Character Sketches #1, Sailor Mercury - Part II, "Mizuno the Senshi"
Chapter 5: In which an old acquaintance receives a new look.

TOKYO (AP)--As a sort of continuation of the debt Japan, and Tokyoers in general, owe to NIPPON, several large Japanese universities have agreed for their students to study in the United States without charge.

The students, mostly engineering and physics majors, will have all books, tuition, and housing paid for by the governments of the US and Japan, and are to be equally distributed among the several thousand NIPPON schools. Prime Minister Haruna said, "we see this as a glorious opportunity for the intellectual and cultural enrichment of all involved. We look forward to this continuing partnership."

"If you must strike, strike from behind the mask!"

-Moby Dick

"Ah, I see our favorite student is back, class." David strode over to the door, where Amy was still standing, weary from limping all the way from the dorm. "I certainly hope that she's fully recovered from her ordeal, and is ready to get back to work."

"I certainly am, Mr. Hen--"

"David! For crying out loud, call me--fine, just get along so I can teach." Seeming to promptly forget about Amy's existence, he returned to the podium, where he began another lecture. Jen and Amy went to their usual places.

"I don't believe I've known another art professor who lectured so much," observed Jen, as they pulled out the requisite class materials. "You'd think he would just give us an assignment and let things go at that."

"I don't believe that that's very likely. He's very passionate about his work."

"Oh, *really* Amy? Just what did you do that night with him, hm?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!"

Absolute silence greeted this remark. To clarify, David ceased lecturing, a couple in a far corner stopped arguing, and the scratch of pencils on paper ceased.

"'Absolutely nothing' is precisely what you are going to learn in this class if you don't start paying attention. And 'absolutely nothing' is also going to be the credit you get for this course if you don't shape up. Do I make myself clear, ladies?"

"Perfectly, Henderson-sensei. Sumimasen." And to ice it, Amy included a short but noticeable bow. Jen shrugged and bowed as well.

"What she said."

"I suppose that that will have to be good enough. Now, before I was interrupted, I was saying that..." The pair ignored his droning voice.

"Geez, Amy, didn't have to be so defensive. And what does 'tsunamisins' mean?"

"It's 'sumimasen,' and it means 'I'm terribly sorry.'"

"Oh. And the bow?"

"That was insurance. I think he went to Japan once; couldn't hurt to layer on the apologies."

"Good idea."

"I thought so." Amy began to rifle through her bag. "Now where did that...oh no!"

"Shhh! Do you want to get Henderson on us again? Then again, that might not be such a bad idea, but...anyway, what's wrong?"

"It's my book! He gave me a book to read, and now I can't find it. It must be in my room...great."

She examined her options. She could walk out without notice, go to her dorm, and get the book. Disadvantage: lowers her in the eyes of David. Or, she could not get the book. Disadvantage: face his wrath after class. Third option...it might work. She stood.

"Mr. Henderson, I have a question."

He sighed loudly. "'Oh ye ignorant and stiff-necked people, how long must I put up with ye?' What is it now, Anderson?"

This was not expected. Well rather, it was, but not with this sort of vehemence. Had their study session meant nothing? "Um, I seem to have forgotten my materials for class, and I would-"

"-like my permission to dash off and grab them?"

"Err, yes actually."

"Granted."

"Thank you." She gathered up her purse and made her way to the door.

"Oh, and Amy?"

"Yes?"

"This is a classroom, not a dictatorship. If you have to leave, just leave!" And I love you desperately and can't live without you, he didn't add. Not that he wouldn't have if given the chance.

"Okay." She continued out the door and began her sprint to the dorm. At least, the best sprint possible while wearing jeans and worn sneakers. After bowling over several trenchcoated gentlemen going in the opposite direction, she made it to her room.

Ignorant of these latter events, the class continued. "Now class, we'll start to look into some of the more difficult aspects of...yes, what is it?"

The last was directed at a tall man in a gray trenchcoat. Several of his companions were with him, similarly attired. Their most noticeable feature, aside from their sunglasses, was that they *had* no noticeable features. They were completely inconspicuous, a fact that they planned to use to their advantage.

"Yes, um, we've received word that a certain item is in the possession of one of your students, and we need to perform a search."

"Pardon? Perform a search? For what type of item?"

"We've not allowed to divulge that--"

"The hell you aren't! You may have noticed that this is my classroom, and I'm afraid that-"

The leader of the pack had had enough, and took the time to shoot Henderson in the chest at point blank range. He fell without a sound.

"Anyone else? Didn't think so. Now, we'll just be taking any jewelry, cash, laptops, that sort of stuff." He leered. "Crystals will do quite nicely."

Jen was feeling decidedly lucky, despite David's death. Call it adrenaline, call it stupidity. "And then what? You're just going to walk out of here?"

He looked surprised. "Um, yes, we were, actually." He patted the gun he held in his hand. "Pharmaceuticals can work wonders nowadays. A few cc's of this will have you remembering nothing that's happened in the past twelve hours. Some people prefer to waste it with their dates, but we've put it to more...profitable use. So, you can hand over the crystals willingly, or-"

"Wait!" From their looks of surprise, Jen decided that they weren't used to being interrupted by their victims. Good. She had an opportunity. Campus security had to notice that something was wrong sooner or later. If she could only stall..."Why are you doing this? If you've got these resources, then why aren't you going after bigger things?" Great, Jen! Well on your way to defense attorney!

"These are bigger things, my dear. And the biggest thing around here is the artwork. Didn't Henderson ever tell you that-"

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"

Everyone turned to look at the emergency door in the rear of the hall. It was never used, mainly because on the other side of it was a thirty foot drop. Yet it was open, and silhouetted against the bright sunshine was a figure, busy trying to keep her balance, come up with a snappy speech, figure out how to gain the upper hand, and making incomprehensible arm gestures, in that order.

"How dare you interrupt that man in a place of learning? How do you presume to stop these students from gaining an education in the liberal arts?" The figure stepped inside enough for them to discern a female form. "I am the magnificent Sailor M, and in the name of knowledge, I will punish you!"

Silence.

"What the hell?"

"Who's that?"

"Is that a cop?"

"Cops usually wear more than that."

"Cripes."

These last few comments were brought about by the stranger's stepping forward, so that all could get a good look at her. As the reader no doubt suspects by now, she wore a sailor suit similar to those worn by Japanese schoolgirls, except for the fact that the sleeves and skirt were far shorter than usual. In fact, it was a very slightly modified Sailor V costume.

She wore a light blue scarf and collar, with a sky-blue choker that, upon closer inspection, had a tiny image of an owl on it. The usual bow was on the small of the back. Her eyes couldn't be seen very clearly behind the domino mask, but one could guess, based on other evidence, that they were blue. Perhaps the most striking feature was the orange hair bow that topped it all off.

The assembled students and robbers stopped for a moment to take it all in. Sailor M, whose identity can be guessed, was quite used to being gawked at; and had long ago gotten in the habit of using these interludes to scope out any possible advantages. She found one, and decided, without any further preamble, to execute it. She raced to the front of the room, towards the trenchcoated men.

For their part, they were still trying to sort out exactly what was happening. Police they'd planned for, some student trying to be a hero, but women in miniskirts? Perhaps if they'd had more time, they'd have made the connection. However, there was only one connection that they were making at that point, and it was that no human they knew of had any business coming towards them at that speed.

"M Kick!"

The poor man, who had had the instinctive reaction of jumping in front of his leader, got a kick right in his chest. Such was the reward for loyalty. He collapsed, gasping for breath and finding none. Although he didn't know it, he'd gotten off easy; the last recipient of such a kick had been killed. This was a fact that Sailor M was desperately trying not to think about.

BANG! The gunshot rang out, and was followed by several in quick succession, as the criminals realized the realities of the situation and tried to fight back. Even so, they backed away slowly, ignoring the cries of terror from the students.

As for them, they had started to go under the tables and desks at the first shot, and were more concerned with not getting in the crossfire. Sailor M, however, had rolled away after her kick, and was now simply standing and being shot.

Not merely being shot at, mind you.

Being shot. As in having several bullets strike her body at sufficiently high velocities to kill most vertebrates. Or rather, those vertebrates without the benefit of form-fitting body armor. She, of course, had taken the precaution of making sure that the flimsy-looking fuku could take almost all forms of small-arms fire, and was seeing her caution pay off. Now to see if another gamble would work....

"ARCTIC BEAM!!" God, Minako's going to kill me when she finds out, she thought. Ignorant to her thoughts, the beam lanced out from her fingers and struck the torso of another trenchcoated man. The results were faintly amusing, as he collapsed, having no feeling over his entire body, and not having much better luck with muscle control.

"Yatta! Take that, baddie!" Why hadn't she done this earlier? She'd forgotten how much fun it had been just being a Senshi. It almost made her want to be Mercury again, but...no! Too much pain there. Okay, now think. Two down, three left...oh. They'd decided to give up.

Indeed they had. Discretion was indeed the better part of valor, and they definitely had no lack of valor. They quickly made their escape, ignoring their fallen comrades.

In seconds, the only signs of trouble were the open emergency door and three bodies on the floor. Seeing this, Sailor M decided to make her exit.

"Hey, wait! Who are you?"

She paused. Something short, something profound, something memorable.

"Oh, just a concerned citizen."

And with that, she jumped out the window, never having seen the professor's body, which several students were huddled around.