Placed at number 5 of the skating list, after the two rounds, her placement had improved by 42 spots. Now, she had to work out what was going to happen when she skated to “The Emperor”, the song that Asuka had chosen for her specifically. She had sat down in the resting room with Sensei Narai immediately and watched a replay of the skating. She had surprised herself, by the complex emotions that had been expressed in the short moments. The sadness was over, she had said everything that she wanted about the pain of the disappearance of her father, Kunki and Asuka, now, there was something else that she wanted to say. Possibly something about the feelings, the mixed feelings that she had for him.
    Suddenly she understood. Her feelings for him were respect, trust, friendship, and… esteem. She couldn’t bear to use the four-letter word because she wasn’t sure. Emperor, and in a way, he was her emperor… enshrined in her heart forever, a special place, apart from anyone that she had ever known. She worshipped him as her ultimate aim, to be carefree, smart, yet loved. Tonight, she would dedicate her skating to him, win for him, and Sensei Narai, yes, everything she would do on ice would be a tribute to the legend that he had never had the chance to completely fulfill. From her fingertips, she would spread the real reflection of his life and contribution on the ice, the greatest impact on her life, and most importantly, her strong, uncontrollable feelings of… esteem for him.

    Sensei Narai tapped her shoulder, signaling that she would need to get ready. She was still in the white skating dress from the previous round and had not yet changed into her other dress. Most of the competitors had already come back, and the others in her same group (since they warmed up in groups of 10) were already dressed. “I think I will warm up in this skirt Sensei.”
    She received an appreciating nod from her pupil, and watched as she dipped her head to tie up the laces before her group was to be called.

    The warm up had gone without a flaw. Yet, being grouped in the first ten, did not allow much for mistakes and falls. When she came back, she had immediately gone into the changing rooms to get dressed. In place of the white one, with the blue embroidery of flowers and butterflies, she now sported a frilly black one. A white pattern in the front of her chest emphasised the black flowers that twinned around her body, the white following the outlines of the flowers. She especially loved the short puffy sleeves that barely covered her shoulders. The wrong color for a celebration of life, but the right one for mourning woman celebrating someone’s life. Her skating boots were also black, laced with silver and white patterns, her whole outfit, strikingly different to those of the other competitors.
    As she stepped out from behind the curtains, a chuckle suddenly escaped from the crowd behind her. She turned around at the sniggering girls who were preparing for their own performance, and one who had been displaced by her, from the top 10. “Someone thinks that she might win. That there might even be the slightest possibility she can dispel me from the podium, can you believe that?”
    Akiko Watanebe (the women’s no.1 in Japan) smiled meanly at Ami, “I'd advice you to wake up little girl, be a bit more realistic about this whole dream of yours. It's a dream and that is all that it will ever be. Beat me? I don't think so, I'm not the Japanese number 1 for nothing.”
    Ami hardened her eyes. “You are laughing now, but you will see that losing my best friend doesn’t make me any weaker. It makes me stronger and more determined than ever and I am going to see this whole thing through.”
    Akiko Watanebe snickered at Ami’s confidence. “Oh? We wouldn’t like you to make a fool of yourself would we? Why don’t you just go back to your books and save yourself some face.  You are on National Television after all, how embarrassing would it be to fall flat on your back?”
    Ami smiled sweetly at her, she couldn’t help but retort and jump to close the trap that had been laid by Watanebe on herself. Yet her ardent politeness was only a thin sugar-coating on the most abusive remark she would ever utter in her life. “Of course, Watanebe-san, you would know wouldn’t you?”
    Akiko Watanebe immediately blushed hotly: the memory of her falling hard during the Pan-Pacific Competition was as fresh as yesterday. The whole of Japan had seen it, no, the whole world had seen it. Anyone who had watched the finals of the competition, and the news the next day had seen the mistake, the mistake that she could not bear to be reminded of. She had been reprimanded and stripped of her ‘natural’ right of competing in the Olympics for that single, but enormous mistake. She did not speak, but glared at Ami and left.
    Ami sighed a breath of relief, she could hear number 6 being called out and instinctively knew that it was her turn to sit in the waiting room for her own show-down.

    “Ami Mizuno, wait, please!”
    Ami turned around at someone yelling her name down the corridor leading to the waiting room. “Yes?”
    The strange woman held her hand out to her, “my name is Matsumi Watanebe, the older sister of Akiko. I heard what happened in there, what my sister said to you. I want to apologise on behalf of my sister, the mean words that she said to you. I know her, and sometimes, she is a bit conceited I know, but I hope that there is no bitterness. I don’t think you would be able to deal with that, another blow. I think you have been amazingly brave today. You are obviously upset and…”
    Ami closed her eyes and held up her hand to ask this girl to stop, “no, that's quite alright, thank you for telling me that.”
    “You are a new competitor, and to be able to come so far in the first competition you have ever entered into poses a threat to my sister. You must remember that you are 17 years old, my sister is 22, even your youth and agility must cause some desperation in her feelings. I am not excusing her behaviour, but I want you to understand that... she is not such a bad person. If you win, I congratulate you on behalf of my sister, and even if you don't, for having come so far in so little time. She is not a gracious loser, especially now that she has tasted success. I want to give you my best wishes today, you deserve it.”
    Ami looked at Matsume with interest, then smiled at her. Holding out her hand she said, “I’m not angry at your sister, I understand her position perfectly. Thank you for your good wishes, and I wish your sister the same. May we have a fair competition out on the ice and leave the slanging match away from what is to happen today.”

    “Your lordship, our plans, we see that you have neglected to approved them.”
    “I know your history, and I see that your target is SailorMercury, the weakest Senshi of them all. Tell me that you are not cowardly and I will fail to believe you. Explain your motives to me. Do you expect the same credit as you would from killing any other?”
    “Your lordship, perhaps with your permission we can show you a presentation of our motives?” Lord Takechi nodded his head slightly and sat down on his throne. Avarice’s hands rubbed together with delicious anticipation. He was sure of his plans. Nodding his head towards Ossify, the presentation began. First with the tape of Ami showing sadness and pain when she first saw that Asuka was no longer on her side, and her refusal to transform. “You see, we have captured an important person in her life, and that will undoubtedly become a weakness in her fighting skills. And once we take away the brains of the group, the rest will simply disintegrate. Like the useless human body, once the brain is gone, the heart, the strength also goes with it.” The tape came abruptly to a stop, the aim of the presentation was not to show that Ami’s anger would lead to more destruction.
    Lord Takechi looked at Ossify in annoyance as the tape stopped. He had been mesmerized by that face, those eyes, and that voice… “Prove it.”
    Avarice motioned his hand to the switch to the screen, immediately showing the same rink that Ami had just been skating at. “Sir, this occurred one hour ago, As a well informed learned artist I think you will agree with me that it shows her absolute pain in losing her friend, and even by that we are saying that we have an absolute chance.”
    He waved Avarice aside, “I don’t want an absolute chance, I want an absolute success. I will let you go and do this, but don’t kill her, capture her and bring her back. I think she will be an asset to us, after all, she is an intelligent young lady. Now leave me, I will give you further instructions tonight.”
    “But your Lordship, the plan was to strike now, when she is skating her third round, to publicly show everyone her identity.”
    “How dare you contradict me Avarice! I will tell you what to do, you have no right. I will give you the instructions not you. Now leave me this second.” Lord Takechi immediately pushed Avarice and Ossify out of the room, and returned to his position, facing Ami’s skating. He sighed in contentment. “Very soon my beauty, you will be by my side. I will not erase your memories, make your heart cold, but turn you to my side, let you know how beautiful I can be too.”
 

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