Description: He had promised her power through control, but all she's looking for now is peace of mind through control. Following up on an offer from the mysterious Oswald to learn more of what he could teach her, Hotaru pays him a visit to accept the invitation in hopes of moving beyond the doubts that plague her presently.
It was a day earlier. "Miss Futaba. Oswald is pleased you have called, but he is currently on an aircraft carrier in the mid-pacfic." The man's voice on the other end was not his, but seemed knowledgable enough about 'this situation', "I will send an associate to your home, he will give you a key. Please keep it with you at all times - and do not let it fall into the hands of inappropriate people."
The Key was indeed delivered, along with a hand written note - from Oswald himself - on just how to use it. A certain building, a private elevator, the key unlocks the panel to access the top five floors of the building entitled Tenhauser Gates - with a jotted in last-minute scribble requesting visit on next day be strictly after 6pm. The outside of the building is much like any work of modern architecture; tall beyond thirty stories, surfaced by sectioned glass... nearly a work of art to look at. Within is much the same with the lobby sporting works of sculptured art and the floors are stone-and-marble, polished to a near mirror shine.
The home however is currently somewhat dark. The entry area post the elevator doors is sombre, nothing close to pitch black but the lighting is dark, and in fact, almost like a beacon itself, at the end of the short hall is a brighter location and there's even the trailing notes of ... some sort of stringed instrument being played. Violin, Viola? Maybe even a Cello.
It does end though just a few seconds after you arrive, as the sound of a sliding door (much like the sound of a patio door coming to a close) seems to tail in after the notes. "You can come in, Hotaru." A familiar voice now, Oswald's though not as tense or strained as when he fights, inviting you to enter...
She almost killed her student. Almost unleashed upon poor Kentou the devil's technique, Maou Satsujinken, in the moment that she had mastered it in all of its vile glory. She didn't, fortunately, managing to snap out of it right before it would have skewered him, pulling him out of the path of the savage energy just in time. In that instant Kataki's influence over the poor girl's manipulated mind snapped. All of the person she was before flooded back in, horrified at what she had done, leaving her grief stricken beyond expression.
It was Kentou's support that pulled her back from the brink long enough for her to pull herself the rest of the way back into making coherent decisions again. She had tried to tell the boy to leave her, that she could never train him again, could never /fight/ again. Not when she didn't know what she might do, didn't know if she might use /it/ again. But her stubborn apprentice refused to leave her, insisting he would stay by her side. Realizing that she couldn't give up everything, she began to consider her options. She knew she needed help. And while so many of her friends would likely step in to help her at a moment's notice, something told her she needed to seek someone with a bit more... experienced perspective.
She made the call. Was told she would be contacted again. The key and note arrived the day after and Hotaru had kept it with her the entire day, not sure what to make of the strange, cryptic nature of the invitation. But she wasn't going to let a little uncertainty keep her from finding out if he can really help her as he had offered during their match.
Walking down the hall, blue eyes taking in her surroundings quietly. She is dressed in her traditional Chinese styled fighting outfit. A blue vest with gold trim is closed tightly over her torso, worn over a white blouse with accompanying white pants. Over that she wears a long, blue Chinese styled jacket. It isn't particularly cool outside, but... she wanted to keep her right arm covered. It isn't a pretty sight.
As she draws near Oswald's voice invites her to step inside and she does just that, both hands clutching a black fedora, holding it up over her chest as she peeks inside. He'll easily recognize it as his own. He asked her to bring it with her when they last parted...
Oswald is somewhat unchanged since the last time they had met. His snow white hair neatly slicked back without looking oily, his dress immaculate and stylish: A neat red polo-shirt with a decorative marking on the breast pocket, tucked in to black pants. No crimson specs, instead replaced with clear-lens steel-framed glasses that seem to have a silvery look to them. His stern look is gone - no, he is rather concerned.
But he smiles at the sight of the nervous Hotaru, holding the hat. She had remembered.
In his own hands, he held a violin - the instrument you heard a moment ago, turning around to place it in its case and snap it shut, setting it aside. It does not take long before he turns back and gives a deep and approving nod, silently motioning toward a combined coat-and-hat hanger rack, where she could place the estranged fedora.
"Futaba-san." He finally breaks the silence by addressing her, "I have forced myself not to look further into your situation since we last parted. As I didn't want to pry into what you were doing without invitation. I am pleased so see you here tonight, and I bid you be seated. You are welcome here if you genuinely seek my help. Please, breathe easy if you can. I am certain you have many questions, as I do as well."
Oswald takes a few steps forward, going around the couch to draw closer, "May I take your jacket, Miss?"
Blue eyes fix on Oswald as he comes into view with his violin in hand. So the cultured foreigner was actually playing the instrument. Just another interesting facet of the mysterious gentleman. She looks skittish. She isn't here because of pleasant matters, of course. An unpleasant topic weighs on her mind and in recollection of all the things she's done, her confidence in herself shaken to the core. She was manipulated, used, driven to do horrible things... things she remembers very much enjoying as she did them.
He directs her attention to the hanger and the girl turns to the side to lift the hat up to a mid-level hook before turning back toward Oswald. She bows slightly at the mention of her name, not taking her eyes off of him though. "Matters have changed since last time," she remarks. "I said horrible things back then. Words I wish I could take away. I'm sorry, Mister Oswald, for any offenses I might have committed then," she states, bowing her head a little further as he draws near.
He invites her to relax but she seems tense nonetheless, especially as he mentions her jacket. "I'm okay," she remarks, looking a little nervous at the offer, folding her arms over her chest as if to stave off a chill that doesn't exist. "Just feel a little cold," she insists rather unconvincingly. Deception is definitely not a forte for the girl.
A barrier of comfort for a time of uncertainty? Oswald could relate to that. "So long as those words were not spoken from your heart, Futaba-san, you have nothing to apologize for. Rather, I believe there is a certain someone out there that owes both you and I an apology on your behest." The tall Irishman steps back and makes a sweeping motion with his hand, offering any of the livingroom's many seats to Hotaru in the process.
"I am relieved to see that bright shine in your eyes that I knew from that fight long ago." He takes a few steps toward one of the single-seat, larger chairs that mainly faces the rest of the livingroom, but not yet seating himself, "Even if... you seem frightened and uncertain, the fact that shine is there means you've submerged that dark stain that was so prominent before. You've come to that realization. That alone is a big first step."
She relaxes a little when he makes no further attempt to have her remove her jacket and the girl lowers her arms, wincing a little as the fabric rubs over the marred flesh of her right arm. She doesn't want him to see that though. Stepping around one of the seats, she settles in directly opposite the chair Oswald draws near, hands resting on her lap as she nods slightly. His observations bring a faint blush to her cheeks, and she reacts by bowing her head respectfully.
"Probably more than just one," she murmurs quietly. "Marise... Kataki..." She frowns slightly, glancing to the side. "Though the former is now deceased according to what I have heard. Her apologies will have to wait until another time..." She glances up, looking back toward Oswald, "I broke free of what Kataki did to me. He... I'm not sure how to describe it exactly, but I can feel the difference now that is gone. He repressed a part of me somehow, kept me from being able to make decisions the way I normally would. I... wish I could say that everything that happened came out of no where but..."
She exhales softly, bowing her head again, her left hand idly rubbing her right wrist through her jacket, "I think some of what I did came from doubts... fears I always had. I don't know..." She glances back up, her focus on Oswald once more, "You said you could teach me a different path than the one I was one. I... I need help. I don't know that I can overcome how I was changed on my own..."
"Marise... Kataki." He repeats the names slowly, brow furrowing just a tad as the names are finally confirmed. He had heard one, briefly, the latter was stranger. He had not heard that 'Kataki' before. Despite the desire to learn as much as he could about the corruptors, there were more pressing issues at hand.
"There are many things which make up the core... components of what is the human spirit. Doubt, insecurities, desires less benign and more malignant are some of the many elements of the darker side of what makes us... 'us'." Oswald takes a seat only after Hotaru settles in, leaning back into the cushion and drawing one leg to cross over the other.
"Would you like some tea?" He derails the point he was making wholly on his own behalf as he offers a drink, before suddenly returning to the conversaion as the steps of someone else, probably a house-tender quietly pads a good distance behind you, "This Kataki... probably submerged the part of you that had self control and instead somehow instilled this darker force into dominance. It would not be the first time I've heard or seen this, a common way of playing with someone's nature is hypnosis, for example. But this... what you went through was far more complex than simple hypnosis. I still do not understand it all, myself." That was an understatement, to say the least.
"I will do what I can to help you, Futaba-san. I pledged such and so long as you want to me to help you that pledge will not change. I cannot make you invincible... but I am certain that what I will teach you will be a good bulkhead against such dirty schemes in your future days."
She falls quiet, listening to Oswald's observations. Insecurities, doubts... She always had a hard time facing the fact that she had those just like any other normal person. Not that she thought herself on a pedestal, it was just always too hard to come to terms with her own issues. She tried to be above them, and part of being above them was trying to forget they existed... With no parents to turn to, she has had to do a lot of growing up on her own.
"Yes please," she accepts the offer of tea with a smile, unclasping her right wrist to rest her hands in her lap for a moment, trying to take her mind of the burning ache beneath her skin. Oswald speaks about what Kataki did and Hotaru nods her head slightly. That seems right. That's describing what she felt had happened better than she could, really. "I see," comes the quiet admission as she stops to quietly think about what all was done to her. Why her? Did she just come across that susceptible? Or did he just pick her at random out of Frei's friends?
He extends his offer to help and Hotaru smiles, reassured by his calm confidence. "I do need the help. I... You talked about control when we last had our match. I need that. The control to keep myself from ever doing something like that again... I want to keep fighting, but right now I don't trust myself. I... when I..." She grows pale, looking to the side. "Two days ago, I almost used 'it' against my apprentice. I... I think I would have killed him if it had hit. And now... I'm scared. I didn't want to use it then, it just happened. I'm afraid if it happening again. I know that what Kataki did to me is gone now, but I don't know for sure if I have the control to resist the urge to use it again."
Oswald darkens a bit as Hotaru mentions the temptation to use that cursed Maou Satsujinken. Oswald himself had avoided being on the receiving end of that deadly spire of pure malevolence, but he had oft seen just how much pain it could bring unto others. The fact she almost killed her own apprentice, though...
"Unacceptable." he states sharply, suddenly, body staying ominiously still as even the maid-herself stops in her tracks as she was just about to set a cup and saucer of tea before Hotaru, sided with two dinner-thins at the side. Thusly, Oswald continues after his own pregnant pause after the single, powerful word. "But the fact you were wise enough to have held back means you have more control than you originally thought. You are swimming in a current filled ocean, Futaba-san. You sometimes feel like you are drowning, but I believe you are closer to the surface than you think you are."
The maid sets the cup down, and turns toward Oswald, whom simply waves a hand to ask for none. "Please, take your cup." He speaks as he draws himself out of the sofa-chair, standing to his full height, "I wish to show you something."
She senses Oswald's disapproval of her situation, but doesn't recoil. She knows it's wrong. Everything about it is horrifying to her now that she looks upon it with renewed eyes, a conscious slowly regaining its strength as she begins to exercise it anew. She remains silent after his utterance of the unacceptable nature of her using the Satsujinken. He's right, in every sense of the word, she has nothing to say.
As he continues, however, she listens, leaving the tea and thins alone for a moment, her attention fixed solely on the white haired veteran fighter. He describes her situation and Hotaru nods slowly, a sad, tired smile working its way to her lips. She isn't sure if she's so close to the surface as he suggests. But she hopes so. Oh how she hopes so.
He asks her to take the cup and stand with him, however, and Hotaru does just that, craddling the tea cup in her hands and rising to her much shorter height in front of him, blue eyes looking up at him with burning curiosity. A slight bow of her head indicates that she's ready to follow where he may lead.
Oswald gives a curt nod as he moves past the livingroom, and down one of the shorter halls to a silver-surfaced elevator nook, the doors automatically opening as Hotaru and he draw near. There is thankfully no elevator music here, as he simply presses a single button, letting the elevator drop to the floor below...
The doors quietly slide open and Oswald gives, once again, another nod to Hotaru to offer her the first step.
"There is no power without control. In the absence of control, there is only bewilderment." Oswald states from behind her shortly after the nod, the same words imprinted upon one of the banners upon the corner columns. "This will be the place where you learn to reign in your insecurities and turn them into strength. If you let me, I will teach you. And I am certain you will have things to teach me, as well."
Cafeful to keep any of her hot tea from jostling out of her cup, Hotaru follows along with controlled steps, eagerly curious to see what he has to show her in this rather impressive penthouse abode of his. He always struck her as someone with extreme class, but she wasn't certain he was a man of such substantial means until now. The elevator is entered and moments later the doors open to greet the two to a new site.
Blue eyes sweep over the impressive training facility, her mouth opening with some surprise before closing again. She's no stranger to dojos, and indeed a very traditional one exists on her property. But the idea of a dojo way up here high atop this towering building is a new sight for the young fighter.
Stepping out of the elevator as Oswald speaks, Hotaru turns around from one side to the other, taking it all in with wide eyed surprise. She skims some of the banners, taking in their words of wisdom, smiling quietly to herself. It was so much like her mother to quote things like this. Her father was too pragmatic to spend time preaching when he could be showing his children how to hit. Her mother, though, would often give Hotaru prudent axioms during her long chats with her daughter. Words the girl remembers to this day.
"Nn," she states, nodding her head with understanding. He mentions she may have some things to show him as well and the girl looks a little bit sheepish, uncertain how she could possibly open Oswald's eyes to anything he wasn't already perfectly knowledgeable about himself. "I would be honored, Oswald-sensei," the girl speaks back, tacking on the title that seems so very fitting for the older gentleman now.
There's a quiet, but quite audible chuckle that comes out of him when 'sensei' is added to his name. There was a ... particular ring to it, he had to admit to himself, it felt strangely good. "Now, I will admit that what I will teach will be considered..." He pauses as he steps further forward, slipping his shoes off and nearing the center of the room now, turning around, "...acutely unorthodox by many masters of more traditional styles, and untraditional as well. You, yourself experienced some of my stranger skills in our two matches, for example."
He motions toward the support pillars, where the hanging scrolls are kept. "I have a high respect for the style of Martial arts you use, and others do as well - and maybe one day I will learn a bit of those arts as well - but you will learning something that you must fuse with what you already know. But I know that you will adapt well. In fact... I'd bet on it."
The veteran fighter begins to move into the room, shedding his shoes near the elevator. Hotaru does likewise, though stays further back, stepping forward only slightly after slipping off her own shoes. He compares his style to her more traditional methods of combat and Hotaru smiles just a little, remembering a conversation she had with Takuma Sakazaki about that very thing when she enrolled in the Kyokugen Dojo last year. Concerned that their more simple, hard hitting style wouldn't fit with her faster, more acrobatic style, he had expressed that learning from them might not be a good idea...
"Right," the girl states with a firm nod, her voice confident. "A style of fighting is more than just the mechanics of hitting and kicking it might provide. There are also the philosophies, disciplines, and self improvement each different style offers. For the last year I practiced under the very simple, but hard hitting Kyokugen karate instructors... While my Kenpo is not like their karate, I was still able to take from it principles of strength, combining muscle coordination to strike harder, as well as enduring more painful strikes while being able to keep on fighting..."
She smiles softly, bowing her head slightly, "While I am not sure I would be able to learn your methods of fighting, exactly, I believe that you will be able to teach me principles that I can work into my own techniques." She takes a couple steps forward, glancing over the banners on the walls, taking in the various messages contained thereon. "I... I'm not looking for power anymore... not like I was. But I still want control. Over myself. I don't want to be manipulated like I was ever again..."
"That, Futaba-san, is precicely what I was talking about." Oswald gives a wry smile and deep nod, bringing his arms up and crossing them before him, "There is no need for you to learn a new art altogether, you simply need to be shown a path to reign your self in. The heart is a fleeting thing, despite even the most stalwart of people, no matter how large and vast a fortress they build to protect themselves, the heart is usually the most vulnerable part of any single person. If one releases the reigns to one's heart and emotions and another picks them up - they have control. From head to toe, inside and out."
He turns to one side and starts to move toward one of the far edges, where the windows are panelled out to look upon the city's form, as the lights start to glow as the sky slowly turns dark, "Don't be shy, Futaba-san, this is as much your dojo now as it is mine. Take a look here... for example...
White sock clad feet pad across the floor as Hotaru approaches Oswald's side, drawing near to the large window out over the evening draped skyline. Hands clasped behind her back, Hotaru stares through the clear surface, eyes wide with some surprise at the sight. She's never seen the city from a view like this before...
His words echo in her mind, and the girl quietly brings her hands up from behind her back, resting them both over her heart. A vulnerable part indeed. But how can she defend herself against attacks like that? "It's pretty," she remarks quietly, regarding the cityscape. "How did you learn your style...?" comes the question to her mind next. "My father taught me mine. Well, most of it. I've been adapting what I know over the years, since he never finished my training..."
"Mine? It started with me, and ends in much the same way." He nods to himself, bringing a hand up to run his fingers through his hair as he turns a bit to lean in to the reinforced window, "That in itself is a strength and great weakness, for I don't have generations upon generations of technique behind it, fine tuning, repetition and such things - but on the other hand no one ever knows what to expect when fighting me, for there is no other fighter on this earth that knows my art of Karnoffel fighting."
His head turns a bit, looking down toward Hotaru now, staying focused on her, "I'll be blunt in saying that my art is not what taught me my style of self-control. I did it through personal philosophy, self adjustement, and guile. It's taken years of trial and error for my particular ... dogma... of self control to come into realization, and even now and then I find subtle errors in it, that I have to adjust to compensate. What makes it easy though, is that I use logic behind it all. When you look far enough into it - even chaos has a logic to it."
There's a certain sadness to the thought of such a profoundly unique art ending with its originator, Hotaru muses. Styles have always been a study of hers. Always interested in how others fight. What do they do, what advantages do their techniques provide, and what weaknesses? Not quite as sturdy as many fighters, it's always been critical to her success for her to figure out how to stay one step ahead of her opponents. Failure to do so tends to result in disaster. A student of styles, the thought that Oswald's unique one ends with him brings a quiet frown to Hotaru's features.
He goes on to speak of philosophies, however. Adjustments, tuning, slight corrections over the years, and Hotaru looks up to listen to him as he speaks. "Logic," she echos back, sounding a little surprised at the concept. He does seem quite logical, but she wasn't sure if that was just a side effect of his precise control or a deeply ingrained personality trait... "Well, I'm open to approaching problems from a variety of angles..." Hotaru remarks. Though part of her begins to really wonder what kind of things Oswald would teach her.
"Oswald-sensei..." the girl speaks up again, her voice soft, thoughtful. "What do you fight for?"
There's that's chuckle again, lips curling into a smile as his gaze breaks from Hotaru and instead lets his head turn toward the glass, then lean back against one of the frames, "What... I fight for?" his eyes narrow and brow furrows as he takes a suddenly pensive glare at his own reflection in the polished, blue-green glass, "First, I fought for my country's freedom. Then... I turned and fought for my own ends... now... well...?"
His intoning takes a spike a bit as he almost asks himself, cupping his chin with one hand, thumb rubbing along his jaw. "There is no one word that can quantify why I fight. My scruples are deemed questionable by many, but off the top of my head there are a few words that come to mind..."
The hand leaves his chin, as he draws a thumb to the glass, nubbing away at a mark or so.
"Thrill."
t"Betterment."
"Humility."
"Enlightenment."
"...respect."
"Selfish reasons, I admit. I've moved my assets and life to Japan because I love to fight. Fighting, when done right, can bring the best out of people. It sets hearts afire, revitalizes spirits and is a way someone can truly look deepest into themselves to see just what mettle they are made of. It's not to say that all fights and fighters are equal, some do it for darker lights, but... I suppose I'm just and old man seeking to feel that spark of youth once more."
An inquisitive girl, it seems, Hotaru doesn't appear to mind asking such deeply personal questions of the man who has offered to help her with her current problems with the prospects of training from a man gifted with a unique style and, perhaps, a very unusual perspective on everything about fighting. She listens to his answers quietly.
The thrill of the fight. Self improvement. Lessons in learning that there are others better than you. Being introduced to other views, other skills, other perspectives through interacting. And obtaining respect and acknowledgement... something Hotaru /very/ much understands. He rubs a few marks out on the glass, but while Hotaru stands near to the window, she doesn't touch it, lest she mar its surface.
"Those are good reasons," she murmurs quietly, making a conscious effort to remember them all so that she can think over them further later on. "I had thought of some of those before, but you've given me some new ones to ponder..." She smiles faintly, clasping her hands behind her back, "I guess it just goes to show you really do have a lot to teach me even if your unique style isn't for me exactly."
A soft sigh, blue eyes fixed on the window, staring out over the dimming horizon. "I really miss when I used to fight for fun. These last few months it... it was for something else. I was always angry, no matter how the fight went. Winning left me feeling empty, losing - infuriated. It wasn't like that before..."
"...it feels like you fall to your knees to reach out to something that was just in reach, but like a carrot on a stick, it always stays just beyond what you can grasp. The sensation is a wrenching frustration, like a sliver of pure hatred shoved under a fingernail, punishing you for something impossible yet teasing you enough to try again... and again... and again. You end up fighting harder for nothing, thinking if you go further, you can finally get that moment of sheer satisfaction, but instead you simply dive headlong into a shallow lake, with those jagged rocks digging deep into you as punishment." There's a sour look on his face as you see the flesh under his fingernail grow pale from the pressure he's applying now, apparantly drawing words from his own personal experience, "That's a very steep downward spiral, Futaba-san, one that's difficult to crawl out of. I've seen many of my friends, from back in my prime, fall to such empty promises; and I almost did the same."
Oswald turns fully now, away from the glass, back against it, leaning into the pane in full, "Thankfully I didn't have the chance to dive, the ... window of opportunity for my own fateful chase closed before I was allowed to begin it. I cringe at the thought of what I would be today if I ...." And his eyes narrow to slits, looking down and away in almost shame.
"No one should be put through something so unrequited. I wouldn't wish such a misfortune to even my worst enemy."
As Oswald speaks, Hotaru unclasps her hands from behind her back, folding them together in front of her. At first she wonders how it is he knows exactly what it is she felt... his words speaking directly to her heart and mind of the experiences she went through. But as he continues, she begins to realize that what he speaks of he /knows/... from first hand experience. The spiral... she felt like she was constantly falling down it, throughout the whole ordeal. Out of control, lashing out at everyone and everything, trying to find what would make her satisfied again.
She had another question on her mind, all this time. One that she couldn't quite figure out the answer to. One she was about to pose to the veteran fighter. But as his voice fades out, she already has her answer. "That's why you want to help me, isn't it. You've seen this before, you've... been there, at the edge of the abyss, one step from falling too far to ever return... That's where I was, before I contacted you. One move further and..." And her own student may very well now be dead.
"Thank you, Oswald-sensei," the girl murmurs. "For caring."
He offers a slow but deep not at the mention of thanks, arms staying crossed as he remains sombre for the time being. "Mmmh." He gives a slight and gruff puff of air in a sort of throat-clearing sound, "I did it because I respect you, and believe you are worth the effort. You were suffering. There are times when a person simply cannot stand by - I will be honest..."
And he quiets a bit as he pushes off from the glass, standing straight up, "There are people that have asked me why I chose to show such compassion, many of my business associates are not pleased that I have suddenly decided to withdraw from a few of the array of services I usually offer to them, and I would be a liar if I were to admit I fully understood what compelled me to help you so much. While it's not to say I am anything less but completely sincere, it's to let you know and to show you that sometimes - just sometimes - the heart can compell one to do things both merciful and cruel. And there are times that doing such on both the positive and negative side will make you grow as a person. One doesn't have to be constantly cruel or dark - but - there is balance in all things, and there will be times when someone has to teach a lesson to another."
Hotaru takes a step backward as Oswald moves away from the glass, keeping the older fighter in sight at all times. Not out of fear but rather deep curiosity. If he is going to teach her anything, she needs to understand some of what makes him who he is, understand what motivates him. Her eyes widen slightly as it becomes intimated that associates of his may very well be aware of his offer of aid to the girl. It should, perhaps, not be such a surprise. She is, in her own right, a celebrity. Perhaps more information is being circulated about what she is up to as of late than she even realized...
He offers points that are difficult for the girl to understand. Mercy and cruelity seem too opposite to be ascribed to one and the same action. Perhaps... that is something she will come to understand when the lessons begin in the days ahead. "I trust you," the girl states. "I may not understand everything you have to share, at first. But I will try to."
Another step backward is taken then, as she begins to feel that the evening is getting late and her time spent drawing long. "I look forward to it, Oswald-sensei. It gives me hope that maybe I can... get back to the things I always used to enjoy before. Fighting with a renewed perspective, casting aside the last few months and moving beyond all of this." She offers the veteran fighter a very formal, very polite bow, "Until then, I take my leave. Thank you again."
Log created on 00:21:58 04/14/2008 by Hotaru, and last modified on 14:32:59 04/24/2008.