2026-01-16: Sin and Remorse
- Log: Sin and Remorse
- Cast: Maria Sakurai, Ayame Watanabe
- Where: Seven Sisters High School - Classroom Building
- OOC Date: January 16, 2026
- IC Date: September 11, 2012
- Summary: Ayame catches up with Maria after classes one day in September, not too long after the attack by the Joker. She confirms that Maria is doing ok, and they both talk about what happened and what Maria should do now.
<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
They said it was supposed to rain today, but...
Umbrella in hand, Maria regards the clouds overhead thoughtfully. They're a little bit dark, suggesting it could rain, but...
With a shrug, she tucks her umbrella under one arm and starts across the Sevens courtyard. Well, today she's got her part-time job (it did not in fact end with summer vacation, even if she achieved her goals; Maria has discovered that money can in fact buy many goods and services), but it doesn't start for a little while yet, even accounting for transit time.
So, if she wants to, she could go and mess around somewhere local first, maybe. But is Yurie even free? Isn't she still attending music club?
With a long sigh, Maria just shakes her head and carries on. Well, that's just high school life, sometimes.
It's funny. Everything was so chaotic and terrible, and then, it's like she woke up, a little. The world's returned to its usual paces, as if to ignore the fact that she'd almost died, and he'd almost died, and that someone else had almost died, too...
It's not guilt, precisely. But it's also something she can't just let go.
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
It might, it might not. Either way, Ayame had the car today, and Ayame has come to visit Ikkaku and see if he needed anything after class! She happens to be crossing the courtyard at the moment. She left her own umbrella in the car. Ayame is recognizeable to many students as a teacher's wife; she comes often enough. However...
Shehe isn't in so much of a hurry that she isn't paying attention to where she's going and what's around her. Whihc means...
"Oh!" Ayame says, coming to a stop near, "Sakurai-san."
"How are you feeling?" she wonders. She hasn't seen her and spoken to her since...
Well, since a very stressful day.
<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
Maria recognizes her immediately, swiveling her attention her way the moment she's called upon.
"Watanabe-san!" she calls out, aborting her near-escape from the schoolgrounds. Emphatically, Maria waves. "Watanabe-sensei's still inside!"
...Ayame probably knows this already...
But, how is she feeling? "I'm doing alright," Maria states, gesturing vaguely at herself. "I didn't get hurt. Well, other than my hair. But look," she says, fluffing out her newly (relatively-speaking) locks, "I think I like it better this way, anyway! But, um... how are you doing? You were okay, right?"
Tsubasa did give her Ayame's phone number, and Maria has been meaning to call.
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Almost escaped...! But not quite. Ayame--dressed in blue today--smiles warmly at Maria when she says she's all right. "Thank you," she says of the location of her husband, because while she did know that it's still nice to say!
"Yes, I was worried about that, but I like your new look!" As to her hair being BURNED. It was a thing to worry about. Ayame closes the distance to chat, "I'm all right. I'm mostly here to check in with Ikkaku to see if he's going to work late again... I was out and about anyway, so I thought I'd drop by instead of call."
"...But i was all right," she says. "It was a very frightening situation, wasn't it? I'm glad you cam through it."
And the boys... But, well. They might be awkward to bring up.
<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
Perhaps at least it's confirmation that her husband didn't leave the building for some mysterious reason -- or that all is well inside. It can be an open question where Seven Sisters High School is concerned! ...Not that Maria would understand anything about that (yet?).
"Thank you!" Maria replies, beaming. It's only because that 'mystery prince' was so quick in catching her and snuffing the flames that she was spared injury over than the loss of most of her hair: most of it was just too damaged to salvage, so cutting it short had been the only real option.
"Hmmm... he did look busy," Maria muses, considering the pile that had decked her teacher's desk. "Hopefully not! It's fine to stay late sometimes, but look, it's not even raining," she says, holding out a hand as if to catch falling droplets that... don't exist. "I like it when it rains," she continues, glancing at Ayame, "but, right now it's also nice out, too."
Of the circumstance she had narrowly escaped, Maria nods. "Mmm-hmm," she agrees. "My... ex-boyfriend is okay, too, and... the other guy should be alright again soon. He was still in the hospital the last I checked," she explains, and not without a sideways glance. "I'm glad everyone else was okay." She shakes her head, though. "...I'm sorry, you all ended up in that situation because of me. But, thank you for saving me! And... I'm glad sensei was there, too. I think he was a real hero."
A long pause follows.
"So... Seki-kun gave me your number, you know. They said... if anything dangerous happens, like last time, to call you." Maria pauses again. "I figured, you probably already knew, but!"
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
It is those things! Sevens, afterall, is indeed Like That.
The mystery prince is such a nice young man, isn't he? Ayame smiles. And then, "Hmm. He usually is. He's doing two jobs' worth until the year's over, or close enough to. ...But I can persuade him to come home early now and then." She nods. "It is nice out, isn't it?" she asks. "But I kind of like the rain, too. It puts me in a contemplative mood..."
But Maria knows the condition of the boys! "Oh, good," Ayame answers. "I'm glad for both. It was terrible, what he did to that boy."
But she apologizes. "You did wrong," Ayame agrees, "But I thik the bulk of the blame lies with the awful man stabbing people, in the end." She smiles. "He's always been my hero, though."
And that long pause sees--"Did they?" Ayame wonders. "That's very good. You can count on me for things like that. I want to help."
"...Once," she says, "I was in a situation like that, like you, and I couldn't do anything about it. So now that I can, it's important to me to try."
<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
"Two jobs worth..." Maria says, her eyes glazing over. And here she thought it was trouble enough balancing school, and her single club, and her part-time job...! "That's terrifying!" she blurts out. "I mean-- he should go home. I hope he can!" It's begun to dawn on Maria that the life of a teacher can be a cruel one, indeed.
"But, you like it, too, huh? I like the sound it makes, and the smell, too. And, the rain makes flowers grow..."
She might not have a green thumb herself, as such, but of course she likes flowers.
It was terribly. She's not sure she will ever be able to forget it. "Yeah..." Maria says, somewhat more quietly and self-consciously than before. Because--
She did wrong. "Yeah," says Maria, nodding. She pulls her mouth tight, that thought very much on her mind. "...I didn't know what to do, but..."
But that wasn't it. That really wasn't it!
If Ikkaku hadn't been there, that boy... maybe might have died. Maria's not into medicine, she doesn't know. But it had looked really bad.
"Yeah. That... man," she says, of the Joker Killer, "might come back again, they said." She's not meaning Tsubasa here: she's meaning Tsubasa and Umie. "So, if he does, she said to run-- er, Umie-san, that is!" she self-corrects, realizing where she'd erred with the clarity of her speech. "Run, and get someone with a guardian spirit like you, or her. And Seki-san knows 'Phoenix'!" She nods as Ayame goes on. "I kind of wish I had power like that, too, but... I'm glad there are people who can fight back. It's kind of like being in a television show, you know?" she says to Ayame. "People fighting secret battles with their guardian spirits, and protecting the defenseless... don't worry, I won't tell. It's no good for the heroes if someone tells!"
And she giggles a little as if to say, yes, she knows this isn't a TV show. But even mortal danger aside, it is still a little exciting.
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
"Ahah... it is a bit, isn't it?" Ayame answers. "Well, I like it when he comes home. I think I can convince him today."
But since he's the next Vice Principal according to everything they know, it means more work! He is at least being paid more for the extra work...
"Mm-hm!" Ayame answers. "I love flowers. Plants in general, really, but especially flowering plants."
But... Quiet, and self-conscious; Ayame doesn't want to lie to her--calling the Joker was wrong!--But well, she has her own feeling as to where the primary blame lies. "Right. ...We all sometimes end up in places where we don't know what to do. What you do from here is important, too."
But that man. "...Mm," Ayame says. "That's true," she says. That he might come back. But Umie! Hmm. "That's smart," Ayame says. A 'guardian spirit'... "It's hard, not being able to fight back agaisnt things like that," Ayame agrees. "...Well, it's not easy to fight, either," she admits. "But..." A television show, is it?
Ayame considers that, and smiles wryly. "That's true, too," she says. "It would cause us a lot of trouble!" Not that she thinks of herself as a hero, but, "But yes. Make sure to get one of us if you see something like that, if you can. If not... Just run as fast and far as you can."
<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
"I think it's better for him to be home," says Maria, who has only seen her father lately when she's ended up in the hospital.
"Me too. I think, roses and lilies are the best." One might expect Maria to favor the 'Sakura' that lives in her surname, but no, while they're nice too, there's something... wonderful about roses and lilies. "Someone told me most roses don't have a scent anymore. I was surprised!" she shares, to someone else who likes flowering plants.
It was wrong. Maria had realized it the moment after she'd made the call. But in her own way, she might have only made it worse by trying to undermine that fate instead of trying to find someone and explain what happened in the first place (not doing it at all would have been better). But, who would she have told about it? And... what should she have done instead? Bear it, perhaps?
"Yeah. That's what the others said, too. It's important, what I do now."
If it's true that he 'might come back' after Maria, what does it mean for the likes of Ayame and her husband, or Umie, or Tsubasa? "I was surprised, you know," she says of the guardian spirits she'd seen. "I've never seen something like that before. So, it's definitely a secret, right?" She nods, emphatically. "Right! I don't think I've seen something exactly like this, but... it's sort of like some shows? Fighting monsters in secret-- well, bad people, I guess," she allows, because she hasn't seen demons yet and is still immune to experiencing the Dark Hour so far.
But it is a secret, Ayame confirms, and at this, Maria nods. "Yeah. I thought it might. Don't worry. I said I wouldn't tell. It won't help if people know something like this. It would probably scare them. ...I wonder what they remember..." she muses, thinking of her ex and his friend. It's probably not important.
Instead, she should run as far and as fast as she can-- if she can't get in contact with one of the others. "I can do that," she confirms, pumping one fist. "Don't worry. I don't want to make everyone save me again."
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
"Me, too."
If she could have him home all the time... Well, maybe she would! But he does enjoy his work, and of course, they have to make money somehow.
"Really?" Ayame wonders. "I never guessed. I suppose that says I don't grow eough roses," she muses. "I like all sorts of flowers. Lately I've been particularly attached to cosmos..."
"Yes," Ayame says. That's definnitely what she thinks.
And, well... He has crossed Ayame's path again before. "Hmm. Yes, it is." Like a show. "It reminds me especially of some of the shows my kids have watched. Magical girls and masked heroes... Though we don't have masks," she admits. Pause. "Most of us don't have masks."
Ayame does not bring up demons.
"I appreciate it. ...That's just it; it would scare people who can't do much about it... and there are people who would do bad things with the knowledge, unfortunately."
"...I wonder that too."
"Good," Ayame says. "I'm happy to help, but... It would be better if it weren't necessary."
<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
Maria, to be fair, could understand that feeling -- it's much the same way with her father. But his work circumstances remain terrible, and there's nothing she can do about that. And someone, like Ikkaku Watanabe, has to put food on the table. Her grandmother is past working age, and her mother's salary only goes so far as to help. It's not enough to live on.
It's a 'charity wage', Maria has sometimes thought, the differences in what her mother should make and what her father does make standing out as clear as day to a girl of her talents. It's just, the question is whether everyone else sees it.
Or if they see it and pretend it's not there. Or that it's fine, because her mother is...
The door slams on those thoughts as soon as they rise.
"My grandmother grows flowers," Maria explains. "We have a little garden at home, you see. And my mother works as a florist! ...Cosmos, huh? Those are pretty. They sometimes put them in arrangements, but not as often as roses and lilies. Oh, but my mother said, lilies are dangerous to cats, so we don't have those in the house or outside..."
Roses, by contrast, have thorns.
"Exactly! Kind of like, 'Featherman', a little bit? Though, I haven't watched that since I was little," she adds, her expression fleetingly wistful. "But, it's not entirely the same thing, either. --Oh yeah! Some of those people did have masks," she notes. "So it's sort of like it a little bit more, there? And with U-- er, that lady with the..." Maria wavers a moment, then shakes her head. "You know, one of the people who was there. She had a nice mask."
Nailed it.
"Uh huh," Maria agrees, nodding. "And, besides, the 'bad guys'," Maria is sixteen, not eight, she knows what she means when she says that, "aren't very nice. They'd do something dirty for sure. It's better to be safe, don't you think?" The Joker Killer had hurt that boy even though he wasn't involved at all... She might be an airhead, but she's not stupid stupid.
"Yeah. I don't want to make everyone worry, either. Besides," she says, smiling at Ayame, "I'd rather be the one doing the saving, you know? So I'll stay out of trouble."
She takes a glance then at her wristwatch. "--Oops! I should get going. I have to get to my part-time job. Um, tell sensei, he should definitely go home with you, okay? Tell him I said that."
And with that, Maria starts again towards the gate. Well, there's no time left to mess around now, she thinks. But that's okay: at least she got to do one good thing today.