Chibi-Usa's Picture Diary A tale of warning on the countdown to Tanabata Originally appeared in Run-Run, July 1994. Translated by Alex Glover. Version 1.0, 8.96. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Usagi! Chibi-Usa! It's June 30! Happy birthday!" "Thank you!" they say. "So you should be 901 now," says Usagi. "Wrong," says Chibi-Usa. "I'm 902." "Eat lots of cake, everyone," says Makoto. "It's really good today." "Chibi-Usa, that dress we gave you looks good on you." "Ehehe. Really?" "Thanks, everyone!" Usagi says, wearing a bracelet. "I wanted something like this." "Chibi-Usa-chan," says Momoko. "This is from me. An illustrated book. You like books, right, Chibi-Usa-chan? It's a book of legends of the constellations." "Momo-chan, thanks!" "Chibi-Usa, happy birthday," says Mamoru. "This present is from me." "A Sailor Moon wristwatch!" Momoko says. "That's nice!" "Mamo-chan," says Minako. "Did you go to a toy store to buy that? That's great." "Actually, before I got to the toy store..." Mamoru looks in the window of the toy store. "Hey, you," says a figure hidden in a cloak. "You're probably looking for a present for a girl." "Yeah, well..." "I have a good one." "That's suspicious! I don't believe it. That's how you bought it." "But it was a good watch," Mamoru says, "and I thought Chibi-Usa would like it." "Mamo-chan!" says Usagi. "What about my present!?" "I didn't have the time to go get it." "Wow!" says Momoko. "Chibi-Usa-chan, there's a locket inside this watch!" "A locket?" "Don't you know? You put a picture of the person you like in here." "Wow!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Morning!" says Chibi-Usa. "Oh, Chibi-Usa-chan!" says Momoko. "Look! Look! I bought one too!" "Oh! A Sailor Moon locket watch!" "They look like they're really popular now! Everyone's bought one." "Everyone has one?" says Chibi-Usa. "That's too bad." She opens her locket. "You're putting Kyusuke's picture into that watch?" asks a girl. "Well, I like him," says another. "What do you like about some guy who's so mean to girls!?" "How about you, Momo?" says Chibi-Usa. "Who's picture are you putting in?" "Mitsui Fudou-kun. Ehehe." "He's cool," says Chibi-Usa. "Isn't he the son of the president of Mitsui Real Estate? That's a promising future." "What about you, Chibi-Usa-chan?" "It's a secret!" They run down the street carrying a leafy branch with strips of paper tied to it. Haruka stands on the sidewalk with Michiru. "Oh!" she says. "Chibi-Usa!" "Miss Haruka! Miss Michiru!" "Are those the bamboo cuttings for Tanabata?" Haruka asks. [Tanabata is a Japanese festival on the seventh day of the seventh month.] "Yep. It's almost July 7th, right? At school we're all writing wishes on paper strips." Haruka and Michiru look at the paper strips. "What's this? They're all about boys!" "Yeah, you know...!" says Momoko. "We want them soon!" says another girl. "Hey, you there," says a cloaked figure. "Do you know the legend of the Weaver?" The girls stop. [This is the legend of the Tanabata festival.] "By only enjoying newly-married life with Altair," the figure says. "she angered God. She was separated from her husband, and can only see him once a year. Beautiful yet sad, that is the legend of the weaving girl, Vega." "I don't believe it!" says one of the girls. "She could stand only seeing him once a year?" "If it was me," says another, "I'd look for someone else I could be with." "I'm hesitant to confess to Satou-kun of class 1 and Gomi-kun of class 5." "Not Gomi-kun! His place is a big building, with a rich landlord." "Well if I'm going to be with a guy, he should have financial strength!" says Momoko. "Huh?" says Haruka. "What the-? That strange lady..." The figure is gone. "Hey, everyone," says Michiru. "Those are pretty watches." "Aren't they nice!" Chibi-Usa says. "They're Sailor Moon wrist watches." "They have lockets!" says Momoko. "They're in fashion now." - "Hmph," says Kyusuke. "Guys with financial strength... Guys have physical strength!" "But Kyusuke-san," says Sorano. "When you're thinking about marriage, someday you'll lose your physical strength, and so money-" Kyusuke punches him. "Shut up, Guri!" he says. "Let's go." They see a cloaked figure with two girls. "Sailor Moon watches!?" says one. "You can put in pictures!?" says the other. "I want one! I'll buy it!" "Hey, Chibi-Usa-chan and the others had those too," Sorano says. "They're popular." "That old woman is selling stuff on the roadside?" says Kyusuke. "Weird." Two women stand behind the figure as the girls leave. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diana reads from the book Momoko gave to Chibi-Usa. "'The Weaver star. The legend of Altair and Vega. The child of Providence, Vega, loved weaving, and everyday, that's all she did. God was unable to simply stand by, so he married her with the Cowherd from the other side of the Milky Way, Altair. As soon as the two married, they only played, and they neglected their work. God became angry, and pulled them apart. He only allowed them to meet once a year, on the night of July 7th.'" "July 7th," says Chibi-Usa. "That's still the rainy season, and there's lots of rainy days. I wonder if they can't meet again this year in the rain." [They can only meet that night if it doesn't rain.] "Vega is a star in the constellation Lyra," says Ami. "It has a luminosity of 1. It's the fouth brightest star in the sky. In China, Vega and the two stars northeast of it, Theta and Epsilon, are called the three weaver stars. Altair is in the constellation Aquila, with a luminosity of 9. You can see them together high in the sky on summer nights. They're 16 light years apart." "Sixteen light years apart!?" says Chibi-Usa. "That's far!" "So far," says Diana. "I wonder how they can stand seeing each other once a year." "Maybe they phone or something," says Chibi-Usa. "What do they do everyday? That worries me." "I can't believe those two. Such a long distance." "I don't think you should fall in love so far apart," says Chibi-Usa. "Chi- Chibi-Usa-chan! Diana-chan!" Ami says. "But this is a legend!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The clock strikes midnight on the morning of July 7th. The watch next to Chibi-Usa flips open. A picture of Mamoru is in the locket. She opens her eyes. "Huh...?" Light shines out of it. She reads a message it displays. "'July 7th. Twelve o'clock. Gather at Ichinohashi Park.'" She gets out of bed and heads for the door. "Gather... Gather..." "Small Lady!?" calls Diana. She jumps on her shoulder, biting it. "What's wrong!? Wake up!" "When I looked at the wristwatch," Chibi-Usa says, "I lost myself. Diana! This watch is weird!" "Let's go see what's at Ichinohashi Park, Small Lady!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A group of girls stand around a bonfire. "Diana!" Chibi-Usa says. "Those people!" The cloaked figure is in the center, with the two women behind her. "From now on it is the era of women living alone," she says. "Women with jobs will set up better work! We can't trust men! We don't need men!" The girls cheer. "Wh- What the-!?" says Chibi-Usa. "That lady! Everyone's being brainwashed!! Is that an enemy!?" "Small Lady!" says Diana. "Transform!" "Right! Moon Prism Power! Make Up!!" "We can live without men!" the woman says. "Hold it right there! I am the friend of girls. For love and justice, I am the sailor-suited pretty soldier Sailor Chibi-Moon! Lady! You're wrong! Without men, we can't make offspring! Women alone can't survive!" "Be quiet!" says the woman. She throws off the cloak, revealing a sailor suit and two ponytails. "Since I, the friend of girls, the popular Sailor Moon, have said it, it's not wrong!" "What!? Sailor Moon!? It can't be!" "It is, it is." "What Sailor Moon said isn't wrong!" say the girls around her. "You're lying!" says Chibi-Usa. "Sailor Moon doesn't have such fat legs!" The woman stops and drops to the ground, crying. "Don't talk so bluntly!" Her sailor suit transforms into a kimono. "You're right. I'm an incarnation of the Weaver, Vega." "Vega!?" "Everyday I sit alone to weave. I can't see my husband. My only pleasures are TV and eating. Before I knew it, I'd put on all this weight." She wipes her face. "Vega-sama!" says one of the women behind her. "Without makeup, I look like this," she says. "I longed for a bright face like Sailor Moon's. Since one year, my husband saw me without makeup, he's been such a cold person, and it's rained on July 7th every year. Tonight too, it's so cloudy, it'll surely rain. With rain in the galaxy, I can't see him. He doesn't want to see me, so he made it rain. Why am I so unhappy..." "Yes, yes," says one of the women behind her. "Men just like young, pretty girls." "Altair-sama is probably out looking for one too," says the other woman. "You can't trust men. In long-distance love, women are the losers." "So you should work hard in your pleasures of weaving and eating, Vega-sama." "Meanwhile, we'll take the young kids of Earth." "We'll receive their lively energy. Then someday you'll have energy too, Vega-sama." "I remember!" says Diana. "Are you two Mercury's three weaver stars, Theta and Epsilon!? Did you do this!?" "I won't allow this!" says Chibi-Usa. "Pink Sugar Heart Attack!" The two women are destroyed, and all the Sailor Moon wrist watches shatter. All the girls gathered come to their senses. "Huh!? What the-!?" "We're?" The crescent moon shines down as the clouds part. A man appears. "Altair!" "Vega!" he says. "This is the three thousandth year of our marriage, right? Believe me, I didn't want you to hate me." "You could have called. I have an answering machine for when I'm busy. Were you working to save up money!? You weren't just playing around, were you!?" "No... You see... I love you. Young, pretty girls with slender legs are good, but... My wife is the best woman!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chibi-Usa has written in her diary. July 7th. Cloudy, later sunny. Today was the day of the Tanabata Festival. It's the only meeting day for Vega and Altair. They're 16 light years apart. They had a fight, but it didn't last long. I'm near the person I love everyday. The end. She sleeps next to her picture of Mamoru. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "What?" Usagi says. "The Sailor Moon wrist watch Mamo-chan gave you was the doing of evil spirits? You defeated them by yourself, that's great!" "I'm sorry, Chibi-Usa!" says Mamoru. "Really! That was bad! I wouldn't have dreamed it was the doing of evil spirits!" "Well then," says Chibi-Usa. "Will you buy me another birthday present?" "Of course!" says Mamoru. "I'll buy whatever you want!" "Really!? Then I want a pearl and gold pendant! I love you having money, Mamo-chan!" Mamoru groans. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original manga copyright © 1994 Takeuchi Naoko. English translation copyright © 1996 Alex Glover. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sailor Moon Translations | Sailor Moon Volume 10