savethecitydesu | Young Performer Summit! Pro Wrestler and Idol Meet!

And someone did show up, though interest, like beauty, lay in the eye of the beholder. She stood out, at least, compared to her less blonde, more dress code adherent counterparts. Currently, Kaori's arms were piled high with textbooks and paperwork and her spirits had been significantly dampened after seeing just how different normal schools were from the agency's school. It was odd being around students without careers in an environment that focused solely on education.

A somewhat resigned and forlorn looking Kaori walked right by Keiichi without really seeing him, so intent she was simply watching where she was going and not dropping everything on the ground.

In truth, he almost hadn't noticed her at first. Keiichi was used to commotion being made by sound and action. As he glanced upwards, though, at a small crowd of people in the general vicinity, he saw that their eyes were all trained in the same direction.

That was odd enough, he figured -- and then he saw a shock of blonde hair carrying what seemed to be a veritable treasure trove of boring looking papers and textbooks. No one seemed to be moving to help her, either, even though their eyes were all on her. Very, very odd. Not usual behavior.

Unusual enough that he felt the need to chime in. It didn't take long to catch up to her, long strides of his long legs falling in lockstep with her after four or five big steps. "You need help with all of that," he asked, quietly enough that he hoped she was the only one who could hear him. Something about all of this was...unnerving...

Both the question and sudden appearance of a boy she didn't know took Kaori by surprise. One of the papers she was holding escaped the book she'd tucked it into. It fluttered to the ground.

"Yes, please," she replied just as quietly, need winning out over pride for the moment.

Edited 2013-03-09 22:22 (UTC)

He stooped down immediately to pick up the paper that had fallen, and then extended his arms out, to take some portion of the large quantity of school supplies.

As he stood there, he could hear them, the other students, gossiping in not-so-hushed tones as they walked by, off to wherever their day was to carry them. His hearing wasn't the greatest, but he could pick off comments as they went.

Most relevant to his interests was one...younger? Or was she older? girl, elbowing her companion in the side and saying...what was it?

"Whoa, Ito-kun's going for Kaori-chan," he heard, the dubiousness in the tone sending pinpricks of...something up and down his spine. He was being made fun of. But why? Just who was this...Kaori-chan?

Kaori balanced her load precariously on one arm (oww, oww!) and started handing things off the top of the pile. As she did so, gradually her face became visible. At some point during the day, she'd taken her contacts out so her eyes were their natural brown at the moment.

"Thanks. I wasn't sure how I was going to get all of this out of here," she said in a relieved rush. "The amount of catching up I have to do is unbelievable. How does anyone have a life at this school?"

Her last comment was spoken lightly, clearly in jest.

"You're new here, huh," he replied, good-naturedly enough as he took her bundle of things -- and suddenly had a considerably better idea of why that girl had been laughing, earlier.

Kaori-chan was what might have been colloquially known in the school as a...hottie. Well, the Japanese equivalent for that bit of slang, anyway.

Keiichi stammered, just a bit, just enough that it happened and was probably noticeable, before forcing his way onwards. "It's actually not so bad," he said. "I'm the president of the Cooking Club, so I at least have enough time to do that. Ito Keiichi -- I'd offer a handshake, but both of our hands are full, aren't they?"

Well, that was interesting. Usually the only people that wanted to shake her hand were foreigners. Then it hit her. Maybe he thought she was a foreigner or a half? It was a logical assumption to make and not one that bothered her much.

"Oh, I'm Japanese," she clarified, still awkwardly balancing her books on one arm which thankfully didn't hurt as much now that Keiichi was taking some of the weight off. She reached out with the hand that had been passing off her things, offering a handshake herself.

"So am I," he replied, easily enough. "Well, three-quarters, anyway. My dad always tells me that there's two measures of a person -- how much sake they can drink, and how firm their handshake is, so I guess I've been shaking hands a lot more than most Japanese."

Nodding, Keiichi shook her hand. It seemed...experienced was the only way he could think of putting it. Like she'd done this many times before.

"So, what should I call you," he asked, a faint twinkle in his eye. "Here I am carrying your things and I don't even know your name yet!"

"Kousaki Kaori. Your dad sounds like an interesting man. More interesting than mine, anyway."

If a person could see past all the glitter, anyway. The only difference between Kousaki Masaru and the typical Japanese father was that she saw him on TV when he wasn't home.

"My dad's a professional wrestler," Keiichi said, no small amount of pride in his voice. "He's more interesting than a large subset of fathers, in both good and bad ways."

Much of Keiichi's homelife was spent contemplating those ways, really.

"It's nice to meet you," he said, looking at some of the books as he carried them and they walked on towards destination untold. "Third year? These books are a year ahead of me, I think. What brings you to humble old Ryuseki High?"

"Third year," Kaori confirmed, readjusting her load as she continued toward the gate. "Mine's an actor. You may have seen him on TV. He's in a lot of dramas these days."

She left out that some of her father's roles today were really embarrassing to watch thanks to painfully, ridiculous scripts. Honestly, the less said about her parents, the better.

"Nice to meet you, too. Oh, I got tired of city life and my sister volunteered to let me live with her so I could finish school in peace."

Oops. She hadn't meant to say quite that much.

"Mmm," Keiichi nodded. "Don't watch much TV, I have to admit. That's kind of neat, though, both of our fathers are in TV. Don't think I've ever met anyone around here whose dad is, too. I'm sort of known for it at this school I guess. Well, that and the Cooking Club."

The Cooking Club bit was starting to spread a bit more, especially after his confrontation with the Drama Club's Haruka-chan at the budget meeting.

"And I can see that. Cities are big and loud. Nice places to visit, for sure, but living there might be hard." He thought for another moment. "On the subject of living, where are we taking these, anyway?"

"Nishi Kinjo, the nice part. City life isn't too bad. Career life, on the other hand..." Kaori trailed off with a slight shrug. "I guess it is kind of neat? I don't really think about it much since I pretty much grew up in that world."

Since it hadn't directly concerned her and Kaori had other things preoccupying her, any rumors about club budget clashes had simply gone in one ear and out the other.

"Cooking club, huh? I can't even microwave popcorn without burning it. My mom did all the cooking."

Keiichi shrugged as they continued to walk on. "That's not too bad of a walk," he agreed. He had plenty of time. By now, they'd also gotten out of earshot of the gossipers, which struck him just fine anyway.

He was proud of Cooking Club -- it was evident in the way he discussed the subject. It was good for him because there wasn't a whole lot else he was truly *proud* of. Keiichi thought of himself as average -- average looks, average grades, average most things.

"If I didn't cook, Dad would have to," he said, shuddering. "Mom went back to work a few years ago, and she'd taught me, so it's as much as matter of survival as anything else."

The mental image of her own mother trying to go back to work made Kaori give a horrified shudder of her own. She nodded in acknowledgement, not really sure what to say. It wasn't as if she'd ever had time for friends or anything.

"So you like to cook? Anything in particular?"

"Anything. Everything. Being the Cooking Club leader means I always have to try and find new things for us to cook. Usually we start off with easy things, bentos and such, practical things for everyone to take to school. Anyone who wants to go further I can help with more advanced things."

There weren't MANY of those, of course, but it was Keiichi's duty to help them excel while helping the others to not burn down the school.

"All different cultures, too. Italian, Chinese...there's so many delicious cuisines out there that people only have when they go out to eat. Most of it's surprisingly easy to make at home, though!"

While Kaori knew about a fair number of things, she'd never really put much thought into food beyond how to eat it without staining her clothes. She nodded again, still not quite sure what to say though she was listening.

"You sure know a lot about food, huh? I try a lot of new things when I go out."

Not the most brilliant conversational response but any response at all counted? Right?

"That's good," Keiichi replied. "The Japanese palate isn't anywhere near as adventurous as some. Though I suppose the Americans might disagree -- it's in the eye of the beholder."

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized he was rambling, and stopped talking, looking over at his walking companion.

"You going to be okay," he asked, changing the subject with all the subtlety of a herd of crashing rhinos. "You seem a bit overwhelmed with this place so far. I'd offer to help, but you're a year ahead of me."

For an ex-idol as self-absorbed as Kaori was, those rhinos were surprisingly subtle. She didn't so much as blink at the subject change.

"I guess I am a bit," Kaori admitted, studying the ground in front of her as she walked. "But it's nothing I can't handle," she added quickly, swatting aside the nagging inkling that perhaps she was biting off more than she could chew by coming to such a radically different environment.

"It's just a lot to take in and nothing like my old school."

After all, it'd been rare for any of the students in her old class to stay the whole time with photoshoots, concerts, interviews, and an assortment of other celebrity obligations to be fulfilled.

"It is sort of...boring, really," he replied. Ryuseki wasn't as exciting as a big city school, though the world of where Kaori had attended classes was even further out of Keiichi's comprehension.

"That's why it's good to meet people," Keiichi offered. "There's tons of clubs, and ways to link up with people. Being social's the best way around here to not get bored to death, really."

It was part of why he ran Cooking Club -- and part of why he'd put up with Mitsuya and her am-bushes. Just sitting in his dorm room wasn't quenching his soul's yearnings.

Kaori nodded. She couldn't disagree with that, even if she did enjoy reading and learning things. This place had far too much structure of the wrong kind for her tastes.

The mention of meeting people, however, made her frown a little. After the fiasco with her bandmates, making new friends wasn't exactly a high priority of Kaori's. Unwinding and recovering from stress was.

"Clubs, huh?" There was an undeniable hint of wariness in her tone. "I remember those from junior high but we didn't have those at my old school."

"No clubs," he asked, astonished, making a confused face. "What sort of sweatshop did they have you in?"

That was confusing -- did city schools really not allow fun? But that would make her reaction to having so much work odd. If they didn't have clubs, one would think there'd be lots of work and other unpleasant things.

Keiichi shook his head. "It's...I don't know. Seems like you come from an entirely different world. This place is pretty nice, though, once you figure it out. Hall monitor's an ass, though, so be careful."

"Hall monitor's bad news, got it. Um, it wasn't a sweatshop, more like cram school, I guess. We didn't have clubs because there wasn't much point. All of us were too busy working and our school didn't compete with other schools."

Everyone was too busy competing with each other, anyway, she thought with a sigh.

"Sometimes we'd leave if we had other appointments after clearing them with the agency first."

"Agency," he asked, cocking an eyebrow. Most normal schools, he knew, didn't have agencies. Or students working while in school at the same time in a way that made school seem like the part-time job and the work seem full-time. "Did you happen to follow dad into the entertainment business?"

Not that he wasn't planning on following his own father into his, but the nature of wrestling meant that he was being trained after school a few days a week for the day (post-graduation) his dad would deem him graduated.

"My mother, actually. She used to be an idol back in the eighties but she didn't last."

Kaori managed to catch herself before all the sordid details of her relationship with her mother came tumbling out. She blushed a little, realizing she was rambling. Whether it was because Kaori had been bottling things for as long as she could remember or because Keiichi was simply easy to talk to - she was still talking too much.

"Um, I guess you don't recognize me. I was an idol until a few months ago."

Kaori shrugged.

That made sense, really.

"Oh, that explains why everyone was whispering when we were leaving the school," he managed, finally having added two and two together and come up with four, but only after she wrote the number "four" on a piece of paper and handed it to him. "And why everyone knows who you are."

Judging by how stressed she seemed, everyone had been letting her know that, too.

Still carrying her books, he cocked his head to one side, and shrugged.

"Well, then, I suppose that makes this easier. I don't know Idol Kaori. I know Desperately Needed Help With Giant Stack of Books Kaori. And I promise that I'll refrain from looking up Idol Kaori on the internet. You...seem like you could use someone who'll let you be what you've decided to be, if that makes any sense in the world at all."

Keiichi's words brought a happy, relieved smile to Kaori's face. For a second, she looked like a completely different girl that people had been seeing of late - softer, warmer, and more vulnerable somehow.

"Thank you," she said very sincerely. "That means a lot to me, Ito-kun. I don't want to live in that world anymore. I want to live in this one."

Her smile turned a bit rueful.

"Even if I don't quite remember how to anymore."

"It might take a while," Keiichi admitted. "You've been an idol a while, right? You get used to what your environment is. You have a lot of practice being an idol, so now you need practice at not being an idol."

Easier said than done, of course, but it sounded good, anyway. At any rate, speaking to her like this had seemed to lighten her mood. It didn't take much for the younger Ito to imagine the sort of conversations that she'd had since arriving at Ryuseki. It was a gossipy bunch in normal times, let alone right after an idol had arrived at school.

"Practice at not being an idol," she repeated slowly, mulling over the concept.

"So... I should probably join a club, then. Something that has nothing to do with music, dancing, or anything like that."

Considering that she didn't really know how to do anything else, it was certainly a daunting prospect.

"Probably not a bad idea," Keiichi agreed. "School work takes up a good amount of time, but I'd imagine it's less of a full time job than being an idol. You'll have more free time once you get it down. Take some Kaori-time, if that makes any sense. The Cooking Club's always open, if you want. I run it, and I can keep the gossip channels in the club at least to a minimum. They listen to me. Most of the time."

Keiichi nodded. He hadn't expected this deep of a conversation, and yet, here he was...

"You'll make it. I have faith. It's just about adjusting. Adjusting is what people do best."

"Faith, huh?"

She listened to Keiichi's words, her thoughtful expression deepening as the conversation went on. He sounded like he knew what he was talking about and that was a bonus. Most people just didn't get it. It took an insider perspective, or at least, someone with knowledge of one to know what it was really like.

"Um, thanks for the - well, everything. I may drop by sometime. The cooking club, I mean. It'd be good to learn, right? And everyone needs a safe harbor sometimes, I guess."

On some level, the depth the conversation had taken was surprising, but only because Kaori hadn't really planned on opening up to anyone much less making real friends. While the public had known of her as the sweet one of Glimmer, the band and agency had been far more versed with her thoughtful side.

"Oh, my place is just ahead. Again, thanks."

She continued to smile.

Keiichi nodded, extending the books he was carrying back out to her. She could probably make it this far with them, he figured. He wondered how she was planning on walking all this way without help, though. It would be, at best, a very unpleasant trip.

"I'll hope to see you in Cooking Club then. And take your time. You'll figure everything out."

The young man smiled, and bowed at her. "If you'll be okay from here, I think I'll get going too, then. Need to get home soon, Dad's probably going to want to do practice tonight." He winced -- he was already a bit sore from last practice, and his body wasn't going to be very happy with more being thrown and falling. Such, though, was life.

Kaori winced, too, in sympathy. They might be in different entertainment spheres but she knew what it was like to have a slave-driving parent cracking the proverbial whip at you to practice, practice, practice. With any luck, Keiichi's dad wasn't nearly as dedicated to his son's success as Kousaki Akemi was to her daughter's.

"Yeah, I should be fine," Kaori said as readjusted her book pile. It wasn't that long of a walk but if she was going to be bringing this much stuff from school every day, maybe she could consider taking the subway from now on.

"Well, good luck, Ito-kun," she added with the same bright, charming smile that had landed her a second audition. "It was nice meeting you! See you around at school!"

And then she was off. Maybe it was just her imagination but the books somehow felt lighter than they had before.

Young Performer Summit! Pro Wrestler and Idol Meet!

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