Iie! Kawaii Kono Sailor Tin Nyanko..

 Written by: Horousha

 Chapter 3

 A New Friend

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Sorry for the delay, I've been pretty busy with work and private life. I
also have booked my plane ticket for Japan, so I am happy! ^_^ Thank you all for waiting. I
hope to be more regular in writing, now.

 Since that evening, the mood of the city had been covered in darkness. Friends laughing
together would pause, looking up at the sky with a sense of worry. The air became 
oppressive with a slight pressure, as if the weight of something looming overhead was
pressing down upon them. Even the trees and the flowers seemed to be losing some of their
brightness. The atmosphere overall was cautious, yet worried. In all of Mau's history that
was remembered, very few times had the planet been attacked by invaders outside of the
solar system. People were frightened.
 Kyoko, having gotten Suzuko to look at things more seriously and listen more closely
at what she was saying, had taken her under her wing. They held meetings, explored what
little they could with the use of the observatory, but that was little more than being
able to track the progress of the black veil that was still advancing slowly along the
heavens. To compound the problems, the school year had started again. Fortunately, no
attacks that they could see were occuring, yet, but they were uncomfortable with the
drop of their vigilence. The occurance was the talk of the school, too, and the teachers
had some struggle with keeping the students focused on their assignments. Suzuko was
annoyed with the distraction..they had far too important things to do than school..she
had suggested that she and Kyoko skip it, but her friend had been against it. "Not until
we need to.." had been her answer.
 "If we wait until we need to, it may be too late.." Suzuko grumbled to herself as she
sat at her desk, waiting for class to start. The teacher brought three new students to the
front of the class. They all looked a bit nervous. 
 "Everyone, today I'll introduce you to three new classmates. Please welcome them to the
class." Ikinada sensei said. The three stood in a line next to her.
 One was a pretty looking girl with hair a few shades lighter than dark green. It 
was worn in a pony tail that went down to just above her shoulder blades. Her eyes were a 
soft blue. "I'm Takeshi Natsumi. Pleased to meet you." she introduced herself, bowing 
quietly to the class. The class welcomed her in turn.
 The next was a guy who seemed a little standoff-ish. He had dark hair over brown eyes. 
He looked slightly cute, but Suzuko didn't see much special about him. "My name is Takada
Ryoga. Pleased to meet you." Again, the class welcomed him.
 The last was a short girl who looked the most nervous of all. She was a short girl
with snow white hair that was done up in short odangos in the back. Her hands were
practically rigid, clasped in front of her, and she was chewing on her bottom lip. A wooden
box sat next to her on the floor. Soon, it became her turn. She took in a breath.
"I-I'm Sa..e..no..I'm..Chuuko Nezu. Pleased to meet you!" Poor thing. She was a total wreck 
of nerves. The class was a bit slower in greeting her, some people giving her strange looks,
which only embarassed her more.
 The teacher gave out their seating assignments. The nervous girl was seated right next
to her. Suzuko looked up at her as she walked up to take her seat. Nezu offered a smile,
and Suzuko nodded, offering her a smile back, almost without thinking. Strange..
Suzuko thought to herself. Somehow..this girl.. she looked back over at her, watching
her for a moment as she checked her books, and got settled in for class. Suzuko looked down,
frowning. Strange..
 Her thoughts were interrupted by the teacher who, after having made sure everything was
ready, called out to the class. "Now, everyone. Lets open our math books." At that, the
spirits of the room sunk. Suzuko's class was not generally well known for their adeptness with
or love of math. Suzuko got out her book, and took a look at the first lesson.
 
 The new students seemed to integrate pretty well with the class, with the exception of 
Ryoga, who had some people who would talk to him and were trying to be friends with him, but 
he was still a bit too stand-offish to really develop friends quickly. Natsumi was already 
chatting and laughing with a few girls from the class during lunch break, and seemed to be 
getting along well. Nezu had seemed to become much more comfortable as the day had went on. 
Her shyness had eventually given way to enthusiasm, and Suzuko had heard her humming to 
herself quietly as she did her work. After lunch, the class split off into pairs to work
together. Because they sat next to each other, Suzuko and Nezu were paired together. Suzuko
was impressed. Nezu was very intelligent, and while Suzuko was still thinking about how
to solve the problem, Nezu usually was already two steps ahead. As Nezu was explaining a
faster way to figure out a problem to Suzuko, Suzuko noticed that her eyes were wandering
to the other side of the class. Suzuko's eyes followed where Nezu was looking, and saw
Nagumo Ayusa, a very attractive guy in the class that had many female followers. Nezu saw
that she had been caught, and grinned a bit at Suzuko. Suzuko smiled. "Very good looking,
that guy..isn't he?" Nezu let out a slight, quiet giggle. "But, you have a problem..he
already has many fans."
 Nezu raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What about you, sempai?"
 Suzuko blinked. "Eh?"
 Nezu grinned. "Aren't you a fan?"
 Suzuko's eyes got wide a moment and she looked away. "N..no. He's handsome, but.."
 Nezu tilted her head to the side, her voice going up slightly into a cute pitch. "But?
Don't you like guys?"
 Suzuko's face burned red, and her head whirled to face Nezu's. "Of course I like them!"
she hissed quietly. "But..he's not my type..thats all."
 "Oh, oh..you're mad.." Nezu started laughing, and Suzuko realized that Nezu had been
teasing her. She glared softly at Nezu.
 "You're devious.." Nezu just laughed harder. Suzuko grumbled to herself and busied
herself with the problem that they had been working on.
 "Heeeey.." Nezu said, after she had gotten ahold of herself, and quieted down.
 "What?" Suzuko asked, looking up at her. Nezu was looking closely at the top of her
head, with a bit of a frown on her head. 
 "Why do you put your hair up in cat ears?"
 Suzuko reached her hand up to touch one of them. "You don't like them?"
 "E..well.." Nezu fumbled for a moment. "..cats are mean.."
 Suzuko blinked. "You think so?" a slow grin came across her face. "Ah, I understand! Its
because you're a mouse, isn't it?!?!" she batted a hand playfully at one of Nezu's odangos.
 "Waaa, stop it! You really are a cat!" Nezu shrunk away in her seat, her hands up to
ward away the batting hand. Suzuko grinned evilly, taking away her hand, but gazing deep
and seriously into Nezu's eyes.
 "Thats right. If you don't be a good Mouse-chan, I'll eat you!" At hearing this, Nezu
let out a sound somewhat like a squeak, leaning back in her chair and gritting her teeth.
Suzuko started laughing, the bell attached to her school ribbon tinkling.

 As she was about to leave, Suzuko found Kyoko waiting for her at the door. Kyoko smiled.
"Do you want me to walk home with you?" Suzuko smiled.
 "Let's go."
 The pair set off together, walking out of the school yard and onto the streets as the
other students left in droves. It was a peaceful blue day, with birds chirping in the trees,
and a fresh scent in the air. They couldn't see the blackness in space while the sun was up,
and if they didn't think about it, everything seemed very peaceful as if nothing was going
on. Suzuko breathed deeply, inhaling the sweet air, letting it out reluctantly with a sigh.
Her books were carried on a satchel over her shoulder, though at this moment, she didn't
notice its weight.
 "You two seem to be getting along pretty well." Kyoko observed from beside her.
 "Eh? With Nezu-san?" Nayuko asked, looking over at her friend, letting out a slight
yawn and reaching up to cover her mouth with her hand.
 "Yes. I saw how you two were during lunch." Kyoko smiled, but as Suzuko looked a bit 
closer, she saw a hint of..sadness in her eyes? Suzuko frowned.
 "What's wrong?"
 Kyoko shook her head. "No, nothing.." Suzuko frowned more. "Its silly.." Kyoko said,
looking up at the sky. "I just have a strange feeling like..you're going to leave me."
Suzuko blinked. That really WAS silly. 
 "What are you talking about? I'm not planning to leave at all. I have a job to do, and
I'm not going to run off when we need to stick together." Kyoko smiled.
 "You're right. I told you it was a silly feeling."
 Suzuko leaned a bit in her direction. "Lately, you've been acting pretty strange. I
guess I can understand, though." she joined her friend in looking up at the sky. Neither
of them saw that from behind them, Nezu watched them, trying to listen in. She looked at
them as they continued walking, and discreetly tried to follow.
 

 Nezu had waited for this moment. Galaxia-sama had been able to sense the general area
where the true Star Seeds were, but had not been able to pinpoint the location. Thankfully,
this solar system had few planets, so there was not as much work..one holder of a Star Seed
had been by herself, and it had already been taken away. Now only two remained to be
collected, and the solar system would belong to Galaxia-sama. She had decided to try the
school here..there were many people, though. She doubted that these two had the Star Seeds,
and indeed, she often didn't find her targets right away. She tried to listen in as best as
she could, her ears straining as she slinked along some way behind, trying to listen in.
She could barely hear Kyoko's voice as they continued walking, but she couldn't make out the
entire sentences. "....?feel? closer now. ?It will?..Suzuko-chan." Suzuko nodded, looking over 
at her. Her voice was louder than Kyoko's, and could be heard a bit more easily.
 "Then..tonight, too?"
 Kyoko nodded. "Lets.......again.."
 Suzuko nodded. "Then..I'll come.??..later tonight?"
 Kyoko smiled, looking over at Suzuko. "I'll ?be? looking forward to it..?happy?...you are
?gettting? better..it...???...good..with you.."
 Nezu nearly jumped out of her skin. Yikes!! Suzuko and..Kyoko were......like that?!?
Nezu started feeling nausious and slipped back a bit further, her legs feeling a bit wobbly.
She reached up, wiping at her forehead shakily with her arm. You just never know about some
people!! she thought to herself as she began to turn around and walk back towards the
crowd. She started a bit when she heard Suzuko's voice behind her.
 "Nezu-san!! Are you coming this way, too?"
 Nezu turned around quickly. Both of the girls were looking back at her. "N..No..
actually...this is the street I go down.." she looked down the street to her left.
 Suzuko raised an eyebrow. "Thats the way to the business district."
 Nezu sweatdropped. "Y..Yes..um..you see..my mother lives in an apartment.." she said,
thinking fast.
 Suzuko smiled. "Then I'll see you tomorrow at school! Oh..you didn't hear anything
strange just now, did you?"
 Nezu jumped again, a larger sweatdrop forming on her head. "N..no! I think that love is
wonderful..and..and...you have a nice day!" With that, she took off across the road.
 Suzuko blinked, as they stared after her.
 "Strange girl.." Kyoko said softly.
 "Yeah.." Suzuko nodded in agreement.