Warm air filled the exciting morning atmosphere around the Jurai City Council in central Tomishima. On the steps of the large building stood two people amidst a sea of onlookers. One of them was an older man draped in black robes—he was the Chief Justice for Jurai City's District Court. The other was a younger woman wearing a fashionable business suit—she was Ms. Yukino.

The new face of the People's Will was very excited to be here. It was two days after her party won the municipal election in a landslide. She knew that, usually, the new Jurai City Council would only be inaugurated after a few weeks when the terms of the old council members expired, but yesterday, President Sado and the entire city council resigned, allowing the People's Will to immediately take the helm. The Chief Justice was also an unusual choice. Traditionally, a member of Jurai's Royal Family would travel all the way from New Tenju to formally swear in the new president, but that obviously wasn't going to happen this time. So, she found someone who would swear her in. Maintaining legitimacy in the eyes of the people was of the utmost importance, after all.

Ms. Yukino had worked hand-in-hand with Torishima during the election campaign, and now, with Master Kagato's blessing, she was going to take his place.

"Please repeat after me. I… Koike Yukino, do solemnly swear." The Justice began.

"I, Koike Yukino, solemnly swear…" Ms. Yukino followed.

"That I will, to the best of my ability, serve as the president of Jurai City."

"That I will, to the best of my ability, serve as the president of Jurai City."

"And faithfully carry out the duties and functions of my office."

"And faithfully carry out the duties and functions of my office."

"And that I will never waver in my loyalty to this great city and its people, so help me Tsunami."

"And that I will never waver in my loyalty to this great city and its people, so help me Tsunami," Yukino finished.

The now–President Yukino was given massive applause by her supporters. Right next to where they were on the steps was a formal table for bill-signing. Jurai City's new council had already delivered her first piece of legislation to sign, which she now strode over to do so.

Sitting down and taking the pen in her hands, President Yukino took her time signing her name to let the television crews get as much footage as they needed. With dead silence permeating the air, she finished and looked up.

"Jurai City and its fifty-seven wards have spoken. We have officially declared independence from the Juraian Empire. We are the Juraian Republic!"

Meanwhile, Jurai City's recently renamed "Liberation District" was filled with crowds filling the streets surrounding the National Assembly. As a security precaution, the JCPD had cordoned off the entrances to the building, but nobody looked ready to imitate Kagato's attack. After all, today was a celebration.

Inside the National Assembly returned the familiar roar of debate after two months of hiatus. In the debating chamber, a JHK TV crew had been given special permission to broadcast the monumental occasion, about to be finalized with the final few deputies giving their roll call votes. The man sitting on the high seat in the middle of the chamber and arranging the vote was acting Prime Minister Eijima, Hideaki Torishima's replacement.

"Deputy Fujio of Jurai City, Kanzaki District," he called out to one of his colleagues.

"No," was the answer.

"Deputy Shinizuki of Jurai City, Mojiko District."

"No."

"Deputy Iitama of Maeyamashima Prefecture District Four."

"No."

"Deputy Ueushi of Kunigawa Prefecture District Two."

"No."

"And Deputy Tennan of New Tenju Prefecture District Seven."

"Yes."

Eijima nodded as the roll count was finished. An assistant was next to him writing down the names and tabulating the count for him to read out loud. The room became dead silent as everyone awaited the final results.

"The yeses are twenty-two, and the noes are 178," he began. "The motion, at the request of the government in New Tenju, to conduct an audit of the results of the recent Jurai City municipal election... has been defeated."

Immediately, the National Assembly erupted into loud applause from the roll call, with Eijima himself joining in by clapping. The result was a foregone conclusion, he knew, but still, it was history. For the first time, they've openly defied the Emperor, and now there was no turning back. The only remaining direction was forward.

Thus, he took a look at the copy of the next Assembly motion that was to be looked at today and drank from a cup of water next to him before using the gavel.

"Next order of business. Debate begins in ten minutes on the motion to recognize the sovereignty of the Juraian Republic, and for this National Assembly to—"

"I've had quite enough of this circus!" one Deputy in the back yelled.

Everyone scanned their eyes toward the back of the chamber. Deputy Seiryo Tennan, the youngest member of the National Assembly, was immediately recognizable from his pompous outfit and bright, pink hair. He was seated in the back along with twenty-one like-minded Deputies not because they were excluded from everyone else, but because they chose to. Really, what surprised Eijima was how long it took for Tennan to finally speak out.

"Deputy Tennan," Eijima began. "You are out of line for interrupting the acting Prime Minister during—"

"No!" Seiryo interrupted again. "This day is nothing more than a farce! The National Assembly does not have the right to legitimize a rebellious province! You are out of line!"

That set off a powder keg of anger in the chamber, most of it being directed toward Deputy Tennan.

"Get out of here!"

"You don't belong in this National Assembly!"

"Go back to your masters in New Tenju!"

"Order in this chamber!" Eijima yelled out, and with another slam of the gavel, the assembly quieted down, allowing Tennan to continue.

"Cretins and traitors, all of you!" he said. "Enjoy your petty victory today with the peasants outside while it lasts, but make no mistake, you're finished! Because whether you like it or not, we have history on our side. We will bury you!"

And with that, Deputy Seiryo Tennan stood up and briskly walked out of the chamber, followed up by twenty-one of his comrades and more insults being slung toward them.

Eijima slammed the gavel again and cleared his throat. "Order! Debate begins on the motion to recognize the sovereignty of the Juraian Republic, and for this governing body to assume its existing responsibilities for the new state."

To no one's surprise, without Seiryo and his like-minded deputies to occupy the chamber, the remaining deputies refused to speak.

"If there are no members of the National Assembly that wish to debate the contents of the motion in question, then shall the matter be approved by unanimous consent?" Eijima asked.

"Aye!" they all said in unison.

"Then the motion to recognize the sovereignty of the Juraian Republic, and for this National Assembly to assume its existing responsibilities for the new state has been passed. As the acting Prime Minister, I hereby dissolve the National Assembly of the Juraian Empire."

This was the moment that everyone had been waiting for, and the loudest yet applause rang out inside the chamber. Outside, the crowds learned of the news and exploded into cheering, too.

"Let this first session of the National Assembly of the Juraian Republic commence," Eijima said with excitement in his voice. "First and foremost, I would like to nominate myself to assume the post of Prime Minister of the Republic. Are there any objections?"

"Nay!" was his answer.

"I, Kyousuke Eijima, humbly accept the decision of the National Assembly," Eijima said proudly, taking another sheet of paper from his aide. "Next order of business. Debate begins on a motion to define the borders of the Juraian Republic. The current proposal is as follows, quote 'The Great Juraian Republic shall encompass the territory of the existing Juraian Empire, including Planet Jurai's 23 Prefectures outside Jurai City and the Empire's outlying colony worlds under its current control.'

One deputy near the front of the room stood up. "Prime Minister, I speak for this assembly when I request a single amendment to the motion presented."

"And what would that amendment entail?" Eijima asked.

"That of the list of prefectures we shall annex into our great republic, for the time being, we should exclude New Tenju Prefecture. Due to its significant royalist sympathies, any annexation of the prefecture should not be attempted without first conducting a referendum. That's only the fairest way of going about it, I believe."

"Very well," Eijima said. He was well aware that what his fellow Deputy said and what he really meant were two different things. What good is New Tenju, anyway?. "Is there any objection to the amendment presented?"

"Nay!" was the answer the Assembly gave Eijima.

"Then shall the previously mentioned motion and its new amendment be passed with unanimous consent?"

"Aye!"

"Then the motion of admission of twenty-two Imperial Prefectures, with the exception of New Tenju Prefecture… has been passed."

Another round of applause erupted, with a side of snickering this time. Eijima and everyone else knew that amendment was coming. After all, the Emperor was probably watching the Assembly's proceedings right now on JHK.

And there was also a woman sitting in the driver's seat of an aircar watching the proceedings from a small screen built into her vehicle's dashboard. She now grunted and turned the screen off.

"It just goes on, and on, and on," she said. "How do they keep sane doing this?"

Episode Seven

Here Comes Amane in a Souped-up Aircar!

It was about time she tuned out the broadcast anyway. Any second now, she was going to need to spring into action.

Maeyamashima, an ordinary town on the outskirts of Jurai City, had been plagued by a series of high-stakes robberies in the past few months, and the streak was about to continue. Only this time, she was going to get in on the fun, and she made a good impression on the two perpetrators when she happened upon them in a run-down part of town while they were picking out their next target. She learned that both of them knew how to rob and shoot a gun well enough, but driving an aircar was out of their league. Thankfully, she happened to know a thing or two about that, and by taking only a mild cut of the score for herself, she was in.

Today was the big day. Right now, she'd parked across the street from the First Maeyamashima bank, making sure to pay the parking meter so nobody would bother her. She'd dropped off her two friends about twenty minutes ago and saw them sneak around the back of the building. According to their plan, they should be bursting through the front doors any moment now.

Suddenly, she heard a few shots ring out, and she scanned the front doors. It was them, and one of them was shooting the roof, presumably to keep everyone on the floor for a while longer as they ran out. Now it was her turn. She turned on the aircar and, after looking both ways, sped across the street to pick up her two friends and their fat sacks of money slung over their shoulders.

"Get in!" she said.

She looked in her rear-view mirror and saw the shimmer of a couple of MPD cruisers in-between other aircars scrambling to get out of the way. Once the two guys and the money got situated inside the aircar, she slammed on the pedal and began racing down the streets.

"What'd we get?" she asked them.

"About two-million Ryo in these bags! Biggest haul we've had in town!" one of them said.

"Don't start counting yet," his friend told him. "We gotta shake these mooks off us, first!"

Just as he said that she could see that there was a cruiser parked horizontally in the middle of the next intersection they were approaching. Officers had gotten out and started shooting near their vehicle. Just warning shots, she knew. Another look in the rear mirror and she saw that those two cruisers chasing her were closing the distance.

"Put your seatbelts on, boys. I gotta test the steering on this thing!" she said. She didn't give them enough time to do so, however, so they just clung onto the sides of the car as best they could. Then, just as she was about to enter the intersection, she braked and did a hard turn to the left, and then punched the accelerator again. The timing was perfect, as the cruisers behind her didn't anticipate the move in time and crashed head-on into the parked cruiser, sending scrap metal and glass flying into the air barely missing the two officers outside.

"Wooo!" one of the guys cried out as he looked at the wreck they were speeding away from. "That's what you get, you mooks!" He turned back toward the driver. "Hey, miss, that was awesome!"

"Thanks," she answered. "But we're not out of the woods yet."

"Huh? What are you talking about? We just wrecked three cruisers; that there's worth more than what we just snagged at the bank. They're done!"

"I'm not…"

Suddenly, she slammed on the brakes as hard as she could, and the aircar came to a complete stop within just a single second. As the two men hadn't bothered fastening their seat belts, the one in the front flew clear of the aircar and landed painfully with his rear on the road, and the one in the back collided face-first with the back of the passenger's headrest.

"Ow! Are you trying to kill us?" he asked angrily.

The woman hopped out of the car and started taking her outfit off, but as he learned, she was wearing a red and black uniform with a tie under her jacket.

"Uh… GP?!"

"That's right!" she said happily as she took out two pairs of handcuffs. "You and friend have the pleasure of being arrested for several counts of armed robbery!"

"The hell we are!" he said defiantly. But just as he tried getting out of the car, the officer took out her gun and pointed it right at him. To add insult to injury, more police cruisers sped onto the scene and surrounded them.

The officer looked on as the two goons got loaded into a van and sent off to jail while a man she knew as the city's police commissioner approached and shook hands with her.

"Thanks for the help. I've been aching to get these two troublemakers off the streets for five months. Just one thing, though. Why did you drive?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"We had a plan worked out, didn't we? All you had to do was stay still, don't drive the aircar, and wait for us to arrive at the bank. Instead, you speed off and wreck three of our cruisers. We'll need to pay the repairs on those with taxpayer money, you know."

"Correction: I didn't wreck three cruisers, your officers and their substandard driving did," she retorted. "And besides, give me a break. I didn't spend two weeks trailing these guys just so I could arrest them in the most boring way possible."

The commissioner threw his hands in the air and walked away. "Where does GP get people like you?"

The officer then got back to her car and turned it on again, ready to get back to her ship and fly to Headquarters. But just as she hopped in, she didn't expect a man to hop into the passenger seat.

"Um... who're you?"

He was short, really short, in fact. But he was wearing Galaxy Police fatigues and, sure enough, brought out his pen badge to show her.

"Lieutenant Ryoji Ishizuka. Superintendent Fujikawa invited you to have lunch with her. Oh, but not like that, in case you were, erm … it's a job offer."

Kiyone had scarcely left Mihoshi's hospital room since she was wounded in the Prince Taishō Building by Kagato. The experience was taxing. Even as she knew she'd come through in the end, every moment looking at her in this state hurt her.

Hooked up to machines that helped her breathe, Mihoshi had been slipping in and out of consciousness for the past few days. Today, she was conscious, but not very talkative. All Kiyone could do was stay in the room and look at her, but just then the doctor looking over Mihoshi then walked unannounced into the room and found Kiyone.

"Hello. We've just gone through another round of analysis, like you asked," he told her. "Again, we've concluded the right lung is too damaged to fully regenerate within a reasonable period of time. So, we'll have to transplant a new one in."

"How long will that take?" Kiyone asked.

"We've contacted the medical science laboratory, and they're going to begin growing the lung tomorrow. They say it should be fully generated and ready for transplant in a month, give or take. Of course, that doesn't take into account how long it'll take for her body to adapt to the new organ. We'll assess that when we get there."

Kiyone nodded. "I guess so. Thank you."

The doctor left the room, and Kiyone knew that it was about time for her to leave as well. Airi had requested that she meet with her at about noon for SIFO's new assignment. However, just as she got up to leave, she could hear Mihoshi's faint voice call to her.

"K-Kiyone…".

Instantly. Kiyone went over to her bedside and listened closely. "What is it?

"I… I'm sorry… I ruined the mission. My fault."

"No. No, don't say that, Mihoshi. I'm the one who told you to go after Torishima. I was in charge, and it's my fault."

"Mhm," was all Mihoshi could manage before she slipped back into unconsciousness.

Kiyone sighed and patted her friend on the forehead. She had seen the audio-less footage of her fighting Kagato; she was braver than she ever let on. She couldn't wait for her to get better.

Kiyone's destination wasn't the Superintendent's office, but it was a restaurant with directions to get there outlined in a letter she got. It took her a little while and several different elevators to get there, but she eventually did. Once inside, she found herself surprised by its quaint hole-in-the-wall layout. There was a single L-shaped aisle separating a single line of tables from a counter with stools for patrons to sit at, and the far end opened up to a balcony with an impressive view of Headquarters' artificial lake. The bistro—as Kiyone figured that was a more accurate word to describe the place—was made almost entirely of wood.

She scanned her eyes around the establishment, but Airi was the one who found her. To Kiyone's surprise, she was behind the counter and wearing a chef's outfit and hairnet, and was in the middle of cutting up vegetables and putting them in a steaming pot. Eventually, she turned around and saw her at the front entrance.

"Nice of you to join us, Kiyone," Airi called out to her. "Over here."

"Ms. Fujikawa? You run this restaurant?"

"Yes, as a hobby of mine. Usually, my job as Superintendent keeps me occupied, but I found that today's affairs were simple enough to delegate to the Vice Superintendent."

"Vice Superintendent?" Kiyone repeated. "I've never heard of that position before. Who are they?"

Enjoying a cup of tea he served himself, Watari sat with his legs up on the Superintendent's desk as he passively listened to some Marshall from the Galaxy Police's Diplomatic Corps complaining about … something or the other.

"So I'm telling you again, Vice Superintendent," the Marshall said with a certain tone. "I need your signed approval to immediately establish diplomatic missions to mediate a solution to the border skirmishes between Seniwa and Renoir. We can't just ignore this!"

"As Vice Superintendent of the Galaxy Police, I must say, couldn't you just call them and ask that they play nicely from now on?"

"Don't worry about that right now," Airi said simply. "Sit down, I'll have lunch for you in a moment. It's on me."

As Kiyone sat down, she realized that Junichiro and Ryoji were having lunch and talking to each other on opposite sides of the table behind her.

"So I finally discovered what a carrot is," Ryoji told Junichiro between slurps of noodles. "I looked at Kuramitsu's footage, and it's an orange vegetable presumably native to planet Terra, but I'm unable to get samples to test their taste and smell."

"Okay, then why don't you just go to Terra and ask the natives for some?" Junichiro asked.

"Because R&D keeps pushing back their deadlines for the universal translators they're developing," he said in an annoyed tone. "How am I supposed to communicate with those Terran savages without one?"

"Actually, the ones I interacted with speak Juraian pretty well," Kiyone interjected. "Don't ask why. They just do."

"Oh," Ryoji said with interest. "Then maybe I'll acquire some after all."

"Here you go," Airi said and she handed a bowl of miso soup to Kiyone.

"I like it," Kiyone said as she began eating. "But if you don't mind me asking, what's the occasion? I don't suppose it's a bonus for how Operation: Hi Kanshō was conducted."

Airi took off her chef's hat and leaned forward on the counter toward Kiyone. "No. I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce you to someone."

"Who?"

"Me."

As Kiyone found out, the short, blonde-haired woman wearing green and white clothes and having lunch on the stool next to hers was whom Airi was speaking of.

"Kiyone Makibi, meet Detective Second-Class Amane Kaunaq," Airi said, introducing them.

"So, you're the Kiyone Makibi that Airi has been telling me about," Amane said. "You were the highest-scoring cadet of your class at the Academy, is that right?"

"Yes, the competition was fierce from what I remember. I clinched the top spot by only 0.2 points."

Amane nodded, seemingly impressed, and offered to shake Kiyone's hand. "Well, it's very nice to meet you."

Kiyone accepted the handshake. "And you too." She turned back to Airi. "Alright, I've met Amane Kaunaq. What now?"

Airi chuckled at Kiyone's deadpan attitude. "In case you haven't been keeping up with the news, Jurai is on the brink of a political crisis, and SIFO will be needed now more than ever. Unfortunately, Operation: Hi Kanshō left us with a couple of women out of commission for the moment, and I'm not using a team operating at half-strength. That's why I've offered Amane the chance to join SIFO, but I wanted to know your thoughts first."

"You value my opinion?" Kiyone asked.

"Right now, your opinion is the only one available that's valuable to me," Airi said.

Junichiro slurped on his noodles extra-loudly. "You know, I should be mad that you just said that, but your cooking is so damn good that I'll let it slide." Ryoji nodded in agreement.

"It's true we need to fill the ranks up for the time being, but what makes Amane qualified specifically?" Kiyone asked, turning to Amane. "No offense, but a second-class like yourself is only a year out of the academy."

Amane gave Kiyone a slight pout. "A year is just a number! I have my talents; you just need to see me in action and you'll see for yourself. I do my job efficiently and in style."

"And action is what's on the cards for all of you," Airi said. "I've heard that the JCPD has finally gotten around to finishing their investigation into the Kagato Incident. I don't know the specifics, but if you talk with them, I'm sure you'll be busy for the rest of the day. Take Amane with you, and see what you find. If you're impressed, then you can recommend her to join."

"Alright," Kiyone said. "I'll see what she's capable of. Although, if Mitsu—"

Suddenly, Airi was giving her a dead-serious look, as if daring her to finish that word. She didn't understand what was wrong, but in that split-second, she decided she didn't want to find out.

"If our missing teammate comes back and finds out she was replaced, I don't think it would sit well with her," she finished.

Airi dropped her grim face and smiled. "If she's alive, then she probably has other things to worry about right now."

Upon reaching Amane's Galaxy Police cruiser, the Hikaeme, SIFO found it had a unique blue coating on instead of the typical red or grey.

"Nobody ever told me it was against regulations," Amane explained as she invited SIFO inside her ship. "And it looks good, doesn't it?"

She led them into the ship's bridge, with the same basic layout as the Yagami except that there was only one seat instead of two.

"Hikaeme, take us to Jurai City," she said. Instantly, the familiar-shaped AI robot sprouted out from the ceiling, but unexpectedly, it had a feminine voice.

"Jurai City? Heavens, there's hardly anything worth buying in that metallic swamp!" she asked.

"We're on a mission, Hikaeme," Amane explained. "You know me. If I want something nice, I'll go to New Tenju."

"Very well."

Amane nodded and sat down at the single seat in the bridge. She then turned around after a second, probably forgetting that she had guests behind her.

"Oh, sorry! I have other seats, just in case," she said innocently. "Hikaeme, could you…?"

Without answering, two small doors opened up on each end of the bridge with four chairs in total coming out along a half-circle rail. They met in the middle, and everyone took seats.

"Uh, didn't Fujikawa say we were supposed to take Kaunaq with us, not the other way around? Why are we taking this ship?" Ryoji asked as he sat down.

"Hey," Junichiro addressed him. "You don't say 'no' to a lady when she invites you into their home."

Amane blushed. "You're flattering me, Mr. Yoritomo!"

"But this is a Type 122 Patrol Cruiser, not a house." Ryoji countered. Unfortunately, he found that the conversation was already over and got no response.

Kiyone rolled her eyes and spoke to Amane. "As Ms. Fujikawa said, we'll need to contact the JCPD so they can tell us something. We don't need to wait until we're near planet Jurai to call them."

Amane nodded and typed on a console in front of her. "Got it. I'll patch us through to JCPD Headquarters."

On-screen, there was a man adorned in a fancy, proper-looking uniform. Of course, Junichiro knew the man had a name, too.

"Another promotion, Kayabuki? What's it this time?" he asked him.

"I'm currently the acting commissioner for the entire Jurai City Police Department," Kayabuki said with feigned cordiality. "The previous commissioner resigned yesterday. And I see you've settled in just fine with your new employers."

"Commissioner Kayabuki, if that's your title, Superintendent Fujikawa told us you had information you'd like to disclose to us," Kiyone said.

Kayabuki nodded as he picked up a stack of papers off the desk he was sitting at. "I do. We finished our investigation into the Kagato Incident at the National Assembly—"

"And in record time, too!" Junichiro said sarcastically.

Kayabuki snapped his head right back at Junichiro. "I'm straining myself enough as it is to even look at you right now, Yoritomo. So could you just…?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Junichiro said. "I keep forgetting you have feelings. Go on."

Taking a deep breath, Kayabuki continued. "We've looked into the identities of the men who helped Kagato and came across two commonalities among all of them. They were all veterans of the recent Seniwan War, and they all lived in Mojiko Ward."

"That would explain how they were able to storm the building so efficiently," Kiyone said.

Kayabuki nodded. "We've identified all of the ones that were killed or wounded at the National Assembly, and we've zeroed down the possibilities of the sole surviving man to one person. 28-year-old Motō Terumori."

A picture of a man flashed on the screen, and Junichiro jumped to his feet with excitement. "That's him! I remember that face; he's the bastard who was wearing Hayao Kawabata's uniform!"

"Do we know where Terumori is right now?" Kiyone asked.

"No idea," Kayabuki answered. "He doesn't leave any trace. We've contacted his family, and they haven't heard from him since before the Kagato Incident. He seems to have just disappeared one day without saying anything. Not much to go on."

"We're going to find him," Kiyone said. "And when we do, we're taking him back to Galaxy Police Headquarters. You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

"I'm not exactly in a position to stop you at the moment. I'm too busy trying to look after 150 million residents with a police force that might get axed any day now thanks to those damned People's Will. If you find him, go ahead and keep him."

"Understood."

As soon as the call ended, Kiyone faced Junichiro. "Do you have a problem with Commissioner Kayabuki?"

He shook his head. "Oh, not really. The two of us go way back in the force. We were 'Buki-Yori Investigations' for a few years, but then he started climbing the rungs of the ladder, and… I think you can figure out where I ended up. Really, he's the one that's got a problem, not me."

"But what's the problem?" Kiyone pressed.

"Now that's a problem, too. How the hell should I know? Maybe he's up to here with his wife's nagging and started taking it out on me. I'd know from experience!"

"You'll have to talk about your failing and/or failed marriage later, Yoritomo," Ryoji interrupted. "I think I know how to find Terumori."

"Give it to me," Kiyone ordered.

"I can't, Makibi. It's on the hypernet," Ryoji said as he typed away on his wrist computer. He then got and started into the ceiling. "Uh, was it Hikamie?"

Hikaeme sprouted into the room upon request. "Close enough. Did you need something, Lieutenant Ishizuka?"

"Could you, you know… get closer?"

Hikaeme shifted closer to Ryoji. "Like this?"

"Closer."

"Alright, but I don't find you attractive, in case that's what you were going to ask."

Ryoji stopped what he was about to do and stared blankly at Amane. "Did you…?"

"Yeah, a few software modifications. You have to understand, the normal AIs are so boring to talk to!"

"Right…" Ryoji said, unsure what to make of what she said. He grabbed a cord sprouting off his wrist computer and inserted it directly into one of the ports on Hikaeme. On the screen was a page on the hypernet titled "4Channel".

"It's strange. We've had the Hypernet for a thousand years, and only recently did someone think of creating a netsite where people could interact with each other on-net," Ryoji said. "Anyway, Terumori happens to have an account, and if we look under 'relationships', we can see someone named 'Chigusa Sakai' listed as his girlfriend."

Ryoji clicked on the link to Chigusa's page, and Kiyone looked embarrassed when she saw her face.

"That's the same Chigusa that I…"

"Oh, yeah, you mugged her at the Prince Taishō Building!" Junichiro concurred.

"You did what, where?" Amane said instinctively.

Ryoji turned to Amane to explain. "To summarize, we wanted to kidnap Hideaki Torishima and derail an election. So, I printed out fake IDs for the food service company that Ms. Sakai worked for so SIFO could sneak inside the Prince Taishō Building where he was holding a banquet. Makibi, uh… "met" her and her coworkers at the parking garage and took their uniforms while I drove them away in a truck."

"Are you even allowed to tell me this?" Amane asked.

"I don't know," Ryoji turned to Kiyone. "Do we have permission to tell Kaunaq this information?"

"As much permission as we had to kidnap Hideaki Torishima," Kiyone answered.

The streets of Mojiko Ward were packed full of residents celebrating the proclamation of the Juraian Republic earlier that day. To Amane's dismay, this made driving through here a nightmare, even with the occasional traffic cop.

Her white, roofless, four-seater aircar was filled with the rest of SIFO as her passengers: Ryoji giving directions in the front passenger seat, and Junichiro and Kiyone in the back seats. Their destination was Chigusa Sakai's apartment.

"Isn't it strange how the JCPD didn't think to ask Terumori's girlfriend about what happened to him?" Kiyone asked out loud.

"He probably didn't tell his family about Chigusa, since Ryoji only learned about her from the Hypernet," Junichiro answered. "And when it comes to technology and the JCPD, well, let's just say there's a difference between doing things old-school and keeping your head in the sand."

"Why wouldn't he have told them? Is keeping relationships a secret something I don't know about?"

Amane looked at Kiyone through the backseat mirror. "They're grown adults, aren't they? People don't need their family's permission to have—Woah!"

A partygoer had just stumbled into the road right in front of the aircar. Amane barely had enough time to brake and avoid hitting him. "Try being a patriot on the sidewalk, idiot!" she yelled out to him.

Amane parked on the street opposite the apartment complex, and they began climbing the stairs to Chigusa's home. When they got to the front door, Kiyone put herself in front of the others.

"Hopefully Ms. Sakai doesn't call the police on us when she sees us," she said.

"Right. I'd rather not get caught up in something I wasn't involved in," Amane said.

Kiyone pressed the doorbell, and after a moment, a woman opened the door to greet them. Her appearance matched that of the picture linked to her page on 4Channel.

"Chigusa Sakai," Kiyone started. "We're with Galaxy Police, and—"

"Hey, you're the one who mugged me!" Chigusa interrupted. "I remember your face!"

"Yes, about that…"

"What, you've come to apologize to me? It's a little late for that! Do you have any idea what I thought happened to me when I woke up inside of a truck in an alley with nothing but my underwear on? I was scared for my life!"

Junichiro deftly grabbed Ryoji's shoulder with one arm and spun him around so their backs were facing the others. "You animal. Didn't give her a towel or anything?" he whispered.

"I only had three in my control cube, and there were four people," Ryoji whispered back. "I gave the last one to the male truck driver because he was the largest."

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened," Kiyone told Chigusa. "If it makes you feel any better, we didn't even get what we wanted in the end."

"No, it doesn't. You might have a nice job with the Galaxy Police, but everyone down here is fighting tooth and nail for whatever work there is. Working for Nishi & Co. made me one of the lucky ones! But when I came back to work the next day to explain what happened, they fired me! Now I'll have to go back to working as some shrine keeper."

Kiyone sighed. "Again, my condolences for your troubles, but we need to ask you a few questions about Motō Terumori. No mind-wiping this time, I promise."

Chigusa backed away a step and looked ready to shut the door in their faces. "You don't know when to take a hint, do you? I don't care what you and your pervert friends want to know about him. Get out of here."

Before she could slam the door on them, Amane, who had been hidden in the back of the group, squeezed through the others to speak with her.

"Chigusa, right? I just want to say that I know how hard it can be for some people right now, and it's even worse for people who don't have anyone to help them along."

Chigusa looked away from Amane and crossed her arms in defiance. "You don't know who I am."

Amane stepped closer to Chigusa and carefully grabbed her shoulders, gently rubbing them. "I don't, but I know how you feel. You're so tense...defensive... vulnerable. You're hurting... a lot."

"It's just..." Chigusa started, but she couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence.

"You miss Motō, right? You've been worried about him since he disappeared, and it's so painful for you. You almost can't do it anymore, right?"

Chigusa unfolded her arms and looked at Amane. "Oh, Tsunami... I can't do it! Motō! Where did you go!? What are you doing!? Motō, just come back to me, please!"

Chigusa let her defensiveness fade away, and as a reward for her honestly, she got a hug and a head pat from Amane.

"Shh. I know you miss him, and that's why we're here," Amane whispered. "We want to find him, and maybe you know something that could help us. Please, could you give us a chance?"

Chigusa sniffed as she gave her answer. "Okay. I'll help you."

Amane let go of Chigusa, who wiped the tears off of her face and opened the door wide to invite everyone inside. "Please, come in."

As Chigusa opened the door wide for everyone to come inside, Amane entered before past Kiyone, giving her a glance and whispering "No need to thank me".

Chigusa's apartment was small yet, very tidy and clean. Too clean, Kiyone thought. Chigusa was keeping everything nice for Motō when he returned. That was all she could do.

Chigusa had closed the door behind them. Still sobbing a little bit, she allowed Amane to guide her to a seat on the couch in the living room.

Meanwhile, Junichiro had stepped into the small kitchen and began rummaging through the pantries.

"Do you mind, Junichiro?" Kiyone asked in a scolding manner.

"No, not really. Just like Amane's aircar, I need periodic refueling to do my job," he said casually.

"But didn't you just eat lunch?"

"Yes, and I'm looking forward to my second lunch. Ms. Sakai, do you have any instant yakisoba?"

"Motō doesn't like yakisoba," Chigusa answered from the living room. "Sorry."

He grunted. "I guess water is fine for now." He found a cup and poured himself some water from the sink faucet. He drank the whole glass in a single gulp and walked into the living room, sitting down opposite Chigusa and Amane. He took out a pencil and a small notepad from his control cube, but then he shook his head and put them away.

"I'm no amateur," he mumbled to himself. "Okay, let's do this. Ms. Sakai, when was the last time you saw Motō Terumori?" he asked Chigusa.

"It was about a week before the National Assembly attack happened. One morning, he told said he was going across town to a rehabilitation program that he learned about from postered plastered all over the neighborhood."

"Rehabilitation? For what?"

"He's a veteran," Chigusa answered. "I met him just after the war ended. Motō is a sweet guy, but sometimes, he has these... modes he gets into. I think it's post-traumatic stress. He gets... jumpy. Easily startled. Frightened by other people."

"Was Motō acting strangely before he left?"

"No. Not at all."

Junichiro gave a hm. "Do you know anything about this program Motō found?"

Chigusa pointed to a shelf with a paper stacked on the top. "I have one of the posters that he found, but I'm not familiar with the business."

Instinctively, Ryoji went over to the post and picked it up. He set it on the table in the center of the living room and spread it open for everyone to see.

"It looks legitimate enough. There's contact information for the probably nonexistent proprietor and a similarly nonexistent address, the text is proportional and symmetrical with the shape of the poster, and there's not too much color. I'm included to believe that Kagato is either a skilled graphic designer or he hired one... or, enslaved him."

Kiyone nodded. "So Kagato must've lured in Motō and the other veterans to recruit him. That seems to corroborate everything the JCPD has told us so far, but that doesn't clue us in on Motō whereabouts."

Junichiro shifted in his seat. "Ms. Sakai, is there anything else you want to tell us? Maybe... ever since Motō left, have you found anything… strange? Awkward? Unexplainable?"

Chigusa looked at Junichiro uncertainly before speaking. "Well, I don't know if it has anything to do with Motō, but I think I'm being stalked."

"Go on."

"It's strange. About every three days, I hear someone pacing back and forth in front of my door, but every time I go over to see, nobody's there. At first, I thought it was Kagato, but now I really have no idea."

"Have you contacted the JCPD about it?" Kiyone asked.

"There's no point. They wouldn't do anything about it."

Junichiro softly bit his finger, deep in thought. "You know what, when we got here, I did see some faint footprints prints in front of the door, but I didn't think about it until now. I want to look again."

"I'll take a look, too," Kiyone said as she looked at Ryoji and Amane. "Stay here and keep her company."

Ryoji turned to Amane and got up. "Kaunaq, try your best to keep her company. I… erm, need to use the restroom."

Outside, Junichiro crouched next to the front door and found one of the faintly red footprints.

"Here it is," Junichiro said. He got down to the floor on his stomach and looked at the print just inches away from his face. "Let's see... Oh yeah! I knew I recognized this print. They come from the boots that the Republican Guards wear! I'd know. I washed my boots every single day and I know what the bottoms look like!"

Kiyone nodded. "That's good to know, but I don't understand. If Motō comes here every three days, why doesn't he ever try to talk to Chigusa? Doesn't he want to speak to her?"

"We know from Keiko that Kagato's power messes with people's memories, but that was after she was free. Maybe the same thing happens during the time they're under his spell." Junichiro answered. "So Motō remembers his flame, but maybe he thinks he's in the warzone and gets jumpy from noises, like a door creak. That's what I think."

"We can't be sure of that, but you're certain that Motō has been around here?"

"It's him."

Kiyone and Junichiro walked back into the apartment. "Chigusa," Kiyone said to her. "We know it's Motō. When was the last time he was here?"

Chigusa sprouted up with excitement. "It is!? Oh, that's so good to know! He's alive! Well... he was here two days ago."

"And before that?"

"Three days. He always comes around every three days, and it's always in the morning. So he should be here tomorrow."

"Then tomorrow morning will be the last time. We're going to get him."

The low, distant rumble of chatter and aircars filled the morning air the next day at Chigusa's apartment complex. Nobody was outside on the balconies connecting ground level with the housing units above the ground. That is, nobody apart from one man clad in blue and white robes.

Slowly, almost uneasily, this man climbed up the stairs to the fourth and top floor of the complex. He walked until his feet told him to stop at one door in the middle of the balcony and turned to face it. He stared blankly at the plain, wooden door. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Private Motō Terumori, log entry #15496," he began mumbling to himself. "Regular morning patrol complete. No signs of hostile Seniwan forces in the vicinity. Reporting back to the Boss. Out."

Thus, he turned to the stairs and began walking back to them, but the creaking of a door and a quiet voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Motō…". It was Chigusa.

He snapped back around and grabbed the woman by her shoulders. "Chigusa! What are you doing here? This is a combat zone, you're in danger!"

Chigusa looked puzzled at him. "What on Jurai are you talking about, Motō? This is my home. Our home. What are you wearing? And where've you been, off working for that terrorist Kagato?"

"Don't call him that. The boss knows what's best for Jurai! He knows everything! If I just follow his orders, the enemy will be eliminated."

"Who's the enemy?! You're not making any sense! Please, snap out of it!"

He shook his head. "No. Chigusa... I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you. They've gotten to you, too!"

Chigusa's mouth was open with shock. "Motō!"

"Is that really how you talk to your girlfriend, Motō?" Amane called out to him. Suddenly, she, Kiyone, and Ryoji had sprung up from behind the corners of the complex. Instinctively, Motō drew his saber, but Kiyone and the others aimed their guns at him.

"Don't try it, Motō Terumori. You're coming with us to the Galaxy Police. Drop the sword. Now."

Reluctantly, he dropped his weapon, and with one free hand, Kyione motioned for Amane and Ryoji to cuff him.

"No… the mission ain't over," he mumbled to himself. "The boss needs me. You damn spies, you're not taking me alive!"

Suddenly, Motō knelt and grabbed Amane's arm, catching her off-balance. He then turned his body and landed a strong punch in her abdomen and shoved her into Ryoji, nearly crushing the small man in between her and the wall of the apartment building.

Kiyone wanted to slap herself in the face. She should've equipped her gun with a taser, but she was confident that she, Amane, and Ryoji would've been enough to convince him to surrender. As Junichiro said, he was in his combat mode, and he wouldn't go down without a fight.

She knew that she wasn't going to shoot and kill Motō, so she holstered her gun and waited a second before he came to her since she was guarding the stairway down to street level. She knew the man was physically stronger than her, and Galaxy Police CQC instructed that female officers negate this disadvantage with deft footwork.

Motō rushed forward to punch Kiyone's face, but she anticipated this and deflected his fist off the side with the back of her right hand and countered with a strong knee to his stomach. She then spun her body around and kicked him in the chest with her left foot. Motō staggered back, and Kiyone moved forward to tackle him to the ground, but Motō recovered faster than she anticipated and grabbed her hands. He dragged her closer and landed a powerful elbow on her face that sent her sprawling on the ground! He looked back for a moment to see that Amane was just about ready to get off of Ryoji, and ran down the stairs to his aircar.

"Junichiro! He's running!" Kiyone yelled out to him as her nose started bleeding. She had him guard the stairs, just in case Motō escaped.

Junichiro had heard Kiyone not a second too soon, as Motō was running down the stairs and straight-on into him.

"You son of a bitch!" he yelled as he started climbing up the stairs to meet him. "Thought you killed me? Well, I don't go down that ea—"

Unexpectedly, Motō jumped off one side of the free-standing staircase and landed on the ground, sprinting right past him.

"Hey, where the hell are you going!? My monologue!" Junichiro yelled. He rushed down the stairs and ran to catch up with Motō. Weaving and shoving through pedestrians unaware of what just happened, he could see the silhouette of the uniform and kept running. He felt like he was getting closer, but suddenly, there was a pain in his chest and he started breathing heavily. Eventually, the strain from running was too much to bear and he stopped to lean on the side of a building.

"Ah! Ahh! Ah… damn it! Maybe Mitsuki's right about me. I am old. Oh, I gotta sit down!"

"We'll discuss this later!" Kiyone yelled to him as she, Amane, and Ryoji ran past him to Amane's aircar. Once inside, they drove forward and saw Motō hurriedly turning on his aircar, speeding away as he glanced behind him.

"You're going to apologize to your girlfriend, Motō!" Amane taunted.

Kiyone was fumbling with her control cube to get a pair of tissues for her bleeding nose. "Can this aircar catch up to him?" she asked Amane with a nasal voice.

"Mine's modified for exactly that. Just strap in and hold on!"

The race was on. The midday streets were busy, though not clogged like yesterday. Motō was swerving in-between every oblivious car he could, dinging a couple while squeezing through whatever gaps he could find.

"Ryoji, could you hand me some lipstick? It's in the glove compartment," Amane asked.

"Uh, okay."

He did as she requested and handed one to her. Without looking away from Motō's car, she applied some to her lower lip and smudged it onto her upper lip.

"Does that make the aircar go faster?" Kiyone asked rhetorically.

"No, but I always try to look my best while working. Want to borrow mine?"

"Just drive!"

The next intersection was under partial reconstruction, and Motō blew a red light and made it out just as a large truck carrying debris was passing into the middle. There wasn't enough distance inside the intersection to swerve past the wide vehicle, so Amane looked right to the nearby sidewalk and took that instead!

"You're crazy!" Kiyone said.

"Tell me all about it after we get Motō!"

Pedestrians screamed and jumped out of the way of the speeding aircar as it bypassed the obstacle and moved back onto the street.

"Ryoji, are there any more construction sites around here?" Amane asked.

Ryoji looked at a local map of the streets. "Straight ahead is going to end in the next two intersections. All traffic is being diverted toward either left to Aino Ward or right across the Honshin Bridge to Tomishima."

"He's trying to shake us. He'll be taking the bridge!" Amane asserted.

She was right. Motō was speeding through the intersection connected to a two-way, four-lane road leading to the large Honshin Bridge on one side, but he did something even crazier than she did. He took the lane with oncoming traffic!

"You better not…" Kiyone began.

"I am!" Amane said. As she said that, she could see a car trying to assert their right of way on a green light, oblivious to the aircar about to t-bone them! She reached for the brake, but decided instead that floor it!

"Hold on!"

The aircar accelerated enough to skirt past the front of the other aircar, with sparks and metal shaving off both cars. Amane braked and drifted right enough to not hit the side of a building right of the oncoming lane.

They could see Motō speeding onto the bridge and followed him through the oncoming vehicles bumping into other cars as they tried swerving out of the way. Amane's aircar was indeed faster than Motō's, and now that they had an open bridge to chase him, they caught up to his vehicle on the left side.

"If you ram him going this fast, you'll kill him!" Kiyone said.

"Shoot out his propulsor, Ryoji!" Amane said.

"I've never shot a gun before!" he answered, shrugging with his gun held lazily in his right hand.

"W-what!?" she asked, clearly flabbergasted.

Ryoji grunted. "I'm a lieutenant intelligence officer, not a lieutenant detective! You should understand the difference, Kaunaq!"

"Hold it steady!" Kiyone said. Immediately, she unfastened her seatbelt to stand up on the cushion of her seat with her knees. She wrapped her arms around Ryoji's headrest, squeezing Ryoji's throat by extension. She drew her pistol and aimed for the rear left-levitation propulsor on Motō's aircar. She fired and hit dead on the target. The propulsor spat out blue sparks and flames before it failed. The aircar wobbled for a moment, and then the entire rear of the vehicle abruptly fell on the bridge's surface, stopping it dead in its tracks. Amane stopped right next to Motō's driver's seat, and with Kiyone pointing her gun at him, he put his hands up.

Kiyone found the voyage back to Headquarters aboard the Hikaeme to be suspiciously peaceful.

She had already decided not to wait until they arrived and interrogate Motō now, just in case something were to happen. The man was seated with his hands cuffed to a table placed in the ship's cargo bay.

With the ship on autopilot and plenty of time to talk, SIFO pulled up seats around Motō and waited for someone to start.

"I expected more of a struggle out of you, everything considered," Kiyone said.

"No point now," Motō explained. "I had my chance to evacuate, and I blew it. Hopefully, your organization treats POWs a little better than the Seniwans."

Junichiro scoffed. "The organization? Maybe. Not me, though. If only things were different, I'd repay the favor and run you through like you did me."

They all noticed something was seeming off with Motō's face. His intense, unfaltering stare had gone away after Junichiro started talking to him and put a sarcastic, almost whimsical look on his face. He was out of his "combat mode", Kiyone figured.

"Oh, that's right. I almost forgot about you!" Motō said to Junichiro. "You know, I still need to thank Keiko Kawabata for letting me borrow her husband's uniform. The boss' job at the National Assembly couldn't have worked without it."

"I'll bring you to her in a body bag, what do you say?" Junichiro taunted.

"Enough of this," Kiyone said. "We want everything you can tell us about Kagato, and you're not going anywhere until we get what we want."

Motō raised his eyebrows in curiosity and shrugged. "The boss? Okay, shoot. What do you want to know about him?"

His sudden casualness and reluctance to resist put Kiyone off slightly, but it was better than torturing him to get him talking. "Why is Kagato generating a political crisis in Jurai? What's his end goal?"

"He wants to overthrow the Imperial Government, duh. Of course, he's not doing it alone. The People's Will, President Yukino, me, lots of people are helping him! Just you wait, GP. We're not done yet. Today it's Jurai City, and tomorrow, the whole Empire's worth of people will be marching on New Tenju for some housekeeping. And you know, one day, you'll all have to choose what side you want to fight for, and you might as well choose the one that's gonna win!"

"We'll stick with following our orders," Kiyone responded. "And you didn't answer my question well enough. Why does Kagato want to overthrow the Imperial Government? What does he have to gain? Who is Kagato?"

Motō leaned in closer. "Well, if you need to know, the boss wants something... blood. Lots of it! And not just any blood, he wants royal blood! All this work he does, it's for that. He's gonna go to New Tenju and kill every single one of those damn royals, and he's going to enjoy every moment of it!"

"Why!? Why do that?" Kiyone pressed.

Motō laughed. "Why? It's damn funny, that's why! It's funny because he's one of them! That's the truth! He's got that same blood in him, and he hates it! So he's going to kill off the bloodline, wipe them all out! Exterminate them like insects!"

Amane's mouth was slightly agape, silently shocked along with everyone else at what Motō was saying. Only Kiyone seemed unphased, and she continued with the questions.

"He's a member of Jurai's Imperial Family? Is that why he has these powers of his? What about his connection to Tokimi?"

Moto scoffed. "Tokimi? I don't even know who that is! All I know is that one day, the boss is gonna get all of those royals. He'll put in on JHK, and we're all gonna see him chop their heads off, one-by-one!"

"Why does Kagato want to kill his own family?"

"Revenge, obviously," he answered, breathing heavily. "That's all a man needs to live. Revenge! He didn't say what it was, but it must've been… it must've—"

Before Motō could finish, the Tokimi mark appeared on his head and he started shaking uncontrollably. Kiyone reached over the table to steady the man, but by then, she didn't need to. Motō cleared his throat, but his speech was unlike anything he'd said up to that point.

"Little urchins. You've only now scratched the surface of the truth of everything. It's too late to stop what has already been set in motion. But please, keep going. Keep meddling. Keep helping! And say hello to the Seniwan in the infirmary for me, would you? Tell her I'm sorry that my aim was so… lackluster."

The mark disappeared in an instant, and Motō's head fell on the table. Kiyone got over to shake him awake, and slowly, he did.

"Oh... my head. What…? What's going on? What am I—where am I? Am I under arrest?" He looked down at himself and noticed the Republican Guard uniform. "What's this I'm wearing?"

Junichiro sighed. "Just like Keiko."

No longer a threat, Motō had been released from his bondage and was promised he'd be could return to Jurai City after quick processing. Kiyone was content with patiently waiting in the Hikaeme's bridge, as there was still some time before they'd reach Headquarters and relay their findings to Airi. Ryoji and Junichiro stayed with Motō to keep him company, but Amane now invited Kiyone to follow her to a compartment inside the Hikaeme that she hadn't explored yet. She agreed to go along because, as she and probably Amane knew, there wasn't anything better to do.

The room Kiyone was instructed to wait in was dimly lit apart from a chair she elected to sit down in. After five minutes, Kiyone felt like she was playing the part of a prank that Amane was either too elaborate or incompetent to convey properly. Just as she felt like getting up and walking back to the bridge, however, the room lit up, not fully, but directed toward one side and its elevated stage—a catwalk, Kiyone realized. Around her, the empty seats to her sides filled with holographic projections of people, not Galaxy Police personnel, but civilians, ordinary people. Was this her family? These people were excited and ready to cheer whatever was going to come out onto the catwalk, but what interested her was that they were all speaking Renoiran. She was hard-pressed to decipher any tangible sentences from a language she hadn't spoken in years, but the one word that kept popping up was "Amalia". Who would that be, Amane?

At that moment, the gears in Kiyone's head began turning. The catwalk, Renoir, "Amalia". Did she know Amane from somewhere? No, she couldn't have been someone she knew personally. Yet, why was this all so familiar to her?

At that moment, Amane walked out wearing a silky blue dress adorned with gems that clung to her slim figure. But then there was a second Amane, this one wearing an exuberant striped shirt and styling white boots. Suddenly, a who convey of Amanes began walking out with outfits ranging from stylishly practical to outright ridiculous, but all equally eye-catching. Whether anyone Amane was a hologram or not didn't matter; they all walked back and forth on the catwalk with perfect motion, their legs moving at just the right pace and their hips swaying confidently, but not too much.

The final Amane was purposefully wearing a fine red jacket slung over her shoulders and walking with fine white boots. Unlike the others, this one stopped at the end of the catwalk. As the others left and the music died down, Amane—the real one— bowed to the crowd, and the artificial cheering began. Absorbing the energy of the room, Kiyone felt the urge to clap along with everyone else. It felt warm, comforting almost, to join in the celebration. Or... nostalgic was the word she was looking for.

And it was right at that moment that Kiyone put it all together.

"I know you! You're the Amalia, daughter of the Kaunaq family in Tarmilano! You're the most famous model on Renoir!"

Amane jumped down from the catwalk to meet Kiyone. "That's right. Airi told me you were from Renoir, but I was worried you weren't going to figure out who I was. So, I decided to take a direct approach."

Kiyone nodded. "You must've done a show in Chambrae. I remember going to one, or at least sneaking inside one."

"Maybe a couple of shows. Chambrae didn't draw in as big crowds as Tarmilano, but I wanted to explore another city, regardless."

"But I had no idea you joined the Galaxy Police. Why did you quit modeling? You were at the top, weren't you?"

Amane had softened her expression to a more somber, almost vulnerable one. She sat down in one of the chairs, phasing away its holographic projecting in the process. "I was, and that's why I quit."

Kiyone looked puzzled at Amane, letting her know she needed to keep going. "Of course, you don't understand. Nobody does."

Guilt crept inside Kiyone. She clearly pressed one of Amane's buttons that she shouldn't have. Not wanting to upset her anymore, she remained silent until a new topic came up.

"So, what's your name?" Amane asked eventually.

"Excuse me?"

"You're name. Your real one. Kiyone is a Juraian name, just like mine. We all had to fit in, didn't we?"

Kiyone nodded. "Leila. Just Leila. I never had a last name."

Amane nodded. "That's a good name. Can you still speak Renoiran?"

Kiyone cleared her throat. "Posso essere peut sa-sui bordes, dar sai."

Amane smiled. "You're too hard on yourself. It's not that rough."

Kiyone nodded. "Ma plachere."

They could feel the ship shudder slightly. They had docked at Headquarters.

They exited the ship with Motō in the front, letting him go with security upon reaching the entrance checkpoint. They walked to the Superintendent's office, whereupon entering, they found that Airi was in the middle of a conversation with her butler as he was wiping away something on her desk.

"How many times have I told you, Watari?" she asked with slight annoyance in her tone. "No feet on my desk."

"Apologies, Madam Fujikawa, but I thought I had thoroughly cleaned the stain before you returned. And I simply can't help it. My duties as Vice Superintendent are often so dull, and I just want to take a nap!"

"That's exactly why there's a sofa in my office," Airi replied. She then noticed SIFO walking in. "Ah, you're back! And no casualties this time. Very good!"

Kiyone led the rest inside and saluted the Superintendent. "Ms. Fujikawa, we captured one of Kagato's right-hand-men. Motō Terumori. He told us that Kagato is a member of Jurai's Royal Family, but wants to exterminate them out of revenge. He didn't disclose a reason for this revenge."

"And where is Mr. Terumori now?"

"Being processed by security. He's no longer under Kagato's control and has lost all his memory, similar to Keiko Kawabata."

Airi leaned in on her desk, even putting aside the cup of tea that was in her hands. "This is very unusual. Do you believe that Motō could've been lying to you?"

"No, although he only told us what Kagato supposedly told him. We can't be sure if Kagato himself is lying or not."

"And funny thing, Kagato talked to us too," Junichiro interjected. "Used Motō like a puppet and told us to keep 'helping' him, whatever that means."

"Helping?" Airi repeated. "What a twisted way of thinking. But regardless, I believe it's time to consult the Emperor on our findings. I think he'll find it interesting. Watari?"

"Right away, Madam," he said. He went to operate the console on Airi's desk. On the big screen of her wall.

"Wait, we're going to talk to the Emperor?" Amane asked. "Like, the Emperor."

"Correct," Airi answered. "He's quite a fun individual."

On-screen, Azusa's familiar face was joined off to one side by that of an older woman. From their strained pleased looks on their faces, it was clear that they had interrupted them in the middle of a conversation."

"You look well, Emperor," Airi began. "But forgive me, who might your companion be?"

"Princess Seto Kamiki," Seto answered. "My daughter is the Second Empress, if you're must know. Now, what is it you wanted to talk to us about?"

"My employees have discovered some information about Kagato that you might find interesting. One of his henchmen claimed that he is a member of your family, and his goal is to kill all of you."

After a second, Seto began laughing and hid her giddy face behind her paper fan. "My, I certainly wasn't expecting that. Ha! That's very funny of you. Now then, what was it you were going to tell us?"

"That was it," Airi said. "We have no indication that the henchman was lying to us. He supposedly heard it from Kagato himself."

Azusa scoffed and spoke up. "Please, that man is insane! If he said the planet Jurai was round, I'd have a hard time believing him! And I certainly can not fathom how you believe that mere rumors—ridiculous ones at that—are enough to warrant our attention."

Airi pressed her lips together, trying to find an easy way out of this now–awkward conversation. "I presume neither of you has anything else to say on the subject?"

"No," Seto said. "That is all. Have a good day, but next time, I would suggest that you present us something a bit more… plausible."

The communication ended, and a defeated Airi sat back in her chair and took a sip of tea. "That didn't go as well as I expected."

On the other side, Azusa gave a deep breath. Thankfully, that conversation ended as quickly as it began.

"As I was saying, my preparations are complete. Just leave it to Utsutsumi and myself, and this whole affair will be finished with, and then you can go on that summer retreat you were talking about."

"Did you estimate the losses we'll have?" he asked.

"None. It will be quick and easy, just like cutting off a rotten branch of a tree. All that's left is for you to give your approval. So, what will it be?"

Azusa slouched in his seat again. He had agreed to listen to Seto, and now, she was staring down at him, not about to take "no" for an answer. He sighed, and after a long pause, he answered. "Yes. Let's do it."

"Splendid!"

Outside their door, Funaho and Misaki were once again silently listening in on their conversation. Funaho had ensured that the passerby guards would not make any mention of their presence, but she nonetheless had a feeling that both of them knew she and Misaki were there.

As soon as she heard Azusa say yes, Funaho decided it was time to leave. She turned to Misaki and nudged her toward the far end of the hall, toward one of Tenju's great antechambers where nobody would hear them. The inside of this antechamber was immense and open, with wood replacing the stone and metal of the hall they were in. Around there were little trees in their fourth and fifth generations, still waiting for the day someone would be bonded with them.

As they slowly walked through without anywhere to go, Funaho was the first to speak. "What do you think, Misaki? Do you believe what the Galaxy Police says?"

"Yes, sister. Kagato has to be him."

Funaho calmly shook her head. "No, it couldn't. It's absolutely impossible."

"But who else could it be?" Misaki countered. "My senses tell me it's him. If we believe what they say, he's the only person it could be."

"But how could he have come back? And why now? It's been five years since that happened."

"I don't know. But let him come!" Misaki said energetically. She reached inside her dress and pulled out her weapon, a staff that activated an energized spear tip at the end. "Kagato hasn't faced a real warrior yet. If he wants to hurt you or our husband, he'll have to face me first! I'll give that weirdo the beating of a lifetime!"

Funaho laughed softly. She knew Misaki was entirely serious. After all, she was the captain of Tenju's bodyguards and trained to become a skilled warrior when she was just a girl. Within Jurai's four great houses, she had no equal. "I'm sure you will."

They continued walking silently for some time until a new conversation sprung up, this time by Misaki. "My mother seems to have worked her magic on our dear husband."

Funaho nodded. "The crisis with Jurai City was perfect for her. She swooped in at the right moment and captured his attention. I fear there's nothing we can do about it for the moment."

"I just hope nothing bad happens with Jurai City," Misaki said. "They're commoners, but they're good people, and they only want to be happy. If that means independence, then what's the problem? We can always bring them back later if they want and have a big feast over it!"

"If only things were that simple," Funaho said. "Seto has different plans, and you know as well as I that when she wants something, she gets it."

"Definitely! One time, she went into my chambers and plucked for herself a box of candies I had stored away. I said, 'Mother, please don't just take my belongings without asking', and she told me, 'Dear Misaki, don't you think your mother deserves a nice gift once in a while?'. I was planning on sending those candies to Little Ayeka as a Startica gift!"

"What did you send her instead?"

"A few bottles of sake."

"You gave my niece, of all things… alcohol?" Funaho pressed.

"It was the best I could think of on such short notice!" Misaki said defensively. "Besides, I think Ayeka is old enough to drink, so she must've enjoyed it!"

Christmas Day, 1996.

The snowfall from last night finally ended, but the residents of the Masaki household—excluding Mihoshi and Kiyone, who were invited to the Startica party at Galaxy Police headquarters—had been completely trapped inside. Thankfully, electricity was still available, and Katsuhito graciously canceled Tenchi's daily shrine keeping and training. Unfortunately, that meant that Nobuyuki—spending another overnight shift at work—was snowed out of his own house!

"Oh, come on!" he said as he surveyed the entrance to his home. There was no way he was going to get in now, so instead, he pulled out of his cellphone and called someone. "Hey, Reiko, I changed my mind. I'll be back at work in a little bit. Yeah, bye."

After unboxing his present, Tenchi went into the kitchen with Katsuhito to help him with cooking lunch, and Ayeka and Sasami found were the last to open their presents, accompanied by a hand-written letter from their mother Misaki that included the phrase "I love you!" over twenty times. They set aside their confusion as to how Misaki managed to send something to Earth all the way from Jurai and gratefully unwrapped their gifts. Sasami had received a set of exotic spices, but Ayeka discovered that her gift was a case filled with three bottles of the finest sake made on Jurai.

"Huh?" Sasami said instinctively. "Sake? What are you supposed to do with that?"

Casually playing her brand new Nintendo Gameboy in her hands on one of the ceiling beams, Ryoko's ears immediately perked up at hearing the word "sake". She teleported to the floor and butted in between Sasami and Ayeka, grabbing one of the shiny bottles out of the case to rub against her face. "Isn't it obvious? You're supposed to drink it! And by you, I mean me!"

"You're not going to get a single drop!" Ayeka said. "These bottles are for me!"

"Princess, are you even old enough to drink? You're only… what? 702 years old? That's basically sixteen regular years for you royal types, right?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Ayeka countered. "I am old enough to drink sake!"

"Oh really? Okay then, go ahead and help yourself! Go on!"

Ayeka gave a loud hmpf. "I will!"

With that, she snatched the bottle out of Ryoko's hands and uncorked it with the opener that came with the package. Eager to show off to Ryoko, she didn't even stop to fetch a glass and began chugging straight from the bottle.

"Woah!" Ryoko said, genuinely impressed. "Look at you go, Ayeka!"

Half of the bottle was empty before Ayeka finally stopped chugging. She tried looking proud and boastful to Ryoko, but suddenly her skin became bright red and she became tipsy.

"Uh, big sister, are you okay?" Sasami asked with uncertainty.

"Oh my…oh dear... I need…" was all she managed to say before she passed out, falling on the floor.

Ryoko laughed in triumph and grabbed the bottle off the floor, eager to finish what Ayeka began. "Guess you still have a long way to go before you're on my level, Princess Lightweight!"

Meanwhile, Katsuhito had quietly entered the room and saw what had happened. He looked unsurprised and walked over to the Christmas tree. His eyes became fixated on the letter Misaki sent her daughters. He picked it up to read it, and once he finished, he took one of the unopened bottles and uncorked it, taking a small taste for himself.

"Hm, good," he said. His voice was a faint whisper so that even Ryoko standing next to him couldn't hear what he was saying. "Just as I remember."

Junichiro, strangely enough, began laughing heartily in a fashion that emulated a middle-aged dad. "Hahaha! Oh, now that was funny! 'Princess Lightweight'! Haha!"

Amane, who had been silent this entire time, looked puzzled at his outburst. "Are you alright, Mr. Yoritomo?

"He's perfectly fine," Airi said casually. "Although, I heard that you had a little trouble trying to catch up to Motō on foot in Jurai City, is that right?"

Junichiro stopped laughing and switched to an embarrassed groan. "Uh… well, I tried running after him, but then I didn't feel so good and stopped. I almost got him, I swear! Just a few more seconds and I would've gotten him!"

Airi looked unconvinced at his answer.

He sighed. "Okay. My job as a Republican Guard wasn't the most physically… challenging. And maybe after a year or two, I kind of let myself go a bit. I mean, it's that simple caloric surplus, you know how it goes."

"So you're fat," Kiyone said simply.

Junichiro scoffed at her bluntness. "Now that's just rude! I am not fat! I just ran out of breath."

"You ran out of breath because you're—"

"Don't say it again!"

Airi cleared her throat. "I may not be a dietician, but I will say that it would not be detrimental to SIFO if you were to alleviate your health… difficulties. I'll recommend you to the dieting and exercise plan prescribed by the GP's physical wellness department. You'll be back to your old self in no time, and maybe 'you-know-who' will stop calling you an old man… if she's still alive, that is."

Meanwhile, the door of an elevator on Headquarters opened, revealing an officer's pair of boots briskly walking through the halls.

Thanks to the regular cinematographer taking a day off, we're only able to catch brief glimpses of the officer's uniform, and certainly not enough to keep this in media res segment going.

"And this brings me to you, finally," Airi said to Amane. "How did things go for you down there in Jurai City?"

"More exciting than I thought," Amane answered. "Motō tried driving away from us, but he had no idea he was completely out of his league as far as that's concerned. I feel sorry for him, to be honest. I should've let it go on for longer."

"And risk running someone over?" Kiyone asked. "You know, I still can't believe you drove on the sidewalk!"

"I respected the pedestrian's right-of-way, didn't I? Would you have been able to?"

Kiyone relented. "No. I guess I have you to thank for that."

Amane smiled. "That's what I like to hear."

Airi clasped her hands together. "I'm pleased to know that you were a substantial asset to my team. You have my thanks. Of course, we're still far and away from solving the web of problems we've inserted ourselves into down on Jurai. So, I think you know what I'm going to ask you."

Amane nodded. "Sure. I'll join SIFO."

Kiyone was taken aback by that. "What? Just like that?"

"The timing isn't too far from the average," Ryoji interjected. "My negotiations with Fujikawa only took thirty seconds."

"Why don't we do this democratically?" Airi asked. "Regarding Amane joining the team, give a thumbs up or a thumbs down and give a reason."

Junichiro raised his hand. "I simply can't say 'no' to a nice lady like Amane. It's not who I am."

Ryoji raised his hand. "Statistically speaking, if Kaunaq joins SIFO, I'll go from constituting 20% of the squad down to 16.6%, which means my chances of getting injured during an operation will decrease proportionally."

Remembering what Airi had said earlier at her restaurant, Kiyone had a feeling that her version of "democracy" was weighted in favor of teal-haired detective first-classes who happened to share her name, but she nonetheless gave a thumbs up. "Detective Second-Class Kaunaq was most helpful in apprehending Motō Terumori in Jurai City, and I believe that SIFO can use her talents to bolster its capabilities in the future."

Airi turned to Amane and walked up to Amane. "So it's unanimous. Welcome aboard, Amane!"

Amane shook hands with Airi and turned to bow to the others. "Thank you for the opportunity. I know we're going to work well together, and I'm so glad that I have the opportunity to have a new superior officer. It's a fresh new start for me!"

Kiyone looked puzzled at Amane. "How do you mean?"

"You see, my current superior officer is this woman—Detective Sergeant Tsukushi..."

A vending machine in the middle of a busy hallway found its latest customer, a woman by her slim figure. Before she pressed any button on the machine, however, she put on a pair of white gloves and wiggled her fingers for good measure. Her item of choice was a canned coffee, which she immediately opened and began drinking.

"Wait, you mean Mitsuki?" Kiyone asked Amane.

Amane looked at her excitedly. "You know her? Then you know how awful she is! I was put under her wing as soon as I graduated from the Academy. At first, I thought we'd have a good relationship since she's we're about the same age, but boy was I wrong!"

"Tell me about it," Kiyone said.

"I don't even know where to start with that woman! She thinks that just because she's my boss, she can make me do whatever she wants. I can't tell you how much of her paperwork I've had to do while she goes out and fights pirates. And it's not just paperwork, she comes up with all sorts of menial tasks she has me do, just because she can. One time, she even made me wear a maid outfit and dust off her entire office!"

"Couldn't you have reported her for that?"

She shook her head. "She said that the outfit qualified as 'appropriate workwear' for the task I was doing, so she wasn't breaking any rules! Of course, I had to resist the urge to break her face!"

Casually juggling the now–empty canned coffee with one hand, the woman walked up to the door of the superintendent's office and pressed the button on the console to the side to open it.

"So yeah, I'll take any chance I can to get away from Mitsuki!" Amane continued.

Airi had been listening intently, but she noticed the door to her office open and tried motioning with her hands for Amane to stop talking, but she was too into it to quit.

"She is the most selfish, demanding, demeaning, unreasonable, and surprisingly lazy person I've ever had the misfortune of working with! She's got to be the worst detective sergeant in the entire Galaxy—"

Her speech was interrupted by the sound of a can being violently crushed behind her. Amane turned around to inspect the noise, and she found Mitsuki giving her a disappointed look.

"It's nice to see you, too."

PREVIEW OF

NEXT PROGRAM

Airi: "President Yukino seems to know a lot more than she's letting on. She sent one of her aides to stowaway on a ship making a secret trip from New Tenju to Seniwan space."

Junichiro: "And King Purple Beard didn't say a word about this trip. Like he didn't even want us to know!"

Kiyone: "It's too early to say who is deceiving who, but we need to know everything there is to know if it relates to Kagato. We're going in. The next episode of Miho-Kiyo Complex: '...Without the Possibility of Parole'."

Amane: "The truth will unquestionably be too tough to swallow."

Author's Note: Amane Kaunaq

Amane Kaunaq is a character that I struggled deciding if I wanted to include in Miho-Kiyo Complex at all. It's not because she's from Tenchi Muyo! GXP (an anime that I have a few misgivings towards, though I don't consider it to be "bad"). This story takes place within a new continuity and has lax rules for which characters can be imported over, but I had to assess how to handle Amane as a character without including arguably her biggest character trait, her love for Seina Yamada (who will not appear in this story as previously mentioned). Similar to the Ship of Theseus paradox, I asked myself: "if I take away Amane Kaunaq's most recognizable character trait, is she still Amane Kaunaq?"

However, I realized that SIFO could certainly have more than five members, so I was either going to introduce Amane with my own twist on her character, or just introduce another original character. Since we already have two original characters on the team (Ryoji and Junichiro), I decided I wanted to balance the roster and introduce Amane.

I figured that Amane could keep her background as a former fashion model (as well as hints of personal problems relating to it that I hope to explore in the future), and in addition to that, she could also be a great driver, since we see her drive aircars in a few episodes, and I'd even decide to give her what's essentially the gift of gab, since being a good socialite goes hand-in-hand with being a likable celebrity. And finally, she can be a little flamboyant about her job, just a little bit. I wanted to have a character that simply has a lot of fun being a Galaxy Police officer.

The Renoiran language, which appears briefly in this episode, is a hodgepodge combination of the five major Romance languages— French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian, along with a few of my personal touches to make it unique. You can try and make sense of Renoiran sentences by running individual words through a translator, but I'll promise that spoken Renoiran won't become common enough to make it a worthwhile effort.

Kiyone's Renoiran name, Leila, comes from Leila Malcal, one of the main protagonists of Code Geass: Akito the Exiled. I'm aware Leila is actually a Semitic name, but I like it nonetheless.

This episode was originally going to be split into two parts—one part comprising Amane's introduction, and the second part showing what had happened to Mitsuki. However, I realized that the idea simply wouldn't have worked well in writing, so I played it safe and made this episode squarely about Amane. Don't worry, the circumstances of exactly what happened to our detective sergeant will have their own episode down the line.

And finally, Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoyed reading this episode as part of the day's celebrations.