View source for 2026-08-18: Futaba's Essential Party Member

*'''Log: 2026-08-18 Futaba's Essential Party Member'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Futaba Sakura]], [[Ren Amamiya]]
*'''Where:''' Shibuya Station - Buchiko Exit
*'''OOC Date:''' August 18, 2026
*'''IC Date:''' December 27, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Futaba and Ren make plans to go shopping in Shibuya. When Ren arrives, though, Futaba's in a panic from the crowds. They help her get away, and the two (plus Morgana) talk about what to do for her to do better.''

----

 (|====================== Shibuya Station - Buchiko Exit ======================|)
 -====================================================== Tokyo/Shibuya Ward ====-
 Day in, day out, throngs of people choose to pack themselves inside shining     
 metal behemoths called "trains" that then hurtle them towards a set destination.
 They then get out at these "station" nodes, acting as if it were entirely       
 normal! This particular one is a confusing, winding labyrinth that seeks to     
 distract them from escape with underground malls, juice stands, and offers of   
 gainful employment. Eventually, one solves the maze and ascends to see the      
 sunlight once more.                                                             
                                                                                 
 The square above is just as full of humanity, from down-on-their-luck teen      
 buskers looking for their big break, politicians in front of restored train cars
 making speeches that speak to the history of this place, and even smoky booths  
 cordoned off by glass to make certain no one should suffer from their vice. A   
 statue of the loyal pup Buchiko stands here enshrined like a local god,         
 surrounded constantly by tourists. Go further, and you'll see the busy checkered
 crosswalks and looming screens above that demand the attention from all who     
 pass, showing them what the powers that be demand they focus upon.              
                                                                                 
 Welcome to Shibuya.                                                             

 <Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
<poem> 
TOKYO - 27 DECEMBER 2012 

Time has moved on, even if it's still Winter Break. 

As such, a text message appears to the phone of Ren Amamiya sometime around 3 PM. It comes, in fact, from Futaba Sakura. Not from the hidden backchannel she'd created which Ren might have &#42;titled&#42; Futaba (or Alibaba) but from what was, evidently, her actual legitimate government-recognized phone number!

&gt; MERY CHRISTMAS
&gt; The year 2012 draws to its inevitable close. Are you prepared? 
&gt; I wanted to ask you for a favor. 
&gt; There's a huge sale on drives at the BC at Shibuya.
&gt; I need more data storage, and they might have a couple of games I was looking for. 
&gt; But it's kind of a big step...
&gt; Can you come with me?

Once a reply arrived expressing an affirmative...

&gt; Excellent. You're a good person.
&gt; It's a flash sale, so supply's going to be low. I'll link up with you at :dog: :moai: 
&gt; Launching!!

Is this a wise idea? Would the risk of a few minutes' delay really be that crucial? Are the deals &#42;that good&#42;??

Well... there's no sign of a Futaba, or of a suspiciously Futaba-shaped object, in the Yongenjaya station. And she &#42;did&#42; have a planned rendezvous. It isn't as though the trains and the stations are going to be quite as jam-packed as they might be, right? On a holiday? 

SMASH CUT TO BUCHIKO 

There is no short girl in orange hair conveniently near Buchiko's statue. 

Sending texts do not get immediate replies. 

Scanning the immediate area reveals -- people milling around. Sub-rush-hour, hardly empty but not packed cheek to jowl. But there is a &#42;POLICE OFFICER&#42; near one of the old train cars with their glossy dark-green all-weather paint coats, crouching down to address...!!!

'Hey,' says the policeman. 'Hey, miss. Are you out here by yourself?' 

Huddled into a corner, almost sitting-down but actually crouching down so low that she's wrapped halfway around her own knees, is the carrot-topped head of Futaba Sakura. If she answers, it's not immediately audible. 

'Did you get lost? Did you run away from home?' 

"u-uum, iiihh..." 

Not great. The good news, at least, is that this is a solitary officer, and from the relatively schlubby posture and the station vest, the prospect of an elite operative of the New World Order can be ruled out. Probably. He also has his back relatively towards the approaching leader of the Phantom Thieves, leaving him fully exposed for a silent takedown-- 

-- or, at least, some kind of intervention in the matter. The next step is probably taking her to the local station box. That could escalate quickly. 

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
    Naturally Ren agreed. At the time she'd texted them, they'd just finished playing a few rousing games of shogi with Hifumi and talking strategy and her overbearing mom with her. Kanda Church is a good ways away, but Shibuya's in more or less the center, and Futaba herself suggests they meet up at Buchiko's statue rather than going together the whole way from her house or Leblanc.
    
    They smile at her calling them a good person. It's an exaggeration, but it's nice to see anyway.
    
    When they arrive, they jog over to the Buchiko, figuring they've arrived after her. When she's not there, they frown a little. They circle the statue, then the area around the statue, and then...
    
    They would've steered clear from the cop near the old green train car, except they happen to overhear what he's saying. A hunch makes Ren look more closely his way, and then down.
    
    Uh oh.
    
    Ren maintains their hurried pace, letting the fall of their winter boots be the sign of their approach. "Futaba! Sorry I'm late," they call, as much for the cop's sake as for hers. They slow as they approach and stop next to her, slightly in between her and the strange officer. Sure, he ''probably'' isn't on the take with the NWO, but Ren baseline doesn't trust cops. Even a well-meant one might just decide they know best and force Futaba into something she doesn't want to do.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
<poem> 
Is it an exaggeration, Ren Amamiya...?

Well, there are all the crimes. 

The many, many crimes. 

'Can you come down to the --?' The cop is cut off as Futaba's head lifts up with a sudden startled expression. She looks directly at Ren. Heaving herself up, she runs for them! The cop turns around with confusion on his somewhat-aging face as Futaba immediately vectors directly behind Ren, crouching and nervous. 

The cop looks directly at Ren. 

It is very clear from the expression of the cop that he has zero idea who Ren is. There is a certain amount of sizing up. 

'You know her?' he says, with a meditative frown. 

... Fortunately, just about any positive answer gets him to nod once. 'Stick with your party, alright?' As he fucks along, there's some world weary muttering, but he's heading back towards the main station building, where there's warmth, and perhaps the promise of more delinquents to shift out. 

The threat of police action has receded. 

"... s... sorry," Futaba mutters, remaining huddled close. Close enough that if Morgana is in that bag, he can probably stick his head out and head-butt Futaba, if he has a mind to. She sounds cold. 

"I... u-um..." 

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
    It's more about calling them a good person for agreeing to go with her somewhere than about being called a good person period. But yes. There ''are'' all the crimes.
    
    It was a little odd when Futaba hid behind Ren from Hibari. This time, they're happy to be her shield from the world. When the cop looks them over, they keep their expression politely neutral and their eyes on them. The question gets a single nod. Fortunately for everyone, that's plenty. When he leaves, they breathe out a silent sigh, then look over their shoulder at Futaba.
    
    Morgana is indeed there in Ren's bag, and he pops out not to headbutt her, but to press a paw on her as if leaning a comforting hand on her, kitty face concerned.
    
    "It's OK," Ren murmurs, for their part. "You need to go somewhere quiet to de-stress?"
    
    "There's a lot of little cafes and other stores around where we can get a little more privacy than out here," Morgana adds.
    
    If Futaba agrees, Ren will guide her to exactly such a place, walking as fast or (more likely) as slow as Futaba needs them to. With Morgana at their back, he can keep a close eye on her for them.
    
    And once they're all somewhere relatively out of the way...
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
<poem> 
Maybe that cop isn't that bad a guy, either. There's gotta be some out there. 

Right? 

Well, be that as it may. 

Futaba looks over at Morgana, and Morgana can see directly that her face is red from both the cold and, almost certainly, humiliation. "uum. Yeah," she concurs with a nod. She reaches out to latch onto Ren's arm, like a...

SEGUE 

Seated in a booth at that conveniently study-friendly diner, Futaba scrunches herself up in the corner of the booth, but it is more of a &#42;habitual&#42; scrunch - a preferred, perhaps comfortable seating style - rather than the terrorized, near-cringing posture she'd had. She doesn't look up to meet Ren's eyes, finally saying once the server has left, "I guess I went too fast, huh." 

Her head slumps forwards. The headphones slide off of one ear, which she reaches up to put back into place without any particular concern. 

"So much for the sale..." 

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
    Statistically speaking. Yeah.
    
    Funnily enough, Ren was just here yesterday. They still order a Frui-Tea, but they leave it at that--no Nostalgic Steak today. Futaba does seem somewhat less frazzled now that they're out of the crowds and she's no longer getting bugged by a cop who may or may not be that bad a guy, but she's still not ''great''. Slouched and not making eye contact. Ren watches her with concern, as does Morgana, paws perched on the edge of the table.
    
    "There'll be other sales," Ren reassures her. "Even if you went too fast this time, it was really brave of you to come out all this way on your own."
    
    "It might not be too late either," Morgana offers. "Why don't we take a bit of time to let you settle down and challenge it again, this time together?"
    
    Ren nods their agreement. Of course, the way Futaba talked about the sale in the first place, everything she wants might be gone by the time they get there... but it's the trying, and not giving up after a setback, that's important.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
<poem> 
"Mmh... there's been a big drought in storage, though... I've been having to shuffle stuff in and out of archives," Futaba mumbles, but her heart isn't really in it. She then looks up and over towards Morgana, who extends... a paw... of hope!

That there might still be stuff left. 

"... I thought it'd be fine, since I remembered how to ride the train and everything," Futaba says, reaching over with one hand to pick up the menu and look at it. "But..." 

"I'd never been in Shibuya station by myself, and I knew &#42;about&#42; Buchiko but I didn't know &#42;where&#42; it was, and I thought it wouldn't be a problem since I didn't get that feeling about Mementos, but as soon as I had to start looking for the way out..."

"... what makes the surprise sando a surprise?" 

Looking back up, Futaba wrinkles her nose to push her glasses up without moving her hand. 

"But... I was definitely panicking. I knew it, too, and I tried to be like, 'stop, stop, three hundred thousand people come through here every day, stupid' and it just made it worse... I thought my heart was going to pop." 

"People were staring, so I tried to hide... I tried to find a place you could see but... then that policeman came by and I just..." 

Several seconds of miserable silence. 

"But then you were there and I just was able to grab onto you! It all went away!" Futaba suddenly exclaims. Kind of. She stops afterwards because it was a fraction Too Loud, if not the kind of Too Loud that draws staring. Still, it's a lingering worry. 

"... that's so lame," Futaba concludes, exhaling. 

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
    "The surprise is that it's gross," Ren, who apparently does not have a refined enough palate to enjoy crawfish paste, replies. "Don't get it unless you want to test your courage."
    
    "It'd be better if it were tuna," Morgana adds knowingly, despite having never had the Surprise Sando himself, only watched Ren eat it once and never again.
    
    Otherwise, they listen quietly, arms folded on the table as they slouch over it. It's no wonder trying to talk herself down didn't work if she insulted herself... to say nothing of reminding herself of just ''how'' big the crowd would be.
    
    They're about to apologize for not being able to get there sooner when Futaba brightens! Sort of. She talks louder for a moment, anyway. Their own eyes widen as they consider this. It makes sense; they've managed to earn her trust, and they've done their best to be reliable for her. If she could hide behind them again, then she'd have that reassurance that things wouldn't be so scary and overwhelming after that point. (To say nothing of the not-a-cat with them. Morgana may not be a cat, but he may as well be for the way Futaba squishes his face, something he grudgingly tolerates for her sake.)
    
    Of course, then she puts herself down again.
    
    "Which part?" Ren wonders.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
<poem> 
"Then... I'll just get a coffee. I can eat at home." 

Futaba sure drinks a lot of coffee. It doesn't seem to bug her, though it's also quite plausible that sheer proximity to Leblanc has caused her to acquire a high tolerance for caffeine. 

"Like a tuna paste? That would be really good with something crisp. Like cucumbers," Futaba says to Morgana. After this she takes her glasses off all the way, wiggling around so she can bring up her sleeveless shirt's tail to clean them off. (The big coat she was wearing was doing most of the 'not freezing' work, but this couldn't have helped her comfort level in this weather.) 

So which part is lame? 

"... just that..." 

squeek squeek. squeek squeek. She looks sadder without the glasses. Fortunately, they go back on soon. 

"... It all kind of went away once you were there." 

The silence stretches. 

Futaba seems to be thinking about something. That or she's getting really into one of the pictures of the breakfast sets which are not operative at this hour of the day. 

"That's it," Futaba says, raising her eyes. "You're..." 

DON! Both palms on the table as she leans over abruptly. "A key item! An essential party member!" 

Two seconds pass. 

Futaba slides back into her previous shrimplike posture. 

"... You play games, right?"

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
    The coffee has free refills, so it'll require guts to just lounge and ask for more for however long they all hang out here anyway. Ren prefers Leblanc's coffee, so they go for the Frui-Tea. It's delicious, and also it's apparently really good for their skin. They swear they've gotten hotter since they started drinking it. Of course, maybe that's more the result of applying the make-up and skin care lessons they've been getting from Ann... Still, the tea can't hurt.
    
    "Ugh, cucumbers," Morgana utters, wrinkling his nose. "I can't ''stand'' cucumbers. Something about them just creeps me out."
    
    Ren pointedly does not remark on this. Instead, they say, "Maybe crackers instead, then."
    
    squeek squeek. squeek squeek. The lack of glasses ''does'' change the shape of her face. Ren knows this thanks to their experience with their own (non-prescription) glasses, but it's still striking to see the change. And people complain about no one recognizing Clark Kent when he takes his off...
    
    Futaba explains the issue. Ren... is not sure they get it. They give her a quizzical look, like, 'Is that a bad thing?' Still, they wait for her to say her piece.
    
    ...
    ...
    ...
    Nope, that's it.
    
    Except that's NOT it--what's it is ''them''. They're a key item! ...
    
    "...I think I prefer essential party member," they say deadpan, confirming they do indeed play games. Maybe only retro games these days, but still.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
<poem> 
Without her glasses, how can anyone tell that that short nerd with bad posture and blaze-orange hair is actually the legendary Futaba Sakura? 

Probably when she walks into something. Those glasses do have a considerable prescription. 

"... w-well, um," Futaba huffs, "good, you know the idea. If. Um." Her eyes turn momentarily towards Morgana as if seeking moral support from his adorable transmogrified-into-a-kitty-cat face. 

Back to Ren. 

Futaba does &#42;not&#42; say this with the same enthusiasm as her palms-on-the-table enthusiasm. "If I need to go out... no." She takes in a deep breath. 

"... Ama... no... Ren!" (Emphatic but inside-voiced emphatic.) 

"Please be my essential party member!!" 

"I promise I won't make you do it all the time," she continues, "but -- if you'll do stuff like go to crowded stores with me I promise I'll work hard on navigation techniques. Please!" And now she raises her hands up to clap them above her head and bow her head down, low enough that her forehead rests on the menu. 

Her glasses slide off her face, as does her headphones. She wiggles her head to try and rectify these matters without breaking that imploring hand gesture. 

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
    The prescription only change the shape of her face even more, really. Damn you, light-bending lenses!
    
    Morgana meanwhile ''does not'' play games, or more accurately, he's only experienced games through watching Ren play, and the type of games they've got for their retro console don't really incorporate party members. (They ''did'' pick up the original Drake Adventure last month, but they haven't had a chance to start it yet. Maybe over break; they've got the time now.) When Futaba looks at him for moral support, he just makes a noise like, "??"
    
    Ren has more of an idea of where she's going with this, but they still don't know how to respond at first. It helps when she clarifies exactly what she's hoping they'll do for them as an 'essential party member.' When she puts it like that, how can they say no?
    
    "Sure," they reply, keeping their tone casual. "No need to beg. We're helping each other out this way, right?" They offer her a slight smile and a hand to shake. "This way, it's more like a deal."
    
    Now hopefully she doesn't lose her headphones and glasses in the process.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
<poem> 
Futaba raises her head, seeing the proffered hand. Then she extends a hand across the table, admittedly at a weird angle, to clasp Ren's. Squeeze... and... 

SHAKE. 

        Did time just feel weird for a moment? 

Futaba straightens up after this, settling back. "Thank you," Futaba says. She smiles, authentically, for a second. 

"And now... let's finish our drinks and get shopping!!" 

This may baffle Morgana. 

SOON

Emerging from the towering shop, Futaba holds several bags. "Three one terabyte's not bad," she comments. "At least the price is going in the right direction per gig." Also in the bags: a copy of some horrible Drake Adventure spin-off for a mobile system Futaba apparently has, and a 128GB flash drive with a cat face that is &#42;curiously similar to Morgana's...&#42; 

"... hehe," Futaba concludes, and she's smiling. Of course at this point it's getting pretty freaking late in the day, and - 

TRAIN

- it's dark once they're back in Yongenjaya. The first location is Leblanc; just as the two (plus cat) of them approach the doorway, the retired couple who come by a lot emerge, chatting about something. "Huh," Futaba says, watching them for several seconds. 

LEBLANC

"Huh," Sojiro remarks once the door jingles open. "The both of you go somewhere?" (It is perhaps 6:30 PM, so not yet Late save by the most morning-person morning person who ever morning'd - and it is a holiday besides) 

"Nope," Futaba says. "Shibuya." 

Sojiro is visibly shocked, if perhaps not to the point that his ancient heart is imperiled. "Shibu-- That's wonderful, Futaba!" 

Futaba wiggles a little with a 'I ''guess''...' mumble. 

"I just hope you can keep that up," Sojiro continues. "Maybe you'll even be able to go to high school someday." 

Futaba echoes, uncertainly, "Yeah..." 

"That's enough of that," he says. To Ren, he remarks, "I know this regular's order. Take a seat for a while, would you?" And thence, to the kitchen -- but preparing food makes noise, so there is room for privacy. 

Futaba plops the bags on the counter and wiggles into a seat. "Uugh... I still can't believe I acted like that... that police officer was incredibly intimidating. Boss level, minimum. World boss, maybe. You saw it, right?" 

The cop looked like he might have been kind of tough? But he might have just had that kind of face? Still: a cop. Probably could use a shave. 

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
    DRINKS!
    
    "Hey, is that good? You always order it," Morgana asks Ren at one point.
    
    "You wanna try it?" Ren offers a piece of one of the drink's diced fruit.
    
    He sniffs it delicately a couple of times, then wrinkles his nose. "No thanks," he decides.
    
    It's a chunk of mandarin...
    
    SHOPPING!
    
    Morgana sparkles at the flash drive. "Ooh! You found a handsome one!"
    
    Ren is also holding some of Futaba's bags, because of course they are. "How many games are there in the Drake Adventure series? I know it's popular, but I've never actually played one before."
    
    They will inevitably explain that, yes, they do have at least one of the games at home, and yes, they promise to play it ASAP.
    
    TRAIN!
    
    Nothing about the elderly couple stands out to Ren, but when Futaba stops to stare at them, they stop too. "Hm?"
    
    But if Futaba doesn't say what she's thinking, the moment simply passes on.
    
    AND NOW...........
    
    "Yeah," Ren replies, at the same time Futaba says 'nope.' They blink over at her, but when Sojiro pikachu-faces and Futaba tries to downplay it, they think they get it--she's trying to give the impression that Shibuya's no big deal. They keep their mouth shut during the rest of the exchange, only nodding once when Sojiro bids them take a seat. They follow Futaba and join her at the counter, setting down their share of the bags; Morgana hops up out of the bag, over their shoulder, and onto the next seat over.
    
    Futaba asserts that the cop was maybe a world boss. Ren and Morgana share a dubious glance before they both look back at her.
    
    "You just need to level up," Ren suggests. "You're still only level one. Level two now, maybe. Though you've got better equipment now than you did before."
    
    "What they said," Morgana chimes in, not to be left out of the conversation. It's at least not ''totally'' mystifying with the talk of equipment. That's Phantom Thief-relevant!
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
<poem> 
"I'm going to put some digital gifts on it for this guy," Futaba informs Morgana, without making any particular attempt to hide it from Ren. 

OUTSIDE OF THE SHOP 

"That's actually a topic of serious debate in the community," Futaba says. "But there's at &#42;least&#42; nine." 

                you have to play it!
        that's like not reading jojo!
        i can't explain that one just now. trust me

YONGENJAYA 

Futaba did not remark on the elderly couple, but now, in her mind, she's thinking: Ah, so that's what the romantic old people look like. 

But now, at the counter; Futaba purses her lips and toys with the edge of the bag. "Mm... I guess you're right. He was probably like level ten or something. That'd be enough to keep the mobs under control," Futaba concludes, even as Sojiro comes over to deliver a plate of curry to her. 

"You need anything?" he asks Ren mildly, before his phone rings. "Tch - I've got to take this one. This might be a minute, so take care if any customers walk in, would you?" Sojiro continues, before &#42;providing no service whatever&#42; while walking outside, talking to someone... 

It must not have &#42;only&#42; been Futaba calling Sojiro up. 

Probably it's not a bad thing. 

Futaba doesn't seem alarmed. "And you're completely right about the gear! I'm gonna get to put that 250gb drive out to pasture and use it to store documents," Futaba says. "An easy life like a retired race horse... maybe I'll encrypt the volume..." 

"The others," Futaba says, after another couple of bites of curry. "Do you end up going to where they live, or is this kind of the central location...?" 

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
    Ren sweatdrops when Futaba straight-up says what she's about vis-a-vis gifts. Still, it's not like they dislike it. Her openness is refreshing in a lot of ways.
    
    Though how serious a debate could the number of games in a series be...?
    
    (They really have no idea.)
    
    "Yeah, that sounds about right," Ren says of the cop. "One day you'll be level twenty, and you'll laugh at how you could've ever been intimidated by that guy."
    
    Obviously Ren is at least level twenty themself. They stood their ground against him and got him to go away quickly with a single nod and everything...!
    
    They look to Sojiro when he approaches, but before they can answer, he takes a call and leaves the store. Ren watches him go with furrowed eyebrows. What's that about? He didn't seem thrilled, so it couldn't have been a woman, and Futaba's right here...
    
    Then again, Futaba is acting like it's normal enough, so maybe it's not a big deal. Ren looks back at her. "Nice."
    
    They get up to get themself a plate of curry. They also heat up some milk to put in a saucer to cool down to room temperature for Morgana. (He is ''very'' particular about how he takes his milk. Good thing he isn't really a cat, since cats are lactose intolerant once past kittenhood.)
    
    "Sometimes, if we're just hanging out individually," Ren replies from behind the counter. "But if it's official meetings, or sometimes if we're hanging out as a group, we all come here." They crook her a lopsided smile. "Convenient for both of us, huh?"
    
    "All three of us!" Morgana adds heatedly.
    
    "Whoops, yeah. All three of us."
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
<poem> 
There might be reasons he's not always thrilled. After all, Christmas was just the other day............. 

"Super convenient," Futaba says. "I barely have to put on shoes." A beat or two. "... I will, obviously. Especially in the summer. Fire does double damage to the feet area." 

Then to Morgana. "You must have like a totally different world map. Have you been to the batting cages?" Which are, of course, up high onna roof, and as such, might be a challenge to... ...sneak thieves, not cats. 

"... I want to be able to at least go somewhere I know is safe," Futaba then says, stirring some stray sauce on the plate. "But... If they're not coming over here..." 

"Before everything, when you were working on the Palace," Futaba says, "Takamaki-san told me she wanted to game. And I thought she might've just heard I was into computers, right? But no! She's seriously into it. I thought Stiletta was completely niche but she has ground super high in it! She's really got taste." 

Collecting eleven grains of rice, she says, "So... that's kind of my next goal. But I don't want to make you have to walk me over like I'm six or something, either. What do you think? (She's not like two hours of train away, right?)" 

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
<poem>
    Christmas ''was'' just the other day! And Ren had an &#42;amazing&#42; one, right here at Leblanc. &lt;3
    
    ...hm. Maybe Sojiro's grumpiness makes a bit more sense after all.
    
    "Yeah, you don't want to end up stepping on any broken glass or anything either," Ren replies. "Not that I've seen a lot of that around here, but you never know."
    
    Morgana still looks puzzled by the 'world map' comment, but he nods at the question. "Yeah, with this guy," he says, tilting his head to Ren. (Tsubasa has taught him that "guy" is non-gender-specific.)
    
    "At least to check it out," Ren adds.
    
    They smile to hear that Ann invited Futaba to game. "Stiletta ''is'' really cool. I love her aesthetic," they remark. "I think it's a great idea. Ann's a really wonderful friend to me, and I think she will be to you too, especially if you can bond over something you both like."
    
    Two hours of train away, though? "I... haven't been to her place before," they admit. "It's over in Azabu Juuban, I know that much. Do you know how long it takes to get there from here?"
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
<poem> 
"Maybe we can both go if you want to try more modern gaming. And Morgana too," Futaba says, with a slightly awkward haste, which is just one tiny little whisker of something that hopefully won't be too overwhelming to him. 

"Azabu... Juuban? Umm..." Her eyes turn upwards. "I think... you'd have to go past Shibuya, right? It's... I think there's a connection, anyway, so it's just a little annoying," Futaba concludes. "I'd say maybe double a one-way trip like today. Forty minutes? I guess it's a chance to catch up on reading, huh? Oh, or portable--" 

It was, in the end, a lovely afternoon. 

LATER (2:10 AM) 

Futaba hits pause on a digital upload of a particular episode of a TV show that she had heard of only by implications, one of the great precursors of the PreCure juggernaut that has ruled the young girls and also other people demographic for most of Futaba's life. Center of hte screen is a blonde girl with long pigtails.

She looks at the image on her phone, of the blonde girl with the long pigtails. Of Ann Takamaki. A casual snap-shot but it's something she had saved. 

Futaba raises up her phone to hold it side by side with the freeze-frame. The outfits are different, but the poses are almost the same. The expressions are different, Ann being perky and the girl on the TV in the process of yelling at her black-haired friend. hair... 

"... Does she know?" Futaba wonders aloud. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bBpiHJm3t0

</poem>

[[Category:Logs]]
[[Category:Season 1]]
[[Category:Season 1, Episode 2]]