Chapter 1 | The Introduction
The student-dotted runway of green linoleum stretched far ahead of Minako Aino as she put her hand on her waist, twirled, and strutted over to her friends in a semi-serious model walk.
Headed to first period at Juuban High School, she caught up with brainy Ami carrying her schoolbooks over her chest, tall Makoto tugging on her rose earrings and tossing her hair at the guys, and pigtailed Usagi doing a classic trip over the crack between two floor tiles. All three of them giggled upon her arrival as she gave a parody movie star's wave and said, "Hey."
"That was for satire, wasn't it?" Ami asked with a small smile.
"Ooh, teach me how to do that!" Usagi squealed. "That looked cool!"
"But it was a joke, right, Minako-chan?" giggled Makoto.
"Oh, yeah," Minako replied. She adjusted the red bow atop her long, blond hair. "I was wondering what the boys would do, too."
"Speaking of boys, I –" Makoto started, but somebody behind her cut her off.
"Excuse me?"
All four girls turned around to see a girl about their age with ragged, red hair walking behind them (very slowly and quietly) and nibbling at her nails.
"Hi!" Usagi sang, as if she didn't find this girl rather awkward. "Are you new here? What's your name?"
"Oh, sorry, my name is Shiori," the new girl answered, her two nervous eyes shifting between the four friends and the floor. "I just moved here. I just was wondering if I could chat with you."
"Oh, sure!" Usagi bubbled. "Of course! We were just talking about, guys, Shiori; you know, who we like. I love Mamo-chan! How about you?"
Shiori blushed and shuddered a little, and Ami looked slightly embarrassed and hugged her schoolbooks closer. Just to try and break the ice, Minako added, "You can be open. Half the school knows that I like…" She tried to single out just one guy from all six floating dreamily around her brain. "… Takano Yusuke."
"Oh, I don't know most of the guys around here yet," Shiori answered with a nervous smile. "I wish I knew who was single, but… I don't really care that much about guys. I've never even had a boyfriend before."
"You haven't? Well, let me tell you, it's awesome!" Minako squealed.
"Yeah," agreed Makoto. "It's really incredible, even just to have a crush. Sometimes it makes your mind kind of fuzzy, but it's worth it."
"Look," Ami whispered, interrupting the topic and motioning in front of a small crowd of dispersing students. "It's… him."
There was a collective question of "who?" from the other four girls. But although Minako was standing towards the back of her group of friends, she was able to easily see who Ami was talking about. From her viewpoint, she was able to see a tall boy about their age with jet-black hair tipped pink.
"Oh, boy, I know him," Minako realized with a little shiver. "Not his name, but I know him. He's Juuban High's beautiful bad boy. He just got out of ISS – I hear they gave him a maximum-length punishment because he couldn't take the color out of his hair or undo any of his other… modifications, he called them. Listens to a lot of screamo music. Not my type at all, but he is single."
"If they wanted maximum-length, why not just expel him?" wondered Makoto.
"I think this was the only school that would take him," Ami replied with a somewhat fearful quiet.
"Ooh, I saw the test scores posted on the wall!" Usagi chirped. "He's got pretty bad grades in a lot of subjects, but he almost scored as high as you did in chemistry, Ami!"
"You know, for a bad boy, he might not sound so edgy if you're an aspiring chemist," Minako said insightfully.
"Maybe. Thank you, Minako; it's so nice of you to tell me all of this," Shiori replied.
"You're welcome," Minako said, grinning, "Hey, you can sit with us at lunch today. We won't mind!"
"Oh, we should get to class soon," Ami murmured. "See you later."
"What class do you have, Shiori?" Makoto asked.
Shiori shuffled her feet and replied, "Class B, except for band."
"Oh, I have Class B, and so does Mako-chan!" Usagi chattered.
"Well, I'll see you at lunch, Shiori!" Minako said. She tossed her hair at one of the guys, and then with an involuntary glance at the hall clock, realized that she probably wasn't going to see Shiori at lunch if she got lunch detention for being late.
This could not go by fast enough, was Shiori's thought upon hearing the bell for senior's lunch period (according to the band teacher, Ms. Kazuri, that bell marked the halfway point of band class). The morning class contained the flutists, clarinetists, saxophonists, and percussionists. The thirty-something clarinet players sat in three rows behind her group, the saxophones, in an immense, chair-laden room surrounded by dull black soundproofing. And despite all of this soundproofing, boy, did those clarinets squeak today.
Ms. Kazuri was normally on a small, red platform in the front of the room, conducting the band. But right now, she was hovering by the back row, working with the percussionists. Everybody else was using this unplanned free time as a social session, but Shiori felt no obligation to talk to the two boys that sat on either side of her.
Bored, she surveyed the line of six percussionists in the back. She noticed two russet-haired girls examining a marimba, and a vaguely familiar face decorated with several piercings. Near a snare drum stood a girl with dark hair styled similarly to Usagi's, a guy who looked no older than 14, and an older girl with a very petite figure.
Secretly, she wondered about their tastes in music. Music had always been Shiori's release, especially after she'd acquired her mission and decided to reside in Juuban (temporarily, anyways).
Shiori reflected on her mission, the secret she was never telling anyone. She knew, painfully well, that there had been a prison break. Normally, it wouldn't concern her.
But this was a cosmic prison break. An immeasurable evil had broken through an internment star that should have held it well, and if it ran rampant, it would threaten the existence of the very planet Earth. It was Shiori's job to contain and capture this evil, and later, to take revenge on whoever had released it.
That was why Shiori had come to Juuban – she'd sensed some immense power radiating from there, and the baddies had fled here anyway. She was going to adopt a civilian life, and she was going to blast her suspects for good.
Who they were was a different story for a different time. All that mattered during this free time in band class was keeping that song by Secret and Whisper in her head, something to get lost in as she listened. Rock music was her release. And besides, as an Earth girl, wasn't she entitled to at least some sort of civilian life (albeit an awkward, stuttering one)?
She didn't have time to mentally answer that question, as Ms. Kazuri was now back on her conductor's platform, raising her conductor's stick to lead them into their song Kaji no Tama (Shiori had decided she particularly liked this one – the saxophones were the countermelody, not stuck in the background, but not up front either).
She played as if she were swimming in the sound: nearly one with it, but always pushing it along rather than floating like a stagnant sponge.
"Shrimp again today?" Usagi asked, glancing at Naru's empty lunchbox as her friend left the crowded cafeteria.
"Yep!" Naru replied with a smile. "Umino made it for me, like always!"
"Oh. I forgot to check, but I think Mom packed me a regular sushizume bento. Oh, I have cake, though!" Usagi said.
"I still wish I wasn't Class C and we had lunch period together," Naru sighed. "But I'll see you after school, okay, Usagi? We can head to my mom's jewelry store, or the mall!"
"Sure!" Usagi called as she entered the cafeteria, waving to her best friend.
Crowded as the enormous lunchroom was, Usagi could easily find Makoto and Minako sitting at their usual spot by the delicious scent of Makoto's lunch (Ami was class D, and only A and B had lunch period together).
She made her way over to the table to find that Shiori had gotten herself a seat across from Minako. Happily, Usagi took a seat next to her. She placed her lunchbox on the table and piped, "Hi!"
"Hello," Shiori said quietly.
"Hey, what'd you pack for lunch?" Usagi asked. She opened her lunch. "Mom packed me a bread roll, and some sushi bento, and cake for dessert." She popped a sushi roll into her mouth and chewed contentedly. "Mmmmm!"
"Oh," Shiori sighed, looking hungrily at the steaming meatloaf in front of Makoto. Her bowl of microwave ramen with a pack of vanilla Pocky on the side did seem to pale in comparison. "I can't cook."
"Neither can I," Minako said. "You're lucky you weren't here, yesterday, Shiori. You would've had to smell the rice I burned when I tried to make my lunch."
"It still escapes me as to how you burn rice," Makoto put in. "Here, Shiori, if you're hungry, you can have some of my fruit salad."
"And my bread roll!" Minako added.
"And these… um…" Usagi wasn't sure what she was willing to give up to Shiori, even if the poor girl did have a small lunch. "Here, want an uramaki sushi? It's the inside-out roll - chock-full of yummy things, like crab, and tuna, and cucumber, and, um… carrots."
Everyone laughed at that. If someone wasn't fond of her carrots, it was Usagi Tsukino.
"Thank you, but I'm fine," Shiori giggled. "Um… I'll try and bring a bigger lunch tomorrow."
"If you're sure," Makoto said sympathetically. Usagi detected something insincere in Shiori's tone as she insisted that she'd manage.
"Hey, what are we doing in math, Minako?" she asked, changing the subject. "No quizzes, right?"
"Wrong," Minako moaned, adjusting her hair bow. "Our class had a pop quiz on polynomials and word problems… ooh, I hope I didn't fail."
"Oh well," Makoto sighed. "At least Home EC was good today. More cooking classes! It's so easy!"
"Well, only for you!" Usagi remarked vehemently. "I burn everything! Mako-chan, you're so lucky you can cook… and clean! A domestic goddess, that's what you are!"
Makoto laughed a little smugly, and muttered something about a thunder goddess before Minako turned and shook her head warningly. Usagi knew about the Sailor identity that Minako didn't want Makoto accidentally revealing, but she hoped Shiori hadn't noticed.
Fortunately, before she had the chance to act, she was saved as the lunch-finishing bell rang.
Shiori was thankful for the lunch bell, its ring valiantly saving her from further embarrassment about her mediocre-to-poor junk food lunch. At least ramen was a just-add-water sort of food, as well as dirt cheap. Pocky, on the other hand, was more expensive because it was so addictive – she ended up buying a pack or two a day because she wanted to try ever flavor. She'd need a job soon, she knew, as she put away her lunch and exited the cafeteria with the huge mess of students.
"Bye," Minako called, and Shiori rushed off to class, heading down the immense, green-tile linoleum highway of stairs.
And found herself tripping, lurching forward, and falling!
Fortunately, as she stumbled down the stairs and awaited a hard landing on her face, someone standing on a lower step caught her by the shoulders.
When Shiori looked up and saw her mysterious savior, she knew exactly what had drawn her eyes there. It was not his near-deathly pallor, or his height, nor was it his jet-black hair hanging in his eyes, tipped hot-pink. It was his piercings: he had about eight on each ear, two on his lip, and a Monroe piercing, all with some kind of body jewelry inside. Shiori realized she recognized him from band; she wondered why she'd never noticed him before.
"Um, thank you," she managed to whisper as he lifted her back onto her feet. "I-I'm… a little clumsy."
"That's fine; we've all got our moments," said the tall boy with a grin. "I just can't watch someone fall down the stairs like that without doing something. Don't want to see you kill yourself on a staircase. There are cooler ways to die."
Shiori laughed a little, regaining her footing. She felt her pulse begin to race as she thought to herself, Is this what Makoto called… having a crush on someone? Well, I should at least try to get his name…
"M-My name's Shiori Yuurei. I saw you in band," she said hastily. "You're that… you're a percussionist, aren't you? I play the alto saxophone. And, um, thanks again for helping me not fall down those stairs." She shook her head quickly to herself. All of her words were getting jumbled – that was the fuzziness Makoto had said came from certain guys. What was it, an evil aura that scrambled your brain?
"Hibiki Ryou," replied the boy – Hibiki. "No problem! See you, Shiori. I've got to get to class."
Shiori nodded, but thought nervously, Shiori, do something. Make him notice you. So she tried to smile goodbye, but before she knew it, she had given him a small peck on the cheek.
Hibiki jerked around, and Shiori went nearly as red as her hair. "Bye," she squeaked as she jumped away and sprinted down the stairs as carefully as she possibly could. This was probably not a custom here.
It was at least six minutes later before any thought of her mission reentered her head.