Chapter 4 – In the Pink
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - Afternoon
Toukawa City – Shingen High School, Library
"Guys, I have to work tonight, how long is this gonna take?" Kiyoshi asked, uncomfortable with the three girls hovering over him.
"Not too long, I promise!" Rui replied. "Besides, you're the smartest one here, you'll be able to translate this easy!"
"I think the others' safety is a little more important than your English homework," Miyako added hesitantly, piling up his books to the side, though it didn't seem to ease Kiyoshi's nerves. He continued looking around the room as though expecting someone else to join their table. "Are you… expecting someone?"
"No," he replied lamely. "It's just… well, everyone's staring. It's making me uncomfortable."
"Why's that?"
Kiyoshi sighed, then looked away as though he didn't want to reveal what he was about to. "I usually study here alone. I think they're… well, I don't really see other people, and now I have three girls sitting here. You guys are drawing attention."
"Well, that's a good thing, right?" Rui grinned. "Now people will think you're good with the ladies!"
Kiyoshi sank down in his seat.
"Okay, just ignore them, then," Miyako said gently. "Let's just focus on getting this done. Where do we start?"
"Look, just because I enjoy Egyptian mythology doesn't make me an expert in hieroglyphics…"
"So, these are real?"
"I… I think so? I'm not sure, but they look real, and I do think I recognize some."
"Well, that's why we're here!" Rui exclaimed. "We'll look it up."
Several whispers of "shhhh!" echoed from neighboring tables.
"Shame the school couldn't afford computers in here," Shizuka noted after whispering hushed apologies, while Kiyoshi went to ask about translation books.
"Oh please, you love to read," countered the pink-haired girl.
Shizuka looked affronted. "Well… yes, but… they would make this a lot easier, wouldn't they?"
"Oh. I guess so."
The trio sat in silence after that, inspecting the rest of the room, until Kiyoshi returned with two thick textbooks. Miyako leaned in to see the covers. "Well, there's no translation books," Kiyoshi said. "Sumiko-senpai said we might find some minor articles or small sections in one of these books, but I don't think they're going to be much help for what we need to do."
Miyako sighed. "Well… we'd better get started."
"Yeah, you do that," Rui said, pulling out her phone. "I'm gonna check the Internet."
"I think there's two words here," Kiyoshi said, a few hours later. "My best guesses based on what we've been able to find would be… 'gateway' and 'awaken'… or something similar."
"What could that mean?" Rui asked.
A faint memory stirred in Miyako's mind. "Wasn't there some American sci-fi show years ago about a gateway that was related to Egyptian gods? Could that be real?"
"I'm not really up to date on American television," Kiyoshi groaned, giving her a glare. Miyako pouted.
"You can look into that, Miyako," Rui said. "But what if those words are supposed to be used together? Like… 'awaken gateway' or something?"
"Odd title for a book," Shizuka noted.
"Yes, but it might fit our situation," Miyako said. "I mean… maybe it has nothing to do with the book itself, but it's just a clue of some sort."
"How do you mean?" asked Rui.
"Think about where we found the book. In a dead end. But maybe it's not really a dead end. Maybe there's some sort of hidden door or something that we have to find or open to proceed. Assuming the boys went the same way when they arrived – which is what we've been assuming anyway since I would hope Takara would try to reach the exit – they may have found a way to pass that wall."
"Interesting theory," Kiyoshi said, though he was so quiet that Miyako wondered if he were speaking more to himself than in answer to her working theory.
Rui added, "But don't forget, we haven't explored the other direction yet. They could have just as easily taken that path."
Miyako shook her head, determined that she was onto something. "No, I don't think so. If we enter at the same location each time, then taking the other hallway right at the start would lead them away from the exit door, and Takara knows where that is, so I don't think they'd go that way. I hope."
"But Takara's an arrogant fool," Rui reminded her.
"True, but Ryo's with him. And Ryo's not a fool. He wouldn't let Takara lead them the wrong way. Just like you and I, Ryo knows that Takara knows where the exit was. Logically, that would mean that Ryo would make Takara take them to it. And once they reached the dead end, they might have tried to look for another exit, thus taking them to this area."
"But, wait," Shizuka interrupted. "Didn't you say there was another path right when you started? Why would you think they'd come to this dead end and not that way?"
"Because this way was closer to the real exit."
"You've been spending too much time with Ryo," Rui laughed. "That was… very logical, indeed."
"I… guess it has rubbed off a little bit," Miyako said, embarrassed.
"Well, it's a start," Shizuka said. "How do we test it?"
"Just go back to that dead end and look around, I guess?"
"And just like that, the logic is gone." Rui sighed. "Oh well. Up for a trip now?"
"You guys can go," Kiyoshi said, standing up. "I'm already late for work, so I'd better go before I get fired. I wonder if I can find time to try to do some of this homework while I'm there…"
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - Evening
?
"Well… which way?" Rui asked.
Miyako looked at her curiously, shifting the heavy black book in her arms. "I thought we'd agreed to go back to check out the dead end. Besides, my other self wants us to go back."
"Okay… but one of these trips, we need to go down this other tunnel. I'm dying to know what's over that way."
"Please don't ever use the word 'dying' in here…"
"So how do you think the boys got passed the gateway?" Rui asked as they started walking.
"If I knew that, why would we have had to go to the library yesterday?" Miyako replied, already feeling annoyed. Was this trip going to end up like the last? Why did she feel so much more easily irritated in here? Did that have something to do with Nephthys? She decided to try to soften her words. "They have Ryo with them. He's smart. I bet this puzzle was easy mode for him."
"But that's not towards the exit, Takara knows that. Even if Ryo did figure it out, why would they continue?"
"I dunno… looking for another exit?" Miyako sighed. "Look, Rui, I know you're just trying to be polite, but this is getting us nowhere. I don't know any more than you do, and talking about it isn't going to solve that, so… so, please…"
"Fine. I'll shut up. Let's go." Rui stomped off.
"Wait, Rui!" Miyako had to sprint to keep up with the pink-haired girl. "I didn't mean it like that! Rui! Hey!"
The other girl continued to ignore her as they walked until Miyako gave up. She felt bad; she hadn't intended to cause an awkward silence, she simply had wanted to avoid getting worked up. She had no idea Rui would end up offended instead! How could she have worded it any differently?
She decided not to think about it. What's done is done, and Rui wouldn't be in any mood to try to reconcile now. She decided it was best to let her cool down for a while.
Miyako had been unable to coax Nephthys out during a single battle so far, but thankfully Rui seemed to be able to handle things. They had learned not to let the cat-creatures near any of the torches, as they seemed unable to ignite themselves without an existing fire source, so Rui was able to fight them hand-to-hand with little problem, and the bipedal lizard things didn't pose her any trouble either.
Still, all that was little comfort to Miyako. Nephthys was her only defense in this place, and so far, she had yet to find any pattern to her Persona's appearances. There had to be some sort of trick to it – some sort of key – that she was missing. She needed a physical key to summon Nephthys, after all. She tried to think of anything that might have linked together all the times she had been successful, but came up empty. She thought maybe she had to actually turn her key in a specific manner, but dismissed that as inaccurate. So far there had been no consistency.
She groaned in frustration, and caught Rui half-turn her head to silently glance in her direction. Miyako paid her no mind, though she had no interest in returning to her thoughts, either. She had thought hard the last time she was here about this too, and now she was simply thinking in circles, getting nowhere. She could still feel Nephthys in her mind, enthusiasm building as they approached the branching corridor.
The girls stopped to inspect it before getting closer. Miyako decided to break the silence. "Doesn't look any different to me."
Rui again glanced at her, then proceeded without responding. She looked at the stone table built into the wall, running her hands over the dusty surface, then knelt to inspect the underside. "No secret buttons or doors," she said finally.
Miyako tried some of the tricks used in various movies she'd seen – pressing on some of the stones against the walls, stomping along the floor – but nothing happened other than stirring the dust anew. "Doesn't seem like there's any sort of tricks or traps here. Shame it's not like a movie."
Rui sighed and leaned against the table. "Here… let me see the book again."
Miyako looked at the tome in her arms and shrugged. She passed it to Rui, who took it with both hands. The pink-haired girl opened the book and skimmed through it briefly, then closed it and looked at the stone table. She held the book out towards it and said, "Awaken, gateway!"
By now, Miyako was used to nothing happening when she expected it.
So she was surprised when, after several seconds, the book began to glow. Or, more specifically, the golden symbols on the spine began to glow. Miyako's attention was then drawn to the stone wall where the book originally rested. Said wall had begun to glow as well, the light appearing to shine from the cracks between the bricks. On the table, symbols appeared on the stone.
"What do you make of this?" Miyako asked.
"Looks like more hieroglyphics," Rui replied.
"These look familiar…" Miyako glanced back at Rui, still holding the book out in front of her. "They're the same symbols as on the spine. But… they're out of order."
"Think we need to organize them?"
"Hm…. Oh, yeah, look! You can slide them around now!"
And so, the girls set about organizing the symbols. Rui held out the book as Miyako lifted the small glowing slabs off the table, and, checking them against the spine, set them back down again until they aligned the same way the book read.
"Okay… now what?"
At first, nothing. Then, as the two girls watched – Rui holding the book as far from her body as she could – the wall and table burst into a cloud of dust, disintegrating before their eyes, and revealing the hallway beyond.
"See? Easy," Rui said when the dust settled.
"Why is the book still glowing?" Miyako asked, feeling a sudden wave of unease. She wasn't sure why, but something told her the book was supposed to stop glowing once it's job was done. The fact that it hadn't made her worry. And it was definitely her; Nephthys remained neutral in her mind, as far as Miyako could tell. Maybe she was just paranoid?
"Dunno," Rui replied, hesitantly bringing it closer. "But we can move on now. Looks like there's a turn a little way inside."
"Better be careful," Miyako advised. "There's likely to be new enemies or some kind of traps in here…"
There weren't traps.
Miyako had stepped into what she could describe only as one of the most normal, and scariest, things she'd seen so far in this strange place. The corridor had turned and immediately opened into a large room. While the walls and floor were still stone, the bricks were now various bright shades of pink. Directly across from the girls sat a desk, it's surface littered with lipstick containers, various hair products, combs and brushes, a mirror, and other makeup items of varying uses. To the left lining the entire wall appeared to be the interior of a store, with a bar set into the stone, holding up numerous hangers which in turn held several styles of dresses and feminine swimwear. The floor was covered in assorted fashion magazines, each one adorned with a different, unnamed model. The far-right wall housed a mountain of plush animals, enough of them tumbling off the pile to have been thrown halfway across the room, where they'd rested among the magazines.
"We've walked into a fourteen-year-old's dreamland…" Miyako said. "I've never seen so much pink in my life."
Rui, for her part, didn't say a word, but Miyako's attention was drawn to her after she allowed the black book she'd still been carrying to drop onto the stone floor with a heavy thud. The girl, whose hair blended into the coloring of the walls, had a look of pure shock on her face.
"We have to leave," she said, interrupting Miyako's thoughts. "We have to leave now. Right now."
She grabbed Miyako's hand and turned around. Miyako tried to stop her and collect the black book, which had finally stopped glowing when it was dropped, but Rui had stopped after taking two steps, confronted not by the corridor, but by a large mirror, her own disheveled appearance staring back at her in it.
"Rui? What's going on? I mean I know it's terrifying, but…" she tried to joke. Rui wasn't amused.
"Wh-Where's the hallway? Where's the exit?"
"There is no exit," said Rui's reflection in the mirror. The girls froze as the mirror image stepped from the mirror and came to a stop in front of them. "Not this time, not for you. What happened to us, Rui? Why did you abandon me?"
"What? Rui, what does that mean?"
"What's this? Not only have you abandoned me, now you're keeping secrets from your new friends, too? That's not polite."
"It means nothing," Rui said, addressing Miyako. The pink-haired girl's face was red with embarrassment, and her hands were balled up into fists. She looked as though she wanted to punch the other version of herself.
"Oh, Rui, you have no idea how much that hurts," Mirror-Rui mocked, putting her hand over her heart and a wounded expression on her face.
"You think that hurts? Try this!" Rui suddenly lunged forwards, punching her mirror-image hard. The other Rui's head snapped around, but quickly recovered, turning back.
Mirror-Rui had a wicked grin on her face, no trace of Rui's assault visible. "Look at you, still so quick to anger. Violence is not the answer. Isn't that what mom always said?"
"Who-who gives a damn?" Rui said, now stepping backwards slowly, not wanting to be near her mirror self, but not wanting to go any further into the pink room. "At least I'm not a wimp anymore!"
Miyako grabbed her wrist. "Rui, what's going on? What's all this about? D-do you know what it means?"
Rui just shook her head, yanking her arm from Miyako's grasp. Mirror-Rui was the one who answered. "What's this about? This is about history. You see, I am Rui. Or, I was, all those years ago. This," she said, gesturing to the room at large, "was my life. Pink everything. Makeup. Stuffed animals and fashion magazines."
"I was fourteen!" Rui cried, her voice high-pitched.
"Yes, just as any ordinary girl. So why did you change, Rui? Why did you abandon me? Your dreams? Even Curly?"
Suddenly, a stuffed brown bear with curly fur and a red bow tie fell to the floor between Rui's feet, possibly having fell from the giant pile. Rui screamed and jumped back, falling over. Miyako might have laughed in some other setting. Curly?
"I-I didn't abandon anything! I just… grew up! I changed! Everyone does!"
"Stop lying to yourself," countered Mirror-Rui.
"I'm so lost," Miyako commented.
"I am what Rui used to be," said Mirror-Rui. "She never told you? Curly was my best friend. I wanted to be a fashion model." Well, that explained the magazines. And the clothing. And the makeup and the dolls.
"You did?" Miyako gasped. In the years since Ren had introduced them, Miyako had never known Rui to enjoy anything feminine, outside of her hair color.
"I still do," Mirror-Rui replied. "Even now, you want to pick up Curly and hold him and just will this whole thing away, don't you? You wish you looked good in those clothes, don't you? I can feel it."
"No!" Rui cried out. "No, that's not going to happen! Not anymore! I won't let it!"
"Why not?" Miyako asked, confused. "Rui, this looks nothing like you. Was this all yours? If this was a dream of yours, why won't you let it happen now?"
"Enough!" Rui screamed. "That's enough of this! It's in the past! That's not who I am anymore!"
"Oh no? Then surely you wouldn't mind if I…" Mirror-Rui stepped up to the brown bear and picked it up. She looked at it fondly for a moment, then held it out towards the girls, one hand around it's throat. "You don't mind if I see what's inside, do you?"
"No!" Rui shouted. Mirror-Rui smirked.
"You see? You can't lie to me, you can't hide your thoughts and feelings from me. I am you. Why are you suppressing me?"
"Because you're not me anymore!"
Mirror-Rui laughed. She began to glow a brilliant dark purple, the aura completely engulfing her. Her eyes glinted yellow in the eerie darkness. "Oh, but I am. And I always will be! But if that's what you want, let me show you what I could be without you!"
With that, she exploded in violet flames, the force throwing Miyako and Rui to their backs. Miyako landed painfully on an overturned hair brush. It took a few minutes for Miyako to get back to her feet, all the while listening to the creepy laughing of the other girl.
But the other girl was no longer there. In her place was some sort of bipedal girl-bear hybrid, and it easily stood at twice Miyako's height. She had a thin human body, the entire upper half covered with a red bow tie. The hair was short and pink, but reminiscent of the brown bear's curls rather than the real Rui's straight locks. The rest of the bear's body also was covered in the pink curly hair, and she had the bear's claws to boot. The face was similar to the girl's, but furry and with the yellow eyes, and the bear's smile and nose, complete with real teeth.
"Oh, this can't be good," Miyako groaned. She looked over to see Rui on the ground next to her, unconscious.
"I am a shadow; the true self!" Bear-Rui said, flexing her claws. "Looks like I'll have to toy with you before dealing with her!"
"Laaaame," Miyako called out. The bear fixed her with a frown, then arched a claw in her direction. It emitted a strange bright blue pulse that threw Miyako halfway across the room, knocking the breath out of her. "Okay, maybe taunting the monster was not the best idea."
As she stood up, she pulled out her Velvet key from her bra, swinging it in front of her. "Nephthys, I could use some help!"
As usual, nothing happened.
"Oh, come on already!" she cried, leaping out of the way as another blue pulse blasted in her direction. Her heartbeat began to race as panic started to set in. How could she get Rui and herself out of this mess if Nephthys refused to help her? Whatever that attack was, she knew she couldn't handle too many of those. She needed to get control, and now!
"Nephthys, I can't do this alone! We gotta protect Rui! Come on already!" She tried slashing with the key again.
This time, the key glowed, and as it moved it created a blue scar in the air, which after a moment, formed into the phoenix-woman. She spotted the bear and her bird-head screeched, reading her jeweled staff.
"It's about time," Miyako groaned. "Watch out for those blue energy things!" she added as the bear launched one at her persona. Nephthys simply swatted it with her staff, but the attack – some sort of energy – exploded on contact just as it did when it hit Miyako, and this time threw Nephthys back, scattering dolls and magazine pages everywhere. Miyako groaned again, feeling the impact.
"It's all furry, try one of your fireballs!" Miyako suggested. Nephthys looked down at her as though surprised by the suggestion, but obeyed, her phoenix head launching a fireball at the bear.
"Gaaah!" Bear-Rui screamed as the fireball made contact, the fur all over her igniting. She dove to the ground and rolled around, trying to put it out.
Miyako felt a surge of excitement and knew what Nephthys was thinking. "It seems like it's weak to your fire," she noted aloud. Nephthys nodded, launching another one.
This time, Bear-Rui countered with another blue energy blast even as she began to recover, blocking the fireball. Both attacks exploded, scattering even more paper and some of the clothing on the bar caught fire. Nephthys didn't seem bothered this time, and immediately launched forwards, smacking the bear across the face with her staff, knocking her over. Bear-Rui swiped at Nephthys as she went down, tripping the phoenix woman to the ground. The bear then leapt onto her and began slashing at her heads.
Miyako screamed involuntarily, clutching her face, feeling the pain of the assault. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Nephthys didn't seem to be able to react. Her heads couldn't aim a fireball at a target so close, and her staff was pinned under the bear. She seemed to be focused on trying to protect herself rather than getting the bear off her, her wings beating the ground uselessly.
So Miyako decided to take matters into her own hands. Ignoring the scratching feeling on her face as best she could, she backed up to the wall, turned, and charged at the pair wrestling on the ground. She leapt and tackled the giant bear. She felt a cracking in her shoulder that made her cry out as she rebounded, hitting the ground hard. She could move; not broken, then. Still painful.
She wasn't near strong enough to topple Bear-Rui, either, but the slight push had allowed Nephthys to pull her staff free. The phoenix adjusted it so she had gripped it just by the end, and jabbed the tip into Bear-Rui's eye. She finally relented, instead roaring, and covering her damaged eye, kneeling up. Nephthys took the chance to lean up and hurl a fireball into the bear's face.
Bear-Rui hissed. "It's all fun and games, till someone loses an eye."
"I hope you're not planning on doing this the rest of the fight," Miyako groaned. She drew the bear's attention long enough for Nephthys to strike with another fire attack, this time knocking Bear-Rui onto her back and filling the room with a horrible scent of burning fur.
Miyako noticed Rui, still unconscious on the floor, dangerously close to a burning dress. The brunette danced around the ongoing battle and grabbed Rui by the feet, pulling her as carefully as she could away towards the pile of stuffed animals, allowing her to rest her head.
Then she doubled over as she felt a pain in her gut, looking up to see one of Bear-Rui's claws dug into her persona's stomach. The bear grinned with those razor-sharp teeth, and let loose another blue energy blast at point-blank range. Both of Nephthys's heads screeched in pain, and Miyako collapsed on the ground, as the attack ripped the bear's claws from the phoenix's body and sent her flying, completely destroying the desk as she crashed into it.
Nephthys isn't going to last much longer, Miyako thought, using her own exhaustion as a gauge. Assuming her persona was a reflection of herself in some form, the phoenix must be on the verge of collapse. She hadn't been fighting long, but she could already feel her limits. I've got to do something to stop this, something to occupy it until she can take it down.
She eyed the pile of dolls behind her, the real Rui laying on them, still unconscious. A few of the ones that fell away from the pile had burned or torn from the heat of the battle. Miyako picked one up. "Oops!" she shouted, yanking the head off the stuffed pig in her hands.
Bear-Rui looked at her immediately, horror on her face, quickly replaced by rage. "No! What have you done to my friends? Stop, or I will make you!"
She charged at Miyako, ignoring Nephthys, who had attempted to burn the bear once again. Miyako, startled, dropped the two halves of the stuffed pig, terrified both of the charging Bear-Rui, and of the possibility of Nephthys shooting fire in her direction in attempt to hit the charging bear. "Play time is over!" the giant bear cried.
Miyako, too frightened to bother complaining at another toy pun, dove on top of Rui in a vain attempt to protect her as the bear plowed into the stuffed animal pile, sending fur and cotton flying, and she recoiled as she collided with the wall behind the pile. Miyako tried to pull the pink-haired girl to safety as the bear spotted them and tried to collect itself. She began charging another blue energy attack.
Nephthys wasn't going to reach the other Rui in time, Miyako realized. She turned her back to the bear, shielding Rui and taking the attack herself, which exploded as it hit her and threw her forward to the ground like a rag doll. She knelt up and looked behind her, twisting around painfully, and time seemed to slow down as she saw Bear-Rui preparing yet another attack. Nephthys was almost there, but she was still nowhere near close enough to stop it. Miyako crawled back to Rui and flopped herself on top of her friend, just about the only thing she had energy left to do.
Suddenly, there was a giant shadow over her. Time returned to normal as Nephthys skidded to a halt in front of the girls – she had been charging not to attack the other Rui, as Miyako had thought she was doing, but to shield her master – and hurled a massive fireball towards Bear-Rui, just as the latter released her energy attack.
The attacks collided and exploded before the blue energy had traveled more than a few feet, and the force of the explosion slammed Bear-Rui into the wall hard enough to crack it, while any remaining dolls were sent bouncing off the wall and landing scattered on the far side of the room. Nephthys had turned and crouched down over the two girls, shielding them from most of the damage.
When the dust settled and Nephthys finally stood up and turned around, Miyako forced herself to look up. She gasped as she watched Bear-Rui struggle, but manage to get back to her feet. The brunette stood as well, leaning on her persona's staff to hold her balance. Bear-Rui looked worse for wear, finally. She stood there silently, charred and smoking, with her attacking arm dangling uselessly at her side, only being held together by threads. Stuffing threatened to burst out of the open seam, though for the moment, it remained inside the bear. The bowtie had been torn and burnt in numerous places and hung lopsided on the bear's neck. Miyako noted for the first time that she seemed to be completely missing an eye, as though the earlier attack hadn't just blinded their enemy, but completely removed it.
She heard a groan behind her and turned her head to see the real Rui standing up, holding her head as though she had a headache. She looked back just in time to see the smoking bear transform back into Mirror-Rui, purple flames and all – though they weren't nearly as impressive – leaving her looking just as she did earlier, a copy of the real girl. At her feet, though, Curly the Bear lay in tatters, missing an eye and almost an arm.
Although Rui looked weak, she limped forward until the two were nearly face to face, and glared at her other self, though both remained silent. She simply stood, looking the other girl in the eye. They watched each other for a while; Miyako was content to let them stare each other to death, so long as she got some rest. Nephthys decided she'd had enough as well, and burst into flames of her own, vanishing.
Finally, Rui broke eye contact and looked down at the feet of her other half and her expression softened. She leaned over and picked up the damaged stuffed bear, looking at it with a fondness that was indistinguishable from the way the other Rui had looked at the same doll earlier. She gently lifted the damaged arm, testing the strength of the seams holding the bear together. Then, she softly squeezed the bear against her cheek. Miyako heard her whisper, "I'll fix you soon." She wasn't sure if she was supposed to have heard that, so she stayed silent.
"Alright." Rui said, letting her arm drop, still gripping Curly. "Fine. You win."
"Rui…?"
The pink-haired girl twitched slightly at Miyako's voice, as though she had forgotten the other girl were there. With a slight tilt of the head to acknowledge her, Rui returned her focus to her shadow. "So what if I still like dolls? So what if I still want to be a model? What are you gonna do about it?"
Shadow-Rui simply stared, unblinking.
"Answer me!"
"Rui, why is it such a bad thing to like dolls or want to look pretty? Why have you bottled this all up? What happened?"
"Not now." She looked down, her body trembling. "I… I can't tell you. Not now. Later." Miyako heard her take a deep breath before continuing. "But fine. Yeah, I still feel the same. I don't want to look weak. I'm… I'm not. But… I…"
She looked up again at her shadow. With a grin – completely different from her previous one, this one had no traces of malevolence – Mirror-Rui slowly melted into a thin purple mist, which then transformed into a bright blue light. Miyako had to look away, and she heard her friend gasp, but when she looked back, there was only one Rui, and she was clutching some sort of oversized blue card in her right hand, opposite Curly.
"The Chariot?" she said, staring at the card. "The hell is this?"
"Let me see," Miyako demanded, suddenly perking up. She scrambled over to Rui, who turned and handed over the blue card. "It's a tarot card," she said in amazement. "Igor asked me if I knew anything about them. But why do you have this? Does this have some connection to me?"
"To you? Why would it? Who is Igor?"
"Hey, you owe me an explanation, too. We'll trade after I have time to think about this. Right now, though… I just want to sleep."