[A high-pitched female voice answers the phone. "Hiiii! Takeuchi Bike Repair! I fix them while you... watch... tee hee!"] * Haruko snerks for a moment. "Uhh.. Haruko calling. This Akemi?" "Yep! Need a bike repaired?" * Haruko laughs for a moment and then calms down and sighs. "Naw.. need Kaede. I forgot that we need to keep someone from getting herself killed tonight." "Okay. One sec." She puts the phone down, and Haruko can hear her shout in this distance. "Oooh! Kaede's got a date tonight!" * Haruko comments to herself. "Hope she doesn't mean me, that's less likely than me needing bike repairs." * Kaede covers the mouthpiece but a bit of "Get serious, Akemi-san" comes through before he talks into the phone. "Takeuchi here." * Haruko gets to her door and opens it as she answers. "Hey. remember the party? It came back to me while I was in the hallway holding buckets for a few hours. Does wonders for focus." Haruko is not her normal cheeryself as she says this. * Haruko glances around and says quietly. "Huh.. no one home... better write that note." * Kaede 's eyes widen, presumably, since his tone changes considerably. "Haruko- san! I was just about to call everyone and..." He quiets a little. "Remi's going to do something stupid. I'm sure of it." Yeah.. so, we'll do, something. Dunno what. Hopefully Kyon will have ideas. Are you up for calling her? We're gonna meet there at seven. * Haruko trudges up the stairs, presumably. Or she makes really loud steps while walking around on one floor. I've been trying all day. I guess I can try again... * Haruko nods. "Please call me back if you can't. We can have Taki port over or something, but it might be best from you." But wait. How am I going to explain this to Nanami? * Haruko thinks for a moment before replying. "She knows Remi? Maybe tell her the truth, that Remi is likely to get hurt, killed, drugged, or thrown in jail if we don't do this." I...don't think so. Not really. I think I'll just tell my parents the truth and give them a water show if it comes to it. What truth? * Haruko thinks. "Well... could we offer a trade? We borrow you for a night and I'll help out at your shop some time." * Kaede thinks for a bit. "She might accept that. I'll have to see." The Arcana stuff.. they'll believe me and keep it to themselves. * Kaede whispers into the mouth piece. "For how long though?" The help you mean? I could give a few afternoons for free, I've got to make up time at the shrine too. Would that be enough? No. How long will they believe you for? I'll make a record in their handwriting or recorded the first time I tell them and I'll give a demonstration. Father's a priest, it's not like they'll be totally freaked by the supernatural. [Kaede gets glomped from behind.] * Kaede yelps and drops the phone. From a distance, he yells "Akemi! I know that was you!" * Haruko giggles slightly but cuts herself off when she hears Kaede get back. There's some chuckling, followed by, "But you looked like you needed a hug!" Awww.. (He's not. Phone's on floor. Could just hear it like a speaker. ^^) "Well...I...that's not the point!" "Look, this is serious. I need to help a friend. But if I do, we'll have someone else to help with the shop." "And...I need to talk to you later when you have a chance..." (Going with the assumption Haruko can hear this, even though the phones on the floor) "Someone else? Is she bouncy? Customers like bouncy." (Right) * Haruko grimaces Akemi demonstrates. * Kaede deadpans. "I don't...hey, stop that!" "What? It's part of my brilliant marketing strategy!" "But you're not selling to ME, so stop it!" * Haruko starts giggling again. "Are you suuuuuure?" "...I'm not even going to respond to that. Come on, this is serious. I know you can be serious." "I CAN...." * Kaede sighs. "Look, I'll tell you about it later. Like I said, I need to talk to you. But this is important..." "..and...I don't think I can talk to Nanami right now..." "Fine. I'll go talk to her." "We'll amuse ourselves by talking about your love life some more!" "That's not what I meant! I mean tell her that we may have someone to help with the shop but I have to help them out first tonight." * Haruko keeps giggling. Too late! Akemi's gone. * Kaede waits for Akemi to get back. Uh.. hello? * Kaede picks up the phone and sounds very irritated. "And you stop it too." * Haruko coughs and cuts herself off. "Right. So, call me if you can't get through to Remi or something comes up. Otherwise see you there." Fine. Bye. * Haruko hangs up. * Kaede sighs and shakes his head, dialing Remi's number. [Riiiiiiing.... Riiiiiiing...] [The phone is picked up. "Hello?"] ( Gimme a mind roll! ) [It ain't Remi.] * Kaede tilts his head to the side and speaks skeptically. "Who's this?" "It's me! And you're mister Meanie-head!" Yes. And who's "me"? Is this Remi's sister? "Yep! It's me Mister Meanie-head!" Will you quit calling me that? She giggles. "No!" Then will you let me speak to your sister? "She's not here!" Did she say anything about a party? "I dunno!" Either she did or she didn't. It's important. Your sister could be in big trouble. "Is she gonna get grounded?" Possibly literally. "I think there's two quarts in a liter!" * Kaede takes a while to process the nonsense, then speaks back. "Before I tell you something, you have to tell me one thing. Did you decide I was a "meanie- head" yourself or did Remi say something along those lines? "Remi said you were... um, I'm not s'posed to use words like that. But she said you're a mean mean person who doesn't care about her or unnerstand her at all!" * Kaede sighs deeply and closes his eyes. "I..suspected as much. This is about White Day, isn't it?" "I got lots of chocolates! But I ate most of them already." ...look. If you can tell Remi that I still have something for her. But...she has to call me back. I don't want her going to the party alone. I don't care what she thinks of me, I just know that much. "Is it a birthday party? Happy birthday!" ...she'll know which one I'm talking about. Can you tell her that for me? I'm going to keep calling if I don't hear from her though. That isn't very nice! No, it's not. But I guess it's my way of showing I don't want her to get hurt. "You could tell her not to! Or maybe buy her a bandaid and tell her not to do it again after it happens." I...think this might take more than a bandaid. Goodbye, Nanako. Please relay the message. "Goodbye Mister Meanie-head!" * Kaede hangs up without a reaction and rubs his temple, sighing. *Click!* * Kaede looks around for Akemi or Nanami. [Kaede sees 'em both over -> there, talking. Probably about him.] * Kaede waits until they're finished like a good little boy. [Kaede waits a very long time.] [A VERY long time.] * Kaede sighs and finally gives up and goes over towards Nanami. "...Are you still mad?" Nanami answers without looking up. "Yep. So anyhow, Akemi, If you could be here Wednsday, that'd be great..." * Kaede stops and sighs, rubbing his nose. "You know if I could have been here I would...I just..." Sure, I can be here! "You just weren't. But whatever. I've got to go do a few things." Nanami gets up and bows to Akemi. "Thanks again. I'll see you later." Then she heads off. * Kaede winces and his shoulders tense. "...yeah." * Akemi whistles. "Boy, you sure screwed up." * Kaede growls a bit and clenches his fist, looking over where Nanami went. "It wasn't my fault! How could she? How DARE she!?" * Akemi says in a sing-song voice. "Now you're being selfiiiiish!" * Kaede puts a palm on his forehead. "Not Nanami. Temperance." Ohh. Well, in that case... ... Nah, it's still selfish. * Kaede looks over at Akemi warily. "How can you say that? You don't even know what I'm talking about." * Akemi just smiles and bounces. * Kaede lets out a deep sigh. "Nanami's...supposed to know about all this Arcana stuff. But she doesn't now..." Which is probably for the best. Is it? Whether she knows or not, she's involved. So why isn't it better for her to at least know what she's a part IN because of her fool of a brother? * Akemi folds her arms behind her head and... stretches. "Mmmm.... If you have to ask that, you don't know your own sister very well." ...what are you talking about? * Kaede looks over at Akemi, and immediately regrets it. Or at least he's shocked. * Akemi shrugs. "From what I can tell, if she knew what was going on... well, the more you got involved, the more she would too. That's not a good thing for someone normal. I... * Kaede sighs. "I guess you're right. But it's not up to Temperance to decide and just play with my sister's memory like that..." Especially since I didn't even know a whole day passed. I was in the Reversed World. Yeah, I'm still waiting for my chocolates. Well...um...you know...that's funny... * Akemi leans forwards, giving Kaede a nice view. "Uh huh?" * Kaede turns his head away, though whether it's to avoid looking at her or to cover up his face it's hard to tell. "Usually during White Day, you give chocolate back to the girls who gave chocolate to you on Valentine's right?" Not if they didn't know you before then. And..well..I know you didn't know me then...but..I got a little extra.... * Kaede holds out a box and looks down. "So here." * Akemi grins. "Yay! Thanks!" She grabs the box and wraps her arms around Kaede, giving him a nice big (and rather tight) hug. I'd just...hate to see it go to waste is all. Ack! Akemi! * Kaede turns bright red. (Smooth, Kaede. :P) * Akemi giggles. (^_^) * Akemi gives Kaede a bit more. * Kaede sighs and pulls away a bit, pushing his glasses up. "Akemi. I really need to go. Someone could die if I don't. Or worse." Well, THAT's not good. No...so..could you please help Nanami out for a little longer? I can't say anything right to her right now.. I'll call in the orders on the way. And we should have another of my friends working at the shop after this. Sure. I don't mind. I have a lot of fun teaching her things. I'm...just not going to ask... * Akemi smiles. "You do that." But....thanks. You're a good friend. * Kaede tries to smile. It looks hard. Aww... * Akemi gives Kaede another big hug. "I wuv you too." * Kaede tries to push away. "...I take that back. You're insane." * Kaede lets out a breath and smiles. "Thanks." Sure! Come back for more anytime! You know what I meant. [It's over!]