Description: It's no secret Yurika isn't very fond of Sakura Kasugano; but to go as far as to start weird rumors through the sunshine girl herself? Shocking. Prelude to Emonata
The Southtown Mall is bustling more or less like it always is, Summer just seems to be the best time to hang around there, particularly for Taiyo students whom is the closest school there. As one might expect it's pretty hot out, and most of the crowd is either hanging out in the air conditioned arcades, stuffing their faces with food at the mini-parks, or if you're Yurika Kirishima, just stepping out from one of the hottest places for gothic lolita apparel, 'Baby, the Stars Shine Bright'.
Normally, it's be time then, for the prissy musician to be headed right home, but there was one other place she enjoyed, a nice little cafe that isn't quite as popular as all the other chains. It's down on the first floor, meaning she'd have to take the stairwell down to get there. Yurika herself is clad in all white, a rather frilly and laced white dress about her features with a light yellow mantle over her shoulders; matching the yellow and similarly frilled parasol that she holds up to protect herself from the harsh sunlight. She was already in a rather pleasent mood, but in just moments time she'd be in complete bliss.
Having been on vacation until just recently, Hinata was extra hyperactive today, glad to finally back in the town where her perky, energetic attitude is not only known but generally welcomed. Aside from the consistent greetings from any number of Taiyo students, many of the shop vendors are also quite happy to see the Wakaba girl out and about, vendors of sweets in particular having missed the girl's shining presence giving them money.
In fact a number of them have given her free food as a welcome back present, leaving the girl to haul around any number of sweets, from small cakes to to sodas in her arms. Sticking right out of the girl's mouth is popsicle, seeing as frozen stuff gets melty and then goes away it comes first. It's in this situation that Hinata finds herself scrambling down the same stairwell as Yurika, going a bit too fast for her own god, and rams right into the frilly-dressed young woman, causing a rather impressive, messy crash.
Yurika isn't quite as off-guard as one might think she'd be. Being in a pleasent mood isn't quite the same as being completely oblivious, in fact Yurika has this.. Feeling that something interesting will happen today. And that 'interesting' thing is scrambling down the stairwell, just seconds after that, smashed into and tumbling down the last five or six stairs with a very loud crash, like pottery slamming onto concrete.
Heads turn quickly toward the sudden disturbance, to find the young Wakaba perhaps herself and her goods scattered along the floor, next to a brown plant-pot shattered into three perfect pieces, and the fake palm tree it held rolls until it hits another persons foot.
The young Kirishima continues down the last few stairs then, looking mildly concerned, which becomes an expression of recognition as she offers her gloved hand to the fallen girl, "Oh my, are you all right, Miss Wakaba?" Now then, what just happened again?
Set amongst the scattered sweets, spilled drinks, and assorted, now inedible snacks (they are past the five second window), is a somewhat confused looking Hinata Wakaba. One moment she's heading down the stairs at an admittedly overly fast pace, looking like she was about to crash into a well-dressed young lady, and the next she's on the ground at the bottom of the stairs.
With a slightly perplexed frown on her face, Hinata accepts the offered hand, although it takes her a moment to recognize its owner. "Ouch, that was a hard fall, guess I must have missed a few steps. I hope I didn't knock you, Yurika." She hauls herself up with the assistance of the offered hand, giving a sad look down at the cake smooshed across the front of her shirt.
The musician gives a small smile in return, her dark eyes looking the ball of energy over. It'd been a long time since she had seen the girl, if she's back, that can only mean that things are going to get even more troublesome in the future.
But she supposed she could worry about that later, once Hinata is drawn to her feet, Yurika then reaches into her handbag to draw out a small white kerchief. "You really should be more careful, but it's good to see you're all right. Here you may use this." Her smile then curls just a little wider, apparently not going to make the effort to explain what just happened there, "I'll be just fine, but thank you for your concern. And just where are you off to in such a rush?"
She glances down to the mess. It doesn't look like there's much to salvage there. And that's perfectly fine, too much sugar is bad for you anyway.
The offered handerchief is gladly accepted and Hinata's quick to start scraping off as much of the cake as possible, but the frosting, however, is a rather substantial hurdle in this effort. "Thanks, this'll help a bit, I just hate it when my clothes get all dirty, though. And this time I wasn't even getting into a fight." As she speaks, she continues to try to clean out the frosting, managing to bring it down to just a few tiny patches stuck in the threads of her shirt, standing out a slight discoloration.
A sad glance is spared the remains of her bounty, sorrowful thoughts of all the sugary treats that could have been lining her belly flowing through her mind before she turns back toward Yurika, "Oh... I was just going to go get some tea, I prefer to have my snacks with a little bit on the side. It makes them taste even better."
Tea?
That is the magic word for Yurika, if there was any diminishing interest going on with the musician, it had practically skyrocketed at that very moment. That's not completely the case, though, as there was another thing in common brought up. "I know what you mean, I don't particularly enjoy getting dirty myself.. And that's not just because I wear a lot of white. Mmn, I also was just headed to the cafe, perhaps you could join me, it'd be my treat?"
The student picks up her shopping bag once more, her expression doesn't suggest that she's going to take 'no' as an answer either.
An offer is made for a free treat, and Hinata for one isn't going to say no to it without a real good reason... and with none appearing she's more than happy to agree. "Well if you want to, then of course! Tea helps make sweets better, but having someone to drink it with makes tea even better." A small glance is spared to Yurika's bag, "Oh, if you'd like I could carry that for you, I mean you are offering to buy me some tea so I'd be happy to help you out, even if it's just a little thing."
Excellent. This would be a very good opportunity for Yurika to get a little nosey, she'd been spending so much time organizing and taking care of things withing Seijyun, that she never really took a moment to see what's been going on outside of her 'realm' as it were.
Yurika has to try hard not to fight back a blanch in responce to Hinata's 'after-school special' line there. Yuck. "Y- Yes.. I.. Agree completely.." Is her mildly forced response, Yurika then offering her shopping bag and leads the way to the indoor cafe that so very conveniently is right near the stairwell. The janitors can have fun cleaning up that mess. "And it would be my pleasure. I was wondering if the rumors buzzing around the shops were true or not. It'd be nice to get a chance to spend a little time with one of Taiyo's 'heroes'. I understand your return was quite recent?"
While her super friendly attitude does often border on the cheesy side, Hinata's love of the fight would probably mark her as the 'don't do this' character of a bad movie designed to push kids away from fighting (although none of those actors would probably have a clue what they were doing).
Regardless, she's not itching for a fight at the moment, and she carefully takes the bag from Yurika, it would look rather poor of her to damage anything her potential new friend just purchased. That would make it awkward when she would ultimately ask to get some cake with her tea. "Oh yeah, my family and I went on vacation for the whole summer. We went out to one of those resorts out in the middle of nowhere where all you've got is a cabin and a bunch of mountains. We just got back in town last night, so I've been running all over town... but it seems like weird things happened while I was gone. And nobody's even bothered to call me up to welcome me back, not even Natsu or Sakura."
Yurika would likely end Hinata where she stood if anything happened to her recently bought dress. Yurika, unlike 'hardcore' EGL, simply doesn't have the time to sew her own dresses, leaving her to partake in a rather expensive hobby of buying them instead.
The door opened, Yurika allows Hinat to step inside first, and then takes the lead to head to one of the table and chair sets closest to those 'new school' jukeboxes. She's pretty much silent all the while until she takes her seat and looks to Hinata once more. "Oh is that so? I'm hoping to be going out with my family soon as well. Probably nothing as extravegant as your trip, I'm sure. I take it, then, that you were rather bored because there were no bears to rough up?"
Yurika giggles lightly behind her hand, and quickly shakes her head, "I'm just teasing, of course. There's been some things going on, some more extravegant than others.. You know how this season is, though, people just leave town." Pause. And then a small frown. "Ah yes, Sakura.. Well it doesn't suprise me that she hadn't called you, these days I hear she's trying to get close to any boy she can get her hands on. Sad, really.."
As they get to the table, Hinata carefully sets the bag down on one of the empty seats at the table before taking her own across from Yurika, scooting it up to the table and causing the dreadful chair-scoot noise that ranks among nails on chalkboards in the annoying sounds department. "It was kind of boring, there weren't many kids my age around and none of them were fighters. But then I remembered in those movies how they always show the hero out in the wilderness training. So I spent a lot of time running around the mountain, through the woods, punching trees, that sort of thing. It was really cool!"
Then as the gossip starts, her eyes start to go wide, "What?! Sakura's going boy crazy?! I didn't expect that from her. Although maybe I should have, it seems like she gets a boyfriend for awhile and then gets bored with them. There was Sean and that Shingo boy, too."
Yurika isn't bothered too much by the sound, at least she doesn't look it. The cafe isn't too occupied, just as Yurika had expected, but a couple of heads do turn their way to the duo; they do look rather an odd pair. It's nothing compared to when Yurika is standing side-by-side with Zaki, of course.
Yurika orders a tea, of course, though nothing special, a simple green tea. And then her attention is back to Hinata with a light chuckle. "I see, well it seems some things don't change, you're still quite the fight maniac, hmn? Still using that unusual style as well?" But that subject is cut mildly short for a slightly more pressing issue, in which the musician nods once more. "Oh yes, this time she took a complete one-eighty and took interest in a silver-haired pretty-boy. I guess she had enough of the 'goodie two-shoes' and is going for 'bad boys' now, doing crazy things for them. Of course, you didn't hear this from me. Ask around Taiyo sometime, I'm sure there's plenty of buzz about it. Perhaps it's just a phase, or post-graduation anxiety, I really don't know."
One of the strange things about Hinata is how quickly people seem to get over different people hanging around her. Anyone who knows the girl has come face to face with her energetic personality and has seen first hand how easy it is to get swept up by it. As orders are taken, she asks for an ordinary black tea, knowing full well that there are very few who would be willing to sweeten anything to her personal tastes, the girl's sugar intake could be compared to that of a hummingbird.
With the subject now completely turned toward her close personal friend, Hinata's quick to get swept up. "A silver-haired pretty boy? You mean Hyo? I guess he is kind of cute... but he's so serious about things, just like Kyosuke. Some people need to learn to loosen up and have some fun." There's a small shrug of her shoulders, "But I guess serious might just be her thing. She always used to talk about that Ryu guy, the world famous Street Fighter. From everything I've heard, he's totally serious about fighting, lives and breathes it constantly and Sakura sounded a bit like she might have a little crush on him."
Yurika can certainly see where the charm comes from with Hinata. It is much to Yurika's relief that it's more than.. Ah.. The flashes of white that comes with the girls match-ups. Yurika also seems a bit suprised by Hina's choice of drink, which doesn't arrive much longer than fifteen seconds later. Wild! It also appears to come with a big slice of carrot cake. Lucky? Quite possibly.
"Hyo? Hmn, no I don't believe it'd be him. I suppose he's.. Not very unpleasent to the eyes." Yurika raises her teacup. It was a bit odd talking about someone whom she'd already decided was fated to be killed by her brother. Kyosuke wasn't a much better name to mention either, but them's the breaks! "I don't think being serious is all that terrible. There comes a point in life where a person simply has no choice but to mature to obtain greater power. It works for some better than others, of course. As for Ryu.."
Yurika is silent for a good moment. Now, she may not be the biggest fan of Kasugano, but imagining some for of forbidden love blossom between very elder master and much younger student is enough to make her eyes glaze over and her mouth water a bit. What a story that would be! So pardon her a moment, as she stares off into space.
As the tea arrives, Hinata's eyes brighten, especially as she sees the cake. There's pretty much no place in town that serves tea and cake without knowing that the girl pretty much always has one with the other, and if that's not the case it's usually tea that's left behind. The sugar jar is stealthily pulled over toward the Sunshine Girl and carefully spooned inhuman amounts of sugar into her tea before starting to stir it.
"Oh, there's some other silver-haired pretty boy around? I can't think of anymore... but I guess since she graduated it wouldn't neccessarily be someone in school around here." She lifts the cup to her lips and takes a quick sip, letting out a happy sigh as a diabetes inducing amount of sugar gets pulled into her system and then setting it back down in front of her, "Well being a little serious isn't bad, but you need to be able to let loose at least every once in awhile, otherwise you're boring. I guess that's why I've always thought Ken was the cooler one of those two. Although that's partly because my dad is such a huge fan of him. My mom tells me he actually wanted to put a mobile of Ken above my little brother's crib."
"......................"
Yurika was out of it for a moment yes, but her little daydream is disrupted by the sound of too much sugar falling into ones tea. The musicians dark eyes blink, then fall to said teacup. And her expression is rather comical, her jaw falling slowly slack, and even raises her hand as if trying to signal to the girl that that is more than enough spoonfuls! You know an episode of Jackass where a stunt is just so gross you have to turn away? Yurika's face scrunches up in a very unladylike manner as the cup moves closer and closer to Hinata's lips and then her eyes close when the sip is taken.
Ew. Ew ew ew ew ew. GROSS.
Yurika sets her teacup down, taking in a small breath, and forces a smile back to her company, "O- Oh is that so, v- very amusing indeed.. Ken seems to be an interesting fellow, I confess, I'm not completely caught up on the fighting scene.. I do hope to change that this summer. As for the boy in question, you'll probably meet him soon enough." She stares at Hinata. As if expecting the girl to go into a convulsing fit any moment now.
Things only get worse for Hinata's tea as after a moment her face curls up like she just ate a rotten apple, her eyes go down to her tea... and she adds yet another spoonful. "Hmmm, normally eight is enough, but it's got a weird aftertaste today." The cup is once more hoisted up to her lips and a bigger sip is sucked in between her lips, this time swishing it around across her tongue like a professional taster before swallowing it down, completely unlike a professional taster. "Ah that's better."
But that's enough of putting Yurika into a fit, "Well Ken's just more involved in things, Ryu's just running around training most of the time without doing much for the fans. Ken's the opposite, he's great with the fans. Plus his book really helped me make my style my own, you know?" Her wide smile spreads back out across her lips, the smile so bright that the clouds seem to run away in its presence, "Well I really do hope to get to see Sakura sometime soon, and then she can tell me all about this new boyfriend of her's herself."
Yurika sighs. Of course Hinata was going to blanch like that after putting all that sugar in th- Oh my god.
There are simply no words for Yurika for a moment, just none. She'll just have to accept the fact that Hinata is some sort of .. Higher life form or something. So much sugar, why, God?
".. Book?" Come to think of it, that does make sense. A lot of popular culture is in the form of magazines and such. That little idea makes Yurika forget a bit about the horror she'd just seen, quite interested in persuing knowledge about the fighting scene. Though she doesn't really care all that much about the 'fans', come to think of it. Taking another sip from her cup, the musician nods in agreement, her eyes squinting a bit in response to the brightness of her company's smile. Interesting as this girl is, Yurika is really uncertain if she can keep this up much longer. "I most certainly hope so as well. I'm a Seijyun student so I don't really feel right about nosing around gossip personally, I'm sure you can understand how awkward that could be. But you bring up an interesting idea.. I do believe I'll hit the magazine stand once I'm finished with things here. Ah, and one last thing. When you get a chance, check on Roberto. The poor boy's really been going senile lately. Did you hear, he stayed in a mental ward for a couple of weeks."
"Magazines? I guess he does have one of those out, but I was talking about the book he wrote. It was on the bestseller's list for months when it came out. The magazines mostly just talk about who's big the fighting scene right now instead of helping you figure out your own style."
She is just about to bring the cup of tea back up to her lips to drink more of the saccharine concoction when she brings up Roberto and Hinata just stops right there. "Roberto was in a mental ward? I had no idea! I swear you disappear for awhile and nobody bothers to tell you anything when you get back. I guess that would explain what was bothering Shoma so much when I saw him earlier... but I would have expected him to tell me something important like that."
"I see, a book.." Yurika repeats thoughtfully. Her choice of reading when it comes to softcovers are heavily biased. But for the sake of research, and maybe even a little bit of SCIENCE, she'll persevere. It's suprisingly simple to hide her smile with Hinata's reaction to Roberto's latest condition. She thought it'd be more difficult. "A lot of things have been a little odd as of late. But really, we're all coming to that age where our mind gets a little... Loopy. Some of us get hit considerably harder than others. But yes, I'm genuinly worried about poor Roberto, he and I, we're close friends, and I think he's suffering a minor bout of amnesia." her eyes close, "It's a bit difficult, him forgetting all the good times we've had togeather.. I hope it works out somehow."
And with that done, her teacup empty, she places the payment plus tip on the table, and slowly stands up, taking her shopping bag and parasol as well, "The best advice I can give is really, start seeking them out instead of waiting for them to come to you. I know it's disappointing not having some sort of 'Welcome Back' party or anything, but there's been much going on lately, that would probably leave you better off taking this initiative. Until next time, Miss Wakabe."
Hinata's cheerful nature is once more left lacking today from yet another person giving her bad news. This is officially the worst welcome back day ever and she can clearly never go on vacation again because the moment she does all of her friends start to lose it. Life in Southtown must be a gloomy experience without their beloved Sunshine Girl. "I'll make sure I look in on all of them... and thank you again for the tea and cake. We should do it again sometime."
And so the musicians job here, at least for the moment, was complete. There probably wouldn't be another day in a very long time where she had felt this good. And she couldn't say she didn't deserve it, a woman like herself who spends a good deal of her time being miserable has a right to make things difficult for others as well after all, right? Of course. "Of course, I'll be looking forward to it. Until next time then." Yurika gives Hinata a curtsie, and then heads off to her next destination before her trip home. The bookstore.
Log created on 19:53:54 08/05/2007 by Yurika, and last modified on 04:16:25 02/09/2009.