[Arsenal]

Arsenal had found herself a new favorite study spot. One day when she was in a different part of town than usual she had come across a place called Random Cafe. A quaint little place by the river with a super interesting quirk about it, everyone working there wore costumes! Not only did it brighten up her day to see a cafe with such a fun concept, but their cakes and hot chocolate was to die for as well! She had finished her first cup a while ago as she sat at the table by the window that had become her usual spot, her glasses on as she had a mountain of homework in front of her, going through it all one paper at a time.

If she wanted to adapt and figure out what to do with her life, first she needed to learn about this world outside. Why was the ceiling so high? Why blue? How was Random Cafe cake so fluffy? She had a million questions and could only get one answer at a time. She let out a yawn as she put her history book down, catching a glimpse of the owner Jingjing and smiling back at her as she worked up at the counter. The owner was so friendly too! This place was like her own little slice of heaven. Popular, but not overcrowded, and everyone here was so nice. ''Excuse me, Waiter-san.'' She called out to Yasu as he walked by in his cat maid costume still looking less than thrilled to be dressed up. ''Could I get a glass of water and a slice of chocolate cake?'' Sugar was just what she needed to refuel and energize so she could get more work done!

''Right away, Miss.'' Yasu said begrudgingly, bowing his head before taking her empty cup and walking to the back.

michi machida

[michi machida]

As much as their parents had prepared them for hero training all their life more or less, Michi still found themself grumpy about the sheer amount of homework. Which had led to a brief moment of burnout, declaring to their textbooks that they needed some fresh air and heading out for a walk. The way they saw it, if they tried to just power through right now they wouldn't get anywhere and wouldn't benefit from the studying anyways.

Random Play looked like a cozy enough place to catch their, right now her, eye as she passed and the pink-haired girl paused in a moment of debate before popping in. The little bell on the door jingling, Michimi glanced around curiously. Not too crowded, that was nice. "Welcome to Random Cafe!" Another girl greeted from behind the counter, dressed up like a fancy bartender of all things. It wouldn't have been out of place in a restaurant or an actual bar, but here it was just odd enough to be amusing to Michi. "Take a seat and we'll be right with you!"

Michimi did just that, passing by a table with papers stacked on it to take the next seat over. True to her word the girl manning the counter had scurried over to offer a menu and in only as long as it took for her pink eyes to land on the word 'Parfait' before she was placing her order and handing the menu back to Jingjijng. "Fruit Parfait, one with ice cream and a nice crispy kind of cookie if you have it, please!"

With her order placed and nothing to do but patiently - drumming her fingers on the table and propping her head up in one hand in a distinctly impatient way - Michimi glanced over at the table full of papers again before asking: "Big exams?"

Arsenal,

[Arsenal]

She glanced up at the entrance as someone walked in, but she didn't really register who it was since she was in the middle of reading a paragraph. ''Huh?'' She blinked and looked up as the stranger asked her a question. It felt like they just walked in a couple of seconds ago, but she must have gotten absorbed in the history book. Either that or she was dosing off and she didn't even know it. ''Oh-'' She looked down at the table before giving an embarrassed chuckle. ''It's nothing like that, I'm just doing homework, it looks a little overkill doesn't it?'' She pushed her glasses up with one hand. ''I don't have exams yet, I just like to stay ahead of schedule!'' That, and she had a feeling that the faster she learned every subject ever, the faster she would figure out what she wanted to do with her life.

''My apartment is kind of small, so I like to study out here at cafes like this one.'' She closed the book but kept looking over at Michimi. ''Actually, I was just about to take a break once my cake arrives.'' She smiled at the stranger. They seemed friendly enough! Probably about her age too, but she definitely hadn't seen her at night school before. ''Oh, I'm Amber!'' She remembered that it's polite to bow her head so she made sure to bow it a little bit to show that she was friendly, but not trying to be overly formal.

michi machida

[michi machida]

Michimi recognized that briefly blank look and self-conscious reaction, often getting really laser-focused on what she was doing and having moments exactly like that. Offering a sheepish smile, she was about to apologize for interrupting when the beginning of a conversation unfolded. "It does..." Michimi side-eyed the pile, hand still propping her head up, before glancing back at the other girl in surprise. That sounded like it was mostly voluntarily excessive homework... Michimi couldn't imagine doing that for anything that wasn't extremely interesting to her. But then again, maybe that was the case here? Nodding along that studying at a cafe made sense, she gave a small smile at the introduction.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Michimi." She brought her head up out of her hand, sitting up properly to talk. "If that was my homework, I'd need a cake break too. Funny though, that's actually the same reason I'm here right now." Michimi shook her head and laughed like it was a joke, but she meant it. Hero School had its rough parts and plenty of studying too but a good amount of it was physical activity that didn't melt her brain. "You like it? The studying, I mean."

Maybe it was a guess that'd miss the mark, but the vibe she was getting from Amber was solidly in bookworm territory. But on the other hand maybe she was just so busy she had to keep ahead of the curve to stay afloat?

Arsenal,

[Arsenal]

She brightened up even more when Michimi mentioned the reason they were here too. ''No way! Are you in school too? Do you know what you want to do with your life? I mean- like what career you want to get into.'' She found that a surprising amount of people around her age seemed to have it all figured out. Maybe they had received a lot of help from mentors or their parents? Arsenal was a skilled assassin, but she wasn't sure she wanted to kill criminals for the rest of her life. That was exactly why she was studying, not only to learn about the world, but to pick up a bunch of skills so she could do a bunch of things! ''Nice to meet you too, Michimi!''

''Like it? I love it! There's nothing better than a Monday is what I usually say!'' She exclaimed, giggling at herself and how unintentionally loud she was being. ''The world is all sorts of weird, and then when you look into it there's an explanation for everything, it's totally crazy! Did you know the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell? How wild is that! I didn't know that cells totally have powerhouses!'' She said it with sincere curiosity too. ''There's a lot I didn't learn when I was younger, so I'm playing catch up.'' Her smile was sincere, she made sure to smile at the waiter too as he zoomed back into the room with green glowing eyes... Was his eyes always glowing? Never mind, her conversation was with Michimi.

When her cake was put down in front of her she poked it a couple of times with her fork before taking a bite, blissful sugar hitting her tongue instantly. Sugar was such a rarity for her growing up, but out here in the outside world it was so abundant she could probably eat sugar until she exploded.

Without really thinking about it, she transformed one of her fingers into a butter knife using her quirk and cut into the cake with it. ''Do you like studying? My senpai always makes fun of how much I love school.'' She smiled embarrassingly.

michi machida

[michi machida]

Michimi blinked at the sudden enthusiasm from Amber and the one question that always threw an awkward wrench into any conversation. It was something that came up annoyingly often these days, even if it made sense for college students to be thinking about it a lot, and her answer never seemed satisfactory to whoever was asking. What was wrong with just going into hero work because her folks were heroes and had pretty much told her she was going to be one too her entire life? It wasn't like she hated the idea and was being forced into it, she just wasn't really all that invested in it either?

But thankfully Amber had more to say and Michimi could back-burner that question for now.

Giving a giggle of her own at the Mondays joke, the pink haired girl couldn't help but smile at how passionate Amber was. Sure it was about learning, and maybe a lot of people would have called that lame or something, but she found it endearing and refreshing. She gave a little nod to confirm she had known about mitochondria, even if admittedly it was second hand knowledge from old jokes and it randomly coming up in games and manga and stuff like that, and made an "Ahh" sound about how Amber was playing catchup.

Eyes flicking over to the waiter and the cake for a moment Michimi was reminded of her own order and gave an impatient glance around - she really wanted that fruit parfait right about now! But the question pulled her attention back to Amber and her embarrassed smile, giving a partially reassuring and partially amused smile of her own.

"Nothin' wrong with that. I think for me, it really depends on what it is? Like..." She trailed off trying to think of how to convey how arbitrary seeming her own interest in things could be at times, eyes dropping down to the cake being cut in contemplation. "Like it has to hook me, you know? But once it does I can spend all week learning about it. And... I guess I haven't really found something that'd hook me for my entire life?"

Michimi wasn't sure how much that made sense, or if Amber even recalled asking if she knew what she wanted to do with her life, but thankfully before she could dwell on potentially being embarrassed about it her order was placed down in front of her - a tall glass piled with layers of fruit and ice cream and a big crunchy looking cookies sticking out of the top. Pink eyes lighting up she immediately scooped it up in one hand, other grabbing a spoon and gave a sing-songy "I~ta~da~ki~mas~u~!" before promptly popping a spoonful into her mouth. While she was savoring that first bite she thought of another question, popping the spoon out of her mouth to prepare another scoop before asking: "What about you? Found anything that really hooks you yet?"

Arsenal,

[Arsenal]

Even though Michimi giggled, she got the impression that she wasn't laughing at her, but rather laughing with her and finding their conversation interesting. Otherwise, why would she still be talking to her? ''For your entire life?'' She repeated thoughtfully. Saying it like that, it felt like a long time. They were both young and had a lot of years ahead of them. Rather than get lost in thought she perked up. ''I get that though! I like learning about history more than I like grammar!'' She chirped, taking another modest bite of her cake.

As she kept the spoon in her mouth she looked over at Michimi's little 'Itadakimasu' and couldn't help but smile. There was no one around and yet she was still being polite and humbly receiving the food. She looked down at her hand as she continued chewing, wincing when she noticed that one of her fingers had transformed into a butter knife. She quickly transformed it back to normal and pretended like nothing happened. Thankfully Michimi was asking her a question too.

''Hm? Me?? It's so hard to say.'' She shrugged, slumping a bit in her chair. She couldn't exactly tell the truth about her past, because apparently it was pretty abnormal, but she had learned to speak about it in more vague terms, in ways that people here on the outside would understand. ''I had what you could call a sheltered upbringing. I didn't really have to think for myself until this year.'' She trailed off, but smiled over at Michimi to let them know she wasn't trying to bring the mood down or be sad. ''It's a big world, don't you think? I need more time to mull it over.''

michi machida

[michi machida]

Michimi made a face at the mention of grammar that made it clear she wasn't a fan of it herself, but she couldn't be grumpy about grammar when she was busy enjoying her snack. Even though she was splitting her attention and missed Amber undoing her transformed finger, she did catch the little wince and the way the other girl slouched in her seat. "Mm, that's a fair stance I think." She murmured in agreement, popping another spoonful in her mouth. Whatever heavy topics lurked at the edges of this conversation the smile on Amber's face gave Michimi the impression that there wasn't any need to dwell on it.

And then Michimi snapped her free hand up to place her palm over one of her pink eyes, other eye half-scrunched and hissing "ow ow ow" under her breath. Shaking her head lightly from side to side and setting her spoon down she plucked one of the not-freezing-cold cookies from the top of her parfait and quietly munched on it for a moment. Pulling her hand away as the sudden headache subsided as quickly as it had appeared, she flashed Amber a sheepish smile and offered a simple explanation: "Brain freeze, sorry about that... uh, I was going to say something... want a cookie?"

It was probably a silly offer since Amber clearly already had a cake to snack on, but it was what came to mind first.

Arsenal,

[Arsenal]

''Eh?'' She blinked her eyes at Michimi as she started hurting from just... Existing? Eating? She didn't fully get where it was coming from, maybe the byproduct of her quirk? It wasn't until she clarified it was a brain freeze that Arsenal let out a carefree chuckle. ''I've been there! Those totally suck!'' She took a sip of her own drink, thankfully a warm one. ''Huh? Um, sure! If you want to share one I won't say no.'' She knew it wasn't the formal or polite thing to do, but if Michimi was offering there couldn't be anything wrong about accepting food from a complete stranger.

''Do you come here often? I'm pretty much here every other day whenever I can make time.'' She munched on the cookie and covered her mouth with her hand as she let out a tiny. ''Yummy!'' The flavor distracting her for a moment before she proudly put a hand to her own chest. ''You know, I'm pretty smart and stuff! If you need help with like, homework and things like that, maybe we could meet up here again and I could give you a hand.'' She offered with a smile, hoping she could make a friend this way. ''That cookie was delicious by the way! You should try some of my cake.'' She picked up her plate and held it out to Michimi.

michi machida

[michi machida]

Conversation salvaged! Michimi relaxed with a little relieved sigh, giving a slight shake of her head to convey that she didn't come here much. Mostly because it was her first time here ever, but that was a little harder to convey with just a shake of the head. More importantly though Amber approved of the shared cookie, the pink haired girl smiling around the spoon in her mouth. It was nice running across someone who appreciated a good snack, and knew the pain of eating ice cream too fast at that. How people managed not to inhale it when it was so good was something she'd never been able to wrap her head around.

The offer caught her by surprise, blinking and murmuring a quiet "Eh?" in contemplation. On the one hand she wouldn't mind the help, on the other hand she didn't want to impose on Amber's free time if she had such an insane amount of studying to do herself... but on the other-other hand it wasn't imposing if Amber was the one offering in the first place, right? And on the other-other-other hand she was really nice and friendly and Michimi wasn't at all opposed to hanging out with her some more. Glancing down at the plate held out to her with a smile, she took a piece off the cake and gave an enthusiastic nod and a quick "That'd be great!" in reply before popping the bite in her mouth and savoring it with an appreciative hum.

"You have great taste in cake, too! Do you know the menu pretty well here?" Michimi crossed her arms over her chest thoughtfully for a moment before adding. "And if we're meeting up for studying, what kind of time would work best for you?"

Arsenal,

[Arsenal]

She giggled at Michimi's response to the cake, happy that a potential future friend was taking her up on the offer. ''I love cafes, so I can scope out the menus pretty easily by now!'' She admitted a bit embarrassed at her obsession with going to new places. ''Let me share my schedule with you.'' She took out her phone and exchanged numbers with Michimi. Obviously she wouldn't share her whole schedule, since she was a villain and all, but she could definitely share her civilian one!

''Then, starting next week I guess we're study buddies!'' She grinned.

michi machida

[Jinx]

☆ MISSION SUCCESS ☆

Homework? I sure hope it does.
Great thread you two!

+ 5,000 EXP!!

Arsenal: 36,250 // 41,250
Michi: 7,500 // 12,500

tag: Arsenal,michi machida