Betrayal tastes like stardust and broken promises.
One moment, Heather Tsukino was a Sailor Guardian with dreams of eternal love. The next, she was nothing more than a discarded shadow, watching her younger sister Usagi claim both the moon princess...
The breakfast spread looked like it belonged in a five-star ryokan, not in a shrine haunted by sassy spirits and snarky fox demons.
Heather stared, wide-eyed, at the perfection before her. A delicate miso soup sent curls of steam into the morning air. Grilled fish glistened beside an array of pickled vegetables and steaming rice. There were even little tamagoyaki rolls shaped like bunnies.
"Eat up!" Onikiri and Kotetsu chimed in cheerful unison, floating just above the low table, their ghostly tails wiggling with pride.
Heather didn't need to be told twice.
"This is amazing!" she moaned through a mouthful of rice, her cheeks puffed like a squirrel. "Ten out of ten. Food of the gods. Literally. This must be what Ami eats before exams!"
Her Sailor Scout appetite-no doubt inherited from her gluttonous older sister, Usagi-was in full force. She was halfway through her second bowl of rice, chopsticks flying, when a voice sliced through the peaceful morning like a blade.
A very familiar voice.
"Heather?"
The chopsticks slipped from her fingers and clattered against her bowl.
Her eyes widened. Her breath caught.
Mamoru.
His voice wasn't just in her head-it was echoing through her head, resonating with magical interference. Her heart dropped. Ice surged up her arms instinctively, frost racing across the breakfast table like a silver web.
"M-Mamoru?" she whispered, her voice trembling.
Steam hissed as it met the frost. The tea pot cracked.
The spirits floated closer, watching her with mischievous glee.
"Where's Tomoe?" Heather asked, her tone sharp and urgent. "Something's wrong."
"He's in the yokai realm!" Onikiri and Kotetsu sang, far too cheerful for the situation.
Heather blinked. "The what now-?"
Before she could wipe the miso from her chin or even reach for another piece of fish, the two spirits grabbed her hands and yanked.
A portal opened with a crack of raw magic-a swirling vortex of purple light and floating talismans, pulsing with spiritual energy.
"WAIT! I'M NOT DONE EATI-"
Too late.
Heather was launched through the rift, the half-eaten piece of fish still clutched in one hand. Her slippers flew off. Her hairpins spun like shuriken into the air.
Behind her, she could still hear it-his voice.
"Heather!"
The sound of Tuxedo Mask calling her name fractured something in her chest.
She reached for it-too late. The voices of the other Sailor Scouts echoed faintly, like they were calling to her from underwater.
Then came the falling.
The weightlessness.
The swirling magic pressing against her skin, her spirit, her very soul.
Heather Tsukino-part-time Sailor Scout, full-time ice wielder, and newly appointed Land God-was being flung between dimensions like a magical football. Again.
And this time, she had no idea what-or who-was waiting for her on the other side.
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