1205/Dark Chocolate Roofies

Dark Chocolate Roofies
Date of Scene:	15 March 2016
Location:	Uminari City - Game Center Crown
Synopsis:	Takashi gave Ami some chocolate. Makoto and Rei have a few objections...
Cast of Characters:	Ami Mizuno, Rei Hino, Makoto Kino

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Ami Mizuno has posed:
It's Tuesday, just a few hours after school has let out, and Ami has found herself with some spare time. So the bluenette is at the Game Center Crown, hunched in front of a video game, playing hard and munching harder. At a nearby table she has a pizza cooling to be eaten and a coka cola, along with a white box of home-made chocolates. She's fairly certain eventually her friends will show up, and the pizza is extra large to feed them all. Better overprepared than under!

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei Hino does indeed show up, because why wouldn't she? This is basically one of the Senshi's main stomping grounds. Along with the shrine. And Mamoru's apartment. And Makoto's apartment. And Ami's apartment. And... well okay they actually cover a lot of territory.

    Rei notices the unattended pizza first, and then the very odd chocolates, and then she notices Ami here playing a video game. Rei smiles and waves at Ami, but she inches closer to those chocolates, her expression going from curiosity to suspicion to one of anger.

    Rei steps back from the chocolates, peering around to see who their owner can be, and inching up behind Ami. When she's close enough, she whispers, "We might have a situation here."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Observation is one of Ami's strongest suits. Catching her unawares is a rare and treasured thing. So when Ami legitimately shrieks in startlement and practically jumps off the stool into Rei's arms, it is perhaps an incredibly unexpected experience for the Senshi of Fire. Ami stares at Rei, eyes wide as saucers. She blushes, then turns the surprise into a hug, and backs away with a smile. "Rei-chan!" she says. "You startled me."

Ami slides away from her and heads towards her table, with the pizza and the chocolates. "What's the situation?" she asks curiously, grabbing a plate to serve herself a slice. Ami sits down right in front of those chocolates, clearly claiming them as her own.

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei catches Ami when she jumps, surprised by Ami's surprise, and a little unsure of how to handle it. There might be teasing about this later, but for the moment Rei is just shocked. "Calm down! Geeze. Not so loud."

    When Ami leaves the hug, Rei follows, growing more confused until she reaches the questionable table and... Ami walks up and eats the pizza like she owns it?!

    Well, that must mean that she does own it. Which means...

    "Ami-chan...! Is this yours?" She points at the chocolates. "Where did those come from?! You're not accepting chocolate from youma, are you? Those things are reeking of dark energy!"

    Reeking may be an overstatement, but she'd rather overplay it than underplay it. After all, it wouldn't do to have Ami turn into a youma or something.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Mmmhm, definitely mine," Ami replies, then shoves a slice of pizza in her mouth. Thus she is completely unable to respond with anything but choking when Rei explains that they're 'reeking of dark energy'. Ami looks confused, startled, and surprised as she tries to choke down the bite without properly chewing.

Finally, she gets it down, and asks, "Whaaat?!" She leans forward to study the chocolates, then picks one up and holds it out to Rei. "This?! Seriously!? Takashi-kun made them. They were my White Day present. They're not as good as Mako-chan's, but they're still really good." She pauses, then blushes and puts it back in the box.

"Eating them makes me feel a bit odd," she admits to Rei with a whisper, "but I thought it was just because I'm still so nervous about this whole dating thing! Are they seriously full of dark energy!?"

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei listens as Ami explains, and then she rubs her forehead. "The same guy whose healing filled you with dark energy? Are you really surprised? Ami-chan, come on..."

    Rei looks down at the pizza. It, at least, seems safe. She picks up a slice and takes a bite. She angrily chews on the pizza, trying not to be too loud in the arcade. "There's an amount of dark energy in the chocolate. It seems like a measured amount, because it's pretty consistent. Someone should tell him that's now how you make dark chocolate!"

    Then she frowns at Ami, saying, "You're not seriously dating some guy who feeds you evil magic, are you? If you get all debbie downer on me again I'm going to throw those chocolates out."

    Rei leans forward at Ami. "You're not depressed right now, are you?!"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Depressed?! Ami blinks at Rei confusedly, then sets her slice of piozza back down. She studies the miko for several moments, then glances around uncertainly before pulling her computer out of nowhere.

Holding the computer out near the chocolates, she begins to scan them. "I'm not depressed," she sa ys quietly. "Maybe a little distracted, bored, and uhm." Another blush. But then the blush is repealed by a severe frown. "That jerk," she says. "Why would he put dark energy in the chocolates?!"

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei studies Ami for a bit. She frowns, and then stands up straight again, taking a seat as Ami scans the chocolates. She eats her pizza as she watches Ami. Well, she doesn't seem depressed.

    "Just asking, because you were acting different when you had his energy in you last time."

    Well, the situation in Rei's mind went from 'the chocolates are probably going to turn into youma and/or turn people into youma' to 'Ami's stupid boyfriend again.' Only this time Takashi has a lot less of an excuse.

    "I have no idea. 'Distracted' and 'bored' hardly seem like ill effects. Still, I'd keep an eye out if I were you."

    Rei takes a moment to bite, chew and swallow another bit of pizza before looking back up at Ami. "You're not still thinking of eating those, are you?!"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami blushes all the more and ducks her head, then picks up a chocolate and offers one to Rei. "They're really tasty," she admits quietly, voice almost a whine. "Just try half of one! It's just a little dark energy, and I've had four already and they didn't do anything to m--well, not much to me," she admits quietly, clearing her throat. "I don't think they're bad. Just um," she leans forward a little, then whispers, "I feel a little naughty eating them. I guess now I know why."

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei stares at Ami incredulously, then at the chocolate, and then at Ami. Is she serious? This seems like it's really high on the 'bad idea' list somewhere between 'eating something off of the ground' and 'using any shop or service that has the word 'dark' in the name'.

    She frowns at Ami, hearing her explanation of the effects, and then sighs dramatically. "You're a terrible influence, Ami-chan."

    She plucks the chocolate out of Ami's hands, rips it in half between her red nails, and then slowly chews on the chocolate. .oO(This is really dumb. Why am I even doing this?)

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami's eyes widen as Rei takes the chocolate from her, and she smiles amusedly before sitting back. Ami reaches for her slice of pizza, but her fingers instead find another chocolate, which she pops in her mouth. That brings another blush to her cheeks, and she looks away from Rei as she chews and swallows the minty chocolate goodness.

"Well?" she asks, looking back to Rei after a moment. "See? They're not that bad. It's not like they make you depressed, or want to hurt anyone. Right? So ... it's kinda like he was just trying to make the chocolates magical, and that's all he had to work with. It's ... kinda sweet, don't you think?"

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei grumpily chews on the chocolates. Not grumpy because of the chocolate, she's been grumpy for the past few days now, but still grumpy. When she swallows her cheeks blush slightly, making sure not to be looking at anyone while certain kinds of thoughts go through her mind.

    She lets out a sigh. "I don't know if I'd use the word 'sweet'. I mean. It's pretty creepy that he didn't tell you if he was going to feed you chocolates like that."

    Rei shrugs, frowning again. "Seriously, though? You're just going to eat more of them? Why?" She rubs her forehead. "Well, it'd probably be best if no one found out about it. Still, one bit of negativity out of you and I'm slapping an ofuda right on your forehead!"

    Rei contents herself with eating her slice of pizza, not willing to have another evil naughty chocolate.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami leans forward and snatches the other half of the chocolate out of Rei's hands. "If you're not going to finish it," she says, then pops that into her own mouth and sits back down. She savors the half-bite a little longer than she did hte full one, blushes again, then swallows eventually.

"Ah ... anyways," she says, "I don't see any reason not to eat the rest of the box. They're all virtually identical so if I haven't been hurt so far it's not going to get any worse. Just don't tell anyone and it'll be fine, right?"

Rei Hino has posed:
    "Riiight. I won't tell anyone." Rei promises. Like she isn't an unapologetic gossip.

    Seriously though. She won't tell too many people. Just the other senshi. Maybe one other senshi. The next senshi she sees.

    Ugh is the dark chocolate doing that too? No, actually Rei you were always kinda like that.

    "Nope! Won't tell anyone. Pinky promise."

    Gotta tell someone gotta tell someone gotta tell someone.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami grins at Rei, then picks up her pizza slice at last and takes another bite. After chewing and swallowing she says, "Admit it. They're really good. And you want another piee." She smiles at Rei

"Mm, do you want something to drink?" Ami asks as she slides out of her seat. "I can go fetch you a milkshake or something. How's school going, anyways? I feel like we haven't talked since um. You know." Pause. "That's probably my fault, I've been busy trying to catch back up."

Makoto Kino has posed:
It's at around this point that Makoto comes strolling into the arcade, cheerfully oblivious of things like dark energy or the likelihood of Rei exploding from the pressure of a pent-up secret. She's feeling easier than she has in months, and it shows in the way she moves, the long easy swing of her strides as she crosses the floor.

It doesn't take her too long to spot Ami and Rei together at the table. Smile brightening, she raises her hand in a wave and beelines in their direction.

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei practically begins to squirm in her seat, eating her pizza and trying not to have too guilty of a look on her face. When Makoto walks in, Mars's friend senses tingle and she turns to wave at the senshi of lightning.

    Not wanting to let Ami stop her, Rei gets up out of her chair, dropping her slice of pizza on a plate, and runs towards Makoto and intercepts her with a hug.

    While close, Rei whispers into Makoto's ear, "Takashi gave Ami chocolates that are infused with dark energy. She knows this and she's still eating them."

    She then giggles as she pulls away from the hug and walks towards the table. Rei is the worst friend right now. Or maybe the best?

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami reaches up to close the box of chocolates while Rei rushes off to Makoto. Certain not to waste them, she puts the box back in her bookbag, then turns and smiles at their incoming friend. "Mako-chan~" she greets excitedly, following Rei in offering hugs. She doesn't quite hear the whisper, but she's fairly sure Rei wouldn't tattle on her. Right?!

So she gives Makoto a hug, then turns back to the table. "I got a pizza for all of us. You're welcome to have some. I haven't gotten drinks, yet, though. Just my coke. Do you want anything?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
"WHAT!?" Makoto's exclamation is loud enough to be heard across the entire arcade. Now everyone's looking at them. Good job.

Ami still gets a hug, but Mako's no longer smiling as she comes the rest of the way to the table. "Ami-chan, why are you eating chocolates that you know have dark energy in them?" At least she makes an effort to pitch her voice low enough that it won't be easily overheard. "Oh my God, I should never have told that guy anything. I should've let him keep pulling his hair out."

Rei should've known better than to think Makoto would be anything resembling subtle.

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei is embarrassed. She didn't expect to get ratted out that early. She should've though. Oh well. Now she's just laughing harder.

    "Sorry, Ami-chan." She is so not sorry.

    Rei shrugs at Makoto. "We both looked at them. I don't think Ami's going to turn into a youma or anything, but they still have an after effect."

    The fire miko looks innocently at Ami. "What did you say that effect was, Ami-chan?"

    Rei knows darn well what it is.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami opens her mouth, then slowly turns beat red and sinks down into her seat. She reaches for her pizza and starts to stuff her face, but then stops and glares at Rei, then sticks her tongue out. "Rei-chan said we shouldn't tell anyone," she notes, "and then promptly goes and blabs it to everyone! Besides, I didn't know they were full of Dark Energy when I first tried them. Rei ate one knowing what was in them."

Ami sighs and puts the slice down, then reaches for the box of chocolates and pulls it out to show it to Makoto. "Takashi-kun made them," she says quietly. "I think he just wanted to make the magical and used what he had to work with. They aren't evil and they haven't hurt me, yet. And they're really tasty. Not as good as yours, of course, but ... look just try one before you get mad at him, okay?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Too late! Judging by the stink-eye Makoto immediately begins giving the box of chocolates when Ami takes it out, she's already working on a pretty good case of mad. "He gave you candy with dark energy in it and didn't tell you, Ami-chan. I know his standards are seriously warped and all, but this is not okay."

She plunks into a seat, planting both hands flat on the table in front of her. "There's no way I'm eating that," she says, continuing to look at the box like it's personally offended her. "You shouldn't still be eating it either! Rei-chan, can't you exorcise it or something?"

Rei Hino has posed:
    "Half of one," corrects Rei. "... and then you ate the other half along with... whatever you've eaten already." She holds her hands up defensively to Makoto saying, "I had to see what the effects were! I mean if Ami's eating them... They make you think naughty thoughts. I mean..." Rei looks away. She doesn't want to share what's on her mind right now.

    To Ami she shrugs and says, "Seriously, you feed me chocolate like that and then expect me to keep a secret? Look, if you become a monster I want the other senshi to know why, and I don't need them glaring at me when I knew you were eating evil chocolate and wasn't telling anyone."

    Could Rei exorcize it? Maybe. She shrugs. "I could try. I'm not sure if it counts as an evil spirit or not. On the other hand, Ami-chan seems to be enjoying them. He should've told her, sure, but she is enjoying them."

    She rubs her forehead. "Of course, that might be because of the dark energy. I can't rule that out."

    Yeah, actually, it doesn't seem like she has a choice here. Or rather, she has one and she makes it. If she's going to ask Ami's opinion on the matter, as to whether or not she wants to consent to keep eating them, then she needs to make sure that Ami has a clear mind, right?

    "Akuryo TAISAN!" More yelling. More stares. An ofuda on Ami's forehead... but not the chocolates, yet. She does have more ofudas.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Rei-chan, they are not th--" Ami starts to protest, but instead she receives an ofuda to the face, which results in a soft-voiced noise of pain and unhappiness. "Owww."

Ami waits for the ofuda to drop to the table, then glares at Rei unhappily. "I don't feel any different," she notes, "except that now my forehead stings and I want more chocolate to console me from that. Geeze, why are you freaking out so much? The amount of dark energy in these is so tiny it might as well not even be there. They're just tasty."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"It's still not okay." Some of Makoto's agitation subsides at Ami's reaction to the ofuda; she scrunches down in her seat, folding her arms on the table. "What happens if he keeps giving you dark energy without you knowing? You know what that stuff does to people, and by the time it's a problem they're usually too far gone to realize it."

She draws in a breath and lets it out in an aggrieved sigh. "I can't believe he was so far up his own butt about one-upping my chocolates that he'd go this far. Geez."

This must remind her of something, because in the next moment Mako is suddenly bolt upright again and coming around the table to hug Ami. "Thanks, by the way."

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei sticks her tongue out right at Ami. "If you're bothered by that, don't eat so much that we have to escalate you. And Mako-chan brings up a good point. You should scan what he feeds you. Don't forget what happened to the boys."

    The 'boys' in this case refers to the Shitennou and Mamoru.

    Rei sighs, and looks out the window. Then she asks, "Is this really about one-ups manship? I mean... that seems kinda silly, doesn't it?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami glances at the box of chocolates, opens it, considers it, then closes the box again and slides them back towards her bag. "Alright, I'll eat them slowly," she promises. "And I will scan what he gives me in the future. I agree that he should have warned me, but if he had warned me I don't think I would have turned them down. So I'll tell him to warn me next time, and I will make sure to scan them, and if the dark energy is in high enough ratio to be problematic, I won't eat them. Does that satisfy you both?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto considers it seriously for a few seconds before she nods, straightening back up and settling her weight back onto her heels. "That works," she says with a glance to Rei. "Maybe you could ask him to tell you if he's giving you stuff with dark energy in it. If he cares about you as much as it seems like it does, he should respect that even if he doesn't think it's a big deal."

Reaching out, she ruffles a hand lightly over Ami's hair. "You asked me to have your back," she says, and her smile has a certain apology in it. "That's all I'm trying to do."

Then she goes back to her seat, plunks back down and reaches for a slice of pizza as she looks toward Rei again. "He's got this whole weird thing about having to be the best. It's not about me or anything, but you should've seen him go off when I tried to tell him that he shouldn't worry about measuring his chocolates against mine and should just do his best to make something Ami-chan would like. It was like I'd told him to go dig something out of the garbage and call it good."

Starting to feel grumpy again, she takes a fierce bite out of the slice of pizza.

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei is half paying attention, looking out the window until her attention suddenly snaps back. "Huh?! Both of us?" After a moment. "Um... yeah sure. I mean. Just don't be careless, okay? Seriously we don't need another problem where we have to banish the evil Chocotallia from you."

    Still, she does trust Ami at least somewhat. Otherwise she wouldn't be using an ofuda. Fire melts chocolate pretty quickly.

    Speaking of ofuda, she reaches over to pluck hers off of wherever they fell and puts it back in her pocket.

    "Sounds like he's pretty prideful. Or insecure. Or both. I can't really blame him for wanting to do his best, but comparing himself to other people is the easiest way to get discouraged."

    She shrugs. "Still, they aren't terrible. I don't think it's fair to compare them to Mako-chan's chocolates."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Well you'd be prideful, too," Ami says to Rei a little defensively, "if you grew up with no parental supervision, passed from foster home to foster home, filled with Dark Energy at birth and with a father whose only visits were to tell you that you weren't good enough."

She, too, is starting to get grumpy again, but she consoles herself by finishing off her slice of pizza. "It's not his fault he is this way," she explains after swallowing. "And I'm going to fix him. At the very least get the dark energy out. It's just ... delicate."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto just shrugs and finishes chewing on her bite of pizza. "I don't really care what he thinks, anyway," she says, not entirely honestly. "Ami-chan gets it, so it's fine."

She'd have a few more choice words about Takashi Agera, but what she saw through Ami's monitoring program has left her willing to be at least somewhat magnanimous. If not quite so much so as she would've been before she found out he spiked Ami's white Day chocolates with dark energy. "I don't think anyone's blaming him," she notes. "Just calling it like it is: he's got some issues. But if anyone can help him, Ami-chan, it's you."

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei listens to Ami's retelling of Takashi's story. Huh. So that's what it is. "Not good enough, huh? How typical." She flips her hand back and forth in the air. "Still, you're right. It's not his fault he had less-than-stellar parents. I guess if you think you can fix him you may as well give it a shot."

    Rei nods, confirming, "Yeah, just saying it like it is. Everybody's got something. Everybody works differently. It's just a thing. Still, I mean, he was right there with the rest of us at D-point. He can't be all bad."

    Well, he can be, but Rei doesn't know about that.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Well, we fixed Jadite, Nephrite, Zoisite, Mamoru, and ..." Ami trails off, "Well, Kunzite should be fixed any day. And Kunzite was so much worse off than Takashi-kun is," she explains. "So if I can fix all of them, then I can fix him, too."

Ami shrugs just faintly, then reaches for another slice of pizza. "Anyways, Mako-chan, I'll keep the camera with me whenever I'm with him so you can keep an eye on things, if you're still nervous. And I think I got him to agree to apologize to you for being a jerk."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"I saw," Makoto admits with a self-conscious quirk to her smile. "It's nice to know he knows he went too far." She takes another bite of pizza and nods to Rei rather than say more herself just yet. She's a forgiving soul, but the sting of some of the things Takashi said is going to take a little longer to swallow.

When she's finished, she shrugs and lets out a breath of a laugh. "I'll try not to push any more of his buttons while he's trying to apologize. But yeah, if it doesn't bother you, I'd feel better if you kept the camera with you. At least for now."

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei glances between the two of them. Camera. She can't help but raise an eyebrow at that. Of course it's clear from the context what it's about and why, but this is a level of spying she isn't quite used to.

    She quietly eats the pizza while listening to the two of them talk. Clearly there was an exchanging of words that Rei missed. She actually doesn't know Takashi that well, but she knows how dark energy affects a person. She could only imagine what that would lead to.

    "Well as long as someone's keeping an eye on things. You'll tell us if anything happens, right Mako-chan?"

    What does Rei mean by 'anything'? Probably just important safety-related stuff, yeah. She's not asking for juicy details. No, most certainly not.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"No, it's only fair," Ami says to Makoto honestly. "I saw everything that happened between you and Nephrite," she explains. "And I really do feel safer having you watching. I thought I was going to melt through the mountain Sunday night. I almost begged you to come save me but I thought that would make me look even more foolish."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto dips a little nod of agreement to Rei, though she's looking increasingly sheepish. Especially when Ami mentions Nephrite. "Ahaha, yeah," she says - so awkward! "It's embarrassing, but better safe than sorry, right? It'd be bad if something happened and nobody had your back."

And then she looks at Ami and grins fondly. "You didn't seem foolish to me, but hey, you can call me to come rescue you any time."

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei reaches up to gently pat Makoto in back. "Our Mako-chan in shining armor. Always coming to our rescue!" She giggles. She doesn't mean it sarcastically. Makoto does rescue them more often than not.

    Rei leans into the conversation. "So... melt through the mountain? Sounds pretty intense. How serious are you two, anyways?" She asks in a conspiratorial tone as if she hadn't just blabbed on Ami big time just a few minutes ago.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Ahhhhh! We are not having this conversation," Ami says, burring her face in Makoto's arm. She's blushing bright red already. "Geeze, if I talk to you about this next thing the all of Verone Academy will know, and then somehow it will spread to Infinity and Seishou, and no no no."

Makoto Kino has posed:
The pat on her back and the quip from Rei, Makoto laughs as well, pleased and a little proud. "I try," she replies, placing a hand against her chest and mock-fluttering her eyelashes.

She drops most of the joking when Ami's face goes against her arm, though, and reaches to pat her friend on the shoulder. "It's okay," she assures. "We can talk about something else, but you know Rei-chan only told me about the chocolates because she was worried, right?"

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei sticks her tongue out. "I wouldn't tell all of Verone." She probably wouldn't tell anyone, but it'd be hard to convince Ami of that, all things considered. She thinks about teasing Ami but the poor girl is embarrassed enough already. Makoto backs her up on that, though. "Nah, it's okay. As long as it's not a threat to you or something I don't need to know details."

    So instead she goes for another slice of pizza, munching on it before trying to think of a new topic. "So uh... Usagi-chan asked me an interesting question the other day. What happens to us, now that the Dark Kingdom is defeated? Where do we go from here?"

    She places the pizza down on the plate, before continuing on. "I don't think I could just sit out of the fight. There are still other enemies out there, but I don't know if everyone else feels the same way. I can't really expect all of you to."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"I'm pretty sure she told you just to embarass me," Ami admits to Makoto, then leans back to stick her tongue out at Rei. But then Rei asks an actually good question, so she frowns and give sit some thought. "Honestly, I haven't given that any thought. But I can't just ignore something I know is there. I know too much, and not enough, to just walk away from it all."

Makoto Kino has posed:
As for Makoto, she blinks at the question Rei poses as though Rei asked it in a foreign language. Clearly, it's a question that never occurred to her either, and she has to take some time to think about it, nibbling on pizza as she does.

"...I'm with you guys," she says before very much time has passed. "Like you said, Rei-chan, there are still other enemies out there. It was personal with the Dark Kingdom, but if something else is putting people in danger and we can do something about it, why wouldn't we?"

Rei Hino has posed:
    Rei listens to the responses of the other senshi. She smiles, knowing that she'll still have the girls to rely on. "I guess we all feel the same way. Usagi does too, especially if she has us backing her. Minako started before all of us, so I'm sure she'd feel that way, too."

    She isn't really sure what they'd do if any of them backed out. They'd have to find a replacement, but... it's not like any of these people are replaceable, and even then they'd probably still want to be friends with those who continued to fight. There's no real way they wouldn't be involved, one way or another.

    "I mean there's still Eclipse, there're still Witches, there are still random monsters running around. Maybe we could take a break but I don't really think any of us are the type to sit back and watch if others are getting hurt. I mean, if we were, we probably never would've picked up the transformation pen to begin with."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"I don't want a break," Ami says very quickly, very confidently. "I just want to know that we're a team. Right now ... well I know four of us are a team," Ami sighs and reaches for a slice of pizza. "I'd like to know all of us are. I suppose that means I should talk to Minako, but I've been kinda scared to."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Well," Mako puts in with a laugh, "I hope we at least get a bit of break. After the way the past several months have been, I don't know about you guys but I'm worn out. It'd be nice if by biggest worry for the next few weeks was boys." Or, you know, one boy in particular.

Not seeming particularly worn out, she polishes off her slice of pizza, wipes her fingers on a napkin and then laces her hands behind her head. "Minako..." Slowly Makoto's expression becomes more thoughtful. "Starting before all of us, she might be the most worn out of anyone. I really don't know how to talk to her, either. But she was there for Usagi-chan in the end, cheering her on."

Rei Hino has posed:
    "Mina-chan did cheer on Usa-chan at the end," confirms Rei. "She also stabbed Beryl. Maybe now we'll have more time to figure it out, since there's probably going to be a lot less stress on her now. Even if we don't stop alright, it'd be nice if things slowed down at least. We've been going full throttle since before Christmas."

    Rei looks at her watch, looks surprised, and then stands up. "Um. I gotta go. Thanks for the pizza, Ami-chan. I'll see you two later."

    Rei then runs off, to do whatever it is that busy Reis do. Probably miko stuff.