Well, looks like I was wrong about not being able to make this little one day deadline. I was able to stay on my computer despite taking a sudden trip to visit grieving relatives.
Anyways, nothing much to say other than I hope I made Hikari and Meiko a bit more interesting in these recent chapters.
Chapter 20: Startling Discoveries! Abandoned by All!
Tsukishima General High School, Tsukishima District, Minato Ward, Tokyo, Japan. August 13th, 2005. 1728 Hours
P.O.V. – Koushiro Izumi
"A shard of Apoclymon?" I repeated what Nishijima had just said.
"That's the whole reason Meicoomon was targeted?" Yamato asked.
"Makes sense when you think about it, Apoclymon's sheer presence alone tore the Digital World apart. If a part of him still lives; then the same thing probably happens." Ross said.
"The destruction of the whole world…" Jou muttered.
"An existence that wants to exterminate mankind…" Sora added.
"Isn't that…?" Mimi questioned.
"Yggdrasil." Nishijima answered.
"Then it may have been Yggdrasil's will to remove us from the Digital World too." I theorized.
"What the hell is Homeostasis doing?" Jou argued before he gasped. "That's why!"
"That's why it wants to remove Meicoomon?" Hikari said.
"Taichi…" We all heard Agumon's voice groan from my laptop.
"What's up?" Taichi asked.
"I'm hungry!" All of us started to chuckle after a moment of silence there.
"You never change wherever you go."
"Wherever I am, I get hungry!"
"Agreed!" Gomamon, Gabumon and Guilmon all chimed as well.
"What should we do about dinner?" Sora suggested.
"I'll go buy something." Nishijima offered as he stood up.
Nishijima would be true to his word there as he headed out before coming back about an hour later with enough food for not only us but all the Digimon as well. In fact, more than enough to last even for breakfast.
"Can you grab the unimayo flavor?" Agumon asked as he ate into another rice ball.
"Me too!" Gomamon waved.
"You're still gonna eat?" Tailmon drooped her ears at the sheer surprise of how much those two were eating.
"Of course!" They declared.
"It's so quiet." Sora said as she looked out the window into the city.
"Yeah, it's almost hard to believe the world is in great danger right now." Mimi added.
"Isn't it scary?" Hikari whispered.
"Scary?" Sora questioned as we all looked to Hikari.
"We can never understand how serious a matter is unless it actually occurs around us." No one said a word after that as we all contemplated what she said. It was true though. The world stood on the edge of a knife right now, Daisuke and the others were still missing and yet here we were acting like nothing bad was happening.
Our silence was soon broken when the lights suddenly went out.
"Huh? What!?" I could hear Mimi slightly panic.
"Since we're all gathered here, a summer's night at school would call for this, right?" Takeru's voice called out from the darkness before he turned on a flashlight towards his face. I knew exactly what was going on now: he had turned out the lights to tell some scary stories.
"What? What? What's going on?" Palmon asked.
"Scary stories?" Ross questioned.
"Yup!" Takeru nodded.
"So stupid. Cut it out." Yamato grumbled.
"Onii-san's surprisingly bad at these types of stories in the dark." Takeru snickered.
"I-I'm just saying this isn't the time to be doing that kinda stuff." Yamato was blushing as he said that. The girls were all quietly talking to each other with their hands over their mouths. "Hey, what are you all whispering about! I'm not afraid of some ghosts, okay?!" The Digimon were all doing the same as well. "You guys too! Stop whispering!"
"I was all alone in the classroom…" Jou said, the flashlight on him as he took over telling the story. "And no one else was there. There I saw the results of our practice exams. It was an utterly terrifying score!"
"Oh, jeez! Back to that?!" Mimi was not amused.
"Why make it a joke?" Takeru teased him.
"What do I say?" Jou asked. "You said to share a scary story, so I told you my own bone-chilling experience!"
"That's completely based on your own personal fears." Sora said.
"Well, yeah! It's more realistic that way, right?"
"It isn't the least bit scary." Gabumon sighed.
"It's not even funny as a joke." Tentomon added.
"So my scores here are terrible as well." Jou rolled his eyes.
"Then the next is me?" Takeru reached out to take the flashlight from Jou. "This is a story about my friend…"
"A start like that sounds super fake already!" Mimi teased.
"I hate we're skipping me tonight." Ross huffed.
"Ross, we all would probably like to sleep tonight." Taichi told him.
"All of you, be quiet!" Takeru shouted.
"What about Meiko?" Sora suggested.
"Huh?" She looked up at our group.
"Do you know any scary stories?" Piyomon asked.
"Oh, I wanna listen!" Patamon shouted as he flew over and landed next to her. Meiko gave a small smile as she petted his head.
"Are there any stories from Tottori?" Hikari asked.
"I-I'm not very familiar with those types of stories." Meiko admitted.
"Or any stories of your own, Meiko." Palmon said.
"My own stories? I'm not exactly very good…"
"You don't need to be good." Taichi encouraged.
"That's right." Yamato nodded.
"Then… well… then, okay." She took a deep breath as she was handed the flashlight that went around the group. "This was when I was in elementary school…"
"Oh, it sounds realistic." I said.
"But there was a street that usually had streetlights lit. Just on that day, none of them were lit, I usually took that street home so I didn't think anything of it as I walked on. Then I heard a bicycle bell ring behind me. And someone on a bike rode past me." I noticed the Digimon were starting to look like they were on the verge of terror as she spoke. All except for Agumon who just kept eating.
"But I only heard its sound, and then…" Meiko paused.
"W-Wait, is this going to continue?" Mimi nervously waved her hand.
"Yes, this is where it got strange. So I was looking ahead of me, but this time I hear that bicycle bell right behind me. And that bike stopped right there. When I turned around…"
The door slid open behind us and almost everyone in the room screamed. The lights came on as Nishijima stood next to the switch.
"What's going on?" He asked as we all started to calm down. "Why are the lights off?" I glanced back and nearly chuckled when I saw nearly all the Digimon huddling around Meiko.
"We were telling scary stories and you interrupted Meiko's ending." Ross said, looking just as calm as he was the whole time.
"You're telling me you weren't scared for a moment this whole time?" Takeru gave him a look.
"Takeru-kun, with all the shit we've seen through the years, I'm desensitized to it."
"Anyways," Nishijima spoke up. "I thought I should take you all to the hotel soon."
"A hotel?" Mimi questioned.
"We can't go back home?" Sora asked.
"Sadly, the media still seems to be shadowing your homes. We've got a hotel for tonight."
"We're fine here." Taichi told him.
"At school?" Hikari raised her eyebrow at him.
"What? I wanna shower though!" Mimi argued.
"Just use the clubroom's showers." He said.
"Hmm…" Mimi thought about it for a moment. "Okay, then! The stories are just getting good too!"
"Nothing's getting good!" Yamato shouted.
"If you're scared, you can go to the hotel if you want." Takeru laughed.
"Don't be stupid!" The girls started whispering again. "Hey, you guys! Stop whispering!"
"Nishijima-san, is it okay?" Taichi asked.
"What? Well…"
"Hey, hey, I haven't said anything yet!" Jou argued.
"Then you wanna go to the hotel alone?" Mimi asked.
"I'll stay…" Jou immediately relented.
"Fine, but make sure to call home." Nishijima advised.
"Oh yeah, we haven't called yet." Sora said.
"It slipped our minds. They must be worried." Mimi added.
"And there's also the deal we could use some fresh clothes too." Yamato reminded.
"Don't worry, I'll get some folks to go by your places and get some extra clothes for you all." Nishijima said.
"I'm sorry I scared everyone." Meiko apologized; though it was more directed to the Digimon.
"Now, hold on a second." Ross stood up. "You said you were going to give us some answers." He walked up to Nishijima. "Enough of these secrets. Where are Daisuke-kun and the others, and why has Himekawa joined Yggdrasil. Answer me!" He slammed his hand against the nearby wall.
Nishijima sighed before he sat back down and opened up his computer and started typing on it for moments.
"Koushiro-kun, I've sent you an e-mail." He said. I opened my laptop back up before seeing the e-mail and opening it up. It was a map of the Digital World, or more specifically, an area of the Digital World.
"The others are being held captive somewhere in that area; where exactly, I'm still not sure, but it's our best lead and Himekawa would certainly know it. That's where I got that information from; her files." He then sighed.
"As for the reason why she betrayed us… it's a much longer story."
P.O.V. – Taichi Yagami
To say we were shocked was an understatement when Nishijima came clean with us. We all remembered during our fight with Apoclymon about the story of the original Chosen Children, but we never thought we would end up meeting a few of them. But once he said that, suddenly everything made much more sense.
Himekawa's grief and refusal to move on is what drove her to practically betray everyone she ever knew and cared about. In some ways, it was a fairly similar set of circumstances that allowed Vamdemon to prey on Oikawa and use him for his own ends.
After all that and Koushiro throwing out a few theories and ideas of how we could go back to the Digital World and rescue Daisuke's group, most of us split up throughout the school so we could make our calls to home.
"Yeah, yeah." Hikari nodded as we stood by the lockers as she talked with Mom on the phone. Tailmon and Agumon stood close to me. "I'll put Onii-chan on." She handed the phone off to me.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Is Agu-chan and everyone okay?" Never heard her refer to Agumon like that.
"You're more worried about them?" I teased.
"I'm sure you're okay." I saw Hikari giggling in the corner of my eye.
"Well, yeah, but…"
"Take care of Hikari, Agu-chan, and Tail-chan, okay?"
"Nothing about Ross or Guilmon?" I pointed out.
"Those two can clearly take care of each other…" She chuckled. "But do watch for them too."
"Okay. Bye."
"Taichi. Hasn't it been a while?"
"What?"
"Since your summer's been this lively?"
"What are you talking about?" There was a small pause before she spoke again.
"Good night." She then hung up.
"Lively?" I questioned as I looked back to Hikari.
"Onii-chan?" I handed the phone back to her.
"I'm gonna get some fresh air."
I started to walk towards one of the nearby entrances by myself before I heard some grunting sounds. As I approached the sounds that I was hearing, I turned the corner to find they were coming from one of the equipment rooms where I found Sora alone.
To my surprise, she was wearing a pair of black tracksuit pants that was fairly sung on her legs, a pair of white trainers with red laces, some fingerless gloves and finally a red sports bra. What was even more surprising other than her change of clothes was the fact that she was really taking some aggression out against the punching bag that was in the room.
"Sora?" I spoke up which quickly surprised her as stopped her punches. She turned to look at me before she started getting red in the face. "Since when did you take up boxing?" I asked.
"Since tonight." She admitted as she sat down to cool off. "Sorry you had to see me like this, Taichi. I've just been… very frustrated with things." I walked over before sitting down next to her.
"Sora, is this about our-"
"If you're about to say things between us are going to be like Ross and Mimi-chan, don't. It's not like that. Actually, it's sort of funny. The past few years, we've been more going on like before and acting less like a couple and more like close friends. The only thing that proves we're a couple is us rejecting anyone else asking us out." She chuckled.
"Yeah, we kinda have been taking this less than steady and more acting like nothing changed. But if the issue isn't us?" I asked.
"I just hate the fact that we're nothing but pawns in this whole game. How the Digital World and Homeostasis treats us as nothing more than tools rather than appreciate all we've sacrificed to protect it. How it's so convinced to simply end Meicoomon's life rather than trying to save her!" She slammed her fist against the bag.
"Then there was last night… when that fake Gennai attacked Meiko and I. His words and actions… it hurt." She pulled out her D-3. "Without this, I'm nothing. Just a normal girl like everyone else, and no good to anyone."
"Sora…" I tried to stop her.
"It's true, Taichi! I'm nothing without Piyomon, and I was so terrified when he had me pinned down and licked my cheek." My eyes widened upon hearing that.
"He did what!?"
"That's all he was able to do, but for a few moments, I really thought he was going to go much further." My blood really started to boil with each word she said.
"Sora…" I said in a grim tone. "If he ever even looks at you again…"
"Don't worry, Taichi. I know." She smiled at me. "I know you'll do whatever it takes to keep me safe, but that's also why I thought to try the punching bag. If he ever tries something again, I hope to give him a real nasty surprise." We both started to chuckle there as we stood up.
"Hey, if this is something you want to keep doing, then I'm more than happy to help support you. I know I would sleep well at night if I knew that you can protect yourself in the off chance Piyomon or I aren't around."
She blushed once more as I started to put my arms around her.
"No, Taichi, I'm filthy." I laughed upon hearing that.
"Sora, we're all filthy, we haven't showered in days." I reminded.
"Oh, yeah, I guess you're right about that…" She started to trail off as our faces got closer to each other before we both closed our eyes and our lips met. I held her tight as we continued to kiss each other for quite a few moments before we finally backed off.
"Was that…? That couldn't have been our first kiss, right?" I blushed when she said that.
"To be honest, I'm not actually sure myself." I rubbed the back of my neck. "Let's say that's our first. And Sora, when this is all finally over, I'm going to take you to some place really nice. My treat." I smiled. She gave me another peck on the lips before smiling back.
"I'll hold you to that promise, Yagami Taichi."
I glanced out the window behind her before I saw Nishijima meeting with a familiar person outside.
"Hey, isn't that Jun meeting with Nishijima-san?" Sora turned to see.
"Looks like she's got a lot of bags with her. Guess that must be our fresh clothes."
"Not a moment too soon to get them, either." I snickered.
P.O.V. – Yamato Ishida
I don't know what compelled me to go outside back down on the grounds of the school, but I did. Not only that, but I just happened to pick a random exit that took me right towards where Meiko had gone and was quietly talking to what I assumed was her parents on the phone.
"Yes, you don't need to ask me if I'm okay that many times. Everyone's all with me. I'm sorry about Mei-chan." She paused. "My thoughts…? I don't know… yeah… Thank you. Good night." She finished as she hung up. "I'm not okay at all…" I heard her whisper.
"Mei-chan… what do ya want me to do? I heard what he said. That you shouldn't have been born." I gave a small gasp underneath my breath. "Is that true? Is that why you trouble everyone? Why ya going crazy? I love ya, Mei-chan."
"But just that… I guess just having fun together maybe wasn't okay? What is me and Mei-chan's hope? If I'm your hope, why am I in such knots? No one would ever suss it." She gasped when she soon realized I was here and could hear her. "Yamato-san." She stood up.
"I didn't mean to overhear what you were saying." I sighed. "Was that in Tottori dialect? It's kinda fresh to hear. Sorry." I apologized as she didn't seem too amused.
"Ya sure are a top bloke."
"What?"
"Oh, I mean that you're a good person."
"Thanks." I chuckled. "I thought you were changing your mind about me for a second there. After a couple of those little conversations we had with each other, I thought I was really getting close to fully knowing who you are."
"Um…" She looked away and started to rub her arm.
"Meiko, listen, you know they always say…" I began to say as I looked up into the night sky. "There are things you can see when you're young, but can't see when you grow up. In reverse, there are things you see as an adult that you never noticed as a child. But I can't tell what it is you're supposed to see and what you're not."
"Is there that much of a difference between what kids and adults see?" I took another deep breath as I looked back at her. "You know, in the two times when I reunited with Gabumon after a really long time, I came to realize I had always been connected with him. Like he was a piece of me that was needed to make me complete. Everyone I think shares that thought too."
"Because you're partners?" She muttered. "'You shouldn't have been born.'" She repeated that terrible phrase.
"If you say that Meicoomon-"
"I think he said that to me!" That shocked me to hear her say that. "If I were never here, I wouldn't have been her partner. And Mei-chan would've never…"
"Meiko!" I shouted before I quickly calmed back down. "My bad." I took one more breath before I decided to turn around and walk away, feeling guilty for shouting at her like that.
"But…" I said as I came to a stop before turning back to look at her. "That's not right." I told her before I headed back inside.
I was back up on the roof a bit later, laying on the ground as I looked to the skies above once again. It was strange how peaceful everything seemed. Of course, my view would be obstructed by Gabumon.
"Yamato-san." He said to get my attention.
"What do you want?" I asked him.
"Well, I just came to say that we sent Agumon out to talk to Meiko after you finished talking with her." Oh great, the Digimon were spying on us.
"And?"
"Well, Agumon asked if she was hungry which made her laugh since he seemed so oblivious to what was going on. Then she started to cry over Meicoomon, I think. It wasn't that easy to hear from where we were."
"Great. I just made her night even worse then. I mean, I pretty much yelled at her before I left. That was dumb." I chastised myself.
"The others thought to report it." He said.
"To who? Their partners?" Gabumon nodded.
"Whatever." I groaned as I looked back up at the sky.
"Why did you yell at her?" Gabumon asked.
"I don't know." I told him. I sighed as I looked back at him. "Hikari-kun was saying earlier, that if it doesn't occur around us, we can't understand. In the end, I wonder if it's even possible to share the same feelings. I'm just so confused, Gabumon. It's weird, I thought I had so much figured out when I was a kid. Turns out, I really just didn't know anything."
"You like her. Don't you?" He bluntly stated. I blushed upon hearing that.
"To tell you the truth, Gabumon, I think I really might be feeling something for her. And what hurts the most right now is the fact that I can't seem to take away some of this pain she's feeling."
"Yamato-kun, you should just do exactly what you want to do."
"Maybe you're right." I sighed.
P.O.V. – Takeru Ishida
"Hikari-chan?" I called to her as I turned the corner into the empty classroom where I found Hikari sitting up next to a nearby wall and quietly sobbing. I almost didn't hear her as I was walking the halls, looking for some blankets or cushions that we could use for bedding.
"Takeru-kun…" She looked up and tried to wipe away her eyes but she knew that I had caught her.
"What's wrong?" I asked her as I sat down next to her.
"I'm sorry, Takeru-kun… I'm just thinking about how much of a terrible person I am."
"Terrible? You?" I questioned before she nodded.
"I know you probably don't think that way, but that's how I feel about myself. I've felt like this for a while now but the last few weeks have really pushed it. I just feel awful about myself because of what I do to you and Daisuke-kun."
"Daisuke-kun?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Remember when you and I had fraps the day after Leomon's death and all? Daisuke showed up when you went to the bathroom. He, he pointed out how I seem to string you two along with your feelings for me, never giving either of you a sign of who I really like, you know, like like."
Oh, that's what she's worried about. I know Daisuke and I have the little rivalry involving Hikari's heart, but I thought we were still good at least in terms of letting her decided to the point we would both accept who she chose, or if she would decided to keep both of us as friends.
"Daisuke-kun… he, he tried to kiss me, force himself to me for a kiss." She explained. "Please, Takeru-kun, don't be upset with him, be upset with me! He didn't go through with it. Said it was wrong and he knew it within a moment as I tried to keep him away."
"Hikari-kun…" I took her into a tight hug. "I could never be upset with you. I understand what you're meaning, I know it's hard, but I just want you to know that you shouldn't worry about hurting me if you decide differently. Last thing I want is to lose our friendship." She looked up to me and gave me a small smile.
"Takeru-kun… thank you." She said. "I just, I like to think I've gotten stronger over the years, but, I guess I'm still not that much different than before." She broke the hug as she stood up. "I just… I just need some more time to think this to myself. I promise, I'll come to you when I finally figure things out." She started to walk out of the room.
"I'll be waiting." I whispered to myself as I looked to the floor. Still not strong enough, huh? I felt a sudden chill through my spine. I hope she can find that strength soon; I think she's much stronger than she thinks.
Tsukishima General High School, Tsukishima District, Minato Ward, Tokyo, Japan. August 14th, 2005. 0722 Hours
P.O.V. – Hikari Yagami
We spent the rest of the night sleeping in Nishijima's room before I found myself and almost everyone else being woken up by the loud shout Koushiro gave. Less than a second after that, the door slid open as Nishijima stood there.
"It's Meicoomon!" He informed, which completely woke us all fully.
All of us rushed out of the school as fast as we could, running a few blocks towards the area that Meicoomon was. She was currently standing on top of one of the smaller buildings before several of us started to arrived, and looking even worse that she had before..
"Stop, Meicoomon!" Taichi shouted.
"Mei-chan!" Meiko called out as she tried to reach through to her partner. "You became that way because of me, right? Because you tried to protect me…" Meicoomon could only roar in response, probably not even listening to a thing that was being said. "Then blame me!"
I looked over to her and felt terrible at what I was hearing. I knew what she had said to Yamato last night through Tailmon, but to hear it with my own ears just felt worse.
"Blame me for not being a worthy partner! I'll take all of it!"
"Meiko-san…" I muttered.
"Or…" She took a few steps closer to the building. "Am I not your partner anymore?" Meicoomon leapt off and landed on the side of another building, cracking some of the windows she braced up against the side. "I can't become your hope?" She said with fear and sadness cracking in her voice.
"That's…" Nishijima took notice of what we were all seeing. The purplish aura that was radiating off of her. "the same thing surrounding her from the plant explosion."
"Agumon!" Taichi called his partner, ready to fight.
"Wait a second!" Koushiro shouted to stop him. "What if everyone gets infected again by getting in contact with Meicoomon?!" All of us gasped at the thought.
"No way!" Mimi feared. Was Koushiro right? Would fighting her simply just restart everything all over again?
"We gotta go!" Agumon declared.
"Yeah." Gabumon nodded.
"Gabumon." Yamato looked to his partner.
"Taichi!" All the Digimon looked to him after Agumon shouted his name. All of us human partners looked to him as well before Taichi nodded.
The Digimon went to quick word, all evolving to their Perfect forms before Meicoomon moved away and the fight that was about to take place moved to the nearby park. At least there was less buildings that could be wrecked but it still was much too close to everything.
"We leave it to you, MetalGreymon!" Taichi shouted.
Meicoomon kept her distance away from the Digimon as they moved to flank her and at least keep her from going anywhere else but this park. To our surprise, she turned her head to look at all of us, or more specifically, Meiko.
"Mei-chan…" She muttered before she pulled out her Digivice. "…is crying."
"What?" Taichi gasped.
"Yeah." I nodded. A part of me felt hope springing as Meiko's words showed their was still a sign of the gentle Digimon that was her partner still somewhere inside that corruption.
"She's scared."
Things quickly changed as Zudomon leapt at Meicoomon who shockingly knocked him away with ease.
"Zudomon!" Jou cried out for his partner.
"The distortion surrounding Meicoomon is increasing." Koushiro informed as he looked over the readings on his laptop.
"Is fear increasing Meicoomon's powers?" Nishijima wondered as Meicoomon launched a torrent of energy blasts that struck much of the surrounding area.
"Why?" Sora questioned. "Why does it turn out like this when we just want to save Meicoomon!" Meiko started to run right towards the direction of Meicoomon who stopped on top of a stoplight. However, Nishijima grabbed her to keep her out of harm's way.
"I need to save…" She tried to fight him off, but his grip on her held.
As Meicoomon let out another wave of attacks, a bright light was shining from the sky, and it wasn't anything natural.
"It's here." Nishijima said. Meicoomon threw a blast at the light before it exploded… and out of the cloud of smoke that was raised was Jesmon.
"Jesmon? The hell is that thing doing here?" Ross asked.
"A Digimon that Homeostasis has sent in." Nishijima informed.
"Now it makes sense." Ross responded. "That's why it was fighting Alphamon. Yggdrasil had sent Alphamon to take Meicoomon and more than likely being used as his main enforcer against Homeostasis."
Jesmon lowered down before Meicoomon screamed out once more before the aura exploded around her… and suddenly revealed she had evolved once more.
The creature now in her place was a sort of feline, fallen angel with orange fur. She had two massive wings that had the tips reach to her mid-tail. She was wearing what looked to be golden armour with purple jewels that covered her arms, chest, thighs and feet.
The world around her was even more of a shock as parts of some of the nearby buildings were melting way as like holes were eating all the matter in their path.
"What is that power?" Taichi feared.
"Just her existing is destroying everything." Koushiro said.
Meicoomon charged Jesmon and got a good hit against it before they went into the air and Jesmon slammed Meicoomon into the ground.
"Mei-chan!" Meiko cried.
"Why?!" Taichi shouted with anger. "Didn't Homeostasis tell us to take care of Meicoomon?!"
"So once we're no use, it's just gonna cut us off and finish Meicoomon itself?" Yamato growled.
"I thought that it was Yggdrasil's will that was trying to remove us from the Digital World. But maybe it was Homeostasis' will?" Jou guessed.
"If that's the case, then who is our real enemy?" Taichi asked. "Who… who are we really fighting against?!"
I think we might be on our own now, and trapped between a war of titans…
Homeostasis's actions in this story are all for the greater good... why the hell am I getting Hot Fuzz flashbacks? XD
Simon Skinner: "You see, much as I enjoyed your wild theories Sergeant, the truth is far less complex. Blower's fate was simply the result of his being... an appalling actor." (Appalling!)
Nicholas Angel: "You murdered him for that?"
Simon Skinner: "Well, he murdered Bill Shakespeare."
Nicholas Angel: "What?"
Annette Roper: "Martin Blower was less concerned with the reputation of the village than he was with his sordid affair with Eve Draper!"
Nicholas Angel: "So Eve deserved to die too?"
Dr. Robin Hatcher: "Well, she did have a very annoying laugh." (Annoying!)
Nicholas Angel: "George Merchant?"
Simon Skinner: "He had an awful house." (Awful!)
For the greater good indeed. :D See you all tomorrow for the next chapter.
"Push the button, Frank."