ハニーレモン

…It’s then that he hears it. A shrill—

"Master! I’m over here!"

Head poking out of some woman’s…purse, he eagerly flaps his winged ears, signaling his presence to Luke. And so, with knitted eyebrows and a grunt, Luke proceeds to approach the woman.

"What the hell, Mieu!? I told you to stay with—"

…Right. His gaze is fixated on his cheagle companion, but he has yet to say a single word to the woman, let alone acknowledge her presence. His features soften, as his lips form into an apologetic frown of some sort.

But it did have a strange creature inside it. Wait, it did? And wait, didn't it just talk? Was it a robot of some sort? She watched inquisitively as the being flapped its large ears. It certainly looked to be alive, but it could also be very advanced. She really couldn't be sure in a city like this. Maybe she could ask it? It could talk after all. That would be the polite way of handling things like this. But what if it could only mimic human sounds? Or its AI wasn't advanced enough to respond properly to her? Then she would have a bit of a problem.

Honey's thoughts were interrupted as a young man approached and it seemed that, ah, he was the owner of whatever this was. Then he could answer her questions! Perfect! Although, she'd still like to talk to the little guy too. It was so cute!

"It's fine, don't worry! But ah, could I, if you don't mind that is, what I mean, you see..."

She took a deep breath, then grinned.

"What is he exactly? You called him Mieu, is that the species, name, product? Is he organic or nonorganic? He'd be very impressive if he were a robot and does he possess an AI then, what materials are used for the coat? Oh wait, right, he could be organic still! Alien then? Or genetically modified somehow? Oh, did you know him before you came here or did you meet later? If before, are you an alien? Or simply from a parallel Earth? What is that Earth like exactly? Is this sort of fauna common? What are the other types like? Is the flora unique as well?"

Oh whoops. That was... probably too much to unload him right off the bat. But she tended to do that, the whole talking a lot thing and the whole overwhelming people. It was an unfortunate talent, some would say, but at the same time she also was proud of it. It showed how quickly she thought, how much she cared, and how passionate she was. And she wasn't going to just hide all of that just because someone might think it was sorta annoying. Why was it sorta annoying anyways? Who cared about stuff like that? If he didn't like it, he could just deal! But still, if she had bugged him she should probably apologize... It would be the right thing to do.

He hopes he’s still seeming to be casual, shrugging off the young lady’s questions as if they were nothing. Perhaps it would be best to the keep the topic strictly on her. He is curious about her abilities, still after all.

There were a lot of things she could technically do with her chemicals, and all sorts of creations she could make to hurt others. But even if those thoughts crossed her mind, they were always as mere scientific possibilities, never realities. As a scientist, it totally made sense to her that he would give this explanation. Yep!

"You're right! I have to keep fighting! I'm gonna start a new fashion blog and no one can stop me!"

After a moment, a soft smile came across their features.

"Hey, I didn’t mean it like that. Of course I’d help you find a way out. You’ve probably got people waiting for you and things to do- I just don’t really know if I can leave, but that’s my problem, not yours.”

People really did feel helpless here- NiGHTS had felt it creeping into their own disposition from time to time. They really were just rats in a box, at the whims of the scientists… was that really much better than contending with Wizeman?

"I... sorry. I got a little worked up, I think. Or not I think, I did. I just. Really wanna find a way out of here, you know? Not just for me, either. It's more than that, like I said. When thinking about the other people, that just drives me to search even more. As much as I miss my home and my friends, imagining the pain of everyone else is... It's a lot to think about it."

Honey paused, and brushed away a stray strand of her hair that had fallen out of place.

That didn't really make sense at all, but then again nothing else did either. She had to stop worrying about what was logical eventually, but it was still hard for her to do so. And she really would've liked to know how exactly this was possible! But that was a question for another day.

It was a somewhat reluctant admission, a somewhat sheepish admission that they felt they needed to elaborate on: “Don’t know if I really like it, there’s some pretty crazy stuff that happens. But yeah, I guess it’s kind of an improvement over where I’ve been.”

There really weren’t many ways to slice it. They’d killed Wizeman. Seen their own body dissolving into motes of light before their eyes. They’d had doubts before- maybe they hadn’t succeeded, maybe some small spark of the God of Nightmare had remained, but…

The next thing they’d remembered was being here.

She pursed her lips, trying to consider the possibilities of what this meant. Was such a dimension possible in her world? Could they coexist? It could be possible if it simply hadn't been discovered yet and considering what Hiro said after he went into the portal, something like that could possibly exist under the laws of their universe. Still, it was possible even so that it was just a different world, totally unconnected. It didn't really matter right now, though, she figured.

Until he was released he offered no more protest at the thought, disinclined to banish the smile which had drawn over his features to hear Honey sound so utterly elated (as seemed her default).

"No—actually…I was gonna ask you the same thing." The brunette countered with a small gesture of his open palm. He would be lying to say that he wasn’t disappointed to hear that Honey Lemon hadn’t yet had any run-ins with the aforementioned team. Although anxiety battled against the idea that this was all-bad. After all, Hiro couldn’t say he was quite ready to face down the lot of them after the startling reveal which had taken place on the island seemingly yesterday for Hiro.

"You don’t think they could have gotten all swept up in this too…do you?" The boy inquired, perplexed to think that any old two-bit “scientist” could get a one-up on the likes of them. "But I mean…tech like this—though don’t get me wrong, it’s sweet—but it’s light years ahead of where we are.

Still grinning, she quickly let go of him, giving him some room to breathe. She was just so excited to see him! Well, worried too, this place was dangerous and she didn't want to be here so obviously she didn't want him to be here, he was only 14 after all, but she was still happy to see him since he was her friend and she missed him and- Oh, she knew Hiro understood so it didn't really matter!

She paused, again remembering the situation at hand and their team as well.

"I'm not sure... I wouldn't want for them to be captured, but I mean, I'd be happy to see them like I'm happy to see you, Hiro, but. Bittersweet, right? If they got us, though, it's entirely possible they could've gotten the others..."

This was an experiment, and it couldn't be completely random if both her and Hiro had ended up here. There had to be some reasoning behind it, like they were chosen to be a part of the experiment. If that was the case, the next question was why. And the most obvious answer would be they're interesting. They're superheroes, after all. And in that case, that put the whole team in danger of being brought here. But if they were all here, it wouldn't be too bad, she thought. They'd be together and together, they could do anything! They'd figure out something out in no time, she just knew it. So long as they actually were together, that is.

Sixty years exactly. It was quite a process to take in everything from such a long time period. Granted the devices often had simple mechanisms but it was another thing to work out how they were constructed. 

He gave a laugh. 

" Right. Either way, makes navigating around here difficult… The apartment complex stays on it place though. "

She laughed too, glad that she hadn't deterred him too much with all that questioning. Honey wondered what kind of world he came from, though, if it was at all like hers in any form or completely different.

"Well, that's good to know! Maybe if someone tracked the movements they could figure out a sort of pattern to it? Then you could map it out based on the time of day or however it works. Then you wouldn't have to worry, right?"

If given the time, she could probably do it herself. It sounded easy enough and-

Her ever constant smile disappeared at that thought, now turning to one of concern as she addressed the short man. He must just be joking, she thought. Or using literally not very literally. People did that all the time. He totally hadn't meant it literally! ... Right?

     ”Ugh, man, I’m so glad to see you,” he admitted, arms wrapped tightly around Honey’s thin frame. "You wouldn’t believe the trouble I’ve had to go through here already. This place is insane! I don’t even know how this whole… ‘social experiment’ thing works out, honestly, and… I just…" His voice trailed off. There were so many things that were running in his head, so much as phrasing them was difficult enough. At last, he admitted again, "I’m glad to see you."

     As many odd characters as he had seen in the city already, the last people Tadashi expected to be dragged here were those he was familiar with, much less one of his classmates. He wasn’t complaining, oh no. Simply the idea of coming up with a plan of escape, or at least figuring their situation out, with a brilliant chemist as Aiko Miyazaki herself was more than reassuring. With their abilities put together, this shouldn’t be too bad of a predicament after all.

     To add on, he’d be lying if he said he missed her pep.

     … Speaking of which, where was her pep?

"You can’t be- I… how are you- This shouldn’t be…"

     … There definitely wasn’t any pep in her voice.

     Slowly, Tadashi pulled himself away from Honey. Her expression, confused and almost scared, was immensely concerning. He’d only seen that expression during high times of stress, and to that, Tadashi could only feel panic himself.

As he spoke, she couldn't even respond, couldn't muster the words or even the energy. What was she supposed to say? She was glad to see him too? But that hardly even covered it! She took a deep breath, hoping that would stop her heart beat from becoming too erratic. It seemed to be working, she just needed to remain calm and explain. Explain to him everything that happened. Explain to him that he was dead.

For a moment, she wondered what would happen if she didn't tell him. But no, that wouldn't be right. She'd be lying to him, and surely it would hurt them both in the end. And he was bound to find out eventually, wasn't he? It was best for her to come clean now then to wait for something to happen. Besides, how else would she explain her behavior and reaction?

She paused, pursing her lips for a moment.

" The buildings around here switch places every now and then so it might not be there anymore…. It was really near a while ago though so if we make it a haste….. "

His next statement caused her to stop and look around, as if the buildings would move right then and there. They didn't, which was a little disappointing. Maybe someone else would have thought the guy was pulling a prank on her, but Aiko believed him. The situation itself was difficult to believe, so something like moving buildings couldn't be so strange in comparison.