El Hazard and it's characters are owned by AIC and Pioneer LDC.  The author 
owns only the writing.

Chapter 8: Mizuhara's Residence 
 
At the Mizuhara residence, dinner was prepared and the meal began in relative 
silence. Mrs.Mizuhara did manage to give Fujisawa a call simply to tell him 
where his wife was. Miz was amazed about the telephone and took to it naturally 
as she spent five minutes trying to get a definite length of time her husband would 
be trapped at school. She would have taken longer, but Fujisawa heard the 
principal coming and hung up. Poor Miz had no idea what to do. She tried to 
continue talking, then when it was clear that wasn't working, she tried pushing the 
buttons like Mrs.Mizuhara did and wound up talking to a fast food restaurant, a 
grumpy old man, and a eight year old boy in Germany before Nanami noticed her 
plight and tried to explain the concept behind the telephone system. 
 
Dinner began right after everyone else arrived. The lack of chop sticks in El 
Hazard made eating slow. Each of the Hazardians adapted in a different way. 
Afura learned quickly from observation. Miz acted as if she was too nervous to 
eat and simply picked at her food. Kuaul tried, but couldn't get the hang of it. 
Finally Shayla, who was never one for table manners, simply lifted the plate to 
her mouth and used the shovel method. At least Ifurita knew proper etiquette from 
her link with Makoto. The adults were a bit surprised and a bit offended at some 
of their behavior, especially Shayla's. To her credit (or ignorance) she ignored it. 
Hiashi whispered to Nanami, "Believe it or not, she eats faster at home." 
 
Makoto wanted to start his explanation before his friends embarrassed 
themselves. But, needless to say, it was a little late for that. Before he was really 
ready, Makoto began his story, the complete unabridged version. Well maybe not 
totally, complete version. He did leave out the part when Alliele crawled into his 
bed that first night. No one else but Fujisawa knew about that, and he wasn't here. 
He also wanted to skip over the little incident in the baths, but the Priestesses and 
Nanami wouldn't let him. He was red as he told the entire embarrassing incident 
of having to dress like a woman and went to a woman's only hot spring. "Just skip 
over that part." Shayla said when he got to the part where his disguise was 
compromised. After how she reacted to Voice, she didn't want another example of 
her tendency to overreact to go any further than necessary. Especially with her 
husband sitting right next to her. He knew generally what happened, but the fewer 
details he knew, the better. 
 
From then on everyone took their own part in the tale. Interjecting, taking over, 
correcting, the occasional argument over who did what a year ago, it all took 
place. They covered the events up to the point Ifurita went into the Eye of God to 
save El hazard. After that they gave the highlights of what happened since then, 
Miz and Masamichi's wedding, Hiashi's arrival and marriage to Shayla, and 
several of Jinnai's covert attacks. It took over an hour, but when they were done, 
they had their parents slack-jawed and wanting to disbelieve but unable to find a 
way to deny it. Mr. and Mrs.Jinnai were almost in tears from learning what kind 
of monster their son had turned into. At first they were in denial, but Nanami ... 
well Nanami was Nanami. She knew for a long time her brother had delusions of 
grandeur. Unfortunately sometimes parents unconsciously see their children's 
faults as positive traits. Nanami was not much help in making them realize their 
son was a power-hungry dictator responsible for thousands of deaths. 
 
"One of the first things he did when he got there was to conquer an entire country. 
Now what does that tell you?" she argued. 
 
"Maybe they drugged him." her mother suggested. 
 
"Mom, the only thing he was high on was power. Bugrom don't even have the 
brains to tie their shoes if they had them, much less something subtle like that. 
Would you want to follow someone you drugged?" 
 
"Nanami, we just can't believe he turned out this badly." her father said in a tone 
that almost hid his sadness. 
 
"Well I disowned him a long time ago. And I suggest you do too." 
 
"No. Not until we talk to him ourselves. I want him to explain to me, to my face, 
why he did those things." 
 
"Uhhh sir, we were hoping to keep the portal to El Hazard a secret. I don't think 
anyone who doesn't live there should use it." Makoto meekly said. 
 
"I don't care! The Jinnai name is being disgraced by its last heir! I do not want to 
my family name to be this other world's new word for a warmonger!" he said 
slamming his hands against the table before breaking down. No one had the heart 
to tell him it was too late. Jinnai doesn't even respond to his given name anymore. 
Well except maybe when the Bugrom use it. 
 
"Well perhaps something can be arranged." Makoto suggested. It was one of those 
suggestions which wouldn't happen but was said only to comfort. 
 
"You mean that? Great! That means I can keep my restaurant!" Nanami said. 
Mentally Makoto was digging himself a grave. 
 
The gateway between the two worlds simply cannot be kept open. It had nothing 
to do with the Bugrom or even the Eye of God. Makoto felt the two worlds were 
incompatible for such a free flow of people. A few people each way was fine, 
even good since it would enrich both cultures, but if the portal's existence became 
widely known it would be an object of desire ... or conquest. The secrets of El 
Hazard's floating transports would be enough for nations to kill each other for. 
The existence, traditions, and obvious power of the Elemental Church would 
offend and intimidate nearly every Earth religion. Makoto feared such knowledge 
could easily spark a jihad more terrible than the Great Holy War. Scientists 
around the world would unite to unlock the secret of the Eye, reproduce it, control 
it, and be able to give abilities to anyone. 
 
The treat was not all from Earth either. People from one land would flood into and 
try to exploit the other. Trade would be nice, but such a profitable opportunity 
invites crime. If Earth invades, it would be enough to unite Roshtaria and the 
Bugrom. Makoto knew all his friends were loyal to Roshtaria, they would fight 
against their old homeworld to protect their new one. Hiashi especially warranted 
special concern. He told Makoto how he was sometimes intimidated by the power 
he wielded. It would be a simple matter for him to snap the power, gas, water, and 
sewage lines in a city to render it uninhabitable in days. If war happened, Hiashi 
alone could render any industrialized nation helpless within hours. 
 
No one noticed Makoto's depressed mood as Nanami told her father about her 
restaurant. She said how successful it was and how she did it all by herself. His 
mood brightened as she showed her father the menus and advertisement flyers. At 
least he was able to take some satisfaction that one of his children is successful. 
Sure, he would have preferred she take a job closer to home, or at least in Japan. 
But in light of everything else, he had to take the good news where he could. 
 
"So ... what are you going to do now?" Makoto was asked by his father. 
 
Everyone started looking at each other. Not one of them had thought this far in 
advance. One by one, the faces turned to Makoto. "Well err I thought we'd start 
tomorrow by seeing if there were any more strange reports or sightings after what 
happened at Shininome." 
 
Nanami and Hiashi rolled their eyes. The definition of 'strange' that was needed 
for the Bugrom only applied to supermarket check-out lines. "OK, maybe that 
isn't such a good idea." 
 
"The Bugs are going to make a ruckus wherever they go. I say just head towards 
the shouting. They're too slow and disoriented without a leader. Won't do 
anything more than scare people." Shayla said simply, leaning back. 
 
"And if not, dozens, maybe hundreds, of people will die. Shayla, this city is has 
more than twice people in it than Floristica. All in less space. Scared people will 
trample each other and the less said about the potential rioting, the better. We 
have to find them before they start a panic." Makoto countered. 
 
Shayla turned to Hiashi who nodded once in agreement. "So where do we start 
looking? Even if the sewers had room, the city is not going to let us go down there 
on our word alone." Nanami said. 
 
"They'll most likely be centered around the school. If we use Ifurita's sleep 
chamber as the origin of a graph and use the distances between that and the 
Bugrom Empire, Jinnai's, Kazuhiko's fortress, sorry, and the other points where 
the Eye of God was aimed, all scaled down to the appropriate level, we should 
have a pretty good idea where the Bugrom would appear next." Makoto said, a 
picture already forming in his mind. 
 
"Well that should work, except how do you plan to orient the map?" Hiahsi 
pointed out. 
 
Makoto's face fell. Without knowing how the directions translated, the best he 
could do is narrow things down to a circle around Ifurita's sleep chamber. At least 
until the first attack came. "Well I thought structures that large would be pretty 
easy to spot." Nanami said. 
 
Makoto and Hiashi realized what that meant in the same instant. Bugrom 
fortresses were huge and were brought along with their occupants. Even if 
destroyed by the Eye, the remains should have been found by now. The only other 
possibility is that the Eye could only deposit so much mass at one time. The 
smaller groups of Bugrom would appear first, then their artillery legions, and 
finally their humongous fortresses. The process probably started when Makoto 
rescued Ifurita. The act gave the Eye a target. What came at first could went 
unnoticed. More would come, bigger groups all waiting to carry out Jinnai's last 
order to conquer and destroy. 
 
Things moved to the living room. A map of the city was on the floor with 
Shininome highlighted. Probable locations for Bugrom sightings were likewise 
marked. "Tomorrow we'll start checking these locations. That should be enough to 
find a pattern for the bigger groups." Makoto instructed. 
 
"Things will be so much easier if we had proof about the Bugrom before then." 
Nanami said. 
 
"I just hope we can get this over with before our vacation. I just became a 
Priestess and I don't want to miss my first trip to Arlamon." Kuaul complained. 
 
"Yeah," Hiashi said in a dreamy tone, "me too." Mentally counting down 3 ... 2 ... 
1... 
 
<Whap!!!> Shayla slammed the nearest pillow across her husband's face. He fell 
over backwards with a smirk on his lips. 
 
Hiashi envied Shayla's ability to just let the world know what she's feeling 
through action. It was something he had problems doing. For most of his life, he 
feared he must keep total control over his emotions or else he would lash out in 
raw anger at the people he loved. Slowly, his wife was teaching by example how 
to better express himself with gestures instead of words. It took him a while to 
realize this though. When they were first married, Shayla's more aggressive nature 
caused a hidden rift between them. The friendly pats, jokes, insults even the 
playful games of chase around the shrine at night was starting to worry him. He 
would never tell Shayla, but those fears nearly destroyed their marriage. 
 
He went on a week-long retreat to sort things out, to see if he could save his 
marriage from himself. After three straight days of meditation without sleep, food, 
or any more than the minimum water he made some realizations. The biggest was 
that he was overreacting, plain and simple. Shayla would never hurt him 
intentionally. What she did was as different from the violence of his father as 
night and day. Part of why he loved Shayla was because of how she acted, not 
despite it. Also when you can be saved from life-threatening injuries from 
absorbing Elemental magic, you have no right to complain if you spouse is a bit 
more vigor and energy than you are used to. 
 
He returned home much happier and secure than before. It was then he started 
with the payback, occasionally joking with her to draw out her normal response. 
Oh, it wasn't really malicious, more like a compromise on his part. He was doing 
no more to her than what she does to him. It didn't take her long to figure out what 
was going on, but she liked it. They had an unspoken agreement, if he knew what 
was coming, anything goes. And he certainly knew this was coming. 
Unfortunately he wasn't in the right sitting position to accept the pillow with 
grace. She didn't mean to knock him over. Even before his back hit the ground she 
had already tossed the pillow aside (knocking over a tea cup in the process) and 
was trying to catch him. Her apologies only made him smile wider and tell her to 
forget about it. He wasn't hurt, just a little surprised. 
 
Nanami grumbled a bit, "Hey you two, try to be serious for a change! We've got 
work to do." 
 
Shayla pulled Hiashi to a sitting position. "Any chance the local news heard 
something?" Hiashi asked. 
 
"Don't know. Let's find out." Makoto said. He picked up the remote and instantly 
the television turned on and switched to the right station. No one else noticed, just 
assuming Makoto was just an expert channel surfer. But Makoto nearly dropped 
the remote in surprise. He didn't push a single button, just touched the unit and it 
did what he wanted. It frightened him for some reason. He decided to keep quiet 
about it.