Apologies for any last-minute votes or vote changes on page #100 after I started writing. Hopefully we're not too far off. Also, page 100, yay!
[6] Call out Ryouko on the 'very best friend' comment
"Your very best friend? you challenge her. "Since when exactly? Five minutes ago? What about all your other close friends?"
"Since —" Ryouko stops. She doesn't have an answer.
"It does sound a little bit out of nowhere," adds Hitomi.
[4] Grab Ryouko by the face and firmly, with adequate politeness, tell her to sit down for the love of all that is holy and think.
[6] Don't engage in emotional suppression
-[5] but tell Ryouko she is scaring you
You take Ryouko's face in your hands, look her in the eyes, and implore her. "Ryouko. Please, pretty please. In the name of Hope and Magic. Sit down. Put the letter down. Put the letter away. And think. You're scaring me."
She stares back at you for a moment with intense anger. It's like you've wounded a feeling that was precious to her, and she is quite upset, especially since she can tell that you're right. In a moment, the anger over gives way to fear: fear of losing this feeling, and also, fear of you.
You move your hands down to her shoulders.
[6] attempt to gauge magical influences on Ryouko
-[4] ask her if she is remembering things from other timelines?
"Are you sure these feelings are truly yours?" you ask. "Do you know where they're from? Can you remember things that would explain then?"
You look into her eyes, and into her metacognition. She feels the feeling, and it seems to be coming from deep inside her, but she really doesn't understand at all why, and so she shakes her head No, and now she's just afraid of the whole situation.
"I'm scared of what's going on too," you tell her, letting her go.
"… Okay," she says. "I'll sit down and think."
You nod, and give her a quick hug, before she sits down. "It'll be all right," you say.
She doesn't really say anything back.
"Are you okay?" asks Hitomi.
"I don't know," she says. "But you're making it seem like something's wrong with me. Badly wrong. What is it?" she asks. "Explain it to me, please."
"Well, Ryouko," you say, taking a deep breath, "you've proven quite adept at changing yourself to fit someone else's expectations or needs. But if you just do that all the time, you'll forget who you are. You'll lose yourself. And—" you realize something — "and if you just stay lost, there's no way you'll ever find yourself or your true place in the world; you'll pass right by it and go on without a thought."
That part really gets her attention.
"That's… something I sort of have trouble with too," admits Hitomi. "With Mama, I mean. She really does want what's best, and she wants to help me be a better person; it's just hard to find myself in all the things she wants me to do."
"Is that why you talked to Papa about ballet?" you ask her.
She nods. "It's not that she's ever really wrong," says Hitomi, "which is why it's so hard. I'm not even sure it's the right thing to do, but … it's my choice. I'm not just doing it for someone else," she says.
Ryouko sighs. "Yeah," she says. "I thought I was doing that too when I became a magical girl, but … that's not enough just by itself, is it? Everyone wants me to show me something new I could do with my life, but, it's all doing something for them. Not for myself." She sighs. "For now, I just want my friends to not be hurting, okay?"
[6] Remind her that she can help Simona without dating her.
-[5] Judging by the tone of the letter, she'd be delighted to know that you still want to talk to her at all
"We can work at that," you note. "But it's going to be work, and it'll take time if we're going to do it right, okay?"
Ryouko nods.
"And we can help her without making her your girlfriend. She'll be quite happy just to hear back from you."
[6] Have Ryouko send a letter
-[2] Include our phone number
[4] Remember to ask Papa if anyone has been trying to reach us through more official channels
"For now," you propose, "how about you write her a letter back? Work through what you really feel, write it down, send her a phone number. Figure things out."
"But… that's so slow!" she objects.
"Does it need to happen right now?" you ask. "Why is this more urgent than everything else that's going on?"
"… Because Oriko might go after her like she did everyone else," Ryouko proposes. "She wants to tear everyone apart, so we need to bring everyone back together, all of them. Before she figures things out Saturday."
"… Okay, that's not a bad reason to get in touch," you admit. "But you're not using it as a reason, you're using it as an excuse. Besides, we're not done bringing everyone back together here yet. We still need to get the rest of the group to meet Mami and Kyouko. And to the best of our knowledge, Oriko isn't flying to the other side of the world on short notice. Why would she strike there, instead of here?"
Ryouko frowns, resenting you just a little for calling her out on this and a little more for being right. "We should still get in touch with her before Oriko sends her off on a wild goose chase," says Ryouko.
You think about that for a moment. If Oriko just knows how to call her, and makes that her most urgent task, there's really no way a letter can compete.
"Okay," you say. "That's quite reasonable. But we can't be we'll be able to reach her, so we should have one ready in case it's the best option. Even if we don't use it, it will help you sort through your feelings before we get her on the phone, which is really important too. I'll try to figure out how to contact her in the meantime, and we'll ask Papa if anyone's been trying to get in touch."
Ryouko breathes. "Okay. Yes. That's … fine."
"And just for good measure," you add, "take the ribbon out of your hair while you're working on it. For all we know, it might be influencing you."
She blinks. "You think it could be changing how I feel?"
"I'm not sure it's doing anything at all," you say. "I just want your mind clear, and as free from outside influences as reasonably possible."
"Fine," she says, removing it, and puts it down on the desk. "Is this good enough, or should we lock it away somewhere?"
You shrug. "I guess? You're not touching it, at least."
Ryouko looks in the desk, and finds a writing set with some stationery; it's green-tinted with light lines for writing printed on the paper itself, and decorated with stars and flowers around the edges. The dimensions are subtly different from Simona's, as well. Ryouko seems a little confused about starting the process of writing, though, and it occurs to her that she's never written a serious letter to anyone by hand. (The idea of printing it somehow has occurred to her, but she's rejected that as a poor answer to Simona's note.)
"… you can draft it in your head before you write it out," you point out to her.
"Oh," she says, "of course, that makes way too much sense."
Hitomi is looking at the ribbon, slightly entranced again.
[7] Give Hitomi the ribbon to play with if she's so fascinated with it
"Oh, Hitomi, why don't you just go and play with it if it's so interesting," you propose, flippantly.
Hitomi looks at you with astonishment for a moment, then quickly takes you up on the offer and picks it up before you can say anything to take it back. She holds it in her right hand, which she closes, and brings close to her breast.
You turn to look at her. She's closed her eyes, though, so you can't immediately tell if anything's up.
"Hitomi?" you ask. "You still there?"
"No," she says, slowly. "Not just quite. Close by, though."
"Wait, what?" asks Ryouko.
Hitomi turns and opens her eyes — they are glowing golden.
"Well then," you say, looking at her. "How lovely."
If the ribbon is really this active, it may scuttle several ideas that you have about keeping it safe and away from Ryouko. Best make what you can of the situation while it lasts, though.
"I don't suppose we could maybe get some material, useful information out of this, instead of just vague hints?" you ask. "Pretty please?"
"Oh, a shortcut," she says, closing her eyes for just long enough to nod twice. "Yep, can do," she says, and walks over to the door.
"… uhm," you say, "I didn't strictly mean for you to take the ribbon anywh—"
"It's not far," she interrupts, heading out to the hall.
You suppose you'd better follow.
Ryouko puts down the pen, and also heads after the two of you.
The hallway just outside your room doubles as a landing for a staircase, and has one side open to the lower level in lieu of a room, the railing turning into a banister as it meets the stairs. Hitomi stands at the balcony railing, and seems to be contemplating the gap between the floors as if it is very confusing.
"Hitomiii," you call. "You're spacing ouuut. Please tell me that jumping off balconies is not the shortcut?"
You reach for the ribbon, to take it from her.
Hitomi turns quickly to keep it out of your reach, whirling herself around to the top of the stairs, where she then raises herself up to sit on top of the bannister before sliding down to the bottom.
"What the — Hitomi!" you cry out, running down after her as she hops off at the bottom and heads up the hall.
Ryouko takes the shortcut, jumping down to the first floor to follow her.
Should I head her off? she asks you, hot on Hitomi's heels.
If necessary, you reply. Let's see how close by this really is.
Ryouko follows Hitomi through the grand central living room, then into the hallway opposite, and Papa's office. Here she stops, orienting herself, looking around the room, then proceeds to open a cabinet — the same one as this morning where your enrollment papers were — and takes out the jade box.
"Oh no," you say, just getting to the door behind her, "please don't go in there, it looks very personal …"
She places the box in her right hand, on top of the ribbon, and, removing the lid with her free hand, holds it up, offering it to you. Inside the jade box sits a hair-pin. The part where it goes on the hair seems to be leather, with a wooden pin, while the decoration attached to it is in the shape of a frilled carnation, some iridescent semi-precious stone, with a thin strip of what might be real gold around the edge. Your first reaction is that it's a little bit overwhelming and your second, near-simultaneous reaction is that you've seen it before, in a time-window, and the other Clarisse happened to be wearing it, and you thought the same thing about it then.
"Now, you see?" asks Hitomi, smiling. "That wasn't far."
> you voted for this
[] Take the ribbon away from Hitomi immediately
[] Ask Hitomi things first
-[] (write in question)
-[] Ask Hitomi for a pony, while she's at it. A unicorn pony. With rainbow wings.
[] Keep back and see what happens
[] Wear the pretty flower hairpin
[] Look through the other items in the cabinet
[] Close the box carefully and return it
-[] Ask Papa about it later, respectfully
-[] Seek to forestall that future by avoiding this item forever
