Chapter 23:
Ninety minutes later...
Another pop song began playing over the speakers, and the members of Miho's Anglerfish team wasted no time inviting their new male acquaintances to dance with them again. Five happy girls escorted their young men into the crowd of couples already dancing, while Ooarai's new transfer students looked on.
Makoto chuckled, "Now I've seen everything. Minako-chan, if you keep this up, you'll have me believing you really are the world's greatest matchmaker."
"Of course I am, Mako-chan!" the blonde sitting beside her replied. "When Aino Minako puts her mind to something, things happen!"
"Dogs bark, ducks quack, people run away screaming in terror" Rei snickered. "You know... the usual stuff."
"Joke all you want, Rei-chan, but the proof is right there on the dance floor" Minako smugly retorted. "And this is only the beginning! Minna, I know deep down in my heart that those guys are our friends' future love interests. Just you wait and see!"
Ami finally stopped giggling at Rei's pun. "I must admit, Minako-chan, they do appear to make quite well-matched couples. I never would have imagined that a boy and a girl meeting for the first time would find themselves so compatible with one another, so comfortable with each other's company from that very first minute. It reminds me of when each of us first met our fiancees. And because it's occuring five times tonight, not just once, it must be more than mere coincidence. Don't you agree, Usagi-chan?"
Usagi frowned at her blue-haired friend. "They're too comfortable, Ami-chan. I don't like watching Hana dance with my Mamo-chan! I don't like it at all!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Usagi-chan" Rei scoffed. "The guy Hana's dancing with isn't your Mamoru. He only looks a lot like him, and he's younger too. Stop being so jealous. Or paranoid. Or whatever that crazy brain of yours is imagining between those two odango."
"Fine! But I still don't like it" the blonde grumbled. "Minna, I think I drank too much tea tonight. I'm going to the bathroom."
"You are?" the miko exclaimed in mock surprise. "I'll ask Momo to send out a press release about that right away!"
"Meanwhile, at the first table" Makoto grinned as Usagi stormed off muttering to herself, "it looks like all that wine is finally catching up to our esteemed Council President. She's falling asleep! I hope Anzu can shake it off before our match tomorrow." The brunette laughed, "At this rate, Momo and Yuzu will end up carrying her back to the bus. Hai, just another casuality of the infamous shore-party."
"Her Hetzer's gun is going to sound awfully loud tomorrow" Rei mused. "Regarding tomorrow, Mako-chan, how do you think things will go? These St. Gloriana girls seem as disciplined and as quick on their feet as they could possibly be. Do you think we stand a chance?"
"That's tough to say, Rei-chan" her commander replied with a shrug. "Honestly, I think we're going to need plenty of luck on our side. But stranger things have happened, so who knows?"
"Mako-chan, we have to win! We must win!" Minako insisted. "Remember the prize Anzu said we'd all get if we do? Two days off from school. Miko and her team needs that time to get to know their new boyfriends better, and officially become couples!" The bubbly blonde told her future sister-in-law, "That's phase two of my master plan!"
"Good grief! What's phase three? Five weddings on Tuesday afternoon? Minako-chan, you're really getting ahead of yourself tonight. It takes time for relationships to develop, for love to grow, for... why am I even telling you this? You're supposed to be the expert!"
"It doesn't hurt to be prepared" Minako muttered.
Rei teased the blonde, "Planning on getting fitted for your bridesmaid's dress tomorrow, Minako-chan? Maybe you can take care of that important detail after our battle wraps up. I know! How about we just drive right over to the bridal shop in our Panzer! I'm sure they'll squeeze you in if Ami points the gun at their store. And if that doesn't work, we can always fire a few rounds through their front window."
"Very funny, Rei-chan."
The song ended and their friends and their dance partners returned to the table, sitting close together as couples would and smiling happily.
Yukari's face was positively aglow with joy. "Thank you for dancing with me again, Ryota-san. I really enjoyed it!"
"It was my pleasure, Akiyama-san." The teen who looked strikingly similar to Ami's fiancee smiled shyly at the girl he had merely dreamt of meeting two hours before. "I hope we can dance together again sometime... if you would like to."
"Hai! I'd love to!" the curly-haired girl smiled happily. "But please... call me Yukari from now on." Another song began playing, a slow dance this time, and the Anglerfish team's loader immediately offered the young man her hand. "How about now, Ryota-san?" she giggled. "Are your feet getting tired yet?"
"Never!" Ryota laughed. His voice softened. "Not when I'm with you, Yukari-san." They stood and walked back onto the dance floor together.
"Us too!" Saori exclaimed to the boy sitting beside her. "Let's slow dance" she urged. "Closer together this time. Much closer!"
"I'm game if you are" Miho told her male companion with a warm, sweet smile that was somehow even brighter and happier than usual.
The other four couples promptly joined Yukari and her date, leaving Usagi's friends looking on in amusement. Rei lit her second cigarette of the evening, offering another to Ami who happily accepted.
"That didn't take long" Makoto observed, watching her new friends hold their boyfriends close as they gently swayed together in time with the romantic ballad. "Maybe there is some real chemistry happening tonight, Minako-chan."
"Hai! Love is definitely in the air!" Minako bubbled. "Minna, I'm so good at what I do best!"
Rei playfully continued teasing her friend. "What would that be, Minako-chan? Trying to rush people into serious relationships before the've even had a first proper date? When they come back, why don't you ask the girls what color they want your bridesmaid's dress to be? Maybe they'll all pick some hideous shade of orange that's just perfect for you."
Hearing Ami giggle at Rei's witty remark yet again, and having heard more than enough of the miko's unending supply of humor at her expense, Minako decided to go on the offensive. Knowing she couldn't possibly get the better of Rei or Makoto tonight, she instead turned her attention to the shy girl sitting across the table from her.
She watched Ami place her cigarette between her lips and inhale deeply, brightening its tip's soft glow. The blue-haired girl slowly tilted her head back and closed her eyes, softly exhaling a white stream upward.
"You look like you're really enjoying yourself, Ami-chan. I wonder, did you ever smoke after dinner in a fancy restaurant, when Ryo took you there on an evening out on the town? I know how much you both love dining out together."
"Actually I have, Minako-chan" Ami innocently replied, smiling happily as she remembered the hours of unbridled passion she and her young lover had shared later that night in her bedroom.
"And did Ryo light your cigarette for you, like the perfect gentleman that he is?"
"Hai" Ami nodded, her cheeks beginning to blush. "He did."
Minako leaned closer to the girl. "Tell me, did you do that sexy thing where you tease him by blowing smoke in his face? You know, the way girls always do to their lover boys in the movies, or in those steamy-hot romance novels you like to read?"
"Minako-chan, I don't think that kind of behaviour happens in real life, or at least not in public" Makoto chuckled. "Our shy Ami would never do something racy... like..." She stopped speaking as she watched Ami's blush instantly deepen to a vivid shade of red. "You did, didn't you?"
"Um... hai" Ami meekly admitted.
The blonde with the red bow in her hair closed in for the kill, smiling wickedly. "And... did it turn your lover boy on?"
Ami sat completely silent for several seconds before answering, her voice scarcely more than a whisper.
"...hai..."
"Ami, Ami, Ami! Whatever happened to that shy and modest bookworm we all once knew?" Minako giggled, "You really know how to flirt with your Ryo! Even I'm impressed! Would you mind tutoring me on any other amorous techniques you happen to know? I promise I'll take lots of notes!"
"Oh dear!" Ami quickly averted her eyes downward, staring at her nearly empty wine glass on the table.
Rei looked at Makoto, smiling and shaking her head. "It's always the quiet girls, Mako-chan."
The brunette grinned back, "Hai. Just when you think you really know someone..."
. . . . .
With the party drawing to a close, Minako watched Miho and the girls on her team bid a very reluctant farewell to the five boys from Ooarai, sharing brief but tender hugs with them before boarding their bus.
"Minna, everyone make sure you have each other's phone numbers and texting address thingies" Minako reminded them. "After we beat St. Gloriana tomorrow, you can call each other and arrange to go out on proper dates! Since our ship isn't leaving port until Wednesday morning, you'll have two whole days to get to know each other a whole lot better!"
'Assuming we win' Makoto thought. She heard someone utter a faint groan and turned to find Anzu approaching the coach, being carried through the air with one arm draped over each of Momo's and Yuzu's shoulders, and her feet hovering well above the ground.
Yuzu asked, "Momo, how are we supposed to get her on the bus like this? We can't all fit through the door at the same time."
"Let me help" Makoto offered. She walked over to the trio, chuckling when she heard a random voice call out from inside the coach, "Tie her to the roof!"
The brunette slipped Anzu free of the other girls' shoulders, effortlessly picked up the teen in her arms and carried her aboard. She eased the Student Council President into the nearest window seat, propping the groggy girl against the glass. "Is that ok, Kadotani-san?"
Her eyes still closed, Anzu mumbled a barely coherent reply.
"Hai... ok... have a sticker..."
Makoto frowned, thinking 'I honestly thought we had a halfway decent chance at winning tomorrow... but now... with everyone on the Anglerfish team infatuated with their new boyfriends... and the commander of Turtle team ready to pass out at any moment... now I'm not so sure.'
. . . . .