2026-04-02: Early Morning Study Session
- Log: Early Morning Study Session
- Cast: Ren Amamiya, Kazusa Motojima
- Where: Shujin Academy - Classroom Building
- OOC Date: April 02, 2026
- IC Date: Friday, October 19, 2012 (Before School)
- Summary: Ren and Kazusa both arrive at Shujin early to study, and happen to run into each other in the library. They study in silence, and have an awkward conversation on their way to their respective homerooms.
(|=================== Shujin Academy - Classroom Building ====================|)
-==================================================== Tokyo/Aoyama-Itchome ====-
Shujin Academy is split between its main classroom building, which faces the
back streets of Aoyama-Itchome, and its practice building out back. The
classroom building is a grim concrete building with sleek glass doors, three
stories tall, with classrooms for the third years on the ground floor, second
years on the second, and first years on the top. The faculty office is on the
second, and the student council room and the library on the third. Vending
machines dot the hallways here and there, and the bathrooms are kept clean. Its
front gates are wrought iron with a circular design, and a stylized clock on the
eastern wall informs students just how late they are.
The foyer is lined with glass cases proudly displaying trophies earned by its
top students, and just past them is the school store, though the yakisoba bread
there is almost always sold out. Billboards across the school announce various
articles and notices of interest. Past there, the walls are gray and white, the
floors are wooden, student lockers line the walls, and the sliding classroom
doors sport diamond windows. The classrooms themselves are rather more sober,
with simple desks and chairs for the students and a taller desk at front before
the chalkboard for the teacher. The windows to the outside seem simple, and even
have yellow curtains that can be pulled shut, but are lined in a diamond pattern
to prevent shattering. We wouldn't want our students to escape, now would we?
There is a fenced-in roof, but the door to it displays a sign stating students
aren't allowed. Despite this, it isn't locked, so nothing stops anyone from
hanging out there anyway--at least, not until they get caught. Oddly, there's
also several small planters there too for growing flowers and vegetables.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Ren's mornings start early. A workout in their attic room, a breakfast of curry and coffee, a quick transformation of leftover curry rice into onigiri for lunch, and then off they go. Even by their standards, though, they end up at Shujin early this morning.
There's only two more days of midterms left. Ren is extra motivated to score well on these tests after recent conversations with Makoto and Akechi. They thus show up at school and head not to their classroom, but to the library to do a little last-minute review for the subjects they're testing on today.
It's quiet, which is nice. One of the benefits of being the terrifying criminal delinquent is that people leave you alone. Ren takes up the desk off to one side of the library, just past the librarian's desk, and has it all to themself as they go over questions likely to be on today's exams.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa's mornings have also started early lately. She is still... way too exhausted to work out, otherwise she might be doing a quick jog, but both breakfast and lunch have been prepared for her by her mother. Kazusa only takes them to keep the peace, but she still leaves early, since...
She can't really stand to be in the presence of either of her parents at the moment, for different reasons. At least studying for midterms is still a viable excuse to leave early.
Kazusa arrives in the library, trying to keep that old Demon Queen glare on her face to keep people away. She needs to review, she feels like she's been perpetually behind for the last two weeks, and she heads for a table she knows will be out of the way and out of sight of most people--
Only to pause as she lays eyes on Ren. "Oh." It comes out a bit disdainful, but underneath that is just the tiredness of 'I don't think I have the energy for this.'
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
'Oh.'
Ren glances up at Kazusa when she utters that single syllable. Their gaze behind their thick-rimmed glasses is stony neutral. Kazusa can at least see that they've got a textbook and notebook laid out in front of them, with a pencil and highlighter to make notes. (Tips from Makoto. Ren enjoys learning, but is not traditionally good at studying.)
They do hear that disdain; they also hear the weariness. Being fully aware of the Homunculus that had possessed her for a while and how it's since been purged, Ren's willing to cut her a break.
They look back down at their textbook and other study items. Then, without comment, they scoot their chair over to one side to leave more room for her if she so chooses.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa is too tired for games or displays of social status, or anything else of the sort. She is aware she hasn't been the nicest to Ren--and she's slowly remembering with a slowly dawning horror a conversation the Homunuclus had with Makoto shortly before she was freed.
That blasted rumor... should she apologize? Can she apologize?
And does she want to try and apologize to Ren, who has that fearsome reputation, or Makoto, who looked about ready to attack her.
All of these mental gymnastics make for a long, awkward silence, but then Ren shifts his chair over. Kazusa watches him silently for a moment, then at the empty space. She gives a short nod to signal the acceptance of a sort of truce, and sits down. She starts getting out her own study items, along with the most important item of all: a canned coffee.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Ren doesn't have a canned coffee. Ren isn't above canned coffee, but they had their first cup of the day at Leblanc, and they're still riding that caffeine high. (Honestly, Ren probably drinks too much caffeine, between that and their grape sodas.)
They don't know what's running through Kazusa's head. They do note that she opts to take the unspoken offer and sit down. So, at the very least, having a place to sit and study is more important to her right now than her reputation.
That is a change. Good for her. They'll leave her be. They turn a page of their textbook, then skim through their notes as they pick up their mechanical pencil and tick it back and forth deftly between their fingers without paying attention.
(From Ren's bag on the floor, Morgana's furry head peeks up. He flicks an ear as he eyeballs Kazusa for a moment; then he sinks back down.)
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa has been drinking... probably way too much coffee lately. If she'd been allowed to rest to get over her prolonged captivity she might not need it. But she has been pushing herself to her limits trying to study up on everything she missed for a whole month. This might not even be her first infusion of caffeine for the day.
Kazusa might still be relying on some of the trappings of her Demon Queen persona to keep others at bay... but she knows her reputation has basically been trashed by the Homunculus, not to mention the rumors that sprung out of the convention trip. Right now she's prioritizing studying--one of the few areas of her life she feels like she can exert some control over right now.
She's flipping through her own textbook, and seems to have crossreferenced her notes in a few different ways as she studies--trying her best to synthesize and actually retain all of this information.
She's so focused on her work she doesn't even spot the cat in the bag.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
And so both Demon Queen and Criminal Delinquent quietly focus on their studies...
At least, until the first bell chimes. Ren looks up, hearing that signal that homeroom is imminent, and starts to pack up their stuff. They're confident they've done a good job reviewing; today's tests ought to go well.
They put their stuff in their bag--Morgana scoots to one side to allow room--and pull it onto their shoulder as they stand and push their chair in.
"Pardon," they say quietly to Kazusa. If she hasn't already finished gathering her things and gotten out of the way, then she's blocking their way out.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa is doing her best to focus. But her head snaps up when the bell rings and she looks.. a bit more distressed. She is not confident that things will go well, though she quickly tries to school her face into an expression of faint disdain that says 'do not approach me.'
She might be slightly slower packing her things up as she checks one or two last things, but not that much slower. "Right," she says, at Ren's 'Pardon' and gets up a moment later, stepping out of the way.
She looks at Ren for a moment, studying them intensely before looking slightly away. "... you're in 2-D, right?"
Meaning: they're basically walking the same way, aren't they?
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Ren steps carefully around Kazusa. As limited as their interactions have been up 'til now, this one's been the most pleasant by far.
("But they've barely said anything to each other!" Yes, precisely.)
They glance at her when she asks about their class. "Yeah," they reply. They get what she's putting down: they are going to walk the same way. They already know she's in 2-E thanks to that also being Ryuji's class, and Ryuji having been especially affected by the Homunculus while she was still around, so they don't ask back.
What they do ask is, "How's it going with Yoshizawa? She's been worried about you."
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
At least Kazusa asked a question that was... mostly neutral to break the silence thus far.
Kazusa will just have to satisfy herself with the explanation that them walking 'together' is just a coincidence. Really, she could take a separate path--honestly there's a part of her that's Considering it--but she's also too tired to do anything extraneous. So she just nods at the reply of 'Yeah.'
She doesn't have any idea that the Homunculus was the cause of why Ryuji has been so 'sick' recently. She would probably feel guilty about that if she knew.
There is a surprised blink at Ren's question. "Yoshizawa...?" Then a frown as she remembers that time she ran into both of them talking. "... Oh, right," she mutters to herself.
"They're-- fine, I guess." They recently had a chance to talk through some things, even. Though Kazusa's not even sure how she would relay that to Ren, even if she were inclined. But she falls silent for a moment before responding. "... she told me that, too," she admits, in a quieter voice. "Though I'm not really sure why." considering how Kazusa's treated her, and all.
She glances sideways to Ren. "... you two talk a lot?"
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
There is that! That's an improvement on interactions thus far too.
Ren watches Kazusa's micro-expressions as she blinks and then mutters to herself, then gives their question a proper answer. So the two of them had a chance to talk... Ren nods once.
"She's a good person. That's why," they respond, looking forward. "If it were me, I sure wouldn't want anything to do with you." And indeed, Ren's been cold to Kazusa in large part because of how she's treated Kasumi. However, knowing how Kasumi feels about her, and knowing what Kazusa has been through recently, they're willing to let bygones be bygones.
Assuming Kazusa is also willing. She might not be. That's up to her, though.
"We hang out sometimes. She's a friend." A beat. "Just a friend," Ren stresses subtly. It might've been the Homunculus who spread those rumors about them and Makoto, but chances seem good to them that the seed started with the real Kazusa.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
There is a quiet, dismissive snort at 'She's a good person', but it's actually aimed at herself, not Kasumi. "She should be saving her energy for practices, not worrying about me." The remark is far less sharp than it might have been a month and a half ago, though.
There's a sideways glance as Ren says they wouldn't want to associate with her. Remarkably, there's no anger, just tired acceptance in her eyes as she looks forward again. "Mmm. Then why'd you make space for me at the table?"
Kazusa might: she's been doing a lot of evaluation of her priorities recently.
'/Just/ a friend.' There's a pained wince from Kazusa at that. She knows /exactly/ what Ren is referring to, unfortunately. It's so much easier to apologize, or to explain to those she knws was involved in things. As far as she knows, Ren wasn't on either count.
"... look, I wasn't... the person who..." Kazusa starts and falters several times. Auuuugh this is awkward and stupid. She presses the palm of her hand against her forehead for a moment, trying to stave off the nightmare of a headache that sorting this out will cause. She starts talking quickly, "Look, I wasn't in control of myself when I spread that rumor, and I don't know why she--the other me--whatever--did that, because I don't think she even meant to, or what she was trying to accomplish, and if I had done it there would've been some kind of point to it all."
After a moment her brain catches up to what she said and she facepalms. "Wait-- that's not--"
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
"Maybe. But she wouldn't be herself if she didn't worry about others," Ren replies. They do hear the difference in Kazusa's tone, though in fairness, if they didn't already know what's going on with her, they might not have.
There's a difference between going out of their way to hang out with her and letting her sit at the same table, though. Or, in other words: "I don't hate you enough to outright avoid you, either."
It is kind of funny when Kazusa winces and tries so hard to explain what was going on when 'she' spread that rumor. She does a fantastically bad job at it, in their opinion. They kind of see why Kasumi's fond of her despite everything; there's a certain honesty to that response.
"If you say so," they choose to say as she facepalms a second time. The Homunculus is gone anyway, so they're willing to leave it at that.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
"Mmm. Well, it should be her senpai worrying about her, not the other way around," is all Kazusa can say to that. And she already admitted to Kasumi that she's been a bad senpai to her.
"I see," is her subdued response. There is some flicker of anger at what that tone implies, but it snuffs itself out quickly. "... well, I appreciate it. It's one of the quieter tables in the library."
It is really terrible, isn't it? Kazusa's not in a great mental state to begin with, and she's still trying to process the entirety of everything that's happened to her.
She lets her hand fall away from her face and walks in silence for a moment. After a moment she says, "... look. She--I--whoever--didn't intend to start that rumor, but we both know that's something I would have done." If Ren's hanging out with Kasumi, there's no escaping the gossip Kazusa put out about her kouhai's lackluster performance at the start of the year. "... and it's not something I'm really proud of anymore."
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
"I agree. It should," Ren replies evenly.
Her appreciation is met with a simple nod. They know that; that's why they're often there or in one of the single-chair study cubbies nearby.
The two walk in silence for a moment. Ren thinks that's going to be the end of it, and indeed they're almost to their respective homerooms when she speaks up again. They glance at her. ...At least she's got self-awareness.
"Then make sure you don't do it anymore," they reply, plain and simple.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
If she gained anything while trapped in that cocoon, it was self-awareness... and a chance to reflect on what's really important to her.
Maybe she didn't manage to work her way up to a proper apology, but at least it's on her mind.
"... if only it were that simple." Stopping is one thing. Trying to make up for them, though, is quite another. "Good luck with your midterms, Amamiya-san."