Tokyo National Museum
8 Months after Galaxia's defeat
Luna and Artemis both frowned after making another circuit of the entire museum.
"I don't understand, Artemis," Luna admitted. "The computers all picked up several energy fluctuations, almost similar to a Youma attack, but there's nothing here."
Artemis brushed against a flashlight left on the pathway before leaping up on the wall. He perched next to Luna. "That's what bothers me. Nothing seems out of place, but something feels wrong."
"I'm getting it too," Luna admitted.
"You think we should get the senshi?"
Luna considered for a few seconds. "No, let them sleep. Nothing is here. We'll tell them in the morning and have Ami and Charlotte look over it."
"I almost wish the Outer Senshi were around."
Luna glanced at Artemis. "They should be back in a few weeks, when Michiru is done with her tour."
Something crashed behind them. Both turned to watch as two delivery men blamed each other for dropping a box of glassware.
Luna and Artemis turned back to the museum, ignoring the argument behind them.
Artemis perked up. "I don't remember seeing an angel statue out here."
Luna regarded it for a moment. "There are lots of statues around here. I'm not surprised you missed one."
Artemis' tail flicked left and right. "I walked by that area and I don't remember seeing an angel statue. I would remember seeing one that looked like it was crying."
Luna rolled her eyes. "It's nothing," she said dismissively. "You're just imagining things."
"Luna," Artemis said seriously. "I don't remember that statue being there. I walked by that spot and it wasn't there."
"Statues do not move, Artemis!" Luna snapped. "If it did, we would have noticed!"
Artemis scowled, but didn't reply. The two remained silent until the sky turned a faint pink. Luna yawned and stretched. "I'll see you at the arcade. We'll tell the scouts about the fluctuation then."
Luna leapt down from the wall, but Artemis hesitated. He glanced back at the museum, not noticing the angel was no longer covering her eyes. Artemis was still uneasy but, not wanting to be at the museum alone, he leapt down from the wall and walked home.
Game Center Crown
"Come on, come on!" Mina gritted her teeth as she gripped the wheel tighter. Her feet violently mashed the pedals. On screen, the red car responded to her actions and swerved around the blue one.
Mina grinned. "Ha! Eat my dust, Char!"
Next to her, Charlotte remained focused on the screen. "It's not over yet."
Mina urged the red car on faster, grinning wider as she pulled further ahead of Charlotte. There's no way she can catch up now.
Charlotte adjusted her grip then pressed on the pedals with precision. The speakers rumbled as they played the roar of her car's engine. Gaining speed, the blue car leaped forward.
Mina's grin fell from her face as Charlotte's car soared towards hers. She scowled and mashed the pedals, urging her car to go faster. She coaxed a little more speed out of it but Charlotte blazed past her and across the finish line.
"No!" Mina groaned, slumping forward until her head was on the steering wheel. "I was so close!"
Charlotte grinned. "Don't feel too bad. You did well."
"Yeah, yeah," Mina grumbled.
Lita leaned on the back of Mina's chair. "You've gotten better. And Charlotte does have faster reflexes. Either that or she hacked into the game."
Charlotte looked at them both, wide-eyed. "I would never stoop so low," she said, unconvincingly.
"I knew it!" Mina exclaimed. "You couldn't beat me, so you cheated!"
"You never said it was against the rules," Charlotte pointed out.
Mina hit Charlotte with her purse. "You cheated!"
Artemis yowled from inside the purse.
"Sorry, Artemis," Mina said, embarrassed. She pulled Artemis out then swung the purse at Charlotte again.
Charlotte leapt out of her seat. Mina, swinging her purse, chased her around the arcade.
Motoki frowned disapprovingly at them. "You're going to hurt yourselves."
"They'll be fine," Lita assured him. She gestured to the aquarium sitting on the counter. "When did you get the turtle?"
"Oh, this is Kamekichi," Motoki said. "I'm looking after him for a friend over the weekend. He's kind of cute," Motoki smiled at Kamekichi. "Maybe I should get a turtle."
Lita rolled her eyes before Motoki continued. "What are your plans for the weekend?"
"Not much," Lita admitted. "It's been awhile since anyone attacked so we're relaxing while we can."
Motoki put a hand on her shoulder. "I know you don't ever get to hear it, but thank you for everything. Really. I wish more people knew how much you did. You should at least get some kind of compensation from all the memorabilia."
Lita's heart fluttered as she reached up to place her hand on Motoki's. A small shudder ran through her as their fingers brushed. "Thanks. It means a lot."
Both remained unmoving for several seconds. Charlotte raced by, followed closely by Mina. "Get back here, cheater!" She stopped, and scowled before turning to Motoki. He quickly moved his hand away from Lita's shoulder as Mina spoke. "You should ban Char for cheating!"
Motoki smiled. "No rules against it," he said. "I could ban droids, but it wouldn't do any good. You said Charlotte could change her appearance."
Mina scowled and pointed at Charlotte. "I demand a rematch! And no hacking!"
"You don't stand a chance!"
"I'll destroy you!"
The two returned to the racing game and started it. Lita continued absently tracing her fingers over the counter. "How have you been, Motoki?"
"Busy. Between work and school, I don't have any free time. I honestly don't know how Darien does it. He has school, two jobs and he has to save the world every other night."
"Most youma we can beat in a few minutes. Tracking them down is easy too. The computers and scanners Luna and Artemis set up can pinpoint them and gives us directions on our communicators."
Motoki nodded thoughtfully. "That's useful. Can you imagine having to hunt through all of Tokyo for them?"
Lita shuddered at the thought. "We'd still find them. Youma have an odd habit of almost literally running into us. Now that I think of it, we have the best luck in the Universe. One of us is almost always around when something happens."
Motoki frowned. "That doesn't seem like a coincidence."
"You're right, it doesn't," Lita nodded.
"Maybe someone is directing you."
"Maybe." Lita wasn't convinced.
Mina's yelling interrupted them. "Eat it Char! I knew I was better than you!"
"I still beat you at the Sailor V game," Charlotte replied.
Mina scowled. "You wouldn't last five seconds as the real Sailor V!"
"I did fairly well against the Sontarans."
"Hmph." Mina crossed her arms.
Charlotte slipped a few coins into the game's slot. "This time, I won't lose."
Mina's scowl slowly morphed into a grin. "Didn't have enough? You're on!"
As they started racing, the doors open. Darien and Serena, carrying Luna, walked in. Motoki waved. "Hey Darien, hey Serena."
Serena smiled warmly. "Hey Motoki, hey Lita!" She spotted Mina and Charlotte racing and walked over to watch.
Darien leaned against the game counter. "Lita," he nodded to her.
"Hi, Darien."
Darien and Motoki started talking and Lita joined the others at the racing game. She turned to the doors as they opened again. Ami and Rei entered talking animatedly.
"No!" Mina wailed, slamming her palms on the steering wheel. "How could I lose again?"
Charlotte smiled smugly. "We could go again, just to prove I'm better."
Mina clenched her firsts and scowled. "You won't know what hit you!"
Luna leapt up onto the back of Charlotte's chair. "You can do this later," she said impatiently. "Last night, we picked up odd energy fluctuations coming from the Tokyo National Museum."
The Senshi, Darien and Charlotte listened silently as Artemis picked up. "They came in several bursts, similar to a Youma attack, but different enough that Luna and I decided to investigate. We didn't see anything, but there were definitely some unpleasant vibes coming from the museum."
"We want all of you to check it out and see if you pick anything up," Luna continued.
The others shared grim looks as they followed Luna and Artemis out the door.
"Good luck," Motoki called after them. He looked down at Kamechi as the doors closed behind the scouts. "I know they can handle themselves, but I have a bad feeling about this time."
Tokyo National Museum
Rei froze outside the gates that led into the museum. Her expression was uneasy, almost frightened.
Serena looked worried. "What's wrong?"
Rei shook her head slightly. "It's odd," her voice trembled slightly. "I can feel a presence that's impossibly old and malevolent, but it keeps vanishing and reappearing."
Shouting came from the other side of the gates. Without speaking, they all entered, ready to transform if needed.
A group of five women were shouting at an elderly man in a suit. He held his hands out, palms up as he tried speaking over their yelling. Curious, the Senshi crept closer, joining the crowd that was growing.
"Where are our husbands?" One of the women demanded.
"NONE of them came home this morning!" the second added.
The other three added their complaints as the man desperately tried to calm them down. "I'm sure they went out for a drink or something! I assure you, nothing happened while they were here!"
The women continued to yell at him, their voices overlapping in a cacophony of anger and fear.
An old man with silver hair forced his way through the crowd. He stumbled towards one of the women, his gaze fixated on her. Lita shuddered at the desperation in the man's eyes.
"Heloise!" the old man croaked.
One of the women turned to stare at him. "Who are you? What do you want?"
"Heloise, it's me," the old man pleaded. "Please."
The woman trembled in fury. "Leave me alone!" she stormed off, after the other women who continued pestering the other man as he made a futile retreat.
"Helo-" the man's face went blank as he clutched his left shoulder. Darien shoved through the crowd as the man teetered.
"Someone call an ambulance," Darien calmly ordered. "He's having a heart attack."
The man fell, but Darien caught him and eased him to the ground. The crowd pressed closer and Lita could only see through a small gap. The man was gripping Darien's shirt and speaking rapidly.
Darien nodded and the man shuddered before going limp. Darien's expression was grim as he gently lowered the man to the ground. Slowly, Darien stood and rejoined the Senshi.
Serena hugged him tightly as he stood, looking almost dazed. They remained unmoving for a few minutes before Serena stepped back, looking up at him. An unspoken understanding seemed to pass between them and Serena held Darien's hand, interlocking their fingers.
Darien looked to the others. His voice was softer than usual. "I couldn't make out everything he said, but he did say there was something in the Heiseikan. Whatever it was, he was terrified of it."
Their group left the crowd and entered the Heiseikan. Serena, Darien, Charlotte and Mina checked the first floor while Rei, Ami and Lita headed up to the second.
The first few rooms Lita checked didn't seem out of the ordinary. When she looked into the special exhibits gallery, she gasped.
Rei gripped and ofuda. "What is it?"
Lita slowly stepped into the room. "It's beautiful."
Ami and Rei followed her inside.
The room was filled with statues of angels, all of them covering their eyes in different ways. Lita cautiously brushed her fingers against the exquisitely carved wings of the one closest to the door. She could feel the rachis and every barb on the feathers.
Ami examined another one closely. "Whoever carved these was a master," she said in awe. "The detail is amazing!"
"Nothing was out of place downstairs," Darien's voice came from the door. He looked around at the statues, admiring them.
"Serena, look at this one!" Mina exclaimed as she pushed by Lita.
Serena joined her at an angel that covered its face with its hands. "She looks like she's crying."
"She is," Mina said, clasping her hands together and pretending to cry. "Once, she was in love and was loved in return. But, one day, she realized she loved another man equally. Enraged, the first lover challenged the second to a duel for the woman's affections." Mina flailed her arms around as if fencing. "They fought, long and hard as they were equally matched. At the end, both men were killed, leaving the woman alone."
Mina pretended to cry again. "Unable to go on after both her lovers were killed, the woman wept and, as she wept, her tears turned her to stone, so she would always be a monument of love."
Lita stifled a laugh as Rei rolled her eyes. "How do you know?" Rei demanded.
"Because I'm the Guardian of Love!" Mina proclaimed. "And I know a sad lover when I see one!"
"Ami, Char, are you getting anything?" Luna interrupted.
Ami glanced at her computer and typed in a few commands. "There's a pocket of residual energy, but it's too dissipated to tell what it is."
Charlotte cocked her head. "There are at least five of them, scattered around the museum. But I can't tell what it is or what caused it. Like Ami said, it's too dissipated."
Artemis looked up at Rei. "Are you sensing anything?"
Rei shook her head. "Whatever it was I sensed earlier is gone."
Darien turned away from the statues. "It left?"
Rei shook her head. "It's not that clear. It's like a mirage. It's there, then it isn't."
Artemis frowned. "Could something be interfering with your ability?"
Rei shrugged. "It's possible, but I don't know. Even if something could, why would it project something so malevolent?"
"Hold on," Ami looked up from her computer. "There were five women, claiming their husbands didn't come home, right?"
"So?" Mina asked. "Like that guy said, they probably went out for a drink. I'd probably do that too if I were stuck in a musty museum all night."
Darien looked grim. "I don't think they went out for drinks."
"Oh," Charlotte gasped. "There are five spots with the energy signatures."
"And five guards," Ami added.
The Senshi grasped their transformation sticks while Serena grasped her broach.
"Relax," Darien suggested. "Whatever attacked here probably didn't stick around."
Serena shook her head slightly. "Are you sure? A museum might be a good place for a youma to set up an attack. There are lots of people."
The others stared at her. "Where did that come from?" Mina asked. "You've never thought of anything like that before."
Rei was mildly impressed. "I can't believe I'm saying it, but you have a good point," she grudgingly admitted. "Did you finally start clearing the meatballs out of your brain?"
"I'm impressed," Luna said. "Have you finally decided to take things seriously?"
Serena scowled. "I have plenty of good ideas."
Rei rolled her eyes. "Really? Because this is the first one I've ever heard."
Serena's scowl deepened and she started to reply, but Luna cut her off. "It is possible, yes. But we also have to assume that, if it is a youma, there will be attacks elsewhere. Artemis and Char should stay here to keep an eye on things. Ami and myself will look over the data we collected."
"The rest of you, keep your communicators close," Artemis added. "We'll call if we see anything."
As the others left the room, Lita paused at the doorway as she felt unease creeping up inside her. She looked back into the room. Nothing seemed out of place, so she turned around again and jogged to catch up with her friends.
She didn't see the statues had uncovered their eyes and turned their heads to watch her leave.
