New Arrivals Bring new Lessons. Keep Practicing!
-Do not forget your duty to the group…-
Hidenka woke with a start in the predawn stillness. Korai's steady breathing told her that there was no reason to be up yet. "Blaze-sama?" she whispered. Somehow, something felt different to her weak sixth sense. Was Sailor Blaze gone? 6:04 AM glowed in red on her bed-site clock. She sighed and stretched. No point in going back to sleep now. Ignoring her messy hair, she rose then seated herself on the floor. With a few deep breaths, she fell into a meditative trance.
Tonda stalked through the Crystal Palace corridors with a scowl wrought on her face. Late. She recalled their brutal training from the evening before and dreaded this one to come.
"So you think you know more than I do? You think you are strong enough on your own?" Sailor Blaze scolded. "Try me! Just try me!"
"What do you mean?" Sailor Venus stammered defiantly.
"I mean that you're not sparring with any of them today, Venus, you're sparring with me," she answered with a malicious smile. "Prove me wrong. Now, watch girls."
Sailor Venus swallowed the lump in her throat and stepped forward towards her instructor while the other nine girls gathered in a circle around them. Sailor Blaze raised an eyebrow, waiting for the game to start.
Hesitating for a moment, the pink-haired soldier finally attacked, "Venus Blast of Ob—!"
Sailor Blaze easily stopped her by taking her feet out from under her with a quick swipe of her staff.
Several of the girls stifled laughs as Venus tumbled to the ground. Angrily picking herself back up, she kicked at Sailor Blaze, who moved easily out of the way, smacking Sailor Venus with her staff again.
And so it continued.
Through the seemingly endless battle, Sailor Venus was never once able to land a single attack on the older senshi.
She stormed noisily into the room and was immediately greeted with and unfamiliar voice deeper than any of their trainers before, "Late." A tall soldier dressed in all green with emerald green eyes and hair, which was tied in a high ponytail. Her outfit was of the same style as Sailor Blaze and Sailor Aqua before her, featuring lightning bolts as her symbol.
"Who are—?" Tonda stammered, stopping short.
"I'm Sailor Thunder, your new teacher. For being late, you're running four laps of this hall," she ordered. "Then I'll pair you up for sparring."
Just as Tonda panted to a halt next to the tall senshi, Sailor Juno clattered into the room. Immediately, all eyes were on her. "Monsters," she said quickly, "There are monsters all over the city. We think they arrived with you, Thunder-sama."
Sailor Thunder grimaced and her green eyes darkened. "Well girls," she started with a smile, "I think we have a new exercise for you!"
"Excellent work," Sulfir sneered, "That horde of nobaka that you brought in with Sailor Thunder will keep them busy for a while."
"Not only keep them busy," Alexandrite amended casually from where he perched on his straight-back chair, "but it will weaken them, let them drop their guard, and—"
"And force them to henshin," Lapis, he thought, finished his thought for him. Or— it could have been Lazuli, for all Alexandrite could tell.
"And so we wait a little while?" the other echoed eerily.
Alexandrite fought back a shiver and nodded, "Yes, we wait. But in the mean time, we continue prowling the city. Maybe we can catch one when she is not transformed. That will be when they are weakest."
"We had a lead," Tourmaline began softly, "I can't help but think that what I heard and what Alexandrite saw were somehow related."
"And that Sailor Blaze got in the way," Alexandrite fumed, clenching his fists.
"Go after those girls then!" Sulfir urged.
"We can't afford to," Alexandrite argued, regaining his calm, "If we misjudge, we'll have the police after us too. There are a few other Sailor Soldiers lurking around the city, and we never know when they will appear. We cannot attack and destroy any girls until we are certain that we found the right ones." He paused then asked, "Sulfir, did you have any record of anyone named Tonda checking in to any hotels?"
"I would have to check for you," the yellow-haired woman said slowly as she rapidly leafed through the notepad on the tall stool beside her. She shook her head with frustration, "No, nothing. I see no Tonda."
"The search continues," Tourmaline said.
"You will need disguises then?" one of the twins asked.
Alexandrite nodded slowly, "Something that would not look out of place in an educational environment. Something that we can reuse easily. We need to build characters. No more guards this time. They have barred us from the grounds of the Crystal Palace."
"It will be done," the other said with a sly smile and glance at her sister.
"Mars Flame Pillars!" Sailor Mars shrieked, her voice going hoarse. The tall columns of fire briefly lit up the night before colliding with the shadow creature and disappearing. She paused briefly, having defeated a nobaka, and wiped the sweat off of her forehead. While pretty, tiaras are terribly uncomfortable when I'm sweating this much.
"Mars!" she heard Sailor Mercury yelp, "Behind you!"
She heard the hiss of the nobaka powering up behind her almost immediately. It was too close. Before she could turn around and face it, Sailor Moon yelled, "Moon Beam Ricochet!"
With a screech, the creature vaporized.
Sailor Neptune screeched in pain as she tripped over the curb and twisted her ankle, trying to escape a group of four nobaka that had slipped past the group.
"Asatsuyu!" Sailor Uranus gasped, glancing worriedly over at her younger sister. The nobaka she had been battling with took the brief moment of distraction to grasp the chain of her Space Blades and entangle her in it, pulling her close. Just as she realized her own peril, the creature blasted her with a force that sent her skidding across the pavement. Between the blast and the impact with the ground, the tangled soldier lay unconscious.
As a few more nobaka advanced on the fallen senshi, Sailor Saturn, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Earth quickly moved into place around her. Meanwhile, Asatsuyu scrambled backwards across the sidewalk, her pursuers following slowly and menacingly. Sailor Moon hurried over towards her. "Sailor Venus, help me!" she cried, preparing to attack again.
"Can't!" she choked out, backing into a corner herself, surrounded by the shadow creatures.
"Moon Beam Ricochet!" Sailor Moon attacked the nobaka advancing on Neptune.
"Venus Blast of Obsession!" she yelled and one of the creatures in front of her was destroyed, only to be replaced by another. Gasping for breath and fighting off the urge to fall asleep on the spot, she called hoarsely, "Sailor Thunder! We can't hold out much longer! Where are you?" She quickly followed it with "Venus Blast of Obsession!"
"Earth Life Circle!"
Seemingly out of nowhere, Sailor Thunder appeared. Raising her staff in the air, she called, "Emerald Storm!" Green lightning surged through the air with a loud crack. All but five of the nobaka disappeared, shrieking loudly. "Finish them off," she ordered.
Wearily, the senshi still standing obeyed. Sailor Pluto was the first to act. "Pluto Eternal Mists!" As mist emitted from her staff they heard one shriek.
"Idiot!" Venus cursed, "Now we can't see any of them until your fog clears."
Neptune yelped involuntarily as something brushed up against her and hissed. She swung blindly at it with her Aqua Rods, hearing a loud crack and a moan.
"She found one!" Saturn exclaimed.
"One found her," Earth corrected darkly.
"Silver Blast Obliterate!" Sailor Saturn called, sending a silver wave of energy towards the source of the noise.
"Wait!" their leader called, but too late.
Both Neptune and the nobaka screamed. The creature disappeared and the girl fainted.
"Wait for the fog to clear," Sailor Jupiter urged wearily.
Saturn fidgeted nervously but held her ground.
Hearing a hiss in front of her, Venus attacked blindly, "Venus Blast of Obsession!"
"Wait!" Sailor Moon reminded again.
This time, however, the attack met its mark.
"Two left," Saturn mused quietly.
A moment later, the mist finally did disperse. Sailor Earth and Sailor Saturn immediately sprung into action.
"Silver Blast Obliterate!"
"Earth Life Circle!"
Finally, the area was cleared.
"How did you expect us to defeat so many like that, tired like this," Venus asked accusingly.
"Just look at those two," Sailor Earth added, gesturing to the sisters.
"Children," Sailor Thunder began slowly, "This is not just some training exercise. This is a real battle. I have always been near by, making sure that you were safe enough and making sure that no other areas were greatly threatened. This, however, is the best kind of training: real experience. Most of the battles that you will have in the future; you will be tired, weak, and hurting. You must learn to battle even then."
"And we're expected to go to school tomorrow?" Jupiter asked.
"Yes you are," Sailor Thunder nodded slowly, "Go home discretely, and get some rest. Take it easy in school tomorrow. I will recruit the princess and her guardians to fight through the night while I take Neptune and Uranus back home. We should have the city cleaned out in a few days with all of our efforts."
With a nervous glance at Kenjou and Asatsuyu, both of whom had lost their transformation when fainting, Sailor Moon asked, "So we are dismissed?"
She nodded again, "Yes, you may go."
Teisei hurried between classes in a daze. She still had not gotten used to switching classrooms and classmates for each class yet. Staying with the same class like she used to at Juuban was so much less stressful. On top of it, she had gotten less than six hours of sleep the night before. Norikuken had classes on the other end of the building at this time in the morning, so they did not see each other until lunch.
As she edged between two groups of chatting girls and darted quickly around a corner, Teisei found herself colliding with someone much bigger than her. She tumbled to the ground, spilling her book bag.
"Oh!" she said and frantically tried to pick up her fallen things, "I'm so sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going."
"That's alright," the boy she ran into answered, his voice was deep and smooth. "I wasn't either," he chuckled and extended a hand down towards Teisei, "Here, let me help you up."
Teisei got her first look at the older student when she took his hand and stood up. He must have been just under a foot taller than her and at least three years older. He had emerald green eyes and perfectly smooth hair of a slightly darker color tied in a low ponytail. She found herself blushing slightly and tried to hide it. "Thanks," she said quietly and averted her eyes downward. He certainly is beautiful.
"Any time," he responded casually, "My name is Aoi Kouseki. What's yours?"
"I'm Furuato Tei," she answered shyly, almost responding with her full name, "I just transferred her from Sendai." She now always claimed to be from Sendai when asked. She could fake the accent well enough.
"Funny," he chuckled, "I just transferred from Kyoto. Today's my first day."
"Really?" she asked politely the glanced at her watch, "Well, I really aught to get to class, it being my first month here and all. Nice meeting you Aoi-san!" She hurried away and to her first classroom as fast as she could. There was something about Kouseki, other than that she found him quite attractive, that tapped at the back of her mind.
Musha and Koneko never walked home together, yet always seemed to meet each other two blocks from their hotel. Like the rest of the senshi, they were careful not to associate themselves with a group. As Musha caught sight of Koneko coming towards her from the other direction, she smiled slightly in greeting. The younger girl returned the gesture, but nothing more was exchanged. Although Musha and Koneko were vastly different people, over the past few weeks, the pair had begun grow closer to each other.
The purple-haired girl bluntly navigated through a cluster of noisy shoppers to where she met Koneko at the door. "Not much time until Jyukku today, is there?" Koneko commented as they went inside, using their code name for training.
"It's just getting earlier and more often," Musha replied, heaving a tired sigh as they headed for the elevator. "We still have to do our best if we want to be ready for the final test."
"I'm just so tired," Koneko said softly and their conversation faded into silence as the rode the elevator to their floor.
A few minutes later, after having deposited their book bags and changing into more comfortable clothes, the pair silently descended the elevator again. As soon as the doors slid open, however, a scream split the air.
"Nobaka," Musha hissed, "back on the elevator."
"Oh!" Koneko said in surprise as she pressed the door-close button, "I think I forgot my jacket upstairs."
The doors slid closed.
"Saturn Power, Makeup!"
"Mercury Power, Makeup!"
Sailor Mercury punched the door button again and the two dashed out between the slow sliding doors. Sailor Saturn breathed a short sigh of relief to see that the lobby was emptied of even the receptionist. Meanwhile, at least twelve nobaka attacked civilians just outside of the door, blocking traffic.
Before leaving the building, Saturn sized up the situation and instructed her companion, "We need to draw them away from this center of activity."
Koneko nodded, "And disassociate ourselves with this hotel. Ready?"
"As ever," Saturn replied with a grin and raised her sword.
With that, they plunged through the doorway and into the fight.
"Saturn Silver Blast Obliterate!"
"Mercury Ice Blizzard!"
The attacks caught both the civilians and the nobaka off-guard. Three of the creatures disappeared screaming while the rest stood stunned for a moment, measuring up their attackers. Meanwhile, the pedestrians came to their senses more quickly and ran away from the scene of the battle as quickly as they could.
"There's a side street to the right," Mercury observed.
While the nobaka slowly advanced on their new prey, Saturn replied, "Go for it."
The green-haired senshi quickly dashed down the sidewalk towards her chosen side street, attracting the nobaka's attention. She quickly spun on her heels and attacked, "Mercury Ice Blizzard!"
The foremost creature shrieked and disintegrated. This time, instead of standing stunned, the shadow creatures swarmed forward towards her. She ran for the alleyway, avoiding their angry blasts.
Saturn screamed after them, "Saturn Silver Blast Obliterate!" One from the back of the pack disappeared.
We need to keep them surprised to win this alone, she thought as she followed after them, slicing down on another with her sword.
Once she felt sure that all of the shadows creatures had followed her into the empty street, Sailor Mercury turned and attacked again, "Mercury Ice Blizzard!"
The nobaka stood trapped between two senshi in a narrow side street. The only way of escape was to fight their way past one of them, and so they tried. The cornered creatures were far more dangerous than either girl expected. Quickly, they found themselves loosing.
"Mercury Ice Blizzard!" the smaller girl shrieked, "We can't win this now! What do we do?"
"Hope they send help," Saturn shouted back, "Sailor Thunder! Where are you?" She screamed as her tired body was unable to avoid one of the nobaka's blasts.
From somewhere above them, they heard cackling. Mercury yelped and danced backwards, away from the grasp of a shadowy hand and hazarded a glance upward. She gasped. Perched on a windowsill just one story up was a woman wearing an odd outfit of black and blue flecked with gold. Her hair, a similar gold-flecked blue color, was clipped in a high ponytail and her amber eyes held a look of amusement. "Who—?" she stammered, then danced out of the way of another swipe at her and attacked, "Mercury Ice Blizzard." While the attack startled the nobaka into backing off, it missed.
Saturn's eyes snapped up to the window as well as she brought down her Silence Sword in a deadly slice. The creature shrieked for a moment then disappeared as well. "Who are you?" she demanded, finishing for Mercury.
The petite woman ignored her question, "Those pretty nobaka don't seem to need my help. Sailor Thunder is tied up at the moment, so don't hope for her to come along to rescue you." She laughed again.
"You're one of those—" she broke off in a scream as the blast from two nobaka knocked her off her feet.
"Mercury!" Saturn shrieked. With several more quick slices of her blade, she fought her way towards her companion.
The woman smiled and slid of the ledge, leaping down to the street. She slowly strode towards the scrambling senshi. "Well, dearie," she said sweetly, "You'll be the first to go."
Mercury's eyes widened. The nobaka and the strange woman drew ever closer. On each wrist, the woman had a gold cuff decorated with a gold-flecked blue stone. As she paused and raised them, the girl had a sudden feeling that the beautiful bracelets were terrible weapons. I can't believe this is the end already! What would my mother think of me? This has only just begun…
The woman chuckled and her smile broadened.
"Mercury, no!" Saturn screamed, pushing past the shadow creatures and ignoring the pain as they clawed at her. Without thinking, she threw her Silence Sword at the woman. When she realized what she had done, she gasped and reached after it, but it was too late. That is my only weapon!
By some strange luck, the blade of the sword struck the woman just below one of the bracelets. She shrieked and grasped at her arm, hissing with pain. The sword clattered to rest at Sailor Mercury's feet.
"Run!" Saturn yelled. She waited only long enough to see her friend grasp the silver weapon and scramble to her feet in the moment of distraction. As soon as she saw her run off down the alley at top speed, Sailor Saturn turned and did the same in the opposite direction.
"Damn you, Sailor Senshi!" she woman shrieked, fire in her eyes. Blood dripped freely from her arm, covering her hand that clutched the wound. "I will find you!"
Though her muscles screamed, Sailor Saturn ran on towards the safety of the Crystal Palace. There, nothing could harm them with the new shields up. As Sailor Blaze had proven to them earlier, they could not handle the villains that were out to get them on their own. Fleeing was the only choice. Koneko was smart enough to pick up the Silence Sword. She was certainly smart enough to head for the Crystal Palace via her own route.
Clutching the hilt of the silence sword tightly in her left hand, Sailor Mercury ran a meandering path of back streets towards the Crystal Palace. Every once and a while, she glanced over her shoulder to be sure that she was not being followed. Their hotel was located farthest from the Palace of all of the lodgings of the girls. Although adrenaline rushed through her veins, she knew that her body could not hold of the fatigue and true terror of her situation for much longer. I have never run this far before… I just have to make it, for my life!
As she ran, avoiding civilians and groups of nobaka, the edges of her vision began to close in. Shaking her head roughly, she focused harder on her goal and pushed herself harder. Stay clear! she reminded herself.
Around another corner she heard the hungry shrieks of nobaka. As she veered her path, she heard other voices:
"Mars Flame Pillars!"
"Vesta Flames Blaster!"
The others! she thought weakly, and veered again. A few more labored strides brought her into view of the battle.
"Earth Life Circle!"
"Sailor Mercury!" Mars exclaimed, "You're safe!"
"Juno Riotous Cry!" Sailor Juno finished off the two nobaka that had advanced on Mars while she was distracted. Only a few more remained.
"Where is Sailor Saturn?" Pluto asked, pausing for a moment as well.
"She—," she stammered weakly, the edges of her vision gradually closing in again, "We ran…"
"She doesn't look well," Ceres commented to Pallas, before they finished off the last few nobaka. "Ceres Beauty Blossom!"
"Pallas Raining Splash!"
Shrieking, the last of their group of shadow creatures disappeared as a sudden burst of water and shining flower petals descended on their heads.
Sailor Earth rushed over to Mercury. "Thunder-sama said that you were in trouble," she asked quickly, "what happened?"
"There were too many nobaka, then a woman in blue…" she trailed off, her words slurring. Finally her vision blacked out completely and her knees gave out. She collapsed to the ground unconscious, warn out and terrified. The Silence Sword clattered free of her iron grip.
Earth yelped in surprise, "Mercury!"
Sailor Ceres stepped into action. "She needs a bed, water, and some medical attention quickly," she said firmly. "Juno, can you carry her?"
The tall soldier nodded and strode over to where Koneko lay limp on the ground. Grunting under her weight, she swung the small girl over her shoulders and stood up.
"And Vesta, take the weapon, you know how to carry it properly," she ordered.
"Right," the red-haired senshi nodded and gingerly picked up the sword.
Hidenka stared at it nervously. "Why do you think she had the Silence Sword? I hope Sailor Saturn is alright."
Pluto nodded, "Me too."
"Alright troops," Ceres said, "let's move on out!"
"Back to the Crystal Palace!" Pallas added, as they hurried off. The palace was not far.
"Going somewhere?" a sing-song voice asked.
Sailor Moon whirled around, looking for the source of the voice.
"What is it?" Venus asked quietly, pausing and scanning the shadowy street with her tiny leader.
A woman dressed in an odd outfit of black and gold-flecked blue stepped out of the shadows with a sly smile on her face. Her high ponytail, the same color as her outfit, cast eerie shadows on her face in the waning sunlight. "No, girls, I don't think you're going anywhere now," she said, chuckling.
"She's one of them," Sailor Moon hissed. "We can't fight her!"
The taller senshi took a firm hold of her companion's hand and said slowly, "No, I think you're wrong on that one." She hesitated for a moment while the woman gave her a humored look, eyebrow raised. Suddenly, she took of at a sprint, dragging Moon with her.
"You won't get away that easy," the woman laughed and took off after them, aiming her bracelets as she went.
"Sailor Thunder!" Venus screamed, "Help us!"
Seemingly out of nowhere, the green-clad senshi appeared from a side street, skidding to a halt between her charges and their pursuer. "Emerald Thunderbolt!" she cried and green lightning darted from her staff to the woman. The villain herself yelped and dove out of the way of the attack.
"Sailor Thunder," she growled as she rose to her feet, "What are you doing here? I thought that Tourmaline and Sulfir were keeping you busy."
"Yes, that they were, Lazuli," Sailor Thunder said firmly. To Sailor Moon and Venus, she whispered over her shoulder, "Stick close to me, girls."
The pair hesitantly obeyed, hiding behind the tall senshi's cape.
"It's Lapis," she corrected, "Lazuli is having some fun with some of your other girls at the moment."
Sailor Thunder stiffened, obviously torn. Finally, she said, "And you are to leave these two alone."
"Or?" Lapis asked, aligning her bracelets again.
"Girls! Emerald Thunderbolt!" she commanded and attacked.
Venus and Moon did not hesitate to come out of hiding and attack as well.
"Moon Beam Ricochet!"
"Venus Blast of Obsession!"
The attacks met their mark with a loud explosion and blast of light. The two younger senshi found themselves cowering behind Sailor Thunder's cape again to shield their eyes.
Lapis screamed in agony. Just as the light faded, she rasped, "Don't think I'll forget about this!" and disappeared in a flash of her own blue light.
"We need to get back to the Crystal Palace, and put you where you're safest for now while we figure out where everyone else is," Sailor Thunder said urgently and burst into a run.
"What was that about?" Venus asked as they ran along behind her.
"Lapis and Lazuli are twins, and extremely dangerous," she explained, "I don't know anyone who can tell the difference, except by Blaze's sixth sense. It appears that they are trying to wear you out with nobaka and tie me up so I can't help you. They mean to kill you as soon as possible."
Both Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus shuddered. They ran the remainder of the distance to the Crystal Palace in silence. After clattering up the long white-marble steps Sailor Pallas immediately greeted them in the doorway.
"Good, you're back safe," she said humorlessly, odd for her, "and bringing Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus with you."
"Pallas," Thunder panted urgently, "What can you tell me of what is going on?"
"We were fighting along side of Pluto, Earth, and Mars. Just as we defeated a group of nobaka Mercury stumbled into our midst carrying the Silence sword, muttering something about a woman in blue and collapsed, so we brought her back here," Pallas listed, clearly shaken.
"And Sailor Saturn?" Sailor Venus asked quickly.
"She just arrived and is resting in the sick wing with Neptune and Uranus, Eternal Sailor Saturn is watching over them," Pallas explained.
All three of them breathed a sigh of relief and began to walk into the Crystal Palace, Pallas leading the way to where the others waited.
Suddenly, Sailor Moon paused, counting something on her fingers. She looked up at Sailor Thunder and Sailor Pallas, asking simply, "Where's Jupiter?"
Sailor Thunder paled.
Teisei walked briskly from school as the sun threatened to set in the sky. "I can't believe that Tomoko-senshi would make me stay after that long for a simple little orientation," she grumbled to herself, "now I don't even have time to go home before—"
"Tei?" a masculine voice called from behind her.
She paused and looked over her shoulder to see Aoi Kouseki just exiting the building. "Aoi-san?" she asked politely, "What kept you after so late?"
"A sort of personal 'new student orientation' with my homeroom teacher," he said, catching up with her, "And now I must return the question: why are you here so late?"
Teisei laughed nervously, "About the same reason. I guess they have a certain time of month to do this."
"Where are you headed to? I might be going somewhere near," Kouseki asked.
"It's fairly far away, near the center of the city" Teisei replied, gesturing vaguely. I can't have anyone following me to the Crystal Palace! "I'm going straight to Jyuuku, and it's a long ways away."
"Well then, I guess—" he began to protest when several nobaka appeared, pursuing a group of screaming students. Kouseki immediately stepped protectively closer to her and grasped her hands. He then pulled her into the nearest shop, a watch store.
Teisei feigned panic, "What are those things?"
"I don't know," Kouseki said slowly, deep in thought.
"Whatever they are," the store owner commented from behind the counter, "They're all over the city and all over the news. But apparently the police can't do a thing. I did hear that there are Sailor Senshi out there fighting, but no one seems to know who they are."
"That's comforting," the green-haired boy nodded then turned to Teisei, "Tei, you can't walk out in that. It's dangerous."
"But I need to get to Jyuuku or mother will never forgive me, with that big exam tomorrow," Teisei protested, acting scared.
"Fine then," he said, frustrated, "I'll get a cab for you."
"You don't have to—" before she could finish, Kouseki had left the store and waved down one of the silver cabs. She scurried out after him.
When she arrived at the curb, he said, "Now you can travel there safely."
"Thank you Aoi-san," she said quietly, "I suppose I shall be seeing you tomorrow?"
"Don't think anything of it," he replied with a smile, "See you tomorrow Tei." With that, he ushered her into the car and shut the door.
"Where to miss?" the cab driver asked.
"Crystal Academy," she responded, praying that her old cram school near the Crystal Palace was still open. I have enough money along for that, at least.
"Alright," he responded and shifted the car into gear, "This might take a little longer, avoiding those shadow things."
Once I get to Crystal Academy, I can transform and head for the Crystal Palace. I hope they aren't worried about me…
Kouseki watched the cab drive off and around a corner and gave himself a mental slap. Why am I wasting so much valuable time at that school? Having the image to fit in is important, but not nearly so much as killing those reinforcements. I suppose it's all part of the deal…
