It was rare to see Shana out and about. While Shana had missed most of the battle with the Shadow Galaxy, she found herself one of Pifite's first victims, caught in a battle she didn't fully understand. The final battle against Chaos, she lent her power to Sailor Moon to help bring peace back to the world. It was then she finally understood what it meant to be a senshi. She was finally proud of being Sailor Plutonium.
Since the rise of the new Silver Millennium, Shana absorbed herself in writing, drafting her famous series called Romance of the Moon Kingdom. It was based loosely on her memories as Kouri, the princess of the ice planet Plutonium. While the memories were foggy, she filled in the rest with romanticized tales of love and a battle for power between three distinct kingdoms, the Moon Kingdom, the Shadow Galaxy (dubbed the Shadow Kingdom), and the Dark Kingdom.
Shana had just finished a book signing before she fled down the street and away from the crowd. They were truly too much for her at times, especially the particularly otaku ones. The crowd noticed her and began to follow her, so she fled more quickly, rounding the corner and ducking into Cafe Eclipse. She dove into a booth and the crowd simply carried on down the street, demanding autographs and hints about the upcoming movie based on the books.
Minako peered under the table. "You okay there, Shana-chan?"
"A-are they gone?" Shana stammered, peering back at Minako. It was far too early in the day for this. Her nerves were already shot and it wasn't even noon yet.
After a quick glance, Minako nodded, offering a hand to help Shana up. "We need to get you acclimated to crowds. You're a super star, after all. You're going to have lots of fans."
"I just want to write beautiful fairy tales," Shana objected. She wanted to write about the tales she saw in her head. She wanted to put her thoughts down on paper, regardless of whether anyone read them or not. Minako wanted the attention; Shana just wanted to write.
"Tell ya what, come with me." Minako turned Shana around and forcibly pushed her into the back room. A few minutes later, the two girls returned. Minako had taken Shana's hair down from her iconic ponytail, braided her hair down both sides of her head, then joined the braids in the back into one large superbraid which reached down past her waist, tied off with her bright blue scrunchie. Minako had also shoved her into a bright yellow sundress dress very much not her style.
"There!" Minako declared, rather proud of her work. "You should be able to walk around unnoticed now!"
She was right. Shana barely recognized herself in the mirror. "Thank you," she smiled. But there was something else on her mind. "Minako-chan. I had something I wished to ask you."
"Sure, anything," Minako nodded, taking a brief second to mentally undress the cute boy who walked past the cafe window.
"I wanted to ask you if you'd sing the main theme for the movie based on my book," Shana offered.
Minako blinked, uncertain she'd heard the statement correctly at first. "Really?" Minako had pursued her idol career for a bit, but it was Venus who had become somewhat of an idol, singing at ceremonies and festivals hosted by the royal court. Minako, however, remained the waitress. Not that she complained, as she did enjoy working with Tsubaki, Makoto, and Akiko, but she still dreamed of idol days.
Shana nodded. "I think your voice is truly beautiful. It's perfect for Romance of the Moon Kingdom." She had always admired Minako's voice and was probably her biggest closet fan. "Can you imagine? Idol Minako-chan. Unless you'd prefer to be Idol V-chan. As long as you sing, it doesn't matter to me who you come as."
Minako paused some more. She hadn't expected Shana to say anything like this She didn't even know Shana enjoyed her music. Her expression quickly shifted from surprised to smug. "Ohoho, of course you want the great goddess of love to sing for you! You can count on me! It'll be the greatest theme song you've ever heard!"
"This is great, Minako-chan!" Shana agreed excitedly. "I've been wishing on a star so much, afraid you'd say no, but I'm so glad you said yes!"
"You can always count on the amazing V-chan," Minako smugly pointed out. While she sounded boisterous, it was also very true. She'd give someone the shirt off her back if it meant helping a friend.
The bell above the entrance door rang as a very strange girl walked in. Shana immediately dove behind Minako to shield her from rabid fans then quickly realized she was still in Minako's yellow sundress and looked nothing like her usual self. The girl didn't seem like her regular sort of fan, appearing as if she'd walked out of a Shakesperean play with a modern twist. Her deep purple hair was pulled back into a massive bun, two strands hanging down to shape her face. She wore a white peasant top under a black simple corset laced up the front. Her cupcake purple skirt was knee-length, frilled out over several layers of tulle and lace.
"I bid you good morrow," the girl offered a polite bow.
Shana stared. "She looks like she's walked straight out of a feudal era fairy tale," she whispered to Minako, who quickly agreed.
"What can we do for you?" Minako offered.
"I know naught of what to be expected from such a lovely establishment," the girl replied.
Minako blinked stupidly. Was she speaking some form of archaic keigo? It was far too formal for her to really understand, and made her sound like some sort of samurai.
"Ohoho, we offer all sorts of sweets, both traditional and modern," Akiko filled in for Minako. She and Makoto heard the extremely formal speech from the kitchen as they were finishing up their morning bake-off. The cafe was surprisingly empty for one of their competitions, but with other events going on in the area, many people had been in and out already, grabbing something sweet for breakfast.
"I am Daimon Akiko," she introduced herself. "And with Makoto-shi we run this Cafe. Welcome~"
Minako frowned. Leave it to miss Yamato Nadeshiko to understand what the samurai girl was saying.
"Shizuka Hitomi," the girl bowed. "'tis a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Makoto-dono, Akiko-dono. I have only recently arrived and know little of the local cuisine."
"Ohoho, from far away, I presume?" Akiko inquired politely, rounding the counter to be more personable to their unusual guest. Makoto remained behind the counter, leaning on it as she watched the spectacle of an exchange between the two.
"Aye," Hitomi nodded. "Quite the venture I had."
"Ohoho, no doubt," Akiko tittered, holding a hand delicately up to her mouth. The conversation was quite pleasant, something she hadn't had for some time. Her usual conversations involved rivalry or dumbing things down to more casual speak. "I do hope it treated you well, Hitomi-shi."
Minako and Shana stared. It was hard to tell if the two were talking about a trek across the country or across the galaxy.
"Where's Tsubaki-chan?" Shana nudged Minako. "This seems like something she'd enjoy far too much." While Tsubaki didn't speak keigo by any means, she seemed to have a flair for the strange. She also was excessively friendly, even with strangers.
Minako shrugged. "She said something about not coming in today." The statement was definitely odd, but Minako hadn't really put much thought into it. Tsubaki could be flighty sometimes, but now that she thought about it, there was something about the message that seemed off. Hopefully nothing had happened to her cute little daughter.
"I hope no wicked witches have cursed her," Shana bit her finger for a moment. She'd had enough of witches poisoning the apples after the battle with the Shadow Galaxy.
"No no, nothing like that," Minako waved off the notion. With the Era of Peace, nothing like that would ever happen. She had considered the possibility that the Black Moon Clan could arrive, but she also knew that the arrival of the Eclipse senshi had changed things. Perhaps it was in that separate timeline thing Ami once attempted to describe.
"I'm sure it's nothing," Minako continued. "But even so, we should bring her some cake later on."
Shana nodded. It had been some time since she felt like a non-celebrity. Paying Tsubaki a visit could be fun.
…
Author's musings and notes
Hitomi's manner of speaking is extremely archaic and formal, something along the lines of keigo (search TVTropes for Keigo, scroll down to examples, and read the "increasingly humble" conjugations). It is a particularly formal form of Japanese that generally classifies a character as old fashioned, polite, and humble (think samurai). When you get into the extremely polite forms of speak, they're incredibly drawn out and sometimes difficult to follow for a non-Japanese speaker (it throws me off omg). While Akiko probably speaks a light form of keigo, Hitomi's is extremely thick to a point of being ridiculous.
Often it is translated as being high class British in dubs, so I've gone for a more medieval tone because I like really strange manners of speaking. I want it to sound so formal and archaic you absolutely cannot mistake it for something else.
Hitomi's outfit is making fun of how archaic she sounds.
Shizuka Hitomi 静加 瞳. I gave her the name mostly because of how similar it sounds to her original English name Helen Serenity. Shizuka means quiet, and Serenity is sometimes the dub name for Shizuka. Hitomi means "pupil of the eyes", given to someone with pretty eyes.