Sailor Moon Silver Legacy

Act VI: Time to Heal (Part 3)

"Naru Osaka!" the young woman elaborated for good measure.

"Oh," Ami replied simply, caught off guard by the unexpected run-in with her old school friend, and the unexpected need to brush off her social skills.

"How are you? It's been a while, huh?" Naru pressed, a genuine smile across her face.

"Erm, yes, a while," Ami agreed.

"I don't think we've seen you since—" Naru started.

"Yes," Ami finished the thought, already aware that she had not seen Naru since Usagi's funeral. She felt a sting of guilt as she recalled receiving—and ignoring—several calls from Naru in the months that followed. Then again, Naru had been Usagi's friend first and foremost, and she seemed to be doing well now anyway. Better than any of the others at least.

"It's good to see you, Ami," the man clutching Naru's hand added.

"Oh, excuse me. Have we met?" Ami asked, unable to place the man's chiseled features or deep voice.

"It's me, Umino!"

"Umino?" Ami repeated, remembering another of her high school chums, but other than the man's vaguely familiar spiky hair, her memories weren't correlating with what she was seeing.

"That's right, you probably haven't seen me without my glasses. Naru convinced me to get contacts a few years back. Wow, it really has been a long time, hasn't it?"

"That must be it," Ami conceded, remembering the way Umino's glasses used to magnify his eyes to the size of tennis balls, though, still shocked by her fellow school nerd's dramatic transformation. Concerned her stunned look of disbelief might offend the couple, she cast her eyes downward, noticing a sparkly something on Naru's hand. "So, the two of you married?"

"Yeah, three years this spring," Naru confirmed, flashing her ring finger. "We might even make it to four if this one can remember to empty the dishwasher!"

Umino nudged his wife with his shoulder, responding, "I will if you learn to cook!" The two then shared a chuckle, apparently enjoying a private joke.

"Lovely. Congratulations!" Ami said, trying her best to sound sincere.

"You grew your hair out," Naru commented. "It looks nice long."

"Oh?" Ami replied, momentarily reminded that she would soon be able to chop the annoying locks off—if all went according to plan. "I just never have time to get it cut."

"And no wonder, you became a doctor like your mom, after all, huh?" Naru exclaimed, motioning to Ami's lab coat with her open palm.

"I'm not a doctor!" said Ami, a little more forcefully than intended.

Naru looked taken aback, her cheeks flushing noticeably.

Ami tried to look apologetic, and clarified, "That is to say, I'm a research scientist. But you're right, it certainly keeps me busy!"

"You know, I think one of the guys at my engineering firm may have cited a paper authored by an A. Mizuno a while back," said Umino. "I guess I didn't put two and two together."

Ami smiled in reply, her patience for the prolonged social contact reaching its limit.

After an awkward moment of silence and a brief exchange between Naru and Umino, Naru said, "Well, it was good to see you, Ami."

"Yes. You too."

"Maybe we could meet up sometime? It would be nice to talk about old times. I've been meaning to visit the cemetery. Do you still hang out with the other girls? Maybe we could all go together?"