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                         The Longest Day Ever
                          by Lady Aishiteru
                              Chapter 2 
                   No Consequences Means No Regrets
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Disclaimer: I am the very model of a major modern general! I know the
name of every animal and vegetble and mineral!

REAL Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. Just this story. There. Are 
you happy now?
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"AAAAGH!" I screamed. 

Immediately, I heard a banging on my wall. "Hey, you two keep it down 
in there! Some of us are trying to sleep!"

Two? Us? Oh. Eep. But my male ego would rather let my neighbor think 
whatever he wanted to about my sex life....or lack thereof.

"Sorry!" I yelled back.

I got dressed and walked out of the door, making my way down to the 
Arcade, like I did every day, Valentine's Day be damned.

I decided to leave the physics books at home this time, since I had 
just read them yesterday. So when Usagi came barreling down the street,
I wasn't the least bit surprised. Feeling like I needed a change of 
pace, I sidestepped the speeding blonde. 

Usagi took three more steps and turned around. "Huh?" she said. She 
took a long look at me, scratched her head, then shrugged her shoulders
and moved on.

I laughed at this despite myself. I guess that our crash encounters 
were as much a part of her routine as they were mine.

Speaking of routine, I had arrived at the Crown Arcade to Motoki 
having the same moony-eyed expression he wore the day before.

"Hey, buddy! What's got your head in the clouds?" I asked, moving 
closer to the counter.

"Huh? Oh, hi, Mamoru," he said, snapping back into reality. "The 
usual?"

"Yep." 

"I was just thinking about my date with Reika tonight. I'm taking her 
out to this fancy Italian restaurant that she loves..." he said, as he 
busied himself pouring my coffee, babbling on and on, not really 
noticing that I wasn't paying attention. I didn't need to, anyways, as 
his prattle sounded eerily like yesterday's.

"Uh, Motoki? I think my coffee's getting cold," I interrupted him.

His expression switched to that of pity. "Come on, tell me that you 
have someone to share this day with?" he said, even though he already 
knew the answer.

"Come on, Motoki, we had this talk yesterday," I said, twirling the 
stir stick in my cup.

Motoki eyed me like I was insane. "What are you talking about? 
Yesterday you sat down, had your cup of coffee, read your newspaper 
and didn't say boo."

"No," I said. "You were about to ask me, and I quote, 'Haven't you 
ever been totally into anyone?'"

Then his expression went blank for a few seconds and he shook his 
head. "Nah. That's got to be a coincidence," he said.

"Right. OK, give me a number," I said. 

"Why?"

"Just do it, moron. Any number."

"OK, 1,456," he said.

"Thanks." 

This time it was Motoki's turn to be confused as I left him sitting 
there like that, arms akimbo, totally and completely lost. 
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School was a breeze for me. I already had all the answers to the tests,
as they had been corrected in the classes the day before. I felt a 
little like I was cheating, but it wasn't my fault I was stuck in a 
time loop...was it?

I began to think about this whole time loop thing as I walked over to 
the arcade. How could this have possibly have happened? TV shows have 
reruns, days do not. Once the sun has dipped into the horizon and the 
digits on the clock say twelve, the day is gone, never to be repeated.

As I came in to the arcade, the last shreds of my half baked logic 
faded away, seeing Usagi talking excitedly with Ami, Makoto and Minako,
 holding a letter in her hand, the exact same letter as the day before
...or rather, today. Ami kept sneezing just like before, leaving me to 
wonder again what, exactly, was she allergic to?

"What are you so excited about, Meatball Head?" I asked, even though I 
was certain of the answer.

"None of your business, jackass!" she said, quickly withdrawing the 
letter from my view, blushing profusely.

"She's got a love letter!" said Minako, sighing. "Isn't Valentine's 
Day great?"

"Reminds me of my old boyfriend," said Makoto.

"Ac-CHOO!" added Ami.

'Yep, de ja vu,' I thought. "Letters from an admirer?" I asked.

"I...guess so," she said. "I'm not sure why. I'm not really that pretty
or anything, or very smart...so, I..uh, guess it must be a fluke or 
something."

I stood looking at her, sitting there, blushing so cutely and twirling 
a strand of blonde hair in her long, slender fingers, exactly the same 
as before. 

'OK, let's say something intelligent this time, okay?' my conscience 
requested. 

I shook my head. "You honestly don't know?" I asked.

She looked at me, confused for a second, before anger clouded her 
features once again. "OK, so if this is about the last test I threw at 
you, I tried really hard to ace it! I did!"

"You don't know," I said. "You really have no idea."

"OK, I may not be as smart as you, but what exactly is it that I don't 
know this time? Math? Science? English? Pick one, will ya, Chiba, 
you're good at that."

"No," I said, shaking my head. "It's nothing like that."

"Then what is it that I don't know?"

I looked her straight in the eyes, my heart begging for me to tell her 
what it had known all along. That she was beautiful. 

But, as usual, my mouth didn't want to cooperate. "Um...your shoe's 
untied," I finished lamely.

At this, Usagi was uncharacteristically silent. Her mouth opened and 
closed, as if she was going to say something but didn't know what, 
since I hadn't really insulted her at all. Then she looked down at her 
shoes, but before she could inform me that she was wearing pumps, I 
was gone. 
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I sat down to watch the same creepy science fiction flick on TV, 
hoping it would take my mind off of my day. I let my mind slip into 
the world of space aliens, robots and spaceships until a sudden sense 
of urgency struck me. 'Oh no, not again' I thought. I could sense it, 
the same fear and anguish as before through our psychic link. 

I sighed as I withdrew the rose, seemingly out of thin air, that 
triggered my transformation. 'I hope she's not cornered by that same 
damned youma again,' I thought as I dashed from rooftop to rooftop and 
off into the starry night.

Before, I was tempted to laugh at the scene that greeted my eyes as I 
reached my destination, but now all I wanted to do cry. 

"Oh, God, not YOU again," I groaned at the youma, forgetting to throw 
my trademark rose. 

"Well, I don't like YOU either, you overdressed moron," said the 
youma.

Okay, so this big, lacy thing has the gall to call ME overdressed? Why,
I'm the most stylish hero of Tokyo! The sheer audacity! I threw my rose
at the youma's candy center, motioning for Sailor Moon to do her thing.

"Yeah!" she said excitedly, hearts in her eyes. I watched with pleasure
as Sailor Moon whipped out her tiara and finished off the youma. "Moon 
dust," she said.

I watched the confections around the senshi vanish and as I walked 
away, I heard Jupiter say, "Ugh! I hope I never see a chocolate again!"

"Chocolate?" said Sailor Moon. "I want chocolate! Where is it? Why did 
it all DISAPPEAR? WAAAAAAAAAH!" she wailed. 

I shook my head and flew off into the night.

I de-transformed as I arrived at my apartment and slipped under the 
covers, the hour being way past midnight. I fell asleep as soon as my 
head hit the pillow.
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"Good morning, everyone! Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you have someone 
to snuggle up against, because it's going to be cold outside!"

I rolled over as I heard "Crazy for this Girl" playing on my alarm 
clock radio. I withdrew a rose from the air and pierced it through, 
putting an end to Evan and Jarod's singing. Then I turned around and 
went back to sleep.
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"Good morning, everyone! Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you have someone 
to snuggle up against, because it's going to be cold outside!"

I sat straight up in my bed and growled. Then I yanked the alarm clock 
from its spot on my dresser, opened my window and watched with glee as 
the offending clock plummeted down twelve stories and landed in a heap 
of parts on the sidewalk below. Feeling very satisfied with myself, I 
returned to bed and went back to sleep.

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"Good morning, everyone! Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you have someone 
to snuggle up against, because it's going to be cold outside!"

"DAMMIT!" I screamed at the heavens. "THIS IS NOT FUNNY!"

"Yeah, well, we're not laughing either. Shut up, you idiot," said my 
non-plussed neighbor. 

"GO TO HELL!" I retorted, not really caring what my neighbor thought 
about me, feeling a wee bit...unhinged.

'This has got to end. And it WILL end. One way or another,' I thought. 
Deliberate on my course of action, I stepped onto the railing of my 
balcony and took a swan dive to the pavement.
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"Good morning, everyone! Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you have someone 
to snuggle up against, because it's going to be cold outside!"

Horrified, I sat straight up in bed. I looked myself over. No broken 
bones, not a scratch on me, nothing. As Evan and Jarod sang the song 
I knew by heart by now, I began to consider my options. No matter what 
I did, I would wake up the next day here, in my bed, like nothing 
happened. I could die and nothing would happen. I could rob a bank, 
wind up in jail, then wake up in my own bed in the morning, listening 
to the twins singing the song I was beginning to hate more than any 
other music in the world. No aftermath, no consequences. I could say 
anything I wanted, to anyone, and they wouldn't remember it the next 
day. Best yet, I had as long as I needed, maybe an eternity of 
Valentine's Days, to make things right with Usagi.

'This could get interesting after all,' I thought as I got ready for 
the rest of the day, which suddenly seemed alive and full of 
possibilities.
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