Meanwhile, at the darkened night time grounds of Juuban Public High School, it was three against one as Usagi, Naru, and Makoto all teamed up against Tetsuo. Makoto did most of the talking, now firmly defending Ami. "Give up your ridiculous demand of 100,000 Yen from Mizuno-san," Makoto warned him. "Or the three of us are gonna kick your ass into next week, you got it?!"

"Uh," Usagi noted from behind Naru, afraid of the impending fight. "I'm just kinda here as an observer, I'm not really the fighting type, so uh..."

"Just go along with it," Naru instructed to her. "We got this, 'aight?" She then turned to Tetsuo. "Listen here, punk, we're prepared this time, so do your worst!"

"Tempting," Tetsuo spat back at them. "I'm interested to see how you guys intend to back up those brave words."

As Makoto rolled up her sleeves, she replied back to him. "With pleasure!" She and Naru then charged at Tetsuo head-on, both yelling at him as they did, while Usagi stayed behind and cheered both Naru and Makoto on.

Just a few minutes later, however, and all three of them were once again badly beaten and laying on the ground, all of them moaning in pain. Tetsuo said to the three girls, "Looks like you guys still aren't good enough. Your attempt to fight me was pathetic once more." This time, all three of them were completely out cold.

"But you didn't count on me," a voice then called out from behind him. As he turned around, he saw Ami, or, at least, what he thought was Ami, now dressed in bed school uniform and wearing the Mercury Puzzle as a necklace. "Nakamura-san, I see you beat up my friends again." This other Ami, this Dark Ami, gave off an aura of confidence that Tetsuo had never seen from Ami before.

"That's odd," he said to her, looking her over. "You gained a lot more confidence in the span of an evening. Anyway, have you come to pay off your debt?"

"I have," Dark Ami revealed as she pulled off her bookbag and pulled an envelope from it. "And I doubled the amount to 200,000 Yen. I'm sure you'll appreciate that."

Tetsuo, amazed that she had increased the amount of money, replied, "How generous! That's really nice of you!"

"However," Dark Ami added an important caveat. "It wouldn't be fun to just give away the money so easily. I got a different idea in mind. First, let me see that knife of your's, because we're gonna play a game."

"My knife?" He then pulled the knife out from under his shirt. "What kind of game is this, and why should I play?"

"I'll throw in an extra prize," Dark Ami replied in a somewhat sultry tone. "If you win, not only do you get the money, but you can do whatever you want to me and my body." She gave him an enticing smile to drive the point home. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"What is this game, then?" Tetsuo thought to himself, "Where the hell is she coming from? I wouldn't have expected her to do this..."

"We split the money into two 100,000 Yen halves and place each half on our left hands on top," Dark Ami explained as she split the money into two exact halves on a park table next to them. "We then take turns stabbing the money with the knife. No stabbing anything else. Whoever does not stab themselves and has the most money pulled from their pile on their hand wins. I'll even let you win in case of a tie." She then gave him a wink of one of her eyes. "However," she sinisterly cautioned him. "If you break the rules, as punishment, I'll inflict a Penalty Game upon you."

"I accept," Tetsuo replied to her, taking his half and handing the knife to Dark Ami. "I'm ready."

"Game Start!" Dark Ami then took a stab, literally, at her own hand, collecting four bills. "Look ah that, four bills. Anyway, here you go." She then handed the knife to Tetsuo.

As Tetsuo focused on his hand, he both tried to think about the money and control himself. "Damn it," he thought to himself. "This is harder than I thought! I can't stab my own hand, but I want to get as much money as I can! Screw it!" He closed his eyes and made his stab, collecting seven bills. "Okay, phew! Your turn!"

As Dark Ami took her turn and stabbed her money, she monologued, "This game is a good test of someone's greed. The more you let it control you, the less control you have over your hand when it's your turn with the knife."

After several more turns, Tetsuo was down to only a few more bills, and the suspense was killing him on the inside. Sweat was dripping down his forehead and face as he concentrated as best as he could. "I want to stab hard enough to get all the money, but that will cause me to lose if I hurt myself! I can't... I can't control it!"

"Are you having a hard time with your greed?" Dark Ami smiled. "I would be too if I was as manipulative as you."

An irate Tetsuo screamed back at her, "Shut the hell up!" Right after, he had an idea that he thought would turn the game around in his favor once and for all, and put and end to Dark Ami's pesky taunting. "It is breaking the rules," he thought to himself. "But it's not like she'll be alive to enforce it!" He then raised the knife above him. "You let me hold this knife," he exclaimed to Dark Ami. "And now you'll regret it for the last few seconds of your life! Die, Ami! Die a horrible and painful death!"

However, Dark Ami was one step ahead of him, and dodged the assault just barely in time, shocking Tetsuo as the Symbol of Mercury appeared on her forehead. "Just as I thought," she spoke of him. "You weren't able to follow the rules, Nakamura Tetsuo!"

Anger and confidence turned into fear and confusion as Tetsuo dropped the knife from his hands and stared at the symbol on her forehead. "What... What the hell is that thing on you forehead?!"

"This symbol is seen by those who commit wrongs against the innocent," Dark Ami told him. "Such as you, who hurt me and my friends and tried to extort me for money!" With a swift action, she pointed at him and shouted, "Penalty Game! Illusion of Greed!"

With a flash of light, Tetsuo looked away before he opened his eyes back up again. "Huh? What was that?" Then, he saw something that made his eyes light up with excitement. "Money?! It's money?!" To his astonishment, money was falling all around him, and he quickly began grabbing as much of it as he could, dancing around with it. "I got money! It's literally falling from the sky! This is amazing! Holy shit!"

In reality, the 'money' was in fact just leaves and brush from the ground. Dark Ami had inflicted an embarrassing illusion upon him, and as she walked away, she said to herself, "For you, this must be Heaven. In reality, you're only gonna make a fool of yourself when everyone sees you the next morning playing with leaves and brush. As for me, I have all my money back. Game Over!"

...

...

The next morning, Ami walked into the school grounds, yawning to herself as she tried to recall the events of last night. She still wore the Mercury Puzzle around her neck, and was proud of the fact that she had solved it, but could not recall anything that happened after she did. As she walked past the entrance gates, she saw a crowd of students gathered around someone. "Huh?"

In the crowd were Usagi, Naru, and Makoto, all of them watching a still delusional Tetsuo as he continued to play with leaves and brush from the night before, but now also with trash mixed in. "The money is all mine, and nobody else can have it! Hahaha!" The crowd all laughed at him, especially his three victims who watched.

Makoto remarked to Naru, "You know, I was seriously considerin' beatin' 'em up once school was done, but I think public humiliation's good enough punishment. Physical wounds heal, but this ain't healin' for a while."

Then, Usagi noticed Ami as she walked over. "Huh? Hey, Mizuno-san!"

Ami walked over, still yawning, surprised to see Usagi at school so early. "Hey, guys... What happened here?"

"Nakamura-san's makin' a fool of himself," Naru replied to her. As the four of them began to turn away, Naru asked Ami, "Hey, um... Mizuno-san, I wanna thank you for stickin' up for me and Kino-san."

"Yeah," Makoto added, sighing as she prepared herself to apologize to Ami. "You know, Mizuno-san, standin' up for us, especially for me... That takes serious guts. I... I wanna apologize for what I've done to you all this time ever since I came here." The other three could all tell from Makoto's body language and vocal tone that she was dead serious in her remorse.

"It's fine," Ami assured her. "Listen, Kino-san, I know about your visit to my house. My mom told me everything this morning."

A shocked Makoto tried to deny it to no avail. "Huh? I... Did I... I didn't... Eh... Okay, yes, I did. I told her to keep it secret, but... I felt so bad after what happened..."

Ami cut her off with a sudden embrace, making the taller brunette blush as she tried to figure out how to respond. "Thank you... I was finally able to solve the Mercury Puzzle after you found that piece..." As they split, Ami showed the three of them the puzzle. "Ten years of hard work finally paid off last night."

Usagi was floored by the puzzle's beauty. "Woah... It's so pretty, Mizuno-san! The dark blue pieces shine really bright!"

"I know," Ami replied happily. "Now, let's head in, together."

"Right," Makoto replied with a smile and a nod. "Together, Ami-chan."

"Hey," Ami gushed back to her. "You called me by my first name, Makoto-chan. That's so sweet of you."

"Well," Naru added for the conversation. "If we're doing that, you two can call me and Usagi-chan by our first names." Usagi nodded, agreeing with Naru.

"Usagi-chan, Naru-chan," Ami and Makoto said together. All four of them then shared a laugh, amused by their synergy in their reply as they walked into school as a team of four for the very first time. A bond had developed between all four of them from their shared experience, and that bond would prove to be world-changing in the time to come.

...

...

Meanwhile, in another part of the Juuban area of Tokyo, a black cat with a crescent-shaped symbol on its forehead sat on a wall that bordered a residential street, resting after spending another night out in the open. The cat was tired, and it was somewhat disheveled. It darted its eyes around, looking for anyone that could be around it. "Okay... Nobody else around, I see... I wonder if I'll have any luck this week with my mission..." The cat possessed a female voice, and spoke exactly like a human. "I suppose we'll have to wait and see..."

As she looked down, she noticed a man and a woman talking below, and stopped talking to herself as to not arouse any suspicion. The man wore a baseball cap and a shirt that read "ZTV," and the woman wore a business suit. "This documentary series you have planned will get us a lot of viewers," the woman told the man. "Even if we do have to sweeten things up and add our own little bits of drama in."

"Don't worry," the man assured her as they walked past the cat, not noticing or caring about her. "It's not like anyone will be able to tell the difference when they watch it on TV. We'll make sure to censor the names and likenesses of anyone on camera so we don't get our asses sued. Caught on Camera: Junior High School Violence will be our biggest hit yet."

Once the two were gone, the cat on the wall through to herself, "Well, that's gonna end badly for someone. Say, a junior high school... If there's one around here, maybe I can find who I'm looking for there. Luna, this may be your big break!"