Updates and info on bio. A few new stories have been planned.

Updates will come more frequently, now that school is out.

Turn Your Anger Into Lust
The torrent of internal profanity slowed to a drizzle. Eri always tried to hide that side of herself. The mayor's daughter was perfect; she didn't dream of unleashing a vulgar tongue. That was why Eri was glad that no one could read her mind. Anyway, she only reverted to that state when under severe stress. She didn't always curse everything within sight.

In fact, she was calming down now. Just a few more "ohhhhhmmmmms" and she would be perfectly sane again. Nirvana was close at hand. In five minutes, she'd be there.

"Canti," she called up to the robot.

Cantido shifted so his screen was facing towards her. He gently lifted her up until she was safe in both of his steely arms. His screen read, 'Are you better now, Ninamori-san?'

"Much," Eri frowned. She glared at her mechanical kidnapper. "Now that I've gotten over the shock of you whisking me off to outer space, would you care to explain yourself?"

Eri didn't realize how fast they'd been going until the stars came into focus. A blue haze shone around them both, presumably protecting them from the menacing death on all fronts.

'Are you not worried about Naota-san?' the monitor asked. If those words had been spoken aloud, they would have carried a hint of misgiving. As it was, Eri just stared uncomprehendingly at her captor.

Eri thought for a moment. Naota was back on Earth, while a household appliance was carrying her through the unknown and asking her if she was worried about him. Right now, she was more preoccupied with her present position than Naota's.

"I don't see what that has to do with anything," Eri huffed.

I mean, Naota was probably still hiding in his garage, tinkering with his stupid vespa. Every time she'd been over for the last few weeks, that was where he'd been. She'd asked him to come get ice cream, to go to the river, and even to play baseball. No, no and no. Too busy, too busy, and too busy.

Slowly and deliberately, kanji appeared on Canti's screen.

'The vespa took him here.'

He let the words sink into Eri's head. An image emerged, one burnished into the wrinkles of her brain.

A dot on the horizon, barely visible in the gleaming day. An upright, floating black speck. The roar of an engine, struggling to escape the atmosphere.

Ah, shit.

Eri wanted to scream that it wasn't possible, vespas couldn't fly, but that brought her back to how impossible her own situation was. So she really had no choice but to believe Canti. She wasn't sure, but she didn't think that Canti had the ability to lie – not that she trusted the automaton or anything. And the motor had that all-too-familiar rumble that she had heard a few times in the past. . .although the person usually associated with the noise she'd rather not think about.

"But where is he going?! What could he possibly want with. . ." Eri vented, mostly to herself.

A sudden, burning feeling built up in the pit of her stomach.

Unrequited love sucked. Or maybe it was just a crush; Eri didn't have these sort of emotions very often, so she wasn't sure. After years of being duly ignored, she would have thought she could give it up by now. She despised this sensitivity. It was a weakness in her character that she couldn't forgive. If there was something she wasn't, it was a hopeless romantic.

So why wouldn't it go away?

At least this bitterness gave her a clearer picture of why Naota had left Mabase behind.

Eri clenched her fists tighter around Canti's arm. And so it would continue, the endless merry-go-round of chasing after someone you couldn't reach. Up and down, until you were dead.

She'd worked herself into such a fine funk that she didn't notice there was new text on Cantido's face until he gently prodded her. A new interface had come up – a navy screen with bold white lettering.

It read, 'Destination: KI-12. . .Starchart pending. . .'

And as the spiritual revelations of Siddhartha Gautama came to him underneath the Sacred Tree, so too the espial of Ninamori Eri came as she was meandering through an astral plane that was not so much metaphysical as material.

Maybe she shouldn't fight the cycle. What was there left in Mabase worth living for, anyway?

. . .her father, at his desk, shooing Eri out of the office because his presentation was due the next day, and the product had to be out by the week after that, and there was an important business trip to Hawaii only days after that. . .

. . .her mother, car keys in hand, stepping out the front door while exclaiming behind her that dinner was in the fridge, or pizza could be ordered, because she had tennis lessons to attend, a shopping spree to go on, friends to entertain, and could you be a dear and go upstairs, Eri, dear? I have to take this call. . .

Everyone had no time to spend with her. Well, now she was going to spend her time as she damn well pleased, and right now that meant going with Canti, even if he was some dumb robot, to a whole new world.

"How will that help us find Naota?" Eri questioned, dropping the somewhat whiny tone she'd had before. Her black eyes were steel.

'Program 'Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy' activated. . .searching 'KI-12'. . .results pending. . .'

Eri blinked, and the screen changed.

'KI-12: Known as Gfjkiosa by its native inhabitants, this is one of the major information centers/technological outposts around. . . besides the Guide's HQ, of course, folks, which you definitely want to visit. . .A bit on the outskirts of the multiverse, so try the Guide's HQ instead. . .Oh come on now, shameless advertising is all the rage these days, really. . .'

"Let's go," Eri said.

A halo of blinding light meshed them into a cylinder while Canti's solid rocket boosters booted up. A flash, and they were no longer visible among the stitched silver stars on the blanket of deep space.
LilHaruko – Heh. I know you said to update soon, but duty called (aka school). This chapter dedicated to you, and also to Feyla Costu (for both of you wanting more).

Feyla Costu – Thanks. I know it needs more, and hopefully it'll be speeded up in coming chapters.