2026-08-18: It's a Big Deal
- Log: It's a Big Deal
- Cast: Hyousuke Suzuki, Ichika Kawase
- Where: Outside Paulownia Mall
- OOC Date: 2026-08-18
- IC Date: Thu, Dec 27 2012
- Summary: Seeking advice and to inform Ichika of recent developments, Hyousuke pays a visit to Iwatadoi. A dog is also there.
(|============================== Paulownia Mall ==============================|)
-======================================= Iwatodai City/Tatsumi Port Island ====-
A great glass dome surrounds Paulownia Mall, its name displayed in great letters
on its rim. Within this circular structure, made beautiful with water features,
the mall bustles. A central fountain pours out, eternally, surrounded by benches
for weary shoppers; two more pools stand by the entrance, decorated by
well-trimmed hedges behind them. The brown patterning on the floor emphasises
the circular nature of this place, all carved to equal segments; pillars
surrounding the sides provide structure and guidance, separating each store from
the other.
And the shops one can find here are many. Game Parade is a popular arcade,
particularly amongst nearby Gekkoukan students, and its crane game has foiled
many a hopeful date. Kenneth Arnold offers music albums, while Mandragora
Karaoke Bar, up a flight of stairs nearby, offers live music experiences for
those who prefer active participation. Club Escapade is another great option for
music-lovers, alongside those seeking Fortune-Telling services or looking for
shady informants -- but it's only open at night, and technically, it's only for
people who are over 18. Practically speaking, teenagers sometimes sneak in,
anyway... but curious teens ought to be careful, because a few shops over, one
can find the Tatsumi East Police Station. Chagall Cafe, at least, is both open
during the day and open to all ages! Aohige Pharmacy offers pharmaceuticals to
cure any ailment, while Be Blue V offers an eclectic variety of items and
treatments to improve one's health and wellbeing. Finally, Mayoido Antiques
offers unique weapons and armour for those who bring in supernatural
materials... and the proprietor seems to know more than she really ought to
about that world.
(|============================================================================|)
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke would not normally have made the trip up to Iwatadoi solely for shopping. Pet-related goods were sold more or less everywhere - even if the quality was somewhat variable - and there wasn't much else up there that he needed but could not find elsewhere. It wasn't some exclusive coffee, or a misdelivered package. However, Ichika was there, and there were things he'd been hoping to talk to her about, and inform her had happened. That was as good a reason as any to make the journey up there, he supposed. And if the dog came with? All the better.
Having texted her shortly beforehand that he'd be visiting the pet store at the mall, Hyousuke waited a little ways out from it. Close enough that he could see the place without craning his neck, but far away enough that he could talk to Ichika while they walked, and expect some small degree of privacy. He doubted any of the passers-by were interested in what two young delinquent-looking students had to say to each other, after all, even if there was a remarkably friendly-seeming dog trotting at Hyousuke's heel.
The dog itself had not seen that part of Iwatadoi before, and like with all new locations, sniffed tirelessly at anything that seemed remotely of interest. It was kept reasonably close, of course, but Hyousuke couldn't say no to those big, round, eyes when they were cast up at him.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Dog! It's always nice to see a dog. Hyousuke's cool too.
Ichika could use a moment to get out of her mother's hair anyway; so, she set herself up and got going! Today, she arrives in a long skirt and simple jacket over another top, and doesn't beat the 'delinquent' rap with the spikes she's wearing. That's fine, though.
"Well," Ichika says, "Somebody's having a good time."
A beat, "HOw's it going, Hyousuke-kun?"
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
The dog was excited about a lot of things. New smells, new friends, familiar smells, old friends, the list went on. Thus, when Ichika showed up and the dog bounded towards - or, at least, as close to her as the leash allowed - Hyousuke wasn't in the least bit surprised. However, that might also have been because there was a distinctly exhausted look on his features. He smiled, but it was weak. He waved, but it didn't quite have the vigour of the little guy at his heel. His eyes lacked a spark as well. They regarded her fondly, for she was his friend, but there was a certain lethargy to the slight droop the lids suffered from.
"Ichika-san! Glad you could make it." He called out, genuinely happy to see her, but still plagued by a little tiredness. "Looks like he's happy about it too." The dog recognised Ichika. The dog knew she was kind and gave pets. Therefore, the dog recognised Ichika as friend. In fact, he considered it something of an insult that Hyousuke kept him on the leash, and looked back with expectant - perhaps a little demanding - eyes. "Thanks for the teapot, by the way. You've got no idea how handy something like that is for the dorms. Being able to keep my drinks warm's a game changer..."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Dogs deserve excitement. Ichika is sure of this one.
...But Hyousuke, Hyousuke she can worry a little about; she notices how tired he seems to be. Ichika kneels down to give the dog some pets after a moment, and smiles. "You're welcome," Ichika says. "I know all about it--I use a similar one," since she also mostly lives in the dorms. The lovely Kasu High girls dorms with bars on the windows. She totally knows!
"And you! It's so nice to see you!"
She looks back up to Hyousuke. "But how about you?" she wonders. "How's it going?"
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke paused, managing to catch himself before his reflexive dismissal of his own state of mind had a chance to manifest itself. He knew he wasn't fine, she probably knew he wasn't fine, but at least the dog seemed fine. Once it got some attention, at least. Though not quite satisfied with 'some' attention, it decided to occupy itself with more smells and sights and sounds, becoming very interested in a very particular patch of grass while the two of them spoke.
"I've... been better." He said. The words took effort to speak, but they were honest.
"I found this guy's owner's a couple days ago. I tried to give him back, but they..." Hyousuke's face froze for a second, and shifted into something very clearly attempting to remain strong when it thawed. He couldn't look her in the eye, instead diverting his gaze back to the blissfully unaware animal keeping itself occupied. "...They didn't want him. They... the fuckers abandoned him. They just fucking left him in the woods to- to-!" Hyousuke couldn't bring himself to say the word, but the implication hung in the air like a spectre.
"And since I can't just hand him over to a shelter, and I don't know anyone that can actually take care of him, he's... I'm..." The dog, as if sensing it was being looked at, turned around to glance up between Hyousuke and Ichika with curious eyes. Hyousuke smiled weakly back, ruffled its head, and let it get back to its very important business. Somehow, that seemed to instil him with just enough strength to look Ichika in the eye, even if it took no small amount of effort. "...I'm gonna do it myself. Little guy's got nobody else he can go to, and I can't just leave him alone out there. Not like..."
There was a pause. A hesitating, angry, teeth-gritting, pause. "Not like them."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Awww grass.
Ichika rises to her feet agian, and listens. THe honesty is something she appreciates in the moment. But they didn't...
"Mm."
Ichika nods along as hyousuke explores what he's saying, and then Ichika looks irght back to Hyousuke, in the eye. "Then he's got you," Ichika says. "That counts for a lot."
"...Ugh. People like that..." She shakes her head. "Well, forget them. They don't matter."
"This little guy matters. And you're going to take care of him, right?"
"That's a big deal."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke nodded firmly. Of course he was going to take care of him. For all that had happened, the dog itself didn't seem to mind too much, though she'd not been there on the day. She'd not seen how it looked with a door slammed in its face, or for the hours afterwards wondering where its people were. But that was a matter for another time. Today was a day of action, and planning for it.
"Damn right it is. I'm not letting him go through that. Not again. Fuck those assholes that did this to him... I'm gonna make sure he's got a home to go back to no matter what."
That, in itself, reminded him of what else he'd wanted to speak with her about. The issue, at that point, lay in how to bring it up. It was clear that there was *something* on his mind, with how his face scrunched a little in thought, and he looked away from her to think, but quite what was unclear until he opened his mouth again.
"I just... I don't know how I'm gonna do that. I can barely take care of myself, never mind a whole-ass dog." He spoke jokingly, but there was a note of bitterness to his words. Not enough to overwhelm, but still there. Enough for anyone observant to notice.
"I talked to some people about it. How to... how to move forward with things, I guess. What I'm supposed to do about everything." His words came a little slower, and Hyousuke seemed a touch more hesitant about continuing on. Was it still truly about the dog by that point? Was the topic of taking care of a pet enough to cause him to slow down and drag his words out? Or was there something more to it? Hyousuke seemed hesitant to say, no matter how much he kept speaking.
"I asked Marlowe-sensei about it. How to deal with the future and stuff. He said if I wanted to ask about how to, I dunno... finding new paths, I think he said? I should come talk to you."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
A dog can be resilient--any living thing can be resilient... but Ichika doesn't want them to have to be. Not like that. "Right. Good for you. If he can't count on anyone else... at least he can count on you."
But something's up for sure, and it's not just that Hyousuke doesn't know how to do that. "Mm. Well, you're already doing the most importnat part--caring. You're giving him attention, giving him the knowledge that somebody cares. Food, toys, all that stuff... it's important, but the most important thing is hwat you're doing."
But moving forward... Hmm.
"Oh!"
Ichika smiles. "Yeah," she says. "It's hard, going from no hope to thinking you might have a future..."
"For me, it was luck; I met this really cool reporter and decided I liked what she was doing, that it resonated with me. But the trick is, you just have to open your eyes. Look around at the world, see where you could fit, if you had the chance."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Ichika's response left Hyousuke quiet. Noticeably so, and for several seconds at that. There was no mumbling, no sound of acknowledgement, even his breathing became something so eerily quiet that the rise and fall of his chest became the only sign that it actually occurred. He didn't hold her gaze, but while one might have assumed it was simply a reflex that happened in deep thought, there was something else there. Once more, he found himself unable to look her in the eye - another thought flashed into his mind, and it would not leave.
Find somewhere to fit in, she said. Look for a place he could fit, had he the chance. How was he to tell her that he thought his place was going toe-to-toe with monstrosities, and the monsters that wielded them? How was he supposed to tell her that while others had found passions and love and meaning in peace, he was coasting along without purpose every time he had to set his weapons down? He had no answer for himself, and doubted he would for a long while. Better to keep it quiet, he supposed, rather than air them to someone he did not even know could help.
"Easier said than done." Hyousuke eventually said. It was the most amount of honesty he could manage. An acceptance of her words, but an acknowledgement of the difficulty he knew he would face. It barely scratched the surface, but he hadn't the right words for anything past the thin ice upon which he trod. "...But I guess there's no harm in looking. I'll figure something out if I keep at it long enough." Even if it seemed like nobody else had figured it out. Shinobu drifted from place to place and from job to job, Julian seemed more unsure of himself than he figured a counsellor would be, and there was a part of him that suspected Tamaki wasn't quite as put together as she presented herself to clients and coworkers alike.
If they hadn't figured things out, what hope had he?
"Marlowe-sensei said something about taking things slow." Hyousuke continued, fiddling with the lead out of a need to keep his hands busy. "Said I should figure out a concrete first step, or something. I... I think I can at least do that. I can't keep this guy at the dorms, and we're all graduating soon anyway. So since I'm not in the entrance exams, I'm thinking I'm gonna try and figure out moving out."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika doesn't expect it to be an easy thing; Hyousuke's feelings about combat and battle and protecting others are plain to anyone who knows him. It wouldn't surprise Ichika to hear anything about it. But when he oes say easier said than done... "True," Ichika says. "Like I said, I lucked out; I saw things I could do... And I went for it. But that doesn't mean you can' find it if you don' keep looking."
She has some ideas, but...
SHe isn't asked, so she doesn't hsaare them for now. Instead--
"Slow is good. And a first step--there you go. Find a new place to live, one where you can help your new friend out."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
"It's just... I need to call someone about it. parents aren't gonna sign the papers, we don't even speak to each other anymore." The hesitance was replaced by bitterness, and just enough anger reared its ugly little head to jostle alongside it. He smiled, but itwas more of a grimace than anything else - him bracing for what he supposed was inevitable. "I got a job and Mementos and everything, so it's not like I need *them* or their money... But no landlord that'll let me keep a pet in their place is gonna take a minor without someone signing for them."
Another handful of seconds passed, and Hyousuke spoke with a smaller, quieter, voice.
"Shit... I really am gonna have to call my brother about this, aren't I?" Hyousuke asked. The anger faded with the mention of the man, but the bitterness - while blunted - still remained. He didn't look at Ichika, but rather, through her. Though his body was present and his gaze was levelled in her direction, his mind was elswhere, and his eyes saw things that weren't there. Then, he blinked. And once more. He came back to his senses.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Yeah..." It's hard, being in this limbo; near graduating high school, but too young to rent or do most things that require an 'adult'. Ichika notices the anger and the bitterness for sure. "I can get what you mean. That's going to be rough..."
But... a brother?
"...Sounds like that's a little rough a relationship," Ichika says sympahetically. "You OK there?"
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke considered his answer. He considered it for a while. What felt like moments stretched on for hours, and those hours to eternity. Every heartbeat slowed to a crawl, with a chasm between them. Every breath strained his lungs, and every blink was made with leaden eyes. Every part of him screamed to dismiss. Every cell of his mind, every fibre of muscle, every mote of his being, it railed against the thought that he had to be honest with her. But he'd done so with Shinobu. He'd managed with Julian. To an extent, he had with Tamaki. If he could not with a friend like Ichika, then who could he? If not now, then when?
"...More like we've got no relationship." He eventually murmured, trying to strengthen himself with humour, but failing miserably. He couldn't keep the tone up, and the sad droop to his features left little doubt that there was more to the two than those words could ever encapsulate. "We don't talk, but it's... It's not for the same reasons I don't talk with my parents. Our parents, I guess. We..." The sudden flare of courage died out, fading to an ember, and his throat seized before he could offer anything more substantial. "...It's complicated."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika waits through those dark moments; it doesn't seem quite as long to her, but it's long enough that she looks down at the new dog friend. ...Eventually, though...
"I see," Ichika answers. "That's rough in its own way, isn't it?" No having a relationship with your own brothers. "It's OK if it's complicated," she says. "Family can be."
"...But it osunds like you need to talk to him after all. So..."
"Let me know if I can help, all right?"
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
"...Sure. I'll... I'll let you know."
The words were less a complete thought, and more like fragments cobbled together into something that resembled a reply. His thoughts were disjointed, his plans in disarray, and slowly, they began to slip the leash he held them on. He recalled his brother, he thought of what he was supposed to say, how he was supposed to say it, what he was supposed to do, what would happen if he left it too la-
He stopped.
There was something on his leg.
Hyousuke looked down, blinked, and smiled.
The dog stood there, looking up with expectant eyes, its tail wagging a little as it let out a soft bark. It tugged against its leash, trying to drag Hyousuke with it, clearly bored out of its mind with just standing around without so much as a stick to gnaw on or an insect to sniff and snoff at.
"Actually, there's something I do need help with." He said, shaken out of whatever state he'd been in before. He looked to Ichika with a kinder, warmer, look than he'd worn since they'd met up, and replied with a tone to match. "I'm still not sure what I need for taking care of a dog, and I haven't had a chance to ask Tsubasa-san about it yet. You think you could help me pick some stuff out?"
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
It must be really difficult. Ichika looks sympathetic, but then when Hyousuke smiles, Ichika looks down to. ...Awww.
"Yeah?" Ichika asks, and then smiles again back. "Cool," the tall girl says. "I know what you need. I can help you with stuff like that. Lance gave me a good primer."
Hyousuke said he can cover it, thanks to part-time jobs and Mementos, so Ichika won't press her nose in there--but she can definitely help pick stuff out.
"It'll be fun."