"You can't lie to me, you lack-witted rube!" Yomi's visitor yelled, "I know you Earthmen are hiding the truth from us!"

Yomi took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose in unabashed irritation. The gesture was unworthy of a seasoned diplomat, but she'd been running on empty even before the man's arrival. "High stress" failed to quite encompass her work here at the embassy; "cuts five years off the end of your life" was more like it.

The Mighty Bespectacled One had always had a certain knack for figuring out the motivations of others and understanding people who were completely different from herself. On top of that, certain experiences had stretched her patience to nigh-superhuman levels by the time she'd graduated. Though it had never been her ambition to be any sort of politician, the life of a diplomat was what the education of her third-choice college had best prepared her for, and it would be foolish to overlook her obvious talents. Oh, well, c'est la vie.

But now her internship had ended… not with a happy promotion and being sent to the embassy in France, which she'd secretly been looking forward to, but rather with most of her superiors stepped on by Gigan, quitting in disgust or fired by the conquerors for political reasons. Instead of representing her nation to an exotic but basically friendly other nation, she was forced to represent her planet to hostile aliens. Even with those freaky incidents concerning the Xians behind her, this was something she never expected.

Yomi was only one of several dozen intermediaries, but it often felt like she was facing this vast and horrible other completely alone, especially when idiots like this guy came through. As it turned out, the Black Hole People had their fare share of conspiracy theorists as well, though unfortunately none of them seemed to be as polished, methodical or intelligent as Osamu.

"We aren't hiding anything," she said tiredly. "We don't know ourselves."

"Falsehood! If he's not out there, then why don't you explain this?" The Gaijin slapped a photocopied picture down on her desk. She put her glasses back on to look at it; the image was a dead creature that had washed up on a beach somewhere, apparently. Tiny human figures gathered around it gave a sense of scale.

"I give. What is this?"

"That, woman, is the proof of his existence! It is one of the huge iguana creatures that live in your oceans." Now that she looked closer, Yomi recognized it; the first had appeared in America around 1998, and since then the beasties had been a thorn in the collective side of the world's militaries. "It washed ashore near Nagasaki with a broken neck! What on Earth could do such a thing apart from your legendary Monster King, eh?"

"Maybe it fell down the stairs." Being sarcastic in this setting was frowned on, but he'd already wasted an hour she didn't have. "Sir, I've told you everything about him that we know… the last time he appeared, he fell into a pool of the most powerful acid in existence. That's about as near to being proven dead as you can hope for."

"But you've never presented us with remains!"

"Activated micro-oxygen can dissolve steel if you give it long enough," Yomi rubbed her eyes, fighting back a growing headache. "It's not likely there'd be anything to find… and even your sea-serpent, uh, Manda? Even Manda can't explore that part of the bay yet in any case. It will be years before we can look for remains."

The Gaijin finally stood to leave, dark yellow eyes flashing. "You haven't seen the last of me, Koyomi Mizuhara! I'm going to bring down this whole filthy conspiracy, starting with you!"

"Yeah, good luck with that," she said to his retreating back. When he had finally stormed out, the Ambassador came in and sat across from Yomi. He was the last of the Old Guard, a kindly fellow in his fifties with white hair and gentle eyes… in other words, exactly the sort of person Japan's new masters were least impressed with.

"Excellent work," he commended. "You handled that very well."

"I… I did?"

"Oh, yes. We've had his sort through here before, and this is one of the first times that our person hasn't ended up calling security. Heck, by now even I'd want to strangle that fellow with my bare hands… I'm continually amazed by your resistance to annoying idiots, Ms. Mizuhara. How do you ever manage it?"

"Well… I guess you could say I've been immunized."


The promised rain arrived early in the evening, but couldn't seem to make up its mind as to whether or not it wanted to stay. When it came, it was only as a gentle patter here and there, and when it left it didn't go far. This weather did little to improve Chiyo's outlook, but she made a conscious effort to cheer herself up. After all, wasn't it Tomo herself who had railed against people for letting their spirits shrivel?

Taking her cues from Sakaki, she'd refrained from dressing formally for dinner. The only thing that could make seeing her friends again awkward was expecting it to be so, right? Sakaki assured her that it wasn't a terrifically nice restaurant anyway, which was a relief, as Chiyo had had her fill of "nice" restaurants growing up.

"Nervous?" Sakaki asked as they walked together down the crowded street.

Nervous about seeing Yomi and Kagura? Of course not! What could be more absurd? "A little," Chiyo admitted softly. "Things change…"

"Some don't," Sakaki said, patting her shoulder.

She had a point. This was Tokyo more or less as Chiyo remembered it, at least if you didn't look at the sky. If anything, the place was even brighter and busier, though there seemed to be more destitute people about. Too, now that she was actively looking, she noticed quite a few more police as well, thankfully Earthmen.

Just as Chiyo was making this observation, a bony hand fell gently on her arm. She half-turned to face an old woman that smiled up at her with wide, rheumy gray eyes. "I think…" she said in a creaky voice, "That you're the most beautiful shade of plum I've ever seen!"

"Um… thank you," Chiyo said graciously.

"Mom!" a man at least ten years Sakaki's senior pushed his way over to them. "Mom, there you are! Good lord, don't wander away like that! Akemi's worried sick!"

"She should watch me closer, then." This was said so vaporously that it lost any bite it might have had. "Such a pretty color…"

"And what's this, are you bothering people?" his annoyance quickly faded as he took the woman's arm. "Sorry about that," he said to Chiyo before leading his mother away. "Come on, now, Mom…"

"Did you see her? She's beautiful!"

"Yes, that girl was quite pretty…"

Troubled, Chiyo looked after them as they vanished from sight in the shifting crowds. She reached up slowly and ran her fingers over her sleeve where the old woman had touched her.

"Are you okay?" Sakaki asked.

"Huh? Y-yes, I'm sorry." Chiyo shook her head. "Goodness! Where is my head these days?"


Chiyo had worried long and hard over what she'd say upon seeing Yomi and Kagura again. The thought of her reunion either of them was a little intimidating. They'd been the most serious of her friends, each in her own way. It was far too easy to imagine either one leaving her old self behind and becoming a strange new person that might not be a friend. She'd strained her fantastic mind to come up with the perfect greeting, the best way to present herself, the questions she should ask and the answers she should give…

But then, when she finally saw Kagura, her carefully rehearsed greeting vanished in a wordless, joyful squeal as they collided. Laughing, Kagura lifted her into the air in spite of the fact that the younger girl now towered over her. "Chiyo-chan! You look great! How ya been?"

"Ms. Kagura! Oh, I can't tell you how good it is to see you!"

Meanwhile, Sakaki waved silently to Yomi, who managed a calm "Hey," just an instant before she was hit by an avalanche of overjoyed prodigy. Judging from the startled sound she made, Yomi probably hadn't been hugged like that in a long time. "Hi, Chiyo," she said when she got her breath back. "How's it going?"

"Oh, wow," Chiyo stepped back, holding her at arm's length and taking in the green suit and heels. (There had been no time to change after work.) "Look at you…! So professional!"

"You don't look bad yourself." Yomi was surprised at how direct Chiyo's half-teasing compliment had been. It wasn't rude, exactly, but it was still a change from the pre-America days of uber-politeness. The height was another shock—Chiyo was even a little taller than her—but that would probably set in later.

"Hell, yeah, this is just like old times!" Kagura exulted. "Hey, rival, I'll race you to the restaurant…" Sakaki chuckled softly, which made everybody jump.

"That's a good look for you," Chiyo commended again as they set out together, "What do you do these days, Ms. Yomi?"

"Oh, God, I don't want to talk about work, not now…" she shook her head ruefully. "And it's pretty much all I have going on lately."

"Works herself to the bone, she does," Kagura commented tactlessly, "I don't think she's given herself a break since you left."

"Oh, like you're one to talk," Yomi countered. "What about…?"

"Hey, I do that because I enjoy it! I have no idea why you…" Kagura noticed that Chiyo was looking back and forth between them, a little worried. "Ah, just an old argument. It's all in good fun, right Yomi?"

"Okay…" Chiyo changed tacks. "Er… so what have you been up to, Kagura?"

"Disaster relief," Kagura said with barely-concealed pride. "I'm a rescue worker!"

"Really? Is it, is it dangerous?" Chiyo's eyes were wide with wonderment and perhaps a touch of anxiety. Sensing an affected audience, the former athlete couldn't help but play to it. Yomi slapped her forehead in a "here we go again" sort of way.

"Oh, not too dangerous," Kagura said, voice dripping with casualness, "Not like it was back when the giant monsters were still running around. Nah, all we have to deal with these days is earthquakes, typhoons, things like that."

"Giant-? You mean you…?"

"Yeah, I saw the big guys in action once or twice. Oh, why are you looking at me like that? It's not like I'm reckless or anything…"

Yomi snorted. "Oh, not at all."

"Jeez, nothing's happened in, like, 3 months anyway. We've just been kicking around and training. What gives?"

Chiyo shook herself. "No, you're right. I'm sorry… I, I always imagined you'd find a job like that, you know? Something exciting, dangerous… something that not everybody can do. I'm glad. It's an agency of some kind that you work for, then?"

"Exciting? Not lately. But yeah, we're a new agency, Enryu." Kagura indicated her tan T-shirt, which bore a round red logo. It was heavily abstracted and simplified, but it looked like a dragon lifting a human figure clear of a choppy sea, or perhaps flames. "People get on our case 'cause it was set up by Those Bastards, but I don't hear them complaining while I'm pulling 'em out of twisted wreckage and doing up their wounds."

"So you're happy with it?" It was obvious by Chiyo's tone that this was the most important question in her book.

"It's a living, yeah," Kagura shrugged. "Someone's gotta do it, right?"

"Here we are," Sakaki said. Chiyo didn't even catch the restaurant's name as they were whisked inside. Upon feeling the dark, genteel ambiance within, she braced herself for a nasally-voiced majordomo to obsequiously ask for their reservations… but instead, a smiling waitress led them to a booth and she could breathe easy again. She'd gotten more than her fill of "nice" restaurants growing up.

"Not bad," Kagura slapped Sakaki's back. "That's one for you! Uh… what's up, Yomi?"

Yomi looked around in mild disgruntlement. "Bad memories, is all. I had lunch with a Gaijin functionary here. He was a real jerk, and I still don't know what he wanted."

Kagura laughed. "Aren't they all? Oh, look, there's an insert menu of Black Hole food! Sakaki! If you order one of these, I will."

Chiyo smiled, remembering all the futile challenges Kagura had issued to her "rival" over the years. Then blinked in surprise when Sakaki raised an eyebrow and asked dryly, "After what happened last time?" Oh, well, even Sakaki had to give in sooner or later, right?

"Wasn't as bad as this Western-style stuff…"

Yomi rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed with exasperation. It had the look of a habitual gesture.

"So, who's paying?" Kagura asked. "Rock, paper, scissors?"

"I'll cover it," Chiyo and Sakaki said in unison.

"Uh, oh. Looks like a fight…"

"You're the guest," Sakaki said firmly.

"Yeah, but…" Chiyo paused, realizing that there was no polite way to say, 'I could buy this restaurant, let alone the food.' Rather than giving it a try, she relented. "Okay."

Small talk meandered as they waited for their food and started in. Over time, Chiyo became more and more comfortable with her old friends, sliding back into familiar patterns and reminiscing on days long past… ignoring any incidents pertaining to giant monsters and aliens, of course. By the time they finally ate, it was as if she had never left.

And yet… something was bothering Chiyo. There was an empty space at the table; not physically, but she could feel it all the same. A hole in the air next to Yomi, stretching silences where obnoxious comments should have rung out, an odd sort of tension that tugged at them just when they were on the verge of settling into deeply contented nostalgia…

Finally, as Kagura was mopping up the last vestige of gravy on her plate with her roll (meaning the rest of them were about halfway done), Chiyo gave. "I'm… sorry to bring this up, but please, I have to know… what… what happened to Ms. Tomo?"

The ambiance shifted, but Chiyo couldn't tell just how. Yomi sat back and looked at her resignedly. "I knew I'd have to tell you sooner or later."

Kagura's expression sobered and Sakaki straightened to take advantage of a handy band of shadow that obscured her eyes. There were a few seconds of quiet as everybody collected themselves; some dolt at another table started laughing, which didn't help the mood.

"None of us really know," Yomi finally admitted. "If anybody knows, it's Ayumu, and, well…" No delicate way to say it. "It probably wouldn't be a good idea to ask her."

"They went to college together, didn't they?" Chiyo asked.

"Yes. And they left together, too… about 3 years ago, Tomo was accepted into the Tokyo Police Academy." Yomi smiled sadly. "She was absolutely insufferable for weeks… when she first came over with the news, she jumped up on my kitchen table and started going 'dah-nah-naaah, dah-nah-naaah…'"

Chiyo giggled weakly. "Ah, the SWAT theme. That sounds like something she'd do."

"Is that what it was? I thought she was just being a moron. Well, as she was preparing to leave school, there was an… um, incident in Osaka. Have you heard of Hedorah?"

"I'm sorry, no."

"The 'smog monster.' It… attacked Osaka until your father sent Mechagodzilla to destroy it. Ayumu… lost family to it. We're not sure, only Tomo would know, but we think that this is when she had her first breakdown… she was having these awful, vivid nightmares of what it must have been like to be there. Tomo bragged that she was able to describe Hedorah from her dreams before any footage or images of it were released."

"Bragged…?"

"No, I'm sorry, she didn't really brag. Not even Tomo's that insensitive." Yomi looked away for a moment, wincing at the present-tense. "You know how she would do that… acting like they were her dreams or something. They left their college together and moved back to Tokyo. We were all a little surprised."

"Not me," Kagura put in, sober but challenging, "They were pretty into each other."

"No they weren't," Yomi sighed. "It wasn't like that. If you'd spent more time with them you would have seen."

"I think I saw plenty."

"Well, anyway, the very fact that we're having this argument should tell you how close they were," Yomi forged ahead. "Tomo went to her Academy and Ayumu kept their apartment… none of us really heard a lot from them after that, but it sounded like they were doing pretty well."

"Hm…" Chiyo tried to imagine what kind of a domestic setting those two must have made, but she honestly couldn't. "I wish I could've seen them."

"Yeah…" Yomi shook her head. "Then the Invaders came. It was… well, if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it."

"That's fine," Chiyo assured her. She didn't really want to be subjected to an account of the invasion anyway. One tragedy was enough for now.

"Tomo was on some kind of internship or something… I don't really know how it works at the Academy. She was out with some real policemen, patrolling just after Japan's surrender… there were these big riots, and even some of the police units were joining in. She just went out into that mess one day, and…" Yomi spread her hands. "Didn't come back. They would have told Ayumu more, but that's all we got. Even Tomo's parents haven't heard anything else."

Chiyo nodded, swallowing. Now she didn't even know why she had asked… what good did knowing any of this do? Tomo was still… was still…

"Subject change?" Kagura jumped in. "I think a subject change would be good."

"Yes! Yes." Chiyo shook her head rapidly. Her memory shot back for a moment… she saw Tomo in the Godzilla shelter, standing over a checkerboard and offering to kick any ass in the room even as her classmates were still cowering. She would've been the last person to give in… "Ms. Sakaki, how have you been doing at that veterinary clinic? You haven't said much yet."

"Heh!" Kagura smirked. "She's been doing a lot better since she got that boyfriend of hers, the florist."

"He's not…" Sakaki protested, blushing furiously enough that it was clear that he was something, all right. Chiyo's spirits slowly lifted as the evening wore on. Vaguely, she recalled hearing Tomo's philosophy on life and admitting, "I don't have what it takes to live like you." When was that, the 10 km run? Yes… well, she would have to have what it takes now. Just as the Takinator surely wouldn't surrender, so she would have to become… the Mihaminator!

Chiyo declined to explain why she'd suddenly snorted into her shake. She had a feeling none of them would get the joke anyway.