Just a note, for this story, I'll be using the equivalent of Japanese honorifics. This is why they may seem so formal. This will be a really short story, at most four chapters, but I needed a break from my other pieces, and this has been screaming inside my head for the longest time. I hope you all like it. Also, please tell me how the tone of the story feels. I'm trying to set a certain one, so I want to make sure you feel it.
Ami Mizuno opened her eyes. The first thing she thought was that she was warm. The warm felt better than anything had in a long time. Then she looked around. She didn't recognize the room she was in. She turned over onto her stomach to get a better look. Next to her were two more girls. She didn't know either of them. She didn't know where she was. Ami screamed.
People came running from the next room. She didn't recognize them either. She screamed until her voice gave out, until she couldn't hear, until the girls next to her awakened at the sound. Then she cried. She wanted to know where her mother was, and she wanted to know what was happening. Why was she here?
"Miss Mizuno, please calm down," one of the men in front of her said. He had black hair and blue eyes. She knew him—but she didn't. "What's the last thing you remember? Tell us everything, date, time, as specifically as you can."
Ami swallowed nervously. She told them the date, to which they responded with an incredulous look. "I was walking home from school, and one of my classmates ran up to me."
"Which classmate?" another man asked. This one was blond and green-eyed.
"Miss Usagi Tsukino. She said I forgot my notebook, and then invited me . . . I forgot where," she replied quietly, a sick feeling emerging in her stomach.
A woman nodded. Ami liked her the most. She had blue hair like her and kind eyes. "That's my daughter. But, Ami, that was three years ago! Usagi came home and told me about it. You've been coming over here after school ever since."
"I'm sorry," Ami said, "I don't remember that."
"What are you talking about?" the black-haired girl next to her said. The others in the room told her to do the same thing Ami had. Her date was about three weeks after Ami's. "I was at my shrine working when these two girls stopped by. The blue one and this girl with a weird hairstyle. That's it."
"Odango," said the black-haired man immediately. "I mean, Usagi."
"That was a while after Ami first started coming. Then Usagi and Ami started going to your shrine, Rei," said Usagi's mother. Rei shook her head.
"Just tell us what's happening!" the last girl cried.
The blond man looked at her. "Miss Kino, please enlighten us with the last thing you remember, then we can proceed."
"I just started a new school and a weird girl started talking to me. Then I don't remember anything," she answered matter-of-factly. Hers was the farthest away from the two.
"Alright," the first man said. "I'm Mamoru Chiba. I knew you three, but I haven't seen you in two years. At least, that's how long we estimate it to be. No one has aged."
Ami felt that sick feeling again. Why couldn't she remember? What had happened to Tokyo? "Where's Mom?" she whimpered. The black-haired girl next to her patted her comfortingly. The brunette gave a slight smile. Ami straightened up. She didn't want to seem weak, after all.
"I'm Motoki Furuhata. I run the Crown Arcade," the other man told them.
The woman smiled gently. "I'm Ikuko Tsukino. I'm Usagi's mother."
"Okay," the brunette said. "I'm Makoto Kino, since you can't remember, Miss Mizuno."
"Rei Hino."
"I'm," Ami whispered. She didn't feel normal saying this. "I'm Sai . . . Ami Mizuno."
"So these monsters have been attacking the city?" Rei clarified. Mamoru nodded. She reached for the butter knife and spread it thoroughly on her toast. She ate as if it was the best thing she'd had in years. Ami didn't blame her. She felt just as hungry and Motoki was a good cook. "And these Sailor Senshi have been protecting us?"
"Supposedly," Mamoru answered. "Nobody's ever seen them up close. We know there is a Sailor Moon and a Sailor Venus. There used to be a Sailor Mercury, a Sailor Mars, and a Sailor Jupiter, but they disappeared a while back."
Makoto nodded. Ami blinked.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Tsukino, where is Usagi?"
Ikuko smiled sadly. "A few months before this got really bad, Usagi went to school and said she was meeting up with you all afterwards. None of you were ever seen again once you left school."
"Actually, I saw Usagi that day," Mamoru said suddenly. "She was running off somewhere and she ran into me. I . . . kind of yelled at her, and then . . . I don't remember what happened next. I just know I woke up three hours after meeting her, and she was gone, never to be seen again."
Makoto gave a slight smile. "That's ominous."
"Everything just kept getting worse," Ikuko continued. "Shingo and Kenji had to enlist in the country's defense. The schools closed. People moved away, but the monsters started going everywhere. We made it work though. We lived here and tried to get on with life until the Senshi defeated them. Then we found you. It's very good news. Maybe this means Usagi will be found soon."
Mamoru seemed as if he needed to change the subject immediately. "I'd assume the Senshi found you and sent you here. That must mean they're closer to winning."
Rei and Makoto said nothing. Ami took a drink of her juice.
It was completely obvious to everyone else that the girls' return was something in the opposite direction.
Rei flopped in her bed. Ami and Makoto had been asleep for hours, but Rei just couldn't. She turned over to window where the moon shone in brightly. It didn't feel right to be sleeping in Usagi's room, wearing Usagi's slightly too small pajamas, especially without her there. Rei started to rise and look around when she heard voices outside.
"See, I told you?" a bright voice whispered. Rei couldn't help but sympathize with the girl. Her whispers held the tone of one, but the volume was just as loud as if she'd decided to speak. She heard a smacking sound and had to assume her mouth had been covered up. The sound of a "sh!" confirmed her theory.
"You've been here before?" a lower one shrieked. "That's not—"
"Not often," replied the first. Her annoyance at distrust was apparent. "I just happened to be here yesterday. Anyway, I'm just glad they're okay. . . . Venus?"
"Yeah. Let's go."
Rei sat up abruptly, hoping to catch a sight of the acclaimed heroes, but they'd already disappeared.
The house was quiet. It figured no one else was up. Rei always had been a light sleeper. Instead of going down to the living room to see if the TV worked, after all, they did have electricity for some unknown reason, she crawled into Usagi's closet. After going past all of the bland school uniforms and frilly clothes, she found a box. Rei removed it and set it on the carpet. She took off the lid and went through the contents. Six fake crystals (three green, one blue, two red), a pen with a fake diamond on top, and pictures. Rei lifted the pictures up because they seemed to be the only thing of interest. There was a picture at the park. Rei, Ami, and Usagi stood next to each other. Usagi had a big grin on her face, Ami looked confused, and Rei was annoyed. There was also a black cat in the background. She seemed as if she was annoyed with the bubbly blonde too.
"Stupid Odango," muttered Rei, remembering the nickname Mamoru had given her. She looked at the back. All SMs, JP, No SIC. These letters meant nothing to her.
Rei stood up and looked around the room, wondering if Usagi had any comics. If there was a period that she couldn't remember, she must have missed the new issues. Luckily for her, Usagi was an avid comic reader and even though she generally had magical girl and other romance junk, she did somewhat have the same taste as Rei, particularly in the fact that Usagi really seemed to like science fiction and future society.
"Miss Hino?"
Rei looked up. Mamoru stood in the doorway.
"Mr. Chiba . . . you knew Miss Tsukino, right? Why do you think she was taken?" asked Rei. Something about this bothered her. She didn't mean to keep asking questions, but it felt like she needed to know everything that was happening.
Mamoru shrugged deceivingly blithely. "Why was anyone taken? A lot of people went missing. She was probably just one of them."
"Then why are you here?" continued Rei. "You obviously didn't know her very well at all, so what would make you help out her mother?"
Mamoru stiffened. "I was the last one to see her. I felt bad."
Rei leaned back and flipped a page in her comic. "If you say so. Do the phones work? I need to call my grandfather."
"Sometimes," Mamoru replied. "But, Miss Hino, you don't know if . . . It might just be best to wait until this is all over."
"If this has been going on as long as you've said," Rei said icily, "then my grandfather must be worried. Miss Mizuno and Miss Kino must want to call their parents too."
"Dr. Mizuno is working in the war. She didn't even know that Ami went missing, she left so early. Miss Kino once mentioned that she lives on her own. Your grandfather probably knows you're safe. We can't risk having phone calls tracked."
Rei rolled her eyes. "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
"I don't know, Miss Hino," spoke Ami from the mattress closest to the window. "We don't know much about these enemies. It might be best to wait."
"We don't know much about these 'heroes' either. Besides, doesn't everyone want to know where the other Senshi disappeared to?" said Rei.
Mamoru started to respond, but looked over to the other mattress. "Where did Miss Kino go?"
Rei climbed over everything in the floor and flopped down on her mattress. She didn't speak again and tried to tune out Ami and Mamoru's discussion.
"I think she went downstairs to cook breakfast."
This place gave her a terrible feeling. She felt scared, and her whole body burned with cold like she did before she cried. She felt restless. She needed to move, but she didn't want to. This wasn't natural. She shouldn't feel so alone in a bright pink bunny-themed bedroom.
"Oh. She likes cooking?"
She looked at her hands. Scratches across the back, faded scars, torn nails. This could not have come from working in the shrine. That was peaceful work.
"I would suppose so. Do you have any news on . . . anything?"
How could Ami seem so calm and serene? No, Rei thought, Ami wasn't serene; she was cold. Distant. It made conversations like that easier.
"No. We can't understand if your disappearances are related or not. Your memories vanish at different times."
She wondered if Ami and Makoto felt this alone too.
"Have you noticed that we seem to forget right after we meet Miss Tsukino?"
"I hate to say it, but maybe she's the one causing this. I ran into her and it happened to me too."
"No," Rei cut in suddenly. "I don't think Usagi is the cause. But she most definitely is a crucial piece."
"Good morning, Miss Kino," said Motoki. Makoto replied with the same regards and continued cutting up the vegetables. The apron she had borrowed from Mrs. Tsukino felt awkward on her. Makoto was tall, so it didn't hit her knees, but as Mrs. Tsukino was quite a few years older, it was tied as tight as can be and it still fell on her in a way to make her look lanky. "What are you making?"
"Fish, rice, and miso soup," she replied. "It's all we have."
"I guess we'll need to go shopping," noted Motoki.
Makoto agreed, "I guess . . . . How would you do shopping right now, anyway?"
"Just take stuff," said Motoki. "There's not much you can do."
Makoto nodded and pulled the rice out of the cooker and set it in a bowl. "Soup and rice are done. Can you get everyone down here?"
"Sure," Motoki answered. "Miss Makoto, are you sure you're okay?"
She nodded again. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"It's just . . . with Usagi missing . . . ."
"I don't remember, remember?" said Makoto wryly as she checked the fish. Motoki laughed and said he'd forgotten; then he walked up the stairs to get everyone else. The brunette put served the food onto six plates and took off the apron. She sat down at the table and sighed. Finally when she had people she could trust and be friends with, they all disappeared and returned without the memories. It was almost enough to make her laugh. Instead, Makoto took another look at the cookbook. That recipe looked interesting. Perhaps she would try this. After all, they did seem to have everything for it.
"Hello, Miss Kino," said Mamoru. "The breakfast looks good."
"Thanks," she beamed and returned to flipping through the pages. Ami came down the stairs.
"Hello, Miss Kino." She took a seat next to her, leaning down and whispering, "Once this is over, we all need to talk. Go back up to Usagi's room. If anyone asks, it's just some time to share what we know, okay?"
Makoto nodded. Mrs. Tsukino and Motoki returned to the dining room, Rei trailing behind a few feet. The breakfast was quiet. Everyone quickly returned to what they were doing.
"So what's going on?" Makoto asked, plopping down upon her mattress. Rei and Ami looked at her.
"I found this box," clarified Rei. "It has a lot of . . . stuff in it, I guess you would say. Stuff from the period we don't remember." She removed the first photo album and showed it to everyone. A picture of two crescent moon cats stared back at them. She pulled it out and read the back.
"'L and A, UH, no SIC.' This next one"—a picture of all the girls, along with a blonde looking very similar to Usagi, but Usagi was right there—"'All SMs, SJ, SV, JMS, no SIC.'"
Ami picked another photo from a stack just lying in the box. "'Both SMs, SJ, and SV, PS, CA, and SIC in SL.'"
"Well," Makoto muttered. "None of this makes much sense."
Instead of paying any more attention, she threw herself back on the mattress. It really was comfortable and she hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Surely there was no harm in a short nap, right? The next thing she felt was a shake on the arm from Rei. It had to be Rei, she thought unconsciously, after all, Ami is our Ice Queen . . . . Once the thought truly engraved itself in her mind, she brushed it off. Makoto didn't know these girls very well. She had no right to judge that way. Yet, to her surprise, there was Rei leaning over her to make sure she was awake, Ami flipping through the photos.
"Miss Mizuno thinks UH might be Usagi's House," said Rei.
Ami nodded. "Also, CA is probably Crown Arcade, JMS is most likely Juuban Middle School, and JP is Juuban Park. Those are the locations of each of the pictures."
"Anything else?" asked Makoto.
Ami shook her head.
"Wake me up later then."
The shadow of a pigtailed, bunned girl in the window disappeared.
Well, that's the end of the first chapter. Have you noticed that the only ones without M beginning their Sailor names are the ones with actual M names? I always found that funny. Anyway, I hope this interested you.