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volunteered for a lot of extra work because that's how you move up.
And she was a programmer, so her work ate a huge amount of time."  I
could see him getting tense.  "And then she fell in love with someone
else.  They had an affair and when I found out, she divorced me to be
with him."  Bobby was shaking now.  "They've been married for close to
thirteen years now, I think."

	What a bitch, I thought.  I wanted to slap her, but she wasn't here.
"I hope you haven't had to deal with her since then."

	"Angelica lives in Denver, where Mom lives, so I sometimes see her
when I go home."  He sighed.  "But it's been a few years."

	"Well, I'll slap her for you if she ever comes to Osaka," I said a
little angrily.

	"We both made mistakes.  I didn't even think about the fact I was
leaving her alone all the time."  He sighed and checked the food,
which was now ready, so he got out some tea and glasses and everything
for eating.  I hope this isn't his 'Instant Tea' crap again.  That
stuff is wretched.

	It is probably far too easy for me to hate someone, but I wanted to
slap that woman.  Or at least yell at her.  He shouldn't feel guilty
about what she did to him.  He didn't cheat on HER.

	But I doubt she'll come to Japan any more than his mother will, given
it's expensive and what need would she have to come here?  So I shoved
it aside and got up and came over to eat.

	We talked shop for a while, while we ate dinner.  Most of my
boyfriends have been from the business world, so this is a familiar
ritual for me.  It's comforting and normal.  I can't tell Bobby about
part of my life, and I hate that.  I hate it more because Bobby has no
secrets.  Or if he does, he hides them so well I don't even know to
think there is a secret.  Well, he can't just tell me everything about
his job because he can't just share all their internal workings with
his girlfriend.  I can't just share everything I translate either, for
that matter.  But we both are part of the business world, which gives
us plenty we can talk about.

	He's so open.  Foreigners tend to be more open anyway, but Bobby is
very open with his feelings.  I'm not used to men who will do that.  I
thought Nubuo was open with his feelings, but then he just dumped me
out of the blue.  Would Bobby do that?  I hope not, but the worm of
doubt always gnaws at me.  Even if you ask someone, they won't always
do what they said they would, when push comes to shove.

	Why am I even thinking about that fucker Nubuo?  FUCK HIM.  I haven't
seen him in seventeen years and I'm happy I haven't.

	"Natasha's birthday is coming up, right?" Bobby said.

	"Hmm, you still haven't actually met Natasha, have you?" I said.
Natasha tends to treat my boyfriends as not likely to be around for
long, so I had been delaying this.  It rather aggravates me.  But
she'll be home soon anyway, so no point in putting it off.

	"No, I haven't," Bobby said.  "But you showed me a picture and I got
her and your birthdays for my calendar file.  She's July 25 and you're
October 16, right?"

	"Right," I said.  I'm not good at dates.  "I'm thinking this weekend
might be good for you to meet some people."

	"We could hit the beach, take some of them with us," Bobby said.

	Bobby in bathing suit.  WIN.  "I could go for that," I told him.

	He grinned at me and I knew he was liking the idea of me in a bikini.
 Mind you, we've had sex (very good sex), so he knows what I look like
naked, but you know how it is.

	I ate more of my chicken primavera.  VERY good.  Bobby's been on his
own since the divorce, so he has become a very good cook.  I know he's
had some girlfriends, but nothing really long-term, I think.  I'm not
sure if I want to know about them or not.

	"I will talk to everyone," I told him.  I'm kind of nervous about
this.  I hope everyone will like him, but they usually reject my
boyfriends within five seconds of meeting them.  Mai will hit them
with judgement-o-vision and they'll never have another chance.

	Though Akane actually said she wants to meet him, so that's a good
sign.  Though Akane basically likes everyone who isn't actively trying
to kill her; if Akane reacts badly, it's a really bad sign.  She
tolerates Kasumi's man-whore, even.

	I'm going to feel bad for Kasumi when she finds out the hard way that
crushes are not an infallible sign the other person deserves to be
liked.

	"What's wrong?" Bobby asked.  He's good at reading my moods.  Mind
you, my moods tend to be rather easy to read.

	"Worrying about my niece Kasumi.  She's dating a boy who is probably
just out to sleep with her.  Not that there's anything wrong with
having sex, but he will likely dump her once he gets it."  I drank my
tea.  Thankfully, it's perfectly decent tea, though it would be better
if it was hot instead of cold.  "Whereas, Kasumi is 'Miss Virginal'.
You know the type."

	Bobby mumbled something into his glass and I grinned.  "Were you Mr.
Virginal?" I asked.

	"I was Mr. 'Can't Get Any', until I met Angelica.  She was the first
woman I ever had sex with," he said, then ate some of his food,
probably to avoid saying too much.

	"Really?" I found that hard to believe.  My idiot daughter aside,
Bobby is very attractive.  He's close to 40, but he's got a body more
like someone in their twenties.  You can only see it in his face.  And
he dresses well, is polite and friendly, DOES NOT VOMIT ON MY COUCH
(Fuck you, Alexander!), and would clean it up if he did (double fuck
you, Alexander!).  I would have thought Alexander was old enough to be
past frat boy behavior but I found out the hard way he only looked
mature.

	He laughed ruefully.  "You flatter me, Shiho.  I've had more luck
since being married, but I spent junior high and high school being
kind of shy and romantically incompetent.  I had some dates, but it
never got very far.  And most women wouldn't go out with me."  He
sighed.  "Plus, my family was imploding at the time.  Mom and Dad's
marriage fell apart, they got a divorce, and a string of boyfriends
and girlfriends went through their houses while we all got used as
family fight pawns.  Thankfully, they both calmed down by the time I
was in college."

	I winced sympathetically.  "Well, I would have dated you."

	"You're three years younger than me, so probably we wouldn't have
met," he said.  "You would have been a freshman my senior year."

	Wait...oh right, four year high schools.  "Well, I do like older
men," I said, teasing a little.

	He would have been sixteen when the Summer of Fire happened.  A
sophomore, by the American system, I think.  He's the same age as
Yuuichi.

	Which means he was married when Nubuo was dumping me.  Would he have
dumped me?  I don't think he would have.  At least, I hope that.  He
wouldn't dump me now if I got pregnant, I think.  But would he have
been able to handle it when we were younger?  I don't know.

	I'd have had to seduce him to end up pregnant in the first place at
that age it sounds like.

	WHY AM I THINKING ABOUT THIS?

	"Shiho?" he asked, confused.

	"Did you and Angelica not want children?" I asked.

	He blinked, then said, "We decided to wait until we were both well
established.  We were thinking around thirty.  So we used birth
control, I wore a condom, the usual.  Worked for us."

	He still uses a condom without being asked, for which I am grateful.
I've had to dump some men like rocks because they wouldn't use one.  I
love Natasha, but one child is enough.

	"I guess you likely won't end up with kids," I said a little hesitantly.

	"With my job, I'd be a terrible father.  I'd have to haul them to
hell and gone and even then I wouldn't be able to spend much time with
them.  I already went through that shit with Dad.  I think Angelica
has some kids," he said, then sighed and stuffed his face with the
last of his food.

	I finished mine off and turned to dessert.  "Your Dad hauled you around a =
lot?"

	"He got transferred every few years, so we moved.  Made it hard to
put down roots.  On the other hand, it prepared me for having to move
around a lot in this job," he said, then sighed.  "Really, I should
have learned from my parents, but when you're young, you think you can
do what they did, but BETTER."  He studied the dessert.  "I hope the
mizu-yokan is okay.  I just found a recipe online."

	I took a taste.  Yum.  "It's just fine, dear."  Bobby mostly cooks
western food, but he's trying to learn more japanese dishes too.  He
can do some really good Italian, as he was in Italy for his last
posting before coming to Japan.

	Eventually, he's going to be transferred.  Which I try not think
about, though it's a good ways in the future.  And my relationships
never last that long.  But I have high hopes...I always have high
hopes.  Well, sometimes.  Some guys, I just wanted to fuck them,
though I've never just fucked a guy once and moved on, unlike Kasumi's
trashy boyfriend.  Gin doesn't impress me, but I don't think he'll
hurt Natasha like that.

	I want Bobby to meet my family but it will also make hiding the
family secret harder.  And they won't let me tell him anything...well,
I know I shouldn't.  It's not just coercion.  I want to be honest with
him but that's dangerous.

	"Something bad happen today?" he asked.  "You seem down."

	"My family tends to hate my boyfriends on sight," I said, sighing.
Then I ate more mizu-yokan.  Pretty good.  Not perfect, but good.
"This is very good," I told him.

	"Yeah, I'm pretty happy with it.  So why do they hate them on sight?"
he asked.  I'm pretty sure he's kind of worried about meeting Yuuichi.

	"Probably jealous that I have such handsome boyfriends," I said,
unable to be totally honest.

	He laughed.  "I wish I was handsome.  I expect you generally have
some lookers, though."

	"I've had some handsome boyfriends," I told him.  Maybe too many,
given the most handsome ones tend to be bastards once they think
they're secure in the boyfriend position.  Ugh.  "They just tend to
regard them as mayflies soon to die."  I grimaced.

	"Well, I won't be here forever," Bobby said.  "But we should have a
good run."  He sounded pretty confident.

	"Sometimes, Yuuichi just hates my boyfriends on sight," I said.

	"He's probably jealous because he dumped you without realizing how
great you'd be when you grew up," Bobby said, then finished off his
mizu-yokan.

	"Exactly," I said.  "Those girls who dumped on you in high school
would be crying if they saw you now."

	He laughed.  "You flatter me."

	I got up and stretched and then we cleaned up.  "I'm sure I'm hotter
than any of them."

	"Oh god, yes," Bobby said.  "Of course, no high school girl could
match a mature beauty like you."

	I smiled a little goofily.  I am a sucker for praise.  I ran a finger
up and down his arm.  "And no high school boy could match your mature
handsomeness or your nice figure."

	Pretty soon we were kissing, then naked, then I found out what making
love with your back to a refrigerator feels like.

	Answer:  not half as nice as a soft bed or a futon or even the back
seat of a car.

	Nevertheless, it was pretty satisfying.

	But I still can't tell him the truth and I hate that.  I can share my
body with him, but I can't share my past.  I really like Bobby a
lot...I'm not sure if you could say we love each other the way I loved
when I was Natasha's age.  It's hard to open my heart when I can't be
honest.  When I've been burned so many times.

	But Bobby cares about me and I care about him, and that's better than
'love' at my age.  He wouldn't hurt me and I don't want to hurt him.
At least, I hope...  It's hard for me to trust my lovers and that
sucks.  Of course, if I didn't have to lie to him...

	It's got to be even worse for Natasha, given how passionate she is.
Like I used to be.  She has such big dreams and this world is like a
giant machine for laying waste to dreams and I hate that.  Part of
growing up is losing those dreams, and I hated it when it happened to
me, and I don't want her to have to lose her dreams.

	But I don't know how it can be avoided.

	You can't have it all and having to settle for less, sucks.

	FUCK YOU, NOBUO!!!!

	We disposed of Bobby's condom and went and took a shower together,
which involved more making out, of course.  I don't have it all, but
this is pretty nice.  I relaxed against Bobby and just let myself
forget everything for now.  No Hime, no stupid past decisions of mine,
just me and my boyfriend holding each other.

	I needed that.

*******************

Kazuo's Tale:

	I finished my journal reading for the night.  Keeping up with all the
research in our field eats a lot of time - but it also ensures I don't
vegetate like some of our relatives.

	I could see Mari was fretting instead of reading, as she kept reading
the same page over and over. We're both worried about Kagami, but
she's more upset about it; I never get as stressed over things as she
does. Except for money - she never cares enough about it, the way I
do.

	"She's fine," I told her.

	"I didn't even say anything," she said to her knees.

	"If you worry about it constantly, you'll just make yourself sick."
Too much stress and she tends to get gastrointestinal problems, or
just feels terrible.

	"I don't want her to end up as wild as I was," she said.

	I suspect she's exaggerating how wild she was; she's never been wild
since I met her.  Still, I agree that Kagami clearly needs more
discipline.  But I'll worry about that later.

	I leaned over her and embraced her.  "Worry about that later, it's
time for us to go to bed."  I kissed her cheek.  I couldn't do that
with people watching, but it's easier in private.

	She smiled.  "I love you, dear," she said.

	"I love you too," I told her.  Our love has never been a grand
passion; we were both too old for that when we met.  But it is strong
and steady and sustains us.  I was never good at expressing it; I'm
still not fancy about it, but I can at least say it without having to
hem and haw about it.

	Father messed us all up when he went off the bridge; I had issues for
a long time.  I still have some issues.  So does Mari.  But we've
gradually worked past the worst of them - she no longer gets as
depressed this time of year as she used to.

	Though I'm not going to mention it if I can help it; best she forget
about Takahashi and move on.  Her guilt won't raise him from the dead
or do any good whatsoever.  Father's death made me a better person,
but I don't think it did anything to Mari but hurt her.  I mean, her
husband's death.

	You know what I mean.

	I have times I feel like I'm haunted by his damn ghost.  If I
believed in anything spiritual, I'd have her exorcised, just to be
sure.  But I don't.  There's no evidence and too much cruelty in this
world to think anything benevolent made it.

	The world just IS and we have to deal with it as it is, not as we'd
like it to be.  We have to make our own justice and cure it's problems
by our own strength.

	Or, in many cases, not cure them.

	But that's why I went into medical research.  Either humanity heals
its own illnesses or we wallow in our misery.  Having seen what that
brings, I won't allow it.

	Mari agrees with me, and that makes us very good partners for life.
We love each other AND we have a common purpose.  A common vision of
our future.  That's what makes some couples work and others not.

	She rose and we headed back together to our bedroom and went to bed,
since we have work tomorrow.  I am fortunate to share a job with her;
it has built a bond between us.  I am very lucky to have her.

	I slept well as I almost always do.  She was more turbulent, but I'm
used to it.

****************

Natasha's Tale:

	I hate studying.  Gin hates it too.  But I have his nose to the
grindstone because we need to get his grades up.  And mine.  So people
will shut the fuck up about him not being some perfect braniac and not
acting like Mr. Future Salaryman.

	Ugh.

	Unfortunately, I am a mediocre student.  I'm good with languages and
literature and physical education and I can sing and play several
instruments, but half of my classes are soul-devouring horrors like
math, biology, and world history.  So I have an easy A in English, As
and Bs in Japanese Literature, an easy A in physical education, an A
in music, but C, C, and C in the classes anyone takes seriously.

	Gin gets C in math, barely, a B in biology which ought to be an A if
he'd get off his butt and study a touch more, B in Japanese
Literature, C in physical education, C in English, C in world history,
and SUPER A in music.  He'd have a SUPER A in art, but you only get
one elective a semester and he's taking music.

	Until we're a famous rock band, though, we're going to have to get
our damn grades up so people will stop shitting on us.

	Also, mom's boyfriend DOES have an ugly face.

	She usually dates pretty boys.  But they usually don't last long.

	"This is so boring," he mumbled.

	"I know, but we have to do better," I told him.

	"I hate math."

	"Me too, baby," I told him.  They'll never let me tell him anything
while his grades are so bad.  And mine.  And he deserves...he NEEDS to
know.

	I could just...I don't want to imagine him dissolving.  He won't.  I
refuse to lose.

	But I don't have to lose for something to eat him the old-fashioned way.

	I hate lying to him.  I hate hiding things.  IT SUCKS.

	If I'm lucky, he'll somehow get powers and I'll be able to tell him.
I want to tell him.

	Fortunately, he can't tell I'm hiding anything; I'm a pretty good actor.

*****************

Gin's Tale:

	Something's eating Natasha, but she doesn't want to talk about it.
Maybe related to whatever happened with those snakes.  I wish she'd
tell me, but she's normally so open that if she doesn't want to say
anything, I don't want to invade her privacy.

	Something weird is going on; we can't prove that thing in the woods
is related to what happened but I think it is and that's why she's
jumpy.  Her family isn't secretly Yakuza or something, is it?

	We made love last night, and she felt even stronger than usual.  But
maybe I imagined it.  It's always wonderful with Natasha, and I'm
prone to imagine things.

	But I think she is stronger, somehow.  And we know Kasumi suddenly
got a lot faster.

	Something weird is going on and I wish I knew why she won't talk about it.

	But I will respect her privacy.

	And try to do this DAMN MATH.  At least I do better at math than Dan
does.  He may be a brainiac but I know math is his kryptonite.

***************

Sanae's Tale:

	Dan looked ready to chew the furniture.  "I hate this," he said.

	"Well, I hate physical education but they make me take it anyway," I
told him.  "At least no one is mocking you in the showers with math."

	He winced, then looked angry.  "They make fun of you in the showers?"

	"It's not fun being naked when everyone else is getting all feminine
and you still look like a boy," I told him.  "Well, not entirely like
a boy, but you know what I mean."

	He pulled me over and kissed me, then said angrily, "They should shut
up.  You have a perfectly fine body."  He's lying to make me feel
better, but that's okay, it's a good lie.

	I kissed him again, smiling.  "Your body is very nice," I told him.
It's nice having a tall, strong boyfriend who won't ever mind I'm
tall.  I'm pretty sure he wishes I was built like Mandi, but he'll
never say it, and that's fine, no one is ever perfectly what you want
in a boyfriend or girlfriend, right?

	He pulled me into his lap and kissed me slowly and we embraced and I
felt wonderful.  We haven't even come close to sex yet, but that's
okay.  I wouldn't want to rush into it, and this all still so new to
me.

	"We should study," I lied.  I'd rather be kissing.  I should study,
but he hates math and I'd rather kiss him than teach, though teaching
can be kind of fun.

	"Yes, we should," he said, then kissed me some more.  He was smiling
now instead of angry and that made me feel good.  I can make him happy
like he makes me happy.

	"Do you think your folks will do another expedition this summer?" I asked.

	"Maybe," he said.  "Is that your way of hinting you'd like to go?"

	"Yes," I said.  I find the idea of going to another country and doing
archaelogical stuff pretty cool.  Maybe I've just seen too many
movies, but Dan's family's life seems really romantic and cool to me.
His parents love each other to death and I think they really like me.

	"I'd love to take you on a trip," he said, but then looked worried.
"I don't know if we can go, though."

	"Well, we get six or so weeks off," I told him.  "I guess we'd have
to hustle on getting me a passport, though."

	"There are vague rumors of a family trip to France," he said.  "So
you should get one, just to be sure."

	"Ooooh," I said.

	"Aunt Haruka has a villa in the Riviera."

	He says that so casually like everyone has that.  Of course, he's
probably used to jetting all over the world and having adventures
there.

	I want to have adventures like that.

	Silly, I know, but I'd like more excitement in my life. And Dan
excites me and so does his life.  I hope...I want...I hope we'll be
able to be like his parents.  Running around, doing cool things
together.  I kind of envy them a little.  My parents are happy but
they're totally...They're in a nice, comfortable rut together, where
their life is pretty stable and predictable.  And not very exciting.

	I like science.  I want to be a scientist.  But I'd like some
adventure too and not just a total always the same routine like they
have.

	Dan can...I sound so utilitarian.  Ugh.  I just want something more,
even if it scares me some.

	"I want to have an adventure with you, this summer," I told him.

	He looked rather worried for a moment.  "An adventure?" he said hesitantly=
.

	"I don't know.  Go to France, go on a dig, maybe go to Okinawa or
something.  I just want to do something I don't normally do and do it
with you."

	He relaxed.  "Me too," he told me.  "I'll see what the folks have
planned, if anything."

	I wonder what he was thinking before?  Probably related to what we
found in the woods.  If it's connected to them, but I think it is.  I
can't figure out what those mushrooms are or what that powder does.
It isn't an acid or a base or any compound I can identify.

	I'm intrigued.  I suppose it helps that my skills are the exact ones
needed to puzzle this out, even if I haven't puzzled it out yet.

	But I will.  One way or another.

****************

Erica's Tale:

	"That's how you do it," I said to Hayao and Kasumi.

	"It's so obvious when you tell us," Hayao mumbled.  He is so
handsome.  And charming and...TAKEN.  "Thank you, Erica."

	I am going to go crazy and have to throw myself off a cliff or
something.  "You're welcome, Hayao," I said, smiling brightly.

	"This is a huge help.  Thanks, Erica," Kasumi said to me, smiling brightly=
 too.

	"I'm glad to help out my cousin and my vampire master," I said,
trying to sound teasing.

	"Vampire boyfriend," he said, then laughed.  "Kasumi is our vampire master=
."

	Kasumi made fake fangs with fingers and pretended to bite Hayao and
we all laughed.

	His laugh is so...

	At least Dan and Sanae won't need me to help them or I would just go mad.

	I am going to go insane.  I hate hiding this.

	I hate FEELING THIS when it's a total waste of time.

	Natasha told me to go have a fling but I don't want to rush into some
relationship just to distract myself.  As if I could get some boy or
girl to just fall for me in an instant, anyway.

	Kasumi said, "Are you okay, Erica?"

	"I'm fine," I told her.

	Hayao gave me a dubious look.  You need to be more gullible!  Believe
my pathetic lies!  If he can tell...Please be unable to tell, I
thought.

	"Okay," Kasumi said.  Thank you for being gullible, cousin.

	I hate this.  I can't hide...

	I need a lover.  Or a big rock for my stupid head.

	"C'mon, you can tell us," Hayao said.

	"It's nothing," I said.  "Now, let's get back to math."

	That, at least, doesn't cause me trouble.

************

Kagami's Tale:

	I was busy shovelling dirt when Suzushiro-san loudly said, "If your
lives depended on your digging skills, you would all be eaten by the
monsters!"

	Should she be saying that in public?  And what is she doing here?

	"You all would die at Big Dog!"

	What?

	Shun asked, "What?"

	"Hi, Aunt Haruka," Crystal said cheerfully.

	"She means 'Dig Dug'," Kikukawa-san said.

	That makes even less sense.

	I looked at Shun, he shrugged.

	"Feel free to show us how to dig," Sakomizu-sensei said, sounding amused.

	Suzushiro-san began digging frenetically.  Kikukawa-san said, "We've
made the arrangements for the internship if your parents approve it,"
she told me.  "Shizuru is going to approach them about that; I believe
she is also talking to Akane and Shiho, to decide which one of them
would be easier to sell to your parents as a summer host."

	That's a relief.  But I'm nervous about talking to Mother.  I can't
just ask her, but now it's eating at me.  "I am sure they will go for
the internship.  Not sure about the other."

	"Shizuru is going to come hit on you and explain everything.  You'd
better make sure she knows not to hit on your mother," Suzushiro-san
said.  She'd dug a rather deep hole.  Shouldn't someone tell her to
stop?

	"I'm sure she wouldn't hit on a married woman," I said.  Right?

	Suzushiro-san kept digging.  "How deep does this need to be?"

	"About half as deep as that," Sakomizu-sensei said.

	"..."

	"We're planting bushes, not digging for gold," he said.

	"You should have told me!"

	"You were enjoying it," he said.  "Good form, though."

	"Of course!" Suzushiro-san said proudly.  "Anyway, Kagami-san, this
is how the internship is going to work..."

	We spent a while going over it all, so I could tell Mother about it
correctly.  This ate up the rest of my work time; then they left, and
Shun and I went to get some dinner.  Fujino-san showed up with food
before I could cook, though.

	Soba, beef and pork, with some vegetables.  I supplied us with fresh
tea and we sat down for a nice meal.  Well, a decent meal; I expect
she went for something easily portable.

	We went over the internship, then she told me about Munakata-san's
plan of attack.  Basically, she would try and create a sense of shared
experience with Mother from their mutual encounter with unplanned
pregnancy, combined with her formidable list of references and
professional accomplishments.  Also, Fujino-san is going to stress her
long personal history with Shiho and her trust of Shiho's capacities.
Mother has a great deal of respect for Fujino-san; her survivor fund
was a huge help to Mother when she lost her first husband.

	"Sounds pretty good to me," Shun said.  "Pointing out Aunt Shiho's
boyfriend is a big respectable businessman wouldn't hurt either.  I
don't know if he has a big intellectual pedigree, but that might
help."

	Fujino-san nodded.  "I will talk to him."

	She wouldn't know.  I need to know what Mother knew if anything but I
can't ask her.

	"What's wrong?" Fujino-san asked me.

	"You okay?" Shun asked me.

	"I'm fine," I said.

	"Okay," Fujino-san said.  We discussed things and then she took off.

	Once she was gone, Shun said, "So what is eating you?  I can tell
something is wrong."

	"I...You don't think my mother...Surely she didn't know about what
happened to Akane-san during the Festival."

	He frowned.  "Only way to find out is to ask her and we can't."

	I leaned on Shun, sighing, his arm around me.  "I don't want...I
can't believe, but now it's eating at me."

	"She was only a lab assistant.  I doubt she got trusted with any big
secrets," Shun said.  "Probably best you avoid bathing with her,
though."

	I winced.  What would she do?  If she did know, she's avoided
anything like that since then.

	"He studied running and its genetics," I mumbled.

	"He...oh, her husband?"

	"Yes," I said softly.  "And you know how fast Kasumi is."

	Shun grimaced.  "That doesn't prove your mother was involved."

	"I'm the only Hime whose mother wasn't a student at Fuuka," I said.

	He put two and two together.  "Surely not.  And she didn't have you for ye=
ars."

	"Yes, but if her eggs were changed, she would...she would still be
able to produce Hime."

	"I don't think they had the technology for that," Shun said.

	"SEARS had the tech to make artificial Hime like Greer-san and
Sears-san," I said.

	Shun looked thoughtful, frowning.  "Surely she wouldn't let him do
that, then not want children," he said.

	"Once she saw what an angry Hime can do...," I said, shivering.
"Maybe they're so hard on me because they're afraid if I like them too
much, they might..."  The thought of this horrified me.

	"Look, if your mother knew you were a Hime and had reason to fear
you, she would have gotten an abortion.  What kind of crazy person
raises a child they think might cause their death?" Shun said.  "She
might have known about Aunt Akane, but she had to think you would be
normal and not a threat."

	That made me feel a little better.

	He kissed me and caressed my back and I pushed myself against him, my
hands roaming up and down his back.  We made out for a little while,
then he broke it off.  "I don't like your mother, but I don't think
she's that terrible.  Don't let it worry you."

	I was surprised he was being so generous; she really hates him.
However, that made me more inclined to accept his judgement.  If he
was convinced, I should be.

	I now rose and made us some food so we could eat before it was time
for training.

************

Kasumi's Tale:

	I should be studying, but I've been double-dipping on the training
this week, going to Aunt Haruka's, then coming and sparring with
everyone in the woods.  I have a lot to catch up on and I'm determined
to improve my skills.

	I darted to one side and struck at Kagami, who turned a little too
slow and got hit in the side, then counter-attacked, but I leaped out
of the way of the blow.  My blow didn't seem to affect her too much,
though.

	She's strong on defense and I'm too fast for her to easily hit.  She
keeps getting better, but so do I.  She needs to get more mobile,
though that naginata does give her reach.

	"I hope no one hears us," Shun said as he dodged under one of Junko's
kicks, grabbed her leg and rolled, tossing her.

	"We should be fine," Mother said.  "You already scouted to make sure
no one is nearby."  She was sparring with Crystal, who was in much the
same boat as Kagami was with me, though Crystal is faster than Kagami.
 But Mother is even faster than me.

	Then all our phones rang in unison.  This couldn't be good.  I
quickly got mine out and found I had an e-mail.

 	From:  Yukariko at Hime.net
	Subject:  My Son's Girlfriend

	We're visiting Shinichiro up in Hokkaido.  He has a girlfriend!
She's a math and chemistry teacher named Nakamori Ume.  I've attached
a picture of her.  She's very smart and friendly and it's pretty clear
they're pretty close, but their school forbids 'fraternizing', so they
haven't gone public.  It's pretty clear they like each other, though.

	We are staying through the weekend so we can go to the beach.  Wateru
is coming up to join us once he finishes teaching for the week.  Hope
you're all having fun!

	Nakamori Ume looked very pretty to me; the picture showed her with
Shinichiro-kun and I could see that he clearly did like her.  I liked
her just from the photo.

	"Man, I wish I could go to the beach," Crystal said ruefully.

	I imagined Hayao in a bathing-suit and turned red.  "Eeep."

	"Someone's having ecchi thoughts," Crystal said, grinning.

	"Very naughty," Junko teased me.

	"I'm not thinking about Hayao in a bathing suit!," I protested then
wanted to die.

	Mother smiled at the email and put us back to work, practicing with
each of us.  This was hard on Junko and Shun, who don't have full Hime
power.  Junko seemed pleased by her workout anyway, and Shun always
seems to enjoy throwing people around.

	"Now, show me how you kick," Mother said to Junko, who looked surprised.

	"Really?"

	"I have strong legs and I don't have much kicking training," Mother said.

	That really made Junko happy; Mother learns quickly.  I think all
Battle Princesses do.  Shun and Junko seem to learn a little faster,
but I might be imagining that.  Junko really enjoyed teaching Mother.
She got kicked a lot but Junko never complains about being hit.

	After that, we all sagged down into the grass for the traditional
lying around and staring at the stars routine which seems to follow
their workouts.  I laid next to Mother and felt extremely happy.

	We now got another email in unison.

	From:  Shiho at Hime.net
	Subject:  BEACH TRIP

	Bobby has kindly volunteered to help pay for a beach trip to Hokkaido
this weekend so we can hang out on a relatively cool beach and meet
Shinichiro's new girlfriend and embarrass him to death.  All Good Kids
(Kasumi, Dan, Erica, Natasha) and their parents are invited to come
with Bobby and I.  Bad Car-Stealing Kids (Shun, Crystal, Kagami) are
out of luck.

	I smiled brightly.  "Wow, that's really nice of him."  I don't know
anything about the man but he sounds generous.

	"DAMMIT," Crystal said and I giggled.

	"You'll be ungrounded soon," Aunt Akane said.  "And since I'd like to
meet Shiho's boyfriend, this sounds good to me.  And you like
swimming, right, Kasumi?"

	"I bet she'll like showing off her body for Hayao too," Shun said, grinnin=
g.

	I turned a little red and everyone now felt it their duty to tease me
to death.  "I hope this means Hayao can come."

	I fired off an email to her and she soon replied saying it was fine
to invite our boyfriends and girlfriends as non-Hime would be about
anyway.

	Yes!

**************

Sanae's Tale:

	I threw every bathing suit I have on the ground in frustration.  (Not
that I have many).  "These suck.  My body sucks.  Maybe I should just
wear a t-shirt and jeans."

	"Into the water?" Mandi asked.

	"It's almost impossible to find a bathing suit that fits me and I
hate everything I have," I said, frustrated.

	"Dan likes your figure.  Lots of women would KILL to be as skinny as
you," Mandi said.  "I'm sure if you wear the blue and green one-piece,
Dan will have wet dreams about you."

	My eyes crossed.  "It makes me look so skinny."

	"You are skinny," she said patiently.  "Have some confidence.
Confident people are sexy whether or not they have basketballs on
their chest," Mandi said.

	Easy for you to say, I thought.

	"Anyway, Dan could have come onto me if he wanted me.  He wants you.
So either pick a suit or I will pick you one.  Just don't waffle
endlessly," Mandi said.

	She's right.  Confidence.  Dan wants me like this.

	"Okay, I'll do the blue and green."

	"See?  EASY," Mandi said.  "I just wish I could go."

	Me too, but apparently it's just the boyfriends and girlfriends who
got the invite.  Sorry, Mandi.

*****************

Mari's Tale

	I was hard at work on Thursday morning, kneedeep in an experiment,
when one of the interns came up to me.  "Mitsu-san, there is a
Negotiator here to see you."

	"A Negotiator?" I asked in surprise.

	"Her name is Fujino Shizuru, and she's here on behalf of Woods
Research Institute."

	I blinked in surprise.  Why would they send a Negotiator to talk to
me?  Unless maybe this is a recruiting attempt.  I had to admit I felt
a little surge of pride at the possibility.

	I'd never had a company try to steal me away before.  But surely
they're after my husband, not me.  I'm just a lab assistant and he's a
full researcher, thanks to having a Ph.D.

	Wait...Fujino Shizuru?  The head of the Primus Survivor Fund?  Maybe
this was actually connected to the fund somehow?

	But I'm in the middle of an experiment...  "Tell her I will come as
soon as I can but I can't leave this until I am finished.  Ask her to
please stay."

	The intern ran off.  I finished in twenty, then went to my office as
fast as I could.  I owe this woman a great deal; I couldn't have kept
my independence after Yugo died without her help.  I would have been
crushed to have to go back to the family and beg them for help.
Especially after I had to defy Mother in order to get a college degree
and get married to someone she didn't like.

	Mother and I have more or less come to terms now, but at the time, I
would almost rather have died than crawled back to her for help.

	Fortunately, Fujino-sama seemed content to sit in my office, drink
coffee, and read something on her OakTablet.  She put it away as I
came in and rose and shook my hand.  "Mitsu-san, it is a pleasure to
see you again."  We met once, twenty years ago, at a Fund function.
I'm surprised she remembers me.  "I am glad to see you are doing
well."

	I smiled and we both sat down.  "It's a pleasure to see you again,
Fujino-sama.  I'm very grateful for all the help the Fund has been to
me all these years.  I wouldn't be here without it."

	"That is its purpose, to enable those left behind by that terrible
disaster to pick themselves up and go on with life," Fujino-san said
very solemnly.  "I've come, however, to give you some good news."

	I blinked in surprise, then adjusted my glasses.  "Go on?"

	"Your daughter has been accepted in her application for an internship
for the summer at Woods Research Institute," Fujino-san said.  "She
was afraid you'd be disappointed if she applied and was turned down,"
she continued.  "So I believe she had not actually told you about
applying for it."

	I blinked in surprise.  She hadn't even hinted at it.  Mind you, even
before she got into trouble, she tended to be quiet and very private,
so this doesn't surprise me.  And given she's in the doghouse right
now, I expect she didn't want to disappoint us even more than usual.

	However, I was very pleased as we had been wondering how we were
going to supervise her this summer.  If we leave her at home, she
might get seduced by that boy and that girl again.  This should keep
her busy during the day when we work. Woods has a good reputation;
this would look excellent on a resume.

	She passed me a folder with papers in it.  "This has information on
the internship.  You will need to sign off on it; we can arrange a
tour if you wish to see the facilities."

	I shook my head.  "No, that's fine," I told her.  I trust Fujino-sama
not to shill for something disreputable.  I have a great deal of
respect and admiration for her.  "We'll need to go over this, but I am
sure we'll approve of it, as this is a wonderful opportunity for her."

	"It is.  Dr. Woods is a genius and I am sure Kagami will learn a
lot," Fujino-sama said.

	"I'm sure she will."  I felt rather more optimistic about Kagami's summer,=
 now.

	"I also have a second offer for you," Fujino-sama said.  "Are you
familiar with Suzushiro Enterprises?"   She sipped her coffee.

	"They own Woods Research Institute, right?" I said.

	"Yes," Fujino-sama said, smiling.  "I went to school with their head,
Suzushiro Haruka; she was my kohai.  She met Kagami a little while
ago, and has taken an interest in her future career."

	I stared in surprise; it was as if one of my night fantasies had come
to life.

	"However, Kagami does have one academic weakness, English,"
Fujino-sama continued.

	"It is essential in the scientific field, but she is mediocre.  That
is good enough to get a high B or a low A in school, but she needs to
excel in it for the real world," I said, frustrated.  We just haven't
had much luck getting her to work harder on it.  "In most fields,
those are good grades, but you can get all As in English in high
school and be barely competent for any useful purpose."  Like me,
after high school.  I learned the hard way in college that my
education in English had been wretched.

	"Suzushiro-san has a linguist on retainer who is willing to take
Kagami in for the summer and immerse her in English to force her to
learn it better.  Munakata Shiho is a very highly trained linguist and
her daughter attends Rosewood and has a clean disciplinary record,"
Fujino-sama said.  She handed me a second folder.  "Here is her
biographical file and resume and a letter of recommendation from
Suzushiro-san," she continued.  "I have made use of Munakata-san's
services myself, and she's worked for many major companies.  It's all
on her resume."

	That would be incredibly good for Kagami.  I scanned through the
folder quickly.  We'll need to meet the woman, maybe look into her a
little just to be sure she's trustworthy, but she certainly looks
good.  "I'll have to talk to my husband, but this does look very
good."  So long as we can be sure this woman can be trusted with our
child.  Though surely Fujino-sama wouldn't recommend someone
untrustworthy.  "And we'll want to meet with Munakata-san."

	"Of course.  She has a trip this weekend to Hokkaido, but upon her
return, she should be available to meet with you," Fujino-sama said.

	"What does Munakata-san's husband do?" I asked.

	"Her college boyfriend abandoned her when she got pregnant because he
refused to use a condom and her birth control failed.  I believe you
also had trouble with birth control supplied by Iwasaka
Pharmaceuticals, correct?" Fujino-sama said.

	I grimaced.  "Yes."  I reached for some coffee but didn't have any.
"I'd have a better life if those idiots hadn't been producing a
dysfunctional product."  I didn't want a daughter yet.  I wasn't even
sure if I wanted kids at all.  But I couldn't get through graduate
school and raise a child at the same time.  We couldn't afford it and
I don't have infinite energy.  Kagami wrecked everything for me.

	Once she's finally out of high school, hopefully, she will have a
scholarship which will free us up for me to FINALLY go to graduate
school so I don't remain a lab assistant the rest of my life. I have
had to give up a huge chunk of my life for that girl, and now she acts
so ungrateful about it that it makes me crazy sometimes.  And my
husband too.  She's probably still sleeping with that boy.  Or maybe
the girl.  Or both.  Dammit.

	I thought she had some sense, but after everything I've given up for
her to have the chance she deprived me of, she stabbed me in the back.
 Some days, I wish I hadn't let Mother and Kazuo's Mother talk us into
keeping her.  And some days, I hate myself for thinking such things
about my own daughter.

	But I can't help it.  Whenever she misbehaves, she makes me regret I
caved in.  I could have told Mother to shut up, probably would have,
but I couldn't resist Kazuo's mother.  She's sweet and kind and not so
pushy and controlling as my mother.  Which oddly, makes it much harder
to resist her.  She even offered to raise Kagami herself, but I
couldn't put that kind of burden on a woman her age.  Not after all
her tragedies.

	Sometimes I love Kagami and sometimes she drives me insane.
Especially the way she tends to always agree with whatever we tell
her, but then will just do it her own way once we're not there to make
her do it the right way.  And her way is usually the wrong way.

	She'd better not be sleeping with those two any more.  Or just one of
them.  I can't tell for sure if it was the boy or the girl.  But she
wouldn't do things like that if she wasn't caught up in one of those
insane teenage infatuations which made me be a complete idiot at her
age.

	I never stole a car, but I had sex with several college boys when I
was still in high school.  Because they were mature and exciting and
handsome and I was STUPID BEYOND MEASURE.  I don't know how I got away
with it.  This, of course, just encouraged me to more acts of idiocy.
But I wanted out of the cramped little world that Mother tried to
imprison me in.

	I'm probably the only person in Japan who studied hard to spite her
Mother.  Fortunately, Mother is not so wedded to the idea of women
being ignorant and staying in rural backwaters as she used to be.  Or
we probably would have killed each other by now.
=09
	I just wish she wouldn't sometimes start laughing when I complain to
her about the difficulties of motherhood.  Kazuo's Mother never laughs
at me.  She's very sweet.  Though Mother tells me I will one day laugh
at Kagami when she complains about her children.  I hope not.

	I just don't want to have to find out whether I will laugh or not
before Kagami even gets out of high school!  She's on the pill but she
needs to avoid anything that could get her pregnant or she'll end up
wrecking her life like I did.  Why won't she listen to me when I tell
her that?  Oh, she claims she hasn't been seeing him, but I told my
Mother that too.  But I don't want to turn into some sitcom mother who
sneaks around, spying on her daughter.

	But I may have to.

	I hate fighting with her.  She gets stubborn, feigns obedience, and
won't listen.  I am just trying to ensure she can grow up to be a
successful woman and not a failure like me.  I want her to have what I
didn't.  Is that so wrong?

	"So Munakata-san is single?" I asked.

	"She got her degree, raised her daughter all on her own and now works
full time to support her.  It's required a huge amount of drive and
ambition, but Munakata-san regards obstacles as something to be
smashed through.  She is a very strong-willed woman."  She sounded
rather admiring of that.

	For that matter, I admire that.  A woman only gets ahead in this
world by not giving up and being determined.  So she raised her
daughter all on her own.

	I want to meet this woman, definitely.

	We talked a little more and then she had to go and I needed to get
back to work, but I now had Munakata-san's contact information.  Time
to see my husband at lunch and discuss this with him.

	This could be very good, though.  And I'm proud of Kagami for seeking
out something productive to do this summer.  I spent my summers
lounging around with boys more than studying.  I don't want her to
make that mistake.

*****************

	I called Kagami at lunch.  "Hello, Mother," she answered, sounding surpris=
ed.

	"Fujino-sama visited me about your internship and the possibility of
you staying with Munakata-san to supervise you this summer," I told
her.  "I am VERY proud of you for getting the internship.  It will be
a lot of work, but I think you will do well and enjoy it.  Fujino-sama
also told me about how Suzushiro-san is interested in you.  She must
have an eye for talent.""

	Kagami made an odd noise and now she sounded very happy.  "Thank you,
Mother.  I didn't say anything for fear of disappointing you."

	I heard murmering, voices I didn't know.  "Eating lunch with friends?" I a=
sked.

	"Kurauchi Kasumi and Munakata Natasha," she told me.  "Natasha is
Munakata Shiho's daughter."

	"Hello, mother of Kagami," I heard a girl say in English faintly.
Then she must have taken the phone.  "Hello, I am Munakata Natasha.
It's nice to meet you."

	"It's nice to meet you too," I said in English.  "I understand your
English is very good."

	"I could live in Britain or America without any trouble," Natasha
said confidently in English.  "You were already doing science when my
mother was in Junior High, right?"
=09
	"I started doing research in 2004 once I graduated from college," I
told her in English.  "I am some years older than your Mother, but I
believe we got pregnant from the same batch of birth control gone bad.
 I hope you are on a reliable pill."

	"It's the one your company makes," Natasha told me in English.

	I felt flattered.  "Good," I told her.  "It's nice to meet you.  Can
you put Kagami back on?"

	"Of course."

	"Hello again, Mother," Kagami said.

	"Her English is quite good," I told her.  "We'll have to do some
investigation of background, of course, and I want to meet
Munakata-san."

	"Her mother is even better," Kagami said.  "She's been tutoring me some."

	That explains her willingness to host Kagami, I thought.  Good idea
of hers to seek out help without us even having to tell her.  I can
see she's trying to make up for her mistake by doing better.

	"That boy and that girl haven't been around you, right?" I asked.

	"We have to work together as punishment," she said soberly.  "But
neither of them has been to my room since I got in trouble."

	"Good.  You need to keep your eyes focused on your goals," I told
her.  "Love will come later and by then, the men will be mature enough
to be worth having."  I paused.  "Or the women if that's what you
want."  Really, she might be better off with a girlfriend if she can't
hold back; no risk of pregnancy.

	"I'm only into men," she said, but I wasn't so sure.

	"So you haven't gotten into more trouble with them," I said, just to be su=
re.

	"We haven't done anything wrong."  Her voice wobbled a little.  Was
she lying?  Well, she'd just deny it if I asked, but I could see if
Kaiji-san knew anything.  I feel reassured knowing he's watching over
her.  He's a good man.  I'm glad he's alive.  I thought he was dead
for a very long time.

	"Mother, did you work very closely with your first husband like you
do with Father?" she asked me, sounding very nervous.

	Why is she asking me about this?  I don't talk much about those days.
 Thankfully, the Hime are dead and gone by now, so I don't have to
worry about them finding us and...  I don't know what exactly Yugo-kun
did, how they...studied...that Hime.  I hope it was only study.  I
can't believe Yugo-kun would...but...  He was a good man.

	"Not as closely as I would have liked.  Primus was careful about its
trade secrets and Yugo-kun respected the rules," I told her.  Not as
much as he ought to have.  Things...Things I wish I could forget.  But
it's best Kagami never have to deal with any of that.  I'm sure she
never will.  It's lying but it's for her own good.  "Also, Primus
usually assigned us to separate sections."

	"I looked up his old papers," she said.

	"They're outdated."  I smiled a little.  "You read his old papers?"

	"I got curious about your old work," she told me nervously.  "His
work, I guess if you weren't able to work with him directly."

	"He worked with genetics of running, and I was studying arm related
issues with the group I worked with," I told her.  "It was pretty
interesting but we had a long way to go when it ended."

	"I'm sorry," she said.  "I know it still has a lot of pain for you."

	"Only if I wallow in it."  I sighed.  "I can send you our latest
paper.  It's much more up to date, though it's on birth control, of
course, not genetics of running."

	"Sure," she said.

	I wish I knew if she said that to appease me or sincerely.  But it
will be good for her either way.  "Your father and I will meet with
Munakata-san next week and decide if you will stay with her.  I should
let you eat."

	"I am on a time schedule," she said.  "Thank you, Mother."

	"You're welcome."  Just stay away from places like Tallin, I thought.
 I couldn't stand to see you die like Yugo-kun did.  I shivered.  I
would have died too but I had a stomach virus and he told me to stay
home.  So he died and I lived.  A little more work ethic and I would
have died.

	Don't think about it, I told myself.  I don't get the survivor guilt
too often now but I have to be sure not to wallow in thinking about it
all.

	Kazuo-kun doesn't know everything about Primus.  I haven't told him.
It's best he not carry that burden.  And much of what I know is only
guesses from things Yugo-kun said.

	But we're both perfectly safe in what we do and Kagami will be safe
too.  Thankfully, she never took an interest in physics.

	She'd better not be lying to me about those kids.  They're BAD NEWS.
And kids her age are very vulnerable to peer pressure.

	I sighed.  I'd better eat too.  And then, back to work.

************

Sanae's Tale:

	I ended up having lunch with Gin, Hotaru, Mandi, and Hayao.  "Did you
find anything out about those mushrooms or any of the other stuff we
found?" Hayao asked me.

	"They cause hallucinations," I said.  "And they're not in any of
Dad's books.  Also, I went back to rip them up before some idiot could
eat them; they'd all died, and a bunch of violets were growing out of
their graves, so to speak.  But the violets were totally normal."

	Hayao blinked.  "Isn't that kind of fast growth for violets?"

	"Yes," I said.  "I took a soil sample, but it's totally normal dirt."

	"Someone dug them up and replaced them with violets, duh," Gin said.
"That's obvious."

	I felt a little embarrassed I hadn't thought of that.

	"Did the mushrooms you took away die?" Hotaru asked.

	"I kind of killed them by yanking them out of the ground to study," I told=
 her.

	Hotaru looked embarrassed.  "I suppose so."

	Gin laughed, but then got serious.  "I did a little asking
around...people were fucking on that thing on Friday, so it must have
gotten carved up some time on Saturday. But no one heard a thing - and
it should have been pretty loud."

	"Sound does carry weirdly in the woods," I said.  "But yes.  Any luck
with the rubbings, Hayao?"

	"I was going to take them to Osaka University, but it looks like I'm
going to the beach," Hayao said.

	Gin rubbed his forehead.  "If I die this weekend, make sure my folks
get what's left of me to bury."

	"Why would you die?" I asked.

	"The Queen of Evil is going to be there and she hates me," Gin said.
"Also, she will undoubtedly look stupidly hot in her bathing suit and
I won't be able to keep my mouth shut and then I will die."

	Hotaru closed her eyes and mumbled to herself.

	Hayao sighed.

	"Just keep your eyes on your girlfriend," I told him firmly.  "She's
hot, isn't she?"

	"Oh god, yes," Gin said.  "That whole family is just stupidly hot."

	Hayao grinned, and said, "Just don't look at Natasha's mother more
than you look at her."

	"I'm going to be in heaven and hell at the same time," Gin mumbled.

	"This should be a good chance to find out more about what's going
down," Hayao said.  "People are likely to let things slip if we're
cunning."

	"I dunno if they'd invite us if they thought we'd find anything out,"
Gin said.  "This may be some kind of Plimpton village thing."

	"Potemkin village," Hayao corrected him, lecturingly.  "Though it's
arguable whether the Potemkin villages ever actually existed."  He
then laughed while the rest of us wondered what was funny.

	"I'll try taking the inscription to the university this weekend," Mandi sa=
id.

	"I'll go with you, assuming I can drag myself out of bed, Mandi,"
Hotaru said to her.

	"Thanks," she said.  "I wish I could go to the beach, but I guess you
have to be dating one of them to get a ticket."

	"This should be a fun weekend," Hayao said.  "And put us further
along figuring out what's really going on."

	"Yeah, exactly," Mandi said.

	Hayao's really determined to figure this all out.  I want to know,
but he seems to have really seized on this.  But then, he likes to
read mystery novels and I suppose this is the same thing.  And Mandi
seems pretty determined too.

	I have a feeling this all ties back to Fuuka Academy somehow, as
that's when the secretive stuff seems to have started happening.

	Well, I'll keep my eyes open, just in case.

*****************

Crystal's Tale:

	You wouldn't normally find Natasha and I hi-fiving during a study
session - but we were studying literature, something we both excel at.
 So we were kicking ass and taking names and feeling smart.

	I have big hopes for nailing an A.  Combined with English and
Physical Education, that gives me three As to counteract my inevitable
D in World History, which Mom will nag me about until the sun goes
out.

	I like Sakomizu-sensei but I hate history.  I don't know how Dan can love =
it.

	"Okay, so the Adventures of Kurosugi Koji is about the romantic and
business misadventures of a seventeenth century urban merchant,
written for the growing urban literate market in the early Tokugawa
years," I said to Natasha.

	"It's basically a rip-off of the Tales of Genji, but with a merchant
instead of a prince," Natasha said.  "Sometimes it's a really BLATANT
rip-off."

	"Theme?" I asked.

	"Ummm...it's good to get laid?  Business scams require you to run
away from Samurai a lot?"  Natasha looked thoughtful.  "It's probably
'everything is transitory, good and bad fortune alike'."

	"That's what my notes say," I said.

	The door opened and Mary and Noriko came in.  Great.  Ever since our
fight, they've been pissy and I've tried to avoid them.  They had
Ryota and Haru with them. Ryota is tall and muscular, Haru is short
and skinny; Ryota's on the soccer team; Haru is an artistic kind of
guy.  Very good with sculpture and poetry.  Ryota is after Noriko,
Haru is after Mary.  I think they're roommates, too.

	"Hi, Crystal," Haru said cheerfully.  "I hear you have a girlfriend."

	"She's run out of men willing to touch her," Mary said snippily.

	I grimaced but said, "Hello, Haru, Ryota.  We can go to Natasha's
room if you want to use the table to study."

	"It's fine," Ryota said.  "We're going to study in the bedroom."

	Natasha wiggled her eyebrows, and giggled a little.

	"What?" Noriko said sharply.

	Haru laughed a little; Mary looked displeased.

	"You wouldn't sleep with a trashy girl like those two, would you?"
Mary asked Haru.

	"What?" Haru said, confused.

	Natasha laughed more, which really annoyed them.

	Ryota said, "C'mon, let's not have a fight; we have studying to do."

	"How can you take their side?" Noriko demanded angrily.

	"We're sexier than you are," Natasha said.  "It's that simple, really."

	"C'mon," I said to Natasha.  "Let's go to your room."

	"Running away like the coward you are," Mary said angrily.

	I am not so childish that I can be taunted into a fight by Mary.  At
least some days.

	"Mary, what did they ever do to you?" Ryota asked.  He and Haru
clearly didn't want to have a fight, especially since they clearly
weren't sure why.

	I'm not sure why other than them being cranky, myself.

	"I'd rather just stay here," Natasha said.  "I'm settled in and the
bleating of the sheep makes it kind of rustic."

	I winced.  Mary looked livid, Noriko was pissed and Haru and Ryota
frowned.  They didn't like having their dates taunted, even if they
didn't want a big fight.

	"Sheep?  Your mother is the one who will fuck anything that moves!"
Noriko said angrily.  "And you slut around with that manwhore Houseki
Gin."

	"That's enough," Ryota said to her.  "Let's go study; I didn't come
here for a catfight."

	"Catfight?  CATFIGHT?" Noriko said.  "I'm not the one who acts like a
cat in heat!"

	"You should be backing Noriko up," Mary said to him.

	Ryota looked rather frustrated.  "I didn't say that!"

	"So what really happened in the woods?" Noriko demanded of Natasha.
"If you weren't wandering around drunk, what was going on?"

	"If I told you, you'd just soil your underwear," Natasha said.  "I
know things you don't and never will."  She turned to me.  "How much
of the cast are we going to need to know?"

	"You're a whore!" Mary said angrily.

	"Come on," Haru said uncomfortably, trying to hustle her into the bedroom.

	"I...good question," I said, studying my notes.  "Definitely Kurosugi
Koji, his wife Yomiko, and his son Koichi.  Everyone else just shows
up in one chapter."  The book is basically a series of short stories
with the same core cast; each chapter is a self-contained event,
usually revolving around a business or romantic scam Koji or his son
or his wife pulls.  Probably the best chapter is when Koji and Koichi
are both after the same woman, who cons them out of a bunch of money
and Yomiko has to go recover it with her own scam.

	"PAY ATTENTION TO ME!," Mary demanded angrily, storming over to Natasha.

	"No," Natasha said.  She turned to me again.  "There is that tax collector=
."

	"He has no name, just a title," I told her.  "I guess he is recurring, tho=
ugh."

	"See, Tale of Genji, no one has real names, just titles," Natasha
said.  "Maybe it's meta-humor."

	"In a seventeenth century novel?" I asked, dubiously.

	"You know sensei would go crazy for us finding that, though," Natasha
said as Mary stood next to her, fuming, along with Noriko, while the
men tried to pull them away.  But not very hard, as both of them
qualify as 'suitors', rather than 'boyfriends' and probably fear
losing ground.

	"True," I said.  Sensei loves meta-humor.

	Mary and Noriko looked ready to explode.  Their suitors hovered by
them, paralyzed by fear of drawing that wrath, I think.

	"Hitomi is so right, you are just nothing but a drunken slutty
whore," Noriko said.

	"You already insulted me with that," Natasha said cheerfully.  "Try
'nightwalker' or 'call girl' or 'streetwalker' or even 'ho'."

	I can't believe she's taking this so well.

	"Hitomi's going around calling Natasha a whore?" I said, rather
annoyed by that.

	"And of course, your boyfriend didn't even bother to go looking for
you," Mary said.  "What a worthless piece of shit he is."

	"You're not much better than she is, the way you use men and throw
them away," Noriko sniped at me.  "You fuck a man, get bored, and
wander off, leaving him cold and alone.  Of course, now you've run out
of men."

	Don't rise to the bait, I told myself.  "Don't you have anything
better to do than spread rumors?"

	"Everyone knows you people are a bunch of sexual freaks and
weirdos!," Mary said.  "What you did to Iwao-san was terrible!"

	"I just broke up with him," I said.  "He did the rest to himself!"

	"We know all about you sleeping with your own cousin!," Noriko said.

	I twitched.  Damn rumors!

	Natasha began fiddling with her phone.  Sending someone a text, I think.

	"I did not sleep with Dan!," I protested.

	"I guess even Dan couldn't handle your freakish ways," Mary said.

	"Come on, there is no point in having this fight," Haru said, trying
and failing to hustle Mary out.

	"I hear your father cheats on your mother with another woman, too,"
Mary continued.

	"I hear it's her mother with the woman," Noriko said.

	"My parents love each other!" I said angrily.  "And what they do is
NONE of your business!"  My patience was wearing thin.  How could
Natasha be so calm?

	Natasha put her phone away.  "Mom's pimp is taking us to Hokkaido to
the beach this weekend.  We'll be whoring it up on a sandy beach in
Sapporo, while you'll be here preparing to fail your finals, ladies."

	I won't, dammit.  I want to go!

	"You're a..." Mary began.

	"Your lack of vocabulary is why I have an A in English and Literature
and you have a C in both," Natasha said with a calmness that kind of
creeped me out.  "I gave you some suggestions, earlier.  I guess you
don't have as much memory as a goldfish, though."

	I laughed and they looked pissed.  Haru looked mad too.  "She's not stupid=
!"

	"So did your mother get 500 yen or a thousand for the sex that
concieved you?" Noriko hissed at Natasha.

	For a moment, Natasha looked like she was going to shoot fire out of
her eyes.  Her hands trembled.  Then she was calm, but I think she was
hitting her limits.  "Do you think he will get plot-specific,
Crystal?" Her voice was wobbling.

	The door opened and Kasumi walked in.  I could hear someone lurking
in the hallway.  Probably Hayao.  Dammit.  How can she date that
bastard?

	"Maybe," I told her.  "Hi, Kasumi."

	"Ahh, another person dating a manwhore," Noriko said sharply.

	"I am not a manwhore!" Hayao shouted angrily, coming to the doorway
and not coming in.

	"A whore would stay bought," Mary said sagely.

	Haru and Ryota must be desperate to get laid to hang around with
these two.  They looked pretty frustrated, but neither of them was
doing anything; Haru had tried to get Mary to leave but they both were
pretty much useless.

	"Has he slept with you yet?" Noriko asked Kasumi.

	"I am a gentleman!" Hayao shouted from the hallway.

	You're a manwhore and you're going to hurt Kasumi and she won't
listen to me.  I was feeling very frustrated.

	Kasumi said, cheerfully, "Do you say hello to your mother like that?"

	"My mother is not part of some freaky family like yours!" Noriko said angr=
ily.

	"You got thrown out of the track club for using drugs!" Mary said
angrily, pointing at Kasumi.

	"She did not!" Hayao said angrily.  "She resigned to have more time to stu=
dy!"

	What is with them?  Why are they so angry about this?

	I wonder if everyone thinks this or is it just them being bitchy?

	We've often been a little insular, but it's not like we ever did
anything to Mary and Noriko beyond me having some fights with them.

	"You couldn't get in the Track Club to start with," Kasumi said
cheerfully.  "Since it's only your mouth that runs five meters a
second."  She turned to Natasha.  "Why don't..."

	"Don't ignore me!" Mary demanded.

	"...you come to my room and we can try on bathing suits for the
trip?" Kasumi said.

	Dammit, I want to go!

	"Yeah, that sounds like fun," Natasha said, trembling a little, but
trying to smile cheerfully.

	"You too, Crystal," Kasumi said.

	"But..."

	She looked at me.

	Mary poked Kasumi's arm.  "Pay attention to me!  You can't just ignore me!=
"

	"Do you really want my attention?" Kasumi asked sweetly.

	I heard Hayao make a noise.  I see he knows what this means.

	"Listen to me when I'm talking to you."

	"No," Kasumi said.

	Maybe she isn't going to unload on them.  Probably for the best.

	We got our stuff and rose to leave.

	"Coward!" Noriko shouted.

	"Not wasting my time isn't cowardice," Kasumi said; we were most of
the way to the door.  "Hayao, dear, the room won't bite you if you
come in, though we are leaving."

	"Well, we're leaving," he said, sounding nervous.

	"Come on, let's study," Ryota said to Noriko.  "Why are you two so
mad at them?"

	"They all think they're better than everyone else!" Noriko said
angrily.  "They just use people and throw them away like tissue paper!
 And do freaky things and break the rules and never get in trouble!"

	Being confined to campus and working every day isn't getting in
trouble?  "I'm on damn gardening detail because I got punished for
breaking the rules!"

	"You would have been expelled if you didn't have two teachers here in
your family and didn't get your uncle to bribe the school!" Mary said
angrily.  "You think you're special but you're not!  You're just a
slut!"

	They think Uncle Reito bribed the school?  I guess he did, sort of,
but not for me.

	"I am special," Kasumi said sharply.  "And you never will be.  No
matter how many presents you wheedle out of boys or whatever lies they
tell you to get you into bed, you'll never be special at all and once
they have what they want, they'll leave you behind to be alone.
Whereas, I'll always be more special than you."  She marched out
sharply, taking Hayao's arm, leaving them yelling at us.

	"That was kind of harsh, dear," Hayao said.

	"That was GREAT," Natasha said.

	"I'm wondering how many people think all those terrible things about
us," I said, sighing.  She was harsh but I was sick of putting up with
them shitting on us.

	"I'm trying to be less judgmental, but they're the ones who decided
they wanted an insult contest," Kasumi said.  "I don't know how many
people believe the rumors and I don't care.  Everyone I care about
knows the rumors are not true."  She kissed Hayao quickly.  Ugh.  "You
are my gentleman and I love you and you love me and what they delude
themselves doesn't matter," she said to Hayao.

	"You have to ignore idiots," Hayao said.

	"That's right," I said.  I JUST AGREED WITH HAYAO.  I felt my head
throb.  "Especially..."  Can't talk about that in front of Hayao.

	"We did nothing to them," Kasumi said.  "I'm sorry, dear, but I
disagree."  She kissed him again.  "I've spent too much of my life
being dumped on and trying to be the good, polite girl.  I'm not
interested in being dumped on any more."

	...

	"Go girl go!" Natasha crowed.  "Now we just have to get you over this
celibacy thing."

	"They're not worth a fight with," Hayao said.

	"They're not worth anything," Kasumi said.  "Anyway, I won't tolerate
anyone," she said, then glanced at me, "badmouthing you or any of my
family.  I'm not going to run around punching people for mouthing off
but I'm determined to live without fear."

	"Didn't you say you wanted to be less judgemental?" I told her.

	Now she looked embarrassed.  "Yes, but they...I am trying to be less
judgemental.  But there comes a point where you have to judge.  Push
back some or people will keep pushing."

	"Amen.  I only held back so as not to wreck the trip.  Oh man, I just
did a Dan," Natasha said, looking stunned.

	"A Dan?" Hayao asked.

	"He let Taiki kick his ass so we could take our trip without
trouble," Natasha said.  "I almost totally lost it, though."

	"They're not worth it," Kasumi said.  "Anyway, we can study together.
 If you two can keep from killing each other."

	"He let him?" Hayao said dubiously.

	"Dan would have beaten his ass," Natasha said.

	Hayao looked unconvinced, but he said, "I can keep from killing."

	"Me too," I said.  Better to keep an eye on his punk ass, anyway.

	Kasumi smiled brightly.  "Good, because I love both of you and hate
to see you fight."

	We both looked kind of embarrassed by that.  Natasha said, "Sorry,
Hayao, I don't love you but I do love my cousins too."  She smiled and
stretched.

	"It's okay," Hayao said.  "All my love is for Kasumi."

	They kissed again.

	I may have to kill myself if they do this all night.

	Of course they will.

	Junko, you need to transfer to Rosewood.  Or move your dorm closer.
Before I go crazy.

*************

Bobby's Story:

	I'm nervous and excited all at once to meet Shiho's family.  I
haven't even met her daughter yet; her school is too far for us to
casually visit, and when she goes up there to tutor them, I'm usually
still finishing up work.

	The one I'm most curious to meet won't be there.  Her first
boyfriend, Tate Yuuichi.  I can't tell for sure what he's actually
like; Shiho seems to waffle over whether he is the devil incarnate or
a blessing from heaven or her brother.  I know he dumped her for a
girl his own age, but that was long ago.  The fact that they're still
in contact and even consider each other family is the weird part.  She
seems pretty worried about me meeting him but won't admit it.

	I know they all went to school together; I'm kind of envious she's
still in touch with them.  I haven't seen anyone I knew in high school
in years.  Most of them in decades.  Not many of my college friends,
either.

	We were over at her place, watching some movie on DVD.  It was hard
for me to follow, as it wasn't subtitled well.  I could sort of follow
the Japanese but it was at high speed.  I think it was about two
people who briefly meet in a laundromat and then a bunch of things
happen and really, I am totally not sure of the point at all.

	The doorbell rang; Shiho blinked in confusion.  She got up and went
to the door; there was a short brunette with short hair and a slightly
taller man with touselled brown hair, both nicely dressed.  The woman
had a white box...do I smell pie?  And coconut?

	"Akane?  Kazuya?" Shiho asked.

	"We thought we'd come by and say hello and talk to you about the
trip, just to make sure nothing goes wrong," the woman said in
Japanese.

	I rose from the couch.  "Hello, I'm Cooper Robert," I said in
Japanese.  I'm decent, but I can't keep up with very fast speech.
"But you can call me Bobby.  I speak Japanese, but only if you go
slowly."

	'Kazuya' looked at me in confusion for a moment, then got it.
Slowly, he said, "I'm Kurauchi Kazuya.  Nice to meet you."

	"Are you Kurauchi Akihito's son?" I asked curiously.  I've had
dealings with the head of Kurauchi Electronics; he's rather stolid and
formal, but - like me - is a stamp collector. Though I think he's
rather more obsessed with it than I am.

	His eyes widened as I shook his hand.  "Yes, I am."

	"His company is working with ours; we've had meetings and we both
collect stamps," I told him.

	Akane set the box down on the kitchen counter.  "I brought a fruit pie."

	Shiho got her a knife and plates. I'm not sure what it was; it
smelled like coconut, but didn't look like coconut cream to me.
"Thank you," she said to Akane.

	"I suppose...," Kazuya began.  "No, of course not."

	It wasn't too hard to guess what he was hoping; his father didn't
even mention he exists, even though Kazuya lives here in Osaka; it's
clear they're alienated for some reason.  "He didn't mention any of
his children except for Jinnai, who I have met.  He's a good guy.
Your brother, that is."

	Kazuya sighed.  "I should know better.  Is he well?"

	"He's fine.  Seems like a hale and hearty man of his age," I told
him.  "I take it you two are on the outs?"

	Akane and Shiho cut out four pieces of pie and we went to sit around
the table.  I studied the pie.  Coconut, pecans, and raisins.  Huh.  I
took a bite.  "Wow, this is great!"

	"I know Americans like pecans, so I made it for you," Akane said, smiling.

	Not all Americans like pecans, but I like them, so I won't disillusion her=
.

	"We have not spoken in a very long time," Kazuya said.

	"Well, I could..."  I began.

	"Best to leave sleeping dogs to lie," Kazuya said.

	We ate pie and discussed trip plans.  I wondered what happened, but I
didn't want to pry.  Maybe Jinnai can tell me something.  I'd like to
help them if I could; no one should be cut off from their family that
long.  I eventually forgave Dad for all his years of being
insufferable

	"How much do we owe you?" Kazuya asked me.

	"Oh, this is on me," I said.

	"Don't make me slip the money into your wallet," Shiho said.

	Shiho eventually browbeat me into taking the money.  I really hadn't
realized how big an army we were going to end up with; her family is
really big and we're just taking a small fraction.

	"You all are my age, right?" I asked.

	"Yes," Kazuya said.

	They look young.  So does Shiho.  On the other hand, Japanese people
do live longer, I think I read.  It's the healthy diet.

	"Bobby likes to cook," Shiho said.  "You should give him some
recipies.  He's trying to learn more Japanese food."

	"I would be happy to help you," Kazuya said.

	"And I," Akane said.

	He is a baker, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised he cooks other
things too.  Cool.  A lot of guys are too macho to cook.  "I still
prefer pancakes for breakfast, though," I said.  "The traditional
Japanese breakfast doesn't do it for me."

	We talked cooking shop for a while; I could tell Shiho was glazing
over after a while, so I steered it another direction.  "I haven't met
Shiho's daughter Natasha yet.   Any advice?"

	"Natasha is a good, friendly girl," Akane said.  "You'll be fine."

	"She has no sense of limits and little sense of manners," Kazuya
said.  "But she isn't mean; she just takes the usual teenage sense of
invincibility to all-new highs."

	"Bribing with jewelry never hurts," Shiho said.

	"I just want to make a good first impression, since we'll be seeing
each other all summer," I told them.

	Kazuya started to say something, then said, "That's true, she'll be
home from school.  Just remember, she has no manners."

	"She's not that bad," Shiho said defensively.

	"Natasha is very kind and loving," Akane said firmly.  "But she is
rather informal, though not so much so as her boyfriend, Houseki Gin."

	"He's rather rude," Kazuya said, frowning.  "I suppose he'll be there too.=
"

	"She's much like Shiho was at sixteen to seventeen," Akane said.

	"Well, she must be pretty great, then," I said.
=09
	Shiho smiled.  "Flatterer."

	Akane smiled brightly, while Kazuya looked a little more dubious.
"I'm sure you'll be fine," Kazuya said.

	"A lot of kids her age resent when their parents hook up with someone
who isn't their other birth parent," I said.

	"Oh, she never knew that fu...that...Nubuo," Shiho said, looking a
little embarrassed and frustrated, but making the name 'Nubuo' a curse
in and of itself.

	"I expect he probably got someone pregnant and was forced to marry
them after a few times of running away," Kazuya said, scowling.  "What
he did to you was utterly terrible."

	Akane patted Shiho's hand.  "I doubt you'll ever see him again."

	"So his name was Nubuo?" I asked.

	"Kurokami Nubuo.  Communications major," Shiho said wearily.

	"He was a fool to leave you," I told her and kissed her quickly.
Kazuya looked surprised and Akane smiled brightly.  "A magnificent
woman like you and he left you.  What a fool."

	She smiled.  "Flatterer."  But I think she likes being praised.  Of
course, who doesn't?

	"I would never do something like that," I said, a little angry at the
idea of someone abandoning their pregnant girlfriend like that.

	"I know you wouldn't, Bobby," Shiho said, patting my hand, her voice
wobbling a little.

	"No real man would, Cooper-san," Kazuya said.  "Natasha is better off
with just Shiho as a parent."

	Shiho looked surprised, then very pleased.  "Thank you."

	"Though you fell down on teaching her manners," he said.
"Nevertheless, you did a very good job.  She could use a little more
discipline."

	"Her grades are better than Kasumi's," Shiho said.

	He winced.  "Yes," he mumbled and ate more pie.

	"So, Kasumi is your daughter, right?" I asked.  I'd gotten a sort of
briefing from Shiho on all the kids and parents coming.

	"Yes," Akane said.  "She is a track star, though she had to quit the
team to get her grades up, and a brilliant cook and very kind and
gentle."

	"And a brilliant martial artist like her mother," Shiho said with a
slightly odd tone of voice.

	"You do martial arts?" I asked.  Shiho hadn't mentioned that before.

	"I'm not as good as Akira," she said modestly.  "But I've been
teaching Kasumi."

	They take combat training seriously in this family, I've noticed.  I
know the kids get special training.  "Is that a Japanese tradition?"

	"Yes," Kazuya said a little hastily.  "So tell us about your job."

	That ate up a long time, by the end of which we were on the balcony
with wine and tea and some chips.

	"So Harmony jumps on the back of the drone unit and pulls the panel
open and hacks it RIGHT THERE.  Soon, it's back to normal and no
longer smashing things up.  I can hardly believe she managed to cling
to it like she did."  Harmony Johnson is one of three sisters who work
for US Robots who are attached to our projects.  Brigit is the oldest,
an office manager.  Harmony is the middle child; she's a programmer
and technician.  And Misty is a courier, the youngest.  "Meanwhile,
Shou and I are hiding under a desk as she does this.  I really was
lucky she was there."

	"Sounds exciting," Kazuya said.

	"Most of the time I shuffle papers, reallocate resources and listen
to people complain.  Or deal with unions.  Every so often, it gets
exciting; enough I don't get bored.  But Shiho's still the most
exciting thing in my life."

	"Much of my work consists of hearing things I have to make sure not
to tell anyone," Shiho said.  "So I don't have many good stories I can
actually share."

	"Most of our best stories can't be lightly shared," Kazuya said to me.

	"I understand," I told him.  "You have to get to trust people before
you can share everything with them.  I love Shiho, but I can't tell
her all of my business dealings, as I have a responsibility to protect
corporate secrets," I continued.  "And Shiho has to protect the
confidentiality of her clients, of course.  And every family has its
secrets.  I hope in time, I will prove worthy of your trust; but I'm
not so silly as to think I will get it right away."

	Kazuya nodded approvingly, while Akane...I couldn't quite figure out
what she was thinking.

	"I...yeah, what Bobby said," Shiho said a little nervously.

	She's never actually said 'I love you'. I get the impression she's
gotten burned a lot, so I'm patient.  We're both too old to think
every love affair is forever; I'm not afraid to say how I feel,
though, like I used to be.  But then, even with my messy divorce, my
love life hasn't been as messy as hers.

	I'm sure she's worried about being hurt again; it'll take her time to
fully trust me.  At our age, that's probably wise.  I tend to bond to
people pretty fast, and probably share too much.  I also need to learn
to stop telling Japanese people to call me Bobby; I'm just used to it
from back home, but no one here - except Shiho - ever calls me that.

	We hung out with them a while longer, then they left and we finished
our movie.  "I...Bobby..." she said while I got the movie out of the
player and put it back in its case.  "Yes?" I asked.

	"Natasha is a good girl.  You shouldn't be worried.  If
she...whatever happens, I'm very proud of her."  She sounded very
worried, though.  I wasn't sure if she was worried about us meeting or
worried about something else and covering it.  "I am sure she will
like you and if she says...anyway.  She will like you."

	"I'm sure we'll be fine," I said reassuringly.

	"Bobby, we all have secrets," she said urgently, sounding guilty.

	"It's fine.  Everyone does.  I'm not asking you to tell me
everything.  We've only been dating a few weeks."

	That seemed to relieve her.  I finished closing the case and put it
by the TV, then sat down by her, holding her hand.  "I've been hurt a
lot," she said.

	"I know," I told her.  "It's okay."

	"I can't just...there are things..."  She seemed very frustrated.
"You trust me, right?"

	"Yes," I told her.  "Whatever it is, it'll wait.  As long as it isn't
related to swimming."

	"I love to swim," she said.  "Natasha has no fear.  I envy her that,"
she said softly.

	I squeezed her hand.  "If that's true, I envy her too."

	"This world is one big stupid machine to bring people down and I
don't want her to come down.  She can be...she's free."  Her grip was
very firm.  "She'll probably say something stupid on meeting you.
Please be patient with her."

	"Of course," I said.

	She took my arm and put it around her, then took my other hand with
hers.  "You're going to see her a lot this summer.  She's wilful and
disobedient and sometimes very frustrating, but if something..."  She
seemed very frustrated again.  "She will do the right thing.  But be
mouthy about it."

	I laughed softly.  "I'm sure she's fine with a wonderful mother like you."

	"I sucked as a mother.  She would have been better off if I gave her
to Mai," she said, then shuddered.  "But I was too stubborn for her
good.  I'm a lousy mother."

	I wish I knew what was bringing her down.  "You shouldn't be so hard
on yourself.  I'm sure she loves you."

	"She does," Shiho said.  "I wish I could tell you everything, Bobby.
You need...I just can't."

	"It's okay," I told her.  "We have plenty of time.  We don't have to
rush things."  She shuddered and laid her head on my shoulder.  I
would have stroked her hair, but my hands were full.  "I'm not going
anywhere."

	"And neither am I," she said firmly.  She paused, then said, "You're
very handsome."

	"I'm not," I told her.  "But it's nice of you to say it."

	"You are now handsome," she said firmly.  "Do not believe anyone who
tells you any different.  I decree this."

	"Yes, your highness," I said, laughing.  "And you are beautiful
beyond measure."  I gently rubbed her side.  "The prettiest woman I
have ever put an arm around."  She's really beautiful.

	She smiled brightly.  "Look, Bobby.  You will probably feel the urge
to kill Shinichiro at some point, due to him whining.  Please be
patient.  He's had a rough time and not all of it was self-inflicted.
I can't talk about it, but...just be patient."

	"I will," I told her.

	"We should go to bed," she said.

	"Okay," I said.

	In the shower, she told me, "Look, I..."

	I waited, but she sighed.  "It's nothing."

	Something's eating her, but she'll tell me when she's ready, I'm sure.

***************

Shiho's Tale:

	I want to believe he loves me, but I've believed that before.  I
can't...I have to...I want to believe he loves me.  I want to...But I
have to lie to him and can I really say I love him if I'm hiding
things?  And every time I fall in love, I get betrayed.

	I can't just fly free like Natasha does, thinking every love is true.

	Akane's going to badger me to say 'I love you' to him.  Is this love?
 I know I like him a lot, I enjoy being with him, but it's not...it
doesn't feel like I did with Yuuichi or Nubuo or even just Kohashi
Isao (the first boy I ever had sex with, basically the first boy I
dated after I finally had the sense to give up on Yuuichi.  He was my
main high school boyfriend.)  I was never so afraid and worried with
them.

	Which, of course, got me hurt.

	I also didn't have to lie to them.  Well, Nubuo and Isao never knew
about the Hime, but back then, it didn't seem like something that
would ever be relevant.  At least not any time soon.  It wasn't the
same as now.

	If I love him, I could...

	I grimaced.  The idea of Bobby evaporating is...I can't stand the
idea of it.  I laid in bed with him in my long silk pink nightie,
stroking his hair as he slept.  I like his hair.  But I could see
him...

	NEVER.  I will never let that happen!

	But of course, I won't have a choice, unless I drive him away.

	I can't.  I can't do that.

	I hate lying to him.  I HATE IT.  I've been lied to so many times and
here I am doing it.

	I think Kazuya and Akane liked him.  But they're easy.  Or at least
Akane is.  She likes everyone.

	Please let Yuuichi like him.  Please.

	Mai likely will; he's very respectable and they can talk shop.  She
likely will think snooty thoughts about how unusual it is for me to
date someone isn't trash the whole time, though.

	Dammit.

	A woman shacked up with two people has no room to talk!

	She's just jealous because I have more freedom than her.

	He loves me.  I want...I want to believe it.  But he could be a liar or ju=
st...

	I am not going to spend another night asking myself if I could have
somehow kept Nubuo.  FUCK HIM.  Good riddance.

	Eventually, I passed out.  Thank the kamis.

*****************
=09
 Gin's Tale:

	I'm pretty excited to go to Hokkaido.  That's just totally cool, cut
out of school for the weekend and go up there.  We're going up
tonight, sleep in Sapporo, go out to the beach tomorrow.

	We reached the train station where everyone else was milling around.
I could see Shiho with a guy who must be Robert Cooper.  He really
isn't too pretty, like Natasha said.  But I won't mention that.

	We walked up to them and I shook his hands.  "Houseki Gin.  Nice to
meet you, Bobby."

	He blinked at me, then grinned.  "Nice to meet you, Gin."

	"You really..." Natasha began, then her mother gave her the GLARE OF DEATH=
.

	"It's nice to meet you," Natasha squeaked, shaking his hand.

	"Wow, you're strong," he said.

	"You're strong too," I told him.

	"Thank you," he said, smiling.  I think I made a good impression.
And Natasha was so worried.  Hah!

	"So, are things go for Kagami to stay with you all this summer?" I
asked.  I'm curious why they arranged that; Natasha was kind of
closemouthed but mentioned it seemed likely.

	"Not yet, I have to meet with them when I get back," Shiho told me.
"But it is looking good."  She looked meaningfully at Natasha.

	"She's one of the grounded ones, right?" Bobby asked.

	"I will be supervising her to keep her out of trouble; she is Shun's
secret girlfriend," Shiho said.  "Her parents do not know and must not
know."

	"My lips are sealed," Bobby said.

	"I'm unlikely to meet her parents, but I'm sealed too," I said.

	"Shizuru is pretty optimistic this will work," Shiho said.  "Natasha,
I will need you to super-respectable yourself for the family meeting."

	"I will borrow some glasses and pretend to be Kasumi," Natasha said.
"Oh man, she totally ate these punk girls for breakfast.  I was
stunned but it rocked."

	She told the whole story and I laughed a lot.  Shiho frowned.  "So it
sounds like a lot of people are spreading lies about my daughter."

	"Oh, gossip is inevitable," I told her.  "They're jealous because she
is awesome."

	"Yeah, high school is gossip central," Bobby said.  "I hear you two
want to form a rock band.  I'm a fair hand with the saxophone myself,
but I can't sing worth a damn."

	So after a while, the train got there, and we told him all about it
on the way to Hokkaido.  Then did some studying because there isn't
much you can do on a train, unfortunately.  Though we did bring some
games... but her Mom still made us study.

	I noticed Shiho holding Bobby's hand all the way; that was kind of
sweet.  Love is a wonderful thing.

****************
 =09
Hayao's Harmonies:

	We had a good time in Hokkaido, but I noticed that Dan, Kasumi,
Natasha, and Erica are all pretty incredible athletes.  Especially
Kasumi and Natasha - which I'd seen some evidence of before, but this
was further confirmation.  Erica took on a bunch of female athletes
her own age at volleyball and held her own or won, Natasha and Kasumi
blew Sanae out of the water at a swimming contest, and I staged an
impromptu junior wrestling contest where even Gin owned me, to my
embarrassment.  And Dan... damnation, he's strong.

	Sister Miyu and Kasumi's mother were also very impressive.  The
others were not as impressive as I expected; except for Sister
Yukariko, who is an INCREDIBLE archer. Her son, too. I was blown away.

	Also, his girlfriend is very sexy but I tried not to think about
that, as I think the nuns would rip me limb from limb just for
thinking it.  Damn, that one, Sister Miyu, is just creepy.  I think
she's hoping I'll mess up so she can kill me.

	I don't intend to give her any excuses.

****************

Roger's Rules of Order:

	I can't say I like to fight women; I consider myself a gentleman.
That being said, Natsuki insisted, and I was curious myself.

	So after breakfast, we went to my practice room and sparred.  Dorothy
sat and watched us curiously while reading an e-book.

	Natsuki grabbed my shoulder and threw me again as I approached.
She's not hugely better than me, but it's clear she's not holding
back; whereas I can't help doing so.

	Despite this, she smiled and said, "You're very good, Roger."

	"I will beat you at the target shooting."

	"Hah!" she said confidently.

	After I outscored her four times, she said, "Okay, you're good."

	"I don't like to use guns; but when I have to, I want to hit," I told
her. I've always been good with ranged weapons.

	Distantly, I could hear Dorothy playing the piano.

	"Roger, we have..."  She struggled for the words.  "I've told you
about Mitsu Kagami, right?
=09
	"She is Tokiha Shun's girlfriend who stole her parent's car for him,
right?" I asked.

	She winced.  "Yes.  But she's not normally like that."

	"I know her vaguely.  We haven't met, I don't think," I said.  I know
rather more than I can say. She's definitely tangled up deeply in
whatever is going on.

	"We're trying to arrange for her to stay with Shiho this summer,"
Natsuki began.

	"So she can covertly see Shun without her parents knowing?" I asked.

	She winced.  "No...okay, a little.  But the two main things are for
her to study English and get her grade up to help restore her credit
with her parents, and because Haruka wants her for the Woods Research
Institute.  As an intern.  Which also will help her with that."

	Clearly her parents are not in on the secret and she is.

	"You want me to do an endorsement advertisement for Ms. Munakata?" I
teased her.

	"We're having a little party for her to meet with the parents, and
I'd appreciate it if you came and helped," she said to me.  "You have
a good reputation."

	"So why can't she live with her parents?" I asked.

	"She needs the immersion, which her parents can't provide, to improve
her English.  Haruka has an eye on her for long-term recruitment but
wants to be able to send her out of Japan as well," Natsuki said to
me.  "Shiho can provide this."

	I nodded.  "That makes sense.  I could probably help with that, if
she is elegant enough for my mansion," I told her.

	Natsuki looked thoughtful.  "She is well-mannered, but not elegant."

	"A useful skill to acquire, then," I told her.

	"You've met Shiho, right?" she asked.

	"I think I have seen her, very briefly, at some family affair of
yours," I told her.

	"Well, I'll see if she's up to coming over here tonight, so you can
meet."  She paused.  "If that's okay."

	"It is fine," I told her.

	We began making plans.

**************

Bobby's Tale:

	Shiho took a phone call; I didn't pay much attention as I was busy
with headphones on, using my laptop to have a conference with several
co-workers.  (We needed to clear up a few things that developed over
the weekend.)  Having wireless service on the train is pretty
convenient.  Once I finished my meeting, I turned to her and said,
"What was that?"

	"Interested in dinner with Natsuki and Mr. Smith?" she asked.  "He
wants to meet Natasha and Gin too," she said.

	"Sounds fine by me," I told her.

	"I expect this will be pretty high class, so we'll want to dress up,"
Shiho said.

	"I like dressing up," I told her.  "Especially for you."

	She laughed.  "Me too," she said.  "I went through my
run-around-mostly-naked phase when I was Natasha's age, but now I like
to fancy it up."

	"I do not run around mostly naked," Natasha said from the row of
seats ahead of us.  "And I'd love to see what Mr. Smith's place is
like and if he...I'm curious to meet him."

	"You're curious if he's hot like we heard?" Gin asked.

	"I didn't say that," Natasha muttered.

	I laughed softly.  Shiho laughed too.

	"He is kind of hot, but not as hot as my Bobby," Shiho said firmly.

	"I'd be interested too, if you don't mind," Gin said.

	"You're going to have to learn to fake some manners and he is just
the man to help you," Shiho said.  "From what I hear."

	"Roger Smith has a very good reputation for intellect, skill,
professionalism, and manners," I told them.  Rather like John Smith,
though John Smith is a lot older.  No relation, though; I asked him
the last time I saw him.

	"I don't need to 'fake' manners," Gin said irritably.

	Shiho began to laugh and Natasha and Gin both sounded very aggravated
by that.

	"We'll show you!  Our grades are COMING UP!," Natasha said.

	"I'll believe that when I see it," Shiho said.

	"Mocking disbelief is probably not the best way to respond," I told Shiho.

	"You haven't heard that as often as I have," she said.

	"This time, I AM RIGHT!"

*************
=09
Shiho's Tale:

	"Natsuki, you don't have to do this," I told Natsuki.  Mind you, I
WANTED her to, but I did feel a little guilty.

	"This is kind of expensive," Natasha said.

	Natsuki met us at the station, then took us to a clothing store and
was about to buy us each a very nice black dress.  And she'd bought
Gin a very nice black suit.  Bobby's suit apparently met her approval.

	"It's fine," she said.  "This isn't just for tonight, it's for the
Tuesday meeting and likely future ocassions."

	"Maybe we should buy Bobby a matching suit too," Gin said.  "If we're
going to do the matching outfits thing."

	"He's fine," Natsuki said.

	"I can put in some money," Bobby said.

	"No, I am covering this," Natsuki said stubbornly.

	"I could probably buy my Dad for a week with what this cost," Gin
said a little nervously.

	What an odd way to put it.  "Much as I like presents-" I began.

	"You're going to be feeding and housing Kagami all summer without
getting paid," Natsuki said.  "This is my contribution to the cause."

	"Thank you," I told her.  We are going to look VERY nice and respectable.

	"I could cover Shi...," Bobby began.

	"It's fine.  Didn't you just sink a lot of money into taking my
relatives to the beach?" Natsuki said, sounding a little irritated.

	"They all forced money on me," he said, a little embarrassed.

	"Good," Natsuki said.  "I'm sure at some point, I'll need a
translator or business advice or music or something.  For now, be
quiet and accept my generosity."  She sounded like she was defying us
to do so.

	Gin laughed and bowed.  "I accept."

	"Wow, I am going to be gorgeous in this," Natasha said.

	"You're always gorgeous," Gin said.  "But it will help make you even
more yourself."

	Natasha smiled and kissed him.

	Natsuki hauled me to the bathroom before we left.  "Does he always do
that to you?" she asked.

	"Do what?" I asked, confused.

	"Insist on paying?"

	"Yes, but I usually let him," I told her.  "I'm not made out of money."

	"I spend a lot of time wrestling with Roger to get him to let me pay
for things too," Natsuki said.

	I find the idea of wrestling with someone to get to spend your money
instead of theirs somewhat alien.  But not entirely.  "Bobby is very
generous," I told her.  "But he'll back off if you tell him to."

	"Has he really got enough money to be that generous?" Natsuki asked, worri=
ed.

	"I haven't peeked at his bank bills, but he does things like cooking
his own food to save money instead of buying takeout," I told her.
"So I don't think he's totally reckless, but it's one of his ways of
showing affection.  Along with being good with words."

	For a moment, she seemed confused, then she said, "Oh, he's good at
saying how he feels about you?"

	I felt a little embarrassed.  "A lot better than me."

	"Roger can be a smooth talker, but he's used to hiding and
controlling his emotions," Natsuki said.  "I hope they'll get along."

	"Bobby wants to like everyone and tries to get everyone to like him,"
I told Natsuki.  "And he's pretty mellow compared to me.  So I don't
know if he'll impress Mr. Smith, but I think they should get on okay."

	"I can't believe he tells everyone to call him Bobby," Natsuki said.

	"I don't think he's quite grasped that we're a lot more formal.
Doing that in the United States tends to disarm people and make them
comfortable.  It says 'I'm not going to nail you to the wall for
informality.'  Here it says 'I'm an overly friendly American' to a lot
of people."  I paused, then smiled a little secretively.  "Also, I
kind of like having an affectionate nickname to call him."

	Natsuki smiled brightly at me.  "How cute."

	"I didn't...Natsuki!"

	She laughed softly.  "Does he suspect anything?  I think Roger must
have some suspicions...I couldn't give him a coherent reason why
you're hosting Kagami.  Due to our secrets."

	"He's probably Robot Man, right?"

	"Unless there is someone else out there with a reason to protect me.
And Dorothy clearly has the physical skills of a Hime.  But if he has
some kind of mark, I can't find it.  I looked," she said.

	"I bet he enjoyed that," I said, grinning.

	She turned a little red.  "Yes," she mumbled.

	"Bobby has no marks, either," I told her.  "I don't know what I will
tell him when I get one.  If I do."  I am not sure if I can trust
myself with the power again.

	"I am taking the oath the second I get the chance," Natsuki said.
"We need the power."

	You didn't do anything to be ashamed of, I thought.  "Well, your
experience was different from mine."

	"You were an immature little brat," Natsuki said, and I winced.  "But
now you're a grownup.  If Natasha can handle it, you can handle it."

	"I worry about her," I told Natsuki.

	"They're fortunate; they aren't a bunch of loners and crazies like we
were," Natsuki said, then sighed.  "I hate not being able to tell
Roger."

	"Ditto," I said.  "He's so totally open with me and totally patient
about it," I added, rubbing my hands together briskly, then slowing
gradually to a stop.  "He says the sweetest things.  But so did
Nubuo."  I stared down at the sink.

	"I'd say you have more reason to fear him bankrupting himself than
betraying you," Natsuki said.  "Either that, or he's a hell of an
actor."

	"Nubuo was a hell of an actor," I said heavily.  "I want to trust
Bobby, but I don't know if I should."

	"Well, that's the thing about trust.  I trust Roger, but if he has
powers, he's getting them from something other than our source, I
think.  And who knows what it wants?"  She sighed.  "I can't believe
Roger would serve anything terrible, though."

	"Some men are like snakes in the grass, looking innocent until they
bite you," I told her.  "But you're old enough to know that."

	"Yes," she said, sighing.  "Shizuru is pretty optimistic we can bring
them around."

	"Kagami's parents?"

	She nodded.

	"I feel pretty optimistic," I said.  "I've handled some pretty tricky
clients, and Shizuru knows how to handle people.  So our combined
talents should easily be enough to get them to let us have Kagami.  So
long as they never find out I have anything to do with Mai, Akira, or
their kids."

	"I have a lot of faith in Shizuru, but I hate lying to them," Natsuki said=
.

	"Unfortunately, with the current crisis, we pretty much are going to
be lying all the time to anyone outside the family," I said, sighing.
"My big worry is that Bobby will crap himself and run when he finds
out the truth.  Even if he...it's a lot to ask of someone."  I don't
know if even I'm worth that risk.

	"I know," Natsuki said.  "I think Roger would accept it, but I may be
telling myself what I want to hear."

	"What I want to hear is that Bobby can shoot monster-slaying
eye-lasers, he will love me forever, and that I have nothing to fear
from getting my powers back," I told Natsuki.  "But I don't think
that's happening."

	"We should go to that place in the mountains.  Let you summon
Yaga...what's his name?"

	"Yatagarasu," I said.  "What if they break through and attack when
I'm busy freaking out?"

	"Better we find out under controlled conditions, right?"

	I need to know.

	I am scared to know.

	"Yes," I said softly, staring at the sink again.

	She put a hand on my shoulder.  "It'll be fine," she said.

	SHE didn't go crazy last time.

***************

Roger's Rules of Order:

	Munakata-san and her boyfriend were not elegant, but could
counterfeit a reasonable facsimile of it; her daughter and the
boyfriend could not even fake that, though their clothing was
excellent and all four were at least friendly.  And they all wore
black, for which I was grateful.  It is the most elegant color.  This
is why everyone who stays in my house must wear black; that is rule
10.

	"Nice to meet you, Roger," Gin said to me, shaking my hand.  I expected th=
is.

	"Nice to meet you, Gin," I replied.

	Then he stared at Dorothy, so she stared back.  "You're awfully pale," he =
said.

	"You're awfully stupid, but I can tan," she replied.

	He frowned, Shiho laughed, and Natasha frowned darkly.  "He's very
smart," she said.

	"Poor manners is a sign of stupidity," Dorothy said.  "How do you
expect to persuade the Mitsu family if you mouth off to them?"

	Natasha grimaced and Gin frowned.

	Robert Cooper said, "She's right, you know, Gin.  From what Shiho
tells me, her family is rather prickly.  One crack like that and
everything will be flushed down the toilet."  His voice was friendly
more than critical, like a buddy giving advice, rather than an adult
to a kid.

	I shook his hand. "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, in
other words," I said.  "Rule 19."

	"What is rule one?" he asked curiously.

	Natsuki said in unison with me, grinning a little, "The basic rule of
negotiating is to consider and respect the other person's feelings,
whether friend or foe."

	"Very good, Natsuki," I said, smiling a little.

	"The basic rule of bodyguarding is to do whatever it takes to protect
the client, even at cost to yourself," she said.

	"For the sake of your girlfriend and her family, Gin," I said to him,
"You would be wise to learn to control your mouth when it might damage
your desires."

	He frowned at me, then said, "That's called lying."

	"The alternative is often called 'failure'," I told him.  "If you
constantly share every content of your mind with others, it may well
alienate them.  Especially when they have something you want, only
gained through persuasion."

	"I'm not even sure why this is so important," Gin said.

	You and I both, I thought.  Though I suspect.

	"She needs supervision to ensure she doesn't slide back into her old
bad habits," Robert Cooper said. I tried to determine if this is what
he was told, if he was making something up to mollify Gin, or if he
was aware of everything.  I couldn't tell.  "Since she'll be working
for Shiho's family this summer.  And her parents can't work and
supervise her enough at the same time.  It's for her own good."

	"I dunno, Kagami's usually pretty responsible.  I'm kind of stunned
they talked her into car theft, even if she is Shun's girlfriend," he
said.

	"Gin, she'll be much happier with Mom and I than with her shitty
parents," Natasha said.  "I don't need any more reason than you.  She
wants this."

	"I probably should just hide under a bed instead of going," Gin said.
"With my luck, I'll ogle her Mom or something."

	"Let's eat," I said, ushering them to the dining room.

	Gin and Natasha's table manners were better than their conversational
manners.  They did nothing wrong that anyone who wasn't as picky as
myself would mind.  Robert Cooper and Shiho were acceptable.  Natsuki,
as always, was well-mannered.

	It quickly became apparent that Gin was simply no good at controlling
his mouth, and Natasha not much better.  They have no choice but to
show off Natasha, but I am inclined to think that Gin is right; best
he stay under the bed.  Robert Cooper might be a little too informal
for the Mitsu family, but was affable and friendly and reasonably
intelligent and well mannered other than the informality.

	Shiho looked somewhat frustrated, though she was trying to hide it.
She's not really any good at hiding it, mind you.

	After dinner, Dorothy took the ladies off for a little concert, while
I took the men outside to show them the gardens.  "Nice," Gin said.
"I'd suggest you switch to a fertilizer during the summer which has
more potassium and less nitrogen.  Nitrogen makes the green parts
grow, but at this point, you need potassium to get the most vigorous
blooms."

	I blinked in surprise.  He continued to rattle off advice as we
circulated.  I tried to keep track of it and finally had to ask him to
talk to Norman later.  Robert Cooper looked impressed and surprised as
well.

	"I, uh, didn't mean to just lecture you," Gin finally said.

	"No, it's okay, that was impressive advice," I told him.

	"Mom runs a garden supplies store," he said.

	I will have to remember that.  He does have some intellect, just no
manners and little self-control.  I will defnitely advise Natsuki he
be kept away from these negotiations.

	We ended up back on the veranda, sitting and having some brandy while
Gin drank tea and looked aggravated, though he had the control to keep
it to himself.  I talked business with Mr. Cooper for a while to try
and take his measure.

	He seemed quite knowledgeable and rather more savvy than my first
impression.  I would have liked to try to probe to see what he knows
of her family, but not with the boy listening.

	"Are you and Kuga-san planning children?" he asked.

	"We haven't gone that far," I said.  "Or even to the point of
marriage."  I will have to see what her family secret actually is,
first.  Still, she's one of a few with whom I have thought about that.

	"Would you marry her?" Gin asked.

	"It is wisest not to rush into marriage," I said.  I had to be
careful, being aware anything Gin heard would pass to Natasha and thus
to the entire universe.  "That being said, I am not opposed to
marriage as an institution, though I have never been married.  Natsuki
and I may eventually get married.  We will have to see."

	He looked thoughtful.

	Robert Cooper said, "I've been married.  All I can say is, don't get
married unless you can actually spend time with each other, or it will
go to hell."  He sighed.  "I spent too much time climbing the ladder
at work, and I advanced fast, but it meant leaving her alone too much
and she cheated on me."  He looked depressed now.  "I could work a lot
harder now, but I'd rather have the time to spend with Shiho."

	Gin smiled at that, and I said, "Very admirable.  Natsuki and I are
fortunate to have fairly compatible lives."

	"Ms. Waynewright is your assistant in your work, correct?" Robert Cooper a=
sked.

	"Yes," I told him.  "We have worked together for over a decade."

	"Does she get jealous?" Gin asked.

	"No," I told him.  Sometimes, yes, to be honest; but I have at times
been jealous of her. It is inevitable that when two people are close,
they sometimes claw at each other.  This is Rule 31.  But I do not
think Gin can handle that level of complexity.

	He looked surprised, and Robert Cooper smiled a little.  I suspect he
knows better and knows why I said it.  Or he may just think I am too
insecure to admit it.  I hope not.

	"How long have you been seeing Ms. Munakata?" I asked Robert Cooper.

	"I've just been seeing Shiho a few weeks, but she is very loveable," he sa=
id.

	If you say so, but I am not convinced.  Though I suspect I have not
seen her at her very best.

	"I am fortunate to have the most loveable of all women as my lady
love," I said.  "Beautiful, strong, and wise.  There is little more a
man could ask."

	"Exactly," Gin said.

	I fought the urge to laugh.

	Robert Cooper started to say something, looked at Gin, then shook his
head.  This made me curious.  Then he said, "I don't know if I could
call Natasha  wise," he said.

	"She is!  She's very wise," Gin said stubbornly.  "She knows what
life is all about."

	"What is life all about?" I asked.

	"Find what you do best and do it without hesitation or regret," Gin
said.  "Seize life by the horns and headbutt it into submission.  We
only get one go, so it make it the best you can.  Tomorrow will take
care of itself."

	An apt philosophy for youth.  Robert Cooper and I looked at each
other, then I said, "That is an easy philosophy for the young, who
have no responsibilities, but you will find it much harder when you
grow older."

	"Yeah, that's why I have to live while I still can before I end up
being only really alive on weekends like all of you or my parents," he
said.

	I am definitely going to advise Munakata-san to keep the boy far away
from the Mitsu family.

****************
=09
Dorothy's Tale:

	"I give you both an A," I said to Munakata-san and Natasha.  Natsuki
was watching the three of us perform =96 myself on the piano, Shiho on
the flute, and Natasha singing.

	"What?" Shiho asked.

	"You both are performers of high skill," I said.

	Natsuki looked surprised.  She knows I do not award such praise lightly.

	They both smiled brightly.  "We should get Gin and Bobby," Natasha
said.  "They can perform too.  Though I don't know if you have enough
instruments."

	"I believe they are 'mantalking' right now," I told them.  Roger is
likely probing them to see if they know anything; I will be surprised
if they do.  The general word is that Munakata-san's boyfriends are
usually rather disposable.  On the other hand, apparently most of
Natsuki's were, and Roger is higher caliber, so Robert Cooper may have
hidden strength and talents.  His business reputation is quite good,
but he is not even close to Roger's level.

	Unless he is an extremely good actor.

	It is good they came here, though.  The children desperately need
better manners - or possibly to be locked in a closet until the affair
is settled. "I must speak with Munakata-san in private," I said.
"Natsuki, would you mind showing Natasha around?"

	"I would be happy to, Dorothy," she said, leading Natasha out.

	Shiho looked somewhat worried.  "Is something wrong?"

	"Roger is the expert negotiator, but I have learned much from him.
And I can tell you it is important you keep Gin away from the
negotiations, and that you would be advised to find some way to
minimize Natasha's ability to mouth off and do damage to your case," I
told her.  "You come off reasonably well and Mr. Cooper is acceptable,
but Natasha and Gin are likely to say the wrong thing.  Repeatedly."

	She grimaced.  "I have to show off Natasha so they will not think I
am a terrible mother and thus unfit to watch over their daughter."

	"Honesty is usually the best policy, but unless she can control
herself and put up a false front, that may be difficult," I told her.

	She put down her flute and sat, frustrated.  "I don't like teaching
my child to lie."

	"Commendable," I told her.  "But if she is honest and entirely
herself, I think you will fail."  If her goal was a well-behaved
child, I think she's a miserable failure as a mother, but she seems
intelligent enough that I have to assume she wanted strength, but
didn't do well at instilling matching self-control.

	"I wanted her to be strong, to be free, not to be haunted.  I wanted
her to live without fear," Munakata-san said urgently.

	"Well, you succeeded.  Unfortunately, humans require a certain amount
of fear to avoid foolish behavior."

	She grimaced and I said, "This is not a time which calls for
strength; it calls for flexibility."

	"Neither of us is very good at that, though Bobby is," Shiho said,
studying the piano.

	"Playing up his English skills and his role in the persuasion might
be wise, then," I told her.  "However, you should talk to Roger; he is
the master and I the apprentice.  He may be able to find some good
role for Natasha and help you out."

	"I'll go talk to him," she said.

	I smell a trainwreck, but perhaps they will beat the odds.  Either
way, it should be interesting to watch and that's all I ask.

*****************
=09
Roger's Rules of Order:

	I had adjourned to a parlor to converse privately with Munakata-san.
We each had some wine.

	She sipped her wine slowly.  "I don't know what to do about Natasha.
I'm tempted to ask Kasumi to stand in for her."

	"We both know that would inevitably lead to trouble.  Honesty is not
always the best policy, but deception should be applied as minimally
as possible," I told her.  "Rule 20.  One should especially avoid
anything people might do to drive a sitcom plot.  Rule 21."
=09
	She laughed.  "I can't hide Natasha; I need to show off her strengths
without giving away her weaknesses."

	"Tell me as much as you can about her," I told her.

	This took a while.

**************
=09
	I am probably throwing myself on a hand grenade.  Still, I can be
rather stubborn.

	"Do you want Mitsu Kagami to live with you?" I asked Natasha.

	"Mostly," she said.

	"Mostly?" I asked.  We were in the same parlor where I had talked to
her mother, but now we were drinking coke. I thought it best not to
rub alcohol consumption in her face.  Rule 19 again.

	"Well, she is kind of a goody-goody," Natasha said.  "Mom's likely to
compare me to her all summer and ask why I'm not as obedient as she
is."

	I should meet her, if possible.  And talk to Shizuru.

	"I can see how that would be hard to deal with," I said to her.

	She perked up a little.  "No one likes being compared to someone
else, right?  Not in that way, anyway."

	"I entirely agree," I told her.  "But I doubt she can match your
fighting skills, from what Natsuki has told me."

	"Yeah, she's way behind me," Natasha said proudly.

	"Dorothy and I possess different skills but we complement each
other," I said.  "We fight sometimes as a result, but when we
cooperate, we are stronger than the sum of our parts.  I'm sure there
will be some times she will aggravate you, but I am also sure you have
much to learn from each other."

	"She's got to learn to be less of a doormat to her parents," Natasha
said firmly, then took a swig of her coke.

	"Well, she will not get to learn that lesson unless you can feign
being like your cousin Kasumi - or at least your cousin Crystal, or
Erica - long enough to get her parents to agree to hand her over to
your mother for the summer," I told her.  "Obviously, I am in no
position to give you orders.  But knowing what you know about her
parents, do you think they will respond well to your true self?"

	She frowned.  "No.  But I have to do enough...I mean..."  She drank
the rest of her coke in frustration.  "They really don't deserve the
truth."

	Which is?  But I won't point out she's slipping up even saying there
is a 'truth' for them not to know.  "But you don't like it anyway."

	"I've never...okay, I have lied to Mom, but not like this.  And I
don't like hiding who I am," she said.  "May I have more coke?"

	"Of course," I said, and Norman poured her another glass of it.

	She took a swig.  "But you're right.  Which means hiding Gin."  She
sighed.  "It has to hurt to...I don't want to hurt his feelings."

	"I'm sure if he really loves you, he will understand," I told her.
"True Love does sometimes entail sacrificing your own happiness for
that of another."

	"I just...He'd never ask me to hide."  She studied the floor, sounding gui=
lty.

	"Well, he told me it might be better if he not go," I said.  "But
unless he can completely change his stripes, I fear his presence would
not help your cause."

	"Or mine, but I have to go," Natasha said, sighing.  "I want to help,
but I've never been good at shutting up."

	"Not every obstacle can be overcome by determination and force of
will," I told her.  "Other tactics are useful too."

	She drank more of her coke and I sipped mine.

	"I'm not good at those tactics," she said.

	"Every journey begins with the first step," I told her.

	She seemed to wait for something.

	"I didn't invent that one, so it doesn't get a number," I told her.

	She laughed and drank more coke.  "I will do my best.  I do want to
help Kagami.  I'm not ideal for this."

	"If you do your best, it's all anyone can ask," I told her.

	Natsuki is definitely going to owe me for this.

	And she needs to learn to lie better if she's going to try to fool me.

***************

Kasumi's Tale:

	I was getting ready for bed when Aunt Chie and Aunt Aoi showed up and
rounded us all up and took us to her office on campus.

	"What's up?" I asked, worried.

	"Shinichiro and his girlfriend had to fight an Orphan - which rather
resembled Sister Yukariko's child, St. Vrus - up at the beach in
Hokkaido," Aunt Chie said.

	We all stared in surprise.  "What...what happened?  Is he okay?" I
asked, worried.

	"They contracted with the Silver Knight, and were able to defeat the
Orphan.  It seemed to have been accidentally summoned by some people
who found a piece of the Hime Star," Aunt Chie continued, frowning.
"Which means there's a good chance more pieces will show up.
Especially since it seems likely that bits of the Hime Star - or else
something similar - were under that stone platform."

	Crystal rubbed her forehead.  "So...trouble."

	"Does that mean we'll have to fight them?" I asked nervously.

	"Hopefully not," Aunt Chie said.  "I will not be surprised if we end
up having to stab their God to death, though."  She sighed.  "Which
may involve us having to fight them.  But the Obsidian Lord couldn't
just control the Hime, so hopefully, the Silver Knight can't just
mind-control them either."

	What if he makes Hayao one of his minions?  What if I have to fight him?

	The idea horrified me.

	It suddenly seemed hideously likely.

	Shun started to speak, then fell silent.

	"The Silver Knight prizes skill and dedication, right?  He wants
those who strive for greatness, whether the goals are good or evil?"
Erica asked.

	Shun stared at the floor.

	"Yes, that's my understanding," Aunt Aoi said.

	"Like, say, Shun and Junko," Erica said nervously.

	"Well, he hasn't called me on the phone," Shun said.

	"Or Roger Smith for that matter," Erica continued.

	"That's certainly a possibility," Aunt Chie said.

	"Shun?" Kagami asked him, putting a hand on his shoulder as he stared
at the floor.

	"So he takes both men and women," Shun said, now looking up.

	"Yes, it would seem so, as both Nakamori Ume and Shinichiro signed on
with him," Aunt Chie said.

	Crystal's eyes suddenly widened.  "We know the Silver Knight is
trying to recruit here.  As I can't see why else he would send some of
his orphans wandering onto campus and roaming around the woods.  This
school is full of people striving for excellence.  A fair number of
whom hate our guts."

	I imagined Ayumi-sempai with powers.  Ugh.

	"I...Junko and I assumed it was just them going for makeouts, but we
did see Mary and Noriko going into the woods with their boyfriends
Saturday Night and now they seem to have twice the arrogance they did
before...," Crystal said hesitantly.

	"There is no way the Silver Knight would recruit two people who are
only good at gossip and being snide," Natasha said.  "When he could
have a genius of science like Sanae or an expert swimmer and writer
like Mandi or a genius of art and music like Gin or..."  She suddenly
looked really uncomfortable.

	"Or an expert poet and historian like Hayao or an expert at
pretending to be a vampire like Hotaru.  She's also good at math and
business-related things.  And music," I said weakly. "Is he going to
recruit our friends and lovers and turn them on us?" I added, on the
edge of panicing.

	I wanted to go run out of the room right this minute and search Hayao
for...I'm not even sure what to look for.  "What is the mark of the
Silver Knight?" I asked.

	"We don't know; but he apparently gives you a ring, so I would guess
they don't get a tattoo like us," Aunt Chie said, frowning.

	"Akane and Akira are going up to Hokkaido tomorrow morning to
investigate.  In addition to 'Saint Bosco' -  the monster that
resembled St. Vrus - there was also a crimson hound that St. Bosco
ate," Aunt Aoi said.

	"Should...aargh, we still have a week of school," Natasha said.

	"They should be fine," Aunt Aoi said; she sounded less certain than
her words did.  "You just focus on your finals.  This summer, we'll
have more freedom of action."

	"You know, Kagami would have been ideal for the Silver Knight if she
hadn't become a Hime," Erica said thoughtfully.

	"And you," I told her.  "But really, this whole school is full of
high achievers."

	"It's possible that 'Kei', whoever he really is, set up what happened
in the woods to try to ensure none of us ended up working for the
Silver Knight," Erica speculated.

	"But you didn't even get an offer from the Silver Knight and you
fought one of his recruiting monsters," Crystal said.

	"Or possibly to ensure we could kill all the recruiting monsters,"
Erica continued.

	"Well, we're still down one Hime, so he may try something else to
activate Shun," I said.

	"If I can get powers," Shun said, frowning.

	"Given that I have the Namcub roaming around inside me and benefit, I
expect you can become a Hime too," Dan said to him.  "Or at least get
the physical benefits like I do."

	"So...what about Hayao?" I asked. "And the others?"

	"Keep your eyes open," Aunt Chie said.  "We can't tell them anything
yet, though..."  She frowned.  "Did anyone figure out how to keep you
all from showing your powers off in Physical Education during the
finals?"

	"I have no clue," Natasha said.  "I did my best last week, but it
wasn't good enough."

	"I may have to say you all have the plague or something," Aunt Aoi
said, sighing.  "And you have the rest of this school year and all of
next year you have to hide this."

	"And the rest of our lives," Crystal said, sighing.

	"We kinda showed off too much at the beach," Natasha said dolefully.
"Maybe we should just tell everyone we've been 'borged up."

	"There will be no training this week, so you can focus on finals,"
Aunt Chie said.  "And, well, your trainer will be in Hokkaido."

	That was disappointing, but I really do need to study.  I want to
bring my grades up.

	"Anyway, keep your eyes open.  I'll look for any scuttlebutt on Mary
and Noriko, though I tend to agree, they don't seem like prime
candidates for the Silver Knight to me," Aunt Chie said.

	We dispersed to go sleep... but now I was rather worried.

***************

Mandi's Tale:

	"The inscription was nothing special," I said. "Well, sort of
special, but it was pretty much about some seventh century Emperor and
the marvelous new palace he was building."  She sighed.  "Nothing that
would really explain any of this."

	Our investigation team had gathered for a Sunday night meeting in
Sanae and I's bedroom.

	"They're arranging for Kagami to stay with Shiho this summer," Gin
told us.  "They're going to try and sell it to her parents on
Wednesday.  I don't know if it will work or not."

	Hayao frowned.  "They are clearly super-athletes - and, I expect,
super-fighters - now."

	"They're expecting trouble," Mandi said.

	"That seems likely," Hotaru said.  "Perhaps Kiyohime has returned
from wherever it has been hiding and is after them."

	I frowned.  "Why was it hiding so long?"

	"Maybe THEY are Kiyohime," Hayao pointed out.  "Though some of them
don't seem the type.  I wouldn't put anything past that bitch Nao."

	"Maybe Primus was actually engaged in the same kind of research as
Tallin," Gin said.  "I know it's hard to believe in things invading
from other universes, I mean for real - but maybe Primus wiped itself
out and they had to clean up the mess, and now they expect more
trouble. Sure, Tallin got blown up, but the thing about science is
that you can repeat it."

	"Invaders from other universes?" I said.  "Come on."

	"Kagami stole a car for Shun and Crystal to go to Tallin.  Which blew
up a second time, and was attacked by a mysterious vanishing mech the
same night," Gin said.  "Then the parents all start combat training
them.  Erica, Chie, and Aoi suddenly are part of their family.  They
start getting really buffed, really fast.  There might be nothing but
rubble left at Tallin now, but it's real important." He paused,
looking down at where his fingers had been ticking off points. "And
they carved up that chunk of wall for some reason.  Any idea what that
funky powder is, Sanae?"

	"No," she said.  "Other than it's crystalline in structure.  I don't
have the tools for a deeper look, and I don't know if I would
understand it if I did.  It doesn't seem to react with acids or
bases."

	"It can't be invaders from another universe," I said.  "That only
happens in comics."

	"Well, we know at least two research facilities were blown up when
their parents were around.  I'm not saying it's invaders, but there's
sure reason to think there's something tying 'em together," Gin said.
"We need to find out who owned Primus, who owned Tallin, see if
there's a connection."

	Hayao nodded.  "Whatever is really going on, I doubt that they talked
Kagami into stealing her parents' car just for fun."

	"Yeah," I said.  "They must have had some good reason to do that -
and we do know their parents apparently didn't tell them about all the
stuff that happened during the Summer of Fire, for some reason."

	"Maybe they were afraid the kids'd do what they did at Tallin," Gin
said.  "The whole 'black serpents' thing has gotta mean something,
too."

	I couldn't believe things were invading from another dimension.

	"It's possible Primus experimented on their parents and they
destroyed it in retaliation," Sanae said, frowning.  "Kurauchi Akane
vanished and only reappeared after Primus was destroyed, though Mother
thought she eloped as her boyfriend vanished too."

	"I really can't imagine any of them killing off everyone at Primus," I sai=
d.

	"That bitch Nao would," Hayao said crankily.

	I sighed.  "Hayao, there's a huge gap between setting bees on someone
and slaughtering dozens of people.  If the rumors Mom heard were even
halfway true, the killings were extremely brutal and thorough. Only
one person survived and he's now insane."

 	I stopped and looked down at my hands. "It seems reasonable to me
that Primus invented something and Dan's family got their hands on it
before the slaughter, which was probably done by the 'army' which
occupied the school."

 	I looked up when it hit me. "Maybe they volunteered for experiments,
the mercenaries showed up to try to steal the info, then slaughtered
everyone at Primus.  If they got augmented, they might have fought
back and driven off the mercenaries.  Whoever sent those may be poking
around again.  Possibly the mercenaries were 'Kiyohime'.  And now
they're afraid the same company or another is after them."

	"We don't live in a cyberpunk world where companies can just invade
Japan with mercenary armies," Sanae said, though now she sounded
uncertain.

	Some country or company definitely sent soldiers who invaded and took
over Fuuka AND covered it up so there was NO news coverage at the
time," I said.  "There are 682 websites with conspiracy theories about
it now, though.  It's pretty clear that at least the prefectural
government was in cahoots with them."

	"Why haven't they gone to the police?" Hayao asked.

	"Do we know they didn't?  Maybe the police have been bought," I said.

	"This isn't 1930s Chicago," Hayao said, frowning deeply.  His father
is a cop, which I stupidly forgot before saying that.  "Father isn't
on the take."

	"He can be honest without everyone being. Certainly the police
haven't managed to suppress the Yakuza, even after centuries," Hotaru
said.  "Who certainly might be a suspect here."

	"Suzushiro-san has enough money to buy the police, too," Sanae said.
"So it can't just be government corruption stopping them, can it?"

	"Unless some other company has enough money to beat her offers," Gin
said.  "Also, the way they're buffed, and the limits the police have
on guns, I don't know how much better the police would be as
bodyguards than they are themselves."

	"Kuga Natsuki IS a bodyguard," I pointed out.  She must be worth the
money by a lot.

	"We could spy on one of their training sessions," Hotaru said.

	"I don't like spying on people," Sanae said.  "And if we get caught,
they might force Dan and Natasha and Kasumi to dump us."  She frowned
at the thought.

	"It's not much of a relationship if they'd dump you for their parents," I =
said.

	"Easy for you to say with nothing to lose," Gin said, frowning.  "I'd
rather not take that risk.  It's not like they spy on us, so I'd
rather not spy either."

	"Do any of us actually have the skills to spy on them without getting
caught?" Hayao asked dubiously.

	"No," Sanae said.  "We're not ninjas, spies, or thieves."

	I grumbled, then it hit me.  "Hmm, Natasha certainly couldn't take
Taiki, when we had to stop him from kicking her ass at the party a few
weeks ago."

	"She only really got stronger after getting lost in the woods," Gin said.

	"Well, let's meet tonight and go wander around that area some more.
Maybe we'll find something," I said.

	We voted approval, 5-0.  Time to see if we have an adventure.

***************

Shizuru's Tale:

	"It probably wasn't wise to bring Roger into this," I told her.

	"Well, I was just worried," Natsuki said, sighing.  "Of course, it
was hard to come up with a good reason why we're doing this."

	She'd come over to my place to update me on everything; we sat in the
parlor, sipping wine and eating some bean pastries I got from Akane's
bakery.

	"Exactly," I said to her.  "Though it sounds like he gave Natasha
some good advice."  I had pretty much assumed that controlling Natasha
was impossible, but it would seem Roger wins again.  I tried to keep
my voice calm.  "She is very headstrong."

	"I think her boyfriend is hopeless," Natsuki said, then munched on a
sweet bean pastry made to resemble a happy face.

	I took a bite out of one of mine, then said, "No one is hopeless.
Some just require more effort." I smiled a bit sadly, then sighed.
"Really, though, he doesn't need to be there; it's best he not come,
or even be mentioned.  I will talk to her tomorrow, as I had planned."

	Natsuki said, "You should probably talk to Roger too."

	"I will talk to Roger when I have a good reason for why we are doing
this."  When that will happen, I am not sure.

	But I can never stay unhappy with Natsuki for long.  She was frowning
and looking unhappy and I don't like that.

	"I will brainstorm in my sleep," I told her.

	"I will braindrizzle," she said to her pastry.

	I said, "Do not sell yourself short, Natsuki.  We all make mistakes."

	"I don't know what I was thinking," she said to her pastry.

	"You wished to show off your boyfriend's talents," I told her.
"Perfectly understandable.  We will handle this."

	I'm still pretty optimistic about success; and really, Roger has
enough prestige that it should help. I have a feeling it will be
impossible for Natsuki to date him and keep him in the dark, anyway.

	But it would have been wiser not to draw him into this.  For that
matter, he likely already knows more than he's telling.

	The question is how much more.

*****************

Mandi's Tale:

	I didn't know if anything would happen, but I dressed all in black
and made Sanae do likewise.  We also put her hair up in a bun and put
a dark blue skicap over it.  Not perfect, but the best we could do.

	Everyone else dressed in black, too.  Gin had a mostly-black baseball
cap on.  Some team from Kyuushu.  I could care less about baseball,
really.

 	I do like to watch swim contests, but that's because I like to look
at swimmers... Hey, don't look at me like that!

	We met everyone and headed into the woods.  The problem, though, was
that the woods are pretty big and we didn't have a coherent search
plan.

	"What do we tell them when they ask us why we're tired tomorrow?" Gin aske=
d.

	"Orgy," Hotaru said, then giggled.

	"Late night study session," I said.  "Finals are coming on little cat
feet, after all."

	We wandered around, trying to find something.  Anything.

	What we found was a clearing which had been trampled flat by a lot of
feet.  We also found several sets of footprints which looked feminine
by the shoe style, and some men's as well.  Gin took sketches, and we
resolved to go learn how to take foot impressions.
=09
	"I just hope this means something," I said, frowning.  "This could
just be some people who came out here for an orgy.  We are kind of
leaping at clues."

	"Holy shit," Sanae said.

	Hayao and I snapped around.  What on earth could make Sanae actually curse=
?

	She was shining a flashlight into a tree.  "There's a crunched up
baseball imbedded in here," she said.

	We all gathered around it, staring.  "Damnation, what could drive a
baseball into this so hard?"

	"Someone with cybered-up strength.  Or whatever is going on," Gin said.

	"Maybe someone on the baseball team has whatever kind of mojo they
have now," I speculated.  "It looks pretty busted up."

	"Not surprising.  Just because you have superhuman strength doesn't
mean the thing you throw can take the amount of force you dish out.
And by Newton's laws, hit the tree with high force and it hits back as
best it can," Sanae said.  "Which is probably why whoever did this
only did it once."

	We pried the bits of ball out for later study - even if we weren't
sure what to study.

	Then I heard a branch break.  We spun, and saw a tree limb falling.
But there was no sign of whatever broke it.

	We all backed up instinctively.  Were there footsteps?  Maybe.  Or
maybe it was us.

	Everything was silent now; examination of the branch made it look
like something heavy landed on it from above, and it snapped.  But
there hadn't BEEN anything heavy.

	We poked around, wandered more, but couldn't find any clues or
footprints or anything.

	Eventually, we got tired and had to go to bed, long before we found
anything useful.

	But I'm still wondering how exactly that baseball got driven into that tre=
e.

*****************
=09
Kasumi's Tale:

	Gin, Hotaru, Hayao, Mandi, and Sanae were all zonked at breakfast on
Monday.  "Are you okay?" I asked Hayao.

	"Hotaru, did you drink everyone's blood before we got here?" Shun
asked, laughing.

	"I wish, I'd be less tired," she said.  "I think I must have infected
everyone with my exhaustion."

	"Late night study session," Hayao said.  "Really BAD idea."  He
sighed and picked at his food.

	"Yeah, it's that time of year," Crystal said.

	Or maybe they all ran around stabbing monsters last night and...  I
studied Hayao's hands.  No sign of a ring.

	He blinked, then looked at his hands.  "Did I get soy sauce on me?"

	I took one of his hands and licked one of his fingers.  "All gone," I said=
.

	Then I realized what I had just done with EVERYONE WATCHING ME.

	I sat back in my chair and crumpled in on myself, embarrassed.

	"Holy shit," Gin said.

	"You really are fearless now," Natasha said, sounding impressed.
Then she did the same thing with Gin's hand.

	Erica stared at me, then at Hayao, then began digging through her purse.

	What was I thinking?

	"Man, you two get kinky," Mandi teased.

	"Please don't tease Kasumi," Hayao said.  He took my hand and kissed
the back of it gently, then laid it down.  Then he yawned.

	I'm sure it was just a study session and I'm being paranoid for nothing.

	Please let it be nothing.

***************

Erica's Tale:

	Coach Kumasaki pulled me aside after class; I was rather nervous.  I
generally am mediocre at best in Physical Education.  I can't even
outrun Shun and Junko WITH powers.

	"This last week or so, you've hugely improved your swimming," she said.

	Oh no, she's not supposed to notice!

	She blinked.  "Are you okay?"

	"I'm fine.  I'm sorry, I kind of assumed you were going to assign
me...umm...remedial swimming or something," I said weakly.

	"If only we could do that," she said, then sighed.  "No, seriously,
you're as good as Ota Mandi now.  I was just wondering what happened."

	"My physical education grade is dragging my GPA down and I need to
improve it.  I've been doing exercises with my Aunt Natsuki, after
school," I told her.
=09
	"Well, good for you," she said, sounding a little surprised.  What
did she expect to hear?  "I commend your aunt."

	"My cousins and I have all been exercising more," I said.
=09
	"Ahh," Coach Kumasaki said, sounding enlightened.  "It's definitely
showing results," she said to me.

	Whew.  I think I may have spared everyone a lot of trouble.  If
nothing else, I can give everyone that excuse.

*****************=09

Hayao's Tale:

	I watched the baseball team practice.  If someone had driven that
ball into that tree, surely it would show in baseball practice, right?

	However, what I ended up watching at first was fielding practice.
The coach did all the batting and sent them scrambling to cut him off
from rounding the bases.  Damn good batter.

	Taiki played second base; he fielded really well, but I couldn't
clearly see anything improved - not like the ball going into the tree.
 But I don't watch enough baseball to judge well.  His throws were
always perfectly on target,but that wasn't enough to prove anything.

	The coach had some of them bat; Taiki hit a homer, every time.  THAT
made me suspicious.

	But what do I say?

	He finally noticed me, and waved; naturally, this happened when he
was fielding again, and he missed a ball, to his total embarrassment
and mine.  The coach was pretty mad at him, and he looked sheepish.

	"Sorry about that," I said to him, when he came up to me after the
practice ended.

	"It's okay," he said.  "Thanks for coming and watching.  Girlfriend busy?"

	"She had a study session with some of her friends," I said.  "I
should be studying, but I just didn't feel like it."

	"I'll try and keep Ayumi off your girlfriend's back," he said to me.
"I don't know why she hates Kurauchi so much.  I'd say we should have
a double date, but they'd hate each other all night."  He sighed.

	"You really seem improved lately," I said, hoping I wasn't stepping
on a landmine.

	He frowned, then said, "Yeah.  I'm doing my best.  Killing Dan is
going to have to wait."

	Dammit.  "You mess with him, you mess with his whole family, you
know," I said to him.

	"They didn't lift a finger last time, pussies," he spat out.
"Anyway, he's a rat bastard and he needs a beating.  Next time, it's
going to be where there's no one to come make me stop."  His face was
ugly.  I didn't like the sound of that.

	"C'mon, man, you can't afford more trouble.  Would you rather it be
cops than teachers?" I told him.

	"Look, Kasumi seems like a nice girl but her family, they're a bunch
of bastards," Taiki said, grimacing.  "I expect they're the ones who
burned down Fuuka back in the 2000s."

	My eyes widened.  "Why do you think that?"

	"You should ask your mother about what happened the first day of the
2005 school year at Fuuka," he said.  "Then think about it."

	His phone rang.  "Gotta go," he said.  "Anyway, good luck on your finals, =
man."

	"Yeah," I told him, watching him go.

	I headed over to one of the benches by the gym.  Around back of it,
there is a memorial to a student who died in 2011; basically, there
are some benches, a small flower garden and a kind of bower.  It's
usually nice and peaceful here.  To my surprise, the vice-principal
was here, kneeling and praying.

	I turned to creep away, but she turned.  "Hello, Masakuri-san."

	"I'll go away," I said to her.  "I didn't mean to disturb you, I just
wanted a little privacy for a phone call."

	"It's okay," she said.  "She would have wanted everyone to enjoy the
beauty here, not just me."  She sounded very sad and somewhat guilty.

	"You knew her?" I asked.

	"I was a student here during the Rosewood fire back in the nineties,"
she said, staring at the bower.  "I guess that was before you were
born."

	She 'guesses'?  "I was born in 2011," I told her.

	"Of course, I'm sorry.  I'm not thinking straight," she said,
sounding embarrassed.  "She was my roommate for a while.  She died
saving people from the fire."  She sighed, pushing her long pink hair
back from her face.

	"So you're in your forties," I said to her.

	She blinked.  "Yes.  I'm in good shape for my age, but I don't look
that young, do I?"

	Early forties, maybe.  "So she died in the fire?"

	"She died a heroine, like..."  The vice-principal sounded very guilty
now.  "It shouldn't have come to that."

	"You shouldn't blame yourself," I said instinctively.  "She made her
own choice."

	"She made her own choice," the vice-principal said, sounding
melancholy.  "She was finally free and she had to..."  She sagged and
I felt uncomfortable, treading on her private sorrow.  "Can I see your
birthmark?"

	"..."

	"I'm sorry, I shouldn't pry," she said, sounding uncomfortable.

	I showed it to her.  It's not a secret.  When she took my hand, it
suddenly tingled... and I jumped.  Her eyes widened and she studied my
hand carefully.  "You're an only child, right?"

	"I'm the result of special fertility treatments," I told her.  "Curie
Pharmaceuticals did it.  It cost a lot, and I think my parents decided
one child was as much as they could handle."

	"My parents died when I was little," she said.  "So my aunt raised
me."  She sounded melancholy again.  "You are a very lucky man."

	I squirmed a little.  I felt like I was spying, though I didn't mean
to.  "I should let you..." I began.

	"It's not healthy for me to think about the past too much.  For
anyone to live there," she said. She looked at me for a long moment.
"So you three are quite close."

	"Yes," I told her.  "We are family.  Not by blood - but it feels like that=
."

	"You would fight for them?" she asked me.

	"Yes, if not very well," I told her.  "Mandi's really the scrapper of
the three of us.  I'm more a lover than a fighter, and Sanae's more
the brains.  But we'd all fight if we had to, for those we love or
each other."  Why is she asking me this?

	"Good.  Humans aren't meant to stand alone," she said, sounding
weary.  "Anyway, I will let you make your call."

	What was that about?

	She left and I called Mom.  "Hello, dear," she said.  "How are you?"

	"I'm fine."  I told her about things in school for a while, then
asked, "Did something weird happen the first day of school in 2005 at
Fuuka?"

	"Oh yes," she said.  "Something cut a passenger ship in half and sank
it. Tokiha Mai and Minagi Mikoto showed up at school the next day, in
the middle of a ring of fire, at the end of a trail blazed all the way
from the water."

	  ...

	"What the hell happened?" I asked.

	"Mai didn't know; she had amnesia of everything after the ship
started sinking," Mom said.  "Really, so many weird things happened
that year, it's not suprising it ended with rioting and the campus
partly burning and the hospital getting invaded and everything.  And
the mercenaries and...Anyway, I enjoyed my years at Fuuka after that,
but my first year of high school was a mess."

	"Any giant robots?" I asked.

	"Thinking of Tallin?  No, but there were odd rumors that year about
giant animals in the woods and on the campus at night.  No proof, I
never saw anything," she told me.  "And Higurashi Akane eloped with
her boyfriend, but I guess they decided to finish school, so they came
back."

	Kasumi's mother.  "Kasumi's mother."

	"Yes, she's Kurauchi Akane now," Mom said.  "She was a very sweet,
kind girl like her daughter.  So don't screw it up this time, Hayao,
as I will have to spank you."

	"You can't spank me!"

	"Your father can, and he will," she said.  "Which reminds me, we need
to have the Kurauchis over and catch up on old times, one of these
days.  So why are *you* asking about the old days?"

	"Didn't you hear about the ship that got cut in half recently?" I asked he=
r.

	She made an odd noise.  "You know, somehow...huh.  But I can't see
how it could be connected.  That was hundreds of kilometers away,
decades ago.  Kasumi didn't show up in a ring of fire recently, did
she?" she asked, teasingly.

	"Was her mother a good athlete?"

	"Her mother was a pretty good runner but didn't really train in it
heavily.  Her father was into it more," she said.  "When Kuga-sempai
had to repeat a year, she was really amazing in sports."

	"Olympic caliber?"

	"Just very good, not THAT good," Mom said.  "So what are you really
trying to find out, Hayao?"

	Mom always seems to see right through me.  "They never figured out
what happened in the Summer of Fire, did they?"

	"I expect the government did and covered it up," Mom said.  "But
nothing like that has happened since, so I have to assume they took
measures to prevent a repeat.  Anyway, it was decades ago.  You don't
need to worry about it."

	I have a bad feeling it is going to repeat itself.  But I can read
Mom well enough to be sure she doesn't know anything.

	Well, time to tell everyone what little I have added to our knowledge.

**************

	I was on my way back to the dorms when I got a phone call.  "Hello," I sai=
d.

	"Hello, I'm Kasumi's uncle, Kanzaki Reito.  Do you have time to talk
to me for a while this evening?"

	"Sure," I said.  "Kasumi has family affairs right now.  What did you
want to talk to me about?"  Not that I mind, but it seems pretty odd.

	"I have a job offer for you," he said.  "I need an intern for one of
my charities," he continued.  "Anyway, I'll come and pick you up, we
can talk over dinner," he said.

	"Intern?  Okay, we can discuss that," I told him.  It would certainly
beat waiting tables.  I usually make good money but you also get
chewed on by a percentage of your customers no matter how hard you
try.

*************

	It wasn't as fancy as you might think; we went to an okonomiyaki shop
off campus.  His broke while he was making it, to his frustration.

	He explained the job duties to me; pretty much the fetch and carry
flunky with some paperwork, but it's a good way to build your resume
and meet people.  Given I'm only in high school, it's an unusual
chance.  This particular one works with various groups to run shelters
for women with problems.  The Magdalenes being one of the major ones.

	"The nuns don't like me," I told him.  "I don't know if that would go
smoothly."

	"You won't be dealing with Kasumi's aunts," he said.  "But this will
give you some credit with them, as you'll be helping their order," he
continued, poking at his food, looking a little aggravated at it,
which made me smile just a little.

	That would be useful, I thought.  Though I doubt I can change their
mind.  "I'm surprised you're giving me this chance when I know you're
close to them."

	"I made many mistakes at your age, as I told your friend Ota-san," he
said, looking into my eyes.  "But my friends didn't cast me into the
dark, even if I probably deserved it.  I know enough about your love
life to know why they dislike you, but I also know the errors of youth
don't mean a person can never change for the better.  Kasumi says you
have been a gentleman with her, and I am willing to accept that and
give you a chance to further show it.  And Kasumi says you are
interested in sociology; this is a chance to see it in action, so to
speak."

	"Okay," I told him.  "Thank you."  Being given a chance to show my
mettle is what I want.  And I expect this is part of them trying to
figure out if they can trust us.

	And yeah, this is a lot more relevant to my interests than waiting tables.

	And my folks will love this.

	"I'll do it," I told him.

	He ate some of his okonomiyaki, then said, "Good."

	We discussed everything and called my parents about it and then I
finally went back to campus, feeling optimistic and hoping I would do
well.

**************

Mari's Tale:

	I decided it was time for a surprise visit.  Just to be sure she
isn't cavorting with that boy and that girl.  I got off work early and
caught the bus over; I had to leave the car for Kazuo-kun.

	Having reached campus, I now realized she'd be working her discipline
duty with Kaiji-san.  I stopped a passing redhead, who looked at me
and totally panicked.  "I...um...hi!" she said frantically.

	Given she was just walking along with a bookbag full of books and
notebooks, apparently on her way to study somewhere, I don't know why
she panicked.  She was a gorgeous young lady with the kind of body I
wished I had when I was her age.  But I was busy slutting around at
that age, whereas it looks like this young lady is off to study hard.
Good for her.

	"Hello, young lady," I said, trying to sound reassuring.  "You
wouldn't happen to know where Kaiji-san is working with the students
in his charge?"  I suppose I could call him but it wouldn't be a
surprise.

	"Who?" she asked.  "Oh wait, you mean Sakomizu-sensei?"  She looked
even more frantic.  "Are you...his wife?"

	Not surprising she doesn't know he's gay, I thought.  Still a lot of
people wouldn't approve of that.  "I am not so lucky," I told her.
"He teaches history."

	"Yes, I have him," she said.  "I mean, he's my teacher.  Not that...I
mean..."

	My goodness, what is wrong with this poor child?  Hmm, something
about her voice sounds familiar.  "Do you know where he is?"

	"They're mowing the grass," she said.  "I thought we had people who
do that, but I guess they get to take a break."

	Good.  A little hard labor won't hurt her.  "Where?"

	"Down by the dorms," she said.  "I'm off to the library to study
with...with friends."  She was getting frantic again.  "English.  I'm
good at English," she said in English.

	"So am I, but my daughter is not good enough," I told her in English.

	"Oh, English teaching in this county s...is terrible," the girl said,
still flustered.  "C...M...Mother taught me well," she continued.

	"Are you Munakata Natasha?" I asked.  She didn't sound this nervous
on the phone but the voice fit, I think.

	She looked like I had just shot her.  "Yes," she said weakly, then
tugged at her uniform for some reason.

	"It's nice to meet you; I think we'll be dining together at Suzushiro
Haruka's mansion," I told her.  "I am Kagami's mother, Mitsu Mari."

	"It's nice to meet you," she said weakly, nervously.

	I still can't figure out why she is so nervous.  "Have you ever met
Suzushiro-sama?"

	"She went to school with my mother, so she is Aunt Haruka to me."

	No wonder Suzushiro-sama and Fujino-sama recommend the woman if
they've known her for that long.  That was reassuring.  "Any advice?"

	"Aunt Haruka can be really overbearing, but she's very generous and
she always means well.  Also, she is prone to malapropism."

	I didn't know that word.  "What is malapropism?"

	"It's where you say something other than what you meant to say; it
comes off funny but she doesn't intend it to be.  Aunt Yukino will
usually correct her," Natasha said.

	I nodded.  "Best to pretend you didn't notice?"

	"Yes, unless you really can't figure out what she meant," Natasha
said.  "Aunt Yukino is really laid back and easy to deal with.  A
little shy, even."

	Talking about her family seemed to relax her.  "So what is your mother lik=
e?"

	"Strong.  Brave.  Hard-working.  Very unstoppable," Natasha said
proudly.  "Mom got sold out by her boyfriend and didn't let it stop
her finishing college and raising me at the same time.  And now I get
to go to a nice school like this."  Her nervousness was gone now.

	It's good to see they have such a strong bond.  I envy that.  Kagami
is always so evasive and tries to avoid telling me anything unless she
can present me with a fait accompli.  She never knows what's good for
her and we have to hammer it all down her throat.  And she will just
sullenly sit there sometimes and not even talk in her own defense when
she's done something wrong.

	Why does she always have to resist everything that's good for her?
We just want her to get through her teenage years without wasting them
like I did and to avoid the mistakes we made.  We want what is good
for her and she wants to go cavort with bad kids.

	"Are you okay?" she asked me.

	I felt a little embarrassed.  My inner turmoil is broadcasting.  "I'm
just worried because my meetings with Kagami never seem to go well.
She was a sweet little girl, but the older she got, the more sullen
and hard to deal with she got."  It would help if Mother wouldn't
laugh at me and tell me I was like that.

	I was not like that at all.

	"At my age, parents and kids fight sometimes," Natasha said very
seriously.  "It..."  She struggled for words; we were still speaking
English, which caused some passing kids to stare.  "My cousin Dan is
like that.  He often responds to problems by just stubbornly sticking
to his guns and not even bothering to argue the point.  He let himself
get beat up one time just so as to ensure he couldn't get in trouble
with the school and wreck a trip by missing it."

	I winced.  "Couldn't he call a teacher?"

	"Well, teachers broke it up after a while, but they don't just sit
around and wait for us to snap our fingers," Natasha said.  "And he
told us not to intervene or we might get in trouble.  There's a
tendency to bust everyone if there is a fight."  She sighed.  "Anyway,
with someone that stubborn, pushing them is just going to stubborn
them up.  Make them more stubborn.  Newton's Fifth law.  No,
second...umm..."  She frowned.  "I'm afraid I'm more in the humanities
than the sciences."

	I tried to think of which of Newton's laws she meant.

	"For each and every action, there is an opposite reaction?" I asked.

	"You push, they push back," Natasha said.  "You can bribe a stubborn
person, but pushing them just makes them push back as much as they
can."

	"Giving a child too much just makes them lazy and weak," I told her.
I had to deal with way too many rich kids who never learned to work
for anything in their lives.

	"Well, I am thankfully not a parent," Natasha said.  "But I have As
in four classes going into my finals, so Mom must have done something
right."

	"Very good," I told her.  That certainly sounded promising.

	"And I've never gotten anything less than an A in English," she said proud=
ly.

	I could tell just from talking to her.  I am definitely convinced her
mother is good at conveying English skills.  "Anyway, I should go see
Kagami, but it's nice to meet you and I will see you again tomorrow."

	We shook hands and I went to find Kagami.

	I found her with the bad kids and Kaiji-san.  "Hello, Kagami,
Kaiji-san."  I smiled at them, then frowned at the bad kids.

	The bad boy, Tokiha Shun, was pushing a lawnmower; the bad girl, Tate
Crystal, was pushing another one.  Kaiji and Kagami had weed whackers
and goggles and were busy trimming around trees, bushes, and building
edges.

	Tokiha Shun smiled cheerfully at me, while Tate Crystal scowled at
me.  I ignored her and headed over to Kaiji, who greeted me
cheerfully.  "Hello, Mari-san, it's good to see you."

	"Hello, Mother," Kagami said nervously.  That usually means she's
been up to something.

	"Isn't there some way to keep those kids away from my daughter?" I asked.

	"I can't supervise them if they're out of sight," he said ruefully.

	I can't quarrel with that.

	"Good day, Mitsu Mari," the boy said.  The girl just grunted and kept
pushing the lawnmower.

	I ignored them and focused on my daughter and Kaiji.  I'm glad he is
here; he is a good man.  "Are you ready for the dinner tomorrow?" I
asked Kagami.

	"Will you be picking me up?" she asked.

	"Yes.  I'll be at the parking lot at 5:30."

	"Then I will be there.  I assume I should dress up?"

	"Yes," I told her.

	"Then I will be ready."

	"I hope you've written Fujino-sama a nice thank you letter," I told her.

	"Of course I did," she said, sounding offended.

	But if I didn't constantly check, she'd forget.

	I was terrible at such things as a kid.  It drove my Mother insane.

	I could tell the two bad kids were watching us.  I fought the urge to
frown.  I shouldn't scowl at Kagami just because these evil wicked
children are watching us and probably planning how to further corrupt
her right this minute.

	"Mother?" she asked, worried.

	I have never been good at hiding my feelings.

	"I am fine," I told her.  "How soon do you finish?"

	"I can let her go early if you want a private conversation," Kaiji said.

	"It's okay," I told him.  "We can chat until it is time for her to finish.=
"

	We caught up on old times until it was time for them to finish.  The
two bad kids slinked off, probably to have unprotected sex.

	"That boy had better not be coming to your room at night," I told Kagami.

	"He has not been coming to my room at night," she said, sounding frustrate=
d.

	"He is bad news and so is the girl."

	"Yes, Mother," she said in that way which actually means 'Bite me'.
I know that tone far too well.

	I fought the urge to yell.  Instead, we found a nice bench to sit on
together, in the grassy area between the dorms.  The men's dorms
cluster on one side, the women's on the other.  There are gardens here
and lots of benches.  It's a nice place to sit and talk.

	"I met Munakata-san's daughter, Natasha.  Her English is excellent,"
I told her.  "You need to bring your grade up."

	"I have five As," she protested.  "It's a B."

	"B is not good enough, especially since your physical education grade
is mediocre," I told her.

	"Yours were the same as mine," she said.  I don't know why Mother
told her about that, but I eternally rue it.

	"Yes and I was stupid and lazy," I told her.  "I just drifted through
life, running wild without a care."  My voice was rueful.  I wasted a
lot of years on things that couldn't last.

	I'm surprised Mother didn't kill me some days.  Though I know I drove
her crazy being so lazy and running around with boys constantly.  If I
hadn't had so much natural talent, I would never have made it into
college - and as it was, I ended up at my fourth choice.  But it was
college, and it meant getting out from under Mother's thumb.  She's
much less attached to the idea of women being idiot baby factories
than she used to be.  She was very cross I didn't want to marry some
factory worker and pump out kids like she did.

	She was so stubborn about it.  But we eventually reconciled.

	"I can't get physical and study at the same time," Kagami said stubbornly.

	Well, I'd rather she study.  Still, there is room for improvement.
"Anyway, as I meant to say, I am impressed by Munakata-san's ability
to teach her daughter English.  Natasha seems to be a little overly
easy to scare, but a good girl."

	Kagami stared at me as if I was insane; she's gotten far too good at
that, but then she said, "Natasha is a good girl.  And very good at
English."  Now I had to wonder why she thought I said something crazy.
"Her family took her to Hokkaido for a vacation this past weekend as a
reward," she added.  She sounded frustrated about it.

	I don't have that kind of money.  But Natasha's family seems to be loaded.

	"We don't have that kind of money, dear," I told her.

	"I know," she said, then sighed.

	"Are you excited about the internship?" I asked.

	She smiled now.  "Yes, I am."

	I relaxed a little.  "I'm sure they will work you hard, but it will
be a very valuable experience."

	"I'm looking forward to it."

	We talked about that for a while; it was a happier conversation than usual=
.

	"Don't forget to be on your best manners," I told you.  "The wealthy
put an emphasis on that."

	"Of course, Mother," she said in a way that made it clear she
understood and wasn't just 'yes, Mother'ing me like she often does.

	"And stay away from those bad kids."

	"Yes, Mother," she said.  Here we go again.

	"I mean it," I said firmly.

	"I know," she said.

	"They must have terrible parents who let them run wild, but you'll
only destroy your future if you aren't careful," I told her.  "If you
end up pregnant, it will wreck your life."

	"I won't," she said.  "I don't want a baby."

	No one goes in wanting a baby.  Okay, lots of people do, but teen
mothers rarely wanted a baby, they just failed to prevent it; the
hormones shout and common sense whispers at that age.  "I know he's
pretty and charming and the girl has a nice body, but you have to say
no."

	Kagami had a weird look like she was going to explode from trying to
not say something.

	"It wouldn't be bad if she wasn't a troublemaker, but that girl
practically has 'delinquent' tattooed on her forehead.  Though I don't
know if you're even into women like that," I said.  I suspect she
slept with both of them, but I have no proof.

	She stared at me as if a tentacle came out of my forehead, then said,
"I'm not into women like that."

	"Well, you haven't got time for a relationship, anyway. That can wait
for when you're finished with school and ready to settle down," I told
her.

	"When I'm too old for there to be anyone for me to settle down with,"
she said bitterly.

	"I had no trouble at all finding two husbands when I was older," I
told her firmly.

	"You didn't go hide from men before that!  I know what you were
like!" she said angrily.

	I was a stupid little slut running around using my charms on men.  I
was good at it.  And it got me in tons of trouble and nearly wrecked
my life a lot of times before I finally ended up pregnant.  "Yes, and
I don't want you to be an idiot like I was!  I could have easily ended
up wasting my life!"

	"If I just hide from men until I'm thirty, I'll be totally unable to
function trying to date anyone," Kagami insisted.  "And no one will
want me."

	"I was twenty-eight when I married your father," I told her.  "Life
does not even vaguely end at twenty one, you know."

	"You didn't spend your whole life not dating!," Kagami protested.
"Who is going to want to date a social cripple?"

	"You are not a social cripple, you're just stubborn!" I told her.
"There will be PLENTY of men who will want you.  And further, men at
this age are mostly useless, anyway.  Older men are much more mature
and easier to deal with.  Any boy your age just wants sex."

	I often just wanted sex at her age, but saying that will just make
her more stubborn.  Why does she have to be so unreasonable?

	She folded her arms across her chest and stared at the ground.

	I sighed. Why does this always happen?  Why do we have to fight
constantly?  I just want to help her.  But she's not old enough to
know what's good for her.  And I don't want her to learn like I did by
stepping on all the landmines in the field of life.

	"Dear, I just want what's best for you."

	"As defined by you and never by me," she said stubbornly.  "Fine,
I'll go lock myself in a box and never come out until I'm thirty."

	Some days I can only keep my sanity by remembering Mother and I
fought constantly and now we get on okay.  One day, she will thank me.
 "You do that," I said irritably.  "It'll keep you out of trouble."

	We sat and deliberately didn't look at each other for a while.
Finally, she said, "I think you'll like Munakata-san."

	"Have you known her a while?"

	"Yes," she said.

	But of course, she didn't tell me.  I have to pry and poke to learn
ANYTHING about her life.  "She sounds respectable."

	"She is," Kagami said.  "Very hard working and determined.  Doesn't
let anything stop her."

	"Good," I said.  "A woman needs strength to get ahead in this world.
Don't let anyone ever tell you you aren't as good as a man or can't do
the things men do," I told her.  Mother's head was full of that tripe
when I was her age.  It was unbearable.  "That's why sacrifice is
necessary at your age, so you can get to where no one can stand in
your way."

	She stared at the ground and I sighed.  "You don't want to end up
social rejects like those two kids, do you?" I asked.

	She continued the stare.  She should patent that.

	"Fine," I said.  "I will see you tomorrow at five."  I rose.  No
point in further ramming my head into a wall.

	"Thank you for visiting me," she said, finally looking at me.

	But I don't think she was very thankful.  Stubborn girl.  I want to
help her but she insists on running for the cliff edge.  But she'll do
the right thing if we push her enough.  Fortunately, that boy didn't
get her pregnant.  It's not like we can't afford an abortion, but
Mother would probably object and then we'd have a giant family brawl
and she'd likely end up shunned, whatever ended up happening.  Kids
her age can be vicious.

	I don't want her to go through that, but she seems determined to not
listen to me.

	I just want to help her.

	Why can't she see that?

******************

Mandi's Tale:

	I was busy trying to study and hanging out with one of my guy
friends, Matsumoto Rokuro.  I guess you'd say we're 'friends with
benefits'.  He's on the soccer team; he's also good at math, which I
am mediocre at.  Sanae is my usual salvation; but she was with Dan and
I didn't want to get in their way, so I went over to Rokuro's room.

	He's patient and hard-working, which makes him ideal for keeping me
focused.  We'd almost finished our studying when my phone rang.

	"Hello, this is Ota Mandi," I said, not recognizing the number; the
named seemed vaguely familiar.

	"Hello, I'm Professor Sasaki, Dan's father," he said to me.

	"Oh hi," I said.  "How are you, sir?"

	"I am fine.  Dan told me you plan to become an editor."

	"Something in writing.  I have enough money coming to me I can pretty
much do what I want, but I want to do something," I told him.

	"Good for you," he said.  "I am interested in hiring your services to
help me work on my current book project."

	...

	"Seriously?" I said in amazement.

	"I'd like to see a sample of your writing, but yes," he said very
seriously.  "So you'd be coming over to our house and working with me
during the work week.  I think Midori has some projects which could
use some help too, given she's lazy about editing."

	"I HEARD THAT," I heard his wife shout and I laughed.

	"I would love to," I told him.  Wow.

	We talked about wages and hours and everything.  WOW.

	I gave Rokuro a kiss when I finished the call.  "I can't believe it,"
I told him.  "This is totally awesome. No stupid ass summer jobs - or
just sitting around all day while Hayao and Sanae are working - for me
THIS summer," I told him.  "Or while everyone else is working,
either."  I told him about everything, feeling hugely grateful.  WOW.

******************

Shiho's Tale:

	I came up with Shizuru to campus so we could meet with the kids who
were coming tomorrow, plan everything and make sure there won't be any
surprises - like Natasha suddenly announcing how often she has sex
with Gin and how good it is.

	I was on my way to the dorm when I found Kagami sitting on a bench and cry=
ing.

	I sat down by her.  "What's wrong?"

	She suddenly clung to me, and I nearly fell off the bench. I'm short,
even for Japanese women, and Kagami is tall for a woman, though Sanae
dwarfs her.  (Sanae is a giant beanpole.)

	I held her tightly.  "What's wrong?"

	"Oh, Mother and I had another one of our fights, Munakata-san," she
said, crying onto my shoulder.  "She's determined I just be alone by
myself until I'm an old woman."

	"A woman your age has to be careful not to get pregnant," I told her.
 "But not as careful as she thinks.  Shun uses protection, right?"

	"We don't do anything that could get me pregnant," she told me.

	"We're not made to be alone," I told her.  "Shun can be an idiot, but
I know he loves you.  It's going to be okay."

	"I love him so much," she said to my shoulder.  "And he loves me so
much.  It's so wonderful."  Her voice was dreamy, though she still
cried.

	"Young love is wonderful," I told her.  And if Shun hurts her like
Yuuichi did me, I will kill him.  I should warn her that life is often
cruel but this is not the time for it.  "Your mother is just afraid
you'll get hurt the ways she did."  The way I fear for Natasha.
"Every mother is like that."

	"You're not," she said.  "I don't think you're afraid of anything.
You or Natasha."  She sounded envious.

	"Only stupid people have no fear," I told her.  "But I am glad
Natasha is so happy and alive."  I wish I was.  But I can't go back to
childhood, only go forwards.  "I'm sure Natasha will spend this summer
trying to make you as crazy as she is."

	"You love her, don't you?" she asked, pleadingly.

	What she really needs to know is whether anyone loves her.  Besides
Shun.  Specifically, her idiot Mother, who has apparently managed the
difficult task of alienating a child this disciplined and obedient.  I
would cry from joy if Natasha had half Kagami's common sense.  Not
that I want to bring her down.

	A paradox, I know.  I want her to fly free but I fear she will fly
too close to the sun and her wings will melt.

	"I would die for Natasha if I had to."

	She started crying again.

	"You are one of us," I said to her, holding her tightly.  "We are
Hime, the princesses who fight for the ones we love.  We love you and
we will take care of you," I told her fiercely.  "This family takes
care of its own."

	She kept crying and I was glad I wore something that wouldn't mess up
or which wouldn't turn too transparent with water.  I stroked her hair
gently, making soothing noises.  "I'm sure Bobby will like you."

	"He sounds very generous, Munakata-san," Kagami said to my shoulder.

	"He is.  Probably too much for his own good.  But that's my job, to
keep him in check and he keeps me in check," I told her.  "I think
he's a little excited to have two daughters to father this summer
without having to change any diapers to get there."

	She laughed softly, though her body still shook a little.  "What's he like=
?"

	"Generous. Open, friendly. Likes to help people.  Maybe even to
meddle, really.  Which sometimes bites him.  He's very handsome and
strong," I told her.  "He cooks, but he has weird tastes in food.
Like dipping his rei-shabu in ketchup."

	She made a face.  Good girl.  "But I expect I can break him of his
bad food habits."

	"Ketchup?  Why even make it if you're going to use ketchup?"

	"I know, I know, it's an abomination before the gods," I told her.
"But he's a very good boyfriend."

	"I guess you love him a lot," she said softly.

	"Bobby is very important to me," I told her firmly.  "He's a good
man, and I'm sure you will enjoy his company.  You sing, right?"

	"Yes, I'm very good at it," she replied.

	"He plays the saxophone, I play the flute or sing, and Natasha sings
and plays several instruments.  So we can make some music this
summer," I told her.

	"Mother thinks music is a waste of time," she said mournfully.

	"Your mother seems determined to be a corpse already," I said.  "I'm
going to push you very hard to improve your English, but we'll have
fun too."

	"Thank you," she said softly.  "You're going to a lot of effort for me."

	"It's fine," I told her.  "You are one of us and we take care of our
own."  Now, anyway.

	She was relaxed now, just comfortably leaning on me.  "I wish I was
as strong as you or Akane-san."

	I can't imagine how someone can see Akane as a pillar of strength.
But eyes of the beholder and all that.  "She cares about you very
much.  But we decided your mother would respect me more.  Also, I have
space; if you stayed with them, someone would have to sleep on the
couch."

	"I think Mother respects you already, Munakata-san."

	"Good.  You ready to meet with everyone?"

	She let go and rose.  "I'm sorry I delayed you."

	"It's fine," I told her.  I took her hand, squeezed it, and let go.
"I will be happy to have you as my daughter this summer.  And you can
call me Aunt Shiho.  You are part of our family."

	She smiled brightly at that, and I couldn't help but smile back.

	Now, let's see if Natasha will be sensible.

****************

	"Gin agreed he won't come," Natasha said to Shizuru and I and Kagami.
 "I wouldn't go but I have to.  I handled myself okay with her
earlier, so I think I can keep it together."

	"It is very important that you do," Shizuru said.  "And try not to
let anything more slip to Roger than Natsuki already has."  She
sighed.

	"I wouldn't have gone if I had realized she hadn't come up with a
good excuse," I said.

	"It's okay," Shizuru said.  "She wanted to help and she instinctively
turned to him.  People do that."

	Her voice was calm but she's definitely not happy about it.

	"The damage is done," I said.  "I think he'll help.  And he is good
at what he does."

	We talked through everything with the kids, then went to go get some
dinner and discuss it some more. Eventually, I went home.

	Please, kamis, bless this meeting.  And don't let Natasha fuck it up.

**************=09

Natasha's Story:

	Mom had taken off with Aunt Shizuru; Kagami stayed in my room to help
me with my damn math.  Fortunately, Kagami is a good teacher.  "I
don't know why some people have it easy in math and others don't," I
complained.

	"It's down to hard work," Kagami said.  "I'm not very smart, but I
study ferociously, so I do well."  She sighed.  "I'm not half as smart
as my parents."

	"Your mother is a dumbass," I told her.  "Though not half as bad as I
thought she'd be.  But then, I'm not the one she's bossing around like
she's Queen of the Universe. I thought my Mom was bossy, but your Mom
really takes the cake, from what I've heard."

	"Your mother isn't bossy at all," Kagami said.

	I started laughing.

	"She's very kind to me!," Kagami protested.

	Mom would knife-fight the Yakuza on a tightrope for me but she's not
good at kind.  "Mom's not the kind, cuddly type.  That's more Aunt
Akane or Aunt Mai's job."  Aunt Mai loves me to death.  I go to her
when I need to be comforted or cuddled.

	"Akane-san is very kind," Kagami said.  "But your mother is very sweet to =
me."

	She is?  Are we talking the same mother?  Mom loves me but Mom's not
all huggy cuddly comforty like Aunt Mai or Aunt Akane.

	"Don't look at me like I'm crazy!," Kagami protested.  "She was very
sweet to me earlier."

	"Uh huh," I said.  Generally if Mom is being sweet to someone, she
wants something from them.  Like wanting me to clean the condo.

	"You should be grateful to your Mother.  She made a lot of sacrifices
to have you, you know," Kagami said sharply.

	I think Kagami just instinctively grovels before anyone who shows her
even a little affection.  Especially adults.  Her Mom must be a lot
shittier with Kagami than she is with other people.

	"Mom would get a huge ego and be insufferable if I didn't deflate her
head when it gets too big," I told Kagami.

	She looked rather frustrated.  "You just take it for granted."

	"You haven't dealt with Mom as much as I have.  She's arrogant and
bossy.  You have to push back or she'll walk on you," I told her.

	"She loves you!" Kagami said accusingly.

	"I love Mom.  I'd fight an army for her if I had to.  But I know
Mom's flaws too.  Mom needs those who love her to keep her in check so
she doesn't become insufferable."  It's just the way it is; that's my
duty in life.  Keeping Mom's giant planet-devouring ego in check.
"Love doesn't mean being a flunky."

	Kagami pounded the table in frustration; it jumped and my books
rattled around and I had to snatch my pencil before it fell on the
ground.  "I'd give anything for Mother to love me but no matter what I
do, it isn't enough!"

	She...

	She thinks her mother hates her?  For real?  "I didn't get the
impression she hates you.  She's just stubborn and bossy, like my Mom.
 Has to have it her way."

	"I'm nothing but a burden to her and nothing I do ever satisfies
her," Kagami said, fists clenched, staring down at herself.  "Your
mother loves you so much and you don't even appreciate it!"

	"Of course I appreciate it!" I said.  "But Mom gets a swelled head
REAL easy.  And her boyfriends usually just make it worse.  Bobby's a
nice guy but he kisses her ass every five minutes.  So it's up to me
to ensure her head fits through doors."

	Kagami stared at me like I was insane.  I stared back.

	"Anyway, no one ever satisfies their parents, so if you make that a
goal, you'll always be disappointed," I told her.  "But I can't
believe she doesn't love you."

	"She wishes I'd never been born.  She'd have her graduate degree and
not have to be a flunky any more if I didn't exist," she said
bitterly.

	How can she live with herself if she thinks that?  "Come on, you're
exaggerating," I said.  "Your mom seemed happy to go see you to me."

	"Every time we talk, we have a fight and she's never happy with
anything I'm doing.  I have an A in five classes and it's not good
enough!" Kagami said, pounding the table again.

	"Umm, better not hit anything," I told her.  "I don't know if these
tables can take it."  I don't know what to say; I do have enough
common sense not to say Mom's pretty pleased I have an A in four
subjects.  "You do a lot better than me at math, science, and
history," I said, not sure what else to say.  "As shown here and now.
I'm glad for the help."

	She stared at the floor.  "You're so lucky."

	"Yeah, I guess I am," I told her.  I don't know how to handle this AT
ALL.  I hope the whole summer won't be like this or I am going to go
crazy.

	"Please let my parents say yes," she whispered.  "I will go crazy if
I have to stay with them for six weeks."

	"I'm sure we'll be fine.  Why don't we study English?"  I can help
her out with that; maybe it will soothe her.

	She calmed down and we did that, though she was still unhappy when she lef=
t.

**************

Gin's Tale:

	A group of us got together to study for the history final.  It was a
massacre; we all suck.

	By the time we were all feeling frustrated, I got a phone call.

	"Hello, Akira-sensei," I said to her.  "How are you?"

	"I have a proposal for you," she said.  "Would you be interested in
some art tutoring this summer?  You would do well to continue your
studies on a regular basis during the break."

	"I would love that," I told her.  She's a little scary sometimes, but
she's very good and I think it would help.

	"Further, given your recent troubles with Iwao-san, you need to learn
some self-defense.  I would be willing to instruct you in that."

	I was torn.  I don't like fighting.  On the other hand, I got my ass
kicked.  Also... I think she's one of those scary masters who makes
you run dragging a buddha statue and everything.  "Okay," I said, then
blinked.  I had meant to give that some thought!

	"Good," she said.  "You can come down in the late afternoon, and then
go to Natasha's afterwards; we will have the lessons at my house.
Shun will assist me."

	Dammit, I need to stop saying things without thinking first.  But I
can't back out now without looking weak.

	"I will need to talk to my parents," I began.  "I will be working for them=
."

	"Call me back once you talk to them."

	My folks said yes; they were pretty excited someone actually asked to
tutor me in art.

	I'm pretty excited.  And nervous about the martial arts.  But I
really need to do better so I don't get my clock cleaned.

	Especially given they seem to be training the kids for some kind of
fight, which makes me nervous.

	Well, we'll see.

**************

Erica's Tale:

	Having studied in the library as much as I could stand without
exploding, I decided to head back to the dorm, only to find Hotaru
sitting on a bench under the waxing moon.  She was as usual dressed up
in one of her vampire outfits; I have to say she's pretty sexy in
those.  "Out looking for prey?" I teased.

	She made a come hither gesture to me so I came over and sat down next
to her; she was reading the history textbook.  "You live close to
here, right?" she asked me.

	"Yes," I told her.

	"So what's this I heard about you having a boyfriend or something?" she as=
ked.

	"It was just a little fling.  With a guy I met on our trip to
Hokkaido.  Though that was a shorter one than I was looking for," I
told her.

	"So you want a romantic fling, but something not quite so short-term
as a boy you will never see again," she said.

	"Yes," I told her.  "Someone who lives in Osaka.  I have to get an
idiot crush out of my head."

	"Oh, I know that feeling," she told me ruefully.  "Where you keep
thinking about someone and you know they'll never be interested, but
you can't stop."

	"Exactly," I said.  "He has a boyfriend."  I paused.  "Girlfriend.
HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND."  I felt like an idiot.

	She laughed softly.  "Dan is handsome."

	"Am I that obvious?" I said weakly.

	"Logical deduction from observed behavior," she said.

	I tried to think who Hotaru had a crush on but couldn't think of who.
 "So who was yours on?" I asked.

	She turned a little red and stared at the ground and said something incohe=
rent.

	"Who?" I asked.

	"Kasumi.  But I think she's totally uninterested in girls," Hotaru
said, sighing.  "Dressing her up as a vampire, she was so sexy..."
She shivered a little.  "But I roomed with her for a year, and I could
tell she wasn't interested.  Neither was I at first, but she kind of
grew on me.  I could tell it wouldn't go anywhere, so I agreed not to
share a room with her, so I wouldn't just torment myself." She looked
up at me, then back down. "I've pretty much given up on her, but every
so often, the hope stupidly flares up again," she finished, then
sighed.  "I guess you know how that is."

	"Yeah," I said.  "Well, we could have a fling to forget our stupid
past crushes."

	She blinked and looked at me.  "I thought you were into guys."

	"I'm into everyone who isn't too young or too old for me," I told
her, smiling.  "Why don't we go back to my room where we can both
study without going blind?"

	"Sure," she said, rising and taking my hand.  "I've never actually
done this before."

	"I'm pretty new too," I told her.  "I'm surprised you don't need
glasses like me."

	"I have very good night vision, especially now," she said.

	"Especially now?" I asked curiously.

	"When the moon is heading for full," she said hastily.

	"Or when you've drunk enough blood?" I teased.

	"Are you offering me some of yours?" she teased back.

	"Later when we have a nice comfortable couch to sit on," I told her.

	Here's to hoping we can both forget the ones we can't have in favor
of a better future.

	I just hope Masuto-san can move on without any trouble.

	We were halfway to the dorm when suddenly there was a flash and I
stumbled.  Then I saw Kiwara-san running off with her camera, with
Fukuda-san running after her.  Running with her.  Were they dating?

	"Did she just try to steal our soul or something?" Hotaru asked curiously.

	"Steal our soul?" I asked in confusion.

	"Don't some primitive peoples believe that?" Hotaru asked.

	"I don't know," I said.

	But it didn't seem worth worrying about, given neither Hotaru nor I
have any reason to hide our holding hands.

	Right?

*******************

Crystal's Tale:

	I walked into Erica's suite.  "Hey, Erica, are you..."

	Erica and Hotaru were on the couch, surrounded by biology notes and
books.  However, they were busy kissing with Hotaru on her back and
Erica kneeling over her.

	Holy cow.

	When did this happen?

	Didn't she and some guy make out on the beach trip?

	Girl works fast.

	"I'll come back later," I said.

	They didn't even notice me.

************
=09
	I walked into Kasumi's suite.  "Hey, Kasumi, have..."

	Hayao and Kasumi were kissing, though their literature homework and
study materials were spread out on the table.

	Stupid Hayao.  What does she see in him?

	If *Erica* is kissing someone... I might end up walking in on
everyone in the family BUT me kissing.

	They didn't even notice me leaving.

***************

	This time, I knocked.

	Minako came to the door; she's a short, slender girl with blue hair.
"YOU WHORE!" she shouted at me and slammed the door.

	"..."

****************
=09
	I knocked nervously.

	"Come in!" Natasha shouted.

	But wasn't this Kagami's room?

	I came in and found them studying.  "Good, you two aren't kissing," I said=
.

	"..."

	"What?" Natasha asked, staring at me in confusion.

	"MY LIPS ARE ONLY FOR SHUN," Kagami shouted, then put her hand over mouth.

	"She's not real good at the secret thing," Natasha said.  They both
looked kind of down.

	"Erica and Hotaru are totally making out," I said.

	Kagami stared at me.

	Natasha said, "Holy shit.  Are they dressed up as vampires?"

	"Only Hotaru," I said.

	"Damn, you really can teach someone to fish," Natasha said.

	I decided it best not to ask.  "Any chance you're working on biology?"

	"Not just a chance but a certainty," Kagami said.

	"Help," I said weakly.

	Kagami smiled a little.  "Come to Dr. Kagami, and she will heal your wound=
s."

	Natasha perked up.  "Now, see, that's the right attitude."

	I came in and got the help I needed.

************

Shiho's Tale:

	I was tense and trying to relax, and trying to keep from biting off
Bobby's head for no good reason.  I want this to go well, but Kagami's
mother sounds kind of prickly; her father too.  I'm prickly enough
myself to know how tricky that can be.

	We were on the couch, my head on his shoulder, his arm around me,
watching a movie.  He was using his free hand to work on something on
his laptop; this was how he could afford to be here tonight.

	My phone rang.  An email.  I checked it, worried it was something importan=
t.

	FROM:  Natasha at Hime.net
	TO:  HIME at Hime.net
	Subject:  Erica and Hotaru Are Totally Making Out

	Bobby looked over curiously.  "Who is Hotaru?"

	Natasha, you actually topped Yukariko's damn 'My son has a
girlfriend' email.  I didn't think that was possible.

	"Kasumi's ex-roommate.  Has a vampire fetish.  Given Erica played one
in the school play, I think we know what's going on here."

	His eyes crossed for a moment.

	"You'd better be imagining me as a vampire," I told him.

	He kissed my neck and I shivered.  Felt good.  "Slurp slurp," he said.

	I laughed, and closed my phone.

	"You feel better?" he asked hopefully.

	"A little," I said.  "I'll be happy when this is done with."

	"Anything I can do to help?" he asked.

	"Can you time travel us to Wednesday?"

	"No."

	"Just hold me," I told him.  He was good at that.

***************=09

Sanae's Tale:

	Dan and I were studying together when Mandi came into the suite.
"Sanae, you have to kiss your boyfriend, since I shouldn't."

	"..."

	Dan blinked and stared at her.

	"DO IT."

	So I kissed him firmly and he made happy noises, which made me happy.

	"Dan recommended me to his Dad for a job and I'm going to do it,"
Mandi said excitedly.  "Helping him edit his work!  Man, this will be
cool," she said.

	"That's great.  I'll be helping Dad with his research," I told Mandi.

	"See, that's a cool job.  So now it'll just be Hayao doing something
terrible for low wages," Mandi said.  "Though he's into history enough
that maybe he could do some work for them too."

	"I think Uncle Reito was going to ask Hayao to work for him," Dan said.

	"Oooh, cool," Mandi said.

	I felt a little stupidly depressed they hadn't recruited me.  But
then, I expect they know I have a good job.  So I shouldn't let this
somehow get me down.

	Mandi ran off; to tell the whole world, I think.

	Dan and I studied together again.  He kept kissing my hands and
looking at them.  I don't know why, but he seemed vaguely worried.

	"What's wrong?" I asked him.

	"Nothing, I just like your hands," he said.

	I liked him kissing them, but it was like he was looking for something.

	"What's on your mind?" I asked him.

 	His phone rang, he looked at a message, then he sighed and closed
his phone.  Then he looked at my hands again.  "Do you want to be a
heroine?" he asked.

 	I blinked in surprise.  "Yes," I said.  "Even though I'm not suited,
but I want to have adventures with you.  Your life is so exciting and
mine is dull and predictable.  I mean, I love science, but it's just
not...you get to do lots of cool things and see neat places and
just...live.  You live," I said softly.

	"Adventures mean danger.  And fighting.  And sometimes people out to
hurt you.  They're not safe," he said, sounding like he was trying to
warn me.  "They make great stories but at the time, they often suck."

	"I can bear all that with you," I said firmly.  "I will take the risk
for the sake of us."

	"I'm not all that," he said, staring at the table.

	"You are," I told him.  "You're my hero."

	"I'm not much of a hero," he said, frowning.

	"You are to me," I told him, smiling brightly.

	He stared at the table and I rose and came and hugged him.  After a
little bit, he got up and studied me thoughtfully.  "How stiffly can
you hold your body?"

	I blinked.  "What?"

	"You know, how dancers do."

	"Umm, I have no idea.  What pose do you need me in?" I asked.

	He looked thoughtful.  "Lie down on the couch, like you are Superman.
 Superwoman, I guess."

	I laughed and stretched out, trying to be as rigid as possible.  He
fumbled me around, nearly dropped me twice, and finally got me up over
his head.

	Holy cow.

	He mumbled something to himself, then put me down.  "Put your shoes
on and come outside with me."

	I did so, wondering what he was going to do, and then we went
outside, back behind the men's dorm.  He moved down to one corner of
the greensward, along the edge of the woods.  "Lie down in the grass
like that."

	I did so and he hefted me.

	And then he ran, carrying me, and the wind whipped around me as I
tried desperately to keep my limbs from flopping down, which I
couldn't do for long.  But it was incredible while it lasted, just
like flying.

	I had to flop in the grass and we did it two more times.

	"You can't tell anyone we did this," he said.  "Not anyone."  He
looked around nervously, but he smiled and I suddenly hugely regretted
I couldn't do that for him.

	It felt so amazing, just like flying.

	After I rested a bit, he got his phone and began playing some music,
and we danced.  He's so strong, we could do all kinds of stuff with me
flipping around and getting lifted.  I felt like a professional
dancer, though I'm not even close.  It was easy to learn the moves; he
seems to know a lot of dances.  Older ones.  I guess his folks taught
him.

	And then there was movement, and I saw Shun and Kagami dancing,
circling around us; I could almost literally see Kagami improve as I
watched; she learns quickly, I guess.  We spun around each other,
trying to outdo each other.

	Kagami lifted Shun over her head but he had the muscle strength to
keep his limbs out for longer than I can.  I was really impressed.

	And then more couples joined us; pretty soon we must have had twenty,
then thirty, then forty, then more like sixty couples whirling about,
dancing together.  It was very cool.

	Dan lifted me over his head, and I was flying again and it was
wonderful.  This inspired a lot of would be imitators, a lot of whom
fell down on each other.

	Finally, the dorm mother came out and broke it up, but I had a
wonderful time while it lasted.

	So cool.

*****************

Mai's Tale:

	I checked off another mark on my list as the calls came in.  Sanae
already has a good job, so she's not available for recruitment; but
she's not the one I worry about.  From what I have heard, she is a
very good, stable girl, who is unlikely to blurt out secrets or do
something foolish.

	Gin, Mandi, and Hayao are another question.  Apparently I also need
to add Ibuki Hotaru to the list; she seems rather odd, not that I'm in
any position to judge anyone else.

	We need to build ties to them and see if they can be trusted. I was
rather surprised Akira volunteered for Gin.  I'm not sure what she's
thinking, but I trust her judgement.

******************

Erica's Tale:

	I knew what was coming, since I got the email.  I warned Hotaru and
met her in advance.  Best to face the clown chorus together.

	It was kind of embarrassing - but nice, too - to get a bunch of
cheers and thumbs-up when we approached everyone at breakfast, holding
hands.

	Hotaru yawned, then smiled.  "Thanks, everyone."

	Natasha said, "Go, girl, go!"  She winked at me and I turned red.

	"Sorry, I didn't realize Natasha would send that email," Crystal
said.  "I came to ask you for help but you two were busy."

	Hotaru licked her lips.  "She's tasty."

	Now I turned redder.

	"You ready for the big dinner tonight?" Crystal asked Kagami.

	"Yes," she said.  "Ready as I ever will be."

	"So you're staying with Natasha this summer?" Mandi asked.

	"If my parents approve," Kagami said.

	"And I hear some people had a dance party without me," Mandi said to
Dan and Sanae.  "You could have told me to stay if you were going to
dance!"

	"It was just the two of us originally," Dan said.

	"I missed a dance party?  OH MAN," Natasha said.

	"They were great," Shun said.  "Sanae and Dan, that is."

	"You were great too," Sanae said.

	"Please don't ever send a message like that to everyone," I told
Natasha.  "I'd like a little privacy at least."

	"I'm sorry, I couldn't stop myself," Natasha said.  "I was just proud of y=
ou."

	Hotaru giggled.  "Who all got told?"

	"Our entire family," I said dolefully.

	"I had to hear it by mouth; you should put me on the list," Mandi said.

	"It's the list that is SUPPOSED to be for family emergencies," Kasumi said=
.

	"If Shinichiro-san getting a girlfriend counts, this does too," Natasha sa=
id.

	"I will set up a group for just us here," I said.  "In case of sudden
dance parties."

	We all wished Kagami and Natasha good luck for tonight.  Knowing
Natasha's mouth, they will need it.

****************

Natasha's Tale:

	Fortunately, the dress Aunt Natsuki got me would be just perfect for
this dinner; Mother dressed up in her new finery as well.  We will
knock them dead tonight.

	Aunt Shizuru and Aunt Mai fussed over us, getting us all dressed up.
I think someone fussed over Bobby too, as he looked extra spiffed up.

	Mom smiled brightly, then kissed him.  "You look great, Bobby."

	"You are as beautiful as ever, dear," he said.  "You look nice too, Natash=
a."

	"Thanks," I said.  "Where is Kagami?"

	"Her mother is picking her up, so we couldn't just come dress her
up," Aunt Mai said.  "Kasumi is going to dress her up."

	I hope she doesn't feel outclassed, I thought.  Because we're looking
damn elegant.

**************

Kagami's Tale:

	I put on my best dress, the one Akane-san made for my first date,
like donning armor.  Kasumi did up my hair to do a fancy cascade in
back and fancied up my bangs.  I had to borrow a nice golden hairclip
from her.

	She did my makeup; Mother's good at it, but I don't think she wanted
me to learn it, not until I'm old and dried up, anyway.

	"Thank you, Kasumi," I told her.

	She hugged me gently.  "It's going to be okay," she told me.  "Knock
them dead."

	"I will," I told her.  I wish Akane-san was here instead of in
Hokkaido.  But I wish a lot of things.

	Mother and Father pulled up in their Shinohara Comet; it's cheap but
sturdy and holds up well.  They both had put on their best clothing
and Mother had prettied herself up.  Hmph.  They both stared at me,
then Mother smiled brightly.  "You look wonderful, Kagami."

	I wish she smiled at me like that more often.  "Hello, Mother,
Father, you look nice too." I smiled back and got in, feeling a little
better.

	"I bet the food is going to be great," Father said cheerfully.
Father likes really good food but hates to pay for it.  He is the king
of scrounging expensive meals.

	It would annoy me less if he was less gleeful about it.

	"Where did you get that dress?" Mother asked.  "I don't recognize it."

	"My friend Kasumi's mother made it for me," I told her.

	Her breath caught.  "Well, how very nice of her."  She smiled again
and I felt like I was in the wrong universe.  I really shouldn't
complain, though.

	"I thanked her, of course," I told Mother.

	"I knew you would," she said cheerfully.

	They really were in a good mood, which gave me more hope.

	Please let this go well.

*****************