The sun glinted off Ryoku’s swords as he silently practiced on the roof of his apartment. Well… his and his sister’s apartment now.
“Here you are!” Makoto shouted from the ladder leading down off the roof. “I was looking for you all over the place!”
“What for?” he asked, without stopping.
“No reason,” she replied, climbing up onto the roof with him. “I was just wondering where you went.” She looked around as he continued his routine. “Nice view you got here, Ryo-chan.”
“I know,” he replied, finishing his routine and replacing his swords behind his back with a flourish. “I never get tired of it. Especially the sunrises and sunsets.”
She regarded him for a moment. “You know, I never could figure out how you could hide large things like that without it showing,” she admitted with a grin. “Small things, yes, but not large things.”
“Usagi-chan constantly asks me the same thing,” he replied, half-grinning. “It drives her crazy sometimes since she has to know, but I won’t tell her. I keep telling her that it’s magic.”
She chuckled a bit at that. “I can just imagine her begging you to tell her.”
He nodded as he turned to watch the sun as it drew closer to the horizon. “How were things before you left?” he asked quietly.
“With your old friends?” she asked. He nodded silently. “They’re fine. After you left, things were quiet. After all, those guys you took care of were watched more closely, like you said they would be.”
“So, who’d you beat up in order to get transferred here?”
“Oh, just some guy who thought he could take advantage of my feelings.”
“Looked like your long-lost senpai?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Let you follow him around like a puppy?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Treated you like dirt and had you doing practically everything for him?”
“Just about.”
He shook his head slowly as he turned back to his sister. “It’s amazing how many guys look like your long-lost senpai to you. A lot of them don’t even come close, yet you say they look like him anyway. Then, whenever you try to go out with one of them, you find out that they’re either jerks or have a girlfriend already.”
“Some of them were close, though.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” he muttered dryly.
“Thanks,” she retorted just as dryly. “By the way, that other sword of yours…. Where did you get it?” She gave her brother a skeptical look. “I doubt you bought it somewhere.”
“I found it in a tree in the park,” he replied. She continued to give him a skeptical look. “Really, I did. Just ask Luna. She helped me find it.”
She shrugged as she walked over to the edge of the roof and sat down with her feet dangling over the edge. He half-grinned as he sat next to her. “This is my favorite place to come whenever I need to think,” he told her as he stared out over the horizon.
“I can see why,” she said in a reverent voice. “Quiet, beautiful view…. I might come up and join you every once in a while.”
“Really?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
She shrugged. “Maybe. I’m here now, aren’t I?”
“Point made. Anyway, what’s for dinner?”
Makoto grinned as she nudged her brother with her elbow. “I’ve only just moved in! Can’t you make dinner? You’ve been doing fine before I got here, anyway.”
“Yeah, but you’re so much better than I am. I’ve missed your excellent culinary expertise.”
“Okay, but on one condition.”
“Which is?”
“While I cook dinner, you have to play for me. I haven’t heard you play in quite a while.”
Ryoku half-smiled in amusement. “Deal. Any requests?”
She considered the question. “Whatever you play is fine by me.”
“All right, then,” he replied as they both got to their feet. “After you,” he said, gesturing for her to precede him. Makoto went straight for the kitchen, while he went to his room for his guitar.
Both of their rooms were at the end of the hallway, his to the left and hers to the right. He was glad to see her room finally being used, since the emptiness it used to have depressed him on occasions. Now that his sister was here to fill the emptiness, he wasn’t as despondent as he usually was. But then again, there was still something missing in his life… and that lingering emptiness still managed to depress him from time to time.
“Thinking about her again, Ryo-chan?” Makoto asked, as he came back with his guitar. She had put on an apron and was in the middle of preparing two of his favorite Chinese dishes: gyoza and lo mein.
He grimaced faintly as he watched her prepare. “Am I that obvious?” he asked with a soft sigh.
“I’ve known you my entire life, Ryo-chan,” she chided. “It’s not that hard for me to tell what you’re thinking. After all, I can always tell what you’re feeling by looking in your eyes.”
He shrugged slightly as he began to softly strum a few warm-up chords. “I don’t know, Mako-chan. You’d think I would’ve put all of it behind me. It’s been three months short of five years since it happened and yet….” His fingers faltered in mid-strum as he quietly sighed.
Makoto looked thoughtfully at her brother. She’d seen him go in and out of depressions ever since his last girlfriend, Keiko, had left him so suddenly and in such a way. He had never fully recovered from that blow to his heart. Just like he did, she thought they were practically meant to be, they way they acted around each other. But now that Keiko was no longer a part of his life….
“Ryo-chan…,” she said slowly and deliberately, “have you ever considered… you know… finally moving on with your life and start looking for another girlfriend? I mean, do you want to be by yourself for the rest of your life?”
He looked up from his guitar and gave her a blank, empty stare. “I…,” he turned his gaze down to the floor and started to stare at the carpet underneath him. “I….”
“What? What’s wrong?” she asked, momentarily abandoning the food now cooking on the stove and going to his side. He looked away from her, as if to hide his face from her. “Come on, you can tell me. I’m your little sister. Your Imouto-chan. You’ve never hidden things from me before.”
“It… it’s nothing, really,” he replied, not very convincingly.
“Don’t lie to me, Ryoku,” she admonished sternly. “What’s the matter? Don’t you trust me?”
He turned sharply to stare at his sister as he put his guitar aside. “How can you ask me such a question?” he asked with a small frown. “Of course I trust you, just like you trust me.”
“Then, why won’t you tell me what’s wrong?” she insisted.
“Because I don’t know!” he retorted irritably. She jerked back a little at the force of his shout. “I’m… I’m sorry, Mako-chan,” he said apologetically, staring at the floor again. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. You’d better tend the food before it gets burned. I’d hate to be the reason dinner gets ruined.” He picked his guitar back up and started to play as she went back into the kitchen.
She looked back at him with a concerned expression before tending to dinner. Maybe it was a bad idea to bring up that subject again. I keep forgetting how much he actually cared for her. There’s no way I can bring up how Ami-chan looks so much like Keiko-chan now.… She shook her head in frustration as she stirred the lo mein in its pan. He shouldn’t be torturing himself over something that happened almost five years ago. He needs a new girlfriend, but I have no idea how to convince him to start dating again.…
The next day, Makoto went over to Hikawa Shrine after school to meet with the others, since they were all going to help each other with their homework. Ryoku had declined to come along, saying that he had something that he needed to take care of today. He would join them later, after he was finished with whatever he was going to do.
She really liked the shrine. It was so beautiful and peaceful there. The atmosphere had a certain calming effect on anyone who came seeking tranquility.
Then again, the shouting that was now coming from one part of the shrine wasn’t helping very much. Shrugging to herself, she went over to see what had sparked this argument between them.
“I said no!” Rei shouted.
“Come on, Rei-chan! I just wanna see them!” Usagi shouted back.
“We’re supposed to be doing homework, not reading my manga!” the black-haired priestess retorted.
“Lighten up!” the blonde girl countered. “Mako-chan and Ami-chan aren’t here yet, so we might as well wait. Let me see your Sailor V manga! Please!”
“Hey guys!” Makoto interrupted before Rei could shout something at Usagi.
“Hi, Mako-chan!” Usagi answered as she tried to grab one of Rei’s manga and failed.
“Hi, Mako-chan,” Rei answered as well, after giving Usagi a stern glare. “Is Ami-chan or Ryo-kun with you?”
“Ami-chan’s on her way, but Ryo-chan’s got something he has to take care of first before he joins us,” she replied.
“Really?” Usagi asked as she successfully grabbed the manga from Rei. “Did he say what it was?”
“No,” she replied, shaking her head. “He just said he had something that he had to do right now and that he’d join us later.”
“Oh,” Rei replied, her expression turning concerned. “I see. Well, I hope he doesn’t show up too late.”
“You hope who doesn’t show up too late?” Ami asked while walking through the door and carrying a few textbooks in her hands.
“Ryo-kun,” Usagi answered, looking up from the manga. “He’s not gonna be here right away. Mako-chan said that he said that he’d join us when he’s finished with some business that he had to take care of.”
“But he never told me what he was going to do, or how long he was going to be,” Makoto added. “It’s not like him to keep secrets from me….”
All three girls looked at Makoto with concern. “Mako-chan,” Ami asked carefully, “why does Ryo-kun seem so… depressed all the time?”
“Yeah,” Rei added, nodding. “He doesn’t smile very often and when he does even his half-smiles seem a little sad, as if he doesn’t really mean it.”
“He won’t tell us why, and we’ve asked him several times about it already,” Usagi said, putting down the manga. “Can’t you tell us what happened to him to make him act like this?”
Makoto looked down at the floor for a moment, deep in thought. I want to tell them… but I’ve promised Ryo-chan that I’d never tell anyone. He keeps saying that it’s his story to tell, but sometimes I wonder if he’s ever going to tell it.… She looked back up at her friends. Her friends… and her brother’s friends, too. All they want to do is help, but if I tell them, Ryo-chan will know I broke my promise and betrayed his trust.…
“I’m sorry,” she finally said after a long moment of silence between the four of them. “I can’t tell you, even though I want to.”
“Why not?” Usagi asked.
“Because I made a promise to him that I’d never tell anyone, unless he said I could. He said it was his story to tell and he’d tell it when he was ready.”
“What if we guessed?” she asked. “Could you tell us if we’re right?”
“Lay off already!” Rei chided. “She can’t say anything about it, so quit pestering her!”
“Don’t tell me that you’re not dying to know, either!” Usagi snapped back.
“At least I know when to back off!” Rei countered. “Unlike some people.”
“Take that back!”
“Why should I do such a thing?”
“Enough, please!” Ami shouted, trying to be heard over them before they could start sticking their tongues out at each other. “We’re supposed to be working on our homework, remember?”
“Sorry,” the two replied as they bowed their heads apologetically.
“You know, Ami-chan,” Makoto said aside to her, “I’m surprised at how they manage to argue about everything, even my brother.”
“Maybe it’s because he’s cute,” Ami replied absently as she opened a textbook.
“What?” both Usagi and Rei exclaimed at once as they stared at the blue-haired girl in astonishment.
Ami blinked in surprise for a moment until she realized what she had just said. “I… said, ‘Maybe it’s because they think he’s cute’,” she replied in a lame attempt to cover her mistake, but the damage had already been done.
“Sure, Ami-chan,” both Usagi and Rei said slyly in unison while Makoto just gave her a considering look.
Ami blushed furiously as she stared down at her textbook and sweatdropped while trying to avoid looking at anyone. That had to have been the biggest Freudian slip I have ever made in my life.…
Ryoku knocked on the door and waited for an answer. He noticed the doorbell, but he never really used them unless no one answered when he knocked. After a few moments of waiting, the door opened and a red-haired woman answered the door.
“Yes?” she asked, standing in the doorway.
“I’m here to speak to Naru-chan,” he replied. “My name is Kino Ryoku. I’m a friend of hers.”
“Wait a moment, please,” Naru’s mother said as she turned from the door. “I’ll let her know you’re here.” She went down the hall towards Naru’s room.
He waited by the doorway for her to return. A few seconds later, she returned with a concerned look on her face.
“I don’t know if she’ll be much company,” her mother said worriedly. “She’s been in such a deep depression for a while now and….”
“I know,” he cut in gently. “That’s why I’m here.”
“I haven’t had much luck in helping her,” she admitted. “She just says that I can’t possibly understand and starts crying again. I don’t know how to get through to her.”
“I’ll do my best,” he said and headed for Naru’s room.
Her mother watched as he headed straight for her daughter’s room without asking if he was going the right way. “It’s almost as if he’s been here before…,” she mused to herself.
He knocked gently on Naru’s door. “Is that you, Ryoku-san?” she asked, her voice ragged as if she had been crying a while ago.
“Yes,” he replied. “May I come in?”
“The door’s open.”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said and opened the door. The room was dark, due to the curtains being closed and the window closed. Looking around her room, he was pleasantly surprised to see that it was immaculate. That meant she either still cleaned her room or that she never bothered getting out of her bed when she was home. He was willing to help her clean up her room if it was a mess, but now it was unnecessary. He gazed over at the girl herself. She sat on her bed with her legs pulled up to her chest and her chin resting on her knees. Her arms wrapped around her folded legs as she occasionally rocked herself on her bed. She was dressed in the same pajamas she wore at that time, and cradling the bandage she had made then in her hands.
Ryoku walked over to the window and opened the curtains a crack, letting some sunlight in. He stood between the window and her, letting her eyes adjust to the light before moving away and letting the light shine directly on her.
“You wanna change?” he asked her as he started walking towards her door.
“Why?”
“I want to talk to you and I need your full attention,” he said while opening the door. “Let me know when you’ve changed into something else.” He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.
“I don’t see what changing my clothes has to do with you wanting to talk with me,” she said from the other side of the door. He could hear the sounds of her changing her clothes from his side of the door.
“You were wearing those pajamas when he died, weren’t you?”
The sounds of changing clothes ceased abruptly. “How did you know that?”
“Simple. That bandage you were holding came from the pajamas you were wearing. It’s the same color as the part where it’s ripped. Since you hold the bandage so dearly, you must’ve used it on him before it happened.”
“All right,” she said opening the door. “I’ve finished now. What did you want to say to me?”
“Would you mind if we sat down first?” he asked.
“All right,” she said as she returned to where she was sitting before she had changed. She was now wearing a green blouse and a light blue skirt. He noticed the pajamas lying on the floor at the foot of the bed as he walked inside.
He went over to the discarded pajamas and picked them up. “You haven’t fixed them yet?” She shook her head sadly. “You mind if I fix them for you? It would help if I had something to do while I tell you what I have to say.”
She blinked in surprise for a second. “You can sew?”
“Something wrong with that?” he replied, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s just that… well… I would’ve never guessed that you knew how to sew.”
“Because I’m a guy?”
“That’s not what I meant,” she said defensively.
He just nodded in reply. “There are many things that I never tell people about myself. That is, unless they ask. Now, where’s your sewing kit?” Naru pointed and he went to go get it.
“Now, let me tell you a story…,” he began as he sat across from her and started to bring out a spool of yellow thread.
“A story?” Naru asked flatly, cutting him off.
“A true story,” he said forcefully, quieting her. “This happened almost five years ago.” He silently threaded the needle and stuck it into the pincushion sitting beside him. “This story is very hard for me to tell, so I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t interrupt me until it’s through.”
“This story… it’s about you, isn’t it?” she asked, curiosity slowly replacing the sadness in her voice.
“It is,” he answered quietly. “It’s not a happy one, either. In fact, the only reason I’m telling you this is because I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I’ve made and end up as miserable as I am.” He picked up her pajama shirt and started stitching absent-mindedly as his mind started to drift back a few years.
“Her name was Hisakawa Keiko….”
“That’s so sad,” Naru said after Ryoku finished his story and handed back her newly mended pajama shirt.
“I can still see it as clearly as if it happened just a few minutes ago,” he replied, his voice very distant.
“Does the pain ever go away?” she asked, concerned.
“Sometimes,” he answered. “But, not for very long. There are people always telling me to forget the past and move on with my life, but I can’t. She was my first true love and she’s never going to come back to me. There is absolutely nothing more painful than a broken heart, Naru-chan. I can’t promise you that the pain will go away, but I can promise you that the pain will lessen, eventually. Your friends will always be there for you… and that includes me.”
“You’re the only person I know, who can truly understand what I’m going through,” she said turning to gaze out the now wide-open window. “Everyone else tries to help, saying that in time the pain will go away, when I know it won’t.”
“Hopefully, one day you’ll find someone who’ll help you fill the void in your heart,” he said quietly.
She turned back to Ryoku and gave him a thoughtful stare. “You know, I’ve often wondered why you’ve never tried to find someone yourself,” she said slowly, “but now I think I know.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
“You’re scared,” she said with concern.
“Scared?” he asked with a bewildered frown. “Scared of what?”
“Your own heart. You’re afraid to fall in love again.”
“What?!?”
She shook her head as she turned back towards the window. “I think that you’re afraid that if you get too close to someone, then you’ll get hurt, just like before.”
“That’s not…,” he began, then paused mid-sentence. What if she’s right? Is that why I don’t want to find a girlfriend anymore?
“I’m sorry, Ryoku-san,” she said, as she continued to stare out the window. “You came here to try to help me feel better and I wind up upsetting you.”
“That’s all right,” he said, getting to his feet. “Do you feel any better?”
“A little, but….”
“No, that’s all right,” he said, cutting her off. “I know you won’t feel better right away, but give it time.” He walked over to the door and opened it, but paused before leaving. “Naru-chan, can I ask you to do a very important favor for me?”
“What is it?” she asked, turning to regard the pony-tailed boy.
“Don’t tell anyone about what we’ve talked about,” he said. “Neither about Keiko, nor about myself. Those are things I still have to work out myself.”
“Okay,” she agreed.
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
“Thank you, Naru-chan,” he said as he walked out of the room.
“Thank you, too, Ryoku-san,” she replied quietly.
Ryoku had a lot on his mind as he walked down the street leading to the Hikawa Shrine. He knew that the girls were still there, since he had called earlier from a pay phone and told them that he was on his way. Sure, he could’ve used the communicator, but that was for emergencies. It wouldn’t be setting a good example to be using Sailor Scout tools for personal business. Then again… Usagi did it all the time…. Well, there will always be exceptions.
His mind was preoccupied by the conversation he had with Naru a short while ago. He had expected to try to snap her out of her depression by letting her talk with someone who she could relate to, in that sense. He wound up telling her his story – the one he still hadn’t told his friends – so she could see that he really did understand what she was going through. Somehow, he had also wound up on the receiving end of sympathy as she told him that she thought he was afraid of being hurt by love again. At first, he thought it was silly, but the more he thought about it….
Before he knew it, he was walking up to the part of the shrine where the girls were waiting for him. He quickly assumed his usual neutral expression and walked in.
“So, you finally decided to join us, Ryo-kun?” Rei asked as the others looked up in his direction.
“Sorry if I’m late,” Ryoku said, taking a seat next to Ami. For some reason, the others began to glance at her, each with one eyebrow raised slightly as they began to smile slyly at her. Bewildered, he turned to Ami to ask what was going on, but she was heavily engrossed in studying her math textbook. Is she… blushing? he wondered as he noticed a redness in her cheeks that she was trying to hide. “I don’t know if I should ask,” he muttered dryly. “I might regret it later.” Sighing in exasperation, he picked up a textbook at random and opened it. “Okay, so where were we?”
As midnight approached, Luna made her trip to the Crown Video Arcade to communicate with Central Control. The events that had occurred lately had to be reported and she needed new instructions. As soon as she leaped onto the seat of the Sailor V game that doubled as a communication device, the screen flickered and came to life.
“Welcome,” a voice greeted in a flat monotone. “Please give your new password for voice analysis.”
“The rabbit of the moon makes rice cake,” she said.
“The rice cake is sticky,” the voice replied.
“When it was baked, it blew up,” she replied.
There was a pause as the machine analyzed her voice patterns. “Voice analysis complete. Hello, Luna. What have you to report?”
“The Dark Kingdom seems to be changing their strategy again,” she said. “They seem to be going after specific people now.”
“That is because they are going after the seven Rainbow Crystals,” the voice replied.
Luna gasped. “The Rainbow Crystals?”
“Yes,” the voice droned. “They already have the Red Rainbow Crystal. You must get that crystal back and find the other six using the homing device in the Crescent Moon Wand.”
“Easier said than done, considering that Sailor Moon is the leader,” the black cat muttered to herself.
“If that is a problem, then give the leadership to someone else,” the voice said.
“What?” Luna exclaimed. “Make someone else the leader? But Sailor Moon’s supposed to be the leader!”
“If she cannot handle the position, then changes will have to be made.”
“I’m sure she can do it,” she said. “She has improved since I first found her.”
“Very well then,” the voice said. “Make sure that no more Rainbow Crystals fall into the hands of the Dark Kingdom.”
“All right. Luna out.”
Luna leaped off the stool she had been sitting on and left the arcade. I need to call a meeting tomorrow, she thought as she headed back home. The Rainbow Crystals… this is serious. If the Dark Kingdom gets a hold of them, then they’ll have the power of the Silver Crystal and the Earth will be doomed!
The one thing Luna knew for certain was that the race for the six remaining Rainbow Crystals had begun, with the fate of the entire world, perhaps even the Universe, as the prize.
To Chapter 24: The Power of Friendship