Mind Trick

Violet and Olivia did not remember. If forced Iris would check with the hotel employees, even as she knew Ike likely checked in under a pseudonym. She thought perhaps she might need to chronoshift Ike's car at night and work from when it stopped at a past hotel, until Eva suggested something Iris thought ludicrous.

They approached him backstage after another concert.

"Are we gonna go for another one of your night drives?" He laughed. "Y-You know, I think I could handle twice or three times that speed."

"I'm sure you could." said Eva.

Iris nodded and was serious. "Ike, we dealt with somebody outside while you were performing. He dropped something during his escape that concerned us." Iris held up one of his notebooks. "Did you lose this recently?"

"I- my drafts, yeah. I thought I had left it in the car, o-or- you said he had it on him?"

"He did."

Ike's agent interrupted them. "Ike, with me, please."

"O-One second, gimme a second."

"Sorry, I know you're pretty busy." said Iris. "We were just worried he might've gotten it from your hotel room or something like that; obviously, we're worried he might know where you're staying now."

"Yeah." said Eva. "Iris was thinking he stole it while we were in Chicago, so we were going to check room 348. That's where you were staying that night."

Ike shook his head. "No, it was room 419."

"You sure? Pretty sure it was 348."

"No, it was 419. I remember, because it's a day away from Hitler's birthday. 419, definitely 419."

Iris was fucking floored.

"Well, maybe." said Eva. "We'll check out both and I'll see."

"Y-You're going now? Well, wait, I- y'know, I might still get attacked out there by this lunatic, I-"

"Olivia and Violet'll keep an eye on you. It'll be alright."

"Yeah, but you students always need backup, right? I'm sure there's - there's some Revenant that counters, y'know, or- I-I mean, I'm paying you to guard me, not go a-all out on some investigation somewhere."

Iris shrugged. "Well, you might be right. Guess I've just got that Urasaria instinct to follow up on everything."

"Yeah, but you're not at Urasaria, you're-"

"Ike, please. Wrap this up." said his agent.

He nodded, waved vaguely to them, and they saw him off. Iris waited 30 seconds, left with Eva, and was fucking stunned. "I can't believe that worked."

"If it turns out we have to kill him, be careful, because he's so stupid he'll take 20 minutes to realize he's dead." said Eva. "So, going back now?"

Iris nodded as they walked out. "Do you remember when that concert was, that day?" Without waiting for a response: "Three days, six hours, two minutes, five seconds and -- god damnit, sorry-"

"Hey, unconscious Revenanting, I get it. Sometimes I'm singing out loud and don't realize I'm hitting impossible high notes until I see windows shattering. It was around 8. We going?"

They drove their accelerated trip back to the hotel room, and entered room 419. Iris looked over the television screen and reverted the reflections within as she had with Harman. She confirmed what they knew had taken place here, but crouched down to focus and confirm once more.

One might wonder how Iris felt towards Ike, given that she was the victim of a pedophile herself when she was younger. But surprisingly it had not once entered her mind during this investigation, for Iris had never once considered herself the victim of genuine sexual abuse; had anyone made the comparison to her she would have been confused. This is not to say her relationship with Angela was not sexual, for it was, and frequently so.

In Timeline, the teen girl's corpse was led into the room by a host aura. Drinks were shared, sex, then an argument. She seemed to wave her phone threateningly at him, until he grabbed her and her skin dissipated between his grip. Alone he let out a shout of frustration as Iris saw him panic and crouch away from his reflection, enough to gather that he had genuinely not intended this. He had dispersed what was left of her out the window, and where Ike had been in the reflection there was only a host aura in reality.

Eva cursed. "Damnit, no wonder he was able to survive over 100mph."

(Before one thinks Eva is joking: there is a disturbingly high number of natal host students who legitimately do not understand the concept of a speed limit because they have always driven as fast as possible.)

"Seems like it." frowned Iris. "So, testing or killing?"

"Killing. Fuck that."

"Suits me. We've got a gig tomorrow night. Olivia and Violet are keeping an eye on him."