Phantasia had sensed their approach and turned to greet Kaori and Lyra, while Joel tried to hide his embarrassment.

“I was just saying I trust her,” he said, “More than those other teachers anyway. You know, cause of things…”

Lyra kicked an empty can down the alleyway and snorted. “Whoever’s fecking around with our memories ain’t doin’ a good job of it,” she said, “Just takes a little bit of meditation and everything comes back. I’m getting’ bored of doin’ it everyday just to make sure I ain’t forgetting shit though,”

“Not all of us are as lucky as you, though,” said Kaori, hovering over to Joel, “I can’t remember much…”

Joel scratched the back of her neck as she nuzzled against his thigh. “Yeah, well, I don’t remember much either, so we’re both rubbish together, right?”

“I just want to know why they’re doing it,” said Kaori, “And when they’re going to stop,”

“Yeah. Man, next thing you know they’ll be changing our memory so we don’t even know who we are anymore!”

***

Of all the people on her list, Phantasia expected Theseus to show the least interest in her investigation. Notorious for his cynicism, she imagined him giving her a lecture like he would Phoenie whenever she brought up any kind of crazy theory. Still, she had to try. As she meandered through the damp town in search of him, though, she noticed another familiar aura. Someone she hadn’t thought to talk to, but whose opinion could be as important as anyone’s.

Chris Shaw was lounging in a back street cafe, his ever-present car nowhere in sight. With shades propped on his forehead and face screwed up in concentration as he read from an electronic book, he resembled nothing of the extravagant playboy image he always tried to project in public. When Phantasia walked into the cafe he made every attempt to restore it, only for his shades to fall and clatter down on the dirty floor and the slab of a book to clonk onto the desk and reveal he’d been reading a story called ‘John Kirby and the Secret of Jupiter Ten‘

“It’s you!” he spluttered, “The albino girl!”

“The one and only!” replied Phantasia, her grin widening with every nervous twitch she noticed.

Chris fumbled the book into a satchel and tried to sweep his hair back with dramatic flair, but his fingers got caught in a knot and he yelped out in pain instead.

“You’re here!” he said, trying to divert attention away from his embarrassment.

“I wanted to ask you something,” she said, pulling up a chair and sitting opposite him, “Nothing amazing, just a few little questions,”

A dumpy man with slicked back hair, whose face shimmered with grease, chortled from behind the plastic counter as he flipped meat on a grill.

“You finally struck gold, ‘ey Shortie?”

Chris’s aura flared up like a trapped animal. “No! This is nothing of the sort! She’s a student from the Academy, nothing more. And don’t call me ‘Shortie’!” He scowled at the man then turned his sour attention back to Phantasia. “So what’re you after? Don’t go asking me to drive you anywhere ’cause I ain’t getting myself into trouble again!”

“Oh! You remember!”

“What d’ya mean ‘remember’?”

“I heard you drove everyone to Godhand’s manor…”

Chris waved his hands frantically. “Don’t say that so loud!” he said through clenched teeth, “And yeah, I did. So what?”

“I thought you might’ve forgotten…”

“Yeah well, I did for a bit, but that’s cause it was stressful, you know? Few days later I was checking Devil Lady’s systems and there it all was in the log. Took me a few minutes on intense introspection but it came back to me in the end. Pretty damn stressful time, that. Glad I didn’t stay around for the fireworks. Not that I ran away or anything, you hear?”

Phantasia squealed. “Thank you! You’ve helped make my day!”

“Eh, okay…” said Chris, “Has anyone told you that you’re kinda, well, creepy?”

~ The investigation continues! ~
~ Next: the Secrets of Veritas! ~

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Chapter 36
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