Revelations
Amy & Minako
Amy & Minako
Location: Private study room
Interacting with: Each other @Lasrever, @Thundercrash
Amy’s mood: Curious → Concerned → Thoughtful → Afraid → Relieved/Guilty → Reassuring → Anxious → Shocked → Thankful → Surprised/Enraptured → Flirty → Apologetic → Devious → Confused → Cheerful
Minako’s mood: Nervous → Happy → Nervous → Guilty/Upset → Confused → Self-recriminating → Surprised → Sympathetic → Aroused → Embarrassed → Anxious → Determined/Conspiring → Angry → Relaxed → Nervous
Making her way towards the library, Minako fired off an answering text.
Amy:
I’ll meet you in one of the private study rooms in the library.
I’ll meet you in one of the private study rooms in the library.
Most of the rooms appeared to be empty, so she had her pick of them. They were rather sparse rooms, small and occupied only by a single table with four chairs and outlets for computers, plus a large electronic projector screen dominating one wall. Taking her seat, she sent another text.
Amy
Room C.
Room C.
Amy was snapped out of her plotting by the sound of her phone. She glanced down at it, looking slightly surprised to get a place so quickly. For a second, she considered putting it off until later, but she figured scheming could wait for a little while. Something, something, friendships were important. Besides, she had until the tournament to figure that stuff out.
She started on her way down towards the study rooms, glancing at the second message on her way. It definitely wasn’t busy, from what she could tell. Apparently the people at the superpower school had more exciting things to do than hang about at the library. Who’d have thought it?
Upon reaching the door to Room C, Amy pushed it open slowly, a slight smile appearing on her face when she caught sight of Minako. ”So, what’s up? You know, other than the whole tournament thing. It sounded like you had a few things to talk about.” she said, a little concern in her eyes as she took a seat across from the other girl.
Minako’s face lit up when Amy arrived, and she hurried from her seat to quickly embrace the other girl. ”I’m glad you came, we didn’t really have a chance to talk before the meeting.” As she held her, Minako briefly froze. It was faint, very faint, but she could detect a trace of roses in her hair. She swallowed, lingering slightly longer than she had meant to, and pulled away, taking her seat. ”And… yes. There is… something I need to confess to you, and apologize for.” She bit her lip nervously, fingers clutching at the hem of her skirt.
Amy didn’t really pay much attention to Minako’s hug lingering - she figured the girl was just happy to see her or something. It was a relief to be able to just talk after the stress of the morning. After Minako spoke, though, she leaned forward, hoping to gauge what was wrong. Seeing that she looked pretty nervous, Amy tried to lighten the mood a little. ”What’s wrong? You don’t need me to hide a body or something, do you? I think I’ve already met my quota for this week.” she smiled, trying to reassure Minako in her own way.
For a moment, Minako’s only response was a blank look, then a small smile broke across her face. She was joking, of course. ”No, although I’ll be sure to keep you in mind if it ever comes up.” Taking a deep breath, she forged ahead. ”It would be best to start at the beginning. You know what my powers, yes? The truth is, I haven’t always been able to do that. My powers appeared rather late, only two years ago. Before that, everyone believed that I was like my parents and sister; without powers. So, the plan was that I would go to a university in Japan, taking business classes so that I could properly enter our family’s business, and eventually take over from my father.”
She explained the incidents that began occurring during her self-defense classes, about the strange sensation she experienced every time she made eye contact with someone whenever her bodyguard Takeshi wasn’t near. ”After the same thing happened against my sensei, that is, my teacher, he recommended that I attend Mayweather when I graduated high school, so that I could learn how to properly control my powers. My parents agreed, and my father and I made a sort of… deal. He would allow me to operate with relative autonomy during my time here, and in exchange, I would send him monthly reports on my progress. How I was doing in classes, what sort of people I was meeting, what I thought of them.” Minako paused, looking across at her friend. ”Um, sorry, are you, following so far?”
After taking a second to try and absorb the information, Amy nodded. ”I think so. I got all of the history stuff, anyhow. What you’re saying is you’re basically stuck telling your dad all about everything that happens here, am I right?” she shrugged. She’d heard worse, although it seemed like Minako had more to say, so Amy wasn’t relieved quite yet. ”I hope you said nice things about me in this report of yours,” she said, hoping that the worst part was over. ”You know, my shining personality, good looks… All the usual stuff.” she said optimistically.
Minako smiled ruefully. ”It was...difficult, but I managed to gloss over some of your more detrimental qualities. You are exceedingly sarcastic, for one.” She was getting used to her friend’s unusual sense of humor. ”In truth, you, Kayla, Eliana and Gianna have been very good to me since I arrived, and I think my father was glad that I had become friends with someone who had similar powers to Takeshi. Which is why I feel the need to apologize for his actions.” Her face fell slightly. ”Particularly because I know he never will.”
Amy decided that it was probably not the time to crack any more jokes, and instead just sighed. Giving Minako a sympathetic look, she decided it was best to get it over with. ”Listen, whatever it is, I won’t blame you for it. It doesn’t sound like you had too much choice about this anyway. Just tell me, and I’ll deal with whatever it is, okay?” she spoke sincerely, seeming honestly sympathetic towards the other girl.
A small, grateful smile crossed Minako’s face. ”Your words are kind, Amy, but the actions of my family reflect on me, just as my actions reflect on them. I come from a very different culture than you do.” She took a deep breath again. ”I sent my father my first report the day after we met, because…” she paused for a moment, ”a lot happened in a short period of time. What I recently found out, is that after he received it, my father had background checks done on everyone I mentioned.” Minako hesitantly looked across at Amy, coming close but not quite reaching her eyes. ”Which includes you.”
Amy’s eyes widened. For a moment, she was taken aback, even though she’d sort of seen where this was going. She just hadn’t really wanted to think about it. Looking a little unbalanced by the revelation, she spoke to Minako again.”Um, right. O-okay. Mind if I ask how much detail these checks went into? And, if you had to guess, are they going to dig any deeper?” If it came to it, there were things she’d rather explain for herself, instead of having it come to light through some kind of report.
”Based on the results he sent me last night, no, I do not think he will dig any further than he already has. But,” Minako looked down at the table, ”My father achieved the position he has by always being one step ahead of everyone else, and he maintains that advantage by knowing more than everyone else. To that end, he is very… thorough. He wants me to make “informed decisions” about the people I choose to associate with.” She hesitantly raised her eyes. ”So, if what you are asking is this, yes, I… know what happened to you.”
Going pale as a ghost, Amy found herself a little lost for words for a few seconds. ”And you… I mean, I-” she took a deep breath. She couldn’t change the fact that Minako knew about the incident, but she wanted to know what story she’d been told. ”Well, what do you know about what happened? What was in the report, exactly?” she asked, clearly worried. The official version of events left out a few important details - namely, the events surrounding the attacker’s “suicide”. She needed to figure out what Minako knew.
Minako pulled her laptop out of her backpack. ”Here. I will not show you all of the reports, just as I promise not to show them yours, but, you should see it.” Searching through her files, she opened the one labelled “Amy Stevenson”, and spun her laptop around.
Amy’s eyes widened with shock as she read over the file. Not so much her own, she already knew that stuff, and her dad’s issues weren’t a secret, but the stuff about her mum was shocking. She’d have to call her more often. Wasn’t much else she could do from the UK. The most important thing, though, was that nowhere in the file was the real version of events stated.
Her heart hammering in her chest, tears threatening to reveal themselves, Minako bit her lip again. ”Amy… I know it doesn’t change the fact that it happened, but please believe me when I say that I had no idea he was going to do this. Not until he sent me the results last night!” Her voice trembled. ”And… I understand if you…don’t want to be friends anymore.”
Amy slowly stood up, walking over to Minako and pulling her tightly into a hug. ”I told you it wasn’t your fault, didn’t I? I know that, it’s just...” she said, her voice quavering slightly. As much as she was trying to stay calm about this, it was obvious she wasn’t keeping it together too well.
A storm of conflicting emotions was forming inside Amy. On the one hand, she was relieved, and glad that Minako didn’t know the whole truth, but she felt… guilty. Minako had been so honest with her, and here she was, relieved that she could keep secrets from her friend. After thinking it over for a few seconds, she resolved herself, making what was quite possibly a rash decision.
”The file’s wrong.” she said, releasing Minako from the hug with a look on her face somewhere between fear, anxiety and anger - the last one being directed at herself both for being too much of a coward to consider keeping the truth hidden, and for being enough of an impulsive idiot to actually tell her.
Minako blinked. Of all the things that she had been expecting Amy to say, that had not even remotely been on the list. ”Oh.” Immediately, she flushed slightly, berating herself for allowing such a simplistic response to slip out. ”I mean! You don’t have to tell me anything, Amy. This was an invasion of your privacy, I shouldn’t have gotten this information to begin with.”
”You’re right, you shouldn’t have. But you did, and this is how I’m dealing with it. I’d rather you had the whole truth instead of jumping to conclusions by yourself. Besides, it’s not too difficult to figure out from the files.” taking a deep breath, Amy forced herself to keep speaking. ”I should tell you that I didn’t know I had powers when it happened. The guy shattered the windows, started to… anyway, I lashed out. And he fell.”
Finally, she made eye contact with Minako. ”It wasn’t a suicide. I didn’t mean it, and hell knows that the bastard deserved it, but make no mistake, I killed him.” she spoke quietly, holding back tears. This was unfair of her, she knew it was unfair expecting Minako to just listen to that, but she couldn’t - she couldn’t stay silent. She was too weak to do that. ”I’m sorry. I shouldn’t-” she started to talk but went quiet, not trusting herself to say anything else.
To say that Minako was surprised would be an understatement. She was dumb-founded, and for a moment couldn’t think of anything to say. So instead, she simply stood up and wordless returned the embrace that Amy had given. ”Shhh. It’s okay.”
”I’m sorry.” Amy said quietly, accepting the girl’s hug gratefully. She was confused, but just glad that Minako didn’t seem to be blaming her for what had happened. ”We’re both a bit of a mess, aren’t we?” she looked at Minako, the slightest hint of her normal smile creeping back into her voice.
Minako simply smiled back. ”Never apologize for defending yourself. I would have done the same had I been in similar circumstances,” she answered with a firm voice. ”Besides, if you can forgive me for invading your privacy, then I think I can forgive you for not doing anything wrong when you were in danger.”
The relief almost sent her into a fit of giggles, managing to stop herself at the last second. Compared to her earlier conflict, the knowledge that Minako didn’t blame her for anything was a great feeling. Her mind was so focused on her giddiness that it took her thoughts off of her field, allowing Minako’s powers to work as normal. Not realizing this, she locked eyes with the other girl, intending to thank her.
When she saw Amy’s eyes seeking her own, Minako didn’t react, expecting that her friend was maintaining her power. So it was something of a surprise when a deep rush of warmth flooded through her, weakening her knees and sending a faint flush to her cheeks. ”Ah, um…”
Amy was taken by surprise herself, having assumed that her field was active. Upon making eye contact, Minako’s eyes seemed to almost pulse with light, rhythmically. It was… mesmerizing. Amy knew, on some level, that she could look away, but she didn’t want to. Something about it just made it impossible to resist looking at that pulse. It made her feel good, on some level, to keep on staring into the other girl’s eyes.
She felt a shiver run up her spine, feeling almost electric, and a slight tingling sensation in her hands and feet that was almost like mild pins and needles. For some reason, she felt weak, and vulnerable, as though someone could see everything about her. The things she loved, and hated, and feared, the core of who she was. It was as though Minako was looking at all of the things that made her her. The whole experience was definitely strange, but not in any way unpleasant. If anything, she’d say it was absorbing.
She’d figured out what was going on pretty much as soon as she’d locked eyes with Minako, but for some reason that wasn’t even clear to Amy herself, she didn’t extend the field right away. Perhaps because, unlike the first time, she trusted Minako. Or maybe she was just enjoying it. More likely, it was a combination of several different things.
From the moment they locked eyes, Minako became reminded of two things: first, exactly how close she was to her friend, and second, how very pretty Amy’s eyes were. The result was that her heart was now very desperately trying to bludgeon its way out of her chest, and after lingering for a couple seconds, she tore herself away. I-I-I’m sorry, I wasn’t… I thought you were still… I didn’t mean to do that,” she stammered, looking everywhere but at her friend.
Amy looked a little flustered herself, both from the experience and Minako’s reaction. That was… Different. Honestly, she’d kind of liked it, all things considered. She was a little confused about why the girl felt she had to apologise, though. Trying to reassure Minako, but slightly oblivious to the actual problem, she gestured for Minako to calm down. ”It’s fine! I could have stopped it if I’d wanted to, couldn’t I?”
Hesitating, Minako bit her lip, then gave a slight nod. ”I… yes, I suppose you could have. It’s just…” Her thighs together as the warmth concentrated in her core. ”I should have better control, and more respect for others than to let it happen,” she finished lamely.
Amy finally managed to pick up on Minako’s body language, and looked a little flustered at the situation. Although, she’d have been a liar if she’d said she minded all that much. It did make her wonder though, whether it was just part of her power, or had anything to do with Amy herself.
Normally she’d just let the girl be, but at this point Amy was curious. With a smile at Minako, she met her eyes again, although she’d extended the field this time to avoid a repeat performance. ”You know, I wouldn’t mind doing that again sometime.” she said, her voice ever-so-slightly lower than before. She intentionally left it a little open to interpretation, watching to see Minako’s reaction.
Minako swallowed hard and looked away, reddening further. She could guess what Amy was referring to by “that”. ”Amy… please… don’t go there. I can’t… do… that,” she said, her voicing clearly conveying her distress.
Eyes widening, Amy looked a little panicked. ”No, it’s cool. I get it, I’ll stop. That wasn’t fair. The field stays up,” she said, feeling sort of guilty. At the same time, though, she hadn’t expected such an intense reaction. If anything, she’d figured Minako would just get a little nervous or something. ”Power-free zone, okay?”
For a moment, Minako was silent, her expression deeply troubled as her fingers plucked at her skirt. ”Amy… promise me that you will never repeat what I am about to tell you.”
With a nod, Amy replied, her voice steady and expression sincere, ”I can keep a secret. Of course I promise.” Trying not to make things any more awkward, Amy spoke gently but didn’t say much more than she had to.
”You are… a very attractive girl, Amy. And it isn’t that I don’t want to use my powers. That is the entire point of my coming to Mayweather. It is just… I feel things that I shouldn’t, that I can’t.” Minako nervously looked at Amy. ”And if certain people, my family in particular, were to find out about it, it would make my life very… difficult.”
”Okay, so that’s the situation, huh?” Amy nodded to herself, pursing her lips. ”In that case, I won’t push anything. Promise.” After a few seconds of quiet, she pulled out her phone and glanced at the screen. ”We’ve been here a while, huh? Time flies.” she laughed, changing the subject with a slightly forced smile.
Sighing, Minako smiled gratefully. ”Thank you. I would actually like to talk about the tournament itself, unless there is somewhere you need to be?”
Giving Minako a more genuine smile, Amy just laughed lightly at the suggestion. ”Minako, am I ever busy? Go ahead.”
Once again taking her seat at the table, Minako gestured for Amy to join her. ”Right now, there are three things to address: the first two are knowledge and practice. It seems to me that our best chance of getting far in the tournament is knowing what the others can do, in terms of powers, general combat skills, and personality. Once we know that, then we can start figuring out potential weaknesses and advantages that we can use.” Taking back her laptop, Minako began setting up her own files. ”Because I’ve only arrived here recently, I don’t know very much about the other students participating, which was partially why I was hoping we could work together.”
Amy sat down, listening to Minako. ”I’m not the best person to ask. I try to avoid most of these people as much as possible, so I could only tell you about some of the more showy types.” she thought for a moment. ”Honestly, asking people will only get you so far. I don’t think there’s very many people in this school who know each other’s weaknesses unless they train together a ton.” she paused.
Minako nodded. ”I wasn’t expecting it to be easy, and I doubt that our competitors will be very forthcoming. But, weaknesses can be determined from strengths. No one is perfect. I already have an idea, but I’m open to anything you could suggest? This is as much for your benefit as mine.”
”Ideally, you want a source that you know is correct. Even if we get everyone to show off their powers in front of us, there’s no guarantee that we have any idea how they work. The only place I can think of would be the school database, but their security’s pretty much impossible to crack.” she laughed. ”Trust me, I’ve tried. If we could get a hold of their passwords or something, though, and find a computer where we can access the files, we’re golden. Thing is, I don’t think the two of us could pull that one off by ourselves.” she knew it wasn’t a perfect plan, but she didn’t have much else. ”What’s your idea?”
A sly smile crossed Minako’s face. ”You’re not wrong… perhaps my idea could help with that as well. I don’t know if she’ll help, but I was going to talk to Gianna, see what she knows. She’s been here longer than any of us, and she seems like the sociable type, so if anyone could have or get information, I suspect she would. And she might know someone who could get us into the database.” It will just be a matter of convincing her to help... she mused to herself.
Amy grinned. ”I guess if anyone knows, she’s probably a good place to start. Be careful she doesn’t rope you into anything, though. I’m not saying she will, but it’s always a possibility. As for me… I could ask around to try and find out more about the school’s security systems. I spend most of my time on my laptop anyway, so I can pass it off as just being curious.” she smiled, looking a little devious.
”Another avenue of inquiry is the arena itself. What it can do, how it works, what sort of things we might expect. Someone who’s good with technology could help with that too. Kayla might be able to help here, if her parents were involved in its creation.” Minako pursed her lips, her fingers tapping on the table. ”Anything else you can think of?”
Amy shook her head. ”Not much else until we get the information. Although, while we can, I say we try and get as many people on our side as possible. The more people want us to win, the more likely they are to watch our backs, or turn a blind eye to what we’re doing.”
Minako nodded. ”True. Gianna might help with that as well. We’ll see. It won’t be the first time I’ve negotiated with people.” Her eyes flicked to Amy. ”The second thing is practice. Have you taken any sort of self-defense or combat classes?”
With a small sigh, Amy replied. ”No, not unarmed. If I get a weapon, though, I’m able to use it properly. It’s a minor power, but I’m able to use any kind of tool at a high level. Hand-to-hand? I never really had a reason to learn. You?”
”I’ve taken martial arts classes since I was little, and I have some training in firearms. My father believes that an individual is their own last line of defense, and so should be able to protect themselves, not just to rely on others to do so.” Minako opened another file on her laptop. ”I suspect it will be a similar case with Kayla and Eliana. We should set up a time, outside of classes, where we can train with each other, both with and without powers. What we can do is all well and good, but we should give ourselves as many advantages as possible.”
Nodding, Amy agreed. ”You’re right. There’s no point doing all this preparation if we can’t fight properly when we have to. Besides, I have been slacking a bit. What sort of time suits you, then? Mornings? Evenings?”
”I do a basic routine in the morning, I’d be happy to teach all of you. What about you?”
”Depends how early you mean by mornings. As long as I get a decent sleep, that’s fine by me. It’s probably the best time if we don’t want people to watch us train, though. More people tend to practise after class, from what I can tell.”
”Then that works perfectly. I’ll see what Kayla and Eliana can do.” Minako sighed, her expression growing heavy. ”Which brings us to the third thing.”
”Third thing? What would that be, exactly?” Amy asked, her feet unconsciously tapping against the floor in nervousness.
Looking at her friend forlornly, Minako took a deep breath. ”There is a very good chance, almost guaranteed I would say, that at some point we will have to fight each other. Even if all goes well, and we all make it through the initial rounds, there is only one person who can be the final winner.”
”Oh. Yeah, that. You’re right, only one person wins, but what are we discussing about this exactly? I’m lost.” she said, with a puzzled look at Minako. ”Don’t get me wrong, it sucks, but those are the rules.”
Minako nodded. ”I know. I just want to make certain that, if we are forced to fight one another, that we will still be friends afterwards.” She smiled coyly. ”And to let you know that, I will not be holding anything back. Anything less would be an insult.”
Amy laughed. ”I agree completely. What happens in the arena stays there. We wouldn’t want there to be any hard feelings once I’m champion, after all.” she teased, smiling brightly. ”I won’t be holding back either, there’s no need to worry about that.”
Smiling almost kindly, Minako reached across the table and took Amy’s hands in her own. ”Oh, Amy. Don’t worry.” She patted her hands. ”We’ll cure you of your delusions eventually. One way or another, I always get what I want.” Eyes shining happily as she grinned, Minako sat back in her chair. ”Truthfully, I’m not concerned about who wins the tournament, as long as that brat Sylvia Vargas loses.” Her expression soured slightly.
”Eventually isn’t very specific, you know. Besides, I prefer to think of it as youthful optimism, thank you very much.” her eyes narrowed slightly as she continued. ”As for her, I think we can make sure she goes out. If she even makes it to the final eight in the first place. She strikes me as the kind of stroppy little princess that’s never had anyone stand up to her. I doubt someone like that could beat either of us in a fight.”
”It is more than that.” Minako’s expression became very severe and cold. ”You heard what she said when she arrived. It is unacceptable for someone to speak to a teacher in such a manner. Furthermore, I will not allow insults like that to my family to go unanswered. I have no interest in her outside of the tournament, she’s not worth the energy spent. But I will relish the chance to demonstrate to her what happens when you cross someone who actually works towards their goals. I’m not picky about who does it, as long as it happens.”
Thinking back to the events of the morning, Amy listened to Minako’s tirade, before raising her hand slightly to point something out. ”Correct me if I’m wrong, Minako, but she never said anything about your family. Or you, for that matter.” Amy figured that she was just remembering things wrong, but was still understandably confused. It was pretty fresh in her mind, after all.
Minako took a deep breath. Sylvia was not worth getting so worked up over. ”Amy, what do you define “family” to be?”
”I don’t know. Just like, my mum and dad and everyone, I guess. Why?” Amy honestly never really thought about it. She wasn’t sure what Minako was getting at, to be honest.
”Most people, I think would have the same answer as you. I think that family should be the people you can trust, who will stay by your side no matter what happens. I can’t choose who I am related to, but I can choose who my friends are. I do not see a meaningful distinction.”
”I see. What you were saying makes more sense now, I guess. I don’t completely get it, but I see where you’re coming from. I think. I get why you’re so angry about what she said, anyway, if that’s how you see things. We can make sure she doesn’t win, anyway.”
Smiling widely, Minako moved to stand beside Amy. ”That does include you, Amy. If there is anything you need, simply ask, and you have my word that I will do my best to help you.”
”Likewise. I think I’ll get going, though. See you later, Minako.”
The two girls hugged good-bye, and as Amy left Minako let out a breath while she sat down. One down, two to go.
