2025-10-01: Suspicious Characters
- Log: 2025-10-01 Suspicious Characters
- Cast: Yoko Hirano, Kurou Ryouhara, Katsuya Suou
- Where: Rengedai Ward, Sumaru
- OOC Date: October 01, 2025
- IC Date: July 19, 2012
- Summary: Kurou and Katsuya both suspect one another of nefarious designs. Yoko just wants to find the art supply store.
<Pose Tracker> Yoko Hirano has posed.
Yoko doesn't mind traveling for errands. She wasn't able to really go anywhere for months after she got ill - not on her own, anyway, not for long - and hasn't quite forgotten the feeling of staring out a window or walking the hospital corridors. Whenever the everyday sameness of going to school and coming back to her dorm becomes a little monotonous, Yoko likes to pick a useful destination on the internet or from word of mouth and go.
Plus, once she's there she'll discover new places that weren't on the map. She might see things that she would have missed if she went to shops she already knew about.
There are too many things to ever see in a single lifetime but Yoko doesn't mind trying.
Also this art supply shop is supposed to have more colors of polymer clay than any other store in the region!
Messenger bag crossed over her shoulder and Gekkoukan uniform relatively tidy (she got that red spot out of her skirt finally!), Yoko looks down at her list of directions, then back up at the shop windows. "..."
...This time she might be lost. There's no Satomi Tadashi on her printout...
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Yoko Hirano... An important person of interest to the shirogarasu, though Kurou isn't sure on the details. Neither might the shirogarasu, given Kurou's task to keep an eye on her. And, moreover, to find out her 'deal'...
So far, her deal appears to be... misplacing herself among the shop windows.
Kurou is not unskilled in espionage, and has been careful to remain subtle about how he follows Yoko. Until now, he's left large amount of space between the two of them and maintained a plausible feint in his own interests along the way -- so long as he does not actually get distracted by the urge to find the cat he keeps getting the sense is nearby.
Except, it's difficult to follow someone who isn't moving. And dangerous, should someone else move in for the opportunity to secure such a high priority target.
Kurou may first be seen in the reflection of those shop windows, forgetting feet are supposed to make sounds in every day life. He looks down at Yoko's map, then to the shops, then back again.
"... Excuse me. Are you lost?"
Kurou's wearing his Kasugayama uniform, with his own bag carried on his shoulder, though not across the chest like Yoko. While the way he wears the uniform is cleanly pressed and properly buttoned, he still has that dyed hair and painted nails. Well, that part's typical of a Kasu student, at least.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Just like that, Katsuya had mysteriously been granted a day of leave! Mysterious and unprecedented, particularly in a city like Sumaru!
No, he knows exactly why this happened. He'd, once again, gotten too close to something that he perhaps shouldn't have: they'd responded in the only way they could. Perhaps more trouble will be in the offing soon enough. But even he can only pace around his dorm room so much. He's come out to Rengedai and its more familiar spaces to get some fresh air--
Or at least, make good on another promise and pick up some things for an 'acquaintaince'. Please don't notice that there's a homicide detective shopping at that kitchen supply store! Or rather, if you do perceive it, please don't think anything of it. This is normal behavior. Yes, including the little kitty-cat-shaped cookie cutters. Would you believe they're not for him?
It's from this space that he steps out into the plaza again proper and soon spots a familiar figure making her way about the shops as if lost--
And a not-so-familiar one.
That's Hirano. And that other one, he doesn't know. Wait, isn't that boy...
How well-attuned are Kurou's senses? Can he hear that someone is approaching his location? Is he aware, as he silently advances on Yoko and asks her if she's lost, that he's attracted attention of his own?
"Excuse me. Why are you following her?"
Katsuya is well aware of the fact that some men -- and boys -- are dogs, and he's made a split-second assessment of what it is that he thinks Kurou is up to... and intervened accordingly. His arms are folded across his chest. He looks... unimpressed.
<Pose Tracker> Yoko Hirano has posed.
The promise of a nearby cat is very distracting. Yoko falls victim to such fancies at least three times a week! (The Iwatodai Station cat nearly let her pet it on Tuesday. The emotional high lasted a full twenty seven hours.)
So far, she hasn't noticed Kurou at all. He's very skilled!
If there's a giant bone-thing chewing the scenery nearby, she doesn't pay it much mind. After all, sometimes things like that just 'are', and Yoko is on a mission. She'll worry if it gets closer or seems to notice her.
Kurou, too, is silent. His reflection in the window is the only reason he doesn't startle her! Yoko studies him for a moment. He's familiar. She's seen him before. ...At the combini, that's right. With the blonde onee-san and the skeleton chewing on... the...
...Hmm.
But is she lost? "M--" she begins to answer. But just like that, there's a more-familiar voice behind them! Yoko cranes her head to stare over her shoulder, green eyes guileless. "Oh. Officer Suou?"
She looks from him, to Kurou. From Kurou, to him. And then back to the skeleton because it did get closer.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Gashadokuro gnaws on many things. A large Persona, simply part of the scenario, chewing on any storefront that sticks out. But the rattling of bones -- audible or visible in anyone's resonance -- comes to a silent halt.
Kurou is skilled at what he's been trained to do... but there's always someone more skilled in their own field. This, Kurou is well aware of, and this, Kurou, too, is attuned to. He's just not attuned to it fast enough -- by the time the hair on the back of his neck is on end, Katsuya has already begun to speak.
He turns to look to Katsuya, but his face doesn't manage anything beyond the blank stare it normally has. Suou. Officer Suou. Shiryuu had warned Kurou of him, and of the police getting more involved. Is this man already aware of Yoko's value, and intends to stake his claim? There are some blunders in a mission that can be made up for later, and there are some that cannot. That unimpressed look... this is a confident opponent, too.
But is he funny faced...? Hm.
Kurou shifts position, trying to keep squarely between Yoko and Katsuya to act as a shield. His voice lowers, attention on Katsuya, but words on Yoko.
"... His attention is focused on me. You can hurry to your destination."
No, Kurou, you're the one under suspicion of something untoward here...!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Katsuya is dressed down, for him at least: this means dark slacks, a buttoned-down white dress shirt, and no tie. The sunglasses, though, are omnipresent.
It's a little too warm for a jacket if he's not required to wear one (like, when he's on duty, say). In one arm he bears the shopping bag in one arm emblazoned with the logo of a nearby cooking supply store. Little about him in the moment suggests that he's an officer.
And yet, Yoko knows him as an officer, doesn't she? His gaze meets hers briefly.
There is... a cat here, somewhere. This is the thought that invades his psyche even as he stares down at Kurou with all the force of a suspicious authority figure. Also, hello there, Yoko, everything will be fine.
Allegedly, that is.
But Kurou gets between him and Yoko, and says, although in a whisper, loudly enough still that Katsuya can hear it--
Katsuya just looks confused.
Then: "Hirano-san... is he an acquaintance of yours?" He's uncertain: he knows what he saw. Yet, this response has also thrown him for a loop. Why is it that he's suddenly the villain here...?
<Pose Tracker> Yoko Hirano has posed.
Skeleton... bone thing. Isn't there a monster like that? Yoko continues to stare at it, blinking slowly when it goes still. It was there with the boy at the Triple Seven, wasn't it. Ah, but that doesn't mean anything... Just because it's a really big skeleton and very distinctive (being made of smaller skeletons) doesn't mean it's special. It could be a coincidence. Yoko sees yokai all the time, after all.
Kurou shifts between her and Katsuya, murmuring something. She can go? He stares at Katsuya. She stares at them both. ...Even though she and Kurou don't look alike, they 'look at' quite the same...!
"It's okay," Yoko says, because neither of them know what's going on and that isn't their fault, probably. "Officer Suou is my friend. And I met him," here she bobs her head at Kurou, "before, at a combini. The Triple Seven." Now they can all relax and be friends together, maybe.
"..." She's quiet for a moment, fidgeting with the strap of her bag and not quite meeting anybody's eye. "...Also I haven't found where I'm going yet. So I can't hurry." Her eyes wander to the bag Katsuya's holding. "...vampire baker," she mumbles, holding a hand to her mouth. what??
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
The giant skeleton made of skeletons is not trying to eat Yoko, and isn't that all that really matters when it comes to the subject of skeletons?
Kurou, despite his defensive posture, mirrors that look with Yoko. It is a stare that is more blank than wary. But it is indeed just their manner, not their looks, that holds resemblance. That's just how Kurou's face is, no matter how much attention he's keeping on Katsuya. Shiryuu was right to be concerned with the police gaining power... This feeling...
Yoko assures them it's okay, and Kurou only eases one muscle at a time, slowly straightening back to a posture resembling normalcy -- normal for Kurou, who is rigid by default. "Your friend," Kurou repeats. This is more dire than the shirogarasu thought...
Kurou does not frown, and the breath he exhales cannot quite said to be a sigh, either.
He looks back to Katsuya and lowers into a bow. "My apologies. I was unaware you were her friend." This does not mean Kurou can drop his guard. Suou already knew Kurou was following her... he might still want to keep her isolated from others...
(Kurou, that's not what the situation is!!)
Oh. Yoko can't hurry, without knowing her destination. "Oh." Kurou's brow barely knits together, like it's struggling to, with that thought. So she is lost. But before he can offer help on that, she says something else. Vampire... baker...
Kurou looks at Kastuya's bag, then up at Katsuya. He reaches up and undoes one of the piercings in his ear, glancing back to Yoko. "... Do you need silver?"
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Fortunately, Yoko cuts through the noise. Officer Suou is her friend, and not out to arrest Yoko for the crime of... ...who knows what, it's not as if he's on duty or that she's playing delinquent from classes (it's a perfectly normal time for her to be out here shopping for supplies. or looking for the place where you shop for supplies). All is well!
Wait, is that--
It is. It's a Persona. His own talent with this power is limited, far less than some of his compatriots (aka, Baofu). He has impressions of a hulking form, of a great hunger, but... they're all secondary to the psychic force that announces that this young man is, too, a Persona-user.
(Resonance is often a two-way street, of course: what he senses from Kurou, Kurou senses from him-- though Helios is hardly hungry or hulking.)
(...Then again, aren't all cats always hungry? Perhaps that sentiment should be revised! Certainly not hulking, though.)
"We've met before," he explains, wondering about the statement of 'friend' if they've only met the two times, and one of them was about a cat? "Hirano-san is, er..." He's paused, regarding Kurou. "And your name is?" He's at a bit of a disadvantage here: he doesn't know his name.
But then, Yoko stares at his bag and Katsuya gazes down at her, reminded suddenly of the display that had been in the Cardboard Dragon the last time he was there. "Well-- actually, I was picking up something for Yeo-san," he starts, and even though this is the truth, he doesn't seem to realize how personal that probably sounds to another person's ear. A police officer? Picking up supplies for a card shop owner on his day off? ???
Does he need silver, though, and Katsuya is forced to realize that Yoko is not the only person from Cloud Cuckoo Land here. "I... don't think that's necessary," he says, playing the diplomat. "She is referring to, er... a card game."
About vampire bakers. Because what else is there left to do when you're immortal, but master baking? It all makes sense now.
<Pose Tracker> Yoko Hirano has posed.
Let it never be said that Yoko isn't thankful for giant skeletons not trying to eat her. It is very important.
If the boy seems a little wary of Officer Suou, that's probably understandable. Even Yoko has heard rumors about the kind of kids that are sent to Kasugayama High, but so far he hasn't been anything but polite. Maybe it's all the dress code violations. He's too flashy and fashionable for a place like Seven Sisters or Gekkoukan. And Officer Suou is a policeman, which means an authority figure. Possibly even more powerful than a student council member (Yoko's experiences with Mitsuru Kirijo et al are not universal, and she would do well to remember that).
He takes his earring off, and Yoko almost doesn't get it. "...Oh. No, he's not a vampire. The sun is out, so he'd be on fire," Yoko logics, pointing upwards. "If vampires were real," she amends. Maybe the earring's a joke, like Yanagi-san's gun? It's a good one!
But Katsuya isn't here for himself. "Oh. Are they feeling better yet?" As far as Yoko knows, Katsuya and Myunghon are friends, too. Maybe this is normal. He gives her the impression of someone who can't help wanting to help... "--Yes, it's a card game. I don't really understand the rules, but the art was cute. It leans hard into contemporary kawaii culture but the colored pencils used in many of the illustrations lend it a cozy feeling that fits in nicely with the baking theme!" she's doing it again
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Cats are always hungry, at least a little. They are born hunters. Police are a kind of hunter, too, to someone like Kurou. But despite, as Katsuya notes, his Cloud Cuckoo Land residence, Kurou is trying to be civil and compliant with social norms.
He's just... not very good at it. Yoko is also more observant on this matter than even Kurou might admit to, if he knew what she were thinking. Light many Kasu students, authority figures don't feel safe to Kurou, albeit for different reasons.
"Kurou Ryouhara," Kurou offers without obstinance. "Nice to meet you, Officer-san." That's very likely a lie, but only if you consider the formal script of polite greetings to be one.
It is sunny. That's true. But isn't there such a thing as daywalkers...? He can't remember where he's heard that. Kurou nods instead, puncturing his earring back into place and turns his thoughts to the card game. Kurou's head turns to one side, like this concept will make more sense at a new angle. It does not. "I see," he finally says, much in the way that someone who does not, in fact, see might. But thankfully, Yoko provides further elaboration, and Kurou's attention falls upon her with studious intensity.
"Horror elements depicted in kawaii styling, in a medium enforcing softer colors... Oh. I see."
Somehow, the tone is completely different when he says it again this time. He really does seem to understand now...?!
Kurou looks to Katsuya, then Yoko, and back again. "A cosplayer?" That might be something they have in common as friends, despite the age gap...?
... All right, he still has misunderstood some things.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
If Yoko weren't here, he'd ask the boy directly about having a Persona. It's not so common as that: most days, he can walk down the street and never once catch the pulse of resonance.
It's just that also some days, he's in a park and a dozen other people have one. Life comes at you fast, sometimes!
He doesn't think anything of it, as a matter of fact: the boy's a Kasugayama student, which says about everything anyone would need to say about his relationship to police and other authority figures. People don't end up at Kasugayama for no reason, and more than a few of their number have had run-ins with the police (he should know, given what Tsubasa's relationship with the local authorities is like!).
Kurou Ryouhara. That's the name.
"It is good to meet you as well," he says, leaning polite.
...Wait, did he think that... he was a vampire? "Vampires don't really exist," says Katsuya, which is something he'll regret when he runs into some blood-sucking demon or another in a month or two (not to mention, he should take a closer look at Merry's Persona sometime!). "There's no such thing. I'm certainly not a," he starts, then turns his head to stare at Yoko who explains he's not a vampire because he'd be on fire! Because of the sun.
...Somehow he thinks he shouldn't confuse the matter and bring up his light sensitivity (what, did you think the sunglasses were just to look cool?).
"Yes, though their arm is still healing," he says to Yoko, speaking of Myunghon.
Yoko talks about the card game. The art on the cards, actually. The-- feeling around the art on the cards? Horror elements... with a cute affect? It's not that he doesn't understand aesthetics: a proper dessert is cute but also looks delicious. A thing can evoke multiple senses at once. A suit can be functional, but the cut flatters the form, and the one color can shine when set against another.
But let's not forget, they're talking about a card game. It's still a different ballpark as far as he's concerned. All he knows is that they're vampires. They bake. And that he's cracked the reason for why they bake.
"...A... cosplayer?" he echoes. He looks at Kurou. Katsuya is the least hip person to many cultural goings-on, but let's be frank here: he knows what cosplay is, he's not lived under a rock all his life. Hence the vehement shake of his head! "Of course not. I'm merely-- as I said, picking up this and that." It's nothing important. Nothing to see here. Please don't ask about the cute-cute kitty cookie-cutters.
<Pose Tracker> Yoko Hirano has posed.
Kurou Ryouhara. He's very polite, despite his failure to adhere to dress codes. It would be fun to have colorful hair or nail polish, wouldn't it? Yoko understands the desire to see color where it wouldn't ordinarily be.
And then he gets it.
"Yes! It's really smart of the maker to go in that direction. Creepy cute is such a versatile genre because you can adjust the mixture in so many different ways!" she enthuses, rocking from side to side with excitement. "From stuff that barely uses any of the opposing element to an even mixture, there are so many things you can do!"
She really liked the picture of the witch's cat kneading a lump of dough. She still has no idea what it does in-game.
How many yards of ribbon would it take to make Gashadokuro kawaii...?
"That's a relief," Yoko nods. Myunghon had been welcoming and as kind as possible under the circumstances... and they'd seemed pleased when Yoko prattled on about the different pictures and why she'd wanted to see the shop.
But Officer Suou is just picking up this and that. "Ah. That's right, I came here to find a shop too. Karakura Art Supply." Yoko remembers the list of directions in her hand, offering it to them.
She wonders if they sell ribbon.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Kurou, at least, would prove to have no criminal record like some Kasu students do, but he also has no academic record.
Vampires aren't real, Katsuya informs them. There's a lot that you're not supposed to simply ask about or point out in public, and Kurou's fuzzy on almost all of it. But the subject of the supernatural is an easier one to grasp: do not. What he says instead is, "... Sometimes it's easier to believe in them than it isn't."
In a world of supernatural things that weren't supposed to be real, can it be said with confidence what does not exist anymore?
"Creepy cute..." Kurou echoes of this new concept. He nods along. That's an interesting combination of ideas, but one Yoko readily points out the finer points of. There's a versatility in the two extremes. "But it must be difficult walking the line between the two properly... Or... is the variance in perceptions also an advantage...?"
How many yards of ribbon would it take to make Gashadokuro kawaii? Maybe if some of the skeletons fell from around the eye sockets and made them bigger, it would be a start.
Kurou goes quiet as they discuss a mutual friend. Someone who had been hurt. Kurou doesn't know anything about that. But he also isn't dumping the discussion from memory.
Oh. Katsuya isn't a kawaii vampire baker cosplayer... "A regular baker," he corrects. Kurou's brow tries to furrow again as he chews on these thoughts. This probably means Yoko probably isn't a cosplayer either, though. She's going to Karakura Art Supply. This must be part of what her deal is. Kurou looks over the directions, then back to Yoko.
"I know where this is. I purchased wax pastels there."
Kurou do you mean CRAYONS?
"It is a couple blocks over. On this side of the street." He points. "I will accompany you, if you wish."
Either way, he's learned what he needs to... and he won't press his luck with provoking Suou into tightening his grasp around Yoko further. (Not what any of this is, Kurou!)
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Yoko goes on about how the opposing elements of the cards really make the concept pop, and Katsuya thinks he gets it.
This, too, is gap moe...?
It's easier to believe in vampires than not to believe in them, though? Well, Kurou is young, and people like to believe in a lot of strange things, like ghosts. Or ninja. He just shakes his head, but doesn't press the matter further.
"Not to worry, I'm sure that all shall be well with her soon!" he says, of Myunghon. "I am certain she would not mind seeing you again." They had seemed to hit it off, hadn't they?
A regular baker, Kurou also tells him. "Well-- these are for someone else," Katsuya says, which is not actually a denial, per se.
And, finally, the conversation circles back to the real issue here: Yoko was lost and was looking for the art store. "Oh, Karakura? I think it was," he says, and he's started to point with his free arm at...
At the same direction that Kurou mentions. Hmm.
"Wax pastels?" Katsuya has to think about that for a moment. "Ah, crayons." That's... not how he's used to thinking about them, but it's not precisely wrong.
He thinks for a moment about Kurou, and how Yoko says he's a friend of hers. He thinks about how Kurou was following her.
"I shall escort you, too," he tells her. "It's on my way." It's really not, he's just being overly suspicious of Kurou.