Panel 5
Elizabeth and Pauline are face to face.
Elizabeth: I'm . . . Liz Hanlon. But my friends call me Eliz—
Pauline: Hanlon! That's right! Some faces I don't forget. Pauline Cartman, University of Chicago. Aspects of the Goddess.
Panel 6
Elizabeth and Pauline are face to face, as Matt looks on.
Elizabeth: Pauline Cartman! You're Roger's aunt? I don't believe it!
Pauline: You're friends of Roger's?
Elizabeth: We are now!
Panel 7
The other three stare at Elizabeth.
Roger: You guys know Aunt Pauline.
Elizabeth: "Stories of Wonder From Around the World, compiled by Pauline Cartman, Department of Theoretical Studies, University of Chicago. Boondocs Communications Press, Prospect Heights, Illinois. Copyright see in a circle 2008 by Pauline Cartman. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN zero dash seven zero dash one five three zero two zero two. Acknowledgements: my thanks to Doctor Inuyasha Houjou of the University of Chicago, and his wife, a real Inu Yasha and Kagohm."
Panel 8
Close-up of Matt.
Matt: No. . . . No, Bethy, it's not pronounced "Kagohm." It's KAH-goh-meh. She's the lady in the case Auley's working on.
Page 12
Panel 1
View of the four.
Matt: And Inuyasha Houjou is the guy he's talking to. The guy with the sword.
Elizabeth: The guy who tore the man's arm off?
Pauline: That's preposterous! Little Inu Houjou couldn't tear the arm off a chicken.
Roger: Chickens don't have arms.
Pauline: I was speaking metaphorically.
Roger: Um… What's going on here?
Panel 2
Close-up of Matt and Roger.
Matt: It's…complicated. My family runs an agency… sort of… I mean… Like a research business.
Roger: You're a private eye?
Matt: Well, no. Yeah. Sort of. I mostly just handle, um… research and transportation.
Panel 3
Matt and Roger look away from each other.
Roger: And you're following some guy my aunt wrote a book about.
Matt: Not me. My brother. He's in Japan. It's complicated.
Roger: I mean, I… I didn't picture you as a… private eye.
Matt: I'm not. I do some research for the firm. I'm a playwright.
Panel 4
View of the four, with police in the background.
Roger: A playwright? Cool! Have you been produced?
Matt: Well, just like, little off-Loop type stuff.
Roger: Cool! So, um… you guys are… are researching a murderer.
Elizabeth: No! He's a Japanese anthropologist. And he's five hundred years old!
Pauline: Inu Houjou? Five hundred years old? Ridiculous! He's a child!
Panel 5
View of the four, with police in the background.
Matt: Cook county plates. That’s the medical examiner. Shit.
Elizabeth: So he's dead. That’s too bad.
Pauline: I'm not surprised. There was blood all over.
Roger: Somebody got murdered. You . . . think your guy murdered him.
Panel 6
View of Matt and Elizabeth.
Matt: Maybe. Maybe not. But I'm pretty sure what the coroner's are going to find. Lots of slash wounds. No metal residue. Wonder where that Houjou lived when he was in Chicago.
Elizabeth: "Three blocks from a Japanese market, two blocks from Wrigley Field."
Page 13
Panel 1
View of Matt, Elizabeth and Pauline.
Matt: That's from . . .
Elizabeth: Auley's notes.
Matt: So . . . right around here.
Pauline: I demand to know what's going on!
Panel 2
View of Matt with his eyes tightly shut.
Matt: I probably shouldn't be saying this. But—my brother's in Japan working for a client. Talking to a guy. And that guy's mentioned in a book this lady wrote. And he lived right near here. And people who live where he used to live keep getting slashed to death. And somebody just got killed right here.
Panel 3
Matt and Elizabeth, face to face.
Elizabeth. And Pauline Cartman wrote about him. And I was buying shoes and Pauline Cartman's nephew is the shoe salesman.
Matt: And Pauline Cartman is here.
Elizabeth: And she knows our grandmother.
Matt: And she remembered you. And we were all here when it happened.
Panel 4
Matt and Elizabeth, face to face.
Matt and Elizabeth: . . .
Panel 5
Matt and Elizabeth, face to face.
Matt and Elizabeth: Somebody opened a faerie door!
Panel 6
Close-up of Roger, yelling.
Roger: Wait a minute! Would somebody please tell me what's going on!
Panel 7
Matt talks to Roger.
Matt: Sigh. This is going to sound crazy, OK? Faerie doors. Dimensional portals. It's possible to…to mess with…with probability and…open a faerie door. Um…never mind.
Roger: You think there are people who can do this?
Matt:…Yeah. …Me, for one. Look, our agency. We're…paranormal investigators. OK?
Roger: OH.
Panel 8
Close-up of a worried-looking Roger.
Roger: Um, Matthew? I…this is all…weird. And…scary to me, OK?
Panel 9
Matt and Elizabeth walk away from the shoe store, with Roger and Pauline watching.
Matt: Yeah. Sure, Roger. C'mon, Elizabeth. Let's go try some of those pheromones of yours on the medical examiner. See if we can get some info. OK?
Elizabeth: Ok. Goodbye, Roger! Goodbye, Pauline Cartman!
Page 14
Panel 1
Matt and Elizabeth turn as Roger and Pauline call them back.
Pauline: Tell him, Roger! Coincidence is destiny!
Roger: Um . . . M-Matthew? Matthew, wait! I . . .
Panel 2
Close-up of Roger.
Roger: i . . . I'm not just a shoe salesman. I'm . . . I'm . . . Um . . . An artist . . . A sculptor . . . Like . . . Junk sculpture . . . Kinetic stuff . . .
Panel 3
Close-up of Matt, looking shy.
Matt: Yeah? That's great, Roger. That's cool! Maybe…um…maybe we could have coffee sometime or something.
Panel 4
Close-up of Roger.
Roger: There's . . . I . . . maybe . . . if you guys ever needed . . . I'm . . . I'm a medium . . .
Panel 5
Close-up of Matt and Roger, both looking embarrassed.
Matt: You're . . . is that . . . a shoe size? Or . . .
Roger: What? No! A medium! A trance medium! Jeez.
Panel 6
Close-up of Elizabeth handing a Hibernating Bats business card to Roger.
Elizabeth: Roger Cartman? My brother thinks you're a cutie. Here's a card. Give my brother a call, OK?
Roger: Um . . . yeah. Thanks, Ms. . . . Ms. Hanlon . . .
Elizabeth: My friends call me Elizabeth.
Panel 7
Elizabeth and Matt walk away from Roger and Pauline; both Matt and Roger look pleased and embarrassed.
Elizabeth: Was that OK?
Roger: Yeah. Yeah, Bethy. C'mon, let's go seduce a coroner.
Panel 8
Legend: Tokyo. Friday.
Transition panel. View of part of the doorway of the Musashi Museum.
Panel 9
View of the Musashi Museum. It's raining. Two figures are visible on the roof of the building.
Page 15
Panel 1
Closer view of the two figures standing on the roof in the rain. The one in front, a man with glasses, wears a rain slicker with hood. The other is a woman in trenchcoat and rain scarf, carrying a see-through bell-shaped umbrella.
Panel 2
Same view, but it's raining even harder.
Panel 3
Closer side view of the two. The man is Houjou, who is wearing his glasses. His hair is loose and spills out of his hood around his face. Rain pours down the visor of his hood and off the end of his nose. The woman is Kagome, dressed in more fashionable rain gear and carrying an umbrella.
Kagome: "Could be worse. Could be raining."
Panel 4
Front view of the two. Houjou's face, including his eyes and much of his cheeks, is almost entirely hidden by his dripping hair and fogged-up glasses. Kagome looks typically cool and calm under her umbrella.
Houjou: All these years…All the times I've told you I love your sense of humor…
Panel 5
Close-up of Houjou, same view.
Houjou: . . . I was lying. Really, I'm only interested in your body . . .
Panel 6
Close-up of Kagome, who is smiling broadly.
Kagome: Hey, that's wasn't bad! That was an awful lot like humor!
Panel 7
Front view of the two
Houjou: That was sarcasm. Even Sesshoumaru can do sarcasm. Sarcasm is easy.
Kagome: Comedy is hard.
Houjou: ?
Kagome: . . . Point taken.
Panel 8
Side view of the two. Houjou's hair and nose are dripping, his glasses fogged.
Houjou: Wish I had my contacts. Or windshield wipers.
Kagome: Your contacts would have washed out by now. Why don't you come under the umbrella.
Panel 9
Close-up profile of Houjou, who is lifting his nose, sniffing.
Houjou: Becausse all I can smell under that umbrella is umbrella. Whereas now I can smell . . . rain.
Page 16
Panel 1
View of the two, both looking serious. Houjou's glasses are fogged. Kagome's eyes are glazed—she is trying to sense auras.
Houjou: This is futile. It's been weeks. Are you getting anything?
Kagome: Not really. Youki's not like scent. Doesn't really hang around. Anyway, the whole place is permeated with Sesshoumaru and the swords.
Panel 2
Squinting as rain falls into his eyes, Houjou kneels on the ground, pulling open a trap door. With his other hand, he passes his glasses to Kagome, who is standing, her umbrella now closed.
Houjou: Sigh. Take these, will you? I'm more blind with them than without them now.
Panel 3
Indoors, Houjou reaches up with both arms to steady Kagome as she climbs down a ladder.
Houjou: Careful.
Kagome: I am. I'm trying not to break your glasses.
Houjou: Don't break Kagome. Don't break the baby. I can buy new glasses.
Panel 4
Houjou and Kagome embrace.
Houjou: You OK?
Kagome: I'm fine. I know this is a long shot, but it's so nice to be doing—something. I hate just waiting for fate to blindside us.
Panel 5
Kagome stands in the foreground, looking serious, with a bit of the faraway "aura" look to her eyes, as Houjou, at the foot of the ladder, puts on his glasses.
Kagome: Come on in. We left Tetsusaiga inside the museum. It's so quiet here today. There's so little youki without Toukijin. It's really obvious—like when an air conditioner suddenly switches off.
Page 17
Panel 1
Inside the Musashi Museum, Houjou looks toward Toukijin's empty space in its glass case. He has removed his hood and has his hands at his neck; his wet hair is loose. Kagome, her headscarf pulled down around her shoulders, stands eyes closed, holding Tetsusaiga.
Houjou: It's that noticeable?
Kagome: Toukijin in particular. It's more like a human-type youki—oh, they're talking to each other!
Panel 2
Houjou looks surprised.
Houjou: What? "Talking to each other"?
Panel 3
Kagome holds up Tetsusaiga as Houjou looks on.
Kagome: Tenseiga and Tetsusaiga. I forgot…they talk to each other. They've always done that. I used to notice it when we were traveling, but I didn't know what it meant.
Panel 4
The two face to face,
Houjou: What are they saying? Can they lead us to Toukijin?
Kagome: It's not that specific. There are no words. At least, not words I can understand.
Panel 5
View of Kagome reflected in the glass of the showcase that holds Tenseiga and the empty brackets for Toukijin.
Kagome: There's just a . . . sense of acknowledgement. The swords . . . love each other. I don't think they're too fond of Toukijin.
Panel 6
Profile view of the two before the showcase. Kagome' s eyes still have that faraway "aura" look. Houjou looks shocked and upset.
Houjou: So we've…we've trapped poor Tenseiga with a katana it hates?
Kagome: No . . . it's…there's a sense that…that this is a duty. They're agitated today. Could it be they were trying to guard Toukijin?
Panel 7
Close-up of the two. Kagome looks sad, Houjou is resolute.
Kagome: Sigh. They failed. We all failed. I feel like we didn't take it seriously enough.
Houjou: We did everything we could. Sesshoumaru took it. This is a game. He's playing a game.