2025-07-01: Missed Sales
- Log: Missing Sales
- Cast: Ichika Kawase, Yukari Takeba
- Where: Izakaya Shiraishi, Hirasaka Ward
- OOC Date: July 01, 2025
- IC Date: June 03, 2012
- Summary: Yukari Takeba goes to Sumaru City on a Sunday to shop, she encounters Ichika Kawase while trying out the local food at Kameya Alley... some misunderstandings occur.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Izakaya Shirashi... Hangout of a Rumormonger, and run supposedly by an ex-spy. It's a good place to eat, though, especiallly for those who happen to be in Kameya Alley. And Ichika Kawase happens to be a regular--this place isn't far from her dorm.
She has some shopping bags on her arm, having been here for that purpose, and is in a midriff-baring tanktop with a skull on it, and baggy green cargo pants. Her makeup is on point, though. Her bleach-blonde hair tumbles down her back. And... Her order is up!
"Kawase-san!" comes the name, because Ma'am knows who she is. "You're up."
"Thank you," Ichika says. "...Sorry I can't stay this time."
"It's fine. Just don't wait too long to eat it. It's no good cold."
"Right."
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Ordinarily Yukari Takeba wouldn't come this far to shop - the Beauty shops in Tatsumi Port Island are just fine! ... And if they're not, then there was all of Tokyo to check out.
But, there's a deal for Hiore skin care products at the Smile Mall, and it's a Sunday! And she has a coupon from her fashion magazines. She can make the trip. And she needed to stock up on Sunscreen that'll last her the entire Summer... and maybe even beyond.
"Okay. Still in budget." She says as she makes some calculations, and takes stock of the money in her wallet. "Now... let's pick some lunch and head back. Hmm, it'd be a shame to come all this way and eat at a food court."
...
Maybe she doesn't understand how it looks to have a Hiore bag from the Smile Mall then come to a local Shopping District.
Passing by Tominaga Chiropractic, she doubles back to stare at it. "Maybe getting my spine adjusted would help with my posture?" Taking out her flip phone, she starts looking up articles when-
-from within-
"My ultimate technique: GOLLLDDDDDDDDDDDD FINGERRRRRRRRRRRR!"
The scream that followed jolted her, as she closed her phone and immediately stated, "Nope!" And kept walking.
When Yukari walks into the Izakaya Shirashi, she's wearing a pink halter top and skinny jeans with flared ankles, some comfortable heeled sandals.
"Hm, what looks good." She said as she checked out the menu. "Veggie Ramen, with Tofu." Ma'am looks over her sunglasses at her and notes, "Think I've seen you around before."
Yukari smiled awkwardly, "Maybe years ago. I could hardly be called a local." "... Right. Coming up."
... Which is when she hears 'Kawase.'
Yukari blinks, and turns her head, the girl in general would stand out anyway, but she looks familiar and besides...
"Kawase... huh?"
She thinks she remembers her from Honmaru Park, and a glimpse of a girl with her...
"Couldn't be."
She hopes it couldn't be.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Couldn't be--but is!
Ichika hasn't been to the mall yet today, but she might go later--for the same deal Yukari's looking at, if she happens to have noticed it. She may have to be extra-careful with her hair because of the bleach, but her skin skill takes work, too.
But Ichika also knows how it looks to go to the mall and come here.
Ichika is wearing sneakers, not sandals. They're still comfortable,, though. And she happens to recognize...
"I definitely have," Ichika comments to Yukari, having seen her around before. Yukari is looking at her; Ichika steps away from the counter so as to get out of the way, and stops next to Yukari. "I recognize you from the festival. You were with the Gekkou High students." She glances down at her bags, and up to her. "Looks like you made a day of it."
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
The bleached hair... Yukari likes people to make fashion statements personalized to themselves, but she likes them to do it with what's already there. Natsuki works, for making the Ganguro/Gyaru style hers without dying her hair.
The bleached blonde... doesn't, for Yukari at least, but she doesn't comment. It's not her way to comment negatively without being provoked.
Maybe there is a connection, but she can't say it. They only just found out recently that Ririka remembers what happened in the Dark Hour... which means...
... great, what did she stumble into.
"Sunday sale. No reason not to make a day trip." She hesitates for a moment, as Ichika comes closer to her, but then sits down at the counter, putting her bag up on it, and her purse.
... maybe to show she's not intimidated by her getting closer.
"Is this 'Gekkou High' thing you getting territorial or something?" Yukari asks, as if trying to figure out the comment on 'Gekkou High' again.
"Knew Kasugayama and Seven Sisters had some kind of weird rivalry thing going on, but wasn't aware we were getting drawn into it too from across Japan."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
She might get provoked shortly... or she might not.
Ichika still has her bag, so when Yukari sits down, Ichika thinks about it--and sits down with her, setting the bag on the counter. She might eat it here after all, if she has someone to talk to. "True enough," she says. "Things were running late for me today, so I probably missed the sales..."
She isn't scared off by Yukari not being intimidated. Indeed--she grins at that. "Nah, that's just how we tend to think about it. Some of our students get like that, though--Gekkoukan's a 'nice' school, and some of them resent it for that."
A slow, langorous shrug. "But it doesn't bother me. My sister goes there. It's a nice place."
Ichika can do friendly--though, 'friendly' is a strong word. Even when she's being pleasant she has a bit of that Boss swagger, for all that she's still 'watashi'.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"... That sucks." Yukari comments mildly, making small talk, "Had some really good deals today, so you could've stocked up."
She hasn't really introduced herself either, but neither too has the other girl, right?
"A 'nice school'? Guess that's true..." She's not unaware of how dilapidated Kasugayama High looks, and why it would look that way.
"Your sister? Huhhhh...."
That word drawls out, and she looks momentarily lost in thought. The dots do connect quickly, after all - the other girl is huge.
She goes to Kasugayama, while Ririka goes to Gekkoukan an hour away.
Her whole vibe?
"... guess everyone has problems like that." She says softly, but perhaps a little carelessly. As she means family problems.
After all, there are many wrong ways to take it. "So your family lives up in Iwatodai City?"
It's a good guess but also it implies a lot about how she takes Ichika already. "I'm Takeba by the way, Yukari Takeba." She says, as if finally remembering one should introduce themselves, even to someone she thought was hostile.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Small talk! It's not a bad thing. Ichika can go with her script on small talk, and it's a lot less stressful. "Guess I'll have to another time," she says.
She hasn't introduced herself yet, no. She wasn't sure it was going to be a conversation, like it looks like it's going to be now. So thinking about it, she watches Yukari as she drawls out the word. That's...
She must know Ririka by name or appearance if nothing else. "...Heh." Problems like that. Ichika isn't sure what Yukari means, so she doesn't take offense yet. But it does raise her hackles a little.
"That's right," Ichika says. "Have for about ten years." She doesn't mention why she's at Kasugayama instead. That's a little much for an acquaintance.
"Kawase," Ichika confirms. "Ichika Kawase. Nice to meet you, Takeba-san."
She pauses, and then lifts her voice, "Hey, Ma'am. I think I'm gonna eat it here after all."
She pulls her phone to fire off a text. "...He can wait on me a bit," she muses as she does.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
For Ten Years?
Now Yukari's hackles are up, given what that could mean. How she could know her.
Ma'am nods at Ichika, before asking, "Fair enough. Sit wherever you want."
She presents a bowl to Yukari in short order, still steaming. "Itadakimasu..." She says very softly, more like it's out of habit. After all - it's a little embarrassing to eat alone, picking up her chopsticks and cracking them apart from the narrow end, as she starts to eat.
Even if that's not abnormal for her.
It's what Ichika says next that actually gets to her some. Because well- she obviously was taking it to go and...
"Isn't it a little rude to keep your boyfriend waiting?"
... it kinda makes her think of her Mom. Guys treated her like garbage all the time, it would bug her to see girls treating their boyfriends like garbage too.
If you're with someone then, you should treat them like they're important to you.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Thanks," Ichika says again. She unwraps the bag and brings out her food. It's some kind of... gyoza. It's reddish inside. But it couldn't be... the red bean gyoza. Could it?? Who would eat that??
It's cute the way Yukari says that. But--well...
"A little," Ichika agrees amiably, not arguing the boyfriend part. "But I'll make it up to him later." It doesn't seem to bother her at all, in fact, that she's making her boyfriend wait. "It's important to reserve time for girl stuff now and then."
She cracks apart her own chopsticks, and starts to eat. Delicious Strength bonus...
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Who WOULD eat that?
"I guess you're on some kind of weird diet."
It's the nicest explanation she can think of. She does weird diets too.
She picks up the soup, and slurps it for a moment, politely, not spilling a drop with how careful she is.
"Mmm. Good stuff."
She doesn't eat ramen too often, but - she knows this place is raved about by the locals. Her response though-
"Make it up to him how?"
She says - and then thinks perhaps that one was a blunder, because how do girls make it up to boys they like.
"... Girl stuff like, taking your time eating lunch you had made to-go? Geez..."
She doesn't actually consider the 'girl stuff' might be 'spending time with another girl you just met' because who would?
"Strange priorities."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Usually," Ichika says wryly of her weird diet. "...But they're actually really good. You just wouldn't think to try them if Ma'am didn't offer them."
Yukari is very careful of her soup. That's polite, though; you don't want to be rude to the ex-spy proprietress.
But make it up to him how? Ichika lifts an eyebrow at the question, both because it's obvious to her and because it's the sort of thing she wouldn't expect a nice girl like Yukari to ask. Still, she gets a mischevious look to her expression. "A boy'll usually forgive you if you ask on your knees," she quips, and gets back to her food.
"Spending time with other girls," Ichika corrects at that. She has a feeling this is going to go south, but, "I like to keep a balanced life. Relationships are important, but so is being your own person."
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"For good reason... but if she makes them." She considers the thought of deep fried RED BEAN PASTE? "I'll keep that in mind."
She isn't trying to cause offense after all.
But...
What she says next... takes her back.
-=-=-
She was used to quiet nights around the apartment... nights spent doing her homework, or flipping through fashion magazines when she hears sudden raised voices from the other side of the apartment.
Two of them.
With a sigh, the nine year old notes, "She brought someone home?" Her pen hovers... as she listens through the wall for a moment, before deciding, "I can't do homework like this. There's no way I can concentrate."
Putting down the pen, she rises up off her floor pillow with the table in her room she used for her homework.
Cracking open the door to her room, she could hear it now plain as day. "-last three months have been a waste of my goddamn time. What's a Second-hand bitch like you have to offer a guy like me anyway? Shit, next you'll be demanding I give you a ring."
The comment caused a choked sob out of a woman's voice, "Please - please don't do this - don't leave me."
"Yeah? Then why don't you apologize."
"I-I'm sorry! It's just I don't-don't have any money to spare right now."
"Tck. Think that's good enough? Lemme hear it while you're down on your knees..."
"Suh-Sorry- I'm-!"
Yukari couldn't see her on her knees, but she could imagine it. Closing her door, she abandoned all thoughts of homework.
Instead, she hid under the covers of her bed and tried her hardest not to cry about what the mother she loved had been reduced to.
If she cried, then she'd be no better than her, after all.
-=-=-
"... Maybe if you have no self respect." Yukari says, and there's an edge to her words there, as she picks up her noodles with her chop sticks, and begins to pick at her toppings.
Her expression is distant. There's no agreement even with her other topic, even if she does agree with her.
Ichika lost her the moment she said a boy will forgive a girl if she goes down on her knees.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Indeed. They're good. Ichika even eats the banana ramen when she wants a good agility bonus--er, a fruity meal. ...But light things like bonuses pass away as Yukari answers Ichika. Ichika, of course, can't see or hear the way Yukari hears her own memory. She bristles, instead, at what she actually says. Saying she has no self-respect...
"Tch," Ichika starts. "You're the one who asked." For a moment, she's inclined to leave it at that. Just for a moment. But when Yukari won't even agree with the other part, staying so distant...
The judgement, to Ichika, seems to roil off of the other girl. Her expression sours.
She takes another gyoza while she tries to cool down... but it doesn't work, and when she's done chewing--
"I have plenty of self-respect," Ichika says icily. "Just because I like to do things a certain way with my own boyfriend doesn't mean I don't. It's talk like that that makes girls think they're dirty. ...I hate it."
She takes up the other gyoza. She'll at least finish before she leaves.
She doesn't want to be rude to Ma'am, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
She is the one who asked. She's also the one who dislikes the answer.
Ichika turns icy in response, and Yukari's arm stills for a moment in her motions of picking at her food.
Then she puts her chopsticks in her ramen, not stuck straight up of course, and turns to look her way, "Hate it if you want." Yukari replies, just as coldly. "It's not like I'm saying to treat your boyfriend badly."
After all, she was the one who told her to start that it's rude to do that, "... I'm just saying if you feel like you have to do things like that to apologize to him for being a bit rude? What's wrong with you? An apology and saying you'll do better should be enough. Stand your ground a little."
She looks back forward and mutters, "Submitting to some guy that much - I'd never be like that."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika is no longer inclined to be charitable to Yukari--but Yukari's answer... it's a little kinder than she expected. Sure, the words are cold, but Ichika actually relents a little, looking Yukari in the eye if the other girl will allow it.
"..."
"So," she says, "I appreciate your perspective there," she says. "But it's not like I feel like I have to. I do stuff like that for him because I want to. He does it for me, too." She doesn't realize, of course--their disconnect. That they aren't talking about the same thing.
"..."
She thinks it out, though. She thinks it out to...
"But you don't always have a choice," she says more quietly. "Some guys... They just don't take 'no' for an answer. I hate them, too."
She starts packing up her stuff. "...Sorry I ruined your meal, Takeba. I guess we're probably not going to be friends."
It'll take her a few moments, but her plan is to stand up if she isn't stopped.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Yukari picks at her food some more, before picking up a fish cake and biting into it, listening to her for some time on the matter.
But, she seems more confused than anything by the phrasing there, like what the heck? By the time she answers... she's thoroughly just, lost.
"So what like - you expect me to believe he goes down full dogeza any time he doesn't return your calls? Your relationship sounds super weird."
'Do stuff for her?' Apologizing is doing stuff for her?
"Well, guess that's one thing we agree upon." On guys that don't take no for an answer.
Not going to be friends? Well... it's nice that she apologized but... "Whatever..."
It's also not like Yukari was expecting anyone to be friends with her. Even her friends, aren't really in her eyes.
Calling someone that just makes things more painful when they inevitably drift away.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Huh?" Ichika starts, and she's as confused as Yukari for a moment. "No, I'm talking about going down on him," Ichika says with some dubiousness. Weird? "I don't think it's weird to go down on your boyfriend, or the other way around. That might just be a 'you' problem."
But they do agree on--well, that. That's no surprise. A lot of girls understand... that.
Whatever, she says. "See you around. ..." Pause. "If you see my sister at school," she says, finally standing up, "Don't hold me against her. ...She's a good girl."
Not like her.
"They were great," she says to Ma'am. "Thanks again."
Ichika moves for the door.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Yukari hears the words - processing... processing...
Wait for it.
...
...
...
"Wha- WHAT?"
Yukari goes bright red, sputtering at the idea as Ichika is nearly out the door, "That whole time you meant- THAT!? Don't just SAY things like that in public! Everyone's eating here!"
Ma'am has a wistful look, "Heh, reminds me of that mission in Slovenia."
Yukari can't even process the Ririka bit, she's still too embarrassed. And for a time, she puts her hands over her face, before-
Muttering so softly as to be nearly inaudible. "Can I take the rest to go?"
"Heh sure."
Ma'am throws in a few Red Bean Gyoza too for good measure...