Ami got off the bus and checked the bag she carried. It was heavy, and she knew that what she needed was in there. She strode up to the ugly pink-painted building. She frowned. Whoever designed and decorated that building must have had an IQ below room temperature. But she was afraid to go in, in spite of all that. Yet she had to! The sign out front said "Closed," but she tried the door, and it was open. So she slipped in.

At first, the place appeared empty, but then she heard some noise from the back. From the kitchen, she thought; they must be getting ready to re-open. She wondered which of those damned Mews was back there, which one of them she would have to face. Maybe there were several of them. If so, she could handle them all.

She went through a door that said "Employees Only," and entered the kitchen. There was only one girl there, the green-haired freak that had tackled and held her more than once. Mew Lettuce! She seemed very busy, and did not even turn from whatever she was doing at the counter.

The green-haired girl spoke, without even looking. "Is that you, Mint?" she asked. "It's about time you showed up! Zakuro-san and Pudding-san are still at the hospital with Ichigo-san, and Ryou went there, too. We have to get ready to open this afternoon, and we're 'way behind. Mint..."

Ami stopped, and spoke. "I'm not Mint."

The girl turned around, and her mouth dropped open when she saw Ami. "What do you want?" she gasped, and her hand reached into a pocket on her apron, grabbing for her pendant.

But Ami was ready and moved faster. She reached into the bag she carried and drew out a pistol, and pointed it at Lettuce's heart. "Don't touch that pendant, or I'll kill you!"

Lettuce stopped, and her mouth fell open. Her eyes were huge with fear. "What do you want?" she finally stammered.

"What I want," Ami began, "is revenge on you and your whole gang." She was as frightened as her enemy was, but tried not to let it show. "But right now, I'll settle for my pendant, and Rei's." She tried to smirk, but it didn't work. She was too scared. "And get them now, or I really will kill you."

Lettuce nodded, and looked around. It seemed that no help was coming for her. She stammered again. "The pendants are in the safe, and I don't... I... I... Oh, hell, the safe's back here." She stumbled through a door and Ami followed. There was a safe in the wall, and Lettuce tried a combination. Then she tried the handle, but it wouldn't open. "Sorry," she gasped, "I must have got it wrong." She tried again, with trembling hands, and failed again. By this time she was shaking so violently that she could hardly turn the dial. And Ami did smirk, this time: this girl had repeatedly faced death and annihilation as a super-hero, but she was paralyzed with fear at the sight of a gun! And yet a third time the trembling Mew Mew turned the safe's dial; and this time, finally, it opened.

Lettuce reached in and took out first one pendant, and then another. One dropped from her shaking hand and clattered on the floor. Ami started toward it, then thought the better of that, and said, "Pick it up, and any false move, I'll shoot." Lettuce managed to pick it up, and Ami said, "Now put them on the table over there." The Mew obeyed, and then Ami spoke once more: "Now, take out your own pendant, and put it there, too."

The green-haired girl stared at Ami with wide eyes. Ami smirked. This was going far better than she had hoped. She would get her own pendant back, and Rei's; and at the same time, she would reduce the Mew she hated most to helplessness. Her enemy was hesitating, so she said, "Hurry. I can take it off your dead body as easily as off the table. And don't try transforming - I'll put ten holes in you before you even get started!"

The shaking Lettuce slowly drew out her own pendant and placed it carefully on the table. Then, in obedience to Ami's gesture with the gun, she backed off, and stood trembling against the wall.

Ami strode forward in triumph and took the pendants: first her own, then Rei's, then her enemy's. She put them all into the bag, and one last time she spoke. "Now, to deal with you..."

Lettuce shut her eyes, expecting the killing bullet to strike. But it did not come. Ami just turned to leave - and saw that they were not alone. The dark-haired man - Keiichiro - was standing there.

She pointed the gun at him; but he did not tremble. Instead, he actually smiled a little, and he spoke: "Hey, that's a nice one, a real classic. A Nambu, eh?" he started walking toward Ami, who pointed the gun at his heart.

"Where did you get such a nice one? It's really in good shape!" the man said.

Ami answered, "It was may great-grandfather's. He had it in the war." The man kept approaching, and she waved it at him. "I'll shoot! I'll kill you!" But he just smiled. When he was a stride away, she jerked at the trigger, but nothing happened. The man seized her, twisted her wrist, and took the gun away.

Then he examined it. "You see, Miss Sailor Senshi, I know how a Nambu works, and I could see there's no magazine in it - no bullets. I knew it wouldn't shoot."

Suddenly Ami was knocked to the floor, and Mew Lettuce came down heavily on top of her. "You'll pay for this!" she shrieked. But Keiichiro just smiled, and said: "Enough, Lettuce-chan."

They took Ami out of that room, back through the kitchen, and then into a small office, where they sat her on a chair. Then the man looked her in the eyes and lectured her. "Look, girl, this is out of hand. Guns? If you knew how to use one, Lettuce and I might be dead. I can't stop your side and the Mews from having your stupid magic war. I'm not magical, and I can't control you, or them. But you were talking killing, and you fools nearly killed Ichigo-san. Being a Magical Girl doesn't give you, or anyone..." He looked at Lettuce, and continued, "Or anyone, the right to murder. I would just as soon give you your pendant back, and be done with you, but I know it wouldn't end there. I fear this won't end before we have dead Magical Girls on our hands."

Ami looked at the floor, then back at the man. "I must have my pendant back!"

It was Lettuce who spoke. "Why? So you can kill me?"

Ami stood up from the chair. "Because I promised my mother yesterday that I would show her what has been going on for the last three years, so I have to be able to transform, or she won't believe anything." She looked down again. "If I can't show her, she'll throw me out of the house."

"You really want to live a double life, don't you!" Lettuce half-shouted. "You want a nice, safe, happy teen-ager's life in your mother's home, and then you want to go out and kill people. It doesn't work that way!"

Ami shot back, "That's the way you live, isn't it?"

And Lettuce shouted, "I don't try to kill my rivals!"

Ami stared at the green-haired girl, her eyes seething with anger. "Give me back my pendant, and we'll settle this once and for all!"

Lettuce pointed her finger right in Ami's face. "See! That's all you Sailor fools can talk about. Fighting! Killing! This all started when three of you ganged up on poor Ichigo - who beat your champion, if you don't remember! We're better than you are, and you can't take it!"

And something snapped in sweet, mild-mannered, always-perfect Ami, and she hurled herself at Mew Lettuce. But Lettuce was bigger and stronger by far, and as before, she wrestled Ami to the floor, and this time began pummeling her with her fists. It would not have gone well with Ami, but the man's voice stopped the fight: "Enough!" And Lettuce obeyed, and stopped hitting Ami.

Then a second man's voice spoke. "Hey, Keiichiro, if you're going to have some cat fights, invite me to watch." Ami looked, and there in the door of the room was the other man, the blond one. He strode up, and then said, "Ah... What's going on here?"

Lettuce's glasses had been knocked off, but she knew the voice, and she blushed with shame. The man she loved had been watching, and she had been fighting like a bad-tempered child, or an uncouth thug! She looked around and found her glasses, and then stood, stammering, trying to say something to Ryou, but not being able to say anything. She lowered her face, and tears began seeping from her eyes, no matter what she did to try to stop them.

Keiichiro spoke: "The Sailor girl, here, threatened Lettuce with a gun, to get their pendants back. She was stealing Lettuce's pendant, too. She also threatened me, but I could see the gun wasn't loaded - no magazine. So I took it away.."

The blond man walked over to where Ami lay on the floor and said, "Get up." Ami rose, uncertainly, and the man stood before Ami and looked her in the eyes. "You knew it wasn't loaded, didn't you."

Ami looked down, and nodded. "I just wanted my pendant back, so I could fulfill my promise to my mother. I promised her I'd show her what I've been up to the last three years."

The blond man nodded. "I almost believe you, though you wouldn't have to steal Lettuce-san's pendant for that. Well, we can take care of this issue. We'll send Lettuce-san here, and Zakuro-san, and Pudding-san with you, and they'll bring your pendant. Then they'll let you transform for your mother. Then you'll give the pendant back, or they'll tear you to pieces in front of your mother."

Keiichiro said, "Do you think that's wise? We've got to find a way to get them to stop fighting."

The blond man shrugged. "Maybe she'll behave in front of her mother." The dark-haired man agreed, and they all went to work preparing for that evening's business, waiting for the other Mews to arrive.