So many books!

[Aijouno Kyoutei]

I think I can handle another on the pile...

Kyoutei's brow furrowed in concentration as she added another book to the stack of already high books, crouching so she could grab the lowest book in the stack and heave it up. She'd come to the library to get one last reference for a report she was working on--unfortunately, she wasn't sure which book to use, and ended up getting a laundry list of them. She'd decided to write her paper on the sailor senshi and how they impacted the society around them--it was a little easier considering her secret identity as a senshi.

Slowly, Kyoutei made her way over to her table, pausing constantly to get a better grip on the stack so she wouldn't drop them, but when she was almost to her table, she caught her foot on a chair leg.

Which made her trip.

And fall.

"A-ack!" she cried out as she went tumbling forward, her absurdly high stack of books going every which way. Her face hit one of the thicker books and the girl let out a soft groan of pain--and as she got to a sitting position, she blushed heartily. Argh, way to go, self! she cheered bitterly, Making an idiot of yourself in public...

Muttering a soft apology for the noise, she kept her gaze down and started gathering her books together. Hopefully one of them hadn't hit someone else...

[Koekami Bao-yu]

As the stack of books went flying, a large one in particular soared a little further only to have nimble finger snatch it mid-air. With a quirk of the eyebrow, Bao-Yu snuck a peek at what she had just caught in her hand. Her expression was a little blasé to the whole ordeal, as if she was expecting to catch the item all along. When her aqua eyes scanned the title a twitch of a smile crept upon her face.

“This is a pretty intense topic to be doing a thesis report on,” she replied in a low tone as not to disturb the other people who had already been jostled by the Jenga-esque pike of pitfall books. “I thought I was the only one doing this kind of research.”

Bao-Yu stood serenely in front of Kyoutei as she handed the girl the tomb she had just caught and took a look around. The girl had books on almost everything from historical documentation to theory-craft and astronomy in the mix. It seemed like a complete hodgepodge of random thoughts to research on. “Or perhaps you’re planning on writing a book instead? With all of these texts I can only imagine how many topics could possibly be covered all at once.”

Seeing that there was even a book laying over her foot, the twenty year old flicked her toe upward in such a manner that it sent the hardback flying into the air to be grabbed by its new master. Again her eyes skimmed the title, “Origins of the Shadow Wars…interesting.”

Finally her eyes rested back to Kyoutei as she gingerly handed that book over as well, “Leaving no stone unturned, I see?” By now the curious cat-like glances had transformed into that of a genuine smile.

[Aijouno Kyoutei]

Kyoutei jumped upon hearing another voice, looking up to see a rather attractive older woman standing in front of her. The girl suddenly felt rather plain--somehow, she felt she needed to get out of his habit. The same thing had happened with Youenko! Mentally, the girl shook her head, going back to the topic at hand, taking the book the woman had offered. "O-oh no, not a book!" she assured, feeling her face heating up, cursing her detailed nature. Unlike the other, Kyoutei didn't have to lower her voice much--she was naturally soft-spoken anyways.

When the woman flicked a book up with the toe of her boot, the girl clumsily missed catching it--and the book she was supposed to be catching hit her chin instead. ...ow... she thought, blushing again as she got a hold of the book and rubbed her chin. She squirmed a little as the book on the shadow wars was brought up--it almost felt like a bad thing to be looking into such dark things.

"I-I like knowing the whole story. Everyone put their words out there to be heard--" she admitted as she brushed her hand over one of the books on conspiracy theories regarding the senshi and the shadow army, "--why shouldn't I listen to them?" Quietly, she gathered the rest of the books back to her table, instinctively sorting the books into stack--things about the senshi went in one pile, various histories and memoirs in another pile, different books on the Shadow Army--and other various enemies documented--went in yet another stack. The rest were sorted in the corner, Kyoutei not knowing what exactly to sort them into yet.

"Are you researching for a paper too, Miss...?" she asked, her voice trailing off when she realized she didn't know the other girl's name.

[Koekami Bao-yu]

She dipped her right shoulder to the side a little as she gave an expression of ‘maaaaybe’ to the girl. “It was always a favorite topic of mine, but now it’s sort of become my business to know a little here and there.”

Obviously Bao-Yu wasn’t planning on going into the subject further with her. Instead her eyes roamed the sources that Kyoutei was plodding through and flicked her fingers at a couple of them in particular, “That one is a must read because it’s the only public resource that closely matches to royal texts.”

Her eyes scanned another book that was kind of small, “You’d be wasting your time with that one. The author was a conspiracy theorist who didn’t even believe the Shadow Army war existed to begin with. All of his opinions are not based on any fact and are simply assumptions.” Afterwards she honed in on the Origins of the Shadow Wars book once again, “That one I’ve read several times and is probably the best theory craft resource you’ll find in public documentation to date.”

[Aijouno Kyoutei]

Kyoutei's face fell slightly as she missed being able to learn the other woman's name, but it was quickly gone when Bao-Yu began to rattle off advice on the various books she was using. Kyoutei nodded as the woman spoke, mentally taking notes on what Bao-Yu's comments were. As she continued to speak, Kyoutei silently reorganized the books, pushing the small book off to the side, as well as a few others by the same author.

When Bao-Yu commented on the Shadow Wars book again, Kyoutei nodded. "I leafed through it once or twice--this was one I was hoping no one had checked out, so lucky for me! It was a surprising read--very thorough. The author put a lot of time into it..." she found herself saying, then blushed lightly. "A-aha, I guess I'm preaching to the choir though..." she admitted.

Hmm. This might be worth a shot...

"Are there any other books you'd recommend? I got a lot of them," she laughed a little before blushing and realizing it might be out of place, "but I get the feeling I might have missed one..."

[Koekami Bao-yu]

“It honestly depends on the route you’re going with this research of yours,” she said honestly. “Each book has its own strengths and weaknesses in material depending on what you’re specifically looking for.”

The college student scratched at her ear lightly before plunking down in a seat next to Kyoutei and skimming the titles over again, “Although truth be told, if you’re looking for specific material on our recent issues at hand within Crystal Tokyo itself…there are none, I’ve already read. Even the subtle intricacies of the theories don’t point to the obvious problems we’re facing right now.”

Satisfied with the feedback she was able to give the girl, Bao-Yu gave a nod in regard to her determination. “Of course…” she added in quickly as she leaned in and whispered low so others couldn’t hear them giving a wry smile, “The most accurate sources come from within the palace itself. If you ever get the chance to access the information there you’ll find some delicious stuff. But that’s just between you and me.” Propping a finger up to her lips, she winked and released a soft ‘shhh’ before sitting back up to her full stature.

Being so engrossed with giving advice Bao-Yu had only then remembered that the girl asked for her name. A startled blink of her eyes, she then emitted somewhat of an embarrassed giggle came from her, “I’m so sorry, you asked me a question and got so caught up in the moment I forgot to answer it. The name is Koekami Bao-Yu. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Might I get your name as well?"

[Aijouno Kyoutei]

Kyoutei nodded slowly as Bao-Yu mentioned it really depended on the research, inwardly chastising herself for not making that connection earlier. She frowned a little as Bao-Yu mentioned there was nothing on recent issues--she'd been hoping to stick something like that in her paper. (And maybe use some of that information for herself.)

Her mouth widened in a small "o" of surprise as Bao-Yu mentioned the palace, biting her lip. "I-isn't that illegal though...?" she found herself replying with wide eyes, lowering her already quiet voice so that it could be barely heard by the other library goers. Still though, that would be useful for the future. If she revealed herself as a senshi, would they allow her to access the palace archives? Somehow that sat wrong with her--then again, everyone had something to hide...

"O-oh! It's really nice to meet you, Koekami-san!" Kyoutei said as the woman introduced herself, shifting forward in her seat to mimic a bow. "I-I'm Aijouno Kyoutei!" she cast a look back at her things--aside from the books sorted about, there was a few notebooks she had scrawled in messily, names of books and pages highlighted and circled so she could go back to them later. It seemed as if the girl was focusing on the various enemies as well as the senshi, before the notes got lost amongst things like the mythology and where the senshi had come from. Various theories were scribbled in a corner--it looked like she'd been researching for quite some time on the subject--and even a few notes about about a redheaded Beryl had snuck onto her page, something that would have required some alternative searching to find.

Kyoutei blushed at how messy her notes looked as opposed to the neat stacks of books, briskly flipping her notebooks shut. "You're very knowledgeable, Koekami-san..." she commented lightly, smiling.

[Koekami Bao-yu]

Even though Kyoutei was right, Bao-Yu gingerly shrugged her shoulders and feigned ignorance to the repercussions of the matter. “Depends on how you access them, really.”

When the meek girl introduced herself, she nodded in regard. “Very cute name, Aijouno-san.” Even though Bao-Yu was her senior, the fact remained that she did not know Kyoutei well enough to remove the formality of titles.

By now the raven haired woman was reorganizing a few books out into a small stack that seemed to pluck from each different region of topics. “As far as my knowledge in this is concerned, you’re at a good starting point. I remember making my own stacks like this. Each of these books warrants me a fond memory of knowledge in how I read and interpreted their words.” From the look on Kyoutei’s face previously, it seemed that Bao-Yu was right about assuming the thought process of the Mirror senshi and the return of new planetaries. They had become whispers on the winds of the media for the past year.

Specifically, Bao-Yu had made sure to make Crystal Tokyo aware that a new team had taken the field. It also reminded her of the next task she wanted to accomplish within the week. “By the by…Since we’re having this conversation in the first place. What are your thoughts or theories on this whole endeavor with these new senshi suddenly cropping up?”

Her eyes glistened with an intense curiosity to see what motivated this girl so much to perform full-fledged research of this caliber.

[Aijouno Kyoutei]

Kyoutei found herself blushing slightly as Bao-Yu complimented her name, biting back a comment about how she was sure it wasn't all that cute. She watched as the girl reorganized some of the books into a small stack and Kyoutei had to bite back another comment...well, a protest, actually. It wasn't organized, it needed to be organized, there was a routine to these things--

The girl instead nodded to what Bao-Yu was saying about the stacks of books. Well, it's good to know I'm off to a good start, although of course I'm not better at this-- she cut her thoughts off before they could go into a hateful tirade, tilting her head slightly when Bao-Yu asked what her theories and thoughts were on the new senshi showing up.

Kyoutei closed her eyes and thought for a moment. It would do no good to reveal her other identity--so she decided to omit that part.

"It's concerning." she began as she opened her eyes again. "It feels like the rumors are doomed to remain rumors--and it gets frustrating because the government won't acknowledge them. For all we know, they're all out there wandering aimlessly, unable to do anything because no one acknowledges their existance more than a fleeting word on the wind--or they can't or won't help them." A slight pause as Kyoutei looked toward one of the stacks of books, then returned to the topic at hand. "On top of that are the other rumors I've heard of these odd black suited senshi--and I've been reading every book I can and there's nothing, no information about them. It doesn't make any sense--" she shook her head, ribbons bouncing back and forth, her brows furrowed, "--everything comes from somewhere. I can't find a beginning to them and it bothers me. It's impossible that they just showed up one day without rhyme or reason."

The girl leaned back in her chair, becoming increasingly more thoughtful about this, "Even the sailor senshi started somewhere, although the books seem to disagree on how long they've been around. And they all started out as normal girls--well, here on Earth, anyways. If the rumors are true, just how many people are unaware about--ah, pardon the expression-- what fate has in store for them? Why doesn't anyone do something about it...?"

She lapsed into another silence before opening one of her notebooks, flipping to one of the dog-eared pages. The girl had, after extensive research, put together a list of sorts detailing the different things the senshi and their enemies had been looking for throughout the years. "As for my theory..." she murmured, running her finger down the list, "I think they're looking for something. I don't really have anything to back it up, but--things like this happen for a reason, I think. Although I wonder why now?"

"I guess I just want answers." she admitted after a slight pause, laughing a little before she squeaked audibly and blushed heartily. "A-ah! K-Koekami-san, I'm so sorry! I did not mean to ramble my head off so much!" she said as she hurriedly flipped her notebook shut again. "I-it's just--and I know my teacher isn't expecting this much information--it's absolutely fascinating. Even the darker parts of it--and the mysteries, the parts that aren't adding up, it makes me want to learn even more--"

Now I'm sounding like a total nerd...

_{"I guess that's just weird though..."} she murmured, trailing off. Now she felt like even more of an idiot for rambling her head off--although a small part of her felt proud anyways. She never usually talked for such a length...

[Koekami Bao-yu]

When Kyoutei mentioned about there not being a beginning to the black suited senshi, Bao-Yu’s internal mind could only quietly empathize with the girl’s opinion. Where had this new power come from? And despite the limitless possibilities, why was she one to harness such abilities? What were the deciding factors?

The lost look on her own face seemed to come through accidentally during this thought process as she continued to listen. When Kyoutei had finished, the college girl perked up a gentle smile and ran her finger down the stack of books she had compiled. “This is a good starting point. These are the best ones out of the bunch. I don’t know your time line, but if you need this information streamlined, these are the ones to start with.”

A tiny sigh escaped her as she looked over to some students who were flipping through newspapers that the library provided.

What am I looking for… and why? What am I to ultimately gain from this new identity? My freedom? My passions? My truest desires?

Turning her attention back to the girl, she nodded in approval, “I don’t think motivation can be determined until they make themselves more visible to the public eye. Habitual actions will often lead to the direction we seek. But as they say, we learn more about the future by studying the past. Hone in on the key element that binds them all, and you’ll probably find the reason.”

She finally stood up and adjusted some of the long raven locks off her shoulder before giving a confident smile to the girl, “…At least, that’s the conclusion that I’ve come to.”

Reaching her fingers into a small purse that she carried with her, Bao-Yu pulled a small lavender business card and handed it to the young sleuth, “Since we seem to be researching partners-in-crime, here’s my information. Give me a call if you ever need to ask me something. We might be able to learn a lot from each other. Otherwise, good luck on the report. I’m sure you’ll blow your professor away.”

She waited for Kyoutei to take the card before she headed on her way to other errands.

[Aijouno Kyoutei]

The lost look on Bao-Yu's face hadn't escaped the young brunette, although it was so fleeting the girl wasn't quite sure if it had been there. Still, she tucked that into the back of her mind--maybe she could ask about it sometime...

"Oh, this will be really helpful! Thank you..." Kyoutei told the college girl sincerely, gathering the books Bao-Yu had sorted and pushing some others off to the side. When the subject changed to their motivation, Kyoutei pondered over this. It was true that nothing could be certain yet. The most worrisome part to her was whether these new senshi were friend or foe--everything was still up in the air. Like Bao-Yu, she wondered why she had been chosen for this duty, and what greater power had decided this was what she needed.

Binding them all? she thought, then smacked herself mentally. Of course! There has to be some kind of connection between them all. But what...? She didn't know. And despite all the text, nothing would give her an answer. "Your conclusion sounds like it's on the right track." she told Bao-Yu with a small nod, meeting the woman's smile with a small smile of her own. She blinked when a business card was offered--had she been talking with someone famous the whole time...?--but accepted it before she could panic and make herself look like an idiot again. "A-ah, thank you so much, Koekami-san! I'll be sure to contact you if I need any information. T-thank you again!" she offered the woman another small nod, and when Bao-Yu left to run other errands, Kyoutei turned back to her research.

And when she finally left the library sometime later, the last of her research done, she realized she had even more questions than she had answers to.

_{- End -}