When Mimic heads downstairs, she's surprised to see Lan up and about. He's not normally up this early unless he has school or a Net Saver mission - and school's out for the summer. But he doesn't seem to be in a rush to get anywhere. Either that means the Net Saver mission isn't urgent, or there isn't one to start off with. That still leaves Mimic wondering why Lan's up so early, though.
"Mornin', Chaud!" Lan says brightly.
Mimic raises her hand to give him a perplexed wave. Lan blinks at that, and then realises what's wrong.
"I'm going to school," he explains, slipping his schoolbag onto his shoulders. "Ms. Mari's setting us a biology project to complete over the summer, so we've gotta go in for the next couple of days to get the assignments and stuff." He pauses for a moment, and then winces. "Sorry, I . . . I kinda forgot you can't go to school right now. But Ms. Mari should send you the project in an email, right?"
Mimic nods. She's still a little puzzled as to why Lan (and apparently the rest of the class, not including her) has to go into school to get assignments for a summer project, but whatever. Maybe it'll be something fun - she's never had a school project before, not even in her old reality, but she's seen movies and tv shows where the main characters have school projects, and they're always something cool like building a volcano for a science project or creating a weird thing of art for an art project.
Lan said it was biology, right? Chaud checks. The last bit of schoolwork you did for biology was about the anatomy of different animals. Maybe it'll be something to do with that?
Like researching the skeletal structure of a certain animal and making a presentation on it, or something like that? Mimic suggests.
Could be. We'll find out when we get that email.
It's a shame she can't just go to school with Lan and get the assignments directly from Ms. Mari, rather than having to wait for Manabe to approve the email that Ms. Mari will be sending. But it's for her own safety, so she can't complain - not out loud, anyway.
She probably won't get the email from Ms. Mari until later in the evening, but Mimic still checks her emails after today's session with Mizuki anyway, just in case Ms. Mari sent one and Manabe approved it already.
No such luck, though. She spends half the morning speculating with Chaud and Arcadia about what the project could be about and is a little more than excited to find out, so much that Famous comments on how she can't sit still when Dr. Hikari takes her to SciLab in the afternoon. She ends up blurting out what she's waiting for, and Famous seems to get excited as well, guessing a few potential projects that she, Chaud, and Arcadia hadn't thought of.
Of course Famous would get excited about a project like this. He's a scientist, after all - he probably loves projects. And they provide some entertainment for Dr. Hikari, who Mimic hears snickering at the occasional outlandish guess from them.
Later, after Dr. Hikari takes her back home, she ends up trying to get Lan to tell her what happened at school. She still hasn't had an email, and all that guessing with Famous has made her even more hyped to find out what the project is.
"I'm not saying," Lan tells her. "You'll find out for yourself anyway." Despite his flippant tone, he's got a smug smirk on his face, like he knows exactly how torturous this is for Mimic.
God-fucking-dammit. Mimic thought she was supposed to be the sadistic one, not Lan!
Maybe she can annoy him into telling her. He can't hold up against her for long - and worst comes to worst, she can always try and manipulate him into telling her. All she'll have to do is pretend to be sad or make herself cry, and he'll do exactly what she wants him to because he loves her too much to make her sad. But first, she'll try annoying him.
"Tell me," Mimic tells him. "Tell me, tell me, tell me."
"Nope." Lan grins. "I'm not telling you a thing."
"Tell me."
"No."
"Tell me."
"Nuh-uh."
She bats at him. "Tell me."
Lan turns his head away. "No," he replies again. His lips are twitching - she can tell he's fighting not to laugh.
Mimic narrows her eyes. Fine, she decides. You asked for this.
She tugs at his shoulder until he's looking at her, and then crouches on the sofa, looking up at him with big eyes. "Please?" she begs, in the quietest, saddest voice she can manage without actually being sad. "Just wanna know . . ."
Lan's composure almost cracks. But only almost - he doesn't give in, much to Mimic's annoyance. Frustrated, she straightens back up and scoots back until she's settled on the other end of the sofa.
"Are you sulking now?" Lan's amusement is clear from his tone.
"Yes," Mimic retorts.
Lan snorts out a quick laugh. "I'm still not telling you anything. Doesn't matter how much you beg, or how much you sulk, you'll have to find out what this project is for yourself!"
"You're mean and I don't like you anymore," Mimic informs him.
That prompts a full laugh from Lan. Mimic gives him a faint growl, which doesn't seem to bother him in the slightest.
"Kids, stop fighting," Dr. Hikari calls absently from the dining table.
"Lan's being mean," Mimic complains.
"I am not!" Lan protests, offended. "Just 'cus I won't tell you what the project is . . ."
"Lan, stop being mean. Chaud, stop harassing Lan."
Mimic sticks her tongue out and blows a raspberry at Dr. Hikari. He looks up, raising an eyebrow at her, as Haruka covers her mouth and stifles a giggle in the kitchen.
"I thought you were the mature one," Dr. Hikari comments.
"You thought wrong," Mimic replies.
Chaud's laughter echoes in her mind as Dr. Hikari rolls his eyes good-naturedly and goes back to work.
Plan failed, Mimic thinks, curling up and closing her eyes. Guess I'll have to wait until I get that email, after all.
I can't believe Lan actually said no to you, Chaud says gleefully. He's never refused you before! This is gold.
I'm glad you're finding my failure amusing, Mimic mutters.
I'm not letting you forget this, Chaud snickers. Ever.
Mimic finally gets the answer to her questions later that evening. She heads into her bedroom and throws a cat toy around for Ragdoll to chase, then notices she has a message on her computer.
Excited, she immediately abandons playing with Ragdoll - much to his disappointment, but he amuses himself with the toy and doesn't seem that bothered anyway - and sits at her desk. Arcadia looks out at her curiously from where she puts the white PET into her charger, clearly sensing her emotions, and she can't tell if he's amused or confused by her excitement.
The email is from Ms. Mari - and there's a note from Manabe attached to it, confirming that the email has her approval, as always with any messages that Mimic gets. Mimic barely looks at the note, because she's seen it so many times she's practically memorised what it says by now, and opens the email.
Arcadia waits a short while for her to read it, and then speaks up. "Well?" he asks. "What does it say?"
Apparently we need to choose an animal to study throughout the summer, Chaud tells him.
"Need to catch one, too," Mimic adds.
Or if that's not possible, just observe it, Chaud says. Habitats, diet, whether it's a predator or prey animal . . . that kind of thing.
Arcadia blinks at her, and then glances at the floor, where Ragdoll is currently trying to claw a toy mouse to pieces. Mimic turns and watches Ragdoll for a moment, and then tilts her head as an idea comes to her.
"Think he'd count?" she wonders, glancing back at Arcadia.
"I'm not sure," Arcadia says reluctantly. "You said you need to catch the animal you're going to study, right?"
Mimic gets up and wanders over to Ragdoll. She plops down beside him and tugs on him until he rolls onto his back, and then carefully hauls him onto her lap. He lays there, purring loudly as she wraps her arms around him, and Mimic glances back up at Arcadia expectantly.
His shoulders shake in a suppressed huff of laughter. "I don't think that counts."
"Does too," Mimic argues. "I caught him."
Maybe you should ask Lan what animal he's going to study, Chaud suggests. You might be able to get some ideas from him.
"Cat," Mimic insists, curling around Ragdoll.
"This is gonna be fun," Arcadia mutters. He perks up suddenly, just as Mimic catches the sound of footsteps heading toward her bedroom door. "Oh, Lan's coming. Maybe he can convince you."
Mimic rolls her eyes as a soft knock sounds from her door. She knocks back for Lan to come in, and when he opens her door, he pauses and looks at the scene in front of him. It must look pretty odd in his eyes - Mimic's sitting on the floor with Ragdoll in her lap, clutching him like he's a lifeline, and Arcadia is in the white PET, looking torn between amusement and mild exasperation.
" . . . Should I ask?" Lan wonders.
"Please do," Arcadia invites him.
Lan looks absolutely mystified. "Uh . . . sure. What's going on?"
"Email," Mimic explains, nodding to her computer. "I know what the project is. Wanna do cat."
"Ohh," Lan says slowly, nodding. Then he frowns. "I . . . don't think you're allowed to study a pet, though. Ms. Mari said it's gotta be an animal you're not familiar with."
"Told you," Arcadia says pointedly, as Mimic slumps in disappointment.
"I'm gonna do a bug, if it's any help," Lan tells Mimic, plopping down beside her. "I'm gonna look up what kinda bugs you can find in Japan and see if I can find any in the city."
" . . . Are bugs animals?" Mimic wonders, after a short pause.
"Yes," Arcadia and MegaMan reply, one after the other.
Well, fair enough then.
"DenTech has a zoo," Lan goes on. "It's not that big, but maybe you could go there and see if there's anything worth studying? I guess if you wanna do a cat, you could always check out the tigers or something. I'm pretty sure they have tigers . . ."
"They have a website," MegaMan offers. "The zoo should list what animals they have on there. And they should have bugs, too, so going to the zoo might be beneficial to both of you!"
"Nah." Lan shakes his head. "I wanna catch mine. I got a bug net and everything!"
"See if I ever try to help you with your homework again," MegaMan mutters, just barely loud enough for Mimic to hear him. Lan doesn't, though, so clearly MegaMan hadn't intended anyone to hear that.
"Ms. Mari'll finish giving us the rest of our assignments for this project tomorrow," Lan tells Mimic. "So I guess you'll be waiting on another email, unless she's already sent you all the details?"
Mimic playfully narrows her eyes as she realises what Lan's trying to do.
"Nope," she says, flashing her sharp teeth at him in a grin. "You didn't tell me. M'not telling you." Never mind the fact that she doesn't even know if Ms. Mari has given her all the details, Mimic just wants a bit of revenge for earlier.
"Now who's being mean?" Lan retorts, even as his lips twitch into a smile.
"Revenge, bitch."
The next morning, after Lan heads off to school - hopefully for the last time until the new term starts, unless Ms. Mari asks any of the others to go in again - Mimic goes to SciLab with Dr. Hikari.
She's itching to start the project right now, but she forces herself to wait. She needs to know if she has all the details or just some of them, and besides that, Chaud advises that planning out her project is going to be much better than just diving head-first into it. Mimic listens to him mainly because she's never done a school project before, and has no idea how to proceed, though Chaud clearly has experience with this kind of thing.
So does Famous, who's eager to find out what her project is, and promptly unloads a mountain of advice and suggestions for animals to study when she tells him. They end up spending the rest of the day researching different animals native to Japan, and seeing which ones might live in the city - wild or otherwise.
Late in the afternoon, they get interrupted by Famous's PET letting out a loud alert. Mimic winces back from it, baring her teeth - she's sitting right next to Famous, which means the noise is far louder than she'd like.
"Sorry," Famous mutters to her, and then he turns his attention to his PET and quickly opens the message, cutting off the sound. After a few moments of reading, Famous's expression turns serious.
"S'wrong?" Mimic asks, tilting her head.
"There's a virus attack in the downtown area," Famous replies. "Looks like it might be the work of Nebula." He glances at Mimic questioningly. "Do you want to . . . ?"
Before Mimic can reply, Dr. Hikari looks up from his desk. "Absolutely not," he says sternly. "Last time you and Chaud went on a mission together, he ended up getting caught in a dimensional area."
"He wasn't hurt," Famous points out.
"Dark ProtoMan turned up!" Dr. Hikari flashes back at him. Mimic flinches at the reminder, and Dr. Hikari softens his tone. "And besides that, we still don't know why Bass didn't attack Chaud - and according to Arcadia, Bass seems to have developed some sort of interest in him. So for his own safety, I'm not letting Chaud do another Net Saver mission just yet."
Famous seems disappointed, but he acknowledges Dr. Hikari's wishes. "I'll contact Lan, then," he decides, turning back to his PET to do just that.
While Famous gets a hold of Lan and explains the situation - such as it is - Mimic looks over at Dr. Hikari. He's gone back to work, but he seems to sense her eyes on him, because after a few moments of typing, he looks back up.
Mimic raises her hands so she doesn't disturb Famous's conversation with Lan. [didn't hurt me] she signs to Dr. Hikari.
Dr. Hikari raises his hands in turn. [I know] he replies. [rather keep you safe though]
[I know]
She's not sure if there'll ever be a good time to tell him that she's still kind of expecting Bass to show up at some point. Of course, she has no way of knowing if he'll turn up in the white PET, or her computer, or if the Gospel robot will just randomly show up at home one day. Mimic has a feeling that Bass would rather not deal with more humans than necessary, so she guesses he'll probably turn up either in the white PET or her computer.
Lan comes back home far later than Mimic and Dr. Hikari do that day. He tells Mimic about the case eagerly - an entire street had been under attack from viruses trying to spread the Dark Aura around, just to cause as much chaos as possible, and Lan and MegaMan had made full use of the Dark Immunity Program to delete the viruses. They'd used Arcadia Soul to burn away the Dark Aura, and once again Lan expresses his heartfelt gratitude to Mimic and Arcadia for making that specific Double Soul possible.
Mimic's still not sure why Lan insists on thanking her when she literally did nothing to make Arcadia Soul happen - that's entirely Arcadia's doing, nothing to do with her. But whatever, she's just happy Lan's getting some good use out of Arcadia Soul. Apparently that Soul combined with the Dark Immunity Program made MegaMan very nearly unstoppable, at least against the Dark Aura. Which is pretty damn impressive, honestly.
While he's thanking them for Arcadia Soul, Lan suddenly remembers he also needs to thank Maylu. Mimic has no idea why until he decides to explain.
"I was supposed to have clean-up duty at school today," Lan tells her, settling down at his desk so he can call Maylu on his PET. "Apparently we've still gotta do that stuff even if we're only going in for a couple of days . . . Anyway, I asked Maylu if she could do it for me, since that case kinda turned up just as school ended."
This sounds a little familiar, Mimic thinks, as Lan calls Maylu.
An episode in the anime? Chaud suggests. Was it that virus thing?
I don't think so, Mimic replies slowly. Something to do with Maylu, I think . . . and a date?
. . . You've lost me, Chaud admits.
Yeah, that's fair. Mimic's lost herself - she doesn't remember every single episode, after all, and can only just barely remember the details of most of the ones she does remember. And she can't re-watch it to check, because she's living it.
She hears Maylu's voice, and looks over at Lan. Maybe if she pays attention to the conversation, she'll be able to remind herself of what happened in the episode - because she certainly won't be able to remind herself just by hoping it'll come back to her. That's not going to be very helpful if it turns out to be something important, though so far Mimic's managed to remember the most important details of the series, so . . . maybe it isn't important? Maybe the episode she's trying to remember is just filler or something.
"I'm really grateful for earlier," Lan is saying. She can't see his expression because his back is turned to her, but she can guess he's grinning. "I managed to solve that case without a hitch! And that's 'cus you helped me out!"
"Really?" Maylu's voice sounds a little tired, but glad. "That's good, then." Now her voice takes on a slightly sly tone. "You can treat me to something in return, this time."
I wonder if that was her plan all along, Chaud muses.
I don't think so, Mimic says. Maylu's not like that. Sounds more like something I'd do, to be honest . . .
"Uh, well . . ." Lan shifts uncomfortably. "I was . . . actually kinda hoping to ask for another favour? Just a little one . . ."
Maylu's voice takes on a mild edge as she replies. "What is it?"
"If you could help me out with the project . . . you know, some of the parts are pretty hard, and I'd be even more grateful than I already am . . ."
That immediately sets Maylu off. "Lan!"
Lan yelps and flinches back. Meanwhile, Mimic presses herself against the wall, covering her ears with a wince. She hadn't thought Maylu would be able to yell loud enough to hurt her hearing, but apparently she can - and she is not happy at all. Ouch. The curse of having sensitive hearing, showcased yet again, and maybe Mimic should just keep her earmuffs on her at all times. It might make things a lot easier.
"What're you thinking?" Maylu demands. "I already did the cleaning for you! And now you're asking me to do your project, too? Who do you think I am? What exactly am I to you?" Her voice raises sharply. "Just a fill-in!?"
"M-Maylu . . ." Lan stammers. "Please . . . stop yelling."
"Don't tell me what to-"
"Chaud's here too," Lan quickly interrupts.
Maylu abruptly goes silent.
The silence stretches on for a few moments, during which Mimic carefully takes her hands off her ears. Maylu's yelling is nowhere near as loud as Famous's motorbike or anything else she's been forced to endure, so she recovers from it quickly.
" . . . Sorry, Chaud," Maylu eventually says, thankfully in a much quieter tone.
Lan glances over his shoulder at Mimic. She doesn't much feel like talking to someone who's just been yelling and is probably still very angry - with good reason, because damn that had been rude of Lan, though that's not really an excuse to start screaming - so she raises one hand and signs to Lan.
"He says he forgives you," Lan translates, turning back to Maylu. "And, uh . . . I'm sorry for trying to shove my project on you. I'll do it myself."
"I guess I can be persuaded to help out a little bit," Maylu concedes. "But I'm not doing it for you! Got that?"
"Y-yeah, okay!" Lan agrees. He pauses for a moment, and then suddenly perks up, as if he's just remembered something. "Oh, that's right! This is totally unrelated, but Maylu, are you free tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?" Maylu repeats suspiciously. "I guess so. I don't really have anything special planned."
"Then, do you wanna go out with me?" Lan asks eagerly.
"Go out? Where to?"
Lan bounces on his seat. "Somewhere that'll make you really happy!"
"Somewhere that'll make me happy?" Maylu echoes. She doesn't sound any less confused or suspicious than she was before. " . . . Alright, fine."
"Great!" Lan exclaims. "Meet me tomorrow in front of the station, okay? Ten o'clock!"
"Uh . . . sure," Maylu replies.
Lan ends the call after giving her a quick wave, and then turns around in his seat. He seems pretty pleased with himself, but he blinks when he catches sight of Mimic's puzzled look.
"What's up?" Lan asks her.
"Where're you taking her?" Mimic responds with her own question.
"To SciLab," Lan explains, grinning. "Since Dad managed to complete the Dark Chip vaccine, he's starting to look into Cross Fusion research again. He told me he's looking for operators with high synchro rates with their NetNavis. And earlier, Maylu told me she had a dream about using Cross Fusion herself - so if it turns out she has a high enough synchro rate with Roll, she might be able to Cross Fuse when Dad finishes his research and makes more synchro chips!"
. . . He can't be serious, right? Chaud wonders hesitantly.
The way he was talking, it sounded like he was inviting her on a date, Mimic says. She blinks as she suddenly realises something. Oh, that's what this episode was! Lan and Maylu go on a date to some amusement park!
Wait, really? That . . . that doesn't sound like it'd be important enough to be in the anime, Chaud says.
There have been weirder episodes, Mimic points out.
Out loud, she says to Lan, "You made it sound like a date."
"A da-" Lan almost chokes on his shock. "No way! Why would I ask Maylu out on a date?"
Ouch, Chaud mutters. I'm glad Maylu isn't hearing this . . .
She'd probably start yelling again, Mimic agrees. Poor girl probably thinks they actually are going on a date. She's gonna be disappointed . . .
"From the way you were talking, it sounded like one," Arcadia speaks up. "Anyone would interpret that as 'will you go on a date with me'. Even Chaud."
"S'at supposed t'mean?" Mimic demands, half-offended at whatever the hell Arcadia is trying to imply. She did interpret Lan's words, thank you very much.
"But I was just-" Lan breaks off as his eyes widen, finally realising what he's done. "Oh. Oh, crap. Maylu probably thinks I . . . Oh, no, she's gonna kill me tomorrow! I gotta call her back and explain-"
"Nope," Mimic says, sliding off his bed. "I have an idea. Wait here."
Leaving Lan to be confused in his bedroom, she heads downstairs. One good thing about going to SciLab with Dr. Hikari all the time is that she always knows where he is - and, of course, she knows when he's home.
He's watching the news with Haruka when she pokes her head in through the doorway. Haruka spots her first and nudges Dr. Hikari when Mimic indicates that she needs to talk to him, and Dr. Hikari follows her as she backs into the hallway.
"Everything okay?" Dr. Hikari asks.
"Lan did a stupid thing," Mimic informs him bluntly.
Dr. Hikari looks startled. "Wha-"
"Accidentally invited Maylu on a date," Mimic says. "Didn't realise until afterwards."
There's a moment of silence as Dr. Hikari processes that. He sighs and presses his hands together in front of his face, closing his eyes as if praying for strength. He probably needs it, given how oblivious Lan is when it comes to stuff like this - even Mimic was able to figure this out, and she's never even been interested in romantic stuff.
"Is he going to call her back and cancel?" Dr. Hikari eventually asks, opening his eyes and lowering his hands.
Mimic shakes her head. "Taking her to SciLab, for Cross Fusion tests," she explains. "Told him not to cancel. Was thinking . . . afterwards, maybe he can take her somewhere else? Like a proper date?"
She's hoping Dr. Hikari will realise what she's saying on his own, without her having to ask for the passes outright. Mimic's not sure if she can pass this off as a dream about the future, because so far she's only told people about her 'dreams' when it's important, and this . . . probably doesn't count.
"I have a couple of passports to an amusement park," Dr. Hikari offers. "It's local - right next to the park, actually. He could take her there, I suppose. Though . . ." He suddenly has a shifty look in his eyes. "You'd better tell him not to let her know this was a misunderstanding. She probably won't be happy if she finds out."
"Understatement," Mimic mutters.
Dr. Hikari goes off to get the two amusement park passes for her. She thanks him as she heads back upstairs, relieved that she managed to get Dr. Hikari to hand over the passes without raising any suspicions - sometimes it feels like she talks verbal circles around everyone who isn't Chaud or Arcadia, but at least that gives her the ability to manipulate people into doing what she needs them to.
Lan seems bemused when she hands him the passes, but his expression clears and he's definitely interested when she explains what to do with them.
"Don't tell Maylu," Mimic quickly advises him. "About the . . . thing." She makes a vague gesture. "Accidental invitation."
"Oh, definitely not," Lan quickly agrees. "She'd kill me if she found out this whole thing was just a misunderstanding . . . Thanks, Chaud. You're a lifesaver!"
Mimic just doesn't want to watch him get yelled at when Maylu finally realises he actually hadn't invited her on a date. But maybe with this, she won't ever realise - and Lan seems to understand the importance of not telling her. At the very least, Lan will be able to make good on his promise to take Maylu somewhere that'll make her happy.
The next day at SciLab, Mimic heads into the dimensional area lab with Dr. Hikari. She hasn't been here since Dark ProtoMan's attempt to destroy Lan's PET, and it's difficult to shut out the terrifying memories and remind herself that she's technically safe here. It helps when Dr. Hikari wraps an arm around her and lets her huddle into his side, even though he's trying to set up the experimental dimensional area for when Maylu arrives.
By the time she does arrive, Mimic . . . isn't really feeling much better. She's jumpy and can't concentrate, and doesn't notice the footsteps until Lan is literally right next to her, with Maylu in tow. Mimic practically jumps out of her skin when she finally notices Lan, much to his confusion - and concern. He doesn't press her, though, probably because he understands why she's so jumpy.
On the other hand, Maylu just seems disappointed. She's wearing a pretty white dress and a sun hat - Mimic thinks it's a sun hat, anyway - which is proof that she thought Lan had invited her on a date. Mimic wonders how guilty Lan feels about this whole misunderstanding, but at least he's actually going to take her out somewhere after this.
With Maylu's arrival, the Cross Fusion research test finally begins. Dr. Hikari gets Maylu to dress into a weird . . . costume thing, which Mimic doesn't really think is necessary and guesses that Dr. Hikari is just being a weirdo. He does at least conduct the test itself with some level of professionalism, performing the same kind of tests that Famous did with Mimic before she became a Net Saver and started using Cross Fusion.
Obviously they can't actually have Maylu perform Cross Fusion, since there are only two synchro chips at the moment - one is bonded to Lan and MegaMan, and the other to Mimic and ProtoMan. Or would that be Mimic and Dark ProtoMan? She doesn't know.
But even without a synchro chip to use, Maylu's test goes pretty well. Her synchro rate with Roll seems to be pretty high, from what Mimic can tell - she hasn't actually seen the results of her own Cross Fusion tests and doesn't think Lan ever had an official test (no one really needed to bother, since Lan started using Cross Fusion right out of the gate), so Mimic doesn't have anything to compare Maylu's results to. Dr. Hikari seems pretty pleased, though.
"We're aiming to eventually mass produce the synchro chips," Dr. Hikari explains. "So I've been trying to gather as much research as possible from operators who have a high synchro rate with their NetNavis. Thanks to your cooperation, SciLab is one step closer to achieving its goals." He gives Maylu an impressed look. "Still, it's just like I predicted. You and Roll have a very high synchro rate."
"Not as high as mine," Lan breaks in proudly. He shoots a quick glance at Mimic before cautiously adding, "Or Chaud's."
"Um," Maylu begins hesitantly, "I do understand what you're saying, but . . . why do I have to dress up like this . . . ?"
Dr. Hikari's glasses flash, and he smiles. "It's for the sake of science."
Mimic gives him a flat look. "Just wanted to put someone in a stupid outfit again, didn't you?"
"Wh- I- no, I wouldn't- of course not!" Dr. Hikari splutters.
"Uh-huh," Mimic says disbelievingly.
"What do you mean, again?" Lan asks, looking puzzled.
Mimic raises an eyebrow at him. "Where d'you think Raoul and I got those disguises?"
Lan stares at her for a moment, and then turns his blank look on Dr. Hikari, who just seems intensely uncomfortable to be put under the spotlight so suddenly.
"Dad," Lan begins, "why do you have a bunch of weird outfits at SciLab?"
"None of your business," Dr. Hikari blusters.
After that whole . . . situation . . . is over - though Mimic and Lan are still wondering why there are so many weird outfits at SciLab, and why Dr. Hikari is being so cagey about it - Dr. Hikari walks them to the lobby. Mimic follows mainly because she wants to see what's going to happen next, but she probably would've had to follow anyway because she's supposed to be sticking with Dr. Hikari unless there's a Net Saver mission.
Which . . . Dr. Hikari won't let her do, at the moment. Hopefully he loosens up soon; Mimic doesn't want to be cooped up for the rest of her life just because Dr. Hikari's too protective of her to let her go on any missions.
"Thank you, Maylu," Dr. Hikari says gratefully. "We were able to get a lot of valuable data from this test."
"Oh, no problem," Maylu says, with obviously false cheer. "I'm happy to be of help, really!"
Lan suddenly seems nervous. Mimic glances at him, sees his helpless expression, and just barely restrains herself from rolling her eyes when she realises he hasn't actually told Maylu about the passes yet.
Mimic discreetly waves to catch his attention, and then jerks her head toward Maylu, a silent gesture of encouragement. And of mild impatience, because he really should've explained the plan to Maylu before dragging her to SciLab and letting her be disappointed like this.
"Alright, c'mon!" Lan exclaims, gesturing for Maylu to follow him. "Let's go."
"Go . . . ?" Maylu looks at him blankly. "Go where?"
Lan gives her a grin. "To the amusement park!" he tells her. He takes out the two passes and shows them to Maylu. "We are going on a date, after all."
Maylu's entire expression lights up like Christmas. Mimic can't help but smile at that, and she steps closer to Dr. Hikari so her expression is hidden, just in case she accidentally gives something away if Maylu happens to look over at her.
"We are?" Maylu asks eagerly.
"Of course!" Lan replies, as if it was obvious right from the start. "You said yesterday that you had a dream about Cross Fusion, so I thought I'd take you here first - and then I thought we could go to the amusement park afterwards."
I think Lan's taking a page out of your book, Chaud comments, as Maylu practically bounces with joy. I bet he never would've been able to pull off this kind of lie if he hadn't seen you tricking people constantly.
Probably, Mimic agrees. And he's technically telling the truth anyway - he did intend to take Maylu out to the amusement park after SciLab, after all.
Yeah, but only after you made him realise what an oblivious idiot he was being, Chaud argues. And you also got those passes from Dr. Hikari, and gave him the idea in the first place. So really, if you think about it, Lan kind of owes you for this.
I'll collect later, Mimic decides.
It's far later in the evening - almost night, to be honest - when Lan finally comes back home. Mimic had wanted to stay up and wait for him, but Dr. Hikari insisted that she go to bed, even though she usually doesn't go to sleep until much later. But she's still waiting up anyway, and is rewarded for her patience with a soft knock on her door.
She knocks the floor to signal Lan to come in, and he creeps into her bedroom with a glance over his shoulder. Mimic heard Haruka giving Lan a light scolding for being out so late without telling them - again - and is actually grateful that Dr. Hikari's already gone to bed, otherwise he might've ended up giving Lan a lecture as well. Then he'd never get away.
Dr. Hikari's normally one of the most laid-back adults that Mimic knows, but when it comes to the safety of her and Lan, he's extremely serious. For good reason, since they both get into way too much trouble.
"Thanks for helping me with Maylu," Lan says, plopping down on Mimic's futon. "It was actually pretty fun, going on that date! At least until SwordMan showed up, anyway."
Mimic stares at him.
It's probably far too late to suddenly realise that's what she was missing - for whatever reason, she only remembered that Lan and Maylu went on a date to the amusement park, and nothing else. Damn her shitty memory.
"Yeah." Lan winces. "SwordMan decided to attack the amusement park for revenge on me and MegaMan. I almost didn't get to Cross Fuse, 'cus he knocked my synchro chip out of hands before I could download it - but Maylu found it."
"And then she tried to use it herself," MegaMan speaks up.
"She did?" Arcadia sounds just as shocked as Mimic feels. "But . . . I thought it only works for the operator and Navi it's bonded to."
"It does, but Maylu didn't know that," Lan replies. "She was kinda sad when she couldn't do it, but after the battle was over, I told her why it didn't work - I guess it kinda cheered her up, 'cus her synchro rate is definitely high enough for Cross Fusion, but she won't be able to do it until more synchro chips are created."
"We also managed to delete one of SwordMan's swords," MegaMan adds. "The red one, I think it was. We trapped SwordMan in a dome in the playground next to the amusement park, and then battled one of his swords one-on-one before we deleted it."
"Though that was kind of a bummer," Lan says, sighing. "That dome was where Maylu and I made our good luck charm for our friendship, and now it's gone . . ."
"For a good cause," Mimic tells him. "You're both okay."
Lan brightens at that. "Yeah, I guess so," he agrees. "And we don't really need a good luck charm for our friendship anyway! We're still friends, no matter what!"
Actually, I was wondering about that, Chaud says. Lan and Maylu went on a date, but from what I know about things like that, people usually only go on dates if they're dating each other. Are Lan and Maylu dating now, or are they friends?
That . . . is an excellent question. Mimic's not entirely sure - she doesn't understand romantic love at all, and would rather stay the hell away from it, because it always seems to blow up in people's faces in fiction. Of course, she knows reality is different to fiction, but she's currently living in a reality that's pretty much ruled by insanity.
She's certainly not as oblivious as Lan when it comes to this kind of stuff, but she can't claim to be an expert on it, either. Show her an enemy and she'll fight it happily, but show her a romantic problem and she'd rather just fight an enemy. Honestly, she only managed to deal with this situation because she kind of had advance warning - if she didn't know what was going to happen, she probably would've been just as clueless as Lan.
"Hey, Lan?" Arcadia calls. "I was wondering, are you and Maylu dating now? Or are you friends?"
Mimic realises he's asking for Chaud, since they're the only two people who can hear him. Curious, she looks at Lan, waiting for his answer.
Lan just looks confused. "Of course we're friends," he says. "Why would I be dating Maylu?"
Mimic groans and buries her face in her hands. He's so clever, she thinks, half-despairing. How can somebody as clever as him be so stupid?