Naru lay on her bed holding the letter above her head as she examined it. It was a thin slip of paper, with a pink border that outlined the address in a heart silhouette. She flipped it over and re-read the sender name. "Tuxedo... Mask?" she said to herself. She didn't recognize the name. Sounded like a TV character, truth be told. She slipped a fingernail under the seal and tore it open, pulling out the folded sheet inside.
I love you more than anyone else. Please meet me at the MS Department Store in Shinjuku tomorrow night.
Despite herself, Naru felt a blush form on her cheeks. She'd sometimes fantasized about getting an anonymous love letter - who hadn't? - but now that she had one... what to do? Her mother certainly wouldn't approve of her sneaking out at night to answer a love letter from someone she didn't even know - although maybe she did. "Tuxedo Mask" was clearly an alias after all. Maybe this was someone she knew?... Naru quickly swatted away the image of Masato Sanjoin that flashed across her mind. Now that was complete fantasy. He hadn't even seen Naru at the tennis court. Naru hadn't even known his name until she'd got it off Rui. She folded the love letter back into its envelope and got up to put it on the dresser. She'd give it some thought in the morning - maybe she'd take it to school and show Usagi, see what she thought of it.
Usagi was, of course, late to school. Naru ended up showing the letter to Yumiko while she was waiting, and was taken aback when Yumiko revealed her own letter. The class quickly began comparing, so that when Usagi finally arrived, she was the only one out of the loop.
"Naru!" Usagi said, once she'd got herself settled "You'll never guess what happened!"
"A mysterious stranger sent you a love letter?"
"A mysterious - wait, how did you know?"
"They sent one to me to."
Usagi let out a dismayed wail. "No! That can't be true!"
"But it is. I got a love letter from someone named Tuxedo Mask."
"Me too," Yumiko piped up, holding her own version. A few of the other students did the same.
"Who is this Tuxedo Mask?" Naru asked to the room in general. No-one had an answer. She looked back down at the letter, mulling over the contents.
I wish it was a love letter from him... Naru thought to herself, and Mr Sanjoin's face drifted across her mind once more. That was silly though. With a love letter being sent to this many people, it was probably some kind of prank.
As if in affirmation, Ms Haruna arrived at class. She strolled up to the desk and slapped her textbooks down to get everyone's attention. "Everyone!" she called in her prim announcer's tone. "You musn't be tricked by the fake love letters going around. Ladies should be modest after all. You understand?"
"Yes, Ma'am!" The class replied in unison.
"That letter might have been sent by someone with vicious intentions, so don't go to the Shinjuku Deparment Store, alright?"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
"Good." And with that, Ms Haruna turned to begin writing up notes on the board.
Trust Haruna to have our safety be her first thought, Naru thought to herself.
Naru put the question of the letter's origins out of her mind for the rest of the day (or at least tried to - Usagi heaving heartbroken sighs at regular intervals made it very difficult). She needed to focus on her classwork anyway. The rough nights were taking their toll. She'd been making a point to try and hide the fact (mostly she didn't want probing questions about the cause) and so far she'd been doing quite well. A little too well, as she found out when she arrived home.
"Naru, you're not busy this afternoon are you?" Naru's mother called from the kitchen. "I've just got a call that some items I rainchecked have come in at the mall. If I give you a list, can you go pick them up for me? I'm about to take over in the shop."
"Er... I guess so."
"Wonderful, thanks honey. It shouldn't take you too long, the shops are all in Shinjuku."
"...You don't mean the Shinjuku Deparment Store?"
"That's the one." Mrs Osaka leaned her head into the corridor. "There's a basket on the dining table, I'll have the list in it by the time you finish changing."
"Yeah, of course." Naru turned down the corridor towards her bedroom, forgetting to remove her shoes as the letter resurfaced and remained at the top of her mind, refusing to budge.
It's early afternoon, Naru reassured herself. You'll be fine. Just a normal afternoon shopping trip, what could happen?
Naru stood stock-still, hand nervously clenched in front of her. Shoppers wended their way through the mall, but to Naru's eyes they might as well have been ghosts. Only the figure opposite the storefront seemed solid, seemed real. Masato Sanjoin stood in profile, lost in thought. His hair was as silky and vibrant as Naru remembered, nestled onto his shoulders, as if caressing his neck. His eyes were blue, and deep, and Naru felt certain that if they looked at her she'd instantly melt. He had a striking, sharply defined nose; it gave him an almost aquiline aspect. His clothes were as sharp and co-ordinated as his manner. He practically exuded fashion sense (and as the daughter of a jeweler, Naru would have known). And here he was, in the very same mall that Naru had received a love-letter inviting her to... Naru mentally gave herself a slap on the cheek. Come on, be sensible. It's just coincidence. Just because he's rich doesn't mean he can't shop in a mall.
And yet.. this mall? On this day? No, it was wishful thinking, it was wild speculation, it was...
...it was her only chance.
Naru felt her heart thump faster as the thought calcified. She'd only had the smallest glimpse of Mr Sanjoin at the tennis courts, and then the incident with Rui had diverted her attention. At some level she'd known that she'd likely never meet Mr Sanjoin again. And now, here he was, not twenty metres away. She wanted... no, she needed to take this chance, before it slipped away from her.
"Mr Sanjoin!" Naru called. The man turned towards her. She'd been right, her gaze did make her feel like she was melting. She began to babble as the nervousness took hold. "It's me! I-I'm a member of Juban Junior High's tennis club, Naru Osaka."
"Yes, I remember now. Are you out shopping?"
He remembered me. Naru's heart was now thrumming like a hummingbird, and she could feel a rush of blood to her temples. The adrenaline boost proved enough to overcome her shyness, and she found herself asking the question she'd been playing in her head since last night. "Would you mind if I asked you a question? You... wouldn't happen to be Tuxedo Mask, would you?"
"What?" Mr Sanjoin seemed completely taken aback by the question, and almost backed away from Naru "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, it's nothing," Naru said hurriedly, her shyness overtaking her burning curiousity. "I was just.. wishing you were. It's something that crossed my mind." Naru mentally kicked herself. No, no, that was stupid, what's he going to make of that? "I'm sorry for asking you such a silly question," she stammered, now trying to backpedal out of the conversation.
"Naru," Mr Sanjoin said, leaning against the wall. "You're the cutest girl at Juban Junior High."
Naru's eyes widened, and she looked up at Mr Sanjoin in wonder. "Really?"
"I've been interested in you for a while now," Mr Sanjoin said, smiling warmly. He briefly rested a hand on Naru's shoulder, and the nerve-endings seemed to send the sensation of touch rippling through her entire body. "I'll see you tonight." And with that, he stepped aside, Naru catching the briefest hint of fragrance as he walked past her and down the corridor.
Tonight? What did he meant 'tonight'? Unless... Naru pulled out the letter she had yet to discard. And she knew.
Naru looked up with a gasp, trying to catch sight of Mr Sanjoin, but he had already disappeared into the crowd. Heart now hammering in her chest, Naru tried with little success to focus on the shopping she'd come here to do in the first place.
Come nightfall, Naru was standing outside the closed department store, second thoughts swimming around her head. The rest of her evening after meeting Sanjoin had been a blur. She'd given her mother the slip fairly easily - Naru vaguely remembered she'd been distracted by organizing the shipment of a particularly valuable jewellery piece - and now here she was, unsure what to do and feeling very conspicuous standing on the empty sidewalk. Maybe I'm early, she thought to herself, and leaned against the roller shutters over the main entrance to wait. The door instantly shifted, and rattled up into the roof as Naru started back in surprise. The darkened interior of the mall yawned in front of her, black after the pale yellow light of the street. For a moment, Ms Haruna's warning came back to mind, and Naru almost turned to run home then and there. But she steeled herself and walked forward. No, she knew what she was getting herself into. She wasn't letting this chance slide. Taking a deep breath, she entered the foyer. Her eyes adjusted to the dark quickly, and as it became easier to make her way through the cavernous hallway, she plucked up enough courage to call out.
"Tuxedo Mask?" Her voice felt thin and wavering in the emptiness. "Tuxedo... no, Mr Sanjoin? Are you there?"
There was a sudden clunking whirr, and Naru's eyes became momentarily dazzled as the ceiling lights flashed to full brilliance.
"Here!"
Naru turned at the sound. A figure stood at the top of the escalator, red-lined cape billowing out to the side. His suit had a satin shimmer to it, and with the swept lilac mask he might have come straight from a masquerade ball. He stepped smoothly onto the escalator and let it carry him slowly down towards Naru.
"Welcome," the figure said, and this time the tone and intonation were unmistakeable.
"That voice... So you are Masato Sanjoin!" Naru's nervousness, her suspicions, all of it evaporated as she realized that the dream she'd been nurturing for the last week was no dream at all.
"You recognize me from my voice?" Sanjoin asked, clearly taken aback.
"Of course! Your voice, and the way you carry yourself..." Naru looked him over, fixing this image in her memory, already knowing she'd treasure it forever. "...You are none other than Masato Sanjoin!" Even saying his name made her giddy.
"Do you love Masato Sanjoin that much?" he asked. This wasn't real. It couldn't be real, and yet it was happening right in front of her. Something that she'd only ever thought about as an abstract, an ideal with no real sense that it would happen, was suddenly a concrete reality. She was stepping into a storybook, and she couldn't help but play the part.
"Since I heard what you told me this afternoon... I've become a prisoner of love." In another context it would have felt corny, but here and now it felt natural, as if that was the only way to properly express it. Anything could happen from here.
What happened next, however, was not something she was prepared for. Masato Sanjoin suddenly leapt the last dozen feet of the escalator and landed in front of Naru with cat-like grace. "Sailor Moon!" he declared as he landed. "Reveal yourself! Show me who you truly are!" He thrust an accusing finger forwards, pressing against the top of her sternum. Naru took a step back in shock.
"...Mr Sanjoin?" Sanjoin looked at her in confusion.
"What's wrong? Transform into Sailor Moon!"
"What are you talking about?" Naru felt herself begin to panic. Had she misunderstood? Had she said something wrong? Her mind was addled with emotion, she couldn't connect one event to the next. Mind going numb in confusion as Mr Sanjoin continued to demand a response, she said the only thing her emotions would let her.
"...I love you," she murmured nervously. Everything went white, and then, everything went black.
Naru reshuffled the notes in the till, before sliding the tray closed.
"Okay, change drawer's restocked!" she called to her mother. A cluster of customers crowded around the counter, eager to purchase their selections. Mrs Osaka didn't seem to have heard Naru. She was standing in the middle of the shop floor, long black gown pooling around her.
"Mum? Can you hear me?"
He mother's head turned. And kept turning. As it twisted itself round to face Naru, the eyes darkened, the skin withered, and the evil, predatory grin pulled itself back into a demonic snarl.
Naru tried to scream, but her voice was gone. She tried to run, but her feet were rooted to the ground. She tried to squeeze her eyes shut and will it all to stop, but it was too late. The monster that was her mother lunged across the shop, vaulting the counter and pinning her against the wall.
"Mum! Stop! Please stop!"
The shop customers all began to collapse as Naru felt herself begin to suffocate. "Help!" she croaked out. "Someone help! Please!"
"No-one's going to help you," the monster growled at her. "You're going to die here." The creature brought one hand up and clutched Naru's face, and she felt the long, sharp talons begin to crush her skull...
Naru started awake, gasping for air. A nurse standing beside the bed glanced down at her, lowering her clipboard.
"Are you alright?" she asked. Naru looked at the ceiling, cold sweat beading off her forehead.
"...Just a nightmare," she said finally. She looked around. Hospital ward. No-one else around except for the nurse. Also, everything ached and she had a pounding headache. Naru groaned as she held a hand against her forehead.
"What happened? How did I get here?"
"You're not going to believe this," the nurse said with a smile, "but you were actually brought to the emergency ward by Sailor Moon."
"Wait, what?" Naru sat up in bed, suddenly alert.
"Oh, it gave us a surprise, I can tell you that. Even got to see her two sidekicks. Apparently you'd got caught in the firing line of one of their enemies, and they were bringing you in to make sure you were okay.
"...and am I?"
"For the most part." The nurse looked at the monitors that were currently hooked up to Naru's bed. "It's mostly fatigue. Got you on an IV to counteract the immediate effects, and then it's just a few days bed rest and you'll be fine. We've got the system down quite well at this point - seriously, you would not believe how many of these cases we've treated in the last quarter. Luckily things have slowed down this last month so we were able to get everything sorted quite quickly. You should be able to go home tomorrow morning." The nurse put the clipboard down. "Shall I go let your mother know you're okay?"
"...Mum's here?"
"She came as soon as we contacted her."
"Oh... of course, let her know."
Shoot, how do I explain this one? Naru thought as the nurse left the ward. Shortly afterwards, the sound of rapid footsteps came from the hallway. Mrs Osaka swung into view, clinging to the doorjamb in alarm. Naru froze for a moment, looking at her mother with an odd expression.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" her mother came up to the bed, clasping Naru's hand.
"...No," Naru reassured her. "Nothing's wrong, I'm fine." She gave a thin smile and opened her arms to give her mother a hug, pretending, even to herself, that the thrill of fear she'd felt when her mother first appeared had never happened.