| Nagira holds up the Piece of Wisdom, looking at it curiously. He does a little disappearing sleight-of-hand to scare Robin, and then pulls the Piece of Wisdom from her ear. He asks her why she has the ultimate technique of the Craft, and she holds out her hand to get it back, saying that she doesn't know. Nagira hesitates, saying that he isn't sure that he can really trust anyone with so much power - if Robin got mad, she could turn him to ashes. He asks if she can control the power, and she says she doesn't know. Paradoxically, this reassures Nagira and he gives the Piece of Wisdom to her, saying that he knows someone who might know what this thing is. Robin wants to meet this person, then. Nagira brings in a middle-aged couple, and Robin introduces herself. The man says he's Anosaki, but his wife just stares at Robin intently until Robin feels a little uncomfortable and Anosaki has to nudge her. The couple examines the Piece of Wisdom - or Anosaki does, and his wife, Hitomi, smiles happily at Robin. Anosaki has to keep nudging Hitomi, but the two eventually admit that they don't know what the Piece of Wisdom is. They leave, and Robin asks if there's something on her face, to make that lady stare at her so. Nagira teases her until he gets a skymail on his cellphone, apparently from a girl. He immediately says he has to go out, and Hanamura scolds him for going to a pachinko parlor, and reminds him of the clients visiting tonight. He brushes her off and leaves quickly to meet his informant in the pachinko parlor. The informant talks about a man who was an underling of Methuselah, someone who might know what the Piece of Wisdom is. He's nicknamed "Lazarus" since Methuselah supposedly brought him back to life after he died. Lazarus has been AWOL recently, so the informant suggests that Nagira find Lazarus before someone else does. Robin's riding the subway, and when the car enters a tunnel, she sees Amon right next to her, reflected on the window. She turns to ask him why he's here, and he bursts into flames, scaring Robin awake. Hanamura calls up from the bottom of the stairs that the lady from yesterday is on the phone, and wants to see her. Robin takes the call (after yanking on some clothes), and agrees to visit. Hitomi is so happy to see Robin, and offers her tea and orange cake, "your favorite." Robin is extremely bemused by all this goodwill directed towards her, and starts to ask about the Piece of Wisdom when Hitomi gets up and produces a white dress from the closet, saying that this is the dress Robin wanted. Robin begins to suspect that Hitomi is a few fries short of a Happy Meal when Anosaki comes in and tells Hitomi to stop. He tells Hitomi that Robin is not Aya, and Hitomi drops the dress and crumples. Anosaki asks to speak to Robin for a minute. He shows Robin their teenage daughter Aya's room. Aya was a Witch who got Hunted, and Hitomi is obviously seeing Aya in Robin. Anosaki apologizes and asks Robin not to associate with them, so she leaves. Zaizen meets with his Research Gimp and a FACTORY head for some evil plotting. The FACTORY guy tells Zaizen not to antagonize SOLOMON, and the Gimp says this place is impenetrable, even if it were attacked. Zaizen tells the Gimp to hurry up the Orbo research. The Gimp asks permission to test the new Orbo in the field, and Zaizen agrees to give him the STN-J Hunt list. Robin flops down on her bed, thinking of the family she just visited, and their missing daughter. She realizes that she's crying and doesn't know why. Nagira locates Lazarus in the sewers - or the ex-Lazarus. Someone shoots at him and he dodges. He can't see clearly who it is, but when he does, he jumps right out into the open, yelling at the shooter to just shoot him already. The gunman shoots the water all around Nagira, but doesn't hit him. Nagira yells that Amon owes him the cleaning fee for his coat. Robin visits Anosaki and Hitomi again, and Hitomi's overjoyed to see her. While Hitomi makes tea, Anosaki thanks Robin for coming back and making Hitomi so happy. Robin asks about Aya, and it turns that Aya had a tiny telekinetic power that awoke three years ago - enough to move a pencil. One day she never came home from school. STN-J labelled their family as Seeds, and are under constant surveillance. If anyone else in the family displays any Witchcraft, they'll be eliminated. Robin asks if they looked for Aya, and they did, but everyone - the police and media - ignored their requests for help, except for Nagira. Anosaki also explains that Hitomi and Aya had been arguing over whether to buy a white dress the morning Aya disappeared, which explains Hitomi's thing with the white dress. Robin agrees to wear the dress for dinner, and goes into Aya's room to change. Hitomi takes the pan of food off the stove, and accidentally drops it. Anosaki concentrates, and the food goes back onto the pan and hovers in midair. Hitomi stares at her husband, horrified, and Anosaki says that he probably won't be able to stay with her much longer. Nagira comes back to his office, reeking of sewage, and get scolded by Hanamura. He asks where Robin is, and learns that she's with Anosaki and Hitomi. Robin and the couple quietly eat dinner together. Zaizen brings flowers to Touko in the sanitarium, but she doesn't even look at him, just stares out of the window. Touko disinterestedly asks where Amon is, and Zaizen tells her to forget about him, he's not like them. Touko counters that he's human too, and Zaizen reminds her that he has a duty to protect "pure" people. He leaves her keys and money, and tells Touko to build herself a new life. Robin leaves the couple's house, and Hitomi gives Robin the white dress as a present. Robin says to keep it, because she'll visit again, and they both smile. She bikes off, and as the couple goes back inside the house, a FACTORY van pulls up. Nagira drives over as fast as he can for the house. Robin realizes that she left her shades at the house, and turns back for them. (She wears her sunglasses at night...o/~) The couple are sitting on the couch when the power is cut and they see people surrounding the house. Anosaki tells Hitomi to escape, but she refuses to leave him, and takes his hand as FACTORY cuts through their windows. As FACTORY enters, the furniture lifts off the floor, and the Orbo glows. Robin knocks at the front door, but nobody answers. She goes around to the back, and sees the darkened, destroyed interior of the house. Nagira catches up to her, and as Robin cries, Nagira watches the flickers of Witchfire dripping around her. Robin confesses to Nagira that her real objective from SOLOMON was to find the ultimate technique of Witchcraft, and her job as a Hunter is merely a cover. She doesn't know what went wrong with her mission, or what the ultimate technique of Witchcraft really is. She asks Nagira to keep the Piece of Wisdom for her in his safe, since she can't control the power in the state she is now. "Three hundred and twenty years have passed since the coven sank in the dark. The visitor of death. The nightmare of the sacred goblet. Lost hopes. The silent hunter chuckles at her last from within the darkness.." [previous] [next] |