He was watching her through the mask that he wore on his pale face. Through blue eyes, he scanned her as she leapt to the rescue, saving some unsuspecting citizen from a Youma attack. She did that all the time now. There were always battles that needed to be fought, and she'd have new people joining her every day.

Today, she was fighting as a team with fellow warriors — those that he knew would come to be a friend. She was a lively person, he knew. She was always so nice to everyone. Even if they tried to hurt her.

This is what he admired in the blonde. Her endless love, drive, hope and compassion. She had such perseverance too, so much that it made him jealous. All he could do was throw a rose or give her a pep talk. He couldn't fight anyone like she could.

He was weak and he knew it.

"Sailor Moon..." he mused to himself, admiring her from a distance. "Today, you are a warrior. You are the warrior that is fighting a hard battle and is doing it with a strong heart. Each day, you show me a different face, whether it be one needing a pep talk or the strong face you're showing me now. Are any of those faces your true face? Or is there a face you haven't showed me yet?"

He continued to watch along as the young lady in front of him leapt up and aimed a rod at the enemy's face. He continued musing about how strong he felt she was until he felt eyes on him. They sent shivers up his spine, the way eyes set on him.

"All I need to regain my memories is that legendary Silver Crystal. It has to be the key to all the strange dreams that I have been having," he muttered, "it has to be the key to my memories."

He watched on as the girl he thought he knew attacked the enemy. Though her attack originally missed its target, she didn't seem to be giving up. It instilled pride in him to watch what she was doing, because she was so full of life. He noticed that there were footsteps making their way towards him but didn't duck, since he already knew that whoever it was would think he was a coward for fleeing. He watched on as Sailor Moon's teammates aimed attacks at the enemy.

A girl dressed in a sailor fuku with orange and blue colours on it gave him a glare, clearly trying to discern his motives. "Who's there?!" She shouted out. "Who's watching us?!"

She turned around and, in a flash of blonde hair and pale arms, was brandishing a chain like a shield. She grunted in frustration before taking off the mask that was covering her face. Blue eyes and the symbol of the Silver Millennium on her forehead. There was something off about the girl to him.

He decided that the girl he had been seeing in his dreams was not the girl he was seeing in front of him. No, the woman in his dreams looked like Sailor Moon, who in turn reminded him of that girl the frequently bumped into on the street. All this thinking was making his head hurt, so he flicked his cape and ran from the scene, trying to deduce what was happening.

As he ran, he noticed that one of his hands had less wait on it. His pocket watch that he had had since he was in that car accident years ago had been what was held in his hand. He'd dropped it. That was quite careless. He shut his eyes and tried to hide near Osa-P, that ever-popular jewellery store which he knew all girls in the surrounding area loved.

"Tuxedo Mask!" he heard a voice call out in the distance. He knew who the owner of that voice was. "Tuxedo Mask, come back! You left something—"

He flinched and froze for a moment. Sailor Moon's voice was coming from nearby. It didn't sound like she was wanting to warn him of something, but he also knew that her voice harboured a tinge of sadness and mystery to it. It sounded familiar. He couldn't shake how familiar it sounded.

He decided to move on and run further away, to a point where she could not be heard.

"TUXEDO MASK, COME BACK! YOUR POCKET WATCH!!" Her voice rang out like a church bell. "COME BACK— EEYAH!"

He couldn't bear to go over and save her. Not when he was so weak. Not when he felt that he couldn't protect her.

...

His mask and his cape were lain on his chair as he sat down on the end of his bed. He was trying to puzzle out why Sailor Moon was so similar to the odango-atama  that he picked fights with on the street. Their hair was in the same style, they both had the same eye colour and hair colour and the two of them had almost identical faces.

He put on his black suspenders and sat back on his bed, contemplating the true identity of Sailor Moon. He gazed somewhat dazed, out of his windowpane, watching the late night traffic whir past the apartment. Everything was happening around him, and he had no part in some of it.

He heard a knock on his door and got up to answer it, assuming that it was someone that was wanting to sell him something. He opened the door and gazed at the figure in the doorway.

"What are you doing around here so late at night, bunhead?!" Mamoru shouted out without thinking.

"Look, your pocket watch fell from your hand and I thought I would—" Sailor Moon began but stopped mid sentence.

She gazed over at his chair.

"Go on," the knowledgeable adolescent encouraged. "Pick up the mask."

She seemed slightly irritated by him but did as he asked, picking up the mask.

He felt her gloves touch against his face as she put the mask up against his face. "Tuxedo Mask...? No, you can't possibly...!" she murmured. She handed him the pocket watch and left.

He gazed down at it and noticed something. It was ticking backwards.