„I like Motoki very much! He is so open and kind...awwww, I wish my future husband combines the same skills in himself as Motoki-Kun does" Kousagi daydreamed brightly when she walked back from the arcade with Mamoru in the late afternoon.
„Future husband, eh? Aren't you a little too young to think about marriage?"
Somehow it bothered him to imagine this hilarious girl tying the knot with some fellow who just happened along. Even if it still sounded complete irrational but kind of protecting fatherly feelings for her truly came up to him.
„Pah, not at all! Mum was at my age when she met you!" - Kousagi abruptly stopped almost at the same point where she realized that she had forgotten her white cat face ball this morning. A single, slightly crumbled piece of paper lay on the pavement, which showed a well known couple to her. Kousagi stepped curiously closer and picked it up. With wide eyes she starred at it.
„What's the matter? Ah" - Mamoru remembered Usagi's little story „Are you interested in fairy tales?"
„Fairy tales? FAIRY TALES?!" The teenager hissed back at him. No, it didn't make sense to try to remember him. Instead something, or better somebody came into her mind. „Do you know the artist of the picture?"
Mamoru frowned, slightly surprised „Haven't I mentioned her yet? It's Usagi Tsukino's pic, I prefer to call her by her nickname, though. Odango Atama. She sort of tried to tell me some strange stuff by showing a whole range of such funny pics this morning. I have a slight feeling that this is sort of a hobby of her."
„Odango-WHAT?????" Kousagi was beyond shock. How come her fathers past self took himself out to insult the exterior identifying marks of the female members of the royal family? That was equal to lese-majesty and would be punished tremendously in the world and time she emerged from. She definitely had to tell him his huge gaffe.
„Mamoru, I...I wouldn't do this." She insisted awkwardly.
„Do not what?"
„Couldn't you think of a nicer nickname? Perhaps something rather matching the way she is than her hairstyle?"
"Um, to be honest. I do have one already but I refuse to say it out loud."
Mamoru harshly returned. No one, particularly not Kousagi was allowed to know this special name he called her once in one of his confusing dreams which he usually had, at least twice a week.
In those dreams, he was a different person. Not as dreams normally turn out like when you pretend to fly or you are incredibly rich. Neither of this. It was rather that he sort of „lived" a different life in them. Having way more people around him, most of them were girls for some reason he hadn't figured out why yet. One of them was Usagi. However, he did not call her by her name when he made first encounter with her fantasy image nearly two months ago. He named her Usako.
The frightening fact of his dreams was that he enjoyed them profoundly! Mamoru got back from his reverie modus and tried to look as resolute as he could and hoped that Kousagi would give up bothering him any further. Obviously it worked.
„Ahhh, whatever!" Kousagi replied defeated by shrugging her shoulders and continued her walk back to Mamoru's apartment „By the way" she spoke when Mamoru caught up with her „I've noticed that there is a cool holography show which opens tomorrow. I got this from the arcade!" She pulled a little flyer out of her skirt pocket and waved it in her hand.
Mamoru grabbed the paper and frowned
"A virtual reality theater?"
"I'd looooove to see this. It's a voucher of a twenty percent discount of the ticket fee. Maybe we could go there together tomorrow? Pleeeeasssee!" She lifted her bright sky blue eyes up to him by emphasizing her begging with her hands put together into a prayers gesture.
It took Mamoru a few moments to think this through.
‚I could spend this day with Motoki. It's the only day he has off since ages and we could have some nice lunch together, talk about our jobs and university stuff, drink this delicious coffee they serve in this neatly little fruit parlor and could just enjoy life. Or I go with the pink Odango to the VR theatre.'
„Do I have as choice?" He questioned weakly.
The decision was made and no less than 16 hours later Mamoru found himself at the beginning of a gigantic queue in front of the virtual reality theatre.
He sighed deeply and was already tired of waiting for probably another hour until they could access the show. Kousagi was the opposite.
"Wahhhh oh my gosh, a real queue! That is soooo amazing!"
By almost freaking out she clapped her hands together in total excitement.
'That seems to be a quite common gesture of her.' Mamoru stated in his mind.
„I always had only heard about it and never thought that I will ever get the chance to do it!"
„Do what?!"
Kousagi took off her white backpack with a cat face on its backside and cheerfully slammed it onto the ground. She opened the zipper and pulled out some dumplings, two juice boxes and a huge bag of sweet popcorn.
„Queueing!"
She screamed at him in utter flurry.
Mamoru took an astonished look at the bag and frowned. "Is this your white ball you call Artemis T?!"
Before she could answer to him, Mamoru's attention was deflected when he spotted a certain blonde Odango who was busy with struggling a black feline in her arms.
"Speaking of cats" He was shortly distracted but collected himself immediately. Determination filled up his gaze. He excused himself to the pink bun head "Kousagi, would you mind starting the queueing fun without me, please? There is something I have to do now."
"Err yeah sure."
Kousagi was surprised and only could watch Mamoru when he walked towards the backside of a blonde girl, dressed with a lilac jacket and a red mini skirt. Mamoru said something to her direction which Kousagi couldn't understand but time froze when the girl with the familiar looking buns turned around and met eyes with him.
'It can't be, can it?'
Suddenly Kousagi got a deep feeling of homesickness.
"Mum" she uttered while tears started to built up on each corner of her eyes. When she considered to leave her position in the queue, she realized that both seemed to be lost in their own world. It may be barely noticeable to anyone else and Kousagi could not understand a word of their heated discussion, but she had seen her parents a million times talking to each other. Looking at their past selves now being so young, made her feeling very sentimentally.
"Aww young love" she sighted effusively and embraced herself. She got out of her emotional condition abruptly when a dark energy was coming close to her parents. From one moment to another a red haired girl and a boy with a kind of orange colored hair, both dressed in school uniforms, stood next to Mamoru and Usagi, interfering their intimacy.
‚Who the heck are they and why is that ugly ginger haired brat clinging onto my father?!'
She bared her teeth and rolled up her sleeves, ready to step in and bid her to good riddance but got interrupted by a shout waving over her head, addressing a little black cat which was about to pass by.
‚Luna!'
Kousagi screamed internally and slowly she turned her head around.
‚They are here, too?!'
The little feline happily jumped into the arms of the blue haired girl and rested her head onto her shoulder.
Here they were. The four inner Sailor Senshi Mars, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter who had been at her side as long as Kousagi could remember.They protected her and all the other members of the royal family. What were their names in this lifetime again?
The group settled directly behind Kousagi in the queue. She blushed deeply and was beyond being nervous.
'This is the best I could hope for. Internal information directly from the senshi! All the gossip, all the thoughts about my mother. What do they think of her? How was it for them to be selected to fight the evil? Wahhh I mustn't mess it up this time!'
Kousagi was resolute to eavesdrop as much as possible and had forgotten about her plan to follow her parents and the two strangers. Somehow they were able to skip the queue and immediately got into the theatre.
It would take Kousagi at least another hour to pass through the doors but she was optimistic to spend this waiting period fairly productively.