Naru Osaka stared at the LED display on her alarm clock; it was almost 2 AM. I can’t believe I’m actually losing sleep over this, the redheaded teenager thought to herself as she temporarily distanced herself from the chaos in her mind. She had never really been a fatalist, but it didn’t seem that there was anything she could do. By now the pattern had become obvious: Senshi get a new enemy, enemy does something nasty, Naru gets caught in middle, Senshi defeat enemy, Naru goes on with life. Repeat if necessary. And with the latest attack in Nerima, it seemed even more and more inevitable that that pattern would play itself out yet again.
Even this wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the sliver of fear that had been working its way into her psyche for the last few months: What if they fail? What if the Senshi make some sort of mistake—and I end up being the one who pays for it? After all, the Senshi were human. They had to mess up every now and then, right? But what happens to the people caught in the crossfire when their luck runs out?
“No, I can’t think that way,” Naru said aloud, in an effort to make that train of thought more powerful than her misgivings. “If I keep doubting them, I’ll just turn into a paranoid weirdo.” She didn’t want to live in fear of the next monster—but that seemed harder and harder every day. What happened in Nerima couldn’t have been an accident. Even if there had apparently been some unusual circumstances, a youma was still a youma. When one appeared, more followed in its wake. And eventually, one would come for her… though, technically, she didn’t really know that any of the previous monsters had been after her specifically. In fact, it was usually more along the lines of her getting duped by some dumb scheme or another. But then again, why was it that the scams always seemed to prey on her personal weaknesses?
Maybe the Senshi have something to do— Naru banished that thought from her mind before it even had a chance to fully form. Surely it couldn’t be their fault that she seemed to get caught up in all of their problems. Could it?
Of course, none of this would have mattered if there was something that Naru could actually do to avoid the attention of Sailor Moon’s enemies. But for the life of her, she couldn’t seem to figure out how to do that—so she was constantly stuck playing the damsel in distress, waiting for her knights in shining seifuku to get her out of whatever mess she’d found herself in the middle of. The bleary-eyed teenager repositioned herself on her mattress and closed her eyes once again, trying to find the sleep that eluded her. I’m so tired of feeling helpless….
“She’s been staying up most of the night, sir. As you predicted, the Nerima incident has sparked new concerns in her. From what we can tell, she’s expressed doubts about someone’s—presumably the Senshi’s—ability to adequately protect her from youma and other monsters.”
Anthracite glanced through the report—in the relatively brief time they’d been in his employ, Check’s squadron of ninjamarketers had become quite skilled at evaluating a person’s mental state from their actions—although the best evidence was still the spoken and/or written word. “I see. And her plans for tomorrow night?”
“Unchanged, my lord.”
“Do you have the specific information I requested?”
“Yes, sir.” The youma pulled out a printout from… somewhere. “Here is a list of movie theaters she’s been known to frequent—though it’s highly unlikely that she will patronize any but the first on the list, as that is easily the closest one to the Crown Arcade, where she often meets up with the friend who will be accompanying her.”
“I see. Do you know what movie she intends to see?”
“Apparently, her friend is currently lobbying for the pair to see the final installment of the “Deadly Animal on a Mode of Transportation” trilogy.”
Anthracite couldn’t help rolling his eyes. “Ugh. That concept was already old halfway through Snakes on a Plane, and it was dead by the opening credits of Scorpions on a Boat. What are they doing this time around?”
“Amazon Tree Frogs on a Spaceship.”
“I see… well, I’ll make my recommendations to Gosunkugi accordingly—but first, I need to get some sleep myself. You’re dismissed, Check.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Soon enough, it was Friday morning.
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(Posted Wed, 13 Sep 2006 02:48)
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