"Flatterer."

"I'm being honest!" But she also wants to get in line for Angel, so.

"Not for Kinsei-san?"

"She's gong to have a lot of people in her line. Angel-san was- Her performance was very impressive and I think it would be good to make sure she knows people liked it."

"As you say." 

"I'll join you two, if that's alright."

"Of course, senpai."

"Thank you, Erika-kun."

The line for Kinsei does turn out to be a bit ridiculous. It has almost all of the boys and men, and even most of the girls Erika's age; Ami somehow got near the front. The line for Angel's decent, but seems to have attracted a lot of women the same age as Erika's mom. There are girls closer in age to Shinju and Erika, at least. A weirdly high number of them are dressed at least a bit masculinely, and there's some pairs standing awfully close to each other or even holding hands. Shinju gets a lot of girls eyeing her, some with blushes, including the two girls in the line right in front of them. 

Excuse you, that's Erika's senpai, get your own. Actually no you know what, she will step closer to Shinju and silently dare the other girls to do something about it.

That gets them turning around properly! "Ah," one of them says, before blushing. "You two... That is..."

"What she means to say," her 'friend' interrupts, "Are you two in the Petals club for Angel-sama?"

"Mm. No."

"Maybe we shouldn't assume..." murmurs the first.

Her 'friend' rolls her eyes. "Just look at them, Himari-chan." She grabs the other's hand and squeezes it. To Erika: "Even though she's shy, Himari-chan's the one who prints out our magazines and runs the mailing list. It's for girls like us. There's a lot of stories and articles and even some comics, all by club members... We're going to be releasing a special edition for the Sailor V musical, if you'd like to sign up?"

Wait, are they talking about- But then that means-

Erika abruptly blushes. "That, uh, might be nice..." she mumbles.

"I'd like to as well, thank you."

Cool! They'll trade information. 

Suc...cess? Maybe?

wait if Shinju is also signing up then that means she's interested in this sort of thing and also she isn't trying to correct the other girls about her and Erika maybe she's just being polite or maybe she doesn't want to make a scene in public or maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe-

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Erika will do her best to keep all her screaming strictly internal.

If Shinju notices, she doesn't comment. 

And by the time they're done exchanging information with the two girls, the line has inched forward enough that they're almost at the front. 

Get it together, Erika. Best foot forward for the star of the show. And also your mother is right there, don't embarrass yourself.

Angel's wearing her Sailor U costume, and she gives Erika a bright, almost flirty smile. There's stacks of posters, smaller pictures, copies of the Takarazuka Revue article about the show, copies of the Nakayoshi edition with the first chapter of the Sailor V manga, and soundtrack albums all ready, if Erika wants to buy one to have signed. (Though she can have something she brought from home signed instead.) 

"Good evening," she says. "What do you want signed?"

"Uh, hi." She has her copy of the program, carefully preserved, and she would also like a poster.

"And who should I make these out to?"