Minako felt better immediately when Raito had touched her hand. It was one of those little pats meant to bring a hysterical person back to earth. She wasn’t that bad off, really. The blood threw her, of course. But the touch did feel pretty nice. She smiled a little. “Thanks,” she said quietly. She knew Raito didn’t believe a scrap of her movie-set idea. And now she was starting to lose the notion, too. It didn’t seem right to keep pretending when her one of her best friends, and future queen, was looking danger right in the face.

She felt uneasy, even though the bloody man didn’t reach out and grab Usagi by the throat, or stab her, or transform into a monster, anything. He actually looked as confused as any of them felt. She wondered what his story was. She forced those thoughts out of her mind, though, and kept focused on Usagi’s situation. She was supposed to be the queen’s guardian. She slipped one of her hands into her pocket, lightly touching her transformation wand. It was good to feel it there still. She could become Venus in a moment and fight off any danger. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to.

“You know, I’d really love to go inside,” she mentioned to Raito, “but I have to watch out for my friend. Usagi. She’s lost her mind so I’d better keep tabs on her. And I don’t trust that guy one bit. I hope he doesn’t hurt her.”