2025-07-02: How It Ought To Be
- Log: How It Ought To Be
- Cast: Ichika Kawase, Yusuke Kitagawa
- Where: Port Island Station, Tatsumi Port Island, Iwatodai City
- OOC Date: July 02, 2025
- IC Date: June 04, 2012
- Summary: Ichika Kawase and Yusuke Kitagawa are both at Port Island Station--but what Yusuke sees that Ichika doesn't is the /cops/. He spares her some trouble, and they have a conversation.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
It's a lovely (hot) (clear) day in Iwatodai, and Port Island station is as bustling as ever. It's Monday afternoon, and Ichika Kawase is not still in uniform. She's made the trip over from Sumaru, and is in a casual outfit of midriff-baring tanktop (skull on the front, naturally) in black, and cargo pants in green, baggy. Her sneakers are soft and black. And she is standing...
At Rafflesia, looking over some flowers! "Hm hm..."
She's also towering over the shopkeep, a bleached-blonde girl of nearly six feet tall. And in her free hand at her side is a bag from one of the art supplies stores nearby.
A student at Gekkoukan's art program might recognize her as a regular feature in the sketches and occasionally sculptures of one Yuusei Ogawa, a student in good standing in his third year.
But surely that's not too important right now!
There's a cop looking at her, though. From a distance, from the raised part of the platform, he is looking right at the delinquent-looking girl and frowning. But he hasn't approached yet.
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
It's hot, but at least the sky is clear. The sunlight cast upon Port Island Station draws out the brightest tones and makes deep shadows. Something like Rafflesia in particular stands out to the practiced eye of one Yusuke Kitagawa, the flowers it sells standing out spectacularly against the ordinary tiles underfoot.
The girl standing at the shop draws his eye, too. Almost moving by reflex, he sets his schoolbag at his feet to bring up both hands, shaping a frame with his thumbs and index fingers. As he turns it from portrait to landscape, though, his gaze flicks to the side, noticing the officer watching from a distance.
For a moment, he almost decides to walk away. The ugliness of the law bothering others is hardly something he's interested in, after all -
... - but Joker would step in.
And so:
"Pardon me," he says, as he approaches Rafflesia in general and Ichika in specific. "Might I inquire: Which store did you get those art supplies at?"
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika doesn't have the same eye for beauty that Yusuke does, but flowers are easy enough to appreciate. And indeed, she wouldn't make a bad image herself; her looks are model-like, her makeup exactly calculated to bring out her best features. However...
The officer makes for a worse picture. She hasn't noticed the officer yet, despite her usual vigilance. Neither did she notice Yusuke until suddenly--
"Mm?" she asks, and turns towards him from a few roses she'd been looking at. "Sure," she answers. "Right down the way there--Art Off. Are you an artist?" she asks.
Then she considers. "If you are, could I ask you to look over what I got? I'm getting some things for someone, and I'm pretty sure I got what he asked for, but..."
"I don't have any talents like that myself."
The officer, seeing Yusuke approach her, frowns a little more... but doesn't approach. He hasn't noticed that Yusuke's noticed him.
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
"Ah!" A normally stoic visage brightens immediately as Ichika points out Art Off. "Thank you so much; I have not had the luxury of exploring the stores here much, I usually buy my supplies in Shibuya." That implicitly answers her question about his inclinations, but he elaborates by way of introduction: "Yusuke Kitagawa; I'm in Gekkoukan's scholarship program. I would be delighted to take a look."
If nothing else, he can assess the quality of the local supplies for himself.
Keeping a wary half-eye on the policeman as Ichika starts to go through the stuff in her bag, Yusuke hopes that his more elegant presentation will defuse the potential confrontation, but isn't certain. Perhaps more pleasant conversation will assist in that.
Ah, perfect: "Do you have a particular preference for roses?"
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Oh, Shibuya would probably have a lot of stuff like that, huh?" She smiles when he goes brighter. "Oh, then even better," she says. Not just an artist but good enough to go to Gekkoukan on scholarship. "Ichika Kawase," she replies. There's a Kawase at Gekkoukan too--but Yusuke may or may not know of her. She's in music instead of visual arts. "I go to Kasugayama... but my boyfriend lives here, and so does my family."
She pulls each out of the bag; inside are some high-quality art supplies, particularly a few nice pencils and a new sketchbook. "He mostly sculpts but he likes to draw too," Ichika explains.
The officer, seeing that she's got pencils and not drugs, and that Yusuke at least looks like a Nice Boy, finally shakes his head and moves on to look at something else.
"I do," Ichika answers. "Red roses especially. Something about... beauty being something you handle carefully, because it might have thorns to protect it."
"But they're also just pretty," she admits.
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
"Hmm." If he's allowed, Yusuke will pick up one of the pencils and hold it up to an appraising eye, balancing it and rolling it between his thumb and forefinger. An average person might wonder: it's a pencil, how much really is there to distinguish it from another?
Quite a lot, actually, to someone like Yusuke.
"In Hanakotoba," he says as he assesses the quality of the supplies - that's the Japanese version of the language of flowers, by the way - "the red rose symbolises true love. I, myself, am quite partial to the pink ones."
Evidently, the pencils meet with his approval, because he nods and hands it back. "I'm sure he will be very pleased with them," he judges.
... sculpture, sketches... "... Ogawa-san is your boyfriend? I was wondering why you looked familiar."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
He is allowed! Ichika welcomes Yusuke appraising them, since that's what she asked him to do. Indeed she does wonder what he can see that she can't... But she knows there's something, by the way he looks. She thinks less on that and more on the flowers, when he mentions them. "True love, huh." A glance down. "...I wonder." Is that what she's chasing? Or is it something different?
"The pink ones are great, too. I might not look like the kind of girl who appreciates pink," she says, not quite self-deprecating, "But I do like those too."
The pencils are good, and Ichika carefully packs them away. "Great," she says. "Thanks, Kitagawa-san. I'd hate to get him a gift that wasn't any good."
He recognizes him by those things! Ichika blinks in surprise once--and then nods, pleased. "Yes," she says. Well, he's one of them. He's the one in this city. That's good enough. "...Does that mean he actually showed people the sketches he was doing of me?" she wonders. If Yusuke is perceptive to color in faces, he might notice that even beneath her foundation Ichika is faintly red at that prospect.
"Ah, I mean..." It's a little embarrassing to be the Subject. Flattering, but embarrassing.
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
"You are something of a frequent subject of his works - it would be difficult not to notice," Yusuke explains, a brief smile forming on his lips. "And for you to be recognised by that art speaks volumes to his skill, and how captivated he is by you as his muse. I might almost be envious." He has certainly noticed the colouring of Ichika's cheeks, but there could be any number of reasons for that, and so he plows on in his own way.
There is also a subtle relaxation of his stance as the officer moves on, doubtless to bother somebody else.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
It's true; Ichika can imagine that if he weren't any good, she wouldn't be very apparent. At least the sketches are mostly of her face...
"We were friends before we started going out," she explains. "...But a muse, huh? I guess I can accept that." She smiles. It's not a description that pins her down too much. It's romantic, without being... heavy.
"Well, I hope you can find your own," she says. "I can't imagine most girls wouldn't want to be."
A beat, then, as she glaces over, sees the officer moving, and--
Realizes.
"Oh," Ichika says. "...He was following me again." Of the officer. She sighs. "They keep trying to move me on, even when I'm not in uniform. It's... annoying."
But given that Yusuke just relaxed...
"Huh. You noticed too?"
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
"Oh, I do have my own," Yusuke says with a nod, "but..." he trails off - evidently there's something complicated going on there.
He clicks his tongue in disapproval as Ichika explains that she gets that kind of attention from the law quite a bit. "Wasteful," he opines. "There are much greater problems in the world; why add to its ugliness by bothering a resident just because she happens to go to a different school?"
... It's much more complicated than that, Yusuke. Does he really not notice the layers at work here?
"... He was not taking much care to hide his suspicion, no."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
But? Ichika tilts her head, but when no answer is forthcoming, she doesn't push the matter farther than an obvious curiosity.
But wasteful? "True," Ichika answers. "But that's how it is," she says. "They're more interested in pushing around the people they can than following the ones they should."
Pause. "...I shouldn't say too much about that, though." People might get the right idea. She considers, and picks up a small bouquet of roses, instead.
"Instead, I'll get him flowers for once."
She turns back to Yusuke. "I guess an artist has to be observant... Well, thanks. If you hadn't been here he might've given me more trouble. So that's twice over I owe you."
There are many, many more layers... but not all of them are apparent, at least.
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
"It is how it is," Yusuke agrees, "but not how it ought to be."
Still, the conversation moves on, and he nods as Ichika says she'll get her boyfriend some roses. "I'm sure he would be delighted." He shakes his head when Ichika says she owes him twice over. "I had enough reason to approach you anyway, so please don't consider yourself indebted to me for that."
He glances at the clock in the shop. "Hm. Speaking of, I had best hurry to Art Off, it seems that business hours are drawing short." He steps away, to head over to that store. "Please give your beau my regards, Kawase-san."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Not how it ought to be...
For some reason, that's going to stick with Ichika. She doesn't usually think these days of how things 'ought' to be--just how they end up being. ...Still, Yusuke had reason to approach her anyway? "Hmm. OK."
A nod then. "Hope you find what you're looking for," she says, and waves his way. "Will do, Kitagawa-san. See you around."
With that, she turns around, and goes to find the owner of Rafflesia to finish her shopping.
Art Off... is on!