So this was Japan? What a strange Place to arrive in… But then again, he had been to so few Places before in his duties it hardly seemed fair to judge.
Ah yes, his “duties”. He would be sent in first, retrieve data about the area for Blue to digest, and then they would formulate a plan. Of course, Green had to forcefully restrain Blue before the mission began, because his insatiable curiosity would serve only to jeopardise the mission. Intelligent or not, that boy couldn’t keep his nose out of anything. All the social grace of whatever that tall metal thing with what appeared to be glass sticking out of it happened to be called. They’d have better luck sending out one of those four-legged furry sniffy things than Blue.
He, on the other hand… He winked at a pretty young thing with a disarming smile and she returned it with a coy blush. Oh yes, recon missions like this had all sorts of benefits to them. Not least of which his almost supernatural talent to get on with people afforded him plenty of opportunity to get a little taste of a different sort of action entirely…
Yellow came to a stop and stared up in the general direction of the bright yellow orb that this Place circled. Yes, he had a pretty solid understanding of the basic geography by now. He checked the device strapped to his wrist (yes, that had been one thing he’d learned, this looked like what they called a watch), and it seemed to have a good grasp of their gravitational pull, typical air temperature, and so on. Phase one of analysis could be considered a complete success, and of course that signified a call from home base. He leaned back casually against a wall, and tapped his ear.
“What’s taking so long,” Red demanded. No surprise there. “You should have finished your preliminary report by now!”
“Take it easy, Red. I was just about to send the data when you called. Try to relax sometime, it’ll do you a world of good.”
He could almost hear the annoyed grunt in Red’s voice as he ended the call, and it made Yellow chuckle quite a bit. Feeling a little impatient, were we? That poor boy needed to learn how to unwind a little, kick back and let those passions loose in a less intense manner. Yellow pushed off the wall and swung to take a step around the corner with a wry chuckle. If anything, what he really needed to do was get him together with -
A cute girl crashed into him, stepping around the corner in the opposite direction to himself. The two of them tumbled to the ground, and for the briefest of moments all that either of them could do was stare into one another’s eyes.
<hr>
Ugh! She was so going to be late! Late, late late! Just her luck; why did she always have to put things off like this? Minako Aino was running full pelt down the street in a desperate attempt to get there in any semblance of time. Ooh! By the time she got there they’d have eaten all of the yummy cake! Those greedy friends of hers! Especially Usagi! Well, given she was the birthday girl one could hardly blame her for wanting to indulge a little, but -
Considering how little consideration she was giving to what might lie ahead, it can’t be particularly surprising that Minako wound up crashing into someone as she speedily rounded a corner.
The words “Hey, stupid, watch where you’re going!” died on her lips the moment she made eye contact. In fact, all words except variants of “yum”, “handsome” and “gimme some of that” perished with smiles on their faces and songs in their hearts. He appeared to be about her age, deep, deep blue eyes, blond hair, wearing a yellow t-shirt that didn’t do all that much to prevent her from noticing how in shape he was. And that smile! Goodness, but he could disarm the military with that!
Somehow he managed to extract himself from underneath her and reached his feet first, then helped her up while she was still reeling. “Terribly sorry, miss. I did not see you there. I do hope I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“N-No!” Minako said, finally finding her voice. Snap out of it, girl! Flirt! Flirt like your life depended on it! “I mean, don’t think anything of it. I shouldn’t have been running so fast.” She flicked her hair back and gave him the most adorable look she could manage, which to be blunt put kittens to shame. She should know. She’d practised it in the mirror, and even Artemis had to admit she could tame a rabid bear with that expression.
“Well, far be it from me to contradict someone so cute,” the boy said. “If you say it’s your fault, be more careful next time, okay? Where were you going in such a hurry anyway, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Oh, nowhere important!” Minako sighed. “I’m sorry, I should introduce myself. Minako Aino, pleased to meet you.”
The boy gave an overly elaborate, sweeping bow that seemed to be quite deliberately over the top. “And I am Ren Kukanuchi. It is a pleasure to meet you, Minako Aino. If you are unoccupied at the present time, would you do me a kindness? I am rather new to this area, and would greatly appreciate some company that could help me become more familiar with my new home. Particularly if that company was as charming as yourself.”
To illustrate Minako’s emotional response to that request, it might help to imagine something a little bizarre. For a moment, imagine that around Minako’s head five smaller Minakos in cheerleader uniforms appeared. Yes, the image is a bit distracting, but bear with it for a moment. Now imagine that these five mini-Minakos were all dancing in a circle, while singing “Got ourselves a handsome date, doo-da, doo-da! Don’t blame us if we stay out late, oh what a great day!”
“I’d love to,” Minako said a little dreamily. “It’s a daaaaaaate! Rei! Let go of my ear! Ow! Ow! Ow!”
Rei did as she was told, and Minako tried not to look too undignified while trying to rub out the pain of having it almost twisted off by her miko friend. Who was tapping her foot impatiently, for some reason.
“Here’s me running late because of a mishap at the shrine,” Rei said with folded arms and still tapping foot. “And here’s you running late because you’re flirting with some guy - speaking of, hi, I’m Rei Hino, and you can come pick me up anytime at Hikawa Shrine if you want a proper guide of the area that can teach you all about its history!”
“I’m sorry, who was flirting again?” Minako said, still wincing a little at the pain in her ear. “Besides which, if we’re going to Usagi’s birthday party, won’t you be a little too preoccupied to help him as well?”
“A birthday party?” Ren interrupted. “I see. That is… a shame. It would not be right to intrude on an event like this. It was a pleasure meeting two such charming girls like you, Minako Aino and Rei Hino. Enjoy your friend’s party. I would hate to interfere with any plans you already have in mind for the day.”
And then he turned to walk away with little more than a cheerful wave and <i>damn</i> but those jeans would haunt her dreams for weeks to come. Though to be perfectly honest, Minako was sort of wishing it would be the other way around.
“Finished staring at the cute guy’s butt yet?” Rei asked, tugging on Minako’s arm. “Come on, let’s go. We’re late enough as is.”
“Aw, come on, Rei! He wasn’t just cute. He was nice, and charming, and kinda funny too. I mean, would it be so bad if we invited him along? Usagi’s bringing Mamoru, so -”
“So we know him pretty well by now,” Rei interrupted. “You just met that guy, we don’t really know anything about him.”
“But that’s just it! I want to know more about him!” Minako turned on the cute face at full power, and let Rei cower in its might. That’s right. Cower! You cannot resist puppy-dog-eyed Minako! Nothing can resist that! She sniffed slightly for emphasis. “Come on, Rei! If he’s really mean or something you guys’ll sniff him out. Right? I mean, he doesn’t even really know anyone here at all, so it’s the perfect chance for him to make friends and meet people, right?”
Rei held up longer against the onslaught of cute longer than she had any right to. But like all things she winced, shook her head and said “Alright, alright! If you can catch up to him, sure, I don’t think Usagi will mind so much if you bring a guest. Just… stop with that expression before you make me throw up.”
“Yay! I knew you’d come around! Ren! Come back, Ren! Where are you?” She barely caught sight of him as he turned a corner, and chased after him to catch up. “Ren, come back! We’d like to invite you to - Oof!”
Once again, while turning the corner she ran full on into Ren. But this time they did not crash into the ground. Instead on this occasion Ren caught her, and the two of them spun in place until Ren’s back crashed into the wall, and they stayed there holding one another for a moment, staring at each other in complete silence until finally Ren cracked a cheeky grin and said “We have to stop meeting like this.”
“I could stand it a couple more times,” Minako whispered. She didn’t even realise she’d said that thought out loud.
Rei coughed and the two of them leaped apart from one another, and then all three of them went off towards Usagi’s house for the celebration. Though only one of them noticed that the other two had started to hold hands along the way, and honestly Rei was far too happy for her friend to think about splitting them up.
<hr>
A perfect opportunity had unexpectedly arisen, and might even permit him the ability to skip to phase four of the analysis process. By integrating himself with a random social unit, he could learn a tremendous amount based upon their interactions with one another. This would be a vital skill for integration and recruitment purposes, not to mention gathering… That stuff. In particular, a celebration would offer the opportunity to observe various different forms of social interaction, and even discreetly record various conversational topics for further and more detailed analysis. Oh yes, attending this party was the perfect opportunity to quickly learn a great deal about this society and culture.
Not to mention a perfect opportunity for a little action later on. Minako was such a sweet girl. He’d have to pull out all the stops to leave her satisfied because a beautiful flower like that certainly deserved it.
The house itself didn’t particularly stand out among the others in this street. Even so, the girls seemed to know where they were going, and Rei went on ahead to knock on the door. There was something oddly familiar about that girl, something he could swear he knew very well. A powerful familiarity, yet with a distinctive taste hidden within that was just different enough to throw him off the trail. It was going to irritate him until he worked it out, he simply knew it.
Either way, it was time to get this party started, and time to introduce himself to the guests.
- Ren quickly makes friends with everyone there, convincing Minako’s friends that he’s perfect for her in the process.
- Ren deliberately triggers a practical joke war between Shingo and Mamoru, then defuses it before it gets too rough. Much to the amusement of everyone else.
- After the party, Ren and Minako decide to set up his “brothers” with her friends.
- Meanwhile, Blue managed to slip through to check out this new Place. Red and Green don’t notice because he’s set up a doppleganger to distract them. Earlier on, Blue encountered Ami on her way to the party.
- Something else
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