"Sorry, Saki, but can you lead me to Eri's place? I have something I need to tell the Kounos." Chiharu told her little sister. Saki had been watching one of her favorite doctor dramas when a bunch of obviously fake wyrds had taken over the screen instead. At first Chiharu had a nightmare that the dark wyrds had finally decided to try and recruit the entire human public to witch hunt down the Choice Givers of the world with a series of libels and lies. But apparently dark wyrds looked so far down on humans that it was beneath their pride to work alongside them. No matter how many years passed, they wanted to destroy the world using their own strength, and left the majority of Dead Enders out of the conflict. For wyrds to appear in front of everyone like this, and to make a speech like the one they made, could only mean one thing. Their friendly neighbors had bared their fangs.

　　"You aren't going to fight them, are you?" Saki asked fearfully.

　　"Of course not. They're Choice Givers. It's sacrilege to raise your hand in violence against a Choice Giver. It's like spitting in the eye of God." Chiharu said.

　　"Oh thank goodness." Saki sighed in relief. "I don't want to fight them. Her parents were nice to me, and Eri's my friend."

　　"I have never once lost an argument with someone who was willing to listen to reason. We're just going over to have a chat." Chiharu encouraged her little sister.

　　"Let me call their place. I'll tell them we're completely peaceful so there won't be any misunderstandings." Saki said quickly, running to their central home phone and dialing for the Kounos.

　　"Yes, hello? This is Saki Sakai. Sorry to bother you when it's already late. Yes, it's about the speech. My sister thought she might come over and talk about it. We have no ill intentions at all. She just wants to talk about it. Is it alright if I guide her to your place? It shouldn't take long. Maybe thirty minutes? Okay. Thank you so much! Then, see you soon!" Saki hung up and took another deep breath.

　　"They said it would be fine, sister. But they also said there was no way you could change their minds now that they've begun, so don't get your hopes up." Saki said.

　　"We'll see." Chiharu said. "Well then, let's go save the world."

　　"Yes!" Saki agreed, putting on her shoes and leading the way out the door.

* * *

　　It was a quiet, solemn journey of walking and bus rides to the Kouno mansion. The town had a lot of people milling together in the street, trying to make heads or tails of the news. Most didn't believe it. They had seen so many miracles created by hackers in the past, that this one just seemed to be a bigger and better version of the same. A few of them resented these 'wyrds' for thinking they had any right to judge other people. A few nervously boasted about making sure to go out and do the opposite just to defy these would be tyrants. A lot of people kept their peace and looked worriedly up at the sky. The wyrds had predicted a meteor would fly by this evening. If the scientists of the world saw it, this wasn't any ordinary hacking prank. Then again, it wasn't so hard to believe hackers had some amateur astronomer who had noticed the coming meteor and timed their announcement accordingly. It was still just an elaborate hoax. The power to divert asteroids? It had to be a hoax.

　　When Saki came to the Kouno mansion's gate, it looked a lot more menacing and intimidating than it had in the daylight. She hit the intercom button and prayed no one would get into a fight.

　　"Hello? It's us." Saki spoke into the grill.

　　"Welcome, Sakais." Eri's father returned, and the gate opened for them. Saki led the way again, this time reaching the front door to knock.

　　The door opened, and Eri's father was standing there again. "Welcome, please come in."

　　"Sorry to intrude." Saki bowed nervously, stepping into the foyer and taking off her shoes. Guest slippers had been provided for both of them, and so she slipped those on and walked meekly to the living room couch she had so happily drunk tea at just three days ago.

　　"Sorry to intrude." Chiharu bowed crisply, following her little sister.

　　"I gather you heard our speech?" Eri's father said. It didn't take long for both Eri and her mother to appear, bringing in hot tea they'd obviously started preparing when Saki had called. The tension in the room shot up dramatically. Saki found it hard to look Eri in the face. When she did, Eri instantly reddened and looked away. She looked extremely angry. Why? For trying to make her feel ashamed? For trying to make her say her parents were wrong and they had done a bad thing? I suppose in a way Saki was betraying Eri just by being here. But raining death down on the world surely wasn't the way to save it. Right?

　　"Yes, I just wanted to ask a few questions about it. Are you bluffing or for real?" Chiharu asked, accepting her tea and taking a savoring sip.

　　"We aren't bluffing." Eri's father said.

　　"Is it okay if I ask a lot of questions in a row?" Chiharu asked.

　　"Fire away." Eri's father replied, taking his own cup of tea.

　　"What if mankind can't live up to your expectations?" Chiharu asked.

　　"Then they're worthless anyway. Whether they die here and now, or flatline into stagnation later, makes no real difference. We're just hurrying up their own decision, the dead end would happen either way." Eri's father said.

　　"What if, given time, we Choice Givers could persuade them to become better people? What if they can't live up to your expectations now, but if you had given us a little more time, they could have lived up to your expectations later?" Chiharu asked.

　　"Persuade? You're living in a dream world. It's impossible to persuade anyone of anything." Eri's father said. "These people are sheep, they don't use reason in the first place, but just follow their obsolete traditions and their base instincts. How many times have people tried to persuade them to reform? When has the world ever listened before? Dead Enders don't listen to reason. They must be coerced into everything. Fear is the only way to push them in the direction they need to go."

　　"I've persuaded Dead Enders before." Chiharu said.

　　"An exception, a meaningless anecdote, that doesn't change statistical facts." Eri's father dismissed the news.

　　Chiharu sighed. This really was going to take a while. "Are you fine with this? A world of followers who only follow out of fear? Inside their hearts, nothing will have changed."

　　"At first, perhaps." Eri's father agreed. "But people are creatures of habit. They tend to rationalize and approve of whatever they are currently doing. Obedience will begin as only an outward disguise. But it will creep inside soon enough, until they start to think that this was what they really wanted to do and be from the beginning."

　　Saki's eyes widened. Were people really that fickle?

　　"Even then, it will be a false following. Rationalizations, excuses, they aren't the same as understanding why they should be the way you want. If they truly understood, they wouldn't follow you out of fear. They would emulate you out of love." Chiharu said.

　　"Emulators are all well and good, but they'll always be a tiny minority. For everyone else, all they can ever hope to be is followers. So long as we are the ones they follow, what's the problem? The world will be safe for the people who really matter. If everyone knows their place and behaves, the real citizens of this world, with real potential, who really will change the future for the better, won't be caught up in their nonsense anymore. I don't need everyone to be a star. It's enough if everyone else just stays out of our way." Eri's father said.

　　"Isn't this reckless? Taking on the entire world while the dark wyrds are still out there?" Chiharu asked, changing tacks again.

　　"The wyrd council is dead. We killed them. While your group just sits around doing nothing, the Moral Aristocracy has been doing its duty. We aren't like you, a bunch of laid back girls who just want to be happy." Eri's father said.

　　"I don't think we've been doing 'nothing' all this time." Chiharu frowned, putting down her tea. "We had everything in hand without your help. We've already sent hundreds of thousands of people, all followers and emulators, across the multiverse, giving each of them their own habitable world. They will all flourish according to their own unique plan, far away from the threats of dark wyrds and Dead Enders. And, apparently, far away from the threat of you."

　　"Dear," Eri's mother put a hand on her husband's arm, who took a moment to relax again.

　　"I'm glad to hear that, Sakai." Eri's mother started. "But you must realize that whether life will flourish elsewhere or not, the moral calculus doesn't change concerning what we should do with the Dead Enders here. There are still seven billion people on Earth to save, and countless trillions who will follow after them, regardless of what happens in other worlds. You don't mean to say that we should just leave the people here to their fates, because their lives no longer matter?"

　　"No, I don't mean that." Chiharu admitted.

　　"Surely you aren't some sort of Dead Meanser, coming here to preach about how everyone's a special snowflake?" Eri's father jumped back in.

　　Chiharu laughed. "No, I had no such intention."

　　"Then what is your real objection to our plan? Do you not like the laws we gave? The manner of our enforcement? The threshold we set as a minimum value for life to continue? Do you think one of the measures was unnecessary, or that all of them were unnecessary?" Eri's father pressed.

　　"My only objection is that Shiori wouldn't want this." Chiharu said quietly. Saki looked up in confusion. Who was Shiori? And what did her opinion matter? Chiharu was a Choice Giver, why would she look up to anyone?

　　"What does that mean? Whoever this Shiori is, we're all Choice Givers here. It's impossible to pull rank on us, or make arguments by authority." Eri's father said.

　　"I don't know if anyone will follow your commands. I hope they do. I even admit they're all good ideas. But I know this isn't the way to save mankind. Beating them down, making them smaller, taking away their free will, how will this prepare them for the challenges of the future? We need to make Dead Enders strong at heart, strong enough to decide these things on their own, for themselves, because they want to be good. If they aren't ready to even follow these 'rudimentary' moral laws without someone pushing them from behind, how will they follow the next level of morality? We both know what the next level is, don't we?" Chiharu asked, a hint of pleading in her voice.

　　"Temperament. The passion and resolution to not only do what is right, but enjoy doing it, and to follow through with it to the very hilt." Eri's mother supplied.

　　"Will fear make anyone passionate or dedicated to the cause of life? They'll always do whatever is the minimum requirement, while resenting it the whole time. They'll do it, but they'll hate doing it. And then it's just another Dead End! We stagnate as a bunch of well behaved surly never do wells." Chiharu pressed.

　　"The next generation will have a fresh start. And with a good environment in place, they'll achieve more than their 'surly' parents." Eri's father predicted confidently.

　　"How? How can the next generation do better when all their parents are surly and treat it all as just a farce, a ritual? Don't you think that contempt for the Good will show through to the children, even if they never once say it out loud? Children pick up on a lot, Mr. Kouno. They know when adults truly care, they won't be fooled by a cargo cult like simulation of good people doing good things." Chiharu said.

　　"It's better than nothing," Eri's mother said. "What would you prefer? Hoping for a miracle to transform everyone's hearts into joyous angels? Letting the Dead Enders destroy the world, such that not even the salvageable few can survive or prosper?"

　　"It's not better than nothing! In the long term, it's stunting their moral growth! Once they reach the second level, there's a third level of morality. It's when we're not only happy being good, we're happy when anyone is good. And then there's a fourth level of morality. It's when Good takes on a material form, and we are a part of it. And then there's a fifth level of morality. It's when we start over and reset the universe into something Good from the start, something that life could be even better inside of. Then there's a sixth, a seventh, and an eighth level, that only that life form will ever know! What's the use in getting people to level one if it isn't in a way that prepares them to reach levels two through eight?" Chiharu asked.

　　"We'll reach all those levels." Eri's mother reassured Chiharu. "With the help of the Dead Enders or without their help, a few champions will keep dragging mankind forward, bit by bit."

　　"But it's lonely! Saving the world with just a handful of people isn't as infinite as everyone joining hands and making the future together! Softball is more fun because you get to play with everyone!" Chiharu exclaimed.

　　Saki looked at Eri hopefully. It was just like in the classroom, when Eri had wanted to segregate herself from the rest of the class, but Saki had thought they could all be friends. In both cases, there was no doubt Eri would be a good person. But only in one case was she safe from being alone. In math, there were higher and lower infinities. In that case, infinite possibilities wasn't the end of your ideas -- it was only the beginning. Infinite possibilities wasn't good enough. The set of all infinite possibilities was even better. How fun would a world be with the art and science of a million Choice Givers? What if there were a billion? What if there were one in every home, a fountain of life and love to everyone they met? What if there were so many role models to emulate not a single person would be left out? And to get those numbers, to get that future, the world still needed to mature. Rather than wardens, what the Earth really needed right now was babysitters. Mothers didn't beat their children for their failures, at least, not the best Mothers. They simply praised their children for their successes.

　　"You're too ambitious." Eri's father proclaimed, bringing Saki's hopes crashing down. "Higher infinities? Look around you. We'll be lucky if the world survives just the next fifty years. If we hadn't intervened, what do you think would have happened?"

　　"Anything could happen in fifty years." Chiharu said, drinking the last of her tea. "One year ago, both my sisters were Dead Enders. Now they're the lights of my life. Now I try to learn from them. A year ago, our family got along, just like any family you might find. Now we're the happiest family in the universe. All three of us shared a bathtub together. No one could have predicted that a year ago. So just think what could happen in fifty! Here, I'll tell you what could happen in fifty years. Suppose each and every one of us loves just two other people. Suppose we make enough of an impact in their life that they really do change, from the inside out, to be more like the souls we want. Aiko's dating a boy named Kiyoshi. Kotone's having a child named Kotori. Suppose we all change just two people in our lifetime. If that person goes on to change two more, from a Dead Ender to an emulator, how long would it take to change the whole world?"

　　Eri's parents looked at each other with confusion. Saki didn't know the formula, but she did know it was exponential. If everybody converted two other people, the chain wouldn't end until the whole world was transformed. The number of converts would double each iteration.

　　"If 50 people converted 100 people in year one, and those 100 converted 200 in year two. . ." Eri's mother formulated, then got out her smart phone to answer her own question.

　　"Around 50 years." Eri's mother put her smart phone down, her eyes wide. Chiharu sat back with a smug smile of satisfaction.

　　"It's too late." Eri's father objected, looking down at his hands. "Now that we've played our hand, we have to follow through, or they'll grow contemptuous of us, and then fear won't work as a motivator ever again."

　　"Father's plan wasn't wrong!" Eri said, her eyes flashing up angrily to stare into Chiharu's. "Don't lecture Father like you're so important! Father's the best of the best! I trust him! Stop making Father feel bad!"

　　"Eri. . ." Saki bit her cheek. Of course she'd feel that way. It's how she'd felt from the beginning. Saki even loved that about her friend, how much she respected her parents, so how could she criticize her for it now? Was it truly impossible to persuade anyone of anything?

　　"Let's make it a bet," Chiharu leaned forward to press the attack. "If in ten years, we haven't grown the number of good people through loving our neighbors, one by one, if we haven't produced any results. . . then you can do whatever you feel is right. But give us ten years. Go on air again and tell them, on second thought, you're going to give them a ten year grace period to get their acts together. We'll do something between now and then. We'll love the world to pieces. And for the sake of that love, they'll love others in turn. It could work. Listen. Once upon a time, we were all trapped in a box, and the world was literally set to explode. Shiori asked the box to go away, just asked it, and it disappeared. If it's Shiori, we can do it. We can make the impossible possible. So you don't have to do this. Whether you tame the world with an iron fist now or ten years from now, who cares? But if we can do something better -- If we can turn their eyes to God before then, and fill them up with a part of his Spirit, would you really object to that ending?"

　　"Just to be sure, you're an atheist, right?" Eri's mother smiled.

　　"What's that got to do with anything?" Chiharu complained, flustered.

　　"I wish we could have met this 'Shiori'," Eri's father shook his head ruefully. "You make her out to be quite the character."

　　"The stupid thing is, all of you have." Chiharu's voice cracked with pain. "But I still remember her. How could I forget? I love her so very much. Everything about her. Every word, every tone, every single strand of her hair. How could I ever forget her? How can I let her down? It's my job to win every argument. You see, she believes in me. She's believing in me right now, that you two will see reason. She's always so reckless like that. Once, she told me that she'd get on first base, so I had to bring her home. It was an important match, but I'd never even managed to get on base before then. The other pitcher was really good. But there she was, asking the impossible, sure that I'd do it, because I was her best friend. Do you know what the weight of a good person's expectations feels like? Of course I brought her home. Of course I made the hit, when she said it like that. And so I just have to win this match too. It's my job to get these hits, so she can do the rest. I'm her catcher, you know?"

　　Saki looked on with baited breath. Chiharu was giving everything she had. If this wasn't enough. . .

　　"Perhaps the world will still be around if we wait just one more decade." Eri's father admitted.

　　Saki jumped up from her place on the couch with a squeal of glee. She dived into Eri at full force.

　　"Stop it, Saki! Father wasn't wrong! It's just a ten year delay!" Eri shouted, trying to push Saki off her.

　　"Unn!" Saki nodded, hugging Eri anyway.

　　"My parents weren't wrong!" Eri repeated.

　　"Unn!" Saki nodded, agreeing.

　　"We'll be enemies in ten years anyway!" Eri repeated.

　　"Unn!" Saki nodded, hugging her even closer. It didn't matter. In ten years she'd love Eri to pieces.

* * *

　　Isao Oono parked Kotone's car in the garage and stepped outside to help his passengers into the house. They were a fitting couple of helpless people, one eight months pregnant and the other returning from the hospital. Neither of them could be expected to put up much of a fight at a time like this. If those two Dead Enders returned, his only ally would be Chiharu. Thinking back, it was a miracle they had repulsed their initial attack in the first place. He didn't even recall how they'd managed to injure that dragon. Could he ask the Moral Aristocracy for help? He would have to. Now wasn't the time to be picky about allies, even if they intended to destroy most of the world as an object lesson to sinners. Masanori was his last friend from the olden days, and the man who'd supported him all this time, morally and financially. Kotone was the girl he loved, even if they had gone their separate ways. He'd bow his head a thousand times to the most ruthless gangsters if it would save their lives.

　　"Good, you two are back." Cho Kai said as they walked through the side entrance.

　　"What is it, Cho?" Kotone said with politely concealed exhaustion.

　　"Money. You're behind on my money!" Cho Kai complained, slapping the back of one hand against the palm of his other. "How am I supposed to complete my telescope when you randomly take breaks from providing the funding?"

　　"We'll provide the money." Kotone said, sighing. "If that's all, my husband's very tired right now, Cho."

　　"When will you provide the money?" Cho Kai asked, still standing in their way.

　　"Shortly." Kotone said, keeping her voice as pleasant as ever. "Is that all?" She asked again.

　　"Well, if it's shortly then it isn't a problem." Cho Kai muttered. "But what's with letting in random strangers into the mansion? Are we becoming a flophouse for teenage runaways now?"

　　"What do you mean?" Kotone said, her forehead wrinkling with confusion. "Magnolia, is there an intruder in the house?"

　　Magnolia started to shine a dim white, and then stopped in surprise. "There is, but, well, it shouldn't be a problem. She's a Choice Giver. Maybe she's from the Moral Aristocracy and wanted to talk to us about the broadcast?"

　　"Maybe. In any event she'll just have to wait. I have to take care of Masanori. The nurse left me with a whole list of instructions for how to care for him at home. Isao, can you go meet her?" Kotone asked hopefully.

　　"Sure," Isao shrugged. "Where did you see her last, Mr. Kai?" Isao asked.

　　"I. . . don't remember." Cho Kai looked confused, then shook his head. "I can't be bothered by all these distractions. Just be sure to bring me the money."

　　Isao watched the Korean walk away like a fading thunderstorm. He apparently never once noticed any possible extenuating circumstances for Masanori falling behind. In the end, bribing Dead Enders to join the other side didn't do much for their personalities, did it? Isao wasn't one to talk though. His werewolf probably wasn't very nice to old grandmothers these days either. What had come over him to spare an enemy like that anyway? It wasn't like him at all.

　　Wait, wasn't he supposed to do something? Isao tried to remember what, but the idea had already skittered away.

　　"Here, Masanori, just lean on my shoulder." Isao said, half carrying him as they walked behind Kotone to her room.

　　"Oh thank goodness." A girl with shoulder length hair and bright wide eyes appeared in front of them. She was beautiful in her own way. But she certainly was confident, to appear in front of them without any invitation. Did trespassers usually announce themselves like this?

　　"Masanori, are you okay?" The small-breasted girl asked.

　　"Magnolia," Kotone said in a strained voice, on the brink of panic.

　　"It's okay, Kotone. It's not what you think. She's a Choice -- " Magnolia started, then paused.

　　"What is it?" Kotone asked.

　　"Nothing, I just felt this awful wave of deja vu." Magnolia blinked uncertainly. "Anyway, she isn't a threat."

　　Isao breathed again. He would have hated to kill a pretty girl like her.

　　"Listen you," Kotone said, trying to put on a polite voice, but becoming even more aggravated than she had been with Cho. "Don't go calling other people's husbands by their first names. And before that, don't come into people's houses without an invitation. Now, he may look okay, but he's very weak right now, so stop interrupting us, and go back to wherever you came from!"

　　"Kotone? It's me. Shiori." The girl lifted her arm up as if to touch Kotone, who flinched backwards in fear. The girl immediately stopped, frozen.

　　"There you go again, putting us on a first name basis. I've never seen you before in my life. Do you enjoy pulling pranks like this? What are you, a high schooler? Do your parents know about your night life of cat burgling?" Kotone asked angrily.

　　"I. . .I'm sorry." The girl deflated like a punched bowl of risen bread. "Sorry to interrupt. . ." She said listlessly, and then turned around and started walking down the hallway.

　　"Hey! Wrong way!" Kotone pointed imperiously. "The exit is past us. You're leaving. Now."

　　The girl looked up like a frightened deer. What did she expect? Kotone was being nice enough just by not calling the cops!

　　"I'm so sorry!" Rei Rin ran in between Kotone and the mysterious intruder. "She's my friend. I invited her over as a guest. That isn't a problem, is it?"

　　"She's your friend? Why, Rei! Why haven't you introduced us to her before? Any friend of yours is a friend of mine." Kotone smiled, a flood of relief entering her stiff body. "I'm so sorry. . .Shiori, was it?" Kotone nodded her head, finding bowing with her belly too much of a bother. "I snapped your head off when you were completely innocent. You must think I'm awful!"

　　"Never that." The girl quickly reassured Kotone. Tears were in her eyes, she was so happy to have been saved. "Thanks, Rei."

　　"Let's go, Shiori. Masanori needs to get off his feet." Rei suggested, taking her arm and guiding her down the hall. Isao watched the girl walk away with a lingering regret. Maybe he could ask Rei to introduce her to him? He was sure Rei would put in a good word if he asked. . .

　　"Oi." Kotone put her hands on her hips and gave him a cold glare. "If you keep drooling like that, you'll make me think I wasn't good enough for you."

　　"Of course you're a thousand times prettier!" Isao protested. Drooling? "Come on, Kotone. You're a model. How could a tomboy like that compete with you?"

　　"I don't know. That's why I was asking you." Kotone kept her frosty glare on for a few more seconds. "Well, I'll let you off this time. But don't think that just because we're letting you stay here means you're allowed to indulge in behavior unbefitting the presence of my baby daughter."

　　"We keep getting interrupted." Masanori suggested in a plaintive voice. "Is there any chance of me getting to a bed tonight?"

　　"Oh I'm so sorry dear." Kotone gushed. "Who told you to stop walking, Isao? Have some mercy on the old man!"

　　"Forty-four is still middle aged, damn it." Masanori wheezed.

　　"Of course dear. Who said you were old?" Kotone agreed good naturedly, turning to guide them back into the depths of the mansion and its master bedroom. Isao laughed and started carrying Masanori forward again.

　　"Thanks for saving me." Isao whispered to his coconspirator.

　　"To tell you the truth, I was staring too." Masanori winked.

　　"You dirty old man! You have Kotone!" Isao whispered in outrage. That girl belonged to him!

　　"Forty-four is middle aged! And if you haven't noticed, Kotone hasn't looked like a girl for a long time now. . .more like a stuffed pig. . ." Masanori whispered back.

　　Isao couldn't stop himself and started laughing uproariously. It's a good thing he'd never be caught in something crazy like marriage and children. Once they were out of this crisis, it was back to the clear blue skies of freedom.

* * *

　　"The coast is clear, sister." Rei Rin said, still holding on to Shiori's hand. "How about you move in to my room? Then I can always tell them you're my guest if you're caught again."

　　"It just happens so suddenly," Shiori sniffed, trying to wipe away her tears. "Why do I cry every time? It's only temporary. Everything will be back to normal soon. Gods, why am I such a crybaby?"

　　"I won't forget you. I promised to never forget." Rei Rin said confidently. "Will you move in with me? It can be just like when we were kids."

　　"Yes," Shiori nodded, squeezing Rei's hand. "I'd like that. Thank you."

　　"I won." Rei beamed. "I've got to be the last one standing, now."

　　"Silly." Shiori smiled. "Don't be happy about something like that."

　　"Look here, sister." Rei said, turning Shiori around to stare into her eyes. "I haven't forgotten you. Even though we met three years after you and Kotone, even though she's as bright as the sun and I'm as dark as the new moon, I beat her! There's now an official measure of it, and it says I'm your best friend in the whole wide world. Let me be a little happy."

　　Shiori Oono smiled and nodded, hugging her short, slim sister tightly. "Of course you can be a little happy. But not in front of me! I'm under a curse! It's forbidden to enjoy my curse as an interesting new love-o-meter!"

　　"Whatever you say, sister." Rei said, hugging her back, happy to have everything the way it was before. She'd missed Shiori so much, in those months living in her dingy apartment. But she couldn't say it, because she hadn’t wanted to be selfish anymore. But this time she could have Shiori all to herself, and Shiori would consider it selfless. It was like a gift from heaven.

　　"You made love to Isao and watched Clannad with Kotone. So what are you going to do for me?" Rei asked excitedly.

　　"Ehhhh? I have to serve someone else againnnnn?" Shiori wailed.

　　"First, you can brush my hair." Rei held up a finger as they went to Shiori's new room to fetch her backpack full of clothes. "Then we can play frisbee at the park."

　　"So now I'm a dog?" Shiori wailed a second time.

　　"Shiori," Rei exchanged her smile for a worried look. "Did you hear the broadcast? I saw a repeat of it on the news. And the asteroid flew by just like they said."

　　"I wouldn't worry," Shiori smiled. "If I know Chiharu, she's already done something about it. Did you know? She's never lost an argument in her life."