2026-08-11: Studying Rest
- Log: Studying Rest
- Cast: Kurou Ryouhara, Reiya Aomori
- Where: Aoba - Main
- OOC Date: August 11, 2026
- IC Date: December 23, 2012
- Summary: Two shinobi meet--in peace, for now. Bears are contemplated.
-=================================================== Sumaru City/Aoba Ward ====-
To Sumaru's east is Aoba Ward, where fashion and commerce abound. The city's
fire department headquarters is based here too. Ample shopping can be found at
the stores that dot Aoba Way. Past it, Aoba Park is a popular place to walk
around and relax, especially since there's an outdoor concert hall located
deeper within where one might catch a live concert.
Various programs are filmed at Sumaru TV, where famous stars like veteran
actress Junko Kurosu, talk show host Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi, and popular model
Eriko "Elly" Kirishima might be spotted. Along the way, one will pass Kismet
Publishing, where popular publications like hot teen magazine Coolest are made.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
After everything that happened, Shiryuu had been clear about where Kurou's focus needed to be: his academics. He was to study, and he was to give his all to exams, with no other tasks or missions to get in the way.
But this means there's nothing outside his usual standing instructions once everything is over. Exams end and Kurou is left...
... drifting. He has found himself a wanderer, and one whose feet have brought him to Aoba Park on the instinct to unwind and empty his mind. Kurou remains dressed in his winter uniform, though with the stress of tests, the faintest bit of white is beginning to show in the roots of his colored hair streak.
He hunches down, bag over one shoulder, and phone in one hand as he snaps pictures of pieces of the garden. For all there are wonderful botanical finds here, however, what catches Kurou's interests to memorialize in photographic catalog are the weeds and pests he's able to spot among the more organized flora.
It's a more difficult task in winter.
Though Kurou strives to quickly be out of the way of foot traffic, the nature of trying to get the phone camera to properly focus on a dead chrysalis puts him right in the garden path.
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
Reiya Aomori has a mission in Sumaru, investigating a certain demonic matter for Shuji Ikutsuki. With exams done, he's free to do such things; exams were uneventful themselves, and Reiya did well. He expected as much. But he is not in uniform... because he's on break!!
Therefore, he's in ordinary attire; a blue button-down and dark slacks, along with a jacket because of the cold. Not that he needs it, but it's a little suspicious not to have it. He walks back from where he'd completed his mission...
And there, he spots a boy in a winter uniform, snapping pictures of... the garden.
"...?" The way he moves, the way he carefully takes his photographs...
Reiya pauses, and then approaches, not recognizing Kurou immediately. Instead--
"It is unusual to study the gardens in winter," he says simply.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
It might be a testament to Kurou's rather meager wardrobe that he's still in his winter's uniform despite the break. But he wants to make sure he has a clean set of clothes for his first real venture over the holidays.
For now, a winter uniform and pictures with a cracked phone screen.
When Reiya speaks, Kurou looks up at him, immediately without being hurried.
"... Oh," he says, as if he didn't realize that might be an unusual thing at all.
He looks back at the dry, winter soil.
In his thoughts about this new information, he's silent for a few beats more, before:
"How come?"
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
A Kasugayama winter uniform and a cracked phone screen...
Reiya looks rather more polished. But he meets eyes with Kurou briefly, in that moment when Kurou looks up if Kurou will allow it. And so, there is an acknowledgement.
"Most of the time, the blossoms occur in spring or summer with these gardens; the winter is less likely to have unusual features. However..."
"I don't think it's a problem," he clarifies. "There is data to be gleaned in winter, too."
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
When their eyes meet, Kurou allows it to hold for a few moments more. What had been a quick glance of Reiya's general demeanor and visage becomes something with more intent.
Kurou finally stands up, pocketing his phone to put his full attention on Reiya.
His head tilts to the side. "Doesn't... that make winter the unusual one...?" Kurou's drifting tone suggests he's thinking aloud more than arguing with Reiya's point. After all, even Reiya says it himself: there's data here, too.
Kurou nods. "Yes. I was studying... how things rest."
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
Reiya's demeanor is calm, above all; he has the manner of someone who is utterly unbothered by whatever it is he's seeing. This could be a general readiness, or it could be a laconic nature.
Or it could be 'confidence'.
"From a certain perspective, yes. It depends on whether you consider the presence or absence of deviation from the norm to itself be a factor." Reiya is willing to follow the thought where it goes, anyway.
"I see. Then winter is your ideal time to look."
"Students in general are at rest now, too. But not you. You have energy to spare."
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Though Kurou can be difficult to read, this is, in and of itself, its own kind of read. But what might be most telling is, putting eccentricities aside, Reiya and Kurou both have an overlap in demeanor.
Including that willingness to simply follow a thought. There's no metaphor Kurou is hunting for here, and his brow tenses slightly as he considers perspective an important matter in description. Slowly, he nods.
"Unfortunately, there are no bears in Aoba Park..."
Well, maybe not all eccentricities in Kurou's off-mission priorities can be put aside...
Reiya observes something more important, and Kurou's eyes set back upon him.
"Mm." Reiya strikes him as the same way. "... Are you looking to spend it?"
His or Kurou's? To Kurou, that's the same question.
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
...Unfortunately? Reiya tilts his head very slightly. "I suppose they would not find it convenient." With all the people around, and a lack of proper prey. ...They could eat people, but that wouldn't be ideal either.
It sticks in Reiya's mind though. And so, when Kurou asks--
"No," Reiya answers, righting himself. "I seek information, at the moment."
"You are not an ordinary man. And neither am I."
"...By ordinary standards we would be obligated to pretend neither was true, and figure it out slowly."
"Instead, I will be direct. Who are you? I am Reiya Aomori."
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
"...No, you're right..." Kurou concedes. "It's not a safe place for them to hibernate." Is he worried about the hypothetical bears instead of the people...??
People can be dangerous too, after all.
But Reiya is like him in that way, too. They both want information.
Aomori. Kurou's eyes land back upon Reiya like a weight: slow, but with steadily increasing intensity that refuses to be carelessly tugged away now that it's settled.
"... I respect your forthrightness, Aomori-san," Kurou repeats. It is that 'confidence' and it is 'conviction'. ... It is also efficient circumventing of often frustrating ordinary standards.
Unfortunately, any idea of friendship encounters a great obstacle in this meeting.
"I am Kurou Ryouhara."
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
"Did you wish to see bears?" he cannot help but wonder. Reiya is still curious about this bear thing.
Aomori; yes, Reiya expected that Kurou would have some reaction to that name, that increasing intensity proves it. But he cannot go based on a 'maybe' in a matter such as this; it must be confirmed.
"Thank you," Reiya says. "I find that I have little time for the 'customary' approach, in many cases. It is needlessly complex."
Confidence, conviction...
"Ryouhara-san..."
He considers that. "I have met your master," he says. "We are on opposing sides."
A pause. "...But I have no cause to interrupt your studies to prosecute that battle today."
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Kurou nods. "The instinct to hibernate is curious. To rest and go dormant for so long, but as an advantageous strategy..." He pauses, getting his phone back out. "But there are other animals that hibernate. ... ... Oh. Crocodiles?"
That would be... worse.
It quickly stops being time for thoughts of rest and hibernation.
Except there's just the slightest lift of intensity, exchanged with a brief spike of esteem, as Reiya explains his preference in approach.
Unfortunately, as Reiya says, they are enemies.
"We are," Kurou confirms, but he does not move from where he stands, or even take his hand from its place securing the strap of his bag on his shoulder.
"I have no instruction to interfere with your operations, whatever they may be." He bends forward, giving Reiya a deep bow. "... When that should change, I will be direct with you, as you have been with me."
When, not if.
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
"It is. But it also brings danger; extended sleep is extended vulnerability." A pause. "...Crocodiles hibernate. I did not know that."
They are indeed--enemies. However, neither Kurou nor Reiya moves to act on that enmity.
"That is well," Reiya says. "And I, as stated, have no reason to interfere in your own." He doesn't say instructions, but then... he is the heir. His instructions come not from his superiors in the clan, but from his mentor and his liege.
Reiya bows as well. "Thank you," he says. "That is my preference, as well."
"...We garden, back where we reside." He gives the information that is public. "I will have to investigate the effects of winter on the produce."
That is his offering; he interrupted Kurou, and so he will use the knowledge he gained.
"..."
"But I ask a boon," he says. "A small one, and I will repay it."
"It is the answer to a question..."
Pause. "Why bears?"
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
"It might be a different but similar process..." Now is not the time to verify. Kurou puts his phone away. "My apologies. I will have to look further into the subject so that I do not unintentionally spread misinformation."
In terms of 'studying rest', it may still be valuable.
And in terms of studying Reiya...
Instructions, orders, or one's own intentions... this all comes back down to the same matter of conviction. But the two of them need not aim that conviction against one another. At least, not today.
Efficiency is also knowing when not to waste their energy. Unfortunately, not everyone is as direct as Reiya is, and unfortunately, neither one of them can truly drop their guard, even sharing this straightforward approach. At least for now, it does behoove them both to respect it if they want to see the other maintain it.
And Kurou would prefer to.
His eyes light with a sparkle on his blank face with Reiya's offer, but soon revert to cautious intensity as Reiya seeks a boon.
...
Kurou blinks once.
His head falls into a tilt.
"Mm. I suppose it does not have to be bears, but..." He considers his words carefully. "... they're fluffy. And look soft." T
his may be raising more questions than it answers...? Thankfully(?), Kurou offers a little more, despite his thoughtful pauses.
"... Some plants have a scent that's supposed to help with relaxing, so... a bear's shape... seems like a good shape for storing dried herbs..."
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
"I see. Very well." Misinformation would be a problem.
But indeed, while Reiya can't drop his guard either, he rarely does in the first place. ...Whether or not that's a good thing, it is the case right now, even as he'd also prefer to leave things 'peaceful' at the moment. So, the matter of future research aside...
Kurou answers his question. "They are both," Reiya is sure. "Though I do not often see them in this metropolitan area..."
But plants and relaxation. That...
"Ah," he says. "If you seek relaxing herbs, I suggest lavender. It has a faintly soporific effect, and is good in baked items."
He considers. He shouldn't really help his enemy... but on the other hand, this is negotiation; there may be information he can gain in the future. Besides...
"Bears are more likely to reside on Mt. Katatsumuri, I think. Though demons do, as well."
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Misinformation would be a very big problem, especially about crocodiles. (Maybe not concerning crocodiles...)
They are on opposite sides. They cannot be friends, but they are not, at the moment, strictly adversaries. It is a precarious time, but one that could be advantageous to both sides.
It's... 'politics', right? Kurou normally forgoes such things. But if Reiya will be direct about them, then that makes it simpler. He is already not regretting this exchange of information.
"Lavender," he echoes, nodding. "Than I will try that. A bear shaped vessel filled with lavender..." Pause. Baked items. Hmm.
Kurou perks up at the idea bears might actually be within reach. "Ah. My apologies. I was thinking out loud before. I did not realize there may be a place to observe them nearby." He bows. "Thank you. I would not wish to disturb them in their natural habitat, but... perhaps it is worth ensuring they are not troubled by demons."
Kurou, would that really be a good use of your personal time...
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
When dealing with crocodiles it may be wise to have all the information available to one.
...Not that that's very likely around here...
It is politics! And Reiya has learned how to deal with 'talking' to people quite well. ...Well, he thinks so anyway.
Good. It may suit your needs." He can't be sure, but... well, he once had these lavendar-frosted cakes and they were very good.
"Most trails local to the Tokyo area will not have such wildlife, but Katatsumuri is sufficiently remote that it may, I think."
Hmm. "It is worth seeing... though depending on the demon, some might be more troubled by bears than vice versa."
Jack Frost, for instance.
"Still, that is all. Unless you have a question for me in turn, I will leave you to your studies. Note that I am quite academically proficient; I may be able to answer a number of questions relating to school subjects... but maybe not many of bears."
If he doesn't ask a question, then he gets to ask one later. That's just science.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Fortunately or unfortunately, now that Kurou has scratched a crocodile surface, he wants to know more about them. Maybe Shiryuu is on to something in directing Kurou to focus on his studies.
That doesn't mean he can't focus on the matter at hand, even if the matter at hand is proving peculiar by political and shinobi standards.
... But Reiya and Kurou seem quite fine with that, for now.
"I see. Bears have troubling reputations..." And it's do to some rather tragic historical precedence, so even Kurou cannot write it off as a pure misunderstanding. "... I would not want to inadvertently stoke such fires. But if bears can trouble demons, that's valuable knowledge, too..."
Poor Jack Frost.
A question in turn.
"Not on this day," Kurou says. "But... as my education increases its demands upon me... I may seek one such answer, our respective circumstances willing."
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
Reiya might have to look into crocodiles, too. If the Ryouhara have interest in them...
Still. "If you act with stealth, there's little concern of that," Reiya points out. So long as he doesn't get eaten by a bear, but Reiya assumes that a shinobi will not. Instead, "It is worth considering, I think."
But Jack Frost is doomed.
"...Hm. Very well. You may find me at Gekkoukan High School, if not sooner, in order to settle this." A minor boon for a minor boon; it's fair enough.
"Even should we do battle, feel free to ask the question. If we both live, the answer may still be useful."
"For now..." He bows, less deeply this time. "I will leave you to your study."
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
"You may be right..." Kurou has had to hide himself from far worse things than bears with a shinobi's stealth. There is no reason he could not avoid danger from one, so long as he avoids disturbing their natural rhythms.
It might be worth a few photographs, at least. This would ensure the accuracy of his vessel.
But Jack Frost is definitely doomed.
Kurou nods. "Understood." He does not share his own school with Reiya: it would be insulting to Reiya's skills of observation to do so.
"Then... I look forward to the day I can see your strength upon the battlefield, but I will not make effort to advance its arrival."
That will happen in due time.
"Until next time, Aomori-san."