[FFML] [fanfic][Sailormoon] Moonshadow, chapter 20

[Mythril Moth]

This is about as ready to go as it's ever going to be, even though it still 
feels like it's missing something.

Beginning with this chapter, there will be a significant change to address 
certain complaints I often receive.

As my long-time readers know, I tend to use a fair amount of Japanese 
dialogue. Far from being "fanboy Japanese", this is simply because it's how 
the characters sound in my head, so I write it that way. A lot of people 
don't appreciate that. Frankly, my stance on that has always been "kiss my 
ass", but...

I've decided to meet those readers in the middle. The rough drafts I post to 
the FFML and my own blog will have the Japanese dialogue edited and rendered 
into equivalent English. The version to be posted on my website will retain 
the Japanese dialogue as written, with appropriate links to the glossary 
page. That way, everybody wins.

So, without further ado, the long-overdue chapter 20 of Moonshadow. C&C 
welcome.

==================================================


A new dream had invaded his sleep. One even more surreal than all the 
others.

He had found himself surrounded by a heavy black haze, alone save for the 
distant whisper of zori.

As the sound grew closer, a faint wisp of a figure parted the blackness, 
ghostly white and as formless as the surrounding haze, save for a single 
glistening obsidian eye. No sooner had the figure's presence registered than 
it was gone again, the whispering zori retreating into the heavy murk.

Scrubbing a hand through sweat-matted hair, Mamoru glanced at the clock on 
his nightstand. 3:45. Far too early to get up--especially as he had only 
gone to bed two hours before--but it was unlikely sleep would come for him 
again.

Time, then, to prepare for another dreary Monday morning.

                   =-------------=

Mythril Moth Presents
MOONSHADOW
Adapted from "Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon" by Takeuchi Naoko.

20: Blue Monday

                   =-------------=

//Mysterious lights were witnessed in the sky above Tokyo Tower late last 
night. Investigations revealed nothing out of the ordinary, but a witness 
with high-end digital video recording equipment managed to capture a 
puzzling image of what appear to be two individuals flying high in the sky. 
One of the two wore a costume similar to those worn by the 
recently-discovered 'Sailor Senshi'. Many believe it to be a hoax, but many 
others are convinced a fierce battle was waged high above Tokyo in the dead 
of night...//

Aino Michie shook her head and turned down the volume on the television. 
"Tokyo has become so strange..."

Mina judiciously declined to comment.

                   =-------------=

Usagi yawned hugely as she shambled downstairs.

"Good morning, Usagi-chan," her mother called from the kitchen.

"Morning," Usagi half-replied, half-yawned.

"Usagi-chan," Ikuko groaned. "You didn't stay up all night reading manga 
again, did you?"

"No," the teen replied listlessly, plopping heavily at the table. "I just 
had a lot on my mind...couldn't get to sleep."

Ikuko frowned as she began serving her daughter breakfast. "You've been 
saying 'I have a lot on my mind' so much lately..."

"Just worried about a new friend, is all," Usagi said with a tired smile. 
"Not everyone has it as easy as us, Mama."

"Easy, huh?" Ikuko echoed, an eyebrow raised. "You're really that casual 
about how hard your poor father works to give us the life you call 'easy'?"

Usagi shot her mother a piercing, almost withering look. "Papa isn't one of 
those salaryman who works until midnight, we're not in debt up to our 
eyeballs, and we have a very nice home and everything we want. In Japan, 
what else do you call that?"

Ikuko paused in serving the rice, frowning. "Lucky," she admitted in an 
almost-grumble. She bustled off to the kitchen once again; Usagi shook her 
head and smiled. She then began toying with a piece of smoked fish on her 
plate, lost in thought.

She had indeed had trouble getting to sleep; she didn't even bother trying 
until she'd gotten word from Rei. Mars' report troubled her; the Senshi 
would need to have a planning meeting about the device at Tokyo Tower, and 
soon.

But the outcome of Mars' expedition to the Tower was not the only thing 
which had perturbed her. Once she'd finally managed to go to sleep, she'd 
had an incredibly strange and unsettling dream. She knew that getting worked 
up over a dream was silly, but somehow, she couldn't quite shake it off. The 
mysterious figure in the fog, the echoing clack of geta...

It was just too strange.

With a heavy sigh, Usagi began eating half-heartedly, barely even tasting 
her food.

                   =-------------=

"You look like hell, Jadeite."

Jadeite glowered up at the effeminate Shitennou from where he sat nursing a 
cup of coffee. "Thank you ever so much for that assessment, Zoicite."

Zoicite laughed. "For you, it's an improvement." He waved a hand airily. 
"Rough night?"

"My encounter with Mars did more damage than I realised," Jadeite admitted, 
taking a large sip. "It seems her fires have a delay factor. I spent most of 
the night concentrating on healing."

Zoicite winced. "That could be trouble." He then nodded at Jadeite's cup. 
"You know, that human garbage probably isn't helping."

Jadeite shrugged. "The human world and its vices have a certain appeal. 
Especially after a rough night."

"Well, don't get too attached," Zoicite admonished. "We can't afford to lose 
sight of our objectives, now can we?"

Jadeite snorted. "Coming from *you*..."

Zoicite's laughter echoed as he disappeared, leaving only a spray of petals 
to mark his passing.

                   =-------------=

Police gathered around the entrance to TV Shishiuri; uniformed officers 
struggled to enforce a cordon as a crowd of spectators gathered along the 
street.

An unmarked car pulled up to the scene, a small red globe light on the 
dashboard. Two officers saluted a portly, brown-suited man who emerged from 
the car. "Inspector!" they greeted.

"He's in there, then?" the police inspector grunted, fixing an irritated 
glare at the gaudily-decorated studio doors. For all the animosity in his 
gaze, one might think the enormous plush cartoon lions flanking the entrance 
had personally offended him.

"Yeah," one of the officers said. "Supposedly he has a gun and at least 
three knives. We got the station manager to kill the transmitter feed before 
this nut could get on the air, but he's holding the employees and at least 
three celebrities hostage."

The inspector grimaced, massaging his temples. "What are his demands?"

"Ahh...about that..." one of the officers hedged.

"The thing is..."

                   =-------------=

"KOOOORRRAAAAAAAAAAA!! GET THAT TRANSMITTER RUNNING AGAIN OR I'LL PUT A NEW 
ASSHOLE IN YOU!!"

The station manager bowed several times, mopping sweat from his brow. "I'm 
terribly sorry! We're having a problem at the antenna! There's nothing I can 
do about it from here!"

The menacing figure advanced threateningly, crazed eyes twitching, a knife 
held threateningly in one hand. "You'd better not fucking be lying to me, 
you little prick!"

"I swear I'm telling the truth!" The terrified manager waved his hands 
placatingly. He paused, then added hesitantly, "I--I can get the outside 
monitor back up and running, but that's--"

"DO IT, THEN! SHIT!!"

"Y-yes...!!"

                   =-------------=

Ami had just departed the train station. A crowd was milling around in the 
street in front of a TV studio; she frowned in annoyance. The worst part of 
the route to Tokyo Tower was being forced to pass by that insipid studio 
every day, with the chittering nonsense blaring from the big, expensive LCD 
monitor above the entrance...

//LISTEN UP, HUMAN FUCKERS! I'VE GOT ALL THESE PEOPLE IN HERE, AND THEY'RE 
ALL GONNA DIE!!//

Ami glanced up, and rolled her eyes in disgust. *They're promoting another 
one of those stupid Death Note shows...*

"How the hell--? I thought you said they cut the transmission!"

"Y-yes, Inspector! The receiver at Tokyo Tower is off, we've confirmed it! 
Someone inside turned on the external video--"

"GET IT SHUT OFF, NOW! The last thing we need--"

//YOU HEAR ME, YOU HUMAN FUCKERS?! THEY'RE DEAD IF YOU DON'T DO WHAT I SAY! 
YOU THINK I'M JOKING? DO I LOOK LIKE I'M JOKING?!//

Ami paused, frowning, and turned to look around more attentively.

There were police everywhere. The building was cordoned off with yellow 
tape. Onlookers were pressing in, gawking up at the screen. Which now 
displayed a slim, furious-looking figure wearing a ridiculously tight black 
leather outfit covered with criss-crossing straps, big silver buckles, and 
lots of chains and safety pins. He had a feather boa wrapped around his 
shoulders, his face was painted a disconcerting shade of bluish-grey, he was 
wearing needle-sharp costume teeth, and he had three wickedly sharp kitchen 
knives gripped in his right hand. In his left, he was holding the neck of a 
pudgy, sweaty, balding man in a black suit; his hostage's eyes were bulging 
with terror.

//YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT, HUMAN FUCKERS!! GET THOSE LITTLE SAILOR BITCHES UP 
HERE NOW, OR THIS LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT DIES AND YOU GET TO WATCH ME SLICE 
HIM UP!//

"Like we're supposed to know how to do that?" the police inspector grumbled. 
"Is SWAT on the--"

Ami slipped quietly away from the crowd, eyes hard behind her glasses.

                   =-------------=

"KOOOORRRRAAAAA!! YOU SURE THIS THING'S RUNNING?" the knife-wielding freak 
roared, pressing a blade to the throat of the station manager.

"Y-yes! It's on! Everyone outside is seeing you!"

"Then they're gonna see you bleed!" The maniac drew back his hand, allowing 
his victim to see the gleaming edges of the three deadly knives...

...abruptly shatter with a ringing, snapping sound.

"I think that's enough of that," a quiet, cold female voice said.

The leather-clad psycho spun, eyes wide, mouth open in a manic leer. He 
tossed his hostage aside, forgotten. "Sailor Senshi!" he roared, cackling 
madly. "So, you show yourself at la--"

A gloved hand clamped around his throat. "What business do you have with 
us?" the Senshi asked, ice-blue eyes cold and angry.

The maniac pulled a gun from behind his back and jammed the muzzle into her 
chest. "I'd back off if I were you," he rasped.

The Senshi glanced down at the gun, raising a slender eyebrow. Calmly, she 
placed her free hand on the barrel. It quickly froze over with an ominous 
crackling sound. The punk gasped in pain, releasing the gun and shaking his 
suddenly numb hand.

Tossing the frozen weapon aside, the Senshi hoisted the leather-clad freak 
off the floor. "Maybe I should show everyone watching what a frozen corpse 
looks like. Does that sound good to you?"

"Ah...n-no...p-please..."

"Pathetic," she hissed coldly, tossing the maniac to the floor. She extended 
both hands; a torrent of ice-cold water gushed forth like a fire hose, 
washing over the terrified punk. He shivered as the impromptu shower washed 
away his makeup, revealing a pasty, pimply, sunken-cheeked man of no more 
than nineteen or twenty years, with dark circles under his blotchy eyes.

"P-please..." he stammered. "J-just wanted...m-meet...S-sailor S-senshi..."

"A pleasure to meet you," the Senshi retorted frostily, sketching a mocking 
bow. "The police will be up to deal with you momentarily."

Before anyone could react, she was gone.

                   =-------------=

The crowd on the street had fallen silent during the entire incident. Then, 
abruptly, they broke into cheers and applause.

The police stared dumbly at the screen. The inspector's mouth gaped, giving 
him a striking resemblance to a fish. At length, he managed to stammer out, 
"Well...you men should get up there and arrest him..."

"Ah...yes..."

Unnoticed at the edge of the crowd, a schoolgirl picked up her bookbag, 
adjusted her glasses, and quietly left the scene.

                   =-------------=

Mamoru quickly skimmed one of the many leaflets scattered on his kitchen 
table, committing the details to memory.

A rather gaudy tiara, the Tears of Diana, was being stored in a secure vault 
at a local bank. Many jewels comprised the thing: rubies, sapphires, pearls, 
diamonds.

And the keystone, the centrepiece of the entire thing...

Mamoru left for school, body going through the motions mechanically while 
his mind whirled with plans to get his hands on the Tears of Diana.

                   =-------------=

Usagi, Ami, and Makoto stood clustered around one of the telescopes on the 
observation deck, pretending to take turns looking out at the view of Tokyo.

"Mars was unable to destroy the device," Usagi whispered. "It's rigged with 
a trap."

"That figures," Makoto replied. "So what do we do?"

"According to Luna, the trap is designed to kill every living thing in Tokyo 
if the device is disabled or destroyed," Usagi said, playing with the knobs 
on the telescope.

"And the trap itself? Can it be disarmed?" Ami asked.

"No," the tea-haired girl answered with a shake of her head, stepping out of 
the way; Makoto took her place at the telescope.

"We can't just let them keep usin' that thing to drain people," the tall 
girl grumbled. "So what do we do?"

"There's only one thing we *can* do," Usagi said with a frown. "Destroy it 
anyway."

Ami glanced up sharply. "And kill everyone in Tokyo?"

"Of course not," Usagi snapped.

"Then how do you propose we destroy the device without causing millions of 
deaths?"

"We use the Ginzuishou."

Ami blinked. "The Ginzuishou. Which we do not, at present, possess. Or even 
know the location of."

"I never said we were gonna blow the damn thing up right *now*," Usagi said.

"So how's usin' the Ginzuishou any different?" Makoto asked.

"Well, according to Luna, we can use it to make a barrier around Tokyo 
Tower. Once the barrier's set up, we blast the thing, it blows up, and the 
barrier stops the trap from working."

"A containment field," Ami summarised, brow furrowed in thought. "That seems 
feasible, even given what little we know about the alleged crystal."

"But we've still gotta find this Ginzuishou thing, right?" Makoto pointed 
out. "And it sounds like it ain't gonna be easy."

Usagi sighed. "Yeah, that's the real problem. For now, the only thing we can 
do is follow that tuxedo nut around. Who knows, he may actually wind up 
leading us right to it."

"It does seem that our options are limited," Ami said. Stretching, she 
walked away from the other girls, already focused on her ever-present exam 
prep manual.

"Is she a fuckin' robot or somethin'?" Makoto asked, watching the short girl 
leave. "I've never seen anyone just switch gears like that, especially with 
what we were just talkin' about."

Usagi laughed mirthlessly. "You get used to it."

                   =-------------=

By noon, the Shishiuri incident had leaked into every media outlet in Tokyo.

At Mugen Gakuen, an excited girl with a web-enabled phone was running 
around, showing everyone an article about it, with accompanying amateur 
video.

Once Mina had seen the video, she turned to catch Rei's eye. The miko had a 
pained grimace on her face. Making sure everyone was too distracted by the 
girl with the webphone to pay her any attention, the blond walked over to 
Rei's desk. "You saw?"

"Yes."

"Funny, I didn't peg that Mizuno chick as being that theatrical."

Rei frowned. "Nor did I. Perhaps it was because she knew there was a camera 
in the room..."

"Maybe. Or maybe it's just something about being a Senshi that makes us act 
a little more...well, strange." Her cheeks pinkened slightly. "I know every 
time I've transformed, I've felt a little flighty." She smirked. "Same goes 
for you, and I don't mean the wings."

Rei winced. "Please don't make such horrid puns."

"Sorry."

"And what precisely is...aberrant...about my behaviour as Mars?"

"Well, the first time you changed, you started talking like you had a Bible 
stuck in your throat. You don't talk like that normally."

The miko blinked. "I...do not recall anything about that."

"I'll be sure to bring a tape recorder next time."

Rei coughed softly. "In any event, this incident is somewhat disconcerting. 
If there are people willing to go to such extremes to lure out the 
Senshi..."

Mina frowned. "Yeah." She shrugged. "Eh, it's just one weirdo. Probably 
won't happen again."

                   =-------------=

Ami had just finished lunch and had returned to her preferred reading spot 
on the roof of Foot Town when a shadow fell across her book. She looked up, 
ready to snap at whoever was standing in her light...

And her biting retort died at the expression on Tsukino Usagi's face.

The tea-haired girl spoke only one word:

"Shishiuri."

Ami found herself fighting an urge to flinch. "The media wastes little 
time."

"Explain."

"I happened to be passing the studio en route to Tokyo Tower when the 
incident occurred. He had hostages. He was demanding the police send in the 
Senshi. I calculated the risks of taking action versus ignoring the 
situation." She locked a matching icy stare onto the one Usagi had pinned 
her with. "I did precisely what you would have done, Tsukino-san."

Usagi sighed softly. "Of course I'd have done what you did. But there are 
two major mistakes you made."

"Oh?"

"One," Usagi began, raising a finger to illustrate, "You didn't tell me 
about what happened. This is exactly the kind of thing I need to know about 
*before* it's all over the Internet and the terebi."

"I certainly see the logic in that, as you are ostensibly our leader," Ami 
replied dispassionately. "And the other?"

"You could have relied only on speed and strength to take that idiot down. 
Instead, you used your ice powers. On camera."

Ami adjusted her glasses. "I fail to see the error in that."

Usagi's piercing glare returned. "Ami-san...remind me, again, exactly *how* 
you killed Saegusa."

The shorter girl's dark eyes widened. That Usagi had caught a glaring flaw 
in her logic that she herself had overlooked...

"It won't take the media or the police long to connect what happened this 
morning to what happened with Saegusa. You just gave us *yet ANOTHER* 
problem we really didn't need."

Ami bowed her head. "I...suppose I did."

Usagi was silent for a long moment. Finally, she said softly, "It probably 
would've happened sooner or later anyway. I just don't want the government 
deciding to declare war on us or something when we already have so much shit 
to deal with."

"That would be...troublesome."

"The only thing I'm really upset about, though, is that you didn't tell me 
about this," Usagi said. "Just promise me, if something like this happens 
again, I'll find out about it *before* it shows up on television, alright?"

"Hai."

                   =-------------=

The usual murmurs and noise abated somewhat as the teacher entered for 
English period. Mina blinked as King entered a moment later, looking 
somewhat the worse for wear and gingerly favoring one leg. The teacher 
looked up from the lesson notes, and blinked twice at King. "King-san? Are 
you alright?"

The handsome teaching assistant smiled somewhat painedly. "I've been 
better."

"What in the world happened?" the teacher asked.

King waved a heavily bandaged hand absently. "Just a little garage accident. 
I was tuning up my bike when the lift gave out. I kinda caught it by the 
engine, and it was kinda running at the time..."

The teacher, along with most of the class, winced.

"And then I twisted my ankle rolling out from under it," King continued, 
shrugging.

"Should...you go home and rest?" the teacher asked, eyebrow raised 
dubiously.

"Nah," King replied dismissively. "I've taken worse than this. The burns 
aren't even all that bad, but my hands are a bit tender, and unhealed burns 
can get infected, so...that's why the bandages." King favoured the class 
with a roguish grin. "Don't worry about it, I'll be good as new by 
tomorrow."

The teacher frowned doubtfully, but sighed. "Alright then, let's get 
underway..."

                   =-------------=

Mina stood on the outside lane of the track that dominated Mugen Gakuen's 
sports field, stretching. Beside her, Rei was similarly warming up for 
phys-ed. As she went through a series of squats, Mina grimaced. "These 
stupid shorts...I don't know if I'll ever get used to them. They ride right 
up my arse."

Rei reddened slightly. "Mina-san, that is perhaps slightly *too* 
forthright..."

The blond rolled her eyes. "Like you've never gotten a wedgie from these 
things."

"That is not the issue, I simply--" Rei trailed off, staring past Mina, 
toward the opposite end of the pitch. "What in the--"

Mina followed her gaze, and her eyes widened. "A youma? Here?!"

"No, I do not sense the presence of a youma, but..."

The air filled with shrill screams and a mad cackling.

Mina's mouth set into a thin, grim line. "Find cover. Transform."

The two girls raced toward the bleachers, casting worried glances at the 
rising dust cloud growing nearer...

                   =-------------=

King was relaxing in the staff room, reading the newspaper, when the halls 
began to ring with the din of students shouting, yelling, and running. "Huh? 
What the hell?"

"Is there a fire or something?" one of the teachers asked, setting aside a 
cup of coffee.

"No alarms went off..."

A herd of students suddenly charged past the staff room door.

"HEY! No runn--"

"I don't think that'll work," King said. Standing with only the slightest of 
winces, the teaching assistant walked over to the door, snagging a passing 
student by the arm. "What's going on? Everyone sounds so excited."

"It's terrible! Some kind of monster is rampaging on the running track!"

"Rampaging?"

"Yeah! The second-year junior girls are out there now, it's a real mess!"

King frowned, letting go of the student, who quickly rejoined the stampede. 
"I'm checking this out."

                   =-------------=

"What the hell's going on here?" Mina asked, scowling as she crouched behind 
the bleachers with Rei.

The dark-haired miko frowned. "I'm not sensing the aura of a youma. I do not 
believe this is--"

"Of COURSE it isn't a youma, Rei!" Mina snapped. "He's wearing a rubber suit 
from one of those retarded Sunday morning kiddie shows!"

"There is always the possibility a true youma or other similar creature 
would be beneath that mask," Rei pointed out, somewhat defensively.

"Well...okay, that's a good point, but..."

Several of their classmates ran past, screaming. A laughing, roaring figure 
resembling a cross between pile carpet, a grizzly bear, and a marimo chased 
after them, waving around a scythe.

"This is getting ridiculous," Mina grumbled. She absently reached down and 
adjusted the gold bracelet on her wrist. "Venus Po--"

"Wait," Rei hissed, clamping a hand firmly on the blond's wrist. she 
inclined her head at the opposite end of the field. Mina looked up, and 
blinked.

"What the hell's HE doing here?"

                   =-------------=

King surveyed the scene, mouth set in a grim line. "This is..."

The teaching aide limped over to an equipment rack on the sideline, 
examining the various sports implements. With a nod, King selected a field 
hockey stick, testing its heft and taking a couple of practise swings.

The "monster" was menacing several terrified girls with a scythe. As the 
pursuit raced down the sprint lanes near the equipment rack, King calmly 
stepped onto the track. As the monster rushed past, scythe flailing, King 
struck low and hard with the hockey stick, nailing the rubber-suited menace 
in the shin. It went down with a howl of pain, mossy green tendrils of foam 
rubber and crepe flailing.

"Simmer down, ugly," King said in English.

The monster stood, howled inarticulately, and lashed out with its scythe. 
King calmly sidestepped, then tagged the green monstrosity twice in the 
lower torso with the edge of the stick. After another clumsy, overextended 
swipe of the scythe, King hooked the shaft of the weapon just beneath the 
blade, then twisted the hockey stick and yanked hard. The scythe was ripped 
from the assailant's hands and sent flying.

King then landed a vicious slap of the stick to the suited figure's chest, 
before ducking low and sweeping its legs. The "monster" howled in surprise 
and rage as it crashed to the turf.

King placed the edge of the hockey stick to the throat of the suited 
assailant. "Give up now."

Applause broke out from the girls who had been chased; a moment later, the 
headmaster jogged into view, panting slightly from the exertion. He removed 
his glasses and idly wiped sweat from the lenses, then approached King and 
the downed attacker.

"Headmaster," King said calmly. "We have here an idiot to hand over to the 
police."

The headmaster nodded. "Excellent work, King-san." He crouched beside the 
assailant, and none too gently removed the suit's mask. He frowned. "High 
school class 3-F, Sonozumi-kun."

The pimple-faced, bespectacled teen inside the suit paled, sweat plastering 
his stringy, greasy hair to his forehead. "H-headmaster, I..."

"I'm going to call your parents. And the police." The headmaster's glasses 
gleamed brilliantly with reflected sunlight; the effect seemed to cast deep 
shadows across his face. "But before that, we are going to have a VERY long 
talk."

Sonozumi fainted.

King smirked. "Bets on whether or not he pissed himself just now?"

The headmaster chuckled.

                   =-------------=

"We look forward to your business, Chiba-sama."

The bank manager and two tellers bowed repeatedly as Mamoru left the office.

Once he had returned to his car, he pulled a device from his pocket; an iPod 
Touch he had personally modified and reprogrammed to serve as a two-way link 
for the small cameras he had planted underneath the tellers' counter.

The screen lit up with a grainy but serviceable image of the bank vault, and 
the rows of safe deposit boxes within.

The cameras and the uplink each had 32 gigabytes of storage; more than 
enough to ensure he'd discover which box his next target would be in.

Smirking, he pulled away from the curb and headed for home.

                   =-------------=

Rei had been unusually pensive on the walk to the bus stop. Once she was 
certain nobody would overhear them, Mina asked, "What's on your mind, Rei?"

"Hm? Ah...that is..."

"Something's bothering you," Mina interrupted flatly. "Tell me."

Rei sighed. "I was thinking about King-san."

Mina raised an eyebrow. "Wow, the stoic priestess isn't immune to the 
opposite sex after all?"

"Not like that!" Rei replied sharply, flushing. "What I meant was, those 
injuries."

The blond grimaced. "Yeah. Poor guy."

"I am...somewhat doubtful of his explanation for the burns on his hands," 
Rei said softly, looking down at her bookbag.

Mina raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"We witnessed his attack on the delinquent this afternoon. Despite an 
obviously injured foot and the bandaged burns which he claims came from a 
motorcycle."

"Yeah, and...?"

"In my report of last night's mission, I did not go into detail about how I 
escaped Jadeite." Rei paused. "He had grabbed hold of my leg and tried to 
use his weight to force a fall. I surrounded my body with an aura of fire. I 
made him release me by burning his hands. He fell at least two hundred 
metres."

Mina blinked. "Wait, wait. Hold on. You're not..."

"Have you not noticed a physical resemblance between King-san and Jadeite?" 
Rei asked pointedly.

The blond frowned. "Now that you mention..." She trailed off, and gave an 
exasperated sigh. "Rei, you should know better than that. How many people 
think I'm Sailor V just because I'm blond?"

Rei cast her gaze down, frowning. "You are right, of course. It appears I am 
guilty of very much the same faulty logic that led to this afternoon's 
incident."

Mina patted her friend on the shoulder consolingly. "It's okay, Rei, don't 
worry about it. Besides, at least you had more to go on than just hair 
colour. The burned hands...anyone would be suspicious of that, under the 
circumstances."

Rei smiled. "Thank you, Mina-san."

                   =-------------=

King stretched lazily and sat down at an absent teacher's desk in the staff 
room. "So, Headmaster," the aide drawled lazily, "what was up with that 
stupid mess this afternoon, anyway?"

The headmaster sighed heavily. "Sonozumi-kun was trying to meet the Sailor 
Senshi," he said.

King raised an eyebrow. "Sailor Senshi?"

"Mm." The white-haired man toyed absently with a pencil. "He thought at 
least one of them went to this school, so he figured if he pretended to be a 
monster..."

"Unbelievable," King muttered. "And why, exactly, did he believe such a 
thing?"

"The British girl, Aino-kun," the headmaster replied. "Sonozumi-kun figured 
she had to be Sailor V--"

"--because she's blond," King finished with a snort of disgust. "That 
particular rumour is getting way out of hand."

"Mm." The headmaster frowned. "You don't suppose there's any chance it's 
true, do you?"

King chuckled. "I doubt it. I saw her and her friend, that really quiet 
girl, hiding behind the bleachers during the whole thing. If she were really 
Sailor V..."

"I see."

                   =-------------=

"Sir," the officer shouted into his megaphone, "Please, come down from the 
ledge. Whatever's wrong, we'll get you some help. Nothing is worth giving up 
on life!"

The sweating, trembling salaryman flattened himself against the window 
behind him, looking down at the crowd of police and rubberneckers below. His 
foot slipped; he swallowed nervously...

"Problems at home?" a young, female voice asked inches from his ear.

He yelped and nearly slipped; a gloved hand latched onto his collar and 
reeled him in with a strong grip. Below, people began to cheer.

He turned to face his beautiful, tall, brown-haired, green-eyed saviour. 
"Oh, thank you," he sighed. "I was hoping--"

The Senshi smiled sweetly. "That one of the Senshi would happen to come 
along and 'save' you, so you wouldn't have to actually jump?"

"Ah...eh...something like that," the man stammered.

The green eyes narrowed...

The crowd shrieked as the salaryman suddenly sailed off the ledge, 
screaming. The police tensed up, too stunned to react...

A thorny green vine shot out from the ledge and wrapped itself around the 
falling man, halting his descent. He was swiftly and none too gently reeled 
back up the side of the office building.

Back on the ledge, he found himself hanging upside down and face to face 
with a supremely unhappy Senshi.

"Now, we're not going to try something this fucking stupid again, are we?"

"N..no..."

"Good."

                   =-------------=

"Inspector, we've finished processing the crime scene and interviewing the 
witnesses."

"Nn. Good work." The inspector sat down at his desk with a fresh cup of 
coffee, reading a sheaf of reports.

A slightly older man, tall with broad shoulders and a weathered face, sat 
down across the desk from him, taking a long drag from a cigarette as he 
swirled his own cup of coffee in one hand. "Looks like your turf's turned 
into a carnival sideshow lately."

The police inspector grunted, not looking up.

"Is that the incident report from the Saegusa case?"

"Nn."

"Any particular reason--"

"You saw the report on this morning's incident. The Sailor Senshi that 
subdued the suspect..."

"Seemed to be able to freeze things."

"Exactly. With this new information, the Saegusa case can be reopened."

The older man swallowed half his coffee in one gulp, then ground out his 
cigarette in the ash tray on the inspector's desk. "Why bother?" he asked.

"A man was murdered. Even if the reason was self-defense, even if he 
deserved it, justice demands that at the very least, the truth has to come 
out."

"I see. So this is that twitch of yours acting up? That you can't sleep at 
night if you know there's an answer to a puzzle?"

"This is purely professional," the inspector replied sourly.

"Of course it is." The older man stood, crushing his empty cup and tossing 
it into the wastepaper bin. "Don't waste too much energy on a pointless 
investigation." He raised a hand in salute as he left the office. "Later."

The inspector watched him for a long moment, then returned to studying the 
reports from the freezing death of the serial child molestor. "Pointless...I 
wonder..."

                   =-------------=
                   to be continued
                   =-------------=