(Chapter 8 is back in place, also)


The Porcelain Bus


"Freya!", Ms. Hibiya gasped, "What in the world happened?"

Freya didn't offer an immediate answer. She just stood there with her hands over her mouth, staring at Ms. Hibiya's petroleum-soaked dress and looking absolutely mortified.

So Kotoko answered for her. "Freya thought she'd be a badass and drink diesel fuel."

"Diesel fuel?", Hibiya repeated, brushing futilely at her dress. "Is that what this stuff is?"

Kotoko nodded. "And WD-40, and kerosene. She..."

Kotoko was interrupted by the sound of Hideki adding his stomach contents to the toxic spill in front of the department store.

"And how much kerosene did he drink?", Hibiya asked with a touch of sarcasm, pointing at Hideki who was now lying face down on the sidewalk.

Kotoko paused for a moment to watch Hideki as he tried, unsuccessfully, to get up. "Too much alcohol. I tried to warn him."

"I'm afraid it was my classmates who brought the booze.", Kojima admitted. "I had forgotten they were such heavy drinkers."

"So you're Kotoko's owner...", Hibiya guessed, noticing that it was Kojima's shoulder she was riding on. "Does that mean you're the one who abducted Chi?"

For a moment, Kojima looked ready to panic. Then he just looked depressedly at the ground and answered. "...yes..." (he didn't know about the new password, yet)

"And now you've come back for Freya, too?"

Kojima took a step backwards. "What? No! It's just... uh..."

Finally, Freya spoke up. "Actually, Mom, it turns out Kojima was one of Dad's students. And a big fan of his, too..OOF!"

Freya had tried to take a step towards Kojima, but between the oil slick beneath her and her now-unoiled servos, her feet slid out from under her and she joined Hideki down on the sidewalk.

"Let's get you into the store.", Hibiya told her, sounding rather exasperated as she helped her daughter up. Freya was looking really embarassed.

But Kotoko was pointing at Hideki and Kojima. "You should have seen these two when Freya chugged down that kerosene!", she snickered, imitating their jaw-drop facial expressions. "Duuhhhhh..."

Freya, already on her way into the store, started chuckling at Kotoko's parody. And for some reason, so did Ms. Hibiya. "Hehheheh, that would've been quite a sight wouldn't it?... The persocom department is back there past the DVD players... 'badass'."

While Freya was in the back, Chi kept an eye on Hideki, and Hibiya got her shopping done. And while she was shopping, Hibiya and Kojima shared a few stories about Dr. Mihara.

"Kotoko seems very advanced, especially for a mobile persocom.", Hibiya observed. Kojima nodded. "She's the main subject of my doctoral thesis. A persocom that can analyze and act independently, and not rely on a human for every instruction."

"Sound familiar?", Kotoko asked Ms. Hibiya. "Kojima heard about the 'Chobits' legend and decided he'd make a thesis of it. Imagine his surprise when he found out the legend was REAL..."

"You're based on the 'Chobits' LEGEND?" Ms. Hibiya asked Kotoko, her eyes wide.

Kotoko nodded. "I am designed to be the functional equivalent. Kind of a 'Proof of Concept' model."

"I thought you seemed different.", Freya called out from somewhere in the back of the store.

"I wonder why it foamed up so much...", Ms. Hibiya wondered aloud as Freya returned from the Persocom department, once again walking normally. "Were you being shaken up or something, Freya?"

"Well...", Freya said, smiling momentarily over at Kojima, "We did dance for several hours."

Freya decided NOT to mention the bamboo grove she and Kojima had been ..."exploring"... in.

By then it was getting really late. Kojima and Kotoko waved and headed off down the sidewalk. "Later...", Kojima called out as they left. {That was a rather un-romantic exit}, Freya thought to herself as she watched them walk away.

Chi reached down and put one arm under Hideki's knees, and the other under his back. Then she scooped her passed-out human up off the floor, and the four of them headed for their apartments.

And as they approached the Gub Jogasaki apartment building, Freya was sure she heard a tiny voice call out from somewhere up in the sky: "Goodnight, badass!"


Freya lay awake awhile, pondering the events of the day. This "Kojima" guy did seem interesting, but... maybe it was just that he had known her father... Was she in love again? She wasn't sure. Seeing how things were turning out for Chi had made her want to live again; to love again; but Chi is Chi and Freya is Freya, and the thought occurred to her that there might NOT be a someone just for Freya.


Back in the Motosuwas' room, Chi lay Hideki gently down, and put a towel under his head so he wouldn't ruin the pillow with his vomit.

And Chi lay awake awhile as well, remembering the night Ms. Shimizu had passed out drunk in their apartment, and wondering why humans sometimes keep drinking until they go 'flop'.

The next day, Hideki refused to get out of bed. "Ohh, my head hurts...", he groaned.

"How about some breakfast?", Chi suggested. "We still have sausage...", she announced, pulling a piece of sausage out of the fridge.

Hideki took one look at the piece of greasy leftover sausage, and went running out the door. Chi followed him, only to find him sitting on the floor in front of the toilet.

Praying to the water gods.

Driving the porcelain bus.

He was throwing up again.

"You going to be okay for prep school?", Chi asked him, and Hideki groaned. "I... think I'll stay in today. Can I copy your notes later?"

Chi nodded, and went to prep school without him.


It was time for class to begin, and Ms. Shinbo was nowhere to be found. "Where's Ms. Shinbo?", the students were asking one another. They hadn't noticed that there was someone standing on the teacher's desk.

"Good morning, class, I'm your substitute teacher for today", announced the tiny purple-haired substitute teacher. "Ms. Shinbo isn't feeling well today. She has morning sickness."

"Kotoko is teacher?", Chi asked, her eyes full of surprise.

"I have passed the qualifications test for a substitute," Kotoko stated firmly, "and I am fully capable of conducting a classroom."

Then Kotoko looked at the empty seat beside Chi. "Where is Mr. Motosuwa?", she asked Chi.

"Hideki isn't feeling well today either," Chi answered, looking depressedly at the floor. "I think he has morning sickness too."

Chi had no idea why, but the entire class erupted into uproarious laughter at her statement. So much so that nobody noticed as Kotoko was dropping a lit firecracker into the empty metal wastebasket.

"Kotoko really knows her stuff", Chi told Hideki later that day, "but I think Ms. Shinbo teaches it better."


Next: Freya deals with depression, and Kotoko picks up a runaway.