As I stepped out of the school gates, the weight of the day's lessons and the usual stares from my classmates. I wasn’t ready to go home just yet. Home was a place of shadows and experiments where my father's well-meaning but twisted love kept me on edge. Now I needed some peace.

I turned towards the nearby park, drawn by the promise of tranquility it offered. I thought about Chibiusa, how she always managed to brighten my day. She saw me as just Hotaru, her friend and that made me smile.