Chibi-Usa holds up Michiru's Aqua Mirror and remembers Elios' kiss. She wonders why he hasn't appeared since that night. Usagi walks in and asks if Chibi-Usa wants a snack, but the little girl isn't hungry. Usagi disappears back behind the door, saying that it's too bad since they're having sherbet, lemon pies, chocolate cake, melons.... Suddenly, Chibi-Usa runs downstairs and bursts into the kitchen. "I don't have an appetite," she says, "but I'll eat!" Usagi smiles and heads for the door.
Finally, Chibi-Usa notices that Usagi is all dressed up. She asks where the older girl is going, and Usagi tells her that Mamoru hasn't been feeling well. Right now, he's sick at school, and Usagi is going to visit him. She asks if Chibi-Usa wants to come as well. "No. I'll stay. From now on, I've decided not to come between you two." Usagi is dumbstruck.
After Usagi leaves, Chibi-Usa explains her predicament to Diana. She loves Mamoru, but lately she's been thinking only of Elios. If she went to see Mamoru now, she'd feel like it was committing adultery against Elios. Diana explains to the reader that adultery is "forbidden love with a married man" even though "neither of them are married."
Struggling with her feelings, Chibi-Usa wonders who she can talk to. Rei isn't good with emotions, Minako is too nosy, Ami talks too much... That leaves only Makoto, and Chibi-Usa runs off to find her.
In the other world, Pegasus lies at the bottom of the gilded cage. If he doesn't keep himself alive, he's afraid the Prince's body will be destroyed.
Queen Nehelenia calls for Zirconia. She quizzes the old woman on the goal of the Dead Moon Circus. "Our long-cherished goal," answers Zirconia, "is to overthrow the hated White Moon Kingdom, the Silver Millennium, to take the Ginzuishou and this blue land Earth, and soon, to become the supreme ruler of all the cosmos." Nehelenia is pleased, and says that she already has Elysion. The Amazoness Quartet offers to take the Earth for their queen.
Later that night, as Mamoru lies coughing in his bed, the spirits of his four generals appear above him. They sense the weakening of his body, but they cannot help him. Mamoru coughs harder and a black splat of blood falls into his open hand. Sadly, the generals disappear.
Usagi walks into the apartment carrying shopping bags. She's brough Mamoru a bentou lunch full of her mother's cooking. As she sets up his meal, Usagi says that later they should go out for some fresh air and for more medicine. Mamoru interrupts her, saying that he wants to sleep so he can get better. He wants her to go home. Shaken, Usagi agrees. After she leaves, Mamoru looks at the blood on his hand. He fears he's being a burden on Usagi.
The four Inners in civilian form walk out of the Dead Moon Circus tent after watching another performance. With the exception of the opening day, each performance by the circus seems to be completely normal. The girls are determined to catch the circus in the act of brainwashing people. Yet, even with all this surveilance, the girls still do not know who exactly their enemies are.
From a perch in a tree, the Amazoness Quartet watches as the girls walk away from the tent. Ves-Ves holds a hand mirror. When she turns it towards the girls, it reflects them in their sailor fuku. Jun-Jun aims a slingshot and bonks the four girls on their heads with a ball. The girls feel the ball, but when they look around, no one is there. As they separate and go home, the lemures watch from the shadows.
Chibi-Usa finds Makoto heading for home. She stops her and asks if they can talk. Makoto flashes her a toothy smile and asks if this talk is about boys. Chibi-Usa's cheeks turn red and her eyes bug out. Prepared for a long talk, Makoto says that she'll make them dinner. Together, they go to the supermarket. Inside the store, Hawk-Eye (wearing a lacy black dress) is asking the salesperson for a variety of spices. When the clerk tells him that they don't sell those, Makoto interjects that a store in the foreigners' market might stock them. Hawk-Eye thanks her and then invites the two girls to his own herb shop across the street. He explains that he was just doing research, trying to see how many different spices his competetors's had.
Makoto falls in love with Hawk-Eye's shop instantly. When he casually mentions Amazon medicinal herbs, Makoto warily asks him if he's from the circus. Readily, he tells her that he's working there and managing his store on the side. His dream is to own a chain of stores all over the world. Makoto confides that her dream is to open a flower and cake shop. Hawk-Eye thinks it's a wonderful dream, and he gives Makoto and Chibi-Usa Amazon stone rings.
At Makoto's house, Chibi-Usa makes the salad while Makoto examines her ring. Hawk-Eye had told her that the stone could make wishes come true. She wonders if she's really been pursuing her dreams.
At Mamoru's apartment, Chibi-Usa tells him all about her dinner with Makoto. When she gets to the part about the ring, Mamoru asks if he can see it. She takes it off and Mamoru keeps it. When Chibi-Usa leaves, he cracks open the stone with a pair of pliers. It looks normal, but Mamoru wants to keep an eye on it.
Usagi is waiting for Chibi-Usa outside the building. "I told him to take care, like I was supposed to," Chibi-Usa reports, "but he still looks pretty bad." Usagi thanks her, but the little girl wants to know why Usagi didn't go up there herself.
"I was scared of being rejected again," Usagi thinks.
Makoto visits Hawk-Eye's shop again. He makes them tea and asks her if she's pursued her dreams since they last met. Makoto says that she has lots of dreams and can't really tell her friends all of them. To herself, she wonders if being a Senshi is holding her back. As if reading her mind, Hawk-Eye asks if she will quit being a Sailor Senshi. Makoto is caught off-guard, and she pulls away from him. Lemures pour out of her ring and attack her. "How would you like to join the Dead Moon Circus, too?" Hawk-Eye sneers. Ropes of electricty cinch tightly around her as the Amazoness Quartet arrives and Hawk-Eye reverts back to his avian form. Makoto passes out, and one of the Quartet plants her foot on her head in victory.
Makoto hears a voice calling to her. She lifts up her head and sees a miniture Sailor Jupiter with her hands on her hips, wagging a finger at her. The mini-Jupiter chides Makoto for showing the enemy her weakness. "Without the Herculean Jupiter," she yells, "who will protect Princess Selenity, and Mars, Mercury, and Venus!? Who will protect the people of the city!?" Makoto starts to stand up. She remembers how Haruka had warned her against giving in to her shortcomings. Guardian Jupiter gives her a glowing heart.
Using her renewed strength, Makoto breaks through the ropes. "Jupiter Crystal Power! Make Up!" She appears in a super-Senshi fuku with a laurel wreath on her head. The leaves, she remembers, are the symbol of thunder and lightning, her specialty.
"Jupiter Oak Evolution!" The hawk is destroyed, and the Amazoness Quartet scrambles for cover. The store disappears, leaving Sailor Jupiter standing in an empty lot when Usagi and the others arrive. Chibi-Usa hears a bell chime, and she thinks Elios is trying to contact her. Both she and Usagi run to Mamoru's apartment.
Mamoru is laying face-down on his bed coughing and choking as lemures surround him. Pegasus stands over the bed, trying to fend off the attack. Frantic, Usagi and Chibi-Usa transform and destroy the lemures with Moon Gorgeous Meditation. Mamoru sits up and coughs into his hand. Sailor Moon moves towards him, but he pulls away. However, she has already seen it.
"Mamo-chan!? Black blood!?"