A nun from Elza's new school shows her the indoor pool. Elza thinks to
herself that neither her new sailor uniform nor the school for young
ladies suits her.
When she goes in, the girls all wonder who she is. Elza doesn't see what
all the fuss is: this is a mission school, so foreigners can't be all
that rare, can they?
Elza notes that one of the girls in the pool (who turns out to be Michiru, of course) is a fast swimmer.
Elza smiles at her, but Michiru just ignores her.
As Elza and the nun walk off, the girls speculate about her--is she a
transfer student? How old is she? Is she from Africa? Does she speak
Japanese? She's so exotic!
Elza wonders to herself if she'll be able to make it at her new school.
Title page for the first part of the story:
Elza wants to find someone who's a fast runner, to run in relays and
stuff with her, but the girls say that all the fast people are already
on other sports teams. Then one of the girls remembers someone who was a
fast runner.
It's a girl who was in her class back in elementary school. When the
other girls ask who it is, she just says "her," and they get it,
instantly. Elza, of course, does not, so they explain that it's Miss
Oh-so-perfect--she's rich, beautiful, smart, and entirely too good at
everything. She's in the art club.
Elza says she checked out the school's runners at last year's athletics
festival and doesn't remember seeing anyone that fast. The girls tell
her that Michiru was away performing a solo at a music festival--she's a
violinist, and famous to boot. Elza then puts two and two together--she
has heard of the girl before.
She asks the other girl to introduce her, but everyone thinks it's a bad
idea--Elza will never convince her to join the track team, the girl
doesn't know her well anyway, and this famous girl is really
unapproachable.
The famous girl doesn't have any close friends, though
she does have a fan club.
And her name is... Kaioh Michiru-"sama" ("sama" is a very respectful
suffix, and the quotation marks suggest that either they're using it
sarcastically or they're telling Elza how much Michiru is respected).
The girls joke that she'd be called Michiru Kaioh, written in katakana, where Elza comes from.
Later, Elza is running. She thinks to herself that she's surprised
someone so talented is at a school like this one. As she's running, she
sees a girl drawing.
She thinks the girl is cute, and recognizes her as the one from the pool.
After Elza has finished running, she goes up to the girl and discovers
that the girl has been drawing her. The girl apologizes, but Elza tells
her that no apologies are necessary. Elza starts to ask the girl if
she's in the art club, then suddenly realizes that this might have been
that famous girl the others were talking about.
She asks her if she's Michiru Kaioh, with a rather belated "-sama" tacked on the end.
When Elza tells the other girls about it, they laugh at her and ask if
Michiru gave her the cold shoulder. Elza says that no, Michiru didn't
give her the cold shoulder, she just rushed off.
Elza brags about being sketched by a famous artist, saying it means she
must be kind of good at modeling. She asks the others where Michiru (she
calls her "Kaioh-san") eats lunch, and the other girls try to dissuade
her from pursuing Michiru (which Elza denies she's doing), saying she'll
earn the wrath of Michiru's fans. Plus, Michiru is antisocial; it's
best to just leave her be.
Elza thinks to herself that Michiru is apparently a beautiful, well-bred, rich, talented, haughty princess.
And yet, she thinks that's not the sort of person Michiru really is.
Elza wonders what just happened, but cheerfully says hi and asks if she
can sit next to Michiru (then sits down before Michiru has a chance to
say no!). Elza goes on to tell Michiru that she saw Michiru in the pool
the day she transferred to the school, and that she couldn't help being
charmed by Michiru's beautiful, mature appearance. She says she was
surprised to find out that Michiru was only in junior high.
It was Elza's animal instincts that told her Michiru wasn't like everyone said she was. (She doesn't say that aloud).
Elza breeches the hostile atmosphere with a question about what book Michiru is reading, which turns out to be The Tale of Genji.
Elza remarks on what a Don Juan Genji is, and asks Michiru if she
enjoys reading stories in which one woman after another becomes
miserable. She then hastily apologizes, saying she didn't mean to bash
Japanese culture.
After a few moments of thought, Michiru answers that she's reading it
because it's the original text of the book. Elza gets now why people
call Michiru an oddball. Michiru says that it's the first time someone's
called her an oddball to her face. Elza bursts out laughing, and
comments that Michiru isn't as antisocial as everyone says.
Michiru replies that if everyone says she's antisocial, then it must be true.
Elza then bursts out with, "Well, you can think of me as an animal, then!!"
Michiru laughs.
We get the first part of what Michiru says next ("You..."), then it cuts
to a new scene, with Elza reflecting that she thinks of Michiru like a
princess in an old story.
"You're an intimist, hm?" (Presumably Michiru's words from the previous
scene, and using the French "intimiste," the old title of the story,
rather than the English "intimist.")
A princess that's been shut away all alone in a tall tower.
Elza tries to recruit Michiru for the track team, but Michiru declines, as Elza expected her to.
Elza asks Michiru what she wants to do with her life--does she want to
be a violinist? An artist? Both? Well, actually, she's both already...
Michiru replies that she probably won't be able to become the thing she most wants to be.
Elza realizes that she shouldn't ask what that is. She thinks to herself
that Michiru is like a flower in bloom, hidden away within the strong
walls of the school. Watching Michiru walk off, she remembers the
saying, "A lily as she walks" ("Standing, she's a peony; Sitting, a tree
peony; Walking, a lily.").
The other girls come up to Elza and see Michiru walking off. They ask
Elza if Michiru's going to be joining the track team, and Elza says no,
which was what they expected as well.
Elza continues her train of thought from before: Someday, Michiru will leave the school, just as the rest of them will.
Elza waves to Michiru.
Michiru waves back, shocking the other girls.
Someday, Michiru's fate will come for her, and she'll be taken away to a far-off land,
like a proud, single-minded princess from a fairy-tale, with her prince/knight/whatever.
I/ "The Last Episode" (This strip is a spoof of a scene in the last episode of the anime.).
The outer senshi watch a shooting star together. Michiru wishes for
Haruka to stop cheating on her. Haruka wishes for Michiru not to find
out she's cheating on her. Setsuna and Hotaru both wish for -censored-
with Chibiusa.
Then they all think to themselves that there's absolutely no way their wishes are going to come true.
II/ "Sailor Team ni Onegai!" ("Ask the Sailor Team!")
From episode 115.
Uranus tells the inner senshi that they shouldn't let Hotaru near Chibiusa.
Then she transforms back into plainclothes, giving them a naked view of her from behind.
They all think to themselves that none of them is making a commotion
over it.
Jupiter wonders if she really saw what she thinks she did. Moon
wonders would would happen if there were people in front of Haruka; she
asks what's going on.
Mercury thinks to herself that Haruka is guilty
of public obscenity; she says that Haruka isn't a bad person.
Venus
thinks to herself that grown-up high-schoolers are a lot different from
them. She says that she wonders if what Haruka said has something to do
with their enemy.
Mars thinks that everyone's remarks are pretty
slapdash. She says, "I don't know."
III/ "Neptune to Mercury ni Onegai!" ("Ask Neptune and Mercury!")
Haruka comes home, and wonders who's come to visit-- Michiru rarely has people over.
Just outside the door, she hears someone cry out. Then she hears Michiru
telling Ami not to cry out so loudly, Ami protesting that she couldn't
help it, Michiru saying she isn't doing anything too terrible to Ami...
Then she hears a big thud, and some rattling noises; then Michiru tells
Ami it's her turn, Ami says yes, Michiru says Ami shouldn't do it like
that, then says "Okay, here goes..."
Haruka assumes the two are in bed together, and figures that the reason Ami didn't fall for her charms (see Shi ga Futari wo Wakatsu Made) is that she wanted Michiru-- Ami and Michiru are both geniuses, both good swimmers, etc., so they get along well.
As the dialog between Ami and Michiru continues, Haruka tells herself to
calm down and decide what to do. She figures her options are:
(a) Leave
and pretend she didn't hear anything;
(b) Rush in and angrily demand to
know what they're doing;
(c) Join in.
She thinks to herself that
options (b) and (c) are both stupid, and decides to go with (a). She
can't exactly be angry over Michiru having an affair considering her own
conduct, and she's just happy it isn't with a guy.
Just then, Ami says: "You're amazing... Michiru-san... This... is the first time someone's done this to me so well...". Haruka reminds herself that she needs to leave already. Although she does want to hear more...Michiru asks Ami if she doesn't do "it" with Rei-chan and Yamako-chan.
Ami replies, "Not that often," and asks if Michiru does "it" with Haruka
all the time.
Haruka's ears perk up at this.
Michiru replies that Haruka's basically a lost cause in terms of "it."
This really upsets Haruka, who thinks to herself that Michiru's lying--
just last night the two of them -censored- and -censored-.
Michiru continues on, saying how much Haruka sucks at "it" and that Ami is the best.
Haruka bursts in, and challenges Ami to a match...
Whereupon she discovers that Michiru and Ami are playing chess. She facefaults. (Real smooth, Haruka...)
She then yells that nobody talks like that when they're playing chess,
it's completely unnatural. Michiru asks what she's yelling about. Ami
tells Haruka she's happy she'll get to play against her. Of course,
Haruka really does completely suck at chess, and Ami thoroughly trounces
her. Haruka decides to give up on Ami...
IV/ Suspicious Theater
I don't get the first joke, but the second is that Michiru liked the
taste of Haruka's blood (it's a spoof of that scene in Stars when
Michiru sucks a piece of glass out of Haruka's hand).
The first strip on this page is "Not Very Suspicious Theater." It's the
scene from Stars where Seiya comes into Michiru's dressing room and they
flirt together. The joke here is that Michiru is more worried about
what Haruka would do if she found out than what Seiya's fans would.
The story is continued in the next strip, "Jealousy Theater" (this is a
play on words-- "jealousy" ("jerashii") ends with the same letters as
"suspicious" ("ayashii")), in which Haruka comes into the dressing room,
sees what's going on, and does a World Shaking on Seiya.
The next strip, "Not Suspicious Theater," continues the story. Michiru
asks Haruka if she's jealous. Haruka says not really, since she already
beat him up. Michiru says that Haruka doesn't know which one of them is
really going to get beaten up.
The unconnected next-to-last strip on the page has Michiru bouncing a
lemon on her violin during her concert with the Three Lights and Seiya
wondering what the heck she is.
In the last strip, Michiru asks Haruka to help her change, then tells her she doesn't have to take her underwear off too.
V/ Spatter With Innocent Blood.
A girl's dog, Einstein, jumps up on Haruka. Haruka tries to ask the
girl's name (at first, the girl thinks she's asking about the dog's
name), but Michiru drags her off.
Michiru comments that she didn't know
that Haruka liked dogs too-- she did know that Haruka liked kittens
(which could be a reference to cute girls). Haruka says that she had a
big, black, really smart (smart enough to go to college, according to
Haruka) German Shephard when she was young. Just then, they hear a
scream.
Turns out Einstein has attacked a bird. The girl is trying without
success to get him to let go of it, but Haruka manages it. The bird, a
pigeon, is injured, and Haruka says she knows someone who will take a
look at it. She and Michiru take it to him.
His office is technically closed, but Haruka knows that he takes
emergency cases too. He opens the door, and he and Haruka exchange the
usual pleasantries.
He takes a look at the pigeon, and says that though
he can reattach the wing, he can't fix the nerve damage, so the pigeon
will never be able to fly again. He says it will have trouble surviving
in nature, but that it might not be happy living in a birdcage either.
He offers-- though without explicitly saying so-- to put it down. He
sends Michiru and Haruka to wait in the waiting room. While they're
sitting there, Haruka reveals to Michiru that her dog died of heartworm,
and that it was her fault for forgetting to get him the appropriate
vaccinations.
Michiru points out that Haruka was just a child at the
time. Haruka says that's not a good enough reason. The vet and other
people recommended that she have the dog put down, but she couldn't do
it. So the dog suffered a lot before it died.
The vet comes out to the waiting room. He tells them that he put the
bird down by injection, so it didn't have to suffer much. He apologizes
that all he has to put it in is a plain box, but Haruka says that's all
right, and thanks him. He suggests that they bury the road in the
gardens at Haruka's house.
The vet apologizes for not being able to save the bird, and Haruka
apologizes in turn. Haruka wants to pay the vet for his services, but he
refuses. He says he's happy just to have gotten to see her again. He
tells her he's been keeping up with her exploits in the word of motor
sports, and remembers that when she was little, she wanted to become a
racer someday. He wishes her the best, and tells her not to get hurt.
She thanks him, and she and Michiru leave.
Haruka says that she doesn't really know what's right and what's wrong.
Maybe the bird would have wanted to live longer, even if it meant being
in a cage. She couldn't kill her dog before, even when he ended up
confined to his bed. Was that because she felt sorry for him, or because
she was afraid of getting her hands dirty?
When the dog was weak with
anemia and couldn't even stand, she devoted herself to taking care of
him. One day, she went to the kitchen to get him some more water, and
when she came back, he was dead.
She wonders if she did the right
thing-- if she'd had him put down, he wouldn't have suffered for so
long, and she could have held him in her arms in his last moments.
She
still remembers how she felt at the time, and never wants to regret
something like that again. So if she has to dirty her hands in order to
save the world, she won't hesitate. She's willing to accept any sort of
punishment.
After they've dug a hole for the box, Haruka comments that they'll be
burying it deep enough that dogs shouldn't dig it up. As Haruka holds
the pigeon in her hands, she wonders if the Messiah could bring it back
to life. Michiru replies, "Maybe."
Haruka suggests that they go home. Michiru takes Haruka's hand, and
Haruka warns that Michiru's hand will get dirty. Michiru agrees,
unfazed, and doesn't let go.
