A low hum accompanied the cool spring breeze that rushed by her ears in a gentle whistle, the softened darkness beside the school grounds doing itself in after a manner of a few blocks as the lights of the more natural and expected Tokyo cityscape were front and center. A purely dazzling spectacle of illumination in an array of twinkling, digitized billboards and the sounds of a million different muddled voices all coming together in the midst of the nightlife creeping onto the main drag, salary men and women alike just trying their best to get home to their families after a long day slaving at the office. Usagi had the good intention of making her way home and just call it a night, despite the rather heavy sentiment behind having some sort of celebration, however after the off comment that had been made she decided that maybe a brief visit to the arcade wouldn't be so bad after all. She could have gone with hailing a cab or even taking the bus so she could get there with a bit less urgency, and yet she had felt that the time to herself and her thoughts was a welcome change of pace, if only the city was a bit less crowded she may have even lingered a while longer then she did. Briskly walking in a figure eight pattern outside of the arcade which still had its "open" sign lit proudly, but yet by the looks of things from within not a soul was to be seen, a small piece of paper taped to the inside of the doors glass frame saying that they had decided to close early for personal reasons not mentioned. Most likely, it was the case that the man in charge of the arcade had a son or daughter of his own who was also involved with the festivities, and so he had decided to cut things early and shut the doors for the sake of a little time with his family. Metallic jangling sounded as the door creaked open about an inch as she slid her way in, almost giving them impression that she would just remain hidden until she caught sight of her friend as he heard the bell and came up to the front, presumably to tell them that they were closed for the night. She had some benefits in tow, seeing as she had been coming there for the last four years and in having had small-talk with the young man practically each time, he had often been gracious enough to let her in after hours to play a round or two on some of the machines.
"I'm sorry, we're closed until tomorr-oh, Usagi! It's you! Why didn't you say something when you came in?" The tall and slender man of a medium length blonde hair declared as he had apparently found her hiding spot on the floor slumped over beside an arcade machine as casually as any sane man could.
"How...how did you even know I was there?" She inquisitively asked, tilting her head to the side.
"Well...for starters, there are about three dozen machines in the arcade, and last time I checked none of them were growing long blonde hair." He continued jokingly with a soft chortle before motioning for her to follow him over to the transparent glass prize redemption counter, her response being to do just that in no time at all. "I thought you'd be out with your friends? Is something wrong?"
"Nah, it's just...worried about whether or not i'll have to say goodbye to Ami and Rei, I mean...they'll all be heading off to college and...I don't know what i'm going to be doing with myself. I probably could get in somewhere, but it's just...it wouldn't be anything as special as what they have." She declared, nervously.
"I remember when I had go through all of that, worrying where my life is going, you're not alone, though. You just need to find yourself something that gives you a reason to get up in the morning...or well, that might not be that right thing to say, I've heard Rei tell me she threw you off of your bed one time and you didn't get up. It doesn't have to be college, you know? You're just...scared, we all are." Motoki reassured her before tossing a small lollipop her way, which she greedily tossed to the back of her mouth in a frenzied hysteria of joy, the simplest of things still managing to be a small comfort for her. "Come on, Usagi, do you want to play a few games? I've got something new in that you'll love."
"Sure, why not, i'm going to kick your butt, though." She spat with a tinge of delightfully candid arrogance, which made him laugh a bit before flicking a series of switches underneath the counter, making all of the machines in the arcade hum and whirl back into action once again.
"Actually, I think you already have, Usagi." He chimed in, causing her to pause in confusion.
Motoki lead her down a small aisle of electronic cabinets, each with their own musical chime longing for someone to take notice and waste a few precious minutes and one hundred yen pieces to indulge their inner itch, and pointed to a tabletop machine with a small LED display which was glowing through the thin tarp obscuring the game from her sight. With a small nod and little else stopping her from doing so, she pinched the fabric piece and pulled it back with less grace and more of a guttural and gleeful sense of ambition and a dash of satisfactory vengeance, a devilish smile much to her surprise as she looked down on the cabinet and saw that she had known this machine all too well. In about five seconds, a title screen with a jagged and a deeply inward curve beside a shade of hot pink making the words themselves stand out as they popped up across the top of the screen, a nicely level sheen glinting off of the words before a voice came through the individual speakers on either side. Say...lor...vee! It nearly screamed with an air of anticipation for what would happen if a passerby could simply spare the time, the audio coming from someone who obviously had an intensely thick Japanese accent yet still was told to speak the title which was a roughly garbled English. He rifled through his pocket and retrieved a small key which had a deeply leafy hue to it, implying that it had been giving them at least a decade or so of faithful service at this point, and opened the machine so that he could activate a small pulley and confuse it into thinking credits had already been given. Gripping the cabinet as forcefully as she could, she watched as the first level began and she herself was lost in the sights and sounds of the electronic wonderland that she had been so familiar with years prior, her lips sucked into the inside of her mouth and her eyes bulging out from the intensity as she found her own character close to death. Given a half hours time, she had managed to get past the first few levels, however her lapse in memory of how to proceed past one of the bosses had taken all of her patience and she frustratingly pushed herself away from the machine.
"Had enough?" He questioned, all the while sneering at her, a firm and pouty nod being all he needed to put his key away for the night.
"Where did you get it, anyway? This hasn't been here for years!" She exasperatingly demanded.
"We kept one of the boards from the old machines, just in case we could find another machine that would work for it, a few months ago I remembered that it was just sitting back there collecting dust so...I figured i'd try to put something together when I had the time. I remembered how this used to be all you'd ever play. Besides, you don't really ever see much Sailor V, anything, these days." He explained.
"Yeah...well, thanks. I really appreciate it Motoki." She admitted.
"Anytime, Usagi...although, don't you think you should be heading on home? It's almost midnight." He told her, almost doubting the very words he spoke as he said them.
"What! Crap, crap, crap, my parents are going to kill me! Um...yeah, thanks again, Motoki. I'll just be...leaving now." She replied, her body language flustered and her motions making it all the more likely that she would have leaped through the window if the door hadn't already been opened for her, the few belongings she had brought with her only swinging from one arm since she had been in that much of a hurry. Her parents had often been a bit more understanding in her desiring a later curfew as she grew older, but still they had always maintained the belief that if she was to be out late then it would be only fair that they be told what her plans were and who she was with. Considering the minimal list of demands set before her, it is hardly a surprise that she would see how they would be upset by her not remembering to get ahold of either of them at any point, and on the night of her graduation of all nights. And so, as she had done oh so frequently in her four years of public school she chose to floor it home with little concern for any of the pedestrians in her way, although in their defense even some of them had been run down enough times that they had grown to a first-name basis with her. Reaching her humble home approximately ten minutes later, she took a good minute to recollect herself and catch her breath on the stoop of her building, chastising herself once or twice before switching gear to a constant mantra of self reassurance that she could tiptoe into the residence without raising alarm. Just as she had done at the arcade, she slid her slender frame through the tiniest crack in the doorway and then closed it with about as much force as a mouse in slow motion, although this time around this had the threat of a lengthy lecture giving her poise and proper form.
"Oh, good heavens, Usagi! Do you know what time it is?" A voice remarked from within the void of darkness, her body tensing up before processing the situation and realizing just who the voice had belonged to.
"Oh, jesus! You scared me, Luna! I thought you were mom, for a sec." She sighed in relief and allowed the air flow into her lungs a bit more casually.
"I'm sorry to startle you, but you're parents went to bed a few hours ago, which is where you should be. We were all worried sick..." She confessed, a bit more concern in the female voice then most might have expected from such a regal vocal stature.
"I'm really sorry, Luna, but i'm here now so...can we just be really quiet and get to bed without waking them up?" She pleaded with her.
"Yes, yes, of course. I'm just glad you're alright." She calmly agreed, the two of them taking the staircase up to the second floor one at a time, still entirely shrouded in a veil of the purest blackness so that they wouldn't raise any unwanted attention. Mostly feeling around the walls on either end to find her own way through the halls, eventually finding the doorknob leading to her own room, and stepping backwards into the room and closing the door behind her. The light switch just beside the door, she closed her eyes and took a deep breathe as her hand snaked outward to flip it to the on position, a sharp gasp coming from her as she saw through the newfound illumination of her room that someone had been rummaging through her belongings...and that her entire room had been torn apart from top to bottom.