InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "The one that you have loved"

Nawanaka Toshimi [輪中福美] (thrown_to_winds) wrote in disappear_rpg,
@ 2009-10-20 01:33:00

Entry tags:

gendou, kou, masami, nayuki, toshimi

Who: Toshimi and anyone she runs into! It's an open thread, people!
What: A magical baseball-finding adventure!
When: Friday afternoon, post-dungeon.
Where: SkyPark and the surrounding area; wherever the search takes them.
Why: Because Toshi is too cheap to buy a new baseball.

Toshimi's baseball team friends had their faults, sure. The captain was rather zealous, Mikio Seiji never seemed to be able to speak loudly enough for anyone to hear, the two players from other teams had been gloomy since realizing that they would probably be on the baseball team for the rest of the season, and Yamada Kaori kept asking Toshi to go places or do favors for her. Toshimi didn't mind, really--at least Kaori had shown up this time (and Shirai Reizo was notably absent so far), and compared to the other group of people that kept asking her to meet at strange places for various things? Yamada Kaori was much less work. Today the request had been to bring her baseball mitts and a baseball to Skypark. Toshimi could tell where Kaori had been going with this, and thought it was a bad idea--there were plenty of ground-level parks in the city to practice throwing!--but went along with the plan anyway. It hadn't gone as disastrously as Toshimi had thought it would. Although her friend's aim wasn't on a level to be compared with hers, she'd yet to actually hit any passerby, and as long as they stayed in the center of the park and didn't go too close to an edge...

Or so Toshimi had thought. After an afternoon of a fully average game of catch, Kaori revealed what might have been some kind of secret throwing arm only activated once every 1000 throws, or something along those lines. The baseball sailed far above the synthetic sakura trees, over the heads of the others in the park, and towards the edge. Toshimi eyed it--thankfully, it did not seem to be going over the railing, so she ran to try and catch it. It was moving fairly slowly, as pop flies often did. Toshimi caught up to it and jumped to get it. Unfortunately, as talented as Toshi was at pitching, she was by no means a perfect fielder. Although her glove made contact with the ball, rather than catching it, the upward force from Toshi jumping into the air knocked it back upward.

And this was enough to send the baseball over the railing and down, down, down, down, down into the city below. Toshimi stared for a moment, stunned, then smiled and turned back to Kaori. "Kaori-san, did you see the...." But her teammate was not standing where she'd thrown the ball; in fact, she was nowhere in sight. "...eh."

Toshimi smiled, sighing a little bit. She had other baseballs if she needed to play, but the one that had been thrown over the fence was particularly nice, and had been one of her favorites. How much would it be to replace it? And then, how much did she have left from the last time she'd received spending money? She counted on her fingers. If she convinced the arcade manager to give her some 100 yen coins...Toshi shook her head. It was too impractical; just looking for the ball would be easier. She left the park and took the elevator down to the side of the building where the baseball had gone. Toshimi looked around. There didn't seem to be anyone calling a paramedic for a sudden baseball-related injury, so that was good. But she didn't see a baseball anywhere on the street, and there wasn't anyone holding a baseball and looking confused in the area either.

"Um, excuse me," she said to the closest person, "did you see a baseball around here? A baseball with blue stitches instead of red?" The person shook his head and kept walking. Toshimi put on a big smile and started asking others in the area, "A baseball? Blue stitches? Have you seen it anywhere...?"

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sakurabamasami
2009-10-20 05:54 am UTC (link)

Masami happened to be walking down the street that Friday afternoon. There was a kendo tournament coming up very soon so the team had been practicing as much as they could, and even though Masami had been skipping practice more often recently because of other matters involving Shadows and Paradise, she was skipping again because she really didn't feel like dealing with Ito-sensei and his "Kendo-Wrestling" or whatever he was trying to impose on the team at the moment.

Yes, much better to skip practice and just take a relaxing walk through a nice section of town while drinking tea than to deal with Ito-sensei's "Kendo-Wrestling" and Shirou's overenthusiastic shouts of "ITO-SENSEI!!!!!!!!"

As she continued down the street sipping tea from her travel cup, Masami noticed Toshimi, complete with signature smile, asking around about something. She seemed a bit... frantic, at least as much as Masami had ever seen her. She decided she'd see what was happening, so she approached her classmate.

"Nawanaka-san, you look a little rushed. Did something happen?"

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thrown_to_winds
2009-10-20 06:15 am UTC (link)

The search was not going well. Not only had nobody seen her baseball, but nobody seemed especially interested in helping her find it, either. Nonetheless, Toshi's face was locked in its typical expression. If she was disappointed by the lack of results so far, it didn't show.

As a young mother and her son were telling her that they hadn't seen the baseball ("Mom, I want a baseball too! Let's get one!") Toshimi noticed her classmate approaching, travel cup in hand. "Sakuraba-san, good afternoon," she waved.

"Oh, no, nothing too serious. I'm looking for a baseball that has blue stitches instead of red--you haven't seen it roll by here, by any chance?" she asked hopefully. She shaded her eyes with one hand as she glanced around the area again. "I guess I'm rushing because in a city like this, things can get lost pretty quickly."

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sakurabamasami
2009-10-20 06:35 am UTC (link)

"A baseball with blue stitches?" Masami asked, "I haven't seen any baseball roll by here..."

Masami figured this would be a nice way to kill some time. A million times better than an afternoon full of hearing "SHIROU!!!!!!!!" and "ITO-SENSEI!!!!!!!!!" shouted back and forth... then again, that wasn't saying much. Either way, it couldn't hurt to help out, could it?

"I can help you look if you want. I'm skipping practice anyway. I'm not really in the mood to deal with Ito-sensei and Shirou right now. Where have you already looked?"

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daioujou
2009-10-20 03:33 pm UTC (link)

It wasn't often Kouchisei came early, but the book he wanted had been released today and he wanted it now. Perhaps it'd get his head out of the talk his old man had given. However, the noise of the city centre was nerve-inducing. His path kept him to the outside of the crowd, his head down, and it was when he was nearing the bookstore [it was a street away] that he saw Toshimi with Misaki.

He scrutinised them, and saw Masami holding a cup. Well, that was messy.

Still, he had to say hello. It wasn't like he'd get by unseen and he didn't like the thought of them talking about it behind his back - especially with everyone else.

"Looked for what?" he asked, going over.

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thrown_to_winds
2009-10-20 09:51 pm UTC (link)

"Ah," Toshi merely nodded in response to hearing that Masami hadn't seen the baseball. It wasn't really surprising, after all. She regarded her classmate as she spoke. The tea looked good, but wasn't it hot outside to be drinking something like that? Toshi was interrupted from her pondering of this by Masami's offer to help. "Ah, thank you, Sakuraba-san! That way the search goes twice as fast!" She smiled pleasantly. (As for her thoughts on Ito-sensei and the matter of dealing with him, Toshimi was pretending he didn't exist as usual that day and said nothing of it.)

As Kou approached, she waved to him as well. "Good afternoon, Oubai-san," Toshimi said. "We're looking for a baseball that has blue stitches instead of red...have you seen it rolling by here at all?" She turned to Masami and said, "I've been asking people around here, but nobody seems to have seen it. It should have landed in this area somewhere but..." She looked around again, as if hoping that the baseball would appear where it hadn't been before. "I guess it probably rolled away..." She smiled at the other two.

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	sakurabamasami 2009-10-22 03:36 am UTC (link)
	"Oh, Oubai-san. Nice to see you," Masami said to Kou, "Like Nawanaka-san said, we're looking for her baseball." Masami turned back to Toshimi. "If you're not having any luck here, how about we head somewhere else? Maybe it's a little bit farther away?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

daioujou
2009-10-24 11:46 pm UTC (link)

A baseball. A small, cheap, and replacable item?

Kouchisei glanced away and watched the crowd move by. What nonsense! His nose wrinkled and he looked like not asking for his help would be the right idea. He wasn't going to waste time on girls who acted like Americans - those sort who were undignified and acted grateful for the invasion of a foreign culture - one that had only been imposed with threat. He glanced at them coolly.

"Isn't that rather stupid? Just buy a new one."

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thrown_to_winds
2009-10-25 11:06 am UTC (link)

If Toshimi noticed Kouchisei's disdainful reaction, she didn't say anything about it. She smiled and shrugged, "I guess I could, but..." Well. That was a lie, albeit one she told easily. "I don't like to waste money," she said. If it came to light that she really didn't have room in her budget for a new baseball, she didn't want Kouchisei to say anything to her for lying so blatantly, after all. (She was getting the feeling that if given the opportunity, he probably WOULD say something about it, too.)

"Besides," she added, "This one was one of my favorites...a new one just wouldn't be as good. New baseballs are so..." Toshimi gestured vaguely, trying to convey her sentiment. There wasn't really a word for it; after a moment, she gave up and settled for, "...slippery."

She stood on her toes for a second, taking one last look around the area. "I guess it isn't around here after all," she said, smiling peacefully. "You're probably right, Sakuraba-san. I think I saw the direction it went, so..." Toshi started in one direction down the sidewalk. She stopped a few squares of pavement away and turned back, waiting for the others to follow (or perhaps not follow, in Kou's case), and continued.

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	sakurabamasami 2009-10-26 08:35 am UTC (link)
	Masami watched Toshi start away and turned back to Kou. "Well, I might as well keep helping Nawanaka-san look. I'll see you later then, Oubai-san," she said before bowing slightly and going to join Toshi. "Where do you think we should look next, Nawanaka-san?" (Reply to this) (Parent)

Houston... we have lift-off.

kleinevidan
2009-10-20 07:39 am UTC (link)

There wasn't any work to be done for today, so Nayuki had the whole afternoon for himself. He was just about to park his bicycle back at the office but, with the sudden recollection of Ito-sensei's physical requirements during gym class, he thought it'd be better if he went for a bit of endurance training. "Hmm... the city blocks seem a good place as any to start, I suppose." Shoving an energy drink between his bike's frame, he began pedaling into the city central. The roads he took weren't exactly busy as the clock hasn't struck five, and it was just the way he liked it. He was surprised to see that central district's roads would still mold themselves to the nearby hills. "But that's alright... Uphills might just be what I need."

It wasn't very long after that he reached the ever-famous multi-storey parking garage. The garage itself wasn't famous, but rather what's on top of it. Nayuki had only had a brief time to pay SkyPark a visit before, and the place felt surreal for him. A well-maintained artificial garden that had catwalks connecting it to the nearby buildings. It's a wonder that thi--- *BONK!*

Whatever train of thought Nayuki had at that moment completely left him. In its place was a painful headache. Squeezing on his brakes, he looked around for the offending object. He had to squint for a bit as his vision was still blurred by the throbbing pain, but he was certain that he was staring down at the culprit. It was a baseball, and it was quietly resting in the middle of the road. He looked up and sighed. "Isn't the park fence high enough?" Shaking his head, both in exasperation and pain, he got off his bike to retrieve the said baseball. "I bet whoever's up there would like to have this back."

Just as Nayuki was reaching for the ball, an oncoming schoolbus blared its horns at him. He reflexively jumped back to the sidewalk. The rhythmical jolt of the bus told him that it just ran something over. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." And sure enough, the baseball was gone from its initial position and is now rolling downhill, after the bus that just ran it over. Nayuki looked up towards SkyPark, then back to the rolling ball, and facepalmed. Ignoring the throbbing pain on his head, he got on his bike and gave chase to the rogue baseball. "Why me?"

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The day I died...well almost...by Retsu Gendou

bucketofwisdom
2009-10-21 03:13 pm UTC (link)

The day had been realtively quiet. He'd gone to the store, picked up a few items for class and then headed back towards the school. The few things were tapes and editing equimpment used for the AV Club, which consisted mostly of him another boy and two girls who thought that would make the next Titanic on a very low scale budget. He sighed, at least they were serious about film making.

The rogue ball had picked up speed as it moved away from Nayuki and down a path up an over a swear grate, which was at the moment of it touching the great, lifted up sending the ball rocketing like a hammer in a pinball machine. The ball sailed though the air, and bounced off an awening that was being shaken out. Flung up the ball hit a flower pot at an abnormal speed and knocked it over, at the same time the ball bounced against an adjectent window sill and hit at such an imapct that it became an angled projectial and flew right for Gendou who had heard a noise and moved deftly out of the way of the falling flower pot.

Jeeze! What in the world... he was starting to think when the ball came whizzing right at his face, hitting him there with enough force to knock him back into the door, making him hit his head, drop what he had just bought (and probably damaging most of it), and crash on his ass to the ground.

Urgh... was what he was able to think when the pain had subsided enough that he could see. Looking down he saw the ball, now skipping back down the opposite way it had come in, and got up trying to deal with a bloody nose.

"Damn it all to hell, when I find the kid that hit that ball...he's going to wish he'd never learned to play baseball in the first place." the president muttered as he rose, picked up his items, and headed back down the street after the wild ball.

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Houston... We have a problem...

kleinevidan
2009-10-22 07:20 am UTC (link)

Nayuki could barely see the baseball as it kept favouring the left lane. At a downhill pace, he's being careful not to clock up too much speed though he's lagging behind. Unsure why he's persistent with the chase, he tries to think up of justifications aside from a simple gratitude of return. He had to put his attention back on the road ahead of him as he watches the baseball take flight after making contact with the sewage grating. Following the trajectory, he continued to watch it bounce off a few more objects, allowing him to regain some lost ground. He let out a smile, "Just what I needed! I've got you now, mr. baseball."

Incidentally, Nayuki was travelling too close to the sidewalk. And at that time, two workers from the furniture store up ahead were bringing out a brand new recliner from the cargo truck. "Alright... I just need to bleed off some spe--" Before he could finish, he heard two very distinct and loud *SNAPS* coming from his bike. He now found himself going downhill faster than he'd like and squeezing hard on the brakes did absolutely nothing. "Oh you have got to be KIDDING me!?" There was little time to lose. He shouts out to the workers to get them out of the way. Fortunately, the two workers heard him in time and ducked out for safety. Unfortunately, the said workers dropped the recliner right in Nayuki's path. "Oh sh---" Quickly pulling the bike's steering handles, he manages to raise the front wheels well enough as it made contact with the recliner. One hard jolt and a few seconds later, he found himself getting airtime with his bike.

For a brief moment, Nayuki actually felt weightless, and that made him smile. But it soon faded when he realized just where his trajectory was taking him. Just a little further ahead and below, he could see a blonde-haired young man running angrily after something. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was about to happen, and there was very little Nayuki could do to prevent it. Grimacing, he took a deep breath and screamed in all his might. "OI! LOOK OUT!" The few seconds felt like an eternity as he crashed into the hapless young man, all in slow-motion. Yet, somehow, his eyes caught a glimpse of the rogue baseball, rolling just a few meters ahead of them both. It bounced a few times on the concrete sidewalk, as if taunting them, before it rolled away, picking up speed.

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Re: Houston... We have a problem...

bucketofwisdom
2009-10-25 05:17 am UTC (link)

"Now I have you, you damn..." Gendou had been running after the ball with fury. He wasn't really looking up, only paying heed to his target, and planning on how to make it suffer for ruining his perfectly good day. It was, ~~inevitable~~, on the way to grasp the ball in his hands that he heard the sound of snapping break lines, and the shouts of "Oi Look out!"

Looking up Gendou barely had a moment to register what was going on. He saw the bike, then felt the sharp pain of the bike, rider and camera equimpment smash into his tall framed body. He rolled down with the bike and Nayuki, landing up sprawled across Nayuki's stomache and groaning. "Damn it...am I dead?"

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Collecting the pieces...

kleinevidan
2009-10-26 10:54 am UTC (link)

It was a very bad tumble, but Nayuki kept hoping that whoever he crashed into wouldn't be in any serious injury. He could clearly feel that he was lying on his satchel, judging from the really uncomfortable sensation he's getting from his lower back. His head started running on a checklist as he kept staring at the sky. "Arms are sore, but I can feel and move them. I can move my toes, but I think the bike's pinning me down so I have to be careful with my legs, in general." With all that done, he looks down to his stomach as he hears a groan. "Ah, so that's why I feel heavier than usual."

He props himself up with his elbows, groaning himself from the general soreness. Nayuki carefully examined his victim. "I'm really sorry about all that. My brakes gave way, I--" His eyes widened in surprise as soon as he recognized the young man. "R - Retsu-iinchou!?"

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Re: Collecting the pieces...

bucketofwisdom
2009-10-27 01:24 am UTC (link)

"D-Damnit..." Gendou muttered and looked up when he heard his name. The new kid he had supposed to help before, what was his name? Tiki, Tombo, Troba...something like that., was under him propping his torso up on his elbows. If Gendou was in a amused mood he would tease the poor man about it. But he wasn't in an amused mood so he just groaned and tried to get up.

"Yes...that would be...OW!!! &^$@!#$%" He shouted when he heard a snapping noise in his left wrist and rolled off Nayuki to cluch the offending limb. "Shit! No no no..."

His wrist was either broken or sprained at the worst possible time. He had a job to do with the AV club and now..."I'm going to kill the bastard that owns that demon baseball! It's poessed! It's out to kill me!"

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