Match of the Millennium

Description: While bravely running from distracted bullies, Daisuke finds himself up on the rooftop of Taiyo Highschool. There he runs astray of a curious girl, the Mysterious Malin. Daisuke finds that he might be the target of a secret society's extra secret surveillance of his heroic actions and they have an opening for him. Or, maybe, it's just a lonely girl with more skill than brains that wants another person to hang out with.

[VIN]
It's a rare day when Taiyo High doesn't get noisy. And today is, definitely, *not* one such day. Any such preconception is quickly broken away by the sight of a student running through the halls in the main school building, chased by three other students -- one of whom is much more burly than someone his age should have any right to be.

"YOU GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

Such a scene has probably become somewhat common, the past month or so. A certain transfer student decided to take it upon himself to interfere with cases of weaker students being harrassed by the more rough, predatory sorts... and usually end up becoming the new target for a beatdown.

And it's this particular red-haired teenaged boy, then, who is now getting chased down the hallway. There is a very good chance he's dealt with this particular trio before, and he's elected to take the course of distraction and flight instead of head-on confrontation, dashing down the hall and weaving past other students filling the halls as fast as he can, with his open white-and-black jacket fluttering in the air behind him.

Such an escape would only get him so far, so when the boy spots a door left open to an empty classroom, he decides to swerve left and duck in, slamming the door shut behind himself. Unfortunately, his pursuers do quickly realize where he went, and--

After a few seconds, the largest of the three kicks the door open. Only to find the classroom... completely empty?

"What the f-- YOU! You lead us to the wrong room! Check your damn eyes!"
"But-- he definitely went in here! Maybe he jumped out the window?"
"IDIOT! We're on the top floor! What kind of moron would do that?!"

Daisuke would be the kind of moron, apparently. Though rather than outright jump out through the window, he instead hauled himself further up to hanging off a pipe running along the wall, besides the window itself to keep himself concealed.

The thought that his pursuers might think to look out the window regardless does cross his mind, so the boy pulls himself up further from there, grabbing onto the edge of the roof proper next and pulling himself up onto it with a loud groan of effort as he rolls over onto his back there.

"Hhhaaaahhh... Saaaaaafe..." He chimes out with relief in between exhausted, panting breaths. He's in absolutely no hurry at all to get himself up from where he lays now, bright green eyes staring up at the lightly-cloudy sky above and one hand running through his shockingly-red, perpetually-messy hair to rub at his scalp.

[MALIN]
Taiyo High is so noisy because, more than any other school in Southtown, they've got more fighting spirit and passion than anyone else! When you're so jammed full and anyone can get in, it takes the very best of the best(or loudest of the loud) to stand out among the crowd. Sure, anyone can just glide under the radar when so many students flood the halls, but who wants to do that? Who wants to go entirely unnoticed in a school as hugely populated as Taiyo?

Probably the kids being picked on by others. Most likely them. Definitely them.

Or maybe, in the case of the funny red headed kid who was trying to save days, he seemed to want to get that attention until he very definitely didn't want it anymore. And to Malin, that was kind of cool. At least that was entirely what she told herself when it came to following this kid around here and there to see what he's been up to.

And she is doing just that when the boy scrambles his way up onto the school's roof to flop down. Just in time for Malin to adjust herself to a "relaxed" and "coolly detached" pose to hide that she was totally spying from above. She chews on a wad of gum hastily crammed into her mouth, and plays with a yo-yo, watching with her free hand on her hip.

"Sup?" she asks, dropping her tone to a contralto she simply cannot make naturally. "Cool climbing."

[VIN]
"H-...huh...?"

Daisuke certainly wouldn't know any better, now, not having so much glanced for Malin's presence in the corner of his eye until after hearing her speak up. It even takes him a few seconds after hearing her voice to turn his head over to the side and seek out her form with his eyes.

"...T-...thanks...?" He manages to murmur in response to her, between his more audible breaths. They're steadying some by now, at least, but they're still heavy enough to visibly heave his chest and shoulders down there.

"It... okay with you if... I just take five... here...?"

As if though he needs to get permission from her specifically to get on this rooftop.

[MALIN]
Malin starts to blow a bubble, but the gum isn't quite workable enough to do that, so she gives up after a moment to resume chewing. She moves to stand more or less over the boy, off to his side, and snaps the yo-yo up and down from above. "Sure," she tells him, still playing cool as a cucumber and reminding Daisuke, "No one owns the roof."

She just lets Daisuke heave and catch his breath while she moves closer to the edge. "You took the hard way up. Nice," she judges, "Not many people do that. Pretty badass. Too bad no one was watching." She lies, poorly, since she clearly was just watching to know that, and she has been spying on him, the blond girl in the Taiyo uniform.

[VIN]
The red-haired boy winces subtly when the yo-yo sweeps down a bit closer to his head, even if there wasn't ever any real danger of him getting decked by it. His head turns, then, while she walks along the roof, to keep his eyes on her purely out of curiousity more than anything.

"I mean... I guess you saw...?" Daisuke points out in a low, sheepish murmur while he starts working his upper body up off the cement of the roof, at least, propping himself up with his elbows. "And I mean, I dunno... I kinda ran out of options, is all..."

Eventually, he gets himself all the way up to sitting, with one knee propped up to let him drape an arm over it and use as a surface to lean on. His bright-green gaze slowly draws along the blonde, curiously considering her -- and perhaps with some uncertainty too, at that.

"Um... you just hang out here...?"

[MALIN]
Zip-snap, the yo-yo slaps into Malin's palm. She tilts her head and appraises the reclined boy. "You could've fought," she suggests. "Take them all down, be a hero, have everyone in the school pick you up and carry you all in a parade. Or get beat up and left in a puddle of your own shame. Iunno."

She turns around, a new pose, hand on her hip and the yoyo starts again. "And of course I hang out here. All the coolest people hang out on the school roof, don't you know that?" she asks, not a lie in that she does hang out there it's a spot to go and to spy and Malin loves the high ground if she can get it. "You can see the city. You can plan. And I need to plan."

She stretches out, the yo-yo vanishing somewhere up her sleeve when she turns her palms skyward. "Seen you around the school lately. I'm Malin. Just Malin. One name. One word. Malin." She looks over her shoulder, but has to shift a little to actually get a good look at Daisuke, "And you are?"

[VIN]
"I..." The red-haired boy worries at his lower lip for a moment, after she's pointed that out. That he could have fought. Could he have, actually? Surely he could have. He's done it before, but...

"I think I would have lost," he points out in return, with a hint of shame in his voice. "Horribly."

With his breathing more or less settled now, he straightens his posture some where he sits, instead of letting himself be slumped over one knee, as crimson brows lift up slightly from the words she speaks out. "Plan...?" He repeats after her, blinking slowly. "Plan for what, exactly?"

Then, she's giving him her name, and he decides he can't stay down on the floor any longer. With a groan of exhaustion, he forces himself to push up to his feet, wobbling subtly once he's up before his sense of balance, disturbed as it is by fatigue, calms down.

"Kubo Daisuke," he offers thus to her in return, with a subtle lean forward into a bow. "It's, uh... Nice to meet you. ... I guess I've been making some noise lately."

[MALIN]
Malin's lips purse. She crosses her arms and turns around to face Daisuke. Her fingers drum against her bicep and she taps her foot in a full body fidget as she sets her sights on the boy. "That's no way to go about things," she tells him, "You're at Taiyo, you should've fought and beaten them and been a hero. And if you beat one of them, but you're tired, then you leave saying something like 'You are not worthy of more of my effort' or something like that!"

She rolls her eyes and looks skyward. "Hopeless. . ."

Sudden snap and she's pointing at Daisuke, "But that's why Malin's here, to help people like you." Her hands just as quickly go to her hips and she looks aside, waiting for a wind to blow her short hair dramatically. "You see, I belong to a secret society. We have plans to act all over the world. Saving the world, stealing from the corrupt, doing good deeds sight unseen and unspoken."

She takes a deep breath and looks to Daisuke, "And you have been making noise. With your good heart and questionable tactical decisions."

[VIN]
"...I mean, sure, it'd be real cool and all if I could do that, but..." Daisuke's eyes sweep away from Malin while he reaches to akwardly squeeze at his left arm with his right hand. "...Truth be told, I'm just not strong enough for that. ...But at the very least, I can keep other people from getting beat up."

That's one way to look at it. Apparently getting beat up to hell and back in exchange for the original victim getting away is an acceptable trade in his mind.

As if though he can *hear* the pointing of a finger at him, Daisuke snaps his own eyes back to her -- and they quickly widen up as a result of what she says after.

"E-...eeeeh?!" He actually takes a single step back out of pure surprise, eyes blinking rapidly at her underneath the shade of unruly red locks. "Wh-... what are you even talking about? What secret society?! ... I mean I guess I wouldn't know if it was secret, but--?!"

[MALIN]
A proud, cocksure grin comes to Malin as she tries to look down at Daisuke despite being half a foot shorter than him. "Of course you wouldn't know about a secret society, that's the point of a secret," she explains what he just openly figured out for himself. "But secret as we may be, we still have our missions, and our mission is to make the world a better place."

She pauses, waits, then adds, "And your actions show you totally have the spirit to help. And I bet you would, too."

She turns now, and with a dramatic point, directs out to the great Southtown area. "How long ago were gangs and Darkstalkers and more running roughshod out there? How many people getting hurt and how many innocent people not knowing what danger is coming next? That is where we can come in. Where I come in. And I like it when I find new people who might be able to help!" And show off her talents and skills and to occupy the vast gulf of her life that is time without much to do and nothing in the way of family to take that up.

"That is," pause for effect, "If you think you got the heart to build the skill and power to take on bigger things than school bullies." Even though, as far as bullies go, the Southtown schools have a certain premier crop.

[VIN]
"I... heard it wasn't that long before I came here..." So not just a recent transfer to the school, but the city as a whole, this one.

Though a bit hesitant at first, Daisuke does step up to bring himself closer to her, until he's standing besides her on the edge of the rooftop, eyes shining bright while they peer towards the silhouettes of the buildings in Southtown proper.

He might be more than a little dubious about Malin's claims of secret societies, but... at the very least, he can tell that she's spirited about this, too, if nothing else.

"... If I say yes," he murmurs after a short moment of contemplation, head turning to direct one emerald eye to peeking at the blonde girl from the very corner of it, while crimson brows knit together. "What would you have me do, exactly?"

[MALIN]
Inside of Malin's head ring the words 'I. . .don't. . .know'

Not knowing fully what is ahead of her had never stopped Malin before. She maintains the point, off and away, waiting, waiting, waiting for that idea to come. She knows what she wants to say, but she can't. Deep down inside, she has a degree of concern at getting yet another person swept up in her excitement. And those other ones were more than capable fighters.

So far she'd just seen Daisuke be really good at being a distraction. But his spirit was in the right place, and spirit served Malin enough to develop the world class Malin-Style techniques so maybe Daisuke'd be totally fine in his own right.

"Exactly?" she asks, to buy a little more time, "There is no exactlys when fighting bad guys. Nothing ever goes as planned. That's your first lesson." She lowers her pose and crosses her arms, taking a more conservative slouch as she looks at Southtown. "The second thing is I'm gonna want to see you take on some of those bullies. To see what you can do. I think you got the spirit to hack it, but do you have the skills?"

[VIN]
That's not exactly the answer that Daisuke was hoping for, that's for certain. And it immediately shows in the vaguely nervous, audible gulp in his throat.

"I-I mean, I... uh... I do, sometimes," he admits, one hand slipping it's way up over to rub at the back of his head through that unruly red hair. "It... never really ends well for me. I'm trying to be better, but I don't think... I have those skills right now."

That's not *entirely* true, however. There are things he is capable of pulling off in a fight, but those are things he prefers to keep close to his chest. Certainly not display them in the middle of the whole school to see, anyway.

And yet, still...

"... But I'll do it if that's what you ask of me."

[MALIN]
Malin scoffs in the face of a lack of confidence, especially when it comes to other people's lack of confidence. "I handle punks all the time. Just a little while back I was teaming up with this big name new fighter. There we were, back to back, beating down Syndicate goons left and right. Broke up a whole bar!"

She clucks her tongue and smirks up at the taller boy. "And you can too. That is, if you stick close with me, Malin, and since you're already saying you'll do exactly what I say then that tells me you're on the right path."

She inclines her head, looking proud and certain of herself. She is, despite her lack of foresight, well confident that whatever it is she comes up with will work out in the end. "Maybe one day you'll even see Malin-Style combat in action. But I don't know if you're ready for that yet. Maybe we should find some bullies to pick a fight with, first?"

Somehow, she's procured a knife from somewhere because her posture tilts and she's moved to using the point of a blade to pick at dirt under her fingernails. "They won't know what hit them."

[DAISUKE]
"...I'm not really super sure about that," mutters Daisuke with one more scratch given at the back of his head before he lets his hand fall down and away. This might not be a *terribly* good idea, but somehow he's set on being along for the ride for at least a little while longer regardless.

"W-...wait." The taller boy takes a half step back, blinking down several times over at the blade she's... brought out at *some point*, and at what she's saying. "Why does it sound more like you're hunting for something to mount on the wall instead...?"

WIth a little sigh, the redhead lowers himself down, carefully, to sit on the ground of the roof level before scooting over to where his legs will dangle off the edge. Frowning faintly while peering off towards the city. "... I mean, I say that, but I... guess I kind of get in a lot of trouble with the gangs out in town, too. Apparently those guys have just gotten even worse lately."

[MALIN]
The knife rolls over Malin's fingers and folds to disappear up her school uniform's sweater sleeve. She's got the reigns and if Daisuke hasn't bolted from Malin's Wild Ride then he was going to be stuck on it as long as she held interest. She grins up at him. "That's funny. Mounting on a wall. Who has walls to mount things?"

She skips over that line to just continue. "They are getting worse, every day," she assures Daisuke's frown as she switches out her knife for her yo-yo again. "And if you're already getting trouble from them, then you're gonna need someone to watch your back. And by watch your back, I mean for you to come with as we hit them."

She crouches down into a squat next to Daisuke. "So what d'you say? You want to become my disciple? Maybe some day you'll get access to all the secrets of the society."

[DAISUKE]
"It's... kind of frightening how eager about this you are," Daisuke is quick to point out when he looks up to Malin just before she's lowering herself to a squat. "...Kind of reminds me of someone else I know, come to think of it..."

The most definite question comes, and Daisuke seems visibly hesitant still. He can't quite look at the blonde girl straight on for a moment, instead, peering down towards the schoolyard several stories below his feet.

"...I'm not sure about any secret societies or whatever," the redhead eventually says (ignoring for the moment the fact that he indeed *shouldn't* be sure about anything that's secret), and lifts his head back up to direct his green gaze up to locking onto Malin's own eyes. "But at the very least, I want to see what you're capable of. ... And if I can learn anything from that."

[MALIN]
"This is Taiyo High!" Malin says, almost shocked at the notion of someone at her school of choice that doesn't have a sort of high test fighting spirit. Shocked, she is, hand to her chest shocked. And she shakes her head sadly. "How could you?" she asks, "Don't you have any school spirit? To not want to go out and do your best and make Southtown better?" She clucks her tongue and turns away.

But then there's a call to a challenge of her patented Malin Style and that brings the girl's blood to a near boil. She whirls back around and snaps her yo-yo back into her hand. "You want to see the power of my technique?" she asks, "You want to see what it's capable of? Then you will see it!"

"At some point."

Malin crosses her arms. "You want to take me on? Name the time and place."

[DAISUKE]
E-...eh?"

Daisuke's eyes widen out, and his hands lift up, waving lightly in front of him in a defensive sort of gesture while he goes on to mumble, "N-no, I didn't mean it like that! I'm sorry!" As if though he'd done some great offense that requires apology by accidentally presenting a challenge.

"I mean... I want to help. I don't want to see people getting hurt, so..." Another heavy sigh, and the red-haired boy pushes himself away from the edge of the roof and up to his feet, before he faces Malin again, sheepish as he might be about it.

"...And I want to learn to be better. So I *can* help. You know? So I guess, uh... If that's what you want to call it then, er..." Sheesh. He still feels silly even thinking about saying it, and his eyes flicker away from the blonde before he finishes the sentence off with, "...I'll be your disciple, or whatever."

[MALIN]
Malin already has a clearly eager back and forth sway that moves her weight from one foot to the other. She seems more than a little punchy and eager to prove the supremacy, or legitimacy, of her style. Even if the boy seems too sheepish to be ready to fight back.

But the boy doesn't seem to really want to fight, or be too much of a challenge to her. And she starts to lose steam and her bounciness starts to fade, and then she stops. A moment passes and she sags for a time, but it is impossible to keep Malin down for too long. She is quickly back up with her hands at her hips. "Good to see you know just what you want for yourself. You'll make a good disciple, Daisuke. And next time you cause some trouble for those bullies, just remember that Malin'll be there to back you up!"

[DAISUKE]
"...Uh."

Malin's initial reaction to his answer might be a bit dubious to Daisuke, but it's... not entirely an unfamiliar one, either. He does know some other people who are... well, much too eager to fight.

"Did... did you *want* to spar?" He asks of her then, with just one step taken--

Only for her to spring right back up from that sagging posture as he does, and he damn near jumps back from the suddennes of her movement.

"W-wait. What do you mean... wait, are you going to be following me around, or something?"

[MALIN]
Malin's grin suggests she feels what she is about to say is far, far more clever than it might have any right to be. "Who is to say I haven't already been doing so?" she asks with a waggling brow. "It's a big school, and even if you think you don't stand out, you might. You may never have noticed me at all, because I'm that good."

Reality is she's only recently heard of him and was watching about as secretly as anyone else would have been. Today was just too easy an opportunity to pass up. "And no, no need to spar if you can recognize Malin-Style for what it is. You'll just have to see it in action when next our team meets."

She nods and puts her hands to her hips. "Also, disciple, you need to come up with a good team name for next time. That's your assignment."

[DAISUKE]
"You... what?"

Daisuke's stare back at Malin is blank for a few seconds, before his eyes widen subtly, and the faintest hint of red spreads in a flush of color over his cheeks while he shufles half-a-step backwards. "U-uh... I didn't think anyone... would have, I guess..."

And somehow, Malin's Wild Ride somehow seems to find new ways to throw him for a loop even in such relatively serene beginning steps. "You have... a team?" That probably shouldn't be too surprising if there's any truth at all to what she says. But it's the assignment that she gives him that really throws him off.

"Wait... what? Do you mean... like some kind of code name for me or something?" His eyes narrow, slowly, with some wariness growing in his gaze. "...Or... do you mean a name for the *team*?"

[MALIN]
"Of course, it's not like I have anything better to do," Malin says off-hand. She shakes her head, as though Daisuke was the silly one in the scenario. "If I'm going to build a good team for missions, then I need to watch people. And you're a people worth watching, so I watched."

She steps closer to the edge of the building. Down drops her yo-yo. It hangs in the air, spinning free. "And yeah, that's what I asked, wasn't it? Come up with a name for the team. S'not so hard, is it?" she questions, and snaps her yo-yo back up to her hand. "Show me some enthusiasm, make it a name worthy of you. Worthy of me. Worthy of the team." Which currently consists of two people and the potential existence of a whole secret society of thieves and rogues out to keep the world a safe place.

"You can do that, can't you Daisuke?"

[DAISUKE]
Several long seconds pass where Daisuke just... stares at Malin, again, with his mouth left slightly hanging open. No, he really doesn't have any idea left anymore on what exactly to think of this bizarre blonde girl.

"...Before I answer that," he eventually says, with one palm held out towards her. "First of all... do you... even have anyone else in this team or whatever? And second..." HIs head tilts slightly to one side, and his lips curve into a wry sort of smile. "...Isn't coming up with a team name something the team leader usually does?"

[MALIN]
Malin's head inclines haughtily at the sudden questioning of her secret team. "I'll have you know I've worked with a local super hero, and with a world class martial artist. Not to mention been a part of rescuing a kidnapped rich girl. I have a team." She whips the yo-yo downward, letting it whistle at the bottom of its string for a moment that she stares at Daisuke. Waiting for his response.

Thwip! The yo-yo slaps up in the palm of her hand. "You know what else a team leader does? Delegate and test the newbies on their competency. Which is what I'm doing here. So there."

[DAISUKE]
"A... local super hero and a world class martial artist," Daisuke repeats after her, with another dubious, slow blink of his eyes. "And you somehow figured I fit in with that kind of lot?"

A quiet sigh and a groan of faint frustration comes, and Daisuke finds himself scratching at the back of his head all over again, as if just trying to process everything this girl has to throw at him triggers some kind of nervous tic in him.

"...Alright, I'll... see what I can think of, I guess," he ultimately offers. "I can promise that much, at least. Even if I'm not sure I'm really... good at the creative stuff and all. ...I mean, is there any kind of stuff you *don't* want in a team name?"

[MALIN]
"I think you do, because you got the heart for it, kid," Malin says, clapping her hand to her chest in a show of something that might be mistaken for respect. "And you have it. Everything else comes after."

She rolls her wrist and the yo-yo disappears again, somewhere on her person where it's likely best not to ask. And then she turns back to the edge, looking over and gauging some sort of drop distance and potential trajectory. "Iunno. Think for yourself, disciple. Impress Malin with your creativity. And if you feel unconfident, think of the confidence I have that you can do it. And use that to help you get through." She heard that somewhere, she couldn't remember where, but it sounded deep to her.

And with that, she skips over the edge, turning in air and gripping the side with nimble fingers. "See you 'round, red."

[DAISUKE]
"... Believe in the you that believes in me, huh?" Daisuke says in a slightly lower tone, trying to keep the hint of amusement from tugging at the corner of his mouth too much.

"I'll... try and s-"

He cuts himself off when she suddenly skips over the edge. Even if she's so casual about it that she even sends words of passing back to him, he reacts almost immediately with barely-contained panic. The boy lets out a little yelp and immediately runs over to the edge, to peek past it just to make sure that the blonde is actually... well, not falling down to splatter onto the pavement several stories down.

[MALIN]
Down below, Malin hangs from a window by her knees. She sits up despite the hanging position and slips into the open school room window. She looks up at Daisuke while she's mostly safe in the window and waves up at him. No further words or explanations, simply a disappearing act and vanishing into one of the many, many school rooms of the massive Taiyo High School.

And now Daisuke is left alone, but how alone? After all the weirdness of Malin's watchfulness, and her clear display of her athleticism is just a final show of the curious start for Malin's relationship with the red headed young hero.

Log created on 14:19:08 04/26/2021 by Malin, and last modified on 16:18:13 04/27/2021.