InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Your OTHER left!"

Yamada Kai [山田海] (the_nadeshiko) wrote in disappear_rpg,
@ 2010-05-18 17:35:00

Entry tags:

isao, kai

WHO: Kai and Isao.
WHAT: Eating as a cover for Kai/Isao meeting more people.
WHERE: Noodle Alley.
WHEN: Some afternoon after school.
WHY: "So I herd you promised me free food?" "U herd rite." /shot

Noodle Alley was about the same as Kai had remembered it, but it felt like an eternity had passed between now and when he'd last come here. Back in middle school, he'd never come in alone - it was always trailing after Masaya, eager to dive into their usual favorite shop and talk about the day and their plans to hang out that weekend.

In a short span of time, everything had changed, and he felt like a stranger standing alone in front of his old haunt.

Kai yawned, covering his mouth abesently (the spoils of staying up for the past week working on three costumes for the idol contest), and hoped that Isao would show up soon so he could go inside and sit down. Some hot soup was sure to wake him up.

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whenitsleeps
2010-05-19 12:14 am UTC (link)

There were several types of people in the world. Those who made offers, those who modestly refused them, and then there were the opportunists who made jumps at anything offered to them. Isao almost always found himself being the latter, but he really didn't mind and certainly wasn't going to complain about it. Free food? That was certainly an offer he'd take anyone up on any day. And it had been awhile since the last time he had been to Noodle Alley, so he was looking forward to it.

Though... when he thought back on it, the last time he was in the area with people he didn't know well was the first time he was shoved into that place. Paradise or whatever they called it. He certainly didn't consider it that himself, so he never bothered actually calling it that. And he certainly doubted that anything like being randomly shoved into places would happen again now that he was officially part of their group, so there was no sense in worrying about it. Free food was free food, after all.

As it was after school, he was still in his typically uniform style with his wrinkled shirt partially untucked and his tie loosened. He got away with looking sloppy far more often than he should have been allowed, but after awhile he assumed that the teachers just gave up and sort of overlooked some of the eccentricities of 3-B as a whole. He figured the best way to spot Kai was to look for another person in the same uniform, but he always underestimated the popularity of the area amongst Nanakamado students. When he finally caught sight of Kai waiting outside, he pulled out his phone to check the time. Okay, so he was a few minutes late, but it wasn't that bad at least. Had he not slept through class he probably would have made it sooner. Or, rather, had someone not woken him up awhile after the end of class, he probably would have been later. Rather than worry too much about it, he just briefly quickened his pace over to the other.

"Hey," Isao greeted, giving a half-hearted sort of wave. "Sorry for the wait. You weren't standing around too long, were you?"

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	the_nadeshiko 2010-05-20 01:02 am UTC (link)
	Kai returned the wave, and gave Isao a casual smile. "Hey. It's fine, I wasn't waiting that long." He moved to go inside and held the door open for Isao before going in. "I really missed this place in particular. When I first lived here, I used to come here all the time." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

whenitsleeps
2010-05-21 01:47 am UTC (link)

Well, that was good at least. Usually people making people who were offering to buy a free meal for you wait too long didn't end well. He stepped in, giving Kai a nod of thanks for holding the door open. Then he immediately looked around for empty chairs and went ahead to take a seat. Getting good seats in a busy noodle place was sometimes hard to do, but that didn't really seem to be a problem this time.

"You used to live here?" Isao asked, though he assumed the answer was a yes, of course. It wasn't really that surprising. A lot of people he knew had lived in the city for quite some time. He just couldn't fathom what it would've been like living in one place for so long. Though, maybe there were upsides. Maybe. You could see how places develop and that may have been interesting. "Is the food still as good as it was then?"

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the_nadeshiko
2010-05-22 01:53 am UTC (link)

Kai sat down beside Isao, and gave the place a good look around. It looked about the same, too. The fact that some things had stayed constant was a small comfort to him.

"Yeah - I moved here from Okinawa in middle school, stayed for a few years, then went back home until I moved back in the middle of this year. It was all 'cause of my Dad's job."

"I don't know. I hope so!"

The cook behind the counter was looking at them impatiently; Kai quickly ordered a bowl of miso ramen and looked at Isao, waiting for him to do the same.

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whenitsleeps
2010-05-22 10:32 pm UTC (link)

"Okinawa, huh? That place is nice," he commented casually, before also catching sight of the impatient looking cook. Rather than order miso like Kai, he decided on shio. Miso ramen was the specialty of Hokkaido, but he couldn't pass up a good bowl of shio ramen. It wasn't exactly something he ate too often, but it always put him in a good mood.

His doctor always made sure to fuss at him about maintaining a consistent sodium intake. But, of course, asking a teenage boy like himself to watch his salt levels was a lot like asking a dog to only wag its tail so many times a day. He never really paid as much attention to it as he should have. It was only times like now when he was specifically ordering a dish with salt in its name that the nagging came up in the back of his head. If it wasn't his favorite and if he cared more, he probably would've reconsidered. Oh well.

Had he been any other person he probably would've sympathized with the difficulties of moving back and forth, but as it was that didn't even occur to him. It was more interesting figuring out what sort of jobs the parents of the Nanakamado students had. Sometimes it was like a game of whose family owned what. "So, what's your dad do that had you moving back and forth?"

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the_nadeshiko
2010-05-23 03:16 am UTC (link)

Kai nodded, a pleased, warm smile coming over his face. "Yeah, it really is." Normally, he would've gone into his usual spiel detailing his favorite parts about Okinawa (starting with: everything), but he just...didn't have the energy to think about the past today. He felt out of place even here, in a place that had both changed and stayed the same all at once. He stared down at his hands, feeling suddenly awkward.

"Oh, he's an architect. He works for a big firm - uh, Miyahara, I think? -and he actually gets sent around a lot to go work on projects around Japan. The time we all moved to Iburi was when he got transferred to a local office for a few years, but then they brought him back." He shrugged. "That's about it. What do your parents do?"

"Say, senpai..." Kai took a deep breath, more like a sigh, and leaned his elbow on the counter, palm on his cheek. "About Para - "that place;" what do you think about it?" He knew it was foolish to risk talking about Paradise in public - the walls here could very well have eyes, if what he'd heard so far was all true - but he had to...commiserate for lack of a better word. If he got a feel that Isao might at least be unsettled by the place like he was, then maybe Kai could tell him.

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whenitsleeps
2010-05-23 04:18 am UTC (link)

An architect. He didn't really know much about architects, so he nothing really came to mind at the name. He'd have it in mind if he ever came across something in the future though. Then for his own parents job... It wasn't like it was something he ever tried to hide. Whenever anyone asked he always answered honestly. The high class people of his school just snickered at it from time to time. "They're acrobats working for the Cirque de la Lune. Traveling with the Bà show. I think they're in Belgium right now."

He shrugged casually, thinking about the chocolate he was probably missing out on by not being there. But at least he was getting free ramen. The next question he hadn't really expected though in their conversation. Though that was certainly an interesting question to bring up all of sudden. Isao turned his attention away from the man working behind the counter and gave Kai a confused look. He understood what he was talking about, sure, but... He had no idea how to answer right off the bat. It wasn't like he enjoyed the place, but he didn't have any strong feeling about it either way. Well, no, there was one thing in mind when he thought about it. He sighed and leaned forward, pulling some chopsticks from the little container they had available to distract himself until the ramen arrived.

"It's not my problem. I do what I can if I'm needed, because it's not like I have a reason not to," he finally answered, trying to put it in the best way he new possible. Thinking briefly on what he just said, he knew it probably didn't come out making him sound like that great of a person, but he was being honest. He didn't want to feel as if he had a great deal of responsibility to that place. "I just don't know if I can get so comfortable with using those things like everyone else." He was vague with his terms, but he was sure Kai understood what he meant. Even if he didn't, he had no intention to elaborate.

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the_nadeshiko
2010-05-27 08:32 pm UTC (link)

Kai's eyes widened at Isao's explanation of his parent's careers. That was... "Cool! That is so wild! Acrobats, really? In Belgium?" This was the first thing that had genuinely excited him the entire conversation; acrobats were novel and interesting, and Kai was unabashedly caught up in his own enthusiasm. "Why are you here? Do you know how to do stuff like that? Did you used to be in the shows, too?"

Oh. Isao's reaction was neither the passionate idealism or bitter tirade that he'd expected from someone who'd been on the team longer than him, and Kai didn't know how to react to it immediately. He nodded while he waited for the words to come. "That makes sense. It's...not really a normal situation. To be honest, it's amusing, but..." He trailed off, unsure of whether he should risk saying it out loud. He played with his chopsticks, sliding them in and out of the paper wrapper. "I'm just not sure what to think of it anymore." That seemed like the safest thing to say, even though it wasn't true.

"But doesn't the fact that it's really serious mean anything to you?" He was being vague as well, thinking that saying "people could die" just might not be a wise thing to say in a crowded restaurant if he wanted to be discreet. He wondered what was inspiring Isao's seeming neutrality in all of this, and intended to find out.

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whenitsleeps
2010-06-14 04:24 am UTC (link)

"Yeah. Up until they decided that I should go here," he nodded, wondering if he should expand on that topic. There were plenty of other elements to that story that he didn't really care to go into. He had tried to keep up with his acrobatics even after they had dumped him off at Nanakamado, but... Well, he didn't have the energy for that any more. He could still juggle well though.

But should the seriousness mean anything to him? Isao glanced up at Kai, wondering how he should put it. He meant what he said. It wasn't his responsibility and he didn't like using those things. What more was there to say over what he thought about the place? It was serious he supposed. But if worse came to worse, that wasn't his responsibility. He tilted his head and looked up at the ceiling, searching for the right words. He only perked up a bit, giving the man behind the counter a nod of thanks, when he was handed his bowl of ramen. Steamy, hot, and smelled of salt. Perfect. A great momentary interruption to give him time to think.

"Like I said, it's not my problem," he finally said bluntly, digging his chopsticks into the bowl already. "We're just high schoolers. Not magic problem solvers." Okay, well, maybe they could've qualified as magic. "We can only do what we can do. I don't think it should be worried about more than that. Things happen and we can't always control how they turn out. That's just life."

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the_nadeshiko
2010-06-23 02:30 pm UTC (link)

Kai took the bowl of ramen with a similar nod, and tucked into it as a temporary distraction while he wondered how to respond to Isao. Mmm...miso.

"I just think that attitude can be dangerous, is all. Knowing that other people -" and just in time, he remembered to drop his voice to avoid being overheard - "- that other people could live or die depending on my actions is making me nervous." To say the least. "To not care would be murder."

"What if our best isn't enough?" he said quietly to his soup. The way he was avoiding looking at anyone suggested that it had been on his mind for some time. "What will we do if the worst happens and we're the ones responsible?"

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whenitsleeps
2010-06-25 09:32 am UTC (link)

"Then I guess it's all our fault and we failed everyone forever. We'll live the rest of our lives in shame if we aren't stoned to death by the masses first," he explained flatly before slurping up more of his ramen. "If that's the sort of thing you're expecting me to say, then that's pretty stupid. I'd say guilt tripping over something you can't control is more dangerous than my attitude."

Isao glanced over silently for a moment, but didn't really have anything more to say on the matter. Kai was apparently very serious based on his expression and that didn't really settle well with him. It was so pointless to worry so much about it. He was already thinking about his participation in that world more than he would have liked to, he didn't need to be told that he was potentially damning people for not wanting to hate himself if something went wrong. "Our best will have to be enough, because what else can we do? It's not our fault if the worst does happen. We're not the ones trying to... well, you know. We're not the bad guys, and our best not being enough isn't going to make us the bad guys. We're not the ones responsible regardless of what happens."

This was the same logic that he was comforting himself with and it just made sense to him. If there were some other creeps running around trying to kill people, why would he be at fault? Ever? He didn't start it and he was just there to help. Nothing made him responsible for what happened in that place. Was there anything better to say though?

"I mean, if something happened to me, I wouldn't blame you guys even if it was because of a mistake you made. At least you tried." Okay, well, that may not have been the most comforting thing either. It was the best attempt he had to offer.

Isao frowned to himself and tilted his bowl over to Kai. "Want to try some?"

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the_nadeshiko
2010-06-27 11:08 pm UTC (link)

Kai, sensing that this argument would only go nowhere and end in resentments if pushed, just shook his head and stayed quiet. "I...guess so," he said, his default statement when he just wanted an argument to end.

Ramen was a much better subject of discussion. "Yeah, thanks," he said, taking a taste. He didn't particularly like shio, but he figured it would do well to at least accept Isao's peace offering.

"Um, want some of mine?" he said hesitantly, offering his own bowl to Isao.

He drummed his fingers on the counter top, feeling spectacularly awkward and shrill now that his deepest worries had just been brushed off.

"...You never answered my question about the circus."

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