The Metamorphosis of Chiaki Matsuda Part 2

The Metamorphosis of Chiaki Matsuda Part 2
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It was not until it was getting dark that evening that Chiaki awoke from her deep and coma-like sleep. She would have woken soon afterwards anyway even if she hadn't been disturbed, as she had had enough sleep and felt fully rested. But she had the impression that some hurried steps and the sound of the door leading into the front room being carefully shut had woken her. The light from the fluorescent lights shone palely here and there onto the ceiling and tops of the furniture, but down below, where Chiaki was, it was dark. She pushed herself over to the door, feeling her way clumsily with her bill - of which she was now beginning to learn the value - in order to see what had been happening there. The whole of her left side seemed like one, painfully stretched scar, and she limped badly on her two sets of legs. One of the legs had been badly injured in the events of that morning - it was nearly a miracle that only one of them had been - and dragged along lifelessly.

It was only when she had reached the door that she realized what it actually was that had drawn her over to it; it was the smell of something to eat. By the door there was a dish filled with syrupy pancakes with a little bucket of Kong whiskey sitting near it. She was so pleased she almost laughed, as she was even hungrier than she had been that morning, and immediately dipped her head into the whiskey, nearly covering her eyes with it. But she soon drew her head back again in disappointment; not only did the pain in her tender left side make it difficult to drink the whiskey - she was only able to drink if her whole body worked together as a snuffling whole - but the whiskey did not taste at all nice. Wiskey like this was normally her favorite drink, and Midori had certainly left it there for her because of that, but she turned, almost against her own will, away from the bucket and crawled back into the center of the room.

Through the crack in the door, Chiaki could see that the light had been turned on in the Warmaster's Office. Kyouko at this time would normally be sitting with her evening videogame, announcing what was going on on the screen out in a loud voice to Mami, and sometimes to Midori, but there was now not a sound to be heard. Midori would often write and tell her about this reading, but maybe Kyouko had lost the habit in recent times. It was so quiet all around too, even though there must have been somebody in the flat. "What a quiet life it is my friends lead", said Chiaki to herself, and, gazing into the darkness, felt a great pride that she was able to provide a life like that in such a nice office for the people important to her. But what now, if all this peace and wealth and comfort should come to a horrible and frightening end? That was something that Chiaki did not want to think about too much, so she started to move about, crawling up and down the room.

Once during that long evening, the door on one side of the room was opened very slightly and hurriedly closed again; later on the door on the other side did the same; it seemed that someone needed to enter the room but thought better of it. Chiaki went and waited immediately by the door, resolved either to bring the timorous visitor into the room in some way or at least to find out who it was; but the door was opened no more that night and Chiaki waited in vain. The previous morning while the doors were locked everyone had wanted to get in there to her, but now, now that she had opened up one of the doors and the other had clearly been unlocked some time during the day, no-one came, and the keys were in the other sides.

It was not until late at night that the light in the office was turned off, and now it was easy to see that her friends had stayed awake all that time, as they all could be distinctly heard as they went away together on tip-toe. It was clear that no-one would come into Chiaki's room any more until morning; that gave her plenty of time to think undisturbed about how she would have to re-arrange her life. For some reason, the tall, empty room where she was forced to remain made her feel uneasy as she lay there flat on the floor, even though she had been living in it for several weeks. Hardly aware of what she was doing other than a slight feeling of shame, she hurried under the couch. It pressed down on her back a little, and she was no longer able to lift her head, but she nonetheless felt immediately at ease and her only regret was that her body was too broad to get it all underneath.

She spent the whole night there. Some of the time she passed in a light sleep, although she frequently woke from it in alarm because of her hunger, and some of the time was spent in worries and vague hopes which, however, always led to the same conclusion: for the time being she must remain calm, she must show patience and the greatest consideration so that her friends could bear the unpleasantness that she, in her present condition, was forced to impose on them.

Chiaki soon had the opportunity to test the strength of her decisions, as early the next morning, almost before the night had ended, Midori, nearly fully dressed, opened the door from the front room and looked anxiously in. She did not see her straight away, but when she did notice her under the couch - she had to be somewhere, for God's sake, she couldn't have flown away - she was so shocked that she lost control of herself and slammed the door shut again from outside. But she seemed to regret her behavior, as she opened the door again straight away and came in on tip-toe as if entering the room of someone seriously ill or even of a stranger.

Chiaki had pushed her head forward, right to the edge of the couch, and watched her. Would Midori notice that she had left the whiskey as it was, realize that it was not from any lack of hunger and bring her in some other food that was more suitable? If she didn't do it herself she would rather go hungry than draw her attention to it, although she did feel a terrible urge to rush forward from under the couch, throw himself at Midori's feet and beg her for something good to eat. However, Midori noticed the full dish immediately and looked at it and the few drops of milk splashed around it with some surprise. She immediately picked it up - using a rag, not her bare hands - and carried it out. Chiaki was extremely curious as to what she would bring in its place, imagining the wildest possibilities, but she never could have guessed what Midori, in her goodness, actually did bring. In order to test her taste, she brought her a whole selection of things, all spread out on an old newspaper. There were old, half-rotten vegetables; bones from the evening meal, covered in white sauce that had gone hard; a few raisins and almonds; some cheese that Chiaki had declared inedible two days before; a dry roll and some bread spread with butter and salt. As well as all that she had poured some water into the dish, which had probably been permanently set aside for Chiaki's use, and placed it beside them. Then, out of consideration for Chiaki's feelings, as she knew that she would not eat in front of her, she hurried out again and even turned the key in the lock so that Chiaki would know she could make things as comfortable for himself as she liked.

Chiaki's little legs whirred, at last she could eat. What's more, her injuries must already have completely healed as she found no difficulty in moving. This amazed her, as more than a month earlier she had been shot in the shoulder by a Tenth girl, she thought of how her shoulder had still hurt the day before yesterday. "Am I less sensitive than I used to be, then?", she thought, and was already sucking greedily at the cheese which had immediately, almost compellingly, attracted her much more than the other foods on the newspaper. Quickly one after another, her eyes watering with pleasure, she consumed the cheese, the vegetables and the sauce; the fresh foods, on the other hand, she didn't like at all, and even dragged the things she did want to eat a little way away from them because she couldn't stand the smell.

Long after she had finished eating and lay lethargic in the same place, Midori slowly turned the key in the lock as a sign to her that she should withdraw. Chiaki was immediately startled, although she had been half asleep, and she hurried back under the couch. But she needed great self-control to stay there even for the short time that Midori was in the room, as eating so much food had rounded out her body a little and she could hardly breathe in that narrow space. Half suffocating, she watched with bulging eyes as Midori unselfconsciously took a broom and swept up the left-overs, mixing them in with the food she had not even touched at all as if it could not be used any more. She quickly dropped it all into a bin, closed it with its wooden lid, and carried everything out. She had hardly turned her back before Chiaki came out again from under the couch and stretched herself.

This was how Chiaki received her food each day now, once in the morning while her friends and the maid were still asleep, and the second time after everyone had eaten their meal at midday as her friends would sleep for a little while then as well, and Midori would send the maid away on some errand. Mami and Kyouko certainly did not want her to starve either, but perhaps it would have been more than they could stand to have any more experience of her feeding than being told about it, and perhaps Midori wanted to spare them what distress she could as they were indeed suffering enough.

It was impossible for Chiaki to find out what they had told the apothecary and the demo team that first morning to get them out of the flat. As nobody could understand her, nobody, not even her Midori, thought that she could understand them, so she had to be content to hear her Midori's sighs and appeals to the saints as she moved about her room. It was only later, when she had become a little more used to everything - there was, of course, no question of her ever becoming fully used to the situation - that Chiaki would sometimes catch a friendly comment, or at least a comment that could be construed as friendly. "She's enjoyed her dinner today", she might say when she had diligently cleared away all the food left for her, or if she left most of it, which slowly became more and more frequent, she would often say, sadly, "now everything's just been left there again".

Although Chiaki wasn't able to hear any news directly she did listen to much of what was said in the next rooms, and whenever she heard anyone speaking she would scurry straight to the appropriate door and press her whole body against it. There was seldom any conversation, especially at first, that was not about her in some way, even if only in secret. For two whole days, all the talk at every mealtime was about what they should do now; but even between meals they spoke about the same subject as there were always at least two of her friends in the office - nobody wanted to be at the office by themselves and it was out of the question to leave the Warmaster's chambers entirely empty. And on the very first day the maid had fallen to her knees and begged Mami to let her go without delay. It was not very clear how much she knew of what had happened but she left within a quarter of an hour, tearfully thanking Mami for her dismissal as if she had done her an enormous service. She even swore emphatically not to tell anyone the slightest about what had happened, even though no-one had asked that of her.

Now Midori also had to help Mami with the cooking; although that was not so much bother as no-one ate very much. Chiaki often heard how one of them would unsuccessfully urge another to eat, and receive no more answer than "no thanks, I've had enough" or something similar. No-one drank very much either. Midori would sometimes ask Kyouko whether she would like a beer, hoping for the chance to go and fetch it herself. When Kyouko then said nothing she would add, so that Kyouko would not feel selfish, that she could send the housekeeper for it, but then Kyouko would close the matter with a big, loud "No", and no more would be said.

Even before the first day had come to an end, Kyouko had explained to Mami and Midori what the Officio finances and prospects were. Now and then she stood up from the table and took some receipt or document from the little cash box she had saved over the years before she had blown it all on snacks. Chiaki heard how she opened the complicated lock and then closed it again after she had taken the item she wanted. What she heard Kyouko say was some of the first good news that Chiaki heard since she had first been incarcerated in her room. She had thought that nothing at all remained from the Officio's bank accounts, at least she had never told her anything different, and Chiaki had never asked him about it anyway. The Officio's business misfortune had reduced the Officio to a state of total despair, and Chiaki's only concern at that time had been to arrange things so that they could all forget about it as quickly as possible.

So then she started working especially hard, with a fiery vigour that raised her from a rank-and-file Vindicare to a Warmaster almost overnight, bringing with it the chance to earn money in quite different ways. Chiaki converted her success at work straight into cash that she could lay on the table at home for the benefit of her astonished and delighted family. They had been good times and they had never come again, at least not with the same splendor, even though Chiaki had later made so much that she was in a position to bear the costs of the whole Officio, and did bear them. They had even gotten used to it, both Chiaki and her friends, they took the money with gratitude and she was glad to provide it, although there was no longer much warm affection given in return. Chiaki only remained close to Midori now. Unlike her, Midori was very fond of drawing and a gifted and expressive hentai artist, it was her secret plan to send her to the Comiket next year even though it would cause great expense that would have to be made up for in some other way. During Chiaki's short periods in town, conversation with Midori would often turn to the Comiket but it was only ever mentioned as a lovely dream that could never be realized. Mami and Kyouko did not like to hear this innocent talk, but Chiaki thought about it quite hard and decided she would let them know what she planned with a grand announcement of it on Christmas Day.

That was the sort of totally pointless thing that went through her mind in her present state, pressed upright against the door and listening. There were times when she simply became too tired to continue listening, when her head would fall wearily against the door and she would pull it up again with a start, as even the slightest noise she caused would be heard next door and they would all go silent. "What's that she's doing now", Kyouko would say after a while, clearly having gone over to the door, and only then would the interrupted conversation slowly be taken up again.

When explaining things, Kyouko repeated herself several times, partly because it was a long time since she had been occupied with these matters herself and partly because Mami did not understand everything the first time. From these repeated explanations Chiaki learned, to her pleasure, that despite all their misfortunes there was still some money available from the old days. It was not a lot, but it had not been touched in the meantime and some interest had accumulated. Besides that, they had not been using up all the money that Chiaki had been bringing to the Officio every month, keeping only a little for herself, so that that, too, had been accumulating. Behind the door, Chiaki nodded with enthusiasm in her pleasure at this unexpected thrift and caution. She could actually have used this surplus money to reduce Kyouko's debt to the Incubator, and the day when she could have freed herself from that job would have come much closer, but now it was certainly better the way Kyouko had done things.

This money, however, was certainly not enough to enable the Officio to live off the interest; it was enough to maintain them for, perhaps, one or two months, no more. That's to say, it was money that should not really be touched but set aside for emergencies; money to keep the Officio going had to be earned. Kyouko was healthy but stupid, and lacking in wit. During the five months that she had not been working - the first holiday in a life that had been full of strain and no success - she had put on a lot of weight and become very slow and clumsy. Would Mami now have to go and earn money? She suffered from Golden Weapon-corruption and it was a strain for her just to move about the Officio, every other day would be spent struggling for breath on the sofa by the open window. Would Midori have to go and do missions? She was still a girl of seventeen, her life up till then had not been very enviable, consisting of running errands for Jyuubey, spying on people, helping out older Tenth girls, joining in with kidnapping and worse of celebrities and most of all drawing pornography. Whenever they began to talk of the need to earn money, Chiaki would always first let go of the door and then throw herself onto the cool, leather sofa next to it, as she became quite hot with shame and regret.

She would often lie there the whole night through, not sleeping a wink but scratching at the leather for hours on end. Or she might go to all the effort of pushing a chair to the window, climbing up onto the sill and, propped up in the chair, leaning on the window to stare out of it. She had used to feel a great sense of freedom from doing this, but doing it now was obviously something more remembered than experienced, as what she actually saw in this way was becoming less distinct every day, even things that were quite near; she had used to curse the ever-present view of the hospital across the street, but now she could not see it at all, and if she had not known that she lived in Mitakihara, which was a quiet city despite being in the middle of Japan, she could have thought that she was looking out the window at a barren waste where the grey sky and the grey earth mingled inseparably. Midori only needed to notice the chair twice before she would always push it back to its exact position by the window after she had tidied up the room, and even left the inner pane of the window open from then on.

If Chiaki had only been able to speak to Midori and thank her for all that Midori had to do for her it would have been easier for Chiaki to bear it; but as it was it caused her pain. Midori, naturally, tried as far as possible to pretend there was nothing burdensome about it, and the longer it went on, of course, the better she was able to do so, but as time went by Chiaki was also able to see through it all so much better. It had even become very unpleasant for her, now, whenever she entered the room. No sooner had she come in than she would quickly close the door as a precaution so that no-one would have to suffer the view into Chiaki's room, then she would go straight to the window and pull it hurriedly open almost as if she were suffocating. Even if it was cold, she would stay at the window breathing deeply for a little while. She would alarm Chiaki twice a day with this running about and noise making; she would stay under the couch shivering the whole while, knowing full well that she would certainly have liked to spare her this ordeal, but it was impossible for her to be in the same room with her with the windows closed.

One day, about a month after Chiaki's transformation when Midori no longer had any particular reason to be shocked at his appearance, she came into the room a little earlier than usual and found her still staring out the window, motionless, and just where she would be most horrible. In itself, Midori's not coming into the room would have been no surprise for Chiaki as it would have been difficult for her to immediately open the window while she was still there, but not only did she not come in, she went straight back and closed the door behind her, a stranger would have thought she had threatened her and tried to bite her. Chiaki went straight to hide himself under the couch, of course, but she had to wait until midday before his sister came back and she seemed much more uneasy than usual. It made her realize that she still found her appearance unbearable and would continue to do so, she probably even had to overcome the urge to flee when she saw the little bit of her that protruded from under the couch. One day, in order to spare her even this sight, she spent four hours carrying the bedsheet over to the couch on his back and arranged it so that she was completely covered and Midori would not be able to see her even if she bent down. If she did not think this sheet was necessary then all she had to do was take it off again, as it was clear enough that it was no pleasure for Chiaki to cut himself off so completely. She left the sheet where it was. Chiaki even thought she glimpsed a look of gratitude one time when she carefully looked out from under the sheet to see how Midori liked the new arrangement.

For the first fourteen days, Chiaki's friends could not bring themselves to come into the room to see her. She would often hear them say how they appreciated all the new work Midori was doing even though, before, they had seen her as a girl who was somewhat useless and frequently been annoyed with her. But now the two of them, father and mother, would often both wait outside the door of Chiaki's room while his sister tidied up in there, and as soon as she went out again she would have to tell them exactly how everything looked, what Chiaki had eaten, how she had behaved this time and whether, perhaps, any slight improvement could be seen. Mami also wanted to go in and visit Chiaki relatively soon but Kyouko and Midori at first persuaded her against it. Chiaki listened very closely to all this, and approved fully. Later, though, she had to be held back by force, which made her call out: "Let me go and see Chiaki, she is my unfortunate friend! Can't you understand I have to see her?", and Chiaki would think to himself that maybe it would be better if Mami came in, not every day of course, but one day a week, perhaps; she could understand everything much better than Midori who, for all her courage, was still just a moeblob after all, and really might not have had an adult's appreciation of the burdensome job she had taken on.

Chiaki's wish to see Mami was soon realized. Out of consideration for her friends, Chiaki wanted to avoid being seen at the window during the day, the few square meters of the floor did not give her much room to crawl about, it was hard to just lie quietly through the night, her food soon stopped giving her any pleasure at all, and so, to entertain herself, she got into the habit of swimming back and forth in her new, tub-sized water tank. She was especially fond of the water; it was quite different from lying on the floor; it was nice and cool; her body had a light floatiness to it; and in there, relaxed and almost happy, it might happen that she would surprise even herself by flipping out of the water and performing a somersault. But now, of course, she had far better control of her body than before and, even with a jump as great as that, caused no splashing. Very soon Midori noticed Chiaki's new way of entertaining herself - she had, after all, left puddles of water as she splashed about - and got it into her head to make it as easy as possible for Chiaki by removing the furniture that could get wet, especially the chest of drawers and the desk.

Now, this was not something that she would be able to do by herself; she did not dare to ask for help from Kyouko; the sixteen year old maid Yuu had carried on bravely since the cook had left but she certainly would not have helped in this, she had even asked to be allowed to keep the kitchen locked at all times and never to have to open the door unless it was especially important; so Midori had no choice but to choose some time when Kyouko was not there and fetch Mami to help her. As she approached the room, Chiaki could hear Mami express her joy, but once at the door she went silent.

First, of course, Midori came in and looked round to see that everything in the room was alright; and only then did she let Mami enter. Chiaki had hurriedly pulled the sheet over the tank and put more folds into it so that everything really looked as if it had just been thrown down by chance. Chiaki also refrained, this time, from spying out from under the water; she gave up the chance to see Mami until later and was simply glad that she had come. "You can come in, she can't be seen", said Midori, obviously leading her in by the hand. The old chest of drawers was too heavy for a Vindicare and a Callidus to be heaving about, but Chiaki listened as they pushed it from its place, Midori always taking on the heaviest part of the work for herself and ignoring Mami's warnings that she would strain herself. This lasted a very long time.

After laboring at it for fifteen minutes or more Mami said it would be better to leave the chest where it was, for one thing it was too heavy for them to get the job finished before Kyouko got home and leaving it in the middle of the room it would be in her way even more, and for another thing it wasn't even sure that taking the furniture away would really be any help to her. She thought just the opposite; the sight of the bare walls saddened her right to her heart; and why wouldn't Chiaki feel the same way about it, she'd been used to this furniture in her room for a long time and it would make her feel abandoned to be in an empty room like that. Then, quietly, almost whispering as if wanting Chiaki (whose whereabouts she did not know) to hear not even the tone of her voice, as she was convinced that she did not understand her words, she added "and by taking the furniture away, won't it seem like we're showing that we've given up all hope of improvement and we're abandoning her to cope for herself? I think it'd be best to leave the room exactly the way it was before so that when Chiaki comes back to us again she'll find everything unchanged and she'll be able to forget the time in between all the easier".

Hearing these words from Mami made Chiaki realize that the lack of any direct human communication, along with the monotonous life led by the Officio during these two months, must have made her confused - she could think of no other way of explaining to herself why she had seriously wanted her room emptied out. Had she really wanted to transform her office into a cave, a warm room fitted out with the nice furniture she had inherited? That would have let her crawl around unimpeded in any direction, but it would also have let her quickly forget her past when she had still been a magical girl. She had come very close to forgetting, and it had only been the voice of Mami, unheard for so long, that had shaken her out of it. Nothing should be removed; everything had to stay; she could not do without the good influence the furniture had on her condition; and if the furniture made it difficult for her to crawl about mindlessly that was not a loss but a great advantage.

Midori, unfortunately, did not agree; she had become used to the idea, not without reason, that she was Chiaki's spokesman to her friends about the things that concerned Chiaki. This meant that Mami's advice now was sufficient reason for her to insist on removing not only the chest of drawers and the desk, as she had thought at first, but all the furniture apart from the all-important green chair. It was more than childish perversity, of course, or the unexpected confidence she had recently acquired, that made her insist; she had indeed noticed that Chiaki needed a lot of room to flop about in, whereas the furniture, as far as anyone could see, was of no use to him at all. Girls of that age, though, do become enthusiastic about things and feel they must get their way whenever they can. Perhaps this was what tempted Midori to make Chiaki's situation seem even more shocking than it was so that she could do even more for her. Midori would probably be the only one who would dare enter a room dominated by Chiaki flopping about the floor by herself.

So she refused to let Mami dissuade her. Mami already looked uneasy in his room, she soon stopped speaking and helped Midori to get the chest of drawers out with what strength she had. The chest of drawers was something that Chiaki could do without if she had to, but the writing desk had to stay. Hardly had the two young women pushed the chest of drawers, groaning, out of the room than Chiaki poked her head out from under the couch to see what she could do about it. She meant to be as careful and considerate as she could, but, unfortunately, it was Mami who came back first while Midori in the next room had her arms round the chest, pushing and pulling at it from side to side by herself without, of course, moving it an inch. Mami was not used to the sight of Chiaki, she might have made her ill, so Chiaki hurried backwards to the far end of the couch. In her startlement, though, she was not able to prevent the sheet at its front from moving a little. It was enough to attract Mami's attention. She stood very still, remained there a moment, and then went back out to Midori.

Chiaki kept trying to assure herself that nothing unusual was happening, it was just a few pieces of furniture being moved after all, but she soon had to admit that the women going to and fro, their little calls to each other, the scraping of the furniture on the floor, all these things made her feel as if she were being assailed from all sides. With her head and legs pulled in against her and her body pressed to the floor, she was forced to admit to herself that she could not stand all of this much longer. They were emptying her room out; taking away everything that was dear to her; they had already taken out the chest containing her Golden Desert Eagle and other weapons; now they threatened to remove the green chair with its place clearly worn into the floor, the chair where she had had her most excellent naps, even while she had been just another Vindicare in the Officio - she really could not wait any longer to see whether the two girls' intentions were good. She had nearly forgotten they were there anyway, as they were now too tired to say anything while they worked and she could only hear their feet as they stepped heavily on the floor.

So, while the girls were leant against the desk in the other room catching their breath, she sallied out of her tank, changed direction four times not knowing what she should save first before her attention was suddenly caught by the picture on the wall - which was already denuded of everything else that had been on it - of the lady covered in copious black metal. Hhe hurried up onto the picture and pressed herself against its glass, it held her firmly and felt good on her hot belly. This picture at least, now totally covered by Gregor, would certainly be taken away by no-one. She turned her head to face the door into the living room so that she could watch the girls when they came back.

They had not allowed themselves a long rest and came back quite soon; Midori had put her arm around Mami and was nearly carrying her. "What shall we take now, then?", said Midori and looked around. Her eyes met those of Chiaki on the floor. Perhaps only because Mami was there, she remained calm, bent her face to Mami so that she would not look round and said, albeit hurriedly and with a tremor in her voice: "Come on, let's go back in the living room for a while?" Chiaki could see what Midori had in mind, she wanted to take Mami somewhere safe and then chase her back into the tank. Well, she could certainly try it! She sat unyielding on her picture. She would rather bweh at Midori's face.

But Midori's words had made Mami quite worried, Mami stepped to one side, saw the enormous brown patch against the carpets, and before she even realized it was Chiaki that she saw screamed: "Oh God, oh God!" Arms outstretched, she fell onto the couch as if she had given up everything and stayed there immobile. "Chiaki!" shouted Midori, glowering at her and shaking her fist. That was the first word she had spoken to her directly since her transformation. Midori ran into the other room to fetch some kind of smelling salts to bring Mami out of her faint; Chiaki wanted to help too - she could save her picture later, although she stuck fast to the glass and had to pull herself off by force; then she, too, ran into the next room as if she could advise Midori like in the old days; but she had to just stand behind her doing nothing; Midori was looking into various bottles, Chiaki startled her when Midori turned round; a bottle fell to the ground and broke; a splinter cut Chiaki's face, some kind of caustic medicine splashed all over her; now, without delaying any longer, Midori took hold of all the bottles she could and ran with them in to her mother; she slammed the door shut with her foot.

So now Chiaki was shut out from Mami, who, because of her, might be near death; Chiaki could not open the door if she did not want to chase Midori away, and Midori had to stay with Mami; there was nothing for Chiaki to do but wait; and, oppressed with anxiety and self-reproach, she began to flop about, she flopped over everything, the carpet , furniture, and finally in her confusion as the whole room began to spin around her she fell down into the middle of the dining table.

She lay there for a while, numb and immobile, all around her it was quiet, maybe that was a good sign. Then there was someone at the door. Yuu, of course, had locked herself in her kitchen so that Midori would have to go and answer it. Kyouko had arrived home. "What's happened?" were Kyouko's first words; Midori's appearance must have made everything clear to her. Midori answered her with a subdued voice, and openly pressed her face into Kyouko's chest: "Mami's fainted, but she's better now. Chiaki got out." "Just as I expected", said Kyouko, "just as I always said, but you girls wouldn't listen, would you." It was clear to Chiaki that Midori had not said enough and that Kyouko took it to mean that something bad had happened, that she was responsible for some act of violence. That meant Chiaki would now have to try to calm Kyouko, as she did not have the time to explain things to her even if that had been possible. So she fled to the door of her room and pressed herself against it so that Kyouko, when she came in from the hall, could see straight away that Chiaki had the best intentions and would go back into her room without delay, that it would not be necessary to drive her back but that they had only to open the door and she would disappear.

Kyouko, though, was not in the mood to notice subtleties like that; "Ah!", she shouted as she came in, sounding as if she were both angry and glad at the same time. Chiaki drew her head back from the door and lifted it towards Kyouko. She really had not imagined Kyouko the way she stood there now; of late, with her new habit of flopping about, Chiaki had neglected to pay attention to what was going on the rest of the flat the way she had done before. She really ought to have expected things to have changed, but still, still, was that really Kyouko? The same tired red head who used to lie there entombed in her bed when Chiaki came back from her business trips, who would receive her sitting in the armchair in her nightgown when she came back in the evenings; who was hardly even able to stand up but, as a sign of her pleasure, would just raise her arms and who, on the couple of times a year when they went for a walk together on a Sunday or public holiday wrapped up tightly in her overcoat between Chiaki and Mami, would always labour her way forward a little more slowly than them, who were already walking slowly for her sake; who would place her stick down carefully and, if she wanted to say something would invariably stop and gather her companions around her.

Kyouko was standing up straight enough now; dressed in a smart black uniform with gold buttons, the sort worn by the magical girls at the Second Officio; above the high, stiff collar of the coat her strong chin emerged; under the bushy eyebrows, her piercing, dark eyes looked out fresh and alert; her normally unkempt red hair was brushed down painfully close to her scalp. She took her cap, with its gold monogram from, probably, the Black Templars, and threw it in an arc right across the room onto the sofa, put her hands in her trouser pockets, pushing back the bottom of her long uniform coat, and, with look of determination, walked towards Chiaki. Chiaki probably did not even know herself what she had in mind, but nonetheless lifted her feet unusually high. Chiaki was amazed at the enormous size of the soles of Kyouko's boots, but wasted no time with that - she knew full well, right from the first day of her new life, that Kyouko thought it necessary to always be extremely strict with her. And so she ran up to Kyouko, stopped when Kyouko stopped, scurried forwards again when Kyouko moved, even slightly.

In this way they went round the room several times without anything decisive happening, without even giving the impression of a chase as everything went so slowly. Chiaki remained all this time on the floor, largely because she feared Kyouko might see it as especially provoking if she fled under the couches. Whatever she did, Chiaki had to admit that she certainly would not be able to keep up this running about for long, as for each step Kyouko took she had to carry out countless movements. she became noticeably short of breath, even in her earlier life her lungs had not been very reliable. Now, as she lurched about in her efforts to muster all the strength she could for running she could hardly keep her eyes open; her thoughts became too slow for her to think of any other way of saving himself than running; she almost forgot that the gap under the couch were there for her to use although, here, they were hidden by carefully draped spreads covering the couch - then, right beside her, lightly tossed, something flew down and rolled in front of her.

It was an apple; then another one immediately flew at her; Chiaki froze in shock; there was no longer any point in running as Kyouko had decided to bombard her. Kyouko had filled her pockets with fruit from the bowl on the sideboard and now, without even taking the time for careful aim, threw one apple after another. These little red apples rolled about on the floor, knocking into each other as if they had electric motors. An apple thrown without much force glanced against Chiaki's back and slid off without doing any harm. Another one however, immediately following it, hit squarely and lodged in her back; Chiaki wanted to drag himself away, as if she could remove the surprising, the incredible pain by changing her position; but she felt as if nailed to the spot and spread himself out, all her senses in confusion. The last thing she saw was the door of her room being pulled open, Midori was screaming, Mami ran out in front of her in her underwear (as Midori had taken off some of her clothes after she had fainted to make it easier for her to breathe), she ran to Kyouko, her skirts unfastened and sliding one after another to the ground, stumbling over the skirts she pushed herself to Kyouko, her arms around her, uniting herself with Kyouko totally - now Chiaki lost her ability to see anything - Mami's hands behind Kyouko's head begging her to spare Chiaki's life.