"Sarah," declared Shinobu, "what do you think you are doing?" At this point, the group of four girls had left Kaolla Su's dorm room and made their way down the hallway. Ever the voice of reason, Shinobu could not help but point out the obvious and point out that what Sarah McDougal was doing was wrong in more than one way.
"Oh calm down, Shinobu," responded Sarah, "it's not like I've done anything dangerous. I'm just observing something, that's it."
"Sarah, I'm sure you're aware that taking something from someone's room without their permission is highly inappropriate," Shinobu answered back, "Please tell me you agree with me on that." By this point, she was motioning towards both Mei and Nyamo to help back up her point.
"Shinobu does have a valid point," commented Mei, "taking something from another person's room is frowned upon to say the least. I certainly wouldn't appreciate it if you took something from my room, Sarah."
"Stealing is...wrong." commented Nyamo.
"Aww come on, I'm not stealing," responded Sarah, "I'm just...borrowing. Yeah, that's it. I'm borrowing. I'll give it back to Kaolla, spick and span. It'll be like nothing ever happened." Leave it to Sarah to try to weasel her way out of something whenever she was in trouble, or on the verge of trouble.
"Whatever your intentions, it's still wrong to take something from another person's room without their express consent," reiterated Shinobu, "You should have asked Kaolla first before snatching something like that from her room. And besides, what if it turned out to be a dangerous biological agent, huh?"
"Look," responded Sarah, "I'm holding it really delicate-like and all. I'm not gonna drop it or do something reckless with it, okay? I'm just curious as to whether or not it can do what it apparently claims to do, that's all."
"Then you should have just waited until you came into contact with Kaolla. I'm sure she could answer whatever questions you have about it." responded Mei, serving as the backup voice of reason alongside Shinobu.
The quartet of girls were proceeding down the hallway from Kaolla's room, with Sarah leading the bunch. In her arms was a small jar containing an experimental sample of growth hormone which Kaolla had sitting in her bedroom. The very idea of trying something labelled ‘Experimental Growth Hormone' was simply too good for Sarah to ignore. The only questions that came to her mind were among the following:
How much of the stuff should she take to try it out? A tablespoon? A teaspoon? Half the bottle?
How should she use it? Should she down the stuff like a glass of water? Should she rub it on herself like a container of suntan lotion? Did it need to be injected directly with a syringe? It did say ‘growth hormone' on the label after all, so it was fairly logical to guess that it had to get directly into the bloodstream somehow.
"Come one," responded Sarah to Mei, "aren't you just dying to see what this here is capable of. You read the label, same as the rest of us. Don't you want to get bigger in ‘certain areas', Mei?" The American girl was flashing her eyebrows on that last part while sporting a toothy grin. Her insinuation was clear enough, if Mei's blush was any indicator.
While she was still young, Mei Narusegawa was self-conscious about her figure. She hoped that she was just a late bloomer, but even so, the sight of the other girls around her age developing a more feminine physique did spark some small amount of envy from her. She couldn't help but feel a mix of depression and mild jealousy at having to be in the presence of so many developed women. Her sister Naru told her to just be patient on that topic, that time will catch up with her and that she would blossom into a lovely young lady. But now in her teenage years, Mei felt that time was being particularly slow when it came to blessing her with a more mature-looking female body.
"L-look," countered Mei, who was still blushing at this point, "I get the appeal of wanting to use something like that to...help...with growth in...certain places, but we aren't sure what that formula is capable of. What if it has adverse side effects?"
"Such as?" responded Sarah.
"Maybe if you take too big a dosage, your body could grow out of control. Or maybe it could cause irregular growth patterns throughout your body...say one arm grows longer than the other, or some of your toes grow bigger than your other toes on the same foot, or your head grows too big for your neck to support the weight. The risks are too great to just take something like that on a whim." Ever the logical one, Mei was making valid points.
"I agree with Mei," added Shinobu, "We don't even know if Kaolla has fully tested that batch or not. If she's the one who created it, we should leave it back in her room for her to study it. She probably knows the capabilities of that formula better than any of us."
Even with all the reasonable counter arguments made against Sarah's ‘heat-of-the-moment' decision to snatch the experimental growth hormone from Kaolla's bedroom, the young blonde girl was simply too proud to acquiesce and agree with the others. The possibility of having bigger boobs or a nicer butt or an all around knockout figure was simply too tantalizingly appealing to the girl. Given her impulsivity, Sarah simply trudged on, bottle in hand, as the other girls followed behind her.
It was at this point that some animal-based shenanigans occurred.
As the quartet of girls were rounding the corner, Amalla's pet crocodile Shiro decided to say hello. While his demeanor was menacing to the casual observer, he was generally tame around those he had regular contact with at Hinata House. His usual way of saying ‘hello' was to simply open his jaw as wide as he could and give a friendly reptilian growl. This of course, had rather the opposite effect from the perspective of the assembled girls.
"Ahhh!" hollered Sarah, "Gator!" In her haste and alarm, Sarah had thrown up the bottle containing the experimental growth hormone when her arms instinctively flew up in a somewhat cartoonish fashion. Out flew the bottle as it bounced along the floorboards, miraculously not breaking in the process.
The commotion that Sarah's outburst apparently drew the attention of a pair of birds, one of them dark purple, the other one a golden yellow. The pair had flown along through the hallway towards the crocodile, which resulted in a sort of animalistic scuffle. Perhaps the birds were simply trying to protect the girls from the big lizard, figuring that Sarah's scream of alarm meant that the young ladies were in danger. Whatever the reasoning of the situation as it stood, the two birds ganged up on the crocodile as a distraction.
"Wait, aren't those the cranes that Miss Tsuruko brought along with her?" asked Shinobu.
"Yeah, I think you're right," answered Mei. Nyamo nodded along in agreement.
As Hayate and Shippu did their sort of ‘play-fighting' style of battle with Shiro, the bottle that Sarah lost bounced its way down the hall, rolling alongside the floorboards at times as it gained momentum. Most of the girls were too distracted by the scene going on between the cranes and the crocodile to notice, all except for Nyamo.
"Bottle," said the dark-skinned girl, pointing towards said item as it rolled away.
"What was that, Nyamo?" asked Shinobu as she took her eyes of the play fighting going on between the birds and the big lizard.
"Bottle," repeated Nyamo a bit louder, motioning towards the fast disappearing item.
"Oh crap!" hollered Sarah. "Don't let it get away!"
The girls proceeded to chase after the bottle while Hayate and Shippu continued to tangle with Shiro. Their ruckus soon drew the attention of others within the dorms who were curious as to what all the fuss was about.
"I say, what is going on out here?" asked Tsuruko with Motoko in tow.
"That sounds familiar," commented Amalla with Kaolla right behind her.
Each pair of sisters had stumbled upon the shenanigans between their respective pets and quickly intervened.
"Hayate! Shippu! Come here at once!" commanded Tsuruko.
"Shiro! Heel boy! Now!" barked Amalla.
Within a heartbeat, the pets had obeyed and returned to their respective owners.
"I do apologize for Shiro's outburst," said Amalla, "normally he keeps to the bedroom or out in the backyard or the hot spring. He must have gotten bored and decided to wander about."
"No harm, no foul I suppose," responded Tsuruko, "I'm just glad nobody got hurt. Perhaps we should both do well to keep our respective pets within our rooms during our stay here. And if they leave for whatever reason, either we ourselves or our sisters look after them closely so as not to alarm or frighten anybody."
"I agree," said Amalla, "It's only fair and reasonable."
Kaolla and Motoko could only sigh in relief that nothing serious had happened from the brief scuffle. However, when passing through the hallways, Kaolla could not help but notice something.
"What were the girls doing near my room like that? And what were they chasing after, I wonder." Kaolla said this to herself, keeping her voice low so that nobody else would hear her.
Back to said girls, the quartet of young teens pursued the bottle as it made its way down the steps and onto the next floor below. For such a small item, it was moving remarkably quickly. Even more surprising was the fact that given the bottle was made out of glass, it should have shattered by now, or at the very least cracked. Apparently, Kaolla had made sure she was working with sturdy materials in her laboratory.
"Come on, we can't let it get away!" hollered Sarah.
"Yeah, you more than any of us, given that you planned to just waltz out of Kaolla's room with it," responded Mei.
"Save the lecturing for AFTER we have it," responded Sarah, "I promise I'll put it back or give it to Su directly and apologize, but only after we've gotten it back."
"Quick, we need to get it before somebody finds out what we're up to!" said Shinobu with worry in her voice. She was usually the first to break down whenever she felt she was in serious trouble, and given what Sarah (and by extension the others in the group) had done over the last few minutes, Shinobu didn't want them to be in any more trouble than they already were in.
As the girls pursued the large vial through the common room, it appeared as if the vial almost had a mind of its own, insofar as it did everything it could to avoid being recaptured by any member of the quartet chasing after it. By the most defying odds, the vial rolled out the front door, down the steps, and into the dark of night.
"Crap!" shouted Sarah at the predicament.
The four girls rushed out the front door, looking through the night for any sign of the bottle. Unfortunately, it was too dark to make out anything at that point, so after a few minutes, the girls resigned themselves to being unable to find it and headed back inside.
"Well," commented Mei, "it could be worse, I suppose."
"How do you figure that?" responded Sarah.
"That bottle could have cracked or spilled out onto something or someone. It may say ‘growth hormone' on the label, but we don't know how powerful a substance it is. Hopefully, the bottle is simply lying somewhere in the dark away from prying eyes and undisturbed." said Mei.
"Let's hope you're right," added Shinobu, "We can try to look for it in the morning. With luck, it didn't venture too far down. I'm more concerned with how we're going to explain this to Kaolla when she finds out."
"You think she'll notice right away?" asked Sarah.
"Kaolla is a scientific genius. She'll realize that something is off when she examines her lab. Eventually, she's going to realize that the bottle went missing and that someone here had something to do with it. And knowing Kaolla, she'll probably deduce - correctly I may add - that Sarah would be the most likely culprit." explained Shinobu.
"Aww, come on," replied Sarah, "aren't you on my side? Why are you making me out to be the bad guy in this?"
"It WAS you who decided to snatch that bottle on a whim in the first place," commented Mei.
"Stealing is wrong," quietly added Nyamo.
"Alright, alright," responded Sarah with exhausted resignation, "I'm SORRY, okay? I messed up big time. I just thought the idea of having a sexy bod was too good to pass up, alright? And I was gonna share it with you guys if you were interested. I was just trying to do something nice for us."
"While I appreciate the sentiment, Sarah," said Shinobu, "I just wish you wouldn't act so impulsively at times. Look, let's head in and get ready for the big soak in the hot springs. Tomorrow morning, we'll try to find the bottle without arousing suspicion. If we find it, we return it to Kaolla and apologize for taking it in the first place. Hopefully, she'll forgive us and it'll all be water under the bridge."
"Sounds like a plan," said Mei.
"Good idea," added Nyamo.
"Alright, you've got a point," replied Sarah, "and again, I really am sorry that things turned out the way they did."
The group of girls went back inside Hinata House and towards their respective rooms. Soon enough, they would be in the hot springs and take their minds off of the shenanigans that had just occurred.
Some time after the four girls had returned inside the building, the turtle known as Tama was making her rounds floating about the premises. Ever the bubbly, airheaded animal that she was, Tama always floated along with a joyful aloofness that was similar to Mutsumi or Kaolla in character. She usually had a habit of floating into another person's room with no warning and landing either on their head or shoulder, usually to just say hello and lovingly embrace them in whatever way she could. Tama was particularly fond of kisses (which was another trait she shared with Mutsumi and Kaolla), given her propensity to gain affection from others.
At this time, the turtle was venturing around the exterior of the building, taking in the lovely view of Hinata City and the surrounding countryside. As the sun was setting, the turtle gazed at the natural wonder of the bright glowing orb slowly disappearing over the horizon, enjoying the warmth and glow of it all.
As dusk was transitioning into night, Tama once more floated along throughout Hinata House, hoping to come into contact with someone soon enough. She was on good terms with all the residents at Hinata, though she could tell that her presence was a little unsettling for Motoko, who apparently had a phobia towards turtles from her early childhood years. While Motoko had lessened that fear in the months she had gotten to know Tama, there was still that lingering unease which remained in the normally stoic swordswoman. Still, she was making progress and no longer attacking Tama on sight as was originally the case between the two.
While she was venturing along, Tama heard commotion from part of the dorm room buildings, so given her natural curiosity, she floated along towards the source of the commotion, curious to see what was going on. Lo and behold, she saw four of the younger girls of Hinata House running off after a temporary altercation between the albino crocodile and the pair of birds that arrived alongside her and the black cat. While she was initially planning on joining in on the fun between the animals, she decided to pursue the girls instead, who seemed to be chasing after some small item bouncing and rolling ahead of them.
Tama floated alongside the windows to keep an eye on the girls, listening to them holler and converse with each other as they pursued the mysterious little trinket. Eventually, the girls came to a stop just outside the entrance of the dorm house, talking to each other with what sounded like frustration and worry in their voices from what Tama could discern. When the four decided to eventually turn around and head back inside, Tama floated downwards, landing softly along the ground just outside the doorway.
It was at this point that the Turtle was considering whether to continue following the girls or not when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye.
Peering at some of the nearby bushes, Tama spotted the faintest glint from underneath the nearby shrubbery. Curiosity being inherent in her nature, Tama waddled closer towards the source of the shine, eager to find out what it was. Sure enough, the turtle had located the very object which she would have guessed was what the girls were chasing after in the dorm halls.
The object appeared to be some type of container with liquid inside it, along with a piece of tape with scribbles on it, as well as a chunk of cork closing off the one end to keep the liquid inside. Tama wondered if this item was very important to the girls, given how eagerly they were chasing it. Perhaps if she returned it to them, they would be very happy and reward her with a large bowl of food for supper and some love-filled patting and stroking upon her head and neck. These were the basic thoughts going through the reptile's head as she prepared to get a hold of the item and return it to the girls.
The turtle proceeded to chomp down on the piece of cork at the one end of the bottle, as it was the only part she could hook her mouth over. The rest of the bottle seemed to be made of glass and would be near impossible to bite down upon. Once she got a good hold of it, Tama started to trudge forward, bottle in mouth, as she slowly made her way back towards Hinata House. After several tugs and getting only a few feet towards the door, Tama decided to rethink her strategy. As things currently were, it was taking too much effort and time for the turtle to bring the bottle back inside the dorms.
So, Tama decided to try something else. Given that she was certainly no ordinary turtle, she relied on her one special ability that made her stand out from most other turtles: flight. Perhaps it was because she hailed from the Pararakelse Islands (same as Nyamo), for turtles there appeared to be rather unique in a number of ways, with flight being one of their most standout abilities. It was a talent that boggled people's minds, but given that Tama's limbs were something akin to that of sea turtles as opposed to the more stumpy, claw-like ones found on tortoises, flight for Tama was as natural as swimming was for sea turtles.
Trudging down the staircase to build up speed and momentum, Tama eventually managed to move fast enough that she was able to take off like a small form of aircraft. Though, with the bottle hanging from her mouth, her movements were somewhat sloppy and wayward. Navigating while hauling the extra weight was proving to be more difficult than she anticipated. Still, if she could just get within the grounds of Hinata House, eventually she would find someone to hand the bottle off to. Surely, they would know who it belongs to and things would be okay afterwards.
As the turtle was floating towards Hinata House, she made her way over the walls of the nearby hot springs. A nearby fresh gust of wind had given her enough lift to help propel her over the walls and glide directly over the hot springs, which were now fully cleaned and topped off to their capacity, ready to be enjoyed.
As Tama was hovering over the hot springs like a sort of spy aircraft, the cork which she had her mouth over was under intense strain. Being held as it was between the flying turtle and the mouth of the bottle in which it was placed, it was only a matter of time before something was going to give. Sure enough, as Tama was floating over the hot spring, the cork came loose, which in turn caused the bottle to fall straight downward and splash in the very center of the hot spring. The experimental growth hormone had been unleashed and mixed with the hot spring baths, contaminating the entire pool of pristine bath water, though there was no change in color, aroma, or any discernible way whatsoever to show that the waters had been tampered with.
Since Tama noticed her cargo had become significantly lighter, she glanced downward just in time to see and hear the bottle hit the water. Sure enough, she was significantly alarmed at the suddenness of what had transpired, though she was more so saddened to realize that she could not return the bottle to someone at Hinata House now. Perhaps she could dive into the water to recover the bottle, though by now it would be an empty bottle. Would an empty bottle be an adequate gift to hand over to someone at Hinata House? Maybe Su, given her cheerful nature and the fact that she had a sort of soft spot for Tama.
Deciding to forgo searching for the bottle in the hot springs waters, Tama simply spit out the cork, as it no longer served a purpose. She then proceeded to search for the nearest open window to find someone to interact and play with. Maybe Mutsumi or the Aoyama girl, as Tama liked the reactions of the both of them when playing with either. Even Keitaro would do, given his somewhat goofy, happy-go-lucky demeanor.
Speaking of Keitaro, the dorm manager had finished up the last of his daily tasks and was proceeding to relieve himself with some comfort food. Earlier in the day, he made a phone call for an order of Chinese takeout. Figuring that it was a Friday night and he didn't want to bother Shinobu by asking if she could make him something for dinner (knowing that the girl gladly would if he only asked), Keitaro decided to take the easy way out and order in for the night.
As he was finishing up the last of his chores, the bell rang to signal that his food delivery had arrived. After paying the delivery driver (and tipping him to boot), Keitaro proceeded to consume his meal with great vigor, given how hungry he was from the daily activities he had to perform as dormhouse manager. Between cleaning the hot springs, tending to the laundry, washing the dishes, waxing the hallway floors, paying the utility bills, checking the water heater, checking the main circuit breaker, and numerous other tasks which kept the poor guy busy, it was a wonder that Keitaro didn't fall over from exhaustion or lack of nutrition, given how much the day-to-day tasks kept him occupied.
As the sun began to disappear over the horizon, Keitaro took in the view of Hinata City from his bedroom window as he chowed down on a combination of sesame chicken, pork-fried rice, lo-mein noodles, and a shrimp egg roll. The meal was certainly satisfying, especially after all the hard work he had to go through that day. While munching on his dinner, Keitaro figured that the girls would be relaxing in the hot springs from what he guessed. He could only hope that they appreciated how much work he put into making the hot springs as pristine in condition as possible. At the very least, he hoped that Naru would appreciate it, given how smitten he was with the girl, even if he was reluctant to show his feelings towards her whenever in the company of others.
Keitaro was finishing up his meal, becoming well-satisfied from the overload of calories and carbohydrates which were settling in his stomach. Deciding to treat himself, Keitaro reached out for the fortune cookie that came with his meal. Popping open the plastic wrapping which contained the treat, Keitaro then cracked open the fortune cookie, taking pieces of it into his mouth and munching with satisfied delight as he unfolded the fortune. Figuring it would be something vague or not related in anyway to his everyday life, Keitaro was mildly intrigued at what he saw as he read his fortune:
"Big changes are coming your way."