Chapter 02: Temptation
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0 weeks, 0 days, 15 hours, 13 minutes, 18 seconds...
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"Hey, I'm just saying, bad idea to get your hopes up," Makoto said, casually strolling down the sidewalk, hands in the pockets of her shorts. "I've already made plans for that twenty grand, you girls can just forget it."
"Hey, there's maybe some stuff you don't know about me," Usagi replied tartily. "You underestimate me, you're gonna regret it."
"Whatever," Minako said dismissively. "I'm expecting a nice little windfall sometime in the next...two or three weeks."
"Well, unless windfall is some kind of new euphemism, I'd forget it," Makoto joked.
"Hey!" Ami hissed. "Let me remind you people of something! You guys are talking way too loudly about this...ridiculous and embarrassing...contest, in public!"
"Hey, climb on down from Mount Pious," Minako countered. "Last I checked, you're in the contest, same as us."
"That doesn't mean I want to advertise it to everyone!" Ami said through gritted teeth.
"Yeah," Makoto relented. "Maybe. So anyway, what are you guys doing later?"
"Uh, I'm gonna...hit the town with Mamo-chan later today. It's couples' night at karaoke, probably that." Usagi nodded. "Not for another...five or six hours though."
"Yeah, I got Wing Chun at four," Makoto said. "I might be dropping out of that, though, every time I spar, takes like...twenty seconds before the other guys starts screaming like a bitch, and then it's...over."
"I told you, you need to go easy on them," Ami chided. "You'll hurt somebody, like...really hurt them!"
"I do go easy on them!" Makoto insisted. "They just don't...pay attention to the proper technique."
"Well, I'm going swimming later," Ami said. "We got a meet coming up."
"Oh yeah, how's that butterfly coming along?" Usagi asked, as the four girls turned to their left and ascended the large stone staircase up to the Hiwaka Shrine, an imposing structure of worship owned by the Hino family.
"Need to get my hundred meter on that down to around...seventy seconds," Ami mused as she walked up the steps. "I'm still on...seventy-one and a half, not good enough."
"You could always just...y'know..." Minako hinted, making a furtive motion with her eyes.
"For the hundredth time, no!" Ami snapped. "I'm not...no. I don't need to. With great power comes...great responsibility, remember?"
"To hell with that," Minako said, grinning. "You know how many guys I've picked up over the years by showing them my trademarked le parkour skills?"
"Apparently zero," Makoto teased.
"Hey, you don't know me," Minako insisted. "Trust me...zippers head south when they see me jump up to a ledge on the third story of an apartment complex."
"You shouldn't do that," Ami said quietly as they came up level with the temple entrance. "You're attracting unwanted attention."
"I just tell them that I...trained with ninjas when I was younger," Minako said, waving Ami off. "They buy it every time, they...ooh!"
Minako stopped dead in her tracks, head turned to the left, looking off at the area behind the main temple. Where there was previously a series of bushes that acted as a property divider, there was now an open expanse of grass with a brand-new Haiden structure right in the middle. A man, perhaps in his early twenties, was down on his knees by the southwest corner of the new building, placing a tall, green fern-like plant into a small hole in the dirt.
The other girls quickly looked over, finding the source of Minako's interest.
"Why, hello sailor," Minako said under her breath. The man was shirtless, exposing a fairly impressive chest and abdomen that was already beginning to shine underneath the beating sun of the day.
"Not bad," Makoto admitted. "Yeah that's not...Yuuchirou, is it?"
"Not unless he got plastic surgery," Ami commented.
"And has been hitting the gym like a motherfreaker," Usagi added. "Alright. Let's go find Rei."
"
Makoto gave a quick courtsey knock before sliding the door open, revealing Rei's sizable bedroom chamber. Rei, in her traditional robes dictated by Shinto tradition, was standing by the window across from the bed, staring outside.
"Hey," Makoto said, stepping into the room. "What's shakin'?"
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Rei said absentmindedly. The girls all gathered around behind her to look out at the new shrine addition.
"Hey, that's not nice, he's a person!" Makoto scolded. "He's a he!"
Rei sighed. "I was talking about the temple, you dipshit."
Makoto gave a doubting little snicker as she crowded up closer to the window. The man was carefully going through the laborous process of planting an entire row of large plants all the way around the new building. "Well, that's not what you're looking at, now is it?"
"Who is that?" Usagi gestured her head over towards the man as he lifted up a thick green plant with red flowers. "Easy on the eyes." From behind Usagi, Minako gave a couple of approving nods, licking her lips, peering over the top of her friend's head at the stranger outside the window.
"He's, uh, Nobu," Rei answered, eyes trained on him. "I think he goes to the same college as Mamoru, he's...volunteering for a few weeks to help get the new wing completely set up."
"Something wrong with Yuuchirou?" Makoto asked, standing on tiptoe over Rei's head so she could see him. Silently, Minako turned around and sprinted from the room, managing to open the sliding door without so much as a whisper, leaving it slightly open as she dashed through it.
"No, no, Yuuchirou's great, but...until we get everything set up, there's gonna be...a lot more work, so we brought him in," Rei explained.
"It's not even that hot out yet," Usagi commented. "He's just...showing off, y'know. Took his shirt off to show off."
"Yeah," Rei said, thoughtlessly wrapping a lock of her hair around her right index finger. "Not that...I'm complaining or anything."
Ami turned away from the window, a naughty little grin on her face as she walked away. "Oh, this is going to be the easiest twenty thousand yen I'm ever going to make in my life."
"Yeah, holding your palm out towards your mother is a real laborious task," Makoto said sarcastically.
"Do you have any idea of the kind of bullshit that doctors charge for?" Rei added. "I think they charge twenty grand for...the paper sheet they put on the table before you lay on it."
"Oh, I know," Ami said, sitting down on the floor by the table across the room from the door, setting her bag down next to her, still giving a small smile. "This is going to be easier. I can tell."
"Hey, don't get your hopes up," Usagi said, turning around. "I...wait..." she looked around the room. "Where'd...where'd Mina go?"
Usagi, Makoto and Rei remained grouped around the window, and Ami was at the table, but Minako had seemingly disappeared from the room. The bedroom door was about a quarter-meter ajar.
"Bathroom maybe," Rei said dismissively, tearing her eyes away from the window.
"A-anyway..." Usagi slowly strolled away from the window, looking over at Ami. "Don't get me wrong." She pointed over towards the window. "Pretty nice. But I've seen better."
"We've all seen better," Makoto said, coming over from the window as well along with Rei.
"Yeah, but...I see better," Usagi pointed out. "As in...I see better a couple times a week at least. Like, live and in-person, right in front of me."
"Okay, yeah, we get it," Rei said, sitting down at the table as Usagi took up a spot next to Ami.
"And, like, I can reach out and...and touch it, I mean, it's...it's mine, and—"
"Yeah, yeah, Usagi, we get the picture," Makoto interrupted. "And that's part of the reason why you...might not last through the weekend."
"Oh, you just wait," Usagi said, opening her bag and pulling out a large textbook. "Now, where were we?"
"Well, there's no way around it, you have to memorize these compounds based off the chemical formulas, there's no...trick to it," Ami said, flipping through her book. "You have to just do it, so—"
The door was violently thrown open and Minako haphazardly dashed into the room, right hand clenched around a little bundle of paper bills and coins. She quickly slapped it down on the corner of Rei's computer desk, then turned to look at her friends. "I'm out!"
The girls all turned to look at her. She just stood there, hand on top of the pile of yen, looking back at them, pupils slightly dilated.
"...what?" Rei asked, slowly getting back to her feet and walking over to her.
"I'm out!" She repeated, swinging her left hand around in front of her. "I'm out of the contest!"
The other girls, minus Ami, also got to their feet and walked over, eyes on the bundle of money.
"Seriously?" Rei said, sounding almost like she felt sorry for Minako.
"Yeah, I'm out!" Mina said again.
Rei's mouth was open a little bit in some mixture of confusion and shock as she looked down at Minako's money. "You...it's been...less than sixteen hours—"
"Well, I listen to my body, okay?!" Minako nodded emphatically.
Rei gave a great sigh. "Uh...okay." She shook her head slowly.
"Wow," Makoto muttered. "You know something. I actually really thought that you'd go at least a week to...prove a point."
Usagi grimaced at the pile of money. "So much for that."
Minako lifted her hand off the money, shrugging. "Shit happens." She quickly walked over towards the table in the corner.
"You know, you could just...keep it until tomorrow," Rei offered. "I mean, maybe you'll change your mind before you...get home."
Minako stopped midstep and looked back over at Rei. "Huh?"
"Well, I mean..." Rei's face went blank for a moment as she thought. "You're...you're paying ahead because you're gonna do it...tonight, right?"
"Uh...well—"
"W-wait a minute, did..." Rei pointed out towards the hallway outside her bedroom. "Mina, did..." her expression darkened, "Mina, did you just...did you masturbate in my bathroom?!"
Minako's face quickly contorted into a mask of fear, as she averted her eyes from her friends and looked over in the corner of the room. "Uh, well...it...it sure seems like...that, but let's talk about—"
"Oh, God dammit!" Rei snapped, spinning around and marching towards the door to the hall. "You—"
Minako dashed across the room and skidded to a halt in front of the door, throwing her arms out to her sides to block Rei's path. "Hey, hey buddy, where you...off to in such a hurry?" she said uneasily.
"Mina." Rei leaned in close to her face. "I had better not smell ejaculate when I walk in there!"
"Uh...are you going in there...right now?" Minako asked uneasily, trying to force a smile on her face. "Because—"
"Oh, fucking..." Rei shoved Minako to the side and stormed out of the room, quickly marching down the hall. "You open your home up to people, and they just...oh, yeah! Yeah, she fucking did it!" The faint sound of a fan turning on from down the hall was heard from the bedroom. "God dammit!"
Minako got back to her feet and walked out the bedroom door. "You shouldn't be swearing like that in a Shinto shrine!"
"Oh, you want to talk about things that shouldn't be done in a Shinto shrine?!" Rei yelled back. A distant hiss could be picked up by the ears of the girls.
"Who cares, it's a bathroom!" Minako walked down the hall and stuck her head into the bathroom chamber, observing Rei spraying lysol all around the room. "People do stuff that's way more gross than that in there all the time! People including me, and you!"
Rei gave the can a good shake, then resumed spraying the freshener all about. "This is a holy place, Mina!" Finally satisfied, she lowered the can down to her side and went over to accost Minako. "You do not do that here!"
"Okay, but...that's how I get closer to my God," Minako said lamely.
Rei could only give an exasperated sigh. "You are...so messed up, Mina. It'd be fascinating if it wasn't so fucking tragic!"
"Wait," Minako said, squinting in thought. "Wait, you...you're trying to tell me you've never masturbated on shrine grounds? Because if you are, I don't believe you!"
"That's different!" Rei countered, still glaring at her.
"Oh, this is gonna be good," Minako said. "How?"
"When I do it, I have the good sense to be ashamed of it!" Rei got in even closer to Minako's face. "Unlike you, because you have no shame!" She aimed the head of the can at Minako's chest and fired off a stream of gaseous freshener.
"Hey!" Minako yelped, turning around and running back towards the bedroom, arms thrown up over her head as Rei chased her, spraying up and down her back. "Knock it off!"
Minako danced back into the room, Rei in pursuit with the can.
"Hey, knock it off, Union Carbide!" Minako ordered, jumping up onto the bed in the corner of the room as Rei closed in.
Rei got her with one last good spurt before putting the can back at her side. "Y'know, Mina...and don't take this the wrong way, because I will kill you if you do that again, but...the very, very least you could do is take a second to turn on the fan and spray some lysol when you're done!"
"I don't know where you keep your lysol can," Minako protested, shrugging.
"I'm gonna keep it in your colon from now on, how about that?!" Rei held the can up threateningly.
"Not so funny when it happens to you, is it?" Ami said cheekily, head still down in her textbook.
"Oh, for the love of...Ami!" Minako snapped. "I...okay, look, I did just now masturbate in Rei's bathroom, I...I admit that. But I did not masturbate in your bedroom last night, okay?!"
Ami just kept her eyes on her book at the table, not saying or indicating anything.
"Look, why would I...I admit to one and not the other if I did both?!" Minako asked. "Think about it! Don't I get...any points for being honest here? Just one point, maybe?"
"I have no idea how things work inside that head of yours," Ami said coldly. "And I'm quite certain that if I tried to figure it out, I'd go insane."
Minako gave an exasperated sigh, walking over and sitting down on the floor at the table. "Whatever."
Rei threw the can over into the corner of the room and walked over to the table. "Why do I put up with you? Why does anyone put up with you?"
"Well, sorry!" Minako said, though still sounding quite aggressive. "Y'know, it's...it's bad for your health to...not do it when you get the urge."
"Pretty sure that's urination you're talking about," Makoto argued. "And either way, didn't you just...join a contest where you would be doing...exactly that?"
"What are you bitching about?" Minako snapped. "I paid up!" She pointed over at the pile of money on the desk. "Best five grand I ever spent in my life too." She gingerly rubbed her crotch.
Rei gave a feral little snarl, ripping open one of the heavy textbooks in front of her. "Not even going to bother trying to ask you to think about that line of reasoning."
Ami sighed, then set her book down and turned towards Minako. "Actually...this reminds me of something. And you all should hear this too, just for your information." She cleared her throat, looking Minako in the eyes.
Minako immediately put her palm up towards her. "Ami, I'm not...don't, okay? We're cool and everything, but...I'm not listening to any more of your paranoid delusions."
"Mina!" Ami said sternly. "Listen to me, okay? Now...Mina, you're my friend...one of my best friends, in fact, and that will never change. We've been through so much together, and you're very special to me."
Minako dropped her hand to her side. "Ah, finally! An apology. Took you long enough."
"Well...no," Ami said cautiously. "I just don't want you think that I...no longer consider you a friend or in any way truly dislike you. This has nothing to do with that. I was angry last night, but...I'm not angry now. This isn't coming from a place of anger. And...okay, I apologize for what I just said about your...head just now, that was a little uncalled for—"
Minako rolled her eyes. "Not a great apology, but...I guess I'll accept it—"
"Mina!" Ami snapped. "Listen. You're still my friend, but...you are now banned from my apartment."
Minako gave a dismissive little chuckle, grabbing a textbook from the table in front of her. "Funny."
"Uh, no, Minako, you...you're banned. Meaning you can't be inside the apartment anymore, understood?" Ami gave a slow nod. "Okay?"
"Ami, please," Minako said casually. "I get that you're mad, but you've got no right to take it out on me."
"I'm not mad," Ami replied evenly. "I'm actually very calm now, and this changes nothing between us. But there are consequences for your actions, and this is the consequence for this action." She returned to her textbook, cracking it open. "So...please respect that, and don't make a big deal out of it."
Minako looked up from her book, glaring across the room at the wall, then turned to Ami. She gave a little snicker, but got no reaction from Ami other than a turned page. "Huh." She licked her tongue across the fronts of her teeth. "You're...you're serious, huh?"
"Yes," Ami said quietly.
Minako swallowed, closing her book loudly and setting it down on the table. "Alright, if it...makes you feel better, I guess," she said, laying her supposed hurt feelings on thickly. "Three days, a week, how long do I have to play along with this silly little...power trip of yours?"
"Indefinite," Ami said, not looking up, clearly checked out of the conversation.
Minako looked at Ami for several seconds. "Isn't...isn't indefinite a fancy word for...forever?"
Ami sighed. "In a way."
"Ami!" Minako jumped to her feet, hands on her hips and looking down at her blue-haired friend. "I asked you a straight-up question, I expect a straight-up answer! Are you...are you seriously banning me from your apartment for life?!"
Ami flipped a page in the book. "I...that's a fair assessment, yes, you are banned from...my apartment for the rest of your life."
Minako waited several seconds for Ami to announce that she was just joking around. When such a claim failed to come, she gave a disbelieving, harsh laugh. "Oh, so...wow. Wow!" She took a couple steps away from the table. "You're...you're banning me?!"
"Well, no, I'm...technically just enforcing the ban, I didn't institute it," Ami said, keeping emotion out of her voice, as if she was explaining the answer to a difficult math problem.
Minako's mouth gaped open, jaw going up and down a couple times. "T-then...then who instituted it?!"
Ami finally looked up at Minako, though she still betrayed no emotions. "My mother banned you. It was her decision."
Minako blinked a couple times, mouth still open in shock. "And why, pray tell, did she do that?!"
Ami turned her head back to her schoolbook, eyes quickly scanning the material in front of her. "I told her what you did yesterday, and she decided to institute a ban."
Minako just stood there, jaw clenched in anger. She expelled a violent breath.
"Wow. Wow! You...you brought your mother into this!" she said, seething.
"Mina, she has a right to know. It is her apartment, and when something...noteworthy happens inside of it, I feel that she should be told. And she has a right to enforce whatever regulations she sees fit on her apartment." She set the book down and turned to Minako, who was angrily pacing in a circle. "Now, I should remind you that you very seldomly come to my apartment anyway, and we will not be shunning you from any group meetings or activities. I'm sure Usagi, Rei and Makoto will be more than willing to accomodate the fact that you're not allowed in my apartment anymore, and my mother has absolutely no control over who I decide to have as friends, so—"
"Your mother had nothing to do with this!" Minako snapped, pointing at Ami. "You've crossed the line, Mizuno! You tattled!"
Ami sighed, but her tone remained patient. "Mina, it's her property, I just told her what had been done on her property and she acted in a way that she saw—"
"No, no!" Minako roared. "You...you gossiped!" She emphatically pointed at Ami. "You gossiped about my private business! Last night was a private discussion between close friends, and you gossiped!" She raised her right hand up and began to mime a mouth rapidly speaking. "You're gossiping!" She shook her head. "What a little yenta!"
"Are you done?" Ami asked, flipping to the next page in her book.
Minako chewed on her tongue for a moment, looking down at Ami. "You're intent on going through with this, aren't you?!"
"I have to respect my mother's wishes about the apartment that she pays for, yes," Ami said quietly.
Minako scowled. "So, you're banning me?!"
"If you really want to call it that...go ahead," Ami said. "I can't say I disagree with—"
"You're banning me from your apartment?!" Minako seethed.
"Yes," Ami finally admitted. "I'm banning you, we'll call it that."
"Okay, fine!" Minako spun around towards the door, marching towards it. "I'm banned!"
"Yes," Ami said to her retreating back. "Please don't make things difficult by trying to stop by or anything—"
"DON'T WORRY, I WON'T!" Minako growled, shoving the door open and slamming it behind her.
The room was silent for a moment, all three girls looking at Ami as she emotionlessly read through her chemistry book.
"Huh," Usagi muttered. "You're pretty good at handling a child throwing a tantrum," she admitted. "Remind me to give you a call next time Chibiusa shows up."
"Still, though..." Rei leaned over the table, propping her elbow on the table and resting her head in her palm. "Don't get me wrong, I'm...sorely tempted to ban Mina from my house too, but...bringing parents into it...maybe a little out of bounds."
"She deserves to know what happens in her apartment," Ami insisted.
"You coulda handled it on your own, is all," Makoto said, looking over at the door. "Ban her yourself." She shrugged. "Parents might be...crossing the line a bit, yeah."
The door violently slid open, Minako stomping through the threshold over to the table, still scowling. "Unbelievable, the loose lips around here," she grumbled, heavily sitting down on the floor at the table and roughly grabbing her chemistry book. "Banning me from your apartment...friendship isn't what it used to be." She glared over at Ami, then leaned over towards her and repeated miming a fast-talking mouth with her right hand. "Gossip!"
Ami ignored her entirely.
"You don't even have proof...circumstantial evidence! That's all you got!" She shook her head. Nice to know that the Mizuno residence considers themselves above the law! Okay, fine...I don't care!" Minako ripped the book open. "Do not care. Dooo...nooot...care."
"
0 weeks, 0 days, 19 hours, 33 minutes, 47 seconds...
"
"Okay, you know what?!" Minako leaned in close to Ami again, trying to draw some kind of reaction from her. "You know what I just decided?! You are now banned from my house! How about that?!"
"Okay," Ami replied, pencil dancing around in her hand as she scribbled equations onto a sheet of paper in front of her.
"Yeah!" Minako nodded. "That's how I roll, bitch! You're banned from my house, so you can just—"
"Mina," Rei said suddenly, voice flat and soulless. "Stop. Talking."
"Hey, Rei, I'm trying to have a conversation here, so—"
Rei reached forward, grabbing Minako by the collar and yanking her close, so their noses were nearly touching. Rei had a dead look in her eyes, with lines of agony etched in the wrinkles on her face.
"No. You don't understand, Mina." Minako tried to wrench away from Rei's grip, but could not get away. "If you say one more word about this issue. One more word. I will scalp you with a pen." She stared unblinkingly into Minako's eyes. "One more word, and that is what happens. And no judge in the world will convict me. They will understand that I did the right thing."
Minako scowled, then rolled her eyes. "Whatever...fine." Rei released her and sat back.
"Oh, thank God," Makoto groaned, laying back flat on the floor and looking up at the ceiling. "Finally!"
"I'm going to be dreaming about Minako talking to Ami for the next month," Usagi complained, setting her book down. "There's no more room in my head for school stuff, it's all filled with...Minako."
"Maybe I should just...go," Minako grumbled, standing up. "Go back to my house...which you are now banned from, Ami, just to...reiterate."
"Yes I am," Ami said, still not looking up from her sheet of paper.
"And...that includes the...property, just so we're clear." Minako nodded. "So the...front yard, back yard, all that...off-limits."
"Mmhmm," Ami grunted.
"The sidewalk in front of the house is kind of a grey area, I'd prefer you didn't, but...I understand that sometimes...shit happens," Minako added. "We can work out some sort of agreement on policies regarding...a life-or-death situation that requires you to—"
"GO. AWAY." Rei glared up at Minako, grabbing her pen from the table and wielding it dangerously.
Minako turned away from the table and trudged over to the door, sliding it open. Instead of an empty hallway, however, there was instead a sweaty, well-built young man, hand out in front of him where the door handle had been just a second before. Still without his shirt, Nobu quickly withdrew his hand as Minako jumped back.
"O-oh!" Minako gasped. "Hi, sorry!" She gave an awkward little wave.
"N-no, it's okay, I..." he peeked into the room. "Is...could I talk to...Rei Hino? Is this a bad—"
Rei leapt to her feet, the anguish and irritation immediately leaving her face as she flew over towards the door, sweeping Minako to the side. "Oh...there's never a bad time!" She propped her right hand up on the door frame, putting a pleasant smile on her face. "Uh...what's up? Nobu?"
"No, I can...I can come back," he said, voice deep and commanding.
"No, no!" Rei shook her head. "Well, you can come back, but...what's going on? Everything okay out there?"
"Yeah, yeah, everything's great...I was actually wondering if...and I'm not saying right now, but I'm just wondering if you'd be okay with this in the future..." he licked his lips, "I didn't have time to say anything when we met this morning, but...I actually kind of need your help with something."
"Well, I'd love to, but...none of my shirts are going to fit you," Rei joked, putting her all into a good first impression.
"Oh." Nobu looked down at himself, as if suddenly aware of his appearance. "Yeah, I...not really appropriate for a place like this, I guess, I'm...sorry—"
"Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that!" Rei nodded. "Of course it's fine, we don't...judge based off appearance in here!"
"Right. Well, so...y'know, obviously I'm gonna be here a few weeks, helping out...happy to do it, by the way, but..." he nervously licked his lips, "there's actually a...second reason why I wanted to do this."
"Oh...lay it on me!" Rei enthused.
"Well, basically...I grew up in a very...rigidly devoted household when I was younger, and...you have those angry teenage years where you just kind of...stray the path and lose your faith." He shrugged. "You...you might not know about that, but...it happens to a lot of us. Anyway, I'm looking to...maybe...re-devote myself to the faith, but...I just want someone to talk to about it, to help me out with it. Was wondering if we could maybe...and if you don't do this kind of thing, that's cool, but...have some private sessions to explore things."
"Absolutely!" Rei said loudly.
"Waaaaay too enthusiastic—" Minako butted in, quickly silenced by Rei stomping on the top of Minako's foot.
"Yeah, we can do that!" Rei insisted. "Uhh...just...whenever you're done outside or...whatever, swing by, my schedule is...freeeee. Yeah."
"Cool." He gave a small smile. "Alright, I better...get back out there. Good to see you, and...thank you. We'll talk again soon." Slowly, he turned around and headed back down the hall.
Rei stuck herself out into the hall, waving at his retreating back. "Yeah, uh...see ya!" She stood there for several seconds, watching him disappear around the corner.
"Just uh...have your money on the desk by tomorrow morning, m'kay?" Usagi came up to Rei's side as she pulled herself back into the room.
"Hey," Rei said, snapping her glare over to Usagi. "You're not getting off that easy."
"No, but you're gonna get off pretty easy tonight," Usagi said airily, grinning to herself as she skipped back over to the table. Just as she was about to retake her seat, she stopped, then reached down for her hip.
"What part of 'discipline may as well be my middle name' did you not understand?" Rei retorted. "Not even phased, trust me."
"My condolences, Rei," Makoto teased. "Looks like you'll have to sell off a couple of those windchimes out front."
Usagi checked her phone, then deposited it back in her pocket. "Alright, I'm gonna bounce, he's here to pick me up."
As soon as the sentence was out of her mouth, a pair of quick beeps sounded from out front.
"He texted you and honked his horn?" Rei glanced over at the window that provided a view out into the street in front of the shrine, then walked over to it. "He's gonna scare off all the birds and...what the fuck?!" She stopped in front of the window, eyes widening.
"What?!" Makoto quickly jumped to her feet and ran over to the window, peering up over the top of her head. "Whoa!"
"Usagi," Rei said in a slightly raw voice, spinning around to face her friend and pointing over her shoulder with her right hand's thumb. "What the hell?"
Minako ran past Rei and peeked over the windowsill, gasping. Down on the street, parked in front of the shrine's steps, was a metallic green vehicle, sleek and low to the ground, Mamoru Chiba seated in the driver's seat.
"What's the problem?" Usagi asked, picking up her purse and heading for the door.
"That's an Aventador!" Makoto babble. "That is a motherfucking Lamborghini Aventador!" She turned around, wide-eyed, and looked over at Usagi. "You better get out there fast, because the cops are probably gonna be here any second!"
"Oh, yeah. Sweet ride. Very nice kick to it," Usagi said casually.
"Usagi." Rei crossed her arms over her chest. "Why is your boyfriend driving a Lambo?!"
"Because he has a small penis?" Minako suggested.
"N-no!" Rei shook her head. "I mean...why is your orphan, busboy, med-student boyfriend driving a car that goes for forty million yen on a good day?!"
Usagi shrugged. "Good question. Doesn't make any sense, does it?" She skipped over to the door. "Anyway, catch ya later!"
Rei grinded her teeth together, unconsciously reaching over towards her bedside table and crushing an origami swan with her palm. "Augh, that...freaking..." She stomped over towards the bedroom door that Usagi had left open. "Yeah, see ya later! Enjoy my sloppy seconds!" she shouted, sticking her head out of the bedroom doorway and looking down the hallway that Usagi had just trotted down.
A second later, Usagi's head re-appeared from around the corner, giving Rei a surprisingly effective death glare. Rei grimaced, catching herself and realizing what she had just said.
She put her hands up towards Usagi, squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head. "Okay, okay. Low blow. Inappropriate. I'm sorry."
"And you call yourself a miko," Usagi grumbled, disappearing back around the corner. Rei pushed herself back into her room, shutting the door behind her.
"A freaking lambo!" Rei grunted, frowning. "What is up with that guy? I feel like...there's gotta be some Walter White-type shit going on with him!"
"Yeah, it's a mystery," Minako agreed.
"Still, though...sloppy seconds...uncalled for," Makoto chided.
"Yeah, I know..." Rei grumbled. "Still...if I didn't move to the side and let her have him, Mamoru totally would have been mine."
"Uh-huh," Makoto said, leaning up against the wall by the window. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
"Come to think of it though...Mamoru is already pulling some Walter White-type shit that we know about," Minako thought out loud. "Like...Tuxedo Mask is like Heisenberg." She sighed, wrinkling her forehead in thought. "I mean...is Usagi Jesse, or Skyler? That's tough...Mokoti would definitely be Hank—"
"Weren't you leaving?" Rei asked.
"Actually, I gotta run too," Makoto said, reaching her right hand towards Rei. Rei reached forward and gave her a quick slap. "Good times, see you girls later. Rei, I'll expect the money on your desk tomorrow morning."
"In your dreams," Rei retorted.
"I actually have to go as well," Ami said, standing up and gathering her books and notes into her bag. "Thank you, Rei, see you tomorrow."
"Oh, you're...still there," Rei said suddenly, looking over at the table. "Talk about a church mouse—"
"Well, I had to get something done today," she insisted, heading for the door. "See you all!"
"Just so you know, this is far from over!" Minako shouted at her back.
"
0 weeks, 0 days, 21 hours, 01 minutes, 02 seconds...
Arms out at her sides, pushing down towards her body, Ami propelled herself through the water, surfacing for a breath as she thrusted forth. Legs kicking with a hurried, yet measured, pace, she submerged again for a brief moment as she quickly got her hands back up level with her shoulders for another violent push.
It was the most difficult of all the swim styles used in typical competitions. Any beginner could handle the breaststroke, front crawl, and backstroke within minutes, but the slightest error in method on a butterfly stroke would result in only feeble forward movement. Ami enjoyed the mental aspect of the technique. Here, strength didn't matter quite as much. You either did it right, or you went nowhere fast.
She repeated the quick process all the way down the lane of water, swiftly getting to the end wall and going into a perfect flip, which turned into a wall kick, that sent her back the other way. Using the markers on the pool bottom, she thought she was making good progress in getting each of her strokes to cover more ground, a definite-must in preparation for the competition in a few weeks.
Mentally humming a little rhythm in time with her strokes, she quickly cut to the wall, fingers finding the ridge. She immediately looked up at the wall in front of her behind the pool, eyes looking for the timer to get a rough idea of how she had done.
"Hey there!"
Inbetween her and the timer, however, was a fellow swimmer. Or at least presumably, he was at least dressed for the occasion. He was crouched down, looking directly at her, a warm smile on his chiseled face. Ami had opened her mouth to berate him for ruining her lap by blocking the wall clock, but her mouth just hung slightly agape, the words not quite managing to get out.
He pointed down at her. "You're Ami Mizuno?"
"Uh..." Ami managed to shut her mouth and swallow down a sudden buildup of saliva. "Y-yeah."
"Perfect!" He reached down towards her, hand out. "Can we talk for a second?"
Ami was frozen for a moment. Whoever this guy was, he looked like an ancient Greek sculpture. Not an actual person, but rather some absurd fantasy of an idealized person that real life could never hope to match.
But not made of stone or clay, somehow.
After a couple moments of awkward silence, she reached forward and took his hand. He easily pulled her out of the water and set her down on the edge of the pool, then sat down next to her. She still hadn't quite gotten over his chest. It looked like a sheet of human flesh pulled over a 55-gallon barrel.
"You're real good," he said, pointing out at the water. "I like the way you move."
"...yeah," Ami said, going bright red as she forced her eyes away from his torso, settling for staring out across the water in front of her.
"So, I'll make this quick, I know you're busy...I was told you're the woman to talk to about help with integral calculus." He gave a dry little laugh. "I know, I know...my dad is driving my ass about these AP classes, won't stop talking about them...believe me, if it was up to me I'd wait until college to take that shit." He shrugged. "But gotta do it. Anyway...none of the tutors here can really help, and most of the students don't even know what an integral is, so...you know that stuff?"
"Yeah," Ami said, blinking rapidly and keeping her eyes trained on a point on the wall across the pool.
"Well...if you don't want to, or can't, I get it...but basically I just need some help. I did fine with...differentials, but this is tough, so...any chance?"
"Yeah," Ami repeated, voice cracking a bit. She gripped the ridge around the pool tightly with her fingers.
"Really?" He grinned. "Thank you so much!" He gave her a light shove in her side which nearly toppled her over. "Uh...what works for you, I could do...monday after school, or wednesday during lunch."
Ami blinked a few times. "Yeah."
He stared at her awkwardly for a moment. "So...monday...or wednesday?"
"Yeah," Ami nodded quickly, knuckles turning white as she squeezed the edge of the pool.
"So...either?" he assumed.
"Yeah," Ami said, voice cracking even more. She swallowed down hard.
"Okay!" He stood up. "I'll let you get back to your swimming. Thanks so much, see you Monday...say...in the library!" He departed, taking large strides towards the sauna, Ami now daring to look up and follow his movements. Her entire face was bright red, eyes wide and mouth slightly open as she watched him disappear into the small heated chamber.
"Holy shit!"
Ami jumped and turned to look over her left shoulder. In the lane right next to her, another fellow swimmer was staring at her, eyes as wide as hers. Eiko, another expert swimmer who represented Juuban in competitions, one of Ami's teammates.
"O-oh..." Ami trailed off, fighting the losing battle of getting color out of her face.
"Do you know...who that was?!" Eiko hissed, leaning towards her, then glancing around to make sure nobody else was around. "Do you...you know, right?"
Ami blinked a few times. "Uh...I...a student?" she blubbered.
Eiko gave a little exasperated sigh. "Seriously? That...Ami, that was Masahiro Isao!"
Ami could only summon a blank look.
"You know...as in...Masahiro Nakai?!" Eiko raised an eyebrow. "You know who that is, right?!"
Ami took a quick moment to think, clearing her mind. "U-uh, yeah, the...singer...SMAP and Utuban and...all that, yeah."
Eiko pointed towards the sauna door. "That's his son!"
Ami's mouth fell open slightly yet again, as she turned back around to look at the closed door. "Masahiro?" she repeated, voice squeaking.
"Yes!" Eiko said, nodding. "And, as an impartial observer...he was totally into you!"
Ami looked back at her for a moment, then turned back to look at the far wall across the pool.
She desperately searched her large intellect for an appropriate response or action.
Nothing sprung to mind.