Tweak

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Tweak says, "Apply directly to the forehead"

disappear_npc (disappear_npc) wrote in disappear_plot,
@ 2009-07-15 22:22:00

School Trip, Day One. (Bus Ride, Eating Somewhere and Onsen)
Who: EVERYONE (npcs welcome)
What: Bus Ride, Eating, Onsen, Night 1 at hotel.
Where: ON A BUS
When: Late May
Why: We like trips.

Aomori-sensei was clearly not in the best of moods. He hadn't been for a while. Still, there was an air of excitement about the students who were assembling to get on the buses as they chose thier seat partners and talked. It wasn't every day that they went on a school trip. Very few of them had been paying much attention in the half-day of lessons before. Even Ishino-sensei looked the happiest she'd been since the incident.

She went through the lines of pupils, checking thier permission forms, while Aomori and Banno-sensei herded them into the coaches.

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	Re: MEAL THREAD anthesphoria 2009-07-21 02:11 am UTC (link)
	Kozue was stoically ignoring a text message beep from her phone: an ex-boyfriend, and not even a really recent one, either, had decided that they just had to eat dinner together while on the trip, and was texting her about it. Over and over again. Ugh. He couldn't take a hint, could he? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: MEAL THREAD

2dbeauty
2009-07-22 03:29 pm UTC (link)

Toru wasn't really paying attention to where he was going at this point. He realized that he probably should be trying to find somewhere to eat, but there was also the little problem of he didn't know this town at all and the other issue of nobody on earth would want to have dinner with him. So it was hardly a surprise that he wasn't really looking where he was going. It only took a few moments for him to bump into Kozue, who was directly in front of him.

"Gaah! I-I'm sorry, Kondo-san!"

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Re: MEAL THREAD

anthesphoria
2009-07-22 06:10 pm UTC (link)

Kozue stumbled forward a few steps, and gasped, and nearly dropped her cellphone, but after a moment, she was righted and balanced enough to look over and see who had bumped into her. How rude of them to -

"Oh, no, I'm fine, are you okay? Oh, Ishinomori-san."

It was Toru - her voice faltered a little bit, towards the end of his last name, not sure exactly how to react. She felt as though she should have been closer to him, after that whole Paradise fiasco, but... it didn't quite feel that way. So they'd let him come on the trip? If she'd seen him on the bus, she hadn't though about it then, but wasn't he supposed to be in the hospital? "You're up and about, now, I see?"

Her text message alert buzzed again, and Kozue immediately shut her phone and shoved it into the pocket on her blazer. Would he never learn? Ugh.

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Re: MEAL THREAD

2dbeauty
2009-07-22 06:53 pm UTC (link)

Meanwhile, Toru stumbled backwards, mostly horrified. Of things not to do on school field trips with people on bad terms with him, absentmindedly running into them was pretty high in the rankings. He met Kozue's gaze and immediately looked away, concentrating very hard on his feet. It just had to be her.

"Th-that's... good." He noticed a strange tone in her voice as she addressed him. Was it fear or derision? He couldn't tell that well. "Er, well, yes, I'm out of the hospital... I wasn't in too bad condition or anything. I... just fainted... y'know, lack of sleep and water. Nothing too bad."

He belatedly realized that she wasn't the kind of person he needed to give that explanation to; she'd been in that place with the others when they rescued him.

"B-b-but, er, well... I'm just going to go get dinner now..." He paused, tried, and failed to make eye contact. "W-what are you doing for dinner?" Toru assumed whatever Kozue was doing with her phone probably involved some nice dinner plans with a classmate or boyfriend. Maybe even Keiichi.

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Re: MEAL THREAD

anthesphoria
2009-07-22 07:06 pm UTC (link)

"I don't have any plans yet," she replied, and paused a moment, thinking. He seemed nervous, but she could understand that - or, at least, Kozue thought she understood it. He had, after all, put the other Persona users through an odd experience, and in his place, she would have felt guilty and awkward, too. In fact, she was profoundly thankful that she wasn't in his place, and never looked to be there. How terrible would that be?

And, at the end of the day, Kozue didn't much like seeing people in unpleasant situations, unless they really deserved it. Toru - well, she didn't know him enough to know if he deserved it or not. After all, up until now she had barely even known he was in her class. And what was the best way to fix that?

"Say, would you like to join me? If you don't have plans already yourself, of course."

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Re: MEAL THREAD

2dbeauty
2009-07-22 07:13 pm UTC (link)

Toru was completely expecting to be blown off in a breezy, conversational way; wasn't that how girls generally did that? He'd started to turn, and only half-heard what Kozue was saying at first. But what he did hear made him plant his foot down and turn back to face her.

"Join you?" he asked, startled. People never did anything with him, especially not people like her at times like this. "I... I'd like that..." He was aware of his own awkwardness, but could do nothing to stop it. Kozue was, after all, at the complete opposite end of the social scale. "Y-yeah, and I don't have any plans...."

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Re: MEAL THREAD

anthesphoria
2009-07-22 07:34 pm UTC (link)

Yes! Now, not only would Kozue be able to feel as though she'd done a good deed and was karmically set for the rest of the evening, but she had a great excuse to not respond to any more of the messages from the inconsiderate ex who was even now, doubtless, filling up her inbox with whiny pleas for attention. (And probably other stuff - or he would have, if she'd assented to dinner.)

She smiled: "Great. I figure, since we're classmates and - well, we share some extra-curricular activities, we should know each other better." Did that sound... Kozue pondered it - not too forward? Maybe it was, if just a little bit.

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Re: MEAL THREAD

2dbeauty
2009-07-22 08:01 pm UTC (link)

Toru wasn't exactly sure of the meaning of all this. Kozue, an incredibly popular girl in his class, was inviting him to eat dinner together, despite the fact that all he'd ever done for her was torment her in a dungeon created from his mind and then bump into her in the street while she was checking her text messages. But he wasn't going to question it; this was a stroke of good luck. Or something.

"Ah... right. We should get to know each other better, I-I guess. Since I get the feeling we'll ending seeing a lot more of each other..." He wasn't sure how to address her or what to talk about. Two different worlds, right? He thought of the one topic that didn't bring up incredibly embarrassing topics for him: the meal.

"Er, so, Kondo-san... where do you want to eat dinner?"

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Re: MEAL THREAD

anthesphoria
2009-07-23 12:46 am UTC (link)

She stopped, and pondered that question for a moment: where did she want to eat, anyway? There were so many choices, and Kozue always stalled when faced with petty choices like this. "We could do curry? Or … do they have a rotating sushi around here?" She bit her lip: "I'm up for something else, too. I don't know the area, but I'm sure we can find something if we start looking."

Her cellphone buzzed again; she patted the pocket, but otherwise pretended it wasn't reminding her that yet another text message had come in. Maybe she should just turn it off?

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Re: MEAL THREAD

2dbeauty
2009-07-23 12:56 am UTC (link)

He was quick to stop when Kozue did; Toru didn't want to have another accident like when they first encountered each other. As she listed potential places to eat, he listened closely.

"I'm not a huge fan of curry, to be honest... b-but if you want to eat it, we can! I guess, if you asked me, I'd prefer to look elsewhere... sushi does sound good..." He trailed off. "But in the meantime, let's look for somewhere! I'm sure there are plenty of good places to eat." He started to move again, careful not to bump into Kozue.

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Re: MEAL THREAD

anthesphoria
2009-07-23 02:40 am UTC (link)

"We could definitely do sushi," she agreed, starting to walk again, not entirely noticing how Toru mimicked her stops and starts. Now that they'd decided not to decide on a place to eat just yet, Kozue was out of easy conversation topics.

So, what to say? Other than why tentacles? or am I really legendary? but... those were both inappropriate for a public forum, and at the end of the day, was she sure she wanted to know? So, she settled for "Have you been to this area before?"

Kozue was nothing if not a master of purposeless small-talk, after all.

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Re: MEAL THREAD

2dbeauty
2009-07-23 02:18 pm UTC (link)

"Alright, sushi, then." Crap. There went the one non-awkward thing to talk about with Kozue. If this was an anime, I'm sure I'd somehow accidentally discover that she was a closet nerd or something, and we'd end up becoming best friends. But this was real life. Sure, real life now had its share of alternate dimensions and shadowy monsters now, but still.

"I... no. I've never been here before... I'm not even from the Iburi region. Er... that's why I'm in the dorms. M-my family is actually from Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture..." Toru wasn't exactly good at small-talk. He had a tendency to ramble, and his speech wasn't the best in face-to-face conversations. Now, if he was typing...

"Er, but, what about you? Have you ever been here before?"

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Re: MEAL THREAD

anthesphoria
2009-07-24 06:25 am UTC (link)

"No, I haven't, although my family is originally from around here," Kozue replied smoothly - "Well, Hokkaido, at least. But they moved when I was little, so I went into the dorms, too." It seemed like the response to give, after he'd pointed out where he was from. "But a sushi place can't be that hard to find, even if we're both strangers to the area."

She kept walking, looking around, but it seemed that she was, even now, proving herself wrong. Where did they hide their rotating sushi restaurants in this town? I mean, surely they had some -- one, at least? -- because there was nothing quite as fun, if you were going to do sushi, than grabbing your dishes off a conveyor belt. Pure genius. "And I guess," she said, after she realized that she'd lapsed into silence and a contemplation of sushi restaurants, "that I usually go on vacation further south, since it's close to where my parents live now. Or I visit my grandparents."

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Re: MEAL THREAD

2dbeauty
2009-07-24 01:51 pm UTC (link)

"Oh, I see. I... I didn't know you were in the dorms, Kondo-san." Stupid, stupid, stupid. Toru realized that he must have sounded like a first-rate idiot to her. He looked away, vainly trying to spot a sushi restaurant.

"That must be nice... Where in the south do you like to go on vacations? I've... well, this must sound stupid, but... I've always liked going to T-tokyo..." He continued to amaze himself. Why the hell did he keep talking about these things, even though she could clearly care less? He redoubled his efforts to spot a restaurant.

"Er, is that... is that one? Over there? The sign says 'sushi...'"

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Re: MEAL THREAD

anthesphoria
2009-07-24 05:40 pm UTC (link)

Poor boy, why was he so nervous? Well, aside from the fact that she was gorgeous and she was Kondo Kozue -- ohhhh, maybe he has a crush, she thought with an internal giggle, flattered -- but wait! Didn't he have a thing for Shirai? At least, for seeing Shirai naked, that was confirmed. If he did, then why was he stammering around her? Huh. Odd.

"Oh, I think you're right," she said, looking to where Toru had indicated: "Sushi. Let's go. And -- I do like Tokyo, that's where my parents live and it's mostly where I go on breaks," she confirmed. "I bet you like visiting Akihabara?" She asked with a smile. After all, it was filled with anime and computers and electronics and all kinds of things that Ishinomori would love.

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Re: MEAL THREAD

2dbeauty
2009-07-25 02:26 am UTC (link)

He was nervous, yes. It wasn't just Kozue, though- almost everyone made Toru a little nervous in person. He wished that it didn't have to be the case, but alas, his was a shy nature, reinforced by years of solitude. Therefore, he was really putting his full effort into interacting. It wasn't exactly easy.

"O-okay! Let's eat there!" He didn't really care where they ate; just that they ate at all. "I do like Akihabara... I... actually, this is pretty dumb, but... I'd like to live there or something someday." It wasn't entirely untrue. Of all the places in Japan to live, Akihabara was one of the best to be in for someone like Toru.

"Er, where are we going to sit?" He asked, opening the door. He wasn't even trying to be polite- his longer legs just carried him to the door faster than those of the petite Kozue.

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Re: MEAL THREAD

anthesphoria
2009-07-27 02:48 am UTC (link)

"What, living in Akihabara? Doesn't sound dumb at all." She shrugged. It was about as intelligent as living in any other neighborhood of Tokyo, to her thinking. More so, if he was close to the things he really liked. "That makes sense to me, and it's a really convenient location." It was, like, right on top of Tokyo Station, after all. "What do you want to do in Tokyo? Like, go to college?"

She trotted after to catch up, something that happened pretty damn often to her - short legs, short gait, and Kozue didn't much like walking fast, anyway. She stepped into the restaurant and looked around, for some sign of a host or a waiting stand. None: it was kind of a small place, not a rotating sushi restaurant but perhaps she had been getting her hopes up, for finding one in this town without even looking in a phone book or on her cellphone or anything.

"How about there?" She pointed at random to an empty table, "Of course, if that's okay with you?"

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Re: MEAL THREAD

2dbeauty
2009-07-27 11:56 am UTC (link)

Toru averted his eyes bashfully. "I... probably wouldn't end up doing all that much traveling, to be honest... even if the location was very convenient. I-I mean, in Akihabara, I'd... I think I'd have everything I could ever ask for in life." He realized how sad it must sound, for his aspiration in life to be something like this. "I might go to college in Tokyo... I haven't really thought much about it yet, though. Er..." He trailed off, his words leaving in their wake an awkward silence.

It was fine for him that it was a small restaurant. Less people around, for one. The main issue would probably be Kozue's standards, after all. She seemed like the kind of girl who'd have very high standards; like one you'd need to buy tons of fancy stuff for in a ren'ai game before you could even get to know her. But she seemed fine here- she'd already picked a table, in fact. He walked over to her arbitrary table and sat down.

"This is fine, yeah." A pause. He had no idea what to talk about. Maybe sushi? "S-so, what do you think you want to order?

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Re: MEAL THREAD

anthesphoria
2009-07-30 10:13 pm UTC (link)

"Hmm." She glanced, briefly, at the menu items, and then decided that there was no way she'd be able to decide what to get. There were way too many options and no way that she'd know what was good here and what was bad. And, as she briefly appraised her sushi companion, there was also a very low chance that Toru would be willing to pick for her. If he couldn't get a sentence out without stopping or stammering, there was no way.

"Something or others, probably whatever the chef recommends today." She answered noncommittally, unaware that she was totally extinguishing Toru's safe conversation topic, and put the menu away again. "Oh, well, I'm not going to college." She shrugged, nonchalant about it. It wasn't like she was a good student, or needed to get herself a job.

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	Re: MEAL THREAD 2dbeauty 2009-07-31 12:46 am UTC (link)
	"Oh, okay... what the chef recommends... that... sounds good." Dammit, that was his one line of conversation shot down. Toru still had no idea how to talk to his classmate. "You're... not going to college? But..." He didn't really know what to say. Where Toru came from, people didn't not go to college. Sendai was, after all, a city of universities. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: MEAL THREAD

anthesphoria
2009-07-31 12:59 am UTC (link)

"Do you have any sushi you really like? What's your favorite?" She nudged, trying to get a little bit more than flustered agreement. It was, she reflected, still kind of odd, having seen that there was depth to her classmate beyond the shy, withdrawn hikkikomori otaku (yeah, that depth was kind of creepy, but it was more interesting than stammering and blushing), and then being stuck with the shy kid again. Paradise just made things weird.

Oh, conversation, right: "Well, there's nothing I'd study and I don't think I'll need a degree from college." Besides, she'd never study hard enough to pass entrance exams; she wouldn't be in Nanakamado now, if she hadn't gotten in at the bottom of the escalator school's program - or without her family, of course.

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Re: MEAL THREAD

2dbeauty
2009-07-31 03:42 pm UTC (link)

"Oh, my favorite? I guess I like the kind that has a lot of fish roe..." Toru briefly looked at where a menu was posted on a wall. "Gunkan. Yeah. That kind is pretty tasty..." He then looked over to Kozue. "What about you? Is there some kind that's your favorite?" It almost shocked Toru that he was, for once, making progress with smalltalk. When on earth had he started to develop this ability?

"Nothing? Really?" Toru was still confused. "What are you going to do when you get out of Nanakamado, then?" He honestly was completely unaware that Kozue could possibly live life without having gone to college.

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Re: MEAL THREAD

anthesphoria
2009-08-02 07:53 pm UTC (link)

"Let's see, I like Inarizushi, but I can't eat it all the time," she admitted, after thinking for a moment. "And the kind with the egg around it, ... hm, is that chakin?" She stopped to think about it, and nudged her place setting a little bit.

As far as her future went? With a completely unconcerned front, Kozue replied, "Well, I'll live with my family, I'll have an omiai, and," she shrugged, "my husband will work for my brother's company." That was the plan. That'd been the plan for as long as she could remember: married no earlier than twenty, no later than twenty-five, to a man her grandmother chose. And then she'd... well, figure out something to do.

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