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6
Crown Arcade

"Come on, get up, sleepyhead!"

I yawned and tried to drag my eyes open, struggling against a strong force that was pressing them closed.

"What's the matter, Naru?" said Mother. "It's not like you to be still in bed at this hour."

I lifted myself up and forced myself to wriggle out of bed. The room was whirling round me in a blur, and I just couldn't force my thoughts to form into words.

"Well, I hope you're not going to be too tired to help me out when you get home," she said. "We've got a lot to get done before Friday."

"Yes, Mother," I sighed, and then glanced round. "What are you doing? Can't I have some privacy so I can get dressed?"

We glared at each other for a moment, and then she tossed her head and swept out. I hastily got myself ready and hurried off to Usagi's house. I was a little behind time, and I didn't want to get there to find she had already left. I was rather out of breath by the time I arrived.

In fact, I was so out of breath that I was unable to react as Usagi crashed into me at high speed, throwing her arms round me and nearly knocking me over.

"Naru-chan!" she cried. "Are you all right? I've been so worried about you!"

"Worried?" I said, struggling free from her grasp. "Usagi-chan, why?"

"Because you were so upset yesterday and I wanted to talk to you and I didn't get the chance and I didn't know if it was because you were upset with me…."

"Upset with you?" I caught my breath. She was gazing at me with a look of heart-melting love and concern. "Usagi-chan, I was worried because I thought you were upset with me!"

She blinked. "But why would you think that?"

I held a hand in front of my throat to keep the tears back. "After what I said… when you were upset about your test, I was so tactless… Usagi-chan, I'm sorry…."

She laughed. "Don't worry about it, Naru-chan," she said. "You take everything too seriously."

She smiled, and I let my head tilt downward and the tears fall. She held me for a moment, and then we set off towards school together, treading at an easy pace. "You didn't get into too much trouble, did you?" I said after a while.

She scowled. "Got shut out of the house until Mother calmed down, but it wasn't too bad."

"I'm sorry," I said. "Usagi-chan, there's something I'd like you to have – just a little gift."

And then we stopped and I gave her the necklace. Of course she said I shouldn't have, and I insisted I wanted her to have it; and she cried when she saw the way it sparkled in the sunlight. We had to hurry a little after that, but we made it to school on time.

It was a good day. I had slipped the Pen into my bag before leaving the house, and when I saw that Usagi was getting bored with the chemistry teacher's long-winded explanation of flame tests, I got it out and got ready. The teacher was just holding a sample into the flame and explaining that it would turn a pale green colour – and I pictured it starting to fizz, and then little purple sparks coming flying off it and landing on the desk, where they lay and glowed like the embers of a wizard's fire. The class would burst into laughter, not just at this unexpected result but at the teacher's look of utter bewilderment – I could see his expression so precisely.

I grinned to myself for a while, but then I frowned and put the Pen away again. It was all very well to use it for entertainment like this, but I mustn't let myself run wild. This sort of thing would be too public; I didn't want people to start talking about the number of unusual things that had suddenly begun to happen. Not because I was worried that my secret might be discovered, but because I felt there was something really big I could do with it – I just didn't know what it was yet. And too much fooling around now would spoil it when the time came.

I glanced towards Usagi, and she turned and grinned at me. And then I understood something. Really, there hadn't been all that much difference between this day and the one before; but something as simple as getting a good chance to laugh could be all it took to make one into a good day and the other a bad one. And when I saw the way Usagi was smiling at me, a smile so full of warmth and gratitude, I knew at once I would do anything for her. But the best thing of all would be to do something for her without her knowing it, so that her happiness would not be tainted by a feeling of being in debt to me.

But I still had no ideas as to what I could do for her, and I turned over the possibilities in my mind for a very long time.

After school, we walked home together, and Umino tagged along beside us. We never minded that, Usagi and I; we just enjoyed the feeling of being together without any particular need to spend our time talking. So we were quite happy to let Umino prattle on about computer games or UFOs or whatever his latest craze was; while he just seemed happy to have the chance to talk, and if he noticed that we weren't really listening, it never bothered him.

Our route took us through Azabu-Juban's main shopping centre, and it was here that I stopped as I suddenly realised that Umino had addressed a question to me.

"What did you say?"

"Have you seen the new Sailor V game, Naru-chan?"

"No, I didn't even know there was one."

"Want to try it out? I know they have it in here." He gestured towards the door we were passing – a double door with "Crown Arcade", in English letters, blazoned on the glass.

I frowned. "I don't know if we should…."

"How about you, Usagi-chan?"

"Sure, it can't hurt," she said. Her hand was already on the door handle, when she looked round and added, "Who is Sailor V?"

"Oh, Usagi-chan!" I said. "Don't you pay any attention to the news?"

Umino was happy to fill her in. "Sailor V is the schoolgirl heroine in a sailor suit who foils crime and fights for justice. The police are baffled about her true identity, but I've heard a theory that she may not be human at all…."

"Oh, honestly, Umino-kun…," I said.

"Well, why not?" he said. "There's plenty of evidence for life on Venus and the other planets, if you know where to look, and maybe they can make themselves appear human so that they can blend in without alarming us."

I hastily changed the subject. "And they've made a game about her?"

His eyes lit up. "Yes, and you really should try it out."

Usagi seemed keen, and I was in no hurry to get back and spend a couple of very dull hours helping Mother, so we all went inside.

The warm air and the gentle electric humming as soon as we stepped through the doors gave the place a cosy atmosphere. Rows of arcade machines were set up, with a few taken up by eager players egged on by huddles of friends; it all seemed very welcoming and friendly. A young man was coming up to greet us; his red apron, worn over a sky-blue shirt, showed that he was the supervisor on duty. He was tall and thin, unnaturally thin, and his pleasantly symmetrical features moulded into a vacuous smile as he bowed and said, "Welcome to the Crown Arcade. My name is Furuhata Motoki, at your service."

Umino told him we were interested in the Sailor V game, and he led us to a machine in the far corner of the room, away from the other patrons. "Who wants to go first?" he asked.

We glanced at each other, and then Usagi volunteered. Motoki sat her down, and showed her the controls and how the game worked. I stood behind and watched. It seemed to be a fairly monotonous shooting game, with grotesque reptilian monsters as Sailor V's opponents. Needless to say, it bore no resemblance at all to the scene I had witnessed on television the day before.

After a while I grew tired of this, and looked round at Umino. I was surprised to see him standing some distance off, rhythmically tapping one foot on the floor; he was staring into the distance, not at anything in particular, just deliberately looking away.

"Umino-kun?" I said. "Is something wrong?"

He mumbled something unintelligible and shook his head slightly towards where Usagi and Motoki were sitting, and suddenly I understood. There was nothing untoward about it, of course; Motoki had to be that close to her to get a proper grip on the controls; but I could guess what Umino's evident discomfort might mean. I frowned.

"Why don't you say something to Usagi, if you feel that way?" I said.

He faded back, looking like a frightened rabbit. "Oh, no, I couldn't do that…."

"Umino-kun…." I shook my head. But it was clear that Umino was not going to do anything, so I went over to Usagi and said, "How are you getting along?"

Usagi was too busy firing streaks of light into an enormous yellow lizard to answer. Motoki looked around at me and said, "She's doing really well. Would you like to give it a try?"

"Sure," I said, and soon Motoki was setting me up on another computer and showing me what to do. I glanced round to see whether Umino would take this opportunity to strike up a conversation with Usagi, but he seemed to be content to watch her from a distance. I sighed and lifted myself up.

"Is something wrong?" said Motoki.

"Sorry, I just don't really feel like doing this," I said. I looked round again. Sailor V was disintegrating in a burst of violet flame, but Usagi was unperturbed, and pressed the button to start a new game. Well, at least she looked like she was enjoying herself.

I wandered off. What I really wanted was a bit of time by myself to keep thinking about what I wanted to do with the Pen. The problem was that Usagi seemed so happy; there was nothing about her life that needed fixing; and she didn't yet have any plans or ambitions for the future that I could help to make come true. Sure, she got depressed about her schoolwork sometimes, but that never lasted long; and I knew that she didn't have any burning desire to excel at school. She occasionally quarrelled with her brother, but for the most part she had a happy family life; I was pretty envious, to be honest. And she was the kind of person who never gave much thought to the future, but just took in each day as it came and made sure to greet it with a smile. At least, that was how her life looked from the outside; but then, one thing you never really know about a person is how they would write their own life if they could.

I strolled idly towards the back door of the arcade, past a row of crane games, and gazed for a while through the back door – a large glass door like the front one. A cat was lazing on the porch outside in the sunshine. Then it stood up and looked towards me for a second, and I was surprised to recognise it as the cat I had created with the Pen the night before.

She seemed to recognise me too; she came up to the door and nuzzled and pawed at it, as though hoping it would yield to her touch.

Motoki had come up behind me. "Go away," he said to the cat, not crossly but in a tone of amused resignation.

"You know this cat?" I asked.

"Oh, she turned up here last night and wouldn't give me any peace until I'd let her have some food," he said. "But I'm not letting her inside during the day; it's hard enough keeping an eye on a bunch of rowdy teenagers without having to look out for a cat as well."

I smiled. I was glad to know that she had managed to get some food, at least. I really should have realised that she might not be so able to look after herself as I had hoped, since she lacked the experience a cat of her apparent age would normally have.

But that was something to think about later. I went back and watched Usagi for a while longer, and then gently hinted that it was time for us to be going. She was a little reluctant, but she could see that I'd had enough of watching, so she swung off her seat with a smile and took my arm, and we sauntered back out into the now fading sunlight together.

"You looked like you were having a good time back there," I said.

"It was so cool!" she gushed. "And wasn't Motoki-san so nice?"

"I… I really couldn't say," I mumbled.

"He was lovely!" said Usagi. "He had such a friendly touch… I could feel a sort of warmth flooding right through me all the time we were together."

"Oh? What sort of warmth?"

"I don't know how to describe it," Usagi said dreamily. "It was just… well, it was like having hot chocolate flowing through my body, if you know what I mean."

"I think I do," I said guardedly, and then lapsed into silence. I wasn't at all happy with the way this conversation was going. Certainly, Motoki had come across as a nice person; but I didn't feel he would be at all the right person for Usagi. He lacked depth. He was carefree and gentle, and would be fun to be around in happy times and a comfort in sad times… but much of life is neither one nor the other, and spending those long days with someone like him would just get dull. And Usagi was worthy of better than that. She needed someone with a great heart and an intricate mind. She needed someone magical.

I decided to change the subject. "What did you think of the Sailor V game?"

"It was awesome," she said. "I wish I could be like her! I bet she doesn't have to worry about what she gets on her test results."

I laughed, and thought nothing further of her remark at the time. We waved goodbye, and I went back home and put in another couple of hours helping Mother set up the shop, during which I took the opportunity to lock up the basement again so that she would never know anything had happened. It was when I was resting after carrying a large box upstairs that the big idea came to me. Such a simple idea, as well. Usagi had said she wished she could be like Sailor V. Well, why not?

In my mind's eye I could see her, dressed in a superhero costume like Sailor V's, grinning as she waved to someone she had just rescued from a burning house, and then sweeping round and vanishing before they could get a good look at her face. She would like that, I knew. She would go round for the rest of the day with a secret little smile every time she looked back and remembered the person she had saved and how grateful they had been.

By the time I went to my room after supper, I was already constructing scenarios and imagining what Usagi would do, just as though she were a character in one of my stories. But there was no point in taking things too far. There would be plenty of time yet for working out the details; what was important now was to get the preliminaries set up. It would be quite a task, but I was looking forward to it.

I made sure the door was tightly closed, and then took the Pen out and intoned, "Fantasy Power Makeup!"