1087/Rooftop Ramen

Rooftop Ramen
Date of Scene:	05 February 2024
Location:	Okujoo Ramen
Synopsis:	A trio of heroes decide to get ramen after a hard night's off-screen battle, and encounter Hinoiri. Continued miscommunications lead to some surprisingly honest thoughts - and leave our heroes waiting for the next time they catch up with Hinoiri.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Chiyo Sakai, Koji Silvia, Hinoiri Kirara

---

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's one of those late, late, late nights, where the casual patrol turns into oh shoot a youma turns into oh shoot it's kinda strong turns into thank god for the power of friendship amirite?

Sailor Moon is familiar with these kinds of nights; it's why she'd insisted on ramen as a treat, because on her Moon Mama, they definitely needed a pick me up after all that. Really, she's not that badly injured - just scrapes on her elbows and, tears in her gloves and gloves, and terribly messy odango.

"Food," she moans, like a zombie, shuffling as she moves. "We need food, or I'll diiiiiiie. Come onnnnn, they're gonna run out of ramen eggs."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Guardian Daifuku was always willing to hop in and help out when she was able to do so. This was one such night. After the battle with the youma she was a bit rumpled herself with her curly hair all askew and maybe a bit singed on one side. It'd return to normal once she changed back. Right? It better.

"Agreed," she lets out in a weary sigh using her Kine to lean against like a walking stick and not just a hammer. Both hands grip it as her knees feel a bit weak from all the jumping she just had to do along with scraped up knees.

"Egg *and* baby corn. And charsui." Her stomach rumbles reminding her she'd only had a light dinner because of working and expecting to not have to patrol tonight. Oh well.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Following close behind Sailor Moon, the magical support boy who goes by Hanzo looks as much of a wreck as Sailor Moon. His scarf is burned half-off, there's various rips in his Barrier Jacket, and he looks like he's had more than a few rolls in the dirt. Despite all of that, his mask is still intact, covering his mouth and nose despite it only another one of his illusions.

"Sailor Moon-chan..." He then sighs, "Don't worry, I've got you covered"

A flick of his hand and one of those refillable debit cards people use for travel appears in his hand and he comes up behind the odango-tailed girl and taps her on the back of the head with it, "But you really need to not make a habit of this. I'm not made of money..."

And then he adds as his own stomach gives off it's own opinion of things, "Just so long as there's no VENDING MACHINES up here... I would kill for some spicy pork and mushrooms... and grilled onion..."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was, well... NOT beat to crud. She, unlike SOME PEOPLE, didn't make a habit of butting into other people's work and ruining their plans. No, because she was what you would call, a bastion of minding her own damn business.

Okay, none of that was true except she didn't look beat to crud.

She was treating herself to some nice, delicious ramen. She had a book open in front of her, a study guide, which she was idly filling out. She had a lot of work to do, but... all the steps were ready and within a week or so, everything would come crashing down around the sparkle skirts heads and--

And she *choked* when suddenly Daifuku, Moon and Hanzo came walking into the bar. SHIT! It's the fuzz, they found her! How beat was her ass about to be?! Did they find out who she was? Did she need to run? Was running drawing too much attention to herself?!

She just stared, her pen dropped, covering her mouth with a napkin, trying to not choke on the noodles.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I promise, I'll pay you back," Sailor Moon bows, hands clapped together in prayer. "Bless you, you're like a kami of generosity, saving this poor soul from death by starvation!"

There are a few people turning to stare, late night patrons taken aback by this beaten up crew of cosplayers strolling in so casually, but - well. It's Tokyo.

They've seen so much weirder.

"I'm dreaming of pork... no, beef... no, pork, pork belly that's braised in broth with scallions and cilantro and eggs and fishcake... with thick cut noodles maybe..."

The vendor is a little shell-shocked, staring at them, but they offer the trio a menu.

Sailor Moon completes her order and then bounces behind her friends so they can order, casting a casual glance around - "Oh yeah, there's not a single vending machine here! We really did pick the best place to go - hey, you don't have canned drinks here, do you?"

The server stares some more, before hesitantly confirming that this restaurant does not provide canned drinks.

Victory for Mahou Kind.

Turning back to looking around, she pauses - "Hey, hey, I see Hinoiri-chan! From school! Would it be weird to sit at her table? Only, they're kind of crowded, and it's not like she knows it's us... which might make it weird..."

Koji Silvia has posed:
There's times when you balk at the weirdness, and there's times when you just roll with it, and he puts the card on the tray for the server who runs the place, looking at the bit shocked vendor, and gives a faint shrug, "We're stunt people."

And it works.

It really WORKS...

The vendor seems to calm down from it all, nods and then goes to get cups to fill up with some soda and tea before motioning for the group to order.

With a groan, he leans back on the counter and looks idly towards where Moon is motioning and sees the person trying to hide themselves half-way behind a paper napkin.

<<Master. Dark Energy Detec->>

'Hanzo?' He thinks to himself as he looks down at the currently invisible weapon attached to the inside of his left arm, 'Whatever it is, is going to WAIT until I've eaten...'.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times. And... and they didn't bum rush her. After a few more moments... she just... blinked a few times. Oh. Oh gosh. They're bothering the staff.

They're here to eat.

She couldn't help it, she started to laugh, covering her mouth with the napkin to avoid being too loud. Oh my gosh they were actually here to eat.

She pulled out her phone, then blinked, then shrugged. She... texted Usagi.

'You're not going to believe who just walked into the ramen shop. Well. I guess you would. It's you.'

She couldn't help it. She even took a picture and sent it to her. Wow.

Well, or it was cosplayers of them. She didn't know. She glanced back down at her book, not noticing who's phone buzzed, or if any did. Instead she just kind of waved towards them, flipping a page on her workbook.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"I'll pay you back to, Hanzo," Guardian Daifuku assures as she just walks up behind him to pause, and lean her forehead against the back of his shoulder. She'd lift her hand to pat his shoulder but she's still holding onto her hammer with both hands to lean on so he gets a cat-like forehead bonk instead.

Standing properly again she turns to look where Sailor Moon is pointing to blink at Hinoiri. "Huh, so it is. Well *I* know her," she points out with a wry grin at Sailor Moon. She'd been the one to go meet up with her and Sayaka when she was having issues after all. Curious she calls out, "Hinoiri-chan, what'd you get? Is it good? I hope so. Didn't get a good dinner tonight."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The buzz of her phone startles Sailor Moon - mostly because she feels it buzzing in her subspace, the place where her Moon Stick vanishes and disappears too. She pops it out and giggles at the text, quick to respond.

Haha that is me!!! good, you noticed us!

Her phone vanishes back into her subspace, and she heads over to join Daifuku - then takes it one step farther and plops down beside Hinoiri.

"It smells good, so I'm sure it is! Gives me hope that our food is going to be just that good!"

She pats the empty spaces near her, waving for Hanzo to join them.

"Come on! We're going to eat here."

Pause.

"You don't mind, right Hinoiri-chan?"

Koji Silvia has posed:
This all, of course... leaves Hanzo to get the drinks. He waits for three cups of tea, three glasses of water, and then one glass of cola.

When you're a magical boy blessed with a supersmart Device that can do things like calculate weight and balance and help it's Master compensate at times for things like a large weight being suddenly added to things... it can make you a great stand-in waiter.

The three girls get to see the boy make his way over, lustrous black hair and burned scarf streaming behind him despite the severe lack of wind up here and at this time of night. Tea and Water for Daifuku. A fresh green tea for Hinoiri. Sailor Moon gets the cold water and the fizzy cola.

When he finally sits down in the last spot with the tray, his steaming tea in the cold night air combined with the condensation on his glass add some nice visuals for the animators to get right, his elbow rests almost indolently on the table as he cups his cheek, "Forgive me, Miss Hinoiri-chan. I am a stranger, unlike my friends here. You can call me Hanzo."

To which he follows up with, "And I'll go put in everyone's orders once they know what they want. Promise."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Mmmm hm. It's the vegetarian tonkatsu ramen. Very good. You might want to get the normal tonkatsu, though. Us-- Daifuku-chan," Hinoiri said with a small smile.

Yup, looking at her now? It was so clear. Usagi henshined and got her mom's hair. The girl might not have been the smartest in books, but she really was brilliant in her own ways. She--

Then Hinoiri's phone buzzed. She blinked. And glanced at the phone. Then shrugged. Eh, she must have missed it. That was all. "Go right ahead," she said, looking up at the three of them. So, Chiyo, Usagi and Mamoru.

She paused to let Hanzo get the drinks, smiling when he arrived and... "Uh huh. A 'stranger'? You know, I may not be entirely in the know, but I'm a liiiiiittle in the know. I know who these two are, at least," she said, motioning to Daifuku and Sailor Moon. "And I can guess who you are. But seriously, you three look awful, though. Like you just went through a..." Then glanced between Hanzo and Daifuku. "Oh dear. You two didn't have a lover's spat, did you?"

Maybe... she didn't quite have it as much as she thought she did.

She then glanced down at her phone. "You know, though. Now I'm curious. If I showed that picture to anyone, would the magic just make it be all fuzzy? Or would they just see it as cosplayers or... ugh. The magic is so weird," Hinoiri muttered. "One day I hope I get some of my own."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Wait.

Wait.

Does Hinoiri know she's Sailor Moon -

No. No she doesn't.

Sailor Moon hadn't exactly forgotten that Hinoiri knew that she, Usagi Tsukino, was magic, because well, they literally exchanged texts but she had forgotten that Hinoiri had an entirely wrong guess as to who she was.

But she definitely hadn't realized that Hinoiri might have a guess as to who Chiyo-chan was.

All she can do is stare at the trainwreck unfolding in front of her.

(That wasn't true. She could also sip her soda while she watched the trainwreck.)

Eventually she manages to say, voice impressively controlled, "I bet it will show us as really cool cosplayers with totally blurry faces. I mean, Hemachan was able to take that video about the Phantom Silver Crystal, and it showed his face, sorta, kinda!"

And then she pauses again, this time for less hilariously shocked reasons, and reaches out to take Hinoiri's hand.

"Hinoiri-chan. You know about Kyubey, right? Don't let him hear you say that, or he'd probably try to give you a messed up contract too."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Oh no. Oooh no. Did they hang out so often that it was easy to mistake them? She could kind of see how Hinoiri got the wrong idea though, as she had reached out to Usagi and then Daifuku showed up that one time. As for Sunbreaker... well she had no clue there.

Daifuku lifts a hand to rub the bridge of her nose with a quick shake of her head. "No, no! He's not who you think!" She blurts out responding to 'Us--Daifuku' and mention of a lovers spat. The urge to declare 'he's just a friend' is fought back because that never, ever sounds as if it's a legitimate argument to people who suspect otherwise. Instead she picks up her tea with a sigh to sip at it.

"Thanks, Hanzo." A look is shot toward him, her eyes rolling to the side then as if to attempt to mentally inform him Hinoiri had things wrong. Hino's own remark of 'knowing things' earns a little single shake of her head. No. No she didn't. It was all wrong. But not said aloud of course. Maybe the point will get made silently to her friend.

"We were up against some youma that took over vending machines. A whole row of them," she utters with a weary sigh, thus explaining why the whole 'canned drinks' might be nerve wracking right now.

Moon brings up Kyubey and she nods, firmly. "If you see this white and pink mascot that looks like some kind of space rabbit with tiny red eyes, kick him as hard as you can and run."

Koji Silvia has posed:
That one almost earns a spit-take mid-tea from Hanzo, who is somehow drinking through that face-covering he has on over his mouth and nose.

Instead, he gulps and his eyes bulge as he suddenly begins coughing and beats on his chest a few times. Tears form in his eyes and he almost flails for a moment before getting up and saying in a raspy voice, "G-gonna go order."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times and looked to Moon. Then... then she just sighed. And she made the face of someone who had dealt with kyubey before. "Yeah... yeah. He uhhhh... ran into me on my first week of being here. I punted him. I may be a tiny bit reckless sometimes, but even I know better than to accept a deal that stems from 'serve me and I'll make your wishes come true'... besides... my dreams wouldn't be achievable if I was stuck being his magical servant..."

She sighed and took a drink, shaking her head. "Then again... if not for him granting lil Starfish-chan's wish, I'd be dead now, torn to pieces by that witch... so not sure if I should hate him or not..." she muttered.

However... when Hanzo choked, she paused and glanced after him.

Then glanced towards Daifuku and Moon. "So... he's... not Chiba-san then? Err, sorry. Nevermind, right, I'm not supposed to ask that. I'm probably not supposed to have even figured out who you two are. Right. Sorry, sorry," Hinoiri said, shaking her head.

Then she paused when something Sailor Moon said clicked.

"Wait. Hema-*chan*? Do you mean Hematite? That jackass who was flirting with Usagi-chan at the candy store and who--" And stopped, closing her eyes. Deep breath. One. Two. Three. Then... "Please tell me *you* aren't one of his friends, Moon-chan. You're supposed to be cool."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon reaches out to helpfully whack Koji's back a few times, whack, whack, whack, and when he flees, she lets him go.

"He's definitely not Chiba-san, and no you shouldn't ask, but he's definitely not!" She probably shouldn't answer but it must be addressed it cannot be misunderstood that she's in ANOTHER love triangle! For a third time! There is only so much a girl can -

"I'm cool?"

Point, you were missed. Entirely. Shamelessly.

Sailor Moon puffs up proudly, as if her odango weren't a mess and her fuku weren't a mess. "What's the coolest thing about me? Inquiring minds want to know!"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Guardian Daifuku reaches into her own little pocket space to pull her phone out. It's just a regular phone at this point and she quickly types off a text to Koji to apologize. And explain.

TEXT from Chiyo: Usagi asked me to go help her girlfriend once, so she thinks Daifuku is Usagi. It's very confusing.

The message is shot off and the phone put away again quickly with just a flick of her wrist. He'd get it. Hopefully the embarassment wouldn't be too bad.

"I think I'm getting the Naruto Ramen," she decides matter-of-fact. Right before laying her head down on her pillowed arms to just rest a moment from all this craziness.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Settling in at the counter after a whack from Moon sent him a few steps in the right direction, Hanzo goes up to the vendor, waiting for him to dole out his latest to another customer and then takes his moment to set things up.

"One braised pork belly with scallions, cilantro, two eggs, fishcake, and thick-cut noodles in a pork broth. One-"

He literally has to pause as since Hanzo is his phone, the text from Chiyo pops up in his eyeline like a video game HUD.

A blink, a smile, and then he goes on, "One Naruto Ramen, extra egg, and one spicy steak ramen with mushroom, grilled onion, and spicy broth."

Vendor-san does the chin upnod, and sends the boy on his way back to the others with a smiling grumble of "Extra Egg, too, huh?"

He rubs the back of his neck and nods, "Gomen gomen." Bowing once, he takes his now very depleted card and returns to the three, sitting down again and reaching for his tea, "You didn't tell it right Daifuku."

Looking at Hinoiri, he rubs Chiyo's back, "There was this urban myth Moon-chan found online about this row of vending machines that only works for bikers. Anyone else it just spit the cans out at you. Turns out... the vending machines wanted to be bikers. So they all transformed, like the TV show, in front of us, they all sprouted pompadours, and proceeded to shoot superhot canned coffee at us."

He Pauses, For Effect, "Except the ones who turned into bikes. With pompadours."

That is the image and this is the thing. These are the people who stopped the world from being merged with the dark realm. They got trashed on by... vending machines...

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was a little shaken by Sailor Moon looking so shocked. "I-I mean... y-yeah? I mean, a bit. Just a little... I mean... uhhhh... I guess..."

She hmed. "The coolest thing about you... I guess... I'd say..." She looked up at Sailor Moon. There were some things she wanted to say. The Hinoiri who was from another world. Who was... kind of... angry at times. Hurt. Or maybe the fact that Sailor Moon had... come for her. When nobody else in the world had. She'd... been there. To protect her. Maybe it was how she...

To think it was Chiyo. She smiled just a bit. She should get to know the candy maker kid a bit more.

And then Hanzo returned! And... and she... couldn't help it. She started to snickered. "O-oh. Oh my gosh. Biker vending machines. That's beautiful. You all sound like you had the *best* night. Hee hee hee. I wonder if I ever got a soda from them now..." well, she did bike. "And a bike with a pompadour? Please tell me at least one of you rode one of them."

ALAS! It seemed she moved on. Away from the question! Now Sailor Moon would never know!

"You don't give up," Hinoiri said, glancing back to the moon girl. "I've only seen you fight a... handful of times. But... you never give up. You... seem like the kind of person who... even if everyone else abandoned them... a person could always believe that Sailor Moon would still have their back. I think that's the coolest thing about you. Heh... it kind of makes me wonder, sometimes, how..." Then she trailed off, shaking her head. "Nevermind."

... She wondered how her life would have been... if she'd known a Sailor Moon... before she'd some here.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She wants to know soooo bad. Hinoiri looks shocked that she would be surprised, but - of course she's surprised! Sailor Moon is a hero, sure, but she's Usagi. And Usagi has been unreliably but often informed by her little brother that she is not cool!

Except then, Koji comes back, with stories about the youma they fought, and she'll never get an answer, no, she is making the most tragic face even as she grimaces and says, "Don't take a hot canned coffee to the head, it suuuuucks. They looked so cool, and were so mean to us... life as mahou is suffering."

Why couldn't the cool monsters be cool to them, huh? They had to be jerks, huh?

But then Hinoiri - turns back to her. And gives an answer. And -

Her face turns pink, then red, pleased embarrassment giving her the color of a traffic light, and -

"That's... really sweet, you know? I've gotta live up to that, now, you know? Because Sailor Moon is Soldier of Love and Justice, you know? And that means... being there for people, I guess. Even if other people don't want you to be."

Whooo... that got heavy.

"Can I have one of your ramen eggs?" Bat eyelashes to show it's a joke but not really she does want the egg -

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Guardian Daifuku lifts her head to listen to this response as well out of curiosity. When it doesn't immediately happen but instead Hanzo returns to tell the tale 'properly', she smiles at him in amusement. "That's because you tell it so much better! At least none had glass bottles," she mutters reaching up to rub the back of her head recalling rather well the impact of a few.

The response from Hinoiri that finally comes does cause her expression to soften as well. "That's really sweet. You do look out for you friends, Moon," she agrees with a little laugh.

"Thank you for ordering again, Hanzo. I'll pay you back later I promise." She'd probably just send him payment as soon as she got home.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Picking up a set of chopsticks from the central bowl, Hanzo takes the back of them and pokes Moon right in the cheek, "Wait your turn. I already ordered you Ramen. Honestly... here... if this'll tide you over..."

Out of nowhere, a wrapped package of pink-iced cookies appears, and is dropped in front of Moon, "Everyone's getting extra egg, okay?"

He doesn't really make a comment about how Hinoiri properly assesses one of Usagi's best qualities, but instead he just starts to rub Daifuku's back with one hand, and sips his now only warm tea with the other, "Moon insists I go on patrols with her. I think it's because she wants other people to see that I'm not so bad. I mean... I do sort of look like the kind of guy who appears just when the baddies are getting beaten up and taunts the heroes. I get it. I can't help the look though. So... she has me around with her."

Unable to help himself, he leans over and stage-whispers to Hino, "When she isn't looking, I sometimes make extra sparkles appear around her head, or I make a musical sting be heard. Especially when she does 'the Pose'."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times and then chuckled. "Yeah... love and justice. You... really live up to that, don't you? Heh. The world could certainly use a bit more love and justice somedays..."

... Sayaka could use a bit more love and justice. Adora certainly could, thoguh she wasn't getting it from that cat of hers...

Hinoiri would have liked some when she was back home. Maybe that was just the difference between the sun and the moon. The sun was too glorious and dazzling for others to stand near it. The moon was cool and gentle, gently glowing around those it watched over.

She nudged the bowl towards Sailor Moon. "Here, knock yourself out. I haven't been very hungry these evening anyway."

She wiped her eyes a little, luckily no tears or anything. Instead she glanced to Daifuku and...

"You know, though, that really is clever. I was so confused for the longest time. Then it finally clicked on new years. You have your mom's hair, it all made sense then. And don't worry, even if I managed to figure out you two, I'm not exactly going to tell anyone. The last thing I want is to be on someone's hit list because they want to figure out who you all are." Pause.

Then glanced to Moon. "Though, I guess it also explains your hair, too. If you two are so close. I would have thought you two were each other, if not for the time I saw you protecting her from a monster." .... Wait. She'd seen... Sailor... Moon... protecting Usagi?

She then glanced to Koji and... "Ehhhhhh. I don't know. Honestly? Your outfit... I think it... you look like you could, maybe, be a villain? I guess? But you don't give off the right energy. You don't look as sparkly, though. I guess you could be one of the villains who's just.... trying too hard. But honestly? I definitely get 'Kid who has magic now and is so excited he made a ninja outfit and jumps from roof to roof making sound effects' guy." Pause. "Did I get it?"

"... Oh gosh it gets better..." ... He made sound effects for other people. She couldn't help it. She giggled, a hand covering her mouth and just... giggling. It... it was nice. This was nice. Was this what it was like on their side?

... It almost... made her wish she could be.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"What I've learned about this whole, magic thing is, sometimes... you get out of it what you give. And sometimes you don't - sometimes everything is just awful, but if you want the world to be better, you have to be better. So I'm trying to always be better - so maybe someday it will be."

She didn't used to have such strong convictions, but that was before Sailor Moon, and before Princess Serenity. Now, she knows who she is, and she wants to be.

...and now she definitely knows who Hinoiri-chan thinks she is, because ah - her mama's hair? On Daifuku-chan? Her mama did have purple hair, and it kind... it kind of made a lot of terrible sense, if you tilted your head. So Hinoiri-chan thought Usagi was Daifuku... and... she saw Sailor Moon protect Usagi? Did she see V-Chan, maybe? But????

Egg. Egg and cookies! See, there's benefit to begging for snacks from people! Usagi will happily take these snacks and avoid a brain twister. "I just figured I'd aaaask, just in case, that's all! Thank you for the cookies."

They will disappear into the bottomless well that is her stomach. She will smile unrepentantly, happy to have her distraction from the soppy emotions.

"Hanzo-kun is very cool, but not enough people know about him," Sailor Moon agrees, "So I like to drag him out! He doesn't mind nearly as much as he pretends, and he's definitely not sparkly, even if he always makes me sparkle. It's like being the star of an anime!"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Back rub. Back ruuub. Achy back being rubbed was a very very good distraction as Daifuku starts to wilt toward the tabletop again letting out a small sigh of relief. It did help the sore, achy tension there. Enough that she almost misses when Hinoiri turns the conversation back to 'her' and her supposed real identity.

Almost.

"You can always come patrol with me too, Hanzo. Or I could join you two more often. I need to get back into it, I haven't really patrolled regularily since the Youkai incidents--" Wait. Her hair? Her moms hair?

Daifuku's eyes widen and her face goes first white, then pink, as she considers the rammifications of those remarks. "My mom!?" she blurts out abruptly only to cast a very sharp gaze over toward Sailor Moon looking utterly, completely confused. "My hair is like my moms?" Did it not occur to her? Or maybe she just never looked in the mirror while transformed?

She was going to have to find out why she's having Usagi's mom mistaken as her own though for sure!

"Uh... right, yes, I... yeah." She mumbles reaching up to tug on one purple curl with a light clearing of her throat.

"I can't say I 'sparkle' myself. Fire sure," she remarks with a little chuckle at the end of it all.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Whatever 'Hanzo' was about to say with one of those classic 'rubbing the back of the neck while looking away' poses is interrupted by a grunting cough from Vendor-san.

"I'll be right back."

But not before he takes his chopsticks and plucks a slice of carrot from Hinoiri's bowl and chomps it down, leaving his eating utensils neatly on his napkin, "You sparkle plenty in your own way, Guardian Daifuku. Like icing sugar. And you don't owe me anything, Daifuku. Just consider this payback for... you know."

Again, his hair does that 'blowing the breeze' as he heads over to get everyone's food. Is there an AC unit running right there or something?!

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara sighed and gave a small nod to Moon... "Sometimes you definitely don't. Sometimes you just get used and..." she trailed off, shaking her head. "Sorry. Just... thinking about Sayaka-chan. I really thought you girls would be able to help her better. But I guess some things just can't be fixed."

She glanced to Daifuku. "Uhhhh... yeah? Did... did you really not notice?"

She nodded to Koji and waited for a moment, once he was gone... "Classic Usagi-chan, huh?" she asked in a teasing tone to Daifuku. "Does he know? And... does he know he has his hair doing the whole... blowing thing? Cause... Like... should I pretend he's really intimidating and scary like? Cause he's admittedly a little adorable like that."

She then glanced to Moon. "So... do you spend a lot of time gathering up the new kids on the block, help get them out and about, make friends, all that? Or is it all in a gambit to try and get them to buy snacks? Cause I'll be honest, I'm not afraid to carry around candy to make sure I always have a Sailor Moon out there to rescue me if I... run into... trouble..." And there it was. The reminder. Sailor Moon had rescued her.

After she attacked her. And she... what had she ever done for her?

She felt that gnawing guilt again and she sighed, looking back at her workbook. "Who knows... maybe one day I'll be able to join all of you and we could go fight little vending machines together. It might be fun."

But it'd never happen. She was the badguy. And only she knew it. Funny, that. How she could... almost imagine herself being happy. If only she'd been from this world. Been with these people... If not for Sora.

But it was too late, now.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Would it be incredibly suspicious to get out her phone and text Chiyo-chan right in front of Hinoiri-chan to explain about her mama's curly purple hair that she had never thought twice about in the context of her good friend also having curly purple hair...

Probably, so she will tell her after, when they're on the way back towards their places!

Instead, she'll try not to make an incredibly awkward face at 'classic Usagi-chan', because it's not her that it's being directed to but also it's well-earned because she hadn't thought about it and aaaaaaaaaaaa

"If I told you who knows, you might be able to guess who people are," she says instead, sticking her tongue out. "And I think you should take him seriously! He's very cool. He just also has the best hair physics."

She sighs wistfully, because well - well... she wishes SHE had a perpetual wind flowing through her hair.

"Not to get snacks out of them! I try to meet as many people as I can, and make friends because we do better with them... even if Sayaka-chan isn't... doing better."

She does genuinely feel bad about that.

"I'm sorry. I've - not been the best at helping. I don't know if she'd want to hear about it from me, either, because of how... different our circumstances are."

She really has been meaning to talk to Sayaka - and Klarissa. She should... she should really make plans to do that right away, instead of forgetting.

"Buuuut if you want to give me candy, I'll always remember to look out for you."

Wink! Pose! Well, seated version of her usual pose.

"It would definitely be fun! But you don't have to have powers to fight things. Naru-chan doesn't have powers, but she's still always getting into all kinds of trouble. Sometimes on purpose, these days!"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Like icing sugar? That actually gets a grin from Daifuku in appreciation of it. She had enough experience with that to know if the light hit right it could look sparkly. It was something she could live with. As Hanzo steps away she watches the hair ag ain.

But then she can only smile sheepishly when the whole 'Classic Usagi' remark is made. Part of her wants to outright deny it, but... "Heeey that's not nice," she mumbles giving another little tug on her hair, and a glance away. "Ah, anyway. Yeah he knows who I am," she has to agree even if it's not quite the same.

"It would be really nice to keep my hair out of my face in a fight. I guess that's kind of a thing for support types, though?" She reasons thoughtfully. "Like that Tuxedo Mask guy. His cape is always flowing."

Koji Silvia has posed:
*KA-THUNK*

Down comes Usagi's braised pork bowl with fish cakes tastefully decorating all FOUR of her half-eggs so that look like they're all wearing little odongo...

*TONK*

Chiyo'd Naruto ramen is neatly arranged with the meat sitting in a curved pattern like some spirited dragon!

And finally, the young man sits down with his own spicy steak ramen that just WAFTS the heat around it as he picks his chopsticks up, "ITADAKIMASU!"

Slurping his noodles right through the mask, he says in a mumble, "C'mon you two, we need to eat up... still have to sneak back into the dorms."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times and then nodded. "Yeah. You're right. Just.... the inquisitive side of me, I guess. I want to know, but it's not right for me to know. But it doesn't make it any easier to not know." She slowly moved a finger along the rim of her cup, in small, soft circles. An idle motion. Soothing, in a way. "Back home it felt like there was nothing I couldn't know if I didn't want to. Now it feels like every day I know less than the last. And don't worry, I take... all of you seriously. So seriously sometimes it hurts..." Hinoiri muttered.

"... Sayaka-chan... Sayaka-chan deserves so much better than she's gotten. So much better than she'll ever know. There's no way to make her see that, though. So much easier to just... stuff a jerk into their locker and take away their scissors than it is to shove out those voices in your head saying you're not enough."

She gave a light snort at the comment on Naru. "Yeah. She... she is definitely the sort to run head first into any danger, isn't she? Some people have survival instincts. She has the opposite of that."

She glanced towards Daifuku and snickered. "Sorry. You're smart in a lot of other ways, though. For what it's worth. You wouldn't be my first for a science partner, but... there's a lot of other things I couldn't think who you'd be better for... and no... I imagine the flowing hair and cape thing is just bred into their uniforms. I bet you flow in non-imaginary breezes all the time when you don't notice," she teased.

And then Hanzo returned. She glanced to him.

It was so weird. Watching them eat like this. What was it? He was paying? Generosity.

Then she glanced to Daifuku... Kindness, perhaps. Usagi was kindness. Yes.

Then to Moon. Chiyo. That was easy. Loyalty. She didn't know Chiyo well, though. But her care for her grandfather who--

... Who Hinoiri had almost killed. She took a drink of her water before closing her work book. "It... it was nice seeing all of you. I hope you all have a nice evening, I need to... I need to go."

She couldn't be here. She WOULDN'T stay here. This wasn't her world. These weren't her people. She didn't BELONG here.

She was from Kirakirafantastica. She was she who would break the sun. She was the monster they would fear. She was Sora's disgraced student. She was the founder of Project Eclipse. These people? They were nice. They were good. They were everything she *wasn't*.

And she... couldn't allow herself to keep tainting their lives. She owed them at least that.

So instead, she quickly made her escape, not even looking back when she waved goodbye and just heading out towards her bike. They could be kind, generous, honest, loyal, filled with laughter. But as for her?

She would be determined and before this was all over they'd know *exactly* who she was.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Itadakimasu! Thanks for paying, Hanzo-kun!" Four ramen egg halves! On too of the one she got from Hinoiri-chan! This is truly a meal for the snack-ages!

And that - charm, that whimsical thought, is what helps through the awkward-but-touched-ness of Hinoiri praising Daifuku-who-she-thinks-is-Usagi right in front of Actually-Usagi.

Because dear audience, don't doubt that this is awkward. Especially because Usagi would too be a great science partner!! She would be great at handing things over so that her partner could do the experiment!

But then something flickers over Hinoiri's face, an expression that Usagi can't quite identify, and then she's - hauling herself up and just leaving. Leaving! Upset!

"Wait, Hinoiri-chan -"

But it takes a moment for Sailor Moon to haul herself up out of her chair, and that moment is enough for Hinoiri to be at the door of the rooftop entrance-exit, and by the time Sailor Moon is there - she's gone.

Her shoulders slump.

"That... I don't know what happened, but that could have gone better, I think," is what she mutters when she's back with her friends. "But... I'll check on her later, I guess."

They lived in the same dorm building. It's not like Hinoiri-chan was just going to disappear.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Guardian Daifuku slides her hands around the bowl of ramen that Hanzo brings over for her eyeing it with a grin at the display. It was definitely a work of art, and smelled wonderful. This was the sort of thing she lived for--Even if it was unknowingly so. Craftsmanship in food.

"Thank you, this looks amazing!" She begins, plucking up her chopsticks with a quick, "Itadikaimasu!"

"Oh, I think Naru-chan is pretty brave honestly. It's scary to do those things *with* powers, imagine doing it without!" That she could appreciate. She might say more but that's about when Hinoiri goes quiet wearing that ... expression. Noodles are already halfway to her mouth when Hinoiri bolts, and she blurts out, "What's wrong?" Too late.

Her attention shifts back to Sailor Moon and Hanzo looking confused. "I feel like I missed something there. Unless she's just really worried about her girlfriend." Noodles recalled she slurps them down, mumbling, "At least I don't have to sneak into dorms. Though I've been debating if I ought to join them next semester."

Koji Silvia has posed:
Slurping up more of his noodles, Koji takes a couple pieces of beef with a mushroom caught between then and chews them up with a grin through the mask and the gets a little cool water to chase the heat down his throat.

"Whatever her battle is..." He says, without looking up a Hinoiri's retreat, "This one's her's and her's alone. We can't always fight the same fights... because we don't always know who or what we're each fighting deep inside of us. But you two gave her an oasis from whatever it was for a little while, and she opened up to you."

He then shrugs, stirring his food, "I wear the mask despite how the magic blocks people from knowing anyways because I still don't fully trust everyone in this world we're all in. It might be a failing of mine, but it's my fight to fight. And some days, the other side wins. All you can do is keep going and keep fighting until the days where the dark wins out are less and less. They'll never really go away... but it'll be like summer. The day stretches on and the night just seems like the time to stare up at the stars and watch the fireflies dance."

Picking up his bowl he slurps, sighs, and then adds, "Next time you see her, don't treat her like her running away was something she did wrong. Just act like she left... and then she's there again. Give her that, and maybe she'll surprise you."