Luna quietly padded over to where Usagi was sitting at her table, amazed at the sight she was seeing. There was a book propped up by its spread open cover in front of Usagi, which she was apparently studying.
“Now, that’s rare!” Luna commented as she hopped up to the table and glanced at the cover. “Usagi studying English?” She was about to say something else when she noticed Usagi’s expression, which had a certain vacuous, dreamy look to it.
“Hello? Hello?” she called out as she stared into Usagi’s face, then waved a paw in front of her eyes. “I should’ve guessed,” she muttered flatly, then glanced up curiously at her expression.
“I wonder if she’s dreaming of something romantic?” she mused to herself. Usagi’s small grin widened a little. “She must be,” Luna concluded, then sighed wistfully to herself. “I’d love to dream of a passionate kiss with a handsome male cat….” She was cut off as Usagi suddenly snapped out of her fantasy.
“You ruined my dream about eating an extra large meat bun!” she complained. Luna promptly facefaulted.
“Meat bun? Where has the romance gone…?”
“Why must we study English?” Ail grumbled. He was sitting in a chair at one side of their living room, musing over his deck of Cardians while Ann was lying down on their couch, reading one of the books that they had been assigned to read for class. Ann wasn’t paying much attention to Ail at the moment, since she was too engrossed in the book she was reading. She was at a particularly romantic part in the book and, for the moment, that was all she was interested in.
Love must be won…, she thought as she sighed longingly and closed the book. To win the love of the sleeping princess with a kiss.…
“If we have time to do that, we should think of a way to collect energy,” Ail continued as he collected his cards, stood up and left.
That is so perfect! Ann thought happily as she hugged her book and stared up into the starry night sky. I will win Mamoru-sama’s kiss and have his love!
The next day, Usagi ran over to where the others were all waiting for her. Rei had called her and told her to meet her and the others as soon as she could, but she hadn’t said exactly what it was all about. It sounded important, though.
“Sorry, I’m late,” she called out as she ran up to them.
“It’s okay,” Rei replied. “We knew you wouldn’t make it.”
“Rei-chan, what was it that you needed to see us about in such a hurry?” she asked curiously.
“Is there another Cardian?” Ryoku asked in a straightforward manner.
“That’s not it,” Rei replied, shaking her head. “Mamoru-san’s in trouble.”
“Mamoru-san?!?” Usagi exclaimed as her eyes began to water up and she began to cry. “Has he been hurt? I couldn’t stand that! It’s too tragic!”
Rei sighed patiently before she continued. “No, that’s not it,” she said in an exasperated tone.
“Mamoru-san has to put on a children’s play at the Juuban Hall,” Ami told Usagi consolingly.
“A play?” Usagi asked as she stopped crying.
“That’s right,” Rei continued. “From what he said, his friends were supposed to organized the play.”
“But, they broke up over disagreements with the casting,” Makoto added.
“Being such a responsible man, Mamoru-san wanted to make the show successful and came to the shrine to pray for it,” Rei continued as she handed Usagi a book.
She stared down at the book and grinned widely. “Then, we’ll give him a hand!” she exclaimed as she dashed off to go find him, leaving the others to chase after her.
It didn’t take long for the others to catch Usagi and inform her that they already knew where Mamoru was. A short time later, they all approached Mamoru and volunteered their help.
“You girls will participate in the play?” Mamoru asked in surprise.
“And I will help as well, Mamoru-san,” Ryoku added.
“You, too, Ryoku?” he repeated as he glanced over at him.
“That’s right,” Usagi said as she showed him the book that Rei had handed her. “Rei-chan said we should do ‘Snow White.’”
“Snow White?”
“Well, it is a children’s play, right?” Ryoku remarked.
“And you know, since I came up with the idea, I should play Snow White,” Rei stated.
“That’s not fair!” Usagi interjected. “Cute and adorable me should get that role!”
“Here it goes,” Ryoku muttered to Mamoru as they both sweatdropped.
“Hey, knock it off, you two!” Makoto shouted, interrupting Rei and Usagi. “I should get the role, because I have the biggest bust.”
Both Rei and Usagi glared at her. “What do you mean?!?”
Makoto put her hands on her hips and smirked at them. “You want to compare? We can have Ryo-chan judge,” she added with a teasing smirk directed at her brother.
“Hey! Don’t bring me into this!” Ryoku shouted as he blushed in mortification. “I will not stare at everyone’s breasts!”
“Hold it!” Minako interrupted as she flung an arm out between them and pointed for emphasis. “Grace and elegance are the most important. So I, Aino Minako, should get the role.”
“I’m too busy with study and cram school, so if I can, I should play the role, because she only needs to sleep through half the play,” Ami stated, causing the other girls to stare at her. Of course, she wasn’t about to say that if Ryoku got the part of Prince Charming she would get to be kissed by him. Not that that was the most important thing, though….
“There are other characters in the play,” Mamoru said, trying to keep the peace between the bickering girls. “Like Prince Charming and the Wicked Stepmother.”
“Either you or Ryoku get the role of Prince Charming,” Minako said with a wink. “It’ll be a hard call for that one, especially since he’s the one who gets to kiss Snow White.”
“Kiss?” Ryoku said, blinking uncertainly. “Well… I think I’ll let Mamoru-san play the prince. Is that all right, Mamoru-san?”
“Well….”
“The problem is the role of Snow White!” Usagi declared.
“Right!” the other girls agreed.
“I had the idea, so I get the part!” Rei insisted.
“As far as style goes, I’m better for the part!” Makoto insisted.
“I’ll take it because of my elegance,” Minako insisted.
“I’m so busy studying, so let me have the part,” Ami insisted.
“And so, the great debate continues,” Ryoku muttered dryly. “I’m so glad I’m not in charge.”
“Shut up,” Mamoru muttered back at Ryoku.
“It’s so ugly to fight,” Umino said as he and Naru walked over to the arguing girls.
“All of you are too selfish!” Naru added chidingly.
“You be quiet!” all five shouted irritably.
Both Umino and Naru sweatdropped, while Ryoku and Mamoru sighed ruefully.
“The first group broke up because of the exact same problem,” Mamoru muttered.
“Well, I’m sure they meant well enough,” Ryoku muttered as well.
“Stop!” Natsumi ordered suddenly as she approached the group. “Here’s a good way to decide the role of Snow White.” She brought out seven paper tissues tied up into long strands.
“Is that right, Natsumi-san?” Usagi asked unenthusiastically after realizing that she had yet another rival to contend with.
“What’s a good way?” Rei asked.
“How about a lottery?” she asked as she put all the tissue strands in her hand then closed her hand around them, hiding the bottom ends. “I’d like to participate in your play as well.
“If the tip of the paper is white, you get Snow White,” she explained. “Red is for the Stepmother… and the rest are all dwarves. I will take the last paper string. Now, go ahead.”
“Okay, I’ll draw first,” Usagi said as she stepped forward and picked one, then pulled it free.
It was red.
“I got the Stepmother?!?” Usagi exclaimed in dismay.
“What a misfortune, Tsukino-san,” Natsumi said in a half-consoling tone of voice while she continued to grin.
“But, I don’t want to…,” she began to whine.
“That’s luck, Usagi-chan,” Ryoku commented with a shrug. “Now, who’s next?”
The others, including Naru, all exchanged a determined look as they all grabbed a paper string and pulled.
“They’re all blue!” Makoto exclaimed as they all examined their strings.
“I see that all of you have very poor luck,” Natsumi said with a wide smile as she tugged on her piece of paper and pulled it to reveal a frayed white tip. “It appears that I have the role of Snow White.” She smugly tossed her tie over her shoulder and left, leaving the others to stare down at the tie.
As Natsumi left, Ryoku stepped forward and picked up the tie, examined it and frowned as he stared in the direction that she left.
“What’s wrong, Ryo-chan?” Makoto asked as she noticed her brother’s expression.
“Nothing important,” he replied as he pocketed the string.
Nobody even noticed how I rigged it. They’re all fools, Natsumi thought smugly to herself as she held out the small tip of the paper string she tore from the original strand that she left with the others.
The tip was colored blue.
“You need one more person to play a dwarf?” Ail repeated as he turned away from his thoughtful scrutiny of the Doom Tree. “I refuse. I prefer to take the role of the Prince.”
“That role has been filled,” Ann stated. “It’s impossible.”
“Then, I will not participate.”
She frowned at him for a moment, then smiled. “Then, we’ll have to play with only six dwarves.” She was about to leave when she paused as a thought struck her. “Wait… maybe I can ask that boy if he wouldn’t mind playing two roles. After all, his original role is so small and they don’t overlap….”
A play at Juuban Hall…, Ail thought to himself as Ann left. He drew one of his cards and threw it out into the air as he raised his flute to his lips.
“Come forth, Cardian Bipierro!” he commanded as he played his summoning song. As he played, the card began to form into the shape of a harlequin with a strange spiked helmet on its head. With all the make-up and the strange clothing, the Cardian’s gender seemed impossible to determine.
“Next week, at Juuban Hall, the humans will put on a play,” Ail informed the Cardian. “Take energy from everyone present there.”
Bipierro’s eyes glowed as it bowed its understanding.
“Again?” Ryoku muttered tiredly.
It was a couple of days later and everyone was gathered at Juuban Hall to practice the play as they had done since they had all been assigned their roles. Ryoku was chagrined to find out that he had not only been assigned to role of the soldier or woodsman or whoever it was that was supposed to take Snow White to the woods and kill her, but abandons her instead, but he had been given the role of the seventh dwarf as well. There were worse things, he supposed, so he took it all in stride.
“Snow White being wakened from her sleep by the kiss of Prince Charming is the climax scene of the play,” Natsumi explained as she laid down on the bench they were using to simulate the prop they were going to use in the play. “We must practice it as much as necessary.”
“But, how much is necessary?” Ryoku muttered again. Beside him, Usagi nodded in grim agreement. The others just stood around watching and trying not to look bored.
Natsumi ignored him as she closed her eyes. “Now, Mamoru-sama, shall we go over the scene?”
“Sure, just one more time,” Mamoru agreed as he knelt and took Natsumi’s hand.
“Ready?” Ryoku said as he folded his arms tiredly. “Start.”
“Oh, precious Princess!” Mamoru declared as he flung one arm out dramatically. “May my kiss to your angelic lips bring you back from eternal sleep!”
As he moved down to kiss Natsumi, Usagi stared nervously as she started to bite her fingernails. Please don’t kiss her for real! she begged nervously. She stopped biting her nails as she felt Ryoku’s hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry,” he told her quietly. “This is only a play. The kiss isn’t real.” Usagi nodded, but her apprehension didn’t fade away completely.
This is my chance! Natsumi thought as she reached her hands around him and started to pull him down to her.
“No, no,” Mamoru said as he backed away and stood up. “Snow White is supposed to be asleep. Don’t move.”
So close…, Natsumi thought in frustration, then pretended to laugh in chagrin. “I’m sorry. Can we go over it one more time?”
“Again?” Ryoku muttered tiredly… again.
“Haven’t you done enough?” Rei asked in an annoyed tone.
“We need to practice other scenes,” Makoto added.
“You must be joking,” Natsumi exclaimed emphatically. “This is a very important scene! We mustn’t take it lightly. Everybody, don’t be selfish.”
“Look who’s talking about being selfish,” Makoto muttered dryly.
Usagi merely continued to glare at Natsumi.
“See you,” Umino called out as he and Naru left to go home.
“Bye,” Naru added as they left.
“Thanks for your help,” Mamoru said as he began to leave as well.
“Sure thing,” the others all replied in unison again. Usagi was holding a towel as she stood at one side of the room. Mina was sitting in a chair, resting while Ami and Ryoku sat on the floor near Makoto, who was leaning against the wall. Rei was leaning against the bench they were using as a prop at the other end of the room.
“Mamoru-sama, shall we go together?” Natsumi asked as she grabbed onto his arm and started walking with him. “We’ll be playing lovers, so we must get to know each other.”
What does she think she’s doing? Usagi thought furiously as she twisted her towel until it ripped.
“The play’s gonna flop if this keeps up,” Rei commented.
“You think it’s going to flop?” Ryoku remarked dryly. “I think it already has.”
“I wish Natsumi-san would give up the role of Snow White,” Makoto said tiredly.
“Really,” Minako agreed. “After all, she cheated to get it.”
“What do you mean, cheated?” Usagi asked as she whirled around toward the others. “What did you mean? Cheat? Hey! Hey!” She began to cry as no one was saying anything. “Are you trying to keep me out of the discussion?”
“Stop!” Rei shouted in annoyance. “We’ll tell you.”
“The point is… Natsumi-san rigged the lottery,” Minako explained. “It was Ryo-kun who first suspected her of cheating.”
“Ryo-kun?” Usagi asked.
“What first caught my attention was the fact that she pulled her paper string, rather than just opening her hand,” he explained. “Also, when all of you pulled, the strings came out easily. When she pulled, the string resisted at first, even though it was the only string in her hand.
“Then, there was the string tips,” he continued as he pulled out Natsumi’s white-tipped string and a blue-tipped string. “Notice that this string I took from Mako-chan is noticeably longer than Natsumi-san’s. Also, look at the serrated edge of the string as opposed to the smoother edge of Mako-chan’s string.” He handed back the blue-tipped string to Makoto.
“Here’s what happened,” Makoto said as she began to demonstrate. “All the paper strings were colored. She made the last one white by tearing away the tip of it.” As she ripped the tip from her string, it looked just like the one they took from Natsumi.
Immediately, Usagi rounded on Ryoku. “If you knew, why didn’t you say anything about it?” she demanded.
“Do you remember why you all held the lottery in the first place?” Ryoku asked significantly.
Minako nodded. “If any of us got the role, it would just cause arguments later.”
“Besides, Natsumi-san hasn’t made any friends since she moved here,” Ami added. “She looks so lonely all the time, so….”
“I was a bit impressed by her determination to get the role, even if she had to cheat,” Rei remarked.
“Aren’t you all so kind?” Usagi said sarcastically. “But, what kind of friendship is that? Cheating is cheating! We’ve got to straighten this out!”
“Anyway… let’s talk it out with Natsumi-san,” Rei suggested. Everyone nodded their agreement.
Later that night, the group all walked over to the Hikawa Shrine along with Rei. “Usagi, are you sure that you can do the job?” she asked as they stopped just before reaching the street that the shrine was on.
“Trust me!” Usagi said confidently. “I’ll talk to her at school tomorrow.”
Rei was about to say something else when everyone spotted Natsumi walking toward the shrine.
“That’s Natsumi-san,” Usagi said as soon as she saw her.
“What does she want to do at Hikawa Shrine?” Ami wondered.
Natsumi walked up the steps to the shrine and headed toward the main shrine building. As soon as she reached the shrine, she stopped, closed her eyes and began to pray as the others followed her up to the shrine and hid behind some bushes so they could watch her.
“Please make the play successful,” she prayed out loud. And please let me taste Mamoru-sama’s lips.…
“Natsumi-san’s so serious,” Ami remarked.
“She’s that devoted to the play,” Minako added as Natsumi reached up and rang the bells that hung in front of the shrine, then turned and left.
“So she’s selfish,” Rei said as she and the others came out of hiding. “Actresses usually are selfish, one way or the other.”
“Good actresses are usually even more so,” Minako added.
“Maybe Natsumi-san should keep the role,” Makoto added.
“All of you make it sound like being selfish is a good thing,” Ryoku remarked dryly.
“At any rate, for her sake, we should make the play successful,” Ami said as she gave Ryoku a questioning look. He merely shrugged indifferently in return.
Usagi nodded her reluctant agreement, but grumbled anyway. “I can’t stand her kissing Mamoru-san, but I guess I have to live with it.”
“Eh? What did you say?” the girls asked questioningly as Ryoku smirked imperceptibly.
“Nothing!” she replied as she laughed in chagrin.
The night before the play, everyone showed up for a dress rehearsal. Natsumi and Mamoru were very pleased with the costumes that Umino had procured for them. However, Usagi’s and everyone else’s costumes….
“Poor Snow White!” all seven… animals exclaimed forlornly in unison. “She ate the poison apple! And fell into an eternal sleep!” They were all hopping up and down as they surrounded the flower-adorned table that Natsumi was lying on in her Snow White outfit. They were trying their best to look sad, even with the dumb grins plastered on their costume’s faces.
“Nyahh!” Usagi sneered as she stood a short distance away in her Wicked Stepmother costume. It wasn’t too bad… except for the ridiculous false nose that she had to wear.
“This is stupid!” Rei exclaimed irritably as she took off the head of her bear costume. All her hair was tied up with a red bandana to keep it from getting messed up or tangled up inside the costume. “We’re supposed to be dwarves! Why are we in these costumes?”
“Really!” Makoto added as she took off the head of her gorilla costume. “Look, I’m a gorilla!”
“But you girls wanted something cute, so I thought furry animal suits…,” Umino began as he took off the head of his elephant costume. Everyone else began removing the heads of their costumes as well – Ami had the raccoon costume; Naru had the rabbit costume; Minako had the fox costume; and Ryoku had the lion costume. Natsumi merely sat up on her table and folded her arms impatiently.
“What’s so cute about this?!?” Rei and Makoto growled as Makoto shoved her gorilla head on Umino’s head, knocking him to the ground.
“Ouch,” Ryoku muttered sympathetically as Umino began to twitch and Mamoru and Usagi both sweatdropped.
“But you look wonderful in those costumes!” Natsumi said cheerily. Rei and Makoto merely snorted indignantly. “And Tsukino-san, you are perfect for the Wicked Stepmother.” Now Usagi was growling as she glared at her. “Shall we continue?”
I want to be in that fancy dress, doing a love scene with the Prince! she thought as she continued to glare at Natsumi.
After the final dress rehearsal had finished and everyone had left for home, Ann went into her room and laid down on her bed, still in her Snow White outfit. She happily picked up one of her pillows and held it up over her head as she stared up at it while imagining that it was Mamoru’s face.
“Oh, precious Princess!” she said as she closed her eyes. May my kiss to your angelic lips bring you back from eternal sleep! she imagined Mamoru saying to her as she brought down the pillow and kissed it.
Just as she was kissing the pillow, Ail walked by her room and opened her door. “What are you doing, Ann?” he asked flatly as he watched her kiss a pillow.
“I’m… practicing for the play!” she exclaimed as she jumped up in surprise and embarrassment.
Ail glanced down at the play script lying down on the bed next to Ann. As he began fantasizing over playing the role of the Prince and kissing Usagi – who would be playing the part of Snow White, of course – his face slowly began to show a little bit of red as he quietly laughed to himself.
“Ail?” she said as she tried to get his attention. “Ail!”
He quickly snapped out of his daydream. “So, it’s finally tomorrow. Good luck.” With that, he closed the door to her room, leaving Ann to stare at the door in confusion.
I wish I had the role of the Prince…, he thought wistfully as he turned to leave.
Usagi was busy doing some last minute rehearsal in her room as she read lines from her script in her pajamas.
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” she asked dramatically as she read from her script. “What? I’m second?” she exclaimed. “The prettiest is Snow White? Curse her!”
“What a ham!” Shingo remarked derisively as he opened the door to his sister’s room and smirked at her.
“Shut up!” she shot back at him as she dropped her script.
“I’m going to watch the play tomorrow,” he informed her as he backed out of her room and closed the door behind him. “Try to act half-decent, okay?”
“I don’t need you there!” she retorted, then went back to practicing her lines for tomorrow.
“We got so many people!” Usagi said nervously as she peeked from backstage. It was almost show time and the hall was packed. Everyone stood ready in their costumes; Ryoku had all of his multiple costumes ready, since he was doing several small parts as well as playing the seventh dwarf… or rather, animal.
“I’m getting nervous,” Rei added, her voice muffled from the bear head she was wearing.
“Just try to calm yourself,” Ryoku said calmly, his voice muffled from his lion head. “Just ignore the audience and do your best. You’ll do fine.”
“Easy for you to say,” Rei replied. “You’ve performed in front of audiences before.”
“So have you,” he told her.
“That was different.”
“How?”
Rei was saved from having to reply when a buzzing sound suddenly rang out.
“That’s the first bell,” Mamoru told everyone. “Are you all set?”
“Yes,” everyone replied in unison.
And when the second bell goes, at last Mamoru-sama will kiss me! Natsumi thought eagerly.
As the second bell rang, the audience began to applaud at the curtain rose. The background prop was a large, fairly elaborate castle background, but what caught everyone’s attention was the lone figure standing on one parapet. A single spotlight lit off, casting a circle of light onto the figure, revealing its identity to all.
“What’s that?” Usagi asked as the audience gasped in surprise.
“That clown…,” Makoto exclaimed as she pointed at Bipierro.
“It’s not supposed to be there!” Rei and Minako said at the same time.
“Has the setup been changed?” Ami asked Ryoku.
“Without any of us knowing about it?” he replied as he removed his costume’s head and glared at the Cardian. “I don’t think so.”
Bipierro began to pirouette on its unicycle, then leaped off the castle background. It then began to pounce on the background, completely wrecking it.
“Wow!” Shingo remarked from the audience as he happily munched on some popcorn. “They’re staring off by collapsing the background!”
“Don’t!” Natsumi exclaimed as she ran out on stage in order to stop the Cardian. “Don’t ruin our stage!”
The Cardian responded by flinging a ball at her. In mid-flight, the ball began to expand into a huge version of itself, which knocked her backwards into the air.
“Natsumi-san!” Mamoru exclaimed as she was knocked back into him and into the floor with her on top of him. He was knocked out cold as the back of her head struck his nose.
“Mamoru-sama, you protected me!” Natsumi exclaimed happily as she tried to kiss him, but was also knocked out by the ball coming back down and smacking her in the head.
“Natsumi-san! Mamoru-san!” the others exclaimed worriedly as they saw them both get knocked out by the Cardian’s attack.
“It’s a real monster!” Umino shouted as he grabbed Naru’s hand and started to run. “Naru-chan, run!” As he took his first steps, he tripped over his costume’s feet and accidentally flung Naru into the other girls, knocking them all onto the floor.
“I can’t move!” Minako exclaimed as she and the others struggled to get up.
“Get off me!” Rei shouted irritably as she tried to get up.
“You first!” Makoto retorted as she tried to do the same.
“Just get up one by one!” Ami shouted as she tried to get up as well.
“Naru-chan, hang on!” Umino said as he got up and was about to go help her, but tripped again and fell down… again.
“This is an emergency!” Rei exclaimed, still stuck on the floor.
“So, get off me!” Minako exclaimed, also still stuck on the floor.
Ryoku merely stared at the mess and sweatdropped. “I’m surrounded by idiots,” he muttered in a deadpan tone as he walked over to the struggling mass of girls and tried to help them get untangled.
“I told you to get off me first!” Makoto shouted, still stuck on the floor.
“All of you, quit squirming around, or I’ll solve the problem by cutting off some limbs!” Surprisingly enough, that stopped their squirming.
As everyone on stage struggled through whatever their problem was, Bipierro made itself busy by bringing out a spiral umbrella and opening toward the audience. As it twirled the umbrella, it slowly began to gather the audience’s energy.
“He’ll pay for messing up our stage!” Usagi muttered as she slowly pushed herself up and got to her feet. “Moon crystal power, make up!”
As the Cardian continued to suck out the energy of the audience, a second spotlight suddenly lit off, illuminating a small trap door that had suddenly opened.
“So many days of hard rehearsals…,” Sailor Moon declared as she began to rise up from underneath the stage through the trap door. “Then, show time at last…. This is the fruit of all our friendship and effort! How dare you ruin it!” she shouted as she pointed accusingly at Bipierro.
“I’m the Sailor Warrior fighting for love and justice, Sailor Moon! On behalf of the Moon, I’ll punish you!”
Bipierro responded by pointing its umbrella at her and firing a rope from out of its tip and tangling her up in it. It then began to electrocute her by sending out blue sparks of electrical energy through the rope.
As Sailor Moon was getting electrocuted by the attack, a white rose suddenly flew through the air and slashed through the rope, freeing her and causing Bipierro to fall to the floor because of the sudden slack in the rope.
“Nobody knows his face, but the young maidens all know…,” the Moonlight Knight announced from the railings above the stage. “The Moonlight Knight, at your service!”
“Moonlight Knight-sama!” Sailor Moon exclaimed happily.
“What the…?!?” Shingo exclaimed in surprise as he continued to munch away at his popcorn, while taking it all in stride. “Was this a Sailor Moon play instead of Snow White?”
By now, Ryoku had finally managed to free the rest of the girls and after making sure that Umino and Naru had made it to safety, they all transformed and leaped out on stage.
“With flames of passion and prayer, I vanquish evil!” Mars declared as she struck a pose. “She of the red high heels – Sailor Mars!”
“With the strength I was born with and the power of thunder,” Jupiter declared as she also struck a pose. “Sailor Jupiter!”
“Going through cram school and homework, with a reference book always handy,” Mercury declared as she also struck a pose. “The champion of the national mock exam – Sailor Mercury!”
“The masked legend is past and the exposed face is also beautiful!” Venus exclaimed as she also struck a pose. “The last of the beautiful Warriors – Sailor Venus!”
“Do I have to?” Knight asked dryly. All four gave him an impatient look. “Oh, all right, already!” he muttered as he sighed ruefully.
“With a calm, lethal grace, I protect my friends with my blades of justice!” Knight declared as he, reluctantly, struck a pose. “The lone male, handsome Warrior – Sailor Knight!”
“Handsome Warrior?” all four asked questioningly.
“Well, she said ‘beautiful Warrior’, so why not?” he replied defensively. “Don’t look at me like that! She started it!”
“Never mind,” Mars said as she shook her head. “Let’s just finish.”
“Fine with me,” Knight said flatly.
“Here we are!” all five said dramatically as they struck their poses again.
Bipierro sweatdropped momentarily, then recovered as it shot out the spikes in its helmet at the Sailor Scouts. All the Scouts leapt in separate directions as they avoided the attack.
“You have wrecked the play my friends have worked so hard on for several days,” Knight shouted as he brought out his Knight Swords. “For your evil deeds, you shall taste my blades of justice!” he declared as he dashed forward and slashed at the Cardian. As he passed, Bipierro’s umbrella and unicycle were both slashed up into several pieces, totally destroyed.
“My red high heels are engulfed in a flame of rage!” Mars declared as she brought out an ofuda. “Rin… pyou… tou… sha… kai… jin… retsu… sai… zen! Evil spirit, begone!” she shouted as she flung the ward onto the Cardian’s forehead, halting it in its tracks.
“I sacrificed my study time to learn lines,” Mercury declared angrily. “I want my time – worth reading three books – back!
“Shabon spray freezing!” she shouted as she used her powered-up attack to freeze the Cardian.
“You’ll pay for ruining the stage!” Sailor Moon declared as she brought out her 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 Bipierro, destroying it and leaving nothing behind but a smoldering card stuck into the stage floor.
After the Cardian was destroyed, the audience began to cheer and applaud. “Awesome!” Shingo shouted as he jumped up and down excitedly in his seat. “What a great play!”
“That’s the end of the show,” the Moonlight Knight said from his new vantage point on top of a prop crescent moon hanging from the ceiling. “How beautiful girls in the spotlight are…,” he remarked as he flourished his cape and turned away as the moon began to rise toward the ceiling. “Farewell.” One leap, and he was gone.
“Moonlight Knight-sama!” Sailor Moon called after him as the curtain began to close behind her. Soon, all the Sailor Scouts realized that they were still out on stage in front of a cheering audience.
“Encore! Encore!” the audience roared as they continued to applaud.
All of the Scouts shared a chagrined look and began to wave to the audience. “We did it!” they all said to each other at once as the girls all grinned childishly. Sailor Knight just half-smiled, but it was slightly wider than his usual ones.
“How mean!” Ann shouted from her bed after she had gone home. She was still in her Snow White outfit and was on the verge of crying. “It was mean, Ail! After all my practice, how could you go send in a Cardian?”
“Quiet!” Ail said sternly from outside the door to her room. “Have you forgotten our mission is to take energy?” With that, he closed the door to her room.
“I wish I could’ve taken Mamoru-sama’s love and kiss…,” she wailed as she began to cry into her pillow.
From outside her room, Ail leaned against her bedroom door and sighed. I wish I could’ve played the Prince.…
To Chapter 53: Detention Danger