I wouldn’t say what we saw was the strangest situation in the world, but it was certainly different.

I had been terrified that there had been another youma attack, and while I knew on some level that I wasn’t the powerless girl I had been last time, the fear was still there.

As we arrived on-scene, instead of a single monster, there were a number of people, instead. A group of men, in black, face-concealing masks and black bodysuits. They all were toting heavy weaponry, guns ranging from mere pistols to what looked to be a grenade launcher, which explained the burning car that had been overturned onto the sidewalk and burning the plume of smoke into the air.

All around us were buildings with broken glass and bullet holes. The identical goons were swarming around a singular person who effortlessly avoided the attacks of his assailants while responding in kind with what looked to be a thin-bladed rapier.

The swordsman wore a musketeer-like outfit with a high-collared cape and a golden mask over his face in the shape of a skull. He boomed with haunting laughter as he deflected attacks and slashed at his attackers. He moved like a blur, dancing, dodging and darting in between the attackers and gunfire. Even when one managed to strike him, it simply seemed to deflect off of his body.

“Oh shit, it’s HIM!” said Nao, rushing past me and into the fray.

The other members of the team, Ceres, Palas, Juno, Vesta and Homura all followed her lead, leaving me to stare in shock as I realized who I was looking at.

Golden Bat (no relation to Batman) was an essentially immortal hero that had been protecting Japan since the thirties. His origins were a mystery, with explanations ranging from him being an Atlantian to being a space alien to being a spirit of vengeance.

Whatever he was, he was strong. In addition to slashing goons with his razor-sharp blade, he easily tossed them around like they were rag-dolls. Truthfully, it was only the sheer scale of numbers that seemed to be giving him trouble. I watched him pick up a suited goon and toss him into a crowd of other ones, right next to me.

Shaken out of my trance, I let myself jump into the fight and take my place with the other Senshi and Golden Bat.

I wasn’t actually aware what the Amazon Quartet were capable of, but they immediately made it clear that they weren’t any weaker than any other senshi.

Despite her shyness, Ceres had a pair of thorny whips covered in rose blossoms and was determined in cracking them and entangling the attackers.

Palas,  otherwise small and unassuming, was unleashing a hail of watery blasts and by the looks of it, had a number of illusory duplicates sowing chaos in the enemy ranks.

Juno’s bat had followed her in her transformation, now a golden, shining weapon which crackled with electricity. Between bashing the attackers in a gleeful, berserk rage, she shot a number of blasts of ball lightning from her palms for those who tried to escape.

Vesta had created a dozen or so  flaming rings which she was expertly tossing to encircle, entangle and burn the attackers, as gracefully and delicately as she were dancing.

Homura seemed to rely mainly on her glaive, and I think we were all grateful that she didn’t rely on the full strength of her powers given how dangerous they were. She spun and twirled her weapon and the attackers unlucky enough not to get out of the way were either knocked senseless by its haft or sliced by the end of its blade.

Lastly, there was Nao, who I found myself placed next to in the course of the fighting. She was well trained by Mako, as I could see her practiced martial arts skills in her striking kicks and punches. Flashes of moonlight followed her blows connecting, adding enough power to drive the assailants backwards. A swing of her kaleidoscope was enough to drive them all back in a wave of rainbow energy which followed its wake.

I did my best to evade attacks and use defensive martial arts to tangle up attackers. Any gunmen I could spot, I sniped with my moon stick with a blast of lunar energy. Any melee enemies, I tried to use their numbers against them, knocking them both off-balance and into one another.

Unfortunately, one of the attackers I hadn’t spotted got off a series of shots from an uzi.

As the air was filled with a heavy rippling sound of bullets being belched out with high speed and rate of fire, I felt my outfit buzz with the energy to absorb the hits. Unfortunately, a few of the bullets raked through the uncovered part of my arm and lanced through it in white-hot pain.

I cursed as I raised my moon stick and tried to push past the sensation. It was barely registering, but I knew that shock would eventually give way to blood loss. I cried out, “Moon Healing Escalation” and forced my power through the magic wand.

Where I had used to be able to only manage the ability in a small area localized in the palm of my hand, I saw it now amplified as a shockwave of the healing energies rippling off of me and into the area. Where the starlight waves touched my friends, it healed them of their injuries and filled them with new energy to fight. Where it hit the enemies, it knocked them off balance like a heavy gust of wind, offering no kind of aid to them. Nao looked back at me in shock and I tried to play off the ability as if it had been intentional.

“Damn,” she said, in awe.

“LOOK OUT!” I said, pointing a finger behind her.

Another attacker had risen above the crowd, wielding the grenade launcher.

It was already surprising enough to see guns being wielded in Japan, but something on this scale bordered on the comical. He burst into an insane laugh that would almost give the Joker a run for his money, but it was cut short by the blazing speed of Golden Bat rushing forward and punching him so hard in the jaw that I could hear it dislocate from several feet away.

And with that, all of the goons were incapacitated or had run away outright, leaving us to stand in the midst of heaps of unconscious bodies. After a panicked flurry of fighting, just as suddenly as we had arrived, we had won.

“HA HA HA!” boomed Golden Bat, “Hardly even a challenge!” He turned to face us, and while his true face was obscured by the skull mask, I got the distinct impression that he was grinning underneath it. “Nevertheless, I thank you for your assistance and that of your team, Sailor Moon-ojouchan.”

Nao bristled at the hyper-feminine honorific, but bowed all the same. “Thank you, Golden Bat. It is an honor to meet you.”

He turned to face me, quirking his head to the side slightly. “Well well, and who is this?”

“はじめまして, あたしもセーラーミュンです”, I said, as formally as I could manage, bowing, “It’s an honor to meet you. I am also Sailor Moon.”

“Two Sailor Moons?” Golden Bat cackled, “Goodness me. And an American, no less.” He took a few steps forward, now directly in front of me. I could see the eyes under his mask watching me cautiously. “You carry the mantle of one of Japan’s most beloved heroes, Miss American,” he intoned, his voice deathly serious, “While I can tell you are no clueless foreigner, seeing as you speak Japanese fairly well, I must also impress this upon you:”

He pointed a finger at me, “You are not, nor will you ever be Japanese. I tell you this not to shame you, but to make sure you are aware of this. I ask you, above all else, to treat the powers that have been given to you with the respect they deserve. You are, despite being a foreigner, bringing a part of Japanese culture with you wherever you fight. Please take that responsibility seriously and remember this when you return to America.”

Too stunned to speak, I bowed again, wincing as Golden Bat finished speaking. He… wasn’t wrong. I spotted Nao looking more than a little grumpy at Golden Bat for speaking to me like this, but I assumed she knew better than to speak over a superhero who might have been an even match for Superman.

Despite being, a bit of an otaku or weeb or the like… I really did try the best that I could as a white American to treat Japan and its culture as more than just anime and manga. My college studies had made it clear that there was more to this nation than its pop culture. It had history, natural beauty and its own small charms.

Visiting Japan for the first time did a lot to help shake some of the silly ideas I’d had about the country. Usagi’s gift notwithstanding, Japan was a country and a culture entirely separate from their comic/cartoon entertainment. America, despite having its own superheroes, still had a culture beyond capes didn’t it? Our entire world didn’t revolve around Batman or Wonder Woman, right? Japan was no different in that regard.

I carefully considered the man in front of me.

Golden Bat had been watching over Japan since the 1930’s. His legends were told with kamishibai or paper puppet shows rather than comics. His legacy predated animation. He would have seen the second world war firsthand. And the aftermath. He had seen Japan change so much over the past eighty years. And the entire time he had been protecting Japan and representing it.

He understood the burden of this representation better than I ever could.

I looked down at myself.

Sailor Moon, as she appeared in anime, looked to be a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl. Foreign viewers would see her as a white girl who looked like me. While I knew better that the first Sailor Moon was actually Japanese, I also could only wonder how many others might forget that.

Anime and manga were a stylized art form which selected colors for aesthetics rather than trueness to life. Hence a blue-eyed, blonde-haired protagonist didn’t invalidate her nationality, as far as Japanese viewers were concerned. But some people outside of Japan might not know that. Some people might confuse the visuals with the truth. Some people may not know that Sailor Moon wasn’t named Serena.

Obviously, she wasn’t named Tsukino Usagi, either, but the point remained that I was literally carrying the name of the imperfect, American copy of Sailor Moon. On some level, I was erasing the culture of the original.

My bow sank lower. “申し訳ありません,” I mumbled, “Please forgive me.”

Golden Bat actually knelt down slightly to get on my eye level. “You have nothing to apologize for, Sailor Moon. I am not shaming you. You are bringing new life to a legacy that has inspired countless people! You and your fellow Sailor Moon-ojouchan are able to bring an entirely new perspective to this lineage!” He chuckled. “As long as you respect what has come before you, I am proud to call you Sailor Moon as well.” He placed a hand on my shoulder and, swallowing hard, I nodded, trying to smile.

It took a moment, but I drew myself up and, after taking a deep and steadying breath, I said, “Thank you for reminding me of this, Golden Bat. I will do my best not to disrespect or diminish the cultural legacy of Sailor Moon and the Japanese people who worked to share that legacy with the world.” I stared deep into his eyes, as resolutely as I could manage. “Sailor Moon means a lot to me and others like me. While Americans and other foreigners may not always understand the cultural context of Sailor Moon, I believe that a number of us truly identify with her story regardless.” I broke into a small smile, “Myself, especially.”

Golden Bat nodded.

“I promise you, I will do my best to respect the mantle I am carrying,” I said, nodding solemnly. 

He placed a firm hand on my shoulder. “Thank you… Sailor Moon. I am certain you will do admirably.” He cleared his throat, now once again booming, “Well, I must be off, Sailor Senshi! Undoubtedly, Doctor Nazo’s forces are at work elsewhere in the city!”  With a wink, Golden Bat leapt into the air and flew away out of sight.

All of us seemed to release a sigh of tension at his departure. It had been a serious moment after a hectic battle and it had given me a sort of emotional whiplash. Homura gave me a faint smile as she nodded in approval, “You handled that well… Despite his age, I think Golden Bat is actually-”

“DIE, YOU BASTARDS!!”

I only had just enough time to turn around and see a less-than-defeated goon with a gun aimed squarely at my forehead. No sooner had I realized how unbelievably fucked I was before I heard a sound erupt…

THUNK!

I blinked, realizing it was not the sound of a gun firing nor my brains being splattered onto the Tokyo street around me. Instead, it was the sound of a rose with the sturdiness of a dagger embedding itself into the hand of the gunman.

The man screamed in pain and, taking the advantage of his distraction, I twisted his arm, flipped him over my shoulder and stripped the gun out of his hand in the process. It was a technique I’d had plenty of time to practice in Gotham.

In searching around for a source for my salvation, a voice echoed above me and I realized where it had come from. And from whom it had come.

“You should learn to watch your surroundings more, Sailor Moon…”

Above me, standing on a nearby rooftop, I saw a man in formal attire, a top hat perched upon his head and a fluttering red cape at his neck. His face was covered slightly by a white domino mask. In one of his gloved hands, he held another rose, smelling it. In the other, he held a cane in his hands.

“It is good to finally meet you properly,” continued the masked man, bowing at the waist, “Permit me to introduce myself. I am Tuxedo Ma-”

“Tuxedo Ma” was interrupted by a rather large chunk of asphalt being thrown at him, knocking his top hat off. Tracing its arc, I saw Nao cursing as she was bent down to find another suitable rock to throw. Upon spotting one, she snatched it up, and took aim at him once more.

“GO AWAY, TORU!” roared Nao impatiently, brandishing the rock. “Damnit, I told you we don’t need your help and you’re just annoying us! Go away before you get yourself killed!”

With his name spoiled, the would-be Tuxedo Mask did indeed look slightly familiar without his hat. Hadn’t there been a boy about my age with that name working at Mako’s flower shop? He certainly looked like that boy, even if he was dressed like a stage magician.

Homura quietly grabbed Nao’s wrist and removed the rock. Nao glared at her, but clearly had no desire to fight with her girlfriend. “Let’s focus on getting all these bad guys tied up before any more of them wake up, okay?” She nodded an apology to Tuxedo Mask, who seemed grateful for the intervention.

Nao frowned at all of the groaning, dazed and unconscious bodies, nodding, but shooting another furious look at Toru/Tuxedo Mask before beginning to join Homura and the Sailor Quartet following her lead. “Fucking dumbass…” she mumbled.

I looked back up and saw only the fluttering of a cape to mark Tuxedo Mask’s departure, but I easily knew I could leap up to the rooftop and catch him. Whatever Usagi had done back in her day, I wasn’t about to just watch my hero mysteriously escape.

I owed him a thank-you at the very least.

I squatted down and forced energy into my legs and with a well-placed moonjump, I soared up to the roof of the building. “Wait!” I called out, holding up a hand as I landed on the rooftop. Tuxedo Mask was in the process of opening a roof-access door into the building we were standing on, but, to his credit, he did stop, peering over his shoulder curiously.

Uncertain of what I wanted to say, I cast around for anything and spotted something he’d left behind.

I reached down to the rooftop floor and pulled up his visibly dented top hat and handed it to him. “You… forgot this.”

He smiled, and even beneath his mask, I could see those warm eyes of his glittering. “Thank you, Sailor Moon.”

He grabbed the hat from my hands, and after popping it back into shape from the inside and returning it to his head, he did something I hadn’t expected.

“Welcome to Japan,” he crooned, taking my hand delicately and kissing it.

I felt my face flush. He was shorter than me and I probably could have taken him in a fight, but all the same, my heart skipped a beat in my chest as I caught his gaze smoldering at me and felt the light brush of his lips on my hand. Something in the pit of my stomach fluttered as my eyes took in his features.

“Th-thank you.” I said quietly, my eyes wide.

Growing up with Sailor Moon, I’d seen plenty of the romance between Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon. I’d even met the real (or at least original) Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask. They were literal star-crossed lovers who had been destined to be drawn together.

I, on the other hand, was just some college-age nerd who had been handed a magic piece of costume jewelry. This was some doofus who worked at a flower shop. Why the hell was this guy making such an impression? 

What the hell was going on?! Woman or not, I wasn’t into men, right?! I mean, I wasn’t gay!

You’re a girl, Serena, insisted my brain, liking a boy doesn’t make you gay. It makes you straight.

Fine, but I’d never liked guys before!

You never liked anyone before, my mind shot back. The only reason you even managed to get into a relationship with Carla was because she chased after you. You’d never thought you were attractive enough or worthy enough to have a partner.

Looking at this well-dressed man, with my hand tenderly in his own and clasping a rose in his other hand…  it was abundantly clear that he disagreed with that assessment.

But he was playing a role, right? This was just a game to him. It had to be. Tuxedo Mask was destined to be with Sailor Moon, that was what he saw. I was just a Sailor Moon-shaped piece to fit into a predetermined hole. Was that why I was having these feelings? Because I felt like I was obligated to fall in love with Tuxedo Mask because I was Sailor Moon?

Clearly Nao had no intention of doing that… but given that Tuxedo Mask was her Dad, I could understand the disgust she had for Toru.

Would he accept the real me? Even if I was a woman in body, was I enough of a woman in soul and mind to be able to truly capture someone’s heart? Did I even know how to properly reciprocate affections as a woman?

Give them the chance to love the real you.

I nodded to myself. He wants to make a pass at Sailor Moon? Then he’s going to have to accept the Serena underneath.

Placing a hand on my chest, I detransformed in a flash of light. Secret identity or not, it was only fair that he knew who I was, if I knew his real-life identity.

“So… Toru, right?” I said, stepping closer. Clearly my height immediately made itself known as I towered over him. I saw his eyes widen beneath his mask. “I’m Serena. It’s nice to meet you.”

Swallowing hard, he removed his mask with shaking hands, and I could confirm that this had, indeed, been the same cute boy I’d met in Mako’s flower shop. The outfit actually did a lot for him. He cleaned up well, I had to admit.

“So… you were the girl with Fukami-san,” he said sheepishly, his voice less mysterious now and more human. “I’d… guessed that you were the new Sailor Moon.”

I nodded. “Clearly Mako trusts you to know her secret. And everyone else’s secret.”

Toru nodded, “M-Mrs. Shinohara once rescued me from danger. And… when I learned who she really was… I wanted to help the senshi in return. It was Mrs. Shinohara and Mr. Furuya’s idea that I could be… T-Tuxedo Mask.”

I nodded. Sailor Jupiter and the original Tuxedo Mask would be excellent teachers, I imagined.

“And Mako lets you buy those roses in bulk, I assume. Employee discount, right?” I said, smirking as I plucked one from his lapel. I took a delicate sniff. They really did smell good. I’d never had a thing for flowers before, but becoming a woman had certainly let me see the appeal.

“She… makes the roses herself, with her powers,” said Toru, blushing even redder, “They’re able to be thrown and they carry a paralyzing poison.” He pointed to the rose I was holding. “Th-that one should be fine though.”

“So I can keep it?”

He blinked at me in surprise, but nodded.

I smiled. On some level, I felt like I was bullying this sweet boy, but on the other hand… his honesty and openness… was appealing. It took guts to jump into the fray without powers of your own.

I knew from personal experience. I respected his bravery. I… was interested in getting to know him better.

I felt my lips curl into a smile, my cheeks still burning faintly. “Thank you, Tuxedo Mask. I appreciate your assistance. Perhaps when our patrol is over, I could stop by the flower shop and… get to know my knight in formalware armor a little better?”

His gaze was no longer able to meet my own, and his voice squeaked slightly as he replied. “A-absolutely!”

I pressed my lips into my hand and blew out a kiss for him. I saw his knees go weak, “My hero.” As I turned and sashayed back to my team, I took one more lingering gaze over my shoulder, just to watch him squirm, before jumping back down to the others, transforming back as I did so.

I swore I heard a strained sigh of relief as I floated down to street level.

Nao tapped her feet impatiently, watching me return. “Seriously?!” she snapped, glaring at me. “Please tell me you didn’t just chase after that fucking dork.”

“Is Tuxedo Mask really Toru-san?” asked Juno, raising her hand as she finished tying up a masked assailant and tossing them into a pile with the others. 

Nao turned back to her, with a long-suffering look. “Who else would it be?! Do we know some other dumbass who knows our identities and has roses?”

The whole of the Sailor Quartet looked at her, puzzled for a moment and clearly not quite understanding her sarcasm.

Nao buried her head in her hands, “I have no idea why Mako-san lets that little brat get away with that. She literally has him cosplaying as my DAD!” She groaned, shaking her head. “Fuck’s sake.”

Me and Homura shared a quick glance. With a shared smirk, we came to an understanding that Nao was having some… complex feelings about an attractive man dressed up like her dad.

“I mean… he’s got to be at least my age, right?” I said, frowning reproachfully, “He looks too old for high school.”

Nao shot me a dirty look. “What?”

“I mean… you called him a brat,” I insisted, folding my arms over my chest and not quite meeting her gaze. “He’s… older than you.”

She scowled at me, creasing her brow. “I’ve got nine hundred years of memory, as far as I’m concerned, BOTH of you are brats. And I don’t know what the hell you see in him anyway… he’s just some dorky wanna-be.”

I bit my lip. “Well… for one thing, I used to be one of those too… but for another…” I felt myself blushing again, “He’s… cute.”

Nao made an unearthly sound of frustration, throwing up her arms. “Can we PLEASE stop talking about this?!” she stabbed a finger at Ceres. “Is there anything else going on around here?”

“Um… I think there’s a kaiju fight over at Ueno Park,” said Ceres, sheepishly, as she pulled out her phone and began to scroll.

“Oooooh!” cheered Palas, “I wanna watch that!”

Nao frowned, “Uh… we should probably help people instead of just watching. Damage control and shit.”

Juno looked visibly upset at that response. “Oh come on, seriously? I wanna see that mecha-zord thing smash monsters!”

“MegaZord,” said Ceres, sheepishly, a faint blush filling her cheeks.

“Who cares what it’s called!? I wanna see the giant robot smashing everything!” whined Palas.

Vesta examined her nails dismissively. “Ugh… kaiju are always so smelly and leave such a mess.”

Homura cleared her throat and put her hands on her hips, looking sternly at the others. “We are going to that fight to help people,” she said, her voice low and unbending, “People could be getting hurt and someone needs to be performing basic crowd control.”

The Amazon Quartet groaned in protest, but a sharp glance from Homura as she deliberately rested her Saturn glaive on her shoulder made the point clear.

“Uh…” I raised a hand, uncertainly. “How are we going to get to Ueno Park?”

The other girls looked at me as one, disbelievingly.

“Uh… how do you think?” snorted Nao.

_________________________________________

There was something surreal about riding the train in superhero garb.

The Amazon Quartet were all animatedly talking and joking on the seats in front of us while Homura, Nao and myself sat on the other side of the train car.

The rest of the riders, various businessmen, the elderly or mothers with their young kids, seemed to be tacitly ignoring us, even as I caught sideways glances from them from time to time.

The train itself was cleaner than any I’d ridden in Gotham and happily clicked and clacked away as the city rushed past.

In the distance, as we drew close to Ueno Station, I could hear the echoing roars of some huge beast and the occasional rumble of something massive. I swallowed hard in expectation of what we were going to be facing.

“Don’t worry,” said Nao, nudging me with her elbow. “The sentai will probably crush the thing before we even get there. Buncha rainbow-colored glory hogs.”

I shook my head, gesturing to the other passengers. “Are they seriously just okay with us riding the train like this?”

Nao shrugged. “Why not? We can’t fly or anything… and leaping from roof to roof gets exhausting after a while. We should save our strength…”

“But…” I said, looked over to our audience. No less than eight heads spun away from my face and pretended to go about their business. “They’re just going to sit there and watch superheroes ride the train like it’s no big deal?”

“Japan has different attitudes towards heroes than America,” said Homura, leaning past Nao to look at me. “We are… hm… a part of life. It would be no stranger for them to see police riding the train. We are…ah what is the word? … Civil servants?”

I nodded in recognition, frowning. “I… guess… I was just kind of freaking out that people are just accepting a giant robot fighting a giant monster as a regular occurrence.”

“It’s not that different from what you have in America,” said Nao, shrugging, “Didn’t the Justice League have to defeat a giant starfish a few months ago?”

I blinked at that, frowning faintly. “I… I guess… but they didn’t use a giant robot for it…”

“Their loss,” snickered Nao, “Because it fucking works.”

I sighed, not bothering to argue the point. I looked to the other senshi on the other side of the train, grimacing slightly as reality sank in. I was expected to find other sailor guardians and lead them just like Nao. Given the last teammate I had was both my ex-girlfriend and had hated me, I was more than a little concerned about how to select people to receive superpowers.

“I have no idea how I’m going to put a team together,” I said, sinking into my seat slightly. “I mean… you have an entire team literally custom-made for you… how the hell am I going to find eight people to give superpowers to?”

“Well first off,” said Nao, shaking her head, “You only need to find four. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus. I don’t think Mom is going to let you hand out the powers of Pluto, Uranus, Neptune or Saturn.”

“Truthfully,” said Homura, wincing slightly, “I would not wish this power on anyone. I am the senshi of death… this is a dangerous power to wield.”

“And Pluto would lose her shit if we had another person who could screw with time,” she said, chuckling darkly.

“And Neptune and Uranus?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

The two of them exchanged looks. Nao shrugged. “Eh… that’s… less of a bad idea, but you’d still be talking about people with the ability to cause earthquakes and tidal waves. I’d say leave those alone.”

I nodded, but still felt uneasy. “I would still be handing out some serious firepower. Literal firepower in the case of Mars. How can I know if I can trust them with their abilities? If they went evil, it could get really bad..”

“So what?” shrugged Nao, “The brat went evil for a little bit and she got over it. No biggie.”

I gave her a withering glare, “I seem to remember her brief corruption as the Dark Lady caused a lot of problems. Kidnapping and enslaving your Dad, for a start…”

She waved it aside. “It wasn't the first time it happened to him and besides… we all make mistakes.” Her gaze hardened on me. “Look, Sailor Moon, you gotta decide for yourself if you’re going to… uh…” she thought for a moment, her gaze becoming distant, “Let the perfect… become the enemy of the good…” She nodded. “Yeah, that's how that goes. You can fuck around and drive yourself crazy trying to get things perfect, but the longer you wait and delay…”

A giant, earsplitting roar echoed closer as the train shook again, more visibly.

“The more likely you are to get squished by a monster who doesn’t care. If you make a mistake, you can always learn from it,” Nao pushed herself off of the seat. “Okay everyone. Get ready.”

“Uh… ready for what?” I asked, uncertainly.

Nao sighed and pointed above her. On the flashing digital sign attached to the train doors, there was a message in Japanese. “All stops to Ueno Station have been canceled due to hazardous conditions. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

“They’re not going to stop the train in the middle of a kaiju attack, stupid,” sighed Nao. She stepped over to the doors and pulled the red emergency lever to pry them open, allowing the winds of the still moving train to pour into the cabin.

“We got this, everyone!” said Nao, waving to the other passengers. “Just stay seated and keep away from the open door!”

I blinked in shock as the other girls eagerly lined up to disembark the moving train. “Are we seriously going to jump off the train?!” I asked, trying to keep the alarm out of my voice.

“You got another way to get off this train?” asked Nao impatiently.

I sighed, shaking my head. 

At a certain point it was no longer worth arguing with the madness. It was just something you had to learn to accept. It came with being a superhero, I realized. You could spend hours and hours pulling out your hair about the fact that you were jumping out of a moving train alongside a paradoxical moon princess, a multiple-instance reincarnated goddess of death, a quartet of artificial magical humans created ten thousand years ago… and you could let that madness just overwhelm you.

Or… you could just take the leap.

As we landed, I was first struck by the fact that it was snowing. It was cold enough for it, as we were approaching the Christmas season.

But as I surveyed the surrounding buildings more closely, I could realize the truth of the matter: It was ash.

Buildings were set aflame all around us and the ground rumbled underneath us, the pavement clearly buckled and cracked from repeated strain. In the distance, the ear-splitting roar of something echoed throughout the area, challenged by an equally ear-splitting crackle of energy in reply.

“They’re really going at it,” said Juno, grinning like a madwoman, “This is going to be so cool!”

“Split up everyone,” barked Nao, “Ceres, Palas, you go that way. Juno, Vesta, you go that way. Saturn, you get up high and act as overwatch… and Sailor Moon, you’re with me.” We were standing in an empty intersection of four roads where each of us were given a cardinal direction by Nao. “We’re looking for survivors, so keep your ears up. Remember the medical training we went through. Clean wounds, stabilize them, get them to safety… Let’s GO!” She clapped her hands and the others nodded as they spread out. I followed Nao’s lead as she leapt into the air, bounding off the sides of cracked buildings around us to gain height.

“That was incredible,” I said, awestruck, “You really know what you’re doing.”

She waved it aside, peering through the smoky haze of the skyline as we landed on the top of a building. “Eh… it comes with experience. I’ve got a lot of experience in this brain, remember? 900 years of practice.” She tapped her head. “And honestly, leadership? It’s ninety percent bullshit.” She gave a weak smile as she looked over the horizon. “Confidence is about how you present yourself. Yeah, I might be wrong, but at least I’m confidently wrong. You might make mistakes, but the biggest mistake is doing nothing.”

She fell silent for a moment, before she gestured me closer. “Okay,” she said, her voice low, “This is hero 101. Watch and listen. Filter out everything that doesn’t matter.”

I tried to close my eyes and follow her lead, but a crash which shook the building, rattled my eardrums and nearly knocked me off my feet immediately put that concentration to an end. Nao sighed as she steadied me.

“Ignore the big guys,” she sighed, indicating something to the East. “They’re going to do their own thing, you don’t need to get involved.”

I peered out towards her outstretched finger and my eyes widened in disbelief. It was difficult to make through the smoke, ash and haze that surrounded us, but with some squinting, I could make out the shapes of massive silhouettes locked in slow, clumsy but devastating combat.

“Holy shit,” I hissed, awed by the power. I saw the bulkier, blocky silhouette raise an arm and slam into the sleeker and less human-shaped one. The impact thudded through the air, providing another rumble of impact surging through the surroundings. I looked at Nao, “We should do something!”

“We are,” said Nao, looking at me with an eyebrow raised.

I shook my head. “We should help them! Stop the monster!”

She laughed, shaking her head. “Oh? What, are you going to defeat the giant monster by throwing your crown at it? That thing is as tall as a building. What are you going to do?”

“I just…” I began, pained. I knew she was right, but…

“I get it,” she said, putting a hand on my shoulder. She had to stretch a little as I was taller than her. “I went through the same thing. Once you get power, you feel invincible. Like you can do anything. And you want to do everything. But here’s the hard truth:”

She pointed to the giant robot fighting the giant monster.

“There will always be someone stronger,” she said, her gaze hard as she locked onto mine. “There will always be a fight that you have no place in. As much power as you have, you are not God. If you were to jump into that fight, you would be useless at best and dead at worst. We can’t make a difference with them.”

She spread out her arms, as if to embrace the whole of Tokyo around her. “But what we can do is find survivors and help them get to safety. We can make a difference for them.” She poked a finger into my chest, pressing on the Moon Compact, “You have the power to heal people, Serena. Nobody is going to care who wins the battle of giant robots and monsters… but they are going to care if someone shows up to help them see the next sunrise. Being a hero… is what you make of it.”

I closed my eyes, nodding. 

And as I did so, something rose over the noise. Past the cacophony of fighting, over the sirens and car alarms and barely audible over the pounding heart in my chest…

A voice, a scream.

I leapt without thinking. Nao was right. It might not be glamorous or it might not make the comic pages… but I wasn’t about to let people get hurt because I needed to be the big damn hero.

Maybe I couldn’t save all of Tokyo… but I could help one person at a time.