When inspiration strikes...


Ajax presents:
AFTER SCHOOl

Prologue 1: The Decision to Marry

	As the door to the small cafe opened and what the waiter would have
described as a gorgeous creature entered, a girl sitting towards the
back of
the room jumped up, started waving and called out "Rei-chan,
Rei-chan!", un-
intentionally hitting a waitress with her hand. As she turned and
started
apologising with a red face, the newcomer walked towards the table
with an 
exasperated expression on her face, taking off the stylish scarlet
jacket she
wore to reveal a sleeveless black top underneath. 

	"Decidedly, Usagi-chan, you're never going to change." she said, 
sliding into the chair facing the blonde girl. "How long have you been 
waiting?"

	"Not long. I haven't been able to order yet. Waitress!" she called,
scanning the menu. The waitress approached their table with a tired
look.

	"Your order?"

	"I'll have five scoops of chocolate ice cream, with nuts and extra
whipped cream and a coke at the side. And you Rei-chan?" The Big
Sweatdrop
appeared on the waitress's head as she looked over the girl and
wondered how
she could keep so thin if she ate like that everytime she went out. The 
other girl's order of a soda (just a soda? she thought) startled her
from her
thoughts, and she hurriedly wrote it down before gathering the menus
and 
leaving.

	"So why did you want to see me, Rei-chan?" she asked, wondering why
Rei hadn't wanted any of the others along.

	"Usagi, I haven't seen you since school let out. That's nearly two 
months now! And gosh, you have this huge thing coming up, isn't that
enough
reason to talk?" 

	Usagi's face took on Threatening Look No. 8. "Rei-chan...." she 
growled menacingly, "You ARE over him, aren't you?"

	"Gees Usagi, calm down! Of course I am! Let's talk about that later,
okay? So what have you been doing these past two months?" There was a
pause
in the conversation as their orders arrived and Usagi dug in with
enthusiasm.

	"Well," she spoke, her mouth half-full of chocolate, nuts and whipped
cream, "Mamoru, Mom and I have been going around preparing, mostly.
It's 
been busy. Can you believe this is the first time I've gotten out
since the
end of school?" Her voice took on an accusing tone. "Not that there was 
anyone to get out with, besides Mamo-chan. Mako is training, Minako,
Naru and
all my other school friends are out of town, Ami-chan's in Germany and
you 
went to visit your father. How did it go, by the way?"

	"Pfff. As good as can be expected, I suppose. This is the first time
I've actually seen where he lives. I don't know why he shows this
sudden 
interest in me. He finally seemed to want to learn more about my life.
We did
go to Okinawa for one week though, and that was pretty nice." 

	"Cool." Suddenly, Usagi's face lit up with a huge smile. 
"Oh Rei-chan, can you believe school is finally over? Never, never again
shall I set foot in that building, never shall I be punished by Mom
for bad
grades again, and I won't ever not wake up on time and be late!"

	"Yeah, you even managed to graduate," Rei said sarcastically under
her breath. "It's only over for you, I'm afraid." she said aloud.

	"Oh dear, I totally forgot to ask you about that! Which universities
did you win, Rei?" 

	Rei took out some brochures from her bag and spread them out on the
table. "Well, my points are just enough for the Economy&Finance
Faculty of 
the Tokyo University, but I don't think that's for me. Can you imagine
me in 
a business suit doing serious work?"

	"Hey, why not? You'd look pretty good in a red jacket and shirt."

	"No thanks. Anyway, I also won the Philosophy section, which they've
informed me has a good course on religions. That's probably the best
choice
for me. But...well, there's also this." She chose one from the stack of 
brochures and pushed it across the table to Usagi, who read it with a 
surprised look.
(Author's note: I have no idea if these universities and sections
actually
exist.)

	"Fashion School?"

	"Eh. It's not a college, but a very good school who guarantees a job.
Besides, it's only two years. They accept students on talent, so I
figured
what the heck, took their test, and they told me I could have pretty
good
results."

	"So you'll be a designer?"	

	"I haven't definitely decided yet, but I think it's an interesting
and fun thing to do. I could always start university after I graduated
from 
this school."

	"Well, when you become a designer, I will be one of your major 
inspirations, right? Right?"

	The Big Sweatdrop made its apparition on Rei's forehead. "Usagi the 
Twit the major inspiration for dazzling fashion shows? Sure."

	"Rei, why are you so mean to meeee?" the whining started, bringing
tear floods with it and attracting the attention of the other customers,
provoking yet another Big Sweatdrop from Rei.

	"Well, that's enough about me, ne? I came to talk about you, Usagi.
So how is Mamoru-san?"

	The whining immediately stopped at the mention of his name. " We
celebrated his birthday two weeks ago. He really liked your present,
by the
way. Other than that, he's been busy. I'm helping him ready his house, 
getting new furniture, moving my own stuff and all. We had work to do
at the 
shrine as well, and also all the paperwork and other formalities, but
your 
grandfather and Chad have been really helpful."

	Rei grinned a wicked grin. "Well, I did tell them they had better 
be... But gosh, Usagi, I still can't quite believe it! I mean, I'm
really 
happy for you but isn't 18 a bit young to get married?" She was
surprised 
when Usagi suddenly called the waitress over and paid the bill even
though
she still had some icecream left. 

	"Rei-chan, do you mind taking a walk with me? I feel I need to clear
my head." Dubiously, Rei put on her jacket while Usagi donned the pink 
sweater that had been tied around her waist over her blue sundress. As
they
left the cafe, a cold wind made Rei shiver and clutch her jacket
closer to 
her body. The summer of Tokyo was dwindling to an end as the first
days of 
September approached.

	"Rei-chan?" the blonde girl asked, a thoughtful, subdued expression 
on her face. "Remember that one time when you asked me what I wanted to 
later?"

	"Eh. You didn't say anything."

	"Because I couldn't think of anything, Rei-chan. I have never had any
dreams about growing up, deep down I guess I always wanted to stay a
child.
You know, when we were in second grade, Naru and I, she went through
this 
phase where she would every other day come up with something new she
wanted
to become when she grew up. Sometimes she would ask me, and I never
could say
anything. I never thought about the future beyond high school, and now
that
it is over, I still don't have anything I might want to do. Besides,
I've 
never liked school and I can't imagine having to go through some more
of it.
It's not sure I would have gotten a place in any college anyway,
considering
my notes. You guys, all of my friends, they are all continuing
basically not 
changing anything about their lives. The ones who are not continuing,
like 
Mako-chan and Naru-chan, already know what they are going to do. 

	"And me, I'm going to marry the man I've loved for over a thousand 
years. Something tells me that's my path to take. I can't see myself
doing 
anything else." Rei was amazed at the wise words coming from Usagi's
mouth
and the serene, contented look on her face. She tried to imagine
herself,
married and settled in a month's time. It just didn't click. She had
so many
things to do, so many places to see, before she even considered getting 
married. It also required a lot of courage, she admitted to herself.
For the
first time in her life, Rei looked upon her friend with respect, for
here was
a young woman who, unlike her, wanted nothing from life and was
perfectly
happy with what it had already given her. Deciding she couldn't take
any more
of Usagi being serious, Rei changed the subject. 

	"What about Naru?"

	"You'll never believe this, but she is going to be a nurse at the 
children's hospital. She's starting this fall. Apparently, there is a
shortage of children's nurses, so the education is given on place."

	"Really? That's such a hard job, though."

	"I know, but it's just right for Naru-chan. I've known her for over
twelve years, somehow I can't imagine her doing anything else. Oh, and
you
know what? Mako-chan finally found a place to open her restaurant!"

	"Are you kidding me? Wow, I missed a lot when I was with my dad, it 
seems. Where is it?"

	"Come on! I'll show you!" yelled Usagi, breaking into a run to catch
the bus which was waiting at the stop a few meters away. As they
settled into
their seats, breathless, Usagi started reading the street names until
they
came to a building the groundfloor of which was being restored.
"That's the
place," spoke Usagi, "the rent is also pretty cheap. It's going to
open in 
about a week. Mako-chan told me her teacher at the culinary course said
she was a first-class chef."

	"I don't see why she had to drop out of school a year early to attend
that course, though."

	"Money, Rei-chan. Makoto didn't have enough money to attend high
school and that course at the same time. Besides, she needed time to
find a
place and get permission to open a restaurant." She paused the time to
get
off the bus and started walking towards her house.

	"Usagi, speaking about money...How are you two going to get by? I
mean, Mamoru still has...what? Two years? Three years? You won't have a 
steady income until he graduates."

	"He already has a part-time job between classes. And," she raised her
chin proudly, "I'm going to work too."

	"You? Work? What kind of work could YOU possibly do? You're too 
clumsy!" So much for respect.

	"Am not! I'm going to work at Mako-chan's place. This way, she won't
pay me as much as she would have to pay another waiter, and the rest
of my
salary will be cooking lessons!"

	"Cooking lessons. Oh yeah that's right, you're going to have to cook
for Mamoru-san. Poor guy, I hope he has a strong stomach. Remind me to
say no
when you invite me to your house." 

	"Rei! As if you can cook yourself! Why don't you just shut up?" On 
cue, they both stuck their tongues out at each other and continued
walking
like that, attracting bizarre looks from the rest of the people on the
side-
walk.

****************************************************************************
Explanations in order:

	This story is going to be my attempt at describing the senshi's life
after high school. For convenience, this story ignores everything that
has 
happened after the defeat of Beryl except the senshi getting their
memories
and powers back. So no more enemies, no Outer senshi (I might introduce 
Michiru and Haruka later on, I haven't decided.) This also means the
senshi 
never visit the future and don't meet Chibi-Usa. Please keep that in
mind as 
you read this story. The rest of this story is going to be written in
script
format.

	You may have noticed that this story contradicts everything I wrote
in my "Stories of Life-Makoto". These two works are not related.

	For those wondering why I do not use Chad's Japanese name, I just 
can't bother spelling it each time.

	The inner senshi are now 18 while Mamoru is 22. He also has his 
memories back, so no Moonlight Knight either. He still has about three
and a 
half years to go before he finishes college. (Medicine takes longer
than 
other brances, though I don't know exactly how long.) If we take Usagi
to be 
14 in 1992 (the year the animated series started) then we are now in
1996. 

	Thanks to everyone on the FFML who helped me sort out the problems
about the Japanese school system.

	I love hearing what people think about my stories, so please send any
comments to breaker@technologist.com (unless you read it on the FFML,
then 
you can just mail the C&C there.

Finally, here's a little timeline to help you along:


The timeline for my story "After School"

3rd August,1974  Birth of Chiba Mamoru, the reincarnation of Prince
Endymion

1978  Birth of Tsukino Usagi, of the Sailor Senshi, and also of Osaka
Naru
	and Umino Gurio

1980  Death of Mamoru's parents. Mamoru is taken into an orphanage and
starts
	his education there.

1984  Usagi and the other senshi start school. Usagi meets Naru.

1990  Death of Makoto's parents 
      Mamoru leaves the orphanage.

1991  First apparition of Sailor V. The Aino family moves to London.
		
1992  First apparition of Sailors Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and
later 
	Venus. 
      First meeting of Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen and also of Usagi
and 
	Mamoru.  
      Mamoru graduates from high school and starts studying medicine
in the
	university.
      Defeat of Beryl and the Dark Kingdom
      Death and subsequent reincarnation and reawakening of the Sailor
Senshi
	and Mamoru

1995  Makoto drops out of high school so she can attend a culinary
course and
	open her own restaurant.
      Makoto's friend Ken starts studying Business in college.
      Ami graduates a year earlier than her classmates and is invited
to 
	Germany on a scholarship to study medicine.
      Mamoru and Usagi are engaged.

End of March, 1996  The rest of the senshi graduate (Usagi just
manages to) 
	from high school.

30th June  Usagi's 18th birthday

Beginning of July  The Aino family goes on vacation to Okinawa.
      Rei is invited by her father for the summer.
      Mamoru and Usagi decide to get married. Preparations start.

3rd August  Mamoru's 22nd birthday 

19th August  Rei arrives back in Tokyo.

21st August  Prologue of "After School"
	Rei and Usagi meet to talk about Usagi's upcoming marriage.

29th August  The Aino family arrives back in Tokyo.

1st September  Makoto's restaurant, Kino's, opens.

13th September  Part 1: The Return of Banana No.2 (yet to be written)

16th-19th September Part 2: The Silver Kimono Wedding (yet to be
written)

17th September: Usagi and Mamoru get married.





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