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Merelisa Shaynore     The star-shaped wormhole portal that opens up for Lilian mid-morning on a school day brings her to the rural seaside town of Mihoshi, and is evidently the only way she could've arrived there. Without any warpgates on the world, if Lilian wants to pick up a rented car or otherwise gather props that aren't on her person, she'll need to ask the little space-fairy for travel, but Yuma is delighted to provide. After bringing her to the small forest clearing where the rocket rests, Yuma swirls around her head with her resting fluid-facial mask expression, singing a few synthesized notes of a Gaelic song Lilian must have hummed to herself at some point as greeting.

    Yuma can point her in the direction of Mihoshi Middle School too, but she can't follow inside without being caught. Up in the hills opposite the direction of the school, Lilian can spy the dome of an observatory, and then down by the coast the cluster of small-town buildings reaches its densest in a laid-back approximation of a commercial city center plaza. Past that, overlooking a cliff into the water, is the only school in town, a fairly sizeable two-story building with grounds that meld into the forest and a star symbol mosaic-ed above the entry doors.

    It's somewhat wrong to call it 'Mihoshi Middle School', since the town is small enough to include all the children from grades 1-12 together, but the complex is segmented to separate them. Walking through the building is entirely uncontested by a demand for a visitor's pass (though she could stop by the front office and get one), but the students in their star-pinned-necktie uniforms gawk and gossip with appropriately hushed curiosity.

    Classroom 3-2 of Mihoshi Middle School is in the middle of lunch when she enters, and predictably, Lala is the center of attention. With her desk in the back corner of the class and Hikaru's just in front and turned around to make a table for the two of them, the other students are mostly forced to stand and crowd, pinning her in with questions while she looks confusedly overwhelmed. Hikaru's role as bouncer isn't doing that much to ward them off, since even though she's got an awkwardly uncomfortable expression on her face and is holding up her hand to try and wave some of the students away, she's not raising her voice enough for Lilian to even hear it over the others.

    Sitting at the only other desk adjacent to Lala's, with it scootched over closer beside her to lean over and inspect the onigiri in her lunch and chatter, is a boy whose tone can best be described as 'free-spirited' (https://i.imgur.com/2vSa3V8.png). Messy brown hair, tie slightly undone and shirt untucked, he looks perfectly cheerful but his voice rises up above all the others as the loudest.

"Hahhh?! Lalalun, you've never had karaage?! Bro, that's so crazy! Well, it's totally tasty, and you can low-key just have mine if you want, ahaha."
"Oyo... Hikaru...? Is it good?"
"E-ehhh, u-um, w-well! It's pretty good! But right now's, ahh, Lala..."
"'Oyo'? Ahaha! That's so funny! What's that mean? Is it another foreign thing?"
"Karunori, you're being too pushy! Lun-chan, he's just like that, don't worry. Come and eat lunch at our desks so you can get some space from him!"
Lilian Rook     "'Cad é sin don té sin?' is it? You have good taste, Yuma."

    Arriving in the middle of the local woods wasn't quite her idea, but it's something Lilian is comfortable with. Trying to build something to let her travel here later can only fit right into a picturesque little clearing like this; in truly fairytale fashion. Unfortuantely, she can't exactly drive a celebrity limo through here. She could normally arrange one, but one look around the little seaside town tells her that it'd take hours to arrive from a nearby city even if she gets one.

    The next best she can do, she reasons, is a taxi 'from the airport'. It won't cause an incredible stir, but it'll be memorable to the students, and suit her cover; already, she is deeply involved in episodic schemes where an aesop would suffice, and she starts humming the song to herself the entire time she works, now that Yuma has gotten it stuck in her head again. Her plan is to dazzle the student body after getting their curiosity the moment she exits the car.

    Which she does, but without magic. Because for some reason, Lilian feels sort of uncomfortable with the idea of even passively using mental influence on young children. Instead, she struts through the front door with an affected air of proper business mixed with upbeat personal excitement, properly going through the visitor pass process by introducing herself as a relative of 'Hagoromo Lala' and making certain she looks drop dead gorgeous the entire time in her vaguely 'big city girl dressed for a country vacation' fit.

    'Something comfortable to wear on the plane and check into a hotel with' still involves a flashy above-knee skirt and lace-up heels with tights and a white blouse that was most certainly just under a fancy blazer at some point in the past, now replaced by Lilian visibly holding her silver-buttoned coat due to the warmer seaside weather. She hardly has to overdo it, with her usual hairpin and some nice glittery earrings, but she's made sure to include one additional touch; a black fingerless glove over her right hand with a decorative greeble-style smart device over the back to vaguely match Lala. It's just a piece of Trídéag fashionwear with a glorified wearable phone, but it sells the general idea.

    Halfway down the next hall, Lilian half-attentively reflects on the fact that this is the first time she's ever seen inside a 'normal' school, and that it's actually far cuter than she anticipated. Someone might catch her quietly talking to herself while she scans around the place, "I thought this sort of place would be dreary, but you really picked quite an adorable little campus, Lala."

    ''Oyo'? Ahaha! That's so funny! What's that mean? Is it another foreign thing?'

    "Lala ní fhaca mé le fada thú! is Deas tú a fheiceáil!"

    It's not like Lala speaks it, but she doesn't speak Japanese either; she wouldn't fail to recognize the one and only source she knows of this runalong poem-ass Earth language in Connacht dialect, or so she reasons. 'Long time no see' and 'it's good to see you' are easy concepts to translate for even AI, much less Precure powers. Letting it have a moment to breathe, once Lilian has drawn eyes entering the class, she stops a few feet away, looks around the crowd with a pleasant little smile, looks for a moment like she's remembering something, and then switches over to still-smiling fluent Japanese as she's been speaking for years now.

    "My, there's so many of you. Are you all Lala's friends? Thank you very much for taking care of her." Lilian says, in her best half-paying attention cheery way. "I never thought you'd get this popular, Lala~ You used to be such an introvert you know." Implicitly taking permission to slide in closer, Lilian gives Hikarua very small wink. "I'm very sorry to interupt, but it's not every day that I get to visit, so I thought I'd swing by and check on my cousin." Once she can sidle in, Lilian sighs "Sibhse salann na ta lún." on purpose.
Lilian Rook     "It looks like they're already feeding you well, but just in case, I brought you something I thought you'd find more familiar." Lilian says, using her bag as a glorified shopping bag today and producing a can of completely unidentifiable sweet tea and a scratch made version of one of the boxed lunches Lala really liked from her original crash landing delivery (cooked by Cecilia, with love, including little heart and star-shaped cookies, "To share" said by Lilian). She looks at the karaage on offer with an air of polite white confusion. "My my, fried chicken for lunch?" she says, as if it were vaguely fascinating. "I can see you growing up tall, haha."

    Pushing the can across to Lala, passing out a second to Hikaru, and cracking open one of her own, Lilian asks 'may I?' for a class seat, turns it sideways, crosses one leg over the other, and politely 'hm?'s at the nicknames on offer. "Lún-chan? What a cute nickname. Are they having difficulty with your full name? I know el and ar sounds are difficult to distinguish in Japanese." She takes a measured sip, and says "Sooooo~? How have things been since moving? I've barely heard anything about your classes, much less your friends! How are you adjusting to the curriculum? How are your kanji lessons going? Anything exciting happen? Met anyone special~? That one's a joke, haha~!"

    Lilian patters on in that highly familiar manner for a little bit, finding it surprisingly easy to act fond and overly cozy with Lala, all things considered. Given a pause in the conversation, she turns up her wrist, checks her City-style greeble, and says "Stoc agus scaireanna." like a command word, bringing up a display of boring adult graphs and tickers.
Merelisa Shaynore "Lala ní fhaca mé le fada thú! is Deas tú a fheiceáil!"

"Miss Lilian!"
"L-Lilian!"

    Lala not understanding honorifics comes in handy, when she addresses Lilian casually like that. Hikaru goggles a bit at seeing Lilian *here*, even though she talked about the plan with her-- right now, she's out of costume and out of context, and her world has just gone from being one without Lilian Rook in it, to having Lilian Rook standing in her classroom. Sure, she's acclimated to having two intergalactic best friends, but Lilian is a different source of alien entirely, so she's still a little stunned.

    The students are stunned too, until Lala's face lights up with a smile, and Karunori visually traces the line to ascertain that it's Lilian talking to Lala. With the camera zoom and collective 'EHHHH?!' of 'suddenly learning your classmate's sister is an idol', everyone naturally parts to let Lilian through. Karunori leans back in his chair and runs a hand through his hair, mussing it up further-- probably just in surprise.

    "Lun! Thanks for coming, Lilian! I don't mind at all, lun! I've just been... getting to know everyone."

    "Woah. Are you Lalalun's..." Hair? Black -> Green. Antennae? None -> Two. Eyes? Green -> Green. Good enough! "... Mom?"

    Hikaru obliges Lilian getting as close as possible by scooting her chair to the side and pulling her bento over to open up a space on the desk for Lilian to put down her cookies. Lala gets a lot more talkative with Lilian softballing her questions that get her chattering comfortably, and her eyes sparkle a bit while addressing the other students too.

"So, of course you know Hikaru already, lun, and at the other desk near me is Karub--"
"Hey, I'm Karunori! Everyone calls me that, ahaha. I'm pretty laid back and super fun, so--"
"Ka,ru,no,ri--! Please don't cut me off when I'm talking to Lilian, lun!"

    The babble in the classroom quiets down when Lala raises her voice, hands on the table. The fact that a spark of electricity jitters off of her antennae bulbs doesn't seem as relevant to the students as seeing Lala be *assertive* for once, and Karunori tilts his chair back with a slightly cowed smile, hands up.

"Man, I didn't mean to be rude! I'm just talking fast, 'cause I do everything fast, and that's just how I roll."
"Don't be cringe, Karunori."

    One of the few students in class who weren't clustered around Lala, a blonde girl with twin drills, sits at the front of the class and calls back without turning her head. She pushes her chair away with a level of intentional stiffness that radiates 'desperately trying to come across as refined as a teenager roped into a business lunch', and approaches Lilian to give her a small bow of greeting, then raises her backhand fingers to her cheek to ojou-pose. "Miss Lilian-- or is it Miss Hagoromo?-- I am Sakurako Himenojou, leader of the class 3-2 that Hagoromo is enrolled in. You may rest assured that she will be taken good care of, in the hands of the rising Venus of Mihoshi Middle School."

    Curiously, Hikaru drapes her elbow over the back of her chair to look over her shoulder at Sakurako. "'Venus' of Mihoshi? You mean like Amamiya and Kaguya? I've never heard that before, but it's really galacticool." Sakurako just hisses back, "It'll totally catch on, Hoshina."

    Lala looks at Lilian's provided bento excitedly, then glances back to her own carton of hand-made onigiri and nothing else. "Thanks, lun, but Hikaru made me--"

"It's okay! We can have them for snacks at the sp--ssssssssleepover, later! The sleepover!"
Merelisa Shaynore     That satisfies Lala enough to swap her meal for Lilian's, cheerfully beelining for a cookie first. The mumbles of 'Hoshina made Lala's lunch?' and 'Sleepover...?' around the class aren't anything particularly unusual, and both of those things are true, anyways.

"I can see you growing up tall, haha."

    Karunori rubs his hand on the back of his head, smiling abashedly. "Sheesh, well, that's the plan! My older brother's sort of a local baseball star, so it's in the cards."

    One of the boys detatches from the horde to go 'woah, really?' at him, and for a little but, Karunori is splintered off into his own side conversation. With the incrementally decreasing stress on Lala more and more, she's all the more eager to babble about her school experiences to Lilian.

"Lún-chan? What a cute nickname. Are they having difficulty with your full name?"

    One of the girls-- it's hard to pick out who, but it's the same voice as before-- makes a bit of a Noise at that. "Well... isn't 'lun' a cute sound? Or... we thought it was, but it's really a foreign...?"

    Hikaru, full of confidence, declares, "Lilian is British!" only to be shot down by a different girl replying "Well, I've been to France before, and she doesn't sound like a British person. And they speak English there." Hikaru pauses in confusion, uncertain if the ruse has just been revealed, but yet another student helps her out by suggesting, "I think that's Gaelic."

    Hikaru turns to Lilian with sparkly eyes, delighted by this for some inscrutable reason. "Wait, that's how Gaelic sounds when it's said out loud? Twincool~! I've only ever seen people write it!"

"How have things been since moving?"

"Lun! It's been really nice! Hikaru and I have been going into town more since I started school, and there's a nice lady who runs a donut shop there, and everyone's been really welcoming, lun. K-kanji-- oh! Kanji are hard but I'm learning, lun! I've been studying with A--"

    Lala hesitates, but when Lilian uses her own little wrist device (which she assumes must also just be another AI, actually), she continues onwards. "With AI! And math is hard, and ch-chemistry is hard, and history is... but I'm learning!"

"Ohhh, learning another language is so hard! L-- Lala, if you need help studying, we won't mind!"

"Met anyone special~?"

    Completely heedless of the implications-- maybe Samaanian doesn't have the same translation, or it's just too euphemistic to get filtered through Yuma's translation-- Lala happily nods. "Lun! I have! I get to spend more time every day with Hikaru now!"
Lilian Rook     'Miss Lilian!'

    "Hikaru!" First name basis. Lilian couldn't reel back to last names if she tried with her. "Right by Lala's side, exactly where I expected to see you~ It's a pleasure! I haven't seen you since before Lala had finished enrolling!" No point in trying to act unfamiliar, after all. She takes some tiny amount of pleasure in still being shocking to even a giddy little xenophile; doing smoething that automatically makes her 'more real' to someone.

    'Lun! Thanks for coming, Lilian! I don't mind at all, lun!'

    "I'm so glad! I was smiling all the way here thinking about saying hello~" Lilian says. She leans forward over the desk, wearing a genuinely adoring expression in the way of someone enriched in the soul by seeing the growth of a bunch of little rescued ducklings. "

    '... Mom?'

    Lilian coughs. The shock is mostly genuine. "B-beg pardon?" she says, looking at Kuranori again. "I'm Lala's cousin, actually. My family doesn't live close, so I'm afraid it's not that often I'm around. S-so I don't blame you for not knowing." If nothing else, Lilian's less showy expression is similar to Lala's usually more reserved ones. "You seem very . . . familiar with her."

    Lilian makes sure to smile and look quietly appreciative when Lala tells him not to cut her off.

    'Man, I didn't mean to be rude! I'm just talking fast, 'cause I do everything fast, and that's just how I roll.'

    "I forgive you. So I hope you don't mind if I want to spoil Lala first. Mm?" says Lilian. She somehow succeeds at not snorting when she hears the word 'cringe', though she does slide an 'oho?' kind of stare over to the newcomer.

    'Miss Lilian-- or is it Miss Hagoromo?--'

    "I don't mind if you call me Lilian! We're related on the grandmother's side, so my family name is different; and a little hard to pronounce, haha~" says Lilian, effortlessly engaging her ten years refined hand-gesture-wave-laugh-dismissal. "My, aren't you responsible! You remind me a little of myself at your age." she says, casually brushing back her extra luxuriously maintained hair today. "Rising Venus? I suppose that's appropriate for the 'morning star', no?"

    'I've never heard that before, but it's really galacticool.'

    "It's quite common for the prettiest girl in school to have a 'nom de guerre' like that." says Lilian, skimming over it as a total matter of fact, until the implied flattering hits like a delayed blast. "Mine was less creative. The 'Black Lily' of Heliosanctus. The flower that symbolizes elegance and mystery." she says, with a wave of her hand. "Rising Venus is more thoughtful." Acting like it's a natural assumption is on purpose. Lilian is now automatically associated with Lala, so she has to firmly cement Alliance points with the Class President faction that will transfer to her.

    'It's okay! We can have them for snacks at the sp--ssssssssleepover, later! The sleepover!'

    "I'll drive by if I can get out of my meeting~ We'll have plenty of time to catch up then!"

    'Sheesh, well, that's the plan! My older brother's sort of a local baseball star, so it's in the cards.'

    Don't bully the boy. He means no harm and genuinely finds Lala interesting. He just wants to impress her. "Ah? I'm afraid I don't follow sports, but that sounds very impressive. I hope it isn't too much pressure on you. Do you get along?"
Lilian Rook     'but it's really a foreign...?'
    'Lilian is British!'
    'Well, I've been to France before, and she doesn't sound like a British person. And they speak English there. I think that's Gaelic.'

    Lilian touches her cheek with a silvery little laugh, as if this has happened a million times before. "Do you speak English as well?" she says, switching over to her typical Received Pronunciation just to back up Hikaru, then back to Japanese to say, "I'm a British citizen, but I was born and raised in Ireland~ I've been living in Japan ever since I met my partner." Patient. A little bashful. Half Truth [Easy].

    'Wait, that's how Gaelic sounds when it's said out loud? Twincool~! I've only ever seen people write it!'

    "There are a few Gaelic languages, actually, though they're all closely related and more or less mutually intellgible. Doesn't it sound completely different than how it's written, though? Even my name is . . ." Quickly borrowing a random pencil, Lilian scribbles 'Lile' in the corner of Lala's notebook. The obvious connection is purely coincidental. "Lún is rather difficult to explain to non-speakers." Lilian says, beginning a sort of lilting lectural tone.

    "It's not a full word in of itself. It's mostly used as part of words at the end of a sentence to indicate something being grounded, definite, or earthly. Like 'on solid grounds'. Does that make sense?" Half Truth [Moderate]. "Playing around with different words and sounds to get across a 'feeling' is part of the soul of the language. Sometimes I tease her about being such an honest girl~"

    'Lun! It's been really nice! Hikaru and I have been going into town more since I started school, and there's a nice lady who runs a donut shop there, and everyone's been really welcoming, lun.'

    Lilian doesn't need to at to absorb Lala's excited gushing with genuine fondness. Her attention is nearly undivided the whole time, listening and absorbing these little things about Lala's happy life with Hikaru, turning them over in her imagination and feeling it warm her heart. "They're really difficult aren't they? It's so tough when you're used to an alphabet to change to a character-based writing system!" she responds, venting a tiny bit of her grudge against the process of learning Japanese she went through herself. "It was a long time before I was able to read it very well. I'm so impressed that you can learn it and keep up in school. I'm a little jealous of your work ethic, hahaha~" says a woman with an absolutely psychotic work ethic, who knows a kindred spirit.

    'Ohhh, learning another language is so hard! L-- Lala, if you need help studying, we won't mind!'

    "Goodness, everyone in this town is so sweet!" Lilian coos. "I was worried about you when you suddenly enrolled in a Japanese school, but it seems like there was no reason to be concerned at all! I should have known you'd get by somehow as long as you have Hikaru, haha~"

    "Still, I should make a habit to get away from my research more often! The beach here is lovely, and the observatory looks adorable! A town with such an interest in astronomy can't possibly be disappointing. Once I have the time, let's go out for the day; how does that sound? You can show me around!"
Merelisa Shaynore "I'm Lala's cousin, actually."

    "Woah, no cap. Sorry for accidentally calling you old, ahaha." He laughs and plants his elbow on his desk to look over at Lala after Lilian. He's... already decided to be really casual with her, same as Lala, but it at least doesn't seem mean-spirited? "Lalalun's never mentioned anything 'bout her parents, so I was wondering. I just wanna be friends with everyone, y'know?"

    Hikaru leans in to frame to hastily cover for Lala, familiar enough with her both to sense the pressure of an unideal topic, and an unideal situation that might make it worse. Hands waving, tie airheadedly dipping into the sauce in her bento, she interjects, "W-well, Karube, who talks about their parents, anyways?! You don't need to know that to be friends! I don't know anything about *your* parents!"

"I've totally talked about them before, though."
"Oh. Ueheheh."

"I forgive you. So I hope you don't mind if I want to spoil Lala first. Mm?"

    Karunori shoots dual finger guns at Lilian with a tongue cl-click of acknowlegement. Lala watches with wide eyes, completely unsure of what the gesture could possibly mean, and primarily being familiar with guns from the ones the Nottraiders fire at her. No wonder he's too much for her.

"My, aren't you responsible! You remind me a little of myself at your age."

    Sakurako puffs up with a few notes of snooty laughter. "Ohoho~ I hope you don't mind if I take that as high praise both for you and myself, Miss Lilian. My true radiance has only just begun to crest the horizon, and in ten years, you'll be hearing the name 'Sakurako Himenojou' spoken in every household in the country! Becoming student council president is only the first step of my ambitions!"

    "She's running for student council president," Hikaru adds somewhat unhelpfully. Her whole demeanor kind of seems different in this context, the more Lilian sees of it. "Against Kaguya-senpai. The 'moon' of Mihoshi High."

"It's quite common for the prettiest girl in school to have a 'nom de guerre' like that."

    "Oh!!" Sakurako's eyes are closed and she's inflated so pridefully that she looks like she might explode, so she doesn't see that Hikaru glances over to Lala instead of her. "Well, I like the nickname, Himenojou. Do your best!"

"I hope it isn't too much pressure on you. Do you get along?"

    "Oh, it's no big deal," Karunori folds his arms behind his head, soooooo casual. "He's always got these hotshot managers sniffing after him, but Iiiiii've gotten a look at the real deal because of him, once or twice."

    Poor kid. He winks open one eye to check whether Lala's paying attention, but she's completely engrossed in talking to Hikaru.

"What's 'baseball', lun? Natsuki said something about that too, didn't she?"
"Mhm! It's a sport. Um... there's a bat, and some running around, and it's pretty popular."
"... What's a sport?"

"Do you speak English as well?"

    A brown-haired girl-- the France-knower-- raises up her hand and waves it, fully excited to be able to display a skill to the cool older girl. In English, she says, "Yes ! I have been studying it abroad in earlier semesters ! We have an English class here, too."

    The background chatter of the class passes around the sentiments 'Does that mean Hagoromo is Irish too?', 'But she's got green hair, not red.', and finally someone whispering, 'No, dude, it's leprechauns.' That's kind of standard transfer student faire, really.
Merelisa Shaynore "Lún is rather difficult to explain to non-speakers."

    This is actually crazy news to Lala Hagoromo, and only a passing interest to the rest of the class. She spends a bit grappling with whether Lilian actually somehow knows Samaanian, or if she's just paid particularly close attention to Lala's speech, or if somehow, there's an Earth language that happens to match up with Samaanian shockingly well. In the end, when she's prompted, she manages a flustered agreement to keep the ruse going. "L-Lun! That's right!"

"It's so tough when you're used to an alphabet to change to a character-based writing system!"

    "Oyo..." Lala droops in her chair, antennae dangling sympathetically lifeless. "Isn't it, lun?! Samaan-- Gaelic is, so much simpler, lun... I just learned about 'katakana' yesterday. But--!! But with Hikaru and everyone helping me, I'll be able to do it, lun! It's hard, but it's fun to learn!"

"I should have known you'd get by somehow as long as you have Hikaru, haha~"

    Hikaru beams-- partly at the praise, and partly with relief and gratefulness for how much the energy of the class has shifted because of Lilian-- and reaches across the dual desks to squeeze Lala's hand with a quietly squealed 'oyo-?!'. "That's right! When the two of us are together, there's nothing we can't do!"

    Feeling like the quest has been resolved, Hikaru gets right into excitedly chattering with Lilian without any clumsiness from acting. It doesn't even cross her mind that Lilian's interest in touring the town might only be from the guise of Lala's 'cousin', and she animatedly gestures around to communicate how absolutely kirayabaa~ it all is.

    "You should! That observatory's owned by Uncle Ryou, it's got a twincool planetarium inside too, and there's all sorts of constellation drawings, and Uncle Ryou's been a friend of my grandparents forever, so I go over there all the time, and I bet he'd be super happy to meet a friend of mine and Lala's, and at this point in the season you can see some winter asterisms, and--"

    In physical contact with Hikaru and listening to her babble on, Lala's smile softens. It feels like a cloud of tension has evaporated from the room, and Lala's grateful look to Lilian lingers for a while, taking on a more complex undertone. When Hikaru eventually trails off, and the lunch hour gets close to ending, and Lilian has to head out to her 'meeting', Lala carefully stands up from her chair and fidgets her fingers together in front of her.

    "Um... Lilian... before you go...." Lala's face downturns, talking like the rest of the class isn't here. "So... lun, I've learned a lot of things ever since living here with Hikaru. And... I-I know, um, back home, it's not really that important to give hugs, and I'm an adult anyways, so... but Hikaru's taught me that they're kind of nice, lun. So as thanks for coming to visit, even though it's so out of your way and you're really busy... can I give you a hug before you go?"
Lilian Rook     'Woah, no cap. Sorry for accidentally calling you old, ahaha.'

    Lilian hesitates just a moment before saying "I forgive you." again. Her smile looks a tiny bit strained, but for different reasons. "Lala's situation is a little bit complicated right now, so I'd appreciate it a lot if you could be gentle with her." She glances to Lala as if in preemptive apology for sharing something sensitive, but which is her business too. "Her parents disagree a lot, and Lala wants to be on everyone's side. So it's easy for her to feel overloaded if you ask for her thoughts too much and too quickly. I'm certain you get along fine, but please be extra kind to her until everything works out; for me?"

    Lilian's slightly tender affect breaks with a realistic 'snrk' at the double fingerguns gesture. God he is a little bit cringe. "I'm glad you understand. It's nice to know that Lala has friends who are easy to ask for things."

    'Ohoho~ I hope you don't mind if I take that as high praise both for you and myself, Miss Lilian.'

    "Of course not~" Lilian titters, holding her cheek now. "Girls having ambition at your age is rare, but I think it's very important. Once Lala is more comfortably situation, I hope she can learn a thing or two!" She nods at receiving the Student Council President lore from Hikaru as if it's just a total given. Game recognizes fifteen year old game. "The 'moon', hm? Because of her name? Someone who earns that sort of nickname for calmness and gentleness might be better off as a vice president, no?"

    'Well, I like the nickname, Himenojou. Do your best!'

    Lilian nods gravely at Hikaru while Sakurako isn't lookng. Her gaze alone speaks a hundred words; mostly along the lines of 'It's not fair to compare her to a human you know. Himenojou is doing her best.' and 'It wouldn't hurt you at all to play along with girls like her.' The idea that Lala might catch her doing it goes unconsidered.

    'He's always got these hotshot managers sniffing after him, but Iiiiii've gotten a look at the real deal because of him, once or twice.'

    "Oho. That's valuable experience." Lilian says, in sasuga eyebrow-raising style. "Are you looking to play baseball like him when you get older? Or do you have different life plans? It's tough for me to imagine; none of my hobbies have anything like a professional circuits." She trails off in vaguely wistful tones, leaning the side of her jaw against her fingertips. "Of course, I already run the research institute, so it's not as if I'm about to change careers all of a sudden, but the things I love to do on my own time are drawing, gardening, hiking, camping, theatre, 'western kendo' and martial arts." she says, humbly challenged to sound interesting in Lala's good name. "I have a fondness for magic, too~" says Lilian, telling the easiest half-truth of her life.

    'What's 'baseball', lun? Natsuki said something about that too, didn't she?'

    "It's a sport they play in America and-- well, here in Japan." Lilian says, matter-of-factly, gracefully handling the extreme 'what's a sport' curveball by repeating "Seilg." as if Lala simply didn't know the Japanese word.

    'Yes ! I have been studying it abroad in earlier semesters ! We have an English class here, too.'

    "Oh my goodness; you're very good! That's so impressive!" Free shot.

    'L-Lun! That's right!'

    This is Tomorrow Lilian's problem. She's too busy smiling at 'there's nothing we can't do!' Today's Lilian is warmly absorbing Hikaru's incandescent love for the observatory.
Lilian Rook     . . . . . . . .

    'So... lun, I've learned a lot of things ever since living here with Hikaru. And... I-I know, um, back home, it's not really that important to give hugs, and I'm an adult anyways, so...'

    Reluctantly at the door, at first only glad for a reason to stay a moment longer, Lilian turns expectantly when Lala calls out to her, Lilian for the briefest of instants forgets that she isn't actually related, and 'back at home' hits a place in her heart that stings just a little. Remembering that Lala's home isn't hers-- that the reasons are different-- makes her whisper "Oh my god . . ." in recognition of what she's working up to.

    'So as thanks for coming to visit, even though it's so out of your way and you're really busy... can I give you a hug before you go?'

    "Always." barely escapes Lilian's mouth, having a weight to it borne of the tightness in her throat. She only waits for Lala to begin to gesture at a hug before going to give her one back, holding her against her chest with a squeezing sincerity in excess of what she'd really planned. She holds Lala there for just long enough to be slightly embarrassing on accident, and laughs just a little whilst pushing her hair behind her ear and saying "Sorry if I embarrassed you in front of your friends."

    "See you Lala. Love you." is a line she'd been prepared to say all day. It hits her in the chest a little when she leaves.