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sailormoonrewrite · 1 year

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Episode 7: Usagi Learns Her Lesson: Becoming a Star is Hard Work

Cries and cheers of her fans drifted through the large theatre. The stage lights burned her eyes as she sang her latest song until her diaphragm burned. The speakers blaring so loudly she could barely focus. Her costume itched everywhere. Her painted face ached from smiling so much, however, she knew she couldn’t stop. She couldn’t disappoint anyone.

“Thank you, Tokyo! You’ve been wonderful!” She said as the shouts got louder and stronger as she began to leave the stage all the while blowing kisses to the audience as she disappeared backstage. Another show was over.

She headed straight to her dressing room where she knew she would be safe from stares and blinding lights at least for a little while and wouldn’t have to wear a mask for a little while.

Inside her dressing room, she washed off the heavy makeup she wore for every show before removing her elaborate idol outfit and replacing it with a plain white robe before finally plopping down onto her makeup chair. Yawning, she caught sight of herself in the mirror and smiled.

“Shiratori-san,” called a male voice from outside which turned her gaze from her reflection to the door. “Are you decent?”

“Um...yes! Please come in!” she called out and soon enough the door was flung open and in walked her manager Hoga Yoshi, a man with a blazing bright smile that could charm anyone into doing what he want.

“Wonderful work tonight!” he said while throwing his arms in the air.

“Thank you, Hoga-sama,” she said back with a small smile.

“No, thank you!” Hoga-sama continued. “Thanks to tonight’s performance, the company just called me about having you do an international tour.”

“An international tour?” she asked, a little afraid. She just finished her nationwide tour and now they already wanted her to do another one so quickly?

“Just think about it, Malaysia, China, South Korea! Maybe even a few Western countries will all know the name, Shiratori Mikan!” Hoga-sama continued with a blaze of fire in his eyes. Pride? Greed? She didn’t know. Mikan just put on her mask and nodded Hoga-sama continued about ‘her’ future as her eyes drifted away to the still-open door. “With my help, Shiratori-san, you’ll be the most popular and well-known idol on the planet!” Before she could say anything, he was already out the door.

An international tour.

The thought made her loudly sigh. Mikan supposed she shouldn’t complain since this was the life she signed up for the moment she chose the life of a star over the life of an average sixteen-year-old and yet...didn’t she have a choice?

Mikan’s head fell into her hands as she began to take deep, heavy breaths.

After what felt like hours (but was only a few minutes), Mikan lifted her head and turned toward her reflection. She didn’t look happy.

She tried to smile.

It didn’t work.

Mikan sighed as tears started to pierce her eyes.

She couldn’t stop crying.

She looked sad in the mirror.

And then she didn’t.

Her reflection smirked.

She didn’t.

And before Mikan even knew what happened, everything just went black.

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It had been a bad day in middle school for the fourteen-year-old secret superheroine, Tsukino Usagi. Today she woke up late and so she ended up being late for school and then she forgot her homework! Now all of this was very normal, but what wasn’t very normal was what came next. Now, the blonde knew that she wasn’t exactly the greatest student, and sure that might make Sakurada-sensei mad, but to make her clean the entire classroom?! Now that had to be some kind of cruel and unusual punishment somewhere!

As Usagi groaned over the unfairness of it all, a pair of fingers snapped directly in her face. “Usagi!” cried the voice attached to the fingers.

Usagi quickly came out of her trance to see Naru standing next to her. “You know if you keep dazing off like that, Sakurada-sensei might make you do this for the rest of the week,” Naru said as she turned to dust the shelves.

Usagi groaned at the thought of being so unjustly punished before saying “Don’t worry, Naru-chan!” with a bright smile before going to clean each and every desk with the gross chemicals they had to use. “And sorry you’re staying here with me,” the blond superheroine continued since she did feel really bad that instead of being home listening to music or playing video games, Naru was helping Usagi with her punishment.

“Hey! That’s what best friends are for right? Being miserable together when one of them is being punished,” Naru said with a joking smile which made Usagi laugh out loud. “However, for the rest of the week, you’re paying for all my milkshakes!”

“Hey! No fair,” Usagi said as she tossed a rag at Naru who simply laughed it off before trying to chase her blonde, blue-eyed best friend which filled the ultra-boring classroom into a den of fun and laughs. Sure, they really weren’t supposed to because you know punishments and all that, but the blonde and redhead couldn’t really find themselves caring! Especially the blonde since because of her ‘special secret’, she’s been having to deal with evil, energy-stealing monsters that feed on people’s desires and magic-talking cats insisting she trains more, little moments like this where she could just hang out with her best friend were getting really rare.

“Greetings, ladies,” came a familiar voice that caused the girls to stumble over a couple of desks and ended up smacking into each other causing them to fall and hit the tile floor. Furious, the two girls looked up and they both groaned. It was Umino! Did he have to come in now? They were having fun!

“What do you want, Umino?” Usagi said angrily as she and Naru picked themselves off the dusty floor.

“I just thought you girls would want to see this,” he said as he pulled out a rolled-up flier from a thin air and tossed it open revealing a picture of a beautiful brunette with field green eyes and a youthful face posing like a singer in front of a brightly lit, rainbow-colored stage and underneath were pink words that read, Make Your Dreams Come True! Join Famous Idol Group! Audition for the Cinderella Caravan Today! Hosted by Our Newest Shining Star Shiratori Mikan!

“Shiratori Mikan!” Naru cried out in joy as she grabbed the flier with stars in her eyes.

“Shiratori Mikan?” Usagi asked, thinking that name sounded way too familiar but she couldn’t remember why. Well, okay, she was obviously an idol so maybe she heard it from a store or a commercial or something, but something inside was telling her that wasn’t it.

“Are you seriously telling me you don’t know who Shiratori Mikan is?!” Naru cried out in disbelief and then shoved the poster in Usagi’s face. “She’s only the newest, upcoming idol in Japan!”

“And she also attended our school top of her class before being recruited when she was 16,” Umino said as he took back the poster from a suddenly irate Naru. “She’s absolutely the perfect woman! Beautiful, smart, and she seems so incredible on stage!”

“I didn’t know you were such a big fan, Umino,” Naru asked with a hand on her hip and an annoyed expression on her face.

“How could I not be?” Umino said in a daze as he squeezed the poster causing it to wrinkle before pulling it back to look at it. “Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have gone to this school when she was here,” he continued as both girls just rolled their eyes.

As Umino continued on and on and on about how amazing the pop sensation was and that he’d give, Usagi was thinking back about what was actually on the flier he showed them. Something about dreams coming true and auditions and stars.

Wait a minute.

Usagi’s eyes shot open.

Dreams come true?! Audition?! Star?!

Suddenly, Usagi was struck by a vision!

It was of her on a beautifully lit stage in an elaborate idol costume that kind of resembled her Sailor Moon fuku with hundreds, maybe even thousands, of fans shouting and cheering her name as she sings so beautifully it makes birds want to sing with her. Not only that but on stage, she was the most beautiful, most elegant dancer who never missed a beat of the music as she did elaborate spins and twists and turns that made the already happy crowd wild. As she would stay there showing off her moves to the audience who would absolutely adore her then a rain of rose petals would come in and then her true love, Tuxedo Mask would jump down and propose to her right then and there. She would of course say yes and then he would grab her along the waist and gently stroke her bright red cheeks as her idol dress transformed into a beautiful wedding dress and veil. Then, slowly, he would inch closer and closer to her as she puckered her lips to meet him and-

“USAGI-CHAN!” Tuxedo Mask screamed. No. Wait. That didn’t sound like her precious masked savior. That sounded like Naru-chan. Wait. NARU-CHAN!

Usagi’s eyes burst wide open to see that instead of embracing her handsome hero, she was instead seconds away from kissing her obviously flushed, obviously embarrassed best friend.

Usagi’s face was a similar crimson color as she quickly released Naru and fell over from the shock Naru hid her face behind her hands while Umino was just a frozen statue.

You know it’s moments like this that make you wish the Earth would just swallow you up.

Unfortunately, no such luck for Tsukino Usagi today.

“S-sorry Naru-chan,” Usagi said while do everything to avoid eye contact with her best friend so she didn’t have to address the big elephant in the room.

“D-Don’t worry about it,” Naru said, clearly wanting to avoid the subject as well.

Still, with a bright red face, Usagi stumbled to her feet and swiped the poster away from their nerdy friend, and stared at the beautiful idol, and then at her best friend. “We should try out Naru-chan!” Usagi said grabbing Naru’s shoulders and coming very close to her redheaded friend’s face.

Naru avoided Usagi’s eyes as she said, “Us?”

“Of course, us! Who would be better?!” Usagi cried out in joy with stars in her eyes. “Just imagine, you and me starting our own idol duo, going on tour, and becoming famous!”

“It does sound amazing,” Naru said, stars started to form in her own eyes. “Wait...we don’t know anything about being idols!”

“Well, that’s why they’ll teach us and besides it can’t hurt to just try out, right?” Usagi said as she showed the picture of Shiratori Mikan to Naru who gently took it from her friend who stared at, thinking. Come on, Naru-chan. PLEASE!PLEASE!PLEASE!PLEASE!PLEASE!

Naru looked up at her friend with a dreamy smile. “Alright! Let’s do it!” The two girls then proceeded to break glass with their squeals of joy alone as they danced around with glee.

“Wait a minute! What about Usagi’s punishment!?” Umino, who they kind of forgot was still in the room, said with his hands on his hips and clearly annoyed. “Sakurada-sensei might find out and when she does, Usagi will be in even bigger trouble and-” before he could get another word out, the two girls dogpiled him with cleaning supplies as they booked it out the door.

“Thanks, Umino!” Usagi called back as she and her redheaded best friend booked it out of the school before they could get caught.

“We’ll be back soon!” Naru yelled as well, knowing Umino must not be excited about having to clean the classroom all on his own.

Oh, well. They’ll make it up to him later when they become famous, world-renowned pop idols!

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Following the directions on the poster to a local idol trainee academy, the blonde and redhead were met by a huge crowd of girls around waiting to be let in for the auditions, all looking hopeful and happy.

Honestly, it looked so cheery and festive it made Usagi smile to see so many girls there wanting to make their dreams a reality. As Usagi surveyed the crowd of wide-eyed girls, she felt Naru’s hand grip tighten with her green eyes quickly looking around. That was weird. What was going on with Naru?

Before Usagi could get to the bottom of her friend’s strange behavior, a semi-familiar male voice began to speak over the speakers. “Welcome, ladies,” it said which caused the giggling, happily talking teenage girls to quiet down. “Today you have the unique pleasure of participating in the upcoming idol group The Cinderella Caravan led by the one and only Shiratori Mikan!” Loud applause and cheers sounded out from the crowd, including Usagi and Naru who were happily clapping along. “Speaking of Shiratori-chan, as an extra treat, all of you will be having the pleasure of meeting her!�� This made the crowd go insane as people began to happily chant about how amazing and adorable she is and how they wanted to be just like her.

“Isn’t this amazing, Naru-chan?!” Usagi asked, well shouted over the crowd of screaming girls, to her best friend who was staring at the ground with a weird expression. It was like she wasn’t paying any attention to her. “Naru-chan?!” Usagi called again, this time to just get her to look at her.

Naru seemed to snap out of whatever daze she was in and looked up at Usagi who staring intently at her, trying to figure out why she wasn’t being herself. “Sorry, Usagi-chan!” Naru said pulling away her hand to scratch the back of her head. “Must’ve just gotten lost in thought there,” Naru continued before giving a small but barely reassuring smile.

Usagi, from the look on her face, was clearly not convinced. However, there was no time to dwell on this as the speakers went off again announcing, “Alright, Cinderellas, it’s time to make your dreams a reality!” This was barely announced as girls began to shove and push with huge smiles on their faces to be the first to make their ways into the academy. Unfortunately, this also came at the cost of knocking both Usagi and Naru onto the hard concrete beneath them.

Great! Now they were going to have bruises on their bums!

“Ow!” Usagi groaned as she rubbed her bruised bum. “What the heck!? I can’t believe they just threw us onto the ground! It’s not like the contest is going to grow legs and run off!” Usagi shouted but it was clear that her yells of righteous indignation were barely heard or cared about as the girls around them pushed and shoved to be one of the first inside. This made the blonde secret senshi burn with fury as she clenched her fist ranting about how rude the other girls were. If this was on TV she bet she would have steam coming out of her.

However, she heard a slight groan behind her. It sounded familiar. Was that?

Naru!

Quickly, Usagi spun around and saw her friend still on the ground dejected. “I’m so sorry, Naru-chan!” Usagi said as she stumbled over towards her friend. “Are you okay?!” she asked. “You didn’t hit your head or something?”

Her redheaded friend just shook her head before sighing sadly. “Maybe we should go, Usagi-chan,” Naru said in a small voice as she brought her knees up to her chin.

“What do you mean?” Usagi cried out. Didn’t she want to be famous too? “We came all this way and it’ll be fun! And then we’ll win and become famous and everyone will want us and want to know us and we’ll get any guy we want,” Usagi continued trying to inspire her friend who just stayed sad. “Okay, Naru-chan, you’re really freaking me out,” Usagi said, genuinely afraid. Naru had never, NEVER been like this before. Usually, she was the first to jump at activities and events like this like that one time when they were eleven and Usagi was absolutely terrified about riding the rollercoaster at Dreamland but Naru managed to convince her and it was the best ride she had ever been on! They actually made it a tradition that every year they’d ride it together. Yet now, Usagi couldn’t believe the Naru-chan who practically shoved her onto the coaster and the girl in front of her were the same people.

The girl in front of her looked so scared, so delicate, so not Naru.

“Come on, Naru-chan! What’s wrong?” Usagi asked, well-pleaded, as the sounds of footsteps faded away.

The blonde impatiently waited for her friend to tell her why she was acting so weird when she heard the tiniest little muttering of, “...go...”

“Wh-what?” Usagi asked. Go? Go where? Go inside? She’s trying. The blue-eyed girl looked back to see the green eyes of her best friend.

“I wanna go home,” Naru slowly said before looking down and Usagi literally thought the world was going to stop and light on fire around her.

Go home?

Go home!

Why would Naru want to go home?!

“Why would you want to go home?!” Usagi yelled in disbelief.

Naru looked away with a mix of sadness and fear. “We’re never going to win, Usagi-chan.”

“What are you talking about Naru-chan? Of course, we’ll win!”

Naru glared, yes actually glared, at Usagi which really frightened her. “There are tons of girls here, Usagi-chan! Some who are way prettier and older than us, so why would they ever pick two random fourteen-year-olds?” Naru said as she slowly looked down, tears starting to form in her eyes.

So, that was what Naru-chan was worried about. Usagi looked down sadly as she grabbed her handkerchief from her skirt pocket and slowly started to wipe away the tears in her friend’s eyes. “Just because there’s a lot of girls here,” Usagi began as she slowly eased her friend in for a hug, “doesn’t mean we won’t win and even if we don’t, we’ll still have a lot of fun.” Naru looked at Usagi before starting to stand up but instead of joining her to walk inside, Naru was starting to walk in the other direction! “Oh no, you don’t!” Usagi cried out as she grabbed her arm. “Weren’t you the one who always told me to take a chance even if it might be scary?”

Naru didn’t respond though. Or maybe she just didn’t want to admit Usagi was right. Usagi herself assumed the latter.

“You were!” Usagi said as she pointed one finger in the air before pointing it directly at Naru’s face. “And that is why there’s no way I’m going in there if you’re not there!”

“But...” Naru started before looking at the resolve in Usagi’s eyes before turning away for a moment and didn’t look back. Usagi started to feel worried that her words didn’t reach her. Usagi was honestly starting to worry she was going to have to drag her best friend kicking and screaming inside because there was no way was she going to go in there without her. For now, though, Usagi just stared intently hoping that intimidation will force Naru to come in with her. Um...could that be seen as wrong? Who cares. This is for the greater good! “...I’m still not sure about this, Usagi-chan, but I guess it can’t hurt to try.” Naru then smiled, a bit shakily if Usagi was being honest, but still smiling!

For her turn, Usagi shot back a massive smile as she put her elbow around Naru’s and then started to march them towards the double doors of the academy as the blonde loudly declared, “Just you wait, Naru-chan, we’ll have Mikan-san begging for us to join her group in no time!” This made both girls give each other good-hearted before running into the academy as the doors shut behind them.

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Herded along with the many, many other girls, Usagi and Naru found themselves push and pulled and shoved towards the center of what seemed like a big dome with giant stage lights hanging from the white ceiling that pointed towards a stage that kind of looked like the runways they have in those shows about models Usagi and her mom always watch on the weekends. The stage itself seemed to be made of some kind of glass or plastic surrounded by walls covered in tiny blue curtains.

For her part, Usagi was imagining what it would be like to be up on that stage. It must be amazing! Having people cheer for you, want your autograph, want to be friends with you, people wanting to be you, and have every eye on you!

She was broken from her little daydream when she felt a tiny squeeze in her hand. Usagi looked over to see Naru still had a worried look on her face. The blonde guessed that Naru must still be feeling scared.

Usagi, wanting to help, gave a warm smile to her best friend and gave back a tiny, reassuring squeeze of her own. Looking at Naru’s face, she looked a bit happier which made Usagi a bit happier too. They are best friends after all!

Suddenly, the lights dimmed. Every conversation, every word was silenced. Every girl, including Usagi and Naru, turned their full attention to the stage.

She emerged like a goddess from the ceiling on a decorated swing, a beautiful teenager mocha-brown hair done up in a fancy ponytail with a big, bright blue bow holding it together with her pale skin glistening under the bright yellow stage lights and her emerald eyes glinting with the joy of being the object of everyone’s attention. On her body, she wore a beautiful light purple dress with a wide skirt decorated with blue crystals along the frilly hem. Her pink-colored lips were done up in a wide smile with the beginning of a beautiful song.

Slowly, she descended onto the stage without missing a beat or a note. She walked towards the end of the stage where she reached out to the girls who began to scream in joy as they clearly wanted to get closer.

Usagi and Naru weren’t any different. They were both completely entranced by the beautiful woman. They watched as she danced towards the back of the stage where she began dancing with three other girls as the music picked up and the lights were changing to every color of the rainbow.

Everything was incredible.

The dancing, the singing, the music.

The idols looked so majestic.

Mikan looked divine.

Everything was intoxicating.

At the climax of the song, Mikan shot her arm into the sky before everything went dark.

No music, no light. No dancing, no idols. No talking, no moving. Just darkness.

No one turned from the stage though. No one wanted to.

No one even seemed to want to breathe in that moment.

It was like they were in a trance.

Slowly, slowly the room lights turned on. And there was Shiratori Mikan now dressed in a puffy orange dress with a green sash and matching green bow in her now loose brown hair with that same smile on her face as she now gazed upon the audience below her. For its part, the audience couldn’t help but stare in awe and relief to see her again.

“Welcome ladies to the Cinderella Caravan, where one of you will have the once-in-a-lifetime become a real-life Cinderella and join my idol group where fame and riches beyond your wildest dreams await,” she said in the sweetest voice as she gracefully walked towards the end of the stage. “And of course, I know each one of you is a beautiful and special young woman like her,” Shiratori-sama said as she pointed at someone in the front row. All the audience members turned to the girl at the end of her pointed finger. The girl in question turned out to be a short, stocky twelve-year-old with long hair tied up in pigtails and covered in freckles. “She has such a unique appearance and the fact she’s so young and still trying to dream big!” she continued as she patted the girl on the head. Strangely though, the girl didn’t look happy about it. She was shifting around with bright blush and a big frown as she played with her uniform skirt. Weird. Shouldn’t she be happy? She was the lucky girl that got picked by Shiratori-sama herself to be called an inspiration. The blonde heard whispers in the background. “Now onto our first challenge. Idols can’t just be beautiful, they need to have exceptional endurance. Idols can be on stage for ours and have shows that last for weeks where they not only have to sing and dance. but remain smiling and perfect looking for their thousands of adoring fans to test this we’ll be entering into the personal gym we have here in the academy,” she said as light poured into the room. “Unfortunately, though I want to take all of you, we only have enough room for one hundred of you, so it’s going to be a first come, first serve scenario to anyone who can get to the entrance so...Go!” Shiratori-sama declared with a wide smile before every girl began to shove and push. It was almost like every girl had been taken out of one spell and put into another as they all fought to be one of the lucky hundred.

Usagi and Naru found themselves being shoved and thrown and tossed around in this craziness until they were forced onto their hands and knees with just a hopeless prayer that they might be able to get to the door before everyone else and trying to avoid getting their fingers smashed by the many teenaged girls’ sneakers and heels.

It didn’t work though when Usagi heard Naru give a loud cry which caused her to turn her head to check on her friend who was shaking her hand as if her very life depended on it. “Are you okay, Naru?!” Usagi yelled out in order to be heard over the crowd of girls that surrounded them before crawling over to her friend. As she did so though, she felt something tumble over her which caused her attention to be to the side of her where she saw a semi-dazed girl with pigtails being knocked into another girl with long hair who was winding up to punch someone, causing them all to fall and then to fall into other people. Those people then fall onto other people. And then those people fell onto other people and so on and so on until the was a giant pile of collapsed and deeply confused girls except for the girl who started this and her friend.

Usagi did feel pretty guilty but at least she was able to stand now. Quickly she got to her feet and dove towards Naru who was now staring at the room of collapsed females. “Is your hand okay?” Usagi asked as she sat next to her and Naru simply nodded still in shock over what just happened. “Good!” Usagi cried out before looking over at the unblocked door and a wide, huge smile rose to her face. “Come on!” Usagi yelled as she grabbed Naru up by her other hand and together they made a mad dash for the door though they were careful to not step on the fingers or toes of the girls below them as people were starting to become more aware. Slowly and then quickly, many of the other girls began to rise and chase after Usagi and Naru.

However, they were too late!

Usagi and Naru were already through the door where a man was waiting for them dressed like one of those fancy security suits who proceeded to direct them and the 98 other girls that came piling in after them to another room.

Usagi and Naru squealed in delight!

They were one step closer to their goal!

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Usagi and Naru found themselves in a large gym with what looked like a wooden dance floor covered with one hundred really fancy exercise bikes. Wait, why were those there? Oh. Yeah. Shiratori-sama said this was supposed to be an endurance challenge or something. A challenge of endurance. Fancy exercise bikes. Oh, wait…Oh no. Looking at the really fancy exercise bikes, the two teens stared in horror at what they were about to be subjected to since neither of them was particularly good when it came to athletics. Okay, sure Usagi was secretly Sailor Moon but that still didn’t mean she was that capable when it came to this kind of stuff! And poor Naru doesn’t even have that to fall on! Ugh! Why couldn’t this challenge have been how long could someone play Sailor V!?

Usagi looked over at Naru with worry when suddenly a door to their right swung open. Two people entered the room first it was a bored-looking guy with blonde hair, green eyes, and a red suit. He didn’t seem like a security guard so maybe he was the idol’s manager but for some weird reason, he looked very familiar to Usagi. Maybe she’d seen him on TV or something.

However, he wasn’t important because in walked Shiratori Mikan. She was wearing a huge confident smile and instead of her beautiful idol outfit, was pair of black and blue sweats with a matching short shirt and her chocolate hair was pulled out of her face in an elaborate twist that made her look like the model on one of those workout magazines her mom brings home. Needless to say, every eye was glued to her form as she walked through the crowd of girls who parted as though it was expected of them in the say way you bow for a great queen. Shiratori-sama proceeded to the middle of the room without a care in the world before she stopped in the center where she could be at the forefront of everyone in the room’s attention if she wasn’t already.

“Welcome, ladies! I’m so excited to have so many fresh and lovely faces for our first challenge!” she announced. Wow. Even without a microphone, she was still able to make her lovely voice sing to everyone. “Now that we only have you lucky one hundred, we’ll begin our first challenge of endurance. As you might’ve guessed already, we will be testing your endurance with these incredible exercise bikes. I know this might be difficult for,” she continued as her eyes gazed over the crowd before landing on a particularly plump girl, “some of you. But never fear, myself and my wonderful manager will be watching to ensure that we have a fair and equal challenge for all of you so we can see which 50 girls have the greatest ability to preserve their stamina. Now if you would all like to grab a bike and we can begin,” Mikan said as she walked out of the way, every girl made their way towards a bike.

Usagi hopped onto a bright blue bike before with excitement on her face before she looked over at Naru who had taken the green bike next to her, “Isn’t this exciting, Na-”. Usagi was unable to finish her sentence as she was suddenly now pedaling and very clumsily at that. She didn’t do that!

Shiratori-sama began to speak again. “Now that everyone has a bike, we’re going to begin. With these state-of-the-art exercise bikes we can control the speed with just one remote,” she continued as she brought out a black remote controller with a bunch of strange buttons and a great big dial. “Right now, it’s only on its lowest setting but if I just crank up this nifty little dial,” Shiratori-sama continued as she slowly turned the dial up which caused the blonde to nearly be knocked off her bike out of shock before barely being able to get her footing back. “Isn’t technology just amazing?” Shiratori-sama sang in her sing-song voice before saying. “My manager and I will be watching from the corner and seeing how all of you do and to see which of you get out first, so please do your best and keep your breaths steady!”

The group of girls watched as Shiratori-sama made their way toward her manager who was standing in the corner before turning to face forward.

Usagi was trying her best to keep up with their bikes' speed and pumping her legs as fast as they could go which wasn’t a lot on a good day. However, they were already starting to feel shaky and achy already! She could already feel those pins and needles shoot up like she had been sitting on her legs for like a week. And for some weird reason, she was already feeling super tired! How many dials was she up to? 2! WAH!

Usagi was on the brink of crying when she looked over at Naru who also looked like she was ready to throw in the towel! Usagi was sad for the both of them but before she could tell Naru about their shared pain, she heard something from her left. It sounded like a whisper or something though against the sound of the exercise bikes, she could’ve been wrong.

Still, she was interested and turned to her left. The whisper seemed to come from the girl next to her to someone on her left. Usagi craned her neck to see it was the plump girl Shiratori-sama addressed earlier.

Usagi try to lean in to listen to their whispers but she could barely hear them when the girl’s orange eyes landed on Usagi who sneered in her direction before saying in a cold voice, “Mind your own business.”

“Well, excuse me!” Usagi said putting her hand on her hip. How dare they be so rude to her!? She was ready to go all Sailor Moon on their butts when she noticed the look on the plump girl’s face. She looked really super sad but why? Was it something those girls said? Unfortunately, Usagi didn’t get a chance to say or ask anything as the plump girl stood up from her bike and left with a sad expression on her face. “Hey, wa-” Usagi began when she heard the mean girls whisper again.

“What a loser,” the girl next to her said to a girl ahead of her.

“What was a girl like her doing here anyway?” the girl ahead of her said back. A friend of hers? “Shouldn’t she be shoveling down her eighteenth doughnut or something?!” Hey! There’s nothing wrong with having a lot of doughnuts! And who were they to kick that girl out? This injustice will not stand!

“You shouldn’t be mean to people,” Usagi said, no longer caring about the pain in her legs or the sweat on her face, or how tired she was feeling. All she cared about was stopping these people.

The girl next to her and the girl ahead of her turned to Usagi who put on her best glare though it probably looked more like a pouty kitten. “And who or what are you?”

“I’m Tsukino Usagi and you should go apologies to that girl!” Usagi demanded.

Her demands were met by cruel laughter. “What are you 5!?” said the girl ahead of the other girl.

“Aw, sweetie. The fact is she was never going to win anyway, even Shiratori-chan knew that, so maybe we were actually being quite nice saving her the embarrassment of trying and failing,” the girl next to her said with a chuckle. Usagi’s face was not blaring red from the sheer rudeness of these girls and the injustice of the situation. “Besides what can you do about it?”

“I bet she’s going to try and tell on us,” the girl next to her’s friend said.

Tell on them? That was a great idea! They cheated so they should be kicked out! Surely, Shiratori-sama would see how wrong it was for them to cheat.

Usagi stood up on her bike with her, still pedaling somehow, and waving her hand in the air. “HEY! HEY! I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY!” she cried out, causing everyone’s attention to be on her. Even Naru and the two other girls were shocked by the fact Usagi was willing to risk it all for some girl she never knew. “PLEASE, SHIRATORI-SAMA! I HAVE SOMETHING TO REPORT!”

Usagi saw Shiratori-sama look over at her and she thought she saw a look of annoyance on her face that made her cheeks grow red from a different feeling, embarrassment. Thankfully, it looked like she imagined it! Shiratori-sama was now walking over to the blonde with a wide smile on her face and she felt honored to have the idol’s full attention on her. “Is everything alright?” Shiratori began as she walked right up to the blonde.

The blonde teenager was starstruck. She was so pretty! The words died in her throat. Why did she call her over here? Why did the blond bother her in the first place? Shouldn’t she stop?

She heard snickering behind her. She ripped her eyes away from Shiratori-sama and at the two mean girls as the memory of what they did hit her like a sack of bricks. “Shiratori-sama, these two girls were mean to another contestant and I don’t find that very fair!”

“It’s true, Shiratori-sama,” the redhead said, backing up her blonde friend. “I saw the whole thing.”

“I see,” Shiratori-sama said before shrugging. “Well, people are sometimes going to be mean to idols, so if the girl couldn’t handle some light jokes, then maybe she shouldn’t be in show business at all. Honestly, my dear, you should just focus on yourself and not concern yourself with those around you. I mean look at your figure.”

The blond looked down at her body. What did Shiratori-sama mean by her figure? She thought she looked fine. D-didn’t she? “What do you mean?” the blonde asked.

“I mean, look at your thighs and your hips. Tell me do you eat a lot of sweets?” Shiratori-sama asked with a bit of concern on her face.

“Well, I-I guess sometimes…” the blonde said, remembering all the sweets and desserts she loves. Chocolate-covered strawberries, chocolate milkshakes, strawberry shortcakes, and her mom’s famous lemon pies! Sure she wasn’t eating them as often due to the whole incident with that evil bakery but she wasn’t really pulling away from them either.

“Oh, you poor girl!” Shiratori-sama said, startled. “Don’t you know how bad those are for you? They go right to your hips and then in a couple of years or so you’ll be practically bursting! You’d definitely never survive in this business if you keep eating that stuff,” Shiratori-sama said. The words raced around the blonde’s mind. Practically bursting? Her hips? Did she really look that bad?

The blonde looked at herself in one of the adjacent mirrors as she heard laughter and chuckles from some of the other girls, especially the ones she was trying to get in trouble.

She felt something on her head. It was Shiratori-sama’s perfectly manicured hand patting the blonde on the head. “But don’t worry dear. I can help,” she said before she pressed a button and then used the dial to push only the blonde’s bike to maximum speed which forced the blonde into an upright position as she desperately tried to keep up with the bike. Unfortunately, she was now aching everywhere and her mind was rushing as her body was now crying out with pain as her tiredness returned this time worst than ever. She felt her lungs pulse and shake, the sweat turn from a lake to rive under her clothes and on her forehead. Soon enough she could barely feel her legs as her whole body was crying out for its stops.

It stopped. It went back to the second dial causing the blonde to fall onto the seat as Shiratori-sama gave her a smile before clapping her hands, “Well done! There might be hope for you yet!” With that said, Shiratori-sama returned to her spot next to her manager and everything happened as before except people around them were snickering and Usagi now overthinking about her weight.

Did she really look that bad that just anyone could see? Usagi looked around at the other girls. Did they see it too? Usagi grabbed onto her thigh. It didn’t seem too bad but what did she know? Shiratori-sama was this big-time pop star so she must know! Right?

“-chan! USAGI-CHAN!” she heard. Usagi snapped out of her thoughts and looked over the owner of the voice. It was Naru who was now glaring at Shiratori-sama. “Are you okay?” she turned to Usagi with a concerned look.

Usagi put on her typical Usagi smile before saying, “Yeah. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Naru asked again. “You looked sad there.”

“No, I’m fine. She’s probably right though. I should probably cut back on the sweets,” Usagi said. Naru didn’t look convinced. “No! Really, she’s right! If I want to be in this business, I just need to adjust to it. Shouldn’t be too hard!” Naru didn’t look convinced but sighed in defeat.

Soon after this, more and more girls started to get out until only half of the girls who came in were left including Usagi and Naru and those two mean girls.

“Well done, ladies!” Shiratori-sama said as she was clapping. “Now that we have a much more manageable number of girls, we’re going to pick up tomorrow’s challenge at 12 o’clock sharp where we will figure out the finalists so I want everyone to head home and get a good night’s sleep!”

With that everyone left and started to head their separate ways. Strangely, though they all looked much paler than when they came in.

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Usagi poked at the meat of her nikujaga with the words and laughter of the girls from the endurance challenge ringing in her ears. Thanks to Naru, she was able to make it home just as her mother had finished making dinner and quickly made her a plate upon seeing her face. Unfortunately, Usagi wasn’t very hungry or at least she shouldn’t be. Future pop stars watch their weight she guessed. The blonde teenager stared at her barely touched but delicious-looking and smelling meal. It really did look delicious. Usagi sighed before looking over at the finished dishes of her brother and father who were happily chatting away about something that she didn’t really understand before turning her attention to Luna who was happily devouring her meal of tuna and water.

Usagi growled a bit before she went back to stare at her meal. She should probably eat a little more or else her parents would get suspicious. It was already pretty suspicious that she hadn’t already devoured her meal like she usually did. As Usagi took a small bit of her delicious meal, another smell floated into her nostrils.

It was so sweet! So sugary! So lemony! Oh NO!

“Did you make your famous lemon pie, sweetheart?” her papa asked as Usagi turned her head to the doorway that lead from the kitchen to the dining room to see her mother holding her famous lemon pie! How could she?! AND IT LOOKED SO GOOD!

“I thought it would be a wonderful surprise to celebrate your promotion,” her mama asked as she set the pie down in the middle of the table where the look and smell assaulted poor, innocent Usagi who was desperately trying to resist.

“Well, thank you,” Kenji said as he kissed his wife on the cheek as she took her seat across from Usagi who was in agony. It was so beautiful and so tempting. It was like it was calling for her to take a bite out of it! To let its deliciousness run down her throat and savor it! She knew she couldn’t though. As Shiratori-sama said, that stuff goes right to her thighs, and if she wants to be a star she needs to make sacrifices. Right? Isn’t that right?

But it did look so good!

“Usagi?” her mother’s voice said. Oh no! “Are you alright? You’ve barely touched your food,” her mama said, giving a worried look at Usagi’s mostly full plate. Oh no! They caught on! Think of something quick!

“Oh, I wasn’t that hungry,” Usagi said meekly. At her words, the world stopped turning. A pin could be dropped. The faces of her family were struck by shock. Even Luna looked up from her meal to stare at Usagi. “W-what? I’m just not hungry,” Usagi said as she turned away from her food.

“So Usagi-baka learned to stop stuffing her face?” Shingo asked as he grabbed a piece of the pie.

“Shingo!” their mother scolded. “Are you sure you aren’t hungry, Usagi-chan?”

“Yeah, I’m just not that hungry. I realized that I do eat a lot so I thought I should cut back a little,” Usagi said with a shrug.

“And how did you come to this realization?” her mother asked as she gave that all-knowing mom look.

“It’s not because of a boy, is it?!” Kenji quickly cried as he jumped up with a look of pure horror on his face.

“N-no. I’m actually competing in a contest,” Usagi said in an excited voice.

Kenji and Ikuko looked at each other with confused looks before back to Usagi. Suddenly, Usagi really wished it was just because of a boy. That would be way easier to explain at least. “What kind of contest?” they asked at the same time.

“There’s this pop idol named Shiratori Mikan and she’s holding this contest called the Cinderella Caravan and the winner gets to be a part of her pop group! Isn’t it exciting?!”’ Usagi cried out with joy. Usagi looked at her parents’ faces and they didn’t look happy at all.

“Why do you want to be an idol? You’d probably just end up tripping over your big feet,” Shingo said with a roll of his eyes as he took a large bite of his lemon pie.

“HEY!” Usagi cried angrily. How dare Shingo say that? She won’t end up tripping.

“Shingo that’s very rude to say to your sister,” Ikuko scolded her son before turning to her daughter. “He does have a point, however, do you really this contest is a good idea? You’re not doing very well and school and being an idol is a lot of work.”

“And there’s a lot of weirdos out there! Weirdos who would want to hurt you!” Kenji yelled out, his expression having a really concerned look.

“I know that but it could be fun!” Usagi continued. Why weren’t her parents happy for her? Shingo was one thing but her mama and papa? Shouldn’t they be happy for her? “Besides, Naru-chan is doing it too!”

“We just don’t think it's a good idea, Usagi,” Ikuko said.

“But mama!” Usagi whined. This was SO not fair!

“I’m just being honest,” Ikuko continued. “I’m not going to stop you but I won’t say I’m not worried. You’re not eating because of this contest.”

“I’m just not hungry!” Usagi cried out. She was so angry! “You all just want to destroy my dreams!” Usagi stood up, tears now flowing from her eyes before she ran away from the dinner table. Her legs didn’t stop moving until she was in her own room before throwing herself onto her bed and angrily crying into her pillow.

They were so mean! They should be happy! She got the chance to become rich and famous! She got the chance to be known by the whole world! Shouldn’t they be happy for her? And then stupid Shingo! She wasn’t stupid! She could be graceful if she wanted to be! It was so mean! They were so mean!

As Usagi was thinking over the meanness of everything, she barely heard the door to her room crack open and the shuffling of paws against the floor. “Are you alright, Usagi-chan?” Luna asked as Usagi finally realized she was there.

“Does it look like it?” Usagi bitterly whined. “They’re so mean!”

She felt Luna’s cat eyes peer at her before she heard a loud sigh, “You know Usagi-chan, your parents do have a point though. You already fail a lot in school and you're a Senshi. You have a duty to your princess to find her and the Silver Crystal. Do you really need to add something else to your plate?”

Usagi became so furious at this. Even Luna! Why?! So what if she didn’t have dinner or dessert? So what if she already has a lot to do?! She could do it! Besides! It's none of their business! This was something she wants! Why can’t they just be happy for her? “Well, if you agree with them, why don’t you go sleep with them tonight and leave me alone!” Usagi cried out.

“Usagi?” Luna tried. Usagi didn’t care.

“Go away!” Usagi cried out again before flopping onto her side. She didn’t want to deal with Luna anymore for the rest of the night. She was mean just like her mama and papa!

Usagi heard a sigh and then the whoosh of a jump followed by paw steps that soon faded. Usagi looked over to see that Luna had indeed left. Well…Good!

Usagi went back to her tears with only the thought to show them all she could do it!

Eventually, the blonde passed out, stomach empty and her head spinning from anger.

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Standing next to Naru, Usagi was once more in the now-empty gym. Speaking of empty, Usagi was desperately trying to ignore her own empty stomach. Her stomach wasn’t making it easy though! It was growling and angry! It ached and hurt! But it wasn’t her fault! She had to sneak out this morning! Her parents and stupid Shingo and stupid Luna were going to judge her as they did at dinner last night! And she couldn’t have breakfast! Everyone knew she wasn’t a good cook! Besides, she wasn’t hungry then!

“Are you okay, Usagi-chan?” Usagi heard Naru ask. Oh no! Did Naru see her suffering?

Usagi looked over with a big smile in order to reassure Naru when the door was thrown open and in entered her.

Shiratori Mikan entered, her wide smile on her face and grace in her step as she took her place at the center of everyone’s attention. She was wearing a bright-blue, crystal-patterned leotard with light-purple tights and her silky chocolate locks tucked up into a bun and decorated with a violet headband. “Good morning, ladies!” she said in a jovial voice as she looked over the group of 50. “It’s so wonderful to see everyone so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed since today we’re going to be practicing dancing because when an idol’s on stage, they have to be able to move to the beat while enchanting her audience with her voice. However, dancing isn’t just running around all wily nily, it’s being able to exude the grace and elegance your fandom expects of you so for this exercise, I will be personally teaching you a dance so all you have to do is follow around and try to get it perfect. And to be certain you do,” the whoosh of the doors opening was vaguely heard by the gathering girls and the footsteps following, “my wonderful manager will be supplying you with one of these state-of-the-art pins.” Shiratori-sama said holding up a small pin designed with a 3D glass slipper. “Aren’t they amazing? With this little pin, we’re able to track your movements and record the ones who won’t be joining us in the next round which if all goes to plan will be later today,” Shiratori-sama then watched in eager anticipation as the blonde manager started to spread the pins out to each girl until everyone had one including the blonde and the redhead. “Now that we’re all ready,” Shiratori-sama said. “We’re going to start with a ladylike twirl on one foot like so,” Shiratori-sama said as she rose onto the very tips of her toes and gracefully twirled in a complete circle before stopping elegantly with a bow. “Your turn.”

The girls slowly rose to the tops of their own toes to try and copy the twirl Shiratori-sama. Some were successful, some were not. In the former category was a certain redheaded friend who actually managed to make a full 360 turn before smoothly stopping.

In the latter category was Usagi. Between her empty belly and usual lack of grace and elegance and ability to stop smoothly, her turning was a disaster. She had barely managed to rise to her toes before she was about to trip on them and then when she tried to do the twirl itself, she ended up looking more like a spinning top of destruction especially when she ended up crashing into some other girls. Oh gosh! The look in their eyes was so mean as all Usagi could do was sputter out apology after apology. It was so embarrassing!

“What the heck is she doing here anyway?” Usagi overheard one of the girls say to the other. Usagi recognized her as the girl from yesterday, the one who made fun of the girl from before.

“Isn’t she that weirdo from yesterday?” the girl from yesterday snickered as though they thought Usagi couldn’t hear. Or maybe they just didn’t care if she did. “You know the one who defended the doughnut girl?”

Usagi stared at them. Why were they being so mean to her? She didn’t do anything to them.

However, the blonde didn’t have long to wonder about this since Shiratori-sama voice rang out through the gym. “Wonderful job to most of you,” she said with a beautiful smile toward the crowd of girls. “For our next move we’re going to use our arms and move them to the beat so try to follow along,” Shiratori-sama said as she stared at the girls she brought her arms in close before popping them out and doing some sort of swirl motion to them as one of her upbeat songs played in the background. It looked kind of complicated.

And it was.

Usagi ended up looking like an out-of-control monkey who slipped on a banana peel. She felt ridiculous!

She looked around again to see Naru-chan was doing just fine. Usagi stared in shock. How is Naru-chan doing so well?

However, the dance wasn’t done yet! And despite her hopes, Usagi didn’t get better. No. Somehow she became worse and even accidentally smacked her best friend in the face. This quickly made Usagi panic as she turned to Naru who luckily didn’t seem hurt but she was rubbing her nose. Usagi quickly blurted out sorry after sorry to her friend.

“It’s f-” Naru-chan began.

Laughter ran out behind them. It was those girls again and they were laughing at Usagi who blushed in embarrassment and anger.

“Watch out she might smack you too,” the girl from yesterday told her friend.

“You would think Shiratori-sama would throw her out for being so useless,” the other girl said.

Usagi’s hand turned into a fist. What was with these girls!? Someone should teach them a lesson!

The blonde felt a hand on her fist. She turned to see it was Naru-chan who quietly said, “Just ignore them, Usagi-chan. They’re annoying.”

Naru-chan was right. They were annoying which Usagi hated to admit, even to herself, since she liked to see the good in everyone and everything but she guessed they weren’t actually doing anything. The blonde sighed and turned away from them though she was still mad at them.

The lesson dragged on and with every new dance move and every new song, it seemed like Usagi just got worse and worse. She was tripping over herself falling over her own two feet, missing the beats she was supposed to hit, and stepping on the other girls' toes or falling on top of them which led to a long string of apologies spilling from Usagi’s mouth. She was basically a walking, talking tornado in tights.

And during all this, during her feeble attempts to match the movements of the other girls and sad tries of not being last, she could hear the other girls’ cruel laughter. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just those girls anymore. It was lots of girls now, staring and laughing at her. Usagi felt so small. Usagi felt so sad. Usagi felt so embarrassed. Most of all, Usagi felt so…angry.

This emotion wasn’t one that was unfamiliar to her. In contrast to how she normally was, she knew what it was like to be angry. To have that weird bubbly sensation in your stomach and your face getting all red before you want to scream or break something. She’s had that feeling before when she was dealing with the monsters who kept attacking the city and hurting innocent people or when Shingo kept breaking into her room to steal her favorite Mysterious 2098 Face manga in order to make fun of her with her friends or whenever she has to deal with being in trouble with her parents or at school. However, this kind of anger was different.

She did have that weird bubbly sensation and the red face but not the yelling or screaming part of being angry. No. Her face felt surprisingly stoic as Usagi simply glared at the girls before she who continued their hyena laughs at her expense. However, she may not want to scream but she wanted to do…to do something to them.

With anger rising in her chest and her head getting all fuzzy, Usagi noticed one of the girls laughing so hard that she was actually walking backward toward the fourteen-year-old and her friend. A devious plan came to Usagi at that quick moment.

She slipped out one of her feet.

Only a tiny bit. Not a lot but just enough.

The mean girl barely grazed Usagi’s outstretched foot before she tripped and crashed right into Usagi who smacked her face right into the mirror. That hurt! Luckily, no blood or broken noses but still! OW!

She felt a hand on her shoulder but also heard screaming, “You!” it was the girl she tripped, pointing right at Usagi. “You tripped me!”

The blonde felt herself gulp and all the anger she had faded away being replaced with fear and guilt. “I-I,” Usagi said, trying to get something out but the words got stuck in her throat. Worst of all, every eye turned to watch what was going on.

“I knew it’s always the stupid ones!” the girl screamed as she pushed Usagi straight into her redheaded friend’s arms. “Trying to mess me up, huh!?” the girl demanded as she tried to get closer which made Naru back away.

“I-I,” Usagi sputtered out.

“What is going on over here?” a musical voice rang out. Everyone looked up and all the yelling and screaming was silenced. It was Shiratori-sama with a small frown on her face. “I hope no one’s hurt.”

“She tried to trip me, Shiratori-sama,” a girl said, pointing a long finger at the blonde.

“I-I,” was all the blonde managed out.

“I’m sure it was an accident,” a redhead tried to say.

“You’re her friend so what do you know?!” a girl screamed at the redhead.

“Well, well, this is quite the scene,” Shiratori-sama said before turning to the blonde. “Did you trip her?”

“I-I,” the blonde tried to speak. “Y-yes.” Seems like she can talk after all.

“See! She’s a snake, Shiratori-sama!” the girl said.

“Usagi!” the redhead cried out.

“Well, that settles it then,” Shiratori-sama said before turning to the blonde. “You’re eliminated.”

“Wh-what?” the blonde asked.

“Well, obviously, I can’t let you continue. Someone so bratty and selfish can’t possibly make a good idol,” Shiratori-sama said, never letting her smile fall. “Besides, it’s not like you were ever going to get past this round. You dance like an overweight clown with two left feet.”

The blonde’s eyes started to get wet before nodding.

“C-come on,” she said to the redhead next to her. “Let’s go.” She grabbed the redhead’s hand.

“Oh no. Fortunately, your friend’s actually moving on to the next round,” Shiratori-sama said. “Isn’t that wonderful that at least one of you has talent and doesn’t need to resort to cheap tricks?”

“Really?” the redhead said, shocked pulled away her hand from her friend. She had a sparkle in her eye. Perfect. However, the blonde stared at the redhead in disbelief.

“You’re coming right?” the blonde asked. The redhead stood there. “You’re coming right?” the blonde asked again, sounding desperate. How pathetic. The blonde stared in shock and sadness and then anger before she kicked up her heels and raced out of the gym. All alone.

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Tears poured from Usagi as she simply ran through the streets of Azabujuban, uncaring about who she bumped into or where she was going. She was just so tired, hungry, sad, betrayed, and angry! She just didn’t care anymore!

How could Naru betray her like that?! To stay behind after everything that happened! They were supposed to be best friends, weren’t they!? Usagi knew she did wrong. Usagi knew she shouldn’t have tripped that girl but still! Aren’t best friends supposed to always be on each other’s side!?

Usagi found herself in an alley and just fell to her knees and cried there. Everything was just so unfair! This whole thing had been a mistake! Why?! Why Naru!? Why!?

The tears were just falling uncontrollably now.

“Odango Atama?” a voice. A male voice. A familiar male voice said. Usagi looked up before her face went from sadness to anger. It was HIM! The guy with silver-rimmed glasses and ugly pea soup-colored jacket and eggplant purple plants. Great! As if this day couldn’t get any worse, Usagi just had to bump into the last person she wanted to see! Maybe if she pretends, she’s invisible he would go away. “You know I can see you, Odango Atama.” Well, that didn’t work! “Where have you been? I was starting to wonder why I haven’t been attacked for the last couple of days. Get in trouble or something?” Maybe he’ll get bored and go away if Usagi continues to ignore him. “Odango Atama?” he asked. “Wait…a minute, d-did you join that Cinderella Caravan? Well, I guess maybe you could do a comedy routine or something?”

How did he-Oh right. Her pin. However, Usagi was not in the mood and she looked up at him and screamed. “WILL YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!? I’M NOT IN THE MOOD!”

She saw his expression of joyful mocking turned into shock before…compassion? No. Not from him. He was a jerk…right?

“Wait…you were actually sad?” Usagi heard him quietly mutter. What did that mean? Oh. Who cares at this point!? She hid her face in her knees again. At this moment, she didn’t care what he thought of her. She was just too sad! She did hear shifting though and the wrinkling sound of paper. She looked up and saw the jerk was now sitting next to her with only a small paper bag of something between them. “So, you’re sad,” he stated, sucking her in with those intense sapphire-blue eyes of his. “Why?”

Usagi quickly looked away from him. “Why should I tell you? You’re a jerk, remember?”

“Because I’m here,” he answered. “Besides, it’s no fun messing with someone who's too sad to argue back.”

Usagi glared at this last statement before wondering if she should just tell him. He probably wouldn’t care one way or another and hopefully wouldn’t judge her for her actions. Besides, maybe talking about it would help. “Well, yes I was in the Cinderella Caravan but I got eliminated just because I may have, sort of, kind of tripped this other girl,” Usagi said the last part in a mutter before seeing the unfazed look in his eyes. Somehow that actually made her angrier. “Don’t give me that look. She was mean! She and her friends treated me and this other girl horribly so I just wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine, okay!?” He still didn’t change his expression but just stared at Usagi who quickly blushed before looking away. “Fine. It was wrong. But then when I was about to leave I wanted to leave with my friend but she stayed! How stupid is that?! I’m her best friend! I’m the reason she was even there and she just abandons me like that!”

“Was she eliminated?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Usagi shook her head. “But still! We’ve been best friends since we were kids and just let me leave!” Usagi cried as she slowly wiped away her tears as the memory of Naru just standing there while she ran out in tears played over and over again in her head. “And even after Shiratori-sam said I had no talent and that I had fat thighs and she said I’d never make it as a pop idol!”

“Here,” she heard. She looked up at him who was now holding out a napkin. Usagi reluctantly took and wiped her tears and nose. “Look, Odango Atama, the whole thing sounds pretty stupid.”

Usagi paused wiping her face. Stupid? Stupid?! What did he mean stupid?! Here she was breaking down to him about the deterioration of her friendship and he calls it stupid! He really was a jerk. “What is that supposed to mean?!” the blonde demanded with the worst glare she could manage (which honestly looked more like a pouting rabbit).

“I mean who cares if you got eliminated from some dumb contest by some stupid celebrity? She’s still your friend, right? So shouldn’t you want to support her even if you don’t get in?” he continued.

“She still stayed even after what they said to me,” Usagi countered, sniffling. She was still mad about that!

“Maybe she didn’t know what to do or maybe she wanted to see how far she could get. And no offense, Odango Atama, but you did trip somebody even if they were a jerk,” he continued before looking downwards. “Look, all I’ll say is you can either sit here crying and annoying nearby pedestrians or try and talk to your friend and see where that takes you.”

As much as Usagi hated to admit it, the baka had a point. Flashes of her past with Naru went through her head. The first time they met in their First Year, going to each other’s birthday parties, shopping around Azabujuban, having slumber parties, just being each other’s shoulder to cry on whenever one of them failed a particularly hard exam, and messed around in detention. They were all great memories and she knew Naru was a great person which brought Usagi to the hard question; whether or not to give all that up.

She looked back to where the baka was to ask what she should do but to her surprise, annoyance, and anger he was gone. Disappeared like a ghost or phantom or something. Wait, what? Did he just leave her here all alone!?

That jerk!

That complete and utter baka!

To top it all off, he left his stupid paper bag. What was even in that stupid paper bag? Usagi curious and with dignified anger ripped open the bag only to find…PORK BUNS!

Freshly made and delicious pork buns! They even still seemed hot.

She felt her hungry belly roar as the delicious scents poured into her nostrils. She was so hungry! And all this thinking and stress just made it worst!

…

Would he mind if she had some?

Maybe not.

He did just leave it there.

Finders keepers and all that.

Slowly, she plucked out a pork bun and took a large bite. She didn’t know if it was because she skipped dessert, breakfast, and lunch but it was one of the tastiest things she had all week! If only Naru-chan was here to share. Usagi paused in the middle of her second bite, the aching sad feeling returning. Not hunger, not anger. It felt worse than either of those.

…

She knew what she had to do.

“Usagi?” a familiar female voice called out. Wait…

“Luna?” Usagi asked, looking all around for the cat before spotting her on a nearby windowsill.

“I’ve been looking all over for you! I tried going to where the Cinderella Caravan was being held but I couldn’t find you,” Luna said as she jumped onto a dumpster and then towards Usagi.

Usagi wiped her eyes before saying, “I was eliminated from the contest after tripping a girl and Naru-chan got to move on.”

The fourteen-year-old secret superheroine saw Luna stare at her before the black feline said, “I’m sorry to hear that Usagi. Do you…do you want to go home?”

Usagi stood up with a determined look and grabbed the bag. “No. I still have something to do.” Luna gave a confused look to her blonde charge before sighing.

“Alright,” the cat said, sounding kind of defeated before she jumped onto Usagi’s shoulders.

The blonde ran with all her might towards the Cinderella Caravan.

And towards Naru-chan!

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Here’s a piece of good advice; when breaking into an academy used to train future idols, don’t sneak into through the smallest window they have because there’s a very good chance you’ll end up falling on your face. Usagi had to learn this the hard way when she well, broke in through the smallest window after being denied entry by the stupid security guards. “Ow,” the blonde whined as she slowly picked herself off the hard wooden floor.

“I told you that was a bad idea.” It was Luna’s voice, mocking her as the loud sound of scratching could be heard.

“Shut up, Luna,” Usagi muttered into the floor before the blonde looked up at the black cat. She was fine. “Wait, you fell in with me. How are you okay?”

Luna stared at her for a moment before in a simple voice saying, “I’m a cat.”

Usagi gave an ‘oh…right’ face before slowly picking herself up when she heard the loud voices and quiet whimpers. Wait a minute those whimpers. She knew those whimpers! It was Naru!

Naru was in trouble!

Usagi quickly ran past her guardian cat and rounded a corner where she arrived backstage where she saw six girls, including the one she tripped, ganging up on someone. No. Not just someone. Naru!

“Why are you still here?” one of the girls said in a mocking tone.

“Hey weren’t you the one with the freak?” asked the girl Usagi tripped in a tone that showed she obviously knew the truth.

Naru said nothing. Usagi saw that she was just standing there, taking the abuse that was being flung at her and that made her blood boil! How dare they treat Naru like that?! She was her best friend!

“HEY!” Usagi called out, anger obvious in her voice which caused all seven of the girl to look back in shock to see the voice belonged to the former contestant. “How dare you treat, Naru-chan that way!?”

“How did you get past security?” the one on the left asked with a sneering tone.

The pain of falling into a building from a window flashed into Usagi’s head that she quickly shook away. Got to stay strong in the face of these girls! “Nevermind that! Who do you think you mocking Naru-chan that way? She has just as much a right to be here as you do and given that you probably have another competition soon, but you should worry more about that instead of being mean to your competitors.”

The mean girls blinked in unison at the defiance in Usagi’s voice before they laughed. Cackled more like when the girl who tripped Usagi asked, “And just what are you going to do about it?”

Usagi, grabbed Luna off the floor, who had been licking her paw, and held her up to the girl who just stared confused at the feline. Usagi stared back at the girl and then in a low voice said, “I’ll sic my cat on you.” Usagi then turned a pleading eye to the cat who looked at her confused before sighing and turning to the girl in front of her. Luna let out several hisses and threatening meows before extending her claws to show she was serious.

The girl Usagi tripped jumped back before she stared at Usagi who looked deadly serious which actually frightened her. However, she quickly regained composure before saying to her friends, “Let’s leave the weirdos alone. They’re not worth our time.” With that, the six girls left the three alone.

“Usagi?” Naru asked with happiness in her voice. Maybe she wasn’t mad that Usagi tried to drag her out. Unfortunately, no. Naru looked down and turned her back to Usagi, “What do you want?”

The secret superheroine slowly put down the black cat and said, “I wanted to apologize, Naru-chan. Someone,” even if he was a jerk, “helped me realize that my friendship with you is way more important than not being in some stupid contest and I should’ve supported you instead of trying to drag you away from it.”

“Really?” she heard Naru hopefully ask.

“Yeah. You’re still my best friend no matter what and I’m here to support you, win or lose,” Usagi said with a smile.

Naru looked back with a smile as well before running over to Usagi and giving her the biggest hug which the blonde happily returned. “Thank you so much, Usagi-chan! Honestly, I was just about to leave when you arrived. And I’m so sorry that I didn’t defend you against them! You were right to trip her! She and her friends are absolutely awful!”

“Well, make it up to me by beating them! You’re amazing Naru-chan and I know you’re going to win this!” Usagi said as the two hugged again.

“Osaka Naru?” a male voice said. The two girls looked over. It was Shiratori-sama’s manager. “You’re needed on stage since Shiratori will be out soon.”

“But-” Naru said before looking at her friend.

“Go on! Break a leg! I’ll be right here in the wings watching!” Usagi said with a smile. This seemed to be all the encouragement Naru needed before she let go of Usagi and walked onto the stage where a microphone was set up for her. The blonde snuck over to get a better looking waiting to see her friend’s moment to shine since.

She felt a scratch on her cheek before anything could start, however. It was Luna who really wanted to get her attention. “What?” Usagi angrily whispered back. What did Luna want now? The competition was just about to start! Usagi watched as Luna’s head pointed straight toward the manager who was now walking further backstage. “Yeah? So what?”

��I think there’s something off about him,” Luna said in a mumbly whisper so as not to be heard by anyone else. “I think we should follow him.”

“But what about Naru-chan?” Usagi said in a similarly low voice.

“I’m sure we’ll be back in time to watch you friend if we go now,” Luna said before she jumped off Usagi’s shoulders.

Not seeing the point in arguing with the cat, Usagi reluctantly followed her with a prayer that she’d be right and they’d be back before Naru could sing.

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The black cat and her human charge found themselves outside a dressing room that was open a crack. Secretly, ever so secretly they peeked in to see the manager and Shiratori-sama, who was sitting in front of a mirror applying a layer of makeup, talking. “Don’t worry, master. Everything is completely under control,” Shiratori-sama said in a rather cruel tone. And why did she call her manager her master?

“And you’re sure she hasn’t come?” the manager asked.

“She’s been none the wiser and the competition will be over before she ever gets the chance,” she continued. Wait who was she? Usagi’s started to get a pit in her stomach as she watched the scene unfold.

“Do not get cocky,” the manager warned.

“Master,” she cut off before looking at him curtly. “You needn’t be afraid. There’s absolutely no way Sailor Moon will ever know the true reason behind the Cinderella Caravan because, unlike the others, I actually learn from mistakes.” Sailor Moon? Wait! Usagi was Sailor Moon! How would Shiratori Mikan know about Sailor Moon? Unless…The idol was working with her enemies. It would explain what she meant about the true purpose of the Cinderella Caravan. That pit in her stomach became larger and more obvious.

“What about the girls you turned away? They could’ve been useful as energy resources for our Great Queen,” the manager(?) questioned.

“Master the goal is not to get caught, isn’t it? People will take notice if a whole bunch of girls went missing,” the evil idol continued. “Besides the exercise bikes, I used during the endurance test siphoned off a ton of energy from them and the pins from the dancing class are continuing to do so.” Usagi looked down and quickly ripped off the pin from her clothes. She almost forgot she was wearing it. Oh no! Was she giving energy to the Dark Kingdom without realizing it? Quickly, she crushed the object in her grip reducing it to nothing more than glass bits that leaked out dark energy.

“But-” the man continued.

“I assure you, master. Our Great Queen will have all she needs once I crystalize those girls as I did to the real Shiratori Mikan.” Wait real Shiratori Mikan? So this woman was a fake. Thank goodness. But wait where was the real idol then? Usagi peeked back in to see the fake Shiratori Mikan standing up and opening the closet where she saw something glistening brightly making her unable to see from her position. What was that? “Besides, it’s not like we can’t get more energy from these stupid little girls. So desperate and needy to be accepted, they’re practically begging to be used for my plot. Say a couple of nice things, a couple of bad things, and soon enough their putty in our hands and for Our Great Queen.”

“Fine, but be warned, that if Sailor Moon ends up getting involved then there will be no help for you,” he continued.

“Alright, Master Jadeite, and when I do collect all the energy, be sure to tell Our Great Queen which youma finally came through.” The manager, no the dark general, disappeared in a cloud of black smoke as the fake put on a false smile and headed for the door.

SHOOT!

Quickly, the two ran around for a moment before quickly hiding.

The fake walked passed them and thankfully they didn’t get seen.

Then again, Usagi and Luna did hide in a base and cello box respectively.

Once the two were sure, she was gone the two emerged.

“I think it’s time for Sailor Moon to make an appearance,” Luna said to which Usagi simply nodded in agreement.

“Moon Prism Power Make Up!” Usagi cried as the familiar pink ribbons surrounded her, transforming her normal clothes into the sailor-themed fuku of a sailor guardian with its accessories turning her from normal girl Usagi into the one and only Sailor Moon!

Sailor Moon quickly ran into the dressing room where she saw a horrific sight. It was Shiratori Mikan. The real Shiratori Mikan trapped in glowing blue crystal with a look of paralyzing fear on her face! She looked so terrified! So afraid! It almost made Sailor Moon cry. No. She can’t cry. Not now. She needs help. Wiping at her eyes, the sailor guardian turned to her cat, “How do I free her?”

Luna paced around, clearly trying to think of a way to solve the problem. Unfortunately, she was cut out of her thought process when she heard a loud whirring sound from behind her which caused her to quickly look back to see Sailor Moon trying to free Shiratori Mikan…with a hairdryer. “Put that down!” Luna cried out.

“I panicked okay!” Sailor Moon cried out as she quickly set down the hairdryer.

“We need a real solution, not a hair- The moon tiara!”

“The moon tiara?” Sailor Moon asked confused. “Won’t that turn her into moon dust though?”

“Not if we do this right,” Luna said. “Just concentrate on the evil energy and not Mikan Shiratori and she should be okay.”

Well, if Luna says it will work…Sailor Moon took off her tiara and concentrated with all her might on the crystal and only the crystal. Only the crystal. Only the crystal. “Moon tiara boomerang!” Sailor Moon cried as the tiara soared through the air before instead of just going through the crystal, it did something Sailor Moon never saw before, it made an X. It surrounded the evil crystal, piercing it so light burst out from the inside as the crystal slowly disintegrated into moon dust before the tiara came flying back into the superheroine’s hand.

A loud gasp was heard and Sailor Moon quickly ran over to see the older teenager gasping and coughing loudly. “Are you al-”

“No get away!” the idol screamed out in fear as she huddled into a corner like a frightened puppy. She must’ve been through a lot. Sailor Moon took a step back before Mikan stared at her. “Wait, you’re not that monster,” she said in a shaky but relieved tone. “W-who are you?”

“I’m the pretty guardian in a sailor suit, Sailor Moon!” Sailor Moon said as she struck a pose. “Are you Shiratori Mikan? The pop idol?”

“Y-yeah. I was finishing up a concert when I was-” her face gleamed with obvious fear as she shook violently. “I w-was…” Sailor Moon quickly rushed over to her and pulled her into a hug. It was really the only thing she could think of at the moment to calm the older girl before she could completely break down and thankfully it seemed to work. Slowly, the idol stopped breathing so heavily and she wasn’t shaking so much anymore. Good. “Attacked. I was attacked by some kind of demon then everything went black.” Sailor Moon felt so bad for her. How long had she been in that crystal anyway? “Are you here to stop her?” Mikan asked in a hopeful but desperate voice.

The superheroine nodded. “Don’t worry, everything’s going to be okay! Just get out of here while you can,” Sailor Moon said as she slowly helped Mikan-san to her feet.

“I want to come to,” Mikan asked to which both Luna and Sailor Moon gave a look of shock. Mikan-san come to? But wouldn’t she be scared?

“Wouldn’t you be scared?” Sailor Moon asked out loud.

“I can’t let that thing continue to run around. Who knows what else it might do,” Mikan-san said with a shaky voice and eyes full of resolve.

Sailor Moon and Luna gave each other a quick glance before the latter gestured for the idol to follow. They better hurry though. Mikan-san was right; who knows what that thing might do?

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Naru was holding a microphone between the six other finalists as Shiratori-sama walked in with a smile reaching ear-to-ear as she started to explain the rules of the contest.

However, the redhead wasn’t listening. She was instead trying to catch a glimpse of Usagi behind the curtain to see where she disappeared to. Did she need to use the bathroom or something? Or maybe she was grabbing a snack or something? That did sound like Usagi. Naru remembers when she and Usagi were in their second year of school before they met Umino, they were little terrors to Usagi’s mom and would constantly swipe a cookie or cake that Tsukino-san was going to serve. Naru smiled a bit at that memory as more began to play in her head. That time at the ice cream parlor where they both simultaneously got brain freeze. That time when Naru had to practically drag Usagi onto a rollercoaster. The 14-year-old giggled a bit at remembering the look of horror on Usagi’s face as they went speeding down the incline.

Would she still be able to have moments like that if she went through with the contest?

Naru paused as she began to dwell on this though. Would she have time to hang out with Usagi if she did win?

Already it was a lot of work just getting to this point. All the dancing and exercise and endurance and worst of all, she’s been feeling so weak from it. Like something was literally zapping away her energy. It was all so tiring!

And if she did win, would it continue? Shiratori-sama did say that being idol is only for those who can deal with it. She even mocked Usagi when Usagi was just trying to defend someone! Would that be what Naru would have to deal with if she became an idol? Just allowing people to be bullied in front of her?

And then what about her friendship with Usagi? Would she just be expected to break it off or would they just grow apart? Would she have to lose her best friend?

…

Did Naru really want to be an idol?

…

No.

No. She didn’t. She wanted to just be a normal girl with her best friend and be able to do normal things and be nice to others.

That was who she was.

Osaka Naru knew what she had to do.

Slowly, she raised her hand in order to get Shiratori-sama’s attention when the idol let out a loud, horrific screech.

Naru was in shock for a moment until she saw something terrifying.

SHIRATORI’S-SAMA’S SKIN WAS CRACKING OFF!

The screech became louder as more cracks formed on her skin as though the idol was made out of glass or crystal or something.

Naru had no idea what to do and could only stand there in horrified shock as the girls next to her let out screams of terror.

The skin fell completely as it shattered into little pieces once it hit the ground, revealing the idol wasn’t an idol at all! It was some kind of strange creature made out of pure glass that sort of resembled an old woman if the old woman had grotesque fangs and yellow eyes that glared at everything. On her body, she wore a light purple dress with a slit that barely hung from its body and she was completely barefoot.

“What is that thing!?” Naru finally cried out, finally finding her voice! What was going on!?

The other girls tried to run away but the monster used the pieces of his fake skins to entrap their feet, forcing them into a freeze. Only Naru was spared because she was too terrified to even move at this point.

“Well, it seems I’ll be having to keep all six of you for our Great Queen’s resurrection,” it said with a cold, heartless tone before snapping its fingers.

All of a sudden Naru’s arm felt heavy. Quickly, she looked over to see the microphone she was holding had completely disappeared and now the entire lower half of her arm was being engulfed by glass crystal or something! Naru let out a huge scream as she tried to rip it off as it began crawling towards her!

Silently crying, Naru pleaded and prayed for someone, ANYONE to come and wake her from this nightmare!

“Stop right there!” a voice called. Naru’s teary eyes turned to see two girls and a black cat who emerged from the shadows of backstage. “How dare you take advantage of innocent girls who just want to light up the stage with singing and dancing by using their fears and insecurities to turn them on each other causing hate and division?! I am the Pretty Guardian who fights for love and for justice! I am Sailor Moon and in the name of of the moon, I will punish you!”

“This is show business, if they can’t take the heat then they can get out of the kitchen. Our Great Queen doesn’t need subpar sacrifices for her grand resurrection. Which reminds me,” the monster snapped its fingers and the glass began crawling faster along Naru’s arm as the girl in the sailor outfit looked on in horror.

“Stop!” the girl, Sailor Moon, cried out as she tried to run over to her. It was too late though, the crystal had reached Naru’s face! As her vision started to turn black, she thought she heard something like “NARU-CHAN!”

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“NARU-CHAN!” Sailor Moon cried out as she reached the crystal her friend had been cocooned in! She’d been too late to save Naru-chan and the other girls! “Set them free!” Sailor Moon cried out to the monster with tears in her eyes.

“Now why would I do that?” the monster asked with a wicked smile that looked like the one she faked as Mikan-san but all twisted and evil. Maybe it always was and Sailor Moon was just too blind to it. “Already these crystals are providing a delicious amount of energy to our Great Queen and once I encase that brat again,” the creature cried out pointing to Mikan-san who looked like she did when she was first freed from her own crystal, “I will be able to collect energy for years to come and then this pathetic planet will bow to her!”

“I will never let that happen!” Sailor Moon said as she ran over to where Mikan-san was standing and got in the way.

“I know. That’s why I, Derella, is going to kill you here and now,” the monster continued before her hand twisted and bent itself into a sword before charging at Sailor Moon, Mikan, and Luna.

“Mikan-san! RUN!” Sailor Moon cried out as she and Mikan-san split into opposite directions. Luckily, the monster Derella came after Sailor Moon and Luna. UNLUCKILY, DERELLA WAS COMING AFTER THEM! The cat yelped in fear as Sailor Moon screamed, both trying to avoid Derella’s sword arm that was currently lunging at all their important points.

The superheroine looked around them. She saw Mikan-san heading for the lever that activated the trapdoors which brought down herself and the crystals with her friend and the other girls. Thank goodness, they’ll be okay at least. Unfortunately, that did little to help them in this current moment! Sailor Moon desperately needed something, anything that could get them out of this situation. Unfortunately, there was nothing.

Unless…Sailor Moon’s eyes landed on Luna who looked up at her with confused eyes. “What are you?-” Luna asked before yelping as she was roughly grabbed by Sailor Moon and held over the blonde superheroine’s shoulder.

“Sorry, Luna!” Sailor Moon cried out before she straight up threw the cat who screamed out in fear as went barreling towards the glass monster.

It did…nothing.

At most, it made her give a look of annoyance but that didn’t even matter as she simply tossed aside the cat who yelled, “SAILOR MOON!” in fury.

“Sorry!” Sailor Moon shouted back but Derella didn’t care. No, the monster just continued to lunge and chase the blonde senshi across the stage which was only ended in the worst way when Sailor Moon fell on her foot in the worst way possible.

With a loud crunch and yelp coming from her lips, the superheroine was taken out by a twisted ankle. Pain shot up throughout her body as she went into the fetal position, clutching her ankle. It really hurt! However, this wasn’t the end of her troubles either. A loud cackle filled the theatre and before Sailor Moon could even try to get up, a violet heel ground into her causing a lot more pain to fill her body. Through pained eyes Sailor Moon looked up to see Derella giving a twisted smile. “You know I’m a little disappointed. I thought after you defeated the others, you would be harder to beat. Aw well,” Derella spoke as Sailor Moon desperately tried to pull herself off the ground or even to just push her stupid foot off her chest. It was no use though! She looked up to see Derella’s sword arm swinging right to her head, which she desperately tried to hide as a last resort as the superheroine let out a long scream for help! From someone! ANYONE!

Derella let out a loud screech and Sailor Moon dared to open her eyes to see a crimson red rose sticking out of the ground next to her and Derella’s glass-sword arm now back to a normal human arm with deep cracks which appeared to cause her pain…Could it be?

“Taking advantage of innocent women and girls’ dreams of fame and renown and twisting them into being servants for your own twisted purposes, that is a crime of which I, Tuxedo Mask, can never forgive!” It was! It was Tuxedo Mask! Sailor Moon nearly cried in joy and hope as she searched all around for where he was until her eyes landed on his handsome, tuxedoed form on the top of the stage before he jumped down.

She watched with joy as her rose-throwing savior jumped toward them before smacking the glass monster out of the way causing her to fall off the stage with a loud crack. Did that kill her? Sailor Moon didn’t have long to wonder about this as she took her into his strong arms and jumped away. “Are you alright?” Tuxedo Mask asked, once they were in the wings near the entrance to the flys.

“I-I think so. My ankle got twisted though,” Sailor Moon said.

“Your ankle?” Tuxedo Mask softly asked as he gently set her down before he started to look around him until Sailor Moon noticed his eyes landing on a clothes rack. “Wait here.” Quickly, he ran towards the clothes rack and Sailor Moon saw him tearing off a piece of fabric and grabbing a small piece of set wood that was nearby before rushing over.

Sailor Moon watched in wonder as he tied the makeshift cast around her ankle with a blush. Tuxedo Mask really was so kind and thoughtful! “How’s that?” she heard him ask as she admired his handiwork.

“Much better. Thank you!” Sailor Moon cried out with delight. She looked at Tuxedo Mask, who seemed to be satisfied at her answer, and noticed how close they were to each other. Close enough that if she just leaned in slightly their lips would be touching. Sailor Moon felt her already red cheeks become a deeper shade at that sweet thought.

Unfortunately, the thought wasn’t going to last as they both heard a long yowl and the screams of “SAILOR MOON!” Oh no! Sailor Moon knew that voice! LUNA!

The two jumped to their feet and ran (or fastly limped in Sailor Moon’s case) to the stage where they saw Derella with a crazed smile and cracks all along her glass body holding up her glass-sword that was filled with shards to Luna’s neck who was held in her grasp as the cat fought with all her might to be free. “LET HER GO!” Sailor Moon cried out.

“Gladly,” Derella said as she threw Luna at Sailor Moon as Sailor Moon had done earlier.

“Sailor Moon!” Tuxedo Mask cried out in fear as Luna came barrelling into Sailor Moon who just barely managed to catch her. A loud, terrible cackle flooded onto the stage as through her daze Sailor Moon saw Derella rushing at the three of them with her shard glass sword arm. Thank goodness, Tuxedo Mask had great reflexes though! In a flash, Sailor Moon saw him whip out his cane and block the would-be lethal attack! Tuxedo Mask was so amazing! “SAILOR MOON! RUN! I’LL HOLD HER OFF!” he shouted at her, as he continued to block the glass monster’s attacks.

Not going to argue with him, Sailor Moon rose to her feet with Luna jumping onto her shoulder as Sailor Moon tried to think of some way to help Tuxedo Mask as she ran backstage until she saw the ladder that led to flys before remembering that when Derella had been in her disguise as Mikan-san she had traveled on a swing that must still be up there! Sailor Moon grew a huge smile and grabbed onto the ladder. “What are you doing, Sailor Moon?” the superheroine heard her guardian cat ask.

“Don’t worry, Luna. Just trust me!” Sailor Moon said and even with her injured leg she flew up those stairs until she arrived to the flys themselves as the sounds of steel meeting glass continued to echo throughout the theatre. Sailor Moon quickly looked down to see her masked hero still in deep combat with monster as he remained on the defensive. He looked like her was holding his own against her but Sailor Moon could tell he was getting winded. He won’t have much time soon! Sailor Moon had to act fast!

Luckily, the swing was still over the stage but unfortunately, it was tied. Fortunately, she had a magic cat with super long claws. “Wait, are you going to drop the swing on top of Derella?” Luna questioned as she finally understood Sailor Moon’s plan.

“Is that a problem?” Sailor Moon asked.

“Nope. Just checking,” Luna said before she jumped off Usagi’s shoulders and jumped from one side of the flys to the other, cutting the swing's ropes as she went by before landing perfectly.

The swing started to fall quickly towards the stage with a great swoosh accompanied by Sailor Moon crying out, “TUXEDO MASK! WATCH OUT!” Fortunately, he seemed to understand this as he quickly jumped out of the way. Not Derella though, who seemed to be a way to focus on defeating Tuxedo Mask to notice the falling swing coming right toward her head until way too late! The swing came crashing on top of her leaving a small crater in the stage floor as Sailor Moon ran back down the ladder towards Tuxedo Mask who looked really sweaty and tired. He did fight really hard after all.

However, there was no time for the exchange of words as they heard the cracking and shaking of shattered glass. Oh no! She was getting back up again! Not this time!

Before she could completely rise to her feet again, Sailor Moon activated her tiara! “Moon Tiara Boomerang!” The tiara, for the second time today, became of a disk of pure and unbreakable light that flew through the air until it reached its target. It flew through Derella’s shattered body as she let out a scream of pure hate and terror that was quickly silenced by her body dissolving into a pile of moondust.

Sailor Moon fell to the ground and just lay there for a moment. She was so tired. Not eating today, being overworked, defeating monsters, twisting your ankle, AND having your energy drained were just a recipe for being pooped. “Well done, Sailor Moon,” she heard Tuxedo Mask say as she watched him crouch next to her. “Are you going to be okay after I leave?” he asked with worry obvious in his voice. Aw! He’s so sweet!

As for the answer to his question, Sailor Moon wanted to say she wasn’t and that she should be carried home again, Luna go to him first. “She’ll be fine without you.” She sounded pretty rude to him.

“Luna!” Sailor Moon said angrily. She shouldn’t be rude, you know.

“We need to go check on Derella’s victims, Sailor Moon,” Luna continued looking her dead in the eye. Sailor Moon let out a gasp. Naru-chan! Mikan-san! The others! The last time she saw them, Mikan-san was getting them all to safety but now that the monster was gone, were they okay? She knew they should be because Derella was dead but they probably were still pretty shaken up!

“She’s right! I got to go!” Sailor Moon said as she stood up before smiling sweetly at Tuxedo Mask. “But thank you so much for all your help.”

Sailor Moon saw the corners of Tuxedo Mask’s lips turn upwards which made Sailor Moon’s heart skip a beat at how beautiful his small smile was. “It was my pleasure, Sailor Moon. And if you should ever have need of me, I’ll be there,” Tuxedo Mask continued with a bow.

Sailor Moon looked down for a moment, a blush still obvious on her cheeks. She then reluctantly turned to leave but as she looked back one last time to give one more goodbye to her tuxedoed hero, he was already gone. The sailor guardian felt a pain in her chest as she looked around for him until she heard, “Sailor Moon!”

“Coming!” Sailor Moon called back as she chased after the cat to make sure everyone was okay. She’ll see him again soon. And maybe next time they’ll have more time to talk!

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“But I am sorry!” Usagi whined. It was Monday morning and once again Naru-chan and Usagi were placed on cleaning duty as detention again. Usagi guessed abandoning their cleaning duty to join an evil competition and leaving their nerdy friend to do most of the work afterwards was grounds for this but still sucked. Well…at least everything turned out okay, more or less. After last night, that was all Usagi could ask for. Luckily, all the girls including Naru-chan were fine. Shaken and a little fearful, but they weren’t in crystals at least. Thankfully, Mikan was there to calm them down and they managed to get home okay but the overwhelming guilt Usagi was feeling wasn’t going away anytime soon.

“Really, Usagi! It’s totally fine. I’m okay,” Naru-chan replied. “It’s still really weird what happened though. It was almost like a dream or something.”

Usagi got a frightened look on her face before she asked, “What do you remember about yesterday?”

“I remember I was on stage when that monster thing attacked me before some girl in a sailor suit appeared,” Naru-chan said with a clearly strained look on her face before she looked over at Usagi had fear written all over her face. “Where did you go by the way?”

“Uh…the bathroom,” Usagi then gave the most pathetic excuse of smile anyone probably had ever seen. Usagi didn’t even buy it and clearly, neither did Naru.

However, before Usagi had to deal with that something happened. “THIS IS HORRIBLE!” shouted the distraction which turned out to be Umino.

“UMINO!” Usagi cried out in joy, thankful for the unexpected distraction!

“Look! The worst has happened!” Umino said before throwing a paper at Usagi’s face.

The blonde secret superheroine slowly peeled the newspaper off her face as Naru headed over to scan it as well. There written in bold, black letters was Upcoming Idol, Shiratori Mikan, Leaves the Idol Business!

Did it just say leave?

Usagi and Naru both reread the paper and it did confirm that Shiratori Mikan was leaving the business altogether. Was it because of what happened with Derella? Did her reputation take a big hit or something? Usagi wouldn’t be surprised if that was the reason but it would be really sad.

“Sources say that Shiratori Mikan, age 17, is leaving the idol business in order to pursue her new dream of being a humanitarian and helping people all across the planet. Her former manager, Hoga Yoshi, has chosen not to comment,” Naru read from the paper as Usagi read along with her. “Well, that sucks. I thought she really liked being an idol but I guess I can’t blame her.”

“What do you mean!?” Umino cried as he fell to the ground with tears in his eyes. “Now I’ll never hear her songs or have a chance with her!”

Usagi rolled her eyes, before saying, “You probably wouldn’t have a chance with her anyway, Umino. Besides, what matters is what makes her happy, and the fact she’s using that to help build people up and show them a better way is wonderful.” Usagi smiled as she looked at the picture of Shiratori Mikan hoping that she’ll be able to be happy with whatever she does.

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