On paper, Mamoru Chiba's newly won life couldn't have been better; he had Usagi as his wife from one day to the next, they had a sweet little daughter, and they lived together in a quiet, beautiful house in the charming Azabu-Juban district in Tokyo, Japan.
Planet Earth.
It could have all been perfect, an absolute picture-book life they were leading... aside from a few tiny little details:
The thoughts and memories of Usagi's entire family had once again been completely manipulated by Artemis V to make them believe the wild story of an adult Usagi who was studying international relations at Keio University, had a child, and a husband who was a respected doctor currently on a sort of sabbatical/parental leave to allow his hardworking wife to write her master's thesis.
Even Luna's memories had been partially manipulated so that she still didn't know who the good love Endy really was and that Usagi was currently living a complete double life. This, in turn, posed an enormous challenge for Diana, who had to keep her mother away from the Tsukino house because besides the secret in this already complicated story of an adult Usagi, there was also a mysterious new housemate named Kousagi.
For Usagi, however, it had become the hardest because she now had to take on three different roles at the age of fourteen; besides her life at home as an adult version of herself, she continued to fight as the superheroine Sailor Moon against Youmas at night and attended school during the day like any normal, ordinary teenage girl.
All around, constant stress was pre-programmed, making the situation a true mammoth task for all involved.
Considering all these circumstances, Mamoru's life was anything but perfect, not even on paper. But at least he had a life in this time. The other possibility would have been to be dead, without his Star Crystal, which had been taken from him by the vile creature named Galaxia.
Understandably, Mamoru was never particularly happy when Diana always reminded him with a reproachful look and an even more reproachful tone in her voice that everything they had built here in the past was based on nothing but lies. This also didn't make their search for the light of hope any easier.
At least they had taken the little girl from their vacation as a souvenir, who had been undergoing intense examinations by Diana in the days since their arrival.
As best as she could, because every time Diana brought out the white cat ball along with her supercomputer, Kousagi wanted to play with it or grabbed the magical items and quickly ran away. However, during her extensive sleep phases, Diana had the opportunity to extract quite a bit of data from the mysterious girl.
Unfortunately without a satisfactory result.
"She has a certain amount of energy, but it's definitely too little to even remotely contain a tiny particle of Galaxia's Star Crystal."
Diana sighed heavily and closed her little supercomputer after evaluating all the data about Kousagi. Her gaze was tired as she looked at the sleeping child on her commander's bed.
"Unfortunately, she can't really speak, so we can't ask her anything either."
There was a slight resignation in her voice as the little cat scratched her head with her paw.
"Honestly, we're at the very beginning of our research into the light of hope."
"I really don't understand this."
Mamoru began pacing in Usagi's room. They had recently converted her nursery into a shared bedroom with a large, impressive box spring king-size bed. The purple moon and rabbit blanket had to stay; Usagi insisted on it. Kousagi's nursery was now in the attic, where Mamoru had previously lived with Diana.
As he wandered restlessly through the room, he shared his thoughts aloud with Diana.
"When I kissed Usako in the hotel room, I felt a power that seemed to emanate directly from this toddler here. When I first met her on the tree in front of Rei's temple, this strange power was already noticeable. Although much weaker than during our kiss. I am more than sure that she has something to do with the light of hope. She is no ordinary girl. She can jump from a high tree as if it's the easiest thing in the world, she appears out of nowhere and finds us in a hotel miles away from Tokyo. No one seems to miss her in the slightest, and she obviously likes us very much and actively seeks our company. Diana, you can't tell me she has no measurable energy?!"
Mamoru was still struggling to find an answer to all these question marks in his head when he heard the front door open downstairs. A voice he knew all too well echoed joyfully through the stairwell.
"Mama, I'm home. Oh, Dad, what's going on, why are you so dressed up?"
Kenji's voice boomed through the hallway.
"Well, you know, I'm going to the embassy tonight for work to see Princess D and her royal treasure."
Mamoru and Diana winced at the words exchanged between Usagi and her father.
"Oh dear, the reception at the embassy. I had completely forgotten about that. This means that I will... kiss Usagi tonight!" The last sentence slipped out of Mamoru's mouth faster than he liked, but Diana's eyes lit up noticeably at his realization.
"Oh, that sounds like a perfect opportunity for us to lure out the light of hope!"
Mamoru just frowned.
"Why do you think we could find the Star Crystal at this event?"
Diana remained silent, opened her super mini-computer again, entered some information with her small paws, and finally turned the display towards him with a triumphant grin.
"Well, because my computer says so."
Before Mamoru could reply, the bedroom door was flung open and a transformed, adult Usagi entered with a rather displeased expression.
"That's not fair!" she complained. "Tonight the beautiful royal treasure of Princess D will be shown and everyone is going, except me."
Theatrically, she threw herself on the bed and nearly lay on the sleeping Kousagi. Mamoru chuckled at her sudden change of mood from sulky to shocked.
"Kousagi, oh my goodness, are you okay?"
The little girl rubbed her sleepy eyes and smiled half-asleep at her newly found mother.
Diana had thoroughly prepared for the adventure in the past and fortunately knew exactly what to say in her mother Luna's name to ensure that the events from the past would unfold as she had learned in the Luna-Artemis history lessons at home:
"Who says you can't go? After all, you have a Luna Pen."
Usagi's face lit up visibly at Diana's suggestion. She nodded eagerly, stood up hastily, and mischievously pulled out her transformation pen. With full enthusiasm, she called out:
"Moon Power, transform me into a beautiful princess!"
Magically, Usagi spun around until a few moments later she stood in her room in a mauve-colored, dreamy dress adorned with magnificent red roses on the décolleté.
Mamoru's eyes widened as he recognized the dress. It was as if it had been yesterday when she had appeared to him in his dreams in this exact outfit, pleading with him to find the Silver Crystal. Fascinated, he watched his little moon princess as she excitedly twirled around.
"So? What do you think? Don't I look like a real princess?" she cheekily asked the cat and her fake husband from the future.
Mamoru swallowed briefly before he could respond.
"Well, um... you look... nice." he finally managed to say and couldn't help but smile at Usagi's girlish enthusiasm as she admired herself in the mirror.
The world was simply a better place because Usagi existed in it.
"I'm going to the embassy tonight, I'm going to the embassy tonight, lalalalala!"
——————
A few hours later, Usagi put her words into action and bid farewell to Diana and Mamoru.
"Don't worry, Your Highness. Ikuko and I will take care of Kousagi, you can go too." Diana said to Mamoru, who was still standing in the doorway, watching Usagi dance down the street.
"It feels like it was just yesterday," he murmured thoughtfully, touching his lips with his finger.
They had never talked about that kiss at the embassy before. Usagi had once asked him if he remembered their first kiss when they had been standing on Unazuki's balcony together one evening. At that moment, he had been too confused about the exact definition of his first kiss with Usagi (in the Silver Millennium? At the embassy? During their romantic outing to the lake when Chibiusa had unexpectedly fallen on his head?), so Mamoru had decided to distract his little Usako with the full moon that was shining particularly brightly that night.
Regardless of whether it was their first kiss or not, the evening at the embassy would be special for both of them. According to Diana's analyses, the probability of the light of hope appearing at such encounters was high, and to avoid an absolute space-time continuum chaos, he needed something appropriate to wear.
"Diana, I honestly have no idea what outfit or disguise I should wear to go there. I can't just show up as a second Tuxedo Mask," he said, looking at the little white cat ball in his hands.
"Then go as your other secret identity." suggested the gray cat, snatched the magical ball, and threw it into the air, exclaiming loudly:
"Artemis T, transform!"
Instead of his favorite casual outfit, Mamoru was dressed a few moments later in traditional white clothing in a Near Eastern style, complemented by a white cape and an Arabic headdress in the same color. Even his mouth was covered with the white cloth.
"That might work," he murmured through his face mask, looking at Diana with a serious frown. "But I still think it's an absolutely insane idea to go to the ball at all!"
--
When he arrived at the embassy, Mamoru had to realize that he once again faced a very familiar dilemma; just like nearly a year before, the same strange guy stood as the gatekeeper in a small booth. Diligently, he checked off the guest list in a large, heavy book after thoroughly scrutinizing the people standing before him.
Mamoru was about to take a big step closer to the entrance when he saw his past self, disguised as Tuxedo Mask, resolutely heading straight for the booth man.
"Ah, to hell with it, what could possibly go wrong?!"
he thought and positioned himself right behind a young woman. How strange, she seemed quite familiar. She was the one who had sold him the magical mask at that obscure costume rental shop back then. The very person who had also enabled him to enter the embassy back then by thoroughly confusing the man in the booth with her following statement*
"Oh come on, don't look so stupid. Don't you recognize this famous personality?! He is none other than the legendary superhero Tuxedo Mask, also known as the former Prince Endymion of Earth and future King of the Neo Silver Millennium!"
The strange girl from the costume rental took advantage of the moment and pulled the slightly perplexed-looking, disguised past Mamoru through the gate while the booth man's face turned deep red and he frantically tried to find the previously mentioned name on the guest list.
Mamoru now also took advantage of this moment of utter confusion and panic, slipping quickly past the poor guy who briefly looked up but had to check his list again, his face turning even redder as Mamoru coolly greeted him with the words: "Hi, I'm the famous Moonlight Knight."
After Mamoru had made it into the embassy much easier than expected, he now faced the problem of what he should actually do next. He couldn't dance with Usagi, kissing her was also an absolute no-go and impossible anyway due to this silly white piece of cloth covering his mouth.
Clinging to the walls like a wallflower was an alternative, as he didn't know the rest of the guests anyway except for Usagi's father, and he certainly didn't want to run into him in this costume today. Diana had always found new excuses to avoid directly answering his question about how often one could actually reset people's memories, and Mamoru wanted to avoid using Artemis T on Kenji if possible.
So Mamoru positioned himself in true wallflower manner next to the punch bowl and watched the party as a silent observer. A drink certainly couldn't hurt and served as a great distraction from the emerging boredom of watching hordes of masked dance couples.
After the third glass of punch, Mamoru felt quite warm in the face and pretty comfortable in his outfit, and maybe he was also a bit too optimistic when he decided to chat with Nephrite, whom he had suddenly spotted in the dancing crowd.
"Hey, how's it going, old buddy?"
cheerfully, he patted his rather astonished antagonist on the shoulder, who was busily trying to make Naru fall in love with him.
"Excuse me, do we know each other?" The general of the Dark Kingdom turned around and narrowed his eyes.
"Ah, uh," Mamoru laughed lightly behind his white mouth cover. "Let's just say, we had a lot of fun in the good old days of the Silver Millennium."
With a frown, Nephrite looked at the empty glass in Mamoru's hand and gave him a fleeting glance before fully turning his attention back to Naru.
"Maybe you shouldn't drink too much of that stuff. It could cloud your perception."
'And I think you shouldn't serve Queen Beryl any longer and use young girls for your purposes.'
thought Mamoru to himself, downed his fourth punch glass, and directed his gaze back to the dancing couples before him.
The flash of a camera briefly obstructed his view. In some distance, his future father-in-law was enthusiastically taking pictures of the illustrious company. Quickly, Mamoru turned away from Kenji and his lens, blinking again as he saw his fake daughter happily dancing among the adults, clapping her hands in time with the music. Mamoru rolled his eyes.
"So much for don't worry, I'll look after Kousagi."
In a few steps, he reached the little girl, but in an attempt to pick her up, he accidentally bumped into a couple next to him.
Usagi was deeply startled as she looked into Mamoru's eyes and almost blurted out his true identity.
"Ma-, man, did you just step on my foot?" she barely managed to catch herself, but Mamoru now faced a completely different problem; he looked directly into his own eyes, which were, however, covered by a white magical mask. His past self seemed equally perplexed by the unusual sight.
"This is..." began past Mamoru, but was just interrupted by his future self.
"Good heavens, it must be the punch! Hell, what did they mix into it? You're already the fifth person who looks just like me since I started drinking this cursed stuff!"
Quickly, he glanced at Usagi before asking Tuxedo Mask:
"By the way, I'm looking for my little daughter. Red hair, tied into pigtails, tiny. Dances quite passably. Have you seen her by any chance?"
Usagi was about to say something when suddenly the security alarm in the embassy went off, interrupting the waltz music. Taking advantage of the confusion among the guests, Mamoru quickly continued through the ballroom to resume his search for the little girl.
After wandering around for a while, he finally spotted two small red heart-shaped hair buns that, along with the toddler, were about to slip through one of the large terrace doors. Mamoru followed her and arrived just in time to see Usagi and Tuxedo Mask safely floating down to the garden of the estate thanks to their pink magical umbrella.
Quickly, Usagi, in her princess gown, darted around a corner, ready to transform into her alter ego among the vines and hedges.
Mamoru sighed deeply and took a few steps toward the lively toddler as Tuxedo Mask disappeared from his view. With a thoughtful look, he knelt in front of Kousagi.
"What are you doing here? Diana and Ikuko were supposed to take care of you while Usagi and I are here at the embassy."
The little girl just looked at him with her big blue eyes and responded with a beaming grin on her face
"Chibi"
Mamoru couldn't resist her charm and instead of a scolding look, he gave her a warm smile. Sailor Mars and Mercury had also entered the battlefield and, together with Sailor Moon, were busily dealing with the Youma when the little red-haired girl grabbed Mamoru's costume and pulled him back onto the embassy's terrace. They came to an abrupt stop behind a pillar.
They stood silently in their supposed hiding place for a while, and Mamoru began to get bored. So far, he hadn't achieved anything here except helplessly witnessing the events of the past. Frustration tinged his voice as he looked down at Kousagi.
"Why do you want us to stay here?"
The girl put on a serious face, placed her index finger on her lips, and ordered Mamoru to be quiet. Shortly after, they heard footsteps and saw a familiar couple enter the terrace.
It almost felt like a fairy tale as the man, dressed in an elegant tuxedo and top hat, carried his slightly tipsy princess over the marble tiles in his strong arms. The moon was particularly bright tonight - almost like back then when Mamoru wanted to kiss his little Usako on Unazuki's balcony, and she asked him if he remembered their first kiss.
How crazy it was when his past self gently laid the princess down on a stone bench and leaned over her. He had never come this close to her in this life, and Mamoru felt every muscle in his body tense.
"A long time ago, in a distant past, exactly the same thing happened. I'm slowly remembering."
With these words, Tuxedo Mask closed the gap between himself and his moon princess and kissed her. It felt so right and at the same time almost broke Mamoru's heart that it wasn't he who could share this special moment with Usagi. But there was also another feeling. A feeling of... hope. After a few moments, Mamoru realized that this feeling didn't only come from the scene before him but also radiated from the small person standing right next to him.
Mamoru was more than surprised when he saw something beginning to glow in Kousagi's chest. The glow became more intense until it suddenly formed into a small golden crystal.
Mamoru was paralyzed by this magical sight.
A winged door to the terrace suddenly slammed shut, and all the magic vanished in an instant. So did Tuxedo Mask, who had left behind a visibly contently slumbering princess.
Before Mamoru could step closer to Usagi, Ami and Rei were already running towards the end of the terrace.
Holding his breath, Mamoru remained hidden behind the pillar until the coast was clear and only he and the little girl were left on the terrace. With a serious expression, he looked at the small mysterious person before him. Could it be that he was closer to the solution of all his problems than Diana and he had thought? He leaned down to the girl and asked her outright:
"Are you... the light of hope?"
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The girl who helps Mamoru get into the embassy also appears in some of my other stories like "Is it you Again?," "Hiring the Shitennou," as well as "The Key." Enjoy reading!