Exam Battle 3 - Rei and Minako's Girls School Battle Originally appeared in Run-Run, November 1995. Translated by Alex Glover. Version 1.0, 1.97. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm Aino Minako. I'm 15, and in 9th grade. Right now I'm in the middle of studying for entrance exams at Mako-chan's. My birthday is October 22nd. I'm a little Libra with B blood type. My favorite colors are yellow and red. My hobby is chasing after idols. My favorite foods are curry and ramen. My least favorite is shiitake mushrooms. My talent is goofing off... Ami looks at the clock: 10:25. "Oh, this time already?" she says. "Well, let's call it a night." "All right!!" shouts Minako. "No more studying!" "Everyone!" says Makoto. "I have an apple pie, want some?" "Oh, I do! I do!" Minako calls. She gets a piece of pie. "Can we turn on the TV? Hey, Usagi! This manga was great! Can I keep it a while longer?" "Isn't it good?" says Usagi. They sit back together in front of the television. "Ah, without studying, this is fun," says Minako. "I want to see a high school where girls don't need to worry." "Tomorrow's Sunday," says Makoto. "You going to stop by, everyone?" "Oh, all right! I want to!" "Okay, what should we have for dinner?" Mako-chan's cooking is superb. I love her like an older sister. Then there's Ami-chan... She's kind of scary, but we rely on her for studying. For talking about games, manga, and TV, Usagi is the best. "I have meditation tomorrow," says Rei, "so I'll pass. It's early in the morning." "When's it start?" asks Ami. "Four o'clock." "Four o'clock!?" "I do it all the time," Rei says. Then there's Hino Rei. She's like me, 15 years old, 9th grade. She was born on April 17th. She's a stubborn Aries with blood type AB. Her hobby might be fortunetelling (since she does it a lot). She's a bourgeois girl living at a shrine with her grandpa. Actually, about all I know is that she's cunning. "Rei-chan," Minako says. "What's your favorite food?" "Umm... Probably fugu." [Extremely delicious fish, but it has a sac of lethal poison. Very risky to eat.] "Your talent?" "Meditation." "...... Say, Rei-chan... Do you, like, fart?" Usagi, Ami, and Makoto spit their tea across the room. "Are you looking for a fight?" Rei asks. "Well, I thought it could happen when you're meditating," says Minako. She dons a hat and grabs a mike. "The exotic straight, long Rei-chan! They say she chases after lots of high school boys." "I think boys are stupid," Rei says. "You what!?" "Hey, Rei-chan," says Ami. "You must be worried about us. Since you don't have exams, shouldn't you be making more effective use of your time?" "What's to worry about," says Rei. "It's okay, I have free time." She leaves. "That's so unfair," thinks Minako. "That Rei-chan... She doesn't have exams! She's studying because she has free time!? That bitch! Could anything be more unfair!?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Well, about Rei-chan..." says Makoto. "Since she goes to a complete education school, with elementary, junior high, high school, and college, it's only natural. It's a first-rate private school, unequaled in Tokyo. It's like an escalator, that lets you play until junior college. I'm so jealous!" "Oh, she's here!" says Usagi. "You're late, Rei-chan!" "I'm sorry," says Rei. "Cleanup ran long." "Oh!" says a policeman. "A kid from T-A Girls School." "She's cute," says another. "I like that uniform." The two men look at Minako as they pass by. "Hmph." "You bastards!" Minako shouts. "You were just laughing through your noses at me, weren't you! I'm a junior high girl too!" Makoto grabs onto her. "Mina! Don't be so rash!" By the way, my weak points are my mom, and policemen. By the way, Rei-chan is an old hag. Her mother is gone, may she rest in peace. Besides that, the police are fans of T-A Girls School. I'm getting accustomed to our differences. "Mina!" Ami says. She sees Minako resting her head behind her book. "You've only gotten one page read since I last looked!" "I wonder if I'd get into a girls high school..." says Minako. "It's unfortunate," says Rei, "but my school doesn't take applicants from high school." Minako tears her book apart in frustration. "What is it, Mina-P?," says Usagi. "You wanted to go to the girls school with Rei-chan?" [P is an affectionate name suffix used by young girls.] "Even if the Earth crumbled, I wouldn't be able to get in!" Minako says. "Well, since they're not taking applications, it's impossible," says Makoto. "They say they don't," says Rei, "but even they have some entrance exams. Since every year, there are kids who fail and can't advance to high school. That's why I come here too." "Why you-!!" Minako says. "You said it was because you had free time!!" "The girls school is so unchanging, so unchallenging," says Rei. "It's boring. Only the rules are strict." "What, it's strict?" says Makoto. "Boring?" says Usagi. "No way!" says Minako. "There's no way!" "Come, then," Rei says. "See for yourself." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Since you said that, here I am," says Minako. Rei stands in front of the T-A Girls School. "I don't believe it," she thinks. "She actually came." "And for just such an occasion," says Minako, "I have this compact!" She takes out her crescent moon compact. "Moon Power! Turn me into a T-A Girls School student!" She appears in a gray uniform like Rei's, wearing glasses and her hair tied back in two pigtails. "Hey, hey!" she says. "It even made me a little prettier!" "This is only for lunch," says Rei. "Don't make too big a commotion." Minako runs ahead. "Wowww!" she says. "This is the hall of the girls school I've desired!" "Mi- Mina!" Rei calls. "Get away from there!" "You there!" a nun calls. "How savage! Running through the hall is blasphemous toward god! Promptly give me your school year, class, and roll number!" "I- I apologize, Sister!" says Rei, grabbing Minako. "She has diarrhea, and wanted to go to the bathroom! She'll be careful in the future." They walk away from the woman. "Stupid," Rei says. "If the sister caught you, you'd be sentenced to go to the reflection room, and be beaten on your behind with a rod." "Oh, amazing!" says Minako. "You have a dining room!? Wow! It looks like a restaurant! It's pretty!" They sit down at a table and Minako begins scarfing down food. "Yummy! Rei-chan, you eat such wonderful lunches every day!? Not fair!" "You!" a nun calls. "Savage! Quiet during mealtime!" "W- We apologize, Sister!" Rei and Minako say together. Minako watches Rei take a small bite of food. "Rei-chan..." she says. "You... You look like you don't like that food." Rei grimaces. "Mind your own business," she says. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A group of girls are playing volleyball outside. "Oh, Hino-san!" one says. "Won't you join us?" "I'll pass today," says Rei. "Yeow!" thinks Minako. "That's girls school talk!" [They were talking very formally. Now Minako starts to, as well.] "Classmate?" she says. "Hey, hey! I'll play to help my digestion after lunch!" She changes into a gym suit. "Let's go! I could get used to this!" She hits the volleyball high into the air. It shatters a window. A nun leans out from it. "How savage!" she yells. "It's okay," says Rei. "I'll go apologize." Minako goes to get the ball. "Maybe I'm not cut out for this world after all." She sees a old covered well in the corner, next to the ball. "Huh?" She opens the well and looks down inside it. "Isn't it a mismatch having a well this deep in the school?" she says. A burst of dust flies up in her face, making her cough. "Ugh, what's this? I'm all dusty. Ick. I have to go back." As she leaves the old well, two points of light shine above it. Minako sees Rei talking and laughing with two other students. "What!?" one says. "Hino-sama, you broke the glass of the faculty room?" "You've gotten so many warnings during lunch break," says the other. "Hino-sama, that's not like you." "Rei-chan..." Minako thinks. "She's... She's like someone I don't even know." "Mina!" calls Rei. Minako goes to Rei, disheveled and covered in dust. "Who's that?" one of the students says. "Yuck." "Ooh, you're covered with mud," says Rei. "You laughed." says Minako. "What?" "I'm not like you after all!" Minako shouts. "I'm a savage! Rei-chan, I hate you!!" Rei stares into her eyes. Minako turns and runs away. "Mina...!" "Oh," thinks Minako. "Her face was a little sad." A spirit appears in the air. "Savage," she says. "I was opened from the old well, and in the air of the world 300 years past, the smell of savageness is buzzing." She looks down at Rei, who's running after Minako. "Oh! Such a savagely dressed girl. Living in a savage world, I'll need savage bodies like that." "Mina!?" Rei calls. The spirit dives into Rei's body. "Umm...! Miss Rei!" a girl calls. "Whaaat?" says Rei. "Here!" The girl holds out a package. "I made these cookies in cooking practice. S- Since I transferred here, you've always been like a sister to me!" "Well!" Rei says. "How savage." She holds the girl's face. "Your sister is going to eat the savage child. Pucker your lips!" She leans toward her. "Sis!?" Minako hears a scream. "What the-!?" The girl comes running toward her. "Hino-samaaa! She's-!" Rei catches the girl. "Ha! You're yelling, my savage!" She bends her over. "I'll eat you, my savage kitty! Now, pucker your lips!" "Rei-chaaan!!" Minako thinks. "An evil spirit! Venus Planet Power! Make Up!!" A curved blade flies at Rei, knocking her away. "Crescent Boomerang!" "Ouch!" says Rei. "That's really savage! Who is it there?" "I was once a helpless exam student," says Minako. "And once I was a suffering T-A Girls School student! But those were temporary forms! This is my real form! The friend of girls school students, the soldier of love and beauty, I am Sailor Venus!! Demon who took over Rei-chan! Show me your true self!" The spirit floats over Rei's body. "Ah, savage ape-girl! I am the genius loci, and I've inhabited this girls' garden since the Edo time of ages past. I'm Ghost Sistern!" She goes back into Rei's body. "My little savage." Rei grabs Minako and presses her lips to her. "I will eat you! Yummm!" Minako screams. "Evil Spirit, Begone!" She throws a paper strip at Rei. The spirit is destroyed, and Rei collapses on the ground. "Oh! Rei-chan! I'm sorry!" The schoolgirls crowd around Minako. "Wowww!" "Let me touch you!" "Take a picture with me!" "Oh, no," says Minako. "You mean me?" "So, you fit for girls school?" "It's fun! I want to come again! Oh, Sister?" Rei gets up. "Mina," she says. "If I can't advance to high school because of all the glares from sisters in this important time, it's your fault." "I'm sorry," says Minako. "I've always, always wanted to try on a T-A Girls School uniform. I longed for it. Really, it was only that!" "Mina... There's one thing you've forgotten. Since I've never farted, I can't be with you." Minako turns red. "You're abandoning your fellow soldier!?" "That's right." From then on, I liked the stubborn Rei-chan. (Even though she tried to kiss me.) "I did not!" The End. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original manga copyright © 1995 Takeuchi Naoko. English translation copyright © 1997 Alex Glover. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sailor Moon Translations | Sailor Moon Volume 13