A knock at the door woke me up from my deep slumber. I groaned, sat up in bed, and ran my hand through my tangled hair. I looked at the clock on my desk; it read 10:42 A.M. Who would wake me up this 'early' in the morning?

"Yumekoooo!!" I heard a cheery voice call out from the other side of the door.

"Michiko?!" I gasped aloud, and ran to the door, still in my nightshirt and boxer shorts. I threw open the door and there she stood, her hair tied back in a looped ponytail, wearing a T-shirt with a jacket over it, blue shorts, and what looked like brand-new shoes.

"You look nice today," she laughed.

"You just woke me up, how else would I be dressed?" I asked, laughing.

"Do you want to go out shopping with me today?"

"Why do you ask?"

She cocked her head and looked at me with that playful look in her eyes. "Did you honestly forget what today is?"

I gasped and slapped myself on the forehead. "Crap!! It's your birthday today!!"

She smiled. "Yup!! My mom and dad gave me 70,000 yen to go shopping with, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me to Ginza district."

"And that money's in addition to your birthday present?"

"Uh-huh!! Please come with me, Yumeko!! It's no fun going shopping by yourself!!"

I smiled. "Well, I have to get dressed first."

"So go get dressed!!" she said, practically jumping up and down with excitement. "The sooner we get there, the better!! Best to avoid the early afternoon crowds, y'know!!"

After I got some clothes on, Michiko and I rode to Ginza district. It wasn't even noon yet, but this part of Tokyo knew no night or day; it was positively packed no matter when people decided to come here.

We decided to go into the music store first. There was the usual crowd swarming everywhere, looking at rap CDs, rock, J-pop, and CDs by American singers. Michiko dragged me over to the rock section and looked through the CDs there.

"Looking for any one in particular?" I asked.

Michiko grinned. "Priss' new CD, of course."

"It came out a couple months ago. I thought you would've had a copy of it by now. You're one of Mom's biggest fans," I pointed out, smiling.

"I didn't have the money," she said. "But I do now! Here it is!!" She found the CD and held it up in her hand. It was entitled Priss and the Replicants: Everything's a Sweet Fantasy. On the cover was a smiling Mom, wearing a red-sequined stretch top and blue jeans, both her hands in her hair, her head and upper body cocked to the side slightly. Also on the cover was a sticker saying that this was a multi-platinum album and that it featured the hit songs Everything's a Sweet Fantasy and Anata wa Only Mine.

"I've heard these songs all the time on the radio," Michiko exclaimed. "It was torture waiting to get some money to buy this CD, and now I can listen to all her songs at home and not have to wait for them to come on the radio!!"

"So buy it!!" I encouraged. She laughed and said that of course she would.

After we left the music store, Michiko starting singing some of the lyrics to the Sweet Fantasy song. "Jinko-soo ja nai, demo watashi wa Sweet Fantasy o shinjiru."

I chimed in, "Anata to kono Sweet Fantasy no kyokubu ni naritai no."

We both looked at each other and laughed.

Michiko wanted to go to the clothing store next, so she and I shoved our way through the mosh pit of a crowd, made our way into the even worse-crowded elevator, and went up to the third floor, where the clothing store was. She immediately ran in and went to the jeans section.

After picking out a few pairs, she turned to me and said, "I'm going to go try these on, ok? You can tell me whether they look good or not, because sometimes I have really bad taste in clothes."

"You don't have bad taste. Who says you have to wear what everybody else is wearing, anyway?" I said.

"True. Well, I'm gonna go try some of these on now." She went into the nearby dressing room. While I waited, I looked at some of the shirts on the racks, and ended up shaking my head. Some of the shirts in this store were 4,000 yen a piece. I couldn't understand why people would waste that much money on one lousy shirt when they could buy a decent pair of boots for that much.

"Yumeko!" Michiko called to me. "How do these look?" I looked into the dressing room, and saw she had tried on the black pair that she'd chosen out. They were like bell-bottoms, flaring out at the ankle. I motioned for her to turn around, and looked at the backside as well.

"Does your butt hurt? The jeans look way too tight there," I pointed out, blushing.

Her face fell. "It shows that much?"

I nodded.

She sighed. "Well, I still have three other pairs I'd like to try on. Maybe they won't make my butt seem like it's sticking out a mile." She closed the door and a minute later, called me in to critique the next pair. This pair was blue, and didn't flare out at the ankles like the first pair did. Michiko turned around, and they didn't cling to her butt, either.

"Those ones look great on you!"

"Really?" she exclaimed. "The other two pairs are just like this, except they're different colors. Do you think I should get those, too?"

"You should try them on first, just to make sure they fit."

After trying on the last two pairs to see that they fit all right, she bought them and a pair of sunglasses. After leaving the store, we were left to debate where to go next.

"I know!" I said. "How about we go to the jewelry store?"

"The jewelry store? Yeah!! There was something there that I wanted to look at!!" Michiko exclaimed, and we walked the two blocks down to the local jeweler's store. When we walked in, the store manager greeted us with a bow.

"How are you ladies doing today?"

"We're doing fine," I said, returning the bow. Michiko bowed as well.

"Where's your ring section?" she asked.

"Over in the far right corner, miss," the manager said, pointing.

"Thank you," she said in a singsong voice, practically skipping over to the case.

"Do you have any necklaces here?" I asked in a low voice.

"Yes, miss, we do. Right in the center section."

I walked over to the center of the small store and looked in the case. There were necklaces of gold, silver, gold with gold hearts, gold entwined in pearls…so many choices! Now what would Michiko just love?, I asked myself, biting my lip as I thought, my hands pressed against the glass. She didn't care for rubies…she was allergic to nickel…and she didn't think silver looked very good on her. That limited my options JUST a little bit. But then, I saw something I knew she was just love.

"Can I see that?" I asked, pointing to the thin gold necklace with an amber heart attached.

"You certainly may, miss," he replied, unlocking the case and removing the necklace. He set it in my hands, and I held it up to see. The heart was an orange-gold color, and seemed to glow underneath the light. Michiko would love this.

"Michiko, come over here," I called to her. She turned and looked at me curiously.

"Did you find something you like, Yumeko?" she asked.

"You'll see. Now just come over here and close your eyes," I said, hiding the necklace behind my back. She walked over to me, and I told her to stand up straight and close her eyes. I took the necklace, and wrapped it around her neck, attaching it in the back.

"Now open your eyes," I said, standing behind her. She opened them and looked into the mirror on the case. She gasped.

"Yumeko, it's beautiful!!" she breathed, her jaw dropping. "Is this for me?"

"Mm-hmm," I said. "It's my present to you."

Her eyes started to well up with tears. "You didn't have to buy anything for me…just your company is all I ever need…"

I shook my head and threw my arms around her neck. "I had to get you something for your seventeenth birthday. Besides, you've done a lot for me, and I had to pay it back somehow. Plus, I had to make up for all the times I forgot your birthday," I laughed.

"It's March 5th, and don't you forget it," she said, laughing through her tears as she hugged me back.


"What would you girls like for birthday dinner?" Michiko's mom asked us.

"Is there any chicken in the fridge?" Michiko asked.

"Yes, dear."

"Could we have some grilled chicken, then?"

"Of course!!"

"Your mom's great," I said, leaning back on the couch in her apartment. I had called Mom and asked her if I could stay the night at Michiko's house, and she said yes, so here I was.

"Isn't she though?" Michiko agreed. "She and Priss must be the greatest moms alive. They work so hard to keep us fed and have a roof over our heads, and we…just seem to take advantage of it, not even giving our thanks."

"They know we're grateful," I assured her. "Mom told me a long time ago that just seeing my bright face first thing in the morning is thanks enough for her."

"Mom told me something similar to that, too," she said, a soft smile forming on her lips. "Do you know anything about your dad?"

I shook my head. "She'd rather not discuss my dad. I don't know who he is or what he looks like, but I'm sure he's out there somewhere."

"Do you think he knows that you even exist?"

"I'm sure he does, whether he actually acknowledges it or not. If he doesn't care about me, fine. I don't care if I ever know who he is."

"That's a pity. Everyone needs two parents in their lives."

"Me and Mom are doing fine on our own."

She shook her head. "Still…you should at least know who he is…"

After Michiko's mom finished cooking the chicken for us, we all sat down in front of the TV and ate. As we were watching the news, the subject of the Boomer summit came up.

"With the summit about the Boomer problems just five days away, the police are already preparing to deal with protests and possible riots," the newscaster said.

Michiko turned to me. "What do you think about the summit?" she asked with a mouthful of chicken.

I sighed and set down my plate. "I think they should destroy all the Boomers and use the parts for something useful. We're all so used to having stuff done for us by the Boomers that when people go to work, it's not even really work anymore. We're getting lazy. And besides, it's not only Combat Boomers that go insane in the streets; waitress Boomers could go haywire at any time, too."

"You know what I think would be really ironic? If Boomers went nuts during the summit. Wouldn't that just figure?"

"Well, the Knight Sabers have always been there to destroy any rampaging Boomers, right? As long as they're around, we'll have almost nothing to worry about."

"Knight Sabers…hmph!" I heard Michiko's mom say behind me. "They're just a band of mercenaries that do more damage than even the Boomers do." I swallowed my food hard. What a filthy lie!! "I think they should let the police do their jobs and stay out of it. And while the police are at it, they should be arresting the Knight Sabers, too! Let them rot in prison for what they've done! They stormed Genom Tower years ago and killed Mr. Mason!! You can't let them get away with something like that, can you?!"

I spit my food back onto my plate; suddenly, it wasn't tasting so good anymore…

"You ok, Yumeko?" Michiko asked, looking concerned.

"Considering what Genom has done to this city over the years," I said, "maybe it's a good thing they killed Mason."

"A GOOD thing?!" Michiko's mom fired. "How can killing one of the top men of Genom be a good thing?!"

"Do I really need to explain?" I mumbled, and stood up, walking to Michiko's bedroom. Michiko followed.

"I thought you knew my mom hated the Knight Sabers," she sighed.

"They put their lives on the line to save us!!" I yelled. "What is there to hate?!"

"She's a very law-abiding person, you could say. Anybody that breaks the law, she thinks should spend the rest of their days in prison. It's the way she is. I can't even say anything about the Knight Sabers because she'll question my opinion about them, and ask if I love criminals so much."

"They're not criminals…" I grumbled, flopping down on the bed.

"Come sit down on the floor," she suddenly said.

"Why?" I asked, raising my head.

"You need to relax," she said, "and I know what to do to get you to do so." She took out a caboodle full of nail polish bottles, and looked through them.

"What, by getting my nails painted?"

"Well, it helps me relax, so it might help you, too."

I decided to let her paint my nails, so I sat down on the floor next to Michiko. She picked out a bottle of forest-green polish and started painting my nails in that color. I was still a bit tense at first, but after she had done a few nails, I started to relax. Maybe she was right, after all. This was kind of relaxing, even if it wasn't my most favorite thing to do in my spare time. After she was done with my right hand and moved on to my left, she started asking me some questions.

"Are you going to try out for the gymnastics team next year, Yumeko?" she asked.

"Maybe. But the tryouts aren't till late April, and—"

"That's right!! Your mom's tour starts next month, doesn't it!!"

"Yeah…" I said glumly.

"Oh, yeah," she said, sighing. "You're planning on staying here. You're going to be missing her a lot, I'm sure." Michiko obviously didn't know the real reason I was depressed. She couldn't know even if I wanted to tell her. Would Mom go on the tour, just so nobody got suspicious of anything, or would she stay here, and risk not only making millions of fans upset, but get people suspicious of the real reasons she was canceling?

"Yeah, I'll be missing her," I said, going along with it.

"And remember," Michiko reminded me, looking up at me, "I'll still be here if you need to talk about anything, ok? Don't forget."

I smiled. "Of course I won't forget that, Michiko. You're my best friend, why would I talk to somebody else when you're here?"

Suddenly, we heard a loud booming noise from outside of the apartment. Michiko and I jumped at the sudden sound.

"What was that?!" she asked, alarmed.

"I don't know," I said, racing out of her room and out the front door. Looking down the corridor, I saw a few policemen trying to restrain a much bigger man. I recognized him as Tsubasa. Wonder what they're arresting him for, I wondered.

"Come along, mister," one policeman said, holding Tsubasa's arms behind his body and attempting to handcuff him. Tsubasa tried to wiggle free, and even kicked some of the other officers away. Eventually, he got his hands free, turned around, and punched the officer holding him.

"What the hell…?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Get off me, you sons of bitches!!" Tsubasa yelled, punching a few more of them as they tried to restrain him. He suddenly then pulled out a gun and shot in our direction. I gasped and put my arms in front of my face, half-expecting to be hit. Michiko screamed and ducked.

"Michiko, you ok?" I asked immediately after I heard her scream. She slowly looked up at me, her eyes wide with fear.

"I'm…ok…" she said, voice shaking. We both turned around and saw the bullet hole in the wall, just inches from where we were. Talk about close calls.

"What are you doing here?!" Tsubasa suddenly asked me. That split-second gave the police enough time to spray him in the eyes with pepper spray and subdue him.

"I was just gonna ask you the same thing," I mumbled, folding my arms over my bosom.

"C'mon, you're coming with us," an officer said as the others dragged him away. Tsubasa kicked and yelled curse words, trying to get away, but he couldn't see worth crap thanks to the pepper spray, so even if he did get away, he wouldn't exactly be able to see where he was going.

"About why he's here," Michiko suddenly said, "he and Masahiro live in this building, too."

"I didn't think they'd be able to afford living here."

"The police come here every so often because of Tsubasa. Most of the time, they arrest him for assault, battery, disturbing the peace, and God knows what else. That was a typical scene we just saw, though I've never almost been shot before," she said, just now getting the color back into her face.

"I wish I could agree with that last comment," I remarked, shuddering at the memory.

"Tsubasa'll probably be back in a week," Michiko groaned. "We should get inside before anything else happens." She looked down the corridor to make sure nobody else was acting strangely, then led me back into her apartment.

My last thoughts as I drifted off to sleep were not of our close encounter with Tsubasa, but of the upcoming Boomer summit. Would anything happen? Were the Knight Sabers just wasting their time taking this job in the first place? And if anything did happen, would we come out of it ok?


Tomorrow would be March tenth, the first day of the dreaded Boomer summit. I trudged through school that day, having to listen to everyone else talk about that damned gathering. The way teenagers usually act, I'd think they wouldn't pay it much attention, but geez, that's all the kids at school talked about all day!! Would Boomers still legally be allowed to exist after the summit? Would they disappear off the face of the planet, or would they still be on the streets, still doing our dirty work for us? I tried to shut it out whenever the topic came up, but I just couldn't, especially when the topic of the Knight Sabers came up.

"Hey, you think the Knight Sabers will still be around after the summit?" I heard one boy ask another. "If the Boomers aren't around anymore, they won't be around anymore, either."

"They'll be around," another kid assured him, sounding very sure of himself. "They popped up again when the Boomers started going nutso again, right? So they'll be here."

"Hey Yumeko," the first one suddenly said, throwing a wad of paper at the back of my head to get my attention. I ducked it and spun around.

"What do you want?" I asked, thoroughly annoyed by all the talk about the summit.

"Geez, don't need to be a grumpy gal. You look like somebody died or something." Yeah, and it ain't gonna be me if this talk keeps up, I thought.

"So what do you want?" I grumbled.

"Just wondering what you think about the Knight Sabers and whether they'll be around after the Boomer summit."

"I'm positive they'll still be around," I said, getting to the point.

"Think they're humans like us or just someone's really advanced Boomers, sent out to fight other Boomers?"

"The Knight Sabers, Boomers?!" I laughed out loud. "Only humans would be crazy enough to fight Boomers!!"

"Well, I know YOU'D be crazy enough to fight them, but not anybody else. I don't think even Masahiro would take one on."

"Masahiro can't even take ME on, what are you talking about?"

He laughed. "Seriously now. Are you a Knight Saber in disguise, Yumeko?"

I smiled smugly. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. If the Knight Sabers are humans – which I'm sure they are – why would they want a kid on their team?"

"Well, your athletic ability, for one. You were at the World Championships back in July, right? The Sabers would certainly want somebody with that kind of ability."

I folded my arms behind my head and leaned back in my chair. "Yes, I was there, but I didn't win. They'd probably want somebody who's the best at what they do."

"But you were in the finals there," he persisted.

"Look, it's ridiculous to think that I'm a Knight Saber," I said, getting very impatient. "It's most likely a very dangerous job, and not to mention it doesn't pay much, and the cops are on their asses twenty-four hours a day!! Why would anyone want a job like that?!"

I stood up, grabbed my backpack, and left the room, leaving the boy sitting there, wondering what to say next.


"Rough day?" Mom asked when I walked in the door.

"You could say that," I groaned, sitting down on the couch. "Kids were talking about the summit all day."

She sighed. "Not looking forward to it, are you."

"Hell no. We're risking our butts to bodyguard some lousy politicians, and for what? They probably won't know what to do about the Boomers, anyway. It's a waste of our time!!"

"Come up to the roof," she said, taking my hand and dragging me out the door. "We need to talk."

We walked up the stairs to the top of our apartment building, and opened the door to the roof. The wind immediately greeted us, blowing our hair back and playing across our faces. I sat down right then and there, and Mom stood nearby, leaning with her back to the guard rail.

"So why did you bring me up here, Mom?" I asked, cupping my chin in my hand.

"Nobody'll hear us if we're up here," she said. "Anyway, you know that the Boomer summit is tomorrow, and chances are that we're going to be getting into some fights. People, or Boomers for that matter, would just love to break up the meeting."

"So what are you saying?"

"If…if something does happen, and the Knight Sabers have to get involved…I want you to stay out of it."

"W…why?!" I inquired. Just what was Mom pulling?! I was a Knight Saber too!! I had just as much duty to protect people as the others did; why should I sit out?!

She bent down and cupped my face in her hands, looking at me with those bright red eyes that I had gotten from her, and said gently, "Because, Yume…you're my girl. If I can avoid letting you get seriously hurt or killed, then that's what I'm going to do. You don't know what a major fight is like. I do though, and believe me, it's not something you want to be in. I'll fight for the both of us. You don't need to worry."

I gently shook my head. "I have to be in the fight, if it ever occurs. I'm just as much a Knight Saber as you, Aunt Linna, Aunt Nene, and Sylia. I have a duty to protect those politicians, even if I don't want to protect them in the first place. You can't stop me from jumping into the fight."

"Look, Yume! I'm not asking you to stay out of the fight, I'm telling you! I'm not going to let you get yourself killed. You still have your whole life ahead of you. You're only sixteen, Yume. I barely made it through my teenage years, and damn it, I'm going to make sure you do, too!" She started to get tears in her eyes. "You don't understand what you'll be getting yourself into if you jump in…"

"Mom…" I sighed. What could I do? Mom did have a bit more fighting experience than I did, and she'd been at the heart of a major battle more than once. She was more than willing to throw her life away if it meant that I would live on.

"Promise me that if something does happen, Yume, that you'll stay out of it," she said, almost pleading with me.

"All right. I promise," I said, giving in. "I won't jump in on anything."

I'd promised Mom that I wouldn't jump into the battle – if there would be a battle – but a few concerns continued to nag me. What if there was a battle, and the only way the KS would win was if I jumped in? What if one of them got killed because I wasn't in the battle to help? I knew I had to stop assuming that anything was going to happen, but this was a Boomer summit; just about anything and everything was guaranteed to happen, and I wanted to be there to put a stop to whatever would go on. That night, I tried to put the summit out of my mind, but it was futile. The last night before the summit was a restless sleep, one filled with nightmares of being ambushed by Boomers so strong, we didn't last a minute against them. And Michiko's words from a couple days ago continued to echo in my mind: "You know what I think would be really ironic? If Boomers went nuts during the summit. Wouldn't that just figure?"

I couldn't agree more.


I woke up the next day with a cloud of gloom hanging over my head. Why in the world had Sylia accepted this job in the first place? My gut feeling said that if it weren't for the eighty million yen that she'd been offered, she wouldn't have taken it. I swore that if I were ever in Sylia's place, I would completely ignore the fee and just take a look at what the job itself had to offer. Nobody could bribe me to save their lives; I was too smart for that, and I'd been hoping Sylia was, too, but then again, the Knight Sabers' bank account wasn't exactly bottomless.

I walked into the bathroom, stripped off my pajamas, and walked into the shower, turning on the water as hot as I could stand without burning myself. I turned on the waterproof shower radio and turned it to the news.

"The summit is an hour away from officially starting," the newscaster said as I scrubbed shampoo into my hair, "and already the protesters are gathering to show their support, or opposition, to Boomers. Some have been gathered in front of the convention center since before dawn, and the police have been stationed in front of the center since last night to prepare for the protests and any possible riots. Traffic has been rerouted around the area, and it's highly recommended that anyone going downtown should be wary of the situation here."

I washed the shampoo out of my hair and started scrubbing myself off with a loofah and some exfoliating cream. As I was scrubbing my shoulder, my finger ran across a rough patch of skin, and I stopped to look at what it had hit. It was the scar from when that Combat Boomer had shot me a couple months ago. About the size of my fingernail, and pinkish-red in hue, it stood out against my tan skin. I smiled gently upon the sight of it. Strange as it sounds, I almost had an emotional attachment to that little scar. Not only was it my first battle scar, but it was also a sign of what I had survived. I could have had it removed easily, but I wanted it to remain, to remind me that I was a survivor of a Boomer assault, that I had escaped death.

As I finished scrubbing myself off and put some conditioner in my hair, the newscaster on the radio suddenly seemed to get excited over something.

"The protesters are gathering in large numbers here, and they seem to be getting quite rowdy! Oh, the police are getting ready to intervene…" I stopped and looked at the radio, wide-eyed. Cool, they're rioting!!, I thought gleefully. Maybe that way, they can put off the start of the summit a bit.

I rinsed the conditioner out of my hair and turned off the water. Stepping out of the shower, I dried myself off and wrapped my hair in the towel, and got dressed. I took off the towel and combed out my hair, blow-drying it at the same time. After I washed my face, I went to put on my shoes when my pager went off.

"Yumeko here," I spoke into it – the pager doubled as a communicator.

"Yumeko," I heard Sylia say, "it's time you got down to the convention center. We need to be in position before the world leaders arrive."

"Where should I meet you at? I heard on the radio that traffic would be blocked."

"Park in the open lot southeast of the center. I'll have Linna meet you there."

"Ok."


The news guy on the radio had said that it would be pretty crowded around the convention center, but when he said crowded, he meant it!! On my way there, traffic hadn't been too bad, but all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it slowed down to a complete stop. I peered past the cars in front of me, and saw a huge crowd jamming the street, yelling and holding of signs of protest. I guess I'm close, then, I thought sarcastically. I started up my motorcycle again and starting driving between the two lanes; I had to get out of this street if I didn't want to be late to start watching over the summit. The other drivers honked at me and yelled profanities, but I ignored them and drove on. When I reached the crowd, I slowed down, then backed up and veered my bike between two other cars and entered the open lot where Sylia told me to park.

"Let's see, she said Linna would be here waiting…" I said to myself, looking around for her. Couldn't see her anywhere in this crowd. After waiting a few minutes, I decided to head towards the convention center; maybe she'd just been caught in the huge crowd.

"Linna!!" I called out. "Where are you?!" My voice, however, was drowned out by the protesting of the people in the streets. "RID US OF THIS MENACE TO SOCIETY!!", one sign read. "NO MORE BOOMERS!!", another read.

"We hope that the world leaders will rid us of these pests!!" one person preached to the others, standing on top of a car. "How many people must die before they understand?! Boomers must go down!!" The crowd roared. I covered my ears to drown out the noise, and kept looking for Linna.

"Attention!!" I heard a policeman in riot gear yell into his megaphone. "You must disperse now!!" The crowd only yelled more, and they started to throw trash at the officer. One guy nailed him in the eye with a beer bottle. The officer made a hand gesture at some other officers standing by, and they came forward with something in their hands. I recognized the objects as tear gas canisters, and realizing that there'd probably be a stampede in a couple of seconds, I quickly grabbed onto a lamppost. The officers pulled out the pins with their mouths and quickly threw them into the crowd, immediately putting on their gas masks.

In a matter of seconds, a white cloud of gas filled the air and started spreading out through the streets. People instantly started coughing and hacking and rubbing their eyes from the burning pain, and like I expected, everybody then quickly scattered. They dropped their signs and started running from the pursuing officers. As the wave of people pushed past me, I struggled to hold on to the lamppost, squeezing my eyes shut to keep out the tear gas, but in vain. They quickly started to burn and water, and as one of my hands reached to rub them, I lost my grip on the lamppost and was swept away in the crowd. I fell to the ground, but before I could get crushed underneath the stampede, I felt someone grab me by the arm and pull me between a couple of buildings.

"Are you ok?" I heard Linna say. I rubbed my eyes and when I opened them, saw her standing there, her eyes looking red from rubbing the tear gas out of them.

"I'm fine," I said, still rubbing.

"Why didn't you stay where you were supposed to be?" she asked, starting to rub her burning eyes as well.

"Because Sylia told me you'd be there when I got there, and when you weren't there, I went to look for you."

"Just come on," she said, taking me by the hand and leading me further into the alley. We weaved our way between the numerous buildings, and after a few minutes of walking around, we came to one of the equipment vans, sitting there behind a condemned building.

"Isn't this a bit conspicuous?" I asked.

"It's better than having it sit out in the middle of a crowded parking lot, right?" Linna said, beckoning me to get in the van. I climbed in, and saw Nene sitting there at the computer terminal in her innerwear.

"You're finally here!" Nene exclaimed. "What kept you?"

"Stampede," I said, still rubbing my eyes, then looked around. "Where's Sylia and Mom?"

"They're in another van, on the other side of the convention center," Nene said. "Having hardsuited people fly over the center to keep watch on the other side as well…we'd be standing out too much, so we have two separate 'bases'."

"Oh."

"We should get changed into our innerwear, Yumeko," Linna said, pulling off her sweater. I nodded and got changed. After we were changed, Linna got into her hardsuit and suited up.

"Going on watch?"

"Yep. At noon, Priss and I have to go on watch. At one, you and Sylia go. We'll be alternating like that until eight."

"And what about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, we'll be alternating between me and Sylia, and you and Priss."

"When did you guys come up with the schedule for this, anyway?" I inquired, folding my arms over my chest.

"This morning," Nene said. "Priss decided to leave you out of the scheduling part so we wouldn't have to hear you complain about the way it'd be worked out."

"Complain?!" I grumbled.

"Oh, and we also all agreed that in the event of a terrorist or Boomer attack, you'd keep out of it unless it was a dire emergency."

My jaw dropped. "THAT'S probably why she decided to leave me out of this morning's meeting!!" I yelled. "I'm a Knight Saber too, dammit!!"

Linna nodded. "Yes, that's true, Yumeko, but Priss and the rest of us have a responsibility to protect you."

"I can protect myself…"

Linna shook her head in disbelief and put on her helmet and left, leaving Nene and me by ourselves in the van. I sighed and sat down on the floor next to my hardsuit. I had the feeling that this was going to be a looooong summit…


Day Two of the Boomer summit…

"Ok, listen up," Sylia announced. "Today, Yumeko, Mackie, and myself will be in the van on the west side of the convention center. Linna, Priss, Nene, you three will be on the east side. We will rotate between Yumeko and Priss, and Linna and myself. Everyone understand?"

We all nodded and headed out to the convention center, Mom and Linna getting into one van with Nene at the wheel, me and Sylia getting into the other with Mackie driving.

"How in the world did Mom talk you into keeping me out of any potential fights?!" I grumbled, leaning against the wall as we drove down the street.

"Actually, we both agreed on keeping you out," Sylia said coolly. "You're younger and less experienced than the rest of us, and if things do get a bit rough, at least we know how to keep a clear head."

"I can keep a clear head!" I protested.

She shook her head. "I disagree. Whenever you've been in trouble during a battle, you actually seem to lose your mind instead of keeping a clear one. What I mean by keeping a clear head is that in a crisis, you stay calm, think rationally, and don't panic."

"And you're saying Nene can keep a clear head?" I asked dryly.

"Just do as you're told and the summit will go by much faster for you than if you complain the whole time," she snapped, ending the conversation. I sighed and put my hand up against my hardsuit, gazing at it longingly. At this rate, I was practically hoping something would happen during the summit. Then I'd show her. I'd show her that I could stay calm in a crisis. I was willing to bet that if any Boomers dared interfered with the summit, I could take them all out myself…


Day Three…

"How is everything up there, Yumeko?" Nene asked over the comm. I'd been on watch for the past half-hour, watching over the building to make sure nobody suspicious was hanging around or anything.

"Boring," I said. "The only interesting thing to see up here is the thunderstorm over in Tokyo Bay."

"Well, that's good. Just contact me if there's anything suspicious. Nene over and out."

"Ok," I sighed as she disconnected. Yes, we were getting paid eighty million yen to watch over the summit, but damn, I hadn't thought it would be this boring!! There was absolutely nada to do but stare at a drab, grey building that was starting to get stained yellow from the air pollution, not to mention the group of protesters that continually stood there outside the building, chanting about the good or evil that Boomers do to society. At this rate, my hardsuit would probably rust from all the sitting around we were doing. I stood up and stretched my legs; they were starting to get cramped.

"Get down," I heard Mom order over the comm. "I can see you from clear over here."

"Well, my legs are getting cramped."

"So don't squat. Just sit down or something, but don't stand up!"

"Fine, fine," I said, sitting down and stretching out my legs on the roof. If I'd known how dull this was, just sitting around on a rooftop doing next to nothing, I would've at least brought my old jacks along.

After a little while longer of sitting there, I started to feel so positively bored out of my skull that I was considering making drawings in the ground with my laser gun, but nixed that idea, for Nene contacted me again.

"Your shift's over. Sylia should be up in a minute," she said.

"Ok," I said. After Sylia came up to where I was and said I could go, I left, ducking and running so no one down on the street could see me, then leaped down to the equipment van. Opening the roof hatch, I climbed down into the van, closed the hatch, and pulled off my helmet.

"Another day, another boring shift," I sighed.

"Well, think of it this way: at least nothing's happened so far," Nene said, trying to cheer me up. It didn't help.

"Talk about a double-edged sword, nothing happening, I mean."

She nodded in understanding. "There's only a week left of the summit. It'll go by faster than it seems it will. And besides, if anyone wanted to really interrupt the summit, I think they would have made their move by now."

"Somehow, I doubt that…"


Days Four and Five of the summit were much the same way. By Day Six, I thought I was going to lose my mind. As if school lectures weren't boring enough, I had to come downtown to watch over this summit that probably wasn't going to go anywhere.

"Yumeko, doing her homework?" Mackie wisecracked as I sat there on the floor, working on a few calculus problems. "What has the world come to?"

"Not like I have much else to do…" I mumbled, finishing up a problem.

"Need help?"

"No. I just have a few more to do, then I have to do my English homework."

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem for you, Miss English Whiz."

"The only reason I'm even in that class is because it's required. They don't care if I'm already proficient in it or not." I finished up the calculus paper and started on the English worksheet.

"It's nice that you're actually doing your homework for once, but you need to stay alert in case something happens."

"Doesn't matter," I said, not looking up from my homework. "The others said they weren't gonna let me fight unless it was absolutely necessary, anyway." I frowned as I recalled the conversation that Sylia and I had had a couple days ago. Who was to say that I couldn't keep a cool temperament in a catastrophe, especially Sylia? She hadn't even been a personal witness to most of the stuff I'd been through the past couple months; what evidence could she possibly have to back up her words?

"Hello?" I heard Mackie say. I snapped out of my own world to see him waving his hand in front of my face. "You're just staring into space."

I looked up at him and said, "I'm fine. Nothing's wrong."

"You just look preoccupied, that's all. Something on your mind?"

"I wish they'd let me fight with them, that's all." I nibbled on the end of my pencil as I looked over the paper I was working on.

"Don't let it get to you. Sis and the others, namely Priss, are just looking out for your best interests."

"You sound like Nene, talking like that."

Mackie smiled. "Well, you just joined the Knight Sabers recently, so you haven't had much experience with the Sabers working for other people, or being in major battles. You are, literally and figuratively, a kid compared to them. They know what they're dealing with, and, well, you don't really have a clue, to be frank. Do you honestly think that if something does happen here – which it might, or might not – you'll know what to do? Do you think you'll be able to take whatever is thrown at you? You'll be relying on your gut instinct, and have to make split-second decisions that could either save your life, or end up getting you killed. There's a lot of pressure being put on the others, Yumeko. You don't know at all what they're going through.

"Priss knows it, too. She knows you don't have the experience to be able to jump into a big fight with what little experience you have. She knows that you're very apt to make the wrong decision and end up seriously hurt or killed. She doesn't want you to go through any more than is necessary. She is your mother, after all. I think that, perhaps, she knows you better than you even know yourself.

"Yumeko, you're the one who should know what your weak points are. If you yourself doesn't even know what they are, well then, maybe you don't deserve to be in any fights that might arise."

I took the pencil I was holding in my hand, snapped it in half, and threw the two pieces to the floor. "Would you mind your own business?!" I snapped. "You're not the one that has to wonder if the others will get killed because you're forced to sit out of any potential fights!!"

"I'm worrying about the others just as much as you are, Yumeko!" Mackie shot back. "My older sister is the leader, for God sakes!! It's killing me inside, knowing that when you girls go on your shift, you might not come back!!"

"I…don't…care!!" I yelled in English, then instantly switched back to Japanese. "You're not the one that has to sit out a fight, or have to take crap from the others!! I don't need anybody else looking out for me! I can do that myself!! If I end up hurt or killed because of something I do, then so be it, but I'm not going to take all of this sitting down!!"

"…I'm sorry to hear that," Mackie said sadly.

"Good for you," I said grimly, scribbling on the English homework, then putting it in my backpack. The longer this summit dragged on, the grumpier I obviously became. How much longer could we all go on like this?

Four more days. I only have to last four more days, I kept thinking. Trouble was, could I last for four more days? The first six days alone felt like six weeks; could I go four more days without snapping from the pressure?