Although he was under direct orders to "have a good time," Sousuke was not in the best of spirits. Free of his mission's obligations, he was more than a little bit uncertain what to do with himself.
On top of that, Kaname really seemed to hate him this time. When their eyes had met by chance, Kaname simply had turned around and walked off in the other direction with Kyouko and the other girls.
"Well, you really can't blame her," lamented Shinji Kazama from his perch on the airport bench. "I mean, she did find you out on her balcony, having a chat with her panties in your hands."
Ever since the incident, Shinji and Sousuke were associates in shame, complicit in embarrassment.
"Hey, cheer up, Sagara."
"Right." Sagara looked forward to returning to the Tuatha de Danaan and receiving another assignment.
Why did he agree to go on the school trip, anyway?
"Okay, Class Four!" announced Miss Kagurazaka. "Have your tickets out and your IDs ready!"
Sulking, Sousuke and Shinji moved through the line and onto the plane.
Having seated a whole plane full of rowdy students, the stewardess breathed a sigh of relief. Actually, there were about eighty or so passengers that weren't part of the school trip. And as those passengers began boarding the plane, they already were rolling their eyes in anticipation of the students' youthful energy.
Visions of future headaches flashed through the stewardess' head. She grimaced.
"Hello?" called a passenger as he stepped through the door. "Can you tell me where my seat is?"
He waved his ticket in front of her.
"Yes, please follow me," she said, forcing a smile.
"I can't say I envy you, having to babysit all these students."
"It really isn't that bad," she said.
"I would snap for sure, probably toss them all out the window at twenty-five hundred feet."
Somewhat confused, she grunted.
"If we killed them all, we'd have a quiet flight, don't you think?"
"Sir, it isn't—"
"I'm only kidding," he explained, quite seriously. "Ah, there it is." The man smiled as he slid into his seat, but it was not at all a pleasant smile.
The jumbo jet reached its cruising altitude.
Having never been on a plane before, Kyouko gripped the side of the window and pressed her face against the glass. It was a bright and clear day, and she could see all of Tokyo.
"Wow, look! Hey, there's the Rainbow Bridge. Awesome!"
"There it is," Kaname said halfheartedly.
"Are you even listening, Kana?"
"Of course."
"Look, the Statue of Liberty!"
"Yep."
"The Eiffel Tower! "
"Neato," monotoned Kaname.
Kyouko nudged her. "What's the matter? You've been acting really weird all day. What happened?"
"Nothing, really." Kaname didn't feel like explaining that she was mad at herself. She thought she might learn a little bit about this Sagara character when he jumped out of the train window to follow her, but all she found out was that he was a geeky, moody, perverted stalker!
"Is it about Sagara?" guessed Kyouko.
"What? Of course not. No way. Ha ha. Ha ha ha!"
Despite Kaname's obvious use of her nervous "let's talk about something else" laugh, Kyouko had no intention of dropping the subject.
"Did he do something to you?"
"No, not really."
"I knew it. I mean, it was just Sunday that you said he actually might be a nice guy; but the very next day, you totally ignored him. What did he do?"
"Nothing, really."
"Come on, Kana. Even if you're scared to tell anyone else, you can tell me." Kyouko took Kaname by the hand. "You'll need to go to the hospital, too. I'll go with you."
"Hold on—"
"Don't worry—we'll make Sagara pay for this! I know this lawyer who deals with this kind of thing a lot. She's good, too."
"What are you blabbering about?"
Before Kyouko could answer, the plane pitched left and right, rocking back and forth. Kyouko let out a small yelp.
"It's okay, nothing to worry about," stated Kaname coolly, although the plane's swaying hadn't totally stopped. "It's weird, though, I've never been in turbulence when the weather's this nice."
Students, natural gossipers and conspiracy theorists, were buzzing about the bumpiness. Kaname tapped the student in the seat in front of her.
"Hey, what's going on?"
"I don't know. But I swear I heard some kind of popping sound just before the jolt."
"Popping?"
"Attention, passengers. Don't be alarmed. We've encountered a low-pressure system. We've adjusted our course. We still may encounter future turbulence, but I assure you that there is nothing to worry about."
"That's strange," Kaname decided.
Confused, Kyouko asked why.
"I mean, they don't usually say 'don't be alarmed.' Usually, they say 'please fasten your seat belts,' or something like that."
And neither one of them knew just how right she was.
