2026-03-25: Overdue Returns
- Log: Overdue Returns
- Cast: Rain Summers, Kazusa Motojima
- Where: Aloha Video, Shibuya Central Street
- OOC Date: March 25, 2026
- IC Date: October 15, 2012
- Summary: Kazusa takes care of some errands that the other her left.
<Pose Tracker> Rain Summers has posed.
Another afternoon, another lull at the good old Aloha Video. While any business owner dreads days of slow business, Rain Summers supposed there was a bright side to it. It was getting close to exams and all her part-timers were in school, so they were all busy studying, or in Ayame's case, being forced to study by Natsumi. So slow days meant that things were a lot more manageable when Rain was manning the counter by herself.
And it also meant that Rain could get a bit of light reading in. After the incident at the art gallery in Aoba, Rain had gotten a quick physical, and despite her (and the rest of the gallery's) momentary unconsciousness, she had been given a clean bill of health. But for some reason, something still bothered her about the incident. The name "Nyarlathotep" kept ringing in her mind.
Lovecraft, right?
So she had taken out a copy of 'Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft' from the library, a worn-out and dog-eared paperback that had the texture that only a library book had, and was flipping through it as she leaned against the counter. She supposed this kind of stuff had always been a horror blind spot anyway.
"I am the last... I will tell the audient void... Geez, this guy sure liked his thesaurus."
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa was not at that art gallery show. She hasn't had any encounters with the supernatural, in fact, not counting a month-long encounter trapped in a Cocoon in an Atelier... (Okay, there was that time she met a ghost, except that definitely wasn't a ghost because she had no concept of the supernatural being real at the time and is still in denial about the experience. It's fine.)
And ever since getting back from that supernatural space she's been tirelessly throwing herself into her studies. (She is, in fact, very very tired right now... pushing herself to study isn't doing much for her recovery.)
She wouldn't even be here, but... due dates are due dates, and when she finally found the rented videos she realized she needed to deal with them.
Rain may or may not remember Kazusa as a cheerful girl who was, let's say, a little absent-minded and maybe not completely socially aware. She had long, straight black hair, a pink headband, purple eyes, and a Shujin uniform. Now, however, the headband is gone, and her expression is a lot more sharp and focused. (She has, instead, several silver wristbands on each wrist, and nail polish in a pink ombre--more sharp and put together than her previous self.)
And though her demeanor is completely different, the way she's glancing around the store suggests someone who's just coming in for the first time.
But that doesn't last too long as she approaches the counter and clears her throat. "Excuse me, miss." She takes a stack of romance movies from her backpack and sets them on the counter, handling them like she wanted to touch them as little as possible. "I need to... return these."
For someone who rented these movies out she sure seems a little put off by them. Weird.
<Pose Tracker> Rain Summers has posed.
Rain closes her book and puts it aside as the bell on the door rings, standing up straight with a smile and a wave.
"Aloha~! Welcome in!"
Looking the girl up and down, Rain does in fact faintly recall seeing her before. Another "advantage" of slow business is you got to know all your customers.
~~Faces in the crowd won't help you.~~
Quiet, you. The intrusive thoughts had become a bit louder since the incident, as well. Just stress, though. It's just stress.
"Ah, of course! Let's see what we've got here... 'Tokimeki Panic,' 'My Boyfriend the CEO,' 'How To Get Married In Two Weeks,' 'High School Crush...' Someone was in a certain mood~ These have been out for a good bit, too..."
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa has no idea about Rain's 'intrusive thoughts'--but she's certainly got more than enough stress of her own to contend with. Moreso now than before, even.
As if she needed more stress in her life.
Rain actually names all of the videos, and if there's a bit of color to Kazusa's cheeks that's certainly only because of the weather, or something.
'Someone was in a certain mood~'
Oh there's that throbbing vein. "Skip the commentary," she snaps. "I didn't ask for your opinion."
Dammit, that's the Demon Queen talking. She should take that back, think of something else to say. ... Ugh, but she's so tired...
Out for a good bit. Of course that stupid Homunculus kept them as long as possible. "I only saw-- remembered these yesterday. I'll pay any late fee."
<Pose Tracker> Rain Summers has posed.
"I'm not judging, I'm not judging. I completely get it, y'know?"
The American chuckles as she scans in the movies, placing them in the To-Do Stack, the stack of cases she could very easily put away at any time, and in fact has had the time to put away, but that she does not particularly want to put away. Closing Time Rain will thank her.
"Let's see here... it'll be 2000 yen for the fees. Make it 1500, seems like you've been through a bit of somethin'."
And Rain wondered why she was struggling. She was way too nice on this.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Rain claims to get it. Kazusa arches an eyebrow. "Do you?" Kazusa doesn't even get why that other her wanted to watch these. Or why she kept them so long. Or...
No, stop thinking about that.
The to-do stack will be Closing Rain's problem. Kazusa is just glancing around the store a little as she takes in the layout. But then the fee. "Fine." She pulls out 2000 yen and puts it on the counter. "I can afford the fees. And you shouldn't undercharge for your services."
Look, she's the daughter of a CFO for a major corporation. She has some idea of how businesses are supposes to operate.
<Pose Tracker> Rain Summers has posed.
Rain may be a world-weary 33, but she was a young girl in love once, too, in the far-off past of the 1990s. "Fine, fine, not my place to pry."
She sighs as she takes the money off the counter, dropping it into the till as she brushes her green bangs out of her eye, the only green part of her otherwise purple hair. "Heh, one of my guys keeps telling me that, too. Sometimes I wonder if I got too much of a heart for small business ownership, haha!"
~~That's why you let the landlord walk all over you.~~
The hand brushing her hair stops at her temple as Rain squeezes her eyes shut for a second. "Anyway, was that all you came for, or did ya wanna look around a bit?"
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa definitely isn't in love, and all of those movies she returned just... they distress her for some reason she can't name. Wakana would like them-- so why can't she?
Unaware of the inner (intrusive) thoughts of Rain, Kazusa nods. "Sounds like he's right." Kazusa checks her nails as Rain rings the transaction through. "... you should probably think about diversifying your income streams, too, with the growth of digital services."
She says it so brusquely and off-handedly, and yet...
Was that all. "Yes. I need to..." Kazusa glances around for a moment. She doesn't have time for this, she needs to go keep studying. But... she's already here, right? So it's not that much of an extra imposition on her time, right?
"... you know what, maybe I'll have a look." She starts to meander through the aisles... but she's definitely avoiding the romance section. Conspicuously so.
She might be looking for something in particular, though.
<Pose Tracker> Rain Summers has posed.
"Whoof, sounds like you know your stuff. Might have to hire you as a consultant!" As Kazusa walks the racks, Rain decides to finally address The Stack, picking a few cases up and wandering out to slip them back with their brethren.
"Lemme know if you're lookin' for anything specific. It's a lot of American imports, but I got a fair bit of domestic as well."
The store isn't too big, so Rain is never out of Kazusa's view, especially with her head poking up over the top of the displays. What did they feed people in America...?
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa knows her stuff--it's hard not to, considering. "I don't have time for that." She considers that a moment. "... and I'm not really qualified," she adds, a bit less archly. "I just hear about things because of my family's business."
Why, Motojima is the same name as that major consumer electronics company, the Motojima Corporation. They have offices right here in Tokyo, even! It could just be a coincidence, though...
"I will," Kazusa says as she starts to wander. "... do the imported movies do well?" she asks, genuinely curious. Kazusa, herself, is 5'2", with a slender build, so she's quite a bit shorter than the average American.
If Rain is watching, Kazusa does stop to linger in the horror section.
<Pose Tracker> Rain Summers has posed.
"Family business... aha, I thought the name was familiar! You're one of THOSE Motojimas, aren't you? No wonder!"
She peeks her head out from the side of a rack. "They do pretty alright, mostly with the hardcore film buffs. I figure I could always expand my collection of Japanese movies, but... Oh! You find something?"
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
One of those Motojimas. Kazusa isn't looking in Rain's direction, but she sighs a little. "... yes. My father is the CFO. So naturally I hear things."
She'd much rather talk to her grandparents, though--they're way less concerned with profit margins and corporate dividends.
Kausa had picked up a DVD case featuring vampire imagery-- but when Rain asks if she found something she startles and quickly puts it back and moves on. "No, not really," she lies. "... That's a good demographic to have," she admits. "Niche, high-interest."
She comes to the end of a rack and is looking, frowning. Now that Rain's identified her family... she's leery of letting her real interests show.
... To be fair, she's leery of that anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Rain Summers has posed.
"Yeah, they're definitely my people, but it'd be nice to have a bit of a bigger clientele."
Rain sighs as she finishes returning the cases. It always seems like so much until you actually do it, doesn't it? Well, don't tell that to the basket full of laundry back home that needs to be folded.
"S'pose I'll manage, though. Ah, but here I am, talking business with a customer. You lookin' at the horror? That's my favorite section!"
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
More customers. "Of course." It's hard to argue with that, at least. "... charging what you're worth will help."
Kazusa's got all her laundry put away. She's got a different debt, though, one that's more of a... morality debt. At least, she thinks so.
"We can stop talking business." She'd actually prefer it. Why did she even get started on that anyway? Her shoulders tense when Rain names the horror section. "No," she says, a touch too quickly as she deliberately turns away from it. "... I was just looking to see if there was something my brother might like."
... Smooth, definitely smooth. There's no way she'll suspect the truth if your story is inconsistent. Though Rain declaring it her favorite gets an odd look from Kazusa, but only enough for a brief glance.
<Pose Tracker> Rain Summers has posed.
Rain makes her way over to the horror section next to Kazusa and looks over the rack. This section, more than any else, was basically Rain's own curated film collection. Only the best on this wall!
"Yeah? What kinda stuff does your brother like? Slasher, psychological, sci-fi, creature feature, elevated, maybe something more classic?"
She pulls out a case at each sub-genre listed, coming dangerously close to Critical Yap Mode.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa is trying to pretend to look at whatever the next section over, though she's still in a clear line of sight to Rain as the older woman comes over to pick through the subgenres.
And she can't fail to miss how Rain is picking up various movies, glancing out the corner of her eye before she looks forward again. "... I wouldn't know." She quickly picks up the first movie she spots and flips it over to read the back of the box--
And makes a face as she realizes she's in the Romance section and hurriedly puts it back.
Without looking at Rain, she mentions, "... he did mention something about being in the mood for something with vampires, though."
<Pose Tracker> Rain Summers has posed.
"Ah, vampires... well, nothing beats the original!" She pulls a case off the shelf with a painting of a vampire menacing a young woman. "The Terror of Dracula, from 1958. One of the classic Mallet Horror flicks. The guy who plays Dracula was in Galaxy Clash Part 2, if you remember that. One of my favorites."
After yapping, she glances at the case, then looks away. "Heh, I got myself tempted to take it home with me to watch myself."
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa is trying to find another section to look at--or at least pretend to look at--while still keeping Rain in view, and unfortunately it's just more romance. Ugh.
"The Terror of Dracula..." Kazusa takes a step closer. "... I don't think-- he's heard of that one." Kazusa it's obvious you're interested you're just torturing yourself at this point.
And then she's just there and holding out her hand for the box to look at it. "You said it was one of your favorites?"
<Pose Tracker> Rain Summers has posed.
Rain smiles and hands the case over to Kazusa. If it's obvious, Rain is definitely respecting her by pretending not to notice.
"Yeah, this was a pretty influential flick. First vampire movie shot in color. They sure knew how to make movies back then."
She walks back over to the counter and leans on it. "1500 yen for a week."
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Rain might be winning herself a loyal customer, if she's pretending not to notice on purpose. "The first one, huh..." She's scanning the back of the box. "... bet they had to change all the practical effects..." she mutters to herself.
For one week. She really shouldn't watch this right now, but... if she saves it for the week... she can watch it on Saturday, after midterms.
Kazusa nods to herself. Yeah, that'll do.
She walks over to the counter and sets it down, then pulls out 1500 yen. "Here."
<Pose Tracker> Rain Summers has posed.
Rain chuckles and rings up the movie, taking the money and even bagging the case up for her.
"Pleasure doing business with you. Tell me what your brother thinks when you return it, okay?"
She then leans in, holding her hand up to the side of her mouth. "And if your family's lookin' for any investment opportunities, send 'em my way, okay? Nyehehe."
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa will take that bagged movie and carefully place it in her backpack. "I'll be sure to do that," she says of her brother.
But then Rain leans in, and Kazusa arches an eyebrow. Her farther... definitely wasn't interested. Though... she wasn't sure what her grandparents would think...
Kazusa heads for the door, not bothering to look back. "It's not likely." Though she she puts her hand on the door she looks back. "... but good luck."
<Pose Tracker> Rain Summers has posed.
Rain waves and chuckles again as the store becomes quiet once again. She picks up her book and flips back to where she left off. As she continues reading the story of Nyarlathotep, she reaches up to rub at her shoulder.
Feels weird. Probably nothing.