2026-08-22: The Heart of the Matter
- Log: The Heart of the Matter
- Cast: Hana Fukami, Umie Akabane
- Where: Lotus Plaza, Rengedai Ward, Sumaru City
- OOC Date: August 22, 2026
- IC Date: December 28, 2012
- Summary: Hana Fukami just wants to find some nice floral scents. Instead, she encounters 'Kokoro Akechi', a completely normal young woman who seems to be just passing by, who has nothing important to say, at all, except... 'look out for yourself'. Isn't that what she's doing?
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
Kaori is a beautiful shop, both visually and in smell. Miss Kaori is here today, talking with a customer this morning, where Hana Fukami is also here--her show is only on weekdays, so she's enjoying some time off. The greenery in the shop only enhances the beauty of the white walls and the shelves of scented products. Aromatherapy is said to cure what ails you, here...
And Hana could go for that today.
Hana is a tall woman in pink, with deep black hair. She happens to be checking over a shelf at the moment, picking something out for someone--
But the Resonant will... detect nothing from her; she has no Persona. Someone like Umie, though, might sense the stormclouds of gathering misfortune...
Or maybe she'll just recognize her from TV.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"You're... Ms. Fukami, aren't you?"
The voice comes from someone standing shorter than Hana is. Dressed in a pink baseball cap, clear frame classes, black leggings, a sporty jacket, large earrings which stand out against long, black, straight hair, she wouldn't look too out of place in a shopping mall that caters to youthly incomes and the time to idle around and spend it.
Fashionable, but not so much that she'd be noticed.
The look in the girl's eyes, however, feels more sober than the carefree young adult she portrays.
Briefly, that is, before her mask goes back on.
"I never thought I'd see a TV star here..." she cooes, eyes wide. "My mom totally loves your show! She talks about it all the time."
These are lies; she's the one who watches the show, occasionally, as she painted and fussed over her paper maiche masks.
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
Hana turns without seeming surprised; she's gotten good at dispelling the instinct to blink when someone addresses her out of seemingly nowhere. "That's right,' she says as she turns. She smiles immediately, looking over how cute Umie's look is.
But that sober look...? What is it?
"I think 'star' might be overselling it," she demurs gently, "But I am on TV! Even people who appear on shows like nice-smelling places." She beams. "I'm happy to hear that! I'm lucky to have a lot of moms in my audience."
"What's your name?" she asks.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"I mean, if I tell Mom I saw you, you might as well be," Umie quips with a cheeky grin. "Well, your show *is* named Flower Talk, so I imagine it'd only be natural you'd be here, right?"
There is something of the Badb that drives the young woman here, a heartbeat of bad fortune that calls to the blackbird like footsteps on worn, mud-strewn ground. Alas, this is not a battlefield of blood, but of words, and Umie will have to mask herself properly if she wishes to extend her warning to the TV hostess without coming off looking like the threat herself.
The outfit was already there, being she was snooping for any hints of the Joker Cursed, but the identity needed a name. Obviously she--
...
(... no Umie didn't bother to think of a name.)
There is a perfume behind Hana's shoulder, a lovely shade of red in the shape of a heart.
"Kokoro--"
She obviously can't go with Akabane. It needs to be something believable. The codename Tamaki gave her was Mitsuhide, and the first name of figure was...
"--Akechi." Shit.
".... No relation to the second coming of the Detective Prince, of course," she adds, without missing a beat.
No going back now. Just deal with it, 'Kokoro Akechi', this is your fate, now.
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
"That's true!" Hana says warmly. "I really like this place." Unaware of what Umie is sensing, it's true that Hana feels a little under the weather, a little bothered by something despite her pleasant family interactions today. But the name! A name... like...
It could be a real name. It really could! ...it probably isn't. But that's fine.
"Are you a fan of his?" Hana wonders. "He's very charming."
"Then, Akechi-san, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Hana turns for a moment, to look at the heart-shaped perfume, and then back to Umie. No, 'Kokoro'.
She smiles. "Either way, I like to come here to get ahead of stress..."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
To be fair, it's not that Umie would exactly know either; while there is nothing about Hana that would note Umie's senses as going off due to calling the Old Maid, Umie can't rule it out, either.
A lack of evidence is not the same as evidence.
Is Umie a fan of Akechi's? "Oh, you met him?" she says instead, sidestepping the question. "From what I've seen on TV," she says, "he's certainly very charismatic."
Umie's attempt to reassert confidence is waylaid by being addressed as 'Akechi-san', a further complication that she did not foresee.
She *could* give up, give her vague warning, and split. But what sort of help would that be?
"Please, call me Koko-san. I don't need more people to think I'm related to him..." She puts her hands to her cheeks, shaking her head. "It's so embarrassing..."
At least, Hana seems to be rather accepting, moving along with the obviously fake name.
And so, Umie does the same, her hands going to her pockets. "Iie...." she murmurs, eyelashes dropping to a relaxed level. "What sort of scents do you tend to like then, Fukami-san?"
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
As it happens, Hana hasn't called the Old Maid--but Umie has no way to tell, really.
"On TV, of course," Hana clarifiess, though it's true that she met him in person. "He is!"
A further complication... but, "Koko-san it is," she answers, and listens to the rest. It's embarrassing, isn't it? "Aww, I'm sorry to have contributed," Hana says, though--
Well, no, she doesn't buy it, but she's willing to rent it; she has no reason to cause a scene and confront Umie about it.
Instead, "Hmm... Well, is it sterotypical if I say floral?" she asks. "Today I was looking at the Dianthus flower's scent," she says. A flower relating to love and affection. ...For some reason.
"Are you familiar?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Indeed. Umie's sense of 'bad luck' extends to so many corners. There's the influence of the 'Joka dragon', the 'Joker Curse', and all the ones that just don't seem to fit...
At least there's no kegare that Umie can sense, just yet.
'On TV,' Hana clarifies. "Ahhh. For a moment, I thought you were able to snag him for your show..."
She puts a little more effort in appearing saddened by this; it's not that Umie didn't care, but that she's fine enough with the amount of exposure she has now. It's certainly more fun, besides, to talk on and on about weird supernatural concepts in a way she's only been able to with people like Tamaki.
"I wouldn't say that, no," Umie says, of Hana's answer. "There's a lot of floral scents out there, though... what ones are you looking at, then...?"
Dianthus. Nadeshiko.
Yamato nadeshiko, the ideal Umie plays so well, that she formed another person to get away from it.
Umie fights the compulsion to make a face. "Mostly from the phrase 'yamato nadeshiko'," she says, shifting back to her left foot. "I'm sure some man out there would love it if I resembled something like that, but let's be real; I prefer being more 'scents-sible'." umie no
"But nevermind me," she says, flipping her hair back. "What draws you to it?"
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
"If we do, I'd have to keep it secret until it aired~!" Hana answers cheerfully. "So maybe one day."
But Umie wouldn't say it. "I'm glad," she says. Her name, after all, is floral. So it would be fine if it were stereotypical accordingly. But she explains Dianthus... and of course, Hana plays that role well, too.
No, there's no especial amount of kegare that Umie can sense from Hana that's any more than the usual background noise. But really at taht phrase....
"Ah, yes," Hana says. "Men often do." She laughs faintly at 'scents-sible'. "So you'd rather follow your own path, mm? Respectable."
"...its meaning of love and affection," Hana says. "I have someone waiting for me back in Tokyo."
"Not that he's not going to wait a bit longer, of course; i was here visiting family."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"Ahh, not even a tiny hint?" Umie grins, clapping her hands together once. "I get it though. That's a mark of a true professional~"
Even, at that phase... so far, she's only been able to detect someone right when they were about to transform, or... afterward, neither of each Hana is doing now.
It *is* disturbing how it feels like everywhere in Sumaru City has a small degree of that 'taint' now; had it always been there, or is it new?
Maybe, it's all a figment of Umie's imagination, yet another delusion being fed to her by that thing named 'Nyarlathotep'.
She squints. "Oh, right, your first name... it's Hana, isn't it? No wonder you were asking." She places a finger to her chin, thoughtfully. "People must assume it means 'flower'..." Much like people would assume 'Umie' was relating to the ocean, or 'rabbit'.
Or the moon.
She'll follow her own path. "I suppose, you could say that."
There's another meaning a dianthus could have, however...
'I have someone waiting for me back in Tokyo.' Umie's expression softens slightly. "It's a wonderful feeling, isn't it?"
What if that's where Hana's bad luck may come in, Umie supposes. But to assume that, and then had it be something else...
'Why don't you tell her, instead of pretending to be a part of her world, Umie-chan?'
It has to be a delusion. Or...
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
Hana smiles. "Of course." No hints!
It could all be Umie's imagination! Hana, certainly, seems in good spirits right now. There's no sign but intuition of her impending bad luck.
"That's right," Hana confirms of her first name. "The kanji it uses can mean 'flower'," she says, "Though in this case it's more 'blooming'."
But she's good at saying things. Umie clearly wants to be independent--conformists don't as often use fake names.
"It is," Hana agrees. It's a little complicated; she can't share everything about it. But, "So you have someone, too? ...Or have, in the past?"
She smiles back. "Well, there are other nice scents, too. I'm thinking also..."
"Chamomile and Hyacinth."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Umie makes a play at hesitating, as if waiting for Hana to relent and let some little hint through.
It's all a joke, of course, a way to play the personality of 'Kokoro Akechi'.
The 'heart', you could say.
"Blooming..." The connotations could swing between life, flowers, spring... or the eruption of something that was best allowed to keep closed.
Either is reading too much. The name 'Umie Akabane' had everything to do with blackbirds, red, and wings, but who is she, that is here, before Hana?
Who is Hana Fukami, and what is to be her fate?
Well, for one thing, Hana is a normal person who does not just gush about her 'bond', as Shiryuu would term it.
Umie's willing to share a little, because it's been a source of pleasant distraction during a tense time.
"Yes," Umie admits, and by the way she says it, she at least believes it to be true. "Very much in the present, thankfully. We just celebrated Christmas together."
It feels good, to say that, and not have it be a lie.
"Chamomile... I know about the tea, but Hyacinth... that sounds like a pretty floral scent." She knew some symbolism of some flowers, but this was largely Jun's field of specialty. "What do those symbolize?"
Maybe there's meaning there...
Or maybe, she's too cowardly to say what she wants to say, in favor of playing the lie.
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
No. No relenting!! Just a smile.
Instead, she considers Umie--Kokoro's--talk of Blooming, but brightens as she decides to share instead. "That's wonderful!" Hana answers. "We did, too. And then for the new year we have ourselves and some very good friends for the coming year..." She's fond of all.
"Mine is a weatherman at the station," she says conspiratorially. "He played baseball in university, and still keeps up his game."
But... florals!
"Honestly it's less for what they symbolize and more for what they do; despite the fact that I'm enjoying my time with my loved ones greatly, it's a... hectic, time of year, and i'm looking into scents that will help me relax and enjoy what I have."
"After all, it's important to be present in the moment, don't you think?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Celebrating with someone you love, having plans for New Years' celebrations with friends.
None of this speaks of someone in 'danger', if 'bad luck' were to mean that, and that's assuming if Umie were to believe the sorts of information another woman would leak to another, stranger or no.
If anything, Hana would have incentive to dress everything up as perfect. The woman didn't seem like the sort that would openly complain about life's little setbacks to anyone that would listen, and as a hostess, that's a very good trait to have.
That conspiratorial hush prompts Umie to lean in with an eager nod; she presses a few red-nailed fingers to her lips. "... Ahhh... A guy like that can be hard to find... Very lucky, indeed."
'Bad Luck' didn't mean 'danger', right? Aside from the few things that have happened recently, Umie rarely, if ever, gained confirmation that things did go bad, unless it happened recently.
"I... probably will be working, to be honest. My boyfriend can be absent-minded," she admits. "And I took off Christmas Day to be with him. It was a good date, though... in spite of... I guess you could call it bad luck? I'm not sure if you were here when it happened, but it just seemed like everything went wrong in Aoba Ward."
Hectic, huh... Do tell, Hana. Umie considers this with a quiet expression, pursing her lips.
"It really can be hectic..." she admits. "Sometimes, it's easy to get wrapped up in the symbolism and language of things and not focus in the now." Like she's doing now, Umie reflects.
"It sounds like you're having a bit of bad luck yourself, but you're keeping your chin up in spite of it."
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
"Thank you!" Hana answers, smiling back. "He was. Or rather, he found me first..."
But she doesn't go into the whole story. She could. But a casual conversation would call that oversharing...
"Ahh. I work during the day primarily," Hana says, "So I can usually enjoy the evening, sleep needs aside. We will be airing on New Years', of course."
absent-minded... "Hmmm. I did hear some strange things happened in Aoba," she says. "That it was a very unlucky day for everyone. Maybe it was Sumaru's time of Joka?" She is of course familiar with Wang Long. Obviously.
"But I'm glad your date was good. I hope you can see him a lot."
But sometimes... "Yes," Hana agrees. "It's important to live your life as it is, too."
But... "Oh, not me," Hana says, and looks a little distant. "I just have friends I worry about."
"...You never know what some people are dealing with, after all."
A beat, "But, Koko-san, it's been lovely to meet you."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
'He found me first...' That comment causes Umie to give Hana a lopsided little smile. "I guess I could say the same went for me and my boyfriend..."
... in that Umie and Shiryuu first met on a beach! .... and tried to kill each other (well, one side more than the other).
To overshare... it certainly would be, and it's not as if the possibility of it being a lie would be dispelled.
However, the absence of confirmation does not constitute evidence of lying.
"It sure was. My boyfriend got food poisoning and everything," Umie laughs. "But it just meant I got to pamper him a little." Shiryuu would forgive her if her smile was a little sharp there, right?
"But... that's really what it's all about, right? Spending time with people you love, even if those times aren't picture perfect."
Time of Joka... Well, that would make things easier as a means of explanation.
Friends she worries about...?
"Mmn." Umie's eyelashes lower, her lips pursing. "I see." If her senses weren't tingling, she'd not be combing through all of this looking for clues. Would she have even approached?
... honestly, yes, she would have, and she would have asked for an autograph. Hana *did* keep the blues away during her lonelier days, just by being a face on daytime TV, after all.
"Just... remember to keep an eye on yourself, too. You never know when it's your time of Joka."
It's not like Umie could give Hana her burner phone's number. That worked with Maria, but it wouldn't work with someone older than her.
"And yes, it's been great to meet you too. Who knows, we might meet again sometime--"
She points to a flyer for a sale. "There's a sale going on next week, after all."
With a wink and a nod, 'Kokoro' leaves to go look at some unrelated stock, just long enough for Hana to leave.
... after which she goes to test out that heart-shaped perfume. Maybe something she could wear for Shiryuu....?