2026-03-17: Back Where They Belong
- Log: Back Where They Belong
- Cast: Kazusa Motojima, Moriko Kumamoto, Fuuka Yamagishi
- Where: Kazusa's Studio, Electric Town, Akihabara, Tokyo
- OOC Date: March 17, 2026
- IC Date: Thursday, October 11, 2012 (Late Afternoon)
- Summary: Kazusa has retreated to her studio to study for midterms. Moriko and Fuuka come looking for her to check up on her, and Fuuka has a precious item to return, as well. Kazusa invites them in and they get to talking.
(|=========================== Electric Town - Main ===========================|)
-========================================================= Tokyo/Akihabara ====-
A sacred place for otaku, not just within Japan but worldwide. Here, it's so
mainstream to be a geek that it circles back to being cool again. That is,
unless you harass the staff of the businesses here whose job requires them to be
a part of this culture, or the cosplayers who work so hard at their costumes
that it's practically a second job for them.
Arcades and gaming shops alternate with manga stores full of merch that's so
pricy as to make any broke fan envious. Collectors line the streets for the
chance to trade for the rarest gachapon finds. Maid cafes and popups with menus
designed to profit off the latest hits in the weekly manga collabs and/or old
favorites from two decades ago cater equally to tourists and locals alike.
Anywhere on earth may be a heaven or hell depending on who you are, but that may
be truer than most places for Akihabara.
AS: Kazusa Motojima has readied for combat as Mina Harker! She is now fully healed! AS: That attack doesn't seem to match one on your list. AS: Persona! Kazusa Motojima has used the Dark skill Holy Eiha on Kazusa Motojima! AS: Avoid Worst! Kazusa Motojima takes 64 Dark damage from Kazusa Motojima's Holy Eiha. Resist! AS: Persona! Kazusa Motojima has used the Dark skill Holy Eiha on Kazusa Motojima! AS: Avoid Worst! Kazusa Motojima takes 59 Dark damage from Kazusa Motojima's Holy Eiha. Resist! AS: Bind (Magic and Avoid Penalized!) added! Tae Takemi goes home. Tae Takemi has left for Historia: The White Chronicle.
AS: Persona! Kazusa Motojima has used the Light skill Unholy Kouha on Kazusa Motojima! AS: Avoid Neutral! Kazusa Motojima takes 73 Light damage from Kazusa Motojima's Unholy Kouha. Weak! AS: Haze (Physical and Block Penalized!) added! Bind removed! Explosion! 113 damage! AS: Kazusa Motojima has readied for combat as Mina Harker! She is now fully healed! <Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
The last couple of days for Kazusa have been... rough. For a whole host of reasons. Not the least of which is the fact that it marked the end of a month-long imprisonment in a supernatural space followed immediately by the realization that her life was very much not how she left it.
And if finding out all the ways the Homunculus altered her life, Wakana taking a break from their friendship, and suffereing the panic of losing her studio weren't all enough...
It's crunch week for midterms. And that Homunculus did not study nearly enough.
... Well, not enough for Kazusa's tastes, at least.
Though... she only pressed the academics so hard to keep her father off of her back, and now... well, there's a part of her that very much does not want to do things just to please her father.
On the other hand, though, this is at least something in her life she can control without hurting anybody, and she desperately needs to feel some measure of control in her life right now.
And so, she needed to hit the books. And since there was no way in hell she wanted to be at home to do it... she'd retreated to her studio.
It's still in the same converted industrial warehouse, top floor, end of the hallway. There's some quiet music playing at a low volume, just barely audible through the door, so she's definitely there.
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
With the whine of a less.. powerful motorcycle engine, Moriko pulls into near the same parking spot she'd used last time. As usual, she uses any and all excuses to ride. Which means she's pulled a spare helmet for Fuuka. Who may or may not have death gripped the whole way out. Moriko absolutely did try to take it mostly easy for her sake though.
Midterms or not, the biker's usually good for studies. That don't involve being charming. Or understanding what she may or may not be doing by proxy.
So, with the kickstand down. She holds it steady for Fuuka, noting through the helmet, "Watch the pipe." And nodding towards the exhaust. Then with her off the bike, she sets the bike down on the peg and tucks the helmet under her arm. She's wearing her full on biker leathers and probably would have recommended denim bare minimum for Fuuka!
Working her arms, left then right, she heads to the door. After you know, giving her friend a chance to loosen up. Then, she uses the armored knuckle to bang on the door. Because she thinks it's funny before she gives the door itself a tug.
She opens her mouth to call something out. Stops short. It was probably a bit mean and instead corrects to, "Checkup."
This is not going to be more clear. Oh well.
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
Fuuka has been worried about Kazusa. It's difficult, losing that much time... and even worse, when that time was spent by something wearing her face. She's been meaning to check up on her, but the looming midterms means that Fuuka doesn't have as much free time as she'd like. It's only today that she's able to make time for it.
...She imagines it's probably better this way, anyway - she can only imagine she needs time on her own to settle back into her life.
Moriko, as it happens, is heading to visit her, too. It's better to go together, in that case - they might as well save on bus fare...
...Was her initial thought, but it turns out Moriko had something else in mind. Fuuka... has never ridden a motorcycle before. That's abundantly clear. She does, in fact, cling for dear life.
She survives the trip, though, and she dismounts, carefully removing the helmet. She does not have a full biker uniform - instead, as per Moriko's recommendation, she wore the overalls she usually wears when painting or working with machinery.
They have a cute floral pattern.
Moriko takes point, announcing herself with a 'checkup'. Is she not going to...? Fuuka pauses for a moment.
"Hello, Motojima-san... It's, um... Fuuka and Kumamoto-san." Fuuka announces. "Are you busy...? I, um... have something to return to you."
She has a bag with her, that she's been using to carefully transport a precious item.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
The door to Kazusa's particular loft is locked, but Moriko can definitely still knock on it. There's a startled noise from inside, and the faint shuffling of movement goes still for a moment, as Kazusa waits for... whoever it is to pass.
She's not expecting guests. Probably just some salesperson or something.
But then Fuuka adds her voice, and identifies thhem, and inside, Kzusa sighs. She doesn't respond, but after a moment the music odes cut out... and a moment later a very tired-seeming Kazusa answers the door.
This is not the confident Kazusa that snapped and antagonized a group of SEES students in Akiba, and it's not the blithely cheerful Kazusa that Mokoto met while the Homunculus was in charge, or the surly one that Fuuka first met in Paulownia.
This one seems tired, emotionally and physically, and a bit wary, and most of all confused to see the two sEES members at her door.
And she's wearing something decidedly different from her norm: an oversized plush bubblegum pink hoodie, dark purple leggings, she's wearing house slippers, and her hair is up in a loose bun with two pencils sticking through it.
And she's wearing a pair of glasses. (They're blue light glasses.)
There is a part of her that wants to snap that she just wants to be left alone, and she visibly struggles with that instinct for a moment. She doesn't, but it results in an extremely awkward silence for a moment.
Finally, looking between the two, she asks, "Can... I help you...?" She winces at herself. It still sounds a little bit dismissive and rude, but she didn't mean it to.
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
Unsurprisingly, Moriko is used to the death grip. She's now given a few SEES members rides. And it's not the heavier, deeper engine of a certain other person's bike. Muttermutter she still can't use it in the dark hour mutter.
"You okay?" She asks Fuuka while she waits at the door. Half tempted to knock again. The door was locked! The audacity (Not really.)
Moriko looks back when Fuuka seems quiet. Eyebrow raised, but she doesn't outright ask what's up. Maybe she's confused too.
There's no answer so she raises her hand just in time for the door the yank open. Which turns into a simple enough wave. "Hi." She says somewhat bluntly.
The hand drops to her side.
That awkward silence is met with a flat stare from Moriko, who feels that sometimes leaving someone to their thing is better.
Then it occurs to her that it's probably not the right call in this situation.
"Well we were hoping you'd sign our pe-" She catches herself before she gets the door shut in their face. "We were checking up on you."
She looks back to Fuuka, "Wanted to make sure you were okay."
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
"I-I'm alright." Fuuka assures. Definitely, completely fine. She's not the one shaking, it must be the world around them.
She looks back to the door. There's no response, but the music does stop. Did she hear them...? And then, after a moment, the door opens.
She looks different. Tired. Fuuka can't blame her. She knows what it's like, after her own experience. That response does cause Fuuka to flinch and briefly wonder if this was a good idea... and Moriko starting with a joke doesn't help.
"Kumamoto-san..." Fuuka comments with a frown - but she looks back, with a nod. "Yes. We were worried about you. I, um... know what it's like, to be away for so long."
She pauses for another moment. This is going to be awkward - especially not knowing how much Kazusa knows or remembers... but she steels herself, taking a breath, and reaches into her bag. This is something she has to do, even if it might be an awkward conversation.
She pulls out a sketchbook. It should be familiar, because it's Kazusa's own.
"I wanted to give this back to you. ...I'm sorry for taking it without asking. We needed to borrow it, but we couldn't ask 'you' for permission..." She apologises.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa is, honestly, trying to rein in some of her worst impulses. It's not easy. She gained a lot of clarity and perspective, but her time in the Atelier didn't actually... fix anything. She's still her. Just a her that wants to do better.
But when Moriko starts with the petition joke Kazusa straightens up a little and fixes a hard stare that says 'I am not in the mood' with all of the 'Demon Queen' energy she can muster.
Fuuka, meanwhile, gets there without a joke. Checking up on her. And... she knows what it's like. Kazusa stares at her for a moment, though this one is softened--it's more assessing and curious.
To see if she believes Fuuka.
... She kind of thinks she does.
"... I see." That statement is quiet, and a bit awkward. She's not really sure how to respond to that.
Kazusa's eyes, though, light up when she sees the sketchbook. She barely even waits for Fuuka to clarify that it's hers before she's reaching out to snatch it out of the other girl's hands to clutch it tight to her chest with a hug. "It's... fine. Kazuhiro-kun explained some of it. I'm... just happy to have it back."
Another moment as she looks between the two girls, and then she sighs. "Do either of you... want to come in...? Since you came all this way..." She scratches at her cheek a little. "I, um... wasn't really prepared for guests, but... if you'd like..."
She steps back to let them enter. There's a part near the door that's unfinished concrete, acting as an entry area, with the rest of the floor being finished. It's a long, skinny room. On the left are a closte, bathroom, and a kitchenette at the far end, with a table and chairs by the far wall. Kazusa's textbooks and study supplies seem to be spread out there.
Overhead is a skylight and exposed ducting and wirting conduits, and along the wall is another large window, framed in industrial steel. And directly to the right is Kazusa's workstation: a 3-sided desk with dual monitors in the middle, a large drawing tablet on the left, and a blank surface with a worklight on the right. And then, of course, two bookshelves filled to bursting with old sketchbooks, references, manga, anime, and games, and over that nook there's a loft with cardboard boxes piled in it.
Kazusa steps back. "Um... I don't have extra slippers, but if you wouldn't mind taking off your shoes..." There are an extra pair of slippers, but if either Moriko or Fuuka looks at them, Kazusa will just explain, "... those are Waka-chan's."
She moves to put the sketchbook at her desk.
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
Moriko says flatly, "You handed me a straight line and after that I thought it was a good video game joke." She shrugs. Oh well. She does glance back to Fuuka and holds her hands up, "I thought she'd played it." There's a pause. "Well it wasn't in the collection, but-" She shrugs again.
She rocks back on her heels to let Fuuka take point at first at least. Keeping remarkably quiet. Or not so. She is a quiet sort a lot.
Moriko's mouth opens when Fuuka suggests giving the item back and not asking the other her for permission. Then she stops. Then she offers to Kazusa, "I deleted the image." Without explaining which.
The snatch is met with a raised eyebrow!
The offer in is met with a, "If you're up for it." Which is probably the first thing she's said that isn't mistakable for antagonism. Oh well.
"Just don't do what Masamune does and torch the old ones." She suggests. Which is, you know. Another attempt of reaching out one geek to another.
Moriko's fine kicking off her boots. Even if it takes a moment to do so. Side zip and tight fitted for various reasons. They're set there and she's wearing a pair of fox ear socks. Complete with the color pattern. Because of course she is. Though it might not be the most obvious without the obvious connection to her persona. And her pants.
The boots are stacked neatly after, then she bounces from foot to foot briefly before settling in. The jacket gets left behind as well. Turns out she went with a simple green blouse under.
Moriko follows along though, taking a moment to browse the games. Clearly the curious sort. Definitely not all forgetting she should probably ask.
This probably isn't a surprise
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
Fuuka flinches, and she's not even the one that Look is being directed at. She looks toward Moriko as she explains herself. ...Well, as long as she was just trying to defuse the tension a little...
She looks back to Kazusa, then - who in response to her explanation, stares at her. Fuuka looks back, watching her, trying to get an understanding of what she might be thinking. She says 'I see', and that hangs in the air for a moment - until Fuuka produces the notebook and Kazusa takes it from her hands fast enough that she lets out a noise of surprise. She doesn't resist, though.
"I'm... glad it's back where it belongs." She replies, then looks toward Moriko. She does get that one, as it happens. "Yes..."
Kazusa invites them in, then, and Fuuka looks briefly toward Moriko as she accepts the invitation.
"Thank you." Fuuka accepts as well, offering Kazusa a polite bow before, as requested, carefully slipping off her shoes. Her eyes do stray, briefly, to the extra pair of slippers.
"I see..." She murmurs. "...How is she?"
She's unaware of what's transpired between them.
She follows Kazusa inside, her hands clasped in front of her. She looks briefly around, taking note of everything. It looks much like how she saw it before - though now her eyes stray toward the study materials specifically before looking back toward Kazusa herself.
"And... how are you? Have you... been settling back into things alright?" She asks, and adds after a moment, "...If you don't mind my asking..."
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa gives Moriko a flat stare. "... I'm not really in the mood, and I have midterms to study for. So..." 'Get on with it.' She lets out a sigh, pressing the palm of her hand to her forehead. "Just... sorry. I'm a bit stressed."
She blinks at Moriko for a moment. "The..." And then she stiffens, as recollection hits. "Oh. Good. Thanks." She glances away a little. "... please tell me you didn't share it..."
Kazusa huffs a little at the comment about torching them. "I'm sure my father would love to do that for me," she mutters darkly. Stop, breathe, try to... process that another time.
Kazusa doesn't comment on the socks. Handily, there is a coat rack by the door for Moriko to hang up her jacket.
It is back where it belongs. "Yes." Kazusa is silent for a moment. "And... thank you. For keeping it safe." She can't quiiite look at Fuuka and Moriko as she says that, but she's still trying.
aaShe does, at least, return Fuuka's bow.
Kazus tenses, when Fuuka asks about Wakana, and this time she turns away, covering it by moving towards the kitchenette. "She's... fine, I guess. Just... we're both still processing what happened."
Sort of technically a true statement, but leving out a lot of important context.
There's a half-full canned coffee on the table with her study materials. Kazusa, though, goes for the fridge. "Do either of you want something to drink? Or... eat? I've got some stuff stashed away... most of it's not perishable, so... it should still be good."
Kazusa leans against the counter as Fuuka asks how she's settling in. "I... I don't know. Nothing's really gone back to how it was--" including her relationship with Wakana "--and I'm just... trying to figure out what happened when I was gone. I remember everything that Homunculus did, but... I'm still piecing some of it together."
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
The biker seems less phased about it than Fuuka at the very least. Moriko instead just puts her hands up again. "Easy. I figured you'd have appreciated someone else being in similar hobbies. Lesson learned." There's a flat tone to that.
A glance back to Fuuka as she seems to get it and she murmurs, "Well at least someone got it." With a wry look on her face.
Settling back on her heels, she looks between the two. She might have missed a few steps there, but that can be a later problem.
"I kind of had to so that I could get others trying to help." She admits. Then she gets a bit of a pout as she stands up straight, "It wasn't that bad a picture though."
She does not however, poke at the sore spot in the slightest one way or the other.
At the offer of a drink, she briefly considers saying no thanks, but makes a quick decision. "If you have tea?" She takes a moment to fish her satchel around so she can then she sets her own sketchbook on the table. She had a chance to dig through Kazusa's it's only fair. Maybe a peace offering of sorts.
Leaning against the counter opposite her. "I can't pretend to offer advice there. Clearly I'm not a people person without a script." Which is a joke about herself a bit. There's a thin smile, "If we can help let me know." She offers instead. "Really am trying to help and I did mean what I said. Creepy thing or not."
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
Fuuka meets Moriko's glance, offering her a slight nod to confirm that she did, in fact, get it. She can't blame Kazusa for not being in the mood right now. This time certainly would be stressful.
It takes her a moment to realise that picture Moriko is referring to and connect the dots. She politely elects not to comment on it - it seems that it would be better for it to be forgotten about.
The comment about her father, though... Fuuka frowns, but it's sympathetic.
"...That would be wrong of him." She replies, with a shake of her head. She nods politely back as Kazusa thanks her. And when she asks about Wakana...
"...I see." Fuuka replies quietly, looking away briefly. She can tell there's a lot left unsaid, from the way she can't look directly at her. It seems like things are complicated...
"Do you have water?" Fuuka asks, when she asks if they want anything. As Kazusa leans, Fuuka looks for somewhere to sit, or at least somewhere comfortable to lean.
She nods sympathetically, though, as Kazusa admits she doesn't know.
"...I understand." She murmurs. "It's difficult, isn't it? Feeling like you're suddenly out of step with everyone. Trying to piece together things you should know... to reconcile the time that was stolen from you."
She nods, though, as Moriko offers help.
"Yes... If we can, please let us know." She agrees.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
"Maybe you should lead with that. instead of referencing some video you don't know if I've seen or not." That's a little sharper than Kauzsa meant to say it, and she grits her teeth a little as she presses the palm of her hand to her forehead again. "... you know what, don't listen to me. I clearly don't know when to shut up."
She does give Moriko a long, hard look... and then she nods, as the otehr girl explains it was to get some help. Kazusa looks away, crossing her arms. "... not even my style," she says, quietly.
"I think I've got some iced tea," Kazusa says, opening the fridge. She pulls out a bottle. "I don't... really like making tea for other people." How specific.
Kazusa pauses, when Fuuka says it would be wrong of her father to burn her art. She can't help but replay the moment in her mind of the Homunculus giving up the key to the studio, the panic she'd felt upon returning, the relief of her brother having saved it, but the ongoing worry that next time her father might succeed.
She reaches out to grip the edge of the counter, leaning agianst it for support. Her breathing grows shaky, and she's struggling to get her emotions under control.
She might be trying not to cry. Kazusa closes her eyes, forcing herself to take a deep breath. "... he tried," she mutters, dark and anguihsed and angry.
She wipes her face with her sleeves. "Water. I can do that. Would you like ice?" Whichever way Fuuka answers, Kazusa gets a couple of glasses ready, and then quickly stacks up her textbooks and notebooks on the table to make some space. She sets out two more coasters and the drinks, and then shuffles the two wooden chairs at the table, normally on opposite sides, to be with the drinks.
And then she goes to her desk in the nook and wheels her high-end ergonomic desk chair over for her own seat. She slips into it and pulls her feet up, sitting cross-legged as she picks up her canned coffee again. "Sorryu, I... don't really entertain, so I don't exactly have... a lot of chairs."
Two chairs at the table to start. Enough for Kazusa and one other person. Like, say, Wakana.
She looks to Fuuka, and seems to be really listening as she talks., "... yeah. I... I know I can't go back to the way things were, but... I don't know..." She stares down at the can in her hands. "... I have to change. I just... have no idea what I'm doing."
There are offers to help. Kazusa doesn't look up, but she does say, "... having company helps. I don't think I should be alone right now."
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
Moriko tilts her head and says simply, "Let's start again." Then she breaks into a foxish grin and says, "Hello fellow nerd!" With more excitement than anyone in SEES has probably seen from her.
"I think it would have been cute if it was legit." She states. Still with a thin smile. She is probably sincere, but she is also probably teasing a bit.
As for stressful or not.. the biker clearly processes stress a bit strangely. Probably something to that.
"I wouldn't let him do it." She admits. "If you have to stash it if all else, we can keep it safe again." That's a bit more of her neutral tone at least. The photo is met with a wry look to Fuuka. That was deleted on her side too right?
Moriko watches Kazusa, thinking quietly before just asking, "I can make some if you'd like it." Walking around the counter like she's about to offer a reassuring hand. Then she hesitates. Oblivious as she is, Kazusa is prickly and may not appreciate it when she's... you know. Genuinely trying to help. In her own way.
She takes the offered chair for now, whether she helped out or not. Offering a polite, "Thanks." and a wave of her hand.
Watching Kazusa try to work her feelings out, she says, "I don't think most of us do." Suggesting that much like everything else tonight's pointed to. She rides by the seat of her pants.
"How about-" she starts. Thinking for a moment. She looks to Fuuka, then Kazusa. "How about I go grab some stuff, then come back and all three of us can study and get ready." Which is, stay the night possibly. Or at the very least, linger a while.
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
Fuuka looks between Kazusa and Moriko. ...She elects not to say anything and stay out of that. That's between them.
"I'm sorry..." Fuuka apologises, as Kazusa says he tried. She can see how the memory hurts to recall. She meets Moriko's look, and confirms with a nod. She takes these things very seriously.
"Yes, please." She replies, to the question of ice.
Two chairs at the table... Fuuka moves to take a seat, but she shakes her head.
"It's alright." She assures.
It doesn't escape her notice, the way Kazusa watches her. It seems her assessment was right, that that's something they both share.
She listens to Kazusa, then Moriko, and nods.
"...Yes." Fuuka agrees. "We're all trying to figure things out, I think."
She looks back to Kazusa.
"It's going to be gradual. Sometimes it might not feel like you're moving anywhere, or going backwards... but as long as you want to change, I believe you can." Fuuka offers. "...But I'm afraid you're the only one who can decide what that looks like for you."
What she can do, however, is help keep her company, in this time where she shouldn't be alone.
"That's a good idea." Fuuka agrees, as Moriko suggests they study together. She looks toward Kazusa. "Is that alright with you?"
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
"I'm not a--!" Is Kazusa's immediate knee-jerk reaction. She bites that off and pinches the bridge of her nose after taking the glasses off. "Sorry, sorry." She at least has the decency to sound tense and stressed as she apologizes. "I'm just not... used to people knowing about my hobbies.
"... another thing I'm still getting used to."
Kazusa rolls her eyes. "Please. I'm not that preppy," is all she'll say about Kazunuclus' style.
Moriko says they could stash it all, and Kazusa looks at her dubiously before looking over the nook where the majority of her stuff is stored. "... you'd have to find a place for all of that." She shakes her head. "If it came down to it... baa-chan and jii-chan would probably help."
She addresses her grandparents way less formally than she does her parents.
Kazusa clarifies. "He made that other me give up the key to the studio. If it hadn't been for Kazuhiro-kun..." It was Kazuhiro who had the keys to get everyone into the studio, wasn't it?
Moriko offers to help, though, and Kazusa just shrugs a little. "If yuou want. The kettle should be in the upper left cabinet. There's tea in there, too." There's an electric kettle in there, and also a few boxes of some actually quite nice varieties of tea, along with some tea cups. So it would seemshe does make tea--or at least, someone does.
But everyone's trying to figure things out, reassure both Fuuka and Moriko. Kazusa is silent for a moment, and then looks to Fuuka. "How did... you cope. After, I jmean. If you don't mind me asking." If Fuuka went through something similar, she's the only person Kazusa is aware of that she can ask for advice on their specific trauma. Slow, and gradual, and not obvious. But she has to figure out what it looks like for herself. "... I see. Well, thanks."
She nods to Moriko about the thanks. But at the offer... she taps her thumbs on the rim of her can, which is in her lap. Fuuka is willing to stay as well, and Kazusa considers. She's hesitating, even though she just admitted she probably shouldn't be alone. "... yeah, alright. Um. Depending on what you want..." Kazusa takes a deep breath, trying to bring everything to mind. "There's some vending machines down the hall, on the other side of the building. If you go down to the corner north of here there's an okay konibi. A few minutes away there's a nicer one. And there's... everything over in Electric Town, if you want to deal with the crowds. So... if you've got something more specific, I can tell you where to find it."
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
Moriko glances to Fuuka briefly, "What?" Finally asking it. She might be aware of it, she might not be...
Moriko herself though, does not know about the shared connection between the other two. She probably has enough in common with Kazusa on the nerd front though.
"I have to kind of just wing it." She admits. "Helping mom out, keeping an eye on my brother and making sure nothing catches fire back home." Maybe literally.
She quiets up as Fuuka kind of leans into it though. She settles down for now. Focusing on the tea instead. She's precise about heats and times. A close look might catch that she's tapping her foot to a certain time.
It's bike related.
"I do the same thing with the card games I play with my brother when he's not around." She says simply to Kazusa's outburst. "It's why I put my own sketchbook down for you."
Moriko does give Kazusa. That grin slowly returning. She beckons with a finger and looks to Fuuka, "Let's get the correct one then." Yes it's teasing. Yes she's sincere. It can be both things.
"If you don't mind sending it to Osaka we have a great big storage room if all else." She glances to Kazusa, "And it would just join the stack of my own stuff growing in my dorm room if all else."
She does listen to the concern though.
"Do you like your tea straight, or with a bit of honey?" There's a pause. "If you have any."
"I saw that hotplate. Get it down. I'm going to go get-" She frowns. "I'm going to go get things. Vending machines only is no way to live." She looks back to Kazusa, "Any preferences?" She taps her foot, "A pot, some noodles, some ingredients. Could start it working soon enough."
She shifts one foot to the other, "And... I'll stay as long as you need someone."
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
Not used to people knowing about her hobbies... That's something Fuuka can sympathise with, too.
Kazuhiro-kun... Fuuka nods. That makes sense... she remembers that.
"I see... I'm glad he was there to help." Fuuka comments. She hears the way she refers to her grandparents - and from what they saw in her Atelier, she can understand why.
Fuuka meets Moriko's look as she offers that sincere teasing, but follows it up with offering to help Kazusa store her stuff.
That's a really generous offer...
Kazusa asks how she coped. Fuuka thinks back for a moment, a pensive expression crossing her face.
"For a while... I didn't." Fuuka admits. "I could barely leave my room. I was still reeling from everything, trying to understand what happened what I was gone."
She shakes her head.
"But I found people who were willing to support and help me through it, and a place I felt I belonged... It didn't... fix everything. I'll never get that time back... but it made it easier to find my own feet again." Fuuka says. "I still think about what I went through even now, but it doesn't control me like it used to."
She listens as Kazusa offers directions to Moriko. It's a good sign that she can still recall that much, Fuuka thinks.
Moriko, meanwhile, listens a few things out. Fuuka looks her way in surprise. She didn't know she could cook... Frankly, it's impressive.
It's still a disaster anytime anyone lets her near a kitchen...
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
aaKazusa looks at the sketchbook again, frowning a little. "I'll... look at that in a bit, if you want," she offers quietly.
"I think I'm out of honey. Haven't exactly had a chance to go shopping, so... I'll take it straight," she says of the tea.
She snorts at the offer, but its a bit softer than it might otherwise be. "I'm not sending my stuff to Osaka. Baa-chan and jii-chan live in Tokyo. God, that'd be such a huge pain."
She just kind of stares at Moriko at pots, noodles, and vegetables. "Wait, you're going to like, cook?" She presses the palm of her hand to her forehead again. "... yeah, okay, I'll get the hotplate set up but... you need to take the leftovers with you. I'm not keeping perishables here to look after."
She's got a fridge, but... she's also not here every day.
"Yeah, me too," Kazusa says of KAzuhiro. "He also saved my game console, though... it's a bit more difficult to hook up, now." There's a new cardboard box up in the loft--and it might be recognizeable as the one Kazuhiro brought in with them when they came to the studio before.
Fuuka didn't cope for a while, and Kazusa watches her for a moment, seeming to really take it in now. She needed people to support her, and nothing got fixed overnight... and she's still thinking about it. Kazusa watches Fuuka, then looks down at her lap again, thumbs pressing against the edge of the cannoed coffee she keeps forgettig to finish.
"... I think if I didn't have midterms to focus on I'd be going crazy."
Kazusa sighs and gets up, setting her can on the table. "Hey, um... thanks for the company. I appreciate it." After a moment she gives them both a bow. "The least I can do is buy dinner, even if you're cooking, so... why don't I go get changed to go out and we can all go shopping together? There's a few things I want to pick up, too..."
Like some extra guest slippers to keep by the door, for a start.