Himeko Nayotake is an astronaut who was in love with Kakeru Ohzora but was frustrated at his insistence on believing in what she thought were silly fairy tales. She had the opportunity to go into space with an expedition from the United States, and while out there saw Kakeru on his trip with Luna, which made her wonder if his stories might be true after all.
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Himeko appears only in Volume 11, in the "Lover of Princess Kaguya" special. She is a childhood friend of Kakeru Ohzora who wants to become an astronaut. When we first see her, she has just applied to become a crew member of Luna Frontier Project, a space shuttle going to the moon on Christmas Eve. She is very confident, and some of her colleagues call her a samurai. When the results come back, she finds out that she has been rejected, but she refuses to give up on her dreams. He follows her to America to the Kennedy Space Center, where he collapses and she finds out that he has a heart condition that prevents him from becoming an astronaut. She takes him back to Japan and puts him in a hospital.
At the hospital, Princess Kaguya comes to attack him, but Sailor Moon rushes onto the scene to save him. Sailor Moon and Luna tell Himeko that the Earth is in danger due to Princess Snow Kaguya, who materialized from a piece of the comet that Kakeru found. Later, she learns that the crew for the Luna Frontier Project has changed and that she has been chosen to go into space, becoming the youngest Japanese woman to enter space at age 22. The comet has reappeared, and the space shuttle she will be boarding is to be loaded with ballistic missiles to blow up the comet before its impact with Earth. Himeko promises Kakeru that she will come back for him so that they can go to the moon together in the future.
As time goes by, Kakeru becomes more and more interested in keeping the comet shard near him. Himeko sees his obsession and breaks the crystal on the floor. Princess Snow Kaguya is angry that her body (within the crystal) has been broken, and she sends Snow Dancers all over the Earth, freezing it over. Her attack prevents the space shuttle from lifting off, but eventually, Sailor Moon defeats Princess Snow Kaguya and Himeko can safely reach the moon. In space, Himeko thinks that she, Kakeru, and their unborn child will one day go to the moon together.
Trivia[]
- The "take" (meaning "bamboo") and "Hime" (meaning "princess") parts of her name are a reference to the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, from which the Kaguya-hime no Koibito manga and the Sailor Moon S: The Movie drew inspiration.
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