forehead. "Of course." He sighs. I thought soba was something you sit on. (/me resists the urge to say "You'd prefer Ramen?) That's a "sofa," Jin. Soba is noodles. You can eat them. Can you call Kyon back and tell him to meet us at the jail? Maybe we should go there by ourselves. * Haruko nods. "That makes sense." Oh. * Satoshi nods. "Could try. Hang on a second." * Satoshi takes his phone out again and dials Kyon. * Haruko looks at Kaede. "This the same jail as that crazy drug guy?" ...yes. I think so. Which one are you talking about? ...Hopefully there's a good, long distance between them. * Haruko gulps. "We need to be ready." "Kyon? Satoshi again. Kaede wants to go to the jail and investigate something. Would it be too much trouble to meet us there instead of at your place?" "No. Kaede's found something that he wants to check out." * Haruko reaches into her bag for a moment to check that her wrench is there. * Kaede starts pacing. "I don't know how long it'll take, honestly. But it can't hurt." * Taki simply stands next to where Kaede was and waits. * Jin blinks twice at Kaede, then Taki, then starts pacing around Taki. * Taki watches Jin for a few revolutions, "Uhm...could you not walk around me? I'm getting a little dizzy." "Got it. See you later." * Jin stops. "Okay." * Satoshi hangs up. Thankyou. Okay. They'll meet us there. Unless we get done first, in which case I'll call back. * Kaede nods and heads out. Go directly to jail! * Haruko tries to keep pacec. * Taki does not pass go. * Satoshi heads out as well. He does not collect $200. * Jin follows! [Session End]