[Kate, Juri, and Sumire are aboard an express train from Ohji to Sendai, en route to the Shinguuji compound for the Christmas festivities.]

        Kate pictured a younger Sumire exploding onto the scene at the
Deedlit Satori Mandeville Memorial Institute and couldn't help laughing.
        "What's so funny about that?" Sumire demanded.  "Do you not
think I could've gotten in?  I'm not just one of the great beauties of
our age, you know; I also happen to have a brilliant mind."
        "I'm j-just pic-c-picturing you and L-Liza g-going head t-to
head b-b-back in the d-day," said Kate between giggles.
        Sumire's dark eyes widened.  "What, before her transformation?
(And before mine, come to that, I'm sure you've heard the stories,)" she
noted as if making an aside to a stage audience.  "Frankly, I'd like to
think I would have crushed her.  I was an -exceptionally- talented
bitch."  She sighed nostalgically.  "Ah, well, that was then.  I've
mellowed considerably in my old age.  You can thank Kaitlyn's father for
that," she added offhandedly to Juri.  "It turns out the old saying
about difficult women is true."
        Kate made a small noise; Sumire turned back to her with a
solicitous look.  "I'm sorry, Kaitlyn darling, too much information?"
Kate merely gave her a look, because she knew that if she opened her
mouth it was all over; Sumire shrugged and added nonchalantly, "In that
case, I probably shouldn't mention that your mother and I are planning
to finally fix him up with Kohran this year.  The poor dear desperately
needs her bolts tightened, if you'll pardon the expression."
        Kate, barely containing herself, glanced to Juri for support;
but all she got from that quarter was a single arched eyebrow, which
finished her off.  She buried her face in Serge's back (puzzling the
tiger considerably) to avoid alerting the whole coach with her torrent
of laughter.
        Once she'd gotten that out of her system, she raised her face a
little from the tiger's back (now slightly damp with tears of mirth) and
said, "Y-you're n-not really."
        "Are we -not,-" Sumire replied mock-haughtily.  "She -was- the
first of the Hanagumi to kiss him, you know."
        Shaking her head, Kate let go of Serge's sides and flopped back
against the compartment wall.  "You p-people have r-r-ruined his r-
reput-t-tation," she said sadly.
        "It's a dirty job," Sumire conceded, "but someone has to do it.
It's probably petty of me, but I just like seeing -how ridiculous- we
can make the rumors in 'Hello!' magazine without his knowledge.
Everyone needs hobbies."
        "Th-th-the one about the chorus l-line was a b-b-bit much," Kate
opined.
        Sumire gave a rather Gallic shrug.  "I only regret that I not
only can't claim, but don't know who -is- responsible for, the one about
James May."