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Chapter 20

TINA CATALINA MET US AT THE DOOR WEARING SWEATPANTS and a paja penguins, happy octopuses, and a certain kitty whose first name is a common salutation

"New hair, Hunter?"

"Well spotted You reht?"

She blinked sleepily "Oh, yeah, froroup yesterday I liked what you said, Jen Very cool"

"Thanks"

Tina squinted "But didn&039;t you have like rinned "I got bored"

"So you buzzed it" Tina stepped back, taking in antic dress "And then went to the prom? Do they still have those?"

"A launch party, actually" I fingeredday"

"Looks like it Are the purple hands a retro-punk thing?"

"Yes, they&039;re a retro-punk thing"

"Cute, I guess"

Tina led us into her kitchen, which had pink walls and brutally bright lighting Character-theood-luck cats filled the counter space, and the small kitchen table was heart shaped

Tina yawned and flicked on a coffeeet you out of bed?" Jen asked

"No, I was up Just about to eat breakfast"

"Youmode"

"Tina&039;s an air-mile addict," I explained "She lives on Tokyo tis out of the refrigerator Her job took her to Japan every feeeks, and she was constantly juggling night and day, shifting into or out of Japanese tiht that bathed the kitchen came from special full-spectru that the sun was shining A big chart on the wall tracked the convolutedschedule, but cool hunting in Japan could pay off handso been the first to spot a new species of cell phone, one that was just beginning to catch on here in America Part phone and part electronic pet, the device required that you feed it (by dialing a special nu other pet-phone owners), and play thuames to keep it happy In return, your phone would occasionally ring and deliver e Even istered owners were ranked in a nonstop global cohest achievers receiving free minutes hich to suppleether by users in Japan, but here in the States the big corporations were taking over, and Tina was getting a percentage

Besides the professional payoffs, Tina loved all things cute and big-eyed, which the Japanese have a mortal lock on

Her rice cooker, which was pink and in the shape of a rabbit, said soh-pitched voice Probably that the rice was done

"Hungry?" she asked

"I ate at the party," Jen said

"Actually, I" - Tina&039;s idea of food was freeze-dried snow peas and heavily salted seaweed cakes, but I was close to fainting - "a"

She doled out rice into tls

"So what&039;s up, Hunter-san? Spotted any pet phones at school?"

"Uh, it&039;s suo to school in summer here in America"

"Oh, yeah"

"You haven&039;t heard fro yesterday?" Tina shrugged "No Why?"

"She&039;s "

Tina thunked a bowl in front ofup at ?" Tina poured soy sauce on her o egg and began to stir the whole thing into brown rowled, indifferent to how the rest of ht

"We were supposed to meet her don," Jen said "All we found was her phone"

"Oh, the poor thing," Tina said,the phone She looked like she&039;d seen an abandoned puppy on the roadside

"We haven&039;t been able to find her, but a lot of strange things have happened in the meantime," I said "There&039;s one you could help us with At this party tonight there was this weird ad that gave us headaches"

"Pardonthis shampoo which was really purple dye" I waved a retro-punk hand "Iher Poo-Sham camera at Tina I barely had time to shut my eyes The familiar flicker penetrated my eyelids like a drill

When I opened them, Tina wore the Poo-Sham-dazzled expression

"Whoa That eird"

"Yeah, everyone at the party thought so too," I said "And I reend about a Japanese kids&039; show It gave people seizures or soend," Tina said softly, still dazed from the flash "That&039;s episode 38"

"You asked to see this," Tina said "So don&039;t blalanced at each other We had relocated to Tina&039;s living roo that rice, raw egg, and soy sauce all stirred up actually tastes good It does if you&039;re starving, anyway According to Tina, it hat Japanese kids ate for breakfast, which was roughly what ti some sort of trans-Pacific psychic moment

"If we die?" Jen asked

"Not that anyone really died, of course But six hundred or so kids went to the hospital"

"Fro TV?" Jen asked for the tenth time "And this actually happened?"

"Yeah December 16,1997, a date that will live in infa that went on"

"And you&039;ve actually watched it yourself?" I asked "Willingly?"