Disclaimer: I don't own Sailormoon, etc., etc.
2
Studying for pre-med exams was roughly equivalent to putting one's head in a vice and then diving to the bottom of the ocean without a pressurized scuba suit. Fortunately, Ami Mizuno was quite accustomed to self-torture. In fact, she was barely viewable between a mountain of books and papers, stacked and poised for an avalanche at any moment in the public library.
"Mizuno-sama!"
Ami started, which sent the pile of books tumbling down in a clutter of indecipherable notes.
She blinked rapidly and removed her reading glasses.
The fuzzy, round face smoothed and came into view.
"Kyo-chan! Don't startle me like that!"
The roughly dressed little boy adopted a pathetically apologetic expression. "I'm sorry, Mizuno-sama," he said, bowing slightly. "I was so excited to see you here, you see. I'm stuck on an algebra problem, and I can't figure it out!"
"Er – that's too bad, Kyo – "
"Won't you please help me; just this once?"
Ami sighed and tapped her glasses on the smooth table. Library tables were her favorite place to work. They were always cool and clean-smelling. "I'm studying for my own exams, I'm afraid."
"But you're my best tutor – and the only one who could get me to understand it."
Ami licked her lips and frowned prettily. Her deep-set, dewy eyes shimmered a little, as they were prone to do occasionally. She was known for her soft-spokenness and intellect, as it was quite easily deciphered from her physical demeanor. She was rather short and kept her hair likewise. The deep blue of her hair tucked inward around her chin and neck, almost shyly, and her bangs had a tendency to creep into her eyes.
"Please, Mizuno-sama!"
"All right." She smiled and rose, touching the boy lightly on his back as he led her over to oversized red armchair.
When the smallish boy sat in it, it appeared to swallow him like a hungry tongue.
Ami came around the back of it and leaned over on her elbows, peering over Kyo's shoulder at the open book on his lap.
"What's wrong with this equation? I'm doing it all right, I think, but every time it comes out wrong."
"Ah," Ami pointed brightly. "There you are. You forgot to change the figure to a negative when you multiplied."
Kyo made a face. "But I didn't have to do that before."
"That's because you weren't multiplying – you were adding and subtracting. It's different. Try it now."
Kyo scribbled a bit on his eraser-smudged notebook paper. The answer came out right.
Taiki strode into the library, long hair swinging like a rope behind him. He tucked his hands into his pockets and looked around.
"And now," he said to himself, "for a bit of light reading."
His brothers had taken no time at all to get settled into their new apartment, when Suki had shooed them out.
"Take a look around the town. Get used to this area. It's going to be your new home now." Her smile was so quirkily enthusiastic that it made Taiki shudder to recall it.
The three brothers had set out in different direction, each taking to his own personal hobbies and interests.
Now he looked around the library, surveying it. It was clean, well organized, and appeared to have a good collection. He ventured further in, moving in and out of the rows of shelved books, a dense forest of knowledge. And there was nothing Taiki liked better than knowing things.
He came out into a little, sun-bathed opening and stopped. There was a bit of a disturbance here. It looked like a young, nondescript woman sitting in a large armchair (which seemed about ready to inhale or swallow her, one of the two), leaning over a book; several young people of various shapes and ages surrounded her. A fat high school boy practically breathed down her neck; a middle-schooler with bright red pigtails sat at her feet, elbows resting on her knees, listening; a third boy leaned on her shoulder affectionately, as if he was well acquainted with her.
He walked softly, with swift movements, so as not to disturb them. He leaned in a bit to listen.
"You've got to balance the equation," the young woman was saying, and he thought, now that he had a closer look, that she wasn't so nondescript after all. At first glance, her introversion created the illusion of the commonplace, but upon closer inspection, she was rather individual.
"Each element has a certain number of atoms; that's how we distinguish them. And we've got to take them into account when determining the compound result." She leaned over a notebook and wrote smoothly but quickly. Then she straightened and looked at the large boy. "You see?"
He nodded for her to continue.
At his approval, she leaned back over the notebook and continued.
Taiki came around the chair, and leaned over the to get a look at her notes. The chubby high-schooler saw him and flared his nostrils in such a way as to put Taiki in mind of a hi-bred cross between a horse and a pig.
The woman wrote some more and finished triumphantly. "There you are! The answer is forty-two."
There were a few murmurs of relief and admiration.
"No it isn't."
She widened her eyes and looked around bewilderedly for the person who commented. "What?"
"Forty-two is the wrong answer."
She leaned her head back slowly, and gave him a look like a child about to be put to bed without dessert.
He looked down at her matter-of-factly. "The answer is forty-six. That's an alkaline metal; it changes the equation."
A light blush bled softly into her cheeks, and she lowered he head modestly. "No, not in this case it doesn't," she said quietly.
"What are you saying?" he said, rather harshly. The sound of it contrasted metallically with her gentle speech.
"In this case, the mercury reacts differently and forms irregular molecules. It's forty-two."
He narrowed his eyes at her; came around the chair and snatched the paper from her hand, studying it. After a while, he slowly returned it to her. "You're pretty smart," he said.
"And you're rather rude."
It took him three whole seconds to realize he'd been insulted, because she said it so warmly and casually, he couldn't quite gain his bearings.
"If you'll please excuse us," she continued, "we were doing just fine studying before you came along."
"Whatever." He started to walk off.
"Hey!"
He stopped and craned his neck.
The pig-tailed girl had risen and was pointing at him now. "Aren't you Taiki Kou?"
His face remained placid. "Yes."
"Of the Three Lights Taiki Kou?"
"Yes," he said, particularly, just to spite her. "That's me."
"Oh my gosh!" came the concretely inevitable reply. The girl clasped her hands fervently. "Oh my gosh, I – I love your band! Will you sign an autograph for me?"
Rather than answer right away with a smug "no" or an even smugger "yes," Taiki did a strange thing. He looked down at the blue-haired young woman.
She was watching him expectantly but not in recognition. She was waiting. Waiting to see what he would do.
He turned slowly, his broad shoulders straightening.Author's Note: I do, in fact, remember a bit of chemistry from my high school years. However, the arithmetic mentioned above is utter nonsense. S