"The sound of music is the sound of romance. It is the sound of love and heartbreak. And one man was able to reproduce that sound so vividly that he touched people's hearts over 3000 times."
"That may be true, Minako-chan," But that kind of romance can feel uncomfortable and frightening sometimes. Even if you knew about it in advance."
"I... I agree, Setsuna-san. Falling in love makes you nervous and insecure about your feelings and actions."
"Oh wow! The two of you seem to be reproducing the sensations of falling in love very accurately yourselves, Mamoru."
"Sigh... Please let Mamoru and me concern ourselves with that matter, Minako-chan. You concern yourself with your chart ranking."
"Minako-chan fights to reach number one in the Oricon charts and also to save the national treasure! The hits keep on coming!"
Chibi-Usa gazed in awe at the ornate altar before her. She gazed in awe at the exquisitely detailed triptych depicting Maria Magdalena healed by Jesus Christ, Maria Magdalena grieving while present at Jesus Christ's crucifixion, and Maria Magdalena witnessing Jesus Christ's resurrection. She gazed in awe at the immense gilded baldachin that drew her eyes to the top of the sanctuary and ultimately to heaven.
Next to the pinkette in the white shirt with small floral decorations and long black skirt sat her handsome girlfriend Carolina Rodriguez, praying with a look of serenity on her face at which Chibi-Usa also gazed in awe.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Carolina inquired before she opened her eyes.
Her girlfriend followed her gaze around the interior of the grandiose Church of Saint Maria Magdalene. She couldn't do otherwise but agree that the architects who designed the towering house of worship dedicated to the patron saint of penitent sinners more than adequately managed to make any mortal who entered it aware of his or her humility in the presence of God.
"It's amazing how they built this huge and gorgeous church building on an artificial peninsula in just over one year. I wish I had the talent to paint this," The pinkette gushed.
"I know," Carolina chuckled. "For the praise of God, I truly want to one day represent this beauty with the talent he granted me the pleasure of developing."
"Yeah… " Chibi-Usa tentatively started with a somewhat confused look. "I didn't expect you to be a religious person."
"Seriously?" Carolina reacted while tilting her head.
Only to lower her eyes a second later and declare with mock severity: "Frankly, I'm insulted at the apparently irreverent image you have of me."
"And is this why I heard nothing of you the weekend after our first kiss?"
Carolina turned an adoring look on her kouhai and brushed her hand through the pinkette's right odango while staring into her intense red eyes.
"To be honest, I never truly believed you would return my feelings, Coelho Ardente," The blackette in the green sleeveless shirt and knee-length gray shorts confessed.
"I have to start my apology by mentioning that I always tried to explain away my sexuality as an appreciation for the beauty with which God graced human females without feeling any desire beyond visual appreciation.
I'm afraid I could not keep up that lie when I laid my eyes on you and was able to deepen our friendship.
So the day after I hurt those girls from my previous school because of my love for you, I had a fierce struggle with myself."
"That sounds intense," Chibi-Usa said with concern for her girlfriend.
"Let's just say that I found myself unable to defeat my attachment to you," Carolina smiled.
"Which probably makes me a sinner who - worse still - desires to subject you to sinful behavior."
"What…?" Chibi-Usa swallowed in momentary confusion about the last words.
"I have to say I don't know how to feel about turning you apostate because we love each other."
"I know," Carolina said. "And I can't believe God means for that to happen to us simply because our love cannot be consummated.
I believe God means for all of us to bring forth life and that all life is sacred, but I cannot believe he rejects forms of mutual love solely on the basis that they don't result in procreation. To me, that does not sound like the God I know.
Indeed, this may only be me making up excuses for my sin, but I truly believe God wouldn't want to turn two people away from each other when they want to make each other happy and help each other find his love and pray together for the Kingdom Of God on Earth."
"I don't know about all that, to be honest," A nervous Chibi-Usa mildly protested when the consideration entered her mind that she is more concerned about helping to establish the Kingdom of Crystal Tokyo on Earth than she is the Kingdom of Heaven.
"I'm not a particularly religious person."
"Then being able to baptize you will only prove a greater tribute of my love for God and my humble desire to do penance if my love is sinful," A passionately speaking Carolina said while leaning closer to her girlfriend.
"A… Are you going to baptize me…?" Chibi-Usa asked in apprehension while glancing over at the baptismal font.
"Not if I'm a sinner, obviously," Her girlfriend shrugged. "Although I'd love to baptize you. We'd get one of the priests here to do it.
I used to have my place of worship at Saint Ignatius Church in Kojimachi, but with my current desire to prove my love for God and prove to Him that my love for you is in His service, I think this church is more appropriate for now."
Ignoring the flirting girls sitting in the pews he passed by, Heinrich Faust involuntarily winced when the brown sports jacket the tall broad-shouldered man in the beige trousers was wearing chafed the fresh wounds on his back.
It felt good to him though that the discipline he used for the self-flagellation the Palatine regularly submitted himself to in his rooms in the church tower inflicted such pious wounds.
'But perhaps these wounds too are the mere product of vanity in hoping God will recognize my desire to do penance,' The man with the lush half-curling hair considered as he opened a door in the back of the chancel. 'Because God would never recognize the penitence of a creature who organized the creation of this unholy building that aims to mimic a church.'
Closing the door behind him, a sense of unease immediately took hold of Heinrich Faust.
Turning left in a dimly lit hall, he took a key from the chain around his neck and opened the heavy wooden door before him.
The door led to a wide stone staircase from the depths of which dim sounds of industry rose.
Faust did not need to descend so deep as that, since he reached his subterranean chambers after stepping down three levels of stairs.
The man in the brown sports jacket and beige trousers flicked on the light in a wide hall of about 7 meters to 7 meters.
Heinrich Faust walked towards the stone table to the right of the door, from which he picked up a piece of chalk.
He walked towards the center of the hall and drew a summoning circle.
Then he stepped back and declared in a loud clear voice: "To hell with the laws of men and God! I desire to know all! The most stern wisdom and the most insensible love!"
"And did I not enable you to know those extremes and everything in between?" A cruel booming voice inquired as a column of gray mist rose from the summoning circle to the two-and-a-half-meter-high ceiling.
"I wonder," Heinrich resentfully replied. "Perhaps if you did so, the five of us wouldn't have ended up so mercilessly trapped by your depraved trickery."
"Hahahahahah! I'm afraid there must be knowledge that is not for me to possess either, Herr Faust. Perhaps the knowledge that might have kept you without sin was lost to me when I pondered how best to gain your resourceful soul," The booming voice of Mephistopheles laughed before it continued in a more serious tone. "But then… that first part may not be true for much longer.
On that note, what good news do you have for me of our progress?"
"The golems are making great strides in their task," Faust sighed. "The remnants of the Dark Crystal have been distributed according to your directions and are being polished into the desired forms as we speak."
"Good. Good. Soon the Sailor Guardians will be removed as obstructions and we will be able to alter the very fabric of existence. This time, Herr Faust…" Heinrich heard the creature that owned him and his beloved say with a quality beyond mortal desire in its voice. "We will succeed."
The robust Palatine wished he was clever enough to trick Mephistopheles into revealing what he desired so much to accomplish.
He was aware that the defeat of Sailor Moon was supposed to lead to it, but his owner never went into detail as to what he intended to follow that victory up with.
"I know you have been begging Him to grant mercy to the others. You have been praying most ardently, Herr Faust."
With uneasy surprise, Faust stared into the periwinkle eyes of Mephistopheles's human form. The likeness of a handsome manly nobleman of a bygone era that he adopted during their acquaintance in the early 1600s. The broad-shouldered man with a neat graying hairdo and beard in the blue-and-black-checkered shirt and gray trousers stood in the column of sleet and mist, staring at Heinrich with his insidious eyes.
"He won't listen, Faust. You know he won't listen. Why would he listen, after all, when you still desire her body?"
Heinrich violently averted his own eyes from the shape of the creature that had accompanied him in travels of discovery and debauchery all over the world.
As a teacher and a companion. Almost as a friend. Even though Faust hated to admit to it.
"The only thing I desire for Gretchen is her salvation!" The tall clean-shaven black-haired man exclaimed. "You don't know me that well, Mephistopheles! You don't know me that well!"
"Hahahaha," The fiend quietly laughed. "I know you well enough, Herr Faust. You may wish for her deliverance, but your lust is too great. Every night you flail your body to punish it for its desire.
You know her deliverance will only come about through me. Just like your own deliverance will only come about by helping me accomplish the destruction of the Sailor Senshi. Our beautiful friend Gretchen has been highly successful in striving for that destruction.
She sold me her first souls. And what deliciously depraved souls they are to take your places at the time when you manage to repay me for my kindness in granting your wishes.
The rest of you had better take an example of her."
"You monster," Heinrich started to weep while hissing the words.
With a cunning smile, Mephistopheles saw his possession lean against the stone table near the door.
"You monster… The things you made me do… so you could win your bets with us. The things you did to her to make her fear you so much that she would take another human being's life for the sake of escaping further torture."
"It does not matter!" Mephistopheles crowed. "It doesn't matter. You are both my property now and are perfectly aware of your only way out."
The creature's handsome gray-haired human shape put his hands in his pockets and stared at Faust while his possession recovered his self-control.
"All that matters is your mission. I urge you to pray Frau Schwerdtlein succeeds in hers this weekend."
"This is absurd," Minako muttered in shock while staring at the announcement board.
"This absurd," Makoto - in a similar state - gasped while blinking.
"I don't know what I can say to help the two of you accept this," Ami said, standing next to a proud Usagi. "But I'm afraid you're going to have to accept it. Usagi has been making steady progress in her grades since the start of the previous school year."
"It's inconceivable just to see you suddenly score within the 700's," Minako sulked while turning to her blonde friend.
"But what's even worse is how you jumped several rankings over us!" She and Makoto exclaimed in unison.
"This is severe betrayal, Usagi-chan," Minako scolded her friend.
"Yeah. Ami-chan is the clever one, Rei-chan is the absent one, and we are the three underachievers," Makoto nodded.
"How the heck did you manage this kind of score anyway?"
"You didn't help her cheat, did you, Ami-chan?" Minako inquired while stroking her chin.
"Me helping Usagi-chan Cheat?" The blue-haired genius protested. "Now that's absurd."
With Ami starting to walk towards their classroom, the other three followed and continued the conversation in the hallways.
"This is all Luna's doing," Usagi whined. "One day she simply announced that with the absence of enemies for over four months she should take the opportunity to start tutoring me. I asked why and she told me the future Queen of Crystal Tokyo should be a well-educated ruler.
Since then, she's been tutoring me without pause or mercy."
"If Luna can achieve these results with you," Minako pondered. "There's no telling what she could achieve with me.
Maybe I should ask her to tutor me. As an idol a great tutor is paramount for my school-career-leisure balance."
"So are these private study sessions the reason why we've been seeing Luna covered in bruises and you covered in cuts this past year?" Makoto chuckled while Usagi cringed.
"It's like a real-life catfight," Minako laughed. "Don't underestimate Luna. Usagi-chan may have the upper hand in weight and strength, but Luna is a cunning fighter and wears her opponent down into submission."
Upon entering their classroom, Usagi headed to her seat and pulled it back.
"Luna is far too strict a tutor," She grumbled as her friends laughed and chattered. "You better look for another private teacher, Minako-chan."
Once everyone had taken their seats, Makoto carefully observed Ami's back two rows ahead of her and leaned closer to Usagi.
"Say, Usagi-chan," The powerful brunette whispered in her friend's ear. "Has Ami-chan been talking to you about the Honda brothers?"
Usagi's expression turned troubled at the mention of the surname.
"Whenever I ask her about what happened she turns moody and says the only thing she can do for their sake now is get more powerful as a Sailor Senshi, so she doesn't lose anyone to the enemy again."
"Same story, huh?" Makoto sighed.
Usagi stared at her friend's back and lowered her eyes in defeat.
"I feel like she's disappointed. And not just in herself, but also in me for not being able to bring the Honda brothers to life again.
It's the same for me as it is for Hotaru-chan. Their souls are guarded by extremely powerful magic. I simply can't bring them back to life, because I can't reach their souls to revive their bodies."
"Nobody is blaming you, Usagi-chan," Minako whispered behind her back. "Or Hotaru-chan or Ami-chan.
We are all heartbroken about what happened, but the enemy has the upper hand for the moment since they have the element of surprise.
We should remain hopeful that we can still set things right once we defeat them."
"I know," Her friend smiled sadly. "I think the loss hit Ami harder when she learned the two men the enemy killed were acquaintances of Ryo's uncle."
"Ami-chan did express a loss of confidence in herself as a Sailor Senshi," Minako whispered. "I think I understand how she feels.
The loss of my mother to illness was a big factor in my motivation for wanting to fight the Dark Kingdom when I became Sailor V.
I wanted to save other people from having to experience that kind of loss. I suppose that's why Ami-chan wants to become more powerful as a Sailor Senshi too."
"Hush…" An eagerly smiling Makoto silenced her friends as everyone got up. "Time to lift our spirits, girls. Cartier-Sensei has arrived."
With a slightly haughty expression, Christopher Wagner entered the classroom that was being attended by a full one-third of the Soul Merchants' enemies.
"Class, be seated," The handsome wiry thirty-something with the neatly trimmed caramel-blonde mustache and marquisetto beard most of the girls in class had fallen in love with nodded curtly.
His gentle light-blue eyes wandered to a slightly built boy with messy dark-brown hair who sat in the left corner at the back of the class.
The stout young man next to the boy nudged his companion.
"What? Oh! I'll take attendance, Sensei!" Haruto Ôta reacted in confusion.
Christopher nodded curtly as Haruto started to read the names on the sheet of paper on his desk.
"Mizuno Ami-san?"
"Present."
They were past the point of no return. They had willingly and purposefully taken the lives of two men. They were now murderers as well as sinners.
Christopher sighed at the reflection. He pitied Gretchen for the lot that had befallen her due to Faust's and her transgressions. The lot he shared with them through his own transgressions.
The lot he wanted to escape with as much desperation as the rest of them.
A desperation born from absolute terror for a repeat of the excruciating pain they had been subjected to and vile acts they had been forced to commit for hundreds of years.
"It is good to see that everyone is present," Wagner said when Haruto Ôta finished his task. "I am sure you have all seen your scores and rankings in the mid-term exams. Congratulations have been earned, because almost everyone here improved their score relative to last year's spring mid-term and final exams."
The mustachioed man in the light-blue short-sleeved shirt and brown trousers looked at Ami, who had her eyes cast down in self-reproach.
The death of the Honda brothers and her emotional turmoil over what she saw as her failure to protect them only had a minute effect on her efforts for the spring mid-term exams.
Even so, the effect was visible in the points she lost in her score even if she kept her usual rank.
Christopher Wagner observed and pitied the girl Mephistopheles had tasked him to eliminate as a threat.
His scholar's soul admired Ami, but his fear and self-loathing urged him to seek the "redemption" his tormentor had promised.
"Almost everyone succeeded in raising their performance according to the goal we outlined at the start of the school year. Mizuno-san. Ôta-san."
Ami and Haruto raised their eyes to their handsome teacher with apprehension.
"The two of you alone underperformed during this test period.
To put you both back on track I have decided on a motivational assignment I want you to work on together," Christopher said. "You will stay after school every Wednesday to work on the assignment and deliver the finished result in autumn."
Ami despairingly realized this meant she wouldn't be able to tutor Hotaru anymore.
She hated to have to disappoint her friend. But she also worried that - while she wouldn't have to give up any after-school hours to the assignment, provided she and Hotaru couldn't schedule another moment to continue the tutoring - Haruto Ôta was less an underachiever and more simply unmotivated and not bright enough to be of any use during the assignment.
"Cartier-Sensei!" Usagi protested while standing up. "Please reconsider! Ami-chan is the top student in our school. She will make good for her lower score on the spring finals. And while Haruto-kun might benefit from working on this assignment with her, she would be losing study time to get into her university of choice."
Ami looked at her friend with gratitude for wanting to spare her the waste of time in her final year while she wanted to devote more time to getting stronger as a Sailor Senshi.
"Tsukino-san," Wagner sighed. "I do not take this assignment lightly. When I see a top student underperform, I know there is a deeper lying problem."
Ami lowered her eyes and bit her lip when her teacher looked her in the eyes.
"In your final year, you boys and girls don't have time to spare," He continued. "I am quite aware of this as your teacher.
But motivation is paramount to doing well on your university entrance exams.
If that motivation is wavering in Mizuno-san and Ôta-san, assigning them to a task together where I can closely monitor their performance provides a powerful didactical tool.
I hope you agree with me that the goal here is not to let Mizuno-san perform as the top student of our school on her university entrance exams but to let her perform to the best of her abilities.
And as the student who made the most progress in class, I think you will agree that there is no telling how someone like Ôta-san might perform with the right motivation?"
"Hahaha!" A blushing Usagi giggled while rubbing the back of her neck. "Thank you for the compliment, Cartier-Sensei. I'm sorry for protesting your decision."
'Is this girl such a powerful adversary?' A perplexed Wagner pondered. 'She was going to stand up for her friend and now she's dropping her like a brick over one silly compliment.'
"In any case, Ôta-san. Mizuno-san. I will give you the details of your assignment tomorrow after school."
Ami nodded while worrying about her schedule.
Haruto simply wondered why everyone was acting as if he didn't matter.
The rain that had poured down all Saturday morning turned into a gentle drizzle by the time Minako was on her way to her recording studio session.
Nevertheless, the lanky blonde in the green summer vest over a printed black T-shirt and white short skirt still needed to carry an umbrella.
"Geez… The rainy season is starting early this year," The celebrated idol whined to her cat, who was along for the ride in the green bag his mistress carried over her shoulder. "I feel all sweaty from the humidity."
"Hmph…" Artemis reacted with a roll of his eyes. "You humans think you have problems in this weather. How do you think my fur feels in this hot humid weather?"
"You didn't have to come along, you know?"
"As your career manager, I have to be present while you record your new single," The white cat sternly declared. "That's just how it is."
A sly smile appeared on Minako's face.
"The truth is you simply enjoy the glamor of it all. Isn't it, Artemis?" The blonde teased. "The stylish clothes. The cool people. The hustle and bustle. The cute kitty cats…"
"No… That's just you," Artemis coldly commented. "And don't tell Luna I look at the other cats or I'll get in trouble."
"Why do you have a girl's name anyway?" Minako tried after remembering something Ami told her. But no answer came.
Minako watched the people they passed by who were similarly holding umbrellas to protect themselves from the steady drizzle. One young couple made her dream up some lyrics she might write for a future song.
"You're nervous, aren't you?" Artemis asked.
The blonde idol looked down at her green bag to see the cat's eyes on her.
"About Tsutsumi-sensei being present at the recording?" Her cat clarified his earlier statement.
"I met him before," Minako said while looking away.
"Briefly," Artemis nodded.
"I feel a little awkward about the performance of the recent single, that's all," His mistress finally admitted.
"Why? It's not your fault."
Artemis watched how Minako stared ahead without reacting.
It was on a melancholy rainy day like this, he reflected, that the illness took her mother, so many years ago.
April 1985
Having fetched her stuffed rabbit from her bedroom, Minako scuttled back to the side of her dear mother in their spacious western-style living room.
Akina Aino was still talking to the interviewer from the authoritative fashion magazine her husband founded seven years ago.
Her long blonde hair was done up in a stylish bun, her slim graceful figure was clad in a long expensive light-green dress with a thin knitted beige bolero jacket over her shoulders.
"Oh, I guarantee you, Aino Akina-San," The interviewer chuckled. "Your outing into acting while playing the charming spy, Shizuka Fuda, will long be remembered."
"Thank you, Ishikawa-san. You are too kind about my acting ability," Akina timidly smiled.
"Mommy was a spy?" 5-year-old Minako asked while sitting on her mother's lap.
"No. You misunderstand me," The interviewer smiled. "Your mother was in a movie where she pretended to be a spy."
"Can I see your movie, Mother?"
"I think you might be old enough now," Akina said while caressing her daughter's cheek. "It's not a particularly scary movie."
"It seems like Minako-chan inherited all of her mother's beauty," Jin Ishikawa doted. "How would you feel about becoming a famous fashion model when you grow up, Minako-chan? Just like your mother. You'll get to wear lots of pretty clothes and people will take pictures of you and film you…"
"Can a fashion model sing and dance?" Minako quietly asked.
Jin grinned at the reaction.
"If her fans think she's good enough," He said. "But that sounds more like an idol than a fashion model."
"Then I would like to become an idle."
"If you make enough money singing and dancing you might," Jin joked.
Then, with a sigh: "Although - and please don't tell your father - I think it is a waste that your mother doesn't appear in Kamae or on the catwalk anymore. Aino-san made your mother a superstar when he was a photographer. But after he founded Kamae, your mother slowly disappeared from the spotlight."
"The spotlight was never really my place, Ishikawa-san," Minako heard Akina Aino quietly say without comprehending the subject of the discussion.
"If not for dear Yukochan's powers of persuasion I would have continued to live my life in the dim autumn lights where I feel most comfortable and ended up with the boring life of an office lady.
I feel most happy living at home where I take care of Minako-chan."
A sad grimace appeared on Jin Ishikawa's face.
Kamae's most influential writer was well aware of how Yuko Aino's affection for his wife had dwindled since the birth of their daughter.
Everyone at the office talked about Akina sitting at home all day where she pines for the attention of her husband who is always busy with work.
"Any flower, no matter how great its beauty will eventually fade and die if it is denied the sun's light," He poetically stated.
To the man's surprise, Minako suddenly put her hands to her eyes and started to weep.
"Please don't let the flower die," The little girl entreated while sobbing out loud. "If you give it enough light it might not die after all. Please save the flower."
Jin chuckled as the earnestly affected Minako was hugged by her mother.
"Ishikawa-san didn't mean any real flower is going to die, Minako-chan," Akina gently spoke. "He was using a figure of speech. All the flowers will live long and happy because they will always stand in enough sunlight to keep them healthy, even if that light is not as plentiful as it once was."
"Your mother is right, Minako-chan," Jin said. "And even if that flower is happy living in the dimmest of lights, I will keep trying to get her into the sun again."
Akina lowered her eyes to admire her slowly soothed daughter and coughed. It was the first of many times she would cough, all through the spring of 1985. By the time summer started she would cough no more.
She left behind a husband who largely neglected her during her illness and a deeply distraught daughter who missed her mother and would grow up into a teenager who desperately craved the love of a man devoted to her.
Setsuna was utterly engrossed by the stitching of the tartan skirt worn by a mannequin in the display of a boutique that was not Sparkles.
The awkwardness of the work on display bothered the tanned woman in the black skirt and the salmon-pink cardigan over a white shirt more than she would be prepared to admit.
Something inside her felt it an affront on the side of the store owner to present such a sub-par product to customers.
With a sigh, the greenette unfurled the matter from around her mind.
The truth was that she had been walking around the city with some boredom, seeking something to do for about an hour.
She almost called up Assistant Professor Higashi to ask him if he had some time to spare.
But an hour was all she had, and he tended to talk his way into spending more time with Setsuna than she was prepared to grant him.
"Meiou-san, how are you?"
"Aaah!"
Recovering from her fright, Setsuna turned to face Mamoru, who backed up to avoid her black umbrella.
"Mamoru-kun," The greenette sulked. "You shouldn't sneak up on a lone woman like that. It's very unsettling."
"I'm sorry," Mamoru said with an amused grin. "I assumed you saw my reflection in the window."
"Mamoru-kun," Setsuna suddenly turned serious on the young man in the beige summer jacket over a purple blouse and red trousers."Isn't it about time we get a little more friendly with each other?
I realize we are both on the verge of becoming working adults, but aren't we close enough to dispense with the polite talk by now?"
"Alright," Mamoru demurely nodded. "Setsuna-san?"
"That's much better," Setsuna reacted, flashing the young man a bright smile.
A smile that seemed to catch the light of the sun that was breaking through the clouds, or that's how it looked to Mamoru.
There was suddenly an otherworldly beauty to Setsuna's expression. A tint that wasn't there before. A quality that made her seem more real and prominent among the other sights and sounds around him.
Mamoru scarcely could have said why that was.
"What were you thinking about before I startled you?" He asked.
"I have an appointment in about half an hour to pick up Minako-chan from the studio where she's recording her new single to go shopping together as a way to keep her company while she rewards herself.
I was considering what I could do to keep myself busy in the interim."
"Minako-chan has been doing that a lot recently," Mamoru chuckled. "I just finished my patrol with Rei-chan, who commented on Minako-chan having started a small boutique at home."
"Minako-chan can afford it of course," Setsuna shrugged while closing her umbrella. "And I enjoy keeping her company while she fits.
With her elfin-slender body, she's a perfect friend for me to dress up in any ensemble I can think of. I suppose we're utterly enabling each other."
"Sounds like it," Mamoru nodded. "And I agree, as long as she doesn't go into debt there's little harm in her having fun shopping around."
Setsuna regarded the black-haired man with some timidity.
"Mamoru-kun, do you have any occupation in the next hour or so?"
"Like I said: I just finished my patrol. After that, I went home for a shower and I got dressed.
I was heading to Usako's house to have dinner there, but I have a couple of hours to spare if you want someone to chat with."
"Good," Setsuna smiled. "Care to chat while drinking together in the studio's artists bar? Minako got me a pass and I can bring someone along."
"How chic," Mamoru chuckled. "I suppose I can't let such a chance down."
"You certainly cannot," Setsuna grinned at her friend's amusement while scratching an itch in her earlobe.
While the image of the motion ingrained itself in Mamoru's memory, the pair started to walk.
"For the longest time I wanted to ask you something, Mamoru-kun," Setsuna casually spoke. "Does Usagi-chan buy your clothes?"
"Usako buys me some things for my birthday or our anniversary," Her companion confessed while they strolled along the shops by the side of the road.
"But I mainly buy my clothes myself."
"I see," Setsuna nodded to herself. "And how would you rate the way you dress yourself? On a scale from one to ten."
Mamoru's confidence in his ability to dress himself never had occasion to waver. Neither his friends nor Usagi's friends had ever commented on his clothes.
But that only had him feeling that his sense of fashion was in line with theirs.
Only Usagi had given him the occasional frown. But it was normal for a girlfriend to nag a little and be uptight about what her boyfriend wears, wasn't it?
"I'd say I'm a comfortable seven," Mamoru chuckled in surprise at the question.
The young man saw the tilted stare his green-haired friend regarded him with and for the first time in his entire life, Mamoru felt a foundational part of his manhood shake.
"Su… Surely you think I'm a six?" The man with no self-awareness stuttered.
"Mamoru-kun," Setsuna respectfully said. "Would you mind if I borrowed you for an afternoon and took you to town for a complete restyling - not only of your wardrobe but of your entire sense of fashion?"
"Hahaha!" Mamoru innocently laughed out loud. "This is all in jest, isn't it? Usagi put you up to this. She must be hiding somewhere."
Setsuna's eyes grew wide in apprehension when her friend looked around the corner of the building they just passed by and tried to spy his girlfriend hiding behind other pedestrians.
"It pains me to say so," She sighed. "But I don't jest when it comes to fashion. Except for that time you arrived at a casual indoor party dressed in beachwear."
"Wha…?! You were mocking me?" A hurt Mamoru exclaimed. "I was so happy you were on my side."
"I am on your side, Mamoru-kun. But I can support you in this folly no longer."
"But…"
"Tick-tock. Tick-tock… Using the nineties as an excuse is about to lose its validity forever."
"Fine. I'll be in your care," A broken man said while hanging his head.
"What a relief," Setsuna smiled. "I can finally save you from yourself."
"That's a bit harsh," Mamoru laughed, prompting his friend to join him.
"Sorry," She said. "I don't joke around about fashion, but I do enjoy teasing my friends if they dress like a Picasso painting.
I suppose you can't help it though. You never knew your parents, so you never had any role models to learn from."
A thought flew into Mamoru's mind and he was suddenly engrossed by a question he never really considered before.
"Do you know who your parents are?"
Setsuna stopped laughing and looked at him.
"I have no idea," She said. "My earliest memory is of finding myself in the Moon Kingdom and Sailor Saturn bringing me to Queen Serenity. I knew who I was and what I liked and disliked. But I had no idea where I came from or how I arrived in the Moon Kingdom."
"That must have been scary," Mamoru said. "I'm sorry you found yourself in such a frightening situation."
"Wha…?"
To her surprise, Setsuna blushed at the words of concern.
"Yes. It was unsettling and I was grateful to Saturn and Queen Serenity for caring for me so much. Queen Serenity did what she could, but even she couldn't look into my past. Or my future for that matter. She could only see what I already knew for myself: That - as Sailor Pluto - I am the guardian of spacetime."
Setsuna was a little shocked at her reaction to Mamoru's words. The outers never really asked her much about her life as the guardian of spacetime because they thought it was a lonely existence and were sure Setsuna would be more interested in talking about her current life.
In truth, being the guardian of spacetime was super cool, because she got to see the entire history of the Moon and its people, as well as Earth's history and human development in real-time.
But after a few hundred thousand years, the novelty did wear off a little.
That's when Sailor Pluto started to take an interest in what would be considered the more frivolous aspects of life: Fashion.
An interest which she freely indulged back during the days of the Moon Kingdom and in the present day.
Nevertheless, the Setsuna Meiou who became so jaded about history and evolution, now stood babbling and blushing on a warm humid spring afternoon because someone whom part of her still considered the most boring young man she ever met expressed pity for the fate of the lost and confused Sailor Pluto of the past.
She would have laughed at herself if she could see it.
"So in gratitude for everyone I got to know in the Moon Kingdom, I decided to protect my new friends and guard the door of space and time."
Observing how impressed Mamoru was by everything she said, Setsuna took the chance to recover herself and tease the young man in the process.
"But more than anything," She smiled. "I want to protect my friends from terrible fashion choices."
Artemis drowsily looked up from his basket by the side of the mixing console to see Minako emerge like a flower spirit from the live room underneath the "ON AIR" display.
Kyohei Tsutsumi watched the audio engineer doing his work. Both of them were listening to the last track they just recorded when Minako's manager, Fuji Hamasaki, left their side to greet her.
"Well done, Aino-san," The handsome blonde man in the green shirt and dark-gray trousers gushed while patting his protégé's back. "I could see you had a hard time at first. Ultimately though you delivered a few stunning performances."
"You think we have another big hit on our hands, Hamasaki-san?" Minako eagerly asked while closing the door behind her.
The young woman glanced at Kyohei Tstutumi, not catching how the producer of over 3001 hits grinned imperceptibly at her inquiry.
"You let me do a lot of retakes," She addressed the sound engineer. "I suppose I was a little nervous with Tsutsumi-sensei here to observe."
"No need to be nervous around me, Aino-san," Kyohei gently spoke.
Minako grinned as a little girl as the lean soft-eyed man looked at her through his spectacles.
"You proved to be a talented vocalist who has become a professional in her domain. As professionals, we both contribute our parts to create the hits the public expects of us. Which you did with great success once more."
"Thank you for your praise, Sensei," Minako bowed to the man in the dark-blue suit, white shirt, and light-blue necktie with a big smile.
"Tsutsumi-sensei is correct," Fuji Hamasaki smiled. "You worked hard to reach your current level of ability. Ai No Shojo has become a major brand name on par with Natsuki Ozawa and soon with Miho Nakayama."
"Maybe even on par with Kyoko Koizumi someday?" Minako smirked.
"Now, now," Kyohei quietly chuckled. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Those days are over."
While Minako giggled at her own expense, Artemis jumped from his spot underneath the "ON AIR" sign, walked over to his mistress, cried mew, and purred around her legs.
Understanding the hint, the blonde checked her watch and realized that Setsuna must be waiting for her in the artist's bar for about a quarter of an hour already.
"My apologies everyone," The celebrated idol hastily bowed. "But I have an appointment with a friend that I should honor. Please excuse me for leaving early."
"That's quite alright, Aino-san," Fuji Hamasaki chuckled. "Business is important, but friends are important too. Especially for young girls."
With a few strides, the man with the neat blonde hair opened the door and opened it.
"Let me escort you outside so these two gentlemen can work their magic on your vocals… Oh!"
Artemis plucked his ears up when he noticed that his mistress' manager seemed to bump into something invisible before exiting the control room.
Minako hadn't noticed, however, so she followed Fuji into the hallway.
"Are you going shopping again with Meiou-san?" The man smiled. "Well, it's important to invest part of the money you earn when you earn big, but it's also important to spend part of it to your heart's content."
Minako nodded as they proceeded past the doors to other studios toward the stairwell at the end of the hallway.
She felt safe under the guidance of the rather flashy man who treated her like she was his daughter.
The idol had a much closer relationship with her manager than with her real father.
"Meiou-san and I are going to visit Sparkles and a few other boutiques, yes," She guiltily chuckled. "The summer is coming up, you know? So I need some new beachwear and summer dresses. I only hope… "
"Aino-san, excuse me."
Surprised by the tension in Kyohei Tsutsumi's voice behind her, Minako turned to face the lean man. Her manager and Artemis followed suit.
"I'm sure you have been frustrated by the sales of your most recent single…" The old man quietly spoke. "It is not something we discussed just now, because these things should be understood. But I was worried whether you might after all have misunderstood, exactly because of the silence on the subject…"
"My recent single…" Minako hesitatingly said. "I feel like it wasn't able to fulfill its full potential…"
"No, Aino-san," Kyohei smiled kindly. "The fault lies not with you but with me. There is a vast amount of experience in music production that lies within…"
Overcome by the confession by one of the greatest names in Japanese pop music, Minako watched the man point to his forehead.
"But in opposition to this experience is the fact that it becomes harder for an old man to feel an affinity with the sound of the time.
Although these things largely remain the same, some trends are unique to each era. And in this era where so many of these artist-types are always reinventing what has already been done before I am afraid I delivered you a defective product that lacks the soul of the time.
It does not matter. If you fail to write a hit you discard it and try again. I am confident in the music I wrote for your new single and you have delivered a beautiful vocal performance as always. Let us look to the future."
"But my current single isn't defective at all," Minako began to weep. "Don't underestimate its potential, Sensei! I am sure that if it misses the soul of the time, given enough time it will become more popular."
Kyohei Tsutsumi fell silent as he saw the slender blonde in the green summer vest over a printed black T-shirt and white short skirt raise her hands entreatingly and speak in a high thin voice while tears streamed down her pale cheeks.
"Please don't discard a song you worked so hard on, Sensei. Even if it is not beloved by as many people as we would like I know it is a song that makes people happy."
To Minako's surprise, Kyohei started to laugh.
The lanky blonde wiped her eyes with the wrist of her right arm while Fuji Hamasaki offered her a handkerchief.
"I do not often meet with a person who joins the soul of an artist and that of an innocent-style idol within herself. But when I do, I know I have found someone special."
Minako's watery blue eyes looked up into Kyohei's old wrinkled eyes.
"You are right, Aino-san. Every song touches someone's heart. This old man was taught that a song only has worth if it becomes a hit.
I am used to seeing songs as products that must perform. But history has proven that some songs need time to blossom and reach their full potential. Maybe this will happen."
With a smile and a head pat, the legendary producer turned toward the studio, leaving Minako and company to turn to the other end of the hallway.
Marthe Schwerdtlein decided otherwise.
"Abandoning your creations to their misfortune is a most heinous sin," The Bavarian's incorporeal form muttered as she slid a small clay ball from a knitted pouch on her left hip. "Let us do our utmost to obtain the soul of this irresponsible sinner, Schlager."
"Thump!"
Minako turned around as if in slow motion upon hearing the sound. She watched the clay ball bounce up and down in time with Kyohei's footsteps while the man walked towards the control room.
"Thump!"
The blonde hurried her right foot forward.
"Thump!"
Fuji Hamasaki observed in wonder how his frantic protégé ran behind KyoheI.
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
And then, Kyohei Tsutsumi closed the door to the control room behind him, with Schlager landing right behind his left foot.
Minako arrived in front of the door two seconds later.
The talented idol's brain raced for two more seconds while she stood with her hand on the doorknob.
"I'm sorry, Hamasaki-San!" She exclaimed, turning and running past her manager and Artemis. "I need to go…"
With a bang, the door to the control room exploded behind her and Minako Aino realized she had run out of time.
A thrilling guitar riff built tension while Fuji Hamasaki watched a shadowy figure slowly emerge from the darkness surrounded by smoke.
Schlager came forth, two heads taller than Kyohei was. Her long wavy black hair had a cute butterfly-clip over her right ear. Silver sunglasses contrasted and covered her eyes. A shiny white blazer with stand-up peak lapels over a black shirt. A bright blue skirt coming down to her knees, and a matching Yamaha guitar in her hands.
The large red 24 on her forehead had Fuji Hamasaki blinking in astonishment.
"Tsu… Tsutsumi-sensei…?" The man muttered.
"Hamasaki-san!" Minako exclaimed. "Run!"
"Glad to see you all gathered here, my dearly beloved fans!" Schlager loudly cheered while the soundwaves from her voice knocked Fuji out.
Minako frantically hurried toward the man and attempted to save him from hitting the floor, but the taller blonde smashed into her and they both fell on the shiny floor of the second-story hallway.
"I'm so grateful to all of you for coming to see me!" The golem continued.
Artemis saw his mistress crawling from under her manager's unconscious form and ran towards her to warn her against standing up, but he didn't reach her in time.
"We are going to have a wonderful time together tonight!" Schlager sang. "I promise to bring you hit after hit!"
"Whaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiih!" Came from Minako in an icy scream as the blonde's slender body was swept up and she was knocked out against the wall next to the door of another studio, her long locks floating in the air before landing on her unconscious form.
"Ah…" Schlager sighed without noticing how Artemis seemingly disappeared before her eyes. "I guess I'll just have to find a more devoted audience on the street."
Before the golem made another move, her guitar was shot from between her hands by a single red rose.
"Ah…!" Schlager exclaimed when her instrument landed on the floor.
As she looked in the direction the arrow came from the golem saw a man dressed in a black tuxedo standing near the door to the stairwell and a green-haired woman in a black sailor uniform standing behind him.
"I'm afraid you will have to graduate early," Tuxedo Mask declared. "You see, in this industry - as in any other - it shouldn't be allowed to use violence against girls who are only seventeen years old."
Schlager turned and thought about running for cover back in the studio but she saw her way barred by a young woman in a red Sailor uniform who was carrying Minako in her arms and had Artemis on her shoulder.
"I wouldn't try it if I were you," Sailor Mars warned. "I may have my hands full, but these red high heels will send you crying in a cotton handkerchief if you dare come my way."
"This is only for you," Sailor Pluto said as she raised her Garnet Orb, creating a whirlwind around herself.
"Dead scream."
As she lowered the Garnet Rod and pointed it at Schlager, a violet ball of energy formed around the Garnet Orb at the top of the rod.
Super Sailor Pluto turned around her axis once and launched the violet energy ball.
But not before Hilverding ran from the door to the restroom to her left and jumped into her, causing the energy ball to explode into the wall to Schlager's right and Sailor Pluto to bump up against Tuxedo Mask.
"I want to be recognized, but I must protect my privacy!" Schlager exclaimed while its clay shape launched itself from Kyohei Tsutsumi. "I'm an idol after all."
"Let's leave these inbreds behind and escape through here!" Hilverding called out to the golem in the form of a little girl in a white-and-blue costume.
"Let's get to our feet, Tuxedo Mask!" A blushing Sailor Pluto exclaimed while she lay in the young man's arms. "Or we'll let another golem get away!"
"They won't get away so easily," Sailor Mars reacted while Schlager ran toward Hilverding.
Carefully lowering Minako onto the floor, the Senshi of Fire and Passion couldn't immediately attack the little girl and the dark-brown-haired boy, so both ran into the restroom before she could spring into action.
Sailor Pluto was faster and ran through the door to the ladies' room, with Tuxedo Mask in pursuit.
But they came too late and stood by in defeat while hearing the splashes that told them their prey had escaped through the toilets.
"Ah!" Minako winced as she slowly came too.
"Minako-chan!" Artemis called on her in alarm. "Are you okay?"
"Be careful," Rei smiled at her friend while gently supporting the girl's head, arms, and upper body with her right arm as they sat on the floor. "You had a bad fall. It seems to me like your left arm might be broken."
"Ow!" Minako winced again. "I can feel it. I'll have to cancel a few shows if that's true."
"Let's not think about that for now," Rei hushed the blonde. "The important thing is that all four of you are safe."
"Tsutsumi-sensei? Hamasaki-san? The sound engineer?"
"They survived without a scratch," Mamoru - who had hauled the latter from the control room and placed him beside the former two in the hallway - smiled. "They'll be out of it for a little longer, but they're fine."
"We saved a Japanese national treasure. But another golem escaped," Setsuna sighed. "So we are down to two golems at large again."
"And we are down one soldier for the time being," Rei nodded. "But we aren't going to do any good beating ourselves up over it like a certain someone has been doing."
"That's right," Mamoru said. Something in the way Setsuna smelled and the way she felt when she was lying in his arms earlier made him afraid to look at her.
"We are still on the back foot, but we did not lose the battle today. We will continue with the current plan and defeat the enemy next time they strike."
It sounded like an inspiring speech. It was something a good leader would say. And he as their Prince had to inspire them to fight on.
'That's right,' Mamoru reflected. 'There's nothing to worry about. The love Usako and I share will transcend all temporary matters.'