I decide it would be better to not tell her, so I simply replied, “not really. Other than Kiyoshi making a fool of himself, nothing much happened.”
Luckily, Katrina seems to buy it, “as expected! Kiyoshi called me last night and said you went off somewhere else, though.”
“Yeah,” I reply, “I just went back home after I saw there weren't any aliens coming.”
Katrina then looks at me closely, I start to fear that she is onto me, “I could've told you that before you went,” she says, “you already knew that, too, so why did you really leave?”
I counter her question with another question, “well, wouldn't you have done the same?”
I can tell that Kat is thinking about it, after a split second she replies, “definitely! So you just up and left him then.”
“Up and left is pretty harsh, but yeah,” I says with a frown.
Katrina the laughs and says, “you could have come with me and played D&D instead, you know. I would've locked the doors and tied you down! You'd never run off on us!”
“Are you trying to ward me off from D&D now?”
Katrina smirks at my question, “hey, I think most guys'd love to be tied down with a bunch of girls.”
I smirk back and cheekily reply, “that depends on the girls.”
Katrina just smiles, “oh, so are you saying you wouldn't want to be tied down with me,” she brushes my face with her and suggestively and giggles as I blush.
“Um... well...,” I say awkwardly.
Kat smiles at me and jokingly says, “there is time before the wedding, John, so don't worry,” she then adds, “I'll see you at lunch,” with that she finally leaves.
I look at the clock and realize that I too should better get to my next class, so I grab my stuff and hurry out of the class room.
The rest of the morning passes by normally. All the time my mind drifts back to the Device hidden in my backpack, all the different ways I could use it, my fantasy seems to know no limit as I imagine various scenarios, but I hesitate to do anything as of yet.
Part of it has to do with my uncertainty how I should use it. A kind of “with great power comes great responsibility” idea.
But, admittedly, the main reason is the lack of opportunity. I hadn't really found a situation I watned to use it for that badly, or anyone I wanted to tell about just yet.
And the Device offered so many possibilities, so many, that they were almost suffocating. Picking any one meant to the exclusion of others, and I couldn't go back and redo everything I'd screw up or undo everything like a video game.
Maybe it is sheer irresolution, but, regardless, I hadn't found the right opportunity to use the Device just yet. I was hoping something at lunch would give me an idea or two.
When I enter the lunchroom, people are shifting and hurrying about, I manage to get to our table and sit between Kat and Kiyoshi.
“Hey, John, have you ever wondered why there are so few guys at this school,” Kiyoshi asks the second I sit down.
I simply shrug as I take a sip of the lukewarm luncheon milk they hand out, “not really,” I then say.
Kiyoshi smiles, “well, Kyoko and I came to a conclusion earlier this morning, and...,” Kiyoshi starts.
“... and we discovered a possible alien conspiracy,” Kyoko interrupts.
I look over at Katrina and I see her grin deviously, I can tell that she knows something I don't. I stop eating, I had to figure this out, “how did you come to that conclusion,” I ask.
“When I got back from my investigation last night, I began reading about remote influencing machines,” Kiyoshi says, “and then I discovered that the school basement has all the qualities necessary to house one. Tell him Kyoko,” he says and turns to the brown haired girl with glasses.
Kyoko smirks, “for one, it has great protective conditions: dark, humid, remote location... no one goes down there.”
“What about the Janitor,” I ask.
Kiyoshi seems taken aback as he stutters, “you... w-well... that “man” is not a normal human being.”
Kyoko nods in agreement, “yeah,” she says, “haven't you seen the way he walks,” she asks. She gets up from her seat and hunches her back over and trudges ponderously a few steps.
I manage to hold back a laugh, “so, why isn't he bigfoot then?”
Both Kiyoshi and Kyoko roll their eyes simultaneously, “John, he probably is! Bigfoots and aliens are in cahoots,” Kyoko says, “they've likely been coordinating for decades, did you not know that?”
Kiyoshi shakes his head, “so ignorant, my friend, so ignorant,” he then continues, “and with what happened last night, you, of all people, should know.”
Katarina is snickering, covering her mouth but clearly unable to contain herself. I am certain then she'd told Kiyoshi a little more than just the facts on that phone call.
Kiyoshi and kyoko scowl at me, “did you think it would escape my attention, J-Man,” Kiyoshi asks, “did you honestly believe you could hide from me the fact that you were hypnotized by the aliens last night?”
I scowl myself, even though they were making up some kind of nonsense, they were not far from the truth, “what, who told you that,” I ask.
“I have my sources,” Kiyoshi says, “you were seen by that source, whoever he or she may be, wandering naked through the streets, abducting young men and packaging them in tiny boxes for the mothership witnessed floating in the sky by that same source.”
“And she... or he... told Kiyoshi that this was after you went to the basement with our local bigfoot, the janitor,” Kyoko adds, “don't try to deny it! Our source is trustworthy!”
I look over at Katrina, who looks as if she is about to burst a gut, 'this is probably Kat's way to get back at me for playing hookie from D&D,' I think to myself. Still scowling, I look at the two nerds, and ask, “does the name of the source happen to be “Katrina”?”
Both Kyoko and Kiyoshi eyes widen when they realize I am on to them, “of... of course not,” Kiyoshi tries to lie.
Kat finally broke out into a fit of laughter. I raise my hands in resignation, yet I couldn't help but wonder: what if I actually do tell them I was abducted by aliens and show them the Device as proof?