World Shaking: Chapter 2

     Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Sailor Moon or anything 
that comprises it. This is a non-profit story written solely for my own 
enjoyment and that of anyone who wishes to read it. The story and 
original characters are mine. Please don't use them without permission.
     
***

                             World Shaking

               - A Sailor Moon Fan-Fiction by Nutzoide -


    Chapter 2: The Show Must Begin!
               Presenting: Dark Vampire, Aino Minako.
    
    
    The sound of morning movement woke Michiru. No decent human being 
should have been up before her, which of course meant that Ami was 
already dressed and preparing breakfast for herself. While Michiru had 
cultivated her air of unflappable control for the public eye, Ami 
seemed driven enough to possess one naturally, as long as she was 
unobserved. That was the only reason the girl could have been awake 
already. Though at first glance she and Michiru had much in common, 
they really were two different sides of very different coins.
    
    While the girl had only just moved in, she had visited often enough 
to know where everything in the kitchen was kept. If they weren't quick 
she would probably be off to the university before anyone had the 
chance to rise and greet her. As loath as Michiru was to admit it, that 
simply wouldn't do. She needed to give Ami a piece of her mind after 
last night.
    
    She looked down to the sleeping form next to her. Even though 
Michiru was up, Haruka didn't stir. 
    
    "Did I wear you out?" Michiru asked with an impish whisper. She had 
certainly done her very best to. 
    
    Michiru slipped from their bed and dressed herself quietly, so as 
not to wake her girlfriend. Haruka had nowhere to be today, so she 
deserved to lie in. Even if it was her own fault in part, Haruka had a 
lot to deal with these days. And maybe resting this time would prevent 
the morning sickness reappearing.
    
    The thought left Michiru smiling more broadly than was perhaps 
proper, under the circumstances. But how could she not? Haruka was 
pregnant! Michiru had come to terms with that lon before she had found 
peace with the idea that she now shared Haruka's heart with Ami. Any 
child she and Haruka had would never have been theirs wholly by blood. 
That was a given for a girl who had discovered early on that her 
sexuality precluded intimate involvement with men. It had never upset 
her, and Michiru had dealt with the fact rationally. Either she or her 
partner would find a donor, or they would adopt. 
    
    Now they had done both! And the child inside Haruka had been donated 
by someone who truly cared, and who Michiru knew from experience she 
could trust her life with in the most literal sense. That Ami would 
also be a parent was... odd, but Michiru was slowly getting her head 
around that. Just as she was getting her head around the idea that she 
was not the only woman in Haruka's life. 
    
    Her smile had slipped by the time she reached the kitchen, but still 
remained pleasant as she greeted her new cohabitant. 
    
    "Good morning, Ami-chan. I hope you weren't planning on slipping 
away unnoticed."
    
    Ami looked up from her textbook and sensible bowl of oat cereal. 
"Oh, good morning, Michiru-san. No, I wasn't going to 'slip away', but 
I didn't want to disturb anyone."
    
    As if on cue a faint alarm began to ring, which Michiru knew would 
have been followed by an equally faint moan of resignation if the walls 
hadn't been so thick. "Some of us also need to be up for school at a 
decent time," she said with an 'I told you so' look written in her 
eyes.
    
    Ami sighed and accepted the admonishment. "Yes, that is true. What 
does she have for breakfast?"
    
    Michiru shook her head and stopped Ami from getting up. "Eat. I'll 
make her and her 'father' some toast."
    
    As she did that Michiru decided to give her lecture. "Before our 
Hotaru arrives I should say that I appreciated last night very much, 
but it was a cruel trick to play on both of us."
    
    Ami looked back at her wide eyed and innocent. Even her manner of 
address became less distant, as if to prove it. "It wasn't a trick, 
Michiru. I meant what I said."
    
    "I know you did, but it knocked me for six. And Haruka as well. Your 
first night here and you choose not to sleep in her bed?"
    
    "What?" Ami looked even more shocked. "What wasn't it at all! Haruka 
knows that. We discussed it beforehand."
    
    "Yes, you did," Michiru chastised gently. "But I think she still 
felt a little spurned. Wouldn't you?"
    
    Michiru could tell that Ami was watching her carefully as she waited 
for the bread to toast. "... I was hoping she would welcome the chance 
to keep up your normal routine."
    
    Michiru giggled to herself, partly at Ami's sudden naivete and 
partly in recollecting the previous night. "Ami-chan, last night was 
hardly normal or routine for either of us. It can't be, now that you're 
here. But at the same time it also allowed us to... re-affirm 
something, which I think I might have needed. So thank you."
    
    Ami nodded at the thanks, but remained quiet and thoughtful. The 
toast popped up with a loud rasp. 
    
    "Would you mind if I took breakfast to her?"
    
    If Ami wanted to apologise, even though it really wasn't needed, 
then all the better. Michiru also had to think of them both if Ami was 
going to be making any unnecessary concessions. "No. Please do."
    
    Michiru buttered the toast sparingly, the way both Hotaru and Haruka 
preferred it, as Hotaru appeared. Michiru felt her unwanted melancholy 
returning as Hotaru, well turned out in the morning as ever, greeted 
Ami as if it was the most natural thing in the world. 
    
    "Morning, Ami-papa. Did you like your room?"
    
    Thankfully the downturn in Michiru's mood was cut short when Ami 
blushed furiously at Hotaru's greeting. 'Ami-papa' still lost her 
composure whenever she was referred to as such. Michiru thought that 
Hotaru might have started doing it out of mischief now. It was just as 
well that none of the other girls knew of Ami's new title yet, or she 
would never have heard the end of it.
    
    For her part Ami did manage to reply, despite her warm 
embarrassment. "Umm, yes I did. Thank you, Hotaru-chan. Did you sleep 
well?"
    
    Hotaru nodded as Michiru placed her breakfast in front of her, and 
the teenager reached for the orange juice already on the table. "Mm-hm. 
Too well. We've only just got back to school and I want another holiday 
already."
    
    Although her own college days were behind her, Michiru had to agree. 
"Yes, this last summer wasn't much of a holiday for us in the end, was 
it?"
    
    Then she placed Haruka's meagre breakfast in front of Ami. "Here. 
She's probably still asleep, but she won't mind being woken for that."
    
    Ami nodded and rose, taking the plate with her. "Thank you."
    
    Michiru noticed Hotaru subtly watching as Ami left. "That was nice, 
Michiru-mama."
    
    "Yes, well..." Too nice, one side of Michiru said. The other just 
retorted that it was only what the girl deserved. "Just eat up and make 
sure your bag is packed. You can walk part way to school with Ami-chan 
if you're quick."
    
    True to form Hotaru concentrated on her toast after that. Michiru 
knew that her daughter was eager to make Ami feel at home, and to spend 
time getting to know her better whenever possible. 
    
    Michiru left her to it, and headed back towards the bedroom. 
Listening from behind the doorway Haruka was evidently awake now, if 
only just, and Ami was apologising for any rejection Haruka had felt.
    
    "Hmm?" Haruka said, her voice still groggy. "No, it was nothing. 
Michi's just being a worry wart or something."
    
    Even from where she was standing Michiru didn't think it sounded 
very convincing. 
    
    "Well, I'm still sorry, and I'll still make it up to you."
    
    Then the sound of a kiss, long and luxurious, followed by Haruka's 
suave and slightly sleepy reply. "I'll be looking forward to it."
    
    Michiru turned away, suppressing the sigh she felt building in her 
chest. Thankfully, after Ami and Haruka's words the night before, the 
prospect of the night to come wasn't quite as daunting as it had been. 
    
***
    
    "There, there," Usagi beamed, pointing into the shop window 
jewellery case. "That one!"
    
    On either side of her Rei and Makoto peered at the necklace in 
question.
    
    "Wow," Makoto agreed. "That is *so* nice."
    
    "No kidding." Rei then looked at the price tag. "Do you have thirty-
five thousand yen, Usagi-chan?"
    
    "Nope. But wouldn't it be nice?"
    
    "Yep," Makoto agreed. "It would be *so* nice."
    
    "I bet Ami-chan could afford it. Or Michiru-san." Usagi sighed. 
"Haruka-san must have so much jewellery."
    
    Rei followed Usagi in sighing. "It must be nice to be rich."
    
    "Uh huh," Makoto agreed. "It must be *so* nice."
    
    Usagi gave Makoto a worried look. She was starting to sound like a 
scratched record again. At least it wasn't about her old upperclassman 
this time. "Sorry, Rei-chan. I think I broke your girlfriend."
    
    "Yeah," Makoto agreed, sighing deeply. "I am *so* broke."
    
    Rei looked up, but had her resigned-to-the-facts look on. "Sorry 
Mako, but that's a bit out of my price range."
    
    Usagi blinked in surprise. "A bit?"
    
    "Alright alright. A lot. Massively. Besides, Grandpa doesn't pay me 
for working, remember? Just bed, board and my old allowance."
    
    "I get paid," Makoto said, still off in her own little world. "At 
the end of the month. Then I can pay the electric bill."
    
    All three of them sighed in unison. "Being an adult sucks."
    
    Then Rei snapped up from their collective cloud of penury. "Hang on, 
Usagi-chan. What do you have to complain about? You have a successful 
*employed* fiance!"
    
    "Yeah," Usagi replied with a half hearted mope, "but that's *his* 
money. I have to have a budget, or else he'll get mad at me."
    
    Rei didn't really think that was enough to feel sorry over. "My 
heart bleeds, dumpling head."
    
    Makoto just sighed again. "Come on you two. Let's go and try on some 
clothes. At least we can pretend we can afford those."
    
    Three hours and many un-bought outfits later the trio sat in their 
usual window booth of the crown arcade and fruit parlour, watching the 
afternoon go by below them. While they'd certainly had fun, their 
friend and waitress Unazuki couldn't help but notice their mood.
    
    "Hey girls, what's up? You don't seem as energetic as usual."
    
    "Well, it's not quite been a high energy shopping day. But" Usagi 
perked up, "ice cream is the only cure for that! Right?"
    
    Unazuki giggled. "You took the sales pitch right out of my mouth. 
What would you like?"
    
    "Vanilla and strawberry swirl for me!" Usagi beamed.
    
    "Two scoops of vanilla please," Rei said. "And an extra spoon?"
    
    Makoto protested. "Rei, I said I was fine!"
    
    "Tough. I'm buying."
    
    Unazuki sighed and rolled her eyes. "Tenoh-san and Kaioh-san have 
been a bad influence on you two! But, since it's you..."
    
    Rei sniffed. "Haruka-san had nothing to do with it."
    
    Usagi giggled as Unazuki left to get their orders. "If I wasn't here 
I bet this would be a date for you. Wouldn't it? And you'd have left me 
alone on my day off from college!"
    
    "If we'd have done that we wouldn't be here with you, would we? And 
I want to make the most of our day together as well. Right, Makoto?"
    
    To her surprise though Makoto was staring off after Unazuki. "Rei? 
Are you sure it's okay to be that bold in front of Unazuki-san?"
    
    "Oh, don't worry about that," Usagi reassured her. "She's been our 
friend for years!"
    
    "Well, yeah, but..."
    
    Rei shook her head. There her girlfriend went again, being far too 
worried about what people thought of them. Always so eager to fit in, 
even though she deserved to stand out. "Makoto, she's served Haruka-san 
and Michiru-san dozens of times before. I did think about that."
    
    Makoto nodded in apology. "Sorry. It's just, like Usagi-chan said, 
it looks more like a date when the others aren't here."
    
    "Shouldn't it?"
    
    Had Makoto backed herself into a corner there?
    
    "Well, err, it's a bit unfair to Usagi-chan."
    
    Usagi nodded in agreement. "That's right. Next time, I'm making sure 
Mamo-chan can have the day off as well. Then we can double date 
properly."
    
    "Usagi-chan! That wasn't the point!"
    
    Rei got the feeling Usagi knew that all too well as she soldiered on 
though. "But it's not the same without Minako-chan and Ami-chan."
    
    "Well," Rei interjected, "to be fair they have both got an awful lot 
going on right now. Ami's got her 'special credit study' to be working 
on now as well as her medical degree. And," she added under her breath, 
"the whole thing going on with Haruka-san and Michiru-san as well. I 
mean, poor girl!"
    
    Usagi didn't know whether Ami really should have been pitied for her 
situation. She had seemed very happy the day before, but it did still 
seem kind of awkward to her. "Yeah. And Minako-chan spends every day 
practising for her play, or giving interviews with those nosy 
reporters, or seeing her agent get out of hospital... I miss having fun 
with her!"
    
    Usagi perked up with the arrival of their ice creams. Thankfully 
Makoto didn't sense any sort of disapproval from Unazuki when she set 
the wide glass of vanilla ice cream between her and Rei, though she 
didn't stay to make any conversation either.
    
    "See?" Rei said. "It's fine."
    
    Usagi, newly energised by vanilla and strawberry, came down from 
lamenting their friends' absence. "I guess it's all seesaws and 
roundabouts though. Before you all disappeared it was Ami-chan who was 
always up to date with her studies and Minako-chan with lots of free 
time between jobs, and you two who had to work or had too much studying 
to do to come out shopping."
    
    That had been true enough. Makoto had been cramming like crazy to 
try and avoid failing, and Rei had her keep to earn at the shrine as 
well as end of semester exams to pass. 
    
    "Yeah, I guess it sort of evens out," Makoto said. "Hopefully we can 
start getting everyone together more often when things calm down for 
Ami-chan and Minako-chan."
    
    Rei just looked at Usagi with a crooked eyebrow. "'Seesaws and 
roundabouts?' You *have* been spending too much time with Minako-chan. 
I hope you weren't inflicting those on Michiru-san while we were gone!"
    
    "Hey!"

***
    
    While Ami herself would not have agreed with Rei's surmising of her 
situation, she readily admitted that the day had been a taxing one for 
her. Her paper had been submitted on time before the summer holidays 
but she had *still* not heard back from the faculty about it, even 
though they *had* green lighted her 'extra credit' cover story within a 
week of receiving the request. That left her with a lot of ongoing 
practical study to do, without knowing how much she had to make up 
after having to rush the preliminary written work for the year.
    
    And considering she had already been put two years ahead in her four 
year course the workload was pleasantly challenging now, even for her, 
but on top of that were the other students whose labs and libraries she 
shared. Like Usagi, Ami's social network was amiable but limited in 
higher education. The closer, long term friendships of middle school 
and junior high were difficult to maintain when you were forced to 
disappear whenever Japan needed its Sailor Senshi, and worse when you 
then had to feign ignorance over every supernatural incident you were a 
party to. Losing contact with Osaka Naru and Gurio Umino had been very 
testing for Usagi and herself.
    
    However, it was easy to feel excluded if that limited network 
started to believe rumours about you. Several of her university friends 
were actively avoiding her, and the rest seemed unsure how to talk with 
her now. Certainly, Ami had dealt with worse before moving to Juuban, 
but it was still disheartening. More so because some of the rumours, as 
silly as they sounded, were actually true!
    
    But, in the end, did any of that really matter? Lying in her new 
bed, her head resting on Haruka's chest, it certainly didn't seem like 
it. Her post-orgasmic glow refused to fade, and the stresses of the day 
were easily left behind in favour of Haruka's steadfast embrace.
    
    Ami smiled, too tired to open her eyes again but unwilling to let 
sleep claim her just yet. "Did baby behave today?"
    
    Haruka let out her breath a little too quickly to be comfortable. 
"Pretty much. Although I'm afraid he spurned most of your toast."
    
    "I don't mind. You're lucky it isn't worse, you know."
    
    "So everyone keeps telling me. Your mother was regaling me with 
stories of how she couldn't eat anything for days on end." Haruka 
stroked her hair. "I bet he'll pay me back when it comes to sore 
ankles, or something."
    
    Ami shrugged. "Do you think it's a 'he' then?"
    
    "Not a clue. I don't think I'd be the best parent for a girl 
though."
    
    "Don't be silly," Ami chastised her. "Has Hotaru-chan ever 
complained? No, she dotes on you, the same way you do on her. Besides, 
I'm sure *she*," she said, stoking Haruka's flat stomach, "is just 
being considerate to her poor unprepared mother."
    
    Apparently Haruka didn't have a comeback for that. "If he is, then I 
will be eternally grateful." She paused, and Ami was content just to be 
held, until Haruka spoke up again. "Are you ready for a baby?"
    
    Of course she wasn't, Ami thought, but wasn't that beside the point? 
"No, but I'm looking forward to it more than anything. Even if I will 
be 'Papa' rather than 'Mama'."
    
    "This poor kid is going to have way too many parents!" Haruka said 
with a chuckle.
    
    "And more aunts than she can count." Ami decided to turn Haruka's 
question on her. "Are you ready to be a mother?"
    
    "I hope I will be when the time comes."
    
    Come on, Ami thought. Can't you do better? "But you are looking 
forward to it?"
    
    The strong arms around Ami tightened a little. "...Yes. And it 
scares the hell out of me."
    
    That's my Haruka. "I'll be here to help. And so will 'Michiru-mama', 
and Hotaru-chan and Setsuna-san."
    
    Haruka couldn't have ignored Ami's use of Michiru's name. "And 
you're okay with that?"
    
    Ami nodded comfortably. "I just hope she is."
    
***
    
    Becoming a mother for the second time, and once again under unusual 
circumstances, was the thing Michiru was *most* happy about, but it 
didn't help her sleep that night.
    
    She had already done her crying in the weeks before Ami moved in, 
within Haruka's loving and apologetic arms, and now she simply sat in 
their darkened living room with a million thoughts running marathons 
through her head. 
    
    "Are you sure you wouldn't like the lights on?"
    
    Setsuna was, as always, the right person in the right place and for 
all the right reasons, and still Michiru resented her help. "Right now, 
I don't know what I'd like."
    
    The lights did come on, though Setsuna left them dim. "That's 
better," the cryptic woman said, before coming to join her. "I know all 
too well how misery loves company."
    
    Michiru looked up at her as she sat. "Under the circumstances I 
would say you've been spending too much time with Minako-chan and 
Usagi-chan. Besides, I'm not miserable, and I don't need to be made 
such either."
    
    Setsuna smiled. "That's nice to know. So what is it that's keeping 
you up? I did notice that you didn't have any coffee this evening."
    
    Michiru would not be amused. On that she was firm. "You know, it's 
creepy when you try and cheer people up, Setsuna-san. But thanks."
    
    "Creepy? I'm hurt! I'm not going to let you change the subject 
either."
    
    Fair enough. Michiru was being just as stubborn. "It's not something 
I'm comfortable talking about. My feelings about Haruka, Ami-chan and 
myself should stay between us. But if it will help you sleep, I'm not 
about to murder them in their bed for infidelity. I'm just... coming to 
terms with the reality of it."
    
    Setsuna nodded, accepting her argument. "Fair enough. But no more 
sitting in the dark, or I'll start to worry."
    
    "Deal."

***
    
    Four weeks really was no time at all, Ono Marya thought as she 
walked the streets of Tokyo proper. Four weeks of planning, of stage 
rehearsals, of damnable safety inspections and red tape, and it would 
all be over in only a few more days. The Midnight Garden - *her* 
Midnight Garden - would open on schedule. The sense of relief was 
overwhelming.
    
    She smiled and straightened her crimson suit, and let herself stare 
at the clamour of Harajuku. Having lived on-site almost since arriving 
in Japan she had forgotten how manic Tokyo could really be by day. All 
the more reason, she thought, why her nocturnal park was needed. It was 
a novelty, certainly, but amusement parks were considered to be such 
noisy and energetic things. Why not provide one for those who needed to 
relax, and entertain the thrill seekers with clever, thematic scares 
rather than the rush of roller-coaster adrenaline. The night was both 
beautiful and frightening after all, and so too would The Midnight 
Garden be, in whatever proportions her patrons wished.
    
    As long as she could prevent the pretentious gothic fashion crowd 
from laying claim to it, as they so regularly did to Harajuku itself. 
The slasher movie crowd as well. That was something she hadn't expected 
her market research to show, but no doubt they would soon find that the 
garden didn't quite meet their needs, or adapt peaceably. 
    
    She shook her head and continued her window shopping, dropping 
flyers in at various stores along the way. It was no wonder that Kizugi 
had ordered her out of the offices in the still unfinished garden 
manor, which looked over the park from the northern hillside boundary. 
She could not stop her mind going over her work, or when it did her 
dark introspection returned, immediately reminded of her plans, her 
studies, and her painful loss.
    
    No, she thought, the darkness whispering at her back. Her father 
would be proud of what she had achieved there, and what she would 
eventually accomplish. He would be ever so proud.
    
    That dark glimmer made her shiver, and she returned to the bustle of 
Harajuku. She was there to think about things other than work. 
Leafleting aside this was a day for her to treat herself, and she only 
carried her fliers to justify the time off to herself.
    
    Her discovery of the day came not from the main shopping streets 
though, but from one of the smaller side roads. Such shops were less 
commercialised, and she remembered them selling good selections of 
bric-a-brac, books, records and such in her youth. The shop she found 
seemed to be a fairly simple cosmetics store at first glance, but the 
carefully crafted display in the otherwise cramped widow caught her eye 
just long enough. Not only did they sell make-up and accessories for 
schoolgirls and bargain savvy housewives, they also had a few notable 
brands on show, as well as a couple Marya did not recognise. And they 
sold good perfume as well. That was enough to pull her inside.
    
    The two women behind the desk looked up in unison. "Welcome to Vain 
& Glorious. How may we help you?"
    
    That was another thing the shop had in its favour. It was all too 
easy to miss the '&' on the sign outside, intentional she was sure. 
    
    "I was looking to indulge a little," Marya admitted freely. "It 
would be nice to try a new scent."
    
    The pair behind the L-shaped desk looked at one another, and the 
older of them 'hmm'ed. "That's Petz's area of expertise really, but 
she's on her day off..."
    
    The younger nodded but she adjusted the fringe beneath her 
extravagant purple/black hair - vast flowing curls that fell from her 
two miniature beehive buns - and she made her way around the back 
shelf. "True, but let's see what we can do. If you'll forgive me for 
saying so Ma'am, you have the look of a woman who wants to stand out 
among your peers."
    
    Given that Marya was wearing such a vivid red suit she could hardly 
disagree. "I don't mind doing so. A hazard of my profession."
    
    The saleswoman nodded. "Executive... For the home or for work?"
    
    "Work, definitely."
    
    The saleswoman gave an unusual smirk. "In that case we want to make 
a proper statement. How about... this one here."
    
    She plucked the deep pink bottle from in front of its box, and 
offered it for Marya to try. Marya didn't recognise the brand, 
something French - weren't they all these days? - but the fragrance 
itself was simply named 'Fleur Rose'.
    
    "It is rather exclusive," the clerk said apologetically, meaning 
that it was very overpriced, "but I think it is something a little 
special."
    
    Marya allowed her to spray the tester onto her wrist, and inhaled.
    
    It certainly was different, and she hadn't been prepared for 
anything so strong. Except 'strong' wasn't the word. Unlike many scents 
this one tried to represent the flower of its name and nothing more, 
yet it was substantial, like a rich red wine next to so many subtle 
whites.
    
    "Shocking, isn't it?" the saleswoman said with a smile. "You don't 
want much, but for a floral perfume it has remarkable depth. The other 
two in the range are softer, but this is my favourite."
    
    Her co-worker evidently agreed. "Good for the boardroom, but bad for 
a date!"
    
    "Sister!"
    
    Marya pursed her lips into a slight grin of her own. "May I try the 
others in the line?"
    
    The beehived woman nodded, and reached for the other two bottles. 
"Certainly."
    
    And the clerk was right. They were all distinctive, but the Rose had 
a certain deep pink tone to match its colour and it commanded attention 
in a rather pleasing way.
    
    "I'll take the Rose after all."
    
    The clerk seemed pleased by her decision. "It is something special, 
isn't it?"
    
    As she paid Marya took a few of her flyers from the pile in her bag 
and showed them to the attendants. "May I leave a few of these? Our 
park opens in few days, and while seats for our play's opening night 
are fully booked this will let you in at reduced admission on later 
nights as well."
    
    The saleswoman looked at the flier, and as she read her eyes slowly 
lit up. "Oh yes. We'd be glad to take some! That is such a novel idea 
for an amusement park!"
    
    Marya tried not to show her all too amused disapproval, and she 
slipped a few more fliers onto the pile. Well, she thought, they're 
supposed to be for your customers, but if you'd like to visit as well 
then all the better.
    
***
    
    After the vibrantly suited woman had gone Koan passed the flier to 
her sister, Calveras. "Look, wouldn't that be a wonderful night out? 
And it *would* be by night as well. It's perfect!"
    
    Calveras looked back to her younger sibling, late of the Black Moon 
clan. "I suppose. It would be nice to have another outing together."
    
    Koan, far more excitable than was respectable, danced into the back 
of the shop and held out the leaflet to the new employee who was 
working among the stock and the filing. "Say, Tyra-chan, what would you 
and *your* sisters think about a night out to an amusement park with 
us?"
    
    The woman who looked up was unmistakably human to everyone who 
didn't know otherwise. Her eyes scanned the paper, but a cautious look 
fell across her face. "I don't know. I'll ask them, but... I'm not sure 
that *I* am ready for it."
    
    Koan gave Tyranya an understanding nod and let her hand fall briefly 
on the disguised youma's shoulder. "Okay. There's no need to rush it. 
The offer doesn't seem to expire any time soon, so let us know when you 
feel like it, okay?"
    
    Tyranya nodded gratefully, and Koan returned to her sister at the 
sales desk. They knew as well as anyone how difficult it was to feel 
like you belonged on a world that you had once misguidedly tried to 
conquer. 
    
    "No luck?" Calveras asked, quiet enough that the youma wouldn't 
hear.
    
    Koan shook her head. "No. But it's early days yet. We can give it 
another few weeks."
    
    And it looked like such an interesting place, Koan thought with 
longing as she tidied the perfume display again, waiting for her next 
customer.

***
    
    "Mamoru! Come on, we're going to miss it"
    
    Chiba Mamoru, long suffering fiance of Tsukino Usagi and her future 
king when Crystal Tokyo would rise, climbed off his motorcycle, keys in 
his pocket, and stowed both his and Usagi's helmets in the saddle bags.
    
    "Usa, we aren't going to miss anything important."
    
    "But Minako-chan's play!"
    
    Mamoru shook his head in exasperation. She'd been like that the 
entire way there. "Which doesn't start for another hour."
    
    "But everyone will be waiting for us!"
    
    "And we would have met them on time if you hadn't insisted on 
packing snacks for us all."
    
    "But what if they don't have food here!"
    
    Mamoru held up the brochure for the park, where it had been handily 
tucked into his back pocket. "Yes they do. It's an amusement park."
    
    "But what if it isn't any good?"
    
    "Would that stop you? And you can't have cake for dinner, Usagi."
    
    Mamoru was sure that Usagi's resulting pout was stronger then 
humanly possible.
    
    "... Fine. Watch me."
    
    Mamoru grinned and put his am around her as they made their way to 
the ticket booths at the front gate. "We will, while we're eating 
Yakitori and Tempura Soba."
    
    Usagi's pout slipped. "Yakitori?"
    
    Mamuro handed her the pamphlet, and leaned over her shoulder to 
point it out. "They have a proper grill and noodle stand, and up here," 
he pointed to the north end of the park map, beyond the gardens, "is 
the East European restaurant."
    
    Thankfully Usagi had the self restraint not to drool at the thought 
these days, but Mamoru let her enjoy her gluttonous fantasies while he 
looked at the park entrance itself.
    
    Honestly, he couldn't think of a riskier business proposition than 
an amusement park that was only open at night. Most children would only 
have a few hours there before it got too late for them to remain 
enthusiastic, and the lighting costs must have been astronomical, even 
for a smaller park like this one. Then there was the cost of the bus 
convoy that, when the park closed at 2am, would take pre-paid visitors 
back to Tokyo as part of their slightly higher admission. 
    
    Still his reservations were quelled by the fact that he still 
intended to enjoy the night out, and at least from the outside it 
looked like a highly professional operation. He knew little about the 
Le FEI company, but they had a good track record in the entertainment 
business. Parks, festivals, theatre, the works. The people behind it 
also seemed to have a good grasp on their customers as well, with 
children's and family tickets being much more accessibly priced to 
account for their shorter expected visit. That didn't help him or 
Usagi, but it was good to know. 
    
    He put his ruminations behind him when Usagi finally pulled her head 
out of the brochure and saw the small group waiting in front of the 
gates. "Ah, everyone!"
    
    Mamoru chose not to shoot off after her this time. There was a 
certain hilarity in watching her launch herself into her friends, and 
he was convinced that she really would knock someone over one day. She 
was adorable and he loved her dearly, but she was still far too 
hyperactive for him sometimes.
    
    She was a very good influence as well, in her own way. Were it not 
for her he would have found these otherwise all-female outings awkward, 
not to mention the politics, sexual and otherwise, that tied them 
together these days.
    
    It was no secret between them that Rei and Makoto were sleeping 
together, almost *because* Makoto was so eager to keep it quiet. That 
he could accept, as long as they were happy with the relationship, but 
it still wrong footed him. He had known them as team-mates for so long 
that seeing them as romantic partners somehow distanced them from the 
rest of their group, at least as far as being Sailor Senshi was 
concerned. It also didn't help that in his pre-Usagi days he had dated 
Rei himself, albeit for a very brief period. Then there was Makoto and 
her obsession with her old upperclassman. Rationally he know that it 
couldn't have been a sudden thing for them to end up in a relationship 
together, but it had been sprung on him *very* suddenly when they had 
returned from Seiji. It had thrown him for a loop, and left him 
wondering how well he really knew them.
    
    Then there was Ami and *her* situation. Love in his mind was a very 
monogamous state of affairs, and things went wrong very quickly when 
outside factors were added. Unlike Usagi, he *had* experienced failed 
relationships before, and even the two of them had had their share of 
pre-marital warfare. How Ami was managing to survive it was a mystery, 
and he hoped very strongly that she knew what she was doing.
    
    Unlike the Rei and Makoto in his mind, he had been able to accept 
Ami as a lesbian- or at least bisexual - fairly easily. As a teenager 
she'd had little ability to cope with *any* sort of romantic advances, 
so to see her more open with her wants and needs seemed healthier to 
him. Instead, his main discomfort came from the fact that, of all the 
girls, Ami was perhaps the one he was closest *friends* with. Even aged 
fourteen she had been his intellectual equal, and now she must have 
been among the most intelligent people in Japan. When they did get a 
chance to talk, which admittedly wasn't often, he found it both 
refreshing and stimulating to discuss and debate with her, and yet she 
was truly pleasant and considerate company with it, and that 
combination was rare in his experience. True, it also disguised her 
brilliance under a fog of mere bookish normalcy, but Mamoru thought 
that also worked in her favour.
    
    But she was still susceptible to heartbreak and to vicious rumour, 
and as a friend he did not want to see her affection for Haruka blow up 
in her face a second time.
    
    As ever, hugs were shared by them all, with the exception of his 
customary handshake from Haruka. Mamoru hadn't always got on well with 
her, and that was as much from his own bull headedness as it was hers. 
Neither one was willing to compromise, as a person or as a warrior, 
despite knowing that they both should have known better. However, they 
could at least agree to disagree now, and let their attitudes lie for 
the sake of getting along. As long as she was not playing with Ami as 
she did so many others, there would be no issues.
    
    That was made easier since he and Michiru were the better part of 
Haruka and Usagi's double act. While their girlfriends played, they 
could commiserate with each other, and had found each other to be 
intelligent and pleasant company. They had little in common as far as 
work or past studies went, but they did not have to resort to small 
talk to hold a conversation. 
    
    And yes, Mamoru was man enough to admit that part of his annoyance 
at Haruka was her effect on Usagi. That anyone, especially such an 
excessively flirtatious woman, could have his girlfriend red faced and 
giggling in her wake was enough to get him a little jealous, even when 
he had Michiru to play with in kind. 
    
    And Setsuna, though she hugged him, was a true mystery. She seemed 
to watch him more keenly than she needed to, and yet remained at an 
approving distance whenever they spoke. More so than she did with any 
of the girls. It worried him slightly, but at least she seemed to 
appreciate his presence.
    
    "So does everyone have their tickets?" Rei piped up once the 
greetings and chastisements of Usagi's tardiness had been concluded. 
Usagi had protested that she had brought treats, but so had Makoto and 
Michiru, and they'd arrived on time!
    
    Seven tickets were raised in the air, and Mamoru reached for his 
shirt pocket. Then-
    
    "Tickets?" Usagi asked, wide eyed. "I thought Minako-san bought the 
tickets."
    
    "She did," Makoto said dryly. "She didn't want any of us to 
'accidentally' miss her show. As if we would."
    
    Usagi suddenly fell very quiet. "Uh, Mamo-chan?"
    
    Rei threw her hand over her face. "Please tell me you didn't forget 
to bring it. She posted them, remember? And sent a million messages and 
e-mails to *remind* us she'd posted them?"
    
    Usagi looked at her pitifully for one brief moment, her lip 
wobbling, before she turned to Mamoru and, with a mollifying smile, he 
pulled two tickets from his shirt pocket.
    
    Usagi let out a huge sigh of relief and clutched both the tickets 
and Mamoru's hand to her franticly beating heart. "I love you *so* much 
Mamo-chan." 
    
    Mamoru just stood and put his free arm around her, satisfied that 
for the moment he'd done his part as good fiance. "I love you too, 
Usa."
    
    "And just as well if you're going to marry the man," Haruka quipped, 
grinning at Usagi.
    
***
    
    What they saw of the park in the daylight was pretty, but ultimately 
quite simple. It lived up to its name of 'The Midnight Garden' in that 
much of it *was* just a garden, and its gravelled pathways ran between 
lawns, flowering borders and trees rather than brightly coloured stalls 
and noisy attractions. What few attractions there were closer to the 
entrance were obviously more suited to the children. The first and 
largest lawn was adorned with picnicking tables and much more obvious 
lighting than elsewhere in the park, and a pair of prettily painted 
women were offering face painting to any child who asked, and elaborate 
nail painting to their mothers while the children played on the lawn.
    
    Further in the attractions became more subtle - hedged and mirrored 
mazes, and a mock cavern to explore built under the east side of the 
park - and the lighting stands became less and less obtrusive. How they 
would illuminate the paths properly was a mystery to everyone, but at 
least while the daylight lasted it was a pleasant place to stroll, 
becoming quieter as they ventured further into the gardens. Beautiful, 
elaborate floral gardens, fussy and pristine, gave way to more 
thoughtful and relaxing ornamental areas, and finally leading into 
melancholy ruins - also fake no doubt, but believably laid out and aged 
- with fresh ivy and wallflowers already taking hold.
    
    And, Michiru noted on the park map, the entire plan was centred 
around the huge mansion on the north-east side of the park. The 
classical flower gardens made up its own elaborate forecourt, while 
away to the west the rock gardens and ornamental gardens made up the 
countryside outside the manor's bounds. And then, in the woods behind 
the manor, stood the ruins of the old castle that had - according to 
the 'story' behind the park - been the ancestral home of the family who 
now inhabited the manor.
    
    The manor itself housed both the administration building for the 
park and its main amusement, the House on the Haunted Hill. But there 
was time for that later, and they had to cut their cursory exploration 
short if they were going to get back in time for the play.
    
    The stage stood at the back of the picnic lawn, and again those who 
had booked tickets with the play in mind paid a little extra to be able 
to sit in the limited stalls there. Everyone else could sit at the 
sides if they wished, and children were allowed to sit on the grass at 
the front, but among Usagi and her friends the consensus was that the 
proper seating was worth the extra money. It was comfortable, sheltered 
enough from the breeze and covered should rain threaten, while everyone 
else would have had to weather the elements and either rent umbrellas 
or bring their own if they were to sit or stand at the sides.
    
    And, for family theatre, it was rather good. Twee and improbable 
though it was it also had some good laughs and, more importantly for 
the park's image, some good scares as well. It also didn't talk down to 
the audience, for which Haruka and Michiru were both impressed and 
grateful.
    
    The story was, in essence, an expansion of the park's own fictional 
history in the guidebook, and a variation on the old cliched stories of 
vampires and haunted houses. Ono Marya herself played the narrator of 
the tale, and those who knew her by reputation were treated to her in 
ghostly makeup and a midnight black suit, finished by a long cape with 
a blood red lining.
    
    Her heroes - a young couple, accompanied by the boy's father and the 
girl's mother - were travelling the country in celebration of the 
younger pair's upcoming nuptials, and needing of a place to stay after 
they had found themselves turned around in the woods. Though the manor 
seemed ominous the rose gardens that led to the gates pleased the girl 
and her mother, and soothed their anxiousness. 
    
    The inhabitants, an old man and his only daughter, proved to be 
wonderful hosts, lavishing their food upon their guests, for they were 
lonely out on their hill. However, there was a dark side to their 
generosity, for they were both vampires, and could not let their new-
found guests leave.
    
    However, the plot was not as black and white as that. The elder 
vampire, typically named Dracul, mourned for the loss of his human 
wife, and in a touching song hoped that the widowed mother who now 
slept in his guest bed might fill the hole in his dark, pained heart. 
So too was his daughter smitten, for she had fallen in love with the 
young man and wished she could take the place of his fiancee, if only 
she could survive in the light of day.
    
    So both Draculs plotted to alleviate their heartache. The Count, 
careful after his centuries of life, slipped into the widow's 
bedchamber to woo her directly, and scared the children in the audience 
when he succeeded at claiming his love with his bite. The young 
vampiress was not as wise as her father though, and impatient, and she 
believed that in order to seduce her young man she first had to kill 
his betrothed. But she dared not do so herself, in case he should spurn 
her, and so she summoned her own vampire servant to do the deed.
    
    And who should that servant be, but Aino Minako! At first not one of 
the girls recognised their friend, and not for any lack of trying. They 
knew hers wasn't a lead part, but after almost an hour several of them 
had begun to wonder when she might appear. They had never expected her 
to be playing a *villain*, and her costume was phenomenal. Mina, 
Minako's character, made full use of her slender physique and her 
athletic talents. When the vampiress called for her she literally 
dropped through the window in the back of the stage set, wearing a 
softening bobbed black wig and a tunic and pants straight out of Bram 
Stoker's own period novel. Her makeup was also impressive, washing out 
any colour in her cheeks and wearing deep red lipstick and contact 
lenses, like the other vampires did.
    
    She didn't have many lines though, and those she did have were among 
the most serious of the play. Mina here was nothing like the Harker 
girl of the original Irish story, and was a devoted servant of her 
vampire mistress. Hers, as Minako had let on already, was a physically 
demanding part, and at the close of the first half her character leapt 
from the window of her mistress' bedchamber to set about doing the 
deed. For the play that meant spring-boarding through the left wall of 
the bedroom set and back flipping to the edge of the stage, to drop 
into her pose as the curtain fell on the cliff-hanging first part. In 
fact, her only laugh of the play was a slip of the tongue from the 
vampiress' actress, which almost caused both her and Minako to corpse 
on stage right then and there. And Minako didn't help matters, turning 
the slip into a back and forth gag, with her character misunderstanding 
just who or what was supposed to kill, from the flowers in the 
courtyard to Dracul himself!
    
    As the play progressed her character lurked and swept about in the 
shadows, and showed no qualm about killing the heroine. Finally the 
Hero's own father, worried by his Sister-in-law's wild swing in 
personality now she had fallen for Count Dracul, went to check on the 
young couple, only to find Mina ready to strike the heroine down in her 
sleep. He was quick enough to slay Mina instead, and so they came the 
conclusion of the play, with the Draculs unmasked. The heroine got the 
chance to confront the vampiress, the hero slew Count Dracul, and in a 
surprisingly tragic twist the hero's father was left no choice but to 
kill his would be sister-in-law, enslaved as she now was to Dracul.
    
    However, in an uplifting ending the heroine had spared the 
vampiress, so that one day she might be cured, and the sun rose on the 
end of the play with the spotlighted 'sunshine' of a new day. Each 
slain character in turn came to take his or her bow wearing white this 
time, while instead of her spot on the stage the vampiress stood at top 
stage left, still in black, but waiting hopefully for her cure as her 
actress happily took her own bow. Usagi's group applauded extra loud 
when Minako came up as a solo supporting role, instead of bowing as 
part of a pair or trio of the smaller parts, like the castle servants 
and wyrd sisters did. She may just have been a henchwoman, but the 
entire climax of the first half had been hers to show just how great 
the danger was to the young Belmont and his fiancee.

***
    
     Minako left the stage glowing after they had taken their final 
bows. It was an odd part for her to play, and initially it had made her 
a bit uncomfortable, but her first real acting part both put her 
through the physical wringer and actually forced her to act, instead of 
simply being her usual energetic self. This was real showbiz, at last!
    
    It also left her feeling far less her usual energetic self once it 
was over, and the cheers and applause from the audience were all that 
kept her going as the players all congratulated each other on their 
first full performance.
    
    "Aino-san, that death was excellent. I almost felt guilty for 
killing you."
    
    "Um, thank you, Kashimura-san." Minako flushed in gratitude. 
Kashimura Yuuta, playing the protagonist's father, was a fifteen year 
stage professional. "I'll look forward to being killed by you again 
tomorrow." 
    
    The vampiress, Kuriyama Hikari, a recent acting school newcomer 
herself, also took the chance to accost her as they changed. "Minako-
san, thanks again for the save in the first half, but Ono-san just 
spoke to me. She, uh, she wants to talk to you."
    
    Minako paled. That wasn't a good sign. Ono Marya was well known for 
her fastidious attention to detail, and though it had made the audience 
laugh her ad-libbing had been quite opposed to the dark tone that was 
in the script. She had wanted to force Hikari to laugh, but at the same 
time she'd been watching the audience as well to make sure she didn't 
overdo it. She'd forgotten that the audience might not have been the 
best people to gauge it by.
    
    Minako swallowed and finished taking off her make-up. "Thanks 
Kuriyama-sempai. I'll go see her."
    
    Marya was an intimidating figure for any starlet, not least because 
she had already been where they were now, and had succeeded. "Kuriyama-
san said you wanted to see me, Ono-san?"
    
    Marya looked up, still in costume but with her makeup removed. She 
did indeed look quite serious, despite her obvious pleasure at having 
the play go well. "Minako-san, Mina is a very poignant part to play. 
You do realise that, don't you?"
    
    "Yes ma'am."
    
    Marya allowed her smile to show. "Good. No more ad-libbing then. 
I've already had Hanzo-san add your lines to the script, so make sure 
you remember them for tomorrow."
    
    Minako almost choked, and she turned to see Hikari watching with a 
malicious grin on her slender face. "T-tomorrow, maam?"
    
    "We can't be having any special material until the closing night. 
You know my stance on allowing everyone the same experience at a show 
unless they already know otherwise, don't you?"
    
    Minako didn't, but she nodded anyway. She was just glad that she 
wasn't going to be lashed for her excess of humour. "Yes ma'am."
    
    "Besides, the consensus seems to be that the final scene needed a 
lighter touch. The children coped well, but I was a little concerned. 
Your dialogue with Hikari-san was more... tense, than I'd expected in 
front of the crowd."
    
    "I did think some of the parents seemed to be relieved when she 
slipped, Ono-san."
    
    Marya nodded. "Yes, we live and learn. It was a good performance, 
Minako-san. I will have to thank your agent for recommending you."
    
    Not only a congratulation, but her personal thanks to Mikiyo-san? No 
matter how she tried Minako couldn't hide her relieved smile as she was 
dismissed. "Thank you, Ono-san. And it was great to see you on the 
stage again. Even from behind!"
    
    Marya nodded, and Minako hoped she liked being told that much, but 
before escaping to find her friends she had a few more words for a 
certain grinning villainess. "Hikari-sempai, you meany! It thought she 
was going to flail me to pieces!"

***
    
    "So come on," Minako wheedled as they all sat eating their chicken 
or vegetable skewers. "What have I missed?! If any of you got married 
while I was too busy rehearsing I'm going to be really mad!"
    
    It had been inevitable, but Rei rolled her eyes all the same while 
the others either sighed or giggled. "No-one got married without you," 
she said with a look of long suffering exasperation. "Besides, that's 
not even legal here for some of us."
    
    Minako's obvious excitement faded, only to be replaced by a slightly 
tired disappointment. "What? No news? Come on girls, give me the 
gossip! Or doesn't life go on without me to give it a push?"
    
    A great many unenthusiastic eyes fell on her.
    
    "Work." Rei.
    
    "School." Usagi.
    
    "School *and* work." Makoto.
    
    "Oh, and cooking lessons." Usagi again.
    
    "Her cakes are getting very good." Michiru.
    
    "School for me too I'm afraid. I like my new homeroom teacher 
though." Hotaru.
    
    "Guardian of Time." Setsuna. Damn her nonchalance. "It *does* mean I 
don't get out much after what happened last summer."
    
    Minako looked pleadingly at Ami.
    
    "... I'm two years ahead in university, so I *have* to be working on 
my medical studies."
    
    It was enough to make Minako weep. "Haruka-kun, please tell me that 
having a baby means *something's* happening in your life!"
    
    Haruka nibbled at her grilled vegetables, and the poor woman seemed 
to have much less enthusiasm for them than the rest. "Does getting ill 
count? Ugh, this kid is determined not to get fed today."
    
    "Ahh! What's happened to the world!? I'll finally have the daytime 
to myself, and there's nothing happening!"
    
    "Days free?" Usagi's head shot up, her chicken skewer still in her 
mouth. "You mean we can go out? Together? Like we used to!"
    
    "Yes!"
    
    "At last!" Usagi crowed! She latched her hands over Minako's in 
reaffirmed comradeship. "What do you want to do first?"
    
    Minako beamed at her as if her friend had been long lost. "Sleep!"
    
    To be fair, Mamoru did think that Minako could do with a proper 
night's sleep. She looked great on stage, but now she could relax she 
was obviously fighting her exhaustion for their sake. Usagi had a much 
simpler take on Minako's social suplex, and her head hit the table with 
an audible thump. It was a wonder than she didn't choke on the skewer 
between her teeth.
    
    "Usa-ko?" Mamoru asked, "Are you alive?"
    
    "Just about, Mamo-chan. Thanks for asking."

***
    
    To be fair Minako knew that much of the gossip they had couldn't be 
shared in public. As she showed them around the park properly she 
pieced together the story behind Ami's move, their living arrangements, 
and the fact that Ami, Michiru and Haruka all seemed to be managing it 
with far less stress than she or any of them had expected. Hotaru was 
very eager to speak up for her parents - all four of them now - which 
set Minako's mind somewhat more at ease.
    
    It was then, with the sunlight properly fading, that the park came 
alive. The lights had been lit at six when the play had started, but 
now they illuminated the pathways and gardens with an ease that could 
only have come from very carefully planning.
    
    They were also far less bright than anyone had expected. Synthetic 
Moonlight was what Minako called it, and it had been invented 
especially for the park by Le FEI's own technicians. The light was 
diffused and pale, but one lantern could light up a whole row of beds 
and the paths that ran beside them, and unless you looked for the lamp 
itself you could have been fooled into thinking that it was simply a 
very bright moonlight. It did mean that none of the plants or faked 
ruins were lit dynamically, which seemed a pity to some of them, but it 
was a very effective trick and it accentuated the romantic, 
contemplative or spooky atmosphere of the individual gardens.
    
    It was getting late by the time Minako had shown them around most of 
the park, but before she let them go she gave them all a worrying grin. 
    
    "Have you checked out the haunted house yet? Come on, you *have* to 
see it!"

***
    
    Like any amusement park, for the sake of covering their behinds, the 
installed attractions at The Midnight Garden each had their own little 
board outside listing the requirements, warnings and an added fictional 
history of the ride. Most of the 'rides' were nothing of the sort, and 
the boards served more as tour assistance for the sedate, atmospheric 
attractions than any sort of legal get-out, but the House on the 
Haunted Hill was the one notable exception.
    
    Minako, still every inch the professional (if tired) tour guide, 
explained.
    
    "This," she said, reading the board from memory and hamming it up 
for all it was worth, "is the old abandoned manor of the Count Dracul, 
who emigrated to Japan over two hundred years ago! We intend this to be 
the final attraction of our park, but the legacy of evil behind it 
means that the police are still investigating everything that occurred 
here, even after twenty five years! As such, we can only open part of 
the manor to you now, and God have mercy on all brave enough to enter!"
    
    Usagi swallowed hard. She loved amusement parks, but even the most 
tacky and plastic of ghost trains terrified her. "Mamo-chan? That 
sounds *really* scary."
    
    "God have mercy on us?" Rei said, cocking her eyebrow. It didn't 
help that Minako knew exactly what she was letting them in for, and was 
grinning like a cat in spite of her tiredness. "I'm a Shinto shrine 
maiden."
    
    "Who went to a catholic junior high school," Hotaru noted 
cautiously. The fifteen year old might have been brighter than most, 
and her sense of fashion was gently dour - which fitted the place, Rei 
had thought - but she was just as reserved as Ami had been at that age 
and just as wary of ghost houses as Usagi.
    
    Rei sighed. Hotaru had her there. "I'm still not Christian. And 
it'll be fine, Hotaru-chan. After all, *Minako*-chan, survived it."
    
    Hotaru giggled, and Rei was pleased to see the girl's trepidation 
lift. "That's true!"
    
    From beside the board Minako cleared her throat before they could 
undermine her any further. "In *any* case, ahem, don't worry about 
this," she said pointing to the first line, which read 'one to five 
people at a time'.
    
    "I talked to the guy at admissions and he said he'd let us all 
through as long as I made sure you all... appreciated it properly."
    
    She let that sink in, and several of the tougher sets of eyebrows 
rose in response. "That almost sounds like a threat," Haruka mused. A 
grin formed on her face. "I can't wait."
    
    "Well I think it's unfair that she knows what's in there and we 
don't," Usagi pouted. Her voice was still tremulous and Mamoru took her 
hand.
    
    "Come on, dumpling, I'm sure it'll be fun. The rest of the park 
isn't too scary, is it?"
    
    Usagi relented under his measured reassurance. "Uuuu, okay. But I'll 
jump on you if anything scary happens!"
    
    "I remember being very good at catching you."
    
    Makoto stared at the crooning lovebirds a moment before shrugging. 
"Don't be a scaredy-cat, Usagi-chan. It'll be fun!"
    
    Rei cocked an eye at her. "Hmm, does that mean you'll catch me if I 
jump?"
    
    Makoto blushed. "Sure."
    
    By that point Michiru had left them all to it since Haruka was 
already engaged with the younger girls on just how scary it was going 
to be inside, and had browsed her way down the board. "No flash 
photography, no food or drink inside the manor, not recommended for the 
elderly, people with heart complaints, pregnant women or those of a 
nervous disposition."
    
    Haruka looked up smartly at that. "Whoa, nope, I am *not* staying 
out here!"
    
    "I'll stay with you," Usagi tried, "I think I've just contracted a 
nervous disposition!" But Minako had that base covered. 
    
    "Don't worry about that bit," she said, waving off several of the 
girl's concerns. "That's just a precaution. If she was heavily pregnant 
that would be different, but Haruka-kun will be fine. Trust me, *this* 
is the bit you want to be worried about."
    
    The line she pointed to read, 'What you see inside is confidential, 
and anything you see might be hazardous to your health. Please do not 
share any discoveries you make, if you manage to survive them.'
    
    Minako watched with pleasure as that even put Rei on edge, but Ami's 
eyes lit up in understanding. "I see. The mystery would be spoiled if 
she told us."
    
    "Well," Minako admitted, "I've been in for three different test 
groups - benefits of being staff! - and it's still cool. But it's 
definitely best the first time around."
    
    Haruka seemed surprised. "They do know that someone'll post the 
secret up on the internet tonight, don't they?"
    
    Minako shrugged. "They will eventually, but it hasn't been leaked 
yet, and you'll be told at the end that the longer it stays a mystery 
the better it will be for everyone."
    
    "Now I'm really looking forward to this," Mamoru admitted, a little 
guiltily considering how Usagi clung to his arm. "We have to go and 
solve this mystery of hers now, don't we, dumpling?"
    
    "Shall we then?" Makoto said with a grin, until she was stopped by 
Minako's firm hand.
    
    "Last detail!" She pointed to the final warning on the board. "If 
you need the toilet, go now."
    
    A sea of blank faces stared at her.
    
    "Seriously," Minako insisted, pointing to the cubicles a little way 
down the path, "they built toilets there specifically. Go."
    
    Not a twitch.
    
    Minako sighed. "Half the girls on the first test tour peed 
themselves!"
    
    Rei's eyebrows finally broke their dumb stare and quirked at her. 
"Did you?"
    
    "Of course not!" Minako replied, though some of them though it was 
just a little too quick. "I've faced real monsters!"
    
    "So have we," Setsuna noted with a smile, but she was the first to 
take Minako's advice. 
    
    "Humph, don't say I didn't warn you when you have to change your 
knickers. Or your trousers," she said, looking pointedly at Haruka and 
Mamoru.
    
***
    
    Eventually they did all take Minako's advice, but the inside of the 
house was a far less scary affair than Minako had led them to believe. 
Unlike many other haunted houses it was actually better lit than the 
grounds outside, but that only made the back-story more convincing. It 
was set up as if its inhabitants had simply vanished one day, but 
instead of being laid out with a predictable route through the mansion 
the house was much more open, only to be roped off by dusty and cobweb 
ridden police tape. It was *that* which channelled the girls through 
from musty room to musty room, and there was no music or forced sound 
effects to enhance the creepy air; only the deep resonance of their 
footfalls echoing through the halls. 
    
    Each group was only let into the house one at a time, but it only 
became apparent why later. At first the place seemed genuinely 
deserted, with enough modern additions to make it seem like a real 
crime scene, without overshadowing the typical trappings of the house 
itself; The paintings that hung awkwardly on the walls, the doors that 
creaked when they were brushed past, the old half-eaten meal sitting on 
the table.
    
    "This really is kind of creepy," Makoto had to admit. The silence, 
as much as anything, really did make the place seem foreboding. Then 
she stopped and stood rigid, staring at that dining table.
    
    "Makoto?" Rei asked, when her girlfriend's hand failed to keep up 
with hers.
    
    Michiru had seen it too, though she seemed far less shaken. "My, 
that was... interesting."
    
    Usagi looked back to them both. "What? What, is there a body? I 
don't want to see it!"
    
    "No," Makoto said as she took as deep breath. An adrenaline fuelled 
smile had crept onto her face without her knowing it. "Those candles 
just lit all by themselves."
    
    Ami stared hard at the candles in question. Certainly, they hadn't 
been burning when they had entered that room. "That *is* creepy."
    
    Yet the next room held no such surprises, letting the tension build 
before, two rooms further in, a shadowy figure plodded past a distant 
doorway that they had no access to. Hotaru gasped aloud, and once Usagi 
and Ami had seen it they held their partners' hands much more tightly 
than they had intended. And it was no fleeting shadow either. It walked 
slowly, allowing them all the chance to see it pass, and it did so 
regally, but in absolute silence. 
    
    "That... *was* a person, wasn't it? An actor?" Rei asked.
    
    Minako could only smile. She knew it was, but she wasn't going to 
spoil the surprise. She knew that each subtle scare was timed for that 
one party, and she had been leading them through slowly enough that 
none of them would miss anything, however subtle. She also knew that 
this one had been an optical illusion, mirrors just out of sight and 
just warped enough to make the image unreal but still believable. And 
that was why there had been no sound. 
    
    And to keep the house fresh for future visits there were six 
different 'haunters', a different actor or actress for each visiting 
party in rotation. So, while you might know what was coming at the end, 
you might also be surprised by an entirely new ghost following you 
through the house in an entirely different way. 
    
    Minako hadn't seen this 'ghost' before, though she knew the actress 
who played it, and even on her fourth visit in as many weeks she found 
the anticipation of when and how it would pop up next exciting.
    
    And when the rolling, crashing sound of grinding gears and falling 
stone split the eerie silence halfway thought, she jumped along with 
them all. After that, sound became instrumental. The sudden, brief 
clinking of glassware in a locked cupboard, the soft crawling sound of 
currying rats in a ceiling; none of it was scream worthy so much as it 
was unnerving. Maniacally so when the ghost reappeared again and again, 
ponderous but unreal in its stalking. Some of them, Haruka and Setsuna 
especially, even went so far as to grin or chuckle when they found the 
ghost, knowing it was only an actor but unable to shake the sense that 
something was *wrong* about what they saw.
    
    Then, at last, the finale Minako had been waiting for. The taped off 
route led them upstairs, and while a police sign said the upper floor 
was off limits that was the only way to continue. The staircase was 
wide enough for them to go up in only two rows, but Minako had insisted 
that she, Mamoru, Michiru, Ami and Rei be at the front, with Hotaru, 
Usagi, Setsuna, Haruka and Makoto safely behind.
    
    It wasn't the way round some of them might have liked - Rei was 
certainly uneasy without Makoto in front of her - but they acquiesced. 
After all, they had to trust that Minako knew what she was doing, and 
knew what was waiting for them.
    
    Nothing, seemed to be the answer. Nothing until they heard the creak 
of opening doors, greeting them at the top, and all ten pairs of eyes 
were forced up to see the coffin hanging from the slanted roof opposite 
them. And inside that coffin hung the pale, dry body of the vampire. 
Usagi, Hotaru, Michiru and Rei screamed in reflex, and really just 
because Usagi screamed first, but then in an instant they knew true 
fear. A flash of lightning lit up the world outside and threw its sharp 
brightness over the body of the Count, and then their screams were 
followed by the crack of masonry. In one terrible instant the entire 
wall started to fall towards them, slowly, ever so slowly it seemed, 
and the count's ceiling came with it. The world lurched around them and 
the floor seemed to tip back, like those falls that would go on forever 
in a terrible dream, and fall they did. 
    
    Except those in front could tell by then that they were safe. The 
wall had not fallen, but ground itself to a halt long before it would 
have reached them. And that pause was enough for each of them to 
remember those who *had* fallen, behind them. Fallen at the top of 
those long, wide stairs.
    
    "HARUKA!"
    
    "USAGI!"
    
    "HOTARU!"
    
    "MAKOTO!"
    
    The screams from the girl behind had been even louder, because they 
had known their fall had taken them down those stairs, and there had 
been no purchase or balustrade to offer them support.
    
    And for one awful second they thought they were dead, until they 
realised how soft the mattress beneath them was. Each of them looked up 
to see the confusion on their loved ones' faces, which must have 
mirrored their own almost perfectly.
    
    "Goddam!" Haruka exclaimed as she lay on the bedding where the 
stairs should have been. "Now *that* was a good scare!"
    
    "Haruka, are you okay?" Ami asked, still with a trace of worry in 
her voice.
    
    Michiru on the other hand rushed to Hotaru's side and pulled her 
over to Haruka as well, cradling the teenage girl as they all got their 
wits back, "Oh, Hotaru, Haruka! Just for a second there I thought..."
    
    Hotaru just gasped to get her breath back. "That was... a really 
mean trick. Whew!"
    
    Usagi just lay rigid, her eyes wide. "Minako-chan? You are SO MEAN! 
That was so scary! I though the house was falling on us!"
    
    Rei just helped Makoto back to her feet, before hugging her tightly. 
"Mako, don't you *ever* dare fall down the stairs for real, okay?"
    
    Makoto nodded and hugged her back, but she was grinning from ear to 
ear. "Okay. But that was the *best* scare ever!"
    
    Minako just giggled, the only one still standing. "Oh, that was 
great! You should have seen your faces! I'm sorry Usagi-chan, but this 
place has only one real thrill ride, so I had to get you on it!"
    
    Setsuna sat up on the mattress, also rather shaken but as 
presentable as always given the circumstances, and she took Mamoru's 
hand up once Usagi was back on her feet. "That was a very convincing 
trick," she said, a touch rattled, which for her was astonishing. Maybe 
she should have taken a peek as what was in store after all!
    
    "Oh, it's no trick," Minako said. As the girls all righted 
themselves she had to let on the details. "The whole room is on a huge 
motor, and the outside and back walls are fake. It's hydraulics. The 
coffin opens when the tech up there -" she waved to the dark porthole 
widow above them in the ceiling, "Hi Shinji! - when he sees we're all 
up and it's safe to start the scare. The trapdoor gets your attention 
so you don't notice the bed getting pushed out over the stairway, and 
then the wall and roof actually do 'fall' inwards. While you're looking 
up. And while the floor underneath you tilts you up a bit so you will 
fall backward onto the bed." 
    
    She tapped her foot on it twice. "It looks a bit fake once you know 
what to look for, but it's really disorientating if you don't!"
    
    "No kidding," Makoto said.
    
    Ami agreed. "It must be a health and safety nightmare though. And it 
*is* a rather cruel trick."
    
    "Well, I guess that's why they say only five people per time. 
*Everyone*'s supposed end up on the mattress, not worrying about their 
friends. And yeah, health and safety went over it for *ages*, 
especially if anyone might actually fall down those stairs. But it's 
all fully manned. If the bed didn't come out for any reason - and the 
guys operating it say that's impossible - then they wouldn't signal the 
lightning and the ceiling to start up."
    
    "Well," Mamoru said, "I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of 
whoever came up with it! But we were warned."
    
    Minako nodded, grinning evilly, "And you would have been *more* 
warned if you'd read the whole information board at the start! But I 
didn't want you chickening out, so I told the attendant you'd want the 
scary route!"
    
    Usagi's face fell. "There was a non-falling-down-the-stairs-and-
getting-crushed-by-the-roof route?"
    
    "Yep. But that's for kids and pregnant women."
    
    Haruka sighed and patted her stomach. "Yeah, and I bet he's *really* 
pleased you sent us this way. But I enjoyed it!"
    
    But Minako wasn't about to be let off that easily. The roof collapse 
was the final event in the manor, but the way out took them down a 
long, ominous corridor to the balcony exit outside. The minute Minako 
opened the door, still giggling, she came face to face with their 
pallid, shadow-painted ghost, and she let out a scream that could 
easily have matched any of the others' back at the stairs. Most of them 
joined her in fact, since she was supposed to be the one who knew what 
was coming.
    
    "Ahh, Yumi-san! You scared the hell out of me!"
    
    Yumi, whose clothes and face paint evidently made up as much of her 
shadowy presence as the smoke and mirrors, just smiled. "Hi, Minako-
san. So these are them, hm?"
    
    "Yep, these are the ones you've been stalking! Say hi to your ghost, 
everyone!"

***
    
    Mita Lili was, by all accounts, an unusual young woman. She was tall 
for a Japanese girl and gangly with it, being both blessed and cursed 
with the ability to eat whatever she wanted and never gain significant 
weight, no matter how she tried. Ever the studious pupil, she had 
always found time both to keep her grades high and her position on 
first the volleyball and then the basketball teams secure throughout 
high school and college. And while friendly she was modest to a fault, 
always the ugly duckling. Her wealth of friends didn't care about her 
prominent teeth or her tall, flat face, but Lili did. But then, if not 
for them she might not have grown up to be the generous and hard 
working masters student she was.
    
    Her ability to eat was not the only trait she shared with one 
Tsukino Usagi, however. Her work ethic might have been good, but could 
she get anywhere on time? Not even with three alarm clocks in her 
shared dormitory room or her watch set five minutes fast.
    
    She sighed as she stared out of the locked gates of The Midnight 
Garden. She and her fellow botany students had looked forward to the 
opening of the park ever since it had been announced. It had been the 
perfect excuse to use their curricular budget in the name of a good 
night out, and it hadn't even conflicted with any of their lecture 
timetables.
    
    It was just her luck that she hadn't been the one carrying the 
brochures when she had needed to stop off to relieve herself before the 
park closed, because she must have spent a good twenty minutes walking 
around lost among the gardens before finally finding the exit. And now 
it was locked, and all the attendants seemed to have packed up already. 
She looked up into the security camera above her again and waved for 
some help.
    
    "I'm glad to see that someone is still energetic at two-thirty in 
the morning," came a strong, friendly female voice.
    
    Lili turned to see the woman in the red suit and let out a sigh of 
relief. "Oh, someone is still here! Thank God, narrator-san."
    
    Lili didn't know the woman by name, she was not one to keep up with 
business news, but she had sat with her friends to watch the play from 
the sidelines. And the 'narrator' was obviously glad to have been 
recognised as such.
    
    "Yes, though not many of us I'm afraid. Most of the staff left with 
the night coaches."
    
    Lili nodded. She knew that she had already missed her seat on the 
coach that must have been ferrying her friends back into Tokyo. "Is 
there any way I could get back to Tokyo University? Or I could call for 
a taxi if I could just get outside."
    
    Marya shook her head. "I can offer something better than that, 
Miss..?"
    
    "Oh, I'm Mita Lili." Lili bowed, suddenly embarrassed that she 
hadn't introduced herself already.
    
    "Ono Marya," Marya replied, and Lili's eyes widened in recognition. 
The head of the park's corporation was willing to arrange for her to be 
taken back to the university?
    
    "Unfortunately the security system is all electronic," Marya 
apologised, "so it will take another thirty minutes to get a technician 
to activate it all again. But I know we should have had more people 
making sure nobody got stranded here, so can I offer you a room in the 
staff hotel?"
    
    She gestured to the haunted house in the distance. "Several of our 
staff do stay on site if they have long shifts over a few days. I could 
then arrange for you to be taken to Tokyo University in the morning, 
when the maintenance technicians and janitors leave."
    
    In all honesty Lili would have preferred just to get back to her 
dorm, but the last thing she wanted to do was make more work for anyone 
over her own poor sense of time and direction.
    
    "Well, if I could get back to Tokyo U in time for the morning..."
    
    That request seemed perfectly reasonable if Marya's expression was 
anything to go by. "Of course." She motioned for Lili to follow her up 
the path to the hill. "You are a student? And a good one to have 
reached Tokyo University. What do you study?"
    
    Lili found herself grateful that the so-called Rose Scented Princess 
seemed to be the personable type, however sharp or expensive her suit. 
"Botany, Ono-san. I'm adapting more delicate flora to survive better in 
the Japanese climate."
    
    Marya's eyes took a new interest in her. "Really? That is excellent. 
Diversity is a large part of what we have tried to achieve here - 
plants both traditional and exotic. And in times of environmental 
unease it would be a terrible loss if we could not keep our flora 
flourishing, even at the everyday domestic scale."

***
    
    Mita Lili did not reach Tokyo University the following morning. Her 
roommate reported her missing two days later.
    
***

To Be Continued...

***
    
Please send any comments and constructive criticism to:

nutzoide@nutzoide.net

They are always greatly appreciated, and there is no better reward for 
a writer than to hear back from the readers.

(c) Nutzoide 2009-2011

http://www.nutzoide.net