For her part, Haruko gawked at the man who had winked at them, but not for the same reason as her sister. The man had waved a hand that only possessed four fingers. Not only that, the metallic color and visible joints proved that the hand was robotic. In response to the girls' continued staring, the man extended his mechanical appendage and curled a finger in a beckoning gesture.
Taking a step back, Haruko managed to grab Natsuko's arm and haul her back into the bedroom. Before the other girl could voice her protest, she hissed," Karyn, did you see that man? His arm was robotic!"
Natsuko pursed her plump lips and glared, "Yeah, so he's a cyborg. So what?"
Haruko gaped. "So what? It means we're not really in the Wild West!"
The former Karyn rolled her eyes. "Well, duh. I figured that out a while ago."
"Huh? How'd you do that?"
"Well, Mitsuko was a good clue. Think about it, Jon. Why would a Wild West saloon have a Japanese whore?"
Haruko thought about it. "But what about the Gold Rush? Asians traveled to the US then, didn't they?"
"Sure, the Chinese did, but not the Japanese. Besides, they were, like, almost all guys. If there were any girls at all, they were probably someone's wife or daughter or something. And if by any chance an Asian girl did end up here alone and then became a whore in the Wild West, chances are she wouldn't be in a saloon like this one. The Gold Rush was in the mid-1800s. Even a saloon would be pretty segregated back then."
"I guess that makes sense," Haruko nodded. "Since when did you know so much about this stuff?"
Natsuko shrugged. "I paid attention in history class. How else?" Glancing back towards the door, she begged, "Now, can we, please, go back out there? Mistress Mandy said there were customers waiting."
"Not now. This whole situation brings up one very important question. Why did the stone take us here, wherever or whenever here is?" Grasping the stone, Haruko wished, "I wish I knew why the stone brought us here instead of the old Wild West in America."
