Glory n. 1. High renown or honour won by notable achievements. 2. Magnificence; great beauty.

There she was, Taiki thought, peering through the bookshelves. Mizuno Ami, the girl genius. It was her title, it was a sentence. Anyone talking about her (with a few notable exceptions) attached those words to Mizuno Ami's name. The-Girl-Genius. There were many rumours surrounding her: she had a tested IQ of 400, she was a cheat, she was a robot, she was an alien.

An alien. Taiki's lips quirked. If only they knew... if only they knew about real aliens. She took a side step to her left and walked towards the girl, who was deeply absorbed in whatever she was looking at. I could put my hands around your neck and strangle you right now, Taiki thought to herself, and you could do nothing about it.

Then Ami stopped typing. She didn't turn around, she simply waited. "May I help you with something, Taiki-san?"

"I hear you could help me with many things, Mizuno-san. They say you're a genius."

Ami began typing again. "You shouldn't listen to everything 'they' say, Taiki-san. I study for the exams and I do my homework, the same as any other student."

Taiki was irritated but held it in. She wasn't going to lose her temper because of some senshi from a tiny solar system like this. She took a deep breath, collected herself, and continued. "You don't seem impressed by your reputation, Mizuno-san."

"'With enough courage, you can do without a reputation'," Ami replied.

"I wouldn't have thought you'd watch something like that," Taiki said, letting the merest inflection of disgust flavour her voice.

"And I wouldn't have thought you'd know what I was talking about, so you must have seen it, Taiki-san," Ami answered, smiling to herself. "I have a friend who wants to break into acting and she likes watching English-language films. Gone with the Wind is an American classic, so I watched it with her once." She shrugged, signifying that was all. Her fingers did not stop their dance over the keyboard.

Taiki stood and looked over her shoulder. She could see the model of a galaxy, a saucer galaxy to be exact, glowing like a jewel. "The glory of space," she said softly.

Ami stopped typing again, and actually turned around. "You like space, Taiki-san?"

"The ancients believed that star gazing was one of the best skills a man could have," Taiki answered, having just stopped herself from saying 'your ancients'. "Astronomy has always been interesting to me. Looking out into space, investigating the void, making contact... I mean, possibly making contact with other planets, other species," she said, catching herself.

Ami tapped a few keys and the picture zoomed in, focusing on a scarlet sphere. "I'm putting together a project to show stars explode," she said. "I'm at the red giant stage."

"I don't suppose you've ever seen a star explode," Taiki said softly.

"Not from here," Ami answered. "We're too far away... we only see the remains. Someday, perhaps, I might..."

They were both silent for a moment, contemplating the idea. "It would be glorious," Ami murmured.

The word stung Taiki. "Glorious? To watch something die?" she said harshly. "Death is not beautiful, no matter what the fireworks. Would you call the death of a planet beautiful, too?"

Ami stared at her. "No... of course not. Have I said something to offend you, Kou-san?"

"It's nothing," Taiki muttered. "Nothing at all. Forgive me." She turned and hurried from the room. The males of this species were not allowed to cry easily.


DISCLAIMER: I do not own Taiki or Ami. They both belong to Naoko Takeuchi.