2022-12-21 - The Book And Its Boy 4

Title: The Book and Its Boy 4
Summary: Yumi leads an intrepid group of her magical girl friends to locate the object affecting her friend Takahiro.
Who: Yumi Ohzora, Utena Tenjou, Mikoto Minagi, Nori Ankou, Mai Tokiha, Raiko Takashima
Where: Chofu Suburban District (Tama Outer City)
OOC - IC Date: 12/21/2022 - Thursday, February 4, 2016

.****************************** Tama Outer City *******************************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Chofu Suburban District +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
  Chofu was built on a vast natural terrace that reinforces the town against    
  the slope down to the sea. It has its own town limits, and it is large        
  enough that you can get anything you need without leaving them. It has        
  lovely houses and apartments, well-appointed town centers, and beautiful      
  green fields around it. But the Tama River that flows through and past Chofu  
  feeds into the main city, and the great splay-legged power lines that follow  
  its course at a safe distance link town to metropolis. This is and is not     
  Tokyo.                                                                        
                                                                                
  Just fifteen minutes (and a scant 230 yen) by high-speed rail from Shinjuku   
  Station, Chofu is one of the largest "bed towns" for central Tokyo. Most of   
  the people who live here work in the Special Wards, the short commute buying  
  them vastly cheaper, less cramped lodgings, though some maintain local        
  businesses. While this makes Chofu a suburb of inner Tokyo, it is certainly   
  still Tokyo, and the expansive lawns and sprawling development one envisions  
  when thinking of a suburb are not to be found here. Still, there are no       
  skyscrapers here, and freestanding houses replace the massive apartment       
  buildings of Tokyo.                                                           
                                                                                
  Chofu's river banks host old-fashioned festivals that draw many from          
  surrounding areas at the proper times of year. In contrast, Chofu is also     
  home to the headquarters of JAXA, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.  
  Though Japan is not yet involved in manned space travel, those interested in  
  Japan's satellite or other space-related technology can find ample materiel   
  for research or wrongdoing.                                                   

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

The sky is overcast, and it's cold. It's a normal February day, the weather not quite conspiring against the group as they gather in the shadow of a bridge near the Suburban District. This is the same area in which a giant Ogre terrorized Tokyo before, though not the only such place, unfortunately. On the other side, though. This was where Yumi Ohzora decided to search, figuring that the source of the enchantment had to be reasonably close to where the Ogre first appeared--and her spells suggested the same.

Dressed in ordinary clothes for now, Yumi wears a thick sweater over a knee-length skirt, with warm tights and sturdy boots against snow. She's in pale colors as usual, and the sweater has the uneven, asymmetrical patterns of Aohime. Her gray hair is down, her glasses on, her pink eyes focused firmly on a rock in her right hand.

"Okay," Yumi says. "...I'm going to start the magic."

She has called together a few people to help--people who might see something she misses, or might be able to help if they run into trouble. Friends. Raiko, who helped her put together the magic; Mikoto, ever-reliable and keen-eyed. Utena Tenjou herself, a dream to get to come along with them; Yumi is a little self-conscious, but what girl doesn't want a Prince to help her? And beautiful Nori who was so helpful before was a natural ask.

...Besides; with their different perspectives, they might catch something she doesn't.

"The stone will warm when I'm facing the right direction; from there, we just follow until it gets hot! Hopefully nobody thinks it's too weird..."

Up ahead, the street opens up; it's only a short walk until roads and houses and sidewalks and trees, a whole row of nice-looking houses with their fence walls and nameplates up ahead.

<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
<SoundTracker> Scarlet no Gakuen/Utena's Theme - RGU OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XyHLbwQ9Hw

Utena arrived at a ground-devouring lope, and when she stopped, it took her long and lustrous pink hair roughly two heartbeats -- doki doki -- to stop also. She's wearing what she's always wearing, her combination of technically-official Ohtori Academy uniform items that, taken as a whole, are much more rebellious than the sum of their parts. Her high-collared black jacket is closed against the cold, but her legs are as exposed as ever to the elements. She doesn't seem to mind. Red gym shorts are for all seasons, if only you believe.

"Yo!" she boomed, her raised hand as casual as the greeting herself. "Nice to see everyone! Cute sweater, Yumi." Her empyrean blue gaze slides over the others in turn, and although she doesn't, like, GO DOWN THE LINE with a verbal compliment for each person, her expression -- open, friendly, and admiring -- speaks for her; obviously she sees something she likes on every girl.

One of them she doesn't recognize, and she offers a hand to shake. Pretty pale complexion, given how athletic the hand is, a somewhat unusual combination. Maybe she uses a lot of skin care products, but she doesn't really seem the type.

"Are you Yumi's witch friend?" It might be a little rude to call someone a witch out of nowhere, but the tomboy is so forthright and amicable -- and, clearly, cheerfully excited to meet another witch -- that it softens any offense.

"I'm Utena Tenjou," she self-introduces, "Totally normal girl."

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Mikoto is here, all rugged up in a burnished gold coat; the pink and green clothes beneath are thoroughly disguised, on such a cold and overcast day. There's that black case, slung over one shoulder, constant companion. It matches her pitch-black hair, short and spiky and unkempt over her skull; the only length to it are the twin braids framing her face, hanging down to her chin.

She bounds out ahead of her taller roommate -- not difficult, Mikoto doesn't even clear five feet tall -- and turns back to wave Mai forward, with up-and-down flaps of her wrist. "Mai, Mai! Yumi's here!" She calls to her, enthusiastic, before she finishes rushing up. A little BOUNCE of her heels as she stops on the cold ground, and she lifts her hand, high, to wave. "Hi!"

Her grin is the side of her face, Cheshire-broad, as she follows Utena's attention to Raiko. "I'm Mikoto!" She chirps, brightly, looking at her with eyes which are too, TOO gold. A beat, before she adds: "Mikoto Minagi. Mai's coming, too, so we'll be okay!" She sounds AWFULLY confident.

No comment on whether Mikoto's a totally normal girl, though. And as Yumi starts the magic, Mikoto trails after her, staring wide-eyed at the stone in her hand. Now, the orb in the hand helps witches find things...

The future is so much better!

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Nori Ankou is here, and fashionable as is often the case. Though it's perhaps not radiantly dernier-cri right now; but a lot of that is the primary piece of her garb, a well loved peacoat-cut winter coat of dark grey wool with several panels of embroidered textile at the waist. Beneath this are loose fitting (but doubtless insulated) hakama-cut trousers and a red sweater beneath the coat itself.

Nori nods and says, "Of course," even as there's a chirpy "right!" from who is riding on her shoulder--

An Asian small-clawed otter, wearing a quilted vest and a knit-wool head-wrap.

BATISTE clears his throat a little, then settles down, huddling a bit against Nori, who reaches up to give him an idle encouraging scritch.

"I am called Nori Ankou," Nori introduces herself, with an enigmatic little smile during the walk. "This is Batiste." The otter raises a hand and waves, but doesn't speak up -- just in case.

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.

It's a more sedate pace that marks Mai's arrival. She's bundled up against the cold, wary of taking the weather too lightly. A bright red scarf winds around her neck, trailing down the front of her orange-and-white overcoat, and she found some battered-looking brown boots to tromp along with. She's forgone gloves today, instead keeping her hands warm with a slightly-too-large cup of takeout coffee.

She waves with her free hand, laughing at Mikoto's enthusiasm. "Afternoon, Yumi. Hope I can help a little bit." And there's a few more people to meet and greet; Nori and Batiste get a friendly nod, and Utena's open expression is met with a little surprise and a bit of a smile.

Catching up to Mikoto at last, Mai takes a sip from her coffee. The rock Yumi has is - well, it's a magic thing, and it's nice to have a little direction for their little group. One, two, three - well, there's one unfamiliar face, and so there needs to be a little bit of an introduction.

Half-waving again, she turns to the other witch. "Mai Tokiha, here." There's a hint of mischief in her smirk, as if she's thought of a joke to herself, and goes with a helpful description of herself. "Part-time waitress."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Today was finally the big day. Her first real mission as a magical girl. She'd been helping Yumi work on some spells for this purpose, and had been working on a few extra ones of her own, as alternatives and to make sure they covered all of their bases. It was always best to try and account for every possibility.

Which is why she'd completely failed to consider that Yumi might have asked others along for this mission.

It made sense, of course--there were just two Inheritors, and even with two staves the Sulfuric Ogre was difficult to defeat. So the more hands they had on deck, the better off they'd be. It just felt awkward meeting so many new people at once, especially when she was about to cast magic about a bunch of strangers. And she didn't even have Levin's henshin active to help her put her game face on.

She was dressed in a big puffy jacket, a dark blue dress, tights, boots, and a wool cap to protect from the cold, her long blue hair tied back in a ponytail to keep it out of the way. Bright orange eyes dart self-consciously between the other, much more experienced girls, but she does her best to put on a brave face.

Standing beside her is a tabby calico cat, who is much more at ease and comporting herself with all of the dignity and gravitas being both a cat and a familiar deserves. Specifically, she was introduced as Raiko's familiar, Shiori, and she was keeping her eyes (and ears, and nose, and mysterious cat/familiar senses) peeled for still more signs of trouble.

She looks a bit surprised when Utena introduces herself, quickly shuffling her phone to her left hand so she can shake the offered hand. "A-ah, yes, um, that's me. Raiko Takashima. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Is she caught off-guard by Utena herself, or just having been identified right out of the gate? Hard to say.

She offers a shy wave to Mikoto as she introduces herself, though there's a bit of a look of recognition in her eyes at the name, and a quick glance to Yumi. But she doesn't offer any other comment to go with it. But she just nods to Mikoto, Nori, and Mai in turn, introducing herself. "H-hi, I'm Raiko Takashima. And this," she gestures to the cat, "is Shiori." Shiori seems to nod in acknowledgement but likewise remains silent, for the moment.

Raiko nods as Yumi says she's starting her magic. "Okay, Yumi-chan. Then I'll start mine, too." She's been holding her cell phone in her hand the entire time, not really using it, but seemingly keeping it at the ready. She holds it out in front of her and then lets go, the phone remaining suspended as she mutters a soft incantation, hands working over it... and then strange glyphs start to hover in the air over it. As Raiko turns to surveil the area the phone moves with her, the glyphs changing along with it. "Okay, mine's online," she announces.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"O-oh!" Yumi says, a smile spreading on her face when Utena compliments her. "Thanks, it's Aohime!" She brightens visibly from it, even if it doesn't overcome her serious mood. She has a friend on the line here. ...Still, it's hard not to feel a little better with Utena around.

Totally normal girl!! Yumi's not that.

Mikoto's eyes are totally not too gold! They're an appropriate amount of gold to be! But Mikoto trails after helpfully, and Yumi waves at her and Mai both as they come over. "Mikoto's a good friend," she says to Raiko. "I told you about her! I think you met the other day!"

Not that it was obvious who was who, in all the confusion.

"Batiste! Hi, Batiste!" Yumi smiles, though obviously she waves to her friend and coworker Nori too. ...It's just, who isn't excited to see the otter??? Maybe some otter girl.

Tama, at this point, a fluffy black cat, steps out from behind Yumi's feet. "Yes, well," she says, "Be careful. We've already established that this could be a trap," the cat says. Because she doesn't give a--

It's fine.

"Hi, Mai," she says, "A good group is better than trying it alone!"

And Raiko!! Well, Yumi might've forgotten to mention that she was bringing others along, but she seems to trust each of them, at least. "She's really talented," Yumi supplies for the nervous Raiko. "And Shiori's extra-smart." Tama does not further explain. Not for the moment, anyway.

The street opens up beyond them; a row of five houses is there first, each nicely made and walled off in their own small yards. It's not a bad area to live in, though the really nice houses are a bit further down the way. There's a few birds on telephone poles, glancing around, occasionally making little chirps.

Tama happens to glance at them. It's fine.

Raiko's spell starts to hover, too, and there's obviously a lot of magical residue over the area--but it points west. Westward, where there are cars parked in driveways and birds on... well, most things.

<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Utena was probably kidding about that part, considering her inclusion in this company. But not definitely, because she evinces no magic stone or cell phone or talking cat or anything. Indeed, she just stuffs her empty hands in her jacket pockets after the group gets going, and ambles along with the rest without seeming able to contribute much of anything at all.

Maybe she's here for moral support.

"Great to meet you, Raiko, Shiori," she says, and like everything else she says, seems to really mean it; looks the younger girl -- and, yes, then the cat! -- dead in the eye, her smile as much in her voice as on her lips. "Senpai," she says, in the plural sense, for Mai and Mikoto. "Nori. Yo, Batiste, been too long. Paw-five."

Apparently Utena isn't much for honorifics. Effortlessly casual and either effortlessly intimate or thoughtless or perhaps both.

"So like," she asks Yumi and Raiko with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop, "What are we looking for?"

Listen. If there was a memo, Utena probably didn't read it. But it's also equally likely that their text exchange was like:

Utena-san, are you available to help me out on the 4th after school?
YOP

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

"Miiiii," Mikoto meows to Shiori, in a strikingly pitch-perfect facsimile of a youthful friendly greeting noise, with a long, slow blink. ... she spends a LOT of time around cats.

And -- the other day, Yumi supplies, and Mikoto looks at Raiko and her fancy phone. "Oh!" She realises, a moment later. "Yeah! I was fighting. I'm not fighting now, so Miroku's in here!" She reaches up to her shoulder, to pat the large case slung across her back. "Miroku's the name of my Element," she adds, helpfully. Mikoto thinks she is being very helpful and that Raiko definitely knows that Elements are magical weapons.

(So apparently, that thing on her shoulder is not a golf case! Go figure.)

Mikoto is excited to see the otter -- she grins, to Batiste -- and she's excited to see Tama, who gets a blink of her own. (This is friendliness, to a cat.) "It's okay," Mikoto assures the wizened void, "we're all here!" As if traps don't matter if you have enough people.

Mikoto also glances at the birds. It's fine. It's probably fine. It's... west, the magic points, and as Utena bulls forward with her words, Mikoto bulls forward with her self, bounding out ahead of the group to

oh no

it's not fine.

Dropping to hands and knees -- a thing which, if anything, seems to speed her UP -- Mikoto bounds up a parked car, to spring into a young tree, right where some of those birds have flocked. They might think they're safe, and human girls can't jump that far. They're wrong.

And Mikoto is definitely trying to catch one of those totally innocent birds. With her bare hands?!

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"Hello, Takashima -- Shiori," Nori replies, smiling.

Batiste watches.

As they walk, Nori murmurs, "You can speak up, you know, if Shiori there is like Tama. Even if she isn't, I mean, this is not something that can be silent forever."

Batiste mumbles (squeaks) in an unclear and ambiguous way, and they continue on.

"There, see?" Nori says when Raiko invokes a strange art, and Batiste exhales with some relief. He then looks towars Utena and extends his tender little black paw for a HANDSHAKE EXPERIENCE-- no, a high five. "I'm glad to see that you're well," he tells Utena, even as they continue forth.

"It's very strong," Nori says, in counterchorus as Mikoto speaks about Miroku.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Tokiha," Batiste greets Mai as he settles around, actually shifting enough to put his paws on top of Nori's head and take a better look at the surroundings. Nori tolerates this, as one must. He gets back to shoulderperch soon enough.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko does flash Yumi a brief, grateful smile at being called talented, and even Shiori seems to appreciate her compliment.

"It is good to make everyone's acquaintances," says Shiori warmly. Though she looks a bit taken aback by how cannily accurate a greeting Mikoto gives her, but returns it in kind. "Yes, it's... very nice to meet you too, dear." So this was Mikoto.

"Um, hi..." Raiko says to Mikoto, looking up from her phone. "Mine is called the Staff of Wise Levin. Um... and I'm its witch, obviously... You looked really cool in that fight, the other day."

She blinks as Mikoto darts off to go after a bird. "... Does she do that a lot?" she says quietly to Yumi. She looks back down at her phone, frowning a bit. "There's a lot of magic... I'll see if I can cut out some of the noise..." More hands working, and eventually she lifts her phone up to point it over a few of the birds.

Can't hurt to be careful. They can be messengers and spies, after all.

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.

Shiori. A cat. Mai blinks at the unfamiliar familiar, and then turns to Mikoto without even questioning things aloud.

Mikoto questioning Shiori in cat-language doesn't even get a blink. This is normal. This is Mai's life these days.

And so the group can set out, following sigils and glowing rocks in search of...trouble. Which is a familiarity of its own, and Mai almost has enough coffee to be ready for it. (Almost. Because that is one of those unattainable mathematical limits.)

"We're not running for our lives, so I guess it is, Batiste." Grinning fleetingly at the otter, Mai keeps a calm pace, looking for...something. Maybe she'll know when she sees it.

For now she's seeing suburbs, cars, and a lot of birds.

"Oh-" Mai starts, fleetingly, at Utena's question, and looks at her with her lips pursed a moment. "We're looking for...something weird, I think. Something out of place. Anything that smells like sulfur, I guess?" She looks to Yumi, questioning this herself-

-and then she catches glimpse of Mikoto running ahead, and tenses for trouble.

But it's not a monster. It's BIRD. It's Mikoto leaping off a car to a tree to catch BIRD, and louder than the tweets and chitters is the sound of Mai's hand meeting her forehead. "Mikoto..."

There's a pause. Mai does not remove her hand from her forehead.

"If anyone was wondering, I'm not counting this as out of place."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"Oh!" There might've been a memo. Maybe. But, "So," she says, nodding to Mai, "There's some kind of magic object that's the 'anchor' of a curse on my friend," she says. "It's why he painted a portrait of this enchantress, Conflagria. He's been acting strangely and I think he's got to do with the monsters that have been going around lately."

Yumi finishes with introductions anyway, and says, "Raiko-chan and I have developed a couple spells to isolate the signature of her magic. But apparently there's a lot of ther magic in the air..." Pause.

Mikoto runs off. "Um?" Yumi starts, and then she tilts her head. Mikoto, meanwhile, catches a bird. The rest of them--it turns out there's actually rather a lot of them--start to flock upward, fluttering away from her. But one stares at her with beady eyes. It looks... Hungry.

It snaps its beak at her!!

Yumi can't help with coffee but she can say, "That's a lot of birds. Why are there so many here...?" She sees no evidence of breads or seeds.

Does she do this often?

"Um, well..."

"Yes," Tama answers. "But I have an evil feeling..."

Raiko's detection spell finds: these birds are magical! And they're flocking back to the power lines, to watch the girls (and Batiste.)

<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Like and unlike how Mai and Mikoto are a pair, and Raiko and Yumi are a pair, Utena winds up very naturally beside Nori. The newly recruited Witch of Wise Levin might assume that it's just the two third wheels pairing up, but there is an ease that exists between them, a resonance to their alignment, that suggests a connection distinctly their own. Camaraderie, in the original meaning of the words. They were, are, comrades.

Not in fashion, surely. Utena still doesn't even have a membership card. Though her colors of choice do align naturally to Akamira...

"Back atcha, Mister B," she counters Batiste. Then she properly attends to Yumi, who is answering her question. Her easy grin fades to a soft, almost sweet seriousness, as Yumi speaks of a boy and his curse.

"We'll save him," she promises immediately, and not casually at all. "Okay. Magic object. Okay."

She visors her brow with her palm and squints to the horizon.

She watches Mikoto and the birds; listens to Raiko work, to Yumi and Tama expound.

She thinks shower thoughts. Eventually one slips out.

"Is it bigger than a breadbox?"

Utena holds up both palms for pax before anyone can think she's still kidding around. "No, no, I mean like -- is it something he'd be carrying with him all the time? Or like, do you know where he lives, have you searched his house?"

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Miroku is very strong! Mikoto is, too! That's why they belong together.

Mikoto running off to go chase birds is also very, VERY normal. And why wouldn't she chase a bird? She just met a new cat! She needs to bring her a gift!

She leaps, and grasps, fingers curling about the bird's wings before it can escape. Mikoto has plenty of hungry looks for birds, but surprise crosses her eyes when she looks at it and finds its hunger staring back. They widen, brows lifting and lips falling to accomodate the size of her gaze, cheeks all drawn down by the way her jaw parts. "?" Mikoto vocalises a question mark, perfectly.

Snap! "Gah!!" Mikoto yelps, as her gift to Shiori tries to eat her instead. Mikoto holds it out stiffly in front of her, as she hooks her knees about the branch of the tree, and swings herself down to look at everyone else.

Upside-down, and holding an angry bird.

You know, normal.

"Weird bird..!" Mikoto yowls, calling their attention.

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Nori turns her head back around and notices a distinct lack of Mikoto. Her head turns a little to look at her, and from her poise and expression, she has already given an answer to Raiko (yeah basically).

Which Mai valiates. Her head tilts to the side, hair spilling a bit that way. But while Nori is less deep-seated in her fondness for Mai than Mikoto, she can, at least, trust her judgment on that girl's behavior. "So it goes," Nori says, with a smile.

"If it's a plain stone or something like that, or the kind of amulet you'd get from a shrine, it would be hard to find," Nori adds in counterpoint to what Utena has t say. "But -"

Nori and Batiste both look up in synch. "What's strange about it?" Batiste calls up.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko looks up when Batiste speaks, but doesn't seem to regard it as anything out of the ordinary, offering him a small nod of acknowledgement before going back to her spellcasting.

"The enchantress Conflagira has a strong affinity with fire magic, though the Sulfuric Ogre that's been summoned twice is strongly aligned with the earth," supplies Raiko, with just a bit of a frown at recalling how it withstood her strongest spell. "Which seems rather odd... she's clearly using some outside help. There could also be an enchantment if an object is being used as the focal point of her workings, several different types of illusions or mesmerizing spells if they're affecting Yumi's friend, and..." she trails off as she studies the birds. But for a moment, she seemed to be fairly confident of all of the assertions she had been making--she even sounded more sure of those than when she said it was nice to meet everyone.

"Tama, are you sensing those birds? They're... magical..." She frowns, and keeps scanning them "Shiori, Yumi-chan, what do you make of them?" A few gestures to try to fine tune her spellcasting. "Minagi-san, you might want to be careful with that one you're holding..."

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.

"...a portrait?" Mai did...not make it to the art show, and tries to catch up as quickly as possible. She lowers her hand, looking at the witches a bit more seriously. Investigation is...not her strong suit, admittedly - it's what she makes fun of one friend for - but on occasion... "Okay. So...probably not the same smell as that menace at the bridge, but...connected. That..."

...she really doesn't have good senses for magic, but that's what the experts are here for.

Mai takes a long swig of coffee, and lowers the cup, straightening her back. She can take this a little more seriously, at least, and try not to focus overly long on Mikoto getting into a fight with a bird. She can't, however, hide the disbelief in her expression when Utena asks her question, and she raises a finger to interject-

-and lowers the finger. "That's...a pretty clever insight. Don't curses usually have to be kind of close to the cursee? Like a brooch, or a microphone..." She trails off a moment.

Mikoto's still fighting a bird, and maybe that distracts Mai from her train of thought - or maybe she wanted to abandon it anyway. "Weird...how weird, Mikoto?" It looks like a wild animal to her, but she's not the expert in barehanded capture of wildlife here. Her gaze finds the watching birds overhead, and it's cautious steps that take Mai closer to Mikoto. "...do you think its friends will back off? Because they're seeming kind of..."

There's a pun, maybe, but Mai at least doesn't voice it.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"...Thanks," Yumi says, and even though nothing seems to have changed, she feels a little better when Utena promises her. It gives her confidence. And she's been working hard, so...

Mikoto has a bird! The black bird's beady eyes focus on Mikoto and it snaps at her again.

"I don't think it's just a rock," Yumi says, "Though it could be; I just know that she's enchanted him, and according to Tama, the sort of spell she's using has to have some kind of focus object in order to maintain itself. Especially if it's summoning Ogres."

Tama chimes in for Raiko, "That's correct," she says. "The Ogre summoning is an ancient ritual, not invented by her; only the Hungry Queen's power can keep them in line. But they are all associated with the earth; they were each of them once spirits of the earth, before being corrupted and subverted to her power."

Meanwhile, the birds do indeed look a little... murder-ous.

Yumi doesn't notice at first, turning to Utena. "I'm not sure how big it is--but yeah, actually... I think he lives somewhere around here? I've been there, but..." She laughs awkwardly. "That was back when I had a driver, so..."

She then notices the birds. "Maybe..."

She looks to Batiste and Nori. "If I knew exactly what the object was it would be easier, but--"

Tama chimes in, "I have a suspicion. It is smaller than a breadbox. ...But I think we should move towards our objective... quickly."

There are suddenly even more birds looking at them.

"...The stone says this way!!" Yumi hurries!!

<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Utena is not often called clever, and slaps a palm to the nape of her own neck with surprise and modest embarrassment. Mai Tokiha, the senior, the mega badass, the total babe*, who can cook AND ride the coolest dragon she's ever seen, just thought she said something smart.

*not that that part matters. It was just an observation. Mai being a total babe, one of the Great Beauties on campus, is an objective fact, not an assertion of any preferences on Utena's part. Because she's a totally normal girl. Right? Right.

Utena focuses up. Weird birds; magical weird birds. Ogres are all Earth-type. Yumi used to have a driver. These are all important facts.

Yumi makes an exciting announcement and Utena breaks into a jog, though one with EXTREMELY short steps so as not to either outpace the Witch of Lost Ivy (hard; Yumi and Utena are probably similarly lofty heights) or exhaust her (easy; they are not of similarly athletic stamina). "We've got your back," she says, eyeing the birds with a certain dislike.

Mikoto brought Miroku, but it seems like Utena didn't bring a sword. Still, she's got a hand in a pocket, maybe she's not totally without resources??

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"Hm," Nori muses at what Raiko says. It doesn't parse a lot to her, though she says, "Don't trees grow in the earth, though?" which seems like a good blind guess to her. Raiko then points something out --

"Are they?" Batiste says, squinting his little eyes.

"Huh," Nori says. "At least they're going to be..."

Nori trails off because she can't think of some happy daffy rationalization for this one. She looks at Batiste, who looks at her. She bites her lower lip for a moment, before she puts a hand on her hip.

"Do you think you could make a noise and startle them? At least that would drive them off." Them, of course, being, well, the bird. (Nori says while double-timing to keep pace and even atch up a little; it seems like a good time to NOT be a little isolated from the others, somehow)

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

"Eh?" Mikoto looks beyond the bird, to Raiko. Be careful? Of a bird??? As if to mock her confusion, the bird tries its best to bite her again; luckily, Mikoto's holding it pretty far away from her face.

(NOTE: this is not the first time Mikoto has been bullied by a bird. She has always deserved it.)

But Mai wonders whether its friends will back off, and Mikoto looks up to the murder-ous crowd looming on the electricity lines. "Eeeehh?" Mikoto asks, again, all stretched out like a piece of taffy.

We note here, additionally, that Mikoto is currently balanced on a young branch.

And it c r e a k s.

With a strangled noise, Mikoto drops the bird so she can fall gracefully to the ground -- all in a tumble, rolling forward, it's very important to distribute your weight. Which is to say: it's as graceful a motion as a cat falling off the fence. It's not graceful at all. But --

Mikoto springs back up, as if it never happened. "Not that bird," she insists, brushing her sleeves off. "I'll get a different bird."

She looks left. She looks right. She looks to Mai. She looks over to --

"Yumiiii!!!" Mikoto yelps, as she hurries off behind the hurrying witch. "Wait for me..!"

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Shiori nods in response to Raiko's questioning. "Indeed. There is definitely something most foul at play. Everyone, be on your guard. Someone may be watching our arrival through those birds."

Quietly, as an aside for just Raiko, she says, "Call for the staff if you have need of it. I'll have it ready."

Raiko nods, "Thanks, Shiori."

She's doing her best to keep up, splitting her attention between analyzing their surroundings and following along with the others, as well as listening to what Tama has to say. "That's good to know. I'll remember that." Though it may not mean they're all resistent to her magic--the one that attacked her when she first took up the staff was vulnerable enough to it, at least.

"It could be something he has on his perso," she adds into the conversation of what they might be looking for, "but an item that strongly magical would surely draw attention, especially at a place like--" she cuts herself off.

'--like Infinity', but she really has no idea who should know about that.

"... but it could be something he comes into frequent contact with, something in his home, perhaps, that could continuously renew its ensorcellment."

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.

Tama - another cat - has an explanation Mai can...sort of follow. Ogres are earth-based, which makes them frustratingly fire-resistant. That's theoretically helpful but Mai's attention is admittedly on the birds, which are...probably not earth-based. Probably.

And that creak. That's a little worrying. "Careful, I think it- " Creak, tumble, moment of not breathing, relieved sigh when Mikoto rolls to her feet. "A different - Mikoto, we have a budget, we can just buy a - Mikoto!"

Mai should keep her eye on the birds overhead.

Mai is covering her face with her hand again. Just for a moment. Maybe ten.

But they're moving, and Mai picks up the rear, glancing over her shoulder frequently. "I'd...if they were normal birds, some noice or bright lights might spook them. But Mikoto said they were weird..." And maybe someone is watching through them. "...working with that 'Conflagria', maybe?"

Watching, ever watching. But like the dashing prince says, they're here to have Yumi's back - and here to track down a curse. "All right. Just let us know if you need a diversion or something. We can probably come up with something."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

All important facts!! ...Much like the fact that Yumi doesn't have to struggle to keep up with Utena, mostly because Utena makes sure she doesn't. She appreciates their having her back, and she believes it, too.

Trees do grow in the earth! But maybe that distraction is a good idea, because the birds are now following the group. The one Mikoto drops flies away quickly, in something of a panic; Mikoto will get a different bird. Mikoto hurries after Yumi!

Nori also stays close. As does Raiko.

Indeed, though--Tama will explain later, because it doesn't occur to her to explain right now, that not all Ogres are resistant to Raiko's magic. Luckily! However, what she says there--

"It's probably not something he keeps on him," Yumi says, "Because... Yeah. We might've noticed it." She glances at Mikoto. "Only, maybe not." For some reason.

"...But yeah, something in his house..."

Yumi comes to a stop eventually, huffing a little despite it only being a light jog. She does not really have the stamina for this. Nevertheless, "Maybe--working with her," she says.

"...Oh!" She blinks, and looks up. The nameplate on this house, which is a very nice house: Yamashita.

"This is his house!" Yumi says. Then she regards the birds, who all circle around them, staring intently with their beady eyes.

"...The stone indicates this is it, too..." She glances around. "If someone can hold off the birds..."

She glances at the house. "Uhhhh."

"...Well, his parents are usually away on business..."

Raiko's magic points towards a second story. And the birds' signature is definitely familiar to her.

<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

It has been suggested a few times that they should try making a noise to scare the birds.

Utena is always game for making noise.

"Cuh-CAWWWW!!" she shrieks, in a corvid impression as bad as Mikoto's feline impression was good.

And, even more startlingly, she draws from her pocket --

-- *pop!* --

-- an umbrella! Black with the pink Ohtori seal rose on it, something she probably got at the school store. Or, well, it's Ohtori, probably they just give them away. At any rate, it extends with a flick of her wrist and opens with the push of a button, and then she's first waving it above their heads wildly, trying to keep back the birds, and then angling it to LITERALLY cover Yumi, so that she can do whatever she's going to do to gain entry to the place without them actually being able to see.

"CAWWWWW!!!" she tries again, with redoubled intensity.

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

When diversions are discussed, Raiko's mind goes to her staff. Lightning and thunder are right at her fingertips... Well, at Shiori's paws, but still! Though, she's noticed that she and Yumi are doing most of the spellcasting, so she guesses that her expertise with magic might be better spent on tracking down the source of the magic.

Raiko nods to Nori. "Working with her, or perhaps being controlled by her... There's... something familiar about them..."

"I should probably keep helping you with locating the source of the magic," Raiko says quietly, when Yumi asks for help with the birds. She turns her attention away from them for a moment to consult with her phone, pointing it toweards the house... and then up, towards the second story. "I'm getting a reading, Yumi-chan." She bites her lip a little. "How are we going to get in? I mean, I can think of several ways, but..." in a very quiet voice she adds, "We probably don't want to cause any damage to the house..."

She starts to wave her hands over the phone and incant to herself.

"Are you checking for traps?" asks Shiori, warily keeping an eye on the birds.

There's the briefest of nods from Raiko as she keeps working.

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk "Then something in his rooms, or on the grounds of his home perhaps?" Nori says as they keep on walk-walk-walking and -

Stop! Nori pivots around. "Oh, that's lovely. This is a rather large place, compared to some, so we..."

Nori looks upwards at the birds surrounding them.

Nori takes a deep breath -- and Utena begins doing something far better than Nori's big idea which was to shout at them. However much Nori may have a good loud voice when she tries, it is - at least here, now - only... 'oh, that was loud.'

Utena brings more to the table. She brings a shrieking emphasis that makes Nori gasp at this (to her) excellent imitation of the corvid speech; and perhaps more importantly, she has the power of an umbrella.

This gives Nori an idea. She shifts closer to the others and begins to unfasten her coat and take it off, which is going to be rather pointless seeming other than revealing that yes, that's a cable-knit-looking sweater; it may even, horrors, not be AkaMira one-off. It might be from Uniqlo. But there is another revelation -

"Fwah!!!"

When she waves it upwards, letting the *much* more colorful patches-and-swatches inner silk lining flash and glitter!

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

"Huh? But then I didn't catch it!" Mikoto insists, puffing her cheeks up at Mai. "Can't provide for colony with someone else's fish!!"

It's not that different from insisting on working so many jobs yourself to provide for your family, Mai.

... okay, sure, it's a LITTLE different.

Scrambling along, Mikoto offers: "Might not be always hot," on the subject of evil magical objects on his person, when Yumi glances to her.

(She wore hers for two years, and no one was able to tell.)

They come to the house, and Mikoto cants her head, as Utena offers up an abysmal caw. (As opposed to a caw from the abyss, which is entirely different. She would know.) And... an umbrella! Mikoto is FULLY distracted observing Utena wave it about, imagining her folding it up and using its extended form as a makeshift rapier.

No -- no, surely not.

She can totally imagine it, though.

"So we can't knock?" Mikoto asks Yumi, instead, given how his parents are away. "'Kay." Using the distraction Utena and Nori make, Mikoto circles around the house to find an open window --

-- it doesn't necessarily have to be on the first floor --

-- and scrambles up to get inside, proving that Mikoto can make a foothold out of anything. Rattle, bang, crash, Mikoto scrambles through the inside of the house, until she gets to the front door...

... and unlocks it, waving the others in.

"Hurry, hurry!!"

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.

It is admittedly hard to come up with a counterargument to Mikoto's fish statement, and Mai tries for a good bit of the walk.

They've arrived at a very nice house, and Mai almost wishes she had more time to take it in - but she's wary of birds attacking Mikoto, and wary of whatever else might be in the area. At least the Yamashitas seem to be out, which is something of a relief to her ongoing delinquency record, but that means that they might need to-

"Gah!" Mai actually jumps when Utena lets out that loud caw - however inaccurate it might have been, it was certainly startling! Enough that what's left of her coffee is, er, spilling out onto the pavement.

She scoops up the cup, flushing a bit - boggles briefly at Nori's amazingly flashy coat - and tries to let the witches work while she tries to think. "...probably hard to draw off the birds - they're watching here, so they probably won't follow if we run somewhere else...Mikoto, what do you-"

Where did she go. Where did Mikoto -

There's a choked-off noise of frustration and disbelief as Mai sees Mikoto disappear into a window ajar. A despairing groan at the sound of clattering things that hopefully aren't too expensive for the Yamashitas to repair or replace. And finally a resigned sigh as the door opens to admit them.

"...burglary team, advance, I suppose..." Mai crushes her now-empty takeaway cup in one hand, glaring at whatever birds might pursue the group inside, and stops at the threshold to sigh directly at Mikoto. "...I really worry that you've been spending too much time around Kuga."

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

It's a very bad impression, but it's a very good tactic. In the face of Utena's umbrella and the Red Future's shiny coat, the birds are at once separated from Yumi and then waved around, starting to scatter. Apparently, whther controlled or helping of their own will, these birds didn't sign up for Utena's terrible cawing or the power of Fashion.

Nori's instinct is right; so is Raiko's. Yumi nods to Raiko quickly. She'll need her for that. But Mikoto? Mikoto is already helping!

She slides into a first story window. The house is very nice, but kind of empty, a little desolate and lonely to look at it; a blank television, a kitchen with everything neat and put away...

A few photographs, mostly dusty.

But Mikoto opens the door!!

"Oh!!" Yumi says, and then, "Well, good idea!" She looks to Raiko who asks how they're going to get in and gives her a lopsided smile. "Mikoto-chan's very resourceful!"

There are no traps; Yumi rushes inside, once the door's open. The birds have scattered for the moment... but may be back, in greater numbers. Mai has no more offee. But she steps inside, and Yumi is fine with a little Kuga-ing apparently. At least they didn't ahve to break in?

Well, not like, really break in.

Mai and Mikoto's fish drama is unanswered for the moment, though. Utena has the option to either stay out and stand guard for more birds or come in with the others; Yumi is gesturing her towards the door, though, so her preference is clear.

Once inside, she'll look around, "Stone is kindo of inconclusive... Raiko-chan, can you check upstairs? His room's there. And uhhh..." She glances to the side. For some reason.

"We probably all should," she says after a moment. "Unless someone wants to check around down here."

<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Utena does NOT go laying about a great beating on birdies with an umbrella as Mikoto might have dreamed, but it isn't terribly far-fetched, either. She's fought battles with stranger things. For better or for worse, she no more owns her sword than her own heart.

They both belong to another.

But she does keep opening and closing the umbrella to drive them back, like an Amazonian wielding a mighty shield. Pop! Pop! goes the awning. "CAW! CAW!!!" goes the girl.

She is the last one inside, and after she shuts the door in some divebombing bird faces, things are suddenly very still and very silent and very dark in comparison to the rushing and cawing out on the doorstep.

She assesses the situation.

Empty house: check.
Mysterious magic: check.
"We probably all should," go upstairs: double check.

Utena has seen enough scary movies (a preference of her roommate) to know just what to do.

"Yop," she agrees, slinging an arm over Yumi's shoulder as she brings the group up from behind, "Let's stick together, kay?"

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

"Yup!" Mikoto beams, to Mai. "Natsuki showed me how to break locks, too! But I thought Yumi's friend might be mad." Speaking of delinquency records...

"Good job!" She chirps, to Nori and Utena, once they're safely inside. Mikoto... approves of fighting a bird.

Well, she certainly doesn't want to dance with them!

"Not much down here," Mikoto wrinkles her nose, meanwhile, when Yumi wonders if they want to look around on the first floor. "I checked!" So THAT'S what the rattling was. It certainly wasn't Mikoto tripping over anything; she's good at seeing in the dark, and there's nothing to trip over, really.

(And, indeed, some doors have been hurriedly opened, looking around. Thus is the storm of Mikoto.)

So Mikoto nods, braids bouncing up and down on either side of her face, as Utena draws her conclusions from a bunch of movies Mikoto definitely hasn't seen. (Chie and Aoi don't take her to the scary ones.) "Mm, mm!" She agrees, cheerfully, and doesn't even go bounding off ahead this time. She'll stick with everyone else!

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Flash! Flicker! The silk lining is a little worn but must be *very* soft, but it's doing a different job now. Nori doesn't hesitate to run inside, at least; though there is a lingering look at Utena as she goes, a look of worry. This isn't her sort of thing, but should she try...?

Fortunately, at least, Utena comes inwards.

It's a place that's free of birds; a quality that Nori never thought she would appreciate quite so much. Breathing out, she looks towards the others.

And then - she pauses.

"... Yumi," she says. "be careful. I don't know if it is this place, or if - someone is here, but..."

"Yes," Batiste murmurs, though he doesn't press the point.

Nori does, looking upwards, and her eyes are a little different as she says it. "This is a place with sorrow within; tears have been shed here, one way or another."

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.

Mai groans, louder, at this helpful knowledge of Mikoto's skillset. "Of course she did. That - this was the better option I suppose, but..." She pauses, covers her eyes, and sighs. "Well done."

She might need to scheme another snow murder-attempt later, but at least right now everyone's inside.

It's quiet inside. Not just in the sense of noise, but in the sense of hearth. It's a very neat kitchen, a wonderfully clean environment...but scarce few photographs, none of the chaos of a personal touch to the decor. It doesn't feel welcoming to her.

...not that a house should feel welcoming to a group that is functionally committing burglary, but still.

Mai looks over at Nori's assessment, and her mouth is a tight line for a moment. "That's...wonderfully ominous. But...yeah. It's not exactly..." She waves a hand, as if trying to snatch a word out of the air, and eventually gives up. "...there's not much home down here."

Eloquent. Right.

"...you said his room is upstairs, right? Unless it's that TV or something, then...anything he's in contact with is probably in his room, yeah." She nods at Utena's instruction, and steps close to Mikoto. "Sounds good, kouhai."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

Raiko looks up from her magic, blinking a bit as she sees both Nori and Utena working in tandem to drive off the birds... "Huh," she says, looking up at the sky. "Maybe her grip on them isn't as tight as I thought..."

Or maybe umbrellas and flashy coats have more power than she thought. Or it might be the girls themselves. Either might bear more investigating...

But there's something else that catches her attention: Mikoto just... making for a window and getting inside the house that way. On the one hand, rather impressive. On the other-- "Who knows how many enchantments there could have been!" She says quietly but urgently to Yumi. "How can she just-- I mean I didn't find any, but that's no reason not to be cautious!"

Entering someone's abode can be dangerous. If you have access to a place you can do a lot with it.

She breaths a little sigh of relief when Mikoto opens the door, apparently unharmed.

Still, as they all enter the house she redoubles her efforts with checking for traps. No reason to let their guard down, there might be something further in. She nods as Yumi asks her to check upstairs. "Got it. Let me..." She looks at the older curiously as she glances aside, but then turns her attention to her phone.

A soft incantation, and a wave of her hand, and all of the glyphs and runes floating about her cell phone change. They're finer, less crude than before. There's a buildup, and a small wave of blue energy, very faint and transparent, pulses outwards from the phone in an expanding bubble to encompass the entire house.

It catches on something the others may or may not see, upstairs, but a glyph hovering over her phone very clearly marks the way forward for her. "I think I've got something..."

She takes the lead, finding the stairs and heading up, turning right for the bedroom without needing to be told which way it is. She waits a moment at the door for the others to catch up. If there is something nasty waiting she doesn't want to take it on alone. "Come on, come on!" For someone who's been so shy and nervous the whole time--and who stared in disblief as Mikoto just barged in, there's a certain eagerness in her own voice now, or a bit of a determined zeal, now that we're so close.

And once everyone's caught up, she opens the door and points her phone, and there, emanating with a soft blue glow, is surely the object of their search.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"!"

This is Yumi's reaction to Utena sliding an arm around her shoulders, and in point of fact she is happy to stick with Utena! She feels much safer, for one. Even if she's a little red. Maybe she's still out of breath from running earlier? Probably.

"It's fine," Yumi says to Raiko of the possible enchantments. "Mikoto-chan's really strong. And the has Miroku! And besides, you didn't sense any!"

But Mikoto checked down here for stuff... Hmmm. "OK," Yumi says to her, trusting her. That's good enough. Besides... Utena agrees they should stick together, and Nori--Nori feels something. "You sense something?" Yumi asks, and then she listens. Sorrow within...

"...He was always really good about listening when I talked about my father," Yumi says quietly, as they start to move up the stairs. They all stick together, luckily. Not much home down here, though. Yumi considers Mai. "Yeah. His parents are out of town a lot, so he stays here on his own, mostly. It's a big house, but he doesn't tend to have people over or anything. At least, that's what he says; I see him at school--I mean, in clubs and stuff--a lot."

It's hard to say, about the birds, but perhaps birds aren't easy to control... or maybe the birds have lined up outside the house again. There's certainly rustling noises out there, if anyone stops to listen.

But Raiko's spell--developed alongside Yumi's own efforts, the product of two witches working together--starts to light up. Her confidence is warranted; her hard work has paid off, and her zeal is accurate. The door opens to the room, and inside is a normal boy's room, very neat. ...Too neat. The desk is unusued; the bed is made, and he's sleeping on top of the covers, with his eyes open, fitful. They can tell he's sleeping because he doesn't move--because it seems he can't move, a dark cloud surrounding him.

"Takahiro!" Yumi calls, in worry--and then she sees the blue glow. What Raiko points out is a thick, heavy grimoire, bound in wood and black leather. Her eyes widen--

"Yumi!" Tama says, coming up quickly. "The book--That's the source! Raiko's found it!"

"You must secure it!"

This, Nori will find, is the source of the sorrow. The book, ancient and terrible, exudes sadness somehow. ...And Takahiro's not much better.

"Okay!" Yumi says, and advances towards the book. "I don't know how we're going to stop it, but--"

As soon as she touches the book, there's a tone like a bell tolling. The book stops glowing. "...?"

All is quiet. Takahiro's eyes start to flutter closed.

<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Utena is happy to be a supportive arm for Yumi the rest of the way through the house; for that matter, she has two arms, and offers one to Nori in a most genteel fashion. She also spares Sorrow's Queen a couple soft words, before they're even upstairs, of appreciation for her technique back on the porch.

"You really are dazzling," she says, then coughs and corrects: "Uh, I meant to say, you really dazzled them out there." And her, apparently.

But, up and away they all go, and to the bedroom....... of a boy.

Utena has never been in a boy's bedroom before and, before she crosses the threshhold, briefly turns her eyes to the sky, invisible above the ceiling, to swear to herself and that who is holy to her that this doesn't count, not really, right? Right.

She resists the urge to make a crack about she always KNEW books were evil -- because that isn't really something she believes, just a niggling humor springing up in self-defense against the horror on display. It doesn't last long, though. Yumi goes straight in and -- neutralizes? -- the book and its curse? Just like that?

"Wow," she says, rolling up to the balls of her feet and back down again, as though ready for another shoe to drop at ANY time and not quite able to believe that it won't. "You made that look really easy."

A surprisingly careful phrase from someone often careless with her words. But Utena, of all people, knows the difference between something that IS easy, and the skill required to make it seem that way. Apparently for Yumi that skill is cursebreaking.

For Utena it's basketball. Or, possibly, it's being a fully functional, not-at-all-depressed, cheerful, straight, totally normal girl.

She makes it look easy, all right.

Her hamstrings stretch taut, then relax, as she flexes her legs a second time.

She dare not say it out loud, but her eyes are thinking it, her raised pink brows asking the question:

'Is it... over?'

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

An offered arm, freely given, is gladly taken. Nori is pleased, relieved, comforted at the touch. Batiste even goes over to do a momentary cheek-rub with Utena before they proceed upwards, and...

They have a light to guide them. They move towards a strange place, a boundary rarely transgressed, and within it there is a dark cloud and a strange blue glow. Nori Ankou looks at the ancient tome with a certain wonder. She takes a deep breath - to her, at least, this resonance does not seem so bad - but...

It's doing something to him.

But when it is touched, a bell rings out.

Nori gasps a little. And she says, whispers into the soft room, with a bloom of guilt in the undertones of her voice, "Is it --"

Batiste has straightened up. He speaks in a tone that, though still soft and high, is not... as light as he might usually be: "I do not think... please, Yumi, if you will not be bothered? Miss Takashima?" Nori steps towards the book, reaching outwards with her left hand to v-e-r-y gingerly touch the cover of the book. Her fingers draw back -- but then come down. She runs them over the spine, and moves a little closer, even as Batiste leaps gently down to the floor, moving over to rest his precious paws on the side of the bed to look nosingly towards Takahiro.

"It's certainly heavy. I suppose books have gotten lighter, lately, haven't they?" Nori says. A glance again towards Yumi and then - VERY gingerly - she opens the front cover...

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Mikoto beams, when Mai praises her methods. See! She's great!!

And then, of course, Mai calls Mikoto her kouhai, and -- let's be clear here, Mai could call Mikoto ANYTHING and she'd feel like tripping on her face all a sudden, but this is what's happening, and her cheeks colour for a moment before she nods with an affirmative noise.

But this is a sorrowful place, Nori says, and Mikoto believes her, so she'll try not to be distracted for too long.

(Utena isn't the only one who notices Mai's qualities, even if the word 'babe' isn't exactly in her everyday vocabulary.)

"Woooow," Mikoto is very impressed, at Raiko's magic, eyes growing large with fascination as she watches the hovering glyph. "Yeah!!" She agrees, hurrying after Raiko, because game appreciates game.

"If he's alone," Mikoto wonders, on the stairs up, "who makes lunch?"

When the door opens, Mikoto's mouth closes, pressed to a thin line. She makes a low, grumbly noise through her lips, and it's not just because of the sound of feathers outside. "No one here," she mutters, dour, even though he clearly is.

'I've delivered a present to one of the students at Infinity Institute. A powerful present indeed. Its magic will surely tempt this student... And then we'll just see what happens if they use it, shall we?'

"Careful," Mikoto asks -- pleads, really, as the bell tolls, and Yumi makes the book stop glowing, and Nori approaches it just the same. "It's, for tempting."

She feels awfully -- self-conscious? Aware of where she's standing? Ill-fitted? -- to admit why she knows, but she's kept enough secrets, and she's already told Yumi in any case.

"Conflagria said."

<Pose Tracker> Raiko Takashima [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.

"The fact that I didn't detect any only means I didn't detect them, not tha they're not there..." she says quietly before heading up the stairs.

Mai's assessment of there not being much home here rings true to her. She's spent enough time at her desk to know what an active workspace looks like... and the vibe of the house feels somewhat like her own, without nearly enough people there to make it a place that people live and not just... a palce she goes to be for a while.

But her excitement at being so close to seeing the fruits of her labor, to seeing that her spell--their spell--worked, is momentarily cratered by seeing just what it is that they're dealing with.

"Oh no..." With a sharp gesture of her hand she terminates the spell, dispelling the glow and leaving the runes gone--for a moment. She follows in after Yumi with barely a thought for the boundary that they are crossing--her mind goes to the magical boundaries of hearth and home, not necessarily of social norms (at least, not with so pressing an issue before them)--trying to calm herself enough so that she can start trying to analyze both the book and the dark cloud hanging over the boy. "What is that thing doing to him?"

She stops as she sees Yumi touch it and--something happens. "Yumi-chan, did you do...?" she says in a concerned and wary tone. Phone is pointed at the grimoire to try and analyze it further. She gladly steps aside to let Nori take a look, giving her a nod... but keeping her cell phone--and her spells, focused on it to try and figure out the link between it and the boy.

Her head snaps up when Mikoto mentions Conflagria's name, and then snaps over to Mikoto as she tries to digest what she's just said, followed by a distressed look up to Yumi, though she's trying to get her emotions under control. There's more pressing issues to worry about.

Meanwhile, Shiori is standing alert in the hallway, ears forward, tail bristling slightly as she stares off towards the outside of the house. "I hear something outside. We may have more company soon..."

<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.

At least Mai wasn't the only one admonishing Mikoto's recklessness. Magical traps are...not something she encounters that much. Her preferred trap at home is a hungry friend awaiting supper who attacks intruders. Which...wasn't an impossible risk here, but seems unlikely.

For all of the witches' enthusiasm, it's the quiet that haunts Mai as they ascend the stairs. The quiet, and - the memories, maybe. Mai glances sharply at Yumi's back at that quiet admission, and her expression quickly softens. And in the immediate moment, she can listen. "...on his own, no one visiting...small wonder it's so stark."

Mai flushes a bit at Utena's comment to Nori, even though she wasn't the target, because - that easily? That smooth? How-

Soon enough, the group is at the threshold - and almost in contrast, Mai has fewer compunctions about barging into a boy's bedroom. Takumi is a boy, after all, and the number of times Mai has barged in to check on him defies counting.

The dark cloud, though - that gives her pause. That has her stop, recoil a step or two, put an arm out in guard. "Careful - we don't know what that is, so- wait, don't-"

Her heart is in her throat as Yumi rushes toward the book, freezes at the sound of the bell tolling, and even as the glow fades Mai's breath is still. Even through Utena's comments. Even through the stretching. She doesn't want to grasp something as dangerous as hope, here, but...

"...are you all right? Any...sudden urges to summon an Ogre in the middle of a crowded suburb?" Mai doesn't dare relax. Not until it's clear - or until she breathes in sharply at Shiori's warning.

<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

Nori glances at Mikoto. What she says is concerning. Was she just the one to bite on a hook...?

"No more so than usual," Nori tells Mai, then, looking at her with wide eyes.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

"That's true!" Yumi admits, but she may be a little reckless, too. Tama sighs. She appreciates Raiko in this moment.

Yumi, too, notices how dazzling Yumi says Nori is. She wants to be dazzling... But she's not Nori.

But soon:

"Ummm," Yumi says of the cursebreaking. "I didn't do anything..." She isn't quite slick enough to take credit, despite Utena's confidence in her. Despite Utena making... many, many things look easy. But apparently it worked anyway.

Tama is silent.

It's a very clean boy's room. Maybe that means it doesn't count. Besides, he's Yumi's boy! (Her friend. Of course.)

But if he's alone... who makes lunch? A quiet question from Mikoto, but one that sticks in Yumi's mind.

Here and now, though, the book is silent now, and Mikoto can see that there is no more glow from the book; the glow around Takahiro is fading.

Tama is still silent.

"I don't know," Yumi admits to Raiko about what it's doing to him. "We'll have to figure that out." Pause. "And..." Well, like she said. She didn't do anything. Between Nori's physical analysis and Raiko's magical, there is little obvious and conclusive in the moment. The book indeed no longer has a tie to Takahiro, Raiko can tell. The connection is simply gone; there's evidence that there was one, a powerful enchantment controlling him, but with the ringing of the 'bell' it simply ceased to be. Meanwhile, Nori can open the cover; it bites neither her nor Batiste. Yumi is not bothered, of course. But the book is filled with strange glyphs and runes, difficult to comprehend at first but not automatically harmful to the eye.

Batiste looks at Takahiro; more on that in a moment.

Mai has a fair question. Mai has a fair observation, earlier. Stark... Yes. As Mai looks to the cloud and makes her question, Yumi shakes her head. "No," she says. "I don't feel... anything weird either," she offers to Nori and Mai. "Though I did, for a second. It felt familiar, somehow..."

"...Yumi has broken the spell," Tama finally says, and does not say that she is unsure how, though it is in her voice. She has guesses, but, "It is an ancient spellbook. To learn more we will have to review it." She nods to Mikoto. "...Carefully." Then she says, "Yumi, bring out your Staff. I know a spell that you can use, to secure it safely."

It will be a moment as Yumi pulls the staff, but Tama continues, "Yumi, I want you to only read this book in my presence, or failing that, in Shiori's. But read it we must. It will give us invaluable insight into their workings... and is the only way to determine if there will be lingering effects on your friend."

Shiori's ears are keen--but they can see, through the window. The birds scatter, all at once, with the sound of the bell. That is the end of them... for now. Except for one, on an opposite roof, that stares through the window at Yumi.

"..." Yumi looks at Raiko, "Conflagria taunted Mikoto-chan while I was in the hospital," she explains. Then she looks to the others. "...Um..." She turns, with the Staff, and reaches out to touch Tama, channeling the spell from her into the Staff. A lock appears on the book, twined with ivy.

It feels uneasy, all the same. But Batiste will quickly find--

Takahiro starts to stir, just a little bit, though he is not awake yet. It may be wise to avoid an awkward conversation...

<Pose Tracker> Utena Tenjou [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

"I guess you won't have to kiss him to get him to wake up, Princess Yumi," Utena deadpans as the group retreats. It is impossible to tell if she is relieved or disappointed.

<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.

Yumi trips on the way out. At least she's easy to catch!