Below are summaries/translations of 'Casablancas' - a story found in the 12th Volume of the Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Original Manga story. The animators never made this story and this left out very important details about her past and, most importantly, about the one man she wished to marry.

Manga Volume 12: Casablancas
Translated by Alex Glover

This translation/summary is property of Usagi and Mamoru.com and has been used with Alex Glover's permission, and he has no problem with it because it is not a word for word translation and because I have added my own summaries to it. DO NOT USE THIS ON ANY PAGE. If you wish to read more of the manga translations, visit Usagi and Mamoru.com and go to its Manga Translations.

Casablancas opens on Rei's birthday, April 17.

"Hino Rei-san! Happy birthday!" The boy holds out a bouquet of flowers. "I always see you on the bus. My cousin goes to T-A Girls' School, so I know that today's your birthday..." He gives her a letter. "Read this. I decided to give you a bunch of red roses. They're perfect for you. Bye!"

Usagi peeks out from behind the corner. "I saw that! I saw that!" She grabs the letter from Rei and opens it. "Wow! It says for you to meet him! Rei-chan, you're popular!"

"I didn't know it was your birthday, Rei-chan," says Ami. "You never told us."

"Wow..." says Usagi. "I wish that would happen to me. I want to get a bouquet from a guy..."

"If it was important, I would have told you," says Rei. "But I don't want presents, and I have no interest in boys."

"What!? You don't like boys!?"

Rei walks away.

"Since we've met her, she hasn't acted like that..." says Usagi.

"She goes to a different school, too," says Ami. "She really hasn't talked much about herself."

"I'm home, grandpa."

"Oh, Rei," he says. "A present came from your father." He hands her a bouquet of flowers and a box.

She opens it. "This year too," she thinks. "These flowers, and a white dress..."

"Rei-chan!" Usagi calls. She comes inside with Ami. "Happy birthday. This is a present from us."

"Hey, this is the first time Rei's gotten a gift from friends," her grandpa says. "A music box? Has a pretty sound."

Rei looks down. "Thanks," she says. "I'll treasure it."

"Ooh! These white lilies are really pretty," Usagi says.

"They're called casablancas," says Rei. "They're my favorite flowers."

"Rei, the car's here," says her grandpa. "You see, every year on her birthday, Rei-chan eats dinner out with her dad. It's about her birthday... Rei's father works as a politician, and he rarely comes home. She dislikes him. Since her mother died, she hasn't gotten along with him, and she came to my shrine."

Rei enters the Rain Tree restaurant. She is greeted by a waiter who tells her that her father is waiting. As Rei walks to the table she sees someone, a man, and in her thoughts she utters his name: "Kaidou-san" (san is added to indicate respect)

"That white dress," her dad says. "You look like your mother."

"It's been a while," says the man - Kaidou-san. "That suits you well. Very."

"Kaidou-san..." Rei says softly.

There is music playing in the restaurant identical to the music from the music box that Usagi gave Rei as a birthday present. The owner of the establishment tells Rei that the title of the song is 'Rain Tree' and since that is also the name of the Restaurant, they are playing it.

"Today my friends gave me a gift the same as that. 'Rain Tree'..." she tells the two men.

"Did you come here together with Kaidou-kun on your birthday last year, too?" her dad asks.

"Yeah, I did," says Rei. "Since you couldn't come..."

"Kaidou-san," she thinks. "Dad's top assistant, Kaidou-san... Since I was little, he often visited our house. And then after I moved in with grandpa after mom died, too. He took care of me, just like a brother. Then when I was in 6th grade..."

*Flashback to the past - Italicized words indicate thoughts and actions, events in the PAST*

"It's almost your birthday," Kaidou says. "Is there anything you want?"

Rei looks in the window of the flower shop. "Look. Those are pretty... Big, white lilies..."

"They're casablancas. White suits you well, Rei-san."

"I got them for my birthday. A bouquet of casablancas and a one-piece dress."

*Flashback*

"It looks good on her," Kaidou says to Rei's dad. "The dress your gave her."

"It does," says her dad.

"I knew it then... The gifts weren't from dad... Kaidou-san picked them out. Then last year, too. I got a bouquet of casablancas and a white dress in dad's name. Last year I just celebrated my birthday with Kaidou-san..."

"That looks good on you," Kaidou says. "The white one-piece. It's too bad your father couldn't be here as well."

"I won't be deceived by this dress," says Rei. "Dad hasn't thought importantly of his family since a long time ago."

"I thought I could somehow replace him, and I threw a birthday party for your friends. It wasn't very thoughtful..."

"I have no friends," she says. "And I don't want to make any. You can't have faith in people. I believed in dad. Mom always looked lonely... Mom was a slender person... But in dad's mind, there was nothing besides politics. Mom's weak body was dying alone. In the end, you can only depend on yourself, I think. So I don't want to marry, either. Kaidou-san... You're probably entering the same political world as my dad, right? Everyone's saying it, that you're his successor."

"I don't want my daughter to be unhappy," says Kaidou. "I can't convince myself that I'm an adult, so I'm not fit for politics. I don't feel like marrying at all, either. I think it's fine like this."

"We're the same," says Rei. "You and me. Kindred spirits."

Rei sits up in bed, holding her head. "It's because I saw Kaidou-san at that store after such a long time," she thinks. "That's why I'm remembering the past. I wanted to forget, but..."

Music plays from the lamp on the desk. "The Rain Tree..."

She sits before a fire. "The fire is in disarray," she thinks. "Somehow, I can't concentrate..."

Two months past and it is now June. The Rainy season is still in full force with no end to the rain in sight. It is gloomy and dark. Everywhere, people have Rain Tree music boxes playing.

"Ohh..." says Usagi. "The start of the rainy season... How depressing."

"Lots of homework, too, at this time," says Ami. "Everyone's bought one of those Rain Trees like Rei-chan's. The sound of that music box... 'Rain Tree.' That's perfect for this season."

"The melody is just right..." says Usagi's mom. "Makes you remember the past..."

"The rainy season," says Luna. "I wonder if that's the reason everyone is so gloomy."

Rei walks down the street, carrying an umbrella. "Mako-chan?"

"Oh! Rei-chan," says Makoto. "It's this long rain spell. My plants at home aren't well, and I came to buy some nutritional supplements. These people just walk everyday in the rain. They all look gloomy. That sound... A Rain Tree. I've been hearing it a lot lately. This kind of sad tune..."

"Me too," says Rei. "We've never really talked before. Want to go inside some store?"

They enter the Rain Tree restaurant. "Welcome, Hino-sama," says the waiter. He takes them to a table.

"Mako-chan," Rei says.

"Yeah?"

"You said your heart was broken before you came here?"

"A friend and I," says Makoto. "We both liked the same guy. But he didn't choose me. I was the closest girl to him, so I thought he would, but... You know."

"We're kindred spirits," says Rei.

"What?" Makoto asks.

"Kindred spirits," she said to Kaidou.

"Soon after that," Rei thinks, "I happened to see him on my way home from school..."

Rei sees Kaidou smiling, his arm around a woman.

"It was the first time I saw him look that way. I didn't know him. I couldn't believe it. The face he showed me..."

Kaidou turns and sees Rei running away.

"Kaidou-san?" says the woman.

"I thought it was everything."

Rei holds the phone.

"It's about Kaidou?" says her dad, on the other end. "I thought he was building ground with you. I trusted him in Nagatachou too. Since I'm doing business, I thought he could be in my place. He's engaged, to the daughter of the head of the DLP. They're a perfect couple."

"That music..." Rei thinks. "The theme of the movie Casablanca." She sits at a grand piano. "May I play?"

"Casablanca," she thinks as she plays. "Spanish for... White house."

A group of people listen. "I understand that's the daughter of Hino, of the Democratic Liberal Party."

[Name change: This represents the real-life Japanese policital party, called the 'Liberal Democratic Party.']

Rei gets up and a blond woman sits down to play. "Rain Tree..." Rei thinks. "Such sentimental music... It's making me so sad. There's really something wrong with me... It's strange, this store. It's pretty badly lighted. It's oppressive..."

She nudges Makoto. "Mako-chan, you all right? Wake up." They leave the store and Rei remarks how relieving it is to be outside and wonders why it was so stuffy inside.

At Usagi's home, Luna is reading the newspaper and learns that the rain is abnomral and flooding the country. Schools have closed because of the weather and children not coming to classes. We now return to Rei.

"On rainy days like this, I stay inside. It'll flood. That music... A Rain Tree again. Now wherever I go, this music is flowing. It's somehow irritating." She holds up a vase filled with flowers. "Mako-chan will be delighted. We've been talking of broken hearts..."

She goes up to Makoto's apartment and rings the bell - strangely, the door is open - Rei goes inside to find Makoto sitting in the corner, listening to a Rain Tree. Rei sees how strange Makochan looks, picks up the Rain Tree and throws it to the ground, shattering the glass. A Spirit rises from the shattered glass.

"A ghost!!" Rei thinks. "They're flooding the city! The Rain Tree music boxes! It can't be... An enemy!? Even I got sentimental in spite of myself. I wasn't aware of it! Hold on, Rei! Mars Power! Make Up!!"

Two crows fly down to Rei.

"Phobos, Deimos," she says. "You're soaked."

Kaidou approaches her. "Since I was in the neighborhood..." he says. He holds out a book. "Your father entrusted this to you. Since I found this great book... He said."

Rei takes it. "Why do you always mention dad?" she asks. "Because I'm still a child? Are you getting married?"

"Your father said to... I couldn't refuse."

"You'll become a politician, just like dad," says Rei. "Your children will be unhappy."

"I won't have any kids..."

"You and me. Kindred spirits."

"Liar. If you enter the political world... If you succeed dad, then... I wanted you to marry me..."

He leans over and kisses her.

"Katsu!" Rei yells, and the glass of all the Rain Trees shatter. Rei hears music, the soun of a piano and sees a blond woman playing and then sees a HUGE Rain Tree. The woman is the pianist at the store, she looks up at Rei and asks her if the music and the tree - isn't it beautiful?

"I made it with the sentimental energy of humans. This Rain Tree. It's flooded people with memories. The rain it's causing will not stop. In a while, I'll have soaked up all the energy of this city. Everyone will become empty shells. Heh heh. Can't even you forget the past!?"

"Rei?" a female voice calls from the past

"Mom!?"

She sees the face of Kaidou. It blurs with the face of Jadeite.

"Rei!" he says as he grins evilly. "Even I will really do it!" It blurs into a large apparition approaching her. "Stop confusing me!" Rei says. "It's my principle not to look back on the past! Phobos! Deimos!" The two crows fly down in the moonlight. "Many treasures unite! Purify the six roots of perception! Flame, come to me! Evil spirit, begone!!"

Flames surround the woman. Rei drops to her knees.

"Hmph," the woman says. "I thought I would take revenge for Jadeite, but... You're strong."

"Mars!" Makoto calls. She runs up with Usagi and Ami.

"If I was in love," says Rei, "I would surely want to do everything like that person. Make everything only mine. That's wrong. So I won't fall in love. I don't need love now. But I have kindred spirits with the same goal. I have you all."

And so we have it. Rei has chosen not to fall in love, not to love because she has others by her, friends whom she loves dearly and they are her kindred spirits.

It is now August, the rain has stopped and the girls are all at the beach. Rei sits back in her beach chair.

"That long rain seems like it was a dream," says Makoto. "I feel great."

"Rei-chaan!" calls Usagi. "Wanna come swim?"

"I'll stay here," says Rei.

"Miss," says the waiter. He hands her a drink. "From them." He points to two boys.

"This will be my fifth," Rei says. "For my part, I can just stay here and drink all day long. How nice."

--End of Casablancas--