Prologue

Euri Hakinochi, a young woman of 20 years, sat upon the Tuxedo Sofa in the Ten’Aino living room, sighing as she relaxed, lonely.  She was surrounded by various empty couches, chairs, and a host of other unoccupied furniture.  Euri put her feet on top of the Zen table and stretched.  Her black shirt ruffled slightly as her blue jeans slid up on her.  Her denim jacket had been tailored nicely to suit her well, and so she was glad of its warmth in the cold room.  She tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling as her brown curls fell down around the sides of her face.

“I hate being alone,” she said out loud to herself, her voice echoing off the walls.  Her bottle of Mike’s Hard Lemonade was lightly held in her hand in such a way that if someone were to come in, she could quickly hide it beneath the sofa cushions.  With her free hand, she rubbed her eyes, wiping tears away.

“What’s wrong with me?”

It was unusually quiet in the living room, but that was to be expected at four o’clock in the morning.  Euri could have been sleeping at her new home, lying beside her husband Haak, and dreaming of peaceful and happy times, but she wasn’t able to.  Her thoughts troubled her.  It was too… stuffy, she had said to herself.  As a matter of fact, she felt that the entire house was too crowded, too warm, so she left to go to Ten’Aino - her home away from home.

She sighed, closing her eyes, and dove into her mind to see what everyone else was up to, leaving the Pumpkin in her place.

~

Euri walked into the center of the large, almost semi-circular room.  The rounded walls constantly swirled around in a plethora of blues and silvers.  One hallway led to the exit.  In the middle of the room was a rather comfortable sofa, facing the only straight wall.  This wall was the CurrentEuri’s eyes, so this is where the VariantEuri’s were able to view everything that the MainEuri did.  Euri faced the couch, her back to the Window of the World, seeing ten doors and a hallway before her.  There were five doors on the left of the hallway, and five more doors on the right. 

Euri sat on the couch and stared up at the swirling ceiling.  Memories played across the ceiling as she remembered them, both recent and older ones.  Arguments with loved ones, crying in the Hakinochi living room when everyone else was asleep, the way she brought attention to herself to make her and others happy.  Euri’s eyes filled with tears as she watched scenes of her getting abused by her drunken father, her mother overdosing on sleeping pills, and her slut of a sister running out of the house into the safety of some guy.  Euri grimaced as she watched how she was almost raped by her ex-best friend Amade.  She shut her eyes and switched to a different, less painful memory: The Serene Dream House in all its glory.

She remembered how she first walked past it, staring at the bright lights and warm looking house.  Meeting Miss Julianne for the first time, and then, eventually, receiving the nickname of Bonnie Inochi for her quiet and cute demeanor as she helped clean house.  She watched how she was lured into the safety and comfort of Miss Julianne’s bedroom on the cold winter nights.  She watched how she was deceived and tricked into the pornography industry for a very short time.  Thankfully, it was for only one movie before she escaped, shaken and scared. 

She closed her eyes and shut off the memories which played above her.  She knew quite clearly what would happen next: her mad dash to end her life in an icy, raging river that traveled beneath the nearest bridge.  How, instead of dying from either drowning or hypothermia, she awoke as the sailor senshi of ice and snow, the satellite senshi of Europa.  Euri breathed out angrily and stopped the memories that played before her by thinking of something else.  Since her own way of distracting and cheering herself up wasn’t of much use, she decided to see what the others could do for her.  Euri got off the couch, wiping her tears away and approached the first door on the left.