First Truths

Then

Monday afternoon...

Usagi chewed the end of her pencil until it became an unrecognizable lump. Glancing at it with disinterest, she threw it over her shoulder and rummaged through her book bag for another. Once she had the trusty #2 in hand, she happily began to chew on it, too.

"Usagi-chan, I don't think wood is one of the four food groups," observed Minako. She and Usagi were doing math homework underneath the leafy canopy of a tree in the center of the park. Well, they were trying to do math homework. In reality, neither had made it past the first half of the first problem. And with Ami off in her cram school, Rei busy at the shrine, and Makoto at some after-school cooking classes, there was less than dubious hope that they would get farther than that.

"I dunno," slurred Usagi around a mouthful of pencil. "Wood cud be conshidered a grain." She took out the pencil, spit out some wayward wood shavings, and shoved it back in her mouth.

"A-ha!" shouted Minako, index finger pointing accusingly at Usagi, "so you were paying attention in nutrition class!"

"Eh?" mumbled Usagi, eyebrows raised quizzically. She removed the pencil once more. "I resent the implication that I might have been paying attention in class! I'll have you know that Makoto taught me what the four food groups were."

Minako slumped back and resumed doodling on her homework. "Oh. I thought I had you there."

"Hah! You'd have to get up pretty early in the morning to catch Tsukino Usagi paying attention at school!" crowed Usagi, lifting a victorious fist into the air.

"I don't see why; you're never up early."

"Ahhhhh...true." The victorious fist sagged sadly. Usagi rolled onto her back, balancing her chewed pencil on her upper lip. "You know what I've decided, Minako-chan?"

"What?" asked Minako, copying Usagi's pose. The two girls looked almost identical, with their blonde hair intermingling in the green grass, both girls clad in their blue school uniforms.

"I've decided," philosophized Usagi, "that math was put on this earth merely to annoy me. Maybe it's a Negaverse tool in disguise."

Minako grunted in agreement, watching the sunlight filter through the leaves above their heads. The two continued to lie in companionable silence, both musing over the unfairness of mathematics. After a moment, Minako decided to broach the topic that the other girls had relegated into her realm of responsibilities.

"Usagi-chan?" she began tentatively.

"Hmm?"

"Usagi-chan, do you think you're ready to talk about...it?"

Usagi stilled from fiddling lazily with the pencil, letting it drop to the cool grass. She turned her head towards Minako, finding that the other girl had done the same. "It?"

Minako nodded slowly, eyes probing into Usagi's. "You know, about Tuxedo Mask and-and Mamoru-san." She gulped noiselessly. "We know something's going on between you and...them. Usagi-chan, you might feel better if you tell someone what you're feeling." She let the silence hang, giving Usagi ample time to offer information. When none was forthcoming, she cut in rapidly, "You don't have to tell me, Usagi-chan. You know any of us is here for you at any time. And-and we understand more than you realize."

Usagi looked away blindly, not quite sure she was ready to divulge Mamoru's secret, and her subsequent feelings, just yet. However, something in Minako's voice seemed to beg for a confession. "H-How much do you understand?"

They had already discussed how they were going to handle this. Minako had been chosen because, quite simply, she had a more advanced grasp on matters of the heart. The girls had unanimously decided that they would not pressure Usagi into confessing what she knew unless it became imperative that the entire story come out in the open. Granted, they were dying out of curiosity, but were now certain that, whatever came to pass, Mamoru would never hurt Usagi. He was incapable of it.