26: Incognito
I stayed up the entire night, fretting and worrying. Naturally, I had much to fear. For in a mere day, the one witness who could turn the tide of the Great Matter was dead, killed by another witness. And I, I was enslaved under the mastery of pure evil, with little choice in the matter lest I was killed.
What could I do? The Astamort were murderers. They were an ancient evil of the past, come back to take advantage of chaos. And as a part of the chaos, I was captured. Anything they wanted of me, they could have, because I was in their thrall from fear of what they could do to me.
Would I end up like Zra? Would I end up like Jyanda? Or perhaps Michag's brother, the old man? What was to become of me? I was very frightened....
-
It was very difficult for me to hide the fact that I was tired from Dyka and Varuna that morning. I had not gotten any sleep, and I simply drifted off while Dyka was talking to me.
-....and in the next three da......Themis. Her voice became sharp. -FLORITIUSE!
I awoke with a start. I had seen shadows, shadows of my new masters. For a moment, I almost forgot my discretion.
-...I.....I don't k-k-know anything!!
-......It would appear to be that way.
I looked at Dyka, and gave a nervous laugh. However, laughing too hard made my stomach hurt. Though I was still alive, the Blood Thirsters had not handled me delicately.
-...Sorry.
-....Anyways. Dyka looked at Varuna, who sat on the other side of the table. -At this rate, the motion to drop the defense and go to carrying out the order of banishment will take a week at the most. This also includes the time we'll have to spend filing a full report on our case for the Seemarin archive.
-For posterity, of course. Varuna ate her food. -Because no one knows enough about it.
-You're really going to drop the case, aren't you? I looked at Dyka. -You were being truthful.
-What choice do I have, Floritiuse? Dyka turned away from me. -Kepe's overwhelmed us. Our chance to redeem our case died with Brutus. Ignorance or no, or false whatevers, we're done. We'll be out of here.
There was an awkward silence at this. The way Dyka spoke of Kepe seemed telling in itself. Dyka, I could tell from her harsh tone, had no respect at all for the famed pirate fighter, now the victorious prosecutor.
-....You still think she's underha-
-What I think of Kepe is irrelevant. I was cut off. -Let's get going, Varuna, and get this cursed thing over with.
With that, they excused themselves from the table to fetch Tsukino Usagi - for there was no one to fetch her now from upstairs - and go to the court. I was to be left alone.
However, I knew I was not quite safe for some time to leave the house yet. Sometimes, Dyka or Varuna would come back, to get something they had forgotten.
-I'm going to take a nap.
-You just woke up.
-I'm very tired still.
So, as the group was leaving, I laid down in my makeshift bed, turning myself away from them so they couldn't se the fear in my eyes. I didn't bother to look at Tsukino Usagi; what reason would I have, as she would look into my eyes and see what I was hiding?
I heard the door slam, and the transport in front of the house leave. I waited. And waited. And then waited more. And waited, until finally, enough time had passed that assured me that they were surely gone. I remembered what times the transports to Mehsheh went; they went, by your time, every fifteen minutes. Granted, I did not know how long your thirty minutes were, but that was plenty of time to assure that I was safe to leave the house and go to Asgerd. And I had a way to get there undetected by the media.
I had a disguise.
It was an interesting disguise. A bit awkward, and very rudimentary. But, I thought it was sufficient. What I did was this - I took my bed sheets and wrapped them around my body to cover up my sailor suit. Also, last night, I had taken a bowl from the cabinet, and used this to cover up my head - my hair (as you would call it) was tugged under this. Then, over that, I put a pillow case over me like a shade, which covered the bowl and made it look like it was the natural shape of my head. It also covered my eyes. Finally, I tied as much string around my midsection as I could to make the impression of a belt.
To everyone else who saw me, I was another odd rich lady on the town, for that was the style I took for my ingenious disguise. But I was on a mission. I was going to find out what was in store for me at Kastagata in Asgerd.
-
I was on Asgerd very quickly after that. Finding Kastagata, however, was a veritable problem.
-Kastawhat? The information station at the transport depot merely looked at me. -Oh, that place. Yeah, its around somewhere...
So I ended up taking it upon myself to find it. It took me a long time as well; I feared that I wouldn't get back in time to at least make it look like I hadn't been gone all day. Certainly, Dyka would be asking questions about what I was doing wearing my bed sheets and would deem me a fool for certain!
But still, I was confident. No one approached and identified me as Sailor Themis. To the people I passed, I was merely an odd woman walking around Asgerd for a place to mingle. It think it worked well. Sometimes, though, I think it worked too well.
-Meme! I remember that one little boy screamed as he pointed at me. -That lady scares me! Look at her! Ewww!! Aaah! Her head is weird!
-Stop staring! I watched as the mother spanked him in front of everyone. -It's impolite to point at people!
Some other people stared at me as well, though they were certainly not as vocal as that one boy. I simply gave a smile at all this, however. No one could have suspected my identity with what I was wearing!
As the day wore on, however, I began to worry about the time. Eventually, Dyka and Varuna would finish their motions, and they would return to Mehsheh. I was beginning to despair that I would never find Kastagata, despite my having circled the Court of Justice seven times. At that point, I was almost ready to admit defeat and return to the house.
-....OH!
I moaned. I had been circling the Court, not realizing that I had actually missed something that was right in front of me. It was a large newsstand on the main street behind the Court of Justice, and had a bright glowing sign that said, -KASTAGATA-. It was a sign that could have illuminated three houses.
Seven times, and I was almost completely blind to it!
Cursing my foolishness, I quickly walked over to the stand. Twenty people manned it; it was the largest newsstand in the shadow of the Court of Justice. As such, I managed to get someone to cater to me very quickly.
-Yes? The woman looked at me with a funny eye. -What pub?
-.....Pub?
-....Paper. The woman looked amused. -What holopaper.
-.....Um....... I took in a breath. -I.....
I quickly fumbled through my bed sheets for the paper. I had forgotten the name I was to use. I took it out as the woman watched me, and scanned the note.
-.....Seigiko.
-Huh?
-Seigiko.
-.....Lady. The woman frowned. -There's no such paper.
-No, I..... I gulped. I have a paper under that name. Seigiko. I'm here to....get my pa....per....?
I didn't even finish my sentence before the woman disappeared on me. Before I panicked, though, she returned.
-Here. She flopped the paper in front of me. -Enjoy, lady.
I gave a smile and a nod, took the paper, and quickly excused myself from the stand. I found the darkest corner I could in the open reading area, and proceeded to open the newspaper. I wasn't sure what to expect. What paper could the Astramort possibly want me to read?
SAILOR MOON IS COMPLETELY INNOCENT. The heading took up the entire page, or would have if not for the picture of my former client on the bottom. CONFESSIONS OF A REFORMED WOMAN.
At first, I didn't realize exactly why the Astramort would show me this. Such a claim would seem ridiculous, almost impossible. What kind of respectable paper would print such a thing? Though, upon further thought, nothing was impossible for someone to print. But I digress.
As I looked over the page, however, I noticed something that made me look at the headline again. I nearly cried out when I saw it.
It was the Sailor Sentinel.
THE FOLLOWING REVELATIONS ARE WRITTEN BY THE BY THE REFORMED WOMAN HERSELF, SAILOR KASTALLE.
