Reiko Touyama has been keeping generally quiet on magical matters to Mei. Mei needed a break. A vacation. Roy imposed it. Roy probably belives Mei has had enough of watching anime, laying on the couch and stuffing popcorn in her face. She's rested and recharged! So when Mei finally related that her break was over. She felt so relived.
Reikoi > Let's go down to the park then! I have to talk to you about. Uh. Everything!
And so Reiko is standing in the park. She is getting an orange and white koi kite into the air. When it's high and steady in the air she ties the end to the knot of a tree and beams! It's fluttering around in a gentle back and forth motion.
It may aswell be a big, bright neon sign to the arriving Mei that says 'Reiko is over there'.
Mei's been on break. A long break. A break that started before summer vacation, before Momo even woke up from her coma. Actually, that *was* one of the reasons she took a break. She didn't want to, not when her sister's soul was gobbled up by a nasty witch and when Reiko just awakened to her powers as Prism Keeper Orange. Roy was insistent, though. He said that, if she lost heart, then their whole battle would be lost.
So she went on a mandatory break and let Reiko deal with the rigors of magical girl life for a while. And there was much eating of popcorn and watching of anime. But now is the time for her triumphant return!
Or, at least, a conversation with her friend about Serious Business.
Mei spies the orange koi kite as soon as she walks into the park, and she's over there in ten seconds flat, marvelling at how pretty the fish looks in the sky. "Wow, Reiko-chan! I haven't seen this before," she says, making starry eyes. "Did you get it from your Grandpa? Or did you make it yourself??"
Because that would be *mega-awesome*.
Reiko Touyama eeees! Mei, she rushes over and gives Mei a big hug. "Mei~ You look a lot better! Nrg... Hirokos been... being a big jerk about everything. I guess when you went to make sure Momo was okay she kind of turned her crosshairs on me. But. Well I can deal with jerkiness." she says with a hrmph. She blinks.
"Oh! Um. Kinda... a little of both. I mean. I didn't make it from scratch! But.. it was a kit grandpa helped me put together. So..." she says. "I guess both!" she smiles. "I.. um. I got put into the hospital for a few days. It wasn't very fun." she says. "But. I think. That's the first thing. I need to talk about. When. Um. I'm done with talking about all the bad stuff. We can go get Ice Cream! I mean! It's a nice warm day for it!" she beams.
But right bad stuff.
"Um. I don't. Really know how to say this without worrying you. But it's the worst thing I've encounterd, so we can only go up from there!" she says with a smile! but then looking to the right a bit.
"But...I don't even know if you know Griselda is real-- but she is. And she almost killed me. And the only reason she didn't... was because dumb luck put a... magical werewolf girl named Cute Wolf Tsukiko in the area that night." she says, a little softly. She doesn't like having to say that. It makes her stomach churn and it makes her feel on edge.
Mei's expression immediately sours when Reiko brings up Hiroko. Of course that stupid bully would bother her friend when she's not around to take the brunt of her awfulness. At least she doesn't seem too down about it? They'd both been dealing with the grey girl for so long that they were both immune to her, she supposes. For better or worse.
"Hiroko's a jerk, water's wet, the sky is blue," she says, then makes a face. "Sorry you've had to deal with her all by yourself. Maybe we should pay her a visit as the Prism Keepers! Tell her she has to be nice. That might do the trick!"
She'd go on, but Reiko brings up going to the *hospital* and she has to find out what that's about *right this minute*.
"Hospital?!" Mei interjects immediately, but lets her friend go on and explain what happened. She's the very picture of worry, pacing around and wringing her hands, taking in the information her best friend and teammate is giving her. When she finishes, the red-haired girl turns and looks her in the eye, as somber as she's ever been.
"...I'm sorry I wasn't there to help," she mutters. "Stupid Roy and his stupid break. I shouldn't have ever done it in the first place. He's not our boss, and he needs to stop acting like it." But her angry scowl fades back into worry. "You're okay now though, right? She didn't hurt you permanently?"
Reiko Touyama beams! "Just my pride!" she says with a smile after. "Oh.. I also. Kicked that jerk for you! The one who was calling himself Mr. Black! I had help. But.. I did it! He better think twice before messing with my friends!" she says making small, tiny adorable fists in front of her. At this exactly time, a tiny, magical koi appears over her right shoulder and copies her movements, with a more determined expression. It then pops. Reiko doesn't seem to see it until she hears the pop in her ear.
"Also.... that's been happening." she says, eyes glancing off to the side with a blush. "Most people seem to not see they exist? But... like. You, me.. and my friends can? I guess it's rather silly." she says meekly. "And that's what I get drawing all those pictures like that." she giggles.
"But that's really only the hard thing that's happened to me, was Griselda. I met a Puella Magi... I met a Cute Wolf! Um. I beat a space alien!...." she beams and spins. "Well. He looked like one. Like he was green and had weird hair." she says.
"Also. I fought something called a Witch and it was scary. There needles and weird stuffed bunny doctors." she says.
She taps her chin.
"Hiroko said that... that you should been in school when Momo got sick! Like.. Like it was no big deal you were going though! It made me so mad! I.. I... nrg."
"I tried to punch her!" she insists. "But.. but. I didn't really. I came very close." she says.
"But. Maybe that could work! But I dunno. What'd we say? Heroes don't threaten people. Right?...." she says.
".... right?"
The koi fish are pretty adorable. Mei giggles when she sees the little guy appear over Reiko's shoulder, brightening a bit as a result. Why can't her roses do that? Yeah, plants don't usually show emotion, but they're magic! Maybe she could talk to Roy about it?
"It's cute, not silly!" she says, before letting her go on with her story. Man, she's been busy during her break. A space alien? A Cute Wolf? A Witch?! She'd known there was magic in Tokyo now, but nothing as crazy as all this!
"You fought a witch?" she asks, immediately remembering the day Momo got her soul drained. "You mean...like the one that hurt Momo?" Her eyes fall, and she kicks a nearby rock into the pond. "I hope you beat her. Witches are the worst, and I don't want anything like the coma epidemic to happen ever again." But then Reiko says a word she doesn't recognize, and Mei looks back over, confused. "What's a Puella Magi?"
She looks just a bit outraged when Reiko calls what she proposed about Hiroko 'threatening.' "I never said we'd threaten her! We're not bullies," Mei exclaims, hands on her hips. "Just...let her know that bullying is bad and we've got our eye on her. She'd have to stop then!" Really, what do you take her for? She may have a temper problem, but she wouldn't try to hurt anybody.
Not on purpose, anyway.
Reiko Touyama blinks. "No.. um. Puella Magi fight these things called 'Witches' that reside in trippy surreal looking dimensions. And beating a witch means there's a grief seed left and, Puella Magi need to that live! I tried to nab that one for my friend, but I was beaten to it." she huffs. She sort of settles down and seems embarassed and shame when Mei responds to her idea of 'threating her'. "Ah..! Sorry. I just. I've been fighting a lot recently." she huffs.
"Like, there was this catboy that was trying to eat the koi in the gardens!" she huffs. "if you ever meet a guy who dresses in black with a smaller version of himself but is a cat, too floating around- you.. you don't let him near the koi pond!" she huffs. "He's nothing but trouble!" she insists.
She pauses. "I don't know many of these others I fight with. I know, the Puella Magi, and I know the Cute Wolf. But. I've seen a guy in a hat and tuxedo save this other girl! And... I saw a girl with a gem sceptor! and.. and some sort of girl people were calling 'White' turn into this beautiful ghost lady and destroy one of those witches and it's weird world." she says. "..and someone that looked like a princess with a red dress and a wand.. and." she huffs and realizes she hasn't breathed for the past 1 minute of talking. "Ah---hahah sorry! It's just really been an amazing month, Mei~" she says with a blush.
"What.. what kind of things did you deal with before your break?."
"Not...not as much as you've dealt with, apparently," Mei says, jaw nearly on the floor when Reiko finishes regaling her with Tales from the Break. How had she not noticed any of this stuff before now?! Cat people are real, princesses are apparently everywhere. Now that her friend has jogged her memory, she remembers the Witches and the Puella Magi. But can you really blame her for forgetting? There are so many things to fight and so many things to protect, it's hard to keep them all straight!
"I actually did fight a Witch, now that I think about it," she says, thinking back to the scary thing in the pizza parlor. "Some guy who said he was a king fought it with me. He was our age, too. Haven't run into him since." She shrugs. "The guy who sent me to the hospital goes by Mr. Black, but he's not anything to do with the Prism Keepers. Just a jerk who uses magic to hurt people. Miss White works with him, so you should really stay away from her. Good guys don't work with bad guys, and she's hurt me too. I don't want her to do the same to you."
The talk of bad guys brings a scowl to her face, but it fades when Reiko brings up the tuxedo guy. She knows exactly who *that* is. "Ah, so you've met Tuxedo Kamen too! He's really awesome. When you have a bit of free time, we should really talk to him. You, me, Roy, Biv. It would be good to discuss some things. He's really smart."
Reiko Touyama blinks. "Ahhhhh, Mei!? You know Tuxedo Kamen!? You knew.... a really handsome guy and didn't tell me!?" she says as she places hands to her face. "Ah---!!!" she seems really embarased for just admitting that. "But... he was really dashing and stuff. And saved people. Even.. even the bad guys!" she says. She blushes. She should probably stop talking right now instead of digging the embarrassment hole bigger.
She nods. "I know those two! I mean. Black and White. Not..our Black and White. But jerks that shoot lasers and stuff with those names." she says.
She beams! "That'd be neat though! I don't get to talk to a lot of these people!" she says as she bounces on her feet.
The koi kite is still sailing in the sky. It sometimes makes a small dip into a loop.
She blushes. "I've just been busy I guess. I meet some intresting people when I go out and practice flying." she says. "....sometimes on accident." she says.
Mei quirks an eyebrow. Since when do they care about handsome guys? She knows that, at this age, girls are supposed to start liking boys more. She's read it online someplace. Maybe it's happened for Reiko and not for her yet? "Reiko-chan, do you have a crush on Tuxedo Kamen?" she asks, playful accusing. "But he's, like, a teenager! A really old teenager!"
Yeah, this isn't there biggest concern right now. Mei drops it pretty quick.
Much more important is flying, and the fact that she sucks so badly at it. She blushes when Reiko brings it up, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "I...I really need more flying practice too," she admits, though her friend probably already knew that. "I'm awful at it. So much worse than you were, in that battle." Mei looks up to the kite, gently wafting in the wind. Totally unfair. She wrote herself flying powers, so she should already have them mastered! "What have you been doing to get better?"
Reiko Touyama ahs.. "A... a friend I met said I looked like a drunk butterfly..." she says. "I'm getting better but. I also kind of crashed through an office window the other night and I had to leave an 'I'm sorry' note." she says with an ashamed tone. She says. "Well...I carried my friend through the air. It helped me be more careful because I was carrying someone." she says. "I find that if I /need/ to be careful... I am careful." she says gently.
"Though I am still pretty terrible at it." she says....
But then she pauses. "Mei...." she says. "...what happens. If something happens to our crystals?..." she asks an aside.
"That sounds like a good idea," Mei muses as Reiko tells her about practice. Well, not the running into an office window part. The part about carrying a friend to build up strength and learn to be careful. "We should practice together some time too. If we can come up with flying magic techniques, we'll be sure to win!"
A thought occurs.
"Unless our enemies can fly too. But how many of them can do *that* anyway?" She laughs, covering her uncertainty with brash confidence. And then Reiko brings up the Chroma Crystals, and Mei's brought back to reality, looking thoughtful for several seconds.
"Hmm...would it be bad if I said I don't know?" she finally admits, her hand floating up to grasp the stone hanging around her neck. "Something bad, probably. We definitely don't want them to get damaged, and the bad guys would probably do pretty nasty stuff with them. So we should keep them as safe as we can. That way, we won't have to find out what happens!" She spreads her hands out in satisfaction. Problem solved!
All this magical girl talk is cramping her style, though. It's all the hard, not fun parts of being magical: the enemies, the responsibilities, the dangers. She's had about enough of all that, for now. Mei's ready to get started again, but she's also ready to focus on the parts she always loved. Like fighting for justice with her friends!
So she smiles at Reiko. "Hey. Let's just fly that kite for a bit now, okay?"