Usagi could only pout helplessly. But deep down, she knew it was necessary.
Beyond some instinctive combat reactions, none of them really understood their own techniques. Yes, when they transformed, fragments of knowledge about their powers surfaced but that wasn't enough.
The timing of their attacks, the rhythm of their strikes and counters, the countless little adjustments that made the difference in a real battle… those were things no transformation whispered to them. And they had no idea where to learn such things.
Ryuji was the only one they'd met who not only possessed power, but also wielded it with practiced skill.
Who else could they possibly ask?
"Tch…"
Usagi puffed her cheeks and glared at him, full of irritation. He had taken advantage of her, and she hadn't forgotten it. The others knew it too but harsh reality left them no choice but to swallow their pride.
"Then it's settled," Ryuji said. "Since you've agreed to my terms, there's no point in me lingering in Hong Kong. You'll be heading back soon anyway, won't you? So tell me, what brought you here in the first place?"
His was really curious. Why were these so-called Sailor Moons wandering around Hong Kong?
"A school trip. All the Tokyo schools are doing them, and ours happened to pick Hong Kong," Usagi explained casually.... casually enough that it stabbed like a knife into Ryuji, who had grown up too poor to ever imagine such luxury.
"…Your school must be really rich."
"Not really," Usagi scratched her head. She honestly didn't think of her school as anything special.
Rei remained silent. She hadn't come on a trip at all... she had felt a premonition of danger here and followed it. And now, standing close to Ryuji, she could sense it clearly: the greatest danger near them wasn't in Hong Kong. It was him.
"Forget it," Ryuji waved the thought away.
Salior Moon is a shōjo manga, isn't it? Trying to make sense of the characters' families or finances will just make you angry.
He clicked his tongue and changed the subject.
"Anyway, write down the place you're staying in and your phone numbers."
He slid a notebook across the table. Whatever strange models of phones this world had, he knew his own device wouldn't work here.
"Ugh…"
Usagi hesitated, but eventually scribbled her number, sulking all the while.
Ryuji watched her pout and couldn't help smirking.
"Come on—call me 'teacher.' Let's hear it."
"Hey!"
Usagi slammed the table, furious. His smug attitude was driving her crazy.
"You haven't even taught me anything yet!"
"Doesn't matter. Are you going to say it or not? Since you want me to train you, the program is mine to decide. Whether or not you pass my evaluations is my call too."
Ryuji smiled.
Usagi felt like she'd dug her own grave.
"You… you jerk…"
She rolled up her sleeves, trembling with anger. She really wanted to lunge at him and fight him.
And that's exactly what she did.
Watching her rush toward him with all the subtlety of a charging bull, If he wanted these girls to take him seriously, to truly accept training and date him seriously, then he would have to show them some of his strength first.
"You're that eager to start training?"
His words were almost gentle as he flicked a finger against Usagi's forehead. Instantly, she toppled backward.
But before she could hit the floor, Ryuji twisted his wrist and redirected her momentum. Her body spun lightly in the air and landed neatly against the sofa at his side, one hand inadvertently resting against his.
It was nothing more than a simple application of force really, most of it came from Usagi's own reckless energy. To him, it was hardly anything. But to the other Sailor Moons watching, it looked like an impressive display of skill.
"So," Ryuji chuckled, gazing at the dazed girl, "you're that eager to go on a date with me already?"
Usagi blinked in confusion at first... then realized whose hand she was holding. That same hand… the very one that had touched her before.
"Y-You pervert! Jerk!"
Usagi's face turned red. She shot to her feet, ready to argue, but her teammates pulled her back before she could get far.
Rei gave Ryuji a curt nod, then spoke. "Right then, Mr. Ryuji... we'll be going."
She handed him the paper filled with her and the others' phone numbers, making sure he could find them. There was no way any of them could really go off with him right now not without stirring up more trouble.
The others had agreed to Rei's suggestion that Ryuji should be the one to train them, but it was a choice based on intuition, not reason. Rei knew she'd have to convince them properly later. After all, it was her own idea to put their trust in him.
Ryuji might be crude, arrogant, and shamelessly lecherous, but she could feel it... beneath all that, he was a good man.
More importantly, ever since they met him, the ominous premonitions that had haunted her heart simply… vanished. But the instant she was apart from him, that same gnawing dread would return.
The others probably sensed it too, but Rei believed only she, the most mature of them, could make that kind of decision.
After she left with the others, Ryuji turned his attention to the one who stayed: the Sailor Jupiter-Makoto Kino.
Out of all the Sailor Moons, she was the one who caught his eye the most. The ponytail suited her fiery spirit, her figure was the best among them, and of all of them she looked most beautiful in that sailor uniform.
"Do you have something you want to say?" Ryuji asked, wearing a half-smile.
Makoto met his look, inhaled deeply, and steadied herself.
"I don't know if you're a good person," she admitted. "Honestly, I'm hesitant about your proposal. But…"
She trailed off, then continued. Rei hadn't said it aloud, but Makoto had noticed: since meeting Ryuji, Rei seemed calmer, no longer haunted by whatever dark feeling had plagued her in the past few days. Something had clearly changed, and it wasn't coincidence.
That would have been fine if not for one problem. Ryuji was lecherous.
Makoto herself hadn't been bullied like Usagi had, but she'd seen how miserable Usagi had been. The poor girl's mood had been low for days, ever since Ryuji had laid his hands on her. And Usagi, being as naïve as she was, hadn't even been able to put it into words.
But… but Makoto couldn't just let this continue.
"You are dangerous," she said firmly. "For us, you're dangerous. But… it also seems we do need your strength. So…"
Makoto drew in another deep breath. Her heart pounded at the reckless decision, but she didn't want to see Usagi hurt again, nor the others. If Rei believed Ryuji's power was essential for their survival, then someone had to make the sacrifice.
"I'll be your girlfriend," Makoto declared. "On one condition: you don't lay a finger on the others."
As if to strengthen her resolve, Makoto slapped a hand against her own chest. Her generous breasts bounced wildly at the impact, jiggling in a way that instantly caught Ryuji's eyes. For a second he even felt a little dizzy, hypnotized by the rapid sway.
But his head only grew dizzier.
Watching the tall, pony-tailed beauty bite her lip, eyes shimmering with unshed tears after making such a declaration, Ryuji felt a giant question mark rising above his head.
Ryuji: "?"
For a moment, he wondered if he had been transported not into the official Sailor Moon world, but some bizarre hentai parody. After all, a line like "I'll be your girlfriend, so don't touch the others" sounded far more fitting in a hentai than in the original series.
"You…" He frowned, uncertain.
He didn't need to have sex with these girls. He could just as easily change the flow of the story and keep his distance if he wanted to.
But before he could say more, Makoto spun away from him.
"It's decided!" she blurted out.
Her voice trembled, but she walked past him without waiting for his response. For just a moment, her eyes dimmed like a curtain falling.
Makoto was not like Usagi or the others. They all had happy, intact families, parents who loved them. She had no one but the old priest who had raised her.
So, she thought bitterly, even if she never found happiness, that was fine. What mattered was protecting those precious to her.
Ever since she had received these mysterious powers and with them, the endless monster attacks... she had distanced herself from normal people. Fear gnawed at her: fear that her existence would bring harm to anyone close. Dark thoughts whispered that maybe she was cursed, maybe her parents had died because of her.
Each battle, the enemies grew stronger, the danger heavier, until the weight of it left her soul weary. She laughed and acted brash in front of others, but deep down she had already accepted that she might die.
That was why, when she met Rei and Usagi.... girls who shared her strange destiny... she had felt a rare burst of joy. She wasn't alone anymore.
But the memory of that day still haunted her: the grotesque monster with writhing tentacles, the way no matter how they struggled, their combined strength couldn't defeat it. Even now her body trembled when she thought about it.
She was terrified... not for herself, but that her weakness would lead to her friends being violated, even killed.
And then Ryuji had appeared, cutting through the nightmare with effortless power, smiling with that maddening confidence. In that moment, she had truly felt her heart stir.
But that warmth had been smothered by his shameless behavior later, his bullying of the bright, innocent Usagi. Makoto had crushed those dangerous sparks of attraction beneath her heel.
And so....
"If someone has to be sacrificed, let it be me. My body… men probably wouldn't complain about it anyway, right?"
Her hand rose to her chest. Compared to other girls her age, her breasts were huge, full and heavy in her palm. Just touching herself like that made her blush so hot she thought her face might burst into flames.
Ryuji, of course, had no idea what thoughts were racing through her head. He only sighed after she left, lifting a slip of paper Rei had pressed into his hand. On the back, a message was scrawled:
"I made this plan. I'll pay the price alone."—Rei Hino
"…Yeah," Ryuji muttered, rubbing his chin. "I definitely look like the villain here."
Then he smirked, shaking his head.
"But who am I kidding? I've never been a good guy anyway."
The heaviness vanished from his chest, but the puzzle remained.
"So, the Sailor Moons I'm dealing with… they don't have a guide? No mentor? Just wandering blind in the dark? What the hell happened here?"
Ryuji had no idea how much the storyline of the Sailor Moons had changed from what it should have been. If he did, he would've been cursing out loud. After all, in the original story, Usagi and the others had a proper guide someone capable and reliable.
But he didn't know that.
And because of these five girls, he'd been forced to alter his own plans. For the time being, he postponed making a move on the governor of Hong Kong, the man he had already marked. That man wasn't going anywhere, and Ryuji could strike whenever he pleased.
So he lingered in Hong Kong a little longer, He didn't do much just waited for the current case to be resolved.
Once it was resolved and the handover was complete, Ryuji saw Ran and the others off, then had Shizuko book him a different flight, deliberately avoiding Ran and her group.
It wasn't out of pettiness. Wherever Conan went, trouble followed. Ryuji had no intention of stumbling into another case so soon.
Unfortunately, after Shizuko used her connections to secure two first-class tickets for him, her father's butler appeared and whisked her away on a private jet.
Ryuji could have joined her on that jet, but… the butler's sharp eyes had noticed the flush on Shizuko's cheeks and the way she clung unconsciously to Ryuji's arm. When he helped adjust her clothes and glimpsed the red stains on the bed sheets, his gaze shifted yet again.
Ryuji remembered it clearly: at first, the white-haired butler had looked at him with gratitude and respect. Later, suspicion and doubt. But once he confirmed that Ryuji had slept with Shizuko, his expression turned cold, like he was staring at non-burnable garbage.
Because of that, the butler made the decision: Shizuko would not be bringing Ryuji along.
Still, Ryuji managed to secure some funds according to plan though not much.
He paid a visit to a local triad branch. He'd picked out a limping man on the street who looked oddly like Chow Yun-fat and, after a few casual questions, learned all he needed to know about Hong Kong's underworld. He even gave the crippled man enough money to start a small shop with his friend someone who looked uncannily like Andy Lau.
The triad stash wasn't particularly large, since they had quotas to pay up the chain. Even so, Ryuji left with several million.
But then…
"I don't understand you," Misato said, staring at him as he stood at the edge of a rooftop. "What's the point of doing this?"
Sure, gang money came from exploiting ordinary people. But what Ryuji was about to do wouldn't change the world.
"This?" Ryuji smiled faintly, holding a case stuffed with bearer bonds, property deeds, and all sorts of illiquid assets. "This is romance."
He snapped the case open, tipping its contents into the air. A storm of banknotes cascaded downward like snow. With a snap of his fingers, flames erupted skyward, bursting into a massive firework that lit up the night.
The rest of the bonds and deeds he tossed into the sky, scattering them into the winds of the explosion.
Down below, the streets erupted into chaos. Ordinary people scrambled for the fluttering cash. The men in sharp suits held back—until stock certificates and bearer bonds drifted within reach. Then even the polished, gold-rimmed gentlemen dove into the chaos like wild dogs.
Ryuji chuckled not at them, but at the truth behind their frenzy. If he were in their shoes, he'd do the same.
A couple hundred could mean an extra meal. A couple thousand could buy something you'd always wanted. Tens of thousands might even change the course of your life.
And whoever caught one of those bonds or property deeds… their entire future could change overnight.
"When I was a kid," he murmured, gazing at the sky, "everyone said Hong Kong streets were paved with gold. But now I see it wasn't the streets... it was the system. The gold was concentrated here, in the hands of a few, trickling down just enough to make everyone else think they were walking on treasure. Nothing but the illusion of a golden age… and they bought into it."
A quiet laugh escaped him. He could feel it.... the world was shifting.
It wasn't just the destinies of main characters that could ripple outward. Change the fate of the masses, and the world would change too. The difference was only that it was less visible.
That thought made him smile. It meant the truth was simple: protagonist or supporting role, in the eyes of the world, everyone was the same.
Or put another way.... everyone is the main character of their own story.
"Though, for me, none of this really matters anymore."
He shrugged, pocketed the last of the cash, and began walking down from the rooftop.
"So, you were just lamenting the times… and copying a movie scene? Honestly, how foolish... yet there's something charming about that kind of man's romance."
Misato let out a soft laugh and casually kicked aside the bundle of bills he had tossed her way.
It wasn't much, maybe a few hundred thousand at most.
After all, she still had plenty of things she wanted to buy, and she wasn't like Ryuji, who could watch tens or even hundreds of millions slip through his fingers without batting an eye.
But Misato understood Ryuji. She understood the impulse to imitate a film, to stand in a badass scene and reflect on life and the world! So, with a cigarette between her lips, she smiled as she walked over to his side, resting her elbow against his shoulder.
"But it really was cool."
The sight of bills raining down like snowflakes... it truly was stylish, and there was a strange, intoxicating thrill to it!
"Of course. We're in Hong Kong, after all. You've got to show a little underworld flair, don't you think? And for me, this is exactly what that looks like. Besides, what's the point of coming if you don't leave behind a legend?"
Ryuji chuckled softly, then joined Misato in the elevator. Together, they descended past the crowd still scrambling for money, before hopping into a taxi driven by a man humming happily, thrilled at having snatched a few hundred Hong Kong dollars. The cab pulled away toward the airport.
Naturally, the Hong Kong police eventually showed up. But by the time they arrived, Ryuji was already gone boarding his plane, in fact.
And by the time the authorities followed the trail back to the triad branch, his plane was already lifting off!
~~~~~~~~~~
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