Setsu walked into the library exhausted. Though the young child she was carrying was now asleep, that hadn't been the case for the 5 hours she had been babysit the over-active 5-year old. Oh well, his mother paid well.
	"Setsu! Over here!" called a young woman from the information desk.
	"Hi, Osaka-san, sorry for being late," said Setsu as she handed the sleeping boy to his mother.
	"Oh, not a problem. My meeting ran overtime anyways, so it all worked out," the woman handed Setsu an envelope, "Here's your pay. I really do appreciate you helping me out like this."
	"Thank you, it's not a problem, really."
	"Well, I've got to get home. Ginta's always so hungry when he wakes up from his naps. Why don't you go on upstairs, Motoki was mentioning having something for you to do for him."
	"Really? Well, all right then. I'll see you later?"
	"Probably, you spend more time her then I do, and I work here!" Ginta's mother laughed and waved goodbye, leaving Setsu to head up to the 2nd floor of the large library.
	I wonder what Motoki wants me to do? thought Setsu has she climbed the steps.  If he wants me to clean his apartment again I'm going to start throwing books at him...

	Setsu snuck up behind a young man with short dark hair who was talking on the phone, quite oblivious to his souroundings.
	"Boo!" whispered Setsu in his ear.
	"CRYINGOUTLOUD!" screamed the man, turning bright red as everyone in the library glared at him. "No, I'm okay, it was nothing. Yah, she's here. So I'll see you soon? Great, bye!" he said into the phone, before hanging up and glaring at Setsu.
	"Good afternoon, Motoki-san," smiled Setsu.
	"Don't good afternoon-motoki-san ME! If I didn't know better I'd think you were trying to kill me! How many times have I told you to stop sneaking up on me like that? You're going to get me fired!" scolded Motoki.
	Setsu merely laughed, "If it wasn't for me you would have been fired months ago. How many times have I done your job for you so you could leave early to be with your girlfriend?"
	"Speaking of which... I was just on the phone with her, and..." Motoki hesitated, he did ask Setsu quite often to do stuff around the library which he was actually paid to do. However, Setsu always seemed willing to help, and he knew she needed the money, even if she refused to let him pay her what he would get for the same time.
	"What is it this time? Been slacking off on sorting returned books all day and you can't leave 'til you're done?" asked Setsu, smiling. She had befriended Motoki the first day she had used the library as an all day break from her life. He was one of the few people who knew her real situation and was often finding people who could hire her for an odd job or two.
	"Well, there's this room I've been supposed to clean up since last week actually.. and my boss noticed I hadn't gotten around to it yet..."
	"And the movie starts in half an hour and you'd help me get started if you could, but you'd like to go home and shower so you don't smell of books...?"
	"You know me too well," laughed Motoki, leading the young girl down a hallway to a door that read "employees only".
	"Important documents..? Something tells me, as important as they may be, they're covered in dust.." stated Setsu, crinkling her nose.
	"Pretty much... and some guy was doing some important research and messed them all out of order. System's same as everywhere else in the library... but you might want to clear off each shelf and give it a good wipe as well..."
	"Don't worry about it, I've got all no where else to be. I'll do such a good job your boss will forget how long it took you to get around to asking me to do it for you."
	"You're the greatest, Su-chan," Motoki gave Setsu a big hug, "I'll pay you tomorrow. And this time you're getting my hourly wage, no buts about it!"  And with that he left before Setsu could protest.

	About half an hour later Setsu had gotten one shelf cleared, cleaned, and half of the books put back up. She picked up the next book and decided it was time for a little break. So, sitting down on the ground, she opened the book in her hands, figuring if it wasn't interesting she had a whole room full to choose from.
	"'Universe of the Four Gods'? Well, that sounds interesting enough..."
	



	"Nee, Kiyuki-chan, doesn't Miyasaki-sensei's plan to restore your hearing sound wonderful?  You'll be able to go to a normal school with other children that can hear too," Mrs. Nenaii coaxed.
	"Your mother's right.  Dr. Miyasaki says there are side effects, but since we're restoring your hearing from complete deafness, it's worth it.  You're young too.  The younger you are when you do this, the better." Mr. Nenaii added.
	Kiyuki slouched in the chair and looked around the office.  She knew her physician was qualified.  She was still scared, but that didn't bother her as much as how much longer her parents would have to work to pay off debts.
	"If you're so worried about me being in a special school in the first place, how come I can't just go to a regular school?  I can speak AND lip-read!"  The fact of the matter was Kiyuki was just too tired to deal with more consulations with doctors after seeing so many the entire day.
	"Give her time," advised Dr. Miyasaki.  "She doesn't have to decide right away."
	"Okay, Kiyuki, you hear that?  You should think about, though.  We'll let you stop by the library on the way home."

	


	A young woman wandered around the National Library, peering at doors as she passed by. She was very obviously looking for a specific room, however, she was also very obviously lost. Upon coming to the end of a long row of rooms without luck, she let out a long sigh and looked at the last door with hope in her eyes: "General Public Prohibited." She hung her head in exasperation.
	She let out a long sigh as she continued on her way. "This is why I don't like big cities," she thought to herself, "Everything is just so huge!" She began to walk down the steps towards the first floor when she passed by a girl with her reddish brown hair pulled back in a long loose braid. On a whim, Nozomi turned and asked, "Excuse me, but do you know where the head librarian's office is?"
	The girl stopped long enough to give her directions, and after being thanked, continued along her way, looking back only once to glance at the odd girl who had just asked for directions. Nozomi paid the glance no mind, though, as she happily made her way to her desination, finally knowing where exactly it was. 

	Kamimoto Nozomi ran her fingers through her short, bleached hair as she stepped up to the door. She knocked on the door with the sign "head librarian," and soon, it was opened by a pretty young woman who looked to be in her late twenties.
	"Nozomi-chan!" The head librarian of the National Library welcomed the girl. "Look how you've grown!" She hugged the girl who was just a bit taller than her. "How are you? How's your mother? Was everything all right with your move?" Nozomi had just moved from her hometown of Sapporo to an apartment in Tokyo, and so far, things were certainly...different.
	Nozomi walked into her office and smiled, "Yeah, oba-chan! Everything's fine. I've got a great view from my apartment! You should come over and see it some time; it's only a couple of blocks away."
	Ms. Okuda smiled, "I will as long as you stop calling me 'Oba-chan!'" She sat down at her desk. "You make me feel like an old woman!"
	Nozomi giggled as she sat down in a cushy chair, "All right, aneki [older sister] !" She casually brought one leg up to rest on the chair and started to rest her head on her knee until Okuda gave her a queer look. With a pained expression, she sat normally, legs crossed, muttering to herself, "She really is like an old lady..." She ducked as a book came flying toward her.
	"I heard that!"
	Nozomi grinned and quickly change the subject, her fingers fiddling with the book her aunt had thrown at her. "Hey, aneki, so when can I look at these manuscripts that were donated? You did say that there were some ancient Chinese ones, didn't you?" Nozomi loved anything that had to do with ancient China, especially religion. She had been learning ancient Chinese on the side ever since she was young, and was for the most part pretty adept at it.
	"Yes, I did, and you can look at them now, actually." Okuda looked at her watch, "The library's not too busy, now," she paused and took something out of her desk drawer. "Here's the key to the 'Important Documents Reference Room.' You can't miss it," she said, handing the small key to her, which Nozomi tucked into her pocket, "it had signs that say 'General public prohibited' and 'Employees only.'" There was brief silence between them. Suddenly, she asked her, "Nozomi-chan, what made you decide to leave so suddenly? I thought you hated big cities."
	Nozomi looked downcast. "It was my mom. She never did just accept the fact that I didn't want to go to high school. When this job opened up here, I needed to get away, so I took it." She stood up, "As for living in a city, I'll get used to it. The roar of the city is nothing compared to the roar in my house when we argue." Before her aunt could ask anything more about her mother, Nozomi turned around and quickly thanked her. "Thanks, aneki. I think I'll take a look at those documents, now. 'Important documents reference room,' right?" She headed out the door.  "I know where that is!"
	Closing the door behind her, Nozomi sighed and shook her head, like trying to shake out the uncomfortable thoughts. Her legs moved autmatically, taking her to the Important documents reference room as she sorted out her thoughts. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice when the key slipped out of her pocket and fell next to a young girl with short black hair.
	The gleam of the key caught Kiyuki's eye as she watched the metallic shine fall to the floor.  She looked at the key and over at the woman who hurried down the corridor.  Figuring it must be of some importance, she picked it up and scurried along behind.
	When Nozomi got to the room, she reached into her pocket for the key, and much to her chagrin, came up empty handed. "Dammit!" she swore. She placed her hand on the door knob, "Now I have to go back and..." She trailed off. Testing the door reflexively, she was surprised to find that the door was unlocked. "So much for security," she noted wryly. "I really should mention that to oba-chan when I see her tomorrow."
	Entering the room, she called out to see if anyone was there.  "Hello? Is someone in here? I guess it really is just bad security." She decided to glance around the dusty room for a bit before going back to look for her key. "Eh?!" she stopped as she saw the pile of books on the floor. "Someone sure left a mess!" She sighed as she bent down to pick up half the books from the floor. "And these don't even go here..." She started walking around the room to figure out where they did go. "Aha!"  She grabbed a nearby ladder and climbed it to shelve her armful of books where they belonged. While she was there, she heard footsteps.
	"Excuse me, miss. You dropped your key."
	Nozomi turned to face the girl, and her eyes lit up to see that she brought her key back to her. "Thank you so much! What's your name?"
	"Nenaii Kiyuki."
	"Well, Nenaii-san, can you hang till I reshelve these? It'll only take a second. Feel free to look around; I'm sure you won't walk off with anything," She smiled brightly and got back to reshelving the books.
	Kiyuki wandered around the mess of papers and books.  She opened a few and read some pages, but nothing looked quite familiar to her.  *I wonder why all these books are restricted to the public* Kiyuki wondered.
	She picked up a book lying on the floor and flipped through the first few pages.  *This is Chinese.* Kiyuki concluded.  *I wonder if I can make any of this out.*
	"Shi...jin...ten...chi sho."  She could read it and understand part of it!  The librarian was still shelving books at the other end of the room so Kiyuki continued to peruse the book.  As she read the first few lines about a mythical land and a some of its inhabitants, a green glow seemed to spill from the book.  Astounded, Kiyuki dropped the book on the floor.
	Having put the last book in its place, Nozomi climbed down from the ladder.  She heard something fall so she looked for the young girl who had been kind enough to bring her her key. "Nenaii-san?" There was no response.  "Hmm..." She did a full circle of the room and didn't see her. She returned to the remaining pile of books on the floor and spotted the key on top of and open book. Though thinking it curious that the girl didn't stay, she didn't think much of it when she bent down to pick up her key and noted that the open book was written in ancient Chinese.
	She quickly got excited and peered over the book a little more. "It's a religious text, to boot!" Her eyes shined with enthusiasm, but the enthusiasm died when she realized that this book was not one of the ones she was to work on. "Well, maybe oba-chan will let me borrow it anyway."  With that thought in mind, she picked up the book called 'Shijintenchisho' and reshelved it.




	"Sachiko...  Sachiko, wake up!"
	The words penetrated through the sleep induced fog that clouded Amber Laike's brain and she opened one eye slowly before opening the other.  Since she'd been sleeping on her stomach, all she could see was her pillow.  She rolled over and sat up, glaring balefully at the one responsible for disturbing her rest.  "Why can't you have the decency to have jet lag like the rest of us, Meli...  I mean, Umeko?" Amber asked, trying and failing to keep the irritation out of her voice.
	"Because, silly, I've traveled here before with the professor, remember?" Umeko smiled cheerfully. "Anyway, you'd better hurry up and get dressed if you want to have breakfast before we go to the National Library and indulge in some researching fun."
	"Researching... fun?" Amber stared at Umeko in wondering disbelief. "I'm not exactly adverse to digging around in books and stuff for the facts, but I wouldn't exactly call that fun.  The real fun comes when you put the pieces you have together, not when you're tearing your hair out trying to find the information.  You're crazy."
	"Mmm... maybe, but at least I'm going to have the time for a nice breakfast," Umeko replied. "Unless you hurry, you're not going to have time for much of anything.  See you downstairs!"
	After Umeko closed the door, Amber sprang into action, her medallion swinging wildly as lunged for her suitcase.  Jeans, shoes, socks and the like got tossed on her bed without a second thought.  She hesitated momentarily before deciding on a black shirt embroidered with a Chinese-style blue dragon to complete the outfit.
	Soon, Amber was slipping on her jacket and heaving her backpack over one shoulder.  She glanced down at her watch and began moving even faster.  There was no way she was going to gulp down more than a glass of orange juice, so she'd just have to go without until the research breaked for lunch.


	By the time she found herself trudging up the stairs to the Reference Room with a key in her hand, the sleepy fog was gone, but Amber's irritation was not.  'If Umeko says one more cute, cheerful thing, I'm going to lose it and pop her one,' Amber thought clenching her fists. 'Can't she tell what a foul mood I'm in, or have I gotten as good at hiding my anger as I am at hiding the rest of my emotions?'
	She snapped her attention back to the task at hand as she reached the Reference Room door.  She unlocked it and slipped inside.  "My goodness, what a mess!" Amber looked at the pile of books on the floor with growing dismay. "I hope there's nothing that I need under there.  I think I'll take a look at the books on the shelves first before I brave THAT monstrosity."
	She browsed the books slowly, struggling with her somewhat limited knowledge to discover any books that might be useful to the professor's research.  A few books looked promising, so she jotted their names down in one of her notebooks and decided to ask the professor about them later.
	About two-thirds of the way down the aisle, her eyes caught sight of a few symbols she recognized without hesitation.  "Four Gods... world, no wait, universe.  Yeah, that's it!  The Universe of the Four Gods.  This sounds like some good mythology that I can really sink my teeth into if I can decipher the words," Amber thought, reaching for the book.
	When she picked up the book, her fingers tingled, but the sensation went away so fast, that Amber was sure that she'd imagined it.  She sat down with her pack between her and the wall and opened the book.
	The first page didn't make much sense.  It seemed as though it were talking to the readers about some kind of spell or something that was activated as a result of reading the book instead of telling a story.  She shrugged and turned to the next page.
	Now, she was getting somewhere.  Although she didn't fully understand what she was reading, the pictures that were placed opposite the text helped clear things up.  One plate featured a man in imperial-looking robes talking with another man, and the expressions on their faces left no doubt in Amber's mind that they were up to no good.  Others showed equally captivating pictures: A man holding an orb that glowed and caused a corresponding reaction, the symbol for wings to appear on another man's hand, another with a man drinking his sorrows away because he'd found out that his best friend was dead, another with a woman in a dark cloak walking steadily up a mountain, her eyes cold with the desire for revenge, and another...
	Amber blinked.  A young man was seated in a deferential manner across from an older man who appeared to be his teacher.  Like the second picture she'd seen, he, too, had a glowing symbol, only this one was on his neck.  She scanned the facing page of text and was able to figure out that an omen involving four stars was causing him to leave his studies.  "Four stars...  Does that have something to do with the four gods in this book's title?  Then, those symbols probably have something to do with the gods, too.  I can't for the life of me figure out what, though," she shook her head and turned to the next page.
	This time, her jaw dropped.  "That dragon...  It's the same as the one on my shirt.  Or, at least, it would be the same if these pictures weren't all in black and white.  For that matter, how do I even know that dragon's supposed to be blue at all?  Maybe I should just put this book back and go on to another one.  I think it's driving me crazy," she said.
	As she was about to close the book, the tingling feeling she'd felt when she first picked up the book came back, twice as strong as it had been before.  This time, the feeling didn't go away either.  Swallowing hard, she looked back down at the page and realized that there was a blue glow emanating from it.  'Well, what do you know...  This book is in color after all,' she thought as her surroundings disappeared in a wash of blue light.




	"Dam'it Mom, you never let me do anything."  She yelled in a frustrated voice.
	"Annilynn, don't you curse at your mother."  Her father responded.
	"Leave me alone, Father."  She put an emphasis on the tittle. 
	"I'm not 3 years old for god sakes.  You treat me like I'm a baby."  
	"Anni dear, we just don't want you to get hurt."  The sympathetic voice of her mother chimed in her ears.  "You don't know your way around the city."
	"And how the heck an I supposed to learn my way around the city if you never let me go out?"  She countered.
	"I told you not to curse!"  Her father replied more sternly this time.
	"Heck is NOT a curse word."  She yelled back.
	"Anni-" came her mothers voice.
	"Fine!"  She cut her mother off and walked out of the room in a huff.

	The wind blew her bangs out of her face as Anni walked down the busy streets of Tokyo.  Her parents had told her not to go, but had she listened, no.  She just had to get out of the house.  They were going to drive her insane one day, that was for certain.  She stared blankly in front of her, as she had no actual destination.  She wasn't exactly too thrilled about living here, in Japan.  It was not her home and she would never consider it to be.  Her dad had gotten the job about 6 months ago, and at the time he had promised her that she would be back for her senior year of High School.  It was November now, however, and she was still stuck here.  She had nothing to do and no where to go for entertainment.  The highlight of her month was when her parents let her make the extremely long distance call back to the states so she could talk to her best friend Silver.  She had been traveling to Japan and China ever since she could remember.  Her Dad's company had major branches in both countries, plus the United States.  She spoke all three languages well, though English was the only one she was truly fluent in.  Never before though, had she stayed for more than a month or two.
	Though her parents bought her a new wardrobe, she refused to give up HER clothes.  Her friends back home had referred to it as a sort of gothic-gypsy look.  And now, walking the streets, she was very out of place, but she could not have cared less.  She ignored the stares people gave her when they eyed her black, ankle length, broomstick skirt and long sleeved, dark red, `gypsy" shirt.  The calf high, lace up, heeled boots complimented the combo well.  Then of course there was the fact that she had pail skin, ash-blond hair, and violet eyes.  She could not have been more obviously American had she tired.  She shifted the book bag on her shoulders and paused for a moment to look around at the street names.  None of them rang a bell, but then again she never memorized anything in this city.  She looked off to her left and spotted the Tokyo National Library.  This was one stop that was not quite as foreign as the rest.  When she was a freshman she had worked there for the summer.  She checked out books for people; and occasionally visited some of the classes there were held there for little kids, to help them learn English.  She glanced once again, back in the direction that she had come from and then made her way up the library steps.
	The large building had always been a bit overwhelming to her, more so when she was younger; but today it had a different feel about it.  She quietly walked through the door and past the ladies at the check out desk.  They were to involved in their work to examine the strange girl that had just entered the building.  Anni lost herself in the mountainous shelves of books.  She rarely read the books, but the library gave her a place to go when she fought with her parents.  She stood in the history section towards the back of the library.  When a small flash of white caught the corner of her eye. She glanced over at something moving that disappeared behind the corner.  She followed.
	She turned the corner shortly after the thing she was searching for.  She stopped and stared at the small kitten that sat in the middle of the hall way.  It was white with black stripes.  It sat there staring at her as if it was waiting for her to make the first move.  Anni took a step towards the kitten and reached out her had.  The kitten got to it's feet and bolted down the hall way.  "Wait!"  Anni called, a bit to loud for her environment.  She shut her mouth and went after the kitten.  Every time she turned a corner she was sure that the kitten would have disappeared.  But with every bookshelf that she followed it around it was sitting there waiting for her, only to get up and run again.  The kitten turned down a hall separate from the library and when Anni followed she stopped to see where in the Library she was.  It was a small hall that ended in a stair case that turned a corner.  "You know kitten," she whispered.  "You shouldn't be running around in here.  She crouched down and held out her had to the kitten. "C'mon you cane come home with me."  The kitten took a step towards her then promptly spun around and ran down the hall and up the first few stairs.  It stopped before the stairs disappeared behind a wall and sat there looking at Anni.  "That's it.  If your going to keep running, I am NOT going to follow you anymore."  Anni looked over at the kitten.  She turned around and took only one step before she heard the most pitiful meow she had ever heard.  She looked over at the kitten and realized it had come down off the stairs and was giving her a sad look.  "All right does that mean you'll come with me."  She smiled at the kitten.  It just turned around and ran back up the stairs.  "You do want me to follow you don't you?"  She shrugged, "what you got brothers and sisters around here."  She sighed and followed the kitten up the stairs.  By  the time she reached the top the kitten had slipped into a darkened room.  She walked over to it and read the clearly marked sign on the door.  "Important Documents Reference Room:  Authorized Personnel Only."  She thought about the concept of `DO NOT ENTER' for a moment before pushing the door open and going in.  
	The room was dark and damp and dusty.  It was full of old books that lined unclean shelves.  And there were boxes in the corner that looked to be full of unorganized papers.  One of the shelves to the right looked to have been recently disturbed. It was perfectly clean compared to the other shelves and the books were actually organized.  A few books lay on the floor in front of the shelves, but most were put away.  The kitten rubbed up against her leg and purred startling her and causing her to jump.  The kitten leapt off the floor and onto shelf.   "Okay kitten.  Time to go," she looked around.  "This places is starting to creap me out."  She picked up the kitten  and began to walk twords the door.  But the kitten just climbed up her shoulder and jumped back onto the shelf.  "Stupid Cat."  Anni went back for the kitten.  It was purring and rubbing its head on the book.  Anni absentmindedly picked up the book and looked at it.  "The Universe of the Four Gods?"




	"Tuna roll...2, please."  The proprietress sang as she placed the order form on the rack in front of Kiyuki's face.  Kiyuki had to admit that everyone in the shop had been really accomodating even though she couldn't hear any of the incoming orders from the other side of the shop.  She smiled as she scooped two more servings of rice onto each piece of nori and rolled a healthy piece of tuna in the aesthetic cone shape.  She loved her job and was glad that her mother had taught her how to roll sushi when she was younger.  It was almost 5:30, so Kiyuki finished the order and undid her apron after a day's work.  She grabbed her bookbag from the backroom and and bidded the other workers good-bye before leaving.  *Today would be a good day to visit the library.*  She thought.  *It's still lit.  I can probably spend another hour there before I go home.*
	She felt a tap on her shoulder from behind and quickly turned around.  It was Hiroshi, who worked in the ramen shop across the street.
	"Kiyuki-chan, what are you doing after work today?"
	"Saa, I was thinking of going to the library to study for awhile.  You?"
	"Hey, you're getting better at this lip reading thing everyday now.  What do you have to study for?  You can't hear and you're still so much smarter than me."
	"Nah, Hiro-kun.  If I don't study, I'll be like you."  She chuckled.
	"That's mean, Kiyuki.  Just for that, now you have to come with me and teach me how to roll sushi like you promised a LONG time ago.  No excuses.  Besides, got some new things I wanted to show ya."
	"Okay, okay...I guess the library can wait."

	Hiroshi brought out a big stack of nori along with the big zojirushi pot of cooked rice.
	"Gee, how many sushi are we making?"  Kiyuki made a face at the thought of all the wasted sushi.
	"Gotta practice."  he replied.  Kiyuki didn't need to read Hiroshi's lips for that one.  The big grin on his face said it all.  Kiyuki began to teach Hiroshi how to roll sushi.
	"Ne, Hiro-kun, ever been to that back room in the library where they keep all the old books?"  Hiroshi was engrossed in imitating Kiyuki's hands around the sushi.  He ended up with holy nori and rice spilling out the sides.  He sighed in disappointment.
	"It's okay, Hiroshi, keep trying.  What about that room in the library?"
	"Dunno.  I know they're supposed to keep it locked up all the time, but once in awhile the staff gets lazy and someone slips."
	"I went inside once.  The girl who was working there dropped the key so I gave it back to her and left, but..."
	"You gave back the key without giving it to me?!"  Hiroshi interrupted with wide eyes.  Kiyuki raised an eyebrow.
	"Uh, yeah, what else was I supposed to do?"
	"Because I am 'takemono'* Hiroshi!  That's why!"  Kiyuki sweatdropped.  
	"Whatever you say TakeMOTO Hiroshi-kun."  Hiroshi pulled down bottom of his eye and stuck his tongue out while Kiyuki wasn't looking and mumbled.
	"And don't think even though I can't hear I don't know what you're doing behind my back.  I'm not blind, ya know."
	"Okay, okay...really now.  What kind of book was it?"
	"It was in Chinese," Kiyuki began.  "and it was called the Shi-jin-ten-shi-sho.  I opened it and this green light emitted from the pages so I thought the book was radioactive or something.  I got so scared I dropped the book on the floor and ran out."  The girl's face was beginning to turn red.  Hiroshi shot his friend a dirty look.
	"Such a chicken as always.  Even old books aren't radioactive, baka.  Is it still there?"
	"Probably."
	"Tell ya what, I'll go down there and see if I can't lift the book off the shelf or something.  I'll go check it out since you're so scared."
	"Hiro-kun, no!"  But it was too late.  Hiroshi snatched up a sushi Kiyuki had rolled and was out the door running to the library.  Poor Kiyuki was left behind to clean up the mess.


	"Hey, Kiyuki!" Hiroshi pressed the button that triggered the doorbell and the visual signal that made the lights flash throughout the Nenaii residence.
	"Hiro-kun!  What took you so long?"
	"Getting the book was a cinch.  I was trying to read it, though.  Not having much luck."  He opened the book to show Kiyuki what he had done.
	"Anou...Hiro no baka-chan, you've got the book upside down."
	"Oh...eh heh heh.  Sorry."  Hiroshi turned the book and around and perused the text.  I see no green glow here, Kiyuki.  Maybe it was because some of the pages were rotting or something.  It smells kinda rancid."
	"Oh, give me that."  Kiyuki took the book closed from Hiroshi's hands.  "I'll see if I can decipher the thing tonight.  Shouldn't you be closing up shop with Ojii-chan [grandpa]?"
	"Yeah, I should.  Fine.  Tell me what it says and I'll bring you a piping hot bowl of ramen for lunch tomorrow, okay?"
	"Sounds good.  See you tomorrow."


	*Hmm...I wonder where Mom and Dad are* Kiyuki thought to herself.  She had made a beautiful plate of sushi to welcome them at their arrival only to have to wrap it up and stick it in the refrigerator.  She finished cleaning up and remembered the old text.  Kiyuki sat down with her Chinese-Japanese dictionary in a comfy chair, picked it up, and stared at the characters on the cover.  *Universe of the Four Gods, huh?  How profound.*  She opened the front cover and was pummeled with a strange odor.  *Hiro-kun was right.  This book IS rancid.*  She found the first page and translated as she went.  'This is the story of a girl who gathered the Seven Seishi of Genbu. She obtained omnipotent power, and made ever wish come true. The story itself is an incantation. Whoever finishes reading it will recieve this power. As soon as the page is turned, the story will become...'
	The green light filled the room catching Kiyuki by surprise.  *What's happening?!* she thought, although this time she refrained from closing the book.
	A few minutes later Mr. and Mrs. Nenaii returned from a long day's work.
	"Where is Kiyuki?" Mrs. Nenaii asked her husband.
	"I don't know, but she must have stopped by home.  Her books and notes are all over the chair again."  The parents gathered up the strewn paper and closed the book, leaving them on a nearby coffee table.