Hana fumbles with her key as she desperately tries to unlock her door. "Stay calm, Hana." I try to say. "There's always a chance that perhaps they didn't find the laptop."

Oh, who am I kidding? I think. They definitely found it, and they definitely threw it out. Goodbye, communication with Joel and Kay.

Hana finally manages to open the door, and we all rush in. Hana flicks on the light switch, and bright lights turn on, revealing a humongous chandelier. In the midst of my horror, I manage to observe the room at the same time. Hana's room is absolutely beautiful. The laptop completely leaves my mind, the beauty of the room astounding me. The room is spacious and decorated tastefully, instead of the gaudy designs and colors I had expected. I can see that Hana's bed is HUGE, and looks as if it could swallow her up if she decided to jump on it right then and there. A silky-looking dark, forest green comforter is spread on top of it, with pillows of the same color nestled against the oak headboard.

On the other side of the room sits a large desk made of the same type of wood as the bed's headboard. In front of the desk is a comfortable-looking dark green chair with small, black wheels attached to the bottom of it, designed for comfort with the sitter in mind. Next to the desk sits a prim little metal wastebasket, ready to swallow up trash.

I see a large oak door, probably leading to the bathroom. Nearby the bathroom door, there is a big wardrobe, complete with drawers. Hana; who was poking around the room with Mitsuki, both looking for the laptop while I was busy admiring the room; walks over to the wardrobe and opens it. All her coats, jackets, and sweaters are hung up on a pole parallel to the bottom of the wardrobe, along with her school uniform. They look pristine, completely wrinkle-free. Mitsuki helps Hana open up all the drawers, and I see her shirts, pants, skirts, socks, and underwear are all folded up neatly, categorized into each drawer, and put away in its rightful place with care.

"Are you just going to stand there all night drooling?" Mitsuki snaps. "Come help us look!"

"All right, all right! Sorry." I head to the bathroom, eager to see what it looks like. In my curiosity, my would-have-been annoyance at Mitsuki's snappy remark completely dissolved. "I'll look in the bathroom, while you guys continue out here."

I practically run to the oak door, and swing it open with no hesitation. I gasp in awe and my knees tremble. I'm threatening to swoon and melt on the floor. This bathroom…could be the most beautiful place to excrete waste I have ever seen. I know, I'm a sucker for clean places.

The entire room sparkles. The floor is tiled with swirled gold and white tiles. There is an upright shower with transparent glass and a large, white bathtub right beside it. There are two sets of shampoo, conditioner, and body soap; one set inside the shower on a white metal shelf, the other set on an oak shelf just within reach from the bathtub.

The toilet was simply marvelous. Perfectly clean, without a trace of excretion on it. It even has a special machine that monitors the temperature of the toilet seat for you. For example, if mornings are especially cold, that machine will warm up the seat for you so you can take a dump in comfort. A plump roll of toilet paper is positioned near the toilet, along with a small, squirting hose hanging on the side of the large part of the toilet (I forgot what it's called), so you can clean yourself after the act any way you want to.

The sink and the mirrors are spotless. I cannot find a fault anywhere. "They" provide a little dark green cup to put your toothbrush and toothpaste in, and even provide an option of a special kind of toothbrush and toothpaste that is guaranteed to obliterate all cavities before they have a chance to spread. The mirror just reflects everything back, but strangely enough, everything seems to look even prettier in the reflection the mirror shows you. How interesting…

"Karin! Is the laptop in there?" Hana calls, with a hint of desperation in her voice.

I reply a little guiltily, "Sorry, no!"

I hear Mitsuki mumble suspiciously under her breath, "Of course a laptop wouldn't be in a bathroom, now would it?"

"Now how are we supposed to do our report?" Hana wails miserably.

"You already checked everywhere in the room, right?" I ask.

"Yeah. Twice." Mitsuki snorts, half angrily. "Damn those robots! They must've thrown it away."

I look halfheartedly underneath the bed, although I know the laptop won't be there. I don't know what to do. Mitsuki and Hana have glum expressions on their faces. It's growing kind of stuffy with the aroma of failure in the room, so I walk to the window and unlatch the lock. I push the window open and lean on the sill, looking up at the dark sky. Here, in the endless grounds of Alice Academy, unhindered by the faraway city lights of Tokyo, I can see the moon and stars as clear as ever. A cool wind blows in, making me shiver. My mind thinks idly, searching for a logical and reasonable explanation to this new problem.

I've just begun to relax, when I see a large silhouette on the wall out of the corner of my eye. What the hell is that, I think, a bit frightened, although I'm careful not to show it. Instead of alerting my friends, I stay silent, not wanting to cause a false alarm. I watch the silhouette slowly, but surely, make its way up the wall. Towards me.

Then, it suddenly disappears. I'm startled, and I stretch out farther over the windowsill to see where it's gone. I don't see it anywhere. I relax again, thinking it must've been an animal or a shadow of something flying overhead.

All of a sudden, something flies in through the window, pummeling my stomach and knocking the wind from me. It makes me stumble backwards, and the strength with which it knocked into me is enough to make me fall and roll over a couple of times. It pins me down.

I quickly look at it, trying to assess my situation. Instead of seeing a dangerous enemy, I see a gigantic…

TURTLE. I mean, this big baby was Crush from Finding Nemo size. HUGE, LARGE, and probably not as friendly.

"For the love of God, get this freaky turtle off me!" I howl, surprised. And I absolutely hate being surprised in the bad way. "Mitsuki! Hana! Help me!"

"Where did that turtle come from?" Mitsuki approaches us cautiously.

Hana, who is a type of Christian herself (The particular branch of Christiantiy escapes me at this…oh I don't know…unimportant? time), scolds me, "Do not take the Lord's name in vain!"

I just feel like screaming at them, What the hell are you thinking about? Just get this damn thing off of me!

The turtle cocks its head and stares at me. I stare at it back, daring it to do something. Its mouth opens and out comes, "State your name."

"Damn." Mitsuki gapes at the turtle.

"Tell it your name, Karin." Hana says, looking a little frightened herself.

Frustrated, I seethe, "Which name? My Japanese name, or my real name? I definitely won't tell it my real name until I know whether or not this thing belongs to one of our enemies!"

"Just tell it your Japanese name, then!" Mitsuki growls, equally frustrated.

"Sakurai Karin!" I spit at the turtle.

The turtle replies, "Your real name, please."

"Like hell I'll tell you my real name!"

"Your real name, please." The turtle pauses for a second, then says, to my great surprise, "You can whisper it in my ear."

I gawk at the turtle in disbelief. What in the world is going on? The turtle inclines the side of its head to me. "Should I?" I ask Mitsuki and Hana nervously.

"We'll just kill it if it's an enemy machine." Mitsuki says nonchalantly. I nod my head and yell at the turtle for good measure.

"Did you hear that? We'll kill you if you betray me!" The turtle shows no sign that it recognizes my threat, keeping its head inclined towards me.

I tilt my head up to where I thought its ear might be, and begin to whisper.