"Do you really think I'm some kind of storybook goody-goody? You seemed smarter than that last time we talked." Nao's face had made the sneer look good. Of course, even more so than the other HiME her face could make almost any expression look good.
Whatever this... job... might be doing to his health or long-term prospects, he had to admit that the scenery would have made it a bargain at twice the price. "Nobody who can make people dance the way you can would be unable to hide their feelings. Yet, talking to Mai and Akane you seemed to do just that... which I don't think'd happen if you didn't care. You sounded so angry... like you'd been betrayed by them, personally.
"No... I think you believe what you said... and I'm willing to bet that you wish you didn't."
She'd slapped him for his presumption and stormed off, which had hardly been the best omen for their future interactions, but that didn't mean that he was wrong. Sometimes, when she was alone in the dark of the night, she could even start to admit it... but that required touching on things she'd gone to great lengths to keep from her waking mind.
The dreams were bad enough, and speaking of the Devil, here he was. "You're early," she told him, carefully not hinting at how good it was to have someone there beyond the faceless orderlies and that pinch-faced, sanctimonious doctor, someone who actually bothered to see her rather than a bundle of symptoms.
"They've brought in some people for the treatment they gave me, now that they've got the bugs mostly out. I don't have much else to do and the Doc though she could use a hand, so..." he broke off and shrugged.
Bringing in others? "I don't get it," she said.
"Well... this Festival nightmare runs on pain, right?" the Director and Midori's research both said otherwise, she knew, but she also knew he wouldn't believe that - Akane had tried. "And since they haven't been able to lever the other HiME apart the way they did us - well, you - they'll have to see all of them defeated - in the worst way they can. Hence, they're arranging backup that will further the goal in its own right. Or that's what they told me, anyway."
"Who?" she asked, and wetted lips that suddenly seemed terribly dry.
He told her.
Hm. I'm enjoying setting this up.
Ja, -n
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"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"