Chiyo awoke, finding herself facing an open window, outside of which bamboo plants waved in the breeze, painted against a bright blue sky. Looking down, she saw that she had been sleeping on a futon laid out on the floor, with a large comforter draped over her. The room itself was sparsely furnished—a desk, bookcase, and a chair were the only other things in the room. The bookcase was stacked with well-worn bound volumes of manga, as well as a handful of scholarly books of some type; on top of the bookcase, the only thing that rested there was a stuffed toy depicting a small white cat resting atop the head of a larger white cat—a combination marketed by the toy company that made it as Necoconeco.
       To say that Chiyo was startled would be an understatement. Frantically, she looked about her, checking for anything which might indicate that this room was part of the subterranean lair, and thus not as ordinary as it seemed. However, she could find nothing. The last thing she remembered from her ordeal yesterday was being trapped in that dining room—a room that looked as deceptively ordinary as this one, except that it had no windows—when three small portals opened up in the door and a strange yellow gas wafted out. That must have been sleeping gas, Chiyo thought, as she headed towards the door. I wonder how long I've been out for?
       Chiyo slid open the door, finding a hallway beyond; a hallway that was as plain and ordinary as the room she was in. Just then, she heard the sound of sock-clad feet heading her way. With a bit of anxiety creeping up on her, Chiyo slid the door shut again and crawled back into bed, where she promptly lay still and closed her eyes.
       "Chiyo-chan?" Osaka's voice called as Chiyo heard the sliding door open again. "Are you awake?"
       Osaka stepped into the room and came to stand before the futon where Chiyo lay. "Ahh, so you're still asleep, huh? Must've been ghosts that I heard."
       Chiyo opened her eyes a tiny bit, trying to convey a sense of exhaustion, and asked, "Ghosts?"
       "Yeah. You know, these old houses are full of 'em!"
       Chiyo shivered, then asked, "So we aren't underground any more?"
       Osaka shook her head, as thought Chiyo had just said something completely bizarre. "What're you talking about? Who said that we're up on the surface?"
       "Uhh…" Chiyo started, turning her head to the open window. "If we are underground, how do you explain the blue sky out there?"
       "Oh, that's easy! It's artificial, a simulation created by my boss, the inventor. Isn't it cool? Looks just like the real thing!"
       Chiyo squinted at the sky outside the window, as if trying to find that hint of artificiality that would confirm it as a fake. However, due to the glare of the sunlight—or whatever it was that was emulating sunlight—she wasn't able to concentrate on it very well. Then, a thought struck her.
       "But Osaka… didn't you say this was an old house? Why would an old house like this one be underground?"
       "Don't ask me. That's the way the inventor wanted it," Osaka replied with a shrug.
       "You know, you keep mentioning this inventor to me, but I have yet to meet him."
       "Her. The inventor is a 'her'."
       "Huh?" Chiyo asked, bolting upright in bed. This whole time, she had thought that the inventor Osaka kept referring to was a guy; wasn't the inventor the man who had come in with Osaka while she lay on that examination table? "Well, umm… when am I going to meet her?"
       "Oh, not much longer now. She wants to meet you a whole lot, actually. That is, she's already met you, but you were knocked out at the time. Can't exactly count that as a real meeting!" Osaka said, chuckling to herself.
       Chiyo sighed, but not without a small smile on her face. Despite the weirdness of all this, Osaka was still much the same old goofball she had known in high school. "No, I guess you can't."

*****

       Tomo, Yomi, Sakaki, and Kagura all took a cab to the hotel that they would be staying at, all crammed in the back seat. All of their luggage was in the back, save for the black garbage bag that contained the orange stuffed cat; both Tomo and Sakaki insisted that it stay with them. Sakaki held the large bag in her lap during the entire ride to the hotel.
       They had two suites waiting for them; one for Yomi and her camera crew, and the other for Tomo, Kagura, and Sakaki. It was Yomi who had booked the reservations, paying for the rooms out of the generous expense account the Tokyo News Network had given her for this assignment. After checking in and getting settled, Yomi went next door to her friends' suite, only to find that Tomo and Kagura were in the midst of a pillow fight, with Sakaki silently looking on.
       Yomi stamped her foot, which caused Tomo and Kagura to pause in their battle, then exclaimed, "Geez, will you guys ever grow up? Now listen—maybe we should plan our next move now, before my crew gets here and I have to prepare for my evening report."
       Kagura tossed her pillow onto the bed and pulled up a chair. "All right, sounds good to me."
       "Yeah, yeah," Tomo replied, dropping her own pillow and taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "I guess we're here to rescue Chiyo-chan, right?"
       Sakaki nodded emphatically, while Yomi leaned against a nearby wall and began telling the others of her ideas.
       "Now, here's what I'm thinking. We can look up Osaka's name in the phone book, and go from there."
       "Her name?" Sakaki asked.
       Yomi sighed, "Ayumu Kasuga. Don't tell me you forgot…"
       "Well, it's just that all of us knew her as Osaka," Kagura explained. "Even the teachers called her that sometimes."
       "That's true, I guess…" Yomi replied. "I don't suppose any of you remember my first name?"
       Her question drew a bunch of blank stares. Finally, Tomo said, "Wait, it's 'Koyomi', right?"
       "You've known me for how many years and you have to guess?"
       Kagura leaned forward in her chair and propped her arms up against her legs. "Say, won't Osaka be suspicious about us all showing up at once? Especially you, Yomi, with your camera crew and all."
       "I have no plans on bringing the crew with me when we go and see her… for the first time, anyway."
       "Yeah, but besides that, when we start drilling her about Chiyo-chan…"
       "I see where you're going," Yomi replied. "And you're right. Perhaps we should just tell her what's going on and, being concerned friends of hers, ask if she's seen or heard about any weird happenings lately."
       "Sounds like a good approach," Tomo shrugged. "Maybe we should go with that."
       Sakaki nodded. "We don't have many options at this point…"
       Yomi clapped her hands together. "Great! Now, is there a phone directory in this room?"

       Fortunately, they found Osaka's address and phone number with few problems. In the middle of their discussing the exact approaches they should take with Osaka, Yomi's camera crew showed up; she promptly excused herself and disappeared into the next room, her cameraman and production assistant following close behind. After waiting for Yomi to do her report, dismiss her crew for the rest of the evening, and come back, the four women started discussing plans for dinner. None of them had ever been to Osaka before, and therefore didn't know anyplace that was good, so they stuck to the restaurant closest to the hotel; it seemed fairly busy, which they all took as a sign that at least the food wasn't going to suck.
       It was late, and they weren't much in the mood for a full-course dinner, so they all ordered soba. It was after they had placed their orders that Tomo noticed a man that was sitting a few tables away, occasionally glancing over at them. The man had brown hair that was lightly dusted with bits of grey, wore glasses, and had a slight slouch. Tomo shuddered slightly when she saw him, since he bore a striking resemblance to his high school literature teacher, Mr. Kimura. She leaned across the table and motioned for the others to do the same, which they did.
       "Hey, Tomo, what's up? Is there something confidential you've gotta tell us?" Kagura whispered.
       "Nah, nothing like that. I was just looking at that guy at the next table. Doesn't he look a lot like Mr. Kimura?"
       Yomi shivered. "You mean, our old classic lit teacher?" She looked up from the huddle and happened to see the man looking over at her, waving. His mouth was hanging open in that slack way that was characteristic of Mr. Kimura.
       Kagura followed Yomi's eyeline and returned the man's wave. "Hi Mr. Kimura. What brings you to Osaka?"
       Yomi, Tomo, and Sakaki all looked on the scene in shock, their huddle now effectively broken.
       "What?" Tomo exclaimed. "You mean that guy who looks like Mr. Kimura actually is Mr. Kimura?!"
       As Kagura waved him over, the other three women edged away slightly. Mr. Kimura pulled up a chair and sat at the end of the group's table.
       "I could ask the same of you, Kagura," Mr. Kimura said in a polite tone. "What brings you up here? Visiting relatives?"
       "Nah, we're just here to see an old friend."
       "Oh, I see. And your friends are…"
       "Come on! You mean you don't remember your old students?'
       Mr. Kimura looked over at Yomi, Tomo, and Sakaki, who were all rather nervous about being the subject of his sleazy, scrutinizing eyes. "Ahh yes, all of you do look familiar. I see you've grown into beautiful young women."
       This last statement of his was spoken so plain and sincere that Tomo found herself moved enough to say, "Why, thank you Mr. Kimura."
       It wasn't clear if he actually heard Tomo's thanks, because he sighed sadly and said, mostly to himself, "Well, I guess you can't stay high school girls forever."
       Yomi and Sakaki slid their chairs even further away from Mr. Kimura, while Kagura let out a heavy sigh. Tomo muttered, "I take back my previous comment."
       Mr. Kimura continued, "Yes, it's sad… even high school girls must grow up, never to wear their school's gym shorts ever again…"
       "Mr. Kimura," Kagura said insistently, "you still haven't answered my question: what brings you to Osaka?"
       "Oh, how rude of me! Well, Kagura, if you must know, my daughter is up here somewhere. Neither I nor my wife has seen her in months, and we're getting rather worried about her."
       "Your daughter's missing?" Kagura exclaimed. "I'm sorry to hear that…"
       "We've tried to keep it a secret from the other teachers. We don't have to drag you all into this."
       "I understand. A family matter, huh?"
       "Yes. So if you run into her, please let her know that her daddy's looking for her."
       "No problem!" Kagura replied. Then, she scratched her head and asked, "Uhh… you wouldn't happen to have a recent picture, would you? It's been awhile since I last saw her."
       Mr, Kimura nodded, then reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He dug through it a bit, then handed a small photograph to Kagura.
       "Here's the most recent one I have, taken during her junior year of high school. She's a senior this year."
       Kagura took the photograph and looked it over. "I'll keep an eye out for her."
       "Yeah, me too!" Tomo added. "You can count on us, Mr. Kimura!"
       Mr. Kimura nodded, then said, "I should be getting back to my seat now… I don't wish to disturb your dinner, and my own is getting cold."
       After Mr. Kimura had gone back to his table, the four women once again huddled together.
       Yomi harshly whispered, "What's gotten into you two? We don't have time to look for the daughter of that creep! We should be focused on finding Chiyo-chan, first and foremost!"
       "Oh come on, Yomi. Mr. Kimura's really not that bad once you get to know him," Kagura replied. "Though I must admit that it helps not being a high school student anymore."
       "Besides," Tomo added. "What if she's involved in this whole mess as well? Maybe she and Osaka are working together!"
       Yomi laughed, "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! Osaka working with Mr. Kimura's daughter? I mean, really—what are the chances of that, huh, Tomo?"
       Sakaki mused, "What are the chances of all of us being together like this, in this situation?" To those words, no one knew what to say.

       They resumed their discussion of how to approach Osaka after the waiter came back with four hot, steaming bowls of soba. Yomi tossed out the suggestion that they call her this evening, asking if they could meet up the next day, but Tomo rejected this idea, saying that they needed the element of surprise. Kagura thought about this, then asked if all of them should really head over there all at once. Tomo replied, "That's a good point. We don't want to freak the poor girl out. So, how about me and Sakaki go see Osaka first thing tomorrow, while Yomi and Kagura—umm… be our backup in case anything goes wrong!"
       Kagura said, "Sounds doable." Sakaki nodded in agreement.
       Yomi sighed, "Well, if this is the best that we can come up with, we might as well go with it. I just hope nothing goes wrong."
       Tomo slapped Yomi on the back. "That's my Yomi! Always the worrywart. I knew I could count on you!"
       "Gee thanks."
       "No problem! So, we've laid out the first part of our plan… let's discuss the rest!"

*****

       After breakfast the following morning, Tomo and Sakaki took the slip of paper upon which Osaka's address was written, and left the hotel. They had to stop and ask for directions a few times, but eventually they found the building they wanted. It was a drab-looking house at the end of a narrow road, and it seemed to be badly in need of repairs. A couple of shingles were missing from the roof, the wood of the window ledges was slightly rotted, and the ivory white paint was chipped and peeling in various places. Tomo took one look at the place and immediately stared down again at the sheet of paper in her hands, thinking that this dump couldn't possibly be the place they were looking for. However, the house numbers matched, and they were on the right street. With Sakaki silently following behind her, Tomo approached the front door and, after a search for a doorbell had come up empty-handed, lightly rapped her knuckles against the wood. A few minutes passed by without an answer, so she knocked again. There was no response this second time, so she tried turning the door handle, despite Sakaki's nervously-stated objection.
       The door was open. Tomo stared into the dimly-lit hallway beyond, then turned back to look at Sakaki. She nodded, giving Tomo the go-ahead she desired to step foot in the house and do a little exploring.
       The interior of the house was in roughly the same shape as the exterior; though it otherwise seemed clean, the paint on the hallway's walls was flaking off, and the various wooden accents and trim that were incorporated into the house's design plainly showed the place's age. There were very few furnishings; a shoe tree near the door and a floor lamp were the only things that Tomo saw before she came upon the first room. Beneath hers and Sakaki's feet, the wooden floor creaked slightly. There was no doubt about it; this place was creepy.
       Tomo and Sakaki searched around for a few minutes, looking into the living room and the dining room with no success in finding anyone. Tomo even called out, "Hello? Is anyone here?" a few times, but never got so much as an acknowledgement. After awhile, Sakaki said, "Let's get out of here and go back to the hotel. There's nobody home."
       Tomo sighed, "Though I hate to admit it, maybe you're right." They circled around through the kitchen toward the front door, when they passed a closet in the narrow hallway. There was a faint, but unmistakable, draft of cold air coming from the small crack between the sliding door and the wall. Tomo held up her hand, an indication that Sakaki should stop, and stood before the door, scratching her chin thoughtfully.
       "There's a draft coming from behind this closet door," Tomo mused. "I wonder what it means?"
       Sakaki sighed, "Well, there's only one way to find out."
       "Right you are!" Tomo deftly slid the door open, only to be greeted by a strong gust of air. Tomo and Sakaki reeled back, closing their eyes until the gust subsided. Tomo opened her eyes a crack, and saw that what lay beyond these doors wasn't a closet at all, but a spiral staircase with concrete stairs and steel railings, leading down into unimaginable depths.
       "Whoa!" Tomo said under her breath, as she stared down into the stairwell. "C'mon Sakaki, let's check it out!"
       Sakaki, still recovering from the initial surprise at finding such a hidden passageway in an otherwise run-down house, looked over Tomo's shoulder at the stairwell and suggested, "Perhaps we should call Yomi and Kagura before we go any further? Maybe just to give them an update on things?"
       "Yeah, that's a good idea," Tomo replied. She then drew out her cell phone and punched in Yomi's number.
       As Sakaki idled by the mysterious stairwell, on the lookout for any intruders, Tomo paced about the hallway, waiting for Yomi to pick up the line on the other end. Finally, it seems Yomi must've answered, because all of a sudden, Tomo stopped pacing and said, "Hi Yomi!" in a voice loud enough to wake the dead. Swiftly, Sakaki leaned forward and put a finger to her lips, hissing, "Shh!"
       Tomo nodded in her direction and she lowered her voice, but only by a single decibel or two. "So yeah, we found the house just fine," Tomo explained, "but no one seems to be home. Fortunately, the door was unlocked."
       From the other end of the line, even Sakaki could hear Yomi's irritation coming through loud and clear. Tomo reeled back a little from the receiver, then replied, "I know it's rude, but how else were we supposed to get in here? Knocking was getting us nowhere!"
       "Uhh, Tomo…"
       "But anyway, we found something really strange while we were snooping around. There's this door in one of the hallways. It looked like a regular closet door, but it had a cold draft coming out of it. So we opened it and found a stairwell!"
       "Tomo…"
       "Pretty cool, huh? Me and Sakaki are gonna check it out—maybe you guys should meet us here. You never know what we're gonna run into, after all."
       "Tomo!"
       Slightly irritated, Tomo turned to face Sakaki mumbling, "Okay, okay, what is it," into the receiver, shortly before Tomo's phone was knocked out of her hand. The phone flew through the air and landed on the floor, where it skidded to a stop in the far corner of the hall. Even from that distance, Yomi could be heard shouting Tomo's name on the other end of the line.
       Tomo whirled around to face her assailant, but the view was not one she was prepared for. It was a man, a little shorter than average height, but rather lanky. He wore one of those familiar black suits, but his tie was held in place by a silver tiepin. His hair was cut close against his head, and his eyes were wide and mischievous. Behind him, Sakaki was struggling to free herself from the grasp of an old enemy of hers.
       "Jigen!" Tomo exclaimed upon spotting Sakaki's foe. "And Lupin! I should've known! You were the one who kidnapped Chiyo-chan, weren't you?"
       "You say that as though we've met before. And my name's not Lupin," the man replied, a bit befuddled by Tomo's words.
       "That doesn't matter!" Tomo replied, getting into a defensive pose. "You are the one who kidnapped Chiyo-chan, are you not?'
       "You mean that short girl with the brown hair? Yeah, I'm the one. Now, who are you and what the hell are you doing here?"
       "They're friends of that girl's," Jigen replied. Without warning, Tomo immediately gave him a swift kick to his jaw, breaking into one of the rough plaster walls as she brought her foot back down. Jigen fell backwards into the stairwell; Sakaki nearly went with him, if she hadn't freed herself from his clutches moments before. She kneeled on the floor and rubbed her sore wrists together. Tomo grinned triumphantly at Lupin, who had backed off by a couple steps.
       "Hey Sakaki, are you all right?" Tomo asked.
       "Y—yeah, I'm okay," Sakaki replied as she rose to her feet. "Just a little shaken."
       "Listen, I have a plan. You go downstairs and find Chiyo, while I take care of Lupin here."
       "I wish you'd stop calling me that!" Lupin protested.
       Sakaki stared down the dimly-lit stairwell anxiously. "But Tomo, I'm not much of a fighter…"
       "Doesn't matter! You're still a fast runner, I hope!"
       "Yeah…"
       "Then go! Find Chiyo-chan! I'll meet up with you later!"
       Sakaki nodded. Tomo was right; there was more than one way she could deal with the enemy. Besides, the very last thing that she wanted was to let Chiyo's dad down. Who knew what he would have in store for her, if she came back a failure?
       As Tomo blocked and returned Lupin's attacks, Sakaki slid into the hidden stairwell, and shuttled down the stairs.

       Sakaki went down the winding stairs as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, the staircase was long, and she found herself a little dizzy once she reached the bottom step. She was now in a storage room of sorts, with walls of dirt and rock. Her eyes still adjusting to the dim light, she scoped out the details of the room, being careful not to make any sound whatsoever. She had to be like a cat—silent and stealthy, ready to bite the hand off of anyone who dares come near… well, figuratively, anyway.
       In this way she moved among the huge stacks of crates. While working her way across the room, she happened to read some of their labels. She couldn't make get a whole lot of information out of them, save that the contents they held were either chemicals, electronic devices, or otherwise unknown materials. Surely, she mused, whatever's going on here may be bigger than any of us might have previously thought.
       Finally, she found herself at the entrance to a much larger room; it was circular, and its walls were lined with free-standing lamps and what looked like banks of old supercomputers. Standing in the center of the room were three examination tables with stainless steel surfaces; tables much like those that she used back in the Kyoto Zoo's veterinary clinic. Two of them were empty, but on the third sat two odd, oblong… things.
       Sakaki looked to her left, and then to her right. There was no one else around. Stealthily, she snuck out into the large room, toward the table that held the strange objects. As she drew closer, she saw that they were each about twenty to thirty centimeters long. One end of each object was large and round, and tapered down to a smaller rounded end. They were constructed of some kind of reddish-orange polymer and were seamless save for the large round end, on top of which was a circular button; it was not raised in the least, but smooth against the object's main surface. Carefully, Sakaki picked up one of these objects, and found that it was surprisingly light.
       Just then, she heard the sound of approaching footsteps. A bit startled, Sakaki clumsily replaced the object on the metal table, and dipped behind it, hoping that she wouldn't be spotted.
       As Sakaki kneeled behind the table, trying to remain as still as possible, she heard two women talking, their voices growing louder with each step forward.
       "…My assistant got the measurements yesterday, so I was able to proceed with the final step and make the casings."
       Sakaki couldn't recognize this first voice, though she noted that it sounded a bit youthful.
       "I'm glad to hear it! So, are they ready yet? Can we try 'em on?"
       However, this voice was one Sakaki did recognize, and she quickly clamped her hand over her mouth to keep her gasp from escaping. This second voice belonged to none other than her old classmate, Osaka.
       "Sure, if you like. Here. I'll help you attach them if you like."
       Sakaki heard the sounds of a couple of things—probably the weird objects—being lifted from the metal table, followed by some clipping sounds.
       "They won't tug too hard on my hair, will they?" Osaka asked.
       "Not at all. They will create a lifting field that starts at your feet, so you won't feel any pain. Even so, it may take a little bit of getting used to."
       "Okay, now how do I start 'em up?"
       "Just press the ends lightly, and they should start flapping. And when you want to stop, just press the buttons on the extended clips."
       Flapping? Sakaki thought. Just what were those things supposed to be?
       A soft whirring sound could be heard, followed by Osaka's startled yelp. The whirring sound started to move, and Sakaki's eyes followed it as it rose higher, and then over, the table. Sakaki froze, as she was now perfectly within Osaka's line of vision, with nowhere left to hide; yet she was also stunned by the sight of Osaka herself.
       Osaka hovered above Sakaki, the two weird objects from before attached to either side of her head and flapping furiously, as hummingbirds' wings do. Plastered on Osaka's face was a look of supreme bliss. Then, Osaka opened her eyes and looked down.
       "Wow, I'm pretty high up! Wait, who's that kneeling by the table?"
       Sakaki heard the voice of the other woman cut in; "What did you say? You mean we have an intruder?" The next thing Sakaki saw was a woman cutting right in front of her, from the other side of the table. She seemed to be in her late teens, had long black hair, and wore the blouse and skirt of a school uniform beneath her white lab coat. Her feet were clad in moccasin-style shoes and navy blue Polo socks. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
       Hovering a bit lower, Osaka squinted at Sakaki and said, "Hey, I know you from somewhere, don't I?"
       Not knowing what else to do, Sakaki nodded.
       The woman in the lab coat looked up at Osaka. "You mean you know this person, Ayumu?"
       Osaka swooped down even lower and touched the sides of her head closest to the bases of the "wings". The devices slowed in their flapping and Osaka came to a smooth landing. "Yeah, I know her. We went to high school together, I think."
       Sakaki nodded emphatically. Was Osaka really this scatterbrained to have forgotten her name?
       "She's not that Tomo Takino person from Interpol, is she?" the lab coat woman asked. "The one who helped Chiyo escape from your incompetent band of agents?"
       Osaka's agents?
       "No, it's not her," Osaka replied, shaking her head. She put both her hands to her head and closed her eyes. "I know this one, I know it! Don't tell me!"
       "Sakaki," Sakaki quietly said.
       "I told you not to tell me!" Osaka lashed back angrily. "Now I remember! You're Sakaki! Super strong, likes cats a whole lot, am I right?"
       Hesitantly, Sakaki nodded.
       The lab coat woman folded her arms in front of her chest. "Ayumu, we have to do something about her. You said she's one of your high school friends, right? Just like that Takino girl?"
       Osaka smiled, "Sure is!"
       "Then she might be here for Chiyo as well! Now, Sakaki was it?"
       Sakaki nodded.
       "Not very verbose, are you?" the lab coat woman deadpanned. "Listen, is there anyone else with you?"
       "Umm…"
       "I'll take that as a yes. Looks like I'll have to have Shun take care of them." The lab coat woman pressed at something behind her ear, causing a headset microphone to appear from behind it. "Shun! Come in, Shun!"
       "Nice try, but it's not gonna work!"
       The lab coat woman, Osaka, and Sakaki all turned toward the direction of the voice. Leaning against one side of the stairwell's entranceway was Tomo, hands folded across her chest and a smug and triumphant grin on her face.
       "What did you do to my assistant?"
       "You mean that guy who looks exactly like Lupin? I just… took care of him, that's all," Tomo replied with a sly smile.
       "What do you mean, you 'took care' of him? You aren't exactly Fujiko Mine!"
       "What did you say?"
       Now stirred into anger, Tomo rushed toward the lab coat woman, who calmly turned to Osaka and asked, "Do you have your gas mask handy? I'm going to release the sleeping gas."
       Sakaki gasped, then pounced upon the lab coat woman from behind. She fell, releasing a small remote of some kind; it flew from her hand, then landed and skittered across the floor, eventually stopping in the middle of the room. In the meantime, Tomo rushed toward Sakaki, Osaka, and the lab coat woman. The latter was struggling in Sakaki's grip, and Tomo promptly grabbed the lab coat woman's ankles, to keep her from kicking.
       "Osaka!" Tomo shouted. "Can you get us some rope? We've gotta tie her up!"
       The lab coat woman asked, "Osaka? Who is this Osaka you're talking about?" Turning to Osaka, she ordered, "Ayumu! Remove the wings and use their stun function to bring these two under control! Hurry!"
       "Don't listen to her, Osaka! Tomo replied. "We're your friends! Now get us some damn rope!"
       "Osaka, please help us!" Sakaki added. "We can't hold her for much longer!"
       "Umm… uhh… umm…" Osaka replied. "Okay! I'll be right back!"
       Osaka unclipped the wings from her head and set them on the examination table, then started running across the room toward a metal cabinet that sat nestled between two machines against the opposite wall. As she ran, two figures emerged from the stairwell entrance. The one with the long brown hair exclaimed, "Osaka! Tomo! Sakaki! What's going on here?" and the second, who had short black hair pointed toward the lab coat woman and shouted, "Hey look! It's Mr. Kimura's—"
       Unfortunately, the second woman's statement was cut short by the sound of gas streaming down from vents high up in the ceiling. In all the confusion, the distracted Osaka had accidentally stepped on the lab coat woman's remote. The gas descended quickly, and as they all grew drowsy, the five former classmates didn't so much as notice that the lab coat woman was holding her breath.

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Written November 2004 | Copyright 2004, Reeve.

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