Description: Sakura Kasugano, Security Chief of the Suiryuu. An unlikely choice, really. She's not a professional. And with all the resources that have gone into staging this tournament...why would people as paranoid as Seishirou and Riko put things in the hands of /Sakura/? Good question. Still...Riko, at least, seems confident in Sakura's abilities. She says as much, congratulating Sakura for repelling the assault staged by Mad Gear and Blackjack. But where one attack has happened, others seem likely to follow. Which means, of course, there must be contingency plans.
The Suiryuu is the ship of the fighting proletariat, the great battle vessel of the combative people.
But as George Orwell could tell you, some proletariats are more equal than others.
It is a truism that space is at a premium aboard the vessel. This is true to a degree, certainly - there are vast empty compartments within the ship, but most of those are in use as fight arenas...or for whatever nefarious purpose lies behind this tournament. But they are used. So there isn't much space remaining for living quarters...or so it is said...necessitating compact rooming arrangements. And, of course, the infamous two-to-a-cabin "roommate" scheme that's sown minor amounts of chaos among the fighters aboard.
This cabin, however, is just ever-so-slightly larger than the others, and furnished for a single occupant. That would be because it's in the section of the residential deck set aside for the use of "officers", the command crew of the Suiryuu. A fairly short list, but one that includes Sakura Kasagano...
...and Riko Koganei.
A note was slipped under Sakura's door, not so very long ago, penned in Riko's hand.
And now, Riko sits in the centre of her cabin, composed in seiza on the floor, legs folded over the traditional tatami mat. Before her is a square wooden table, again of the Japanese style, low to the ground. The rest of the compartment is similarly furnished - a futon instead of the double bunks, a pair of wall hangings covering what would otherwise be bare bulkheads. But there are, of course, several things that break the uniformity of Nippon tradition.
Like, say, the laptop in front of Riko, sitting on the wooden table, and the open blueprints and diagrams covering the rest of the table surface. Then there's Riko herself, a pair of stereo headphones over her ears, nestled amidst her faintly damp hair, smelling strongly of a floral shampoo - the cord snaking down past her moisture-spotted t-shirt.
She looks up at the door, now, her eyes half-lidded, her movement slow, speaking of tiredness and fatigue - but for all that, it doesn't dull the intensity of her gaze.
"Kasagano-san," she murmurs.
Kasugano missed out on most of the opening schpiel the competitors were treated to. Sure... she was aware of the general gist of the ship, but by and large, she was brought onto the ship separately, with only a bare minimum of pomp and circumstance to elucidate her as to the grand reasons for this tournament, this... Jinchuu. Whatever that means.
Really, though... this is both a job and a favor to her. She considers Seishirou a 'friend' in at least one sense -- she'd rather have him at her side than at her back, after all. She doesn't really care what the grand purpose of the Suiryuu is... so long as it doesn't hurt people, or cause death and destruction or anything like that. She considers herself a fair judge of character, and Seishirou and Riko just don't seem the type -- despite their tight-lipped, secretive ways.
And... she's been hired as chief of security. She's been doing nothing but patrol the ship for all of her waking hours -- for lack of anything =better= to do. And while she'd let a lot of people on =last= week... she hasn't seen reason to keep many people on =this= week. Especially after the ship gained a few thousand pounds in dry weight.
She can only assume that is the reason she's been summoned here. Kasugano muses that it feels... stupid, really, to be chewed out by someone at least four years her junior... but she's resigned to it. It's clear in her expression: a subdued smile, a calm grace that embodies a =lot= of what the Ansatsuken prodigy has experienced this year.
After she catches sight of Riko... that calm expression lasts about five seconds, before dissolving into a look of confusion. As long as she's known Riko, she's never seen her... =tired= like this. Bouncing off the walls, yes. Quiet, even... yes. But not =exhausted=.
Kasugano bows, at first, then drops to her knees in front of the table, hands folded in her lap. She didn't shut the door -- she was too surprised by this new side of Riko. "Ri... Koganei-san." An audible gulp follows. "Wh-what's wrong? You look like crap! Have you even gotten any sleep this week?"
Tact is not one of her strongest points.
"Well," Riko replies, barely lifting her head, "no."
A blunt answer - to a blunt question.
She blinks owlishly at Sakura, a poise that just serves to accentuate the darkness around her eyes. She lifts a hand to her face, thumb and forefinger lightly rubbing the bridge of her noise.
It's more than just physical fatigue. This close to the smaller girl, a chi-adept of Sakura's level...it's almost certain that the Ankatsuken prodigy can sense something amiss with the young ninja's spiritual energy. A distinct imbalance - no, an /absense/ - the natural chi of her body at an impossibly low ebb.
When Riko opens her eyes again, the look she gives Sakura is one of careful scrutiny. Aware of the other girl's abilities, she knows full well what Sakura must sense. She does not, however, offer an explanation. All she says is:
"Been busy."
Which isn't really much of one, at all.
Riko continues speaking, though, in that low and soft voice, just barely above a whisper.
"So have you."
A hand lifts, moving the laptop, spinning it round such that Sakura can see the display - instead of just the array of panda stickers plastered on the back of the screen. It shows what appears to be a rendered representation of the Suiryuu, along with the offending invader's truck.
Her voice, though, carries no recrimination. Quite the opposite, really...
"Good work," Riko says, smiling faintly, "Sakura...senpai?"
Kasugano's awe is momentarily replaced by a fleeting smile at Riko's tacit response. She at least closes her mouth once Riko just stops for a moment, blinking back at her. Likewise, she takes the moment of silence to get a more meaningful look at Riko... and a more innate sense of her utter =lack= of chi flow. She'd always been able to identify Riko by her peculiar aura signature before... an overwhelming amount of energy that causes a light tingle wherever she goes. But now... so little of that remains. It's why Kasugano was so surprised before... but only in this moment of silence does she realize why she was so adversely affected. That is, it wasn't the =appearance= that floored her, but the =sensation=.
She's surprised, to say the least. Forehead creasing slightly at the recognition of just =what= is going on with her, the chief of security nods dully. 'Busy'... is an understatement. Sakura might not be the sharpest pencil in the pack, but she's seen Riko at work on the ship... and she's heard enough of other people's theories to draw her own conclusions.
The note that Sakura's been busy, though, catches her a bit off-guard. Flinching at the change of topic, though Riko's voice was barely audible, she nonetheless nods a bit more obediently. "W-well yeah..."
She lowers her gaze for a moment, growing pale as the guilt of letting that truck 'aboard' only now washes over her. "I--" she starts... just before Riko's words of praise cut her off.
"But I--" she starts again, haltingly... letting her voice trail off. It doesn't seem like she's needing to defend herself. ... Yet, anyway.
And then it's like she basically kicks herself back into gear, a trace of that confident smile slipping back onto her face. "Oh... heh, yeah. Glad I could help, Riko." She heard her name, but eschews the title that comes with it. Senpai? Pfft... even though Riko's =younger=, Kasugano still feels she has something to learn.
Like, maybe how she's =drained= herself pouring so much into this ship. Or maybe that will come later, who knows. Just for now, it seems like Sakura should probably say something else -- and does so. "You, uh... wanted to see me?" Her eyes drift back to the representation of the ship for a moment, before glancing back up to Riko. Slight waver in her smile there, but nothing to be worried about!
Nothing to be worried about? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Riko does hold her eye contact with Sakura a moment longer than is entirely socially comfortable - only dropping her gaze after a few long beats. She moves her hand, slender fingers playing over the laptop. She hits keys, there, there, and there, rotating the graphical representation of the Suiryuu displayed on the screen.
"Yes," Riko replies, "after all, after what you've did in protecting us from the big mean...truck...surely you deserve to know more."
Her voice is, of course, hushed, lower than her usual lilting soprano. But it carries with it a trace of her usual bemusement. The little kunoichi's expression is knowing, as well, hinting that she's well aware of the older girl's less-than-veiled curiousity into the mysteries of the ship.
"After all," Riko says, "where there is one incident...there will be others."
She stifles a yawn, covering her mouth with one small hand. When she lowers her arm, she's smiling.
Kasugano's brow furrows once more. She isn't entirely sure how 'doing her job' entitles her to find out more about the ship, per se, but if Riko's offering it, then it'd be rude to refuse! The Taiyo graduate nods her head slowly, a faint smile staying present as she looks down at the ship indicated on screen. "Y-yeah. I'm... gonna try and ditch anyone I find who's part of the roster from here on out. ... Mostly kinda ticked off =Naerose= had to be involved with that, really... but I'm takin' care of that when I can."
Looking up from the screen to find Riko smiling, Kasugano finds her own smile growing. "Hey, -theeeere- she is! I was -wondering- what happened to the bright-eyed Riko I used t'know!" She shifts to the side, relaxing out of her stiff kneeling position to sit on the side of her leg. "How's the 'chapel' comin' along, anyway?" A little wink is added there -- Sakura remembers their last conversation at least, and can't help but be curious about =that=.
"Not going so well," Riko answers, almost immediately - she hasn't forgotten the last exchange either. The retort trips off her tongue without missing a beat.
"Despite what Arika and Eva might think, it's not /easy/ running an evil cult," Riko pouts, "the amount of blood required to sanctify a temple as unholy ground is just...unholy."
She shakes her head sadly, looking rather forlorn, an effect only accentuated by her current worn-out appearance. Shadows beneath her eyes, slumped shoulders, muscles slack and listless, hair mussed and hanging over her face. And in the relative darkness of the cabin, the light from the laptop screen casts a harsh pattern over her face, drawing it into stark relief.
The tip of Riko's tongue flicks out, running over her lips, moistening them.
"Maybe," Riko says, "you could help with that?"
She smiles.
Before hitting another key on the computer - causing the screen to change, highlighting several points along the little digital Suiryuu.
Sakura pales. That was a joke... and yet Riko's immediate response is a bit unsettling. No pause of recognition, no beat to indicate thought... just instant confirmation.
Sakura naturally thinks the =chapel= is a reality, and the mention of a cult... well, that's just weird.
It's =too= weird, really -- and as Sakura's face shifts from pale, to uncomfortable, to disbelieving, to finally relief in the space of two seconds, it's clear she's convinced herself this is all another of Riko's jokes.
Until she mentions 'helping' with that. Kasugano's face falls again, her lips parting slightly, voicing nothing but a silent rebuttal.
She's also easily distracted by shiny things onscreen. "... I... we... well, sure, but don't ask me to smear blood around or nothin'."
She glances over the screen at Riko, skeptically. "... paint, maybe. Or a soda machine. The fore of the ship could use some kinda refreshments for when the shop is closed..." Insert hesitant smile here?
Riko brings her finger from the keyboard to her lips.
"Ooh," she says, "good idea."
She appears to be giving this notion serious thought.
"I'm sure," she muses, "we could figure out how to put a flamethrower inside a vending machine, or at the very least an explosive device..."
Riko nods her head, sagely.
"But," she exclaims, cutting herself off, "but! I digress!"
With a flourish, she points back at the laptop screen. Her hand trembles ever so slightly as she does it, symptomatic of fatigue, but that doesn't dissuade Riko from the moment of drama. There are certain standards that need to be maintained, after all, and physical circumstances are no excuse for letting quality slide.
"Ballast tanks," she says.
An apparent non-sequitur, but she explains almost at once, pointing from the lit areas in the Suiryuu's lower hull to the place where the tractor-trailer punched into the ship...and where the truck cab remains, firmly embedded.
"Mass distribution! So the ship doesn't unbalance, since we've now got some extra tons on one side."
Riko nods again.
"Lots of safety measures, you see. Though..."
Riko frowns.
"Not enough soda. Maybe if we put soda in the tanks..."
Despite the non-sequiturs, Kasugano assumes Riko knows exactly what she's talking about -- unlike, say, her student Naerose. ... Former student, anyway, as a result of the previously-mentioned incident. The Ansatsuken prodigy can start to cull some of the wheat from the chaff of Riko's apparently nonsensical words, though: flamethrower, that was a joke... probably. Ballast tanks probably aren't the joke here... she hopes.
Would soda really be good for -ballast- though? Wouldn't it get lighter as it goes flat? The Taiyo graduate struggles to remember her physics classes here, with a glance up to the ceiling for a moment... before finally deciding that train of thought was lost as soon as it left the station.
Setting both elbows on the table, she props her chin up in her hands. "We haven't sunk by now, though, is that really still gonna be a problem?"
"No," Riko says, suddenly serious, "not a problem."
Her voice is didactic, though not patronizing. Matter-of-fact, the calm tones of someone delivering a briefing, a report, conveying information - pure facts.
"We can take on much more mass than just that truck. The Suiryuu has been modified based - among other things - on the design of military LSTs. 'Landing Ship Tanks', the breed introduced in World War Two. To transport vehicles, cargo, and land troops."
She indicates the diagram once again, flicking her finger round various areas of the internal structure.
"The truck penetrated close to the waterline, but the compartments past the breech in the hull have been sealed. Flooding will not spread to other areas."
Riko locks eyes with Sakura, her gaze level as she stares across the table.
"-This- incident," she puts stress on the qualifying word, "will not be a problem. But...Ms. Belmounte and her associates are...tenacious. And I believe your Naerose Delphine is among their number?"
Riko arches a brow.
She shakes her head.
"Clearly you didn't give your student enough soda. Seishirou-sama always stocks the dojo with soda."
Ryu's student nods her head slowly as she listens. She doesn't totally get it, but the explanation makes perfect sense. Landing Ship Tanks... that kind of makes sense. Though she's wondering what the heck that has to do with running a fighting tournament, she doesn't mention anything at all. "... Yeah, I was a bit worried, but... the ship didn't seem to mind a whole lot despite the leaning..." Of course... that's =Sakura's= personification of the ship. Her own chi senses were a bit off the charts at the time due to her =own= fatigue -- a situation which has, at least for today, been rectified.
Sakura's eyes widen for a moment at what seesm to be an accusation, but then they narrow again, locking with Riko afterwards.
"I think Naerose drinks enough soda, don't you?"
Nodding knowingly, she sits up a bit straighter. Not much, but her elbows are off the table at least. "... w-wait. Belmounte." Kasugano scratches her head for a moment. "... isn't that..."
She struggles with the name for a moment, glancing down at her fingers and counting off for one reason. The link between counting and memory isn't clear, but you really shouldn't rush genius!
Finally, she pounds a fist into her hand, looking determinedly at Riko. Defiant, even! "That guy from Castlevania's wife! She's the--"
Her voice trails off, and her serious look falters. "... wait, back up a moment. Who's this Belmounte person and what's she got to do with a giant truck in the mi-- " Pause. "Wait, you mean =Elle?!= How do you know all this? All I saw was that weird Katana guy, and heard about Yamazaki and Birdie pulling somethin' at the same time..."
Apparently, there are some gaps in Ms. Kasugano's knowledge.
"Elle Belmounte," Riko murmurs. She leans forward a little, propping her elbows on the low tabletop. She joins her hands, intertwining her fingers, and resting her chin on the cradle thus formed. If she's amused by Sakura's confusion, she gives no sign. Her mein is still serious, the only overt humour present a kind of dry sardonic cast - if there is any humour at all.
"Known leader of the underground organization referred to as 'Blackjack', consisting primarily of fighter-grade 'operatives' either directly answering to her, or in alliance through reasons unknown. If the term 'operatives' can indeed be applied to some of the misfits in her 'employ'. If employ is the correct term. Known to have contacts with the large-scale 'shadow factions' of the world, including Shadaloo and in high probability the NESTS Cartel, along with lower-level networks in...possibly arms, but almost certainly narcotics. Directly involved in manufacture and distribution of the performance-enhancing 'Glow'."
She says all that without pausing for breath, the words spilling from her mouth in a cool near-inflectionless tone.
Riko blinks, once.
"Known associate of Naerose Delphine," she continues, "confirmed by sightings during Shadaloo occupation of Ratcha Anachak Thai - the Kingdom of Thailand."
Riko stops, then, observing Sakura carefully, as if expecting a reaction from Sakura, concerning that last statement. And the events referenced therein.
By the time Riko gets to the mention of 'Thailand', the shock from having heard the word 'Shadaloo' has mostly set in. Sakura has a =very= vague recollection of Blackjack, and more specifically, Elle from the Shadaloo database... but much of the intelligence obtained from her time as a Doll has been purged, both willingly and by the passage of time. As is made evident from her complete flake-out on Elle's last name.
"Y-yeah, I got it..." she starts... only to get caught up on the mention of 'Glow'. Still struggling to shove a minor recollection of her Shadaloo time out of her mind, this one broadsides her -- forcing her eyes to screw shut, her hands flattening against the table for a moment. Too... much... information at once.
While Riko doesn't pause for breath, Sakura finds it necessary.
Kasugano looks up, a bit more slowly, after Riko is finished. Kasugano nods slowly to confirm that, yes... she was aware of that incident.
Kinda.
A bit more level-headed, she asks quietly, "Cody... Travers... seems to be a... um... recipient of this 'Glow' drug. He was on the ship a while back, but his brother Kyle, er... escorted him off."
Riko probably knew that, but Sakura had to prove she was indeed paying attention to =something= in her time here.
"Is there anything you know that might help me keep them in check? I'd, y'know, throw them off if they weren't in the tournament, but..." She shrugs faintly. "Can't keep 'em in the brig..." She's been outranked, there.
"Your resourcefulness," Riko says, "and adaptability, were...among the reasons...Seishirou-sama agreed to you as Security Chief."
Riko tilts her head, her hair fanning to one side, stray strands spilling over the band and cupped earpieces of her oversized headphones. Her bangs, the fringe of hair round the front, also partially hide her eyes as she does this. She shrugs her shoulders, adding to the motion. Her hands part, and she turns them upwards, towards the ceiling.
Pause.
"Well that," Riko amends, "and he might think you're cute. Though I suspect if Seishirou-sama really has a crush on anyone, it's that Megumi Andou girl."
Pause.
Riko shudders.
She carries on a heartbeat later, her impassive mask back in place - as if that little interjection had never occured.
"I -can- tell you," she says, "that there are...contingencies in place."
Kasugano listens intently to Riko, narrowing her eyes in deep concentration to try and pick up Riko's words. Is she speaking softly again, or is that all in Sakura's head? It seems like she's straining to figure that out for herself.
... At least until she hears Riko suggest that the tomboy might actually be 'cute'. ... This is Seishirou we're talking about here. Having Riko say something like that is about as close to 'proof' as anything -- a thought which brings a bright pink hue to Sakura's cheeks.
Until Megumi's name is mentioned, anyway. Was that the sound of a mirror being shattered in the background, or was =that= Sakura's imagination too?
But as Sakura folds her hands back into her lap, she nods slowly. Listening, replaying that little exchange back in her mind as she tries to figure out where they were before that little tangent. ... nnnnope, there wasn't an answer to her question in that.
Frowning for a moment, she glances aside for a moment.
And, given a moment of thought, she turns back with a smirk. "What happened to the part where you'd agreed I deserved to know more?"
"I don't know," Riko answers, casually, "I think it took a left turn at Albuquerque."
She reaches past the laptop, on the desk, lifting one of the documents scattered upon the low wooden tabletop. Her fingers close round a slim plastic folder. This she lifts, and offers to Sakura, stretching her arm across the table.
"You've got a crew roster," Riko continues, "basic information on all personnel on ship. Bridge staff, deckhands, cooks, cleaners, medics, engine room teams, etcetra."
Riko shifts her head back, bringing her eyes once more on the same plane as Sakura's. Giving a small toss of the head to shake hair from her eyes.
"Most of that is false."
Riko smiles thinly.
"Aside from the men operating the guns and weaponry. They really know how to do that. But the fact is...most of the crew on board are so trained. And trained in other things."
She nods to the file.
"That isn't everything, of course - but it's more."
Kasugano readily accepts the folder, opening it as soon as she explains just what is inside the folder. She had to wait for some explanation to assure her it wouldn't, y'know, explode.
The thought that it might do that anyway doesn't really enter her mind.
Flipping through a few of the papers, Sakura nods slowly. "I... kind of figured they would be... y'know, =trained= somehow, yeah." She laughs lightly, adding, "They had to help me haul Katana off the ship, after all." Not that that takes training, intelligence, or any skill beyond reaching the age of twenty without serious developmental defects. But Sakura really just meant to say that the guys were decently strong.
Kasugano flips through the rest of the file, hoping that maybe there might be something -more- useful in this sheaf of papers that wasn't in the last. "Mmm... yeah..." she concludes, letting the folder shut. She sets that aside for a moment, glancing back at the diagram of the ship. "... You probably already know this, but everyone's got their own ideas. Arika and Eva have their 'cult' theory of course, Blanka and Dan just want a cool ride, Naerose says you're evil and leadin' me along, and of course Elle and Katana and whoever else you think's involved just want to rob the ship blind, from what I can gather. Lots of stuff, I'll probably need this." She pauses here, tapping the folder, but raises an eyebrow, as if to say she's questioning the usefulness of the new information. "There's a whole =buncha= stuff that doesn't make any sense, like why you need a giant chi battery floatin' through here for anythin' but your own kicks. Or why you, and I can only guess Sei, are wearin' yourself =ragged= pouring your own juice into this. You're a =target= here, floatin' in the water, and you hire =me?=" Her eyebrow raises again. "Because I'm =cute?="
Kasugano chuckles, leaning back for a moment with a smile. She's not confrontational about it -- she is =genuinely= curious. And she's hoping a little casual humor might get Riko back into that playful, talkative mood she'd seen earlier. "I sure don't mind the pay, but y'gotta admit, it just starts sounding a little shakier each day!"
"It is," Riko acknowledges, with a nod of the head, "which probably isn't good customer service. Uncertainty in the market isn't good for business."
The corporate analogy trips off her tongue with nary a smile. It's hard to tell if she's joking, or speaking in deadly seriousness. Of course, with Riko, it's always hard to tell.
She shuts the laptop, then, pushing the screen down, sealing the clamshell. She moves it aside, then places her palms flat on the tabletop. Or more specifically, upon one of the larger pieces of paper occupying the surface. The computer was sitting above it - now, it's fairly clear that it's a scroll, unrolled. It's another representation of the Suiryuu, the familiar view of the ship and decks from above and the side... but this one annotated with extensive spiralling script, inked copies of the mystic seals that surround the vessel's interior and hull.
"It's always," Riko adds, "up to the government to give reassurance, in the end."
She rolls up the scroll, finally lifting it in her hands and binding it tight with a red cord.
"True," she says, in a more normal tone of voice - at least for her - once again excessively cheerful, "it's all mysterious and unclear and Twilight Zone and stuff what we're doing, and this ship is totally a floating spooky mass of chi..."
Riko's fingers work, slowly, tying a knot in the string.
"...but really, we're serious about not wanting any accidents on board. Don't want any premature disasters!"
She extends the scroll to Sakura.
"Partial diagram," Riko explains, "some notes. Not /everything/, of course. But you'll see that a good number of those seals and the surrounding chi are...in fact...to shield the Suiryuu's internal compartments in the event of any...mishap. It's a safety feature! And I'm so totally telling you the truth here, so don't think I'm lying or anything."
She manages, somehow, to say this with a straight face.
"I mean, we don't want anyone to die or get hurt or anything unless it's in a fight or it's someone we really don't like."
As with a lot of Riko's words, Kasugano's left without any kind of mooring to anchor the words to. Government? Reassurance? What? At least when she reels the topic back in, Sakura can follow along and nod. "Riiight... no accidents... I'm... sure that's why you left bazooka rockets on the roof..." Hesitant, just a smidge of playful sarcasm, she keeps an attentive eye on Riko as the scroll is rolled up.
... Well, this is a plus. In what's sure to be an analogy for =much= of Sakura's time here, the answer lies just below the surface. The scroll. Something that isn't on a screen, or buried in lines and lines of impenetrable text... something she can take back to her room and study. AWESOME.
Realistically, she should be trying to contain herself here. It won't reveal that much, rationally, if Riko is handing it over so calmly.
But Sakura's never been one to listen to that voice in her head. Eyes glimmering with excitement, she gratefully accepts the scroll, hugging it to herself with the broadest grin imaginable. "Th-thanks!" She nods slowly, as Riko explains the features of the diagram. "O... cool! Thanks, I... I really appreciate it! I'll get to work on this right a--"
Kasugano pauses, tilting her head to the side. "Wanna make a list of the people you wouldn't mind seein' in an accident or two?"
Kasugano grins broadly, rising to her feet. Riko's not the only one who can say things with multiple meanings!
Riko waves a hand vaguely.
"Oh," she says, breezily, "one or two, but your discretion, ne? After all, we trust you, don't we?"
She raises her head. She does not follow Sakura as she gets to her feet - but she tracks the other girl with her eyes. Riko waves at the open cabin door.
"Really, what I've just told you...if you wish to share with folks you trust, like maybe that cute green guy or Arika or Eva, that's cool. Might comfort 'em about the cult thing!"
Riko's voice rings deliberately false at that, a note of rampant sarcasm singing through the last sentence. She smiles ever-wider, though, a bright and sparkling thing compared to her weak and fatigued expressions, earlier.
"It's just, y'know, don't tell anyone you -can't- trust," Riko continues, apparently oblivious to the fact she herself isn't exactly the most reliable of individuals. Or not.
"Like Elle and stuff, y'know. Don't want any disruption of our nefarious plans, though it's not like we're up to anything /overly/ evil, like, I dunno, using all the chi stored here to unleash a massive cannon blast on a heavily populated capital city, then holding Japan for ransom until our demands are met...or draining all the spiritual energy of all the fighters aboard so Seishirou-sama can gain endless power and godhood...or detonating it in a horrifically apocalyptic blast killing everyone on board and plunging the remains of the ship to the depths of the ocean, where the wreckage will rest for all time as a dark monument to..."
Riko trails off.
"...stuff. Yeah."
She nods.
"You know."
Kasugano smirks a bit more broadly. Oh, she knows =that's= a joke. ... Right?
"... Eh... I might." She smiles sweetly. "They're on a need-to-know basis!" Sure, she picks up on the sarcasm there, but really... it's gonna take a lot of coddling to really get Arika to drop the cult topic.
Unless, of course, she got an answer to the beginning of that riddle. She holds up a finger... but Riko continues speaking. The more scenarios Riko tosses out there, the less comfortable Sakura feels. ... Sure, she's =starting= to get used to Riko's theorizing, but she still can't =totally= ascertain the truth in her words. ... Or even =mostly=, really. The most she can get is just a slight confirmation on what she originally thought.
That is, she grows a bit silent as the thought of detonating the ship and sinking it to the depths of the ocean gets named off as a possibility.
Insert five seconds silence.
"... yeah." The corner of Sakura's lip quirks up in a half-smirk. "... Kinda."
Tucking the folder and scroll under one arm, she waves, and even takes a step out... before turning back all of a sudden. "... oh, right! Uh... come to think of it, y'know something that'd comfort Arika?" Sakura gives Riko a skeptical look. "Giving her an answer about why you an' Sei saw fit to kidnap her, right before all this Thailand stuff lit off. Was it related at all?"
Riko remains seated at the table.
"Why, Sakura-sempai," Riko retorts, arching an eyebrow, "haven't you realized..."
"...if we had more time and manpower," Riko grins, "we'd have kidnapped /everyone/."
She waves, jauntily.
"Ja!"
Kasugano smirks once more. Another inscrutable answer in the fine Ryouhara tradition. She'd basically told Arika as much anyway, really.
"Night, Riko!" That smirk doesn't last long, replaced by a smile. Regardless of the lack of answers to questions she's =asked=, she's gotten answers to most of the questions she'd =wanted= to ask. With that in mind, she gives a little wave, and jaunts on out. "Thanks for the info!"
"Welcome," Riko replies, simply, as the door swishes shut behind Sakura. Seemingly of its own accord.
Log created on 19:22:26 09/19/2007 by Riko, and last modified on 00:23:09 09/20/2007.