She didn't particularly like this part of town. It was not nearly as clean or put-together as the places Kimiko generally liked to frequent. But all of the other shops in the proper part of the town had stopped selling her favorite notebooks, and she needed more for school. Thus, here she was.

Besides, she was seventeen years old. She was practically an adult, and she'd been coming down this way plenty times in the past, regardless of her need for new notebooks. It wasn't as if she was going to tell her father about her trip - he would worry needlessly, and besides, he needed whatever concentration he could muster to keep working. Besides, she wasn't doing anything wrong. She was just being efficient - it was near school, after all. And it wasn't her fault that the best notebooks were only available down this way.

Kimiko kept away from most people, however, even going out of her own way to stick to the empty sidewalks. They were clearly the quicker paths to take.

As she passed a particularly run-down building, she noticed a couple of figures quickly making their way out of it. The way they moved, the quickness of their steps, it all looked suspicious. And no wonder, it was obvious they weren't supposed to be in that abandoned building. It looked like one good gust of wind would crumble it to dust.

Kimiko frowned as she looked at the retreating figures a little more before they left her line of sight - they looked about the same age as she. Oh no, did they go to her school? She felt offended at the very thought.

Obviously they were trouble makers wanting to take advantage of the abandoned building in order to get into trouble after school. Kimiko's frown deepened. Well, if she saw them again, it would be up to her to warn them of the dangers they were so obviously ignoring - or were too dim to recognize.

Mind made up, Kimiko turned away from the building, a small noise of annoyance escaping her, before continuing down the street. She began to make a list of the homework assignments she would need to work on once she was home again. She was far too busy to waste any more time thinking about trouble makers.

As she made her way through the hidden route, Sailor Elysion's mind raced with thoughts, unable to settle on any additional clarity; overwhelmed by everything that she had been through now that the adrenaline of the fight no longer focused her thoughts in a particular direction. She dropped her transformation as she walked, removing the glamour as well. She wasn't Sailor Elysion or Yume Chiba right now—she was just herself, Serenity. In a way, it almost felt like a relief.

At home, everything seemed to encircle her like a whirlwind. Her mother's guardians almost ambushed her when she emerged within the grounds of the Crystal Palace.

"Pallas, please," she coughed from below the embrace of the blue-uniformed sailor soldier, blushing awkwardly at the attention. "I can't breathe!" The hug was loosened only slightly in response.

Sailor Vesta nudged her in the ribs, the woman grinning broadly from ear to ear. "So, had to show us up, eh? Defeating a bunch of these new monsters just to show off your new title."

Juno said nothing, but when Serenity looked up she caught the faintest hint of a smile on the green-haired warrior's face. As their eyes met, the older woman gave a nod of acknowledgement, and Serenity felt her face warm even more at the evident approval.

Sailor Ceres stood back from the others, chuckling at their behaviour, but as soon as Pallas released the teenager long enough for her to take a few steps forward, the rosy woman walked up and wrapped warm arms around the girl's shoulders.

"We're all so proud of you, princess," she whispered, small tears glittering at the corners of her eyes. "You're becoming a magnificent sailor soldier, just like we always knew you would."

Diana ran up the moment the group passed through the doors of the crystal castle. That serious glint to her deep red eyes could only mean business—she would have questions about everything that occurred at the school. A debriefing was clearly in order. Only seconds later, Trivia followed on her mother's heels. Serenity felt a spike of reassurance and happiness to see the blur of the dark blue cat rushing towards her.

"Princess!" the feline cried, launching herself towards Serenity. She laughed and caught her companion and advisor, who quickly moved to sit on her shoulders, wrapping around the back of her neck.

"Oh, Princess, I was so worried! You should have let me come with you!"

The golden-eyed girl reached up to scratch behind the distressed cat's ears, gently rubbing the tense muscles of her upper back and making soothing noises. She certainly wasn't interested in having someone else watching her while she was supposed to be attending school—and, bringing their cats with them to their place of education was just not something that schoolgirls in Crystal Tokyo actually did—but she could not hide from herself that she had rather missed that presence of guardianship. Still, despite being alone, she had made it. In fact, she didn't have to do it alone—she had other allies now.

"Shall we move to the Control Room? Your mother will be there after the press conference," said the quiet, proper voice of the lavender cat that advised the queen.

Serenity nodded at Diana, adjusting her book bag on her shoulder. They had a lot to discuss...

---

She couldn't convince the butterflies in her stomach to settle down. Eating breakfast had been virtually impossible; she stomached a few bites of dry toast and forced down half a glass of water, but that was her limit. Her mind couldn't stop thinking about the meeting this afternoon. She had to be careful about this at school; she needed to make sure she didn't say or do anything that would make it clear to her new friends (and new allies) what she knew. If they discovered who she was she'd only be putting them in danger. Her morning routine was on auto-pilot, giving her thoughts too much freedom.

So caught up in musing was she that Serenity barely noticed the soft sound of paws padding into the room.

"Princess, I shall accompany you today, given the circumstances of—"

"I have to hurry; have a good day, Trivia!" she interrupted, grabbing her book bag and dashing for the door. Despite all of it, there was no way she was going to let her guardian cat put her under surveillance if she could help it. The silver eyes glinted as the feline tried to intervene, but Serenity had spent her entire life deftly avoiding the watchful eye of her appointed chaperone. She ducked just out of sight in time to hear the soft voice exclaim in an exasperated tone: "Oh, for the love of the Moon! Princess!"

---

Yume arrived a little bit too early, one of the first students to enter the classroom. The stillness within the building only seemed to make her feel worse. She wondered what she would say to Reika or Hiro. It had to be something other than "so, about those crazy monsters yesterday..."

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