endless_june | Afternoon and Evening, June 15th, 1999--???

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Afternoon and Evening, June 15th, 1999--???

[After Maria had shown up with Minako that morning for school as if it had been any other day, Mr Policeman had decided that instead of going to classes, Maria should spend the morning talking to him about Mamma. She'd told him that Mamma had been in a bad mood that evening and that she usually tried to sneak out when Mamma was in bad moods like that and go to visit Maya or Osaka or Minako those nights, because they'd let her sleep in her room and not tell any grown-ups that would try to take her home.

She thought Mr Policeman believed her. All that stuff she'd said was true, she'd just said it in a way that made him think she wasn't there when Space Witch Venus saved her from the Black Witch.

But after such a long time of boring questions, that had gone quite past the lunch break, Maria knew she had to go somewhere else than the school, if only for a little while. And Hiroshi still needed to be given lunch. That was it. She'd go to the convenience store and buy food for Hiroshi and feed him and talk to him while the others were in afternoon classes. Maybe she could tell him more about the Moon Princess. It didn't seem like he remembered much about her, not like Venus did, but Maria thought he'd be happy to know she was probably Maya.

Maria was, anyway.

--

After her talk with Hiroshi, Maria spends the rest of the afternoon in the clubroom, putting the finishing touches on her Apprentice Witch Chibi-Venus cloak and thinking about everything he'd said to her when she visited. Eventually, just before everyone files in to gloomily discuss what to do next, Maria makes a decision.

Next time Venus leaves her alone with Hiroshi, she's going to help him.]

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Hiroshi! Uu, Hiroshi! Maria's here with lunch! Sorry it's late, but Mr Policeman asks too many questions! Maria got you cup ramens and soda pop and if Hiroshi is very good, there's gonna be candy too!

[Early in the afternoon, Maria's cheerful voice echoes down into the secret place where Hiroshi is hidden.]

Maria will give Hiroshi the bucket too if he needs it, [she adds, as she opens the door to peer down at him.] Sorry again it wasn't sooner.

Edited 2015-06-15 12:23 (UTC)

The object he's been using to pound at the chains goes away the moment he hears her, of course. Back into the hat. He's not even sure if he's making any progress. But at least it feels like he's doing something.

Maria...

He tries to maintain a composed expression. "No, you are fine. Thank you, Maria," he replies, pushing up his glasses. He can't quite hide a troubled expression on his face, though.

Edited 2015-06-16 02:25 (UTC)

Maria notices his troubled expression. "Don't worry, Hiroshi," she tells him. "Mr Policeman doesn't think Maria did anything. And he doesn't know about Space Witch Venus. Venus said we'd have to keep her a secret, just like how Hiroshi's the Earth Prince and Maya-oneesan's the Moon Princess."

She takes out the cup ramen from her shopping bag and pours hot water from the thermos in her backpack into it, before bringing it to him.

"Once you've both woken up to your past lives you can get married," she adds.

Space Witch Venus. Maria had really bought Minako's insanity hook, line and sinker. And why wouldn't she? It fits into her world view. Good "witches" saved people from bad "witches." Of course she wouldn't be able to understand what Minako had done based on that.

Maria...

He didn't care what happened to him. He needed her to get out, to be safe. She's young. She shouldn't be in this sort of situation. "Maria, about Minako..." he begins, then bites his lip. Trying to tell her that witches didn't exist right now probably isn't the best idea, no matter how much he wants to. She clearly doesn't understand.

He needs to figure out how to phrase this so she'll believe him.

"She isn't Minako," Maria corrects gently. "Sometimes she pretends she's Minako, but she's Space Witch Venus now. It's because she's awoken to her past life on the moon. Do you think Maria has a past life on the moon?"

She rummages through her bag for the can of soda she bought for him.

Edited 2015-06-16 04:48 (UTC)

He closes his eyes. No, she won't listen to him if he tells her she's insane. Of course she won't. But witches...

It goes against every fiber of his being. But his own beliefs don't matter right now.

"Maria, I need you to listen to me very carefully. First of all, I apologize. I was wrong about witches the entire time. You were right. They do exist." He feels a little bit of revulsion saying such an unscientific thing, but stoically bites it back. "Tell me, Maria. I am unfamiliar with witches. Can a bad witch make a good witch do bad things?"

Maria sits back on her heels and thinks about this. Except for the Black Witch, most of the witches she's met have been good witches. Nice ones. She doesn't have as much experience with bad ones. And MARIA is a good witch too, of course. But she might have been a little bit bad for doing black magic on Mama. And she wouldn't have done that if it hadn't been for the Black Witch.

"Yes," she says finally. "Maria thinks so."

Okay, so there's precedence. Good. Now he has to think about how to phrase this properly.

"Maria, I believe Minako is... a good witch. But something terrible has gotten into her head and making her do bad things she believes are good. She believes killing people is helping, but she is still killing people." He swallowed. "Like Suz -- like Haruhi."

He pushed his glasses up. How else could he convince her... "Has... Shigetsuna ever been known to do bad things to people?"

Maria is quiet again for a long while. She'd heard a lot of stories about Shigetsuna-sama from staying over at Maya-oneesan's house, some of them from Mia-oneesan, even more of them from Bikini-obasan. (Bikini had been the one to explain that the witch wasn't actually named Shiggy Tuna, no matter what Mia-oneesan said.)

Some of the stories had Shigetsuna-sama being nice and good and wise--and why not? She'd been the wonderful tutor of Ami Fey. But in some of Bikini's stories, Shigetsuna-sama's niceness had only been an illusion and she'd secretly done mean and scary things. Sometimes it seemed like there were two Shigetsuna-samas, Maria thought.

"Only when you break her rules," Maria says, finally. That's what Bikini had told her. As long as Maria followed all Shigetsuna-sama's rules, she'd be okay. Things like tying red string around your wrist before going into the darkest part of the forest. Never hurting bears. Always bringing a magatama with you if you went into any of the special Fey family chambers. Not telling anybody else if you and your friends were going to ask her to grant your wishes--

Oh.

Edited 2015-06-22 09:33 (UTC)

Her reaction is what Hiroshi hoped for, although he is aware of the irony of desiring such a thing. "Listen to me very carefully, Maria," he began, slowly as to ensure that he modulates his own skepticism. "I believe Shigetsuna is angry with us. I believe she is making Minako do terrible things. I need you to get away from her. Tell the police, or somebody you think can handle her... magic." He pauses. "Please. This is all I ask of you."

He could ask her to free him. But that would just make Minako angry at Maria, wouldn't it? He couldn't bear her dying just to help him out.

"We broke a rule," Maria whispers. "So she sent her bear to eat Minako from the inside." She snatches the candy from her shopping bag and shoves it at Hiroshi. "Maria has to go now. Be good until she comes back." Maria stands up.

She had a lot of thinking to do about this. And-- she'd have to watch Venus closely to see if she was the one that was being eaten by the bear and not Minako. After all, Hiroshi couldn't tell the difference between them.

After Tomosuke makes the brave sacrifice that Maria had discussed with him during her time alone (except with her turtle friend) in the clubroom and after Space Witch Venus (who Maria is sure has been eaten by the bear) leaves the two of them alone, that's her cue to climb up the statue of Ami Fey and retrieve two very important objects from their Impossible-For-Hiroshi-To-Reach-Hiding-Place.

"Hiroshi, you have to give Maria a ride on your back to the police station," she says, sliding back down the statue. "And you have to tell Maria how to make the phone work. We're busting Maya-oneesan out of jail."

She tosses him the keys. "And Hiroshi too."

[BGM: Mission Impossible Theme]

Edited 2015-06-22 20:57 (UTC)

"Maya is in jail? Why?" Having been down here since being knocked unconscious by Minako, this is the first he's heard of it. The only things she could be accused for is... but that's preposterous!

Hiroshi is both surprised and a little torn by Maria's decision to help him. Considering only she and Minako knew where he was, Maria is almost certainly going to end up on Minako's list for this. But he can do a lot more to help free than captured -- and among those things is to try to protect Maria from any more bad things.

So he nods to her before unlocking the manacles. He stands up, circling his wrists. "I suppose a piggy-back ride is the least I can do for what you have done for me. I need you to stay close to me though, Maria. Minako -- or Venus, or whoever she is at this point -- will almost certainly frown upon your actions." Even if he can't prevent other deaths, he can at least try to save the youngest. He positions himself to allow her onto his back.

"Mr Policeman said she did a bad thing," Maria explains as she climbs onto Hiroshi's shoulders, "but she didn't. Maya-oneesan would never do bad things like that. She's the best person Maria knows. So Maria is going to break her out of jail. We're gonna get everyone to help us too... except Alice, Maria guesses. Alice is distracting Venus while we make our move! Maria told Tomosuke to whisper the plan to her once he's at her house. He was very brave to let himself get wounded for the rescue plan, wasn't he?"

She frowns, looking at Hiroshi's cell phone. "Is the green button the one that turns on?"

Edited 2015-06-22 22:41 (UTC)

Hiroshi freezes. Alice... and Minako? That sick feeling in the pit of his stomach swirls and roils. "Ah... you need to dial the number first, then press it," he mumbles, suddenly fearing for Alice's safety. "But perhaps we should wait until we are in a different location before calling, yes?" Fears of the worst run through his head.

"Right," Maria says, shoving the phone into her pocket. "We'll call when we're in the woods." She rummages in her pocket for a moment, then passes down a tiny spool of red thread. "Tie this around your wrist. And, uh, hm." Maria already had her own little magatama, of course. She'd got it the first night she'd stayed over at Maya-oneesan's house. But she didn't think Venus had given one to Hiroshi.

Oh wait, there was one there on the wall. It was kind of big... but Maria thought she had a solution for that. She starts unwinding Hiroshi's scarf from his neck, shifting around on his shoulders to make it easier.

"Give Maria the magatama and then we leave, okay? Maria's gonna make you a protective amulet."

"Ah..." A part of him sighs internally. For the time being, he is playing by Maria's rules. And if he thinks about it, at this point almost nothing could be more unbelievable than what has already come to pass. Nodding, he takes the string and ties it around his wrist as requested before snagging the requested magatama. He has a vague feeling he knows what she's intending, but right now is not the time to question it.

"I trust you, Maria. Do what you think is necessary."

"Good," Maria says. "Hiroshi should have trusted Maria from the beginning that magic was real... but Maria should have trusted Hiroshi too, maybe." Once Hiroshi's scarf is about half unwound, she slips the scarf through the hole in the magatama, then knots it so it'll stay there. Then she starts winding the scarf back around his neck. It's a little awkward staying on his shoulders while winding the scarf back around now that he's moving, but she manages to stay on.

Once Hiroshi makes his way out of the Secret Fey Clan Building in the woods, Maria fishes out the phone. "Maria will call Osaka first," she tells him. This is strategic thinking and has nothing to do with the fact that Osaka's number is the only one besides Maya and Minako's that Maria has memorized.

Sleep is something that isn't really coming to Osaka as often as it usually does. Maybe its because of all the recent less-than-fun shenanigans. Maybe its the fact she has to actively force herself to sleep, rather than just letting the natural exhaustion she normally feels to overcome her.

So she's fairly quick to the phone.

"Heya, Maria... what's goin' on...?"

"Osaka!" Maria's voice sounds kind of jostled, almost like she's riding on someone's shoulders as she's talking. (This is because she is riding on someone's shoulders.)

"Osaka, we're gonna spring Maya-oneesan from jail! Minako turned into Space Witch Venus and now Shigetsuna-sama's bear's eaten her up from the inside, so she's doing bad things! Maya didn't do any of the bad things Mr Policeman thinks she did, it was all Venus and the bear! Maria unlocked Hiroshi from Venus' prison and we're coming back from the woods! Osaka has to meet Maria and Hiroshi outside the jail, okay?"

Yes, she would explain it like that, wouldn't she? Hiroshi hopes that makes more sense to Osaka than it does to him. Still...

"Maria, you keep saying we're breaking Maya out of jail, but would it not simply be easier for me to tell the police what I saw? I am uncertain what she is accused of, but I am a witness to one of the deaths," he says, frowning.

what

Did. Did she get to sleep after all? Is that what's happening here?

"...Hiroshi's from space and Maya's in the woods?"

"No, Hiroshi's the Prince of Earth! Minako's from space and-- excuse me--" Osaka should still be able to hear Maria's voice, however feint, as she holds the phone away so she can lean down to tell Hiroshi, "No! We can't tell anyone outside the club! That's how Minako got possessed, because we let Souji know we were gonna do the ritual!"

A few seconds later and, "Sorry, Osaka! Hiroshi is being silly! Listen, Minako did all the bad stuff because she's possessed. Maya was framed! We have to break her out of jail. Get whatever you need and go hide out next to the jail. You have to, okay? Osaka is Maria's apprentice, so she has to follow her orders."

Edited 2015-06-23 02:33 (UTC)

Okay then. This was now happening. Osaka, being the intelligent, reasonable, and logical person she is, responds appropriately.

She salutes. "Ya got it, boss-chan! What should Ah get?"

Maria takes a second to consider this. "Ooh, um, rope! And a flashlight! And bandages! And maybe something to cut the bandages with. And-- and a boombox with some loud music in it!"

Because they might need a distraction for Mr Policeman.

"Also, a net if you have one."

Edited 2015-06-23 03:31 (UTC)

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