2857/Not Stealing Boyfriends

Not Stealing Boyfriends
Date of Scene:	29 November 2025
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy
Synopsis:	While on campus Minako manages to find Kazuo to ask him about some sleeping bags in preparation for a sleepover. During the course of the conversation she tries to make amends for their past awkward moments, and assures him she isn't trying to steal Izou from him!
Cast of Characters:	Minako Aino, Kazuo Saitou

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Minako Aino has posed:
No matter what was happening out in Tokyo, life on campus always seemed to continue smoothly. Perhaps it was the protective barrier that existed keeping the school itself a beacon of peace and safety away from the perils of magical issues. It's for this reason that Minako was on a bit of a mission currently, in spite of being freshly out of class and still in her uniform.

In the hopes of running into a few familiar faces so she could ask them questions, she runs along the walkways likely earning a bit of a glower from any teachers or council members who would usually yell 'don't run!' ... but it was Mina, did she ever listen?

Reaching her destination she hops up onto the brick barrier around a flower bed so she has a vantage point. It's here she's seen with hand raised over her eyes to block out the sunlight as she looks over the throngs of parting students clearly on the hunt for... someone.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Some people are easier to spot from a distance than others. Once height and hair are taken into account, that person over there in the uniform can only be Takashi Agera or Kazuo Saitou. One of these two is less of a noodle than the other, and also wears much more distinctive earrings. Yep, that's Kazuo. He's doing one of the things he does best at the moment - that is to say, loitering. Maybe waiting for one of the other boys to get out of class, or maybe going to get coffee with Naru, or maybe he's got plans to put heads together with somebody for an improvement to Entrapta's apartment, or maybe there's a kendo thing going on and he's timing his entrance. All kinds of possibilities.

He is probably, granted, not expecting to be ambushed by a Minako. No-one expects the Aino on a mission!

Minako Aino has posed:
Target spotted.

Minako jumps down from her vantage point to burst through a group of teens which she twirls around like some bizarre dance with quick "Sorry, excuse me, pardon!"s offered until she's managed to glide her way free of the throng.

With a flurry of blonde hair and red bow she's suddenly in front of Kazuo pointing at his chest as if she were about to give him a piece of her mind!

Except she's smiling so far as he can see, and she cheerily greets him, "Kazuo-san, I wanted to ask you something! I was hoping I could catch you before you left campus, I didn't really feel like heading all the way over to the apartment right now and anyway I'm supposed to be setting things up *here*--"

Oh, good, she pauses to take a breath. Maybe he can speak now.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo lifts his hands anyway, drawing back wide-eyed as if intimidated by the point - except that he's smiling, too. Playing along. "I'm caught," he says. "What can I help you with? If it's moving furniture, I'm still willing, but it needs to be physically capable of fitting through the spaces in between or I won't be able to help much." ... this has the sound of something he's been asked recently. Possibly more than once.

Minako Aino has posed:
Minako Aino drops her hand away to stand straight again, rocking back on her heels as if the motion required her entire body to recalibrate. "Oh, no it's not really moving furniture. Maybe ... But no. Do you remember the camping gear that we used when we were freeing the Shittenou from Queen Beryl?"

A pause, her hand giving a wrist-wave as she tries to come up with the proper term. "In Setsuna's grey-space. Do you still have any of those sleeping bags?"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo considers this. There really isn't a more proper term, is there. Grey-space. Groundless space. Space that caused one to cling to Pratchett books as more real than anything else around them. "I think those specific sleeping bags were Setsuna's, or at least we presumed them to be. She might still have them. But we definitely have some from a campout Silvia-kun helped organize, and some other gear; Mamoru got a little enthusiastic. Would those do?"

Minako Aino has posed:
Minako Aino looks down with a little purse of her lips and a quiet hum as she considers. Setsuna, of course. She hadn't considered going to the other Senshi yet but it was an option! Though when Kazuo supplies further information her head lifts again with a glint in her eye.

"Oh! Yes that would work too! I just need a few for Ami, and maybe Masato or Zoi."

She reaches up to rub at her chin thoughtfully muttering, "Though Masato might need a super sized one. Not as much as you though," she reasons looking up at Kazuo again with a look that seems to hesitate as she had begun to size him up. Unnecessarily so, it was just habit to act the things out, and then she just... blinks out of it.

"With the things going on in Kyoto we thought it might be a good idea to test out if it's safer to sleep on campus in the meantime. I don't have a roommate this year so figured that'd work." Nevermind the dorms were small. That wasn't important.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"I'm a little taller, but he's broader in the shoulders," Kazuo says. "So it depends on the dimensions of the super-sizing. Usually I stick with blankets; they're faster to get out of in an emergency. But I suspect Zoi would want the added comfort more." Teleporting means never having to worry about a zipper sticking. And small rooms or no, Ami could use some reasonably normal social contact - grant him the 'reasonably normal' there, for these purposes - and Zoi could always use reinforcement of the idea that some people might want him around. "We should have at least three; Tamaki's will be a little smaller, Mamoru's and mine less so. Possibly still not enough to be comfortable for Masato, but we can test that, and if it's not, he can always open it up."

He has absolutely zero concerns about that particular coed sleepover. Worst possibility: Makoto tries to squeeze into the space too, and someone winds up trying to sleep on a desk.

Minako Aino has posed:
"Yes, that's true. I haven't asked if Ami has a sleeping bag yet, she might, but I doubt it. Camping doesn't seem like something she does much of." She didn't say anything about sleepovers though. While she knew Ami hadn't been very social before becoming a Senshi, that wasn't something she would bring up herself. It didn't matter now: She was part of their group now. Socializing was mandatory.

"That might work yeah." It's here that Minako pauses looking again at Kazuo. It wasn't often that she felt awkward but right now she kind of did. "I'd invite you too but I don't want to make things weird." Another backward rock onto her heels as she glances away to let her gaze sweep over the school grounds.

"I don't think I ever really apologized for White Day. I must have seemed awful."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Tokyo isn't really renowned for its campgrounds," Kazuo agrees. "And I have the impression she hasn't been out of the city much, at least not in the last few years. But who knows? It wouldn't be the first time she'd surprised us all."

... Minako's glance away is mirrored. Oh look, the corner of a building. Look how ... vertical ... it is. "You didn't seem awful," he says. "I'm sorry that I made you uncomfortable." A beat, and then he tries to regain a touch of the humor they had a moment before. "For the invitation, granted, it's just as well. In that context, the best I could do would be reassuring Ami someone else there was less used to that kind of event than she was."

Minako Aino has posed:
"Yes, well, in the future if you turn someone down just give them obligation chocolate!" Mina blurts out. This time she did sound scolding--Because honestly she really would have loved that tiramisu, but she just couldn't accept it!

"There's rules to these things. A homemade item of that level would make everyone think you had accepted me and we were dating now!" Her arms cross over her chest with a little tsk-tsk, and a shake of her head. "Then I'd have to explain! But I guess I can't blame you for being less experienced than I am."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo tilts his head, arching his eyebrows as he glances at her sidewise. "-- yes. There are rules to these things." He doesn't sound scolding. He definitely sounds amused. "You didn't give me obligation chocolate, so I couldn't return it. I couldn't return much less than three times the amount you gave me, and giving you lower quality than you gave me would have been insulting your gift - part of which was homemade. I had to settle for using the old coding. Marshmallows. That kind of thing."

Minako Aino has posed:
Minako Aino blinks rapidly at that. Oh. Oh right. She'd kind of forgotten about that part of her own gift with everything that had gone on during Valentine's Day. Her hairbow being set on fire, everything else. It was a tumultous time! "W-well yes but I didn't give it to you *at school*," she retorts.

Awkwardly clearing her throat with a hand held in front of her mouth, coughing lightly, she quickly waves it off. "I guess I didn't think of that though." A deep breath is drawn, and let out, as she looks up again to regard him properly.

"I guess that's cleared up then at least. We need to be able to work together without having to be weird... And I know most of it is me being weird. I'm trying not to."

"Oh, and I'm also not trying to steal your boyfriend in revenge in case anyone other than Masato comes up with that dumb idea." At this she grins just amused, clearly teasing. That was something she was not going to let him live down.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"You're right," Kazuo agrees. "You didn't. I just didn't have anywhere else to try to give it to you. Except maybe the arcade, which if anything would've been less subtle. Motoki gossips." That's half a joke, too. Half. Offered up, a little tentative.

And then eyebrows climb. Slo-o-owly. There isn't an outright grin, but the slightly exaggerated alarm is almost as good a signal that he's running with the joke.

"Oh, no. Do I need to bribe you to keep you not trying to steal my boyfriend?"

Minako Aino has posed:
That earns a little laugh from Minako in good nature as she shifts to flip her hair back. "I don't know, I don't think he could handle me to begin with," she teases lightly.

"I mean, we don't even use the same shampoo. Totally not compatible." Grinning again she just adds, "I'll stop by to check on those sleeping bags though. I know Ami is probably dying to do some experiment or something by now."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"If I don't see you, I'll bring them tomorrow and stash them in the shed for you." Kazuo bows to Minako, a little more easily than he might have at the beginning of the conversation. "And I promise, they were cleaned before they went into storage, so tomorrow's no rush." Ami won't have to do experiments on their sleeping gear. That's a plus, right? ... he hopes.