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 Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:42 am
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Tamao Uehara
"Once a month? That's dedication." the teen model chuckled, bumping his shoulder with her own in a little playful gesture, as they made their way to the beef bowl shop. "It's a deal then. Maybe after the New Years I'll be a little less busy with work, so we can have a Monster Chihuahua's marathon." Or at least, she hope that would be the case...with how her mother managed her schedule, she wouldn't be surprised if other ad campaigns and fashion shows would appear one after the other for the next year. Still, the somber thoughts couldn't settle in her mind at that moment, her companion's cheery disposition making it difficult to sulk or overthink. The way he reiterated he was 'normal' and that he ate something other than his favorite squid dish, Tamao only nodded. "Riiiight. Of course you do."
They walked into the small shop, and the girl bowed her head slightly in greeting. It was a slow night, she could see by the few patrons there...just a couple at the booths, an older man she had seen around the station a few times, and a guy around their age, sitting alone. Perhaps it was a slow night today, but Tamao had heard the stories of this place, and how the people there were overworked. She sat down beside Saji and rested her hands on the counter, looking at him as he called over the young worker.
"Saji!" Tamao protested as she heard his order, turning to him with a pout in response to his amused and sly gaze and smile. "You little imp." She spared a little apologetic smile for the young man behind the corner, and she looked how he, with a resigned smile, agreed to their order, before moving back to the kitchen. Still, she couldn't stay mad...and a little part of her felt excited by the prospect of getting fries after so long...and specially at a place like this.
A voice caught her attention then, and the teen model turned to look at the young man as he voiced his reproach. Tamao turned to look at Saji, almost as if saying 'See what you did?' with an amused glint in her eyes, before nodding to the guy waiting for his order. "I am sorry. I hope your food comes out soon enough...After all, you were here first, and your order was put before ours." she turned back to the young man already working on orders and waved. "Thank you, and sorry for the trouble!"
"They do work hard here. I don't come here much, but... it is nice, I admit. Thank you, Saji."
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Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2017 5:02 pm
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Usaji Azai, aka "Soma"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!..."He knew that she wouldn't protest too much when he ordered her fries; it wouldn't have been the first time in their history that he had ignored her protests to do something nice for her, after all. And besides, who could be mad when you were ordering their favorite food at a place like this one? At least, that was the logic that he had told himself to easily dismiss any worries when they had come in the door, and catching her smile, even as she apologized to the kind server who had assured them it was fine, was reward enough for him to know that he hadn't made the wrong choice. It was almost impossible for him to believe the change in demeanor from the moment that he had caught sight of her on the street to the way that she was now...and he wouldn't have believed it if he didn't still see those signs of fatigue on her, the thin structure of her body and the nearly imperceptible lines under her eye, and the way that she seemed to hesitate when she started to think too much about something. He knew that doing something nice for her wouldn't solve all of her problems, but it could be the beginnings of something, perhaps? If he could be a respite for her, someone who relieved some of the stress of her life and gave her a place that she could feel like she belonged, he wanted to do that. Though even he couldn't have imagined just how extensive the difficulty of her situation was...not yet.
"I should be thanking you," the ash-haired teen smiled sheepishly, brushing a finger over his ear faintly as he spoke, "Sharing a meal is always better than eating alone. It's been too long since we went somewhere together." He could barely remember the last place they had gone before they started to drift apart a bit and went to different schools...well, that wasn't true, he had a great mind for remembering specific details about the things that caught his attention. He knew exactly where the last place they had gone together was, and what they had done. Did she? He wondered, but dismissed the thought just as quickly. They were here now, and that's all that mattered. Totally. ...Nah, he definitely had to ask. "Tama-chan, do you remember the Sky Tower in Asakusa when we were 14? ...I think about that day a lot lately, and..." A clatter in front of him paused his thought after a moment, a plate full of delicious squid catching his attention and stealing it utterly. Face lighting up brilliantly, he lifted his chopsticks and clapped his hands together in traditional gratitude.
"Ah! It's done!" Saji glowed with anticipation, his previous thought forgotten for the time being as he dug in, "Itadakimasu!" The artist's entire body practically hummed with pleasure as he dug into that first bite, the flavor filling him with a childlike enjoyment. And a minute later, the fries would follow, landing in front of his companion with a tired little smile from the server...and a grin of anticipation and enraptured happiness from her companion. |
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Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2017 1:39 pm
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[12/13 - Evening]
 Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel"
The door to the Beef Bowl restaurant opened, and a girl with a rather athletic figure strode in. "One large beef bowl, please!" she said, smiling as she reached the counter and placing her order for dinner. It wasn't entirely feminine for someone to have a big appetite, but she did a whole lot of running on a daily basis... and quite frankly, she needed the fuel the same way a naval cruiser did: big and often. This was especially true on days after she'd done a lot of extra lifting at the school, which was added physical labor on top of what she already did.
The restaurant was in business for a reason, though, and it didn't take Shiori very long to get her food and settle down so she could dig in.
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Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2017 2:04 pm
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Tamao Uehara
Did she remember? Oh, she couldn't forget.
The teen model opened her mouth to answer, her shoulders tensing slightly and her stomach fluttering at the memory, when the dishes were served in front of them. It was then that the aroma of the squid and the fries made her empty stomach to protest again. Tamao saw her companion brighten up at the sight of his ikayaki, and she couldn't help the weak smile, before turning back to her own dish. The fries look golden and they smelled so, so good...and she could almost feel her mouth watering at the idea of eating one. Just one...after so long. Her hand hesitated for a second, her own mind struggling with itself: the fries were already here, she couldn't just leave them there after all the extra work the young man had to do to deliver them to her...and well, she couldn't just dismiss them after Saji went out of his way to order them for her. A few fries couldn't cause too much damage. Her mother would never find out. She would just work out harder the next day. Nothing would happen.
She was bargaining now, her guilty conscience making an acceptable excuse to eat the delicious treat without feeling like complete and utter trash. What if her mother did find out? What...if she found out, and she would look at her with those disappointed eyes. 'After all we have worked, Tamao...after all the things I have done for you...you go and ruin it all? Have you no consideration for your mother?' ...The girl could almost hear her.
So she hesitated...setting her hands on her lap nervously, before turning a sheepish smile towards her companion. "I...I will wait for them to cool down a little." she lied, before smoothly turning the conversation back to the topic they were covering before the food arrived. "I do remember that time at the Sky Tower. We were kids ready to take on the world. It was the last time we...saw each other. Before things changed." She remembered that day, her mother had given her the news that she would be the lead model in a shoot Tamao had no care about. They had fought. She had protested...and she had found the courage to be bold enough, a rebellion she didn't know existed. That night she had asked him and with desperation to run away with her. They had decided to meet at the Sky Tower the next day. That night she had been ready...she had made up her mind...and then everything changed.
When she did meet with him at the Sky Tower...she had backed down. She had been afraid. So instead of being a meeting point before eloping... he had gone to Kosei...and she had gone to Shujin. He, to his life as an artist. And her...well...
She remembered. Though there was something that had caught her attention. "You said you had been thinking about it lately...Why is that?"
In that moment, though, the door opened, an energetic girl strolling in to order a big beef bowl with a big smile. Tamao shifted on her place uncomfortably, suddenly feeling this wasn't the place to discuss such somber topics. Instead, she cleared her throat, shaking her head. "Nevermind that. ... How's your ikayaki? "
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Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2017 2:52 pm
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Usaji Azai, aka "Soma"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!..."If there was a way to describe Usaji Azai that summed him up fairly accurately, it was that he was a person driven by his whims and his passion, and when he was taken by something in front of him then he often would have to be physically shaken before his attention fully returned to something else from whatever it was that stirred his passion. It was a trait that many artists shared, and the ashen-haired young man was little different. The train of thought that had carried him right up until the point that a plate of his favorite food on Earth had been set down before him was put on an indefinite hold the moment that first juicy bite of sweet, sweet teriyaki squid entered his mouth and his tongue savored every bite of the strange sea creature preparation. That wasn't to say he was entirely without attention for anything else, though, and as he began to eat piece-by-piece, his eyes shifted to see that the fries had yet to really be tested by his companion. Something in the unsettled look on her face tugged at him, but bereft of higher thought by the delicious treat that he had been enraptured by, he did the only instinctive thing that came to him to try and remedy that hesitation. A coy smile slipped onto his lips and he poached a fry right before her eyes, slipping the salty, fried potato slice into his mouth for a delicious sensation that was a surprisingly potent counterpoint to the squid that he had been enjoying just before. His eyes flashed a little as if daring her to try it as well, before he ended up swiping the whole thing...which, hopefully, she was as loathe to do now as when they were kids.
"Mm...I should double his tip," he told her playfully, almost teasing her with how delicious they must have been to make him say that...hoping to coax her into letting go for just a moment, just tonight, so that they could enjoy themselves like old times and she could see that there was true happiness to be found in pursuing the things that you loved. He didn't know the root of her unhappiness, but he could see it in her work, see it in the lines under her eyes now. If he could help her, somehow, some way... "The squid is so juicy, too. They should put this on the regular menu...but it's nice to have a secret like this one, too. Somehow, I think the secret makes it all taste better." That...was a patently ridiculous idea, of course, but he didn't mind nor did he care whether or not it was ridiculous. He liked that they had put it on the secret menu, something that only those in the know could order and enjoy, and it also meant that each one was made-to-order, on the spot, and they were always nice and fresh when they were served for him. It made this place really feel like it was his place, even if it wasn't. There were many reasons why he liked to come back here, time and time again, and it wasn't only because it was the closest shop other than Big Bang Burger to where he opened up his little Accessory Stand.
He bit into another piece of is ikayaki and let his lips curl in pleasure, listening out of the corner of his ear as the bell to the door jingled to announce the arrival of someone, but his attention was mostly stolen by the food and the conversation, his long, thin frame leaning against the counter as he popped a bit of squid in his mouth and turned his soft eyes to the girl as she reminisced about their past, the memory that he had only been starting to mention. The nostalgia he felt at that had the force of a physical push, pulling his attention momentarily from his passionate embrace with food to acknowledge her memory with a little smile. She did remember! The trip to the Sky Tower, how she had wanted to run away from home to avoid getting pushed into even more intense and trying jobs back then, how she had asked him to meet there in Asakusa...where her mother would never have let her go alone...and then seeing her show up there with her spirits burning just a little less brightly, the guilt inside of her keeping her from following through on their youthfully bold plan. He would have gone, right then and there, if she had wanted...his family life had fallen apart and his prospects for getting into Kosei, at the time, were very bleak. He hadn't had anything to lose, he thought...but she had. They both had, really. And life went on with her career swallowing her life and his hard work after getting into Kosei...and his increasingly-sad home life making him feel less and less like the person that he wanted to be. He recognized the look in her eyes as she thought about it from his own reflection, months prior...that feeling of nostalgia, of being trapped, of not knowing what to do to escape it or where he could turn to remember what it was like to be free and happy again. If only...he paused. Things had become much different for him since then. His life wasn't on rails, wasn't hopeless, and the world wasn't as empty or solitary as he thought. Now he had Miss Mariko and Mado-sensei and Shiori and Chell and Principal Kuzuyama, and they were all allies, friends...and the former was like family, almost. He had been thinking about that day at the Sky Tower a lot lately. Every time he looked at her face in the magazines and wished that he could make her smile, say something to bring back the spirit and the fire of his childhood friend who had meant so much to him.
His lips curled into a little, soft smile as he set down his chopsticks for only a moment. She asked him why he had been thinking about it. And he knew...exactly why.
"Things...change," he spoke gently, quietly...and she could read the warmth and affection in his face, not only for her but for everyone who had come to matter to him so very much, "I think if you had asked me the same thing now that you did back then, I think things would be different." He seemed like he was about to say more, but her sudden change of topic caught his attention when he realized that talking was letting his food get colder! His eyes widened and he turned suddenly back to his plate, lifting his chopsticks to stuff two pieces of ikayaki simultaneously into his mouth as if to make up for lost time! Chewing strained, his thin, artist's body protested the aggressive eating technique and he seemed to struggle just for a moment as he swallowed a bit too much food...yet his smile never dimmed or wavered.
"It's so delicious!" he hummed in pleasure, before pointing with his chopsticks at the delicious fries still in front of her, "Don't let them get cold, Tama-chan!" |
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 5:42 pm
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[12/13 - Evening]
Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel"
Eating didn't actually take too long - when you exercised a lot, you learned how to really wolf things down, especially when you were in a hurry to get home. Admittedly, not for food. There was a reason she was eating at a restaurant instead, especially because she was more likely to lift boxes of food than cook them. ...Although maybe it would be worth trying that sometime, just to develop her skills a little. Promptly paying her bill (via her phone, like most sensible youths these days), Shiori began heading out the door - and caught a familiar head of hair in the restaurant as she began to head out. She started to speak up, then paused when she saw that they were with someone. Much as she wanted to go say hi... interrupting would've been a bit rude, right? And she could just text him later or something.
With that in mind, Shiori set off jogging again - at a more moderate pace, since she'd just eaten - and began to head home for the night.
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 10:53 pm
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Tamao Uehara
Was he teasing her? He was definitely teasing her. She could see it in his eyes as he took one of the fries, placing it between his lips. He ate it happily, and Tamao could only suppress her smile for so long. Saji was always trying to cheer her up...He had always cheered her up when they were younger. She liked to think she had been there for him as much as he had been there for her, but...she hadn't been exactly close these last few years. Perhaps...she could make it up to him sometime. In a way, maybe she had started doing so by catching up. At least, she knew it was doing wonders for her.
He teased her, and finally, the teen model made up her mind. She took one golden fry in her fingers, her chocolate colored eyes turning to bright blue ones, answering the challenge. The salt reached her lips, and the girl licked them in a reflex, before taking a bite of her food. It was...so crispy, and so salty and so...so...so good. The girl almost melted on her place as the flavor took over her taste buds, a little pleased noise rumbling at the back of her throat.
Somehow, he was right. The secret made it all taste better. Or perhaps she hadn't had one of these in so long, she had forgotten just how wonderful they were. After the first taste, it was really difficult to stop, and so she reached for one more. And then another. What was said about these? Bet you can't have just one? ... ... Where does for chips or fries? It didn't matter. It was true for the fries she was eating. "Mm...yeah. I will have to repay him for this. These are great!"
Tamao saw him lower his chopsticks...saw him thinking of her question, and she found herself slowing down as well, focusing on his expressions. Things had changed. It was true...but somehow, she knew he wasn't talking about her situation here. And Tamao realized...she didn't know his situation right now. She...didn't know much about him, now that she thought about it. "What do you mean...?"[/b] If she asked the same thing now? To run away? Well...she wouldn't. She couldn't.... But...
"Say, Usa-chan..." she used the old nickname out of habit, recalling the similarities he had had as a kid with a white bunny... -well, he still did, didn't he?- "I haven't asked... How are things going for you? How...have you been?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 11:57 pm
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Usaji Azai, aka "Soma"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!..."It was a relief that his companion seemed to finally be letting her guard down just a little bit; teasing her with the fries and seeing her rise to the challenge, finally putting one of the delicious bits of salty, deep-fried potato between her lips was enough to make his smile all the more genuine. And the response that it elicited within her, the smile, the pleasant hum, and the 'once you pop, you can't stop' way she seemed to go through them was enough to convince him that whatever it had taken and however long it had taken for the two of them to get here, it was worth it. Whether it was the fact that it was on the secret menu or the skills of the singular worker handling cooking tonight that made it so delicious, it was worth every penny of the price and the tip that he made a mental note to add even a little more to on the way out of the door. An eyebrow raised in a sort of 'I know, right?' gesture as she commented on the delicious flavor, and he took another sweet and savory bite of his teriyaki squid, humming in delight once more as the juicy crustacean seemed to crunch and melt in his mouth in perfect, interchangeable measure. No matter where he went, he thought, this was what he wanted to eat...he couldn't help but feel his neck flush just a little at the thought. Was she right that squid was really all that he ate? And if she was...was it really a bad thing?
Those were questions he thankfully didn't have to think too deeply about, and he was wrapped up enough in the food that he didn't really want to think all that much, anyway. It gave him time to enjoy the flavors, and more than that, to enjoy watching her indulge in something he could guess from her reluctance that she didn't get to enjoy as much as she should these days. It made him frown a little, thinking about that fact. Wasn't this her favorite food? Why wasn't she eating it more often? He knew that a model had to worry about their weight and their body, but if she couldn't eat things that she enjoyed and she wasn't happy with what she was doing, then why was she doing it in the first place? He wanted to ask her, but as airheaded as he could seem at times, he wasn't completely tactless. Saji knew that she hadn't started modeling for her own purposes, that her mother had been the one who originally started her down that path, but he had no real idea of the details of her work now...whether she enjoyed any of it, why she looked so sad in her pictures...he didn't know nearly as much about her as he wanted and it made him sad to admit to the fact. And yet when he told her that his answer might have been different today if she asked him what she had before the Sky Tower back then, he felt confident that his answer would be different. He wasn't the same person today that he was on that day. He was...
"Hm? Me?" his words were a tad garbled by a mouthful of squid when she asked him about his life, and the question seemed to almost genuinely take him off-guard. When was the last time that anybody other than Miss Mariko had asked him how his day had been? How he was doing? Outside of the context of his work as a Phantom Thief, at least, he couldn't think of anyone. And yet... "I'm good! That is...better than I can remember. I've made a lot of friends lately...I think you would like them. Mado-sensei is intimidating but there's never a dull moment with him. Principal Kuzuyama might seem aloof, but actually I think he cares a lot more than he lets on. Shiori-chi is always full of energy, though I think she holds back too much. Chell is...well, Chell. Nobody is more loyal or fights harder than Chell! And then there's Miss Mariko...Tama-chan, you would love Miss Mariko! She's...she's..." Suddenly he trailed off a little and his near-boundless excitement dimmed for just a moment, replaced with something warm, something genuinely happy...not an act like so many people might put on to hide the truth. This was 100%, honest-to-goodness Saji. And his blue eyes shimmered faintly with an emotion he hadn't revealed until now that spoke so much. Purpose, contentedness, confidence, warmth...he set down his chopsticks and looked back at his near-empty plate of food for a moment, and then back at her with an expression as clear and honest and innocent as Tamao had always known him to be.
"I missed you, you know," he smiled honestly, taking a bite of squid to hide the color on his cheeks as he admitted as much, "My life has been...different, lately. But I'm glad we're here. I've changed...I think, I've grown. Do I seem like it?" His finger scratched the back of his neck almost idly, as if it were a subconscious gesture. But all the while he watched her out of the corner of his eye, as if awaiting her appraisal...as if it mattered to him what she, especially, thought of him right now. |
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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 7:11 am
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Citizen, Streets of Shibuya
 "Somebody, please, come quick! H-help!" It was never a quiet night in Shibuya, but even the cacophony of the busy street didn't stop the voice from an alleyway outside the family restaurant from carrying a little ways. A girl backed out of the alleyway, eyes fixated on something going on just within the shadows of the city's tall buildings, and her eyes widened as pencils and paper poured over the ground from her fallen satchel when her hand let the bag slip and quickly slapped to her mouth in shock instead. Despite her agitated nature, the girl was trying to keep a composed look about her, perhaps something natural to her personality and way of acting...but even that couldn't staunch her worry as she turned and reached out for the nearest passerby who might actually help, a surprisingly rare feat among the populace of Japan's busiest streets. "Please, t-there's trouble. I was just trying to pass through here on my way home, when that man came up to me, and then...t-the other was just trying to protect me! Please help!" As the girl pinched the sleeve of the first passerby to hesitate, she bowed her head and sputtered out the best explanation she could. It sounded like someone had decided to accost this high schooler on her way home, but the message was far too stilted to be discerned clearly. Turning down the alleyway though, one could immediately make out the silhouette of a thin, smaller high school boy and the shape of someone so large they could have been mistaken for a monster. Whatever the situation, it was likely things were going to escalate without intervention...and fast.
Quote: In the back streets of Shibuya, an incident unfolds...!? |
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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 8:09 am
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???? and ????
Back Alley in Shibuya
"Where did you put it, Hiro!?" Shouting filled the damp alleyway as a large, hooded figure in red shouted. He took a step towards the focal point of his anger, a short high schooler wearing a green and yellow shirt with white pants, who recoiled as his arm was caught in the large hand of his assailant. The sight was nearly unbelievable, a figure so big he easily seemed eight feet tall hovering over the other as the smaller Japanese kid kicked and scratched at the arm to pull himself free, his large horn-rimmed glasses nearly falling off as he stumbled backwards and bumped into a dumpster...by all accounts it looked like a shakedown or some brash strong-arming ploy of the mafia, but to do something like this in broad daylight spoke more of someone with a personal grudge than any organized criminal actions.
"Let GO! I told you not to call me that! Y-y-you big...stupid freaking idiot!" As the boy shouted he strafed to the side a bit, stumbling as the gravel under him slipped, sending him tumbling to his backside several steps from the alley. As Hiro looked up at the larger figure, he turned to try to keep pace with the scrambling glasses-clad boy and his face became revealed in the street lights for the first time. His hair was messy and streaked with pink highlights, and despite his inordinate size he was by no means a machine or monster...though the shadow he cast spread throughout the whole alleyway and gave off the vibe of a beast that just might crush the innocent under foot regardless. "I-I won't give it to you...even if you do threaten me! S-so do your worst, Hihi!" The bigger man took a step forward, and the smaller one let out a panicked shout. "Aiyee! Please, somebody help meee!"
"I won't let you run off again, Hiro!" It was clear that the bigger figure, who "Hiro" had just called Hihi (the big ape from Japanese mythology? Was that an insult...?), was trying to search the smaller boy for something, but it looked like the situation was going to be a violent one. Already there was muttering from the street, as if people who had previously ignored the girl's shouts were starting to become more aware, and considering calling the police. As long as they didn't have to get involved personally, of course... |
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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 8:36 am
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[12/13 - Evening]
Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel"
Well, here went shoving her nose into things that really weren't her business. Hooray...?
"Uh... don't you think you're going a little far here?" Shiori asked from behing Shouei, putting one hand on her hip and keeping her legs ready to start dashing in any direction. (What was this, a Dark Souls boss fight?) Still, the big guy was... really, really large, wasn't he? What the heck had he eaten as a kid? No, wait, maybe he was at least part foreigner? Japanese people in general weren't too large in comparison to most of the rest of the world, so somebody so far outside the norm was probably less than totally native. ...At a guess.
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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 4:02 pm
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???? and ????
Back Alley in Shibuya
"Are you a friend of his as well? " Shoeui turned a sour eye towards the latest arrival, and froze when he looked up to meet the gaze of the new arrival in the thin light of the alley. His gaze probably came off like that of a predator, between his scraggily hair and purposefully imposing figure (he was standing over the other student, after all). And that was another thing that seemed relevant now; under the hem of his baggy sweater were a pair of plaid pants that, upon further inspection, definitely belonged to a uniform of some kind. Considering the locals that existed around this area of Tokyo, it was pretty obvious where Shiori might have seen it before, but now wasn't really the best time to rack her brain over his clothes when the other student quickly scooted back and wrapped a pair of arms around the girl's legs suddenly.
Please, you have to help me! H-he's gonna kill me if I don't give him back...this-this stuff he had!" As he stuttered the glasses wearing student attempted to adjust his now tilted glasses and lifted up a hand, revealing a small pack about as big as a sugar packet, and filled with some sort of unlabeled white powder.
"Susumu, you b*****d!" Shouei's eyes lit up at the sight of Susumu's possession, but he barely took a step towards the student before he seemed to remember that Ms. Niko was there as well, now irrevocably placed between he and the target of his ire. Shouei bit his lip as he glared at the person who had intervened, as well as the smidgen of a man at her feet who had notably raised his voice just a bit more now as he shouted about what lay in his hand and the source of the...item. And don't think he didn't see Susumu's gaze move just a bit upwards as he pretended to be looking at the girl's face! At that angle, he could probably see anything he wanted...the worm!
"He dropped it in the alley back there, and when I tried to give it back to him he started freaking out. Y-you don't think he's some kinda thug, do you? Pushing this...this...stuff." The student clearly seemed to be in shock, and the implication of what was in the packet was now obvious. As he shifted his weight until he was back up on a knee, Susumu looked with the eyes of a deer in the headlights between Shiori and the imposing figure on the other side of the alley, whose rage should have now been boiling over considering he'd been outed. There were probably on their phones now, calling the nearest police box about the disturbance...but that was for a few minutes from now, and at the moment, it seemed like a confrontation might be inevitable. "I don't want you to get hurt, miss! We should get out of here, before he...h-h-he..." Susumu stuttered, but motioned for the two to leave the alley amidst it all.
Meanwhile, the anger on Shouei's face hadn't grown as Susumu implied, but instead softened. He glanced to the side and sighed, almost as if the assailant were resigning from his quarry. "This isn't...that's not what's really going on..." He muttered under his breath, almost inaudibly...but if one were graced with especially good hearing, they might have been lucky enough to pick up on the muttered words of his one, brief comment amidst the tidal wave of shouting. |
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 3:52 pm
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[12/13 - Evening]
Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel"
If there was one thing she'd heard a lot of, it was denials - loud, soft, insistent, whimpering... there were all kinds of those. Some people tried to shout others down because they were used to being in positions of power. Some people tried to pretend to be innocent, misunderstood, a victim of some other nefarious individual. A few others even tried to turn the tables and say the victim was lying. Been there, done that, and gotten sick of the crap a long time ago.
"Really, now? Then why don't you say what is going on?" she asked Shouei. "Because from over here, you sure look guilty as hell. If you've got a problem with that, then tell your side loud and clear." she'd been hesitant to speak up the first few times, but panic had turned to sickening fear, then anger... and she'd finally stopped caring about what society said and started to stand up for herself. Of course, even that had been only a stopgap measure, and evolved into disgust when it just never stopped no matter how many people she reported... but it was better than bowing under and just letting a bunch of perverts do whatever they wanted. Screw them, screw the society that accepted them, and screw anyone who thought she was just a pretty face who existed for their amusement.
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Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 3:10 pm
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???? and ????
Back Alley in Shibuya
"...what does it matter? Whatever I say,I bet one word from a girl like you, and whatever I say won't..." The heated moment between the two seemed to have reached its boiling point, but with a word Shiori somehow manage to inflame the argument again. Boys would be boys, one might say, and stepping between the two only to shout and berate them was a tactic she must have known wasn't going to relax anyone. Still, it did seem to have some effect as the adult-dwarfing man muttered again, before sighing and biting his lip. "...it must be nice to have people really, honestly listen to you. Just because of the way we look, I ...-sighs- ...nevermind ... I'm out of here." In a split second the big figure turned and headed down the alley and around the corner in the opposite direction. What had seemed like a web of tension was suddenly unstrung as if it had never been there in the first place, people too sluggish to stop him from the mere weight on their limbs from the pressure and worry building each time one of them had raised their voices. And yet, now it was all gone, along with the loud figure who'd been so determined to ring the nerd's neck a few moments earlier...though whether that was a good thing or a bad thing with the police now likely on the way, no one could say.
"Ahhhhhhg! It's finally over!" A sigh of relief escaped the lips of 'Hiro' as he tilted his head up and felt the tension leak out of his body. After a moment he stood up, and brushed what dirt he could from his pants despite the considerable marring of grime. He glanced over Shiori again, and seemed to size his savior up for a moment in order to grasp just what sort of person had shown their valor to rescue him...and maybe his eyes lingered around her upper body a few seconds longer than others...but finally he let out another, less tense sigh and rubbed the back of his head. "S-shouldn't we stop him? Nevermind, I guess you've already done enough. To think I was rescued by such a beautiful girl..." For a moment he looked defeated, as if he'd lost a bit of manhood, but then he raised an eyebrow and placed his index finger under his chin thoughtfully. "On the other hand...I was rescued by such a beautiful girl. I-I should apologize for all this. Thank you for helping me, Ms...?" |
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