Chapter 9

The Film

Kino Makoto glanced at the clock on the wall. It was getting late, she feared. She was standing in the foyer of the theater where they would have the premiere showing of The Samurai's Kiss III, and she was alone. She did not want to be alone. There were several people that she expected were coming, one that she really wanted to see, and several that she feared to see. She chewed her lip and glanced again at the clock.

The one she really wanted to see was Fujiwara Zakuro. She had invited Zakuro to the premiere, but she was really afraid that she would not come. After all, they had treated Zakuro so shabbily, refusing to cast her in this movie for the role she had defined in the first two. She knew that Zakuro had been deeply hurt by this rejection, and was afraid that she would refuse to come to the premiere showing. Just seeing the movie would insult her, or so Makoto feared. But Makoto wanted to see Zakuro, and she wanted Zakuro to see the movie. She knew that she would get an honest opinion about the film from Zakuro. She wondered if Zakuro would like it, but was worried she would not.

The ones she feared to see were Sailor Moon and her Senshi. She was sure Tsukino Usagi hated her and it tore at her heart to even think of that. Usagi had been the best friend she ever had, and losing that friendship had left a wound in her soul that would not heal. And being cast out from the Sailor Senshi and losing her role as Sailor Jupiter had wounded her more. Meeting Sailor Moon and her Senshi would slam that loss right in her face. And there was a deep fear in her heart over what would happen when Usagi encountered Ota Hideki, as Makoto knew she would. As Makoto stood uneasily and watched the clock, her fears grew by the minute, leaving a tightness in her chest and a cold weight in her stomach. Somehow she hoped that Zakuro would show; but that seemed not to be.

And then, five young people entered the foyer, and Makoto's heart sank even more. Sailor Moon indeed had come, with her three guardian Senshi, and also with her boyfriend, Tuxedo Kamen. His real name, of course, was Chiba Mamoru, but he was decked out in a tuxedo, and it was totally natural for Makoto to see him as his transformed alter-ego, Tuxedo Mask, though he was not wearing the mask. He was handsome as always, though; tall and slender. And seeing him gave Makoto some hope: perhaps he would stay between Usagi and Ota Hideki. But Makoto was not sure he could.

For Usagi had come, as she had two years before, transformed into her royal alter-ego, Princess Serenity. The other girls wore sexy gowns, to be sure: Rei's deep red dress was form-fitted around her slender waist. It pulled tight across her curvy butt, and its front was slashed open to her waist. It made Rei look, as usual, like some wanton hussy; which was undoubtedly the effect that Rei wanted. And Minako's dress of glittering gold was so tight that it seemed painted on, and of course its front was deeply slashed open as well. Even Ami, who had dressed with such demure class the last time, had a dress of deep blue that also hung quite open in the front, revealing such assets as she had – although of course she could compete with neither Minako nor Rei in that department. Ami's dress was pulled snugly upon her hips by a belt that was composed of large silver chain links, and Makoto thought that was attractive on her. Makoto herself was dressed in a long gown of off-white, trimmed with the dark green of Sailor Jupiter; She clung to that color, though she was Sailor Jupiter no more. Makoto noted that although she was the one that was supposed to be the movie star, her dress, though revealing enough, was more modest than those worn by the Senshi.

But no matter how sexily the Senshi dressed, they would not really be noticed, Makoto knew. When Usagi transformed into Princess Serenity, she gained an unnatural beauty. Her white princess dress was long and flowing, and seemed to be so sheer that one could see through it, though one could not, In that dress it seemed as if she literally glowed, and all those around her were in shadow. Everyone who saw her would see her and no other. All the men would feel desire, and all the women would feel envy. She glided across the floor, heading for the theater entrance; and Makoto noticed she was not coming toward her. She could guess why; but she still had to greet her former friends, and so she approached them. There was fear in her heart, but Makoto was brave.

The others stopped as she came up to them. "Chiba-san," she said, greeting Mamoru first, with a small bow. Mamoru returned the greeting, but said no more. Then Makoto turned to the others. "Minako-chan," she said, greeting Sailor Venus first. This was her big night , after all, the night that would establish her as a film star. Minako smiled back, and Makoto greeted Sailor Mars next: "Rei-chan!" She bowed a little once again, but also rolled her eyes a little after gazing at the slutty appearance of Rei's dress. The eye-roll was deliberate, of course, and Rei noticed, as expected; and she smiled back, and said, "Still jealous, Mako-chan?" And she bowed a little in return. Finally Makoto turned to Ami; and she smiled as she greeted her, "Ami-chan! Wow, you've grown up, haven't you?" Ami smiled in return, and bowed; and then she embraced Makoto lightly, and greeted her with warmth.

Finally, there was one more to greet, and Makoto turned to the Princess Serenity. "Usagi… chan…?" she began uncertainly.

There were a few seconds of ugly silence, and the Usagi, without a word, stuck her nose in the air and strutted past Makoto, heading for the theater door. Makoto's face fell; it felt alike she had been stabbed in the heart with something very, very cold. She stood in silence as the others walked away. And she heard Ami whisper, "Usagi-chan… you never used to be cruel like that."

And she heard the Princess Serenity reply, "Ami… you never used to be uppity like that." Makoto watched the Princess turn her head away from Sailor Mercury as she led Mamoru and her Senshi through the theater door.

There in the foyer Makoto stood alone, painfully alone. It seemed she was always alone now; all her friends were lost to her: Sailor Moon and all of her Senshi, and Fujiwara Zakuro as well. And there was no boyfriend in her life. For a second the memory of Furuhata Motoki crossed her mind. She had crushed on him back in the days when she frequented the Crown Arcade with the rest of the Senshi; now she had not seen him in well over a year, and she had heard that he had a girlfriend. He was gone from her life forever now, she thought. They were all gone, and Makoto was alone.

But she had to go into the theater and watch the movie, and so, finally, she walked slowly to the door. The lights were still on as she entered , and her eyes swept over the spectators. She saw Sailor Moon and her Senshi, sitting in a group, but she knew she was not welcome to sit with them. She saw Ota Hideki, and she knew that she could sit near him. But there were already three young women sitting around him, and Makoto did not want to look like one of Ota's fangirls. So, she thought, she would sit and watch the film alone. Always alone, she thought. At least she would be alone in the dark, and none of the others could watch her in her loneliness.

But then, she saw to her right, down towards the front, a single woman sitting alone. She seemed tall, or at least sat tall in her seat; and she had long and glistening dark hair. Hoping against hope, Makoto walked down the right-hand aisle, until she stood just behind the row where the woman sat alone. And Makoto could now see that indeed it was Fujiwara Zakuro. For a second she hesitated; after her painful rejection by Sailor Moon, she did not want to face rejection again. But Makoto was brave, and in any case, she had no choice. She did not want to sit alone. She approached Zakuro.

The tall idol rose to meet her, a smile on her face. "Kino-san," she said, and she embraced the tall girl with the auburn hair. "Zakuro-san," Makoto said in her turn, as she returned the embrace. "May I sit…with you?"

"I'd be deeply hurt if you didn't," Zakuro answered. "But I thought you'd be sitting with Sailor Moon and her gang."

"They hate me," Makoto blurted out, her eyes suddenly filling with tears.

And Zakuro shook her head, and her eyes filled with tears also. "I heard a little about that, but I didn't know it was this bad." She sat in her chair and motioned for Makoto to sit next to her, and then she asked, "Do you want to tell me about it?"

And Makoto did begin tell her about it; but long before she finished her story, the lights went down, and the film began rolling.

The film was nothing like the first two Samurai's Kiss movies. The basic characters were the same: the Samurai warrior, the princess, and the peasant-girl. But while the first two had been quite standard fantasy-adventures, this one was utterly different. The warrior, who had been totally heroic in the first two movies, appeared in this one as a sly and quite nasty character, who was not caught between the two women, but was stringing them both along with a series of lies, while he was cheating on both of them. The two women started out as rivals, and indeed came to blows within 15 minutes of the start of the film; but they ended up first commiserating with each other about their lover's unfaithfulness, then plotting together their revenge against him, and finally murdering him. They ended up naked and in bed together, in some sort of yuri romp. It was politically correct, of course, making the man into a monster and exalting yuri behavior. It was what is called far more mature in its outlook on life than the first two movies, and it was filled with all kinds of nude scenes. It was not, as the director Ohara had often put it, "clichéd." It was not a childish fantasy romance, but an adult film. Ohara had called it "art."

It also was longer than the first two movies, or at least, it seemed longer. But finally it ended, and the lights came up, and the audience, now talking excitedly, rose up to leave. Makoto had noticed, though, that there was very little applause from the audience, and what was there seemed to be a few polite claps and nothing more. She turned and looked at Zakuro, but the dark-haired woman was not looking at Makoto. Instead, she was now staring at the blank screen, and saying nothing.

So Makoto had to ask her, "Well…?" But Zakuro made no response, and still stared at the screen. And so Makoto said, more loudly, "Well?"

"Well, what?" Zakuro answered, still staring at the screen.

"Well, what did you think of it?" Makoto asked, still more loudly.

For several seconds Zakuro said nothing; but then she turned her head and looked at the auburn-haired actress. For several more seconds she was silent, and then she said, quietly and somewhat mysteriously, "I… I don't lie to you, Kino Makoto."

"What does that mean?" Makoto demanded.

"It means… that I value your friendship, and I don't want to lose it," Zakuro answered.

"That bad?" Makoto gasped. But Zakuro said nothing in response, and so Makoto said, "If you're my friend, you'd be honest with me. What did you think of it?"

There was more silence, and then Zakuro said a single word. "Hentai."

"That's what you think of it? Hentai?" Makoto answered, with pain in her voice.

Zakuro now looked her friend squarely in the eyes. "Makoto... it seemed that you spent as much time with your clothes off as with your clothes on."

"Not that much!" Makoto snapped back. "And Ohara said that it was needed, to make the film… authentic! It was needed!"

"Is that what he told you? Authentic? Well, it's a good line, I suppose," Zakuro muttered. "But I never believed that the reason Ohara did things like this was anything but… that he's a dirty old man. Well, not so old, I guess."

"That's so cynical!" Makoto objected. "The nudity was needed for the plot!"

"You could have told the whole story with both you and the Venus girl wrapped up in kimonos," Zakuro responded.

Makoto gasped but said nothing for many seconds. Then she went on, "What about the rest of the film? The plot…?"

"I was thinking," Zakuro answered, "that the plot, which turned Ota Hideki's character into a true rat, was not wise."

"Not wise?" Makoto asked; and Zakuro went on, "The ticket buyers… For the first two films, over half of the audience was composed of Ota's fangirls. I doubt they will be happy with turning their heartthrob into some kind of selfish, cynical, unfaithful creep."

"That's the way he is, isn't he?" Makoto snapped back.

"So you've learned..." Zakuro began. The she stopped, and she stared into Makoto's eyes. "You didn't learn… the hard way, did you?"

Makoto quickly turned her head away and looked down. And Zakuro said suddenly, "Oh! I'm really sorry. I didn't know."

Makoto looked back at her companion with tears in her eyes, bur rather than speaking of her personal pain, she changed the subject. "What about my acting? Did I do well? Or at least OK?"

Zakuro shrugged. "I'm not the ultimate judge of that – the audience is, the ticket-buyers. But… I thought… you weren't animated enough. Many times, it was as if you were saying your lines but not feeling them."

Makoto's face fell, and the tears began leaking out from the corners of her eyes. She said nothing, but Zakuro went on, "Your friend… Venus… was the opposite. She over-acted everything, always trying to steal every scene. It didn't work very well."

Makoto now wept openly. "You're so mean! I… hate you!" she gasped.

Zakuro said no more. She rose from her chair and turned to leave, gritting her teeth. Makoto had demanded the truth; and that truth had cost her her friend. But when she had taken as single step away, Makoto's voice stopped her. "What now? After all of that, you leave me?"

Zakuro turned back, and said quietly, "You said… you hate me."

Makoto stood, and gasped, "Oh! Zakuro!" And she threw her arms around the dark-haired idol and wept. "Don't ever… leave me that way," she choked the words out.

Zakuro held her long, but said nothing; and so Makoto whispered, "Isn't there anything good you could say about the movie?"

Zakuro sighed. "Well… you really look good… in the buff, I guess."

"As good as Minako?" Makoto gasped. "Can I… compete?"

Zakuro stared long into the tall girl's green eyes. Then she said, "The Venus girl… is hot, I suppose. You're… hotter."

"Do you really mean that?" Makoto asked with a pleading tone in her voice.

And Zakuro answered, "I do not lie to you, Kino Makoto."

And Makoto hugged the famous idol even more tightly. "Oh, Zakuro!" she gasped.

There were several more seconds of silence, and then Zakuro said, "I would guess that after this movie gets out there, you'll be getting a lot of offers to act… in that kind of video. I hope… you don't take them."

And then there was silence, and the weeping Makoto would not release her hug of her friend. Zakuro herself sighed. Makoto had so many wonderful qualities, but she was at heart still a teenage girl, desperate for attention, and willing to do far too many things to get it. And so she asked, "Are you going to the premiere party?"

Makoto nodded, and said, "I suppose I have to."

And Zakuro nodded in her turn, and said, "Let's go… together." And side by side they left the now-empty theater.