2025-11-15: Morning Running Run-in
- Log: Morning Running Run-in
- Cast: Kazusa Motojima, Ryuzaki Kurama, Katsuko Yoshinaga
- Where: Along a riverbank, Shibya Ward, Tokyo
- OOC Date: November 15, 2025
- IC Date: Saturday, August 11, 2012 (Morning)
- Summary: Three Shujin students are out running in the morning, each for their own reasons. They come across each other and conversation ensues. The topic, however, eems to turn to Ryuzaki's tracksuit and why it's so ill-fitting.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
It's another ordinary Saturday, thankfully one one free of any school obligations. A time to relax... or maybe not. If you're one Kazusa Motojima, you need to say in shape. Stay fit. You can stretch and limber up all you want in one place, but to get an overall workout...
Jogging is one answer.
Kazusa today has her long black hair back in a high ponytail, her purple eyes focused as she jogs along. She's dressed in a pink tank top, black shorts, and black sneakers (all with the same brand marking, if you catch that detail.) She's got a small pouch on her hip with a cord running to a pair of headphones on it, with music playing at a low volume.
And on this fine morning in Shibuya she's just... jogging to stay in shape. She won't be track material any time soon, but that's not her goal anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Ryuzaki Kurama has posed.
Shibuya is not a typical place one would consider running -- not central Shibuya, at least. But if you know where to look, there are still places to find where one can be uninterrupted, without hazards of small and narrow roads with blind corners. Today, Ryuzaki has also chosen Shibuya and charted a particular course, because...
Run.
The imperative echoes in his mind, as he does more endurance training today, in order to increase his volume. The potential of increasing one's VO2Max is well on his mind, and yet he's not been able to empiricially verify that... and yet, the simple and earnest, yearning desire for his legs to continue to take him where they may, along with those that've gone before him... urges him to
Run.
And thus, Ryuzaki happens to pass Kazusa at this point, by a riverbank. He's dressed in the red and white Shujin tracksuit -- a strange choice, given the sweltering heat of summer -- and his black casquette is still on, which is also a strange choice for summer.
His form is impeccable... he's been doing this for a really long time. But he's a pretty small boy, and doesn't really have the figure or capability of an athlete.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuko Yoshinaga has posed.
Image was everything in the world of business. A single loose thread, a lock of hair out of place, a single calorie unaccounted for - smaller things than those had caused deals to fall through. It was a truth that Katsuko knew all too well, thus it should not have come as too much of a surprise to see her running. She did not enjoy it as much as others - not if her expression was anything to go by, exertion notwithstanding - but even so, she ran forward, feet falling in a rapid rhythm.
Her clothing was the very definition of plain. A black t-shirt, snug enough that it did not run the risk of snagging against any rogue corners or surfaces, but not quite skin-tight, covered her top. Her shorts followed suit, remaining loose enough to not impede her movement, but not so much that they flapped around in the wind. The entire ensemble ended in a pair of trainers - again, black - from some well-regarded brand or other. All in all, it was hardly the most memorable of outfits, but there was no denying the practicality of it all.
Her eyes focussed forward, regarding only that which risked getting in her way. She could not afford distractions - this, she believed, was just as important as understanding how to worm her way into someone's good graces with honeyed words. It was a necessary measure, no matter how much she would have rather been at home with a paintbrush and plastic figurines.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa doesn't quite have Ryuzaki's deep-seated imparative to run. Her motivation is somewhat closer to Katsuko's--with the added stress of keeping her figure fit and trim for her Rhythmic Gymnastics, of which so much is all about image.
The riverbank is, at least, a nice place to run, and one that she can normally count on not to be too busy... but then she sees Ryuzaki passing by her. She notices the track suit first, certainly. She couldn't fail to recognize that, after all.
But that hat... "Kurama-san...?" she ponders out loud as she slows to a stop, panting. She checks her watch and starts to walk instead for a bit, to cool off a bit. Must live in the area... which makes sense.
But they're not the only ones out here. "Yoshinaga-senpai," she acknowledges, as she sees the other girl.
<Pose Tracker> Ryuzaki Kurama has posed.
Ryuzaki comes to a stop when his name is called. He doesn't have headphones or anything, so he won't be in trouble when he's about to walk into a den full of Jack Frosts and oh no! He can't hear them, he's got his Air Pods on! That's for rich people. He's very careful to not just come to a dead stop, especially as Kazusa comes to a walk instead. Katsuko is here too... he looks a little winded from his jog -- he must've been going for a while. He has a small water bottle with him, and takes a sip.
"Kazusa... Motojima-san. Katsuko Yoshinaga-senpai," he greets the both of them slowly, like it's a bit of a struggle -- and he still has to use the full names. "This is a nice place to run... back in March, it fills with cherry blossoms here."
<Pose Tracker> Katsuko Yoshinaga has posed.
Katsuko didn't register that she was being addressed - not at first. Yoshinaga was hardly an uncommon surname, and she needed to focus on the path ahead to prevent any collisions. But curiosity nevertheless managed to work its way into her mind, and drag her attention to the side just enough that she managed to catch a glimpse of some familiar faces. Her brisk pace slowed to a steady jog, and wound down once more when she realised that she did indeed recognise the other two gathered there. Ryuzaki was not an unpleasant sight, but the other
"Motojima-san. Kurama-san. A pleasure." For once, her curt response could be passed off as her attempting to speak between heavy breaths, while still maintaining some semblance of civility. She tried to stand straight and assume that same stoic, stony, appearance she was so fond of, but her body craved oxygen more than it did any one image being presented. Try as she might, there was no stopping the heaving of her chest, nor the thick rivulets of sweat that coursed down her face. "You will have to show me. I did not know you ran." She cast her gaze back to Kazusa, as if her presence was an afterthought. "Nor you."
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa doesn't have to worry about Jack Frosts! ... Mostly because she doesn't know they exist. (That's how that works, right?) She's breathing a bit hard, though she hasn't pressed herself as hard or a fast as Ryuzaki likely has.
She reaches into that pouch to pause her music, letting her headphones hang around her neck. Her outfit's a little bit more form-fitting--but she works intentionally at her figure, too.
In March... Kazusa looks around. "I suppose," she says in a dismissive way. (She actually agrees, but is feeling contrary.) If she takes any offense to being an afterhtought she doesn't voice it. "... But of course. As I'm sure you know, I am on our school's Rhythmic Gymnastics team. Just because the summer is out doesn't mean I can let up with my training."
She looks between the two. "I imagine you're both here for similar reasons, of course." Though, she's looking at Ryuzaki. Something is nagging her, and she hasn't quite put it together yet.
<Pose Tracker> Ryuzaki Kurama has posed.
"I did take a few photos when I first arrived in Tokyo..." Ryuzaki ruminates to Katsuko. "I can show you sometime. And... yes, I do like running..."
Fortunately, Air Pods haven't been invented yet, so the kids will have to get hit by isekai trucks while listening to their Zony Jogman instead. Ryuzaki's tracksuit is deliberately a little big, perhaps one size too big such that the cinches on the wrist and ankles have to do some of the work, unlike Kazusa's form fitting clothing.
"Do you have a meet soon...?" Ryuzaki asks of Kazusa's Gymnastics. "And, yes, that does make sense."
He quietly places his hands behind his back again, a tic Katsuko's observed before, slouching a bit and glancing further away -- once more, like he's gazing at something far away... somewhere in another time, perhaps. "I have to catch up... to them."
<Pose Tracker> Katsuko Yoshinaga has posed.
"Naturally." Katsuko said, in response to Kazusa inquiring about her reason for being there. It was hardly the most comprehensive of answers, but it was an answer all the same. Katsuko blinked, then remained silent, as if that single word was all that was required for an answer. It certainly seemed to be all she was willing to share, though as a moment or two ticked by, she realised that perhaps a few more words - even if they were simple pleasantries - could perhaps help smooth things over. Katsuko parted her lips, ready to say something about the weather or some other benign topic, but wound up staying quiet once Ryuzaki began to speak instead.
"Catch up to who?" She asked Ryuzaki. Her voice matched her face - flat and inexpressive. Perceptive individuals might have noted that she was simply calm and collected, rather than dispassionate, but the distinction was hard to make when her body was still attempting to recoup spent energy. "If you do not mind telling us."
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa is styduing Ryuji, some, but at the question she shales her head. "No. Not until next month. But just because we're on break doesn't mean I'll be letting my training slip." She comes to a stop, putting to fingers to her neck and looking at her watch for a moment to count off heartbeats.
Her eyes slide up from her watch to look at Ryuzaki. She notices that track suit being just a bit too large... "... who's 'them'?"
She also regards Katsuko for a moment. She knows Katsuko wants something from her... though so far they haven't gotten down to the brass tacks of what that might be. "... I hope you were able to enjoy the rest of the festival... at least, until the rain started." She hadn't even been able to escape that one for herself.
<Pose Tracker> Ryuzaki Kurama has posed.
Ryuzaki squirms just a little as they peek up past those bangs of his to Katsuko and Kazusa both on their question. "... they're always... running ahead of me. But, one day, I will catch up," is his strangely sorrowful, haunted answer, as if that totally answered anything and isn't even more cryptic and creepy.
There's a pause as they turn ninety degrees to face the river, like saying that's caused him to be reminded or something. Or if he's seeing something the two of them aren't. And indeed, the tracksuit is a bit too big! It kind of hides the way the clothes fall on their slight form.
Ryuzaki's a little too distracted to comment about the festival and the rain. He was likely working some part time job then. Money is tight.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuko Yoshinaga has posed.
Katsuko was hardly the most sociable of people. Her rather short responses and inability to assume more than three facial expressions per day stood as testament to that. However, even she could see that there was something up when the topic of catching up to someone was mentioned. She couldn't say for certain whether Ryuzaki was uncomfortable with it, pensive about it, or was just a million miles away, but there was clearly more to the subject than she'd first thought. That information was catalogued alongside his love of snails and the interest in photography he'd displayed the other day.
Then there was the tracksuit. She'd expected it to be a little baggy - mass-produced garments were rarely perfect, after all, and tracksuits were hardly the kind of thing that one went to get tailored. But it looked as though it had been draped over him, such was how poorly it seemed to fit. That too was a mystery that piqued her curiosity, and was filed under the seemingly endless list of new questions she had about her potential new contact.
"The festival was delightful. Until the rain." A curt response again, but delivered with as polite a tone as Katsuko cared to muster. Conversation with kazusa was not pleasant, but so were a great many conversations in the boardroom. Better to stomach it and be irritated in private, she reckoned, than show hostility and scupper any chances of even a tentative alliance.
"What of you two?" She asked, her gaze slowly shifting between Kazusa and Ryuzaki. Kazusa was regarded with the same inscrutable look she almost always bore, but Ryuzaki... she couldn't help but be curious about him. His form, his tracksuit, his sorrowful remark, everything raised questions to which she had no answer. With how her gaze lingered for a moment or two longer in places other than his face, perceptive individuals stood no small chance of picking up on her feelings.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Ryuzaki speaks of someone running ahead, and Kazusa's eyes scrutinize him for a moment... then for a very brief moment they do flick ahead further down the trail.
Just to make sure he wasn't being literal.
"Well, good luck with that," Kazusa says with dismissive disinterest. She's studying Ryuzaki for a moment longer and then, quite unprompted, asks, "... do you have a sister or a cousin or something that lives nearby?"
There's a critical eye for that tracksuit, and Kazusa folds her arms. "You'd think Shujin could afford to get you a tracksuit that fits. First that whole Kamoshida thing and now they're handing out ill-fitting tracksuits. You'd think they'd care more about maintaining their image." Kazusa, those two things are not even wildly similar in severity!
If Katsuko wasn't as talkative, thatt was fine by Kazusa. One less thing to worry about if she wanted to dance around what it was she might want of her. "I got caught in the rain," she says with a disgusted sigh. "Thankfully my new yukata wasn't ruined. But you'd think they'd do a better job with the weather reports."
<Pose Tracker> Ryuzaki Kurama has posed.
There's no one running ahead of them. Unless you count the GHOST totally sprinting away-- okay, there's no ghost there. But could Kazusa be blamed? She's already had an experience with the kuchisake-onna. Ryuzaki does squirm a little, perhaps feeling a bit more eyes on him than usual. He adjusts his hat again gently, and peeks a golden eye back towards Katsuko.
"I was working... the rain did come down very heavily," Ryuzaki admits. "That night was one of my heaviest shifts in recent memory."
Kazusa asks him if he has a sister or a cousin that lives nearby -- and he shakes his head. "No, no siblings..." is the way they answer. Perhaps she's cottoning on. Kazusa's comment about the tracksuit does add to that sort of mildly discomforted demeanor, though they do supply an answer of: "... this was half off."
Half-off, for being the wrong size! And surely not from the official Shujin store. Is Ryuzaki buying second hand?
<Pose Tracker> Katsuko Yoshinaga has posed.
Katsuko twitched in response to the comment on Kamoshida. It wasn't a particularly notable reaction - indeed, it was one that was likely to fly under most people's radars, even if observed her while it happened. It could very well have just been a bead of sweat catching on her eye when she blinked, or a wayward gust of wind scattering dirt into her face. Even for those perceptive enough to catch it, it passed so quickly that there was little chance to glean anything from it. In fact, it was debatable as to whether Katsuko herself was aware it had happened.
"Image is the only thing Shujin cares about."
The remark slipped out before Katsuko had a chance to stop it. Stoic as she believed herself to be, she was still human, and she was still prone to a scathing remark or two. Once she realised what she'd said, her lips clenched a little tighter, and she glanced aside, as if doing so would make it seem like someone else had said it, but she returned to the other two a split second later. "The administration, I mean." It might have just been the wind, but Katsuko's tone sounded as though it carried a twinge of bitterness to it.
"...I didn't know the school did offers like that on new tracksuits, though." She hoped Kazusa didn't mind her glossing over the remark about the weather reports and her yukata, given that they both seemed to have a shared interest in Ryuzaki.
They could discuss the meteorological agency's failings another time.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa is still trying to convince herself there was some sort of special effect or stage craft at work there.
... Obviously, she didn't see Ryuzaki there or anything.
"My friend and I would up near a konibi that got packed," Kazusa says with a weary, inconvenienced sigh. "I had to go in after her and make sure she was okay." She studies Ryuzaki for a moment. "... where do you work?" An innocent enough question... unless you're trying to hide something.
"No siblings... Hmm. Very well." Maybe she's just imagining it. But still, there's something that nags the back of her mind.
She glances at Kazusa. Though not because of that twitch, and just because it's part of the normal flow of conversation to look at a person you're conversing with. She comments on Shujin caring about image, and Kazussa huffs. "Yeah, I know. That's why things like that--" and she's gesturing at the tracksuit, "--make me wonder what they're even thinking."
"... half-off? What are you even--" Kazusa asks if they do those kinds of deals, and Kazusa gives a quick shake of her head that makes her ponytail whip around a little. "Not that I'm aware of. Did you even get that from the school?"
<Pose Tracker> Ryuzaki Kurama has posed.
The squirming and discomfort does get a little more visible, even as Ryuzaki's face remains completely emotionless and unbroken. The tell is in that posture of theirs, really; they place their hands behind their back and kind of kick their foot around and slouches to one side. Kamoshida doesn't particularly provoke a strong reaction from Ryuzaki, though not nothing either. It's like an unpleasant story he'd like to not remember.
Still, the question is incredibly on his tracksuit now.
"Ore no Beko," Ryuzaki answers gently, though he does look like he's wondering why he's being interrogated right now. "And also... sometimes at Chagall Cafe. Money is tight at home, so I'm trying to help out..."
Did he even get that from the school? "... no? You can find second-hand uniforms online at auction sites, from parents who have to move or whose kids have graduated," he advises. "Compared to brand new, this was half the price."
So much for image being everything.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuko Yoshinaga has posed.
Katsuko blinked. Katsuko remained silent for perhaps a few seconds longer than one might have expected, given that it was her turn to speak. Katsuko, despite her best efforts to not do so, felt bad. Perhaps she shouldn't have pushed, and should have instead allowed the conversation to be steered towards the topic of March scenery, or the subtle intricacies of Tokyo's snail population. After all, Ryuzaki could have proven to be a useful contact, despite evidence pointing to him not being someone terribly significant, or in contact with anyone that was. To lose him would be inconvenient.
"Makes sense. Shujin's prices are extortionate." She said in response, nodding firmly at Ryuzaki's reasoning, and attempting not to react - however subtly - to the memory that the accursed noodle bar's name dredged up. "Craftsmanship isn't even that good." Again, the vaguest hint of bitterness crept into her tone. Compared to her otherwise emotionally-void manner of speech, however, she might as well have spat the words out and laced them with venom.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Ore no Beko, and Chagall Cafe. No, not the place she was thinking of. Hmm. But money is tight... and he's trying to help out. And the tracksuit was bought second hand...
Kazusa stares at Ryuzaki for a long moment. They've potentially crossed paths before, and Kazusa might have even critized some 'weird' habbit of his. But... no amount of 'nagging' on her part will fix 'being poor'.
"The craftsmanship is fine, Yoshinagi-senpai. Shujin obviously just doesn't care as much about their image as we all thought it did if this is what people have to resort to."
Okay so she's not... blaming Ryuzaki, but she doesn't exactly say it in the nicest way, either...
"I've rested long enough," declares Kazusa, as she slips her headphones back on. And out of the pouch comes... a brand-new (Motojima-branded) smartphone, which she hits play on. "I'm going back to running. Goodbye."
And without much fanfare, she departs down the riverbank once more.
<Pose Tracker> Ryuzaki Kurama has posed.
It seems that... he chose his words carefully enough. Not aware of Katsuko's internal machinations, Ryuzaki takes her words about how much of an extortion Shujin's uniform scheme is, which is, to be fair, true of a lot of school uniform schemes!! They don't have much to share about the craftsmanship of the uniform, though, not having an eye for that kind of thing.
Kazusa decides she's had enough resting and carries onward, and Ryuzaki looks to Katsuko. "I'm... going to spend a bit of time here," they monotonely advise. "It was nice to see you today, Yoshinaga-senpai."
And then Ryuzaki steps down the grassy hill of the riverbank and finds a tree to sit down under to quietly cuddle his knees and stare off into wherever it is he stares off into.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuko Yoshinaga has posed.
Katsuko was adamant that the craftsmanship was inadequate. Did they function as clothes? Certainly. Did they last long enough for a single student to wear until they inevitably outgrew them? In most cases, yes. Were they worth the price that was being asked of students? Absolutely not. It was a hill she would die on, come what may. But, listening to Kazusa's reaction, and thinking hard on the situation at hand, she got the distinct feeling that bringing up the topic would be detrimental to her relationship with all parties gathered. Making her grievances known was certainly not worth the cost of losing prospective contacts, so Katsuko made the decision to let sleeping dogs lay.
She let Kazusa leave without anything more than a customary 'goodbye' in return. Ryuzaki, however, was given a curt nod, and a hastily-delivered request before she left.
"I'd like to see those pictures." She said. That much, at least, was genuine. "I look forward to them." With that, she turned quickly, and eased herself into a gentle jog. There would be time enough for questions - or feigned comfort - later.