8:22pm
        He squinted his eyes as he measured the ingredients carefully, dropping the chemicals into a micro-test-tube drip by drip from his small burette, watching as the color in the test-tube began to fade away.  Once equilibrium was reached, he took a pencil and recorded the amount that had been used into a notepad.  Using a calculator, he divided the numbers and reached the amount required for the miniscule amount he needed for his laboratory rat.
        Mixing another mixture, he used a needle to suck in the mixture to the clear plastic cell of the injection needle, compressing the compartment, he allowed a small amount to squirt out of the needle to make sure that there was no oxygen trapped inside.  He grabbed his rat and injected it, the rat squealed and whimpered as it tried to worm away from the relentless grip, soon, the rat collapsed inside his palm as though all energy had been expended.
        Waiting for a few minutes, he picked up yet another needle and drew blood from the rat, then threw the rat into its cage carelessly.  Pulling a slide from his box, he dropped a drop of rat’s blood onto the screen and monitored it carefully under the microscope.  Comparing it with another sample that he had taken earlier, his teeth began to show as his lips stretched to a smile, “I’ve got it; it’s all gone!”

8:39pm
        Rei paced the front of the Jinja impatiently, “she’s late again,” she stated as a matter of fact, “she has Luna with her, but she still can’t get here on time, Luna is supposed to make sure that she comes on time.”
        “Luna is not a clock, she is an advisor,” Artemis said with exasperation as he had been hearing her grumble since arriving with Minako on time at 8:15pm.
        “Well then, one would think that for her to advise the whole Moon Kingdom, she’d know how to advise the time,” Rei snapped.
        Artemis was about to retort on behalf of Luna when she found Makoto’s large hands clamped firmly over her face, “Rei-chan, look, she’s coming.”
        Rei turned to the direction that Makoto was pointing at, seeing two trails of gold flying towards the Jinja, she nodded, “henshin-yo. (Transform.)”
        “Mars Crystal Power Makeup!”
        “Venus Crystal Power Makeup!”
        “Jupiter Crystal Power Makeup!”
        They could hear in the distance, as Usagi yelled, “Crisis Makeup!”  Her running speed increased and almost immediately reached the top of the stairs, “sorry, I’m late.”  She hunched downwards for two reasons, first to catch her breath, and secondly, to prepare for the yelling that was bound to occur.

8:40pm
        Asuka Akiyama paced in his room, the carpet in the room threatened to grow a bold spot as a result of his tireless walk.  His bedroom door was flung open harshly when his manager entered and growled at his charge, “stop pacing, I’m trying to make calls to the TV stations and magazines to book in interviews, the only thing I can hear is your footsteps.  You walking around in your room is not going to do a thing; get some sleep and I’ll send you off to the skating rink tomorrow, the doctors gave you a clean bill of health didn’t they?  The important thing is that you’re back, and you’re back in time for the Winter Asian Games, and you’ve got enough training time left to get back into shape, everything’s going to be fine.”
        “It’s not that!”  Asuka burst out in disgust.
        “Well if it’s about your little friend, you walking around isn’t going to help, so you might as well get some sleep, worrying isn’t going to earn you any fame, money or respect, skating is, you don’t skate, you’ve got nothing.”
        “Is that all you care about, my skating?”  Asuka yelled.
        “Hey!”  His manager yelled back, “I’m your manager, your manager for your skating life, and I dabble in the areas of looking after you, making sure that you are going to school, sending you to the doctor for checkups but that’s for your public image as well.  If you weren’t skating, I wouldn’t be here, so of course skating is what I care about.  If you want someone to look after your personal life, hire a nanny, or forget about skating and go live with those aunts of yours, because I sure as hell aren’t going to be your mother.”
        “Get out!”  Asuka screamed as he swiped his desk clear of his schoolbooks, and grabbed one of his medals and flung it towards his manager.  The medal hit the wall with a loud thud as bounced off the wall after impressing its shape onto the thin wood.
        The door slammed shut, Asuka could hear his manager beginning to walk away as he picked up one of his books and threw it at the closed door.  The book slid of harmlessly, as though his body was attached by a string, it imitated the sliding and he dropped onto the ground in a fit of tears.  He opened his clenched eyes, seeing the world through a wall of emotions, he felt a cold metal in his right hand and a sudden searing pain, he realized that he had been clutching a martial arts knife by the blade - it had been on his sheathed on his bookshelf, yet he did not remember unsheathing or picking it up.  As he saw the droplets of blood fall and stain to the carpet, he whispered, “what’s happening to me, God, don’t let me be like my father, please don’t…”

8:54pm
        He stood facing the Juuban District Hospital, the scuttle of energy that had been there earlier had not abated, the reporters remained from the morning, as did the trucks from the television stations.  He could feel the concern of the people for the Juuban genius’ welfare by the carnations that lay on the side of the door as a gift, in hope that she would know that her health was in their hearts.    He stepped back into the shadows behind a large cherry blossom tree; he put his left hand in his pocket and took something out of it.  Raising his hand to above his hand, his hand opened as tens of pink roses petals drifted to the ground, “Zoi!” he whispered, and disappeared into the night leaving behind his signatory trail of petals.

9:09pm
        “Well, enough about me, what about you?  Why Juuban?  Of all the places in Japan, why did you choose Juuban to write your book?”
        “There’s a part of me that believes in miracles, magic, even pure evil, all the things that science fails to recognize and understand.  In a way, my work as a profiler is purely insight, experience, and feeling, its what I feel when I walk into a room, what I feel when I meet someone, my work is not complete science either, it’s full of the unexplainable.  By the way, this is my way of saying that I came here out of curiosity.”
        “I hope that Juuban meets your expectations then, I must say that we do get our fair share of strange happenings.  It might seem strange, that I am a student and worker of science but I too believe in something bigger than science.”
        “As scientists strive for more knowledge, they invariably find that more and more can’t be explained by science, so, they turn to something inexplicable.  My line of work is a mixture of both, part science, part impressionistic, its not something that can be grounded down to key concepts, not something that you can teach, but something that you either have, or you don’t.”
        “I presume that that will not be the tone of voice you would be using for your book.”
        He gave a hearty laugh and shook his head, “no, there would be nothing to write about if I said that, imagine, ‘First and only lesson: Figure it out yourselves’, it is hardly going to be a bestseller.  I’m going to teach them basics, some of my work is textbook material, the other parts, they will have to learn by themselves.”
        “Like how to cheat a lady’s acceptance to dinner?”  Mewagi Mizuno said wryly.
        “Touché Mewagi-san.”

9:22pm
        He had been wondering about the streets of Juuban for nearly twenty minutes, his feet had taken him to the Mizuno residence, the school, and now, the Juuban District Hospital, all invariably leading to the same person, Ami.  He stepped into the lobby, completely ignoring the two guards who had been at the door, and slumped into one of the wooden stools without speaking.  He didn’t seem to notice the stare that he was attracting, as others in the lobby waiting for medical attention turned around to look at him, whispering amongst themselves: “That’s Asuka Akiyama!”  “Isn’t that Asuka Akiyama?”  “What is The Great Asuka Akiyama doing here?”

9:33pm
        Using a syringe, he extracted the contents inside the glass vial, holding the syringe into the light; he made sure that there were no bubbles inside, and carefully tapped out the remaining bubbles.  He ducked down as a nurse passed by, he waited until the shadow from the nurse had disappeared before hastily rolling up Ami’s sleeve and injecting the solution into her arm.  He depressed the trigger slowly, while mumbling to himself, “come on, come on, it has to work, I have to wake her up…”

9:45pm
        The four senshi found themselves in an extremely small enclosure, they struggled to move as they tried to find a light switch.  Finally, light flooded the room, as they realized that they were inside the utility closet of the hospital.  “Yay!  I found the light switch!”
        “Ooo… congratulations SailorMoon, that must have hard… now what would we have done without you?”  SailorMars said in a sarcastic voice, obviously still annoyed that they were running a whole hour and a half late, it was all Usagi’s fault that she couldn’t tell the time - she still had school and meditation in the morning.
        “Well then, if it was so easy to find, then why couldn’t you find it? …”  SailorMoon replied with utter childishness.
        “You two; stop it, Mars, you’ve been yelling at her for a whole hour when she was late for twenty five minutes, I think that’s enough, and Moon, start acting like the Princess that you’re supposed to be when you are in that outfit.  And now, as the leader of the senshi, I order both of you to be quiet until we find Ami, not another word, understand?”  SailorVenus hissed to both of them.
        “Urr… V-chan, technically, the leader of the senshi can’t order the Moon Princess to do anything,” SailorJupiter added hesitantly.
        “And you too, not another word, got it?”  The three nodded, making soft gagging noises meanwhile, Venus giggled and sweatdropped at their expressions, then the three exploded from laughter and began to chuckle unreservedly.

Next