Title: The morning of .. - part I of A bad day at school
Author: Ree
Theme: Setsuna (criminal)
Genre: Drama
Version: Manga/Anime pre- story line
Rating: PG

Setsuna and her friends all belong to Takeuchi Naoko, unless you don't recognize them. Then they are most likely mine. I just asked them very nicely if they wanted to play. They agreed, and quietly snuck out without Takeuchi-sensei's knowledge.

The morning of .. - part I of A bad day at school

Sitting in the courtyard, Setsuna flipped through her notebook trying to get the last bit of studying in before class. Misa-chan was supposed to met her there so they could study together, but she was late. Turning her arm over, Setsuna looked at her watch. 'Where is she? Misa-chan is not normally late for anything.' As the courtyard started to empty, she gathered her books and looked around one last time before heading to her astrophysics class. When she didn't see Misa-chan, she headed for class, but she continually looked around for her friend.

'Misa-chan never showed up to class. And she missed the exam. I hope she isn't sick. I think I'll call her room and check on her.' Dialing the phone, Setsuna settled on to the edge of her bed. She impatiently waited on someone to answer. After the tenth ring, she hung up. 'Why didn't the answering machine pick up? What happened?!' She walked to the window, and stared in the general direction of Misa's dorm. Making a quick decision, she grabbed up her purse and headed over to Misa's dorm. 'Hopefully someone will know where she is.'

When she first arrived at the dorm building, she gave no thought to the number of campus officers in the common area, but as she neared Misa's room the number of city officers in the hallway started to worry her. Walking a little faster, she started to dodge around the slower people in the hall. Just before the room she was heading for, she was stopped.

"I'm sorry miss, you can't go any further." Even though the officer sounded pleasant, Setsuna felt as if she had been doused in cold water. There had been a couple of attacks recently, and the victims normally ended up in the hospital. Peering around him, Setsuna tried to spot Misa. There was nobody in the hall.

'She has to be alright. She has to be!' Pushing her fear out of her voice, she asked the officer. "What happened? Is everybody okay?"

The officer looked at her considerately. "There was another attack this morning. The area is closed of while we investigate." He noticed the fear and worry that briefly shone in her garnet eyes, before she masked it.

Setsuna peered all the harder at Misa's door, hoping she would see her friend walk out, but she felt that it was useless. Looking in at the officer again, she hoped that he would answer her question. Trying to keep her voice level, she spoke. "Who was attacked?" The officer looked like he was going to dismiss her question, so she quickly tried another one. "Was it the girl that stayed in the room 403, the door right behind you? Her name is Toshiro Misa, and I can't reach her on her phone, and she didn't come to class the morning. Misa-chan always comes to class."

The officer's face became compassionate as he realized the girl in front of him was a worried friend, not just some curious bystander. "Do you know Toshiro-san well?"

Fear solidified into a hard knot in the pit of Setsuna's stomach. Nodding her head, she replied. "We have been best friends for years. Is she okay?"

Keeping his face neutral, he called out behind him. "Officer Tetsuro, there is a friend of the victim out here. Would you like to see her?"

A short, dark haired man poked his head out of room 403. He looked over at the tall, dark skinned, green haired lady standing in front of Officer Yamato, and then signaled for her to come there. Officer Yamato waved her past. Feeling like she was walking on needles, Setsuna carefully crossed over to the door, afraid of what she would see inside. Looking in the room, she saw the disaster. Books and notebooks were flung everywhere, the phone wire was cut, and there was small pools of blood on floor. 'There is not enough blood for her to be dead... I hope.'

Officer Tetsuro cleared his throat. Setsuna's eyes jumped to him. "You know Toshiro-san?" She nodded her head. "What is your name?"

"I'm Setsuna Meioh."

"I have a few questions for you. Do you know what time she was going to leave her room this morning?"

Setsuna nodded once again, and found her voice. "Yes. She was supposed to meet me this morning at 8:30 to study for our astrophysics' exam today. She is always punctual, but she didn't make it. Nor did she make it to class..."

Officer Tetsuro jotted down everything she said. "So, she was leaving here before 8:30 this morning. When was the last time you saw her?"

"Last night at dinner, so that was about 7:30. But I talked to her at eleven on the phone. Misa-chan said she was heading to bed so she would be fresh for the exam today." 'Come on, tell me she is alright, or what happened to her! Please!'

Looking up from his notebook, Officer Tetsuro looked over at the other officers in the room. They were just finishing documenting the state of the room. "Could you tell if anything was taken?"

Setsuna glanced around the room again. "I might. I know most of the things she had in here, but if she had something that was a secret I might not know it."

"Will you please look around, and see if you notice anything gone?"

Nodding her head, she turned to start looking through the mess. "Can you tell me how Misa-chan is?"

Officer Tetsuro flipped through his notebook. Setsuna felt that he was stalling, trying to figure out what to say. Steeling herself for the worst, she waited. Finally he cleared his throat. "She is pretty badly hurt. She is currently in the Azubu hospital ICU. If you know the phone numbers of her family, we would like to call her family and let them know."

Setsuna paused for a moment, and looked back at him. "I have them. I can tell you her parent's right now. The others are in my dorm room." She waited for him to flip to a clean sheet of paper in his notebook before reciting the number from memory. He then waved over the other officer and gave him the number to call.

A little while later, she told Officer Tetsuro that all the money and meal tickets were missing. She also couldn't find the pearl earrings that Misa loved to wear. "Was she wearing them today? She will really hate that they are gone."

He shook his head no. "Thanks for help, Meioh-san. Can I offer you a ride to the hospital, if you are heading there?"

"Yes, thank you." Setsuna walked out the door. Officer Tetsuro followed behind her, sealing the room when they left.