Mamoru was not helpful at all. The girl asking for directions wasn’t the one she needed help with! Had she not pointed straight at the tiny pink-haired kid? How could Mamo-chan talk so calmly about the train station when there was yet another one of his unknown future children standing right in front of him?!

Wait. What if it wasn’t Mamoru’s kid? What if… In one horrifying eggnog-induced second, Usagi thought about an impossible future, where she was this child’s mother, but Mamoru wasn’t the father.

Papa!

A wave of both relief and anxiety crashed upon her as the child identified Mamoru as, indeed, the father. She was so silly. Of course Mamo-chan was the father. Who else could it be?!

She felt his hand on her back as if reassuring her that she needn’t have worried at all, and now, at last, he looked properly surprised. As the two conversed, Usagi tried her best to follow the conversation without babbling about how to make the pudding of relativity.

Chibiusa was with Hotaru? Nothing new, there. But she was yelling at her kid sister? Rude. Usagi thought Chibiusa would be nicer by now, especially given all she’d gone through. And call her foolish, but she’d always thought Chibiusa would be an excellent big sister. Though she probably would never tell Chibiusa that.

It was nice and all for Mamoru to say the yelling was a form of affection, but now she made a mental note to tell Chibiusa to be nicer to her sister when she saw her next. Which, judging from how often these kids kept popping up in the past, could be any second now.

Mamoru might have restrained himself from asking for the child’s name, but Usagi had no such reservations, especially in her inebriated state.

“Wait a second here. What’s your name? And what year do you come from?” she looked at the child suspiciously. Wasn’t there something or other about how moon royalty was only supposed to have one child?

Japan, huh? Weren't these people popping out of portals supposed to be from other dimensions or worlds? It was kind of a bland answer-but the eggnog was making Haruka ever so cheery, so she'd give it a pass.

"Japan's a big nation." She nodded as she took another sip. "What part are you from? Osaka? Tokyo?"

She paused for a moment. If there were other dimensions, she could be from an alternate Japan. With this in mind, and Eggnog creating a bigger buzz, Haruka suggested what she thought at the time to be the best guess ever.

"What about Edo? Or do you come from a place where Japan has, like, a whole buncha robots?"

She nailed it.

Naoto Shirogane

Naoto decided to ignore how her own question was ducked, her conversation partner seemed a little...inebriated anyway. Hearing those big name cities was a little embarrassing when Haruka began to guess where she came from. Her own town, the one she considered her home now, was the definition of backwater, to the point where it was an effort to find it on a detailed map. 

She was about to answer when she heard Edo and robots being thrown in. Was she assuming she time traveled? She supposed that was possible if portals were already a thing, but still!

"W-what? I'm from Inaba, in the Yamanashi Prefecture, Chubu region. It might be small, but I assure you, I'm from this present day!" Naoto wasn't quite yelling, but she felt herself heating up anyway. She stopped herself and sighed, calming down again. Did she look like she came from the 1800s? Honestly...

Artemis' eyes snapped open as the conversation continued.

"You love taking your daughter to parties! That's why I thought Mina-chan would be here!"

D- did that mean what he thought it did? Is that little kid from a point in the future where Mina also has a child?

He was always worried that Mina would constantly place her senshi duty on top of her personal life, never balancing the two as she should. As if she does not deserve a life of her own. So it felt immensely relieving to know that there was still hope for her.

Perhaps something good could come out of this stupid portal. But then the second part finally registered in his mind. "Mina-chan"?!

He had no idea Mina admired Usagi's child-naming methods that much. He was so glad he already knew his future kitten, and that he knew his future wife had enough sense not to name their child "Luna".

If this mysterious kid ended up telling them that the other senshi also had children named Ami, Rei and Mako, he would be so done.

Kousagi Tsukino / Parallel Sailor Moon

---

Her bright eyes widened further when Papa responded. He was only 22?! She was in the past—how strange was that! Wait, did that mean that even her older sister wasn't born yet? The sudden realization of being in a place where Chibi Usa might not even exist was... weird. Even weirder was the fact that her parents already demonstrated a pretty thorough knowledge of Chibi Usa and didn't seem at all surprised by the mention of the older girl. Kousagi pondered this, wondering what the heck was going on, but that train of thought was immediately derailed by Usagi's question.

She smiled brightly at her mother, or future mother, in reply.

"I'm Kousagi, of course!" she giggled. "And back home it's..." It took her a little longer than might have been reasonable for her to calculate the year. "1999!"

Kousagi? ... Little rabbit. He sighed, wondering what could have possessed them to choose that name, but then the answer was obvious - she was the spitting image of Usako, so it made sense. Still. Kousagi, Usako... He smiled softly, his nickname for her in reverse... the name grew on him just like that, and, just like that, she announced the year he was from and if he had had a drink, he would have spat it out.

"1999?!" he replied incredulously - 1999 was pre-30th century - it was pre-Chibi-Usa even!  What in the world was going on?!

Makoto suddenly came to Mamoru and Usagi having a bunch of cookies directly from the oven ."Hey Usagi!Do you want some...cookies ?" Then she saw her .
For the the first time ever in her life Makoto was scared ."Ermm...Usagi?"she began talking again but with a more serious voice."Is this Chibusa's cousin ?"

Kousagi? Ko-usagi.

She had to admit, it wasn't very creative, but it fit the trend. She couldn't help but wonder what she would name a third child, since her future self seemed insistent on having an army of little Usagis. Not that that wasn't the best name, obviously, but it did get confusing after a while...

However, her musings about this name choice was quickly distracted by the next statement. "1999?!" she exclaimed. "That's only a few years from now! How can we... wait... Chibiusa is your older sister, isn't it?"

Had Chibiusa been hiding the existence of an older sister all this time? That seemed impossible. The whole point of her feeling lonely was because she was an only child who felt abandoned by her parents. So how could they have another child in 1999, before Crystal Tokyo even happened? She wouldn't even be twenty-two by then, and...

"How old are you, Kousagi-chan?"

If she was this big now and it was 1999... was she and Mamoru supposed to have her like... tomorrow?! She looked at Mamoru in a mix of horror and embarrassment. Had they messed up the future somehow?

She turned towards her friend as Mako came in offering cookies, but even cookies could not make her feel better now. This was all so confusing!

Roy "R" | Knight Dionysus

Roy was mostly listening what went around him, calmly enjoying the warmth. Enjolras did too, obviously, even if the picky cat was already better off than himself. The guy had fur for hell's sake and all he had was a toga and sandals. Still, that cat had the guts to whine about walking in snow.

But he was so adorable.

He needed a drink. Or even a glass of water.

He followed a bit the conversation going on with the tall lady and the blue lady, not exactly interested, but not bored either. People were amusing. He had to remember himself he only was that too. People. He had died once, and came back alive on Earth. Had grown up with the same old curse, but none of his kind.

So truly, he was one hell of a boring Earthian.

"Oh... family drama."

The conversation further from them had caught his ears, but his words had been too quiet to go as far.

"This was a strong portal..." He realized with a blink of his eyes. "To bring people from any world and time. As I also come from Crystal Tokyo. How quaint. Someone want some water, then?"

He offered, extending his flask in front of him with an innocent smile.

 
Well, it was worth a shot. Haruka nodded-wow, she needed to take it easy on the eggnog; that made her a bit dizzy-before apologizing.

How was she supposed to know that she was from some present-day Japan? These people they were expecting could have been spit out from nowhere, for all she knew.

Suddenly, Haruka was drawn back to the interactions with Mamoru, Usagi and their supposed second child when he blurted out:


"1999!?"


"Pfft." Haruka couldn't help but begin to laugh. "Jeez, my Prince and Princess! I understand the bloodline must be continued but wow, slow down over there!" She hollered and slapped her thigh; delighted with her own innuendo and her drunk laughter continued-at least until she began to feel a bit queasy.

Okay, really, really queasy.

Next thing she knew, her legs had carried her all the way to the bathroom, and her stomach emptied the only way it could if someone had gotten a bit to eager with some very special eggnog.

Eggnog that their lover had concocted, no less.

"Michiru..."Haruka glowered, Her name was on her lips as though she was addressing a rival sportsman. She was gonna pay somehow for doing who-knows-what to that eggnog, and have it be so addictive!

Naoto Shirogane

"Crystal Tokyo...?" Naoto asked, turning to the other (cosplaying?) man in the room. She had decided after hearing some very confusing snippets of the other conversation, to stay out of what he had dubbed "family drama". She was going to stubbornly cling to the fact that she knew it was definitely the year 2012 and not the 90s again. This was hurting her head already as it was. 

"I've never heard of something like that before." She hesitated when he offered his flask of water, but seeing as how the only other drink in her view was clearly alcoholic, she decided to take him up on it. "Um...sure, thank you." Naoto took the flask and was only able to take a few mouthfuls before the taste struck her. She forced it down with a hard swallow and coughed, very confused. 

"T-that's not water!" she said, looking at the flask again. If anything, it was more like a spiked grape juice. Wine perhaps?

Roy "R" | Knight Dionysus

"Eh... you might not want to know anyway."

Just before he heard the tall woman talk and he frowned.

"Wait...? These are the Queen and Kin...?" But the tall lady was already going to...vomit probably and so he blinked again, looking at the corner where could be seen the family drama going on and tilted his head in a confusion that was quicly squashed by the girl's exclamation.

He took back the flask a tad brutally, hurrying into sniffing it and grimacing with guilt.

Enjolras put his paw on his cheek as if to slap him (not that cats could really slap anyway).

"My apologies!" He shook it a bit, sniffed it again, then gave it back. "There you go!"

He ignored Enjolras' look.

"The slight sleepiness-induced panic probably made me changed it to wine while we were crashing. It is water now, I promise. Sniff before drinking, you'll see."

He didn't want to know her age. Nope.

"What's your name? I meant to ask you earlier, but fate had us separated before I could."

Enjolras laid back down on his lap with a roll of his eyes.

Naoto Shirogane

Naoto took the flask back, though she gave him an intense side-eye in the process. Did he really think that she was childish enough to believe that he could just change wine into water on command? What kind of magic trick was he trying to pull? She sniffed it and blinked, caught off guard. It... it really wasn't wine anymore. 

"You actually did it..." she said, though it was more to herself. Clearly she shouldn't have underestimated this stranger. Was it a trick flask with multiple compartments, or did he have some innate alchemical skill he had used? Whatever grudge she was going to hold against him evaporated as she tried to figure out what he'd done.

"Hm?" She set the flask down before she got too interested in it. "I'm Naoto Shirogane." Though she doubted her family's name meant much wherever she was now. "And what would your name be? And why wouldn't I want to know what Crystal Tokyo is?" Was it not supposed to exist in whatever time she was currently in? Or maybe it was a government secret.

Roy "R" | Knight Dionysus

He chuckled, visibly pleased with her reaction. He hummed to the comment she made, even though it didn't seem all that aimed toward him. Others had asked him if he was related to one of the many religions the Earthian had. His answers was no. Not the one people usually thought first about, but then again, none at all. Apollon was a planet so far away from the Milky Way he doubted Earth and Apollon had been in contact before at all.

"Easily. It is why I have this flask actually. Wine is unfortunately a nectar many creatures seem fit to sell at a scandalous price. On this planet or others. Water, on the other hand, is a wonder of nature found almost everywhere."

He smiled a bit.

"Naoto, enchanté. You can call me Roy."

Most who knew he came from Paris thought the name strange, but considering he only remembered 'R' as a name, he had used the first name coming to his name the first time someone had asked him. In this case 'Roy'.

"As for Crystal Tokyo... well... you see those people there? Family drama? In some years from now if I trust how old they seem, they will become monarchs and Tokyo will grow well into the 30th century with their people's lifespan growing exponently from normal human beings. An interesting tale, but technically, the reason I should not be telling, is that time is a weird thing, you see."

He leaned back against his seat.

"I live in Crystal Tokyo... when I remember Earth is my birth planet. So I might be messing with people's future right now without knowing. Or your future, who knows."

He shoved his fingers between the warm fur of his cat, grateful considering how cold his skin was.

"That pink girl is probably messing it more than I am. I do not remember the Queen's guardians having children, but then again, would they make everything public? No idea. I am not on Earth enough to say."

Enjolras pushed his paw in his stomach to warn him he was being too chatty again.

"Forgive my lack of manners, I am apparently letting you very little space to talk."

Naoto Shirogane

On this planet or others? Was this man an alien? He looked more like a displaced person from ancient Greece, but maybe...

Roy's explanation of Crystal Tokyo was enough to keep her silent the entire way through, though her expression was far from accepting. It was more like someone being told that 1 plus 1 did not and had never equaled 2.

"No, it's fine... I just... what?" Naoto managed to say. Monarchs? The 30th century? Extended lifespans? That didn't seem right. What happened to the government and the Emperor's family? And there were other inhabited planets? 

"How...? I..I don't remember any hint of that happening where I came from. Was it after 2012?" Naoto asked? Though as shocked as she appeared, there was also a hint of excitement in her. As long as this wasn't an elaborate joke. Were there still Shadows and Persona users in the 30th century?

Kousagi Tsukino / Parallel Sailor Moon

---

Why was everyone acting like this? There were so many questions! It was like a quiz or a test, and there were few things that Kousagi hated more than quizzes and tests! The only part of school she liked was lunchtime. (Hmm, didn't that sound familiar?) The pink-haired girl rolled her eyes and slumped dramatically as she answered what was posed to her.

"Yesssssss," she dragged out in an over-emphasized sigh. "Chibi Usa is my older sister. Chibi Usa: genius extraordinaire! President of her 9th grade class: the amazing Chibi Usa Tsukino!"

She huffed, tucking her chin to her chest and peering up through her curled pink bangs with those unmistakable wide eyes.

"I'm eight years old and in 3rd grade."

1999...

That was soon. Very soon. The date just kept sinking in, deeper and deeper, and when Makoto offered Usako a cookie, he took one when she did not. His eyes were unfocused as he took a bite and chewed slowly. 1999. Comments washed by - 'Is this Chibiusa's cousin?' 'I understand the bloodline must be continued but wow, slow down over there!' - but despite the world starting to turn around him and guilty thoughts of Usako's suitcase in his room pulled at his gut, he listened closely to Usako's line of questioning as though it were a lifeline, his mind not exactly working at the same speeds as before. Chibiusa was president of her ninth grade class? His heart warmed despite the fog of everything else - his heart was taking it in though his mind was chugging along slowly. And then it stopped completely. She was eight. Eight. Eight? 1999. But Eight? Math. Fast. Impossible? Redundant recheck: ... Impossible. 

He looked back at the little girl with the bright blue eyes that peeked up at him in a way that made him want to assure her that she was every bit as amazing as her sister, and tried to come to terms with the idea that she would never exist in this world. 

He smiled, sure to keep it steady and reassuring, "I'm sure you're every bit as amazing as she is, Kousagi," he said kindly, his heart breaking quietly in the realization that he would never be able to see her again. He didn't even know her, and yet she was so unmistakably his... he shouldn't have been able to form an attachment at all, and yet there it was all the same. The moment he believed she was his he had unwittingly opened himself up and let her in, assuming the same situation as Chibiusa - that one day she would be back in his life and he would be all the richer for knowing her before she grew to know him, to be a better father that understood her more and could support better, and now...  "Everyone's different; what's your favorite thing to do?" He'd never get to be her father. Some version of him was, but it would never be him, personally, speaking with her everyday, helping her deal with pressures of Crystal Tokyo life and her duties - was that the confusion earlier? Was there even a Crystal Tokyo where she was from? This would be --

His chest tightened, suddenly terrified that someone would reveal to her the timeline discrepancy and introduce to the girl an avalanche of complications that no one, let alone a third grader, should have to face. He was having problems realizing that he would never be able to see her again - he could not imagine what kind of damage could be done if she found out she would not exist here, and the notion that that information could transfer into her thinking she was some sort of mistake made him immediately fiercely protective of her. He would not mention Crystal Tokyo again - he wouldn't even mention much about Chibi-Usa visiting, as who knew what had happened in the world she came from - and he would do his best to protect her from anyone else suggesting that she did not belong there.

Carefully he reached for Usako's hand and held it gently, hoping she understood but ready to take her aside and quickly talk to her in case the eggnog was impeding her intuition.

Kousagi Tsukino / Parallel Sailor Moon

---

Perhaps better for all of them, the pink-haired child didn't seem to notice any of Mamoru's distress. She perked up when he addressed her directly, asking her a question about her interests. It was nice to have Papa pay attention to her. In this way he really did seem like her Papa, who tried to give focus to each of the ladies in his life. Some things remained consistent even in alternate universes.

"Eating!" she replied instantly, bouncing enthusiastically at the comment. Again, the similarity of this child with her future-alternative mother was unmistakable.

On that note, wasn't there a table of snacks around here?