598/Comeuppance

Comeuppance
Date of Scene:	17 November 2015
Location:	Mitakihara - Downtown
Synopsis:	Takashi and Apatite have a calm and reasonable discussion, as befits two mature and emotionally stable teenagers. Also Apatite gets better.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Takashi Agera, Usagi Tsukino, Kyouko Sakura

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Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi Agera has stayed later at school than usual. The Science club, of which he is at least theoretically a member, has been working on a project for a competition for some time now, and the date is drawing close. Which means the club president wanted everybody there.

And it was largely a question of how bored Takashi got watching everyone fiddle around trying to get their project to work before he stepped in and fixed it all in a blur. Just so he could go home.

His hands are in his uniform jacket as he turns down the alleyway and kicks a soda can down it. "Smartest minds in Tokyo, yeah right. Talk about justifying everything I do. Buncha' idiots."

It wasn't strange to be walking alone - though usually he did most of his walking through the Stacked Space that Eclipse has set up around Mitakihara. Today, though, he elected to walk the long way home. There were problems - long term problems - he wanted to turn over in his head, and he thought the fresh air might do him good while he did so.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    This has been a fateful day for Apatite. So much had transpired in so short a time. Her mind... wasn't right. All that had happened between her and Mamoru, Hannah, and finally Sayaka had reminded her. Of who she was, or of who she had been. But in a weird way, she was still Apatite as well. It was like being half-awake, half stuck in the world of a dream, remembering your dream-self while also holding the knowledge that that isn't you.

    It was confusing and it was distressing. She wanted to go back to Sayaka and stay with her. She wanted to sort it all out. But she knew she couldn't- not yet. There was still something she had to do while she could- while she still had the power, and while she still had the excuse. Maybe if she went back right now, she wouldn't be able to justify what she was about to do.

    Best to do it now. Later, she can blame it on Apatite.

    She drops to the ground silently behind Takashi in the alley as he walks along, her white and red coat fluttering about her as she lands in a feline crouch, then rises in one easy movement. Striding forward, her shadow seems to grow on the wall behind him as she moves towards and then past a light mounted on the wall.

    "Takashi, right?" Her voice rings out suddenly, at the same time her hand shoots out to grab his collar from behind and pull him around to face her. "I've got a message for you."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"--alley where she started today's mess," Mamoru Chiba's voice fades into hearing, faintly irritated tone in evidence. And then he and a really short blonde girl in a Seishou middle school uniform -- the one he danced with at the Infinity fundraiser, in fact -- appear at the mouth of the alley, both of them looking mussed but at least presentable. They've also got a takeaway box of takoyaki they're passing back and forth.

Mamoru trails off as he sees an aggravatingly familiar head of white hair further down it, and he frowns.

And then Apatite lands in that god damned alley for the second time today, and Mamoru's heart's suddenly in his throat. He shoves the box of takoyaki at Usagi, nudging her out of sight just around the corner in front of the alley; he calls out in a voice that sounds almost like its edge could be approaching panic, "Agera, RUN! Apatite, it's me you want, isn't it?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
At first, Usagi is reluctant to go. She stays out of sight, though, watching him with wide eyes and a mouth full of takoyaki. (She's a nervous eater.)

Then, frustrated, she hisses at him. "Be careful!"

Running to the next alley over, she transforms, leaps to the roof, eyes the take out container in a moment of indecision. It's so goooooood...

With a sigh, she closes the lid and tucks it safely where bird poop and other forms of nature can't touch it before running across and leaping into the alley where she's left her sometimes stupid boyfriend.

(HE JUST GOT PUNCHED IN THE FACE AND NOW HE'S TRYING TO USE HIMSELF AS BAIT AUGH SHE CAN'T EVEN WITH HIM!)

She lands, and she masks her tumble with a crouch before she slowly stands.

"She may want you, but that doesn't mean she's gonna get you."

Because he was herrrrrs! Er, I mean, she's keeping him saaaaafe!

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi is lost in thought when suddenly there's a jerk at the back of his uniform - both a physical jerk and a personal jerk, as he looks into the face of Kyouko Sakura. Well, and also NOT Kyouko Sakura. "Takashi Agera, thank you." he says with a self-assured glare, a sneer on his face. And he looks over her outfit - but more than that, he can /feel/ in her energy, how she's changed.

"Well, I see you took my advice in a different direction. I can feel that dark energy oozing off you like sweat." he adds. "But you're being incredibly rude right now, Kyouko Sakura. If you let go of me now I might let you keep all your bones intact. It's a good deal, you should act now - Before it expires, and thus, you." he adds with a vocal near-snarl.

Axion, the device on his right hand, his primary device, is ready to spring into life.

And that's when a classmate announces his presence. Very inconvinently, Chiba is also here. And not only that, but he knows Chiba knows Madoka. He also can't help but wonder how much of that Chiba heard - but more importantly, he is aware that his tactical options just died. With Chiba around, there's a possibility his mouth just wrote a check his face will have to cash, and he knows it.

"Chiba, get out of here. I've got this." Takashi does not look like he's got this. And then... Sailor Moon?! "This does not concern you! Take the girl and LEAVE!" The force of his shouting - which is very animated - causes the charm on his left hand to clang into his palm. And it reminds him it's there.

Well, that's an option. Not as good an option, but an option. Would it be good enough to handle Kyouko Sakura, though - with that strange energy inhabiting her?

Well, he reasoned, it was still him with a device. Surely the difference wouldn't be that vast. Still, it'd be really ideal if Chiba-san would run away from this alley. So he waits. And he glares.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    *WHUMP*

    That's the sound of Apatite's clenched fist impacting Takashi's stomach just after he says, "This does not concern you, take the girl and leave."

    Supporting the white-haired kid by his collar even if her blow causes him to stagger, she glances over her shoulder to see Mamoru shouting at her, and Sailor Moon as well. "Shut up, Mamoru." Her voice rings down the alleyway, clear and calm, although her fanged smile is predatory.

    *Whump* She hits Takashi again, unless she has managed to interfere by then, but this time she'll let him drop, and turn around as if he doesn't even matter, to address the other two at the other end of the alleyway directly. Her face is as calm as her voice now, the smile having faded. "The a-hole is right about one thing. This don't concern you. So jus' turn around and walk outta here and forget you saw anything."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru does, helpfully, back away. Some. Especially with Sailor Moon in front of him. But he's clearly worried as hell. This is possibly a sign of exactly how stupid he is, to both Takashi and Apatite: they all know there's no love lost between the two boys.

"Fine--" he says, though it doesn't sound like he means it.

He reaches forward and touches Sailor Moon's arm, then curls his fingers around it and gently tugs her back, away from them. "But I'm not letting him die," he says fiercely to Kyouko. And then he looks to Moon and he asks, voice tight, "Roof?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Doesn't concern me? I owe her something." Sailor Moon points a finger at Apatite. "I owe you a punch to the jaw!"

Forget she was skewered in the gut by the red-head's spear. She punched Mamo-chan!

GRRRR!

Then Mamoru's hand is on her arm, and she sighs. "Fine."

As she scoops him up, she gives Apatite a look like 'you're lucky' and leaps for the roof.

When they land, and his dignity is restored with his feet on the ground, she socks his shoulder. "Are you crazy?" Her voice is hissed and she stomps over to the hidden takoyaki, opens it, and now has a mouthful of it.

She's also an Angry Eater.

And a 'I'm Concerned And Worried And Hiding It With Anger' eater.

Heck, food's amazing.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    *WHUMP*

You know, she hits really hard. That's his first thought, as the rising pain in his stomach almost causes him to cry out - which he doesn't - but he does require her support to not hit the ground after all that air rushes out of him. The world is a little dull, and he hears Apatite talking, but the actual words she says.

    *Whump* and the second hit comes, in the same place as the first, and he doesn't cry out this time; but that's only because he's on the ground, gasping for air. This leaves him on the ground long enough for Apatite, Mamoru, and Usagi to have their words.

But then, there's a shallow-breathed laughter that comes from his position on the concrete, but it echoes a bit through the alley. It's not quite mad scientist laughter, but it's close. "You... I'm gonna... you screwed up!" Takashi says in a jumble of anger and almost bemusement.

Those hits made the choice for him. Suddenly, a blue, triangular Belkan rune opens up on the floor under him, and he's got that charm in his left hand - and there's an explosion of white and blue light! The force of the energy pushes Apatite clear for a moment.

And during that moment, Takashi's school uniform turns into white light and vanishes, replaced with a light suit of grey armor with blue accents and an ice crystal motif, and a light blue cape flowing behind him. That charm enlarges into a massive halberd with a blade and spear tip made of what looks like ice.

It's clear that he's still reeling from that initial attack in his non-henshin form. But even still, he twirls the halberd in circles before leveling it at Apatite. "This is much more fair, isn't it? I don't know what your problem with me is, but if you need this fight, I'd like to know why." he says, feiging ignorance. After all - Frost Knight doesn't do bad things. That's the /other/ henshin.

"And you should probably tell me now while you're still conscious." Okay, so he's still working on the heroic attitude.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "I ain't gonna kill him." Apatite says to Mamoru, almost dismissively. "I just need to have a little chat with the bastard." And then Mamoru and Sailor Moon leap away to a rootop and she can refocus on the matter at hand.

    A focus which is made more urgent by the sudden blooming of magic light behind her, forcing her a few steps away as she turns around to face the suddenly-henshined Takashi. Her red eyes sweep over his armored and halberd-wielding form, and her lip curls into a smirk, showing off that single fang from the side of her mouth.

    And then she hits him again. /From behind/. While he's still looking at her in front of him.

    It's not really a blow intended to do damage, more a 'hey, look over here' rap with the haft of a spear. And assuming he does turn, he finds Apatite behind him. And if he looks back to where she was a second ago, she's no longer there anymore.

    "It ain't fair, but that's not a problem. Cause fair fights are for suckers." The butt of that spear is planted firmly on the ground, held at a slight angle out from herself, but ready to snap into action in an instant.

    "I aint lookin' to fight you. I'm looking to drive a message into that skull of yours so hard you ain't never gonna forget it."

    Her free hand is raised and levelled at him, pointing. "Leave Sayaka Miki alone. Don't talk about her, don't look at her, and don't you come within a city block of her."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi does turn to view the new source of the tapping - seeing Kyouko, his eyes narrow, and he glares back to determine that yes, the old one is gone. "You Puellas are pretty fast." he says, not getting what's happening here at all.

He listens to her talk. He internalizes everything. And he thinks very quickly. And his response, while not the safest, is the one he was most pleased with that fast.

He laughs. "I'll remember that adage about fair fights... but man." he even looks down, shaking his head, causing his bangs to sway a bit, before he looks up and at her. "I thought when we talked at the store that you were an idiot! I was wrong..." he takes the halberd in both hands "...it turns out you are a Colossal Dire Idiot." He swings the halberd, and a blast of cold wind erupts out. It's not damaging, but if this is the real Kyouko, it's liable to push her back with some very strong, and very bitterly cold, wind.

"You're the one with the thick skull. Leave Sayaka alone?" he asks, and thrusts a thumb into his armored chest emphatically. "Do you remember the feeling of that wind? I /saved/ her from the monster at the concert, you dummy! While you were flailing about! And now look at you. You want ME to leave her alone? You're more capable of eating her than protecting her. What part of our talk made you think I wanted you to go soak your head in a vat of dark energy?"

He swings his halberd in a wide circle, and a blast of ice erupts in a ring from him - in case she's trying to move around him again. "She's way safer around me than she is around you - that's been proven already." he adds, and swings for another burst of cold energy. "Besides, she's my classmate and she's a friend of a girl I'm incredibly fond of, so no. I will not. And I don't take orders from glorified youma."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"What!" hisses Mamoru, rolling with the sock to the arm and giving Moon an indignant look. "You were right there!"

But then she's angrily eating takoyaki, and he steals a piece before it's all gone and looks down in the alley-- then blinks. "Oh wow, he's got magic after all?"

He pauses, then grimaces. "Ooh, burn."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    That blast of cold wind does indeed push Apatite back slightly, or at least, it makes her long red hair flare out behind her, and the tails of her coat flap slightly as she braces herself against it. But her eyes never leave Takashi's face as he speaks, and her brows draw lower over her eyes as she listens to what he has to say.

    Those eyes seem to glow with anger, blood-red. And she bares her little fangs as she spits back, her tone simmering with barely-controlled anger, "I don't care if you think you saved her. I know a threat when I see it. I know a /scumbag/ when I see one, cause guess what, jackass, it takes one to know one."

    She pushes forward against that wind, walking against it, closer, still snarling. "And if she's gonna be protected by a good-for-nothing violent jerk, then it's gonna be /me/. Because I'm just selfish like that."

    She stops right in front of him, glaring into his face. "And... and I need her." This is said softly. "So you stay away from her. Either to hurt her, or to protect, not that I believe that for a moment. /STAY AWAY FROM HER!/"

    And with that snarled last command, she whips her spear around in a blur, using the shaft and not the point to attempt to slam Takashi again, right in his midsection, back to the wall.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"That doesn't mean you should gift wrap yourself up for people! You're too pretty to resist as it is!" The sudden red in her cheeks is from anger, promise, not because she just called him pretty. Nope!

Still, even though she didn't sock him hard, even out of henshin it would have been considered weak, she still feels bad.

So when she joins him to look down, she takes another bit of the take-out container and shoves it in his hands.

Her eyebrows rose. "Why do I like it when people talk Nerdy?"

She opens her mouth, closes it, opens it again. "You're gonna have to be the one to say when we go back in, if we do."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi is expecting to parry that point, listening to her as she talks, as she pushes against that cold wind. And that's why the shaft hits him full force, and he flies backwards into the wall. He's either really weak in this form, or she's gotten a lot tougher than he expected with the pick up of dark energy.

Could also be both, his brain adds. Even through the pain, it does what it does - analyses. And is prideful, and stubborn.

He tries to talk, but he's coughing a bit first. Still, once he does get that out of his system - and takes a somewhat disoriented step forward, balancing himself on the end of his halberd. He rsies back up to his full height and - it's the same damned sneer. "I hope you're ready to put that spear through me, then. Cause these little love taps aren't gonna do anything other than make me mad." Even now he's /talking/ like he's in the lead of this fight. It's like the boy does not know how to lose properly. Even Axion is giving him mental alarm bells - trying to urge him to activate it. But Takashi will not blow his cover here, either. It would undo the work he's done.

The Frost Knight makes a circular motion with his hand, slight-of-hand revealing a small bullet-like canister between two fingers. He throws it up into the air. "Maybe I'll just get closer to her, to make sure that she's safe from YOU." He points out the halberd, and it catches the cartridge inside a slot.

"EXPLOSION!" his Belkan device, Eiszapfen, announces.

The halberd blade spins, emits a ton of magical smoke, and the boy is standing a lot straighter - and then he's moving MUCH faster, trying to bring that halberd blade down in a wide swing across Kyouko's midsection, cape flowing behind him. "NOW BACK OFF!" he shouts.

His heart is racing a million beats a minute - he's in no shape to use a cartridge right now - but he's also unready to admit to this incredibly obvious impending defeat. His face looks pale, to anyone who can see it.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    That halberd blade whirls around as Frost Knight dashes forward, faster, stronger. And it slices right through Apatite as if she weren't there. Because she isn't.

    The haft of her spear whirls around from the side, the blunt, rounded edge aiming to smack right into the side of Takashi's head and send him reeling back again. It's so disorienting, the way she seems to be in two places at once, but never when you're actually looking. You never /see/ her in the more than one place at once, it's just like.. your mind tells you she's there. But then your mind is wrong, because she's obviously over there instead. It's a very similar effect to what Homura does, although those with discerning minds and quick eyes can catch the telltale lag, the brief overlap.

    And the way she's fighting him, at least for the moment, seems so contemptuous. So off-hand. Smacking him with the butt of her spear as if he isn't worth using the sharp end on.

    "I'm not going to kill you." She says, though her voice is tight with constrained anger. "A year ago, I might have. But there are people now who have confidence in me to be better than that."

    And then her voice comes from the other side of him, and another swing of that spear as well attempting to knock him back the other direction. "And y'know what? Hell if I know why, but I find myself wanting to live up to their expectations."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"You think I'm pretty, huh?" Mamoru says, taking the piece of takoyaki Sailor Moon shoves at him, smirking a little. He leans over her and down, and gives her a quick kiss on her temple. Distract her from Takashi's nerdy. DISTRACT. But then his voice is lower. "I don't think we'll actually need to literally go in until you end it. We've got Apatite in one place, and-- well-- I don't think either of them will be happy if we literally interrupt."

Takashi Agera has posed:
If it wasn't all so serious - and if he wasn't the subjectr of it - Takashi might have found the whole situation kind of funny. The fact that it's happening to him, though? That makes it anything but. Axion is still telling him in no uncertain terms /he's/ being the dumb one for not accessing his full power.

Rational parts of his brain arguing with his pride. Telling him to come back and deal with her later. Or find out where she lives and give her an all-expenses paid trip to a witch labrynth.

And to his brain's credit, it's still doing a lot of hard work to make sense of the world while Takashi is getting pinballed around the alley by the blunt end of Kyouko's weapon. Hell, he's still trying to make sense of why she's so fast - like Homura, but also perceptively different.

This also means he's quiet while Kyouko talks. For a little bit anyways. He's in bad shape, and still trying to stand. Stubborn. "So you want me to stay away from Sayaka Miki, over something you misunderstood, and you're making demands, but trying to stick to your code." he says, musing over it all out loud. It'd also helping him not threaten Sayaka in retalliation, which is something that he'd like to do, if only to throw her off. Even though he knows it might make her lethal.

"Come and talk to me once you get that gunk off your heart and mabe I can help you make sense of what I said, you damned idiot." he says, grunting. "For now do what you've gotta do, but I won't be threatened by anyone." He tries to put his hand out forward for an attack, and a Belkan circle comes up - but it seems to flicker, and there's no attack.

It's clearly both Apatite's strength and his weakness combined. He's visibly wobbly, now.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Her cheeks warm even more, and she's trying to smother a bright grin, but some of it's still there.

She leans into the temple kiss and hums a little. "Maybe even the prettiest." More red. It's on her ears now, and maybe even her neck.

And then her grin does grow a bit. "Also the nerdiest."

And she's not even really angry anymore (or pretending to be to cover other things) and just leans.

She hums in thought this time. "Right. So basically just...either until they're both exhausted, one's unconscious, or both." She nods.

Then she's poised, watching. "It may be sooner than we think."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    With the way things are going currently, Apatite clearly does not view Frost Knight as a threat. He hasn't even come close to landing a hit on her yet, and she's banging him about seemingly at her leisure. But this suits her just fine- she didn't come here looking for a real fight. She came here looking to make a point.

    And if that point is better made with the blunt end of her spear, then so be it. "You know what?" Suddenly she's in front of him, grabbing him by his collar or nearest equivalent, hoisting him up onto his toes so she can snarl into his face. "I really don't care what you think. I don't care about your opinions, or your view of reality." She shakes him slightly, her other hand gripping her spear. "So lemme just lay it out for you real simple like."

    "Do whatever you want. Just remember this. Remember me, and what I'm capable of."

    "And know that if you so much as harm one little blue hair on her cute little head... I will fucking kill you."

    And then she turns and throws him as hard as she can. If her aim is good and he doesn't somehow self-correct, he will slam into the brick wall just below where Mamoru and Sailor Moon are watching.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Frost Knight, or Takashi, is not really capable of resisting anymore. all he's capable of doing is talking, and even that's almost a dull murmur, a very low speech. Enough it's probably a little unclear. It does sound distinctly like "careful what you wish for" and a very deorgative and impolite term.

He's also not in any position to self correct, and he slams into the wall with very sufficent force; there's probably a crack in the wall now. Shortly after he impacts, his Knight henshin shatters, and Axion isn't allowed to take actions on its own, which leaves him in civilian form, dazed and falling over...

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
They're both watching, up there over the edge of the roof.

That's why when Kyouko hurls Takashi up at the wall toward them, Mamoru's eyes widen and his hand darts out, leaning over the edge--

--and what's suddenly a shirt and jacket are a lot easier to grab a fistful of than armor. The upperclassman's already got his stance widened and knees bent, and his other arm hooked around the lip of the rooftop, but Takashi's heavy and he doesn't have a lot of leverage. Still, there's no way he's letting the unconscious kid fall after hitting his head like that, when there's nothing below but pavement. Once the momentum's dead he can let go the edge of the roof and just brace with his knees, and then he's got two hands clutching fabric.

"Sailor Moon!" he gasps as he starts hauling aggravating Takashi up hand over hand, "NOW!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon nods and moves, landing in front of Apatite.

There's not even a warning, or a speech.

"MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"

And she holds it, as long as it takes. Others have only been possessed for a short while. Not even possessed, just...transformed.

And she is very determined to bring Kyouko back.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Apatite is just turning to look at where Frost Knight had landed, when Sailor Moon lands right in front of her. She pauses, blinking, unsure.

    Then she gets Moon Heals right in the face. What's it like being Moon Healed? Having the Dark Energy peeled from your soul like straining the leaves out of tea? She had already been herself- sort of. Sayaka's impassioned pleas had broken the brainwashing, ever imperfect, at least enough for her to remember being Kyouko Sakura. But that sense of being had been remote- she had still been Apatite.

    Now that is stripped away in a flood of lunminescence. And she screams. It's not a scream of agony, more a scream of- relief? Panic? Or maybe she just screams because she doesn't know /what/ is happening to her, what is /going/ to happen to her.

    And when she finally collapses in a heap on the alley floor, red hair pooling out around her, she only mumbles two words before passing out- "I'm sorry."

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi is being hauled up by Mamoru, and he's pretty generally unconcious. And since he's being moved up, he's not entirely in the path of the Moon Healing Activation.

But he's also not entirely clear of it either - there's a little bit of the amazing, powerful energy that reaches him, too. It's what causes him to let out a bit of a twitch and yelp of pain as Mamoru's pulling him over the edge. Some dark energy leaves him, as well - but if the action has more to do with his injuries or with the healing energy is going to be hard for anyone to determine.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Oh good. It worked.

She's tired, of course. Cleansing one's soul takes a lot out of a moon rabbit.

This time, however, she does not pass out. Progress!

She's soon on her knees, stroking a hand over Kyouko's hair. "It's okay."

And then, very gently and because she says it's owed, she lightly taps a knuckle against Kyouko's jaw. "Okay, now it's okay."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The yelp of Takashi's alarms Mamoru, but there's blessed little he can do about it: he just determinedly pulls the guy up and over the edge, sure that he can't actually hurt him any worse than falling a few storeys after getting his head smashed into a brick wall would. He lays him carefully down on the rooftop.

Then: while in the alley below, Sailor Moon fusses over (and exacts her revenge on) Kyouko, Mamoru does something he never damn well foresaw himself doing. Bare hands on the sides of Takashi's head, he pours golden energy into healing the jerk-ass middle schooler he's got so many minor-to-middling beefs with that he might as well own a hamburger joint.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi Agera is up on the rooftop, and his injuries have had him unconscious and recuperating. But Mamoru's pouring some of his limited remaining energy into healing him, and that gets his awareness to come back for just a moment.

His eyes open about halfway. "Chiba...san? I told you to leave, idiot." is all he can manage to say before his body shuts down and he goes back unconscious. His injuries are reasonably severe, especially for someoner who had an armored henshin. Some of that was due to Kyouko, and some of that was due to him being a stubborn idiot.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
HE'S an idiot? Mamoru's lips thin, and he lets go of Takashi, sitting back on his heels and henshining in a fit of pique. "Moon-chan," he calls, hauling himself up and looking down over the edge, "I'm taking this ******* to the hospital. Can you take Kyouko to the clinic?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon's eyes widen at the censored word. And then she's in a fit of giggles.

"Yes, yes, hee hee hee, of course, just..." A bit of a pause for more snorts and giggles. "Find me when you're done!"

Still giggling, she hauls Apatite to her feet, then after she steadies and regains her balance, scoops the unconscious girl up in her arms.

She leaps to the roof, giggles contained, gives Mamoru a kiss, and she's giggling again halfway through.