Who is Makoto Kino? If you asked anyone that didn't know her, they'd say the same thing. Troublemaker. Fighter. Too tough for her own good. A delinquent, a meathead. But those that did know her would know that none of that was true. Sort of. I mean, she was too tough for her own good, but the rest of it was bullshit. She never started trouble. She ended it.
This was a girl with the heart of a poet, a maiden perpetually in love, an adoration of classic feminine virtues within her. She loved to cook, baking some great cookies, while also working out and even knowing karate.
You see, it's not that easy to pigeonhole most people. They are usually a touch more complicated than you might think. The stereotype might not fit as well as you think - or, then again, it might. Because people are people
And people really, really got the wrong idea about her. Which is why - yet again - she'd been forced to transfer schools.
It wasn't her fault. Not exactly. Makoto had found a bully picking on some weedy kid who couldn't fight back. So she did what she'd always done. Stepped in. But... something weird happened as soon as she took a step forward. The pavement cracked beneath her feet.
Seeing her stuck like that, the bullies thought they saw a good chance to get a few hits in. And wound up breaking their fists on her face. Which kicked off a whole thing where she wound up expelled and -
Yeah. Here she was. Funny, it felt sort of like she'd have wound up here anyway sooner or later. Wound up being sooner.
"Where's your uniform?" a stuffy teacher in the hall asked.
"They didn't have one my size," Makoto said. Then she moved to take a step, but went about as delicately as it was possible for her to step. The floor beneath her creaked in warning.
This might seem strange coming from her but Makoto was terrified right now. She had been since that incident. She'd always been strong, she'd always been tough. But this tough? This strong? Each step had to be measured. She had to be wary not to bump into someone on the street, in case she broke their shoulder. The other day, she'd been hit by a car while saving a kitten in the middle of the road - and didn't even feel it. The car had been totalled, and she'd made a break for it.
It was ludicrous. It was absurd. She could jump about ten times higher than she could before, if she concentrated then her fists shot out so hard and fast they caused a sonic boom.
Try to imagine what it would be like if you suddenly found yourself dropped into a world made of glass. Everyone and everything but you is made of super thin glass that will shatter into a million pieces if you touch it wrong. Lose concentration for a second and it breaks.
Except that the glass doesn't cut you. Oh, that was a shock to her. She'd tried poking her skin with a needle, and - nothing. Her skin couldn't be cut, and she'd tried. Oh, she had tried. Not because she <i>wanted</i> to hurt herself. She wasn't into that self harming schtick, but...
Maybe she should?
The idea of hurting others, of hurting someone she cared about was scary. Sure, she lived alone but what if she hurt a classmate? A bully getting some scraps was one thing but.. But what if it got worse? The idea of potentially doing irreparable damage to someone.. of.. of <b>killing someone</b> was terrifying to her. Oh! And her senpai... she'd never be able to have any kind of safe relationship with him again! Or any boy for that matter!
"Wooooaahh, who forgot to put a wet floor sign dooooown!"
Makoto turned to see the source of that voice, and beheld a pretty blonde haired girl sliding along the floor, waving her arms around like a drunken seagull in a desperate, futile attempt to keep her balance, heading directly towards Makoto.
Instincts kicked in over common sense. Makoto spread her arms out and caught the girl in her arms before she knew what she was doing, sweeping the stranger up in her arms. With bated breath she awaited the 'crack' or 'snap' of broken bones, followed by a scream of absolute pain.
None came. Only a sigh of relief, from first the girl and then her, then the stranger said. "Phew, close one. Almost hurt myself there!"
It was strange. It was inexplicable. Makoto was holding tightly onto this girl, and yet... And yet wasn't hurting her. With her stupid level of strenght, she could squeeze this tiny figure (well, tiny compared to Makoto) and somehow wasn't hurting her...? That shouldn't be possible. Should it?
"Wow, you're tall!" the stranger said. "I don't recognise the uniform."
"I'm new here," Makoto said. Then allowed the girl to leave, and offered her hand. A bit more western in approach, but the hand was taken. Makoto squeezed it. The girl squeezed back. It was obvious that Makoto was stronger, but... but still, no monstrous strength. "Makoto Kino. Nice to meetcha!"
"Usagi Tsukino," the girl said, smiling brightly up at her. Ah! Makoto blushed. This was strange. So strange! She'd never ever felt like this about a girl before! "If you're transferring in, you'll need someone to show you around, right?"
Please volunteer, please volunteer, please volunteer. Even though they'd only just met Makoto felt like she would do anything this girl would ask. Anything. Anything at all! Looking at her made the anxiety about her new strength disappear.
She'd like that to go on a bit longer.
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<i><b>There were some fairly dark scenes in that previous scene, and dark in a different way than I usually write. Listen. If you suffer anxiety or engage in self harm, please find someone to talk to about it. It's okay to talk with someone you trust about whatever issues you may be having. Do not be ashamed of feeling, because there are times when the strongest people feel like the world is pressing down on them. You're not alone. Whoever you are, wherever you are, you're not alone. I promise you, you can find the help you need.
On the other side of the coin, if someone you know is in a bad place mentally, do what you can to help them out. Don't do it because you expect something from them either, do it because it's the right thing to do. Be their Usagi. Inspire them in ways that only you can.
Now, on with our regularly scheduled thread already in progress</i></b>
<hr>
"Hi everyone!" Usagi said to a classroom full of people. "This is Makoto Kino! She's transferred in today, so please treat her kindly!"
"H-Hello, everyone!" Makoto said, bowing politely, taking care to not accidentally headbutt someone. Or something. It was so strange. Up until now she'd been so nervous about hurting anyone, but since meeting Usagi it was like that concern had evaporated into thin air.
Was this girl's presence somehow diluting the effect? Was it somehow allowing her to control it better? If so, she should stay by that girl's side as much as possible. For the time being, though, she was going to sit at her desk and try really hard not to draw too much attention to herself. Which was hard given how tall she was. Oh, and that she was wearing a different school's uniform because they didn't have one in her size, here.
Which might be why she slouched down a lot in her seat, which only managed to make her look like even more of a delinquent.
"Hi, I'm Naru Osaka," said a prettyish redhead. "I'm Usagi's best friend!"
She said that like she'd announced winning the lottery. Actually, Makoto kind of felt like that might be the case. "Lucky you," she whispered. Then, looking over at the girl in question, she could see other people were starting to gather around Usagi to talk with her. "She's kinda popular, huh?"
"Yeah, that's kicked in all of a sudden," Naru whispered back. "I barely get to spend time with her these days, but - Anyway! She asked me to talk with you, because she thought you needed friends. Want to hang out later?"
Oh! What a thoughtful thing to do! Usagi had somehow managed to see right through her, and pierced through her loneliness in a moment! No wonder she was so popular, that girl was a born and destined leader with people skills like that!
"Um! P-please consider a future in botany, you have a natural talent for it! Oh, I'm afraid that boy hasn't really noticed you, but you'd be way better suited with a boy in the next class over, who is pretty interested..."
And right now, Usagi was being mobbed by almost everyone else in class. Looking at her pretty face, Makoto could see the signs of stress forming. Where Makoto was lonely, Usagi was having the opposite problem. Too busy, too much the centre of attention, too many pleas for help coming from too many directions at once.
Her knuckles popped. Makoto rose to her full height. She pounded her fist into open palm, then reached out and forced the crowd into an orderly line, before stomping up to the front and standing beside <s>the new love of her life</s> her new friend.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Makoto said, folding her arms and sneering down at the assembled students. "One at a time, you get me?"
"Wah! That was soooo cool!" Usagi said. "Makoto, you're really strong!"
Huh? What? Makoto had done that without thinking, but looking back, that was... kinda impressive, wasn't it? She'd pushed all the students into a regular formation without hurting anyone. At all. That level of control and finesse... it felt like it would be beyond her a mere hour ago, but now she was doing it without even thinking!
All of which set her fate in stone as far as she was concerned. She was gonna be Usagi's bodyguard! Not just because she genuinely liked the girl and wanted to keep her happy. But also because a hint of fear remained that if she didn’t stick to her.. she would go back to almost breaking floor tiles every step.
Also, something about Usagi reminded her of Senpai. That probably meant something, but she couldn't think what that might be for the life of her.
- What does Ami make of Makoto?
- Meanwhile, Ami is feeling a lot more confident in herself.
- Let's introduce another Sailor Scout early. Rei, perhaps?
- Or we could go to the part where Usagi meets Luna.
- Something else
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