Page 13
Panel 1
The Weird Guy kneels at the door of the Curator’s office, doing something to the lock.
Panel 2
View from inside the office at the Weird Guy looking in the open door. The office is dark. There is a desk and chair facing the door. On the desk are a pop-up Post-It Note dispenser, a pencil holder of pens and pencils, a piece of paper with a note stuck to it, a telephone connected to an answering machine, and a couple of random notes stuck to the desk and phone. The message light glows on the answering machine.
Panel 3
Close up from the Weird Guy’s POV of the telephone and answering machine.
Panel 4
Close-up of the Weird Guy. He is reacting with shock to something he sees.
Panel 5
The Weird Guy stands outside the office door, which he has pulled closed. He looks frightened.
Panel 6
The Weird Guy turns, back still to the wall, and pushes open the door. He looks apprehensive.
Panel 7
Back in the dark office, the Weird Guy, still looking fearful, pulls a note from the dispenser with one hand and takes a pen from the cup with the other.
Panel 8
Close-up of the Weird Guy’s hand scribbling something on a sticky note.
Page 15
Panel 1
The Weird Guy, looking scared and holding the note dispenser in one hand and a pen in the other, pastes a note on the answering machine.
Panel 2
The Weird Guy writes another note.
Panel 3
Close-up of the Weird Guy’s hand pasting a note to the telephone.
Panel 4
The Weird Guy is outside the office door, still holding the note dispenser and pen. There are several notes pasted on the office door.
Panel 5
View of the glass case with Tenseiga. There are several notes plastered on it, including on the lock and on the meter on the side.
Panel 6
The Weird Guy puts another Post-It on the outside of the museum door.
Panel 7
The Weird Guy runs away from the museum, still holding the pen and note dispenser. There are several notes plastered on the museum doors and the lock.
Page 16
Panel 1
Legend: Edo University
Houjou’s office. Houjou, holding Tetsusaiga, and Kagome stand in front of his desk computer, both looking rather surprised.
Houjou: ? Your brother’s coming down the corridor.
Kagome: Souta’s here? I’d thought he would call.
Panel 2
The Weird Guy—let’s call him Souta from here on—appears in Houjou’s doorway, still carrying the pen.
Souta: Inuyasha! Don’t touch the phone! Or the computer!
Panel 3
Souta stands beside Houjou, scribbling yet another note. Houjou looks bewildered, Kagome looks on looking distressed.
Houjou: What? What are you doing?
Souta: Making ofuda out of Post-It Notes. Did you try to call Jaken? Some idiot put an answering machine on the museum phone!
Panel 4
Souta puts a note on the telephone. Houjou has his hands up at either side of his head, with Tetsusaiga tucked under one arm.
Souta: Don’t touch the phone, the computer, the light switch . . .
Houjou: I’m not touching anything.
Souta: Did you call the museum?
Houjou: Yeah.
Souta: Did the machine pick up?
Houjou: I don’t know. I hung up before I heard anyone.
Souta: Shit.
Panel 5
Close-up of Souta.
Souta: I’m sorry, Dog-Type Brother. I was just going to see if the sword was there and check the wards. I should have stopped home for my stuff. I didn’t expect the machine. I’ve been plastering makeshift daemon wards on everything.
Houjou (offscreen): Do I understand this?
Page 17
Panel 1
Souta and Houjou face each other. Behind them, there is a Post-It Note on the phone, with the dispenser nearby.
Souta: You ought to, for your own good. Energy is energy. Daemon energy, magical energy, it’s still energy. Which means it can travel through phone lines. If you called the museum and hung up before the machine answered, then no connection—no problem. If you got the machine, there’s a chance that any daemonic energy from the museum has now found its way into the university phone system.
Panel 2
Close-up of Souta and Houjou
Houjou: I’m not following you.
Souta: All somebody would have to do is put a daemonic spell on the outgoing message. Theoretically, the sword itself could be converted to pure daemon energy and sent through the phone lines.
Panel 3
Close-up of Houjou looking incredulously at Tetsusaiga.
Houjou: You mean, with all the money I spent FedExing Tetsusaiga to Chicago and back, I could have just telephoned it there?
Panel 2
Close-up of Souta talking to Houjou
Souta: Or e-mailed it as an attachment. If we had the technology—or the magic ability, which is just a different form of technology—to convert the katana to pure energy—which we don’t. But somebody else might. Which is why even once I’ve brought in some more specific daemon wards from home, you’re still not going to open any e-mail attachments until I put together a new antivirus update.
Page 18
Panel 1
View of the three. Houjou looks like he’s in shock. Kagome is emphatic. In the background, there are notes on both the telephone and the computer.
Houjou: I assume this means Toukijin was gone.
Souta: You assume correctly. Your stalker was there, though. Weird guy. Acts clueless.
Kagome: Souta, how can this be? That installation has our strongest daemon wards. You and I set them up ourselves! The sword shouldn’t have been able to leave the building!
Panel 2
View of the three..
Kagome: The wards should have stopped anybody—well, any daemon—except Sesshoumaru himself.
Houjou: Could a mortal have taken it?
Kagome: We don’t know if a mortal can use it. There’s a burglar alarm to handle human thieves.
Panel 3
View of Souta and Houjou, both looking serious.
Souta: It looked to me like the alarm system was intact. I don’t know if a human can hold it. I don’t even know if another daemon can pick it up. Ever touched it?
Houjou: Not unless you count having it stuck into me. It possessed the daemon who forged it and sent him after me.
Souta: You didn’t have to handle it to write the catalog?
Panel 4
View of the three. Houjou and Souta are serious, Kagome looks apprehensive.
Houjou: The catalog is my great work of fiction. Most of the swords in the collection are replicas. The "museum" is just a place for my idiot brother to stash his swords.
Kagome: So . . . it’s out there.
Panel 5
Close-up of Houjou.
Houjou: Maybe Sesshoumaru has it. Most likely Sesshoumaru has it. Jaken’s an idiot.
Panel 6
Close-up profile of Houjou.
Houjou: If not my brother, then one of his very powerful enemies—and we’re not getting into the middle of that. Jaken can report to his master himself. If Sesshoumaru has a problem with the antidaemon system he can call us. We’ll beef up our own wards in case there was a leak. But we are out of this. Period.
. .