Usagi couldn’t take it, seeing Makoto like that made her heart break. She ran to her friend and placed her hands on Makoto’s cheeks. Usagi lifted Makoto’s face so she could see her.

“Mako-chan, you are never a bother or annoying. You are one of my best friends and if you are ever having problems, tell me. I am your friend, we all are. We are here to support you. That is what friends do, they help each other.

“You are also the bravest person I know. You are strong and you can get through this. Now get up and show that mean and nasty person the Mako-chan we all know and love,” Usagi said enthusiastically and with a wink.


“Give them your best Jupiter, don’t hold back. Channel your emotions and let him have it.” Usagi shouted as she ran away. She didn’t know why, but she sensed this was Jupiter’s battle to fight and she had to support her, just like Makoto supported her at the restaurant the night before.

She assessed both enemies, and saw that Michiru seemed to be in the worse condition. She had been physically grabbed and had seemed to lose all common sense. Meanwhile, though Mako was breaking down, Usagi was talking to her to try and help her, so Ami redirected her attention at Michiru. If this was like the previous enemy, her attack would be good enough to make that boy disappear for a moment, enough to let Michiru go and give her a chance to collect herself, even if Ami couldn’t vanquish him.

“Shine Aqua Illusion!” she cried, sending jets of water toward the boy holding Michiru. She had never found a more appropriate time to say ‘Douse yourself in water and repent’. After all, that boy was in severe need of a shower. Perhaps the water would comfort Michiru a little—help her feel like she was being washed clean.

Haruka felt the air leave her lungs as the teenager reappeared behind Michiru, hugging her tightly. Michiru's screams of terror shattered Haruka's heart, scrambling it in pieces all over the ground. Michiru was in pain - she needed help - and Haruka was powerless to do anything. Everything they tried would just go straight through this enemy. 

Her thoughts were proven true when Mercury attacked the teenager, her water magic flowing over him. When the water disappeared, the teenager had disappeared along with it, but Haruka knew he wasn't truly gone. 

Utilizing the little time she had, Haruka stepped closer to Michiru and held her face in her hands. "Michiru, listen to me. You are stronger than your disorder makes you out to be. This phobia of yours, this inhibitor, is nothing compared to what I've seen you do and what I know is inside of you. You have to fight it, Michiru. Only you can do this. I believe in you, and so does everyone else here. And when this is all over, we can go straight home and get cleaned up...or something." Haruka knew her attention span was diverting, so before she could say anything else that didn't make sense, she pressed her lips against Michiru's and gave her a reassuring smile. 

The teenager was back, tapping on Michiru's shoulder from behind.

Meanwhile, the coworker of Makoto's was still standing above her, glaring at her with a sinister grin. "What are you gonna do, Kino-san? You gonna finally stop being a burden to the world?"

Banner by Princess Moon

At this point, after Usagi had gone over to her to try to cheer Makoto up, and that annoying man was still there berating her, Venus felt a need to try to intervene for the brunette again.  So the leader of the inner guardian senshi called out to Makoto in a pleasant, friendly tone "Mako-chan, Usagi-chan is correct!  You are very strong, and you are always brave when you need to be!  I have personally seen you do some amazingly great things for us, Mako-chan!  I can remember several times where we would not have been able to achieve victory without your awesome participation!  I am proud to have you on my team, Mako-chan!  And I could not say that if you were really 'a burden to the world'.  So get back up and show him how strong you really are, Mako-chan!  Notch another one onto your belt where we only achieved victory because of you!"

Her eyes were squeezed shut completely, an attempt to block the entire world from affecting her. She was trapped in a nightmare. Michiru barely noticed when the boy’s grip on her was released and water flowed over her. When she felt someone’s hands on her face, at first she immediately shrunk away from it, before she realized they felt familiar. Haruka’s voice functioned like a blanket of warmth around her, assuaging the trauma she’d endured. Her eyes opened and she grabbed onto her partner like a lifeline, afraid to look anywhere else or deal with anything else that wasn’t Haruka.

Haruka’s words were helping a little bit, but mostly she was still freaking out over how all these germs were crawling all over her body even as they spoke. At least, until Haruka kissed her.

That blew all the other thoughts out of her head. It was like the chaos inside of her had been calmed with such a simple gesture. Michiru clung to Haruka, her rock, her anchor, and tried not to think about how dirty she was. After all, if Haruka could kiss her after what happened, the least Michiru could do was hold out long enough to defeat this enemy before having a thorough shower about twenty times. Or maybe just live in the bathroom permanently.

She smelled him again, and the next second, she felt his tap on her shoulder. Michiru blanched as she turned, still clinging to Haruka. She grasped Haruka’s hand tightly to keep her sane, trying hard to not be drowned by the panic and disgust and fear trying to swallow her.

“N-Neptune Planet Power, Make Up!” she managed to shout, and the next second she was transformed.

Shakily, she raised her arms and called out, “Deep Submerge!”