Thirteen Ways to Mess With the X Storyline
Way #3
"Now we'll play a game," the playgroup teacher said. "Let's go around the circle, and I want each of you to tell us about or show us a special talent you have. Let's start with Goro-chan."
The unlucky Goro screwed up his face as he tried to think. "I...can suck my thumb?" he said.
The teacher's bright smile barely faltered. "Everyone has something special about them. Take some more time over this and you'll surely remember what your talent is. In the meantime, Karen-chan, it's your turn." She could rely upon the cheerful little girl to participate in the game.
Karen hugged her teddy bear close with one arm and held out the other in front of her. The other children in the circle leaned forward, craning their necks to see if she was holding something in her hand. She wasn't. Then...she was. A small flame danced above the girl's palm.
"Isn't it pretty?" Karen beamed.
Karen's mother put down the phone. "Karen?" she said. "Your playgroup teacher just called. She told me you brought a box of matches to playgroup today. Is this true?"
"No, it's not." Karen shook her head vehemently, and locks of her curly red hair spun around her face.
"She says you lit a fire. Why would she lie about it?"
"Oh, I lit a fire," said Karen. "But not with matches. I don't need those."
Karen's mother laughed softly. "You don't mean to say you used a tinder box or rubbed some sticks together to light that fire, do you? Look, darling, just tell me where you put the matches. It's not safe for you to have them."
The little girl frowned. "I didn't use matches. I just...did this. See?"
The air lit up with the flickering of many orange-red flames. They moved in circles, according to Karen's will, until she let them die, leaving only puffs of smoke in their place, and soon not even that.
Karen's mother stood stock still, with a hand covering her mouth. Her eyes stared fixedly at her young daughter.
Nervous under this scrutiny, Karen took a step back. "Mama?" she said, uncertainly.
Finally, Karen's mother lowered her hand to her side. She trembled slightly. "That..." she whispered, "...is...so cool!"
"You think so, Mama?" Karen jumped up and down happily.
"I can't wait until I tell my friends about this!" Karen's mother clapped her hands with glee.
A beaded curtain served as the door to the living room. Karen stood close to it, straining her ears to listen to the conversation being held.
"It's extraordinary!" said Karen's mother. There was a chink of crockery as something was moved on the table.
"Oh, it is, it is," agreed one of the other women in the room. "Your daughter's power is miraculous. She's truly gifted."
"There have been portents," said a high-pitched voice. "They say the world will end in 1999. It will be heralded by the rise of Atlantis, blazing comets, and the spiritual re-awakening of the world. Incidentally, Kasumi-san, is this a new brand of incense I smell? It's delightful."
"You like it? It's from the new shop, you know, the one that sells those lovely crystals. It just called to me. I think I was destined to find it."
Standing outside, Karen sniffed at the air, which was laden with a thick scent. It was not unpleasant, she decided. Herself, she preferred candles to incense. They burned with a clear flame.
"I tried an ouija board reading the other day." The woman with the high-pitched voice spoke up again. "It gave me a strange message. It said, 'No cults for the girl'. I think the spirits are talking about your Karen-chan! Maybe you should keep this news quiet? People with special abilities sometimes find the attention difficult."
There was a pause.
"Well..." Karen's mother said. "It may be too late for that. I've already contacted the Tokyo Holistic Paranormal Phenomena Society, the Faerie Psychics Coven, and the Mysteria Magic Magazine. Mysteria is going to run an article about Karen. I think it'll be all right. She needs to learn more about the way things really are."
Karen clutched Paul tightly.
From the apartment's door came a thumping sound as the first of many cultists announced his presence with a vigorous rally of knocks.
"Ka-r-en, it's only a clothes shop," whined Karen's friend Sachiko. "What's wrong with going there?"
14-year-old Karen bit her lip. "It's an occult clothes shop. There'll be all sorts of strange people in there."
"The only things in there are nice dresses. Some of them are kind of gothic, but they're hardly going to bite you. Relax."
"Okay then." Karen smiled. Maybe she was worrying too much.
Inside the shop, Sachiko fingered a v-necked red dress which featured long mediaeval-style sleeves and a dramatic split at the side. "It's so pretty. If only my mother would let me wear this sort of outfit!"
"Doesn't she?"
Sachiko looked perplexed. "Of course not. My mother would say this dress was, oh, over-the-top and drippy or too revealing or something like that.
"My mother would think it was far too plain."
Sachiko giggled at what she thought was a joke. Karen rolled her eyes.
Then, someone tapped Karen on the shoulder.
"Who might you be?" said Karen, turning around gracefully. Her expression was neutral.
The stranger was a tall, bearded man, who smiled broadly at the firemaster. "You are...Kasumi Karen, are you not?"
"You haven't answered my question."
"I am from the Tokyo section of the Foretold Societal Collapse Society. We are mistakenly considered to be cultists, by those who do not know the truth. Our leader wishes for you to be brought in to the fold, and requests to swiftly meet you, of whom he has heard so much."
Sachiko's eyes threatened to pop out of her head.
"How sad." Karen said, smiling sweetly. "I don't believe I can find the time to meet your leader, today, or any other day. "
"I must insist." The man procured a knife from the pocket of his jacket.
Seven seconds later, the occult clothes shop met with an unfortunate accident which the local press later reported as an unconfirmed case of the spontaneous combustion of a large number of fashionable dresses. The main line of clothes carried by the shop was subsequently pulled from the shelves of alternative and new-age shops countrywide. Snide remarks were undeservedly made about the competence of the shop's employees.
The smoke cleared. Sachiko, unhurt by the flames, ran down the street away from the scene without so much as a backward glance.
Karen sighed. She lost a lot of friends this way.
Hokuto tapped on the glass of the tube Nataku was inside.
"Oi, Subaru!" she called.
There was no response.
"The scientists here say that you don't have a soul." Hokuto frowned. "That's why they called you 'Nataku'. But they're wrong. I'm sure you're in there somewhere, Subaru!"
Nataku's eyes were open, but it did not react.
"I've brought photo albums with me. We're going to look at these pictures until you remember them, do you understand?" Hokuto opened the first photo album. "This is from our third birthday party. Don't we look cute! Although the clothes Grandmother made us wear are terrible. Of course, it wasn't really our birthday..."
Hokuto continued talking.
Kazuki did not recognise the people in the pictures, or the green-eyed girl who was chattering about birthdays. She did not look like anyone Kazuki remembered.
In the Sakurazuka family house, Seishirou wiped a thick layer of dust from an old scroll, and started to skim read it. After a moment, he sighed and rolled it back up, finding that it contained no information of interest. He placed it with a number of already-discarded scrolls and books.
Over the centuries, the various Sakurazukamori had accumulated an impressive collection of occult writing. Their specialised knowledge of onmyoujitsu was almost unrivaled, and of great value. The Sumeragi clan would, Seishirou suspected, dearly like to get their hands on some of the scrolls he possessed. In turn, it was also true that Seishirou would like to view the Sumeragi clan's rather more extensive library.
The next scroll that Seishirou read was of great interest to him.
It seemed that once, a long time ago, a Sakurazukamori had been careless in choosing her successor. Her successor proved to be highly incompetent, and almost caused the end of the clan. What he did was to accidentally reveal the location of the Sakura Tree, and to a member of the Sumeragi clan no less. The situation was dire. Although a fool, the new Sakurazukamori was an excellent onmyouji, and upon realising his error managed to move the 'essence' of the Sakura Tree to a different sakura, in a safe location far away from the former tree.
If transferring the power of the Tree could be done between sakura trees, Seishirou reasoned, then surely it was possible for it to be transferred to a tree that wasnot a sakura.
The idea was appealing.
Now he only had to decide if he could put up with the embarrassment of being something along the lines of 'the Kaedezukamori'.
An old man was standing outside what looked to be a large glass tube, Subaru noted.
"Kazuki...why don't you respond?" said the old man. His face was unfamiliar, as was the laboratory with all its computers and blinking lights.
This is a strange dream, thought Subaru. He closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
Hinoto shook her head and took another look at her dream. "I must have been distracted earlier."
In her dreamscape, the clothing of one of the figures shifted as she watched. Lacy, revealing lingerie became a conservative grey business suit.
To most it might seem a minor detail, but to Hinoto it was as significant as if a conga line had decided to dance along the beams of Tokyo Tower.
Her jaw dropped. "It did change. I saw it."
End of Way #3: Make Karen's mother a particularly flaky new-age fanatic.
Thanks again to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. :)
