Chapter Text
Haruka stood in the school courtyard, looking especially irritated. Michiru stood beside her, rubbing her shoulders while sighing. “You’ll be fine. There are worse girls it could’ve been.”
Haruka’s eyebrow twitched at the reminder of the… issue. “There are better girls, too. This has gotta be some joke, she’s nothing like the Setsuna we’ve heard of.” Michiru sighed, knowing Haruka was right. Mio surely wasn’t the best option for a Sailor Guardian. They’d seen her in the halls, she was a mess.
“Maybe she’s not as bad as you think. Maybe she’s secretly a pragmatist.” Haruka scoffed softly. “Yeah, I highly doubt it. You just saw her, she was balancing a juice box off the top of her nose. No realistically developed person does that.”
Michiru actually laughed at that. “Well, either way, that’s our Pluto.”
Haruka rubbed the bridge of her nose, crossing her arms tighter. It wasn't that she hated the girl, she just didn’t exactly celebrate her tomfoolery. She suddenly stood up, stomping over to where Mio was hanging around. Michiru blinked at her confusedly. “What do you think you’re doing?” She jogged after Haruka.
“Confronting her.” Haruka stated firmly, still walking away from Michiru. “She needs to know about all this.” Michiru grabbed her wrist softly, reeling her back in, both literally and emotionally. “You can’t just stomp up to her. What are you gonna say, ‘Hey, you’re the reincarnation of an intergalactic space warrior’? You’re just going to scare her off.”
Haruka groaned. She hated that Michiru was always right. “Well, fine… but who’s going to tell her? I don’t think you’d be much better.” She chuckled lightly. Michiru tapped her temple lightly, a habit she had when thinking about something. “Possibly Usagi? She’s good with people. And this girl seems right up her alley.”
Usagi Tsukino had faced terrifying monsters from the Negaverse, but nothing had prepared her for the sheer terror of walking across a crowded classroom.
"I can't do this, Rei! I really can't!" Usagi spoke in a harsh whisper, clutching onto Rei’s school uniform sleeve like a lifeline. "Look at her! She’s way too cool. She has a line of boys outside the door right now waiting to give her their lunch money! What if she looks at me and laughs?"
"Oh, grow a backbone, Usagi," Rei snapped, though she gently pried Usagi's fingers off her blazer. "Michiru explicitly asked us to make conversation. She said this girl is important, and you're the only one with enough... whatever it is you have... to get through to her. Ami is too shy, and I'll end up blasting her if she tries that flirty bullshit on me."
Mio was currently sitting backwards on her chair, her chin resting on the plastic frame as she effortlessly twirled a mechanical pencil between her fingers. A group of completely starstruck classmates hovered around her desk like moths to a flame. Even with her faint, goofy demeanor, Mio looked like a total model. When someone made a joke, she let out a bright giggle that made half the boys in the room swoon.
"Go!" Makoto shoved Usagi forward with a friendly but firm pat on the back, sending the blonde stumbling right into Mio's personal space. Usagi froze. Her heart pounded into her ribs as Mio’s gaze shifted away from her circle of admirers and locked right onto Usagi.
Mio looked at Usagi as she stumbled, catching her before she fell. She was a bit taller than the blonde, no more than 4 or 5 inches. Her uniform was soft, and she smelled like sunflowers. Usagi stuttered over her words a bunch before managing to squeak something out. “Uhm… h-hi.”
Mio giggled at Usagi’s nervousness. “Hey.” She looked the girl up and down before giggling softly. “Are you okay? You’re like… super red.”
Usagi suddenly snapped back to reality, leaning into Mio’s touch a little less. “I’m not red… I-It’s just really hot, y’know… global warming.” Mio laughed at Usagi’s weak excuse. “Oh really? You’re funny, Tsukino.” Usagi’s face only got redder at the sound of her laugh. Before she could say anything else, the bell rang, and students began filing into class. She quickly shuffled into her seat, ignoring the smirk on Makoto’s face.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
A few hours later, school had ended. But one figure caught Usagi’s eye in the hallway. Mio. She was approaching the blonde. Before she knew it, Mio was standing right in front of her. “Hey, Tsukino. Do you maybe wanna walk home together?” And before Usagi knew it, she was walking home with the prettiest girl in Juuban Academy.