There were a lot of things Usagi had been looking forward to once she got to high school - the cute new uniforms, adding Minako-chan to the bunch, the cute new classmates, maybe, the cute bentou her loving mother continued to pack, definitely. Therein laid a lot of untapped potential, and when they all looked at the class roster and found they were classmates, the excitement only continued to grow. At that moment, all Usagi could think was that the universe in all her greatness was smiling down upon her and her friends sunnily and graciously, which to her happiness, left no room for more unpleasant thoughts.

That first day, after a long entrance ceremony, they all piled into the classroom. They took in the layout of the desks, the large chalkboards, as well as their fellow classmates, perhaps trying to match names to faces. Usagi was wrapped up in the novelty of it all, thinking she would be too immersed in the overwhelming and new atmosphere that made all the lethargy she could have possibly been feeling go away. Sure it was early, but she was surrounded by her best friends and she was in a new seifuku–still unstained, which she gave herself props for–and even though Ami-chan told her it was the math teacher who would be coming in first, of all the subjects! she was still upbeat and had even gotten out her cute notebook and cute stationery set that Ami-chan had gotten her as a birthday present who knows when. Ami-chan did always seem to give out those practical, sensible gifts.

She looked at the clock and it was a few minutes until 9:00. She heartily commended herself for being at school the earliest she could remember for all her years of schooling she wasn't dropped off at the premises by her parents. Of course, it was Ami-chan and Mako-chan who had come by her house on the way to basically pry the sheets off her, even after she'd tried to retaliate against their force by wrapping herself up into a cocoon. It'd been, foreseeably, the only way they could've gotten all of them sitting at a desk in the room of Juuban High Class 1-1 by 8:55 AM, after having given the same treatment to Minako-chan as well, for which her ailing white tomcat had been extremely grateful.

The clock then struck 8:59, and the door burst open to reveal a dark-haired person clad in a gakuran, followed by a silver-haired someone in a sailor fuku who looked to be their companion. The rest of the students, already seated, turned to look at the newcomers briefly then went back to finish their own side conversations before the teacher arrived. There was one empty seat next to Usagi, which the dark-hair dude quickly occupied. Silver-hair seated herself at a desk in the corner, kicking back and... already dozing off. Well. At least Usagi had a little more resolve than that, however meager.

Dark-hair Dude nodded at everyone, smiling at the girls who'd accidentally stalled in their conversation upon catching a glimpse of his beautiful... face... wow, and Usagi was already falling into that trap, too. Maybe this is what Minako-chan meant when they had to look out for the campus pretty boy? Usagi shook her head. Not right now, class is about to start, she thought. She clapped herself on the face, maybe a little too hard. "Alright, do your best, Usagi!" she whispered to herself. Everyone in her general vicinity turned around at the sound of hands hitting flesh. Ami-chan gasped, Minako-chan burst out into laughter, and Mako-chan's eyes welled up with concern. "Usagi-chan! Are you alright?"

"Looks like little first-year Usagi is giving her all this year," Minako-chan giggled. "I feel bad that I'm not feeling the same way."

Usagi hmphed and rubbed her stinging cheek with her hand. "I really am," she retorted. Suddenly, she heard a small chuckle from the left. It was unfamiliar, and Usagi whipped around to face the sound. It was none other than Dark-hair Dude, undeniably smirking at the sight.

Usagi raised an eyebrow and turned away. This guy wasn't supposed to see that. How embarrassing, on the first day, and she was already giving off the wrong impression to classroom cuties. She couldn't dwell on it longer as the math teacher entered the room a few seconds later and immediately took out the roll sheet. Looks like this one was going to be all business. Ami-chan, in all her perfection, was chosen to be nicchoku-san, and led the class in their opening bow.

They'd memorized the order they'd usually be called in–Minako first, then Makoto, then Usagi, then Ami. Usagi looked around at all the other people who'd be called in between her and Mako-chan. But her eyes caught on the nametags on the cover of the notebook that Dark-hair Dude had gotten out – 星野光. She squinted at it, recognizing all the characters ("as you should," Ami-chan would say. "Those are all below your current level, Usagi-chan.") and trying to read them. "Hoshino... Hikaru? Hikari?" she whispered.

"Seiya Kou-kun," the teacher called out.

"Here!" Seiya raised a hand up cheerfully.

Usagi fumed. What the hell? Who called for that reading?

"Tsukino Usagi-san."

"Here!" Usagi called out, albeit through gritted teeth. Seiya-kun smiled at her.

"That's cool," Seiya remarked. "You're right after me in the roll."

"What's so cool about that?" Usagi shrugged.

"You know what they say about couples who are close to each other alphabetically."

"What? What are you talking about? Nobody says anything about that."

Minako-chan, from behind, kicked Usagi's chair emphatically.

"Hey!" Usagi protested. "What was that for?"

"Tsukino-san, please quiet down. Mizuno Ami-san!" their math teacher simultaneously chided Usagi and called out Ami-chan's name. Seiya laughed softly again, and Usagi gripped her pen a little harder, and didn't loosen her hold on it one bit, tightening it especially as she felt Seiya's glance fall upon her more than once during the course of the class. Minako-chan tapped her foot on the leg of Usagi's chair the whole time. High school was shaping up to be... something, at least.

When they dismissed for a break, Usagi walked nonchalantly out of the classroom into the hallway, and Minako-chan pounced on her, sweet bread roll in her mouth getting stuck in Usagi's hair.

"Oi! Watch where you put that," Usagi complained, shoving the fellow blonde off her.

"But Usagi-chaaaan, didn't you notice?" Minako exclaimed, her words muffled by bread. "That really, really handsome guy staring at you the entire time in math? Man, who could focus on quadratic equations when there was a practical soap happening right before Minako's eyes?! I love, love high school–"

"Really, Minako-chan. I can't believe I'm having to be the one to tell you this, but you really should have been paying attention. Honestly, I'm still wondering how the both of us even passed these entrance exams."

"Well," Ami-chan said, "I already have this stuff down, so I took it upon myself to glance over at what was happening, and I have to say–"

"Riiiight?" Minako-chan slung her arm around Ami-chan's shoulders. "Ami-chan agrees with me. It was clear as day." She sighed.

"Anyways," Usagi started, ignoring them both, "why are you in this class, Ami-chan? Shouldn't you be in the university prep course? Class 4 or 5? This stuff must be way easy for you."

"Well... I already go to cram school in the afternoons, so I thought... if I could have a chance at being in the same class with you guys... then..." she trailed off, finger at her mouth.

Minako-chan hugged her tightly. "That's our Ami-chan! You're the best, most loyal person I've ever met. Unlike this Tsukino-san, who can't believe I aced all my exams to get into this, prestigious, Juuban High School, she has no faith in me, wah." Minako-chan pretended to blow her nose on her sleeve.

Usagi rolled her eyes. She turned around to go back into the classroom and suddenly slammed into a wall of cloth and buttons amidst a familiar... kind of smell.

"Sorry! Excuse me!" she hurriedly apologized, and looked up to see Dark-hair Dude, er, Seiya, she figured, looking down at her bemusedly.

In the distance, she could hear Minako-chan let out a snort.

"Oh, we meet again, uh, Odango Atama-san, was it?" Seiya winked.

"Um... no, Seiya-kun," she let out as sarcastically as possible, "it was not."

"Hey, you remembered my name. Looks like your memory is better than mine, even if your reading was off."

Usagi scoffed. She didn't have time for this, and stomped into the classroom. How come the cute ones always have to have personalities that Ruin the Game? These kinds of things happened without fail.

She'd tried to keep her mind off of this as much as she possibly could, with her turning over a new leaf with beginning high school and all, but ever since Mamo-chan... er, she guesses he's going to be Mamoru-san to her now, broke up with her before the school year started, she was in a bigger rut than she could ever remember being in. Trust her middle school fantasies to let her get carried away and think that they were going to build a life together and he would be the prince of her dreams and they'd have five babies and she'd be the loving, faithful wife awaiting his return from work every night – okay, but she could still have those things, right? Even if they weren't with him?

Mako-chan, Rei-chan, Minako-chan had all consoled her, saying he wasn't worth it, she would find someone better. Ami-chan was there to remind her she was barely a sixteen year-old, and it wasn't the time to be settling just yet.

"You still have so much time left before you're around that age people start getting into serious relationships. You don't know where you'll be three years from now. Neither will I, but that's what life is all about, Usagi-chan," Ami-chan had said as Usagi cried in her arms. "Someone as wonderful as you are will never end up unloved."

And Usagi knows that much is true. She knows Ami-chan, Rei-chan, Mako-chan, and Minako-chan all love her so much. Haruka-san and Michiru-san and Setsu-nee all look at her like she's the light of their eyes. Hotaru-chan calls her nee-san, so unlike Shingo (even though she knows he still loves her). And of course Mama and Papa love her. So why does she not feel like that, at times?

She shook her head. It was the first day of school and she didn't need to be thinking about this. She was surrounded by friends and she would go for cream sodas later and ignore Ami-chan telling her to look at club pamphlets ("I'll be part of the Going-Home Club, Ami-chan!") and–

Usagi looked out into the hallway and saw Seiya conversing with Silver-hair, who still looked incredibly sleepy and visibly irritated to have been awoken from her deep slumber, and another unfamiliar face belonging to a tall brunette, whose sailor fuku was too short for her, and Usagi remembered Mako-chan's words about not being able to find seifuku her size when she was in middle school, and felt a twinge of pity.

The three made an impeccably good-looking trio though, she thought as the next period was about to start. Seiya and Silver-hair were making their way back into the classroom and Minako-chan was already pestering the latter of the two, as only the universe would have it. Silver-hair looked even more irritated coming in than she'd looked in the hallway, especially as Minako-chan excitedly shouted, "Hi, Yaaaaten-san!" Ah, so that was her name.

Ami-chan laid a hand on Minako-chan as if to have any sort of attempt at reining her in, which would ultimately fail. How did that girl manage to get away with all of this? Mako-chan acknowledged their return by sighing and she laid a comforting hand on Usagi's back before she went to go sit down at her own desk. "She never changes," Mako-chan acquiesced.

The next class was English, and Usagi braced herself. Minako-chan yawned, and Usagi shot her a look. Of course this would be easy for Minako-chan. She really hated her sometimes.

Seiya turned to look at Usagi with an inquisitive face. Oh boy, what was it now. Seiya leaned in, and Usagi gave in to facing her new classmate. "Odango, do you have a pencil I can borrow? Mine ran out of lead."

"Fine, whatever, but what's with that nickname? Do you think you're being original or something?"

"Nah, I just think it fits you, because–"

"My hair?"

"You guessed it."

"Ha ha. You're a riot, Seiya."

"So it's official? We're on an informal basis?"

Usagi scowled and handed over the pencil. "Fine."

Minako-chan snickered behind her hands.

Just a little over an hour left, Usagi thought, and she'd be out for lunch. She'd physically drag Mako-chan and Ami-chan out to the rooftop and Minako-chan the traitor can join them if she likes, not that Usagi would acknowledge her, but all she wanted to do at the moment is leave. High school could be a little nicer to her.

Lunch time finally came around after some more classes and Usagi immediately brought out her sacred bentou. After a hearty meal, she helped herself to one of Mako-chan's onigiri, and Ami-chan tsked both her and Mako-chan. "You're too soft on her, Mako-chan."

"Hey, I always make extras, so don't worry," Mako-chan assured her.

"You're too soft on her, Mako-chan," Minako-chan repeated dramatically.

"So what's this business I hear about the 'boy next door', Usagi-chan?" Mako-chan inquired.

"Uh. Come again?"

"Ami-chan's been passing me notes, and–"

"Not you too. It's only been a few hours into school and you think there's a steamy romance brewing, as Minako-chan would put it," Usagi sighed.

"That does sound like something she would say," Ami-chan agreed.

"Let's just try to find out more about the mystery dude and his friend, oh my gosh, do you think they're even Japanese, like. They have such interesting names! What if they're foreigners? You think that could be the case?" Minako wondered.

"Both Seiya-kun and Yaten-san do have the same first name," Ami-chan pointed out thoughtfully. "It's very odd. I was wondering if they were siblings, but they look nothing alike, so."

"They could be adopted? And they have parents with eccentric naming tendencies," said Mako-chan.

"Ooh, what about that third one?" Usagi piped up. "Did you see her talking with them out in the hallway? She's really tall and has brown hair."

"There's a third one? Does anyone know her name? What class is she in?" Minako-chan jumped up excitedly.

"You sure are pumped up about making new friends, Minako-chan," Usagi said.

"What if this new girl is going to try out for the volleyball club, like me? She's tall, apparently!"

"There's a lot of things you could do if you're tall, and they're not always going to be volleyball," Mako-chan pointed out.

"So, basketball."

"I wasn't even aware we had a women's basketball team," Ami-chan said.

"There's so many things you have to get in on, Ami-chan!" Minako exclaimed. "But. More importantly, we have to figure out what club this Seiya character is joining. So we can watch from the sidelines," she giggled.

Usagi rolled her eyes. "You people and your sports. I don't understand why no one's in a rush to go home. Watch TV. Bake cookies. Have Mako-chan come over and bake me cookies."

"Hey, Usagi-chan, if you join the baking club with me, then you can have all the cookies you want," Mako-chan winked.

Usagi's eyes twinkled.

Minako cleared her throat. "But first, Usagi-chan, we're going to have to track down Seiya-kun's whereabouts after school, and–"

Usagi groaned. "Minako-chan, I know Seiya is cute, but–"

"Did you. Did you just admit it?! I can't believe you. We are one step closer to getting you off Mamoru Island and into the arms of a hottie your own age in your own class–hey, where are you going, Usagi-chan?"

Usagi slammed the door to the rooftop behind her and went down the stairs with her bentou in hand. She couldn't believe Minako-chan had to bring up Mamoru like that, when it was going so well. Maybe she really wasn't ready to move on, maybe–

Someone in a red tracksuit whizzed by her with some male students in tow. They all had their gym uniforms slung over their arm. Ami wouldn't be that strict of a nicchoku to yell at them for running in the hall, but apparently the one from Class 1-2 was. "Hey, you punks! I'm writing all of you up for running, and I know who you were, Seiya Kou, you fuckin'–okay, I'm done." The poor girl from the neighboring classroom wrote frantically on her clipboard, muttering her angry complaints to herself.

So far what Usagi knew about Seiya was: wears too big of a gakuran, has the same name as Yaten-san, goes to gym class early, runs really fast in the hallways, and is mildly cute, whatever! She can ignore it. It's high school, she has other things to worry about. Bigger cakes to bake, whatever. A cute boy is not going to get her down.

When she returned to the classroom, she saw everyone packing up their lunches and getting their gym clothes out. She waited until her friends returned before leaving and Minako-chan whispered a small apology to her. Usagi hugged her and said she was sorry for storming off like that, she just got a little worked up, was all.

"Hey, it's okay, Usagi-chan," Minako-chan reassured her. "I completely understand. We all do." Mako-chan and Ami-chan both nodded. "Now, let's go and stretch in front of Seiya-kun."

"Minako-chan, I swear–"

Gym was uneventful and Usagi hated it, like always. However, the extent to which Usagi hated this period of the day could only be matched by how much Seiya LOVED it.

Dodgeball. On her first day of high school. Really, God? At least Mako-chan was on her team. Mako-chan would protect her.

Seiya was on her team, too, and she didn't realize how beneficial it was to not only the team, but to her own safety, because when Seiya threw those balls, behind each was some kind of scary, undeniable force. Usagi tried to imagine the kind of arm workout Seiya must do to get that kind of strength, but quickly realized she should definitely not be thinking about this kind of stuff after a single day of school, ugh.

One of Seiya's thrown balls hit the jaw of Yaten-san, and everyone cringed. The look on Yaten-san's face after that was too scary for anyone to ask if she was okay. It was telling enough for everyone to assume that she would exact her revenge against Seiya after the game, and everyone was right.

"What a nice relationship they must have," Ami-chan beamed, as Yaten-san delivered a well-executed uppercut to Seiya's jaw. Everyone shuddered. Usagi made a mental note not to get on Yaten Kou's bad side.

After everything was put away, the girls made their way down into the locker room to freshen up and change. "See, that wasn't so bad Usagi-chan?" Mako-chan tried, patting the shorter girl's sweaty head.

"Easy for you to say, you're good at this," Usagi grumbled. What had she done to deserve this?

They changed into their regular uniforms and put on their regular shoes after slipping off the indoor slippers, and closed all the lockers shut.

"Alright!" Minako-chan rubbed her hands together. "It's time we did a little... observation."

"Have fun, you two," Mako-chan waved.

"Where are you guys going?" Usagi asked.

Both Mako-chan and Ami-chan held up their club applications. "I'm going for the baking and home ec club, and Ami-chan's headed over to science. You still part of the Going-Home Club, Usagi-chan?"

"Yes, I a–" Usagi's mouth was covered by Minako-chan.

"No, she's not!" Minako-chan grinned. "You two have fun, now!" She gestured for them to move along. Mako-chan and Ami-chan looked slightly worried, but they left anyway.

"I hate you. Just know this," Usagi said pointedly after she pulled the other girl's hand off and glared at Minako-chan, who was smiling unabashedly.

"You'll thank me one day. Alright, let's go over to the baseball field!"

Usagi had lost this round.

It turned out Seiya was being recruited by almost every sports club Juuban High had to offer. Whether it was soccer, football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, wrestling–Seiya could do it. And Seiya could do it well. And Minako-chan had dragged Usagi to every single show of Seiya's talent much to Usagi's exhaustion. The campus wasn't exactly tiny, and even though Minako-chan got a kick out of it all and didn't seem to feel the burden of running around due to whatever endless reserves of exuberance she seemed to have, Usagi was about to collapse with the fifth sport.

But she couldn't lie and say that watching Seiya in action wasn't a bit... mesmerizing. Seiya genuinely wasn't trying hard and seemed to get it, as if moving itself was something natural, something he didn't have to think about. Usagi kind of envied that at times, but then she thought about how her legs always ached like hell after gym, and she didn't enjoy recalling that feeling.

Usagi decided she'd had enough then, and Minako-chan finally let up. "I think we should wait for Mako-chan and Ami-chan now. They should be getting out soon."

"Minako-chan, weren't you going to try out for volleyball today?" Usagi raised an eyebrow.

Minako-chan laughed. "Please, please. The captain will hear my name and she'll be like, 'Oh, Aino Minako? The Aino Minako? Volleyball legend? Of course you can be on the team! You'll lead our high school to victory!'" Minako's laughter turned into a sinister cackle.

Usagi stared at her. "Minako-chan. Even I'm not that hopeful for you."

Minako-chan laughed in spite of Usagi's words and just linked their arms together as they went to the room where the science club was meeting. There, she found Ami-chan and the other science club members packing tools up and leaving.

"Oh? Setsu-nee?" Usagi said upon seeing her gorgeous neighbor in the room.

"You know her, Usagi-chan?" Ami-chan said with surprise.

"Yeah! She lives on my street!" Usagi replied, and Setsu-nee smiled at her, opening her arms up for a hug. "I didn't know you were going to be here," Usagi said with curiosity.

"I told you I was going to be the advisor for your school's science club, Usagi-chan," Setsu-nee explained.

Setsu-nee was probably Setsuna-san to this club, and already the tall, dark, Tokyo University physics student was attracting the attention of the male science club members who seemed to have a hard time leaving the room. Usagi certainly didn't miss the reverent look in Ami-chan's eyes either.

"Oh. Oh yeah, I forgot." Usagi suddenly caught a glimpse of the tall brunette from earlier and gasped.

"What?" Ami-chan asked.

"Do you know who that is? Is she related to Yaten-san and Seiya?"

"Oh, that's Taiki-san. She's in Class 1-5."

"Wait, lemme guess. Her first name is Kou too."

"Yeah," Ami-chan confirmed. "It's weird, isn't it? They really do all have the same name."

Minako-chan's eyes gleamed. "They must be exchange students. There's no other way. They have to be originally from a faraway land and when they came to Japan, they picked up these names. That is my conclusion."

"Well, it's still a little early in the year to be jumping to any conclusions, isn't it?" Setsu-nee offered. "I did a little search on Taiki-san because the name seemed familiar. A result came up saying she was top of her graduating middle school class, and when she took entrance exams, her score was equivalent to yours, Ami-san."

Ami-chan nodded. "I expected as much. There was something that struck me about her..."

"Oh, Ami-chan! Does this mean you finally have a worthy rival? This is so exciting!" Minako-chan was overflowing with delight. "Usagi-chan has a potential suitor, Ami-chan has a rival! This leaves Yaten-san to be my shopping buddy, of course!"

Everyone sighed.

"Suitor? That doesn't even sound right, y'know," Usagi pointed out as the four of them were walking towards the Hikawa shrine. Usagi was glad Ami-chan wasn't going to cram school every day now – the girl needed a break once in a while.

"I meant like, I know boys are going to be lining up to ask you out, Usagi-chan, they're going to put love letters in your shoebox and give you chocolate for White Day, because you are the ideal girl!" Minako-chan explained.

"Wouldn't that require Usagi-chan giving them chocolate the month before?" Ami-chan pointed out.

"Not when Usagi-chan is as lovely as she is," Mako-chan said.

"Awh, thanks, Mako-chan."

Minako-chan huffed. "I didn't get any thanks earlier."

"I always feel like your compliments are a double-edged sword, so I won't indulge."

Minako-chan opened her mouth to protest, but closed it after some miraculous bout of deliberation.

When they reached the Hikawa shrine, they found Rei-chan sweeping the abundant cherry blossom petals off the floorboards of the temple.

"I swear I'm going to be shitting sakura if this keeps up," she said to the approaching four as a greeting, brushing petals off her head.

"It's a good look on you though, Rei-chan!" Usagi smiled. Rei-chan reddened a little, but she shrugged it off.

"Come here, and I'll cover you with a pile of them, Usagi!"

The miko led them all inside and sat them all down in her room's kotatsu, bringing out a bowl of tangerines and setting it down on top of the table. "How was the first day of school?"

"Nothing much, you?" Usagi looked down at the fruit she was peeling, but her nails weren't long enough to pierce the skin, so she handed it to Mako-chan to do it for her.

Minako-chan looked at Usagi with incredulousness. "'Nothing much'? Nothing much?! How could you say that?"

Rei-chan raised an eyebrow. "Uh. What does that mean?"

"It means there's someone after Usagi-chan," Ami-chan explained.

"Oi, when you put it like that–" Mako-chan protested.

"He's strong. Handsome. Runs faster than the wild horses on Jeju Island–" Minako-chan swooned.

"Wait, I'm confused. I thought this one caught Usagi's eye, not yours, Minako-chan," said Rei-chan.

Everyone looked at Usagi for confirmation. Usagi looked back, and sighed. "I already said, okay, he's cute, nothing more. If anything, he has no boundaries. He gave me a weird, completely unoriginal nickname for no reason, like. I don't understand."

"What? What was it?" Mako-chan wondered.

"It was embarrassing. Like 'Odango' or something. That's just." Usagi scowled. "Ugh, you know what, never mind, I'm not talking anymore about it. Hit me with one, Mako-chan." The brunette popped a tangerine slice into Usagi's open mouth.

"This. Is. Everything." Minako-chan might as well have been tying a hakama around her head; why couldn't she have that kind of drive during... something way more important than whatever this was.

"Minako-chan, where is this spirit during examination period, I wonder," Ami-chan's musings mirrored Usagi's thoughts. Well, exams wouldn't have come to Usagi's mind, but. "In any case, we don't know anything about Seiya-kun. Or Yaten-san, or Taiki-san for that matter," she pointed out.

"There's more of 'em?" asked Rei-chan.

"Yeah, we were talking about the possibility they might be exchange students, or something," Minako-chan mentioned.

"You mean you were, Minako-chan," Mako-chan clarified. "This isn't one of your mangas, y'know."

"But... but..."

"Well, Minako-chan does have a point. We've never heard of their middle school before. They all have the same name, Kou, and they all hang out together, but they don't look related at all. Maybe they're not exchange students, but I get the feeling they're not from around here," Ami-chan offered.

"Or. They could be... wait for it," Minako-chan drummed her fingers on top of the table. "Aliens."

"Now, that's a bit–"

Rei-chan tsked. "We need to take your VHS tapes away from you."

When Usagi got home, she immediately flopped down on her bed after briefly hearing her mother tell her that dinner would be ready soon. How did anyone have the energy for after school activities? She needed at least 5 meals a day to have that kind of strength. She made a mental note to bring more snacks to school, whatever she could fit in her bag.

After... he had broken up with her, she immediately tossed out all pictures they'd taken together. It'd been a shame; she'd framed the photos, printed on high-quality glossy paper, very nicely, and added a lot of stickers. Then she'd realized the cutesy emoticons and cutouts of woodland critters plastered on the frames only highlighted how different they were from each other, how there existed a gap between them that neither of them could bridge. Whether it was the age gap or otherwise, they realized it wouldn't work out.

Well. He had realized it first; Usagi had slowly come to terms with it the few weeks before high school she was given to deal with the predicament, after he broke the news to her. What was the use in salvaging the remains of it anyway? He was in college and she'd just started high school. He was talking about things that sounded vaguely like the conversation matter of her parents and she was reading Shōnen Jump and wanted to show him her new school uniform, but he was too busy filling out research grant applications and making connections with peers and he couldn't pay attention, he couldn't look over at her for one second.

She understood. Or maybe she didn't, at all, and maybe that was why she was still agonizing over it even with everything new and great happening in her life. She needed a bigger distraction in her life than going to club activities or her friends dragging her to them, or to the café, or anywhere they could think of. Volunteering, job searching, being good citizens and helping old ladies cross the street, whatever. It was all the same, and it was never enough to bring her away from would've, could've, should've.

She slumped to her desk and reluctantly brought out her math homework as a way to kill time before dinner. She wasn't giving it much thought, anyway; she'd come back to it later after dinner if she felt like it (most likely, she would copy Ami-chan's papers tomorrow). She guessed there'd be no surprises in the grades department in the next three years. She didn't expect much from herself anyway in that respect; she'd come to terms with the fact that she wasn't going to amount to much after graduation, or even prior to that. Setsu-nee was already talking about how Usagi should be preparing for university, but–

"What if I don't want to go?!" Usagi threw her pencil against the wall and crumpled up her math homework, exhaling roughly. University made people serious and unlikeable and everyone who goes to it either walks like a zombie or has a three-foot pole stuck up their ass; who would want to be a part of that?

Setsu-nee was of course, the sole exception, but Setsu-nee was in a class of her own.

Her mama called her and Shingo down for dinner and they raced and pushed to be first in their seat, as if it made any difference in who would get the first serving. Maybe she wasn't really a high schooler, she thought as she scarfed down her bowl. Maybe she was still like a middle schooler, an elementary schooler, even. Being any of those wouldn't bring Mamoru back.

Usagi cleaned her bowl at a speed that made her mama look over in concern, warning her that she might get the hiccups if she keeps doing that. Usagi shrugged and excused herself, going upstairs to get ready for bed, which, along with her cat, was the only eternally faithful presence in her life at the moment.