Ami pushed her glasses back up into place in that infuriatingly condescending way that made Mina want to snatch them from her nose and snap them in half. Instead, she stood her ground and repeated herself.
"If you wanted to, could you hack Usagi's phone?"
Ami chewed the inside of her cheek.
"Where is this coming from?"
"I don't want to get into specifics yet. I had a conversation with Mamoru, and we're both worried about her is all."
The café beside Ami's apartment was green everywhere; plants hung in pots suspended from the ceiling and crowded the window ledges and shelving. Caffeinated steam rose and hovered, milky and warm. Ami bristled, but looked down at the table between them, unable to muster the upset she was getting ready to unleash with actual eye contact.
"I'm not going to have this conversation with you for several reasons," she huffed. "Firstly, that is not just our best friend, but our leader. We owe her our loyalty and protection before anyone else."
"This is about her protection!"
"Secondly, if this is coming from Mamoru, he can speak to her. He should be speaking to her as her partner to bring up any concerns he has instead of going through channels to get me to hack her phone because he's suspicious-"
"He doesn't know I'm asking you," Mina reassured quickly.
"I won't."
"But you could?"
"I won't."
"Ami! We're worried she might be thinking of hurting herself!" Mina finally hissed, and watched as Ami dumbly deflated, shoulders dropping and breath falling away.
"He found a knife that he was sure wasn't his tucked into her makeup bag in her bedside table. He said he was looking for nail clippers."
The café steamed around them and Ami unconsciously slipped her hand down to her lap, rubbing absently at the long-healed faded scars across the top of her thighs. Mina ducked, reaching under and across the table to cover Ami's hand with her own and stop her ministrations. She squeezed her quiet friend's hand and locked eyes with her.
"I'm asking you about this because I know this is something you struggled with before, and I know you'll understand. I'm not trying to upset you. But I don't want this to run away from me. I don't want to make trouble for Mamoru if it's nothing. I don't want to make trouble for us. But she is the love of all our lives, and if we need to help her, we need to know what's going on."
Ami sighed. "She hasn't said anything?"
"No."
"And he hasn't noticed any cuts or anything?"
"No, but he said that to be honest, he's been exhausted because of work and been getting home at weird times. It's rare that they're in bed together at the same time because of his shift patterns for the past few weeks. She's been going out a lot with some girl he said he doesn't know, and been removed and quiet. And then he found the knife."
"She was the one-" Ami started, but didn't finish: 'that helped me with this.'
Mina nodded, still keeping a hold on her hand. "She's been so strong for each of us since Akane, but I think she may be struggling. I don't know what she's thinking. It's not like her to go strong silent type on us. Something is up."