Epilogue - Conspiracy
The long summer of 2002 was over at the Hinata-Sou. But each member of the Sou had seen trauma of a sorts from what they would come to call : The Things That Wouldn't Leave.
Of course, they loved them one and all, but as the saying goes, never more so than when they finally left. Each sibling had their own memories that they would be longer on laughing about.
Keitaro.
"I fell into the onsen - the three Hanks were in there. I now understand what poor Sarah meant."
Naru.
"Natalie Natterman-natters. She talks more than even the most stereotyped American on TV. More than any anime Genki Girl ever."
Motoko.
"My nephew is truly lovely. He will be a great man and a great warrior. His lungpower alone - especially at 2 AM - will bring down the giants of old. New ones too."
Mutsumi.
"My brother Tohru, likes to hit on anything male - and sometimes women with short haircuts, just on the off-chance. Then he hit on Liddo-Kun before passing out from too much beer. Just to be sure, I checked the poor thing for signs of assault."
Mitsune.
"My Dad? He kept breaking into song, after he found Su's Ultra-Karaoke. The gods love Karaoke. Unfortunately, depending on the lyrics and tone of the song, their singing opens the gates to the afterlife. The dead were rising - and then complaining that his singing was lousy. Have you ever tried apologizing to a corpse? It's tedious."
Kaolla Su.
"Every time I wanted to talk with Kenichi about being in my next experiment, a door needed oiling, or a window jammed, or a shower head leaked, or didn't shoot out enough water. How is a girl supposed to blow a boy up when no one can pick up a screwdriver for themselves? It's not rocket science - I know that for a fact, because I build rockets."
Arlo.
"Low fat. Low salt. No eggs. No nuts. No meats. No dairy products. Not too rare, not too cooked, too in-between. I've served the biggest snob food critics in all of Asia and then some, and I can say for a fact none of them was that demanding."
Kenichi merely slept, his demanding summer of maintenance soon to be followed by the resumption of school, with a few grades skipped for his studies while at the monastery. Shinobu put a blanket over the boy she had long ago briefly fancied, who was nice enough once he calmed down. She then turned to her own pet peeve.
"You all were here when Arlo and I almost went too far, so I guess I can understand your worry. But to have every single adult here offer advice on 'waiting' and 'protection' on a daily basis? So help me, every time one of them finally stopped, another would step in, having overheard the previous one, and so the cycle went. If my parents hadn't been 'snuggling' so often, they might have overheard-and I think I would have died."
No one beat that dead horse again. They trusted Shinobu and Arlo, and while both planned to tease the others, they both intended to keep their promise and were smart enough to walk back from those dreaded traps called by some 'so right' moments. Kei took his turn again.
"Well, we survived. What's more, we end this crazy summer with some pieces of good news. I asked each group of guests to cough up two months' rent, though in this case it covered the whole summer. In short, we lost nothing, and since a lot of them ate out and just plopped here for the night-siblings, we came out ahead, even with power usage and maintenance. Our utilities for the rest of this year should be covered outright-and I officially waive rent for all of you for the month of September. Praise to our sage Ryobo - all her endless plans to insulate and increase air circulation and all things related to heat and light meant that we kept this place cool in the day and warm on chilly nights without breaking the bank."
Mitsu bowed lightly to the applause, but gave some of the praise right back.
"Part of this is on you, Bro. I wouldn't have had the nerve to ask for that rent."
Naru smiled.
"Our guy here actually was clever about it. The amount he asked for was two months' rent for one of us, but he asked for it as an upkeep 'donation'. Since that still beat most places' fees by a few billion kilometers, they were happy to. Keith Ulster even agreed that his bunch had done a lot more relaxing here than we did at the Hilda."
Kei resumed.
"But we have even better news. When school resumes soon, Naru, Mutsumi and I won't be going back to Todai alone. We'll be taking two of its newest students with us - namely Mitsune Konno and Motoko Aoyama!"
Most there had known, and the others figured out, what had been the secret project of the duo. All still clapped heartily, and the two younger girls hugged them both. Mitsu spoke first.
"No one thought I could change, and then maybe they thought I couldn't stop proving myself. But I had to do this. For all the sleep-deprived nights and racking my brains on mock-testing books, I wanted to join the people I love at the Red Gate. I also want to thank that work-demon sleeping his days away. Having Kenichi here really helped - and I'd like to propose he become a sib, with a real room. We can probably never pay him what he's worth, but room and board taken care of with a real room is a good start. He's a maniac, but he's a lovable little maniac, like the girl he's taken a shine to. I may not nail my Bro, but I will see him graduate, and he will see me - only this time I'll be wearing a gown - till he tears it off."
Motoko looked at her friends.
"I lied about Todai, just as our brother did, and like him, I have now made that lie right. Just as I no longer fear men - now I also have overcome my fear of my own potential. I moved too slowly on Kei's front. Knowing my own weaknesses, I pursued this goal like I would any difficult kata or technique. Having had to earn my white belt, so to speak, I don't plan to wear it for long, and one day I will see the red belt that surrounds my own diploma."
While Kei talked to Haruka, Seta, Sarah and even Hina Junior over the phone, and Motoko did the same for her sister's family, no more visitors showed as August gave way to September. A crisis was averted when a tease from Shinobu reminded Kei of the first anniversary of his and Naru's 'starting in', leading to him getting a gift. Arlo once caught Naru in the onsen, but unlike his male Sempai, quietly turned and left before being sighted himself. He decided he needed some special 'alone time' after this viewing, and headed for the First Site, as the siblings had come to call their summer home. When he returned, Naru wanted to speak to him, but only to give him one of her old Todai prep books. Shinobu caught Kei changing, lingered a little longer than her man had on Naru, but got out before being seen, and waited for her own special alone time, the kind that made her and Arlo's promise bearable. They began to think of ways to 'play around' that kept their promise, but the start of school meant their creativity needed to go there.
The incidents were few and mild as the first third of September ticked away, and for this, no one was complaining of boredom. In fact, they welcomed it, not to mention the romantic plans of many there for the night of the 11th, trying to turn a date of terror and the start of wars into something they could look back fondly on. But some dates could not be so easily disassociated from their dark tinge, and they would learn this.
Mitsune read a letter from the more playful of her two mothers.
*Joined up with Hina and Alice. Someday, I may tell Hina what she really means to me. It's hard for me to see her as just a sis. Harder, because that's all she sees me is. I liked Awa, and he treated her right. I think he even knew. My folks never did. Spirits have the same bug-a-boo about reproduction and producing heirs that Humans do, so none of that. Kid, I admire you so much for making sure he knew. We both knew who the ones we love would choose, but only you had the guts to come out and say it. Take care of yourself - Mom.*
But for now, the super-party girl who could in theory party even harder than ever concentrated on work and study, realizing that, whoever she decided she liked, that person would be all the more attracted to a successful manager and Todai graduate.
"...with a great rack...yawn."
Kaolla Su clambered together a group of horror 'classics' like 'The Giant Claw' and 'The Monolith Monsters' as well as 'Infra-Man' and 'Pulgisari', given to her brother by the visiting North Koreans, and promptly tossed in the trash. Kenichi sat stunned as Su explained how she could make all of the pseudo-science in these films actually work.
So as Motoko prepared for her first time with Koichi, Mutsumi, Naru and Kei (who wisely kept right on saying that he objected to this) prepared to try again to make two better with three, and while Arlo and Shinobu planned to board an after-school train for Enoshima Park near Kamakura, all seemed well, but all was not well.
In the US, the dreaded day had just started and yet it seemed all diligence had paid off in averting the anniversary of the airliner attacks being used as a reminder by groups fond of dates. For America, this was to be the fact. Not so for a former enemy turned very close ally.
At about 1 PM, Emily Kashigawa listened to her oldest friend talk once more loving her nephew and loving to tweak the noses of him and his chosen lady even more. Looking out the window, her heart fell.
"RUKA! Look over here."
At the Hinata-Sou, all preparation fell away at the news. Naru shook her head.
"How could this happen again? Here?"
Hers were the only words that managed to be formed as the news played.
*Once again - Tokyo Tower has fallen, though no explosion was seen or heard. The only happy news is that early casualty figures have proven to be erroneous. Evacuation and safety protocols, including underground exits to buildings in the surrounding area, have proven extremely effective. Called the 'DaiKaiju' protocols, these were instituted in the wake of attacks like those of Gojira, Radon, Gyaos and Desotoroyah. But while the absolute worst has been averted, there are seven confirmed deaths - perhaps the very terrorists that caused this downfall. They were dressed in odd armor, and crushed under the frame they seem to have sabotaged. Police have identified the fallen alleged perpetrators. Their names will be released in a moment, in hopes that loved ones or friends will contact authorities quickly.*
Mutsumi sat down on the couch. None of her usual joy was apparent.
"It's a miracle no one was hurt, or killed."
Mitsu sat down by her, and took her hand. Stupid comments made months before seemed to have little meaning.
"Yeah, but the terror is still there. People's sense of safety has still been upset. Maybe whoever did this wanted death, but I doubt they're too disappointed."
Arlo looked at Shinobu, and while he wisely didn't say 'So Much For The Trains', those unspoken words were on both their minds. Yet this was not selfishness, merely a defense mechanism against the nightmare they saw on TV.
Motoko received a call on her recently-purchased cell phone. It went to her voicemail before she could answer, so great was her shock.
"Babe? It's Koichi - me and Tohru's bunch are out here-it's bad. Downed power lines, wrecked systems - mostly nobody died, but this is already in the billions, and that's billions in any coin you can name. Sorry, Babe. It's not gonna be tonight."
Kenichi fled to his new room to pray as many prayers as he knew. Arlo ran to try and call his mother, to let her know he was nowhere near the disaster. He was delayed by a call from his grandfather, who wondered if Japan's Self-Defense only Constitution would survive this attack.
Kei raised his hand.
"Quiet, everyone. They have the casualties' names."
*The recovered footage makes no sense at all. It's like these people gestured, and the supports for the tower simply vanished. In any event, these armored figures made no move to escape, and were crushed under some of the secondary supports as they came loose.*
Naru made the hideous connection.
"Seven armored figures?"
*The names given for the dead suspects are as follows : Otohime Mutsumi, Maehara Shinobu, Konno Mitsune, Urashima Keitaro, Narusegawa Naru, Aoyama Motoko, and perhaps most shockingly of all, the Crown Princess Of The Island Nation Of Molmol, Kaolla Su. Molmol has a long and often strange history with Japan, and the rest of the world, the height of said strangeness being when his late Showa Majesty and the American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, found themselves...*
Su was almost in a fetal position next to Motoko. Not quite crying, she was obviously hurt and possibly in shock. She was far from the only one.
"Toko? Are we dead? Are we just ghosts?"
Motoko snuggled next to the girl, but had problems of her own.
"Our families will hear this. Is it them?"
Shinobu stood bent over in front of the screen, her panties showing. No one said anything, for their eyes were locked on the screen.
"The other us? They died? I didn't like them very much, but this? Did they hate us that much?"
Su managed a few more words.
"I didn't say anything, but I think I saw that the other Sarah wasn't treated right by her family in California. If her Su is dead, who will comfort her, and be her friend?"
Mutsumi closed her eyes and slowly moved her right hand forward. She began to cry.
"They were here. It was them. But while they didn't leave, they're not there anymore."
Naru focused on the continuing news report.
"No-please no!"
*Known associates and family members are currently being questioned. This group itself has a strange and varied history, known to police blotters. Narusegawa is known for numerous instances of exhibitionism and casual violence ; Maehara is described by teachers and classmates as dangerously unstable and likely to vanish for days to weeks at a time ; Aoyama is seen here attacking people merely for taking pictures of a shameful public spectacle wherein Urashima, their seeming ringleader was engaging in public sexual acts with a woman later identified as his own Aunt! Otohime is said to come from an overachieving, long-lived clan of sorcerers on an island near Okinawa - yet no such island exists on any maps. Konno is a woman permabanned from virtually every tavern and bar in Kanto, and no one we spoke to was not owed large amounts of money to them by her. Of course, Princess Su engaged in the kidnapping of Japanese nationals and the invasion of our airspace. We thank our anonymous source for quickly leading us to all this telling information.*
"Anonymous source? Kei? Where's Kei? KEITARO! Damn it we need..."
She saw Kei running like lightning between their rooms, a large plastic garbage bag in hand, as the news kept on.
"What's he up to? At a time like this? What's that? Could this thing get any..."
Mitsu nodded, her eyes both wide open.
"Naru? It just got any!"
*Unsavory personal stories are already beginning to emerge. These people offer a shocking inside perspective on this terror cell.*
Mitsu contemplated just grabbing Kei and making it happen, once and for all. She feared her choice of dancing partners was about to dwindle for the next fifty years or so.
*I can't just vanish, and leave them. Maybe Shinobu and Arlo better get together too, and Su's immunity won't mean a damn in the face of this. This isn't us, this isn't our lives! This wasn't their lives! Big Kami, my Dad's bunch calls themselves gods. But I still think you're up there. Why give us so much hope, such a sweet existence, then yank it away for yuks?*
"They sure found some interesting folk to slam us - and awfully fast, too. This is no act of God, and nothing random, either."
Onscreen, while Kei continued his whirlwind upstairs, the assault continued.
**Yeah, she's my late dumbass son's kid by a little bitch he knocked up. The family made him give up our name for theirs. Carrying on with her nephew? Yeah, I saw them together like a couple. I think her kid must be his. Whore-monger. I could see it. Probably pimps them all out-well, not anymore-Heh! When do I get my money?**
Haruka's greedy paternal grandmother went off-screen, to be replaced by a man who obviously wanted to die.
**I told her that nerd would lead her down the garden path-and now she's pushing up daisies along with him. Jerk probably had all of them knocked up, including the kids. I'd check the corpses for that. I wanted to respect her wishes to wait, you know? But he jumped her that first night in the onsen, I know it. So-who's my in to NHK? I've got newscaster looks, you know.**
Naru was fuming, to say the least.
"Kentaro! Your counterpart was the only thing I liked better about that other place. Thanks for ruining even that."
The circus kept on, the unseen ringmaster laughing in a place he could not be touched or even reached.
**She got a whole bunch of Marines drunk, got several free meals, then turned out to be a tease! I have never had sympathy for any American until that night. I don't even now, but still.**
**Much older men are always picking her up from school. It's quite scandalous. They never even looked our way, and we flashed undergarments. Teki even showed one side-boob, and nothing. Maehara-San is a wicked magical girl, in my opinion.**
**She claimed that, while not intoxicated, she could not explain the instances of her nudity in a kendo tournament. I think she wears velcro body-wraps, if you know what I mean.**
**He plays the fool, always falling down. And always, as he falls, women's' clothes end up in his hands, even to undergarments. He's like a shark for panties! Ummm-is he really dead? I had wanted to see what he was doing. What? WHAT?!**
**She is a blond demon, always striking us with ancient stones and fragments of lost civilizations. Why do we put up with her, you ask? Baka! She's a blonde American, and I saw pictures of her Mother! Still, I could do without the hits-plus she worships some cousin of hers who she calls 'a man who can take a few vases to the head'. **
**The Otohimes? Feh! Their prized watermelons have seeds in them-and the ladies all wear these thick coats, instead of nice tight sweaters. Where is the love for a poor lonely greengrocer?**
**That little crazy Indian girl switched our bodies!**
**And they NEVER remember our names-even Keitaro!**
At last came the slander the group found wholly unforgivable.
**I worked under Hina Urashima at a veterans' hospital. A monster in every sense of the word. She murdered the previous beloved head nurse we all revered - and did you know that she survived both bombings? She and her brood are likely all atomic mutants with horns, using unseen arms to take over the world by replacing our children with theirs-okay, that's from a manga I took away from my grandson. Very violent and ecchi.**
Naru smashed the screen.
"They dissed GRANDMA? All of them are..."
Kei appeared, an overstuffed garbage bag in hand.
"There's no time for that. Mitsu, teleport us to where I'm envisioning."
"Bro, you know that's gonna leave us..."
Kei looked at her, a fury in his eyes that very nearly erased the vivid (and recent) memories of a stammering goofball.
"YOU WILL DO IT!"
Scared despite all her power, Mitsu did as she was asked - or told - she could no longer tell.
On a beachfront, the girls all covered themselves, except for Motoko and Naru. Shinobu was red-faced as she pointed out the obvious.
"WE'RE COMPLETELY NAKED! SEMPAI!"
Kei dropped the bag, opened it and took some things.
"Your clothes and under-things are in here. I tried to grab only stuff I'd seen on you recently. I have Su's rugged-ized laptop. Log in using an IP not registered to you. Try not to draw attention, ladies. Because as of now, the rest of the world needs to believe that we're dead."
He turned and walked away, partly to let the ladies dress. Motoko called after him.
"Urashima, where are we?"
He stopped, still not covering his backside, or caring about same.
"At a site Seta and I marked off for future exploration, on the uninhabited west corner of Molmol. I have-to sit down. I'm not-"
He walked off, disappeared around the corner, and they heard the sound of undisguised sobs. Shinobu clothed herself and was also close to tears.
"Molmol? Again? And we're dead?"
Motoko, who seemed to have taken her exposure entirely in stride, began to dress herself as well.
"It seems our brother got all of us in one stroke this time. Yes, that was a coping mechanism. I think he made the only strategic choice for the moment."
Mitsu actually teleported into her things, but was not so appreciative.
"We didn't have time to tell our families? Or even the boys we just asked to stay with us?"
Su felt odd, being home and yet being so far from home at the same time.
"I was going to launch Kenichi from a circus cannon tomorrow. He may think that I don't care at all, when I care at least somewhat."
Mutsumi had a distinctly worried look on her face.
"He's so hurt. Feels so helpless. I haven't felt this from him...since his leg. Doesn't he know we're all here for him?"
Mitsu looked annoyed.
"I'll be right back."
She teleported out, and Naru gasped.
"Is she nuts? The entire reason we did that was to avoid being seen!"
A minute later, the trickster was back. Her annoyed look was replaced by concern, and in her arms was all the clothes they'd left behind.
"I figured we'd need a change at some point. Bad idea for me. Kenichi caught sight of me, but he couldn't move. They-they got the place surrounded. Bro just knew."
Naru knew there was something in this they hadn't thought through, but in her own frenzy, this was impossible to place specifically.
"So the boys know we're alive. Kenichi may be a little off, but I'm pretty sure he knows not to blurt out that we're alive. Still, we're asking a lot of him and Arlo."
Shinobu shook her head.
"Can't we call our families? Su could scramble it."
Mitsu sat down, angry no more and seeming broken.
"They got stuff that even Su hasn't seen - maybe surveillance stuff taken from fallen UFO's - future stuff they used in the daikaiju wars. Tech like that, there is no scrambling."
Which meant by extension, any form of electronic communication. Except for the anxious Shinobu, they all sat down, only Su working on her laptop moving at all. At last, Kei came over, and the appearance of hope returned with him. It would be a brief appearance. Su answered his question.
"Well, Onii-Chan, the authorities must really be desperate. They placed the energy readings from right before the collapse on a public site, hoping that someone somewhere can figure it out. I did, but I can't tell them anything."
Kei seemed to be breathing again.
"Tell us, Su. Tell us everything, because we need every last bit."
She did just that, her energy and love meaning she would have done so anyway.
"It was them. The energies I recorded during our viewing of their world matched up with what they can't identify from the collapse. I think that, if I were to recreate my time machine, I could follow them back to their dimensional base of operations."
Motoko was never more amazed by the force of nature that used to annoy her by being underfoot.
"Princess, how is that possible?"
The girl's smile brought back some of their spirit.
"Silly Toko! Universe travel is just time travel done sideways. Instead traveling back to what was, and forward from what is now to what might be, you just follow to what didn't happen. It's what the Todai World Rose Vase that Seta brought back is meant to stop. The Rose represents the world we know, which is only one of a field of roses planted near the center of all creation. What we know happened is the roots of the rose. What didn't happen is the roots of another rose."
Shinobu leaned in.
"Su-that's the first explanation you've ever given that I almost understood. Can you take us to where they took off from, so we can stop whoever made them do this?"
Su closed her eyes.
"I can find out where their base-reality is easy enough. It's roots are different from both where those other poor guys came from and ours. But-I can't trace it back entirely. Like with a rose, it's been put inside a pot. It's really like an energy shield, but it extends everywhere its roots meet the ones from ours. Whoever they are, they've made sure the doors from our world to theirs are shut, locked, painted and boarded over, and a brick wall put over them with drywall over that. They locked us out, forever."
Mutsumi was one of the only ones who could even broach Su's level of thinking and not go out of her mind. But even she strained for an analogy.
"It's-it's like being caught on a highway in traffic and you can see your destination, but your car can't get there, because it would mean driving over the embankment-if you could even get your car lifted up to do that."
Naru shook her head.
"Even Seta would have trouble with that one. Su-what is the news saying about us? Are they still contacting anybody who hates our guts for details?"
Su maximized a screen she had been hiding.
"Not really."
They all looked at the latest news, and the hope Kei had felt was now more than erased.
"What have I done?"
THE HINATA-SOU
Haruka had rushed with her family, and made their way through the cordon of military and police. A representative of the American FBI was there, since their new expertise in these matters and the prior questions about Grandma could give insight. The agent had told his Japanese liaison he would trade a year of his life not to have this expertise.
Haruka threw up her arms.
"I don't believe they did this, and I don't believe it was them you found in the wreckage. At their stupidest - and they could all be brain donors, not just my nephew - they would never get near anything that could do this, or anyone that would."
What the Japanese Intelligence operative said next would hit her nephew in his hiding place like a fist from his fiancée.
"We know that, Mrs. Seta. We checked these people over, and each of them had at least five major facial and body shape differences to your former charges. We also know that these oddballs attacked your associates in a hospital parking garage. We guessed that they were too flabbergasted to report it ; we get that. My guess is this sort of madness is outside their experience. Young Miss Seta - you've lived with these folks. Is that the case?"
Sarah looked at her father, who nodded. Then she laid it on thick.
"Agent-San should always address my Papa first. Sarah has been taught to respond only when her parents bid her to, or Keitaro-Dono, who I call Uncle, when he is here. Uncle runs a reputable house, and we all respect him greatly. He will not even remove his glasses until all ladies have exited the onsen and dressed themselves."
Inside her head, Sarah decided this :
*Yea-ah. I'm going to Hell.*
The Agent, remarkably, bought this line.
"Very well. But obviously, they have fled, possibly in a panic over the accusations on the news, possibly not. It's my advice that they return and be prepared to answer all questions. Hiding and running, even if understandable, can only sharpen and increase our suspicions, and those of a shaky public. If they were not somehow taken or killed by the impostors, if they are alive, and if they do contact you, tell them to make us aware. If Japan is facing an invasion by people who can very nearly precisely duplicate us - well, the possibility alone could have us at war, or the people demanding it. God help your friends and family if they are seen as part of that invasion. Also, given the oddities of your grandmother's survival of the 9/11 attacks, know this, and know it not to be personal : You Will All Be Watched. Take from that what you will."
The agents left, their searches done, Su's 'toys' locked out against being revealed for what they were - that kind of tech they just did not have. Haruka looked at her husband, her older daughter, then at the two boys who were for the moment the sole residents of the Hinata-Sou.
"They can't get word to us. They don't dare. So how do I give Mom hope when she calls, and she will? How do I give myself hope that they're even alive?"
Holding the baby who already idolized her 'Uncle' Kei, Haruka wished she and Naru had talked more after that fight.
"Baby-girl, show me the light-any light."
Hoping for a smile, Haruka instead saw the child - as she would be twenty years from then.
"Hina?"
It was only a hologram, and the older Hina Junior was silent. But the broad smile and two thumbs up she gave before vanishing caused the hearts of those in the present-day to start beating again. Arlo spoke for all of them.
"Now we wait?"
Haruka pulled out a cigarette.
"Now we wait."
Haruka pulled the cigarette away from Sarah's grabby hands.
"Both me and the baby are immortal, and I need a drag."
Kenichi, who liked the place he had found, shrugged.
"There's always work to do here - and her highness' banana trees need watering. I know she will be back - and there's a Red Moon due in October. Not that she isn't already beautiful."
Arlo found going forward a little harder, but kept his resolve.
"I'll prepare her Todai Prep lessons and keep track of her homework. We two are going to Todai together. We are going to...go there together. No warnings, please. I'm in no humor."
No one was in that humor, either. A misty-eyed Sarah had the last word.
"Come back alive, you dork-all you dorks. I still haven't been intruded on with a mature bod. Plus-I miss you already."
A hard year had begun, and it would only get worse, for them and for the world.
But seven would act, and seven would rise to the occasion.
MOLMOL
Su was almost as despondent as the once-more absent Kei.
"Why can't we use the time machine to save and stop the other us? I know I can rebuild it. It was building it new that took time. But with Onii-Chan and Onee-Chan's improvements, we can slip in and slip out, and stop all this from ever happening!"
Naru wanted this, but knew the logical flaw. The down-to-earth and very smart woman saw things the genius girl never could.
"Even if we did that, Su, we have no guarantee that we could free them, or find and stop who made them do this. Until we do that, and ensure no other -other us- won't be enslaved next, there's no point to saving them. Even then, we'd have to plan it out so that we still know that we have to save them. If we stop all this, it could just happen again unless we know that-getting headache. Time travel-Naru not likey. Want Kei."
Mitsu tried to joke, but even her easy humor was a dry well.
"Hey, don't we all!"
In her daze, Naru said words they all would regret, a grin upon her face.
"All have tried. Only one has succeeded. Hey! Just kidding-don't stalk off all sulky and defeated - - well, don't be sulky anyway."
After they left, Naru realized her stupidity.
"Way to go, girl. In a tight tense space, too. When do I stop punching? Do I even know how - and yeah, I'm talking to myself. Not the greatest sign."
She felt rotten again, and she would feel more so. As Kei sat and stewed, a confrontation of a different sort was brewing.
"Sempai?"
"Go away."
Theirs was the most tender of relationships, and always had been, the hormones of a lonely young man and an impressionable girl/young woman aside. But he hadn't even said her name.
"I won't go away."
He looked at her with a look that scared Mitsu but did not shake Shinobu one bit.
"I am Sempai. You will go away. I don't need or want a pep talk. We took this threat for granted, waiting until it struck, and it did in a masterstroke. I then did what I always do - the dumbest thing imaginable, fleeing so we looked even more guilty. We can't even go back and pretend we don't know what's going on. A world of ultra-high-tech and mystic works would fall into the hands of world leaders, some of whom would never understand why you wouldn't use them."
He closed his eyes tight.
"This world is about to end in fire, and it's all my fault."
He felt the air move around him, and dodged Shinobu's skillet-blow just in time. He blocked the next one, and then seized her wrist.
"You're hurting me!"
Kei let loose with an accusation he had been fighting against. The fear it would cause could wreck even their last stand in this hiding place. Shinobu's attack left him no choice.
"Are you the real Shinobu?"
She pushed him off, and threw the skillet, which bounced against a rock.
"Of course I'm the real Shinobu-I'm the Shinobu you know. How could you ask that kind of paranoid question at a time like this?"
He grabbed the skillet and held it up.
"Because my Shinobu promised never to do this again! I used to walk into a labyrinth of hits and kicks and insults, and you-your smile was my only light then."
Because this was his Shinobu, her pointing in rage was all the more hurtful.
"I made that promise, and I meant it. But I made that promise to my Sempai, and HE ISN'T HERE right now. Just a simpering weakling who looks like him in his worst moments!"
He dropped the skillet, and waved his hands at her dismissively.
"Please tell me just how this isn't the worst moment for all of us."
She folded her arms.
"I can't. That's supposed to be your job. We've been following you even since the times you just described. We're just open about it now. Be a leader, damn you. Be the man I fell in love with, and that I will always hold in my heart."
Her tender plea didn't fall on deaf ears, but they weren't really open to it either.
"The man you love - isn't that much of a man, Shinobu."
"Right now he's not. He's letting the fact that we fell for a bizarre, well-planned trap make him feel like he fell for the old shell game. Sempai, whoever did this, knew us, knew all about us and knew how to destroy us. For some reason they didn't finish the job, or it would have been us under the tower's ruin. Do-do you think your counterpart died?"
A more rational question caught him unawares, and engaged him.
"I can't be sure. He's a weird one, even by our standards. But if he is anything like me, and his will was not in place when he was crushed-then yes. Maybe."
Shinobu kept on keeping his mind away from his despair. As she had always done.
"What about the other Auntie, Sarah and Seta?"
Kei shook his head.
"Maybe our mastermind had no use for them, or they're still under the rubble. Oh, this is bad. Maybe there was an explanation we could all give the authorities. Maybe there still is."
"Sempai?"
"Huh?"
Shinobu walked up, kissed him on the lips, and then backed off, but not out of fear.
"If Sempai Naru had seen that, you'd have a hard time explaining, right?"
He wanted to defend his woman, but a full-on kiss like that would tend to bring out her worst tendencies.
"I guess. Yeah."
She nodded.
"Because even though I initiated it, and even if she saw that I did, some suspicion in these things is inevitable, even in a healthy relationship. I couldn't blame her or Arlo for bringing it up later on."
She began to walk away.
"In school, they always tell us that, if one person just owns up to a prank or wrong, only that person will be punished. Then, they get punished harshly, but we all end up with some penalty for some nonsense reason of teaching us a lesson. That ever happen to you?"
He began to see her train of thought.
"All the time. So I guess - while the authorities may only want to talk with us right now, or say that they do, they're bound to believe that we were somehow wrapped up in this?"
Shinobu smiled and kept going, her mission accomplished.
"A horrible thing has happened. They need someone to prosecute, and the mastermind or boss of all this isn't going to turn themselves in. Maybe we need a trap of our own. Good to have you back-"
She went ahead and said it.
"-Keitaro."
She said his name, without title or honorific, and said it in boldness, and in full confidence. Once out of his earshot, she grabbed at her stomach.
"Ohhhh-I think I'm gonna throw up!"
But her work was done, and in the night, while the others slept, he woke Su up.
"Onii-Chan?"
"Su-wanna help me drive straight over the embankment?"
She briefly frowned.
"Alright-but don't tell Kenichi-San. I promised to make him a living test dummy."
The next day, Su's cannibalized laptop had been turned into sturdy wristwear of mind-blowing capabilities. Kei passed them around, and hoped he could convey what he had to.
"We can't just pass from their home-base reality from this one. But we may be able to gain indirect access to that world by first entering other alternate universes. Su rigged these like her time machine, but with our home locations and the destination we want in their vibrational frequency database, since each universe is simply a very large vibration."
Mitsu raised her hand.
"Can I port back for Sake? I mean, a loooootttt of freakin' Sake? Because I have almost no idea how this should work, or if it will without plunging us into the Planet Of The Apes."
Su whispered to Motoko.
"It was really Earth all the time."
Motoko rolled her eyes.
"Thank you, Princess."
Naru seemed confident.
"We'll just need to stick together, and we'll be fine, same as always."
Kei walked up and held her close.
"In our minds, in our hearts, we will be together. But this journey needs us scattered, to keep our enemy's gaze off of us."
Her confidence evaporated. Her face showed real fear.
"Apart? But together is how we're supposed to be. Together always. All of us."
As they talked, they didn't notice Su, and then each of the others, alter the settings on Naru's wrist device. Unfortunately, they also didn't notice each other doing the same thing. Payback would lead to payback, but later on.
"We will find each other. All our foolishness couldn't stop that. How can one trans-dimensional schemer?"
Su explained further as they all prepared for transit.
"You could end up in another version of the world we know, so be prepared to avoid us, in case we're weirder than normal. You could end up in a very bad place, but the device will only take you there if its needed to complete the circuit of worlds, and it will always guide you to the next gate - probably an important point in that world's history. You could even end up in a world that has a lot of things familiar to ours, but different in a lot of ways. Ummm-we better get going. My people have an extradition treaty with Japan now, and the energy used will draw the attention we don't want. I've also programmed it so that, while in transit, we'll hear Future Hina's message. Onii-Chan and I agreed this must be that time. I-"
Tears flooded her pretty eyes as she vanished.
"-I Love You All!"
Mitsu went next.
"The Empire Strikes Back is a great film - but it really sucks to live through - so nobody get anything chopped off-especially you, Bro."
She vanished, and Motoko fought off her old fears of the unknown.
"Urashima-I will fight my way back from Hell to see you again, and dance with you at your wedding. Narusegawa - how can I hate and love my sister all at once? You two owe me some nieces and nephews, so be well. Be-well."
The device took the warrior, and the girl who had shook Kei loose took her turn.
"I'm not gonna say it all over again, Sempais. But if I don't return - tell Arlo I will wait for him on the other side."
Naru was the one who gave the hug.
"Tell him yourself. We both know we'll be lucky if you two wait for your 17th Birthday."
Shinobu shook her head.
"No. Like for you two, a promise is a promise. So I guess I promise to tell him myself-which won't be necessary, because I won't be on the other side-oohhh, I ruined the moment!"
As she went, the woman who was to have shared their love made it clear she still wanted just that.
"I hate playing alone! You two better be up for it when I got back! NO Headaches."
Mutsumi left, and Naru shook her head.
"I am gonna do a Keitaro-special on this asshole, because they made the mistake of forcing me away from the ones I love. The one I love. And-me and Mutsumi are gonna make an old man out of you!"
He kissed her as she vanished, and then activated his own device.
"No way-you all make me feel younger every day. Here g-"
It felt like a tunnel, it felt like a rearranging, it felt like a tearing, and it felt like walking down the block as a small child, when a neighborhood later all too familiar now seemed like an endless and mystic vista. As the seven traveled to seven different places as varied as Su's descriptions, they heard the message from the Future Girl.
*Hey, guys. Well, this is your biggest adventure. The one you always said made Molmol-2001 seem like a trip to Disney-stralia. I can't give away anything, except to say - be true to yourselves while you lie about who you are with a straight face out of deepest need. Be surprised, but don't let yourself be shocked. Be able to take a hit like Uncle Kei, give that hit back like Auntie Naru, poised like Auntie Toko, determined like Auntie Shin, bring joy like Auntie Mutsu, chill when you can before digging into your task like Mitsu-Ryobo, and think freely like Kaolla-Sempai. Do this, and no foe unknown - or all-too-known - can possibly stand against you. Return to be the heroes who made me strong -*
She bowed as she said two last words.
*-Love, Hina.*
END BOOK TWO
THE LOVE HINA CAST WILL RETURN IN :
LIFE AFTER MOLMOL, BOOK THREE : STORMING THE RED GATE
Author's Notes
I'll try and keep these brief, since as I finish this (on 3/17/2014) I fully intend to complete the first chapter of Book Three before month's end.
1 - This story, more than any other I have done, was delayed and impacted by events in my real life. I wanted to try and get it right, and come up with scenarios that at least could have been in the manga, if it had covered these three years. I hope I did and that you enjoyed it.
2 - I hope characters like Arlo and Alice didn't take away too much from the main cast. In their case especially, I fought hard to again make them characters we could have seen in the manga, and organically 'grew' them from what we know of the past and the sorts of people the characters knew and met. I hated the thought of Shinobu alone and pining, or worse, trying to be Kei's girlfriend, something I'm sure Naru would be thrilled about. I felt she deserved her own love, and I hope I didn't Mary Sue him too much. OC's can be a land mine, for reader and writer alike.
3 - I know the subject of 9/11 is a tender one, and doubly so for a romantic comedy. I thank you for your patience, and yes, the next book should be a lot more fun.
4 - Thank You All. All the many hits on the counter, all the faves, and most of all, the reviews. I will keep trying to earn them back. On that you have my word.
Now, just where will our beloved cast end up?
'Goji' Rob Morris, The Great State Of New Jersey, Monday, March 17th, 2014, almost four frickin' years after the conclusion of Book One. Have to work on that.