Lavo Standard (24) (12-7-09)

On Sunday, a week after the arrest of Crystal--which suspended the business of NORA--after Suzan’s writing for finding Daryl was finally published, her family was in Ueno Zoological Gardens. The weather was fine and even just walking through the crisp air made every member feel comfortable. Inside the zoo, the family enjoyed seeing a variety of birds and animals like a red panda, tigers, gorillas, monkeys, a polar bear and elephants, looking at souvenirs with stuffed animals and accessories, and having lunch.

The Shinobazu Pond, with lotus leaves afloat on its surface, was under the blue sky. After the family left the most crowded areas, the silence around the pond seemed to be enhanced by the panorama of the downtown buildings standing outside the zoo. The family was walking along the rim of the pond on their way back home.

“Did you like it?” Suzan generally asked Katz, Juno and Daryl.

“I did a lot, wanna come again!,” Juno precluded responses from her siblings.

It was all good for Suzan to ascertain that neither Juno nor Daryl dragged any noticeable trauma after they were terrified by animals in the hands of Crystal.

“That sounds good. Let’s have another visit when our schedules can afford it,” said Suzan.

“How about you, Suzan? Did you have a fun time?” from one side of Suzan, Mathew asked.

“Ah, I actually did,” Suzan turned a smile to her husband.

“And, Lois and Mel?,” Mathew, followingly, turned to Lois and Mel walking after the couple.

“How amazing those animals looked,” Lois said, while Mel, walking on one side of him, nodded.

Meanwhile, Libro, with Akichalo and Takeko, was staying in Suzan’s house. Mischievous enough, these three had entered Lois’ room, even though it seemed to be tacitly prohibited to do so, and were viewing his paintings. Amongst all, there were ones of Libro himself, the griffin and the bear-/gorilla-like creature.

“(I think I look better than this),” Libro was frowning at a painting of him.

“You are overestimating yourself, aren’t you?” said Akichalo from by Libro, who immediately ran away onto the outside of the room. Libro, ticked off, and Takeko went after him.

Afterall, Libro was accepted by Suzan.

First, due to the appearance similar to the infamous one of the H1N1 virus, Libro stirred up public concerns after he was broadcast and put under the spotlight in connection with Suzan’s ploy.

Although Suzan initially suspected that he would provide adverse effects to people around, judging from his attitude and deeds, the core behind which eventually contributed to bailing out Daryl, she concluded that he was kind and friendly over a health threat he had been posing, feeling obliged to secure his life to welcome to her house. After the arrest of Crystal, Suzan explained to the public via the media that Libro was harmless and her important family member and turned down requests from scientists who wanted to conduct research on him. As a result, Libro was doing well in the Suzan family.

Meanwhile, although Crystal was arrested in Residence C, Suzan was longing to see her again after she was released.

Back then at the moment of the arrest, from the brightness of a UFO afloat high in the night sky, a green human-shaped alien, a different form of the bioscientist, was witnessing the carry of Crystal to a police headquarters.

“I just wanted to give her a bit of help, though,” said Tim.

***

As Christmas was approaching, students of NORA, both men and women, and both adults and kids, after it resumed its business operation, were taking classes while waiting for special ones for the celebratory day and its eve.

Keyron, meanwhile, had begun working at a nursing home as a caregiver.

The death of Jade, or the loss of his partner, was a shocking determinant, having had him give up pursuing a steady position in the comedy field. Although his attachment to comedy remained alive, instead of just putting up with reliving memories with her during each of his street performances, he chose to find a job into which he could hopefully parlay his comedy skills.

Thanks to the custom of gathering information to write stories, he had known that the demand for caregivers was high as it was not impossible for him to get the license and find a working place within months, even considering factors about his age.

This morning again, Keyron would induce laughter amongst a group of the elderly in the nursing home.

During the meeting early in the morning, however, there was the introduction of a newly-employed female clerk.

“Jade!?,” Keyron was astounded into tears.

“I kinda like a weird kind of Christmas gift,” said Tim in the sky.

On the exact day of Christmas, through the windows of the house, it seemed that Suzan’s family was having a party.

“It’s weird,” said Tim.


END

Lavo Standard (23) (11-26-09)

Of course Juno cared about Suzan, but she was ordered by her to prioritize rescuing Daryl. And, until then it seemed to Juno that her mother had cleared every difficulty whenever she promised success.

“I should free Daryl,” resolved Juno.

Having made a visit with Ric, Libro yet knew enough about the layout of the apartment to pilot Juno straight to Daryl. On the left side of the corridor off from Suzan and Crystal, luckily, the door which would admit a visitor into the dim zoo-like room was unlocked.

“(Here),” Libro and Juno entered the room.

The interior of the room was breathtaking: what immediately enticed Juno was a variety of animals which were kept inside compartments embedded in the walls on both sides of her view.

“(Come on),” sensing that Juno’s attention was distracted by the appeal of the animals away from the task she was dealing with, Libro forcibly pulled her into the right direction to the smaller room at the left innermost corner.

“Libro,” on his way to the compartment, Libro caught a voice he was familiar with.

“(Ric!)” as Libro turned to where the voice came from, Ric in a hawk state was lying prone on the floor. His left wing anomalously veered off the supposed position from the middle, and this condition, for Libro, was pathetic enough to vindicate his honesty and dedication.

Freeing Daryl was the priority by all accounts, including Ric’s, though.

“The door is locked and Tim has the key,” Ric wrung.

“You have to get the key first.”

Indeed, although Juno reached and tried to turn the knob of the dark-brown wooden door, each attempt fell short of opening it. “Oh,” the blockage gave Juno nothing but a bit of panic attack.

“It’s weird,” to add to the shocking news, Tim’s canter had yet settled down to be a slow confident walk as he was getting within reach of capturing Juno.

Meanwhile, Suzan was yet looking subjugated by Crystal. Crystal’s left hand kept pressing the back of Suzan’s left hand forward; Crystal’s right hand kept pressing the backside of Suzan’s elbow onto the floor. Suzan could do nothing but shamefully smell the floor’s carpet. In searching for a helpful tool, she looked around desperately from the floor level, but the plain rectangular room seemed to have only a round glass table with its thin black stand and a pair of two black wooden chairs around the table, all of them looked as if they were deriding her.

According to cumulative agony on both the wrist and the elbow, Suzan’s willpower was dwindling to allow the red slime to retrieve the supremacy over her body. Witnessing the state of her right arm revert to the human’s from the bear’s, she believed that she was fighting two enemies.

“It’s annoying!,” Suzan, while still holding the control of her body, snapped and let the red slime go, generating an intense flash.

“Augh!” exposed to the flash Crystal inadvertently parted with Suzan’s left arm, allowed her to stand up, kick away the red slime and get braced with both arms before her body; Suzan tested the function of each joint on her left arm. In response, Crystal also hastily stood up and got on guard with her hands set open and forward at waist level and said, “I’m sure you know some karate,” to the nudity of Suzan.

Juno, meanwhile, could look as if she was waiting for capture by Tim.

“Libro...,” however, Ric was speaking.

“...come to me.”

“This naughty girl,” Tim attempted to catch Juno by letting his arms fall, but Juno eluded them passing the right side of Tim.

Libro, then, dissociated himself from Juno to turn her into a naked human girl, approached and melded into Ric to get a new human state.

“!!!”

The sudden emergence of Ric who had terrified and even possibly traumatized Juno astonished her into a ball, a shock which also muzzled her.

“Don’t worry, Juno. This is not that Ric who scared you,” Ric said, according to the will of Libro.

“Libro, you may better not to expect her to understand since she saw the tragedy. Instead, we’d better focus on helping Daryl,” Ric was talking to himself while jumping at Tim who was also being taken aback by the presence of Ric.

“Crystal!” startled, Tim yelled.

But Ric unforgivingly made a full turn in the air and swung his right heel at the right side of Tim’s head and successfully knocked him down.

“These,” having made sure that Tim lost his consciousness, through rummaging around Tim’s body, Ric obtained a set of seven keys and a cell phone. After some trial and error of him to find the right key, at the fourth attempt the door finally answered by opening and showing the four cats including Daryl. “Sorry,” as soon as Ric entered the room, he slugged one of the cats and let a red slime come out.

For Juno, who was fearfully seeing what was going on inside the smaller room, staying away after Ric turned up, the thing hard to comprehend was a gap found in his behavior: he had been probably going to mistreat her and indeed victimized those people, but now he was engaging in freeing Daryl.

Irrelevant to her confusion, yet, the awaited outcome came true: A naked boy was present in the corner room, as were three other kids following him, who was staring at Juno.

“Daryl!,” Juno rushed to Daryl and hugged him. He replied in the same way.

Tim’s voice reached Crystal, to whose eye Suzan’s eyes were filled with umbrage. If her anger is an indicator of affection toward Daryl as well as hatred to me, mine toward him excels hers, thought Crystal whose stare was icy at Suzan. During the face-off moving into a more heated phase, Crystal hated to leave, yet Tim’s signal partook of a sense of emergency so Crystal needed to check the situation. Tutting, Crystal turned her back to Suzan.

Even though the situation was urgent, staying naked was embarrassing in the presence of an adult man, Tim. Suzan wildly snatched a large cream curtain which had been hanging before the pane, got herself swaddled in it and cantered after Crystal.

Having entered the room whose ceiling lights were unlit, which had showcases with animals on both sides from an angle at the entrance, ahead of Crystal who was quietly trying to swallow the scene about the innermost, Suzan found him there: Daryl and Juno were together yet outside the detention room.

“Daryl!,” flooded with ineffable pleasure, Suzan dashed past Crystal whose movements were paralyzed by the scene with Tim sprawling out on the floor, joined the children of hers and shared the curtain, covering all of their bodies.

“Mom!” Daryl and Juno replied in harmony.

Suzan did not make any verbal response for a while, since her warm embrace was the irreplaceable, optimum expression.

Daryl was showing a smile to Suzan, something he never did to Crystal.

“Daryl,” leaving a feeble-sounding word, Crystal made a step toward the family. To her surprise, yet, a feathered man who had been forsaken by her came out of the room and raised a cell phone to her.

“Ric! Why!?”

“Mom, I’ve videoed every scene around here and…”

“...forwarded them to the police and media companies,” Ric said as he completed the transmission, ostentatiously showing the process to Crystal.

“I’m not supposed to be called mom by you!,” exasperated, Crystal went to Ric, slapped his left cheek into the hawk and Libro, turned to Suzan and said, “I must kill you.” While proceeding to Suzan, Crystal was dissolving into something looking like a human-shaped jellyfish.

Concurrently, those four red slimes came out of the room and were yet rubbing the floor toward Crystal.

“!” Crystal was inadvertently shocked by these slimes.

Not to miss out on the chance, Suzan began charging at Crystal.

She is gonna punch me, Crystal, seeing Suzan coming out of the corner of her eye, speculated.

“Crystal!,” however, eluding such her assumption, Suzan jumped high, horizontally turned around counterclockwise--when a higher viewpoint was taken--in the air and swung her left heel at Crystal’s face to eject a clear slime out of the body. After the separation, the remainder was a lean lady incapable of moving on her own, with her crippled limbs.

“Darryl,” hardly enunciating, Crystal was looking at Daryl.

“Darryl,” she repeated.

In the face of such a pathetic state of Crystal, understanding her affection toward Daryl and the cause of it even partly and abstractly, savoring the aftertaste of the very recent mutual hostility, Suzan could not find a word but a sigh.

“Daryl, Juno, come on,” having channeled her frustration into kicking away the red slimes and brought her children in the curtain, Suzan, yet, allowed Crystal in too.

“Crystal, it’s sad to say that what you’ve done were crimes indisputably,” while holding her body with her arms, Suzan said.

“You should come back to our society when your apology is truly warranted.”

“Libro,” Libro was called over by Juno and also allowed in the party.

“You are our family member as well,” Juno said while holding Libro.

A minute later, he jumped at and melded into Crystal, and gave her the normal state of a human again.

“Please excuse me for everything I’ve committed,” showing tears, Crystal said and embraced Suzan back.

Meanwhile, a short distance from the party, those four red slimes cohered together, became a large red hydra-like creature, and were nearing them, having absorbed Tim in the middle of its way.

But as Crystal noticed the ugly creature, stood up and said, “It’s over,” it stopped and vanished into the air.

Shortly later, the police and the media personnel arrived at the site.

Lavo Standard (22) (11-12-09)

Via the contact with the red slime, Suzan yet substantially gathered how much and why Crystal missed kids, and that this personal longing led to kidnapping Daryl and confining him to the state of cat. Even though there may be part that deserved sympathy, to the perpetrator a punishment would soon be administered.

Leaving Juno in a rabbit state on the floor, Suzan, without making a word, stepped forward and slapped Crystal’s left cheek.

“Take Daryl here,” ordered Suzan with an unwavering conviction that she was his authentic mother.

But Crystal, whose head was turned right by the impact, kept looking into Suzan’s eyes, quietly; Crystal’s corneas were reflecting the body of Suzan.

“Did you prefer it by this?,” Suzan turned just her right arm and hand into those of the bear and flexed them.

In spite of the physical reproach, Crystal retained her cool enough to allow her to recollect some old memories and said, “Even my mother didn’t slap me on the face when I got mad.” Crystal scoffed at her own embarrassment.

Crystal, much younger than now, was with her mother in a large park during the daytime. In the wide grassy field which was encircled by trees and mild hills, people were spending time in different fashions: those were having lunch on spread plastic sheets; kids were playing around, some with a soccer ball, one with a kite; and dogs were running.

At once, a soccer ball which strayed from a clump of kids reached Crystal in a wheelchair. Although she wanted to catch the ball and throw it back to the kids, the action was something impossible for her. Instead, her mother who was pushing the wheelchair grabbed the ball and tossed it to the kids. “Thank you,” a boy who received the ball said in large volume to the mother and resumed playing. While the mother was smiling and waving to the kid, Crystal was looking at her own visually and functionally crippled arms and hands.

A while later on the event, still within the park on the way home, Crystal finally confided what helplessly developed inside: “I should not, have, been, born.”

“What did you say, Crystal?”

“If, I can’t doo anything normal, as they doo, and, joinn them, is there any, reason too mee, too live?”

Having stopped pushing the wheelchair, moved into front of Crystal, stooped and looked her in the eye, the mother said, “Don’t make such a pessimistic word, Crystal. You have me and friends at the school, don’t you? It’s not an expression I wanna hear again.”

Crystal was sobbing, yet.

“Mom, can you say, that, I will go to a university, have a job, and, get married, to, to have a baby in the future?”

The mother refused to respond.

“Are what I said, not normal things?”

“Can you say, I deserve, life?”

Hardly contained, the sob grew up to be a wail in the arms of the mother.

“Please, kill mee, kill mee, kill mee!”

“Crystal!,” back to the present situation, unaffected by the shouting of Tim standing on the right side of her and caring, Crystal was yet ready to bring into effect her refined hatred against Suzan.

In response, although Suzan intuited from Crystal’s eyes that she would pay her back, she didn’t step back and chose to have her left cheek receive a slap square on.

“Daryl,” with anger held down, regardless of Juno restlessly beholding her mother, Suzan, having begun advancing, was passing Crystal on her left side.

“Wait,” to stop the further intrusion, Crystal’s hands caught Suzan’s left forearm. To appear as if an instinctive reaction, Suzan’s right fist, the bear’s blow, sprang to Crystal’s face, but Crystal escaped the attack with her head pulled backward.

What was unpredictable to Suzan, utilizing the momentum of the punch, Crystal pressed the back of Suzan’s left arm and levered her body onto the floor.

“Confirming your dead body, Daryl must realize who deserves motherhood for him,” Crystal said while trying to stabilize the locking.

“Mom!,” intolerant of just being an observer, Juno mutated into a semi-human state--with her torso covered with rabbit fur, and wings--to help Suzan squeeze her way out of the submission, but Tim interposed himself between them.

Juno, then, heard Suzan shout from behind Tim, “Juno, I’m O.K., go free Daryl!”

“(Juno, we should go),” subsequently Libro chimed in with Suzan’s order and Juno, with a revised sense of responsibility, got determined and rushed to rescue her younger brother.

“Tim! Catch her!” Crystal commanded, and Tim went after Juno.

Lavo Standard (21) (11-4-09)

Suzan, in her eagle state, was seeing the artificial lights of buildings far below. While cutting the cool night air, being concerned about Juno’s whereabouts, Suzan wanted to go back home, but could not intentionally move her body under the control of the red slime. This control was so adamant that her attempts to retrieve the dominance of her body got nowhere.

Not by her will, hearing sounds come from behind itself and looking back, the eagle found something following. “Hah! The initial target has turned up by itself!” As the red slime did, Suzan also identified the object, a rabbit with a pair of avian wings.

“Juno!”

Although the follower was taking on the appearance of a rabbit, Suzan didn’t have a second thought in recognizing it as Juno.

“She must be wanting to help me.”

After being relieved that Juno was no longer near the bear nor the gorilla, Suzan was in tears in mind due to the feeling of thankfulness.

Yet, the one the red slime was paying attention to was not Juno but the other who was being together with her in the same body.

“Kill you, David!”

After stopping its progress and turning around to face the rabbit nearing, the eagle began gliding at it.

As it was just after Juno made a reconciliation with Suzan that the abduction of the latter was underway, all that was driving the daughter to rescue the mother was a matter of affection.

“(It’s just the moment Juno has been reconciled with Suzan.)”

Understanding the feeling of Juno, meanwhile, Libro was also desperate to rescue Suzan. Sharing the same body and field of vision, the pair was managing some good cooperation.

The eagle suddenly stopped its progress and turned around to Juno and Libro.

“Libro, the eagle stopped,” as soon as Juno noticed the change, the eagle began accelerating at her.

“(Get down!)” Libro commanded Juno to dip and let the eagle pass over the head by the skin of the teeth. The red slime is doing this, not mom, Juno was sure. Turning the head to get the location of the attacker, both Libro and Juno spotted it at some higher altitude ready to careen at them.

The secondary drive of the eagle was successful: Its beak hit the back of the target and had it begin falling to the ground.

“Mom!” Juno shouted the moment she was hit. In the split second of unpleasant contact, however, she caught the vivid picture of Suzan crying.

The concussion from the ground made the rabbit split into Juno and Libro in each usual state. Some distance away from them on the grass, a river was warbling under the quiet influence of stars.

“Libro, are you okay?” Juno asked regardless of pain throughout her body.

But Libro, staying put next to Juno, did not reply.

Then, the eagle made a landing with a noisy flap of wings, transmuted into a semi-human state--a woman with a beak, a pair of wings and feathers all over her body--and progressed to Libro, making each frictional sound with grass. Inferring that the eagle-like being would kill Libro from the attitude, Juno hurried over and placed her body on Libro, exposing her back off-guard to the cold-blooded eyes of the monster yet standing by. Despite the presence of Juno, the monster wouldn’t divest its determination to kill Libro. Juno knew that the foe would do so, but would not leave him.

Nothing happened to Juno, however: Keeping her eyes closed Juno was braced to receive a death attack, but seconds passed quietly since then. To confirm what was up, Juno carefully opened her eyes and looked up. As the posture of the bird woman had signaled her, it certainly began dropping its beak but was freezing at the incipient point.

“Don’t…,” at once, the monster opened its beak.

“Don’t touch my daughter!” shouting, the monster was forced back into a human being, Suzan, except for the wings on her back.

While retrieving the control of her body by strong willpower, Suzan didn’t have to hold back the production of tears. And she just wanted to embrace her daughter with her arms and wings.

“Mom,” it was the second time for Juno to feel the warmth of Suzan, cheek and jowl, in the same day.

“Juno, you’ve come to help me?”

“Mom, you first came to my room to save me,” in turn, Juno was full of tears.

Suzan was yet presiding over even the red slime inside, and with her own will she got her torso covered with the bear’s fur as a layer of clothing. Shortly later, she was flying toward Roppongi Hills to rescue Daryl, holding Juno in the rabbit state after Libro came around and melded in her again.

Suzan elicited some information, scenes from the red slime. In one set of pictures, a woman who looked around 40 was affectionately taking care of animals, dogs, cats, birds, snakes and more. In another set, the woman was solely staring at kids engaging in a sports program at a school which was likely a kindergarten across a fence. And there was the third set of pictures in that a male bioscientist or something, who looked around 30, was growing a red slime in a cylindrical clear case in a laboratory, and on a separate occasion was testing the completion of the slime by letting it meld in a dog and turn into a semi-human.

Yet at Roppongi Hills, piloted by Juno Suzan flew through a paneless window and landed on the 40th floor of Residence C.

“Hey,” Tim, the bioscientist, was taken aback by the sudden, unexpected presence of Suzan, but could afford to greet her.

Following the arrival, having heard the sounds of Suzan’s wings and Tim’s voice, Crystal was yet behind Tim, showing herself to Suzan.

“Hi, president,” Susan said, failing to keep wrath from leaking on her face.

Lavo Standard (20) (10-27-09)

Suzan was relieved after receiving a call from a man named Keyron, who was with Juno: Suzan had been long awaiting Juno’s return, but her increased worry was assuaged as she was told over the phone that there was a tragic happening at the Ryogoku station involving Juno, who was somehow there then and for whatever reason unable to go back home immediately, but who would arrive at home soon.

As she hung up the home phone and informed other family members, who were missing Juno uneasily, of what Keyron said, they were relieved as well. Fortunately, Juno could call her family with Keyron’s phone because she remembered her home phone number thanks to its fewer digits than that of a cellular phone. Although home phones seemed to have become less and less popular due to their limited functions, thus they might still have some merit.

Suzan did not call off getting dinner and all present family members inside the house could have delayed one together, feeling certain of Juno’s safety, fidgeting.

After having dinner, Suzan, Mathew, Lois and Mel were watching TV, having remained in the living room while Katz retreated to his room to continue to play his favorite monster-hunting video game. On the news, footage taken by someone’s cellular phone was showing a bird-like monster while a vandalized train car and the carcasses of a lion and a red slime, which were components of the monster, were also introduced, and were clearer information than what Keyron tried to communicate over the phone. It gave Suzan another relief that Juno was not among the dead victims referred on the program.

There was yet room for Suzan to be retrospective: She wondered if she couldn’t have explained about tapping the media to Juno before she commenced the way; had Suzan done so, Juno might not have been at the Ryogoku station if the argument was the reason for her trip. Unable to deny her involvement, Susan decided not to scold Juno.

The doorbell chimed through the house and Suzan, followed by other family members, rushed to the entrance. As they opened the door, Juno was there to leak, “I’m back.” The phrase was immediately extinguished by Suzan’s chest as Juno was taken into her arms.

“Juno, could you just let me apologize for what I have done regarding Libro?”

“Mom, I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

“Juno, you haven’t had dinner, have you? Wait for a second in the living room.”

“Let both me and Mel be in the living room too, Juno,” said Lois, who put his hunting cap on his head after seeing the griffin on TV.

“How could you leave me alone?” Katz followed.

“Bow-wow, bow-wow!” if Akichalo followed. [?if?]

“Bowoon, bow-wow!” if Takeko was singing to celebrate Juno’s safe return. [?if?]

Both physically and mentally tired, Juno wanted to lie down on the bed in her room until feeling like taking a shower. To recollect, there were inconceivable revelations during the day: Ric was not a human; he probably would conduct some form of abuse to Juno; instead of Juno, he destroyed the train car with its passengers.

These seemed to be almost unbearably stark to the girl in the 4th grade at an elementary school if there was no backing.

However, while Juno would speculatively be abducted by Ric and was in the deadrock at the station following the vandalism, she was protected by the lady with Libro and helped by Keyron come back home. Furthermore, to betray Juno’s anticipation of being scolded, Suzan and the family warmly welcomed her. In response, the feeling of thanks to these supporters made Juno sentimental; again she could not keep tears from welling in her eyes.

Knocks on the panes of her room drew Juno back to reality from the retrospective contemplation. As Juno opened the curtains, she found a nude lady with rabbit ears there on the other side. Despite this suddenness, the smile of the lady was partaking of something Juno knew and let her slide the window open. Entering the room, covered with accompanying strings of somewhat nippy air, the lady showed her avian wings more clearly and openly. Then, she flashed and split into the green slime and a rabbit. “Libro!,” Juno embraced him.

Through the sole door of the room, the two Cavaliers came in and were amiably barking at Libro with each tail wagging from side to side. Juno was feeling pleased in the situation which she once abandoned meeting again: her, the slime, and the Cavaliers all together in her room. In front of her, the slime was looking pleased as well, showing a cute smile.

Juno, having been concerned about his whereabouts through the incident in Ryogoku, asked him, “What has been up to you?”

Libro once stopped all his movements, seemingly seeking a way to explain to Juno. A second later, he seemed to come up with a way which was likely what he took into effect: He melded into her hands, generating an intense flash, making Juno’s body smaller and smaller until eventually turning into a rabbit.

Juno was a rabbit. In front of her, both Akichalo and Takeko were panting, facing Juno at almost the same eye level.

“Juno, you came into our world!” Akichalo appreciated Juno’s transformation.

“Akichalo, I can understand what you are saying!” Juno responded, though she had practiced a lot of vocabulary while conversing with animals.

“Welcome to our world!” Takeko followed.

As these three animals were nuzzling each other, celebrating their equal communication, yet, Libro admonished Juno not to derail from the mainstream, saying, “(Juno, you must learn what I have witnessed.)”

Juno regained her composure, braced herself to heed to Libro’s messages.

As though series of pictures kept rolling, being projected by a shaft of light, Juno was seeing scenes that Libro was involved in from scratch: He with Akichalo went to the school; he met Keyron and Jade; he with Jade protected Juno from being mistreated; and he with Ric flew to Roppongi Hills aiming to free Daryl.

“Is Daryl in Roppongi Hills!?,” Juno was prompted to think that she must tell Suzan these facts.

All at once, a crash was heard from around the entrance of the house and loud crescendo stomping sounds indicated that someone was coming up to Juno’s room, who Juno was sure was not any of her family members. Having a premonition, all four animals inside the room stowed themselves beneath the bed.

The door was wildly opened with a crash, and there was a bear-like monster yet standing inside the room. Although the scale of trepidation which Juno, Akichalo, Takeko and Motoko (the rabbit) were each having was as large as the bear-like, they could find only the face and “the arms” of it identical to those of the gorilla and do it looking for something.

“Juno!” Suzan screamed as she desperately entered the room after the bear-like creature and as her gaze met that of the monster which turned around.

The large dark monster corrected its posture to face Suzan squarely and stretched the back as if it was appealing a crescent white symbol on the chest. Causing a noise, its right hook hit just a few strands of Suzan’s hair as she immediately lowered her head.

“Mom!” From behind Suzan, Katz swung a wooden baseball bat at the head of the monster; the core of the weapon successfully hit the monster’s face dead on, as it had dropped its guard after attacking Suzan.

Suzan found both Lois armed with the sword of a painting brush and the shield of a palette going to drive any attack from behind Katz and Mel praying for such Lois.

Made dejected by Lois’ poor weaponry, Suzan decided to pull through the situation by herself: She deeply inhaled while clenching her right hand into a fist and pulling back it at waist level. As the energy seemed charged to the maximum point, she discharged it.

“Hah!”

As Suzan thrust her fist into the stomach of the monster, it collapsed and split into a bear, a gorilla, and a red slime.

Mathew, coming up to the ruckus belatedly, found these three unusual beings and shouted, “Is this true, Suzan!? Run away!!,” impeling the family to retreat downstairs, but Suzan. “Juno! Where are you!?”

Juno was seeing Suzan looking for her, calling her name, and wanted to appear before her, but could not revert to a human just by her own will.

A shocking scene, then, interrupted Juno’s asking Libro to do so:

The red slime jumped onto the back of Suzan’s neck, melded into her, and turned the host into an eagle. The eagle flew away, having shattered the pane.

Juno was urged to chase the eagle, as was Libro. Bird wings sprouted up from her back and she began following the eagle.

Lavo Standard (19) (10-14-09)

Looking up the definitions of “peace” in the Oxford Dictionary, the first entry is, “a situation or a period of time in which there is no war or violence in a country or an area.” However, when someone is asked, “What is peace?,” he or she might indicate a place wherein many people smile. Surely, a smile is likely a symbol of peace.

Today, a reduced total of people seems to smile after the economic turmoil spread throughout the globe last year. Therefore, more people must be skeptical over whether the world is peaceful.

But certainly, there are those, professional or not, combating fewer smiles: comedians.

Regular people who are not professional comedians at times demonstrate the essence of comedy: They sometimes distort facts or notions in an attempt to put some inconvenient fact out of their mind or find hope in man-made stories.

There are easy ways to meet this end, among which there is exaggeration. For instance, when a man has lost 100 dollars, his sadness could be eased by a comment: “You lost one million dollars? Really?” Meanwhile, showing eccentric physical movements can also draw attention, as professional performers do, some of which can be of use for ordinary people as well.

As comedians also concoct fictitious stories, regular people can do their own, a world into which another person is invited. As they see characters in a story either striving in a difficult situation or being pleased in an ensuing happy one--the nature of each situation can be related to that of a viewer--they may empathize with them and be encouraged.

Some of these people may aim to get off the ground as a professional comedian, to see smiles radiate across the faces of the audience or earn a living. Or, both.

For them, fortunately, despite the stiff competition to achieve the goal--which accompanies high income--school fees are relatively cheap.

For instance, one of the most popular schools for comedians asks each student to graduate through a one-year course of curricula for 400 thousand yen, roughly 4 thousand dollars, to allow many of them to give it a shot. (Although it is said that the average income of unpopular comedians is a modicum even if they are professional.)

Once one has procured a steady, desirable position, however, they are to be helped by broadcasts and publications to efficiently produce each multitude of smiles. They, moreover, can become successful more rapidly since their agents ask them to play multiple roles as a TV personality, an actor/actress, a singer, a model, a narrator and/or a writer, once they are considered to have begun catching on. (Due to this convention, music companies and publishers benefit more, taking advantage of up-coming comedians.) As a result, there formed an environment in which more people are motivated to pursue such a dream, mindful of previous successful cases.

Meanwhile, when regular people make use of humor, there is the same danger which is posed to professional comedians.

First, an attempt could accidentally get on the nerves of people with a certain sore point while amusing others, so it should be made carefully each time.

Second, there are situations in which unusual behavior could be regarded as inappropriate: Both remarking a joke and making strange physical movements are sometimes effective methods for running communication between people smoothly, though, people should choose both the right time and the right place.

Third, manipulating facts could end up confusing and offending people when the degree of the contortion is not far enough, or when a joke/physical expression is made too explicitly, specifying a group of people, on whose feature it capitalizes on.

Even in the professional field, as for which it goes without saying how difficult winning competitions and being registered as a pro are, due to these risks, it’s said that broadcasters enforce stringent censorship on comedians and this inconvenience lets them engage in other kinds of jobs. Therefore, ironically, successful comedians can function only as a comedian with heavier fetters, while needing to be knowledgeable, observant, and judicious. [I fail to understand why this is “ironic”]

After all, despite all these risks, people with personal problems, whether they are professional, often make jokes or strange physical movements to encourage someone else, feeding the blooming of more and more smiles. Although there is a clear distinction between a smile and laughter, such a panoramic view with flowers should be a common phenomenon everyone in every nation hopes to see.

Some distance away from the panic around the damaged train car, both Keyron and Juno were crying almost side by side as they were sitting on the same set of seats on the platform. Both station announcements and the mixed sirens of fire engines and ambulances were going around ceaselessly. The flames of the car looked almost extinguished, with the remainders flickering, though, paramedics were yelling while treating victims--Juno had witnessed that several passengers had been directly engulfed.

The scene, in which a few kids about the same age as Juno were also burning, was so shocking that she could not stop shuddering and kept crying. Regardless of the argument, she wanted to jump into Suzan’s bosom as soon as possible, but the train did not look as though it would resume its operation anytime soon. Although Juno thought that she had better connect buses to go back home, she, with her legs shaking, couldn’t get on foot. “Mom,” the word was often inserted in her sobbing.

Sitting on a secondary seat from Juno, Keyron kept stroking the back of dead Jade on his lap.

He could not believe unearthly incidents that had happened to him: the lady in favor of him turned out to be his cat; she was attacked by a bird monster to death. The only thing wished to be granted to him was a chance to perform a comedy with the cat sitting by, again.

As Keyron turned right, however, the girl whom Jade was tailing was crying as well. She must be wanting to go home, he speculated and was urged to brave himself.

“Hey, why are you crying? Because you watched the havoc? Oh, I understand the incident must have saddened you,” Keyron came in front of Juno and said. Juno looked up to him and opened her mouth.

“You were crying too. Your cat was killed by Ric, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, she was. But my cat, Jade, would not want to leave you drowning in the sea of sadness if she was alive,” Keyron said and picked an artificial moustache out of his trousers’ pocket. Then he bowed down to Juno deeply, put the piece on top of the bald head, and said, “My hair is receding,” making Juno frozen. Keyron felt that it was successful, stopping her trepidation even for a moment. Immediately, he picked out a marker and began drawing eyes and a mouth around the attached moustache.

“Hi, I’m Durian, the same name as the notorious fruit with rank smells,” said the drawn face.

In response, Keyron stood bolt upright and said, “Hey, Durian, you are again stinky, aren’t you? What havoc do you always wreak on my nose?”

Again Keyron bowed down and Durian said, “By the way Keyron, don’t you think that the family of this girl is waiting for her? Why don’t you help her go to a bus stop?”

“That’s right, Durian!,” with the momentum of straightening his back, Keyron broke wind with a loud pop.

“Keyron, you are stinky as well, aren’t you!?,” Durian was annoyed--although Juno was no longer crying.

After calling Suzan and assuring her of Juno’s safety by his cellular phone, both Keyron and Juno arrived at the Ichikawa station by connecting buses. Keyron was seeing Juno off as she was boarding the bus which would take her to near her house.

“Thank you both so much, Keyron and Durian,” Juno said with a smile.

“Take care, Juno,” Keyron said.

“See you again, Juno,” Durian followed.

Making another smile, Juno disappeared onto the crowded bus which, then, left the place.

The job gets accomplished, Keyron thought and made an almost unrecognizable smile. Sitting on his arms, the cat must have been feeling satisfied too.

Over the carcass, yet, tears of its owner were given life, again.

“You must have known that I shaved my hair to perform this stupid thing.”

“We did well, Jade. Let’s go back to our home.”

Lavo Standard (18) (10-9-09)

Mori Garden was located eastward off Mori Tower, closely north-west of the TV Asahi building. The garden’s lush greenery can help its visitors forget about their usual hectic lives and relax.

Tonight, the air was cool and the full moon was fully bright in the clear sky. There was a couple dating together in the bower. They were chatting with each other.

“For this night, the sky is so clear that I can see stars. Can you see them as well, Juliet?” the man asked.

“I can, Romeo. There are many stars.” Juliet replied with a smile and glints in her eyes.

“Do you know a tale about a shooting star? It’s said if you successfully have reiterated your wish to the star three times while it’s visible, the wish will be granted,” said Romeo.

“I know that tale, Romeo,” answered Juliet.

“Look, Romeo! That is! That is a shooting star!” Juliet pointed a finger at what she found in the sky.

“Yes, that is the one, Juliet!” said Romeo, who closed his fingers and began saying with overly large volume.

“Please Juliet’s father’ll allow us to get married, please Juliet’s father’ll allow us to get married, please Juliet’s father..., wow!” as Romeo was about to finish the third time, the shooting star approached and knocked him down. But what the couple found was not a shooting star: The fallen object was the green slime.

“(Hi),” Libro said as he smiled to Juliet.

“Eek!!! What is this strange thing!!? Papa, help me!!!” Juliet screamed and ran away. Then, Ric came down from the sky as well.

“Ha-ha-ha, it was a perfect bombing, wasn’t it?” laughed Ric.

“(You eventually freed me in the sky! You are definitely a villain!)” Libro snapped at Ric.

“Don’t get upset, David. Thanks to your contribution, now we have clothes to wear,” Ric looked at Romeo who had passed out.

“(What do you mean?)” asked Libro.

***

Both Crystal and Tim, meanwhile, were in her room, which had a built-in kitchen. She was on the sofa while he was getting some quick meal for her.

She needed to employ no one else to work most closely to her, as Tim, without asking extra rewards, already dealt with a great variety of things around her, from organizing work schedules to even those mostly suited for housewives like cooking. Therefore, to throw in a way of classifying this type of man, which was currently popular in Japan, he was likely regarded as the herbivorous type with less greed and a smaller muscular volume than the opposite carnivorous type. Plus, Tim, being suave, being backed by his affluence in both logicality and terms of knowledge, functioned as a reliable adviser to her.

“Tim, you know I like Daryl the most among them. How soon can I see him loving me?” said Crystal as she bit her nail and looked as if she was envisaging the moment she wanted to happen.

“You should be patient, Crystal. Things are going on track. Daryl, under the suppression by the red slime, will soon forget about his family while you keep behaving with that affection toward him. I bet Daryl’ll soon begin growing up as your child along with other three,” said Tim over the counter.

Tim finished cooking, and placed a dish next to a coffee cup on the round table before her. The dish had a sandwich cut into halves, filled with scrambled eggs, slices of both ham and cheese, and ripped leaves of lettuce inside. And Crystal took it.

“Do you mean his mother, Suzan?” Crystal was going to bite into the sandwich when came a ring from the video doorbell fixed on the wall near the room’s sole doorway, notifying her of someone’s visiting. As Tim took the receiver, he saw on the screen that the visitor was Ric. He was in a navy blue suit and a wine-red tie.

“Good evening,” Ric said through the microphone.

“I know this is a way inadequate time to come, but..., could I meet Crystal? I have something personal and impending, couldn’t help visiting here tonight.”

“Good evening, Ric. What do you mean?” asked Tim.

“Tim, could you tell her that I want to take days off, feeling sick? I am seriously sensing something wrong inside my body.”

Tim accurately told Crystal what Ric said. As Ric sometimes saw Crystal and he definitely most contributed to bringing Daryl here, having researched the kid and his family through working in NORA, she didn’t mind spending minutes for Ric since those words via Tim sounded serious to her.

“Let him in,” approved Crystal.

On the way up to Crystal’s accommodation, Ric said to Libro, “David, excuse me, Libro, I’ll probably remark something shocking to you. But I want you to take it to be necessary to free Daryl.”

In the living-cum-dining room on the 40th floor of the 43-story building, Ric was sitting on one of the two identical swivel chairs. Crystal was next to him, doing on the other one. The coffee cup with a saucer had been brought on the counter and before her. Tim, in the kitchen, placed another set on the counter for Ric, to be late. The sandwich still remained intact on the table before the sofa. Despite the presence of Tim, the situation for talking about some private issue to Crystal seemed to be organized enough for Ric. In a very close distance, fragrance which was being emanated from Crystal was enchanting Ric. Folding her legs, she looked to be wearing a slight warm smile to him. Libro, inside the body of Ric, learned by sensing an encouraged heartbeat that Ric liked the woman.

Although Libro had not fully believed in the hawk, eventually compromised to help it become a human since he could not come up with any other way but to follow its instructions when he was contemplating what to do henceforth.

“Did you say you are feeling sick?” asked Crystal.

“As a matter of fact, I did, Crystal. I wonder if I could take some days off as I told Tim through the microphone.” Tim, in the kitchen, was listening to the conversation.

“Crystal...,” Ric was saying.

“...David is a failure. He didn’t meld into either of those two dogs to live as human on behalf of Daryl. I know how much you are keen on Daryl, but I may suggest returning him. You must know that family is merely lacking one member and they are desperate to find him.”

“(I am...),” listening to what Ric said, Libro felt as if he went pale.

“(I am a tool.)” Libro began resisting a prompted sob.

Without saying even a word, Crystal sipped her coffee, then carefully replaced the cup on its saucer. A second later, she opened her lips painted with bright red lipstick.

“So...,”

“...do you mean you are feeling sick and wanting days off all due to your qualms?”

Ric kept looking Crystal square in the eye, quietly insisting that his answer was “Yes.”

“Out, Ric,” Crystal indicated the doorway with her index finger. Followingly, Ric stood up off the chair under Tim’s watch.

“Crystal?” Ric was leaving something.

“Do you like me?”

Crystal was saying.

“I said ‘Out.’”

Tim was on the heels of Ric walking to the entrance of the accommodation.

“You are looking a little weird tonight. Have days off for a week starting tomorrow. I’ll arrange substitutes for you.”

“How about you taking vacation right now?” said Ric as he punched Tim into his stomach quickly twice, who collapsed and did not move on the floor. Ric conducted the attack at his discretion while Libro couldn’t afford to concentrate on even just watching Ric’s movements, having been left in a state of shock since learning the reason for his existence more clearly than when Ric had previously remarked about it.

“Hey David, whoops, Libro, are you okay? I’m really sorry for telling you the context in such an abrupt way. But remember, now you have friends, don’t you? How many friends have you made? I have no doubt that you are not merely a replacement of Daryl,” Ric tried to encourage Libro, knowing how sad a mood he was in.

“And don’t forget that I am one of your friends as well as Juno and other family members. Now you must understand why we should free Daryl. You, with me, must return him to the family because they are your friends,” Ric said in mind. Libro didn’t make a comment, though, he was surely identifying Ric’s sincerity and integrity.

“Let’s go Libro. I know where Daryl is,” Ric proceeded down the corridors away from the entrance passing by the doorway of the room which Crystal was still inside.

There was a door unlocked. After opening it, Ric and Libro were both seeing the capacious dim room enclosed with glass-walled cells built in the walls. Each cell had lights inside, letting visitors find each species of animals confined--dogs, raccoon dogs, an owl, snakes and others. Outside these cells, there was also a set of fences which confined a rabbit. But Ric, not caring so much about these animals, advanced and reached the door of a smaller room that was situated at the innermost corner to his left. As he turned the knob, the door was discovered unlocked. “Here, Libro,” with no hesitation, Ric opened the door and walked in. Then, Libro found the room constricting and four cats lying on the floor.

“Perhaps you can’t believe this fact though, that cat is Juno’s brother,” Ric referred to the most cautious cat bristling at him.

“Ric, what are you doing?” Crystal was standing over the doorsill.

Studying her feelings with reading her eyes, Ric learned that she was quietly trying to quell irritation. Then, however, as she was raising her right arm, he grasped its forward part with his left hand to keep the arm stretched out toward the floor.

“Please don’t do that, Crystal,” demanded Ric.

Several times, Crystal repeatedly pushed back and forth her right arm, but couldn’t move it from the locked position. She stopped the attempt, but said, “Do you know what aikido is?”

So quickly Crystal moved her left hand onto the back of Ric’s left wrist and bent it toward the way his palm was looking that Ric was almost off guard to the unexpected action and he had to part with Crystal’s forearm. Subsequently, keeping Ric’s left wrist bent, she pulled it while pushing the back of his left upper arm with her right hand to lever his body onto the floor. At every attempt of Ric to escape from the submission, Crystal’s arms and hands gained another might to inflict greater pain on Ric’s left arm and make him subjugated more firmly. Even after Ric finally relented, Crystal kept maneuvering Ric’s left arm to add pain. “A-ha-ha-ha,” she was in a high mood. Having walked backward, all the cats including Daryl were looking at Ric in a fix at the same eye level. Though Ric was yearning to free Daryl, again and again Crystal abused his left arm. Ric was sure that she was going to break his arm.

“Libro, are you O.K.?” Ric asked.

“Do you remember that rabbit outside this room? Separate yourself from me and meld into her. Then fly toward the opposite side of this apartment’s entrance and leave here, meet Juno and tell her all the facts about this place and Daryl so that your family can take action to rescue him. You can do that as info about me has been input into your system after being together. Have a strong will, Libro. You can work with the rabbit.”

Libro could not find a word. But as Crystal drove a final push, Ric yielded out “Go, Libro!”

Libro, accordingly, dissociated himself from Ric, generating an intense flash, rushed out of the room and jumped onto the rabbit as Ric instructed. Then the rabbit turned into a beautiful young adult human lady who was naked and had the rabbit’s ears and the hawk’s wings. Without looking backward, the lady flew in the suggested direction, shattered the pane with momentum, and left the building.

Meanwhile, Crystal didn’t cease to keep the hawk prostrate.

“You don’t need this left wing,” said Crystal as she broke it.

“I had never expected to show this kind of fuss to Daryl. It was so embarrassing,” said Crystal as she carried the hawk out of the room and threw it away.

Tim appeared for Crystal.

“Is Daryl O.K.?” he asked.

Crystal ordered Tim to find and kill Libro.

Shortly later, after watching the TV news about the incident in Ryogoku, she also ordered him to dispose of all records regarding Ric.

Now the dish on the table had nothing on itself while the lady was flying with the moon in the background.

Lavo Standard (17) (9-29-09)

Having left the Ryogoku station, both Ric and Libro were flying high in the sky. Although along with the lion and the red slime the hawk was only a constituent piece of the human version of Ric, the hawk re-introduced himself with his name as Ric to Libro. Now, every time Libro looked down, the lights of buildings appeared to be tiny spangles and made him realize the altitude, scared and trembling, a fear which was mixed with anger and sadness about Jade. At the same time, suspicions about Ric remained which urged Libro to brave himself against peer pressure from Ric: Libro was doing his best in trying to disguise his cowardly mannerisms. If there haven’t been Jade’s tragedy and Ric’s meaning, how much Libro loathes heights must be more precisely translated into expression.

Although Libro actually was yet understanding that killing him and/or Jade was not an intention of Ric after seeing him insist that the red slime was the ruler of the human version of Ric, scars in Libro’s sentiment could not immediately heal.

“(Are you optimistic I’ll believe in you and cooperate with you?)”

“I think so, David, while I’m wanting you to read my sadness after leaving the lion, Michael, my friend under a blitz of gunshot there.”

“But I only wish you would help me free Daryl, in the hope of making up for all the misdeeds. I’m not meaning I would repay all of them even if our plot worked successfully. But it sounds much better to help Juno and her family get back onto their original track.”

“(For Juno and her family?)” Libro stared at Ric from under him, as winds at the high altitude were constantly cold.

“Freeing Daryl is still possible, but you may better understand the chance is fading steadily. We should take action ASAP, as the scenes with me in a human state at the Ryogoku station will be telecast soon,” Ric said, pausing briefly to inhale in the middle of the remark.

“And...,”

“...if I’m really wanting to kill you, I can most easily do so by letting you go here right now. Do you understand what I mean?”

Still reasoned halfway, Libro again looked down and found that he and Ric were flying almost in parallel with the rail tracks of the Yamanote Line, to lead them roughly southwestward from the Akihabara station, the second stop to the west from the Ryogoku station on the Sobu Line. Looking ahead, Libro could see a high-rise becoming larger and larger in step with the approach. The pair was heading for a district of Roppongi.

Roppongi Hills was a mega compound which served multiple purposes: Those architectural works were Roppongi Hills North Tower, Hollywood Beauty Plaza, Metro Hat, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo City View (an observation deck), TV Asahi, Roppongi Hills Arena, Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills, Keyakizaka Complex, Grand Hyatt Tokyo, Roppongi Hills Gate Tower, Keyakizaka Terrace, Residence A-D (residential buildings) and Roppongi Hills Mori Tower; and those gardens were Mori Garden and Sakurazaka Garden.

Today, although Roppongi Hills was also a popular place even just for a walk, in business terms it was more successful after its debut in 2003.

Some 26 million people visited Roppongi Hills during the first half of the year. And many who worked at IT companies resided in Roppongi Hills, earning a nickname, Hills-zoku (or Hills families).

However, Roppongi Hills would lower its name value through corruption cases about Murakami Fund in 2006, Goodwill in 2008, Lehman Brothers in 2008 and the arrest of Manabu Oshio (actor-cum-singer) after he possessed MDMA and handing a portion of it to a hostess led to her death in 2009.

Due to a reduced reputation, high rents and inevitable fading of the initial impact after the inauguration in 2003, the occupancy rate dropped while some of which was converted into that of Tokyo Midtown, another commercial compound built in a mere about ten minutes walk from Roppongi Hills in 2007.

Yet Roppongi Hills with its surrounding commercial areas--housing bars and restaurants--enjoyed merits well enough to cover all shortfalls and was still active as one of the most popular entertainment spots in Tokyo, bringing in great numbers of visitors.

On the shoulders of that pedigree, the high-rise, Mori Tower, with more than 50 stories was the landmark that helped keep Roppongi Hills competitive against Tokyo Midtown. At night, the lights of Mori Tower made it conspicuous enough to tell people, a long distance away, where Roppongi was. Libro didn’t know that the structure he was looking at was this tower, but he was enthralled by the appearance of it.

The English school company, NORA, was headquartered in Mori Tower. Apart from the business therein, inside a living-cum-dining room of Residence C, located a short walk south from Mori Tower, NORA’s president was relaxing, reading a book at leisure.

Almost all walls of the room that appeared to span around sixteen square meters were colored white. At some comfortable distance from a gray sofa which was placed very close to a wall and upon which the president was resting, there was a wide flat TV being off; And there was a white round table with a tall thin stand at the center of the room. To the opposite side of the sofa, a state-of-the-art kitchen had two swivel chairs before a counter.

The president preferred this condominium and apartment because it possessed remarkable amenities of itself, one set high-end condominiums should have, and Roppongi Hills. Plus, an international pre-kindergarten at the heart of Roppongi Hills let the president have a look at what children were engaging in even while going through her tight working schedules.

At once, someone knocked on the door, opened it and entered the living room.

“Crystal?” said a tall and bald white man who looked aged around 30 in a dark vest and dark trousers.

“Those cats are starving, it’s about time you fed them.”

Then, Crystal, the president, replaced a cup of coffee on a saucer on the round table, shut the paperback and stood up.

Although she, in a dark dress, looked in her early 40s, her elegance was something which made none of other women around the same age competitive to her.

“I will go,” Crystal said, took a pack of food for cats from a cupboard in the kitchen and went out of the room into the corridor.

As Crystal and Tim proceeded into the dim room which seemed as large as 50 square meters in area, there was another door about an innermost corner to the left. As the door was opened, the floor of the small room expanded to be over six square meters. Inside the room, there were four cats. At first, these cats were only lying on the floor as though dead. But as soon as Crystal turned up, all of them but one got resuscitated and sprang to Crystal.

“Be glad, your mom’s here,” standing by Crystal, Tim said.

“Eat up, kids!” Crystal said, upon opening the food pack and pouring its content into a dish placed on the floor. In no time, three cats out of the four began pigging on the portion. While they seemed to be made mindless by the food, Crystal kept stroking them.

“I really love you all, Choe, Norimitu, and Thom..., but Daryl!” Crystal shouted, pointing a finger at the cat which was having a chastening stare at her.

“You are contumacious for this time again! It’s already been more than a week since you came here! When will you show any sign of loyalty to me!?”

“It’s weird,” whispered Tim, looking at the cat highlighted. The phrase seemed to partake of a respect for Daryl’s loyalty to his family.

“But...,” Crystal seemed to regain her composure.

“...such your strong will captures my heart and fuels my desire to see you behaving as my son. I’m sure you’ll grow up as my best kid.”

Lavo Standard (16) (9-22-09)

Every scene was played under the cacophony of hectic Sobu-Line trains. The firmer grip the talons of Ric’s left “hand” made, the slimmer Jade’s escape became.

“It hurts!” Jade tried to pull her forearm out of Ric’s clutch several times, but its tenacity only added pain. “Let me go!” judging that it’s impossible to get out of the abuse by any peaceful method, Jade turned her left hand into a cat’s paw and scratched the left wrist of Ric with her nails. Jade’s heartbeat was racing with the fear of death. As Jade checked the state of Ric’s wrist and ahead following the attack, his talons were still firmly squeezing her forearm. Blood was seeping out of the lacerations on his wrist. Ric appeared unfazed while his equilibrium allowed him to observe how his wounds were changing: blood gradually became thicker until eventually trickling.

However, no sooner had he realized what happened than his physical state reacted prior to making words out. As Jade studied Ric’s face, it was getting covered with dark feathers and his mouth was turning into a beak.

“!!!” Jade froze by the shocking picture. Then, Ric opened his beak and squawked “I don’t need to care about these potential informers as I’ll never show the public myself in an identifiable human state since Juno learned I did abduct Daryl. Or rather, this form is more suitable to kill David while drawing the attention of onlookers. You can only guess how much I love it.” Upon ending his remark, Ric swelled his body and ripped apart his clothes, taking on the appearance of a griffin.

The impact out of the dark ugly monster was mighty enough to scandalize pedestrians around the station’s west exit to a halt. “Cawooo!” while the griffin was swinging his head from side to side, the caw was stentorian, piercing through the skies. Each part of his flexing seemed to be shown after he broke restraint through the transformation.

In the face of the lineup of preternatural scenes, Jade and Libro were utterly paralyzed in their psychological abilities and could not compose even a word.

“I may come across the best place for you and myself,” said Ric stretched out his folded broad wings and began flapping them dynamically to soar off ground level. Regardless of the size, they moved quickly providing loud noises of air.

Ric flew over the building--not tall--of a famous beer hall on the station’s west exit and had the noises of his wings die down as he was landing. With Jade in his clutches, he stood on the long metal/steel roof over a platform juxtaposed closely north to the Sobu Line’s which Juno and Jade had been on more than one hour ago.

Beneath the roof with Ric, there were no people on the platform as its tracks had been out of service. And, according to Ric’s anticipation, the rooftop appeared suited to display the execution. The old platform was laid lower than the Sobu Line’s by one story, therefore the passengers there could see Ric closer to eye level. Furthermore, both the green roofs of Ryogoku Kokugikan and the orange sky in the background could relate the image of the griffin to sumo as its symbol.

Juno inserted herself amongst passengers awaiting a train bound for Chiba as she would be caught and interrogated by station staff after wildly passing the gate with no ticket. While other passengers were frightened and rooted to the spot catching sight of the griffin, so was Juno as her gaze met Ric’s.

Until this almost coincidental moment of identifying each other, Ric was unsure where Juno would have exactly been. But as soon as Ric became certain that the chance of carrying away Juno remained high, he came up with an idea to forestall her departure from the station.

Meanwhile, the station announcement was communicating a train’s approach: “The train is arriving, please wait behind the yellow line.” And, the train arrived.

Jade’s forearm was still being pained by Ric’s talons and the close position allowed the details of what Ric was now. As she studied his face, there was a sense that he was going to do something extreme. Then, Jade’s mind was brought into a blank, witnessing a series of his movements: He deeply inhaled and in turn breathed out a column of blaze that penetrated a train carriage. Large holes were made, whose rims and whatnot were burning. So were several passengers burning, who were hit directly. Others both inside the train and on the platform kept yelling and crying. Followingly, the tone of the station announcement turned frantic, urging evacuation: “Leave the train!”

Both Jade and Libro spotted Juno through a set of automated doors of the damaged carriage, which had immediately opened due to the emergency.

It likely exempted Juno from interrogation. She didn’t flee the mayhem. She, on the contrary, as an expression of anger, was staring at Ric. Wearing tears, she shouted at Ric: “Did you not like kids!?” She did, when among the burning bodies of the victims there also were a few smaller ones, and when kids were also crying in the incredible situation.

The place for a conversation between Juno and Ric had been limited to a lesson booth, but her words had fed through to his heart. Hers were doing right now, again.

“Did I not like kids?” Ric asked himself. “Did I not like kids?” Ric repeated. Focusing on the incident site near Juno, he received the vivid sights of the bodies of victimized kids. “Did I not like kids?” It was the third time.

Meanwhile, Jade was sensing that something was going on inside Ric, which slackened his clutch for a second. “Libro, here’s your chance,” Jade quietly said to Libro and was ready to scratch Ric’s wrist to escape.

Yet what drew the attention of Ric and had him come around was a voice Jade was familiar with.

“Jade!” Keyron shouted from the platform.

What havoc is Keyron wreaking on my plot!? Jade was of course glad learning that he had come after her, but this timing was no better than terrible. His voice only prompted Ric’s grip to tighten again.

“Where was I?” Ric said and set his beak in the direction of Jade’s heart to crush it. “And I’ll have a fun time with Juno later. She is mine,” Ric resolved again.

Jade was at her wits’ end, not knowing how to escape the situation. Libro, however, had an idea and told her about it.

“(Jade, I’ll be dissociated from you, then you should make a run.)”

Yet Jade didn’t go along with the idea easily.

“But your idea will leave you at the mercy of this monster. Do you think I’ll accept such…”

Nevertheless, before she completed her sentence Libro began separating off her body in a flash. It was so intense that Ric lost his sight.

The psychological state of panic triggered his action, however. Ric carried out a scattershot attack, dropping his beak repeatedly, aiming at the slime. And he sensed a certain response of hitting the target which then dropped over an edge of the roof and landed on the ground off the wall of the platform.

The recovered state of his eyesight enabled Ric to land on the ground, get close to the target and confirm the damage given to it. However, when Ric was checking the condition, being caked with blood was not the body of the slime, but that of a cat. She was fatally wounded in her left flank, barely breathing.

Confounded by the scene, for which Jade turned back into a cat, Keyron lurched toward her but the policemen, yet present, didn’t approve of him reaching her. Keyron could not withhold his tears. “Jade! Jade!” he kept shouting.

Libro was still on the roof, but the policemen didn’t identify him thanks to the train which was standing before them and the height of the roof which was by some extent higher than the platform of the Sobu Line. Only Juno, Ric and Keyron knew that Libro was on the roof. She yelled, “Libro!” one time.

With the repeated shouts of Keyron aside, the policemen were already shooting at the griffin.

Minutes later on the start of gunfire, when the damage of the griffin seemed to have reached a critical point, in the midst of falling he flashed as brightly as Jade did and split up into a hawk, a lion and a red slime. At the very moment of the separation in the air, the hawk flew up onto the rooftop while the lion and the red slime kept being shot. The red slime left the answer in time: “Did I like kids? I just liked Juno and my mom.”

Being safe through the gunshot thanks to his size, Libro was crying on the roof after Jade was hurt instead of him. The hawk which appeared to be damaged a little neared Libro. Whether also reflecting on the melding ability of himself, Libro had no doubt that the hawk was a component of the griffin. Hence, it was a natural response of Libro to have hatred toward the hawk.

“(You such a villain!)” snarled Libro.

However, defying such Libro’s perception of the hawk, its response was not of a villain. The hawk was crying too and apologized: “I beg you for your forgiveness...I couldn’t do anything under the control of the evil spirit of that red slime. I’m so sorry…”

Libro listened to what the hawk, a male one, said, but he remained suspicious of it. He was studying him.

In order to break the stalemate, in the hope of winning Libro’s pardon, the hawk made a daring move: It clutched Libro with its talons and began soaring.

“I need you to free Daryl. Just let me prove my sincerity by action.”

“Libro...,” Juno said, catching sight of him.

Meanwhile, after ensuring that the lion and the red slime ceased their movements, the policemen halted shooting.

Finally, one of them brought the yet dead body of the cat to its owner.

“Jade! Jade!” Keyron was generous in producing tears. His hands and arms were trembling but sensed that Jade had been alive until quite recently. Near him, under the repetition of station announcements and the mixed sirens of fire engines and ambulances, Juno also kept crying.

Lavo Standard (15) (9-15-09)

Through Jade’s body Libro was eyewitnessing the meeting between Juno and Ric off the west exit, and Ric’s face invoked some fear in Libro, letting him recollect what happened shortly before he was accepted by Juno and her family.

“There, there, Libro. Could you tell me what you remember about the guy?”

Libro inhaled and exhaled to calm down by using Jade’s body. And began an explanation.

“(On the day I met Juno, I was gadding about near her house. And I happened to see the guy forcibly capture a little human boy into a car and drive away. The boy was resisting being carried away, repeatedly calling out ‘Mom!’ but he couldn’t do anything effective at the mercy of the strength of an adult man. Jade, we must protect Juno! He is a villain!)”

Jade was perplexed.

“But Libro, if so, don’t you think we’ll run a risk attempting to save the girl from him? Hmm, I wish there was any safe solution,” she crossed herself.

In the meantime, Juno made up her mind to go to wherever Ric suggested, although what she wanted the most was to enter his apartment and find out every detail of his life.

“I’m pleased because you’ve come,” Ric expressed appreciation.

“Where we have a lesson, Ric?” looking up and showing a smile, Juno asked Ric.

“Well, do you remember I live in an apartment a walking distance from here? Having a lesson there will be quieter than a cafe or restaurant with people, I believe. Or, would you prefer some bar with beer?”

“I like your home!” Juno was in transports of happiness.

As Juno began walking after Ric, a lady, who appeared to be a high-school student, came before the couple and interrupted their progress. The lady just slightly bowed to both Juno and Ric, with her attitude looking similar to that of those who handed out packs of tissue papers with advertisements inside or those who promoted some cult around rail stations aloud: one of the unique and common advertising methods in Japan. Here, the motivation of the lady was about to be considered closer to that to take the latter kind of action about a religion. Within a second, she started to talk of the concept.

“Good afternoon. Excuse me for interrupting, but do you know what ‘the slime club’ is? Have you watched the green slime on TV? Our group aims to give our members a fun time with cute slimes like the green one. Hi, may I ask your name?” said Jade, stooping to make her eye-level closer to Juno’s. And as Jade studied if Juno was interested in the word ‘slime’ through her eyes, there was certainly a desired response.

“Hi, I’m Juno. Do you know about the green slime? Do you know his name is Libro? I lived with him together,” Juno’s eyes were settled to Jade’s with no budging.

“(Juno, your reaction is moving me),” Libro was in tears.

Jade was quick: Before Ric pulled Juno’s arm to leave, Jade immediately held Juno’s hands and continued the conversation. At this moment, Libro exerted his full effort, intensively concentrating on the eyes and hands of Jade to inform Juno of Daryl’s kidnapping.

“(Juno, please get what I’m trying to tell you.)”

Meanwhile, Jade was understanding what miracle Libro was driving and opened her mouth to Juno.

“Do you sense something, Juno?”

Juno was surely sensing signals and learning about the kidnap. Each sequential picture of the incident that Libro witnessed ran inside Juno’s brain. Those were the scenes in which Daryl was on the way to the convenience store near his house for shopping and Ric was forcibly carrying him away.

Through the interaction, Juno felt as if her mind was roused by an alarm and could not move even a bit due to fear. The given scenes were clearly depicted and so shocking to a 4th grader that her brain intuitively prescribed stoppage to her muscles. Having learned how Libro assimilated into Jade and why he followed Juno, however, she pulled herself together and remarked in small volume:

“Libro, I’ve missed you too. I’ve never forgotten how Akichalo, Takeko, you and I spent time in my room together.” Tears running down Juno’s cheeks were contributed by fear about Ric.

“Well done Juno, you got things right. Go back home now,” suggesting the ticket gate by pointing a finger, Jade pushed Juno’s back toward there off Ric.

“Hey what are you doing? I don’t hesitate to say you are taking up our time. Juno, come on,” passing Jade, Ric, looking irritated, gripped and pulled Juno’s arm. Yet unexpectedly to Ric, Juno rejected his offer, shouting, “Don’t touch me!”

While Juno was struggling to pull her arm off his grip, Jade forced his apart and commanded her, “Run, go past the gate!” And accordingly Juno rushed through the gate, having forgone buying a ticket and inserting it into the machine. Although Libro failed to revert to a slime and face Juno, the situation allowed him and Jade reassurance--at least until Ric worked his insight and almost surely concluded that Jade’s human state was achieved thanks to an act of Libro.

“You are David, ah, now you are renamed Libro, aren’t you? What are you doing here? You are supposed to live as a human on behalf of Daryl, aren’t you? There must have been some errors in the process of programming and creating you... Whatever they were, you acted way mischievously. You defective shouldn’t deserve anything in the world. Disappear,” freeing all disrespect to the life of Libro, Ric was clutching Jade’s arm. His fingers were no longer the human’s, but talons.

“(What did he say? Am I ‘David?’ I don’t know! Juno named me Libro, called me Libro, and I prefer it!)”

“That’s right, you are Libro, O.K.? But before talking about your name, we are really in a dangerous situation, aren’t we?” said Jade, wearing a wry smile.

Lavo Standard (14) (9-8-09)

“I’m really sorry, Keyron. But I have something to do. I’m going but will come back soon after finishing the job.”

Jade was reluctant to leave Keyron alone, but a request to tail the girl came from the bottom of Libro’s heart.

Juno did not join a line of adults waiting for a bus which would take her home. Instead, she went to the rail station, bought a ticket and passed through the ticket gate to catch a train. Libro could not even guess where Juno was going, but believed that following her would give him a chance to see her face to face.

Jade too was unsure at which station the girl would get off, and bought the cheapest ticket to just pass through the ticket gate: Boarding a train was the priority. Ascending the steps, Jade found the girl waiting for a local train on the platform, which would reach Shinjuku and go further to the west, and began waiting as well by her.

The situation was difficult for Jade: If she dissociated Libro from her amongst people, he would soon be mobbed since he had been telecast nationwide. If Jade in this state is already intimate with the girl there is no need to begin from introducing herself and to explain that Libro is inside the body, and can easily take her to some safe place for him to face her. But this situation was untrue. Put in this predicament, Jade was just standing by the girl while seeking a way to isolate her from a crowd.

The name of the girl was Juno, Jade learned from Libro.

A trip was nearing, away from Keyron. Whereas at any rate Jade was surely slated to revert to a cat, she hated to imagine that this trip would let Libro go forever. She preferred reverting to a cat just for minutes. “I may want to see Keyron after finishing this job, as a human for another time,” confided Jade. And, Libro agreed.

Inside the train car, there were some empty seats. While being bothered by other passengers a little, Jade sat on a seat in the middle of a broadset on the northern side, after Juno took a seat at the corresponding location on the opposite side. Juno appeared fidgeting, unsettlingly changing the direction of her face and looking at a piece of paper on her hands. The location of the seat allowed Jade and Libro easy observation at Juno’s behavior and made him happy. Out the window behind Juno, scenery with residential buildings was quickly shifting from the right to the left as the train was moving. Jade conceived of the scenery as beautiful during the transit: the Edo river, the Shin-nakagawa river and the Arakawa river, each of which accompanied wide grassy fields on both sides; The clear skies were at a moment of changing the tone of its colors.

About 17 minutes after departing the Ichikawa station, the train was arriving at the sixth one, Ryogoku. A little taken aback by an announcement which communicated the next stop, Juno stood up and walked to a pair of automated doors to get off the car.

The meeting place written on the memo was the west exit of the Ryogoku station, and the time was 5:30 p.m. It was a small adventure for Juno since Ryogoku--home to a grand sumo stadium and stables--was not an area her family was familiar with so much. According to her memories, she with her family had just passed by the station and never gotten off the cars here. In addition, it would be late to go back home.

Nevertheless, Ric told her that this trip would give an opportunity to become more adult--this travel itself yet seemed part of the opportunity. As Juno had high trust in him, there seemed nothing to chill her motivation.

Ric wrote down on the memo in a way Juno, also given drawings, could understand what was meant, that he would tell Suzan Juno would take an extra lesson on something important and go back home late. Reading up all the memo, Juno believed that communication between Ric and Suzan would be of adults to cover children issues. Even though Juno was in an argument with Suzan and hating her, she admitted that she was mature; so was Ric. Juno remembered that Ric had told that he lived in an apartment near the Ryogoku station, and she anticipated that entering his independent living would be a milestone in her growth toward adulthood. Henceforth, the green roofs of Ryogoku Kokugikan, the stadium for sumo bouts, and the unique spacecraft-esque design of the gigantic Edo-Tokyo Museum would remain firmly in Juno’s memory as landmarks symbolic of the area.

Juno wrongly took the east exit which led her to land on the southern side of the station. The street along the station was lined with restaurants, pubs, a cake shop, a fruit and vegetable shop and a pachinko parlor. Although there was still about an hour before the rendezvous, the design of each lights-fitted sign--still inactivated--and shopfront looked so artistic and interesting, some unique, that Juno wouldn’t pay attention to the significance of Ryogoku Kokugikan and the Edo-Tokyo Museum on the opposite side. There also was a convenience store very close by the east exit of the station, wherein she could kill time. Thanks to all the lures, Juno’s time was passing quickly.

Meanwhile, Jade and Libro were tracking Juno’s footsteps at a distance along the station. Juno’s heart seemed captured as she repeated to move and stop from door to door across small businesses; At each stoppage her peaceful smile and somewhat inquisitive eyes were cast at those embellishments. After window-shopping, she entered a convenience store and began having her nose in books. Gathering Juno’s all behavior led to a conclusion that she was waiting for someone.

For Jade in search of a safe place where Libro would see Juno, however, as the Ryogoku station was a hectic part of the public transportation, passers-by would never leave the street completely isolated. Plus, those pubs and restaurants would fuel their number at night, although it was Sunday, not Friday. A question was if walking on this street eastward out of commercial activities would surely lead to a least populous place.

Then, through the glass wall of the convenience store Jade witnessed Juno return a book onto the shelf, leave the store and walk to the west exit; She began standing off the ticket gate.

Shortly later, a tall slim man crossed the line of automated ticket machines at the gate and approached Juno.

“Excuse me for making you wait,” said the man with a smile.

“It’s OK, Ric!” Juno beamed.

Following the situation via the human body, Libro reacted earliest to the face of the man.

“(Jade, we’ve gotta take her back home immediately! I remember that guy! He’s a bad guy!)” the squeak of Libro was trembling.

Lavo Standard (13) (8-25-09)

What brought Keyron back out of slumber was the creepiness of cold sweat on his body, which had been produced overnight. He raised his body, looked around and confirmed that he was inside the tent. Not the light from the light bulb which was dangling from the ceiling and being unlit, but sunlight which filtered in through some openings let him identify things about: a pinkish pillow upholstered with a white cover, a clock ticking, a small electric fan which kept swinging its head, clothes neatly folded and piled--and a lady. The lady was asleep while sitting on the floor, her upper body propped against a pile of futons. The volume of her snoring was so slight that Keyron recognized her to be pretty even more. Now he was assured that it was not a dream that the lady who had watched his comedies took care of him and served him tablets. Ignorant of her motivation, why she gave him exceptional deals, he could not help but look for a way to return her dedication.

“What could I do for her?” Keyron was puzzled.

Leaving the lady inside, as he got out of the tent, the weather was fine: The clear blue sky prevailed, dwarfing spotty clouds. Amid tall trees and their leaves, birds were chirping cheerfully. Keyron inhaled the air deeply, and exhaled it. He felt fine. He no longer felt those ailments after the long, deep sleep. He convinced himself that he could perform comedies today and give the lady some of the earnings.

“I should clean myself before practicing,” Keyron said to himself and again entered the tent to take towels, a soap, a tub, a stool, a shampoo bottle and underwear. The lady was still sleeping. Over a short upward slope, which encircled the park that included the tent, a spigot and a shed of toilets built side by side. Before taking off his clothes, he turned on the spigot to check the temperature of its water with his fingers. It was suitably cold as the day was rather hot.

“Aha!” exclaimed Keyron.

The lady reminded Keyron of his mother as after his childhood the lady was the only woman who tended him in the event of a disease.

About four years ago, his mother was still working part-time at a local grocery shop selling packed meals. His mother was rich in human skills combined with her particular solacing smile, and these features were accepted well by shoppers during the work. For example, when she had a short conversation with a shopper, her tender facial expression often generously allowed him or her to introduce a kind of personal trouble. In response, she encouraged the shopper, saying something like, “It’s just temporary havoc! I bet that everything will become easier for you soon!” Keyron recalled such his mother.

At the same time, Keyron engaged in comedy and didn’t have a romance. But this situation didn’t mean that he didn’t like any woman. In fact, he had been keen on various types of women found in manga or cartoons in his younger days. These female characters were idealized eliminating adverse details in both looks and character, while exaggerating feminine features to have extremely large sparkling eyes or a high-pitch girlish voice. While delicate Keyron was afraid to be psychologically harmed by a real woman who can criticize him, ogling at each of those manga or cartoon characters was just a convenient escape for him. For instance, he was once into “Cutie Punny,” a cartoon series. Each time, his heart missed a beat for a scene in which Punny, a beautiful female main character in some regular clothes, jumped, became naked while rolling ahead in the air and transforming the clothes into a bathing-suit-like costume a moment before she landed on the ground.

But Keyron had grown up with his mentality. Some cynicism about women might have been a factor that changed him, but having overcome previous anxiety he was confident that his heart won’t be damaged through contact with a woman. Indeed, Keyron was not fearful during each time with the lady. Or rather, he could afford to squarely introspect his true feelings: He was taking to her.

Now, completely in the buff, Keyron on the stool was washing his body using the toiletries and the tap water.

“Hun, hun, hun…”, Keyron was humming in a good mood.

Yet as he rinsed soap suds from his body with water pouring out of the tub and turned his head, the lady came into sight, witnessing the process.

“Good morning Keyron.” The lady wore a smile. She knew his name.

“Oh, it’s humiliating,” Keyron blushed and turned his back to the lady.

“(It’s a shame),” Libro blushed as well.

Keyron confirmed that the name of the lady was Jade, to coincidentally be the same as that of the cat which was missing at the moment. He was wondering where his cat was, but believed that she would come back soon.

“So Jade, you can decide whether to sit by me during my performance. In any case, I’ll defray what you’ve done for me,” having had breakfast and finished some routine preparations as a vocal practice and a rehearsal, promised Keyron.

“Thank you for such a kindhearted remark, Keyron. But please don’t mention any reward. You owe me nothing,” Jade politely waved aside his willingness. And with no concerns about negotiations, both of them headed for the station.

Successfully or not, Keyron completed the first round of his performance at the regular place. Just a few times Jade was asked by the audience whether she would perform this time, but she tactfully put on ignorance. As Keyron peered into the derby to check how much it had received, they were just coins that amounted to about ￥900.

“Ha-ha-ha, I hope I’ll earn more next time,” Keyron was feeling that he lost his face.

“Don’t take that bad, Keyron. You did a great job and I like your comedies,” Jade made Keyron even more embarrassed as his age was considerably older than hers.

“So Jade, let’s go to the convenience store. We can get discounted food,” Keyron tried to change the topic.

“Okay,” the agreement was made in principle as she was suspecting that those leftovers were causal to his sickness.

If I was allowed a human life for longer days, I would have helped him a lot, wished Jade.

After buying discounted products like pastries and rice balls, the couple was outside the convenience store, a short distance from the eastern part of the rotary. There was something which moved off the north exit of the station and into the sight of Jade.

“(Juno!?),” Libro surprised Jade a little.

“What?”

“(Can you see that girl walking there? Jade, It’s a bit of asking, but could you help me see the girl in my usual state?)”

It’s not his usual state nor mine, Jade recalled the truth. And she opened her mouth a second later.

“Why not, Libro? This human state is depending on your ability. There is no way I’ll refuse your request.”

Jade was actually worried, though.

“What are you doing? You are just standing,” said Keyron.

Lavo Standard (12) (8-18-09)

In the afternoon, Sunday, Juno was disgruntled on a bus seat on the way to the Ichikawa station to take lessons at a branch school of a major English conversation company which helped hone skills in speaking English. She was actually pleased after all of her family members, even Suzan, gave her sympathetic remarks in the hope of reconciliation, but still couldn’t accept her idea and declined her offer to attend her.

“She knew how much I liked Libro. How come could she make that plan secretly to make use of him?”

This kind of thought had automatically circulated through her mind over and over, after the falling out with her. The uncomfortable relationship made Juno’s straight hair look antithetical to Suzan’s wavy one. Juno needed some time to dispel skepticism about and hostility to Suzan.

Trundling through buildings that sprawled from the north exit of the Ichikawa station, the bus turned left as it was entering the rotary, moved halfway around on it and stopped parallel to the station, a short distance away.

“But Ric will understand me!” Juno was excited.

Facing out from the north exit of the station, a slim building which looked to have seven floors fronted the western part of the rotary. The school was on the fifth floor of the building.

Jumping out the front door of the bus, Juno flew to the building, as the crow did.

The company with its English conversation schools, named NORA, was popular across Japan. Even after going through bankruptcy that some illicit management by the former president wrought about 20 months ago, the company led by its incumbent president--who had beaten other potential presidents--was now seen on track business-wise. Under the former president--whose debauched behavior would make a scandal--more than 800 branch schools nationwide had looked predominant, but the company’s prosperity was discovered superficial and unsustainable, much relying on each slew of affordable lesson fees paid in advance, in bulk. By contrast, the present number of over 300 had been achieved from scratch, based on more careful business strategies.

As a whole, English conversation schools mainly put a stress on fostering conversation skills in the language, rather than how to answer written questions. For this reason, some families with their children opted out of this choice. On the other hand, however, other families believed that early practice in English would give their children a great advantage in getting used to the language. Having the same kind of expectation, Suzan knocked on the door of this school/company when Juno was a 1st grader. Exposing a different taste from Katz’s, Juno took to communicating with non-Japanese people in the universal language, immediately.

As Juno swung open the entrance door of the school, it was during a 15-minute break for both teachers and students. Chitchat of teachers, the sounds of which traveled across the walls of the staff room, was heard to be cheery. Passed by other adult students who had taken their lessons, Juno handed a female receptionist her membership card and began waiting on a seat in a designated booth near the entrance. That was one of the six booths yet she had been acclimatized to. Placed in the center of the booth, a kidney-shaped desk could accept five students at a maximum, although they were usually one to three for a kids’ class. The shape of the desk let them focus on the teacher. Now together with Juno in the same booth, another student, Hiroko, was waiting for a teacher. Juno had shared classes with her several times to date.

She is wearing strange maid-like clothes again, Hiroko thought of Juno.

Her frown is studying me again, Juno thought of Hiroko whom she couldn’t have felt familiar with.

Chimes rang and informed students and teachers that classes were beginning.

“Good afternoon!”

“Good afternoon, Dan!” Juno and Hiroko both responded energetically as he entered the booth.

The teacher, Dan, was bald and looked middle-aged. He took a seat before Juno and Hiroko. He was not tall, but his torso was robust--though he might have often felt like beer--which a light-green short-sleeve business shirt with a blue tie fitted nicely.

“So, the topic we are taking on is body movements! Do you know what to call this movement?” Dan bent his right arm and then stretched it out.

The lesson topic about body movements prevented Juno from speaking freely and she and Hiroko almost equally shared the class. I’ll discharge my frustration in the next class, Juno was determined while enjoying the lesson, absorbing whatever Dan taught. He, in turn, seemed to be enjoying teaching Juno; He, this time again, was impressed by how quick she was on the uptake.

After 40 minutes of the first class and a 15-minute break, another chimes had Juno braced.

Entering the booth, the teacher resembled the successful Japanese outfielder with the Seattle Mariners, a team in Major League Baseball. The long sleeves of his white business shirt were tucked up, sending out a sense of gallantry. A navy-blue tie was an attachment.

“Good afternoon, Juno. And..., Hiroko?” Hiroko was not a regular student to Ric.

“Good afternoon, Ric!” Juno’s voice was so loud that Hiroko’s was drowned out.

Juno liked Ric because not only he looked good but his personality was what she would want her boyfriend to possess: He was energetic, frank and funny; notwithstanding, he had manners. Juno was honest and outspoken in front of Ric. She first met him when he was transferred from a different branch as NORA resumed its operation under the new president about 15 months ago--it took about five months after bankruptcy. To make this day special, Juno’s dissatisfaction which derived from her argument with Suzan would be relieved by Ric.

“Friday, I fight mother! She say my friend to TV! I angry!” Juno did her best in articulating her ideas in English, with her unfledged capacities of vocabulary and expressions.

“Really!? I saw you and that strange animal on TV. Do you mean that was your friend? You sound cool!” Ric made a laugh and two thumbs up.

“I angry! Mother crazy!”

“I know what you mean, Juno, but I think you should understand her feelings and why she tapped TV stations. It was for your younger brother.”

The sort of response was something Juno didn’t expect. The opinion was made by Ric, but it was short of persuading her to come to terms with Suzan.

“But Ric, you...,” Juno was arguing.

Only Juno and Ric are talking and don’t give me a chance to talk!, Hiroko was grumbling in her mind.

“Ok, Juno, listen to me. If you were Suzan, which would you rescue either your brother or the animal?” Ric was helping Juno understand the situation by drawing rough pictures of Daryl and Libro on a small portable whiteboard with a marker.

“Ric not understand me?,” Juno, yet, doubting Ric, made a sad face.

“Juno, I understand your feelings as well, but…”

Yet chimes rang, meaning the end of the class.

“I couldn’t say anything!” Hiroko snapped, standing up and shouting in Japanese. Tears were trickling down her cheeks.

“Only Juno and Ric were talking! It’s unfair!”

“I’ll never ever come to this school again! Never!” Hiroko stormed, wildly retrieved her membership card on the counter at the entrance, and got herself gone.

“Oh,” both Juno and Ric sighed.

“Ok, Juno, you probably need an extra time to be more adult,” turning down the volume, said Ric.

“Come to this place at this time if you want,” jotting down letters, numbers and a map on a memo, Ric left it on the desk before Juno.