[soap opera Gobusters]

[interpolate]

I keep running on that wash of Enetron for another approximately thirty minutes, which is thirty minutes longer than Hiromu lasts, because he passes out as soon as his sister walks in. I probably shouldn't have teleported directly into her home, but better safe than sorry, or something like that.

She passes out too, which is a further complication, one I could have done without.

I find her bedroom and put her to bed.

I get Hiromu into his own bed, bandage the wound in his shoulder.

I get Ryuuji into their thankfully large bathtub and fill it with cold water.

I send out an encrypted message that their BuddyRoids should be able to decipher, even if Youko can't.

I re-write EMC's firewall to specifically protect against Messiah's weak intrusions into the real world (I have nothing to fear from MetaViruses).

And then I crash. I crumple to the floor where I stand, in the middle of the apartment where all of this technically started.

For Joe

[fanhate]

Kisaragi and company are so useless I don't normally trouble myself about what they're doing, but recently I've noticed a new addition to their ranks. It's almost a shame. Put him in a kimono and he'd be pretty enough for the rakugo club.

Pretty face or no pretty face, I still wouldn't have been interested in him, if not for some of the stories I'm hearing about the auditorium. Don't care how many kids he's put in hospital this week or what his latest smart remark to a teacher was. What's caught my attention is the reports of his numerous foster homes, his many schools, his strange ways and refusal to tell anyone anything about himself. At the very least, that suggests a troubled soul who might be more receptive to the effects of a Switch. At best ... well, we've seen the results of my recent successful co-production with Leo. I think it's time I got to know this guy a little better. Gibken? Sounds foreign to me. All the more promising.

Surprise is of the essence, so I'll simply arrange to be around at the same time as he is. He seems the type to prefer a more muted entrance rather than a fanfare, "Yo."