Chiba Household, 5 years later
It was a sunny June day that awoke Chiba Usa-chan. She stretched her left arm out as she yawned, and then her right. Then she swung her legs over her bed and stepped into her pink bunny slippers. She shuffled to her dresser and pulled out her blue Juuban uniform. "Usa-chan!" called her father, "Are you awake yet?"
"Yes daddy!" Usa-chan called back as she slipped her uniform on quickly. "I just need to put my hair up!" She spun around, swinging her lengthy pink hair into her arms. She took several minutes to brush out the hair. Then she let it fall down her back, where it hung as straight as sticks. It went down to just past her waist. She pulled out a ribbon that was as blue as her skirt and pulled her hair up into a long pink ponytail. She grabbed her bag and was out of her room. "I'm here!" she said cheerfully. She gasped, clapping her free hand over her mouth. On the dining table was a pink box, perfectly square. It was wrapped around with a red satin ribbon and topped with a perfect red bow.
"Happy birthday," Chiba Mamoru said as he quietly stepped behind her.
"May I open it now?" Usa-chan asked excitedly.
"Well, of course," Mamoru said. "You'll get the rest at your party tonight."
"Yes!" Usa-chan shouted, wrapping her arms around her father's neck. "Thank you!" She turned back to the present and gently undid the bow, removing it from the box. Then she lifted off the lid and shifted through the soft pink tissue paper. She gasped and lifted out a shiny gold-and-red brooch that was shaped like a heart. "Daddy, it's beautiful!"
"It used to be your mother's," Mamoru said with a hint of sadness.
The sadness went unnoticed. "It was?" Usa-chan asked.
"Yes," Mamoru said. "She used to wear it on the bow of her uniform. She wanted you to have it when you were older."
"Wow…" Usa-chan hugged her father again, planting a small kiss on his cheek. Then she practically danced to the balcony window. It her faint reflection, she attached and adjusted the brooch. "I wish she could see me now."
Mamoru smiled. "She can," he said. "Always." Usa-chan smiled as she looked down up at the sky. Then she looked down at the street. Mamoru disappeared quietly into the kitchen.
Doseino Household
"Mother!" 14 year-old Jinsei shouted as she furiously ran around the house. Her brother, 16 year-old Kuuchuu, was standing in the kitchen, making his and his sister's lunches. "Mother!" Jinsei shouted again as she disappeared upstairs. Her mother, sickly Doseino Hotaru, then poked her head into the house from the front door.
"Kuuchuu, what is Jinsei missing now?" she asked wearily.
"I don't know," Kuuchuu said with a shrug. He left the kitchen with both lunch bags. Jinsei stormed down the stairs, her hair up in two odangos wrapped in navy blue fabric. "Here's your lunch, odango atama," he said. Jinsei snatched her bag from him and ran to the door.
"Mother!" Jinsei called. Hotaru poked her head back in.
"Yes Dear?" she said quietly.
"Hi mother," Jinsei said, wrapping her arms around her mother's neck. "I love you very much and I will see you later!"
Hotaru smiled and patted her daughter's back. "I love you too, dear," she said patiently. "But, must you holler around the house for me each and every morning?"
"Well, of course!" Jinsei said happily. "It is our morning ritual!"
"Is it also a morning ritual to be late?" Kuuchuu called from sidewalk outside. Jinsei's eyes became big. She hugged her mother quickly one more time and dashed out to Kuuchuu. "See you later mom!" Kuuchuu called as he waved.
"Be careful you two!" Hotaru said in response, waving back. "Be safe!"
"Always!" Kuuchuu and Jinsei called back in unison.
Juuban High School
High school students stood in small groups dotted all about the school yard. One of the groups had five students. Two were in the 10th grade; three were in the 11th. They were talking excitedly about the birthday celebration of their friend, Chiba Usagi.
"Usa-chan is 17 already!" Kinseino Tsuriau said. "It is hardly believable."
"Only because you're younger than her!" Kaseino Naien said, tightening a blue bow on one of her knee-length braids.
"So are you," said a grumpy Kaseino Kaen. "Kogarashi-san, Tsuriau-san, and Usagi-san are all older than you."
"But we are older than you," Naien said, sticking her nose in the air. She flipped her braid over her shoulder and cocked her head toward her little brother and gave him a smile.
"Does age really matter that much?" Kuuchuu asked.
"I don't know," Kogarashi asked. "Back to the subject of Usa-chan, where is she? Shouldn't she be here by now?"
"Probably slept in again," Naien said with a chuckle.
"Probably," Kaen agreed, "But where is Tenka? She's usually here before us."
"She's right there," Tsuriau said, pointing toward the entrance to the school grounds, "With Usa-chan."
The group turned toward the gate and saw Usa-chan giggling with red-haired Mokuseino Tenka. As they neared the group, it was obvious what they were talking about. On Usa-chan's blue bow was a shiny, gold and red, heart-shaped brooch. "Usa-chan, where did you get such a lovely piece of jewelry?" Naien asked.
"It is pretty, isn't it?" Usa-chan said with a giggle. "Daddy gave it to me. He said it was my mother's and she wanted me to have it. He said that she use to wear it on her bow, just like this!"
"It was your mother's?" Kogarashi asked. "Doesn't it make you sad to have it, Usa-chan?"
"A little," she said, looking down at it, "But it makes me feel like my mother is everywhere with me!"
"We'd better be getting to class," Tenka said as she pushed her glasses back up her nose. Everyone nodded and headed into the building. Tenka, Kaen, and Kuuchuu went left into the building while Usagi, Kogarashi, Naien, and Tsuriau went right. Two stories up, Kaen and Tenka separated from Kuuchuu, who went into the class further down the hall. "I would be sad if I got something that belong to me mother," Tenka said as they sat in their seats. "Of course, that is if my mother was not alive anymore."
"Usagi-san is a cheerful person," Kaen said. "That's just how she is."
Jingi Gashitsu
Within Jingi Gashitsu, numerous pieces of art were on display for all to see. Most were by the main artist, Kaiou Michiru. A few were done by her dearest companions, Tenou Haruka and Meiou Setsuna. Many pictures were of the blue Neptune and Uranus, both with surfaces similar to oceans, while many others were of the many beautiful sights around the world.
However, eight pictures were hung on the walls with frames much more beautiful that the rest. One was of a yellow-haired princess with comet-tails for her hair; another was of the same princess, but more queenly; a third was the same comet-tailed girl, but in the uniform of a Juuban High School student; a fourth was a black-haired prince in black and silver armor; a fifth was that princes with violet hair and a mask in a violet tuxedo with a cape; a sixth was what appeared to be a normal man with the same face and hair as the knight.
These sixth were divided in half; the comet-tailed princess-queen-girl was to the left of two paintings of a pink-haired girl; the knight and his likenesses were to the right. The pink-haired girl was first in a gown similar to the comet-tailed princess. The pink-haired girl had hair in shorter comet-tails. The second of the pictures was the same girl with the pink hair. She was wearing a Juuban High School uniform like the comet-tailed girl, but this girl's hair was in a simple pink pony-tail.
The gallery was empty of customers. The three women who painted the pictures were within the gallery. Setsuna was pouring over fan-letters, bills, and brochures. Michiru was painting on an off-white canvas. The picture, so far, looked like a blue poodle. Haruka had abandoned her helmet and bike keys at the opposite end of the table from Setsuna. She walked over to the center-piece paintings.
"Usa-chan will be 17 tonight," Haruka said quietly as she gazed at the pictures of the pink-haired girl. Michiru looked away from her painting to look at Haruka in surprise. Setsuna didn't look up. She made it appear as though she hadn't heard. Michiru noticed this, but left it alone.
"Haruka, that seems a fairly random thought," Michiru said. "Where did the thought come from?" She looked at the paintings and sadness swept over her. "Oh…."
"It will be seventeen years tonight," Haruka said, "Seventeen years since…" She trailed off. The sounds of Setsuna's pen stopped as she looked up. Michiru looked down at the floor sadly. "I don't know why I… I don't know why I brought it up." Haruka turned and picked up her helmet and keys. She then disappeared into the back room. The sounds of her boots on the stairs leading up to their living area echoed in the empty gallery. Michiru looked back up, focusing her gaze on the yellow-haired school girl.