Description: Namie chases down a troublemaker Southtown and onto the campus of Seijyun High. She loses track of him there, and in her search stumbles upon a solitary musician amid the school's gorgeous flower garden.
It's a lovely day out despite the cold and as such after school students from all around are having fun at the Southtown Village Mall, Namie among them. She had been shopping with some of her friends and decided to stay when they went home, having heard rumors of animal bones being found in a certain Raman stands trash after hours. Probably ridiculous, but definitely worth checking out for herself!
Or at least that was the plan until sudden violence broke out. Sounds of shouting and screaming, a scuffle and flying fists. This was -way- more interesting than some rumor, so Namie pushed her way through the crowd, only to see a boy in a Taiyo uniform socking one in a Pacific uniform and knocking him to the ground, much to the horror of a similarly dressed girl. "Stay off of our turf!" was shouted in hot blooded manner before the still standing young man turns to leave the crowed that had formed parting to keep away from him.
The ponytailed girl blinks in surprise when she realizes what just went down, going and trying to help and apologize to the students of the other school, only to get rebuffed and shouted at as if she was the one who had attacked them. Well that's just not cool! Someone can't just make their entire school look like a bunch of jerks and get away with it, she decides, and since the Pacific students aren't willing to accept her help she's of no use to them.
Pushing her way through the crowd she catches sight of the troublemaker and starts to speed up, only for him to half turn his head, notice her, and take off himself. What follows is an incredibly long chase through the sidewalks of Southtown, the pace ever quickening until Namie is forced to sprint after him, starting to catch up until he cuts through a busy street. She blanches in terror for a moment, losing precious time, before following shouting, "Sorry! Sorry! Oh god, don't crash! Sorry!!!!" as horns blare around her.
She catches sight once more, but is now following at long distance, having run clear across the city to the west outskirts and the forest. "Stooop!" she shouts, "You have to tell me why you did that!" She calls out while waving her hand in the air. Even if she hasn't caught him the young man has to be impressed by her endurance- it is, by most standards, completely ridiculous.
If one trick got her to lose pace, however, perhaps another will lose her altogether? The Taiyo uniformed student makes another turn and heads straight for Seijyun High. When she realizes where she's being led she pales again, "He can't be serious... Hey! Stop! You can't go there without a pass! ...YOU'RE A BOY!" A Taiyo boy sneaking onto the Seijyun Campus? The scandal might last all school year. ...okay 'sneaking' might not be the right word, but that's even worse!
So when he simply leaps the front gate in a single bound she skids to a stop, jaw hanging open for a few moments before stomping her feet in the ground. "No! I was trying to help but if I chased him -here- I made things a hundred times worse!"
Whether it was intentional or not he does lose her, and she considers giving up her chase. In the end she decides she's come this far already, and runs up and jumps the gate herself- though not without some scrambling at the top. Once inside her pace has significantly slowed, breathing a bit heavily now that her running has ceased, trying to follow footprints and other disturbances to figure out where he went. Unfortunately for Namie while she has the heart of detective, she has none of the skills, and so it's very slow going, and nearly ten minutes later she finds herself wandering through flower garden. She's never been to this part of the all girls school campus, and so it takes her by surprise, momentarily awestruck as she wanders, just like a tourist.
An uninvited, interloping tourist.
The grounds of Seijyun Girls' School is well-kept. And why shouldn't it be? The school is one of the more expensive ones that a family can choose to send their girl to. Surely they can afford the best groundskeepers.
Though do they have musicians hired to just randomly play? Because there's the sound of a violin nearby! And given the sound, it's not being played by a newbie. Whoever that is, knows their way around a violin. It's coming from that really pretty garden.
Presuming one goes in there, one will find a girl in an elegant, fluffy blue dress that almost resembles a Victorian dress. Silvery hair is gathered into two large, thick ringlet curls on either side of her shoulders. And she is indeed playing the violin!
For several moments Namie continues wandering, the sound of the violin making her feel like she's in an amazing commercial. Pretty flowers, and music! How well they go together. As much as she might expect a voiceover to tell her the low, low price of the flowers around her she does not, instead moving closer to the source of that playing.
Eventually she finds her way to where the silver haired girl is playing, stopping to listen and watch her play, even as something nags at the back of her mind. Wasn't there something she was supposed to be doing..?
When the current piece ends she puts on a bright smile, hopping a couple of times and breaking out into quick applause, showing off her gratitude and praise. Then, after a short while of this adulation she stops, and her grin shifts and freezes in a goofy expression.
Oh right, she's not even supposed to be here, is she? "Oops."
The sudden applause breaks the girl out of her reverie, and she gasps, looking in the direction it's coming from. Her eyes go wide, and she looks very much like a deer caught in headlights! For a few moments, anyway. Then she blushes, and hurriedly puts the violin and bow back in its case.
She doesn't immediately run away though; there are manners in there somewhere! Actually they're everywhere. Demonstrated when she stands, and bows politely. "Th-thank you," she offers softly. Her voice is hard to hear, as if she never speaks above a whisper. She does look to Namie's uniform, but she doesn't ask about it yet.
Namie laughs nervously, looking away momentarily while reaching up to scratch her cheek. "You're, ah, welcome. Your playing is beautiful." She seems almost as timid as the well mannered girl before her for a moment, though as she mentally worries about what getting caught here might mean she remembers why she came at all, eyes widening.
"Oh!" she begins with a start, "You should be careful, there was a troublemaker in town and I chased -him- all the way here!" She leans forward a little and spreads her arms as she speaks to emphasize the gender of said troublemaker. "I couldn't keep up once he got inside the campus even though I tried. ...he could be anywhere by now."
Suddenly she recoils backwards away from Yurika, slapping a hand over her own mouth before squeaking out, "Even the locker rooms..!"
The silver-haired girl actually starts a bit at Namie's exclamation. And blinks at what she said. "A boy?" She pauses, looks down at the ground for just a moment. She's careful to do this when Namie's not paying attention, though.
But Yurika just gives a smile. "I'm sure he wouldn't come in here," she assures Namie. "I'm sure any boy would know that there'd be criminal consequences for breaking in. That and I was just at the gate, I didn't see anyone."
Slowly lowering her hand as her own shock wears off, Namie nods solemnly. "A boy. And... I know it seems unlikely, but I saw him jump the gate! I... kinda did too, to follow him, so unless you saw me it was before you got there."
She makes a bit of a face and rubs her chin, eyes narrowing a little in thought, "Though... if he was smart it would make sense for him to cut across the campus and make his way right back out. Shoot! He must have doubled back after getting to this garden- that must be why I lost track of him." She snaps her finger and lets out a sigh, "Guess I'll never figure out what he was up to. Maybe I need to learn better tactics for running people down."
Another contemplative look, but then a realization, "Oh! I... I interrupted you, didn't I? I'm sorry for that, I didn't mean to disturb you, I just kinda got caught up in the music once I heard you playing." Realizing she hasn't returned that first bow yet she does so, bowing deeply and trying to be humble for the trouble she's no doubt caused, "My name is Namie Yamada, and I apologize for the inconvenience."
Yurika doesn't comment on whether she saw Namie or not. She just keeps that small, comforting smile on her face. It's disarming, really. She's so perfectly sure that it just might be infectious! And she also agrees with Namie, "That's true. Cutting through briefly is probably smarter than trying to hide on a girls' school campus. Somebody would find him eventually, and then he'd get in trouble."
As for interrupting her? "That's okay," Yurika replies. "You were concerned for us, so I understand." The smile widens a bit, but only a little. At the introduction, she replies, "Yurika Kirishima. Pleased to meet you."
"You're right, getting caught by me anywhere would be better than getting caught here, wouldn't it? Then there's probably no more reason to worry. I'd be pretty bad if something like that did happen though, huh?" Namie laughs a little, though it's slightly nervous- it'd be funnier if the boy wasn't wearing her school's uniform!
The widening of the silver haired girls smile, even slight, brings a bright one to her own face, though she tries to temper it some when she hears the name that belongs to the girl. "You're..?!" She tries not to let the name of the musical genius affect her too much, but even just having a friend at Seijyun is enough for her to become slightly more deferential, "Ahaha, now I feel lucky to have gotten to hear you play, even if it was a bit of accidental eavesdropping."
Yurika nods. "Still, thank you for the concern. I'll be sure to let the staff know you saw him, though. That way they'll be on the lookout, if he does come back," she assures Namie.
She seems a bit embarrassed when Namie seems to know her by the name, and her pale skin flushes deeply. "Mhm," she confirms, when Namie seems to stall a little. "I come out here to practice sometimes, because it's quiet. And the flowers help me think."
Namie looks completely relieved when told the staff will be alerted to a potential male intruder, though part of that is also that Yurika seems to be letting her off the hook for breaking the rules in order to try and chase him down. "Thank you, I'm sure everything will be just fine if you do."
"It is a very tranquil setting," the ponytailed girl affirms, only to grin a bit and walk over to some of the flowers to bend down and smell them. "Ahhh, they smell just as pretty as they look!" She straightens back up quickly and twists to look back towards Yurika happily, "I've been invited to Seijyun a couple times, but if Miki ever asks me back I'm going to make sure we come here. Sometimes I get a little jealous- this school really is an amazing place full of amazing people."
Her smile widens into a grin and she adds, "Then I remember I wouldn't fit in at all," before giving Yurika a playful wink. Not the most polite gesture, but it proves her point.
"It will be, not to worry," Yurika assures her. She does well in keeping it off her face, but she's glad it ended there. She really didn't want to use more... stringent methods of getting Namie to forget. One the other girl looks tot he flowers, Yurika glances to the flute case set down on the bench near her.
Namie's words draw her attention back, and she smiles. And she outright giggles when Namie says she wouldn't fit in. "Oh, I don't know... there's something to be said for not fitting in... you're different, and you stand out, right? You have to be really brave to do that..."
Namie laughs a little, "I don't think I stick out so much at my school, but I sure would here! I'm not very good at being still and quiet for to, and strict policies on being in every class every day every time would really cut into the things I like to do." If the uniform somehow wasn't recognized the lax attendance policy she's used to would certainly mark her solidly as a student of Taiyo!
"But I suppose you're right, there is something fun about making your own way instead of following the pack. And if you're cool enough while you do it you can even define a new normal." She grins a little, "Brave though... I'm definitely brave!"
Yurika tilts her head. "That seems odd..." she remarks. "If you don't have to go to your classes, how do you learn?" It may be understandable why she might not really realize how that works. She does seem like the soft-spoken kind whose parents always wanted the best education for her.
"Like that, yes," she notes. "And even if you don't, you can show people that there's another way than just following the pack."
Namie gives a little shrug, "I usually just read ahead when I know I want to skip a class, but you can get friends to help you catch up too. Did you know teaching others is one of the best ways of memorizing things yourself?" She grins a little before spinning, stopping so she's actually facing Yurika properly again. "Mm! Some people think it's really important to only do what others expect of them. I actually think that's okay, so long as it's their own choice."
She looks then over to the school building itself, tilting her head for a moment, "Taiyo is pretty good about letting students express their individuality... but now I wonder about that for Seijyun. Being a 'proper lady' is kinda all about meeting the expectations of others, isn't it?"
Ouch.
Yurika seems to deflate a little, but quickly covers it with a smile. "That's... a lot of it, yes," she confirms. "But you have to learn how to stand on your own two feet before you can run away in your own direction, right? Stand before you walk, walk before you run... that sort of thing?"
It's weird, she doesn't sound too certain about it. Maybe just because she's never struck out on her own before. "And falling down is more likely when you run..."
Were she more observant Namie might notice that deflation, but the smile is enough to keep her from noticing. "Mm, that's true, but falling down is part of learning. If you never fall from your mistakes you might keep on making them without knowing it! Though if you run falling hurts more than walking, it's true..." Perhaps she's missed the point and gone a little to literal, there.
Returning her gaze to Yurika from the school, she hums softly, noticing the lack of certainty and finding it actually rather surprising. "The most important thing is committing to whatever it is you decide to do. Stand, walk, run... or even just sit down. That's why we're lucky to be our age, there's still plenty of time to make mistakes, so we can try different things out and decide what we want to do- and then run with it!"
Yurika's quiet as Namie speaks. It all makes a lot of sense. Though in a way it doesn't. Yurika is... kind of a conflicted one as-is. The way she shifts and twists her body just a little bit, first one way and then the other. Almost as if one expects her to scuff her foot along the ground in the next instant.
And in the next instant... she scuffs her foot along the ground. "Not to rush off... but I should probably be getting back inside. I don't want to be caught out after curfew," she says. She pauses though, rather than just running off. Picking up her violin and flute cases, she asks, "D-do you... want to talk again sometime?"
Namie quietly contemplates Yurika's quiet ill ease with the situation, starting to notice more the subtle hints of dissatisfaction. The mention of curfew gets a small laugh from her and she nods, "I understand- I don't want to get caught at all!" A little grin is made after the joke, only to be replaced with a bright and genuine smile. "I'd like that very much! I'll talk with you anytime you like."
Putting on a slightly more formal expression she holds her hands in front of herself and bows politely, "It really was very nice meeting you, Kirishima-san." Then, almost as quickly as it appeared, the formality disappears and she grins while turning away, looking back over her shoulder and finger waving, "Ja ne!" She waves for the first couple steps, but quickly turns to watch where she's going, jogging off quickly in preparation to jump the gate back out.
Maybe they need to electrify that thing!
Log created on 02:48:33 01/27/2015 by Namie, and last modified on 04:39:35 01/28/2015.