The wind was biting. He hadn’t grabbed his overcoat before he’d left the school, so Asanuma could practically feel all of its cold teeth tearing through him as he tore down the street But he ignored it, eyes searching for any alley between the elegant skyscrapers of Myugen. It took him two blocks, but he finally found one, and he ducked into it, hunkering behind a Dumpster that sheltered him from most of the wind.

            He dug into his backpack, pulling out the papers he had found, and knelt on top of them with his hands splayed to keep the wind from blowing them away. After staring at them for a minute, he lifted one hand away from the fluttering papers and reached into his pocket for his cell phone.

            As he waited for Mikai to answer, he shuffled through the papers, looking at the pages of neatly drawn Punnett squares and lists of gametes and phenotypes with a mounting shortness of breath.

            “Pick up the fucking phone, Mikai,” he growled through chattering teeth, glaring at the papers. “Pick up the – ”

            “Hello?”

            “Mikai! You fucking ass!”

            “You know, as amusing as I find all your creative obscenities, Asanuma-kun, I’ve already been cussed out enough for not telling you about Rei – ”

            “This isn’t about Rei, you bastard! Do you know what I just found in my backpack?”

            There was silence on the other end of the phone. Then sound of shuffling, then: “Shit.”

            “Shit is right,” snapped Asanuma. “When were you planning to tell us Serena’s the Moon Princess?”