Takashi is still in this hospital bed. He's been here almost a week now. It's not about his wounds - they're healing. It's about a massive bout of exhaustion that has his body not reacting correctly. The doctors are stumped. But Takashi knows what it is. Someone, somewhere drained him of the energy that makes him who he is.
The Dark energy that he's had with him forever.
He's waiting for Ayana to come back with enough energy that hopefully he can pass these tests and get himself out of this damned room. Because he knows the only way he's going to get back to full strength is with his own intelligence - like everything else.
Homework has been delivered to him by a well-meaning classmate, and it sits on a desk nearby, completed quickly and in a nice stack ready for pick-up. What is spread out all around him are notebooks and papers. And on his lap is a laptop (which he ordered specifically then spent a day breaking down and setting up to make sure it was secure) which he's using to run a simulation. A simulation of some of the data Axion gathered from the fight - specifically, of a massive burst of energy that occured after he was unconscious. It's sitting in such a way anyone walking in might get a tantalizing glance before he shut it - if they might recognize it.
Say, if they had nearly the exact information running on a computer at home.
Figuring out exactly what room someone is in is normally restricted information at a hospital. Unless you are family or get permission, the best you can do is trust the hospital staff to deliver a message (or some homework) for you.
Of course, when one's mother is one of the top doctors at the hospital, and trusts you implicitly, it's really not hard to say 'He's a friend from school, Mom. Can you just get me his room so I can pay him a visit?'
This, of course, worked like a charm. Dressed in a pair of bluejeans and a striped yellow and orange sweater with plum sleeves, Ami walks into Takashi's room with hands in pockets and her leather bag slung over her shoulder. The glance at his simulation data--ever so brief--only serves to reinforce what Ami already knows. But she doesn't let on, right away.
"Well," says the blunette as she slows, nearing his bed. "This is an odd turn, isn't it." She smiles at him and takes a seat in the visitor's chair, uninvited, then slides the bag down to the ground. "How are you feeling?"
Takashi looks up as Ami enters the room, and shuts his laptop rather reflexively. He starts to collect his various papers and stack them up, and he sets the papers and laptop on the table on the other side. He sits up - there's still some bandages visible on his shoulder and across his chest as he does so, smiling a bit.
"Mizuno-san. I'm surprised to see you here." he says, but his tone and eyes seem to indicate it's not an undue surprise. "Well, I'm still pretty messed up, but I guess I'll be okay if beautiful girls like you keep showing up unannounced while I'm here." he adds. It's said with an impish sort of grin, as if he knows how bad a comment it is to make offhand. And then his face falls for a moment - a brief indication that no, that does NOT make being laid up like this worth it.
"So what brings you here? Did they run out of people willing to come up here to bring me my work and decide to outsource to Seishou?"
"Someone mentioned your grades might slip if you don't have a tutor for the lectures you're missing," Ami quips gently as she settles into the chair. "And of course, I volunteered." She's lying right now. The little pull of amusement at the corners of her eyes, and the way her lips curl up. It's so obvious if anyone knows her. Maybe he doesn't know her that well. Maybe he does.
"How did you get into this mess, Agera-san?" Ami asks curiously as she bends down to pull a tablet out of her laptop. It looks like some sort of custom job: a teal case, with a golden astrological symbol for Mercury as flare around the camera, and a rather large screen. It's probably on the heavier side for a tablet, by the looks of things. "A little bunny told me you got stabbed by a spear. That sounds awful."
"Well, whoever said that doesn't know me very well." Takashi says, almost reflexively defending himself and his academic credentials, before he does pick up on just that faint hint of amusement in what she says. While he doesn't know her /that/ well, having it drilled into your had to watch other people for cues is important.
"Mmmmm. This little rabbit was wrong." he says, plainly. "I got jumped by a delinquent with a stick. Polearm, maybe, but no stabbing." he says, sticking relatively close to the truth. "I gave as good as I got, but I think they might've been hopped up on some sort of drugs, as odd as that sounds." he adds. This is... pretty close to the truth, actually. Except the part where he didn't completly get his butt kicked.
Takashi is interested in the tablet, simply because he doesn't recognize the model, or make, or anything. But he's kind of not in a position to check particularly well right now.
"Anyways, I'm touched by your concern for the well-being of my grades." he adds, a bit honestly again. It's somewhat more out of character for him to be hostile right now than usual.
"Mmm, I hear polearms are bad for your health," Ami replies with a smile, then turns the tablet around to show him a picture of a long glaive. "You should get something like this to defend yourself with from those vicious polearm-wielding maniacs."
She grins and turns it back around, then notes, "I honestly thought I would come and visit and play some chess with you. What a better way to recover than to exercise your mind, right? But then I remembered you still have my chess set. Did you happen to bring it here?"
Takashi quirks an eyebrow. It's not his weapon - and he's almost tempted to comment - but he doesn't. Close, though! "Well, I don't intend to run into a large contingent of spear-wielding maniacs. That seems like a problem for our local police forces, not me. Besides, where would I keep it during class?"
"I do still have the chess set, but it wasn't with me. It's at home, so I'll have to return it to you when I'm better." he says with a smile. "I've been trying to keep my mind occupied, yeah." he says, gesturing to the stack of papers and the laptop "but it's not my mind that's at fault here. It's my body. Otherwise I could just think my way right back home"
"Fold it up into a necklace, or a bracer," Ami suggests of the weapon amusedly. "If you use 9-dimensional folding, you could probably shrink it down to the size of a ring, even."
Leaning down, Ami pulls out a small box from her backpack, then sets it on his hospital tray. "Luckily, I had a feeling you wouldn't have the set. So I bought a new one." She winks at him, then stands to start unboxing the travel chess set and set up the pieces.
This one seems to be a novelty set: Monsters versus Witches, instead of the usual Black versus White. Who even sells these things? What a weirdo, that Ami is.
Takashi smiles. He doesn't actually respond to the folding comment - but it's kind of obvious Ami knows something is up - but his eyes DO unconsciously flit to the little charm-sized halberd on a chain on his left hand.
"Well, this is a neat set." he adds, honestly. He doesn't think it wierd - if he played chess (more than he does with her) he'd probably have some sort of fancy fantasy set - dragons and knights, or something similar - so this isn't strange at all to him.
"Well, the only question is, which do you want to play?" he asks, gesturing at the board. "I'm okay with either, and you're the one who's come all the way out here to see me."
"Ah," Ami says thoughtfully, as she finishes setting up the pieces. "Well, normally I would prefer to play the witches. Monsters are no fun, but with witches I can pretend I'm a magical girl, like Sailor V. But," she notes, "I think the witches have a decided advantage. After all, white goes first." She smiles at him, then turns the board so the witches are to him.
"I've beat you the last two games," Ami notes, "even if it was close. You're not feeling well. I will let you have the first move."
Takashi shrugs a bit. "You're being very kind. I'm reasonably sure the last two games you had somewhat handily. I'm not a chess player." This isn't meant as hostile as it might be from him under normal circumstances. "You're an expert at this, after all." he adds.
He does, however, accept her decision on who goes first. And looks up at her. "Well, Sailor V is just a costumed vigilante. Magical girls, witches, monsters, magic knights... everyone knows they don't really exist." he says, as he picks up a pawn and shifts it forward.
"Doesn't quite explain the sudden appearance of an iceberg in Tokyo Harbour a few weeks ago, though, does it?" Ami asks curiously as she responds to his first move by moving a pawn of her own forward. No matter who you are, it's difficult to read someone's intentions for a chess match from the first two or three exchanges.
"Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like with magical girls--or magical boys, of course--running around." Ami smiles at Takashi, then notes, "I don't think it'd be that much weirder than it has been. We'd probably have like ... flowers hanging in the sky, and see fights from a few dozen miles away. But it probably wouldn't change much about the day-to-day lives of people."
Takashi squints. It looks like he's squinting at the chessboard, but it's really that's just where he was looking when he considers. He moves a Knight up, next. "I hadn't heard much about the iceberg, but with the crazy weather we've been having, there's no telling. Climate change is a thing, you know."
He leans over sideways a little bit, resting on the incline of his hospital bed after making his move. Then, he decides to play along for a bit. "Well, I figure if there was something like that, normal people would probably not even be able to tell. If there was, per se, a magical flower in the sky, most folks wouldn't see it. It'd only be those magical or special people." he says. "And it'd probably fundamentally change our understanding of a lot of things - like energy - if it worked like the mangas seem to think."
"Mmm," Ami agrees quietly, then takes what might be an unexpectedly aggressive move. Is it an opening? Or is it a feint? She smiles at Takashi, then nods. "That is what the mangas seem to think, although I haven't read a lot of those. I do wonder where the authors get their ideas, though. They seem so silly, don't they? Magic like that couldn't possibly exist, could it?"
"Well, imagination is a powerful thing, right?" he asks, and continues moving up pawns. Unsurprisingly, he does still allow some of his pride to sneak back into the conversation.
"I figure it'd be somewhat difficult, to keep two sets of rules in your head. I mean, assuming you were both in tune with all the differences of the magical world, but also still trying to operate in the normal one. You couldn't tip your hand, showing other people things you know that they can't experience or verify."
Five moves in, and Ami's plan still isn't apparent. But she's so aggressive in this game; something she hasn't been, previously. She moves a knight, taking one of his pawns but putting the knight in a precarious situation for one of his Bishops. Is it worth it? Surely not.
"Or if you did," Ami replies thoughtfully, "you risk them successfully verifying it, and either becoming something they shouldn't--at least if the manga are to be believed--or else being at cross purposes with yourself as regards to your ... magic. A very precarious situation." Much like her knight is in, now.
Takashi picks up the knight with his bishop - after taking a while to verify as best he can it's not a trap. As much because of the ongoing conversation, as because he's Takashi, and quick to move on weakpoitns. But this, too, gets another eyebrow raise.
"Of course, in such a theoretical situation, with everyone hiding like that, it would be hard to make friends and alliances without revealing yourself to someone who might either not be in the 'magical game' at all, or worse - they might be on the other team."
"Or teams," Ami says thoughtfully. Indeed, it seems it wasn't a trap at all; his bishop goes unclaimed. Was it a mistake in Ami's aggressive style? Surely not. "There's nothing saying there have to only be two sides in any conflict," although there are in chess. Ami moves another piece, this one seemingly disconnected from the rest of the play at hand. What is she about?
"I wonder, Takashi-san--can I call you Takashi-san?" Ami asides to make sure it's alright to use his given name. "I wonder what side you'd be on, in such a world. Would you fight for justice and love? Would you fight for knowledge and power?" Pause. "Haha, I can't imagine you as a true villain, though. Me, I think I'd fight for knowledge and love. Intelligence is so important, and ignorance so cruel. And love ... a world without love isn't a world worth living, right?"
Takashi tilts his head at this. It does seem to have been an easy take. So he continues to build up his board position. "Well, no. Obviously, I was simplifying for the sake of the theoretical."
"Certainly - on the condition that I can call you Ami-san." he adds. He looks at her, trying to figure out her angle from her face. Trying to read her - both in the game and in the discussion surrounding it.
"Well, in an ideal world I suppose everyone would. But we both know in truth there would be certain elements that wouldn't. They might even put otherwise involved folks in danger, danger that they would require rescuing from." He dodges the question of his own side for now.
"Mmm," Ami agrees quietly as she moves another piece into place. Her trap is nearly complete, and very hard to see. But it's about now that he might start to realise his demize. Several moves ago he took a knight, which opened a hole in his defenses, through which Ami is about to place a piece that will put him into checkmate. One turn left.
And she doesn't even warn him.
"In an ideal world," Ami agrees, "but we don't live in such a world. Even without magic, people fight. It would probably be worse with it. But you didn't answer my question."
Takashi doesn't see the trap - inexperienced though he is. It turns out Chess is a game where raw intellect isn't enough to carry the day against an equal raw intellect and strategic depth of knowledge.
"I think..." he says, making a largely inefectual move, "that I would be on the side that does the rescuing, rather than the side that hurts people pointlessly. I think I would do exactly what I do now - fight to help people, but in the way that I'm good at." He takes a breath."Well, Justice means a lot of things to a lot of people - it's hard to say that I would fight for Justice as a concept."
"Now, Love? Love is a thing worth fighting for, I suppose. After all, if love itself were under attack, and I didn't help defend it, I might not ever know what love is." he admits."Since I didn't know my mother, and my father is so distant, I didn't get much of what other people seemed to. And I'd still like the chance to experience that feeling for myself."
"And intelligence, naturally, is one of the things I can say is most important, and worthy of protection."
"Sounds like we'd be on the same team," Ami says with a smile, as she makes her final move. "Checkmate," she declares suddenly. "But I think you'd need to work on your strategy. Fighting like you play chess would wind up with you in the hospital." Nine moves. Their shortest match, yet, and with a completely different strategy from what she normally uses on him.
"Good thing neither of us is magical, hm?" Ami teases him as she sits back down in the visitor's chair and reaches for her tablet again.
Takashi takes a moment to look down at the board. It's not a pretty sight, and his hand (the one with the charm on it) comes up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "You know, Ami-san, I hope you get something out of our matches, because I don't know that I'm getting any better at all." he admits. He actually looks at the board for a good long time.
"You might be right about that." he adds, one hand subconsciously trailing to his injured chest. "I like to think - purely theoretically, of course - if I was involved in such magical escapades, I would devote more time to them than I do losing to you at chess."
"Losing is learning, in chess," Ami notes quietly as she taps into her tablet thoughtfully. "Unfortunately, in a fight to the death with magic, losing is probably not so much learning." She glances up at Takashi, then asks, "Would you like me to stop playing against you? We could play another game; Go, perhaps? The problem, Takashi-san, is that I have been playing this game since I was four, actively competing in competitions. You have ten years of experience working against you. I'm sure you could be as good as I am with some practice."
Takashi smiles again. "Well, all of that depends on how truthful you were being earlier when you complimented me. If I'm nearly beating you, I have no problem continuing this. But if I'm much further off, then perhaps a break. After all..."
he smiles, and calls back to a previous comment "I do have other things that consume my time, so it would be impossible for me to catch up without adjusting my priorities, which simply isn't possible. So if I'm terribly far behind, starting on neutral ground might be better."
"And don't assume all fights with theoretical magic are to the death. In such a circumstance, anything you survive is a stepping stone."
Ami considers the advice about theoretical magic a moment, then shrugs. "Maybe so. The mangas seem to think death is on the line, though. Anyhow," she packs the computer up and puts it away, then smiles at Takashi. "I was not lying. You have come close to beating me. Today, you played very poorly, but I'm sure that's just because you are not feeling well." And because she's not distracted by thoughts of purple hair. "Still, I would not be averse to a game that neither of us has played before. I enjoy our games, Takashi-san. You do not think like a typical chess player, and we spend as much time discussing interesting side-topics as we do playing chess."
"Oh, perhaps death is on the line. But I think, for me personally, were I to say, have one bad episode... I think the next thing I would do is look at ways to ensure I wouldn't have to worry again. After all, they always tell you to affix your own life mask before helping others. Even if the urge to put yourself at risk on behalf of another is very high, and I can think of one... or two exceptions, off the top of my head, where I might find that advice very hard to follow."
"Well, it's so rare I get to converse with a fellow intellectual juggernaut - we really are in a class of our own, Ami-san - and I find it very enjoyable. I would play tic-tac-toe with you if need be, but I feel like another game might be more ideal."
Ami smiles a little and straightens up. "You cannot help others if you are yourself in danger," she notes quietly. "I would not have trouble affixing my mask first before I help my friends." Selfishness? Or pragmatism? Ami stands and begins putting away the chess set, then bows to him. "Please, think about what game you would prefer to play in the future, Takashi-san. I look forward to our next match. Please recover quickly."