"I just don't want her to miss out," Hoshi insisted.
"Hoshi�," Mi-chan warned.
But Neko decided to have a say in the conversation afterall. "I won't miss out on dating guys like Kidou-kun and Akima-kun. Or even Tetsuro-kun and Trowa-kun," she pointed out, naming the guys Hoshi and Mi-chan were currently seeing. "I will know when it's right. So trust me to figure it out myself, onegai?"
Mi-chan was sure there was something more Neko wasn't mentioning, but she had no clue what it could be. Anyway it was time to change the subject. "So, I wonder what extracurricular activities there are at Infinity."
"Everything!" Neko exclaimed, happy for the change in topic. "All sorts of sports, academic clubs, community service organizations, music, arts, the works!"
"Are they any good in sports?" Hoshi wanted to know, aware that their sports were very important to the twins.
"They're number one in pole vault for Japanese schools! And the fencing coach is�." Neko glanced nervously at Hoshi. "�is Haruka-sama," she finished more quietly.
"Tenoh Haruka?" Hoshi asked warily.
"Sugoi! Haruka-sama's the best! Where do I sign up?!"
Neko's resulting smile was a cautious one. She knew Mi-chan would be happy by the news. Hoshi, on the other hand, didn't like Haruka, and Neko knew it. But she didn't think Mi-chan knew.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mi-chan was giving Touya another chance. Even though he had broken their last date, he had promised it was for a good reason, though he hadn't disclosed that reason to her over the phone.
So Neko and Hoshi were having their own Girls Night Out without Mi-chan, who originally was supposed to be there. They had decided to watch a movie for awhile over at Hoshi's house.
"Ne, what should we watch?" Hoshi asked as she perused her movie collection.
"Whatever you want," Neko answered with a shrug.
"Hoshi, you have that new anime," Hoshi's mom suggested as she entered the room.
"Oh, yeah!" Hoshi squealed. "Neko-chan, you've got to watch it with me! This anime's got the most gorgeous guys!"
Neko giggled. "You really are more boycrazy than Mi-chan, you know."
"She goes out on way more dates than me!" Hoshi protested.
"Yeah, but she's more serious about it than you are. She flirts a lot, but she won't go out with them just because a guy's cute. They need to prove themselves worthy."
"Uh huh," Hoshi replied skeptically.
"Yeah. Mi-chan feels that the only way to find the right guy is to try out all the possibly-right guys. But she's still more discerning about which ones could be Mr. Right."
"And she's given you this speech how many times?"
"Seventeen. But who's counting?" They giggled.
"Are you girls going to giggle down here all night?" Hoshi's dad was trying to watch the news, but he was finding it hard with their girly conversation overlaying the news announcer's voice.
"Gomen nasai," they both said guiltily, as they got up to leave. But before they had exited, the news switched to the sports report. As the announcer began to talk about Tenoh Haruka's latest win on the interplanetary racing circuit, Neko stopped to listen. Besides their parents, Haruka had always been one of Neko and Mi-chan's favorite Sailor Senshi, and though they didn't have all that much contact with the other Senshi, they had known her since they were really young. And the queen of Uranus had just always seemed especially cool to them.
Hoshi had continued walking, not noticing that Neko had stopped. As soon as she had though, she grabbed Neko's arm and tried to get her to go upstairs so they could watch the anime. "Come on!"
Her father hadn't been paying attention to either of them. About the same time that Hoshi reached Neko, he had switched the channel, groaning loudly. Neko was disappointed, as Michiru had also entered the picture. She was cool too, and Neko had always thought it was neat that a couple of Senshi could be in love and married. Surely, that must help them protect their planets that much better, kind of like Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion's combined power protecting the whole solar system.
Considering her musings on the subject, she was completely taken aback as Mr. Ichijouji stated aloud, "I don't know how they can let those people continue ruling their planets like that. You think there'd be some sort of outcry against them being out in public, much less being allowed to keep their place in a palace."
Neko stared at him in shock, not understanding what he was talking about. Haruka and Michiru were great Senshi, she had always heard, willing to even sacrifice their lives for whatever mission was placed before them. She didn't know how anyone could dislike them.
By this time, Hoshi had effectively grabbed her by the arm and was dragging her up the stairs to watch the movie in her room. But Neko didn't much feel like watching now. She wanted to understand why Hoshi's father didn't like Haruka and Michiru.
"Ne, Hoshi-chan�?" As Neko began to ask her question, she suddenly felt less certain. Maybe she had misunderstood him. Or maybe Hoshi would see it as a challenge if Neko started asking about her father's feelings on something. Yet she continued. "Why doesn't your otou-san like Haruka-sama and Michiru-sama?"
"Oh, them," Hoshi answered, not very encouragingly. "Well, it's just a little weird, you know, the way that nobody cares that these two queens live together� having children even."
Neko stared at the floor, realizing that Hoshi shared her dad's feelings. "Demo they're really great Senshi. Why would anyone have a problem with them being together?" she asked quietly
Hoshi gave her a curious look. "They're two women! A family is supposed to have a mom, a dad, and some children. It doesn't make sense to have two moms!"
Neko wanted to object, but couldn't manage to. The best she could offer was, "I didn't think you had a problem with Mirei and Tamika," she pointed out, citing the two girls she knew were in an S relationship in their class. The two were always holding hands in school, and Mirei made no secret of her affection for the tomboy. She continuously referred to Tamika as her "boyfriend," much to the entertainment of everyone, since it was obvious that Tamika was a girl. But even those people who thought the couple was a little odd didn't seem to object to it. Few people objected to S relationships at all.
"Yeah, but it's not like that's something that's going to continue beyond school. They'll go off and find real relationships and everything will be fine. But Tenoh-sama and Kaiou-sama aren't going to get over it, obviously, so it's not really something I can understand." Hoshi felt she had had her say in the matter and it was time to move on. "Come on, don't you want to watch this? It's really good."
"I guess." Neko frowned. Hoshi's attention had gone to the movie, but Neko couldn't concentrate on it. She hadn't known Hoshi was so against douseai relationships. Though when she thought about it, maybe she had picked up on it a little in the past. She suddenly felt like crying, and she didn't know why. Hoshi was as much entitled to her opinion as Neko was� but Neko didn't want her to have that opinion. And she wasn't sure she was going to be able to get over it that quickly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Hoshi was pretty good at changing the subject. "You guys are lucky to have done so well on your entrance exams! I heard from Suki that Infinity is a really difficult school to get into."
"Yeah, but now that we're in, it'll be so easy to get into college!" Mi-chan informed her, excitedly. She hadn't
been looking forward to the college entrance exams, but Infinity had an escalator program that almost guaranteed
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