Isekai by Moonlight

[robkelk]

Why bother going on in this primitive world without my dearest? Sailor Moon won, so she'd have been brought back... somewhere. Nobody was in the apartment next door, at least that I could hear.

I knew that Sailor Moon won because Metaria wasn't taking over the world. Besides, the calendar had been reset; whether she did it intentionally or by accident, Usagi had rewound the clock by exactly one year to the minute. It had been less than a week and there was already talk about "Missing Time" in astronomy circles... and in the tabloids, where I noticed it first.

Sailor Moon was triumphant. And I was alone.

I couldn't even talk with Luna and Artemis on a regular basis; the resurrected Usagi-san and Minako-san thought of the Mau as their pets, and they didn't remember me other than as "that really tall schoolmate in Class 5".

This was getting me nowhere. I couldn't pine for my lost love any more. I had to face reality. And reality told me that I needed to go buy some food. So I headed out...

... only to almost bump into my new neighbour, who had just come up the stairs. She was five months less two days younger than me. She was tall for a Japanese girl; 174 cm. She looked surprised when she realized she had to look up to me; I had 9 cm on her. And she had lovely green eyes, and she wore her auburn hair in a ponytail, and she had rose piercings in her earlobes. She was gorgeous, despite not smiling as soon as she saw me.

And I had to pretend that I didn't know who she was. Stupid, stupid, stupid genre conventions!

She spoke first. "Oh! Excuse me, I didn't see your door opening."

"That's quite all right, miss."

"Kino Makoto. Happy to meet you."

Somehow I kept it together. "Rob Donaldson. Pleased to meet you."

"Were you on your way out?" She held up one of the bags that she was carrying. "I was about to pay visits to my new neighbours."

"I wasn't going anywhere special, just making a grocery run. That can wait."

She smiled – not the happy smile that I'd become accustomed to, but a friendly smile. "I'll be right back." And she headed to her own apartment.

I meditated to get my emotions under control for four minutes and twenty-seven seconds – not that I was counting, and if I told myself that often enough I might even believe it. Then there was a knock at my door. I opened it to see Makoto... no, I had to think of her as Kino-san... standing there with a small parcel in her hands. She bowed politely. "Hello, I'm Kino Makoto, and I just moved in next door. Please be kind to me. This isn't much, but I hope you'll accept it." She held the parcel out to me.

"I'll do my best, Kino-san." It was about the same size and shape as her usual bento box, which reminded me of the day that she met Usagi-san, I looked into her brainprint at her memory of that meeting as I accepted the box from her.

And, because I wasn't paying attention to what we were doing now instead of then, our hands touched. "Oh, I'm sorry!" She didn't respond immediately. "Did I offend you, Kino-san? I didn't mean to."

"Who ... who was that? And why do I think I know her?"

"You saw someone?" For the first time since Usagi-san hit the reset button, I began to hope.

"I... remembered something. I think. A blonde girl, my age, saying that my bento looked really good."

I nodded in understanding. "Ah. That's a memory from the Missing Time."

She looked skeptical. "The year that some scientists and those two cosmonauts claim we've lost? I don't believe it."

I had completely forgotten that there were people off-Earth (on Mir, in Principal Expedition 12, I looked up later). I wondered whether Usagi-san knew about the miners and neutrino astronomers deep under the surface, too.

I don't know why I went all-in – it was probably desperation on the part of my subconscious – but it seemed like the right thing to do. "I have memories of it, from the first day to the last. Please believe me, M- Kino-san." Technically that was true; I had Makoto's, Ami-san's, and Urawa-san's memories of the entire year.

She looked at me critically for a long moment. She'd obviously noticed that I almost called her by her given name... but did that help or hurt whether she trusted me?

"Alright. You can tell me more about the Missing Time. After I pay my respects to our other neighbours."

I smiled slightly. "I'll be here. And I'll do something about the mess."

Isekai by Moonlight

Chapter R

Makoto looked around in amazement. "This is a mess?"

"Compared to its usual state, yes." Mainly because she hadn't cleaned my apartment over the last half-week; Makoto had a profound dislike of uncleanliness, which I was willing to indulge her in. But it wasn't too bad compared to the usual single-male apartment. The dishes from lunch had gone unwashed for a few hours, and, I realized just after she spotted them, I hadn't put away my collection of Sailor Senshi crane-game dolls. But how could I store away my feelings for Makoto?

"Those are cute," she said, walking over to take a closer look at them. She picked up the one in the place of honour, in the center of the group. "I like this one the best. Who are they?"

"They're called Sailor Senshi. That one is Sailor Jupiter." You, I carefully didn't say. "The dolls are physical artifacts of the Missing Time."

She put the doll down immediately. But gently.

"Every bit of common sense tells me that I shouldn't trust you about the Missing Time. If it even exists."

Well, so much for hope.

"But I want to trust you."

Then again, hope springs eternal.

"Please, tell me about the Missing Time."

"I can do better than that if you'll let me. But you have to trust me."

Her eyes narrowed. "Trust you how?"

"You need to sit down in front of me, and let me touch my forehead to yours for a few minutes."

She looked like she thought that my request was... not insane, but odd. "Maybe I should check your temperature, and find out if you're feeling okay."

"A few minutes, not a few seconds." I sat down, leaving her the cushion closer to the door.

After a long moment, she sat down in front of me. "Will it hurt?"

"It never has before." And I touched my forehead to hers.

She gasped as the memory flow began. Then she sighed, and giggled, and gasped again, and finally started crying as the last memory flowed into her mind.

She didn't say anything for a moment. "You're... no, that can't be right. We fought beside each other?" She stretched out her right arm, palm up... and after a few seconds was holding her transformation pen and communicator.

"I need to think about what you've shown me, Robu-san."

And she stood up and left my apartment.

My heart, which I was expecting to be soaring in the heavens in happiness, suddenly crashed and burned at the end of the runway.

But then I realized she'd called me "Robu-san", not "Donarudoson-san",

Hope walked away from the wreckage at the end of the runway and headed for another aircraft.

And, yes, I know that that's a terrible analogy for anything to do with Makoto.

---

I didn't see Makoto... Kino-san again for three days.

Which was understandable – I had just dumped a year's worth of memories into her head, the newest of which told her that not only was she my girlfriend, but that we had kissed. She had to go through them all, and then figure out whether they actually apply to her.

Yes, she did need to do that. The alternative was that I was mind-controlling her by giving her back her memories. And I didn't want that at all.

It was obvious to me what she was going through. Despite having the transformation pen, she was still Kino Makoto, not Sailor Jupiter... except in those memories. And despite living next door to me, she wasn't my girlfriend, either... again, except in those memories. Who was she: the person who she remembered being, or the person in the memories that I had returned to her? Or both?

And she had nobody to talk with about it. As far as I knew at the time, she and I, and Luna and Artemis, were the only people on Earth who had any memories from the Missing Time. She couldn't monopolize Luna or Artemis without Usagi or Minako getting suspicious of this girl who they'd never met paying attention to their pets. And she certainly wasn't going to ask me whether I was really her boyfriend.

But after supper at the end of those three days, I heard a scratching on my door, as if a pet wanted in. Then I heard, in English, "Let me in already, Rob."

I moved to the door quickly and let him in. "Sorry about that, Artemis," I replied in English. It felt good to speak my native language again without keeping secrets from the people I was speaking with.

"No worries. You're not a 'cat' person."

I nodded. "Yeah. And I don't have anything to offer you, either. Sorry."

"Just be sure to have some fish for the next time I'm over. I'm already getting tired of the dry cat food that Minako picked out."

I grimaced at the news of his monotonous diet. "I'll keep that in mind. What brings you to this part of town?"

"Mako-chan came by to talk while Minako was in class."

Looks like Makoto figured out a way to talk with Artemis after all.

He looked me straight in the eye. Note to self: Never get into a staring contest with a cat. Or a Mau.

I finally broke, not that I left him hanging for very long. "Yeah, I gave her back her memories. I'll point out that she had to cooperate for the process to work."

"Do you know how weird it is to get the 'talking cat! talking cat!' reaction from somebody who asked to talk with you?"

"Can't say that I do."

"Well, it's very weird. And then I had to be the one to confirm that she and you actually were an item during the Missing Time."

"Sorry about that, Artie. And thank you. How well did she take it?" Before he could reply, there was a knock at my door. I switched to Japanese out of courtesy. "Coming!"

I opened the door to see Makoto. Blushing. "May I come in?"

"Certainly!" I stepped aside to let her in, and turned to my other guest. "Don't answer that question, Artemis-san."

"Oh! Hello, Artemis-san."

"Hello and good-bye, Mako-chan. I was just leaving."

I smiled at his thoughtfulness. "I'd ask you to say hi to Minako-san, but... well..."

"I'm sure that she'd think the thought is enough. I'll see you tomorrow."

I held the door open for him. "And I'll have some sashimi waiting. See you then."

I barely had time to close the door before Mako-chan glomped me.

I'd never been glomped before. It's quite pleasant – when done by somebody who you love and who loves you.

Turning the glomp into a full-fledged hug, I smiled and said, "I see that the talk Artie said you had with him went well."

"Is that why you're going to have sashimi with him tomorrow?"

"No. Aino-san's feeding him dry cat food."

She grimaced. "Oh, yuck! I'll help pay for the sashimi."

"Thanks. Let's have dinner together, all three of us, and we can figure out how we're going to make friends with the others again."

"Robu-chan... Robu... darling, would you mind if I kept you all to myself for a while?"

I chuckled. "I don't mind at all. I don't want a harem, remember? I only want you, my dearest."

For that comment, I got a kiss from my girlfriend. Not as passionate as our kiss at the end of the Missing Time, but not as urgent, either.

No, we didn't go any farther than that. I believe I've mentioned before how her body is still developing that way, and how thin the walls of our apartment building are.

---

The next day, the three of us figured out how Mako-chan and I were going to meet at school, and over the next month become a couple, without anybody thinking that our relationship was at all unusual. Well, other than the "Japanese girl dating a non-Japanese guy" level of unusual.

Artemis is more devious than I am. It was mostly his ideas that we ended up using. Most of my ideas were too Rube-Goldberg-ish in application, and Makoto was willing to simply pick up where we left off and not pay any attention to what anyone else thought.

Our height actually worked to our advantage here. Teal Deer, Mako-chan and I were going to commiserate with each other about being tall, then realize we could help each other with our homework, and one thing would lead to another.

After we figured that out, Makoto asked the big question. "Should we give the others their memories back?"

Artemis shook his head. "Luna and I think you deserve to live normal lives, without having to put yourselves in harm's way. I haven't told her that you have your memories back, Mako-chan. And it's bad enough that the two of you do remember."

"But that was the only way to get our love back. I'm happy with the trade." She turned to me and raised an eyebrow – an expression that she'd picked up from me.

"That trade is the second-best thing that's happened in my life so far, right behind meeting you to begin with. As for the others' memories, I can't give them back, except for Ami-san and her boyfriend Urawa Ryou-san. And I don't know how to begin to look for Ryou-san. Sure, I can pull his address in Niigata out of his brainprint, but then what do I do? He has no reason to trust me until after I give back his memories, and he has to trust me before I can do that."

"You're still Ami-chan's classmate, and see her every day, though. You know her better than I do right now."

"I suppose I do. She's almost as quiet as she was when we met her, despite still being in the Conversational English club with Minako-san and me."

Makoto frowned at that news. "I was hoping to have her as a friend again, but ..."

"But?" Artemis asked.

"But I'm still a little jealous of anybody who Robu might be interested in." She turned to me and added, "I'll leave the choice up to you."

I didn't need to have a copy of her mind in my head to know how she was thinking. "Let's not restore Ami-san's memories just yet." Then it was my turn to ask a big question. "Makoto, my dearest... can you still read my mind?"

She looked surprised at the question. Then she thought, and concentrated, and finally frowned. "No, I can't. I tried turning that on, but instead of your mind, I read the memories you gave back to me. Can you still read mine?"

I shook my head. "No. And I don't know why. I was able to give you back your memories, so why doesn't this work?"

Artemis suggested, "Maybe it's because you gave her back her memories."

"The power did what it needed to do, and then burned out?"

"That makes sense," Makoto said.

"It does at that. Stupid genre conventions."

"Hey, that genre convention brought us back together. Don't call it stupid." After a moment, Makoto asked, "So, what happened after that fantastic kiss? Which, by the way, was my first kiss ever."

"Thank you for sharing your first kiss with me, my dearest." As I thought about how to answer her question, I sighed deeply. "Right after we made that copy of your memories, you headed off to the Dark Kingdom. And..."

"And...?" Then the penny dropped. "You didn't change the anime. I died, didn't I?"

When I didn't answer, Artemis said, "He put his fist through the wall when it happened."

"That is so sweet of you, darling."

I had forgotten how physically-oriented Makoto was. "Losing you hit me hard, even though I was pretty sure Bunny-chan would bring you back. I don't want to lose you again, my dearest."

She smiled. "And I don't want to risk losing you, darling. We don't need to read each other's minds. We'll just have to have a normal relationship, like everybody else."

If Artemis hadn't been in the room, I'd have kissed her again.

---

Friday came, as it usually does near the end of the week. Maybe if it was more motivated, it would show up earlier.

I could understand not being motivated, though, so I didn't complain about it arriving in its own time.

But Friday meant I had to pretend again. The membership of the Conversational English club hadn't changed, but only one-third of us remembered the Missing Time. Of course we spoke English during club meetings; that was the whole point to the club.

"Donaldson-san, what do you think of the rumours about the Missing Time?"

I missed being on a given-name basis with Ami-san. "Which rumours have you heard, Mizuno-san?"

"The most recent is that the cosmonauts on Mir aren't the people who the Soviet space program thought were on the station."

Her mention of the Soviets puzzled me, until I remembered that they wouldn't formally dissolve the USSR until Christmas Day, nearly two months after our conversation.

"That does lend some credence to the idea that there is a Missing Time," Minako-san offered.

"And we'll probably never know what the cosmonauts know," I added. "If they know anything about what happened during the Missing Time, the Soviets will treat it as a state secret."

"How do you figure that, Donaldson-san?"

"When have they not classified anything, Aino-san? Besides, there might be something in that knowledge that would give them an edge. But to answer Mizuno-san's question, I think they know more about the Missing Time than anybody else in what's left of the Soviet Union does. I suspect they'll be left in orbit where they can't talk with anybody until Gorbachev decides what to do with them."

"I can't argue with that," Minako-san said. "So, since we'll never know, let's talk about something else instead. I hear we're getting a new transfer student in on Monday."

Thank you for giving me an opening, Minako-san; now I can start Artie's plan and it'll seem like it was your comment that started it off. "You mean Kino-san?"

"How do you know her name, Donaldson-san?"

I smiled. "Believe it or not, she's my new next-door neighbour."

"What's she like?"

"Self-assured, very pretty, and once she's enrolled here she'll be the second-tallest student in the school."

"Behind you," Minako-san grinned.

"Where have I heard the name 'Kino' before?" Ami-san asked.

I sighed. Leave it to the resident super-genius to ask the difficult question. And I still wasn't about to lie to her. "Her given name is Makoto."

"Kino Makoto-san, as in ... six and a half years ago?" Ami-san asked.

"She hasn't said anything about that to me since she moved in." Since she moved in the second time, I didn't say. "But I do know that she doesn't like the sound of aircraft."

"What are you two talking about?"

"The worst single-airliner crash in history," I replied to Minako-san. "You'll learn about it in second year."

---

Monday, and Makoto officially joined the student body at Kuritsu Juban Chuugakkou. Or, rather, re-joined, not that anybody other than the two of us remembered that.

She told me after school that her desk was right beside Aoyama-san's, so during the first break between classes Makoto sighed loudly and mentioned that she already missed her last school... which got Aoyama-san to sympathize with her instead of being afraid of her. The two of them had lunch together that day.

"So you're already making friends in your new school," I said with a smile after she told me that.

"Re-making friends," she agreed. "How long until I get to coincidentally bump into you at school?"

"I've already told Ami-san and Minako-san... sorry, Mizuno-san and Aino-san that we're next-door neighbours, so whenever you're ready to complain about how you're being treated because you're tall."

"Tomorrow, then. And you're re-making friends, too."

"We're in the Conversational English club together. We talked about you last Friday."

"Nothing scandalous, I hope," she grinned.

"Not from me. But Mizuno-san figured out that you're the famous Kino Makoto."

Her grin disappeared. "You didn't tell her that I wasn't?"

"My dearest, I promised myself that I would never lie to you, or her, or Usagi-san. Just because the two of them don't remember being our friends and comrades-in-arms doesn't make that promise invalid."

"You'll never lie to me?" She actually looked surprised.

"Never. I might refuse to say anything or say something misleading, though."

Her smile came back. "I can see that." Then she thought for a moment. "Yeah, I guess you're right about telling Ami-san. And I wouldn't love you if you were the type of person who'd break a promise." After another beat, she continued, "But that doesn't mean I'm happy about my history preceding me."

"I doubt anybody else has figured it out, or if they have, they haven't said anything."

"I hope it'll stay that way. So, what are we going to do tonight?"

"The same thing we do every night. Homework."

---

Artie's plan went perfectly. Makoto and I started spending time together, towering over every other student and many of the teachers in the school. She started walking with me to the Conversational English club on Friday afternoons, which meant that she got to officially meet Aino-san and Mizuno-san for at least a moment each week and – more importantly – Aino-san didn't decide that I was available. And, after the Labor Thanksgiving Day holiday, we were holding hands while walking to the club on Fridays, and having lunch together every school day.

And, away from school, I re-established an acquaintance with Naru-san when I made a very special request at OSA-P.

We alternated which classroom we had lunch in – mine or hers – because we could still tell from the amount of room everybody was giving us that we still intimidated most of our classmates. But "most" wasn't "all"; Aoyama-san was willing to at least say hello when I visited Makoto's classroom, and of course my clubmate Mizuno-san returned the favour when Makoto dropped by our classroom.

Before the end of the month, even before everybody knew that Makoto and I were a couple, Aoyama-san started joining us for lunch when we ate in Makoto's classroom. We even re-started the traditional Revealing Of The Lunches after Makoto expressed an interest in Hokkaido-style cooking. It was fun.

Then came the day that the three of us had lunch together in my classroom. It was November 22, which I remember because we had the next day off for Labor Thanksgiving Day, so some of what I just mentioned happened after this. Aoyama-san noticed the single lily on a desk. "Is that...?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's Sato-san's desk."

"It's been a while since that car hit him," she commented, which finally told me how he'd died after Usagi-san reset the timeline and Kunzite wasn't around to turn him into a youma. "Who's still bringing in the flowers?"

I didn't say anything. But Mizuno-san did. "Donaldson-san does, every day."

Makoto raised an eyebrow, copying my habit in situations like this one. Ichigo-san... Aoyama-san raised both of her eyebrows. "I didn't know you were that close to him."

"I wasn't," I admitted. "But it's the right thing to do." I turned to Ami-san. "Mizuno-san, I didn't realize you'd noticed."

"Want to join us for lunch?" Makoto asked.

"I don't want to intrude..."

"It's no intrusion, Mizuno-san," Aoyama-san insisted as she moved her chair over to make room. "The more, the merrier!"

"I'm not in a merry mood right after talking about Sato-san," I mentioned. "But I join with the ladies in inviting you to join us."

"If you insist," she said with the ghost of a smile on her face. And then she moved her desk over beside mine.

Despite Ami-san... Mizuno-san barely joining in, that lunch was more fun than any other lunch I'd had all month.

And Mizuno-san apparently agreed with me there, since she mentioned it – in English, of course – during Conversational English club that afternoon. "I don't know why, but if felt right to have lunch with you and Kino-san and her friend today. But I couldn't help but feel like something or somebody was missing."

"It's not like you hadn't met Donaldson-san or Kino-san before, Mizuno-san. Maybe you knew Aoyama-san during the Missing Time!"

Ami-san actually looked annoyed at Minako-san's suggestion. "I don't want to hear any of those ridiculous conspiracy theories about the Missing Time, Aino-san. Rumours that we can pull information from are one thing, but conspiracy theories don't advance knowledge."

Minako-san actually pouted. "I know that something important happened during the Missing Time. But I don't know what!"

"Why don't you ask your pet cat? Maybe he knows what happened," I said with a smile.

Ami-san rolled her eyes. Minako-san asked, "Even if he did know, how could he tell me?" Then, after a beat, she asked, "And how did you know I have a pet cat? I'm pretty sure that I never mentioned Artemis to you."

Oops. And I'd gone nearly a month without slipping up, too. Then I spotted an out. "I'm pretty sure that that completely white hair on your shoulder isn't yours. And you look like a 'cat' person to me. So his name is Artemus?"

"Artemis," she corrected my pronunciation as she picked his hair off of her school uniform. "And, yes, I know it's a girl's name. But I didn't name him."

Before we could continue, there was a knock at the door, then one of the girls' volleyball team members poked her head in. "I'm sorry to interrupt," she said in Japanese, "but we need Aino-san for a quick meeting before this weekend's match with Toyo Eiwa Jogakuin."

"Gotta go! Don't wait for me; these quick meetings usually last at least a half-hour. Sorry!" And she was gone.

Once she was gone, Ami turned to me. "I wonder who did name her pet cat."

"Did you want to wind up the meeting now, Mizuno-san?"

"Not yet, if you don't mind." After a quick pause, she continued, "When I heard Aino-san say the name 'Artemis', I had the same feeling that I had at lunch time when I was talking with Aoyama-san, Kino-san, and you. I'm starting to wonder whether we actually did know each other during the Missing Time."

I wasn't going to lie to her. But that didn't mean that I had to volunteer information.

"Artemis... Artemis and... somebody. Oh, why do I think that that's important?" she asked with some frustration. "I don't like not knowing something!"

I nodded in sympathy. "That can be annoying, I know. There's something that you think you should know, but when you reach for it, it dissolves into mist."

"Or fog. And that seems important, too."

More important that you know right now, my dearer friend. And I don't dare call you that. "Maybe you should sleep on it, and see whether your dreams tell you anything."

"Maybe I should. Thank you for listening to me, Donaldson-san."

"You're welcome, Mizuno-san," I replied as she stood up and grabbed her bag. I stood up as well and said, "I'll clean up today. See you Monday."

I did so, then headed home, changed into more comfortable clothes, and went grocery shopping for the weekend. Once I was home again and food was put away, I knocked on Makoto's door. "Anybody home?"

"Come on in!" I did, to see her in jeans and a t-shirt; she'd been cleaning her apartment again, although she wasn't so impolite as to continue cleaning while she had a guest. Considering how messy an aircraft crash usually is, I could understand why she was a neat freak.

"If you maintain this habit of keeping your home spotless, you're going to make some lucky guy very happy, you know that, Makoto."

"And just who do you think the lucky guy is going to be, Robu?" she asked with a grin.

I grinned in return. "I thought we settled that during the Missing Time. Me, of course." Then I gave her a hug.

"And don't you forget it!" Then she lost her grin and sighed.

"What's wrong, my dearest?"

Slipping out of our hug, she said, "I think we messed up."

"I know I messed up today; I mentioned Artemis to Minako-san before she told me about him. I managed to come up with a convincing reason why, though. I think."

"That isn't what I meant. After having lunch with Ami-san and Ichigo-san today, I realized how much I miss my friends. Our friends."

I sighed. "I can't bring them back. Except for Ami-san, and she has to allow it and cooperate, just like you did."

"I know. It would be nice, though." Then she forced a smile. "So, what's for dinner?"

I smiled in return. "Well, I have all the ingredients for chicken curry."

"Your curry's too spicy! Honestly, who puts nanami togarashi in curry?"

Anthy, I thought but didn't say. "I do. But since you don't like it, we'll just have to go out. I know a nice little beef-bowl place, perfect for discussing things like Martial Arts Figure Skating."

"I'll get my skates."

---

I mentioned the conversation we'd had during the Conversational English club meeting to Artemis when he came over to use my laptop. He was following up on an idea that I'd had during the Missing Time; he was using the software I had installed and the Dark Kingdom's biometric data that I had taken from Janelyn and Misha to improve the graphics of the Sailor V game. Not to near-photorealistic levels, because the state of the art wouldn't support that in a console game, but still better than simple sprites. He was doing this in order to make it a better training simulator, of course; the additional income that would result from being the first to have that level of realism in a game had nothing to do with things. And if we repeated that often enough, we might even believe it.

While he was doing that, Makoto and I were going on dates.

That weekend, Makoto and I decided to throw caution to the winds and go watch the volleyball game. Luckily for us, Hino-san wasn't there to cheer for her school's team and possibly notice us and start wondering about the Missing Time. And, thanks to a last-minute rolling save by Aino-san, our team won! Yay us!

Mizuno-san joined us for lunch every day the next week. And, of course, the Revealing Of The Lunches revealed her sandwiches every day.

And I noticed that she was becoming more comfortable around us every day. Which made the rest of us happy, too.

Finally, Friday deigned to arrive. Minako-san brought some photos of Artemis to the Conversational English club, so of course we talked about the cats with crescent moon marks that we knew about. Which took all of half a minute, because I didn't mention Luna.

"It almost looks like he's posing in this shot," Ami-san remarked while holding a photo of Artie, who to my eye was obviously posing. The scamp.

"He does, doesn't he?" Minako-san agreed... just before there was a knock at the door. Sure enough, the volleyball team wanted her to attend another meeting.

"Should we reschedule this club to a different day of the week?" I asked.

Minako-san shook her head. "We're just in the middle of a three-week run of games. This shouldn't happen again after next week. Sorry!" she added as she headed out.

"Well, that was a short club meeting," I commented.

"Donaldson-san... I've been thinking about the Missing Time."

Oh, boy. "Have you reached any conclusions?"

"Not really. But the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that Aino-san had lunch with you and me and Aoyama-san and Kino-san and... somebody else. Either a blonde or a brunette."

"I see."

"Or maybe two people." Then came the question I was half-expecting and half-dreading. "Do you have any memories like that, that could come from the Missing Time?"

I sighed deeply. She'd asked directly, and I wasn't going to lie to her, no matter how crazy it made me sound. But speaking of crazy... "Mizuno-san, do you think that I'm sane? Because sometimes I wonder."

"You're one of the sanest people I know."

"Aw, you had to phrase it that way. Yes, I have memories of having lunch with you and Makoto and Aino-san and Aoyama-san and... I may as well tell you... Osaka-san and Tsukino-san."

"From class 1?" I nodded. "Yes, the blonde girl did have long twintails; it could be Tsukino-san. Do you have any other memories from the Missing Time? Assuming these are memories from the Missing Time. Because sometimes I see you and wonder whether your computer is running properly, and you've never mentioned owning a computer."

I owned two computers at that point, one from here and now and the laptop from my home reality, but that wasn't important just then. "Before I answer that, I'm going to have to ask you to lock the door, so that nobody walks in on us, overhears this conversation, and thinks we've both gone mad."

"Oh! They would, wouldn't they?" And my beautiful friend showed how much she trusted me, maybe only on a subconscious level, by locking herself in with me. Although she was careful to sit closer to the door than I did.

"Thank you, Mizuno-san. I know you're going to have trouble believing this. I know more about the Missing Time than anyone else on or off Earth."

She was taken aback by that statement, but rallied quickly. "How? And how can you be so sure?"

"Answering the first question first, I lived through the experience, and, alongside some other very special people with metahuman abilities, fought off an attempt to take over the world."

"That's an extraordinary claim, Donaldson-san. It needs extraordinary evidence."

I used a forcefield to draw the room's drapes closed. "Is that sufficient, Mizuno-san?"

She shook her head. "As evidence of metahuman abilities, no. You could have rigged some servos to do that."

"But I couldn't use servos to do this." And I used a forcefield to lift myself off the floor.

Her eyes went wide, but she said, "That could be wires."

So I used a forcefield to lift her off the floor.

"Eek! All right, I'm convinced!"

I set her down gently, then joined her on the ground just before there was a knock at the door. "Are you okay in there?"

I quickly-as-in-flash-move walked over to the door, unlocked it, and opened it to see Sakurada-sensei. "We're fine, Ms. Sakurada," I answered while stepping out of the way to let her see Ami-san and the classroom.

"I was just surprised by something that Donaldson-san told me," Ami-san added.

"You should be calling him 'Mr. Donaldson' when you're speaking English, Ms. Mizuno," the teacher scolded her.

"I'll keep that in mind, Sakurada-sensei... Sorry, Ms. Sakurada."

She smiled as Ami-san corrected herself. "I was just stopping by to let you know I have to leave the school now. Can you clean up after you're finished, please?"

Ami nodded. "It's my turn to do that."

"Lovely. I'll leave it to you, then. And I'll see you tomorrow."

"Have a good evening, Ms. Sakurada," I said as she left. Then I locked the door again and walked back to Ami-san.

Before I could say anything, she asked, "Did you just teleport?"

"No. That was extremely rapid movement, but I did pass through the points between where I started and where I finished. Answering your second question, I'm sure that I know more about the Missing Time than anyone else because two of the people who I fought alongside and the boyfriend of one of those two people each gave me permission to make copies of their minds close to the end of the Missing Time, so I have multiple sets of memories of that time instead of just one."

"That's incredible."

"I wouldn't find it credible either if I hadn't lived through it."

"Is there any mechanism to give those memories to somebody else?"

I saw the hopeful look on her face. "I'm going to be very careful about how I answer that. We did some experiments and determined that I can only give the memories back to the people who gave them to me in the first place, and I keep a copy anyway."

"Oh. I don't suppose any of those three people are people I know?"

"You might want to sit down before I answer that, Ami-san."

She's a smart girl. "I think you did just answer that. You're hinting that the 'we' you mentioned carrying out experiments includes me, and that you knew me well enough to be on a given-name basis with me, Donaldson-san."

"We were closer than that." As kindly as I could, I asked, "Do you want your memories back?"

She didn't answer for a long moment. Finally, she said, "I don't know whether I should."

"I didn't ask whether you should. Of the four people on Earth who I know remember the Missing Time, two think that you shouldn't, and one wants it to happen but isn't sure whether it should happen. But I'm the person who has the final say, and I think that your memories belong with you. If you want them."

"Who are the other three who have memories of the Missing Time? And whose memories do you have?"

I smiled. "Two of the people aren't human. Remember last week when I suggested Aino-san ask her cat about the Missing Time? If she does, Artemis is quite capable of answering her in Japanese. And so is Luna, Tsukino-san's pet. The person who's in both circles on the Venn diagram is my girlfriend, Makoto. And given that much and what I've already said, you should be able to figure out your relationship with the person who gave me the other set of memories in my head."

She thought for a moment. "I had a boyfriend during the Missing Time?"

"I don't know whether the rest of the world would have said that, but your memories in my head say that you thought so. And his memories in my head say that the feeling was mutual."

"I had a boyfriend during the Missing Time... Please don't think poorly of me for making a selfish request, but I want to know who he was."

I smiled. "Please don't think poorly of me for making a selfish offer, but I want my friend back. And I know Makoto wants you back, too."

"What do we have to do? How long will it take? And what preparations do we need to make?"

I turned the chair beside her to face her and sat down. "The preparations are now complete. We touch foreheads together for approximately ten minutes, while I do all the hard work."

She took a deep breath, turned her chair to face me, and leaned forward.

Ten minutes later, Ami-san smiled. "I'm home, Rob-san."

"Welcome back, my dearer friend," I smiled in return.

Then there were the thuds of three things hitting the desk she was sitting at. Without looking, she picked up her transformation pen and communicator and put them in her pocket. Then she looked at the Mercury Computer. "I wonder how this was dented," she said. I knew that it was probably from her using it to break that youma's illusion gem, but that happened after the last time that I updated her brainprint. Putting her palmtop in her pocket alongside her other Senshi gear, she asked, "So now I can tell Mako-chan that I remember her, too... No, wait." Her smile started to change to a grin. "I'll tell her on Thursday!"

I knew exactly what she was thinking. "If you're going to wait until then, I'll have to change our reservations."

---

Jumping straight to Thursday...

After the Revealing Of The Lunches, which did not include sandwiches because Ami-san was busy with something else that lunch break, I reminded Makoto that we had plans for after school. "And please wear your best dress."

"Is today special?" Aoyama-san asked.

I smiled as I handed a box – one that I'd picked up at OSA-P the day before – to Makoto. "Happy Birthday, my dearest."

"Oh, you shouldn't have!" She opened the box, moved the cotton that was protecting her gift out of the way, then said, "Oh, darling, you really shouldn't have. Can you afford this?"

"I promised you a present, no matter what. So I've been saving up especially for today," I replied as she took the pendant out of the box and put it on.

"It's beautiful..." Aoyama-san turned to me. "What is it made of? I don't recognize the stone."

"That's a pink tourmaline. It took a month for Osaka-san at OSA-P to carve the rose into it." Before Makoto could say anything, I added, "And it's already bought and paid for."

"Oh, I wish Mizuno-san was here to see it. I'll just have to show it to her tomorrow."

Lunch ensued, as did afternoon classes. Then we went home and got changed.

I was in my best suit – all right, my only suit – with a white shirt and black tie. Makoto was in a green long-sleeved dress that came down to just above her knees, with a matching hair ribbon, wrap, and flat shoes, and of course her rose earrings and the pendant I'd given her earlier in the day. I offered her my arm and escorted her to the waiting taxi.

Yes, I know how expensive taxis are in Tokyo. And so did she. "All this, just for me?"

"All this, just for you." I told the driver, "The National Art Center in Roppongi, please."

Makoto's eyes went wide. "The... darling, can you afford dinner there after buying me this pendant?"

"Nothing but the best for my dearest on your birthday."

We made small talk during the trip, mostly about how much we loved each other, so it wasn't really "small". Finally we arrived, and I paid the driver. It was a good thing that I pulled out of the bank more than I planned to spend, because I needed it.

And, as she'd already figured out, we made our way to Brasserie Paul Bocuse Musée, which in the early 1990s was still one of the best French restaurants in Tokyo. The maitre d' showed us to the only table that had a dozen pink roses in a vase as its centrepiece.

"Oh, they're lovely!" Then she noticed how many chairs were around the table. "But there must be some mistake. The table's set for three."

"There's no mistake," I replied as the maitre d' left me to seat Makoto. "Our companion should be along any minute now." And, sure enough, the maitre d' returned with the third member of our party just as I was seating myself, so I had to stand as she arrived.

"Happy Birthday, Mako-chan," Ami-san said.

"Mizuno-san?" Then Makoto realized what she'd called her. "Ami-chan...?"

"For love and justice, I couldn't miss your big day," she replied.

Makoto's smile lit up the room.

Oh, yes; Ami-san was wearing a sky-blue dress and matching pumps, with (as we discovered when it came time to leave) a pale-blue wrap.

And, yes, we did draw quite a few looks. Most of the men seemed to be envious of me, for obvious reasons.

---

Friday followed Thursday, and the Conversational English club followed classes.

And Minako-san was called out of the club for the third time in a row. She promised that it would be the last time.

Once the door was closed behind Minako-san, Ami-san sighed deeply, "I'm worn out from having to pretend I don't know Mina-san well enough to call her by her given name. And you've been doing this for a month?"

"You're a more honest person that Makoto and I are; we have an advantage over you there when it comes to keeping secrets. But I know you can keep the secret. After all, nobody figured out that you're Sailor Mercury the last time around."

"How do you do it?"

"I don't lie to anybody, but I don't volunteer the truth, either. And I'm getting good at truthful but misleading statements, and at changing the subject. Maybe it would be best to say that I treat it like a game: Can I keep up the façade without actually telling anybody a lie until there's no need for a façade any more?"

"I just realized that you and Mako-chan were playing that game for an entire month. And you won; I never imagined that you were already in love while you looked like you were falling in love."

"Thank you," I smiled.

"And speaking of love..."

When she didn't continue that sentence, I replied anyway. "Yes, I could pull Urawa-san's address out of his brainprint. But I'm not going to while we're studying for end-of-term exams. That gives you almost a month to figure out whether you want to get in touch with him again."

"What happened in the anime?"

"We never saw him again in the anime. But you already know what I think when it comes to changing canon."

"Thank you, Rob-san. And I'll have to think about how I want to contact him."

"Message received and understood, Ami-san. Now, why don't we review our English classes and study for the English exams? While speaking in English, of course." I got out my textbook just before Sakurada-sensei showed up to mention club activities were being put on hold until after the winter holidays. When she saw that we were studying, she let us stay for the rest of the afternoon... and even gave us some semi-private tutoring.

---

Mid-December wasn't all a slog of studying and exams, of course. Makoto and I spent two delightful weekends seeing some of Tokyo's sights, including taking a tour of the Imperial palace grounds the Sunday morning after her birthday.

Well, the weekends were mostly delightful. There was that one incident.

We spent the Sunday afternoon after her birthday walking through Hamarikyu Gardens. "Remember when Kunzite got the drop on you here?" she asked as we walked past the 300-year-old pine.

"That hasn't happened yet," I replied with a smile. "And with the Dark Kingdom no longer existing, it won't happen at all."

"But we both still remember it happening," she pointed out as she leaned against me. "Oh, this feels so good. I never got to just rest against my sempai back at my old school."

"What, never?"

"Well, he turned me down, so we were never close enough to do this."

"His loss is our gain," I replied with a smile while putting my arm around her waist and drawing her closer... which caught the attention of a man with a professional camera and his family, one of whom we both recognized from the Missing Time but couldn't acknowledge.

"Excuse me, but may I take some photos of the two of you?" he asked. "I'm Tsukino Kenji, and I'm working on a human-interest piece for my magazine."

"Daaaaad, we're supposed to be relaxing!" This came from the older of the two children – a blue-eyed blonde with long twintails. Yes, the girl who we had to pretend we didn't know was Usagi-san... and I didn't dare call her Bunny-chan.

Before I could reply to either of them, Makoto said, "I'm sorry, but I really don't want my photo in the media."

"That's a shame," said Kenji's wife who I had to pretend I didn't know was named Ikuko. "You're a pretty girl, miss..."

"Mama, papa, stop bothering her." That was Usagi. "If Kino-san doesn't want her photo taken, I'm sure she has a good reason."

And that gave me an opportunity to acknowledge knowing her, at least from a distance. "Ah! You're our schoolmate, aren't you, Tsukino-san?"

She smiled and nodded. "Tsukino Usagi, from Class 1. I'm surprised you recognized me."

"Why shouldn't we recognize you? We aren't celebrities who are isolated from everyone else, Tsukino-san. We're just noticeable because we're so tall." I turned to her father and bowed. "From Class 5 in your daughter's school, I'm Rob Donaldson. I'm happy to meet you all."

"And from Class 6, I'm Kino Makoto." She also bowed.

Kenji-san recognized her name. "Oh! Yes, of course I understand why you wouldn't want attention called to you, Kino-san. I apologize for intruding on your afternoon."

"No apologies are necessary, Tsukino-san," she replied graciously... but I knew my girlfriend well enough to see subtle signs of stress when she said that.

"Let's go, dad..." Apparently, Usagi-san noticed the signs, too. "You were going to show us the statue of Umashimadenomikoto, remember?"

"Was I?" Then he noticed the look his wife was giving him. "Ah, that's right! Let's not waste any time." And the entire family headed off to the southwest, leaving the two of us as alone as we could be in a public park on a weekend.

"So, who is Umashimade-no-mikoto?" I asked, just before noticing the name in Ami-san's brainprint.

"A great-grandson of Amaterasu-sama," Makoto replied distractedly as she watched the Tsukino family walk away. Then she sighed deeply. "Why do people have to know my name?"

"It isn't your fault," I replied. "And it isn't everybody. C'mon, let's go get some tea and relax."

Silly me. How was I supposed to know that the tea house in Hamarikyu Gardens was the formal sort, rather than a place to relax? Okay, I know ritual is supposed to be relaxing, but I just can't relax when I'm sitting in seiza. Good thing that we were still dressed for a tour of the Imperial Palace grounds, and thus didn't stand out during the tea ceremony.

But there's something to be said for going through a formal ceremony, even one that until I started it I didn't know that I knew. Stupid genre conventions.

And Makoto liked it, which was the important thing.

---

Instead of getting together for the Conversational English club the next Friday, we had a study session at Ami-san's apartment. By "we", I mean the lunch group, not just Aino-san and I, so Aoyama-san finally got to meet Aino-san this time around. Ami-san had the advantage of remembering having taken the courses before, so she could concentrate on helping the rest of us study.

And I got to meet her mother again, for the very first time. But this time we actually had some time to talk while the girls were making supper. Or, rather, we had time for her to interrogate me... quite politely, of course, and to ensure that it was safe for Ami-san to continue associating with me.

"What are your career plans, Donarudoson-san?"

This was something I'd been considering for a while; I had a new start on life and wanted to try something different. "I'm planning to become a professional photographer, Mizuno-sensei, possibly working with some of the major newspapers if they'll have me."

"That doesn't pay very well, does it?"

I understood why she was concerned about money, what with the economic bubble having burst recently. "It pays well enough to stay alive and continue in the profession, even if I don't become wildly successful. And the lack of stress compared to many other jobs helps; not everything that's worthwhile can be valued in yen."

"That's a remarkably mature outlook. How long have you known Ami?"

"Since we met at school. I'm lucky enough to have the desk next to hers."

"Is she doing well in school?"

I smiled. "Academically, she consistently ranks at the top of our grade, not just the top of our class. Socially, she's become less introverted ever since she joined the Conversational English club. I think you can thank Aino-san for that; she's a very outgoing girl who draws others into her conversations."

"That's good to hear, and I'll be sure to thank Aino-san when I get a chance to talk with her." After a moment, she asked the big question. "What do you think of my daughter?"

"Ah, that's the important thing, isn't it?" I smiled to show that I wasn't offended by the question. "Your daughter has been kind to me ever since I started school in Japan. She's a lovely young lady and a good friend."

"Just a good friend?" she asked with some disappointment in her voice.

I was slightly surprised that Mizuno-sensei appeared to be wondering whether she could play matchmaker between a doctor-to-be and a photographer-to-be. Her daughter wasn't so old that she was at any risk of becoming "Christmas cake", after all. "Just a good friend. She deserves the attention of somebody who isn't already in love with one of her other friends."

While she wasn't completely happy with that answer, she did nod in agreement. "You have your principles aligned correctly, Donarudoson-san. Do you mind me asking you about her friends at school?"

"Not at all. Aino-san, who I've already mentioned, has been a good influence on Ami-san and a big help in getting your daughter to open up to the rest of us. Aoyama-san might not think before speaking as often as she should, but she's an honest and hardworking girl who has a different outlook on life than the rest of us because she grew up in Hokkaido. And Makoto... well, I'm biased here because I literally cannot imagine life without Makoto and me by each other's sides any more, but I do believe that she's one of Ami-san's closest friends. I know that they're learning a lot from each other; Ami-san is helping Makoto become more book-smart and Makoto is helping Ami-san learn the life skills that aren't taught in school."

"Your 'Makoto' is the Kino-san that I met earlier today?"

"She is as much mine as I am hers," I smiled. "But, yes, her full name is Kino Makoto."

She looked thoughtful. "I know that name from somewhere..."

I didn't let her continue. "From August of 1985. And she does not appreciate being reminded of that time."

"Thank you, Donarudoson-san. I will refrain from mentioning it."

Just then, Aoyama-san knocked on the door frame. "Dinner's ready!"

We quite enjoyed the ishikari nabe that Ichigo-san had taught the others to make.

---

Exams ensued, and were followed by the public posting of the aggregate marks.

Makoto and I just barely placed in the top quarter of the school, with total scores in the high-600s... on purpose, so that we didn't suddenly look like students at Ami-san's level. And I made sure to thank Sakurada-sensei for telling me some of the differences between conversational English and Japanese-test English, which let me get a perfect score in her class.

I didn't need to see Ami-san's report card. Her marks were obvious – straight 100s with the exception of P.E. and Home Ec., and Makoto was helping Ami-san with Home Ec, so Ami-san's aggregate mark was 864 instead of last term's 851. That was enough to put her at the top of the entire school.

Makoto showed me her report card, and pointed out the numbers that she was happiest with: 87-59-87. I swear she enjoys drawing my attention to her body. Mind you, her body is worth drawing attention to, and I'd say that even if she wasn't my girlfriend.

And we noticed that Usagi-san scored 459. Yes, it's a pass, but only just barely, and she had to have flunked some of her courses unless she got 51 in every single course. Ouch. We really needed to give her back her memories of the Missing Time, so that Ami-san could tutor her again... but only Luna could do that without a brainprint, and she refused to take away Usagi-san's normal life.

On our way home from school, we stopped at the 7-12 and made a copy of Makoto's report card. Her guardians had a right to see it, after all.

Then we got home... to discover her front door was slightly ajar. "I locked that this morning."

"You lead, I'll back you up," I whispered as I went invisible.

We quietly walked over to her door... and she pushed it open. "Who's here?"

"It's about time you got home, child."

While Makoto relaxed physically, I could see that she wasn't happy. "Hello, grandfather. Here is my report card." And she pulled the report – the original, not the copy – from her school bag and handed it to him, the way somebody would hand a meishi to a new business associate.

Even I could tell that they were not a happy family.

"Wait there quietly while I read it." He took his time. "Hmm. You've finally taken my advice and started studying, I see."

"Yes, sir."

"You may continue to live on your own in Tokyo."

"Thank you, sir."

"And you may consider this meeting to serve as your New Year's greetings."

"Grandmother still does not want to see me, then?"

"She does not. I will ensure that your bank account is replenished sufficiently for the next three months. Until the end of your next term, Makoto." And he walked out of her apartment so quickly that I had to dodge to get out of his way.

She locked the door behind him, then sighed deeply. "Every time," she muttered. "I wish I was already 20."

"Why?" I asked quietly.

"Oh! Sorry, Robu, I thought you were still outside. Japanese companies, including JAL, aren't legally allowed to settle claims with minors."

And that explained why Makoto was short on cash so often; it was her relatives who were supporting her, not her parents' life insurance payments and the airline's settlement payment. I dropped my invisibility as I said, "You know that you can count on me for help, at least with food. If you don't mind me asking, what was that mention of your grandmother about?"

She leaned against my chest. "She... has never forgiven me for surviving when her daughter didn't."

"Her... your mother. That's... oh, Makoto... I'm so sorry for you," I said as I hugged her tenderly. Makoto's grandmother obviously needed professional assistance to work through her grief... but she'd probably never get it, because the availability of community psychiatric care in Japan was haphazard at best. The Seven-year Strategy of Normalisation for the Disabled wouldn't even be written until 1995. And I wondered how I knew that, but my girlfriend is more important than stupid genre conventions.

"I don't feel like making anything for dinner tonight, Robu."

Which meant she didn't want company just then. "Do you think you'll be okay on your own?" She nodded, so I said, "Then I'll see you tomorrow." And I let myself out.

---

Tomorrow, in this case, was Christmas Day.

Back in Canada, Christmas is a day for family and New Year's Eve is a day to party with friends. But in Japan, it's the other way around. And I'll stop there before I end up expositing again, or quoting a certain pink-haired gondolier.

We got together at Ami-san's place and did all the fun stuff: had a gift exchange (in which I got a teacup from Arashiyama, and it was obvious who brought that), ate tasty food including chicken from the Colonel, played a few board games, and did some party tricks. And talked. Boy, did we talk; we were all on a given-name basis (again, but this time without Usagi-san's help) by the end of the day.

Ichigo-san learned just how lucky she was to have two parents who cared about her, even if one was away because of work for a few months at a time. From the stories Minako-san told us, her mother was a harridan and her father let her mother get away with it. Ami-san mentioned that she hadn't seen her father in years. And of course Makoto and I... well, the less said there, the better.

And it turned out that Mizuno-sensei heard what the two of us didn't say. I think that's something that they teach you how to do at medical school. Once everyone else had left and Makoto and I were saying our farewells, she invited us over for New Year's Eve. I let Makoto accept on behalf of both of us.

---

Makoto and I did a lot of tourist things over the first week of our vacation, after we spent Boxing Day... sorry, they just call it the day after Christmas here in Japan... doing the homework that we were assigned for the break and writing our New Year's cards.

"Tourist things" included visiting the Tokyo Tower. "This is a nice little tower," I commented.

"Little?"

"I've visited the CN Tower."

"Oh, we'll take the title of the world's tallest tower back from your home country, Robu," Makoto replied with a grin.

"Not until 2012, you won't," I countered with a grin of my own. Then I stopped grinning. "Although this reminds me: If Usagi-san ever shows off glass slippers that she gets for her birthday, be ready for a major battle. I don't think this tower will be destroyed during that fight, but the anime showed it taking some structural damage."

"We'd never wreck a national landmark!"

"You and I wouldn't, but it takes two sides to have a fight."

"Oh. Maybe we should take some photos while we're here."

"No, it's probably okay. Although if we come back in 1993 and see three girls transported to another world, maybe it would have been better to wreck the tower after all."

"Is that another anime reference?"

"Change the date to 1995 and it would be. It's a manga reference." I thought for a moment. "Although, if I have the anime here, Hino-san might be interested in watching it."

"The way I was interested in that anime set in Academy City?"

"Exactly. If she ever gets her memories back, remind me to check my computer, please."

Our conversations about other landmarks went along the same lines: Appreciate the place for what it is, mention how it ties in with canon if it does at all, and make some comments about some other story where the landmark was featured. Makoto took it as a challenge to find a famous landmark that I couldn't do that with. After asking about the Hachikō Memorial Statue, the Tokyo Big Sight, the still-under-construction Rainbow Bridge, the Diet building, and Tokyo Station, she finally stumped me with a place in Roppongi that we'd already visited: the National Art Center. Of course, we got a lot of strange looks while we talked about stories that hadn't been written yet. But we got looks simply for being so tall, so we didn't really care any more.

Then came New Year's Eve itself, and we were faced with a conundrum. What if anything do you bring as a gift to somebody who's treating you like family? We finally decided on handwritten letters – using brush pens, of course – of appreciation and thanks.

Even though it was obvious that our calligraphy needed work. It's the thought that matters, right?

At least Mizuno-sensei appreciated the thought.

And Ami-san appreciated it when I gave her a slip of paper with an address in Niigata.

We did all of the usual New Year's Eve things – talked, watched television, listened to the temple bell being rung 108 times, ate a mikan each, and simply found comfort in each other's presence.

The only awkward moment came when we had to figure out what to call Ami's mother. "Mizuno-sensei" was too formal for family, which Makoto and I were for at least one night. Only Ami-san could call her "mother" without showing disrespect to somebody else. And "Saeko-neesan" was just silly. She finally agreed to let Makoto and me call her "Saeko-basan"... just before being called away to the hospital.

Luckily, she was back by dawn, so we were able to make our first shrine visit of the year together. And of course we visited the largest shrine nearby, the Hikawa shrine. The miko who was responsible for handing out the omikuji must have liked us, since all of the ladies received good fortunes; maybe she was subconsciously remembering the bonds between the Sailor Senshi, or maybe it was just luck, or maybe the resident kami guided our hands. Saeko-basan got daikichi, and she bought an okimono to display it with. (Makoto told me later that she thought the figurine looked a lot like Hino-san would look with a bob-cut hairdo.) Ami-san and Makoto got kichi. Everybody was amazed that I received a kikkyou imada wakarazu fortune; they'd never seen an "undetermined" fortune before, which especially puzzled Hino-san who had written most of the shrine's fortunes over the year. I remembered what Urawa-san told me and smiled, and told the ladies, "I have it on good authority that my future has always been difficult to foresee."

And then Ami-san decided that she, Makoto, and I were going to visit Niigata during the second half of our New Year's break.

---

So we went to Niigata the next morning, paid for out of Ami-san's New Year's money. I brought a camera and a notebook.

Standing in the JR station lobby, Makoto asked, "Well, we're here. Now what?"

"Isn't that obvious? We let Ryou-san find us."

"So why did I give you his home address, then?"

"We couldn't possibly just show up unannounced," Ami-san replied to me with the beginning of a blush.

I sighed. "So your plan is that we wait for him to come to us. Assuming he still has his precognitive powers, which he might not because he was never host to one of the Seven Great Youma this time around. And also assuming he remembers us."

Ami looked aghast. "Don't say that, Rob-san. He has to remember me."

"You vaguely remembered Usagi-san before you got all of your memories back, so it's possible. I'm just saying that it won't be easy." Then I had a thought. "But it might be easier for us to find each other if we go some place he likes."

So we went to the Rainbow Tower. I played middle-school tourist, taking photos and making notes. Yes, I promised to share them with Makoto and Ami-san. Yes, I took photos of each and both of my companions with the view of Niigata in the background, and Ami-san took photos of just me, then of Makoto and me. After an hour or so of that, I said, "Well, that's our 'what we did on our vacation' essay covered, if we're asked to write one. Shall we get some lunch?"

"We may as well," Ami-san sighed.

Then Makoto grabbed our arms. "Not yet. Look at the group who just got out of the elevator."

"I can't see them through the crowd," Ami-san complained.

But I could see them. Including Ryou-san. "You've got good eyes, my darling. Do we go meet him, or do we let him come to us?" And that question put a hopeful smile on Ami-san's face.

"Let him come to us," Makoto said. "We're obvious, and if he does remember us, he'll investigate." Then she let go of us. "But if he doesn't... Be strong, Ami-chan."

She nodded nervously as her smile disappeared.

It took him nearly five minutes to approach us. "Excuse me, but do I know you from ... some...where?" His voice trailed off when he finally saw Ami-san.

"Yes, I believe we've met," Makoto replied. "You are Urawa Ryou-san, are you not?"

"I am..." Then he pretty much ignored Makoto and me. "Your name... Are you named... Mizuno?"

It wasn't until Ami-san finally exhaled that I realized she had been holding her breath. "I am. Do you remember me?"

"I think so... We met in Tokyo, didn't we?"

Her smile was wider than I'd seen it since Usagi-san hit the reset button. "Yes, we did. Twice."

His smile didn't match hers, but that was only because he was nervous around us. "I wish I could remember you clearly, Mizuno-san. And I'm glad I followed my hunch and came here today."

I smiled and cleared my throat. "Did you know that the rare hornless white oni can grant a person's wish? But only once, ever."

He looked at me, and blinked. Twice. "That's the most ridiculous thing that I've ever wanted to believe."

"We were about to go for lunch. Perhaps you could recommend some place where the four of us could have some privacy, and I could grant that wish of yours."

So we went to an out-of-the-way restaurant and got some shoyu katsudon, the house specialty. And Ryou-san got his memories back. I've already described the process of convincing the other person to take their memories back twice; repeating myself again would just be boring. Besides, he didn't need much in the way of convincing.

Once we finished lunch, Ryou-san turned to Ami-san. "I'm sorry that I have to say this..."

"Do you have another girlfriend?" Ami-san asked anxiously.

"What? No! I'm sorry that I have to say that I can't go to Tokyo with you today. I have a hunch that I need to re-learn how to actually see the future before it's safe for me to join you. But I think that will only take the rest of the school year."

"So you'll transfer to Kuritsu Juban Chuugakkou for second year?" Ami-san asked hopefully. Makoto and I smiled at her display of emotion.

"If I can convince my parents, yes."

After we left the restaurant, I took a couple of photos of Ryou-san and Ami-san together.

Then we saw the sights downtown. After a few hours of sightseeing that Ryou-san and Ami-san enjoyed far more than Makoto and I did, he excused himself to head home for dinner. We had some time before our train was scheduled to leave.

So we went shopping. Niigata prefecture grows some of the best rice in Japan, and it's also the only place where Kanzuri paste is made, so Makoto and I went grocery shopping. And Ami-san picked up souvenirs for her mother, Minako-san, and Ichigo-san.

By the time we were back home, we were exhausted. But Ami-san was walking on cloud nine anyway.

---

I spent half of the rest of break in front of my computer screens. Yes, "screens"; I believe I mentioned already that I'd picked up a 1990s-vintage computer complete with the brand-new CD-ROM drive technology during the week when I wasn't dating Makoto.

Which meant that I could transfer data from that computer to my laptop by burning it to disc, a half-gig at a time. Alas, I'd have to wait until 1993 for CAT4 to arrive and I could get a cable that I could plug in to the laptop's CAT6 connector. And hope that the laptop supported 10Base-T. If I had to wait for 100Base-T, then I had to wait for CAT5, which wouldn't show up until 1995.

I think I already mentioned how primitive this world is.

Anyway.

What I was doing in front of those screens was building dossiers on our upcoming enemies. From scratch. WikiMoon and the Sailor Moon Wikia didn't exist in 1991, and even if they did, I seriously doubted that they'd exist in-universe, which is where I was now.

So the cardians, droids, daimons, and lemures got short shrift. And without any episodes of Stars, I would have to go by memory for the phages. But they could wait. It's the people in charge of the monsters that needed the detailed dossiers.

I started with Ail and An, because I expected that they would be first up. But, by the end of vacation, I realized that we had to save those two, not defeat them. And there was also that bit about Usagi-san and Mamoru-san's relationship. It was bad enough that my meddling caused Naru-san and Umino-san to break up – and, yes, they still weren't a couple after the reset – I really didn't want to put the core relationship of the entire story at risk.

So I decided to refrain from interfering at all. Until I realized that my very presence counted as interference; Makoto didn't unlock her Supreme Thunder Dragon attack in canon until she tried to go on a date with Ail, and it was obvious that the only person she was planning on dating this time around was me. We'd have to cross... or burn... that bridge when we reached it.

Speaking of dates, I decided at that point that a date was exactly what I needed and put the dossier project on hold. And Makoto was in the mood for some pairs skating, too. So we got out our matching outfits and headed to the skating rink.

Skating with my girlfriend is a much more enjoyable way to spend an afternoon than writing a dossier is.

---

The dossiers went on the back burner once school started again. I didn't have time to work on them, do homework, and date Makoto.

Hey, I have my priorities.

I didn't even mind... much... when she took me shopping in Shibuya. She wanted something warmer to wear in the same style as her figure-skating outfit, so we visited Atelier Lucent again to see whether they had anything suitable.

The good news was that they did. The bad news was that the proprietor was at the shop that day... which I only discovered was bad news after Makoto was trying on an outfit in a fitting booth.

"Do you have any idea how much work you're making for me, Oni?" she whispered.

I blinked in puzzlement. "Have we met?"

"Not yet."

There was only one person in this reality who could say that both truthfully and meaningfully, which I realized when I noticed the green tint to her black hair. "Ah. It's an honour to finally meet you, Meioh-san. Aren't you supposed to be guarding the Door of Space-Time?"

"Think about the possibilities inherent in time-travel. I am, and I'm here, and I'm also in med school."

"Hang on; isn't time travel in this world set up so that duration in timeframes is synchronized?"

She groaned. "You know more than I thought you did. The me from now is in med school. I'm from two centuries uptime. The current Guardian of the Door of Space-Time is from the Silver Millennium. And we're all being given orders from the me from the early Crystal Millennium." After a beat, she continued, "And it's that knowledge of yours that's making it necessary for four of me to be here now. You're fracturing the timestream just by being here. Not that uptime-me cares."

"Meioh-san," – I couldn't call her Sailor Pluto where Makoto might hear me – "I have no choice whether I'm here. And maybe uptime-you knows something that you don't."

She snorted. "Well, obviously she does. She knows everything I know, and then some." Then Setsuna-san smiled. "But, to tell you the truth, I haven't had this much fun since I was in med school." Which surprised me, because I never thought of her as somebody who had fun.

We heard the fitting-stall curtain slide back. I turned to see Makoto in a delightfully lovely emerald-green outfit based around the "proper tights with a skirt" look that Studio CLAMP loves so much, with a winter jacket added. "How do I look?" she asked.

"I wish I had a camera with me. You look mahvelous!"

She smiled. "Oh, you and your pop-culture quotes."

"I'm only saying it because it's true. That fits you like it was made for you."

Meioh-san quietly kicked me in the shin. Yeah, I deserved that one for dropping a hint to Makoto right after Setsuna-san had complained to me. But the smile on Makoto's face was worth it.

Makoto didn't notice Meioh-san's reaction. "Maybe I should wear this home."

"If you do, I'll pay for the outfit."

"Ooh! You're too good to me, you know that."

"It isn't as if I do this every day, my dearest." I turned to Meioh-san. "How much do I owe you?"

While Makoto put the clothes that she had been wearing into a bag, Meioh-san spoke with me quietly. "Don't bother. If you pay me, I'll just put the money back into your account and you'll withdraw it again. Why waste both our time?"

And that was one mystery cleared up. "Ah. Thank you for taking care of me while I've been in this reality, Meioh-san. Or should I call you Setsuna-neechan?" I finished with a smile.

"Don't you dare!"

"You take all the fun out of being stranded in another reality, you know that."

She glanced at Makoto, who had almost finished packing her old outfit. "I think you might be mistaken there."

"You have a point. Speaking of Makoto, since you're willing to make clothes for us, why haven't you made a Kuritsu Juban Chuugakkou uniform for her?"

"Unfortunately, Atelier Lucent isn't on the school's approved list of uniform suppliers."

"And even Senshi powers can't defeat bureaucracy," I finished. Seeing that Makoto was finished with her clothes, I added in a more normal tone, "It's been a pleasure doing business with you."

And Makoto and I left the shop before she could look at the price tags on the other outfits.

It wasn't until we were passing the Hachiko Memorial Statue on our way back into the subway station that I realized how apropos the name "Atelier Lucent" was, with the double meaning of the word lucent. Yes, anything that a Senshi was responsible for would be as clear as a crystal and glowing like the moon, wouldn't it?

---

We went skating the next afternoon after school, and she wore her new outfit. That drew a few eyes... and our performance on the ice kept the eyes on her, so much so that the manager offered to play over the loudspeakers whatever we wanted to skate to, whenever we were in.

Makoto politely declined, saying that she didn't want that much attention being drawn to us, before I could suggest working out a pairs routine based on Evgenia Medvedeva's routine from 2017.

That was probably for the best. While I had no doubt that Makoto would make an excellent Sailor Moon (and for obvious reasons an even better Sailor Jupiter), I had my doubts about how good a Tuxedo Kamen I could be.

But it gave me an idea.

We were already planning to have dinner with Artemis and Ami-san that day, so I didn't need to wait very long to ask him about it. "Say, Artie, you know those toku shows that the theme parks put on for kids?"

"I've never actually seen one, but I know the formula."

"Do you think they'd be willing to do a show based on Sailor Moon?"

That question got spit-takes from Ami-san, Artemis, and Makoto.

"Aren't we supposed to be keeping the existence of the Senshi secret, darling?"

"Hey, it's as secret as it's ever going to get, with half of the team not even remembering that they are Senshi." That comment got me frowns from Artemis and Ami-san. "But if there's a Sailor Moon toku show, then anybody who sees any of the three of us in action will think it's just another toku performance."

"Until somebody gets caught in the crossfire," Artemis pointed out.

"Then we take steps to make sure nobody gets caught in the crossfire," I countered. "It's usually worked before."

"Usually isn't always," Ami-san riposted. "Sato Kichirou-san learned that the hard way."

I glared at her. "Miss, you fight dirty."

"No, I'm pointing out the consequences if you're wrong."

Yeah, human lives were pretty high stakes in the game that I was proposing that we play with our powered identities.

I took a sip of tea to give myself a moment to think. But before I could come up with a response, Makoto said, "I think it's a good idea, now that Robu has explained it. If we can't stay hidden, we can at least practice misdirection."

"And, while Mercury might be able to keep her identity secret," I nodded toward Ami-san as I said that, "there's no way that the two tallest students at Kuritsu Juban Chuugakkou can stay hidden," I added. "Also, it would be a revenue stream for us if we set up the shows and provided the plots."

Artemis thought for a moment, then nodded. "Who gets the money?"

"Pour it into the Crown Arcade," I suggested. "At least until the girls need cash," I added, remembering where Makoto was getting her cash from.

"You're assuming that the others are going to remember being Senshi," Artemis said flatly.

I sighed. "I hate to tell you this, buddy, but... we're only 46 episodes into a 200-episode series, plus specials. Enjoy this break while you can."

---

Another Friday, another meeting of the Conversational English club.

"Hi, Rob-san! Hi, Ami-san! Presents for you!" Minako-san handed each of us a shiisaa key chain.

"It's pretty obvious where you went over the break," I grinned while looking at Okinawa's leonine guardian beast.

"Didn't you go anywhere?" she asked.

"We visited Niigata," Ami-san replied as she gave Minako-san a Na-chan key ring. "Here's the fireworks fairy from Nagaoka, for you."

"You went to Niigata? The port city?"

"That's right," I said.

"You went to Niigata together?"

"It was the best vacation I've ever had in my life," Ami-san answered, with a smile on her face.

"Excuse me a moment," Minako-san said while heading for the classroom door, an odd look on her face.

It wasn't until she closed the door behind her that we realized what we'd said and how we'd said it. "Oh, dear," Ami-san commented.

"Yeah," I agreed. "If she took what we said the wrong way, and I think she did ..."

"... then she just left to go find Mako-chan ..."

"... to tell her that I'm cheating on her with you."

"But why would she care?" Ami-san asked.

"She's the Senshi of the Planet of Love, even if she doesn't remember it. Of course she'd care."

We just sat there in silence until the classroom door opened again. "Why didn't you tell me you went with Mako-chan?"

"You didn't give us time to," I replied.

"Oh, right." After a moment, Minako-san asked, "So, why'd you go to Niigata, of all places?"

"We went to share some old memories with a friend we made last year," Ami said with a straight face. Never mind that I was the one who did the memory-sharing.

Minako-san grinned. "Last year? During the Missing Time?"

I realized that I had the perfect answer to her interest in conspiracy theories about last year. "Yes, Minako-san," I replied before Ami-san could, "during the Missing Time. You see, Ami-san, Makoto and I are part of a secret team that defended the entire Earth from being conquered during the Missing Time, and the existence of the Missing Time is a side-effect of our success."

She looked at me flatly. "Pull the other one, it has bells on."

I raised both hands in an "I surrender" gesture. "Hey, if you don't want to believe me, that's your prerogative."

"The part about a secret team defending Earth was good; I've heard a few theories that said exactly that. But putting yourself on that team is just silly. We're middle-school students, not soldiers, Rob-san."

"I can't argue with you there. We are junior-high-school students, and I've never been a soldier."

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Minako-san's teammate poked her head in. "I'm sorry to interrupt..." she started, in Japanese.

"I thought this wasn't going to happen again," I said to Minako-san.

"I'm sorry! I forgot to tell you!" And she headed off to another volleyball team meeting.

After the door closed behind Minako-san, Ami-san looked at me in wonder. "You told her the exact truth and she didn't believe it!"

"It's all in how and when you say it, Ami-san," I replied with a smile.

---

Makoto and I went shopping after school. Nothing special, just groceries, although she didn't pick up any tea.

"I thought you were running low on tea, my dearest."

"I was, darling, but there's a new shop that just opened up in the shopping arcade. I got some wonderful chamomile tea there while you were spending the afternoon with my best friend."

We both laughed over Minako's misunderstanding of the situation. "Speaking of Ami-san, she said she could come over after dinner." She was back to helping both of us with our studies. "Do you mind being host this time? I have books all over my desk right now."

"You need to keep your home clean, Robu; you never know when somebody might visit. I suppose I have no choice but to chaperone the two of you." She grinned when she said that.

"You're sure she isn't chaperoning us?" I asked with a smile.

Since Makoto was hosting, I made dinner. No, not curry; salmon in panko with a side of grilled onigiri with miso (which I made enough of for lunch the next day as well). We ate together, and were just finishing washing the dishes when Ami-san arrived. Makoto made a pot of her new chamomile tea for us to enjoy while we studied.

But we couldn't keep our minds on studying. Sorry, that isn't quite right; Ami-san kept her mind on studying, going through the entirety of what was left in her textbooks before the study session was over. Makoto, on the other hand, left her books on the table and went back to cleaning and then polishing the dishes, insisting that she couldn't tolerate hard-water spots on the ceramics. And I found myself making notes about what I remembered about the Ayakashi Sisters and Rubeus instead of what I was learning about the Meiji Restoration.

We finally fell asleep in a heap, completely out of energy.

Which should have been a warning sign, but none of us were in the right frame of mind to notice. Besides, the Dark Kingdom was gone and the Doom Tree hadn't arrived yet; who would be stealing our energy? And chamomile tea was known for putting people to sleep, too.

---

The pattern repeated the next day. We came home from school after the half-day, Ami-san joined us, we had lunch that included a pot of chamomile tea, and we focused on our current obsessions: Ami-san making it three chapters into each of the second-year textbooks, Makoto cleaning her cookware so thoroughly that even the cast iron threatened to gleam, and me making notes from what I remembered of our upcoming enemies, completing the notes on the Black Moon Clan and starting on the Death Busters. And then all of us collapsing from exhaustion.

And it happened again on Sunday morning, starting with breakfast with chamomile tea. "Doesn't that tire you out?" I asked.

"It's all I have right now, sorry."

So I went without. Ami-san – who hadn't gone home Saturday night – and Makoto had some, though. And I saw them start their manic activity. This was definitely wrong.

I spent a few minutes just thinking, and came to the conclusion that the chamomile tea had something to do with the strange behaviour. "Makoto, my dearest, where did you get the tea from?"

"A new store." She didn't look up from scrubbing the tiles in the kitchen area. I knew she liked things clean, but, considering she had company, this had passed Flanderized Felix Unger levels of cleanliness.

"Does this store have a name?"

"Don't remember."

"Where's the receipt?"

"In the paper trash."

Luckily for me, it was at the top of the paper trash; none of us had read a newspaper since Friday. So I didn't make a mess in Makoto's apartment. She probably would have killed me if I had – and not figuratively. The store's name was "Pri-Pri", which rang a bell for some reason.

And I was just suspicious enough of what was going on to equate "rang a bell" with "enemy alarm".

I walked over to the table in the middle of the room, and asked, "Ami-san, could you scan the teapot for magic, please?"

Without looking up from her textbooks, she handed the Mercury Computer to me. "Busy. Do it yourself."

I'd never heard Ami-san speak that tersely, either before or after the reset.

Accepting the Mercury Computer from her, I flipped it open, squinted at the screen, and hunted for the scan function. Luckily, she had set the interface to Japanese rather than whatever language they spoke in the Silver Millennium, so I didn't need to hunt for very long.

Sure enough, there was "dark energy" infused throughout the tea. But not a match for the Dark Kingdom, which relieved me; it would have been heartbreaking to think Usagi-san and the others had gone through what they did only to miss somebody somewhere. Instead, it was listed as being "corrupted Xianren Cave energy", which threw me for a loop; I had no idea what Xianren Cave referred to. (I'd learn later, but not until... oh, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to the Pri-Pri tea.)

I picked up the teapot and carried it to the sink. That got both ladies' attention.

"No! We need that tea!" Makoto insisted.

"No, you don't," I said. "It's been infused with dark energy."

"It can't have been! I would have noticed!" Ami-san claimed.

"None of us noticed until today!" And I tried to pour the tea down the drain.

The liquid refused to pour more than a half-foot down, forming a bubble of liquid hovering above the sink.

I put the teapot down and stepped away from the sink, raising a forcefield between it and me.

And that finally convinced Makoto and Ami-san that something was wrong. They stood up and stood at either side of me. "Show yourself!" Makoto cried.

Sure enough, a spirit arose from the tea. "Ho-ho! I am Touhi-chan! After ten thousand years of being suppressed by the guardians of the Silver Millennium, I have finally gathered enough energy to re-form myself! And now I will drain your energy and use it to establish a toehold in this barbarian land! Today, this lodging; tomorrow, the settlement!"

I blinked in surprise. I remembered that name. I didn't expect an analogue of a manga side-story villain to be behind this. "Wait, you said that you were suppressed by the guardians of the Silver Millennium? Well, back home in Canada, we have a saying: Sucks to be you."

"Jupiter Power, Make-Up!"

"Mercury Power, Make-Up!"

"Noooo! Not again! Chamomile Petal Swarm!"

The three of us had a mass of flower petals dumped directly on our heads, causing Mercury and me to lose concentration and me to drop my forecefield. I suspect that the attack would have hurt if Touhi-chan was at full strength... but Makoto wasn't going to give her the chance to get any stronger.

"Jupiter... Coconut... Cyclone!" And my dearest spun in place as if she was skating, winds laced with ball lightning the size of coconuts surrounding her and Touhi-chan's flower petals flying everywhere. When she stopped, she shot the lightning straight at Touhi-chan.

"Aargh!" And Touhi-chan collapsed, shrinking down to a small pottery figure that I immediately wrapped in a forcefield. What do you know; a manga villain gets defeated by a manga attack. And that made me wonder how many other attacks the Senshi were capable of using.

Mercury took her computer back from me and scanned the figure, while Jupiter picked flower petals out of Mercury's hair and I combed petals out of my own hair. She finally announced, "She's quiesced."

Jupiter looked puzzled, so I assume she didn't know the word, either.

"She's in hibernation, or a coma," Ami-san explained as she transformed back to her normal form.

And that embarrassed me. "I'm sorry!" I hadn't done anything, but I could have at least closed my eyes. And seeing a very pretty girl other than Makoto change clothes was definitely something I needed to apologize for, to both girls.

Makoto transformed back to usual, making sure I could see her, then said, "Not your fault, darling." I wondered whether Makoto was jealous of Ami-san, or was she maybe staking her claim to me?

Then I noticed that I was more awake than I had been since Friday evening. "I think I just got back all the energy that Touhi-chan drained from me."

"Me, too," Makoto said with a nod.

"And I, as well," added Ami-san.

I thought for a quick moment. "There's no way that I can just sit still and study today. Anybody want to go skating?"

"I have to clean up first..." Makoto started, before she realized just how much cleaning she'd been doing over the weekend. "No, that can wait."

An hour later, we were on the ice. I had a beautiful girl on each arm, and every eye in the arena was on the three of us. And, no, Ami-san didn't have a book with her.

---

It wasn't until I was getting ready for the next day's classes that I remembered Ami-san was the one who'd suggested I join the Senshi on their trip to the onsen during the Missing Time. And now she'd shown me one of her transformations. Did she not care whether I saw her naked?

At the time, I expected that I'd probably never know. I wasn't about to ask her.

She has a boyfriend, after all; Ryou-san might care. And I have a girlfriend; Makoto certainly looked to me like she cared.

Even if Ami-san wasn't interested in dating me – which I hoped was the case – and was just a naturist or just naive, I really didn't want Makoto to become jealous of Ami-san.

And I hoped I was completely misreading the situation.

---

Nevertheless, I spent less time alone and more time with just Makoto, so that she would know that she was the girl that I wanted to spend time with. Which meant that the enemy dossiers went even farther onto the back burner than they had been.

Weekdays and Saturday mornings were for school, homework, and housework, and Friday afternoons were for the Conversational English club. She and I finished off our Saturday homework as quickly as we could so that we could go on dates. Every Saturday afternoon and every Sunday.

Why had we not been going on dates every Saturday afternoon since we got back together? It wasn't as if we had enemies to fight, Touhi-chan notwithstanding.

Two weeks later, we realized why; some of my housework was piling up, and Makoto was losing sleep keeping on top of her housework. While the idea of wearing an outfit once and throwing it away had a certain appeal, I doubted that Atelier Lucent would make that many clothes for us, so we had to actually do our laundry on occasion. So we cut back on the dating; Saturdays went back to being chore days, while, to misquote the Bangles, Sundays were our fun days.

And on the third Sunday in January, I finally convinced Makoto that it was okay to get a little bit messy while eating, when we discovered the Tony Roma's in Roppongi. I hadn't had Tony Roma's baby back ribs since the last time I visited Miami, back home, so I insisted. It took the intervention of our waitress to assure her that, yes, she was supposed to make a mess, and, yes, they had enough napkins for her to clean up after eating.

I haven't been able to convince her to go back since then, though.

---

I don't usually mention what we did weekdays, but Wednesday that week – January 22 – was special. It was Ichigo-san's birthday, and she invited us to her place for dinner after classes.

Her mother was a delightful woman, happy to make sure that we were all comfortable in her home. We didn't get to meet her father or either of her brothers, since they were on a months-long fishing trip. And that made me wonder why the Aoyama family was living in Tokyo instead of Wakkanai, until Ichigo-san explained that they were in the capital for her education.

Knowing that Urawa-san intended to use the same reason to transfer to Kuritsu Juban Chuugakkou, I understood completely.

We gave the birthday girl gifts, including a scarf from Atelier Lucent from me, and her mother fed us to the brim with Jingisukan. I hadn't had lamb since I arrived in this reality, and Minako-san hadn't had lamb since returning from the UK. We both quite enjoyed the Hokkaido take on how to serve it. Makoto thought that it was greasy, although that didn't stop her from matching the rest of us slice for slice.

A good time was had by all, and we promised to do it again the next year.

---

And then January made way for February, and the fun times in the early part of the month – including Makoto and me both wearing masks and having soybeans thrown at us by our classmates on Setsubun, since it was a Monday – made way for studying for final exams after National Foundation Day on the 11th. We all got together for study sessions, which we alternated between everybody's homes. Except for Minako-san's house, after the Wednesday that we tried to study there. Her mother got upset that she'd brought a boy home to what she expected would be a girls-only session, then she got upset about how tall Makoto was and how she was probably a sukeban what with wearing a skirt that long, then she got upset and raised her voice about Ichigo-san being from Hokkaido. Then we apologized that our presence was disrupting the harmony of the house, left, and re-met at Makoto's apartment.

"When you said your mother was a harridan, I thought you were exaggerating," Ichigo-san commented as we settled in around Makoto's table and opened our textbooks.

"I'm so sorry about what she said about all of you," Minako-san replied while bowing. "If I had remembered her prejudices, I would have never have suggested getting together there."

"Raise your head, Mina-chan, you're not at fault here," Makoto replied. "Although I don't understand what she has against people from Hokkaido."

I raised an eyebrow. "You hadn't noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

Ichigo-san answered before I could. "I don't know how Robu-san noticed."

"What I noticed the day I met you was your depressed nose root and projecting cheekbones. But it didn't and still doesn't matter to me."

She smiled at my answer. "Thank you, Robu-san. And you're right. I'm not just from Hokkaido, I have Ainu ancestry." She looked around. "If that makes a difference to anybody here, I can leave."

Makoto put her hand on Ichigo-san's shoulder before she could stand up. "I'm dating a foreigner. Why would I care who your great-grandparents were? You'll always be welcome in my home, Ichigo-san."

"I'm surprised that you actually know your ancestry," Ami-san said. "If you know anything about Ainu history, I'd like to learn it from you instead of from a book." And by this time we all knew how fond Ami-san was of books.

Minako-san smiled. "I spent years in London with kids my age with lots of different skin colours. Like I'd notice or care who has what blood in them. Especially if it pisses off my mother."

Not the greatest reason to be accepting of other people, Minako-san, but I've heard worse. "And I already said that it doesn't matter to me. Looks like you can't get rid of us, Ichigo-san," I said with a smile.

And we all started studying, putting our racial differences behind us.

I hoped that Ryou-san, Usagi-san, Naru-san, and Hino-san would be as accepting of Ichigo-san's ancestry as my friends here were. Assuming it was even a concern, and not something that only Ichigo-san was worried about.

After a few hours, Makoto looked up. "I wasn't expecting to be hosting today, so I don't have enough food for everybody. I'm sorry."

That wasn't like Makoto. Then I remembered that this particular Wednesday was February 12. "Oh, I wouldn't want to put you to any trouble, my dearest. I'll see you all tomorrow."

She smiled at me; I could tell that she knew why I was leaving early. "Thanks, darling. See you tomorrow."

I collected my books and headed off, stopping at my own place just long enough to drop off my schoolwork. Then I headed out for dinner... well, a coffee, a single-serve basket of cheese-flavoured chicken bites, and a box of Senior Mints (and somebody was writing around trademarks again)... at the Lawson at Azabu-Juban station. I resolved to eat better the next day.

When I got back home, I could hear the girls talking and laughing in Makoto's apartment, but they were in her kitchen, not her front room. I pretended that I didn't know what they were doing and settled in to watch my favourite Studio Ghibli movie on my laptop... and made plans to see it in the theatre when it debuted on July 18. Without Makoto, because I wouldn't torture her by forcing her to watch something she hated.

---

Nothing important happened on Thursday the 13th. At least, not to me or anybody I knew.

And then it was Friday. February 14. And lunch went about the way I expected, except that Minako-san joined us. The Revealing Of The Lunches revealed a lot of chocolate for some strange reason.

"It's obligation chocolate; you can have it if you want," Minako-san said as she passed what looked like a chocolate bar over to me.

"This is also obligation chocolate," Ami-san said as she handed me a chocolate cupcake.

"Giri-choco here, too," said Ichigo-san as she handed me a small bag of chocolate drops.

I looked at Makoto and raised one eyebrow.

"Nope. Mine's 100 per cent honmei-choco!" She smiled as she offered me a chocolate heart the size of a bento box, with two smaller hearts beside it. "Will you accept it?"

"Of course I accept your feelings, Makoto," I said with a smile as I took the box from her and immediately ate one of the smaller chocolates, before eating any of the lunch I had brought. Then I turned to the others. "And I happily accept your obligatory gifts, ladies." These I didn't unwrap during lunch time.

---

And then we studied every weeknight... which paid off during final exams during the first half of March.

Our last exam was on March 14, so it was with a sense of relief that we got together for lunch that day. That's also when I gave the ladies their White Day presents: Queen's Greatest Hits II for Minako-san, Terry Pratchett's Witches Abroad for Ami-san (in English since we were both in the Conversational English club, and I insisted to her that the best fiction had things to teach people), a set of blank notebooks to start off the next school year for Ichigo-san, and... well, silver counts as white, right? Makoto certainly didn't object to the bracelet.

And we all went for a relaxing group skate that afternoon. Ichigo-san was able to keep up with Ami-san, Minako-san was able to keep her balance, and as usual everybody watched the "Emerald Pair" having fun. I'd given up on us getting a different name.

And then the grades were posted.

Makoto and I showed some improvement again, placing in the low-700s... again on purpose. Improvement was good, but sudden improvement to Ami-san's level was impossible to explain, or maintain once we passed the point where we were repeating what we'd learned during the Missing Time. Ami-san improved again, too, as hard as that might be to believe; with Makoto's help and tutoring in both Home Ec. and P.E, she got 95 in Home Ec. and her aggregate grade was 870. Once again, she placed at the top of the entire school... and we helped her start to come to terms with the fact that she was always going to stand out that way.

Ichigo-san and Minako-san placed in the mid-600s. So did Naru-san, we noticed.

Usagi-san... well, she was improving, with a total of 531. She was so happy that she wasn't being held back a year.

We had to figure out some way to get Usagi-san into our homework circle again. And Minako-san, too, for that matter.

Needless to say, Makoto's grandfather was waiting for her at her apartment. He was as terse and grumpy as the last time he stopped by. After he gave Makoto permission to continue attending classes at Kuritsu Juban Chuugakkou and told her not to bother visiting over the school break, he asked who I was; Makoto introduced me as a schoolmate. Seeing me unlock the door to my own apartment appeared to satisfy his curiosity as to how she knew me. He told her that he'd see her in August, then left with barely an acknowledgement of my existence.

I didn't ask about August. She was in a bad enough mood as it was.

There was a message waiting on my phone: Ami-san said that her mother wanted to see me. I wondered why. The message continued with Ami-san saying to bring my report card, and I stopped wondering. After I got changed into comfortable clothes, I opened my door to see Makoto about to knock. "Did Ami-san call you, too?"

"She did," I nodded. "And she told me to bring my report card."

"I guess we'd better not keep her mother waiting, then." Makoto had reached the same conclusion that I had.

Sure enough, Ami-san's mother expected us to present our report cards to her as if she was our mother. Her decision at New Year's wasn't just to accept us into her home; it was to accept us into her family.

So we had no choice as to what to call her from now on.

Saeko-basan was much kinder than Makoto's grandfather was, actually giving us both compliments where we were doing well and constructive criticism where we could do better, suggesting some additional books to help Makoto with math and both of us with Japanese history and Japanese literature. Then she asked us to stay for dinner... just before being called to the hospital. She apologized to all three of us as she left, and we made plans to have dinner together the next evening.

Then the three of us went out for dinner – at the Hard Rock Cafe in Roppongi, because Makoto refused to eat at Tony Roma's again. Neither of my friends had been to a Hard Rock Cafe before and I'd never been to a Japanese HRC, and we hadn't made reservations... but there was a table waiting for us anyway.

And Urawa Ryou-san was sitting at it.

Needless to say, Ami-san was ecstatic.

---

It wasn't until two days later that we could get together at Makoto's apartment. Ami-san didn't want to introduce Ryou-san to her mother just yet, for obvious reasons.

By "we", I mean Makoto, Ami-san, and Artemis... who immediately went quiet when Ryou-san showed up.

"Hello, everyone, Thank you for accepting me into your group here in Tokyo. Please take care of me," he said as he offered us small parcels. "These are mere tokens of my appreciation of your welcome." He handed a package to each of us, and then offered one to Artemis. "And that includes you, Mau-san," he finished.

Artie looked straight at me. "Who told him?"

"I did," replied Ami-san, with all of Sailor Mercury's self-confidence in her voice.

"And I gave him back his memories," I added as Artemis was turning to glare at Ami-san.

Artie facepalmed... er, facepawed. "How many more sets of memories do you have in your head?"

"Nobody else, honest! All three of the brainprints I took during the Missing Time are now in their rightful owners' heads."

After that bit of awkwardness with Artie's reaction to the situation, we ended up enjoying ourselves while telling stories about what we'd been doing since New Year's. It didn't take much convincing on Ryou's part to be allowed to live in Tokyo, not after he pointed out to his parents that he'd get a better education in the capital than he would in a port city. And we all had a good laugh about Ami-san, Makoto, and me getting flowers in our hair when Touhi-chan attacked.

Ryou-san wasn't in Tokyo for good, though; he still had to settle his affairs in Niigata. He promised to return on the 26th, and asked Ami-san to help him with the paperwork to move in to an apartment in a particular building close to where she lived. He also asked me to help him with the enrolment paperwork for Kuritsu Juban Chuugakkou, which I happily agreed to.

---

Spring vacation continued, including a completely delightful day that Makoto and I spent at Jindai Botanical Garden in Choufu. She spent most of the day admiring the roses, while I spent a large part of the day admiring her admiring the roses (and, when nobody could see, using my smartphone to take photos of her admiring the roses – I needed a proper image of my dearest for my laptop's screen). Even though we got our travel time down to an hour each way because we caught the express to Choufu at Shinjuku, this was our "special day away" for our end-of-school-year vacation. And the people at the gift shop were kind enough to deliver Makoto's purchases so that we didn't need to carry a couple of potted plants back to Minato, which let us pay our respects at the Jindaiji Temple, just south of the botanical gardens. And, since Ichigo-san had called us a couple of oni during the Missing Time, of course we needed to stop at Kitaro Chaya while we were in the neighbourhood.

Finally the day that we'd been waiting for arrived: March 26. It turned out that we'd been waiting for that day in more ways than one.

Makoto, Ami-san, and I all helped Ryou-san unpack and settle in to his new apartment, the girls taking notes on what he didn't have but really needed to get, and me helping him move a few pieces of furniture to where he preferred them to be. Then we took him on a quick tour of all the places he needed to know where to find: the closest convenience store, the closest supermarket, and the closest laundromat.

Then we went out for dinner at the beef-bowl place where he and I had first met. It was Ami-san's first visit to that particular restaurant. She said that she wasn't a big fan, since she couldn't eat and read at the same time, but she looked like she enjoyed the food. Or maybe she enjoyed the company.

Ryou-san asked whether we could walk back to his place. Nobody objected.

"It's a pleasant night," I said. "It's warming up, there aren't too many clouds in the sky, and ..." I slipped my arm around Makoto's waist. "... we have excellent company."

"The best company of all," Ami-san agreed while taking Ryou-san's hand in her own.

"Ami-san, would you be kind enough to show me the Mercury Computer?"

I thought that was an odd request for Ryou-san to make just then, momentarily forgetting that he's a precog, but she just smiled. "Of course! Here it is," she said as she let go of his hand and flipped the computer open.

Then the sky lit up. We all looked up to see a meteor. A big one, that wasn't breaking apart as it fell.

"Ami! Track it!"

"I already am!" she answered Ryou-san.

Makoto looked puzzled. "What's going on?"

All I said was, "Plot."

"Aw... And I was enjoying getting to spend time with you without worrying about being called to fight a monster."

"I have the meteorite impact site projected," Ami-san announced.

Ryou-san and I immediately turned our backs on our girlfriends.

"Mercury Power, Make-Up!"

"Jupiter Power, Make-Up!"

Then we were both lifted into bridal carries and the Senshi started roof-hopping.

But we were too late. By the time we reached the impact crater – which was only a couple-dozen meters across, far too small for the meteor we saw to have left behind – the impactor had already left. Mercury took some scans of the crater, then we left when we heard sirens.

It was too late in the evening to contact Artemis or Luna; Minako-san and Usagi-san were no doubt monopolizing their attention. We'd have to fill them in later.

---

"Later" turned out to be the next evening. Ami-san and Ryou-san were on a date, and Makoto was busy with spring cleaning, so it was up to me to touch base with the Mau.

I really didn't want to visit the Aino residence again.

So I headed over to the Tsukino residence... only to notice Sailor Moon standing on the rooftop.

I was too late. Ail and An had already played their first cardian, Luna had given Usagi-san her memories back in order to save Naru-san and her mother, and we were almost at the end of the first episode of Sailor Moon R. But that meant it was time to let Luna know that I'd derailed canon months ago, assuming Artemis hadn't already told her... and to let Bunny-chan know that she wasn't alone in her fight.

I went invisible so as to not draw the attention of anybody who might be passing by, and used the forcefield-pillar trick that I'd used at the Star Light Tower to make my way to the Tsukino family's rooftop.

Usagi-san had a determined look on her face. "I can't ask the others to fight again. I will protect everyone on my own."

No, Princess. You couldn't and you didn't in canon, and I won't let you try this time around. You need allies. And, frankly, so do Ami-san, Makoto and I. "I can't let you do that, Bunny-chan. It's too big a job for one person."

She turned in surprise. "Who's there?"

I let my invisibility drop. "Have you forgotten your favourite Oni already?"

Sailor Moon's face showed a mix of surprise and relief. "Robu-san!" Then she held my hands in hers. Just for a quick moment that was only skinship (if skinship can be called "only"); we both knew that her heart still belonged to Mamoru. I like getting a hug from Makoto better.

It was a shame to have to make Usagi-san sad again. "I'm sorry, but you need to know. Makoto and Ami-san remember, too. And so does Urawa Ryou-san."

Usagi didn't say anything for a moment, but her expression changed like flowing water, never the same for three seconds in a row. The poor girl was really conflicted about my news.

Finally, Luna asked me, "How long have they known?"

"I gave Makoto her memories back less than a week after Usagi-san hit the reset button. Ami-san got her memories back about a month later, and Ryou-san got his back over the New Year's break."

Usagi looked at me with a mix of dread and hope. "And Rei and Minako? And Naru? And Artemis? And... Mamo-chan?"

"Artie-san never lost his memories. The others don't remember, as far as I know, and I can't give them back their memories," I finished while shaking my head slowly.

Luna added, "But I can give Rei, Minako, and Naru-san their memories back if you really want me to."

"I'd appreciate that, thanks," I replied before Usagi-san could... but she nodded in agreement.

Then she asked the important question again. "And Mamoru?"

Before Luna could reply, I said, "If you want him to remember your love, you need to bring him back." Which wasn't a lie; it was her actions that finally got Mamoru to remember.

"But... I don't know how."

I smiled. "You'll figure it out."

She pouted and complained, "Now I remember why we call you Oni."

After a moment with nobody saying anything, I quietly asked, "Are you okay with being Sailor Moon again. Usagi-san?"

She took a moment to think. "If I'm not Sailor Moon, who is? I know now that Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mercury and you can be heroes so I don't have to... Mako-chan and Ami-chan can still become Jupiter and Mercury, right?" I nodded in confirmation. "But... nobody else can be Sailor Moon."

She had such a wistful look on her face when she said that. The poor girl.

"Bai-bai, ordinary Usagi," she almost-whispered in sadness.

"Hello, Princess Serenity," I replied.

It didn't cheer her up.

---

Makoto, Ami-san, Ryou-san, Usagi-san, Luna, Artemis, and I met at my apartment a few days later.

Then we immediately headed to Makoto's apartment next door, which was larger than mine.

"So, darling, what do you know about what's going on?"

"I know enough to not answer that, my dearest."

Ami-san asked, "Why?"

"Because it's necessary," Ryou-san replied. "If Chiba-san and Tsukino-san are going to get back together, neither Robu-san nor I can interfere."

"Yeah," I agreed. "I've already broken up one couple by meddling. I don't dare ruin your relationship, Bunny-chan."

"I don't want to lose Mamo-chan!!!"

"Which means everything you two know is off-limits," Luna complained.

"It can't be helped," Artemis replied.

"You can't tell us anything?" Ami-san asked. "Not even about the youma they're using?"

Revealing a name shouldn't hurt. "They aren't youma. They're cardians."

"Like on Star Trek?" Ryou-san asked.

"What?" Then I realized what he was thinking, and remembered that that particular race had appeared on NextGen a year ago. "Cardians, not Cardassians. Don't expect them to –"

"TMI, Robu-san," Ryou-san warned before I could finish my sentence.

"Sorry, I'll stop now."

"Good!" Usagi-san said. "Don't change what you know, especially if that would drive Mamo-chan and me apart!"

I bowed deeply. "I humbly apologize for my lapse, Your Highness." That got a giggle out of her.

Makoto sighed. "And here I was hoping to use some asymmetric plot escalation and finish things off quickly, so Robu and I could get back to dating."

"Not every problem can be solved by force, Mako-chan."

"That only shows you aren't using enough force, Ami-san."

"Force and diplomacy both have their place," Luna insisted.

"And so does love," Usagi-san added.

I simply nodded in agreement with everyone.

---

Another week, and then it was time to start school again.

Usagi-san and Naru-san were in Class 1, along with Umino-san and that new student Ginga Natsumi-san. Ryou-san was in Class 3 with Minako-san. Another new student, Ginga Seijuurou, was in Class 4, and yes, he was Natsumi-san's brother. Ami-san and I were in Class 5 again, and Makoto and Ichigo-san were still in Class 6.

And I had to pretend I didn't know who the Ginga siblings were. But then, so did Ryou-san.

He and I had trouble dodging the crowd of girls gathered around Seijuurou-san at lunch time. "Maybe I should have learned to play the flute," Ryou-san muttered.

"Don't draw attention to the flute," I warned quietly. While I was surprised that nobody in canon had ever connected the flute with the activation of the cardians, especially considering Ail... sorry, Seijuurou-san... only knew one tune, I was pretty sure that any of the Senshi who overheard either of us mention the flute would think it was a clue. Which, you know, it totally would be if we mentioned it.

"Ah, right. Sorry, Robu-san."

We finally got past the crowd and into the school's courtyard, where everybody else was already waiting for us to take part in the first Revealing Of The Lunches of the new school year. Usagi-san, who was there at my invitation, had dragged Naru-san along, so we were finally back to our pre-reboot group plus Ryou-san.

Minako-san showed us a flyer, which we passed around while we ate. "I think I'm going to give this a try! It isn't every day that somebody our age gets a chance to try out for a TV show! Especially not with somebody as famous as Shiratori Mikan-san in the cast!"

She seemed to be excited for some reason.

"I wouldn't mind trying out for a role, too," Naru-san commented.

"I wish I could, but they're only looking for girls," Ryou-san sighed.

"I have class duty today," Ami-san said.

"What, and miss your chance to be on a TV show?" I asked. "I'll trade with you. Go have fun with the others."

So we did. And she did. And Luna went along for the fun... and to restore the memories of Minako-san, Hino-san, and Naru-san.

I, on the other hand, completed the class log and ensured the classroom was tidy. Then I had a nice, long chat with Ryou-san about how things had already diverged from canon. Ail and An weren't mid-term transfer students, for one thing, and Ryou-san was here, too. He assured me that the changes weren't enough to drive a wedge into Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen's relationship, but we still needed to be careful not to change very much else and drive that wedge ourselves.

---

Friday finally arrived, too soon for my comfort. What left me uncomfortable was the new school year's first session of the Conversational English club.

Because it started with Minako-san glaring at me for a half-minute before saying anything.

"I cannot believe you!" she finally whispered angrily.

"What? Did I lie to you?"

She was about to answer immediately, but caught herself and thought for a moment. "No, you didn't. I think. But, really, 'ask your pet cat?'"

"And have you asked your pet cat?"

"Yes..." she admitted grudgingly.

"And did he answer?"

"After I told him that Luna zapped me."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I can't believe I thought you were joking! And you three really were part of a secret team that defended the entire Earth from being conquered during the Missing Time, too."

"You were part of the same team," Ami-san replied.

"And that's what makes it all the more frustrating. You never once lied to me about the Missing Time, did you?"

"Never," we replied in unison.

"Does anybody else know? I'm still going through my memories."

"Ichigo-san doesn't know," Ami-san answered. "The rest of the lunch club is in on it. And so is Rei-san."

"Of course Rei-san knows; she was there with Naru-san and me when Luna zapped us. So why doesn't Ichigo-san know?"

Neither of us had an answer for that.

---

Tuesday arrived in its due course. Yes, Tuesday, and I know I haven't been mentioning mid-week activities very often. But this particular Tuesday was special.

Ami-san called me after school. "Rob-san, there's been an accident."

My blood ran cold. "What happened?"

"Usagi-san and Mako-chan met me after juku, and a cardian showed up."

Just from that much, I had a pretty good idea of what had happened, but I had to ask. "Who's hurt?"

"A friend of Mako-chan. She called him Shinozaki-san."

Yeah. The start of episode 49 happened. Now to ask something I didn't know the answer to. "Where did they take him?"

"We're at Juban Daini General Hospital."

"I'm on my way."

"Thank you, Rob-san." And she hung up... presumably to call the others.

It didn't take me long to get there, even though I wasn't moving at my top speed. Yes, I was invisible for most of the trip (there was no point to blowing my cover over something that I couldn't change), so I had to be very careful that I didn't hit anybody and no drivers hit me.

I went visible in a quiet alleyway near the hospital, and finished the trip at human-normal speed. Ami-san met me in the lobby and helped me cut through the paperwork to get in to see Shinozaki-san. Makoto was in the bed next to his, with a tube in her arm. "Hi, Robu," she said quietly.

"Hi, Makoto," I said back. "Ami-san said that Shinozaki-san was hurt. What are you doing in a hospital bed?"

"Helping keep him alive," she answered while looking at the needle in her arm and the IV tube attached to it. "How do you know Shinozaki-san?"

I took a quick look around the room to make sure we were alone. "Only from your memories. He's a lucky guy to have you as a friend."

"He's just a friend," she said quickly.

"I know."

She smiled at my reply, then frowned. "Why didn't you warn me that this was going to happen?"

"I'm so sorry, my dearest. For Bunny-chan and Chiba-san's sake, Ryou-san and I can't risk changing things right now. If we meddle, we might destroy the happy ending, so we can't change sadness to happiness along the way."

"You're an oni, you know that."

She wasn't joking. I sighed deeply and replied, "So I've been told, many times. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Only if you have blood type O."

"As a matter of fact, I do." O positive, but Rh negative was so rare in Japan as to be nonexistent. "I'll tell the nurses."

"Thank you, darling."

I stepped out of the room and made my way to the nurses' station, where I discovered Ami-san was saying hello to the doctor on duty. So I joined them. "Good afternoon, Mizuno-sensei."

"Donarudoson-san? What are you doing here?"

"I've just come from Shinozaki-san's room. I understand you're short on type O blood, which is my blood type."

She looked relieved as she started the checklist. "How long have you been in Japan?"

I knew the drill from donating blood in Canada before I was rejuvenated to my current age. I also knew she needed me to answer truthfully. "More than four months."

"Any new tattoos or body piercings?"

"None."

"Any new sexual partners?"

In this body? "Saeko-basan, I'm still a virgin." That answer surprised her for some reason.

"Any drug use?"

"Only caffeine, in tea, coffee, and cola."

"Have you ever visited Saudi Arabia, Latin America, or Europe including the UK?"

"Never."

"When was your last vaccination?"

"Over a year ago."

"This process counts as receiving a blood transfusion. Doing this means you'll never be allowed to donate blood again."

That came as a surprise; that particular rule was different here. "Thank you for that information, Mizuno-sensei. I'm still willing to do this."

She immediately turned to the nurses. "Confirm Donarudoson-san's blood type. Once you've done that, prep him for transfusion donation, to start when it's no longer safe for Kino-san to donate."

And thus it was that, 90 minutes later, I was flat on my back and the woman who was essentially my foster mother here in Japan was standing by my side. "Thank you," she said as she stuck the needle in my arm.

---

Well, that was one way of getting out of school. We weren't donating blood after our one donation each on Tuesday – the Japanese Red Cross had made a supply available overnight – but our doctor was keeping us for a day for "observation", which we both quickly figured out meant forced bed-rest.

Getting out of school didn't mean getting out of schoolwork, though; Ami-san and Ichigo-san brought the handouts from our classes on Wednesday. And when we weren't doing our homework, Makoto and I chatted quietly with Shinozaki-san. He was a nice enough guy; I could see why my dearest liked him.

Saeko-basan let us go home Thursday morning, after giving each of us notes for our teachers that explained our absence for the entire day Wednesday and Thursday and asked us to be excused from P.E. for a week. "It's a small token of our appreciation for helping save a life," she explained. "We aren't allowed to pay for blood donations, but I can do this."

"Thank you, sensei," we said in unison.

Not that it was a free afternoon to do whatever we wanted; neither of us were up for anything very strenuous.

Which is why Ami-san and Ichigo-san visited us at home with the second day's set of handouts from class. "Have you finished yesterday's homework?" Ami-san asked while Ichigo-san was visiting Makoto.

"I have, but I'd like to review it before I hand it in tomorrow morning," I replied.

She smiled at that answer. "It's good to hear that you'll be back to normal tomorrow."

"I don't know about 'normal', but I want to see everybody. I just spent a day and a half talking with only Shinozaki-san and Makoto, and while they're great company, so are you, Bunny-chan, Naru-san and Minako-san."

She nodded in understanding. Then she frowned. "That cardian is still out there, stealing energy from people. And Ryou won't tell me how to stop it."

"Then I mustn't tell you either. I'm sorry."

---

The Revealing Of The Lunches on Friday showed that both Makoto and I had high-iron meals to help replace what we'd donated to Shinozaki-san earlier in the week. Canada has a reputation of skipping fusion cooking and going straight to creole, so I had a decent idea of what would taste good when put together: I had spinach, marinated mussels, broccoli, and chickpea salad, with sides of inarizushi (which was both a treat for me and a source of iron) and edamame, with dark chocolate to finish off the meal. Makoto played it safe with agedashi dōfu, edamame, and rice. I took pity on her and shared my chocolate.

And then, after classes, it was time for the weekly Conversational English club... except that Usagi-san called on us because of a cardian attack. At least we didn't have any new first-year-student club members to make our excuses to. All three of us headed out just before Minako-san's volleyball teammate could interrupt our meeting.

"Sorry, I have to go!"

"Thanks for putting Senshi business ahead of sports, Minako-san," Ami-san said as we passed through the school gates.

"I still feel bad for letting them down," she replied.

I sighed. "I think you're going to have to choose which one you want more."

"If there's a monster, the entire Conversational English club responds," Ami-san pointed out.

"I know, but I'm good at both volleyball and fighting. Venus Power..."

I quickly turned my back to the girls.

"Make-Up!"

"Mercury Power, Make-Up!"

We picked up the pace, Mercury watching to make sure I didn't fall over from overexertion. We and Jupiter arrived just in time to see a leonine cardian shred Mars' ofuda before the paper talisman could make contact with its head.

"That isn't good," Mercury pointed out the obvious.

"Is that...?" I asked.

Makoto nodded grimly. "Yes, it's the monster that hurt Shinozaki-san. And the blood that now flows through both our veins is calling out for vengeance." Then she turned to face it. "You! Supreme... Thunder... Dragon!"

Note to self: Never make Makoto angry at me. That's the second time that my girlfriend's used an attack before canon said she was supposed to, not that that really matters. What does matter is that it worked; the cardian dissolved into smoke, leaving behind only a blank card.

And Jupiter collapsed into my arms. Luckily, Mercury caught me before I fell over, too.

She and I got the comfortable chairs during the after-action debriefing, this time at Ami-san's apartment.

Ryou-san (who showed up just after everyone else) and I kept our mouths shut, at least while we were talking about the fight against the cardian. Instead, we heard about a "Moonlight Knight" person who had shown up for the fight.

But once that discussion was finished, he asked a question. "I keep seeing the same name when I look into the future. Does anybody know just who Aoyama Ichigo-san is, beyond being a girl that we have lunch with?"

"That girl our age, a bit taller than Ami-san, with Ainu features and shoulder-length black hair? Never heard of her," I grinned.

Now I know why they're called throw pillows; Makoto threw one at me. It bounced off my chest and landed in my lap. "She's a classmate of mine," Makoto replied. "Although Robu took supplementary classes with her before Usagi-chan reset the timeline."

"She wants to be a marine zoologist when she graduates," I added.

"Why do you ask?" asked Hino-san.

"I keep seeing that she's going to be important somehow, but I can't tell how. She isn't a warrior or a victim."

Minako-san mused, "I did ask a week ago why she wasn't in on our secret."

Ami-san turned to Ryou-san. "Would telling her who we are change anything for the worse?"

He thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Not as far as I can see."

"Well, then," Usagi-san decided, "you have a job to do, Luna."

---

The weekend passed uneventfully. No date for Makoto and me; we took it easy at her place, with Ami-san and Ryou-san chaperoning us and the two of us chaperoning them. We finished our homework and had a sukiyaki party, in that order.

Artemis-san was at my place, using my laptop again. Apparently there was a new virtual reality theatre in town that offered a shooting game that the Crown didn't, and he wanted to use the Dark Kingdom's youma biometric data to help him catch up quickly. As long as it helped the Crown arcade, I didn't mind.

And then Monday made its presence known with a bright, shiny sunrise. Which we tolerated. Giving in to the inevitable, we went to school.

Lunchtime rolled around, and we discovered that Luna had been even more efficient than usual. Ichigo-san was telling Makoto, Usagi-san, and Naru-san about her weekend when Ami-san and I joined them.

"There I was, minding my own business, when a talking cat walked up to me and gave me back my memories of the Missing Time. Can you believe it? A talking cat! Can somebody please explain why it's so important that I remember I used to have lunch with all of you that a talking cat had to make sure I knew? And who are you, anyway, that a talking cat knows who you are?"

Makoto smiled. "I think the talking cat left an impression on you, Ichigo-san."

"Ichigo-san, do you also remember not being allowed to go on a skiing trip?" I asked.

"Yes! And I didn't tell you about that yet, so you just confirmed that these are real memories. Unless..."

"Unless?"

"Unless the talking cat brainwashed both of us."

Ami-san shook her head. "The fact that you can wonder whether you've been brainwashed shows that you probably haven't been brainwashed."

I wasn't going to undermine her position by pointing out the MKUltra experiments. "You also asked who we are."

"There's this one memory that really stands out, from the day that Sato-san died. Somebody appeared in front of the school and said that I didn't look like any of the... Sailor Senshi? And he called you 'Oni'. Are you some kind of yokai, Robu-san?"

"No, I'm completely human," I answered.

Ichigo-san turned to Naru-san, "And he called you Nephrite's human... or..."

Naru-san interrupted Ichigo-san's chain of thought before she could repeat Kunzite's insult. "I thought Nephrite was human, too. I fell in love with him before I knew he was an enemy."

Bunny-chan could see the pain on Naru-san's face as she said that. "We shouldn't be talking about this here; other people could overhear. Oh, hi, Ryou-san! Ichigo-san, are you busy after school?"

"Just with homework."

"That's perfect! Come join our study session at the Hikawa shrine."

"I didn't know that the Hikawa shrine offered help with homework."

Minako-san smiled. "They don't. But those of us who study there can answer your question."

---

And so it was that Ichigo-san joined us at a study session for the first time. It was certainly educational.

"I think I've figured it out," she said after being introduced to Hino-san. "You're the Sailor Senshi that I remember hearing about during the Missing Time."

"That's right," Minako-san answered.

"Can I tell you who I think you are, and let you tell me how many I got right?"

Ryou-san smiled. "This should be interesting." When a precog says something like that, it's best to play along.

"I'll start with the easy guess. Only one Senshi had short hair, Sailor Mercury," she said to Ami-san. "And Sailor Jupiter towered over the other Senshi, classmate," she said to Makoto. "If I'm not mistaken, your long black hair marks you as Sailor Mars, Hino-san. As for you two... Sailor Moon's the one in charge and Sailor V's the one who inspires everybody else. So you're Sailor V," she said to Usagi-san, before turning to Minako-san and adding, "And you're Sailor Moon." Then she turned to me. "And you're the group's token male, Tuxedo Kamen."

At that point, Hino-san started laughing. "Him? Tuxedo Kamen-san? Not a chance!"

"You already know that my nom de guerre is 'Oni', Ichigo-san," I told her while Makoto and Ami-san did their best to get Hino-san to stop laughing. "I did my best to stay out of the spotlight, which is why you might not have heard of me other than that one time at the school gate."

Ryou-san nodded. "He did a good job of that, too. Aoyama-san, your score is three out of six."

She sighed. "Well, I was working with half-remembered data. Who other than Oni did I get wrong?"

"Nobody talks about the rabbit in the V," Minako-san replied. "I'm Sailor Venus."

"So you're Sailor Moon?" Ichigo-san asked Usagi-san, who nodded in reply since she was eating a manju at the time. "Wow. You really don't match the image I thought I had of her." Ichigo-san turned to Naru-san and Ryou-san. "How do the two of you fit in?"

"We're just two people who were turned into youma, turned back into humans by Sailor Moon, and kept at least some of our powers," Ryou-san answered.

"'Just', he says," I muttered.

"What about me? How was I special?"

Usagi-san took Ichigo-san's hands in her own. "Being the only person in our group who doesn't have any metahuman powers at all makes you very special, Ichigo-san. You remind us every day as to why we fight, simply by being you."

"That's... that's really cheesy." After a beat, Ichigo-san added, "But it helps a bit. Thank you." Then she turned to me. "Since I'm the only person here who doesn't have powers, that means you do. And you told me at lunchtime that you're completely human. What's your story?"

"It would take hours to tell my story," I replied. "The short form is that I'm from the future."

"If you're from the future, what stocks should I buy?"

I grinned. "You know, nobody else has asked me that yet."

"I'm planning ahead. University is expensive!"

My grin turned into a smile as I glanced at Ryou-san, who nodded. "Ah. Drop your money into the IPOs of Starbucks and Bed Bath & Beyond, and you won't regret it for the next three decades."

Everybody took note of that statement.

And then everybody did their homework. Most of us had memories of taking the courses; Minako-san, Makoto, and I were the only ones who had transferred to Kuritsu Juban Chuugakkou during the Missing Time, and I had Ami-san's memories of the courses that she had taken, so we treated our homework as a memory game. Ami-san helped Minako-san, Makoto, and those of us who needed the help (naming no lagomorph-style names) while she did her own homework flawlessly.

Needless to say, everybody noticed that I was still calling Sailor Mars "Hino-san". She finally sighed, drawing everybody's attention to herself.

"I've got a question for you, Donarudoson-san. Why are we the only two people here who are still calling each other by our family names?"

The only thing I was surprised by was the timing of the question. "You haven't given me permission to be any closer. In fact, I remember you saying during the Missing Time that you weren't ready to be on a given-name basis with me."

"I did say that, didn't I? But that was before we... stormed the Dark Kingdom." It was pretty clear to the Senshi and me that she was about to say "before we died", but Naru-san and Ichigo-san didn't need to know that.

"And I remember comparing you to the red oni in 'Naita Aka Oni'," Ichigo-san added. "You still want to be everybody's friend, don't you, Robu-san?" I nodded in reply.

"So it's because of what I said," Hino-san commented. "Life's too short to keep my friends at arm's length. Call me Rei, Robu-san."

I smiled as I replied, "Thank you, Rei-san."

---

Artemis asked me to accompany him while he checked out the new VR arcade in town – the one that we were trying to catch up to at the Crown. After checking with Ryou-san that we wouldn't be putting Usagi-san and Mamoru-san's relationship at risk, I agreed, and we made plans to check it out the same day that Luna and the Senshi were checking it out as a training tool. Which I would have expected to annoy Artemis, since he was now at risk of losing the real reason he'd coded the Sailor V game and set up the Crown arcade in the first place, but he didn't seem to mind.

Makoto invited me along with the other girls, but I declined, honestly saying that Artie and I had plans. He came to my place a quarter-hour after Makoto left.

"They probably aren't going to let a cat into a VR arcade, Artie. Not even a talking cat."

"Have you forgotten that I'm a Mau, Rob?" he asked just before transforming into human form.

I blinked. "I didn't know you could do that yet."

"Rob," he said with a smile suited to the cat that ate the canary, "nobody in this time signs contracts with talking cats. I have to become human every so often just to keep the Crown running. And I remember that you told me that Luna's forgotten that she can do this, too. I won't tell her."

"Thanks, Artie. Better safe than sorry, and all that. So, why aren't you worried that Luna wants to take the training business away from the Crown and give it to this new place?" I asked as we headed over to the shopping district.

"Oh, I bought a minority interest in the competition."

My eyes narrowed. "Using what? If you're dipping into the girls' income from the Sailor Moon toku shows..."

"No, of course I'm not. I'm officially a character designer. That biometric data you grabbed from the Dark Kingdom and the new arcade's VR systems has combined to create some extremely detailed opponents for the players to go up against."

I was momentarily annoyed that he'd done that, then realized that I shouldn't be. "Well, we stole that data from them, so I can't complain that you're using it without asking first. As long as you didn't give them the girls' data."

"I'm not that stupid."

"Sorry, Artie."

So it was that, a half-hour later, we were watching the VR technology from the comfort of the owners' booth. We were the only two there.

"Artie?"

"Yes, Rob?"

"Why is that winged person wearing boxing gloves?"

"I have no idea. It was in the data that we took from the Dark Kingdom."

"Ah. Is that monster over there wearing a cocktail dress?"

"That's another one from that data."

"What about that giant ant?"

Artie blinked. "That's not one of ours, Rob..."

And thus it was that we saw the entire kerfuffle caused by the cardian Hell Ant, Moon's utter failure to defeat the monster, and Chiba-san and the Moonlight Knight standing side-by-side. At least Venus and Jupiter were able to destroy the cardian just like they did in canon. And Usagi's little brother had something to do during this adventure, too.

But I couldn't help but sympathize with Usagi-san. Poor kid, drawn back into the life of a hero but unable to actually be heroic.

---

We didn't give Usagi-san time to become melancholy. The cherry blossoms were finally blooming – I blame the reset for messing up the seasons, although it wasn't completely unheard of for the sakura to blossom as late as mid-April, so we went out to have a hanami picnic. I arranged for a good spot by the simple virtue of camping out at one overnight... the way that Umino did in canon, and it was sort-of my fault that he wasn't dating Naru-san any more so that was my job now.

We couldn't talk Senshi business during the party; Sakurada-sensei joined us for the viewing. And there were crowds all around us, too.

Usagi-san brought a very spicy bento that Rei-san complained about (and I ended up eating), Ichigo-san got Usagi-san to laugh at one of her jokes, and Sakurada-sensei had her energy drained by a cardian when she wandered off on her own.

Naru-san and I went to look for Sakurada-sensei, and found her passed out near a tree stump. "Sensei! Are you okay?" Naru-san hurried over and checked Sakurada-sensei, then noticed somebody walking toward her from the direction of that tree stump. "We need some help... no! You're a cardian!"

I wondered how she knew.

When the cardian tried to drain Naru-san, our group's designated victim showed that she was quite finished with that role, thank you very much. Every loose sakura petal within two meters suddenly flew to her hand and crystallized together, forming a pink ko-wakizashi that Naru-san immediately swung at the cardian.

The cardian wasn't expecting to encounter armed resistance, and immediately fled.

I was tempted to run, too. How the hells did Naru-san do that?

As she turned to me, I saw the same kumadori makeup pattern that she had worn when she was a youma fading from her face... but this time, it was hero red instead of villain blue. And her sword didn't dissolve, either.

"We need to get help for Sakurada-sensei," was all she said.

I replied, "We need to hide your sword, first." She looked at it in wonder, then quietly handed it to me. I wrapped it in a forcefield, put it through a belt loop, and made it invisible. "I'll get it back to you later," I promised as the others ran to us. "When we try to figure out exactly what you just did."

---

Naru-san, Ryou-san, and I didn't go anywhere near the park for the next few days, which meant we missed seeing Sailor Moon's first use of Moon Princess Halation.

What we were doing in the meantime, besides attending school, was trying to figure out exactly what Naru-san's powers were.

"Don't you already know?" she asked us both as I returned her sword to her at her apartment.

I shook my head. "You didn't display any powers at all in the documents that I have access to," I replied.

"And I can only see possible futures, not the past," Ryou-san added. "So I can't tell who you used to be, or are now."

"I see," she replied. "Well, let's start by looking at what we can see." She rubbed the sword against a piece of unglazed porcelain without any visible effect.

"That didn't help," Ryou-san commented.

"Actually, it did," Naru-san corrected him. "I was trying to get a streak of the material that the sword is made of, but nothing rubbed off."

Some trivia from my high-school geology classes from my home reality came back to me. "So the blade has a hardness of at least 7," I commented. "You've got some pretty tough flower petals there."

"How many substances are that hard?" Ryou-san asked.

"Dozens," replied Naru-san. "But I think this might be diamond."

"Because we know that your powers work on carbon," I said while nodding in agreement. "Have you tried using your ability on aluminium yet?"

"I haven't been able to find any," she replied.

I raised one eyebrow. "Not even in the supermarket?"

She blushed. "Ah. I was looking in the jewelry store, not the apartment. I didn't even think of using aluminium foil."

"That can wait," Ryou-san said. "Right now, we have something else to figure out." And he lunged at Naru-san, arms outstretched, for all appearances about to strangle her.

"What the hells?" I exclaimed... just as the kumadori makeup appeared on Naru-san's face again.

Ryou-san immediately backed away from Naru-san. The pattern faded from her face.

"Never do that again!" we both yelled at him.

"My apologies, but it was necessary," he said. "Now we know the pattern of Osaka-san's kumadori."

"Does it make a difference?" I asked.

"Yes, Robu-san. That pattern is in the mukimi kuma style, showing that she's young, handsome and virtuous."

Naru-san looked slightly annoyed. "I like 'young' and 'virtuous,' but 'handsome'? You have noticed that I'm a girl, haven't you?"

Ryou-san smiled as he replied, "I suspect Ami would prefer that I not answer that question."

I shook my head. "Ami-san has a kind soul; I doubt she'd get upset. Makoto might get upset if I noticed, though."

"You may be right." Ryou-san turned back to Naru-san, who was smiling at us. No, not with us, at us. "Now, can you invoke that state without being in danger?"

She thought for a moment. "I don't know."

"That's something you're going to need to figure out on your own," I said. "Unless you like having your life put at risk." Seeing her shake her head in rejection of that idea, I continued, "Could you try using the sword as a weapon, please?"

She smiled as she picked it up... then swung it at Ryou-san, who ducked. "Turnabout is fair play, ne?"

"Thank you, Naru-san," I said. "You didn't display any of the skill you showed me the two times that you had the mukimi kuma markings on your face."

"So the markings are more than just makeup, then," she mused. "Am I really transforming?"

Just then, Mayumi-san burst into the room. "What's going on up here? I heard Naru shout!"

"Sorry, mama," she replied. "We were trying to make that change happen again, but it didn't work."

"I think you'd better stop trying things that make me worry about your safety, Naru." And she glared at Ryou-san and me.

I nodded. "I quite agree, Osaka-san. And perhaps Ryou-san and I have overstayed our welcome today."

Mayumi-san calmed down a bit at that. "I'll see you to the door, then."

As we left, I heard Naru-san ask, "Mama, do we have any aluminium foil in the kitchen?"

---

Naru-san showed off her newest creation the next day at lunch, producing a nearly-transparent stone for us to marvel at.

"What is this?" Ichigo-san asked. "A glass marble?"

"No," Naru-san sighed. "I was trying to make corundum, but I had some trouble pulling just oxygen out of the air. This is aluminium oxynitride."

"Wow..." I whispered. I could see that Ami-san was just as impressed as I was.

"If it's aluminium, why isn't it shiny?" Usagi-chan asked.

"Aluminium oxynitride, Usagi-san," Ami-san repeated.

"Or 'transparent aluminium' if you'd prefer," I added.

Ryou-san looked impressed by that. "You mean like in that Star Trek movie?"

"The one with the whales?" Usagi-san asked. "I loved that one!"

The trivia that Usagi-san remembers never fails to surprise me. If only she'd pay that much attention to her lessons – Alex Trebek might forgive her for concentrating on trivia, but her teachers would not. "Yes, Bunny-chan, the one with the whales. More realistically, windows made of aluminium oxynitride could stop a bullet."

And that impressed Naru-san. "I think maybe I should get some more aluminium foil at the store today. Mama noticed that one of the store windows had a crack in it."

"Good thinking, Naru-san," Ryou-san said. "Just remember to anchor the new window securely."

"I still want to make some corundum, though. Where can I get a tank of just oxygen?"

"I don't know, but any welder would be able to answer that question," I replied.

"Or any hospital," Ami-san added.

---

Life was relatively peaceful for the next few days, once Ichigo-san figured out that asking Naru-san about her early experiments with making crystals wasn't a good idea. No, Naru-san wasn't doing as well as she had hoped. At least she was able to sell the diamonds that she could make through OSA-P, so she wasn't driving her family into bankruptcy with the cost of her raw materials.

And Naru-san being in the spotlight in our lunch group reminded me that somebody needed to find some costumes for a play in a month or so. In canon, that somebody was Umino-san, but thanks to my meddling he wasn't dating Naru-san any more. Which left the task up to me.

I can't sew worth a darn. But I knew somebody who could... so I paid Atelier Lucent a visit, hoping to meet with the proprietor.

Oh, look – she was in the shop and there were no other customers present. And she looked like she was waiting for me. Stupid genre conventions.

"Good afternoon, Meioh-san," I said in English, just in case there was anybody listening nearby.

"Good afternoon, Donaldson-san," she replied in the same language. "What brings you to Shibuya?"

"Why, the Oedo Line with a transfer at Aoyama-Itchome to the Hanzomon Line, of course. I'm too young to drive."

She smiled. "Ah, but if you were old enough to drive, you'd be too old to date Kino-san."

"And we can't have that," I agreed. "But seriously, I'm here to see whether the two of us can repair a crack that I made to the timeline."

"Thank you for being willing to take responsibility for your actions. Which crack in particular are you thinking of?"

I smiled at the compliment. "The one where somebody who isn't part of the group any more would have obtained costumes for Snow White."

She pulled a sketchbook out from under the counter. "And you aren't going to be happy with animal costumes for the dwarfs and a hag costume for the witch just because they're cheap. Honestly, neither would I. What do you think of this for the witch?"

I looked at the sketch she had made of Bunny-chan wearing a white short-sleeved blouse, a long blue skirt, white opera gloves and pointed hat, and accessories straight from her Sailor Moon uniform. "I think she'll like it, and it would be a definite change from the stereotypical hag outfit. The crescent moon attached to the tip of the hat and the colour scheme are something of a giveaway, though, aren't they?"

"Allow a centuries-old woman a bit of whimsy, Donaldson-san. The actual costume won't have the moon or that colour scheme. Here's what I was thinking of giving you," she said as she flipped the page to show a sketch of me in an oni's loincloth.

"Oh, har har. Snow White is a German story, not a Japanese one. It's bad enough that I'll probably be taking Umino-san's place as a dwarf despite the fact that I'm six feet tall."

"Don't worry about that. If Lina can mistake Philionel for a dwarf despite his height, you have nothing to worry about."

"When you start mentioning Slayers characters to make your point, I have to wonder whether you know we aren't living in an anime."

Sailor Pluto just stared at me, one eyebrow raised.

"Okay, fine, we are living in an anime. But it's not a fantasy anime. Getting back to the costume, unless you're going to put the girls in oni outfits as well, the children in the audience are going to be confused. And if you do put the girls in oni outfits, Takahashi-sensei is going to want royalties."

"Perhaps something like this, then," she suggested as she flipped to the next page of the sketchbook, to reveal a girl wearing a sleeveless top, a long half-skirt over trousers, heavy boots, and a sturdy belt, and holding a double-headed axe with a blade as big as her torso.

I whistled in appreciation. "Oh, that's very nice. And the children's fathers will appreciate the outfits as much as I do just seeing the sketch."

"You don't mind your girlfriend dressing like this?"

"Why not? That bust line doesn't actually show anything off; it just hints. Although I think I'd want something a bit higher cut on my outfit," I added with a smile.

That actually got a grin out of Setsuna. "Of course."

"Oh, and we shouldn't go with battleaxes, just in case somebody thinks the blades are real. Hammers would probably be okay."

Setsuna was a picture of innocence. "'Think the blades are real'? Donaldson-san, I was planning on making real weapons."

I almost started a recitation of Japanese weapons laws, but then I saw the smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "You almost had me there, Meioh-san," I replied with a chuckle. "I keep forgetting that you aren't this decade's very serious medical student Meioh Setsuna-san. We'll need something for Snow White and the prince, too. Something nice for Snow White but not so nice that she upstages Bunny-chan, and we both know what Chiba-san looks like as a prince. Can you have these ready before the play?"

"If you can get me Ginga-san's measurements, yes."

I thought for a moment. "That probably won't be possible. We both know why."

She nodded. "Then I'll do my best. Mind you, an ill-fitting outfit will make her look worse than Serenity-san no matter how good my design is," she added with a hint of an evil smile on her face.

"Thank you, Meioh-san. And I like the way you think. Will you want the outfits back after the play?"

"No, the performers can keep them. I can't re-use the fabric, so there's no point to getting the clothing back."

"That's quite kind of you. How would you like me to pay for this work?"

"I'll take the money out of your bank account just before the next time that I replenish it. Have you forgotten that I'm paying for all of your purchases anyway?"

"I did forget, yes. And I'll have to do something about that; it isn't fair to you."

She smiled. "You will, but not right away. And that reminds me: Keep your cellphone and its charger with you between the time that you and Kino-san pack to visit Narahara and when you actually set forth on your journey."

"Isn't it a little early for you to be telling me that? And how did what I said remind you to mention that, anyway?"

"This is the last time I'll be able to speak with you alone before August 12, and that's a secret, respectively."

"Okay, fine. When it comes to knowing the future, the shoe's on the other foot for once."

She nodded. "And that's all the time I can spare for you right now, Donaldson-san. I'll have the costumes ready for you to pick up on May 16."

---

Time proceeded, as it does when Sailor Pluto isn't using her forbidden power, into the final week of April, when another cardian made its appearance.

The only thing that kept me from going ballistic when I heard who it had targeted was the knowledge that the next cardian would be even worse.

And I had to let it progress the way it did in canon, or Minako-san wouldn't unlock her Crescent Beam Shower attack. Which she did.

The first topic of discussion at that Friday's Conversational English club meeting was speculation on what kind of monsters could target kindergarten children.

"And why didn't you warn us, Rob-san?"

I sighed deeply. "We all agreed that Ryou-san and I mustn't warn you, Minako-san, any more than we could warn Makoto about Shinozaki-san being injured. No matter how much it hurts us to keep quiet."

"You can't give us any warning at all what's going to happen?" Ami-san asked.

I thought of what was going to happen next week, hardened my heart, and said, "I mustn't. Changing the subject... Crescent Beam Shower, eh?"

"Why not?" Minako-san asked. "It fits my theme."

"Your theme?"

"From while I was Sailor V. Crescent Boomerang, Crescent Beam, Crescent Super Beam, Crescent Slender Beam..."

"I think I see the theme there, yes. What about when you had to fight close-in?"

"Those were usually just punches and kicks, although I did use an uchigatana once."

"So maybe you could use a Crescent attack as if it was a bladed weapon."

She grinned. "Of course! Something like a Crescent Beam Saber!"

Ami-san tilted her head in puzzlement. "'Crescent Beam Saber'?"

Minako-san turned to Ami-san. "I'm riffing off of something from Gundam. Don't you think it'll work?"

"I'm sure that you can make it work. It's just that I can't picture a transforming heroine based on Gundam imagery."

I thought of a certain White Devil – not the one from Gundam, the other one – and because of my sudden emotional shift, I couldn't stop giggling.

After a moment, Minako-san said, "Rob's gone bye-bye. Ami, what've you got left?"

And that sent both girls into giggling fits that matched mine.

---

The next week started with May 3, so the school gave us May 4 off for Constitution Memorial Day instead. And May 5 was Children’s Day, so we had an extra-long Golden Week weekend.

Ail and An noticed that as well, and launched their most reprehensible attack ever. It was bad enough when they were draining energy from kindergarten children, but draining energy from toddlers crossed the line.

Ryou-san and I had a very, very long discussion about whether it was safe for me to actually intervene, just this once.

He won.

Interfering this time in particular, when Usagi-san and Chiba-san actually worked together to care for the one toddler who had been protected by his mother, could have disastrous effects to their relationship later on. Which meant that I had to watch from the sidelines while toddlers were drained of their energy.

It's been a while since I've said this, but it's damned appropriate. Stupid genre conventions.

And the cardian got away, which meant it would be back.

I made sure to get to school early on Wednesday so that I could leave a note on Ami-san's desk. A handwritten note, using a brush pen. But she was there before I was, so I bowed and handed her the note personally.

She almost didn't take it from me. And I wouldn't have blamed her if she hadn't. But she did.

And she read my simple, one sentence note: "I am very sorry."

She finally looked at me. "I accept your apology, Rob-san. But I don't appreciate that you needed to apologize to me."

"And I don't like that I had to apologize. All I can say is that my inaction was necessary."

"You promised during the Missing Time that you would never lie to me. Please answer this question. Why?"

Misinterpreting her question and explaining why I would never lie to her would just make her angry with me again, as would refusing to answer. I sighed deeply. "There are multiple reasons, and I'm not going to tell you everything. What I will tell you is that you need to be angry with this cardian even if that means you're angry with Ryou-san and me as well, and Usagi-san and Chiba-san need to take care of Manami-kun."

She thought for a moment. "You didn't call Usagi-chan 'Bunny-chan'. I know you well enough to know that that means you're completely serious. This is about their relationship, isn't it?"

"It is, yes."

"Thank you. And my anger... no, I won't ask whether that will unlock anything."

"Thank you, Ami-san," I whispered as the classroom door opened and a couple of our classmates came in.

Even though we'd come to an understanding, it was still a chilly morning. But relations thawed at lunchtime, when Bunny-chan told us about her adventures in babysitting, including the most basic of mistakes that Ginga Natsumi-san had made while trying to take over Bunny-chan's changing Manami-kun's diaper.

"Wait, wait. Manami's a boy?"

I raised one eyebrow at Minako-san's question. "And Makoto's a girl," I replied while taking my girlfriend's hand in my own. "What's your point?"

Minako-san realized that she shouldn't have been surprised at discovering another person with a gender-bending name. "I guess I don't have a point," she replied.

Ryou-san raised his hand. "If I may..." We all turned to him. "Robu-san, can you pay a visit to Nakayoshi Koyoshi Nursery School after school tomorrow?"

I raised both eyebrows. "I thought we weren't interfering."

"The danger point for future events has passed safely, at least as far as this particular cardian is concerned. And I know that sitting back and doing nothing isn't helping your emotional stability any."

"In that case, then yes, I can bloody well be at Nakayoshi Koyoshi Nursery School tomorrow," I said with conviction.

"We can all be there," Usagi-san announced with steel in her voice.

"You have a baby to tend to," Ryou-san pointed out. "We'll make sure you're there for the climax, though."

---

We did, and she was, and Mercury unlocked her Shabon Spray Freezing attack before Moon went all Moon Princess Halation on the cardian.

And it felt good to be doing something after so long, even if it was only catching the toddlers as the cardian dropped them as a distraction, and cutting into the forcefields she had wrapped them in so that they wouldn't suffocate.

Of course, that put me on the aliens' radar as a new threat to them, assuming they were watching. But I wasn't so naive as to trust in stupid genre conventions this time around; I had used some tinted forecefields to make it look like I had the black hair and scarlet skin of the red oni from 'Naita Aka Oni'. I couldn't do anything about my height, but neither could Jupiter and nobody had connected the dots in her case... so far.

I had to figure out some way to disguise myself more thoroughly. But that was a project for another day.

---

"Another day," in this case, did not come the next week.

What did come that week was an out-of-season culture festival at Toyo Eiwa Jogakuin. Ah, those Canadian-founded private schools, marching to their own beat instead of waiting for November. But if I recalled correctly, they had a culture festival out-of-season in canon, too.

Luckily for me, Rei-san's concert was on Sunday, the day after I was expected at Atelier Lucent. I recruited Makoto, Ami-san, and Ryou-san to help me carry all ten costumes... which I realized after the fact was why Meioh-san wasn't in the shop when we arrived. If Ryou-san met Meioh-san before we met Tomoe Hotaru-san, the timeline might have been fractured beyond repair. Or Ryou-san's power might have burned out from simply meeting Sailor Pluto. Or maybe she just wanted a day off. Whatever. She had left us ten costumes, and one of them was for Ichigo-san.

Anyway, we didn't miss Rei-san's concert. Or the cardian that attacked it. Ryou-san didn't let me take part in the fight, not that I needed to; it isn't just pride that keeps Sailor Mars from needing to accept help from a man. Besides, she had to fight that fight single-handedly in order to unlock her Fire Soul Bird attack.

We also didn't miss seeing Ail and An in a couple of truly ridiculous "alien" outfits. At least none of us laughed at the outfits in their presence, although I did need to literally step on Minako-san's toes to make that not happen.

What was more important, as far as I was concerned, was the conversation that Ryou-san, Ami-san, Makoto and I had at the beef bowl restaurant after the concert.

"So, what's coming next?"

Makoto looked at me. "Don't you already know?"

"I know what would have happened if I wasn't here. But I've completely derailed the setup for the next encounter."

"How can you be so sure?" Ami-san asked.

I grinned. "Because my girlfriend has a boyfriend now." I turned to Makoto and continued, "If you didn't, you would have thought that somebody might be the Moonlight Knight, and that he reminded you of your sempai, and you would have tried to get closer to him, and it wouldn't have been until you did that that you unlocked Supreme Thunder Dragon when you protected him from a cardian."

"But I unlocked that attack when I destroyed the cardian that hurt Shinozaki-san. Why didn't I unlock that attack then in the anime?"

"Because you were too weak from donating blood. Nobody else with type O blood was available in the anime, so it all had to come from you."

"You did that for me, as well as for Shinozaki-san? Remind me to kiss you when we're home."

I smiled. "Don't worry, I will." I turned to Ryou-san, who was blushing almost as deeply as Ami-san was. Then I turned back to Makoto. "Our talk about kissing seems to have scandalized our innocent friends."

"Don't worry, Ami-chan," Makoto commented. "We don't go any farther than that."

"Good..." she whispered.

Nobody said anything for a few minutes.

Once Ryou-san and Ami-san's skin colour was back to normal, I asked, "So, Ryou-san, what's coming next?"

"Since I'm not going to fall for somebody who isn't Robu, it won't be what happened in the anime that he just described," added my dearest.

Ryou-san nodded. "Are you sure you want to know? Seventeen times out of twenty, you take it poorly."

I took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Go ahead and tell me."

"Naru-san falls for him."

In anger, I accidentally snapped my chopsticks in two.

"Oh, good," Ryou-san said with relief. "This is one of the other three times."

"Hasn't she been through enough heartbreak?" I asked nobody in particular. Then I looked Ryou-san straight in the eyes. "Please tell me that we can intervene this time."

"I'm sorry, Robu-san. We can't. There's a one in five chance that this will get her and Umino-san back together, but that drops to zero if you take a role."

"Darling?"

I turned to Makoto. "Yes, my dearest?"

"Is this the kind of conversation that you and Ryou-san have before every new cardian shows up?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Remind me to never ask you what you decided in the other meetings."

"And thank you both for protecting us from these decisions," Ami-san said.

I couldn't help but think that Ami-san needed to learn how to make decisions that affected other people, if she ever wanted to become a doctor.

---

Monday's Revealing Of The Lunches went well enough, for a day that I expected that I'd need to smile and nod when Naru-san asked about Ginga Seijuurou-san.

Which she did, and Ryou-san, Ami-san, Makoto and I kept our mouths shut. But Usagi-san also asked whether any of us wanted to be in a play that was due to be staged at the end of the month. Chiba-san was looking for pinch-hitter actors after the rest of the troupe trooped out of the theatre.

"We could ask Seijuurou-san to perform the music. Have you heard him play the flute?"

Yes, Naru-san, we have, repeatedly, I didn't say.

"Hey," Minako-san commented, "we hear flute music just before the Moonlight Knight shows up at a battle."

Aw, Mina-chan... I know it's canon, but that's the wrong conclusion. The Senshi hear flute music just before the cardian shows up. And Ryou-san and I didn't dare point that out.

"You think Seijuurou-san is the Moonlight Knight?"

No, I didn't smile and nod. But I did smile at Naru-san's next question.

"Mako-chan, could you help me make a lunch for Seijuurou-san?"

Makoto glanced at me; I shrugged my shoulders; and she turned to Naru-san. "I suppose I could do that. But I want to take part in the play, too."

"Let's all take part in the play," I suggested.

Ichigo-san grinned. "I'd like to give it a try. I didn't get to try out for that show with Shiratori Mikan-san, the way you did. How's she doing, by the way?"

"You didn't hear this from me," Minako-san replied quietly, "but she's still in the hospital after having almost all of her energy drained, and she'll probably be there for a few more months. Even if she recovers completely, her career is dead because of her being out of the spotlight after that attack."

"Robu-san, Ryou-san, is Shiratori-san really not going to be an idol any more?" Usagi-san asked in concern.

I looked at Ryou-san, who thought for a moment. "Maybe. Unless... maybe... she works with somebody whose star is on the rise. I'm seeing a violinist... Kaiou-san...?"

I deliberately started choking on a bite of my lunch, drawing everybody's attention away from Ryou-san. Once my breathing was back under control, I said, "That can wait until Shiratori-san is out of the hospital. Right now, Naru-san is looking for advice about her love life and Chiba-san needs help with that play, and I can only help with one of those things."

And who happened to be passing by at just the right time to overhear me but Ginga Natsumi-san. "Mamoru-san needs help?"

Stupid genre conventions.

As An... Natsumi-san... and Usagi-san talked about the play, I leaned over to Naru-san. "I think we're concentrating on the other matter today, sorry."

She gave me a feeble smile. "At least you didn't forget about me completely."

---

We all visited the theatre after school. Yes, even Ail and An – sorry, Seijuurou-san and Natsumi-san. We even convinced Rei-san to take part.

Umino-san was there, too. Naru-san... at least acknowledged his presence, which was more than I expected would happen.

We all agreed to take part in the performance of Snow White, on the understanding that the show was probably not going to be very polished. We only had two weeks to rehearse, after all.

Then we decided on our roles. Chiba-san was playing the Prince, of course, and that led to every girl in the room wanting to play Snow White. They all had their reasons to play the titular role: Ami-san wouldn't have as many lines to memorize so she could study more, Ichigo-san wanted to show everyone that even somebody from Hokkaido could be a star, Minako-san pointed out her time in England gave her a European view on the role, and Makoto – just like in canon – reminded everybody that she had the biggest breasts. I immediately thought of the "talent" meme that was spawned by the North American dub of that line back in my home reality.

"Why are you laughing?" Naru-san asked.

The truth would blow my cover, so it was time for some misdirection. "Why don't I play Snow White?"

"Why don't we draw lots?" Natsumi-san suggested with a scowl on her face.

Canon re-asserted itself, and Natsumi-san cheated just enough to make herself Snow White and make Usagi-san the witch. "And you," Natsumi-san pointed at me, "get to be the biggest dwarf I've ever heard of."

"That's fine with me," I replied. "I can help out with costuming, too."

"You don't need to do that," Umino-san said. "I have a friend who can rent us some costumes at a bargain price."

I knew which costumes he'd find, and I wanted no part in them. Pun intended. "I know somebody who owns a shop on Center Gai."

"The shop where Mako-chan got her skating outfit?" Rei-san asked. After I nodded in reply, she continued, "Donarudoson-san is getting the costumes."

"And Naru knows a lot about music," Bunny-chan said. "You should work with Seijuurou-san about the score."

That got a smile from Naru-san... and a scowl from Umino-san.

---

Classes, rehearsals, and a complete lack of cardians took their toll over the next week and a half.

Yes, a lack of cardians had the girls worried. And I was worried that they were turning into child soldiers, with that outlook. I resolved to take Makoto on a date, and suggested Ryou-san take Ami-san on a date, just as soon as the play was performed; we needed the change of pace. He suggested the day after the performance.

What took its toll on me was how happy Naru-san looked when she talked about suggesting slow jazz pieces for Seijuurou-san to play during the performance. It was Nephrite all over again, and I couldn't warn her.

Then, the day before dress rehearsal, Umino-san decided that Seijuurou-san was spending altogether too much time with Naru-san, and went to confront him.

I turned invisible and followed, just in case the worst happened.

Sure enough, the worst happened. Stupid genre conventions. Umino-san barged in on Seijuurou-san and Natsumi-san when they were in their real forms of Ail and An, wondering where to find some energy to last the week.

I'll give Umino-san this much credit: he didn't try to run. But he only got in one punch before An drained him of energy until he collapsed... and kept on draining him.

I was not about to let what happened to Sato-san happen to Umino-san. I took two steps back and said, "Umino-san, are you in there?" as I went visible.

"Oh, it's terrible!" Natsumi-san said. It seemed that the Ginga siblings can shift forms faster than I can go visible or invisible. "We just found him here, unconscious!"

"I'll call an ambulance!" There was no way that I was going to become the next course on their meal, and there was a telephone on the wall right there.

A quarter-hour later, Umino-san was on his way to the hospital. "Now what?" I asked.

"The show must go on," Chiba-san replied.

"It's what he would have wanted," Usagi-san added.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ryou-san sigh deeply. I gathered that this wasn't how the one-in-five chance of Naru-san and Umino-san getting back together was supposed to play out.

I also saw Seijuurou-san rubbing his cheek. "Are you okay?"

"I think I broke a tooth in all the excitement."

Naru-san looked alarmed. "Can you still play the flute?"

"Not right now, I can't."

I sighed deeply. "And after all the work you put into this, too. They would have loved your playing."

"There's no help for it," Chiba-san announced. "We'll just have to use prerecorded music."

---

And then it was time for the dress rehearsal. I imposed on Chiba-san to pick me up after school and drive to my place, where we put the costumes into his car and drove to the theatre.

Everyone else was waiting for us.

"How's Umino-san doing?" Rei-san asked.

"It's still too early to tell," Ami-san replied.

"We can talk later," Chiba-san insisted. "It's time to get into our costumes now."

I appreciated his diversion from a matter that I really didn't want to discuss just then. "I had to guess at some of the sizes," I added as we handed out the garment bags. "If I made a mistake, I apologize in advance."

Then we went to the dressing rooms, and presently stepped onto the stage in costume for the very first time.

Ryou-san remembered to bring a camera and a handful of rolls of film.

Natsumi-san's costume was a bit tight around the waist and a bit loose around the bust and hips.

Everyone else's costumes fit perfectly.

Ah, Setsuna-san, your revenge on somebody who tried to upstage your princess is both subtle and sweet.

And, no, Usagi-san's costume didn't have a crescent moon on the hat... nor was it in the same colours as her Sailor Senshi uniform. Blood red makes for a good colour for a Wicked Witch outfit.

We rehearsed the entire play, then performed it for real in front of an audience of one: Ryou-san. The director was happy with our performance and told us to be back early enough to get into costume before the performance the next day.

"What do we do with the costumes? Take them home?" Natsumi-san looked hopeful.

"Leave them here," Chiba-san insisted. "They're so well-made that I don't want to risk any damage to them on the bus. And we can lock the dressing rooms."

I smiled and nodded in agreement. The smile was because, if her costume was locked away, Natsumi-san couldn't make any alterations to it. She was going to look almost as good as everybody else.

---

And then came the performance, which was a bit more sombre than in canon because we still didn't know whether Umino-san was going to regain consciousness any time soon.

The children in the audience liked the colourful costumes of both Snow White and the Witch. The older males liked all of the ladies, which just went to show that a young woman doesn't need to show a lot of skin to be attractive. The older females liked the nobility and the handsomeness of Prince Mamoru. And maybe a few of them liked my looks, too; I was wearing the same sort of costume as the ladies, but without the overskirt.

And Ail didn't play the flute... until Natsumi-san was about to receive a stage kiss from Chiba-san, at which point he became jealous enough to summon a cardian right in the building. Just as in canon.

We scattered. I got Naru-san and Ichigo-san to safety, Chiba-san got Natsumi-san to safety, and the girls... did what they did in canon, including introducing themselves to the audience while in Senshi uniform just like the actors do in the toku shows. If we can't stay hidden, we can at least practice misdirection.

It was only after Mercury announced herself as the smart member of the team that I noticed Saeko-basan was in the audience. And then I realized why Ryou-san said we should double-date our girlfriends the day after the performance; tonight, to misquote everybody but Ricky Ricardo, we had some 'splaining to do.

No, he never actually said that on I Love Lucy.

Once the play was over, in more ways than one, I told the girls and Chiba-san that they could keep the costumes. Even Natsumi-san took me up on the offer.

Ryou-san declined to accompany us to Ami-san's apartment, saying that it would look bad if we tried deflecting Saeko-basan's attention away from one secret by revealing another secret. So it was just the three of us to face the music.

"Robu-san, Makoto-san, you don't need to be here," Saeko-basan told us when we stood beside Ami-san. Which wasn't the greatest visual, I'll admit, since us towering over her looked like we were keeping her from running away.

"If this is about what happened in the theatre today, then we should be here," Makoto insisted. I nodded in agreement.

"Do what you want, then." She tilted her head down to look straight at her daughter. "I'd like an explanation as to why you claimed to be a transforming heroine."

Ami-san sighed deeply. "Because I am a transforming heroine, mother. May I ask how you figured it out?"

"You did announce that Sailor Mercury consistently gets the top marks in national practice exams, Ami-san," I commented.

"But you can use any name when you take the mock exams!"

"Ami-chan," Makoto replied, "you're the smartest person I know, but that was a really stupid reply. It doesn't matter what name you use if you claim that it's you."

Before we could continue, Saeko-basan said, "I would prefer to have this conversation directly with my daughter."

"Yes, ma'am," I replied, with Makoto echoing me quickly.

"As you wish," Ami-san said. "I am the transforming heroine called Sailor Mercury, I have been a transforming heroine since partway through what the astronomers are calling the Missing Time, and I am personally responsible for saving dozens of lives. Including the lives of some preschool children earlier this month."

Saeko-basan looked like she was about to reply, but she paused. "I remember hearing about attacks on children, and that various different heroines prevented some followup attacks. Was that you?"

"Only one of those incidents was prevented by me. I have allies."

"Including a friendly red oni, from the reports that I heard from the ambulance teams." She looked in my direction.

Instead of replying, I used the same forcefield trick that I had used during that incident to change my hair and skin colour, then let the forcefield drop after two seconds.

"I see now why you thought that you should be present," she commented in wonder. "Ami, is your transformation similar to Robu-san's?"

Ami-san smiled slightly as she replied. "No, mother. Robu-san is a special case. The rest of us have transformations that look like this. Mercury Power, Make-Up!"

As she was transforming, I turned my head and complained, "I really wish you'd give me warning before you get changed!"

"Why?" Saeko-basan asked. "It's only a moment of nakedness. I assure you, any doctor or medical student has seen much more than that amount of skin."

"Ah. So..." I turned back to Ami-san. "You don't care whether I see you naked because you think it doesn't matter?"

"That's right," Mercury replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "Oh! Did you think I was trying to lure you away from Mako-chan?"

"Honestly, I wasn't sure," I admitted.

"Honestly, I was sure, but I was wrong," Makoto added. "I'm sorry for thinking that you wanted to take my boyfriend away from me, Ami-chan."

"Now that that's cleared up," Saeko-basan said, "how long have you known that Ami is... Sailor Mercury, you said?"

We all nodded. "Since a week after I met her," Makoto answered.

"In my case, the answer is more complicated," I said. "And it involves time travel."

Saeko-basan raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that you should be telling me that?"

"Why not?" I replied. "In part because of my presence and actions here, this is not the past that I know from history classes. I have little to no knowledge of the personal futures of anyone in this room; all I know now is a general flow of time."

"A general flow of time... Oh, do you mean an overall pattern of future events?"

"Exactly."

Saeko-basan turned to Makoto. "How much of this is news to you, Makoto-san?"

She smiled. "None of it. Oh, and, Jupiter Power, Make-Up!"

"Now, my girlfriend wanting me to see her naked, I can understand," I said to Saeko-basan in a stage whisper that I fully intended my dearest to hear.

"As can I," she replied with a smile. "Although with someone like Makoto-san in your life who obviously likes you that way, how are you still a virgin?"

"We're still in junior high school, and Makoto's a transforming heroine in the middle of a conflict with forces who are willing to hurt innocent people. That's two reasons why I shouldn't get her pregnant right now."

"I admire your self-restraint," Saeko-basan commented.

"I'm beginning to dislike it," Makoto said, "but I understand why it has to be."

I bowed to my girlfriend. "I'm sorry that I'm keeping you waiting. Maybe when we're both sixteen and we're sure that we're the only ones for each other, we can enjoy each other's company that way. To quote a song that won't be written until 2019, 'we can have just one night, or we can have one whole life if we play it cool'."

Saeko-basan actually laughed at our exchange. "Are you sure that you want to wait? No, you've already told me enough that I know that both of you don't want to wait. But you made a compelling case for waiting." I'm sure that I blushed. She continued, addressing the Senshi in the room. "Now, if the two of you would change out of your uniforms, perhaps you could tell me what it's like to be a transforming heroine while we have dinner together."

The only things we didn't tell Saeko-basan over the next three hours were my origin in another universe, the identities of the other Senshi and our friends who were in on the secret, and what happened during the Missing Time. She took things remarkably well.

---

Sunday turned into Monday, May turned into June, and a pleasant morning turned into an "all hands on deck" call-out when a cardian attacked before breakfast.

There's supposed to be a routine to that sort of thing: Wake up, go to school, save the world – in that order.

Jupiter zapped it with a Supreme Thunder Dragon, Mars roasted it with a Fire Soul Bird, Mercury put out the fire and immobilized it with a Shabon Spray Freezing, Venus cut it down to size with a Crescent Beam Saber (smart girl, figuring out how to do that attack so quickly), and Moon used a Moon Princess Halation on it to finish it off. Me? I worked crowd control.

And then it was time to go to school. We made mad dashes back to our homes to get our homework, and the girls stayed in their Senshi forms just to be fast enough to make it to school on time.

We met up a dozen blocks from school, with no time to spare. "We have to change soon! Go on ahead, Oni!" Moon said.

"Not without at least one of you!" I lifted Jupiter into a bridal carry and turned up the speed, muttering, "Eat my dust, Usain Bolt."

"Who?"

"An Olympic sprinter. He'll set two records in 2008."

"I think that's the first time you've ever given me a straight answer to that question."

I got her to an alley a half-block from the front gate of Kuritsu Juban Chuugakkou before the bell rang. Since I knew from canon that she would arrive on time anyway, this didn't change anything that hadn't already been changed. "Should I go back for the others?" I asked as she changed.

"I see Ami-chan just coming around the corner," replied Makoto.

"Just Ami-san? Then there's no time; we have to get to class. Sorry, Bunny-chan."

Bunny-chan was late, as in canon, but it wasn't until she was caught eating lunch early that Sakurada-sensei gave her detention, again as in canon.

It was amazing how Ryou-san had made extra food for lunch.

"How's Umino-san doing?" Bunny-chan asked as she mooched from both of us and from Makoto as well.

Ami-san sighed deeply, then replied, "He's in the same condition as Shiratori Mikan-san."

"Oh, no." That was from Naru-san. "I heard Seijuurou-san play the flute just before that monster appeared at the play. Don't tell me it was somebody else; I listened to his playing style for a week. Is he our enemy?"

Ryou-san and I reached the same conclusion at the same time: there was no point in keeping it secret from them any more. We both nodded slightly as I put up an invisible forcefield around us to keep prying ears out.

"I'm afraid so," Ryou-san replied.

"And I'm sorry that we couldn't tell you," I added.

"Why do I always pick bad boyfriends?" Naru-san asked nobody in particular. None of us had an answer. "Except Umino-san," she realized. "Did Seijuurou-san send Umino-san to the hospital?"

"No, that was Natsumi-san's doing."

"Oh, no," Usagi-san whispered. "I have detention with her today."

"Better be on your guard, then, Bunny-chan," Ichigo-san said. Then she turned to me. "So, oh visitor from the future, how close to history did we come?"

"In figuring out who the big bads are this time around?" She nodded. "According to my records, you're one week early." And I spent the rest of the lunch break telling them who Ail and An really were, and why they were on Earth.

At the end of my explanation, Usagi-san said, "I can't possibly punish them in the name of the Moon for that. They're just trying to survive."

"Ladies and gentleman, love and justice in action," I said to the others. "If you can keep that outlook, Bunny-chan, you'll make a fine queen someday."

---

We pretty much curb-stomped the cardian that Ail chose while An was stuck in detention with Bunny-chan. Knowing its contrary nature ahead of time, it was simple to get it into a trap: I shouted "Don't attack me!", it attacked me, and Jupiter hit it with a Coconut Cyclone from the side. Venus shouted "Defend yourself! Crescent Beam Shower!", which against a target that refused to defend itself was enough to finish it off.

In the meantime, Usagi-san did something very noble and very foolish: she volunteered to go home with An. Yes, it was only one week early, but still, she headed off without any backup.

But canon shows again and again how Bunny points out the folly of man. It worked flawlessly: Ail and An discovered what love really meant, Sailor Moon healed the "Doom Tree", Mamoru and the Moonlight Knight merged... and I missed it all, hearing about it only after the fact.

So we went to see a Sailor Moon toku show at Dreamland to relax on one of the rare almost-sunny days in June. We figured that, as long as we were writing the scripts, we might as well see the end results.

Hoo-boy, did they do a number on us. Episode number 9, to be exact. But, boy, was it funny. At least Minako-san, Makoto and I thought it was funny, especially Moon being in a hurry to go nowhere in particular, Mercury announcing the obvious, the time-controlling youma in a cocktail dress (straight out of the data from Janelyn and Misha's computer, but it still looked silly), "Moon-obaa-san" shaking her Moon Tiara at the youma and telling it "In the name of the Moon, get off my lawn!", and Tuxedo Kamen throwing roses at the grandfather's clock until he finally hit it. At least the fog machine did a decent job of simulating Mercury's Shabon Spray.

"They got our personalities wrong," Chiba-san complained after the show.

"They had to get your personalities wrong so that people who know you don't think that you're... well, you," I pointed out. "Wait until you see Oni in one of these. They give him horns, a loincloth, a club, the works."

"I am going to murder Artemis-san the next time I see him," Bunny-chan muttered, not completely joking. "No, I'm going to neuter him."

"No, you're not," Minako-san insisted, unknowingly protecting the future existence of Diana. "And I should ask him whether he needs help writing some more scripts."

"If he does, please fix my character's personality. I am not that pedantic," Ami-san complained.

"Hey, given the constraints of the medium, I thought those Ember Island Players did a pretty good job of playing their roles," I commented.

Makoto wasn't the only one who looked puzzled, but she was the one to ask, "What's an ember island player?"

---

We spent most of the rest of June relaxing, when we weren't studying for our end-of-term exams that were coming in July.

There was one weekend that Makoto and I did something that neither of us had done before. No, not that. We visited Mount Fuji. We had permission from our homeroom teachers to skip Saturday morning classes that day, which we needed since the trip takes three hours each way.

Specifically, we attended the Fujikawaguchiko Herb Festival. Seeing Makoto wandering through the lavender beds, picking herbs with a smile on her face, made the weekend worthwhile. The blueberry ice cream was a minor bonus. The festival being in the middle of June, of course it rained for half of the time that we were there. We had fun, even if we had to share an umbrella. No, especially since we shared an umbrella.

On the trip back home Sunday evening, Makoto leaned over to me and asked, "Which episode are we at now, darling?"

"Oh, this wasn't in the anime at all," I replied. "This is something that's all our own that nobody else gets to share." That put a smile on her face. And that's also why I'm not going into detail as to what we did over the weekend. "As for the overall story, we're between episodes 59 and 60."

"How will we know when the next story starts? It can't be something as obvious as a plot hook falling out of the sky onto somebody's head, right?"

"Funny you should say that," I said with a smile of my own. "But she's more a MacGuffin than a plot hook, at least to begin with."

"I was kidding, darling."

"I wasn't, my dearest. I promised that I'll never lie to you, remember?"

---

Once we were back and had turned in our "what we did while away" essays, school continued in the lazy-but-hectic way that it does when we're getting ready for exams. Ami-san had no worries about the term finals in July, of course, but the rest of us did, even though most of us had memories of taking the exams during the Missing Time.

Well, my memories of the exams were borrowed from Ami-san. Minako-san and Makoto had to study the hard way, and my dearest had to pass everything so that she wouldn't have to take supplementary classes in August. Minako-san didn't want supplementary classes, either, but there wasn't anywhere that she needed to be on August 12. And we made sure that Bunny-chan studied, too.

Although we didn't study on her birthday. Instead, we turned the Revealing Of The Lunches into a Revealing Of The Presents, turning lunchtime into a birthday celebration. Makoto and I gave Bunny-chan a set of homemade lavender sachets for her bedroom; three guesses where the lavender herbs came from. Ami-san and Ryou-san gave Bunny-chan a textbook; I didn't bother finding out which subject. Ichigo-san gave her a box of five of one of Sapporo's specialty treats, tsukisamu anpan, which got smiles for both the pun and the sweets. (I noticed the JAL logo on the box – I guessed that this particular batch of sweets may have come from a first-class passenger – and distracted Makoto for long enough for Usagi-san to put the box in her lunch bag.) Naru-san showed off her latest experiment in using her power to make gems by giving Bunny-chan a sodium potassium aluminium silicate crystal – for the rest of us, that's a moonstone – and that got smiles from everybody for a completely different reason. And Minako-san gave Bunny-chan a gift card from her favourite cake shop.

As to why we didn't study together that day, Chiba-san gave Bunny-chan what she wanted the most: he took her out on a date.

Anybody who's familiar with the official history, or if you're like me and came from another universe after watching the anime, will know what I'm going to say next.

Besides "Stupid genre conventions", that is.

Yes, what they thought was going to be their first kiss ended up being interrupted by a little girl with pink hair and red eyes falling out of the sky onto Usagi-san's head. At least, that's what Bunny-chan told me the day after her birthday; if Chibiusa had actually landed on Bunny-chan's head, she would have ended up with a snapped neck. The younger Usagi probably landed on the elder Usagi's shoulders. I hope.

Bunny-chan also mentioned that Chibiusa had moved in with the Tsukino family, had ransacked her bedroom, and was hunting for the Ginzuishou. We immediately agreed to have a meeting at the Hikawa shrine after school.

On our way from Azabu-Juban to Roppongi, Ryou-san and I had a quiet discussion on the train.

"Chibiusa's here now, which means she's been born in the future, which means Bunny-chan and Chiba-san's relationship is secure," I said. "Can we start interfering with the Dark Moon's plans right away?"

Ryou-san thought for a moment. "I can't see any reason why we shouldn't, in 99 out of 100 probable timelines," he replied.

"And the other one?"

He frowned. "I can't foresee past August 11 in that timeline."

And that made me worry, because I remembered what Meioh-san said about keeping my smartphone with me between packing for our trip on August 12 and setting off on the journey... or on a journey. Granted, 99 times out of 100 there probably wasn't anything to worry about... but the timing matched up too well for me to completely dismiss that one in a hundred chance. "You're sure that it's August 11 that you can't see past?"

"Positive."

Time to ignore a stupid genre convention. "I think we should take the chance."

"I agree. You don't like sitting around and watching."

"Hey, not changing things during the Missing Time would have cost us both our girlfriends now."

And we arrived at the transit stop where we had to change for the bus, and dropped the conversation.

A half-hour later, the Senshi, Naru-san, Ryou-san and I were all in Rei-san's bedroom, discussing why a little girl even knew of the existence of the Ginzuishou, let alone why she wanted it.

"If you two know anything about why she wants it, I want you to keep your mouths shut," Bunny-chan insisted while looking straight at Ryou-san and me.

"Telling you won't put anybody's relationship at risk," I said.

"It isn't that," she replied. "I want her to tell me."

"I understand," Ryou-san said with a smile.

"Well, I don't," Minako-san complained. "If we have a source of reliable information, we should use it."

"Usagi-san trusts Chibiusa to do the right thing," Ami-san answered. "And she's the only one of us who's actually met the girl."

"Hang on," Rei-san interrupted. "Somebody's coming."

"Change of subject, then," Makoto announced. "Darling, I know a lot about you, but I still don't know when your birthday is."

"Really? I've never mentioned it?" I smiled. "I was born on Tanabata."

"That's less than a week away!" Bunny-san complained. "We'll never get a proper party together in time!"

"I don't need a party," I said just before there was a knock at the door.

It appeared that Rei-san's grandfather had brought us tea to drink while we studied. "Something to put you in the right frame of mind."

"Thank you, jii-san," Rei-san said while taking the tray.

She passed the cups around and we sipped at the tea... except that I had put forcefields over the mouths of my, Makoto's, and Bunny-chan's teacups. They looked at me while I made a show of pretending to fall asleep, just like everyone else had actually fallen unconscious from the drugged tea. Both ladies figured it out and followed the rest of us to the floor.

It didn't take long for "jii-san" to come back in and drop her disguise, turning back into Chibiusa and her ball Luna-P. Chibiusa quietly proceeded to start looking through everybody's bags for the Ginzuishou, beginning with opening Makoto's bag... which was as far as she got before Makoto grabbed her.

"Good girls don't look through other girls' bags without permission!"

"Why aren't you asleep? I drugged all of the tea!"

"And good boys and girls don't drug other people!" Bunny-chan sat down and turned Chibiusa onto her lap, and raised her hand to spank the youngster.

"Usagi! No!" I shouted. But it was too late. She got a single spanking in before I could stop her.

As Chibiusa cried in pain and surprise, the crescent moon mark on her forehead lit up and a beam of energy shot into the air.

"And now we have to worry about somebody from the Dark Moon showing up, because they were looking for that light show," I said in resignation. "And everybody else is out cold."

"Hide me, please!"

"Of course," I said. "Usagi-san, Makoto and I are heading into the woods with... I assume you're Chibiusa?"

"Uh-huh."

I turned back to Bunny-chan. "I hope you can distract whoever's about to show up – Kooan, if I'm not mistaken – until Sailor Moon can face her." And the three of us headed into the trees.

After a few minutes of walking through the forest and repeatedly almost tripping over tree roots, Chibiusa asked, "Can we stop now?"

Makoto nodded. "You're getting tired, aren't you? You've had a busy day." Then she turned to me. "What's a Black Moon?"

I thought for a quick moment, then realized how to explain without telling Chibiusa anything she didn't already know. "Some number of centuries from now, after Neo-Queen Serenity assumes her throne, there will be some sort of insurrection. The rebels will lose and be banished to a planet or planetoid, I don't know which, called Nemesis, and will develop a society called the Black Moon. And they'll come back here after Chibiusa."

"You should have told Usagi-san that even though she told you not to."

"We didn't have time," I said before Chibiusa started bouncing Luna-P as if it was a basketball.

"You know too much. Luna-P Henge!" And she was suddenly holding a parasol.

While I had to question her priorities, I knew that somebody as young as she was wouldn't be taking the long view. But I had no desire to be hypnotized into forgetting anything, especially after fighting so hard to keep my memories at the very end of the Missing Time. I bowed deeply, both out of respect and so I wasn't looking at her spiral parasol. "I humbly request that you consider what's happening just outside of these woods, Usagi Small Lady Serenity-sama."

Chibiusa abandoned her attempt to hypnotize me. "How do you know my name?"

"The same way you knew who Usagi-san is, except that I'm only from three decades in the future."

Makoto raised one eyebrow. "Should you have told her that?"

Without hesitation, I replied, "Yes. I trust her."

"You ... trust me?" She dropped the parasol, and it turned back into Luna-P before hitting the ground. "Only Puu has ever trusted me."

I smiled as I sat down so that we could look at each other on a more equal basis. "Sailor Pluto is pretty good about knowing who to trust, isn't she?"

"Uh-huh!" she nodded.

"Oh, but I'm being rude. I'm Rob Donaldson, and my friend is Kino Makoto."

"Hello, Danaru... Dona... Robu-san. Hello, Kino-san."

"Call me Mako-chan," she said as she sat down beside us. "Everybody else does, except for Robu."

"Why not?"

"Because we're boyfriend and girlfriend," she replied, just before we felt a wave of heat coming from the shrine complex.

"Stay close to me, Chibiusa," I said. "I'm pretty sure that that was Dark Fire, which means Kooan is fighting both Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen right now. They'll keep the girls and Ryou-san safe."

She immediately sat on my lap, and I quietly raised an invisible forcefield around the three of us.

"What do we do now?" Chibiusa asked.

I couldn't resist. I whispered, "Be vewwy, vewwy quiet! Kooan's hunting wabbits!"

She just rolled her eyes... but she didn't seem to be as afraid as she was when we found our place to hide, and she didn't say anything for the next ten minutes, when we heard Bunny-chan and Chiba-san calling out our names. I dropped my forcefield and helped Chibiusa to her feet, standing up myself immediately afterwards.

"Makoto? Everything that I said about the Black Moon and about Sailor Pluto..."

"... stays between the three of us," she finished. "Usagi-chan doesn't want to know about it from you or me."

"I can't tell her?" Chibiusa asked, a look of worry on her face.

Smiling, Makoto replied, "She wants you to tell her. She doesn't want to learn why you're here from anybody else. But only tell her when you're ready, okay?"

Her worry disappeared. "Okay!"

Fifteen minutes later, we were back in Rei-san's bedroom and the others were just waking up.

"I'm sorry," Chibiusa said while bowing to everyone else. "I shouldn't have done that."

"Done what?" Minako-san asked.

Before Chibiusa could reply, Bunny-chan said, "We'll tell you later. Right now, it's time to introduce ourselves to the little brat..." I gave Bunny-chan a disappointed look. "... er, the little girl who's staying at my place for a while."

We introduced ourselves to Chibiusa in turn, and she finished by introducing herself. "I'm Tsukino Usagi. Mamo-chan calls me Chibiusa. I'm happy to meet you."

"Mamo-chan is my boyfriend, you brat! You don't get to call him that!"

"He's my boyfriend! Just like Robu-san is Mako-chan's boyfriend! You can have Urawa-san for your boyfriend!"

Ami-san quickly said, "I have a problem with that idea."

Before anybody else could say anything, Minako-san leaned down to look at Chibiusa eye-to-eye. "Mamoru-san isn't a prize to be won, Chibiusa. He's a person. And it's possible to love more than one person, in different ways."

"Oh." Chibiusa thought for a moment. "Does that mean you're one of Robu-san's or Urawa-san's girlfriends, too?"

Seeing no other way out of that particular line of inquiry, I quickly reached for the drugged tea that I hadn't drank earlier. Makoto wouldn't let me drink it, though.

---

I sighed deeply while we were on the train back to Azabu-Juban. "Why does she think I'm trying to collect a harem?"

Makoto sighed in return. "Let's list everybody you spend time with, darling. There's me, Ami-san, Saeko-basan, Usagi-chan, Rei-san, Mina-chan, Naru-san, Ichigo-san... and Ryou-san. And now Mamoru-san. Whether we like it or not, people think you and Ryou-san are collecting girlfriends."

"I dare you to call Saeko-basan or Rei-san anybody's girlfriend where they can hear you. And Bunny-chan made it quite clear that she's Chiba-san's girlfriend."

"How many people outside of our group know any of that?"

---

Friday made its way to our corner of the world, and brought a meeting of the Conversational English club along with it. I decided to let the ladies do most of the talking; Ami-san needed the practice.

"So, has Naru-san figured out how to make conundrum yet?"

"That's a puzzle," Ami-san replied.

"So she hasn't, even though she can make a moonstone?" Minako-san asked.

"No, I meant 'conundrum' means puzzle. It's corundum that she hadn't figured out how to make, the last time that I asked her about it."

"So she has made a conundrum!"

"Minako-san," I asked, "are you doing that on purpose?"

"Doing what?" she asked in reply, her face the picture of innocence.

"Never mind."

"Okay. So, maybe Naru-san's hung up on making only gemstones? There's a lot of different kinds of corundum besides the gem varieties."

Ami-san shook her head. "If that was the case, she wouldn't have been able to make transparent aluminium."

"Oh. Right." After a moment, Minako-san asked, "When did you ask her last?"

"Three weeks ago, if I remember correctly."

"Then maybe she's just figured out how to make gems and hasn't told anyone."

"So we should ask her," I suggested.

"Ami-san, can you do that?"

"I can talk with Naru-san, yes."

"Then it's settled." Minako looked happy, then realized that she'd shut down the conversation. "So... Rob-san, I think you said something about liking anime. Does that include movies?"

"It depends on the movie," I replied.

"The one that's opening on the 18th."

Ah. That movie. "I want to go see that one, but Makoto would hate it."

"Why?" Ami-san asked.

"The protagonist is an aircraft pilot."

"You're right, she'd hate it," Ami-san nodded in agreement. "You and Ryou-san should go."

It wasn't until after my birthday that I realized her other reason for making that particular suggestion.

---

Monday arrived, and Bunny-chan was in tears.

We skipped the Revealing Of The Lunches; we had something more important to do. "What's wrong?" Ami-san asked Bunny-chan.

"Mamo-chan dumped me!!!"

While the girls immediately tried their best to console the inconsolable, I caught Ryou-san's attention. He simply nodded. We then turned our attention to the girls.

"There's no logical reason for Mamoru-san to do that," Ami-san said in an attempt to understand.

"Logic has nothing to do with it," Minako-san replied. "Love is an emotion, maybe the strongest emotion that there is. He must be feeling something for somebody in order to do this."

"Maybe he's just looking for somebody different," Ichigo-san suggested.

"You're not helping," Naru-san said flatly.

"Should I change the way I look for him?"

"No," I said sternly. "Usagi-san –" The looks on everybody's faces showed that they noticed I didn't call her Bunny-chan. "– if you want to change yourself because you think you can be a better person somehow, that's one thing. But changing yourself for somebody else's sake only leads to heartbreak. Change your makeup because you want to, not because you think he wants you to."

"But I don't wear makeup," she said.

"Tsukino Usagi-san doesn't wear makeup," I admitted. "But somebody else does, and right now it's the Crystal Power kind."

"Oh, right."

"So," Makoto asked, "was the mention of makeup supposed to be a hint?"

"We don't need to just hint any more," Ryou-san answered. "Eleven times out of twelve, the next place we'll find somebody from the Dark Moon is the cosmetics store Otafukuya."

"When?" Minako-san asked.

"Tomorrow at the earliest."

"Can I watch?" Ichigo-san asked.

Makoto and I shook our heads in unison. "Right now," my dearest said, "Usagi-san needs to beat up a ... youma?"

"A droid," I corrected her.

"Thanks, darling. Ichigo-san, right now, Usagi-san needs to beat up a droid, and I don't want to risk your life by letting you get in her way."

---

But Ichigo-san went anyway. And her telling me afterward what happened is the only reason why I knew Bunny-chan used the line that I had accidentally given her: "The only makeup I need is Moon Crystal Power Make-Up!" And then she did some nasty things to the droid's face before hitting it with a Moon Princess Halation, just like in canon.

Ichigo-san also gave me a description of the Ayakashi Sister who was in charge, confirming my assumption that it was Berthier.

I wasn't allowed to go. Nobody wanted me to be hurt on Tanabata; that would have spoiled the birthday party they were planning.

Not that it was a particularly happy birthday celebration. since Bunny-chan was still hurting from Chiba-san dumping her. And I told the others ahead of time that they didn't need to give me any presents, so of course they went in on one expensive gift for me that Makoto picked out – a pair of cufflinks with a ruby set into each one.

"Now I'm going to have to get dressed up more often. Thank you, everybody. I hope these came from OSA-P."

Naru-san smiled. "They did. And I made them. Not the gold, but the gems."

"Congratulations! I'll treasure them always."

---

Friday arrived, and brought the Conversational English club meeting with it... which we changed to a study session because exams were coming up. But one of us showed up late.

For once, it wasn't Minako-san who ducked out; she had resigned from the volleyball team before Ail and An left. "Where's Ami-chan?" Minako-san asked.

"The teachers wanted to speak with her," I said with a certain suspicion growing within me.

"Is this what the club was like when I went to play volleyball instead?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Rob-san, but it's boring just sitting and talking with only you."

"Makoto doesn't mind being alone with me," I said with a bit of a smile.

"Mako-chan's your girlfriend, and that's one of the few things that I envy her."

Oh. "Minako-san, I'm not interested in you that way. You're my friend, but you're just my friend. Just like Bunny-chan, or Ami-san, or Naru-san, Ichigo-san, and Rei-san. Makoto is my dearest, and I think that will always be the case."

"I figured that out during the Missing Time," she replied quietly. "And I was on the rebound from losing Alan when I met you, so I didn't know whether what I felt for you then was friendship or love. But I know now that it's friendship." After a brief moment, she added, "It's the whole 'having a boyfriend' thing that I envy about Makoto-san, not that it's you who she has as a boyfriend. You can be the big brother that I never had."

"How can I be your big brother? We're the same age."

"Are we?" she asked. "The rest of us lost a year's growth when Usagi-san reset the world. Artemis told me that you two and Luna didn't get reset. Are you sure you aren't a year older than the rest of us?"

"Now that's an interesting question," Ami-san said from the doorway. "And I'm sorry that I'm late."

"Come on in," Minako-san said. "What did the teachers want to talk with you about?"

Ami-san suddenly looked at the floor.

"Don't tell me you're in trouble?"

"No, it isn't that," she replied. "It's about a scholarship that I was offered at a medical school."

"That's great!" Minako-san said with a smile.

"In Germany."

Minako-san's smile disappeared. "When would you be leaving?"

"Wednesday."

"During exams?" Minako-san asked.

"That's why I needed to speak with the teachers."

"Oh." I said. "And that explains why you wanted Ryou-san and me to go see a movie together on the 18th."

She nodded. "If I go, please stay friends with my boyfriend."

I noticed that she said "if", not "when".

"I don't know about 'friends', Ami-chan," Minako-san replied. "I might take him away from you while you're gone."

"Mina-chan!!"

---

We got together for lunch on Monday, the first day of exams. But Minako-san was distracted.

"What's wrong?" Bunny-chan asked after the Revealing Of The Lunches.

"Artemis didn't come home last night."

"He is a cat," Ichigo-san mentioned. "Maybe he's out tomcatting somewhere."

I shook my head and answered before Minako-san could. "It's more likely that he's been caught by enemy action. Ryou-san?"

"I can't sense him in any future that I can see. But I'm only looking at the immediate future."

"Immediate as in the end of the school day?" Minako-san asked. Ryou-san nodded in reply. "So, where is he?"

"Going by the records I have, he's in a deep-freeze along with the actual staff of that new ice cream stand, Bob-Floy." After a beat, I added, "And Ami-san needs to go rescue him."

"I do?" she said in surprise as she looked up from her textbook.

"You're the only one who can save the prisoners, including Artemis."

"I suppose I need to go, then," Ami-san said. "At least this means you won't be having a going-away party for me."

"But we need a party to take our minds off exams!"

Ami-san sighed. "That's exactly why we don't need a party, Usagi-san."

"Is that the only reason?" Ryou-san asked.

She looked straight at him as she closed her book. "You already know, don't you?" He nodded. "I don't want to say good-bye to all of you, and Rei-san."

"You don't want to, or...?" I asked.

She sighed deeply instead of answering.

"You'd have to learn German to study in Germany," Naru-san pointed out. "You could do that here. Heidelberg and Freiburg will still be there later."

"It's better to learn German in Germany, though," Ami-san replied without very much conviction.

Makoto handed her bento to me and took Ami-san's hands in her own. "Ami. Your mother says that we're sisters in all but blood. Listen to your sister. It's obvious that you don't want to leave us."

Thank you, Makoto. I could never have said that to her, as much as somebody needed to, because I couldn't possibly make Ami-san cry.

"I know," she said through her tears. "Don't let me go..."

We all skipped the rest of lunch in order to comfort Ami-san... and convince her to stay.

After our exams that afternoon, we all went to get ice cream, and Ami-san got a new attack at the same time. Nothing fights ice with ice quite like "Shiny Aqua Illusion" does. Since we all went for ice cream, Ryou-san got to see Ami-san's new "Mercury Star Power, Make-Up" transformation at the same time as the rest of us. The poor boy went through three handkerchiefs before he could stanch his nosebleed, and I had to sit out the fight in order to make sure he didn't faint from blood loss ... or embarrassment on Ami-san's behalf. I explained to him that he was just going to have to learn to live with having a beautiful girlfriend who didn't mind him seeing her naked... which set off another nosebleed.

Ami-san spent most of the evening convincing Saeko-basan to let her stay in Japan, with Makoto and me by her side. And by the end of the evening, the three of us had stopped using honorifics to refer to each other.

---

Exams continued through to July 17. We were given the Saturday off so that the teachers could start marking our tests... which meant that I was first in line at the theatre. I brought a bag. Hey, Luna gave the girls new communicators and transformation wands earlier in the week; I wanted some goodies, too, even if I had to pay for them out of my own pocket.

Which, I'll admit, was actually Sailor Pluto's pocket. But the principle still held.

After I told Makoto that the movie had aircraft in it, she decided to spend the day with Bunny-chan and Rei-san at the Hikawa shrine. Ami, Ryou-san, and Minako-san kept me company instead. Which meant that we completely missed Rei-san's grandfather's "Protect Esthe" project and Sailor Mars unlocking her Burning Mandala attack. That was probably for the best. I doubt Ryou-san or I could have survived seeing the "Mars Star Power, Make-Up" transformation; we probably would have been roasted for peeping.

Instead, we saw a very good movie.

Everybody else bought tickets. I got the souvenir ticket, the guidebook, the opening-day poster, the coffee mug, and the soundtrack CD. Oh, and a large popcorn.

We settled in to the best seats in the house, eventually the lights went down, we applauded when the Studio Ghibli vanity plate appeared on the screen, the credits played... and then the violins of the first instrumental track began and we saw a pig fly.

The only thing that kept the experience from being perfect was that I couldn't share it with Makoto.

---

We had the entire next week off, too. There were a lot of exams to be marked.

Ryou-san insisted that we leave Thursday afternoon open. Apparently, seven times out of nine, the weather forecast was going to be wrong.

"Maybe we should lend a communicator to Chibiusa," I suggested.

Ryou-san shook his head. "If we do that, she'll figure out who the Sailor Senshi are too early."

"More importantly, the wristband wouldn't fit her," Ami pointed out, knowing from experience how little I cared whether an event was too early. "She'd probably end up losing it."

"It isn't as if we won't know where she is," Makoto pointed out.

"This is true," I admitted. "So, what do you want to do between now and then?"

Ami wanted to visit the library. Makoto wanted to go figure skating. Ryou-san wanted to go sightseeing. I had the deciding vote.

So we went skating on Monday, sightseeing on Tuesday, and reading on Wednesday. Never let it be said that, when a decision needed to be made, I wasn't willing to come down firmly on the fence.

And then it was Thursday. A fine day, without a cloud in the sky... until suddenly it wasn't.

Makoto and I grabbed umbrellas and headed for Chibiusa's school. Halfway there, a bolt of lightning nearly hit us while we were walking past a three-storey building.

My dearest shouted over the storm. "That's not possible! Somebody's shooting at us! Jupiter Star Power, Make-Up!"

I put up a five-layered forcefield set while she was transforming, which was good because whoever was attacking shot another lightning bolt at us. The shot got through three layers at once... which meant the tip of the pinpoint attack was stronger than the leading edge of Bunny-chan's wide-area wish at the end of the Missing Time. Of course, Bunny-chan's wish was a lot bigger than a single pinpoint.

Jupiter slapped my cheek. "No going into shock, Oni! Run!"

I grabbed her in a bridal carry and went to flash-move, heading in an irregular zig-zag to the second-closest cover. "Thanks, Jupiter," I said as we took cover just before a third bolt hit where we had just been standing.

Then we saw a moonbeam from Chibiusa's school.

"Oh, no. She's panicking."

"And now the Dark Moon knows where to find her," I added as I raised another forcefield set – just before another lightning bolt hit it. "I can't keep this up forever," I added.

"Can you manage one more?"

"Two more, if you need them. Maybe three."

Yet another lightning bolt hit my forcefield... and Jupiter spun and pointed with one hand into the air. "Sparkling... Wide... Pressure!" She made a throwing motion with her other hand and a ball of lightning flew in the direction she had pointed.

Nothing happened for a moment... then a large drum fell to the ground, followed by the droid that had been pounding on it to create the thunder and lightning.

Then we heard a slow clapping from behind and above us. "Very impressive, Jupiter." We both spun to see a green-haired woman sneering at us and levitating just far enough away that we couldn't grab her in hand-to-hand combat. As she continued her slow clap, she asked, "This is a thing here and now, right?"

"Here, but not now," I replied. "You're two decades early, unless you're copying me. Petz, I assume."

She stopped the slow clap. "And you would be Oni. Rubeus wants you both dead, the sooner the better."

"Rubeus?" Jupiter turned to me. "Is he that Rubeus Hagrid person you mentioned during the Missing Time?"

"What? Ack! No! And why are you asking about that now?"

"Enough!" Petz shouted. "Time for you to die!"

"Not today!" came a shout from down the street. "Shiny Aqua Illusion!"

The rain that was still falling slowed Mercury's attack to the point that Petz was able to dodge it. "I'm not ready to face you all yet. But rest assured that the three of you and your precog friend will die soon!" And Petz teleported away.

"Where's Chibiusa?" I asked Mercury as she walked up to us.

"Still at school, and Ryou's with her."

"Good," I said, before sighing deeply.

"What's wrong?" Jupiter asked.

"This didn't go at all like the canon fight," I replied. "Originally, Petz and... whatever the droid's name was... were looking to frighten and capture Chibiusa, not kill us."

"That's a good thing," Jupiter replied. "That means we're a thorn in Rubeus' side."

"Rubeus?" Mercury asked.

"No, not Rubeus Hagrid."

"Ladies. Focus. Please. All three of us and Ryou-san are targets."

"If we're the enemy's primary targets, then Moon, Mars, and Venus aren't," Mercury pointed out. "They can protect Chibiusa with a freer hand."

"There is that," I admitted. "Although that state of affairs lasts only as long as we're still alive."

"Then we don't die," Jupiter replied as she transformed back to Makoto.

"That's easy to say," Mercury said while transforming back to Ami, "but not so easy to do."

"And Ryou-san will have a harder time of it than the rest of us," I added while seeing Bunny-chan and Chiba-san walking toward Chibiusa's school. "Somebody stays with him as often as possible."

"That's my job," Ami insisted.

---

Makoto, Ami, Ryou-san, and I got together the next afternoon, in place of a Conversational English club meeting.

"A few weeks back, I asked about our future," I said to Ryou-san. "And you mentioned we were good to interfere 99 times out of a hundred. Is that still the case?"

Ryou-san shook his head. "The future that I can't see past August 11 has gone from one chance in a hundred to one chance in twelve."

"I was afraid of that, after hearing what Petz said yesterday," Makoto said. "Can we hide from the Dark Moon?"

"I'm not hiding from anybody, my dearest."

"If it's a choice between hide and die, I'd rather hide, darling. I don't want to lose you."

"And I don't want to lose you, Ryou," Ami added. "Can we take the battle to the enemy?"

I shook my head. "Not without a spacecraft. Their base is in low Earth orbit."

"So why can't we see it?" Ami asked.

"I'm not the only one who can go invisible," I replied.

"Could we get there with a Sailor Teleport?"

"That would put the others at risk, Ami," Makoto said. "I still think hiding is the best option."

"And not get our report cards next week?" Ami asked.

"Oh." Makoto sighed. "I guess we can't hide."

"There's only one viable option," our precog announced. "Act like we don't care."

"And how many futures will that keep us safe in?" I asked.

"Eleven out of twelve."

"Then that's what we do," Ami decided for the group, Makoto nodding in agreement.

I didn't ask, but I was pretty sure that the twelfth possible future was the one that Ryou-san couldn't foresee past August 11.

---

Minako-san decided that she wanted some good luck in order to pass the exams despite the fact that she'd already written them, so she dragged Makoto off to the Lucky Charms House, a store that sold nothing but good-luck-charm costume jewelry. Even without Ryou-san telling her that it was the most likely place for the Dark Moon to try to take over. But he told the rest of us, so Ami and I followed them.

Makoto and Minako-san met Bunny-chan and Chibiusa near the store, quite by accident. This was lining up to be just like in canon. Just after they left Chibiusa outside and went into the store, I pulled Ami into an alleyway.

"Rob! What are you doing?"

"Hiding us," I replied as I put forcefields around both of us and went invisible. It was the first time I'd tried making two people invisible at the same time... but it worked. "Move slowly, please," I said, "I have to concentrate on keeping the effect going."

Once she walked out of the alleyway, she understood why I turned us both invisible. Chiba-san was talking with Chibiusa. They went inside the store before we got close enough to listen to their conversation, so I dropped the invisibility cloaks.

Then we heard two people inside the store shout "You!", the front window shattered because somebody threw a water jug through it, and Makoto jumped through the hole. "Petz is in there!"

We didn't need to be told twice. We ran. She chased us.

"Looks like acting like we don't care isn't going to work," I pointed out as I grabbed both Ami and Makoto, then turned up the speed. "I just hope Minako-san and Bunny-chan can keep Chibiusa safe. And they've obviously figured out your secret, my dearest. By the way, there was a door."

"With a droid blocking it, darling."

"Ah. I think we've outrun Petz."

"She'll be here in a minute or two," Ami said. "Mercury Star Power, Make-Up!"

"Jupiter Star Power, Make-Up!"

If we weren't running for our lives, I would have enjoyed the view. But we had to stop running; Petz caught up to us while they were transforming. "I knew you were the girl I saw transform into Sailor Jupiter last week! It's too bad I didn't see who you are, though," she pointed at Mercury.

"You'll have to learn to live with disappointment," I said before Mercury could say anything that might give her away. It was bad enough that she'd spilled the beans to her mother.

"And you don't even bother transforming. Thank you for making my job easier. Nipasu!"

As the droid appeared, Mercury said, "Didn't I defeat that enemy already?"

"Silly girl," Petz answered. "They're droids. We can rebuild them."

I put up a forcefield before neo-Nipasu could freeze us, which quickly meant that I had a frozen forcefield... that I couldn't drop.

"Scatter!" cried Mercury. We split up, but I passed a few coins to Jupiter first.

I did my best to get the droid's attention. "Hey, Nipasu! Your ice cream tastes terrible!"

She ignored me.

"Shiny Aqua..."

Nipasu shot at Mercury instead, freezing her in mid-attack.

Petz took the opportunity to gloat. "When we rebuild them, we rebuild them better than they were before!"

At least they were distracted. "Jupiter... Supreme..."

"Go ahead! Waste your time! We're ready for your Supreme Thunder attack!" Petz boasted.

Jupiter tossed my change into the air. "...Railgun!"

And Nipasu fell apart from being shredded by coin shrapnel, freeing both Mercury and my forcefield.

"...Illusion!" Mercury's attack would have hit Petz if she hadn't teleported away.

By the time the ladies had transformed back and we made it back to the Lucky Charms House, Moon and Venus had disposed of the threat there... and I was too late to corner Tuxedo Kamen and ask him what he was thinking, the way he was treating Bunny-chan.

Knowing that the people who wanted us dead had literal eyes in the sky, I applied invisibility cloaks to both Makoto and myself a half-kilometer before we got home.

---

And then came the posting of our aggregate exam scores.

Ami improved again, thanks to Makoto's tutoring in Home Economics. Her score was 876 – not just the best in the entire school, but the best that anybody attending Kuritsu Juban Chuugakkou had ever scored.

Makoto, Ryou-san, and I placed in the low-700s again. We were getting good at appearing to be good but not stellar students.

Ichigo-san, Naru-san, and Minako-san placed in the mid-600s again. And Bunny-chan scored 601 – a personal best.

Makoto's grandfather wasn't waiting for her at her apartment. But I realized that they'd be seeing each other on August 12, so there was no need for him to make the trip.

Saeko-basan read through our report cards, congratulating Ami on her grades and encouraging Makoto and me to keep improving. Then Naru-san and Bunny-chan dropped by with ice cream from Bob-Floy, and it turned into an "everybody passed every course" party.

"I understand that Ami has been helping you with your homework," Saeko-basan said around bites of ice cream.

"She has!" Bunny-chan nodded her head. "And Mako-chan's been helping both of us with Home Ec!"

"Do you get together every afternoon that Ami doesn't have juku?"

"Almost every afternoon," Naru-san replied.

"Yeah, sometimes we have to go fight cardians or droids, so we can't study," Makoto added.

"Er... Mako-chan..."

Makoto looked at Bunny-chan, then at Ami. "Didn't you tell them that your mother knows?"

Ami blushed. "I... forgot."

"Mizuno-sensei, how much do you know?" Naru-san asked.

"I know about Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter, and Oni," she replied.

"So less than you do," Makoto added.

I facepalmed. "My dearest, have you forgotten how to keep secrets?"

"Oops. Sorry."

Saeko-basan laughed. "Would you be happier if I forgot what's been said here today?"

Naru-san and Bunny-chan exchanged a meaningful glance, the sort that only long-time friends know the meaning of. Then Bunny-chan... Usagi-san said, "No, it's all right, Mizuno-sensei. Naru-chan isn't a Sailor Senshi."

"But I know that I hang out with them," Naru-san added.

"I'm Sailor Moon."

"Ah. Do Ikuko-san and Kenji-san know?"

Usagi-san shook her head. "I don't think mama or papa know. And I'm pretty sure that Shingo doesn't know, either."

Right. That's her little brother's name. I keep forgetting.

"Then I shan't tell them," Saeko-basan said.

"I'm also pretty sure that Chibiusa doesn't know, either," I added.

"I'll keep that in mind," Saeko-basan replied. "Right now, the ice cream is melting."

"Eek!" Bunny-chan turned her full attention to devouring her snack.

Before we could finish off the ice cream, the intercom buzzed. "Were you expecting somebody, Ami?" Saeko-basan asked.

"No."

Makoto and I exchanged a meaningful glance of our own as Saeko-basan answered the buzz. "Mizuno residence."

"Is Tsukino Usagi there?"

Ami, Makoto, and I exhaled. "Chibiusa?" Ami asked.

"Hi, Ami-neesan." She didn't sound happy.

"Your cousin is here. Come on up." And with those words from Ami, Saeko-basan buzzed Chibiusa in.

By the time she arrived, we had a bowl of ice cream ready for her. And by the time we had all finished off our snack, Chibiusa was ready to talk.

"Ikuko-mama and Kenji-papa are busy tomorrow," she said quietly. "I'm going to be the only person in class who doesn't have her parents with her."

"Why are your classmates' parents joining you in class tomorrow?" Naru-san asked.

"It's the last day of the term, and we're having a curry party."

Ah. Plot. I'd almost forgotten this episode, as well.

"Does it have to be your parents who share your curry, Chibiusa?" Saeko-basan asked.

"You have a seminar tomorrow, mother," Ami reminded her.

"Oh. Yes, that's right."

"Well," I said, "I don't have plans for tomorrow, and I know how to make curry..."

"No!!!" everybody but Chibiusa and Saeko-basan shouted.

"Why not?" Chibiusa asked.

"Yeah, why not? My curry's pretty good."

"If you like having your tongue burned off," Makoto replied. Then she turned to Chibiusa. "He puts nanami togarashi in his curry."

Chibiusa actually shuddered on hearing that.

Well, fine. Be that way. Then I remembered who Small Lady's parents actually were. "Bunny-chan, why don't you and Chiba-san stand in for Chibiusa's parents?"

"Yeah! Let's ask Mamo-chan!"

"You don't get to call him that, you brat!"

Saeko-basan cheared her throat meaningfully. Both Usagi-sans quieted down.

"I'll call Mamoru-san," Ami volunteered. "Chibiusa, you need to learn how to make curry. From Mako-chan, not from Rob-san."

"That's fine," Saeko-basan said, "but you'll need to buy groceries first."

So, while Makoto gave Chibiusa a lesson in knife safety, Bunny-chan, Naru-san, and I headed off to the nearest supermarket. Which was apparently having a sale on a new food – something called "Dark Fruit".

I told both of my shopping companions to avoid that display and not so much as touch the free samples. Naru-san told me she'd already figured that out; Dark anything was almost certainly connected to the Dark Moon. Then I found a quiet corner and went invisible. And, sure enough, when I took a look at the free sample display, Petz was standing behind it along with two other women. I assumed that they were her sister Calaveras and their current droid Avokadora.

Good thing I was sufficiently paranoid to go invisible; the body count from collateral damage in the supermarket could have been horrific if Petz was to try killing me.

Not that it didn't end up appearing to be horrific anyway; a few minutes after we arrived, all of the other customers collapsed, and the store's meat and produce collapsed into rotten piles.

Bunny-chan quickly made use of the same quiet corner that I had used to go invisible. "Moon Crystal Power, Make-Up!"

No, I didn't watch. She never gave me permission, express or implied, to watch.

Then she boldly went one aisle over and turned to face the Dark Fruit display. "How dare you invade this place where people buy what they need to make the meals that they offer to their families, and turn those ingredients to dust! Shizuo Tsuji may forgive you, but I will not! In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"

Petz and Calaveras took the opportunity to cut and run. I wouldn't have been surprised if each had intended to get away on her own, leaving the other to face the music without her.

The droid Avokadora was much braver; the banana that she was holding suddenly had a blade sticking out of it. "Banaknife!"

"Be careful! She's got a knife!" Moon yelled a completely superfluous warning.

Naru-san just smiled as she held her hand in front of her as if she was holding a hilt. "That's not a knife." The carbon from the supermarket's destroyed produce flew to her hand, forming a diamond wakizashi in three seconds flat. "That's a knife."

She'd obviously been practicing. Both the technique and the intimidation.

Unfortunately, Avokadora wasn't intimidated, and it was also obvious that Naru-san hadn't been practicing how to actually use her sword. But the droid wasn't particularly good with her blade, either; it seemed that she was expecting people to run just at the sight of a weapon. It looked to me like the two of them were Flynning... and diamond-sword versus banana-sword Flynning should not have gone on for that long. At one point, I even had to use a forcefield to make sure Naru-san wasn't impaled by a banana.

But the fight went on long enough for Sailor Moon to get in position and say three words: "Moon Princess Halation!"

As the droid turned to dust, I resolved to ask Minako-san or Chiba-san to give Naru-san some kenjutsu lessons or the equivalent. She obviously needed them. I couldn't train her, not then. I rarely concentrated enough to give my forcefields sharp edges, so I was more of a stick fighter than a sword fighter when I fought close-in at all.

Come to think of it, I needed some lessons, too. But not until Makoto and I got back from our trip.

---

From all reports after the fact, the curry party on July 31 went well.

I still think Japanese curry is too mild, though.

---

Makoto and I had less than two weeks to decide whether it was a good idea for me to join her on August 12. We had discussed it more than once, but for the longest time she refused to commit to an answer, yes or no.

But Meioh-san had told me that I was going on a trip, so I prepared to pack anyway. I also did as much research as I could ahead of time as to how I should behave... which, according to Rei-san, boiled down to "stay silent and be respectful".

Which I could do. Even Makoto admitted as much, so she finally told me that I could go to the memorial service.

So I paid a visit to Center Gai, to discover that there was a garment bag with my name on it at Atelier Lucent. Pre-paid, just slip into the suit to check the size, which was of course perfect. And the jacket had a pocket large enough to hold my smartphone. Meioh-san knew what she was doing, even though she wasn't around to serve me directly. Which was probably another hint that she knew what she was doing. What I appreciated the most were the shoes that came with the suit – sturdy shoes that would support my feet during the climb from the parking lot to the memorial site, and still looked good with the suit.

I hung the garment bag in my closet as soon as I got home. Then I visited Ryou-san.

"Come in, Robu-san," he said just before I could knock on his door.

I did, then I said, "You already know why I'm here."

He nodded. "The possible timeline that I can't foresee past next Tuesday now has a probability of one in three."

"Here's something that you might not know. Sailor Pluto has told me to keep my 2022 cellphone with me next Tuesday."

He sighed. "I didn't know that you had already made contact with her. The possible timeline that I can't foresee past next Tuesday now has a probability of one in two."

"Sorry. Should we stop pretending that it isn't going to happen?"

"The probability is only one in two. As long as it isn't at least five in six, I'm not going to admit that it's going to happen."

"I can understand that. Take your comfort where you can, buddy. And we don't tell the girls yet."

"I'll agree with you on your last sentence."

---

That Thursday, I paid another visit to the Hikawa shrine, in order to pay my respects to the resident kami. I carried out all of the rituals, made a donation of ten thousand yen (which in 1992 would buy a lot more than two bags of groceries), and spoke my wish. "Please, help Makoto and Ami and Ryou-san survive whatever's going to happen on Tuesday."

"And what's going to happen on Tuesday, Donarudoson-san?" I heard a gruff voice that I didn't recognize ask from behind me.

"I don't know," I admitted while continuing to face the offering box; for some reason, it felt rude to look anywhere else. "But I doubt it will be anything pleasant."

"You have concerns for your own life, but your wish was for others."

"I don't want any of them to die. The kami can do what they want with me, as long as Makoto and the others get to keep fighting the good fight here."

"Because you ask for others, not for yourself, and you are willing to sacrifice yourself for your companions, I will help when the time is right." Then I felt a touch that burned like fire on the back of my neck, and suddenly I had something resembling another brainprint in the back of my mind.

I quickly turned to see who I was talking with.

There was nobody there.

---

On Friday morning, I wore my new shoes in order to break them in, and visited a camping supply store... where I bought a pocket first-aid kit, a water bottle, and four vacuum-packed meals.

Something in the back of my mind told me that it would be prudent to have those.

Friday afternoon, I asked Makoto what she wanted to do for the rest of the day. So we went skating.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, we prepared for the trip on Tuesday... both physically and mentally. Makoto stopped what she was doing and cried on my chest more than once.

Then it was Tuesday morning. August 11. We both finished packing. My suitcase wasn't large enough to hold everything – on a hunch, I had packed my new water bottle, the vacuum-packed meals, and the first-aid kit – so I wore my new suit, and I put my phone and its charger in my pocket. Then, Makoto and I stepped out of our apartments to head for the train station...

... only to find a small group waiting for us. Bunny-chan, Minako-san, Chibiusa, Ami, Ryou-san... even Rei-san was there. "Naru-san and Ichigo-san send their best wishes," Rei-san said.

"And we all hope that your Obon journey will be safe," Minako-san added.

"I thought they were going to a memorial service," Chibiusa said.

Makoto passed her bag to me and squatted down. "We are. It's a memorial for hundreds of people, including my parents."

"Oh. You're going to honour your ancestors."

"That's right."

Then Ryou-san leaned over to Bunny-chan and whispered, "Get her out of here. Now."

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"That probability just hit five in six."

"Oh,..." I bit back the curse I was about to say. Stupid genre conventions.

Usagi-san, Minako-san, and Rei-san got Chibiusa to the other side of the street just as I realized that the people who Rubeus really wanted dead were now in a small group together... and Petz teleported in. "There's the precog that we've been looking for!"

And she pointed the thrice-damned Black Moon Stick, which I only knew from the anime, at Ryou-san.

We couldn't transform or show off our powers, not with Chibiusa watching. Ami, Makoto, and I all decided to be heroes at the same time, and covered Ryou-san with our bodies before a beam from that stick hit him... and us.

The last thing we heard from what we considered was the real world was Petz shouting, "Be sent to another dimension!"

There was only one way out of the trap that she had just sprung on us: Sailor Teleport. Unfortunately for us, that needed three more Sailor Senshi than we had here, and the Senshi that were here were in their untransformed states.

As Makoto hugged me and Ami held on to Ryou-san for dear life, I thought that, since we couldn't get away from this, I really hoped that being sent to another dimension wasn't a euphemism.

---

Next chapter: Recursion, Romance, and Rough Times for Everybody.

Original text and original characters are copyright © 2022-2023 by Rob Kelk. "Rob Donaldson", "Ichigo Aoyama", "Kichirou Sato", and any representations thereof are copyright by and trademarks of Rob Kelk. Please contact Rob Kelk if you want to use Ichigo Aoyama or Kichirou Sato in your own stories.

Sailor Moon and the characters thereof are copyright © 1991-1997 by Naoko Takeuchi, TOEI Animation, Kodansha, TV Asahi, and their licencees, and are used as allowed under section 29.21 (1) of the Copyright Act of Canada, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42.

"Atelier Lucent" is an original element based on Sailor Moon. It should not be confused with the real-world "Lucent Atelier" in the USA or "Atelier Lucente" in Italy. The author makes Atelier Lucent available to anyone who might need a name for Sailor Pluto's clothing studio.

Quote from the "Fernando's Hideaway" segments of Saturday Night Live, copyright © 1984-1985 by Billy Crystal, Broadway Video, and Universal Television, is used as allowed under section 29.21 (1) of the Copyright Act of Canada, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42.

Lyrics from "Manic Monday", written by Prince, performed by the Bangles, copyright © 1986 by Prince, Discos CBS, and Columbia Records, are adapted and used as allowed under section 29.21 (1) of the Copyright Act of Canada, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42.

Quote from Ghostbusters, copyright © 1984 by Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Columbia Pictures, is adapted and used as allowed under section 29.21 (1) of the Copyright Act of Canada, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42.

Lyrics from "Slow Down", written by Bibi Bourelly, H.E.R., Nasri, Rykeyz, and Skip Marley, performed by Skip Marley and H.E.R., copyright © 2019 by Universal Music Group & Island Records, are used as allowed under section 29.21 (1) of the Copyright Act of Canada, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42.

Lyrics from "Godzilla", written by Buck Dharma, performed by Blue Öyster Cult, copyright © 1977 by Columbia Records, are adapted and used as allowed under section 29.21 (1) of the Copyright Act of Canada, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42.

Quote from Avatar: The Last Airbender, copyright © 2005-2008 by Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, and Nickelodeon Animation Studio, is used as allowed under section 29.21 (1) of the Copyright Act of Canada, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42.

Quote from "A Wild Hare", copyright © 1940 by Leon Schlesinger Productions, Warner Bros. Pictures, and The Vitaphone Corporation, is misquoted and used as allowed under section 29.21 (1) of the Copyright Act of Canada, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42.

Quote from Crocodile Dundee, copyright © 1986 by Paul Hogan, Ken Shadie, John Cornell, and Rimfire Films, is used as allowed under section 29.21 (1) of the Copyright Act of Canada, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42.


My thanks to my prereaders, Brent Laabs and Robert M. Schroeck.

---

Omake:

"Why aren't you asleep? I drugged all of the tea!"

"And good boys and girls don't drug other people! Or use drugs themselves! So don't do that! Sailor Says!"