The Triad
World: Sailor Moon
Time: After the end of the series
Main Characters: Haruka and Michiru
Chapter 1
The night was unusually hot and sultry and huge silver circle of the Moon ruled on the starry sky. A social life was progressing around the hotel named the "Glitter of the Stars" in spite of a very late hour. The couple of elderly men were standing on the verandah of the boarding house looking at the night sky. They were gazing at stars or perhaps they were waiting for the arrival of UFO or other extraordinary phenomenon which could end the boredom of their holidays. The night watchman was sitting on the bench finishing smoking his thirtieth cigarette. Inside the building it was comparatively quiet; the night life lasted only in a small café. An unusually calm atmosphere ruled inside it. Quiet sounds of the instrumental version of "Morning Moon" song were flowing from loudspeakers hidden somewhere in the room. Bored young barmaid was sitting behind the counter sawing her nails. Two colorfully dressed holiday-makers were playing billiards and some bearded man was swinging in the corner. He probable drunk too much beer during his stay in the hotel. Two girls were sitting at one of the tables: Haruka Tenou and Michiru Kaiou. First of them was dressed in trousers and yellow blouse with short sleeves and the second one was wearing blue dress. She looked as beautiful as usual.
"I'm feeling uncomfortable all the time, Haruka" She said looking into the mirror.
"There's nothing to worry about. Our only mission is to check the suspicious area out. Setsuna said that some strange anomalies of the space-time continuum had appeared several kilometers from here. Our task is their examination. In my opinion it's nothing big, false alarm or something which we will deal with quickly". When Haruka touched Michiru's hair a smile had appeared on her face for a few seconds. Later she became more serious again. She removed her friend's hand from her forehead and returned to the conversation.
"If only everything was so easy. After all you know that Setsuna is dead serious. She is never making alerts for no reasons. And this place… It gives me the chills. It's so sleepy, too calm here". She looked at the floor trying to avoid the eye contact with her companion.
"Are you suggesting that it is calm before a storm?" Haruka asked.
"Yes". Michiru replied and then she smiled lightly again.
"Let us come outside. You must go to the bed. We're moving into the way forward tomorrow. We must build our strength up ". The blonde smiled to the friend. She put her hands on her shoulder and they both left the café, leaving behind the people who had finished their billiard and drunk the golden liquor from the pints. The bearded man fell asleep in the corner of the room and it was evident that the pair of colorfully dressed people was going to join him. The bored barmaid was looking at girls sawing the nails on her second hand. All people were slowly put to sleep by the music coming from the loudspeakers. Outside, the old couple fed up with waiting for aliens went to the bed and the watchman had disappeared, he probable went for a walk to see if everything was ok in the neighborhood or just wanted to smoke the next cigarette. There was already nobody on balconies and the entire building was engulfed in a warm sleep.
Rays of the morning Sun forced their way through the pane of a tiny room waking Michiru up. The night was so hot, that girl was wearing only green pants and a bra. She rolled to the other side of the bed. She didn't want to get up, because it was still very early, too early to wake up in her free day. She was lying motionless in this position for a few minutes, then she threw the duvet off herself and decided to get up. Absorbing the hot sun rays, she sat on the bed. She rubbed eyes using left hand, stretched her body and yawned. The noise of the river flowing in a front of the hotel building filled her with longing to her element – the sea. No, the noise of the sea is quite different than river's - She thought. She noticed that her friend had already got up. She came to the cupboard and took the watch in order to make sure what time it was.
"6:48, so early. Why is she no longer sleeping?" She thought correcting her emerald hair. After a moment Haruka appeared in the room holding the jacket.
"Get dressed. There is a beautiful weather. We're setting off on a journey". She proposed. Michiru came up to the wardrobe with a view to find some clothes.
"We wish ourselves only a bit of free time, we cannot waste it. We'll talk..." The blonde continued. "Haruka, we aren't on holidays". Michiru protested. The friend came up to her, embraced her around the waist and cuddled up to her body.
"Relax. Feel at least for a moment as an ordinary girl". She said. She moved her face close to her emerald hair, grasped them and toyed with them for a moment. In the end she moved them away to one side and kissed the girl on her slender neck. Michiru turned around searching for the mouth of the blonde, she embraced her with her slim arms. Haruka touched cheeks of her partner and then she kissed her mouth closing her eyes. Lovers decided not to go out from the room and to stay with each other a little longer. They left the hotel accommodation together and set off on the way forward. The morning air overfilled with a mist was playing with hair of girls who were speeding in the car along one of the largest roads within that region of the country. There was nobody in the nearest vicinity so Haruka could ride as fast as she liked. Her friend was satisfied; she felt that the car outran the wind. However she became a bit worried. She didn't wish an accident or a trouble with the police. She asked Haruka to slow down.
"Are you afraid that we'll take off?" Haruka laughed.
"No, you're supposed to save yourself. We'll need your strength during the next longer stop." Michiru replied with a giggle. There was no building in the neighborhood and both sides of the road were covered by coniferous forests. The blonde spotted small forest clearing adjoining to the road and stopped the car there. She took her girlfriend by hand, trying to take her deep into the forest.
"What are you going to do?" Michiru asked gladly. Haruka didn't answer leading her deeper into the thicket. After a moment of walk they both reached a mountain stream hidden among trees. The hum of mountain's stream and birds singing overfilled the surroundings and the mist hovering low above the grass brought relief after hot summer days. The blonde caught her friend around the waist.
"Haruka, we didn't arrive here for fun. Leave me alone". Michiru broke free.
"Do you want a war with me? Haruka pressed green haired girl to one of the biggest trees with a fast move.
"How can you. We have the mission to accomplish". Michiru announced.
"Forget about it for a five minutes". Haruka kissed her hair, then cheeks and in the end her very mouth. Michiru embraced her neck strongly. She felt happy, pleasant shiver passed through her body. Haruka pressed her to the tree strongly and her hands turned toward buttocks of the friend. Michiru forgot that she wasn't in her bedroom and decided to let the tide of delight kidnap her and her lover to the deep ocean of desire. Girls stayed in a fiery hug for the longer moment.
There was a smell of approaching heat in the air. Haruka and Michiru was walking hand by hand through the wooden footbridge to the other side of the river. They were listening to swooshing of the wind blowing among branches of all trees. After a few minutes girls found themselves in another clearing, much bigger than the one on which they had stopped previously. Miscellaneous herbs and flowers covered the area. The place was beautiful and colorful, full of magical charm. The mist hovering low above the grass added mystery to the place, it caused that the forest clearing seemed to be from some fairy tale, from magic land, from a dream... A singing of birds was heard from everywhere. The place was contrasted with a dark, humid and gloomy forest which grew close by. Girls decided to enjoy eyes with this view, however it turned out quickly that they hadn't been there alone. Rustle was heard first by Michiru. Her companion reacted instinctively; she clenched fists looking at the direction from which sounds came. She spotted in the fog a figure looming from the forest. She felt unpleasant shiver.
"Prepare Michiru". The blonde whispered.
"Wait." Her companion stopped her with a gesture of hand. Approaching silhouette started picking more recognizable shapes up. Mysterious shape turned out to be an old, fat woman dressed in grey worn out dress. She had long, grey hair. She was raked up and her hands combed grass in quest for something. After a few moves of hands, old woman stopped, squatted and got down to gather herbs into darned bag she was carrying. She had ugly, creased and dirty face but she didn't seem ominous. She seemed not to notice girls, she was consumed entirely by collecting plants. Haruka calmed down. Michiru took her hand.
"Let us walk away, it's time for us to go. There is no reason to disturb this woman". Girls came back to the car. The old woman broke away from her job. She raised the head looking at two friends walking away. She smiled and in her eyes a look of contentment appeared.
Girls stopped by a gas station in order to buy something to eat. The sun already went up quite high above the horizon and summer heat was felt everywhere around. Apart from one building of the station there were no larger constructions in the neighborhood and the ones which were standing here and there, seemed ancient and abandoned. There were only some wooden houses built in the style in which nobody builds today, unless inside open-air ethnographic museums and temples. Michiru sat down on a stone wall surrounding the building. She was wearing sun hat because heat became unbearable. Haruka went inside the store to do the shopping. Michiru was listening intently to sounds of the nature coming from the nearby meadow: cicadas, crickets, birds. She realized that someone's shadow covered her.
"Yes?" She asked looking at the stranger. Fat person clothes as great as a mountain dressed in a working was standing before her. He had face sweaty from the heat and effort. He was most probably the owner of this place and one of its few employees.
"Good day, can I help you with something?" He asked with a hoarse voice.
"It isn't necessary, my friend already dealt with everything". Green haired girl replied smiling to him.
"Actually there is something you could help me with. Can I ask about something?" She added. The fat person was really glad. He wanted to use every minute of her company.
"Yes?"
"Can you say something about these surroundings? Are there any bigger towns here, where is it possible to stay in a hotel?" The fat person thought for a moment. He hawked and then answered.
"In the most immediate surroundings is exactly like you can see..." He did a gesture with the hand of embracing the entire neighborhood.
"Only peasants live here, they've been cultivating their earth for many years. We don't see many tourists here. Our people don't like when anything is disturbing their peace, therefore do not expect help from them. There are many big towns to the South from here in which old temples attract people from all cities. Your place should be in those surroundings". Michiru got up from the wall, she looked at the forest in the distance. A slight puff of the wind was playing with her hair.
"We arrived from there with my friend. Because we prefer quiet, less populated places... in order to stay in a solitude". The fat person hawked again. He scratched his belly.
"There is one hotel in these surroundings. I don't know how it can make money at such a remote place. At one time I could see it coming back from the walk all over forests. It's big and modern, with the beautiful garden, but looking at it from the other side you can see an older and destroyed building".
"How can both be true?" Michiru asked.
"I don't have the slightest idea! I'm telling the truth!" Fat man answered her honestly.
"And I don't visit these places often. People from there are strange. You can't even talk to them". Fat person leaned over the girl.
"I don't recommend you visit in such a place!"
"Why?" The girl was really surprised with the conversation but she decided not to show this.
"People disappear there! Tourists like you who want to walk along the mountain paths. They disappear after going inside that hotel… Only people like I, strangers who they met one time in a life, remember their faces. We remember people who were devoured by that hotel…"
Michiru felt less and less secure in this conversation. She wanted to end it as soon as possible. "Michiru! We're going!" Haruka's voice reached her in time.
"I'm sorry. I must go." The girl stopped the chat and headed to the car passing by the fat person.
"Let us go." She asked Haruka firmly. Girls set off on the way forward. Fat man screamed behind the receding car.
"Do not go there! There is an evil lurking inside! If you disappear your face will be haunting me in nightmares!" He was shouting and swearing trying to warn her but the green haired girl didn't listen to his words.
After a dozen minutes girls found themselves on the road surrounded by thick forest. The humid smell of resin and decaying plants annoyed Michiru's nose, filling her with contradictory emotions, strange feelings, readiness to act, alternated by calmness. She didn't want to mention this to Haruka, because she wasn't sure what these jump of moods meant. She never did false alarms, Haruka didn't like it. Looking at wet shadows of trees protruding above the route, she was holding hands in her bag, gently stroking surface of the mirror with finger tips. It always calmed her; it always let her concentrate on something. The blonde looked at the route, but simultaneously she was peeking at her companion, because she didn't like something in her behavior. She knew her more than her own body and no game could cause that Michiru hide something from her. In spite of it she decided to keep all questions and doubts to herself. Black minivan was standing by the road on a clearing on which some ancient tree with a hole in the trunk grew and its owners were squirming by it. The tall man with a longer blonde hair was searching for something on the map. A girl dressed in short brown trousers and green sleeveless shirt was looking at him. She was saying something to him all the time and he was hushing her up. Other boy with black hair and glasses was sitting few strides farther from the pair looking at some books - probably guides to the surroundings. Haruka and Michiru were driving close to them. The blonde slowed down and said commentary about the strangers. At the same time, eyes of her companion met with eyes of the person, who girls overlooked earlier. A girl dressed completely in black was standing near the road. She had long, black and curly hair and brown eyes. There was something unusual in them which caused that although Michiru was in a contact with them through the fraction of the moment, she felt kind of being enslaved, hypnotized by their depth.
"Stop, Haruka, now." She said firmly with a chill in her every word. Her lover was surprised, but she carried out the request. Green haired girl was looking at the eyes of the stranger for a moment not being able to break a contact with her gaze full of hidden mystery, but in the end, she shook the hypnosis off. The black-haired girl ran up to Haruka's car. She smiled looking casually, if the earlier effect of her eyes was only imagined by Michiru.
"Thanks for stopping girls. I'm sorry, but we have a bit of a problem here. We're searching for the certain place, but we probably got lost".
"We'll try to examine maps which you have". Michiru replied and left the car.
"Right, Haruka?"
"Yes..." The blonde answered reluctantly. Green haired girl looked at her mysteriously.
"Come on... don't be turned with hostility... she realized that you're a woman... she has good eyes…"
The black-haired girl fixed her eyes on Michiru's figure as if she noticed something wrong in her. After a moment she came back to her friends. Haruka got off the car, but stayed together with her companion in a distance of few steps from strangers.
"Are you sure that everything is all right? I don't like something in this black-haired girl". The blonde was alarmed.
"Take it easy... I ordered you to stop exactly because of her. Something is really puzzling in her and after all examining what really is happening in these surroundings is our task". Neptune quietly explained her plan to Haruka.
"Do I understand you right, we must approach them this way? Be close to your friends but even closer to the enemies?" Uranus answered her gladly. Michiru looked at her with a cold eyes.
"Why are you thinking of them as enemies? We didn't even introduce ourselves".
"Right". The blonde put her hands on the shoulder of the girl and came up to strangers. Black haired girl smiled. Haruka looked at her brown eyes and drowned in them for a moment, exactly just like Michiru a few minutes earlier. The brown depth of irises was attracting like swamp, quick sands with their own event horizon beyond which it was possible to move only in one direction, into the very center of the dark soul of the stranger. She closed her eyes to break the contact with the girl and quickly returned to reality.
"My name is Sakiko Hayasu, and these are Ichiban Iwata, Ruri Fumiya and Kazusa Otome". New 'friend' of Michiru introduced her companions pointing at the black-haired boy in glasses, ginger girl with curly hair and the tall boy leaning over the map laid out on the hood of the car.
"Good day". Ichiban said to girls.
"Hello." Ruri waved her hand.
"I welcome you." Kazusa mumbled.
"Michiru Kaiou." The girl introduced herself and then she added.
"And she is Haruka Tenou".
"Look at these maps Haruka, you're better at finding the right road than me". She pushed the blonde in Kazusa's direction whispering to her ears:
"Entertain them with some conversation. I'll watch them". She walked away from the gathered people. Everyone seemed normal to her, but Sakiko was different. Strange coolness and feeling of a mystery was emanating from her. The girl felt Michiru's eyesight on herself and she looked at her. Neptune let the hypnotic look surprise her again. She thought that the eyes were glittering like some miniature galaxy was residing inside them.
"Beautiful..." She thought. She gazed at the girl's face, hair and silhouette.
"Beautiful eyes, small nose and mouth, slight body and pale complexion. She is excellent; I'm having a feeling that she is too excellent". She was wondering who her new friend was and why her eyes were attractive like a magnet. They chatted with themselves a bit, they talked about usual unimportant matters but after having learnt from Haruka that in the vicinity a hotel is located they all decided to go there.
After a short time travelers reached a small village located in the mountains. An utter silence prevailed around, not even forest creatures were heard, there was no wind, smallest leaflets of nearby trees were completely still. Villagers were walking along the street doing their everyday activities. They looked more like elements of the landscape than thinking individuals. Haruka and Michiru passed by them first. They were ignoring cars, it looked like their engine's noise didn't come inside their deaf ears.
"Terrifying silence, don't you think?" Neptune announced examining the surroundings. She tried to look a the face of some passerby by everybody was turning the head in the other direction.
"Incredible... but I don't think that such place belongs to the most crowded." Uranus replied. Michiru shook her head. She pointed at the trees growing nearby.
"That's not the point. It's unnatural here; did you realize that when we entered the village even the singing of birds stopped?" Michiru stated her observation.
"Indeed, I'm feeling the chills". Green haired girl took her mirror out of the bag. She started watching it closely. She was silent for a longer moment.
"And what? Did you find some anomaly?" Impatient Haruka asked.
"Nothing... this place is clean..." The girl closed her eyes.
"Or protected by a strong magic." She added.
The car belonging to the new acquaintances of girls was slowly moving along the road. Kazusa was driving, Ichiban was sitting beside him and the girls were seated on back seats. Ruri was gazing through a window pane at hills covered with forests.
"It's so beautiful here... We'll have a dream holidays. And this fresh air… It'll be fantastic here..." Kazusa smiled seeing the joy of his friend. Ichiban looked at passers-by roaming around there and back.
"Damn, they look like some zombies, don't you think?" He showed one of them going right by the road.
"You're imaging something... You've simply never seen peasants before, living all the time in Tokyo." Kazusa answered. Ruri smiled, but after a moment she grew more serious.
"I don't know whether you also have such a feeling, but since we've come to this small town I'm having a feeling that the time came to a standstill. It's so calm here, like in some dream". She announced.
"Or on the graveyard…" Sakiko replied looking through the window. Both cars were parked by the small hotel inside which everyone decided to stay. They didn't have much choice because it was the only building of that kind in these surroundings. Ruri came out of the car first, the others joined her quickly.
"Ah! It's good to stretch legs!" She turned around.
"It's so nice here!"
The hotel was quite big, two-storey building standing near a dark forest. Its walls were white and clean, probably freshly renovated and every window of rooms was equipped with a little balcony. The building contrasted very much with wooden, breaking down houses which girls encountered during their journey. In a front of the building a little park with evenly trimmed lawn, benches and a few quite big trees was located. A marble sculpture portraying a horse standing on two legs was standing close by.
"It's so clean here, it's really strange in a hole like this". Kazusa was surprised.
"Everything seems good here." Haruka noticed.
"Too good…" Sakiko commented quietly.
"Exactly like in some computer game." Ichiban replied. He was looking at Michiru all the time. She liked her at the first sigh.
"Don't worry about it so much. Better let us come inside". Ruri knew how to restore holiday humor. Uranus and Neptune stayed a few steps behind rest of the group.
"Did you feel something?" The blonde girl asked.
"Nothing, place is completely clean." The girl answered. Some old lady stood before girls and glued her eyes hidden behind glasses as thick as bottoms of bottles at them. Haruka eyed her up and down coldly. The woman became confused; she lowered her head and moved ahead of herself.
"Look! Look!" Ruri shouted showing the relief placed above the entry to the hotel.
"What's that? It's disgusting!" Everyone raised their heads up. The sculpture spotted by the girl had shape of some strange monster with three women's heads with sharp teeth and blown hair. Uranus and Neptune looked at each other.
"Chimera." Sakiko replied observing the sculpture.
"Three-headed beast giving bad dreams to people and deluding their hearts to the extermination. Wild beast feeding on souls of her victims. That's what I heard". Sakiko smiled lightly. For a moment silence prevailed, and eyes of everybody were gazing at the strange sculpture. Ruri broke the silence.
"Let us come in already". She proposed.
To everyone's surprise, the inside of the hotel was set up in the western style. At the reception desk a few wicker chairs and a small table with leaflets were found, but apart from that there was no furniture inside. Opposite to the entry, the stairs leading to guest rooms were placed. Near the entry, a passage to the more distant part of the building containing the dining room and the second exit leading to the garden behind the hotel were located.
"There's no reason to wait, we'll bring our luggage". Kazusa notified and patted Ichiban on the back.
"Let us walk! Girls will book rooms for us". Ruri stopped them for a moment.
"There is some café upstairs". She explained pointing at the advertising staying nearby.
"When you carry luggage we'll meet there!" Haruka put her hand on Michiru's shoulder.
"I'll help them and I'll bring ours also". She decided to help.
"Ok." Michiru said and went with other women to look for a cafe. Girls sat down at one of tables close to the entry. Café was small and tight; it looked like the union of a sushi bar with western style café. There was nobody inside apart from the squirming waitress and the fat lady which was stuffing her stomach with a large, ice bomb.
"What a strange place. Somebody could not decide in what style to build it". Ruri shared her observation with girls.
"Like the building was made out of distinct parts." Michiru replied
"Like elements of a jigsaw puzzle?" Ruri asked.
"Rather like the collage. One doesn't fit to the other". Sakiko stated. Boys and Haruka soon found themselves by girls' table.
"This place is really strange. You won't guess what we found in our rooms ." Kazusa said.
"The room which we rented for Sakiko and Ruri is set up in an old-Japanese style, just like inside the temple. However our and Haruka and Michiru's rooms are made in the western style. You know: beds, bedside tables, you don't feel that you're in Japan's village".
"This means that the prettiest one is for us, right?" Ruri started laughing.
"Yeah, and yours has a beautiful view on the forest. Sakiko, you'll be delighted". Kazusa completed her sentence. Ichiban didn't say a word; he was looking at Michiru all the time. Haruka noticed this. She gazed at him coldly.
"Do you have some problem?" She asked him with an anger. After these words, Ichiban turned around nervously. A woman dressed in black appeared in the door. She smiled and then Sakiko noticed her. The mysterious woman had cold aura around her, her breath were like freezing wind foretelling the bad weather. Black haired girl was touched by it and closed her eyes. She started breathing with difficulty.
"Sakiko-chan? What happened? You're terrible pale". She asked her. Black-haired girl didn't answer. Mysterious woman went to the back of the café all the time looking at Sakiko. Michiru noticed the smile on her face. Sakiko clutched her head and quickly rose from the table. She felt terrible chills in every cell of her body. She thought that her head had been in a glass dome, the words of others didn't reach her. She knew that she had to quickly leave the room, not to be in the presence of the woman.
"Sakiko?" Ruri was surprised.
"What's going on?" Kazusa asked.
"I'm sorry. I'm feeling bad. I have to leave now…" She quickly left the café. Silence prevailed for a moment. Ruri broke it first as ever.
"Don't you think that somebody of us... should check what is happening with her?"
"I'll go". Michiru decided. The girl ran out to the corridor. She noticed that the same mysterious, black woman was standing at its second end. She was looking at the girl smiling again. Heart of Neptune started beating more quickly and a goose flesh appeared on her skin. She had to be touched by the same thing as black haired girl previously. She calmed down very quickly, because she knew that she had to find Sakiko. She looked around the corridor and realized that the door of the Ladies was opened slightly. She came there quickly. Black-haired girl was leaning over the washbasin and looking at the mirror. She was very pale and was breathing with difficulty. Sweat drops covered her face. Neptune closed the door behind herself and came up to Sakiko. The girl turned head to her side.
"Leave me alone. Please, leave me alone... I'm feeling very bad..."
"You know something about this place? Am I right?" Michiru asked her harshly.
"Do you know what is happening here?" She added. Sakiko closed her eyes.
"Please. Go away. My head aches and I'm feeling sick... I don't want anybody to see me in such a state..." Michiru was silent for a moment. She wanted to give Sakiko time for calming down, but soon she returned to the conversation.
"Is it that woman? Right? " She asked with a harsh voice. Black-haired girl closed her eyes.
"I felt it a moment ago also. Shiver cold, anxiety". Michiru announced with a gentler voice. Sakiko looked at her. She smiled but still had tears in the eyes. Neptune came up closer to her, rested hands on her shoulders and hugged her.
"Be calm. You must relax every cell of your body. Let the entire energy which was directed against you flow down to the ground. Breathe deeply". Sakiko slowly calmed her own body. She was weakened very much, but she felt better much better than a minute ago.
"I'll tell you more, but I must rest now". She looked at the mirror the last time, corrected her hair and left the toilet together with Michiru. Everyone gathered outside the doors. Neptune came up to Ruri.
"Take care of her. Accompany her to the room and be sure that she rests. We'll see ourselves later". After these words she called Haruka and together with her went to their hotel room.
A night dawned and surroundings of the hotel plunged into darkness. There weren't many guests inside, therefore corridors became entirely empty and the building started looking like abandoned. Haruka, Michiru and their new acquaintances went to their rooms and they individually spend the rest of the evening preparing to a sleep. Haruka was lying on a bed and Michiru was sitting by her. She was looking at the mirror trying to notice something in it.
"All the time nothing..." She explained.
"If not this horrifying silence, I would be ready to think that we made a mistake and this place is completely clean." Haruka said crushing some leaflet advertising the food in the hand.
"You know that it's impossible, besides..." Michiru stopped for a moment.
"This Sakiko... I'm sure that she knows what is happening here… at least partly". She added. Haruka got up and came closer to her friend.
"Sakiko, are you guessing who she can be? Did something happen after you shut with her in the bathroom?"
"Nothing. The girl didn't pretend, she was indeed in a very bad state. I'm not sure what harmed her this way, but it looked like the intentional attack by somebody from this hotel. It surprised me that it was possible to react so firmly to the attack of this type".
"What do you mean?" The blonde was curious.
"This Sakiko is probably in some special way sensitive to the magic. However she's inexperienced, she doesn't know how to defend herself against attacks... perhaps she doesn't even realize who she really is."
"Did you try to use the mirror on her?" Haruka asked.
"Of course not! She was shaking and about to collapse. I could not attack her..." The blonde hugged Michiru.
"That's OK. If she's an enemy she'll reveal herself sooner or later and we'll kill her."
"I don't think that she's an enemy, Haruka. I have a feeling that she can see the real nature of this place". Michiru got up after last sentence and went out to the balcony. The wind blew her hair; she felt the chill of mountain air touching her skin. She fixed her eyes on the blackness of the forest and the lake located close to the hotel, existing silently in the dark lie a surface of some black mirror.
"The night is so unrealistic here. Not even a single sound." She thought.
Sakiko emerged from the bathroom in the room which she booked together with Ruri. She stood in the doorway and called her friend. She was wearing black bathrobe and had a towel on her recently washed hair.
"Ruri, the bathroom is free. You can go to take a bath". The girl ran up to her.
"Great. And what will you do now?"
"I'll go to this garden. I want to breathe a little bit of fresh air".
"Ok, but don't walk away too far. Who knows what kind of perverted old men are lurking here?" Ruri winked at her. Sakiko left the room. She was walking along the corridor and went down a staircase. Darkness surrounding her was calming her, she felt remarkably well in it, like a fish in the water. Calmed and relaxed, she entered the garden. The wind was blowing her hair and black nightdress. The girl took a few steps until at last she found herself nearby the lake. The large silver moon was mirrored in a surface of water. She felt its coldness and moisture filling the surroundings, so important after all day under the Sun's warm and brightness. Black-haired girl smiled and her eyes looked as if silver glitter turned up also inside them. Michiru standing on the balcony noticed her in the darkness.
"That's she. She went to the garden. I'm going there; perhaps I'll manage to talk with her longer".
"I'll go with you". Haruka offered.
"No, she trusts me more. She already opened to me a bit. The presence of somebody else can worry her".
"Okay, okay, do please yourself. But remember: I'll see everything from the balcony". The blonde said joking. Michiru quickly went to the garden lake and approached Sakiko quietly. Despite that Neptune was good at stealth, the raven haired girl sensed her arriving and turned around to see her face. She waited until it when Michiru was pretty close to her.
"It's so beautifully here, right?" She asked. She smiled and Neptune noticed that whatever had caused her to fall ill before, didn't have any lasting effect.
"Yes. But it isn't my element. I definitely prefer embraces of sea waves." Neptune answered her.
"The sea has always horrified me with its largeness and changeability. I prefer something as solid as these mountains and forests surrounding them." Sakiko picked a small pebble up and throw it into the water. Its splash sounded loudly in the silence of night. She looked at the Moon reflected in the water, sky and forest drown in blackness.
"Girl! You're frightening the fish!" She heard someone's voice. She looked at the direction from which it had come and saw a boat with some man. Michiru tried to notice this man by her own eyes also but she couldn't. Surprised and lead by her instincts, she took her mirror out. She noticed the fisherman in the reflection of the lake.
"That's it..., Ok... you are special as I suspected." She thought.
"I'm sorry!" Sakiko shouted. "I didn't want to disturb you".
"I am only fishing here... for many years. I didn't suppose that I would meet the living person in this remote place." The man shouted.
"Remote place? What about the hotel?" She pointed at the direction of the building. The fisherman scratched his bald head.
"Are you calling this ruin a hotel? It can be for you. You most probably arrived here with friends because you want to survive remarkable nights in the vacated building. You watched too much television. You're brave; it's 15 kilometers to the closest inhabited building. But it's not my business... I am only fishing here..." After these last words the man swam away farther disappearing in the darkness. Sakiko was really surprised. She tried to call him again, asked about details, but in a vain. Michiru was alarmed by the entire situation also. The mirror was showing her nothing strange again. The man vanished as quick as he appeared a few minutes ago.
"Who was he? What did he mean by saying that it's the abandoned area?" Neptune asked.
"I don't have a clue! Perhaps he's some lunatic. Maybe I'd better return to my room. You should do it too". Black-haired girl was upset. Michiru wanted to ask her about her health, but she knew that she wouldn't learn anything from her.
Ichiban was walking back and forth. He was muttering something under his breath. Kazusa lying on a bed became nervous. She tolerated his behavior but finally became really ,really upset.
"Calm down for Christ's sake! Somebody wants to sleep here!" The yelled. The boy didn't react.
"You're starting hacking me off seriously. Calm down, I'm advising you!" Long haired boy added.
"I must tell her, I must..." Ichiban whispered. She decided to tell his secret.
"This Michiru we met today. She's as an angel, she has so beautiful eyes, skin, hair... I can't withstand it, her beauty. I must tell her what I feel towards her. I want to dive in her ocean..."
"Did you completely lose your mind?" Kazusa got up. He was sure that he had to calm down the guy, even using a force.
"We know her only half a day. You cannot tell stranger girl something like that. You know nothing about her..." Ichiban was behaving as if he was in a trance.
"I know everything... It's an Angel send for me from the heaven..."
"Stop talking gibberish! What angel? What will she think about you when she hear from you something like that? Besides it's probably a dyke, couldn't you see how she behaved with the second one around?" Ichiban hit Kazusa's face.
"That's a sacrilege!" He shouted.
"I don't need your advice! I'm going to her. I'll tell her about my love!" He left banging the door.
"Go! I hope this dyke will hit you in the face stronger than you hit me!" Kazusa mumbled holding his jaw. Ichiban approached the door of Haruka's room. Suddenly he noticed the light on the second end of the corridor. He came there unsteadily; he entered the room opening the wooden door slightly. His eyes widened with an amazement. He saw Michiru sitting inside the room. She was completely naked and was pointing the hand at the boy invitingly. Ichiban opened his mouth from astonishment, he entered inside hypnotized. The naked girl embraced him whispering something to his ears. and then the door of the room was closed.
Michiru and Sakiko were coming up the stairs. They were tired and wanted to fall asleep. Raven-haired girl staggered suddenly and leaned against the railing. Neptune quickly ran up to her.
"What happened? Do you feel bad?" She asked.
"Something bad happened..." Sakiko whispered, and then she started feeling better. She gently pushed Michiru away and went in the direction of her room. Michiru was standing motionless looking at her, and then decided to come back to Haruka.