Comprising the upper half of the two-storey Crown building, the Fruit Parlor was the favoured hangout of Ami and her friends. Tall windows lining the walls allowed the sunlight entry, letting it play upon the polished white floors and tables that made up the spacious interior and nourish the lush green plants that sat in vases and boxes throughout. The easygoing sounds of its patrons' carefree chatter welcomed Ami as she stepped inside and she found herself relaxing a little. A delighted voice called over to her, easily making itself heard above the background noise.
"Ami-chan!"
As usual, her friends were seated in a booth in the corner nearest the door, three girls and two cats sat on comfortable orange seating around a table cluttered with their magazines and half-eaten orders. Ordering a glass of apple juice and taking her place on one of the soft chairs, Ami immediately felt her spirits lift as she looked around at their beaming faces. The girl who had called her over spoke again, her words tumbling out in an excited rush.
"So I got a call from Moroboshi-san last night! He heard my demo and said I – and I quote – 'show a great deal of potential'! I've still got to do voice training and everything but I'm starting to think I might actually make it!"
Seated opposite Ami, Minako was a chatty blonde to whom the word "exuberant" might well have been invented for. A red bow sat atop a waterfall of blonde hair that framed her angelic face and made her sapphire eyes all the more dazzling. A potent cocktail of effortless beauty, confidence and determination, Minako had taken several steps along the path to becoming an idol, a lifelong dream that was quickly becoming a reality following her victory in a talent scouting contest some months previous.
"That's wonderful, Minako-chan!" congratulated Ami, matching the smile on her face.
"Don't forget to get us tickets to your first performance!" came Rei's voice. Striking with her long raven hair and dark, passionate eyes, Rei had an aura of strong spirituality and dignity that, together with her short temper, unnerved many who did not – or could not – take the time to get to know her fully.
"Front row, I hope!" said Makoto between sips of green tea. The tallest of the group, Makoto was a brunette whose physical strength and strong features often earned her the appellation of 'boyish'. Looking closer into her leaf-green eyes, however, one would discover a quiet, feminine beauty as fond of baking and botany as excelling in sports.
"Of course, of course!" replied Minako with a giggle, waving a hand as if to dismiss such an absurd notion. "But we shouldn't think about that stuff yet. I don't want to get ahead of myself. As the saying goes, 'talk about the things of tomorrow and the mice in heaven laugh!'"
"That's not what they say, Mina," came a voice from beside her. It belonged to Artemis, a tomcat with a white coat and eyes as blue as his owners'. Above them, a golden crescent moon shape adorned his forehead. "I think you'll find the mice are in the ceiling."
"I think you'll find yourself in the ceiling if you don't stop correcting me," replied Minako good-naturedly, waving a balled fist at him. He winced and looked across at the sixth and final member of their party, a black cat named for the moon she had once inhabited. "Luna! Help me out here!" Her crimson eyes twinkled with mirth as she shook her own moon-gilded head. "Fight your own battles, Artemis."
The group collapsed into giggles, Ami among them, and for a while her concerns regarding Shynkon were pushed away. Just being in the presence of her friends always served to comfort her. She couldn't remember what she had done without them. Ordinarily their table would have seated another, but the final member of the group was currently taking a vacation: a late honeymoon with her husband.
"Oh, I got a call from Usagi-chan last night," Ami volunteered when the laughter had subsided. This was met by nods all around the table. "Me too," said Makoto. "And me," seconded Minako. "Same," agreed Rei. "The idiot. Babbled on about tennis and some gift she got from her future self."
Everybody grinned, knowing full well that Rei's hostility was an affectionate pretence. Minako sighed softly. "It sounded like she was having a great time, though. Lucky! Mamoru-san really is one in a million." Agreement all around. "Finding a nice boyfriend is tough," complained Makoto, thoughtfully stirring her tea with a silver spoon. "I wonder what my senpai is doing now?" Sighs all around. Makoto's heart had been broken by her senior at her first middle school and she never seemed quite able to forget about him.
The conversation continued on the topic of boys, their myriad faults and how much they all wanted one, and Ami found her thoughts returning to Shynkon. Had he been telling the truth last night? In such normal surroundings, with her friends chatting and laughing and the sun shining through the windows, it all seemed so distant. That didn't help to lessen the worried voice at the back of her mind.
"…matter, Ami-chan?"
Ami looked up, slightly startled at the sound of her name. It was Rei who had spoken, a slight frown telling of her concern. Possessing as she did a powerful intuition – a kind of 'sixth sense' – Rei often picked up on the emotions of other people. Ami realised she'd been staring at the bottom of her half-drained glass without saying a word.
"No, I'm fine," Ami assured her friends. "It's just that…"
And, before she knew it, she had told them the entire story of what had transpired last night with Shynkon.
There was silence for a few seconds, before Minako broke it. "He sounds nice."
"Mina!" chided Artemis. "That's not quite the point."
"He's right, for once," agreed Luna. "It sounds like this Shynkon may be in trouble."
"You don't think I'm being silly?" asked Ami. The group shook their heads as one. "If there's one thing we've all learned by now," said Luna, "it's to trust our instincts. If you think he's telling the truth, then he most likely is."
Ami smiled appreciatively, grateful that her concerns had been validated. "Then what should I do? He doesn't seem to want to talk to me about the problem, whatever it may be."
"He said he'd talk to you again tonight?" asked Rei. Ami nodded and she continued, "Then you'll just have to try again, convince him that we can help."
Ami nodded again, resolved to do just that.
"So…" Minako made a show of examining her orange-painted fingernails. "D'you think he's single?"
"Minako-chan!" gasped Ami, almost choking on a mouthful of apple juice. She looked across at Minako's expression of complete and total innocence and struggled to stop herself from laughing. Trust Minako to say that! "It's an honest question!" the blonde insisted, her face the epitome of virtue. Immediately the mood around the table was lightened as they all took turns in questioning Minako's dubious priorities. "I don't really know anything about him," admitted Ami when they had calmed down. "Just that he has a dangerous occupation and that he's very intelligent."
"Do you know for sure he's a boy?" asked Makoto.
"He said as much," Ami told her. "Oh, and his Japanese was perfect, so he probably lives in this country."
"Okay, so," began Minako, slamming her cup of orange juice down on the table with the authority of a judge striking her gavel. "You need to find out his age and where he lives, and if he's single. Oh, and you need a picture too. I mean, he's got to be cute, right?"
"Would somebody order a gag for her?" quipped Rei from across the table, smiling fiendishly. "Here, here," agreed Artemis. An orange fingernail poked him in the ribs for the remark and Minako adopted a defensive position. "All I'm saying is, it's about time Ami-chan found a nice boyfriend, and I'd be glad to help her out. I am the goddess of love, after all." Groans and giggles erupted around the table as she began to sing the first verse from her debut song. "If you should lose sight of the goddess of love, you'll only get halfway, and that's no good…"
"Y'know," piped up Makoto as the singing petered out. "I'm sure I remember Ami-chan saying she'd look for a boyfriend as soon as we made it into high school." Ami's cheeks burned a deep scarlet. "D-did I really say that?"
"You did," Makoto assured her. "I remember because we were all studying for the high school entrance exams-"
"Except me," chimed Rei, whose place in a so-called "elevator" school had allowed her to bypass them entirely, to the envy of her less fortunate friends.
"-and it was around the same time that Snow Princess tried to freeze the Earth."
"I remember," said Minako, shuddering at the memory. "Those exams were so difficult!"
Twenty-four hours.
A mere one-thousand, four-hundred and forty minutes until the preparations were complete and the city of Tokyo was swept away in a hurricane he himself had helped create. Shynkon tried to convince himself that it wasn't too late to stop. Akeega needed him to complete the preparations. Without him, the G-Shack would be rendered powerless and the lives of all those people out there would be saved.
And his own would be terminated.
It was too late. Shynkon knew that he would never have the courage to defy his captors. To sacrifice himself for a cause infinitely greater. To be the brave hero.
As they had many times that day, his thoughts turned to Mercury. He replayed their conversation from the previous evening word-for-word from memory. Such an intelligent, kind person. His encounter with her had been the only light in a time otherwise filled with darkness, a time that had begun when the Sankyzo had abducted him and one that seemed to have no end. His sole hope was that he could communicate with her one more time before the cycle was completed and he was forced to move on.
Eight-hundred and sixty-four thousand seconds.
How many games of chess could be played in that time?
The afternoon spent with her friends had brightened Ami's mood considerably, and their conversation at Crown had made her more determined than ever to get to the root of Shynkon's problem, but still the worries persisted. What if he had been playing with her after all? What if he didn't – or couldn't – speak to her again? As such, it was with considerable relief that Ami logged on to the internet that evening and was immediately greeted with an instant message from him.
"Good evening, Mercury-san," it read.
"And good evening to you, Shynkon-san," she typed in reply. She decided to be honest with him. "I've been thinking about you all day."
"And I you."
She felt the blush creeping across her cheeks and silently chastised herself. This was important. "I was a little worried you wouldn't be here," she told him. "I wouldn't be anywhere else," he replied. "Although I'm afraid this will be the last time."
The disappointment stung like a hornet. Ami did her best to ignore it. "Why is that?"
"My work." Of course. What else would it be? "It requires that I move around a lot."
"Where will you be going?" The internet allowed people from all over the world to communicate. It didn't matter if he was moving to another city, even another country, they could still stay in touch. Couldn't they? Shynkon seemed to read her thoughts. "A great distance away. Too far for us to communicate."
The screen remained blank for what seemed to Ami like a long time.
"I wondered if I could ask you a few questions?" she finally ventured.
"What kind of questions?"
"About you. Your age, your location, your hobbies. That kind of thing." She remembered Minako telling her to ask if he was single and pushed the thought away. Earning his trust and helping him with his problem was the important thing. No reply was forthcoming, so she decided to set an example. "I'll go first. I'm sixteen, I like swimming and reading and my favourite colour is blue."
It was a long moment before he replied.
"I'm eighteen, I enjoy recreational mathematics and my favourite colour is yellow."
Ami smiled, telling herself that her pleasure came from his willingness to share with her and nothing else.
"And I'm currently located in Tokyo, Japan," he added.
"Really?" Ami couldn't restrain the smile this time. "Me too."
Not her.
Please, not her too.
The guilt that weighed upon Shynkon's proverbial shoulders was almost impossible to endure when he compared the worth of millions of faceless, anonymous people against his own and those of his kin, but to know that kind, compassionate Mercury would be among the dead the following evening was too much to bear. What had she done to deserve such a fate? Mercury, who had spent her precious time with him in his darkest hour? Mercury, who dreamed of using her knowledge to help others?
Nothing. She had done nothing to deserve it. None of the people of Tokyo had.
The outcome of the conflict that had been raging within him since the very beginning was suddenly decided.
The cycle would end.
It would end tonight.
"Shynkon? Are you there?"
It had been minutes since Ami had sent her last message and still Shynkon had not replied. Surely he hadn't left already? It was another minute before a reply finally came, and Ami had to read it through twice before she believed her eyes.
"Mercury-san, I need your help. You may not believe this, but I am being forced to prepare a device that will destroy this city tomorrow evening. My captors have threatened to terminate me if I disobey them, but I would rather that than be responsible for your death."
Her mind reeling from the sheer magnitude of his confession, Ami slowly and carefully typed her response. "I will help you," it read. "Tell me exactly where you are and I will come immediately."
"No." Before Ami could respond to his simple refusal, he elaborated. "You must inform your authorities. It might sound strange, but you must believe me when I tell you my captors are not of your world. They are savage and would kill you without a moment's hesitation."
"I don't think you are lying," Ami replied honestly. Over the past two years she had encountered all manner of things that other people would not believe. "And trust me when I tell you that my friends and I can help you. Please, tell me where you are."
"I beg you not to come yourself," returned Shynkon. "But I will tell you the location. It is a scientific research building in the centre of the city."
"What is its name?" asked Ami. Her eyes were unblinking and her breath caught in her throat as she waited for his response.
And waited.
Until finally, the window changed colour from white to grey. The conversation was no longer active.
Shynkon was gone.
"Thought you were pretty clever, didn't you?"
Shynkon said nothing.
"Thought you could call for help?"
The voice was mocking and cruel, just like its owner. "Thing is," continued Akeega, "I've known about your abuse of the wide area network since the beginning." His laugh was the screech of rusted metal. "It'd take more than a simple firewall to keep me out. I've allowed it to continue for my own amusement, but I'm afraid I can't let you reveal our location."
He laughed again and agony tore through Shynkon, spreading throughout his entire being like a virus until it threatened to consume him entirely, to erase everything he was and ever had been. His only thought was distant and immutable. I'm going to be terminated. Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the pain stopped. Akeega's voice was right beside him, sharp and deadly as a blade. "You will finish preparing the G-Shack tonight. Ahead of schedule. You will do this, or you will suffer the consequences, of which termination will be the most desirable."
And, almost as an afterthought, "Oh, and if your little girlfriend does come to find you…"
Not her. Please.
"She will die at my convenience."
And then, once again, Shynkon was alone.