“There! Finished,” Ryoku said, stepping away from the wall and setting his hammer down on his bed. Reaching next to where he placed the hammer, he picked up his newest sword and placed it on the wall a foot below the first. He nodded in satisfaction as he retrieved the hammer and went to go put it away. It was getting late and he was growing weary.
Earlier, he had finished writing a letter to his sister back at his old boarding school. He wrote about his new friends at his new school; also mentioning that Ami looked like a certain someone he once knew, and about his new sword. He told her that he bought his sword, instead of finding it. He was also careful not to mention anything about the Sailor Scouts, let alone that he was one of them.
After putting away the hammer and taking a quick shower, he wearily climbed into bed, turning off the lamp next to him. He fell asleep quickly.
“I’m extremely unhappy, Jadeite,” Beryl said, a stern look apparent on her face. “Our energy reserves aren’t growing nearly fast enough. If I’m to awaken our great Master, Metallia, I must have more energy! Not to mention that Silver Crystal. Now, tell me, do you have a new plan ready yet?”
“Yes, my Queen,” Jadeite reported. “The plan is set.”
“Excellent,” she said, grinning sinisterly. “There is just one more thing I want you to take care of: Sailor Moon. I want you to get rid of her and her friends, understand?”
“Yes, my Queen.”
“Good. That is all. Don’t fail me, Jadeite.”
The day seemed quiet enough. The sky was clear and a slightly warm breeze blew softly through the trees. If it weren’t for the blaring sirens of the rushing police cars, it would’ve been a perfectly quiet day.
“What’s with all the police?” Usagi asked no one in particular as she and Luna watched a group of police cars speed by. Her expression brightened as she spotted two of her friends standing nearby.
“Hey, Ami-chan! Ryo-kun!” she yelled to get their attention. Ami was, as usual, reading a book, while Ryoku was staring at the departing police cars.
“Hi, Usagi-chan,” Ami said, looking up from her book. “Oh, Luna, how are you?” She knelt to pick Luna up.
“Hello, Usagi-chan. Luna,” Ryoku greeted, turning from watching the now distant police cars.
“Wanna go to the arcade?” Usagi asked suddenly.
“No, thanks,” he declined politely.
“I’m afraid I have to pass, too,” Ami added. “I’ve got too much homework.”
“Don’t you have some of that, too?” Luna asked suggestively.
Usagi laughed sheepishly. “Nothing that can’t wait,” she told her.
Ryoku gave her a flat look. “Until when?”
She was just about to answer, when they heard more sirens. Another police car had just passed by.
“Must’ve stopped for a doughnut or two,” he remarked dryly.
“Where’re they all going?” Usagi mused.
Just as Usagi finished asking the question to no one in particular, Naru walked up to the group. “Hey, you guys! You won’t believe what just happened!”
“What?” the three asked in unison.
“All those cops are headed for the Hikawa Shrine,” she informed them. “Supposedly, a bus disappeared near there. It picked up a bunch of passengers, then vanished into thin air.”
“You’re right,” he said flatly, his arms folded, “I don’t believe it.” He glanced at Usagi, who was growing a little apprehensive about the story. “Is there more to the story?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she continued. “I heard on the news that this wasn’t the first time this has happened. The police are trying to keep it quiet. They’re afraid people will freak out.”
“The sacred shrine is really nice,” Ami said.
“Yeah, it’s very peaceful and quiet,” he added, nodding. He looked in the direction the police cars left. “Or, at least it was.”
“Well, I’m not about to start going there now,” Usagi said. “Not with people disappearing. I’ll stick to the video arcade.”
“At any rate, I heard you can buy these good luck charms really cheap there,” Naru said. “They can bring you good luck and everything. Even on getting boyfriends. You name it.”
“Really?” Usagi asked, her interest piqued. “Let’s go!”
“Hmph. She forgot about the disappearing bus story rather quickly,” he muttered under his breath to Ami.
“It’s probably nothing anyway,” she said replied. “Usagi-chan, do you think you can pick up one for me, too?” she asked, turning to her.
“Hoping for luck in getting a boyfriend, Ami-chan?” Usagi asked, gazing slyly at Ryoku. He gave her a what-are-you-looking-at-me-for look in return.
Ami didn’t notice the exchange. “No,” she replied. “I’m too busy for that. I just want it to bring me some good luck on the mock exams I’m taking at cram school.”
“Cram… school?” Usagi repeated incredulously.
“Go figure,” Ryoku said with a small half-smile. “Well, since I’ve got nothing better to do, I’ll go with you two.”
Hikawa Shrine was busy due to the popularity of the good luck charms that were being sold. A pair of girls in school uniforms were leaving the shrine after buying some charms.
“I’m gonna wear mine all the time,” one girl said, admiring the good luck charm she just bought.
“Yeah, me, too,” the other said giggling.
Nearby, Jadeite, disguised as a hired hand for the shrine, was watching the two girls from out of the corner of his eye, as he swept the ground. He smirked maliciously to himself as he continued to sweep the ground, pretending to ignore the girls as they left.
Inside the shrine, a young priestess was kneeling in front of a small bonfire, hands together as if in prayer. It’s coming, she thought, her eyes narrowing. Something evil is coming.…
Back outside, three girls were praying in front of the shrine, when an old man in blue and white robes approached them. “Ladies, welcome to Hikawa Shrine! Would either of you be interested in working here as priestesses?”
“No, thanks,” one of the girls said. “We just came here to buy those good luck charms.”
“I know. I was only kidding,” the old man said, then glanced at his watch. “Five-thirty already? I’ll hold a special prayer for you to go with your new charms.” He began to wave a rod with three lengths of charms on it around the three girls.
“That was my special prayer for helping young maidens find love,” he said when he was finished. “We also have special charms for school entrance exams.”
“No, that’s all right,” the same girl said, bowing. “Thank you for worrying about our exams.” The three girls left, giggling. As the three left, Jadeite stood behind a stone pillar, watching.
“Hello, pretty ladies!” the old man said, walking up to Usagi, Naru and Ryoku. Naru was holding Luna. “Are you interested in working here as a priestess?” The girls looked at each other in confusion, while Ryoku blinked for a second, then frowned.
“Grandpa, why won’t you ever wear your glasses?” a black-haired girl in red and white robes said admonishingly, approaching the group.
“Because I don’t need them,” Grandpa replied.
“One of them is a guy, Grandpa,” the girl said. “And you say you don’t need glasses.”
Ryoku noticed that Usagi, Naru, and even Luna were trying very hard not to laugh at his expense. The effort of holding in the laughter was quite evident on their faces. “Don’t choke yourselves on my account,” he muttered sarcastically, glowering at them with his arms folded. “Just laugh and get it over with.”
“If you insist,” Usagi said as all three began laughing at him. He just stood there with his arms folded and sighed patiently.
“You can stop anytime now,” he said sternly. The others slowly got themselves back under control. “Enjoy yourselves?” he asked sharply. None of them bothered to answer.
“Grandpa, will you stop asking every young girl that comes here if she wants to work as a priestess?” the girl continued as if she had never been interrupted. “There’re bad rumors going around about you in the neighborhood.”
She looks so neat, Usagi thought admiringly to herself as she glanced at the young, black-haired priestess. So, she’s a priestess? I guess I wouldn’t mind working as a priestess.…
Jadeite watched as the three girls from before left the shrine. “Time to activate those good luck charms,” he said as he activated them with a wave of both his hands. The three girls slowly began to feel weak as their energy was drained from them.
Somehow, the young priestess could sense it. “I feel the rising of an evil force,” she said. “So, you’re the demon,” she said as she glared at Usagi. Everyone just stared at her, confused by her strange behavior, as well as by what she was saying.
“I won’t have evil forces near our shrine,” she continued, pulling out a charm from within her robes. “Evil spirit, begone!” She leaped at her, slapping the ward onto her forehead and knocking her out cold. The others all stared at her, worried. Even the priestess.
“It didn’t work?” she said in surprise.
“It might have… if she was an evil spirit,” Ryoku commented dryly.
“Sorry, I made a mistake,” she said, abashed.
“Some mistake,” he remarked, blinking.
“Help me get her inside.”
“Rei-sama, here are the bandages you wanted,” Jed said just outside the doorway. Rei was kneeling at Usagi’s right side, while Naru and Ryoku were on her left. Luna was sitting on the bed. Usagi was still unconscious.
“Thanks, just leave them at the door,” she said. Jed carefully placed the tray inside the room.
“I’ll be outside, if you need me,” he said and left, closing the door behind him.
His voice sounds familiar, Luna thought. I think I may have seen him before.…
“He’s so cute!” Naru said. Upon saying the magic word, Usagi immediately woke and sat bolt upright, launching Luna from the bed, and looked around the room.
“Cute? Where?” she asked excitedly, while the others were still staring in surprise.
“That was quick,” Ryoku remarked.
“Who was that?” Naru asked with great interest.
“That was Jed, our new caretaker,” Rei said indifferently. “Grandpa used to run everything around here, but he isn’t able to do as much anymore. I just wish I was finished with school, so I can help out more myself.”
“You sure have a mean kick though, Rei,” Naru said.
“And a way with a good luck charm, too,” Ryoku added facetiously. “She was out for a good twenty minutes.”
“Usagi-san, right? I’m sorry,” Rei said apologetically.
“What happened to me?” Usagi asked, shaking her head.
“I made a mistake,” she said sincerely. “My intuition and prophecies are all off the mark these days.”
The girls were impressed. “You can predict stuff?” they asked in unison. Rei wasn’t in a mood to answer. Ryoku and Luna just stared at her.
Prophecy…? he mused to himself.
Is she the princess? Luna wondered.
Back outside, Usagi and Ryoku were sitting down near the shrine’s entrance and talking with Luna.
“Usagi-chan, I’m getting a really strange feeling around here,” Luna said warily.
“Maybe we should go get Ami-chan to help us out with this,” Ryoku added.
“But Ami-chan’s at…,” she began when Luna cut her off imperiously.
“The lives of lots of people are at stake!” she exclaimed sternly.
“Call her up at the cram school!” Usagi shot back. “Have Ryo-kun go get her!” She paused as she noticed that he was already gone. “See? Ryo-kun’s already gone to get her!”
“Why do I even bother sometimes?” Luna muttered to herself in vexation.
Later, Usagi, Ami, Ryoku and Luna all arrived at the bus stop near the shrine. “This is where the bus disappeared. Look for anything suspicious,” Luna said, lying in Ami’s arms.
“Look over there,” Ryoku said, pointing towards a long line of people waiting for the bus.
“Wow, look at all those people!” Usagi exclaimed.
“And they all got good luck charms from the shrine,” Luna added.
“Look at them! Their expressions seem so… empty,” Ami commented.
“They all must be in love,” Usagi reasoned.
“In love?” Ryoku asked. “Are people in love supposed to look empty-headed?”
“Oh, Ryo-kun, you just don’t realize what it’s like to be in love,” she said, staring at the sky and giggling.
“You think I don’t?” he muttered, then sighed. “Well, there she goes again. The empty-headed, love-sick girl expression.” As Usagi temporarily left reality, he, Ami and Luna all shared a look of exasperation.
“It’s strange that everyone has so much time to waste when they should be worrying about the high school entrance exam,” Ami said disdainfully. “Staring out into space won’t help you get into high school.”
Ryoku suddenly started laughing. “I think you almost made a joke there, Ami-chan,” he said, chuckling
“What’re you laughing at?” Usagi demanded tersely as he continued to laugh. “I don’t think that’s funny. Besides, you’re the one who was mistaken for a girl.”
He abruptly stopped laughing. “Touché,” he said flatly.
“There it is!” Ami said as the bus approached. “Five fifty-nine. That’s the same number as the one that disappeared.”
“Looks like an ordinary bus, but try to get a good look at the driver anyway,” Luna said.
“Right,” Ryoku agreed.
The bus came to a stop. Usagi nervously swallowed as its doors opened and the drained passengers boarded.
“It’s no good,” he said, frowning as he shrugged. “I can’t get a good look. The hat’s covering the driver’s face.”
“Usagi-chan, it’s time to get on,” Luna said.
“But…,” Usagi said, frightened.
“Let’s go!” Ami insisted, pushing her toward the bus.
“Hurry up and get on!” Ryoku added, tugging her by an arm.
“No!!! I don’t wanna!” she whined as she grasped the bus stop pole with both arms.
“Don’t you want to find out if there really is something to these disappearances?” Ami asked.
“No!” Usagi shouted and started crying. The door to the bus closed and the bus left. “Forget it! I’m scared!
“Too late,” Ryoku said, arms folded.
“There it goes,” Ami added and sighed.
“Usagi-chan, why are you such a wimp?” Luna asked.
“I’m not!” Usagi yelled, still crying.
“We should measure that sound on the decibel scale someday,” Ami remarked.
“No kidding,” Luna agreed.
“I wish I’d brought some earplugs,” Ryoku muttered, annoyed. “At any rate, we’d better try again tomorrow.”
Suddenly, Ryoku, Ami and Luna all gasped in shock as they saw the bus start to levitate.
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Luna asked. Usagi stopped crying and looked to where everyone else was staring. A black portal suddenly appeared above them. The bus flew through the portal and vanished along with it.
“No way!” Usagi exclaimed in disbelief.
“You guys saw that, right?” Ami asked. “The bus disappeared!”
“It vanished into thin air, right through that black hole,” Ryoku said. “Now what?”
“I don’t know,” Luna answered. “Usagi, maybe we should go back to the shrine and tell Rei what’s happening. Ryoku, you and Ami can try to find out anything you can about that bus.”
“There, Phobos… Deimos…,” Rei said as she was feeding her pet crows. She had just stood up and was about to go back to her chores when Usagi and Luna returned to the shrine.
“Rei-chan!” Usagi shouted as she ran up the shrine steps. “I’m so glad you’re here!”
“Oh, Usagi-chan. What brings you here?” she asked as she turned back.
“I saw it! The bus disappeared yesterday!” Usagi said excitedly.
“Are you saying that it’s my grandpa’s fault?” Rei retorted irritably.
“Huh?” Usagi blinked, slightly confused.
“The police have been here so often,” she continued, standing up. “I’m getting tired of them.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Usagi said apologetically. “I just thought you might know something.”
“Why would I?” Rei asked suspiciously.
“I just want to be your friend….”
“Just go away.”
“I guess I’ll come back another time,” Usagi said and started to leave. “Bye!” Luna looked back at Rei for a moment and left as well.
“She must be joking,” Rei muttered as they departed, arms folded, and turned to leave. Just then, she noticed something on the ground. “What’s this?” she said to herself, picking up the object. It was red pen with a strange symbol on it. “Did she drop this?”
Hearing the sound of a girl’s laughter, she turned to see a small group of girls at the window where Jed usually sold his good luck charms.
“So, you want to buy a good luck charm, too?” he asked a girl.
“Actually, you better give me two,” she replied.
Ever since he came here, the sales of those charms have increased, Rei thought. More people have been coming here as well.… But… Why is it that the bus disappears in front of the shrine? I’ve got to find out what’s going on.
As she left, Jed watched her from his window. He knew where she was going. He immediately left to go meet her there.
In the sacred fire room, she knelt before the flame, concentrating. Guide me to find the dark force that has entered here. A soft tapping at the door caused her to look up from the flame. “What do you want? I’m busy.”
“Dinner is ready,” Jed answered as he slid open the door slightly revealing a part of his face.
“Don’t disturb me.”
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly as he closed the door.
Those icy cold eyes…, she thought as she turned back to the flame. The way my prophecies are failing.… Is it because of those eyes?
Usagi and Luna sat watching at the same bus stop they watched earlier. “Why did you give that pen to Rei-chan?” Usagi asked.
“I wanted to check something,” Luna replied.
“Check what?”
“I’ll tell you later. But first, we’re going to get on that bus.”
“I know, but…,” Usagi said reluctantly.
“Don’t be scared!”
“But, Ami-chan and Ryo-kun are both late. They promised to come with us.”
“Too late,” Luna said, noticing the bus’s arrival. “Here comes the bus.”
Usagi began to panic. “Why now?” she moaned anxiously.
Luna ignored her. “We have no choice.” The bus stopped. “We’ll have to go by ourselves.”
Usagi again clutched the signpost in fear. “No way, Luna!” she wailed. “I’m scared!”
Once again, the passengers marched silently onto the bus. Luna decided to try to drag her onto the bus by tugging on her skirt. “Come on, Usagi!” she said imperiously. Usagi just continued to cry hysterically. “Move it!”
“No way! I don’t wanna!”
“The bus will leave without us!”
“What do I do?” she cried. Suddenly, an idea struck her. She pulled out the Disguise Pen, at the same time knocking Luna aside.
“What are you up to?” she muttered.
Usagi thrust the Disguise Pen into the air. “Moon power, turn me into a… flight attendant… or something!” Immediately, the pen gave her a flight attendant disguise, complete with winged hat. “Now, I feel safer.”
“Why a flight attendant?” Luna muttered. “Too bad it’s not an airplane….“
”It’s good enough,” she retorted and leaped onto the bus. As she pulled herself aboard, she glanced at the passengers. They were all slumping listlessly to one side. There were even some passengers sitting on the floor like lifeless dolls.
“They’re unconscious!” Luna said.
“What’s going on here?” she said to the driver. As if to answer her question, the door closed behind her, and the bus started to take off. It rose into the air, taking Usagi and Luna with it.
From their hiding place where they were monitoring the bus, Ami and Ryoku ran towards the spot where the bus took off. They arrived in time to see the bus disappear into the same black hole the previous buses vanished into.
“Oh no! They’re gone!” Ami cried.
“We’re too late,” Ryoku growled in frustration.
Back at the shrine, Rei continued to sit in front of the flames, concentrating. Suddenly, a vision came to her. “What is the source of all this?” she said aloud. “This evil…. I must find out who’s behind this!” As she concentrated harder, the flames surged higher into the air, displaying the face of Jed. Now, she knew who was responsible.
She burst into the room where Jed usually worked in. “You are the source of all the evil!” she shouted angrily.
“What do you mean?” he asked innocently.
“The flames told me all,” she said. “You are the cause of all the events that have been happening here! Show your true self!”
He smiled wickedly. “Now that you have found out, you must go inside as well!” A black portal opened up behind Rei, sucking her and her two pet crows inside while he laughed.
Usagi and Luna were suddenly flung out of the bus as it came to a stop. Nearby were the other buses that disappeared earlier.
“Where are we?” Usagi shouted as she landed. She looked around at her surrealistic surroundings. There was nothing there except the three missing buses; no scenery whatsoever, just the same eerie background that was everywhere. “What’s happening?”
“Usagi, calm down,” Luna said patiently.
“There’s no way I can!” she retorted.
Suddenly, the bus driver leapt from the bus toward the black hole, which had just appeared. Out of the portal flew Rei – who was caught by the driver – and her two pet crows. When the driver landed, she held Rei in front of her like a human shield.
“It’s Rei-chan!” Usagi exclaimed as the driver began to change form.
“You’ve got to become Sailor Moon, now!” Luna whispered to a now sobbing Usagi.
“I can’t stand life on the edge,” she said still crying. “But, I’ll do it!” she said, standing as if she wasn’t crying a few seconds ago.
“Oh, give me a break,” Luna muttered.
“Moon prism power, make up!” Usagi shouted and transformed. “I’m the Sailor Warrior fighting for love and justice, Sailor Moon!” she stated after she had transformed.
“At last. I’ve been waiting for you,” the youma taunted. As the youma held Rei in front of her, the symbol of Mars appeared on Rei’s forehead.
“That mark!” Luna exclaimed in astonishment.
“You won’t get away with trapping all these people!” Sailor Moon shouted. “On behalf of the Moon, I will punish you!”
She pulled her tiara off her head. “Moon tiara action!” she shouted, flinging her tiara. The youma saw the tiara coming and jumped over the attack. Seeing an opportunity, Rei’s pet crows attacked, allowing her to escape.
Sailor Moon’s tiara then turned midair and headed for the youma again. The youma turned and grabbed the tiara. “Such a toy means nothing to me,” she snarled.
“Gotcha!” Sailor Moon shouted. At her word, the tiara expanded and encircled the youma, pinning her arms to her sides.
“Rei-chan, are you all right?” Sailor Moon asked, coming to her side.
“Rei-chan, take out the transformation pen,” Luna told her.
“The cat talked?” Rei exclaimed in shock.
“I’ll fill you in later! Take out the pen you found at the shrine,” Luna said urgently.
She pulled out the red pen that she found earlier. “This?” she asked.
“Yes. You are the Sailor Scout of fire, Sailor Mars. Hold up the pen and shout ‘Mars power, make up!’”
The youma suddenly broke free from the tiara’s hold. The tiara fell to the ground and returned to normal.
“I still don’t know what’s going on, but here goes nothing,” Rei said, thrusting her transformation pen into the air. “Mars power, make up!” Within moments, Rei transformed into Sailor Mars.
“Rei-chan is the fourth Sailor Scout?” Sailor Moon asked.
The youma started to dash for Sailor Mars. Mars turned to face the creature. “You evil spirit! I’ll exorcise you!” she shouted. “Fire soul!” A giant fireball appeared from her hands and rushed to meet the creature. She burst into flames upon contact and was destroyed.
A distant crow’s cawing brought Luna’s attention to the portal. “Look!” she shouted urgently.
“What’s wrong?” Sailor Moon asked, noticing the portal as well. “What’s that?”
“The dimensional hole we came through is collapsing because of the fire. We’ve got to get out or we’ll be stuck here forever!”
On the other side of the black hole, both Ami and Ryoku were holding their transformation items as they watched the portal slowly close.
“Usagi-chan… Luna…,” she whispered softly as she held her transformation pen in her hands. “Everyone, come back safe.” A small blue light glowed from her pen and slowly rose toward the black hole.
Ryoku slowly stood holding out one of his swords in both hands, like Ami was doing. “May our combined powers be enough to bring our friends home,” he said, quietly. A small silver light glowed from within his sword. “Knight sword, fly true,” he said and flung his sword toward the black hole. The glowing silver sword went through the floating blue light and entered the portal.
“Look, something’s coming through!” Luna shouted. Out of the black hole flew a glowing silver sword being trailed by a shining blue light. The sword landed point first into the ground next to the three buses, still glowing silver and leaving a blue trail back through the portal.
“It’s gotta be Ami-chan and Ryo-kun!” Sailor Moon said.
“They’re using their powers to keep the black hole from closing,” Luna added.
“It’s gotta be,” Sailor Moon agreed, nodding. “They’re trying to show us the way home.”
A honking noise sounded from one of the buses. As Sailor Moon, Mars and Luna turned to see what was the cause, they saw Tuxedo Mask in the driver’s seat of one of the buses. “I’m driving,” he told them. “Hurry.”
“Tuxedo Mask, how’d you get in here? What a man,” Sailor Moon said dreamily.
“All right, let’s go, both of you,” Mars said, slightly annoyed. Choosing not to reply, Sailor Moon rushed onto the same bus Tuxedo Mask was on. Sailor Mars and Luna climbed on just behind her while Mars carried the sword that came through the portal.
All three buses then lifted off the ground and headed for the black hole, which was still being held open by the power of the two Scouts waiting for them. As they went through the portal, Ryoku was the first to notice.
“Ami-chan, look! They made it! We did it!” he shouted. Ami raised her head to look and saw the three buses with their friends in the lead bus. Behind them, the black hole finally closed.
“Ami-chan! Ryo-kun!” Sailor Moon exclaimed, pointing happily to her two waiting friends.
Laughing, Ami waved to her friends. Ryoku just half-smiled and waited for the buses to land. He noticed that they brought his sword with them and quietly nodded in satisfaction.
Watching from a distance, Jadeite clenched his fists in anger. “So, another Scout has appeared,” he growled. “So be it. I’ll crush them all next time!” He turned and disappeared.
“You did it!” Luna said, leaping into Ami’s arms.
“Thank you, Ami-chan and Ryo-kun!” Sailor Moon said, rushing to hug her friends. Ryoku took a small step back, so she just hugged Ami instead, squashing Luna in the process. A smile was good enough for him.
“I’m so glad you’re all right,” Ami said as Sailor Moon released her.
“Yeah, me, too,” he added, but stiffened slightly when Sailor Moon hugged him as well. “Um, you’re welcome,” he said flatly even though he was blushing slightly.
Tuxedo Mask simply watched from the driver’s seat on the lead bus. He smiled in amusement at Ryoku’s slight discomfort and quietly left.
“Here’s your sword back,” Sailor Mars said, handing Ryoku’s sword back to him.
“Thank you,” he said politely, as he made his sword disappear behind his back.
“One of these days, Ryo-kun, you’ve gotta show me how you do that,” Sailor Moon said. Turning towards the bus, she noticed that Tuxedo Mask was no longer there. “Huh? Where’s Tuxedo Mask?” she asked as she and Sailor Mars looked inside the bus for any sign of him.
“Hey, are you interested in him, too?” Sailor Moon said jealously to Sailor Mars.
“You gotta be joking,” Mars said defensively. “I just wanted to thank him. And you? Have you got a crush on him? Mind you, it could be a one-sided love….”
“One-sided…?” Sailor Moon asked, tears beginning to form in her eyes. “Don’t say that!” she cried.
“Got a handkerchief?” Ryoku asked dryly.