Misperception by Papirini

friends on the grass

Friends on the Grass

"Well! It's a good thing Usagi-chan and Mamoru-san are down in Nagasaki today."

 

Kaiou Michiru sat down at the metallic park table, placing two huge drink flasks onto the table. She looked at the faces of the women who were sitting with her as she set a bag onto the table as well; Haruka, Setsuna sat with their teacups gratefully stretched out to her.

 

"I'll have to agree with that sentiment, Michiru. They may have had a heart attack looking at all their children if they were here." Setsuna nodded. "And welcome back from Hanamasa. Is that tea and coffee you've got in there?"

"Camomile and regular black coffee, just as you all ordered." Michiru unpacked the bag. "I also got some sugar, some creamer, and a box of fresh muffins for cheap."

"Excellent." Setsuna's cup was filled with tea. "This should last us until sunset."

"You're a life-saver, Mi-chan." Haruka smiled coyly as Michiru filled her cup with tea next. "You always were, you know."

"And you always knew how to flatter a woman, Haruka." Michiru then turned to her left. "How about you? Tea?"

"I'll have coffee, thank you."

 

Michiru nodded as she poured a cup of coffee for Tourmaline. She placed it in front of her and prepared to get out the creamer, but Tourmaline simply shook her head.

 

"You want it all black?"

"Well, I'll have sugar. But I'm not a big fan of creamer. Never have been."

"I see."

"You think we'll be all right like this?" Haruka looked around. "We are a bit apart from the crowd."

"I think we'll be all right." Setsuna turned towards the groves that lay behind them. "Though what's happening right now still boggles my mind. So many different time lines, the product of so many different realities, all here at once. I admit, multiple dimensions was not an unknown concept to me, but.."

"Really?" Haruka took a sip of her drink. "Actually, I guess it's not a surprise that you would know they existed, I guess."

"I had no way of knowing for certain," Setsuna shrugged. "If I had known for certain, I may or may not have explored it, since the technology to travel in between dimensions has not been conceived within the time stream yet."

"The time stream of here, you mean," Michiru corrected.

"Of course." Pluto smiled at Tourmaline. "It's amazing what can happen when the unknown is revealed, isn't it?"

"It depends on what is being revealed, Setsuna-san." Tourmaline nodded. "When I first used the dimensional folder two years ago, I initially used it to find other versions of my birth mother. I managed to find thirteen versions which fit the profile that I was using."

"And?"

"Unfortunately....my attempts to contact these other versions of her failed for a variety of reasons." Tourmaline paused. "It's not a moment I'm happy about. Because from that moment I decided not to deal with her ever again."

"I see."

 

There was a pause before any of the adults thought to speak. It was Setsuna who decided to open her mouth to speak, but before she could, a flutter of pink suddenly passed the table, stopping right in front of it, gasping for breath.

 

"Oooh!"

"Hello!!"

"Oh." Setsuna blinked. "Small Lady."

"Hi, Puu! Man, it's crazy!" Chibi-Usa shook her head. "Mako-chan and I had to calm Kousagi-chan down again and stop her screaming contests with that one girl, Charleston-san. Seriously, I'm glad she doesn't exist as my sister in this dimension. She's annoying me so much I want to scream… seriously.”

“That's not nice to say, Chibi-Usa,” Haruka frowned. “She's just a kid. Remember, you weren't perfect either.”

“Maybe I wasn't.” Chibi-Usa sighed. “But she's ten times worse than I ever was. The me in her dimension must have the patience of a saint to put up with her!”

“It's still not nice to speak in such a way.”

“I know...but....meh.” Chibi-Usa sighed. “I'll be quiet now.”

A brief silence came on the group as Chibi-Usa took several deep breaths to get the frustration out of her system. After it became apparent that she’d calmed down, Tourmaline gave a chuckle.

“At least you're honest. That's a good quality.” Tourmaline smiled as well. “Anything else going on?”

“That one weird kid from the evil dimension just stole someone's crayons and tried to break them. I managed to stop him and make him give them back, but he tried to stare me down."

"Oh yes..Vazgorth." Haruka frowned more at the name she spoke. "So what did you do?"

"I told him if he kept it up, I'd spank him."

"I doubt that worked."

"In a way, no. But he didn't want to draw attention on himself, so he promised not to be bad anymore."

"We'll see how long that lasts."

"Why did you let him come here, Tourmaline-san?" Haruka huffed. "He's a brat, even for an evil entity. Spoiled from birth and very volatile."

"That's true." Tourmaline lowered her voice. "But the truth is, his parents were going on a conquest of an Outer Rim planet and they asked me if I could bring him here to distract him."

"...Oh...really?"

"Oh yes." Tourmaline couldn't help but chuckle. "Amazingly, for sadistic tyrants bent on universal domination, the evil versions of Serenity and Endymion in the 23rd dimension are nice to outsiders. They also see other dimensions as boring."

"You believed what they said?"

"...Actually, they believed what I said when I told them that the other dimensions were boring and not worth stealing my invention for. Then I showed them your dimension, whereupon they agreed with me."

"You what?!?" Haruka's eyes widened. "You're not serious..."

"Don't worry." Tourmaline grinned. "I definitely had them swear off dimensional takeovers. You should have heard Enzayamadon snoring when I started talking about cherry trees."

"If you say so."

"Heheh. My dad snoring. Now that's funny!" Chibi-Usa sat down next to Tourmaline. "Sorry, but you don't mind if I join you, do you?"

"Oh...of course, Small Lady." Michiru smiled. "Would you like some tea?"

"Naah, I have a rice drink." Chibi-Usa took out a bottle and shook it. "But thank you, regardless, Michiru-san."

"Of course."

 

Tourmaline smiled as Chibi-Usa took the cap off the bottle and guzzled down the drink. She took her spoon and stirred sugar into her coffee.

 

"So, Chibi-Usa-chan." She put the spoon back down. "You're in the seventh grade now? And class president as well, I've been told. You must be very intelligent."

"Well, I...." Chibi-Usa chuckled. "I'm not that special."

"Of course you are." Tourmaline smiled. "I think everyone here is special. It's really wonderful to see everyone here, gathered for the first time, seeing their counterparts face to face."

"You are really enjoying this, aren't you, Tourmaline-san?" Haruka looked at the woman, obviously intrigued. "No offense, but I just find it amazing that you are the way you are. Being that...well, you have an interesting parentage."

 

The other girls shifted uncomfortably at this. It was still difficult for them to imagine their enemy producing a child that turned out to be so kind and nonchalant about them, let alone the fact that Beryl would even have a child with their prince.

 

"....Oh, no, I understand." Tourmaline looked down with a smile when she saw their hesitance. "It's all right. I get it a lot, but I can understand your uncertainty about my loyalties, I suppose."

"Heh." Uranus looked down and shook her head. "I shouldn't be second-guessing you, should I? Sorry about that."

"Oh no, it's all right. Honestly." Tourmaline picked up her teacup. "I do understand..."

 

At this, she drank from her cup. When the rim of the cup touched her lips, Chibi-Usa could have sworn that there was a look of sadness in her eyes, a sadness that obviously predated the sailor soldiers' objections to her heritage. For one moment, Chibi-Usa recognized something in Tourmaline that she herself had once felt.

 

 

"Mama! Mama!! Don't leave me!!"

"Chibi-Usa?!"

"There's no one left for me...."

 

 

"So." Chibi-Usa was jerked out of her thoughts by Setsuna, who was smiling at her. "Where's the backpack you had before? That belonged to one of the other children, right?"

"Oh....yes!" The pink-haired girl remembered. "That was Chibi-Naru's. The one I went to a little while before? She needed to change out of her pajamas."

"That's a good idea." Haruka smiled. "So, will we meet her?"

"Actually, I think she said she was going to meet with Casper."

"Casper....?"

"Yeah. I don't know who that is, but......but.....?"

 

Chibi-Usa trailed off as she saw all the shocked faces staring back at her. They looked at her as if she had just returned after being run over by a Mack truck several times.

 

"Is....there a problem?"

"Naru....." Setsuna stared. "...Went to see....Casper?"

"Yeah." Chibi-Usa blinked. "Is that a problem?"

"....No!!" Michiru smiled with a nervous chuckle. "No, of course not...."

"....Why don't I believe you?"

"It's nothing." Haruka cut her off abruptly. "Let's change the subject, shall we?"

"I..." Chibi-Usa sighed. "Ok."

"So...." Haruka glanced at Chibi-Usa before continuing. "Tell us about the dimension folder."

"Oh, the machine that brought everyone here." Michiru nodded. "Yes, tell us exactly how you came up with it."

"Well..." Tourmaline took another sip of her drink before continuing. "I didn't come up with the mechanics of folding. That had been tested out theoretically by Calvin O'Keefe, based on some work by Feynman, as I mentioned before. This was back a few years before I had graduated from high school. But I wanted to put that into practice, and so I...."

----------------

"....Personally, I think this stinks."

 

Hitoko took a drag as she looked over at the table, scratching under her eye, near a faint scar. A game of poker was being held, between a sullen-looking blue-haired girl and an orange-haired boy, both similar in age. With a huff, the girl shook her head.

 

"Total crap..."

"Ranami-san, if the hand stinks, throw it out and cash your chips in." Hitoko blew out smoke from her mouth. "There's nothing wrong with losing once in a while."

"I'm not going to lose to Mr. Day Glo here. I refuse to."

"Too late!" With a smug grin, the orange-haired boy threw his cards face up on the table. "Weep all you want, dearie. I have a full house."

"...You bastard." Ranami slammed her cards on the table. "You are a total bastard, you know that?"

"I'd take it as a well-deserved compliment, princess, if you said my actual name as opposed to 'a sneaky bastard'." With a smirk, he took the cards up again. "Another hand, your majesty?"

"Go to hell, Gunther." Ranami stood up, her brow hair tossed aside to reveal the black crescent underneath. "Play with yourself."

"Awww." The boy named Gunther sarcastically made a boo boo face. "Ice pwincess made me cwy. Now I have to kiww myself fow shame!."

"Please do so and rid humanity of-"

"Please." The two looked over at Hitoko. "We have more important things to do than to bicker over a stupid card game."

"But it's a matter of inter-dimensional pride! Especially with him." Ranami glared at Gunther. "To think that anyone would want to procreate and make this loser..."

"That's not important." Hitoko took another hit from her cigarette. "I'm talking about Casper here."

"...Casper?"

 

At this, another voice chimed in with the three. This one belonged to a short, thin, purple-haired kid with large blue eyes, and was the same age as the others in the group. Though he looked well enough, his eyes frantically darted back to and fro, as if looking for a menace that only he could spot.

 

"W-what's wrong with Casper?" He looked nervously at the group beneath his coke-can glasses. "Is he sick? Is he ill?"

"No, Uromamo-san." Hitoko shook her head. "He isn't."

"Thank goodness." Uromamo took several deep breaths. "Thanks goodness! I could feel my heart palpitate. I almost died just then. I almost had a heart attack! It would be terrible if he had gotten sick."

"Uromamo-san..."

"I'm just so susceptible. So susceptible." The eyes rolled around. "I have heart and lung conditions that make me collapse randomly. I'm prone to chronic illnesses. I'm a living disease-soaking sp-sponge!"

"Uromamo-san.."

"Casper's taking so long...." Sweat began to pour down the boy's face, and he shut his eyes tightly. "What if someone has him, guys? What if they have him....the men that wear blue and green and white. And they're sticking him right now with ....with....with....oh God......oh God....oh god oh god oh go-"

"UROMAMO!!"

"AUUUGHHHWHAT!!!"

"....You're such a hypochondriac, you know?." Ranami glared at him. "Get over it. The men aren't here."

"Don't say that, princess." Gunther held up his hand. "Remember wh-"

"Shut up."

"I-i-i-i-i-...." Uromamo was shaking so violently that it almost looked as if there were two of him. "B-b-b-b-b-b-ut I-i-i-i-i-i-i-i'm sc-sc-sc-sc-sc-sc-scared....."

"You don't have to be scared." Ranami's voice softened. "They're not here, honest."

"B-b-b-b-but h-h-h-h-h-how d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-"

"Uromamo-san."

 

The boy opened his eyes to see Hitoko holding her hands out to him. Instinctively, he grabbed onto her wrists as tight as he could, shivering as he did. The others looked on silently, waiting for what would happen.

 

"H-h-h-hitok-k-k-o..."

"It's ok." Hitoko stared at him. "We all know what happened to you. Where you came from. We know what they did to you. After today, you won't need to worry about those men anymore. Remember what we talked about?"

"Y-y-yes...."

"You won't be sick any more, and they won't stick needles into you unless you're very, very sick. All right?" The boy nodded frantically. "Now, calm down. Calm down, think about your aunt. The guardian, remember who she is?"

"Mmm...mmm hmm." Uromamo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, his face looked serene. "I f-feel much better now."

"Cool." He let go of Hitoko's wrists, and circulation resumed. "Now, what I was saying was that....well, remember what Casper told us this morning? About.....well...?"

"...Hino-san, this doesn't have to do with..."

"It does." The group visibly stiffened at Hitoko's confirmation. "So let's be frank with one another. We're not to let him out of our sight, especially if there's someone else accompanying him. Understood?"

 

The group nodded their approval of the measure. Despite their obvious differences, they knew of Casper's temperament and of the potential problems to arise from it.

 

"So, let's.." Hitoko's eyes shifted. "Speaking of which."

 

The group turned to see Casper walking towards them, a slanted smile on his face. The group was not fooled; they could see the clouds beneath.

 

"Hello, group."

"Hey!" The group smiled back.

"H-h-hi, Casper!" Uromamo smiled. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Casper turned around. "I brought someone."

 

The group's fears were confirmed when they saw the blue-haired teenager that hopped alongside Casper, a grin from ear to ear. Naru wore a green sweater over a white shirt, and khakis.

 

"Hello, everyone!!" Naru was giddy that there were kids her age that she could relate to. "It's a pleasure to meet you! My name is Neo-Lady, but Naru will do!"

"..Hello."

 

The salutations of the group sounded confused and worried as they saw Naru laugh. Hitoko bit her lip as she flicked away the remnants of her cigarette, hoping that she wouldn't scream for Naru to run off while she could; Uromamo shook slightly at the sight of the seemingly over-hyper girl. After his greeting, Gunther noticed Ranami not paying attention to him, and so he gingerly fumbled around for her tush.

 

"It's.a pleasure to meet you." Hitoko held her hand out. "I am Hino Hitoko, 3rd dimension. You.are Naru, hmm?"

"Yes." Naru nodded as they shook hands. "I was named after a family friend who had died in the Last War."

"Osaka Naru-san isn't dead in my dimension." Hitoko solemnly nodded. "But that's not really important, ne?"

"I guess not." Beaming, Naru turned to Uromamo, her hand held out. "You're..?"

"U-u-uromamo..." The boy began to visibly sweat as he shook hands. "Y-you're properly vaccinated, r-r-r-right?"

"..I'm sorry?"

"I-i-i-I mean...with germs...and bad things...so-so-so, you know." The purple-haired boy laughed nervously as he tried to wriggle his hand away. "I don't want to catch you and you catch me or anything."

"..What?" Naru's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"

"Don't mind Uro-san." Casper stepped forward. "He doesn't mean to insult you."

"Well, he doesn't sound insulting.." Naru hesitated. "He sounds..well.."

"He has a few....well, he's not had a good life in the 99th dimension." Casper looked at Uromamo with a bit of pity. "It's not something to really speak about in public."

"You th-th-think I'm a freak."

"Of course not!" Casper smiled again and pat Uromamo on the shoulder. "You've just had a hard life is all, Uro-san."

"Plenty of people have had hard lives around here." Ranami's eye twitched as Hitoko responded. "I'll agree that Uromamo's situation is...a bit unique."

"Unique?" Naru arched a brow. "How so?"

"Well, his fa-"

"YOU BASTARD!!!"

"EEEEEP!!"

 

The next thing that every one knew, Ranami was throwing Gunther onto the table, which collapsed under the force. Gunther gave a girly scream as he scrambled up and took off; with blazing red eyes, Ranami took off in hot pursuit, picking up a chair as she did so.

 

"GET BACK HERE!!!!!!" Teeth bared, she flung the chair at the orange-haired boy, which barely missed hitting him. "GET BACK HERE SO I CAN KICK YOUR ASS!!!"

"..And." Naru began to sweat at this. "Those two are..?"

"Well, the frisky little Casanova is König Gunther-san. The son of Maxmillian and Wilhelmina." Ranami was quickly gaining on the boy. "Also known as Mamoru-san and Sailor Venus."

"Really?" Naru cocked her head at the thought of her father and Sailor Venus together. "I... don't see those two…"

"Apparently, neither does anyone outside the 76th dimension, Naru-san," Hitoko coyly responded.

"And the girl....?"

"The girl that wants to kill Mr. Gunther is Tsukino Ranami, princess of the Black Moon in the 86th dimension." Naru shivered at the Black Moon name; she remembered it well. "Usagi and the Black Moon prince somehow married, and now rule Earth where she comes from."

"Wow.." Naru turned back to Casper just as Ranami leaped onto Gunther's back and punched him in the head. "So many variations...so many different children."

"Indeed." Casper's voice lowered. "Many different possibilities.."

".I'd never have thought that there could be so many of us." Naru smiled as Ranami and Gunther both fell to the ground behind her. "It's amazing...to think, I'd never thought that there could be more than one person out there just like me."

"Just like you?"

 

The emphasis in Casper's voice seemed to evince a hint of bitterness, but Naru didn't notice it. She turned back with a grin.

 

"Well, not exactly like me, but..I mean, other children existing." Naru turned back as Ranami staggered up to her feet and grabbed the offensive boy by the hair, dragging him back to the group. "For a long time, I thought I was the only one. Well, in a matter of speaking, because of the timeline in my universe, I really wasn't the only child...but I was."

"What do you mean?" Hitoko looked at Naru. "You mean you have a half-sister like me?"

"Hmm?"

"Chibi-Usa's also my half sister in my reality." Hitoko sighed. "Don't get to see her often, but...well, that's how it works in my reality."

"..Well, no, Small Lady isn't my half-sister.." Naru gulped. "But I did know of her even though she doesn't technically exist where I live. See, she-"

"And if you ever do that again..."

 

Naru was interrupted by Ranami's return to the group. In her hand was Gunther, tears streaming down his face. With a look of disgust on her face, she dropped Gunther and turned away from him.

 

"A-ack!" Uromamo hid behind Casper. "She's c-c-coming to kill someone..."

"Waaah!" Gunther went to grab for Ranami again. "I was only being friendly!"

"Friendly? Is this how you treat every girl you come across on the Oregon Trail?" Ranami turned her nose up. "No wonder you're still a virgin."

"You're still a virgin too!" Gunther whined back. "How are you any different?"

"Because I'm not disgusting like you!"

"You two act like a married couple." Hitoko took out another cigarette. "Or like a bunch of little brats. Seriously, stop fighting before you end up in bed."

"Says you, Hitoko-san." Ranami responded sarcastically before she could control what she said. "I'm not the one who did sleep with an enemy."

 

The deafening silence that came after this comment scared Naru, as she saw the hurt in Hitoko's eyes at Ranami's comment. Ranami was looking shocked, her hands over her mouth.

 

"Girls." Casper stared at the two. "Please."

"...Please don't mention that again." Finally, Hitoko's voice shakily responded as she took a deep drag off her stick. "I'd rather not leave this place hating you, Ranami-san."

"Oh..." To Naru's surprise, Ranami looked almost as hurt as Hitoko did. "I..I'm sorry. That was...that was totally out of line!"

"Huh...I'm surprised Ranami-san is expressing regret, being from the Black Moon Family!"

"Naru..."

"...I'm not a monster, Naru."

 

Naru's mouth dropped when she realized that the princess had overheard what she said to Casper. She turned away, embarrassed, not sure of what she could say to make it up.

 

Stupid..stupid.!!! Naru shut her eyes. I'm such an idiot to do what she just did to Hitoko-san...!

 

"Hmph." Ranami turned away. "I guess I understand you, being that the Black Moon is an enemy to almost every person here. The black crescent is hated by almost everyone in every dimension, isn't it?"

"But I don't ha-"

"YOU don't count." A heel mark suddenly appeared on Gunther's simpering face. "The entire day, I've been rejected by the kids in this park because of the sign on my forehead. They think I've come here to take over Earth or something, and that I'm just like my father and the rest of his family." There was a snarl in her voice as she continued. "And I can tell that you all see me the same way."

 

There was another silence. The more it dragged on, the more Naru felt terrible about her words to the princess. Her head went down towards the ground guiltily, unaware that Casper was staring at her as Ranami spoke.

 

"Well, I'm not like that. I hate being seen as evil and I don't like it. I'm tired of people making me out that way. I don't want to be like my parents. My parents are hypocrites." Ranami started to walk away. "They don't care about Earth like I do. But I guess it doesn't matter what I feel. That's ok. It never really matters anyways."

"Wait."

 

Ranami kept going despite Hitoko's words. Her face was red with anger, and her brows were furrowed. She wiped her eyes to make sure there were no tears coming from them.

 

It was dumb of me to come here to begin with.

 

"Wait!"

 

Suddenly, Naru was in front of Ranami. The half-Nemesian almost ran into her, but managed to stop before she did so.

 

"Huh?"

"Um." Naru wrung her hands together. "Listen, Ranami-san..yeah, the Black Moon is evil in my reality, but...I didn't mean to offend you like that."

"Naru."

"Please." Naru held up her hand. "I can understand how it feels to be alone. Having people put you down because of who you are, for not being what they want to you be. I dealt with it for..a very long time, when I realized that I wasn't what...I wasn't who..my parents wished me to be."

 

Ranami's eyes widened at this. Behind her, the rest of the group watched, hearing Naru's words and absorbing them.

 

"It was really terrible for me, and...it took a very long time for me to get over it, and for my parents to be proud of me."

 

Naru sadly smiled as she remembered the years when she got no birthday presents, the times when she wasn't allowed to wear certain hairstyles, the times when she heard the whispers and saw the subtle looks of her parents as they thought of another girl, one with pink hair and red eyes. One who existed in the plane Naru was on at that moment, but not in her home world.

 

"So.that was horrible of me to inflict that kind of pain onto you." Naru bowed down. "I'll leave if you want. You won't ever have to see me if you don't want. I just don't want you to think...that I honestly hate you...it's just that I carelessly ga-"

"Stop."

 

Naru looked up at Ranami. There was a sad smile on her pale face as well.

 

"You know...no one's ever said that to me before."

"Ranami-san."

"Thank you." Ranami grasped Naru's hands. "I think..I'll stay a little while longer."

"Oh. Thank you...!"

"WOOHOO!!!"

 

Ranami's serene face twitched at the sound of Gunther whooping and cheering. She turned towards him, her teeth clenched.

 

"Hoorah! She's staying!!" Gunther's smile upturned slyly. "Now we can play pinochle with teams!!"

"...Though if I had a reason to go...."

"I'll deal!" Gunther turned to Hitoko, Casper, and Uromamo. "You guys know what pinochle is, right?"

"V-v-v-venereal disease?!?!?" Uromamo's eyes bugged out. "N-n-n-n-no no no no!! They tried, they tried to give me that oh my god oh my-"

"Uro-san." Casper held out his wrists, and the short kid shot out to grab them. "It's just a card game. Just a fun game. No needles, ok?"

"G-g-good." With a smile, Uromamo nodded. "G-g-games are fun!"

"That's right." Casper nodded. "You can go play if you want."

"Perfect!" Gunther beamed. "Uromamo and Naru will be on a team, and I shall be on a team with the lovely Princess Ranami."

"Over my dead body!"

"Aaaaawww." Gunther pursed his lips, his fingers wiggling towards Ranami's behind once more. "But pwiiiiincesssssss..."

 

The next moment was a blur for Naru. She wasn't exactly sure what happened, or how it happened. She did, however, remember Ranami's eyes flashing red again, then a lot of movement. The next thing was Gunther on the ground, Ranami's heel being grated into the crotch area of his pants.

 

"AAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!!" The girly screams resumed. "Mercy, mercy!!!!!"

"You little prick...!!!"

 

Naru couldn't help but laugh at the spectacle.

 

In every way, they really are my family. They come from other dimensions, but....I guess that doesn't matter. Not here, not now, at this moment.

We all must have a lot in common...

 

-----------------

 

"She's something." Hitoko mused as she watched Naru, who was laughing as Ranami beat up Gunther once more. "Not what we thought Naru-chan would be, hmm?"

"I suppose so." Casper's red eyes hardened. "Quite sure of herself, though, isn't she, Hitoko-san?"

".I think Naru's being quite sincere, actually," Hitoko quietly commented. "But I guess that doesn't changes your view of her, doesn't it, Casper-san?"

".We'll see what happens."

 

A shadow seemed to pass over Casper's face as he looked at Naru in the noon sun. It was as if there was a cloud that suddenly formed over his head whenever Naru looked away. It was easy enough for Casper to banish it whenever Naru was looking at him. He didn't wish to offend anyone anymore than he already had.

 

When she wasn't looking, however, it was another matter.

 

Princess Naru Neo-Lady...we'll just see what else happens today...

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