The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Fourteen
AN - Alright everyone, this is the last chapter until most likely sometime a couple of weeks from now - I'm starting college and I don't want to risk actually falling behind on anything just because I want to write you all Katsu.
I've tried to leave you on a good note, with Kruger and Fujino not doing anything too... sexual, and Nao's UST finally coming to a head. There are only perhaps six more chapters in this story, and so much still has to happen.
Darkredeyes, Madly Lies Turandot – thank you for your words of encouragement.
xSojix – The Title comes from one of the first lines of the Phantom of the Opera. "I'm sure some of you may recall the strange affair of the phantom of the opera, a mystery never fully explained.
Warp Ligia Obscura – What do you mean you don't like the premise? I mean, I'm glad you read it, but what's wrong with the idea?
Silent E – Oh yes, I'm sure that Fujino does not like being told that this … other her is taking care of her darling Kuga-chan… Fufufu, I'm so evil.
Vindicated – Nao's there, you just have to look.
Gaulderobe, Wind City, Windbloom
The morning had been a perfectly normal one, seeing Nina again had been an interesting treat, but a short-lived one, as the girl had quickly latched herself onto Irina Woods and some of the lesser Pearls she'd been friends with the previous year. It had given Nao the chance to escape the obligation that she felt to the girl. It wasn't that Nina was really her charge, more like a younger sister from the same country, in the same situation. Nao had brought her to check out Fujino, but since the events of the day before, Nao had no interest in interacting with Viola's double ever again. She wouldn't want to wish the ass-kicking she'd had the previous day on anyone, especially not Nina.
Even with that Daddy-complex, she's an okay kid. Nao mused, propping her head on her arm, contemplating the table before her with disinterest. Her shoulders hurt and she was unprepared for whatever she was bound to have to do today.
To tell the truth, she had honestly not expected Nina to come so quickly. She more just wanted to get the word out to her former charge that there were events happening at Gaulderobe that would, perhaps, run more smoothly if she were present. She honestly had no expected such a prompt response.
There was nothing fun going on – since Kruger was so wrapped up in trying to return that monster to wherever it was that she came from. Nao hated the feeling of uselessness that her current position, as a Column, she had certain rights and responsibilities, but she rarely actually did anything, for all the power the position brought her. She flicked an invisible bit of dust off the table; Fujino was truly something else, worming herself into Kruger's heart without even trying. Overstepping bounds that not even Nao herself dared to more than touch with a ten-foot pole.
She'd crawled right into bed with Kruger as though she'd never left, and Nao did not know what else to say about it. She hated the fact that anyone could get into bed with that woman and still live to tell the tale. Didn't Fujino know that the relationship between Viola and Kruger was not an open one?
On top of the fact that she's powerful – ungodly powerful. Nao shook her head; she had been soundly beaten by that girl in a matter of minutes. It had not been a fair contest from the start, for she had thought to have the advantage over Fujino. An advantage the sandy-haired woman quickly proved to be void.
Nao rose from her seat, and headed outside. Kruger and Fujino were taking their sweet time this morning, she thought in annoyance, glancing around herself to make sure that she would not be followed as she picked her way up the footpath towards the headmistress' quarters.
If she expects me to wake her up after another night of no sleep. Nao knew that she should not be growling so menacingly at nothing, but Kruger's relationship with her had always been somewhat based on animosity. It was a loving sort of aggravation, Nao had realized long ago, and one that she could stand as she'd never really liked her parents that much to begin with.
As she rounded the bend in the path that opened her view from trees to the large bay window of the headmistress's residence and most of the rest of the white building, Nao noticed something that made her blood run cold.
Kruger and Fujino.
Kissing.
Nao felt the color drain from her face as she stared at the scene before her. This was not supposed to happen, ever. Nao felt as though one of her universal constants was being taken and replaced by something else. Something that she could not even begin to fathom.
Nao felt herself flush and turn away from the scene before her as quickly as she could, before the damage was done. Betrayal blooming in her eyes, she clenched her fists as she closed her eyes against the onslaught of hatred that she felt for that woman – she would not stand for this.
Kruger was supposed to be a good person, a faithful and devoted lover – not this whimsical being that could simply move from lover to lover as though nothing had happened. They were not the same person – Fujino and Viola, and they would never be.
Fujino Shizuru. She hated that name, hated her for taking the place that Shizuru Viola had left, the void that Nao herself should have filled. The moment that Nao had been waiting for since the beginning of her Coral Year – since this damn infatuation had started; it had slipped though her fingers.
She ventured a glance back to stare at the window one more time, the betrayal still evident in her eyes. Kruger was patting the crying girl on the head, kissing her cheek, no doubt whispering kind words, anything to keep the girl calm.
But there were eyes upon her, blank and angry. On the whisper of the wind, Nao could have sworn she heard a silent warning to run.
Run as far as she could before the child came out.
The lips, moving, inaudible from behind the glass, seemed to spell out a word that Nao knew she recognized. A word she would never forget.
She'd never forgotten it to begin with.
Kiyohime.
She ran.
-
After breakfasting with Shizuru and putting the girl to work grading a fairly self-explanatory test that the Pearls had taken the day before, Natsuki Kruger felt as though she could actually attempt to slog through some of the massive amount of paperwork that she had suddenly acquired over the past few days. This business with Fujino had thrown off the natural rhythm to which Natsuki did things, and she did not like the damage that it did to her productivity.
Yesterday, at least before the whole fiasco with Nao; Natsuki had managed to get some work done – but nowhere near enough. She had reports due on three different subjects to various branches of the Windbloom government, and another two for Aries and Florence. There was no way that she could play catch-up when half of her working team had vanished into god-knows-where in the time-space continuum.
Natsuki closed her eyes and forced herself to think once again on the task at hand. She had no wish or want to think of her Shizuru right now, for thinking of her made concentrating on work even harder; as her mind was so plagued with worry.
Settling down into her chair, Natsuki allowed herself to induldge in the small pleasures of her life, forgetting, for the moment, the larger ones. She savored the taste of the freshly-brewed tea she'd brought with her as she pulled the first of her reports out of her inbox.
Natsuki felt her eyes go slightly cross-eyed as she skimmed the document. It contained something about the need to assign an Otome to Zipang or send either Nao or Sara to look over the proceedings of setting up a sister school – according to the report, it just wasn't safe to just send the technology over to the country and not give them something with which to base their preliminary guesses on.
Natsuki closed her eyes, as far as she knew Zipang was full of a rather backwards people who cared more for being polite and appearing to be the picture of utmost calm that she didn't think that having an Otome there while they built a building was such an important thing. True, she'd have to send perhaps some of the current Pearl class to the island nation to act as teachers for a while. It was a worthy sacrifice, to lose some of the Otome that could have been put to work, protecting the royals of this kingdom – for the sake of suddenly having twice the work force.
She sighed, and wiggled around to scratch the small of her back. It was odd for her to itch like that; perhaps she'd been bitten by something that morning, as they made their way down to the school?
She shrugged, and turned her attention back to the report. Trailing a finger down the numbers, she was jerked back to reality once again, by a ringing of the phone. She paused, and then reached over and plucked the phone off of its receiver, bringing it to her ear.
"Kruger here." Natsuki said with a sweeping gesture, tossing the report back onto her desk and leaning back in the chair. She'd never been good at getting work done in a productive sort of manner, and it was only with much persuasion that Shizuru had managed to coax Natsuki into doing anything at all.
How she'd gotten this job was completely lost on her. Sure, she'd been the number two, and then number one Pearl; but she'd gone along with Mai simply out of the spirit of competition between them.
"Natsuki, it's Mai." Natsuki nearly dropped the phone. That was not a voice that she was not expecting to hear. Natsuki sat up a little straighter as her former roommate continued, "President Chrysant asked me to call you."
"Oh, what did Madame President want?" Natsuki could not help but find herself intrigued at the prospect of Yukino Chrysant asking Mai to call her. Usually the woman made such calls herself. Yukino was always reliable when it came to establishing a personal connection with her fellow world-leaders.
"She's gone back to the ruins, with Mikoto…" Mai trailed off; as though listening for something that Natsuki herself could not hear. "Oh, Natsuki, Mikoto says that the world will start changing if we can't find a way to get Fujino-san home."
Natsuki blinked, way to drop a major problem in my lap. Mai always had had a knack for making even the worst news sound like something she'd want to hear, even though Natsuki had no idea how she did it.
She sighed quietly, away from the mouth piece of the phone, so that Mai could barely hear it. She was used to this, as it was part of the job description, she must hold up well in crisis. "What do you mean, change?" Natsuki inquired, preparing for the onslaught of information that she knew was coming.
"This world – it's not time -" Mai trailed off, Kruger supposed that she was struggling to find the words. There was a sharp intake of breath, and then Mai continued, "Fujino-san's presence in this world is setting off a chain reaction of events that are not stated to happen for another twenty or so years."
"According to that pet cat-god of yours?" Natsuki asked, perhaps a little bitterly. She did not like the woman that Mai had found herself inexplicitly bonded to, finding her happy personality and far too infinite knowledge of everything to be obnoxious.
"She's not my pet, Natsuki." Mai retorted, "She knows what she's talking about, however. This world is changing – and I don't think that it's for the better.
Natsuki Kruger nodded, knowing the truth in Mai's words. She too had felt the changes, her want to be alone more and more – the feeling of loneliness perforating every aspect of her body.
-
The Katsu Ruins, Aries-Altai Border
It was late in the morning when the delegation finally arrived at the Katsu ruins, and Mikoto knew almost immediately that something was wrong. Turning her nose into the air, she sniffed shortly and moved to the left of the main entrance, Professor Sandskein and the rest of President Chrysant's staff close on her heals.
These ruins; Mikoto realized, were the remains of a large radio tower – something that had once stood just minutes from her home, high on a hill so that the signal could travel without the usual battle attached to FM-radio waves. She wondered why they were still here, especially if no one had noticed them before.
So they just appeared. Mikoto mused, pulling her robe closer around her body, contemplating the outside wall of the ruins. As if the world its self wanted me to come and see them. It's as though the carnival was meant to start – even without Nagi or Himeno.
But why? Mikoto was unsure of the answer, moving around the outside, looking for another way in. There should have been another way – as there was always a back way into these caves.
She poked the wall with her staff, the ornaments clinking gently as she did. The wall was soft, after all the apparent years of disuse. Her staff chipped a small section off of the concrete when it hit the wall, the grey substance crumbling into dust on the ground.
"Come on." She said, smiling at Professor Sandskein, who looked quite flabbergasted at Mikoto's actions. Mikoto supposed that she would be, if she actually cared about the walls of this potentially very famous and full-of-history ruin.
-
Gaulderobe, Wind City, Windbloom
Natsuki Kruger was looking for a fight. After that conversation with Mai, she knew that she most likely deserved whatever was coming to her. She had had no right to doubt the validity of Mai's claims, as they seemed perfectly logical to her. The world was changing, perhaps for the worst, but Natsuki was reluctant to assign the blame to Fujino herself – as the girl just seemed to be broken, not threatening.
She pulled open the refrigerator and contemplated its contents. There wasn't much by way of food in there, instead just a few pieces of fruit that Shizuru had bought to snack on some days before. And yet, Natsuki felt the urge to cook something.
Or rather, burn something and feel better about herself.
Either way, she was in a bad mood. She pulled open the cabinet and found the last remaining box of pasta, a triumphant grin on her face. She would make Fujino pasta, as it was virtually impossible for her to mess it up.
Yes, Natsuki Kruger liked this idea.
She knew that as the head of Gaulderobe, she was required to tell Fujino just what her presence in this world was doing. And yet, Natsuki did not feel as though she could honestly tell the girl. There was so much on the line, and Fujino did not seem stable enough to handle the implication that all of the problems in this were her fault.
Natsuki set the pot of water on the stove, and sighed. She had no idea how to go about this.