AN: I own nothing of Roy Hamilton's work, You can have Her. Nor The Eagles' Hotel California. All property rights and claims go to their proper holders none of whom I am associated with.

Chapter 6

I turned my head and Mamimi Samejima stood to the side of me, her date holding her arm. He was a good looking young man and knew how to dress in style at least for it seemed that Americans knew how to dress in such a way naturally. He wore shorts and a shirt that were a size too large but apparently he'd grown accustomed to wearing his clothes this way so that it didn't bother him. I looked at Mamimi and she looked shockingly beautiful. It was the first time I'd seen her in a school uniform and despite the formality of her dress, she seemed nearly perfect. Her red hair was straightened and every part of her looked like for some strange reason as if it had either been pressed or polished.

"It's surprising to see you again, Mamimi." Ninamori said, "What brings you around these parts?"

"I heard from some friends that Ta-kun here was in the city so I thought why not drop by to catch up?" Mamimi responded, "Besides, I've not seen you either when I stop to think about it, Ninamori."

"Who's your friend?" Ninamori asked.

Mamimi looked to her date and replied, "This is Bruno Marx a friend of mine from the Sinclair Reporter."

"Sinclair Reporter?" Ninamori asked, "A newspaper I take it?"

"Yes. I'm one of the head photographers on the paper in charge of most big press deals."

As I listened, the more and more I was impressed. Here was Mamimi, a former derelict turned intellectual. I suppose that when you follow your passions, your expectations are far exceeded by reality. Once Ninamori and Mamimi got caught up, it took a moment for Ninamori and me to realize that the tray holding our food had arrived. The food for a restaurant with an informal dress code was surprisingly good. Mamimi and Bruno sat in the booth behind us and we began to eat our meal. As we ate, I noticed Ninamori watching me not like a science project as she had before but with an oddly different light in her eyes.

I finished my meal and when the waiter took my plate, I noticed something peculiar with Ninamori. She took my hand in hers and led me out onto the dance floor. The musicians weren't set to go for another few minutes but Ninamori slipped them a piece of paper and after looking at each other, the musicians began to play and sing the old hit by the American, Roy Hamilton, You Can Have Her.

My heart was racing the entire time from the time the vocals began. I was completely entranced by how Ninamori was taking this whole supposed experiment. She was really legitimately enjoying herself and it was…odd to see. She danced with me and when I was close enough to her, she'd whisper the words of the song in my ear. In a way, the song reminded me of that first summer I spent with Haruko someone who just wanted someone to play with and nothing more. I couldn't deny that then I was in love with her then and for some strange reason, I knew that I was slowly falling in love with her again. As I danced with Ninamori, I kept reflecting on Haruko's many qualities. Her charismatic almost inexhaustible spirit, the way that she could seem to brave a storm and still come out and say no matter how horrible it was that it was just a slight breeze. At times, I couldn't decide if it was her near craziness for getting me killed or her pure love of life and everything in it that drew me to her. I kept dancing with Ninamori and as the song wrapped up, I was just getting comfortable with the song and was to be honest, was rather disappointed when it ended.

But it wasn't over just yet. Once the band had finished, the leader came forward and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please grab that sweetheart and get ready to be taken to the land of dreams for this next song is one of my personal favorites."

The lights around us dimmed and a slow sultry saxophone began to make itself heard. The song was slow and somewhat melancholy but it was a guess a calming period considering the song we'd just listened to. As I danced with Ninamori, I noticed something really strange. The music seemed to echo in my head. The conversations I was hearing soon became garbled and disjointed but then Ninamori's voice broke this strangeness making her voice and her voice alone the only clear audible thing in my head.

"Naota," she asked, "What's the matter?"

I couldn't concentrate. It was as if my body were going into overdrive. Things which at first seemed so slow were steadily becoming so incredibly fast. My breathing became deep and heavy and my vision became somewhat blurred. I looked around and just barely saw out of the corner of my eye Haruko barely visible in the shadows. I got up and tried to make it over to her but so great was my vertigo, I might as well have been walking in a weightless simulator. I sat down in a nearby booth and Ninamori came to my side.

"Naota is everything alright?"

"No." I replied, "Something is really off here."

I took a drink of water and laid my head back against the soft cushioning of the booth. My head felt like it was about to melt. I opened my eyes and to my surprise, everything was stable. I looked at Ninamori who was at this moment sitting across from me. I noticed that Mamimi was coming over to the booth.

"Hey, Chief, what's going on? You seemed a little out of it out on the dance floor. Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm…fine."

I knew I wasn't. Haruko and that damned professor were definitely up to something. If it was some kind of drug it was working but the effects were too surreal to be just a drug. It had to be something else. For some reason that episode I had made me feel powerless almost as if I were a marionette on strings.

"Naota, come on. Let's get you home." Ninamori said after taking a drink, "You're obviously not well and I don't need you getting sick here and making a scene."

She took my arm and after saying goodbye to Mamimi, and paying the bill, I went with her back to the car. I sat down in the passenger seat and she rolled down the window. I looked over at her and she seemed as if she was somewhat defeated. I tried to offer up an apology but she simply raised her hand as if to silence me. We kept traveling along but I realized we completely passed up the apartments where I was staying.

"Where are we going?" I asked as the shadow of the apartment building faded further and further off in the distance, "Do you even know."

"I said I'd take you home, Naota." She responded, "I thought you'd like to take a look at the place I call home."

We continued to drive for about ten more minutes until we came to a very nice looking apartment complex. The name of the complex, Diamond Falls Estates had a pleasant ring to the ears. Ninamori pulled into the parking lot space number twenty eight and turned off the ignition. She exhaled a brief moment and then looked at me. It was as if she were assessing me. Mapping out my weaknesses and finding my strengths all at the same time with a stoic expression that would make even the local undertaker envious. She unlocked the car doors and got out only after I had done so and closed the door. She then stood by my side and lead the way to her apartment.

Setting foot into the apartment's lobby, I felt like a third class passenger on the titanic. A massive crystal chandelier hanged from the ceiling and copies of several major classical and renaissance paintings were on the walls. We walked towards the elevator and after getting in I saw the button to the fifth floor being pushed. As we went up, I looked again at Ninamori and she showed no emotion but instead simply tightly clenched her fists. The doors opened to the empty hallway and it would've been somewhat dark if it weren't for the electric imitation oil lamps on the walls. We headed down to the very end of the hallways and then went up a spiral staircase before coming to a door all by itself in a cold hallway.

Ninamori took a key out of her inside coat pocket and unlocked the door. She let me in. The room was spectacularly furnished. Valuable paintings seemed to be on every wall and everything was in perfect order. Ninamori went off to the bathroom while I entered the living room and sat down on the sofa. Ninamori it seemed had absolutely everything in terms of comfort. A fifty-inch flat screen television, a perfect car, and a well furnished apartment. I let my head fall back against the sofa's soft back and I let myself relax. The sound of the crickets outside soothed me gently into a half sleep until my phone rang. I took out my phone and answered the beckoning ring.

"Hello, who's this?" I asked since I didn't recognize the number on the caller ID.

"Well done, Ta-kun." Haruko's voice came from the phone, "Play your cards right and this could be a very eventful night."

I got up from the sofa and turned the sliding door window that lay behind the couch and walked out onto the little patio and surveyed the parking lot from high above. I scanned the parking lot for any hint of the pink-haired menace and found nothing.

"Where are you?" I asked, "Why are you following me?"

"Closer than you might imagine." She replied with a chuckle, "Also, I'm not following you. Just observing how everything goes for you. Is that some kind of a crime?"

"You were there at La Rosa!" I said with fury, "I saw you and tried to get to you before you vanished as you always do. Just what are you trying to do exactly? Keep toying with my emotions and things won't be so pretty, Haruko."

"Ooh, is this a threat, Naota? You know I can have you arrested for threatening a faculty member? So I'd watch my step if I were you, you little horny pervert."

"I'm no more perverted than you are you crazed abomination from another dimension!"

"Naota," came Ninamori's voice from behind me, "Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine." I said with a bit of anger in my voice as I pushed the end call button on my cell phone.

Ninamori was wrapped in a satin robe with finely stitched pink flowers. She put her arm around me and turned me gently back towards the interior of her apartment. I headed back in and sat back down on the couch. Ninamori sat down beside me and turned on the TV. It wasn't until a bit later that I began to feel tired. I let Ninamori know and she turned off the TV, gave me a blanket, and went to bed.

As I slept, I felt as if hand were gently slowly wrapping around my neck. I opened my eyes and felt the hand still there. It wasn't a threat for the squeezing sensation had stopped and been replaced with a very odd massaging motion. I shifted my gaze downward but then, my gaze centered itself again as I felt it. Slowly and repetitively I felt the soft sensation of lips kissing my neck and slowly moving upward. I turned my head and saw Ninamori slowly moving up my neck with her lips. I attempted to roll over onto my back so I could get up but once on my back, she pinned me with her arms which were surprisingly strong. I struggled a bit more and then I heard my phone ring. The ringing had an effect on Ninamori and her body fell on my back.

Seeing it was the same number as before I answered, "What?"

"Don't fight her, Naota." Haruko said, "Right now she's in the depths of ecstasy so by that argument, why shouldn't you be?"

"What the hell are you doing, woman?" I asked her growling, "The phone rings and she goes limp on my back."

"Think of this as also part of an experiment. In a little while, she'll be back to where she was but her actions will be…shall we say, amplified?" I heard her giggle mischievously over the phone.

"I thought this experiment was just on me." I told her.

"Oh Naota, it was at first but Prof. Nocturne thought of an even juicier idea. Have your experiences not only affect you but instead afflict all your associates with the same feelings. It's going to be so much fun!"

She then hanged up. As she did Ninamori came back to life and she turned me over after some effort onto my back. She pressed her lips to mine and forced her tongue into my mouth exploring me as it were. She then used her hands to determine my shirt and unbuttoned it exposing my chest. It was then I heard the lyrics and faint beat. I tried to listen but my mind was so preoccupied with this pleasure. The stimulation of it all and then I realized it. The more I indulged in this, the more the music came to prominence. The song I remembered from years ago but I couldn't for the life of me remember the name and frankly, didn't give a shit. The sensations of Ninamori were amazing; her animalistic love making, her soft touch, all of it.

Naturally you may be wondering why I enjoyed it so much. I don't know. To this day, I probably will never know but all I do know is that Ninamori and I were in tandem that night. As the night ended, she lay on top of me our bodies hot from the passions of sex and as we stopped, the song still played. After that all went black and I fell asleep more contented than ever. The ending lyrics of the music I still remember.

Mirrors on the ceiling,

The pink champagne on ice

And she said "We are all just prisoners here, of our own device"

And in the master's chambers,

They gathered for the feast

They stab it with their steely knives,

But they just can't kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was

Running for the door

I had to find the passage back

To the place I was before

"Relax, " said the night man,

"We are programmed to receive.

You can check-out any time you like,

But you can never leave! "

AN: Please Read and Review. I know it's been a long time but hopefully this chapter is worth it even though it is admittedly short.