June 14, 1999 After School/Location Unknown

[loveandwillpower]

The work of an agent of love is never done! You'd think that someone with Minako's grades wouldn't even be a Watson, much less the guy with the deerstalker cap, but what she lacks in academics she's always been able to compensate with drive and raw cunning. And now that drive has a little something extra.

The determination to protect a dear friend against a dangerous foe.

Comments

After School, Home Ec

[loveandwillpower]

Stove switched off, every surface she's touched wiped clean, Suzumiya's hand wrapped around the pan's handle because if she's going to mess about with the scene of the crime she might as well make it that much more of a question. A limp body heaved out the window, the entire bottle of cooking oil poured over Suzumiya's pretty face just to make sure, burn bright and burn out like a bonfire and take that damned letter with you!

Now to get the witness somewhere safe, this would really be a lot easier if she'd killed him, he's so lucky she's a heroine with a just and kind heart.

The faint scent of burning hair and meat and fabric wafts out into the hallway.

[itwasfeyt]

Investigating was the name of the game; Maya and Haruhi had discussed it at length the night prior. To their shock and alarm, neither of them really knew what to do, but somehow they'd managed a plan. They would split up, question everyone, and eventually meet up... somewhere. She could recall that Hiroshi's Home Ec class had popped up in conversation at least, so that was where she was heading!

She had reached the door by the time she noticed that something was unusual. It was the smell in the air; it was sticky and hot and awful. She'd never smelled anything like it.

"Yuck, what's going on in here? Smells like someone..."

And then she saw what was inside. The stench hit her twice as hard, seemingly more because she knew what it was, without a doubt. Even with the top half of the body burned to almost a crisp, there was no mistaking the form as the friend she'd vowed to help.

And all Maya could do was scream.

"SUZUMIYA!!"

[bonni]

As if the smell alone wouldn't draw the school nurse's attention. When dealing with chemicals, a keen and unobstructed sense of smell was important. That stench, already wafting down the halls, was the first thing that caught the nurse's attention. And she investigated.

A shout. Whose voice was that? Ms. Fey's, wasn't it? She hurried.

When she entered the classroom itself, though, she had to pause a moment. To fully take in the scene. Definitely Ms. Fey. She was standing over.... Suzumiya. Visible parts of the body were charred, third degree easily. It matched the stench.

"Maya." Her voice came out half teacher, half simple shock. What exactly was she supposed to make of all of this?

[ohmygah]

Naps were happy and full of warm fuzzy feelings. Today Osaka was enjoying a bouncy house with everyone. Maya, Maria, Minako, and Nui were all happily jumping and bouncing around. Alice seemed reluctant but Nui and Minako started chasing her around and she started having fun too. Chiyoko seemed pretty tired, but Osaka and Maria grabbed her hands and started jumping around. Eventually, Chiyoko started getting into it too. It took some doing, but Souji, Minako, and Maya managed to convince Hiroshi to close his book and join in. And Miss Bubblegum was outside, happily dumping chemicals into the generator to keep that bouncy house going.

Then there was the scream. At first, Osaka thought Maya fell out of the house and through the floor, as ghosts often did. But then the world turned fuzzy and Osaka found her face planted on a desk. The scream continued, despite the fact she was already forgetting the dream. Her feet moved themselves as Osaka stepped out into the hall. Is that Bubblegum over there? Adults always knew what to do. They had it all figured out. She trailed behind the teacher, who was moving surprisingly fast. Couldn't she slow down?

Then Bubblegum stopped. How nice of her. Now she could finally catch up. Osaka smiled as she reached the teacher. The face turned to that of confusion. Bubblegum was all sorts of confident and self-assured. The expression of shock on her face... its.... discomforting. Her gaze slowly turns as she enters the classroom.

This wasn't right. This was a normal happy school with normal happy friends. And yet...

Osaka's feet trembled as she stepped backward into one of the lab tables. The jolt of the unexpected object doesn't even register as she tried to process the horror before her.

[fortunatetoaster]

Something sits unplesantly in Chiyoko's stomach that day -- a tight knot of anxiety and edginess that keeps her from settling on anything. She's twitchy and jumpy and she knows for a fact the others must have noticed. So she attributes it to lack of sleep (which isn't technically a lie) and hopes that no one thinks too deeply about the issue.

So she's distressed, frightened, jolted into an overdrive of adrenaline and sickened to her stomach -- but not at all surprised when she hears Maya scream.

She comes bolting, staggering, tripping, running out of the clubroom, and comes skidding up the corridor towards the door. There's a stench of something thick and cloying, sweet and nauseatingly bitter hanging heavy in the air and she feels herself cough thickly, in her throat.

Without even thinking, she shoves her way past Osaka into the room -- and only has to take a few steps forward before she sees.

Her chest hitches and she feels herself heave and she staggers back a few steps, unsure of what to say or do -- except stand there in blank shock and horror, with an overwhelming sense of failure abruptly dumping itself into the pit of her stomach.

[itwasfeyt]

[BGM: Scars etched by flames]

The screaming had gone on and on, slowly ending as she ran out of air to scream with, leaving Maya with only choked sobs. Legs moved numbly, almost unnoticed as she was brought to her friend's side.

The smell in the air was the most concentrated here, hanging like a cloud of death above Haruhi; it made Maya's stomach turn, and she wanted nothing more to look away. This couldn't be actually happening. It was a joke being pulled on her. She could accept it being a joke. She could not accept this!

Tears blurred her vision. She would have welcomed it, but someone -- a cold feeling in her chest, told her she couldn't look away from this.

Somehow, Bonni managed to tear Maya's attention from the... the corpse. "H-haru.... Har.. uhi..." Maya tried to speak, but a shuddering, uncontrollable sob stopped that.

[bonni]

The nurse makes her way past Maya, to the body. A quick a deft hand takes the pulse - obviously gone - and feels the warmth of the body. Hmm.

"One of you, go get the police. Tell them that Ms. Suzumiya has been killed." A few of Maya's friends had come in right after Bubblegum, after all. Her tone is harsh, but in the way an adult's should be when taking control of a situation. She needs them to listen, not panic.

"And Maya, I'm going to need to ask you to stay here." A moment of pause, and she places a hand on Maya's shoulder. It's not comforting, though. Restraining, more like. "Don't try anything." Her voice is colder, now. A little accusing, perhaps.

???

[loveandwillpower]

Where is this? It's dark, illuminated only by a faint lantern. Dark and stony and surprisingly cold for the season. Colder for Hiroshi, as a bucket of water's been dumped over his head.

"Sheesh, after all that trouble, you'd better not have a concussion. I'll admit it, despite what you might think, first aid isn't actually one of my strong points!"

Neither is hospitality apparently because he's also been chained to the wall. Safety first!

[all_onis_are_true]

Talk about rude awakenings.

He sputters and coughs as the water runs over him. In some respects, though, the water is a welcome distraction from the sudden splitting headache he feels once he gets over the initial impact. He opens his eyes, squinting at the blurred image of Minako in front of him. This is only partly due to the crack in one of his glasses lens; the rest is due to what he's vaguely aware is probably a concussion.

Minako... somehow, he feels like he should be dreading the sight of her. What was it... oh, right. Murder. And causing said concussion.

He blearily looks at his wrists, connected to chains extending off to the sides. Okay, well... for reasons unknown, he's still alive. For now. But she's clearly taken precautions to make sure he doesn't speak.

"Where...?" he asks, still feeling woozy. Ugh, he needs to see a doctor, he shouldn't really be here. Well okay, there are MANY reasons he shouldn't be here.

[loveandwillpower]

Oh good, he's awake and talking, that's a good sign, what else, let's see... pupils! Pupils are important, she's bringing the light closer so she can look at his eyes.

"If I tell you, you'll just flip out again. For someone who puts on such a cool act all the time, you're unexpectedly high-strung in a crisis!"

Seriously, he's going to have to shape up for the princess' sake, call it tough love.

[all_onis_are_true]

He winces at the light. His pupils are a little dilated; it's probably safe to say he's a little concussed. Which makes sense considering Minako slammed his head into a damn counter.

"Crisis...?" What the hell was she even talking about? The only crisis is that she's just rendered herself a murderer AND a kidnapper. Or at least he's vaguely assuming the former considering the chains. Ugh, he can't think straight.

"Why...? Why did you kill..." He winces, grabbing his head again. The memory was still there, albeit faint. He supposes he should count his blessings that he doesn't have amnesia of the event too. Not that he's sure there are many blessings left to count.

[loveandwillpower]

"Haruhi? The real one must already be dead. The thing I killed was only wearing her skin, so don't worry about it. Hey, how many fingers am I holding up?"

Two.

He's useless as far as princes go, so she'd better protect him too. She's doing a pretty great job so far, nobody else is going to find him and kill him as long as he's here!

[all_onis_are_true]

...WHAT.

What sort of gibberish was she even saying? "Real one?" "Wearing her skin?" Absolutely nothing that just came out of Minako's mouth was sane! Was it just the concussion making everything make no sense?

...Okay, the finger check is sane, he supposes. He's pretty sure there's two there, but it's kinda fuzzy.

"Minako... are you even hearing yourself? You killed Suzumiya because you thought she was a body double? What was she supposed to be really?"

Late at night, following the ???

[loveandwillpower]

It sure was fun to hang around and chat with friends, but Minako's got business to attend to... nah, Minako has nothing planned. Venus, however... Clad in a mask and ceremonial robes pilfered from her mysterious hideout, she glides through the night, . They're elegant and flowing, suitable for any kind of respectable witch, but you know, these skirts, they're too long to fight in, she'd trip and get herself killed if she got into a real fight. Fortunately, she knows just the person who can help with that.

It would be polite to knock, but she's a witch right now, and witches don't knock, they appear in Maria's room via sketchy breaking and entering actual fucking magic because she's a magical witch from the stars.

Re: Late at night, following the ???

[happyhalloween]

Maria is writing a letter to Beatrice that night. Maria writes to Beatrice at least once or twice a month--sometimes more if she has a lot of news. Then she sneaks into Mama's at-home office when Mama is away on business and steals a stamp and posts it to Rokkenjima care of Kumasawa-san. Kumasawa-san is very nice about making sure Beatrice always gets her letters.

Someone told Alice about Sakutaro, so she made a friend for me. His name is Tomosuke and he's a turtle. When Mama takes me to Rokkenjima next will you use your magic on him like you did Sakutaro? Alice says one of her ancestors was a witch. Do you think Maria has any witch ancestors? Maya-oneesan's ancestor Ami Fey was maybe a witch. She knew Shigetsuna-sama, who I told you about before.

Hiroshi is still giving off a lot of anti-magic toxin I'm afraid but he's trying to be nicer. He took Maria and Osaka on a field trip yesterday and told us about moss and things. It was a lot more interesting than his usual lectures.

Maria didn't stay at school very late today. Alice took me home before the club meeting could start. She said there'd been an accident at the sch--

It's at this point that Maria's pen skitters and drops because there's someone coming through her window!

"Who are you?" she whispers, staring at the new person. "You better not do anything bad to Maria. Maria's a witch! Kihihihi."

[loveandwillpower]

"Didn't you send me a letter the other day? Sorry for dropping in, but I'm not the type who calls ahead!"

Minako vaults through the window and strikes a flashy pose, robes swirling around in a riot of color.

"Venus Cytherea, the guardian who watches from the night sky! I'm a good witch, so a good girl like you doesn't have to be scared! It's only the bad witches who need to watch out for me."

[happyhalloween]

"Uu-uu-uu!" Maria hops down from her chair and starts bouncing on the heels of her feet in glee. "Space Witch Venus! You got my letter! Minako told me all about you! You're just as beautiful and mysterious as she said!"

This is so neat. Maria's never met any witches from space before! Just island witches like Beatrice and Virgillia and other apprentice witches like ANGE (before she quit) and OSAKA (who Maria was training up.)

"Are we going to play together, Space Witch Venus? Only, we can't be too loud because Mama's home and she has a headache... but Maria and Space Witch Venus could probably sneak out together!"

[loveandwillpower]

Venus and Minako seem to be equally susceptible to flattery, just look at her preen. This Minako person is clearly very well informed.

"I'd like to, but... Being from space means I don't have as much time to play as Earth witches, I'm on a very important mission after all... But if you help me out, I'll grant you a wish, how about that?"

[happyhalloween]

She does act rather close to Minako... but surely that's a coincidence, right?

"Uu-uu! Maria will help! Help Space Witch Venus! Maria's very good at helping! Maria always helps Beatrice!"

Bounce, bounce, bounce. Really, Maria, you're going to aggravate Mama's headache.

Even later at night

[loveandwillpower]

Two down, five to go! One more and it's just under halfway done, one more after that and it's just over... Even if it's not going to be that easy, okay, they'll be on their guard once the heat's up. Caution or speed, which is more important...

In any case, she's got more than that to worry about, she's got all these responsibilities. Like looking after Hiroshi, he needs to eat and so on. If he needs to shave he's out of luck, she doesn't want to give him a razor, that's just asking for trouble. But, like... soap, she can bring him soap and a washcloth, he can't break out with that. Keeping someone captive in one's basement is hard, gosh... he's probably bored, maybe a magazine too.

Rosa won't miss a few things, so after assembling a sort of care package, Venus and apprentice are off to her secret hideout. Maria won't tell anyone else about it. She pinky-swore it, and now if she spills the secret, birds will fly down from the moon and rip out her tongue.

[all_onis_are_true]

Clang.

Clang.

Frustration is welling in Hiroshi's throat. He'd been able to find something blunt to hit the chains with -- some sort of ritual-looking object he didn't want to think about -- but the chains are obnoxiously sturdy, and he can't even tell if he's making any real difference. And his arms hurt and his hands hurt and his head hurts and everything's hurting.

And all the while, Maria might be dead right now.

He's been trying to keep an ear open for Minako's return. He just hopes she doesn't hear the clanging before he hears HER.

[happyhalloween]

Clang, clang, clang. Boy, was the noise coming from the secret hideout loud. Maria frowns. "Is Hiroshi okay?" she asks Space Witch Venus. "Hiroshi is kind of a big dummy... but Maria doesn't want him hurt. Not really."

It was one thing using black magic to hurt him. It was another thing to hurt him without black magic.

Maria creeps on ahead to the door and tries to peek in the room Hiroshi is stored in without letting him see her.

[loveandwillpower]

Venus steps lightly behind Maria and bends down to have a whispered conversation.

"Venus doesn't want him hurt, either! But... you know, he doesn't understand magic and witches or any of this, so we might have to...! Tell you what, if I have to hurt him, I'll teach you a spell that can fix him up again."

[happyhalloween]

"Okay," Maria whispers back. "Maria likes that."

Hiroshi was dumb a lot of the time... but for some reason, the idea of helping him out made Maria feel kind of nice inside. Maybe it's because he'd respect her if she showed him what a good and kind witch she was?

"Should Maria go in first? Or should Space Witch Venus?"

[loveandwillpower]

"Maria should stay back, as surprise backup. If he's dangerous, Venus can handle him the best."

Creeeaking open the door.