Author's Note:
And here we are in the new year. I wish everyone a happy 2024.
The new year has been off to a rocky start for me, however, and I'm afraid this might have influenced my writing.
This chapter was a bit of a chore to get out.
I had several things I wanted it to accomplish and in the end, it does accomplish all of those things. But the story itself may not be as smooth and readable as I could wish.
The New Year starts with Hotaru's birthday. Or rather with the run-up to Hotaru's birthday. And that run-up is not as smooth as Hotaru would have liked it to be.
But I leave it to the reader to discover what challenges the youngest outer Senshi faces before she can enjoy her party.
Please enjoy.
What is it that stirs my heart to caution when everyone around me seems to be safe and sound?
There are such mornings when you wake up and your emotional state takes an instant hit. Everyone has experienced this at least once.
Mornings when you feel like the entire day will be a disaster going forward. Mornings when a bitter moan escapes you upon opening your eyes.
Those are the kind of mornings when you wish you didn't have to get out of bed at all.
Which is even more of a bummer if you happen to wake up to such a morning on the day of your birthday party.
"Good morning, Hotaru-chan," Souichi Tomoe said in a soft sympathetic voice when his daughter seated herself at the breakfast table. "Usui-san made us a delicious breakfast I see Let's enjoy it."
"Good morning, Father. Thank you for the food," Came the monotone rumbling reply from the 1,80-meter-tall almost fifteen-year-old whose scowl could make a seasoned yakuza lieutenant flinch.
A fourteen-year-old whose shoulder-length hair made her curse internally whenever she sensed it brushing against her shoulders.
"Yes. Thank you for the food," Souichi said with an uneasy look before he tasted his rice.
The slender Tokyo-U professor sat opposite his daughter clad in a light-green sweater and a pair of brown trousers, watching the ill-tempered blackette take a sip from her morning tea.
He was still filled with gratitude that his daughter whose life and health once seemed irreparably wrecked through his carelessness had been reborn into a young lady who overflowed with life and energy. On most other days of the year, that is.
As to Hotaru's current state, it had manifested itself a few times over the past two years and puzzled Souichi at first.
After a few times, he started to notice these foul moods cleared up after Hotaru visited a hairdresser.
When the geneticist once caught his daughter standing in front of the mirror in the genkan while muttering the words: "I'd almost look like her if you saw me from a distance with these long locks." His suspicions were confirmed.
"Take heart, Hotaru-chan," Souchi smiled. "You have an appointment in three hours."
Hotaru slowly looked up from her traditional Japanese breakfast into the kind eyes of her father.
The heart of the almost fifteen-year-old in the light-blue long-sleeved T-shirt and black legging mellowed by her father's obvious love, she looked aside with a sour expression.
"Sorry, Father. If they hadn't double-booked my appointment and waited until the absolute last moment to tell me, so that I could only reschedule for today at the earliest,
I would have been fine now. I should focus on having fun with Chibi-Usa-chan, Yuna-chan, Shin Shin, and the others this afternoon instead of feeling so bitter."
As if she was slicing up the body of Pharaoh 90, the Pink Pika Club member ruthlessly cut up the mackerel on her plate with her chopsticks.
"Hotaru-chan," She heard her father say.
Hotaru looked up into the kind eyes of her father.
"It's okay to be angry," Souichi gently told his daughter. "Our bodies were violated by alien monsters who planned the destruction of everyone we love.
It's okay to be angry when confronted with things that remind you of those monsters.
But my dear beloved Hotaru-chan… You will never ever look like her. Not on the inside and not on the outside."
Hotaru's furious scowl turned into a grateful smile despite herself.
"Thank you, Father," The black-bobbed stoic said.
"When I look into your intense black eyes," Her white-haired father said while gazing at Hotaru with his kind gray eyes. "I see Keiko-chan's infinite courage and unwavering empathy. When I look at the shape of your lips and your firm rounded jawline I see her smile and the joy of life inherent in your boldly mountaineering mother. When I see your brilliant spotlessly black hair I am reminded of the sparkly wildly swaying long black hair locks of the woman I fell in love with.
Everything about you is a constant reminder to me of the woman who blessed my life with the responsibility for your wellbeing and with the eternal comfort of your existence in her absence."
"How amazing for you to be so eloquent so early in the day," Hotaru chuckled. "I bet your students haven't got a second's opportunity to let their minds drift off during your lectures when you talk like this."
"That's my goal at least," Souichi Tomoe smiled happily. "But I fear my lectures might not always be as engaging as I desire."
Endeavoring to divert her thoughts, Hotaru decided to pursue the new direction their conversation was taking.
"Are you ready for finals?" She asked.
"I am as ready as I've always been," Her father said after swallowing a piece of pickled cucumber. "I only hope my students will be ready.
There are a few kids I'm worried about. I heard Yamagata-san has trouble getting organized. I found him a good tutor, so I hope Chokosabe-san has been a help to him.
I also thought it wise to advise Hayashi-san to sit next to Matsudaira-san so that he has someone helping him to keep his focus in class since I noticed his mind tends to wander off…"
"You do invest no less time and energy in your students as you do in your lectures," Hotaru observed. "I don't know if I could distinguish them all from each other."
"Oh, you learn such things by having them answer questions and memorizing their faces and names according to the kind of answers they give you."
Father and daughter continued to eat breakfast on opposite sides of the window-side end of their western-style mahogany dining room table.
Through the meter-wide window on Hotaru's left, she had a view of the lightly snowed lawn outside and the two wisteria trees bordering the street.
The door behind her led to the second-floor staircase. At the other end of the table, the dining room gave way to a half-open kitchen.
On the other end of the wall behind her father was a large living room with a veranda towards the narrow side of the garden.
Souichi bought their new home last year after both agreed that they needed to cut ties to the sad recent past despite the older happy memories their old home was associated with.
"Don't you miss doing research, Father?" Hotaru asked when her meal was almost finished.
Souichi took a sip of his tea and closed his eyes.
"I had enough excitement for my lifetime," The slender white-haired man said. "It gives me greater joy to educate the minds who will widen mankind's knowledge in the future. And if I start to get curious again, I can simply visit your mother's other legacy.
Biocore Genetics is still at the forefront of genetic research and Matsumoto-san pays us a handsome dividend each year so I need to pay attention to what they're doing in any case."
"Well, I'm glad you're happy with what you're doing, dear Father," Hotaru said while leaving her seat. "Thank you for your kind words. But I still feel irritated so I'm going for a run in half an hour."
"Alright," Souichi said. "I would tell you to be careful on the streets. But I suppose it's traffic that should be careful around you."
"I can still get hurt in an accident when I'm not transformed into Sailor Saturn," Hotaru dryly replied. "But on days like these, I agree I should pay most attention to the safety of others on the road in case people decide to be assholes. See you later."
Watching his daughter leave the dining room and close the door behind her, Souichi smiled indulgently to himself.
"I hope it'll be okay," He sighed before emptying his cup of tea.
After breakfast, Hotaru watched an episode of her Detective Conan DVD on the television set in her bedroom while doing bicep curls.
The anime couldn't get more than a smile out of her.
The truth is that she was already forcing herself to smile during the conversation with her father.
Comforting herself with her appointment at the hairdresser in a little over two hours, Hotaru stopped the DVD and placed it back into its plastic box before switching off the television and resting her dumbbells on their stand.
Evading the image in the mirror next to her wardrobe she pulled a violet wind jacket out of it and harnessed herself for the cold Januari weather outside.
The streets on the way to the Akasaka Estate park had been mostly cleared of the snow that had fallen recently. Buildings and gardens were still cloaked in a thin white veil that kept the urban landscape in a state somewhat imitative of the majestic white rural tapestries Tokyo's citizens were treated with on television.
The cold was omnipresent in the city despite the bustle of cars, buses, cyclists, and pedestrians Hotaru passed by on her jog.
The blackette's unmoved and unmoving face cut through the chill morning air as she breathed out puffs of water vapor with the regularity of a classic locomotive.
The path around Akasaka Estate would have been a rather unchallenging route if Hotaru's intention was purely to get some exercise while school and the club were still closed. But it was a perfect bland trail to run across while her mind was occupied by its current dark currents.
The truth is that - while everyone aware of Hotaru's history and everyone who was not made their assumptions or excused her on account of that history for feeling glum at times for reasons the first group had figured out by now while they were a mystery to the other group - if she would be asked why being reminded of what Pharaoh 90 and his minions did to her family turned her mood sour, the stoic young athlete would have to prove each of those assumptions incorrect.
Obviously, the death of Hotaru's mother had thrown a shadow over her youth. Having to grow up cognisant of the fact that their home and even her father's mind had been usurped by a group of alien beings also would have been extremely traumatizing to any other girl. Her own body having been turned into a vessel for one of those beings - a violation that in essence turned young Hotaru into a disabled person by severely undermining her health, growth, and emotional well-being - being the most basic and tragic lot the girl had to contend with, would be the most understandable reason for occasional hard looks and curt replies.
But while Hotaru and her father had suffered from these causes and while they left sad memories for both of them, the severely tried duo was blessed with extreme psychological resilience.
So, from the start, the rose-colored spark of Chibi-Usa's friendship was a beacon of hope Hotaru was able to firmly grab onto.
In its essence, Hotaru's character had always been one of indomitable sincerity. A personality trait that guaranteed her going to extremes to defy what seemed unacceptable to her.
In the state Chibi-Usa found her new friend, the blackette felt powerless to defy anything. But that gradually changed when her heart became emboldened by this friendship and the warm support of Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako.
Having been reborn to a new life in 1995, Hotaru's mind found constant bliss in her corrected physical abilities, new friends and school life, and the sweet romance she experienced with her dear Shin-Shin.
These abundant sources of joy sufficiently enabled it to throw off and shatter the barbed chains that might otherwise have kept Hotaru back after the events following her resolve that those who harmed her family and new friends had to be decisively dealt with.
So, while the soon fifteen-year-old missed her mother on occasion and found bliss in every weekend spent with her father, relieved to have him living life at his own pace, her emotional life had not been marred any further than these considerations by the machinations of the Death Busters.
The true reason for Hotaru's emotional disturbance whenever unchecked hair growth or on occasion some other thing reminded her of Mistress 9 was something Hotaru herself had thus far been unable to discover.
Having searched the winding paths of her brain the blackette had no clue as to the reason why this neurological link had such a powerful hold over her feelings.
She could hardly even properly define the emotions at play within her.
Seeing the Aoyama Building rise up ahead, Hotaru upped her pace towards the crossroads over Aoyama-dori Avenue.
Traffic was busy around Akasaka Estate. But there would be few pedestrians on the course around the park and there was some beauty to be found in the snow-covered overhanging trees from the park side.
The black-bobbed Pink Pika member reckoned that after running the circumference of the park and a half it'd almost be time for her appointment at the hairdresser nearby.
"Hah…" Hotaru sighed while halting in front of the zebra crossing over the double five-lane avenue.
She calmly regarded three office workers and an elderly lady who were already waiting.
For some reason, the elderly lady and one of the male office workers stepped away from her in alarm when they turned to look back.
There was nothing Hotaru could do about it now, as the traffic lights turned green and she was required to cross the street together with the people she unintentionally frightened.
Upon reaching the other side, a young woman on a bike passed Hotaru by on the left while the fourteen-year-old was finally able to walk alongside the beautiful besnowed trees on her right.
That side of the road ahead was separated from the pedestrian walk by means of a nearly man-high cobblestone wall topped by a hedge that grew in the soil protected by the wall.
The deciduous trees in the park grew at a distance of about two meters behind that hedge, but their branches still reached over the pedestrian path Hotaru was jogging over.
Hotaru observed the snow lying on those thin bald branches overhead while breathing in the cold January air.
A memory flashed through her mind of a one-armed man getting covered in snow from a similar branch.
The man probably lost his arm in the war. He was lean and attenuated. Anyway, turns out the branch had been hit by a couple of drunks throwing rocks with the express purpose of dropping a heap of snow onto the man.
When the man got angry and yelled at the drunks, he was accosted by another man who dragged him along. The other man beat the one-armed man up in an alley and yelled all sorts of insults at him about being useless and a bother.
A newly married couple witnessed the beating but the husband didn't want to endanger the safety of his young wife by meddling in the violent business.
The one-armed man died a couple of years later from malnourishment. Nobody mourned him after half a life spent in loneliness and humiliation.
Hotaru blinked.
A hedge and a row of trees also ran along the left of the bicycle path and the pedestrian path. These grew on ground level.
The blackette saw a small bird perched on one of the besnowed branches of a tree she passed by.
Hotaru didn't have a clue as to the source of the emotions engendered by the memory of Mistress 9 taking over her body.
She could only vaguely define the turbulent sentiments the association with her hair length brought to the surface.
Those feelings she would verbalize as sensations of failure and extreme dread.
But Hotaru would never allow anyone such insight into her emotional life.
There was no point when she couldn't even fathom the meaning of these things herself.
She wished most of all that she could shake these persistent horrid feelings whenever they reared themselves.
It wasn't too bad, since the mood only caught her whenever her hair length got out of hand.
And being a neat if somewhat careless teenage girl with a boyfriend the blackette was generally good at getting regular haircuts.
Only if unforeseen circumstances prevented this precaution was Hotaru forced to endure and wait…
"Hey! Watch it, will you? Other people are walking here!"
An immediately provoked Hotaru saw a familiar young man with a long white ponytail giving her a foul look as she was about to pass by a zebra crossing on her left.
Yaten was dressed in a brown hooded jacket over a beige cardigan sweater and gray trousers.
The Kinmokuan had just crossed the busy road to Hotaru's left and was about to step onto the pedestrian path in the opposite direction from her when the taller girl nearly ran into him.
"Don't make such a fuss, Healer!" Hotaru carelessly snapped at the flinching white-haired young man. "There's plenty of room for you to pass me by!"
"What did you say to me?!" A bewildered Yaten yelled. "Who the heck are you?!"
"Darn," The young woman who had so casually revealed knowledge of his secret identity cursed under her breath. "Sorry. I'm too out of sorts to know what I'm saying. Just let me continue my run."
Hotaru was about to continue on her path when her alien acquaintance defiantly barred her way forward and placed his hand against her chest as if he were a policeman.
Under the circumstances that didn't sit well with the blackette at all.
"I'm sorry, but I am going to have to detain you until you can tell me how you know that name," Yaten threateningly spoke while looking her square in the eyes.
"What you're going to do is stop bothering me if you know what's good for you," Hotaru coldly snarled at her temporarily intimidated friend.
She grabbed the Kinmokuan's wrist with her left hand and forcibly removed the offending appendage while a struggling Yaten tried to get hold of the blackette's right hand.
"You think that's the end of this?!" Yaten yelled while Hotaru locked both of the handsome young man's wrists in her left hand. "How do you know that name?!"
To his shock, he was launched a few meters high and landed under a tree in Akasaka Park.
"Welcome back to Earth!" A peeved Hotaru politely called out to him as she continued her jog.
The fourteen-year-old birthday girl passed a stunned cyclist by a tree to her left who stared at her in bewilderment and an elderly couple who looked with concern to the spot where Yaten had landed.
'What a bother. I simply misspoke. Could happen to anyone. It's not a big deal. The nerve, trying to restrain me. Laying his hand on my chest. Does he think he can get away with anything cause he's an idol? I might have overreacted. I probably hurt him and I'm sorry for that. He can take it though. I'm not going back. I'll apologize when I see him later. Asking who I am. Isn't it obvious I'm a Sailor Senshi? Making such a fuss because I called him Healer. I hate days like this. Reminds me of back when she was inside of me and every day was a struggle to push myself forward. People bossing me around because I was so weak. Just like Yaten was doing just now. So annoy…!"
"You're not getting rid of me that easily…!" An enraged out of breath Yaten stated as he overtook the surprised Hotaru and braced himself against the unstoppable jogster while gripping her by the collar. "Tell me who you are!"
Something tickled Hotaru's humor as she looked down into the angry face of her alien acquaintance and became aware of the situation they were putting each other in.
"What are you even doing, Kou-san?" She asked with an amused grin while inexorably pushing the Kinmokuan forward in her advance.
"I'm warning you! I am a Third Rung Taipal practitioner!" Yaten growled as his legs struggled to keep him upright while being pushed back. "The name you called me should be known but to a select few! Declare your name and your intention!"
"So you really don't recognize me?" Hotaru laughed.
An irritated Yaten was about to reply, but the young man finally lost his balance when Hotaru stopped her jog.
As the graceful young Kinmokuan with the long white ponytail glanced backward in alarm and flailed about while his body succumbed to gravity, he was pulled up by two firm arms that reached around his lower back.
"Got you," Hotaru winked while she supported her alien acquaintance.
An overwhelmed Yaten stared into the eyes of the handsome black-bobbed teen as he regained his footing in the arms of the unsettling Earthling.
Blushing in confusion, he quietly repeated the question most on his mind.
"Who the hell are you?"
Before she could part her lips to answer, Hotaru felt a hand gently placed upon her left shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Hotaru-kun," A playful female voice spoke. "But we are going to have to intervene on behalf of your boyfriend and demand that you hand over possession of the fair and charming Yaten Kou to your loveless friends."
"Hey Yuna-chan," Hotaru greeted the tall and slender somewhat geeky blonde while turning to face her and her other friends, Hikari Kimura, Emi Hayashi, and Chibi-Usa. "Hello everyone."
"Ho…taru…kun?" Yaten stammered behind the blackette upon being left to his own devices. "But you were just… I thought you used to be shorter?"
"Hotaru-kun had a tremendous growing spurt before she entered her last year of Junior High," Chibi-Usa tried to explain with a chuckle.
"I'll say," Yaten dryly commented while recovering his usual suave demeanor. "And you are all friends of Tomoe-san?"
"Yes. I am Tsukino Chibi-Usa," The pinkette in the white skirt and blazer introduced herself.
"Oh?" Yaten frowned. Not having met the younger girl but having heard of her from her mother prior to leaving for Kinmoku a little before Christmas one year ago.
"I am the beautiful top 10 percent student, member number 8 of the Yaten Kou Fanclub, accomplished 17-string koto player in Juban High School Traditional Arts Club, and ikura don specialist, Nakano Yuna," The blonde simpered while assuming a demure stance and shyly casting her eyes downward in contrast to her boastful self-introduction.
Yaten suspiciously regarded the girl in the brown woolen jacket and long dark-green dress.
Then Yuna raised her eyes with what she alone assumed to be an artful yamato nadeshiko smile, encouraging her uncomfortable white-haired idol to take a step back.
"I am Emi Hayashi," The Kinmukian saw a cute shapely brunette with a short ponytail who was dressed in a deep blue overcoat smile while pulling her tall flirtatious friend's head down by the ear. "I am honored to meet you, Kou-san."
"And I am Kimura Hikaru," The Pink Pika member in the blue leggings, brown bomber jacket, and purple woolen beanie greeted Yaten.
"Yaten Kou." He simply bowed. "Pleased to meet you all."
"You didn't tell me you were so close to Yaten Kou," Hikaru whispered into Hotaru's ear while standing on tiptoes.
"He's just a casual acquaintance though," Her friend whispered back. "I told you before senpai: he's a friend of Usagi-chan's."
"It's nice to finally meet you, Kou-san," Chibi-Usa cheerfully smiled. "Usagi-chan and her friends told me lots of stories about you and your brothers."
"Yes. I'm sure she has a lot of stories to tell about one of us in particular," Yaten moodily sighed. "Though not all of them should probably be repeated too often."
"What brings you guys here?" Hotaru asked Emi. "I thought you wouldn't come to help decorate the house until after I had my haircut."
"That was the plan after you told me you'd be home later than expected," The brunette replied. "But then Chibi-Usa-chan asked if I was interested in visiting the Meiji Memorial Museum to kill time."
"And Yuna and I decided to tag along," Hikaru smiled.
"Care to come along, Kou-kun?" Yuna inquired while closing the distance between them.
Yaten quickly widened the gap between him and the brightly smiling girl.
"As professionals, we are always advised to discourage lovesick fans. I'm afraid I'll have to do so now:
I'm sorry, Nakano-san. But I am not interested in tall women," The slightly blushing Kinmukian lied by way of this cool practiced statement.
"Aw, really?" Yuna whined. "But you haven't even tasted my excellent ikura don yet. Please join us in decorating Hotaru-kun's house for her birthday party. I can go shopping and make you my famous ikura don in her kitchen."
"A birthday party?" Yaten repeated while looking at Hotaru and Chibi-Usa in turn.
"Yes. It's Hotaru-kun's birthday tomorrow," The latter elaborated. "So we're having a party this afternoon. Would you like to join, Kou-san? Usagi-chan and everyone will be there too."
"Unless you and your brothers have plans for the day?" Hotaru suggested with a tilt of her head.
"Hum… No. I was just taking a stroll. Seiya-kun was going swimming, and Taiki-kun was at a recital," Yaten replied with a cautious look on his face.
Hotaru saw the charming white-haired young man glance in Yuna's direction while pondering his desire.
"Don't worry about Yuna-chan," Emi smiled at the Kinmukian. "She's only half-serious about pursuing you. The only reason she is number 8 of the Yaten Kou Fanclub is her older sister joined back then and registered Yuna-chan too."
"Oh! My vicious love rival dashes my hopes by revealing a secret shared in confidence!" Yuna exclaimed while theatrically grasping for her heart.
"But Yuna-chan does make a top-tier ikura don," Emi continued with a chuckle.
"Alright then. I'll join you at the museum and the birthday party," Yaten decided. A decision based in equal parts on curiosity for Hotaru and Chibi-Usa, the Meiji Memorial Museum, having fun at the birthday party, and Yuna's ikura don.
"How cool is this?!" Hikaru exclaimed. "We're getting to visit a museum and attend Hotaru-kun's birthday party with an actual celebrity."
"In that case, I'll finish my jog to the hairdresser's so you can leave for the museum," Hotaru spoke up. "I leave you in good hands, Kou-san."
"You can all call me Yaten, you know?" The Kinmukian magnanimously declared. "I am an idol after all."
But Hotaru was already out of hearing.
Yaten and Chibi-Usa watched the strapping blackette head northward at a vigorous pace while their friends started walking in the same direction to reach the zebra crossing over the Gaien Higashi-dori.
"Look at her going!" Hikaru laughed. "Hotaru-kun has boundless energy when she's got one of her stormy days."
"Come on, Yaten-kun," Chibi-Usa said while pulling the boy's hand behind Yuna, Hikaru, and Emi. "Let's follow in Hotaru-kun's footsteps.
The Meiji Memorial Museum has some amazing paintings. Taiki visited the museum before, didn't he?."
And so, the merry group marched forward against the cold January winds.
Little did any of them realize back then that only one of them would be able to follow in Hotaru's footsteps on the path their friend would have to walk.