infinite_reflection

Entry tags:

campus,
open rp

April 9th

April 9th, 2012, early

It was a humid morning, and only the second week of school. A fine mist of rain clouded the sky, doing nothing against the damp heat that had invaded Eizou Academy’s campus. Beyond the misty and annoying weather, it was also irritatingly early! Students milled about from the main gates, slowly heading towards their campus buildings (it could be quite a walk, most had to arrive a wee bit early). Umbrella’s seemed to do nothing against the rain, but staff and students alike tried to use them regardless.

A scream sounded out, from the cluster of buildings that all the elementary and junior high students were headed toward. It was quite a distance away from the Highschool section, and the clouds and mist dulled the sound. Sirens, blaring through the morning air, pierced the quiet created by the mist. Where were those headed?

That exact thought filtered though Miho Tanaka’s head fifteen minutes later. She could see flashing lights of a police car, and probably an ambulance, from out of the front door’s of the Highschool building. The light filtered through the thickening mist, as the rain started to gradually turn into a downpour. The school seemed eerily quiet, and everyone’s attention seemed to be drifting out toward the elementary buildings. What happened?

Two girls entered, whispering in low fast voices to one another.

“Did you hear? A teacher jumped.”

“I heard she was pushed! The impact broke her neck.”

“I heard she splattered all over the concrete…”

“But we still have to go to class today? Jeez!”

"Mouu, I bet everyone in junior high will get the day off today. This is so unfair.."

Miho frowned slightly at the passing conversation, gaze drifting from the two gossiping girls out towards the lights in the distance. A jumper, huh…?

((NOTE: About half an hour after this initial post, the PA system comes on - everyone is informed they get the day off.))

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Unfortunately for Greg, he was a little too focused on lining up a shot in his little game to be paying much attention to the girl heading right for him. The two of them collided and he lost his grip on the phone, making a noise of considerate despair while trying to fumble with the thing and keep it airborne. "No, no, no..!"

Oh, thank GOD. The boy managed to save his precious piece of technology, gripping it firmly in both hands before looking up with quite a glare to see what kind of idiot would run smack-dab into him! ... Oh. That harsh look softened a bit when it centered on the face of his boss' daughter. "Oh, it's you." Not the nicest greeting, but then he wasn't the nicest guy... Outside of work. "What's the hurry?"

“S-sorry! Sorrysorrysorr- Oh! Aha!” The panicked expression dissolved, and she instead offered Gregory a warm smile. “Still, sorry, is your cellphone okay?” Hurry? What hurry- Oh! Miho clasped her hands together after quickly dusting her outfit off, brows furrowing together in concern. “A teacher jumped, from the elementary school's roof. They say she splattered all over the concrete – what if it's my friend--...”

A look of dawning now appeared on her face. “Mm. Wait. Seiya-chan isn't a teacher, is she?” The look of dawning turned into something considerably more embarrassed. “She's probably just late for class, aha.. ha.. I'm sorry. I bumped into you for nothing.”

"Mmmf." He looked the little thing over, despite the fact it had never fallen. No damage, as expected! "Yeah, it's fine." It wasn't the usual flip-phone variety that teenagers his age had; the thing looked a bit more advanced. Gregory raised an eyebrow at the apparent gossip, however... "A teacher? Huhhh..." That was a little shocking. He hadn't really seen a lot of death in his life, to be perfectly honest. That certainly put a downer on things.

Greg blinked back into the conversation, shaking his head slightly and then giving Miho an odd look. "Uh, yeah. She's probably late." He was fully prepared to go on his merry way and ignore the fact they'd even spoken, but something clicked right then. "Ah! Right. Can you tell your mother that I won't be able to work next Friday? I meant to tell her the other day, but the cafe got busy."

“Oh! Um... Sure, I can tell her, for you.” Her head bobbed in a small nod, twin braids bouncing slightly with the exaggerated motion. Miho cast another worried little glance out the front doors, shifting her weight on her feet back and forth. “Why won't you be in to work? I'll call her for you right now.” Her cellphone was fetched from her pocket, an older looking flip model – it was a bit bulky, and a dark pink. An adorable little duckling charm hung off of a light pink string, as well!

“Hello? Mom?” Her head tilted into the phone. “Mm. Mm. Mhm. I'm at school – um... Harman-san won't be in to work on friday. You want to talk to him?” Miho's expression turned apologetic, but she offered the phone over. “Goodluck.”

Hmmm. Miho seemed like she wanted to leave, and he was about to offer her the right to pass when she made the decision to call her mother. "Oh, that's not-- ..." Too late, she had the phone up to her ear. Greg leaned to one side, resting a hand on his hip, and then tilted his head at the offer. Ohhh, man... It's not that he didn't like Ms. Tanaka... Er, Tanaka-san. Whatever! In his head he could call her what he wanted. She was just a little forward, generally, with him. "Me? She wants to-- Aahhh."

Greg took Miho's phone and cleared his throat, lifting it to his hear. He hated phone conversations in America, and they're even worse here! Mostly because... Well, because he has to say -it-. "Mm-- .. Moshi moshi, Tanaka-san." Ghuhhh. It was just so..! No one could sound 'cool' saying that.

(( As an aside -> I know we're all speaking in Japanese and such; if I ever actually use a word it's just because he has inner commentary on it! So ya know. ))

Miho continued right on smiling apologetically as her school-mate took the phone. Her cheeks were every so slowly, but visibly, starting to colour red. She knew damned well how her Mother was, and it wasn't pretty!

Miho's Mother, Akane Tanaka, used to model, and before she settled down and was married, she was a big hit with boys and girls alike – Hell, she still was, even after marriage! There had been a period, after her husband died, where she quit modeling, though. She hadn't taken it back up yet, but she was looking to date again in full swing! Unfortunately she liked younger men. Y'know, like, her daughter's classmates. A silky smooth voice sounded out from the other end of the line.

“Gregory-chan, are you skipping out on work? How naughty! What will I do without my favorite waiter here to keep me company?” Miho sighed, pushing her glasses up.

Ohh, god, it was also so hard to talk to this woman. The chief reason being that she always sounded like she was trying to seduce him. What made it worse, of course, was the fact that in reality she probably was. Greg cleared his throat, trying to remain polite! "I'm sorry, Tanaka-san. My father asked me to go with him to an event where he works, and he was pretty insistent. I would rather not disappoint him, and so..!"

It wasn't technically true, though pieces of it were. His father had merely suggested they go on a day trip next Friday, and Greg didn't get many opportunities to hang out with his old man. That didn't sound like a good excuse in his head, though, and he didn't have too much of a problem lying in a situation like this. "I can work an extra day whenever you'd like?"

“I'll let you have the day off, paid, if you come over after school~~.” There was really no mistaking the tone to her voice, “I'll make dinner. Huhu. Miho can show you the way, we live fairly close to Eizou.” Miho, meanwhile, was watching the conversation curiously (and trying to make it look like she wasn't staring at Gregory). “Is she inviting you over for dinner...?” Mouthed to her classmate!

Gregory nodded seriously at the mouthed question, and then mouthed an apologetic, "I can't say no..!"

With a clear of his throat, he responded... By the way, his cheeks were getting a little red. "Ah, I'll have to call my father and ask... I should be able to, though. That'd be lovely, Tanaka-san." No it wouldn't! Well, it would, from what he had heard in the cafe she was a decent cook. The problem was the flirting, and he knew there would be a lot of it. Gregory was sixteen, for goodness' sake! And she was... Older. He wasn't about to ask the exact number, but she was definitely 'older'.

"I'll just... Call my father and ask, okay? If you don't hear back, it means he said yes."

“Mmmhm, be sure it's a yes! I make wonderful chocolate torte souffle~.” Click, the woman hung up after delivering a 'mwaah~' noise. Miho looked like the poster child for humiliation! She quickly nabbed her phone back, and then bowed. “Sorry! S-sorry, she's.. Like that. You know, since you work with her, but... Dinner should be good, at least? A-ahaha.. ha.”

Greg winced with the noise, about to say goodbye when Miho suddenly took the phone! It felt like a massive weight had been lifted off of his shoulders just by taking the phone away, and the poor boy let out a rather heavy sigh of relief. "Yes. Yes, I know, I should do my best to... 'Go with it'." He cleared his throat! Wait, that suggested... "... Not like-- Grin and bear it, is what I meant." Red cheeks.

"A-Anyway. I should call my father... If you wanted to look for your friend, you should hurry. Class starts soon, and so..." Gregory was already sorting through his contacts, looking for his father.

“Go w- Oh! Yea, you mean.. Ahah, hah. Sorry again, okay?” She bowed again, low. Poor Miho really looked very apologetic about her Mother's behaviour! “You know how she is, though, I guess, since you work at the cafe.” It was only the beginning of the school year, classes had only been in session a week. The squinted at Gregory, tilting her head just slightly. “Um... Are... You in class 2F?” She recognized him, from more than just the cafe!

Gregory held up a finger; his phone was at his ear and he'd apparently called his father! The boy tapped his foot while he waited, then perked up a bit with an apparent answer. Miho might not be surprised to find that he talked to his father in English! "[Hey dad. Yeah. Yeah, listen-- I can make it quick, yeah.]" Uh oh, he sounded a little annoyed with the second sentence. "[My friend invited me over for-- Sure, I can wait.]" Now he looked annoyed, too.

He turned his back to Miho with a sigh and rubbed at his forehead. Greg was quiet for about thirty seconds, then finally his dad got back. "[Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yes. Okay. I know, but-- Just, nevermind. I gotta-- You gotta go. Yeah, I know.]" With a huff, he pressed a button on the screen to hang up and spun back around.

"[I can--]" Whoops. "I can go, no problem."

Miho wasn’t very good with English. If fact, you could say that Miho was horrible at English! Out of all the classes she worked so hard to excel at, this second language was just a thing she couldn’t seem to master. It was depressing, and annoying, but it did give her an excuse to go to English Club with Seiya. All this meant, though, was that she didn’t understand a word Gregory said into the phone.

She understood his tone, though – and his tone and stance both spoke levels of annoyance. Her brows furrowed slightly, but she nodded when the phone conversation was over. “Good! That’s good. My Mom cooks really good burgers and stuff…” Miho laughed a little, hoping to diffuse the tension. “She’ll probably try to impress you with ‘american food’, you know?”

Thankfully for Miho, it seemed his frustration was fading quickly... Whether that was an effort to make it less awkward for her or just his natural and seemingly uncaring attitude was a mystery. "If she can make it well, then it'll be nice... American food's a lot easier than anything I see made around here." Something about cooking on this side of the world made it seem less like a necessity for nourishment and more like an art form. It was impressive, in some strange way.

"Does your mother..." How to phrase this, exactly? Gregory felt like it might be rude, actually, no matter how he tried to make it come out. "Uhhh. Take a liking to a lot of..." He gestured to himself, a little aimlessly. "Am I somehow special? That's what I'm asking." Honestly, he prayed that he wasn't and this was just run-of-the-mill. It'd feel a lot less creepy to have some flirty woman after his heart if it happened to all boys, too.

“Liking..? Oh! Hah, ehh..” She shrugged, smiling a little awkwardly. It was a cheerful smile despite that hint of awkwardness at the subject. “Mom likes, um, y’know, younger… Y-younger guys. You fit the bill, so.. I’m really sorry about that!” The girl was quick to lower her top half down in another dramatic and apologetic bow. “I try to tell her not to hit on my friends but she does it anyway, so I usually just don’t bring friends over and ohh you’re already coming over and I’m sooo sorry!” All of that came out very fast paced, it might have been a little hard to understand.

Still wasn't used to people bowing all the time, honestly. Greg pocketed his phone and then kept both hands firmly in those pockets and looked momentarily awkward with the gesture. That faded into his usual 'meh' expression rather quickly, though. "It's not that bad. In the end it's... Harmless." At least, Greg was pretty sure that it was. Some people were just flirty by nature! That didn't mean they expected anything to actually come of it. "So, dinner will be fun. Don't worry about it." Not that he sounded particularly enthused... Then again, Gregory never did about anything.

Wow... He'd actually made plans. With someone that could potentially now be described as a friend. This was unexpected, even to him. "... Huh." Greg didn't mean to vocalize that confusion, but out it came. "Hm. You think we're getting the day off? What with the, uh... Y'know."

“Oh! With the.. Hmmm. I wonder?” Speaking of classes, hers (or maybe theirs, as he had yet to answer if he was in 2-F or not) was going to start soon! The shoe lockers had gotten rather empty, minus the occasional late comer sprinting down the hall once they’d changed into their school slippers. Miho looked momentarily horrified. “Oh no, I’m going to be late – I can’t be late!” The poor thing was literally mid-turn on her heel when the P.A. system clicked on.

The voice of their principal, Kei Inoue, rang out amongst the mostly empty halls. “We regret to inform you that there has been an accident on campus. All years will have the day off today, as the police must perform a campus-wide investigation. Please head straight to the campus gates, and neatly return to your dormitories or homes. Thank you.”

“… I guess we get the day off!”

Gregory didn't want to say that he hoped they got the day off. It'd sound more terrible vocally than in his head, likely because someone had died to make their potential day off possible. Oh, did he say potential day off? The PA system confirmed that it was a definite day off. He breathed a sigh of slight relief, realizing that he would've been late anyways, and then nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Does that mean..."

Well, how to ask this? He had to think about the things he said a lot, here. That was annoying. Greg couldn't very well invite himself over, but his apartment was a fair distance away. It'd be stupid to go all the way there just to come all the way back for dinner. Oh! Right, right, kids his age... Did that thing where they went places together. "Do you want to... Do something?" It came out awkwardly, mostly because he wasn't perfect with the language. "Together, I meant. There's no use in me going home if I'm just going to come back for dinner."

Her head tilted when he seemed to carefully think out how to phrase his question, and he was answered with a cheerful and bright smile. “You want to hang out? Okay! How about… Purikura? Or bubble tea? We could go to the arcade, in the mall, if you wanted? You like games, right?” Miho assumed so, at least, because of his phone! “I love shooters and stuff.” She laughed, forming her fingers into a gun, “Pew pew-..”

But then she flared red when she realized she was, in fact, not with someone she was very familiar with. Her throat cleared and she dropped her arms to her sides. “So.. yea! I want to hang out.”

On the plus side, Miho had managed to coax a vague smile out of the boy. The negative, of course, being that it seemed more like he was laughing at than with her. Greg rubbed his chin and raised an eyebrow, straightening out his lips once again, and then just... Shrugged. "Whatever you'd like. I haven't been around most of the city, so you probably know what's... Uh, fun."

It looked like the school was starting to empty; teenagers came out of the building's front doors in single file and headed right for the gate. "I think we should join them, huh?"

“Mm, probably! Let me just change my shoes again.” Miho turned away from him, flipping her locker back open. Her school shoes were carefully slipped off and tucked neatly away, and then she was pulling her normal shoes back on – they were black dress shoes, polished to a pristine shine. “I’m just going to text my Mom quickly, okay? But we can start walking.” Her locker was clicked closed, and then they headed on out.

It was actually a bit of a walk from the campus gates to their school, and she spent the time thinking about what they should do. “We could take the skytrain to the mall, and then get tea at the stop there… You’ve taken the skytrain before, right? How long have you been in Japan?”

Greg did the same, though the concept of multiple pairs of shoes at school was still a very strange one to him. His phone came out when Miho's did, and the boy busied himself with one of his games while they walked and she told her mother whatever. The small walk was relatively quiet, and she had to speak up in order to revive the conversation. "Hmm? Oh, I've only been to the mall twice. Uhh... I've been here a couple months. I don't go out much, though, so."

He was hardly making himself sound like an exciting or even well-adjusted individual. "I have been on the skytrain, mhmm. Sort of ironic, actually, back in New York City all of our..." Struggling with a word. "Uh... Trains, basically, are underground instead." Wait, he forgot to confirm or deny her idea. "Oh. Oh, and that sounds fine, sure."

Miho’s brows rose, and then she grinned slightly. “Subways, right? We have those too. And buses, and bullet train… Tons of public transportation, really. My household doesn’t even own a car, we have our bikes, or walking, for short distances, then we transit for the longer ones.” She rubbed at the back of her neck lightly, looking up in thought – by the way, both of them were probably getting misted with a light coating of drizzly rain. “I wish I remembered my umbrella this morning, gosh… It’s about a ten minute walk to the station. My house is around there, too.”

"Yeah, we don't have a car yet, either..." His father's been biking to work, and Gregory usually takes the bus to school. He's got to leave surprisingly early, actually. "If you want to stop by your house and get an umbrella, that's not a big deal. I don't mind the rain, so I didn't bring one." If Miho glanced over, she'd find his nose in that phone despite the fact he was carrying on a reasonably nice conversation with her.

And then he changed the subject, because she'd said something earlier that admittedly interested him. "You like arcade games?"

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