Here comes the next chapter. Enjoy…


Previously:

After attending an art exhibition organized by Michiru, Ami takes a rushed leave after a rather unfortunate encounter with her father. Trying to vent of her frustration she decides to go for a swim, but unfortunately gets involved in a case of jewelry robbery. While trying to get the thugs arrested things turn for the worst. She loses her Henshin Stick, leaves behind some severely injured thugs and ends up severely hurt herself. Found by her friends, they try to heal her, with little success, instead they manage to accomplish a completely unexpected feat: splitting up Ami and her Mercurian Senshi guardian into two separate entities. The Senshi have no choice, but to consult her mother to do the surgery meant to save her life. In the meantime, the others decide to get Ami's Henshin Stick back from the police. They devise a plan, which includes Rei impersonating Ami and entering a police interrogation lead by the already suspicious police Inspector Chen Hattorima…


Setsuna had agreed to her part of the plan immediately. In hindsight, she had to admit, her lack of sleep and her declining adrenaline level might have largely influenced that particular rash decision. If she had known back then what the plan entailed her to do, she might have reconsidered. As in outwardly refused. However, no one had bothered to mention the details. Those details had only been determined, when it was too late for her to change her mind. In hindsight, that has been the biggest lack of judgement on her part. Setsuna sighed. A glorified mission it was. And she probably was supposed to carry out the most unglorified part in it. By god, she was the Senshi of time. A divine being like her could only be offended by the situation she was finding herself in right now. Well, at least none of the others was witnessing this or she would never hear the end of it. Particularly Minako and Haruka would laugh their asses off, if they saw her now. No, this would stay a well-guarded secret she was adamant to forget herself, as soon as this whole mess was sorted out. After all, she had a reputation to live up to.

Right now, she couldn't be more uncomfortable. Crouched down in that tiny stall unsure where to put her oversized staff, no, she had already cramps in her back and the whole balancing act on her boots got on her nerves even without pondering too much on what she was actually standing. She had tried to steady herself on the walls; however, she was kind of reluctant to touch anything in here. A sneer of disgust was planted on her face. God, was nobody ever cleaning up this place? She had seen a thousand years old tomes that had been in better shape. Corpses included. In addition, the offensive smell that wished her to be able to stop breathing put any rotting corpse to shame.

Think of roses. Pretty roses.

Suddenly, the offending smell was accompanied by the appropriate offending noises.

Great. Just great.

As if, it wasn't disgusting enough. Curse my vivid imagination. A relieved grunt followed. Oh, come on. Please be finished. Water splashed and a new wave of odor reached her sensitive nostrils.

Of course not.

Prolonging this dreadful experience was probably the way of fate to get some revenge on her for her audibility to consider herself the guardian of time. Why for god's sake, did this guy have to enter now? Time either hated her or wanted to test her on some occasions. Probably it was both of it. After all, she created some rather nasty time paradoxes herself. If this was the revenge then just maybe it hadn't been worth it. Again, water flushed and a rather wrong pitched whistling reached her ears. Come on, must you torture my sensitive ears as well. Moreover, how can he even whistle after that? He must be used to food poisoning. Somehow, she didn't know if that should make her respect the police more or less. She heard the door of the toilet stall open.

Finally.

Then he just left. Setsuna's face wrinkled in disgust.

Hello? There is something called soap and washing hands? Ever heard of it?

Her respect for police officers dwindled as fast as appeared. She unfolded her cramped body and finally stepped down from the toilet sill. Of course, there had been no lid. Who needed something as insignificant as that? She did not believe in god. However, this time she prayed that the others would hurry up. Being stuck in the men's' toilet would probably fill her nightmares to come.

Then she heard the door opening again and Setsuna grudgingly jumped back onto the toilet sill to keep her legs from being seen. There was the chattering of two people.

"You know, you should really try some more adventurous stuff in bed to impress her. There are some pretty nasty toys I can recommend…"

Setsuna's head sunk to the slimy wall covered in obscene drawings in defeat. Why couldn't she smash some Youma like in the good old times?


Rei could feel the sweat trickle down her spine. So that's how being interrogated felt like. No wonder that in all the movies she had seen so far, the suspects usually ended up as a teary quite cooperative mess. With an interrogator such as this guy even the hardest nut was supposed to crack eventually. He had introduced himself as Inspector Chen Hattorima and the moment he did, Rei's hopes to fool him had dwindled significantly. This man was like a block of stone, unyielding, resolute and resistant to any form of charm, manipulation or playing innocent. A veteran in police work, well above his forties, already grey streaks in his cropped black hair. Piercing eyes in a strange hue of captivating smoke blue. And a grim line around the mouth that indicated that he did not smile much. He had bags under his eyes that testified a lack of sleep, probably a common occurrence in his line of work.

Rei hid her hands under the desk. She had been offered a glass of water. However, although her throat was porched she did not drink. There were two reasons: She wanted to conceal her hands, because she wasn't entirely sure, she could completely hide her trembling and the second reason was fingerprints. She would not leave any voluntarily. She could not be sure, whether she had hers or Ami's, but it was best not to give them anything to match against the ones from the crime scene.

At the moment, Hattorima was silent studying his documents. Rei had realized soon that pregnant pauses were his favorite weapon to put some psychological pressure on her. So far, they had only exchanged formalities for protocol, but the questions would soon become gross.

Suddenly, Hattorima looked straight at her and his smoke blue eyes seemed to penetrate her facade immediately. "Well, Miss Mizuno, I have some questions about the respective night when your bag was stolen. You know that there has been a robbery in the near vicinity, very close from where your bag has been found. So, would you please give me a report of what you were doing that evening? Please state any relevant details, time frames or notable facts you remember or might deem important."

Rei gulped. So it begins.

"I was at the swimming hall that evening. I probably arrived around 9 pm and stayed until past midnight. The warden can confirm that. During that time, I was in the pool. When the swimming hall was about to close I wanted to leave and realized that my bag was missing. I usually place it in the locker, however, this time when I came back the locker was open. The lock is quite simple so I think it does not pose a problem to break it. My bag was gone only my clothes lay scattered around. I guess the thieves were not interested in them."

"So the lock was broken?"

"No, you have to bring a personal one. Mine was number coded. Probably they have guessed the number correctly or manipulated the lock somehow. I don't know for sure."

"Do you still have it?"

"Yes, I do. Do you need it as evidence?" Makoto had already tempered with it so that it looked now manipulated. How she got that impressive knowledge about picking locks she did not care to elaborate.

"We will let you know, but probably yes. Did you see somebody around, who might have been the culprit?"

"No, as I have said, I was swimming and you can't see the locker room from the pool." Stick to the truth as much as possible.

He raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Four hours straight? That's a bit much even for training."

"I am a good swimmer and I'm training regularly. However, I wasn't exercising the whole time. There is a whirlpool, I occupied frequently and sometimes I just like to drift. I was completely alone this evening so it was quite cozy." Again the truth.

"And you never went back to the locker in between?"

"No, I usually take all I need with me to the pool. I only realized what happened, when I wanted to leave."

"The warden only mentioned two people entering near closing time. An attractive guy and a woman. He only remembered them because the dress of the girl was completely drenched. Do you know something about them?"

Rei nodded. Of course, he would mention Haruka and Michiru. "Yes, they are my friends. I called them as soon as I noticed my bag was gone. I wanted to ask, whether I could stay overnight with them, since my keys were gone as well and my mother was supposed to work on night shift at the hospital. So I could not reach her."

"You called them? But your mobile phone was in your bag, wasn't it?" They anticipated that question.

"There is a permanent phone in the anteroom. I used that." She knew that they would be able to trace it. By now, Luna should have put a fake call in the records.

"Can you give me their number?"

"Of course. You can ask them yourself. I am telling the truth."

Hattorima smiled leniently. "You misunderstand. I mean, right now. If you have phoned them back then, you must know their phone number by heart."

Rei's heart jumped a bit. That was not expected. Hotaru suddenly whispered in her ear. Relieved, she just repeated the numbers.

Hattorima nodded and wrote it down, but seemed a tad bit disappointed that he didn't catch her lying right away. However, he wasn't finished yet. "The warden stated that these two took exit on their own. You weren't with them, but only left approximately 15 minutes afterwards."

They were prepared for this one as well. "Michiru slipped in the swimming hall and fell in the pool. That's why her dress was soaked through and she was a bit disgruntled about it. She had some spare clothes in the car and she wanted to redress. That's why they waited for me outside."

"You had a bag with you when you left." This one was not phrased as a question.

"Yes, they gave it to me for my wet swimming gear." God bless the fact that the warden did see Haruka and Michiru enter with Michiru's beach bag. There could have hidden basically anything in there from an additional bag to a small atelier.

He lifted an eyebrow. "That is rather strange. We actually asked the warden to describe the bag you left with. His description matches the one we found at the crime scene accurately." He left his blatant accusation hanging in the air.

Rei had to suppress a rather betraying smile. Now I got you lying.

"That cannot be. Not only was it a different bag, but I also did not see the warden, when I left. He was not at the counter. The last time I saw him, was when I still was in the pool and he told me to get ready to leave. Back then, I did not even know that my bag was stolen." God bless the fact, that this was indeed what happened. Mercury told them that Ami was a frequent guest at this particular swimming hall. So she and thereby Mercury knew that usually before closing up the warden came quite a bit in advance and told the remaining people to leave. In the meantime, he already did his security round in the rest of the building to call it a day on time. And this was exactly how it had been this evening. He did not see her leave and thereby could not know that it was indeed the same bag, she carried.

Hattorima did not comment his lie. He did not even bat an eyelash. But Rei's nervousness only increased. She could see it in his eyes. His resolve. His conviction that she was the one lying. And his persistent eagerness to catch her doing so. Either with this lie or another.

Rei gripped the armrest of her chair harder, glad that it was below the table surface. This way he would not see.

"We will ask him again. However, I have another question you might give me some insight to. It deals with the content of the bag we found." Again, one of his favorite pregnant pauses. And he did not say 'your' bag.

"Proceed. I will be of assistance in any way I can." As if, she had a choice.

"Well, first there was a damp swimsuit inside. Can you maybe explain to me how the swimsuit you were supposed to have worn, while your bag was stolen ended up in said bag?" Now, she could clearly see the challenging glint in his eyes. He was obviously thinking something along the lines of: you are not going to weasel out of this one.

However, that was exactly what she was going to do. "That wasn't the same swimsuit."

He obviously did not buy this her claim. "It was damp. So you have clearly worn it."

"Yes, I did. But in the morning. I have been there swimming earlier as well. I can give you the entrance tickets." Which was gladly true as well. It wasn't, as if the midnight swim had been planned anyway. So yes, Ami had been there twice a day. With the same swimsuit, but that fact they would not mention.

Hattorima raised again a skeptical brow. "Two times a day? For such a long time?"

"I like swimming and I am good at it. You can ask the warden, nearly all the staff around there, I am quite often there. It relaxes me, when I have stress in school."

"I see. I will ask the employeesl. You are quite a talented student, aren't you? For a junior grade you carry some quite advanced books around with you." Of course, he did not specify. He wanted to see, whether she knew. And thanks to Mercury she did.

"Yes, I am. I am attending cram school as well as the library frequently. And if you are referring to the medical books about bacteriology, virology and comparative genome analysis, I have loaned them for my mother. She is a surgeon by profession." As if, he wouldn't already know that.

"The book about astrophysics and Shakespeare's Macbeth as well?" He countered.

"She is a well-educated woman, interested in almost everything." And as an afterthought. "One day I hope to be like her. However, it was Othello and I like to read Shakespeare myself." She could see his mouth twitch. Again, she scored a solid point by revealing his hidden trap.

"My mistake. Othello of course… And that strangely coded book?" Her inner smile of satisfaction vanished like an imploding light bulb. What coded book? Was this another bluff? Her earpiece stayed unsettling silent.

"What do you mean?" She tried to stall time and she could see it in his eyes that he knew. He did not show it, but she could imagine his hidden predator grin as his eyes glinted darkly in an almost menacing way.

"The hand written book with the strange graphs and signs. What is it?"

Finally, Mercury deigned to answer her in a faint whisper.

"Ahh, that's what you mean. That book is a game. With one of my friends… " She repeated Mercury's words.

"Care to elaborate?" Her heart beat like a sledgehammer. Still, she repeated word for word, what Mercury told her to say.

"My friend as well as I likes codes. We generate riddles for each other to solve. Each of us has a book. We write in the encrypted riddle for the other, then hand over the book and the other one solves it." She had no clue what she was talking about. Was this a made up lie or the truth? Was Ami really doing something like this?

"Sounds interesting. Maybe you can later on explain one in detail to me." He suggested sweetly.

Son of a bitch.

Rei gathered all her confidence and produced her brightest smile. "Sure. Most of my friends don't really get the knack of it, but it's really fun to play. And it's a great exercise for your mind, just like Sudokus only way more advanced. I know some people who play it for years. Or have you ever heard about mind palaces?" She started rambling on purpose with her most enthusiastic voice in the same way Ami usually did in her science geek talk mode, when the others only wanted her to shut up. Gladly, Hattorima wanted the same. He wasn't the least bit interested in any mind games besides the one they were playing right now. As she had guessed.

"Maybe another time. Unfortunately I am currently working. So let's get back to the topic at hand. Can you also explain to me the purpose of the drugs you carried with you?"

Again Rei's heart leaped. What drugs? She was supposed to know that. Why the hell did they have prepared in advance for this interrogation, if Mercury didn't care enough to elaborate the important details?

"The aspirin? I thought, it's common knowledge what it is used for?" She guessed, part of her anger leaking into the answer. Stay calm. Don´t agitate him further. She knew Ami frequently had headaches due to her huge workload, so she hoped that her answer was at least somewhat reasonable.

Hattorima only raised a single eyebrow considering her annoyed bluntness. She didn't care. Anyone in her situation had the right to be pissed of considering the treatment she got so far.

"Not the aspirin, Miss Mizuno. The Clonazepam."

The what? What was that supposed to be? Again her would be helpers at the other end of her earpiece took their sweet time to provide an appropriate answer for her. She would rip them apart as soon as she got the chance to for their oh so valuable help. But, not right now. Think. You are supposed to answer that one.

"With all due respect, but whatever drugs I carry is none of your business. As far as I know the police is not allowed to ask health related confidential questions, without at least offering the assistance of a lawyer before." That was all she managed to do.

"We did at the beginning. You declined." He stated not the least bit impressed.

Right. She did. "Back then, I thought I am just here to retrieve my bag and to press charges against the culprits, who stole it. Then you come up with all of those needless questions that are obviously of no importance in this context. First, I thought you just want to make sure that the bag you found truly belongs to me. I was most cooperative and patient so far. However, now I get the impression that I am interrogated as a suspect here." There was some furious very unhelpful whispering in her earpiece that was without a doubt not suited to help her in any way, since it mostly was rigorous scolding. It was Makoto reprimanding Mercury. She really would kill them. They were quarreling right into her ear. She needed an answer to that damn question and that fast and not their constant distracting bickering. Fortunately, her distraction strategy worked at least on Hattorima.

"You have to understand that we have to consider every possible option. The assaulting party, which attacked and incapacitated the thieves, has not been identified, yet, and your bag has been found very close to the crime scene. I am only doing my job thoroughly."

"I have not been there that evening. And how can you believe that I would be able to take out a band of thieves? I am merely a student. How should I be able to do that and more importantly why? If I had seen them rob anything, I would have called the police, instead of trying to stop them on my own. I am not suicidal."

Hattorima frowned darkly and Rei realized that this was exactly what he did not have an explanation for, even if he was convinced that not only her bag had been there that night but her as well. Why would she bother to interfere personally? Why taking that risk?

"Maybe you had some help?"

"What are you trying to suggest? Who would help me in doing that? Do you think that I am running some underground organization of freelance vigilantes eager to rescue mankind, beat up the bad guys and help old women to cross the street?" That actually wasn't far from the truth. Out of a sudden urge, she decided to top that. "Then I probably need to dress up accordingly. Maybe you can lend me an appropriate cape." Sarcasm dripped now from her words.

Hattorima leaned back folding his hands and gauging her carefully. What an ass. Rei tried to stick to her just anger. Right now, it suited her needs well. This guy wanted to play her. Well you can try, but don't think I participate in that little game of yours willingly.

"Of course, I am not suggesting something as ridiculous as that. And someone who only wanted to help surely wouldn't kill." He assured her nonchalantly.

A wave of shock crushed Rei's temper tantrum. "Kill?" She asked flabbergasted.

"One of the thieves died in hospital from his severe head trauma."

Rei stiffened and her hands clutched the armrests in a death grip until her knuckles turned white. No. One of them was dead? We do not kill. We are supposed to protect humans. We do not kill. She searched his eyes for hints of another lie, but there was only truth there. Oh my god, we killed an actual person and they would charge Ami for murder. Only now, she realized how bad the situation had turned out to be. Ami would never forgive herself for this. Oh god. One of them was dead…

"Miss Mizuno?"

Damn Rei. Answer.

Finally, she managed to squeeze out an "I am sorry. I did not know, there were casualties."

"There were. And one of the other victims is still at ICU." He almost glared at her accusingly.

It unnerved her greatly. "What are you trying to suggest here? I have nothing to do with this." Rei retorted aggressively and this blatant lie stung deep in her chest. Get a grip, Rei. You can't slacken of now or everything is lost. Forget what he said. You have to deal later with the fact, that they killed a man. You have to keep calm, now. For Ami.

Hattorima was still observing her closely. "Now, you might understand why I am being thorough. This is now a murder case and the culprit has to be punished accordingly for this heineous deed. You want the police to be thorough under such conditions, don't you? After all, killing someone is the ultimate sin and we have to catch the culprit. Considering every potential option of the course of events is the foundation of finding out the truth. Quite often we have to follow leads that end nowhere. I apologize, if that causes any inconvenience on your part." He sounded like a scolding pastor after she proclaimed her outright refusal to donate for starving children.

Well played, you prick. "Of course, you have to follow every lead. But you could be a bit more polite and less accusing while doing so." She admitted grudgingly continuing to play her role as the shocked falsely accused, while trying to feign sympathy for his point of view. She tried with all her might to hold onto her act, suppressing her true feelings as well as she could. Otherwise her guilt would have crushed her.

"Point taken. I will work on my manners." His smile did not reach his eyes. God, she disliked this man. He was not stony-faced anymore. Now he was a slithering snake trying to devour her, trying to poison her with his deceptive words, while he maneuvered himself into position to strangle her in his chokehold. And she could sense an underlying anger in him, frustration about not being able to catch her with the hand in the cookie jar and a great amount of suppressed aggression. He was gripping his armrest nearly as tightly as she did under the table and his eyes betrayed his hostile thoughts. He wanted to jump over this table to beat the crap out of her until she was telling the truth. Until she admitted that she killed this man. If he wasn't a cop, she would be afraid of him now. Maybe, or just because of it, she should be even more.

However, his voice betrayed nothing of his hidden intentions, only his eyes did, which made it only creepier. "Miss Mizuno, I know this is difficult for you. Being accidently involved in a crime can be taxing to everyone. You may be just an innocent bystander, but we have to make sure, that we know all the details so that we don't miss any connection, even if it seems at the moment that there are none. Just let me do my duty and cooperate and this will be over in a heartbeat." He tried to lull her into false safety. Rei did not buy one word of him. This guy wanted her to be guilty. Maybe he needed a successful detention to gain the price of the best police officer of the month. She did not know and she did not care one bit. She would give him absolutely nothing. She would protect Ami as best as she could to the very end.

Still, she nodded obediently feigning cooperation.

"So please can you answer the previous question. About the Clonazepam. Why did you carry it with you?"

So, the bastard was also persistent. Fortunately, Mercury had started whispering into her ear. It was about damn time. She had stalled enough time to figure out Einstein's relativity theory by now, so this should be a piece of cake.

"Clonazepam is a drug used against insomnia. I fetched it from the pharmacy." Great, she was also learning something new in this whole mess.

"It is also a drug used as muscle relaxant for epileptics as well as against panic attacks. Did you know that?" Was he now a fucking pharmacologist as well or what? He did not leave her any time to answer let alone think about it.

"So what exactly do you need it for?" Excellent question. Rei just hoped the others had a reasonable explanation for it. Again, it was Mercury, who gave her instructions.

"I already answered that. Against insomnia." Yeah, after stating, that she swam almost four hours straight, she doubted that she would get away with claiming it was for muscle problems. But was it really for insomnia? Why was Ami carrying around such stuff?

"You sure?" The Inspector asked again.

Bastard. "Yes, I am."

"It's supposed to be quite strong and unusual for someone so young." Was it? And Ami was taking this stuff?

"It was prescribed by your mother? Uncommon for someone as experienced as her to prescribe something like that to her own daughter. I have read it can be quite dangerous if taken in too high amounts, since its primary use is as a muscle relaxant. Too much of it and you stop breathing."

"I already tried other stuff. It helps. And she instructed me how to use it."

"I see. Then how much do you take against insomnia. Since I have the strong impression that you are lying, I would also like to have a blood sample from you. Traces of the drug should be detectable, if you take it." Crap. Did the pen mimic Ami's blood as well? Probably not and definitely no drug traces. And worst of all, this damn bastard was not interested in the drug at all. He only wanted to have her blood to match it against the blood traces they found on the crime scene. And even if they were lucky and it would not match, there was no drug in her blood. Heck, she does not even have the same blood type as Ami. Under no circumstance, she could let him have it. It would blow everything.

Mercury whispered again. And for once, they agreed on something.

Rei let her body deflate in the chair, before she admitted their only way out of this mess. "The drug is not for me." She stated repeating Mercury's words in a faked remorse tone. She did not know yet how to proceed from here, but her admission took away Hattorima's false pretense to demand her blood.

"Then who was it for?" The expression of the Inspector was half-smug grin and half-annoyed scowl as if he did not know; whether he should count catching her lying a success, when at the time he lost his chance to obtain a blood sample easily.

Rei pretended to sigh. "I need your word that this stays confidential."

Hattorima clearly got suspicious, since she was so reluctant to answer him straight away. He didn't have to be a genius to realize that she was tiptoeing around his question. And that's exactly how they wanted it. Give the dog another bone to chew on, and then he might forget the previous one.

"All conversations regarding police work especially still open cases are kept confidential. However, under certain circumstances we have an obligation by law to share our findings. Would you care to elaborate why this is so important to you regarding this topic?"

"Someone might get into trouble, if I reveal what is behind this and I swear it's not relevant to your case."

"I am sorry. But I have to be the judge for that myself." What a surprise…

Whispers again revealed the appropriate answer to Rei. She lowered her head in silence, again stalling time to get all the details of the story she was supposed to sell convincingly. She had no clue, whether it was true or not. However, she did not like it one bit.

"It is for my mother." She finally said to the floor in a hopefully perfect imitation of shamed reluctance.

Hattorima raised a brow. He clearly did not expect that. "Your mother is a surgeon. She prescribed the drug. If you say that you also got it for her, it would mean that she has some health related muscle problems? That would be a catastrophe for a surgeon, who relies immensely on hand coordination during medical treatment, wouldn't it?"

And it would explain why she was so reluctant to reveal anything about it. However, they were not so cruel to involve Ami's mother in this mess more than actually necessary and certainly not to an extent that would endanger her career. So, Hattorima was wrong. That wasn't her actual story.

"No, it's nothing like that. My mother is not the one actually needing the drug. It's a friend of the family. However, he has no health assurance and this drug is rather expensive. So my mother has prescribed it for him on my name since we have a medical assurance. However, as you probably know this is illegal."

"Yes, it is insurance fraud. I am sorry, but we need the name of the mentioned friend."

Rei gave him a rather disgruntled look, but obliged. "His name is Hiroshi Hino." Her grandpa would be thrilled, when she needed to ask him to lie for them. And she would rip the others apart for sparing Ami's mother to put it rather on him. Even, if that had been the only option, she had still the right to be pissed.

"We will contact him. And I am afraid also your mother has to face the consequences of her actions."

Rei lowered her head in defeat, as Ami would do, if she caused trouble for her mother. Makoto still whispered into her ear. The time she had stalled was now sufficient. She was fed up with this cat-and-mouse game. She longed for this to be over, desperately. Suddenly, she furrowed her brows. Something was amiss. Something did not go according to plan. They had problems. But here she could do nothing more to help the others. She needed to get out of here. "Are we now finished?" she asked in a demure voice railing in her anxiety.

"I have no immediate questions anymore. However, I ask you not to leave town and stay available since further questions might arise during the investigation. You can get your bag and vital documents at the counter from my colleague."

Rei just nodded and left as fast as politeness allowed her to do.


AN:

That's it for today. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, leave some comments. The next chapter will be uploaded around Christmas. In January, it will be one year that I started this story, so I am thinking about a double chapter to celebrate my first longer story. Well, I am already thinking ahead…

Next time, it's gonna be chapter 13 first. Did they fool Hattorima? What is Setsuna up to? What problems did the others encounter, that got Rei so anxious? Will their cover be blown? And will they get back the Henshin Stick? Stay tuned for the next chapter…

Until then, I wish you a merry Christmas and thanks for reading…