Chapter 7: Begräbnis

"You look soooooooooo cute, Kana-!"

Micchan admired the latest costume she had inflicted upon Kanaria. She had wondered whether it would be better or worse if Kanaria became a human, but now she saw that shoving her ward into revealing outfits was a lot more fun now that there were breasts involved.

"What is this costume, kashira?"

"It's Wikipe-tan! Don't you like it?"

"Well-"

"I knew you would! Do you know why I bought this?"

"Because you're a-"

"Becauuuuuse..." Micchan held out a colorful, glossy issue of Cosmode. "CosCon is tomorrow!"

Shinku was delighted with her wristband, and Jun had just finished Suiseiseki's before he went to sleep. He had seen that Suiseiseki was already sprawled sleeping across Nori's bedroom floor and had decided that he would give it to her first thing in the morning. When he woke up thirsty in the middle of the night and noticed Suiseiseki in his bedroom, he was considerably surprised.

Unfortunately, he yelped before he could consider the pros and cons of yelping, and Suiseiseki jumped like a startled cat. She looked at her wrist, then looked at Jun, and then stepped back several feet.

"What are you doing in here?"

"Nothing, desu!"

"You were just looking at your wristband, right?"

"N-no... I mean... yes..."

Jun grumbled. "I finished it a few minutes before you went to sleep. Would it kill you to stay up a little longer?"

"Yes, desu."

"Sheesh, be quiet. In case you hadn't noticed, Shinku took over my bed-" he gestured toward the curvaceous figure under what used to be his blanket- "and is currently SLEEPING in this room. Do you want to wake her up?"

Suiseiseki scowled. "Here, chibi-human." She took off the wristband and thrust it back at him.

"Have I pointed out how ridiculous it is that you still call me that even though you're a human now, too?"

"Just take it, desu!"

Jun shook his head. "I don't want it. I made it for you, so you could at least take it. Burn it if you don't want it."

"Hmph." She put it back on her wrist and smoothed it out with her finger.

This was followed by a long and painful silence.

"Hey, Jun?"

"Are you going to go back to sleep now, or what?"

"Shut up, desu!"

"Fine. What."

"Well... have you noticed something about Suigintou?"

"Not really, why?"

"She doesn't seem happy, desu." Suiseiseki looked contemplative. "Well, she NEVER seems happy, but especially now."

"Did you miss the thing about her medium dying?"

"Why would she care about that, desu? Well... I mean, it's not like HER to care."

Jun shrugged. "Maybe her medium made a special connection with her."

This seemed to strike a note with Suiseiseki. "Yeah... maybe."

She crossed her arms and looked down, then got up from where she and Jun had been sitting. "Bye."

"See you tomorrow." At 1:34 A.M., Jun went to sleep.

Shinku was dreaming.

Alice... no!

A rose vine twirled around her arm, up her neck, and then over her face.

You deserve this, you murderer.

She woke up, blinked a few times, and then fell back into a deeper kind of sleep, without dreams.

Tomoe waved goodbye to Hinaichigo. "I'll see you after school!"

"Bye-bye, Tomoe!" The good news was that Hina had made significant strides in resolving her abandonment issues. She smiled cheerily, then turned to look at the vanity mirror. Something exciting was always happening at the Sakurada household.

Suigintou looked stunning. A black minidress with the back cut out, tall black boots, long black gauntlets, and, of course, her wristband. Her long hair was done up in a bun pierced with two black chopsticks and tied with a black gauze ribbon.

"I'm going now. I'll be back at two."

"Bye, na no!" Despite the inherent danger involved in traveling via the N-Field as of late, Hinaichigo had arrived unscathed and was currently drinking a glass of some concoction that was equal parts milk and honey.

Closing the door behind her, Suigintou took a deep breath of the fresh outside air. She took long, slow strides down the walkway to the sidewalk, then took a sharp right and headed toward the church. She wondered if she'd be able to enter that place.

Micchan arrived at the convention, Kanaria in tow. Already the busty mascot was turning plenty of heads in the crowd.

"Why does there need to be a convention for cosplay, kashira? Isn't there enough cosplaying at other conventions, kashira?"

"There is never enough cosplaying! Anywhere!"

Shinku, Hinaichigo, and Souseiseki had settled down to a Kun-Kun episode, while Suiseiseki flipped through a cookbook and Jun stitched away at Souseiseki's wristband.

"Don't go in there, da wa!" Shinku exclaimed.

"NOOOOO na no!"

Souseiseki gripped the edge of the couch cushion.

"Hey, Jun, do we have any baking chocolate, desu?"

"I dunno."

Shinku called for silence; Jun shrugged and resumed sewing, while Suiseiseki began rummaging around in the kitchen cabinets. This was actually louder than the conversation that had been going on.

"How did you know her, anyway?"

"Uh, I was a nurse that worked with her."

"Really...? So was I, but I don't remember seeing you around..."

"Different shift?"

"Yeah, most likely. Nice to meet you. I'm Shibuko Ebara."

"I'm..." Suigintou rummaged through her limited knowledge of Japanese names and picked the first thing that came to mind. "Rie Tanaka?"

"You should go up and say something."

Suigin looked at Megu in her casket, looking healthier than she ever did when she was alive.

"I can't think of anything to say."

"What now, kashira?"

"Just stand around and look pretty! Good posture! Squeeze your shoulders together! Smile!"

Kanaria tried her best.

"You're so CUTE! I think I'm going to have a heart attack!" Micchan began snapping pictures- jostling other photographers out of the way to do so, since a small crowd had gathered around Kanaria and was blinding her with the flashbulbs of their cameras.

Click, click, click. Even a more professional-looking cameraman was setting up a tripod to take her picture.

"Micchan, I can't see- kashira!"

"Keep your eyes big and wide!"

"It's hard, kashira!"

One of the guys in the crowd called out: "Say 'kashira' again!"

"K... kashira?"

"Again!"

"Kashira!"

Micchan held out her hand. "Pay up! I'm going to start charging for requests! And pictures, too! Put the cameras away!"

A well-dressed young man in a Cosmode Magazine shirt stepped forward. "How much, miss?"

"Here, Souseiseki." Jun held out the dark-blue wristband, lined with white ruffles.

Sousei put it on her wrist, admired it for a moment, then smiled appreciatively. "Thanks."

"Mine is still the best, desu!" Suiseiseki thrust out her band-adorned left arm.

"No, mine, na no!"

"It's mine, desu!"

"Na no!"

"That's not an argument, that's a meaningless interjection," Shinku pointed out.

"You do it too, desu!"

Shinku blushed. "...In moderation."

"Say it, desu!"

"No."

"Say it!"

"Stop trying."

Hinaichigo put on a devilish grin, then tackled Shinku to the floor for no apparent reason.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR da wa?!"

"She said it, na no!"

"She said it, desu!"

Souseiseki stifled laughter.

"You guys have problems." Jun rolled his eyes, but he smiled. It was a good day when the Rozen Maidens weren't fighting over their souls, but their vocal tics and their wrist fashions. Actually, with regards to the former, he did have a preference.