Headcanon time!

So in this shot we can see only Rei has a purse:

Later, Usagi is shown to keep the pen in her cleavage: 

So then, where is Ami’s stuff? She doesn’t seem like she’d likely use her boobs as a pocket, and her dress doesn’t give her the same easy access as Usagi’s does anyway. 

The obvious answer is that her stuff must be in Rei’s purse.

And that’s cute enough on it’s own, because that’s such a real detail (back in the days of school dances, I was always the friend with the purse holding everyone’s stuff).

But it also got me thinking: what if Ami and Rei got ready together?

Now, I don’t imagine Usagi would be very patient after she transformed. She’s ready and Rei and Ami look amazing anyway, why do you need to put on tights Rei chan we’re going to be late.

Yet Rei and Ami look very put together. I think after Usagi left the arcade, they sighed and agreed that no matter what Rei said about having a bad feeling, Usagi would end up going to the party. And they would go with her, because god knows Usagi cannot go alone.

So they stop by Ami’s apartment and she grabs an outfit; the closest thing she can find to a party dress is a simple blue oneshe wore last year to watch her mother receive an award for the advancement of medicine, but Rei promises it’s good enough. Then they head to the shrine and Rei picks a dress from the collection of ones her father sent her to wear for dinners with him (which she may or may not have attended) and lets Ami choose from the corresponding jewelry sets. They brush each others hair and awkwardly compliment how each other looks (because they’re beautiful, but neither is used to being opening about such things like Usagi is).

Usagi’s call comes right when they expect it. She doesn’t seem surprised when they show up already dressed to the nines, but maybe she’s just forgotten that they don’t have disguise pens. She slips tiaras into their hair (because of course Usagi has a little collection of tiaras, of course she does) and off they go.

I can’t decide on an interpretation for this moment.

On the one hand, Rei is completely new to the having friends thing. She has the children who come to the shrine, like Mii chan, who love her, but I don’t know if she’s ever had someone her own age play games with her and be so kind. So this could be Rei stepping back in her mind and having a moment of disbelief, a little moment where she questions how this is happening and if she should trust it. And then of course she can trust it, because Ami is probably the most sincere person in the world (perhaps tied with Usagi).

On the other hand, I really like the idea of Rei having a little crush on Ami right back. I definitely read manga Rei as ace, and am ready to see Crystal Rei that way too, but there’s wiggle room for me on if she’s aro as well, so I could definitely see her blooming admiration for Ami leaning towards a romantic crush.

But on a third hand (can I have three hands? Just for this?) I almost think this is a flash of Silver Milenium memories. With the game being tied to Senshi fighting and Ami/Mercury being their strategist anyway, I think Rei could have had a moment of recollection from when Mars and Mercury had a moment just like this one, perhaps early in their lives when they were training or fighting low-grade monsters.

Someone arrest these two for being too cute.

I really like that Ami gets to have this moment with Rei. Ami had her first arcade experience with Usagi, and it was monumental for her. But Rei had a different connection to Usagi, so Ami gets to introduce her to the arcade. 

And (manga spoiler) since the Sailor V game is intended to be like a training demo for being a senshi, I think it’s so cool that Ami coaches Rei through it. Ami isn’t the most powerful fighter in the field, but she’s a great strategist and she can see what needs to be done, and this echoes that beautifully. 

I love too that Rei accepts her help. It’s so easy when you’re doing badly in a game to scorn help and insist you can do it, but Rei has such respect for Ami that she listens. And they beat the monster together, and celebrate together. This is likely their first time together without Usagi (as the arcade is their meeting place for senshi talks, and I doubt they’d wait long after finding Mars to have a meeting), and they click so well.

Wow for some reason I never thought much about this in the manga, but the idea of Ami having a crush on the beautiful bus girl is adorable. 

She sees her sometimes on the bus. Just the possibility of seeing her is her selling point for riding this bus. Ami has (likely) never talked to this beautiful T.A. girl, but she’s probably been the highlight of many days. 

Ami’s classmates might say cold things about her, but she saw the beautiful girl today. Ami is feeling lonely, but the T.A. girl looked her way today. 

Crystal is apparently going to make me ship every pairing. I’ve never given any thought to Rei/Ami but now I have an emotional investment in Ami admiring Rei from afar.