WGYWKY
00000101: Intermission
"I still think you should've told him, Raharu."
"Put a sock in it." She pouted slightly, staring out the window. "You got your Atomsk replacement. Now lemme alone..."
"No. I have to train him from scratch because of your negligence. It's only fair that you pay your penance."
"Meaning?"
"You train the girl." Silence was a rare reaction from Raharu, AKA Haruhara Haruko, but when the situation required it she could keep her mouth shut.
"Yes, sir . . ." She rose and left the chamber, silent.
____________________________________________________________
"I tell ya, I saw `em on the news. Naota and Ninamori were both there, AND the crazy Vespa woman, AND that weird guy with the big eyebrows!" Gaku stared at the ship from behind the chain-link fence that the police had put up, eyes wide. The TV had been packed with CNN reports on the event- or rather the single report that they had, that aliens had landed, a few humans had been seen coming and going, and no, they were not the grey- skinned things from Roswell.
"Look, I think that your imagination's going nuts on you. What would-" Masashi grew silent as the door opened slowly, a peculiar red-orange light oozing out. "Hey, looks like someone's coming out." As the two watched, Eri Ninamori appeared in the portal and walked towards the fence, holding a cheap book bag and looking absolutely exhausted. "Huh. I guess she was in there . . ."
"NINAMORI-SAN!" Gaku shouted as she approached the perimeter and was let out by the police. "What's going on in there? Oh my gosh, don't tell me they probed you . . . was it cold? Did it hurt?"
"Shut up. Nothing happened." Eri's face was blank, a dark, sullen mask, but her voice leaked frustration and anger.
"Well, you apparently spent the night in an alien ship. That's something." Masashi shrugged.
"Not really."
"Hey . . . where's Naota?"
"Getting tutored." ____________________________________________________________
-Hold my breath- -As I wish for death- -Oh, please God, wake me!-
The wind rushed beneath Naota as he flew down the corridor, propelled by the blaring guitar solo that played over his headphones. He grinned madly as he darted beneath the legs of a loitering technician, barely avoided an open instrument panel, and came to rest at the platform where he'd begun. He slowly removed the phones, his head spinning. That had been ~worth~ working all night for.
"That . . . was . . ."
"Pretty cool, wasn't it?" Os nodded. "Each song has power. Your power is to unlock and utilize the full force of music. Flight is just the tip of the iceberg, but if you ask me, it feels the best."
"Can you do that? I mean-"
"To a lesser extent. So can Haruko, and . . . well, almost everyone else on the ship. By the end of the week you'll be able to do it to the music in your head almost as well as the music outside it." Naota nodded.
"Music is the weapon . . ."
"In every sense of the word. In our society, it always has been. Have a seat." Os leaned back, eyes closing. "In the history of our planet, there have always been Bards, the wandering warriors who used music as the source of their power. They were the ones that first used the Divine Axe, what your people refer to as a Guitar." A pause. "Then came the Great Bard, the man that took fifty musicians and defeated two armies of fifty million apiece to end a war that had lasted a hundred cycles . . . after that, our people began to regard the Guitar as a source of respect, a symbol of honor. Any Rehus worth his water content carries an Axe with him at all times."
"Rehus . . ." Naota let the name roll in his mouth a moment. Haruko's people.
"Bingo. We'll cover more later, why don't you take a break?"
"I . . . I don't want to yet." Os arced one eyebrow, a gesture that made him look startlingly like Amarao.
"You're not tired?"
"No. Not yet." A long pause.
". . . You are full of surprises . . ."
TBC.
00000101: Intermission
"I still think you should've told him, Raharu."
"Put a sock in it." She pouted slightly, staring out the window. "You got your Atomsk replacement. Now lemme alone..."
"No. I have to train him from scratch because of your negligence. It's only fair that you pay your penance."
"Meaning?"
"You train the girl." Silence was a rare reaction from Raharu, AKA Haruhara Haruko, but when the situation required it she could keep her mouth shut.
"Yes, sir . . ." She rose and left the chamber, silent.
____________________________________________________________
"I tell ya, I saw `em on the news. Naota and Ninamori were both there, AND the crazy Vespa woman, AND that weird guy with the big eyebrows!" Gaku stared at the ship from behind the chain-link fence that the police had put up, eyes wide. The TV had been packed with CNN reports on the event- or rather the single report that they had, that aliens had landed, a few humans had been seen coming and going, and no, they were not the grey- skinned things from Roswell.
"Look, I think that your imagination's going nuts on you. What would-" Masashi grew silent as the door opened slowly, a peculiar red-orange light oozing out. "Hey, looks like someone's coming out." As the two watched, Eri Ninamori appeared in the portal and walked towards the fence, holding a cheap book bag and looking absolutely exhausted. "Huh. I guess she was in there . . ."
"NINAMORI-SAN!" Gaku shouted as she approached the perimeter and was let out by the police. "What's going on in there? Oh my gosh, don't tell me they probed you . . . was it cold? Did it hurt?"
"Shut up. Nothing happened." Eri's face was blank, a dark, sullen mask, but her voice leaked frustration and anger.
"Well, you apparently spent the night in an alien ship. That's something." Masashi shrugged.
"Not really."
"Hey . . . where's Naota?"
"Getting tutored." ____________________________________________________________
-Hold my breath- -As I wish for death- -Oh, please God, wake me!-
The wind rushed beneath Naota as he flew down the corridor, propelled by the blaring guitar solo that played over his headphones. He grinned madly as he darted beneath the legs of a loitering technician, barely avoided an open instrument panel, and came to rest at the platform where he'd begun. He slowly removed the phones, his head spinning. That had been ~worth~ working all night for.
"That . . . was . . ."
"Pretty cool, wasn't it?" Os nodded. "Each song has power. Your power is to unlock and utilize the full force of music. Flight is just the tip of the iceberg, but if you ask me, it feels the best."
"Can you do that? I mean-"
"To a lesser extent. So can Haruko, and . . . well, almost everyone else on the ship. By the end of the week you'll be able to do it to the music in your head almost as well as the music outside it." Naota nodded.
"Music is the weapon . . ."
"In every sense of the word. In our society, it always has been. Have a seat." Os leaned back, eyes closing. "In the history of our planet, there have always been Bards, the wandering warriors who used music as the source of their power. They were the ones that first used the Divine Axe, what your people refer to as a Guitar." A pause. "Then came the Great Bard, the man that took fifty musicians and defeated two armies of fifty million apiece to end a war that had lasted a hundred cycles . . . after that, our people began to regard the Guitar as a source of respect, a symbol of honor. Any Rehus worth his water content carries an Axe with him at all times."
"Rehus . . ." Naota let the name roll in his mouth a moment. Haruko's people.
"Bingo. We'll cover more later, why don't you take a break?"
"I . . . I don't want to yet." Os arced one eyebrow, a gesture that made him look startlingly like Amarao.
"You're not tired?"
"No. Not yet." A long pause.
". . . You are full of surprises . . ."
TBC.