Takashi walks through the doors of the Game Center Crown. He's been here more in the past week than he has in the months preceding - sometimes upstairs to the Fruits Parlor Crown for a snack, sometimes downstairs playing games - all the more to clear his head. Strangely enough, he had been doing what Hannah and Ayana had both said they wanted him to do - spend more time outside of the lab.
And as he's walking to a booth, he spots Ami Mizuno - the girl from his last visit - there in front of a chessboard, again. He turns and stops, smiling. "Mizuno-san?" he asks, not wanting to interrupt should she be deep in thought, or simply not want the company.
Ami is busy leaning over the board, very slowly replaying the moves from the only match she lost at her tournament the previous weekend. After a long week of investigating the White Flower, catching up on school, researching Asclepius and Mamoru's powers, and nearly dying, she's decided to take some downtime for figuring out where she went wrong. Move by move, Ami has been slowly replaying the game move by precious move.
Takashi's voice draws Ami out of her reflection, and the girl slowly turns her head to see who's called. "Agera-san," she replies, respectfully, nodding her head.
Takashi once again stands rather than just awarding himself a seat. "How did your tournament go, Mizuno-san?" he asks, politely. He looks over her board, trying to make quick mental notes of the game state - he's picked up on a few points quickly. He might be out of practice, but his mind isn't.
Ami grimaces a little at the question, then reaches up to push her hair behind her ear and turn towards the board. "Second place," she tells him glumly. "I was ... distracted," she admits with a frown. "And I lost to a strategy I believe I should have beaten."
Takashi sees those little cues - the cues that match the words she speaks. "Do you mind if I have a seat?" he asks, looking across at the open spot across the table. "If I might say so, though, 2nd isn't terrible..." and then there's a long pause.
"Though to be fair, I am not particularly thrilled at the idea of coming second to anyone else... in anything. So I think I can understand that frown on your face - it's the same one I'd be wearing."
"If I lost to the superior opponent, I'd be less upset," Ami says, though she doesn't seem entirely certain of herself, even as she motions him to an empty seat. "Second place is a worthy prize, in some of the tournaments I've played in, and at fourteen, I know I'm not yet the best in Japan. There are so many who have been playing for two or three times longer than I've been alive. But ..." she trails off faintly. "This game, I should not have lost."
Takashi takes the seat after nodding, and looks at the board. He's probably not the best person to give advice on losing graciously. "Well, if you've already given up the idea that the opponent you lost to wasn't superior, that means you believe the fault lies within yourself, am I correct?" Takashi asks.
"I'm not trying to be insulting, mind you - just that seems like the assumption you're operating under. Do you have a hypothesis?" he asks, the scientific side of him creeping out easily. Every problem can be solved, after all, through thought and experimentation.
"Mmm," Ami replies. Hearing him say it aloud doesn't exactly fill her with the warmest of feelings, but she can't argue it nonetheless. "Distracted," she reiterates quietly. "Possibly a mistake, although my friends would tell me it was good for me, I'm sure. Whatever the case, I am trying to better understand what went wrong in the game itself, in the hopes that this will ellucidate how I should have reacted. And perhaps to shed some light on why I was so distracted."
Takashi nods a bit. "Outside interference changing how you acted. Not within the game itself." he adds, calmly. "Well, we're not robots or machines. We are all a product of not just the moment, but several moments before then." he says. There's a pause before he adds "That's something I'm coming to grips with right now, too."
"Even the best plans you make can change moment to moment, and things you never thought possible..." he snaps his fingers "come to reality. It's human nature."
"But I'm sure someone as intelligent as you is already fully aware of that all, Mizuno-san." he adds, after realizing he'd been conflating some of his own problems with hers. The look on his face shows it too.
Like killer Puella Magi controlling Witches. Ami smiles at Takashi, though it's more of a pained smile than one of pleasure. "You're not wrong, though," she tells him thoughtfully. "This was a chess match; ultimately in the grand scheme of things, its outcome is not terribly important. But what if I'd been similarly distracted when crossing the street, or driving a car?"
Takashi regards Ami thoughtfully. Perhaps regarding her for a moment or two too long, before he says. "Well, if you're a lot like me, you are aware of your own superiority. In chess, perhaps, in this case particularly. You are also aware it's just a chess match in the scheme of things. So you go a bit on autopilot. I do the same thing in classes." he admits. Also, frankly, sometimes in fights.
"Your mind gets filled up with things that aren't relevant to the task at hand because you're so confident you can handle the task at hand. But not whatever's on your mind. You're essentially planning in the future without regard to the present when the present is easy."
"I do it too, especially when there are major things swirling around. It's usually not an issue - driving a car in Tokyo usually doesn't require a lot of focus, nor walking - but it can come around to bite you when there are moments of extreme difficulty - a car coming too fast over the walk, someone in the road, or an opponent who is perhaps stronger or more unpredicatable than you expected."
The last comment reminds him rather clearly of the time Sailor Moon just punched him in the face.
The examples weren't truly what Ami was thinking of, but she considers his answers nonetheless, then applies them to the real situation. "In this case, I believe it was more a matter of allowing expectations to override observations." Not that she really even had any clues that Erin was going to try to hurt her until it was too late; but surely she must have missed something important.
"The question is," Ami points out to Takashi thoughtfully, "how do you decide when the task you are being distracted from is more important than the distraction?"
Takashi nods. "It's a good question. You have to ask what's important to you. It's easy when we talk about major situations; not being in a car accident is important to you, so you give that a pretty high priority. The question you have to ask, to figure out if you did something wrong is, what priority did you assign to everything else you were thinking about?" he says.
"If you consider it more important than the chess game, you really didn't do anything wrong. But if not, then next time, don't let it take over. I can't speak for you. Me, I'm pretty competitve. I don't like losing. Not losing has a pretty high priority for me." he admits.
"I mean no offense, Agera-san," Ami says to him very gently, "but one might argue that putting such a high priority on winning is conceited or vain. To compete and do your best is certainly noble, but ..." she trails off, then considers a moment. "But, I do not mean to presume that you take it too far. I apologize." She smiles at him, then asks, "Hey, can I ask you a favor?"
Takashi smiles. "I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to do your best. That's what everyone always says, right? I just take it to heart. And if the game is competitve, doing your best doesn't mean losing - unless that's all your capable of." he 'explains'. It probably still sounds somewhat aggressive.
"Certainly, Mizuno-san. Ask away!"
Ami reaches into her backpack and pulls out a few yen, then offers them to Takashi. "Would you buy me a hotdog with everything on it, and a coca-cola? I want to try and finish going through this game. When you're back, maybe we can play again."
Takashi holds a hand up. "Sure, but I'm not going to use your money." Before she can protest, he clarifies by cutting her off. "It's nthe proper thing to do" he clarifies, getting up to go grab that hotdog and soda.
Takashi may be a lot of things, and many of those things are bad, but this is one of those very small, bright spots that may indicate something beneath all of those bad things.
After a time he comes back with two hotdogs; one with everything on it for Ami and one with chili and cheese for himself.
Ami blinks in surprise at Takashi's response, but she doesn't even have time to argue. She shakes her head, then smiles a little and goes back to her game. By the time he's back, she is just topplign over her own king with a faint frown.
She looks up and accepts the hotdog and coke with a smile. "Thank you," she says to him honestly, accepting both with a sigh. She flips her hair back out of her eyes, then takes a drink of the coke before setting in on the hot dog. She takes a few bites before she starts setting the chess board back up.
Takashi notices her knocking her king over as he sits down - and before he takes the drink of his own soda, he asks her simply. "Did you figure it out? Not how you lost, I'm sure you knew that. But wether you made the right decision." he adds, alluding to the talk on priorities. Then he helps her by setting up his side of the board.
"No," Ami replies faintly, unhappy with her answer. "I do know why I lost; it was two moves I missed. I didn't see them at the time." She shakes her head faintly, then says, "But whether what I was thinking of instead was worth the loss ... I'm still not sure."
With the pieces set up, Ami takes another bite of her hotdog. Somehow she manages to eat it without making a mess all over herself. "So what's going through your head, anyways?" she asks curiously. "I've always heard you were single-minded and determined; not distracted by silly games or girls or life. One of the brightest minds at Infinity." Either she's researched him since they last met, or she was holding back in their last meeting. "What would distract you?"
Takashi laughs nervously. "Well, Mizuno-san, I admit... I can't really tell you that." he adds, his eyes sort of looking up and away. "It's... nothing personal. There are just some things in life that you can't share in a booth in an arcade - some things normal folks might not understand." He's alluding to his work at Eclipse, but it could also be any other sort of magical life.
"Lets just say the things that distract me are on a grander scale than any of what you listed as theories." he smiles. "But even as driven as I am, I do know what it's like to lose. I lost to you during our last meeting. I may, in fact, be up for a repeat of that." he winks. "But I learned last time, and I will learn this time, and eventually, I am sure that I will not continue to lose."
"And I'm sure you won't ever lose in a game like that again, because you've learned from it. The difference between people like you and I, and the rest of the world, is that when we /do/ make a mistake - if that's on a test, in chess, or in life - we endeavor to not make that same mistake again. That's something my mother told me in her letter." he says, alluding to the conversation from last time.
Ami opens her mouth to argue Takashi's point, but then hesitates and slowly reconsiders. "Hmmm," she replies thoughtfully. "Not unless there is something more important than winning," she finally agrees.
But what might Takashi Agera consider unsuited for sharing at the arcade? 'Normal' people? An interesting turn of phrase to be certain. But does he mean magic? Or does he mean people who aren't intelligent? Certainly, there's no sense of deja vu regarding him; he's not likely connected to the Moon Kingdom. Is he?
"Is there somewhere more private you'd prefer to talk?" Ami asks Takashi curiously, baiting the question out. "Regardless, I believe it is your turn to control the white pieces."
Takashi raises an eyebrow. Then he realizes what he said, and that eyebrow lowers. He backtracks quickly. "Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind these days, too. Some things that probably shouldn't be on my mind, anyways." There is a tiny voice in the back of his head that says 'like madoka-chan', a thought which is summarily excecuted.
"Ah, yes, my turn to be White." Takashi adds, trying to change the subject - and doing a poor job - as he makes a defensive opening this time.
"Distracted?" Ami asks Takashi with faint amusement in her tone. She considers his move only briefly, then replies with one of her own. "You know, we deal with a lot of the same problems," Ami points out softly. "Many of those we are surrounded by don't understand the trials and troubles we go through. Sometimes ... finding someone to talk to can be difficult."
Takashi is moving much slower than he was last time. He respects Ami more as an opponent, and has done a little research himself (but not as much as he should, being so distracted.)
He laughs, a bit. "Maybe you're right. It's hard to explain to people the sort of issues you're having when they don't understand them even a small way." he says, as he makes his move, still defensively. He leans back and looks to the sky a bit. "Academic troubles, of course."
It is patently obvious he doesn't mean his academic troubles. First off, because he doesn't have any.
A pair of thin blue brows arch curiously at Takashi's 'admission'. Ami takes her own time considering the board before she moves--or perhaps considering his words? Whatever the case, she doesn't respond either in chess or by word right away.
When she does move, it remains neutral, as do her words, "I'm sorry to hear that. If you need a tutor," she says with a faint smile, "I'd be happy to help. Or, if you just need someone to talk to."
Takashi was in the process of responding to her move as she says that he might need a /tutor/. This causes him to spend a few moments looking a bit dumbstruck and grabbing at the air for a peice that's a tile over.
"No, no. Just... stress is all. It can be stressful, juggling so much. I'm also in the science club, and I have my uh..." he pauses "afterschool activities." Yeah, that's a neutral way to say it.
He moves another peice and smiles.
"I'm on the swim team," Ami agrees quietly as she makes another move. "And, of course, chess club. Plus I attend the Crystal Seminar cram school," she lets out a faint sigh and studies him again. "Believe me, I understand afterschool activities. To top it off, I do tutor many of my friends. I find that teaching actually helps with my own understanding, as well. But if you're sure you don't need the help ..." she trails off, then notes, "Well, the offer will still be here if you change your mind."
Takashi smirks a bit. "Swim team, huh? Wouldn't have guessed it." he admits, honestly. "But the cram school?" he says quizzically, picking up a peice and debating where to move it "...I'm surprised you need to go to a cram school. I don't." he adds, casually. So casually. As he places his peice down.
"You offered that last time - but I might actually take you up on it this time. I do understand how explaining something to somebody can help you commit it to memory. It makes good sense, when you put it that way."
Ami frowns just a little at the attempted sleight against Crystal Seminar. "Ah, I guess no one told you that Cram School is only for the best," she replies. "I apologise; I thought you knew. Someone with your reputation, well .. I'd have expected you to have been excited by such an offer. But I guess you didn't understand."
She makes a move, then looks up at him curiously. "I'll have to make sure my friends are okay with it," she says. "But if they're not, I'm sure I can find some time to tutor you privately."
Takashi chuckles a little. Her riposte was somewhat expected. "You know, I hear that a lot, that the invitations to Crystal Seminar and all the others are an honor. I think it's just so they can take credit for your success later - add you to the list of successful people they had there, number of various degrees earned by alumuni, blah blah." he explains.
"I mean, I'm earning perfect marks by not going. You can't get better marks than perfect. So it seems like a waste of time for me, and a benefit only for them. I got an invite, I just had more important concerns for such long blocks of time." This is accentuated by Takashi taking one of Ami's peices on the board.
"I dunno, I can't walk down a hall and talk with a girl without rumors swirling. Are you sure you're ready for the kind of distraction that might come with us working together privately?" This is 1) legitimately true, Infinity is a rumormill of epic proportions 2) even truer after the dance. He also dumps the idea of her tutoring him off the side of that boat.
"It'd be less likely to cause those hushed whispers if your friends were okay with me joining an existing group."
Ami considers his move thoughtfully, but responds verbally first, "Perfect marks are easy enough to get when you aren't attempting the hardest classes or tests. Crystal Seminar is preparing me for my college entrance exams." She picks up a piece to move it, then hesitates thoughtfully.
"It's really akin to you taking some college courses," Ami continues as she places her piece, countering his strike with a more defensive position. "Except rather than taking boring prerequisite classes at a lesser school, I instead gain insight into the entrance exams for the hardest colleges in Japan. And I am more likely to receive a lucrative scholarship."
"It does sound like we're both after similar things, Mizuno-san..." he says, looking up at her. "But we differ on how we intend to achieve them. I'm as certain you could easily pass my courses as I am that I could pass your much vaunted entrance exams." he adds.
Takashi doesn't press his advantage on the chessboard, but instead shifts his own position. "For instance, do you feel like you learn anything that you didn't already know at the Seminar? And I could make a similar argument; even the 'meaningless prerequisite classes' at Infinity are taught by the finest specialists in their fields. But I'm still, by and large, doing the work to epxlain what I already know, rather than learn it." he says, bluntly.
"Mmm," Ami replies thoughtfully, not disagreeing with the idea. She gives it some thought as she takes another of Takashi's pieces. Eventually, she agrees, "True, I am not learning, there; only practicing the skills I've already got in an environment as stressful as tests themself."
"mmm. I get plenty of practice with my skills in..." he stops and realizes that Ami is not Hannah "...other circumstances."
Takashi swaps her peice for one of his. "Also, I'm kind of glad I didn't take up any of those cram schools for another reason - one of my friends has been needing my assistance lately, and I'd have to keep ducking out to help." This is reasonably true, as well.
"Heh," Ami's reply is one of amusement. "I've had to skip a few times, myself. Friends ..." she trails off. "Friends are sometimes distracting, aren't they? And yet, I've found my life so much better, the past few months, since I gained real friends for the first time. I think I'm better off for it."
Takashi smiles. "Friends. Allies. Same thing really. Someone you can count on. I don't have many - I cherish the ones I do." Takashi adds. "Real friends are harder to find than you'd think..." he adds a bit wistfully. He doesn't comment on their distractions.
Ami nods her head in fervent agreement. "It's the same for me," she says quietly as she leans forward to consider her next move. "I haven't got a lot of friends, but the ones I d--" she cuts off at a beeping noise, then reaches into her bag and pulls out a blue-hued cell phone. She glances at the message, then her eyes widen. "I'm sorry, Agera-san, but ... friends," she tells him, putting the phone back immediately. "Will you keep the board?" she asks, grabbing her bag and shoving in the two books she had on the table. "I owe you a finish," she explains, even as she readies to leave.
Takashi looks up. He's watching Ami as she plots her move - and then as she suddenly has to rush out. "Sure, friends. I understand!" he says, warmly. But internally, he notes the degree to which she seems hurried.
As he looks at the board and takes a picture for placing, he considers things. And then there's a familiar flash at the side of his mind, which his Device cannot confirm. That's curious, too. He really should investigate... but he has things to build.