"No," Kyoko said, cracking an awkward little smile, "I guess I just thought you'd like to hear it." It wasn't a particular comfort to her, just something that made all the things that had happened to her easier to understand.

"But it really is nothing to worry about. I guess you didn't get to see it, but I made her talk to me the day after that broadcast." A pause, and then she gave a tiny laugh. "You know, she was only mad at me that time because she'd heard I was a dropout?"