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

[happyhalloween]

[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.]

Comments

Re: Locked to HIROSHI

[all_onis_are_true]

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.

Re: Locked to HIROSHI

[happyhalloween]

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.

Re: Locked to HIROSHI

[all_onis_are_true]

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.

Re: Locked to HIROSHI

[happyhalloween]

"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.

[all_onis_are_true]

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?"

[happyhalloween]

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."

[all_onis_are_true]

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?"

[happyhalloween]

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.

[all_onis_are_true]

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.

[happyhalloween]

"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.