45/Office Hours 6 -- Usagi

Office Hours 6 -- Usagi
Date of Scene:	08 July 2023
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy
Synopsis:	Kyouka goes wabbit huntin', utilizing a strategy laid out by Naru.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Kyouka Inai

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Kyouka Inai has posed:
    One thing everybody knows is that just outside the front gates of Radiant Heart Academy, one lucky guy has secured a primo spot for his taiyaki cart. That's because it's right outside the gate of a school, and like hundreds of kids walk in front of it every day. And kids love fish-shaped pastries. The guy's name is Taro, and he's pretty cool, and he's also friends with Kyouka, in a 'this lady buys taiyaki from me every single day' kind of way. But that's neither here-nor-there. The important thing is, this particular day, Naru has asked Usagi to meet her at the taiyaki cart after class. This in itself is not so strange.

    What Usagi doesn't know, however, is that Naru also tipped off Kyouka that this was happening, and that it was likely that Usagi would be at the cart around this time! How dastardly of her! Or perhaps she thinks actually meeting with the guidance counselor will do Usagi good. Could be either, really. For her part, Kyouka is quite interested in finally meeting Usagi. First of all, she keeps missing scheduled appointments. Second of all, when she was talking to Naru, Kyouka noticed a distinct scent of residual magic around her- not her own, but clearly from someone she was often in close proximity to. Like say.... her roomate?!

    This is why Kyouka is loitering nearby the taiyaki stand at approximately the agreed-upon time. We're technically off school grounds, although the gate is still in plain view, so she has her leather jacket on over her usual button-down white dress shirt. And sunglasses. And she's chewing bubblegum. Probably, in her mind, she looks like a secret agent on a stakeout. Maybe she's even right.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Little thing everyone who ever meets Usagi understands right away: this girl loves food. Truly, genuinely, deeply, just, having a love affair for the ages with food. No one likes to snack like Usagi. And Taikyaki? Taiyaki is quick, easy, and versatile! The cart outside her new school (perhaps one of the only good things about the new school, yes, she is still bitter about being forced to transfer, or at least, as bitter as a girl like Usagi can be) sells great taiyaki, with enough different flavors that she can have a little variety in her afterschool treats. Custards, chocolate, red bean, even savory sausage fillings! Naru-chan knows her well, to invite her out for a snack lke this.

...Shame she doesn't see Naru though. Weird! Naru-chan was *never* late, or at least, almost never, enough so that Usagi can't really remember the last time she was late.

"Weird," she hums to herself, looking around. "I even ditched Luna for this!"

Well, for this, and for not telling her the truth about what was going on with Rei-chan and the buses.

"Well... Naru-chan, I'll just have to have taiyaki for the both of us," she decides, as only a truly selfless friend would, and heads eagerly for the cart. She doesn't even notice the older woman stealthily (stealthily?) lurking near the cart.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka is being stealthy the way a cat thinks its being stealthy when it crouches down and wiggles its butt in the air in the middle of the living room carpet- that is to say, not very, but thoroughly convinced she's the real deal. Apparently it doesn't even matter though because taiyaki proves the perfect distraction. This, at least, is something Kyouka can fully understand. She already bought and ate hers while waiting.

    To be fair, she lets Usagi make her purchase /before/ she springs the trap. If the girl is about to be traumatized by Aggressive Guidancing at least she can have a snack at the same time. Only after Usagi has paid Taro and turned away from the cart, does a hand come seemingly from nowhere to land upon her shoulder. "Miss.. Tsukino, isn't it?" Oh, she sounds so smug. As if this was some clever master plan and not the most basic of ploys actually suggested by a fourteen-year-old. "Do you have a moment?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
An aura of impending doom lurks around Usagi - one that's completely unnoticed, as the girl eagerly purchases her snack, selecting a plain custard filled taiyaki for the day. The perfect refreshing bite to finish off a day of school! She's already bit into the poor little fish pastry's head when the hands descends to her shoulder and the trap closes tight around her poor, innocent soul.

She jumps of course, which means that she trips over her own untied shoelaces and nearly drops her treat, fumbling for it. "Wah! Who - what - I didn't do it!"

A plea for her own innocence! She doesn't yet know exactly what's happened, or how screwed she might be.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka, thankfully, is much stronger than she might appear, and is able to use the hand on Usagi's shoulder to stop her from either faceplanting on the sidewalk /or/ losing the taiyaki. Or both. She pulls the girl back upright, unable to keep the satisfied crooked smile off her face as she dramatically removes her sunglasses- a pointless gesture since Usagi has never seen her in person and therefore wouldn't recognize her anyway. Seeming to realize this after a moment, she says, "Au contraire, mon amie." (Her french accent is atrocious). "You've missed /two/ scheduled appointments to see me. And those things get scheduled for a reason, you know."

    She turns Usagi around with firm but gentle pressure upon shoulders, though perhaps wisely, does not release her grip. "I'm Inai-sensei. The guidance counselor?" She finally supplies, searching Usagi's expression for any sign of recognition or realization, one brow quirking slightly above an ash-grey eye. "You were meant to be in my office yesterday at 3. And also three days before that at two. And you weren't."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The lady holding her - because it is a lady, with bright red hair and a very cool jacket and sunglasses, and what even Usagi recognizes as a terrible French accent - is strong, because Usagi doesn't move an inch. Or maybe she herself is pretty weak, a thought which absolutely doesn't surprise her. She's got a smile on her face that tells Usagi she's probably doomed, because she looks pleased with herself, and no teach is ever pleased to see Usagi Tsukino.

(What, it's true! They might not *dislike* Usagi, but it was hard for a teacher to look pleased with a student who was only ever at best barely passing. It's not hurting her self-esteem, she gets it!)

"Uh - " And then the teacher introduces herself, and Usagi knows she's well and properly goofed it. Here she is. The teacher Usagi has been avoiding so thoroughly. The doom that's finally fallen upon her head, that even Sailor Moon can't save her from - the guidance counselor she'd incidentally run all the way to Chiyo-chan and *Darien* to avoid.

"Ahahaha...ha... Inai-sensei! Of course! You ah, how are, you? It's uh - it's not what it looks like?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I'm sure it isn't," says Kyouka mildly, as she turns and begins to steer Usagi back towards the school gate, keeping one hand on her shoulder in order to keep her from making a run for it like her namesake. "Your roomate, the lovely Osaka-san, informs me you are likely not skipping our meetings on purpose, but probably just forgot. I hope that's true. It'd be kinda annoying to me if you were purposefully avoiding me." She's still smiling, but boy it looks like her canine teeth are just a little too long and sharp, although surely that's just your imagination.

    Once at least back upon school property, she does release Usagi's shoulder, though. And she drops the self-satisfied act enough to adopt a more serious tone. "Look, kid, just give me like five minutes, alright? It's for your own good, I promise. And no, I don't care that you failed your test or you lost your math textbook." Naru had tattled about that one. Blame her.

    She points to a wooden park bench alongside the brick-paved path nearby, under the shade of a tree. "Have a seat and listen to me, alright? Five minutes, I promise. Then you can go back to eating taiyaki and avoiding your homework."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The lovely Osaka-san - Naru-chan, you traitor! This is a set up, isn't it?

Yes, that thought is only just now rapping on her skull, inviting itself in. She'd been sure this was her own bad luck, but no, it's worse! Treachery! From her own very best friend! How could she she?! And she even spilled about the math book! These are the thoughts occupying Usagi's mind as she's steered back towards school grounds, drawn to what is surely going to be her doom, because oh that smile looks very not good, and those teeth look a little sharp (it's her imagination, right? The guidance counselor isn't a youma, right?) and yes she has been avoiding this very confrontation. Yes, she very much has.

"If you don't care about my tests and my math book, what's there to talk about?" She asks suspiciously, before stuffing her face with taiyaki in an effort to avoid further questions. It's going to fail, but at least the taiyaki is good. There's no way out though, is there? She sighs a little, shoulders slumping.

"Yes, Inai-sensei, I'll sit and talk."

This is *definitely* going to be about her failed tests. That's all any teacher ever wants to talk about.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka seems to consider the best way to approach this conversation. It was easier with Homura, or Kyouko, because neither of them made any effort to hide their nature. She knows Usagi is a magical girl- she can smell it, and that's literal. It's one of her powers. She doesn't know which magical girl, or what sort, but that's not important to her at this very moment. "What there is to talk about," She says, visibly choosing her words as she sits upon the bench and folds up her sunglasses, tucking them into the pocket of her jacket (which she has removed and slung over one arm, as she has been lectured in the past about wearing it on school grounds and looking 'like a hooligan'), "Is some of your... extracurricular activities. Ya see, the headmistress didn't hire me /just/ to be a guidance counselor. I have some other pretty specific qualifications which are relevant at a school like this one."

    She gives Usagi a moment to think about that, perhaps wondering if the girl will put two and two together, or if she's going to have to come out and say 'magical girl' out loud in public.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Oh, it's going to have to be said aloud, because Usagi is looking at Inai-sensei with nothing but pure bewilderment. It's very, very clear that she's not picking up what's being laid down, and even more - perhaps it's clear that she has no idea that this school has any secrets. She's sat on the bench, clutching her taiyaki in one hand and her bookbag in the other, and her scent is full of magic, the same sort that had clung to Naru, sweet and full of light. "You mean a... boarding school?"

Why does that need a special kind of guidance counselor? The kids who go to this school are smart (mostly), talented (mostly), and capable (mostly). Didn't troublemaking kids need special guidance counselors? Usagi was a mess academically, but she'd never been classified a troublemaker, and the thought of her parents getting a letter about that, the way they'd gotten a letter about her acceptance, makes her heart pound. Oh no. Oh NO.

"This isn't one of those scare them straight programs like in America, is it? You're not going to send me to *jail*, are you Inai-sensei?!"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka opens her mouth to respond to that with an emphatic no, then pauses, narrowing her eyes. "Why, did you do something to deserve to be sent to jail?" She asks, suspiciously. After a moment of, assumedly, abject denials, Kyouka just shakes her head and heaves a faint sigh. "No, you're not being sent to jail. And I'm not interested in scaring you straight. Based on our brief conversation I think your roomate is better at that then I could ever be." High compliments to Naru but the girl just radiates competence. "No I mean.. look, have you been seeing anything weird lately?"

    Another pause, then a faint lean inwards towards Usagi, her voice lowering slightly, as if this is some kind of sensitive information. "You know... monsters and stuff. Or like, people shooting laser beams, or maybe magic swords or spears? I heard there was something about a bus, or.. y'know. Weird shit." She doesn't moderate her language around the kids as much as she should, but in this case its probably appropriate.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"No! But they send you to jail to scare you if you're a trouble making youth, and why does the guidance counselor want to talk to me unless I'm a trouble making youth and - oh."

The blunt denial catches her off guard, all her bluster deflating with relief but also, growing confusion. If not the one, then what?

Nothing could prepare her for the subject that comes up - monsters and swords and lasers and magic and things that Luna had told her she shouldn't tell anyone but her allies about, which, by the way, Usagi had *not* needed anyone to tell her. She's read manga, and American superhero comics! She knows about secret identities and being undercover and protecting your family, and all that stuff. None of the monsters she's fought have *acted* like they'd go after someone's family, but still. And now? For the guidance counselor to be asking about it? Why - and hey wait -

"People are already talking about the bus?! I mean -" she claps a hand to her mouth, guilty, instantly aware of how suspicious she might be. "Are you *really* a teacher, Inai-sensei?" May this is a trick, from those enemies Luna was always talking about.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "No, people are not talking about the bus, but part of my job is knowing about things even when people aren't talking about them." Kyouka says, self-satisfied at Usagi's as-good-as-admission. She shifts on the bench, leaning back and putting one elbow up on the backrest on the side away from Usagi, lifting one leg to cross it over the other. Adopting a relaxed posture, as if the hard part of this interview is over. Maybe for her it is. "The other part of my job is locating and helping out people like you." She points one finger sideways at Usagi. "And no, I don't mean people who are failing history. I mean the whole monsters and lasers and magic swords thing." She isn't /actually/ going to say 'magical girl' unless it's really very necessary. There are all kinds of people walking around, although none of them are particularly nearby.

    "I happen to have a lot of experience in that particular arena." She admits. "And the headmistress of the school here, she's given me the job of helping out people like you who are just getting into the field. Kinda like a.." Lips quirk to the side, seeking a proper comparison. "Work senpai. Because there's more of you running around this school than it is entirely sane to allow without at least some form of guidance. Hence me. The guidance counselor. Only, I don't really worry about the schoolwork or the career day parts."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Luna's going to scratch her face good for this one, Usagi thinks glumly, and then, hopefully - maybe not? "You... find people like me? Like, uh, all those other girls?" Are they at her school? Are they *all* at her school, all those other people she'd met, who'd fought those monsters alongside her? Does this mean *Rei* will come to her school? Wait.

"*Is this why I got sent to this school?*"

She's going to turn Luna into a scarf, what the heck! But. Thoughts. Thinking thoughts. Her eyes go huge as one thought sinks in. Wait. "You mean you're a guidance counselor for - dealing with the *monsters*?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Girls and guys," Kyouka allows, "Although the industry does seem to skew female. Don't ask me why." A mild shrug. "But yes. I'm a guidance counselor for.." She looks around, then sighs again as it's dragged out of her. "Magical girls." And boys, but the point stands. She does half-whisper it though, which surely is better than exclaiming it at the top of her lungs in the middle of the school courtyard, somehow.

    As Usagi finally puts some things together about the recent changes in her life, Kyouka can do naught but shrug her shoulders again. "I don't know exactly why you got sent to this school. I'm not in charge of admissions. But I'd say that's a fair bet. Or rather, it's at least why you got the invitation to attend this school. That part of it isn't my job- my job is teaching kids like you how to fight monsters and not die in the process."

    She eyes Usagi, one brow again quirking over one ash-grey eye. "You do want to not-die, don't you?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I love dying and being dead actually," Usagi says, leaning back and crossing her arms. "You're not talking about taking my broach and doing it for me, right?"

She's pretty positive. Adults don't *act* like this if they're taking something off your hands. Kyouka-senpai (she's been downgraded to senpai in her mind already, her casual demeanor and personality making her feel more like an overgrown senior instead of a proper teacher) is definitely not going to save her from having to fight all these scary things.

"Do I have to get homework on *fighting* now too?" Devestating. Awful. This is the worrrrrrrst.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "No dying. I haven't had any of my students die yet, and that's a first I'm not ready to experience." Kyouka says grimly, despite the fact that Usagi was clearly being facetious. "And no, I'm not going to do it for you. I'm actually not allowed to. Believe me, if I would I could. Not do it for you, but do it at all. Sadly," A roll of eyes and a sardonic twist of her mouth, "I am 'retired.' Which means no monster fighting for me."

    She fishes around in one of her pockets, and eventually produces one of her business cards. It has the emblem of RHA embossed on the front, along with her name, position, and office phone number. She produces a pen from the same pocket and, using her leg as a table, quickly scrawls on the back 'secret magic training, Wednesday 4:30pm, Gym A' before proffering it to Usagi. "You should show up to this. Because the first step to fighting monsters without dying is practice." A hesitation, then a bit of a grin. "But there's no homework. Other than, you know.. fighting the monsters. When you need to."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"...like, someone actually made you stop?" She's listening now, sitting up more. The idea that Kyouka was like her - and got out - is actually of interest. The idea that she might retire is a distant idea that doesn't even register - Usagi is a flower in the bloom of her youth and Kyouka is probably like a thirty; ancient. That's a billion years from now. "...I don't want to die either, so, that's good. That you're... guidance, I guess. I keep running into people like me, and never getting to swap numbers with any of them."

It's kind of terrible! and well, she's exaggerating, because she met Rei, and Rei is her ally, her friend, is a Sailor Soldier just like her, but she met so many other cool, powerful, competent fighters, and she didn't get any of their phone numbers!

She takes the card. She looks at it, reads it carefully... "Maybe I'll get their numbers if I come. And it'd be pretty nice if I could *actually* Sailor Moon Kick someone in the face, instead of the shin. Maybe they'd stay down!"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "It's... complicated." Kyouka says with a mildly sour expression, in regards to her 'retirement'. "Maybe if you actually come and talk to me when we have scheduled appointments, I'll tell you about it." She sighs again, uncrossing her legs and pushing herself up to her feet. "Anyway, that's all I wanted from you today. If you come, I guarantee you'll at least get the chance to ask some others for their numbers. I can't force them to give you said numbers, but you can definitely ask." She winks.

    "I like your spirit kid." This in response to the kick in the face comment. "Maybe you got what it takes to make it in this game. But I guess we'll find out won't we? Trust me when I say you'll have a better chance if you listen to what I have to tell you." She casts her gaze out towards the gate, a pensive expression crossing her face as she says, "You're in it now whether you want to be or not, so you should seize every advantage you can get. Trust me on that one." A glance back down to Usagi, and a crooked smile. "And hey, if you successfully kick someone in the face, you can have another taiyaki. My treat."

    And then she's walking away, back towards the school building, raising one hand behind her in fare well. "Till next time, Tsukino-san."