Shards of a Broken Sun [Megaten/Shugo Chara/Exalted]

[Baughn]

Early evening. October 17, 2009

"No looking!"

Ami let out a dramatic sigh.

"Aw. But why not, 'nee-chan?"

"Because," Amu said. "It's not finished yet."

"But-"

"No."

Ami giggled, diving back under the table before she had to push her. Miki and Eru were sitting on top of it, both of them looking a little amused; Utau's 'angel chara' had been keeping watch on her all day. Her father sat in the corner chair, his laptop out—pretending to work—but his attention was firmly on what Amu was doing, even though he was trying not to show it.

Amu looked at the box in front of her, and frowned. It had taken her the entire afternoon to decorate. She'd gone a bit overboard, perhaps, in spending the whole day experimenting. She'd covered the sides with little pictures and her little sister's name was written across the top in bright pink letters. The box, it must be said, was real. It was a genuine cardboard box, discovered in the attic and repurposed. She'd come down coughing and covered in dust, but victorious.

The pictures, and the inside of the box, were... less so.

It had started out as a simple design, but she'd gotten bored partway through and added a bunch of things. One side was a painting of the garden—a bit amateurish, yes, but not too bad. Better than she could do by hand even with Miki's help, though she'd gotten better in the last few months. Mostly because Miki kept showing her all the ways she could cheat. Only-

She wasn't doing it by hand, was she?

Underneath her father's watchful eye Amu had used her finger as a pencil. And she didn't need to do that either, but pointing at the line she was trying to draw made it easier to keep her thoughts on track. She had a trick for that—she could make a small part of her mind into a kind of frozen lens, holding a single thought still and letting her examine it. Or build an illusion from it.

It helped, because the rest of her mind liked to jump from one topic to the next like a frog on a hot plate.

She added a frog to the picture, giggling a little.

The overall impression was... well, a little silly. Ami would like it, but it wasn't her best work. On the other hand, the inside was a completely different matter. She opened the box, giving another poke to the black, illusionary sphere inside. It wobbled, and then-

A miniature version of the garden popped up, with a tiny version of their house in the background. There was a tiny tree, a little pond and a number of colourful, cartoonish animals bumbled across the ground. It took a bit of focus—this was by no means automatic—and it scattered like mist if she shoved her finger through it, but it would last a minute or two if she didn't mess with it.

Which, obviously, she couldn't help but do. A frog jumped out of mid-air and landed in the pond. It added a little to the strain she was feeling, but it was worth it for the laughs it'd provoke.

"What do you think?" Amu said.

"I think she's gonna love it," Miki replied, a smile on her face. Eru nodded in agreement.

"Dad?" Amu asked, her voice a little tentative.

Her father wasn't quite staring but wasn't quite not-staring either. It was a look that suggested he wasn't sure what to think. She'd sprung this on him fairly suddenly. It was Saturday, two whole days after getting home from JPs—she'd been back there earlier that day, and they wanted her back for a final check in a week—but she was 'fine', apparently, and free to do as much 'magic' as she wanted again. Or to come and check on Saaya, so long as they followed the rules.

-she was not a magical girl! No matter what everyone said!

They'd told him everything anyway. So could you blame her if...

"I love it," he said, a smile spreading across his face. He put his laptop aside. "Ami's going to, too. It looks just like Miki's drawing."

"Ah," Amu mumbled.

She looked down at her hands. They were shaking a little. She hadn't eaten much of her dinner.

"Um. You know..."

Her father came over. He put his arms around her, and kissed the top of her head. Then he waved to Miki, a 'come-here' sort of motion. He couldn't see Eru—the girl wasn't good enough with illusions—but Miki was, and so Miki did. She came over, and perched on Amu's shoulder, and their father hugged them both.

"I'm so proud of you," he said. "Both of you."

"Ah," Amu managed.

Miki was crying. Amu didn't need to look. She could feel it, and-

Amu closed her eyes, trying not to start crying herself. They should have done this ages ago. They'd been scared, both of them, but she couldn't imagine. Not being able to hug or talk to Dad?

It would be-

No. She wasn't going to cry.

She didn't want to let go, but... she had a present to give.

"Ami," Amu called, letting her voice get louder. "Are you ready for your gift?"

There was a slight rumble under the table. "Yes!" came the response, echoing weirdly—as though there was a large cave underneath there. The carpet looked a little smoky. Less fire, more very low-lying fog. Ami was having fun.

New family rule, Dad had said. No more secrets. He'd been prepared to let her- 'Keep fighting', in Mom's words. They'd been so... 'proud' wasn't the word for it. Not when they were so scared, radiated so much fear it made her want to cry.

"Ami?" Amu called again.

"Yes?"

"Come up here, please."

"I'm stuck in a rut," her little sister declared, her head poking out from under the table. Ami's hair was messy, and her shirt a little rumpled. Amu felt her father's amusement.

"That's no good," Amu agreed, hiding her smile. "Any way out of that?"

"Ummm." Ami thought about it. "If I get a big, strong 'nee-chan, can you give me a pull?"

Amu snorted.

Dad knelt and reached under the table. There was a small squeal, and a brief, high-pitched scuffle, before he emerged with a giggling seven-year-old in his arms. Amu took a quick look under the table before whatever Ami had been doing stopped existing, and was a little surprised to see the 'rut' was a three-foot-deep hole in the carpet.

"That was fun," Ami said, a bright smile on her face.

Dad sent her a questioning look. Amu shrugged. "It'll go away," she assured him. "Eventually."

"Ah," he said, sounding a little confused.

"Better than fighting demons, isn't it?" She couldn't help but ask. They'd had this conversation. She kept repeating it.

"Well... yes, but-"

"Dad." Amu stared up at him. "That was a once-off. I told you. I'm not fighting anything, unless they attack me, and... um. That's not helping, is it?" It really wasn't. He wasn't scared the way they'd been, but he didn't like that way of putting it. "Let me rephrase. I'm not going looking for any trouble. There."

He didn't argue.

"Anyway," Amu said, her cheeks a little flushed. She reached out to poke Ami's nose. "Told you, we're not magical girls."

"I can be if I want to be!"

"Ami!"

"Well, I can!"

"Ami, no," Miki shot in.

"Aw. Fine. You're no fun, 'nee-chan."

"No fun at all, apparently," Dad agreed. "You'll just have to live with two boring big sisters, and a very, very exciting hole in the floor." He squinted down at it. "Is that moss? Ami dear, did you add moss?"

"Yes!" Ami agreed, a bright smile on her face. "I was stuck in a hole, so I gathered some moss. It's pretty, isn't it?"

"It's a very nice moss," Amu agreed, her cheeks burning a little. "But not alive. And you're not a stone."

Miki snorted, and Dad had to hide his grin.

"I could be," Ami insisted.

"No. I don't think so."

"Not allowed." Her father nodded at her, putting Ami down so she could... climb onto Amu's lap, apparently. Amu gave her a hug. "And, Amu?"

"Huh?"

"It's okay to be a magical girl. If you want more pink in your wardrobe... or stars..." He paused, his face thoughtful. "Maybe a few sparkles, actually. You could use them. But don't go hunting for demons, all right? I want my girls safe."

Amu didn't say anything. She'd been expecting some sort of lecture, for days, and...

"I'm going to keep saying this until you're tired of hearing it," he added, a smile on his face. "You did a wonderful job. But I'd prefer you didn't. I'd prefer you stayed home, and didn't leave, and didn't get hurt, and didn't fight demons—or anything, really—but- you weren't looking for trouble, were you. You were in class. So stop expecting me to get upset at you. It won't be happening."

"Dad."

"I won't tell you what to do, Amu," he told her, his tone firm. "Not so long as you're trying to stay safe. But you can talk to me. Just... do that, please? If there's anything at all. And that goes doubly for you, Ami." He smiled. "I love you both more than I can say. Even if you're making... holes in the... living room floor."

"Oh, Dad." Amu's cheeks were burning. This really shouldn't have gone anywhere near this well. "It's just an illusion. She didn't ruin the carpet."

"Okay," he agreed. "And-"

"You love us soooooooo much!" Ami cut in, a bright grin on her face. She jumped off her lap, ran over and gave Dad a hug.

Ami was right. The sheer amount of love Dad felt for them...

'Essay contest: Describe the love of a parent for their child,' Amu thought. To herself, she believed. That didn't stop Miki from snorting, though. 'I'd win.'

"Yes, yes, I do," Dad agreed.

"Good," said Ami. "'cause we can tell. You don't need to say it."

Dad blinked at Amu, a slightly bewildered look on his face.

"She's not wrong," Amu muttered. She looked down at her hands, mostly to hide her blush. "And- uh. Thank you, Dad.For being there."

He nodded, and then went and sat down next to them, Ami on his lap. "So, the present?" he asked, to which Amu grinned.

"The present," she agreed. Ami refocused, her attention sharpening. "Present!" she said, and leaned forwards.

Amu held on to her waist, her eyes a little wet, as she watched her sister take a closer look.

She felt nothing but warm.

⁂

October 18, 2009

"Hi, Saaya."

She was back at JPs' hospital. A whole three days had passed, and Saaya was still in a coma.

"I- um. I got you a card." Amu paused. "I know it's kinda stupid. We barely even talked. We've been in the same class for years, and all I remember is... well. But I-" She looked around. The room was bare. There was no hint that anyone had been there, anyone at all, and Dad was arguing about that with the nurse-in-charge. Saaya's parents hadn't showed.

Amu couldn't describe the emotion that rose up in her chest from that thought.

"I wanted to talk. So I'll- yeah. Talk." She swallowed, and sat down.

She had no idea what she was going to say.

"I told Mom and Dad," she said. "About everything. Being the Joker. Easter. The Humpty Lock and the Dumpty Key. It was- scary. I don't- I wasn't sure they'd still love me."

She stared at her hands.

She'd been an utter idiot. Her parents loved her. Of course they did. That was why-

Why she'd been afraid.

"But they do. They didn't even get angry. I thought they would, and- maybe Dad was, a little, but I couldn't tell. He was scared, but less scared than when he thought I'd been fighting... those. Lulu told them I'd been fighting her, and what that had been like, and…" Amu giggled. The look on Mom's face. "Mom said 'I served dinner to a dark magical girl!' And Ami brought Hikaru to visit, so..." She let out a breath. The Easter thing was over. Amu could go back to being a regular girl, or at least that's what she had been telling herself. Truthfully, not so much. Regular girls probably didn't...

"And Ami made a hole in the floor," Amu admitted. "Which was- I'm not sure how that happened, exactly. I don't think she knew, either. She was trying to make a cave, which- Saaya, she was underneath the living room table and it was... um. Well, I'll show you, maybe. I could... try to draw it. Maybe."

Saaya didn't say anything.

Amu grabbed a blank sheet of paper from her bag, quickly drawing the scene. Not perfectly. She wasn't much of an artist; that was Miki, who was exploring JPs again. But-

It was passable. She'd gotten better.

A second card soon joined the first, this one with fewer words and more pictures.

"Um, so. I know you don't- like me. Much. Or at all? I don't- I've never understood you. And I've never really- talked to you, have I?" Her face was rebelling against her. She didn't want to cry. She wasn't going to cry. These were hiccups. "I didn't- mean for any of this to happen. If- if I'd known what you were thinking, I'd have tried to help. Where are your friends? You had at least a couple, right?" Amu was sure she'd seen them talking, but that might have been a year ago. "I didn't- I never thought- I wasn't even sure what I'd done wrong."

Amu let out a long sigh.

"Sorry. It's... yeah. Utau's been great. I think she thinks I'm made of porcelain, though. Like, I can't take care of myself? She's- um. I wouldn't tell you this if you could hear me. She kissed me yesterday. On the cheek. But it was... really nice." She flushed. "I- really, really like her. I want to tell her that, but- it's kind of- confusing, I guess. To both of us, maybe. She was all 'you need to focus on getting better', and I was upside down on the back of the couch feeling perfectly fine, and I don't even remember how that happened, but... um."

Amu was blushing fiercely.

"We're- good friends, I guess. I think. She was trying to reassure me. We've been spending a lot of time together. She's- she's been- I was a bit- it's kind of..."

Amu couldn't think of how to say it.

"Anyway," she said, changing the subject. "Nagihiko's doing some family thing, but everyone in our class is fine. Ami brought Hikaru over. To reassure Dad, you know. He wasn't happy about the mind control. I could tell he wanted to shout at Hikaru, though he didn't. He had a long talk with Utau afterwards, and- Utau won't tell me what they were talking about. But I can guess, I think."

Amu looked up.

"Saaya, did you think- did you think everyone hated you?"

Silence was the only reply.

"I'll come back later," she decided.

⁂

October 20, 2009

There were reporters in the front yard.

Amu hid in her room, sipping a cup of tea while she poked at her computer. Miki was sitting on the desk, staring out the window through a gap in the curtains, while Eru was floating next to her. They were both looking a little amused, but Amu didn't feel much like laughing. Mom was downstairs arguing with them, and—if her shouts were to be believed—soon there'd be a policeman or two.

"I wonder what they want," Amu mumbled.

"You, apparently," Miki said. "Hero of the hour."

"Hah."

She could make them leave. She wasn't going to, but- she could.

'Himamori Amu, the Heroine of Seiyo!'

Ugh.

'Local Children Survive Horror of Demon Attack!'

Double ugh.

'Psychic children—heroes or monsters?'

UGH.

'Eleven children dead in alien invasion.'

She'd thought that the world wouldn't really change. Everything had been a secret. How could they possibly figure it out? Apparently it hadn't been that secret. The government had released a statement about 'alien technology' and that the police were 'investigating'. The big news corporations were talking about gas explosions. They'd gotten the story ninety-five percent wrong, were leaving her alone on purpose, and yet it seemed like nobody in Japan was buying it.

There'd been riots in America, apparently.

'Magical Girls: Fact vs Fiction'

"How are people this stupid?" Amu demanded, glaring at her computer.

"I dunno," Miki said, shrugging. "People are weird."

"Yeah."

"It'll blow over," Eru reassured her. "Eventually."

"That's- not the point. They're outside the house. They're harassing Mom. She doesn't- she doesn't have a lot of patience."

Miki giggled.

"No," she agreed. "But she has a lot of yelling."

"Yeah. She does." Amu let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. Then she reached out, her mind extending.

Her mother was very close to shouting at another reporter. There was indeed a policeman outside, watching the situation with a neutral expression. His name was Officer Nakagawa, and he was waiting to see if the reporter's next question would cross the line. Amu didn't quite get what that 'line' might be, because as far as she was concerned they'd left it behind in the previous prefecture.

She reached past them. There was a camera pointed towards her bedroom.

'Click.'

The camera shorted out. The reporter cursed, dropping it on the ground. She'd accidentally made it smoke.

"Serves them right," Amu muttered, pulling back. "I hate being the centre of attention. Why is this even a thing?"

"'Cuz people are weird," Ami replied. Amu blinked, and turned around. Ami was leaning against the doorframe, a pout on her face. She'd been downstairs sleeping on the couch. Amu could have sworn. "They're being stupid, 'nee-chan," she added, "And Mom's shouty."

Amu giggled.

"Yeah. I know. I was eavesdropping. Did they wake you up?"

"Uh huh. Can I tell them to go away?"

Amu shook her head. Her little sister looked rebellious, but didn't argue.

"Fine. Can I borrow your manga?"

"Of course," Amu replied. Ami grinned, and walked over. There was a stack of manga on the bedside table, next to a few of Miki's miniature portraits. She didn't need to hide them now. Ami pulled a volume from the top of the pile, and sat down.

"Ami," Amu said. Her little sister paused.

"What, 'nee-chan?"

Amu reached out, and gave her a hug. "Hey," she said, in a low, conspiratorial tone. "I'm not gonna let them bother you, okay? No one's allowed to pick on my little sister."

Ami smiled, her cheeks flushed. "Okay," she agreed. "No picking."

"Except me," Amu added, poking her in the cheek. "'cause I'm allowed."

"Okay, 'nee-chan." Ami leaned against her side, and Amu gave her another hug. On a normal day that would've made her run away giggling.

Today was not a normal week.

"Hey," she added.

"Yeah?"

"Can you teach me how you do the dream thing?"

"Umm," Ami said. She looked up at Amu, her eyes bright. "You want to learn?"

"Yep," Amu said. She poked her sister's cheek again, and then her nose. "I mean, I've seen what you can do. It's really interesting. I wanna know how you do it."

"Um, okay." Ami looked a little flustered. "You really want to?"

"Sure," Amu said. She glanced at Miki.

"I'm good, thanks." Miki grinned. "I already know how. Go play with the kid. It's fine."

Ami stuck her tongue out.

"Don't tease," Amu said. She gave Ami a smile, and poked her nose again. "How's that work? Should we wait until it's nighttime?"

"You're silly, 'nee-chan."

"Yeah, I know. Nighttime?"

"Um, not really," Ami said. "It's kinda hard to explain. You have to lie still, and then while you're lying still you have to walk through a door of some kind. And then you're there. It's easier while you're asleep, except you'll forget. I could come get you?"

"Ah. Sure. If you want to?"

Ami nodded. "Okay, 'nee-chan. Tonight?"

"Tonight," Amu agreed.

"Yay," Ami said, her smile bright.

They sat there for a while. Ami read her manga, and Amu tried to go back to the textbook she was supposed to be reading, but it was a bit difficult to keep her head off the reporters. Eventually she went to grab a manga, something more mature—Naruto, she decided, picking up a volume at random. She settled down on the bed next to Ami and started reading.

It was a nice afternoon.

Apart from the reporters.

That evening she went to sleep at the same time as Ami, and woke up in a field of flowers. That... was what she remembered later, at any rate. Though according to Ami-

"You acted like you were drunk," her little sister told her, a grin on her face. "Like, really drunk. You kept falling over and laughing. And then you tried to fight a tree, but it wasn't really a tree, and the tree started crying. Even the friendliest shadows are scared of drunk 'nee-chan. I had to put you back to sleep. Eventually."

Ami kept grinning for most of the day. She was sure, by then, that her little sister had an evil streak. Amu couldn't remember a thing except for the flowers.

Everything was fine, except… Kana…

It had been four days since she got out of hospital, and Kana still hadn't called.

Her phone wasn't even on. Every single call was instantly going to voicemail.

= = =

"Let me rephrase. I'm not going looking for any trouble."

This is technically true. With Amu's personality and upbringing there's every chance she'd run off to Kana, knowing full well Kana inherently is trouble, without thinking for even a second that this might cause trouble and her parents might want to have a say. There is, however, also a chance that she might not.

Kana isn't answering her phone. Amu doesn't have the number of anyone else in her group. Probably this means her phone is broken, and you have to get her new phone number.

[ ] Tell Dad you're going to visit Kana, but nothing else
- Plus: No chance of being stopped. Also you're not saying things you promised not to say.
- Minus: No chance of support. And it's lying, sort of? You're not sure.

[ ] Tell Mom and Dad the basics about Kana
- Meaning what, precisely?

[ ] Full disclosure
- They're Mom and Dad! They'll help.

 

[Nero200]

Crizzling Dreams - Saaya

---

In the space beyond the nothingness blooming in a first floor classroom, an opportunity presents itself.

It is rare to have the chance to enter the world-that-is.

A flock has followed shimmering shards of Self, fragments of mind that have slipped outside Great Wills authority, to a wormhole. Traced the hints of attention, belonging to two beings held by different seals to the pleading-invitation-wormhole. The greatest shadow, and the inverted Death.

Pieces of a sorcerer that matched the demons. A wish echoed through a mind that smoulders with a fire set in desperate defence.

A wish for death, memories and reasons stretching back a decade, and the damage each reflected "Saaya Yamabuki" wears.

Each shard-of-self- macca -is eaten by a mocking laughter that learns its summoner and why she blindly calls for death.

⁂

-she's only six years old when she realises the distance between her parents, and between her and each of them.

It's not some sudden dramatic realisation. She gets home one day, picked up by the same lady who dropped her off at school, and goes to show her mother the painting she'd made.

Saaya's parents are in the main living room, sitting opposite one another without talking.

Distant from one another, despite being in the same room (for once). They got like this sometimes, but it is the first time it feels like a wall. Or a gulf.

A gulf that she can't work out how to cross.

The painting ends up left on the table until Saaya takes it and hides it away in a drawer.

Torn to pieces, gobbled up by eager voices. Mocking laughter is all that they are. Mocking laughter and insane impulses, which now grow that much stronger.

⁂

-school was nice. People liked her, or at least listened to her, and it all made sense!

Saaya just had to be like her Father, and lead people! A… politician?

And… maybe if she's good enough at leading people, she could convince her parents to get along without fighting? Something that wasn't a vain attempt that just had one of them leave.

But first, making sure everyone in class knows who she is!

She'd failed. They knew, and hated her. Half of her said no, that wasn't how it was. The other half rejected the rejection.

⁂

-eacher had told them there would be a new girl joining today.

Who could it be, joining at the start of a year?

…

Pink hair, colour contacts in her eyes. Delinquent! Kinda cool though-

Why was she thinking that? The new girl clearly wasn't. Showing off like that didn't make her cool, why did the others…

Why did they all listen and smile at her, when all of Saaya's effort went into it to so much less effect?

They liked her, sure, but… it was an effort. Something she managed, other people's opinions of her. Making sure that they all look at her like people look at her parents.

Like how her parents always said, a princess. It was… hard to manage sometimes. When everyone was talking about what they'd done at home, rather than what they had.

And Amu just doesn't have to. She just talks, and people listen.

It's not fair.

It wasn't, and that was life. Scrabbling for the small shards of Macca, killing to hold it. There have always been greater demons.

⁂

-not fair.

'Himamori', Hinamori-chan, was a member of the Guardians.

'Joker'. After causing a scene in assembly.

Was that even a position before now, or did they make it up just to let her in?

After all the work she'd been doing, learning how to work with people in class, like father did.

Politics was meant to be her thing. Isn't having…

Art, sport, even cooking…

Isn't having everything in class and not caring that no one else could keep up enough for Amu?

How is Saaya meant to impress her father now, if she couldn't do the same as he always did?

(How was she meant to make him listen to her with more than half an ear?)

⁂

-Nikaidou-sensei is the one that incepts it, the corruption of her Dream. The darkening of the heart egg. The change of self.

On some level the 'system' behind the formation of Charas winces as her dream, political and socialite, Leadership in a word, surfaces.

There is a reason Yamabuki Saaya never developed a Chara, and it had nothing to do with lacking potential or dreams.

A piece of manipulation- so easily done -to twist Kukai against Tadase, because Amu has enough already, doesn't she? Enough people already love her?

Her memories blur, until a… pink blur mingles with the darker haze. Something twists inside her, lashing out, and it all vanishes, leaving her at the edge of the stage.

Applause. For her, surely?
…

Saaya tries to bring what exactly had happened up with her mother when she makes it back to the house, late after piecing together her missing memories from other students.

Not that her mother noticed on either account. The lateness, or Saaya's concerns about her teacher.

…

So she tries the teachers. Not Nikaidou, not after the previous day. Something is… off.

None of them have answers, seeming to brush off her concerns of Himamori's speeches' apparent effect on the school, and ignoring Nikaidou's blurry actions.

The last teacher Saaya tries to get through to kill any continued attempts in the water when the young woman points her towards the Guardians with a wink.

Ha. The Guardians that include Amu. The ones that can do no wrong, yet watch her with suspicious looks and guarded expressions.

Saaya makes sure to keep her friends closer from then on, whenever Nikaidou and 'Himamori' are around. Something about the pink and gold…

It makes her afraid.

Isolation. Fear. Running without knowing what from.

⁂

-week of grade school, Saaya comes in with a new haircut. Professionally done, a slightly brighter auburn colour, subtle gold highlights. Shorter "for the summer".

Clearly an expensive job. She smiles at her friends' compliments, fluffing it up with her fingers.

"I felt like a change!" (A lie. Not that anyone could tell. She was good at them. Good at living them.)

Before shooting a side eye at Amu, who rolls her eyes in response.

It's a shame that Saaya's previous experiences with psionics, throwing off the X Egg and Amu's lesser effects, have closed her off to passive mental perception.

Amu at least, and probably a few others amongst the class, could have picked up on the betrayal-regret-frustration lurking behind the smug persona she wore then.

The ripples of the previous evening, a screaming match with parents, for once paying attention, after she'd given herself a head of blonde hair, matching Hoshina's latest look. A change.

An impulsive decision for sure, that had her mother scoffing and her father demanding to know why she would ruin the upcoming shoot for his campaign. (If he had told her of course she wouldn't have. Though that would require anyone in the household to talk with another inside the walls.)

Marched to a hair salon, it had been 'fixed' before anyone else could see the 'embarrassment' Saaya had apparently made of herself.

Neither of her parents asked why she'd done it, and Saaya knew better by now than to try and explain.

She's known for far longer than she pretends she does.

⁂

-remembers more than she should, of the time under the Mystery Chara Change.
Of what that French girl did to her.

She remembers Amu's… fragments? Altars? Pieces? Her Dreams, and how their abilities felt.

Switching between those thought patterns, invoking powers from a system that is familiar yet not, which burned when she touched it.
Saaya wishes she didn't remember.

Because it makes her mind ache, reaching for things that aren't within reach. Faces that people smiled at, skills that aren't hers. Powers- Dreams of things like sports and cooking.

Not a dream for the right words to make her family just talk. To make people listen.

Saaya wishes she was the sort of person that had those dreams.

Another reason to fear. Another reason to feed the blue eternity.

⁂

-after talking with the teachers, being ignored by her parents in favour of their latest argument over her father's 'assistant', Saaya was alone. Again.

And had to face what she had seen. What had been forced on her.

"Bossy. Spoiled rich girl. Bully. No one really listens, they just agree to shush you. How do her friends put up with her..? Obnoxious laugh. I wish she'd leave me alone. Does Tadase even know who she is? Purify her and then hopefully she'll stop being such a nightmare."

How Amu saw her. Mind-to-mind, unadulterated, unfiltered. The Saaya that Amu sees, shown to her. Is that… who she is?

The first crack, on a mind strained by the X-Egg process and by her teachers dismissal, her parents' negligence. And then twisted by a question mark and magic into a target.

Crack.

Somewhere deep in her chest, in her heart, an egg shell cracks further, the smooth surface crizzling. It's not broken, not dead and dull like her homeroom teacher's once was.

But the blow has landed, a psionic hammer of opinion and image, and she lacks the tools or defences to do anything to defend her dreams.

And bit by bit her world dies.

⁂

-start of middle school doesn't go the best for Saaya.

The few weeks of holidays before it had been nice, at least when outside of the house with her friends.

Those friends were, unfortunately, part of the reason it hasn't started that well.
They were gone. A change of schools, one for her mothers job, the other because a place had opened in her 'famous' uncle's alma mater.

Leaving Saaya alone at school for the first time.

(Ironic, after she was meant to be the one to escape the weirdness of the place, before her mother and father had 'agreed to disagree' on the topic.)

It's an experience that puts weight on the cracked surface. A class of people, without the 'buffer' of her friends, that she struggled to reach. Some of them she could talk with about shallow things, but there was something just… missing.

A depth that she just couldn't reach into, a gap she couldn't reach across.

…

Not that Amu was having any of those issues. Spending half the day staring into the distance, seeming to fumble for anyone other than Saaya's name, and still the whole class looks to her before even the teacher half the time.
Saaya… is used to it by now. Other people might not see it, but she knows. She's seen the inside of Amu's head, heard her oh so damning opinion of her.
Spent nights wondering just how right it is.

She's watched how the atmosphere shifts with the pink haired girl, social dynamics- people -twisting around her little finger even as she pretends to pay no attention at all.

Like that… French girl and her jewellery, but infinitely more subtle.

Saaya wasn't sure if that made it better or worse.

⁂

-tries only once to replicate what she could do, in those half remembered moments of Hinamori Dream. One try to summon up the abilities and potential that danced behind her eyelids.

Saaya reaches for that energy, without the lens of a ruby, and grasps the core of a nuclear reactor.

The surge of energy erases her table, bedroom door and a chunk of the opposite wall from existence.

Destruction answers her call, the System of Charas refusing to provide guidelines to any of her Dreams strong enough for it to hear. She pushes until there's nowhere further to push.

The shards of- aged oak, how did this happen? We will have to order a replacement to match. Saaya, was this you?!- door coat the hallway, even though there was no explosion to throw them.

Saaya's power is erasure, desolation, the deletion of things.
It is nothing like the Hinamori Dream.

⁂

-get away get-away getway getawayawayawaydestroyaway!

Saaya doesn't know what caused it, coming back after summer break.

Was it always there? The push, the whispers? Hinamori's voice is the loudest of the crowd, like the burning weight of 'purification', but telegraphed by nothing.

Just. Constantly there. Talking. Informing. Telling. Insisting. Ordering. Repeating on and on.

Their voices, their image and opinions, overlaid on reality and tried to nudge it. Nudge Saaya.

Speaking to… ears that aren't ears. To a face that wasn't flesh.

A dream long broken and dead, but not rotting, scarred with the symbols of suites and burns.
To something vulnerable in a way that was achingly familiar, but without the walls and defences she'd worked so hard to paint bright lies and happy colours over.

It was always there, she thinks. Just… louder now. The difference between a window with and without a light inside the building. The shutters opened?

The analogies made her head hurt, for all that they made sense.

It's not as if anyone listened to her explanations—pleas—anyway.

…

Saaya counters the only way she knows how, a subconscious reaction becoming conscious. Erasure is brought to bear whenever- wherever it touches her, destruction burning with incandescent fire on those ears, consuming that face.

Torching the building so that nothing can enter. Melting away the useless memories of all the times she wasn't good enough while she's at it.

Whether or not she knows it's a prolonged suicide, is one of the shards Saaya will never be able to recover from the rift.

She won't need to remember to know what she chose.

⁂

-knows it worked, when her sanity returns the next morning. Stability, if a terrible kind, is achieved.

The ringing has stopped.

Saaya is a little more irritable, but not enough people talk to her to notice. And the freedom, the silence at last is more than worth the stinging headache.

The 'Oujo' complains about Hinamori more, though no one ever listens.

Subconsciously, the flames burn, every vulnerable attack surface of her mind set alight with the destruction that comes so easily to the young girl.

If a Wild Card were to meet her, they would see the Blasted Tower burning, mid fall, inevitable and thundering.

It's relaxing in a way, to let all her efforts, the 'mask', persona, constructed social image…

To just let it finally go. To stop dreaming of one day making her parents care, of commanding the respect of the class.

That face burns in ruby light, falling to shards as Saaya stretches and shifts. More outspoken. Manipulation fading in favour of smirking attacks.

The last shards of egg shell, of her mask, are long ash by the time Saayas frayed bare patience sends her into a mad laugh at Makoto's blindness.

⁂

-another ringing of the bell, trying to press against cinder-walls, and she's had enough.

Saaya punches out against Amu, wanting nothing more than to turn her overbearing smirk into a hole-

-Erasure. Destruction. The stench of ozone- the burn of chemicals- the howl of Kagu- The scarf around a neck, white and pure and a body falling to pieces- Punch- World Breakers- Delete- A hole in the world- Pattern Spider Touch-

-and the world shatters. Amu's power-field command of the abilities they both hold parries the blow, and the world-beneath breaks a foot to the left instead of beneath the material of Amu's skull

a howling maw of not-reality opening

⁂

-once green eyes open beneath the Diet building.

This girl isn't met by family, however.

Saaya isn't surprised.

= = =

As promised, a look on why Saaya is the way she is. Mayhaps a kinder gaze, knowing how this came to be?

Thank you to @Baughn for beta reading, and for correcting my many assumptions to fit.

 

[Baughn]

Scheduled vote count started by Baughn on Dec 22, 2023 at 8:23 PM, finished with 58 posts and 7 votes.

• ---

  7 people have voted

  [X] Plan: My Friend Is Making Me Worried
  -[X] Tell Mom and Dad the basics about Kana
  --[X] Explain that your friend Kana, who you met months ago and invited to your birthday, is suddenly no longer answering calls and making you worried enough to pay a visit.
  --[X] Explain that your friend has personal circumstances that you promised not to disclose to anyone without permission.
  --[X] ....That thankfully, to the best of your knowledge, should have nothing to do with demons.
  --[X] Explain that Utau met and spoke with Kana on your birthday and may have some idea of her circumstances.
  --[X] You hope to get Utau's assistance with dressing up in disguise when paying your visit, to try avoid the media hawks as best you can.

  • PistachioCookies
  • Skelm
  • Embler
  • Eternal_0bserver
  • Vanguard_D
  • Winged One
  • waito_x

 

[Baughn]

October 21, 2009

It was early morning, and Amu was having a war council with herself. Which is to say: She was in her bedroom with the door locked. So was Miki, and so was Ran and Su. It had the usual effect on her—she felt prickly, easily annoyed and her eyes were glowing a fair bit brighter than usual, enough so that anyone watching would be able to tell—but that was easily made up for by the opportunity for seeing more angles on the problem.

There were no reporters outside. They'd given up once it became obvious that Amu would not ever be coming outside, and also because of some less-than-gentle nudges from the police.

That was the only thing that made her happy this morning.

"I call this meeting of the trans-Amu council to order," quipped Miki, who half-sat, half-lay against the edge of their pillow. "And all jokes aside, Kana worries me."

Miki, it must be said, had barely even met the girl. They'd seen each other at the birthday party, and Kana had a basic idea of how she functioned, but they couldn't be said to be friends. That didn't make her wrong. Miki looked tired, her hair a bit unkempt; she'd been up late last night going over everything they knew about the situation. Miki was still very Amu. By personality, if nothing else. Shy, artistic and a bit introverted—yes—but she'd still save anyone you put in front of her, without ever asking if she should.

Much like the rest of them.

"She worries all of us," said Ran. The little redhead was sitting next to Amu on the bedside table, holding hands with Su, tightly clenched.

This would be the part of a war council where someone presented their status or offered a plan. Unfortunately, Amu didn't work that way. The girl herself stared glumly at the undone bedsheet, vaguely wondering if she should fix it—she certainly didn't have any plans. If she'd had them, then Su and Ran would have already known them.

There was the plan of running straight up to Kana's house and knocking on the door, of course, but that didn't sound like a great one…

"You called her last night, right?" Miki hesitantly offered.

"I'm pretty sure you were there," said Amu, before pulling back on the… bite with a stabilising breath. Miki didn't deserve it. "But yes. And the night before. And the one before then. Straight to voicemail."

Ran and Su just let out a synchronised sigh.

"We can't keep delaying."

It doesn't matter who said that—they were all thinking it—but for the record it was Miki. The girls nevertheless sat still another half-minute, before she decided to take the lead.

"We've got two problems," said Miki. "First off, Kana. She's… I mean, either we find them there on their own, and that's fine. Or there's someone else there, spying on them or something. Or…" She might not be there at all. They all knew it, but saying it was something else.

"Or she might not be there at all," said Amu. The glow in her eyes intensified slightly.

"...yeah," said Miki, somewhat glumly. "And then there's the other problem. Mom and Dad."

"What? Mom and Dad aren't a problem!" said Amu, jerking her head up to stare at Miki.

"They are if they try to stop us," Miki replied. "Which they will, if they know we're doing anything dangerous." She blinked, then smirked. "I think this is why most magical girls don't tell their parents they are."

Ran threw a miniature pillow at her, which Miki dodged with a laugh, Su smiling at the pair. Amu didn't manage the same, but the joke did succeed in making her feel a little better. She leaned backwards and let out a breath, thinking about it.

"This evening," Amu decided. "One way or the other."

One thing was for sure. She couldn't let them know.

⁂

The rest of the day felt like she was marking time by checking her phone, same as the last few days.

Amu quietly padded her way into the kitchen, where her mother was making a fresh pot of coffee. It was late afternoon, and her mother was angry.

It wasn't that she'd ever, even once, aimed that at her or Ami. Or Amu's father, at least genuinely. But she was furious with the reporters, and the government, and the police, and a whole bunch of other things and the way she was holding her shoulders was a big sign that if Amu brought it up, she'd be stuffed with chocolate cake, given a cup of hot cocoa, a blanket and told to stay put for the next two hours while her mother took care of her.

So instead of saying anything of the sort, Amu sat down at the table and watched her mother prepare coffee.

"Good afternoon," her mother said, her voice soft. She had a bright smile on her face. "Do you need anything, Amu?"

She shook her head, watching her mother.

She wasn't sure how she knew, but she always did. Whenever Amu was upset or stressed, or having a bad day—or a good one—she always seemed to know. She was a great mom. Amu didn't want that to stop. Which meant she didn't want to mislead her.

"How are you feeling?"

Amu shrugged. "Okay, I guess. A little tired."

Her mother nodded.

"Feeling ready for school?" she asked.

Amu shrugged. School was Friday, this was still Wednesday. She'd been cramming as best she could for several days. It seemed to be going well, but she had no idea what she had to learn so she'd been taking 'measures'. Measures like fiddling with the way her mind processed the books, just to make sure it stuck better. It was an interesting trick, and passed the time.

One read-through still wasn't enough—she remembered what they'd written on page forty-one but not how Gustav the Great actually died and that was no good. She needed to spend the time thinking it through, and there was maths and English as well. She'd found some quizzes on the internet. It still sped things up.

"More or less," she said uncertainly.

"You're sure you're not going back too early?"

She looked up. "Not really. I feel fine, and Ami's already gone." She let out a huff. "It'll feel weird not having her in the next building over."

"Ami's new school isn't far," her mother reassured her. "And you'll have all your classmates there."

"Not the other classes, though." Amu's mouth was a little dry. Her hand tightened on the strap of her skirt. Everyone else, with the exception of a few others who'd been hospitalised, had already gone back to school that Monday. Amu was the exception. "I'm not worried. Not really."

"It's just different," her mother said. She smiled.

"Yeah." Amu stared at her feet. School was something she was worried about, but it wasn't really at the top of her mind. "Um. No-one gave me a curriculum or anything. I'm not even sure how different the schools are. But... um. It can't be too hard. Right?"

"I'm not the person to ask," Mom replied. "I've never been good at tests."

"That's a flat-out lie," her father interjected with a smile, not looking up from his laptop. He was picking out photos to use. A thousand shots for each good one, apparently… though he didn't feel bored. Amu would have been bored out of her mind if she did that.

"Oh, hush," Mom said fondly, drawing her attention back. "Amu, I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Yeah," Amu mumbled. Miki settled on her shoulder, summoned by her dour mood. "But, um. I'm not sure. What if... I mean. I don't know. I'm supposed to be taking placement exams on Friday.

"You'll do fine." Her mother took her by the shoulders. "Seiyo is a high-class school. This one isn't; the tests will be easy. If you have any problems you can always come to me, but I don't think you will. Now are you going to help me cook, or are you going to keep sitting around?"

"I can do both!" she laughed. "But okay, I'll help. What's for dinner today?"

"Well, what do you want? We've got..." She gave Amu a look. "Do I need to actually tell you? Or can you pick that up from my head?"

"I could probably tell, but..." Amu paused, because she'd been avoiding the idea. Something about it made her feel uncomfortable, and now that Mom had put her on the spot, she had to ask herself why.

Saaya had given her a bad shock when a simple, exploratory mental touch had made her angry enough to shout, and Amu was about ninety percent sure that—this sounded weird to Amu, would sound weird to anyone who'd slowly grown into that sense—she was about ninety percent sure that Saaya simply disliked Amu reading her mind. Or even giving it a gentle poke.

Especially weird when their other classmates didn't mind. They did it often enough themselves.

Amu hadn't ever thought about it. She pensively chewed her lip.

"You can read my mind, but you don't really want to?" Mom asked, a wry smile on her face. She reached out to stroke Amu's hair, and then gave her a quick, one-armed hug.

"Pretty much."

"You're not in trouble," her mother reassured her.

"I didn't think I was," Amu muttered.

"Good. Though I think Dad and I would both be upset if you read anyone's mind outside of emergencies," Mom casually stated, as if she wasn't messing with Amu's. "I love you, sweetheart, and I'm proud of you—you're doing a wonderful job, by the way. But-"

Amu ducked her head, flushing. "Thanks, Mom," she mumbled.

Her mother studied her.

"It's good," Mom told her. "To give people their privacy. Not everyone wants that, of course, but reading someone's mind if they can't even tell you're doing it is wrong. I can see why you might find it tempting."

Amu flushed again.

"What about people who can?" Miki asked, and Amu could have sworn that her voice held a hint of amusement.

"Then make sure they don't mind," Mom replied. She smiled. "Don't worry. Your Dad and I love you, and we're so, so proud. I never expected you to get everything right on the first try. So," she said, gesturing towards the fridge. "Let's see what mysterious ingredients I may have bought."

"Okay," Amu agreed.

Eggs, it turned out. Lots of eggs. For a soufflé.

They cooked.

It was nice. It was quiet. Miki helped by drawing a portrait of them, but didn't join in—she didn't enjoy cooking. Normally she'd be with Ami this time of day, but Mom didn't see why she shouldn't make both of them rest, and Miki for that matter worried about Amu. So Mom instructed Amu, while Miki chatted with Mom, and sometimes the two of them would stop and stare at each other as though lost in thought.

Amu didn't stop working when that happened. Mom could see through her—always had—so she knew Amu felt guilty. There was no point dwelling on it; she had a soufflé to make.

Her mother's words were left to long, slow rumination, while Amu let herself think about other things.

Putting the soufflé in the oven. Cleaning the dishes. Watching Miki hug their mother, and wondering how long it'd be until she asked for a transformation so she could do it properly.

Maybe she should offer?

It was another quiet, peaceful moment in her life, which didn't have enough of them. The soufflé got made. Kana didn't call. Ami was off to school on her own, and Amu couldn't fully relax, though she tried.

She loved her little sister, she truly did, but Amu was starting to worry she'd do something unforgivable before Amu got around to talking with her, even if that notion was still foggy in her mind. It was, unfortunately, very foggy. And she should talk to Mom about that, but then she'd get Ami scolded, maybe. She needed to speak to Utau about it, but Utau was busy, but…

She weighed those in her head, and not-hurting-people definitely ranked higher, but not so high that she'd let herself get distracted from Kana right now. Even if there were a lot of distractions. Demons, JPs, Lulu and her cousin, Saaya… Amu couldn't help but feel frazzled, torn in a few directions too many, and her mother could tell.

She thought about it while the soufflé cooked. So, it turned out, had Midori.

"Amu," she said.

"Yes?"

"You were actually listening?" Mom gave her a look of mild surprise. "Usually when you look like that, you're thinking of Utau."

Amu flushed.

"That's- that's not- not right now, Mom. I was just- I was just-"

"Staring into space," Mom interrupted. "Your thoughts were all over the place. Right? But you were making that face."

"Face?" Amu squeaked.

"The face," her mother said, nodding. She sat down at the table. Amu mechanically joined her. "When you think something's wrong and you're going to do something about it, which hasn't been Utau for over a year. So what's wrong, and what are you going to do about it?"

"Um."

"At least, I hope it's not Utau," Mom continued, a slight smile on her face. "Saaya, maybe? Or is it that boy you were hiding in your bedroom two years ago? He had a cute face, but he was a bit strange."

"Mom!"

"No, that can't be it." Her mother tapped her chin, thinking. "Utau-chan said he went missing. Is that why? You didn't tell me you still had a crush on him."

"I didn't- he's- um. Well." Amu's cheeks were burning. "That's- not it, I don't- um. Mom!"

"Oh, honey. I'm teasing. I know. Now tell me what's wrong."

Amu looked down at her plate. She was doing this. One way or the other, she was doing this.

"It's- um. Kana. They told me not to visit her last week. For a week."

"Kana-chan." Mom nodded, sounding a little confused. "The friend you made recently. She never gave me her family name. The doctors told you not to visit?"

Amu stared at Mom, then blinked at Miki, who shrugged. She could in fact feel her mother's confusion. No choice in that; she couldn't choose not to feel emotions.

Even so, she didn't want to say it. She mumbled something indistinct and incoherent.

"No, it was Aoi," Miki said. "Kana's friend, or maybe 'Kana's older sister' would be more appropriate, the way they act around each other. She didn't say why. Then the thing at school happened and..." Miki glanced at Amu.

"When I got out of hospital, I had no messages from Kana," Amu blurted out. "No missed calls, nothing. But Kana was always messaging me. She's not answering her phone at all! I'm worried."

"Okay," said Mom, smile fading. "What do you want to do about it?"

"Huh?"

"Amu. I've noticed this." Mom gave her a look. "When something goes wrong, you always try to fix it. Whether that's making pancakes or stuffing a boy into your wardrobe. You get into this mindset and then you don't ask us for help. You just- try to do everything yourself."

"Um."

"Which is why I'm asking." Mom's voice was very kind. "What are you planning to do about it? And how can we help you? We're your parents, Amu. You can talk to us. You should." And very firm, in all the ways that made her feel guilty for thinking about how to worm out from under it.

"Mom..."

Well, there was the part where Kana-chan was hunted, and a murderess! Amu looked at Mom, a little twitchily. Her heartbeat raced as she tried to think of something to say. She opened her mouth.

She closed it again.

She couldn't say it. Couldn't make her mother think of Kana-chan that way. Amu knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that Kana was a killer, several times over even. Yet the thought of her mother thinking less of Kana, of Kana being treated like a criminal, made her feel a little sick. It wasn't who Kana was, wasn't anything she'd have chosen, and even if Amu didn't think it was right-

But she'd been trying not to lie.

"She- um. She- she was- I mean, she might not want me to say this? But Kana's- um. They're- she's- they have some- issues," Amu mumbled, looking everywhere except her mother's eyes.

"Like Utau?" Mom prompted.

"Not... not quite." Amu's voice was hesitant. "Utau doesn't like talking about it, but- it's- it's not the same, and Kana's not being abused or anything, and it's- um. They're- not like Utau. They're- kind of like me, but-"

"Amu."

"And- and- I promised not to say anything. It's their story. They'd be- they'd be so angry if I- um. And- and I- I really don't think it's demons. Probably. Aoi would have- warned me." Amu stared down at her hands.

Mom nodded and walked around the table, giving Amu a hug. The dinner was temporarily abandoned, in favour of comforting her daughter. "I see," she said.

"Kana doesn't have- didn't have a lot of friends," Amu continued.

"Amu, relax," her mother murmured into her hair, tickling her ear. Her shoulders were tense and hunched up, but Mom leaned against them, slowly unfolding her. "Breathe. It's okay. I won't push. Not on this." She let go of Amu, keeping a hand on her shoulder. "You want to help your friend and that's okay. Great, even. Just tell me one thing. Is Kana-chan safe?"

Safe? The idea of Kana being safe was something Amu couldn't comprehend. She twisted around to stare at Mom, eyes wide. Is there a safe version of her?

"Probably not," she mumbled.

"Amu, honey." Mom's voice was gentle. "I meant to ask if you think she's in danger, and I think maybe you answered a different question. Let me turn that on its head. Do you think you'd be in danger?"

"Um. No." Amu blinked. She hadn't even considered that. "No, I think I'm okay. If anything happens, I can fight back- um. Nothing's going to happen, Mom. Kana's... not dangerous. She doesn't like hurting people."

"Okay. And does Kana need help?"

She shrugged helplessly.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I was planning to visit her after dinner."

"So we need more information." Mom nodded. "Okay. Tell me about the plan."

"Plan?"

"I assume you have one, with the reporters still canvassing the neighbourhood." Her mother smiled. "You weren't planning to waltz through the front door, were you?"

She hadn't really thought about it. There wasn't anyone outside. Part of her flagged that Kana wasn't in range either.

"I- well."

"Oh, Amu."

"I didn't think..."

"Okay." Mom sighed. "Let me rephrase this. Do you want my help getting out of the area without them seeing? They're still everywhere. I ran into two of them while shopping."

"Please?"

Her mother snorted.

"Well," she said. "We have a car. But if I were a girl with illusion powers and a friend who's a famous idol, I'd probably be thinking about disguises. Remember when Utau came to dinner wearing that baseball cap, with the ponytail and glasses? That was a very nice idea. Maybe she could come with you?"

"Um," Amu mumbled. The thought made her blush, in a whole other way than her mother's gentle scolding earlier. She couldn't stop a grin, even as her face reddened.

"Amu?" That smile. It kept getting wider.

"No, Mom."

"Are you sure? You look like you'd enjoy it. I think she'd like the chance to show off. She's a lovely girl, and you look so happy together."

Amu slowly, but elaborately, dropped her face into her hands. It helped to hide her burning cheeks.

"Maybe you could call her, and see if she's free?"

"Mom!"

"Sorry, sorry," Mom laughed. "I'm only teasing. But if not," she mother continued, smile stuck on her face, "We'll have to figure something out. It sounds exciting, even if all you're doing is visiting friends. Can you change your appearance? Make yourself taller? Older? Maybe a bit younger, so they don't recognise you? Or maybe just change your hair colour? Actually, could you make yourself invisible?"

"Not that one," Amu admitted. "I- don't really understand how to. It's- kinda weird. If I try to hide my hand, it's like it stops existing."

"I'll take that as a no."

"It's- it's really weird."

"I did it yesterday," Miki put in. "When I was exploring."

"You're usually invisible!" Amu retorted.

"Not that sort of invisible." Miki grinned. "It's like I made myself invisible to the walls as well, so I was able to fly through them. But, um, I'm not sure it'd be safe for Amu. Can you show me, with just the hand?"

"Maybe later," their mother interjected. "And I think you should experiment on something other than yourself. A brick, maybe…"

They heard the front door opening, as well as two rapidly pattering feet.

"-we'll keep thinking," said Mom. "But I think Ami's finally here. Any longer and the soufflé would've burned, so-" Mom drew a deep breath, then hollered. "Dinner is served! Amu-chan made it!"

"Coming!" Ami's voice echoed from the entryway. "I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Amu sank back into her seat, head full of thoughts about Ami again. Dad joined them at the table, and Ami herself rushed in not a minute later, her eyes full of glee. The five of them sat down at the table. Mom served Miki using a tiny, cardboard plate.

It was a nice meal.

⁂

It was a nice meal, and then Mom insisted on helping with her disguise.

"How about hair colour?"

"Hmm…"

She looked into a hand mirror. Normal Amu.

In lieu of answering, Amu turned her hair a dark brown. Then blonde, then red—it was like turning a dial, easier than expected, a change she chalked down to practising so much the other day. In fact she got through every colour of the rainbow in less than a minute before settling on orange-gold, the same colour as her eyes.

"Oh," Mom said. She reached out and touched Amu's hair, then shook her head. "It's beautiful, but the pink was already eye-catching. We'll need something less conspicuous. Brown?"

"Brown is good," Ami supplied. The girl was busy with her GameStation, but took a glance at Amu when she said that. Then a double take. "...wow."

Hiding her hair dye? She could do that. Her hair turned brown, the same exact shade as Ami's, which made her clap. Only for a moment; fighting Magma Man being clearly more important. Amu smiled at her anyway.

"And," her mother added, "I'm thinking you can't disguise your face enough. So let's try... oh. Come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"Bathroom. You're getting freckles."

"Freckles?"

"Yep." Mom's smile was wide. "You'll look different enough, especially if we give you twintails as well."

"Freckles," Amu repeated.

Mom patted her on the shoulder.

"Freckles," she agreed. "Ami will love them."

Twenty minutes later Amu was staring at a stranger. The face in the mirror was the same as hers, but a whole lot of freckles had been added, and her eyes were hazel instead of gold. That had been... weird. She'd tried, very hard, to convince her eyes to be a different colour—should have been easy, she'd done far more complicated things with Ami's box just a day ago, not to say the hair—but they'd refused to budge.

Until Mom's careful freckling with the paintbrush had convinced them somehow that yes, her eyes were a different colour now, and should be brown. Then they went gold again, right as she was celebrating. Then brown, and it took her minutes to figure out it depended on who she was at the moment. If she tried to follow the makeup process—if she borrowed Ran's skill to see what exactly Mom was doing—then the illusion slipped into place, and her eyes accepted being brown. Or blue, or purple for that matter.

If she stopped trying to be Ran, then they went back to being gold. Mom had noticed, of course.

"Can you keep your eyes from changing?" Mom asked, studying her.

"Maybe," she said. "It's hard."

"I imagine so." Mom reached out and touched Amu's cheek. "You look like a different person with or without them, but your eyes are distinctive. Do you think anyone will recognise you?"

Amu shrugged.

"I hope not."

"That's not a no." Mom smiled. "If you run into any reporters, just walk right past. If they shout your name, ignore them. You're not Amu, okay? You're- oh. What's your name?"

"Huh?"

"What do you want me to call you, like this?"

Amu paused, staring at herself in the mirror. A mousy, freckled girl stared back, her hair a dull brown. Instead of dressing up fancy, as she usually did, she'd gone for the same sort of clothes Utau wore on the street. Baggy hoodie, baggy jeans and not very stylish. No sunglasses, because that would miss the point of changing her eye colour.

"I'm..."

She thought about it.

"I'm Ran," she said. She'd already done the whole 'being Ran' thing. It was easiest. "Um. Hi, Mom."

"Hi, Ran," her mother said, patting her on the shoulder. Something slid into place, and the faint luminescence still stuck in her eyes faded further, until she was looking at an entirely ordinary, freckled teenager. "You're not Amu right now. You're a completely different person. Understand?"

"Sure," said Amu, and nodded. "I'll remember," she said, a smile on her face. "Mom, um. Thanks. For this. I was thinking of asking Utau, but I'm glad you helped."

"You're welcome, sweetheart," her mother replied. "And if you need anything, you can always call, okay? I'm not going to make you sit through a lecture."

"But you're still going to lecture."

"At some other time," Mom agreed. "When you're not off on a secret mission."

"Mom!"

"Now shoo," Mom said, giving her a hug. "Don't get in too much trouble and- try to get some information, all right? I'm trusting you when you say you're not in danger. Don't make me regret it."

She looked down, her cheeks burning.

"I'll try."

There was a moment's silence, as Amu realised her 'lying ability'—as Ami had recently put it—was not so much 'poor' as simply nonexistent.

"That's not reassuring," Mom said, letting go of her.

"I'll try," Amu repeated, looking away.

"Try not to get into a fight."

"Okay."

Mom studied her. "Okay," she agreed. "You're going no matter what, aren't you? Even if I tell you not to?"

Amu looked down.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"Don't apologise," her mother told her, smiling. "Amu, honey, you're not wrong. If someone you care about needs help, and you have the power to do so... I'd be an awful hypocrite if I didn't let you. Just- remember, all right? I love you. All of us love you, and we don't want you to get hurt."

"Yeah," Amu agreed. "I- um. Love you, too."

Her mother's face fell further.

"I'd thought this was just a bit of fun," she said, softly. "Amu, please tell me one thing. Does it have to be you?"

"I- yes. Kana's my friend, and- I think I'm the only one. Anyone else who came visiting might get shot at. Or, or, um. Turned around and made to go home."

That was even less reassuring. Amu could see it in her mother's eyes and feel it in her mind. Mom did not like that. Not one bit.

"Can you bring one of your friends?" her mother asked, her voice trembling slightly. "Utau? Nagi-chan? Kukai, even?"

Amu shook her head.

"Kana doesn't... well, Kana does, but the others don't know any of them. It's got to be me, Mom. I can't explain, it's- not my story to tell, but I'm the only one who can help them. I won't get hurt, Mom, I promise. Don't stop me. Please."

Her mother's sigh was heavy and her shoulders slumped. "Would you let me, if I did?"

Miki, who'd been sitting this out, looked up. Her eyes met Amu's, and she shook her head slightly.

"Maybe," Amu whispered. "I'm sorry."

"I see." Mom's gaze was distant. She was silent for a long, long minute.

"Well," she said, forcing a smile. "You'll call me the second you get there, all right? And- stay safe. I'd rather not get a visit from the police. Or have you brought home with a gunshot wound."

"Um," Amu squeaked. "No. No guns."

Her mother's expression was dry.

"Is this something you want to do?" she asked. "Or is it something you think you have to? I know you, Amu. I know the other day was a shock, but you're acting completely unlike yourself. Are you trying to prove something, or-"

"Mom," Amu interrupted. "It's not about that. It's not about proving- proving I can do it. It's- Kana's a friend. I'm worried about her." She looked down. "I'm- really, really worried. And I'm scared. What if- what if she doesn't answer? What if something bad's happened, and she's lying dead on the floor, and- and-"

Her eyes, Amu noticed, had gone golden again.

Her mother gave her a hug, her voice quiet.

"Do you have any reason," she said. "Any at all, to think that's what's happening?"

"No," Amu mumbled.

"Yet you're a stuttering mess. Oh, Amu, I don't want to argue. We've established you're going. But you should be clear on why."

Miki let out a slight sigh.

"Miki?" Their mother frowned. "Do you want to tell me something?"

Amu shook her head. 'Miki, no.'

'Miki yes,' Miki responded. 'This isn't going anywhere, and it's hurting Mom. We need to give her something.'

'We promised not to-'

'You promised not to,' Miki said. 'I'm not going to tell her much. Just enough so she stops worrying.'

Amu wasn't sure that was possible, but she couldn't stop her. She slumped.

"It's not really my secret," Miki told their mother. "But I think, whatever you're guessing, you're not far off. Kana's a good person, I can tell you that much; a girl not that different from us, except that she's had it harder than Amu ever has, and she's been through a lot. So please, trust me when I say she trusts Amu with her life. Her friends might not be quite as accepting, but Kana likes us, and they like Kana. One of them's already adopted Amu as an honorary older sister.

"So trust us, Mom. We're not in danger from Kana's friends, and we're not going to go rushing into a dangerous situation if there's someone else there. Amu's got enough experience with that."

"But she's going."

"To check," Amu insisted. "To see if everything's okay."

Mom shook her head. "It sounds dangerous."

"That's why I have an idea," said Miki.

"An idea?"

"I was meaning to keep this a secret until it worked better," Miki confessed, "but we can't do that now, not with Kana's safety on the line. So- um. I'm a bit like Amu, in that I can make illusions. You know that, right? And if they're good enough, you can even touch them. They're a bit fragile, but touchable."

"What does that have to do with- oh," their mother said. "Your body's an illusion?"

"Yup," Miki confirmed. "So..."

Miki got off of Amu's shoulder and floated in midair, concentrating.

"So," she continued, "what would you say, Mom, if you had to repurpose the guest bedroom?"

"What do you mean-"

Amu closed her mouth. Her mother stared as the air shimmered around Miki. Then, the small blue-haired girl grew a few centimetres taller. Her hair darkened, from azure to a deep shade of blue. Her eyes followed suit, the unnaturally vivid blue fading into a warm, ordinary colour.

She kept growing and growing, until a few seconds later there were two copies of Amu standing there. One with freckles, one without. One with brown hair, the other's a deep-ocean blue. One grinning, the other flabbergasted.

Their mother opened her mouth, then closed it again, and Amu could see the gears turning behind her eyes.

"Surprise," said Miki cheerfully. She stretched, looking herself over. Her clothes had changed too, into an oversized hoodie and a pair of paint stained baggy jeans, not entirely unlike the ones Amu was wearing. "Hi, Mom," the girl said, waving. Then, "Hi, Amu. Neat, huh?"

"I'll be," her mother muttered. She inspected the girl, carefully touching her cheek, as though she thought Miki'd'd pop like a soap bubble. When Miki did no such thing, Mom drew a hand through Miki's hair. "I'll be," she repeated.

Amu didn't have words.

"So, Mom," Miki continued, a grin on her face. She was leaning into the touch a little. "Amu and Miki. We're identical twins, obviously. I was being raised by our dead great-grandmother in a forest, and discovered Amu when I was stumbling through the city a week ago, while starving. You rescued me."

"Dead great-grandmother in the forest," Amu's mother murmured.

"We can work out the details later," Miki assured her. "Maybe she was actually a great-great-aunt or something, and the 'forest' was our garden, and her name was, I dunno, Sakura. It doesn't matter. Point is, I was raised in a secluded location, and I was only introduced to society recently, after-" Mom poked her on the forehead. "Oy. I'm not joking around."

"I'm just checking that you're real," Mom absently told her. "You're real. We'll need a bunk bed. You can take the downstairs guest room for now?"

Miki blinked. When their mother showed no signs of recovering from her shock anytime soon—nor Amu, for that matter—she dragged out the stool and sat down, waiting for the two to recover while trying not to giggle. Maybe she should have brought a book? This reaction was everything she could have hoped for, really. Well, she wasn't too sure Amu would enjoy the bunk-bed lifestyle, but that was something they could work out later; right now they had a time limit.

"Yeah, so," she said, materialising her beret from thin air and sticking it on her head to tug down, obscuring her eyes slightly from their mother. "I was thinking I could go there instead of Amu. Then you don't need to be so scared, Mom. I'm not exactly a real girl, and even if something happens, I keep all my important parts inside of Amu."

Amu felt her blood freeze.

= = =

No, Miki, that's… no.

This is actually an author's saving throw, though I'll treat it like an interrupt. I've already written the continuation, it's just that this is already huge, and it involves making a choice that I really should leave to you lot, as obvious as it might be. So you get 24 hours to think about events, and also to make a choice.

Write-ins are not accepted at this time, though I'll absolutely pay attention to what else you say. It should be noted that, even if Amu isn't superb at this 'spycraft' thing, her mother has some decent ideas; but this vote is about one thing only.

What is Amu's spur of the moment reaction?

[ ] No, Miki, absolutely not
- Miki can't pretend to be you, that's not how that works.
- Miki absolutely isn't less important than you.
- Miki absolutely isn't less real either.
- Furthermore, Miki isn't as capable as you. She'd be in a lot more danger.

[ ] Okay…
- It's not okay, but she'll let Miki talk her around.

 

[Baughn]

Scheduled vote count started by Baughn on Dec 30, 2023 at 7:18 PM, finished with 30 posts and 13 votes.

• ---

  13 people have voted

  [X] No, Miki, absolutely not

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[Baughn]

"Yeah, so…" Miki materialised a beret from thin air and tugged it down, slightly covering her eyes. Amu could sense she didn't like what she was going to say. She didn't look for what Miki was planning to say—she wouldn't do that, not now—but Miki's heart was a cauldron of ugly, cheerful-but-missing-foundations… self-deprecating? Angry? Worried? This was hard to read-

-plenty of emotions, none of which she liked-

"I was thinking I could go there instead of Amu," said Miki, while Amu felt her blood begin to freeze. The emotions coming off of Miki weren't… upset. All the conditions were there for it, Miki should have been screaming, but she wasn't. Instead, just that fake-cheerful- real cheerful, even though it shouldn't be-

Mom was catching on almost equally fast, and Mom didn't have the benefit of seeing it happen.

"Then you don't need to be so scared, Mom," said Miki. "I'm not exactly a real girl, and even if something happens, I keep all my important parts inside of Amu."

-Miki, whom Amu had long since stopped thinking of like a chara-

"Miki..." Mom's tone of voice was a warning, but underneath it- Amu was too shocked to talk. Mom, it seemed, had no such problems. She was also shocked, however. Shocked, angry, horrified—the cauldron of emotions brewing inside her was easier to read, and it wasn't within Amu's means at that moment to keep from listening in. Staying wholly out of her head took focus, focus which Miki had already obliterated.

-had Miki stopped thinking of herself as a chara?

Her ears were ringing.

"And it's not like anyone would be able to tell the difference," Miki added, looking herself over. She ran a hand through her hair under the edges of the beret, feeling her new features while, bizarrely, smiling. "This is weirdly like being in a chara transformation, only quieter. Like it's only me, instead of me and Ran and Dia and Su and you all together. I wonder..."

"Miki," their mother said. "If you're trying to make me feel better, this isn't it."

"You're worried about her," Miki shot back, "and I can't blame you. Amu's- well-"

That's not it. That wasn't it. Amu could feel Mom's growing horror, which Miki certainly couldn't. Miki wasn't much of an empath, nor any good at mind-reading in general, but she shouldn't have needed to be. Mom was worried about both of them. She loved both of them. That should have been obvious.

"-not good at this stuff," Miki finished, oblivious. "So send me instead."

"I'm better at it than you!" Amu shouted. She didn't mean to. She was just completely off balance.

"That's not the issue, and you know it," their mother shot back, her voice calm. "I'll leave aside that-" She looked between them, then shook her head. "One week ago I thought I had two daughters. Now I know I have three, and I want to keep them. That, Miki, includes you!"

Amu squeezed her eyes shut. Her ears were definitely ringing.

"You're not a replacement for Amu, nor would I want you to be. Amu is my daughter, and so are you. I love you both, and I won't pretend otherwise." Mom gave Miki a very gentle pat on the head, which turned into knuckles rubbing through the beret. Miki's eyes widened.

"Mooooom," she mumbled, not even attempting to move away.

"No, don't you mom me. Not until you've learned that you're not replaceable."

"But-"

"Do you think you're a burden, Miki? Is that it?"

"What?" Miki's eyes were wide.

"Because if so, then you should remember that we love having you. And we'll be happier with you here, not in danger. And if that's the problem, and you're just doing this for our sake, then please. Stop."

"But I'm not-"

"Then tell me why you want to put yourself in danger!" Mom's voice had risen. "I've had enough of this! I want a real explanation, or else neither of you is allowed out of the house until next year. And if Kana's in trouble, we can call the police. That's what they're there for."

"We can't."

"Why not?"

"It's-" Miki paused, then looked at Amu.

Amu shook her head, still not able to speak. Kana was a distant second in her mind right, a distant, almost unimportant thought. Mom was doing the right thing, but she didn't have the right idea. Miki didn't think she was a burden, Miki just thought—still thought—she'd go away. That her lifespan was limited, and-

"I'm not really a person," said Miki. She was talking slowly, and her voice was low and quiet, a little bitter, and not like her at all. "I wasn't always this, uh... talkative. I mean, I was always a bit, um. Outspoken, I guess? But..."

She couldn't listen to this.

"Miki." She didn't mean to. "Shut up."

"Amu..." Her mother's voice was soft.

"Shut up," she said, again. Her hands were clapped over her ears. It wasn't helping. "Miki. Shut up. You're wrong. Just- just shut up, okay?"

"I'm not," Miki mumbled, quiet enough that it sounded like she didn't consider the argument worth having.

She was, though. Amu wasn't sure how to get it through to her.

"I know what you're thinking," she said, voice rising, "Because I'm Ran and Su and Dia, too, not just Amu. I remember everything, the way you do. You- you're not a burden, or an illusion, or anything like that, Miki. And you're not going to go away, ever. So stop trying to- to- do stupid things. Like getting yourself shot at. That's- it's- dumb."

"It's not," Miki said.

"Yes it is!"

"You were planning to go alone."

"So?"

"So?" Miki looked at her, and the pain in her eyes was almost physical. "Amu, you're my... you're the most important person to me, ever. More important than any of us. How can you not understand that?" She looked up at Mom as well, eyes pleading. "If Amu dies, we all die. If it's me, then it's just… me."

"Nobody's dying!" Amu's voice broke. She grabbed Miki by the shoulders, wanting to shake her. "Stop- stop thinking like that! Because I'm- you're just as important, and- and-" She drew a deep breath. Mom seemed content to let them sort it out on their own, her expression pained, but that wouldn't last. Not with this sort of awfulness. "Mom's right. You're a person. So am I. Miki... do you remember when you were born?"

"Not really." Miki looked away. She was lying.

Amu remembered the egg. Remembered the first time she'd seen her. Miki running away, because she thought Amu didn't want her. She'd followed her, eventually. Amu had chased her… Amu had also told Ran to go away, and she remembered that from both sides.

"But you remember meeting me," she continued, ignoring the pang in her chest. "Don't you?"

Miki nodded.

"Do you remember how you felt, the day you were born? The first time you woke up? What was it like? Were you scared? Confused? Happy?"

Miki didn't answer.

"Because I'm also Ran, and Su, and I remember everything," Amu continued, her voice soft. "'I'm Miki. Amu-chan's 'wanted personality'. But it's unclear if I can go on by myself. I'm at the point of vanishing…'" Amu trailed off. That was something Miki had told them a long time ago, the first time they met. Even if Miki had forgotten, it wasn't the sort of thing Amu forgot easily.

She'd never treated her like an appendage... had she? That tiny, doll-like girl hiding in her eggshell. She'd been so timid and frightened. Miki had never been just a 'chara' to her.

She drew a deep breath.

"Miki," Amu repeated. "Please tell me. If we can't- if you're going to go away, tell me, so I can fix it. Because I didn't fight to get you back, just so you could vanish, okay?"

"But I'm not- Amu, why are you so upset by this?" Miki sounded genuinely puzzled. "If visiting Kana is safe, then why does it matter who does it? And if it's not…"

"Because I didn't get you back because I wanted my 'Shugoi Charas'," Amu retorted, her voice laced with a raw pain that belied her attempt at steadfastness. "I got you back because- because- I missed you. You're my sister. I don't want you to disappear, okay? Not ever. Not- not like that. I want you here, and- and..." She trailed off, burying her face in Miki's shoulder. It felt hot, and her nose was running.

"Amu-chan..."

"You're my best friend, Miki," she mumbled. "I'm counting Utau in that. You're the only one who's always believed in me, even when I was being dumb. You're the one who taught me how to draw, and- and-" Amu shook her head. "You can't- you can't think like that. You're not allowed. You can't. Because I'm- I'd cry forever. I can't- we can't lose you. Please don't make us lose you. Please."

"Amu-chan." Miki was trying to argue. She wouldn't let her.

"Shut up, Miki," she muttered. "Shut up and let me finish. Because you're not- you're not an appendage, or a replacement. You're you. Okay? And- and we're twins now. And you can't make decisions for me, okay? So you can't decide to go instead of me. Or to- to- just-"

"Amu-chan," Miki repeated, and Amu didn't have the words to fill the air with. "And Mom. Listen, please. I used to be a chara, and those are only people because their hosts are people. Amu treats me like a real girl, but... it's not the same. I don't need to eat, or drink, and- um." She gave them a nervous smile. "The whole point of… this-" Miki gestured at her body, twin to Amu's own, "-I was thinking, maybe I could pretend? To be a person. Just like the two of you."

Oh, bull.

Amu pulled back, her pulse quickening. She gripped the side of the table.

"That's not even remotely funny."

"But I'm not joking?" Miki said. She made to continue, then trailed off, eyes falling on the table. The corner was splintering under Amu's grip. There was a loud crack-

-which everyone there ignored, though Amu tried to at least relax her fingers. It wasn't easy.

"Miki," their mother sighed. "Honey, what are you talking about? You are a person."

"I'm really not," Miki muttered.

Amu grimaced, and if she wasn't worried she'd break her like the table, would have tried to shake some sense into her. Yes, maybe that had been true once, years ago. But not now.

"Yes, you are," she told Miki. "Just like Eru and Iru, or me, or Kukai. And- um. About what you said. If you could... pretend. To be a person." She hugged herself. "Don't say that. That's- That's not okay. Not when I'm right here."

"But-"

"No," Amu insisted.

"You know charas aren't people," Miki said, her voice plaintive.

"And you aren't a chara!" Amu snapped.

"But I-"

"Not anymore."

Miki opened her mouth, then closed it and looked away. Amu was aware that her mother was staring at her, and her cheeks went red, but she didn't look away from Miki.

"You're a person, okay?" Amu continued, her voice softer. "Just like the rest of us."

"You are, and you're also my daughter," their mother said, stepping in. "And I'm not going to let you run into some disaster of a situation because you think you're worth less, and definitely not as a decoy. Do you understand?"

"Yeah." Miki looked down, then up again. "But Amu's going to run in there and risk us anyway. I could do it instead of her."

"Miki," Amu complained.

"No," Mom said.

"But-"

"No," Amu said.

"Furthermore, no," Mom agreed. "Miki-chan. Please. I can't pretend to understand everything you've been through. It's not fair of me to claim I do, and I'm not going to, but I know a teenage girl when I see one. I know my daughter when I see her. You're a person, and I love you, and I won't treat you as anything less than human."

"I'm not really a human," Miki mumbled. "Not like the two of you."

Mom exhaled. Her face was painfully drawn. She found Amu's hand, giving it a squeeze before continuing.

"Then neither is Amu," she said. "Nor Utau. Nor the rest of your friends, as far as I can tell. I've never had children before, and I have to say- it's a challenge, especially knowing I can't understand what they've been through. But you know what?"

"What?" Miki asked, looking up.

"I don't need to." Mom's voice was gentle. "I love you both, and I'm happy with having you as daughters. Stop trying to categorise it as anything else." She smiled. "And if you ever try and pull a stunt like this again, you're grounded until graduation. No arguments."

"Sorry," Miki whispered.

"I know," Mom told her. She wrapped her arms around the girl and hugged her, holding her tight. "Just- don't do it again. Please. Because the thought of losing either of you... it's terrifying. And you don't need to prove anything."

"Okay," Miki mumbled, leaning into her.

"And the next time you feel like this, talk to us, all right?"

Miki's nod was slow, hesitant.

"I'll try."

"Good," Mom said. She drew a deep breath. "We'll go shopping for a bunk bed tomorrow morning, Miki, and some other important bits. Clothes, too—I know you can make your own, but let me do this. Now. Let's see if we can figure out a solution to this mess, before either of you run off on me and get in trouble."

She paused, arms still around Miki before turning her gaze on her oldest daughter.

"Amu?"

"Y-yes, Mom?"

"Why are you so insistent you're the only one who can help Kana? Why is it dangerous, and why not the police? No deflections, please."

= = =

Ah, publicity; there's really nothing like it. You needn't worry that Kana will be left high and dry, as Amu came by her personality honestly, but there's a number of different ways this could go. Instead of just answering Midori's question, let's have a general vote on how this should be approached.

[ ] Deflect
- You were literally asked not to.
- Contested Socialise roll. Amu will almost certainly fail.

[ ] Use an analogy
- Does this really count as not giving anything away?
- Roll wits to make a good one. This has no storyline effect.

[ ] Call in help. Mom will accept not knowing if you aren't the one to go. Probably.
- [ ] Who?
- This is more true if you ask for help from an adult, or better yet JPs.
- It's far less true if you put Utau or Tadase in harm's way.
- Potentially a contested roll of… Manipulate + Socialize.

[ ] Play the risk of death down. Realistically, checking Kana's house shouldn't be that risky, right?
- Would have been more believable earlier.
- Contested roll, specifics depend on subvote; Manipulate + Socialize by default.

[ ] Explain that you have a 'radar' ability, to check inside without actually entering. This is true, and if it's empty you won't have to enter, right?
- Prepare for another argument if there is a danger inside, because you aren't going to be able to leave it alone at that point.
- [ ] Get Miki on side by promising (telepathically) that you will let her scout invisibly if there's a need?

[ ] Write-in

 

[Baughn]

Scheduled vote count started by Baughn on Jan 5, 2024 at 7:10 PM, finished with 241 posts and 19 votes.

• ---

  10 people have voted

  [X] Full disclosure to mum about the Scavangers circumstances.
  - [X] Explain that they are a bit like Utau, though they suffered under a much worse group than Easter.
  -- [X] Mention that Manticore are part of the government, unlike Easter, but like JPs, and so they don't trust any officials.
  --- [X] And unlike JPs, they are evil. Like Easter.
  - [X] If possible, avoid telling her that Kana is a murderer. That doesn't seem like it would go down well.

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  9 people have voted

  [X] Whatever wins, do it decisively. Firm your resolve. Burn a WP point if you have to. If Kana needs you, she's needed you for over a week.

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  9 people have voted

  [X] Go with Midori and Miki to check the Scavengers house for them using mental scan from the longest range it is viable.

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  8 people have voted

  [X] Plan: Full Disclosure

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  4 people have voted

  [X] The most important part of the truth: they don't trust anyone but you and each other. And they're not that sure about you.
  -[X] The danger is that they especially don't trust people like JPs, and the entire country knows you've been talking to JPs. They don't know for sure that you didn't tell JPs anything about them.

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  4 people have voted

  [X] Plan Keep the Secret
  -[X] Tell your mother that it's a secret you promised to keep and so you shouldn't just give it away just because you haven't heard from your friend for a rather long time. How ever you are worried for your friend and so you are going to check up on her even if she won't agree or won't give permission, Friends are more important then that after all.
  --[X] Calm yourself a bit, and bring up that there doesn't have to be that much risk. That they had some bad experience with strangers and are now very wary about them, but they are fine with people they know well enough.
  ---[X] Suggest that you can use your psychic power to get a good look from outside though, so it's not like you even there is any real risk. And if mom wanted to help you with a light disguise so journalists there isn't really much to worry about at all. You could also keep her on the phone if that would make things easier for her.
  ----[X] If any further good ideas come up that don't break the promise, you can consider those as well of course. But you can't possibly not check on your friend if she might be in trouble.

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  2 people have voted

  [X] Truth Will Out
  -[X] You suspect there's either one of two reasons why Kana is no longer returning your calls. Either something bad has happened to them, or else they saw you on the news with the government agents and got worried that you betrayed them. If it's the first case, you ought to tell your mother everything - they'll need all the help they can get; they surely won't hold it against you if you did it to help them. If it's the second, you need to prove you haven't betrayed them.
  -[X] The only way to let your mother know the truth without betraying your promise is if you take her to the Scavengers and let them tell her themselves, which will also prove to them you didn't even tell your parents anything. But if something bad happened to them, it might not be safe to take her to their house.
  -[X] You don't know which one is the case, but you DO know 2 people who might potentially be able to foresee whether it would be safe to bring your mother along. One is your school principal, Tsukasa Amakawa. The other is the fortune-teller, Saeki Nobuko. You don't know whether you whether you'll be able to reach Tsukasa, but your mother is professionally acquainted with Saeki and probably has her phone number. If not, you know exactly which TV station she works at and can call there.
  -[X] You know your mother has a certain regard for Saeki, perhaps not enough that Saeki could convince her to leave everything to you, but enough that if she predicted it would be safe, Midori could be convinced come with you and hold onto her questions until she can speak to the Scavengers for answers.
  -[X] Call in help:
  --[X] Saeki Nobuko. Without telling her anything about the Scavengers, request a reading on whether Midori would be safe if she were to come along with Amu to the house they plan on visiting shortly.
  ---[X] If the answer is positive:
  ----[X] Bring Midori Hinamori along with you on your trip, explaining that she should hear the answer from the horse's mouth instead of Amu.
  ----[X] Bring Miki to scout ahead, just in case her prediction was wrong - even Tsukasa wasn't able to see the demons coming, after all.
  ---[X] If the answer is negative, or if Saeki is unable to give you a clear answer:
  ----[X] The Scavengers are likely in trouble. Tell your mother everything.

  • quantum lurker
  • DarkN0va

  1 people have voted

  [X] Truth Will Out
  -[X] You suspect there's either one of two reasons why Kana is no longer returning your calls. Either something bad has happened to them, or else they saw you on the news with the government agents and got worried that you betrayed them. If it's the first case, you ought to tell your mother everything - they'll need all the help they can get; they surely won't hold it against you if you did it to help them. If it's the second, you need to prove you haven't betrayed them.
  -[X] The only way to let your mother know the truth without betraying your promise is if you take her to the Scavengers and let them tell her themselves, which will also prove to them you didn't even tell your parents anything. But if something bad happened to them, it might not be safe to take her to their house.
  -[X] You don't know which one is the case, but you DO know 2 people who might potentially be able to foresee whether it would be safe to bring your mother along. One is your school principal, Tsukasa Amakawa. The other is the fortune-teller, Saeki Nobuko. You don't know whether you'll be able to reach Tsukasa, but your mother is professionally acquainted with Saeki and probably has her phone number. If not, you know exactly which TV station she works at and can call there.
  -[X] You know your mother has a certain regard for Saeki, perhaps not enough that Saeki could convince her to leave everything to you, but enough that if she predicted it would be safe, Midori could be convinced come with you and hold onto her questions until she can speak to the Scavengers for answers.
  -[X] Call in help:
  --[X] Saeki Nobuko. Without telling her anything about the Scavengers, request a reading on whether Midori would be safe if she were to come along with Amu to the house they plan on visiting shortly.
  ---[X] If the answer is positive:
  ----[X] Bring Midori Hinamori along with you on your trip, explaining that she should hear the answer from the horse's mouth instead of Amu.
  ----[X] Bring Miki to scout ahead, just in case her prediction was wrong - even Tsukasa wasn't able to see the demons coming, after all.
  ---[X] If the answer is negative, or if Saeki is unable to give you a clear answer:
  ----[X] The Scavengers are likely in trouble. Tell your mother everything.

  • PistachioCookies

 

[Baughn]

Amu didn't have internal arguments, usually. That was a hallmark of the old, nervous, uncertain her, the sort of her that had quietly died across the last two years. There was a new her now, the sort of her that didn't hesitate or doubt herself, and the new her was very good at making decisions.

That's what she liked to tell herself.

She wasn't, however, the sort of girl who'd ever had to explain why she was rushing into danger, and it was surprisingly difficult. She didn't usually have internal arguments? No, but she was having one now. There didn't seem to be a decent answer that didn't hurt one of her friends, her parents, or both-

"Amu?"

"I'm thinking!"

Thinking yes, but what could she do? Miki had messed this all up. Going to visit Kana was- well, it wasn't safe but-

She glanced at Miki, and immediately felt bad. Miki… she'd messed it all up? Yes, but only because she didn't want her to be hurt. Amu couldn't hold that against her. Wouldn't, even if she could. She hated the thought of Miki being hurt, obviously—hated it like she hated the idea of any of her family being hurt. But more than that...

She hated the thought of Miki running into danger. Of treating herself as less than human.

That was what was wrong with that picture. Amu hadn't thought of her as less than human in ages. Not since the first couple of weeks- and she'd only been nine back then.

"Amu-chan..."

"I'm thinking, Miki."

Miki didn't continue.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

Amu shook her head, almost absently.

"Please, please stop that," she said, still looking down. "I'm not mad. Not at you, Miki. Never. I'm just… I'm realising you were right, Mi-chan. And Mom's right- I'd hate it if you ran off into danger instead of, and-"

'Mi-chan?' Where had that come from? She took stock of herself, but there was nothing odd going on. It was just-

She peeked up at Miki. Dark hair, so deep a blue it was nearly black. Blue eyes. A heart-shaped face, identical to her own except for the painted-on freckles, and- Amu felt guilty. She hadn't thought of Miki as 'just a chara' no, but could she say she'd thought of her like a girl? A classmate? A sister?

No.

She couldn't pretend she'd thought of her like that.

Amu spontaneously pulled her sister into a hug, one of the far, far too many that Miki hadn't had yet. Mi-chan was warm. She was real, and Amu found herself quietly crying. Not so Miki could tell, but Mom, standing behind her, saw. Her mother's eyes were soft. She didn't interrupt.

She surreptitiously rubbed at her eyes, hoping but doubting that Miki wouldn't notice, then pulled back.

"I don't want you to get hurt," she said, hands staying on Miki's shoulders. Warm, and comfortingly solid. "So you don't want me to get hurt. And Mom doesn't want either of us to get hurt."

That was all it was. She'd hate it if Miki got hurt instead of her. Hence none of them could.

"It's not the same," Miki muttered.

"It's exactly the same." Amu swallowed. "Isn't that right, Mom?"

She looked up, making sure that Miki was as well, and her mother nodded. Amu was sure she knew the answer, but she'd had enough experience with her parents to know when she was expected to do the thinking herself.

"You're a person, and you deserve to live. That's the easy part. I want you to realise it's true. You're not just something I made. You're real. And- and you're my friend, and my sister, and I want to live a life with you." She drew a breath. "Go to school together. Chat about boys, deep into the night. Show you my paintings, even if you laugh at them." Amu shook her head. "The hard part is- um. I don't want you to be part of me."

"Amu..."

"If you can't believe it yet," Amu continued, "I understand. But can you try and understand, even if it's just a little? That- that you're a real person, and I don't want you hurt, or to do something scary, and- Mom sees us both the same way." She stared into her mother's eyes. "Right?"

"Yes," her mother confirmed.

"I know," Miki mumbled.

"You're my sister," Amu continued, her voice soft, "and I love you. I want to be here with you, always, and I'm not going to let you run off to get shot- even if that wouldn't happen, Miki, why did you say that?" She was crying again, her vision blurred, but her mother was there and pulled them in for a hug.

"It's all right," her mother told her, her voice soft. "Let it out. It's okay. I'm here."

That just made it harder. She stiffened, her body trembling as she fought herself, but in the end it was a foregone conclusion. She had to tell them- she couldn't keep this to herself. Not if that hurt them, the way Miki was hurting Amu.

"I have a lot of things to say," Amu sniffled, "I'm sorry that I scared you. But- but Kana's in trouble. And- and I'm going to tell you everything."

"We're listening," said her mother, rubbing her back.

"-can we go downstairs?" Amu asked. "I don't think- Um." She wiped at her eyes. "Can I have a cup of tea?"

"Sure."

"And maybe a cookie?"

Her mother laughed, the sound quiet and not entirely without concern, but there was a smile in her eyes.

"As many cookies as you want, sweetheart. Should we go surprise Ami? I bet she isn't expecting a second older sister."

"You're the best," Amu whispered.

"I'm your mother." Mom patted her on the shoulder then turned to Miki, holding out a hand. Miki looked at her, then slowly took it, her expression unreadable. Her emotions weren't though, and Amu's heart squeezed painfully. Miki was a roiling mix of guilt, shame and hope.

"We'll talk," Mom told Miki. "As much as you want. But for now, let's go downstairs. We can have a nice sit-down, and I can introduce you properly, and Amu can say what she needs to say. It's all right, Miki-chan. We love having you here."

"Yeah," Amu said.

Miki looked down, not saying anything, so Amu took her other hand and held it tight. She gave her a slight tug, and after a moment, her twin followed along.

"Thanks," Miki whispered.

Amu didn't respond. What was there to say?

They were halfway down the stairs when their mother turned, her smile wry.

"Now, Miki," she said, "Before we get there, let me make a couple of things clear. Firstly, no running off to play hero. You're a young girl, not a secret agent."

"I wouldn't!" Miki protested, uselessly. She would. They both would.

"Second," her mother continued, "your sister is grounded until the end of the month, and so are you. We'll work out what to do about your friend, but you're not going anywhere without either me or your father. Understand?"

Miki's eyes were wide. Amu would have protested… but that was barely a week. Her shoulders still slumped. She'd never been grounded before.

"Um," Miki said, her cheeks red. "I- yes."

"Good." Their mother gave them a smile, then turned back to the stairs. "Third, this is the only chance we'll ever have to confuse Ami with the two of you. Don't spoil it."

Miki was silent, but she was also smiling, and there was a glimmer of humour in her thoughts.

'Won't she already know?' Amu thought at her sister.

'Maybe,' Miki thought back, 'but I doubt it. I never told her I was doing this.'

'Why not?'

'She's a little...' Miki shrugged. 'Excitable. She'd never have kept it a secret from you.'

Amu looked at her, her eyebrows raised. Miki's blush deepened.

'I had plans,' Miki continued. 'For- um. Making you all think you'd gone insane.'

'Miki,' Amu told her. 'That's mean.'

They entered the living room and then Amu stopped, watching. She could do little else.

⁂

Ami had her back turned when they came in, which would have helped Miki escape into the kitchen, had she been inclined towards shenanigans at that specific moment. She was not. She was rooted to the floor next to Amu, and for the very same reason.

The couch had been transformed into a miniature battlefield along with the coffee table. There was a miniature lego fort on top, complete with lightning bolts and fog (of war?), where Ami's lego men were engaged in epic battle with her stuffed animal army. This was not, of course, some simple game of make-believe—no, that wouldn't have been Ami. The lego men were moving, shouting, dozens of them ganging up on individual—relatively giant—rabbit plushies. The floor was a wasteland of lego bricks, and a small, plastic horse lay in pieces, victim of the conflict.

Dad hadn't joined Mom to talk to them. This was why: He was busy playing with Ami, a small smile on his face as he ordered the lego men around.

"Attack," he ordered, then pushed them onto the battlefield, plastic sabres drawn and ready. "Charge! For the kingdom!"

"For the honour of the king!" the lego men replied.

The lego soldiers walked across the wasteland, picking up the odd brick and sticking them onto themselves—they melted—and to Amu's great confusion another group walked out from behind a sofa pillow, carrying a box full of bricks.

The stuffed army- growled. A rabbit bared its teeth, a bear raised its claws, which looked a great deal sharper than they had any right to look. Amu stared, transfixed. Miki- Miki, with a jerk, crept towards the kitchen. Dad gave them a quick glance, but just raised an eyebrow, to which Mom shrugged. He went back to the battlefield.

The two sides faced off in the middle of the coffee table.

Lightning, dramatically, flashed.

As the two sides faced off on the coffee table the atmosphere in the room grew tense. Ami, with the poise of a seasoned general, directed her stuffed animal army with a subtle flick of her fingers. Her eyes sparkled with excitement, a testament to how much she was enjoying this, and a small happy smile lit her face.

Amu could do nothing but continue to watch. She wasn't sure what was happening, only that Ami was having a great deal of fun.

The lego soldiers under Dad's command marched forward with determination, their plastic sabres clashing against the surprisingly robust fur of the stuffed animals. The rabbit, with teeth bared, lunged at a group of lego men.

Amu, still rooted in place, watched in awe as the illusion continued to unfold. The bear swiped at the lego soldiers, sending them flying across the room. But Dad was quick to react, manoeuvring a squadron of lego men to flank the bear, their tiny sabres poised for a strike.

The brutal conflict ended with the lego army victorious. The stuffed animals surrendered and were marched away in chains.

"You won this time," the commander of the cotton army, a stuffed bunny, announced. "But we'll return, and then your fortress will fall!"

"Never!" shouted the legos.

"Never is a long time," the stuffed bunny retorted—no, Ami retorted— and with that the prisoners were led away into the depths of the couch, to the toy box Ami had placed there. Dad looked up, catching her eye—winking to Miki, who had squirrelled off into the kitchen and was peeking around the corner, regardless of the absurd scene they'd just walked in on.

"Welcome back," her father told her. He looked her up and down, then smiled. "You look... different. …Amu?"

Amu shrugged, a little uncomfortably. "Mom helped."

"Brown hair looks good on you," her father said. "And freckles? Are those real, or..."

"Paint," said Mom. "Don't embarrass your daughter."

"I wasn't! I honestly think she looks cute."

Amu looked down. Ami perked up for a moment, twisting around to blink at Amu as she caught her mood, and then her face fell.

"Yeah, um," Amu procrastinated.

Dad frowned. "Hey," he said. "What's the matter?"

"Um," said Amu, not certain how to respond. Her mother stepped forward, giving her a pat on the shoulder, and she took a deep breath. "Um," she repeated. She had to haul the words out. "Dad? I've got something to tell you. It's kind of a long story, though. Can we-?"

Dad blinked.

"We can," Mom agreed. "Dad, could you make us some tea? And- bring out the cookies. We're going to need them."

"Cookies," Ami mumbled, and she turned around, eyes bright, though they faded a little as they hit Amu again. "I'll help carry," the little girl told her father. Ami was radiating concern. "Can I?"

"Of course," he replied, ruffling her hair, and the two went off into the kitchen. Amu watched them, her expression pensive.

A few moments later they spotted Miki and Amu had the rare pleasure of watching Ami do a double-take. The little girl stopped and stared.

"Neechan?" she asked, edging backwards. "You got a clone."

"That's Miki," Amu said, trying to hide a smile.

"I grew," Miki added, waving.

"Oh."

⁂

Explanations were in order, as was planning. Miki's sudden existence would be a problem, even if just logistically, and they had to figure out a story to tell. Because Amu wasn't sure her parents were okay with hiding her. At all, ever. Amu was kicking herself a little for having done so.

Miki wasn't exactly eager to be presented, however. She'd wanted this for a while, but the actual reality of the thing was something else. She was shy, not entirely comfortable being around other people, and the idea of attending school as a real person instead of a ghost sitting on Amu or Ami's shoulder, was-

"It's intimidating," she told them, after Amu had finished explaining the situation. Miki sat leaned against Dad, her face red. She was sandwiched between him and Amu, who was, for her part, trying to ignore the smug look on her mother's face.

"Intimidating?"

"All this new stuff." Miki was quiet for a moment. "I like learning, but going to school? And- and making friends?" She looked down. "It's not what I imagined. When I was younger."

Amu gave her a nudge, which Miki responded to by elbowing her. Ami watched the byplay with wide, sparkling eyes. She at least had no compunctions, and Amu suspected her 'second nee-chan' would be advertised far and wide as soon as Ami went back to school the day after.

"You'll do fine," Amu promised. "I'll be there. So will Kukai and Tadase, once we return to Seiyo. And everyone else, too. So don't worry."

"Returning to Seiyo, huh." Miki looked thoughtful, her eyes distant. "I wonder when that will be. Didn't the building collapse?"

"Not completely," Dad stated. "Although, well…"

"A-and there's everyone from our class," Amu retorted, trying to pretend that hadn't happened. "Like Mako-chan. They'll be excited to meet you, I'm sure. And Utau's family. They know you of course, but…"

"Really?"

"Y-yeah!"

Miki shook her head, still not looking convinced.

"We can worry about that later," Mom interrupted. "Are you okay sleeping in Amu's room, Miki? We've got a guest bedroom, but it's a bit cluttered right now."

"I'm not sure I can stay 'big' for much longer," Miki said, before pausing. "But I've been sleeping there for years so... and this feels... easier than I was expecting."

Amu let out a breath of relief.

"I'd love to have you there," she said.

"I'm even a bit hungry," the black-haired girl admitted, rubbing her stomach. "Wasn't expecting that. How does that even work?" She took a cookie, looking at it for a moment before taking a bite.

"Well," Dad said, looking contemplative. "If we assume your body's just an illusion, it doesn't. But if you are, in fact, real, then I guess it's not entirely surprising. People need food, and the only one here who's ever claimed you're not a person, is you. So..."

"It's just a trick," Miki said, her voice soft. "Like Ami's powers. It's an act."

"It's an unbelievably good act," Mom said, her voice dry. Dad placed an arm around Miki, squeezing her gently. So did Amu, her other arm snaking over, and soon Miki was squished between the two of them.

"I guess," Miki mumbled.

The toy soldiers came back out, and Amu watched as the stuffed animals began to emerge from the couch, crawling over to their fallen comrades. That was, however, all completely under Ami's control. The younger girl had her eyes fixed firmly on Miki, not even pretending she wasn't paying attention.

They could feel her. Not the usual way, like they could usually feel her. Ami was radiating doubt, shoving it in Miki's face. The strings she dangled her toys from were blatant—not just implicitly there, but practically shining. That probably wasn't the best way to put it. It would have to do.

"You don't believe me?" Miki asked, a little helplessly. Amu shook her head.

"'course not," Ami replied. "You're my Neechan, duh. You're not gonna go away. And you're not an illusion."She picked up one of the lego men, staring at it. A moment later it stood, and began to walk, and she put it down and picked up another, examining it. "And Neechan's just Neechan. Even if you're big, I've known you for years. Can I see your hand?"

"What?"

"Your hand," Ami repeated.

Miki did as she was asked, holding it out for the girl, and Ami grabbed hold of it, squeezing it.

"I can feel your hand," she decided.

"And I can feel yours," Miki said, a little bemused.

"Good. Because that would be weird, otherwise."

"I don't see how this proves anything."

"That's 'cause you're dumb."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Girls, girls," Mom interrupted, "Please. Miki's not stupid. If she doesn't believe she's real, that's something we can work on. Ami, explain?"

Ami nodded, and sat up. She let her fingers trail over the stuffed animals, and the lego men, and they all stopped what they were doing and listened, like a class of students.

"Miki," the little girl said, "what's 'real'?"

"That's..." Miki trailed off, thinking about it. "The way the world is, isn't it? It's what you can touch, and feel, and taste."

"You can't touch my mind," Ami said, holding up a finger. "And you can touch the lego-men," she added, pointing at them. "Or yourself. That doesn't work, 'cause I can touch you, so try again."

"Um," Miki mumbled.

"Real things are things that have an inside," Ami decided. "Like a box. When you're real, you have an inside. Your mind is an inside. My mind is an inside. But not this." She picked up a toy soldier, and shook it. "It's just a shell around a lego piece. It doesn't have an inside."

"I don't follow," Miki said.

"If you have an inside," Ami explained, her tone long-suffering, "then you're a you. It doesn't matter how small you are. Or how big. It's not about that. And your body's not just a shell, 'cause I can feel it." She poked Miki on the cheek, and the older girl scowled at her. "It's got blood and stuff."

"But-"

"And you're smart," Ami interrupted, holding up a finger. "I can't tell what you're thinking, 'cause your thoughts are in your body, not just in your mind."

"That's..." Miki trailed off, looking uncertain. She pinched a finger. "That's not what I was trying to do."

"Doh, 'cause you're stupid," Ami said. "But it's what you did. Stop being stupid and maybe I won't call you 'stupid'. You big stupid."

"Ami," Dad warned, then sighed. "But she might be right. I'm no expert on philosophy, but that sounds about right to me.

"So that's four people saying you're real, for four different reasons," Mom added. "Giving up yet?"

Amu tried not to smile, while Miki looked flummoxed. A moment later, she yawned.

"Tired?" Amu asked, her voice teasing.

"No," Miki mumbled, not meeting her eyes. "Yes. Maybe," she admitted. "I could go for a nap. 'Was expecting I'd pop back down to fairy-sized, but I'm getting tired instead."

"Well, then."

"I give up," Miki mumbled, leaning on Dad. He pulled her a little closer, and she let him, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'll have a lot to explain, won't I. The Guardians, and..."

"It's not so bad," her father told her. "There's precedent. Transfer students, anyway."

"There is?" Miki sleepily rubbed at her eyes. "Who? Utau?"

"There was also Nagihiko," Dad pointed out.

"And Hikaru," Mom added.

"And Amu back in fourth grade," Dad added. "More or less."

"Hikaru's different." Miki yawned. "And Nagihiko is- um. Rich."

"Not the point," Mom told her. "Don't you worry. We'll figure something out. It'll be all right."

"Yeah," Amu said.

"Mm." Miki's eyes closed, and then she jerked partially upright. "Sorry. I'm falling asleep."

"Then sleep," Dad told her.

"But I-"

"Sleep," Mom said, giving her a smile. "Don't worry. Everything will work out. I promise."

"I've never slept on a couch before," Miki mumbled as Amu and Dad helped her lie down. "Feels comfy. Like a bed."

She settled in for her nap. Amu, a bit worried by her sudden tiredness, took a good look at Miki's 'insides'—the way Ami apparently had—but found that Ami was apparently right. This wasn't a shell of illusion that she'd made for herself. Miki's body was…

'"Real" isn't quite right,' she thought at Ami, who stuck out her tongue at her. 'But she's getting there. Somehow.'

It had heart, lungs, a stomach, everything bodies were supposed to have, and though Amu had never tried scanning a chara with her… biology-sense? She was sure they didn't. Even so, it was a little misty; less a real girl than the imprint of one, though the difference might be academic and was getting more so by the moment. No wonder she was tired.

How Miki had turned herself fully human by accident was something Amu couldn't begin to guess at, but at least she didn't seem to be in danger. She curled a lock of Mi-chan's hair around her finger, then told Ami as much—and smiled, relaxing a little.

"I'll get a blanket," Ami told them, hopping off the couch.

"Thanks," Miki sleepily replied.

"Neechan, are you still gonna be big tomorrow?"

"Probably," Miki mumbled, her eyes already half-closed. "Might have to stay this way forever. Dunno."

Amu watched them and really couldn't help but smile. She was glad Ami wasn't upset, frightened, or anything like that. Her younger sister had a remarkable capacity for accepting weird things, and a healthy sense of curiosity. She was a sweet kid, really.

Which made Amu all the more worried for what was next...

Miki fell asleep, her head in Dad's lap, leaving her with just her parents and Ami. The lego army had resumed its work. Amu found herself watching it. This was Ami fidgeting, really. How long had she kept this to herself just because she thought that she had to?

They sat in silence, listening to Miki's soft breaths. It was... a surreal feeling. Amu didn't know what to say. What could she say?

"I'm sorry," she whispered, and her mother's face hardened.

"Don't apologise," Mom said. "Just don't scare us like that again. And- well. I'm glad you think that way of Miki. You too, Ami-chan. That was a great pep talk."

"Yeah," the little girl said, a little glumly. "Will 'neechan be okay?"

"I hope so," Amu said. "But this is the first time she's been like this, and we'll have to see."

"She's very self-deprecating," Mom added, a frown on her face. "If I thought for a second that was your doing, Amu- but no, let's not start this argument again. I know it's not. We have a bigger problem, don't we? I can't imagine the sort of trouble your friend's in."

"Neither can I," Amu muttered. "But... um."

"It's a good thing you've got friends," Mom said, smile softening again. "But I think it's time you come clean. Is this something Ami can be here for?"

"Maybe not," Amu admitted, glancing at her little sister. "Ami, could you go to your room for a while?"

"Why?"

"Because this is serious," Mom interrupted. "Like a scary movie, I imagine. Not for little ears."

"I'm not afraid," the little girl retorted. "I have a sword." She pointed to the stuffed bunny, who was currently leading a squad of soldiers in the reconstruction effort. It was, indeed, holding a sword.

"A stuffed animal sword," Dad said.

"It's a sword. It counts."

"Ami," their mother said, and the girl slumped.

"Fine," she said, standing up and picking up the bunny.

"Thank you."

"It's fine," Ami mumbled. "Miki-neechan needs my help. I'll help her. Don't worry."

"Good girl," her father told her, giving her a gentle pat on the head. "But I think the best way you can help her is to be yourself, all right? Let her settle into being a person. Understand?"

"Fine," Ami mumbled, though her voice was less annoyed than before. "Bye-bye, Amu-neechan. See you, Miki-neechan.Have a good dream."

"Bye, Ami," Amu said.

"I'll come get you later," Dad added, and then the girl was gone, leaving their parents with their older daughter. Amu went silent, not quite certain how to begin, and her mother let the silence linger.

"Amu," her mother finally said.

"I know," Amu said.

"Then tell me."

She drew a deep breath.

She didn't want to. She'd been hesitating for days, torn between worry for Kana and the need to keep her secret. But Mom was right. She needed help, and there wasn't anyone else. She had to force herself to trust her mother, to believe she'd do the right thing, even if-

-even if that meant hurting Kana, somehow.

"Kana," she began. "She's twelve. Just a little bit younger than me, they think."

"Think?" Mom's eyes were sharp.

"They're not sure," Amu admitted. "None of them remember anything from before they were nine. Or six in Yui's case."

"They," her mother repeated.

"The 'Scavengers'," Amu confirmed. "Kana's… I want to say family, but it's more like a gang that's forced to stay together because no-one else will help them? Mom, dad-" She looked up, into their eyes, willing them to believe her. "Please don't think badly of them? They don't have parents, but they're not just runaway kids. They're more like… Ikuto? Except instead of Easter they're running away from Manticore, and Manticore's..." She hesitated. "A government agency, at least I think so. Like JPs. Except evil. And- um. They're trying to kill Kana." She groaned inwardly. "Or maybe not kill? Capture. I don't think they'd kill…"

She hesitated there, but honesty compelled her to go on.

"Probably."

Her mother's expression was pensive. She thought. She wasn't reading their emotions.

"Go on," Mom said.

"Manticore were the people behind Easter," Amu told her. "Kind of? Or... we know two of their scientists were working for Easter, but Kana thinks they were fired from Manticore. They weren't very good, so maybe they just were fired? Though they still nearly captured Miki once..." She shook her head, returning to the point. "When I showed Kana that memory she got really sad and angry. It's why Naomi lets me visit, I think. They're scared of being found, and- um. Kana's scared. And so are the rest of them. They've been hiding since they were kids. Since- well, Yui was seven when they found her, and Kana was ten."

She should have thought this through. Talked with Miki about how to word things.

"How old are they now?" her mother asked, her voice thoughtful.

"I don't know," Amu admitted. "Between nine and seventeen, I think. Naomi's probably the oldest. Yui says she's nine but..."

"Is she?"

"She acts eight, maybe," Amu replied. "But I don't think she knows. And she's shorter than Ami."

"Ami's taller than most second-graders," Mom noted, a tight smile on her lips. "So tell me about Naomi; I take it she's the leader. Is she the one who told you about Manticore? What do you know about her?"

"I don't know much," Amu admitted. "But- no. I saw Manticore in Kana's memories. Naomi, I- well, I've met her a couple of times, but only for a little bit , and we didn't speak much. She's... intense. But, well..."

She told her parents everything she knew about Naomi and then about the others. It really wasn't very much. With the exception of Kana, whom Amu knew practically inside and out—and Aoi, who was a transmitting empath in the same style as Utau and- most of Amu's class, Amu suspected—she didn't know them that well. She did mention her apparent drug dependence, which—well, her mother didn't seem happy about that, but what was she going to do, exactly?

And then she told her about what Kana hadn't deliberately shown her. Not the murder- never that, she couldn't stand the thought of Mom thinking of Kana that way- but that they'd been captives, and that Kana and the others had escaped them. That made her parents go very quiet.

Amu was left sitting uncomfortably on the literal edge of her seat. Dad tried to give her a reassuring hand on her back, but he had Miki to keep hold of, and Miki to stroke the hair of, and- Amu didn't mind that, not in the least, but it was just-

"I'm not sure what to make of this," Mom finally said, rubbing her forehead. "It sounds like she's not a particularly nice person, but she's also a victim of circumstance. And- I have no idea what I'd do in her position. It's a difficult situation."

"Do you think Naomi's evil?" Amu asked.

Mom was quiet for a long, long moment, and when she spoke again her voice was hesitant.

"Good and evil aren't simple things, Amu," she said. "There are no black and white answers. People are a mess, and everyone has their own reasons. Did you think Utau-chan was evil?"

"Of course not," Amu protested, her voice quick.

"Really?" Mom raised an eyebrow. "Even after she pushed an entire stadium of children to the brink of depression? That was a fairly evil act to commit, and she thinks she has a lot to atone for."

"Well," Amu mumbled, "it wasn't her fault, was it? It was those awful people. Those- those... idiots in Easter."

"Was it?" Her mother's voice was placid. "You seem awfully quick to defend her, and she's hardly an innocent, Amu. She did a bad thing, and I know she feels terrible about it, but it will take a long time to make amends. Utau might not want you to forgive her so easily. In fact I doubt it. She was old enough to know better."

Amu said nothing. She knew that was true.

"But," her mother added, her voice a touch softer, "you're a kind person, and I think you see the best in people. I'm proud of that." She reached forward to pat her daughter's arm, her eyes warm. "Nor am I saying that was all Utau's fault. If she's feeling responsible, that means it won't happen again. Truth be told, I completely agree that it's Easter at fault. Children—even teenagers—are easy to manipulate. They can be twisted, if someone wants them to be. Utau was used, and she isn't responsible."

"So what are you saying?" Amu asked.

"That we can't know for certain," Mom said. "About Naomi. Maybe she's a terrible person, and maybe she's a victim. Or both. Either way, I want to meet her. Do you know if she's a mind-controller, by the way?"

"Huh?" Amu was taken aback. "...no. That's just Kana."

"That's a relief. But you should try and convince her to stay out of people's minds," her mother added. "And I mean that. If you can, that would be for the best. Mind-reading is a violation of privacy."

"Oh," Amu mumbled, her cheeks red.

"Now," Mom said, "I have a feeling Kana's the most important thing, right now. You've spent a lot of time with her, haven't you?" she said, her tone a little wry.

"Well- yeah," said Amu. "She's a good friend."

"Just a friend?" Her mothers tone, for the first time since Miki had fallen asleep, lost a little of the stoniness.

"Mom," Amu muttered, her cheeks red. "I'm not interested in her. Not that way. She's just a friend. I care about her."

"All right," Mom conceded. "Same as Utau, then. I understand completely."

"Mom," Amu whined, her blush spreading from her cheeks to her ears.

"Your father and I are happy to accept Utau into our family," her mother said, her eyes glimmering. "If you want us to accept her as a daughter-in-law, all you have to do is ask. We're fine with that. Though, admittedly, I'd rather it wait until you've graduated college, if only for appearances' sake."

Amu grabbed a pillow, burying her face in it.

"That said," her mother continued, her tone a little more serious, "How certain are you that Manticore is governmental?"

"I don't know," Amu mumbled through the cotton. "Very certain? Kana thinks so."

"Well," her mother said, her voice thoughtful, "then that's something we'll have to confirm. It's possible they're an extremist group. A cult, or some other sort of criminal organisation. They may have claimed to be government just so the children would think there'd be nowhere to go for help."

"You think they aren't?" Amu's eyes went wide. She dropped the pillow.

"It does not entirely matter," her mother continued, her eyes distant. "Regardless of the truth... there were always rumours. But Amu-chan, do you think the government's a single, unified entity? That everyone works together?"

She blinked.

"Manticore sounds… grotesque," Mom told her. "But the government is a large and unwieldy bureaucracy. It's hardly a person. In any organisation the higher-ups don't always know what the lower-downs are doing. Some departments are secretive even among themselves and there are always bad apples...

"Imagine," her mother went on, leaning forward for emphasis, "a school with many different classrooms and teachers. Each classroom is like a department in the government. They all belong to the same school, but they don't always know what the others are doing. Some teachers might have secret projects with their students that other teachers don't know about. And just like in school, where most teachers are good but a few might break the rules, in the government, most people are good and want to help, but some might misuse their power or hide things.

"So, when we talk about Manticore," she continued, "it's like a secret club in one of the classrooms. The headteacher might not even know it exists. It could be doing things that are against the rules of the school, but it's hidden away. That's why it's tricky. We can't just say 'the school is bad' because of one secret club. In the same way, if Manticore is part of the government, it doesn't mean the whole government is bad. It could be just a small part that's doing things they shouldn't.

"But," she concluded, her eyes locking with Amu's, "it's important we find out the truth. We need to understand what Manticore really is, and if they really are as bad as you're thinking, then we need to expose it. Just like in school, if there's a secret club causing trouble, it's important to tell someone who can help sort it out. The truth matters, Amu-chan, and sometimes it's not simple."

Dad raised a hand.

"Question," he said. "Does Manticore have anything to do with JPs?"

Amu opened her mouth.

"Um," she said, her brow furrowing. "I don't know."

Dad leaned back, and went back to stroking Miki's hair. The beret—Amu spotted, to some surprise—had fallen off her, and sat on the couch next to the two.

"Well, you might want to ask," he said. "I've been looking into them. The organisation itself has existed for decades; it's listed as part of the meteorological agency, but that's plainly just a smoke-screen. There's rumours that they've had a focus on the paranormal, which I think we can consider confirmed—the internet's a real mess right now. But if we look back in time, those same rumours also claim it only recently expanded to include 'xenobiology'." He looked at Amu. "That's a fancy word for 'strange animals'.

'I know,' Amu thought, but didn't say. It had been in one of her books.

"The thing is," Dad added, "that there's a lot of strange animals. Deep-sea fish, jellyfish, eels... the number of species humans have found is in the hundreds of thousands, yet some say ten times as many remain undiscovered. On land, it'd be mainly insects and small animals. But I don't think it's either of those, do you?"

"You're saying demons?" Amu's expression was puzzled. "And JPs are studying them. Were studying them."

"Defending against them," Dad corrected. "I was impressed by what I saw when I visited their facility, but it's pretty obviously military. I didn't tell you, Amu, but while you were visiting Saaya I decided to strike up a conversation with some of the guards and other staff members. It was quite an interesting talk. They were extremely professional, but some things bleed through. And I don't even mean the style of signage."

"Such as?" Mom prompted.

"Well, a desire to do good," Dad said. "I don't know the details, but they're certainly taking their work seriously; I don't think a single person treats it as payroll. That, and there's an interesting pattern. A number of the staff are veterans of the Self-Defence Force, and a few are retired police officers. They don't all have excellent records. A number were ejected for 'discipline reasons', but from reading between the lines-" He coughed. "It seems that, well. They were ejected for being liabilities, because of whistle-blowing, 'excess initiative' or speaking out against corruption. There are also a number of foreigners."

"Foreigners?" Amu repeated.

"Americans," her father clarified. "Former USFJ. It's not the only country represented; I met a number of British, French and Canadian soldiers, and I'm pretty sure there were a few Russians in the crowd. It paints a very interesting picture."

"It does," Mom agreed. She patted Amu's hand. "And this is why we need information. I'm going to have a talk with some of my associates and see if we can get to the bottom of things. Your father can probably help, too, can't you, dear?"

"Of course," he said. "Though, honestly, the government does keep secrets, so don't get your hopes up."

"I won't," Mom assured him.

"You will," he said, his smile wry. "It'll take a couple days. Weeks. Dear, I'm hardly a detective."

"But you know a few," Mom said.

"True."

"So... you're saying they're good guys, so they aren't likely to be linked to Manticore?" Amu frowned. "Or that you don't know?

"It's possible," Mom said, her voice dry. "That they're a group of rogue operators. It's more likely that they're criminals. I shouldn't need to say this, Amu, but few people look kindly on child abuse, let alone murder or experimentation. If there's a conspiracy in JPs, then it's unlikely the entire organisation is corrupt—but from what your father is saying, it's unlikely they're connected at all."

Amu frowned.

"But Easter did basically that?" she attempted. "Minus the murder. And Kana's just scared, it's not like she's seen anyone murdered by them. I think." She was trying to put her thoughts together, because something didn't make sense. What Manticore did... "What they're trying to do is... pretty evil," Amu decided, her brow furrowed. "Kana thinks so too. It's a bad thing to take kids and make them into- whatever they do. And I think that's probably why she's so easily scared. But it's not..."

Her mother waited patiently for her to speak.

"I mean, I guess I'm not that surprised?" Amu finished, a little lamely. "Manticore's just... Easter, but... better at it? Maybe?" She winced. "Or worse?"

She went quiet. She'd wanted not to say that.

Her parents didn't immediately respond, and in the silence Amu began to wonder just how crazy her words had sounded. It wasn't as though she had the words to describe what she meant. It was a feeling. A vague, ill-defined, awful feeling, like a bad taste in her mouth. If she had to put a word to it, it might be 'fear'. The world wasn't very nice, sometimes, and she'd wanted to keep it out of her home.

"Better or worse than what, exactly?" Mom asked, her voice very calm. "What was Easter trying to accomplish?"

"I'm not really sure," Amu mumbled, thinking back. "'Find the Embryo', they said. But that was just a broken-off part of Hikaru's soul and it mostly wasn't what they really did. They didn't really have a plan at all? They were just experimenting, throwing stuff at the wall to see what stuck. They were idiots."

"That's true," Mom agreed.

"Manticore," Amu mumbled, trying to put the two ideas together, "they're doing the same thing, but to kids kept in captivity. So they're smarter."

"Keeping children locked up is 'smart'?" Dad repeated, his expression baffled.

"Isn't it?" Amu looked up. "I mean, we... sorta... broke Easter's skyscraper, right? If you're experimenting on kids… instead of letting them fight you, it'd be better to just…"

The silence this time was profound.

"You're not saying much," Amu finally mumbled, glancing at her parents.

"I think," her mother said, a hint of sadness in her voice, "that the word you're looking for is 'revolting', not 'smart'. Amu, you shouldn't ever be unsurprised by the things bad people do. And yes, they're bad people." She paused. "I'd ask what on earth happened to you that made you think like that, but maybe I don't want to hear it." She stepped over to Amu's side of the table, pulling her into a hug that was so tight it was almost painful. "Maybe I'm a bit angry, too. Maybe I want to go down to Easter myself and tell those people exactly what I think. I don't know. I wish I'd known sooner."

Dad was staring at Miki, his brow furrowed.

"Do you think they'd do the same to Miki, if they found her?" he murmured.

"Easter?" Amu asked. "Oh, well, yes. Su got kidnapped once, and I-" She paused. Her eyes, unbeknownst to her but visible to her parents, flickered back from yellow to brown. They'd done a lot of that, this conversation. "I told you I sorta am Su, right? She's not gone, she's just... me. So anyway, she got kidnapped by Nikaidou once, because he wanted to experiment and make a better... um, I don't really remember. Some sort of X-egg-creation machine. By squishing me into a pancake."

"X-eggs," Mom said, her voice blank. "I recall you talking about those. They're the reason why you became a guardian, correct?" She grimaced. "That name is… indicative."

"Yeah," Amu replied. "That's most of what Easter was doing. Just causing more X-eggs and using them to make even more X-eggs. I'm not sure if they did that by making kids depressed, or if that happened because of the X-eggs, but- anyway," she added, before her mother could react. "Nikaidou tried to kidnap Su, but Su talked him around. She... uh. I think mostly she undid his brainwashing. He's not a bad person, I promise."

"He's Utau's adoptive father," Mom pointed out, her tone flat.

"He is," Amu confirmed. "I know he feels bad about it. He's been helping us, and- I mean, I didn't really like him back then, the whole Himamori thing, but I know he's a good person now." She waved her hands, trying to cheer them up. "And hey, I'm still right here. Nothing bad happened."

Mom stared at her.

Dad gave her a meaningful look and Mom's shoulders sagged.

"Of course," she sighed. "Yes. Well. As for Manticore... it seems to me that they're a much more dangerous group than Easter was, but you're also right." She gave Amu a tight-lipped smile. "It's hard to compare the two. What Easter did was wrong, but... well. It's not a competition."

"You're worried," Amu said, her brow furrowed.

"I think, if Kana was in trouble, then it started last week. The girl you've described would have sent you at least a text message, surely?"

"Not if she was dead," Amu mumbled. "She could be dead. Or captured."

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Mom cautioned, but her voice was worried. "Her phone could be dead, or the publicity might have scared her off. I doubt an organisation like Manticore would stage an attack in broad daylight, but all the same, I'd rather not have them notice us. Do you have a way to check on Kana from a distance?"

"No?" Amu said. "Wait... yes? What's 'distance'?"

"From the street, maybe?" her mother said.

"Probably," Amu admitted. "Um. If they're alive."

Her mother gave her a look.

"You've been a bit fatalistic, Amu," her father noted, his voice careful. "I've noticed. Is there a reason for that?"

"I just-" Amu hesitated. "No? Maybe? I just have a bad feeling, and it's getting worse by the hour. I can't see the future. I'm a terrible precog, but I..." She trailed off. "I just know something's wrong. Something's not right."

Mom squeezed her hand, and there was another momentary silence. Mom and Dad gave each other another of those looks, the ones that were almost telepathy, minus the telepathy. Amu wished she could peek, but… no, she'd told herself not to do that.

"They live in a normal neighbourhood, right?" Dad said.

"A bit rundown," Amu said. "There are some abandoned buildings nearby, and an old playground, and- well, the neighbourhood isn't great, but the house is all right. There's a few shops. And there's children in the playground. I stopped by there once." She smiled a little.

"So there's people on the streets, even if it's not bustling. We could just walk past and have a look."

Amu looked up. "So you'll let me go?" she said, her voice small.

"We weren't planning to stop you," her mother replied, her eyes sad. "We couldn't, could we?"

"But you told me I'm grounded?"

"Yes," her mother agreed. "But-" She trailed off. "I mean, you-"

"That's what being 'grounded' means?" Amu sat up, her face a question mark. "So didn't you already stop me?"

Her mother opened her mouth. Then closed it.

"I guess we did," Dad said, looking contemplative. "And I think I'm glad. That said, how would you like to take a walk with your father?"

"Now?"

"If you'd like," he agreed. "The weather is lovely, and we can have a leisurely stroll past your friends. See if anything is wrong. Or not. You seem awfully worried." One hand still stroking Miki, he let the other ruffle Amu's hair. "It'd make me feel better, and I'm sure it would make you feel better, too."

"You're not mad?"

"Well," Dad admitted, a touch sheepishly, "I can't pretend I'm pleased. You've kept some terrible secrets from us, Amu-chan. That said, we're family. I'd much rather we work through these problems together, wouldn't you?"

"Y-yeah," Amu mumbled, her cheeks red.

"What would you have done on your own?" he asked her. "Walked up and knocked on their door, maybe? I hope not."

She looked away, face once again red like a tomato. Her parents, thankfully, didn't comment.

"Then it's decided," her father said. "Time for a walk. Midori- you'll take care of Miki and Ami, won't you?"

"I would, but I think if you get up you'll wake her," Mom said, giving him a meaningful look. "You're both stuck here, at least for the time being. I'll take care of Amu."

"Fair enough," he conceded.

Miki yawned, hands coming up to rub at her eyes. She blinked blearily, staring up at the adults.

"What's going on?" she mumbled, her voice half-asleep.

"...or we could make it a family event," Dad suggested.

= = =

What sort of family has 'spy on a potentially evil potentially government organisation' as a family event? Oh, right, this one. It beats the alternatives.

I'll refrain from pretending like there's any chance you won't go. Midori has offered one way to explore the situation, but feel free to suggest another. In the meantime… task vote!

[ ][Party] Amu, Miki, Midori, Tsumugu and Ami
- A proper family outing.
- This is a lie. Miki and Ami would be in a cafe half a kilometre away, likely along with Midori; they're not going to bring Ami or Miki into that. Nor both parents, for that matter.
- It's still a family outing, and ideally Amu comes back to join them at the cafe.

[ ][Party] Amu and Midori
- Everyone else gets to stay at home.
- …is this actually safer? Well, it's an option.

[ ][Party] Amu, Miki, Midori, Tsumugu, Ami and Utau
- The biggest issue is Midori will most likely claim this is still a family outing.
- Also Utau is likely to be upset. At Amu's latest situation, not the claim. Probably.
-- …that's going to happen, sooner or later.
- There is zero chance that Utau would stay at any cafe, though Eru and Iru might.

[ ][Party] Write-in

[ ][Approach] A casual stroll past the Scavengers. Just some random passersby.
- What could possibly go wrong?
- Consider what you'll do if and when the situation is Not Perfectly Normal. Or even if it is.
- Probably it'll just be a quick update and interrupt.

[ ][Approach] Write-in

 

[Baughn]

Scheduled vote count started by Baughn on Jan 15, 2024 at 10:01 PM, finished with 111 posts and 14 votes.

• ---

  4 people have voted

  [X][Party] Amu, Midori, Utau
  [X][Approach] Psychic Wardriving: Pile into the family car. Use psionic abilities to check the house and surroundings while driving past. Tell Utau to try and put up Illusions to change the numberplate and color of the car.
  [X] Bring Hikaru's ward stone.

  • SCO
  • veekie
  • Skelm
  • Vanguard_D

  4 people have voted

  [X][Party] Amu, Midori, Utau
  -[X] Suggest that Midori and Utau don disguises, or at least permit an Illusion to disguise their faces when going out.
  [X][Approach] Psychic Wardriving: Pile into the family car. Use psionic abilities to check the house and surroundings while driving past. Tell Utau to try and put up Illusions to change the numberplate and color of the car.
  [X] Bring Hikaru's ward stone.

  • PistachioCookies
  • Simon. Andersen
  • quantum lurker
  • Quine

  2 people have voted

  [X] Plan 'Chaperoned Date'
  -[X][Party] Amu, Utau and Midori
  --[X] Let's not take the entire family, since well. Amu has been being chased by the media. Her family is going to be recognisable.
  --[X] Utau is a 'better' psionic to have as back up for an emergency.
  ---[X] Utau is going to be very annoyed if Amu dives into another situation without her, and there's no reason not to bring her. Disguised, of course.
  --[X] Ask Midori for permission to read just her emotions while investigating / during conversation with the Scavengers.
  ---[X] We don't want Amu having to avoid a certain 'area' or blocking her ears.
  -[X] Miki, Ami and Tsumugu stay at home.
  --[X] Let's not bring another psionic kid in range of the group that kidnaps psionic children. Ami is very capable, but Kana hasn't solo'd Manticore yet, so they've clearly figured out mental defences to some extent since the Scavengers escaped.
  --[X] Miki is already passing out, she is not going to be useful for this, especially since we don't know what her actual psionic abilities are like this, or if she can still Chara Change with Amu.
  ---[X] Ask about this, if Miki is up to answering.
  --[X] Tsumugu knows JPs the best, and they are our emergency button. Him being outside of active event range seems useful.
  ---[X] Give him Lulu's number if there isn't a better JPs number available.
  -[X] Bring Hikaru's ward stone thingy - it might be useful.
  -[X][Approach] Collaborate with Utau, using the Key for it's boost, to check at range. Hopefully higher range than the sidewalk.
  --[X] Amu and Utau will know what their max range is, and if they can use their bond & the Key to take it further.

  • TheWoo
  • Quickshot0

  1 people have voted

  [X][Party] Amu and Midori
  [X][Approach] A casual stroll past the Scavengers. Just some random passersby.

  • Embler

  1 people have voted

  [X] Plan 'Chaperoned Date'
  -[X][Party] Amu, Utau and Midori
  --[X] Let's not take the entire family, since well. Amu has been being chased by the media. Her family is going to be recognisable.
  --[X] Utau is a 'better' psionic to have as back up for an emergency.
  ---[X] Utau is going to be very annoyed if Amu dives into another situation without her, and there's no reason not to bring her. Disguised, of course.
  --[X] Ask Midori for permission to read just her emotions while investigating / during conversation with the Scavengers.
  ---[X] We don't want Amu having to avoid a certain 'area' or blocking her ears.
  -[X] Miki, Ami and Tsumugu stay at home.
  --[X] Let's not bring another psionic kid in range of the group that kidnaps psionic children. Ami is very capable, but Kana hasn't solo'd Manticore yet, so they've clearly figured out mental defences to some extent since the Scavengers escaped.
  --[X] Miki is already passing out, she is not going to be useful for this, especially since we don't know what her actual psionic abilities are like this, or if she can still Chara Change with Amu.
  ---[X] Ask about this, if Miki is up to answering.
  --[X] Tsumugu knows JPs the best, and they are our emergency button. Him being outside of active event range seems useful.
  ---[X] Give him Lulu's number if there isn't a better JPs number available.
  -[X] Bring Hikaru's ward stone thingy - it might be useful.
  -[X][Approach] Collaborate with Utau, using the Key for it's boost, to check at range. Hopefully higher range than the sidewalk.
  --[X] Amu and Utau will know what their max range is, and if they can use their bond & the Key to take it further.

  • Nero200

  1 people have voted

  [X] Plan: Contactless Check-In
  -[X][Party] Ami and Amu
  --[X] Ami's the more experienced dreamwalker, and this shouldn't put either of you in direct physical danger
  -[X][Approach] Use Dreamwalking in order to contact Kana to figure out why she stopped texting you, and whether she's in danger

  • Yu Narukaze

  1 people have voted

  [X][Party] Amu, Miki, Midori, Tsumugu and Ami
  [X][Approach] A casual stroll past the Scavengers. Just some random passersby.

  • NHO

 

[Baughn]

Scheduled vote count started by Baughn on Jan 19, 2024 at 3:00 PM, finished with 158 posts and 14 votes.

• ---

  3 people have voted

  [X] Plan 'Chaperoned Date'
  -[X][Party] Amu, Utau and Midori
  --[X] Let's not take the entire family, since well. Amu has been being chased by the media. Her family is going to be recognisable.
  --[X] Utau is a 'better' psionic to have as back up for an emergency.
  ---[X] Utau is going to be very annoyed if Amu dives into another situation without her, and there's no reason not to bring her. Disguised, of course.
  --[X] Ask Midori for permission to read just her emotions while investigating / during conversation with the Scavengers.
  ---[X] We don't want Amu having to avoid a certain 'area' or blocking her ears.
  -[X] Miki, Ami and Tsumugu stay at home.
  --[X] Let's not bring another psionic kid in range of the group that kidnaps psionic children. Ami is very capable, but Kana hasn't solo'd Manticore yet, so they've clearly figured out mental defences to some extent since the Scavengers escaped.
  --[X] Miki is already passing out, she is not going to be useful for this, especially since we don't know what her actual psionic abilities are like this, or if she can still Chara Change with Amu.
  ---[X] Ask about this, if Miki is up to answering.
  --[X] Tsumugu knows JPs the best, and they are our emergency button. Him being outside of active event range seems useful.
  ---[X] Give him Lulu's number if there isn't a better JPs number available.
  -[X] Bring Hikaru's ward stone thingy - it might be useful.
  -[X][Approach] Collaborate with Utau, using the Key for it's boost, to check at range. Hopefully higher range than the sidewalk.
  --[X] Amu and Utau will know what their max range is, and if they can use their bond & the Key to take it further.

  • TheWoo
  • Quickshot0
  • Quine

  3 people have voted

  [X][Party] Amu, Midori, Utau
  [X][Approach] Psychic Wardriving: Pile into the family car. Use psionic abilities to check the house and surroundings while driving past. Tell Utau to try and put up Illusions to change the numberplate and color of the car.
  [X] Bring Hikaru's ward stone.

  • SCO
  • veekie
  • Vanguard_D

  2 people have voted

  [X] Forget about disguising the car, t'was a silly idea
  [X] Pick up Utau, ask if they could borrow Nikaidou's car.

  • Skelm
  • Simon. Andersen

  1 people have voted

  [X][Party] Amu and Midori
  [X][Approach] A casual stroll past the Scavengers. Just some random passersby.

  • Embler

  1 people have voted

  [X] Plan 'Chaperoned Date'
  -[X][Party] Amu, Utau and Midori
  --[X] Let's not take the entire family, since well. Amu has been being chased by the media. Her family is going to be recognisable.
  --[X] Utau is a 'better' psionic to have as back up for an emergency.
  ---[X] Utau is going to be very annoyed if Amu dives into another situation without her, and there's no reason not to bring her. Disguised, of course.
  --[X] Ask Midori for permission to read just her emotions while investigating / during conversation with the Scavengers.
  ---[X] We don't want Amu having to avoid a certain 'area' or blocking her ears.
  -[X] Miki, Ami and Tsumugu stay at home.
  --[X] Let's not bring another psionic kid in range of the group that kidnaps psionic children. Ami is very capable, but Kana hasn't solo'd Manticore yet, so they've clearly figured out mental defences to some extent since the Scavengers escaped.
  --[X] Miki is already passing out, she is not going to be useful for this, especially since we don't know what her actual psionic abilities are like this, or if she can still Chara Change with Amu.
  ---[X] Ask about this, if Miki is up to answering.
  --[X] Tsumugu knows JPs the best, and they are our emergency button. Him being outside of active event range seems useful.
  ---[X] Give him Lulu's number if there isn't a better JPs number available.
  -[X] Bring Hikaru's ward stone thingy - it might be useful.
  -[X][Approach] Collaborate with Utau, using the Key for it's boost, to check at range. Hopefully higher range than the sidewalk.
  --[X] Amu and Utau will know what their max range is, and if they can use their bond & the Key to take it further.

  • Nero200

  1 people have voted

  [X] Plan: Contactless Check-In
  -[X][Party] Ami and Amu
  --[X] Ami's the more experienced dreamwalker, and this shouldn't put either of you in direct physical danger
  -[X][Approach] Use Dreamwalking in order to contact Kana to figure out why she stopped texting you, and whether she's in danger

  • Yu Narukaze

  1 people have voted

  [X][Party] Amu, Miki, Midori, Tsumugu and Ami
  [X][Approach] A casual stroll past the Scavengers. Just some random passersby.

  • NHO

  1 people have voted

  [X][Party] Amu, Midori, Utau
  -[X] Suggest that Midori and Utau don disguises, or at least permit an Illusion to disguise their faces when going out.
  [X][Approach] Psychic Wardriving: Pile into the family car. Use psionic abilities to check the house and surroundings while driving past. Tell Utau to try and put up Illusions to change the numberplate and color of the car.
  [X] Bring Hikaru's ward stone.

  • quantum lurker

  1 people have voted

  [X][Party] Amu, Midori, Utau
  -[X] Suggest that Midori and Utau don disguises, or at least permit an Illusion to disguise their faces when going out.
  [X][Approach] Psychic Wardriving: Pile into the family car. Use psionic abilities to check the house and surroundings while driving past. Ask Utau to try and put up Illusions to change the numberplate and color of the car, suggest her Dumpty Key might be of help.
  [X] Bring Hikaru's ward stone.

  • PistachioCookies