L: Created page with "'''Log: ''' Cats and Gardens '''Cast:''' Yua Ooshiro, Haru Okumura '''Where:''' Shujin Academy '''OOC Date:''' 2025-07-14 '''IC Date:''' Saturday June 09 2012 '''Summary''': ''Yua rushes off to attend a teacher's meeting on her day off, only to run into Haru and bond with her over their mutual appreciation for cats. When she realises her student doesn't have much in the way of the friends, Yua asks to see Haru's rooftop garden, instead... and Haru resolves..."

2025-07-15T08:56:05Z

Created page with "*'''Log: ''' Cats and Gardens *'''Cast:''' Yua Ooshiro, Haru Okumura *'''Where:''' Shujin Academy *'''OOC Date:''' 2025-07-14 *'''IC Date:''' Saturday June 09 2012 *'''Summary''': ''Yua rushes off to attend a teacher's meeting on her day off, only to run into Haru and bond with her over their mutual appreciation for cats. When she realises her student doesn't have much in the way of the friends, Yua asks to see Haru's rooftop garden, instead... and Haru resolves..."

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*'''Log: ''' Cats and Gardens
*'''Cast:''' [[Yua Ooshiro]], [[Haru Okumura]]
*'''Where:''' Shujin Academy
*'''OOC Date:''' 2025-07-14
*'''IC Date:''' Saturday June 09 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Yua rushes off to attend a teacher's meeting on her day off, only to run into Haru and bond with her over their mutual appreciation for cats. When she realises her student doesn't have much in the way of the friends, Yua asks to see Haru's rooftop garden, instead... and Haru resolves to try her best in dance class!''

----

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

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
<poem>

Yua's classes, in the last half of the day, don't generally run on Saturdays. Why, then, is she running to Shujin?!

... because she almost forgot she had a teacher's meeting she had to go to despite this being a day off. The teaching life is hard.

Luckily, she doesn't have to ''rush'' very far, because she has a chauffeur. So she gets into the meeting, and --

And it's incredibly boring. She gets a few cursory enquiries about the brace on her wrist, but no one is ''really'' all that concerned about it; the people in Shujin universally have their own worries. They're concerned about what day to schedule her on over the next few weeks, and they're concerned about whether she's managing to retain the people at risk of school refusal, and aside from that they have little to say to her. She's a part-timer, and a ''new teacher,'' at that; she's firmly at the bottom of the food chain.

Which, of course, is why she's left to file the paperwork afterwards, and why she leaves after everyone else -- right when classes are letting out to release students to their after-school clubs.

In her black leotard and skirt, Yua looks dressed for the Tokyo Ballet despite stepping out of the office -- complete with a lovely choker, obscuring her neck. (Hiding a blemish, fading there.) The wrist brace around her right hand suggests some minor injury which wasn't there when she ran her class in Shujin, earlier this week, but it doesn't seem to be slowing her down that much. Her dark teal hair is up in a bun which completely fails to hide the black eyepatch over her left eye -- though ''that,'' at least, has been a permanent fixture ever since she recently started working here. She just... has the one crimson eye, for some reason.

She's shut down any attempt to figure out why.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Haru Okumura has posed.
<poem>

Haru tends to have a similar schedule on most Saturdays at school. Although classes end early, it still takes some time before her own chauffeurs are available to pick her up, so she tends to take the extra time to tend to the school garden for a little longer. It's not as busy or hectic as a school club, like most students commit to, but it's quiet up on the rooftop and the perfect place to keep to herself and decompress a bit.

Today, however, is another rainy day - which means her work is largely done for her, so Haru finds herself at a bit of a loss when classes close out early. Most students are just in a hurry to get out and beat the storm, while Haru takes a more leisurely pace through the hallway - until the passes by the teachers' office. She recognizes Yua - after all, her dance class is the final extracurricular she needs for graduation. Being surprisingly observant, she also notices the brace that wasn't there during her last lesson.

"Good afternoon, Ooshiro-sensei," Haru nods to her teacher, as is polite to do. Yua might have the understanding that Haru isn't quite giving her class her best effort, but at the very least she isn't actively trying to be standoffish. "Is your wrist okay? I hope we haven't been pushing you too hard in class..." She asks, with some concern in her tone.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
<poem>

Haru isn't the kind of person Yua ''expects'' to see in her class -- she seems, if anything, to be quite ''diligent'' about her classes -- but she's not the kind of person to turn a student away.

That doesn't mean she isn't pushing Haru to give more and do better when they're in class, though. She can ''tell'' she's only putting in half her effort, and she insists that Haru can do ''better.'' Really, she might come off as terribly strict from the perspective of someone who just wants to get their credits and graduate!

... she never pushes anyone in a way that would hurt them, though. In fact, the thing she's ''most'' strict about is her students learning ''proper form.'' Dancing shouldn't hurt, she insists, and pushing through the pain on the dance floor will only end in tears!

But with that brace, does that mean... Ooshiro-sensei was a hypocrite...?!

"Not at all," Yua shakes her head, placing her fingers at the brace. "It wasn't a practice injury. I just..."

But Miho warned her what people think, of women who give ''excuses'' for their injuries. And what would she do if the Powers that Be made it seem as if Miho were doing something so wretched? She looks down at the brace, for a quiet moment.

She didn't slip. She didn't shut her hand in a cupboard. She didn't tumble out of one of those wheeled chairs, thinking it would be beneath her when she sat. And as much as it seems reasonable for her to give any one of those explanations -- Miho's right. They're the things said by women whose husbands are unkind to them.

Attentive to the potential misreadings, Yua looks back up, and smiles. "I'd rather not get into it," she says, the opposite of an open book.

"You seem to be wandering, though," she orients her attention on Haru, instead. "You don't have a club to attend, Okumura-kun?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Haru Okumura has posed.
<poem>

Haru actually respects that a lot about Ooshiro-sensei - that she's pushing her to do her best and improve. It reminds her of when she was so passionate about learning to dance, and more than that, it's nice to have ''someone'' in her life who cares about whether she succeeds or not. Even if that someone is the part-time dance teacher. Perhaps that's the extra push she needs to give the class her full effort...

However, her now, her concern is towards her own teacher's well-being. "Oh, I see... my apologies, sensei." Haru nods, politely, as she finds her concern is misplaced. Part of her hopes that she didn't come off like she was dismissing her skills as a dancer to immediately assume she was hurt during practice. She frowns, then, as her mind jumps to a different possibility... one she's no stranger to. Because of that, she respects her wishes not to discuss it. "I won't pry, then. I only hope it heals in a timely fashion..."

She smiles a little awkwardly, when Yua asks her if she attends any clubs. "I suppose it's just the 'go home' club..." She admits. "Other than that, I take on the responsibility of tending to the garden on the school rooftop." She explains, and then gestures to the window they're approaching in the hallway. "Fortunately, the plants will be getting plenty of water today, but it has left me at a loss of what to do with my extracurricular time..." She laughs a little, then. "Well, the last time I didn't know what to do with myself, I ended up taking an entire day trip to Port Island."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
<poem>

Yua believes in you, Haru...!

If she knew why Haru had reasons to believe the worst of her assault, though, she'd have ''much'' bigger concerns than whether Haru's giving a full 100%.

"It's just a little synovitis, so it should clear up in a week or so," she says, and since she's a ''health'' and physical education teacher, of course she can follow that up with an explanation. "There's fluid in your joints which helps them to move which we call 'synovial fluid', and it can become irritated and painful. When you hear 'itis', it just means 'inflammation'. It makes more sense when you break it down, right?" Oh no, her portrait even ''sparkles'' when she asks that.

(It's just lucky that Yua's injuries had to do with her ''joints.'' She actually knows a decent amount about how humans move, thanks to her dancing education, so this is the ''one area'' she can fake it off the cuff. Thank goodness she doesn't have a ''heart'' condition...)

Cover firmly secured in place, Yua turns her attention to Haru's sad lack of ''clubs.'' "So there's no Gardening Club...? That's a shame," Yua frowns, thoughtfully. "I quite like gardening myself, I admit -- I recently bought a new sword fern home to add to my collection. I just have to be careful with those additions, to make sure they can coexist with my cat! Oh, but of course I can't say something like that without showing you, can I?"

Yua pulls out her phone from her handbag, and scrolls through to a picture of a giant fluffy orange cat sniffing at a potted phone. He's massive, and SO fluffy. He must be one of those Norwegian Forest Cats!

(In the background of the shot, there are several other plants in planters, a lovely rosebush and a batch of scorpion grass and some lovely royal yellow chrysanthemums. Yua has quite a collection on their balcony...)

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Haru Okumura has posed.
<poem>

Haru listens attentively as Yua explains the (allegedly) true cause of her injury. "I see, I see... I think that makes sense!" Haru nods, seeing the passion her sensei has in her specialty. She doesn't know if she should feel bad that she thought the worst of it when she's the one who brought it up, but at least Yua doesn't ''seem'' to be upset with her. "I appreciate the impromptu health lesson, in any case." She smiles.

As for her lack of clubs... "It's a shame, but I seem to be the only one in the student body interested in such a thing." Haru nods, about how there isn't a Gardening Club. "I don't terribly mind it, as it's rather nice to have some peace after a long day of classes," she adds, "though I wouldn't mind some help from time to time." Her eyes do light up a bit to see Yua shares an interest with her. "Oh, that's wonderful! I'd love to see..." She replies with some enthusiasm.

"He looks to be very well loved," Haru smiles, as she looks at the photo. "As do the plants." It ''is'' quite a well curated collection. "I'm quite fond of cats myself. I recently saw one walking around the subway injured and I just ''had'' to go help him, you know? Thank goodness he turned out to be alright..." Of course, a lot more happened that night than ''just'' rescuing a cat, but... it's not exactly something she can talk about. They both have their secrets.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
<poem>

Oh, one thing isn't a lie -- it ''is'' synovitis. Now, whether Haru assumes she got it from jolting her hand wrong in an everyday accident instead of struggling for her life to pry Shiryuu's strangling cord-device from around her neck...

Sometimes lies are left to implications. They're the easiest lies to make.

"You're welcome!" Yua smiles, to Haru's appreciation. Sparkle!

Still... Haru's the only student interested in gardening? She says she likes the peace and quiet, but that sounds terribly ''lonely...''

"Tiger is our special boy," Yua smiles, warmly, not ''entirely'' realising she said 'our' and not 'my'. It's fine. It's probably fine. "But, oh! That poor cat! It's very lucky you were there! I wish it weren't so easy for the city to just ignore people or animals who were injured... but it's wonderful you were able to stop and help him," she says, smiling supportively to her.

Yua tilts her head, as she thinks. "Why don't we go up and have a look at your garden?" She proposes, her thoughts looping back to no one helping Haru with ''hers.'' "With one hand, I might not be much help, but I'd love to see your work. And a little rain never hurt anyone! You have an umbrella, don't you?" Yua pulls out a little one from her handbag, the kind which folds up into something which ''can'' be stowed in such a small space.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Haru Okumura has posed.
<poem>

Haru is willing to believe Yua's lie... after all, now that she's heard the explanation, there's no reason to see the worst in her or the people in her life.

And perhaps gardening alone might seem lonely to some, Haru truly doesn't think so. She's the easygoing type of person who needs her space sometimes, which is exactly why she picked up the hobby in the first place. That said, it's still nice to see there's someone else here who takes an interest in it...

Haru, at least, doesn't give it a second thought when Yua says 'our'. There's nothing strange about being in a relationship, right? "My... boyfriend," Haru settles on. "Thought it would be a waste of time." She admits, with a frown. "But I'd rather make sure the poor thing was okay, even if it takes a few more minutes of my time. Thankfully, he was looking as good as new the next day!" It's technically the truth. It's just that the cat had literal actual healing powers.

"If you don't have anywhere else to be, that sounds lovely," Haru agrees, with a smile. "I did bring one with me..." She pops out a purple umbrella from her own bag. "I'll show you to the rooftop, okay?" Leading Yua up the stairs, they eventually reach Shujin Academy's garden. The rain has slowed a bit, but it's still pouring - so those umbrellas will come in handy.

"It's really not much, but please take a look." Haru offers, gesturing out. "I've mostly been working on carrots and tomatoes, so far... it seems they'll be harvesting soon, so feel free to take a few next time you stop by for lessons!" Over on the ''other'' side of the garden, Yua will see some beansprouts. "As for these, well... I take a particular interest in coffee, so I've been trying my hand at growing coffee beans. I'm not very confident in my work yet, but..." She trails off, and looks back to Yua. "Do you like coffee, Ooshiro-sensei?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
<poem>

Yua ''does'' give it a second thought when Haru says her boyfriend thought helping an injured cat was a waste of time. "That wasn't very thoughtful of him," she frowns, though it at least isn't much more than unthoughtful -- some people just aren't animal-lovers, sad as that may be. "I'm glad you were able to help him. It's never a waste to stop and help someone who needs assistance... well," she adds, with a puff of a sigh, "that said, I understand being particularly attached to a ''schedule,'' but most injuries don't tend to be planned and accounted for."

The ones which are ''accidents'' aren't, anyway. ... Yua can't prove that the Powers that Be scheduled her appointment on the Nichirinmaru to coincide with one of her days off, but she has her ''doubts.''

"Oh, wonderful," Yua smiles, as Haru offers to lead her up. "I've never been up there, before, so..." Not that it's hard to find the ''roof'' -- in theory, just keep climbing stairs -- but it's always helpful to have a guide.

She pops out her own umbrella -- as black as her leotard -- as she steps out onto the roof. She crouches down -- quite easily -- to take a look at the carrot's lovely green leaves. "Oh, these look so healthy!" She compliments them, brightly, as she hops over to the tomatos as well. "And such vivid colours... they'd be perfect for a bento! If it's all right, I'd love to take a couple when they're ready!" Does that mean Yua has children to make bento for...?

She straightens up to walk to the beansprouts, and plucks a bug from one of the leaves. Never mind what happens to it! The sprouts are safe. "Oh, these are quite an advanced crop," she notes, sounding quite impressed. She laughs, though, a touch self-conscious. "You know, my friends enjoy coffee, but I've never been able to handle bitterness myself! Do you enjoy it, Okumura-kun? I've heard that there are dozens of varieties for people who fancy it... what type are these beans?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Haru Okumura has posed.
<poem>

"No, it really wasn't..." Haru agrees quietly, that her boyfriend was unthoughtful. She doesn't get into ''why'' she'd be with someone like that, though. "Mhm... especially since we were at a red light that was bound to last for minutes. It really wasn't any trouble," Except for how it ended up coinciding with the ''Dark Hour'', of course. She can't just talk about the Dark Hour with her dance teacher.

"Not many people come up here... well, except for me, of course," Haru nods, about the rooftop. One of those reasons might be because of Shiho's recent attempt to jump from the top of the school, but Haru really does not think that's appropriate to bring up. "It's nice and quiet." She says, instead.

Haru smiles when Yua seems so... excited about her garden. It's new for her, really. "Oh, thank you! Yes, I agree. If I can grow my own food, it means I don't need to wait in line for the school cafeteria. It's quite convenient, don't you think?" She doesn't question the bento box comment. "In turn, I'd be happy to provide lunch for you or anyone else who might need it."

"It took me quite a while before I felt ready to grow these," Haru nods, watching Yua pluck a bug right off the leaves. "The bitterness is quite difficult to get used to.. it's certainly not for everyone. I wouldn't judge if one were to prefer to put some cream and sugar in theirs, either." She agrees. "That's what I usually do, but lately, I've been trying it black. It really isn't so bad when you get used to it!" She thinks about Ichika's words, about enjoying the coffee for what it is instead of fighting the flavor.

"Arabica beans are the most popular, so I decided to start with those. I admit, I'm not quite enough of a coffee connoisseur that I can easily tell the difference... not like my grandfather, at least." She explains. "But it'd be nice to one day be able to share my homegrown coffee with others. So I have to keep improving..." Even if she understands, it may not be to Yua's taste.

And Yua has been putting this much effort towards ''her'' garden, so... "But please don't worry... I'll give next week's dance lesson my full effort, too."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.
<poem>

"Good work," Yua confirms, for Haru, again. Teachers don't know about the Dark Hour, of course, so there's no need to mention that part!

Yua arrived after Shiho's pain made itself evident, and she's heard very little of the event; most of the school's administration tries to present an image which ''isn't'' blemished by such dereliction of their duties. She hasn't yet been here quite long enough to realise just how much Shujin papers over the cracks, though -- it's subtler than the very loud abandonment of Kasugayama. All this to say: ''she'' isn't frightened of the roof. ... or aware of the expectations around it.

"So this would be a good place to get some alone time," she reflects, happily ignorant. "And gardens like these are a fantastic resource. Back home in Okinawa, it was very common to see vegetables growing on people's properties... though with a little diving, there was plenty we could take from the seashore, too!"

Now, did they have to have that kind of do-it-yourself attitude because of how much harder it is to get some things out in the country? Yua doesn't get into ''that'' part.

She laughs, again, tilting her head. "I admit, I do take mine with a lot of cream and sugar... but it's great that you're trying something new! You're in the best time of your life to figure out what you really like, Okumura-kun!"

Maybe it's not to ''Yua's'' taste, but Yua is at least happy to hear that Haru is exploring ''hers.'' She's not the kind of adult who insists that her tastes are objective truth, apparently. "I'm sure they're going to turn out fantastic," she smiles, to her. "Make sure to find a good barista to prepare them, okay? I've heard that the preparation method makes a huge difference!" Surely Haru just has barista contacts lying around.

She straightens up, with a little bounce at the balls of her feet. (She's not very tall, at all of five-foot-even, so the momentary extra height doesn't mean much.) "I'm glad to hear that!" She says, smiling to her. "You really have some excellent fundamentals already, so I think you could execute some impressive choreography if you just practice, practice, practice. You're welcome to come visit my studio if you'd like to practice after school! Sometimes the rain does your job for you, after all, and if you don't have a club to attend..." She smiles, putting her braced hand to her chest, fingers splaying at the choker on her neck. "Think about it, okay?"

</poem>

2025-07-14: Cats and Gardens - Revision history