Filament 3

An Adventure in Rome


A/N: Thank you for reading this little Sei-centric fanfic. This chapter/mini-story came about as a result of my pro-Shizuka x Sei shipping tendencies, and as this story revolves around Sei and the girls she has intimate contact with, some might debate whether Shizuka is qualified to be part of the Shimako/Shiori/Yumi/Youko/or even nameless elder Rosa Gigantea (XD) circle. My opinion is that she does, and if Sei's quirky adventure in Rome can add some weight to that opinion, I'll be more than happy. ^.^ I hope you like it.


Youko's dormitory room

It was rare to see Rosa Chinensis so irritated and frustrated. "Competing with Sachiko and I for research funding? How dare this scientist have presumed to challenge me, the Red Rose? The winner of the Akihito Scholarship!" she huffed, shuffling through the copious files and sheets of paper on her desk. "And even with Shimako-chan! Aren't you concerned too, Sei? She might not be at this school anymore, but this student apparently wanted to surpass my standing in the eyes of the senior scientists! I hear she even had designs on the position of Rosa Gigantea en bouton!" Youko glanced at the cyborg on her bed. "If you aren't worried for my reputation, at least show some concern for your imouto."

"Some random nobody? Surpass you? What a joke," drawled Sei lazily, still in her school uniform, her shoes flung in a corner of the room. She lay in a provocative position amidst the bedsheets. "Even for you, that's paranoid."

"No," disagreed Youko, despite feeling slightly reassured by Sei's effortless, almost unintended compliment. "Haven't you heard the new name swirling around this mysterious figure? The Black Rose. Not many know about her since she's left the school, but people have started calling her Rosa Canina. It sounds ominous enough, doesn't it?"

Rosa Gigantea yawned. "Searching for Latin-English match. Not found."

"Excuse me?" said a perplexed Youko.

"I just used my wireless hub to connect to the net in my head," said Sei, playing with her hair, "and I've discovered that Canina translates as pink, not black." Youko looked almost visibly deflated. "The evil Pink Rose doesn't sound so daunting now, does she?" smiled the cyborg, stretching contentedly. "For all your research acumen, you shouldn't have relied on rumours and gossip. A Googleplex search would have cleared that up as quickly as I just did."

"Very well. But that doesn't change the fact that Rosa Canina was a rival to the interests of the Yamayurikai." Youko glanced at Sei again. "Find out what she wanted with us. I don't like to have rivals skulking about in the shadows. I want us to solve this little problem - this time without you seducing anyone, thank you very much."

"I'll make up for any shenanigans I get into. I promise." Sei grinned. "Although it'd be so much easier if you just let me make sweet, passionate love to you already."

"No taking my virginity just yet," said Youko, raising a finger to her lips. Her sharp eyes glimmered. "I'm saving my surrender for Christmas Eve."

"Oh, why?" groaned Sei. "You're going to force this cyborg to wait till December to taste your glorious body and soul?"

"Because it's the most poignant night of our memories: the day of your coming eighteenth birthday, and the eve I held you in my arms after Shiori-san left us."

In the past, when Youko even brought up Shiori's name, Sei's lip would have trembled with renewed pain. But it was totally different now. She simply chuckled again. "It's still October. How can I wait for two more months?"

Youko's slightly parted lips were deeply flushed red. "You won't regret the agonized waiting, and the explosive nova of satisfaction that follows. Now, go deal with Rosa Canina. Leave me to my work." The cyborg's optics glinted in cheeky obedience, her sensors whirring quietly in happiness as she scooped up her shoes and walked out of Youko's room. But before she left, her voicebox emitted something that made the Red Rose's heart skip several beats.

"Your body, heart, soul... I'll protect them all until I'm a scrapheap of junk."


Sei's scanners (which were calibrated with a search for anything associated with "Rosa Canina") led her to a dark, abandoned basement beneath Lillian Academy's sports court. It was after school hours, so it wasn't hard to get to the basement door without anyone noticing. She digitally hacked into its coded system and disengaged its lock from within her own supercomputer. She pushed the otherwise old and unextraordinary door open.

She was in a musky, cobwebbed cellar, and it was strange for Lillian Academy to host a place so... untidy and unkempt. That meant only one thing: this small part of the school was ancient. It was "old ground", a section of the onetime school before its transformation into a centre of science, engineering, and robotics. This was probably a segment of the old wing that wasn't even on the many renovation plans that were passed down through the centuries. Sei raised her eyebrow, her attention turning to a table - and it was no ordinary table.

"A schooldesk?" she muttered to herself. It was a decaying table; its corners had chipped away and its underside seemed to have been chewed halfway through by insects. Her scanners couldn't detect any matches for this table from the current students. She went through the entire, updated school list in her head, all two thousand, nine hundred and thirteen girls. "Why did my search engine lead me down here, then?" she wondered.

Her optics narrowed in suspicion.

"Could this have been... Rosa Canina's schooldesk?"

The whole idea felt slightly eerie, almost haunted. Where was Rosa Canina, then? Because this table must have been the last living relic of a girl who seemed to have disappeared long ago. Sei suppressed a shiver from ringing down her metallic spine. She was about to look around the dark, mysterious room for any more clues when she caught sight of a small, azure glimmer on the worn, dusty table. It was a spherical, blue pocket device, with a single red button. Her inquisitiveness aroused, Rosa Gigantea approached the little machine slowly, and once her sensors had scanned and cleared the area of any potentially dangerous substances, she strode forward, reaching for it. She scooped it up in her hand, peering at it carefully.

A quick scan of its inner wires and core instantly told her what it was.

"A quantum time machine... huh?" Sei's grey optics narrowed. "An impressive construct. Few scientists or students could build something so intricate on such a small scale. But there's only one calibration, one button," she muttered to herself. "And what is it doing on Rosa Canina's desk...?"

A theory dawned on her, and she shivered. Could it be that this mysterious Rosa Canina had somehow predicted others would try to get in contact with her? And that she had left these clues for anyone who would try to look for her?

Who exactly was she, then? She was most surely a student at this school. Had she graduated? Was she still here? No, wait, Youko had already confirmed that she was no longer a student at Lillian.

Or, more macabrely, had she possibly died and left all this behind as some kind of testament?

Sei's supercomputer began to run wild with possibilities. If Rosa Canina had since passed away, did she die recently, in the past few decades? Or had she died long ago, when this wing of the school was left to rot? When this place was consigned to irrelevance with the old world of the twenty-first century?

There was only one way to find out.

"I'll play your little game, Pink Rose," smirked Sei. "I'm an invincible cyborg. I'm not scared of you." And with that, she pressed her thumb on the red button.

Bzzzzzzzttt.

The White Rose gasped and looked around her wildly as a blue illumination from the pocket quantum machine exploded forth and engulfed her body. "Uh-oh." Swept up in the cerulean radiance, she couldn't help intuiting that this was Rosa Canina's intention from the beginning. But it was too late to react or run away, and Sei was blinded. She had to close her eyes to prevent her optic filaments from overheating and frying from the brightness. She covered her face with a forearm, grimacing. She sure hoped she hadn't made a big mistake.

"Here we go," she muttered.


Still in her dark green school uniform, Sei blinked at the sudden glaring sunshine, covering her squinting optics briefly blue light from the pocket quantum traveller was gone. "What the...? Where am I?"

A bright, Mediterranean sky welcomed her. Except that now, taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa itself, were glass skyscrapers that reached for the Italian empyrean.

"Huh?" she muttered again, looking around. "Where did this little thing take me?" she wondered, before stopping short. Someone was walking towards her, and as her computer finally recalibrated itself to her current geographical location, the surroundings suddenly became clear - she was in a large park, surrounded by people, mostly tourists. Cameras were snapping, children were laughing, couples were kissing. But as Sei slowly turned around, realization dawning on her, there was only one person that mattered here.

"Welcome to Rome," invited a soft, queenly voice. Its speaker wore a long, beige jacket, hugging a slim figure covered in an Italian, floral-patterned blouse. She stood in black high heels, her long, pretty legs covered in dark stockings.

"My name is Kanina Shizuka, onetime Rosa Canina."

Sei's grey optic filaments registered black hair, short like Youko's, but human eyes like those of a swirling, blazing sun rather than of serene nightfall. Her skin was slightly paler, and her jawline was slightly softer. Oh yes, she looked more delicate. But she also looked more dangerous, more unpredictable. And Sei couldn't help feeling a bit concerned. She hated to admit it, but this... Rosa Canina looked quite the mature young lady, perhaps even more so than her. Still, this was weird. "So, are you dead or what?" wondered Sei aloud, scratching her head in puzzlement. "Sorry for being crass, but... I'm just trying to figure out what's going on here."

The dark-haired girl adjusted the collar of her jacket. "It is understandable that you'd entertain the possibility of my death. Indeed, my impending death would have been a better reason for the strange things I did all those years ago. But I'm afraid my situation was nowhere near as suspenseful. It was simply you, Satou Sei, that drove me to hatch such an elaborate plan to trap you, to force your gaze onto me.

"Allow me to explain," said Shizuka, as the Italian breeze blew at her rich black hair. "To be honest, you didn't know me before you activated that time device. I was actually your junior. But I had left Japan for Italy long before you could notice me. Mind you, I left for a good reason: I was going to train in Rome as a singer." She paused. "But knowing that I could never attract your attention was frustrating, especially when you were occupied by closer associates. But I am farsighted. Before I transferred, I chose to study quantum physics so I could show you what I'd be in this future. So that you'd know that Kanina Shizuka is an opera soloist employed by the Rome Philharmonic. This future is quite some years after I left our school. That is why I'm older than you. I didn't want you to see any other part of me. It is only now that I want you to see me and acknowledge me, as someone who has achieved her dream."

"Not bad, human," whispered Sei, sincerely impressed. Her optics clicked in acknowledgement. "It seems Youko was right to fear your genius. So, you made this machine?" she confirmed, taking the blue device from her pocket and holding it to Shizuka's bright eyes. "You wanted me to notice you, all this time." She smiled. "I suppose you're not letting me leave until I do something for you."

"You make it sound so unpleasant," chided Shizuka. "I spent most of my school years designing this quantum traveller so I could meet you. I have no intention to force you into anything and ruin such a precious chance to spend time with you."

"Sorry," laughed Sei, scratching her head. "It's not like I distrust you. I just don't really know you, so I'm not really sure what I can do to satisfy you..."

Shizuka lowered her eyes. "Come and watch me sing for the Rome Philharmonic. Then I want to unwind with you, at La Maison."

A quick search inside her built-in, wi-fi enabled computer revealed to Sei what La Maison was. "I didn't know you liked nightclubs," she said, grinning. "So that's your invitation? A simple date here in Rome is what you want with me?"

"Well, I am in my twenties now. This is my future, remember? I don't go clubbing unless I have some special events on, and your arrival is certainly one of those."

Shizuka stared at Sei with a determined intensity that bordered on overwhelming. After several moments, the latter shrugged, closing her eyes in surrender. "I guess I can't pretend I don't want to go either. But..." Sei blinked innocently at Shizuka. "You might have a career, but I'm just a cyborg in a high school. Even a rear seat at your performance is probably more than my monthly allowance permits. Not that I even have that: Youko takes care of me for free."

"I've asked the orchestra to reserve a private booth for you," said Shizuka smoothly. "I told him you're a personal guest of mine. You'll get the best seat in the whole hall."

Sei gaped, then shrugged helplessly. "I guess that settles it. And... my clothes? Can't go in like this in my school uniform, can I?"

"Let me treat you to a shopping spree downtown," replied Shizuka immediately. She eyed the cyborg, looking her up and down. "You'd look beautiful in a red satin dress."

Sei chuckled at this most sudden invitation, unable to help enjoying the way Shizuka slowly, relishingly ran her bright eyes over her largely artificial body. "This whole time travel thing is still a bit weird to me, but I guess I won't say no. And I'm not going to say no to a first-class opera booth or a new dress. Take me wherever you want me to. I'm in your hands, my secret admirer. Show me what you've got."

After all, she had come this far into the future, across entire continents.

Why should she presume to disappoint the Pink Rose?


8:45pm

The lights had dimmed in the grand hall, and the hushed murmuring had died down. Sei felt awkward in her evening gown. She fiddled with the diamond necklace below her neck. Oh, yes, she looked absolutely stunning, utterly fabulous, like a glamorous pop star, but somehow it just didn't... fit her. Still, she managed to get comfortable in the spacious, comfy seat allotted to special guests of the orchestra. Shizuka paid for her dress, and then dinner, and finally used her connections to snag this cosy position nearest to the stage. Once they were done, they would head off to La Maison to let off the tension of the night's work. Shizuka was several years older than Sei now, but she had her connections in the nightclub too.

Sei chuckled to herself. An underage android like her could get used to this.

"Please welcome the Rome Philharmonic's rising star of the East, the angelic Kanina Shizuka!"

The lights were shining on stage, focusing on a single beautiful woman. Sei snapped out of her somewhat silly reverie, noticing the thunderous applause that the entire concert hall was welcoming Shizuka with. Resplendent in a pink gown that left her alluring shoulders bare, the Pink Rose curtseyed on the stage before the hundreds of listeners, raising her slender, white-gloved hands. Her feline eyes caught sight of Sei, but did not budge. Behind her was a full ensemble, a congregation of penguin-suited men and women.

Then she opened her mouth and breathed.

It was as if she was not singing, but breathing with the voice of seraphim.

Sei stared at Shizuka sing, at her magnificent gestures and concentrated expression complimenting her style perfectly. Sei wasn't well-versed in Western classical music, so she had no idea what she was intoning nor whose song it was. She didn't really feel like searching up the name of the piece in her supercomputer, either. She felt as if it would spoil the sublime mood of Rosa Canina's vocals, her pure mastery of the melodic vibrations. The cyborg could register every note, high and low, that Shizuka uttered, and All Sei knew was that the string and wind players behind her were carrying her on the clouds of their instruments, and at the Italian conductor's gentle guidance, she took the entire orchestra even higher into the sky. She was beautiful, dignified, and graceful as she gestured with her arms in tandem with her majestic voice. Oh, how high it could soar, and how close it would swoop towards the audience's fluttering hearts, only to soar back up to the high ceiling cruelly.

For her part, Shizuka lost track of time. She simply sang to the best of her ability, like any master of an art would do. But tonight, she was doing something more.

Watch me. Turn your head this way and look at me. I beg you. Smile as I sing for you. I couldn't care less about this audience. This performance was meant for you. Smile because of me.

I brought you to this future, this world that you do not know, because I wanted to impress you, Sei-san.

Suddenly, Shizuka stopped. Her larynx had no more energy. Her brain had no more words to offer her throat. that was because, as quickly as she had begun, she was finished. It was the end, and the violins had stopped as well. The entire orchestra had fallen silent, even if for a moment. Shizuka felt a jolt of instinctive, but ungrounded, fear. Dear Maria-sama, keep me strong on my feet, she thought in panic to herself. She almost didn't know what to do next.

And then, in that flash of a silence, she heard it.

Clap.

Clap.

Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap.

Shizuka stopped herself from gasping just in time as she noticed who was applauding her so loudly. It was Sei, Rosa Gigantea, who had stood up from her seat, even as everyone else was too stunned by Shizuka's stellar performance to move or breathe. Shizuka glanced at her favourite audience member, eyes briefly widening in surprise. It was the female cyborg of her dreams who was giving her a standing ovation before anyone else, in enthusiastic, wholehearted praise for all her hard efforts. It was as if with that big, wide, beaming grin, those mesmerized grey optics, and those frantically clapping, rapidly reddening palms, Sei was thanking her for not only taking her to see her sing, but for taking her to this distant future to meet her.

It was almost too much to take in. Satou Sei was giving her a standing ovation.

Satou Sei.

A standing ovation.

And then, before she could blink or think, the rest of the crowd burst into approving agreement with the young cyborg, rising almost together to join the lone girl's standing ovation. The old men and portly women, the middle-aged and even the young teens and children who had been dragged along by their parents - no one needed much convincing. Shizuka had been on top form, and she didn't disappoint. And so the members of the audience clapped, congratulating the Rome Philharmonic and its Japanese singer-in-residence for yet another incredible, soulful night of emotion and joy.

There was only one thing that could match the beauty of faith, or of lovemaking. That thing was music.

No longer able to control her own bubbling feelings from deep within, a single tear slipped down Shizuka's eye as she curtseyed deeply before the roaring, cheering crowd.

"Thank you, Sei," whispered the older woman, trying not to look for too long at her unrequited love. Her rising arms were shaking, her shoulders trembling. She accepted the applause, glancing up at the brightening ceiling briefly and gritting her teeth. As an accomplished artist with a growing celebrity status, Shizuka had won an award for her singing, and her debut album topped the classical charts for a full three weeks (even afterwards it remained in the top ten). People paid good money to watch her do what she loved most. But those triumphs were nothing compared to this one moment in her future, in her adult career...

When a certain someone she loved in the far-flung past...

Came to the future to watch her perform in all her live glory.

Shizuka retreated from her curtsey and raised her head high. She spread out her arms, accepting the whistling and cries and encores from the full, packed house. She wept in silence, struggling to hold back the flowing tears as the crowd blurred before her. She had waited for this for so many years. Yet Sei remained as clear as ever through her crying, still clapping away, with that affirming smile on her face.

This was the moment, after many long years of physics, opera training, and loneliness, she had prayed for.


Rome. La Maison nightclub. 2:12 am

The floor was packed to the flashing rafters, and the party was in full swing. "Are you sure Youko-sama will not hate me for this?" cried Shizuka hoarsely over the blaring DJ, a kaleidoscope of colours running across her calm face. Her voice was usually either placid or angelic, although everyone was reduced to shouting into each other's faces at the club. "Even though I never talked to her, I could tell a bond endured between the two of you. That is how much you love her. And I can never go back to the past to challenge that. I didn't design my quantum device with that in mind," she added wistfully.

"No," said Sei, grinning as they danced, their bodies pressing comfortably together. "I don't mind coming here anyway." She didn't need to shout, but simply amplified her vocal chords to a more audible volume above the music. "Don't underestimate how intimate Youko and I are. This little dance is nothing."

Shizuka lowered her head, her hips swaying side-to-side at the command of Sei's hands. Her heart hurt as Sei's swinging tresses brushed by her cheek. "A complete defeat for me, isn't it...?"

Sei's eyes softened as Shizuka turned her head to look back at her. "Don't think of it as a defeat. You'll underrate yourself."

Clubs probably aren't for Youko or Shimako, though, she thought to herself. This is my first time. Might as well enjoy it while they're not around.

The lights brightened even further, and Sei could see the perspiration dripping from Shizuka's forehead and trailing gently down her skin. Their eyes kissed each other's, and Sei cupped Shizuka's cheek in the palm of her hand. The throbbing bass thundered into their very bodies, their arms embracing keenly, their high heels scraping along the dance floor. Sei's leg brushed by Shizuka's, and as the beat shook the floor, she tossed back her head jubilantly, laughing as her felt her mussed hair swinging side to side. Dozens of arms thrust high into the blinding air. She felt Shizuka hold her tighter, and a great cheer rang out on the floor.

The cyborg felt deliriously good. Shizuka laughed involuntarily as the playful cyborg briefly lifted her up by the waist, but was taken aback by the half-robot's extraordinary beauty - the way the younger girl looked up at the opera singer was too disarming, almost disturbingly so.

"Thanks for bringing me from so far away to your future, opera star!" cried the cyborg loudly, reaching forward and planting a sudden kiss on Shizuka's cheek. "Youko's awesome and all, but she's still too young for nightclubs. I'm underage too. But I get to party hard thanks to you. This is fantastic."

Shizuka never looked so pleasantly surprised, and as the DJ lifted his hands up in euphoria, Sei set Shizuka back down, not letting her go. She drew closer. "It's a pity I had to come to the future to meet you, Rosa Canina," whispered the cyborg into Shizuka's ear, and for some reason, Shizuka could hear her every word above the furore and lights. "We could have been friends."

"It's not too late," moaned ex-physics student, clutching Sei's fingers before they could move away from her nose. "Please, tell me it's not too late. I tried everything, everything, to make you just look at me. I tried to usurp Shimako-chan's position as your petite soeur. I tried to run for a position in the Yamayurikai. All in a reckless attempt to have you turn your head. Even if it might have been in anger. Or irritation. Or curiosity. Or amusement. Anything..."

Sei's robotic optics twinkled. "All the things you did were very silly, you know. But you're right. It's not too late."

Shizuka felt the cyborg's lips pressing respectfully and tenderly against her open, amazed mouth, and her body seemed to move with a mind of its own. She wanted to cry as she inhaled the cyborg's loving breath. But she had already arrived at that twilight crossroads where her emotions were so entangled in joy that both tears and laughter seemed inadequate. Her knees went weak as she felt the soft, inviting, cooperative touch melt her loins and heart, and suddenly she couldn't think of what could happen next, but only what she wanted to transpire. All she could do was moan wordlessly as Sei kissed and cradled her amidst the sea of party-goers, silently assuring her that this night would be the best one of her life.

Her pained cry for Rosa Gigantea had reached across the stars and time itself.

And Rosa Gigantea, never one to disappoint, had reached right back.


Morningtide. The sun trailed past the curtains by Shizuka's bedside, unable to awaken the opera singer. But the half-robot, half-human who lay beside her was already up and about. She pulled on her blouse, the school uniform she had left before the dizzyingly wild night at La Maison, and left the clothes she wore at the club on her side of the bed. She stood up, stretching and yawning, before pulling her uniform back on. She slipped her bare feet into her white socks, and then into her shoes.

Everything Rosa Canina had done, had been done with Sei in mind, with the hope of meeting her in this universe. The Pink Rose never meant any harm. She just wanted Sei to see her, proud and with her head held high, doing what she loved, but sometimes pining for the cyborg to congratulate and kiss her. Well, she had finally gotten her wish, after the tireless construction of this little pocket time traveller, leaving Japan for Italy, establishing her career, and waiting for the day Sei would discover the name of the reviled "Black Rose".

Leaving behind the luxurious evening dress Shizuka had bought for her, Sei looked back at the sleeping lady. She reached for the spare pen on the bedside table, taking a scrap of paper in her pocket, and scrawled a short note onto it.

She grinned. Now that she was returning to the past, to a time when she never knew Shizuka, one might be worried that her memories of this magical meeting would be erased. But this would not be the end. Oh, no - by no stretch of the imagination.

They would never forget each other. Sei would make sure of it.

"It was a blast, Shizuka," murmured Sei fondly to the older woman. She took out the blue device from her coat pocket, the ingenious portable machine that had taken her to this future. She wasn't sure what she had to do, but somehow her intuition told her to press the button. She did so as she ran her eyes over Shizuka's sleeping body one last time. A loud buzz, and the blue quantum light surrounded her once more, whisking her physical form away from Shizuka's room, from her future presence. The crumpled scrap of paper from the past slowly drifted to the floor, drifting onto the snoring Rosa Canina's bedside.

On the scrawled note were the scribbled words:

You forgot to give me your autograph. xoxo


- The End of An Adventure in Rome -

Next Filament: Rock Star Cyborg.