Young Performer Summit! Pro Wrestler and Idol Meet!

[mrburningambition]

Who: Kaori & Keiichi
What: Dunno! We'll find out! XD
Where: Outside of the school, front lawn
When: Day after Keiichi's acquisition of magic.



It wasn't a Cooking Club day for Keiichi Ito -- the club had been cut down to two days a week while he waited for the outcome of the faculty's budget decision, and so the young man was bored. There were places to go, of course, but every so often he found himself just loitering outside the front door, all dressed up (well, in school uniform) and with no place to go.

"That bizarre Araragi-kun seems like the type to do this," he mumbled to himself. "Just wait around until someone interesting shows up."

Later tonight was wrestling training with his dad, but until then? Clear schedule.

Plus, he had MAGIC now. This was the part of the story where SOMEONE interesting showed up, right?

Comments

[velvetcrush]

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.

[mrburningambition]

"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.

[velvetcrush]

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."

[mrburningambition]

"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."

[velvetcrush]

"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."

[mrburningambition]

"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.

[velvetcrush]

"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.

[mrburningambition]

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."

[velvetcrush]

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."

[mrburningambition]

"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.

[velvetcrush]

"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.

[mrburningambition]

"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."

[velvetcrush]

"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.

[mrburningambition]

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.

[velvetcrush]

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.