The salesman kept spinning the wheel for them. Free tickets to a romantic cruise, obtainable just by winning like this. Even the psychic girl he had heard so much about had easily been fooled.

Nephrite smiled to himself. Gathering energy for the great ruler was so easy.

"Ami-chan!" Usagi exclaimed, skipping towards Ami. She put down her lunchbox next to her and gave her a hug. Ami blushed. "Fighting youma is so scary," Usagi said. "I'm so glad I have you and Rei-chan to support me, Ami-chan."

Ami nodded. "We are a great team, Usagi-chan." Usagi giggled.

"You are too cute Ami-chan!" Usagi said.

Ami showed Usagi her tablet. "I did some research on Sailor V yesterday," she said. Usagi nodded enthusiastically. Sailor V had to join them too! "And I found something strange," Ami said, showing Usagi a picture of the Sailor V game. "No one knows who developed the Sailor V game. A huge delivery of them just showed up at all arcades in Japan one day."

"That's strange," Usagi said, tilting her head a bit.

"It could be that Sailor V invented the game herself," Ami suggested. "But being a soldier of justice and a game-maker at the same time seems tricky..."

Usagi did not respond, already imagining how Sailor V would fight by her side against the youma. The youma used ropes on Usagi, making her unable to move. "V-chan!" Usagi would yell, and Sailor V would use her crescent beam attack from the game to crush the youma in one blow. "V-chan, you're so cool!" Usagi would say again, then run up to her and hug. Sailor V would flip her hair and give Usagi a shining smile. "Let's braid each other's hair, Usagi-chan," she would say. "Yes!" Usagi would reply enthusiastically...

"Usagi?" Ami said, waving her hand in front of Usagi's eyes.

"Oh, sorry Ami-chan," Usagi said, trying to focus again.

"I just said maybe Sailor V created the game for a reason," Ami said. "Remember how we won the pens in the arcade game machine? Luna must have rigged the game somehow, so then she must know how it works."

Usagi's eyes widened. "Luna secretly knows Sailor V?" she asked.

"That's not what I-" Ami started, but Usagi was already stuck in her own thoughts.

"Why does Luna get to meet Sailor V-chan and not me?" she pouted, thinking about how poor Sailor V-chan must feel. Poor Sailor V-chan, dreaming to meet Usagi-chan, creating the game just to inspire Usagi-chan as a soldier, telling Luna to please let her meet Usagi-chan soon. Then they would meet, and Usagi-chan would run up to Sailor V-chan with hearts in her eyes and hug her and make her happy forever. And then-...

"Usagi, did you play the arcade game last night instead of studying?" Ami asked.

Usagi snapped back to reality. "Only for a few hours!" she said, nodding to her own statement. Ami giggled. "But I am bad at studying," Usagi said, flapping her arms. "I am good at the arcade game... Well, not as good as you of course, Ami-chan, but it's something."

Ami smiled. "It's all right, Usagi," she said. "You are good at many other things."

"Many other things?" Usagi repeated quietly to herself, while Ami kept tapping her fingers on her tablet to try to find more information about Sailor V.

A few tables away, Naru was sitting with Yumiko and Kuri. Yumiko and Kuri were loudly discussing the luxury cruise they wanted tickets for so badly.

"I'm so jealous of the people with tickets," Yumiko whined. "The wheel is impossible to win on and all the tickets being sold are too expensive." She sighed, turning her face away from Kuri as she mumbled the rest. "If only my family had more money..."

"I could probably ask my dad to buy," Kuri said. "But if he did, then I would need to bring someone, and I don't have a boyfriend..."

Yumiko looked at her with her eyebrows up, as if to say you could bring me, but Kuri didn't seem to notice. Naru just stared at Usagi and Mizuno by the other table.

Usagi, she thought to herself. Why are we never hanging out anymore?

Ever since Usagi started hanging out with that genius girl in the other class, everything had changed. Usagi was not answering phonecalls, even her mother seemed unsure where she was sometimes, and every lunch she would sit with Mizuno instead of her. Naru looked at Usagi longingly.

Usagi...

Naru remembered three years ago, when guys were being mean to her, pushing her into walls and mocking her. Ugliest girl in our grade, they called her. Naru was used to it, so she did not say much. Until she met Usagi...

"All girls are pretty, especially Naru-chan!" she had yelled at them. Then the guys started making fun of Usagi's hairstyle. She just stuck her tongue out at them. "You are just jealous because your hair is so short!" she said back at them. The guys finally just rolled their eyes and left.

And they never bothered Naru again.

Naru remembered the confusion she felt at Usagi knowing her name. But Usagi just reached out her hand to pull Naru up from the floor they pushed her down on. "Hi, I'm Usagi!" she said enthusiastically. Then she winked at her. "I'm a protector of cute girls!" Naru just stared at her in disbelief. "Don't listen to those guys," Usagi added. "They don't know anything! All girls are beautiful, that's why Usagi-chan protects them!"

Naru kept staring at her for a while, then she laughed. Usagi smiled.

"Hey, Naru-chan," Usagi said. "Let's go somewhere after school, okay?"

"Okay," Naru nodded.

Naru looked at Usagi and Mizuno, trying not to feel envy. Because she could see just by looking at Mizuno-san that the exact same thing had happened here. Usagi had walked in, made her feel less lonely, put a smile on her face, changed her life in a heartbeat.

Yumiko and Kuri have each other, Naru thought to herself. But I have no one, Usagi-chan... Are you best friends with Mizuno-san now instead of me?