Here's the next possibly long-awaited second chapter of Be Careful What You Wish For, people. I promised you excitement, and I hope that you find this next chapter rather exciting indeed, of course, everyone. As usual, all characters, et cetera, are not my own, but most likely belong to others, unless it's quite obvious that I created those very same characters, et cetera. And if they're not of my own creation, then I most certainly do not claim them here at all, for all the obvious reasons here.
Mutsumi Otohime and many others will now make their appearances in this story, though you will not see most of them at considerable length for at least a little while, most likely. Much, though not all, of the action in this chapter will take place in and around the Hinata Dorm's grounds, though. Also, many things will begin to happen in this brand-new chapter and those yet to come in the near future that will considerably affect the way things will possibly turn out in it for many of the characters who will appear in this story or any of its potential sequels. I don't want to spoil the chapter here too much, of course, so I will just close this here, with my usual hopes that you will read, enjoy, and leave me at least a few rather clean, rather courteous, and rather constructive reviews for it, quite naturally enough, people. With no further ado, then, I hereby give you Chapter Two of Be Careful What You Wish For, everyone! This is The Universal Storyteller signing off now, until later, then!
Chapter Two: Two Big Battles and Many New Arrivals
1200 Hours
June 10, 1991
Near Juuban Junior High School
What Kagome was close enough to see what was going on well enough, among the things she saw then were many aliens of yet-unknown kinds battling many of the currently-known Sailor Senshi and Ginkuro, to name just a few people those aliens were then facing here. She also soon saw that many rather strange vortexes of also-unknown kinds were rather suddenly appearing in both the general and the immediate areas of the now-ongoing battle here. And those very same strange vortexes were then periodically depositing any number of people apiece in those areas, much to her great surprise here, in fact.
She found at least a dozen or so of those people quite near where she now was in the area of the battle. And began trying to protect them as best as she could, once she was actually close enough to them to do so here well enough, by the way. Kagome soon drove many aliens around those people away, or she killed them, as the need arose for her to then do so, with her bow and arrows, to the best of her current ability to do so.
Eventually, she, Ginkuro, and the Senshi, among any number of various others, somehow forced the still-surviving aliens that they'd all just fought to withdraw back to wherever they came from for at least the time being, if not for quite a while indeed. Those aliens that they'd actually somehow killed soon were whisked away along with all their still-living companions, if they still existed well enough to allow their companions to do just that here.
Once those aliens were all gone from the area as needed and as possible, she, along with the Senshi and various others, began checking on the people who might have been in danger here because of the aliens' appearance here, of course. All the people that had been whisked to here and now from yet-unknown times and/or places in the Universe's history were evidently safe and sound, so to speak, and relatively unharmed, more or less. Eventually, it was learned that they were not all from this time period and this place, so they were soon brought to a large hotel at least several blocks away from where the battle had just been fought here. Tuxedo Kamen soon arranged for them all to have free rent, at the very minimum, for at least a week or two with the hotel's management, if not at least a month, by calling in certain favors that they owed him at the current time. Once that was arranged quite well enough, and all of them were settled in any number of rooms in the hotel well enough, the Senshi soon departed from the area along with Tuxedo Kamen, at least, to go about things as they then all saw fit to go about them. After the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen, at least, left the hotel's area behind, Kagome eventually found Ginkuro in a deserted alley somewhat near the hotel.
Ginkuro said, "You did well, it seems, defending those strangers, Kagome. I wonder why they are here, and who made them come here."
"I have no idea at all, Ginkuro. But some of them appear rather unfamiliar indeed to me here for some yet-unknown reason. I seem to recognize at least a few of them, but many others of them, I'm not so familiar with here."
"Most, if not all, of them appear to be about high school-aged or college-aged, it seems to me, Kagome. There are others who seem to be much older among them as well," said Ginkuro, as they then began to head back to Kagome's place here in Tokyo.
"Oh, wait, Ginkuro! I forgot to find my friends that I was then with when I learned of the battle, and I need to see if they're okay. I'll meet you back at my place within an hour, if I can. Tell Mother I'll be back as soon as I can, then."
"Do you have to, Kagome? I was planning to spend some time with you for a while, if I could, today, as a matter of fact."
"Yes, I do. If you don't like it, tough."
"I don't."
"Too bad. Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit! This is for being a dog-brain, and trying to get me to forget my friends, by the way. Yes, I know you're just generally a normal human boy, more or less, but you still act so very dog-like at times, it seems to me, Ginkuro. So take this, dog-brain! Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit!"
Her words smashed him down into the ground eight times then very hard, for she was now very angry at him for trying to get her to forget her friends here, in fact. While he was still down, and bound by the word that she'd just said eight times to him, she then stormed off and went in search of her friends, much to his great chagrin.
Kagome found them all rather unexpectedly in a place called the Crown Arcade, a place where they normally wouldn't go at all in their lives, and chatting somewhat pleasantly with the manager there, one Motoki Furuhata. As usual, Motoki was wearing an apron, and helping his staff and the arcade's patrons out as the need then arose for him to do so here.
Kagome soon came to her friends' booth in the arcade, and joined them there. Motoki saw her, and came over to it here in very short order, so that he could take her order as well. Kagome soon ordered some rice and chicken with side orders of fruit salad and cheese logs, along with some oolong tea and a medium-sized bowl of Neapolitan-style ice cream covered with raisins and assorted other items. After she ordered her food and drink items, then, he left to attend to that order of hers, of course. Once he was sufficiently out of earshot here, then, she asked her friends, "How long have you girls actually been here?"
"About ten or so minutes, maybe," said one of them. A girl named Takako Matano, in fact. "Hoshiko Nishimoto found us earlier, and she said that this place might be a good place to hide out in while the Sailor Senshi fought against the beings that they were then fighting with, as we all were actually following your earlier directions to find a safe enough place to hide for at least a little while." Takako was wearing a medium green blouse over a pair of blue jeans and second-hand military-style black boots, along with a teardrop-shaped jade pendant at the base of a recently-inherited necklace that had several precious stones in it, most of which were actually sapphires, for that matter. Her somewhat thick and somewhat wavy hair was midnight black, and it normally was worn at just about mid-back length, whenever possible and/or desired. Her almond-shaped eyes were blue-green. And a sewing kit was resting quite near her feet on the floor next to their current booth here. While several books on precious gemstones were now sitting between her and one other person who was then in the booth with her and Kagome here. A certain black leather jacket of the particular style quite often seen on many motorcycle riders from all over the world was now hanging on a metal coat rack quite near the arcade's doors. And it unquestionably belonged to her here and now. For a rather unique design indeed was then on its back, featuring many assorted sewing and gemstone-related items in its rather unusual configuration, in fact.
"I see that Tara Gakusha is here as well. She must have gotten the same idea, it seems. Tara goes almost nowhere without Hoshiko, if she can possibly avoid it at all, and I see that they're hanging out near the game machines here," noted Kagome, a few seconds later.
"Yes, they are. They're also quite near a girl with a rather strange hairstyle who often is seen here with a good-sized group of girls," said another one of Kagome's friends now with her, one Suzue Sakurai, a girl with shoulder-length black hair often worn in a ponytail, whenever possible. Suzue was currently wearing a mostly silver knee-length dress with copper and black piping and several other decorations in appropriate enough locations whenever needed for it, by the way. And she had a somewhat dark skin tone, for she was the daughter of an older Japanese now-retired diplomat father and a considerably-younger Ethiopian astronomer mother, as well.
"Do you know her name, by any chance, Suzue?" asked Kagome.
"Word has it rather reliably that her name is Usagi Tsukino, and that one of the girls she often hangs out here with is a priestess at a place called Hikawa Jinja, I believe. In English, I believe the name of her temple is called 'Cherry Hill Temple,' if I'm not too mistaken here," said Suzue, as she sipped the last of her green tea from her cup here. A book on astronomy was near her left hand as she rested it on their table here.
"What's the name of that priestess, if you can tell me well enough right now, Suzue?"
"Rei Hino, I think. My cousin Maya Fugunaga seems to think she's rather weird for some reason or reasons, though she's never actually told me just why, exactly."
"Rei Hino, you say? I know I've seen that name around somewhere or heard it somewhere. I just can't remember where right now, though," said Kagome.
"Do you remember the recent election campaign for seats in the National Diet, Kagome?" said a third girl then with Kagome, Takako, and Suzue in their booth?"
"No, I don't. Why do you ask, Kazumi?" asked Kagome of Kazumi Soseki.
"Her father tried to use her to help his re-election campaign for his own seat in it. She was not happy at all about it, by the way. Yet, she still couldn't somehow stop him from doing so here, just the same. And he may periodically still continue to try to use her for his own personal political and social advantage until such time as she can make him stop it, if at all possible, I think," answered Kazumi, a 15-year-old girl with chin-length auburn hair normally worn in a nearly Molly Ringwald-like style and brown eyes. She was wearing their school's spring uniform now, in fact, even though school was out for them all at the current time, due to it being summer vacation from it now.
"And did he get re-elected? I seem to have forgotten just how the elections for the Diet went last time here, by the way, Kazumi."
"Yes, he got re-elected, unfortunately. Word has it that she and him don't generally get along with each other very well, and that's one reason why she stays at her temple with her grandfather. I'm not sure if it's her paternal grandfather she stays with there or her maternal one, but I still know that she stays there with her grandfather, just the same. And several of her friends often drop by there as well, it seems. Also, there is a guy there who helps out from time to time there, whenever the need arises. He seems to be a singer of some sort who withdrew from the music scene for at least a while. I don't know all that much about him either, but I at least do know his name is Yuuichirou Kumada, by the way, Kagome."
"Kumada, that name seems familiar to me for some reason, girls."
"Yes, his father is a major television and movie producer in the Kyoto area, it seems to me, and he wasn't too happy when his son decided to pursue the music business while still in high school. But Yuuichirou persisted, and finally agreed to a deal with him, by the time that he got out of high school. If he didn't make it sufficiently big in that chosen career by the time he was 25 years old, Yuuichirou then would be required to work for his father's production studio from then on in his own life, for at least ten years, if not longer, and to marry the woman who his father had then picked out for him, even if Yuuichirou didn't want to marry that particular woman by then in his own life, Kagome."
"So how much time does he have to make it big enough in that chosen career, Kazumi?" asked Takako, in very short order.
"I believe about four years, more or less, Takako."
"Does Rei know this just yet, as far as you know?" Asked Suzue, with a somewhat curious look then on her face as she asked Kazumi this here.
"No, I don't believe so, Suzue."
Eventually, the four girls left the Crown Arcade and parted from each other again, so that they could each go to their respective residences anywhere at all in Tokyo, of course. But only once they'd paid for their respective lunches at it, for the obvious reasons here.
Kagome arrived back at her place by 1:30 in the afternoon, at the very latest, about an hour, more or less, after she'd told Ginkuro to sit eight times rather suddenly indeed. When she got back, her mother said, "Ginkuro was looking for you earlier. He was in the well-house last I saw, if I remember well enough here."
"I see. Well, I suppose I better find him soon before he gets too much more upset with me here, then. What other news do you have to share with me before I go looking for him, for it seems you have at least a few things to say to me before I do?"
"It seems that there will be an archery competition in the near future that Ginkuro would like you to attend, if not also to compete in, for some reason or reasons he wasn't willing to share with me now. And he thinks you should perhaps enter it, if at all possible."
"Why?"
"He didn't say, but it seemed to be rather important to him, just the same."
"I suppose I should discuss it with him, then. What else, Mama?"
"My Uncle Yukoshuji seems to think that you should try to visit him and his granddaughter in the very near future, if at all possible, in Azabu Juuban, Kagome," said her mother.
"Who's his granddaughter, then?"
"Rei Hino is her name, in fact, Kagome."
"My friends and I were just talking about her and her father earlier today. Her father is not very nice, to put it very mildly, it seems to us all."
"No, I don't suppose he is. But he's going to do what he's going to do, no matter if he should do so or not in his own life, right?"
"I suppose so. But it makes me so mad when someone doesn't treat their daughter as they deserve to be treated, just the same, Mama."
"Well, he lost his wife a long time ago, and both he and his daughter are probably still grieving her loss, you know, from what little I know of their current family situation, Kagome."
"Still, that's no excuse for him to treat her that way, I think."
"Of course not. But maybe he doesn't know any better right now in his life, Kagome."
"You don't act like that, even though Dad isn't here any longer, Mother."
"Yes, that's true. But I had a lot of good people to help me after we lost your father to an earthquake while he was at work, Kagome. He might not have had so many such people sufficiently near him to provide the help he needed after he and Rei lost her mother to some medical condition, for that matter. So that's probably at least partly, if not entirely, why he and his daughter don't normally get along with each other as well as they most likely should."
"Before I forget, I was actually able to get all the things on your grocery list, although it took at least a little heavy-duty searching to find a few of those things on your list, Mother." Kagome soon gave her mother all the things that she'd wanted Kagome to get for her, and then went up to her room briefly to attend to a few other things here as needed or desired.
No more than perhaps a few more minutes later, then, she was heading back to the past with Ginkuro, even though she really didn't want to do so right now. For she wanted to stay in the present for at least a little while longer at the present time. Yet, Ginkuro would not be swayed on the matter of hunting for any number of shards for the Shikon no Tama. So they soon entered the necessary well, and began heading to the past in the usual matter, of course. [AN: I don't think I need to describe that sort of thing here, for you people probably know what it most often looks like whenever they might do so at all in their lives, I think.] Five minutes, at most, after they leapt into the well, relatively speaking, they both were then most definitely back in the past again.
1330 Hours
June 10, 1991
Keitaro's Room
While Kagome and Ginkuro were just about to head back to the past, Keitaro was then in his room reading more of his mail from the past several days or so for a while. Or he was then re-reading mail that he'd already read at least partly by the time that Kaolla had suddenly jumped on him earlier that very day. Most likely the latter, seeing as at least one of them had a postmark from the Azabu Juuban part of Tokyo, in fact.
The letter he was then reading was from Ikuko Tsukino, and in it, she mentioned the fact that her daughter and a number of her daughter's friends were all currently looking for a place to stay in together temporarily during their summer vacation from school. Ikuko had heard of the Hinata Dorm from her husband, who'd been sent to cover a rather unusual story of some sort in the area of it by his employer, a story that somehow had actually involved Haruka Urashima, a number of Su's robotic inventions, and several other things, for that matter. And word had actually gotten back to Usagi from certain other associates of hers very soon afterward, somehow, that a hot springs was somewhere in the general area of them. Quite naturally enough, Usagi and several of her close friends all soon decided that they wanted to go visit them someday soon after hearing about them like they all had, if at all possible. Ikuko didn't think it was a good idea for them to do that, really, but her daughter still somehow got her to inquire about the possibility that she and her friends might be able to visit them for a while, at least. Hence the letter from Ikuko to Keitaro here.
Keitaro soon decided to call Ikuko and discuss the matter with her over the phone. He then went to the nearest phone in the Dorm, while holding several pieces of mail in his hands, and while also keeping an eye out for any more potential sudden appearances of various Dorm residents here, for the obvious reasons here. No more than a few minutes, at most, after leaving his room, then, he was already on the phone to Ikuko Tsukino here.
He and Ikuko discussed the matter for a little while, at least, and he soon quoted her a certain price that would need to be paid to make it possible for her daughter Usagi and her friends to stay at the Hinata Dorm for a certain length of time. Ikuko considered the price for at least a little while, and soon said, "It seems a little steep, at the very least, Urashima-san."
"Well, if they're going to be here for at least a few weeks, if not longer, then certain expenses will quite naturally enough accrue to this place, for all the obvious reasons, Tsukino-san. Tell you what, due to the fact that I'm feeling sort of in a charitable enough mood at the moment, at least. I'll not require you to pay all the money for their stay here now, but allow you to pay it in installments, if that's better for you, interest-free. Would that be much better for you, and perhaps allow you to pay the price that I quoted earlier much easier?"
"I think it just might. It may not actually be a price that my husband will like, I think. But we've noticed that Usagi and her friends seem to need to get away from Tokyo for at least a little while, if we're not too mistaken here at all."
"I see. And just how many girls or women are we talking about here, then?"
"Six to eight of them, I believe, if I'm not too mistaken here. Most, if not all, of them should be high school-aged, it seems to me now."
"When should I expect them to get here, then, Tsukino-san?"
"We'll have them on the way there by nightfall tonight, I think, if something significant doesn't come up between then and now, Urashima-san. They will need to perhaps bunk with several, if not all, of your current residents, though, it seems to me, until they can have rooms of their own where you are now," answered Ikuko, a few moments later.
"Very well. The residents of the Dorm will need to be told of this, obviously enough."
"Of course they will. I just hope that they don't send the now-famous Japanese Flying Ronin airborne again too soon, if he doesn't want to fly here, though."
"Well, I've secretly begun considering the idea of going to flight school someday after I get into Toudai, Tsukino-san. Don't ask, or tell anyone else you might know at all, please. Long story. Maybe someday, if we ever meet face to face, I'll tell you it. Just not yet, though."
"Fair enough. If you need anything else from us, please let us know as soon and as best as you can, then."
"Will do, of course. I'd best get off now, for I seem to be hearing the voices of several Hinata Dorm residents heading this way here and now. And it might not look all that good at all here if they somehow actually catch me talking to you now about this particular matter here. Good day, Tsukino-san." Seconds later, then, Ikuko hung up her end of the phone, after which Keitaro did the same, just before Naru was close enough to Keitaro to see that he'd been on the phone just now. By the time Naru walked in the door well enough, Keitaro was already lying on the couch and reading an Ernest Hemingway novel, most specifically The Old Man and the Sea.
Motoko and Naru were now walking side-by-side, Shinobu was a few feet behind them, and Mitsune and Mutsumi were also walking side-by-side with each other. Kaolla was nowhere to be seen at the current time, though. When Keitaro soon asked about where Kaolla might be, Naru said, "I suppose she's off on one of her random explorations of the local area, as she's often been known to do from time to time. I have no idea just when she might be back here, Keitaro."
"Well, I have some somewhat big news for you all, girls. I hope you all will hear me out completely before you then respond to whatever I then will have to say, when I share what I have to share with you all later here. Kaolla really should be here, though, for this particular matter here will by sheer necessity involve her too, in actual reality. And I really would prefer not to have to cover the same material more than once, if it can somehow be avoided at all, Narusegawa."
"I see. I hope what you have to share with us is good, Keitaro, then," said Naru.
"Well, you may think it's good or not when you hear me out, but until we can all sit down together and try to discuss things in a rational enough manner, I would prefer not to say too much about the matter, Naru."
"Should we let Haruka know of what you have to share with us, then?" asked Mitsune.
"No, there's no need to do that just yet, I think, Mitsune. I have a feeling we'll be seeing her later on, by the time I'd be sharing what I have to share with you all here, somehow."
"So how many meals should I prepare for supper tonight, then?" asked Shinobu.
"Prepare enough meals for sixteen people, just in case we need to have that many. But I don't expect that there will be sixteen people here to feed tonight, just the same, Shinobu. I only expect that it will be you six, myself, and Haruka who will be having supper here tonight. But we'll all have to see if that's just how things turn out here, of course," answered Keitaro.
"Sixteen meals, Urashima?" asked Motoko.
"Yes, that many, Motoko. I don't know if they'll be needed tonight, but they might very well be. Especially if Kaolla is rather hungry tonight, of course."
"I suppose so, Urashima. She often eats a lot when she hasn't had anything substantial enough for a long enough period of time, if memory serves me well enough. And it must take a lot of food to provide the energy she often shows around here, it seems to me."
"Yes, I tend to agree, Motoko," said Keitaro. "I just hope she realizes the pain she caused me today, even if it wasn't on purpose here."
"Keitaro, I think she'll realize it soon enough, if she hasn't already," said Mutsumi. "She cares very much about you, but sometimes doesn't know how to show it the right way, I think. Remember, she's still young. And those who are young are often unsure of how they should normally act in their lives, it seems to me."
"Perhaps you're right, Mutsumi. Perhaps you are. But I really wish that she wouldn't actually do those kinds of things to me quite so often, if at all, just the same, of course. Especially because they often seem to help get me in trouble with certain other people who shall remain nameless here, but who still know quite well just who they are, in fact."
"Kaolla is who she is, Keitaro, and she'll be who she wants to be, if and whenever it's at all possible to be who she wants to be, in her own life," said Mutsumi. "She is her own rather unique person, just like all the rest of humanity's members generally are for themselves in this world of ours, if I'm not too mistaken here in it at all."
Eventually, the others now with Keitaro found other things to do for at least a little while in or around the Dorm's grounds. For instance, Shinobu soon went to the kitchen to begin preparing all the food and drink that Keitaro said might be necessary later on. Naru, Mitsune, and Mutsumi went to their respective rooms, and Motoko to the roof, not too much later. Keitaro stayed on the couch, and continued to read The Old Man and the Sea for at least a little while longer, before eventually deciding to go back to work on various things all over the Dorm's grounds. For instance, fixing several rather recently-made holes that the resident hotheads had indirectly made when they'd sent him flying after an accidental landing right on top of them both, courtesy of still another massively-failed experiment or two of Su's elsewhere on the Dorm's grounds.
He gathered up the necessary supplies for the tasks he'd soon be doing, and then notified the necessary tenants of his plans, before beginning to work on those tasks. Especially when it came to notifying Naru and Motoko here, for all the obvious reasons here, of course.
As he was then working on those various tasks of his, then, Kaolla rather suddenly came flying through the air almost directly right at him, with his back facing totally towards her at that particular time as he was then working on those tasks of his here. She was actually flying almost directly towards him at perhaps a speed of several hundred miles an hour, apparently unaided, as a matter of fact. And not by choice, either, for her clothes were now really on fire, and she was screaming very loudly indeed as she also tried to put out that fire while flying towards him like she was. Yet Keitaro didn't know this was the case here at the moment, for music playing in a set of headphones on his ears completely blocked out the sounds of her screaming from somewhere behind him here.
It wasn't more than another few seconds before Naru and Motoko arrived, and before she crashed down on top of Keitaro still aflame, smacking him in the back of the head with her flailing hands and feet and even her forehead. Of course, Keitaro pitched over and smashed partly through the wall that he was still working on when Kaolla smashed into him like she did. Shinobu was at his side in no more than a few more seconds, in any case, and she quickly removed the headphones from his ears, and the music player from his belt, so that Motoko could then dump water on top of both him and Su at the current time here. Kitsune and Mutsumi were trying to put out the fire in the meantime that was still burning Kaolla's clothes, with the help of some fire extinguishers. Naru, for her part, tried to make sure that Keitaro was all right, seeing that he wasn't moving at the current time, by the way. She soon pulled him out of the wall that he'd smashed through, and laid him as carefully as she then could on the floor somewhat near it, once Motoko had actually been able to pull Kaolla at least a few inches, if not at least a foot, away from where Keitaro had unexpectedly landed in the wall.
Once that was done well enough here, Motoko soon doused both Keitaro and Kaolla with several nearby buckets of water, having a strange feeling of some yet-unknown sort that they might somehow actually put out the fire burning Kaolla's clothes well enough here now. Kaolla's clothes were nearly burnt, though not entirely, all the way off, in fact, and she was barely covered now with what essentially were random shreds of fabric both above and below her belt, in various places. Not to the actual point of potential unplanned indecency, in any case, but very nearly so, just the same. As for Keitaro's clothes, there was now a rather good-sized grouping of somewhat random holes in the back of his two current work shirts, at least. And those very same holes soon revealed that there were some minor burns on his back from when Kaolla had just smacked into him like she had rather unexpectedly done here.
Shinobu soon returned with two first aid kits, at Naru's direction. And by the time that she did so, Kaolla was speaking again, though not without at least a little bit of obvious effort here, just the same. As Shinobu began to help attend to Kaolla's injuries here, and also requested that Naru go right away to Kaolla's room in order to try to find some other clothes that Kaolla could then wear, she soon asked, "What happened, Kaolla?"
"A group of rebels from Molmol rather unexpectedly came after me, along with any number of other people or beings, many of which were apparently of non-Terran origin, somehow. And they all very soon afterward attacked me and others I was then associating with rather unexpectedly. After I'd left here earlier today, seeing as I'd actually been unable to have any breakfast here, I soon went in search of at least some more equipment that I could then hopefully use to work on any number of my various work projects. And I eventually encountered those rebels and strange beings in some certain part of Tokyo that I can't remember the name of well enough here at the current moment. Many of us were actually taken out somewhat easily by them. But certain others of us were able to survive well enough, at least at first, somehow. Many of us were then rather suddenly sent flying through the air exactly like I just was here, by the way. And I don't really remember much more than that here and now. Except that at least a few, if not a lot, of the people and/or beings that'd rather suddenly indeed attacked me and those that I was then with evidently decided it'd be a rather good idea to set many of our clothes on fire before they sent us flying anywhere else in this world of ours."
Everyone conscious here then discussed the necessary matters here as best as they could at the current time. Even while both Kaolla and Keitaro were still being attended to here as was then needed by the Dorm's other tenants and Haruka, who'd closed her Tea Shop almost immediately after first hearing Kaolla's in-flight screaming, in fact. It took at least a little while, if not a long while, for Keitaro to sufficiently regain consciousness here, but he was sufficiently conscious again by 5:50 pm local time, in any case.
He'd barely regained it well enough again just before Naru soon returned at Shinobu's request with several other items of Kaolla's own clothes here, along with a rather good-sized blanket so as to temporarily shield Kaolla now from his view at least a little bit, if not completely. True, she knew down deep inside that Keitaro didn't really ever want to see Kaolla or anyone else residing there, at least, in somewhat undressed or somewhat uncovered conditions of any kind whatsoever, if it could ever be possibly avoided, at all. But given his great propensity for periodically seeing many of his tenants in such states, albeit always unintentionally, she still did what she possibly could here to make sure that he somehow saw as little as possible, if any, of Kaolla's person while she actually was still in such a state of considerable disarray, at least, so to speak.
As Haruka and Mutsumi both held the aforementioned blanket between where Keitaro and where Kaolla now each were, for all the obvious reasons here, Naru and the Hinata Dorm's other tenants then removed all of Kaolla's now-ruined clothes and checked her out more thoroughly here, where needed, of course. Not seeing any major injuries likely needing any heavy-duty medical care at the moment, or at least not easily enough here, they all soon took care of the other injuries that had been hidden by the now-ruined clothes as best as they could, and then helped her dress in some of the clothes that Naru had earlier retrieved from Kaolla's room for her here. When Kaolla was sufficiently decent again here, Naru and Motoko let Haruka and Mutsumi drop the blanket they'd been holding up between Keitaro and Kaolla here, quite obviously enough. And both of them soon left the area behind as well to go wherever their moods then led them each to go, for that matter. But not before first picking up Kaolla and bringing her to her room in the Dorm again, by the way.
That done, Naru asked Keitaro, "How are you now, by the way?"
"Quite cold and quite wet here, quite obviously enough. If you girls don't mind, I think I'd really like to go back to my room to change out of these drenched clothes of mine and try to get at least a little bit warmer, okay?" He then struggled to rise here well enough, and stay sufficiently erect while doing so. But his legs were still somewhat unsteady here, and he soon found himself losing his footing again here, for he still was at least a little out of it, for the obvious reasons here.
As he began slumping to the nearby floor again, Shinobu suddenly flew to his side, and made sure that his head wouldn't smack the nearby floor to at least some degree here. She moved like a bolt of lightning, perhaps, to a position immediately behind him, and actually cushioned his rather sudden trip down to the floor with her own body, in fact. As he then slumped to the floor again, he also suddenly slipped back into a state of unconsciousness again. Seeing this before anyone else did, she turned his body around so that his front was facing her own, so as to hopefully better keep the back of his head from hitting the floor here again, for that matter. She then placed his head on her abdomen just below her chest, and somewhat carefully, yet somewhat gracefully, guided him back to the nearby floor here. When Naru, Motoko, and Kitsune then shot her a questioning look here, quite obviously due to the particular position in which she'd just placed him in as she brought him down to the floor as she was then doing, she shot them another look that unquestionably said, in essence, "He's most definitely quite unconscious here and now, girls. And he's most definitely not to be punished for this position here, as a result, or to be called what you often call him whenever he's in a potentially embarrassing situation with any or all of us. If anyone objects, then they'll have to deal with me later as I see fit to respond to their objections here."
The three young women studied Shinobu's face at the current time, and then Naru said, "Very well, Shinobu. But if he tries anything at all later, after he wakes up well enough, then we most certainly will not be happy with him at all, of course."
"Understood, Naru. This particular situation, however, is not his fault. As such, I will not go easy on you if you mistreat him unnecessarily due to it. Remember, I really got after Kaolla earlier, you see, for what she caused to happen to him then. And you three are on much shakier ground, from a legal aspect, I believe, considering all that you've happened to do to him since he came here to be our manager at Grandma Hina's request."
"When did you start learning this, Shinobu?" asked Motoko, as she, Naru, and Mitsune began to take Keitaro to his room in the Dorm for a while with Shinobu.
"Around my birthday, in fact. I was thinking about what I might eventually want to do for a living if I don't actually have a career in the culinary arts, and I happened to find a good number of law books, among other things, Motoko. And there have been far too many instances of you, Naru, and Mitsune mistreating him like you do. If things continue as they have been happening since he got here, there may eventually come a day when you will all no longer be able to stay here ever again. I don't know when that might happen, but Keitaro must have a breaking point past which he will no longer tolerate such treatment from you three, at least, if not anyone else as well."
"He always comes back after we do whatever we often do to him, Shinobu, so quite obviously he hasn't actually reached it yet, if he ever will," said Mitsune.
"Don't you realize just how shaky your legal grounds for remaining here are, you three? A normal person would likely have left here for good, and possibly even in a body bag, for no good reason, I think. And then you would really be in a pickle, legally speaking, at least. Why do you take unfair advantage of him, girls?"
"He always peeks on us, for example, Shinobu," said Naru.
"Not intentionally, you know, Naru. I mean, you may be a rather good-looking girl indeed, at least, but your innermost personality is often uglier than your exterior appearance, it seems to me here and now. One might very well perhaps even think that it is you three girls who just might be the real perverts here, more often than not, I believe, if they were somehow actually able to observe each one of you for a long enough time in your respective lives."
"We are NOT perverts, Shinobu," said Motoko.
"So says the heir to a dojo who considers virtually every male in this world that she happens to encounter unworthy to even somehow breathe the same air as she does, it seems to me. Males are not necessarily as bad as you evidently think they generally are in this world. Your own sister Tsuruko was not obviously all that afraid of males, like you happen to be, as evidenced by her marriage some length of time ago, Motoko. And I strongly suspect that there are actually many males who have been known to train in your school's martial arts disciplines for quite some time indeed, for that matter. I really don't know all the details about just why you generally hate males in your life, and frankly I really don't want to. But this path that you now seem to be on in your life will only lead you to great dishonor, at least, if not a very premature grave, think, by the way. As a matter of fact, I suspect that somehow, you might have even secret feelings of your own for him, and not just ones of hate or dislike for him!"
"That's ridiculous, Shinobu. I have no feelings of that kind whatsoever for him!" said Motoko.
"I think you do, but you're just not aware of it well enough yet. Or, at least, that's what you keep trying to tell all of us periodically, if not also yourself as well down deep in your own mortal heart, Motoko. And, personally, I think you're not the only one who's trying to do just that here in their own lives, for that matter."
As the four of them carried Keitaro to his room in the Dorm, with Shinobu holding his head up, Motoko his upper torso, Mitsune his middle, and Naru his legs and feet, Motoko said, "Why would I even be trying to do that in the first place? Sure, he's the only male here most of the time, but still, why would I want to give up my freedom to train as I do to pursue romance with any male? I am not interested in such things as that in my life."
"So you say. But if you aren't, then you no doubt will eventually be, if you're a normal enough human being, Motoko," said Shinobu. "You look up to your sister quite a bit, do you not?"
"Of course, but what's your point?" asked Motoko, as they arrived at Keitaro's door. Shinobu crouched down a bit, and rested Keitaro's head on her shoulder briefly so that she could open his door with both her hands if she had to here, in fact. Which she then had to do here, by the way, for the door was apparently not in an easily-giving mood at the moment, for some reason.
"Tsuruko still trains as a warrior, does she not, even after her marriage to her husband?"
"That is so. But your point still eludes me, Shinobu."
"She has sought love, and yet remained a strong warrior, Motoko. If your sister can do that, why can't you?" asked Shinobu, as she had the other girls hold him briefly all by themselves for a few moments, at least. She then prepared his futon for occupancy again here as needed at the current time, for that matter. Then, when it met sufficiently enough with her approval here, she had them lay him quite carefully down on his futon again, of course.
"Because males generally seem to want to take advantage of virtually any non-related females they might typically encounter in their lives, down deep inside themselves, if and whenever they possibly can, Shinobu. If that's true, then it is up to every female to do whatever she possibly can to defend herself or any other female who might be treated unjustly by them, if and whenever possible, I think."
"Motoko, Keitaro has never tried to do that with any of us, from what I know of him so far in all our lives." Shinobu suddenly removed his shirt and jeans that he was then wearing, much to the surprise of the other three young women now present in his room with her. "No comments, girls. He has wet clothes, and if they're not removed, he might catch pneumonia. And I don't want him to, seeing as he's currently unconscious and unable to change out of his clothes at the current time, of course. So I'm helping him here as best as I can, whether you like it or not."
"Maybe he has, and maybe he hasn't. But if he hasn't, then there may very well be a good chance that he will eventually do so, I think, Shinobu," said Motoko, as she watched Shinobu work with Keitaro's clothing at the current time.
"Keitaro wouldn't likely ever do such a thing in his life, if he could possibly ever avoid it somehow in it. Kitsune, look for a pair of his underwear, at least, if not also a pair of his pajamas, in his dresser. I think they might be in the second or third drawer from the top, if memory serves me well enough here and now." Kitsune did so somewhat quickly, and soon brought the necessary items to Shinobu here for Keitaro's use. Shinobu briefly had both Naru and Motoko hold him here, where needed, so that she could then put those items on him here, when needed, in fact. Then Shinobu gently brushed her right hand across his face briefly, as she also pulled his covers on top of him here, before saying, "We should probably leave him alone for a little while now. Somehow, I get this feeling that if we all do so for at least a little while, he'll be back up and moving around again here before supper."
The four young women soon left Keitaro alone in his room for a while, and eventually dispersed to various other places in the Dorm. Shinobu, for instance, went back to the kitchen to resume her temporarily-abandoned preparing of supper. Mitsune went back to her own room to do whatever then came to her mind just after Shinobu left the other three girls alone again here. As for Naru, she then went back to her own room to continue reading a novel she'd been reading earlier that very day, by the way. And Motoko went back to the roof to resume the training that she'd been doing earlier when Kaolla's rather sudden and rather unexpected flight had happened with some rather loud screaming here, for that matter.
A few hours later, at most, supper was ready, and, as Shinobu had expected, Keitaro was up and about again sufficiently well. Even Kaolla was sufficiently rested and sufficiently active here at least enough to actually come down for supper, for that matter. Although both Keitaro and Kaolla still were at least a little bit bothered by a headache, at least, for the obvious reasons, they still were sufficiently alert and able to move around easily enough, somehow. Shinobu soon distributed the food and drink items as she then saw fit to distribute them here amongst the other seven people then at the table. Yes, even Haruka had decided to make an appearance at the table here and now, in fact.
After a few more minutes had passed, at least, and conversation had begun to at least pick up a little bit at the table, Keitaro said, "Girls and Haruka, sometime very soon, and maybe sometime within the next 24 hours or so, several young girls will be coming here for at least a few days, if not even longer than that. Their sponsor has agreed to cover their expenses as needed while they're here, where appropriate enough. You will likely have to share rooms for them until we can find other places for them to stay in on the Dorm's grounds."
"What are their names, as far as you know, then?" asked Naru.
"Usagi Tsukino, Ami Mizuno, Rei Hino, Makoto Kino, Minako Aino, Naru Osaka, Reika Nishimura, and Sylvia Wakefield, if memory serves me well enough here."
"What do you know of them, then?" asked Motoko.
"Not much, it seems. But perhaps we'll learn more about them as time goes on while they're here, of course."
"How do you want them to be distributed here in the Dorm, then?"
"Let's figure that out later, once they get here. I don't know when they'll get here exactly, but I do at least have some pictures of them, just the same." He withdrew a packet of photos from a pocket of the jacket he was then wearing, and set it down on the table near his plate. Then he carefully opened that packet of photos, while he also had his tenants and Haruka each make quite sure that their hands were sufficiently clean here, and began taking those photos out. He soon spread them out near his plate, and pointed to each girl in turn, as he told them all he knew about each of those girls at the current time.
Eventually, Shinobu said, "Makoto seems to be a girl I'd really get along with. Motoko might have a real challenge in trying to defeat her in a mock battle, and Makoto might just be able to help me learn how to cook better, I think."
"Ami Mizuno is in much the same kind of family situation as you now are, it seems," said Keitaro. "At least she is, if Mrs. Tsukino's not too mistaken about such things here, Shinobu. Mrs. Tsukino doesn't really know enough about Ami yet to be entirely sure of her actual current family situation, though, according to her."
"I see. I hope that none of them decide to treat you just like Naru and Motoko and Kitsune, though, of course, while they're staying with us, Senpai."
"I don't think they will, but we'll have to see what happens, just the same, quite obviously enough, Shinobu," said Keitaro.
"Ami seems rather intelligent, Keitaro," said Naru. "Do you think she might be willing to try to help us study well for our next try at getting into Tokyo University?"
"Perhaps, Naru. But I'm not quite sure about that just yet, of course. She might just have other plans about just how to spend her time while she's still here with her friends, you see."
"Rei seems like a person that has a very short temper," commented Haruka.
"Yes, based on what I've heard from Mrs. Tsukino, she and Usagi often seem to get into rather heated disagreements with each other. Often those disagreements of theirs are quite loud ones, in fact, if what Mrs. Tsukino told me about them both is sufficiently accurate here. She is evidently one girl that I might have to be very careful around whenever she's here as well. Rei may not also take very well to many of the things that you often do around here, either, Kaolla, for that matter."
"Why?" asked Kaolla.
"Because you have much the same kind of personality that Usagi does, it seems. Bubbly and carefree and not often looking where you're going, for instance. Minako is quite a bit like Usagi and you as well, often. She also makes a lot of unintentional mechanical mistakes, just like you often do with your various work projects. So we'd probably all best try to make sure that there's nothing lying about that she somehow might inadvertently mess up and/or blow up to at least some degree, if not to a great degree, for that matter, if and whenever possible, everyone."
."Might I get along with Rei, Urashima?" asked Motoko.
"Hard to say. But you really don't want to get on her bad side. Or on Makoto's either, for that matter. From what Mrs. Tsukino told me of Makoto, she doesn't take all that well to bullies in her life, after she'd gotten to know at least a little of Makoto's past from at least her daughter, if not also Makoto as well. If she ever sees you or Naru get after me, or if she sees Kitsune do the same, somehow, she might just get after any or all of you three girls here, to tell you the truth."
"So you're saying that she just might defend you from any or all of them, somehow, Senpai?" asked Shinobu.
"Yes, I believe that I am, whenever she sees fit and however she sees fit, Shinobu."
"Then I suppose we'd all best try to make quite sure that she has absolutely no reason at all to get after any or all of us, right?" asked Naru.
"I think that would be a rather wise course of action, at least while they're here with us, Naru," said Keitaro, after a few seconds of somewhat silent contemplation here.
"What do you know of Naru Osaka, then?" asked Mutsumi.
"Naru has been Usagi's best friend for many years, according to Mrs. Tsukino. She and Usagi have actually been going to all of the same schools for as long as they've both been in school, for that matter. However, Mrs. Tsukino hasn't actually seen a lot, if any, of Naru over the last several months or so, for some yet-unknown reason to her. And apparently Usagi hasn't been spending a lot of time with Naru outside of school either, for some other yet-unknown reason to her."
"How does Reika figure into this?" asked Kaolla.
"Reika is the girlfriend of the manager for the arcade/restaurant where Usagi and a number of her friends often hang out with each other. And she often sees them in various other places besides that one whenever their paths cross in their respective lives. She is coming to spend some time with them, and to keep an eye on them for her boyfriend Motoki and for Usagi's boyfriend Mamoru."
"That doesn't explain Sylvia's reason for being here, then," said Kitsune.
"Usagi and several of her other close friends have seen a good deal of her all around Tokyo's local area, and perhaps even in various other places in the world, it seems. And they all are evidently now beginning to develop some relationships with her that they all hope will prove to be life-long friendships with her, Kitsune. Usagi eventually asked Sylvia if she just might want to actually come here for at least a little while, if not for a long while, with her and several of her other friends. Sylvia eventually agreed to do just that sometime, if she possibly could ever do just that, in her own mortal life. So she may just show up here as well, for that matter."
Haruka mused here for a few seconds, and then said, "I hope you know what you're doing, Keitaro, and that this idea of bringing in other tenants for at least a little while doesn't come back to cause any major problems for us, of course."
"So do I, Haruka. So do I. Perhaps, though, their presences here might just save me at least a few rather-unwarranted flights from Naru and Motoko here, come to think of it."
Haruka thought about that possibility here for at least a little while, and eventually said, "That's true, I suppose. But I hope you don't cause any of the new tenants to jump on you like those two often do here, you know."
"Of course I do, Haruka. But not even I happen to know just how the future is actually going to develop for each of us in our respective lives yet, for all the obvious reasons, quite naturally enough."
Some time later, then, everyone parted from each other, most likely for the rest of the night. Or at least most of them did, anyway, by 8:30 or so at night. Keitaro decided to return to his room and read more of the book that he'd been reading earlier that day, leaving the girls to do as they then wished to do in their respective lives.
Soon after Keitaro actually returned to his room again, Shinobu, Kaolla, Naru, and Mutsumi eventually decided to hit the hot springs for a while. Motoko and Kitsune, however, decided not to join them, for Motoko decided to meditate in her room alone for a while before going to bed, and Kitsune decided to do a little work on a new story she'd begun thinking up a little while before.
The four who decided to hit the hot springs before they each went to bed for the rest of the night eventually came there with bath towels around themselves, for the obvious reasons. Even though Keitaro wasn't all that likely to come upon them all of a sudden, they still did so, just the same. They all soon slipped into the hot springs, and found their usually-preferred places to be in it before they set their towels aside so that they could each bathe there for at least a little while. They bathed themselves as they then saw fit to, and wondered at least a little bit about each of the young women that Keitaro had mentioned earlier at supper, even as they periodically conversed with each other in the hot springs.
Eventually, though, they all left the hot springs and each of them changed briefly back into other clothes of theirs before retiring to their respective rooms for the rest of the night. Or, at least, that was their current plan here, anyway. Little did they yet know that the other eight girls would show up in the very near future, for that matter.
Sometime around 10:30, though, sounds of a big battle somewhere near the Dorm reached Motoko's ears, and she hurriedly grabbed up her sword, before bursting out of her room with a loud shout here. That shout soon woke up the rest of the Dorm's residents, or at least most of them. Those that weren't woken up by the shout from her, though, were woken up by the rather loud sounds of her feet pounding on the applicable floors for the hallways that she then went through on the way to the Dorm's front door here. She burst out of the front door and down its steps to find six sailor-suited girls battling a huge monster of some yet-unknown sort here, while also trying to protect two other people here from that monster.
She reacted almost immediately upon seeing that monster reach for those sailor-suited girls, and soon unleashed several of the martial arts techniques she'd learned before in her life against that very same monster. Motoko's techniques, though, couldn't reach the monster in time to keep it from knocking four of those same girls into various nearby trees and/or buildings. The other two girls in sailor suits couldn't reach them in time here well enough, however. For they were the only two really still able to protect the other two people they were then protecting her from that monster now. Motoko charged at that monster with seemingly reckless abandon while the two remaining sailor-suited girls tried to get its attention well enough, and she soon hit that monster again with several more attacks of her own at the same time. The monster reared, and nearly flipped over on top of her after the two remaining sailor-suited girls had hit it with several combination attacks. But she was actually able to move away from it in time before she might have possibly been crushed by the monster, thanks to the rather sudden appearance of another one of Kaolla's still-recent inventions which kept the monster from falling on her somehow, a mecha she had named Mega-Keitaro seven point three. Mega-Keitaro seven point three held up the monster at least long enough for Motoko to somehow get out of the likely path down to the ground that it would probably be taking to there after those girls' combination attacks had actually hit it rather well enough. Then Mega-Keitaro let the monster go, once it was safe enough to do so here well enough. It did this as Keitaro and the others began checking out the four sailor-suited girls that had been thrown against the aforementioned trees and/or buildings, by the way. The monster didn't last too much longer after that, very soon afterward then being killed and eliminated by the two sailor-suited girls who were still standing well enough here near the two obvious civilians here.
After the monster was no longer anywhere to be seen at all, Motoko came to the two still-standing sailor-suited girls here, and asked who they were. One of them introduced herself as Sailor Moon, and the other as Sailor Skyhorse. Sailor Moon said, "The other ones like me here are Sailors Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus," as she pointed to each of them in turn. "As for these other two, they are Naru Osaka and Reika Nishimura."
"What was that thing you just were attacking then, Sailor Moon?" asked Motoko.
"I don't know exactly what it was, miss, and where it came from, but quite obviously it isn't from anywhere here on Earth, it seems to me. I somehow suspect that it may not be the last of its kind that we'll ever see here on Earth for quite some time indeed, as well. May I ask your name, then?"
"Motoko Aoyama. And the others you see attending to your comrades-in-arms are associates of mine, for that matter," Motoko said, as she stole several brief glances at her fellow tenants and their manager here.
"I see."
All of a sudden, Mega-Keitaro came over to Motoko and crouched down near her, whispering briefly in her left ear. Motoko listened for a brief moment or two to the mecha, and said, "My associate Kaolla would like to converse with you for a bit, if she may, soon. And she also wonders where your frequent associate Tuxedo Kamen now is, for that matter, Sailor Moon."
"He was unable to come to the fight, unfortunately. He had something else he had to attend to in his civilian life, and so, therefore, he was unable to make it here easily enough, Motoko."
"Would you mind if I asked why he didn't show?"
"Because what he had to attend to was very important, to the degree that it might possibly affect his own future to a quite considerable enough degree. And I didn't want him to forget to attend to it, if he could possibly avoid doing so, when it might be the difference between losing at least one of his dreams or being able to fulfill at least one of them in his own life."
"Is that partly why Sailor Skyhorse is here, then?"
"Yes. She was around me when he told me of his civilian situation that I just told you about here, Motoko. So she agreed to assist me in our next fight, whenever it might be, seeing as he wouldn't be able to himself, for whatever reason or reasons he'd not be able to do just that, somehow, in fact. And she often assists us even when he's able to fight alongside the rest of us Senshi and/or our various allies, for that matter."
"So Tuxedo Kamen has a civilian identity. I wonder what it is."
"I can't tell you yet, if ever. For you're not one of us just yet, if you'll ever be."
"I take it each of you have civilian identities of your own?"
"Sure we do. But I can't actually tell you ours just yet, for we hardly know you, Motoko," said Sailor Moon. "Now if you'll excuse us, we have to see that our friends get to where they're going well enough, if we can."
"Will I see you around again someday, then, Sailor Moon?"
"You never know. You just might, Motoko. Now I really think that we'd all best leave you here, if you don't mind. Come on, Senshi, let's go," said Sailor Moon, once she saw well enough that her previously-smacked comrades were once again standing and moving around well enough here.
The other Senshi needed no further urging to come to her side, and gather around her here. "Sailor Moon, you did good," said Sailor Mars. "That monster sure packed a real punch, though. I think I'm going to want to take it easy for a while here, for once."
"Are you okay, Sailor Mars?"
"I'll be fine, in due time, I think, Sailor Moon. I mean, this monster that we all just fought here wasn't evidently quite as strong as the Dark Kingdom's youma were some time ago. Or at least it didn't appear to be at least that strong to me, if not even stronger than any or all of them, anyway. I really do hope, though, that we'll all somehow actually be able to do at least well enough against others from their particular bunch of sentient beings in the future, of course. And, yes, I very strongly suspect that there will be many others like them showing up around here, for that matter. So many, in fact, that we may very well indeed need many more allies on our own side of things in order to fight them quite well enough, if I'm not too mistaken here."
"We just got done with Queens Beryl and Metallia, and their Dark Kingdom, and we're likely not going to get much recovery time to recuperate from fighting them before we have to begin to take on our next enemy? Oh, great. Just how I wanted to spend my summer, having to battle still another evil force of some yet-unknown kind!"
"Well, at least you'll have us to fight alongside you from the start of this fight with them this time, unlike when you first awakened as a Senshi before most, if not all, of the rest of us, Sailor Moon," said Sailor Mercury.
"I suppose so, Mercury. Hopefully we'll not run into too much trouble soon enough, though, in the meantime."
"Don't count on it, Sailor Moon. If they're going to be after what I think they're going to be after, then I don't think that we'll easily be able to avoid it for a long enough time," said Sailor Jupiter.
"Why can't they just leave this world alone?"
"That's what evil forces enough like the Dark Kingdom are going to do, if they possibly can, Sailor Moon. If they can't get what they want immediately, they'll go through anyone and anything they can, until they get what they want, if at all possible. At least the Dark Kingdom most likely will never be able to rise again, and try to destroy us like they destroyed our cherished Moon Kingdom at the end of the Silver Millennium like they did," said Sailor Venus.
"When will the fighting ever stop forever, then?"
"When the Messiah finally puts an end to all war anywhere at all in the Universe forever, Sailor Moon," said Sailor Skyhorse, just a few somewhat brief seconds later, at most. "Only then, in truth, will peace reign eternally in it."
"Then we might be able to find peace from our pain caused by us often having to take sentient life in our lives against our wills?"
"Yes, if you make it to Heaven, you should be able to, I'm quite sure."
"I hope we all make it there, then, of course. In the meantime, I suppose we'd all best get out of here now, girls, if we can."
"Of course, Sailor Moon."
"See you around, then, perhaps, Motoko," said Sailor Moon, as she and the others then with her quickly left the area for at least a little while, for all the obvious reasons here. Kaolla soon sent Mega-Keitaro back to wherever she'd gotten him from earlier, for that matter, in fact.
After the Senshi and their two civilian companions then departed the scene here, Keitaro and the others soon joined Motoko near where she was then sitting on a nearby bench. Keitaro asked, "Are you all right, Motoko?"
"That monster was quite huge, Urashima. Just where did it come from, exactly, then?"
"I have no idea, to be totally honest here, Motoko. But Kaolla seems to have a sneaking suspicion about it, somehow, just the same, here," said Keitaro.
"What do you possibly know about it, Kaolla?" asked Motoko.
"Very little, if anything, to tell you the truth. But it seemed to have a rather strange marking on its body in at least one place, if not more than one. The marking or markings then in question here might possibly have looked at least partly, if not entirely, like at least one, if not more than one, black crescent moon with the points of each such moon facing downward somewhere on its body. It made some rather strange noises as several other similar enough beings were near it, along with any number of humans or humanoid-like beings, it now seems to me here. Come to think of it, several of those other beings were possibly amongst those who actually attacked me and several other people earlier today in the attack I told you all about earlier. Though I can't be all that sure about such things well enough here. Or at least not at the current time, anyway, for some reason or reasons I can't really think of at the moment, everyone."
The seven of them soon made their way back up to the Dorm, and arrived back in its living room in time to hear a few knocks on the Dorm's front door. Keitaro soon went to the front door, and asked the people who were then there, "What do you want?"
"Is this the Hinata Dorm, by any chance?" asked a certain girl with buns in her hair. "My mother said there was a Dorm somewhere around here with a hot springs on its grounds. And we and my friends were looking for that place, for we were planning to spend some time at the Dorm during our summer vacation from school, if we could actually do so well enough."
"Yes, as a matter of fact it is. May I ask who you are, then, miss?"
"I am Usagi Tsukino, and these are my friends Ami Mizuno, Rei Hino, Makoto Kino, Minako Aino, Naru Osaka, Reika Nishimura, and Sylvia Wakefield," answered Usagi, as she introduced each girl besides herself in turn to Keitaro.
"I see. Well, then, you might as well come in, Tsukino-tachi. We've been expecting you since I told my tenants about your plan to come here earlier."
"It won't be a bother, seeing as it's so late at night now, Urashima-san?" asked Usagi.
"No, Usagi, it's not," whispered Keitaro to her in a voice so low only Usagi and Ami could currently hear it well enough, all of a sudden. He then said, aloud, for the benefit of the rest of Usagi's companions, "No, it's no bother at all, girls. Please do come in, and let's go meet my tenants, if that's all right with you all here."
Moments later, then, Usagi and her seven companions were inside the Dorm's living room as well, for that matter. It was now just about 11:45 at night, in fact. Keitaro introduced each of them to his tenants, and vice versa. The fourteen young women conversed for about ten to fifteen minutes with each other before finally deciding how to then spend the rest of the night and at least part of the early morning in and around the Dorm's grounds with each other here, and the sleeping arrangements for them all on the current night.
Reika and Makoto soon bunked up with Kitsune, Minako and Usagi with Shinobu, Rei with Mutsumi, Sylvia and Ami with Kaolla, and Naru Osaka with Naru Narusegawa, eventually. While Keitaro, of course, didn't have any new roommates here, for the obvious reasons. After the sleeping arrangements had been decided by the fourteen aforementioned young women, at least for the current night, Keitaro and they soon parted for the rest of it, not likely to see each other again here for at least the next few hours, quite naturally enough. And all fifteen of them were quite soundly asleep in their respective beds or sleeping bags not too long after that happened, for that matter. And so they slept.
Chapter Three will be up as soon as I can get it done quite well enough, people. I don't yet know just how it might actually go, story-wise, but I'll figure it out as needed here just as soon as I can, I know. I hope to have it up sometime by Christmas, though, if at all possible, in any case at all. Please stay tuned for further additions of chapters to this story, then, okay? In the meantime, everyone, please do seriously consider the possibility of any and/or all of you readers actually leaving me at least some reviews and/or comments of the previously-requested kind in the very near future, if and whenever possible. Until later, then, I bid all of you farewell, and wish you all well, as best as I can. This is TUS signing off now, then, of course!
