A Sailor Moon Fanfiction: The Pledge of the Sun.

Chapter 12

Harusuke rolled his eyes and said nothing more. Just then, Umino walked up to them.

"Hey, you guys," he said as he picked up the picture looking at it. "Checking out that romantic cruise, eh? That does seem pretty nice! A luxury liner with room for six hundred and sixty-six passengers and supposedly as the ship travels from Tokyo to Yokohama, the view of the stars is enough to make any man or woman fall in love!"

Usagi and Naru stared at Umino, feeling their romantic dreams die on the spot.

"Well, now you've gone and made me seasick," grumped Usagi. "Thanks a lot, Umino."

Umino was surprised. "Wait, you wanted to go on that cruise for real, Usagi? Well, that's a darn shame," he spoke with disappointment.

Usagi and Naru were puzzled about what Umino meant, but their jaws dropped in realization after a second.

"Hold on, Umino! Do you mean to say..." began Usagi

"That you have tickets?!" finished Naru.

"I did," replied Umino. "But I don't have them anymore because I gave them to my neighbor."

"How on earth could you pass up on something so incredible?!" said Usagi.

"Well, we're still in middle school and minors. So we can't exactly go without a parent or guardian," said Umino. "Plus, it sets sail at a time way past my curfew."

Naru and Usagi stared at Umino blankly while Harusuke was surprised but amused.

"That's probably the most responsible thing I've ever heard you say," said Naru.

"Exactly," said Harusuke. "So maybe you two should take a page from Umino's book and forget about that cruise."

"Now that I think about it," said Umino. "I believe that there's a lottery going on in the shopping district with two tickets to that cruise as the grand prize."

Upon hearing Umino say that, before anyone else could react, Usagi had grabbed her bag along with Harusuke by the wrist araced out of the room with incredible speed and strength, leaving Naru, Umino, and the other students in the dust.

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Usagi was at the lottery stand at the shopping district, desperately trying to win the tickets. The object of the lottery was to spin the machine until a ball came out. If it was a golden ball, you win the tickets. Usagi repeatedly tried to win, but she lost every time, eventually reaching her tenth try.

"I'm going to get it this time!" she said, determined as she furiously spun the machine to get the golden ball to come out. But, sadly, what came out was a red ball, not a golden one. "Aw, man. I lost again..." she grumped.

"Sorry, little lady," said the shopkeeper brightly as he handed her a packet of tissues. "But hey, here's a packer of tissues as a consolation prize!"

Harusuke was waiting for Usagi on the other side of the crowd as Usagi pushed her way through.

"So I take it that you lost?" he asked.

Usagi sadly nodded her head. "Geez! Harusuke, this is so frustrating!" complained Usagi. "It's practically next to impossible to win those tickets!"

"Not unless you either get lucky or if you can see which ball is going to come out," said Harusuke. "But other than that,

you're pretty much right on the impossible part."