"Come on, Robin." Cordelia cajoled. "Why are you so interested in her, anyway?"
"I'm just fascinated that any one person can be so ridiculously clumsy and not be in a wheelchair." Robin said, as she focused the telescope on Sumia, who fell over as she passed Lon'qu. He shot a disgusted look at her as he walked around her. Briefly, Robin wondered whether Lon'qu could possibly have grasped what was going on, but then dismissed that thought just as quickly. Lon'qu pretty much treated every girl that way.
Hmmmm...
"The pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together." Robin declared, as she folded up the telescope. "I think, Cordelia, that we need to watch Sumia even more closely."
She groaned. "What for?"
"It would sound insane if I said it aloud." Robin admitted, as she twirled a piece of her hair around her finger. "But if you would watch her yourself, I think you would start to understand..."
"Ah, so I'm not the only one who's reached this conclusion!"
Robin jumped out of her seat.
"Miriel!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"Why, the same of you, of course." She said. "I am researching quite the odd phenomonom... One which, I'm pleased to see, you have uncovered quicker than even I."
"Are you serious?" Robin asked, surprised. "So you've been...?"
She noddded. "That is correct. I have arrived at a nearly identical conclusion to you, I think. Please... could you tell me what you've observed?"
"Well..." Robin said, biting her lip. "Doesn't it strike you as odd that Sumia generally only gets into accidents around certain people?"
"What do you mean?" Cordelia asked, looking between the two of them, clearly perplexed.
"Yes." Miriel said, adjusting her glasses. "In fact, I've started keeping records of who's in the room whenever she has one of her more... colorful accidents."
"What?" Robin said, flabberghasted. "Are you serious? Can I see it?"
...
"Okay..." Robin said. "Now this isn't conclusive all on it's own... But it is certainly very suggestive."
"It's just a bunch of numbers, Robin." Cordelia said impatiently. "I really would like it if you would tell me what's going on?"
"Do you notice anything odd about these figures, Cordelia?" Robin asked, as she folded her hands in front of her. "Anything at all?"
She frowned, as she looked at the graph in front of her. "According to this..." She said, slowly. "She has more accidents in front of some people than others..."
"And what do those names have in common?" Robin asked.
Cordelia's frown deepened, as he gaze soared over the computer screen. "It doesn't happen that much in front of me..." She muttered. "So it can't be people who have classes with her..." She reached forward, and scrolled the document further, comparing names. "It can't be people she spends time around... because Maribelle and Lissa's names are so infrequent..."
Her mouth opened wide.
"It only happens in front of boys!" She exclaimed. Robin, ever the sarcastic, slowly began clapping her hands together. Her meaning was clear... 'took you long enough.'
"But that's only assuming this graph is accurate though." Cordelia said quickly, as if she had said something nasty and offensive. After all, Sumia had always been a very good friend to her, and accusing her of faking something like this for attention was practically..."
"She never seems to have accidents around Maribelle." Robin countered. "And Lissa didn't mention any accidents the day they hung out together."
Cordelia shook her head. "That's just ridiculous!" She said. "I have faith in Sumia. She would never do anything so nasty, or cruel, or absolutely ridiculous..."
"Check the most frequent name." Robin said lazily.
"Check the what now?"
"Check the name that it happens around the most." Robin said.
Cordelia rolled her eyes and began roving over the graph.
"There are a lot of names, here." She commented. "I don't think that anything..."
Suddenly, a bar far higher than anything else popped onto the screen. It was over three times as large as the next biggest one. According to this little graph, dozens of huge accidents seemed to occur around this one person.
Chrom.
Something inside her snapped.
"That BITCH."
...
"I can't believe it." Cordelia said, now that the initial shock was over. She looked even more downtrodden and depressed than usual. 'I thought we were friends..."
"There, there." Robin said soothingly, as she patted her arm. "You have better friends, anyway."
"She knows I've been in love with him forever!" She wailed, as she buried her head in her arms. "This is so... urgh!"
Robin rolled her eyes. "Well, everyone seems to know about it..." She muttered.
"Hi, guys!" Lissa said, cheerful (And oblivious!) as ever, as she sat down beside them. "What's shaking?"
Cordelia wailed again.
"School's wearing you down that bad, huh?" Lissa said. "Sometimes I just want to break down and cry, too..."
"You're not helping, Lissa." Robin mouthed to her, as she patted Cordelia's arm again. "What she means to say is..." Robin said. "That there's just too much good going on in your life right now to worry about the bad."
A soft giggle came from behind her. Robin froze.
Lissa, somewhat surprisingly, noticed her expression. "It's her again, isn't it?" She said, her voice a low whisper.
Robin nodded.
"No one's having a good day today, huh?" Lissa said aloud.
Maribelle jogged up to them, beaming.
"Guess what?" She said, as she held aloft a piece of paper in her hands.
Lissa scrunched up her face. "I'm not good at guessing games." She complained.
"Well..." She flipped the paper around. "Ta da!" She exclaimed. "Chrom personally sent me an invitation to a party!"
The three of them sat in silence.
"So?" Robin asked.
Cordelia gave another sob.
Lissa looked up at her in confusion. "You mean the one I left in your locker?"
"What?" Maribelle blinked. "You did?" She flipped the paper back around and examined it's contents. "But it says right here... 'Chrom!"
"Those are produced by machines, Maribelle." Lissa explained. "The only difference between them is the name of the person who it was sent to."
"Oh... really?" Maribelle said, clearly taken aback. "I... I see."
"Emm used to throw parties when she went here all the time." She explained to Robin. "Chrom picked up the slack when she graduated."
"Chrom?" Robin asked, bemused. "A party animal?"
"It's just a little get together." Lissa explained. "Like... Emm likes to get to know the people Chrom and I talk to."
"That's kind of odd of her." Robin said aloud. "Very overprotective, I think. I mean, Father sent me to the Academy when I was eight, and he's never met any of my friends..."
Lissa shrugged. "Emm's not our mom, so I guess it's just different with us." She said. "Oh yeah, you want to come, don't you?"
And just like that, she handed them each a silvery invitation.
"Rather fancy, for a small get together." Robin noted, as she examined the invitation. "Do you treat all your guests like royalty, or what?"
Lissa laughed. "Emm will make you feel that way, believe me." She said. "You'll like her Robin."
"I think I will, actually." Robin said coolly, as she pocketed her invitation. "Thanks."