infinite_reflection | April 12th

Entry tags:

campus,
open rp

April 12th

School life had quickly gone back to normal since the death at the beginning of the week, and although rumors about the death and it's circumstances were circulating, most seemed to have dismissed it as an accident. A simple accident didn't quite pair up with the recent outbreak of petty crime in Okachi, though. Muggings and theft were slowly climbing to an all time high, and although it had stayed away from the academy (mostly), it was incredibly hard not to notice something fishy going on!

Miho had noticed it, definitely. Weird things had been happening. People were gossiping more than usual, and occasionally there seemed to be an almost tangible malicious atmosphere that hung around certain spots. Whatever it was, she didn't like it – but whatever it was, it was very temporarily out of her mind, because...

It was the first sunny day since school day started two weeks ago! And although it was weak sunlight, it was still better than more rain – at least, it was better than more rain in Miho Tanaka's opinion! She loved school, but it was just so dreary when the weather was bad. The occasional puffy and heavy cloud drifted by, looking ready to dump even more rain onto the campus of Eizou Academy, but so far they were lucky. Lucky enough that some of the school's outdoor clubs were confident to actually hold a meeting.

Umbrella in hand (just in case) and bag in the other, Miho was watching the girl's baseball team at one of their first practices. She didn't know much about baseball (read: anything), so whatever finesse it may have had was lost on her, but everyone seemed to be having fun, and she didn't feel like going home quite yet. None of her own clubs were having a meeting today, and she was mostly all caught up on her current studies.

One of the club members hit the ball pretty hard, so she, with a few others watching the practice, cheered loudly and put her things down to clap her hands! “Woohooo!” It looked like they'd be packing up soon, though.

((Just as a note, y'all can make your own topics too, if you want. It's all good :>b))

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Ren dropped her bat after that strike and ran the required lap around the field before dashing to a stop that kicked up a cloud of dust. She pulled herself back up, pumping her fist into the air and bowing dramatically to the cheering crowd. The whistle was blown and the girls scattered for a break; Ren pulled her helmet off and drizzled some water from her bottle over her face, slinging a towel over her shoulders before heading on over to the fence with a sly grin.

"Hihiiin, came to check me out, Mippon?"

Miho clapped her hands together once again when the other girl approached. “Um! Yeah! Baseball is really cool, you seem like a good player.. Do you always hit home runs like that?” This poor second year was not skilled at sports, or anything else that involved a whole lot of athleticism, so she was always impressed when others were good at it.

It was hard to resist the temptation to use a little hyperbole and brag as Ren puffed out her chest and ran a finger under her nose. "Mmm, not always... but I do hit'em pretty often, if I do say so myself." The whistle sounded again and the girl looked over her shoulder. The club leader waved her hand in the air and announced that it would be all for today, so the others dispersed once more to gather their belongings and shimmy on out. "Well, looks like that'll be all..." There was a vague hint of disappointment in her tone; after two weeks of rain, she was glad to finally be back in practice. Oh well, she'd just have to show everyone up again during next practice, right?!

Ren dabbed at her face with her towel, looking back at Miho. "So, got anything else planned?"

Awwh, it looked like practice was over. That was good because she'd get to potentially hang out with Ren, but bad because baseball, even if she didn't quite 'get' it, was pretty entertaining to watch! Miho watched the other girls pack up and move out for a few moments, while idly thinking the question over. She'd done a lot of extra studying during the previous two weeks... Going out in the rain was no fun, after all.

“Hmm, I don't think I have any studying or homework to do, and drama club doesn't meet today... No plans! How about you?” She offered Ren a big smile, gathering her own things up. “Do you want to hang out?”

"Sure thing! Just lemme go get changed first." Swinging her towel off her shoulders, she gestured to her dirty baseball uniform; she obviously worked up a sweat and her pants had very conspicuous dirt stains on them. She stuffed her equipment back into her bag and slung it over her shoulder, giving Miho a wink and a two-fingered salute. "I'll be back in a jiffy~"

Without leaving Miho much time to reply, Ren had jetted off to the girls' locker room. She was quick in pulling off her dirty uniform and stuffing it into her bag, but she did take the time to freshen up a little before putting her school uniform back on (read: toweling her face and armpits and putting on deodorant, pretty much). She was pretty sure Miho wouldn't mind if she didn't smell like a daisy while they hung out. Showering could wait till she got home.

After a quick pit stop at the bathroom, she was all set to go. Ren turned on the tap to wash her hands and whistled to herself merrily. Now what could they go do? Hit up the arcades? Or maybe get bubble tea? Hmm...!

Ren's whistling was cut short when something caught her attention from the corner of her eye.

... she straightened up and stared at the mirror curiously. Everything looked fine, but... she could have sworn she saw her own reflection reach out to her - almost in an aggressive manner, too. Yet her hands were still under the running tap. Keeping her gaze on her reflection, she slowly turned the water off. Nothing seemed off then.

... Wasn't there that rumor about moving reflections? Yeah, right. It must have been her imagination; Ren wasn't the type to believe in that stuff, even if she enjoyed teasing people about it. She shook her head - maybe a bit of sugar after all that practice would straighten her back up. Drying off her hands, she exited the bathroom and made her way back to the field.

All of that took less than ten minutes. With her bag slung over her shoulder, she stepped up to Miho with a hand in her pocket. "A'ight, sorry for the wait."

“Okiedokie! I'll be waiting outside.” As Ren took off to get all freshened up and ready to go, Miho strolled casually to the school (near the entrance to the locker rooms) to wait. It really was a nice day out, perfect Okinawa spring weather.. The heat of the summer hadn't set in yet, and for that, this highschooler was quite grateful. She wasn't looking forward to humid and hot... Mild but sunny out was the best, in her opinion.

For the next ten minutes the brunette entertained herself by staring up at the bright blue sky. It was still as clear as it had been the whole day, with a puff of cloud rolling by every once and awhile – said clouds didn't really look to be carrying any excess water now, either. Lucky! Maybe it'd be sunny for the whole week, rather than just the day. Miho spotted shapes in the clouds that did pass, and by the time Ren returned she was smiling contently.

“It's okay, you weren't long at all. I was thinkinggg...” She stretched a little. “How about the arcade? They have a new fighting game in.”

Hehe, she had a feeling it would be the arcade after all! Ren grinned. Fighting games were her specialty. "Really? I have to try it out. Let's go!"

After the first few steps, her head felt light for a split second. She groped at the inside of her pocket, feeling for change. "Actually, mind if we go pick up something to snack on first? I could use a lil' boost."

“Oh! A snack would be fine, I could use something to munch, too... You're feeling okay, right?” And with that asked, Miho headed down the path out of the campus. Fortunately for them, the arcade and several convenience stores were only a very short skytrain ride away (walking was viable too, sure, but it would have taken long... And Miho enjoyed avoiding excessive walking when possible).

"Yeah, I'm fine - just need a dose of sugar after all that workout!" Maybe that was why she was seeing things in the mirror...? Yeah, that sounded probable. Psh, as if ghosts in the mirror existed. Ren could sit through any Japanese horror movie unfazed.

At the convenience store, Ren picked up a bottle of fruit juice and a melon bread. She had enough change in her pocket for it without having to get her wallet, since she had done so much at her last volunteer job that a few people graciously tipped her for her hard work. And on the way there, Ren found herself looking into just about every reflective surface they came across.

Miho was rather talkative on the short ride to the convenience store! She always was, but today she seemed to be in an extra good mood because of the nice weather. It took her mind off of the weird things that'd been going on in her life lately (mirrors were beginning to become rather worrying). Perhaps unfortunately, however, was that one of her favorite things to talk about was school. She was just getting in to how she was worried about mid terms when their stop came up! Melon bread for Ren and... hmm, she picked out a bag of cookies for herself.

Once they were done in the store and headed for the arcade, the chipper young girl got right back to talking about class-related things – until she noticed Ren glancing around occasionally. Humm... She held the arcade door open for her. The inside was buzzing with activity as usual – this was the most popular arcade in t he city, due to it's close proximity to Eizou Academy and it's wide variety of games.

“Have you heard the rumors, Ren-san? About mirrors?”

Ren froze if only for a split second at the mention of mirrors. Crap, had she been staring off at them? How stupid! She laughed and waved it off, though it might have been a teensy bit forced. "That stuff about reflections moving? Yeah, everyone's talking about it. But you know, that's what rumors are. Rumors." She scoffed, slipping her unfinished bottle and bread into a vacant pocket of her bag as she walked inside the arcade. "Don't tell me you believe in that stuff, Mippon?"

Miho flushed, just a tad, at the mention of believing in 'that stuff'. One hand rose to rub sheepishly at the back of her neck, while she grinned. “M-mm, not so much believe... I guess I just have an over active imagination!” Lots of video games and reading could do that to a girl – or maybe things really had been happening. Who knew! “Stuff like that... It's cool thinking about the paranormal, but it's creepy if it could be real.”

Speaking of cool things, the latest addition to the arcade was in! And it wasn't currently occupied! Clapping her hands together out of excitement, Miho gestured Ren to follow her. Moving at a faster pace than anyone had probably ever seen her move in her life, the girl trotted toward the brand new arcade game. It was a big fighting game, the latest in a series, and she looked pretty happy to see it! “I don't get to play new games very often, so I love going to the arcade. Play me?”

Mm, maybe she had responded a little too strongly. The topic was more or less dismissed when they made their way to the new game. Ren gave the machine a look... oh! It was the sequel of that series she had been following! She seemed to forget all about her worries as she beamed and took her place on the second player side, already shuffling in her pocket for change and grabbing the joystick. "Oh, you're on," she challenged, jamming a few coins (which she had left over from her last arcade visit) into the slot.

It wouldn't be long before she would pick her character, a blonde, flat-chested girl with a beret and a pair of guns. Ren pointed at her on the character select screen. "See her? I'm so going to cosplay her."

Miho jammed a few coins in as well, then took a moment to carefully push her braids off her shoulders so they rested against her shoulder blades instead. Fightin' games were serious stuff, and would take some serious concentration! “I like that character...” She adjusted her glasses and squinted at the screen before nodding her approval. “I like, hmm, you could pull her off! She's so cool looking. Wouldn't the costume be really hard to make?”

She was taking her time selecting her character, it'd been awhile since she'd played any of the games from this series. In the end she picked a tall shapely woman with incredibly long black hair, and a floating staff. “It's been awhile since I played this one but.. Don't go easy on me!”

"Maybe... but there are ways to pull it off more easily." She was already figuring out patterns and fabric choices as she selected her character and popped her knuckles as the game took them to a randomized stage.

Ren smirked at herself when she had a mental image of Miho cosplaying the character she had just picked. "Go easy? Mippon, Mippon..." she turned and gave her an almost wicked grin. "I don't go easy on anyone." It was ON.

It would take Ren a few moments to figure out the changes that were made to her character's moveset since the previous game. Fortunately her character of choice was relatively straightforward and easy to do combos with; she was a pretty noob-friendly character, but with an experienced player, she could pack a serious punch. And while Ren didn't play that character exclusively, she was certainly her main ace - and she was pretty damn good. One could tell she had spent a good amount of time practicing, even if she faltered a little in remembering the moveset changes.

“I’m just making suure!” She laughed and then tucked one of her braids behind her ear. It was go time.

While Miho was pretty good at fighting games, she was also at a disadvantage here! Back at home she only had an old playstation and no other consoles – her brother had taken them all when he moved out. So, as a result, she had to rely strictly on going to the arcade to play anything new, and with all the studying she did her arcade time was rather limited. Still, she was proving, around the middle of the first match, to be quite a challenge to best!

In the end they’d hit two to two, and a tie breaker was required. “Aww, come onnn…!” Her tongue was sticking out of her mouth somewhat, and the expression on her face was intense. Four minutes later, Ren came out the champion!

“Noooo..!”

"Awww yeah!" Releasing the controls, Ren's hands shot up in the air balled up in victorious fists before lowering again to sit on her hips. "Whew, that was a great fight! It's been a while since I've last fought someone this good." She gave the girl a grin and a thumbs up. "Awesome job, Mippon!"

Miho returned the grin and the thumbs up, her cheeks faintly pink from the praise as she pushed the bridge of her glasses up. “You should play Grr... Gurg..” American names were so hard to pronounce. “G-san. You should play G-san. He's an English transfer from from the USA... Have you met? He plays lots and lots of video games..”

"G-san...?" Ren wrinkled her nose in thought. "Oh! I haven't met him yet, but I know who you're talking about." Throwing a glance around the arcade, she pulled her juice bottle from her bag and took a swig before putting it back. "There's an awful lot of transfers as of late, it's kind of odd."

"So he plays games too, huh..." she muttered, already imagining herself beating him at this new game.

“Mhm! He plays lots of handheld games... Mostly just things on his phone, from what I've seen.” She laughed slightly, curling a finger into the very tip of her braid. “B-but I think he has a lot of console stuff at his house? More than me, at least!” The arcade was as crowded as ever. Miho wasn't sure if she was just imagining it, or not, but the pair of them seemed to be getting the occasional glance... And the occasional odd whisper. Her brows furrowed. Maybe she was being paranoid.

“Want to do some purikura?”

If Ren didn't notice the glancing and whispering, she certainly noticed Miho's reaction, however subtle it was. "Yeah, sure!"

The nearest purikura booth was a short walk away from the arcade; on the way there, Ren took the time to finish her bread and juice. She crumpled up the plastic wrapper and threw it in a nearby trash bin. "Hey, so... was it just me, or were you in a hurry to get out of there?"

On the way to the purikura booth, Miho munched rather idly on her small bag of cookies. She appeared to be temporarily lost in thought, but when they arrived she finally responded. “Well.. Sort of. I just felt a little.. Like, y'know. We were being stared at a lot. Glared at, even. It was an eerie feeling. Maybe it was just me?” There had definitely been a few glares, though. How odd.

Glared at? Ren snorted a laugh, tossing her empty juice bottle in a recycling bin. "Maybe they're angry about a couple of girls being good at video games?" She snickered, waving her hand dismissively. "Or y'know, maybe they were checking you out."

Still, something about that nagged at the back of her mind, but she couldn't put her finger on what or why. By the time they had left the arcade, the atmosphere had definitely felt different.

Blink, blink. “Checking.. Hah! Ahaha.” Miho held her stomach just slightly as she snickered, then looked to Ren with an unbelieving expression. “They were probably checking you out, Ren-chan~. You're all defined and stuff.” And with that, the nagging feeling left Miho's thoughts entirely. It had been creepy yes, but she had no idea why. A lot of stuff had been like that recently.

Anyway, they'd arrived at a set of two purikura booths! “Let's doo... This one? Can we?” She pointed to it. It was currently unoccupied, and a very joyous pink and purple. It was also a liiittle more expensive than the other one, but it looked cuter in her opinion. “My treat!”

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