Makoto hadn't planned on going as Jupta that day. In fact, she had planned on not going out all week. There was no point in going out. All of the secret servicemen would keep Southerland safe, for the time being, and Makoto couldn't have gone out on the job without getting herself caught. She figured that the drug lords would have to do the same. Pyrus hadn't stayed in business for as long as he had by acting stupid.

But for some reason Makoto found herself in an office building, on the one side where no one was gathered. Everyone who usually worked at that building, but weren't down on the street, were all looking out of their eastward windows towards the platform where President Leonard G. Taylor would soon be speaking. Makoto wanted to hear him herself, but she knew that he was going to be starting in a moment, and she probably would not be done in time to hear at least the beginning.

Several days ago, Makoto had heard of an effort to assassinate the President. It was from a couple of people in her college, huge idiots, in her opinion, because they were talking about it near other people. It was probably just a stupid joke, but to be safe she had told the police. They didn't think much of it, and the presidential visit went on as it was planned.

But it was only later that she learned of another plot, this one obviously better planned out. Though it was still a shock to her that the criminals were fairly careless. Makoto had only gone to a local Japanese restaurant because her favorite Korean restaurant, Hyuckjin's, was closed temporarily. She was supposed to meet Elsie and Sammi there. She was early enough to go over and see if Okinawa Delight was still open.

Practicing her Japanese as she went in and ordered for the other girls (they went in there often enough for her to know what they like), Makoto was glad that she remembered the Japanese well enough to speak so fluently. It was a big help to the owners of Okinawa Delight, as they weren't very good english speakers yet.

As she sat down, she noticed two men sitting in the otherwise empty dining area. She didn't pay that much mind, and just sat down as she waited for the order to be completed. She was fortunately reading some Japanese manga, part of Reina's collection, so to the men it appeared that she had about as much capacity for english as the owner.

But of course they were cautious. Makoto could see from her periferal vision that they were acting strange about her. So she casually pulled out her cell phone and pretended to dial. As she pretended that someone was answering, she began to speak japanese, loudly and laughing.

This seemed to relax the men, and they started talking in low voices. It was too much of a distraction for Makoto to invent a conversation, so to keep up with what she heard, she began to repeat what the men said, only in Japanese. It turned out that they were planning to shoot the President. They had everything figured out, even an escape route for the shooter to hide in when the police arrived in the building, which they were sure to do. It was almost a pity that they were so careless as to blurt out their plans in public.

But Makoto had been unable to stop them then. They left after only a few minutes, and Sammi and Elsie had actually passed them by to enter in. Makoto quickly ducked to make sure they wouldn't see her right away and greet her in english.

One would think that between that time and this that Makoto would have told the police again. She did. They didn't believe her. It turned out that since there had been no evidence to prove that her college classmates were planning an assassination, that they didn't believe her. They told her to stop hearing things.

So Jupta now knew everything, but was alone. Just like always. As she now wandered throughout the building in her costume, feeling a little ridiculous wearing it in the daytime. She nervously rubbed her arm as she looked for the right room number. It didn't take her long.

She tried the knob. Locked. Thinking quickly, she kicked down the door, revealing several bewildered office employees, the staff of the computer company that operated on this floor. Once engrossed in the President's speech, they now had their eyes fixed on Jupta, who was standing in the doorway, no less bewildered herself.

"What went wrong?" Jupta asked herself frantically as the people started asking her questions, and wondering amongst themselves what they should do. "He said the fourth floor, room 436....or was it the fifth floor...?"

She didn't remember. Pounding on the wall in anger, she tried hard to remember what floor it was. In her frustration, all thoughts of the events at Okinawa Delight went out of her head...except that one of the men had mentioned the crawlspace on the eastern wall. The shooter was going to hide in it for a short time to prevent immediate discovery. They had mentioned that there was only enough room to do that near the corners of the building, and that they could get a better aim from the right side of the eastern wall....

It meant that while Jupta was on the wrong floor, she had the right room. Whatever room the shooter was in, it was in perfect lineup with the room she was currently in.

There were fifteen floors on this downtown building, and at least twenty curious coworkers still staring at her. One of them was starting to dial on his cell phone.

Jupta quickly shut the door behind her and snapped the phone out of his hand. Instead of speaking, she pulled a black marker and paper off of a nearby desk and wrote in large letters: "There is a shooter". Not waiting to see the looks of shock on everyone's faces, she took the hand of the man who had tried to report her and wrote "check 136" on it, then jerked her thumb towards the door. It was dangerous to send ordinary people to look, but it was the only way to have it done in time.

He immediately understood what to do. So did the other people she sent. One woman started to cry, so Jupta definitely didn't send her out. Though she always tried to be understanding of people, she never understood how someone could simply cry when there was danger afoot.

As Jupta wrote numbers on peoples' hands and sent them out, she realized that she should have given herself the first floor, and let all the rest get the higher floors, if she wanted to get out when this situation ended. But it couldn't be helped now. Besides, it was bad enough she was using them anyway. She didn't need to send them to the higher floors, where the shooter was more likely to be, while she herself snuck out.

So taking the fifteenth floor to search for herself, Jupta went with the last few people to go to the higher floors. Then it hit her: the shop on the fifteen floor was closed for renovation. Of course the shooter would be there, because it would be the only floor where nobody was trying to get a good look at President Taylor. Feeling very stupid, she ran up the stairs with the others. She decided that it would probably be best if she went with the innocent person to check the fourteenth floor.

But as they made it to the fourteenth floor, where there were a decent number of people, Jupta suddenly saw one of the men from Okinawa Delight. He was a security guard, Jupta bitterly noted as she saw the familiar uniform. But as Jupta herself was a very obvious sight, he immediately pulled out his gun. Before the man with her could assure the false guard of her good intent, Jupta had already shot him in the shoulder. She snatched up his weapon and cuffed him with his own handcuffs before checking the room on the fourteenth floor. No one there, besides shocked people.

She wasn't worried. Leaving the questionable situation in the hands of the office employees, she shot up to the fifteenth floor, only to find that there was no one in that room either.

"What does this mean?" Jupta asked herself, gritting her teeth. "Where is the other man? .....The roof!"

Not wasting another moment, she headed to the top of the building. Sure enough, there was the evasive shooter, just mounting the scope on his rifle, not yet near the side of the building that would become his hiding spot You could even see the ceiling tiles he had removed for his evasion. Before moving in, Jupta got a good look at him. He had steely, blue eyes, ones that were entirely focused on his task. His brown, spiked hair was well out of his face, and she was a little suprised that he didn't wear a mask or something to cover up. As she watched, he suddenly tensed and turned to the door, where she was still standing.

She knew he couldn't shoot her. The bullet would alarm everyone, and then his plans would come to nothing. So he waited.

Jupta moved first. She kicked the gun away, then led with two punches to the stomach.

Neither of them hit. Whoever this guy was, he was a professional. After blocking her attempts, he punched her, going for the face. She dodged in time, but he still managed to hit her shoulder before she could get out of his reach. Strangely enough, Jupta's first thought was to think how much of a relief it was to fight a more professional martial artist for once, rather than some untrained kid with a gun. Admonishing herself for the ridiculous thought and trying again, Jupta was able to hit him twice in the stomach and chest before he kicked her, and it nearly knocked her over.

There was no way she was going to let herself fail. Not with what was at stake.

Suddenly she felt a wave of adrenaline (or maybe rage) and managed to start gaining some headway in the fight. It wasn't long when the would-be shooter left himself open. It was only for a moment, but it was long enough for Jupta to get a punch to the face, which enabled her to knock him out with a swift kick to the face.

Something fell to the ground with a clatter as the criminal mastermind himself fell. It was a small handgun. That was what he had left himself open to try and reach for. Jupta shuddered, thinking about how it would have felt if he had been able to pull it out in time.

Jupta had her own cuffs, so just for the comfort of her mind, she cuffed him. But as her heartbeat slowed to normal, she began to hear words that had been going on for several minutes now from the square below her. She wandered over to the edge of the roof.

And there he was. President Leonard Taylor, former governor of Washington state. He'd been in office for almost four years already, and this speech was part of his efforts to get elected. And judging from the size of the crowd, not only in the square itself but also in the surrounding buildings, his efforts were thus far successful.

As Jupta stared down at the passionate politician as he spoke. She noticed his eyes wandering to and fro throughout the crowd (though he did focus on the cameras from time to time), and Jupta should have guessed it wouldn't be long before he saw her. As his eyes focused on her and squinted (the two were quite distant), he stopped speaking. The crowds and the cameras immediately followed his gaze to where she was standing.

Uncertain, she wasn't sure what to do. It would have been much smarter for her to have gone from the building. Left with no other option, Jupta did what made sense to her. She proudly snapped up a fancy salute, one definitely fit for an anime fan, with only two fingers outstretched to her eyebrow, and the other hand placed confidently on her hip.

President Taylor returned the salute in a properly military way, with a wry, amused, and slightly confused look on his face. He had to have known who she was, though. There was no way his secret service men wouldn't have told him. And as the crowd cheered, he couldn't help but smile a little wider. Jupta smiled too.

As Jupta saw his salute, she dropped hers, and promptly turned away. While on her exterior she was completely composed, just as anyone who had gathered at the door to the roof witnessed, on the inside she trembled. How in the world was she going to get out of there?

Fortunately, there was a smaller building on the opposite side of the roof, and Jupta made her way over. Looking down and guessing, she supposed that this building was only about thirteen or even twelve stories high. She wasn't going to feel good the next morning. But nonetheless, she managed to get a good running start. Gasping as she hit, Jupta rolled across the roof to lessen the impact.

Getting up and stretching, Jupta was a little surprised that she didn't hurt as much as she though she would. Nothing was broken. She looked over the far side of the building, trying to ignore the people from the first building who were doubtlessly still staring and gasping after the jump. But the words of the President were amplified enough for her to hear them.

Fortunately there was a fire escape, so she wouldn't have to jump any further.

--

Dear Motoki,

I am so excited! It has been a wonderful week this week! The gig went well, and I expect that we will be no less than superstars! It is so wonderful that Mia's songs will be sung by someone as good as Sammi!

I know I usually only write you a letter once a week, but I wanted to write to you about this. I...I wrote a speech. After I saved the President from an assassination, he asked me to give a speech. You see, there were two shooters, and the police didn't believe me when I told them. That is very surprising. You would think that they would be very paranoid about the Presidents' safety.

But I stopped the shooters. I hope the one that I shot isn't dead. That way he will live to be ashamed of himself. There was another shooter, but he will be fine. I just knocked him out. he will be fine. Both are arrested. It was in the paper, as well as a big picture of me saluting President Taylor. I did not realize there was a flag behind me on the building. I suppose that when one is busy it is difficult to take in every detail.

As I was leaving, the President asked me to speak. I do not think that he knew what had happened until later, but he just saw me standing there. Maybe he wanted to make it easier to catch me later. I do not know how Southerland would react to that.

I did not want to do the speech. There was no way that I could have spoken without giving myself away. Not only with my voice (surely I knew someone there who would recognise it), but with what I have to say. So i could not speak then, but I want to write what I would have said to you now.

Ha, I think that maybe President Taylor wanted me to endorse him. But I am far too young to vote.

"Southerland,

I am very happy to live and to work here and to live in this country. Thank you so much for allowing me to speak today.

There are some of you who think that what I am doing is wrong. I understand why you say this, because it is a very violent line of work I am into. I want you to know that I regret to shoot people, but I do it because I must. It pains me that I must, but in the end, I know that there are very few ways to stop crime, and if the people do not believe that they can get away with their crime, then they will not do it. And after so much research, I know that the drugs often go to very bad people, and even in different countries.

I do this because I want to help Southerland. It is my reason to go on. Only a short time ago I lost everyone I ever cared about. They would have been so wonderful to the world...I would help them and protect them and encourage them, but now they are gone. It was just after that, when I was alone, that I learned the secret of life. The secret of life is everybody else. You must trust me, as I was in despair, I knew then that if I tried to live for myself, I would die. There is no hope or life in that. There is no future without loved ones.

So that is why I help you now, Southerland. It gives me a reason to live. But the more I live, the more I see that there are many people who somehow find a way to live so selfishly, and disregard their families. Parents are often scoffed at by their children, and on the TV there are so many shows where they make the parents look stupid and say that they cannot understand their children. Men will have children and then abandon them, because they aren't ready to be parents, they say. Some women will kill their unborn children, and this I understand the least. They say it is women's rights, but that cannot be true, because in many countries, like China, they will kill the baby if they find that it is a girl. Doesn't that make the country more like a man's country and take away more of women's rights?

And apparently there is a slave trade going, and some people, in other countries in particular, sell their children just to survive. This I know the most about because I see it the most in my work. When I first started this, I thought it was just about drugs. It is not. There are girls, and some boys, who are stolen and forced to do unspeakable acts. I have even seen some of them, and they are scarred for life.

So I think it is better to live to help someone else, to make sure that they are safe. If we do everything for ourselves, then how will there be love? That is the reason I fight, because I know that because I am there, there is less crime later and less drugs, and the bad men who sell them will not get any money.

Thank you."

Do you think the speech is any good? I am not a writer. Elsie could probably tell me many things that are wrong with it. But I will not let her see this.

Sincerely,

Kino Makoto.

P.S. If you could write me back, please tell me if this speech is any good.