A new morning. A new day. A new opportunity to see Usagi.

After Mamoru and Usagi had departed from Yumemi's house yesterday, Mamoru had suggested to meet up with her in front of the gallery since the brown haired artist had promised to show them a first painted picture of them right the next day.

Surprisingly Usagi showed up on time. Sweet as always, paired with a little clumsiness coming along naturally with her, she stumbled over a little stone when she was waving excitingly to Mamoru but fortunately she got caught by his strong arms when she was about to fell to the ground.

'Instead of Sailor Moon, it should be rather Usagi who I should rescue.'

Mamoru chuckled while he was holding the little bunny in his arms. Somehow it felt as if he had been doing this on a regularly basis. She truly smelled like the sweetest strawberries. A hint of alluring vanilla and roses also surrounded her.

‚What a seductive scent.'

"Mmpf, um...err...just don't say anything, please!" She mumbled rather into his chest while she was flushing deeply.

"You are welcome." He ironically replied and released her from his sort of light hug which probably had lasted a few moments too long.

Eventually, both turned around and stepped to the doors of the exhibit hall. Although the plate said that this gallery was currently closed, the doors slid open and Usagi and Mamoru saw Yumemi standing in front of a couple of new pictures.

"How come you are in the gallery? Didn't you say that no one is supposed to know that you are the real Yumemi Yumeno?" Mamoru was quite astonished since the shy artist looked complete different to the impression she made the day before.

By slyly smiling, she waved over to the couple and suggested them to come closer to her.

"Please have a look at my latest masterpiece."

She proudly pointed at the picture which was still lying on the ground. Mamoru was stunned. It took him a couple of moments to collect himself when he saw how perfect his little Odango Atama had been portrayed by Yumemi. It was absolutely breathtaking.

"Aw, look at this beautiful picture." Usagi was standing next to him and eyed him curiously while he hardly could turn his gaze away from this pretty, precious face.

"Well, not bad if you consider who modeled for this painting." He lightly retorted, by meaning rather himself with that statement. Usagi misunderstood his comment completely and snapped

"Can't you say anything nice just for once?"

She got distracted by the big painting hanging above, though.

"This picture..."

Yumemi came closer to her and explained

"You know, there was someone who told me to tell the people that I am Yumemi Yumeno. I don't want to hide myself any longer."

„Ahhh, Yumemi, that's so great to hear, I am more than happy for you!" Usagi hugged the shy artist deeply and thus, gave her kind of friend now a very warm feeling, surrounding his heart, too. This was the real Usagi for him; apart from being sometimes utterly dense, clumsy, loud and silly, she was caring for other people, open minded...her heart was full of overwhelming joy and thus, she was truly the best person he had ever met.

Only Motoki had achieved this status of being important to Mamoru. It occurred to him when Usagi turned to Mamoru and gave him the sweetest smile he had ever seen on her. This time it was meant exclusively for him.

"It was really nice...that afternoon, which we spent at Yumemi's house. Thanks a lot...I enjoyed it very much."

He could see her flushing lightly and couldn't hide a deep grin in return. Before he managed to reply - actually he was so close to be brave enough to ask her out -, Usagi spoke

"Right, I have to go now. I have...err...a meeting with my friends at the Hikawa shrine."

"Oh, okay. I was going to meet up with Motoki anyway."

He retorted mildly and with a thoughtful gaze he watched her hopping out of the gallery, waving excitingly over to him and Yumemi.

"She is a lovely princess, your girlfriend."

As he was still sunken in his thoughts, he absently replied. "Oh yes, she is." The realization of his accidental blurted out reply hit him immediately. Hectically he tried to wave back while his cheeks started flushing dangerously.

"Oh, she...she isn't my girlfriend at all."

Yumemi gave him a long look in return and smirked at him mischievously as if she had read between the lines.

"I know what you mean but don't worry at all. Everything will get sorted some day. Here"

To Mamoru's surprise she held out an umbrella to him.

"Take this, even if the weather forecast said it will be sunny today."

Mamoru was watching her with a bewildered glance in his eyes.

"There isn't any cloud visible in the sky."

"Oh, just trust me." She shrugged merely "I am an artist, I can sense such things in comparison to others very well. Just give it back to me when you come to my next exhibition, okay?"

By saying this, she placed the umbrella into Mamoru's hands and cheerfully waved goodbye to him.

She had been indeed more than right with her prediction as it started raining excessively only a couple of minutes later and Mamoru was thankful for this useful tool which kept him dry in this kind of downpour.

As unexpected as it had started, the rain had stopped within seconds. The park Mamoru was crossing obviously had enjoyed the quick refreshment and the flowers, bushes and trees were illuminated in brightest colors.

After a while of walking, a familiar couple came into his view. Reika was as happy and mature as always but Motoki seemed to show the same expression Mamoru had seen him carrying when they met up the last time with Usagi.

"Hello you lovebirds." Mamoru uttered slightly cheeky when both recognized him.

"Ahh Mamoru, so good to see you. Motoki why don't you have some coffee with Mamoru? We can discuss this on another time, okay?"

Something in Motoki's eyes told Mamoru that this time it was him who needed him as a friend to tell his problems...and Mamoru was more than happy to be there for his best friend since it was also a welcome distraction to his current life.

"Come on, Motoki. Let's head to the fruit parlor okay?"

Ten minutes later, the two friends sat in the exact booth when Usagi was with them. This time it was Motoki's turn to pour out his heart. He sighed deeply as he stirred his spoon thoughtfully in his coffee.

„It's because of Reika. One of her professors has given her the opportunity to study in Africa and she is currently thinking if she shall leave Japan for a year."

"She wants to go to Africa? But what will become of you then?"

Mamoru was confused. Motoki always had been a person who had never considered to leave this country or go anywhere else in Japan since Tokyo had given him all the opportunities in his young life. However, Reika was a slightly different case.

"Surely I'd love her to stay with me but I don't want to stand in her way, so I will wait for her."

All of a sudden, his gaze lightened up and astonished Mamoru completely because of his odd change in subject "By the way. Do you like Hayashi Rice?"

„If it doesn't have to be!"

"Makoto is coming over to me and will cook my favorite dish!" The blonde bartender explained joyfully.

"Makoto? She's a friend of Usagi and you know that she is much into you, Toki." Mamoru crossed his arms jealousy by the idea that his little bunny in reality indeed had a slight crush on his best friend.

Motoki in return didn't feel like that when he uttered by rushing a hand through his hair.

"Oh really? Well, I must admit that I rather see both as little sisters."

Blatantly, Mamoru interpreted this comment completely wrong as the raven haired girl Ray came into his mind.

‚Why is he telling me that? Is it because I meet up with Ray every now and then who has the same age?!'

Mamoru was still irritated because of Motoki's statements when he arrived back home. That was because of two reasons.

First was, that Mamoru really had to struggle with this age gap Motoki had mentioned to him. What he had done with the grown up dream version of Usagi was not included to the present issue; real Usagi was still fourteen and he cared about her. A lot. More than he would even admit to himself. There was something about her - and obviously his nearly twelve dreams of her - which let him to the conclusion that Usagi was very important and would play the key part in this whole story. It wasn't the Princess or Sailor Moon. The dreams were definitely telling him about Usagi.

Second was, he couldn't understand why Motoki wouldn't fight for his love to Reika. If he was him, Mamoru would have pointed out to his love what he wanted...or maybe not when he thought back to his first point which was keeping him busy.

Generally speaking, the chaos was still existing in Mamoru's head so he decided to start with an extensive learning session until he'd be so tired that he would fell asleep over his books.

This time, he realized the exact moment when he started to dream. It was when he heard a knock on his door.

"Who is it?"

Instead of an answer, the door was pushed open and when Mamoru saw who was entering the genkan, time stood still.

It was only a whisper which came out of his mouth when his lips formed the name he had reserved for her the first time he saw her when she stepped out of the jewelry's shop and had thrown the paper ball against his head.

"Usako"