"Endy Earth?"
"No, too close to Chiba"
"Endy Moon?"
"Sounds like a South Korean Surname"
"Endy Osaka?"
"I'm not Naru's brother!"
"Endy Shitennou?"
"Mhmmm..." Mamoru frowned "That could work." He gazed at the little cat who was busy entering the given information into her super mini computer highly concentrated.
"Can you tell me the reason why we have to invent a surname for me? I will neither work in this past, nor I'll need this name apart from here." Mamoru eyed her actions critically.
"It's just to be on the safe side, Royal Highness." Diana replied, her gaze still focused on the screen in front of her. "Since you've decided not to manipulate Usagi's mind with Artemis Ts capabilities, we need to make sure that your vita is correct and without any gaps. Having said that, we should avoid any lack of information. Particularly if we make any sort of accidental meetings with your past self. Always remember"
She closed her laptop and lifted her eyes up to the tall man sitting next to her on his bed
"I learnt from the best and don't want to confuse the people living in this time not more. It's not recommended manipulating people's minds too often, this could be dangerous."
"It's probably the best to find Galaxia's Star Seed as soon as possible then." Mamoru said rather to himself "Do you have any more information when and where it could appear?"
Diana jumped from the bed over to the little coffee table and grabbed a little rabbit shaped cookie from a jar, placed on the table.
"Uhhhh, they are burnt!" She made a disgusted face and spit out the remaining parts.
"Usako has made them for me as a welcome gift." Mamoru grinned and shrugged mildly "She definitely needs to improve but they are not bad."
By saying this, he got himself a few and chewed them bravely.
"Well, it's not that easy to gather information concerning the Light of Hope at the moment. Since Amy joined the team, we have someone who could help us with the data analysis. Perhaps we can manipulate her and thus, let her work for us?"
Diana suggested innocently but couldn't explain further details when both heard a voice coming up from downstairs.
"Endy? Are you there?" A few moments later, Diana was hidden behind a little shelf while Usagi had climbed up the ladder to the attic and was now standing in front of Mamoru. With a delighted look at the coffee table, she cupped her cheeks and spoke
"Ohhh, you like my cookies!"
"Yeah, not bad at all, thanks again for putting so much efforts into making them." Mamoru kindly returned.
"If you like I can make you some more." She had now a slightly too friendly expression on her face which made Mamoru suspicious concerning her true intentions.
This was Usagi's "I need something from you" face. He had known it too well from various situations throughout the last one and a half years with her.
"I heard that you are having some sort of university holidays and I was wondering if you could help me with something?"
Now they were entering dangerous terrain.
Throughout the last few weeks Mamoru had managed to establish something like a friendship between him and Usagi, although this had become not that easy for him at all.
Mamoru knew that they were on a mission and that they weren't allowed to change anything in the past. But he loved Usagi so much and acting like nothing but some sort of a simple friend was purest torture for him.
There were a lot of situations occurring when he was close to tell his secret.
One weekend, the Tsukinos and him decided to have a picnic in the park. It was his favorite place in Tokyo and when the familiar wooden bench came into his view and Usagi had asked him to have a seat there in order to enjoy the beautiful landscape, he was close to tell her that he was from the future and wanted to spend the rest of his life together with her.
There was an evening when Usagi suggested to watch a movie in the living room. Her parents were out for dinner and Shingo stayed with a friend. Even Diana and Luna weren't at home because of their investigations concerning the Dark Kingdom.
So they both were sitting together on the couch, covered with a cosy pink blanket, a big bowl of salted popcorn in Usagi's lap and were watching a horror film. One of the really scary ones. It didn't take Usagi that long and she clung nearly for the whole duration on Mamoru's strong arm.
It even became worse when one scene scared her this much, that she jumped by screaming loudly onto Mamoru's lap and stayed there for the next fifteen minutes.
A quarter hour of purest torture for Mamoru within he desperately tried to control himself and was somehow thankful to watch a horror movie and not something romantic.
The worst thing was though, that Usagi wasn't able to sleep alone in her bed after watching this film and sneaked into his room when he was almost fallen asleep after he successfully had calmed himself down.
Usagi snuggled up against him and with the mumbled words that she would be deeply relieved to have someone like him who could protect her, she was happy and satisfied asleep. Mamoru lay awake the complete rest of the night.
Needless to say, it was getting worse when she uttered things in her sleep like "Endymion, don't leave me alone" or "Tuxedo Kamen-Sama".
Simply saying, it was a curse and a blessing to be with Usagi like that. But it wasn't the truth and he had to find this damned Light of Hope as soon as possible. At least this was his current opinion.
Completely untouched by all those thoughts running through his head, Usagi was still standing in front of him and finally got out her request when she gave him one of her cutest smile
"Would you mind tutoring me in a few subjects, please? I'll pay you in rabbit cookies and bake you the best lemon cake you could think of. I am also pretty good in making curry rice!"
This would mean nothing else but another situation which could torn Mamoru in two. Being close to Usagi, spending time with her. It was exactly what he wanted but not under those conditions.
"You know I'm currently snowed under with my studies, also during the holidays...and..I don't have much time...so..." he started hesitantly but stopped with his excuse when he saw that tears were building up in every corner of her eyes.
„It's okay, Endy, I understand. The annoying guy who I keep bumping in on the streets is probably right. I am a hopeless case."
'Wait a minute! Is she talking about my past self? I am such an idiot!!!!'
Suddenly, Mamoru felt more than guilty when he remembered all the bad things he had told her during their first encounters. Of course he couldn't know at this early stage that Usagi was a super hero, pretty busy with rescuing the world by moonlight. He didn't exactly know why he had done this - acting like a moron to this wonderful girl - but when he saw her now behaving so insecurely and he actually had been the reason why she felt so bad, Mamoru couldn't keep her in this miserable state any longer.
"Usagi, please don't think so about yourself. This bloke is obviously a complete moron who has nothing better to do than upset teenage girls on the streets. Honestly you don't deserve to be treated like that."
Through her tears, Usagi managed to give him a small smile which remembered him painfully on the moment he had looked into her eyes when Beryl had wounded him mortally and he was about to die in her arms.
She didn't have to tell him what she was thinking at that moment when he understood that at this early stage of their acquaintance, Usagi had already fallen for his past self. Regardless what he might have told her or how he had treated her at that time.
Their eternal love always had been in their hearts already and there wouldn't be any power of the universe - not even Galaxia - able, to destroy this unique love which both felt for each other.
"Well, he is not that bad to be honest. It always feels a little weird when I see him because he really looks like you, your voice are almost the same. If I wouldn't know it better, I would say that you are the same person apart from the fact that you are a little older than him, have a better taste in fashion and don't act like a complete jerk around me."
Usagi giggled now and sounded relieved that she had spoken out what seemed to have been lying on her mind for a certain while now.
"I see, well I have to admit that I am happy to hear that the bloke who looks like me, is not a devil at all. I would be quite happy to tutor you. Just let me know the subjects and the time when we could work together and I'll see when it fits into my schedule, okay?"
She rewarded him with a bright smile which only the most powerful light of this world could give.
"Thank you so much, Endy! It means a lot to me. Recently my marks became worse since I hardly can follow in class because my life isn't easy at all at the moment with fighting all those..."
She flushed deeply when she realized that she might have given some sort of hint to him that something else kept her quite busy such as fighting youmas at night.
Mamoru gave her an encouraging smile back and tried to distract her from her fauxpas.
"Don't worry, I've been a teenager, too. This is a quite exciting time for any of us. There is a lot of things changing and we suddenly realize that there is a little more to discover on this lovely planet."
"Oh yeah indeed."
After her reply, there was a little pause when neither of them spoke but they just looked into each other's eyes. This peaceful moment between them was about to last for a little eternity until a beeping, coming from Usagi's skirt pocket, abruptly ended their sort of friendly conspiracy.
Oh, bummer! I'm running out of time...ahhh, thanks again Endy, but I have to go now. I need to catch the five o clock bus...err...right, okay err bye!"
By saying this, Usagi headed out of the attic and ran downstairs as fast as she could.
"Five o clock bus? This is an information which belongs to the awakening of the third Sailor Senshi Mars, doesn't it?"
Diana had come out of her hiding and within a second, her VR glasses were switched on and hectically she entered something in the computer.
Mamoru took a long gaze after his fiancée and absently he replied.
"Yeah, that's true. Today Ray will find out that she belongs to the Sailor team. It will be the best for us to stay here."
After a few seconds, Diana looked up from the screen and put on a very serious face.
"I don't think so. If my assumptions are correct, we have a high probability that the Light of Hope could appear on this special event."
"Perfect! Can you tell me how I shall go there?!" Usagi, Amy, Ray and Luna will be there...and of course a certain male super hero, dressed in a tuxedo, will be around, too. I cannot go there without causing a huge fuss to everybody. That's impossible!"
Mamoru crossed his arms and beamed at the little grey feline.
"Again, I don't think so." She returned mischievously and pulled out the little white cat face ball.
"I don't know if you remember the time when your subconscious mind had been kind of divided in two parts but we do have a perfect disguise in order to get you to the battle ground completely undercover."
"What do you mean, Diana?" Mamoru frowned and felt a little lost because of her weird explanation.
Without giving him a chance to say something further, she threw up the little ball and shouted
"Artemis T - transform!"
A loud bang resounded and was followed by a pink smoke cloud which started to absorb a startled Mamoru. A couple of moments later, the smoke dissolved and the view became clear again.
He was wearing a traditional white middle eastern style clothing, added with a white cape and an Arabian head covering in the same colour. Even the region of his mouth was covered with the white fabric. With wide eyes he looked upon himself and finally he gave an astonished gaze back to Diana.
"What is THAT?!" He managed to mumble through his face mask and pointed to himself.
"The perfect disguise in order to sneak to the battle field. I even added a little brooch with a crescent moon on it. You can thank me later. Let's go and find the Light of Hope."
By saying this, Diana hopped cheerfully off his bed and made her way downstairs.
'It's still the stupidest idea ever.' Mamoru stated in his mind 'but I'm doing this all for you, Usako.'