[X] Plan: Translations
You shake your head as you put those pages back where you found them; if only you could read English, this might be a lot easier for you.
Wait a second... You can't read English, but maybe Lancer can! Okay Kazumi, think; how can you get these papers from here, to Lancer, without Umika noticing that you've taken them? "Hey Lancer, do you have a moment?" You hope you're doing this telepathy thing correctly. You're never sure if you've done it right when it's you and your friends, and you're not sure if you're doing it right when it's you and Lancer, either.
"Did you get lost, master?" Oh good, you're doing it right. "I can come find you if you need me to."
"No, that's fine, I'm actually in Umika's office right now." You don't know hoe long Umika will be talking with Niko for; maybe you should get out of here soon. But you still haven't figure dout how to get those papers out of her office without her noticing. "Anyway, I found some papers of hers, and they're written in a really weird-looking English; I can't figure it out at all. So, I was wondering if you could help me figure out what they said?"
"You were snooping around in her office?" Darnit, Lancer's on to you. "We'll have a talk about your behaviour later, master. But right now, yes, I can help you translate the documents you found. Could you show them to me?"
"Well, I don't know how to get them out of Umika's office without her noticing I took them, so..."
"Don't worry. Just look at them like you would normally. As your servant, I can read them through your eyes using our shared connection."
"Oh!" You wish you had known that earlier; it would have saved you time. "That's really cool! Yeah, I'll get them right away!" You return to the shelf where you found those papers, grabbing them for a second time and pretending like you can actually read what's been written on each sheet. "How's that? Did you get anything?"
"This is in Danish," Lancer says. "From that, and the signature on the bottom of the page, I assume these were written by Caster." If it's by Caster, you guess that it makes sense for Umika to have them, in that case. "As for what it says... It appears to be a commentary by Caster on possible ways in which Assassin's master can improve the function of her arrays. I will spare you the details, as unfortunately I am not versed in the brand of magic these arrays are meant for, and there are parts to Caster's commentary that are beyond my ability to understand."
"Oh." You try to imagine yourself shrugging, hoping that Lancer can see your imagined shrug in her mind. "Thanks for translating it for me, Lancer," you say. "I guess I can put these back now."
"I suppose if you are still curious you could ask one of them, but... To be perfectly honest, master, this is some pretty advanced magic. I don't mean to sound rude, but I doubt you would understand them if they tried to explain it to you."
"No, that's fine. I'll just put these back and get out of here before Umika comes back from talking with Niko." You really wish you knew Danish, and that you were smart enough about magic stuff to figure out what Caster was saying, but at least you know what it is you found. You return Caster's commentary on Niko's magic arrays back where you found them, for a second time, this time knowing what it is you're putting away. You sigh as your task concludes. That took a lot out of you; you can't even remember what it is that had you whipped up into such a frenzy in the first place.
"So..." You say to yourself as you exit Umika's office. "What should I do now?"
"Kazumi-chan! Hey!" Well, from the sound of things that question's already been answered for you. You turn, just in time to be enveloped in a bone-crushing hug from Satomi. "How are you doing?"
If you were a less polite person, you might have verbalised the "oof!" your body was screaming at you after Satomi's hug. "I'm doing good, Satomi. What about you? How was school?"
"Well, it's something I've got to do, isn't it?" You envy how dismissive Satomi can be about school; you don't even get to go. Did you not go before you lost your memories? Or are you only not going because you lost your memories? "I heard you went to visit Archer this morning?"
"Yeah," you say. "She sounds like she's doing good." You can't shake the image of your grandmother, hooked up to so many machines just to keep her alive. "Have you visited her yet?"
"Of course! I've been visiting her every day, as long as Assassin lets me in." Satomi leans into her embrace, nuzzling your cheek. "She's just so precious and cute. I can't wait for her to get better so I can hug her again!" Satomi's body language changes, ever so slightly, and you briefly catch one of her eyebrows twitching as she pulls away from you. "As soon as I get my hands on that other Archer, I'm going to make him pay for hurting her."
"So, you really like Archer a lot, don't you?"
"Well of course I like Archer! She's a kitty!" Just like that, Satomi's body language is back to how it was before, and she nuzzles your cheek again. "I know you weren't here when the rest of us summoned our servants, but I can't tell you how happy it made me to have summoned her! She's really just so cute and fluffy and I love her so so much!"
You nod. "So, um... What do you think of me?" you ask. "Do you like me?"
"Huh?" Satomi stares at you. "Where's this coming from all of a sudden, Kazumi-chan? You're usually not the introspective type." Satomi says that, but today is really making you doubt whether that's true. "Of course I like you, Kazumi-chan. We're friends, aren't we? I like all my friends."
"Thanks," you say. "I've just had a lot of stuff on my mind today, that's all." You get the feeling Satomi is expecting something a bit more positive from you, so you ask her "Hey, can you take me to Kaoru? There was a baseball game I wanted to catch earlier today, so I was hoping she'd let me use her TV."
"Sure, I can do that. Are you still having trouble finding your way around?"
"Yeah. I'm kind of getting a better idea of how things are laid out here, but the extra help would be nice."
You and Satomi make light conversation as she leads you through the halls - not as confusing to you as they were earlier in the day, you're proud to say - until you arrive at the door to Kaoru's room. "Well, here we are," Satomi says, smiling and waving as she heads off in the opposite direction. "I'll see you later, Kazumi-chan."
You knock on Kaoru's door, waiting a few moments for her to answer. When she does, it's in an orange-and-white sports bra and shorts, her face flushed and her breathing harsh. "Hey Kazumi, what's up?" she asks. "Need something?"
"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to do something together," you say, as your eyes travel the length of Kaoru's body. "But if you're busy, that's fine. I can come back later."
"Nah, it's fine, come on in!" Kaoru moves aside and motions for you to join her. You can't remember if you've ever been in Kaoru's room before, so the sports trophies adorning her shelf are an immediate draw for your eyes, as is the black-and-white football partially sticking out from under her bed. "You just caught me in the middle of working out, that's all." Kazumi throws a black tee on as she wipes her brow clean with a towel. "So, what did you want to do?"
"I don't know," you say. "Lancer thinks I should hang out with you more, but you and Umika are always so busy with school stuff, and I don't really remember what we used to do before I lost my memories. I was going to ask if you wanted to work out together, but I guess you already finished your workout, huh? You want to get something to eat instead?"
"If you want, I can walk you through some basic exercises." Kaoru gives your bicep a squeeze. "I mean, no offense Kazumi, but you're kind of skinny. You could really benefit from working out more often." You don't think you're skinny at all. Well, compared to Lancer there's a few places you're skinny in... "But I can't say no to some food. That workout's got me hungry."
"Great!" Food always tastes better with friends, you think. "So, hey, Kaoru... This is going to sound a bit strange, but... What do you think of me?"
Kaoru stops in her tracks, and gives you the same sort of look that Satomi gave when you asked her earlier. "Where's this coming from all of a sudden?"
"I don't know. I've just been thinking about a lot of stuff lately. I know you all say we're friends, but I... I guess I don't remember any of that."
"Oh, Kazumi..." Kaoru shakes her head, and for a second you think you've done something wrong. Then Kaoru smiles, and gives your bicep a light punch. "Dummy. 'Course we're friends. We used to..." It's brief, but for just a few seconds it looks like Kaoru is sad about something. Then she smiles again, and gives your arm another punch. "Ah, forget it. You'll remember all the fun stuff we used to do soon enough, Kazumi; don't you worry about a thing. Umika's got it all under control."
You'd like to believe Kaoru; you really would. But the last time Umika said you'd get your memories back, she said it would only be a few days. Now she's saying a few weeks. How long until she says a few months, or a few years?
[ ] Wat do?
