Description: The ability to handle oneself with grace and aplomb. That's a necessary skill for any young lady, and that's what Seijyun High grooms its students to be. That's why Seijyun High has a formal dining hall, not just an ordinary school cafeteria. It's supposed to teach the girls how to handle meals in a formal setting...at banquets, high-class parties, and expensive restaurants. That's the idea. Of course, things sort of go out the window when a crazy ninja infiltrates the place during mealtimes, and challenges a student to a fight. But hey, all ladies need that skill too, right? Never know when you might need to ninja fight. (Winner: Riko)
After a long day of classes and extracurricular activities, there's nothing like having a nice, well balanced supper. On today's menu for the young ladies of Seijyun high is pork katsu with rice and vegetables on the side, all artfully presented. There is not, exactly, waiter service, but the girls sit in tables (crouching, of course, on cushions) and organize their meals in a tasteful way. Perhaps the real guide they try to present is that of a fancy restaurant, such as ladies of their caliber might eat in.
Sada sits, with the mysterious instrument case filled with death resting beside her, with colleagues from the glee club. The tall and horse-faced Sasaki is speaking, at length, about some issue or other pertaining to obtaining new equipment -- the microphones are getting old, or something, Sada gathers -- while they sit at their small table off to one side of the tastefully-appointed dining hall.
Sada is not paying close attention, as she was very hungry and likes pork katsu. She eats with the traditional varying style, one bite of meat and sauce, one bite of rice, one bite of vegetable, one bite of rice. She also has her back turned towards the main doorway into the dining hall, completely by chance.
And as such, with her back turned... Sada misses the entry of a particular student. A couple years younger, shorter, with dark hair. A fairly nondescript girl, actually, if it wasn't for the /manner/ of her appearance.
She's skating, a pair of baby-blue in-line skates on her feet. The polyurethane wheels rolling over the dining hall floorboards, propelling her forward in casual, easy strides.
This gets her...more than a few odd looks, most disapproving. There's nothing specifically in the rules /against/ it - the skates are, after all, technically sports equipment. But blatantly rolling into the dining hall like this...that kind of frivolousity is simply frowned on, not just by Seijyun staff, but also the students themselves. So there's a lot of muttering. The girl ignores it, though, as she joins the short queue leading to the serving table.
A basic principle of infiltration...is to act like you belong. Confidence is the most important part. People don't question your presence if you act like you fit in. Like you should fit there. Like you've got every right to be. Carry yourself well enough, and people will overlook the inconsistencies. Most folks aren't that observant.
In a school of female students, nobody's going to notice yet /another/ teenage girl. Especially one who's wearing the right uniform.
Another basic principle. Misdirection. They're too busy grumbling about her audacity to question /who she is/.
Of course, as the minutes tick by, some are beginning to wonder. But by now, the girl's got a tray of food. And she's heading towards Sada's table.
"Hi," Riko says, brightly, "mind if I sit here?"
Sasaki is the first one to stop talking and notice the sk8r grrl as she approaches. She wrinkles her nose, pushing her rather thick glasses up them as she gawks at Riko when she blades her way on up. "Uh," she says.
Sada turns her head with a piece of pork katsu in her mouth; she draws it the rest of the way in, chewing it without much haste as she looks towards Riko. She lets the time pass.
One second, then two. Then she swallows, before smiling at the shorter girl. "Is that an iPod?" She reaches out with one hand towards her: "May I see it? I've never had one." This is, of course, neither yes nor no! Perhaps she wants to see if Riko will be able to stand still with her hands full on the skates for a while.
"No," Riko says, blandly, "it's rigged to explode."
She says it calmly, matter-of-factly.
Riko tilts her head, slightly, regarding Sada. She's still standing besides the table, still holding the tray with pork katsu and rice, gripped securely in her hands. Because she asked if she could sit - and the fact she didn't get an actual reply hasn't escaped her, either.
There's a strange little smile on her face, as she stands there...grinning at Sada and the other girls at the table.
Sada quirks an eyebrow. "Sit," she says, before looking back to the others, and taking a bite now out of her rice. This goes down quite easily, and before long she's asking, in a tone that may be curious or may be snide, "Are you interested in joining the glee club?"
She doesn't recognize the girl, but that's hardly surprising; there are many girls at Seijyun. The rollerblades are probably an accident.
Sasaki tells Riko, in her nasal voice, "Don't you think the vegetables've been bad lately?"
With a fluid motion, Riko slips the tray onto the dining table. As she does so, she palms the fork, spears one of the vegetables, and pops it in her mouth.
She doesn't sit as she does this. She's still standing, besides the table. With one solitary utensil lifted as she chews thoughtfully.
"I guess," she says, "there -is- a strong taste. Probably enough to cover most poisons or sedatives had I chosen to spike the food, but those tactics are so terribly /imprecise/."
It's an odd statement. But she's an unusual girl.
Oh, she's wearing the Seijyun uniform. But there's the skates, the iPod clipped to her waist...wire running from the music player to a pair of large stereo headphones, hanging round her neck.
The girl called Sasaki mentally pegged Riko as a "sk8r grrl" on first-sight. And that impression...wasn't wrong. She's about as close as you can get, while still clad in a seifuku uniform. With blazer, skirt, and all.
But honestly, what really sets her apart isn't visual appearance. Or clothes.
No, it's her attitude. Her presence. The way she holds herself, the way she stands, skate wheels perfectly balanced on the wooden floor. The set of her head, the look in her eyes.
She still hasn't taken a seat. She just stands there, holding the fork.
And now she's staring at Sada.
No, she's probably not here for the glee club.
Sada's head turns again. It's as if the world seemed to move closer to her eyes as they widened -- realizing, perhaps, the true nature of what is going on here. Her lips purse to a thin line of tension.
She picks up her clay tea cup, and drains it in one long swig, setting it down and turning to open the case at her side. "So I guess you're the first in line," she says, as she rummages around inside of it.
Sasaki looks nervous, and scoots to the side of the table in as subtle a way as she can easily manage.
Riko rolls back a step, gliding easily. She moves away from the table, opening up some space between her and Sada. She reverses into the wide aisle between the dining tables, keeping her eyes on the other girl. By now, the little scene is beginning to attract attention. There's a subtle murmuring working through the dining hall, as girls start to take notice.
The fork in Riko's fingers flickers back and forth, the polished metal glittering as she spins it round and round.
In a pleasant voice, Riko asks, "What do you think?"
Sada draws out the wooden kama and reaches into the case to grasp the far end of the kusari as she looks up towards Riko. She doesn't rise, just yet.
"Well," she says, "I think three things. The first is that I was really looking forward to dinner all day, and I guess I may need to get something cold later. Pork katsu's my favorite."
She glances towards Sasaki, who stands up, bows, and steps away from the table quickly, along with the other random members of the club. Sada continues, "The second is that it was pretty tough of you to sneak in here just so that you can fight me, instead of sending a letter or an email or a text message, or..."
She trails off, looking back to Riko. She doesn't stand up, or take her hands from the case. "As for the third thing..."
She twists her arms suddenly. The kusari seems to leap out from the case as she twists around on the cushion, letting it slide easily along the tile floor as she rises to her feet! The weight of the chain swings out towards Riko's lower legs, doubtless hoping to exploit that instability on those happenin' rollerblades.
COMBATSYS: Sada has started a fight here.
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Sada 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Riko has joined the fight here.
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Riko 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sada
COMBATSYS: Riko dodges Sada's Odani Foundation Art.
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Riko 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sada
Blink and you'll miss it.
Riko's not standing on the floor. Not anymore. No, she moved so quickly that most of the girls in the hall didn't even see. Sada's probably quick enough to catch it...but for most of the students...one moment Riko was there, and the next... her stance is different. The position of her legs, changed. One foot actually -atop- the trailing edge of the kusari, stomping on the weighted end, skate wheels parallel to the links of metal.
In a burst of gravity-defying speed, she skates -on- the chain.
Up a couple of feet. Up and over. She twists off, flying in space. One arm extended with a glint of silver - the fork she picked up a moment ago. Riko stabs the utensil at Sada.
COMBATSYS: Sada blocks Riko's Improvised Tactics.
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Riko 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Sada
That is so fast that Sada's only barely able to make it out. She does the reflexive thing when the girl comes skating up and down towards her, which is to raise the sickle up in order to parry the blow --
It doesn't work out just as she expected. The fork doesn't stab down towards her tender and beautiful face, instead digging into her hand. She lets out a brief, sharp shriek, taking a step back afterwards and twisting her body around. Instead of aiming another blow from the weapon, she almost pirouettes, sending a twisting kick towards the agile challenger's hip!
She also asks, perhaps belatedly, "Who are you, anyway?"
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, a dessert cart is being loaded.
COMBATSYS: Sada successfully hits Riko with Light Kick.
- Power hit! -
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Riko 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Sada
Riko winces, stumbling as she lands. She stays on her feet, but the wheels of her skates skid awkwardly against the dining room floor before she regains her balance. She doesn't cry in pain, though, doesn't yelp. Instead, there's another sound.
Static.
From the headphones looped round Riko's neck. They crackle to life, seemingly of their own accord. The MP3 player at her waist lights up as well, the LCD screen glowing brightly.
Riko never touched it.
There's a sped-up squeal as a track fast-forwards through the intro and verse, before hitting a distinctive line. It emerges in a surprisingly loud blast, audible throughout the hall.
"Pleased to meet you," Riko singsongs, "won't you guess my name..."
She flashes a smile, then thrusts an arm forward. The fork leaves her hand, rocketing towards Sada like a triple-pronged bullet.
"...but what's puzzling you is the nature of my game! o/`"
COMBATSYS: Riko successfully hits Sada with Thrown Object.
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Riko 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Sada
Sada takes another step back as this girl brings up her iPod and it leaps into life. "What -" she manages to say, before she bursts into song. She knows that song! She actually doesn't like the harmonies much because there's this persistent faint off-keyness in Richards' voice that...
This musical memory interferes with muscle memory. The fork is thrown, and the flight is good, hitting her right in the shoulder. "Aah!" she shouts, eyes watering in irritation as she takes another pace back. "Hnh," she says, or more accurately grunts. She tosses the kusari in the air, letting it loop around her shoulder...
And kneels down to pick up a lunch tray. "You like throwing things, do you?" she asks.
'Oh, it's lovely,' the matronly mistress of desserts declares, looking down at the stack of delectable green-tea mousses. 'The girls will simply ADORE them!'
COMBATSYS: Sada focuses on her next action.
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Riko 0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0 Sada
The music's still blaring from Riko's headphones. It's probably a good thing she doesn't actually have them over her ears. At that volume, the things would be nothing short of deafening. But even with that volume... pretty soon it might be drowned out by the ambient noise in the dining hall. Because the Seijyun students are all a-flutter, watching this. Speculation's rampant in the air. A couple of more fight-minded girls are beginning to cheer.
This is entertainment, after all. What's high-class dining without a quality floor show?
The disruption hasn't spread enough to warrant teacher intervention. Not yet. At least one student's run off to find a teacher, but it'll probably be some time before one gets here...and nor is the noise level enough to alert the kitchen staff. So the poor dessert chef, back there, remains woefully ignorant.
Riko takes note of all this. Situational awareness is important, after all. But the focus of her attention is her opponent. Sada.
"Whatever works," Riko says, cheerfully.
Then she lunges, rocketing on her skates.
One hand thrust forward.
Glowing blue. Sparking with electricity.
Because that's how she switched on the iPod without touching the controls.
And that power's now directed at Sada. Or more correctly, directed at what she holds. The discharge occurs when Riko's still a foot away, before she reaches Sada proper.
Metal serving tray. An excellent lightning rod.
COMBATSYS: Riko successfully hits Sada with Light Fantastic EX.
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Riko 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Sada
The electrical power bites right into the serving tray and Sada lets out a sharp cry as her hand jumps, dropping it. Her entire body twitches for a moment as the electricity arcs down her nerves and muscles, jerking things and spasming others; her shoulders wriggle and the tray clatters on the ground. She continues shaking as she narrows her eyes towards the girl, hyperventilating for a moment...
And then she recovers herself. A deep breath, let it out. Breathe back in...
"What - what in the HELL," Sada declares, as her voice starts to pick up speed and timbre. "This is the third street fight I've gotten into in the last week! Every single time it's some sort of horrible musical theme! That American with her guitar, that English bitch with her death singing, you with your iPod!"
She takes another step back as her hand slides along the chain, letting the weight fall before she starts spinning it in swift, humming strokes. "All of you are doing the same thing?! What did I do, piss off the Sound Ninja Clan?!" Her eyes widen, and then with a scream she swings the Kusari around once, twice, and then forwards to try and smash into the girl's shoulder!
Meanwhile, the dessert cart is steadily pushed forwards, towards the entrance to the dining hall. The door is hit by the far end of the cart -- it pushes open --
COMBATSYS: Riko dodges Sada's Spinning The Kusari.
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Riko 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Sada
The heavy metal weapon crashes into Riko's shoulder joint. A powerful and punishing blow. Except when it impacts...the ninja girl doesn't fall. In fact, she makes no visible reaction. Quite literally. No -visible- reaction. Because that's when she explodes into a cloud of smoke. If Sada's really paying attention, she might just notice the punctured aerosol can a second before it disintegrates into shrapnel - peppering a few unfortunate girls sitting too close. Of course, many of them are already coughing from the smoke.
The music stops, cut dead like a thrown switch.
From above, Riko grins. Now in the air above Sada, hanging from a light fixture. She drops from the dining hall ceiling, descending towards Sada. Straight down, one skate-clad heel extended in a crippling axe kick.
"Aw, you just need rhythm!"
COMBATSYS: Sada counters Light Kick from Riko with Mount Hiei Reversal.
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Riko 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1 Sada
Sada's eyes narrow as the proof is demonstrated. She just struck a telling blow against the girl, and instead of reacting as is right and proper, by screaming and wailing for mercy, she burst into smoke. There is no doubt about it: Ninjas are after her.
She has also seen plenty of ninja films. Her head tilts upwards as she looks towards the leapt-up Riko, taking a half-step aside and twisting the (wooden practice) scythe forwards to strike at the side of Riko's knee. Hopefully, residual pain will help keep her off balance as Sada takes two steps back. "What," she says, "like that, you mean?"
The dessert cart rolls out, and the lady pushing it is just in time to witness a smoke bomb going off. She gasps, throwing her hands up -- and the cart begins rolling forwards. Relentlessly. Down the wide aisle between tables... and towards the fighters!
Smashed out of the air, oh the humanity. And slammed in the knee joint, too. That's no fun. She had that drop all planned, and Sada has to go and totally ruin her trajectory. It's a good thing Riko had the foresight to wear gym shorts under her pilfered Seijyun skirt, otherwise the dining hall would be getting an eyeful. True, they're all female, but you never know.
And, well, you know, one /hears things/ about these all-girl schools.
Yeah, can't be too careful.
Riko doesn't think about that right now, though. She has other things on her mind. Like recovering from the wayward aerial spin she seems to be in. She manages this with remarkable aplomb, corkscrewing in mid-air...
...falling back to earth...
...and landing atop the runaway dessert cart.
Her abused knee protests at the landing, but she ignores it. Her boots smash into the green tea confectionaries arranged on the cart, undoing the poor lady's handiwork in a single explosive second. Riko rides out the impact.
And now she's bearing down on Sada, steering the trolley like a skateboard.
Clearly, she's a girl with experience on wheels.
"Nah," Riko yells, "NOT ENOUGH STYLE!"
COMBATSYS: Riko successfully hits Sada with Random Weapon.
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Riko 0/-------/---====|=======\===----\1 Sada
Sada can neither confirm nor deny 'those stories.' She watches Riko as she corkscrews around, leaps back, lands on the dessert cart. Sada shifts around to lift the kusari and start spinning it.
She realizes what Riko has done.
She looks down as the boots of this cruel and hateful ninja bite into the delicately-flavored green tea mousse; artfully sprinkled candy shavings and those precious little dollops of whipped cream are smeared into anonymous green and white crud on Riko's boots.
"You filthy little," Sada begins to say, when the cart hits her. It's not a very heavy cart, being made for work in a kitchen rather than a parking lot; she is a rather tough target, and as such, the cart starts falling apart quickly. The upper level accordions down onto the lower level, sending a splurt of green-white goo out in all directions -- including onto Sada.
Sada breathes in once, and reaches down, gathering up some of the goo on her hand. She lifts it up towards her face, saying as she steps back, staggering a bit from the raw force of that impact, "You just ruined dessert." Not for her, though, considering how she licks it off the crook of her thumb.
COMBATSYS: Sada gains composure.
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Riko 0/-------/---====|=======\==-----\1 Sada
Riko alights gracefully on the dining room floor. Once on the ground, she skates backwards. The sweet cream smeared over the blades of her boots and the wheels beneath...draw twin green-coloured trails in the wake of her motion.
"Little, yes," Riko replies, brightly, "but aren't -you- the filthy one?"
She points a finger.
Which is true, really. Riko's got dessert remains all over her skate boots. But that's it. Her clothes are clean. The Seijyun skirt, blazer, and blouse are still pristine. Her iPod and headphones are untouched. Even her hair's relatively neat.
Sada, though, she's covered in cake.
Riko smirks.
COMBATSYS: Riko gathers her will.
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Riko 1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Sada
"Hmf," Sada says.
Then she looks down at herself. "Ha," she says. Her face starts to crinkle. A faint flush comes to her cheeks. It's almost merry. "Ha ha," she continues, as she gathers more of the ruined mousse up and tosses it, as best she can, towards the ground, away from in front of her. "Ha ha ha," she continues.
Then she throws her head back and lets out a short, merry, if rather deep and resonant laugh. It lasts a good four seconds!
At which point she twists the kusari around and suddenly hurls it towards Riko, letting the heavy weight barrel through the air towards her. "Shut," she says, yanking the weight back the moment she can sense the tension being right, twirling around the kama and hurling it forwards as the entire weighted weapon seems to pirouette viciously in the air, "UP!!"
She doesn't LOOK like she's laughing any more.
COMBATSYS: Riko blocks Sada's Avenging Anegawa.
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Riko 1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0 Sada
Riko rocks back as the weapon hits. Crashing into her raised forearms, lacerating the skin. There'll be bruises, too, once they have a chance to form. But Riko doesn't seem peturbed by that. She doesn't register pain at all.
The moment of violence just ramps up the noise level in the dining hall as all the Seijyun students watching.../react/.
But Riko doesn't seem badly hurt.
"Nuh-uh," she shoots back.
Ignoring the cuts, already beginning to bleed, the girl folds her arms in front of her. Grinning at Sada.
"Silence ain't golden. You'd think with all the music, you'd know that!"
COMBATSYS: Riko focuses on her next action.
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Riko 1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0 Sada
While Riko talks, Sada advances! Stepping carefully to avoid slipping in delicious dessert, she presses forwards, swinging the kusari around to the left and the right as she approaches Riko. "Oh," she says, "so you're going to bust out your super ninja move and tell me I need to listen more?!"
Her ladylike language has really gone downhill now that she's fighting. Perhaps someone's been a bad influence on her. She steps suddenly to the side and casts the kama forwards -- but not directly at Riko, instead trying to catch one leg in a loop of chain and yank it out from under her, so that she can share in the cakey goodness.
COMBATSYS: Riko dodges Sada's Quick Throw.
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Riko 1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0 Sada
"Actually," Riko begins, her eyes alight with mischief.
The chain snakes round Riko's ankle.
Then it goes taut.
But when Sada pulls, Riko doesn't go flying. Or hit the ground.
No, she just explodes.
In a flash of electric blue, her entire body replaced by dancing lightning. Reaching out for the chain, using it as a vector to surge into Sada.
From behind Sada, Riko speaks.
She stands beside the ruins of the destroyed dessert cart, smiling.
"Yes."
COMBATSYS: Riko successfully hits Sada with Houdini EX.
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Riko 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Sada
Sada looks astonished, for a moment, and turns her head as the electrical arc bites along the chain. It's made of metal even if the rest of the cart isn't; she would think about having Riko conducted through her body if it was not for the fact that she has to think WITH that body, which is currently having Riko go through it. Her back arches and she twists around, managing to stagger about three paces away from the exploded dessert cart before keeling over and forwards.
This does keep her from counter-attacking, at least.
COMBATSYS: Sada takes no action.
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Riko 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Sada can no longer fight.
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Riko 0/-------/-------|
Riko tilts her head, watching Sada's reaction. The electrical chi matrix left behind by her replacement technique...isn't really as effective as she'd like. Oh, yes, she's able to essentially teleport away, leaving a destructive human-shaped mass of electricity in her place...
...but it's still not up to her sensei's standards. Seishirou-sama's version is more convincing an illusion, more destructive, and more efficient.
Her imperfect technique works well enough, though. Well enough. And Sada -did- say she wanted to see Riko's 'super ninja move'.
You just can't turn down an opening like that.
Riko clapses her hands behind her neck. She rolls her neck, left right, up down, stretching just a little.
"So," she says, turning to the dining hall at large - and the stunned faces of all the Seijyun students, "you all saw, right? It's official, she lost. Yeah?"
As if anyone's going to contradict her.
COMBATSYS: Riko has ended the fight here.
Log created by Riko, and last modified on 10:45:42 05/05/2007.