Chapter Text
Through the filtered light of his windows, the sun gently woke Mamoru up. Sitting upright and rolling the kinks from his shoulders, he checked his clock. Just a few minutes early, as was usual. His morning routine was easy, and quiet. Just a simple breakfast for one, where his only company was the birds on his balcony. His home — Well, studio apartment — was empty save for him. It barely qualified as a ‘home’. Its modern design, though enviously sleek, was just cold and gray. But it made shopping easier, so…
In the mirror he fixed his blazer, brushing black locks before heading out the door and into the elevator. The amount of times he’d been mistaken for a salaryman by the others in his building was non-zero. It hurt a little, he guessed, but he didn't really have a reason to care about what they thought. All of his neighbors were strangers, people who he’d never talked to, or worse, people that pitied him.
The walk to school was short, and he was likely to be early regardless. Now just outside the building, Mamoru let in a deep breath of the sweet air, as the breeze gently ruffled the bangs he just spent the last half minute brushing. He looked down, however, to see the piercing eyes of a cat as deep as midnight. Odd, considering stray cats weren’t all too common in this neighborhood. Upon its forehead sat a crescent-moon shaped mark. A bald spot, most likely.
Regardless, he carried on his path to school. With an early start, he could probably finish the book he started last Thursday before homeroom.
“Dude, dude dude— I’m TELLING you, that game came from like, nowhere.”
“It had to come from somewhere, Motoki. Maybe you just forgot?”
After school, Mamoru seldom had responsibilities other than homework. His parents’ inheritance covered most of his expenses, as he wasn't an expensive boy. Basic staple groceries and minimal bills meant he’d been able to go on this long without a job. As such, he would spend afternoons talking with Motoki. Sure, Motoki had a job, but the games were mostly self explanatory, and few people went to an arcade to sit and bother the clerk. That meant most of his time on the clock was eaten up by conversations. Motoki, not long ago, realized that his friend didn't seem to speak with anyone else, so he was glad to give him the company.
“Trust. Me. Bro. I never got a call for a new machine. No one in the district did!” Motoki slapped his hands on the counter, his face betraying true exasperation, “And how did they make a game for her so fast, anyways? It’s so intricate! Sailor V only popped up like, a few months ago…”
“Sailor… V?”
Motoki sighed disappointedly at his taciturn friend. “Come on, aren’t you the one that reads the newspaper all the time? Shouldn’t you know more than me?”
Almost sheepish to be put on blast, Mamoru’s words came out quieter, “Well, I’ve been reading this book…”
His full sentence would never see the light of day, however, as materialized from the ether Unazuki seemed to form. Wasn’t she working on the other side of the building? “Huhh!? You don’t know Sailor V!?” She was astonished, slamming her serving tray on the table Motoki leaned on with an unpleasant thwap. The guest’s desserts were still on it. A dreamy look glazed over her eyes as she clasped her hands together. “She’s only the coolest hero ever! and she’s totally real! She’s out there, fighting burglars in the middle of the night, in a super cute skirt!” Unazuki did a little twirl near the end of her sentence, her frilly clementine-colored work skirt flowing with her ponytail.
“— What's the point of stealing jewelry anyway? Why not steal, like, money? Jeez, I hope no one steals from my mom’s store…” Wait, when did the second one spawn?
“Maybe that’s not why they're doing it, Naru…” Oh yay, a third, with buns on her head.
The newly formed trio who stampeded on the former conversation were now enraptured in their own musings about heroes, clothes, and jewelry. The shortest of the group, with striking blonde hair, ate her own dessert off Unazuki's tray like a gremlin, as the one presumed to be named ‘Naru’ continued. “You know my mom’s having this super cheap sale! I don’t know why, but you should totally try to get something, Unazuki, Usagi!” Her offer was met with enthusiastic yeses from the others.
“Ahem.” Motoki interrupted. Unazuki snapped her head back up to her brother, then to the remaining sweets on the tray, now a tad ruined from her rough handling. A haunting shiver struck her, feeling the glares of the starving customers across the parlor.
“Right, right, getting back to work…” She mumbled as she smoothed out her apron and trotted back to Fruits Parlor. The rest of the trio migrated with her.
“That was…” Mamoru started, and Motoki only huffed as he stood back upright.
“Yeah, my sister’s been bringing her friends here after school now. Everyone loves that Sailor V game. I still think it’s probably cursed or something, but it gets people coming in, soo…” As their chat continued, from the direction of the open double doors, Mamoru felt… Watched. He glanced outside to the tree-lined sidewalk, seeing the same weird bald cat from before. “Ohhh, hey, it’s Baldy!”
“Baldy?”
Motoki chuckled before striding from behind the counter to the front, “Yeah, it’s been hanging out here for a while, ever since the game came. I swear man, it's all connected!” He swung his arms animatedly before stretching out a hand to pet the feline. Instead, it hissed and tried to scratch him. The boy, looking as dejected as humanly possible, retreated in shame. Mamoru tried instead, crouching down to its level and leaving his hand out. It sniffed him, but instead walked away and down the street. “Evil little thing.” Motoki murmured under his breath.
Mamoru stood and wiped off the dirt from his pants. “I should get going, anyway. See you, Motoki,” he announced, waving his friend off as he strode off down the street.
Coincidentally, the path home aligned with the cat’s direction. Down the shopping street, he passed by a shop named Osa-P. Normally he wouldn't bother looking at a frivolous jewelry shop, if the crowd surrounding didn't block out the very sidewalk. Slowing his steps, he watched the gaggles of girls and boys alike scrambling for ornate jewelry pieces, though almost shockingly cheap. The store seemed to have been manned by one woman, who shoved necklaces into people’s hands with an unusual force. He couldn't place what was wrong with her, but she just seemed… unnatural. Her eyes were craned just a bit too open, her pupils a little too small, and her smile so wide and perfectly white it looked almost like she was a character in a horror novel.
“Here, sweetie, 90% off!” She seemed almost frantic, bagging items with unmatched speed. Maybe they needed the money, or something. Mamoru found his interest waning, and he turned to leave, when—
Thunk!
A weight bounced on his head and to the ground. He scoffed, crouching down to pick up the crumpled paper ball. It was a middle school test with a failing grade in a painfully bright red pen. Mamoru turned to see his assaulter, only to see the same blonde from before.
“Hey,” he spoke in a blunt voice, tossing the paper back to her, “Maybe check where you’re throwing, bunhead.”
She growled like a feral dog, her face one of pouty anger. “Bunhead? Ugh- why don’t you mind your own business!”
“I was, before you hit me.” He responded, turning to finally leave. “Study more. Maybe you won’t fail next time.” Even as he left he could hear her angry grumbles, and the voices of her friends trying to calm her down. Seriously, what on earth was wrong with her?
“Mama~ I’m home!” Naru walked through her front door, slipping off her shoes and placing them on the rack. Oddly, no one greeted her back. She continued into the living room where Naruru laid lazily on the couch. Normally, Naruru was forced to put away her crop tops and short skirts inside the house and wear typical clothes, but here she lazed in a miniskirt and cheetah print tank top. Naruru strained her head back to face her older sister just as Naru spoke. “Hey, Ruru? Where's mom?”
Naruru scrambled upright, “She’s acting, like, really freaky. She didn’t even care that I came back late. And like, she knew Ruruna was coming today and she didn't even recognize her, or make anything to eat! She was normal yesterday and now she's like, so totally weird?”
“Yeah. She was pretty off earlier…” Naru hummed, setting her bag down and leaning over the couch. The two sisters peered through the hallway to the cracked open door, where their mother cackled evilly within her office. Well, surely that was entirely normal and wasn’t a cause for concern at all!
Elsewhere, as the sun set and moon rose, every patron of Osa-P wearing their jewels collapsed. It was the strangest feeling, having your energy ripped from you forcibly. It feels like getting punched in the gut, and being lulled to sleep all at once.
“Naru…” Naruru mumbled, before her head hit the armrest of the couch. Naru jolted at the noise and quickly shook her younger sister. The laughing rang louder through the house, it felt almost deafening.
“Ruru? Hey, Ruru, what’s wrong? Get up, come on, I think we should—”
She felt it. It was behind her, whatever it was. Definitely not her mother.
“Naru? What’s wrong? where are you going?”
But it spoke in her voice, the voice she’d known all her life. It was almost sardonic. A (bad) impression of a loving tone. Naru couldn’t move, could barely think, frozen still. Naruru wasn’t going to wake up anytime soon. Then, its hand reached for her shoulder. In the corner of her eye she saw its true form, no longer keeping up the charade of her mother. Instead of her mother’s mature, manicured nails, its skin was leathery and grayish, with claws rather than nails. Naru found the strength to pull away and turn around, chucking her bag towards this- the thing. But it didn't do much of anything, as the being grimaced and growled, revealing its shark-like sharp teeth.
“Give your energy… To the Dark Kingdom!”
tap tap, tap tap.
As moonlight filtered through the glass and onto Mamoru’s face, his eyes fluttered open. Ah. He had fallen asleep while studying.
He yawned and stretched, placing the bowl of the now cold and half eaten rice and salmon he had made for dinner aside. His mind was still a little hazy, but he forced his body to stand up and walk over to the middle of the room. He looked around curiously to the source of the incessant tapping, eyes finally landing on the glass screen door…
“… Baldy?” He crossed the room in just a few seconds, crouching down to face the mysterious black cat for the third time today. It stared at him straight in his eyes before tapping at the glass once more, rhythmically. How did it get up here? His apartment was on the top floor…
When the tapping drove his last bit of sanity into the ground, he relented and finally slid the door open, when the little thing trotted inside, accompanied with the fresh spring air. He leaned his head down a bit further, intending to pet it, when it swiped its paw and scratched his face, causing him to tumble back with a “-Gah!”.
“My name is Luna, not Baldy! I am not bald!”
Oh. It spoke. He was still dreaming, then? That said, he’d never had a dream as interesting as this. Might as well ride it out, right?
The black cat — Luna — leaped onto his bed, pacing the short width. “This may be hard to believe, but you’re a chosen guardian! I need you to awaken your powers, and fight the evil forces that are trying to take over this earth! You are— are you even listening?”
“Yes,” Mamoru nodded. He was actually paying attention quite intently. It sounded like a story Unazuki would like to read about, and he wanted to be able to remember this dream to tell her. “Evil forces, chosen guardian, continue?”
“I- ugh…” Luna sighed, holding her paw to her head as if she were a human. She looked back up with renewed vigor. “That doesn’t matter right now, we don’t have much time!” She jumped on top of his shoulders, much to his surprise, and in her mouth now sat a very… girlish broach. It was golden with a crescent moon in the middle, matching the symbol on her head, and dots of orange, blue, green and red at each corner. Mamoru took it gingerly, looking at it closer.
“Repeat after me, okay?”
“Right…” He sighed, now a bit more apprehensive.
“Moon Prism Power…”
“… Make Up!”
Even for a dream, the feeling that washed over him was ethereal and disorienting. The familiar blacks and grays of his room disappeared, and in their place came a flash of the rainbow, iridescent and sparkling. A feeling that could only be described as “power” radiated from his heart, reaching from inside him to the tips of his toes and fingers. When he opened his eyes, what felt like forever seemed only to be a few moments at most. In the mirror he viewed his new visage. His home clothes? Gone. Instead he wore a navy blue gakuran, with linings of silver and the girliest hot-pink bow, the broach now in its middle. Unlike a normal gakuran, this one included a sailor collar, as if he was wearing the girls’ uniform. His house slippers had changed into similarly hot pink boots that reached his calf, with a white stripe and a little moon symbol. His ears now bore glittery gold drop earrings with moons attached. Atop his head were two pearly barrettes, and upon his forehead, a shiny golden tiara with a pink gem. Even without direct moonlight, his “suit” seemed to sparkle, and he did a little 360 to check himself out. “This… is ridiculous.”
Luna’s voice broke the moment, as she spoke with more urgency than before, “Not now, we need to go!” She dashed out the apartment and onto the balcony, jumping into the night from several stories above to the street below, sprinting down away. Still fairly certain it was a dream, Mamoru indulged the silliness and sprinted after her, hopping the fence and jumping as well. Surprisingly, the impact of the ground wasn’t painful, as he simply hit the street with a click of his heels. He watched Luna’s direction as he followed her back to the Juuban shopping district.
Unlike the densely populated metropolitan area he walked through earlier that day, he entire district now felt heavy and dark, as if forcing your body to trudge through a thick and endless fog. The lights in the windows had seemingly disappeared, as did had the swaths of people that should've been here for it's usually lively nightlife. It was almost hard to spot Luna in the street, had the moonlight not illuminated the path for him. Finally, Luna stopped in front of Osa-P. Right, dreams take from what the person had seen in their day.
"Be on your guard, Sailor Moon." Well that was a new name. Regardless, Mamoru tentatively entered the store, trying to make out the silhouettes of objects in the darkness. He tripped over something, only to look down and find a limp hand. His eyes finally adjusting to the night, he realized the hand was instead the collapsed form of one of the store's cashiers. But the utter exhaustion that radiated from the woman went beyond just a rough shift. Gazing towards the rest of the store, he realized how bad of a shape it was really in. The building was a mess now, the glass cases now broken and the displays tipped over. He kneeled down to shake the woman awake, before noticing another a few feet away, and then another. Mamoru reached to pick up the first, as she clearly needed medical attention (even in a dream it was important to practice being a good civilian!) but stopped inches short as he heard a noise. A laugh. A wicked laugh, the kind that made you tense just being around it. 'So there was someone here?' he thought. 'Had she attacked the poor workers?' He turned his head to the noise, staring into nothingness, until a broken light flickered on, revealing the twisted figure of a woman, er, monster.
“You…” It growled, “Why aren’t you affected by the spell!?”
While he had no answer, Luna did, as she hopped to the top of a high counter and raised her voice to the monstrous, twisted being. “Because he is the pretty soldier of the moon-lit night, Sailor Moon!”
“Soldier?”
“Sailor Moon? You don’t look like a Sailor… you made that up!” The monster sneered. “Whatever! I don’t care what you are. You’ll submit to me regardless…” Her horrible cackling started once more, now echoed through the entire building, as she raised her hands up into the air like a command. Like puppets, the collapsed women on the floor raised, stumbling towards Mamoru until they broke into a reckless dash. Their movements were clunky and slow, like moving dead weight. Now only sort of sure this was a dream, Mamoru dodged their sloppy punches, and avoided their attempts to hit him with a full-on body slam. Their eyes didn't show lucidity, and they had an aura of darkness surrounding them, or perhaps trapping them. Meanwhile, The monster swung her dagger-like nails at Luna in an attempt to slash her, though the cat nimbly ducked and weaved under the furniture to evade. Mamoru's dodging continued until he backed himself into a corner of haphazardly piled furniture. Climbing atop a case, the girls swung at Mamoru like zombies, practically toppling over each other to reach him. A stinging pain caused him to nearly buckle over, and he glanced down to see the tallest of the women brandishing a chunk of broken glass. He cursed at the pain, looking towards Luna for help. That actually cut him. It hurt, a lot. This wasn’t a dream. And right now, his only saving grace... was a talking cat.
“Your tiara! Throw your tiara!” Luna shouted, skidding underneath a table where the monster's claws couldn't reach. With no other options, Mamoru reached towards the tiara on his forehead. As soon as his gloved hands touched the shiny metal, it disappeared from his head and into his palm with a sparkly glow, now in a boomerang-like shape. Luna hopped from box to box and calling out once more, "Now say 'Moon Tiara Boomerang'!"
Trying not to laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all, Mamoru craned his arm backward and repeated her words — “Moon Tiara Boomerang!” before tossing it towards the unholy being.
The boomerang flew across the room in a golden arch, illuminating the darkness, striking the monster square in the chest. It screeched, a high pitched and painful noise that could cause ears to bleed, as the golden light reverberated through its body and reduced it's twisted form into nothing but dust. In a shower of silver sparkles, the damage of the room fixed itself, as did the heavy dark haze over the area. The controlled women collapsed once more, now seemingly only asleep. Hopping off the counter, Mamoru looked around the building until he found the supply closet. Inside was the real owner of Osa-P, similarly drained, but asleep and unharmed. He helped her out of the closet and into a chair, doing so similarly for the cashiers, when Luna walked toward him.
“You did it, Sailor Moon. I’m proud. But there's still much to learn and do…” She sat on the floor and solemnly nodded her head, as if she were a wise old sage.
“I never agreed to that name, or to any of this, for that matter…” He started, but stopped as he saw a shadow cast onto the floor. Mamoru looked back just in time to catch the silhouette of a short cape wearing figure, dressed in a tuxedo suit, black boots and a white mask reminiscent of Sailor V’s. Her flowed with the wind the open window let in, an oddly familiar sight.
“My work here is done…” She uttered.
“What? Who even are you? You did literally nothing.”
“My name,” The mysterious person struck a pose, tilting their head and grabbing the mask almost teasingly, “Is Moonlight Mask."
Luna bristled, "Are you another enemy?"
The mask wearer flinched slightly at her hissing, laughing nervously before heading halfway out the window. At the last moment, she turned her head backward. "Byeee!”
And as soon as “Moonlight Mask” came, she left, jumping out the window and into the street. But as the women affected by the monster began to stir, Mamoru had much more pressing issues at hand. De-transforming, sneaking out of the store and walking back to his apartment building (which he now realized was a crazy thing to sprint), he practically flopped himself onto the plush mattress of his bed. It didn’t take long for him to fall fast asleep.
When morning came, Luna wasn't there. A good thing, because his building didn't allow pets. His routine was as dull and quiet as ever. Shower, cook, eat, brush teeth, get dressed and leave. But as he checked his bag before setting on the path for his school, he noticed a certain golden compact tucked into the corner of its main pocket.
“Good morning, Mamoru.”
He looked up, expecting to see a neighbor, but instead found the smiling visage of Luna, sitting atop the high stone fence that surrounded his complex. Oh. So it really wasn't a dream.
"Now we must move onto the next task : finding the remaining Sailor Guardians."
perhaps it be cringe, but I did do a very lazy edit on what his Sailor Suit would look like. The original plan was to have him in the skirt and all, but considering Moon isn't technically a Sailor Soldier in the first place I decided to be kind and give him pants 🤗
