It seems as though Usagi and Ami have picked up a new friend-- someone in their class, apparently. A fairly pretty and bespectacled girl in the Seishou middle-school seifuku, she's saying indignantly as they come into the arcade, "...such trouble with English if that's the way she's teaching it. You'd probably have better luck with manga translations. Then at least you wouldn't be coping with 'Noriko walked the dog past the supermarket.'"
She flips her hair over her shoulder with an arrogant toss of her head and pushes her glasses up on her nose, school briefcase held with a backward hand over the other shoulder. There's nothing demure or shy about her walk. "Ugh I want coffee."
Usagi shrugs helplessly at her 'new' friend as her hip catches the door. "That's is how it's been taught. So you're saying it's not just me? What about math Mino-chan? Though I think that one is just me."
She feels pleased with herself. She did not spend the entire school day gazing dreamily at her boy-now-girlfriend. While her focus hadn't been the greatest, it was still floating along the focus she had during study sessions.
She's still adjusting to the way Minori walks. It's the same as Mamoru's, but with hips.
She plods toward the counter, the focus having caused the start of a headache (she's been focused for YEARS it seems! Minori's such a bad influence on her slacker ways!) and hums.
"Motoki-niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-saaaaaaan."
Sing song voice as she orders.
As it happens, Kyouko Sakura is already here. There's something about this place that always seems to attract her when she's trying to lay low- for whatever reason. It's not like she's being particularly subtle, but at least she's not blowing stuff up, right?
The reason she's not being particularly subtle is that she's busy destroying the high score set on the Arcade's DDR machine. A score which was set by herself a couple of months ago. The same fluid, effortless ease that comes from being a monster-hunting lich apparently lends itself to being awesome at dance video games. Either that, or she legit has years of practice playing the damn thing which honestly is just as likely.
She slows to a stop as the song ends, only the slightest sheen of sweat on her brow which she wipes away with the back of her hand, one-fanged grin in evidence as she notes her new score.. sitting just atop her OLD score, the initials KBS proudly displayed in the top two slots with a pretty large gap between them and the next ones.
"We've been over how the math isn't just you. Remember? Irrational numbers really are irrational," Minori says with a grin, hip-bumping Usagi lightly as she paces her toward the counter. And then she sees Motoki and suddenly flushes bright red. "Umm. Usagi-chan can you get me a coffee I have to... be..."
The flushing bright red comes along with the teenaged girl spinning on her heel so she can't see Motoki anymore, hair and skirt flaring out with the whirl, and then her earth-blue eyes light on Kyouko and she looks trapped. She almost drops her briefcase but catches it at the last second, and almost gloms on to Usagi's arm but catches herself at the last second.
No no no. Kyouko has no reason to suspect. No reason. She's not putting Kyouko in danger by being here. She's not putting anyone in danger by being here. Mamoru's out sick, clearly, though no one knows where he's staying.
Usagi stifles a giggle. "Don't worry about her, she's just shy."
She glances back to check on Minori and--
Spots Kyouko!
She wonders if anyone has told her.
"Actually, threestrawberry milkshakes and a coffee? Thank you!"
Usagi zooms by Minori and all but glomps Kyouko (if she's allowed.)
TIME TO BEGIN!
"Kyoukooooo did you heeeeeear?" Large Sad Bunny Eyes. "Mamo-chan has mono!"
And then, a beat. "Oh! I got you a milkshake, too. You don't have to join us but you can! And then you can meet Minori-chan!" She points the new girl out. "She's Rei's cousin! (Between you and me, Minori's cuter, but don't tell Rei I said that!)"
Kyouko is turning away from the DDR machine, flipping her impressively voluminous ponytail in a move she must have picked up from Homura as if to say, 'you disappoint me with your paltry challenge, DDR machine', when Usagi suddenly flies out of nowhere and attatches to her.
"Uwah!" Kyouko exclaims, her surprised noise, and Usagi can feel her momentarily tense- she has been informed the DK is looking for her, after all, and so any surprise is met by survival instincts kicking in. It takes her just a moment to realize who has grabbed her though, and after that split-second of impending violence, she relaxes.. her grin returning, if just a bit more subdued.
"Oh.. Usagi-chan." She says, peering down at the blonde.. and then blinks slightly. She's /pretty sure/ Mamoru doesn't have mono, because she knows he's in hiding and also he texted her with warnings and stuff recently, but at least now she knows the cover story, so although she puts 2 and 2 together in her mind, out loud she says, "Mono, huh? You know they call that the kissing disease. What have you been up to, you naughty bunny?" She smirks suggestively, because she is an uncouth street lout.
Of course, she still has no clue that this Minori-chan /is/ Mamoru. But, milkshake. "I never turn down free snacks." Kyouko says in the most true statement she's ever made, allowing Usagi to pull her.
Ami enters the Crown a little behind her friends, a little weary and tired. She has a leather satchel over her shoulder, and her hair is still a little wet from swim practice. She makes her way towards the counter, and Motoki hands her a milkshake almost instantly. "Uhh ...?" Ami replies confusedly.
Motoki points towards Usagi and says, "Someone's proud of her new allowance."
Ami grins and takes the milkshake, salutes Motoki with it, then turns to join her friend. "Usagi-chan, thank you," she says as she joins them. "Hello, Minori-chan. Hello ..." she looks to Kyouko uncertainly.
Stricken at the accusation of being shy, and then further still at Usagi skipping across the room right to Kyouko, Minori can't stop herself from reflexively reaching out to try and catch at the blonde girl before she's gone. And then she drops her hand to her side and swallows, turning around with the most awkwardly fake plastered-on smile ever, to slide the freshly-placed coffee toward herself.
Oh good, Ami's here. Oh good, Motoki is talking to Ami. Minori waves the tips of her fingers at Ami, but lingers-- and Motoki's seemed to latch on to the fact that Usagi said Minori was shy and has deemed it his job to jolly her. She can not meet Motoki's eyes. Motoki's not even magical. Motoki wouldn't get it. Motoki...
...is talking to her. "...-chan, she's a good friend to make! And oh, you're Rei-chan's cousin? It's nice to meet you! I'm Motoki Furuhata, but most everyone calls me Furu-chan except for Usagi-chan over there--" the blond man's chattering amiably.
Minori smiles a little weakly into her coffee, absolutely refusing to look up.
Motoki seems to get it (even if 'it' is something completely different in origin), and his eyes soften. "Anyway, if you need anything, don't be afraid to ask!" he finishes, bustling away to help someone else.
Minori hunches down and ponders the physics behind invisibility for a moment before sliding onto one of the counter stools and dropping her case under the counter. And then she just waits for everyone else to finish approaching.
She tips her chin up at Kyouko, haughty. "Kissing him, of course!"
She giggles and tugs, and when they near where Minori is clearly uncomfortable, she drapes her arms around her and hums into the hug. "I'm sorry." The apology is quiet.
Usagi waves at Ami-chan as she slides into her own seat. "You're welcome!"
Then she perks up. "Oh! Ami-chan, Minori-chan, this is Kyouko-chan. Kyouko-chan, this is Ami-chan and Minori-chan!"
She slides the third shake to Kyouko while sipping her own.
She's twisted in the stool so she can 'see everyone' and her knee is conveniently pressed against Minori's.
And, while the new girl is busy studying the scratches of the counter, Usagi digs around her satchel and pulls out her math worksheet and slides it beneath her eyes. (An excuse to not be focusy!)
Kyouko snorts at Usagi's unapologetic kissing admission! She slaps Usagi on the shoulder, perhaps just a bit roughly. "Thatta girl!" She doesn't point out the obvious flaw in this explanation, which is that in order for Usagi to give Mamoru mono by kissing him, she would have had to have mono first. It's a decent enough cover!
She glances at the other two girls as Usagi pulls her over to the seats. Never one to be shy, Kyouko merely flashes her one-fanged grin and inclines her head in what passes for a nod of greeting. "Hey. I was told there's free milkshakes, so pardon me for intruding!" She gives Ami a curious glance- she's seen this girl before, she's pretty sure, but she can't place where. Maybe at one of the various dances she's been to, though she doesn't remember anything other than the look of her.
Minori gets another glance, but as she's clearly not interested in talking at the moment, Kyouko doesn't press her, instead turning to the milkshake. "I like raspberry best," She asides, "But I'm not one to complain about any free milkshakes!"
"Mmm, Raspberry's good," Ami agrees with Kyouko thoughtfully as she settles into her seat. She studies Minori a moment, then shakes her head as if she's clearing out a stray thought.
"It's nice to meet you, Kyouko-san. You are not intruding, I'm sure; Usagi-chan is friends with a lot of people; I've grown used to random people turning up at our tables to say 'hi'." She smiles at Kyouko, then asks, "Do you go to school at Seishou?" Surely not; Ami's never seen her, before, which means she's not on the shipping tree, which means she can't possibly attend Seishou.
It's actually a great change of focus-- the math getting slid in front of Minori's face means that, relieved, she can slip a pencil out of her pocket and start going over Usagi's answers. She starts, hand light and handwriting unmistakeable, and is finally able to regain her composure. Another slug of the bitter black coffee and she turns around on her barstool, reaching down to slip a book out of her bag to balance on her knee as a writing surface.
She finally glances up, giving Usagi a very small sidelong smile, corners of her eyes crinkling just a little, then looks at Kyouko. Those are really familiar eyes. "Nice to meet you, Kyouko-san," she echoes Ami. "Nice moves you've got." A quick gesture of her pencil-hand at the DDR machine.
Usagi shrugs. "Strawberry was the safest bet! Although some people are allergic to strawberries..." Oh no! "You're not allergic to them, are you, Kyouko-chan?" Sad face!
Usagi looks between Kyouko and the DDR machine. "If I tried that, I'd probably trip and break the machine. How'd you get so good?" (She doesn't know where Kyouko goes, so she has no answer for Ami's question!)
She watches Minori's pencil move over her page and siiiiiighs, leaning her head on the girl's shoulder. "Those are a lot of pencil marks, Mino-chan. I promise I've been trying!" Another Sad Face!
Kyouko puts the straw in her mouth and inhales about a quarter of the shake in the time it takes Ami to greet her. Popping her mouth off of said straw, she eyes the blue-haired girl. "Nah, I don't go to Seishou." Or anywhere else, though she tactfully leaves that part off. "Nice ta meetcha, though."
She then turns her eyes to Minori. "And you too, Minori-san." She says, her eyes flicking down to the coffee. Huh, just like Mamoru drinks. Weird. She then catches those eyes looking at her, and pauses a moment.. could it be..?
But Usagi distracts her before the thought can finish, and she glances back to the blonde, smirking. "Allergic? Honey, I'm a Puella. I could probably eat nails and be no worse the wear for it. Though they wouldn't taste half as good as this." There she goes with that whole 'secret identity' fail again, but she's long past caring about that sort of thing at this point in her life.
As for the DDR machine, she baws with false modesty, "Ah, y'know, it's just my natural awesomeness."
Ami very slowly leans away from Kyouko as the girl whips between topics like a horse on the tracks. She follows all eyes to the DDR machine, then blinks once and sticks the straw to her milkshake in her mouth. Not another word for several moments as she sucks down ice cold delicious.
Eventually she comes up for air, and that's when Ami observes, "I have found out that I'm surprisingly good at video games. But I suspect that one is not my style. I'm not very good at dancing."
"You're clearly a force to be reckoned with," Minori says very, very seriously, utterly straight-faced. "What's a Puella?"
She finishes off her coffee and reaches around behind her to put the empty cup on the counter, then unthinkingly slips her arm around Usagi's back as the odangoed girl leans on her shoulder. "No, you're all right," she tells her cheerfully, "only about half of the marks I put were where you got the wrong answer. The other half are shortcuts that should make things easier." Her pencil goes back in her pocket, then her hand comes back to steady the book before it falls off her lap, and she disentangles in order to hand the math worksheet back.
Bright blue eyes regard Ami sidelong. "I find that incredibly hard to believe. Have you ever tried?"
She giggles at Kyouko. "What if you dipped the nails in chocolate?" Phew! She issn't poisoning a new friend!
Usagi thinks nothing of the warm arm around her. (And of course, she's an affectionate girl who brings out the affectionate side of others, so she's been told! So even if this wasn't her boyfriend, nothing too weird with girl-on-girl snuggles!) "Oh? Short cuts? Why don't they teach those?" She squints at the paper. "Can you see where I went wrong, or do I suck at showing my work?"
Usagi looks up at Ami. "Are you as bad at dancing as me?"
"Well," Kyouko says, with the air of an expert, after sucking down another few mouthfuls of shake, "It's not really like dancing. DDR, I mean. It's more about agility and pattern recognition. If you can remember the sequences, and react quick enough, you can be good at DDR. Actual dancing requires a bit more.. elegance." And then she flushes for some reason.
Changing the subject, she eyes Minori as the girl slips an arm around Usagi. Something about this girl seems /very/ familiar. If only she could put her finger on it.. But she's distracted again by the question of what, exactly, a Puella is. "It's basically like a superhero." She says, nonchalantly, "Except we get our powers by selling our souls to a talking white rat."
She then looks at Usagi, and fang-grins. "Then I'd lick the chocolate off, of course."
Ami turns to regard Minori archly, one eyebrow spocked higher than the other. The challenge, it seems, is on, but Kyouko beats her to an explanation that makes the game far more appealing. "I have not," she says finally to the black-haired girl. "But I'll try it if you do," she says.
"Because they think people understand things better if they're walked through the base mechanics of the work. It's patently untrue; I have a friend who actually wasn't able to grasp geometry and how it applied to physics until he discovered how they both related to music. No amount of figuring did him any good until intervals came into play..." Minori answers, then trails off to smirk, eyes closed, at her own unintentional dadjoke. She shakes her head, then puts her book back in her briefcase. "Anyway, yeah, I marked the places where you went wrong. It's cool. I can go over it with you in detail later-- you've gotten really good at showing your work."
All at once, a chiding look, though it's also amused. "You are not bad at dancing. Not even a little bit. I think most of the time you must fake being bad at it so you don't have to dance with people you don't want to dance with."
Suddenly Kyouko's talking about licking chocolate off and giving Usagi fangy grins, and Minori gets a really interesting expression on her face. Not really indignant. That arm firmly slips back around Usagi's waist. Statement made, she glances at Ami and blinks. "Are you kidding? My balance is all off. From the uh, that ear infection. I'd probably crash you into the display. You should dance with Kyouko-san."
"Mmm, I bet your balance is fine enough," Ami replies to Minori with a smirk, then goes back to her milkshake. Around the straw, she murmurs, "You're just scared of finding out you're better at it now than you were before."
Slurrrrrrp.
"So are you good at pattern recognition?" Ami asks Kyouko curiously. "Do you play chess?"
"Hmmm." A thoughtful chin stroke. "Nope, I'd still break the machine."
And she's playing close to Mamo-chan. Er, Mino-chan. (It's so easy to forget she's currently not Mamoru when he's being so Mamoru. She covers a snort with her hand at the lame joke. "Oh, good! And yes, please!"
Her eye twitches when Ami suggests Minori and her dance together. JEALOUS! No! Wait!
But she is saved! "If you're refering to rumors of myself and a gorgeous young man at a previous dance, I can assure you that it was all him." Nose tilt! "If I were to dance with Kyouko-chan, her poor feet! And I think I seriously injured someone at a concert once when we tangoed."
Her face grows red at Kyouko's mention of licking the chocolate off. Redder still when the arm is back and tightening around her! (But the last one is a pleasant redder!)
"Ooo yes! A dance between Kyouko-chan and Ami-chan!" And then, because Ami doesn't know Kyouko well, she stammers. "Only if you want to, Ami-chan!"
Kyouko snorts with amusement, nearly chuffing milkshake through her nose in the process, at the reaction she gets from both Minori and Usagi at her 'chocolate licking' comment. She pulls her mouth from the straw again and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, displaying all the table manners you'd expect from a homeless orphan. "Hahaha, you guys are such prudes, Mamoru makes that same face when I say stuff like that." She notes.. then pauses, eyeing Minori again speculatively. "Whose cousin did you say you were...?"
She then is distracted again by Usagi and Ami's talk of DDR. "Well, it's not like playing DDR with someone is really like dancing /with/ them, you have your own separate pad. But it wouldn't really be fair for me to go up against Ami-chan or Usagi-chan anyway. I have loads more practice."
And then Ami asks her about chess, and she blinks. "Do I look like a nerd?" She asks, perhaps completely oblivious to how this might be taken.
Ami leans forward just a little at Kyouko's words, eyes narrowing both at the casual dismissal of her 'experience', and at her comment about 'nerds'. "No, you really don't," Ami agrees very quietly, then sets her milkshake down and stands.
Grabbing Minori by the arm, Ami starts towards the DDR machine, draggingly. "Come on, Minori-chan, let's go learn this thing so that I can beat her butt at it in a few games."
"Rei Hino's cousin," Minori answers, getting a sort of unimpressed cat-face for a second, but then Kyouko's using nerd like it's an insult and Minori's abruptly getting dragged bodily over to play a physical game with coordination skills and pattern matching, and she squeaks!!
"Ami-chan noooo," she complains, stumbling after. "Why do you need to compete for your practice runs, and you only need like two runs to beat Kyouko, you'll get further if I'm not slowing you down..."
Kyouko splutters, getting milkshake on the counter as she whips her head around, "Two runs to beat Kyouko? Listen, girl, I'm a legend!" She snaps, red eyes hot.
If Minori wasn't as agile as she was, Usagi would be on her butt on the floor. As it is, she has Jealous Eyes at Ami-chan.
Then she's giggling at Kyouko. "Hey. You just used 'nerd' as an insult to two huge nerds." She gives a smug smirk at Kyouko. "In fact, I think I have to protect their honor by threatening to dance with you."
"Yes, but I need someone to look bad so I can look good," Ami points out to Minori as she continues on towards the DDR machine without cease. "And besides that, you're as good at patterns as I am; you should do just fine at this. Just consider it your penance for borrowing half of my wardrobe for the next few weeks," Ami sing-songs at Minori as she pushes her up onto the stage, then joins on the second pad.
"I didn't use it like an insult." Kyouko says, turning back to Usagi and sticking her tongue out, stained brighter-than-natural pink from the milkshake. "I just said I ain't one. And I ain't. I can barely spell my own name. That's what happens when you drop out of school when you're eleven." She's exaggerating, but she often self-deprecatingly belittles her own intelligence. Sayaka has yelled at her for that before, but its habit.
Pushed up onto the pad next to the one Ami takes a second later, the black-haired middle-school girl gets the biggest stinkface in the history of ever. "If you're going to hold that over me, you're meaner than anyone ever suspected," she says, lifting up her hands and jerking her hair up to twist it up in back of her head. Then she takes her pencil back out of her pocket and jabs it through the messy up-twist: the Luna Pen really is thorough about skills required for disguises, isn't it!
Then she rolls up her sleeves and scowls. "Fine. FINE." Then she half-turns to look back at Kyouko, considering. "Okay, maybe three!" she calls back. "Ami-chan learns really fast."
Now? Now the new girl is grimly determined. She will beat this challenge. She will get through this. She will triumph. She will avoid falling on her face or otherwise losing her balance, and she will rack up a decent score. "Also I hate you a little bit right now," she mutters aside to Ami. "People are already looking at me. I hate it when people look at me."
Usagi 'pffffts' and waves her hand at Kyouko. "From what I read, you don't have to be booksmart to be good at chess. It's like...strategy. And you seem good at strategy. I like to watch Ami-chan and Mamo-chan play. I can't get it, though. I'm bad at strategy. And I'm sad the horsey pieces can't neigh and trot across the board. And even more sad about the poor pawns! But the queen is like, SUPER strong, so that's neat!"
Now she's distracted because Minori put her hair up and and and... "And...um...I think...you can be...sneaky within the rules and..."
And of course she's one of the people looking at Minori.
Ami just grins a little as she works out how to control the menus. Very quietly, she murmurs to Minori, "Consider this character-building experience." She leans over and explains, "Usagi is going to want a very big wedding, with at least half of everyone from both kingdoms present."
She grins at Minori--possibly every bit as evil as Minori has just accused her, then starts the first song. Difficulty: Two stars.
She turns to Kyouko and says, "It will be four songs," then turns back as the music starts. She looks at her feet a lot as she works out how the game signifies movements as compared to the markers on the pad.
"Actually, I'm terrible at strategy." Kyouko says, with a shrug. "I'm more of an 'in-the-moment' gal. I live for when things get hot and hairy, and every decision needs to be a split-second one. That's when I do best. All the long-term planning and thinking.." She makes a face. "Never been my strong suit."
She sighs and slips down from her chair milkshake glass empty. "Anyway, I should run. I'm supposed to be keeping a low profile, y'know?" She says, totally failing at doing that by telling random people about it (since she doesn't know Usagi is Sailor Moon).
"If you see Mamoru, tell him I'm doign my best. And I hope he feels better." She winks, letting on she gets the mono thing is a cover- without realizing Mamoru is like 10 feet away.
Ami starts practicing, and she smirks. "Hey, I gotta run but you practice and next time, I'll kick your ass. Take as many practice rounds as you want. You'll need 'em. Nice to meet you, Minori-chan."
Then she turns to Usagi one last time. "Hey, thanks for the milkshake, hun. I owe ya one." She waves her hand, then stuffs both into the pockets of her hoodie as she turns and walks out through the door, vanishing amidst the crowds.
"Well, give it a try? Maybe that spontaneity will be a good thing in the game!" Ug another big word. THANKS, MAMO-CHAN. THANKS, AMI-CHAN.
Then her eyes widen. "Oh! Okay!"
Usagi winks back, even if she doesn't know why! "I will!"
"Oh, sure, no problem!"
Oh, shoot! She forgot to mention a 'conversation' she had with 'Sailor Moon!' Oh well, next time!
She trails over to the DDR machine. Gosh, Mino-chan is so Mamo-chan...
"How does this game work? Do you just...jump up and down?"
Minori's face is a riot of reactions. It's not so much the 'wedding' part that gets her, though that might only be caught if Ami's watching her expression very carefully: it's the 'both kingdoms', and she can't disguise the light of hope and gratitude that suddenly flashes bright behind her blue eyes.
Now the determination's not so grim, and she lifts a hand casually to the departing Kyouko, calling back a careless 'ja!' as the game starts.
Then Usagi's coming up close and Minori is incredibly self-conscious all over again, and she reddens, looking up and down at the squares and the screen, placing her feet as indicated, speeding up when she missteps instead of skipping steps. "Um," she says distractedly, "no, it's like playing Simon but with your feet."
Ami is, indeed, getting the hang of the game rather quickly. For many who only know Ami by her grades, it's likely a surprise to see how agile and athletic the girl is. For those who know her as a competitive swimmer, though, it's much less a surprise.
To Ami it's always a surprise, though.
"It really is," Ami agrees with Minori, furrowing her brow in thought as she continues to follow along. "Except Simon doesn't usually light up two squares at once. And you aren't memorizing a pattern so much as following along with it in a rhythm and hoping not to fall behind."
Usagi's watching both with amazed eyes. "Wow. I'm bad at Simon."
She watches Ami master the moves, and watches as Minori gracefully recovers from mistakes.
"Ahhh, you guys, it's not fair." She pouts at them both. "Ami-chan is so good. And Mino-chan! It's not fair! You even make your missteps look classy!"
"It's a little like fighting," Minori says vaguely, mind more on keeping up than on assuaging Usagi's pout, just for the moment. But she does flash the blonde girl a quick, rakish grin, fleeting, only for a split second before her eyes are back on the screen. "Classy, is it?"
Once she's not looking at the mat anymore, once she's relying on her own spatial awareness, it's easier, there are fewer missteps. However, it is only a two-star difficulty. "Usa, next round you should come up here and dance it with me. We're both small, we'll fit. Oh, wait, no, it might have too much input if we have four feet on one mat..."
"I'm upping the difficulty to four next song," Ami notes for Minori's sake, as the song starts to wind down. "I thought we'd go two-three-four-five, but I think we can skip three altogether. This is actually pitifully easy."
Amy leans back against the bar behind the pad as their scores begin to display. Neither of them scored perfect, but given the learning curve, Ami scored pretty highly, altogether. "I thought this was going to be really hard. Usagi-chan, I think you'd do okay at it if you used your own pad. Don't ... try to dance with Minori-chan, though. You'd wind up knocking each other over and then you'd mess me up, too."
Her phone beeps once, and Ami reaches for her bag to pull it out, curious. She scowls and stares at the text. "Really? 'Quantumly'?" Her fingers furiously type on the little keyboard, then she tucks her phone away again and stands up. "Ready for round two?"
Usagi blushed. "Yes. Classy." She scrapes the bar with her fingernails.
She grins up at her then. "I'll crush you. No, literally." Her ears perk up at Ami-chan, though. "Okay!"
She climbs on the other mat. "Ready! And Ami-chan, odds are I'll mess you up, anyway."
"Crank the difficulty back down, Ami-chan, first-timer settings again," Minori says resolutely, then delicately backs off the mat to lean on the railing and watch. "Go for a perfect score at each level, obviously, it's the only way to be sure." After a second, she straightens up and pulls the pencil out of her hair, letting the glossy, wavy black locks spill down once more and shaking her head to undo the last of the twisting.
She has no idea of how distracting this might look.
Ami's phone bleeps several times, and she winds up in a furious conversation for a few moments. Then she finally puts it away and glances up at Minori. Making a face, she stands and drops down to one of the easiest songs in the game, then glances at Usagi. "Ready?" she asks.
But then even Ami isn't ready, because holy crap Minori, what are you doing? Ami turns to stare for a few moments, then blinks and turns away back to the machine, scowling angrily at herself. How embarassing. Ami stomps the 'go' button whether Usagi's ready or not.
Usagi is ready!
At least until Minori's taking her hair down.
Even when Ami starts, Usagi stares at Minori. She may jump up and down a few times, but damn. Minori. Why you look so pretty.
Stare stare stare.
Minori starts laughing and steps up on the platform, bent over the railing, to lean far in and reach to snag Usagi's hand. "You're supposed to look at the screen, Odango Atama, not at me. If you're not going to play, then come help me watch." She even smirks prettily, eyes flashing with amusement and mischief.
Ami's phone bleeps again, one last time, but she's already engrossed in the next game. Where 'engrossed' means 'entirely bored by', because the difficulty is set so low. Nevertheless, she takes care ot make certain and hit every footstomp or hop with perfect timing, quickly racking up combo points as she "dances" her way through the level.
Usagi is still looking at Minori. "...'kay."
She follows Minori's tug. And, in a lower voice so the crowd won't over hear.
"If you wouldn't look so good just being so you." She grins at the new school girl and bumps her hip against hers. "Sorry, honey, you give me googly eyes."
She preens almost and turns to watch Ami-chan. Oh so good! Not fair! "Ami-chan! You...lied to me! You are good!"
Okay. That's actually legitimately a shit-eating grin on Minori's face at Usagi's whisper. When the blonde girl comes around to her side of the railing and bumps her hip, Minori slips her arm around Usagi's waist again and pulls her close. "You know how fast she gets good at anything she tries," the black-haired girl says cheerfully, then leans her head in to whisper something else to Usagi.
Minako Aino/Mamoru comes in at some point in the night during a quiet time, with a milkshake in hand and a huge red ribbon in his hair. He strolls over to the game section with so much swagger he might break a hip.
"Oh hey ya'll. I'm only here because Ami-chan asked me out. On a quote unquote date. OH USAGI-Bunny-Odangoes! I didn't see you there!"
Then, much later and much quieter, in a real whisper: "Guuys. It's me. Minako," she reveals, with a wink.
Ami finishes the song and shrugs at Usagi. "It was the easiest setting," she points out, then immediately goes on to a second song. This one is back to two stars of difficulty, since Usagi isn't going to dance with her. As before, Ami takes extreme care to make sure she hits every button on the pad in perfect time with the song's expectations. She even manages to look almost graceful doing it.
This is how she misses Minako's entrance. Sure she hears the other girl over her shoulder, but she doesn't turn to get the faceful of ridiculousness that is Minako's "disguise". The words, however, are not terribly unexpected, even if they do draw a bit of a blush.
"I did not invite you on a date! I suggested you should come join us for milkshakes and help me hone up on DDR! Nerd superiority is on the line, here!"
Usagi blushes a bright red at what Minori whispers and her grin says 'me, too.'
And then...her...Minamamo-not-boyfriend is there.
"Hii, um, Mamoru-kun."
SHE CANNOT CALL ANYONE ELSE MAMO-CHAN EVEN IF IT'S A DISGUISED MAMORU!
"And, um, grrrr! A date!" Fake punch. Even faker voice. "So jealous...!"
Minori's eyes practically fall out of her head, and then she starts puffing up in indignation. "You-- you--" she sputters, aggrieved.
She's saved from having to say anything else by the fact that seconds later, Motoki -- who'd had his hands full at the counter while Unazuki laughed her ass off at 'Mamoru' -- practically apparates by Minamamo's side and puts an arm around his back and his other hand on his apparent friend's closer bicep and starts steering him away, bow and all. "Mamoru-kun," the blond man says under his breath, "you've never come here drunk before, are you okay? Come on, let's get you in the back room so you can drink a lot of water away from my customers..."
Minako Aino/Mamoru lowers her voice and tisks at Matoki. "I'm not drunk. Don't malnourish me in front of my friends," (s)he insists, before calling back to correct Ami that it was, in fact, a date, and there are 'no takebacks'.
"And speaking of no takebacks, no taking me out back for water," she says, not wanting to be dragged away from the fun.
From everybody's vantage point, before getting to a dividing door, there's a terrifying moment of obvious Minako-ness where Mamoru's nose starts slowly, slowly twisting towards Motoki's neck while she's held in his arm, as if to secretively give a single accidental neck-nuzzle before being taken away.
Ami huffs faintly, "It is not a date! This is the wrong temporal state!" She misses one step, ruining an otherwise perfect score, right at the end of the song.
The game makes absolutely sure to mock her for it with flashing lights and a reminder of her broken combo.
The song comes to a close, and Ami glares at the screen angrily. "That does not count as an imperfect score," she says, glaringly. "I'm still going up to difficulty three." She turns around, hands-on-hips, to glare at Minori as if this was her fault. "I'm not doing a third round on two!"
Usagi sighs. S.I.G.H.S.
And then she's patting Minori on the arm before launching toward Fauxmoru. "I'm sorry for what I said! I honestly didn't mean it! You're MUCH better looking than...um...er..." Quick! Flounder! Who in the WORLD would she think looks better than MAMO-CHAN?!?!?! "Mino-chan...!"
Dramatic swoon!
"Come on, let's get you not water!"
Usagi has no idea what she is doing!
"Malnourish--? Oh god it's a fever, isn't it--? I forgot about the mono! What are you doing out of bed--?!" Motoki yelps, now actually looking worried as he keeps trying to steer Minamamo toward the back. And then. He feels. Mamoru's breath. On his neck. And HIS eyes get super wide, and he shoves 'Mamoru' away to hold him at arms' length. "Dude if you're going to pass out-- oh god, Usagi-chan, don't get sick--!"
He hands 'Mamoru' off to Usagi really really fast, then practically dives behind the counter to come up with a face mask and snap it hurriedly on Fakemoru's face, at the same time reaching up to remove the bow. "Usagi-chan, can you keep him from keeling over until I can call Uber or something? God what do I do..."
Motoki is fretting and flailing. A lot.
Minori is just staring, seething with rage. "Fine, Ami-chan," she says in a low voice. "Whatever you want. She's killing my reputation and she's about to steal my girlfriend. I'm pretty sure I don't care about DDR."
"Wait, what?" Ami says, staring at Minori confusedly. It's about then that the whole social affair gets past the buffer of the game. Ami's eyes widen a little, and she turns to stare very worriedly at Minamamo. "Oh geeze, what has she done," Ami asks, then rushes away from the DDR machine.
"Mamoru, sorry I didn't see you come in!" she says with a little grin. "Come on, let's go to my house. My mom said she'd be glad to help you determine which of your prescriptions will conflict with one another so that you don't hurt yourself!" she puts an arm around the fake Mamoru, helpfully trying to diffuse the situation.
Minako Aino/Mamoru raises a hand dramatically to his/her chest and pretends to mishear. "Prettier than Mina-chan? Oh I wish it were true," he croons, even as he's shoved and handed off and pointed all around, noticing that everybody is throwing their arms around him.
But he quickly recovers and explains he is out of bed because of 'friend-dates', which sounds like a normal enough thing to be out doing. "And I'm not feeling that bad, I don't need to have mom-talks about drug conflicts. If there's one thing I don't like, it's drug conflicts," she says, snapping her fingers and trying to remember what kind of books she's seen Mamoru reading, what exact field of medicine it was. In the end, she decides to just vaguely fake it.
"Yeah, when it comes to drugs, I'm really good at them," he says, pursing his lips and thinking if that's what she really meant.
Usagi gulps. "Don't worry, Motoki-nii-san! After all, idiots don't catch colds!"
And then Not!Mamoru is acting very much like he's doped up on some good pain killers.
And then, how to shock someone into submission...
Another gulp as realization dawns.
Sorry, Mamo-chan, this is for you I promise!
She pulls Mamoniko down and, in a stage whisper, "I miss you!" and the proceeds to kiss the living daylights out of him. Her.
(Her hesitance is not because of Minako at all. After all, Minako is very pretty! But it's because even though she looks like Mamo-chan, she isn't.)
And this is exactly the point at which Minori's bucket of cope finally completely gets tossed off of Tokyo Tower. "HE HAS MONO!" she screeches from across the room and then stomps between normal customers, pushing them out of the way, and STORMS OUT THE DOORS, leaving her school bag by the counter.
Ami should stop this from happening. Her shipping chart and her interest in protecting Mamoru both insist on stopping this from happening. Her friendship with Usagi also demands she stop this from happening. But she is too busy staring, dumbfounded, that this is happening!
"HE HAS MONO!" screeches Minori from across the room.
Ami starts at the noise, and reaches up to bodily get between Mamoru and Usagi. "Mamoru-kun!" she chides him (her), irritatedly--using the wrong honorific. "You should be more thoughtful for your girlfriend! Even if you do not think you need my mother's help, it is very clear that you do. Usagi-chan! Go make sure Minori-chan is okay, I will take your boyfriend," this word is said with even more ire and weight, "off to see my mother." She grabs Minamamo by the arm and starts to very forcefully guide him (her) towards the door. "Usagi, please bring my bag to my house, later!" she's not letting Minako out of her grip for even a second.
Usagi nods. She's actually pulled back after Minori's shriek.
Gulp. How mad is she?
"T-thanks, Ami-chan."
She grabs the bag, and Minori's, and rushes out after.
And possibly beg forgiveness! (And smooches!)
Minako Aino/Mamoru leans forward and tries to respond in kind, smooshing a face mask against Usagi's cheek and forehead in a close approximation of affection.
"Usagi-chan, I'm actually Minako!" she whispers, uncertain if her disguise was too good or if Usagi forgot. "You musta' really meant it when you said you found the root of LoveLove," she says, even as she's being dragged away. She considers insisting not to spread 'my personal biz' around at the accusations of mononucleosis, but figures Minori/Mamoru can make his/her own decisions about who knows. Even if it's the entire arcade.
"And... haha, Ami-chan! On our first date and I'm already meeting your mother," she says with a distinctly feminine chuckle, too amused by her own cleverness. "I guess we can dance dance our way home, if that's where we're all goin'!"
Ami doesn't stop frog-marching Minamamo until they're out the door. "You are terrible!" she accuses her friend, even if there's a faint crackle of amusement in her tone. "Poor Mamoru's reputation is going to be ruined." She points towards the alleyway nearby, "Come on, let's get you out of that disguise. I suppose I should be grateful you didn't try to come as someone I have ever actually had a crush on. Why didn't you just come as yourself?"
"Because I didn't want to come as someone you have a crush on! Ah haaaaaa!" Minako Aino/Mamoru interjects in between frog-steps. "Also I'm awesome shhh!"
Ami's forehead and palm meet with a sharp slap that leaves her slightly red in the face. "Ugh, I asked for that," she notes, then giggles a little. "You are very silly," she says as she guides Minamomo to the alley. "I do not have a crush on you, though. This is the wrong temporal state for that." She winks at Minako, then glances back over her shoulder. "Alright, no one's watching. You should change back and we should go find Minami to make sure she's not too upset. I think you really did make her pretty mad."
Minako Aino claims she made nobody mad and everybody is a friend and we all get along and she's up for visiting moms, doing official business, or alley kiss parties (but SOMEBODY has to volunteer to be her kiss partner, and she might have contracted mono).
All in a day's work for the illustrious Sailor V!