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Later, the five girls and Chibi-Usa walk on the numerous steps of the Hikawa Shrine. Mako reacts to this situation. "Well, it sure is a problem I'd like to have, getting a love letter." They stop walking and Usagi agrees, "No doubt." |
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Ami explains, "It's not like I received a lot or anything,
but..." she bows her head down, "...it's just that I get this
horrible reaction to them." Rei adds, "Taste aversion, I think it's called." |
"Ami, you know what they say," Minako interrupts, "'Life's short and love's a battle.'" Artemis, on Minako's shoulder, gets a surprised look. The girls get silent,
not knowing exactly how to react to Minako's comment, and Usagi drops
her bookbag. |
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"Was that wrong?" Minako asks. "I think the correct saying is life is short, love while you can," Artemis corrects. Bashfully Minako says, "I guess that's another way of putting it..." |
| ...But she gets interrupted by a giggling Ami. "You know, I think there's only one thing we should be passionately doing in out last year of junior high school, and that is..." Ami says as walks some steps up. |  |
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"...Studying, we take it?" The other girls assume dully
and in unison. |
| "That's right! RIght now, in my dictionary, there's no such word as love!" Ami says. She puts on her glasses, which flash with an eerie energy. |  |
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Suddenly a drift passes by the girls. "Scary..." Chibi-Usa
funnily states. |
| "Is there something wrong?!" Makoto queries. |
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"Take a look at this," Ami says seriously. She lifts up her hand to reveal a magazine. "Look on page 42." |
The girls huddle around the magazine and Makoto flips through to page 42. "It's the ranking for the national practice exams," Ami explains. |
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Makoto says, "First place: Mercury... 100% in all five subjects?" Minako pushes her head through Usagi's and Makoto's and dumbly states, "That means a perfect score on every exam!" "Mercury... that's you, right Ami?" Chibi-Usa cutely observes. |
"That's right. You send the results under a pseudonym and they rank you accordingly." Ami pushes up her glasses. "The problem is THAT person!" she says as she points to the magazine, the name "Mercurius." Rei says, "There's another perfect score!" |
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"Mercurius?" Minako questions. "That's 'Mercury' in Latin," Artemis informationally explains. |
| "Lately that person has been keeping first alongside me in every
exam" Ami raises a fist, "...they may be challenging me. Perhaps
it's a new type of enemy!" |
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"Ami, I think you're overanalyzing things," Usagi says and
they other agree. Even Luna, as she says, "That's right, you're overanalyzing!" |
| At school, Ami still ponders this. paying no attention to the teacher.
"I may be overanalyzing, but I can't help but wonder what kind of person
this Mercurius is..." |
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