47/Fast Cars & Schoolgirls: The Nephrite Experience

Fast Cars & Schoolgirls: The Nephrite Experience
Date of Scene:	08 July 2023
Location:	Sports Pavilion
Synopsis:	Sports car: Check. Suave talent scout: Check. School full of walking life force batteries: Check and check.
Cast of Characters:	Aki Kurosawa, Hotaru Tomoe, Ren Morimoto, Chiyo Sakai, Itsuki Inubouzaki, Lana Voselle Miata, Rei Hino, Wako Agemaki, Nephrite

---

Nephrite has posed:
    Do Japanese schools have a break through July? Who knows! Literally nobody! It is impossible to find out, as it would require googling it, and nobody has that kind of time.

    So, it's summer, and there are Sports Activities occurring on campus at Radiant Heart Academy. They may not strictly speaking be entirely class-related, depending on what the participants are up to (tennis, volleyball, soccer, track, etc.) but there are lots of boys and girls having fun, working up a sweat, testing the limits of their physical abilities through competition, and spending all of that youthful energy they have pent up.

    So much energy, and so much of it going to waste on frivolous exercises...

    Masato Sanjouin is a student here, but Maxwell Stanton is clearly an entirely different person. He appears taller, older, and subtly different in facial features and stature, as well as choice of attire. It's a combination of elements that, taken together, wouldn't make one look at him and say, 'Hey, there's that Masato Sanjouin who hangs out with Darien.' But rather, 'Oh no he's hot.'

    It's an acquired skill, really. And magic. Definitely some magic.

    A sports car parked outside the school as the man with fly-away brown hair studies the school grounds. The place where the most energy is building up... It's there. At the Sports Pavilion. He climbs out of his vehicle, and starts making his way across campus to where he can observe the outdoor recreation. No instructors or security or anyone try to stop him for some reason. Why would they? He's clearly supposed to be here. That's what the shadow in their minds is telling them.

Itsuki Inubouzaki has posed:
    A healthy soul dwells within a healthy mind and a healthy body! So, here is Itsuki Inubouzaki, Hero Club member and also smol bean, trying her hand at a sport. Ing. How do these work again? Mainly she's just watching, cheering on her friends, and handing out water bottles from a cooler. She has no idea how to perform 'a sports'. She can dance though! Dancing is a sport, right? When a man seemingly in his early-to-mid twenties visibly enters the area from further across campus, she isn't focused on him and doesn't notice initially. "Haa... I guess I should be happy Onee-chan isn't here... She'd probably want to play dodge ball, and get too into it..." Itsuki mutters to herself with a rye smile and a furrowed brow. The memories of the massacre that results from playing dodge ball with Fu Inubouzaki, and the yells of angry parents with their crying kids standing behind them trigger anxiety even though she knows that her big sister isn't here to cause a repeat of that disaster.
    "Hey, Inubouzaki-san! Can I have a water?" a boy in her class calls out to her.
    Startled out of her reverie, Itsuki lets out a hurried, "H-hai! One moment, please!" She roots around in the cooler increasingly becoming more full of water than ice, until she procures a water bottle and hands it over. "Here you go!"
    "Thanks, Inubouzaki-san!" the boy says cheerfully before chugging the water while he walks away.
    It's so nice to be useful.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Lana Miata is dressed up for tennis, complete with a white sweatband and RHA gym clothes. She stands in her quarter of a tennis court, participating in a 2v2 game, coldstaring at the opposing team as if she had no concern whatsoever if they lived or died. Someone told her lighten up earlier today, so now she's even more annoyed.

    The ball is served to her. She charges with her racket and gives it a good whack, only for her shot to be completely ignored by the other team.

    What? What's going on? Weren't they playing?

    One of the girls on the other team is shrieking. "It's Maxwell Stanton!" The other is fanning herself and hopping excitedly. Lana squints at them, then at her teammate, and then across the field to where Maxwell is standing.

    "Oh. That guy again," she says. She didn't fully understand what the big deal about him was, but he sure had a lot of fans.

    Lana's lips curl into a slight pout. It's not that she was enjoying the game persay, but having it interrupted is still an annoyance.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe wasn't what you would call... athletically competent. Okay, she wasn't what you would call most likely to survive a short walk to the mailbox. In fact, she was likely most well known for collapsing and clutching her chest. Even if, by some strange measure, she was able to actually participate in any of these clubs, she was dreadfully shy and the very notion was... terrifying.

So one might wonder why she was even here.

Because it was bright, sunny, and she'd actually volunteered to do one thing she COULD do during this... she was helping the first aid team. Yes, it was a minor task. But the alternative was being in the lab and after another... less than... kind 'discussion' with Kaolinite, she'd decided to help here would have been more pleasant.

For the moment, however, there was little for her to do. Itsuki had things pretty well handled, so she just sat under the tent, reading her book. Occasionally glancing up. If anyone got hurt, she could at least help with the first aid...

Admittedly... she had an... extra bit of help with her 'first aid' abilities... that she wouldn't tell anyone else. But if anyone was too hurt, it would be nice to know she could be useful for once. She even had a little 'first aid' strap on her arm, in the event there were any issues.

Granted, most the other students were more worried SHE'D need some first aid before any of them did, so she had... more or less... jsut tried to stay out of their way and enjoy the nice, sunny day.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
The main thing Wako has learned about her new school since arriving in Tokyo is that - much like the city itself - this place is huge.

In her defense, she actually *meant* to come to the sports field, and she's appropriately dressed in RHA gym clothes. Now that she's here, though, she finds herself hesitating. There's... a lot more of it than she was really expecting. A lot more students out doing various activities, too.

In her indecision, she's thus easily distracted by the arrival of the sports car and the tall man who steps out of it. Curiosity leads her to wander a little ways across the field for a better view.

"Wow..." she remarks to herself, eyebrows raised. "This kind of thing really happens here, huh?" For a moment, her hand drifts toward the pocket of her gym clothes where she's stashed her phone. Maybe she should try to snap a photo to send to Ruri back on the island?

Before she can get into an internal debate about the rudeness of this idea, she's distracted by the small yellow fox clambering up onto her shoulder.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai wasn't usually one to be out in the field or joining in any sports. It wasn't that she didn't believe in exercise, it was just that she had issues with teams. Or rather in her experience they had issues with her. Being as quiet and soft spoken as she was, it was easy to overlook her assuming she wouldn't give much effort to the event.

So while she was now in highschool well away from those formative elementary and middle school years, she had gained a severe reluctance to join in things of such nature.

Still, she had gym requirements, and she's in the RHA athletic uniform while just meandering around trying not to be obtrusive while watching the others play. At least now she had a few friends she could watch to cheer on from the sidelines!

The commotion over by the tennis court garners her attention only to pause, and stare at the rather tall and handsome Maxwell herself. It was the first time she had seen this fellow. And she's thoroughly distracted to the point she ends up standing blocking the walkway path between sporting venues.

Rei Hino has posed:
    It seems it's a day for visitations. 'An Unexpected Party', if you will. Wait, does this mean twelve more Senshi are going to arrive and also a Wizard--Okay, no, that's probably impossible maybe. However, Rei Hino is here, despite not going to this school. Honestly, Radiant Heart Academy is full of stupidly attractive people, so if not for her uniform she would probably fit right in. What brought Rei to the academy? Why, it's a search for her new companion! Given the display of physical excellence the other day, surely Usagi must be an athlete of some kind, right? This is definitely the most reasonable and logical thing to think.

    However, the raven-haired girl hesitates mid-step before even reaching half-way across the campus. She looks confused and slightly alarmed as she searches around herself like she just heard or felt something peculiar. She hesitates to continue, but then gains a sharpness to her eyes as she furrows her brow and cautiously makes her way deeper inside.

    How strange that she has a bad feeling about the exact place she's headed towards. Very coincidental. Hopefully Usagi isn't in trouble.

Aki Kurosawa has posed:
Blue has a rule for his Pretty Cures. 'You are not allowed to fall in love'.

'Love is forbidden!'

But that doesn't mean one can't window shop and gawk at cute boys and that's what Aki Kurosawa is doing from a distance at the sports car, shifting a bit as she looks to her right, as if to say something to someone but then wilts, visibly, oh. right. She's missing...

Haruna would say something dumb right now about hot guys and probably start fanning her right now.

So instead the bluenette watches from a distance on the side of the soccer field, just gawking visibly for now.

"Oh no. He's hot." she does whisper under her breath.

Ren Morimoto has posed:
    Baseball is the sport of choice for several of the students who are gathered here today, though unfortunately they don't have enough playing for a proper team so they've had to split up into pairs to practice pitching and catching.

    Ren's one of them, though he's currently taking a break as they have an odd number of players and he's magnanimously volunteered to be the first one out. He's a team player like that. Also, he's thirsty.

    "Excuse me," he says, chipper as anything, as he goes wide around Chiyo on the path, headed for some of that delicious, crisp, ice-cold water. But he does take note of Chiyo's distraction, and he follows her line of sight to... "Oh." He pauses, looking towards Maxwell for a moment, then he looks back at Chiyo. Then back at Maxwell. Then back at (you probably get where this is going).

Nephrite has posed:
    Though when he isn't paying attention he has a sort of tired, distant eyes, like he's even older than he appears -- someone who has seen so many terrible things that he has grown accustomed to seeing terrible things -- the persona of Maxwell Stanton when he's here to scout potential candidates is one of pure charm. He strolls in like he owns the place, hands in the pockets of his pants, smiling at students as he passes, giving them the impression that he is personally acknowledging each of them in turn. The Stars know everthing. And what the Stars told him was that the rise of an immense energy would come from right here. Paying attention to everyone, offering murmured greetings in his deep, slightly-husky voice, walking as though he has a specific destination in mind... It's all part of the process.

    It looks like he's stopping by the tennis court. Though the game seems to have been called on account of Tall, Dark & Handsome. He raises a hand and says in a much clearer, baritone voice than the one he normally has, "Don't mind me. My name is Maxwell Stanton. I'm a talent scout. I heard there were some exceptional young athletes at Radiant Heart Academy today, so I thought I'd observe for a while..." He smiles as he addresses the audience at large with, "If that's alright with you all, that is."

    He does not realize there's a psychic heading his direction, or that he's in the presence of some other Special People. It's human life force he's measuring, and even more so the sleeping potential buried underneath it. One of these students is close to reaching their peak. But which one...?

    Maybe the one standing on the path in front of him? He doesn't know who Chiyo is, but she's a likely suspect. He looks her over evaluatingly and then squints a little as he smiles at her and nods in acknowledgement. "May I ask what your name is, young miss?"

Itsuki Inubouzaki has posed:
    Itsuki is in the middle of jogging over to Ren to offer a water bottle. He looks a little dehydrated! But she is held up by the crowd of young people who appear to be even thirstier! She's puzzled by what's happening and tries to squeeze through the crowd to get to Ren. "Sumimasen...! Um, I can't get through. Could someone please..." Eventually there's just an arm waving from within a pack of girls, a hand clutching onto a water bottle as though it's her lifeline.
    A talent scout is well and good, but Itsuki's not an athlete, and what she wants to be scouted for is... A very far-off dream. One she is far too timid to pursue. How could she? She's such a burden on everyone... All she can do is hand out water, and even that is too tough for her apparently.
    Will she ever escape the prison of Taller Girls with Longer Legs!? Maybe she should just retreat back to hang out with Hotaru. She seems nice.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Lana's cold-stares as her tennis playmates continue to ignore her. Even her own teammate is joining in. After a moment, her annoyance passes. Such things are meaningless in the long run. If she's the only one who cares about the game, then she cares too much. It only takes a few minutes to put up her racket and grab a fresh towel.

    Wiping her forehead off, she walks up to Chiyo from behind, her way hindered by the Max-entranced girl.

    Lana stands next to Chiyo, leans forward slightly, and waves a hand in front of her face to see if she's still mentally there.

    She notices Ren nearby, makes an assumption that they're friends or something, and asks, "Is she always like this?"

    The girls that Lana left behind are too busy swooning over the fact that Maxwell is speaking to them to realize that there's only three of them. As eager as they are to show off for a hot talent scout, it doesn't take long for them to find a fourth. Lana is barely even missed.

    It's then that Lana actually notices Maxwell is speaking to the same girl that she has personally decided to bother for a moment. She gives him a frown, but decides to hang back and see where this is going.

    The fact that she's making the congestion worse is of little concern to her. Poor Itsuki.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe blinked a few times when suddenly there was a... stampede? Might be a bit too extreme a declaration, but to be fair it wasn't entirely inaccurate. She glanced towards the source of the... crowd, only for her eyes to focus on the rather tall, breathtaking man. Huh. She cocked her head slightly to the side. Why... was everyone so... focused on him? She supposed he was kind of cute, but...

She shrugged and glanced back towards her book. Only to glance up again when she heard someone talking in the hustle and bustle. Such a soft, gentle voice. She looked up again and saw... someone... one of the other first aid workers... trapped in the hustle and bustle. Oh dear. She closed her book and got to her feet.

"U-uh... um. Could... could everyone... please..." she tried, but to no avail. Ignored, just as much as the other young girl was. It didn't help that she and Itsuki were two of the youngest here. And not even athletes!

Oh dear, the poor thing was going to be trampled! Or worse! She had to do SOMETHING! If only she could--

She cringed as her anxiety spiked and she felt her heart pounding. There it was. Deep breath. Calm. Callllm... Right. She needed to think carefully. Logically...

Finally, an idea occured. She looked around before opening one of the first aid kits. Where were they... here! She pulled out... a whistle?

Then made her way towards the crowd and...

PREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Well, THAT did it. Causing silence to follow and the crowd to TRY and scatter a bit... and, hopefully, for Itsuki to break free from the crowd and pull a retreat!

She pulled the whistle out of her mouth now that most eyes were on her. She gulped and, in a soft voice... "Please... do not block the pathways," she said. "It's... d-d-d-dangerous," she said, struggling to get the words out as her anxiety began to spike again and she felt her heart racing even harder. Please stop staring. Please, please stop staring...

Aki Kurosawa has posed:
Talent Scout. Aki Kurosawa spins into a tizzy mentally. She could be scouted and end up a famous dancer. On the grand stage. She imagines the crowd, clapping for her, a standing ovation and she places her hands close to her head and blinks rapidly.

Oh, but there's a literal congestion of girls now and she suddenly wilts and falls into despair! Oh, she'll never be noticed among the pack of girls, but she attempts to get in, but she can't and she isn't even being noticed.... nrg...

She considers her 'dancer' precard and sideyes. Putting the card back in her pocket as she walks away to the bleachers whistling innocently. Don't mind her. Nope. Not doing anything at all.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"...Vice President..." Wako regards the animal on her shoulder with a certain degree of exasperation. "You're going to get me in trouble, you know?"

The fox pays this this about as much attention as one might reasonably expect an animal to do - which is to say he tilts his head at her, flicks his ears, and then goes back to watching Mr. Stanton from his modest vantage point.

Sighing a little, Wako likewise goes back to watching the stir that Maxwell is creating. "Oh... a talent scout." That clears some things up. Of course, if he's here for *athletic* talent, it's nothing much to do with her, except for the fact that the gathering throng of admiring teens is creating something of an on-field traffic hazard.

The piercing tone of Hotaru's whistle provides a timely reminder not to make herself part of the problem. Lifting a protective hand to rest against Vice President's side, Wako busies herself in making sure she's not in anyone's way - and in the process, she catches sight of Rei some distance away, headed for the field.

Recognition stops Wako short for a moment. Isn't that the pretty girl from the other night...? Of course, it's not like Wako can try to thank her for looking out for VP during the battle - not without raising a bunch of awkward questions - but she does kind of seem like she might be looking for something, and in that uniform, she's probably not a Radiant Heart Academy student.

Making up her mind, Wako sets off in Rei's direction.

"Hi. Were you trying to find something?"

Rei Hino has posed:
    No sign of odango so far... Rei scans the area. There's a strange congestion in one part, near the tennis court. There's still people playing their games, but there's also several standing around staring like they've been enchanted. Sharply, Rei looks in the direction of the largest concentration of students, and reaches for the red pen that she got from a certain cat. If this is another plan by the Enemy, she should probably step in, right? But not everyone is affected, and there's a lot of witnesses. What should she do?

    Unlike Usagi, Rei is a woman of action, and so she makes a decision and follows it though. She starts walking over to where a very Tall man is surrounded by girls. She stops behind him, hands on her hips, and looks HARD at the stranger. Then, as if to break a spell, she says loudly, "Hey, you!" A very rude way to address anyone, but Rei is not afraid to be rude when called for. "Aren't you a bit old to attend this school?" she asks snarkily. This is definitely not a normal situation. Probably. Maybe it's totally normal and she's the weird one.

    The miko is not the type to let such concerns slow her down!

    Thankfully, Hotaru steps in to blow the whistle and break all of this up. A small girl getting potentially injured because some people were too lazy to move or listen to her is simply unacceptable! Her fierce expression and frown don't change, but she gives a nod of gratitude towards the first-aid volunteer.

    Then she is approached by another girl, and pauses. Now she's the one being confronted! Giving one last glare at That Guy, she turns her attention on Wako with the... Wait, didn't she see that fox somewhere? Wasn't it there at that-- "Uhh... More like a someone. Blonde-hair in two really long pigtails. Buns on her head. Sometimes has a black cat. REALLY annoying voice when she whines?"

    Pause. "Her name's Usagi Tsukino." She should have started with that.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Oh. Oh right. Chiyo was staring and making a complete fool of herself. Just as Ren pauses to look at her she becomes aware of his presence finally tearing her gaze away to look at him with an apologetic smile. "Ah, sorry I lost my train of thought." It happened! It was possible! Especially when the tall, mysteriously handsome talent scout starts to walk down the path toward her after he introduces himself to the others.

Her hands clutch together in front of her while the staring momentarily resumes.

At least until Lana's hand waving snaps her out of it, and the words of the man sink in through her stupor. This was not a manga, this was real life, and there were people that were trying to get through. Like poor Itsuki!

"Oh, could you all move--" she begins in her too-quiet voice to urge the girls to scoot to the side to let the younger girl through. Her voice doesn't seem to make it though much to her consternation. It doesn't need to when that whistle cuts through the air earning a little stiffened jolt from her as well at the unexpectedly sharp noise. Hotaru had it in hand at least.

Which meant she couldn't put off answering Maxwell any further. Deep breath.

"I'm Chiyo Sakai, grade ten. I'm sorry for being in the way." Was she in the way? Oh dear. She starts to move only to find herself caught between Ren and Lana causing her to pause. "Ah. We should move to the side of the path," she suggests quietly while deftly stepping back to do so. At least this way they wouldn't be blocking others from passing completely.

With a sweet smile she turns her attention back to Maxwell and, still softspoken in spite of the crowd, responds calmly. "I'm sure you'll find many talented people here today, Stanton-san."

Ren Morimoto has posed:
    It's all a little amusing to Ren, who is standing off to the side of the path in an attempt to stay out of the way. An attempt that is not particularly successful as the path is soon swarmed and a blockade forms.

    "Ah, jeez," he mumbles to himself, pulling off his baseball cap so that he can ruffle his hair with a vague mix of amusement and consternation visible on his face, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards but his brow furrowed. He can only shake his head at Lana, as he doesn't actually know Chiyo one way or the other, though he has half a mind to--Ren turns abruptly at the sound of the whistle, ingrained habit thanks to all the years of sports playing under his belt.

    He can't see Hotaru through the crowd, but the sudden silence means he can hear her, and he feels at least semi-responsible for the pathway congestion. At Chiyo's suggestion he dutifully scuttles further out of the way. "Sorry, sorry, everyone! Just a minor traffic jam!"

    The laughter that follows from him is mostly embarrassed chuckling, and he tucks his baseball glove up under his arm so that he can hold out his hands, palms forward and fingers spread, to further indicate his contrition.

    But then he looks back at Maxwell. Ren's caught on that the man is a talent scout of some kind, and isn't that just great, the one day the baseball club doesn't have all of their players here!

    Still, it's not his place to intrude on a conversation he's only tangentially a part of -- really, he's barely doing more than just eavesdropping -- so he just stands there, weight shifting from one foot to the other awkwardly as he waits for the path to clear. So that he could... wait, what was he doing?

    Oh, right! He spots the water girl caught amidst the crowd and waves to Itsuki, who he was previously attempting to make his way over to. Well, mission semi-accomplished!

Nephrite has posed:
    "Sakai-kun, is it?" Nephrite asks, practically surrounded by sparkles. However, she is soon swooped away by other people and other circumstances and he waves casually to her. "Thank you. I'm sure I will too." Things are breaking up now, so he turns his attention on the girl yelling at him from behind. "I have a visitor's pass." he says first. "Radiant Heart Academy values the talent of its students and cultivating it for greater academic goals." Makes sense enough, even if it doesn't really explain anything. "I wonder why you are here though. It doesn't appear you attend this school based off your uniform." He sidles away when Wako approaches Rei, but gives a glance at the fox on the former's shoulder in passing. A peculiar pet.

    The two younger girls attending to the health of the other students get a glance over. Nothing special... Or at least not that he can detect. But there's something that gives him pause when he looks at Hotaru. Haven't they met? Hm. He can't place her right now. It's not just girls he is scouting though. Ren seems like an energetic sort. Lots of enthusiasm to spare. Maybe a bit spacey, but that's fairly standard it seems.

    Standing off to the side near the tent that Hotaru was occupying, he just returns his hands to his pockets and observes. There's more than one person with potential here today. Which one did his Constellation Map pick out? Normally it's much more specific... It's almost like his view of the future was... Obscured. Like one of those great darknesses that he talked to Darien about is close at hand and weighing on the scales -- blotting out the stars.

    If one of Those is here... He might not have the luxury of waiting for energy to peak. It would be truly ironic if he wound up having to play the role of hero like the Enemy he fights against in order to secure a future for this planet where life still exists.

    He turns to whichever student or group of students is nearest and says, "Is there anyone who stands out in your class? Someone who everyone knows as a talented athlete or perhaps a natural leader?"

    The girl with the attitude could stand further scrutiny. But unless something stands out, all he can do is guess.

    He did notice one girl (Aki) look disappointed and retreat after hearing he was looking for athletes... He'll have to go talk to her one-on-one later, when there's less of an audience. She has some kind of talent but not the one he's here for today. Anything can become the potential that builds to its peak. If he can give a helping hand... Well, 'Maxwell Stanton, Life Coach' gains a very ironic meaning.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Ohboy. Wako hadn't actually anticipated that Rei was going to confront Mr. Stanton head-on the way she just did; she's caught looking from one to the other, more than a little impressed by the other girl's boldness, and newly curious besides. Stanton's explanation sounds plausible enough, and yet--

Something about this whole situation is beginning to ping at her awareness of Glittering Crux-style Shenanigans in Progress. Maybe it's nothing, but it seems best to keep an eye on matters all the same. Just in case.

This time she really does pull out her phone, but he's already moving away and it's too late for her to snap a photo. Turning her attention back to Rei, Wako listens attentively to her description of her quarry, filing the name and details away in memory. "Usagi Tsukino-san... I don't think I've met her, so far." A little chagrined, Wako flashes an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I'm still pretty new here. If I see her, I can tell her you're looking for her?"

All the while, the fox on her shoulder stares at Maxwell Stanton. Overhearing his question to the other students brings an immediate image to her mind; keeping herself oriented toward Rei, she hastily taps out a quick text on her phone before she lets the hand it's held in hang at her side again.

"--I might know someone," she volunteers. "I'd have to check if he's interested, though."

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Suddenly a raven-haired girl is yelling at Maxwell and Lana allows herself to smile oh-so-slightly. It's not a nice smile. Schadenfreude is one of the few pleasures in life that the brown-haired girl still has in life. It fades after a moment, but it was there.

    The whistle, at least, gets Lana's attention in a way that the tiny little girl didn't. When she looks at Hotaru, her eyes grow slightly softer, but only for a fleeting moment. She moves to the side, possibly at Chiyo's suggestion, pressing her back against the tennis court's fence to take up as little space as possible. When she sees a chance to walk on by, she takes it, finally free of the congestion herself and, possibly, making things a little bit better for people like Itsuki.

    As she passes by Hotaru, she mutters, "Sorry," in a soft voice. This is probably the first time she has apologized for anything since her recent transfer, and it might be a long time before she's sorry for anything again, but for the moment it at least sounds sincere.

    No apologies for Itsuki, though.

    Once she gets to the track, she moves off to the side to start stretching her arms and upper back. Even if she missed out of her game over this, she can still get some work in. Maybe she's more productive on her own.

Itsuki Inubouzaki has posed:
    Wh-whew! Narrowling avoiding the terrible fate of being crushed, Itsuki takes a moment to collect herself, and smiles towards Hotaru. "Thank you, Hotaru-chan! That was scary...!" Phew! Certainly nothing worse than that can happen to her! Not in her entire life! She meets Ren half-way with the water bottle, still nice and cool. "H-here... You looked like you could use some water... Because of how hard you were playing!" Smile, smile~! Big Smol Imouto Energy! Maybe she can't energize people the way Udon can infuse her sister with Girl Power, but it's all she can do for now.
    "Oh, it's ok--" she starts towards Lana, not knowing what she's apologizing for, but finding out quickly she wasn't the target. Her face goes red and she looks away quickly, pretending she didn't say anything at all. That's how she spots Vice President. "O-oh, my gosh! Is that a baby fox?" she asks all high-pitched and breathlessly as she clutches her hands together with big star eyes.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe blinked when she was apologized to. "I... I ummm... it's... it's okay..." she said softly. She said it so softly she wasn't even sure the other girl heard her. But she tried, so that had to count for something. Hopefully.

However, Itsuki thanking her made her cheeks go scarlet and this time she couldn't even answer. She just blushed and nodded. Considering all the looks she was getting after the whistle, she really wished she could just run off and hide again. Better than--

But, as the crowd thinned, for a moment her eyes fell on Rei. And just for a moment... her heart skipped a beat. She... was beautiful. Absolutely... but... There it was again. That very, very strange moment of... sadness. Deep in her core. Faded. A strange sadness she didn't understand... a desire to be a part of something she never could be... and a confusion at why she even felt this desire at all. She shoved it aside and turned, heading back towards the covered area. It was... probably nothing. Her imagination, that was all. Too much sun, obviously.

Still, she kept the whistle close in case she needed to clear space again.

Rei Hino has posed:
    The Girl From A Different School mutters, 'I have a guest pass too' acidly after this Max guy once he walks away. Then Wako is getting her attention. Also the VP. "Okay. Thank you anyway. I appreciate you taking the time." She smiles. Her demeanor is very different from her first impression. Temper on a hair trigger, but not a bad sort. She notices Hotaru looking in her direction, and pauses to wave hesitantly. Yes, the younger girl did a good thing. She prevented injury to a very small girl and maybe even saved a life! But the first aid provider seems to be back to her own business, so Rei shrugs and focuses on Wako again.

    "My, what a cute fox..." she says innocently. "...I think I saw him relatively recently. Is he yours? He almost got caught in an accident when a construction site collapsed." Is this girl another of the Sailor Soldiers that Luna and Usagi are looking for, perhaps? It was weird that there was just a fox there in the ara, and that is where she encountered Sailor Moon for the first time as well...

    She makes sure to give the stink-eye to Mr. Stanton again before trying to guide Wako away. "My name is Rei Hino. It's great to meet you."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai allows herself to relax a bit when it seems the attention of the handsome man has shifted away to some of the other girls. At the very least it allowed her to watch after him without being obvious about staring. Obvious to him at least. It's now finally she feels herself blush realizing how silly she's been over the whole thing by blocking the path, and causing the roadblock that the other students had created rushing over. Poor Itsuko had almost been crushed!

"Are you okay?" She inquires of the younger girl even while watching Ren enjoy the water that she had fought so valiantly to bring over toward him. The chatter of others around her draws her attention again, still, and she swears she hears a familiar name. "Usagi-chan?"

Was someone looking for her friend?

Before she has time to properly process it there's a little thump of something hitting her foot. Twisting to look down she spies the errant baseball that had rolled over from one of the boys left practicing on the field.

"Hey, throw it back! Or have Ren do it if you can't!" One calls over with a shout.

Chiyo looks toward the baseball boy whom she assumes is Ren with his mit off, and hands full with both it and the water bottle. He was busy right now with his hands full. She quickly crouches, bending lady-like at the knee so that nothing untoward flashes from the movement of scooping up the ball.

Standing once again she slides one foot back to widen her stance as she simply hauls her arm back, takes a breath, and throws it back as hard as she can without really thinking about it.

"Holy shit!" The boy on the field cries out in surprise as he dodges out of the way of the baseball that barrels past him and further yet to smack into the chain link fence around the field. It jangles and shakes from the impact as the ball wedges inside the fence itself caught between the holes.

Chiyo standsd there staring. "...Oops."

Ren Morimoto has posed:
    As he makes his way through the thinning crowd, his eyes land on Itsuki once again and a smile spreads across his face. He extends his hand to accept the water bottle, and immediately he cracks it open.

    Though before taking a much-needed drink, he says, "Thank you so much!" Then the requisite glug glug glug happens, after which he lets out a relief-filled exhale. "That's exactly what I needed! Whew!" And he takes another, shorter drink after, half the bottle emptied just like that.

    He hears his name being called and turns to look, but Chiyo's right, he's quite busy at the moment, and he doesn't even realize there's a stray ball in his general vicinity. Not at least until Chiyo picks it up and throws it back.

    Hard.

    Ren's eyes don't quite bug out of his head but it's a near thing, and he stands there mouth agape with the water bottle clutched so hard in his hand that he's crushed it, rivulets flowing over his knuckles. "Wow," he says, even as more of the baseball club kids have broken up from their pairs to marvel at the feat of strength that wedged one of the balls in the fence.

    "Who is that girl?" he asks. "I gotta recruit her for the club!" To Itsuki, he calls out "Thank you!" again before he reverses himself out in the direction he came, headed towards Chiyo.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
With a twitch of his ears and a flick of his tail, Vice President leaves off watching Stanton to scamper a quick (and somewhat inconvenient) circle over Wako's shoulders. She's in the process of reaching up to bat his tail out of her face when the little fox makes an impressive leap into the air, poings off some unfortunate student's head, and lands with surprising lightness onto Itsuki's shoulder where he immediately busies himself investigating her hairpin. Hi!

"VP, don't--!" Wako protests, too late. "I'm sorry about him... I know he shouldn't be here, but I didn't realize he'd followed us onto the ferry from my hometown until it was already under way, so..." A helpless little shrug. "Don't worry, he's friendly."

She won't physically move to retrieve Vice President unless it seems like he's troubling Itsuki. Instead, she looks back over to Rei.

"You did?" she replies to Rei's comments. "That sounds very dangerous. Thank you for looking out for him. I glad neither of you got hurt." Rei didn't actually *say* anything about looking out for Vice President exactly, but... who's counting?

"I'm Wako Agemaki," she adds with a smile and a polite inclination of her head. "A pleasure to meet you, too."

Itsuki Inubouzaki has posed:
    Itsuki gives a little surprised shriek as she finds herself a Flying Fox Landing Platform, but is soon giggling and XD facing as she ineffectually covers her head with hands. "Nooo! That tickles!" she protests. She attempts to scoop the VP into her arms and head over to return him to Wako. "I'm Inubouzaki Itsuki! Your friend is very cute. I've seen other pets, so I think it's okay for you to have him here." She also turns to Rei and says, "I hope you find your friend. Tsukino-san? I'll keep an eye out for anyone matching her description!" She clenches her fists in determination with starry eyes and little steam jets emitting from her nostrils.

    Itsuki is then back to smiling towards Ren. "I'm glad I could help! Take care of your health, okay? It's easy to get sunstroke!" Now here did Hotaru run off to? She has to thank her properly!