2025-10-02: Secret Agent Nakao
- Log: Secret Agent Nakao
- Cast: Akari Hoshi, Hazuki Nakao
- Where: Shibuya Station - Underground Mall
- OOC Date: October 02, 2025
- IC Date: July 20, 2012
- Summary: Hazuki and Akari run into each other at the mall while preparing for finals, and reveal their 'secret' identities to the other, discussing the supernatural and other parts of their shared existence, as well as codenames.
(|====================================================== Velvet Room MUSH ====|) (|==================== Shibuya Station - Underground Mall ====================|) -====================================================== Tokyo/Shibuya Ward ====- If you think Shibuya Central Street has the ultimate in shopping, wait 'til you see the Underground Mall off of Shibuya Station. A collection of all sorts of stores, it's accessible down the stairs from both Shibuya Station and Central Street, making it feel like an "as above, so below" situation. There's only so much room in these subterranean walkways, so each store is more like a hole in the wall, but each one makes the most of the space they've got. Clothing and shoe stores use racks that spill into the walkway, the walls, even the ceiling to display their wares. A flower shop has a chalkboard describing prices for its potted plants and specialty bouquets. Jewelry stores show off their wares beneath locked glass cases. A premium mini-supermarket offers the most delectable sweets. Japanese sundries, cosmetics, music and DVDs--you can find all of them and more here. The hallway walls display massive, colorful ads for the next hit thing, and more ads string overhead. It's almost jarring compared to the bland concrete hallways, tiled floors, and corrugated steel shutters for stores not currently open. <Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
The underground mall under Shibuya - accessible both from Shibuya Station and a back way up to the central street - is a pretty happening place.
Close, too. There's never a lot of room down here. The stores tend to be smallish, and make the best use of their space, so you have to occasionally weave around a display that's projecting out of the actual store or duck a wall-mounted (or ceiling-hanging, if you're tall) sign. Shoppers aren't *just* in the stores - they're in the hallways too.
Like one in particular...
It's almost exam time for middle schoolers as well as high schoolers, but if Akari Hoshi studies any more today she is going to die. Which means she has made a detour to look at an accessory shore. They sell jewelry, hairpins, sunglasses, little charms for your phone... that kind of thing.
Akari is currently half in the hallway, half in the store, and bent over to look at a low display. She's pretty tall for her age - fourteen maybe? - with significantly darker skin than most of the other folks around, striking pale hair that's probably silver (and not from age!) but picks up a hint of blue from the lighting.
She's carrying her backpack but not in her school uniform. She's wearing a pair of shorts (it's July, so it's hot, okay) and a sleeveless blue top with a little pattern across the lower hem in white. It's even fashionable!
This being Akari, her backpack has a handful of charms and tabs on the zippers, and pins on the fabric. A little shooting star with a cute face on the cartoony star, a round one that suggests something from last year's anime... but one in particular catches the eye; it looks like someone took a layer of an oxidized bismuth crystal off to make it flat and then turned it into a slightly large, mostly square pin. It glitters in multiple colours, its distinctive square-curling crystal looking almost artificial. But it's not!
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
Finals shminals! It is SHOPPING TIME. Hazuki Nakao is exploring alone (again), looking for a shop nearby. She ends up at the accessory shop soon after, looking for a phone charm.
As she is, she spots a middle schooler looking at the same display she's interested in! She takes a peek, looking for something, before turning over to greet. "Oh, hello! You see anything cute?"
And then, she straightens up, looking at her bag. "Oh my gosh, your pins are adorable!" But her eyes freeze on one of them. Is that... bismuth?
A very unique bismuth, even.
"...bismuth, huh? Do they sell those here?" she asks, voice not suspicious but her brain confused. That definitely reminds her of the Atelier prize they got... are middle schoolers exploring it now?! That's dangerous! Or is it all a coincidence...?
For her part, Hazuki does not look the same as she did last time, though her Resonance is identical. Her hair is a normal black, she's wearing a hat and jacket combo, and she's got a generally gloomy countenance. But this is too interesting to pass up! The world is weird!
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
Akari might be a middle schooler, but she's tall enough she can pass for a first-year if she tries. She has the kind of rangy build that suggests she's probably still getting growth spurts, too.
"!"
Akari recognizes the voice, or thinks she does. She stands bolt upright, startled, and looks across to...
...Haruki. Who she does *not* recognize, though she does look at her for a long time, almost thoughtfully. This is probably the only time today that Akari is going to be particularly thoughtful. She gets the same sort of vibe, in some ways - Akari does not know the word 'resonance' - but not in others.
"Oh! Sorry! I thought you were someone else for a moment..." Akari trails off for a moment before she's right back at it. "There's a lot of neat stuff here! I haven't actually seen anything made of bismuth for sale or anything. I think you can get it online if you really want!"
"I made this myself, though," Akari says, tugging her backpack up in front of her. "I mean, the pin, not the metal. So, thanks!" That with a beaming smile at the praise. "You can break bismuth along the lines with pliers if you twist it just right... it's metal but it doesn't bend much, it snaps. THe harder part was getting the pin part attached! I broke the first one I tried. I don't really have much, you know, jewelry gear or anything. But pins are easy."
Her brow furrows. She really does feel like she knows Hazuki, and the voice, too... Is she remembering it wrong? She's only heard her with her helmet on before, and Akari is pretty sure it muffles some things. And *Akari*, of all people, knows about costumes...
"Where's your bat?" she asks, after a few moments more.
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
Hazuki tilts her head as Akari seems to recognize her. Now she's suspicious! But the talk about bismuth gets her listening. "Interesting... it's really cute."
But as Akari's brow furrows, she peers forward, no longer looking at the accessories. The question about the bat... gets her to freeze. After a long moment... her brain starts working.
Quietly, knowing that Ixquic is a SUPERHERO, she simply says... "Senpai, is that you? It's me, Hazuki!"
Oh my gosh did she just unmask a superhero this is AWKWARD oh no is Ixquic gonna hate her now
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
Akari isn't sure *what* to think for a moment!
On the plus side: she finally has someone she can talk to about things like this! And it's not like Hazuki is an enemy or anything of the sort - Akari's her sempai, after all (in a manner of speaking, by some definitions).
It was nice to have a secret identity... But Akari's read comics. Your friends and teammates often know! Except for Spider-Man, anyway. Spider-Man's kind of an unusual case. But Akari's not really a Spider-Man, is she? She doesn't feel like Spider-Man. Oh, and Superman. ...maybe there's more than she thought at first...
But Akari is the sort to roll with the punches. She just wasn't expecting to see anyone who recognized where she got the bismuth! What are the odds? Only Hazuki and Tyler saw her take it...
She takes a step to the side, tugging Hazuki along with her. "I'm INCOGNITO," she says, low. "This is my secret identity! But... we're friends, aren't we? Aren't we?"
Akari is more lonely than she wants to let on. A lot of her classmates don't believe her, or think she's weird. Hazuki hasn't called her weird once - because she knows the truth. Nothing could be weirder than that carnival.
"My name's Akari," she adds. "Akari Hoshi. Um. Yours is *actually* Hazuki? You need a codename too, maybe..." Anyone listening in would think Akari is making up a story, again; it wouldn't be her first time. "I didn't know you came here! *I* don't even come here much, it's a bit of a trip!"
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
As Hazuki is pulled to the side, she keeps her voice low, too. Are they friends...?"
Hazuki's frown turns bright as she nods. "Of course we are!" She clasps her hands together as if saying 'yes, for sure'. "You're helping me, so that makes us friends."
Hazuki is also ridiculously lonely enough to befriend a girl three years younger than her, it's fine. "Hazuki Nakao! Codename... I hadn't thought about it! Can bad guys get into that stuff?!" Homunculi don't count! They're not people... right?
"Oh, I live in Shibuya. I'm a student at Shujin... so finals are coming up but they were destroying my brain... needed a break..." Her gloomy countenance returns soon after, even as she makes herself ALSO seem like a weirdo.
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
Akari isn't going far - around a corner, near where there's a shuttered store. People don't go down that hall as much.
"Get into which stuff?" Akari isn't quite sure what Hazuki means by that, apparently. "I don't know! I just... always used the code name."
There's a reason for that. Even Akari isn't quite willing to drop that on a first meeting, though - well, not quite a first meeting, even if it's the first time she's gone by Akari in front of Hazuki.
Hazuki is gloomy about exams. Akari is more apparently upbeat about them: "I'm sure it'll be fine!" Though, really, this is a cover - she's worried about hers, too. With what her father told her on her birthday last week - she'd better do well.
"I just had to get SOMEWHERE. I couldn't study any more or my head would explode!" She mimes, holding her hands up near her head with fingers pinched before spreading them out and away. "If I stay at home they'd find something for me to do, or point me back at the books. I thought I'd come out and look at accessories in case I thought of a better way to make things, and maybe draw a little if something came up..."
Akari makes a face. She's not that different than Hazuki, in some ways.
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
"The supernatural stuff! I assumed it was all people like us and monsters like them! And also Roger!" Hazuki shrugs on that one. "Well, we'll have to figure one out then!" She says about codenames...
Before turning to frown again about exams. "I feel like I'm at a disadvantage... I'm from England! Our exams weren't like this!" She clearly *looks* Japanese but her accent definitely gives her away.
Hazuki makes a similar face, as she considers. "I get it. I can't study anymore... thought I'd get some cute phone charms, or something, distract myself!" A pause.
"You're an artist? That's so cool... you did make that awesome pin. I want to write someday, but I know that's not the same..."
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
Akari abruptly feels an unfamiliar feeling.
It's responsibility. She's the senpai, right? She's been doing this longer (by a month... maybe), and she knows things Hazuki doesn't.
"No," she says, serious. "There are people out there too, people who are villains! That's one of the things I wanted to fight against. It wasn't just a Palace - that's like an Atelier but not, I'll explain more later, it doesn't have a homonculus - but..."
"Some people attacked Kasugayama High. That was real!" It did, though depending on what news Hazuki reads she might not realize that - or might not know about it at all. "And Personas *worked*, then, and not just in the air raid shelter. I fought a person, not a demon or a Shadow... and deep inside, I saw a monster, too."
She's not the sort to tell Hazuki to be careful, precisely. "That's why ...the world needs heroes! People who can change things..."
Akari brushes her hair back. "And yeah... I love art. I like to make things. I sew, and make cosplay, and do things like pins and weapons - I mean, they're prop weapons," she clarifies, before adding, "Here. I'm not good at writing. But at least you can probably pass English," Akari finishes, a little uncomfortable. "If you're from England what are you doing here...? Are you a secret agent, like James Bond...?" Oh no, she's getting excited again. "A magic secret agent!" So much for opsec. Fortunately, well... who's going to believe what she's saying is referring to reality, and not an anime or manga?
...
"Not exactly like James Bond, I guess. He drinks martinis and you're not allowed."
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
Hazuki frowns as she learns there's VILLAINS. She is apparently very trusting to not believe there'd be villains... "Kasugayama got attacked...? Oh no..." Her gloomy expression tightens for a second...
Until Akari proudly says they need heroes. Hazuki nods once, resolute. "You're right. I want to be... a hero, someone who brings people together, instead of driving them apart." A sharper nod.
Hazuki notices a bit of the discomfort, rubbing the back of her neck. "Sorry if I said something wrong..."
BUT WHY IS SHE ENGLISH? "...my parents are getting a divorce, and they sent me to, uh, live with my grandma until everything's taken care of. It's no big deal, just... a whole new culture."
A pause.
"I *could* be a secret agent, though! That might just be my cover..." she teases conspiratorially, as a mask for the bad feelings that manifested in her gut sharing it.
<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.
"You didn't say anything wrong!" Because if Hazuki did, Akari forgot it or glossed over it already. Having someone who creatively reinterprets a conversation is often a negative but once in a while it works out.
Mostly she's just not looking forward to her exams...
"I can see it now... a secret agent, sent to save people from themselves, or rather from the Homonculus copies of themselves! Bringing together a team of specialists, the best in their job..." Akari brings her hand up, sweeping energetically. "It's a different kind of story but it's still a good one. Well, I'll be with you when you do! I know I only promised as Ixquic, but I meant it. And I want to see Roger again too...!"
She lowers her arm. "I'm sorry about your parents," she says, with more awareness than she sometimes shows. "I've never been anywhere but Japan, but my mother's not from here either, so I've heard some... she's not from England though."
A beat. "Do you want to get a snack while we're both here? I don't think I can buy anything big today. I'll get a lecture about spending too much and I DEFINITELY don't want to hear it. But they won't object to a snack with a friend."
<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.
"Oh, okay." Hazuki nods, before listening about secret AGENTS. She nods firmly, accepting this as her new cover. "Agent Nakao, pew pew..." She makes a finger gun with both hands. Oh no, they're monsters together.
The awareness and kindness gets a soft smile and a nod, as she then glosses over it. "Well, we're working together now, so we'll have each other's backs! Let's save some people, okay?" A firm resolution.
"A snack sounds good though... okay! Let's go!"
Well, at least they both have a friend similar to them now...?