Pardon my rudeness. I was supposed to explain a few more things in the
beginning, was I not? For instance, where we are headed, and why.
In that surprising way of hers, Usagi suggested that we take a year to visit a foreign school. After all, her Mamoru was doing so for college. Why couldn't we?
Scoffs all around this time. Usagi in college? And in a foreign one at that? Any college that was out of the country was not likely to accept a student with grades as poor as hers. Hardly any college in-country was going to, at any rate.
She brought the idea up tentatively, over milkshakes, while we discreetly (well, as 'discreetly' as is possible with Mina) eyed Motoki's backside as he cleaned the arcade. Out of the blue, completely random: "Do you think we could take classes at an English school this year?"
It took a moment for it to sink into all of us. Ami heard it first and blinked behind her glasses, setting her highlighter down on the book she had been perusing. The rest of us caught on not too long afterwards and I admit that I was the first to begin the subsequent tittering.
"Oh, Usa-chan, more school for you? You're the last person I would imagine saying that!"
She was immediately defensive at my comment, ready to launch into a patented Usagi whimper/wail about how mean I was to her, when Makoto swooped in to rescue our eardrums.
"Well, I guess Rei is just really surprised, after all the complaining you did about school and all, Usa. You're going to have to explain where this idea came from."
"Please do! I'm glad you've decided to make some further course of study!" Ami border-lined on ecstasy with this comment. I wanted to laugh at that too.
Usagi seemed startled that her idea was getting some good feedback, and she took a moment to stir her straw around in her chocolate milkshake. "I've heard about this school in England, or maybe even in Scotland, where – "
"Wait, you don't even know where this school is?" Makoto's voice rose to blot out Mina-chan's excited "I've been there!"
"It's been made to...not be found very easily." Our princess finished weakly, then hurried to go on. "It's not a normal school, girls, it's a magical school! Except the magic is so much different than ours! When I heard about it, I thought that it would be the coolest thing ever to go there and learn how they do it, and that way our powers could be boosted somewhat..."
Ami pondered. I could tell it wasn't exactly what she had in mind, but Usa-chan did have a point. There wasn't a battle that went by when at least one of us didn't lament the lack of qualified teachers to guide us through our powers, and even older-than-time Setsuna could only teach us so much. I was curious from the first mention of 'magical'.
"That's actually not such a bad idea. If we went, the rest of you could really work on developing your psychic powers."
Mina groaned. For a leader, she's rather reluctant to hone her intuitive skills. "Only you would care about that, Rei. That's why we have you in the first place."
I bent my head quickly to my strawberry milkshake. That wasn't true. The reason they had me in the first place was not because I cared to have these powers. It was because I carried them from my lost civilization, a place I had barely begun to remember with the awakening of our princess. Fat lot of good they had done me in this life until that point as well. It would have been a lot easier for me had they lain dormant for years, like Ami's and Mina's had.
But I digress
"The school's name is Hogwarts. Isn't it horrible sounding? But I've heard that it's one of the best magic centers in all the world, and I really think we should go." Usagi pleaded. Funny that at the time none of us really questioned where she had gotten this information.
Eventually this arcade meeting broke up due to our various life paths, and would reform at Mako-chan's kitchen table. But it was already half-decided in our minds, just from Usagi's insistence, that it was too good of an idea to pass up, if it could be made to work.
So we were on the train, and I still hadn't given much thought to how Usagi had managed such a correspondence with the headmaster of the school, and arranged most of the details even before that arcade meeting.
In that surprising way of hers, Usagi suggested that we take a year to visit a foreign school. After all, her Mamoru was doing so for college. Why couldn't we?
Scoffs all around this time. Usagi in college? And in a foreign one at that? Any college that was out of the country was not likely to accept a student with grades as poor as hers. Hardly any college in-country was going to, at any rate.
She brought the idea up tentatively, over milkshakes, while we discreetly (well, as 'discreetly' as is possible with Mina) eyed Motoki's backside as he cleaned the arcade. Out of the blue, completely random: "Do you think we could take classes at an English school this year?"
It took a moment for it to sink into all of us. Ami heard it first and blinked behind her glasses, setting her highlighter down on the book she had been perusing. The rest of us caught on not too long afterwards and I admit that I was the first to begin the subsequent tittering.
"Oh, Usa-chan, more school for you? You're the last person I would imagine saying that!"
She was immediately defensive at my comment, ready to launch into a patented Usagi whimper/wail about how mean I was to her, when Makoto swooped in to rescue our eardrums.
"Well, I guess Rei is just really surprised, after all the complaining you did about school and all, Usa. You're going to have to explain where this idea came from."
"Please do! I'm glad you've decided to make some further course of study!" Ami border-lined on ecstasy with this comment. I wanted to laugh at that too.
Usagi seemed startled that her idea was getting some good feedback, and she took a moment to stir her straw around in her chocolate milkshake. "I've heard about this school in England, or maybe even in Scotland, where – "
"Wait, you don't even know where this school is?" Makoto's voice rose to blot out Mina-chan's excited "I've been there!"
"It's been made to...not be found very easily." Our princess finished weakly, then hurried to go on. "It's not a normal school, girls, it's a magical school! Except the magic is so much different than ours! When I heard about it, I thought that it would be the coolest thing ever to go there and learn how they do it, and that way our powers could be boosted somewhat..."
Ami pondered. I could tell it wasn't exactly what she had in mind, but Usa-chan did have a point. There wasn't a battle that went by when at least one of us didn't lament the lack of qualified teachers to guide us through our powers, and even older-than-time Setsuna could only teach us so much. I was curious from the first mention of 'magical'.
"That's actually not such a bad idea. If we went, the rest of you could really work on developing your psychic powers."
Mina groaned. For a leader, she's rather reluctant to hone her intuitive skills. "Only you would care about that, Rei. That's why we have you in the first place."
I bent my head quickly to my strawberry milkshake. That wasn't true. The reason they had me in the first place was not because I cared to have these powers. It was because I carried them from my lost civilization, a place I had barely begun to remember with the awakening of our princess. Fat lot of good they had done me in this life until that point as well. It would have been a lot easier for me had they lain dormant for years, like Ami's and Mina's had.
But I digress
"The school's name is Hogwarts. Isn't it horrible sounding? But I've heard that it's one of the best magic centers in all the world, and I really think we should go." Usagi pleaded. Funny that at the time none of us really questioned where she had gotten this information.
Eventually this arcade meeting broke up due to our various life paths, and would reform at Mako-chan's kitchen table. But it was already half-decided in our minds, just from Usagi's insistence, that it was too good of an idea to pass up, if it could be made to work.
So we were on the train, and I still hadn't given much thought to how Usagi had managed such a correspondence with the headmaster of the school, and arranged most of the details even before that arcade meeting.