Takashi, by no means, forgot about the agreement of another night out on the hill should the world not end. And, given that he's able to see the stars on Saturday night, they appear to have all survived too. And that is, essentially, how he reminds her of it.
TXT Ami-Chan: Looks like the Earth and Stars are still there. Or, at least as roughly there as they were last weekend.
He grins, checking a small rectangular box for its contents for roughly the fifteenth time before storing it within his Device while waiting for a message back.
Ami's week has been somewhat surreal. She's back in school, as if nothing happened. She's back at home, as if she didn't spend more than a month living at friends' homes. And she's frequently had to go and visit Kunzite's sarcophagus, to take measurements and ensure that the restoration process is progressing as expected.
If it weren't for Makoto reminding her that White Day is a thing, Ami probably wouldn't have thought about her promise to Takashi much at all. Instead, it's been on the back of her mind for days, and she's been half-dreading this very text.
When it comes, she blushes almost immediately, and doesn't respond right away. Instead, she curls up in her bed with her phone and rereads it several times. Finally, she sighs and texts him back.
TXT Takashi-kun: That's true, everything seems to still be in order, astronomically speaking.
Takashi grins as he looks down when his phone buzzes after what feels like an eternal wait. "Finally." he muses. Something about the start of this week may have made him feel a little more impatient than before - even as he's trying to feel out what was real and what's a dream.
As much time as Ami has spent working on Kunzite, Takashi has spent... making chocolate. Making batches of chocolate has actually turned out to be more helpful than he would've expected to his other projects, because he's learned a lot about the way his energies can be used in far smaller doses.
TXT Ami-chan: So... given that, when can we meet up tonight? :) Same place, right?
Ami sighs and closes her eyes. "Damn, he remembered," she mumbles quietly, then glances up at the clock. Tonight? But it's already nearly ten, and tomorrow's a school day. But she did promise, and he really did help save the world.
"Oh alright, fine," Ami mumbles to herself. At least it's not White Day. Maybe if she meets him on the hill tonight she won't have to worry about the embarassing chocolates thing tomorrow.
TXT Takashi-kun: I suppose I did promise. But you're going to have to bring your own blanket. I'll get some food together for a late night snack and meet you there in an hour?
Takashi snickers a little. "Damn, she remembered what I said about the blanket." he says, though he goes downstairs to grab the one he threw in the dryer out. One doesn't usually bet on Ami Mizuno not knowimg, or forgetting, things.
TXT Ami-chan: You knew I wasn't gonna let you wiggle out of it after you promised. :) Okay. An hour should be good.
Takashi, naturally, is there early. He's got nothing better to do, and being tense on the blanket on the side of the hill is just as easy as being tense in his house, and the stars are prettier.
Ami is, for a change, late. Not terribly late, but fashionably so, to the point where Takashi might actually have cause to accuse her of doing it on purpose. She's put on a pair of black tights beneath a flirty blue dress with buttons down the front to her waist. She didn't bother wearing a jacket, but it is getting warmer, and they spent so much time at the north pole that perhaps she's decided the weather in Tokyo isn't so cold after all.
Most importantly, however, Ami has a backpack--not her little leather school satchel, but an honest to god backpack--slung over her shoulder. It is awfully pretty, up here on the mountainside, so far from the lights of the city, and the bluenette can't help but cast her gaze towards the sky as she makes her way up the hill.
When she draws near, Ami smiles at Takashi, offers a wave, and turns her feet towards him. "Hi," she says as she gets near enough for polite conversation. Unslinging her backpack, Ami drops it down onto the ground next to his blanket, then drops down to sit next to him on it. Maybe she forgot to bring her own?
Takashi has his phone in his hand as Ami walks up, midway through trying to figure out how to sound concerned without sounding desperate. He stuffs it away rather quickly.
"Ami-chan. Hi." he says, as she comes more into view. That Hi is rather excited, too. "It's good to see you. Good to see everything, really." he muses. "Maybe less tense than last time." Maybe more, given Ami.
He's not at all going to complain about her sitting next to him, or ask her where her blanket is. He's not dumb, just sometimes being near Ami makes him speak without thinking, which is distinctly different.
"You look great. As usual." he comments, smiling and looking at her before leaning back a bit on his hands behind him.
Ami blushes at the compliment, but she doesn't ask him to retract it. Instead, she reaches over for to her bag and unzips it. From within, she pulls out a thermos, a bento box, and--finally--a warm and fuzzy looking blanket. Wrapping herself in the blanket, Ami sets the bento and thermos between them, then pulls out two plastic cups and offers him one. "It's hot cocoa," she explains. "I figured there's no point in being cold up here, and everyone likes chocolate, so ..." she trails off, then blushes again and moves to open the thermos and pour. Some for Takashi, first, then some for herself.
Then she moves to open up the bento box, which immediately fills the air with the smell of fresh cooked rice. Within, she has prepared a lot of little rice balls, each one filled with a little bit of fruit or jelly. Not exactly the most nutritious meal, but it's better than candy, and a lot more filling.
Takashi tries really hard to see the bento and thermos between them as an offer to share, rather than a barrier Ami is putting between them - but rather quickly he decides that at least she's here, and he shouldn't be upset about minor things like that, in the grand scheme of things. They're still sharing a beautiful view, and they're very very alone.
"Thank you, Ami-chan." he says, once again neglecting the honorific as he takes the cup from her. He takes a slow drink, as the air fills with the smell. And he sits the cup down, looking over the rice balls, picking one at random, and popping it into his mouth.
"Everything's really good." he muses, then turns to look at her. "Did you make these?" he asks, smiling, inclining his head towards her a bit. Then, after a moment... he turns to look at her. "I know you made a 'promise' but I'm really happy you came tonight, and I hope that's not the only reason."
"Mmm, no," Ami says, shaking her head just faintly. "Sorry, I wish I had, but I'm not that good a cook. Mako-chan would have made them so much better. But there's a local place near my apartment that I stopped by and they made them to order for me." She shrugs, a little self-consciously, then admits, "I'm sorry to spoil that illusion, but my best cooking is done in chemistry class. I'm an okay baker, at least!"
She smiles at him, grabs one of the rice balls for herself, chomps it down, then sighs and stares off towards Tokyo. "A week ago, I thought sure I'd never get to see this again," she notes, breaking the ice on the conversation she knows they're going to have. "I was completely convinced that we were going to fail."
Takashi laughs, and shrugs a bit. "Well, it's still good." he muses. The comment about Mako-chan draws a visible reaction from him now, though, somewhere between a wince and a bristle. He rubs it off. "I'm not much of a cook either." he admits. "But you know... you did fine at breakfast, so don't sell yourself short." Because reminding her of THAT isn't going to draw any strange reactions from her.
"Yeah, I know. That's why I figured it was worth a try." he admits. "The probabilities were not at all in my favor." he muses. "Came really close to failure, too, as I understand it." Subconsciously, a hand finds his chest. Then it reaches out for a rice ball. "I'm not even entirely sure how we pulled it off. I didn't make it that far."
"Sailor Moon was wonderful," Ami says quietly, smiling a little at the memory. "And she had a lot of help. Everyone sent their support to her, and with that and the Silver Crystal she was able to defeat Beryl and Metallia for good."
Ami grins a little, then leans towards Takashi and nudges him with her shoulder. "Tolja we can always defeat the Dark Energy," she points out mock-haughtily, before leaning away to dig into her backpack again. "Mamoru told me what happened," Ami says quietly. "It was very noble of you. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help," she says, "but Beryl seemed particularly worried about me. I wound up separated from everyone and quite alone for most of the experience."
Takashi looks down. "I still hear it came down pretty close. That worries me, because... everyone is celebrating now. I'm not. Because she's not the only thing like that out there." he says, a bit quietly. "That's why... I have to be a lot stronger than I was then."
When Ami brings up the bit with Mamoru, Takashi gets more defensive than usual. "I just miscalculated. Should've been able to hold off both. Moment of weakness, nearly cost me a lot." he half-says, half-grumbles.
"I should've stayed closer to you." he says, adamantly. "I was mostly there because of you, and I let you get isolated." he says, clearly upset about hearing that. "And then maybe I wouldn't have been ablative armor for a je... for Mamoru." he says, remembering who he's with.
"It was close," Ami agrees quietly, "but I think that's largely down to inexperience, ineficient strategies, and a villiain who had a lot longer to plan than we did. There will be a next time," she agrees, "but we'll be better prepared for it. But honestly," she notes, "I'm glad you didn't stay with me. If you hadn't saved Mamoru, he wouldn't have been there to bolster Sailor Moon, and if he hadn't bolstered Sailor Moon, we may not have succeeded. So indirectly," Ami notes with a grin, "You kinda personally saved the world."
"I still don't like it." he says, flatly. "That we were put into that position with such a low chance." he adds, before drinking a little more cocoa. He nods with Ami says that there will be a next time. "Maybe next time I won't come in on the tail end with limited information." he teases.
And then Ami says that he, albeit indirectly, saved the world. By saving Mamoru. He does not spit out to cocoa, but he does have to gulp it down. It takes him a moment to center that. This also, he knows, actually makes twice he's done that - but he can't tell her about the other one. There's an odd moment of silence, and he looks over to her.
"So... does that count when it comes to you waiting to see 'what I manage to earn'?" he asks, with a grin big enough it looks like it might escape off of the sides of his face. "I mean that's pretty much saving Earth and all the stars, right?"
Ami pulls a blanket from her backpack and wraps it around her shoulders, then offers a loose end towards Takashi. It's plenty big enough to warm them both. "Mmmm," she says with a shrug, "I suppose it does, but then Makoto told me you were kinda creepy at her," she points out. "I told her it was probably the dark energy manipuylating you again, but I really need you to be nicer to my friends. They're really important to me," she says. "And if you want to keep dating me, you have to convince them it's okay, too. Mako-chan's nervous, now. That's not okay."
Takashi makes a noise that sounds like some sort of wounded reptile at the bit about being creepy at Makoto. "She pressed my buttons!" he begins to protest, but then, quickly, he looks down. "But yeah, I probably went overboard at her. I don't think she was honestly trying to get at me, and I just kept escalating." he admits. "I should probably apologize to her for some of the things I said."
He moves a little closer in the blanket. "I'll try harder. I don't really have any friends that don't understand where I'm coming from on things like that, though. I guess there's a reason why?"
"We really didn't see eye to eye on things like you and I do. I don't understand how you do that. Make real friends with people so different from you. Because she doesn't seem anything like you." he says. He doesn't say it with any malice or hostility.
"You'd be surprised how similar we are," Ami says with a faint smile. "The thing is, Makoto and I are friends because of Usagi-chan, and Usagi-chan and I are friends because of who Usagi-chan is. But ... even after that, Makoto-chan and I stayed friends because of who she is.
"She's so loving, caring, giving, sharing," Ami says. "She cares for me and who I am, and she needs my help, and I need her friendship. So ..." she trails off, then blushes, knowing that Makoto is listening to all of this. "It's hard to explain," Ami finally says. "So please do your best to be her friend, too. Or at least to get along with her."
Takashi puts a hand behind his head for a minute. "I don't see it, but maybe I'm blind to it." he admits. "I see a lot of those things in you, but maybe I haven't had time to see them in Makoto. Her worldview's different than mine, though, by a lot. But I'll try to get along with her, for you. I already said I intend to apologize."
"But the more people I meet and get to know..." he comments, and turns to face her directly. "The more I realize how important you are to me. Because there's nobody I've met that's anything AT ALL like you. I was worried I wouldn't get to tell you that..." he admits. "But really, it's true. Nobody matters to me like you do."
Ami turns, eyes widening. For several moments, she has no response at all. Then she blushes and looks away. "Well," Ami says quietly, and still manages to fail at words. She reaches down into the bento and pulls forth another riceball, then shoves it in her mouth so she doesn't have to figure out words.
She chews for several moments, swallows hard, then ducks her head a little. "Thank you," she says to him quietly. "I don't really know what to say to that."
Takashi shrugs a bit and turns away. "You don't have to say anything to it." he says, with a smile. "It's not a question that requires an answer, it's not a problem that requires a solution." he notes. "It's a point of data, albeit an important one." he continues. "And one I realized how important it was that you know after the whole like... stabbed thing."
Ami continues to remain silent for a moment, with no words to offer him. She stares down at the ground, then smiles at last and looks up to the stars. "Well," she says quietly, "I'm glad you found someone to be important for you. But I hope you won't be upset if I say that I'm still really uncertain about all of this. I don't ... want things to get too serious too fast, okay? But I'm still really glad to e here with you, tonight."
"You know, you don't have to talk about the person who's important to me as though it isn't you." he says, half-teasing, half a little sour hearted. Then he turns to look up at the sky. "Look, take all of the time you need. I'm sure there will be another apocalypse you can kiss me during sooner or later, anyways." he says, smirking.
"I'm glad to be here too, though. With you. Also you know... I rather like this universe, I'm very fond of it. I'm glad it's still here, too."
Ami freezes up, except for her hands, which begin rapidly scratching at her arms. "O-oh you remember that," she mumbles quietly, as she continues to scratch at her arms. "I uh ... m-maybe we'll see what happens. That was ... I just ... I didn't want to die without knowing what it was like to kiss someone. S... so um. Sorry. For being so forward, I mean."
"Of course I remember that." Takashi says, "SADLY, beautiful genius girls do not kiss me on a daily basis, so it's something of a noteworthy event."
"Don't apologize to me." he says with a smile. "Really. The only person who seems to be having a nervous breakdown about it is you. I was fine with it. And am. The only person concerned with being forward is sitting next to me in this blanket."
"That being said, I have to warn you, that was not a particularly... defenitive example of a kiss. For one thing, you surprised the hell out of me. Still good though. But if it's ever not too forward for you, you should really repeat that experiment so you can verify your results. But I'm also not going to push you. I'm just going to hang around and be here, you know, in case." he says with a wink.
Ami's blush only grows all the more bright, until she's practically out shining (and out-radiating) the stars themself. She scratches her arms even more, and then buries her face on her knees. "Oh god, so embarassing," she whines quietly to herself.
Takashi tries really hard, and succeeds, at not laughing at Ami's reaction. Unfortunantly, he immediately trips that up by leaning over a bit. "I am afraid, given your usual reactions, I am unlikely to be about to make things any less embarrassing for you." he says, and he's tapping on her shoulder with a box. There is something rattling in the little rectangular white box. "But at least it's just us up here, so there's nobody around to see the fact that your blushing enough that your dress looks purple. It's also 12:03. Happy White Day." he says, with a near-whispered degree of fanfare.
Ami startles when he taps her on the shoulder with the box, then turns to regard them. "I am not making it purple," she whines, though she does reach up to accept the box. "I'm just ... nervous. This is all new to me and it's already going so fast and you really didn't need to get me chocolates for White Day or .." she trails off, then takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.
For a long moment, Ami doesn't move. She doesn't speak, she doesn't twitch. She just holds the box, and her breath, and the red slowly drains from her face. Finally, she murmurs, "Thank you, though. It was really sweet of you, especially that you went to Mako-chan to try and get help. I know it didn't work how you expected, but it was very thoughtful." Setting the box down, Ami opens them up and takes out the first chocolate that she finds.
She squeezes it, sniffs it, then puts it in her mouth. For a moment, Ami savors the chocolate. And then she begins to blush again and looks away from Takashi. Eventually she swallows and admits, "It's not quite as good as Mako-chan's. But it's really tasty. Thank you. I'll enjoy them."
Takashi looks at her when she says he didn't need to get her chocolates, to which he responds. "And you didn't need to get me chocolates either, especially given the circumstances, but you did. Considering all that happened between then and now, yes, I had to get you chocolates back. Plus, I told you I was going to, dramatic speech and all."
Takashi is actually pretty sufficently dejected by her comment that they're 'not as good as Mako-chan's' - it shows in his face and he looks more than a little crestfallen. "Yeah, I told her that sort of thing matters." he mumbles grumpily. "That's what I meant. There are objective measures for this sort of thing." Takashi really REALLY does not like coming in second, even if the playing field is anything but level. And for a moment more, he doesn't actually SAY anything. Because he's not sure what to say, in response to that. He mumbles out a 'you're welcome', eventually.
Ami turns and sits on her knees, glaring at Takashi for a moment. Then, suddenly, she reaches up and cuffs him atop the head. "That is not true," she notes to him. "And I am disappointed in you for being so unscientific. Feelings, tastes, and emotions are never scientific or objective. If they were, the scientific process would be completely worthless, because opinions like that are entirely the opposite of objective. That your chocolates are not as good as Makoto's is subjective, and only my personal opinion. Moreover," she notes, "it is largely because I'm not embarassed to receive chocolates from Makoto!"
Takashi reaches up and rubs his head where she whacked him. It's more out of surprise than real injury or pain. "Well sure, if I was going to give chocolates to a bunch of people, then they would all have their opinions, and that would be useless. But I'm only interested in one person's opinion." he says, reaching out and pushing a finger against Ami's shoulder. "And I don't want a scientific opinion. I want yours."
Then, after a moment, he tilts his head, and looks at her, and asks, completly and utterly honestly. "...why is it embarassing?"
Ami rocks back at the push, then blushes again and turns her head to the side. "Because you're a boy," Ami tells him quietly. "Because you're acting like you're my boyfriend. Because I don't know how to date someone, or how to be dated by someone or ..." she trails off. "I just feel so completely out of my element. It's like trying to find a common mathematics to solve the theory of everything without understanding probability or determinism."
"Well, you're certainly not going to get any more in your element by shutting the book and walking off." he says, looking at her over the tops of his glasses, perhaps a bit more firmly than he intends, before returning his gaze to the sky, perhaps to Ami's great relief. And he crosses his arms.
"I'm reasonably sure I can't nominate myself your boyfriend without your consent, nor can I force you to show up to pizza parlors or hilltops unless you want to, on some level." he says. "So... should I just like... stop doing that?" he asks, and then just flat out falls backwards with a thud, looking up at the stars still, but talking to her.
"Does it bother you that much to have someone showing interest in you? I don't really know what I'm doing, either - not when it comes to you. I don't know what you want. I'm trying really hard to figure out, to move at your speed, though. Should I not?"
Ami blinks in surprise as Takashi falls backwards onto his back. She stares at him confusedly for several moments, uncertain of what to say or do. She sighs, so out of her depth, and sits back, huddling back into her blanket as she watches him without a word for several moments.
Eventually, Ami follows his gaze towards the stars and sighs. "It's not that," she says softly. "I've been enjoying this, for the most part. I just don't ... like feeling so completely overwhelmed all the time. I don't like feeling like I'm a complete idiot. And that's exactly how I feel."
Takashi lays rather still on the ground looking up at all of those stars, not turning to look at Ami until she responds, after what seems like a long time. "Well... I'm trying to figure out how to not make you feel that way, without like... also giving up or walking away." he says, quietly. "I mean. I really don't want to overwhelm you. But... It seems like just being near you or pointing things out overwhelms you sometimes."
"So I don't know what to do or say. All I know is... I feel like I have to try. I feel it really strongly. So I'm going to do that, unless you tell me not to."
Ami sighs and hangs her head. "I know I'm difficult," she tells him quietly. "I'm sorry. If you don't want to pursue this, with as difficult as I am, I will understand. I don't know how to make this any easier." She looks up at Takashi again, then admits, "I'm not going to get any easier. I'm a mess," she explains, "but I don't want to stop trying. Not yet, anyways."
Takashi sighs, loudly, and suddenly sits up, and shakes his head, again. "It's okay, Ami-chan. I like difficult puzzles, remember? That doesn't stop them from being frustrating at times. But it doesn't mean I can't figure them out, eventually." he adds with a much smaller than usual, but perhaps more honest smile.
"I just told you, I have to try. I'd never be satisfied with myself if I didn't." he admits. "So if neither of us want to stop trying yet, then I'm not gonna worry right now." he says, as he demeanor slowly changes back. "And Ami-chan, you should know that no matter how difficult you are, I'm sure you're worth it."
The noise Ami makes is a distinct 'squeak'. She drags her blanket up over her head and hides beneath it, blushing furiously. "Oh god, no no no, I am not worth that," she whines quietly. But the chocolates are in there with her, and she takes a second one to nibble on. Because honestly, if her mouth is full she can't shove her foot in it.
"Now see, here we have an actual case of subjectivity, because while you might not believe that, I do." he says, scooting over closer to her after she all-but-literally buries her head in the sand. "And I'm not gonna stop until I prove it to you, too. I don't know why you can't see how amazing you are, but I can."
Ami blushes again as she chews on the chocolate, then swallows it. She slowly allows herself to come back out of the blanket, then smiles at Takashi weakly before, very suddenly, she leans forward to put her head on his chest. "Can we stop talking about this?" she begs him quietly. "I just want to stare at the stars and enjoy your company. Or at least talk about astronomical equations. Physics. Anything but this."
When her head hits his chest, he blinks, and carefully, almost like she might become a snake and bite him, rests one of his hands against her shoulder. "That's also fine with me." he says, nodding, smiling a small bit again.
"You know I had this small fear you were going to call me on the technicality that I didn't know all the stars that we can see and were there last week were still there this week, because of the fact that it takes light so long to reach us from there, and statistically speaking, it's almost a guarantee some of them went supernova in the intervening time but we won't be around long enough to know..."