2026-01-23: The Rising Spirit
- Log: The Rising Spirit
- Cast: Shiryuu Ryouhara, Yua Ijuuin
- Where: Aoba Ward, Sumaru
- OOC Date: 2026-01-23
- IC Date: Sep 14 2012
- Summary: It's a warm day of gardening for Yua at the penthouse over Pyramid Plaza, all seems idyllic when she and hers have the wits scared out of them when a lone perpetrator manages to scale up the side of the building!
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua wakes with the sun in order to get in her morning exercise with Miho and cook her breakfast (and her lunch!); of course, while Yua's busy cooking, Miho just /keeps exercising./ Once she sees her off, though, there are still a good few hours before /she/ has to leave for work, given she arrives far closer to /lunchtime./
(Her classes run in the afternoons, and she's able to use the shield of being /part time/ to avoid getting saddled with morning activities. And to be sure, there are some full-time staff who resent her for that... but the people she's working with have by and large sussed out that she's an eccentric wealthy woman filling her time with a passion project, so few of them really judge her by the same /standards./)
That isn't to say she's /idle,/ in those morning hours, though. Yua spends the earlier of them setting the house in order, taking Eiko's help when she clocks in for the day; she plays with Tiger, and writes shopping lists, and prepares anything she needs to start well in /advance/ of dinner. At some point, Sachie visits for her daily check-up; she's asked her to come by /daily,/ now she has Hiroki, just to make sure she's still well. (Sometimes she needs to put a needle in her arm and drip water into her veins, and Yua's never very happy, about that.)
And once that appointment is done, well...
The bottom three floors of Pyramid Plaza, in Aoba, are arranged in pyramidal fashion just as it's named; /these/ floors are commercial, hosting stores and boutiques and commercial studios. Above them are four private residential floors, arranged in a straight-up tower; those elevators are accessible by keycard or intercom buzz. The top of the building, though, /completes/ the pyramid: the final three floors become smaller by degrees, forming a triangle atop the tower furnished with deluxe penthouse suites.
At the very /top/ floor of the tower -- the smallest section of the pyramid -- there is only one penthouse: here dwells Miho Ijuuin, and, her name encircled by hearts on their name plaque, Yua Ijuuin beside her. There's an elevator which goes straight up here, likewise needing keycard or intercom access, which empties into a hallway which leads to a front door and a few service exits.
(That is not to say there is only one /living space/ at the top floor, of course -- some of the space has been converted into a modest living-space with its own number and name plaque by the door, so that their live-in maid, Eiko Ikeda, can have her /own/ home and her own mailing address with it down the hall a little. ... but certainly, it was /intended/ as a singular space.)
There is a balcony all around the foremost penthouse, where that lower floor would be; and one corner of the terrace is clearly /primary,/ a square of open-air space carved into the structure. The building curves around it on two sides, a square in a square; stairs lead up, at the innermost corner, to the very /top/ of the pyramid.
Here... all there is is a /pool./ How is there a /pool/ on the /high-rise./ That's impossible. They're /impossible./
But let us come back down to the terrace: here, and dotted around the balcony, there are /plants./ Beautiful yellow chrysanthemums, peonies, hydrangea, violets, and even the rare nadeshiko join hibiscus, azalea, peacock flowers, lilies, and the simply beautiful himeyuri. It is a combination of Japanese and Okinawan flower sensibilities, and a prime spot amongst them is offered to...
... the rose bushes.
There are quite a few of them, most blooming red with the fierceness of their love -- though a few are blooming /white,/ instead, with devotion and silence and innocence. It's prime flowering season for them, now, and they're flourishing, aided by a woman who crouches by them, tilting a watering can carefully into their pots.
Yua wears a black dancer's leotard, her skirt sheer against her legs; her hair is done up in a neat bun, exposing the eyepatch on the left of her head. She wears fine jewelry, including her wedding ring and the fabric decoration which hides the back of her right hand; she is /not,/ notably, wearing gardening gloves, despite the thorny bushes. Somehow, her hands are still soft and unscratched; it speaks to the delicacy of her movements, as she clips a flower and places it carefully into a vase with a few of its fellows.
She needs to make dinner very nice tonight, because Kimitake's /borrowing/ her, again, tomorrow. Nice, fresh flowers... that's just the trick.
But Yua does not think of tomorrow, this morning. Under the warm sun, she sings a children's song in Okinawan, softly, befitting the chiragra spider conch hung by the sliding glass doors for luck. It's not mutually intelligible with Japanese -- they're entirely different languages, though they share a /family/ -- but one might find some commonalities, between the Okinawan Miruku and the Japanese Miroku.
OST+Translation: Akata Sundunchi
"In Akata Village, in Shuri, within the grand manor,
"A golden lantern gleams brightly.
"When it shines with radiant light,
"Let us welcome the deity Miruku.
"When the sun rises, I head to school.
"Please tie my hair, my dear parents.
"Miruku of the great land, come to my island too.
"And spread the era of Yugafu.
"In every street and corner, everyone sings a song in peace.
"It seems Miruku's Yugafu is drawing near..."
Her gentle, sweet soprano is backed by the content humming of a sheltered beehive, tucked against one of the inner walls; ten stories up, there's little in the way of /insects,/ so Yua keeps a small hive of Japanese honeybees to aid her in pollinating her flowers.
Hiroki won't be able to hear her for seven more weeks... but that's no excuse not to start practicing /now./ Besides... these traditional songs calm her down, too. Even Tiger -- an absolutely /massive/ orange Norwegian Forest Cat, easily /ten/ kilos, standing thirty-five centimetres tall at the shoulders and ninety centimetres long from nose to outrageously fluffy tail -- has flopped down on the sunny deck beside her, listening contentedly to the music.
What might strike anyone, beyond her gentle expression, is how much /less/ of her there is; she has lost kilos where she ought have gained one, and her exhaustion isn't entirely something which can be covered with her careful makeup, her blush and winged eyeliner. To soothe everyone's nerves isn't an easy thing...
... even so, she's singing.
<Pose Tracker> Shiryuu Ryouhara has posed.
It's been... a strange few days.
After recovering from his injuries (somewhat), Ryouhara had straightened things up at the hotel and taken the Tokaido line from Tokyo back south to straighten up affairs. First at the Harai worksite, where he was -roundly- chastised by the boss of the work crew for taking days off without authorization, and then put to labor bending conduit for the rest of the day, a task which Ryouhara didn't exactly mind.
It helped clear his head from the events of the night before, and exactly what he was feeling. Though he would normally have a man's hands for speaking to him in so ill a fashion, it really wasn't the boss' fault. He didn't know he was speaking to the very owner of the property that was being repaired, just a 'listless day laborer!!'
Plus also, technically he did sleep in... er. Very unusual.
Arguing with Akabane for fifteen minutes straight didn't make things any easier on him with the boss, but it did help him get mentally ready for the day, he was annoyed to notice. Or at least, it helped him compartmentalize the misery unspooled by that thing carrying around the artist's portrait. At least, so is what he insisted to himself.
Right now, the boy is opening a window, and stripping off his coveralls.
The problem with glass towers owned by people who are rich enough to own glass towers but not rich enough to forget their servant's names is that they are ridiculously hard to infiltrate. Buzzing oneself in is out of the question -- it would raise too many red flags, especially among those who might not be aware of their arrangement, whose power is in its secrecy. However, looking like a member of a maintenance crew makes things a little simpler, especially where you were willing to lift keycards.
That nonsense stops right at about the fifth or sixth floor up. There's just not that many people with reasonable access anymore. See the point above. There's one maid. Just one!
"sigh." Shiryuu pokes his head out of a service window absently, having stripped off his coveralls and stashed them, leaving only his thick grey turtleneck sweater (it's much harder to spot against the facade of a building.) His grey hair blows in the sudden, sharp, brisk wind as he looks up the remaining floor. Floors. Many floors.
"At least it's an incline," Ryouhara observes in annoyance, absently tying on a set of shuko to his hands, and slipping off his shoes, while keeping an eye out at the ground level for Ijuuin's driver. That guy...
Shiryuu swings a leg out of the tower, and gets moving.
Yua's singing reaches his sharp ear long before anything else, and the boy hesitates, leaning with his back to a mullion as he catches his breath, slow and smooth and controlled. He looks up with dark eyes, as the occupant above sings of Miruku, which is really one of the few words he can pick out at this distance, with a barrier between them.
But the idle, sweet melody is what catches on his attention the most.
"...." Fingertips twitch on steel. The boy looks up from below, as a rogue thought slips unbidden into the back of his mind.
My god, thank you so.
For coming to us, thank you so.
Hush-a-bye baby, sleep in mother's arms.
His lips part. "....?"
The onmitsu catches himself, just before he begins to tumble into the vertiginous abyss and what would have been a short, painful reintroduction to the ground. "!!"
Eventually his heart decides on a rhythm, and the boy manages to recover, finally wrapping a hand over the edge of the balcony, "hup--!" and hops up onto the skyway somewhere on it's periphery. And by 'hop up' we mean 'clamber over and probably die a little on the way.' He's usually kind of good about this sort of thing. However, that usually doesn't mean 'in the morning, injured, and having to save his own life on the way.'
Really, it's a miracle he's managed to NOT faceplant on the concrete and die right there. Possibly to spite Miho. Hmn.
No, she wouldn't care, on second thought.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
It's nice to be able to talk to your loved ones before you set off for the day, isn't it?
... of course, Yua doesn't know anything about /Shiryuu's/ affections. Just a mysterious woman who doesn't like her very much...
Yua's starting in on another song when Tiger leaps up, all puffed up, with a terrible 'hiss!!!' That's the first warning she gets, and her head turns to look at what Tiger's looking at, only to see --
"Oh my GOODNESS!" Yua exclaims, quite loud in her concern; her hand jerks, and /now/ her finger is scratched by the thorns, a single line of red on her dark finger. "Ryouhara-kun!"
But she can't quite get up to go to him. She tries, of course -- only for a vague expression to cross her face as she gets her feet under her, the blood in her body far from enough to feed her expanded veins. She swoons forward --
-- right as the blue-haired maid bursts in. She's dressed in a polo shirt and slacks, rather than an inconvenient maid's outfit, though she still wears a maid's /apron./ "Ijuuin-san?!" She demands, only to see the /boy/ on the /roof./ "You -- step away from Ijuuin-san." She demands, as she reaches into a pocket of her apron and pulls out... a small pistol, which she holds with /remarkable/ discipline and skill for supposedly just being a maid.
Yua, though, did /not/ hit the floor -- and her faintness passes in the time it takes for Eiko Ikeda to alarm. "Ah -- Eiko-san, it's all right!" She cries out, with a touch of desperation. "He won't hurt me--! Ryouhara-kun, please don't fight! Let's all calm down, please--!"
Yua's the one who sounds the least calm out of anyone...
<Pose Tracker> Shiryuu Ryouhara has posed.
Shiryuu moves unnervingly quickly.
At first, the boy is kneeling against the ground, fingertips touching cool ground beneath him as he takes the barest moment to gather thoughts, breath and heartbeats against the deficit he built up. Life goes like that -- one breath's debt must be paid by the next. And Shiryuu's has been accruing a -stunning- amount of debt lately.
But then he's aware of a commotion as of everyone, it's the cat that's noticed him and raised the alarm. New is demanded of him, and so the shihaisha doesn't even think -- he goes.
The onmitsu is used to watching people for weaknesses in their form, in their stance. If pressed, he really doesn't know much about pregnancy other than the reading he's been doing, and he's not gotten far enough in his book to do anything other than recognize she should be kept away from pesticides. It's thus that original, elemental training that causes the boy's eyebrows to shoot up, and his heel to raise from the ground.
Scrambling across the ground no further than a few inches above it, Shiryuu crosses the luxuriously, infuriatingly large expanse between himself and the ballet teacher in an instant, the muted whipcrack of feet over ground rolling across the terrace in a staccato rapid-fire.
Open palm, he thinks, to spread out the impact. Slow down, to assert deceleration gently. The boy kicks out, his stance carving out a half moon to cut his speed -- and the catch Yua by the shoulder, all but wrapping himself around her like a protective bubble...
Right about when the maid busts in packing heat.
"I--eh?!" A knife gets pulled, a tiny throwing blade snapped out of his sleeve, spun quickly by the grip ring, as Shiryuu unconsciously shifts Yua's weight (further) out of the line of fire, reducing his own cross section and -- coincidentally -- looking like for all the world like he apparently broke in just to catch Yua offguard and dip her.
"Hyihh--!!"
On the other hand (literally) the boy is halfway through throwing a knife down Eiko's pistol barrel before Yua manages to break in, saying something about not fighting. "....?"
"....hrmn."
If not attacked, Shiryuu frowns. (He should not be frowning about this) And then he gently releases Yua. After setting her upright.
"...ahem."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Shiryuu may not know a lot about /pregnancy,/ but he knows very much, it seems, about the kinetics of the human body. If Yua were all the way conscious at the time, she'd applaud his grace and speed, but her faint spell takes her out for a precious instant --
It /almost/ was the last instant someone would have.
Eiko's eyes widen in alarm, seeing the boy pull a /knife/ from his /sleeve,/ though -- give her credit -- her arms don't waver. What makes her put her gun down (the safety clicking back on in the motion) is, instead, Yua coming to her senses and vouching on his behalf. "Do... you know this boy, Ijuuin-san?" She asks, a touch off-put.
Yua, Shiryuu will find, is easily manipulated in space -- she grasps Shiryuu's shoulder, as she becomes sure of the ground beneath her feet. "T--thank you," she breathes, and she clasps her hands in front of her as she looks to Eiko again. "I do! I'm very sorry for the shock... I was just startled, so I made you worry, didn't I?" She bows in apology, despite the fact that Eiko works for /her./
Eiko bows, in turn, an arm across her chest. "Er... then, excuse me," she says, and /mostly/ manages to take this strange turn in stride. "Please let me know if you or your guest need anything, Ijuuin-san."
Yua looks down at her palm, and the slight streak of blood there. "Er... could you fetch the first-aid kit?" She asks, a touch meekly.
"You're hurt?" Eiko asks, with clear concern.
"No, no, just a little scratch from the thorns!" Yua insists, waving her hands. "I just want to disinfect it, just in case!"
"Scratched by the thorns? That's unlike you..." Eiko blinks, with mild surprise. "I'll set it up in the lounge for you," she settles on, a moment later. "Will Ryouhara-san be having anything to drink?"
Yua turns to him, and asks: "Would you like anything?" And then, turning back to Eiko -- "Um, and can you get that gross water for me? I should probably drink it before work..."
"Of course," Eiko nods, and disappears, back inside.
"Um..." Yua starts, turning to Shiryuu. "W--welcome to our home! I-I don't think anyone's ever come in that way..." She lifts her hand to her lips, giggling. "Were you trying to impress me? It worked, but you didn't need to, you know! I already know you're really special!"
Yua tilts her head, then, as she scrutinises him a little closer. He looks very... mm...
But /since/ he's really something, he'd be bothered if she said something, right?
"Please come inside!" She bids him, instead, waving him in.
The loungeroom is spacious and stately; there's a massive display cabinet devoted to Miho's myriad medals and trophies, another potted plant off to the side, a generous television, tasteful and likely very /expensive/ wall decorations, and leather chairs and couches surrounding a fine glass coffee table. Eiko's already set the drinks out, there, as well as set up the first aid kit -- it folds out a lot like a tackle box, really.
<Pose Tracker> Shiryuu Ryouhara has posed.
"Boy...?"
Despite being relatively quiet and noncommittal by nature, Shiryuu's tone still fairly drips with resentment hen he echoes Eiko.
"An admirable ballistic stance," the grey-haired boy comments coldly, "but ...I'm the one fated to take on every burden in the night," he insists almost immediately to Eiko. He's apparently intent on introducing himself. For given values thereof. Despite his obvious and plain discomfort with handling people, the boy still flips his knife easily in a hand, tucking it into his sash pointedly.
It's much more important that he introduces himself than anybody pays attention to him right now, because laws don't need to be acknowledged to be true, insofar as Shiryuu is concerned. Even so, the shihaisha bridles only slightly towards Yua's maid until she points out that Yua is hurt, a fact that snaps the young man's attention to the fore. "!" the boy pronounces expertly, before snapping out a cloth reflexively to attend the wound. It's only when the prospect of an actual first aid kit is raised that the boy calms, looking back to Eiko when she asks him what he'd like to drink.
He looks at her closely.
"...water will be fine by me," he states, decisive and flat faced.
The moment vanishes when Yua starts talking about his entrance and -- impressing her?? Shiryuu makes a face, his honor impugned mightily but unable to reply with swift sanctions. All that he can do is level the smallest, quietest of objections in the smallest, quietest voice. "....It's important I leave as small a trace as possible when coming here," he defenses, stepping back and giving one long, slow sigh before fixing his turtleneck, and the sleeves at his wrists. He takes a long time about it, discomfited with being described as anything other than 'the invincible shihaisha.'
It's just not fair play.
It is -not- improved by Yua examining him. "i---ieh?" Cautiously, the onmitsu puts space between them, running a hand through his hair to tame it from being windblown again. "Hey, you need to look after your body," he repeats, an oft-lamented sentiment held by the Ryouhara boy, none moreso than when he enters the stateroom, immediately attending the first aid to do -- something -- with Yua.
"In fact, I'm here to make sure the fishbowl thing didn't injure you ... in any regrettable way." Two-toned eyes look up to her; he is now gathering up what he knows of her. Eyes narrow pointedly. "Among other things."
He hasn't gotten far enough in his book to know if he should be concerned. He's still frowning in consternation.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"I meant no offense," Eiko bows her head to Shiryuu. (She won't be the one to point out that his face is still quite young.) "I make no claim to that world, Ryouhara-san. I've simply been asked to help protect Ijuuin-san when Ijuuin-san is away." Which is which? It's carried in Eiko's tone; she's a little softer speaking of Yua, and clearly has a lot of bonded respect for /Miho./
But then -- Yua giggles, and Shiryuu is /impugned./ "Um... did I offend you, too?" Yua asks, and sounds contrite about it, at least. "It really was impressive, I wasn't making fun of you...! Just, now I realise it was you, it's funny to me that I was scared... if it was someone else, I guess they ought to be terrified, but I know you won't do anything bad, you said you wouldn't! That's, umm... your word as 'shihaisha', right?"
At least she /remembers/ his title.
"Ah, did I worry you, too...? Sorry," Yua smiles, apologetically, as she heads inside. "It's really okay, though, see?" She shows him the scratch, once she's seated -- and then asks, "... will you sit with me?"
Maybe it will be easier for him to justify sitting down a while if it's a favour to /her,/ she thinks.
Yua is, at least, quite good at treating that little cut; she winces a little at the disinfectant, but offers no complaint, and then covers the whole thing with a bandaid so that no more infection can get through. "I'll get Eiko-san to get you my spare keycard, okay?" She asks, as she works. "I know you don't want to leave a trace, or anything... but that one's registered to me, so no one will know you're coming up here!" Please don't murder people using it, Yua will be very upset if she becomes a circumstantial murderer.
"But I'm really okay," she goes on, showing Shiryuu the bandaged cut, as she does. "This is how my village has always done it, you know? When we're doing things in nature -- diving, foraging, fishing -- we stay close to it. I don't use oxygen tanks or goggles or anything when I'm diving... actually, I can hold my breath for five minutes!" Yua's quite proud of that -- she ought to be, it's a skill someone only gets with /training./ "And it's the same when I'm gardening. If I wore gloves, I'd be disrespecting the plants... it's already unfair to place them in pots, so the least I can do is treat them gently enough that they don't need to scratch me as I'm tending them."
Yua smiles, turning to him, folding her hands on her lap. "I went to my doctor the morning after it happened," she assures him. "Mimi's spoken to her, so she's willing to give me a full checkup without asking too many questions... and I was okay. Gretchen's done a really good job making sure I don't get hit. And this time, I had you and Recchi protecting me!" /This time?!/ "I get really tired after it, but... physically I'm fine, you know?"
Is she really fine, when she's so light? She may as well have weighed nothing at all, against Shiryuu's strength.
<Pose Tracker> Shiryuu Ryouhara has posed.
It's almost endearing. Shiryuu does seem to pick up on the difference between Ijuuin (pronounced with hearts) and Ijuuin (pronounced with swords) by the maid, and it's almost enough that it makes Shiryuu forget his wariness. Almost. "Mm."
But the onmitsu's will is steel, and it's really only by looking over at Yua does Shiryuu faintly grimace, looking back and thinking to add, "....nice hair," grudgingly to Eiko, though it would be mistruth to say that there isn't the light of a genuine interest in his voice. For a boy who lies and obfuscates as a matter of common practice, it is strange, isn't it.
"Aa.." his attention returns. Shiryuu isn't terribly well known for being eloquent until upset, but Yua's demand merits a response as they enter the main space, the boy padding along in bare feet. "It's no dishonor," he says, pretending as if he weren't just upset. He becomes more serious (and consequently less upset) when she puts the correct pronunciation to the title of the 'highest.' "Underneath the curtain of my word, you are in an aegis of protection, bound by the promise of swift vengeance."
It's actually an interesting matter -- since Ryouhara declared for Ijuuin, the clan has made very little secret of it in their back alley dealings, and bombings are almost guaranteed for any clan who opposed the old samurai family.
Shiryuu blinks. There is a restless, unsettled part of the boy burning the back of his spine, and he almost instinctively looks left and right as Yua asks him to sit, shifting his weight away from the proffered rest as he looks -- that is a huge cat!!! good god! -- over the area around him, disinclined, as if he might be attacked at any moment.
He doesn't have his sword on him at least, and a slow, dark sigh is surrendered, as Shiryuu very, very primly sits when asked.
Here is where the boy blinks -- not once, but twice -- when she seems perfectly fine, and instead offering proof of her capability. She even offers him a falsified keycard. "Mmm," he replies, though without actually knowing him for longer, it's going to be difficult to tell if he's giving his consent or not.
Shiryuu is really vague sometimes.
Hands half-covered by ridiculously warm wool for the weather lay flat on the onmitsu's knees as he rests his weight on them. The pan of his gaze slowly locks to Yua, settling on her eye. "Please don't go diving in your condition," he remarks absently, somewhere in the background while she is explaining, his concerns not at all addressed by the notion of the Order's warmongering being made okay by a doctor's visit and the power of Persona.
He breathes outward, curling his fingers against the knees of his pants, as he tries to relax. 'This time?'
"...Ijuuin-san," Ryouhara finally states. "It's important to practice the utmost of cautions. With this, you are now 'the deliverance of the next generation.' With that, we are the caretakers of our loved one's dreams, and the custodians of the shining future those younger than us will behold. In that sort of context, any action is sanctioned to protect them. I will have to do more to ensure that safety."
Shiryuu doesn't actually say it outright, and he has little reason to mistrust her based on what she says, but she is much, much lighter than she was before. It may necessitate some spying on her doctor, to verify what's being said is what's being told, and what's being told is what's being found. Ryouhara will not be merciful if there is a discrepancy.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Thank you," Eiko does smile, hearing Shiryuu compliment her hair. She keeps it in a short bob, but she's quite fond of it; she goes out for regular haircuts and everything!
Yua finds /Shiryuu's/ shift to eloquence endearing, though this time she at least does that silently, but for the warmth to her smile. (He's so serious...) "I feel a lot safer knowing you and your people are all looking out for us," she says, instead; it's just as true as her delight.
"It's okay," Yua adds, seeing him look back and forth. (She's seen that kind of gesture before.) "Mimi sweeps the house for bugs all the time! I'm not entirely sure what she's looking for, since there are no bugs all the way up here, except our bees... I guess they're really little gadgets or something?" So Yua's absolutely no help in the security department, but /Miho/ probably knows what she's doing.
That cat is SO huge, though. Who even knew cats could get that big. Yua would need both hands to hold that cat and the cat would spill out over the edges.
Luckily, Yua will get that keycard for him /regardless/ of whether he was consenting or not. The worst he can do is deny it!
Yua shakes her head, looking a touch sad, when Shiryuu asks her not to go diving. "I knooow," she says, and even sounds a touch whining about it. Pout! "There's diseases and stuff in the water, and my immune system isn't very good right now, since if it was working properly my body might attack Hiroki too... that's why I had to bandage my cut right away, too. Haa... I miss swimming in the ocean," Yua sighs, before she smiles, to Shiryuu, again. "But it's okay! Mimi makes sure our pool is always nice and clean and safe, so I can dive there just fine! We have lots of toys for the pool, too... Mimi sets up these plastic rocks and stuff so I can pretend I'm at the reef, and hides toy sea-creatures for me to find! It's so much fun!"
Can... can adults talk about things being /so much fun?/ Like, /legally?/ Is that /allowed?/
Yua's hand comes to rest on her belly, as she listens to what Shiryuu has to say about her own responsibilities. "You're right," she says, and she is gentler, now. "I've been trying really hard... I even let Sachie-san put the needle in my arm to give me fluids when I can't keep water down." Is she scared of needles...? Well, that's also true. "Is that what you're worried about...? I didn't want to be rude, but... I don't want to worry you, either." It's considered a deep offence, after all, for a woman to /discuss/ her maladies in pregnancy, here on the mainland. "It's normal to become ill when you're carrying a child... but sometimes it becomes much worse than normal. When that happens, it doesn't get better after the first three months, either... but it's okay!" She insists, bravely. "I'm strong enough to handle something like this if it's for Hiroki!"
Yua glances aside, to the glass of water in front of her -- takes a bracing breath, and takes it in hand. Shiryuu may note the slight cloudy texture, to it. "I'm doing things to help," she says. "I've got this gross water I need to drink whenever I can, it's got, um, electrolytes and things...? Since they could be out of balance in my body. And there's this powder I mix up into a drink which is like food, too... and I have barley and ginger, and I know about snacking so my stomach isn't ever empty all the way, they say that makes it worse... I've got medications, too."
And then, 'ulp,' Yua gulps in trepidation, and then gulps down the horrible electrolyte water.
"... bleeeeeeh."
<Pose Tracker> Shiryuu Ryouhara has posed.
There's a lot to be lucky with in the next few moments. The minor feud is somewhat averted with a tactically threatened pout, and Shiryuu grudgingly accepts Eiko as a superior maid worthy of recognition. He may, in fact, even drink a little of the formerly placed water, while staring at the wild beast lazing about. Seriously, the boy can't help but think to himself. In an emergency, Yua-san will just hop on the cat and ride to safety...
Ijuuins always do everything big, apparently. Even the Akayaten is not as tall as this penthouse.
The chilled glass sets against his lap, giving Shiryuu something for his fingertips to focus on instead of worrying his knees threadbare. Little lines drawn in condensation of the cool glass detail the quiet rake of his fingertips across the wet surface, some of it disappearing to be absorbed by densely knit wool.
The young man brightens as Yua talks about bugs, making the connection immediately. He opens his mouth -- and it's not hard to see the exact point where the thought to explain the exact nature of bugs dies in his head, leaving him with a freight train of unresolved excitement, itself smoothed down anxiously in the form of a firmer grip on his water glass. Discretion is the nature of shinobi -- and it just occurred to Shiryuu exactly why telling Yua about tiny devices planted by evil men to watch your every move would be in poor taste.
Shiryuu does not want to be x'ed again.
"Miho-sama is truly an attentive person," he says, faraway. He's mercifully (questionably) distracted from the idea of being ballet x'ed in time. Fun for fun's sake. It seems like something so faraway, something out of reach, for the shihaisha. The idea that there's simply this sort of thing going on between people in other situations leaves the boy's eyes dimmed, half-lidded, wondrous and mystified at once. He doesn't look at her, not directly, as the thought gets away from him, as he tries to put something to it, something behind it. "As long as you are supervised," he says quietly, absently.
Why is it he feels inadequate, at that exact moment?
Another for the bounty of fortune; Yua telling Shiryuu more of the truth likely inadvertantly saved her doctor from being dangled out of a window on Ryouhara's orders, or something equally distasteful. The boy looks up quietly. "Aa," he confirms. "It's important we know, in case it becomes necessary to act during a situation of distress." There's nothing in Shiryuu's book about dehydration or electrolyte imbalances in Mementos or Tartarus, but at the very least he can intuit the meaning. "A lot of times, an electrolytic solution is salty..." he's clearly still picking his way through her words. It's very clear Yua talks much, much faster than Shiryuu is entirely socially prepared for, and his water glass pays the price for it, having been spun around in his hands at least three times over in the past minute, the little ice cubes clinking with each movement.
Pause. There is something Shiryuu focuses on, perhaps enough so that Yua might catch exactly its importance to him.
"Ijuuin... Hiroki.."
The words are quiet, experimental, a thumb raising to the rim of the glass in his lap. It twitches before resting, as if some mild urge is suppressed when she drinks her own water, which is much worse than his. The notion of it spurs the boy.
"Ano... Ijuuin-san. If I may."
That name alone lets the notion of a rogue thought finally trickle back into his attention, letting the boy put his thumb on it long enough for it to take root.
"Yourself and Miho... when she does these things for you.. is it what you need to have a good 'bond?'" the onmitsu asks. In that moment, his voice is several things. He would like for it to be sure, strong, interrogating. That would be ideal, and certainly, there is much in the boy that is.
"I mean... what does an ideal 'bond' mean to you?"
And then there's the moments where he simply is not, and his voice canters off into something quiet, his eyes focusing on the middle distance between them.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
However, Tiger is more likely to leap into Yua's arms to be carried to safety...
The one saving grace of this building is that it's not /all/ penthouses. The luxury apartments up top are paired with /normal/ apartments below them... and even cute little shops! Studio Chura's down there, too!!
Yua remains ignorant, to this day, of the power of 'X'... though she /does/ notice him focusing on his glass.
Supervised! "Don't you worry about that," Yua giggles, apparently unperturbed by the idea of being /supervised/ as a grown adult. That's more concerning than it sounds. It's fine.
"Mm... the big thing is that I'm fainting more than I usually do," Yua offers, to Shiryuu, helpfully. Is... is there a normal amount of fainting that Yua does? "It's something to do with my blood... um... they said my veins were getting bigger, so I could feed Hiroki better? But since I'm having trouble drinking enough, I don't have as much blood, so when I stand up too quick it takes a while to get to my head again... I think." Aren't you supposed to be a health teacher, Yua?!
Be fair: she's a /fake/ health teacher.
Her smile brightens, though, as she realizes Shiryuu's echoing her son's name. (She doesn't know he's a boy yet; she won't know that for some weeks, yet. But she's /praying/ to the Hinukan for a boy, every day, so she's quite sure it will be true.) "Hee hee... have I told you the trick, yet?" Yua puts down her empty glass as she fetches a notebook from the corner table, alongside a fountain pen -- and writes, with excellent calligraphy-work for something which isn't a brush, a set of kanji -- 'Great' and 'Castle'.
"Hiroki," she sounds it out.
And then, she writes the same kanji, a second time.
"Ooshiro!" She sounds it out, illustratively.
Yua looks quite sunny, having revealed her evil scheme to honour her family with her firstborn son.
She pauses, though, as she's re-capping her pen. "Of course," she prompts him, smiling. He gets to his question, eventually, and she taps the capped pen thoughtfully against the notebook. "Hmmm..."
Yua lifts her gaze to the fine lighting, tapping the pen to her chin, instead. "This is a secret, okay? But... Mimi and me are tied together by fate," she explains, thoughtfully. "That didn't mean we were destined to be partners, or anything... but no matter what, we would definitely, definitely be part of each other's lives. It was true once before... in a better world. She's told me so much about it..." Yua smiles, fondly, as she recalls.
"But... I knew even when I was a teenager that I wanted to be Mimi's wife. I wanted to cook breakfast for her every morning, and have dinner ready when she came home... I wanted to help her through her bad days, and I wanted to make a warm home for her to return to. And I was happy when Mimi protected me... it was kind of startling when she slammed that girl's hand in the locker for putting that dissected frog in my bag, but I was also happy, you know? It felt nice... that someone cared that much about protecting me. And when she saved me again, years later... there was no one I relied on more than her, when I was getting better. I'm sure it deepened our bond... oh, she was so patient with me, even when I was incoherent. She was so gentle." Yua is quite wordy -- quite /theatric;/ it is through her constant performance that she's able to communicate, in this world.
"That isn't the only way a good bond can be, though," Yua says, looking back down to Shiryuu. "There's a man I work with, Watanabe-san, who isn't awake for the Dark Hour -- but his wife is. Ayawata protects him, even as he works overtime to try and improve things for his family... she works really hard to make his home welcoming, but she's the one who can fight, too. I don't think their marriage is any less than mine, you know? They really love each other a lot. Then there's Ton-Ton... he has to do awful things, but he does them to keep his family safe. I'd never question the strength of his family bonds, either."
(Man, Shiryuu could be getting /so much/ intel if only Yua didn't give so many people nicknames...)
"So I guess, if I really thought about it... an ideal bond means someone who you feel safe around, and who cares about you, and who you care about, and who you want to help, too! Someone you really want to see when they're not around... and who you think about when they're gone."
Yua tilts her head, tapping her pen to her cheek, as she smiles to Shiryuu. "Hey, hey, this wouldn't have anything to do with that masked woman, would it?" She asks him, a touch sly, before she giggles. "Don't worry! I won't ask too many questions. But tell her I'm sorry for scaring her, okay? I don't really remember what I did, but it must have been something." Yua sighs, her cheer dimming, for a moment, as she gnaws idly on the cap of her fountain pen. "Maybe when I attacked the back alleys out in Yumezaki... I scared a lot of normal people, then. They said it was a gas leak... moouuuuu."
Yua might be a terrorist, but she feels /really/ bad about it.
<Pose Tracker> Shiryuu Ryouhara has posed.
Luckily, Shiryuu is wise enough to avoid making miss teacher put an 'x' on him, and the dreaded situation is far, far in the past, let it never be brought up again by anyone who knows. Being gestured at is not Shiryuu's strong suite.
Shiryuu moves and communicates primarily with his hands, so the slow twist and turn of the glass in his hands subtly envisions the slope of his mood, a smooth mien carefully measuring out the tone of what Yua says. Caution and care cornerstone the notion, and the boy slowly leans back in his seat, trying absently to release the energy currently sparking in his shoulders. The glass is balanced against his belly at that point, letting the moisture on the glass now disappear into another rich press of wool. It's honestly getting used more as a stress ball than a refreshment.
"I will endeavor," Ryouhara thinks aloud, "to make sure you have access to snacks." He doesn't know much about it, but he's given enough blood for the shinobi that he knows sugar seems to help with having more of it. "I will also speak with Tsurugi."
He is probably going to fight her.
His eyes flick down to the notebook as Yua draws, laying out the linework with precision, like she's done it a million times before. He seems genuinely pleased when she repeats the kanji's different readings, his eyes brightening. "Oho," Ryouhara recognizes, slyly. "Filial piety is truly a commendable virtue. You should be proud."
Ijuuin Hiroki. Ijuuin Ooshiro, he reflects. The future is something that must be protected.
But then there are the hopes and dreams of today. Shiryuu is mostly quiet as Yua tells him the tale. Of course, his eyes seem surprised, at the idea of a dead frog in her bag, or the resultant consequence thereof -- the injustice makes his hand itch, and it shows. But the boy is clearly drifting off into another train of thoughts entirely as she describes the contours of their history, the secrets of her coworkers, and ...
Well, needless to say, Shiryuu is a good listener -- and will be able to recall most of this conversation with clarity, word for word. There are certain parts that his attention settles on, more than most, his mouth shaping the words silently, for some. But none moreso than the start, the idea and words that built upon it all, enough on their own to cause his voice to fade against the shape of them.
"Tied together by fate," he wonders, quietly..
Finally, as if suddenly very, very self-conscious, the boy drinks, lifting the glass to his lips primly and taking a moment to gather himself, a moment to let his throat relax around the cool feeling. The glass is finally given reprieve, set down so that Shiryuu can ask the next question.
"And that Kimitake isn't interfering," he asks, as if it would be a problem if he was.
"Treating you with kindness," the boy continues a second later, as if a secondary thought. 'Treating you well' is something different, the way a normal person would ask. But Shiryuu is not normal, as he is asking about 'bonds.' If Kimitake is kind but doesn't understand, it would be just as regrettable a crime.
His hands flex, fingers interlocking to stretch themselves out, to relax his nerves.
"Aa!?" Th, the masked woman?? Shiryuu had forgotten -entirely- that they were both there, having fully compartmentalized 'his actions' with 'her presence' and 'her presence' as something entirely separated. "Iih--" he looks down, eyes darting to Tiger for help. Then off to the side, looking for Eiko. Then to the ceiling. Fingertips that were in the process of relaxing themselves now lock in place at his lap, as Shiryuu clearly has a minor seizure. A sudden, sharp, hostile puff of air from pursed lips.
A second, and he successfully avoids disaster.
"I just ..." Shiryuu starts quietly, then thinks better of it. "I think..." that sounds better, "... there is a way for things to fit together. For pieces, for spirits, for kami, for people. A 'bond' unites them. An understanding between people. And when everything is solved, there won't be any more 'space' for people to be lonely in. That's 'synthesis.'"
The boy breathes out again, keeping that minimal distance, closing his eyes. "I don't think that person, at least, is the type that scares easily. Perhaps. If the 'bond' is correct, then... it should be fine if you have to do things that are regrettable.. right? ... someone can be forgiven for that much, I hope."
He breathes, once last.
"That is the unfortunate part of our lots in life."
He should really go, before things become more complicated..
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Be kind to Tsurugi, all right?" Yua asks, her smile growing a touch strained. "I know she was harsh with you, but... I think she can't forget the way you and I met. And... she's someone who is compelled to keep me safe, so..." She looks down, sadness crossing over her face. "... it's why I don't always feel good asking her for help when it's a fight," she admits, a touch ashamed. "She... doesn't really have a choice. I really worry about her, since it's hard for me to look out for her when I'm addled, too... oh, but that's a secret, too."
She /is/ quite proud, though, when Shiryuu praises her filial piety. "Thank you!! I know that on the mainland, you join someone else's house and leave your family behind, but... that's not how we do it back home, you know? So... I wanted to connect my family to them, somehow."
Yua shakes her head, though, when Shiryuu asks about Kimitake. "Oh, no! This is... an arrangement that helps both of us, you know? Um, this is a super-double /mega/ secret," and one might ask why Yua's sharing so many with Shiryuu, but... she worries about what he might think he has to do if he doesn't have /enough/ information. "But he's like me, you know...? His wife left him because he wasn't very affectionate, and he didn't really want to do that kind of thing with another woman... so Father realised that we could solve each other's problems?" The head of the clan, that is, Takashi Ijuuin. Of course, she addresses him as otou-/sama,/ unlike addressing her beloved dad.
"Um, Kimi-san needs someone to act like his wife so that he can go to parties and have people over for dinner and stuff, you know, for his work... and he's asked me to bear him children, too, since his wife took his daughters with her, b-but we can use IVF for that, too, so I don't have to, um, /do anything/ with him." Yua's still a little intimidated by that idea, though, clearly; and perhaps it's no surprise, given how hard /this/ pregnancy apparently is on her. "But that means he's willing to pretend like Hiroki is mine and his, too, so he'll have a father... and marrying him meant that I could join Mimi's family, too. And he really is very kind!" She insists, a touch more firmly. (She's convincing Shiryuu, surely.) "I mean -- you know how the Ijuuins are all super-imposing and stuff...? He's always been very considerate about not scaring me with that... he's very thoughtful. He helped me figure out how to talk about what happened to me, and he isn't trying to replace Mimi's home with his or anything! He even prayed with me at Alaya Shrine, when I got really scared about how we lied to Mimi's Gods... so we could tell them it was all a trick."
She's saying a lot of words about him, isn't she?
She notices when Shiryuu has more /sounds/ than words about the Masked Woman, though. And she tilts her head, thoughtfully, when he talks about people fitting together. "Hmm... I think that's really nice," she decides, with a sparkling smile. "I like the idea of understanding Mimi so much I'm not lonely any more."
And Yua looks away, in turn, pen tapping at that cursed ring on her finger. "If it's a good bond, y... mm, someone would definitely be forgiven!" It took her a minute to catch on, but she got there. "It's not like I have a choice, right...? So she'd surely understand." A light pause, and Yua shakes her head. "... I won't try and find out who she is, though. If she's someone angry with me, it would be pretty inconvenient if I knew, right? Since there are people who might make me tell them, and if they made me fight her, it's not like you could protect us both very easily."
Yua... at least sounds pretty understanding.
<Pose Tracker> Shiryuu Ryouhara has posed.
The onmitsu is forced to think back on it, when it's brought up. The nature of their first meeting, in what was not so long ago yet feels like an entire age. Shiryuu still bridles at the order of Rokuro, not for its content, but for the presumption that the onmitsu contractor _could_ be ordered so easily.
He had at the time considered killing him if he deigned him to give him a second. Luckily, their relationship was not so, with the shihaisha's distance from their mutual contacts.
Even so. It was easy to write Yua off then. Some random name. Some random target. It didn't matter, when it wasn't killing. Anything but a killing would be fine. Would be forgivable, for a boy...
The thought of blood staining the dirt flickers somewhere in the back of his mind, not so long ago.
Now, it seemed too much, too cruel, not real synthesis. There was a certain horror in her that the Order seemed to enjoy. She wouldn't be the only one whose terror they hungered for.
The thought plays out absently in Shiryuu's mind, separating his hands to rest at his knees, stable and calm and pensive. "....Aa," he finally replies, to her request. He'll be kind, perhaps, when she hints that that woman is not entirely of her own will. Isn't that like all of them? But then, a notion.
A thought of Kurou, too young to choose.
She, too young to choose.
Shiryuu's mouth sets in a firm, hard line.
"I'll take care of it." Shiryuu replies, though his mind settles on the word addled. He doesn't need to think very hard to recall the almost frenetic pace of her words and declarations during that battle. He doesn't pretend to understand, dipping his head once and not raising it for some time, pensive aggainst the thought.
The idea of the Ijuuin patriarchy comes into play, and things are much simpler.
"I gathered," Shiryuu replies, levering his voice to sound milder than he feels. It's not difficult for someone on both sides of the coin to understand the difference between a marriage and a production, which is likely why Shiryuu felt very little guilt about replacing some of the kannushi at the event with his shinobi, and himself. But..
Shiryuu is not too slow to catch some of the other implications. It's a natural thing, however, and it seems secondary compared to the problems faced today, the thing that spurs her to pre-emptively assure him that nothing at all untoward is going on. It would be a simple thing to believe it -- after all, how many clans in Japan struggled in the same fashion? She all but apologizes in advance.
Shiryuu glances at the notebook, the rows of matching kanji. He glances far longer than he really should.
"Well.. I'm glad he is kind to you," Ryouhara assures her that he believes her implicitly. "You are a thrice-blessed person." He flashes a very unusual expression: a thin, neat, gentle smile.
Slowly, Ryouhara stands to his feet -- he's not actually wearing shoes, so the movement is more organic than one would initially square.
"As for that understanding, I can only hope that everyone shares it," Shiryuu says. "Achieving synthesis is important in life, I think." It's a mild way of talking about something that the boy personally believes in harder than anything else, but what would be the point of really telling ... anyone at all, really? Now, this moment? There are other things to consider. "..but.."
"...Ijuuin-san," he starts.
"If there is a situation that arises that discomforts you, please rely on my strength as shihaisha. Even if it only feels somewhat strange. Even if it's a secret. Even if it's something that will endanger 'your bond' to know. This is the sacred nature of the shinobi, to know and do things that others cannot in the dark. That is the meaning of the word 'miracle.'"
The boy flicks -- sharply -- the grey out of his eyes abruptly, building back brick by brick the cloak of imperiousness in his words. It's only the smallest of concessions that -- his hair lands right back in his face again, forcing a sigh from the boy as he pushes the entire mess back over his head.
He relents, the smallest bit. "....thank you for your discretion."
Only when it's couched in multiple meanings will Shiryuu say literally anything of the masked woman to anyone at all.
"I understand how hard it is to go out of your way to speak with me like this," he finally says. "And I wouldn't expect you to try and summon our family's power directly. From this place, throw a note with a wish into the wind at first light on a sixth day. I will hear it."
The boy with the grey hair gives the smallest of bows.
"I'll be on my way now."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Thank you," Yua smiles, when Shiryuu assures her he'll take care of the meeting with Redi. "I'm trusting you, okay?"
... how does a woman like this trust so easily, when her horror feeds the same machine that feeds on this city? How is she so -- /positive/ in the face of an arrangement which clearly cares nothing for her desires? How can she still smile like that...?
Maybe this is what it means when they talk about a woman's secrets.
Yua's own smile brightens, when Shiryuu believes her. When she smiles! He actually can smile!! "Mmhm, mmhm!" She hums, happily, with a cheerful nod. (Does she understand why his attention falls to the names...? Surely that's just because 'Hiroki' is clever!)
She sighs, gripped by romance for a moment. "I would like to be able to achieve something like that," she agrees, softly. "I'm never lonely when I'm with Mimi... it would be really nice if being with Mimi meant I never felt alone." It's a nice thought, isn't it...? Yua decides she's quite fond of his synthesis, then.
She tilts her head, though, as he calls her attention to him again. "...?" She hums, but just slightly, as her eye considers him. "Oh," Yua smiles, when he's done. "That's right... you're really looking out for me, aren't you? Thank you, shihaisha," and this time, she actually addresses him properly; maybe she can hear the way he's trying to put himself back together, again.
"You're welcome!" She chirps, in turn, when he thanks her /discretion./ "Actually, I'm really happy you trusted me enough to ask!"
She looks up at him, tilting her head a little, with a slight note of confusion. Wasn't it harder for him...? "Eeeeh... um... w-wait," that's not the thing that startles her, though, "by the solar calendar or the lunar calendar?!"
Who uses the lunar calendar?!
(Okinawans use the lunar calendar.)
"Thank you for coming by, really," Yua smiles, to him. "I'm happy for the company. But -- oh!" Yua starts to rise -- thinks better of it, and raises her voice a little, instead. "Eiko-san?" And at once, the woman appears. "Can you please grab my spare key-card for Shishi?" Shiryuu -- Shihaisha -- YUA!!!
"Of course," Eiko nods, and shortly thereafter returns with a magnetised card, which she hands to him. (Without, one notes, necessitating he touch her hand.)
"Please let me make the trip down a little easier for you," Yua asks, of him, smiling again. "I know you can climb, but I'll worry about you, you know?"
Yua's pretty effortless at making these kinds of things into favours the people she's beseeching can do to help /her./
When he's taken his leave, and Eiko's helping Yua to stand, the maid looks to her queen with a touch of bafflement. "Was that... a traditional ninja?"
"Mmhm! He's their boss!" Yua chirps, brightly. "We got off on the wrong foot, but he's really a nice guy! He does things his way, though... sorry it startled you." Yua giggles, as she admits: "It startled me, too! What will Mimi think!"
"Heaven only knows," Eiko supposes, with her own thoughts as to what Miho would /think/ about their back door being accessible.
... if Shiryuu keeps an eye on the building a little longer, he'll see her safely heading off with her mysteriously-competent chauffeur to school in order to run her classes in the afternoon.
The nice thing about Yua is that her schedule is /remarkably/ consistent.