Archive of Our Own

Blossom Apartments, Ottawa, ON, Canada
January 12, 2017
6:15 AM

How did I know that the first full moon after the Senshi finally gathered together would be important? Setsuna wondered as she woke up. Rei's the team's seer, not me. Then she picked up her phone and called the first number on speed-dial. "Hello, Al. ... How many times do I have to tell you that my name is Setsuna, not Ziggy? ... Fine, I am calling about work. ... Whoever they are, they've just been displaced into Ottawa. One block away from Usagi's high school, actually. ... No, I don't want Sam to Leap into Usagi to help the newcomers. We can handle this one ourselves. ... Because somebody has to do the paperwork and that somebody isn't going to be me. ... You're right, of course I should get Mr. Donaldson to do it. Sorry to bother you so early in the day, Al. ... Yes, I did forget that Vicksburg is an hour behind Ottawa. I just woke up. ... It's good to hear your voice, too. I'll call you again later, once we're both awake."

With that, the Senshi of Time made herself presentable and made her way to the common room, where she found the Senshi of Lightning and her companion Sweets Spirit making breakfast. "Good morning, Mako-chan. Good morning, Cinnamon. Could I ask a favour from you?"

"Anything that's in my power to grant, Setsuna. How can I help you?"

"Could you make an extra box lunch, please?"

"Easily! I usually make extra for Index's lunch, anyway."

Setsuna nodded; Index was the only person at Blossom who could out-eat Usagi Tsukino, Mii Konori, or Rob Donaldson. Then she asked the difficult question. "And, if you can, could you make it Korean?"

Makoto frowned. "Oh, that's tricky. I don't know very much about Korean cooking."

"But not very tricky," Cinnamon pointed out. "We could make some beef and spinach sushi and call it kimbap."

"I don't know how authentic that would be, though," Makoto replied. "This isn't like changing a pie recipe to make tarts instead."

"That's fine," Setsuna said with a smile. "Showing that we're making the effort is the important part."

"I'm happy you said 'we', because we'll need help making breakfast, lunch, and sushi at the same time. So, who is this lunch for?" asked Makoto.

Sellers residence, Ottawa, ON, Canada
7:55 AM

Mimi woke up in her own bed, to see a brand-new ceiling. "Mooooooms!"

"We're in the front room, dear! Turn left once you're out of your bedroom and you can't miss it."

And she didn't, once she had a robe on over her pyjamas and her glasses on her face. "What's going on?"

"We don't know, dear," Irene Sellers, Mimi's black-haired and older mother, told her. "There's a message on my phone saying I can take today and tomorrow off to move in to our new condo."

"Well, we've moved in," pointed out Maya, Mimi's blonde and younger mother. "Where have we moved to, and why is your message in English?"

Mimi looked worried. "Maya-mom, you just asked that in perfect English. Something's happened to us." She grabbed her own phone and scrolled through her notes. She could still read the Japanese and Korean text, the latter of which she used to keep the very few notes that she didn't want her mothers reading. Then she noticed the date on her phone's clock. "Why does this say it's 2017?"

"Our phones say it's 2017 instead of 2022, too," Maya replied. "And I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same reason as why we're in this condo in the first place and why I'm suddenly as good at English as the two of you are."

Irene sighed. "That just kicks the can down the street a bit. What's happened to us, and why?"

Just then, Mimi's phone buzzed. "Who's sending me a text this early in the morning?" She looked at the phone's screen. "Yeah, right. A cartoon character wants to talk to me." She almost deleted it, but then stopped. "Then again, we still don't know where we are, or how she got my number." She opened the text, read it, then told her mothers, "This is weird. It's in Japanese, but doesn't use any kanji at all." She read the text as-is instead of translating it on the fly. ｢Hello, you don't know me yet but it looks like we're about to become classmates. I'm Tsukino Usagi. Not the one from Crystal, the one from the older cartoon. My friends and me should be at your place at 8:20 to meet you and help you find the high school. Not that you need help finding the high school, it's only one block from your place. We made lunch for you! See you in a few minutes!｣ Switching back to English, she asked, "Should I trust her?"

"I'll come with you to the school," Irene said. "Assuming they even show up. And I remember the 1990s Sailor Moon cartoon; Usagi didn't use kanji at all in it."

"Thanks, Irene-mom. Do you think she's actually the cartoon character she claims to be?"

"It's possible that she believes she is. I'll have a better answer for you when we meet them. Now, are you going to school in your pyjamas?"

"I'll be right back!" Mimi headed for her bedroom.

By the time that Mimi had brushed her hair and was dressed, there was toast and jam waiting for the young blonde meganekko. "Eat your breakfast before this Usagi girl and her friends show up, Mimi." Maya said.

"I don't know if I'm hungry, but I'd better have something," she replied while sitting at the dining table.

Three minutes later, there was a knock at the door. "Coming!" said Irene as she walked over. As she opened the door, she asked, "Hello?"

"Mrs. Sellers? I'm Usagi Tsukino, and these are some of my friends. I sent Mimi a text just before 8 AM."

"Yes, she mentioned that. Please come in; Mimi is still eating breakfast." And the half-dozen girls who had been waiting at the door walked into the condo, quickly followed by two more girls who joined them after Irene had opened the door. All of them were wearing winter coats over their outfits. "May I ask how you got into the building?"

"Oh, I buzzed them in," said one of the two latecomers. "I'm Layla Nguyen, your neighbour. My family lives just down the hall."

"Irene Sellers," the thirty-something brunette replied. "Pleased to meet you, and I hope our families can be friends." Turning to the dining room, she continued, "Mimi, come meet our new neighbour Ms. Nguyen and seven of her friends, including Ms. Tsukino."

"Seven?" Mimi walked into the front room, the remains of a slice of toast in her hand. "Hello, everyone. I'm Mimi Sellers. I'm sorry that I haven't finished eating."

"Oh, don't mind that," Usagi replied. "We didn't give you much warning that we were coming over. Usagi Tsukino; pleased to meet you."

The other girls introduced themselves: Kazari Uiharu (who was the other of the latecomers), Makoto Kino, Mikoto Misaka, Rei Hino, Kuroko Shirai, and Ruiko Saten. As they gave their names, Mimi's expression changed from surprised to disbelieving.

"And as I told your mother, I'm Layla Nguyen."

"I don't recognize your name," Mimi said. "Which story are you supposed to be from?"

"I told you Sellers-san would ask that as soon as she met Layla," Ruiko said.

Layla ignored her. "I'm not from any story, at least as far as I know. I'm Kazari's classmate. And because I'm not from a story, I get to say this: Welcome to the universe that I grew up in, and welcome to Ottawa."

"I'm having trouble believing what you just said, Ms. Nguyen," Maya said.

"This really is Ottawa, honest!"

Rei sighed deeply. "That's the kind of thing I'd expect Mina-chan to say, Mako-chan."

"Both parts of that welcome are difficult to believe," Irene replied. "Do you have time to explain things to us?"

Mikoto said, "Not if we're going to get to school on time. But the building manager where we live, Rob Donaldson, should be along later this morning. He can explain things to you and Mr. Sellers while Mimi's in class, and we'll fill Mimi in on what's happened over lunch."

"There is no Mr. Sellers," Maya said. "I'm Irene's wife, and we're both Mimi's mothers. Maya Sellers; happy to meet you."

"There's no Mister Sellers?" Kuroko asked before turning to Mikoto. "There's hope for us, onee-sama!"

Mikoto sighed deeply. "How many times have we been over this? You are lez, I am het. We are friends, not lovers."

"And we are going to be late for school if we don't leave soon," Rei pointed out as Maya smiled and Mimi giggled.

"I'll come with you," Irene announced. "There is no doubt a tall stack of forms that I'll need to sign before Mimi can attend classes at... what is the name of your high school?"

"Glebe Collegiate," replied Layla.

"One of the top high schools in Ottawa," Irene said in approval before turning to Maya. "Hold down the fort, please, dear; I'll be back as soon as I can." Maya read Irene's microexpressions and knew what she wasn't saying: that she'll also find out whatever she can about this place.

"I've seen Kuroko use her power, Mrs. Sellers. I can assure you that she is who she says she is."

"Please don't call me 'Mrs. Sellers'. That makes me feel old."

"If you don't mind us asking..." Ruiko started.

"I'm 37," Irene said with a sigh.

With a smaller sigh, Makoto said, "My mother would have been your age. It seems wrong to call you by your given name."

"You lost your parents, too?" Mimi asked. Seeing some puzzled looks in the crowd of girls around her, she added, "My birth parents died a half-decade ago. Irene-mom was my godmother, she and Maya-mom welcomed me into their home as soon as it was legal in Osaka, and I moved from Busan to live with them. But getting back to names, I call my mothers by their given names."

"But you have to, because you can't just call them mother and mother."

"There is that, Uiharu-san. I have to ask; is everybody here like you?"

"In what way?"

"You're the first people my age who I've met who've accepted the fact that Irene-mom and Maya-mom are a couple and not made a fuss about it."

"No, they're special," Layla said. "My ba and má are probably going to want to come over and see for themselves."

Rei nodded. "Whereas we had the example of Haruka-san and Michiru-san to prepare us for same-sex couples."

"I remember seeing Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune in the anime when I was as old as Mimi is now," Irene commented. "Their example gave me the courage to admit to my parents that I was gay."

Kazari did the math in her head. "So you're... 14, Mimi-san?"

"That's right."

"You're two years older than me."

"But a year younger than us," Makoto said, referring to the other Sailor Senshi.

"Layla," Irene said, "I didn't recognize two words you used: ba and má."

"They're two of the few words of Vietnamese that I know. Father and mother, respectively. My grandparents were thuyền nhân Việt Nam – you call them 'boat people', and they actually did leave Vietnam in boats. They met in Ottawa, and, well, one thing lead to another and here I am, ethnically Vietnamese but culturally Canadian."

"And here we are: your new school," Kazari said to Mimi.

Irene gave the building a quick scan, then nodded in approval. "Collegiate Gothic, obviously maintained well, with a few obvious but in-style additions."

"I don't think it's for sale, Irene-mom."

"Are you a real estate agent, Sellers-san?"

She shook her head as they approached the front door. "No, Hino-san, I'm an investment banker. I know some things about a lot of different things and a lot of things about some different things, so that I can do my job properly. And speaking of doing my job, it's time for me to start the process of registering Mimi here. Could somebody direct the two of us to the administration office, please?"

"I'll do better," Kazari replied. "I'll take you there myself."

Glebe Collegiate, Ottawa, ON, Canada
11:45 AM

"So, have you ego-surfed and found out which story you're from yet?" Layla asked.

"I didn't know that we could."

"The entire school's set up for wi-fi, and I've seen your phone," pointed out Naru Osaka... who Mimi had recognized as also being from Sailor Moon.

"I didn't know about the wi-fi! I just got here today! What's the password?" Mimi pulled her phone out of her pocket, connected after Kazari showed her the account details, and started web surfing around bites of her lunch. "I didn't expect to start classes the day I arrived. I didn't expect to be in Ottawa today, either."

"Speaking of wi-fi, I should set up my new emergency beacon to connect to it." Seeing puzzled looks on some of her friends' faces, Kazari added, "Washuu-chan upgraded it when she dropped off Kasumi-san's beacon. She said something about it being able to do everything my cellphone can do, so it needs to connect to wi-fi." She tapped her finger on a hexagonal-shaped brooch that she was wearing, and a virtual terminal just like Washuu-chan's appeared in front of her.

"What the Hell?"

Layla turned to Mimi. "You'll get used to it. I did." Turning back to Kazari, she asked, "Does that have audio, too?"

"I think so..." Kazari was paying more attention to her lunch and configuring the brooch than she was to her conversation.

"That's a freaking Star Trek combadge, too! How can I get one?"

"You have to live at Blossom Apartments," Kazari replied distractedly. "Or join MITHRIL; Captain Testarossa told Rob-oji about how Washuu-chan made some for them."

"Enough about us; we're helping Mimi today," Usagi insisted.

"Thanks." Mentally retreating to something familiar, Mimi asked, "Makoto-san, do you want me to come over after school and teach you how to make real kimbap?"

Sighing softly, Makoto replied, "Yes, please, Mimi-san."

"Oh, don't get the wrong idea. This isn't bad, but it isn't real Korean food. Thanks for making it for me."

"How's your web search going?" asked Ruiko.

"Faster than I expected. I keep expecting 2022 web speeds and search results. Whatever you do, don't let the tech companies enshittify the Internet."

"Mimi! Language!"

"Kazari-san, it might be a new word, but... oh, right. It'll be a new word in 2022, when Cory Doctorow comes up with it. There's nothing the tech companies can't make worse in order to make a bigger profit. And this is the first evidence I've seen that I really am in 2017, the last year when the Internet was actually good. Nobody could fake these response times and these actually useful search results."

"What about Kazari's virtual terminal?"

"You're going to force me to admit it exists, aren't you? That's just proof that I'm in another world."

"Have you found out what story you're from?"

"Nope! No hits on my name, or for Irene-mom or Maya-mom."

"Do you want us to help?"

"Sure, why not? Somebody check for a same-sex couple fostering a child in Osaka and see whether that child is me. My birth family's name is Jung. I'm going to look for Irene-mom's company, Chōten Investments..."

Kazari used her new terminal while Ruiko, Kuroko, and Layla got out their phones, their lunches eaten around their typing. Mikoto had her phone out, too, but she was using her esper power instead of her fingers to control the browser,^[1] leaving her hands free for food.

After more than a few minutes of fruitless searches, Usagi finally asked, "Are we sure that your story was ever told here? Remember what Chibiusa said last November about Subie-chan's home world having no stories in common with ours except for To Heart."

"I think she was exaggerating," Mikoto replied, "but I think you're right about the stories being different. You just aren't on our World-Wide Web, at least not in English or Japanese."

"And I've been checking in Korean," Mimi replied. "While I haven't seen anything about my birth parents dying, I haven't seen any stories or news about them ever being alive either, and we had enough money that their deaths would have rated an obituary in at least the local news. I haven't seen anything about me existing here either, for that matter."

Everybody else put their phones down. "I think you're right." Then Ruiko looked at her lunch box and asked, "Where'd my lunch go?"

"You ate it, Rui-chan," Rei replied.

Mimi changed the subject to hide her disappointment. "I don't know whether I should ask, but who is 'Subie-chan'?"

"Subaru Mikage," Ruiko replied. "She lives in New Jersey along with other people from Comic Party."

"Comic Party? The game? I'll have to ask Irene-mom whether she ever played it."

"Rob-oji said it's an anime, too."

Makoto frowned. "Aw, Rui-chan, you said the A word..."

Sure enough, they'd given the local anime club members an excuse to talk to them. "We couldn't help but overhear..."

"Because you keep eavesdropping on us," Rei said sourly.

"We can't help it! There's only so much room in the cafeteria. And we haven't asked your new friend whether she wants to join the anime appreciation society."

"If you like Japanese culture so much, then follow it in a crowded space and pretend you don't hear us."

Mimi almost interrupted, but Makoto caught her eye and shook her head. "And our friend isn't Japanese. She's Korean."

"There's a difference?"

Everybody got upset about that question, but Layla was the one to answer it. "As much as there's a difference between Canadians and Americans."

"Who's who?" Usagi asked in idle curiosity.

"Going solely by who knows how to use guns, I'd say the Koreans are the ones like Americans."

"If that's the only criterion, then I'm okay with that," Mimi commented. "We don't act like Americans."

"Are those guys bothering you again?" came a voice from behind them.

"Oh, hi, Zach," Rei said. "No, they were just going back to minding their own business now that we're ignoring them. Who's your friend?"

"Hunter Hardy," the well-built teen with the varsity jacket, standing beside Zach Dubois, said.

"Hi, Hunter!"

"Hi, Usagi! Hi, Naru!" Seeing Rei's questioning look, he added, "We're in the same homeroom."

Rei turned to Usagi. "You never told me you were making friends with your homeroom classmates."

"Rei, if I told you about everybody I'm friends with, we'd never have time to talk about anything else. Hunter, this is Mimi Sellers. She just started today, and she's in our homeroom."

"You do make friends quickly," Hunter said with a smile. "Hi, Mimi. I'm guessing you're Korean from what I heard Ms. Hino say."

"That's right."

"Ethnically Korean or from Korea?"

"From Korea, by way of Japan."

"I have to ask: Is there any decent Korean music besides 'Gangnam Style'?"

"'Gangnam Style'? Psy is good, but he's not Bangtan Sonyeondan."

"Bangtan ..."

"BTS, for short." She grabbed her cellphone and had it play "Blood Sweat & Tears". While she had newer BTS tracks on her phone, they were too new; those songs hadn't yet been written in 2017.

Once the song was over, Hunter said, "Yeah, that's better than Psy. Is there an English version?"

Mimi shook her head. "Not yet, they're still working on the Japanese version. Now I'm going to ask you a question. Is there any good metal music in Ottawa?"

Zach finally stopped looking at Makoto (not that she had noticed) and took part in the conversation. "You are looking at the only two real metalheads in the entire school."

"I can count up to three, mister!" Mimi said while pointing at herself. "What kinds of metal have you got here?"

"What kinds of metal?" Hunter asked rhetorically. "We've got speed and thrash covered — Exciter and Annihilator are both Ottawa bands."

"They're both good, but do they still play in Ottawa?"

"Sometimes."

Zach added, "If you want to listen live, Loviatar and Monobrow are good picks for doom metal, and Fuck the Facts plays the best grindcore in town."

Mimi grinned. "I love metalcore! I saw Bring Me the Horizon in concert a couple of years ago."

"Grindcore, not deathcore."

"Close enough for me!"

Usagi turned to Naru. "I never knew there were so many kinds of metal music."

"Neither did I. I guess it's like how there are different kinds of jazz."

Before anyone from Blossom Apartments could say anything else, all of their phones alerted them to an incoming text.

"Is something wrong?" Hunter asked.

"Possibly," replied Kuroko while looking at her phone. "Probably. We need to leave. Now. And that includes you, Layla, and Zach," she added while tossing her cellphone to Mikoto rather than wasting a second by putting it back in her pocket, then grabbing Naru and Mimi by their wrists.

"I thought you could only teleport two people at a time."

"That was four months ago, and before I had to teleport people under battlefield conditions. My limit's three people now, if I'm one of them." And then they was gone.

Less than three minutes later, the entire lunch group was in the hallway outside Mimi's condo's front door.

Sellers residence, Ottawa, ON, Canada
11:43 AM

The front-door intercom buzzed. "That must be the Mr. Donaldson that Ms. Tsukino mentioned," Irene said while walking over to the intercom. "Hello?"

"Ms. Sellers? I'm Rob Donaldson. I believe you're expecting me?"

"Yes, Ms. Misaka mentioned you. Please come in. I believe you know the apartment number already." She unlocked the door. A minute later, there was a knock at the door, which she opened to reveal an older man and a woman who appeared to be younger than her wife, both taller than she was. "Mr. Donaldson, I presume. I'm Irene Sellers; please come in. And you would be...?"

"Setsuna Meioh. Pleased to meet you."

"Another Sailor Senshi," Maya commented as she took their coats. "Your hair colour matches what's in the anime. Oh, I'm Irene's wife, Maya."

"I'm happy to meet you," Rob said. "No doubt you have some questions, which we will do our best to answer."

"Coffee?" Irene asked.

"I didn't expect that to be your first question," Setsuna said.

Rob smiled. "Yes, please. One cream, one sugar." He turned to Setsuna and added, "It appears that, even in these circumstances, Irene is a consummate host."

"Ah. In that case, yes, please. I take my coffee black."

"Please, make yourselves comfortable." They did so in separate chairs, and Irene poured coffee for everyone. Once that was done and she was sitting beside Maya on the sofa, Irene asked, "Exactly what did Ms. Ngyuen mean when she called this the universe where she grew up?"

"Ms. Ngyuen?" Setsuna asked.

Rob replied, "Layla Ngyuen. One of Usagi's friends."

"That doesn't narrow it down much."

"I'll answer your questions later. Right now, we're here to answer the Sellers's questions." He turned back to Irene and Maya, took a sip from his coffee, then said, "Something happened to multiple realities. Because of what happened, a few people, very lucky or very important to their worlds or both, have been displaced from their home realities and found refuge in this reality. Most of the displacees are calling this world 'Refuge' for that reason."

"That's an extraordinary claim, Mr. Donaldson."

"Please, call me Rob."

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, Rob."

"You've already met Usagi Tsukino and Mikoto Misaka."

Maya pointed out, "We've met people claiming to be the title characters from Sailor Moon and A Certain Scientific Railgun. We don't know if they're who they say they are."

Setsuna put her mug down on the coffee table, then stood up. "Which is one reason why I'm here today. Please watch closely. Pluto Planet Power, Make Up!"

Rob took the opportunity to try his coffee. Irene stocked good-quality coffee, which told Rob that she could afford to stock good-quality coffee.

After a moment, Irene said, "You couldn't have prepared a quick change ahead of time. This is the first time you've been in this apartment, and there's no way you could have hidden that staff anywhere in this room or on your person."

"Occam's razor says you're Sailor Pluto," Maya finished.

"Thank you," Sailor Pluto said while transforming back to Setsuna.

Maya said, "I'll accept for the moment that Ms. Tsukino, Ms. Hino, and Ms. Kino are Sailor Senshi as well. But that doesn't prove that we're in another reality; you could be visiting our home world."

Rob nodded. "We could, yes, except that I haven't found any records of either of you anywhere online. I admit that I've only had an hour to search, though."

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

"Agreed. Normally, displaced people are from worlds that exists as works of fiction in this reality, and this is when we would show you that fiction. But if you're from one of our stories, I have no idea which story it is. I'm not aware of any novel or film or series that's about anybody named Sellers."^[2]

"An hour of Internet searches is pretty thorough, assuming you didn't just search for the same things repeatedly," Irene said. "I'll accept your word for now, Rob."

"Thank you, Irene."

"Next question," Maya said. "Why is it 2017, not 2022?"

"That's further evidence that you're in a different reality," Rob replied. "It won't be 2022 here for another half-decade."

"Assuming we have no records here, how do we do anything? We can't open a bank account without ID."

Rob smiled. "That's the least of your worries. I wouldn't be surprised if your bank accounts came along for the ride, although I also wouldn't be surprised if they didn't."

"I did receive a text from my employers this morning giving me the rest of the calendar week off before starting the new Canadian branch of Chōten Investments."

"Which means you probably have enough of a paper trail to be able to legally start a business subsidiary. I gather you're either a professional manager or a professional investor."

"The latter, yes," Irene said. "But my driver's licence was issued in Osaka, not Ottawa."

"Double-check your wallets, ladies. There might be something in them that wasn't there yesterday."

They did so. Irene was the first to reply. "It appears I have an RBC account, and now that I see the card, I remember my PIN."

"Me, too," Maya said. "I also have a CAA card."

"You drive for a living?" Setsuna asked just after finishing her coffee.

"No, I'm a stay-at-home wife and mother. But I ride a motorcycle for pleasure."

"That said," Irene interrupted, "all of the other ID here is Japanese."

"We'll get a full set of ID for you, then," Rob said. "We'll just need your names, photos, and all the other details that show up on a driver's licence or a birth certificate."

"Our daughter's name is Mimi," Maya volunteered before Irene could ask whether she could trust Rob.

Irene noticed the look on his face. "You seem surprised, Mr. Donaldson."

"Because I am surprised," he admitted. "I'm used to 'Mimi' being a nickname, not a given name for somebody from Asia."

"That was my idea," Maya said. "There are still a lot of places in Japan where a Korean won't be welcomed. My homeland isn't as open-minded as yours and Irene's are."

Rob chuckled ruefully as he shook his head slowly. "Oh, there's plenty of racism in Canada, despite our national propaganda. We just don't show it off. There are also places in Canada where a same-sex couple would be shunned or worse." He sighed, then looked at his hosts' faces again. "Not here, though. Your condo is pretty close to the north edge of Ottawa's gay village. Getting back to names, I'll need your legal names for both your IDs and the Transplanted Persons Services files that I'll be starting on you to track exactly what help you've received from me." He pulled a small memo book and a pencil out of his pocket.

"I suppose you have to make regular TPS reports about those TPS files." Maya grinned. "With special TPS report covers, too."

Rob nodded. "Yes, and I'm surprised that you... d'oh! I've been submitting those reports for months and I never made the connection with Office Space until you abbreviated the term."

"Happy to help!"

Irene quickly asked, "Will these IDs be legal?"

"Oh, definitely," Rob replied, happy to set aside his own obliviousness. "They'll be issued by the relevant government offices, and you won't have to do anything."

"In that case," Maya said, "Mimi's birth name is Jung Mi-hee."

"Mi-hee's a pretty name. I know there are multiple ways to romanize Korean names; how does she write it?"

"Of course it's a pretty name; it means 'beautiful'." Irene took his notebook and wrote Mimi's name in both Hangul and Latin characters, following it with Maya's name in Kanji and Romaji, and her own in just the roman alphabet. "Here's all three of our names."

"Thank you," Rob replied as he took the notebook back from her. Looking at the names, he smiled. "Irene, Maya, and Mi-hee. Peace, magic, and beauty. You're a harmonious family."

"We think so," Maya said with a smile of her own.

It was only then that Setsuna commented, "Rob, wouldn't it be faster to let the Sellers' speak directly with HAL?"

"It would, but I don't have his number on speed dial. We'd have to take these young ladies home with us and ask Kazari to let us borrow her terminal." He turned to Irene and Maya. "And even if you trust me enough to come to the building that I manage, we would have to wait until Kazari is back home from school before we could ask to use her computer setup."

The couple exchanged a Meaningful Look, then Irene said, "I suppose we could visit your building. We have to find out where we can buy groceries, anyway, so what's a bit more of a trip?"

"If you're willing to show us around our new neighbourhood for a few hours until Mimi comes home, we could leave now, if that's good with you," Maya added. "Our coats, boots, and masks are at the front door."

"Masks?" Rob asked, puzzled.

"For social distancing."

Setsuna began to worry. "Why do you need to stay distant from people?"

"Because of... Oh, dear."

"What's wrong, Irene?" Maya asked.

"It's 2017. Nobody here has even heard of COVID."

"Oh, fuck."

Rob and Setsuna were puzzled. "You need to stay away from people because of crows?"

"COVID, not corvid. Coronavirus disease 2019. It's an easily transmittable version of SARS," Irene explained.

"I'm not licensed to practice medicine here," Setsuna said, "but I have taken medical courses, and that description frightens me. How easily transmittable?"

"The doctors said it's an airborne virus, with a two-metre range."

Setsuna frowned. "That's unusually specific. Was that two-metre number determined by how far the virus spread before falling to the ground during tests, or because the testing apparatus was only two metres long?"

Irene looked surprised as she said, "I don't know."^[3]

"What are the symptoms?"

"It's possible to be asymptomatic," Irene replied. "but COVID-19 has a one percent fatality rate, too. The usual symptoms are coughing, fever, and potentially permanent loss of the senses of smell and taste."

Then Rob said, "I remember the SARS epidemic of 2002. How does this compare to that?"

Irene looked straight at him. "COVID-19 is a pandemic, not just an epidemic."

Rob decided that the situation was serious enough to rate using profanity. "Oh, shit. And now I get to carry out one of my other duties. Setsuna, please text the girls and get them to teleport back here right now."

"I'll also tell them to bring along anyone they've been in sustained contact with," she said as she pulled her cellphone from her pocket.

"Good idea. I'll call Washuu-chan and let her know we might have a major medical emergency on our hands. Then I'll text Maika and Mii, and let them know we might need to go into quarantine."

"So they won't wait lunch for us?"

"And so they know that Mii's in charge of the building until we resolve this. Neither of us can declare a medical quarantine, but we'd better act like there's one in place until Washuu-chan tells us otherwise." By this point, he had his cellphone out. After tapping one speed-dial button, he held the phone up to his ear. "C'mon, answer... Washuu-chan, it's Rob Donaldson. No time for pleasantries. We have a new displacee family, and it's possible one of them will be patient zero of a pandemic outbreak here. ... Yeah, I thought you might. Sending you my GPS coordinates now." His phone beeped. "... See you then." He turned back to the others. "She'll be here within five minutes. You two need to decide whether to let her examine and treat you and your daughter."

"How much do you know about her qualifications?" Irene asked.

Rob replied, "Enough to let her treat me. She's mitigated a nervous-system problem of mine that nobody else could."

Maya asked, "Is this Washuu-chan from some version of Tenchi Muyo?"

"The original OAV series, yes," Rob replied. "And I'm surprised you've heard of her, because you don't strike me as the type to be an anime fan."

Maya smiled. "Thanks. I like being unpredictable. I ride a '95 CBR900RR, too." Seeing the blank looks on Rob's and Setsuna's faces, she added, "A sport motorcycle from Honda." Then she turned to Irene. "Honey, Washuu-chan's the greatest scientific genius in the universe. Just ask her. She knows a lot about medicine, probably more than any doctor on Earth."

"Any other doctor on Earth," Rob said with a smile. "Which means we're lucky that she's my building's on-call doctor."

"In that case," Irene asked, "is she accepting new patients? We need to find a family doctor now that we're here, I trust my wife to give me good advice, and having a doctor who makes house calls would be a pleasant change."

As the condo's front door opened and Mimi and her classmates walked in, a portal appeared on the living room wall. Rob said, "You can ask her yourself."

"Well, I have good news and bad news."

"I hate that game," Rob muttered. Out loud, he asked, "What's the good news, Washuu-chan?"

"Irene is a carrier but the infection is dormant in her system. Mimi is clean, which means that I don't have to go test everybody at the high school. I presume they were vaccinated before being displaced; their shots worked just fine, and I've already got my lab making a vaccine based on what's in Irene and Maya's system. It'll be ready in half an hour."

Maya looked up from talking with HAL on Kazari's phone, and asked, "And the bad news? You didn't say if I was a carrier."

"You're not just a carrier, you're infectious. Which means everybody in this room, including me, is at risk of getting the virus if you sneeze. Don't sneeze. And don't leave the apartment for a week after you get your shots. Anybody want an immune system booster while I'm synthesizing the vaccine? Galaxy Police standard issue."

Setsuna asked in return, "Shouldn't we get the immune system booster after the vaccine takes effect, so that it won't interfere with us developing antibodies?"

"We can do it that way if you're more comfortable with that order."

"Good idea," Rob replied. "It'll be one less thing we need to explain to Ami if her textbooks and teachers are telling her that's the order they have to be in. Somebody record this." He cleared his throat while Kuroko held up her cellphone. "As the girls' foster father, I give consent for everyone in this room who lives at Blossom Apartments to get the vaccine and the booster. And I'll have them myself, too, please."

"Do I have to?" Usagi asked.

The Academy City girls looked surprised. "Why wouldn't you?" Ruiko asked in amazement.

"Well... I'm afraid of needles."

Rob frowned. "I don't care that you're afraid of needles, Usagi. I'm afraid of having to watch you die from something preventable."

She pouted. "Rob-oji, that's extortion."

"You're right, and I hope I never need to use it again. But Get. The. Shot."

"Fiiiiine..."

While most people noticed Naru getting out her own cellphone at that point, only Washuu noticed Layla was standing at the condo's front door. "Please don't leave."

Layla sighed deeply, then said, "I know, I shouldn't. But how else can I get my mother's permission to get the vaccine?"

"How old are you?" Irene asked.

"I'm 14."

Before anyone else could say anything, Rob pointed out, "If you can demonstrate that you're a mature minor, you can give your own consent. I'd say attending one of the best schools in Ottawa is sufficient, assuming you aren't just coasting through your classes."

Kazari smiled. "Layla got higher grades in math and chemistry than I did last term."

"And I know that you're good in both those fields," Washuu said. "That's good enough for me."

"Then, yes, please give me the vaccine." Layla stepped away from the door.

Irene said, "If that's how it works here, then we'll let you choose for yourself, Mimi. I want the shots."

"So do I," Mimi said with a smile. "And thank you, Irene-mom."

Maya smiled as well. "You're old enough to make your own health choices. And I want the shots too, unless you have something special for me instead, doctor."

Washuu replied, "You'd better believe I have something special for you: a treatment for the virus that you've already got, and then a vaccine so you don't catch it again, and the immunity booster after that. Your shots should be ready to go at the same time I finish giving everybody else their shots, assuming you all want them." Then she turned back to the teenagers and started, "Naru-san...?"

"Hang on," she said as she put her cellphone on speaker.

"Hello again, Washuu-chan," Mayumi Osaka's voice filled the room. "Naru says she wants my permission to let you give her a vaccination. You have it."

"Thank you, Mayumi-san." As Naru took her phone off speaker and Layla wondered why she didn't think of calling her own mother, Washuu turned to the two boys. "What about you two?"

After a moment, Hunter said, "Sorry, I'm still taking in the whole idea that you exist and can do all this. But everybody else seems to trust you. I'm on the varsity football team, and they don't let us be on a team if we're not keeping up with our studies. If that's good enough to be a mature minor, please give me the shots."

Zach was more hesitant. "Aren't vaccines linked to autism?"

"No, they're not," Irene said angrily. "Andrew Wakefield was the only person who claimed that, and there's proof that he was being paid to undermine confidence in vaccines. It's all there on his Wikipedia page. I don't know how many people have died from measles so that he could make his precious forty-million dollars or however much he actually got before he was found out, and I don't know how he can sleep at night. Blood money's the worst kind of money there is. Don't be like him, Mimi; earn your money honestly."

"Yes, Irene-mom."

And that was when Rob started seriously considering switching his retirement savings to Irene's oversight. Whatever else might happen, he'd know that she'd invest his money ethically.

"Well, I don't know..." Zach started. Then he noticed that Makoto wasn't happy, and changed his tune. "I guess it's okay."

Washuu frowned. "You guess. Do I give you the shots? Yes or no."

After a moment, Zach said, "Yes."

"We'll do you last, in case you change your mind in the next half-hour."

"Thank you, Dr. Hakubi."

"The crisis is almost over, so now I can say it..." She grinned. "Call me Washuu-chan!"

Blossom Apartments, Ottawa, ON, Canada
January 12, 2017
4:55 PM

While the Sellers family were speaking with HAL-9000 about their government IDs, Rob and Ruiko were bringing Ami up to speed on what had happened that day.

Ami wasn't happy when she heard about COVID-19. "We were lucky, Rob-san."

"That we caught this COVID virus before it could spread any farther than Maya Sellers?"

Ami shook her head. "No. Well, that, too, but we've been lucky because she was the first displacee infected with a virus that we don't know how to contain without Washuu-chan's help."

Rob winced. "Ew. Yes. Now I'm imagining what would have happened if somebody from Raccoon City brought along the T-virus, or someone showed up in Dublin with the White Plague."

"Or just a strain of polio that our vaccines don't protect against."

"Rob-oji, Ami-san," Ruiko asked, "how do we know that that hasn't happened and we missed it?"

Rob answered, "We're still alive."

"So far."

Glebe Collegiate, Ottawa, ON, Canada
January 13, 2017
8:04 AM

"Good morning, everybody!" Mimi and Layla waved to a group of students standing near her locker. Some of them had their own lockers open.

"Hi, Mimi! Hi, Layla!" Usagi waved back as the new transfer student and her same-floor neighbour walked over to the group. "How's your mom, Mimi?"

"Stuck in bed; doctor's orders. She's using her laptop to look at those pictures that you told us about yesterday afternoon. So I had to make breakfast for everybody today. Are we in trouble for leaving early yesterday?"

"Nah," Ruiko replied. "Rob-oji cleared it with the school office after the fact. Since Usagi, Rei, and Makoto transformed before teleporting you, Zach, and Hunter, it counted as 'Senshi business'."

Layla sighed. "I'm still not really happy about being caught in the madness that's your lives, but I realized last night that I wouldn't trade it for anything now. I know people who actually make a difference."

"Layla," Kazari said before anyone else could, "you see somebody who makes a difference whenever you look in a mirror. Remember how much help you've been giving us with homework?"

Mimi nodded as she hung her coat in her locker. "I've got to agree. I don't need powers to be special, and neither do you."

"You're right. Both of you. Thanks."

Then Mimi asked, "So, is today going to be as exciting as yesterday?"

The reply was unanimous: "I hope not!"

1. ↑ RK: As she was shown to do when hacking during the Sisters Arc in canon.
2. ↑ RK: Rob is not a big fan of historical fiction, and thus is not aware of Sarah L. King's novel A Woman Named Sellers. Not that it would matter, because Irene, Maya, and Mimi Sellers aren't related to Jennet Sellers anyway.
3. ↑ RK: It was because the testing apparatus was only two metres long. Anybody in real life who was infected but wasn't wearing a mask was spreading coronavirus all over the place while thinking that there was plenty of social-distancing space between people.