Usagi slowly walked home. Rei was right. Who was she kidding? She was never going to save Mamoru. And if she did, would he even give her the time of day?

*Only to tease you, Usagi!*

She idly wondered what was so wrong with her. Why did he tease her? Was she really that ugly, that childish, that clumsy.

Usagi sighed. Her friends and family would probably be much better off with her gone. No one holding them back, no one for them to be ashamed of.

*But where would you go, baka?*

She couldn't even run away without messing something up! Determined to come up with a full proof plan, Usagi nodded and ran the rest of the way home.

Soon they'd be talking about her in the past tense!

************

"Rei-chan, I can't believe you're acting like this," Makoto said. "You know how sensitive she is about Mamoru. This whole thing just compounds it."

"What about me? He was my boyfriend."

Minako sighed. "Yeah, for two minutes."

Rei's face turned bright red and rushed over to her. Makoto grabbed her arm. "Stop it, Rei-chan!"

"What in the world is wrong with you?" Ami asked. "Minako-chan's right, you only dated him once. It's not like the two of you were love. Usagi-chan may not have gotten along with him, but she loved him. Even before she knew he existed."

Rei sank to the floor. "I know that, but I... I'm..."

"Jealous," Makoto finished for her.

"Yeah, jealous."

Ami knelt next to her friend. "You need to control that, Rei-chan. If you don't, you're going to lose a wonderful friend. Someone who was there for you when no one else was. She needs us right now. Not only because of Mamoru-san, but the memories of her father."

"Yeah," Minako replied. "That had to be one horrible nightmare... especially considering the fact that it really happened."

Rei nodded. "You guys are right. I really need to apologize to Usagi."

**********

When Usagi arrived at her house, she was really confused. "Kuso!" she exclaimed. Her father's boss was there to discuss a possible promotion. She was supposed to be home hours ago!

Shingo peered down at her from his bedroom window. "Usagi, you're going to be in big trouble when Noriko-san leaves!"

"Shut up, Shingo," she muttered. She walked over to her father's car to make certain her hair was all right and brushed off her school uniform.

Usagi took a deep breath and headed into her house. As she was removing her shoes, her mother walked over to her. "Where have you been, young lady?"

"Gomen nasai, Mama! I just lost track of time."

She nodded. "We'll talk about this later. You're lucky we haven't eaten dinner yet."

"Do you need help with anything?" Usagi asked, trying to get on her good side.

"Join your father in the living room and after you've met Noriko-san, you can help me set the table."

"Hai, Mama," Usagi replied.