April 12th

[terminalshow]

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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[homeruuun]

"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!"

[terminalshow]

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..”

[homeruuun]

"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.

[terminalshow]

“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?”

[homeruuun]

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?"

[terminalshow]

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.

[homeruuun]

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.

[terminalshow]

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!”

[homeruuun]

Ren snickered. "No way. You've got a much more desirable chest than I do." For further emphasis, she patted her very flat chest. "And I'm pretty sure a glasses and braids combo is more popular than this kind of haircut." She smoothed a hand through her short, lightly gelled hair.

Heh, of course Miho would go for a booth like this, she told herself. "Alright, if you insist~" Sneaking inside the booth, she dropped her bag to the ground and took a seat, already perusing through the samples.

[terminalshow]

“There's nothing wrong with a flat chest..” Said as she scooted into the booth behind Ren. Miho wasn't as flat as Ren, she could fill her b-cup bra out decently, but a b cup wasn't huge either, right? “Sometimes I wish I was shaped like Endo-san.” Hikari Endo was another student from the 2-F class (the one Miho was in), and she was... Very well proportioned, to say the least.

The brunette turned to the little mirror in the back of her booth to make sure her hair looked okay after that vigorous fighting match in the arcade. “I like your hair, too. It always look so cool when you gel it a little. Like... Punk! Punk's kinda cool, right?” Fidget fidget, fuss fuss, and then Miho turned to watch Ren flip through samples. Oddly enough, although she didn't catch it, the surface of the mirror seemed to waver just slightly.

[homeruuun]

"Of course not, flat chests are a national treasure~" ... as she liked to say. "But guys tend to like girls with a bit more meat on'em. Kinda like Endo." The thought of having to lug those things around in baseball and the possible back pains made Ren cringe, though. Being flat as much less of a hassle.

Ren grinned and snickered, smoothing her hair to the side again. "I like my hair, but it does often get me mistaken for a delinquent. Older people like to cling to their assumptions." Yes, older people who liked to judge a book by its cover, and who continued to distrust foreign influences. If anything, Ren really looked up to how less constrained Western people were with things like self-expression. Not that she reviled traditional Japanese culture, either; history was actually one of her best subjects, and who doesn't love a nice yukata?

"Okay... how about these ones?" she asked as she turned around, finger pointing to a sample. Her grin dropped when she thought she saw something shift in the mirror that shouldn't have. "What the..."

[terminalshow]

“Hm hm, I like those ones! Can I give you a pair of cat ears, for one picture?” Miho smiled as she imagined Ren with a pair of big ol floofy cat ears. That’d be adorable for sure! “Ooor maybe awesome horns or something.” Man, she love love loved purikura. These things made the best wallet pictures, and she actually had a book at home filled with the stuff. It was the best way to make memories!

The girl blinked slightly, however, when her companion’s happy grin faltered. “What’s the matter?” The movement in the mirror had stopped, but something had definitely shifted.

[homeruuun]

Her gaze lingered on the mirror for a moment, as if daring it to shift again, before she looked away and shook her head. "Nothing... I guess I'm just more tired than I thought," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. Maybe she should take a nap when she gets home.

"Anyway!" She turned all the way back to facing the screen. "I'll take the cat ears if you take the bunny ones~" Horns sounded pretty cool too! Though... hm. Horns? The thought of horns gave her a strange sensation, and she couldn't tell if it was good or bad.

[terminalshow]

“Bunny ones? Me? R-really?” Miho thought it over with a laugh and then gave a small shrug of her shoulders. “Only if they’re the white ones, those are the cutest.” When both the girl’s had turned their backs to the preparation mirror again, they would both be filled with the oddest sensation of being watched. It wasn’t over whelming, no, but it was a tiny bit uncomfortable – at least for the brunette!

Said brunette tried to shrug it off, though. “Okay! Ready?” She inserted a few coins and then took a few steps back. “I got us eight pictures. That’ll be good, I think~.”

[homeruuun]

Ren definitely felt like they were being watched, and the hairs on the back of her neck were starting to stand. What a day for weird shit to happen. Ugh... better not to think about it too much, it was giving her a headache. Instead, she got ready to pull faces at the camera and smooshed her cheek against Miho's for the first picture. "Ready!"

[terminalshow]

Fortunately for them both, once they were both facing the camera and smooshing their cheeks together, the feeling died down somewhat. It went from massively uncomfortable to a s imple 'hmm'. Miho pulled a peace sign, grinning widely as the camera took the first snap shot. They had ten seconds to pick another pose. “Let's make... Fish lips at one another.” Purikura was all about being goofy, after all, right?! The brunette turned to face Ren, and made big ol' kissy lips.

[homeruuun]

The girl had to snort at that. If it weren't for the time limit, she would have made a crack at Miho for the suggestion, but instead complied with the suggestion, making exaggerated duck lips at her. Snap! There went the second picture, and the countdown until the third picture was already starting. "Oh, Tanaka-san~" she sighed, bringing a hand to her forehead as she pretended to swoon onto the other girl.

[terminalshow]

“Ah! Ren-s-saann..” Oh, boy, that was a real reaction! She sounded a little startled at first with the pretend swoon, but then quickly caught on that this must have been for the next photo. The poor girl laughed, and put in a charming face, with one brow raised as she went to 'catch' her. SNAP! Another shot was taken. Ho ho ho, how devilish Miho must have looked.

[homeruuun]

Quick, ten seconds before the next shot! Ren sat back up straight and picked up one of Miho's braids between her fingers, leaning closer to hold it up to her upper lip like a mustache. Furrowing one brow and raising the other, she gave the camera a grin you would only see on a Dreamworks character.

[terminalshow]

Miho's braid certainly made a fine thick mustache! The girl stared at Ren with her head slightly tilted as she tried to hold in a laugh. That left four pictures to go! For the next one, Miho crouched down on her knees slightly (making sure she was still in range of the camera), and then peered up at Ren. She gestured for her to stand as tall as possible and then peer down at her! The brunette put on a surprised face!

[homeruuun]

Ren released the braid and it took her a second or two to get Miho's prompt. She stood up as much as she could while still staying within the camera's frame. She squared her shoulders and put on her best wicked expression, trying to look imposing as the poor Miho looked up at her. Snap! Three to go.

She sat back down, doing her best impression of a sad puppy face.

[terminalshow]

Miho put on a sad puppy pout, as well – although if she had a tail like a dog, it would totally be wagging. Purikura was fun! Snap snap! Two more! They were gonna have a ton to work with, heh~. For this next one, Miho rested her chin on top of Ren's head and did two peace signs! “Onnee more!”

[homeruuun]

Ren had to let out a chuckle. She stuck out her tongue and did a pair of peace signs as well, but placed them sideways to frame her eyes. Snap! And just one left. Hmm... ahah!

Without much of a warning, Ren let our a comical roar and attacked Miho with tickles!

[terminalshow]

SQUEEAL. Miho flailed a little with the sudden bout of tickling. No doubt her arms would be blurred in the picture from the motions. "Noononoonono, no tickling, cmoon!" Snap, went the camera! Their eight photos were taken, and within a few seconds would appear on the screen in the booth for them to play with and edit to their hearts content.

"Mean! Mean, you're mean, Ren-chan." The feeling of being watched had faded entirely.

[homeruuun]

She cackled as she pulled back, wiggling her fingers at Miho a little more. Ren couldn't hold back a laugh when she saw the picture; indeed, it was quite blurred! Not to the extent of ruining the picture entirely, but you could tell there was frantic motion going on. "Sorry, sorry~ I couldn't think of anything else. You can get me back next time... maybe."

With another snicker, she started editing the pictures and was quick to stick a pair of white bunny ears on Miho.