The threesome stayed seated at the table long after they had stopped eating. Enough food remained to feed everyone Hank had befriended this week, with leftovers to spare. He wondered if Odeya was aware of the amount, because she acted as if she were expecting more guests.

It unnerved him how she plucked thoughts from his head. "People visit all the time," she offered as an explanation. "And so many too! It's nice to have just you to myself for awhile."

"Thank you for seeing us," Rio said.

Odeya reached out and placed her fingers on Rio's wrist. "You're my favorite, Child. Always, of them all."

"Do you know many people?" Hank asked Odeya.

"A lot," Rio said with a smile, happy to have Odeya's touch.

"Thousands," Odeya corrected, also smiling. "Many, many thousands! I see them in my mind."

Hank took the opportunity to talk about Reality Making. "What do you say when you see them?"

Odeya closed her iced coffee eyes. "Listen. Heed these words."

"Your words?" Hank asked, his own eyes alight.

Iced coffee eyes opened up. "Your words," she corrected.

Hank breathed deep and glanced about, his shyness shining through. "Odeya, if you please. I want to ask you what you know about the three planes that crashed last night."

"Four," she said with a nod. Rio tensed under her gentle hand.

"Four planes crashed?" Hank asked, disbelieving.

"Soon five."

"What's going on?"

"Ach un vey. They want us dead."

Hank was never meeker. "Is it because of me?"

"You. Me. Her. Everyone. Many die in vain. Death is always lurking, always stalking prey."

"Why?"

"Something's wrong. The world has too many people. For years—ha!—even centuries!—we numbered in the millions. Now there are many billions, with more on the way. Where do they come from? What do they want? Why are they here? The Earth rots beneath us, for many are now ignorant, or hateful or cruel and shallow."

Odeya's hands shot in the air. "And good people can do nothing!"

"Kill them," Rio muttered to herself, acting forlorn.

Hank rose from the table. "There are things we can do," he offered. Odeya listened intently, hope shining in her eyes. "Teach them if they're ignorant," he said. "Show how love works better than hate. People appreciate being well-treated."

Odeya pointed at Hank with conviction. "Those who sin must die!"

In a wordless panic, Rio stood up and stormed away. She hid in the front room, facing a wall in a far corner. Hank glanced about in confusion for a moment, before chasing after her. He stopped when he realized she was sobbing, her face in her hands.

Odeya approached more slowly. When she was a meter away, Rio whirled about. She ripped at her expensive blue blazer, flinging it wide open. She then bunched up her chemise and tried pulling everything off over her head. Looking like a failure, she stood with her chest exposed and her arms trapped, her clothes by her chin.

"Am I all that bad?" she cried, snorting on miserable snot. "Am I really that ugly?"

"Oh, Honeypot," Odeya said, sounding motherly. "What has he done to you?"

Rio screamed in a voice not her own. "Get away! Don't touch me!"

Odeya said not a word, but blithely stared at Hank, since Rio had directed her outburst at him as much as she did at her. He approached to straighten her clothes but she resisted, pitifully fighting him off without the use of her trapped hands. She turned to again face the wall as Odeya stepped in Hank's way.

Her platform heels put them eye-to-eye. "You think you belong to her?" she asked, motioning towards Rio with a tic of her head. Odeya analyzed Hank's face with her head still cocked. "Oh! Instead she belongs to you! You dog!"

"Um… I don't think…"

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Odeya poked Hank in the chest, her praying mantis personna returning. "You don't know her," she said.

"Ah…"

"No! You don't! Be humble instead of with pride, for all of us have things hidden in us. Some have more and some less." She threatened his physical pride with her nails, forcing him to back off. "And some are blessed with much."

Odeya went on a tirade, her behavior haunting as she paced. The expressions she chose while she ranted were those admired for centuries, and they gracefully showed her age. With a flick of her wrist and a twist of time, Realities descended around her. She cast age aside and transcended eons.

Hank opened his mouth to speak, but Odeya jumped down his throat. "Show mercy in the midst of abuse!" she exclaimed, perhaps to him, perhaps to Rio. "Express love while in self-loathing and you are reborn, untouched by the filth where you lay."

Odeya's rantings brought her to Rio side, who peered over her shoulder with her back still turned, holding shut her damaged blazer. "Weep no more!" Odeya commanded. "Your anger is for the moment, but his love for you is eternal."

Rio leaned to one side, to look at Hank from around Odeya. "You think so?" Rio asked, her eyes moist and wide.

"He loves you forever."

"Rio…" Hank began, not wanting her to fall for Odeya's theatrics.

Odeya stormed up to his face and offered a vicious compliment. "How gracious you are when she cries! She calls for you and you answer!"

"I'd do that for anyone."

"Oh would you?"

"Anyone I care about."

"And do you care for many?"

"I do."

Odeya searched him for the truth. Upon finding it, her voice ringed with praise. "Aha! We are blessed by your presence! With humility and great strength, you deliver us from that which we fear."

"Ah… okay. I do?"

"When peril looms and Death is nigh, ah ya! To be sure! But also while in repose, my boy with the pretty face."

She brought her long eyelashes close to his, to give him an air kiss on the cheek. "Be generous with us in your presence," she said near his ear, before switching to kiss at his other cheek. "Be kind to us and be wise. But most of all…"

Odeya gave up on the butterfly kisses, as Hank wasn't complying. "Be true," she said to him before returning to tend to Rio. "Oh, Child," she lamented. "You've torn the thread on this button. Now look. It won't close!"

"I'm sorry, Sensai! I'm so sorry!"

Hank approached to defend Rio, but Odeya turned and attacked.

"Ach un vey!" she said. "You're still here? Zei gezunt! Leave us be! Get on with your life!"

To this latest assault, Hank stood his ground. "No," he said. "I'm not going anywhere."

Rio stepped around Odeya and approached Hank, standing close so she could whisper. "Dōzo, my Sweet," she said. "Go. I'll be okay."

"Gosh, Rio. I don't know."

"Just go. Please. I am begging."

She fumbled with her knotted clothes to free a hand. His heart melted when she placed it on his chest.

"I'll call when I need you," she promised, her smile genuine.

"I don't have my phone."

She left him to dig through her purse. "Take mine. I'll use hers." To his continued reluctance, she added, "Her number is also here, so call me if you like. But please," she added as he took the phone, "do not call for a while. I need time to get my head together."

"I don't like her. She doubts everything I say."

"Hai. That is true. But doubt is what I need. Someone to cast aspersion, so I can be sure of what's right."

Hank looked over Rio's head at Odeya, who stood watching, where Rio had left her. She had the elbow of one arm in the hand of the other, and tapped at her chin as she stared.

Rio poked Hank lovingly. "When I call, Crabby Rio will return. It's what you want, you see."

Hank couldn't help but feel love. He kissed the top of Rio's head.

"You're lucky you're so darn cute," he said. They hugged like they'd never let go.

"I want to say something before I leave," he said, addressing Odeya as they locked eyes over the top of Rio's head. "I want you to please listen, as what I'm going to say is for Rio much more than for you."

Odeya stopped tapping her chin and smiled slyly.

"If you would," Hank said to Rio as he helped straighten her clothes, "could you please stand next to her?" She complied, and he then said, "Now, I don't know why you think you're ugly, because you're freaking gorgeous to me. And not just to me, but to everyone."

"My skin is too dark," Rio said.

Odeya turned her gaze towards Rio and arched an eyebrow. Hank did much the same.

"You're too dark?" Odeya mocked.

Rio glanced into Odeya's iced coffee eyes before looking at Hank's alabaster white face. "You know what I mean," she said.

"Never mind," Hank told Odeya, shushing her. "That's not true," he said to Rio.

"I'm blind as a bat without my glasses."

"No you're not. And who cares?"

Rio held back tears. "And my boobs don't match!"

From this morning's sōpu sōpu bath, Hank found that to be true. Like many busty women, one of Rio's breasts hung a scant bit lower than the other. To its credit, it also was larger.

Hank remained calm and polite. "Rio, please. There's nothing wrong with your body. I've seen every inch of it, and you're perfect."

Odeya turned her raised eyebrow towards Hank, who did his best to ignore her.

Rio finally got around to the truth. "You know what I've done! What I did to you!"

Hank stepped in quickly, to stop Rio from confessing any further. Odeya moved to protect Rio from Hank, but his smile put her at ease. He made the two women stand a meter apart, then motioned at the space between them.

"Okay, look," he said. "Imagine that here is Leanne."

"Leanne?" Rio asked.

"Yes. Leanne." Hank moved his hands as if tracing her curves. "Big strong Leanne. Big hair, big hips, big mouth…"

"Big mouth?"

"Big everything. Big Leanne."

Rio's heart pounded as she thought of her lover, speeding her way home from Switzerland as planes fell all around her.

"Now please look at Odeya. Look how tall she is. How thin she is. How angular. She's not like Leanne at all."

"They both have lots of hair," Rio said.

"Yes. And lots of waves in their hair."

Rio thought about her pin straight hair, and how she tried giving it volume by curling it.

"Each of you is different," Hank said. "You're not the same at all."

"I know! That's the problem!"

Hank held Rio firm by the shoulders and hunkered down to look in her eyes. "No, Rio-san. That is wrong. You're different and you are beautiful. Perfect to each and every one of us, and in every way you can imagine."

"You lead us in ways we've not known," Odeya said with admiration, realizing what Hank was doing. "Down paths that are not familiar."

Hank pressed Rio's head to his chest to keep her quiet, and spoke while looking at Odeya. "You are wonderful, beautiful people, and I very much love you all."