Swim Meet

School is out of session, but that doesn't quite mean the swim season is over. For Seishou Public, their girl's middleschool swim team has one last meet against a school from across town: Seiyou Public. This meet isn't for any grand or prestigious titles. No one's going to earn a major trophy or win any serious rewards. The only thing on the line are the medals for today's meet. Nevertheless, every girl here is excited and eager to do their best.

Among the collection of middle-schoolers is a blue haired introvert named Ami Mizuno. The nominally quiet 'smartest girl at Seishou' is actually swimming in the next event. Like all the girls from Seishou, she's stripped down to just a one-piece bathingsuit: dark blue with golden piping. The bluenette has a damp towel around her shoulders, and she's busy pacing back and forth near the starting blocks, working her arms back and forth and focusing on her breathing. She doesn't seem to be looking anywhere as she gets ready for her final swim of the day.

This will be her second: earlier, she swam the two hundred meter butterfly, and won the event! This one is the much harder one hundred meter butterfly. It's the same stroke, but with half the distance, the initial burst of speed is so much more important.

"Swimmers, take your marks," calls the judge over his loudspeaker.

Ami glances up to the crowd uncertainly, then, as if searching for familiar faces in the crowd. But there's no time to find whomever she's seeking, before she has to step up onto the block and bring her goggles down over her eyes.

Kukai Souma is up in the stands for the day, hands behind his head, looking back and forth at the crowd and the assembling swimmers. It'd been a while since he had actually had a chance to go watch a sporting event, and this might be one of the last ones of the school year, so hey, he's here, cheering on the Seiyou Public team.

It's nice to see a good, friendly competition between the schools, even if Kukai isn't involved directly. It does the morale of the Seiyou girls good to have Sportsball-Kun in the stands leading his school in a cheer for them. Win or lose at the swim meet, the Seishou Public support squad has met their match!

The cheer squad goes quiet as the swimmers move up onto the blocks, waiting for the judges to begin the race.

Amongst the crowd is a boy who goes to neither Seiyou or Seishou - he's not here for the school pride (and in fact, isn't even in a school uniform) but because he was invited specifically by one particular blue-haired introvert.

For a middle-school swim meet the event is somewhat packed, but Takashi also got here somewhat early - and it's entirely possible she's missing seeing who she's looking for because he's settled in a good spot, amongst a throng of Seiyou students.

Without his own school pride on the line, he's been disinterested in most of the events, though the Seiyou students not have appreciated the degree of cheering he gave when the blue-haired girl won the two hundred meter handily out from under Seiyou's choice.

"Set," calls the judge, and then he pulls the trigger on the little popgun that signals the start of the race. Ami leaps from her podium elegantly and into the water, then pours her all into the competition. The other five girls in the pool all swim just as hard, and it's a close match.

The thing about the one hundred is, it's over fast. One trip down and back, and that's the end of the race! When Ami hits the wall, she's already in first place. But on the turn, she fumbles just a bit, and doesn't quite get the strongest push off. A girl from Seiyou pulls ahead, and Ami has to struggle to try and catch back up. The other four girls are all left way behind by these two as they race their way towards the pool. When their hands touch the concrete wall, it's so close that some people in the crowd aren't quite sure who's won!

"Congratulations to Houjo Arimaki of Seiyou Middle School!" comes the call. Ami got second place by less than a quarter of a second.

Unhappy with herself, the Bluenette swims towards the ladder and climbs out, then tears off her goggles angrily and stalks towards her coach. "I can't believe I messed that up," she tells him as he hands her a towel.

"Hey, Ami-chan, you did okay," her coach tries to console her, but Ami just waves a hand and stalks away, grumpy as she makes her way towards the Seiyou crowd. Arimaki headed t here, too, and is hugging her friends without even bothering to dry off. Two girls and a boy have all been half-soaked by Arimaki's excitement, but then she spots Kukai and her eyes light up. "Souma-kun!" she calls to him excitedly. "I won, I won!"

Ami just watches unhappily.

Kukai Souma is on his feet cheering again as soon as the gun goes off, and so is almost every other person around the swimming pool! The movement is so fast and fluid that Kukai has trouble keeping up with it at this distance, but he yells his heart out for the Seiyou girls, and then when the race is over begins descending to join the rest of the well-wishers. When they hear that Houjo won, there is a great erupting cheer from the Seiyou side!

Daichi is doing a victory dance in midair over Kukai's shoulder, invisible to almost everyone else in the room, as Kukai laughs and ends up the second boy partially dampened by Houjo's enthusiasm. "You did great! Congratulations on your win! We're all so proud of you!"

He grins, then looks over at Ami and the others. "Be generous and gracious in victory, Houjo. Go make nice with the other competitors." He pats her on the shoulder, then turns her around, pointing her at Ami and the other Seishou swimmers, then watches as she goes over, bowing and thanking them for the race and being a good sport, spending a moment to pat the other not-first-or-second swimmers from Seiyou on the back as well - in short, being the Guardian of the Good Mood.

There are two particularly unhappy people about this result - Ami Mizuno, and Takashi Agera. Because from Takashi's vantage point, it sure seems like Ami should've won. Logically, he would be smart enough to know that there's more to it than just how it looks from here. But...

Instead, Takashi turns to the nearest person - a Seiyou student, by virtue of where he's sitting - and lets loose his frustration on that unsuspecting soul.

"What a load of crap." he snarls. "The judges must be biased. I bet one of them has a kid in that other girl's school. It's obvious who won." he says, standing up. He has just enough sense to not make a direct scene. At least, not yet.

Kukai might be the Guardian of the Good Mood, but Takashi is something else. He's actually visibly frustrated as he moves past the Seiyou group, and gives someone between him and the unhappy bluenette a rather forceful shove. "Move." he snaps at Kukai as he's on his way over to Ami.

Of course, not knowing what happened, he's over to her. "That was bullshit. You won." he says, the closer he gets to Ami's unhappy mood almost feeding his own lack of pleasantness, though it's not directed at /her/.

Arimaki blushes at Kukai's instruction, but nods. "Yes, yes, you're right, Souma-senpai," she says to him, then turns to try and do as she's been reminded. Except Takashi practically shoves her aside. "Uwah!" she exclaims, surprised at the move. "Oh my gosh, rude," she yells at him, then stalks after Takashi and taps him on the shoulder. "Hey! You're being super rude to the victor," she says. "Hello!"

Ami is actually legitimately surprised by Takashi's boldness, and she blushes a little, realizing that by addressing her in such a direct and informal manner, he's drawn attention not only to her failure to win, but also to her association with himself. "Takashi-kun," she mumbles quietly, then grimaces when Arimaki stalks up behind him and starts ranting.

"Shut up," she tells Takashi gently, grabs his hand, and pulls him behind her. She then steps forward and bows to Arimaki. "Good job," she says. "You swam very well. Next year, I will train very hard so that I will make it harder for you," she promises.

Arimaki glares over Ami's shoulder for a moment at Takashi, before returning the bow to Ami and smiling. "You swam very well as well! I will have to train even harder in order to win next year as well!"

It's hard for Kukai not to notice the white haired boy joining Ami and nearly dumping Arimaki back into the pool. He grins at the rest of the group, doing his best to disarm their concerns, and goes around to join Arimaki on the other side of the pool. "Houjo-san, is everything OK over here?" He looks at Ami and can't help but give her the full-powered Jack's Grin, that confident, slightly cocky, faintly charming, and incredibly cheerful smile. "Mizuno-san, right? Wow, you did really well! I may have to help Houjo-san train in order for her to be ready for you next year!"

Daichi has followed Kukai over and is sitting on his shoulder, looking back and forth at the group of teenagers, still with a happy grin on his face - they won!

Takashi almost looks chastised by Ami - almost - as she uses the honorific and then tells him to shut up. But Arimaki is glaring at him, and snapping at him. Between everything that's going on, Takashi starts to say or do something a few times, only to be distracted away or interupted, giving him the very unfamiliar feeling of being entirely flustered.

Takashi notices Daichi, but doesn't actually have enough experience with Guardian Characters to make the full connection (he's not on great terms with the Easter side of Eclipse in general.) but he does make the note. Still, that grin - combined with the way Arimaki is acting, and the general status of his brain - doesn't bode well.

"Hey, do you just go poking your nose into things that don't involve you and grinning like a moron all of the time, or is this a special occasion for you?" he asks, and then, perhaps worst, begins projecting. "Yeah, I'm sure you'd like to help her train."

Arimaki's friends all drag her off, though she does call, "Thank you, Souma-senpai!" as she's pulled away to her victory. Ami straightens and watches her go, then sighs and wraps herself in her towel. "Kukai Souma-san, right?" she asks him, addressing Kukai by name. Becauase she knows Daichi. It's cheating. But she's allowed to cheat a little.

The bluenette moves so that she's standing between Takashi and Kukai. Not quite directly between, but able to see htem both whilest still preventing them getting too close without invading her personal space.

"Takashi-kun," she says, gritting her teeth a little. "I thought I told you to shut up. You're embarassing me!" she accuses him, then she turns to Kukai and bows for him, as well. "Please forgive my--" oh crap what is she supposed to call him? "--chess partner, Takashi Agera-san. He did not get much sleep, and is very passionate about me winning." She's so bad at lying.

Kukai Souma blinks, then grins at Ami as she knows his name! "Yup, that's me! Hey, I'm getting famous! I'd expect you to know the competition, but me? I'm flattered!" He doesn't notice her seeing Daichi, but watches her move as she gets between him and Takashi - probably for the best, anyway, the guy has a mouth on him - and shifts back just a bit, giving her room to move in.

He does lean in just a bit as she fusses at Takashi, then smiles, ignoring him entirely as he talks to Ami. "It's ok. He looks like he's got his own problems to deal with." He is pretty sure it's less chess, more partner, but even so can't just turn it off, a flash of green in his eyes. "Do you beat him a lot, too? I'd offer to play a game, but I am in fact usually busy training, and I never got much good at chess."

Takashi actually finally finds some sort of shred of empathy, or at least an understanding of when he's crossed a line. When she calls him out as a 'chess partner' and requests forgiveness on his behalf, he quiets down, at least for a moment. And when she mentions that he didn't get much sleep - primarily he's perplexed at how she'd know how much sleep he's getting! - and secondarily it causes him to subconsciously rub one hand with the other, fingers tracing still visible scars on his hand.

That doesn't mean, of course, that he's lost all of his attitude, much less his vicarious pride. "She's -very good- at chess." he says, albeit with the attitude that sounds like he's asking him to go throw himself in an acid vat. The glare in his own green eyes probably makes it clear one of his problems is Kukai.

Ami straightens and smiles at Kukai, then glances towards Takashi. "Well, he is getting much better," she says, deferring the question of whether she beats Takashi. "And he challenges me with interesting strategies I hadn't considered before."

She hesitates a moment, dwelling in thought on the matter as she slowly leans back towards Takashi. Subconsciously, Ami searches for warmth now that the chilly spring air is starting to affect her. Especially in a wet bathing suit.

"Anyways," Ami mumbles, "Takashi-kun means well," she explains. "He just ... isn't very empathetic. Isn't that right, Takashi-kun?" she asks.

Kukai Souma lets out a small whistle, grinning. "I'd probably not be nearly as much of a challenge as he is, but I bet if you taught me, I'd pick it up fast!" He grins at Ami, scratching the back of his head.

He watches her move back towards Takashi a little more, then nods. "It's ok. It's a hard skill to develop, and I know not everybody has it. It's all right, really." He looks at Takashi and bows his head, smiling. "Maybe we can play a game together sometime? I'd appreciate the challenge, and my teachers always tell me I should think more logically."

Takashi takes the deflection as a compliment, or at least, a positive notification, and rolls onward with it, and nods a bit - and Ami's leaning towards him, which he doesn't resist, water or not.

He looks down at her a bit, and mumbles back. "Sure, that's right." he says, "empathy isn't my strong suit."

As a further point to that, he glares at Kukai. "Don't you have a swimmer to help train?" he asks, and subconsciously moves closer to Ami, possibly closing the last of the distance between them. Then he looks at him. "You and I, perhaps, can have a game sometime..." he says with all the subtlety of a lion sneaking up on a wounded gazelle across an open savannah.

Ami alooks between the two boys, then begins to blush furiously when she realises she's actually leaning into Takashi. So near, and she's getting him all wet, and he's so warm and that just makes her blush more. "A-a-anyways!" she says, voice literally squeaking as she suddenly leans away from him, "I should go get changed. Takashi-kun, will you wait for me?" she asks, as she starts to head towards the lockers.

Kukai Souma sees that lean but pretends not to, looking back towards Arimaki and her friends - who've vanished from sight by now. Oh well. He turns back as Ami makes to leave and nods to her as well, smiling. "It was very nice to meet you, Mizuno-san! Maybe I'll see you again sometime!"

He looks back to Takashi as she leaves. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I've got some friends to go congratulate." Daichi can't help himself - he sticks his tongue out at Takashi as Kukai turns to leave as well, since he's pretty sure that if he stays they're going to end up in a fight or in the pool one.

Takashi actually doesn't press the issue with Ami, and his eyes only wander down to sort out the fact that he's now less dry than he was a moment ago after she's gone away. He cannot help but smile at the squeak, though - and he nods. "I'll be right here." he says, smiling and watching her leave. He turns back to Kukai just in time to catch you him excusing himself and then Daichi.

Takashi speaks up, with Ami out of earshot. "You should tell your little floating friend it's dangerous to assume people can't see him." he says. It's not hostile in tone, though it might be in words. "If he upsets the wrong person he might end up pinned in a display case like a butterfly." he continues, all but warning he's the wrong person.

Kukai Souma stops as Takashi catches up with him, and is immediately arrested by the end of the first sentence. He looks back at Takashi with fire in those emerald green eyes. "You know, nobody's ever threatened Daichi before. Not even the youma I've fought." His voice has gone strangely flat, and Daichi is peering down at Takashi from the top of Kukai's head with a righteously angry look. "And so far he's never done anything to upset anybody. Me, on the other hand?" Kukai looks into Takashi's eyes for a long moment, that fire threatening to suddenly rage out of control. "Well. I don't like to start fights. But I've finished all but one I've ever gotten into."

He looks Takashi up and down for a moment - skinny frame, glasses, classic nerdy look, and grins. "Besides, I'd break you like a twig. It wouldn't even be a challenge. But I'll remember you." He turns again, heading for the door once more, putting his back squarely to Takashi even as Daichi sticks his tongue out at him again.

"Well, if you think either of those things, you must not pay very close attention - he's got a very rude attitude, this Daichi of yours." Takashi says, leaning back on his heels a bit. "And since he's yours, you hopefully understand a little bit more about the world around us than most people do." he adds, looking him up and down.

"Things aren't always what they appear, friend." Takashi says, speaking the word friend as harshly as possible, the word dripping with venom. "So if you want to press your luck, I will be happy to give you an education like you apparently sorely need..." Takashi says, taking his glasses off.

"But I warn you, you'll find a forest where you see a twig. Otherwise, get out of here and stay away from me and her."

Kukai Souma can't help himself. He stops, turning back towards Takashi, glad that the area around the pool has cleared out of everyone besides just the two of them. He isn't up to pointing fingers just yet, but those eyes, man, they're going from fire to lightning. "Hey, he's only got a rude attitude to people who threaten to pin his wings back! We get along great with everyone else we've ever met, up to and including most of the cursed and youma we fight that stop to talk!"

He crosses his arms, pulling himself up straight. "It's pretty obvious there's two things about you. Nobody who had friends would use that word so violently. And if I want to talk to Mizuno-san, I will - if she wants to talk to me, I'm not running away from her." Then his hands twitch, ever so slightly. "And I'm a fan of pressing my luck. I've been doing it a long time and getting away with it. How about you? You got luck to spare, snowcap?"

He's far enough away to where if Takashi lets it drop he'll still walk away, but if they start moving towards one another again it'll end up at a run.

"Yeah, because he totally elected to make the face at me before I warned him about making faces at me." Takashi says, sharply. "Do you even listen to yourself when you talk, or do you just let it all flow out like some sort of autonomous response, like a cough?" he asks, setting his glasses down on a nearby chair and folding his arms, too.

"See? This is what I get for being nice. Advising people when they're going down dangerous roads. Trying to keep them out of trouble." he sneers. "Because most people are dumb." he adds, as an afterthought, and he's considering just how much to let loose, here, because the idea that 'zero is the correct answer' hasn't entered his mind.

"I don't believe in luck. I believe in probability. Statistics. Science. And your chances of this going your way? They don't look real good."

Kukai Souma just shakes his head and laughs. He can't keep it in anymore. "Yeah, and he was the one who started making snide comments and threats first. I'm sure this is all our fault." He rolls his eyes and watches Twig-san put his glasses to one side, still not impressed. "No wonder you don't have any friends, if you think you're the smartest person in the world."

His better nature gets ahold of him finally, because when the white-haired teen runs at him he doesn't actually want to hurt him by accident. He can't resist one last line though. "See that's your problem - your probabilities and science don't add in the desire of the human heart to keep striving. I'm pretty sure about the odds of it going my way, so I'm..."

He stops, the green in his eyes flashing one more time. "... You know what? I just realized something. I am Kukai friggin' Souma, and I have never turned away from a challenge in my life. So if you want to do this, you make a real pact with yourself not to cry about the outcome. And lemme tell ya one last bit of heart's truth." Kukai's eyes lock onto Takashi. "She's gonna find a better man than you."

Takashi doesn't respond to having or not having friends. In the way, it's a pointed attack with a truth he can't fight - he doesn't have friends. He has Ami, who is much more to him than a friend - and coworkers, allies, kohais. "I never said I was. You're the one making assumptions about who you're in front of, though." Of course, he does think he is, but he's being pedantic. "Besides, I'm definantly in a higher percentile than you on that scale."

"Tch. Even magic has limits, you know. You're always operating within limits. Measurable scales. Your talk is good for fairytales, but it doesn't add up here in the real world." Takashi says. And he's almost about to write off the smirking, far-too-genki kid opposite him with that.

And then he makes two cardinal mistakes, if he didn't want this to erupt into a fight. Secondarily, he attacked Takashi's relationship with Ami. Primarily, he attacked Takashi's position at the top of his own mental totem pole.

It's only in a small way, in a measured way at first, that Takashi stops trying to pretend to be something he's not. Stops pretending to be normal like his body has the same limitations as a pure human's does. Like his muscle mass is directly related to his strength or speed. But just letting that part of him out, unchaining it, probably causes a prickling at the back of Kukai's head - or at least Daichi's - like an X-egg in the distance. "You don't deserve to talk about her, much less to her." he says as he starts to move in.

And it gets louder as he steps closer. It's not a run, but it's distinctly wrong, like his walking strides are out of touch with reality by just a few moments, and then he's there, and he's swinging at Kukai's stomach, and he's making up for actual muscle by cheating, with wispy strands of darkness licking at the air as he goes for a gutpunch.

Kukai Souma doesn't mind the crack at his intelligence - he's ok with not being the smartest in school. He's even ok with Takashi being smarter than him. He's pretty sure that crack about magic, something naturally outside the realm of human understanding, having a limit that humans can understand, is bull anyway.

But then there's that prickling at the back of Kukai's neck, that inherent sense of wrong, even before Takashi spits out his last words, that warns Kukai what's about to happen.

He sees Takashi running - no, blinking? Phasing? - towards him, and raises a knee, sliding to one side as he lunges. The hit doesn't land directly, but the two of them are recovering for a moment. Kukai reaches up. "Daichi! Chara Change!" There is a flash of light, and a headband appears in his hair, dark green, with a bright yellow star along the side, as Daichi grants Kukai a share of his power. "I knew there was something wrong with you..."

Takashi rolls with the knee, though it connects in a way it wouldn't if he was in either henshin, and so he's recovering too, long enough for Kukai to character-change. And Takashi is still incredibly mad. He can feel it boiling inside him like a pot of water about to overtake the sides of its container.

"There's nothing wrong with me." he sneers, though the energy that he's letting out might just indicate otherwise. He's got a dangerous look in his eyes, too. "Didn't I warn you? Multiple times?" Takashi asks, as angry at himself for letting 'himself' out as he is at Kukai, at least, but what's done is done.

"But you just kept escalating, kept pushing my buttons, and now I'm going to show you what happens when you do." Takashi adds, and then he's coming in again, though this time more wary than he was when Kukai transformed, still relying on the advantage that the dark energy that courses through his body gives him - though it is a notable one.

He's keeping a hold on himself from going any further than he already has, and somewhere in the back of his mind he's twisted the situation such that the best thing for everyone would be if he could knock this smug guy out before he 'reacts' further. "You're going out of your way to upset me, well, good job!"

When Ami Mizuno went to change, she had expected Takashi to sulk away from the boy who was irritating him. She'd expected him to just wait for her, peacefully, and without causing a scene. She did not expect to emerge again and find the two in such close physical proximity, with one clearly assaulting the other.

That it's Takashi attacking Kukai--if one was attacking the other--doesn't surprise her. Sailor Mercury knows Kukai Souma's profile rather well, as a prominent member of Virtue.

That Takashi is using his darkness in this fight, however, does surprise her.

There are two problems with this situation. The first is that they shouldn't be fighting in the first place! But the second--and more important--problem is that they are fighting in plain view of any stragglers who may happen to glance back at this place!

When Ami went to change, she'd meant intro clothes more suited for walking around. She emerged in a pair of shorts and a teeshirt! She definitely didn't mean, "Mercury Star Power, Make Up!"

Sure, Kukai's going to notice the silhouette of the girl behind all that swirling water. But hopefully he didn't see Ami in her street clothes for that brief moment it took her to figure out what's going on. The swirling water begins to contract around the silhouetted figure, becoming a pretty white leotard that clings stylishly to her figure. Then, it flares outward into a blue skirt, and a massive light blue bow on her back. Another bow affixes to her chest, along witht he seifuku's wide collar. As she turns towards them, the symbol of Mercury forms on her forehead, then transforms into the blue-gemmed Tiara.

Transformation complete, Sailor Mercury rushes towards the pair and intones, "Mercury Aqua Mist!"

There. That takes care of any onlookers! Seishou Public is suddenly ungulfed in a fog thick enough to ground planes for an hour.

"What is even going on, here?!" asks Sailor Mercury, angrily, through the fog.

Kukai Souma is unusually mad for some reason as well. Something about this other boy has his ire up, and as much as he doesn't want to hurt him, the dark magic he's using is more of an affront to him than even the insults from earlier. He nods at those dark hands and lets out a rude noise. "Nothing wrong with you? Right! And I wasn't the one who started this and kept being a jerk!"

The punches come in hard and fast. If Kukai were fully transformed, maybe he could dodge or deflect them all, but one or two drum painfully against his side and chest.

The problem with this fight is that Kukai's usual method of combat is 'kick balls at range, hit things with skateboard'. Actually punching someone is something he's very much unused to, so when he goes to counter those oncoming attacks he reacts more out of instinct than skill - somewhat of a metaphor for the matchup.

This means, however, that he doesn't even hear the girl on the other end of the pool, as focused as he is on Takashi - and when the fog comes up, he immediately hops backwards, guard up. "Hey! Who turned out the lights?" He thinks he recognizes that voice, though, and continues to move backwards through the fog. "He started it!"

Some of Kukai's punches land, too - chara-change fueling them, making them hit solid and hard - and then, suddenly, trying to knock Kukai Souma out into next week immediately goes on a long vacation when the fog rolls in. Takashi jumps back away from Kukai, backwards into that fog (holy crap, it's -cold- in here without a henshin!) and trying to make space. And trying to center himself.

After all, he knows who that fog belongs to, so now he's trying to find a bus to throw Kukai under so he doesn't have to throw himself off a bridge. It's, perhaps, the first time in Takashi's life he's had a moment of regret for trying to take someone to task - even if only because he can hear the disapproval in her tone.

So he responds by, of course, blaming someone else. "Look, I tried to warn him and his stupid fairy thing off upsetting me!" he shouts. In Takashi's mind this was also legitimately a thing he was trying to do, even if he did it in the most hostile possible way.

"But then when someone starts insulting me, insulting you, and threatening me, I'm not just going to let him walk away without a taste of the fire he keeps trying to play with!" Takashi shouts, and by gods, is it clear through his tone he has passed angry and furious and found a whole new world of rage to live in.

"But now all I want him to do is just go away and leave US alone!" he shouts, putting a lot of emphasis on the US part of the aspect.

Sailor Mercury grimaces through the fog. With her goggles, she can see just fine--Infrared, but it's plenty for making the pair out. "Kukai Souma-sama, thank you for your restraint," she says, although it sounds more like irritation than actual approval. "I will ensure Takashi Agera-san causes no more trouble today."

Then she appears, out of the fog, just between them. She's not facing either, but instead has taken up a position not unlike the one Ami had between them only a few moments ago.

Kukai Souma can't see Takashi through the fog anymore, then hmphs. "I never insulted anyone but you, you..." He bites off the rest of the comment, unwilling to fight without being able to see Takashi, taking in the words from both of them.

He can barely see the figure in the fog, but then nods, backing away again. "Ok. Right. You seem to have responsibility for him, so you... do whatever. I'm leaving." He stops for a second, then shakes his head. "And I apologize for my rudeness."

He turns, walking off through the thick fog, hoping he's actually going towards the exit door at this point. He ends up having to run one hand along the wall for a ways, but eventually he finds the exit door, slipping out and following the paving towards the sunlight, keeping Daichi in his pocket and trying to get a hold on his anger.

There's something about the way that Sailor Mercury says she'll ensure he causes no more problems that bothers him just as much as anything else going on, but it also helps him find that key needed to lock everything up, and he puts the outer shell of himself back together, in a sense... no more tendrils of darkness, no more cheating the laws of physics as a general action.

Of course, being Takashi, he focuses a lot of that anger at Kukai rather than inward, blaming him heavily for everything that went on, though there's a small share devoted to himself. And that small voice in the back of his head, saying things that keep him from sleeping properly, things that make him question things even he doesn't really like seeking answers to.

It takes him everything not to snap at Kukai when he leaves, but he manages to find enough self control to do that while tamping his 'powers' down and keeping them under a level that can be sensed. He doesn't know what else to do - and he can't really see Ami that well though the fog - so he just starts approaching her slowly, quietly - and notably, somewhat carefully.

When Kukai heads for the door, Ami lets out a soft sigh of relief. She banishes her henshin almost immediately, but it's going to take a while for the fog to dissipate. For a long moment she stands still, allowing Takashi to carefully fumble his way forward. And when he gets near, she turns and glares up at him. "Picking fights?" she scolds him, voice barely above a hiss.

"You were picking fights," Ami says, upset. "Takashi, I know he pissed you off by cheering for the other girl, but it's not okay to fight someone just because I lost a competition, and he didn't cry foul!"

"What? That's not even how it happened." he says, and while he's got his dark energy under control now, he doesn't have his normal human emotions or actions quite in check. His actions are uncharacteristically animated, body tense. "I'm not picking fights when I ask him to not have his little mini-him make faces at me - I'm not picking fights when he insults my intelligence - and I'm not picking fights when I warn him to back off!"

"This is like locking a tiger in a cage and poking it with a sharp stick repeatedly, while it roars at you to leave it alone, and then when the tiger gets out of the cage and mauls some asshat, you blame the tiger." he says, sounding absolutly frustrated, moving his hands around dramatically to animate parts of his talk.

"I didn't fight him because you lost, it was his actions that caused it. I was upset you lost but I know you'll just do better next time." he clarifies, trying to actually stablize his breath. "I didn't care if he was cheering for the other girl, that's what I expected him to do. Just because I was unhappy you lost, doesn't mean it's connected - correlation doesn't always imply causation!"

On the very long list of possible ways Takashi could explain this whole mess, giving a reasonable and detailed list of things Kukai Souma might have done which justified his actions was not actually one of them. She was su re he'd try to wheedle, make up some dumb excuses, explain it in a way that didn't make sense.

The problem is, that list of things is like Takashi's Kryptonite.

"You should have just walked away," Ami hisses at Takashi unhappily, frustratedly. Did Kukai really say those things!? It doesn't sound much like what she's come to expect from one of Seiyou's Guardians from knowing Tadase. But ... she doesn't know Kukai very well.

"You definitely shouldn't have tried to hit him," she observes, and with each observation, her ire is distinctly less steady.

With a sigh, Ami purses her lips, as if she's about to say something else, and then reaches up to grab his hand. "What did you do to yourself, anyways?" she asks, forcibly opening up his fingers so she can inspect the scars where the healing hasn't quite finished repairing the damage from his decision to smash a mirror.

Takashi grumbles lowly. "But I told you I would wait here." he points out, and there's only a hint of snark in his voice there - the other half the reason is that he's not one to back down or not stand his ground.

"Hey, next time someone says they're going to 'break me in half like a twig' maybe I'll let them have at it, or I'll leave so they can hover around you instead. You know, cause it's not like I asked him to leave first -" he says, and he's about to pull his hand back and she grabs it.

He looks down at her as she inspects him. "Yeah... there was an accident." An angry outburst punching accident, which probably sounds even worse right now. "And I wasn't in henshin so the damage got through and it's taking a while to put it back together, you know, without resorting to other measures." As Ami pulls his fingers apart and he winces a bit, he adds "It doesn't feel too bad, it looks worse than it hurts." This is probably some degree of a lie or falsehood.

"Souma-kun said that?!" Ami asks, truly confused, now, as she looks up at Takashi. A guardian said that!? "I don't ..." she trails off, then blushes. "I'm sorry. Look, you still shouldn't be fighting people. Especially not with magic, and especially not here. But I'm sorry I assumed you started it. And I'm sorry he was a jerk to you. I'll talk to him," she promises with a sigh.

Then she looks back down at his hand, fingers gently palpating to ensure there are no broken bones or damaged tendons. After a few moments, she realises she's just fussing with it, and she stops, then looks back up to him, uncertain what else to say.

"Look, he said a few things that were really pointed, and his attitude sucked. I don't usually fly off the handle like that - I mean if I have I wouldn't have lasted long enough to meet you, right? Someone would've shown up at my door with the magical pitchfork mob." he says. And there's a genuine truth to that statement - he usually doesn't noticably channel dark energy in public.

"I'm just... I haven't been sleeping well." he admits. "I've been on edge. I know I need to keep a better handle on myself." he says, nodding a bit. "Sorry I overreacted around you. I didn't intend to like... put a bad light on you..." he says, trying to find the words he's looking for, for a moment. Then he looks down to his hand.

"...and thanks for worrying about me."

Ami scowls at Takashi, but it's not in irritation. This is the look of a girl who genuinely is worried. "Idiot," she tells him quietly. "Of course I worry about you. Do you notice who isn't here?" she points out, not bothering to motion around in the fog. "I didn't invite Mako-chan, or Usagi-chan, or anyone else, to come watch this. I invited you. I wanted to share this with you. So yes, I'm going to be worried when you start picking fights after it becomes so clear we're ..." she trails off, then blushes a little, looking away. "Y..you know," she doesn't say 'dating'.

Takashi finishes it for her, because even frustrated, he likes the way it sounds, likes putting it out there, likes the way it sounds in his heart. "...dating."

Takashi nods a bit. "And I was really happy to be here for you. With you. Both." he says, still a little frustration in his speech, coloring his ability to find words like he'd like to. Plus, you know... it's still Ami. "That's one of the reasons I wanted to apologize. This isn't how I wanted to... you know, how things are supposed to go. I didn't come here spoiling for a fight."

"I don't want you to have to worry about this sort of thing happening - these circumstances were exceptional, and poorly timed."

"Promise?" Ami asks, turning to look back at him again. She's still blushing--she can't help that. But she can at least meet his eyes as she asks him to bind himself to his own word.

Takashi nods, looking down at her. "I promise I will do everything I can to stop this from happening. If it's for you, I'll... walk away when I can." he says, though that's a hard promise to make. Does it count when she's not there? He sure hopes not. It'll be hard enough to keep when he's with her.

Ami lets out a soft sigh, then closes her eyes and leans her head against his chest. "Thank you," she says softly. Then she smiles and reaches out to wrap her arms around him, offering a hug--more contact than she's ever given him, excepting the 'kiss of exceptional circumstance'.

After a moment, she says, "Thank you for coming here. It really meant a lot to me, even if I didn't win."

Takashi wraps her up in the hug almost automatically - it's hard to describe why it's different than hugs he's gotten, even from previous girlfriends, but it is. He looks down into her eyes as she says that. Then he smiles. "Hey, you did win. Maybe not both, but neither did she." he points out.

"Most people here didn't even win one event, right? And next time you'll win both." he says with a smile.