The looks on all three young man's faces were
priceless, surprise and confusion both warring for
dominance. "Did you just say...?" Yaten finally
managed, his white hair falling into his eyes.
Ami smiled as they walked on, "Of course." She
continued on calmly, "I understand it's already going
around school, so I may as well be frank."
Seiya seemed oddly unbothered by the news, the black
haired young man following casually. Taiki had a
slight blush on his cheeks as the brown haired boy
remarked, "I thought that the Japanese tended to be
more reserved about this kind of thing."
"For a long time I was," Ami conceded. She reached up
unconsciously to touch the scar on her face, "I've
learned that holding back only leads to regrets."
"You know," Seiya finally said with a grin, "I'm
looking forward to getting to know you."
"It's nice to see there's at least one girl who isn't
screaming and fainting over you," a grinning Yaten
teased Seiya.
Ami turned back to noticed they were still being
followed by a mob of adoring Three Lights fangirls. "I
tend to think they do that over all three of you," she
noted dryly.
"It's our curse," Seiya chuckled.
"So, where to next?" Taiki asked curiously.
Ami shook her head as she noted the time, "Sorry to
say I'm going to have to abandon you." She grinned as
she moved off, "I have a lunch date."
"See you later," Seiya laughed as they headed to the
lunch room.
Setsuna smiled as they sat at the desk in the Nurse's
office, shaking her head wryly. "You actually told
them that?" she asked, black hair flowing around the
older woman like a wave.
"It seemed a good idea at the time," Ami set the lid
to her bento box aside, snapping apart her chopsticks
and beginning to eat.
"So what do you think of them?" Setsuna asked,
feeling an odd stirring of jealousy.
"I'm not sure, at first glance they seem," Ami was
searching for the right word before finally settling
on, "light weight,"
Setsuna nearly laughed, something that would have
been embarrassing with a mouth full of food. "A little
harsh?" she suggested.
"Taiki seems quite capable academically," Ami noted,
"and Yaten seems to have an interesting sense of
humor. I guess I'll just have to get to know them
better."
"And Seiya?" Setsuna raised an eyebrow.
Ami looked thoughtful, "I think he reminds me a bit
too much of Mamoru, honestly, especially back when we
first met him."
"I hadn't thought about that," Setsuna reached out to
lay her hand on Ami's.
"I'll manage," Ami reassured her lover, "it'll just
take some time."
"Haruka stopped by," Setsuna looked amused as she
continued, "I suspect that she and Seiya are not going
to get along."
"Two alpha wolves," Ami agreed, "I suspect it's
purely instinctual."
Setsuna looked intrigued, "So why doesn't Haruka have
issues with you being leader?"
Ami smiled slightly, "I approach it differently, I
suspect. I don't go head on, so I don't trigger
Haruka's competitive side."
"Makes sense," Setsuna agreed, thinking about how Ami
tended to defuse the rare arguments in the Senshi. She
smiled impishly, "Getting back to the Three Lights,
you do realize that Chibi-Usa and Hotaru are going to
want an introduction?"
Ami made a face, "I hadn't thought of that."
Meanwhile, three new students were eating their lunch
in relative privacy, having politely begged off
several invitations to eat with other students. Taiki
ate with smooth efficiency, Yaten much more roughly
while Seiya took the middle ground, more or less.
"I don't think I've seen you shot down that way
before," Yaten commented with a smile, barely pausing
in eating.
"I was not," Seiya said defensively, "shot down."
"I was surprised that she hadn't heard of us," Taiki
smoothly changed the subject, "it worries me, in all
honestly."
Aware of the fangirls nearby Seiya dropped his voice
a bit, "You think that the princess hasn't heard our
message yet?"
"It could be," Taiki nodded gravely.
"I keep forgetting how big Japan is," Yaten commented
as he munched, "even though we've narrowed down the
Princess' location to here."
"We'll just have to step up our promotion," Seiya
said firmly, "and make sure that everyone in Japan has
heard our message."
"And then there's the star seeds," Taiki noted. He
looked over at Seiya intently, "You're sure that was
Iron Mouse you saw?"
Seiya nodded grimly but it was Yaten who spoke up to
say, "I still can't believe that Sailor Mercury could
actually cure a Phage." His voice had a gentle awe to
it as he remarked, "This could change everything, you
know."
"Yes it could," Seiya agreed, the young man
momentarily distracted by the memory of the striking
girl dressed in blue.
"Uh oh," Taiki sighed, recognizing the signs.
"What?" Seiya said to the two of them defensively,
loudly snapping the cover on over his now empty bento
box.
Before anything else could be said there was a
disturbance by the entrance and the three of them
looked up to see Ami Mizuno stride inside. Seemingly
unaware of the reactions the girl clad in a boy's
uniform cased she walked over to their table, smiling
slightly in greeting.
"How was lunch?" Yaten asked impishly.
Ami colored slightly, "We had fun, yes."
"So, are we continuing on with our tour?" Seiya rose
smoothly as he flashed Ami one of his more charming
smiles.
"I suppose so," Ami said, appearing entirely
unaffected as they headed out of the dining hall
together. Walking down the hall she said, "We have
several sports teams, including American style
football, soccer and track and field."
"Do you compete in any sports?" Yaten asked
curiously.
"Kendo," Ami answered a little uncomfortable,
"Japanese style fencing. Other than that I tend to
stick with the science clubs."
Taiki looked at her thoughtfully, "It's odd, you
never competed before you began this year but you've
shown remarkable skills. I'd almost call it
miraculous."
A muscle in Ami's jaw jumped as she clenched it, a
old pain rising up in her eyes. "You could call it a
gift," she answered, picking up the pace a little.
Yaten was about to say something but Taiki gently
elbowed him in the ribs. The taller boy shook his
head, knowing that somehow he had poured salt on some
half-healed wound. They walked in silence out of the
building, the warm sun shining down on them.
"I'm sorry," Taiki finally said softly.
Ami shook her head, making herself smile again. "It's
not your fault," she said softly. She looked around,
"I think the football team is supposed to be
practicing, why don't we go see?"
"Why not?" Taiki agreed, gracefully accepting the
change of subject.
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