“Thank you!”

A pair of young girls happily left the Hikawa Shrine after purchasing a pair of charms for good luck in love. After offering a quick prayer in front of the shrine, the pair left, giggling cheerily.

“Come back anytime, if there’s a problem!” Minako called out after them. She and Makoto were dressed in shrine robes similar to the ones they had always seen Rei wear whenever she was working in the shrine. Makoto walked up to the window that Minako was selling the charms from and watched the two girls leave.

“There won’t be any problems,” Grandpa assured her from where he sat across from Minako.

“I didn’t expect working as a shrine maiden would be so hard,” Minako stated as she sat back. Makoto merely grinned and nodded.

“Well done,” Grandpa said with a pleased grin.

“Grandpa!” Usagi greeted from outside as she and Ami walked up to the window.

“Ah! Usagi-chan!” he greeted back.

“What are you two doing here dressed like that?” Ami asked as she took in Minako’s and Makoto’s outfits.

“Where’s Rei-chan?” Usagi asked.

“She’s been very busy since she took charge of the executive committee in charge of her school’s festival,” he explained.

“That’s why we’re helping out around the shrine,” Makoto added. “Rei-chan’s been so busy, she’s even got Ryo-chan helping her out at her school.”

“By the way,” Grandpa added as he smiled at Usagi, “why don’t you help out here, as well?”

“Being a maiden?” Usagi asked, blinking in surprise. “Well, I think it would be cool, but I don’t have the confidence to memorize a Sutra.”

Grandpa facefaulted. “It’s a shrine! You don’t need to read a Sutra!”

“Hey, Ryo-kun! A little bit higher, please!”

“Right. How about now, Rei-chan?”

“A little to the left…. There!”

Rei smiled in satisfaction as Ryoku secured the spotlight into place, then turned it on. She signaled for him to turn the light slightly to the left, then nodded as he adjusted it to the exact spot she wanted.

“Rei,” a girl interrupted as she and another girl walked up to her as Ryoku began climbing down from the catwalks.

“What?” Rei asked, frowning as she turned around.

“We’d like to ask you about the class exhibition,” she began.

“I told you about it yesterday, didn’t I?” Rei exclaimed. “How many times do I have to explain?”

“Oh, come on, Rei-chan,” Ryoku said as he joined Rei on the stage. “Don’t get so upset.”

“But, I’m busy arranging the stage,” she began.

“But, we can’t sort this out alone,” the girl pleaded.

Rei sighed as she shook her head. “All right, I’ll come and see you later.” She turned to go back to arranging the stage, but stopped as she spotted a pair of speakers sitting on the back of the stage. “Who left those here? Remove it immediately!”

Ryoku sighed. “I suppose she means me again,” he muttered as he left to go move the speakers.

“She’s so cool…,” the first girl sighed as she watched Rei in awe. “I bet the festival wouldn’t succeed without her.”

“That’s right,” the other girl agreed, watching Rei in awe as well. “And if it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t have had that boy, Ryoku, working for the festival as well. He’s been such a big help.”

“That’s because he’s a good friend of hers,” the first girl explained.

“You two!” Rei snapped as she whirled in their direction. “Stop chatting and get back to work!”

“She spoke to us!” the first girl said fawningly.

“I’m so happy!” the other said just as fawningly.

Rei sighed in vexation. “Don’t they know how busy I am?” she muttered. “This’s gonna take more than just Ryo-kun and myself. I’d even ask a cat for help.”

“Rei-chan!” Usagi shouted in greeting as she and Ami arrived with Luna and Artemis on Usagi’s shoulders.

“What?” Rei said as she turned to see who was calling her. “Oh, Usagi.”

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” she said as she lifted the two cats off her shoulders and presented them to Rei. “I’ve brought Luna and Artemis for you.”

“What?”

“You said you wanted a cat to help you, didn’t you?” she asked as she dropped the cats. Luna and Artemis gave her an indignant glare after they hit the ground.

“Did you come here just to irritate me?” Rei asked irritably.

“It was just a joke,” Usagi replied. “We came to encourage you.”

“Here,” Ami said as she held out one of the bag lunches she was carrying. “This is from Mako-chan.” She glanced around the theater as Rei took her lunch bag. “Where’s Ryo-kun? I have his lunch as well.”

“Over here,” Ryoku said as he returned from his task. “You brought us lunch, Ami-chan?”

“It’s from Mako-chan,” she told him.

“Thanks,” he said gratefully as he took his lunch bag.

“Hey, can we look around your school, Rei-chan?” Usagi asked.

“Sure. We’re going to hold a rehearsal in a minute,” she told them, then turned to Ryoku. “You ready, Ryo-kun?” She paused as she noticed him reaching into his lunch bag. “Ryo-kun, we can eat after the rehearsal,” she told him pointedly.

He sighed as he closed his lunch bag. “Very well.”

Usagi and Ami watched in awe as they listened to Rei sing. Behind Rei, Ryoku played his guitar as she sang, his melody intertwining with her words and voice to weave a captivating song.

As she continued to sing, the lighting color suddenly shifted from a bright yellow to a bright violet. Rei glanced up and saw that one of the girls that was handling the lights that Ryoku had previously adjusted had accidentally turned the wheel that held the different-colored plastic films that made the white light shine in different colors. It was likely because the girls were so awestruck by Rei’s singing that they forgot about their job.

“Hey, lighting staff!” Rei shouted up to the two inattentive girls handling the lights. “We’re not in a bar!”

“A bar?” the first girl asked the second girl questioningly.

“Is this what bar lighting looks like?” the other asked, just as questioningly.

“Find more suitable colors!” Rei shouted again, then sighed. “Forget it! Take a five-minute break.”

“All right,” Ryoku said with a half-grin. “Time to eat.”

“Everyone’s so slow,” she complained. “It makes me tired.”

“Whose song was that?” Usagi asked as she and Ami walked up to the stage with Luna and Artemis riding on their shoulders. “I like it.”

“You’ve got good taste, Usagi,” Rei said with a pleased grin. “I wrote all the words and songs for the recital,” she said as she brought out a stack of sheet music and proudly displayed it for the others to see.

Usagi, Ami and the cats stared at Rei in astonishment, while Ryoku merely glanced at Rei for a moment before shrugging and returning to his lunch. Rei glanced back at Ryoku for a moment, then frowned at everyone’s reaction.

“What? Is that funny or something?” she asked indignantly.

“Not at all,” Usagi said, shaking her head.

“It seems as though this recital is being held just for you, Rei-chan,” Ami observed.

“Of course!” Rei agreed. “I’m in charge of everything from forewoman to executive committee.”

“No change there, then,” Artemis commented.

“That’s good,” Usagi said as she grimaced.

From outside, Seijuro and Natsumi watch Rei and Ryoku work from one of the branches of a tree near one of the theater’s windows.

“A school festival,” Seijuro observed as they watched.

“There will be plenty of youthful energy here,” Natsumi added with a grin as she folded her arms.

“It’s too good an opportunity to miss.”

“Makaiju will be pleased.”

That evening, everyone gathered in front of Hikawa Shrine to discuss Rei’s school festival the following day. Minako and Makoto were already back in their normal clothes.

“Rei-chan, it’s tomorrow, isn’t it?” Usagi asked.

“We’re going to take a break from working at your shrine to come to the festival,” Makoto added.

“Grandpa is coming as well,” Rei told them as she sat down.

“Then, I guess Yuuichirou-kun will have to take care of the shrine by himself,” Ryoku commented.

“By the way,” Minako added, “I wanted to say how impressed I was to learn that you wrote all the festival songs.”

“It must’ve been hard work,” Ami added.

Rei glanced over at Ryoku, who was silently watching her, then shook her head. “No, not really….”

Rei sat in front of her keyboard, writing note after note on a piece of staff paper. After writing a few notes, she began to slowly come to a stop. She grimaced as she looked over her music, played what she wrote, then banged on the keyboard in frustration.

As she became more and more frustrated with what she thought to be poor work, the pile of crumpled papers in her trashcan began to grow, one piece of paper after another. She settled her head into her folded arms as she idly pressed one key after another on her keyboard, hoping for some inspiration to strike.

A knock at her door interrupted her brooding. “Come in,” she called as she sat up.

Ryoku opened the door and walked inside. “I heard you were put in charge of your school’s festival committee.”

“That’s right,” she agreed, nodding. “I suppose you came to offer your services, right, Ryo-kun?”

He blinked in surprise. “Services?”

She grinned sweetly. “You know, with setting up the theater for the recital, setting up the booths, arranging.…”

“Is that all I’ll be doing?” he asked with an eyebrow raised in amusement. “Manual labor?”

“Well…,” she began contritely as her grin faded slightly.

“No problem. I’ll be glad to help.”

Rei’s expression brightened immediately as she clasped one of his hands gratefully. “Thank you, Ryo-kun! You’re a big help!”

Ryoku nodded and was about to say something else when the sheet music on Rei’s keyboard caught his eye. “You’re writing a song for the festival as well?”

“Well… yeah, I am,” she said with a hesitant grin since she didn’t want to tell him that she was writing all the songs for the festival’s recital.

“May I take a look?” he asked as he walked over to the keyboard.

“Sure, but it’s not really done yet,” she admitted.

“Oh?” he asked as he looked over the sheet music, then began to play what she had written on her keyboard.

Rei blinked in surprise as he played her music. “You know how to play piano as well, Ryo-kun?”

“Sugiyama-sensei taught me,” he replied without looking away from the sheet music. “After all, when you work with a pianist music teacher for so long, you pick up a few things. Sugiyama-sensei says that I’m a natural when it comes to music.” He paused as he came to the end of what Rei had written, frowned in thought for a moment, then played a single chord of four notes.

Rei’s eyes widened as the chord he played all but broke through her musical writer’s block. “What was that, Ryo-kun?”

“B flat minor seventh,” he replied as he turned around to face her. “I didn’t mean to presume that I.…”

“No, I’m not upset,” she said quickly. “It’s just that I was having a bit of a block right there. That one chord you played helped to break through it.” She smiled at him. “Now I can finish the rest of it easily. Thanks again, Ryo-kun.” Her smile widened as she came up with another idea. “Say, Ryo-kun, how about you play your guitar along with me while I sing?”

Ryoku blinked, then nodded. “Sure, but I must warn you. I’m not all that experienced as a background singer,” he added jokingly.

After that one breakthrough, she was able to finish her music with very few problems. Ryoku had left and come back with his guitar, so he played as she sang the words to her songs and wrote down what she thought sounded good. Every now and then, Ryoku would toss her a few suggestions, but for the most part, she wrote each song that they worked on. After they finished all the songs for the recital and Ryoku left for the night – he still didn’t know that she was writing the songs for the entire recital; he thought she was writing most of them – Rei smiled at the stack of sheet music. It was hard work, but she did it.

As she was about to turn off her keyboard and put her music away, a thought suddenly struck her. Her smile returned, wider than before, as she grabbed a pencil and started writing quickly.

“I didn’t have any problem with the words,” Rei continued. “The ideas came real easily and I finished it very quickly. I have a gift for it, you know.”

“You’re really great, Rei-chan,” Usagi said admiringly.

“Do you really think that proper Sailor Warriors should get so excited over a festival like this?” Artemis asked Luna doubtfully.

“Well… why not?” Luna replied.

The next day, Usagi, Ami, Makoto, Minako and the cats all made their way to Rei’s school to attend the festival. Rei and Ryoku were already there, taking care of some last minute details, so they told the girls that they would be joining up with them as soon as they could.

“There’re only girls here,” Artemis remarked as he glanced around the school grounds.

“Well, this is a girls-only school,” Ami told him. “I’m sure that will change once the festival starts to get underway.”

As they went further into the school grounds, Grandpa went around the exterior of the school grounds, asking girls if they would like to work at his shrine.

“Hi, pretty girls!” he called out as he approached two more girls. “How would you like to work part time at my shrine?”

“Our school forbids part time work, sir,” one of the girls replied.

“I’m sorry,” the other added as both bowed politely. “Goodbye.”

“Really?” Grandpa asked disappointedly. “Goodbye.” He sighed in defeat. “I can’t win over such rich girls.”

“Hey, where can I buy pancakes?” Usagi exclaimed as she glanced around at all the booths inside the school grounds. “How about noodles? Curry with boiled rice?”

“Calm down,” Makoto said with a grin.

“Usagi-chan…,” Luna muttered from Usagi’s shoulder as Usagi’s wild glancing about had thrown her around quite a bit.

“Where’s Ami?” Artemis asked as he glanced around. “She was just here.”

“She’s either gone to see some exhibition or to find Ryo-kun,” Minako told him. “At any rate, shall we go look around?”

“Yeah!” the rest of the girls exclaimed eagerly.

The first place they stopped was a booth with a beautiful display of kimonos. They tried on one after another until they each found one they liked, then had their pictures taken while wearing them. At another booth, several students were demonstrating their skills in baking. Makoto decided to stay here for a bit to make something as the other girls chose to keep going and come back later to see what she would make.

“Hey, what’re those?” Usagi said as she headed over to a booth that had several pieces of strangely shaped metal intertwined together.

“Puzzles,” Ryoku said as he and Ami walked up to where the girls were standing.

“Puzzles?” Usagi repeated quizzically as she glanced down at the metal pieces.

“Watch,” he said as he picked up a group, moved the metal pieces around, then separated one of the pieces from the rest.

“Wow!” one of the booth operators exclaimed in surprise. “That’s the fastest I’ve ever seen someone solve that one!”

“Wanna try it?” he asked Usagi after he replaced the piece and handed it over to her.

“All right,” she said as she tried to replicate his feat. Some time later, Ryoku and Ami had both solved every puzzle on the table, but Usagi still hadn’t figured out the first puzzle.

“I can’t get this!” she exclaimed in frustration.

Next, the group decided to look around at the different game booths, while Ryoku and Ami wandered around by themselves for a bit. Minako decided to try her luck at playing this game where she had to hit a golf ball into a target several meters away. The first few swings hit nothing but air, but when she did hit, she hit the ball too hard and sent it flying out of the booth’s playing area.

“Oops,” she said sheepishly as she watched the ball descend, all the while hoping that she wouldn’t hit anyone. Unfortunately, she did end up hitting someone.

“Ryo-kun!!!” Ami exclaimed as she saw her boyfriend knocked to the ground by a plummeting golf ball.

“Uh-oh…,” Minako grimaced as she put down her club and hoped no one would link her with the accident. She would apologize to Ryoku later.

After Ryoku’s recovery – the blow to the head only fazed him for a moment – Rei dragged him and Ami to a booth where they were playing a game that seemed almost like it was a quiz show with a dating game theme to it. Ryoku watched as Rei dragged Ami up to the stage in order to participate with her. Behind both chairs was a heart-shaped board that was divided in half; left half blue, right half red. Ryoku assumed that blue was correct and red was incorrect, since during the game, Ami got mostly blue while Rei got mostly red.

While everyone was moving about the school grounds, enjoying themselves, Natsumi and Seijuro stood underneath a tree and watched everyone else.

“I can feel so much energy,” Natsumi commented.

“Yeah,” Seijuro agreed. “We’ll enjoy this.”

“Yes.”

Natsumi and Seijuro began to leave, but Seijuro stopped as someone caught his arm. He turned around to see a girl holding onto his arm and staring at him intently. Suddenly, her expression changed into a satisfied grin.

“I was right!” she exclaimed delightedly to two girls standing behind her.

“He’s our ideal boy,” a second girl agreed, then turned to the third girl. “Junko-san, please measure his size.”

“Sure,” Junko agreed as she walked toward Seijuro with a measuring tape in her hands.

“What’s going on?” he asked, frowning in confusion.

“Come this way, please,” the second girl requested as she herded Natsumi over to one side and brought out a second measuring tape.

“Could you open your arms?” Junko requested.

“Pardon?” Seijuro asked, still confused.

“Open your arms like this,” she replied, spreading out her arms in demonstration.

“Like this?” he asked, repeating her gesture.

“And I’d like you to squat a bit for me.”

“But….”

“Quickly!”

“All right,” he relented as he squatted down enough for her to take his measurements. “Yes! He’s the one!” she crowed in delight.

“And her as well!” the second girl called out after measuring Natsumi.

“We’ve finally found the right pair,” the first girl said happily. “Come on!” she exclaimed as the other two girls began to drag Seijuro and Natsumi after them.

“Wait a minute,” Seijuro said as he was being dragged along. “Tell us who you are.”

The girl halted and blinked in realization. “Oh, I forgot,” she said sheepishly as she realized how rude she was being. “I’m Ogi Sakurako from the fashion research club. We’d like you to model clothes for us.”

“Models?” Natsumi and Seijuro repeated as they glanced quizzically at each other.

“Yes,” Sakurako continued. “Our theme is ‘Aliens from Space.’”

“What???” Natsumi and Seijuro exclaimed as they were taken aback.

Ail…, Natsumi said telepathically to Seijuro as she gave him a significant look.

She recognizes what we are, he replied warily. She can’t be an ordinary schoolgirl.…

“What’s the matter?” she asked with a concerned expression on her face. “You don’t look well.” Her expression turned to one of amusement as she reached a conclusion. “You don’t believe in such things as space aliens, do you?” she said as she laughed.

“Of course not,” Seijuro replied, laughing half-heartedly while Natsumi just grumbled to herself.

“Let’s go, then!” she said as she took off, while the two girls with her dragged Natsumi and Seijuro after them.

“Hey!!!” they exclaimed as they were dragged off, but the girls weren’t listening anymore.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the recital of the Queen of the Girls’ High School Festival, Hino Rei, will be held in one minute. Please come enjoy the show with your friends.”

Usagi, Ami, Makoto, Minako and the cats all exchanged glances after the turned away from looking at the PA announcement speaker. “I didn’t know Rei-chan was the Queen,” Makoto commented as they entered the theater.

“I suppose Ryo-kun was just reading off of a piece of paper when he made that announcement,” Ami remarked. “But, she did work very hard for it.”

“She really is the Queen,” Artemis said. “Everyone in the festival relies on her.”

“Really?” Luna commented as she gave Usagi a furtive glance. “I could compare her to someone I….”

“Luna!” Usagi growled as she smacked her in the head. “I’ll hit you!”

“Don’t say that after hitting me,” Luna muttered back at her.

“We should go get seats now,” Minako suggested.

“Let’s go,” Usagi agreed eagerly.

“Ryo-chan said that he was saving seats for us up in the front row,” Makoto said as they headed down toward the front row of seats. They could see Ryoku signaling for them to come over. He was dressed in a sharp, gray dress shirt with a black necktie, black slacks and black, polished dress shoes.

“Looking good, Ryo-chan!” Makoto called out as they approached him.

“Here you are,” he said as he gestured toward the row of five empty chairs in the middle of the front row. “One chair for each of you.”

“I thought that you were going to play your guitar while Rei-chan sang,” Usagi said as she sat down with Luna in her lap.

“I am,” he replied with a nod.

“Then, why is your guitar still at home?” Makoto asked, blinking in confusion as she and the others sat down as well. Artemis took a seat in Minako’s lap. “I saw it there before I left, and you left home before I did.”

Ryoku half-grinned. “You’ll see.”

“Are you ready?” Sakurako asked after she had finished peeking out at the audience.

“What is going on?” Seijuro asked. He and Natsumi were dressed in the most ridiculous outfits imaginable, which – to Seijuro’s and Natsumi’s minds – looked like nothing they, as aliens themselves, would ever wear. Their Cardians, on the other hand….

“It’s a fashion show,” she explained.

“It’s a sort of opening show for Rei’s recital, you see?” Junko added.

“A fashion show?” Seijuro repeated uncertainly.

“An opening show?” Natsumi also repeated questioningly.

“Go now!” Sakurako exclaimed as she unceremoniously shoved both fashion victims out onto the stage. Once they were out on stage, a spotlight immediately shone down on them, effectively pinning them to the spot.

“Well… hello,” Seijuro said nervously as they both stared out at the audience.

“I feel so sorry for them,” one girl murmured to another in the audience. “It looks like they’ve been chosen as the school festival victims this year.”

“They’re enjoying it,” Seijuro observed in surprise.

“It’s not so bad,” Natsumi added.

“Hey, it’s those two!” Usagi said as she recognized the fashion victims.

“Natsumi and Seijuro,” Ami agreed.

“Better them than us,” Ryoku commented dryly.

“Yeah,” Minako nodded.

“So, has Seijuro given up being cool?” Makoto joked.

“The energy level’s going up higher,” Seijuro said as he closed his eyes and felt the audience’s energy.

“It would be great fun to steal it all at once,” Natsumi added with a devilish grin.

“Yes, there’s a vast amount.”

“This hall is full of it.”

“Let’s see what happens,” Seijuro said as his grin took on a malicious curve.

As the fashion show ended, Ryoku got up from his seat and headed up toward the stage. On the way up, he grabbed a microphone and a music stand from one of the stands near the stairs leading to the stage. He turned on the microphone as a spotlight shone down on him. The applause from the talent show died down as he signaled for silence after placing the stand in the middle of the stage.

“Thank you for your applause,” he said as he faced the audience. “Hino Rei’s recital is about to start.” Behind him, the curtains parted as Rei stepped out on stage. She was dressed in a beautiful red dress with a yellow flower and a white ribbon tied in her hair. A yellow bow was tied around her waist and a slim red choker was placed around her neck. She carried her sheet music out to the stage and placed it on the stand that Ryoku brought for her.

“It looks like her turn is at the end,” Minako stated.

“Oh! I’m feeling so nervous!” Usagi squealed excitedly.

“You’re not the one singing, Usagi-chan,” Ami pointed out.

“I know that,” Usagi replied.

“It’s starting,” Makoto told them as Ryoku handed over the microphone to Rei.

“Thank you, Ryo-kun,” she said as she turned to the audience while Ryoku headed backstage. “Hello, everyone! I’m Hino Rei, but you can call me Rei-chan! I’m so happy that you’ve all come to see me!”

“Not one for humility, is she?” Luna commented.

“She’s completely self-intoxicated,” Artemis agreed.

“Great, Rei!” Grandpa cheered from the audience as he jumped up and down excitedly.

“Rei-chan, you’re cool!” Usagi cheered as well.

“I’ll sing for you with all my heart,” Rei stated as the curtains parted, revealing Ryoku standing behind the curtains with an electric guitar in his hands and a set of amplifiers and speakers behind him.

“So, that’s where Ryo-kun ran off to,” Minako said as they took in the sight. “Where’d he get the electric guitar? I thought he had a regular one.”

“Must be the school’s or something,” Makoto replied. “I don’t remember him buying one.”

Rei nodded back to Ryoku signaling for him to start the music. As he played, and as the recording of the rest of the background music played – Ryoku had the background music recorded yesterday – Rei began to sing.

On top of the theater roof, above the performers and the audience, Ail and Ann watched.

“Select a Cardian,” Ail said to Ann as he turned from the show and spread a hand of cards in front of her. Ann pointed at a card, which promptly rose into the air and hovered before them.

“Come forth, Cardian Seirei!” he commanded as he played his summoning song on his flute. Immediately, the card expanded into a mermaid-like creature with bluish skin and a fish-like tail.

As Rei was singing, a sensation at the back of her mind caused her to stop suddenly.

I feel something evil…, she thought as she glanced up over her shoulder toward the top of the theater.

Suddenly, Seirei appeared overhead, circling around as she sprinkled the entire audience with some type of sparkling powder.

“What’s that?” Usagi said as she spotted the flying creature.

“It’s a Cardian!” Artemis shouted urgently. “Avoid the golden powder!”

As the golden dust landed on the audience, everyone was knocked unconscious as their energy was drained away.

“Girls, do you want to work in my shrine?” Grandpa shouted as he continued to jump up and down while the powder fell on him as well. “You’d like it….” He trailed off as the powder took effect and put him to sleep.

The only people the powder didn’t affect were Usagi, Ami, Makoto, Minako and the cats, who had ducked under their chairs in time, and Rei and Ryoku, who were on stage.

“Everything seems to be going well,” Ail remarked as he reached out for Ann’s hand.

“We’ll wait back at the Doom Tree,” Ann added as she took Ail’s hand in hers and vanished along with him.

Now that the audience was out, the Cardian decided to attack both Rei and Ryoku. The pearls that adorned her hair suddenly broke off as her pink hair lashed out at both of them. Ryoku quickly drew his Knight Swords and rushed Seirei, but even as he managed to slash some of the hair that struck at him, the ones that he missed grabbed him and flung him out toward the chairs in the audience.

“Ryo-kun!” Ami exclaimed as she and the others came out of hiding in time to see him crash into the chairs just behind them.

At the same time, Seirei’s hair lashed out at Rei, grabbed her and started to drain her of her energy as well.

“Rei-chan!” Usagi shouted worriedly.

“Damn!” Makoto growled fiercely.

“Right, then,” Ryoku seethed as he got to his feet. “Girls, let’s get to work. Knight swords power!”

“Moon crystal power….”

“Mercury power….”

“Jupiter power….”

“Venus power….”

“…make up!”

“I’m the Sailor Warrior fighting for love and justice, Sailor Moon!” Sailor Moon announced.

“Sailor Knight!”

“Sailor Jupiter!”

“Sailor Mercury!”

“Sailor Venus!”

“The Sailor Warriors!” all five shouted at once.

“Help me!” Rei gasped as she tried to pull the hair away from her. “I’m losing my energy….”

“Supreme….”

“Shabon….”

“Earth….”

“…thunder!”

“…spray!”

“…thrust!”

The combined attack cut through the hair holding on to Rei, freeing her from the Cardian’s draining attack. However, Seirei countered by flinging her hair at them. Sailor Knight managed to dive to the side and slice away the hair that had attacked him, but Mercury and Jupiter got caught.

“Rei, are you all right?” Sailor Moon asked as she and Sailor Venus knelt down by Rei’s side.

“Be careful!” Luna shouted as Seirei flung her hair at them. Sailor Knight tried to shove Sailor Moon out of the way of the attack, but only managed to get caught up in it as well.

“What?” Jupiter exclaimed as she felt her energy being drained. “My energy is fading!”

“No!” Sailor Moon shouted as she felt her energy being drained as well.

“Help!” Venus shouted as well as the Cardian drained all five Scouts of their energy.

“Rei-chan!” Sailor Knight shouted as he struggled with the hair trapping him. “Wake up, Rei-chan!”

Rei slowly woke up from her imposed nap to see her friends in danger. “Wait for me,” she whispered fiercely as she slowly pushed herself to her feet.

“Rei?” Artemis said concernedly.

“You can’t fight in that condition!” Luna shouted worriedly, but Rei wasn’t listening.

“Mars power, make up!”

“You’ve committed a serious crime, by destroying my recital and stealing the energy of my friends!” Mars declared. Her knees buckled slightly from her loss of energy, but she quickly recovered. “In the name of Mars, I’ll punish you!

“Fire soul!” she yelled, firing her attack at the hair holding her friends captive. The hair quickly burned away, releasing them as they slumped down to the floor. The fireball also hit the Cardian, which quickly engulfed her. However, the effect didn’t last long as Seirei quickly threw off the attack.

“What? Why?” Mars gasped in shock as the Cardian began to advance again. “The Fire Soul didn’t work?”

Sailor Moon tried to push herself up, but weakly fell back down to the floor again. “Sailor Moon!” Mars exclaimed as she rushed over and knelt down at her side.

“I can’t fight anymore,” Sailor Moon said weakly. “Good luck, Sailor Mars.”

“Sailor Moon!”

Seirei lunged at them and was about to strike when a single white rose cut through the air to strike the floor before the Cardian, stopping her.

“There’s a small planet that plays a tune in the quiet of space,” the Moonlight Knight stated from his vantage point in the rafters in the overhead of the theater. “It’s Earth. I, the Moonlight Knight, won’t forgive anyone disturbing that beautiful melody,” he finished as he slowly drew his blade from the sheath at his side.

“Moonlight Knight…,” Mars breathed as she stared up at him.

“Sailor Mars, please let me listen to your beautiful voice once more,” he said as he leaped down from the rafters and swung at the Cardian. Seirei tried to counter by swinging her tail at him, but only managed to knock over the stand holding her sheet music. Several sheets of her music remained fluttering in the air, but most of them were scattered everywhere. Some were slightly shredded at the edges from the Cardian’s tail, while one or two sheets were actually ripped in half.

Sailor Mars’ eyes widened in shock at seeing the music she had worked so hard on manhandled in such a manner. Her eyes narrowed in a burning fury. “Unforgivable…,” she murmured in an intensely cold voice as her entire body quivered in anger. “This is absolutely unforgivable!!!” She pulled out an ofuda and flung it at the Cardian, but that was only part of her attack. There was a fire burning in her heart… her soul. She prepared to go through the motions of the rest of her attack, but the words that came to mind were completely different. Words fueled with rage.

“Fire soul bird!!!”

The fireball that issued from her hands soared directly into the ofuda and consumed it. After passing through the ward, the fireball took on the form of a bird and dove directly at Seirei. The Cardian tried to stop the bird by shooting streams of water at it, but the bird merely swerved around the attack and struck the Cardian, weakening it severely.

“Sailor Mars has found her hidden power,” Artemis stated as he and Luna watched Mars bring down the Cardian.

“Sailor Moon, finish her!” Mars shouted over at Sailor Moon.

“Right,” Sailor Moon agreed as she slowly pushed herself to her feet and brought out the Moon Scepter. “Moon princess halation!” she shouted as she waved the scepter in front of her, ending with it pointing at the Cardian. A stream of light emanated from the scepter and struck Seirei, destroying her and leaving nothing behind but a smoldering card stuck into the ground.

“Well done, Sailor Warriors,” the Moonlight Knight congratulated as he turned to leave. “Don’t forget to keep happiness in your heart. Farewell.” He leaped up and vanished in midair.

“Moonlight Knight-sama…,” Sailor Moon breathed as she stared at the space the Moonlight Knight had occupied moments before.

“Thank you!” Rei said happily as she bowed to the audience. ”Thank you very much!”

Behind her, Ryoku half-grinned as he watched Rei soak up the accolades and cheers. The audience seemed to love her last song, ‘Forever Melody’, which was the very song he had inadvertently helped Rei finished a few days ago. It was almost appropriate to end the recital with that song. He was about to take off the electric guitar he had borrowed from one of the students from Sugiyama-sensei’s class when he noticed that Rei had held her hands up, signaling for the audience to quiet down.

Rei glanced back at Ryoku and smiled at his expression of confusion while gesturing for him to keep his guitar out. I have a surprise for you, Ryo-kun, she thought as she turned back toward the audience.

“Originally, I had planned to end the recital with that last song, but instead, I would like to sing for you one last song which I wrote for a special friend of mine. Without his help, all the work I had done for this festival would’ve been a lot harder and taken a lot longer than it did,” she said as she turned toward Ryoku again and started walking toward him. “Even now, he is still working alongside me, helping me to make this recital a big success.

“For all his help and support, I would like to dedicate this last song to my friend, Kino Ryoku, and have him sing this song with me. Ryo-kun, would you please sing this duet with me?” she asked as she extended a hand toward him.

“A duet?” Ryoku asked, half-grinning in surprise. “I would be honored to sing with you, Rei-chan.” As Ryoku took Rei’s hand in his and walked toward the front of the stage with her, the whole audience began to cheer.

“Ryo-kun’s gonna sing?” Usagi asked with an excited grin on her face. “All right! This’s gonna be so cool!”

“Yeah,” Makoto agreed, nodding excitedly. “I haven’t heard him sing in years.”

The entire audience quieted down as Ryoku played the opening to the song. “I call this last song, ‘This Far’,” Rei said as she turned to face Ryoku and prepared to sing.

“I used to think that I could never count on anyone,
“And that I always had to be alone.
“I used to think that you could never know just how I feel,
“But everything had changed when you came to stand by my side.”

Ryoku took a breath, faced Rei and began to sing as he continued to play.

“I never knew that I would need to lean on anyone,
“My pride would make me stand alone.
“And I never knew that you would be there when I needed you,
“But you were there to help me stand up and face each day with you.”

As they came to the chorus, both began to sing together in a perfect two-part harmony.

“Wherever you go, wherever you are,
“You know I’ll be there beside you.
“Whenever you need me, whatever the reason,
“You know I’m by your side.
“No matter how hard the road is before us,
“There is one thing that I know:
“As far I can see, without you I’d never be,
“This far.”

Ryoku played a short reprise of the chorus on his guitar before changing the key of the song and moving into the song’s bridge. Rei would sing the first third of the bridge and he would sing the second third, then they would sing the final third of the bridge together.

“Now all the days that I’ve spent all by myself,
“Seem like nothing but a distant memory.
“Now all the time I sat feeling all alone,
“Feels like I was waiting there for you.
“Now that we are standing here together,
“There is nothing I can’t do, because I’m standing here by you.”

As the finished the bridge, Ryoku returned to the song’s original key and began to play a solo on his electric guitar. “Ladies and gentlemen, Kino Ryoku,” Rei said as she gestured toward him while he continued to play. She watched him as he played, especially the expression on his face. She could see that he was pouring a lot of emotion into his playing, which made her feel as if he was playing just for her. Just before he finished his solo, he looked back up at her and half-smiled. She knew for certain that he was playing his best, just for her. She nodded as they began to sing the chorus again.

“Wherever you go, wherever you are,
“You know I’ll be there beside you.
“Whenever you need me, whatever the reason,
“You know I’m by your side.
“No matter how hard the road is before us,
“There is one thing that I know:
“As far I can see, without you I’d never be,
“This far.”

Ryoku began another short solo, but it was a subtle one, played in the background as they repeated the chorus again with a few ad-libs here and there by Rei, then Ryoku closed the song with an ending reprise in which he sustained the final note an octave higher than before, ending the song with a musical flourish.

When the song ended, the audience roared with applause as they gave them a standing ovation. Rei and Ryoku both smiled at each other – a half-smile in Ryoku’s case – as Ryoku took one of Rei’s hands in his and both bowed at the same time.

“You’re a hit, Rei-chan,” Ryoku mentioned as then stood back up.

“I know,” she replied with another grin. “Thanks for helping me get this far.”

“That was great, Ryo-kun,” Ami said as she and the others were all gathered around the huge bonfire that was lit out in the middle of a clearing in the school grounds after night fell. They were all sitting on a pair of logs that were part of a huge ring circling the bonfire; Makoto, Ryoku and Ami on one log, and Minako, Usagi and Rei on another. “I never knew you could sing like that. You have such a lovely singing voice.”

“It has been a while since I did something like that,” Ryoku replied from his seat next to Ami. “I’m just glad that my voice didn’t crack.”

“Yeah,” Rei added with a nod. “He sings tenor very well. Maybe I should have you sing more duets with me, right, Ryo-kun?”

“Well, I don’t know about that…,” he began in a casual tone.

“You were great on stage, Rei-chan,” Usagi added as she looked from her to Ryoku. “You and Ryo-kun both. You’re so amazing.”

“You should learn to follow my example,” Rei told her with a smug grin.

“Except for the part with your personality,” Usagi replied.

“Pardon?” Rei shot back. “Maybe my example is too hard for you to follow.”

“Who said I wanted to follow your example? I’d sooner follow Ryo-kun’s!” Minako, Makoto and Ami all began to laugh quietly at Ryoku while the he scowled at the bickering girls.

“Don’t bring me into this!” he shouted, but neither one was listening to him as they had begun arguing in earnest.

To Chapter 51: Food for the Heart

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