In the hallway, Akane finds Nabiki's number and dials it carefully.
The phone burrs and hums until it switches to an answering machine: "Tendo
Nabiki here. I'm not in right now but if you have any important business to
discuss with me, leave a message after the beep."
      It's good to hear her sister's voice - even if it is on a machine.
      "Hi Nabiki," Akane greets awkawardly, unsure of the answering
machine. "It's Akane here. I just wanted to talk to you about... something
important and also to see how you're doing.  Try and phone back, tonight.
See you." Putting the phone down, she sighs impatiently. Now she has to
wait for Nabiki to ring back. She may as well look through some old history
books to see if there's anything to do with that strange headline...


It comes to my mind that the Japanese have an aversion to answering
machines.  I have a friend who works for a company that makes voice-mail
systems.  When they presented their product to the board of directors of a
major company the CEO was asked to record a greeting the rest of the board
broke up with nervous laughter.  After all the CEO was about to talk to a
_machine_.

Just a comment.  I like this story.  It's like seeing a puzzle or optical
illusion that you mind wants to 'straighten' out.

Keep it up!

Jeffrey  (ffml lurker and friend of Miko's [1])

[1] and still waiting for him to finish some of the stuff I've seen on his
computer!