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Chapter 35

Usagi reached into the pocket of her skirt as she felt her phone vibrate. She found a text message waiting for her from Rei. Ami and Makoto looked over at her, raising their eyebrows questioningly.

"It's just Rei-chan," she elaborated. "She wants to know if we've seen the new student yet."

"Oh, Rei-chan and her paranoia," Makoto mused, smiling slightly.

"I can understand that she wants to suss everyone out, especially after what happened when someone got close to one of us last time," Ami reasoned.

Each of the girls involuntarily shuddered at the memory. It wasn't something that they ever talked about.

"Well, it's lunch time and we still haven't seen them," Makoto said. "I did hear from someone that it's a girl, though."

Ami and Usagi 'ah-ed' in response, before turning back to their textbooks and lunch, respectively. Usagi was eyeing the cookies in Makoto's bento box. Among the noodles, meat and cooked vegetables, Makoto always brought desserts without fail and everyday Usagi eyed them up until Makoto decided to take notice and handed over her share.

Elsewhere, Mamoru was walking with Jadeite, Nephrite and Zoicite into the Crown Centre Arcade. As they were seniors in high school, they had the opportunity to have lunch outside of school, so Mamoru suggested the arcade and they all agreed.

"Hey, Motoki," Mamoru greeted his friend behind the counter.

"Oh, hi guys," Motoki said, raising a hand grasping a towel. "What are you all doing here?"

"Lunch," Nephrite replied, picking up a menu. "Can we grab three juices of the day and a burger for me? Guys?"

The others rolled their eyes but agreed to the order, to which Motoki gave them a thumb up. They sat at the counter so that they could talk to Motoki and among themselves when he was busy with customers.

"So, how's the arm doing?" Mamoru asked Jadeite.

He ran his fingers through his golden locks and pulled a face. "I guess better – it just takes so long to get any progress! To be honest, I'm just thrilled I can move my arm, but I still can't play the guitar. I didn't tell Rei-chan but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to." He sighed, making bubbles in his juice.

The guys looked at each other. "How about playing piano one handed?" Nephrite suggested.

Mamoru and Zoicite frowned at each other, their eyes bugging slightly.

Jadeite looked unimpressed. "Oh wow, gee thanks. You can be my break dancer," he said tartly.

Mamoru coughed. "Dude, the guitar is a Rei thing," he said under his breath to Nephrite.

Nephrite pursed his lips and changed the subject. "Anyway, what are we doing after school?"

"No idea," Mamoru said, "but I am planning my next gig in the café next week. The girls are all coming here after their last class."

"Sometimes I feel like we live in here," Zoicite grumbled.

"Nonsense!" Nephrite said. "You always manage to break away to the confines of the silent stacks of boredom."

"It's called a library, dumb ass," Zoicite said, rolling his eyes.

"Plus, he knows he'll find Ami-chan there," Jadeite winked.

"Would you like me to break your other arm?" Zoicite asked flatly.

"Anyway," Mamoru interrupted, "we can meet the girls here afterwards. I'm sure we could go elsewhere if you have any ideas."

Minako walked out of her final entrance exam. She was told these were necessary to check that she'd been on the same track as everyone else when she was at a different school. She sighed, rubbing her head. At least she was finished. She walked into the girls bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror above the sinks. She ran her fingers through her hair which was so much easier to do these days. She ran some cold water and splashed her face, waking her up a little. She heard chatter outside of the door and as it got closer, she recognised the voices, so she dived into a cubicle.

"Ah, well better luck tomorrow, girls!" Makoto said to Ami and Usagi, running some cold water over a handkerchief so she could perfect her subtle makeup.

"Are we still going to the Crown?" Usagi asked. "Mamo-chan said that the guys might see us there."

"Don't you need to study, Usagi-chan?" Ami challenged.

"I've been studying all day," Usagi replied, looking horrified.

"That's not the point," Ami argued, "you can always do more. Look at your history class. You still haven't worked out a way to retain the information to make it easier on yourself. You can apply it to other classes too."

"Don't worry, Ami-chan," Usagi said. "I'm working on it." She checked her watch. "We'd better get going or Rei-chan will kill us for being late." The girls nodded and followed her out.

Slowly, Minako opened the door to the cubicle. It was cowardly, really, to avoid speaking to them just now. She knew that they'd welcome her back with open arms, but she knew that she'd have to revisit painful memories in order to do so. She sighed. She missed them everyday since she left. She checked herself in the mirror one last time and left with a firm resolve. No more running away. She came back to be with them.

"Hey, Motoki-kun!" Usagi squealed, giving him a quick hug in greeting.

"Usagi-chan," Motoki laughed. "Ice cream?"

"You know me so well!" she giggled. "We'll just be in that booth over there with Rei-chan," she pointed.

"Got it," he nodded.

Rei looked up as the girls approached. "Hi Usagi-chan, Ami-chan, Mako-chan," she greeted as they joined her. "Good day?"

"The usual," Ami and Makoto answered simultaneously as Usagi replied with "boring." Rei frowned at Usagi, shaking her head.

"Mamoru-san must be so proud," she commented.

"We all have our faults," Usagi shrugged, then her face lit up as Motoki brought over her chocolate ice cream sundae. "Thank you, Motoki-kun!"

"Any time, Usagi-chan," he said, patting one of her odangos as he turned back to the counter.

Makoto watched him leave. "You know, if Mamoru-san wasn't in the picture, you'd probably be with him," she said, thumbing at Motoki's retreating back.

Usagi snorted, "what?"

"Why are you snorting derisively like that?" Ami questioned, leaning her chin on her hand. "You had such a crush on him before Mamoru-san."

"Yeah but I thought he was cute," Usagi argued.

"Still is," Makoto blurted out.

The other girls frowned at her, smirking.

"Besides, you're such a flirt," Rei laughed, rolling her eyes.

"Excuse me," Usagi said, affronted. "I'm with Mamo-chan and if I have my way, will be for the rest of our lives." Her blue eyes appeared to sparkle at the thought.

"Oh please," Rei countered, "remember Seiya?"

"How could we forget?" Makoto laughed. "He was such a catch and followed Usagi-chan around everywhere."

Usagi pulled a face. "Let's not bring that up."

Rei nudged Usagi laughing.

"Hi, girls," a familiar voice interrupted their banter.

They all looked up at a girl standing at their table, looking at each of them, somewhat uncertainly. She stood at Ami's height, with bright cornflower blue eyes. Her warm, yet dark golden hair fell to her shoulders, in soft curls. She wore Usagi, Ami and Makoto's school uniform but she seemed familiar to them.

Rei squinted at her, then her eyes widened. "Minako-chan?"

Usagi, Ami and Makoto stared at Rei then gaped at Minako who had smiled in response to Rei's enlightenment. Without a second passing, Usagi had leapt out of her seat to tackle Minako in a death grip hug. Minako had the breath knocked out of her but regardless, her arms came up to hold Usagi too. When they let go, Minako went around the table to hug each of them, then she sat next to Usagi. Without thinking, she took Usagi's drink and gulped it down. Usagi squealed watching her drink go.

"So, you were the new student at school?" Ami checked.

"Yep, that was me," Minako nodded. "I thought that when I enrolled at a school in Juban again, that it'd be cool to do so at your school. It sucked sometimes to be at another school when I was here."

"I hear that," Rei murmured.

"What happened to your hair?" Makoto asked, horrified, recalling her long pale blonde locks that fell to her waist, the top layer of her hair tied back in her customary red bow.

"Ah, well," Minako started.

"How about you tell us where you were?" Usagi suggested, not leaving it up for debate.

"S-sure," Minako hesitated. "I spent one Earth month on Venus after I left. When I came back to Earth, I lived in England for five months with my friend Katarina. My hair darkened while I was on Venus. I realised that it was only so pale before because I'd spent so much time on the Moon and around the power of the Ginzuishou which essentially stores pure moonlight. Katarina suggested that I have a new hair style, so I had it cut and then she convinced me to have it styled curly and it kind of stuck like this."

"It's cute," Usagi smiled.

Minako smiled fondly at Usagi.

"When did you get back here?" Makoto asked.

"I flew back yesterday," Minako answered.

"Why not just teleport here from England?" Rei wondered. "It'd be faster. I hate flying by plane."

"No," Minako responded sharply. "Plane was fine."

Everyone got the sense that they'd reached a voodoo topic of conversation, so they asked no more. They were thrilled to have her back and her presence felt like their group was complete once again. They updated Minako on everything she'd missed in Juban since they last saw her, and she told them all about England. They noted that she didn't mention her time on Venus.

"Did I tell you guys about how I humiliated Nephrite?" Makoto asked, her eyes glittering mischievously.

"Spill the beans, Mako-chan," Usagi nudged her.

"Do you remember when you told me all about when Nephrite used tennis to charge someone's energy and steal it for the Dark Kingdom?" Makoto reminded them. The girls nodded, recalling the memory. "Well, he suggested we take up tennis together as he became familiar with the sport when he was working under Beryl and he was apparently a skilled player. I suspected that he just wanted to show off. So, we started playing and I realised that I was actually really good. But he just kept getting worse and I won fair and square."

"I bet he loved that," Rei mused, chuckling.

"I bet he never told Jadeite this story," Ami smiled.

"No," Usagi said, "he'd just tease Nephrite relentlessly."

The girls laughed imagining Nephrite's shame at being beaten by his girlfriend. Minako smiled.

"I've really missed you guys," she said when the laughter died down. The girls looked at Minako, fidgeting in their seats. "I'm sorry I left you like I did. I just…" she paused to take a breath, "had to get away."

"We understand," Rei said, taking Minako's hand in hers. Ami, Usagi and Makoto followed suit and placed their hands above theirs. "Friends forever, Mina-chan."