The trek back to the hotel had been long, and for Makoto, embarrassing. She couldn't understand English very well, but she understood the whistles that followed her down the street. She'd be happy to finally change and shower. The whole group smelled like cigarette smoke and who-knows what else. They all had lost their room keys and the man at the front desk quickly replaced them, although his eyes lingered on Makoto too long for her liking.
"Time to get upstairs and-"
"MAKOTO!"
Makoto spun around when she heard Ami's voice and saw her, Usagi, and Minako walking through the door looking equally as dirty and tousled. The worry was lifted off Makoto's chest. Ami looked dingy, just like the rest of them did, but she was safe. But… why was she wearing a suit?
"Rei-chan, I'm so glad you're safe!" Usagi ran over and nearly tackled Rei.
"Usagi, I'm fine. No need to worry." She patted Usagi on the head, her tough words undercut by the fact that she was obviously happy to see Usagi.
"Are Haruka and Michiru with you guys?" Minako asked.
"Holy shit, what happened to your hair?" Makoto had finally torn her eyes away from Ami, only to be startled by Minako's transformation. She was so used to seeing Minako with her long hair; now, it was shorter than Haruka's.
"I have no idea." Minako sadly ran her fingers through what was left of her hair. "I feel like a little boy or something ."
"Don't fret, Minako. You're the senshi of beauty and love—you'll always be beautiful." Setsuna said, trying to cheer her up. It worked and Minako let a small smile sip through. "But no, Haruka and Michiru are not with us."
"I tried calling them earlier and Haruka's phone rang, but she didn't answer. Michiru's phone went straight to voicemail." Ami pulled her phone out of her pocket. "And neither has tried to call me back. I'll ask the front desk if the staff saw them at any time last night."
Ami's conversation with the front desk gave them almost no new information. None of the hotel staff remembered seeing Haruka or Michiru return, and when Ami called their hotel room, no one answered. The staff were only able to tell them that the group had left together at some time during the bachelorette party, but they didn't know where. When Ami inquired about their lost items, the rest of the senshi sighed in relief when the hotel clerk pulled out a bin from behind the counter and said they had found all their cell phones where the party had been held. Makoto and the others claimed their phones, but noticed that Haruka and Michiru's were still in the bin.
"Do any of you guys remember leaving?" Makoto asked as the group walked away from the desk and toward the rooms. Everyone shook their heads. The consensus was that no one recalled anything after drinking at the party.
"This is insane. We all couldn't have drunk that much." Rei said, clearly exasperated. "Something else is happening here."
"We can worry about our tolerance later." Ami replied. "But for now our biggest problem is that Michiru and Haruka are missing. We need to clean up, grab a quick meal, and then figure out what happened. Maybe then we'll find them or find someone who knows where they are. I'll get the front desk to give me all the numbers to all the emergency rooms in the city. If they were hurt, they might be there. Meet back here in one hour."
Everyone nodded at Ami, who had somehow become the new leader, and headed upstairs to clean up. Makoto stayed behind with Ami while she collected the numbers, and then the pair started walking upstairs to their room.
"Ami, why are you wearing a suit?"
"I was just about to ask why you're wearing a school girl's uniform."
"… Nevermind."
After hot showers, clean clothes, and a bite to eat, the senshi regrouped downstairs. Stories were swapped, although Ami left out the strap-on harness she had found and thankfully, Minako and Usagi didn't fill in that minor detail. She showed everyone the business card that she had found in her pocket and they headed out in search of their only lead.
"It's fortunate that the address was on the back." Setsuna said as she led them down the street using a map on her smart phone. It had only been a few blocks away, which made sense—they didn't think that they could have travelled very far in their super inebriated state. "Maybe someone remembers us coming in or can tell us when we came in."
"Precisely." Ami agreed. "If anything else, I'm sure they have video security cameras."
"I think the strip club we ended up at is near there as well." Makoto said. "We're going the same route as we did when we made our way back to the hotel." That was a walk she would never forget, although the school girl outfit had been cooler to wear in the intense heat. Even though they had only been walking for ten minutes, Makoto could feel the sweat almost rolling down her temples.
"I've been thinking about that." Rei said as they rounded the corner, Setsuna still leading the way. "Both Makoto and Ami ended up in different clothes, while the rest of us had our clothes on or," She looked over at Usagi and sniggered, "or, at least were at least nearby. Maybe you guys got your outfits at this sex shop—if they're like the ones in Japan, they'd probably carry stuff like that."
"And what would you know about sex shops?" Minako teased. "Do you have some big sexual secret we don't know about?" Despite already being red from the heat, Rei blushed and shot her a searing look. Makoto rolled her eyes. Despite the crazy situation, Minako still found time to tease everyone. She absentmindedly wondered what dirt it was that Minako had on Rei—if she had caught onto the idea that Makoto was crazy for Ami, maybe she had picked up on something from Rei, like she was secretly into bondage or something crazy.
"Well, this is it." Setsuna said as they stopped in front of a store a few blocks later. Even from outside the store, it was clear that Kallisto's was a sex shop; mannequins sporting all sorts of lacey and leather lingerie filled the window and Makoto thought that they might be advertising dildos.
"Well," Ami said as she opened the door, "Let's go in. What we're bound to find something out."
As soon as they opened the door, Makoto confirmed that yes, this store did sell dildos. An older woman stood behind the counter in the back, yawning and absentmindedly playing on her phone. She looked up at the group that just walked in and her eyes lit up and she leapt from behind the counter, saying something in English that Makoto couldn't understand. She ran over the Ami and hugged her, causing the ice senshi to freeze in place.
"Is this a friend of you—" Makoto was about to be funny, but was then cut off when the woman ran over to her and threw her arms around her as well. The woman started speaking to her in English and Makoto could only catch a few words –Fun? Money? And… girlfriend?
"What is she saying?" Makoto squeaked, moving away from the woman quickly.
"She's saying it's good to see her favorite couple. Apparently, you guys really saved her last night with a major sale." Minako translated. Ami's face looked like it was simultaneously trying to blush and lose color.
"Her favorite couple? Who? Michiru and Haruka aren't here." Rei said as she watched the woman walk over the Minako and begin to ruffle her hair. She began speaking to her as well, and despite Minako's skill in English, it was clear that Minako was confused.
"…Actually, I think she means you guys." Setsuna said, looking over at Makoto and Ami. Within half a second, Makoto's brain froze, shut down, and then reboot.
"Uhh—us? Wha-what do you mean us?" Makoto stuttered. She couldn't remember anything about the night before, but it never occurred to her that something could have happened between her and Ami. She didn't know whether to be happy, because that way Ami wouldn't remember either, or sad, because she didn't remember either.
"I don't know—I need to question her more thoroughly." Ami replied, clearly nervous. Makoto had the horrible thought that Ami might be disgusted at whatever had happened between them, if anything at all. Ami approached the woman again, brought her off to the side, and began the interrogation.
"So, what do you think happened between you guys last night?" Minako asked Makoto with a wink as soon as Ami moved out of earshot. "You think you finally made your move?"
"Shut. Up. Minako." Makoto said through gritted teeth. "Probably nothing happened. And if anything did, probably nothing that Ami wanted!" She stomped off towards the back of the store where there were, trying to disappear among the scantily dressed mannequins. Her chest felt heavy and her throat was tight—even in battles with monsters, Makoto couldn't remember a moment she had been more petrified. What if she had done something to Ami against her will? What if she had pressured her, or Ami hadn't been in the right mind to consent to something? She wanted to cry. She could be fine with the person she loved never loving her back, but she couldn't forgive herself if she had hurt her Ami-chan.
"Makoto…" She felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Minako looking at her, no longer playful. "I shouldn't have joked about this. We're all confused about last night and I didn't help. You're probably really scared because you care for Ami so much."
Makoto looked at her, then sighed. She couldn't stay mad at Minako for long—she was one of her best friends, and the one who knew her most prized secret. "Yeah, I'm just afraid that I did something that hurt Ami, or that she wasn't comfortable with." She took a deep breathe. "It's just… not how I imagined my feelings to come out, you know?"
Minako nodded. "No, I completely understand. And, while I still think Ami's still a secret lesbian—" Makoto glared at her, but Minako ignored it and continued"—your feelings are still important. I'm sure that no matter what happened last night, Ami will forgive—"she stopped speaking mid-sentence and walked past Makoto towards more mannequins. "Oh my god, it's your outfits! You did get them here!"
Makoto looked behind her, and sure enough, Minako was standing next to two mannequins, one wearing Ami's suit and the other in her school girl outfit. There was a sign next to the outfits advertising some kind of sex toy, but Makoto couldn't read the sign. It looked like some kind of dildo with a harness, and the gift of the sign suggested that buying the outfits meant getting the toy, or something.
"Minako, what does the sign say?"
"Oh, it says that if you buy both of the outfits that you get the strap-on for only $10. It's actually a pretty good deal—I guess that's why Ami ended up with it."
Makoto's eyes shot over to Minako. "What did you say?"
Minako looked over at Makoto sheepishly. "Well shit, I don't think I was supposed to say. This morning, Ami woke up in half of this suit and with this next to her. The strap on itself wasn't there, but the harness was. I assume she wore it sometime in the night."
For the second time in ten minutes, Makoto's mind underwent a complete reboot. It was barely starting up when Ami walked over to her and Minako, finally done with the shopkeeper.
"What'd you find out?" Minako asked, clearly eager to not finish the strap-on conversation.
"Well, I found out that we were indeed here last night when she was working the overnight shift." Ami's eyes flashed towards the costumes. "And that Makoto and I bought those costumes from her, which was a big enough sale to save her job." Makoto couldn't help but notice that she declined to mention the toy.
"Also," Ami continued, "She was able to tell us where we came from, so we have more leads as to what happened last night." Makoto noticed her cheeks took on a very subtle pink color.
"Well, where did we go?" Asked Minako, who was no longer looking at the pair, but inspecting a pair of garters on a mannequin.
"An anime convention."