Blossom Apartments, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
October 1, 2016
7:25am ET
Saturdays weren't school days in Canada. (Not that she was attending school yet.) But bad habits were easy to get into and hard to break, so she got up anyway.
Heading toward the common room, she noticed Konori-sempai knocking on Tsukino-san's door. "If you want breakfast before we go downtown, you'd better get up and dressed soon, Usagi-san!"
That was the other reason she was already up and dressed - they were going to go see another museum today. If they had time, they might see two. Donaldson-san thought it was better than getting a broad overview of Canadian history out of a textbook.
As Konori-sempai kept knocking, Kuroko sighed deeply and rolled her eyes. How was somebody like Tsukino-san supposed to become the ruler of her world?
9:30am ET
Kuroko started to teleport to the parking lot ... then remembered that Donaldson-san didn't like that. They were pretending that they weren't espers.
She used to think it was a silly rule – until she learned that almost everybody on this Earth thought that esper abilities didn't exist.
And then she had learned about how some people without esper abilities could control people who did have them, either by subtle manipulation of their emotions or through more blatant – and painful – means. And some of those people weren't very nice, even compared to the others who would do things like that. The building's internet firewall let through a lot more than she thought Donaldson-san wanted it to let through. (Although she still couldn't get at any of those "Rule 34" images of her and oneesan that a few chat boards assured her existed. Maybe Uiharu-san or Mizuno-san – Kazari or Ami; they were in Canada now, and it seemed like everybody used just given names here – could help her crack that filter. Then she realized that Donaldson-san probably wanted information about things like MKUltra and Stockholm Syndrome to get through the filter, after all.)
She didn't want somebody to force her to use her Teleport – or force oneesan to use her Railgun – to break the law, so she had to make sure nobody saw it in action.
Walking short distances. What a concept. But she was getting used to it.
Ottawa Locks, Rideau Canal, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
October 1, 2016
9:55am ET
"It was noisy up there, but down here it's nice and quiet."
Kuroko had to agree with Saten-san – Ruiko. It was relatively peaceful in the depression around the canal locks. "Why are there so many in a row? Wouldn't a water elevator take less room?"
Donaldson-san nodded. "It would, but they didn't have the raw materials to build one when they were finishing off the Rideau Canal. Thus, they built eight locks in a row."
"Who lives in the castle?"
Donaldson-san smiled at Tsukino-san's question. "Which one? No, that isn't a fair question. That building," he pointed across the canal and up the hill, "is the Chateau Laurier. It's a high-class hotel. And that building," he pointed in the opposite direction and up the other hill, "is one of the Parliament Buildings."
"A government building? Shouldn't the wall be higher? We can see over it, even from down here."
He shook his head. "No, that would make it more difficult for Canadians to visit their seat of government. Do you want to visit Parliament Hill after lunch?"
"Can we?" Tsukino-san was amazed. Kuroko was surprised, too. Next he'd be saying they didn't need to make an appointment to take a tour of the place.
"Sure we can! We might even be able to take a tour of the Centre Block."
Kuroko blinked. She was a teleporter, not a clairvoyant - how did she know that was what Donaldson-san was going to say? Then she realized how she had known – it was the kind of thing that Donaldson-san always said. That was just how Canadians acted, it seemed.
She'd have to get used to that.
"Who lives in that stone house?" asked Uiharu – Kazari.
"That's the museum we're going to visit this morning. Did everybody remember to download the guided tour audio to your phones?"
Kuroko double-checked – she had both the English and Japanese versions ready to play.
10:44am ET
Kuroko was sure that, if she heard another five minutes of this audio, she'd die of boredom.
Then she saw one of the other visitors to the museum fall over.
Everybody stopped the tour. Donaldson-san was the first to act. "Sir, are you all right? Do you need any help?" When he didn't get an answer, he leaned down and listened at the man's mouth. "Oh, shit. Ami!"
Mizuno-san rushed over, already looking at her watch. She touched the man's wrist for a long moment. "No pulse."
"Right. I'm starting compressions, you start breaths. Mii, call 9-1-1. Kuroko! Go to the ticket desk and get the defibrillator, as fast as you can."
Kuroko blinked in surprise, teleported downstairs, and got the ticket clerk's attention. "We need help! Someone's having a heart attack upstairs."
"Oh, dear." The person behind the desk opened a box labelled AED and pulled out the defibrillator and a small bag.
Kuroko took them both and teleported back to Mizuno-san and Donaldson-san – Ami and Rob. "Here."
"Good. Kazari, set it up. 27, 28, 29, 30." He stopped pushing on the man's chest while Ami breathed into his mouth. Seeing her listen then shake her head, he started compressions again. "Kuroko, get this shirt off him, please."
Kuroko knew Rob wasn't going to stop the compressions. She teleported the shirt off the man's chest, then teleported his undershirt off him. Meanwhile, Kazari had the AED pads out of the bag and plugged into the switched-on unit. "Here..."
"Work around us. 27, 28, 29, 30." Ami breathed for the man again, then the AED started its diagnostic process. When the defibrillator announced a shock, everyone got clear ... then Rob started the compressions again after the AED said to continue.
By this point, the museum staff had reached the incident scene. The AED announced a second shock. This time, it worked.
Kuroko smiled and relaxed – and noticed Tsukino-san putting her brooch back in her pocket. Kuroko nodded - that was how somebody like Tsukino-san – Usagi – was supposed to become the ruler of her world.
The paramedics arrived as Ami was making the man comfortable. They and Rob quickly got into a discussion about what had happened.
The museum staff approached Kuroko. "Miss, thank you for acting so quickly; I think you saved this man's life. But how did you get from the front desk to here so quickly?"
"Oh, dear - you noticed. We weren't supposed to let people know about that."
"'We'?"
"Oops."
11:20am ET
The museum's office was crowded. In addition to the manager, Donaldson-san, and all ten of the girls, two men wearing suits and police badges and carrying pistols were standing in the room.
Everyone was standing. The room wasn't that large to begin with.
"Tsukino-san, I'm sorry, but I think we aren't going to have time to visit Parliament Hill today."
One of the police officers raised an eyebrow, then looked at Usagi's hairdo and raised both eyebrows. "'Tsukino'? Sailor Moon?"
Rob blinked, then looked at the officer. "Have I seen you somewhere before?"
"I think I remember you from an anime club showing at Carleton. Who else here stepped out of the screen?"
"You're taking this remarkably well."
"Just eliminating the impossible. So ... no, wait, let me guess – the staff described a teleporter, and this girl has her hair in loose twin tails and is wearing what looks like a cosplay of a Tokiwadai school uniform."
Kuroko smiled her best fake smile. "Kuroko Shirai, at your service."
"Uh-huh. How many of you are from other worlds?"
"It would be faster to ask who isn't," Rob replied. "But before we proceed, I'd like some assurance that this isn't going to become public knowledge."
"Of course not. Who'd believe me?"
"Why are you believing yourself? I don't know why, but everyone I've told about this has accepted the idea without blinking." Rob looked at the other plainclothes officer. "Your partner included."
"I'm not the expert here."
"Nobody's an 'expert' here. We're all taking it in stride. But if it got out that these ten people exist in our world ..."
"They'd have no peace and no private lives," the otaku officer finished. "We won't mention any of this in the official report."
"Thank you."
"However." Everyone waited for him to continue. He sighed, and went on. "However, I'd appreciate having some way to get in touch with you, just in case someone else shows up from some other anime."
Rob smiled. "I was hoping you'd ask that. Shall we trade cellphone numbers?"
5:30pm ET
They had made it to Parliament Hill after all, but too late to take the tour. Simply wandering around the grounds, unescorted and completely unhindered, was enough to amaze Kuroko and Mii and delight Usagi and Ruiko.
"We'll have to come back here later, and take that tour."
Kuroko nodded at Rob's comment. "I'd like that. Has anyone heard from the hospital?"
"Yes, Ami told me that she got a call from them a few minutes ago. They've tracked down his relatives; they're on the way here from Toronto. He wants to see all of us, to thank us properly."
"I was just doing my job ... but I'm not part of Judgment here, am I?"
"Not officially, no, but we do have one friendly contact in the police force now."
"Does that mean Uiharu and I –"
"No. You're still too young. Ask again when you're sixteen... or if the fate of the world is at stake."
October 1, 2016
7:25am ET
Saturdays weren't school days in Canada. (Not that she was attending school yet.) But bad habits were easy to get into and hard to break, so she got up anyway.
Heading toward the common room, she noticed Konori-sempai knocking on Tsukino-san's door. "If you want breakfast before we go downtown, you'd better get up and dressed soon, Usagi-san!"
That was the other reason she was already up and dressed - they were going to go see another museum today. If they had time, they might see two. Donaldson-san thought it was better than getting a broad overview of Canadian history out of a textbook.
As Konori-sempai kept knocking, Kuroko sighed deeply and rolled her eyes. How was somebody like Tsukino-san supposed to become the ruler of her world?
9:30am ET
Kuroko started to teleport to the parking lot ... then remembered that Donaldson-san didn't like that. They were pretending that they weren't espers.
She used to think it was a silly rule – until she learned that almost everybody on this Earth thought that esper abilities didn't exist.
And then she had learned about how some people without esper abilities could control people who did have them, either by subtle manipulation of their emotions or through more blatant – and painful – means. And some of those people weren't very nice, even compared to the others who would do things like that. The building's internet firewall let through a lot more than she thought Donaldson-san wanted it to let through. (Although she still couldn't get at any of those "Rule 34" images of her and oneesan that a few chat boards assured her existed. Maybe Uiharu-san or Mizuno-san – Kazari or Ami; they were in Canada now, and it seemed like everybody used just given names here – could help her crack that filter. Then she realized that Donaldson-san probably wanted information about things like MKUltra and Stockholm Syndrome to get through the filter, after all.)
She didn't want somebody to force her to use her Teleport – or force oneesan to use her Railgun – to break the law, so she had to make sure nobody saw it in action.
Walking short distances. What a concept. But she was getting used to it.
Ottawa Locks, Rideau Canal, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
October 1, 2016
9:55am ET
"It was noisy up there, but down here it's nice and quiet."
Kuroko had to agree with Saten-san – Ruiko. It was relatively peaceful in the depression around the canal locks. "Why are there so many in a row? Wouldn't a water elevator take less room?"
Donaldson-san nodded. "It would, but they didn't have the raw materials to build one when they were finishing off the Rideau Canal. Thus, they built eight locks in a row."
"Who lives in the castle?"
Donaldson-san smiled at Tsukino-san's question. "Which one? No, that isn't a fair question. That building," he pointed across the canal and up the hill, "is the Chateau Laurier. It's a high-class hotel. And that building," he pointed in the opposite direction and up the other hill, "is one of the Parliament Buildings."
"A government building? Shouldn't the wall be higher? We can see over it, even from down here."
He shook his head. "No, that would make it more difficult for Canadians to visit their seat of government. Do you want to visit Parliament Hill after lunch?"
"Can we?" Tsukino-san was amazed. Kuroko was surprised, too. Next he'd be saying they didn't need to make an appointment to take a tour of the place.
"Sure we can! We might even be able to take a tour of the Centre Block."
Kuroko blinked. She was a teleporter, not a clairvoyant - how did she know that was what Donaldson-san was going to say? Then she realized how she had known – it was the kind of thing that Donaldson-san always said. That was just how Canadians acted, it seemed.
She'd have to get used to that.
"Who lives in that stone house?" asked Uiharu – Kazari.
"That's the museum we're going to visit this morning. Did everybody remember to download the guided tour audio to your phones?"
Kuroko double-checked – she had both the English and Japanese versions ready to play.
10:44am ET
Kuroko was sure that, if she heard another five minutes of this audio, she'd die of boredom.
Then she saw one of the other visitors to the museum fall over.
Everybody stopped the tour. Donaldson-san was the first to act. "Sir, are you all right? Do you need any help?" When he didn't get an answer, he leaned down and listened at the man's mouth. "Oh, shit. Ami!"
Mizuno-san rushed over, already looking at her watch. She touched the man's wrist for a long moment. "No pulse."
"Right. I'm starting compressions, you start breaths. Mii, call 9-1-1. Kuroko! Go to the ticket desk and get the defibrillator, as fast as you can."
Kuroko blinked in surprise, teleported downstairs, and got the ticket clerk's attention. "We need help! Someone's having a heart attack upstairs."
"Oh, dear." The person behind the desk opened a box labelled AED and pulled out the defibrillator and a small bag.
Kuroko took them both and teleported back to Mizuno-san and Donaldson-san – Ami and Rob. "Here."
"Good. Kazari, set it up. 27, 28, 29, 30." He stopped pushing on the man's chest while Ami breathed into his mouth. Seeing her listen then shake her head, he started compressions again. "Kuroko, get this shirt off him, please."
Kuroko knew Rob wasn't going to stop the compressions. She teleported the shirt off the man's chest, then teleported his undershirt off him. Meanwhile, Kazari had the AED pads out of the bag and plugged into the switched-on unit. "Here..."
"Work around us. 27, 28, 29, 30." Ami breathed for the man again, then the AED started its diagnostic process. When the defibrillator announced a shock, everyone got clear ... then Rob started the compressions again after the AED said to continue.
By this point, the museum staff had reached the incident scene. The AED announced a second shock. This time, it worked.
Kuroko smiled and relaxed – and noticed Tsukino-san putting her brooch back in her pocket. Kuroko nodded - that was how somebody like Tsukino-san – Usagi – was supposed to become the ruler of her world.
The paramedics arrived as Ami was making the man comfortable. They and Rob quickly got into a discussion about what had happened.
The museum staff approached Kuroko. "Miss, thank you for acting so quickly; I think you saved this man's life. But how did you get from the front desk to here so quickly?"
"Oh, dear - you noticed. We weren't supposed to let people know about that."
"'We'?"
"Oops."
11:20am ET
The museum's office was crowded. In addition to the manager, Donaldson-san, and all ten of the girls, two men wearing suits and police badges and carrying pistols were standing in the room.
Everyone was standing. The room wasn't that large to begin with.
"Tsukino-san, I'm sorry, but I think we aren't going to have time to visit Parliament Hill today."
One of the police officers raised an eyebrow, then looked at Usagi's hairdo and raised both eyebrows. "'Tsukino'? Sailor Moon?"
Rob blinked, then looked at the officer. "Have I seen you somewhere before?"
"I think I remember you from an anime club showing at Carleton. Who else here stepped out of the screen?"
"You're taking this remarkably well."
"Just eliminating the impossible. So ... no, wait, let me guess – the staff described a teleporter, and this girl has her hair in loose twin tails and is wearing what looks like a cosplay of a Tokiwadai school uniform."
Kuroko smiled her best fake smile. "Kuroko Shirai, at your service."
"Uh-huh. How many of you are from other worlds?"
"It would be faster to ask who isn't," Rob replied. "But before we proceed, I'd like some assurance that this isn't going to become public knowledge."
"Of course not. Who'd believe me?"
"Why are you believing yourself? I don't know why, but everyone I've told about this has accepted the idea without blinking." Rob looked at the other plainclothes officer. "Your partner included."
"I'm not the expert here."
"Nobody's an 'expert' here. We're all taking it in stride. But if it got out that these ten people exist in our world ..."
"They'd have no peace and no private lives," the otaku officer finished. "We won't mention any of this in the official report."
"Thank you."
"However." Everyone waited for him to continue. He sighed, and went on. "However, I'd appreciate having some way to get in touch with you, just in case someone else shows up from some other anime."
Rob smiled. "I was hoping you'd ask that. Shall we trade cellphone numbers?"
5:30pm ET
They had made it to Parliament Hill after all, but too late to take the tour. Simply wandering around the grounds, unescorted and completely unhindered, was enough to amaze Kuroko and Mii and delight Usagi and Ruiko.
"We'll have to come back here later, and take that tour."
Kuroko nodded at Rob's comment. "I'd like that. Has anyone heard from the hospital?"
"Yes, Ami told me that she got a call from them a few minutes ago. They've tracked down his relatives; they're on the way here from Toronto. He wants to see all of us, to thank us properly."
"I was just doing my job ... but I'm not part of Judgment here, am I?"
"Not officially, no, but we do have one friendly contact in the police force now."
"Does that mean Uiharu and I –"
"No. You're still too young. Ask again when you're sixteen... or if the fate of the world is at stake."
--
Rob Kelk
Sticks and stones can break your bones,
But words can break your heart.
- unknown
Rob Kelk
Sticks and stones can break your bones,
But words can break your heart.
- unknown
