Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ After School ❯ The Decision to Marry ( Prologue )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

When inspiration strikes...


Ajax presents:
AFTER SCHOOl

Prologue : The Decision to Marry

As the door to the small cafe opened and what the waiter would have
described as a gorgeous creature entered, a girl sitting towards the back of
the room jumped up, started waving and called out "Rei-chan, Rei-chan!", un-
intentionally hitting a waitress with her hand. As she turned and started
apologising with a red face, the newcomer walked towards the table with an
exasperated expression on her face, taking off the stylish scarlet jacket she
wore to reveal a sleeveless black top underneath.

"Decidedly, Usagi-chan, you're never going to change." she said,
sliding into the chair facing the blonde girl. "How long have you been
waiting?"

"Not long. I haven't been able to order yet. Waitress!" she called,
scanning the menu. The waitress approached their table with a tired look.

"Your order?"

"I'll have five scoops of chocolate ice cream, with nuts and extra
whipped cream and a coke at the side. And you Rei-chan?" The Big Sweatdrop
appeared on the waitress's head as she looked over the girl and wondered how
she could keep so thin if she ate like that everytime she went out. The
other girl's order of a soda (just a soda? she thought) startled her from her
thoughts, and she hurriedly wrote it down before gathering the menus and
leaving.

"So why did you want to see me, Rei-chan?" she asked, wondering why
Rei hadn't wanted any of the others along.

"Usagi, I haven't seen you since school let out. That's nearly two
months now! And gosh, you have this huge thing coming up, isn't that enough
reason to talk?"

Usagi's face took on Threatening Look No. 8. "Rei-chan...." she
growled menacingly, "You ARE over him, aren't you?"

"Gees Usagi, calm down! Of course I am! Let's talk about that later,
okay? So what have you been doing these past two months?" There was a pause
in the conversation as their orders arrived and Usagi dug in with enthusiasm.

"Well," she spoke, her mouth half-full of chocolate, nuts and whipped
cream, "Mamoru, Mom and I have been going around preparing, mostly. It's
been busy. Can you believe this is the first time I've gotten out since the
end of school?" Her voice took on an accusing tone. "Not that there was
anyone to get out with, besides Mamo-chan. Mako is training, Minako, Naru and
all my other school friends are out of town, Ami-chan's in Germany and you
went to visit your father. How did it go, by the way?"

"Pfff. As good as can be expected, I suppose. This is the first time
I've actually seen where he lives. I don't know why he shows this sudden
interest in me. He finally seemed to want to learn more about my life. We did
go to Okinawa for one week though, and that was pretty nice."

"Cool." Suddenly, Usagi's face lit up with a huge smile. "Oh
Rei-chan, can you believe school is finally over? Never, never again shall I
set foot in that building, never shall I be punished by Mom for bad grades
again, and I won't ever not wake up on time and be late!"

"Yeah, you even managed to graduate," Rei said sarcastically under
her breath. "It's only over for you, I'm afraid." she said aloud.

"Oh dear, I totally forgot to ask you about that! Which universities
did you win, Rei?"

Rei took out some brochures from her bag and spread them out on the
table. "Well, my points are just enough for the Economy&Finance Faculty of
the Tokyo University, but I don't think that's for me. Can you imagine me in
a business suit doing serious work?"

"Hey, why not? You'd look pretty good in a red jacket and shirt."

"No thanks. Anyway, I also won the Philosophy section, which they've
informed me has a good course on religions. That's probably the best choice
for me. But...well, there's also this." She chose one from the stack of
brochures and pushed it across the table to Usagi, who read it with a
surprised look.
(Author's note: I have no idea if these universities and sections actually
exist.)

"Fashion School?"

"Eh. It's not a college, but a very good school which guarantees a
job. Besides, it's only two years. They accept students on talent, so I
figured what the heck, took their test, and they told me I could have pretty
good results."

"So you'll be a designer?"

"I haven't definitely decided yet, but I think it's an interesting
and fun thing to do. I could always start university after I graduated from
this school."

"Well, when you become a designer, I will be one of your major
inspirations, right? Right?"

The Big Sweatdrop made its apparition on Rei's forehead. "Usagi the
Twit the major inspiration for dazzling fashion shows? Sure."

"Rei, why are you so mean to meeee?" the whining started, bringing
tear floods with it and attracting the attention of the other customers,
provoking yet another Big Sweatdrop from Rei.

"Well, that's enough about me, ne? I came to talk about you, Usagi.
So how is Mamoru-san?"

The whining immediately stopped at the mention of his name. " We
celebrated his birthday two weeks ago. He really liked your present, by the
way. Other than that, he's been busy. I'm helping him ready his house,
getting new furniture, moving my own stuff and all. We had work to do at the
shrine as well, and also all the paperwork and other formalities, but your
grandfather and Chad have been really helpful."

Rei grinned a wicked grin. "Well, I did tell them they had better
be... But gosh, Usagi, I still can't quite believe it! I mean, I'm really
happy for you but isn't 18 a bit young to get married?" She was surprised
when Usagi suddenly called the waitress over and paid the bill even though
she still had some icecream left.

"Rei-chan, do you mind taking a walk with me? I feel I need to clear
my head." Dubiously, Rei put on her jacket while Usagi donned the pink
sweater that had been tied around her waist over her blue sundress. As they
left the cafe, a cold wind made Rei shiver and clutch her jacket closer to
her body. The summer of Tokyo was dwindling to an end as the first days of
September approached.

"Rei-chan?" the blonde girl asked, a thoughtful, subdued expression
on her face. "Remember that one time when you asked me what I wanted to
later?"

"Eh. You didn't say anything."

"Because I couldn't think of anything, Rei-chan. I have never had any
dreams about growing up, deep down I guess I always wanted to stay a child.
You know, when we were in second grade, Naru and I, she went through this
phase where she would every other day come up with something new she wanted
to become when she grew up. Sometimes she would ask me, and I never could say
anything. I never thought about the future beyond high school, and now that
it is over, I still don't have anything I might want to do. Besides, I've
never liked school and I can't imagine having to go through some more of it.
It's not sure I would have gotten a place in any college anyway, considering
my notes. You guys, all of my friends, they are all continuing basically not
changing anything about their lives. The ones who are not continuing, like
Mako-chan and Naru-chan, already know what they are going to do.

"And me, I'm going to marry the man I've loved for over a thousand
years. Something tells me that's my path to take. I can't see myself doing
anything else." Rei was amazed at the wise words coming from Usagi's mouth
and the serene, contented look on her face. She tried to imagine herself,
married and settled in a month's time. It just didn't click. She had so many
things to do, so many places to see, before she even considered getting
married. It also required a lot of courage, she admitted to herself. For the
first time in her life, Rei looked upon her friend with respect, for here was
a young woman who, unlike her, wanted nothing from life and was perfectly
happy with what it had already given her. Deciding she couldn't take any more
of Usagi being serious, Rei changed the subject.

"What about Naru?"

"You'll never believe this, but she is going to be a nurse at the
children's hospital. She's starting this fall. Apparently, there is a
shortage of children's nurses, so the education is given on place."

"Really? That's such a hard job, though."

"I know, but it's just right for Naru-chan. I've known her for over
twelve years, somehow I can't imagine her doing anything else. Oh, and you
know what? Mako-chan finally found a place to open her restaurant!"

"Are you kidding me? Wow, I missed a lot when I was with my dad, it
seems. Where is it?"

"Come on! I'll show you!" yelled Usagi, breaking into a run to catch
the bus which was waiting at the stop a few meters away. As they settled into
their seats, breathless, Usagi started reading the street names until they
came to a building the groundfloor of which was being restored. "That's the
place," spoke Usagi, "the rent is also pretty cheap. It's going to open in
about a week. Mako-chan told me her teacher at the culinary course said
she was a first-class chef."

"I don't see why she had to drop out of school a year early to attend
that course, though."

"Money, Rei-chan. Makoto didn't have enough money to attend high
school and that course at the same time. Besides, she needed time to find a
place and get permission to open a restaurant." She paused the time to get
off the bus and started walking towards her house.

"Usagi, speaking about money...How are you two going to get by? I
mean, Mamoru still has...what? Two years? Three years? You won't have a
steady income until he graduates."

"He already has a part-time job between classes. And," she raised her
chin proudly, "I'm going to work too."

"You? Work? What kind of work could YOU possibly do? You're too
clumsy!" So much for respect.

"Am not! I'm going to work at Mako-chan's place. This way, she won't
pay me as much as she would have to pay another waiter, and the rest of my
salary will be cooking lessons!"

"Cooking lessons. Oh yeah that's right, you're going to have to cook
for Mamoru-san. Poor guy, I hope he has a strong stomach. Remind me to say no
when you invite me to your house."

"Rei! As if you can cook yourself! Why don't you just shut up?" On
cue, they both stuck their tongues out at each other and continued walking
like that, attracting bizarre looks from the rest of the people on the side-
walk.

************************************************** **************************
Explanations in order:

This story is going to be my attempt at describing the senshi's life
after high school. For convenience, this story ignores everything that has
happened after the defeat of Beryl except the senshi getting their memories
and powers back. So no more enemies, no Outer senshi (I might introduce
Michiru and Haruka later on, I haven't decided.) This also means the senshi
never visit the future and don't meet Chibi-Usa. Please keep that in mind as
you read this story.

For those wondering why I do not use Chad's Japanese name, I just
can't bother spelling it each time. Some people wrote to me saying they were
confused about the phrase "which universities did you win?" Now, this may or
may not be true for the japanese system but I'm using one where the students
have to sit an exam and enter colleges according to their score, instead of
signing up for them like in the US.

The inner senshi are now 18 while Mamoru is 22. He also has his
memories back, so no Moonlight Knight either. He still has about three and a
half years to go before he finishes college. (Medicine takes longer than
other brances, though I don't know exactly how long.) If we take Usagi to be
14 in 1992 (the year the animated series started) then we are now in 1996.

Thanks to everyone on the FFML who helped me sort out the problems
about the Japanese school system.

All comments are very much welcome! Please send them to
breaker@technologist.com
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