"LOTRATA" Chapter Seven.
Story Universe: the Lifestyles-verse
Series: Lifestyles of the Rich and the Arrogant
Chapter: Seven - Commercialism (7/15)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Commercialism
In Which Mokuba Has Murderous Intent and Honda Has Van Halen
The lights were dim in the room with the lavish furniture and decorations fit for a palace. Anzu, bedecked in shining ornaments of jewels and gems, stood proud and alone in the candlelight, all hazy eyes and smug smiles. A small, delicate hand reached out and picked up the phone. She dialed the only number she knew by heart.
“Hello? Yes, I can deny it no longer. There is nothing else that can be done. I want you to... Oh? Really? Well. That changes everything. No, I realize that. He won’t suspect a thing, I assure you. Goodbye.” And on that note, she ended the conversation and hung up the phone.
Gracefully, she fell into a chair beside the small table in the center of the room. “Finally,” she said to herself, a manic glee in here eyes that were glowing like blue diamonds. “Finally...”
xXx
“It’s thumpingly complicated,” he said apologetically, a shy grin on his face, a hand absently holding his other arm right above the elbow. “And I am quite sorry.”
She put a finger to his lips to silence any more pleas or apologies he might try to make. “I think,” she said slowly, “that I’m beginning to understand.” And with eyes that held the flames of passion, she drew him to her and...
A gaggle of small children happened by, out and about on the sunny afternoon. It started off as an innocent walk. But oh! They were aghast at the scene they encountered. Two adults were locked in a very close, very intimate, very “Honda, not in public!” embrace.
“Eww! Smoochies!” they all cried together, their chaperone trying to shield their tender eyes. Such a sight should be kept behind closed doors!
“My word!” the chaperone muttered to herself, herding the children away. “Do we really live in such a loose world?”
“Look at that!” a little kid hissed at his friend as they headed away. “He’s got his tongue in her mouth. Eww. Adults sure are nasty.”
“Yeah, but that guy’s not even a real adult. He’s just a... a teenager.”
“Man, he’s got it bad.”
“So bad.”
A third kid came up behind them, smirking and obnoxiously smacking a piece of bright-pink bubble gum. “He’s hot for teacher.”
xXx
They were all gathered in the hall of the large mansion, the storm outside growing worse and worse. Rain came pelting down in thick sheets, driving the fearsome message of nature’s wrath hard into the ground. Lightening struck with fearsome intensity, and thunder boomed like a bass drum in the sky.
The group huddled together in a great mass, trying to escape the gloom of the weather, and the feeling of doom that had suffused every spirit. For in that very mansion, something was terribly amiss...
“Is everyone here?” Seto asked decisively. All heads turned, looking for anyone missing.
“Yes,” Yugi answered timidly, “it looks like everyone’s here.”
Seto nodded. “Good. Then I can finally voice my suspicions.” He gazed at his fellow inmates with a hard, unforgiving eye. “One of you... is the murderer.”
A collective gasp went up. “It can’t be!” Jounouchi’s younger sister Shizuka murmured, clutching her brother’s arm in horror. Was it really one of them? A person in that very room?
“There’s no one else in the mansion!” Seto spat. “Of course it’s one of you!”
“What about you, Kaiba?” Honda asked menacingly. Another bolt of lightening flashed by a window. “How do we know that you aren’t the one who killed him?”
“You don’t,” Seto replied coldly, sending a chill through some of the meeker members of the group. You just have to take my word for it.”
“I think it was you!” Jounouchi accused with a fierce roar. “You could have killed him in the pantry, while you had the vial of Fast-Acting Rat Poison!”
“But I didn’t, you worthless mutt. Any of us had the opportunity, and, I suspect, the motive!”
A worried glance was passed around everyone present. Seto began pacing in front of his companions, assuming the role of investigator. “And there were so many possible weapons... If only we could have examined the body more closely! We certainly could have found evidence then.”
“Or someone could have tampered with evidence,” Honda’s date- a thin woman named Arisa- put in.
Seto begrudgingly agreed.
“Well, it wasn’t me!” blonde duelist Mai Kujaku said stubbornly. “Murder’s not my game.”
“Really?” Bakura said coldly. “Weren’t you just saying in the attic how happy you would be if he died?”
Mai flushed in anger and embarrassment. “I wasn’t serious! And I certainly didn’t kill him!”
“You could have done it- you seemed quite taken with the butcher knife as we toured the pantry.”
“Stop it!” Anzu said harshly. “Without any evidence we have no right to accuse anyone. So many crazy things have already happened tonight that any theory put forth wouldn’t surprise me at all. But we have to stay together, and stay a team, so maybe we can figure out exactly what happened.”
“She’s right,” Yugi agreed, his back to the rainy world they all could see through the window. “And I think it’s safe to say that almost everyone here wanted Pegasus dead. But who killed him? We may never know. As soon as the rain lets up we can call the police and let them take care of the body and interrogate them. Until then-“
“Until then we’re just going to sit on our asses and wait for someone else to get killed?” Seto interrupted angrily. “We have to do something! It would not be hard to at least find out if anyone’s lying!”
“Why are you so eager?” Jounouchi asked. “Got some particular story you wanna tell us?”
“Shut the hell up,” Seto snapped.
“Boys!” Anzu said, “Calm down! Look at poor Shizuka- she’s crying!” Sure enough, the young girl was indeed huddled by a wall, weeping.
“Maybe she’s overcome by guilt!” Mai suggested. “She could have done it! She had the silk tie in the nursery!”
“Don’t you dare accuse my sister,” Jounouchi said with calm, suppressed rage. No one had ever seen him more dangerous. “I’m starting to agree with Bakura when he was suggesting you!”
The atmosphere was tense; even though no one mourned the dead man, the thought of a murderer in their midst had everyone shaking in their boots. And in the empty mansion, with the pouring, isolating rain... Fear was only rising.
For a while, everyone was silent. They sat in the hall, different pairs of eyes hastily meeting then pulling away. The tension got thicker and thicker.
“I can’t take this anymore,” Anzu said wildly. “Are we just going to sit here, waiting for something to happen? We’ll go insane!”
Seto stood up. “Anzu’s right. There’s only one thing to do- we have to review the evidence, and go through what happened step by step.”
“Oh, we all know it was Kaiba!” Jounouchi said tiredly. “Aren’t I right?’ Only Honda verbally agreed. “Let’s just put him out to the mercy of the storm and then we could all get some sleep.”
“I don’t know...” Yugi said uncertainly. “I saw Bakura sneaking off, holding the porcelain dog.”
“The porcelain dog!” Arisa exclaimed. “Where was he headed?”
“He was headed toward the board room!”
“It wasn’t me!” Bakura said, looking scared. “I swear I didn’t do it.”
“No! It was Honda!” Mai announced, pointing a finger towards the man she was accusing. “He did it, in the musical library with the hand grenade!”
“But maybe it was Anzu,” Shizuka suggested timidly. “She could have done it with the shovel in the dueling arena.”
“It had to be that mutt Jounouchi,” Kaiba insisted. “I’m sure he killed Pegasus in the bedroom with the ice pick.” Jounouchi growled; Seto returned it.
“No! It was Arisa-sensei!” Anzu said wildly. “She did it in the hall of mirrors with the Fast-Acting Rat Poison!”
“Mai!” Bakura shouted.
“Yugi!” Shizuka called.
“No,” Jounouchi said. “It was Kaiba with the silk tie in the linen closet!”
“I know it was Honda,” Anzu said. “He killed him in the cellar with the clarinet!”
“No,” a new, cold voice said. “I think you’re all wrong.” Mokuba came up, wearing a peculiar expression and holding something innocently behind his back.
“Mokuba!” Seto called. “I didn’t even know you were gone; what happened?”
“Are you alright?” Anzu and Shizuka asked together.
“I’m fine,” he said coldly, “and I know who the murderer is.” Everything was silent after his declaration, except for the harsh patter of rain outside the thick mansion walls.
He smiled maniacally and pulled a gun from behind his back. “It was Mokuba, in the hall... with the revolver.”
And with one terrified, piercing scream, the lights flickered off into darkness.
xXx
“Yugi! You must be strong!” Jounouchi grabbed his shoulders and shook him violently. “What will we do? What will we do? However shall we live through this time of turmoil?”
Yugi just stood confused, watching his tall, blonde friend pace around the room wildly. “Jounouchi... it-it’s going to be, um, fine. Don’t worry.”
Jounouchi put a hand to his head, eyes wide, the speed of his pacing only increasing. “Don’t worry, he says; it’s going to be fine, he says. Yugi! How can you be this brave?”
Yugi scratched the back of his neck. “Um... it isn’t difficult?”
Jounouchi shook his head. “I guess you’re right, Yugi. But I don’t think I could do it- I can only admire your strength. I think that... Yes, the solution you’ve come up with is the only way. You must sacrifice yourself for the good of the rest of us!” He clapped Yugi’s shoulder with finality.
“S-sacrifice... myself?” Yugi asked, suddenly frightened of his friend and the madness he had been spouting.
“I’m going to miss you buddy.”
xXx
“Alright, birthday boy,” Yugi said mischievously. “Are you ready for your cake?”
Seto crossed his arms and grunted, the triangular hat with the pom-pom on top making him look simply ridiculous. Jounouchi and Honda suddenly burst through the door, wheeling an enormous cake into the room. With effort, they lifted it onto the table.
Yugi, Jounouchi and Honda exchanged sly smirks as they blew on their party whistles and yelled, “SURPRISE!”
A scantily-clad Anzu popped out of the cake. She smiled sexily, and stepped onto the table. Seto couldn’t help but notice the glob of cake that had inadvertently gotten on her chest. Dipping a finger in icing, she crawled over to where Seto sat, his eyes as wide as dinner-plates. He watched her sensually lick the smooth, creamy icing off, swirling her finger in her mouth.
And suddenly, he remembered why he loved his birthday.
xXx
Seto frowned and called again. “Anzu! Anzu! An-“ Suddenly, a body collided into him. He smiled to himself, arms open in a waiting embrace. “Anzu! I’ve been-“ But he abruptly stopped mid-sentence as he came to an unpleasant realization.
That was not Anzu.
He growled to himself, unhappy with the two boys in front of him. Yugi and Jounouchi were NOT his favorite people. “What? Wherefore art thou not Anzu?”
Jounouchi rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, “Wherefore art thou talking like such an idiot?”
Yugi just smiled. “And good morrow, sir. How art thou?”
Seto scoffed. “Not yet fool enough to consort with such rogues.” He sneered as Jounouchi’s eyes narrowed. “Now where hast thou hidden Anzu?”
“We did nothing! Accuse fair Yugi not, scoundrel!” Jounouchi’s ire began to rise.
“But soft!” Yugi cried. “Who doth approach?” Everyone turned to look where he was pointing.
“Seto!” Anzu called. “Stop harassing my friends! I’ve been looking everywhere for you; why’d you run away from me?” She sighed, and crossed her arms over her chest. “I swear, what am I ever going to do with you?”
xXx
“AAH!”
Jounouchi shot straight up from the bed, thin sheet falling away from his body. With wide eyes he looked at his hands, turning them over to be sure he was real. He glanced around the dark room, reassuring himself he was home. He fell to the pillow with a sigh.
“Man, I had the freakiest dream ever. It nearly scared the piss out of me!” He shook his head in remembrance. “Anzu had all this jewelry, Mokuba killed people, Yugi talked like a frickin’ play or something! It was... it was seriously disturbing.”
“Don’t worry honey,” a groggy, half-asleep Honda said, rolling over and snuggling into Jounouchi’s chest. “It was just a bad dream.”
For a moment, Jounouchi couldn’t even think.
“OH MY GOD!”
XXX
“AAAH!”
Yugi shot straight up in bed. He shook his head, clearing the sleep from his eyes, and peered around his room wildly. “Whew...” he said quietly. “It was just a dream.”
“That’s what you think, big boy,” the cake-dancing Anzu said, pinning him to the bed.”
“SOMEBODY SAVE ME!”
xXx
“AAAAH!”
A shaking, mussed-up Seto Kaiba shot like a rocket up from the mattress. He looked around the room, looked beside him, and then apprehensively looked under the bed. There was nothing there. He sighed, and raked a hand through his hair.
“That is the last time I ever watch Return of the Swamp Creature from the Black Lake II- part 1 ½ (Revenge of the Spawn of Wolfman) before I go to bed. And to hell with Mokuba’s “special” nachos.”
And with a grunt and a quick fluff of his pillow, he fell back into a deep, dreamless sleep.
~~~
Previous ♥ Next
Series: Lifestyles of the Rich and the Arrogant
Chapter: Seven - Commercialism (7/15)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Commercialism
In Which Mokuba Has Murderous Intent and Honda Has Van Halen
The lights were dim in the room with the lavish furniture and decorations fit for a palace. Anzu, bedecked in shining ornaments of jewels and gems, stood proud and alone in the candlelight, all hazy eyes and smug smiles. A small, delicate hand reached out and picked up the phone. She dialed the only number she knew by heart.
“Hello? Yes, I can deny it no longer. There is nothing else that can be done. I want you to... Oh? Really? Well. That changes everything. No, I realize that. He won’t suspect a thing, I assure you. Goodbye.” And on that note, she ended the conversation and hung up the phone.
Gracefully, she fell into a chair beside the small table in the center of the room. “Finally,” she said to herself, a manic glee in here eyes that were glowing like blue diamonds. “Finally...”
xXx
“It’s thumpingly complicated,” he said apologetically, a shy grin on his face, a hand absently holding his other arm right above the elbow. “And I am quite sorry.”
She put a finger to his lips to silence any more pleas or apologies he might try to make. “I think,” she said slowly, “that I’m beginning to understand.” And with eyes that held the flames of passion, she drew him to her and...
A gaggle of small children happened by, out and about on the sunny afternoon. It started off as an innocent walk. But oh! They were aghast at the scene they encountered. Two adults were locked in a very close, very intimate, very “Honda, not in public!” embrace.
“Eww! Smoochies!” they all cried together, their chaperone trying to shield their tender eyes. Such a sight should be kept behind closed doors!
“My word!” the chaperone muttered to herself, herding the children away. “Do we really live in such a loose world?”
“Look at that!” a little kid hissed at his friend as they headed away. “He’s got his tongue in her mouth. Eww. Adults sure are nasty.”
“Yeah, but that guy’s not even a real adult. He’s just a... a teenager.”
“Man, he’s got it bad.”
“So bad.”
A third kid came up behind them, smirking and obnoxiously smacking a piece of bright-pink bubble gum. “He’s hot for teacher.”
xXx
They were all gathered in the hall of the large mansion, the storm outside growing worse and worse. Rain came pelting down in thick sheets, driving the fearsome message of nature’s wrath hard into the ground. Lightening struck with fearsome intensity, and thunder boomed like a bass drum in the sky.
The group huddled together in a great mass, trying to escape the gloom of the weather, and the feeling of doom that had suffused every spirit. For in that very mansion, something was terribly amiss...
“Is everyone here?” Seto asked decisively. All heads turned, looking for anyone missing.
“Yes,” Yugi answered timidly, “it looks like everyone’s here.”
Seto nodded. “Good. Then I can finally voice my suspicions.” He gazed at his fellow inmates with a hard, unforgiving eye. “One of you... is the murderer.”
A collective gasp went up. “It can’t be!” Jounouchi’s younger sister Shizuka murmured, clutching her brother’s arm in horror. Was it really one of them? A person in that very room?
“There’s no one else in the mansion!” Seto spat. “Of course it’s one of you!”
“What about you, Kaiba?” Honda asked menacingly. Another bolt of lightening flashed by a window. “How do we know that you aren’t the one who killed him?”
“You don’t,” Seto replied coldly, sending a chill through some of the meeker members of the group. You just have to take my word for it.”
“I think it was you!” Jounouchi accused with a fierce roar. “You could have killed him in the pantry, while you had the vial of Fast-Acting Rat Poison!”
“But I didn’t, you worthless mutt. Any of us had the opportunity, and, I suspect, the motive!”
A worried glance was passed around everyone present. Seto began pacing in front of his companions, assuming the role of investigator. “And there were so many possible weapons... If only we could have examined the body more closely! We certainly could have found evidence then.”
“Or someone could have tampered with evidence,” Honda’s date- a thin woman named Arisa- put in.
Seto begrudgingly agreed.
“Well, it wasn’t me!” blonde duelist Mai Kujaku said stubbornly. “Murder’s not my game.”
“Really?” Bakura said coldly. “Weren’t you just saying in the attic how happy you would be if he died?”
Mai flushed in anger and embarrassment. “I wasn’t serious! And I certainly didn’t kill him!”
“You could have done it- you seemed quite taken with the butcher knife as we toured the pantry.”
“Stop it!” Anzu said harshly. “Without any evidence we have no right to accuse anyone. So many crazy things have already happened tonight that any theory put forth wouldn’t surprise me at all. But we have to stay together, and stay a team, so maybe we can figure out exactly what happened.”
“She’s right,” Yugi agreed, his back to the rainy world they all could see through the window. “And I think it’s safe to say that almost everyone here wanted Pegasus dead. But who killed him? We may never know. As soon as the rain lets up we can call the police and let them take care of the body and interrogate them. Until then-“
“Until then we’re just going to sit on our asses and wait for someone else to get killed?” Seto interrupted angrily. “We have to do something! It would not be hard to at least find out if anyone’s lying!”
“Why are you so eager?” Jounouchi asked. “Got some particular story you wanna tell us?”
“Shut the hell up,” Seto snapped.
“Boys!” Anzu said, “Calm down! Look at poor Shizuka- she’s crying!” Sure enough, the young girl was indeed huddled by a wall, weeping.
“Maybe she’s overcome by guilt!” Mai suggested. “She could have done it! She had the silk tie in the nursery!”
“Don’t you dare accuse my sister,” Jounouchi said with calm, suppressed rage. No one had ever seen him more dangerous. “I’m starting to agree with Bakura when he was suggesting you!”
The atmosphere was tense; even though no one mourned the dead man, the thought of a murderer in their midst had everyone shaking in their boots. And in the empty mansion, with the pouring, isolating rain... Fear was only rising.
For a while, everyone was silent. They sat in the hall, different pairs of eyes hastily meeting then pulling away. The tension got thicker and thicker.
“I can’t take this anymore,” Anzu said wildly. “Are we just going to sit here, waiting for something to happen? We’ll go insane!”
Seto stood up. “Anzu’s right. There’s only one thing to do- we have to review the evidence, and go through what happened step by step.”
“Oh, we all know it was Kaiba!” Jounouchi said tiredly. “Aren’t I right?’ Only Honda verbally agreed. “Let’s just put him out to the mercy of the storm and then we could all get some sleep.”
“I don’t know...” Yugi said uncertainly. “I saw Bakura sneaking off, holding the porcelain dog.”
“The porcelain dog!” Arisa exclaimed. “Where was he headed?”
“He was headed toward the board room!”
“It wasn’t me!” Bakura said, looking scared. “I swear I didn’t do it.”
“No! It was Honda!” Mai announced, pointing a finger towards the man she was accusing. “He did it, in the musical library with the hand grenade!”
“But maybe it was Anzu,” Shizuka suggested timidly. “She could have done it with the shovel in the dueling arena.”
“It had to be that mutt Jounouchi,” Kaiba insisted. “I’m sure he killed Pegasus in the bedroom with the ice pick.” Jounouchi growled; Seto returned it.
“No! It was Arisa-sensei!” Anzu said wildly. “She did it in the hall of mirrors with the Fast-Acting Rat Poison!”
“Mai!” Bakura shouted.
“Yugi!” Shizuka called.
“No,” Jounouchi said. “It was Kaiba with the silk tie in the linen closet!”
“I know it was Honda,” Anzu said. “He killed him in the cellar with the clarinet!”
“No,” a new, cold voice said. “I think you’re all wrong.” Mokuba came up, wearing a peculiar expression and holding something innocently behind his back.
“Mokuba!” Seto called. “I didn’t even know you were gone; what happened?”
“Are you alright?” Anzu and Shizuka asked together.
“I’m fine,” he said coldly, “and I know who the murderer is.” Everything was silent after his declaration, except for the harsh patter of rain outside the thick mansion walls.
He smiled maniacally and pulled a gun from behind his back. “It was Mokuba, in the hall... with the revolver.”
And with one terrified, piercing scream, the lights flickered off into darkness.
xXx
“Yugi! You must be strong!” Jounouchi grabbed his shoulders and shook him violently. “What will we do? What will we do? However shall we live through this time of turmoil?”
Yugi just stood confused, watching his tall, blonde friend pace around the room wildly. “Jounouchi... it-it’s going to be, um, fine. Don’t worry.”
Jounouchi put a hand to his head, eyes wide, the speed of his pacing only increasing. “Don’t worry, he says; it’s going to be fine, he says. Yugi! How can you be this brave?”
Yugi scratched the back of his neck. “Um... it isn’t difficult?”
Jounouchi shook his head. “I guess you’re right, Yugi. But I don’t think I could do it- I can only admire your strength. I think that... Yes, the solution you’ve come up with is the only way. You must sacrifice yourself for the good of the rest of us!” He clapped Yugi’s shoulder with finality.
“S-sacrifice... myself?” Yugi asked, suddenly frightened of his friend and the madness he had been spouting.
“I’m going to miss you buddy.”
xXx
“Alright, birthday boy,” Yugi said mischievously. “Are you ready for your cake?”
Seto crossed his arms and grunted, the triangular hat with the pom-pom on top making him look simply ridiculous. Jounouchi and Honda suddenly burst through the door, wheeling an enormous cake into the room. With effort, they lifted it onto the table.
Yugi, Jounouchi and Honda exchanged sly smirks as they blew on their party whistles and yelled, “SURPRISE!”
A scantily-clad Anzu popped out of the cake. She smiled sexily, and stepped onto the table. Seto couldn’t help but notice the glob of cake that had inadvertently gotten on her chest. Dipping a finger in icing, she crawled over to where Seto sat, his eyes as wide as dinner-plates. He watched her sensually lick the smooth, creamy icing off, swirling her finger in her mouth.
And suddenly, he remembered why he loved his birthday.
xXx
Seto frowned and called again. “Anzu! Anzu! An-“ Suddenly, a body collided into him. He smiled to himself, arms open in a waiting embrace. “Anzu! I’ve been-“ But he abruptly stopped mid-sentence as he came to an unpleasant realization.
That was not Anzu.
He growled to himself, unhappy with the two boys in front of him. Yugi and Jounouchi were NOT his favorite people. “What? Wherefore art thou not Anzu?”
Jounouchi rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, “Wherefore art thou talking like such an idiot?”
Yugi just smiled. “And good morrow, sir. How art thou?”
Seto scoffed. “Not yet fool enough to consort with such rogues.” He sneered as Jounouchi’s eyes narrowed. “Now where hast thou hidden Anzu?”
“We did nothing! Accuse fair Yugi not, scoundrel!” Jounouchi’s ire began to rise.
“But soft!” Yugi cried. “Who doth approach?” Everyone turned to look where he was pointing.
“Seto!” Anzu called. “Stop harassing my friends! I’ve been looking everywhere for you; why’d you run away from me?” She sighed, and crossed her arms over her chest. “I swear, what am I ever going to do with you?”
xXx
“AAH!”
Jounouchi shot straight up from the bed, thin sheet falling away from his body. With wide eyes he looked at his hands, turning them over to be sure he was real. He glanced around the dark room, reassuring himself he was home. He fell to the pillow with a sigh.
“Man, I had the freakiest dream ever. It nearly scared the piss out of me!” He shook his head in remembrance. “Anzu had all this jewelry, Mokuba killed people, Yugi talked like a frickin’ play or something! It was... it was seriously disturbing.”
“Don’t worry honey,” a groggy, half-asleep Honda said, rolling over and snuggling into Jounouchi’s chest. “It was just a bad dream.”
For a moment, Jounouchi couldn’t even think.
“OH MY GOD!”
XXX
“AAAH!”
Yugi shot straight up in bed. He shook his head, clearing the sleep from his eyes, and peered around his room wildly. “Whew...” he said quietly. “It was just a dream.”
“That’s what you think, big boy,” the cake-dancing Anzu said, pinning him to the bed.”
“SOMEBODY SAVE ME!”
xXx
“AAAAH!”
A shaking, mussed-up Seto Kaiba shot like a rocket up from the mattress. He looked around the room, looked beside him, and then apprehensively looked under the bed. There was nothing there. He sighed, and raked a hand through his hair.
“That is the last time I ever watch Return of the Swamp Creature from the Black Lake II- part 1 ½ (Revenge of the Spawn of Wolfman) before I go to bed. And to hell with Mokuba’s “special” nachos.”
And with a grunt and a quick fluff of his pillow, he fell back into a deep, dreamless sleep.
~~~
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