OCWaGH: Chapter 13

Meanwhile, we could see Double D with Ami, who was back at the library. They continued to read the books they wanted to read yesterday but were interrupted by the enemy's attack. Ami gathered up the psychology books she picked out while Double D decided to help her with reading through the books she chose, hoping to find a solution for helping the victims of the new enemies.

As they continued to sit and read the books they brought over, Double D noticed someone out of the corner of his eye. It was Brooke, the light blue-haired girl he met earlier this morning; she was looking at some books in the art book section of the library. She was also holding a big sketchbook in her arms as well as a pencil case for doing sketches.

"… Pardon me for a moment, Ami," Double D stated as he got up from the table he was at.

Ami looked up from the book she was reading to see Double D approaching a girl, 'Must be a friend of his,' she thought.

Double D approached Brooke, who seemed so focused on the bookshelf that she did not notice him at all, "… Brooke?"

Brooke loudly gasped in surprise and was almost about to yell before realizing who was talking to her, which was still making her panic, 'Oh no! Why did he have to be here right now?!' she thought.

Double D noticed he scared her by accident, "Oh dear, I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you jump like that…"

"I-It's okay," Brooke responded with a nervous laugh as she adjusted her glasses, 'I should have known he would be here; he's always been a bookworm! Not to mention he's the head librarian and historian at the castle…'

"I wanted to come over and say hello to you again… Well, because I realized I never told you my name when we met," Double D began to say as he made a smile, "My name is Eddward with two Ds, so everyone usually calls me Double D instead."

Brooke stared at Double D when he said his nickname, "O-Oh! I see!" she replied, glancing away from him, 'I had no idea he had a nickname! They never mentioned it to me before… I wonder if it's because the nickname can be implied in another way. I could see that.'

Double D could see she was nervous for some reason, 'I guess she must be shy,' he thought before making a smile, "Say, would you like to sit with me and my friend? We're not doing much right now except reading a few books, but we might try to grab something quick to eat later. Perhaps you would like to join us?"

Brooke widened her eyes at him, "Your friend…?" she looked over to where Double D was gesturing, seeing that Ami was sitting there, "… Sure! I-I don't mind."

The two teens walked over to Ami, who only smiled at them, "Welcome back. Who's your friend with you?"

"Oh! Her name is Brooke, I just met her this morning," Double D began to say, "I forgot to tell her my name earlier because my friends and I were in a hurry to get to the meetup."

"I see," Ami chuckled before looking toward Brooke, "My name is Ami, I moved here yesterday as well. It's a pleasure!"

Brooke looked at Double D and Ami before making a smile, "Nice to meet you…" she said before lowering her head to think, 'I didn't realize how much I missed my parents until now… Maybe hanging out with them could help me feel less lonely from what's going on back home.'

Double D and Brooke sat down at the table with Ami. The two older teens continued to read the books they had in front of them while Brooke sat there for a moment, not sure what to do. Brooke eventually sat down with the sketchbook and pencil case she had with her, opening the book while grabbing one of her pencils. She started to sketch something down, which the other two teens noticed but decided not to interrupt her concentration.

About thirty minutes passed by with the three teens at the library, still reading/drawing at the table they were sitting at.

Double D glanced at his cell phone, which he had sitting next to him. He made a small sigh to himself as he sat down the book he had, "Excuse me for a moment. I need to make a call to someone," Double D got up from where he sat to walk off toward the entrance of the library as the two girls watched him walk off.

Ami turned to Brooke, seeing that she went back to drawing. She could see what Brooke was drawing; it was some rough sketches of Ami and Double D, each of them reading a book. It seemed like she was drawing the two of them while they were sitting in front of her, "… Brooke?"

Brooke jumped a little at Ami's voice, "Yes?"

"Are you trying to practice drawing people?" Ami asked as she put down the book she was reading, glancing at the rough sketch, "I couldn't help but notice."

Brooke widened her eyes, "That's right. I wanted to practice this a little more, s-so I was sketching the two of you because you were both in front of me… Maybe I should have told you I was doing that, I'm sorry."

"There's no need to apologize," Ami replied with a chuckle, "You seem to be very good at it. Do you mind if I can see a few of your other sketches?"

Brooke started to feel nervous again, "S-Sure!" she handed over her sketchbook so Ami could look at it, 'I don't have anyone from home drawn in this sketchbook, so it should be fine for her to look at.'

Ami was flipping through Brooke's sketchbook. Brooke seemed to like drawing flowers and plants a lot, a few of them were visually striking. The flowers and plants she colored in looked like they were made of glass. Ami turned the page to the last drawing Brooke had done before she began drawing their portrait. She widened her eyes to what the drawing was.

It was a panoramic drawing of a huge city with a huge crystal-like structure in the middle of it. It was Crystal Tokyo!

'How can this be?!' Ami thought to herself as she looked back to Brooke, who was waiting for her to get her sketchbook back.

Brooke noticed Ami was very silent, "… Can I have my sketchbook please?"

"Of course," Ami replied as she handed Brooke her sketchbook back, but stopped her as she grabbed hold of it, "I'm sorry, I need to ask you something important."

Ami gestured to her landscape drawing, "Are you from this place you drew in your sketchbook?" She asked.

Brooke froze in fright at her question.

"I know this is a drawing of Crystal Tokyo," Ami explained, "Are you from the future, like Chibiusa?"

"… Who?" Brooke seemed confused at the name Ami mentioned, "I don't know anyone named that, but… Y-Yes. My friends and I, umm…" she paused a second before making up something believable, trying not to reveal who she was or her real mission, "My friends and I came here to stay safe from something that's going on there, thanks to the help of Ms. Meioh."

Brooke quickly took her sketchbook and closed it, "I'm sorry, no one here was supposed to know this! I forgot you visited once because of the Black Moon Clan, so you would know what Crystal Tokyo looks like…"

Ami made a small sigh to Brooke, "It's okay, I won't tell anyone where you're from," she said, "Though I do have to ask, is Chibiusa still in the future? Is she okay?"

"Umm… I still don't know who you mean," Brooke replied.

"Oh, I meant Neo Queen Serenity's daughter…"

Brooke stared at her before it finally clicked, "Do you mean Lady Serenity? She's back home with her brother and her four personal guardians, trying to fight this evil."

Ami made a sigh, "That's a relief to hear," she stated before realizing something, "Wait, her brother? This is news to me…"

"Yes, the prince is three years younger than Lady Serenity," Brooke replied, "He also gets sick a lot from having a weak immune system and isn't cut out to do any fighting or defending. I'm surprised he didn't want to come with us to help him recover from the coughing fits he was having. It makes me worry a lot…"

Ami was silent at what Brooke revealed to her, 'Usagi… She had another child besides Chibiusa?!'

"I'm sorry if this is a weird question for you, but there's one more thing I need to know," Ami began to say, "Neo Queen Serenity still rules over Crystal Tokyo, correct? If so, who is the king? I need to know."

Brooke looked at Ami with a small bit of confusion, "I thought that was something you already knew, but his name is Edwin… Uh, I can't remember his last name. He took the queen's last name when Crystal Tokyo was formed, I think?"

Ami could only stare at the girl in front of her after hearing who the king was, 'How did I not see it before now?!' Ami thought to herself in disbelief, 'Even though things have been altered here because of Mamoru's death, the future is still the same because he passed his powers to…?!'

"Oh, welcome back."

Ami snapped out of her train of thought when she heard Brooke greet Double D, who had just come back to the table they were at.

"Sorry about that. I was trying to call someone, but I couldn't get into contact with them," Double D stated as he sat back down, 'Not that they would answer anyway…'

"It's quite alright, Eddward," Ami replied with a small smile, "Brooke was showing me some of the drawings she's done in her sketchbook. They're very good."

Brooke widened her eyes at Ami for the compliment.

"I see!" Double D chuckled before grabbing one of the books in front of him, "Maybe I can also take a look at them, but I want to focus on finishing this book first."

"O-Okay!" Brooke smiled at him.

Author's Note (April 8th, 2024): Nice! Another chapter down, and plenty more of them to go!