She was preparing to leave the waiting area and find a seat in the stands to watch Sakura-nee's exposition. However, as she was about to go a staff member asked her to remain there until she was called. 'That's odd,' she realized as she sat in a nearby chair. 'I thought contestants could observe the other competitors after their turn was complete.'

She had never competed in one of these contests before. Still, she had been in the audience back when Kim-onee had won the position of Keeper. Of course, that had been a few Years ago. Despite that, she could vaguely remember Amelia-neechan sitting with their matFam after she lost her combat bout.

She didn't have long to wait, however. Roughly a quarter of an hour later, there was a knock on her door. The portal quickly opened and a venue employee stuck her head inside and said, "Miss, please follow me."

She followed the young woman, fully expecting to be led to the stadium seating. Instead, she was surprised to find herself standing in front of the entrance to the floor of the arena. "Wait, I'm not scheduled to compete again until the armed combat portion of the competition," she protested.

"Miss, please enter the event hall. I was told that you will receive further instructions there," the staff member said politely but firmly.

She had no choice but to shrug and follow the directives.

After going through the doorway, she found the same employee from earlier still inside of the arena. Standing beside her was a heavily breathing Sakura-nee. She could tell how tired her elder Sister was by her flushed face and listless stance. The way the sweat plastered the girl's long dark bangs to her forehead provided additional evidence of her recent exertion.

'She needs to go take a break,' was her first thought upon seeing her patSister. 'At the very least, someone should give her some water.'

She was getting ready to ask this from the employee when the other two competitors, Kelly-mouto and Mandy-mouto entered. After a few moments of shuffling, the four Sisters formed an impromptu row in age order.

Unexpectedly, her Mother rose to her feet. "An objection has been raised. Per the written traditions of House Washington, I must ask each of you a short list of questions. When you answer these queries, your responses will undergo a voice stress analysis to determine if you have been truthful. Do you fully comprehend what I have just said?"

Confused by this unexpected turn of events, it took her a moment to nod in response.

"Girls, since this is being taped for posterity I need each of you to reply verbally."

'We are being recorded?' she pondered. 'Why?'

Still, when her name was called she answered, "I understand," along with her siblings. However, before they could proceed to Kelly-mouto, she spoke up. "Forgive me for interrupting, but could someone please bring Sakura-nee some water? She hasn't had time to take a breather like the rest of us."

Sakura-nee shot her a grateful look before her Okaa-sama responded with a nod. "That is acceptable. However, Christiana let me ask you something."

"Yes, ma'am," she replied, fully expecting to be reprimanded for her interruption.

"Why do you want to give aid to your opponent?"

She was able to respond instantly. "We may be rivals today, but she is still my patSister. After all, we are both members of House Washington."

With that, she saw her patMother Patricia momentarily cover her face in her hands before returning to her disinterested appearance.

"Did anyone instruct you to say that?"

"No, ma'am."

"Then why did you state what you did?"

"Because it's true. Plus, it is how I feel."

Her Mother flashed her a triumphant grin before replacing it with her normal aloof mask. "You realize that this will also be voice analyzed?"

"I didn't think about that," she answered truthfully.

"Then do you want to retract your statement?"

"No, ma'am."

"Why not?"

"Because it's true," she replied with yet another shrug.

This caused a murmur to arise in the House members sitting above her. However, she didn't understand why.

"Then I shall continue," her progenitor announced before proceeding to Kelly-mouto.

During these exchanges, a staffer had brought Sakura-nee a large glass of cool water, which she drank thirstily.

"Now then, let us get to the matter at hand," the Matriarch of the House continued. "I will start with you, Christiana, because the objection concerns your performance."

'What did I do wrong?' she wondered. She had merely performed the Katas that they had asked her to perform to the best of her abilities. Wasn't that what she was supposed to do?

"Yes, ma'am," she replied, suddenly nervous after having learned that she was at the heart of things.

"Christiana, before today were you told that you would have to showcase all twenty Katas during this competition?"

"No, I was not."

"Then why were you able to perform all of them so perfectly?"

"Ummm..." she began, not wanting to reveal the whole reason. "I'm great at the gym. Haruhi-nee and I also practice Katas together in the evenings."

"She is being partially deceptive.," Miss Harrison announced. From where she stood, she could not see the device the young woman was using for voice analysis, but it was quite accurate.

"Christiana, please tell us the complete truth."

"Yes ma'am. Haruhi-nee worked hard to master the Katas because we were teaching them to someone, and we needed to show them properly."

"While mostly truthful, she is still hiding something," quipped her long-time friend.

"I think I know the answer, but I will ask anyway. Christiana, who have you been training?"

"Look, we just wanted to teach him how to defend himself if he were ever alone..."

"Please respond to the question."

"We have been teaching Johnathan-nii the Katas after school regularly. Well, at least we were before I started practicing for this tournament. Recently we have only been doing it on Sundays."

This caused another brief bout of murmuring to break out in the gallery above.

When Miss Harrison did not comment, her Mother continued.

"If that is the case, then how did you know to string them together like that? Did someone teach you that method?"

"No, ma'am. No one taught me how to do it. In fact, I have never even seen anyone do that."

"Then how did you learn to do it?"

She shrugged yet again. "When I was instructed to do all of them in order, it just felt right. I simply followed the natural flow of the movements."

"Wait. Are you saying that today was the first time you have ever chained the Katas together as you did during your performance?" her Okaa-sama asked. Both of her eyes opened wide, showing her amazement.

"Yes, ma'am," came her sincere response.

The arena burst into a low clamor as people responded to this surprise announcement. There was one voice, however, which could be heard above the din.

"That has to be a lie!" patMother Patricia objected stridently.

Everyone's focus shifted to Miss Harrison. "She is telling the complete truth."

This time the objector would not back down.

"There has to be some kind of mistake!" the woman raged. "I haven't once seen you look at your supposed analyzer!"

"Mrs. Patricia Kobayashi Washington, do you really want to continue down this road?" came the icy response from the girl in the dark blue business suit. Even standing down on the arena floor, she could feel the threat emanating from that handful of words. "I tell you what. I'll humor you."

With that, the woman pulled out her com. "Just so you know, these proceedings are being analyzed in real-time by one of the most cutting-edge computers in the system."

"The most advanced...?" her patMother responded, her confusion clear in her tone.

"Here, let me link this call to the venue's speakers, so you will all be able to listen in."

After a momentary pause, they could hear a connection being made over the arena's hidden audio devices. Four simple astounding words followed, four expressions that caused almost everyone's jaws to drop. "This is Hope actual."

'That can't really be Hope, can it? As in the starship? No way!' she thought, her eyes wide in astonishment. 'And Hope actual, no less. That is the captain of the ship!'
Everyone knew the ships were still in orbit. They believed the vessels existed, otherwise the colony itself wouldn't exist. However, knowing that fact and experiencing direct contact with it were two totally different things. It was like saying that flames were hot. You comprehended it intellectually, but it was only when you burned your fingers that you understood deep down inside that it was actually scorching.

As far as she knew, no one outside of the highest levels of the government had direct connections with the two ships. 'Just who is Miss Harrison?' she wondered as the implications of this event started to sink in. Then another thought hit her. 'Was she the federal agent that the staff member mentioned while serving cake? Was she the reason for the event's delay?'

"I take it you have been monitoring the proceedings?" Miss Harrison asked.

"I certainly have," came the voice from the ship.

"And what is the computer's verdict?"

"It agrees with all of your pronouncements except for one."

"Oh? What was the difference?"

"When asked 'today was the first time you have ever chained the Katas together' the computer only gave her a 99.8% chance of telling the truth. You said 'She is telling the complete truth.' That was a discrepancy, although an extremely minor one."

"Thank you, Hope actual."

"I can send you the report the system generated if you think it is necessary."

"Mrs. Patricia Kobayashi Washington, will a report be necessary?"

Before the woman even responded, her Mother interjected. "As the Matriarch of House Washington, I declare that such a report is unnecessary. Thank you very much for your time and consideration in this matter, Hope actual. You must have other, much more important tasks to take care of."

"You're welcome, Holly. Just remember that I am always here if you need me." Then after a momentary pause, "Is there anything else that you need?"

'Wait! Did the captain of Hope just call Mother by her first name?!' Christiana suddenly realized. It would have been one thing for her to call her Mother Mrs. Washington since that name had been mentioned earlier, but she had not. She had referred to her as Holly. That meant that the woman on the other end of the line knew her mother well enough to be on a first-name basis with her. 'What's going on here?'

"No, that is all. Thank you very much for your assistance."

"You are welcome, as always. Hope actual out."

After a pause, her Okaa-sama spoke once more. "Patricia faced with this evidence, do you still wish to proceed with your protest?"

Even from her position on the floor of the arena, she could see that her patMother had gone pale. So pale that she could finally understand a term she had read from books written in the twentieth century. The woman had gone 'as white as a sheet,' apparently referring to the undyed cotton sheets used during that period. 'She doesn't look good at all,' she thought as she looked at the visibly terrified woman. 'What is she so afraid of?'

After a pause during which she had to have weighed her options, she answered "I do not wish to proceed with my protest at this time."

Mother allowed a smirk to show for a moment before she replaced it with her normal aloof mask. "In that case, you girls may return to your waiting rooms. We will begin round two of the competition after a fifteen-minute break."

As the girls were filing out of the arena floor Sakura-nee quietly whispered "Thank you!" to her. She also flashed her a brilliant smile before they separated to go to their own waiting areas.

'Her parent may have ulterior motives, but Sakura-onee is still her normal self. I feel bad having to compete against her, but I want this position too badly to give up even for my patSister.'

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