2025-07-06: Bread
- Log: Bread
- Cast: Hyousuke Suzuki, Ichika Kawase
- Where: Kasugayama High School, Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru City
- OOC Date: July 06, 2025
- IC Date: June 06, 2012
- Summary: A lunchtime meeting recalls the glory of lost dango. Does Hyousuke realize he just asked Ichika out? No. No, he does not. But he sure doesn't want to join a gang...
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
The bread was decidedly unremarkable. In fact, Hyousuke thought that it was remarkable just how unremarkable that slab of white bread actually was. The taste was thoroughly adequate, inspiring little in the way of emotion. The texture was not quite soft enough to count as fluffy, but not particularly unpleasant either. As for how filling it was, he couldn't be certain about that until he finished the thing and allowed it a chance to digest, but he made an educated guess and supposed that it would be just filling enough that the worst of his midday hunger would be staved off. All in all, it was about as uninspired a meal as one could get, outside of unseasoned porridge.
The same could be said for the day itself. Lessons had proceeded about as normally as they could at Kasugayama, and the weather was decidedly mild. A little overcast, but nothing worth remarking on, with the temperature being tolerable. Hyousuke found one small blessing in amongst all the mediocrity, however, and that was the fact that the weather was nice enough for him to eat outside. It wasn't a particularly hidden spot, and foot traffic by it was frequent, but few stopped long enough to notice that he was even there. Those that did never lingered for long, whether because they had their own matters to attend to, or his reputation as someone violent and aggressive preceded him.
He supposed that being avoided was better than having someone try to prove something by squaring up to him. Itd happened a few times already - some over-ambitious students had tried to goad him into a fight, and it had taken him no small amount of restraint to weasel his way out of it. It was a pain, but it was better than not being in any school at all, he wagered.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Midday hunger!! Ichika knows it well, especially since she often finds herself too busy to actually stop and eat much in the way of lunch. Not today, though--today she's busy, but not in a way that will prevent her eating in theory. Instead, she had some searching to do. Free time means that she can spend it how she wants, and today she wants to...
"Hey," Ichika greets Hyousuke, and steps out into view. The Thorn Boss is in her uniform--long skirt, midriff-baring top and all--and looks over Hyousuke. "...It's not exactly dango, is it?" she notes of his bread.
She isn't ehre to fight, but neither is she just walking on, either.
He's stuck. "It's Kawase," she reminds him in case she forgot. "From the festival."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Caught mid-chew with a mouth full of perhaps the single most mediocre foodstuff he'd had the dubious privilege of eating, Hyousuke bore a small resemblance to a dog being interrupted in the middle of a meal. He even canted his head a little to the side as he leant against the wall, his hair buffeting slightly as his head inclined. Part of him was thankful for the fact that he had been caught in the middle of a meal, however. He could use the excuse that he didn't want to talk with his mouth full, instead of telling her the truth - that, even after she'd reminded him of her name, he struggled to put two and two together.
Then, as if a lightbulb had suddenly gone off in his head, his eyes widened a little and he swallowed down the morsel.
"Oh yeah, you're the dango person!" He said. His hands moved as if to beat one fist into his palm in realisation, only for him to remember that he hadn't finished eating, and doing so would send the rest of his lunch into the grass. Once that was over with, he shrugged, and looked down at the bread. "It's fine. They were out of the sweet stuff when I was there, and this was all they had. What about you? Get anything good?"
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
There are few things cuter than a dog tilting its head. That much is true.
Ichika doesn't begrudge not being remembered at first though. Since the dango were probably more memorable. "Right," she says. "You met me and my sister. I ended up having coffee instead of tea with the dango, though..."
She steps over, and says, "Care if I sit down?"
Then, "I've got this apple bread here. It's not bad," she says, holding it up: a filled bread with fruit in it! "Or at least, they usually aren't bad. You never know if you got the exception, I guess."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
"Sure. Not like anyone else is sitting there." Hyousuke said, in response to Ichika's request. As blunt a response as it was, it was delivered as casually as he could manage. Not much could be inferred from his tone one way or the other, and his face told the same story. Relaxed and unassuming, his expression said little, save for the fact that he was really only eating the bread for sustenance, rather than enjoyment. "You mind if I stand? Need to stretch my legs." It was a rhetorical question. He intended to keep standing, regardless of her answer.
His expression shifted at the sight of the apple bread, however. Tilting his head towards it instead of simply off to the side, he regarded it with far more interest than he had her, though - unlike the dog he'd unintentionally imitated before - he managed to keep from drooling all over himself.
"Dunno about drinks, but you've got good taste in breads." Hyousuke mentioned, shifting towards sounding a little more joking this time - a playful jab, nothing more. "Whatever's in it, it can't be much worse than this. Man, I was really hoping they had some red bean left over
He blinked, before another thought drifted into his head like tumbleweed.
I know I probably said it at the festival, but Im Hyousuke. Figure I owe you a proper intro, if were gonna be seeing more of each other.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Blunt is fine; it's the way of Kasugayama. Ichika takes a seat on the pipe that will serve as a bench. She doesn't bother trying to infer a bunch, and shakes hr head. "Not a problem."
Hyousuke... must really like food, Ichika reflects. She laughs softly. "Yeah, it's the benefit of having somebody there to go stand in line early," she says. "They run out of the red bean fast, too."
The gang leader's privilege!!
"You did," she says. "Hyousuke-san then, if you want to use first names. ...Intro's good."
"I notice you're on your own out here; if you're lucky you'll get to stay that way. I had that problem when I first got here."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke looked noticeably disappointed at the revelation that the popular breads sold out quickly. He'd guessed as much, but hearing it said out loud certainly didn't leave him feeling much more optimistic than when he'd started. That very slightly crestfallen expression was replaced quickly by a more inquisitive one, however, and he blinked a couple of times while looking down towards Ichika. He turned the words over in his head, trying to figure out if there was some double meaning to it, or something that he had missed during his orientation, but nothing came to mind. The direct approach was, once again, seen as the best.
"What do you mean?" He asked, not quite as relaxed as before, but not quite tense or terse either. "Is this about the gangs I keep hearing people talk about? I already told 'em, I'm not joining one."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Awww. But there's not a lot of double meaning other than what Ichiak finds obvious. Orientation didn't really cover these things, though. And she doesn't mind direct. The long-haired Ichika just looks back up.
"Yep," she confirms, of the gangs. "Good for you," she says. "Mine's good for me... but then, when I got here, I was going to be on my own, too. Girl named Kyoko saw to it that that wouldn't be the way of it for me when she came after me."
"But people don't talk about you too much--I think you might be able to get by yourself."
Pause. "Don't get me wrong. I like my crew. But if you don't get involved in..." She gestures around, "All that, then that's your life easier."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke tore a piece of the bread off with his teeth, chewing slowly as he listened to Ichika's explanation. Though he never acknowledged anything she said - not even with something as small as a nod - his unwavering gaze told that he was attentive nonetheless. Only when he was certain that she'd finished did he bother speaking up, though even then, the look in his eyes didn't soften at all.
"If people aren't talking about me, then I'd like it to stay that way. I'm just trying to make it through the year, and I don't need to get involved with a gang for that.
The last part of his response was delivered with no small amount of venom - as if the words themselves left a bad enough taste that he felt compelled to spit them out.
"If you're trying to recruit me, don't waste your time. I'm not interested. If you want to hang out and eat dangos or whatever, that's fine, but that's all you're getting."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika finally unwraps her own bread and takes a bite. If she were more nicely inclined, she might've offered it to him, but she didn't, and isn't planning to. Instead, she notices that hard look...
"Nope," Ichika says. "If I wanted to recruit you, I'd come out straight with it. But if you're not looking for trouble, you don't want to join my crew. We get plenty of trouble."
A shake of her head. "I just like making friends where I can. And you were fun at the festival. A guy who likes food..."
"Yeah, that's a good guy to know." She turns her head to look back up his way. "If you keep your head down, you should be fine."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke didn't trust her entirely. She certainly seemed to be straightforward with things, and not given to trying to trick him into one situation or another. But they'd not spoken for more than a total of five minutes, if that, and even someone as thick-skulled as Hyousuke wasn't oblivious to the fact that she could just be a good actor. Still, she seemed to have an appreciation for good sweets, even if he found her taste in accompanying drinks to be questionable. So, deciding to take a chance and relax a little - and hopefully not spend the year a complete loner - he nodded firmly.
"So long as we're clear on that." Was all he said in response, before crumbling up the wrapper. Without a bin nearby, he stuck to fiddling with it, causing a slight crinkling noise to sound out against the midday breeze, and the rustling of nearby leaves. "You know any good cafes around here? Ones that do tea would be nice."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika doesn't really expect trust at the get-go from someone in Kasugayama--but the level of venom he has for the gangs surprised her all the same. It's not really her problem, though. She isn't looking for new members of her gang at the moment anyway. That much is true.
"Cool," she says. Crinkle, crinkle. Ichika takes another bite. Then, she considers the question as she chews. "There's one that's not bad at the mall," she says. "Smile Mall, here in Hirasaka. But 'cafe' isn't really the vibe of this ward overall. It's easier to get dinner than dessert around here."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Her answer was a one-two punch that left Hyousuke reeling far more than anything he'd taken while training.
"Seriously? It's that kinda place?" He asked, his disappointment undisguised, both in his voice and in the drooping of his expression. "Maybe I should go looking around for some. There's gotta be a few good ones nearby." It was a less a statement of fact, and more something said in the hopes of reassuring himself. Then something else occurred to him, and he followed up with another question - a markedly less rhetorical one than he'd responded to her with. "Long shot, but do you want to go there sometime? I still don't know my way around the place."
Perhaps he was getting a little over-familiar with her, especially given how recently they'd met, but the company would be nice.
That, and he wasn't entirely certain he could keep himself from getting lost, even with his phone to hand.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Sure is," Ichika answers. "Great food--but not so much in the way of sweets." But there may be some good ones... Hmm. "Might be," she says. "I haven't looked too hard, since I know good places for sweets where my parents live." A pause. Hmm. Very much less rhetorical. Ichika glances Hyousuke's way, to get a sense for what he has in mind.
She considers it, but, "Sure," Ichika says. "And if I'm going to lead you to a cafe, you can call me Ichika." Since he gave her his first name earlier, too.
"I'll give you my number, so you can call me when you want to go."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke delivered a firm nod in response, and brought his phone out - after rustling around in his bag for a few moments, muttering to himself about needing to put it in his pocket next time.
"How's this weekend sound?" He asked, not looking at her, but still very much paying attention. His thumb tapped and swiped a few times over the now-active screen, though with it angled towards him and the volume muted, it was difficult to tell just what he was actually doing with it. "I've got training all week, and sensei'll kill me if I miss a session."
With one final tap, he turned the phone towards Ichika.
"Here's mine." He said, before it occurred to him that he could have just sent her a message, transmitted his details to her, or done any number of less awkward things. Forethought was perhaps not one of his stronger suits.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika can get to her phone with altogether less trouble. Her long delinquent skirt has POCKETS. That's very important.
"Sounds good," Ichika agreees. "Training, huh? Yeah, you can't neglect stuff like that." She's curious what... but that's the kind of question she can ask while they're out. She doesn't really know if he realizes he just asked her out, but she'll find out.
Ichika pulls out her own, taps the number in, and makes a contact out of Hyousuke's number. It could've been less awkward.
"There," she says. "...Cool. Got it."
She goes back to her bread for the moment. "Should be fun." Chomp.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
With that part of their business concluded, Hyousuke scrolled to check that everything was in place, and slipped his phone away once he'd made sure. In his pocket this time - he wasn't particularly keen on having assorted books and stationery jab into his hand while he was trying to find it again.
Hyousuke Suzuki says, "I'm gonna head out." He said, reluctantly prying himself off of the wall, and angling his eyes towards the other end of the campus. "I'm gonna be late if I don't start moving now. Good talking to you - I'm looking forward to the cafe.""