-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: mirror3.txt
Authors' Notes: For those of you who missed the first two
chapters, they can both be found at the FFML mini-archive
(meridun.tripod.com). It's highly recommended that you
read them before you read this one. :)
Chapter 1:
http://24.31.125.242/cgi-
bin/RetrieveStory.exe?StoryID=150028
Chapter 2:
http://24.31.125.242/cgi-
bin/RetrieveStory.exe?StoryID=150102
Credits:
This story is based on Oh My Goddess, an OAV series and
manga written by Kosuke Fujishima. It is not our purpose
to make a profit from this--in fact, if you don't own any
Oh My Goddess, we highly recommend that you go out and buy
some. :)
*****
Goddess in the Mirror
Chapter 3: How You Play the Game
By Bart Kelsey and Thomas Dye
I'm not sure exactly how it is I manage to end up in these
situations. I mean, one minute I'm just minding my own
business, and the next, I suddenly find myself under a heap
of new responsibilities. Take this new bike I have to
build for the club, for example. A couple days ago, Ootaki
came up to me and told me they were going to get me a "very
special bike" for the drag race this coming Saturday. Of
course, after I agreed to it, I found out that "very
special" was just another way of saying "some assembly
required." Guess who's gotta do the assembling?
It all started at the Auto Club meeting last week. Tamiya
decided he'd enter our club into this big intercollegiate
drag racing competition. I probably should have objected
when he volunteered me to be the one to race, but I have
trouble saying no to people sometimes--especially when
everybody's cheering and patting me on the back.
What gets me about this whole thing is the situation with
the bike. About ten days before the day of the race,
Tamiya and Ootaki show up at my apartment with three big
boxes of parts and an instruction manual that weighs about
as much as a small boulder. They then politely informed me
that I was the lucky soul who got to put the bike together.
I tried to object, but then they started going on about how
"you're really gettin' us out of a fix here, man," and
"thanks a bunch for doin' this, dude--we knew we could
count on ya!" Now what's a guy supposed to say to that,
really? The club's reputation is riding on my shoulders.
I can't just let everybody down.
*
Skuld wasn't sure which was worse--days where the system
needed debugging, or days where it didn't. There was never
a happy medium between the two, that much was certain.
Either the Yggdrasil System was swarming with bugs, or
there wasn't one to be found for miles.
Today was a prime example of the latter case. Skuld had
spent most of her morning clicking away at a game of
Minesweeper, which gets kind of old if you can consistently
clear a full-sized playing board in under half a minute.
Debugging just wasn't a task fit for a genius.
What made it even worse was the fact that her older sister
Belldandy, had been out of touch for over a month. She had
emailed her other sister Urd to inquire about Bell's
whereabouts several days previous, but Urd had yet to
reply.
Stifling a yawn, she checked her email yet again, despite
the fact that no one ever mailed her anything.
Except this time, someone had.
"Skuld," the note read. "Urd here. Bell's in big trouble.
Will be over shortly."
*
Keiichi Morisato sat down on the floor of his kitchen and
buried his head in his hands. In front of him (due to an
extraordinary lack of foresight on the part of his sempai)
were three massive, oddly-shaped packages, sloppily closed
with masking tape. Leaning up against the largest of them
was a pair of motorcycle tires, and in front of the whole
shebang was a brand new two cylinder Kawasaki motorcycle
engine.
There definitely wasn't enough room in the kitchen to put
it together. On top of that, even if there was, Mara would
almost certainly get angry about it. After giving it a
minute's thought, he picked up the telephone and dialed the
front desk.
"Front desk. Akiko speaking."
"Hi, this is Keiichi Morisato calling," he said into the
phone. "I've got a stupid question for you."
"Oh, you're Megumi's brother, right?"
Keiichi nodded. "Yeah, that's me. Anyway, what I was
wondering is if I could borrow a little space in the
building's garage."
"How come?" Her voice sounded skeptical.
"Well, see, I'm a member of the school auto club, and the
guys kinda dumped the job of building the bike on me--and
there's not enough space to do it up here in my apartment,
and even if there was, I wouldn't be able to get a whole
bike down two flights of stairs. Anyway, it'll only be for
a about week or so."
"Well," said Akiko, "lemme go run and ask my boss. I'll be
right back."
"Sure."
Dimly, Keiichi could make out the sound of a conversation
taking place on the other end of the line, although he
could not tell what was being said. After a few minutes'
deliberation, Akiko returned to the telephone. "Mr.
Morisato?"
"Yes?"
"Yeah, it's all right for you to build your bike in the
garage. Just try not to take up too much space, okay?"
"Oh, of course," he replied. "And thank you."
"My pleasure," she said brightly.
Bidding her a quick goodbye, he set the telephone back up
on its hook and surveyed the boxes. They all looked
awfully heavy. Figuring it might be best to get worst of
the work out of the way on the first trip, he leaned over
and picked up the largest of the three boxes, grunting
under it's considerable weight. Leaning back slightly to
counterbalance the mass of the box, he shuffled sideways up
to the entrance of his apartment, propped the package up on
one knee, and maneuvered the door open with his free hand.
He turned around and staggered backward out the door, only
to be scared almost clean out of his shoes by a small yelp
from in the hall behind him.
"Oh!" It was Verdandi; he could tell by the voice. "Oh
my! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you like that.
Do you need any help?"
"I'm fine," he grunted. "It's just a bit heavy."
"What's in it?" she asked.
Keiichi, now free of the door, swung around and aimed for
the stairwell. "Motorcycle," he squeaked out after taking
in a quick breath of air, arms shaking slightly under the
weight his ponderous cargo. "Taking it down to the garage.
Could you get the door for me?" he asked, motioning toward
the door to the stairwell with his head.
Verdandi nodded and did as he had asked. He managed a
strained smile at her as he shambled by. "Thanks,
Verdandi."
Climbing down the stairs was a long and painstaking
process, and when he finally reached the bottom floor, he
was unsure of how he had managed it without falling to his
doom, or at least dropping the box.
"Wow!" Akiko exclaimed as he stumbled into the lobby, "that
looks heavy!"
Keiichi just nodded at her, his face red with exertion; by
this time he was so out of breath that he could barely
speak.
"Here," she said, coming out from her station behind the
desk, "the door to the garage is back this way."
He followed her slowly through a long hallway, at the end
of which was a heavy metal door. She held it open for him
and stood aside as he passed through. Once he had
staggered but a few feet into the garage, he let the box
down as quickly as he could without damaging its contents
and then sat down on the floor to catch his breath.
"You all right?" Akiko ventured.
"Yeah," he said between gasps, reaching up to wipe off the
layer of sweat that had formed on his forehead. "Fine.
That was the worst of 'em."
He looked back into the hallway, his attention drawn
suddenly to the sound of clinking metal parts. Leaning
over to see past Akiko, he could plainly see Verdandi
struggling to carry the second box into the garage after
him. Despite his fatigue, he stood quickly and ran back
into the hallway to help her out.
"Jeez, Verdandi!" he said, getting his arms under the box
so as to relieve her of its bulk, "You didn't have to do
this."
"You looked," she said, panting heavily, "like you needed
... some help."
"Well, thanks," he replied, again straining under the
weight. This package was lighter than the previous one,
but not by a large margin.
She followed him into the garage and leaned on the doorway
to catch her breath as Keiichi stacked the second box on
top of the first. As he looked up, he found that she
suddenly looked very pretty, standing there all flushed and
breathless. For someone to help him completely out of the
blue like that was such a rare thing.
Feeling his eyes on her, she glanced back at him. The two
of them stayed like that for several seconds, just gazing
at one another, until Keiichi finally broke the silence.
"Really, Verdandi. I appreciate it. That box must have
been really heavy for you."
"I can help you with the rest if you'd like."
He shook his head. "No, really, Verdandi. It's fine ...
this bike is my responsibility. I can take care of it
myself." He smiled at her, a soft, kindly smile that made
her heart race. "But thanks for offering."
*
"I'm doing the best I can, Urd! It's just not in there!"
Urd stopped pacing back and forth. This wasn't working at
all. She had been collaborating with Skuld in an attempt
to figure out what had happened to Belldandy, but their
efforts so far had turned up nothing. Standing just behind
Skuld's chair, she peered over her raven-haired younger
sister's shoulder at the screen.
"So it's not in the wish records either. So, how else then
could Belldandy have forgotten who she was?" Urd paused a
moment in thought, and then continued. "Skuld, can you
bring up a copy of Belldandy's personal file? We might
find some answers in there."
Skuld looked at Urd in shock. "You know that's against the
rules! We aren't allowed to do that, and if we got caught-
-" She was interrupted by Urd's glare and hand over her
mouth.
"Not so loud, brat!" Urd hissed, "You want to help
Belldandy, don't you? Now are you going to be quiet, or
are you going to let Bell stay like this?"
Skuld gave her eldest sister an icy glare to show her
displeasure, but eventually relented and nodded. As Urd
removed her hand, Skuld shifted her focus back to the
screen and started typing, trying to hack into the
Yggdrasil mainframe.
"If somebody finds out about this..." Skuld's warning
trailed off with Urd's shrug.
"But nobody will if you don't tell anyone, so quit your
whining and get to work." Urd patted Skuld's head, much to
her chagrin.
Once she had settled into the task, it didn't take long for
Skuld to gain access to the Immortal Database records. Urd
nodded quietly to herself; her little sister was a genius--
that much was readily apparent. ... *almost* worthy of
admiration. Now, if she'd just grow up a little bit.
After a few minutes, Skuld's constant tapping on the
keyboard came to a dead stop.
"No way." She whispered, looking at the monitor as if she
had seen a ghost. She slowly reached down and touched the
enter key, but the computer beeped in protest. "This is
impossible. Things like this don't happen!"
Urd became curious. "What are you going on about now?"
Skuld turned around to look at her sister, and pointed to a
line of red colored text on the screen. "I can't get into
Belldandy's file because it's not accessible. If I didn't
know better, I'd say someone encrypted it." Shaking her
head, she began typing furiously again, a look of hard
concentration in her eyes.
"This is impossible! This is a system table--*nobody* is
allowed to make changes to it. Only a few select people
can even *read* the entries."
"Well," Urd replied, "apparently someone *did* make some
changes, because they're sitting right there in front of
your face."
"Look, Urd." Skuld was rapidly becoming annoyed. "I know
this program inside and out. Even if somebody got in and
managed to read Bell's record, there's no way they could
make the change. The system keeps the records locked
unless it's modifying them itself--and that only takes a
few hundredths of a second at a time. It'd be impossible
for somebody to time something like that!"
"Skuld," said Urd slowly, "look at the screen and tell me
exactly what you see."
"An encrypted record," she answered grudgingly.
"Now, did the Yggdrasil System encrypt that record by
itself?"
Skuld shook her head. "I know how the program works. It
couldn't have."
"Then," Urd prompted, "that means that somehow ..."
"Someone broke into the system," Skuld finished languidly.
"Now, is there anything you can do to break the
encryption?"
Skuld sighed. "I already tried. It's using some kind of
non-repeating recursive key."
"A what?"
"A recursive key. They're infinitely long, which makes it
impossible to break the encryption." Skuld clenched her
fists in frustration while Urd starting pacing again,
mulling over what had just been said. A moment later, Urd
glanced back at Skuld to see her typing furiously again, a
look of determination once more on her face.
"Look, Urd! I found something!" Skuld was pointing
proudly at Keiichi Morisato's record, which Urd had already
checked her self some time before.
"So what? I already saw this. Belldandy was supposed to
grant this guy a wish, but the contract hasn't been
initiated yet."
"I know that!" Skuld snapped, "Look further down, though.
It says he already has an active wish, even though Bell
hasn't granted him one yet! Maybe if you weren't such a
big dummy, you'd notice these things the first time
around!"
Urd's eye twitched. She wanted give a retort, but she was
cut off when Skuld punched a few keys on the keyboard and
continued.
Skuld looked back over her shoulder at her elder sibling.
"The search on who granted that wish is coming up blank,
though ... who do you think could have--"
"Mara," said Urd.
*
"Keiichi, did you get those boxes out of my living room
yet?"
Keiichi looked up from his books on the kitchen table at
the sound of Mara's voice coming from the TV room. "Yeah,"
he called back, "I took them down to the garage a while
ago."
Hearing no reply, he assumed she was satisfied, and went
back to mulling over the particularly difficult electrical
engineering problem that had been baffling him for the
better part of the last hour.
It was a simple resistive network. A monkey with an abacus
could solve it, given enough time--it was just that the
stress and lack of sleep over the past couple days was
beginning to wear down on Keiichi's brain. Frustrated to
the point that his eyes were hurting, he shut his book and
went to the fridge for a can of 7-Up. He had just opened
it and was about to tilt it back for a long, refreshing
swig, when he was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Hey, Kei!" said his sister's voice. "Ya busy?"
"No," he lied as he opened the door. Megumi was standing
out in the hallway, smiling brightly. "So, what's up?" he
asked.
"Verdandi tells me the guys from the club brought over the
bike you're s'posed to race," Megumi explained. "She said
it's not quite assembled yet."
"That's a bit of an understatement."
"Anyway," she continued, "if you want me to help out, I'd
like to. Wait 'til Dad hears that I helped build the bike
that won you the race!"
Keiichi grimaced. "Oh, that's all I need is *more*
pressure."
"Sorry, Kei," she said, giving him a friendly slap on the
shoulder. "Didn't mean to be pushy. I guess you're
probably kinda frazzled right now ... but I really would
like to help."
Keiichi nodded. "All right. How 'bout I show you the
bike, then?"
Stepping out into the hallway, he shut the door behind him
and led Meg down the stairwell and into the garage. The
bike was in the same state he had left it several hours
ago, in that it really wasn't recognizable as a bike just
yet. Pieces of the frame were arranged on the floor in the
way they were pictured in the instruction book, but he had
yet to undertake the daunting task of actually assembling
it.
"Well, then," said Megumi, after surveying the work they
had ahead of them, "let's get to it!"
Optimism in the face of adversity. It was a trait that
Keiichi had somehow lost over the past few weeks. The
strange thing about it was that, being with an amazing
woman like Mara, he should have been feeling *more*
confident in himself. Somehow, though, it just wasn't
working out that way.
Fortunately, though, Megumi had enough optimism for both of
them, and she went about happily reading the manual as
Keiichi produced more small parts from the boxes and
attempted to make some sense of them.
"Hey Keiichi?" Megumi ventured, looking up from her reading
as a thought occurred to her. "Are you and Mara happy
together?"
Keiichi nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Why do you ask?"
"Because I think Verdandi kinda--"
"Hi guys!"
Megumi caught her breath quickly as she looked up to see
Verdandi walk into the garage from the lobby, carrying a
tray. "Oh, hi Verdandi!" Megumi exclaimed, trying her best
to sound natural.
"How's the bike coming?"
"Slowly," said Keiichi flatly.
"We'll get it done in time, though," Meg added.
"I thought maybe the two of you would like some tea."
Verdandi knelt down on the concrete floor and placed the
tray on the ground in front of her.
Keiichi looked up. "Actually, that would hit the spot
right about now. Thanks!"
Pausing to pass a cup to Keiichi, she looked up again.
"Megumi?"
"Hm?" Megumi set the manual down on the floor. "Yeah,
that'd be great."
The three of them sat down for a while, sipping their tea
and discussing the events of the day and next weekend's
race. All in all, it was the first relaxing moment Keiichi
could remember experiencing in quite a while. Their tea
break, as well as the associated relaxation, came to an
abrupt halt at the sound of yet another voice coming from
the doorway.
"Well, I see you didn't bother to invite me to your little
tea party." Mara was standing just inside the garage,
looking peeved.
"Oh," said Verdandi, "I'm really sorry about that. It's
just that Keiichi and Megumi were down here, and I thought
they might want a break. Would you like some as well?"
"What, some of that crap you think passes for tea?" she
sniffed. "Hardly! I came down here to discuss something
important with Keiichi."
Verdandi hung her head wordlessly and set her cup down.
"What's up?" Keiichi asked, pleased at the sudden attention
the goddess was giving him.
"It's about the race, dear." Her eyes became hard. "I
won't accept a loss from you. I don't want the whole
campus knowing I'm shacking up with some kind of loser."
"Well," he stammered, "I'll--I'll try my best."
"If you ever want me to even *look* at you again, your best
damn well better be good enough."
"Mara," said Verdandi quietly, "I think--"
"Did I ask what you think?" Mara snapped.
"I--" Verdandi trailed off, unsure of how to reply.
Satisfied, Mara turned and walked out without another word.
Keiichi took a dejected sip from his teacup and sighed.
*
"This is it," said Urd.
She and Skuld were standing at the base of a set of stairs
that ran up to an old, run-down temple.
"*This* is where we're going to be staying?" Skuld gaped
incredulously at the place. The front door was in a state
of extreme disrepair, the windows were completely gone, and
a part of the roof looked as if it were sagging.
"I used to play out here when I was a kid," explained Urd
nostalgically. "Of course, people were here to take care
of it back then, so it looked a lot nicer. But anyway,
it's a roof above our heads, and it's reasonably close to
where Belldandy is living."
Skuld stepped up the stairs and poked her head inside the
building. The front hall was a large, empty room with a
coat of dust and grime on the floor left by years of
neglect. "Ewww, this place is gross!" she cried, her voice
echoing off of the bare walls.
Urd sighed. "Quit being such a whiny brat, Skuld! We're
doing this for Belldandy's sake, remember?"
"Yeah," she said resignedly. "I know, I know. But I just
wish we could stay somewhere a bit cleaner."
Urd stepped inside and set their luggage up against the
wall--she had been carrying Skuld's as well as her own.
Skuld, meanwhile, explored the rest of the building, a look
of distaste in her eyes. There were four bedrooms as well
as a small kitchen area, all equally filthy. Shaking her
head in disgust, she walked back out into the entry way.
She continued on past Urd, who was busy rummaging through
her suitcase, and stepped outside. When Urd did not
follow, she glanced back over her shoulder. "You coming?"
Urd looked at her strangely. "Coming where?"
"To go save Belldandy. That's why we're here, isn't it?"
"Skuld," Urd said sternly, "come back in here for a
minute."
The young, dark-haired goddess did as she was asked, but
stared up at her elder sister belligerently--it was obvious
from Urd's tone that she was about to receive a lecture.
"Don't you think *I* want to rush in and save Belldandy as
well?"
"Yeah, but--"
"No buts. We're not just up against Mara here, Skuld.
Whatever wish Keiichi made, she's got the Infernal Power
working on her side now--we can't just barge in there and
take Bell back. It simply won't work. And besides, Mara
said that if I 'meddled' anymore, she would hurt Belldandy.
I can't take the risk that I wouldn't be fast enough to
stop her."
Urd was right. The Infernal Power, Skuld knew, was the
force that acted to preserve any wish granted by a
demoness. If Keiichi's wish were somehow threatened by
Bell getting her memory back--which, presumably it was--
there would simply be no way around it. Trying to confront
the Infernal Power was, in a word, futile.
This having occurred to Skuld, she put her fists on her
hips and stared up at Urd angrily. "Well," she demanded,
"if we can't do anything, then why are we staying in this
icky place, anyway?"
"Because we don't know all the facts yet," said Urd. "You
know how wishes work. Maybe we'll eventually stumble upon
something that will work to our advantage. For now,
though, what we need to do is sit tight, and make sure our
sister is okay." Urd looked around at the empty room and
sighed. "And we really need to clean this place up.
Here," she added, summoning a broom out of thin air and
handing it to her little sister.
Skuld pouted, and accepted the broom reluctantly.
*
"Yo, Morisato!" said a loud voice, from the door to the
lobby. "It's great to see you putting some time in for the
sake of the club!"
Keiichi and Megumi looked up from their partially completed
motorcycle. It had been several days worth of work, but
they had somehow managed to stay ahead of schedule; the
frame was built and the engine mounted, leaving only the
wheels and the steering column yet to be done.
Standing in the entrance of the garage was the massive
Tamiya, toting a large box. Beside him stood Ootaki,
holding what appeared to be another bike frame, this one
somewhat longer than the one they had been working on for
the past few days. Keiichi glanced up at them
apprehensively, the implications of their appearance
suddenly dawning on him.
"Great news, Morisato!" said Tamiya expansively. "We got
you a second engine to put on your bike!" He lumbered in
and set the box down beside a slightly distressed Keiichi.
"But--"
"You wouldn't believe the trouble we went through to find
it!" Tamiya interrupted. "There's no limit on engine
displacement, so with this, it will double your horsepower
and blow those other guys right off the track!"
Keiichi stared at the other box, a look of abject terror
forming on his face. This was *really* not a good thing to
have happen right now.
"B--but--" Keiichi stood up and raised his hand, trying
vainly to get a word in edgewise.
"Morisato, this is excellent!" Tamiya exclaimed, cutting
him off once again. He leaned down and peered at the
motorcycle in front of him, examining the engine.
"Wonderful! Beautiful!" Standing straight, he continued.
"But with this," He paused theatrically, motioning toward
the box, "we're sure to win!"
Keiichi had had enough. "Now wait a minute! Megumi and I
have been working on this thing practically non-stop for
the past three days, and we're almost finished!" He put
his hands on his hips and took a breath. "Besides, a twin
engine will be way too heavy, and any extra horsepower we
gain might be lost due to vibrations in the frame."
Tamiya grabbed Keiichi with a massive arm and held him to
his chest. "But you don't understand what I'm saying!" he
exclaimed, tears pouring dramatically from his eyes.
"We're drag racing heroes to our fans--if this engine
increases our chances of winning even just one percent,
we've got to do it!"
"But it *won't*..." Keiichi barely mumbled out, his face
pressed into Tamiya's jacket.
Tamiya continued, paying scant attention to Keiichi's
feeble objections. "This is the spirit that has made our
auto club great! Your not going to let us down, are you
Morisato?"
"Uh, Tamiya..." said Megumi, placing a hand on the club
president's arm, "we get the point."
"Well, then!" he exclaimed, letting a now blue Keiichi
drop unceremoniously to the ground. "The race is in three
days. You're our man Morisato! We know you can do it!"
Ootaki, meanwhile, set the extra frame down onto the ground
and gave the two of them a thumbs up. "Well dudes," he
said, turning to follow Tamiya out of the garage, "were
countin' on ya!" The heavy metal door closed behind them
with a resounding thud, leaving Keiichi and Megumi alone in
the garage with their new project.
Hearing a sigh, Megumi looked over at her brother, who was
sitting with his legs crossed, examining the blueprints
skeptically.
"Uh, Kei," she said quietly, "if you're going to use this
twin engine, we've got to come up with some expansion
calculations, because there's no way we can trust that new
frame those guys brought over."
Keiichi nodded, pointing to a particular section on the
blueprint. "This is definitely gonna be a problem. If
we're not careful, the stress factor of these two engines
will tear the frame apart." He shrugged and hung his head.
"I can fix some of this, but there just isn't enough time
for me to completely recalculate everything. As it is,
we've pretty much gotta rebuild the whole thing from
scratch, which'll probably take until the night before the
race, if we work our butts off."
Megumi squared her shoulders. "Well, we'll just have to
make some educated guesses, and hope for the best."
"I really don't like the sound of that."
"No point getting discouraged," Megumi admonished. "We've
got our work cut out for us, and we can't afford to waste
time sulking about it."
*
Keiichi and Megumi finally managed to finish the bike at
quarter after three in the morning, on the day of the race;
consequently, Keiichi had not slept very well when Tamiya
called to wake him up a few hours later.
"Hello?" he mumbled drearily into the telephone.
"Ahh, Morisato!" Keiichi winced at the loud voice at the
other end of the line, holding the telephone a few inches
away from his ear. "It's the big day! Time to get your
lazy butt outta bed and head out to the racetrack!"
Keiichi brushed a lock of hair from his face and glanced
owlishly at his alarm clock. "Tamiya, it's six-thirty, for
cryin' out loud. The race doesn't start til noon!"
"But that only leaves us five and a half hours to get there
and rally the support of our fans! If it increases our
chances of winning just one percent, then--"
"--we've got to do it," Keiichi finished lamely. "All
right," he continued, stifling a yawn, "I'll meet you at
the club pavilion in an hour or so."
"That's the spirit, Morisato!" the voice from the receiver
bellowed. "I know you won't let the club down!"
"Bye, Tamiya," Keiichi mumbled, hanging up the telephone.
Yawning again, he scratched his nose and pulled himself
laboriously to a sitting position. "This is gonna be a
long day," he said to no one in particular.
Climbing slowly out of bed, he made his way into the
bathroom and took a quick shower, then plodded into the
kitchen to make breakfast. He was poking through the
refrigerator when he heard a firm knock on the door.
"Who could be here at this hour?" he wondered to himself as
he shambled over to answer it.
He opened the door and found himself face-to-face with his
sister, who was looking pretty irked. She was dressed in
her club racing outfit, and her leather coat was slung over
her shoulder. "Did you tell him to call and wake me up?"
she grumbled.
Keiichi, still dressed in his bathrobe, shook his head.
"No, but lemme guess ... Tamiya. Am I right?" He stood
aside, motioning for her to come in.
She nodded, rubbing her eyes blearily, then puffed up her
chest and launched into a fairly impressive imitation of
their overzealous sempai. "Ahh, Morisato!" she said, in a
voice as loud and deep as her vocal cords would allow.
"It's time to get your lazy butt outta bed and head down to
the racetrack! Today's the big day!"
Keiichi couldn't help but laugh as he shut the door behind
his sister. "I was just about to have some breakfast. You
want anything?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I'll have whatever you do."
There was another knock at the door.
Keiichi looked back over his shoulder at the source of the
sound. "Jeez! What *is* it this morning?" When he opened
the door this time, he was surprised to see Verdandi
standing out in the hallway holding a tea service, and
looking bright as the midday sun.
"Hey, Keiichi! I know you and Megumi were up pretty late
last night working on your bike, so when I heard her come
over here, I thought maybe the two of you would like some
coffee to help you wake up a bit."
Even in his foul mood, it was hard to see that smile and
not smile back. "That'd be great, Verdandi," he replied.
"Please come in."
He led her inside to the kitchen table, where Megumi had
already taken a seat and was digging into a bowl of cold
cereal. "You want any?" he asked. The box made a pleasant
rustling sound as he shook it.
"Sure, that'd be great!"
Keiichi poured a dish of cereal for her, and another for
himself, then took a seat at the table. "Ya know,
Verdandi, you really didn't have to get up this early. The
race doesn't start for a couple hours yet."
"Well," she said thoughtfully, pouring three cups of coffee
and passing them out, "it was the least I could do,
especially since the two of you have been working so hard
getting that bike put together."
"What the hell is all this racket?" Mara was standing just
inside the kitchen, wearing a hastily-donned kimono and
looking sourly at them.
"Oh," Keiichi replied, "sorry to wake you. Tamiya called
about the race and got us all up ... we'll try to quiet
down a bit, though."
Mara sniffed. "It's too late for that now. I'm already
up." She walked over to the kitchen counter, taking the
box of cereal from the table as she passed. Pouring a bowl
for herself, she sat down at the table.
"Would you like a cup of coffee, Mara?" Verdandi asked,
already moving to pour her some.
Mara gave a dramatic sigh. "Oh, fine, whatever."
Verdandi handed her the cup, and she took a sip or two and
made a face. She then shoveled some cereal into her mouth
and took another sip of her coffee, glowering at the three
of them all the while.
*
Once everyone had finished eating and gotten dressed, they
made their way out to the race track, and found that was
already bustling with activity despite the fact that it was
only eight in the morning. Keiichi led them to the
obnoxiously-colored Nekomi Auto Club pavilion, where they
were greeted by a resounding cheer from the substantial
crowd of club members who were already present. The bike,
which Keiichi had driven out to their site before he had
gone to bed, was up near the inner wall of the tent where
he had left it.
"Ahh, Morisato!" Tamiya put a massive arm around Keiichi's
shoulder, causing him to groan inwardly. "Look around you
at this team spirit! How could we possibly lose with a
club like this?"
"I'll tell you how," said a quiet, level voice from the
doorway.
"Just who do you think you are?" Tamiya demanded of the
newcomer, a tall, thin, well-dressed man with short hair
and glasses.
"I," the visitor replied haughtily, "am Toshiyuki Aoshima,
the president of the Nekomi Tech Four Wheels Club. And I
must say, that is a pretty impressive-looking bike you've
got there--if you're into driving junk, anyway. I see you
even slapped on an extra engine at the last minute. What a
bunch of losers," he added emphatically, shaking his head
in mock sympathy.
"Now you listen here, mister!" said Megumi, walking right
up to him and making a fist. "We put a lot of effort
into--"
"That's enough, Morisato!" Tamiya boomed, striking a
dramatic pose. "Members of the Nekomi Tech Auto Club do
not boast! They win, with their drive and determination!"
Aoshima smiled condescendingly and patted Tamiya on the
back. "That will be decided when we race, will it not?"
"Keiichi," Mara whispered, clamping onto her boyfriend's
arm, "remember what I said to you ... if you lose this race
and embarrass me, don't expect to ever speak to me again."
Keiichi swallowed, trying the best he could to hide the
look of apprehension in his eyes.
*
Verdandi was nervous, excited, and slightly scared, all at
the same time. The roar of activity around the event was a
bit more than the quiet girl was used to; she felt somewhat
out of place among the scantily-dressed women and the
hordes of hooting, hollering guys. She could tell by
looking at Keiichi that he too was feeling somewhat
apprehensive about the race, but Mara was guarding him like
a hawk, seeing to it that no one could get close to him
long enough to get a word in.
Once they were sure the bike was fueled and ready to go,
the club dispersed for a while to kill the time before the
race started. Verdandi, along with Keiichi, Mara, and
Megumi, wandered out of the large Nekomi Auto Club tent
toward some vendors along the side of the track for a look
around. A good many of them were selling food; Keiichi
bought himself and the three ladies each a hot dog and
soda, which they devoured hungrily.
A select few of the merchants there had decided to
capitalize on the event with some more substantial sales--
there were two or three small booths selling clothing,
mostly brand-name racing gear, and another one with a
spirited salesman who was very enthusiastically trying to
convince every single passer-by that they absolutely had to
purchase some of his jewelry.
Verdandi, modest as she was, was still drawn to the idea of
buying jewelry, so she stopped over for a closer look at
the man's wares. Mara and Megumi did likewise, obviously
of a similar mind, and Keiichi followed them over with a
resigned expression on his face.
"Buy me that one," Mara demanded of Keiichi, pointing to
one particular ring on display.
Something about the ring she pointed to gave Verdandi a
shock. It was almost as if she had seen it before, in some
long-forgotten childhood memory.
Keiichi fished nervously through his wallet. "I'm really
sorry, Mara, but I don't have enough money for it. I'll
make it up to you, though, if--"
"Don't bother," she stated. "I've given up on expecting
you to act like a real man."
For a moment, Verdandi felt like it was herself standing in
Mara's place. The effect was dizzying, to say the least--
like a bad dream. She looked back and forth between
Keiichi and Mara. It shouldn't have been like that.
That's not what she was supposed to say! That's not even
supposed to be her there! Why do I keep feeling like I'm
getting deja vu? Am I going crazy?
"Verdandi?"
Startled, Verdandi gasped, feeling Megumi's hand touch her
arm.
"Are you all right?" she asked. "You looked like you kinda
zoned out there for a minute."
Verdandi exhaled shakily. "I--yeah, I think so. I'm
sorry."
*
"Did you feel that?"
"Feel what?" Skuld asked. She glanced up at Urd, who
looked absolutely ridiculous wearing a trench coat, fedora,
and dark glasses.
The elder Norn shook her head, then sidestepped so she
could see around a group of racing fans who had moved in
and were now blocking her view of Belldandy. "I guess you
probably won't be able to feel auras until you get a bit
older ... but I think I almost felt Bell's normal aura for
a second there."
"What do you think it means?" Skuld pondered.
Urd considered. "I honestly don't know."
"Maybe we should go see what they were looking at," the
young, dark-haired goddess suggested. "Something over
there might have triggered it."
"Good idea ... but wait until they leave. If Mara sees us
here, there's bound to be trouble."
Skuld nodded in agreement. Leaning up against the outside
of a small gazebo, the two of them watched as the group
poked around the booth for a little while, and then moved
on. Resolutely, the two goddesses walked up to investigate
the matter.
"Why hello, ladies!" exclaimed the young man behind the
booth. "You're both looking absolutely marvelous today!
Perhaps I can interest you in some of my fine merchandise."
He gestured proudly at his glass-covered displays, which
held an impressive variety of expensive rings, earrings,
necklaces, and bracelets.
Skuld and Urd scrutinized the contents of each display
case, trying to find anything that might have triggered
some sort of reaction in Bell. Finally, they looked at
each other and shrugged silently.
"Have you made up your minds, ladies?"
"We'll come back another time," Urd declared. "Thank you."
Crestfallen, the jeweler followed the two strange
foreigners with his gaze as they walked away.
"Did you see anything?" Urd asked quietly.
"No," whispered Skuld. "Did you?"
Urd shook her head. "Not a thing."
"What could it be about a jewelry stand that would have
such an effect on Bell?" Skuld mused.
Urd touched her chin thoughtfully. "I'm not sure. Maybe
it was just something that someone said, or it could be
that she saw something that reminded her of her past. It's
hard to say, really."
Skuld looked up at her sister, suddenly angry. "Well what
good does that do us?" she snapped. "I want Belldandy
back!"
"We'll get her back," Urd replied emphatically. "It's just
going to take some time, that's all."
*
The hours leading up to the race passed slower than Keiichi
would have liked; he spent most of the intervening time
fretting about problems with the stability of the bike's
frame, which he had discovered when he drove it the
previous night. They would all be watching him--the
judges, the crowd, the club, Ootaki, Tamiya, Megumi, and
Verdandi. And Mara. According to her, losing just wasn't
an option.
He paced back and forth nervously along the edge of the
track as the noon hour approached. His opponent, a serious
young man from a nearby community college, paid him little
attention and went about checking his bike, an old Honda
CBX that had obviously seen better days.
Keiichi had checked and rechecked his own bike several
times since his arrival that morning; he eventually decided
that further inspections would do him no good, so he had
simply walked it out to the track and parked it, ignoring
the quips and comments about his hastily-assembled
Frankenstein machine coming from the opposing auto club
members and their fans.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, a woman's
voice came up over the loudspeaker and announced that the
first race was about to begin. Keiichi swallowed, a swarm
of butterflies already gathering in his stomach. Megumi
and Verdandi wished him luck, the former with a sisterly
hug, and the latter with a smile. Mara did him no such
favor, although he hardly expected her to.
Keiichi squared his shoulders and, alone among the hundreds
of people present, he approached his bike. Giving it a
final once-over just to be sure everything was in order, he
slung his leg over it and took a seat. The engines revved
eagerly as he turned the ignition key and twisted the
throttle, testing it.
"Racers," the announcer's voice echoed, "take your places."
Taking a deep breath, Keiichi slipped his helmet over his
head. The roar of the crowd seemed distant and muffled
through his headgear, almost like the calm roar of the
ocean. He felt strangely relaxed as he glanced back and
forth through his darkened visor, a shield between himself
and the rest of the world.
Alone.
Alone was good. It was just him, the bike, and the road.
That, he could handle.
He focused his eyes on the man with the gun at the far end
of the track. He had been taught to watch when the gun
fired, because by the time the sound reached him, he would
already be at a disadvantage--and races could be won and
lost in a few milliseconds. His body tensed, the gun
flashed, and he hit the throttle.
He leaned forward, clutching his seat with his legs as he
accelerated; it was all he could do to keep his front wheel
on the ground. The engines howled, and the wind thundered
by his ears like the rumble of an earthquake. As he
approached 120kph, the frame began to shake violently.
Struggling to keep the bike stable, he cast a quick glance
in his side mirror and saw that he was well ahead of his
opponent. Relieved, he eased off on the throttle just
slightly so as not to lose control of his machine.
The other bike closed in on him in the last few seconds of
the race, but not fast enough to take the victory from
Keiichi. He shot past the finish line at over two hundred
kilometers per hour, and brought the bike slowly to a halt
on the remaining track. Glancing back, he noticed that the
scoreboard read 7.928 to 8.016; he had taken the race by
just under a tenth of a second--not a lot of leeway,
certainly, but a respectable victory nonetheless. The twin
engines had afforded him the extra acceleration at the
beginning of the race that he had needed to win.
Keiichi removed his helmet and hung it on his handlebars as
he drove his motorcycle slowly back down the track.
"And the winner," echoed the voice from the speakers, "is
Keiichi Morisato, of the Nekomi Tech Auto Club!"
Wiping the sweat off of his brow, he looked up at the faces
of the crowd in the bleachers as the announcer related the
details of his victory. Keiichi had won the first round;
he and his grotesque, dual-engined monster had earned their
respect.
*
"Hey, nice job, bro! You kicked some ass out there!"
Ootaki gave Keiichi a friendly slap on the back as he
walked the bike back into the auto club's pavilion. He
leaned over and continued quietly. "But just between you
and me, dude, I noticed ya hesitated a bit out there.
Everything okay with the bike?"
Keiichi sighed, still slightly out of breath from the race.
"Not really, no. The frame's shaking so bad I can hardly
keep control of it."
"Well, I'll do what I can, okay?"
Keiichi nodded. "Thanks."
As he took a seat in one of the club's numerous wooden
folding chairs, Ootaki gathered the rest of the club
members around him and began barking orders for adjustments
to be made to the frame. Megumi, meanwhile, came in from
outside and sat down beside him. "Frame still shaking?"
"Like a jackhammer," he answered. "Even when I *was* in
control of it, I half expected the thing to fall apart
right out from under me."
"Well," she said, the look of concern plain on her face,
"don't take any crazy risks, all right?"
Keiichi nodded in agreement.
*
The minutes passed by, and, still seated, Keiichi watched
the guys from the club working frantically to install a
balancer and a set of rubber bearings on his engine mount.
Mara came and went several times, casting him barely a
glance as she cavorted with some of the other guys in the
area.
Verdandi and Megumi paid him more attention, and
occasionally the hulking Tamiya would stop by to offer
words of encouragement. As irritating as he could be
sometimes, Keiichi looked up to him as one would an older
brother; Tamiya's ardent commendations of his efforts thus
far were heartening. Underneath his sempai's tough and
often intimidating exterior was the soul of an idealist--
someone who could inspire people to action, at least when
he wasn't acting like a complete imbecile.
Once the din and ruckus had died down somewhat in
anticipation of the semi-finals, Verdandi took a seat
beside Keiichi and gave him a warm smile. "How's it
going?" she asked.
"Oh, not too bad," he replied, blushing slightly. "A
little nervous, I guess."
"There's nothing to worry about, Keiichi. As long as you
try your best, there's nothing more anyone can ask of you."
Keiichi let out a sigh. "It'd be nice if Mara thought of
it that way."
Verdandi placed her hand on his shoulder and looked
straight at him. He could see his own image reflecting
back at him from her deep blue eyes, the face of a weak,
frightened boy. What chance did someone like him have in a
competition like this?
"Keiichi," she said softly, but with an uncharacteristic
note of sternness. "It doesn't matter what Mara thinks of
you, or anyone else for that matter. What matters is that,
no matter how you do, you always believe in yourself. If
you do that, then even though you may have some setbacks
from time to time, you'll always be a winner."
Keiichi nodded dumbly.
"I believe," she continued, "that you can win this race ...
but if that doesn't happen, that won't change a thing about
the way I see you."
He looked at her again and swallowed, unsure of what to
say. "Thanks," he whispered finally. "I needed to hear
someone say that."
"It's the truth," she said.
A woman dressed in a trench coat and a fedora watched the
two them from the far corner of the auto club's makeshift
clubhouse, a smile slowly appearing on her face.
*
"The nerve of that guy!" Megumi crossed her arms and
looked angrily at the bike belonging to the Nekomi Tech
Four Wheels Club.
Akiko, Megumi's recent acquaintance and receptionist from
her apartment building, was standing beside her, leaning up
against the wall in front of the bleachers. "What guy?"
she asked.
"That Aoshima guy. He barges into Nekomi Tech with all his
parents' money, and decides to start his own racing club,
because apparently *we're* not good enough for him!" She
followed the bike with her eyes as it took its place at the
starting line for the first of the two races in the semi-
final. In the first race, the same bike--apparently driven
by a hired professional--had come in at around seven and a
half seconds, beating its opponent by a very wide margin.
Akiko shook her head. "C'mon, Megumi. Would you really
want a guy like him in your club anyway?"
"No, I guess not ... but that doesn't make him any less of
a jerk!"
"You've got a point there," Akiko conceded.
The loudspeakers screeched for a moment, then shuffled
slightly and became silent. "Next up," the announcer's
voice blared, "the Waseda University racing team, versus
the heavily-favored NIT Four Wheels club. Gentlemen, start
your engines!"
The crowd roared, the gun fired, and the two bikes sped off
toward the finish line. Megumi watched with feigned
disinterest as the Four Wheels Club won its second race by
an even wider margin than the first. She withheld her
applause as the results were announced.
"Well," Akiko sighed, "looks like they're heading to the
finals."
"Great," said Megumi darkly.
Akiko pointed back toward the Auto Club's pavilion at the
young man emerging from the tent with his bike. "That's
your brother over there, isn't it?"
Megumi nodded.
"Think he'll win?"
"Of course! I helped build the bike, remember?"
Akiko smiled and shook her head, but opted not to reply.
"GO KEIICHI!" Megumi yelled as her brother drove his newly-
modified bike up to the starting line.
He must have managed to hear her somehow even through his
helmet, because he looked over and gave her a quick thumbs-
up.
"Next up, for the second and last round in the semi-finals,
the NIT Auto Club, versus the North Yokohama Racing team
... Gentlemen, start your engines!"
Megumi went silent, clasping her hands together as the two
drivers revved their engines. If they could just get past
this race, they would have a chance to prove themselves
against that jerk Aoshima and his hired goon.
The gun fired, and the race began. Keiichi took an early
lead over the other bike, but, like last time, his
acceleration slowed once he hit a certain speed. Megumi
could tell by his position on the bike that he was having
difficulty remaining stable.
The whine of the engines dropped suddenly in tone as the
bikes sped past their place in the stands; Keiichi was
still in the lead, and managed to remain there until just
after he crossed the finish line. The final scores flashed
up onto the board--7.796 to 7.831. With the modifications
to the bike, her brother had managed to squeeze out just a
little more speed than in the last race--and it was
fortunate he had, because it was only by a few hundredths
of a second that he had won.
Megumi breathed a sigh of relief as the announcer read off
the times. They were through the semi-finals--all that
remained was racing against the Four Wheels Club.
*
Once again parking his bike inside the club pavilion,
Keiichi dismounted and ran his sleeve across his forehead.
"I'll say it again, dude! Nice drivin' out there!" Ootaki
gave him his customary slap on the back. "Those mods work
out okay for ya?"
"Well," Keiichi replied hesitantly, "they helped a little
bit, but the frame's still really shaky. I had to push it
harder this time to stay ahead of the other guy."
"I hate to say it, but I don't think there's anything more
I could do except tear it down and rebuild the thing from
scratch, but that'd take way too long."
Keiichi smiled wanly. "I guess I'll just have to hope it
holds out for one more race, then."
"Well, well, well," said the voice of Toshiyuki Aoshima,
easily audible over the quiet, apprehensive chatter from
the entrance of the tent. "Looks like it's time for the
Four Wheels Club to show all of you rejects who the *real*
men are."
The person who confronted him, surprisingly, was none other
than Mara. The room went deathly quiet as she approached
him, coming to a stop just inches away from his face. She
was, Keiichi noted, slightly taller than Aoshima.
"Listen to me, you arrogant, rich little bastard! The NIT
Auto Club *does not* lose. We're going to go out there and
make you wish you never started your snotty little Four
Wheels Club. I promise you, little boy, you'll be crying
like a baby before the sun sets." Her voice became quiet,
mirroring the deathly cold fire in her eyes. "Now get the
hell out of our tent."
Toshiyuki Aoshima was not one to back down easily--in fact,
later on, he would wonder just why he did it. But at that
moment, with that woman's eyes boring into him, it was all
he could do to make a dignified exit. There was something
intangible about the way she looked at him that made him
want to run as fast and as far away as he possibly could.
Once the intruder was clear of the tent, she turned her
stare on Keiichi. Don't you *dare* make a fool of me, her
eyes said.
For what was probably the hundredth time that day, Keiichi
swallowed hard.
*
Breathe in, breathe out.
Breathe in, breathe out.
The sound of his own shallow breathing under the helmet
pervaded his consciousness. This is it, he told himself.
It's all up to me now.
Stretching out the tendons in his hand, he looked to his
left over at the Four Wheels Club machine behind the
starting line on the other track. The driver was a tall
man, that much he could tell, although his facial features
were obscured behind the cold, reflective surface of his
visor. His bike was a brand new Suzuki--a model Keiichi
didn't recognize. Dressed in red and white racing clothes,
he was the picture of an experienced professional. Nothing
like the young, nervous Keiichi himself, that much was
certain.
Win it for your sister. Win it for Verdandi. Win it for
the club. And whatever you do, don't embarrass Mara.
Breathe in, breathe out.
When the announcer's voice again came over the
loudspeakers, he barely heard it. His response was almost
automatic; he turned the ignition key, then brought the
bike slowly up to the line, gazing across the grassy median
at the other racer. The Four Wheels driver did not look
back.
He turned his gaze to the man with the gun.
Breathe in, breathe out. Pay attention. Stay focused.
The signal fired, and Keiichi was already speeding off down
the track by the time the sound of it reached him.
Leaning once again into the bike's acceleration, he
increased the throttle, all at once calm and frightened.
And once again, the bike began to tremble once he hit a
hundred and twenty.
Glancing into his rearview mirror for the reassuring image
of the opposing driver, he was alarmed to discover that,
this time, it was not there. All of a sudden, out of the
corner of his eye, he saw his opponent on the other track,
beginning to pull ahead of him.
All thought of keeping the bike stable left him at that
point. Winning was all that mattered. If you lose, you
lose everything.
Keiichi jammed the throttle as high as it would go. The
twin inline engines groaned under the load, and his bike
began closing the Four Wheels racer's lead. By this time,
his own machine was shaking so violently that he was having
difficulty holding on to the handle bar grips. Then, from
underneath him, a loud clanking sound issued forth from the
front engine. Breath catching in his throat, he looked
down just in time to see something explode.
There was a bright flash, then weightlessness.
*
The engine clanking was audible even up in the stands, but
by the time Megumi realized what was happening, it had
already happened. She watched in horror as Keiichi looked
down just in time to see one of the cylinder heads on his
front engine shoot off directly into the bike's steering
column. At the same time, something else shot out of the
engine manifold and clipped the edge of the fuel tank,
causing brief but intense explosion that obscured Keiichi
momentarily from view. The front wheel spun away from the
bike, while the remaining engine whined and broke free of
its mount as the machine tipped over forwards, throwing
Keiichi into the air and shattering what remained of the
frame.
He sailed through the air like a rag doll, tumbling limply
as he hit the ground in the median. The bike, meanwhile,
went up in flames, it's torn remnants dispersing all over
the track among puddles of burning gasoline. Mara,
Verdandi, and Megumi just stared for a few seconds at his
inert form, now lying awkwardly between the two tracks,
face down.
"Oh my God," Megumi whispered.
The Four Wheels bike crossed the finish line, but no one
noticed.
"KEIICHI!" someone screamed. The source of the voice,
surprisingly, was Mara; the young woman leapt off of the
bleachers as soon as she had recovered from the shock of
seeing the accident, breaking into a dead run toward the
prone, unmoving Keiichi. Megumi and Verdandi followed soon
after her, managing to keep ahead of the crowd of fans and
club members that were converging on the field.
When Mara reached him, she turned him by the shoulder so
that he was facing up, and then hastily removed his helmet.
His clothes were singed and torn in places, and what
remained intact, helmet included, was covered with grass
stains from rolling along the ground at such a high speed.
*
Keiichi groaned, having been painfully jostled around. He
could feel the fresh air on his face, but it took several
moments for the haze from the flash to clear from his eyes.
The silhouette of a woman kneeling over him came slowly
into view. His ears were ringing, but he could vaguely
hear her calling to him frantically. Two others arrived
beside her, and he soon found himself staring up into a
crowd of blurry figures.
By the time his vision had allowed him to make out their
faces, all three women--his sister, Verdandi, and Mara,
were kneeling down at his side. "I'm all right," he
whispered hoarsely over their worried chatter. "Just a
little dizzy."
"Just lie still," said a soothing voice, which he assumed
to be Verdandi's.
He lay there staring up into the sky, relieved to be alive.
*
The crowd--at least those who had remained in their seats--
began to chatter worriedly about the state of the fallen
driver. The circle of people around him obscured their
view; it was impossible to tell exactly what was going on.
The announcer, meanwhile, was trying her best to keep the
people calm and collected, although, despite her
reassurance, most of the audience was quite shaken up at
this turn of events. Their attention rapt, they gazed at
the group of people huddled around the crash, straining to
see any sort of sign that would give some indication as to
the driver's condition.
Finally, one cheer broke out from the inner circle
surrounding the driver, and then another, and another.
Soon the entire audience was on its feet and roaring at the
sight of the boy--who, for all intents and purposes, should
have been dead--pulling himself shakily to his feet, with
the help of a tall blonde woman and a brunette.
*
Keiichi was only dimly aware of the crowd's reaction as
Mara and Verdandi helped him off of the track. He was
sore, scraped and burned in places, and still extremely
dizzy.
He looked over at Mara, his eyes focusing on her slowly.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
The goddess was sobbing.
*
Some time later, Urd, Norn of the Past, and self-declared
Cupid of Love, was walking back to the temple with her
younger sister Skuld, Norn of the Future, and self-declared
genius.
"Think he'll be all right?" Skuld ventured, breaking their
uncharacteristic silence.
Urd nodded. "I'd say so, if he got up like that. He'll
probably be in the hospital for a day or two, though. Oh,
by the way," she added, almost as an afterthought, "I think
I know how we can get Bell's memory back."
"What? How?"
Urd shook her head. "You're not gonna like this."
"Anything's better than the way she is now," Skuld replied.
"Well, don't say I didn't warn you." Urd took in a deep
breath and continued. "Bell and Keiichi are in love,
Skuld. I don't think they know it yet, but I can see it
plain as day."
"What's that got to do with getting Bell's memory back?"
"It's like this ... we can't fight the Infernal Power
ourselves. There's no way that, between just the two of
us, we'd ever be able to help Bell remember."
"But I thought you said--"
"Let me finish!" she said sternly. "There's someone who
can help Belldandy out, even if we can't ... and that
someone is Keiichi Morisato."
Skuld looked at her sister skeptically. "But if we can't
to it, what's Keiichi gonna be able to do? We're
goddesses, and he's just a mortal."
"A mortal to whom Belldandy owes a wish," Urd amended.
"So?"
"Well, it's simple, really. All he has to do is wish for
her. The Ultimate Force will supercede the Infernal Power
because the wish was more recent, and Bell will get her
memory back."
"Um, Urd, just what do you mean by 'wishing for her'?"
"I told you, Skuld. They're in love. You figure it out."
"B--but that means she'll be--"
Urd shook a finger at Skuld. "Remember what you said.
Anything's better than the way she is right now ... and I
have a suspicion that this may be our only chance. And
besides, Keiichi Morisato is a good man--I can see these
things."
"Can't he just wish for something else, though?"
Urd shook her head. "No ... If he wished for a car or a
computer or something, he might get his wish ... but since
having one of those things wouldn't directly conflict with
Mara's contract, the Ultimate Force wouldn't take over, and
Bell's memory would stay locked away."
Skuld was silent for a long while, considering. Finally,
she came to a dead halt, causing Urd to turn around and
look at her curiously.
"What are we going back home to the temple for, then?"
Skuld demanded. "If that Keiichi person needs to wish for
Bell to save her, then we gotta go make him do it!"
Urd smiled knowingly. "You haven't been studying, have
you? A wish is something that has to come from the heart,
Skuld. If we go over there and tell Keiichi to wish for
Belldandy then, sure, he might do it, but he'd be doing it
because we told him to, and not because he really meant it.
Goddesses can't grant wishes that don't come from the
heart."
"So that means we have to wait for him?" Skuld stammered,
on the verge of tears.
"I'm afraid so," Urd replied. "The only thing we can do
right now, is just keep an eye on her like we've been
doing. C'mon," she added, noticing her sister's distress.
"Let's head back to the temple. I think there's some ice
cream in the freezer."
Together, the youngest and eldest of the Three Sisters made
their way back to their makeshift abode, silently
contemplating what lay ahead.