[And so you two walk off towards Chikako's office.] [Shortly, Taki comes running after.] * Satoshi waits unti they're out of range of Katie (if such a thing is possible), and then sighs loudly. "*Dammit*, Kaede." Why does he have to be like that? * Haruko nods. "It's his nature. Doesn't make it any less frustrating. But he doesn't get to do that again, even if it is logical." I wish I knew...fist Shingo...the illiusion...and now him. It's *not* logical. Logic would've dictated that he gets hit once, and then I take the rest. Because *that's* what happened to Tenjirou. And I could've taken it. No, because, because, "It is difficult to divide" and anybody who doesn't think they're his friends are automaticly right... Logic was fairly irrelevent actually, it's just about Senshirous twisted mind. And it's no more your fault than it is Kaede's Satoshi. You didn't deserve it any more than he did. It's the bands fault, particularly Tenjirou. I just... I wanted to do *something* and I just stood there and let it happen. I thought maybe I could get in there after Kaede got hit the first time... but it all went so *fast*. * Taki nods, "Exactly, one second Kaede is standing there, and the next he's on the ground being kicked..." It's *wrong*. Everything... the whole sequence of events... it's all wrong. You're absolutely right. [You get to the office where, peculiarly, you spot Hirokazu and Eriko outside, looking in through the glass window on the door.] Next time...Next time I just grab him and run, doesn't matter who I piss off... Next time we work as a team, rather than the world's most stubborn collection of individuals. [They're talking about something, but you can't make out what. Neither seems to have noticed you.] Yeah. Huh... wonder what's going on there? * Satoshi points to Hirokazu and Eriko. * Haruko waves as she sees Hirokazu and Eriko. "Hey guys." She walks closer. * Taki gives a small wave. [Eriko nearly jumps, startled, but Hirokazu just turns around with a goofy grin. "Hello."] * Haruko politely ignores the discomfort. "How's it going? Eriko clears her throat. "Same old thing. Some floozy from Seiryuu High is here." * Haruko tilts her head. "Remi?" I wouldn't call that an old thing. "Hm? No, not her." Yeah, how often do we get visitors from Seiryuu? Know why she's here? Eriko shrugs. "Something to do with Chikako." Hirokazu, for his part, has gone back to gluing his eyes to the window. Huh. Oh, Eriko, could I talk to you for a moment. ::Haruko walks a small distance away from Hirokazu.:: * Satoshi looks at Taki. "Think Chikako'd mind if we went in?" Eriko shrugs and follows Haruko. * Taki shrugs, "I'm not sure... Is the door locked Hirokazu?" Hirokazu doesn't look at Taki. "Huh?" The door. Can we go in? I'm asking if you tried the door, it's a lot more comfortable and doesn't look as silly as the window. * Haruko speaks in a tone quiet enough to exclude Hirokazu, though Taki and Satoshi can probably hear. "You should know, there's someone beating up our friends. Gone after Kaede's sister and a mechanic I know. Seems mostly to be attacking females." Eriko frowns and nods. Chikako is probably the next logical target, or it might be you. We think it's Yushiro, but we aren't sure yet. We've already told Chikako. Hirokazu finally hears Taki. "Oh." He opens the door. Thanks. * Satoshi walks in quietly. * Taki nearly gives Hirokazu a bow, but decides to just thank him before following Satoshi in. Eriko shrugs. "I can take care of myself." * Haruko nods. "Please do me a favor then, if he comes after you, punch him in the eye oncee for Maki. I intend to end it today though." She then walks in the office. [Inside the office is a Chikako! And also, sitting on the desk talking to her is a woman in a Seiryuu uniform. She's very pretty, with long, wavy blond hair and green eyes. She's got a heart-shaped locket around her neck and a wrist-watch that might very well be made of gold. Her beret is on the desk, and so you can see she also wears a plastic hairband.] [Chikako seems to be interviewing her, periodically saying "That's so cool!" after the woman replies to a question.] * Haruko finds a comfortable wall to lean against and evesdrop. She gives Chikako a little wave should the reporter glance in her direction. * Satoshi waves at Chikako, too, if Chikako notices, and heads over to stand with Haruko. * Taki gives Chikako a wave and a smile, and takes a seat, becuase she's laizy like that. * Haruko comments quietly to Satoshi as she hangs out. "So you do those organized sports type things. That give any insight into training a team to work together?" [It seems Chikako is just finishing up the interview. She stands shortly and grins (well, keeps grinning; does she ever stop?). "That was so cool, Ayako! Thanks for coming today." The woman (Ayako) puts a hand to her mouth and giggles. "Not at all. It was my pleasure." She hops off the desk and takes her beret.] * Haruko glances Ayako over when she hears the name, she nods to herself then turns back to Satoshi. [Chikako then notices you and waves. "Hi everyone!" She gestures to the woman. "This is Ayako Kunoichi, Seiryuu's modelling contestant. She's so cool!"] * Satoshi bows politely to Ayako. "A pleasure to meet you." * Taki stands up to bow, "Good luck." * Haruko waves back, and then gives a polite bow. "I'm sure you will represent your school well." Ayako smiles and bows herself. "Naturally I won't need it, but thanks all the same. Your support means a lot." ( And she's not scary like Akemi!) * Haruko looks over at Chikako and queries in a fairly amused tone. "Is anyone representing our school? Or after Saki beat up the scout, have they been scared off?" Chikako grins. "Some scouts have been around after school, but nobody's been picked yet. It's cool, though; we might still be in it." * Haruko nods and grins. "I'm sure you'll keep us posted." I look forward to reading who it is. Chikako nodnods. Yeah, we know you'll keep us well-informed. Ayako heads for the door. "Well, I'd better be on my way. Hope to see you at the contest." She doesn't go more than two steps when she spots Hirokazu, who waves stupidly until Eriko smacks him upside the head. "Quit staring." (Go, Eriko! ^_^) * Haruko waves goodbye and then giggles. [Eriko wanders off, and Hirokazu follows making up some kind of excuse. Ayako waits a few minutes then heads out.] Hey, Chikako, when is this contest, anyway? * Taki shakes her head again, but she's smiling this time. * Haruko comments to herself. "Smack the back of his head... just might work..." Chikako turns your way fully. "It's still a few weeks from now; they still need to find more cool people to be in it." Are you interviewing all the contestants? Chikako nods. "Uh huh. It's gonna be so cool!" Have you published interviews with any of the others so far? We've missed the paper a few times recently. Uh... have you done Akemi Shirashi yet? * Taki nods. * Haruko giggles a bit. "She's fun." Chikako shakes her head. "Ayako was the first one, but it's cool; I'll get to all of them." Cool. So, what's in today's paper? * Satoshi looks a bit pale. "Uh... warn me when she's coming?" Chikako hands Haruko a copy of the paper. * Haruko nods and looks at Chikako. "Ahemi enjoys toying with boys. And while fun to watch, it's really not fair them." * Haruko accepts her paper with a thank you and starts reading. * Satoshi nodnodnods. Chikako giggles. "It's cool!" * Taki gives Satoshi a grin. * Satoshi smiles nervously back. [Ye ol' paper says nothing particularly special. The kendo team won a tournament recently, but that's about it.] * Haruko idly comments as she reads the paper, when she gets to the kendo article she comments. "That reminds me, thought of anything for that outing I ask you about? I realize it's probably an impossible set of criteria but.." (uh, ignore the first 'idly comments as') "It's cool. I'll work something out." (goes to start some tea, in hopes of getting more with it) * Haruko grins. "Great!" She actually takes the time to read the kendo victory article, in a change from her past habits. Oh, and Chikako. Want to see a Tarot reading? I'm going to ask a fortune teller about Nanami and Maki. You may find it interesting. "Cool! When?" As soon as Katie and Kaede are done if everyone's willing. We could just hang out here until they come. * Taki gives Chikako a grin, "Can I have one of those papers while I wait?" Chikako hands Taki a paper, but shakes her head at Haruko. "Can't. Katie and I are gonna do something cool tonight." Oh.. well, if you're with Katie that's cool too. * Satoshi reads over Taki's shoulder. He's so rude. ;p Hmmm... kendo team won. That reminds me. I really should check and find out when they've scheduled our last game for. It's almost playoff time. * Taki holds the paper up so he can see too, "hopefully with a little more notice than our last one." * Haruko looks at Satoshi. "Last game? So if I want to see you and Taki play I need to go to that one?" Well, last game of the regular season. I think we're guaranteed to make the playoffs whether we win or lose. We had a good season. * Haruko smiles and nods. Even I had a part in that, a small part...I'll just have to work harder for the playoffs. Chikako nods. "It was cool." * Haruko shows little sign of comprehending what Satoshi just said as she speaks again. "Ah, so tell me which game to go to then." You've been doing great so far. I think we're going to do great in the playoffs, too. * Satoshi looks at Haruko. "Well... you can't go wrong if you go to the next one." He actually smiles a little. Man... it's good to talk about this stuff again. * Haruko smiles back. "I will then, just tell me when it is. I can get off shrine duty." Come to any of them, it'll be great to have you there cheering for us. It's so... normal. You say that as if it were bad thing. * Satoshi shakes his head. "No, no. Normal is good." * Haruko nods. "I'm not really sure how to cheer for such things properly. But I will do so with great enthusiasm." She grins with the last bit. I think the enthusiasm is the most important part. Chikako pouts. "I think it'd be cool to have powers." It's very simple, you cheer whenever Satoshi puts the puck into the net, or when I stop somebody from putting it into our goal. * Haruko nods to Taki. "OK, I can do that." Hey, I'm not the *only* one who scores for our team. The other guys contribute a lot. * Satoshi looks a bit self-conscious. "...I'm just the one who seems to do it the most, that's all." * Haruko giggles. "I'll cheer for them all, I'll just cheer louder for you." That works too! * Satoshi laughs. "That, I can handle." He looks over at Chikako. "You wanna come too, Chikako? Chances are you'll know when it's going to happen before we do." (Chikako knows all!) Chikako nods. "Sure! It's cool." * Haruko nodnods. "And you can explain anything I don't understand." * Haruko thinks for a moment. "Oh.. Chikako. You have back issues for a few years, right? "Uh huh. Why?" * Haruko bites her lip for a moment. "Could I make a copy of the one after the garage fire. I assume you covered it, I was sort of in the hospital so I didn't get a copy." * Taki puts her hand on the corner of the paper and looks over her shoulder to see if Satoshi is done with the page they're one. * Satoshi looks slighly embarassed for a second, and nods to indicate that he's done. Chikako nods. "It's cool. I'll have one for you tomorrow." Thanks. It might make it easier... * Taki turns the page. * Haruko taps her foot for a moment. "Oh, and what's your number Chikako? I can't remember if I've typed it in yet." She gets out her cell phone as she says this. [Chikako gives Haruko a number.] * Taki reads the unimprtant colums...like Meimi's. * Haruko plugs it in. ( ;_;) ( ;_; ) * Haruko runs her hands through her hair and starts to look bored. "Huh, maybe I'll get to see one of those Zamboni things at the game." They use them to smooth out the ice between periods. Chikako grins. "They're so cool!" They're neat. You could probably ask the guy to let you ride on it. * Taki nods, "They're big, and boxy and seem to take forever." * Haruko thinks. "Should probably be a way to make a smaller, faster Zamboni. I think I'd have to see it first to be sure though." As for boxy, well that's just bad design. Nothing has to be boxy. I'm sure you could come up with some vast improvements in Zamboni design, Haruko. (Quite possibly the strangest sentence I've ever uttered in Arcana. ^_~) * Haruko grins. * Taki nods, "I wanna see." (Whoevers building the quote file should throw that in.) I'll make some up, it'll be fun. Could even make a little model one maybe. "Cool!" * Satoshi laughs. "Yep." Maybe that's what we'll do for the next festival...a miature skateing rink. "That'd be so cool!" I made up a automatic floor waxer once, little thing working of a remote control car chasis. But the janitor kept grumbling about how I was trying to put him out of a job, so I never dida anything with it. I could remake that. We should! Heck of a lot better than me getting wet all the time. * Taki nods. Chikako pouts. "But that was cool too." Although it'd be tricky to set up... hmm. Wonder who we could ask about that? It's not really mechanical, so it's not quite your forte, Haruko. No offense. * Satoshi looks over at her, to most likely find her lost in thought about improvements in Zamboni technology. ^_~ * Haruko keeps talking to herself. "Maki actually helped a little on that, she found the pads..." Haruko then looks disturbed for a moment and then looks up at Satoshi and smiles. "Yeah, ice rinks, not really my thing." * Haruko starts tapping her foot, somewhat impatiently. Probibly Kyon to get the space... I wonder if we could talk Remi into helping with the ice... and we could have another dunk tank, only this time people have to get a puck past me to dunk Satoshi. A combination of skills. I like that. * Haruko talks to herself more. "Maybe I should just go to the fortune teller without them. Not that dangerous, and I could just reporrt back with the results." Hmm? * Haruko bites her lip. "I'm thinking of just going off to try to find Saori. I don't know how long she hangs out in alleys after school." Hangs out in alleys? * Taki blinks. Yeah, Jin dragged Katie, Kaede, and I to meet her. Did we not tell you guys about that? You mentioned a fortuneteller, but I don't remember anything else. I think so. * Haruko rubs her forehad. "We really need to set up an email list to share information or something. But yeah... She's a middle schooler but she sells fortunes. Almost definately Arcana." I figure I could also just have Katie call Kyon.. but she might be better at it. I think that's the back up plan. * Haruko paces slightly. To get a reading? Yeah. We might as well check her out, then. Wanna come? She might not be there, and we should quickly try to find Katie and Kaede first. But if they're still talking... or found something else important... * Taki nods, "I don't have anything else to do untill dinner." * Haruko nods. "Let's go try to find them. Chikako, could you ask Katie to call me if she gets here but didn't see us." So if they're busy, we can just tell them where we're going and let them be. Yeah. That'll work. * Taki nods again. I think I'm gonna take Saori and Hirokazu to the tower at some point. That's the best way to convincee them I think. But that can wait until after we've dealt with Yushiro, or whoever. * Satoshi nods. "So you're done here, Haruko?" Chikako nods to Haruko. "It's cool." * Haruko nods. She then glances over at Chikako one more time. "Oh, and I'd really appreciate it if you could get Yushiro's file or something. Whatever journalistic ethics allow." She then heads out the door. * Satoshi waves. "Later, Chikako!" He heads out after Haruko. Chikako waves. "Cool! Later!" * Taki folds her newspaper and stuffs it into her backpack before waving goodby to Chikako, "Bye!" * Haruko waves as she goes. "Have fun tonight with Katie." * Haruko then starts walking back to the lockers, hoping she meets up with the others. * Taki follows Haruko.