On The Side Of The Pitch With You

Story of Kiel

"Katora from the planet Kiel?"

Tenma arrived back on the space train mere minutes before their departure. Once they were out of the atmosphere and steadily flying through space, he gathered them all at the meeting room. Kimiko made a point to keep a small distance from the one imposing as her best friend.

Tenma showed them all a shining golden stone as he told them about a strange girl he met after chasing Pixie to a cave. "I think she tried to reach out to me using some form of transmission or something."

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming?" Minaho asked the question they all had in their heads.

"It wasn't a dream! I could hear Katora's voice and see her clearly."

Kimiko cast a side glance at Pixie. If she's like Acrous, then... She snuck a peak at Tenma's mind and found that he really wasn't dreaming. Katora was an adorable girl who seemed no older than them. She had lilac hair in low twin-tails and similar colored eyes. She also had pointed ears, and wore a chain crown as well as quite regal yet modest clothing.

Though, in the same instance she saw Katora, she also saw Pixie on his side. That meant that they were not one and the same. Huh.

"The planet Kiel that you speak of has long been destroyed." Mizukawa suddenly spoke up.

... Wait, Mizukawa?

"Receiving contact from there is unthinkable."

"Destroyed? How do you know that?" Tenma asked.

"Because..." She turned away for a moment before looking at them all straight in the eye. "I am from that planet."

"Eh...? That planet...?"

"I am an alien."

If saying it once didn't drive it home, the second time sure did.

"Huh?!"

And now, Mizukawa was at center stage.

"An alien? What do you mean?"

"You can't simply expect us to believe you."

Well, I can always check if I could read her mind or not... When Kimiko tried, she had to keep herself from making any faces. She could, but also could not, read her mind. The part that she could read seemed to be in a passive state, while the active part of her brain, the part that she should be using to formulate words as she spoke and all her thought processes behind it, were blocked.

That was new.

Suddenly, Mizukawa came in with a doll of a clown (Wait, when did she leave?) and placed it on the table before them all. "Now, I will begi―" Before she could complete her sentence, she fell onto the table. Out cold.

Aoi went to her side first, worried, but seeing as she just went to sleep, she relaxed slightly. Though, the others behind her were confused and a bit bewildered.

"She's not pretending that she fell asleep, is she?"

"Of course not."

... Did... Did the doll just...?

"W-Was that... a voice?"

"Y-Yeah..."

The doll suddenly jumped to the floor.

"EH?!"

And everyone else fell to its eye-level.

"I-It moved!"

"Hello, everyone. How do you do?" It bowed, its voice greatly contrasting Mizukawa's while still holding a similar amused tone.

"I-It talked!"