DISCLAIMER: Relatively standard stuff. Existing characters are properties of the people who made them up. Mitsuki, and several other characters are mine, and so's the story, hence ownership and copyright of them belongs to me. Contact me at my usual email address if you want permission to use anything I've written for whatever purposes. As per usual, I'm having formatting ripped out on upload, and now having line breaks introduced for no apparent reason. I apologise in advance for any formatting errors you may meet.

Justice

By

Raymond Cooper

All The Things She Said

Hello from Cyberspace! Announced the famous net idol, Chiu. In the video clip on her homepage, Chiu spun around in a delightful dress made from grasses and flax leaves, some thicker, leafier leaves from trees covering her more vital areas. Her hair was tied back in a series of buns with thinly-striped flax that had been platted into a cord, and she didn't have her usual perfect makeup job or photoshocked glamour, but her viewers supposed that was because she was currently on a safari on a remote tropical island.

Chiu is very happy where she is right now. That's right, Chisame thought as she twirled and giggled, she didn't quite want to panic anyone just yet. Nor did she want to reveal that the famous net idol Chiu was stuck on a deserted island, with soldiers standing guard around the only point of civilisation in sight, with orders to shoot to kill if the island's inhabitants came close, nor that her classmates had all been armed and sent to kill one another.

But privately, deep down, she wondered more if she didn't want her fans to start wondering if the sour-faced girl in the thick glasses who'd received the gift of a laptop as a weapon in Battle Royale was their goddess. If she made it off this island... and she was smart enough to know that sooner or later, someone would likely start offing the other students, and she would be an easy target... then she could work to blow the whole thing open. But not yet, not yet. And she didn't want stalkers following her out of cosplay if by some chance she did make it off the island.

Today, I snorkelled in the lagoon! Chiu doesn't have a digicam with her though, so it was very sad. Chiu was very cute! She gave a nervous giggle and blushed on cue. You'll just have to image Chiu snorkelling. And remember, she added, Chiu forgot to pack her clothes! Just so she could bring her laptop and keep everyone entertained! Isn't that nice of Chiu? Yes, yes it damned well was. And if it wasn't, the thought of their beloved Chiu-chan naked, frolicking in the clear blue waters of this mythical lagoon would be plenty.

In reality, Chisame had worn her school swimsuit under her uniform on the way back from Kyoto when she had found they would be stuck on a bus all the way back to Mahora – the idea being she could duck into the bathroom from time to time, strip down to it and run water over the thick material to cool down from time to time – and while at the time it had seemed like a great idea, actually being trapped on the bus in what grew to be a sweltering heat made her plan seem stupid, if only because the material had made her hot and scratchy in places Chisame didn't like being hot and scratchy in.

So now, Chisame was stuck on an island with no comforting cotton underwear, just a hot, itchy lycra swimsuit that worked out fairly well when she needed to get into the nearby river for something to eat. She'd found that either the fish here were really dumb, or were as mesmerised by her presence as her online fans were, because she could just about catch them without effort in her hands. She could then use matches she found in her rations to cook them at night, in a nearby cave she'd found. Her swimsuit, though, dried out very quickly, and she didn't feel as vulnerable wearing that in the water than she would have in her underwear... or skinny dipping. She repressed a snort and kept the breezy smile on her face for the webcam at that thought. If only her fans could see her without makeup and without clothing, shivering in that cool mountain stream...

Well, she had to face it, it would still be more of a real naked woman than they'd ever seen before, and they'd likely tear each other apart for the right to watch.

Funnily enough, with her fear of appearing before anyone naked, all she really had protecting her modesty in this Chiu costume she'd made was a few leaves and grasses tying everything together. If something dried too much, or she got too energetic... voila, her fans got more than they were expecting. Thankfully, the only time something popped had out in a live chat, it slipped out just as she'd spun around to do a twirl, and it happened out of sight from the webcam, allowing her to deftly slip everything back in under her makeshift tropical island bra before turning back, without any viewers realising how close they had come to their Holy Grail.

During the daylight hours, having to move around, Chisame kept within a small area, moving every hour just before the collar's timer warning went off – that sound carried a fair distance – but never leaving the same three or four sectors, and never more than one or two hundred metres apart. Before she did her online broadcasts and recordings, she carefully checked the area, and while she made some noise doing the broadcasts, she hadn't seen any sight of what was going on. One good thing about the laptop and it's almost magical wireless connection to the net, as well as its battery of eternal charge, was that she could stay logged in to the Battle Royale website while she pranced about in a salad and a smile and keep an eye out if anyone was coming close to her location.

So far, no one had.

Nyao nyao, Chiu would like to thank Akamoto-sempai for his lovely poem in the BBS, Chisame continued. It was really very nice, and made Chiu very happy. Chiu would like to wish Akamoto-sempai the best of luck in his upcoming exams also! Good luck! Good luck! Okay, time to stop jumping excitedly, Chiu thought as there was a sudden slackening in the flax rope holding her skirt and briefs up from behind, so she clenched her thighs together. And now, Chiu is sad, because it's time for Chiu to go! Chiu has to go eat lunch now, and Chiu is very hungry. She rubbed her stomach for effect, feeling the skirt band give a little more. Bye bye from Chiu now! Everyone, keep leaving Chiu your lovely messages!

And... she's off. Chisame leaned forward and deftly flicked the webcam program off, it stopping transmitting a second before her lower half gave way and dropped to the forest floor. Great. She slithered into the black swimsuit lying at her feet before looking around and pulling the foliage off her collar, revealing it to the world. According to the timer program she had running on the laptop, she had maybe another ten minutes before the timer went off, so she began gathering her items together to move on. She had firewood, fish, flax and leaves to gather.


It was late afternoon, and the night promised to be cold. Also, she'd need to fix her Chiu costume before morning. Eventually, her items gather and skirt and shirt tucked under the crook of her arm, Chisame headed off to her next usual location to do a spot of fishing.

"Ranma!" The hiss outside his door made his heart drop. Umiko. What was she doing this time? Ranma had at least two weeks to cover. He'd left instructions that he was going to meditate inside his quarters for that time to think of new TerrorHawks, and also leave a note on his bed that it was too noisy, he couldn't hear himself think, he'd gone away to a remote part of China to meditate in the event that someone went into his room while he was gone. But Umiko was going to ruin... no, wait, this could be turned to his advantage. He smiled, then twisted his face into an annoyed expression.

"Does the 'do not disturb' sign not mean anything to ya, Umiko, or are ya just illa... allit... can't read?" Ranma growled as he threw open the door to reveal Umiko, smirking like a cat. Ranma's spine shivered inside his skin; it was bad enough she had claws, fangs, eyes, ears and a tail like a cat, but when she acted like one, it pressed all the wrong buttons. Why couldn't Umiko hide inside a box like those nice cats of the senshi?

Umiko didn't look perturbed. "I just wanted you to know, the second wave of my farming devices has been sent out to households. The people have been told they'll enhance the experience of Battle Royale. They're eager to use them." She was fishing for a reaction that would confirm to her that Ranma was working against Yoshihiro.

The funny thing was, he wasn't. But he didn't yet know all of what Yoshihiro's plans would entail, nor what would happen after. If there was the slightest chance Ranma could do something to have Yoshihiro's plans succeed that would result in the saving of a lot of lives, then he'd have to give serious thought to making that happen. Hence the energy farming project, which had led indirectly to Umiko's Battle Royale event. He felt she was trying to pervert what he was trying to do. Whereas Yoshihiro appeared to do bad things because of what he was and what his value structure and moral compass was, Umiko seemed to do bad things for the hell of it, and that Ranma really couldn't stand.

But he continued to look annoyed, moreso now. "And that's what ya woke me up from meditation for? I already know what'cha doing! I get reports slipped under my door about what goes on in my workshop, remember?"

"I thought I should tell the workshop's boss personally. It looks like another three girls will be dying later today. The cheerleaders, it looks like. That Mana girl is really bloodthirsty, and she's tracking them now." She licked her lips hungrily. "She makes good TV viewing."

"Are you just wasting my time?" Ranma demanded.

"Oh no," Umiko smirked in a mock-coy manner. "Who me? Never, General Ranma. Never. Not I. I have better things to do than waste time on one of our great Generals who is working for the betterment of our Master." She smirked again in what she thought was a knowing manner.

That was it for Ranma. "I can't take this anymore! I can't have interruptions. This is hard enough trying to come up with new ideas without being interrupted all the time! I'm going..." he appeared to pause in thought, face screwed up, scratching the back of his head. "I'm going to China! One of the mystical places there. Maybe the Amazon village or somethin'." With that, without even pausing to close his door or gather his things, Ranma slipgated out of the base and into nothingness.

But while Umiko turned his room upside down, she hadn't realised he had taken something with him, the most important thing in the world to him at the moment.

Bouncing nonchalantly against his thigh in a pants pocket was his Sailor Ceres transformation wand.


"It really is a most vulgar and violent past time," Shinku said, sipping her tea with her eyes closed while listening to the sounds of Usagi being beaten like a rag doll. Hina Ichigo thought she saw just a hint of a sadistic smile under the lip of the cup before Shinku's lower face was covered.

"Are all our big sisters coming?" Hina asked, standing on tiptoe to watch Cologne wallop Usagi again.

"No!" the Chinese elder insisted, rapping her cane on Usagi's wrist to move the younger woman's arm into a better blocking position. Usagi responded, looking annoyed more at herself, but totally focussed. It was something that Hina found very interesting to watch, and her wide, open smile soon turned from Usagi's intensive training to the four women also training intensively.

"Yes, they will be coming," Shinku promised as she lowered the cup back into its saucer. "I am expecting our most reserved sister to arrive some time tonight. I do not know why Father requires this task of us, but we shall carry out his wishes as best we can."

"Yay! Carrying out Father's wishes!" Hina yelled in sudden excitement. Cologne twitched an eye in their direction, and Shinku hurriedly shushed the emotionally younger doll.

"Oh, right," Hina whispered back in a stage whisper, "carrying out Father's wishes, yay!"

Shinku regarded her sibling with a raised eyebrow before taking another sip of her tea. "Why don't you go... do something else?" she suggested, eyeing the women trading punches, kicks, and some over-exaggerated hand and head gestures. Shinku wondered idly what these girls were practising for. Maybe they were television actresses or something, playing in a sentai show. Or maybe practising for a stage show, like one of those Sera Myu musicals she had seen posters for in the room of one of Yoshihiro's minions.

Not for one second did the thought she was out to assassinate the senshi come into her mind. She'd been told to assassinate seven young women who were most likely living together in the Kanagawa area; she'd found seven young women actually living together. Initially, they'd found what they thought were seven young women living together, but one turned out to be an aunt of the caretaker in her thirties, and there was also a male caretaker, who hadn't been mentioned by Father in the briefing sessions. It turned out it had been a similar dorm to the one they had eventually found to be correct, the similarities of which Shinku couldn't believe.

She did count herself lucky that she had arrived the day she had; if she had been one day later, and Cologne was already living in the dorm, Shinku would have moved on and kept searching for another dorm for the same reasons she had left the Hinata Sou.

Hina looked blankly at Shinku. "Go do what?" she asked eventually.

"Go inside and..." Shinku had an exaggerated expression with her face while gesturing subtly with a quick hand drawn across her throat, hidden from the women in the practise area by a finely-held china teacup. "Have some fun."

"Oh!" Hina replied, starting to walk off. "If you wanted me to kill someone, you only had to ask."

Shinku laid her head in her hands and felt like crying. Why oh why had Father relegated Hina Ichigo to the number two spot in this mission, instead of someone useful? No matter, Shinku thought as she drew herself up again. We can still do this. Seven of us, versus seven of them. It will be such a gracious victory.

The women kept up their practising, not knowing what was going on under their noses.


Konoemon had been more exhausted than Evangeline had first thought. He'd slept another eight days straight while in the resort – eight hours she could have used in the real world. Then, he'd been so weak he'd barely been able to move for another week – it was mid-afternoon on the island, Eva calculated roughly. She couldn't get television, radio or internet inside the resort, which made for an annoying time – she had no way of checking on how things were going outside, and didn't want to leave Konoemon to his own devices in her home away from home.

She padded into his room silently to observe him, watching him as he packed his case in preparation to leave. "Leather makes noise, you know," he said conversationally with his back still turned, surprising Evangeline that he knew she was there.

"My outfit didn't make any such noise," she said, looking down scandalised. She was in her adult body, as she often was while by herself in the resort. The glamour was supposed to make her look seductive, the adult she had never been able to become as a real person, but also built for stealth. Squeaking leather wasn't part of the glamour.

Glancing up again to recover her temporarily-lost composure, she found Konoemon smirking at her. "How did you do that?" she demanded, managing to stifle a blush with her anger.

Was it her imagination, or did the headmaster of Mahora Academy just give her a half-second leer? It looked friendly, but was still obviously a leer. "Your shampoo gives you away."

"Oh." Now Evangeline did feel the heat of a blush across her cheeks. "Are you leaving my humble abode?"

Konoemon decided to ignore, or missed, the deliberate gloating stress on the last three words. "Something terrible is happening to the students of class 3A. I can feel it from in here. Something isn't right."

"This television show isn't right," Eva interjected. "In my day –"

"In my day, you'd have just killed the lot of them? Hmm?" He favoured his incredibly old student with a raised eyebrow. "Oh Evangeline, I think Nagi hoped by now you'd have given up a lot of that old evil."

"What can I say? I'm a bad girl."

Konoemon wisely said nothing to this. Evangeline had helped out more times that she cared to admit. While she wasn't what he would refer to as a mage of the Light any time soon, she was here more for her excesses and the fact that Nagi Springfield, the Thousand Master, had thought she was crying out for rehabilitation, that her life had been so wretched she felt she had to become what had made her the way she was. Her confinement to the school wasn't just punishment for the evil deeds she had done, it was to help her find a new way in life. Sadly, though, Evangeline had so far managed to openly refuse and reject all offers at redemption.

But still, the headmaster was surprised to find Evangeline was itching to get back into this 'game'. It may have just been that there was no barrier in the island, and she revelled in the glory of her actual power, as she had when she stayed in Kyoto only a few short days before, but still... Konoemon thought it telling that with freedom, Evangeline hadn't tried to do anything bad apart from drink to excess and pushing herself on Nagi's son, Negi.

Thankfully, at ten years old, Negi had just smiled blankly and thought Eva was trying to fight him again. Asuna must have known otherwise, judging from how Eva had told it during his recovery, and intervened before Negi became aware of anything Evangeline had tried to do barring biting his neck.

"So, you feel ready to put me back on that damned island?"

"I need some items first," Konoemon sighed. "For that, I'll need to spend some time around the academy grounds to be able to gather what I need. Then, I'll need to recast the spell I had performed initially to get you to Kyoto to help the young Negi Springfield in the first place." He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Why do you want to go help our young teacher, anyway?"

"It's... it's not what you think," Evangeline said, turning away. Konoemon thought there may have been a blush involved this time, but she was too quick, and frankly, he was moving as fast as he could. The events on this island were most disturbing, and he agreed with Evangeline – whatever her reasons for going, she had to be there now. But it was still going to be a few seconds before he was ready to go and he just couldn't stop needling her.

"Maybe Nagi was right; some time in school has done you some good."

"S-shut up! It's just that I need his blood to break this stupid curse. If that bastard Nagi appeared here right now, I'd drain him dry."

"If only," Konoemon reflected morosely. Although she wouldn't admit it, Evangeline longed to see the Thousand Master again, even if only for him to ruffle her hair again and tell her she was being an idiot before trouncing her latest plan or scheme. "But we make do with what we have in the meantime. Nagi may be alive or may not be, but either way he's not here now, and you and Negi are." Finally ready to go, the headmaster turned from his packing and looked at Eva. "You may want to take Chachazero with you. You'll be at full power again, but I fear there may be stronger things there than you, child."

Evangeline regarded the old man before her curiously. It always surprised her that he made her feel so young; perhaps it was the fact he looked old and knobbled like a tree that had grown far past its prime, but for someone who was as ancient as she was, for her to feel like a child against someone else, they had to be something special. Maybe that was why she never seriously attempted to break out of Nagi's curse. Oh, she had recently, but... if she was completely honest with herself, with the barrier down, Nagi's son Negi was a decade too young to seriously challenge her. He learnt fast... maybe she was out with her estimate, but seriously, he was no match for her at present. And right now, the knock on the head he'd had, if he was thinking straight at all, he would be waiting for the right time to do something intensely stupid that he didn't have the power to stop once he'd started it. She had to be there for that, if not to stop it, then to crack open something to drink and watch the show.

"I'll get my things. And then, be ready to leave. Meet me outside." Eva turned on her heel, and left the room for her own quarters.


The island reeked, Ranma decided, but not of muck, swamp gas, or animals. No, this was an island of darkness. It was now late afternoon, the sun dipping low to the horizon, and he supposed Umiko by now would be sniffing around the base to find out what she could about what he'd done before he left, trying to find some clue as to what he might be up to.

Hopefully she didn't have a way of tracing him, mostly because after a quick trip into China, where he'd used his meditation to shift his mystical energy signature to hide from the others before a quick use of his curse and a transformation into Sailor Ceres, he'd then gated directly to the island.

But it wasn't off the coast, as the television show Battle Royale suggested. No, this island was directly in a phased dimensional pocket. Even the JSSDF soldiers and television crew thought they were close to the mainland, and would be able to see it if only the mists off the coast would rise. But no, they were separated from the mainland of Japan by more than mere kilometres – they were separated by a dozen other spacial dimensions, only about half of which were even theorised to exist by Earth's best scientists. As such, no one trying to disrupt the event would ever find them 

here, and indeed, if Ranma couldn't track the darkness he'd given himself over to, he'd never have been able to pinpoint the island's location either.

Once he had arrived at the island, though, he scurried into hiding. While no one here was that much of a threat to him, or appeared to be, he didn't want to stake his life on it. Right now, he was as strong as any of the minor senshi, not relying on his abilities as a General of the Dark Kingdom, and that meant yes, by a strong enough force, he could be killed.

This damned fuku, though, it kept catching on twigs and branches as he ducked and dived. He had never really examined it before, but it was a flumpy pleated skirt and a pair of bows – one on his chest and one on his back, just above the skirt. How the senshi did anything in this outfit, he didn't know. Except, once he stopped for a moment and gave an experimental twirl. The skirt flared up and confirmed something. If the monsters the senshi faced were typical males, then that combat manoeuvre would almost be enough to cause the monsters to lose from lack of blood.

Better still would be if they just spun with their arms out wide to stop any obstructions from making the skirt flare and interspersed those technical moves with cartwheels. Nothing on Earth could stop them.

Well, maybe women who weren't into other women, but that wasn't a place Ranma went too often, except on the odd occasion when he wondered whether Hotaru would be okay with the concept. It was difficult for Ranma himself to think of himself as a herself - Ranma was just Ranma to himself, after all – but it was an interesting problem. One for another time, though. He centred himself, and concentrated outwards, using his finely attuned senses to detect other people.

As far as he knew, he was near the school. And indeed, in the direction he thought it was, he could feel a lot of other people who were on edge, one drunk and sleeping, and one single young person who didn't feel quite right. Ranma was certain this was the child teacher, and although he wasn't sure why, Ranma was pretty certain he was still a little out of it, judging by the sense he got back. It was almost as if he wasn't entirely there. In shock, possibly. The Battle Royale show HQ at the school, where Big Man and the teachers were was shown from time to time on the television, and there were large, expensive screens around the room everyone stayed in that showed graphic replays of the day's events including all the deaths so far.

Reaching out further, he felt other people, mostly in small groups. The largest he felt on the island seemed to be about eight or ten girls, the average size was two or three, and there were a number of single girls wandering the island. The problem was, most were so far away he had no chance of feeling who was hunting who.

He knew from the television that the Mana girl was a nasty piece of work, but didn't think she'd actually be with anyone else, so more than likely she would be one of the girls by themselves.

With that thought, Sailor Ceres shrugged, picked a person at random, and leapt for the sky.


Back at the school, Negi stirred from a restless sleep. Something had woken him. It felt like a magical presence, but vastly overpowered, like something from one of the historical texts he'd read when he was at the mages academy before coming to Mahora. He rolled over on his cot, to find the screen next to his cot showing an unflattering view looking up at Mana. She was standing above one of the cameras on the forest's floor, looking serious and still. Negi had to wait to see her chest rise and fall shallowly to make sure he wasn't watching a still image. No, this was live. She was tracking someone. Whoever it was, he felt sorry for them, but what could he do? At the moment, he didn't have his staff or his wand – both were back wherever the bus was, presumably, so he had no magic to fall back on at this time. If he saw the chance, though, yes, he'd definitely do something. Just for the moment, he had no idea what he could do.

Oh, he was sure he could make a gloriously futile gesture and charge Big Man or one of the soldiers, but he'd be hit again or shot, and thinking of being hit, he rubbed his head. It still had a bump from where he'd been thumped a couple of days ago. Chamo was on his shoulder, also watching the screen. He appeared very worried.

"It's bad, Aniki. Mana's got more experience at real combat than the others. We found that out in Kyoto." The ermine wasn't smoking, which to Negi meant one of two bad things: either Chamo was out of cigarettes, or more likely he was very worried about the situation. "A couple of the girls might stand a chance, like Kaede or maybe even Asuna if she was lucky. Ku Fei might also make it, along with Setsuna, and after the Kyoto trip Setsuna would even more openly fight to protect Konoka, but whether that would be enough to protect either girl from Mana, Chamo didn't know. "This is really bad."

"If only I could get to my staff or wand," Negi murmured, eyes riveted to the screen. How could any of his students do this? How could they contemplate this at all? Sure, Mana seemed like she'd seen war before, but shouldn't that make her want to not fight? Shouldn't she be protecting her friends who wouldn't be able to fight what they were caught up in? "Then I could make Mana see reason. She's got to stop this! They could get off this island if... if only..."

"She won't stop fighting, Aniki," Chamo replied sadly. "And there's no way for me to get out of this classroom, either. I can't go get your wand. But maybe... maybe we can make our own?"

"Make our own wand, Chamo?" Negi asked, his eyes growing wide with the idea. Then he deflated. "But we'd need wood. We'd also need something to whittle it down. And then something to imbue it with magical power, so it would respond to me." Movement on screen caught Negi's eye, and he turned just in time to see Mana spring into action, leaping across a clearing and grabbing Sakurako Shiina's head in her hands and twisting it to the side. The two remaining cheerleaders screamed, then bolted as their friend's lifeless body toppled to the ground. Negi's mouth ran dry, and he couldn't bear to watch, yet he couldn't tear his eyes away. He needed to know what was happening. Mana returned, gave a glance at the two retreating cheerleaders, but before chasing them, she quickly reached inside Sakurako's backpack, withdrawing what looked to be a shuriken.

The object was confirmed as a throwing star a few moments later when another camera zoomed in and the feed switched over to it. Negi could hear the production assistants behind him telling each other what cameras had what feed, and indeed barely after Mana had stood again, another camera 

shot showed the surviving cheerleaders running blindly down the forest path they had been on, with Mana appearing in the background, but gaining on the girls fast.

Once the girls made it out of the forest, it would be easy for Mana to catch them, Negi realised, but then he saw a sight that nearly made him cheer out loud – even if it did make his heart leap. The two remaining cheerleaders, Misa Kakizaki and Madoka Kugimiya, ran past a thicket of bushes, and as soon as they were past them, Asuna, Chachamaru, Ku Fei and Setsuna stepped out from either side of the pathway, blocking Mana's path. The assassin pulled up short, a dozen metres from the other girls. The cheerleaders were stopped and calmed by Konoka, who shot Mana an uncharacteristically fierce look.

The assassin glared at the girls dispassionately, weighing up her chances. It was obvious to Negi that these were girls she hadn't wanted to face quite this quickly. And her body language showed that while she was pretty sure she could take any of the girls individually at this point in their development, together they could pose some slight threat, but the way her eyes lingered, Negi was certain only Chachamaru posed a credible threat to Mana.

"Go away, Mana, turn around and go away now," Asuna growled, her paper fan held in a ready position, her legs apart not for charging, but to stabilise herself in case Mana came at them. To Mana, and Negi, Asuna looked at least as nervous and unsure about the encounter as Mana appeared to be from Negi's vantage point. "Kaede told us what you did to Fumika. We won't let you do the same to Misa and Madoka. Leave now, and we won't fight." Asuna's stance added the silent 'yet', but it was understood by Mana all the same. Neither side appeared ready for the fight.

"Go away, Mana," Negi whispered to himself.

"That Mana chick, she's one tough nut," Chamo added from Negi's shoulder. He felt the child shiver beneath him.

"I should be out there, Chamo," Negi whispered. "I shouldn't be here. I should be out there, stopping this from happening!"

"Calm down, Aniki, calm down. You will help them. But be reasonable: without magic, there's nothing you can do... for the moment. Just calm down, wait, watch, and strike when you have an advantage." Even as Chamo spoke the calming words, he knew exactly what Negi meant. While he knew the waiting would likely kill something inside Negi that shouldn't be extinguished, and that he wanted to be out saving the girls from Negi's class – if only because that meant less ermine dollars he could spend from future pactios – this waiting was something that just had to be done for the moment. There would be a time to strike, there would come a time and Chamo would then make sure that even if Negi wasn't willing to go that far, he would, or he'd make sure Negi allowed the remaining victims to get their licks in before he let Negi stop them. This was something unforgivable and sickening.

If that Evangeline girl hadn't gotten herself yanked back to the school, things might have been different. If she'd given Negi his wand – or any wand – this could have been and done with by now.

On the screen, the standoff continued.

"Mana, this is your last warning," Asuna repeated nervously. There was no Negi to back her up or make her use her full confidence in her newly-found magical abilities, and she was mostly going on what little Setsuna had been able to show her recently. As it was, Setsuna's stance suggested she was scared of Mana as well, which was affecting Asuna. Ku Fei, as always, looked forward to the fight, while Chachamaru was dispassionate about this as she was everything.

"Hmph," Mana smirked suddenly. She seemed calm and relaxed again, and pulled the shuriken from a pocket. The relaxed attitude scared Asuna more than the weapon. She spun it on her fingertip, before flicking it directly at Asuna's face.

Asuna managed to block it with her harisen, reacting on instinct rather than skill, and by the time she'd lowered the fan enough to see Mana, she'd registered the three girls beside her had all leapt forward. This was it.

Mana was coming.

TO BE CONTINUED...

SAILOR MOON SAYS:

Well, obviously the resolution to this fight in the next chapter. Sailor Ceres is back! And some more with the other various groups around the place. Hope you're all enjoying this still! More next time.