"Canaan?" said the caller out of the receiver. "Is that you?"
The synesthete relaxed. Not Yun-Yun. Sadly, not Alphard either, although considering that her mind was currently an absolute blank from the past several hours, that could well be a good thing. Japanese accent. No trace of humour. Serious, ruthless, and straight to the point -
"Natsume?" she said in horror as her synesthesia kicked in and translated the colour of the woman's voice directly to her. "You're the one? You're the one who can explain everything to me?"
There was a brief silence on the line as both parties took a moment to deduce that they were not on the same length.
"Explain?" Natsume said in bewilderment. "I do not need to explain anything to you. I am here to analyse, interpret and inform. I have been researching for the past four hours to get my hands on this information."
"Information?" Canaan was completely lost. "Information about what?"
Natsume clicked tongue. "About you, Canaan!"
The synesthete winced as more jolts of pain went through her skull. The headache hadn't gone away at all. It had worsened since last night considerably, but at least she was still able to stand up. Did this happen to people everytime they got drunk? It didn't seem to bring any benefit whatsoever.
"You see," Natsume continued, brushing past her thoughts with single-minded efficiency, "after doing an extensive background check on your file last night, which took many hours of hard work, I have discovered a fact that has changed the course of the future: you are, after all, not the new Liang Qi."
Maria mouthed a silent question at Canaan from behind the phone, looking confused. Canaan shook her head back, indicating that it really was a long story at this stage.
"And?" she said into the receiver tiredly, holding the side of her head in her elbow to try an minimize the pain in her temples.
"And," Natsume concluded, "if you are not the new Liang Qi, you are not secretly working for Alphard, and so I no longer need to eliminate you."
The headache ebbed away slightly for a moment, allowing the synesthete to process the impact of her words. She may as well have not bothered, though.
"So you're going to stop shooting at me," she evaluated.
"Yes," Natsume confirmed. "Even though a couple of nights ago your girlfriend punched me in the face and did bodily harm to my colleague - "
"Alpard only threw him into the bins!" Canaan protested. "And besides, I think I've got her to agree not to attack you any more."
The Japanese woman's voice suggested no amusement. "That's wonderful, Canaan, because our own plans to take her down have still not changed. So I am issuing a warning...if you continue to associate with Alphard Al'Shuara...then you may be caught in the crossfire." She paused as a deathly silence fell between them. "I have instructed my agents not to fire on you as long as you do not counter-attack - "
"Natsume, this is not the time." Canaan closed her eyes, the dull pain ricocheting through her ears painfully. "You actually rang me up to tell me that you spent the whole of last night determining whether or not I am secretly Liang Qi in disguise."
Natsume's tone brooked complete confidence in her own abilities. "It was time well spent," she said determinedly. "Would you claim to have done something more worthwhile with your hours? What did you do last night."
"I don't know."
"What?" Natsume said in a baffled tone of voice.
Canaan slumped against the side of Maria's bed. "I don't know what I did last night. I woke up with a splitting headache in my friend's bed whilst dressed like a – like – like a stealth ninja, and neither of us knows how I got here."
"I see."
"And then you phone me up to tell me that you worked out I was being sarcastic a few days ago and that you're not going to kill me." Canaan clutched at her hair desperately. "I have a hangover, I still have no money or phone, and - "
Natsume drew her breath shortly at the other end. "Look on the bright side," she said. "At least we both know you're not really the new Liang Qi."
"You really need to stop going on about that," the synesthete said sharply. "No one really cares anymore." She held her head in her hands. "Natsume, I need help! Where do I start? Did you see me here in Shanghai last night? At all?"
The Japanese woman sounded surprised. "You mean you left?"
"Aaargh! Never mind." I should have known it was like this talking to Natsume, Canaan thought. She doesn't understand sarcasm and when she gets confused she just doesn't let go of something and just... "I'd better go," she mumbled. "I have my memories to recollect."
"One thing I should inform you about," Natsume said suddenly before she could put the phone down.
Canaan paused in the middle of hanging up. "What?"
"Have you seen your flat recently?"
"My flat?" The silver-haired girl rubbed her eyes, punching the headache out of one side of her forehead. "No. Because you kept shooting at me last time I tried to stay there- "
"Well," Natsume said with a bit of lofty air about herself, "it would be a good place to start your investigations." She added, "And I am not responsible for anything that's happened to it."
Canaan stared at the phone for a moment.
"Are you saying something's happened to my flat?" she said suspiciously.
"If anything has," Natsume said carefully, "then I didn't do it. It already looked like that when I got there this morning."
"Natsume, what's happened to my flat?"
The Japanese woman sniffed. "It's easier for you to see for yourself."
"Why aren't - "
The phone went dead and Canaan threw it halfway across the room, where it annoyingly buried itself in a pair of comfy pillows and settled down to rest.
Natsume! What was she doing, phoning her up for something as stupid as that? Canaan had thought she knew at least something about last night, but it turned out she didn't have a clue. Except about her flat. Yes, if Natsume had tried to get hold of her, and tried calling at her flat...
What had happened to her flat anyway? She had to know. Besides, all her money and belongings had been left behind over there. She had to go there anyway. Maybe her phone was still intact. Maybe burglars hadn't come in through the broken window to loot the entire place.
Minoru came in at this point from the other room, dressed in a dishevelled T-shirt and tie placed loosely around his neck with ill-fitting trousers. He gaped at the two girls when he saw them.
"When did she come in?" he demanded, turning to Maria.
"We don't know," both girls said in unison.
The reporter held his hands up in surrender. "Sorry. I'll let the two of you get dressed." He eyed Canaan's costume for a moment and then dived back into the other room again, slamming the door closed behind him.
Canaan looked sadly down at herself. "Maria, I think I need some new clothes," she said miserably. "I'm not going to go back to my flat looking like Catwoman."
"You can borrow some stuff out of the wardrobe."
The two of them dressed in silence, Maria carefully doing so underneath the duvet covers as if scared that Canaan would catch another glimpse of her. Canaan sighed and turned her back as she kicked off the leather tights. It wasn't as if she was some perverted guy trying to look at her tits, after all. And she had no problem with taking her clothes off in plain sight of Maria, because she trusted her.
Minoru came back into the room some fifteen minutes later, bringing in the breakfast trolley from the hallway. "What's going on?" he said sleepily.
Maria looked over at Canaan as she helped herself to a sandwich. "Canaan, you're leaving already?"
The silver-haired girl mumbled an affirmative reply under her breath. "I have to hurry, Maria. I still don't know what I might have done last night...and I might never be able to contact Alphard this time..."
"You still don't have her number?"
"No, I - "
A flash of memory from before last night's scandal hit Canaan's mind, her eyes widening. That time, when Alphard was screwing her before they left. She'd left Canaan her number on the table! And Canaan had picked it up and...put it in her...pocket...
The pocket of her jeans back then. And then she'd changed into the dress Alphard had picked for her. No go.
Unless...
She ran back to the pile on the floor where lay the black leather costume that she'd somehow woken up in. It was just a small chance, but if...if she'd remembered...
Yes.
There was a crumpled up piece of paper stuffed down the front pocket of her clothes. How had it been moved, she wondered? Canaan didn't know. Maybe, unconsciously, she had moved it herself last night, knowing that she would need it later? Or Alphard had done it or...well, it didn't matter now. She couldn't even remember what she had done at all.
Alphard's number was written on the paper neatly in front of her. Canaan felt like kissing it, but then decided it would look a bit weird right now.
She looked at Maria beseechingly. "Can I - "
"You can ring her, Canaan," Minoru said, surprising the two of them. "What?" he said, glancing down at himself self-consciously. "I'm not going to stop her."
There was a deep silence in the stuffed room as Canaan painstakingly dialled Alphard's number and waited patiently. Last time she had done this, she had reached Liang Qi and all hell had broken loose. But not now. Now she would hear Alphard's voice. Now she would be able to speak to Alphard and find just what had gone on last night -
"Hello, you've reached the voicemail of Alphard Al'Shuara."
Canaan froze and almost dropped the phone. It was Alphard all right, but maybe she had recorded it from a while ago.
"I am currently away from the phone but please leave a message and I will get back to you shortly. If you have queries about the stocks and shares of the Daedala Corporation, please press 1. If you wish to report fraudulent activity leading directly from the Daedala Corporation and have been referred to me, please press 2. If you have an enquiry about..."
"This is taking forever," Minoru muttered, sitting down in the corner to munch away at the tray of sandwiches.
Canaan slumped on top of the bed, waiting for the list to finish. It had reached to seven. No, eight. And then...
"If you are calling about Canaan, please press 9. If none of these options apply to you, please hold and you will be shortly be transferred to my sister, who will be pleased to help you."
Oh. Shit.
"Press nine! Press nine!" Maria yelled.
"I am!" Canaan shouted back, stabbing at the button.
Beep.
There was a crackle over the line for a few moments, and then someone else's voice came over the machine.
"MWAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Minoru almost dropped his sandwich.
"This is Liang Qi and I have hijacked my dear sister's phone!" bleated the answering machine evilly. "Now you shall NEVER be connected to her again, ever! You'll fucking pay for doing that to my room, to my dear Alphard photos, oh you will PAY, Canaan!"
Canaan tried to take this all in. So last night she'd done something to Liang Qi's room. Right. That was something, at least. It wasn't good news at all, but it was something.
The answering machine was still going.
"I have already planned my torture of you and all your twisted little friends!" Liang Qi's recorded voice ranted on.
Maria looked up in annoyance. "Did she just call me twisted?" she whispered.
"And your stupid friend Maria probably wonders why I called her twisted, and that's because ANYONE who would be so fucking evil to want to be your friend, Canaan, WOULD be twisted and messed up in the head! And soon death shall rain from the skies. The lovely scent of blood. MWAHAHAHA! And then we will catch little gerbils in the fields and eat them."
"Can you turn that off?" Maria said pleadingly.
"And after I killed you at last, Canaan, you fucking bitch, after you are ALL dead, you know what I'm going to do?" Liang Qi cackled madly. "I'll bring you all back to life and you'll be ZOMBIES! MWAHAHAHAHA! And then I can kill you again. And you'll wander around looking for brains to munch on! BRAINS! BR-BR-BR-BRAINS! What do you think of THAT?"
Canaan quickly hung up the phone. "Sorry," she muttered. "I should have expected that. I think I need to get back to my flat right now. I need to see what happened."
Maria got to her feet too. "I'm coming with you," she insisted.
Minoru looked irritated at the two of them. "Well, then, I'm forced to come with you too," he said, looking quite put out. "This is not how I expected to wake up in the morning." He looked at Canaan with new-found admiration. "I swear, Canaan, everytime you visit something amazing happens."