2013-10-12 - A Familiar Face Appears! Bakery Happenstance!
| A Familiar Face Appears! Bakery Happenstance! | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Ren and Yuushiro run into one another in search of sweets. Old memories are jogged over pleasant conversation! And Souverain Heraut is the sneakiest device ever. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Tama Outer City, Midori-ya Bakery | |
| OOC - IC Date: 10/12/2013 - 10/03/2013 | |
It was not long after school had let out and Yuu, not having any club or extracurricular activities that would keep him, had joined the rest of the human traffic wave on the way home. There are some detours on the way home, however, thanks to a timely text from his mother asking him to pick up a few sweets from her favorite bakery. Not far, she insisted, and very much on the way home.
"Mom sure has a loose definition of 'nearby'.." Yuu complained to himself as he trudged up to Midori-Ya pristine storefront. It really, really wasn't anywhere near his usual route home unless you were using some sort of completely inhuman concept of geography to assess the distance. But even though it's a drag, it was precisely the kind of thing Yuu was used to being dropped in his lap-and he'd much rather keep his Mom happy on her sweets than risk the dangers of her wrath.
Really, he shuddered just thinking about it. "I wonder if Dad knew about the part of her before they got married..." He pondered idly to himself as his footsteps crossed the threshold of the store's entrance with a telltale ding-a-ling.
There's a modest crowd already at the cafe, most of them fellow teenagers-female ones, at that. Quite a few are quite cute by Yuu's estimation, and he felt himself instinctively trying to 'improve' his looks by standing straight and sucking in any gut (not that he had one in the first place) and in generally looking no different the brown-headed mop of a guy he was.
But anyways, priorities. The student eventually wandered up to the display case and looked over an array of cakes and assorted sweets, scratching his chin at what Mom would like best. Strawberries were her favorite...but some of this did look pretty good. Maybe he should get something too..
With no real obligations in the way of extracurriculars either, Ren is out and about wandering the streets on her own. Heading straight home to an empty house isn't really all that appealing. Her parents are away on business -- as usual. And her brother cancelled plans to come home for a bit due to other responsibilities at Ohtori -- as usual, again. So it would just be her tonight, though it does mean she's free to cook whatever her heart desires! It's little perks like that she treasures.
Either way, she ends up in the immediate vicinity of what's become her favorite little shop -- Midori-ya Bakery. And it's just as popular with the after school crowd as usual. Ren squeezes in and makes her way to the display counter. Maybe a nice carrot cake would hit the spot? Or something with chocolate, if she /really/ wants to indulge herself. Yeah... that sounds good! Slipping past a group of chattering junior high girls she makes it to her destination, leaning forward to peer at the collection of sweets with eager eyes. Mmmmm!
"Yeah, I'll take the strawberry shortcake, chocolate mousse and...hm, the black forest too, I guess." That should have something for everyone. The order is rung up, the items bagged and Yuu should soon be ready to go on his way. Not that he'd noticed, of course, but Ren had pulled up right next to him as all this was happening, and she'd likely had plenty of opportunity to hear his somewhat distinctive voice.
And while he doesn't exactly have the best kind of memory for these sorts of things, he does see something familiar about the girl when he turns about and notices her. "You...hm.." It was a brief pause in which he tried to place her, but just long enough to allow a conversation.
Overhearing Yuu's order, Ren mentally notes how good all of that sounds. Someone is going to be in sweets heaven! And... there's something else. That voice is awfully familiar! Curious as to whether her mind is just playing tricks on her, the high schooler turns to face the boy right next to her. A few moments of scanning his features is all she needs to be reminded of his identity.
"Kagami-san?" Ren questions, leaning in closer. "Ah! It /is/ you." He seemed on the cusp of recognizing her before she beat him to the punch. "It's Ren! Ren Aizawa!"
Ren...Ren Aizawa. That name diiid seem kind of familiar, at least one he might have heard on the roll call plenty of times. And she did look familiar. "Oh, right! Aizawa-san." Yuu oversells his recognition just to but, not wanting to hint on how bad his with remembering a lot of people, "Right, you used to be in our class." He's not exactly sure where she went, actually, only that he knows she isn't there anymore. It's not Yuu's nature to ask questions about that kind of thing, snooping about and all.
A cursory glance at her uniform reveals that anyways. "Oh, Infinity huh?" The genius school, Yuu quietly thinks "So that's where you got off to.." Was she actually some kind of genius? He seemed to recall Ren as a pretty quiet girl, or maybe he'd been the quiet one. "I've been by that place before, I think it kind of looks more like a business office than a school." He'll stick around a bit for Ren to make her order, figuring it's only polite to make a little talk while she does, "Are you enjoying it there?"
Mentioning her name seems to have jogged Yuushiro's memory, and Ren smiles genuinely in response. Seeing him reminds her of her formerly carefree days at Juuban -- days she used to long to go back to. But now things have changed drastically. Dwelling in the past almost seems like an insult to the present at this point.
"Oh! Yeah, Infinity..." She blushes, looking away for a moment. "I sort of got recruited to go there. Wasn't entirely by choice but it's working out better than I thought it would so... yes, I'm enjoying myself." Then she looks back over at him. "How are things going with you? Still hanging out with those two guys...? Umm... Taro and Daisuke I mean?" Wow, she even remembers Yuushiro's pals. Just how closely did she pay attention to him?
One of the clerks asks for her order in the meantime, prompting her to turn and rattle off her choice.
"Haha, yeah..wow, that's a pretty good memory you have there. I can see why you're at Infinity." Yuu laughed. It only sounded slightly forced, considering he can't really remember he, Taro or Daisuke actually talking with Ren much...but when they'd been hanging out since elementary school it probably wasn't out of the ordinary to notice they were a trio. Yuu couldn't name any of Ren's friends himself, if she had any, but he was certainly not the model of attentiveness or anything.
"Anyways, they're fine. I mean, it's all about modeling and figurines with those two these days, and I'm not as much into that anymore...but you know, they're still my friends." He'll wait for Ren to get her order and the move off to the side, walking and talking as they proceed, "Have you made any friends at Infinity yet?" He figured Infinity kids would be too busy doing amazing brain trust projects or whatever to get any of the typical school activities in, which perhaps displays how much Yuu actually knows about the other school.
Rael, meanwhile, observes this conversation with mild boredom, having had nothing in particular to comment upon and Yuu minces and goes along his way. He thought he might have felt some errant whiff of magic in the air, but it wasn't the kind to be concerned with, whatever it was.
"Yeah I'm good at remembering certain stuff like that." Ren nods with a bashful grin. If only it translated to schoolwork. Heh. When her order is prepared and slid over the counter to her she expresses her thanks and pays, picking up the two containers of cake to then fall into step beside Yuushiro.
"Sort of. I joined a club -- the Survival Club. And I'm usually not one for joining groups like that. But the president is a very nice and charismatic person." Not to mention she's also a kick-butt magical girl, though Ren of course doesn't say this aloud. "Should be fun and informative."
Rael didn't imagine that whiff of magic. Souverain Heraut, having picked up on traces of magic himself, has been silently probing around Yuushirou. The silver ring that is his standby form remains passive, pretending to be nothing more than a nice accessory Ren has chosen to wear.
"The survival club, huh?" Yuu can't say he's ever heard of a club by that name, "What do you do there, exactly? Is it about wilderness survival techniques or something?" The teen had never been much for clubs himself. There'd never been any particular athletics or talents he'd excelled at or enjoyed enough to want to join a club for. As for magical girls...well, he certainly wouldn't know anything about that, hahahaha!
If Rael vaguely notices that he, too, is being vaguely noticed, he doesn't comment on anything. There was little point to alerting Yuushiro about anything that didn't seem like a threat-after all, there was far more magic floating around hidden in plain sight than most people realized.
"So uh..." The young man struggles for further topics before their paths inevitably take them along different ways, "Did you hear about that incident at the amusement park last night? Kind of strange, I've been there plenty of times without anything weird happening.."
"Not so much wilderness stuff from what I understand. It's more along the lines of wargames and guns." Ren says with a chuckle. "The first meeting was a mock battle between two teams. The team I was in one, though I ended up getting eliminated beforehand. Still, I eliminated someone else on the opposing team so apparently I'm not that bad of a shot?" Another chuckle escapes as she remembers how she pretty much sprayed "gun fire" all over.
Souverain Heraut? Still probing. So curious!
"The amusement park? Oh, yeah, I did. I've only been there once before but still..."
"Er, wargames and guns?" Yuu seemed a little shocked by that. Real ones?! No, of course that couldn't be the case. "Well that...certainly doesn't sound like any of clubs I've been before. It sounds like it's keeping you engaged, though!" He really didn't know how to feel about the fact that Ren was a decent shot. Good thing he'd never been mean to her or anything.
"Yeah, well, it seems like strange things have been happening all around. I don't know what's been going on or anything, but be careful I guess." He's not even sure why he brought that up except to maybe have a chance to feel cool about it, even though he couldn't actually say anything. "Well, I was getting these for my Mom, so I should head back before she wonders where I am." He'll begin to split off towards his house and offer a wave, "It was nice to see you though, Ren! Maybe I'll see you again sometime!" And if there's nothing else, he'll continue on his merry way.
Rael continues to keep to himself, perhaps conserving energy after the considerable mana he'd expended last night. The magical presence he'd felt had definitely come form around that girl, but not the young woman herself. Strange...could it be the power of an anorian artifact..?
As if reading Yuu's mind Ren starts to wave her hands. "N-Not real ones! Airsoft guns! They look and feel pretty real though. So it's easy to pretend." Oh great. She hopes he doesn't secretly find her to be some weird gun nut now...
Aww. He told her to be careful. That's sweet. Ren nods quickly. "Thank you for the heads up. I'll try to avoid those kinds of strange places in the future." And that? Was a bit of a lie. Investigating the strange was firmly within her job description now. But what Yuu doesn't know won't hurt him. "Oh alright! Didn't mean to keep you. Take care Kagami-san." She waves, turning away to head off.
<INTERESTING.>
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
Souverain Heraut says nothing more at the moment, leaving Ren puzzled. Hmm!
