IT'S A MATCHING SET!

As she said, Ami is already at the Game Center Crown, dressed in her seifuku from Seishou. She has her hair pulled back with a blue headband and an off-center bow. She's snuggled deeply into a men's jacket that's just a little too large for her, with almost comically bright red lapels. Seated at the Sailor V game, she has a can of soda on one side of her, and a vanilla milkshake on the other. But she's not paying attention to her drink or Daisuke's; no, Ami Mizuno is showing off one of those skills no one would expect of her: she's on the penultimate level of the video game, beating up bad guys as Sailor V.

Daisuke Hansuke had arrived not too long ago and has finished about two milkshakes and is on the third and he is working on giving himself an awesome ice cream stomach ache. This is working to ease his tension and over all ugh feelings in his head. They are all chocolate- plain chocolate.

He is watching Ami with wide eyes play the game.

"I've never seen past level three." he insists softly and idly as he watches Ami.

Ami doesn't really respond to Daisuke; she's busy beating the game. When she reaches the end boss, she doesn't really even struggle; just carefully dodges, watches, waits, and then once she's figured out his pattern, executes the correct pattern to defeat him. During the level change, she lets out a breath of concentration and reaches for her soda. "Really?" she asks Daisuke curiously after she sets the drink back down. "I thought you played a lot of video games."

Daisuke Hansuke is suddenly on shake number four. Plz Ami-chan don't say anything about his shake habit right now because this and her company right now is ALL HE HAS and these shakes are a deep close friend in his stomach right now forever. Lovely lovely milkshakes. (This one is vanilla!).

"I play MMORPGs, mainly. I stink at twitch arcade." he says to Ami. "Third stage gets me." he says.

"Do you want to try the last level?" Ami suggests to Daisuke with a smile as she leans back. It's going to start soon. "I've already beaten it." Actually she has the high score. "I don't mind if you want to give it a try."

That's when the door chimes because three more people are entering the arcade. Mamoru is immediately identifiable to Daisuke; Usagi to Ami, and Homura might be a little harder for Ami to place. Mamoru's handing Usagi something that's probably money; they're all three of them in school uniforms, and Homura's is the middle school version of Mamoru's school, Infinity.

Mamoru says something to Homura ("Over at the Sailor V game, she said") and then starts beelining for the row of consoles it's in. He looks like he's trying to suppress a good mood for the sake of business.

Homura walks in along with Mamoru and Usagi. Her dour face is... a bit less dour today, but only a few people who know her very well would be able to tell if she was happy from a glance.

He follows Mamoru's gesture towards the arcade machines and follows. She has met Sailor Mercury before, when bringing Mamoru to safety after he was attacked by a Witch, but she has not yet met Ami Mizuno, to her knowledge.

She might recognize her name based upon how ridiculously good her grades are, though.

Whatever's going on, she doesn't fully know, but she's more than happy to get involved in whatever Mamoru's problems are. He's already done at least that much for her.

Time to be Frenemies.

Usagi sighs as they enter the arcade, but she gives him a small, thankful smile when he hands her money. Before going to Ami and Daisuke, she dashes up the stairs to the diner and makes an order.

One ridiculously sweet and yummy milkshake, and when she realizes that she has more than enough for that (wow!) she also orders a coffee for him (black!) and then some actual food! (Because all he's eaten since forever is a small thing she just bought, so his tummy must still be even more grumbly than hers.) Burger, fries. Good, wholesome, artery clogging food introduced by western society.

She takes the bag when it's ready, pops a lid on his coffee, and down the stairs she went.

Right. Frenemies.

"Okay, since you lost the bet, here's your super sweetened lots of milk with a dash of coffee froo froo coffee." It's honestly and for reals black, she just has to put on a show!

She also hands him the bag of food. Because food. He needs to eat first! (This is, by the way, her idea of taking care of someone. Feeding them before she dives in herself. Because to Usagi, food is glorious and beautiful.)

"Hi, Ami-chan! Hi, Daisu-kun!"

There's a hug for her Ami-chan.

Daisuke Hansuke is about to take up the offer when!----

Mamoru, Homura and Usagi all show up. "Another time, Ami." he smiles. He turns back to Mamoru and stands up and bows respectfully. "Hello!" Homura also gets a bow. "Hello. My name's Daisuke Hansuke, how are you?" he asks to Homura. Hello Usagi, how are you?" he says as he sits back down politely. Another milkshake sip. He has like /four cups/ around him. How many does this guy drink?

He blinks. Is he bothering something? Ami-chan did say... he just shakes his head.

"I'm sorry to have bothered you all. I'd--- just had waited. Otherwise. Just. Kind of almost fainted... twice. Due to that Mio girl." he says softly. "Blood Pressure- and all I guess. I don't know..." he mumbles.

Ami smiles broadly at the sound of Usagi's voice (not Mamoru's; he's just whatever, but Usagi~) and turns, abandoning Sailor V so that she can return Usagi's hug in kinda. "Usagi-chan!" she says happily. "Mamoru-san said you might come, but I'm so glad you did."

Homura gets a faint wave of greeting. "Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm Ami Mizuno. Hello, Mamoru-san, thank you for coming. I hope we haven't interrupted anything," here she glances at Usagi, then back to Mamoru, then back to Usagi, then back to Mamoru, before finally finishing, "'important'?" Oh the weight she puts on that word.

"...blood sugar, more like," Mamoru says after a cursory bow, eyeing the empty milkshakes, "Ami-san--?" His questioning look is clearly -- given he glances to her bag, where he assumes she keeps her Mercury computer -- 'is he diabetic? hypoglycemic?'

...but then he's being handed coffee and food, and he gives Usagi this utterly enamored look and manages to force out, "You violated my coffee with arcane pollutants? You'd better be lying, Odango Atama..." No okay yeah he even sips the coffee without looking under the lid.

Then Mamoru gestures to Homura and says, "This is Homura Akemi, she's a very good friend of mine." In mixed company, that's really all he's going to say about her, but 'very good' attached to 'friend' from Mamoru is a rarely seen combination of ideas. He puts his bookbag down on the floor next to Ami's, where it's unlikely to get kicked, then hooks a seat closer with his foot and sits, arranging his food on his knees in such a way that Usagi will be able to steal fries when she runs out of things to nom.

"Don't worry about it, Hansuke-san. Seems like you're worrying about enough as it is. What exactly did Kuroki-san do?"

'Odango Atama'. Oh my god, Homura can see it. Dumpling head.

She doesn't know who they think they're fooling with the frenemy act, but the blue-haired girl apparently hasn't bought it at all.

Well, far be it from Homura to blow Mamoru's cover.

"Ugh you two have been fighting the whole way here give it a rest."

To Ami and Daisuke, Homura says, with a very blank expression that she wears quite naturally, "Pleasure to meet you. I'm from the same school as Mamoru-kun, though he's a few grades higher."

She refuses to call him 'sempai'. Just Homura things.

She hangs back a bit, being more of a listener and observer to the conversation. She's not the expert here, so it's her turn to listen while someone else talks.

Of course, there's no way she can not respond to his enamored look with one of her own. "Of course I'm not." She is. "Suffer the wrath of sugar, Mamo..ru-kun."

And then she's stealing her own burger and fries from the bag. And offers her fries in a circle before OM NOM NOM.

Usagi is one giant ball of blush. Important? (Well, openly snuggling him is indeed important. But she can't say this!) "Um, just, walking, talking, stuff, catch up, you know, the usual." She manages NOT to laugh her laugh of lying.

Barely.

Then she's smiling at Homura again, because covering! And offers her fries again. (Her mouth is too full of fries to do much more than that. Probably will be for awhile. And when they are gone, she'll sneak Mamo-chan's! Mweeheehee!)

Daisuke Hansuke looks at Chiba. "No...I... this is my..worry. reaction. I mean. Schools... right over there--- I come here and.... just consume. When I worry and right now I am worried so I am trying really hard to give myself a stomach ache. It isn't working." he says.

"I should lay off. I'm sorry." he says.

He places his cup down--- then immedaitly picks it back up. He maaaaaay have a milkshake problem right now.

He gives another soft nod to Homura.

He glances at the odd inanity of speech at coffee.

"She brought a hurt dog into--- Verone's Animal Care Club. Then she spouted that---I felt special like... 'Chiba-san, Mizuno-san, Aino-San, Hino-san. I started to feel.....very. Slimy. I dunno why. I started to panic and... just. Felt wrong to say or act mad for some reasons I couldn't fathom so I just sort of politely smiled through it until she left and Now I need to explain to that grade schooler who came over to check Verone's Club out, and I can't even explain and she mentioned fairies and----" the cup begins shaking and he puts it down to grab his hand and just sort of clasp them politely together. "Ami-chan's been incredibly patient with me but this is getting harder for me to deal with. I thought I got to some place close to okay the other day and I'm just kind of back to feel like I'm causing problems by existing again." he says. He looks a little pale, though barely, suddenly. Again.

"I'll be okay. It's just. Everything. Ever. Never dealt with this much stress in a week let along a month or year." he murmurs lightly.

He finally steals another milkshake sip when his hand steadies again. "I'm probably looking like a hot mess or something right now." he insists.

"Daisu-kun," Ami says in an almost chiding tone of voice. "Enough with beating yourself up," she tells him sternly. "Mamoru-san will help you, and I will help you, and Usagi-chan will help you. And if Akemi-san is a friend of Mamoru-san's, she will probably also help you." One can almost imagine her threatening with a newspaper. Or a thermometer. "Just calm down, take a breath, and tell the story, instead of being nervous about what we'll think of the story."

Ami gives Daisuke an encouraging smile, then huddles into the men's coat she's wearing, popping the obnoxious red lappels a little. Leaning towards Usagi, she whispers quietly into the blonde's ear, "You are failing at subtlety. Next time, try actually putting nasty things in his coffee if you don't want everyone to know."

Mamoru looks as dignified as possible while at the same time blushing slightly and ignoring the hell out of it. He does add when Usagi offers fries around, "You might as well just eat them all yourself, no one wants to lose a couple of fingers when you change your mind." He only looks slightly like he's been properly chastised by Homura, and completely glosses past any and all Important or Whispering Commentary from Ami.

There is, after all, a Problem At Hand.

He does nod in Ami's direction as she encourages/scolds Daisuke. He ruins it a little bit by saying offhandedly, "I pulled the stops out in lecturing the last person who apologized too much for being upset, so knock it off. You cope how you cope, and that's that."

He sips his coffee again, a few fries in his other hand but not eating them unless he's not the one talking, and continues. His tone's reasonable, his manner businesslike, his could-be-senpai could-be-regality showing without meaning to. "So: what I'm hearing from you is that she brought in an injured animal and said weird things to you and it made you panic. The first thing you need to think about is that she brought in an injured animal. To the right place. She was concerned for the welfare of a dog. That's a good thing, right? The second thing, which you're not aware of but you probably want to keep in mind now that I'm telling you -- I'm not sure of her history, but from everything I've been able to observe of her, I'm pretty certain she was raised in an extremely sheltered environment, and is either magically inclined or magically sensitive but doesn't have any context for that being unusual. You're new to magic, she's new to people not knowing about magic. She's also latching on to people who feel familiar to her, but that's something all of us have done, and most of us at least know how to be polite about it -- but she doesn't. The best analogy I can think of for her is that she's spent her life dreaming and isn't certain what 'awake' is just yet."

He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. "She doesn't get the idea of personal space, but also so far as I know I'm the only one she's done that to, and she's backed off, so I think that'll be okay. The feeling I got from her was mixed -- something about her made me very sad, something about her resonated friendship, something about her was dark and lost and felt like betrayal. But considering everything else I know or have been able to put together, I'm not going to hold that last against her -- this life is this life, not the last one, and everyone deserves another chance. So--"

He sips his coffee again, holding up a fry instead of a finger, and finishes, "I'd ask that you try to calm the hell down about her, but if she does or says anything actually harmful, tell one of us immediately. Now: have you spoken to anyone at Virtue yet? Someone told me you'd been told about them..."

Something about this story, and the names involved, seems oddly familiar.

"Oh right. I've met this girl before. Remember, Mamoru-kun? She asked us-- uhh..."

Homura cuts herself off before she states what exactly it was that the two of them were asked by her.

"... well I forget what she asked," a lie, "but she said a lot of things like that. That we felt strange, that you felt familiar."

Homura doesn't expand upon that, because Mamoru clearly recalls her, judging from his talk, and in a lot more detail than Homura remembers.

"A sheltered life? Doesn't know how to handle people? I think I can identify with that."

Homura looks like the last person on Earth to ever have trouble dealing with people.

She looks over at Daisuke, not sure what to make of it. "So... do you recall what exactly it was that bothered you? I mean it sounds... kind of benign, overall."

She sticks her tongue out at Mamoru. Rude. "Only the fingernails."

Then she's sipping her shake, and it's a wonder she doesn't choke and die or splort strawberries out her nose. (Barely just. Ow.) "A-Ami-chan!"

It's a soft whisper, and maybe her lips are a bit wibbly.

Her look is either 'It's not like that at all!' or 'Please don't tell the others!' One guess which. Hint: It's the second.

But she doesn't mean it to be.

And she's half tempted to run to the bathroom, but she did that the last time!

And she's listening to the conversation, and still has a blush.

Finally, when Mamoru's done talking, she looks up and actually (possibly) contributes.

"Daisu-kun. Magic is like underwear." Milkshake sip. "You know they're there, but you don't tell people you're wearing purple-striped panties."

Then she sips again, all serious face, when inside she's shrivelling up dying because she just announced to everyone here what she's wearing smooth move, baka.

Daisuke Hansuke does his best to calm down and listen and take the advice and he is- but he's having a hard time shaking some of this feeling off. Deep breaths, he nods a little to Ami and Mamoru and Homura. "I--guess. I just felt slimy and and..like I wanted to..point and say not nice things- and this is not a thing I'm usually used to feeling. I spent the entire conversation sort of trying to do anything but that and when an option came to get her out of there politely I took it. I just..."

"This whole week and a half or whatever has been flipping my life upside down. I never lied to anyone---but I lied to Tuxedo Kamen that I was okay so he could take care of something more important... which led to me waking up in an alley unable to really move myself so I had to call an Ambulance and then I had to lie to the police man because 'some jerk was doing an.../expierment/ on /children/ with demons or something' probably would have me in a straight jacket or something." he says.

"I'm not used to...lying...or being mistrusted or having talking cats follow me home so they know where I live so they know where to send Sailor Venus lasers she threatend me with if I end up hurting someone or something. I don't even fight---" he says.

"I spoke to Sailor Venus who hurt herself so she could be sure I actually heal by dislocating her shoulder then threatend to shoot in the eye with a laser and then also said she'd just take stuff from my locker. This is not making me particularly optimisitc about a lot of stuff."

He sort of rubs his face a bit.

"It's like my lifes been one giant panic attack for the past five days." he says.

He looks to Ami-chan apologeticaly. "I'm sorry---I'm not..nrg..." he just sort of buries his head into his hands as he listens to Usagi's words.

"I haven't been announcing it, no. I really need less of that in my life right now I think. Ami-chan's been trying to get me in the habit of using the whole costume bit." he says as he rubs his face. "I think it's a good habit." he murmurs. "Right?"

"P-purple ..." Ami says, struck dumbfounded by her friend. She reaches up and rubs at her forehead, then puts an arm around Usagi, gently squeezing her blonde friend close so she can whisper in her ear again.

"Usagi-chan ..." What does she even say? Seriously. There are no words. Louder, she says, "I love you, Usagi-chan. Don't change. Please. Ever." The squeeze turns into a genuine hug, because honestly, there are no words except to hug her friend and share in her embarassment.

To Daisuke, she says, "If you want, I can perform a few medical tests on you to see if you're prone to any of a number of conditions which would cause panic attacks." Pause. "I--I kindof am. Whenever I get really nervous, I break out in hives. It's like I'm allergic to my own embarassment. Ah. Anyways. I can see ... if maybe we should talk to a doctor about getting you some prescriptions to help with the panic attacks?"

"Yeah, and she started talking about that girl's fairy that was drinking the punch before I s--"

Mamoru also doesn't talk about a lot of details regarding that night. "Yeah. I've run into her a few other times, and that's more or less the pattern she's established," he ends up with, telling Homura.

But then, swallowing a few more fries, "I don't think she's in any way malicious, and I couldn't detect any dark magic on her or anything, though that's not a guarantee. Maybe we can get someone to scan her for spells, she could have been carrying something when Hansuke-san met her, like the problem I had the other week," Mamoru suggests to the crowd at large, but primarily Ami and Usagi since they were there.

'Rude'? "You nearly bit my nose off that one time. And my fingers a couple times," he retorts at Usagi, but settles down to grump a little bit, for show. Mostly for show. She's implying he's wrong, so it's not all a sham.

Then he nearly spittakes coffee, and just... turns bright red, and

and

dammit daisuke is talking

dammit

purple

he can't even look at daisuke the kid's hair is purple

Luckily, the upperclassman has the ability to actually buffer conversations he can't process at the time they're being had, and by the time Daisuke's done, he's managed to jumpstart his brain enough to actually participate again, despite the fact that the blush is still vividly visible on his face, his ears, his neck...

"Okay, sounds like she must have had something planted on her, because that kind of feeling doesn't sound at all like it matches anything I know about her. I'll ask a friend or two to check her out, she might need help," he says decisively, then rolls up the top of his bag so the fries don't lose any more heat while he can't actually eat them properly.

"If someone asks you if you're okay and you're really really not, then say so. The worst that happens is they call someone who can help you," he says to Daisuke calmly. "I'm sorry you're not used to lying or being mistrusted. Those are things you're going to have to learn. Talk to Tadase Hotori at Seiyou Public, and you can at least get part of the 'mistrusted' taken care of, and at the very least you'll have a wider network of people to help you, to fall back on if you're in need, and who will likewise ask you for help when you can spare it. I'll talk to Sailor Venus. The first time I met her she was determined to kill me because she thought I was Nephrite, and I'm not Nephrite, and I'm still alive, so believe me-- I'll handle that part, don't worry about her anymore. I can't really help about the talking cats, they think I'm a jerk."

Finally, Mamoru takes a deep breath, then exhales slowly. Now he does knuckle his eyes a little. "And yeah, uh. Until you know more about what you're doing, for godsake, transform before you do anything or talk to anyone about stuff. If you need a handle on how this works, I'm sure Odango here can recommend some manga, or, I don't know, watch some Kamen Rider or Batman or something. Secret identites are called 'secret' for a reason. They're for keeping your private life separate so you get time off from dealing with insanity."

Then he waves a hand vaguely. "And Ami-san is much more sympathetic than I am. So, for that matter, is Tadase-kun. Get help where help is being proffered, don't be an idiot about your own limits--" Mamoru is sure half the city would be scoffing at him for not practicing what he preaches, here "--and learn to keep secrets and to lie. And if you don't like pills, look into meditation."

"Uh yeah," says Homura Akemi, who does not give a ____ about her secret identity because her house is more stocked with guns than a paranoid war vet's. "You want that 'costume'. For one, even if you don't care if people see you, you're going to want to wear that costume because it works as armor. It protects you. Just in case someone actually does try to laser you."

Homura frowns about something else. She is about to blurt it out... "Secondly---" ...but it occurs to her that pointing out that she's an indirect employee of Eclipse overhearing a Virtue conversation would probably just make previously mentioned panic attacks worse, and also make things very awkward for everyone present.

She tries to phrase it delicately. Homura attempting to be delicate is often like a sledgehammer trying to be delicate.

"Be careful who you share this kind of information with, and if you aren't that confident in battle then that's all the more reason to rely upon secrecy. No one here is going to turn on you..."

She wonders silently how many WPS coworkers she'd have to 'deal with' if they learned that she was consorting with Eclipse's enemies to this extent.

"... but for your own sake you should be a bit more careful."

Her face is still red. Through Daisuke's delicate erms Ami's gasp and (is a scold coming no it's supportive hugs!) she is able to at least not, you know, implode.

However, Mamoru's blush is hard to miss, and and and--

Usagi clears her throat, slides off the stool. "It's just how I...deal with it."

At least she didn't say things are matching.

And then, suddenly, the restroom is not a bad idea.

VROOOOOOOOOM!!!!

Daisuke Hansuke looks to Ami and nods. "Thank you Ami-chan. Let's do that after. Maybe... maybe this is triggering something I didn't know I have because I'm not used to it or something." he admits softly. He never really thought of that, because... this magic stuff is far removed from anything about 'science' or 'biology' he knows.

Talking this out is helping Daisuke regain most of his composure. He takes a deep breath. He looks at Mamoru's slightly blush....

Then back to Usagi.

Then back to Mamoru.

Usagi. Mamoru.

Something is familar here and he taps his finger.

"Nephrite? I don't know who that is. Is this someone I should be watching out for?" he asks. Also. Why did Mamoru just use 'cats' as in plural. Oh lord there better not be like five of them.

"Tadase Hotori...okay." he says taking a deep breath. "I dunno if I'm comfortable with lying but if it's a nesscity I guess I don't really have a choice. I guess I can be used to being mistrusted after a while. I don't think I can fight really well. I heal. I teleport. I can teleport others. That's it- or at least what I can figure out." he says. "And if I guess I need to look like an awesome wizard doing it or something then I'll do that." he says.

He takes a deep breath.

"I'm feeling better. THank you for taking the time out to come here." he says softly. "All of you. I'm just kind of new I guess." he says softly.

Ami's arm is suddenly devoid of friend to hug. She wobbles a little, but catches her balance, then stares towards the bathroom. "Usagi-chan?" she calls. But nope, bunbun's gone gone. "Aheh," Ami says, smiling at Usagi's antics. She turns to regard Mamoru, then smiles all the brighter.

This somehow makes it so much easier for her to deal with her feelings about Daisuke. "Don't worry, Daisu-kun, we'll figure it all out. For now, Mamoru-san will give you Tadase's number. You and I can go run a few tests. And everything's alright. Okay?"

And Mamoru, decidedly NOT looking at where Usagi's vanished to, or even in that general direction, does just that. He sets his coffee and dinner down on the closest console -- don't tell Motoki -- and slides off his seat to fish in his school bag. A piece of looseleaf is taken out, and in criminally neat handwriting, he writes down first Tadase's number and then his own, then hands them to Daisuke. "First number's Hotori's. Second one's mine. Tell him Chiba sent you. He's a very nice person."

As he stands up again, he arranges things so he can carry schoolbooks and dinner in one hand and coffee in the other, and he gives Homura a wry look. 'Be careful who you share this with'. Well--

Other people's secrets are important.

A glance to Daisuke again and Mamoru shrugs a little. "We haven't seen Nephrite in months, but if this familiarity works for you the same way it does for me, you'll want to be especially careful around anyone whose name doubles as a mineral. The ones we know of so far are Nephrite, Jadeite, Kunzite, and currently Apatite, though she won't recognise you at all, so just stay out of her way because she has a spear. The others-- if things start up and they're around, just leave. Leave and call the Senshi, or call me and I'll muster the troops. Don't get involved. We don't need you getting targetted too."

Finally, he glances toward the bathroom, then to Homura again, and he looks apologetic. "Can you go fish her out? I need to get to where I'm going."

The day may come when Homura telsl Daisuke who she works for and what he just gave away, and how bad it could've been if it were anyone aside from her.

... but that is not this day!

Turning to Mamoru, she says, "Uh... Yeah, sure, but to be brutally honest? No one is buying it."

She flips her hair for emphasis and added sass points.

Well whatever, it's a good time to get to know Usagi as something a bit more than 'Mamoru's not-so-secret girlfriend'.

It's a secret no one.

She heads off towards the bathroom, calling out over her shoulder. "See you around, Mamo-kun."

Moments later, she's looking for Usagi in the bathroom. When she finally finds her she asks, "So... are you okay?"

Daisuke Hansuke taps the names off his hand. Names don't mean much to him. They'res no Deja Vu or jolts of rememberance. "Alright. Mineral names." he says. He looks to Ami and gives a soft series of positive nods. "Right. You need to run a few tests anyways, Ami-chan. We can do that while I figure out what I'm going to say to these people tommrow." he looks back to the bathroom and at Homura as he crosses his arms.

He sort of leans over to Ami-chan.

"Are your friends usually this odd? Not that it's a bad thing..." he asks in a soft whisper.

Usagi is fine, for the most part. When Homura comes to check on her, she gives her a sheepish grin as she wipes the water from her face with a paper towel. "Yeah, thanks. Just washing the blush away."

She clears her throat. Then throws the paper towel away.

"One day, I'm going to ask you if it's okay to give you hugs. But I think for now." She shrugs. If nothing else, it'll give Homura time to think about it.

She clears her throat again. "He's wanting to leave?"

Ami just smiles at Daisukun, and leans towards him in return. "Like I said when you met Vwe-chan," she intones quietly. "They're usually much weirder." She winks at Daisuke, then nods her thanks to Mamoru. "Will you hug Usagi for me and tell her I'll see her later tonight?"

Kneeling down, she picks up her bookbag, then smiles at Daisuke. "Come on, let's go find a rooftop to experiment on."

Mamoru clears his throat, pretending nothing's at all out of the ordinary and no one is saying anything he shouldn't hear and no one, especially him, is thinking thoughts they shouldn't be thinking, and smiles at Ami. "Will do. Ja ne, Ami-san, Hansuke-san."

And then he waits, leaning against the Sailor V game console and finishing up his coffee.

Hugs? ... eh. Homura isn't sure how she feels about that. She really isn't the warmest person, with few exceptions. "Depends on the meaning and the relationship, I guess. I'm not a close contact person. I think that's part of why I get along with Mamoru, actually. He tends to not like that either."

"... well, except when you do it. Has he told you about the visions people get when he's touched? You never seemed to have that reaction."

Homura looks towards the bathroom exit, and back to Usagi. "Anyways, yeah, I think he wants to go. He was packing up, anyways. Seems like everything's okay out there now."

Homura pauses for a moment. There's a lot she could potentially talk to Usagi about... but they just got to know each other. Stuff can wait.

She starts heading towards the door and back to the arcade proper. "Ready?"

"That's okay. It's why I asked. I can give you mental hugs, though!" And she's doing it, right now!

Then her eyes widen, blush forgotten. "I didn't know!"

What happens? Why? She'll have to ask him later.

For a moment, it looks like Homura's gonna say more, but when it doesn't happen, Usagi hopes it will, later!

"Yep!" And she's following her out, chipper and happy once again and then--

The blush is back. And she stares at him. And she's trying to figure out an excuse for saying what she did earlier.

Unfortunately, she goes with her first thought. "IT'S A MATCHING SET!"

Oh.....fiddlesticks.

Daisuke Hansuke gets up when those words are said and sighs. He leans down to Ami-chan. "Do you need to stay here a moment and make sure your friends don't die of embarassment? I'm sure that isn't a thing that can happen." he insists. Yeah, a little more like his proper self.

"But it seems they're really trying to aim to be the first." he says. This is mostly quietly and to Ami-chan and he's trying to be silly and light hearted toned about it.

Ami manages to almost maintain her composure at Usagi's outburst. Almost. But now the blue-haired girl is as red as her best friend, and the lappel on the coat she's wearing. "No. No. I'm pretty sure she can die all on her own," Ami says, grabbing Daisuke gently by the arm and guiding him towards the Anywherebuthere.

Mamoru has absolutely nothing he can say or do that will make that not have just happened.

Suddenly he's also super sad that Homura can't reset timelines anymore.

Mostly he just... sort of... shifts his weight. Everyone in the entire arcade is staring at Usagi, which means they're not staring at him. He's horribly torn between the gut-level urge to rescue her and the lizard-brain 'flee for your life' response, so he just stands there, frozen, like a deer in headlights.

Homura walks out after Usagi, turning to give her a look.

"... Matching set? What are you even talking about?"

Then it occurs to Homura and she turns away, blushing. .oO(Geeze! I know you have a hot boyfriend now but settle down! You're still in public!)

Now Mamoru's embarassed. There's only one thing to do now. She's still close enough to the bathroom door to slip inside. No one else was in there.

She henshins, grabs her shield, and turns it. Nothing happens except for the sudden appearance of a strange symbol on her shield. The symbol looks like the letter 'P' with an extra line at the bottom. Homura hasn't quite figured out yet that it's the planetary symbol for Pluto.

"Oh... right. I guess Mamoru is on his own then."

She walks out, out of her henshin again, and says, "Hi again, Mamo-kun. Ready to go?"

For once, Usagi gladly clings to the Frenemies routine. With a roll of her eyes and a scoff, she grabs his wrist and tugs him along. "Let's go, we got to get you to...wherever."

Her voice is annoyed and agitated, but it's all directed inward.

Stupid bunnies!

He won't notice if she just didn't show up for a few days, right?

Good. Because she'll totally be spending the next few days dying of embarrassment.

"Y-ye-es."

That doesn't sound much like Mamoru, that strangled little forced-out voice that sounds like it would have actually broken had he kept talking. Which he doesn't.

He is dragged out the door with zero resistance, and he really, really, really hopes Ami doesn't tell the other Senshi on Usagi, and he's not even sure if he'll ever be able to look directly at anything purple ever again, and he really really really hopes Homura doesn't disown them both after this, and and and

The doors to the arcade close, and suddenly it's much quieter inside, even if people are still talking and playing games.

The storm has passed.