5A great bolt of lightning struck in the sky, and for a split second Darjeeling could see the primal, half-crazed look that Monmohan was giving her. Before she could comprehend how he managed to get inside her house, he rushed forward and pushed Darjeeling back, forcing her back to the wall.
"Darjeeling! I can't stand it! I can't take it anymore! You… I just don't understand what you want from me! I've done everything I've I could, and you still won't accept me!"
"Monmohan, all I want from you is to leave me alone! I don't love you, I never did. Please, calm down and just leave. There's nothing you can do for me."
Darjeeling tried to move past Monmohan, but he didn't budge. Instead, he stood his ground. Another bolt of lightning passed and she could see the tears pouring from his blue eyes, and the gun he was in the middle of grabbing out of his pants. "Monmohan, what are you doing?"
"You say no to me, but we both know that it's a lie. It's your father who's fed you all these lies about me, he's the one who won't allow us to be together. He's in the way, but don't worry, Darjeeling, I'll silence that old fool!"
"Please, Monmohan, just stop this already! You can't get what you want by force! It's just not going to happen!"
A loud knock came from the front door. An authoritative voice came through, "This is Tarmilano Personal Security! Monmohan Kesri, we know you're in there! Open up!"
Monmohan panicked momentarily before looking back at Darjeeling. "So he wants me dead that badly? Fine! I'll grant his wish, but I'll be taking you with me!"
"No! Please!" Darjeeling tried harder to push back against him, but he held his ground like a stone monolith.
"Don't worry, Darjeeling. Everything… everything is going to be fine. We won't be able to run away and get married on Jurai as I wanted, but Tsunami will allow us to love each other as her angels." He said.
"Monmohan Kesri, open this door right now!" Another order from outside came. "Damn! Get that door-buster over here!"
Monmohan started pulling his finger on the trigger; Darjeeling looked away and closed her eyes, just as a loud bang came from the front door; the public security broke through the reinforced door and rushed in... and-"
The television screen suddenly went to black before reconnecting to a brand new program, announced by a pre-recorded voice announced. "We interrupt this program to provide a special update regarding recent events."
Somewhere, a woman groaned loudly in annoyance...
A young, spry-looking man sat a large desk, looking right at the camera with a smile on his face. "Good early morning, Jurai City!" He began enthusiastically. "This is Shinjitsu News, the fastest and most reliable news coverage in the Juraian Empire for 194 years and running! My name is Yuji Asakusa, covering for our daytime anchors Haruna and Itsuki. It is currently one hour, thirty minutes Standard Jurai Time, and the current forecast is as follows: partially cloudy with temperatures sitting around thirteen degrees Nenikusa, and an anticipated rise to twenty-three degrees Nenikusa by sunrise."
"The story! Get to the story, you stupid intern!" Somebody off-screen growled.
He paused awkwardly for a moment from the interruption. He cleared his throat and continued as if nothing happened. "Right, moving along to our special report, we've just received an update regarding the hostage crisis at the National Assembly building. A representative of the Jurai City Police Department is about to speak regarding the incident, we'll cut to that now..."
The screen changed to the view of a press conference in a crowded room. One man dressed in police garb stood at a podium on a stage, involuntarily twitching one of his legs from having over a dozen cameras being focused on his face. "I'll try to keep this as clear as possible." He began. "I have no reason to fudge any details, so please take my word as indisputable fact. Upon receiving the signal from our friends from the Galaxy Police, our Special Assault Team proceeded to storm the building from the front entrance. They immediately entered into a firefight with the militants, resulting in fourteen dead and wounded for the latter. The team sustained no casualties in the assault."
"What about that explosion we heard afterward? Was it caused by the Galaxy Police? What it a bomb planted by-"
"The cause of the explosion has yet to be determined. All we know is that one of the Galaxy Police Officers, whose identity has not been released, sustained moderate injuries from the explosion and was transported to a local hospital."
"The assemblymen, what happened to the assemblymen?" Another reporter asked.
"In total, 199 of the 201 members of the National Assembly are accounted for. One deputy, Heihichiro Suboru, has been confirmed to have been killed during the initial takeover of the building. The other unaccounted is... Prime Minister Hideaki Tojishima. Yes… the Prime Minister is missing... Kagato is missing, I should say."
The crowd went into a frenzy from the news. Before things got out of hand, the police representative spoke above the crowd. "The commander of the Galaxy Police forces is also here to give his perspective of events. Please, welcome him."
Two JCPD officers then dragged into the room. He was wearing a cheap trench coat and a strange device over his face. "Hey, wait! I didn't consent to this! Let go of me!" He cried out. He was let go by the officers and was about to run away when he noticed the arsenal of cameras already pointed at him. "Oh… alright." He stepped behind the podium and carefully took off the device that was covering his face and set it to the floor.
"My name... is Ryoji Ishizuka, I am a First Lieutenant in the Intelligence Division of the Galaxy Police, and I commanded a squad of operatives to covertly infiltrate the National Assembly. Now, what mister…" Ryoji paused, as he looked towards the police commander, at a loss for his name. "What… that guy said… is correct. Kagato has escaped alongside the prime minister. The explosion was caused by a bomb that Kagato had smuggled into the National Assembly, and he used it to cover his escape right when my men… excuse me, women... went in to apprehend him." The JCPD has informed me that they've scoured the entirety of the surrounding area three times over but couldn't find a trace of either of them. So, yeah… suffice it to say, we've sort of lost them."
The room again erupted into a flurry. " Why did he take the Prime Minister?" One reporter managed to yell out.
"Why he took the Prime Minister?" Ryoji repeated. He scratched his head. "Honestly, I don't know. He should know that a ransom won't be accepted, although I could be wrong about that, I'm not familiar with Juraian laws… in fact, this is the first time I've been on..." Ryoji stopped himself and he smacked his lips together uncomfortably. "Well, that's all I have to say. My job here is done, and I need to submit a report to my superior… goodbye!" Ishizuka picked his helmet up and quickly walked off the stage.
The feed went back to the news station. "Very troubling news indeed," Yuji commented. "Hopefully, Kagato and the Prime Minister will be found soon and this story is put to rest before it spirals into a disaster. This concludes our update for this special report. We will now return to this network's regularly scheduled early-morning programming, with Godou Funabashi and Mai Machinaki making their long-anticipated debut in the 322nd season premiere of The Edge of Our Dreams..."
The television screen went black with a press of the button. The woman carelessly dropped the remote controller to the ground as growled again. "Right, like I'm going to trust those hack writers after how they treated Saionji and Togusa… still makes my blood boil." She looked over to the bed next to her… noticing that the person under the covers was still fast asleep. She instinctively yawned at the sight. "But I imagine the programming you're used to on Terra isn't much better, right?"
III: Special Intelligence Field Operations
Airi Fujikawa laid on her sofa and stared up at the ceiling of her office, as she usually did while deep in thought. A familiar beeping alert came from her desk, and she reluctantly got up and walked over to see who was calling this time. Her eyes widened when she read the name "His Grace and Blessed by Lady Tsunami, Emperor Azusa Masaki Jurai," on her console.
She accepted the call and turned around to the screen-window that was in the middle of turning on.
Azusa looked about the same as he did from last time, apart from his eyes looking heavy on the verge of closing from tiredness.
Airi's lip quivered; she still wasn't sure how she was going to tell the emperor that she had utterly failed. She mustered her resolve, stiffened her body and looked the man right in the eyes.
"Apologies, emperor, but it seems that Kagato is much more... interesting than you or I could have imagined." She said calmly.
Azusa's stone-cold face didn't react to the news. Airi took it as a sign that he already knew what happened.
"Right." She continued. So, I'm guessing that my end of the bargain hasn't been fulfilled yet." Airi suggested.
Azusa's expression remained unmoved by Airi's sarcasm. "Kagato is an enemy of the state that must be eliminated as soon as possible. In spite of underwhelming results, I will allow the Galaxy Police to continue assisting the local authorities in his apprehension for the foreseeable future. Do not take my leniency for granted, Superintendent Fujikawa."
"Thank you," Airi said. The screen promptly went dark. She sat down in her desk chair and took a deep breath. She wiped the non-existent sweat off of her forehead as she exhaled. "Father was right, gambling is a dirty habit."
The bright lights of the room nearly blinded Kiyone when she first tried to open her eyes. A grumble escaped her mouth as blinked rapidly.
"About time you woke up, Miss Makibi. It's not like you died or anything!" Somebody familiar suggested jokingly.
Kiyone opened her eyes again turned her head to the noise; she saw a woman sat down in a chair next to her; sporting her crimson hair and unmistakable "easy-going" smile. "Mitsuki?"
"This again?" Mitsuki asked, annoyed. She sighed. "Yes, it's me, Mitsuki. Although I should probably give you a little leeway this time around. I mean, you did come very close to dying there."
Kiyone nodded slightly, She looked down at herself and noticed she was wearing a thin white gown instead of her combat suit, instantly telling her she was in a hospital. She used her elbows to prop herself up on the bed. "Where's… where's Mihoshi?"
"Miss Blonde Bubblehead?" Mitsuki repeated. "Good question, I could've sworn she was with me in this room. When we got here, I had to fight tooth and nail to keep her claws off you while you were under; you're welcome, by the way." She stood up and took a better look at the entire room. "Well, I hear that the food they serve in Juraian hospitals is edible compared to the… stuff… that they serve us at headquarters." Mitsuki walked over to the door and peered out into the hallway. "Yeah, she must've just went exploring for a bite to-" she felt her foot bump against something. "Oh, nevermind. Found her!"
Kiyone had a deadpan expression as her partner was dragged across the floor and into the room by Mitsuki. "Why am I not surprised? This is exactly the reason it was so hard to keep that job at Freshness Burger." She said.
"Freshness Burger? What's that?" Mitsuki asked in the middle of carefully lifting Mihoshi by the shoulders, involuntary grunting from the effort. She sat the officer down a chair near the door and turned towards Kiyone, expecting an answer.
"Oh… that's just… eh." Kiyone stopped, unable to come up with a decent explanation that would satiate Mitsuki's curiosity.
"Kiyo, don't tell me… you had to work jobs on Terra besides the Galaxy Police?"
Kiyone could see the horror Mitsuki was entrapped in from her wide-open eyes and open mouth. More importantly, Kiyone was angry at herself for not realizing the magnitude of the mistake she would make mentioning her minimum wage employment to somebody as proud as Mitsuki Tsukushi. She sighed, knowing that Mitsuki wasn't going to ignore an obvious lie.
"It was either that or living like a freeloader in the mountains. Maybe I'll tell you more about it later, but I'm not in the mood right now." Kiyone said confidently.
Mitsuki nodded, "Fine. Oh, hey! I just remembered that I wanted to show you something." She ducked down and grabbed something under the chair she was sitting in and walked over to Kiyone, handing it to her. Kiyone immediately noticed it was a helmet with the massive dent where a person's head would've been covered. "What do you think? Some debris hit struck you right here; it probably would've killed you right away if you weren't wearing any protection."
Kiyone nodded. "Speaking of which, what happened back there?" She asked. "What happened to Kagato?"
"Gone. The guy took off like the wind, and we were too busy digging you out of the rubble that we couldn't look for him ourselves. He took the prime minister with him, too."
"Very strange," Kiyone said.
"Agreed. I mean, Kagato doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would be into that sort of thing."
"Wha-" Kiyone began before being interrupted by the door opening. In came a man wearing a long, white coat and blacks pants, and holding a small electronic tablet in his hands. The faint smile on his face looked professional and well-rehearsed.
"Good morning. My name is Dr. Yutuboshi, here to perform my hourly checkup on you. How are you feeling?"
"Good. What happened to me?" Kiyone asked.
The doctor looked down at the medical report he had attached to a clipboard. "Let's see here. When you were admitted to this hospital, we noted that you had: hairline fractures on four of your ribs; several cuts on your legs and torso, and bruises on your right arm and shoulder; nothing serious to worry about… nothing except for one thing." Our scans showed that you may have also suffered a concussion from the explosion. You don't seem to be exhibiting any symptoms, but as a precaution, let me ensure you're cognitively capable: What is your name?"
"Kiyone Makibi."
"What is her name?" He pointed towards Kiyone's still-conscious partner.
"Mitsuki Tsukushi."
"It's actually 'Tsuku-shi', not 'Tsu-kushi'." Mitsuki interrupted. She pouted when she saw that neither Kiyone or the doctor noticed her.
Seven plus three is…?"
"Ten."
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Four."
"What language are we speaking?"
"Standardized Juraian."
"The current emperor of Jurai is…?"
"Azusa Masaki Jurai, the thirty-ninth emperor so far."
"What year is it?"
"1997… sorry, I meant Jurai 12530, or Galactic Universal 10914."
"What is your job?"
"I am a Detective First-Class of the Galaxy Police. My current assignment is to… well, that's classified."
"Very good, it seems there was no significant damage," The doctor continued. "As for your injuries, we've administered a healthy dose of Tsukino-092 into your bloodstream to speed up your body's natural healing process tenfold. You've been asleep for about twelve hours, so you should be rested and healthy enough to move on your own. Try standing up, if you would."
Kiyone threw the covers off her body and swung her legs off of the bed. Mitsuki lent a hand, and with her help, Kiyone managed to stand up. "I feel stiff." She said as she balanced herself.
"That's to be expected, your ribs haven't fully recovered from being fractured. From here, all I prescribe for you is to refrain from any serious physical activity for about five to seven days. Take any common pain-relieving medications if you need them, and please don't get caught in another explosion."
Mitsuki looked at Kiyone in astonishment. "Some of the Mihoshi's luck must have rubbed off on you. You managed to slip right out of Tokimi's hands and make her look like an idiot!"
"No, Mihoshi would've survived the same explosion with just a few burnt hairs," Kiyone said. "I'm way out of her league."
"You're free to leave." The doctor interrupted. He bowed to the two women and quickly walked out of the room.
The sound of the door closing behind the doctor was somehow enough to wake up Mihoshi. The officer sprang up in her chair with a yelp and immediately scanned her eyes around the room, zeroing in on her partner. "Oh, Kiyone! I thought for sure that you were going to die back there!" She bawled, grabbing hold of Kiyone and hugging her tightly. "I'm so glad to see that you're alright!"
"Ugh, can't... breath..." Kiyone squealed.
"Don't squeeze her to death, bubblehead!" Mitsuki said, ripping Mihoshi off of Kiyone. "And what were you doing sleeping in the middle of the hallway?" Mitsuki asked.
Mihoshi cocked her head sideways in confusion. "I was sleeping?"
"Yes!" Mitsuki answered. "You were sprawled out right in front of the door; most people don't do that sort of thing, you know."
"Uh, well… I guess I was really tired or something?" Mihoshi suggested. "Everyone has their limits."
Kiyone was in the middle of putting on a pair of generic slippers that were left in the room. She glanced at Mihoshi as she stood up and walked near the door. "The problem is that you meet your limits too easily. Almost regularly, I'd say."
"I don't follow what you're saying, Kiyone," Mihoshi said as both she and Mitsuki followed Kiyone into the hallway.
Mitsuki placed her arm around Mihoshi's neck and whispered right into her ear. "She means to say you're dead weight, bubblehead. Kiyo would just really appreciate it if you didn't fall asleep whenever your body felt like it."
Mihoshi shrugged off Mitsuki's arm. "That's just unfair. You can't judge a woman by something she can't control!"
"So you're saying that you've always been a lazy slacker?"
"What!? No!" Mihoshi said, panicked. "I didn't mean it like that! I just mean that certain people have special attributes that make them distinct. I mean, your Juraian, I'm Seniwan, so we're bound to be different somehow!"
"Oh, so now you're blaming your entire people for you being lazy?" Mitsuki pressed. "That's cruel. I bet even Kagato wouldn't blame all Juraians for him being a real piece of work!"
"Oh… no! Mitsuki, we both know that's wrong! I'm not talking about culture, I'm talking about biology, gene-" Mihoshi bumped into something mid-sentence. A man had just walked out of another door as Mihoshi was passing by. Both Mihoshi and the man ended up on the floor, with one of the man's hands accidentally running through Mihoshi's hair.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! Luck hasn't been too good for me lately." He said as he got up from off the floor. He immediately felt a sense of deja vu overtake him as he looked as women he bumped into. "Well, what a coincidence."
Kiyone greeted him. "You're that Republican Guard from earlier, Junichiro Yoritomo, right? How are you doing?"
"Fine, maybe even good if I didn't have to eat hospital food," Junichiro answered, helping Mihoshi stand up. "I've just been given a clean bill of health so I was on my way out of here. All things considered, I'm just glad my government job will foot the bill for the medical costs."
"That's good to hear, but what do you think you're going to do now? Go back to your job as if nothing happened?" Kiyone asked.
Junichiro waited a little while before answering. "That's something I've been thinking about for some time. But… but now, I think I know what I'm going to do. Say, miss… what was your name again?" He asked.
"Detective First-Class Kiyone Makibi."
"Right. Kiyone Makibi, do you think… do you think I could tag along with you? I mean, I want to go to the Galaxy Police Headquarters. I have a few things I need to tell your superintendent. I was going to arrange a meeting eventually, but it would be convenient to talk to her sooner rather than later. Please, it's very important to me." He said.
Kiyone looked puzzled at the request but quickly nodded. "Of course. We owe you anyway for telling us about that underground passage. I'll mention it to her when I return to Galaxy Police Headquarters. As long as she isn't too busy, I'm sure she'll listen."
"Hey, I have a question for you." Kiyone interrupted. "When we went down to find this secret passage you talk about, we found that the found the wall was already open. Did you leave it like that when you found it?"
"N-no. I distinctly remember closing it again." Junichiro answered. "Why do you ask?"
"So that theory of mine was right." She muttered to herself. "Kagato let himself in through that passage. But… but nobody knew about it except for us. How could he have known about it, too?"
Mitsuki put a hand on Kiyone's shoulder. "Leave the investigating for later. Let's get out of here already. And you…" she turned to Junichiro, "I guess you can come along. I kind of want to see how long it will take for Fujikawa to kick you out of her office. I'm betting for two minutes at most."
"Keep your money in your pocket; I won't waste her time. In fact, I think she'll be very glad to see somebody like me."
"Oh, getting some funny ideas, old man?" Mitsuki teased.
He shook his head. "I've already tried with the whole 'marriage and kids' thing. Suffice it to say, things didn't end very well. Don't you worry about the pride and sanctity of your boss."
Leading the group, Kiyone walked out of the front doors of the hospital before she had stopped dead in her tracks. She looked around the area and noted the fresh, cool air and the many people walking the streets on the morning commute. She nodded and looked back at Mitsuki. "Say… I don't know where the Yagami is…"
After explaining to a couple of JCPD officers that the Galaxy Police will eventually pay the ticket for the Yagami's blatant parking violation, the trio plus one hopped on board and made their trek back to headquarters. Junichiro, assuming his status as an unwanted guest, quietly sat in the ship's commons room, while Kiyone, Mitsuki, and Mihoshi all got redressed in their standard Galaxy Police uniforms.
Things had gone smoothly until they had touched down on headquarters. As they exited the hanger where the Yagami was parked and went through the narrow hallway to t, they had encountered the security gate, a large atrium where security guards stood ready to search and approve access for officers to enter headquarters.
One of the guards, a rather bored-looking man, saw on the group come in. He walked up to the group and nodded towards the three women. "I'm going to assume you didn't bring back any oddities from Jurai City." He looked suspiciously at Junichiro. "Well, almost. Where's your pass, sir?"
"What pass?" Junichiro asked.
"Your pass authorizing the appointment with whoever you're scheduled to speak with here at Galaxy Police Headquarters."
"Oh, so you want me to print one out for you now?" Junichiro suggested.
The officer covered his face with one hand and sighed. "Great, another one." He turned around and called to his fellow security guard, who had just finished scanning someone head to toe with a scanning device. "Hey, I'm escorting this Juraian down to the secretary's office, I'll be right back."
"My name is Junichiro". The Juraian said, sounding slightly offended. "And tell me, how exactly was I supposed to know what number to call for a space station right in the middle of nowhere?"
"I suppose we'll see you around, Junichiro," Kiyone said. She nodded to Mitsuki and Mihoshi as they continued along to the superintendent's office.
Airi Fujikawa herself was behind her desk on a large mat she brought out from a nearby closet. At the moment, she was performing push-ups, grunting softly every time she pressed up.
"Forty-seven… forty-eight… forty-nine…"
"What are you doing back there, Airi?" Mitsuki asked.
"Hm?" Airi looked up at the women who let themselves into her office. "Oh, you're finally back?" Airi blurted out. The superintendent carefully stood up from her exercise and walked back over to her desk and sat down. She wiped the sweat off of her face and held her hands together, but despite her attempt to pretend nothing happened, she noticed how all three officers looked puzzled and somewhat uncomfortable at her. "Yes, I do calisthenics." She finally admitted, breaking the ice. "Honestly, how else do people expect me to stay in shape when my entire job involves desk work?"
Mihoshi jumped up with enthusiasm. "Exactly! People are so unrealistic about that sort of thing! I mean, they try all the fixes except for the ones that work. Do you remember that one fad where you don't eat anything for a whole day, but then you make up for it by eating a bowl of-", Kiyone covered Mihoshi's mouth before she derailed the conversation.
"Miss Fujikawa, I want answers. You sent three…" Kiyone stopped to remember that quirky intelligence officer named Ryoji Ishizuka, "four officers to deal with a hostage crisis on Jurai."
Airi nodded. "Yes, I did. Is Jurai City as impressive as everyone says? "
"I didn't get a lot of time to look around," Kiyone answered, letting go of Mihoshi's mouth. "Never mind that, I want to know what you were thinking with going through with such a… such a reckless course of action."
Airi was silent for a good moment. "I could tell you, but you're probably not going to like what I have to say." She said reluctantly.
"Tell me," Kiyone ordered.
"If you insist," Airi said shrugging. "The truth is I only sent in a total of four officers for Operation: Hangyaku because I had the intention of letting Kagato escape."
"What?" All three officers repeated in surprise.
"I had gotten the idea right after speaking with Emperor Azusa. He had asked me to deal with Kagato, but after thinking over the situation, I got the feeling that there was something more to Kagato than meets the eye. I mean, why would anyone want to just take over a government building and make irrational demands to the emperor himself? It's obvious that there was more going on, even Azusa agreed with me when I mentioned it to him. Even if I wanted him caught, he wasn't going to let that happen."
"Curiosity isn't an excuse to let a criminal escape," Kiyone said.
Airi waved off Kiyone's comment. "You don't need to tell me that, but I'm not letting him go just yet. I have a plan that involves him, a very convoluted one, but a plan that I've been thinking about for a long time. Where should I start? Well, we all know that the Galaxy Police doesn't have a stellar reputation when it comes to corruption. It's the truth, especially since the reason I'm sitting at this desk is that the last guy was caught performing bribery. Of course, I'm glad that I get to be the superintendent, but the issue runs much deeper than one person."
"Obviously, but who do you think is the culprit? Got any names?" Mitsuki asked.
"Not a single letter to start," Airi admitted.
"So, you want us to help you with that?" Kiyone asked, knowing where this was going. "Why us, though? What makes us officers special compared to any of the two million officers that work for the Galaxy Police?"
Airi smirked. "It's interesting that you bring that up. I indeed looked into your records to assess your skills and performance, and as I said earlier, they are all exemplary, but that was only a secondary priority for me. The truth is I wanted to find officers that I saw as wasted potential."
"Huh? Wasted?" Mihoshi repeated. "Hey, you're not calling us lazy, are you?"
"No, I am..." Mitsuki quickly jabbed in.
Airi ignored Mitsuki's correction. "Quite the opposite. To begin my search, I decided to look at one of the more recent graduating classes from the Galaxy Police Academy, the class of Galactic Year 10909- your class, and I narrowed the list down to the officers that had seen the least promotions since entering the force." Airi looked at Kiyone and Mihoshi. "You two were the prime suspects. You two have been subject to just two promotions: first to Detective Second-Class a year after graduation, and then to First-Class the next year."
"Correct," Kiyone answered immediately. "And being stationed on Terra didn't help matters, either."
Airi nodded and turned to Mitsuki. "You appear to have fared somewhat better since you've been promoted four times- to Detective-Sergeant, but I suspect that's because you've been much more active than these two."
Mitsuki nodded. "Fifty-one successful operations and sorties; thirty-two of them by myself, and no failures so far. I've worked so hard that I've nearly died in service about four times! I just feel like I deserve something more than… I just want to be respected, that's all!"
"Of course, of course." Airi nodded again before looking at all three women. "Now, the point I'm trying to get across is that you three have been subject to unjust treatment when compared to your skills and record and that this treatment is at least partially due to certain corrupted elements within the Galaxy Police. You want what's deserved, right? Well, I have a proposal you're going to be interested in."
They all instinctively leaned closer to Airi.
"I want to create a special operations unit to investigate and purge any corruption within the ranks. The personnel assigned to this unit would not only have to be exceptionally skilled, but they would also have to maintain complete and absolute loyalty to me and only me."
"My question still hasn't been answered. How does Kagato play into this?" Kiyone asked.
Airi groaned slightly. "I was just about to get to that. You may not know this, but the bureaucracy of the Galaxy Police is nothing to joke about. I am not a dictator, I have to share power with multiple levels of bureaucracy that leads up the Grand Committee, headed by General Secretariat Kenshin Uesugi. Hypothetically, if I wanted to make any major changes or additions to the Galaxy Police, for example, creating a new division or unit, it would have to go through the wringer of debate and voting before a final approved bill is sent to my desk, and that's assuming that they would even support it in the first place."
"So you want Kagato to show up to their meeting and intimidate them into doing what you want?" Mitsuki interrupted. "Sounds like a great idea."
Airi shook her head and muffled a chuckle. "Under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn't be able to persuade the committee to approve my special unit, but Kagato's escaping presents an opportunity to get around that. With a high-value criminal on the loose, and with my pledge to Emperor Azusa himself to bring him to justice, I have a good chance of swaying the enough of the committee to my side, regardless of Uesugi's opinion."
Mihoshi looked disappointed. "So we're going to be chasing that weird guy again? I'm not sure I like that; he didn't seem to be a very nice person."
"You're a Galaxy Police officer, shouldn't you be glad that you're getting something to do?" Airi asked.
"Superintendent, trust me when I say that from my personal experience and observations, Detective First-Class Kuramitsu would be absolutely fine with living on Terra for the rest of her life," Kiyone said. Mihoshi smiled, not saying a word.
"You should let Kuramitsu decide that for herself. I mean, you are her friend, aren't you?" Airi asked jokingly. "This unit won't just be Kagato, though. Apart from my personal goals, there is a genuine need for a special operations unit that can be deployed at a moment's notice any planet that requests our assistance. Kagato wasn't the first instance when this need was highlighted, and it certainly won't be the last."
Now, before I lose myself in my ideas, I want to know: Do any of you have any objections so far?"
"I do," Kiyone said, instantly raising her hand. "Creating a personal squad to secretly stamp out corruption without knowledge by other high-level officials is not proper conduct for the superintendent of the Galaxy Police, not to mention inefficient. I would suggest arranging a sweep across the board for any corruption, approved and organized by the Grand Committee."
Airi held her two hands together as she looked at Kiyone. "The information on your report was entirely correct. You are straight-laced to a fault. Tell me, do you honestly think I would go through the trouble of arranging all this personally if I thought your suggestion would work?"
"I suppose not," Kiyone admitted. "You seem very committed towards this."
"I am. This is the only way. Corruption is not something that can be ironed out like wrinkles on a dress; we're dealing with something more like a parasite that survives by hiding very, very well. What you're suggesting has already been done many times in the past, and every time it ended up as a good-intentioned waste of time and money. Whichever crooks are making bank at our expense will see my move long before it reaches them. No, a covert investigation by a small group is the only way we'll make any progress."
Kiyone scratched her head, sighing. "I see your point. Still, what if I don't want to be a part of this?"
Airi sighed. "When I was a cadet at the Galaxy Police Academy, in my downtime I often read about many of the Galaxy's famous leaders, and I noticed that they all had one thing in common: they didn't just order people to do what they wanted, they also inspired people to dedicate themselves fully to their cause. Take Minamoto Kuramitsu for example; sure, he may have been a tactical genius educated at one of Jurai's finest military academies, but how far do you think he would've gotten if he wasn't capable of inspiring the people of Seniwa to rise against Juraian oppression?
Mihoshi jumped up with another idea. "From what I remember, Minamoto used his claim as the second born of Tsunami to command people to join his army. That's also why my family is still in power; we're direct descendants of Tsunami, even me!"
Mitsuki scoffed at Mihoshi's history lesson. "And anyone who thought otherwise didn't live for very long, right? Oh, be a pal and don't tell your family I said anything!"
Airi raised her hand and quieted Mitsuki. "Regardless of the specific circumstances, Minamoto was able to inspire people to follow him and to have them accept him as their champion. Likewise, I wish to inspire people, I wish to inspire you three to work with me, but I need to get one thing off of my chest first," She took a deep breath before continuing as if preparing herself for what she was about to say. "Earlier, I lied about threatening to put you three on trial in case Kagato escaped, and I lied about the threat of Jurai withholding financial aid in case our operation was a failure."
"You what?!" All three officers cried out.
Airi put her hands up in admission. "Given the strange circumstance of selecting three Galaxy Police officers specifically out of a pool of two million, I was worried that you three weren't going to go along with Operation: Hangyaku without an extra 'incentive'. Going forward, I know that blackmail won't be enough for you to accept me as your leader, so I'll have to earn your trust instead." Airi looked right at Kiyone. "Makibi, if you don't want anything to do with me or my special unit, then you can turn around and walk out of my office, no strings attached." She looked at Mitsuki and Mihoshi. "And that goes for you two as well. If I have to force people to work for me though cheating and bribery, then I'll be no better than the people I'm trying to expose."
An awkward silence filled the room as Airi finished. All three officers found themselves at a loss for words. Mitsuki put both her hands behind her head, her eyes closed as she took a deep breath.
Mitsuki was the first to answer as she clenched her hand into a fist, placing it over her heart. "I don't know many people who would admit to and own up to lying to others, so I'll respect you for that. Now, if you want us to let you promote us that badly, then sure, I have nothing to complain about."
Mihoshi nodded excitedly. "Me neither! My father always told me that honesty is the first step to friendship, so if you promise to keep being honest, I'll gladly join the unit and be your friend!"
Kiyone sighed and looked into Airi's eyes. "If it means stopping Kagato, making the Galaxy Police a better organization," Kiyone glanced towards Mihoshi," and keeping her out of trouble, then I'll commit myself to this unit too."
Airi smiled. "Thank you. I know we can do this."
The doors opened, and the Superintendent's favorite old butler came in with another small cart of specially-brewed tea.
"Oh, it's so nice to see Miss Fujikawa having visitors in her office." He said as he let himself inside noticed the others. "The Superintendent is such a lonely job, after all."
"I resent that, Watari!" Airi said to him.
"But you do not deny that it is true." Watari humbly replied as he carefully placed the teacups and saucers onto the superintendent's desk. He left as soon as he came.
Airi sighed as she poured tea for herself and her new subordinates. "In any case, I still need to come up with a name for this unit, but nothing has stuck with me so far. I would appreciate the help."
"Is this unit going to be an independent division, just like Intelligence or Logistics?" Kiyone asked, taking a sip of tea. She winced slightly from that taste, not expecting it to be so hot.
"Hm, probably not," Airi answered. "Divisions are supposed to be major branches of the Galaxy Police comprised of thousands of personnel, not just a single squad of a few officers; that wouldn't sit well with the committee. I'm thinking… I think it should be created as a sub-unit of the Intelligence Division. It would officially serve as the division's field operations unit, tasked with gathering information for local authorities and other branches of the Galaxy Police when needed." She paused to take a drink from her tea. She casually wriggled the cup in her hands as she thought. "I still can't think of something that would fit, however."
"We could call it: 'Galaxy Intelligence and Special Operations, 'GISO' for short," Kiyone said confidently.
Mitsuki downed her entire cup of tea in a single sip before turning to Kiyone. "No, that's way too average for a name. How about: 'Special Intelligence Field Operations', as in 'SIFO'?"
"That's an improvement?" Kiyone asked skeptically.
"SIFO?" Airi repeated, ignoring Kiyone. "I like it, Detective-Sergeant. Alright, we're going with that. Now," She addressed all three of them. "If you'll excuse me, I need to prepare a good speech to the Grand Committee to get this whole thing set into motion. It should take a day at most, so you're free to do whatever you want until then. She turned to Kiyone. "Kiyone, I heard you took on an explosion down there during our operation. I hope you get healed quickly because SIFO needs all of its members in top shape."
"I'll try my best to do nothing at all, superintendent," Kiyone answered.
The meeting was concluded at last. As the soon-to-be members of SIFO walked out of the Superintendent's office, Junichiro, who was standing right next to the door, tripped on his foot and bumped into Mihoshi, again. "Oh, so sorry! I just can't help myself today! Excuse me." He said innocently before walking into the office.
Mihoshi pouted. "Even I don't do that twice daily…" She turned back to Mitsuki. "So, what do you think SIFO stands for, anyway?"
"Good question," Mitsuki said, unsurprised that Mihoshi didn't remember a thing that was said a minute ago. "I think it means 'Super Important Flossing Organization'; we're going to travel the Galaxy and make sure everybody is flossing their teeth, and anyone caught with cavities or gum disease is getting jailed for self-negligence!" She turned to Kiyone. "What do you think about that?"
"As long as we start with Kagato, I won't mind at all," Kiyone answered nonchalantly.
"Of course. So, you're clocking your single vacation day on Terra?"
"I still have things to bring back from that planet, so I might as well get that over with before we get our orders from the Superintendent."
Mihoshi sprouted up suddenly. "Oh, Mitsuki, do you want to come with us to Earth? It'd be great to introduce you to our friends over there!"
Um… sure." Mitsuki answered. She threw her hands up and shrugged. "Sure, I have nothing better to do."
Airi poured herself another cup from her teapot. "I should give that butler a raise." Her silence was broken when she heard another beep from her desk. She pressed down on the call button and answered. "What is it, secretary? I wasn't expecting another meeting."
The secretary's voice came over the intercom. "Apologies, but this man came with those three women that you just spoke with. His name is Junichiro Yoritomo, and he's come from Jurai to speak with you. Should I let him in?"
"From Jurai? That sounds strange… and interesting. Let him in."
A man walked in dressed in semi-formal clothing. With graying hairs on the side of his head, he was certainly older than her, but something made her feel that he was the kind of person that felt like age was just a number.
"Hello, I apologize for the sudden appointment. That's just how things ended up." He began.
"I see. Airi replied, unsure of where this was going. She decided to keep quiet and let him start talking.
The soft chirping from outside woke Tenchi up in that morning. He groaned before he threw himself out of bed and reluctantly put on today's set of clothes. He slowly walked downstairs and looked over at the kitchen, which through the open doorway he could see Sasami was already busying herself with preparing breakfast.
They looked at each other at the same time, almost expecting to see each other right there at that exact time. Likewise, an exchange of smiles was all the communication they needed right then and there. Tenchi walked out of the house and near the lake, knowing full well how clingy Ryoko tended to be in the morning.
He sat himself down on the pier next to the house overlooking the lake. Tenchi sighed, as he knew it was the calm before the storm; as soon as Ryoko and Ayeka woke up, he would have to make sure to not get himself into a "compromised" position between the two.
"Man, I really got saved last time by Kiyone. How am I going to keep this house standing without someone like her around?" He asked himself. He groaned. "I can already feel the clock ticking away before it happens again."
He cleared his mind and focused on why he came out here in the first place: tranquility. The short but consistent delay between when he woke up and when Sasami finished preparing breakfast every morning was very important to Tenchi because this was the only time throughout the entire day when he was guaranteed to not be bothered by anyone else. Just for this very perfect moment, he was free amidst the comforting morning sunlight and gentle nature surrounding his house, and most importantly, the near-perfect silence, all coming together to form a more perfect harmony...
Or so Tenchi thought. It wasn't Ryoko or Ayeka who were causing the ground to violently shake- since they're too tired to do that until after breakfast but it was a spaceship passing into Earth's atmosphere and speeding toward the Masaki residence outside Okayama, Japan that did it.
Tenchi's initial surprise was replaced with a fear of what would come next. Assuming it was the Galaxy Police Frigate Yagami, it's pilots theoretically had only a 66.6% repeating chance of actually landing the ship properly-depending on whether the autopilot, Kiyone or Mihoshi was the one piloting the vessel-with lovable-but-clumsy Mihoshi being the weak link. To his pleasant surprise, the Yagami beat the odds and managed to land in its usual spot in a clearing in the forest clearing near the house.
"Well, I'll be," Tenchi said with astonishment. "They didn't crash into the lake this time! Maybe things won't be so bad after all."
Tenchi walked back inside and waited for them. He didn't even wait for them to knock on the door before opening it for them. He immediately greeted Kiyone and Mihoshi but was surprised to see a third officer peeking over their shoulders.
"And who would this be?" Tenchi asked, casually pointing at the red-haired beauty.
"A friend of your friend, Mitsuki Tsukushi at your service. Who are you?" She asked.
Kiyone stepped in between them and introduced the boy to her partner. "This is Tenchi Masaki. He lives here in the mountains, and he was generous enough to keep quiet about aliens living near his house."
Tenchi nodded and looked at Kiyone. "So, what happened out there?"
"It'd take too long to explain, but all three of us are getting transferred. We're here just to collect our belongings. Tomorrow, we're supposed to return to headquarters again."
Sasami's cheery voice rang through the house suddenly. "Breakfast is ready, Tenchi! Where are you?" The young princess ran out to the front where she heard the commotion. An unmistakably childish curiosity came onto her face when seeing Mitsuki. "Who are you?"
"Mitsuki Tsukushi, and what's your name?" Mitsuki asked nicely and kneeling down to speak to her at eye level.
Sasami smiled happily. "I'm Sasami, this planet's undisputed master of meals and conscious of all things delicious! Please, come and join us for breakfast!"
"Oh, thank you," Mitsuki said eagerly before a sudden shock knocked her off balance. "Wait, did you just say you're Sasami? As in… you're Princess Sasami?"
"Yeah, that's who I am!" Sasami said eagerly. She heard soft footsteps coming from the stairway. A woman wearing a beautiful purple and white dress descended from the stairs. Sasami quickly walked over and grabbed a hold of her hand as she neared. "And this is my big sister, Princess Ayeka!"
"Uh… P-princess Ayeka?"
"Yes?" Ayeka replied.
A very confused Mitsuki looked back at Kiyone. "Um, why are two princesses of Jurai… why are they here on Terra?"
"That's a question for me to answer," Ayeka said. "We're here on a vacation from Jurai, and Lord Tenchi here was gracious enough to accept our presence. Oh, and please refer to this planet as Earth, not Terra. The name that was used by this planet's inhabitants two thousand years ago is no longer in use, it seems."
"Oh, uh… sure thing, Princess Ayeka." Mitsuki stammered. Sighing, she knelt and bowed to both princesses. "Oh, please forgive me for acting like an idiot! It's… it's just such a great honor to actually meet someone from the Royal Family!"
"Huh, what do you mean?" Tenchi asked. "Is it a big deal?"
Mitsuki looked at Tenchi with a sense that he had just spoken blasphemy. "What, they never told you? On Jurai, the Royal Family is very, very secretive. I mean, most people have no idea what the Emperor looks like, myself included! And here I am just walking into their vacation retreat like I'm supposed to the guest of honor!" Mitsuki said.
"Please, never mind our status as princesses. That's what we are taking a vacation from." Ayeka said, reaching out her hand toward Mitsuki. "That said, I would very much appreciate you joining us for breakfast, miss…"
"Oh, sorry! My name is Mitsuki Tsukushi, but just call me Mitsuki… I mean, it's up to you, not me!" She interrupted herself, panicking slightly. "Please, don't think I'm trying to tell you what to do, because I'm not, I'm -"
Kiyone walked in front of Mitsuki and lightly slapped her across the face. "She already told you to relax, so start acting like Mitsuki Tsukushi again, will you?"
"Come on, don't tell you weren't surprised when you met two princesses in one day!" Mitsuki said.
"Not really, I already had my fill of princesses." Kiyone pointed to Mihoshi. "I guess I was desensitized to the idea of 'royal glamour'."
Sasami smiled. "Breakfast will be ready in just a few minutes." She led the group into the dining room. A few minutes later, Sasami came into the room with an assortment of dishes.
"I humbly receive!" They all recited together.
For Tenchi, the fact that such an unexpected event had happened today comforted him. Indeed, perhaps today wouldn't be so bad after all…"
And then Ryoko let herself into the dining room. Drowsy as she was from last night's hangover, she didn't make too much of a fuss over what she'd sit in relation to Tenchi. Seeing as how Ayeka and Kiyone were already sitting in between Tenchi, Ryoko shrugged and collapsed on the nearest available spot… right next to Mitsuki. She glanced over at the crimson-haired woman, who glanced back at her.
"Hey Mitsuki, pass me that bowl over there, will you?" Ryoko asked, pointing towards the bowl of rice that was just out of Ryoko's comfortable reach.
"Oh, sure thing, Ryoko," Mitsuki replied, casually handing the space pirate her food.
The two began eating like normal, while everyone else had stopped altogether, noticing that something very, very wrong had just happened. She found herself so flabbergasted by the situation that she, along with everyone else, couldn't say anything about it. She covered her face with her bowl of rice as she ate.
A few more seconds of tranquility passed before the space pirate and police officer put down their bowls and chopsticks and ran through the current situation in their heads, realizing, too, that something very, very wrong had just happened. Suddenly, they look back at each other, thoroughly examining each other's faces, before gasping and standing up as if they had been shocked by electricity.
"What..." Mitsuki started.
"the hell..." Ryoko continued.
"...are you doing here?!" They both yelled.
Mitsuki reached for her hip and drew her gun, aiming right at Ryoko; Ryoko jumped back and put her hands together, drawing a sword of orange energy and pointed it towards Mitsuki.
Kiyone sighed. "I'm guessing you two know each other?"
"Well, today's just getting weirder and weirder. First, I get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet two princesses from the Royal Family, and now I find myself eating breakfast with my favorite space pirate!"
"Oh, you missed me that much?" Ryoko snarled back. "Fine by me, I'll make sure Kiyone brings you back to the Galaxy Police in a body bag!"
"Keep talking like that, Ryoko. It'll be funny to see the look on your face when I stomp you into the ground, just like how I did on Uchikon-7. Remember that?"
"Oh, you're done f-"
"Please, let's not do this!" Tenchi yelled out, standing up. "I don't know why you two feel the need to tear each other limb from limb on sight, and I don't really want to know either, but please. I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to ruin my day before it begins!"
Mitsuki and Ryoko looked at Kiyone, who was still busying herself with her bowl of rice. She eventually stopped, but unexpectedly looked over at Tenchi. "You know, Tenchi, the reason is pretty obvious when you remember that Ryoko is a space pirate."
"And you didn't tell our guest here ahead of time about her being here?" He asked.
Kiyone shrugged. "I just recovered from a coma, believe it or not. I wasn't too alert when Mihoshi invited Mitsuki to Earth."
Mihoshi stood up, flabbergasted. "You're not blaming me for this, are you, Kiyone?"
"Yes."
Tenchi shook his head. "Whatever's going on here, I just don't want it to happen inside my house! If you need to fight, do it…" Tenchi stopped himself. He sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to make things better by actually letting them fight it out. He shook his head and looked at Ryoko. "Hey, Ryoko, didn't you say a few days ago you wanted to go to Okayama, with me?"
"What? Oh, sure I did!" Ryoko replied enthusiastically.
"Well, how about we go to Okayama… right now?"
Ayeka gasped. "Absolutely not! Lord Tenchi, I can not allow you to be abducted by that vile woman and left to fend for yourself-" Mihoshi grabbed Ayeka and dunked her face into her bowl of rice, while Sasami gave a thumbs up to Ryoko and Tenchi."
Ryoko deactivated her light sword and teleported behind Tenchi, firmly grabbed him by the waist and completely surrendering herself to his offer. She looked over at the others. "Don't worry, we won't be away for too long!" They rose into the air before fizzling into thin air.
Kiyone nodded as she again busied herself with her bowl of rice.
"So, Kiyo, do you mind explaining to me why you've let a Space Pirate just… this is so ridiculous I can't even put it into words! What. Were. You. Thinking!?" She asked furiously.
Kiyone bumped Mihoshi with her shoulder, telling her to answer herself.
"Oh, um. Well, you see, two years ago, we were patrolling the Halcyon system which we were assigned to when we suddenly detected Ryo-Ohki speeding by on the Yagami's sensors. We caught up to her and we scored several hits, forcing her to land on Earth, the nearest inhabited planet."
"Okay. So why is she still here?" Mitsuki pressed. "You chased Space Pirate Ryoko to Earth to capture her, didn't you?"
"Um, technically, yes. But, we landed on Earth and tried to capture her ourselves… but, you know, she's really, really strong! We kinda gave up."
Kiyone bumped Mihoshi again.
"Okay, so I kinda gave up," Mihoshi corrected herself. "But Kiyone came up with a different idea. She noticed how Ryoko was staying at this house because she liked Tenchi, so Kiyone said: 'If we can't catch Ryoko, and if we can't call for reinforcements in time, we should just leave her on Earth. She's basically serving a life sentence if she stays here for the rest of her life.' That's exactly what Kiyone said." Sensing the frustration building up in Mitsuki, Mihoshi turned to Kiyone. "Now isn't that right, Kiyone?"
"Mhm, more or less." She answered, finishing off her bowl. "It wasn't perfect, but it was either that or letting her go free to continue her rampage across the Galaxy. Since we had just been assigned to this system, we could also keep an eye on Ryoko in case she started anything, which she hasn't so far."
"Does the Galaxy Police know about this?"
"They would've sent a task force here to kill her if they knew; and she probably would've just escaped with Ryo-Ohki, again," Kiyone said nonchalantly.
"I see," Mitsuki said.
A door nearby opened, and an old man wearing white robes let himself into the dining room. "Hello, is Tenchi around here? I've been waiting for him to begin our morning training…" He looked at the mysterious guest. "Oh, a new visitor from outer space? Welcome to Earth. My name is Katsuhito. I serve as the priest the shrine that my grandson Tenchi helps with maintaining."
"Oh, you're his grandfather?" Mitsuki repeated. "Well, I'm sorry, but I kinda participated in a confrontation that led to Tenchi choosing to teleported himself and Ryoko to Okayama for the day.."
"Oh, I see." Katsuhito mused. "Well, since you seem willing to apologize for what you did, perhaps you can accompany me to my shrine for today? I would appreciate the help."
Mitsuki looked over to the other again for clarity. Kiyone, Mihoshi, and Sasami all gave her a thumbs up.
Ayeka, having finally picked out the last grain of rice stuck in her hair, cleared her throat. "Certainly it's the least that you could do, miss Tsukushi."
Mitsuki smiled, trying to make the most of the situation. "Shrine?" She repeated, looking back at Katsuhito. "Sure, what's it for?"
"Shinto: the worship of Kami which inhabits and exists as everything around us. If you'd like, I can tell you more about it at the shrine."
Sighing, Mitsuki slowly nodded and followed Katsuhito out of the house.
Kiyone nodded again, washing down her breakfast with a cup of tea. She looked over at Sasami. "Do you mind if I get seconds?"
Late afternoon came, and Kiyone was in the living room resting on a couch and watching television. She had been casually listening to an international news station's broadcast, mentioning something about the funeral for a beloved princess from someplace called "Wales", a man biting another man's ear during a combat sport, and a short segment about the success of the "Mars Pathfinder" mission recently executed by another Earth country. Only the last piece of news interested Kiyone; to her, it was satisfying to know that this planet might yet have a future for itself in the wider galaxy.
As the programming entered a commercial break, Kiyone heard the front door swing open. "Ugh, I'm home." Tenchi groaned out as he entered the house.
Kiyone muted the television and looked over at Tenchi, who had a bad sunburn on his face and neck and looked like he was ready to collapse at any moment. Kiyone reluctantly got up off the couch and let him rest lay down. "What happened to you?" She asked.
"Clothes, sake, street brawls… more sake... where do I start?" Tenchi said, falling into the nearest chair. "At least it's over." Tenchi stood sat up and looked around the living room. "Say, where's your friend Mitsuki?"
Kiyone looked over at the closet door under the stairs next to the front door. "She agreed to help finish the work that was you left at the shrine for your grandfather, and later I overheard Washu begging her to step into her office for a 'tour'. That was over two hours ago, though."
"Two hours?" Tenchi repeated. A look of worry sprouted onto his face. "Oh no. Please Kiyone, you need to check to make sure Washu isn't going nuts in her laboratory."
The fact that the infamous mad-scientist Washu was, in fact, a little girl didn't strike Mitsuki's mind as being too odd compared to what else was going on at the moment. After being begged by Washu to come into her pocket dimensional laboratory, she had been distracted by the curious objects all over her laboratory that she didn't realize she had walked right onto a levitation pad. Softly snickering, Washu turned it on at the exact moment she walked over the pad and caught the Galaxy Police officer perpetually suspended in the air.
"Oh no!" Washu cried out. "I should've warned you sooner, but you seem to have walked over one of my trinkets." She walked over the device and took a very quick, very unconvincing look at it. "Well, it looks like it's running on a timed sequence, so it probably won't turn off for another hour or so. Well, in the meantime, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to collect some useful information from you. All for a good purpose, of course."
"Can't you just turn the power off?" Mitsuki asked instinctively. "I hear that's always a good troubleshooter."
"Oh, I wish, but this invention is powered by an internal miniature hydrogen reactor made by yours truly. I can't just turn it off like a switch."
Given the very special circumstances through which all of this had happened, it was obvious to Mitsuki that Washu was lying, but there wasn't much she could do about it. She would just have to wait for the little scientist to satisfy her curiosity. "So, what kind of tests did you have in mind." She asked.
That was over two hours ago. Evidently, Washu took her time with these things, although surprisingly she hadn't done anything too out of the ordinary to Mitsuki. So far, she had just rolled up the sleeves of her uniform and inserted several wires into her bloodstream that gave Washu plenty of information to look at.
Now, Mitsuki herself was getting bored. "I don't mean to say anything about you being a scientist… I mean, it's a pretty cool profession and all… but why does this have to be so boring?" She asked.
Washu, who had been preoccupied with looking over her latest strand of data on a handheld console, looked up at her subject. She smiled at her. "When I first enrolled in the Galaxy Science Academy, my father told me that the first ninety-nine percent of the scientific process is boring, but that last percent- where some discovery or breakthrough is actually made, makes that boring part worthwhile. Obviously, I didn't believe him at first, but I slowly grew to accept it as fact."
"Okay, so what's going to be so exciting that will make up for all of this?" Mitsuki asked.
"Well, where do I start?" Washu asked herself. "Alright, for the past year or so, one of my projects has been related to synthetic bio-mechanical technology, which in normal terms can be summed up as the potential combinations of organisms and technology. I was researching this at the Academy until I was expelled for unrelated reasons. Ever since I moved my laboratory here, though, I've had plenty of time to figure out the ins-and-outs of what I want to create. I want to create the Galaxy's very first fully-functional and autonomous synthetic organism!"
Mitsuki looked at Washu uneasily. "Okay… so you want to create a robot? We already have plenty of those."
"No!" Washu shot back. "Robots are machines that can at best attempt to mimic human mannerisms. No matter how advanced their central processing unit is or how complicated their 'unassisted learning' features are, the will always lack what makes people… well, people! They lack free will in their actions, they lack emotions, they lack self-preservation, they cannot think like you or me; to consider them to be people is ridiculous! I want to create something more than a heap of metal and processors. Through combining traditional cybernetic technologies and specially generated biological matter, I want to create a real person, someone with free-will, with emotions, with self-preservation, something… something with a soul! This being will be the greatest, most perfect combination of flesh and machine, a being that's far greater than the sum of its parts!"
"I see," Mitsuki said, slowly nodding and trying her hardest to make sense of what Washu was saying. Unfortunately, Jurai City's public education system left much to be desired in subjects such as these. "So, how am I contributing to your research into your synthetic organism?"
Washu walked over to Mitsuki's right side. "Your physical attributes, obviously. Physically, you are a perfect specimen, particularly your height-to-weight ratio and your muscular structure." She poked Mitsuki in the abdomen before putting her hand on Mitsuki's cheek. "Additionally, your face is neat and symmetrical, and your eyes are especially charming. You must be a real man-eater at the Galaxy Police, right?"
"Eh, on occasion," Mitsuki said nonchalantly. "Still, I don't see what this has to do with me specifically."
"You haven't figured it out?" Washu pointed at Mitsuki. "I'm going to be modeling my synthetic organism off of you, miss Tsukushi."
"You're kidding," Mitsuki said in disbelief.
Washu shook her head. "Earlier I might've lied to you about the levitation pad, but I have no reason to lie about my research."
"Why does that sound familiar to me?" Mitsuki mumbled to herself.
"If it makes you feel any better," Washu continued. "I'll let you have the honor of naming it."
Mitsuki nodded. If there wasn't any getting out of this situation, she might make herself enjoy it slightly until it's over. "How about… Yuuko? That used to be my nickname on Jurai City, even my parents started calling me that!"
Washu excitedly clasped her hands together. "Alright then. When I'm finished, I'll make sure everybody remembers Yuuko, the name of the single greatest breakthrough in synthetic biomechanical technology in history!"
Mitsuki smiled uncomfortably. "Yeah, that sounds great. Now, could you try to hurry up and let me go already? Haven't you finished all your tests yet?"
Washu looked down for a moment, humming quietly. "Well, I've done all the tests I needed, but I still need one more thing from you. You see, in order to generate the organic matter for our Yuuko, then I'll need a sample of your reproductive cells. Without that, I can't grow any organic matter and poor Yuuko would just be a hunk of metal and electronics."
Mitsuki's eyes were wide open when Washu answered. "I hope you don't mean my… my…"
"Your eggs? Of course, silly! What else do you grow children with?" Washu asked rhetorically. She turned around and walked over to a mess of instruments sprawled on a long table." Now, if I can just find that thing I built a little while ago. I know I put it around here somewhere." Soon, she found what she was looking for. The contraption was a lot simpler than what Mitsuki was expecting, but that might've made her more worried about the outcome. It was a small, vase-shaped container that was filled with water; connected to it was a rubbery tube that narrowed into a tip, and on the top of the vase was a single button that probably turned it on and off.
Mitsuki didn't need to be an expert on medical equipment to infer that what Washu was holding wasn't exactly proper for this type of procedure. "Uh... come to think of it, does it have to come from me? Can't you just take a sample from yourself?" She said.
"Oh, where's the fun in that? Don't worry, miss Tsukushi, just close your eyes and I promise you won't feel a thing! It'll only take around thirty seconds at most."
"The time doesn't really concern me, the fact that you're sticking that thing in me is what's worrying me. Besides, isn't this the first time you're using it? How do you know it will be painless?" Mitsuki asked.
"I am a genius! I built this thing! It will work exactly as I designed it!" Washu declared, lightly smacking her hand on top of the contraption.
As Washu began to walk back over to her, Mitsuki took a deep breath and accepted her fate. "Fine, just… as long as nobody knows, I guess I'll live this down."
Washu was about to reach for her subject's pants, but Kiyone casually walked through the door and looked around the laboratory. "Hey, Washu, is Mitsuki still… here?" Kiyone stopped as she found her new partner at the mercy of the local mad scientist.
Mitsuki looked over at the intruder and instantly felt like one of the kami she had just learned about had possessed her and forced all the blood out of her face. "Kiyone." She began calmly, referring to her partner by her full name. "Why didn't you warn me about this woman before she dragged me into her lab?"
"You didn't ask."
"That's beside the point!" She yelled angrily. "This nut was about to... she was going to…" Mitsuki couldn't stomach to describe the horrible things Washu was about to do to her.
Wash glanced at the suspicious contraption she was still holding and quickly threw it away. "It's not what it looks like!" Washu protested as she looked at Kiyone. Try as she might, Kiyone looked at her with a blank stare that made her realize that she wasn't fooling anyone. "Oh, well, maybe it is… but I couldn't just throw away such a perfect opportunity to collect biological samples. If anything, it's your fault that you're never around; I could've just asked you to volunteer instead!"
Kiyone crossed her arms. "And Tenchi wonders why I decided to live in Okayama." She looked over at Mitsuki. She walked over to the spot where Mitsuki was stuck in mid-air and looked down at the pad. She noted the very small red button that wouldn't have been noticeable if nobody already knew where it was. Kiyone pressed it, and Mitsuki instantly collapsed to the ground.
"Ouch. I would've appreciated a catch, you know."
Kiyone let Mitsuki pick herself up off the ground. "I'm supposed to be the injured one here, you know." She replied. Both women were about to walk out of Washu's laboratory when the scientist ran in front of them, blocking the exit.
"Hey! I'm not finished with her!" Washu yelled. Unfortunately, there wasn't much she could do to keep Kiyone from rescuing her partner that didn't involve de-atomizing her or making Tenchi angry, and so Kiyone and Mitsuki simply walked around her and back into the Masaki residence.
"Since we have a guest here tonight, I thought it would be nice to try something different," Sasami announced happily at dinner. "Tonight's specialty comes from Hiroshima with Kurobuta pork and Tonkotsu soup. I hope you like it!"
After a hectic day in Okayama, Tenchi Masaki was glad that he came home to enjoy some comfort food. However, Tenchi eventually got over that ordeal after a few mouthfuls of Tonkotsu and become extremely worried about his current situation. The two prerequisite conditions for a repeat of the last major dinner ordeal were present: Tenchi was sitting in between Ryoko and Ayeka, and Ryoko had access to sake, which meant that she was eventually going to try and smooch up to him in her drunken lust, to which Ayeka would disapprove and things would spiral out of control from there. Kiyone was also here, but he felt that more likely than not Kiyone didn't feel like bailing him out again.
From then on, Tenchi ate dinner straight and stiff as a board and quiet as a mouse, anticipating with dread the spark that would eventually come to ruin the evening…
And waited…
And waited a little more, however, he had realized that he had just finished off the last of his Tonkotsu a little earlier than everyone else. He looked around and noted that incredibly, nothing happened. Mihoshi, Kiyone and the guest Mitsuki were talking about their good old days that the Galaxy Police Academy, while his father Nobuyuki, who had left early for work that morning, and grandfather were discussing Japanese politics that were beyond anyone's comprehension, and most importantly, Ryoko was sleeping head-first on the table while Ayeka and the rest quietly ate.
Somehow, Tenchi Masaki, a normal 17-year-old teenager quietly living in the mountains outside Okayama, Japan, had once again managed to survive in the face of overwhelming odds. He breathed a sigh of relief but felt that it would be wise to leave before he unknowingly accumulated any bad karma for the future.
"Well, I thank you for the food Sasami." He said, standing and bowing to Sasami. "I'll be outside."
The childhood dream of architect Nobuyuki Masaki, the Masaki residence had its fair share of quirks. For instance, the tiled roof was easily accessible by climbing from one of the open balconies connected to some of the bedrooms on the second floor. After excusing himself from dinner, Tenchi had climbed through Ayeka's room to get a good view of the night sky above from the roof.
He heard somebody walk onto Ayeka's balcony, he sat up and saw Kiyone balancing herself on the flat, wooden hand railing, and trying to pull herself up by her arms. "Oh, it's you." He noticed that she was struggling to get up, probably due to the injury that she had mentioned earlier. "Need help?"
Kiyone nodded and reached out for his hand, letting him pull her onto the roof. "Thanks, my injuries haven't recovered completely yet. So, what are you doing up here?"
Tenchi looked up at the clear sky, admiring the full moon that was out tonight. "I just wanted to be somewhere quiet. What about you?"
"Same here. I can only take so much of Mihoshi, and now I have an old classmate who's going to be working with me for the foreseeable future." Kiyone sighed. "I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with both of them."
"Speaking of which, I was going to ask eventually: you said you came back to pack up your things, what's going on with that?"
"Me, Mihoshi, and Mitsuki, the three of us are getting transferred into a new special operations unit in the Galaxy Police. From here on, all of us are going to be very busy."
"How busy?"
"Once we return to Headquarters, we're probably not going to have the opportunity to return to Earth for some time, years probably," Kiyone said. "Not that I have any reason to come back here in the first place, no offense."
"None took," Tenchi said. " I mean, it's obvious you never liked it here. From your point of view, Earth must be pretty boring compared to out there, right?"
"No," Kiyone said. "By my standards, this planet isn't that boring. The problem is that this system is too quiet. No one here is sophisticated enough to cause trouble, and barely anyone bothers to visit this system. Promotions in the Galaxy Police are given out according to merit, but being stationed on Earth didn't do much for my record."
"That makes sense," Tenchi said. "Say, if you're going to be gone for… for a long time, I'd like to ask you about your own life. I mean, you've read all there is to know about me, but you never really talked about yourself."
Kiyone shrugged. "I was born on a planet called Renoir, a planet far away from Earth, and from Jurai. I grew up in a city called Chambrae."
"What's it like?" Tenchi asked.
"It's been a long time since I've been there. All I remember is that the nights are as hot as day and that every alley and every street is packed with families just trying to get by. The scenery is beautiful, though, enough to give any Earth city a run for their money; it almost made people forget how meager their lives were in comparison."
Tenchi nodded. "What about your family? Your parents? Do you talk to them?"
Kiyone put a hand behind her head. "I… I don't talk to them. No, that's not it. The truth is, I don't know them at all."
Tenchi jumped up from those words. "Do you mean you were an orphan?"
"Not originally. I do remember having a home and parents when I was very young, but then one day I found myself waking up on the street to neither of them. It's been so long since I last saw my parents, I don't even remember what they looked like."
"Man, that's... that's sad to hear. I know I felt sad when my grandmother Achika died, but I could never imagine just losing everyone else in my family. I bet it was tough having to fend for yourself like that." Tenchi said.
"It was at times, but I wasn't hopeless. I already knew how to read and write from my parents, and I was educated by a local charity group that held classes for kids like me. Whenever I wasn't learning, I was running through the streets with the rest of the kids I knew, scraping by and making just enough money to pretend we were the richest kids in Chambrae." Kiyone smiled. "Looking back as a Galaxy Police officer, I'm not exactly proud of some of the things I did, but it was… it was fun at times."
Tenchi smiled and looked back up at the stars. "So, how did you ever join the Galaxy Police? You seemed pretty content staying where you were."
"It wasn't a very complicated ordeal like you'd expect. One day, I learned that some organization called the Galaxy Police were sweeping the city and looking for recruits. One of their agents found me, fed me the best food I had in my life up to that point, and asked if I wanted to join the Galaxy Police. After a few days of processing, I found myself sleeping in a dormitory at the Galaxy Police Academy." Kiyone looked back at Tenchi, catching his attention.
"This all happened just when I was fourteen, mind you." She continued. "The past ten years of my life have been devoted to the Galaxy Police. It's my home just as much as Chambrae was, just without the heat."
"Well, I'm glad that things worked out for you. Not everyone is that fortunate." Tenchi said.
Kiyone looked back at the sky and laid back onto the roof. "What do you plan on doing with your life?"
Tenchi stopped his chuckling and looked at Kiyone uneasily. He laid back onto the roof tiles himself and looked up. "My grandfather is training me to take care of the shrine and become his successor. You already know that."
"That's all? Just priesthood for the rest of your life?" Kiyone asked suspiciously.
"Oh, you make it out like it's a bad thing! It's not. You know, I might complain from time to time about how boring it can be around here, but let me tell you, I am not a city person. I'll take quiet meditation over noisy buses and trains any day of the week, so priesthood isn't so bad for me."
Kiyone turned her head and looked at Tenchi again. "I don't believe that. I think you're just making an excuse for your grandfather to make you into what he wants."
Tenchi gulped uncomfortably. He racked his head a response. "Well, even if I don't have much say in the matter, there's not much I can do about it. I mean, everyone else is perfectly fine the way things are going right now, so I should be too. Things aren't perfect around here, true, but this is my home… our home."
Kiyone scoffed. "I imagine I would've said the same thing when I still lived in Chambrae. Thinking about it now, that's the real reason I never liked it here; living in Okayama reminded me of how I felt so lacking in purpose before my life in the Galaxy Police."
"You felt like you were lacking something?" Tenchi asked.
"I lied earlier. I wasn't approached by a Galaxy Police Agent, I was the one who approached him. Even back then, I was yearning for something more out of my life than being a petty thief, so as soon as I saw an agent for the Galaxy Police wandering about, I was the one to approach him. I didn't even give him to ask if I was sure, I told him that I absolutely wanted to join the Galaxy Police."
Tenchi nodded and looked back at the house. From where they were, they could see the living room nearby where everyone had moved to. He groaned when he saw that Ryoko and the guest seemed to be at it again.
"Hey, I really don't… I still don't like the way you look at me!" A drunken Ryoko slurred out to Mitsuki.
Mitsuki sidestepped Ryoko's hopelessly slow punch and grabbed her arm and shoulder. In a swift, smooth motion, she used the space pirate's momentum to lift her into the air and slam her onto the floor behind her; a classic Galaxy Police neutralization technique.
"Ow." Ryoko groned.
"Don't push my buttons, Ryoko," Mitsuki said before looking outside. She gave a thumbs up once she saw Kiyone looking on from the roof, being unsurprised at what happened.
Kiyone looked back at Tenchi and pointed towards the living room. "This is what's you're going to be dealing with if you force yourself to accept the status quo. Come on, you don't want to live mountains as a priest and the target of princesses and space pirates for the rest of your life, do you? You're just like me, you don't have a vision for your future, but you're still yearning for something more out of my life."
"But… but what am I supposed to do? I just... I don't want to hurt Ayeka or Ryoko that way."
"I'll just say this: it's up to you to decide how to live your life, not Ayeka, not Ryoko, not even your father or grandfather. If you ever feel like you are at a loss for what to do, let your heart show which path to go down. It's what I did."
"My heart?" Tenchi repeated.
Kiyone nodded. She looked up at the sky. During their conversation, the moon and stars had become covered up by clouds, and it made seeing anything much harder. "Well, I should get some sleep. I have a new life to look forward to tomorrow."
"Alright," Tenchi said. "And… thank you, Kiyone."
Morning came again. Kiyone and Mihoshi spent the greater part of the day getting their errands out of the way: clearing out of their apartment, selling whatever they didn't need and donating the money to charity, and quitting their three jobs in managed to return to the Masaki residence just in time for dinner. Everyone was now crowded around the dining table that clearly wasn't up to the task.
By now, everyone had figured out that Kiyone and Mihoshi were leaving again, this time permanently, but none of them were up to the task of bringing up the subject, least of all Tenchi, who sat silently and stared down at the floor for most of the night.
When all the food and drinks had finally been exhausted, Kiyone was the one who broke the silence. She stood up and looked over at Mihoshi and Mitsuki, nodding towards them. They two stood up and followed Kiyone out the front door.
Tenchi stood up, not wanting things to end so unceremoniously. "Oh, wait up!" He said. Reluctantly, the others followed Tenchi too. They all gathered right at the outside of the house, where the three officers could address their hosts.
"Tenchi probably told you this already, but yes, Mihoshi and I are going to be going away, permanently. We only came back to tie up our loose ends on Earth." She addressed the group. She then looked at Tenchi's father. "Thank you, mister Nobuyuki, for having us as your guests so many times."
"Sure, but do you have to leave?" Nobuyuki asked. " I mean, you and Tenchi are still so young, you shouldn't put anything off until it's too-" A strike from Katsuhito's bokken on the head promptly stopped his son from going any further. "Sorry."
"You are welcome back to Earth at any time," Katsuhito said. "I'd appreciate the help with maintaining the shrine."
Mihoshi walked over and viciously shook Tenchi's hand, the sight of which sparked the ire of Ryoko and Ayeka. "I'm going to miss you, Tenchi! Now, don't let these two get to your head, they just have their own way of saying they like you!"
Mitsuki quickly grabbed Mihoshi and dragged her away from Tenchi. "Ryoko," Mitsuki said, looking over Mihoshi's shoulder at the Space Pirate one last time. "I'll be looking to settle our score someday, so don't do something stupid and get killed before then."
Ryoko scoffed. "Just get out of here already! Even looking at you makes me angry!"
Kiyone looked at Ayeka and Sasami. "I hope you two continue to enjoy your extended 'vacation' on Earth."
"Indeed. Jurai is simply too noisy for fair and beautiful princesses like us. Earth is much more to our liking. Isn't that right, Sasami." She asked her sister, who happily nodded in agreement. "If you find yourself having the honor of speaking with my father Azusa on Jurai, tell him that my answer is "absolutely not."
"Oh, Mitsuki!" Washu called out from the front door of the house. "You have my sincere gratitude for your enormous contribution to science!" From her lab coat, she pulled out a small vase connected with a thin tube; it was the same equipment that Washu almost used on the Detective-Sergeant the day before.
"I don't remember saying that you use… that!" Mitsuki said, pointing towards Washu's contraption.
"Of course not, you were fast asleep! Didn't I tell you it would be painless?" Washu said giggling.
Instinctively and horrified, Mitsuki placed a hand over her lower abdomen. She ground her teeth and looked at the scientist with a mix of hatred and disgust. This time, Mihoshi grabbed Mitsuki and held her back, directing her toward the Yagami.
Kiyone bowed to Tenchi's family one last time. "Thank you again for your hospitality. Farewell."
Kiyone found herself dragging her feet as she approached the Yagami, and let her partners board the first. On instinct, she stopped in place and turned around to see Tenchi, looking at her from the edge of the treeline. He said nothing, but raised a hand and casually waved to her.
Kiyone smiled, and slowly waved back to Tenchi. She said before walking under the Yagami's beam.
Inside the cockpit, the mushroom-shaped A.I. Assistant known as Yagami came out in an instant once Mitsuki and Mihoshi walked in. "Back to headquarters?"
"Yes, mushroom," Mitsuki said. "Do you have to ask?"
"If I was programmed with feelings, I would've been hurt by that, Detective-Sergeant Tsukushi." It responded. "Launching in one minute."
Mitsuki sat in a seat in the back of the cockpit. Mihoshi walked behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. "So, Mitsuki, what did you think of Earth?"
"Hm, where do I start?" Mitsuki started, scratching her chin. "Well, the religion is interesting, the scenery was nice, the food was suspiciously familiar, and I somehow got talked into becoming the future mother of an android... a synthetic organism, excuse me. Overall, I'd rate my visit a seven out of ten…"
PREVIEW OF
NEXT PROGRAM
Mitsuki: "I have to say, from going to get a bite to eat to getting pressed into a special unit by my boss's boss isn't really what I expected, but maybe this is a sign that Lady Tsunami has finally acted on our suffering. What do you think, Kiyo?"
Kiyone: "I've never been religious. Even if I was, I'd wonder why Tsunami would wait until now to give me some good fortune."
Mitsuki: "So surviving a bomb explosion with just a few nicks and scratches doesn't count as Tsunami's divine intervention?"
Kiyone: "That's Mihoshi's luck, you said that yourself. Now, if you'd like, you can pray for the both of us; we'll need it if we're going to be going incognito and investigating Ashigaru Corporation.
Mitsuki: Getting the scoop on the Galaxy's largest armaments manufacturer? SIFO is off to a great start! Sure, I'll pray all day and night to see whether or not you two get blown to bits! The next episode of Tenchi Muyo: Miho-Kiyo Complex:
Proudly Made in the Juraian Empire!
"It's unquestionably a profitable venture!"
Author's Note #3: Mitsuki Tsukushi
With the third episode of Miho-Kiyo Complex hot off the press, I'd like to take a second to clarify a few details regarding our new heroine with the easy smile and good fashion sense, Mitsuki.
For those who watched Tenchi Universe, you may recognize Mitsuki as a very minor character that first appeared in episode 15: "No Need for Escape!" as well as a brief cameo in episode 26: "No Need for a Conclusion!" So technically, Mitsuki is not an original character.
Why is she of all people here? Well, as you know from reading the first author's note, I was inspired to create Miho-Kiyo Complex after watching the first 26-episode season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. One of the main characters of that show and the rest of the franchise for that matter is Batou, one of Major Kusanagi's partners in Public Security Section 9 and a real blast to have around. His humor and easy-going attitude is a foil to Kusanagi's seriousness, and he's strong enough to kick serious cybernetic ass when the time calls for it.
Likewise in Tenchi Muyo, Kiyone mostly fills the role of the Major, as she too is serious and straight-laced while on the job. However, Kiyone's foil is Mihoshi, who is not so witty and easy-going as she is innocent and oblivious. I knew I wanted a character like Batou in Miho-Kiyo Complex, but since Mihoshi is so uniquely and perfectly "Mihoshi", I turned to the next best thing, Mitsuki.
Now, I had also thought about including Amane Kaunaq from Tenchi Muyo! GXP as the third amigo since more people would recognize her, but I realized that while she could theoretically fit the same purpose as Mitsuki, Amane's personality is centered around her relationship with Seina Yamada (who will definitely not make an appearance in Miho-Kiyo Complex); she simply had no existing chemistry with either Kiyone or Mihoshi.
Surprisingly, Mitsuki's lack of screen time makes her an easier character to write compared to Kiyone or Mihoshi because I don't have to abide by any precedents that would be found with writing either of those two. Now, when it comes to a character being "in character" or "out of character", I have to ask: does that rule apply to characters who are not characterized well? My answer is no. The only two things that we learned about Mitsuki from her brief appearance in Tenchi Universe is that she is someone who is:
1. Very proud of her accomplishments and is self-centered to the point of annoying other people, possibly unintentionally. And...
2. Is friends, or at least associates with Kiyone (and perhaps Mihoshi) from her being in the same graduating class at the Galaxy Police.
It's honestly not much to go on, so am I really wrong to "expand" her character in a manner that would make sense based on what we already know about her and what I want out of her character? Is Mitsuki Tsukushi an original character-lite? You can answer those questions for yourself, but I personally won't lose sleep over it.
In any case, if you're willing to take the time to ponder that question, then I insist that you favorite; review; tell your friends, fellow fanfiction connoisseurs, and Tenchi Muyo fans about this series. Stay in touch for the next episode, which will come out in the *near* future.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention this, but I've completely given up on adhering to both my 12K word limit and well as a time limit for publishing new chapters. From now on, I will adhere to the principle of: "It will be finished when it's finished!"
