Waking up before Trevor-nii could start getting up, Usagi smiled down at her older brother as he started to shift around.

"Good morning, Trevor-nii," she called down, smiling at him as her brother's warm, brown eyes opened.

"Usa-ko? You're up early," he said.

"I know," she smiled. "It's great, isn't it?"

Trevor-nii seemed a bit confused, but when the two of them started getting ready for school he didn't say anything. Once the two of them were both dressed and ready for their next day, Usagi shut off her clock just before it could start going off, and end up waking Shingo, who'd probably come in and make fun of her. He always seemed to do that, even if there wasn't really anything Usagi thought she'd done wrong.

Sometimes, she thought that that was just something that little brothers did.

Once she and Trevor-nii had gotten ready for school, picked up their lunches from Mom and wished Dad a good day at work, Usagi smiled as she and her older brother headed out. She thought it was kind of nice, not having the morning feel so rushed, but she still wasn't any more fond of school than she had been. Still, not making Trevor-nii wake her up before school was the least she could do after everything that her older brother had done for her.

The two of them continued on their way to school, Usagi trying to keep herself from yawning as she kept pace beside Trevor-nii, and she started to wonder if there were some way that she might be able to keep herself awake better without resorting to coffee. Usagi really didn't like coffee, unless she added sugar and milk to it. As the pair of them continued on their way, Usagi spotted a poster hung on the window of a nearby drugstore.

It was Mikan Shiratori; one of the girls who'd gone to the same school as she and Trevor-nii and all of their friends had.

The poster was advertising some kind of energy-drink, and for a moment Usagi wondered if it would taste good. It probably would, since Usagi didn't think anyone would have used Mikan to advertise something that didn't taste good. Or any famous girl, really.

"Trevor-nii, do you think those energy drinks that Mikan-san is advertising taste good?" she asked, turning to look over at her brother as the two of them continued on their way to school.

"I don't really know, Usa-ko," Trevor-nii said, looking back over his shoulder at the drugstore they had just passed. "I don't think people really buy energy drinks for the taste."

"I guess you're right," she said, biting the inside of her lip as she turned back to the school building.

As the two of them continued on their way to school, Usagi wondered if this would actually be a normal day, and not one where she had to go out and fight youma from the Dark Kingdom as Sailor Moon. She didn't like the thought of having to do that again, but if it was what she had to do to keep everyone safe, that was what she would do.

When the two of them made it to school, Usagi smiled at the look of confusion on Haruna-sensei's face; it was kind of funny, the way that everyone didn't seem to know what to do now that she'd come in early the way she had. Settling into a seat next to Trevor-nii, Usagi took out her workbook and opened it. She looked over when Naru-chan came running into the classroom just a couple minutes after she'd made her own way in, but other than that, things seemed to be shaping up to be pretty normal.

Usagi was happy about that, at least.

"Usagi-san, Trevor-kun, look! I finally got the poster of Mikan Shiratori!"

"Isn't that the one we saw on the side of the drugstore, Trevor-nii?"

"Yeah, it is," her brother said, sounding like he didn't quite approve. "Umino-san, you didn't steal that from the drugstore, did you?"

"No, no. I ordered it over the internet," Umino said. "I've got a lot more, so if any of you want to buy one, I'll let you have it for cheap."

"We're not interested," Naru-chan said.

Umino sat down, taking out a fancy laptop computer that looked like he used it a lot, and started typing away on it. "Most of you probably know this, but Mikan Shiratori used to attend this very same school. She's seventeen years old, and has appeared in eight commercials. Each month she makes… two million yen!"

"Wow! Two million yen!" she could hardly even imagine that kind of money, not to mention making it each and every month. "I wonder how many pieces of shortcake I could buy with that much?"

Trevor-nii laughed gently. "There's more to life than shortcake, Usa-ko."

"Hey, I heard that Mikan was discovered here in town," one of the other girls said.

That started pretty much everyone talking about being a star like Mikan-san, but even though Usagi played along just like all of the other girls, she knew that that wasn't the kind of person she was anymore. Umino was being funny, pointing her out as the newest star that was due to be discovered by the talent scouts. It was kind of silly, and Trevor-nii seemed to think it was funny, too, so the two of them laughed together.

~SM~

When he and Usagi began to head for home, Trevor wondered for a moment if Mamoru-sempai was going to be interested in meeting with him today. And, if he was, what it was that they would be talking about.

"Trevor-kun, I was hoping the two of us would run into each other again."

"Mamoru-sempai," he blinked in surprise; it was almost like his own thoughts had called out to the older boy.

It was probably just a coincidence, though.

"Mamoru-baka, are you trying to walk off with my brother again?" Usagi demanded, stomping over so that she could glare at him.

"What, bun-head, are you worried your brother's going to want to move in with me?"

"Mamoru-sempai, can you two at least try to get along?" Trevor asked, putting himself between the two of them before they could really start fighting.

"Well, I suppose if it's what you really want, Trevor-kun," Mamoru-sempai said, smiling gently at the pair of them.

"I guess I can put up with him, just for a little bit," Usagi said, folding her arms and looking away angrily. "You just make sure he doesn't say anything bad about me while the two of you are talking, all right?"

"All right, all right, don't worry about it," he said, waving his hands in an effort to placate his sister.

Mamoru-sempai laughed. "The two of you are so funny."

He didn't really know what to say to that, so he said goodbye to Usagi and followed Mamoru-sempai back to the older boy's apartment. He didn't know if he should insist on stopping somewhere on the way, so that he wouldn't arrive there empty-handed, but Mamoru-sempai didn't seem interested in anything like that, so he didn't want to be a bother by insisting. When the two of them made it there at last, he thanked Mamoru-sempai for inviting him over and the two of them settled down at his kitchen table.

"Mamoru-sempai, why do you keep acting like that around my sister?"

"Honestly, I couldn't actually say," Mamoru-sempai said, looking genuinely contrite about what had just happened between the three of them. "Every time I see that sister of yours, it's like I can't control what comes out of my mouth. I feel like I always want to be honest with her, but… Somehow I always end up saying just the wrong thing."

"That's…" he looked down, sighing. "That's kind of sad, really."

Mamoru-sempai chuckled softly. "Yeah. I know it's kind of pathetic, but I can't deny that it's the truth." He seemed to gather himself then, sitting up straight and reaching out to take Trevor's hands again. "Still, all of that aside, I'm glad you're still willing to carry through with this."

"Well, I did make a promise," he said, smiling slightly.

Mamoru-sempai smiled softly, and Trevor did as well, feeling the same warm, strange energy that the two of them seemed to have in common. He didn't quite know what it was, or what the pair of them were ultimately going to end up doing with it, but he'd at least keep coming here until they managed to at least find out something about it. That was why the two of them had started meeting in the first place, after all.

~SM~

When he got back home, he found that Usagi didn't look particularly happy.

"Usa-ko, did something bad happen today?" he asked, making his way over to her bed where she was sitting.

"Oh, Trevor-nii," she said, smiling in a way that let him know almost more clearly than words that she wasn't happy at all with whatever it was that had happened to her today. "Uh… how did your meeting with Mamoru-san go?"

"It was all right; we talked about some things, and I think he might want to continue meeting up with me," he said, then paused to consider what he was going to say. He didn't want to embarrass Usagi by hounding her about what had gone on, nor did he want to make her feel like he was hounding her, but Trevor was still concerned about what might have happened.

"Are you sure there isn't something you want to talk about, Usa-ko?" he paused to steady himself, and then pressed forward. "You seemed kind of down when I first saw you."

"Trevor-nii, it's nice of you to worry about me like that, but I can handle this on my own," his younger sister said, smiling at him.

He knew that she was the kind of person who didn't want to trouble other people with her problems, but he still couldn't help worrying about her, since she seemed to be sad now. He didn't know just how he was going to be able to help when he didn't know just how she was really feeling. He almost wanted to ask her again, but he didn't want to be a bother.

All he could really do was help support her in the only way he really knew how; from now on, that was what he was going to do: he would support her in any way he could, and he wouldn't be a bother to her anymore.

His resolve fixed and firm again, Trevor turned and made his way to the room that he shared with his sister. Everything else aside, he still needed to take care of his homework. Mother wouldn't be happy with him if she found him starting to slack off, even with all of the new responsibilities he found himself laboring under. Mother couldn't find out about those, however, and all of that aside, Trevor wasn't about to use the fate of the world as an excuse for evading the responsibilities he'd already had.

That would have been the worst kind of thing to do.

~SM~

With the human girl that so many of the other humans all focused so much of their energy on having been replaced by one of his own youma, Jadeite smiled briefly as he began to draw in crowds of other foolish humans to give their own energy to the Dark Kingdom. Not that any of them would be able to suspect such a thing, or to do anything about it once he had ensnared them with the hypnotic waves from the transmitter he'd hidden in plain sight aboard the converted human vehicle he and his youma had appropriated for themselves.

Looking over the crowd that had begun to gather around them, drawn by both their own foolish curiosity and then held fast by the hypnotic waves, Jadeite smiled wider as he continued to act his part; first, he would take the energy of these foolish humans, then after he had drawn out that annoying Sailor Moon, he would finally be able to capture that boy that followed like a dog in her footsteps. It was a pleasing thought, and while Jadeite tried to put it aside for the sake of focusing on the mission that he had undertaken for Queen Beryl, he couldn't quite help smirking where none of the fool humans could see him.

This time, he would bring that boy before the queen.

~SM~

After school had let out for the day, Usagi found herself cornered by Naru-chan before she could go out and meet Trevor-nii so they could walk home together.

"Usagi, that stuff you were talking about, when you said that you had things to do and couldn't participate in the Cinderella Caravan… It's not about school, is it?"

"Naru-chan," she muttered.

Luna-sensei had said that she wasn't supposed to tell anyone who didn't know about her secret identity what she was doing as Sailor Moon, but she didn't really know what else she could say. Not with everything that had been going on; not with all of the danger that Trevor-nii had been getting into just because he knew.

"Oh… I understand," Naru-chan said, turning to walk away with a sad look on her face.

"Naru-chan, it's not like that," she said, reaching out to grab Naru-chan's right arm before she could start to leave. "It's something I have to do, or… Well, it won't be good if I don't."

"You're being really confusing, Usagi," Naru-chain said, then started to smile again. "But then, you've always been confusing. I'll see you later, Usagi!"

"See you again, Naru-chan!" Usagi called, as she herself turned to catch up with Trevor-nii so that the two of them could head for home.

She just hoped that the Dark Kingdom would keep staying quiet… if only the peace they had found could last forever…

~SM~

It was kind of a strange thing, but he'd been noticing more and more people gathered around those open-sided trucks with the banners that said "Cinderella Caravan" on them. He and Usagi had talked about them, and the only thing that the pair of them had been able to figure out was that they were more than a little suspicious. They'd discussed it with Luna-sensei, and she had agreed that at least one of them should make an effort to investigate them.

Still, in the end they'd agreed that there was more safety in numbers, and decided that the both of them would investigate one of the trucks.

As the pair of them continued on their way down the road, Trevor turned and spotted someone very familiar standing up the path from them.

"Mamoru-sempai," he said, blinking in surprise as he saw him standing there.

"Trevor-kun. What are you and your weird sister doing here?"

"I am not weird, Mamoru-baka!"

"Usa-ko, Mamoru-sempai, please don't fight!" he called, holding up his hands as he stepped between the pair of them.

"So, where are the pair of you headed in such a hurry?" Mamoru-sempai asked again, tucking his hands in his pockets as he stood in front of them. "You're not going to that silly Cinderella Caravan, are you?"

"Well, so what if we are, huh?! What are you going to do about it, Mamoru-baka?"

Cringing briefly at his sister's sheer animosity – she'd never acted like this with anyone else, he'd have remembered it, and hence remembered to avoid them in the future – Trevor wasn't really of a mind to catch what Mamoru-sempai said in response. He knew that it had probably been something that set Usagi off even more, because the next thing she did was grab his right arm and roughly pull him away.

"Usa-ko, I don't- I mean, I think we're far enough away from him, now."

"I don't see how you can get along with him, Trevor-nii. He's just, so-!" Usagi made a noise of annoyance, the same kind that he'd heard from her more and more as the two of them kept running across Mamoru-sempai on their way to one place or another.

He didn't quite know what to think about that, since it was starting to seem like there was a bit more than just coincidence that kept leading them to cross his path over and over again. He wasn't going to say anything to Usagi about it, since he knew she wouldn't have been eager to believe it in any case, but it was still something he'd started to think more and more about as time went on and they kept encountering Mamoru-sempai.

Putting those thoughts out of his mind as the two of them approached the edges of the crowd that had gathered around the open-sided truck with Mikan Shiratori-san standing on a stage in the middle of the space, Trevor narrowed his eyes slightly. There was something… off about all of this. Looking over at the man who was standing next to Mikan-san, Trevor had the feeling that the blond was somehow both interested and focused on him, for all that he seemed to be looking out into the crowd as a whole, Trevor couldn't help feeling the man's eyes on him.

Maybe he was just imagining things; he hoped so, at least…

~SM~

It was really weird, seeing all those people – not only girls like Naru-chan, but boys and even some adults, too – all getting so excited about something like this. Sure, it was fun to pretend to be a big star and all, but Usagi was starting to get the feeling that all of this was a trap by the Dark Kingdom and their monsters. She didn't like that, and while Usagi wanted more than anything for it not to be true, she knew now that just wanting something didn't make it come true.

When she and Trevor-nii had come to class just this morning, she'd found everyone acting like they were having a party instead of being in class like they were supposed to be.

Luna-sensei thought it was really strange, too, and she had said that a lot of people were neglecting their real responsibilities so that they could pretend to be famous stars. She knew that that couldn't be normal, so it had to be one of the Dark Kingdom's youma. She didn't like the thought of what she might have to face when she fought the new youma, but she also knew that there wasn't really anyone else who could help.

Sure, Tuxedo Kamen always seemed to show up when she was in trouble, but she didn't really know where to find him.

So, that was how Usagi found herself making her way to the convention center where the youma who had clearly been posing as Mikan-san had gathered all of the people that it had been planning to use for the Dark Kingdom's evil plans. Usagi just hoped that she wasn't going to be too late to help…

~SM~

He'd been kind of at loose ends when Usagi had insisted on going alone to confront whatever youma that the Dark Kingdom had sent out, and so Trevor had begun to make his way back home. He'd briefly considered stopping to visit Mamoru-sempai, but he knew that it would have been rude of him to just stop by without arranging things beforehand.

Pausing between one step and the next, as he felt someone's hand resting lightly on his left shoulder, Trevor started to turn around. But, before he could turn to look back at just who might have come up behind him, Trevor saw the edges of his vision beginning to fade into bright, colorless light…

… Remember, you made a promise…

When he came back to himself, Trevor found that he was standing just a bit closer to his house than he'd been before… Rubbing his head, Trevor tried to recall just what it was that had happened, during the time between when he'd set off for home, and when that strange light that he could only just remember had overtaken him. It seemed to be a hopeless task, something he really couldn't manage, and so it was with some worry that Trevor made his way back home.

When he'd made it back to where he and Usagi stayed with their family, he found Usagi herself sitting on her bed. His younger sister was giggling happily, so Trevor wiped the uncertainty from his face and settled down next to her.

"Oh, Trevor-nii," Usagi squealed, reaching out to cuddle up to him. "When that youma attacked me, and I was really afraid that I was going to end up frozen in that awful stuff forever, Tuxedo Kamen came to save me. But, what was really cool was that there was another boy with him! He was just as cute as Tuxedo Kamen, and he blasted that youma with his cane!"

"You fought another youma today, Usa-ko?" he asked, curious about just what his sister had faced while he'd been making his way back home.

Of course, that question prompted her to start in from the beginning, telling him the whole story. About how it had been the Dark Kingdom who'd been drawing in all those people to the Cinderella Caravan. It explained that strange feeling he'd gotten when the two of them had been watching the truck with the youma that had evidently disguised itself as Shiratori-san.

It was kind of a strange feeling he got, when he was hearing his sister talk about how much progress she had made in her fight against the youma, before it had seemed to get in a lucky shot. Hearing about how his little sister had ended up imprisoned in some kind of strange substance that almost sounded like liquid glass from her description of it wasn't the most comforting thing in the world, but he'd gone a long way toward resigning himself to supporting Usagi from the sidelines.

She was a Chosen Guardian, just like Luna-sensei had said all those weeks ago, and as much as he did wish he could be of more help to her, it was more than clear by now that he was just going to be a liability to her on the battlefield; still, as long as he could make sure that Usagi was safe and happy when she did get the chance to rest from the constant fighting, he could endure that.