keyofnik: The water prank? I think Grandpa set it up hours ago. Probably tried to get Yuuichiro to pray then, but then got distracted by the idea of swinging on ropes. Or knew Yuuichiro would fail at that, and then talk him into praying for the strength to be a better George of the Jungle. Point being, I think he set it up to go, and then walked away. Rei kind of has a problem with that. With ALL this shit. The booby trapped altar, the Shrine’s priest swinging from ropes with a blanket cape, the spring-loaded snakes in the charms, the glue spread over the omikuji, the whatever else Grandpa’s been up to. What if one of their visitors had come to pray and gotten caught by the forgotten water prank? A reputation can be destroyed in seconds. Grandpa is very literally running the risk of ruining the name and reputation of Hikawa. The shrine is their home, but the shrine is also their BUSINESS. Hikawa is how they live. Hikawa is how they eat. And right now Rei is more concerned than ever about all of that. Because there is no way in hell that Grandpa is. In the state he’s in right now, Grandpa can’t worry about sweeping pathways or selling charms. He can’t even worry about not getting a potential customer caught up in one of his pranks For Rei though, that’s currently all she can see. She is very literally staring in the face the idea that she will, at fourteen, have to take on all the responsibilities of the shrine, AND the care of her newly senile grandfather, AND dealing with this new dude suddenly living here, AND making enough money to support them all, AND going to school, AND being a Sailor Senshi. She is fourteen-years old, and this is the very real immediate future she’s facing. And Usagi’s advice? Come on, Rei-chan, lighten up! All Usagi sees is grumpy old Rei being her grumpy old Rei self. It was JUST a harmless prank! Look at how happy Grandpa is! Why do you want to squash that? Not only is Usagi dismissing Rei’s situation — because she completely doesn’t understand it — but she’s ENABLING Grandpa at the same time. All she’s doing is encouraging this behaviour. This very real, very dangerous behaviour, that has Rei’s 70-something year old Grandpa swinging in trees and jumping from ropes and potentially seriously hurting himself or worse. This behaviour that could literally destroy Hikawa’s reputation and their ability to make money and LIVE. Usagi, whose biggest concern today is whether or not she’ll be able to borrow ahead on her allowance to play some more Sailor V video game, or if she can sneak another piece of Mama’s lemon pie after dinner tonight. Really, Rei-chan. You just shouldn’t be so uptight all the time.
