[Date: Sunday, February 15. 3 PM.] [Easy Epoque still has some Valentine's decorations up, red hearts with black lightning bolts, strung along the bar to the cash register. And there's a discount on hot chocolate today, so it's more crowded than a normal Sunday afternoon. The regular staff is around, and there's a big band arrangement of Ever Fall in Love on the speakers. There are a couple of tables open, one in the back and one near the windows!] [Where will people go? What will happen? Who will get discount hot chocolate?] [Session start.] * Katie arrives with a Kyon, stepping just into the coffee shop and removing her hat. This is the busiest she's ever seen Easy Epoque, and all of the people are already making her feel slightly uncomfortable. She spots the table near the window and glances up at her boyfriend, pointing it out. * Kyon comes in behind her, pulling off his gloves, and looks around, before nodding curtly at Katie's table choice. He's in a dark grey tuque, his regular jacket, sunglasses, and deep blue jeans, along with some heavy boots. Get me a hot chocolate? * Katie goes to claim the table before Kyon can really answer, taking her jacket off and draping it over the back of her chair before setting her bag on the windowsill. She's in a turquoise scoop neck sweater, black jeans with a few stains on them, and sneakers. No decorative scarf today; she wore one for the cold when she came in, but now that's off, too. But the earplugs are in, and it's probably a good thing. * Kyon makes his way to the counter to place his order! [The clerk behind the counter is the short, stout Japanese girl, in an immaculate apron, shirt and tie, several piercings, and an aggressively punky haircut. She smiles at Kyon knowingly as he comes up. "Usual?"] * Kyon nods quickly, and adds, "And a hot chocolate." * Wataru is in his usual trenchcoat and brown suede sneakers, with a brown hoodie zipepd up over a light grey long-sleeved tee and loose dark blue jeans. He carries a light backpack, and steps in just a minute after Kyon and Katie. * Wataru looks around, and spots Kyon at the counter. He runs his hands over his hair, and approaches the counter, waiting politely a couple of people behind Kyon. * Kyon pays for his order, and goes to head back to Katie. He spots Wataru, and gives him a quick nod of acknowledgement. * Katie has settled in at the table. She's looking out the window and is toying with the ring on her finger. * Kyon drops back into his seat at the table opposite her. He shucks off his coat, dropping it on the back of his chair. He's wearing a lighter grey button-down shirt underneath, tucked into his jeans. * Wataru gets to the counter, where he orders a hot chocolate and a brownie! * Katie smiles a little at Kyon's arrival. "Keeping the glasses on?" [The clerk takes the order and asks if Wataru's been here before.] * Kyon looks over the place with a small frown. "Yeah. It's busy." Yeah. Maybe this place is getting popular. * Wataru smiles and says he hasn't! And he compliments the decor. * Kyon shrugs quickly, and frowns more. "Good for them." [The clerk nods as if this is the appropriate reaction, and offers Wataru a point card with two large E's on it.] * Katie nods, and she judges Kyon's expression. "Not good for you, though." * Kyon looks at her, and just smirks. * Wataru thanks the clerk, and takes the card! And then he heads over to Kyon and Katie's table... * Katie grins back. And then there's a Wataru! And she looks at him, because that's what you do when someone comes to your table. * Kyon glances up at him, and nudges out the chair with his foot. * Wataru nods. "Hey." And he pulls the chair back further, glancing around a bit but what can you do when someone else picked the table. He sits down. * Katie smiles, almost apologetic. "Hi." * Kyon nods to him quickly again, and waits for him to settle in. * Wataru settles in! "So," he says, looking at Kyon. "Cool place." * Kyon nods quickly, face cool. "Come here a lot." * Wataru nods. "I like the atmosphere. Never would have found it if you hadn't mentioned it though, I think." * Kyon nods quickly. "Katie's parents live near here." * Katie looks past the guys to the people behind the counter, judging how long until their orders are ready to go out. "Oh, is that a fact." He manages a smile at Katie, although the smalltalk is sort of making him want to claw his face off. But! Being civil, or something. * Katie keeps gazing past Wataru, but she answers him. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure that's how Kyon found this place." [The guy behind the counter who is making the drinks is finishing off a hot chocolate. It could be their hot chocolate!] * Katie will believe it when it comes with tea for Kyon. * Kyon nods again. "Yeah." He looks at Wataru sidewise. "Waiting until we get the drinks?" "What, to come out with my reason for calling you here? I guess. Actually..." He looks between them. "You sure it's safe to talk here?" * Kyon looks at Katie with a raised eyebrow. Wait until we get the drinks, then yeah. I'll make it safe. * Wataru looks at her, but doesn't see a reason to doubt her. He nods. "Cool, all right." [And indeed, in short order, the girl clerk comes over with a tray, setting out two hot chocolates, a brownie, a small scone with a dark red jam, and a large mug of black tea. She taps the emptied tray on her leg, and says, "You all good?"] * Katie claims one of the hot chocolates, and she smiles at her. "Yeah, thanks." * Wataru smiles at her, with all his chocolate in front of him! * Kyon nods back a quick thanks. [She sketches a little perfunctory bow, and retreats.] * Katie watches her go, cupping the mug with her hands as she retreats. Too hot. She eases her grip and takes a breath, then lets it out slowly. * Kyon looks out the window for a moment, waiting. It's up. Nobody's going to hear us. * Kyon turns back to her, and nods, before jamming up part of his scone. * Katie looks at Wataru expectantly. * Wataru blinks curiously? I can make bubbles of silence. Nobody can hear us. If you get up and walk a few feet away from the table, you won't hear me or Kyon. So you wanted to talk to us about something? * Wataru nods, taking a deep breath. Right. "Yeah. Okay." He rests his hands on the table. "It's about the Council of Mysteries books. I... I have an idea of how Aka Uehara might be getting his information." * Katie nods, eyes still fixed on Wataru. * Kyon looks at him sidewise, pausing in the jam placement activities. "Has anyone except me ever noticed..." He moistens his lips nervously, "His brother Masaru turning up unexpected at places?" * Katie frowns slightly, and she puts her hands around her hot chocolate again. * Kyon frowns, and turns his gaze to Katie. "More than anyone else did?" * Katie shakes her head. "He shows up in the Tower Reversed more than basically anyone else, but he likes it there..." She trails off, then says, "I hadn't seen him since 2002, at least until the three of us ran into him like a month ago." * Kyon nods curtly. "Same for me." * Wataru frowns... "Well, the other day - yesterday - I decided to do a reading about this book series thing. I thought a single karaoke room would be fairly private - I was out when the thought struck me," he explains. "Anyway. I hadn't sat down for more than two minutes when the man *walks into my karaoke room*. Dead serious." * Katie wrinkles her nose. That sounds like him. At least he's not making you call him a dozen different names. Is he? "No, but doesn't anyone find it weird that - I mean, you just said, 'that sounds like him'. Which means this is a thing he does. And I'm half wondering... What if he does it more than we realize. What if he has a way of just turning up at the right place at the right time to catch a 'good story'. Or ... Or if he somehow knows where people are going to be, or what they're doing. Like, maybe not even consciously." He looks at her, and then at Kyon. "Couldn't he be feeding that information to his brother?" He *could* be. * Kyon takes a sip of his tea, and thinks for a beat. "Maybe. It'd be an easy way to get some information." "He might not even know what he's doing," Wataru adds. "Everyone keeps saying Masaru is 'harmless'... Maybe he is, or maybe it's a good front. What's the brother like, have you ever met him?" No. I think Haruko has. * Katie picks up her hot chocolate and blows over the top, then sips it. "He did say that he wasn't giving his brother any more information, because he realized he was being emotionally manipulated. And I believe he thinks that's true." She pauses a moment, thinking. "We know he's not immune to that, because I manipulated him into telling me." * Wataru swallows. "And," he says. "I don't know if you saw the dedication on the second book, but... A friend of mine has an advance copy. It says, "To my brother, without whom none of this would have been possible"." He frowns. Something like that, anyway. Yeah, I saw it. * Kyon nods, slower than usual. "So he's helping. At least with some of it." * Katie sips more chocolate, then sets it down. "Maybe. I'm not saying you're wrong, but..." "I wouldn't mind being wrong," Wataru says. "Tell me why I might be wrong." Remember what Masaru said? That his brother knew about Arcana in the first place because of him? It could just be that. And if they're not getting along now, maybe his brother's being an asshole. I mean... I don't think Masaru was lying when he said that he didn't read the books. He really looked like he wanted to just ignore that they existed, which is why I had to push him so hard. Not that- I mean- this doesn't mean you're wrong. But that's how I saw it at the time. "Is his brother Arcana too?" * Kyon eats a bite of the scone. "Not that we know of. He never showed up at anything. And the artist said himself, his brother's got no powers." * Wataru ponders. and takes a nibble of his brownie. "He could be hiding --- wait, if his brother's not Arcana, how is he writing the books? Didn't you say Temperance wiped people's memories?" Yeah, I'm wondering that, too. I know that he's gotten at least one classmate to give him information on me. He went to Sakuragaoka, like us. Now the guy's working on art for his books, and something about social media... anyway, he doesn't remember anything specific about the time I was found in the hotel anymore. "Why didn't he get his brother to do the art?" he asks, curious. * Kyon shrugs quickly. "Would you want to work with that guy?" * Katie laughs. "Right? Seriously, Masaru probably doesn't want to. He said their relationship's strained. And also, have you *seen* his art? It probably wouldn't work anyway." "I haven't, no," Wataru narrows his eyes. "What's it like?" Abstract, bordering on random. I don't like it. * Katie is very matter of fact about this. * Katie then looks at Kyon. "Remind me to talk to Kaede about the social media thing tomorrow? He could probably make more progress than me or Naoki." "Could it mean something? Like, might it contain information his brother is somehow able to interpret? Maybe... Maybe Masaru has a lot of dreams, dreams about us, and he paints his impressions and..." Wataru gestures, but then he shakes his head. "I'm grasping at straws, I know. But my gut is really telling me Masaru is involved." * Kyon nods quickly to Katie. "Sure. And for Temperance... he could just take a lot of notes. She comes, she gets his memories, but he has backups. If he's a writer, it wouldn't be weird. Got to get down your ideas somewhere." * Katie nods. "That's how Arisu did it, right? I think she's *still* getting notes on Arcana." Yeah. It's not like she's leaving people totally blank. She relies on people not wanting people to know. So most people don't leave notes. * Wataru looks into his hot chocolate, frowning. Yeah, and most people don't *want* to be memory wiped. So if they're stubborn enough to keep going after the first time, they get more careful. Like Arisu did. * Katie lets out a breath through her nose. "I guess Aka isn't one of those people. And she's not going to destroy his notes, so..." * Wataru is quiet for a bit, sipping his chocolate. * Kyon sips his tea, and then says, "Right. But." He blows out a breath, and then says, "We should still check." * Katie tilts her head, waiting for Kyon to go on. If it's his brother, and he's been showing up places, we'll get a chance soon. We can ask more. But we can probably get the brother's attention. If he's that devoted, he should want to talk to us, too. Right? You mean Aka would want to talk to us? * Wataru watches them. * Kyon nods curtly. "Wouldn't he? He knows enough about us. He must know who we are. If he really wants to tell the whole story, we've got pieces no one else knows." "S-so if he comes to you... then what? I mean, if his brother is really stopping helping him, then..." He frowns. "But what will you do if he does?" Set him on fire? * Katie sounds half serious. * Wataru laughs, a sudden sound. * Kyon nods philosophically. "It's worked in the past." * Katie grins. * Wataru smiles a little, tentatively, holding his cup. I really don't think Masaru's willfully helping his brother. I mean... it wouldn't be hard to talk to him. We have his number. Aka... he recognized Haruko when she went to his reading. So. If he can recognize her, there's no way he wouldn't recognize me. Or Kyon. * Wataru is thoughtful. * Kyon smirks, and wraps a hand around the mug of tea. "But we can't count on him leading us to his brother. Even if he's not working with him. And even if he is unpredictable." * Katie nods in agreement. I don't think Masaru's going to help with this more than he thinks he has to. It obviously makes him uncomfortable. I *do* think I can get more out of him, but it's probably limited. The more distant he feels from the problem, and the more he can ignore it, the better he'll feel. * Kyon sips the tea, and then says, "Right. Worth a crack, but we need another way. And I bet I can get the brother's agent." * Katie nods. "Oh... that reading, about the books... I got as far as the Tower, and then Masaru walked in and the Ace of Wands and the Wheel of Fortune fell out of my deck and landed across the Tower, face down." He glances at Kyon. "But that could just have been the interruption being reflected in the cards...?" * Katie holds up her hands and then picks up her hot chocolate. Cards: not something she's the expert in. * Kyon shrugs quickly. "That's just his card. Could have been the interruption. Could have had a tie. Might just have been him showing up. Or it could be that there's something we should follow with him." * Wataru nods. * Wataru nudges at his brownie... "Oh... Also... I mean, this probably isn't related, but..." He glances between them again. "I had a dream last night." His eyes land on Kyon. "You were in it... Well, not *you*." * Katie blinks. And she looks at Kyon, too. * Kyon catches this, and smirks. "Old lady? Hair down to here?" He gestures at his lower back. * Wataru smiles. Nods. "You... You said that, as the Council watches over us, it was our responsibility to look after the children. Three young Arcana, who were in my care." * Kyon nods quickly, and sips his tea. Maybe this is going somewhere? * Wataru shrugs, since they don't seem to have much in the way of a reaction to this. "Like I said, might not be related. I remember the three, though, if they mean anything to you. Page of Cups, Seven of Swords, Sun. I... I don't think I know any of them now?" * Katie frowns, then says, "The Sun went to your school. The Seven's in the Band." I don't know about the Page. * Kyon nods quickly. "Could be one of the people we didn't get a card for." Yeah... "What do you mean?" * Katie sighs. "Not everyone told each other their cards. Most people didn't." It makes you vulnerable, kind of. "There's always people I don't know in my dreams. Unfamiliar faces, unfamiliar cards..." He sighs. * Kyon shrugs slightly. "You didn't know a lot of people." * Wataru downs some hot chocolate. "Good point." They're probably getting similar dreams, just from different places. It's hard to know what's going to be useful. But there we go - old lady Kyon is showing up for someone else. * Katie grins at Kyon. * Wataru chuckles a little. "I guess I'll keep an eye on my dreams. This one was particularly ... " He shakes his head. "It sunk in. Anyway. You have suggestions for a next step?" * Kyon scowls at her in return, and eats some of his scone. * Katie laughs at Kyon's scowl, and she turns back to Wataru. "Yeah, they do that. I, um. Okay. So." * Katie sips her chocolate, thinking, then says, "Right, okay. So Kyon can go after the agent, right? I'll ask Kaede to look into this social media thing. Naoki's going to get back to me on hard copies of the art if she can get her hands on it. I can contact Masaru if we need, um... really, I think we should try to get everyone a copy of the second book. They should probably be brought up to speed at this point, even Taki." * Wataru fidgets. "I... I told Satoshi I wouldn't read them. Not unless you guys wanted me to." He looks at them. "I feel kind of weird voyeuring my way into stuff that clearly was big in your lives. But. It's your call." * Katie blinks at Wataru. "That's nice of you." * Kyon shrugs quickly. "But lots of people are reading it. Got to get used to it. Just don't believe everything's totally true. It's not a history." * Wataru smiles awkwardly. Decent human! Yeah. It's nice of you, but read it anyway. I... * Katie sighs. "Things happened. It's not- a lot of the worst things aren't even that much of a secret. So go ahead and read it." * Wataru exhales. "Okay." * Kyon looks at her, and lowers his sunglasses slightly, a bit concerned. * Katie has turned her attention to her hot chocolate. * Wataru isn't sure what to say now. I'll send an e-mail about it. Later tonight. Or tomorrow, maybe. See when we can get everyone together with what we find. * Katie looks up, at Wataru and then Kyon. "Okay?" * Kyon drinks some of his tea, but keeps watching her. "Right. Probably won't get a response from the agent at least before tomorrow, though." Yeah, well. * Wataru nods. "I'm... I'm meeting Haruko-san on Tuesday, and Takeuchi- san later in the week. Maybe they'll have ideas, too." He pinks very slightly. We're talking about scheduling you and Haruko *and* Kaede. I bet it'll be at least a month- oh yeah? * Katie looks at Wataru. "What about?" "Takeuchi-san, about this. We're..." His blush becomes more noticeable. "We're going to research the Uehara brothers together, and he's going to help me with online security. And Haruko, well... I heard she was good with powers practice and experimentation, and... I don't even fully know what I can do, honestly. So." He smiles, shyly. * Katie nods. "You blush a lot," she points out. * Wataru looks down, chuckling. "Yep." * Kyon smirks. "Don't let Haruko see all the blushing. Might get the wrong idea." "You sir are trying to make me blush more," Wataru's smile broadens, while still looking down. * Katie laughs, and she picks up her mug. "It'd probably make her happy. She likes admirers." She sips her hot chocolate. Even if they admire other people. * Wataru sips his hot chocolate. * Kyon snorts, and drinks a long slug of tea. * Katie just grins behind her hot chocolate. * Kyon smirks, and then says, "So there's a plan." * Wataru nods. Plans are good. Yeah. * Katie looks down in her cup, then downs the rest of her drink. There wasn't much left, anyway. * Kyon turns the smirk on Wataru. "And you have your homework." * Wataru has a mouth full of brownie, but he nods! I can drop a copy of book 2 off at your place, if you want. When we finish reassembling ours, anyway. * Kyon frowns, and finishes off his scone. "Yeah. My book club friend didn't seem keen on handing me hers, although she did lend me book 1." He pats his bag. * Katie tilts her head. "How... oh, Izumi? She's in the same book club that Haruko's in, right?" * Wataru just glances at her. And sips his chocolate. * Kyon nods quickly. "Yeah." * Katie relaxes slightly. "Okay." * Katie looks down at her empty cup, and she twists her ring a bit. "Is there anything else...?" I'm good. * Wataru nods, sipping the last of his chocolate. And eating the last of his chocolate. It's that kind of day. * Katie nods, and she concentrates for a moment. "" she says in English. * Wataru looks at her, and nods. "" He has a tired smile. * Katie stands. She puts on her coat and starts to gather her things. * Kyon pushes his sunglasses back up, and does the same! * Wataru notes that whup, it's leaving time! He hastily dons his coat as well. * Katie picks up her bag. "" * Wataru has a small, friendly bow. "" * Kyon puts his jacket back on, and returns a nod from the clerk. * Katie fidgets with her strap. She glances at Kyon and says, "" * Kyon is astonishingly impassive. * Wataru smiles at her, slightly. He nods. * Katie smiles back, and then she scrams, moving quickly for the door. * Kyon takes up the rear, reaching over her and holding the door open for Katie. * Wataru puzzles out a way to leave at the same time as, but not specifically *with*, the two of them! And it kind of works. [Session End!]