View source for 2025-09-12: Homemade Bentos and Matters of the Heart

*'''Log: 2025-09-12: Homemade Bentos and Matters of the Heart'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Yukari Takeba]], [[Minako Arisato]]
*'''Where:''' Gekkoukan High School Roof, Port Island
*'''OOC Date:''' September 12, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' July 10, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Minako and Yukari meet for lunch on the roof. Matters of homemade lunches and boys come up.''

----


 <Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
Let it not be said that even though Yukari Takeba eschews new connections, that she can't be perfectly sociable! In fact, she even invited Minako to lunch on the roof.
 
It's pretty hot at this time of year, but with the wind turbines nearby and the sea breeze, it's rather pleasant today.
 
There's a lot of marble benches set in half circles up here, each one divided in the center and surrounded by planters, and Yukari's sat down on one.
 
"Ugh, promise not to say anything, alright?"
 
To which Yukari brings out...!!! A convenience store rice ball, with umeboshi. No wait! There's also a Pork cutlet? "I've been stuck on convenience store food ever since moving in to the dorm."
 
She says with a sheepish look, like she were embarrassed to invite her to lunch only to show her, "It's not like I can cook or anything with the kitchen still not even set up."
 
There's a deep sigh at that as she confesses to Minako, "It's why it's such a battle to keep the weight off right now..."
 
A pause and-!
 
"So, what's new with you? It's been a little while since we had the opportunity to do something like this."

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
<poem>
"Fingers crossed and swear to die!" Minako says to Yukari, with a smile, when she sees Yukari's convenience store rice ball. She doesn't judge -- because her own bentos, while handmade, are a little lackluster -- and because she is happy to be invited out, besides. And a little surprised, too.

The hum of the wind turbines in the distance makes the background music, as Minako sits next to Yukari, and she unpacks her bento. She has some store-bought grilled chicken, some rice, and steamed broccoli in hers. It's functional -- not very artistic, and it reveals that Minako is a middling cook.

She looks sideways at Yukari. "I'm feeling the lack of a kitchen, too. In the pocketbook ''and'' the waistline." Not that she really has that much weight on; Minako is athletic as a rule, after all.

Then, she tilts her head. "Well..." She trails off. "...not a whole lot! Volleyball is working up to its meet. I'm studying English a little harder. I met with Amamiya-san and his guardian for dinner." Wait, what? She keeps talking. "And I've been visiting Bookworms more lately. That old couple is so nice, you know?"

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
"Not bad. Very healthy." Yukari says in approval, "Though now I wonder if you've been cooking for Sanada-senpai. Take a look in the freezer sometime and you'll know what I'm talking about."
 
Substitute the rice for egg, freeze it altogether and-!
 
Really, Yukari doesn't need to worry that much, as she's athletic too, not even to mention Tartarus runs...
 
... but someone concerned with fashion and beauty might be a little ''over-concerned'' with her weight.
 
"... Nice! Let me know when it is, I'll put it on my calendar."
 
Though what's next startles her, "Huh!?" But she just keeps talking like that was ''normal''!
 
"Wait back up a second there! You had ''dinner'' with this guy, and met his guardian? I thought you'd just met-!"
 
A beat.
 
"At... Bookworms, even. Didn't you say he lived in Tokyo?" It's not ''that'' far a trip, but it is a trip!
 
"Uhhh..." Yukari trails off as if there's no polite way to ask this, and she's flustered trying to figure out how, "... are you two, dating?"
 
Like she knew Minako MET him but like - there's a vast gulf between just meeting and meeting a guy's Guardian for dinner!!!

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
<poem>
"I--I'm a little scared to look now," Minako says, her expression shifting a little bit into a frown. She tilts her head to the side for a moment and tries to picture it -- and what she sees is a high protein health food explosion. Her nose wrinkles and then she shakes her head.

"W-We're not dating!" she says, with a sheepish laugh. "Not like that, it's just--you know, we hung out a few times and I texted to see if he wanted to hang out. And, uhm--"

She leans in. "His guardian owns a coffee shop. And it's always bugged me, what's ''actually'' in Pheromone Coffee?" she asks. "So I thought... you know... maybe he could tell me."

If it sounds like an excuse to hang out -- well, it just might be.

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
"You should be~" Yukari lilts, but she suspects Minako would have the good grace to at least not freeze her meals together like that.
 
Minako though says they're not, and Yukari squints subtly, "Uh-huh..."
 
That sure is a lot of excuses right away, trying to backpeddle away from the idea.
 
Then another, Re: Pheremone Coffee.
 
"... Okayyyyy."
 
She says, as a form of less 'active' listening, and more 'passive-sardonic' listening like 'I don't believe this for even a second."
 
"Buttttt you went all that way to have dinner with him. And said that part so casually, like it was nothing... if you're not dating..."
 
...
 
"Do you like... have a ''crush'' on the guy or something?"
 
It doesn't sound like she's looking down on it! Just, she's maybe a little startled at the speed this is going.
 
(And also how Minako could just fly past that comment with a straight face.)

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
<poem>
"I can be lazy, but... yeeuuggh," Minako says with a shake of her head. And a bit of a shudder. Something about food freezing together and fusing together, like some sort of horrible blob monster, makes her stomach turn. In fairness to Sanada-senpai, her imagination is partially to blame.

She looks back at Yukari -- and she makes a face at the 'passive-sardonic' listening. Then, she sighs, and she looks to the side for a second. She hesitates.

She had avoided thinking about this.

"I-I don't know," she admits. "I mean--maybe? I... um." She laughs, after a second. "It's... I don't know. It's hard to decide how I feel, or--"

She frowns. "...I don't know."

&lt;RP&gt; Myunghon Yeo says, "hmmmm!!"
&lt;RP&gt; Myunghon Yeo says, "i'd like to solicit for pickups"
&lt;RP&gt; Myunghon Yeo says, "meet local singles right here in hirasaka!!"
&lt;RP&gt; Ririka Kawase says, "I'm already doubling but have fun!"
All channels have been gagged.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
It's actually interesting to Yukari. She feels like she could never date anyone that she didn't have a connection to... not that she's looking to date anyone!
 
So to see Minako dating like this, and not... knowing.
 
"Huh. Well there's nothing wrong with that, I guess."
 
And it actually turns out pretty okay, "Like, getting to know someone to figure out how you feel?"
 
She couldn't do that, but that's... normal? A way to live one's life?
 
It's strange to Yukari, how she gets along with these twins when neither of them are exactly normal people.
 
Minato is the weirdest guy she's ever met, and yet...
 
And Minako shifted from talking about eating dinner with a guy and his guardian like she would the weather... to being flustered at the implication it was something more...
 
... to now.
 
She could try to analyze, and peel back the layers but...
 
... she doesn't want to hurt her.
 
"But well... I guess, if it's hard, try telling me about him some? Who knows! It might help you figure things out... being able to talk it out."
 
She doesn't sound certain? But at least she's not promising on something she can't deliver.

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
<poem>
"Kinda. Though, I--mean, I didn't think about dating. And... I don't think something is ''really'' a date unless both people think it is," Minako says. She looks down for a second. "It's just fun, and I was going with it, and... not thinking about it too hard."

She looks up. Then she tilts her head to the side. It's dodging the harder thing -- if it's ''really'' a crush, how she feels, or anything else. She considers for a second, then, before she looks back down.

This time, it's a thoughtful glance downward instead of reluctant.

"He's cool. Like -- the classic sort of cool, understated and nothing seems to faze him. But he's not aloof, either, and he's friendly," Minako says. "And he seems smart. I mean... we went to a bookstore, separately, and that's the second time we talked."

She shakes her head. "And he's a nice guy. He's hard to read, sometimes, but that's not bad. And it's..."

She considers. Should she say the truth? That it's nice having someone she can be close to that doesn't know about SEES, Dark Hour, her parents, or any of that? That Minako, selfishly, is just having fun with it ''because'' it isn't something so serious? It sounds horrible, when she puts it that way.

So she doesn't say that as such. Minako looks up at Yukari and she smiles. "...It's fun, you know? And simple."

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
"True... like, people thought I was dating your brother just because I walked to school with him one day."
 
She agrees with that much, it annoys her that the culture thinks a guy and a girl together ''must'' be dating in all occasions.
 
Like she ''belongs'' to him or something. No way!
 
But she can see that almost pensive expression on Minako... and part of Yukari wonders...
 
Does she think she even...
 
No get off of that line of thinking. It's not worth it. You'll just run circles around and round that thought when it's none of your business!
 
"Hmmm." Yukari considers Minako's description of Ren Amamiya, her own gaze unmoving from Minako's face.
 
"Well... when you put it that way... he does sound pretty great."
 
There's a question still nagging her, but she sets it aside. "Simple's good!" Yukari affirms, "Huh... well, he sounds nice enough. I guess it wouldn't be so bad to... hang out more and find out whether you're into him or not?"
 
A thought does occur to her, as she brings out her phone, flipping through her contacts, she finds a girl she met at an Archery Tournament from Shujin...
 
...
 
...
 
Is she actually considering ''vetting'' Minako's potential future boyfriend?
 
Well yes, actually?
 
"Well if you do decide to date him, you know I'll back you up, you know? I don't mind hanging out nearby the first few dates if he changed and became a handsy creep the moment you were going out."
 
And part of her worries that Minako might not... actually voice discomfort, if she were feeling some, because...
 
"You can never be too careful...! Not that I don't trust your judgement or anything just... you know. It's hard to know for sure, until you do."
 
Yeah no she's going to be going round and round this thought for a while.
 
Idly she chews on her rice ball.

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
<poem>
"Oh, yeah... I've had people make assumptions about me like that, too," Minako says. She looks back at Yukari. "It's funny, you know? We're up here eating by ourselves. And no one would ever think..."

She trails off. She doesn't finish that -- and it's not like she would be interested in Yukari, like that -- but then she shakes her head. And it's a distraction (is it, really?) from the other topic at hand.

"Yeah," she says. "You're right. And it's not... you know. It's not ridiculous, the idea of me having a boyfriend."

She says it with a smile. She says it so cheerfully, so simply.

And it was absolutely something she wondered about, thought about, and worried about. And it's something she still does.

Answers are never easy.

Her eyes light up, at Yukari's offer. Then, she nods, and she looks happy with that. "Thanks, Takeba-chan. I trust him, but... you've got a point. It's best to be safe. We could have... a code, even, like, text the other and then we can call, right on cue, to help the other get out of a situation?"

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
"Huh!?" Yukari looks surprised at Minako saying that, "W-Well of course they wouldn't. We're just two girls, eating lunch."
 
Wait does Minako think that's the same as a boy ''and'' a girl eating lunch!?
 
Yukari doesn't process that thought, because she's used to the Arisatos being a little strange about their logical conclusions...
 
"Nah like, not ridiculous at all. Most girls are age are... looking for one even."
 
Just I didn't realize you might be!
Kinda stupid now that I think about it...
 
"And most guys are looking for a girlfriend. You know how many times I've been asked out?"
 
Pause.
 
"I can't actually answer that, I don't remember like half of them."
 
Yukari says as she leans back, lifting a palm in the air. Most girls would think it's a brag, but she's actually not. It's more like she's annoyed by it.
 
If she allowed herself to process the number, then she'd probably just be angry ''all the time''?
 
"Right exactly. You're our leader right? We have to look out for you! So I'd be happy to do that until you know for sure he's safe."
 
Bite, bite. How many guys ''had'' asked her out lately? ... Chew, chew. She actually tries to think, furrowing her brow and... she can only clearly remember one time.
 
And... she didn't mind that one so much?
 
"Huh... now that I think about it, the only one who's asked me out lately is..." She says it absently, but then, she seems startled, like she's remembering Minako's here with her, "Oh ah! Nobody! Don't even worry about it. Just some... guy trying a line."
 
And that guy just happened to be Minako's twin brother.
 
Cool Yukari, super smooth.

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
<poem>
"Haa, yeah... sorry, I don't know why that occurred to me," Minako says, and it's almost the truth.

She looks at Yukari -- considers what she says -- and then she nods. Then, she cracks a smile as she says that, though she hesitates. She catches that way that Yukari seems like she is annoyed by it.

"It sucks," she says. "When people don't consider what you might want. And just think about they want. A lot of people our age want to date, but... that's not everyone, right?"

She hesitates for a second, though, and then she blinks -- and she turns her head to look back at Yukari. She lifts one eyebrow in a ''very'' skeptical look. And then she hesitates, for a second, as she considers it for a moment. "What, like, you didn't even know the guy's name?"

Minako never imagines who it ''really'' was.

"A total stranger? That's ''so'' weird," Minako says with a sigh. "It's like I was just saying!"

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
"You're so weird sometimes." Yukari says, almost affectionately, as she nudges Minako's side. Then...
 
"Yeah... well. I guess it's hard to know what I might want without getting to know me? So it's not like I have no sympathy. Or at least - I'd have more if most of them didn't jump right to 'I love you! Please go out with me!' just like that."
 
Yes she even mimics a guy's voice for that section. "Like if someone can say that while barely even knowing me... they can't really actually love me for me. They just love some ''idea'' of who I am."
 
...
 
She thinks it's fine! She has it covered...!
 
And then Minako asked something that causes her mind to blip into static before kicking back into high gear, like it's trying to catch up. "I mean - most of the time I don't know the guy's name! They really come out of nowhere."
 
But... she doesn't want to ''lie'' to her outright either. "But, not so much... this guy. Uhhh, I guess I thought he was picking up bad habits from someone else, or doing it on a dare from someone. You know the guys do that all the time? Dare someone to ask me out, like I'm some kind of challenge to conquer."
 
Come on Yukari! Think of a way out of this!
 
"... It wasn't even the worst line I'd ever heard but, you know, what does it matter anyway? Guys will be... guys."
 
Wait a second, is she, blushing a little?

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
<poem>
Minako laughs when Yukari nudges her in the side. She nudges her back, glances sideways at her. "Takeba-haaaaan~" she says, thickening up that Osaka accent for effect for just a moment. "I think you like me that way."

She glances sideways at Yukari -- and then she nods her head, with understanding. Then, she laughs at the impression, and covers her mouth with her hand. "That's... that's just sad, with those guys. They're just... they don't care that it's ''you''."

Minako gets asked out less. She is a transfer student and new. She is pretty, but she isn't quite Yukari's sort of pretty. And she can be a little -- okay, a lot -- intense.

It's been rare, so far.

She looks sideways at Yukari, and she considers for a second. Then, she nods. "Yeah," she says. "If it's not their idea."

But Yukari is blushing, a little.

"If you don't think he was sincere," Minako says, "then it's probably for the best that you shot him down, right?"

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
The use of that honorific in her Osakan accent, plus implying she's into her!? "Pfft... what the heck? As if." She says, now completely un-seriously given that all.
 
"I'm not into ''anyone'' right now, come on. Is this an Osaka thing? To make all kinds of those 'S-Class' jokes." She looks mildly exasperated, but she's smiling, "Don't make me the Tsukkomi in your rooftop Manzai act."
 
It's really not a competition anyway. And if it were, it's one Yukari would ''gladly'' not be winning, or even in the running for.
 
She just figures Minako gets asked out the normal amount - maybe a little more than that even because she's outgoing and really cute? Plus, a star on the Volleyball Team.
 
She thinks she's escaped, since Minako doesn't start with asking his name again, but then she looks sidelong, at her statement, "Huh!? I mean..."
 
Now she actually looks she's really thinking that one through, her expression almost contemplative but a little intense.
 
"... I guess he might have been? Uh... maybe. Look. It's hard to say. And like I said - I'm not looking for anyone to be my boyfriend right now."
 
But if she were?
 
Okay that thought bothers her.
 
Would she say yes, if she were looking right now?

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
<poem>
The joke about a Manzai routine prompts Minako to get the giggles. She laughs, shaking her head quickly. "Sorry, sorry," she says, "I'll spare you from such a fate, Takeba-chan."

She smiles at her -- and sits up a bit straighter, then puts her mostly-emptied bento box at her side, on that white, curving bench. Minako's crimson eyes turn to meet Yukari's, and she considers for a second.

That intense, thoughtful look is hard to look away from.

"No, that's... that's what important. Knowing what you want," Minako says. She falls quiet for a second. "Actually..."

And she is quiet for a second more.

"I envy you, Takeba-chan," she says. "Earlier... I wasn't totally honest. I don't know if I want a boyfriend. I--I mean, I tried to avoid thinking about it, really." She is quieter, then; it sounds lame to admit.

"...and I guess the only way to know is see where something goes," she says. "But... you seem like you know what you want."

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
"Sureeee you will." Yukari says, as if exasperated and enjoying herself simultaneously! It can be both!
 
But then Minako looks thoughtful, and Yukari gives her an expression as if to ask 'What is it?' without actually getting to the words, before Minako voices it.
 
And Yukari maybe holds her breath at being told she envies her, "You do?" As if surprised, before she confides what she was thinking earlier. It's... actually what Yukari was thinking, but...
 
... it went a step further than that. Several steps further. To whether Minako might just doing it because she is 'supposed to'. And whether she thinks she wouldn't know even if she did like him, because of... what's underneath that smile.
 
Yukari doesn't even know really all that's underneath it, just, a hint. Enough to guess.
 
"You do..." She trails off, as her expression becomes torn, but like she's trying hard to keep it neutral.
 
"I guess that's accurate. I know exactly what I want... and what I'm here to do."
 
It's just, if she feels lost, groping in the dark, like she has no idea how to get there, is it really an enviable position? If she has no idea how a person is supposed to live, much less herself, isn't it leading her on?
 
Isn't it making her seem like a more admirable person than she actually is?
 
"Well... I think it's okay not to know, really. Most people don't really know what they want out of life, right?"
 
...
 
"And even more people just lie to themselves about... thinking they know what they want, but they only want it because they think it's the way things are supposed to be."
 
Marriage? Kids? She doesn't want any of that! But most girls would instantly go 'Well duh, of course I'm getting married. Of course I'm having kids some day.' Because they're told they have to.
 
Because you're an outsider if you don't.
 
"I don't think it's wrong to date someone to figure out how you feel about them. And I don't think it's wrong either to just... hang out with them for the same reason."
 
She manages a thin smile at her, "I wish I had better advice to give you really, but I've never really gone out with anyone? Or hung out with a guy to figure out if I like him or anything."
 
Wait... is that really true?
 
DON'T THINK ABOUT IT!
 
"Either way, we can keep eating lunch together, and... well, I guess... I don't mind listening when you want to talk about how it's all coming along."
 
It's... a small step up, from when she couldn't be there for Minako before. Tiny Tiny little steps...
 
... but it's something?

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
<poem>
Minako laughs when Yukari seems exasperated, but in a good way.

But the conversation turns more serious. It's easy for Minako to see that what she said moved Yukari, but she doesn't know if it's a good or bad sort of moved. She watches, and she listens, even as Yukari tries to keep her voice neutral.

"Yeah," Minako agrees, quietly. She also knows what they're here to do. And Yukari ''did'' say she wants to protect her leader. She can't forget that.

"No, most... most people don't," Minako agrees quietly. "I don't. And sometimes it feels easy to say--y'know. Do what a girl is supposed to. Want what a girl is supposed to. But..."

Her eyes turn to meet Yukari's. "...Yeah. It's okay. It's good advice, and--I don't know if I want to date him. Or anyone," she says. "But... I don't mind spending time and seeing if I can figure it out."

Then, she cracks a smile -- and it's warm, and maybe it's not forced. "Thanks, Takeba-chan. I'll take you up on that. And... you know." She tilts her head, a little red hair swaying when she does.

"Same for you, okay? If you want."

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
<poem>
"Yeah... everyone acts like, we're supposed to have it all planned out already. You have to be married by twenty five... kids before you're thirty."
 
She brushes a hand through her hair, "But that's not what I want. And when it's not, those things feel more like threats than goals?"
 
She thinks of her Mother, desperate to have a boyfriend - desperate to get remarried, thinking she has to settle for asshole after asshole because she's already over forty.
 
Because she has a kid.
 
What kind of life is that? Being trapped in the expectation that you ''need'' that.
 
"Yeah. I think that feels right. Just, go at your own pace alright? Don't get caught up in his. My guess is if you're thinking 'maybe' that he's probably at 'definitely' when it comes to wanting to date you."
 
Yukari has a pretty dim view of guys and their 'irresponsibility' in general, thank the guys who dated her Mom.
 
Also Junpei, but he's much less at fault!!! He's only like, 15% responsible at best.
 
"Then, let's keep meeting up here." She says, with a smile, "It's not like I have any other commitments around lunch time."
 
What she says though...
 
... Yukari looks off towards the turbines in the distance, past it towards the sea and wonders.
 
She would swear she was going to say 'Like that could ever happen' but it's like she suddenly gets this moment where she thinks, she might have already said that once.
 
Puzzled, she keeps looking out into the distance until that pervasive loneliness that thought brought to her fades away under the feeling of another thought entirely.
 
"I guess it could happen." She eventually replies, a hand brushing through her hair to tuck some of it back into place as the sea air causes it to blow backwards, "Maybe some day..."

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
<poem>
"Yeah. And... that's a lot to commit to," Minako says. She looks sideways at Yukari, watching the way her fingers run through her hair -- and it gives her a moment's pause, as she thinks about that, and what Yukari says.

"It does," she agrees. "And like it's... a fallback, but like it's too easy. Or settling, somehow."

She shakes her head once.

Then, she gets a smile on her face -- and Minako tilts her head to the side. "Maybe so," she admits. "He's hard to read, but... I remember what you said, too."

She smiles more, then, when Yukari says they should keep getting lunch up here. Minako nods in agreement, then, and her feet swing on the bench as she does. "Sure," she says. "I'd like that a lot. My lunches are open, too."

She looks after Yukari's line of sight -- at the turbines, and then back at Yukari. Her smile fades while she watches, but Minako doesn't look unhappy. She watches the way the wind moves through her hair, the way her fingers do the same.

Then, quietly, Minako says, "Yeah. Maybe some day."

</poem>

[[Category:Logs]]
[[Category:Season 1]]
[[Category:Season 1, Episode 1]]