Drain Stamina

Without Junpei & Yamato, the five pulled in to a Chad parking lot the next day, Mia having driven for another six hours.

Serena's phone vibrated and she took it quick.

"$50 for a Kujo reference." whispered Serena to Yuruko.

"Jotaro?" whispered Yuruko, eyes on Satsuki.

Junketsu's eyes flashed.

"Nevermind." mumbled Serena. With her luck, Matoi probably had some middle name like Ikari & she would need to make a reference to that too.

Matoi Gendo Kujo squinted under her Vantablack glove.

Mia sighed and slumped against the Jeep. "I suppose we could start… Serena, can you and Yuruko check the brightness again while Samuel and I go find a hotel?"

Yuruko frowned, but Serena spoke up before she started: " - um, Yuruko needs to study."

"Alright." said Mia. "Er, we need another brightness tester, then."

With some annoyance, Yuruko formed another brightness tester and handed it over. Since they'd come back from Mexico, there had been a few times where Serena intervened like this, the worst being after a hotel fight where Worldwide's Bolt had almost arced to Yuruko's laptop.

Presently, it took an hour for Serena & Yuruko to find a hotel with internet. It annoyed Yuruko further, for not only was she needing to study for her midterms soon, but still had to finish her presentation, practice new slides, all with the knowledge that if she did not pass there were no do-overs at Urasaria.

As mentioned once before, the academy's Phantasmology is typified by that the government hopes almost no one actually passes it; Morgan Haldvan's research should adequately explain why.

Yuruko set up her laptop in bed, and had studied for a while, mumbling smutty insults about Mia under her breath. Usually she did it while waiting for webpages to load.

"She's going to come in here and ask me to make something else."

"C'mon." mumbled Serena beside her.

"God, I'm so fucking sick of this country. I wish I could just grab her and make her do all this shit instead, you know?"

"Yuruko, stop it."

"Serena, why do you just keep defending her over and over again? I mean, the bitch put me in her squadron without even asking. I'm practically having to do three degrees at once and she just asks me to throw aside everything for no fucking reason. I'm not allowed to get mad about that?"

"Yeah, and you never brought anything up about that to her, so whose fault is that? You know, I-I try to listen to you, I try not to say anything when you start going off about women, I-I try not to say anything when you talk shit about lesbians on campus, but lately, y-you're really starting to be an asshole to Mia, and I really don't appreciate it! It makes me feel like I-I have to pick sides between the two of you, and-"

"I'm not forcing you to *pick sides*, Serena - god, I'm just asking you think about how I'm feeling when I have to-"

"How much more do I need to think about *you* feel, huh? How much more? I try to understand, y-you know! I try to understand so I-I don't get frustrated when you get like this or when you're so b-busy you won't even t-talk to me. I know your degree is t-tough, and I-I try to do what I can -- I try to make you as comfortable as I-I can, a-and sometimes it feels like you don't even appreciate me!"

Serena started tearing up.

"I-Isn't one of the things you always criticize your mom a-about is that she never brought up anything to your dad?"

"S-Serena, don't bring Tammy into this. Please."

"And why not? You think Mia tries to make you miserable on p-purpose like she does? God, she didn't force you to go brightness testing earlier! She gives you any day off you ask for, but no, you just t-think she's gossiping behind your back about -- about being autistic, a-and you think she thinks you're awkward, a-a-and -- and I'm just s-sick of how every time you talk about somebody, you only think of them as the w-worst thing about them. How do you think it makes me feel when I-I have to listen to my girlfriend talking about what a horrible person my best friend is, h-huh? Somebody I look up to, s-someone who's always supported me instead of just taking every kindness I-I give and saying it isn't good enough l-like you do.

And you know what? *I* was the one who told her she could put you in her squadron, okay? I-I should've known you were going to be too busy, but I was l-lonely because I didn't get to see you in the travel group a-all summer, okay? Y-You know I'm not a-as smart as you are about that stuff, o-okay? So w-why don't you just take that out on me like you do everything else?"

Yuruko clasped her hand over one half of her face and began to cry.

"…I-I'm sorry." said Serena. "I-I didn't mean that."

A knock came at the door. Serena quickly wiped her tears, as did Yuruko. Serena answered it: it was Mia. If she had heard anything she did not show it.

"Is everything alright? I heard yelling."

"U-Um, yeah. We were just watching something."

Mia looked to Yuruko, then smiled. "Alright. By the way, I meant to ask: Yuruko, did you finish your presentation on Japan?"

"…um, yeah." muttered Yuruko. "I-I finished it a few d-days ago."

"Alright. Er, I hope I was helpful for that."

Yuruko did not respond. Mia looked to Serena. "But we were going to try to find somewhere to eat. Would you want anything?"

"No, um. We're good. Have fun."

Serena closed the door, and let her expression show as she slumped down against it.