2025-10-02: The Thoughtful Father
- Log: The Thoughtful Father
- Cast: Hiroto Nakamura, Umie Akabane
- Where:
- OOC Date: October 02, 2025
- IC Date: July 20, 2012
- Summary: Umie meets an unusual type of Persona-user: a completely ordinary salaryman with a daughter he's trying to connect with. Surely there's nothing suspicious here, right?
<Pose Tracker> Hiroto Nakamura has posed.
It is a quiet day at the Cardboard Dragon. The teens haven't come in full force even on a Friday afternoon, and few reading customers are in right now.
Except for one, a salaryman who apparently got off early, thumbing through the library racks. He's mostly unassuming, a square pair of glasses and a striped tie as the only thing standing out from 'this is otherwise a salaryman'.
Hiroto Nakamura pulls out a book simply named 'Masks', written by one Fumiko Enchi, and thumbs over the quality of the book.
He doesn't look like he's planning to go anywhere or buy it right now, but even if he might outwardly seem not very interesting... as he rubs his thumb across the title of the book to remove dust, peering at it closely, there's a hint of energy to it. Like...
A river, trickling, pouring. It flows downstream, ever-moving, ever-present. The dam blocks the way from flooding, carefully sealed. It does not seem threatening, as it flows. It simply does.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
After thinking about it a while, after Umie was discovered by So-young, she's decided not to be so careless with a book that could clue people in to what other sorts of concepts that could appear as someone's Persona. ... Because that's the only risk there is, right?
(But why does she feel the need to hide it, if that's the worst it could be? Doesn't hiding something mean it's more valuable, as Tsumugi once said?)
It's someone with a resonance, and an unusual person to have one, at that. She's known adults like Ayame and Maya, but an ordinary salaryman? Curious.
Maybe, if there were other people here, or if it had been months ago, she would have hidden herself, and seen him as a threat, if for an entirely different reason that he may be one now.
After all...
Looking up from a book of Greek mythology, she moves to casually put it back, red brown eyes flicking over the cover of the book Hiroto has in his hand. "How is it?" she asks, idly.
"Haven't read that one at all."
<Pose Tracker> Hiroto Nakamura has posed.
Hiroto's eyes scan over to Umie, as if he never noticed her. (He did, but there's no tell.) "Oh, hello." He nods once, looking over her own book briefly and shows his cover. The direct resonance has stopped.
"It's been a long time since I've read it. It's a little bit horror, involving noh masks, relationships, and a bit of a nihilistic bent. It's a hard book to read, but the brevity and directness was refreshing."
A pause, as he eyes the shelf some more. "Greek mythology, huh? It's a fascinating thing. You ever read the Odyssey?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Such is the paradox of someone with a file on them in the NWO: it's so easy to forget that you actually have one, and begin to think you're just being too paranoid as the world around you goes on, until it thrusts itself into your life when you least expect it.
Strange; something seems to have changed in the man's resonance. Umie normally isn't as able to tell, unless it's something obvert, like someone's emotions going out of control, or an aura of dangerous intent. Was this intentional?
Or was it just her imagination?
".... Huh. I'll have to read it, sometime." Noh masks, huh... she should research those as well, if just for ideas--
"Yes, it is," she comments, looking at the the spine of the book, facing outward. "Haven't tried to read the Odyssey yet; I should." Especially if there's a figure or two that show up as someone's Persona.
.... Which likely explains the eclectic mix of books she's read, here, from stories about wily thieves to historical figures that have managed to embed themselves into the makeup of humanity.
What sort of Persona would a man like this have? Probably something she wouldn't expect, just like hers is one that no one would have guessed, back in high school. .... then again, back then, she didn't allow anyone to get that close; there was no 'guessing'.
"You seem to be a new face here. Have you met the owner? They're always interested in meeting new customers, especially if they may be repeat ones."
<Pose Tracker> Hiroto Nakamura has posed.
"I'd recommend almost every book here. This place really is a treasury," Hiroto says. "It's a shame it's so out of the way, but it's also cozy."
About the Odyssey, though... "It's a true classic. They say you need to read it in the original Greek to really get the most out of it, but who has time for that, right?" A friendly smile.
About the owner... "Ah, yes, Ms. Yeo! I've met her. Very kind, very welcoming. We talked books for a bit, and I've been popping in when I had free time ever since. My work hours have been erratic lately, so..." A helpless shrug, though he doesn't seem to be intentionally misgendering Myunghon. "But I get to read more books."
A glance back to Umie. "You're a regular then, I take it?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"Wait, you know Greek?" Umie looks surprised. "Enough to read something like that?" Even if he was a salaryman that dealt with Greek businesses overseas, that would be...
... something that should be just a pleasant pasttime for a normal person who has something a little out of the ordinary. Everyone should have hobbies like those.
But the other side of Umie says, 'what if?' What if this is something dangerous? It's the same thing she asked herself when Tatsuya texted her out of the blue, up until she saw him outside that apartment. It's the same voice that tied everything to the NWO, even when there was no reason for there to be a connection.
And that side is also curious, a dangerous combination.
"--Oh, from what I know, they go by they/them," Umie says, softly, as a correction. Or was that outting them? Myunghon showed no indication they were keeping it a secret, but...
Is she a regular?
"When I can be," she says, with a casual shrug. "It's out of the way, but it means when people find it, they have a definite interest."
As well as a reason, but Umie keeps that part hidden. Unlike when she was speaking to Ichika and Jun, she doesn't have to crash in, just yet.
<Pose Tracker> Hiroto Nakamura has posed.
"Ah, no. I just read a lot, so I've read what many scholars have said, haha!" Hiroto laughs awkwardly, as if he's embarrassed to have made a mistake. "I can read in English, though."
But about the pronouns... he seems puzzled. It takes him a long moment to consider, before he simply nods. "Neutral pronouns? I'll keep that in mind, thank you." It seems like he just hasn't considered that that was a thing. It also doesn't help that Myunghon's file likely misgendered *and* deadnamed them, though he knows enough to know Myunghon is their current 'alias'.
"Yes, I agree! It seems like a genius loci... one of those places that take on a life of their own. The people have brought it to life, so to speak. I even asked... Yeo-san if they ever considered a book club. They were interested in the idea, but said they'd need to check for interest..." He peers around.
"Been coming back though just because the selection is so nice. Very much my kind of place."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"Ah," Umie notes, with a nod. A strange person, but isn't that the way it usually is? Anyone who comes here would be like that, since this wasn't the place for anything all that modern, as inconvienent as that could sometimes be.
If there was something the NWO was not, it was being on the bleeding edge of progressive. Hiroto's confusion wouldn't even register as suspicious, on Umie's part; a few years ago and Umie would likely be as confused. "I could be wrong, but I figured I'd mention it."
"Genius loci?" Umie asks, blinking, then nods as he explains it. Ah, curse that highly specialized learning! "I guess that'd make sense... there's more teenagers here usually, when it's not the week before finals. I'd say those would be the ones that bring life to here, not occasional visitors like me." Unless... this is a Persona user looking for a 'community' of like-minded people. But it'd make even more sense for her to lay low, in that case, and let her identity as something lacking one to get another view of this person.
After all, the most suspicious person would be the very one Umie constantly referred to herself as: 'a normal, boring adult'.
"A book club, huh..." Considering how explosive the atmosphere of the store is right now, Umie wonders if that would be a good or bad idea. "I wonder if that'd be a recipe for success or disaster, " she says, giving Hiroto a wry smile.
<Pose Tracker> Hiroto Nakamura has posed.
Hiroto wouldn't consider himself strange. Just very... ordinary. Even if there's something simmering inside.
"I do appreciate it, I am glad I hadn't said anything to their face, then! I would feel terrible..." Another soft smile. "That would make sense. My daughter is a middle schooler, and she's studying very hard right now! Hopefully she can get into a good high school..."
"I think you don't know what something will be until you try it," Hiroto says calmly. "If you choose not to try because it may be a disaster, then you've guaranteed it won't be a success, right? Like that saying about every shot you don't take is a miss."
Then, he laughs awkwardly. "All that to say... I think it'd benefit a shop like this. May draw in more customers, too... the books really seem to be Yeo-san's primary passion."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
A mention of a daughter, in middle school. "Huh... what school?" she asks, idly, almost automatically. "I'm sure she will, if she has a father that studies like this."
It's the sort of general niceties that can still be bound in what Umie truly feels; a polite facade is also more pleasant to face the world with, rather than the mask that shows more of the contradiction and cyncial nature that sometimes shows its face on Umie.
"Oh, it's not for me," Umie says, a half smile on her lips. "I'm not much for leading those sorts of things. It'd be up to Yeo-san, and they'd have a better idea on where to go." She waves a red-nailed hand, her thumbsleeves helpfully covering what Hiroto would already know is there. Why cover something in the middle of summer, unless you didn't want someone to see what was underneath? "Really, if it was something I'd be interested in, I'd take my shot."
'Not an employee,' a side of her wants to say, but she bites back on it, instead saying, "Nice of you to think of the shop that way." She smiles. "I think the books are what interests them most, but the cards are definitely the money-maker here."
<Pose Tracker> Hiroto Nakamura has posed.
"She goes to Seven Sisters Middle School," he says with a certain amount of pride, a father who loves his daughter clear in the way he uses his words. "Great student."
Hiroto didn't think Umie was an employee, but he nods as she says it's not for her. "That makes sense! I'll have to talk to them again... wanted to see if they can get something specific in stock anyway, I can bring it up again."
He barely looks at her sleeves, enough to seem like he's registering them as odd but not enough to seem suspicious. His only sleeves cover his arms, but that at least makes sense, he's in a salaryman suit.
"At least the teens enjoy them," he says about the cards. "I'll have to bring my daughter to get some... maybe she'll enjoy it as a present for passing her exams?" He tosses around in his head if he should really be buying his daughter cardboard crack in exchange for doing good in school.
His face seems liek he is the type of dad who will say 'yes' though.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"A great school," Umie says. It was the same one Umie went to; this may be on her files, if simply as a matter of keeping proper records. "I'm sure she'll do well."
What a caring father... her expression is distant, but appreciative; perhaps identifying with the trials and successes inherent with being a middle schooler, at one point. "Yeah, best to. Yeo-san may have it, or is looking for it..." Unless they're occupied with things outside of running a business, like 'surviving'. Why can it never be as simple as 'you have survived, now rest'?
"Hm. Is she into them? That may determine whether she'd like it or not," she says, instantly regretting it. Bah, she's involving herself in matters again. This is just an ordinary man, with a Persona, who may or may not have secrets of his own.
"It'd be a hard sell for someone not already interested... best to do a visit on top of something you know she'd enjoy."
<Pose Tracker> Hiroto Nakamura has posed.
"Thank you," Hiroto says about her doing well, nodding once. But he has no idea about Myunghon's struggles...
"I think she is... she's had them before and really enjoyed them. I'm working so often that I don't really get to talk to her about it anymore, but I'm hoping I get the time soon."
He checks his watch, lowering his sleeve slightly. "Ah, I should be heading off. My name is Nakamura... it was nice meeting you. Perhaps we'll meet here again sometime!" He'll leave the book for now, deciding to wait on it given time constraints.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"Alright," Umie says. "Then that solves it." At Hiroto's confession, Umie smirks, giving a gentle 'tsk, tsk, tsk' sound. "They're only this age once, you know," she says, with some humor, and perhaps, some understanding, in her tone. "I'm sure she'll enjoy it, especially if she can spend some time with her father. There'll likely be others her age here too."
"Akabane," Umie then shares, neglecting to give her first name in much the same manner. Thank goodness for common last names!
"Perhaps we will."
Looking towards the book on Greek mythology, she ponders, and draws it back out once Hiroto's out of view; if this meeting was a fluke, then she'll let it be simply that. However, if it wasn't... well, wouldn't that be interesting...?