First publication: Nakayoshi, 2/1992.
Published in tankoubon form by Kodansha; acquired by the webmistress in the summer of 1993. ( :

The scene opens in the Tsukino home; Usagi's mother is reading the newspaper. It features the heroics of the fighter Sailor V, who had recently recovered a diamond from a gang of robbers. Sighing, Usagi's mother wonders why her daughter can't be more like Sailor V. "Usagi!" she shouts. "It's after eight!"

Usagi jumps out of bed, wailing that she doesn't want to go to school and that she's going to be late; why didn't her mother wake her earlier? We learn that she is fourteen years old, in the eighth grade, and a bit of a crybaby.

On her way to school, she trips over a black cat and falls on her face. Picking up the cat, she notices that there's a bandage on the cat's head... she takes it off. The cat jumps away from her, and they stare at one another. The cat has a crescent moon on its head. Then the school bell rings, breaking the tableau; Usagi makes a run for it.

Needless to say, Usagi gets to school late and the teacher makes her stand outside in the hallway. Feeling hungry because she missed breakfast, she opens her lunch box and takes out a shrimp.

"Tsukino-san!" calls the teacher, whose name is Sakurada Haruna. "What do you think you're doing? Because of antics like that, you get scores like this!" She holds out a test paper, and we can see that Usagi has received a 30.

"But I don't like English..." Usagi says.

The teacher leaves, and two of Usagi's classmates emerge from the room. One of them is Umino, who shows off his score of 95 and says that it was all a game to him; the other is Naru, Usagi's best friend. Naru calls Umino a nerd and wonders how Usagi can be eating at this early hour. After Umino leaves, Naru reveals that she'd scored 85, but she didn't want to lose to Umino... Usagi reflects that Naru is pretty and smart, almost perfect.

Later, Usagi, Naru, and two other girls (Kuri and Yumiko) are eating lunch outside. Yumiko mentions that there have been a lot of break-ins lately. Umino joins them and comments that "Sailor V" captured the criminals.

"Who?" asks Usagi.

Umino explains that Sailor V is a famous crime fighter, and speculates that she might be a special detective for the Metro police board.

Yumiko sighs wistfully, and says that she can understand the criminals' viewpoint... that she, too, feels a longing for pretty jewels. The other girls chime in with agreement, and Usagi points out that Naru-chan's family has a large jewelry store named Osa-P. Naru giggles and reveals that they are having a big sale...

The girls press their faces against Osa-P's store window. It's very crowded, and they go in. Naru's mother is the saleslady, and she promises them that since they're Naru's friends, they can have a special price cut. Naru frowns, thinking that her mother's changed; she never would have had a sale before. Usagi reflects that Naru's mother is pretty, but very intense.

Kuri bubbles happily that since she did well on the test, her parents would buy her some jewelry.

As the girls browse, Naru's mother stands in the shadows, mumbling to herself. "I need more young energy... I need to get more..."

Usagi walks out, muttering that with a score of 30, she'd never get her parents to buy her any jewelry, and that she'd already spent this month's allowance. She crumples the offending test paper into a ball. "I'm going home!" she says, and tosses it over her shoulder.

It hits a man standing behind her. As it bounces off his head, we see that he is wearing a tuxedo and sunglasses, and has black hair. "Hey, that hurt, lumphead," he says. "I don't want lumps on my head like yours."

She turns around and yells, "They're not lumps! They're odango! Odango!"

He unfolds the test and looks at it. "30..." He throws the paper back at her. "Better study harder, odango atama." (translated, "Dumpling Head")

"I don't need your help!" Usagi yells and walks away. As she leaves, she looks back at him and thinks, "What's with him, wearing a tuxedo in the middle of the street? Flashy guy..."

The man stands in front of the Osa-P store; smiling slightly, he tips his sunglasses to look inside. "This jewelry store..." he thinks. "It could be here - the ginzuishou."

Usagi walks down the street, thinking that she doesn't want to go home with this test. She passes the Crown Game Center, and a large poster of Sailor V. "Oh, isn't that nice," Usagi mutters. "Sailor V-chan doesn't have to study; she just beats up the bad guys. I guess I'll stop by..." She goes inside, sits down, and plays the Sailor V arcade game.

A blond young man walks up to her. "Hey, Usagi-chan," he greets her. "Stopping by in your uniform again? Oh, you're playing the Sailor V game! If you're too slow, you'll get killed." The side notes inform you that this is Furuhata Motoki. He's Usagi's "onii-san" who works at the game center; he's sweet, and she has her eye on him. ("Onii-san" literally means "older brother," but in this case it just means that they're good friends and that he's older, so he deserves some respect.)

As Usagi plays, she hears a sound behind her. "Meow..." She turns, and sees the black cat from before. Motoki notes that the cat has been around for the past two or three days. Usagi laughs at the cat's moon-shaped bald spot, and the cat just stares at her. Usagi realizes that she's late, and runs home.

Usagi opens the door. "I'm home!" she yells.

"You're late, Usagi," her mother smiles. "Umino-kun was here awhile ago and said that he got a 95 on his test. What did you get, Usagi?"

Usagi mutters something about Umino's big mouth and shows her mother the test.

"30!? Usagi..!" her mother cries. "With this kind of score, you shouldn't be coming home anymore!" She throws Usagi out of the house.

Her brother comes up from behind her and kicks her. "What are you doing, stupid? Did you get kicked out of the house again?" As he goes inside, he sticks his tongue out at her. "I wish my sister were a little smarter..."

"Shingo!" Usagi yells. "Even though you're my little brother..." she leaps at him. "Sailor V kick!" Her foot hits the door and she yells, "Ow!" She begins pounding on the door. "Let me in, Mom! Open the door!"

Inside, her mother has an expression of severe frustration on her face.

"She's being a nuisance to the neighborhood," says Shingo.

Her mother opens the door. "All right, all right. Come in."

It's nighttime, and a man wearing a top hat and a tuxedo stands in front of the Osa-P jewelry store, looking inside.

Someone cradles a canister, gloating about the amount of energy collected within.

Yumiko holds a hand to her head, and falls onto a sofa. A new ring glimmers on her hand. "Strange..." she says. "Since I've been to the jewelry store, I've felt so weak..."

Naru's mother holds up a bag of jewelry, looking inside. "Selling these energy-draining jewels is working... but the special one doesn't seem to be here."

Naru hears her and walks in. "Mom...?"

Naru's mother turns, an evil grin on her face.

Usagi wanders into her room, shutting the door and complaining about how she feels tired. Halfheartedly, she picks up a math book and then drops it, since she doesn't want to do homework either. Falling on her bed, she closes her eyes and dreams.

In her dreams, she is Sailor V, killing monsters and defeating evil. She comes across Motoki who works at the game center. He's chained to a wall, the black cat in his arms. She sets them free. "I did it!" she exults. "I saved onii-san, and the kitty with the bald spot!" Something scratches her, and she wakes up. "What -"

"It's not a bald spot," the cat says. "That wasn't polite."

"The cat talked!?" Usagi stares at the black cat.

"My name is Luna," the black cat says intently. "I have been looking for you, Usagi-chan... with that bandage on, I couldn't talk or search for you. If you hadn't freed me, I don't know what I would have done..."

Usagi stares at her, then flops down and turns over in bed. "Good night..." she says sleepily.

"This isn't a dream," the cat insists. Usagi shakes her head, and the cat sighs. "Open your eyes. I have a present for you."

Usagi looks. "Oh! A brooch! It's so pretty!" She puts it on, running to the mirror. "I can keep this? That's great!"

"Usagi-chan," Luna says, "listen to me! Strange things are happening all over Tokyo, things that the police can't handle. You are a soldier, who must gather her allies and defeat her enemies! You have to find our princess..."

"Luna," Usagi says, "the brooch is glowing..."

"Shout 'Moon!'" the cat replies.

"'Moon'?" The brooch glows brighter, and Usagi crosses her hands in front of her. "...prism power! Make up!" Everything flashes, and Usagi transforms into Sailormoon. She looks down at her outfit with total disbelief. "Whaaaat?!"

One of the circles in her hair beeps, and she hears a voice... "Help! Somebody please help me! My mom is ..."

"Is that Naru-chan's voice?" Usagi wonders. She looks through her mask, and sees Naru-chan being attacked.

"Now do you believe me?" Luna asks impatiently.

"Luna, I don't understand... but Naru is in trouble!"

"Help me!" Naru's voice cries again. "My mom is killing me!"

"I have to save her!" Usagi cries.

"I am not your mother," the woman says as she holds Naru by the throat. She turns into a monster, her skin falling from her face and making her into a skull-faced, scary-eyed creature. "Right now, your mother is starving in the basement."

"No! Mom!" Naru cries.

From behind a wall, a cloaked man wearing a tall hat, a mask, and a tuxedo looks on. Suddenly, the door flies open. The man and the monster both spin to face it.

"Who are you?" the monster asks.

"Huh!?" says Usagi, caught off guard. Outside, Luna meows at the moon, and the words spring to Usagi's mind. "For love and justice, I am the pretty-suited sailor soldier! Sailor Moon!" she cries confidently, smiling.

"Never heard of you," the monster retorts, and holds up an arm commandingly. "My slaves! Awaken, those who have devoted their energy to our great ruler!"

The ring on Yumiko's hand shines as she rises from her bed; her eyes are empty. People gather in the streets, their eyes blank and evil. "Kill her!" they say, converging on Usagi. One of them swings at Usagi with a glass bottle, and Usagi barely gets out of the way. She scrapes her knee on the ground. "Ouch!" she cries. "This isn't a dream! I'm bleeding..."

Luna jumps down on her. "What do you think you're doing?" she asks. "Fight her! Beat her!"

"What? How? Why do I have to do this?" She starts crying. "I don't want to!" she wails. "I just want to go home!"

One of the circles in her hair flashes, and sonic waves fill the room. The monster moans in pain, and the blank-eyed people fall.

"Don't cry!" commands the man in the tuxedo. "If you're going to do anything, do it now, Sailormoon!"

"Now, Usagi-chan," instructs Luna, "take off your tiara! Shout 'frisbee' and throw it!"

Usagi takes off the tiara, and it turns into a disc. "Wow," she marvels. She throws it at the monster like a frisbee. "Moon Frisbee!" she shouts. The "frisbee" slices the monster's head from its neck, and it dissolves.

As Usagi stands there in amazement, a somehow familiar voice speaks out from behind her. "I didn't find the ginzuishou, but I did see something interesting."

Usagi spins just in time to see the masked man in the tuxedo leap into the air, his cape flowing out behind him like night. "My name is Tuxedo Kamen," he says. "Sailormoon, I will remember you. You did well."

Usagi stares after him, her eyes like big hearts. "Good job, Usagi-chan," Luna compliments her. "That monster was pretending to be Naru's mom. You heard that, didn't you? The invasion is beginning, so... Usagi?" Usagi is still staring at the sky, hearts in her eyes. Luna grits her teeth. "Usagi, we should go."

The people are waking up, looking confused. "What? What am I doing here...?"

"Such a happy dream," Usagi says contentedly as she leaves.

A man wearing a uniform looks into a crystal ball. His hair is blond, and short. "Sailormoon, is it?" he muses. "No matter. I will get it soon... the ginzuishou."

Naru is talking to her friends at school the next day. "The burglar attacked me... but the warrior in the sailor fuku saved me. If I hadn't fainted, I would have seen her face..."

Usagi is standing behind a wall, listening. She has pinned the brooch to her uniform, and it sparkles slightly. "So it wasn't a dream," she says to herself. Luna grins.

On to Act 2