"I'm so sorry, Usako," Mamoru said, clutching his head in one hand as he and Usagi exited Crown Arcade together.

Usagi vehemently shook her head. "Please, Mamo-chan, I just want to make sure you're okay…"

Even with his hand to his forehead he gave a confident smile and nod. "It's just a migraine. I get them every once in awhile. It must have been all the flashing lights of that game."

They usually played Sailor V together, but anything Sailor-related was the last thing Usagi had wanted to partake in that morning. Instead, she'd opted for a friendly Sonic the Hedgehog challenge; a game Mamoru was familiar with, but had never played. It had no more blinking lights than the Sailor V game did, but she had to cut him some slack after everything she'd put him through.

"I think it's more because you didn't sleep very well last night."

He gave a defeated laugh. "I was trying not to bring it up."

Usagi smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "I thought that was a better excuse than me smoking you at getting those Chaos Emeralds." Seven crystals, all a different color of the rainbow. She'd gotten four, he'd gotten two, and he had to concentrate more and more after each round to keep up. Before the seventh round had even finished loading he'd launched himself away from the arcade cabinet and cradled his head in his hands, groaning in a way she'd never heard before.

He shuddered as if replaying the same memory. "I think I'd rather talk about last night again, to be honest. Something about that game really triggered this headache."

Usagi frowned. "Please let me take you home."

Mamoru shook his head. "I'll be fine, Usako. I promise. I'll call you later… I think I just need some sleep." He kissed her sweetly on the lips, gave her another small smile, then turned to walk down the street. When he reached the subway station he turned around, smiled when he saw she was still watching him, and waved before descending the stairs.

Usagi nearly jumped out of her shoes when she felt a sudden weight on her shoulder and fur brush her face, yet somehow stifled it. This high school uniform disguise really worked wonders! "It looks like you two are better now," Luna proudly murmured into her ear.

Usagi rolled her eyes. "We wouldn't have not been good if you didn't come along."

Luna hesitated, mumbling the weirdly-worded phrase a couple of times before finally understanding. "Yes, well, you'll learn to balance these lives. Was Mamoru confused by your high school uniform? I guess it was better than your original pajama plan."

Usagi grunted as she began heading home. Had Luna thought of how odd the disguise choice had been before letting her out of the house? She still couldn't quite trust this cat… "I told him my friend Ami and I went to a high school orientation." But, wait… Ami and Mamoru knew each other! What if he asked her about it?! Usagi froze in place, eyes wide. "Oh NO! Ami… I have to find Ami!"

"This isn't a high school though, Usagi…" Ami said with trepidation as the two girls approached a large building a few buildings down from Crown Arcade. Usagi sighed. Had she only known she would wind back up here this afternoon, she never would have run around the Azabu district barreling people over in search of this blue-haired genius girl. "It's just a cram school for students IN high school."

Usagi nodded enthusiastically as she looked at the fourth-floor sign: CRYSTAL SEMINAR: HOME OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CRYSTAL DISK STUDY METHOD.

Usagi put her hand behind her head and laughed nervously. "Let's be honest, Ami; this is the only taste of high school I'll ever get for the next couple of years! So I consider it a high school… Mamo-chan will be really happy you let me come with you for one of the sessions. Thank you for bringing me here. Next time you see him, tell him how happy I was to see it, okay?"

Ami looked down and smiled at the sidewalk. "Mamoru, huh? I will." She put her hand to her lips and let out a soft laugh as the glass doors hissed apart and let them inside. "All of this for him? It must be nice to be in love like that…" She caught herself as they stepped into the elevator and coughed. "But you really should be focusing on your entrance exams and not just on impressing him, you know. If you like the class today, you should consider enrolling!"

Usagi curled her lips in and smiled, puffing her cheeks out a bit. "I'll consider it for sure!" *My lies just keep building and building… I'm not going to be able to keep this up for much longer.*

As the elevator slid open again, Ami reached into her purse and extracted a small circular disk. "I already finished this one, so you can erase what's on it and start over," she said with a smile.

Usagi took the disk and nearly ran back into the elevator before it closed behind them. "What's 'calculus?'"

It took fifteen minutes for Usagi to figure out how to clear the disk, let alone begin the first chapter.

While Ami, glasses on and lips set in a thin, focused line, typed furiously beside her, Usagi took one look at the first line and felt her eye twitch.

"The fundamental theorem of calculus," she murmured to herself. "The concept of the derivative of a function with the concept of the function's integral." What the heck did she sign herself up for? This was what high school would be like? Even with her uniform still on she couldn't begin to comprehend the string of words on the screen before her. *Maybe I'll need to make this Sailor Moon thing work after all…* she thought, horrified at the brain power this would take and her extreme lack of it. Being a superhero sounded much better than sitting in class after class of the 'fundamental theory of such-and-such.' She craned her head to peer over her monitor at the students before her, typing away almost as furiously as Ami to her left. She could barely make out a number in an equation on screen before they successfully answered the slide and moved onto another. The students behind her were just as engrossed.

"Hey, Ami…" Usagi whispered, leaning over to find Ami's slides were changing faster than any of them. "Do we get a break for snack, or…?" But Ami was too absorbed in her own work to answer her. "No problem; I'll just ask a teacher," she said, but no one was around to ask. *Is this all these people pay for? A confusing disk to use on a computer?* She saw the prices on a flyer she was given upon entry, and nearly cried out in shock when she saw the weekly rate.

Even Luna noticed how little the students were paying attention and she popped her head out of Usagi's bag on the desk beside her. "Usagi… there's something very wrong here," she said out loud, yet no one gave them a second glance.

Usagi's eyes widened, yet she somehow wasn't surprised by Luna's revelation. "The enemy…?"

Luna nodded. "The Dark Kingdom. I think they're sucking the energy of these students dry!"

"What!" Usagi cried, jumping to her feet. She quickly grabbed Ami's shoulders and shook. "Hey, snap out of it! Ami! Can you hear me?!" But Ami kept typing. "Luna, should I transform?!"

The happy smile Luna gave her made her realize what she'd said. "Please, Usagi."

"Moon Prism Po-"

Usagi screamed as a large, root-like hand exploded from every screen in the room and grabbed the throat of each student, including Ami's. She watched as the hand at her screen blindly grabbed at the air, nearly catching Luna by the tail until the cat jumped out of the way.

"MOON PRISM POWER, MAKE UP!"

There was something about this form that she was anxious to get to. Sailor Moon held a power she'd never felt before, and with the sight of a dozen hands reaching through screens and gripping students, she needed all the power she could get.

Yet… hers wasn't the only power she felt this time. When she looked at Ami, Luna jumped up onto the desk beside her.

"That confirms it!" Luna said. "Quick, Sailor Moon. Cut her free!"

With a quick "Moon Tiara Action!", Sailor Moon cut through Ami and five other students' roots. The screams of the monsters behind the glass sent a chill up her spine, and she watched in horror as the rest of the monsters climbed into the room while the freed students fell forward.

"Luna!" Sailor Moon cried, but when she looked to the cat for guidance, found she was whispering something to Ami and sliding a blue pen her way.

"NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR HOMEWORK!" Sailor Moon cried, jumping back as the monster from her screen, with both arms still attached, lunged toward her.

"You're going to need help for this one, Sailor Moon!" Luna replied. Again, that cat smile and smug tone.

"Mercury Power, Make Up!"

The room was engulfed in a blinding light that temporarily stunned the monsters and made Sailor Moon's jaw drop. "You mean…?"

"Ami! You are Sailor Mercury. I will explain everything soon, but for now, you need to trust me. Can you do that? I need you to shout…"

"Shabon… Spray!" Sailor Mercury cried, and before the monsters could fully recover from the light, found themselves engulfed in cold fog.

Luna laughed. "She really is a quick study! You have a lot to learn from your friend here, Sailor Moon."

"Ami is… Ami's like me?!" Sailor Moon said in disbelief. An overwhelming sensation of camaraderie flooded her. *So I'm not alone in this?*

"YES, Sailor Moon, but now is not the time! Your attack, again!" Luna commanded.

Sailor Moon could only make out the shadows of the students and monsters in the glowing screens amid Sailor Mercury's fog. One bad throw of her tiara and she could seriously hurt one of these students; likely a friend of Ami's. Yet, just knowing Sailor Moon wasn't going to bear all the weight of this destiny thing alone gave her the strength to ready her attack again. "Moon Tiara… ACTION!" she shouted, launching her tiara into the air again while picturing the arms and torsos of the frightening computer beasts. She landed every single one that time, watching as the yellow glow of her tiara discus pierced through and incinerated the monsters. The fog died along with the screams of the vanquished enemies, leaving semi-conscious, groaning students in their wake.

"What happened…?" one student asked, but before Mercury could answer, Sailor Moon grabbed her arm and led her toward the door.

"They will be fine; we'll make sure of it," Sailor Moon said, opting for the stairwell over waiting for the elevator. "But we can't let anyone see us like this… especially if you know those people from that class."

Usagi explained how to revert Ami's transformation on the way down to the ground floor of the cram school. By the time they exited, they were back to normal middle school girls and told a nearby policeman they smelled gas in the Crystal Seminar building. Again, another lie… they would have to get used to that, wouldn't they? But at least there was a 'they' now; not just Usagi and her crazy talking cat. She had an ally, and she could think of no better friend to fight alongside than the super-genius Ami.

*Well… maybe Mamoru,* she thought with a smile.

"Come on, Ami… let's head to the arcade," Usagi suggested, pointing to the building a few feet away. "We have so much to talk about."

"Sure, Usagi," Ami said, still looking a bit bewildered over the whole transformation thing. Usagi couldn't blame her. "But… why are you wearing pajamas?"