Description: Even among performers, there's always a shy one. Honoka and Sakura happen to bump into each other while waiting in line for the roller coaster at the Dream Amusement Park. Awkwardness ensues!
An amusement park -- at its core, not so very much different from a circus. Both share the purpose of liberating money from one's wallet in exchange for simple entertainment. But to someone who lives the circus life day in and day out, sampling someone else's idea of extorting for funtimes is an appealing thought.
"It's not -that- much, Honoka. You're reading too much into things again!" Two girls, both at the top end of their teens, are chatting while waiting in the line for one of the bigger roller coasters.
"No, but it's needless prattle. We could be practicing..." protests the one with the red highlights in her hair. "Could be doing anything else, really!"
"You. Are. No. Fun. Besides, Sudou said you -needed- to get out and relax, you're complete drag when you start worrying about business. Isn't that Reika's job anyway?!"
"She's grossly inc--" starts Honoka, before closing her eyes and mouth in irritation. "... I guess." she concludes, defeated. Will this line get any shorter?!
Lines never get shorter. Only longer. That is their nature. As Honoka waits in line with her two friends, well, Sakura is as well, just a few folks ahead--with Kei and Hinata. She isn't wearing her practically-trademarked seifuku, opting instead for a canary-yellow sundress with sunflower patterns on it, but she's definitely got the headband on and, for some inexplicable reason, she's got her padded gloves on.
This is, in fact, something that Kei mentions, rather audibly. "Sa-ku-raaaa... why are you wearing your -gloves-...?" She, at least, sounds both mildly embarrassed and somewhat resigned, as if this isn't the first time Sakura's gone around with her padded fighting gloves on.
Sakura, for her part, just gives Kei a puzzled look. "'cause I was fighting before I got here? You know I can't ignore a challenger. It isn't what he would do." Ah, the line moves.
Sakura moves forward the five feet or so afforded by the movement of the line, then smiles at Kei, just enjoying a bit of her mild discomfort. "Besides, you never know what'll happen, right?"
Hinata, for her part, just shakes her head. She's used to it. Besides, she's got her gloves in her little purse. Just in case, of course.
Indeed, one never knows what may happen... especially not when one is as attention-getting as a certain Sakura Kasugano. Honoka's interest is piqued by Kei's embarassed query, but it's not until Sakura's response that the circus star actually decides to look over. Honoka's stare lasts two full seconds, long enough for her to take in every detail of the trio of girls before glancing back away in feigned aloofness.
"I'm glad y'all care for me that much. Maybe I have been working too hard, mm?" That old Hokkaido dialect creeps into Honoka's voice from time to time. Breathing a brief sigh, she adds, "Actually I heard this is one of the best roller coasters in the country. Thanks for inviting me out here!"
Honoka spares another passing glance at the people ahead of her in line. If one or two of them would just leave, they might be able to sneak in the next rotation of the roller coaster. Honoka squints irritably at the couple just ahead of Sakura's crew, chattering incessantly away about the latest things they saw on Youtube.
At which point the boyfriend seems to be getting violently ill. The couple excuses themselves from the line. Everyone bumps up two spots in line. Yay! (?)
Honoka smiles faintly. "Sucks to be him," she whispers to her companion, under her breath.
"Ohhh, gross!!" is Kei's immediate reaction, along with a classic disgusted-teen face and turn away. Hinata makes a face as well, whereas Sakura looks surprised.
"Yow, that was nasty," she comments, wrinkling her nose as she guides Hinata and Kei around the puddle of illness. She glances at it, then huhs. "Guess we're up next. Kinda feel bad for that guy, though," she comments, glancing back at the couple that excused themselves.
Half-turning as she steps, she calls out to the rest of the line--including Honoka and her friends, or, comrades, whichever they are--"Hey, uh, watch out. There's some, uh... vomit." Okay that sounded kinda lame. Sakura makes a face and just points downwards to indicate what she's talking about.
It's kind of a civic duty, isn't it? For some reason Honoka catches Sakura's interest for a moment--maybe she felt that stare from earlier, or there's just something about the diabolo girl that makes the Ansatsuken Prodigy think 'fighter'. Maybe her inner sense is getting better. Yeah, must be it. All that meditation training with Ultra Street Brawler Six must be helping!
Honoka is not all that upset about the prospect of stepping over vomit. Her day job involves dealing with young children on a daily basis, in an enclosed tent with very low air circulation. One gets used to it -- and the fact that her companion is equally unperturbed is a sign as well.
Then again, she would rather avoid stepping in it. She takes a few steps to the side, much like the rest of the line in the immediate vicinity, in response to Sakura's timely, if obvious, warning. Passing the Ansatsuken practitioner a faint smile, she nods her head in thanks.
But the trio between the two cliques is pretty grossed out from it, and rather than wait the next x minutes standing next to the mess, they decide to quit the scene and try out one of the other rides instead. Honoka and her friend step up towards Sakura's group, and Honoka again bows her head. "Weak stomachs, I guess. Their loss, our gain."
Honoka's friend gives her a quizzical look, but shakes her head in dismissal.
Sparing glances at Sakura and Hinata -- Kei, less so -- Honaka idly pulls out her yo-yo, fidgeting through a few tricks. Not enough room for her diabolo here. "Nice day, though, aside from the smell."
Her companion is... more direct. "Oh, hey, you're that famous fighter, right? Sakuya... Kusanagi, is it?! I can tell from the gloves!"
Honaka gives a patient, measured sigh, and with reddening cheeks, a bow of her head. "We're... fans, kind of."
"Aha-ha... yeah, I guess. Kei's pretty grossed out," replies Sakura, with a little grin, motioning with a thumb to Kei, who looks faintly sick, "but she's a lot hardier than she looks." Damned with faint praise, Kei makes a face--and swats Sakura on the upper arm, to which Sakura winces and protests in a 'oh you got me' tone. Kei rolls her eyes, which gives her the look like this kind of thing's happened before.
Hinata just smiles the patient smile of a girl who knows her friends are like that and probably won't ever change.
"Yeah, it's not bad. I love this coaster, it's a lot of fun. Always makes Kei scream, too!" Sakura winks, then blinks as she's addressed, or misaddressed. "Sakura! Sakura Kasugano." She doesn't sound put out by the misnaming, putting her right hand behind her head. "Aheheh... famous? I dunno... I've done a few things I guess. But yeah, that's me."
The roller coaster screeches to a halt in the background.
Sakura, not Sakuya? "OMIGOD I'M SO SORRY" blurts out Honaka's friend, bowing repeatedly in apology. "I w-watch a lot of the fighting tournaments, w-when we get a chance! It's just that w-we're usually p-perfor--"
Honaka continues, speaking over her friend if for nothing else than to silence her stuttering, "-- performing in the circus at about the same time. But that's what video on-demand is for, I suppose, mm?"
The roller coaster exit lane is suddenly deluged with people, and at about the same time the entrance line surges forward. "My friend's name is Keiko, and mine is Honoka. It's sure nice to meet y'all." She nods her head towards each of the girls in turn, "Miss Sakura. Miss Kei. Miss...?"
But right about then, it's time to start walking. Looks like the five girls will be seated in the same car, at any rate.
Sakura just waves a hand. She's been called far worse--someone she's never met not knowing her name is hardly an insult. Even if she's a 'fan', self-professed or not. "Oh, you perform in the circus? That sounds -awesome-. I love circuses!" So maybe her read was wrong? She definitely felt a hint of fighting spirit from Honoka. But if she thinks about it, then maybe that spirit can apply to things -other- than fighting...
"Hinata's a fighter, too! Uh, not like, professionally or anything but don't let her size fool you." Hinata's response is a sunny smile and a twin-v pose. Which doesn't make her look like a fighter at all!
"Hinata," she says, then Sakura and Kei chime in, in stereo, almost as if they'd planned it. "Nice to meet you, Honoka and Keiko!" Then it -is- time to get on the car and, being ahead, Sakura and her two friends take the front seat, getting safety-barred in.
Honoka smiles faintly at the mention for circuses. "I'm so glad! We really enjoy performing."
Take a couple steps, stop. Take a couple steps, stop. Repeat for a minute or so as everyone gets loaded up, and it adds up to a whole lot of really awkward moments that aren't conducive to actually talking. Which frustrates Honaka, as she thought they had a lot to talk about now. So she runs her yo-yo through some more tricks. Complex ones, now, just no tricks that one can do while shuffling through a roller coaster line, of course
Suffice to say, as soon as the safety bars come down, Keiko's leaning forward as best she can, trying to catch the other three girls' attention. "Yeah! I... I -thought- you looked familiar! We watch all the tournaments!"
"Keiko, you mentioned that already! Sorry, we're trying not to fangirl too much, but it's tough sometimes, haha. Fighting has sure gotten popular over the years! Do you get noticed in public much?"
Sakura turns as much as she can in her seat--she's got the middle seat--to address Keiko, while Hinata has it a little easier turning to her left, being seated in the right seat. It's her who replies, with a giggle. "I don't fight in tournaments as much as Sakura here, I'm not surprised if you didn't recognize me, really."
Sakura has to talk out of the corner of her mouth, in the few moments before the ride really starts. "It's alright. Uh, sometimes! Not everyone is a fight fan, but I'd guess I get recognized a fair amount. I'm just a student of the fighting arts, though. Getting recognized is nice when it happens but it's not what I'm after, you know?"
Sakura is guessing that Honoka performs because she loves performing, not necessarily for the fame, and is, in her own, semi-subtle way, seeing if Honoka agrees.
"Reckon I'd have to agree with that," replies Honaka with a ready smile. She certainly seems friendly, albeit not as talkative.
Keiko, not so much. "Y-yeah! I'm thrilled whenever people notice me, but usually it's only -right- after the performance and--"
Keiko keeps running her mouth right through the start of the coaster. Until Honoka tosses a glance her direction, anyway. Conversation would be ridiciulously difficult when the wind is whipping by that fast; it's only appropriate to put the conversation on pause. Again.
And, again, that yo-yo whips out. Honaka had stilled the yo-yo whenever she was listening or speaking, but now that the conversation has ceased, she's compulsively running through tricks. It's Keiko's turn to give Honoka a "are you serious?!" glare now, but the quieter performer wears a placid smile, spinning through tricks -- even as the roller-coaster is experiencing spins and loops of its own. Keiko throws up her hands, screaming at the drops and laughing through the rolls as anyone rightly should.
Honoka summons the yo-yo back to her hand as the roller coaster screeches to a halt, leaning forward again with a slightly wider smile. "I was going to say, though... it's something of a rush when the audience is really into a performance. It's... unlike anything else in the world, wouldn't you say?"
Keiko and Hinata will probably get along pretty famously once they're in a place that they can talk more freely. It's too bad, really, that Sakura doesn't see the tricks that Honoka is doing as they whip through the turns and spirals and drops of the coaster--she would be suitably impressed. Actually probably more than suitably impressed.
But she, Hinata, and Kei are too busy -screaming their lungs out- in the way teenage girls do, hands up and waving through the best of them.
As rollercoasters go, it's a good one, but, also in the vein of rollercoasters, it's a short thrill ride--no more than three minutes, if that, before they come coasting to a stop. It takes a moment before the safety bars go up, and Sakura, Hinata and Kei file out--giddy and giggling. They stop out as soon as it's reasonable to do so--where they won't be getting in anyone's way--to wait for their new friends, Honoka and Keiko.
It isn't until now that Sakura gets to address Honoka's question--having remembered her saying it but having been too pumped full of adrenaline to respond. "I've never performed in a circus but if it's anything like fighting in front of an audience then yeah. I've had some of my best fights because I was in tune with the audience. It was like I could ride their energy... it was great."
Honoka smiles and nods in agreement with Sakura, giving Keiko only the slightest of glances.
Keiko, for the record, was a little bummed. Just a little. The whole ride, Honoka was sitting there acting like she wasn't having a fun time. Like, how could someone not have a fun time on a freaking ROLLER COASTER, really?! And she was just starting to get the diaboloist to loosen up too. But hey, Hinata and Kei look like they're fun, so she hurries ahead to strike up a conversation with the less famous two.
Honoka looks away from her friend, returning her full attention to Miss Kasugano. "It's a rush, that's for sure! The bright lights, the energy of the bleachers swarmed with people..."
Honoka smiles wistfully as remembering a beloved relative, taken cruelly away at a crucial moment. Closing her eyes with a sharp intake of breath, she looks over to Sakura, more intently. She leans closer. "Whatever you do, Miss Kasugano... don't ever take this for granted. Nothing lasts forever."
Honoka's, what, nineteen and she's giving out life lessons?
Hinata tosses Sakura a little wink. She can tell that Sakura's found another kindred spirit, or so she thinks, and Hinata is secure in her friendship with Sakura. After the things they went through together, she couldn't be any other way. "Hey Keiko, let's go get some ice cream!" chirps Hinata, and Kei is quick to agree, wandering off with the others. Not too far--the ice cream stand is maybe thirty yards away. But the park is pretty crowded, too.
Sakura watches them go, then turns to Honoka and smiles, then blinks at the life advice. She tilts her head and nods, taking the words on board and thinking about them. "If there's any one thing I've learned from the fights I've experienced, it's something like that. So I guess I agree..." Sakura rubs at her chin, then smiles again.
"But as long as I'm alive I'll continue to fight. To discover myself. Because..." She trails off, thinking about how to word the thought. "... because fighting brings me closest to who I am."
Honoka smiles broadly as she watches the three run off through the crowd. Still in line of sight, not really a problem.
"That's amazing," confides Honoka, cheeks reddening a bit slightly. So much to say, so many things to ask. "I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like... well, honest, I'm not sure what I meant. It's just so embarassing to be around someone as, well, famous as you! Haha..."
Honoka's wrist flicks the yo-yo into action again. Frustrated, on some tiny tiny level, that she can't seem to find the words for what she wants to say. But it only stays in motion for a bit, before she 'walks' it in place, flashing an apologetic grin back at Sakura. "A-apologies. I... the Bright Sun Circus, that's who we're with by the way, we... haven't been doing so good. We were thinking of adding a, um... " She gesticulates with her left hand, grasping for the words, while her right hand flicks the yo-yo into a wide orbit. "Well, it's a set. Like my juggling act. Where we just have fighters... fight. It's silly, I think." A thought occurs to her, and she snaps the yo-yo back into her palm. "Have you ever been to this place called Medieval Times?"
Sakura's following Honoka's gaze, and almost automatically, she comments, "Don't worry about Kei and Hinata. They're sweeties." Indeed, the three girls seem to be having quite the fun time, chatting and giggling and getting along.
Sakura reddens herself, a little bit. "Well... I can't really claim that one, Ryu-san said it to me once. And stop it! I'm not... famous. Not like what you're thinking. I mean yeah, there are people who know who I am but I'm not.. a celebrity."
The name of the circus... Sakura notes it to herself. She'll have to see about getting tickets. "Adding... you mean like, featuring fighters? And uh, of course I've been to Medieval Times. I went there a few times with Kei and Hinata and Natsu and--oh sorry. Uh, with a bunch of friends. It's a good time!" She thinks about the times she went, then ohs!
"You mean like the jousting thing they do?"
Honoka wasn't exactly -worried- about her friend, but her smile -had- flagged for a moment, didn't it? She renews her smile in relief as Sakura addresses her look of concern.
The diaboloist nods in assent, yo-yo forgotten as she seems to be back in her comfort zone, insofar as the conversation is concerned. "Yes, exactly! It's... always fascinated me, really, that the food is ..." She leans in towards Sakura for a moment, lowering her voice. "The food isn't very good, you know!" Like it was some dark secret! Backing away with a light snicker, she continues, "But it's not the food that draws people in, it's the spectacle of it all. You, the audience, know no one's in any real danger, but it's still good times. But best of all... there's some sort of drama in that you really don't know who will be the bad guy until you're there. You don't know who will die. Y'know, stage die. And we, at the circus were kind of thinking about how to bring that back with us. Since it's not like you can go there anywhere in Japan, right?"
Flicking her yo-yo around for a quick orbit before recalling it, she shakes her head dismissively. "Eh, listen to me ramblin' on! I don't mean to talk your ear off. I guess I'm just saying, if you get bored or something, feel free to check us out! And ask for me, I can comp you some tickets." Broad smile. "It's the least we can do!"
Sakura laughs at the admission. "Yeah... it's okay but people go there for the experience, right? To see the people in the armor clashing in the ring and all that jazz. It's... pretty fun, isn't it? I mean there's few places like that in Southtown... like, check out the Pao Pao Cafe osmetime. They have a ring... but I don't think they stage anything like that. That'd be a pretty cool thing to introduce to the circus, I guess."
The Ansatsuken Prodigy nods, her eyes following the yo-yo as it orbits around and flicks back and forth. It's almost -hypnotizing-. A shake of the head, as if to clear her mind and she uhhhs. "No, it's alright. I'd love to see you perform! And the rest of your crew too! If we can get tickets that'd be -great-, I know Kei and Hinata would love to go too." Speaking of which, those three are waving at Honoka and Sakura, pointing to another ride. Sakura laughs.
"Maybe we should join them?"
Log created on 19:01:11 08/17/2014 by Honoka, and last modified on 18:31:25 08/18/2014.