For the next three days, they wanted me to stay in bed, let my wounds heal, stuff like that. But I couldn't stand it! Just laying there while Boh walked free just ate away at me. I didn't even know what Sylia's plans were to get rid of him. Whenever I'd ask Mom or the others, they'd just say not to worry about it, that they'd take care of it. Argh!! Why couldn't they just be honest with me? Did they think I was too 'emotionally fragile' because I'd been stabbed?

Well, stab wounds be damned. On the third day after Boh ambushed me, I decided to sneak out; I couldn't take any more of this waiting. I made my way out of bed – biting my lip to keep from hollering in horrific pain – and got dressed. After tying my hair back and putting on a baseball cap and shades, I peeked out into the hallway to make sure nobody was around, then walked out and headed towards the elevator.

It was easy enough; after exiting the elevator on the main floor, all I had to do was walk outside and make my way to the bus stop without Sylia or Nene spotting me through the windows of their Silky Doll shop. Once I accomplished that, I walked to the nearest bus stop, holding my stomach in pain the whole way, and got on the bus that would take me near Kihi Senior High. I just had a feeling Boh would be carrying on as normal, and if I was right, surely he'd be at the school.

By then, my wounds had started to hurt like hell, and I was so preoccupied with trying to ignore the pain that I almost missed my stop. I had to yell to the bus driver to stop the bus so I could get out. Once I got out, I walked the block and a half or so to the school, went into the student parking lot, and just sat there on the lawn, leaning with my back against the fence, waiting. You son of a bitch, I thought. Once I get you alone, you're dead meat.

After a few minutes, I heard the bell ring that signaled the beginning of the lunch hour, and soon enough, kids came pouring out of the school. I kept an eye out for Boh, but with so many kids, it was hard to pick him out.

"Hey, Yumeko!" a girl yelled. I snapped my head up and saw Ana heading towards me. Oh no, I thought, adjusting my cap.

"Where ya been the past few days?" Maru asked dryly, walking up behind Ana. "Haven't seen you around."

"Just been sick," I said quickly.

"What's with the shades?"

"To keep the sun outta my eyes, what else?" I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You sure you've been sick?" Ana whispered. "'Cause Michiko's been gone for the past few days too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You were both here on Monday, but for the past few days after that, neither of you have been here."

I tried in vain to swallow the lump in my throat that had formed. Michiko was gone too? Surely it was just a bad coincidence. Yeah, it's gotta be that, I thought.

"Yeah, Ana's right," Maru said. "You both just suddenly disappeared. And it's funny; you're here, but you haven't gone to any classes, and your lover, she hasn't shown up at all yet today either."

"What do you mean my LOVER?!" I screamed, getting to my feet, and immediately regretting it; that sudden movement made my wounds flare up in pain, and I whimpered and grabbed my stomach, gritting my teeth.

"Huh? Some of those toys she use on you have a bad side-effect?" Maru wisecracked.

"SHUT UP!!" I yelled, still holding my stomach. "I'm not exactly in the mood to deal with your bullshit!!" I fell to my knees, the pain was now so bad.

"Y…Yumeko, you ok?" Ana asked, looking concerned.

"C'mon, Ana. Let's go have a smoke, 'k?" Maru said, walking away.

"Be right there." Ana bent down and put a hand on my shoulder. "What happened?"

"N…nothing much," I said weakly, taking off my shades. "So Micchan hasn't shown up at all, either?"

"Nope. And now that I see you're hurt, I'm kinda wondering what happened with her too…" She thought for a moment. "Show me."

"S-show you what?"

"Your stomach!"

I shook my head. "I can't get you mixed up in this, Ana…"

"Mixed up in what?" she inquired.

I dragged her away from the crowds, then whispered, "Somebody tried to kill me, ok? And if they find out you know about this, they might go after you too."

"So show me already!" she snapped.

"Fine." I gingerly lifted up my shirt enough so that Ana was able to see the bandage around my stomach.

"Take off the bandages," she said.

"Why?"

"I wanna see how bad it is, that's why!"

I sighed and reluctantly took off the clips that held the bandage in place, then unwrapped the bandage. When the air hit my wounds, I grimaced in pain.

Ana's eyes widened at the sight of the wounds. "You got stabbed!"

"Yeah." I replaced the bandage and grimaced again. "I'd rather not have the whole world know about it. So don't tell anybody, ok?"

"But…if somebody tried to kill you, shouldn't you go tell the cops or somebody?"

"You really think I'd go to them and say somebody tried to kill me?! It's because somebody knows I'm a Knight Saber! That's why I'm being targeted! But…"

"But what?"

"But why is Michiko missing?" God, I hoped nobody thought she was in the way. She HAD to be ok! She was my best friend in the world!

"Maybe you should just go home and lay low for a while," Ana suggested. "You being here is gonna raise a lot of suspicions."

"It's not like I've never cut class before," I quipped. "It'll be fine."

"Why'd you come here, anyway? If you're hurt so bad, I mean."

"I can't say."

"Can't say or won't say?"

"Come on already, Ana!" Maru snapped, striding over to us. "What're you talking with this bitch for, anyway?"

"The only bitch around here is you," I snapped.

Maru rolled her eyes and dragged Ana away, leaving me by myself. Boh's gotta be here, I thought, my gazing wandering towards the student entrance. He's gotta be. And maybe he knows I'm waiting for him… And now that I knew Michiko was nowhere to be seen, that gave me another reason to confront him…

The next few hours rolled by uneventfully, and as I sat there in the shade, popping some aspirin when I needed it, I started wondering if he'd decided to show up at all. But I guess if he hadn't, then Ana or Maru would've said something about it. But then again, these were the girls that had teased me about my relationship with Michiko for a long time, so maybe they'd only brought her up for that reason. Damn, I couldn't even think straight right now…!

Before I knew it, the last bell rang, signaling the end of school. I sat there for the next few minutes to let the initial wave of kids pass, then I made my way inside, and nearly leaped a mile in surprise when the metal detector was set off; I'd forgotten all about it.

"Oh, hey Yumeko!" one boy yelled, laughing. Others laughed with him; they'd come to know by now that if the detector went off, it probably meant I was here. Damn. So much for being inconspicuous…

I walked down the main hallway among the few remaining kids there, looking for that familiar black ponytail. He's gotta be here, I thought. I kept walking, sometimes stopping to lean against the lockers because of the pain. All the while, I kept thinking about Michiko. I started to tremble at the thought that something might have happened to her. Was I just overreacting? Possibly, but I just couldn't shake the thought that something was horribly wrong. I took off my cap and let down my hair; no use trying to hide anymore. I was going to confront him face to face, and if I ended up being stabbed again, then so be it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a boy turn into another hallway. I peeked down that hallway, and felt the blood drain from my face; it was Boh. My feet turned to lead, not wanting to move another step in his direction, but I knew I had to press on. I'd come this far, and I wasn't going to turn back now.

After a few seconds of just standing there, I swallowed deeply, then reached into my jacket and pulled out a pocketknife. And then, I started following him, trying not to make the sound of my limping echo TOO much through the hallway. But it was useless; I was about six feet behind him when he realized somebody was walking behind him. As he turned around, I acted; I ran towards him and rammed him into the lockers.

I put the knife up to his throat and snapped, "Where is she?!"

"Ah. Yumeko," Boh said casually. He started to smirk. "How are you?"

"Where the hell is Michiko?!" I repeated.

"Your friend with the streaks in her hair? Why are you asking me?"

"She's been missing since the night you stabbed me. I want to know what happened to her, and NOW!!"

"It's true what they've said," he said, shaking his head in mock disbelief. "You really are stubborn. Stabbed four times, yet you dare to confront me again?" He smirked. "You don't learn, do you?"

"Where is she?!" I asked again, the tears welling up in my eyes. "I swear I'll kill you if you don't tell me!!"

"Kill me?" He reached up and grabbed me by the shirt, then stepped forward, turned around, and shoved me into the lockers; we'd switched places now! He grabbed the knife from my hand and put it up to my throat. "You really think you could kill me?"

I squeezed my eyes shut and whimpered, the tears coming freely; my stomach hurt almost as much as it did when Boh had stabbed me, and on top of that, here he was, probably going to try again.

"Not answering? Well, I'll tell you something about Michiko. Maybe she's just sick. Ever given that a thought? Or maybe she went on a family vacation?"

"You and I…both know neither of those are true!" I spat.

He smirked again. "Maybe they are, and maybe they're not. Either way, maybe you're just making a mountain out of a molehill." And suddenly, still holding me by the shirt, he threw me across the hallway, right into the row of lockers on the other side. As I slumped to the floor, he walked over and put a foot on my back. "You really should know not to mess with me. I could kill you right now if I so wished."

"Do it!" I dared, tears in my eyes again. "What's stopping you?! Do it!!"

"You WANT me to kill you?" he asked, curious. "Heh. The only reason you're still alive right now is because Miss Yamazaki noticed our game. She spoiled it."

"G…game?!"

"You're lucky that you'll be getting out of here alive today." He took his foot off my back.

"Hey, aren't you going to kill me?" I asked sarcastically, still on the ground.

"A school is no place to settle this," he said dryly. "Too many potential witnesses, to boot. Wouldn't you rather we keep this game to ourselves? It's more fun that way." He started to walk away, then stopped. "Oh. Here's your knife." He dropped it next to me.

"Damn you," I growled.

"You shouldn't be talking like that to someone who could've killed you just now," Boh said matter-of-factly as he disappeared down the hallway. "I'll be seeing you later."

I just laid there for a minute or so afterwards, in too much pain to do much else. A stupid game, that's all this whole thing was to him. He enjoyed torturing me like this; that was obvious enough. And Michiko…I still didn't know what happened to her.

I did the only thing I could do at the moment…

…and that was to sit and cry.

Michiko…Micchan…, I thought as the tears came pouring out, please let me know you're ok. You…you gotta be ok! Why would anyone target you? Just give me a sign…! Please!


As soon as I was able, I left the school and caught the next bus to Michiko's apartment. It was the only way to know for sure whether or not I was right to worry, or if I was just overreacting like I'd done so many times. But then again…the last time I felt something was wrong, I was right; I had a scar across my stomach and on both sides of my left leg as a result of what happened then.

I practically jumped off the bus and ran to the apartment building, my stab wounds hurting more and more with every passing second. My leg wasn't exactly in running shape either, and it, too, started to hurt, throbbing with every step. I tried to block it out, but after a few seconds, I was holding my stomach while trying to run at the same time, and soon enough, my eyes were watering from the pain.

I was halfway across the parking lot when suddenly, I tripped and fell face-first on the pavement. Shaking, I pushed myself up to my hands and knees, tears streaking my face.

"You ok?" I heard Michiko's dad ask. I looked up and saw him next to me, bending down on his knees.

"Mr.…Mr. Ishiodori!" I gasped.

"Let me help you up," he said. I let him help me to my feet, and then my knee started burning with pain. I looked down and saw it was scraped and bleeding. I winced, not from the scrape, but from my stab wounds.

"W-where's Michiko?" I asked quickly, not wiping the tears from my face.

"I'll explain once we get up to our apartment."

One arm around my shoulders, Mr. Ishiodori helped me up the stairs and to his apartment. Once he opened the door, Michiko's mom came running to us.

"Oh, Yumeko!" she gasped. "What happened?"

"She tripped in the parking lot," Mr. Ishiodori said.

"Let me go get something for that." She ran to get a Band-Aid and some disinfectant while I sat down on the couch, grabbing my stomach when it flared up in pain for what seemed like the thousandth time.

"Where's Michiko?" I asked again. Mr. Ishiodori shook his head.

"We don't know," he admitted, looking remorseful. "The last time we saw her, she went to help you at one of your therapy sessions. She never came home."

"We called around," Michiko's mom cut in, returning to wash my cut and put the bandage on it. "There was no answer at your place, and she wasn't at the other places we called either. So we waited and hoped that maybe she was out shopping or something. But she didn't come home." She wiped away the tears that started welling up in her eyes. "On Tuesday we went to file a missing person's report, but what did the cop say? He said we had to wait seventy-two hours to file one. Seventy-two hours! That's three days! A lot can happen in three days!"

"Y-yeah, I know," I mumbled, whimpering as I grabbed my stomach again. Both of Michiko's parents looked at me, concerned.

"What happened?" Michiko's dad asked.

I laid down on the couch, moaning. "It's…it's nothing…"

"Let me look," Michiko's mom said, lifting up my shirt. "My God. What's with the bandage? Did you get cut or something?"

I shook my head weakly. "No… I got stabbed…"

"Stabbed?!" She looked me in the face and said, "When?!"

"After I left my therapy session. I said bye to Michiko, and me and Linna went over to her place. I got stabbed over there."

"Adrienne, don't cry," Mr. Ishiodori said when she did start to cry. "I doubt that's what happened to Michiko."

"But what if…?" she sobbed. "Oh God, Kenji, what do we do if something happened to her?!"

I blinked away my tears and tried not to think about that possibility. "That's why I came over here… I heard about it at school, and…and I had to come here and make sure she wasn't just sick or something."

"I bet I know who it was that might have hurt my daughter!" Michiko's mom declared. "I bet it was the Knight Sabers! Those evil people, who do they think they are?!"

I jumped up off the couch. "It wasn't the damn Knight Sabers!!" I yelled. "You can't assume that everything bad that's happened is attributed to them!"

"Why not?" she snapped. "They're vigilantes who are up to no good!!"

"They may be vigilantes, but Michiko admires them! She admires them for putting their lives on the line to save us everyday citizens! They saved my life!"

"Yumeko's right, Adrienne," Michiko's dad sighed.

"Why would they hurt someone like Michiko?" I fired. "The only things they're out to kill are Boomers! They're not assassins, or murderers! Yes, they're vigilantes, and they may break the law, but they're doing it to protect people like you and me!!" I sighed and held my stomach again; it was hurting like hell now. "Look, I know as much as you do about Micchan's disappearance, but I'll try to find out what happened. And I doubt she just ran away; you guys are great parents, and there's nothing to run away from! I'll try to find her, I promise."

"I'm…sorry for yelling," Michiko's mom said. "But my only child is missing, and…"

"I don't blame you for being upset," I said. "I'm upset too…"

"Where're you going?" Mr. Ishiodori asked when I started to head for the door.

"I'm leaving. Gotta go back to the hospital I ran away from," I joked. "You could say I've been AWOL all day!"

"Let me give you a ride, Yumeko," he offered. "Surely you can't get around in that condition."

"I appreciate the offer, but…I can get back by myself. I got myself here, right?"

"Well, yes, but—"

"I'll be going now. And I swear I'll find Michiko. And soon."

With that, I shut the door and went downstairs to catch another bus, one back to Sylia's building. The whole ride back, I kept praying that Micchan was ok. And if something had happened…I would have Boh's head. Michiko was the most charming, least violent person I knew; surely nobody would want to harm her…

Right?

"Yumeko!" I heard Linna yell once I got off the bus. I turned around and saw her running towards me. "Everyone's been looking for you! Where on earth have you been?!"

"Linna…" I moaned, the tears springing up in my eyes. I hugged her and said, "Michiko's missing. No one's seen her since the night Boh stabbed me. I…I hope she's ok…!" I started to cry.

"I…I hope she's ok too," she said, returning the hug.

"Why would anyone want to hurt her?" I cried. "She never did anything to anybody!"

"I know, I know… We'll find her, Yumeko. At least, we'll try to find her."

"We gotta! I couldn't live with myself if something happened to her because she…she…"

"She what?"

"She knows about me," I whispered. "She figured out I'm a Knight Saber. I hope she didn't get hurt because she got dragged into this mess!!"

"Well, let's go tell Sylia what's going on. Maybe she can help."

Linna led me upstairs to Sylia's penthouse, and sure enough, when we opened the door, Sylia, Mom, and Nene were all there. They all ran to us when they saw us walk in the door.

"Yume, where WERE you?!" Mom asked.

"Yumeko, you had us worried sick!" Nene said.

"Where did you run off to?" Sylia inquired.

"The school," I admitted. "Had to see if Boh was there."

"You went after him by yourself?!" Linna gasped.

"Yeah. And I heard that Michiko hadn't been seen since the night he stabbed me, so when I saw him, I confronted him about it."

"And?" Mom grumbled.

"And he denied everything. He said she was probably sick."

"That doesn't sound like the whole story," Nene sighed. "What else went on?"

"Um…well…he was pretty eager to kill me, but he didn't; he said a school wasn't a fitting place to settle it." I frowned as I recalled him saying that. "All he did was throw me against the lockers and hold my own knife to my throat." I rubbed my back. "Just got a few bruises, that's all."

"Yumeko, that was very dangerous," Sylia scolded, "especially in the condition you're in."

"Yeah, he did ask me if I dared to confront him knowing that he could kill me easily." I frowned again. "Boh considers this whole thing a game. And that's why he didn't kill me; he wants to keep this 'game' between him and me."

"Well, too bad," Mom said. "We're jumping in on this 'game' of his."

"That's not all, Mom," I said. "After that, I went to Michiko's apartment, and her parents said they hadn't seen her since that night either." I wiped away the tears from my eyes. "I just hope Boh didn't do anything to her…"

"There's already hell to pay for what he did to you," she said, frowning. "If anything happened to Michiko, I'll make sure somebody's head is gonna roll."

I smirked at the image of kicking around Boh's head like a soccer ball. But then, the reality of what was going on sank in, and I started to cry again.

Yep, heads were going to roll…and I was going to make damn sure that Boh's would be one of them.


Two more days passed, and it seemed to take forever for them to pass. Although Sylia had decided to let me and Mom go home instead of being holed up at her place, it didn't make things much easier. Every minute, I was listening for the phone to ring, hoping that it would be Michiko calling to say she was ok. But when it did ring, it was usually Sylia or the others. I was about ready to pull out my hair, I was so worried.

"She called yet?" Mom asked, five long days after Boh's attack on me.

"No," I cried, lying down on my bed. "Mom, what am I gonna do if something happened to her?" I grabbed my stomach and whimpered when it flared up in pain again. "It's gonna be my fault if anything's happened."

"You don't know that," she said.

"Yeah I do! I asked her if she needed a ride home, but she…she said she'd rather walk. If…if only I hadn't let her walk home…"

"It was her decision," Mom said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "And besides, if anything did happen to Michiko, how were you supposed to know it then?" She smiled. "C'mon, let me take you out for lunch. It'll get your mind off of this. I'm sure she's ok."

"But what if she calls…?"

"Just c'mon, Yume." She took me by the hand and led me out the door.

Mom took me to an outdoor café near Linna's aerobics gym and ordered us both a hot chocolate. While we both nursed our cups, Mom tried to get me to stop thinking about Michiko by talking about next year's Olympics.

"The trials are in May, right?" she asked.

"Y-yeah, they are."

"You been practicing on the bars at all?" I shook my head.

"No… I've just been working on warm-ups and the floor exercises, to help get my leg back in shape. I can't do the bars just yet."

"Well, I'll admit something to ya right now…" Mom smirked as she stirred her hot chocolate.

"Like what?"

"I could never do the uneven bars like you," she said, smiling. "Sure, I've been a Knight Saber for longer than you, but as far as physical stuff goes, you're more like Linna."

I smiled. "Well, I guess maybe it's because she's the one that trained me."

"And because I'm into singing instead of aerobics," she joked.

"I'm thinking that if I qualify for the Olympics, I'll—"

"If? You mean WHEN," she laughed.

I laughed as well, lightly holding my stomach. "Yeah, I guess! Well anyway, AFTER I qualify, I figure since the Olympics are in Nairobi, I'll go there a few months before they start so I can get used to the altitude."

"That's a good idea."

"Yeah, I think it'd be kinda hard to do those flips if I'm too busy wheezing for air," I joked.

A moment later, I heard a police car whiz by, sirens blaring. Mom and I turned to look at where it was going. It turned the corner and stopped shortly after.

"W…what do you think happened?" I asked aloud.

"Beats me," Mom said.

We sat there for the next few minutes afterwards, finishing our drinks in silence. It probably wasn't anything much; just one police car, right? Well, after I finished my drink, two more showed up, plus an ambulance. My body went numb.

"I gotta go see," I said nervously, standing up slowly.

"I'll go with you," Mom said. "Hopefully it was just someone that had a heart attack or something."

But why would there be cop cars if it was just someone who had a heart attack?, I thought as Mom and I crossed the street and turned the corner to where a crowd was slowly forming. Several rumors were already going around about what the police were looking for in a nearby alley. One said it was a bunch of money from a bank robbery last week; another said it might've been a stash of drugs. But I knew better than to believe those; an ambulance wouldn't be here to take away some money.

"Get back, people!" a police officer shouted as another tried to secure the scene with some of that yellow police crime scene tape.

"M…Mom…?" I said, voice quivering.

"I'll ask 'em," she said, shoving her way through the crowd to the officers. I stood there anxiously while she questioned any officers she could get close to. She turned to try and get a peek in the alley, but ended up getting shoved away.

"What is it? What is it?!" I asked over and over when she returned. I gasped when I saw she was pale.

"Yume…" she started to say. She shook her head and took a breath.

"What is it, Mom?!"

"They said they found a body."

"Do they know who it is?"

"Listen, Yume. There's lots of murders in this town every day. Try not to panic just yet, ok?"

"But we're just two blocks from Linna's gym!! What if—" I was panicking by now, despite the fact Mom had just told me not to do that. But I couldn't help it! Michiko had been missing for five days now, and now that a body had been discovered…it just freaked me out to no end.

"I gotta go see," I mumbled, starting to shove my way through the crowd like Mom had just done. It wasn't exactly easy, what with my bad leg and my stab wounds and all. I grimaced the whole way, trying not to cry out or yell, and by the time I got to the crime scene tape, I was ready to drop to my knees in pain.

"Hey, mister!" I yelled, grabbing a passing officer. "Who'd they find in that alley?!"

"Sorry, kid," he mumbled, shoving me away.

"My friend's been missing the past five days! I need to know!!"

"I don't know who the girl in the alley is, ok?" he snapped, getting pissed. "I have a job to do." He walked back into the alley.

"Damn it!!" I cursed to myself. A minute later, I saw another officer emerge, and I yelled for him to stop.

"'Scuse me, officer," I said, "but do you know who the girl is you found?"

He shook his head in disbelief and wiped some sweat from his forehead. "Yeah, I do."

"Who is it?! Can you tell me?"

"Sorry, kiddo. Police business."

"PLEASE!!" I pleaded. "My friend's been missing for the past five days, and I'm worried about her!"

"Who's your friend?"

"Michiko Ishiodori!"

He paled and got a sorrowful look in his eyes. Oh no…, I thought, slowly shaking my head when he didn't respond right away. No…don't say it's true…

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Your friend's gone."

It was like somebody had thrown a bucket of ice water on me; my body suddenly got cold, the shiver traveling from my shoulders to my feet. I musta heard that wrong…

"M…Michiko? She…she's not gone," I said, shaking my head. "She's not gone. No way! She was just helping me with my therapy the other day! She's not gone! Michiko CAN'T be gone!!"

"I'm sorry," the officer repeated solemnly, walking away.

Mom finally made her way back through the crowds and to me. "Did you find out who it was?" she asked.

"It's not her! It CAN'T be her!!" I yelled to myself, my body completely numb. Even as I watched the gurney being unloaded from the ambulance, I refused to believe it. Michiko…my best friend…she couldn't be dead! Not her!

"Yume…" Mom moaned, her eyes turning glassy.

"Mom, it can't be her!" I said, turning to her. "Michiko's still alive! She's gotta be! Maybe she just got hit on the head and forgot about me! Yeah, that's it!"

Mom just shook her head.

I turned to look back at the cops, and the gurney was being rolled out of the alley again, this time covering something with a white sheet. It couldn't possibly be Michiko under there…she was never so, so…still. But maybe, just maybe…she was just hurt. Yeah! That must've been it!

"You gotta help her!" I yelled to the people wheeling the gurney towards the ambulance. "She's hurt! Don't just cover her up!!"

"Sorry, kid," one of them said.

And then, something snapped. Something inside me just snapped. It was a feeling even worse than when I'd seen Linna and the others get beat up at the Boomer summit while I laid there helplessly.

Much worse.

"MICHIKO!!" I screamed, ducking under the police tape. I had to get to her, and now. I ran/limped towards the gurney, but several officers jumped to hold me back.

"Let me GO!!" I yelled, struggling to get out of their grip. "That's my friend!! Michiko!!" I had to resort to elbowing them in the faces to get them to let go of me. Once they did, I ran to the gurney and threw myself over the white sheet that supposedly had my best friend beneath it.

"Michiko, I'm here!" I said, tears in my eyes. But it felt so strange, hugging her like this; Michiko's body was never this cold, this stiff… "I'm here, Micchan…"

"C'mon, kid, let go," an officer said gently, pulling me away slowly.

"M-Michiko…" I moaned.

"I'm sorry about your friend," he said sadly as he led me back to Mom. Before I could get to her, though, I happened to take a glance down, and on the ground near the end of the alley was a broken chain. I picked it up, then suddenly, I recognized where it was from.

It was the chain from Michiko's necklace. And it was missing the amber heart that went with it.

"Michiko…no…" I said, clutching it in my hand.

"Yume, I'm…sorry," Mom said, not able to find any other words to say.

"She's dead…" I hugged Mom tightly and started to cry like I'd never cried, my whole body shaking with the sobs. "Michiko's dead…! She's dead!"

Mom returned the hug and held me tight. "I know."

"Why? Why did she have to die?!" And then, I just let it all out.

I had never had anyone close to me die before, unlike Mom. She was a veteran when it came to this stuff. Now, sadly, I knew how she felt. And Micchan…I'd never get to see her again. I'd never get to see her smile, or greet me when I arrived at school. I'd never be able to joke around with her, or sing with her, or even cry with her.

She was gone forever. And knowing that, my heart ached with loneliness.

Those few moments I'd spent with Mom, talking about the Olympics… Those were my last moments of bliss. And perhaps, she knew that, and just wanted me to have a few more minutes of innocence. Maybe deep inside, she knew Michiko was gone, and just didn't want me to know the pain that she knew so well.

But now I knew what that pain was like. And I could never go back to being innocent again.


The next three days after that were a blur; I couldn't even recall them. All I could think about was Michiko. She was always the bright spot in my day, the one I could always depend on to cheer me up. She was the one who helped me up when I fell, and kept me from going insane whenever I thought I'd never be able to walk again normally.

And now she was gone. The sun in my life, gone. Gone as if a supernova had occurred out of nowhere.

After I found out she was gone, aside from right afterwards, I hadn't cried at all; I was in total and utter shock. I just sat there and stared into space, my mind and body all numb.

"She's been like this for three days," I heard Mom say to Linna when she came by. "I don't know what to do for her."

"Yumeko just lost her best friend, Priss," Linna said. "Think about how you felt when Sylvie died."

Mom didn't answer, instead walking into my room. "Yume, Linna's here."

"Ok…" I said, gazing down at the pillow I clutched tight in my arms, almost as if I expected to see my reflection in it.

"Hey, Yumeko," Linna said, walking up to me and sitting down next to me on the bed. "Is that Michiko's necklace you have around your wrist?"

I gazed down at the chain; I had it wrapped around my wrist like a bracelet. I just had the need to keep it close to me, always. "Yeah… I got it for her for her birthday…"

"Is there anything you need to get off your chest? Anything at all?"

"I wish I hadn't let her walk home," I said softly, jumping slightly when I heard the thunder roar outside the bedroom window. "It was the one time she didn't ask for a ride home… Why didn't I make her ride with me?"

"Yumeko…there's no way you could've known what was going to happen. You can't blame yourself."

"It had to be Boh who did it… Who else could it have been? There's no way it could've just been a coincidence that she died and I was stabbed on the same night." Something had just occurred to me; Michiko's body was found only two blocks from Linna's gym, so…did that mean that Boh had killed her before going over to Linna's place and stabbing me?! But why? Why did he target her first? Had she…had she gotten in the way? Somehow learned about his plot, maybe?

"Sylia's suspecting it's Boh too," Linna sighed, "but there's no real proof that it was him that did it."

"Why did he kill her though? Is this a part of his stupid game too? Killing anyone that gets in the way, but only PLAYING with the real prey?"

"I don't know…"

Mom frowned and turned away; apparently she didn't want to think of it like that, though I'm sure she knew it was possible, too.

"I've known Michiko for so long…I can barely remember life before I met her."

"So this still doesn't seem real yet?"

"No, it doesn't… I can't imagine life without her…"

Even though I was only seven years old when I'd met Michiko, I remembered that day crystal clear. It was sometime in August '45, and she and her family had just moved to Tokyo from Shikoku. The teacher had introduced her to the class, and she had been very shy, always having her arms behind her back and looking at the ground when she spoke. The other kids treated her like an outcast, but me, I was more curious about this new girl than anything.

During recess, I was climbing on the jungle gym, and I saw her sitting in the sand underneath it, playing with a doll.

"Hey!" I called to her.

She looked up. "Huh?"

"Hi!" I waved at her.

"You're in my class, right?"

"Yeah! I'm Yumeko! You're Michiko, right?"

"Yeah."

I jumped down and sat down next to her. "I've been to Shikoku before. My mama had a concert there a little while ago."

Michiko's eyes widened. "Your mom? Who's your mom?"

"She's the singer for the Replicants band."

"You mean Priss from Priss and the Replicants?!"

"Yep!" I grinned impishly.

"That's COOL!!"

"You can meet her when she comes to get me after school if you want!"

We jabbered on for the rest of recess, Michiko asking a thousand questions about what it was like having Priss Asagiri for a mom, and what our favorite songs were. Victory was a sentimental favorite of mine, and is to this day, but Michiko's favorite, even though Mom had released several albums since we met, was always Itoshiki Rival.

And as I sat there on that bed, wondering with Linna how I'd be able to live without her, several of the lyrics from that song ran through my head…

Tooi goal ni tadoritsuku made ni (By the time people reach their distant goal,)
hito wa doredake itami o shiru no. (how much pain will they have come to know?)
Tabi no omosa ni kujike-soo na yoru (At night, when the weight of the journey has me feeling down,)
anata no egao itsumo omoidasu. (I always remember your smiling face.)

Those lyrics certainly applied to how I was feeling now… The day Boh had stabbed me, August 18, 2055, was ironically the one-year anniversary of when I found out about Mom and the others being the Knight Sabers. I had agreed to join them, but at what cost?

I knew that there might be consequences, but now…there were permanent ones. At the price of helping to protect the city, I had lost a friend. Had this journey of being a Knight Saber really been worth losing Michiko over?

I suppose some would say I had reaped what I sowed.


The next day, I stood there listening to the radio while I was taking a shower. It wasn't very comfortable, what with my stab wounds and all, but I felt like I had to cleanse myself of everything that happened. As I scrubbed myself off with the loofah, I took care not to go too hard over my wounds; the water alone made them sting, let alone what the loofah would add.

"Hello there!" the DJ said. "Have a request?"

"Yeah!" a female caller answered. "I'm a big fan of Vision, especially her older songs! I was wondering if you could play Never the End for me."

"No prob! Off of Vision's album More Work to Do, here is Never the End!" A second later, the music started, and I tried to ignore it. I just felt like I couldn't listen to that song right now. There were a lot of songs I couldn't stand to listen to, not at this point in time. I finally had to turn off the radio to keep from crying when the chorus started: "Wasurenai Melody kuchizusamu kokoro de…ima yori mo motto kimi ga wakaru made…No, Never the End."

I hastily turned off the water, stepped out of the shower, and dried myself off. As I was pulling on a sweatshirt, I recalled something Michiko said during one of my last conversations with her… "We…we still have a lot of living to do. We're not supposed to throw our lives away before they've even begun!" Damn…I was the one going out with my mom and the others to fight Boomers, but she was the one that ended up getting killed. Not exactly what I had pictured; I had always imagined she would outlive me, and that was even before I joined the Knight Sabers. Michiko was the one that had everything going for her; she was the sweetest girl I knew.

Why did she have to be the one to die, and not me?! I was Boh's target, not her!

Or…was this another part of Boh's game? To torture me by murdering my best friend?

I pulled on some pants, the tears blurring my vision by now. As I stood up, I clenched my hand into a fist and squeezed my eyes shut. Damn him for everything!, I thought as I turned and slammed my fist into the bathroom mirror blindly, crying. I felt the blood run down my hand as I took it away from the mirror and opened my eyes again, but I ignored it, instead crying a bit more. No, I didn't really feel the pain, but I just felt I was helpless to do anything. Breaking the bathroom mirror didn't exactly help vent my pent-up anger, either.

And suddenly, I heard a knock at the door.

I jumped in surprise. Who was that?! I was certain it was Boh, coming to finish the job. That was the only thing on my mind right now. And so, I walked out of the bathroom slowly, trying not to make the floor creak with my every footstep. Shaking, I made my way to the kitchen, and grabbed the largest butcher knife available. I would've grabbed my gun, except, well, Boh had mangled it when he'd slapped it out of my hand.

I took one step at a time towards the door, my legs wobbling underneath me, I was so nervous. The moment I opened that door, I swore I was going to stab him right in the face, or whatever the knife hit when I'd bring it down on him.

"Yumeko, are you home?" I finally heard someone say from the other side of the door.

I dropped my knife. "S…Sylia…?"

I walked over to the door, undid the locks, and opened it. Sure enough, there stood Sylia, dressed in her usual lavender business suit.

"W…what're you doing here?" I asked, my voice hoarse.

"I need to talk to you about something," she said. She saw the knife on the floor and asked, "What were you doing with that knife?"

"I thought you were Boh…"

Sylia nodded in understanding. "And your hand?"

I looked at it, just now noticing the pieces of glass that were embedded in my knuckle. "I…punched the mirror… I just can't stand this anymore!" I threw my arms around her and started crying. "It's my fault Michiko's dead!"

"Now now, calm down." Sylia closed the door behind her and walked to the cabinet to grab a bandage for my hand. "Before we talk, let me bandage up your hand."

After she picked the pieces of glass out of my knuckle and washed off the blood, she put some disinfectant on the cuts and wrapped the bandage around my hand. Once that was done, she beckoned me to sit on the couch next to her.

"Why do you think it's your fault Michiko's dead?" Sylia asked.

I snapped my head up in surprise; shouldn't it have been obvious?! "I didn't give her a ride home! If I'd given her a ride home, Boh wouldn't have had a chance to kill her! And…and…"

"And what?"

"I wish I hadn't joined the Knight Sabers!" I yelled, starting to cry again. "If I'd known Michiko was to die because I joined, I wouldn't have done it!!" I wiped the tears from my eyes. "I want my friend back…!"

"I can't help you there," Sylia sighed. "Anyway, I don't know if you want to hear this, but I had Nene look up Michiko's autopsy report…"

"You did? And?"

"Your stab wounds were more for the purpose of torture than for killing you quickly. But in Michiko's case, it's apparent that he wanted her to die, and fast. She was stabbed three times in the chest, as well as twice in the abdomen, so says the autopsy report. It also states that the abdomen wounds seem to have come first, followed by the chest wounds. One of the wounds to her chest struck her heart, so she probably didn't suffer."

"Says you!" I cried. "She suffered at least a little bit, if those stomach wounds DID come before the chest ones!" I shook my head to try to get the images of her in horrific pain out of my head. If she was going to die anyway, I would hope that she wouldn't have had to suffer at all. I'd said the same thing to Boh while he was stabbing me, to just get it over with.

"Sylia, do you…do you think maybe Michiko got wind of Boh's plans?" I asked.

"It's possible. But only Boh knows for sure." She sighed. "At least now we won't have to worry about the school now."

"What do you mean?"

"Boh withdrew from the school yesterday."

"He…withdrew?!" It made sense…his work was, for the most part, done; he needn't stick around any longer. Hell, hadn't he started attending Kihi as an exchange student or something anyway? He probably made up the excuse of saying his 'family' was sick of Tokyo already and 'decided to go back to Korea'. "Do you know where he is now?"

"I have an idea, yes."

"G…Genom Tower, maybe?"

"Probably. His mission isn't fully complete, so I doubt his memory has been erased yet."

"So he…might still be laying in wait for me?"

"Yes. But don't think about trying anything, Yumeko. The other Knight Sabers and I will take care of this."

"But I'm a Knight Saber too!"

"You're injured, and besides, you're the one he's after. It would only be giving him what he wants."

But what about Mom?, I thought. The guys at Genom might know who she is! Wouldn't it be dangerous for her to go too? But then again…if they did know she was a Knight Saber, then why hadn't they made a move?

"I don't…intend to live like this," I said, standing up. "I don't want to walk around having to watch my back every second. But…I want those sons of bitches to pay for killing Michiko. I can't just stand around and let Boh or Quincy or anyone else to get away with killing even one more person! A lot of people have died at Genom's hands, I'm sure…"

"You're right," Sylia said, gently putting a hand on my shoulder. "But we can't act with raw emotion. Priss has done that many times, and she'll tell you that on more than one occasion, she would've been killed if the rest of us hadn't been there to help."

"She said something about that happening when she fought Largo." I barely knew anything about Largo…just how powerful had he been? Mom had told me he was strong enough to make her faceplate break when he threw her against a wall, but other than that and the fact he had a Black Box in him, I didn't know anything about him.

I gasped.

"What is it?" Sylia asked.

"Those Boomers at the summit…they had Black Boxes in them, right?"

"Yes, but just the second one."

"Where was it?"

"In its stomach."

"Can it be put in anywhere else?"

"Cynthia had it located in her head. The Black Box from her was the same one that Largo had in his possession." She raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

For a moment I wondered who the heck Cynthia was, but dispelled that from my mind for the moment. "I just…don't know that much about what you guys did before I joined the group. Linna, Nene, and Mom haven't told me much about what happened in the 2030's, and since I'm a Knight Saber too, I just want to be caught up."

Sylia smiled as she walked towards the door. "A lot happened before you were born. I'm sure it seems strange to think that anything happened at all before your existence. I was like that as a child too."

"Always thinking that all life began when you were born?" I asked, smiling softly.

She chuckled. "Yes."

As Sylia opened the door to leave, she said, "I want you to rest up, all right? Let us handle everything. Michiko did not die in vain, I promise that."

"I…I hope she didn't, Sylia…"

"If you need anything, or just want someone to talk to, you can call me."

"Ok…"

After she closed the door, I sat back down on the couch. It wasn't entirely true, me wanting to know what they'd done before I was born. I was more curious about the whole Black Box thing. It's in its stomach, huh?, I thought. Sylia had told me not to try anything, but it was in my mind almost from the moment I found out Michiko was killed: I would go to Genom Tower and avenge her. And I figured if I faced the same type of Boomers that were at the summit, then I would have to know where the Black Box was kept.

I knew in general where in Genom Tower Quincy's office was; I'd snuck a peek of Nene doing some research the other day, and she had been looking at the Tower's floorplan. Quincy's office was somewhere around the 100th floor, if I'd read them right.

Mom, Sylia, and the others already had an assault planned out, but…this was all because of me. This was my fault. All this was only happening because I had joined the Knight Sabers. And as a result, I felt a need to rectify this myself. I knew exactly when I would go too, since now I had all the info I needed.

Tomorrow night. Tomorrow night, I would go to Genom Tower myself and kill Quincy. He'd put the whole city of Tokyo through over twenty years of hell. And to top it off, he was responsible, at least in part, for killing my best friend. It was personal now.

Ironically, Michiko had asked much the same thing during our last conversation… "It scares me to death, knowing that for the past year, you've been going out with them and putting your life on the line. I used to think that…that only suicidal people would willingly go out and do things like that, but…"

"Maybe I'm suicidal," I had said. "But…at least I don't get to just kick back and watch Genom rain death on the people around here. I can DO something about it."

And now I would.

Even if I died trying. It didn't matter to me anymore.