942/May it be a year

May it be a year
Date of Scene:	30 December 2023
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	Kyouka and Fuyuko meet up at Hikawa Shrine to exchange New Year's gifts.
Cast of Characters:	Kyouka Inai, Fuyuko Yuuhi

---

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    New Year's presents had always been kind of a strange thing for Kyouka and Fuyuko. Despite being as close as sisters for much of their teenage years, Fuyuko was a rich kid and Kyouka was a homeless street rat which led to something of a disparity in the nature of gifts. Along the lines of 'Enjoy this new portable game system!' 'Wow, thanks, haha, enjoy this... origami thing I made out of some paper I stole out of a garbage can.' Yeah, Kyouka has never quite managed to get over the awkwardness of giving gifts to Fuyuko, only heightened by the fact that they had a 'fervently trying to kill each other' phase of their relationship which has only somewhat recently cooled to a tepid antipathy.

    And yet... like so many things, old habits die hard. You don't have to like your family to still want to give them gifts at the holidays. And despite everything, Fuyuko is family to Kyouka. Estranged family, combative family, but family nonetheless. And so here she is, again, on the corner outside Hikawa Shrine, a red-and-white scarf around her neck above her leather jacket, and a small gift bag in her hand. Her expression is resigned, conflicted, and embarassed somehow all at the same time.

    At least this year she has a job, a paycheck, and some (very limited) disposable income. There won't be any trash origami for New Year's in 2024.

    Does that make it better, or worse?

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
Winter in Japan was sometimes picturesque and often a mess - snow didn't remain pristine in one of the busiest cities in the world, and the approach of New Year's meant more people than usual flooding in for the festivities. Fuyuko's blood family had always made a production of the New Year's celebrations, from elaborate gifts and fanciful dinners to gaudily decorated parties. The one good that had come from it - when Fuyuko was young, anyway - was the opportunity to spoil her friends with gifts.

Once a year, Fuyuko had an excuse to give gifts that no one (Kyouka) could dismiss. She could buy Kyouka a DS or a cellphone or a new set of nice, sturdy boots, and Kyouka would just have to take it.

That was in the past, of course. Before everything had become messy, mired in blood and rage, and even though Fuyuko doesn't want to kill her best and oldest friend anymore...

She can't get back to the simpler way things had been. Gifts weren't just cases of stubborn I'll get you a present and you'll TAKE it anymore. There was...

It wasn't like walking on eggshells. They'd been thrown out of too many bars for fighting for Fuyuko to accept that either of them were on eggshells around the other.

But as she made her way to Hikawa Shrine with gift in hand and purple scarf tucked into her thick wool coat, she had the fleeting thought that she'd rather be going ten rounds with a youma than admitting to the thought she'd put into this gift.

"Hey, Kyou-chan," she calls when she catches sight of her counterpart, lifting one hand in a wave that was in no small part mocking. There's a present bag hanging from her other hand, gold with little white stars. "You beat me here."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka tries to look casual about it, but even with her omnipresent sunglasses on her face there's no hiding the sidelong glances she's giving that little gold gift bag. Suspicious glances. Like, 'is it a trap', and she doesn't mean the kind meant to inflict injury. More like the kind meant to say something that words just don't convey with the same punchiness. That might sound sweet to some, but the problem is she has absolutely no idea what sort of message Fuyuko intends to convey with her gift.

    She barely knows what message she means to convey with hers.

    "Fuyu-chan." She replies, even-toned, letting the overly-familiar greeting roll off of her and replying in kind. She's not going to start getting annoyed from the very first word. It's New Years, its festive. If they get thrown out of a shrine that will be a new all-time low, even for them. "I had other business in the neighborhood, so I was close by already."

    She turns as Fuyuko approaches her and falls into step beside the other young woman, entering the public grounds of the shrine. "Ready for the New Year?" It's the kind of meaningless small-talk that often gets tossed around at parties between relatives who don't know what else to say without starting fights.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
They won't get thrown out of a shrine. That would be embarrassing even for them. A new low.

...not that fear of a new low has ever stopped them from grabbing a shovel and a pickaxe and digging themselves deeper into a mess. But today is different. Today is for acknowledging the New Year, with new chances. It's supposed to be for putting old baggage behind them too, but -

Well, there's too much baggage for all that.

She's casting glances at the present Kyouka has too, but with more of a what could that be than a is it a trap. Between the two of them, she's more likely to go for some trap. Kyouka's more likely to go for something sincere(ly irritating).

"Just about. Finishing up at the office before we're closed for the holiday." It's a stilted response, and she casts a glance Kyouka's way as they enter the shrine grounds, tall structures rising around them. "You? Anything -"

Maybe don't ask about plans. She pivots.

"Any plans for the actual day?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Nah." Kyouka isn't even lying- what's she going to do for New Year's, anyway? Traditionally you go out with either your family or your loved ones. She has neither. All her friends are sixteen-year-old students or Fuyuko. And heaven forbid she suggest they actually do this on New Year's itself. That would be perilously close to admitting both that she cares and that she doesn't have anyone else to go out with, and neither of those are things she is prepared to admit to Fuyuko.

    "Never much was one for all the festive crap." A lie, to save face. "I'll probably just watch the specials on TV and thank the gods for another year of being not-dead." That part, at least, is true. "What about you?"

    She pauses in front of one of the altars, bowing and clapping her hands, then tossing a couple coins into the donation box. She's never been particularly religious but it's just what you do at a shrine, especially this time of year. She lingers to the side afterwards, arms crossed, gift bag hanging from the fingers of one hand. "I wasn't sure you'd actually come, you know." She admits. It's hard to tell if she's being accusatory or grateful.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Pretty much the same," Fuyuko shrugs, looking dead ahead as she makes a show of being unconcerned. She's got no family she'll acknowledge, and the only friend she's got left - the only friend who still knows her, because Chiharu sure didn't. She'd received a New Year's card from her, embossed with flowers, and it had gone unanswered, left on her coffee table. She couldn't bring herself to throw it away, but she couldn't bring herself to acknowledge it, either.

Kyouka's all she has, for better and far worse, but she'd rather swallow a cactus than admit it.

"Pick up some osechi and order in some soba, maybe sleep in." Simple plans, lonely ones, but again, swallowing cactus, admitting vulnerability. The thought of needling Kyouka for her boring plans is there, but she's no better, and she refuses to even consider that she'd want to - have New Year's plans with her counterpart. She tosses the shrine donation box a handful of coins herself, though she doesn't bow or clap. The gods have nothing for her, and she nothing for them. The shrine, at least, is run by people, who could find a use for the money.

"I don't make a habit of skipping out on things," she says shortly, then grimaces. She lifts the bag and thrusts it out. "Here. Happy New Year. I'm... glad you didn't kick it this year."

The bag is one of those foil-y materials, shiny and gold with tiny white stars, with white tissue paper inside to hide the contents. Once Kyouka opens it though, she'll find two gifts inside - one, a pair of black leather biking gloves, the inside smooth and baby soft, the outside strong and supple, perfect for protecting the hands as she rode. The other was a bottle of good sake, the sort that was expensive, sure, but actually good, rather than just expensive.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka gets no New Year's cards from Chiharu. She'd had no address to send them to for the majority of their acquaintance, and though she had an apartment now, she hasn't given her old friend the address. Because what's the point? She doesn't like pretending any more than Fuyuko does.

    "You sure don't." Kyouka says, with mild amusement. The unspoken addition 'even when you probably should' doesn't get said aloud, but nor does it go entirely unimplied. "But there's a difference between skipping out and just refusing an invitation. Couple years ago you would have just said no." That's true, though a couple of years ago Kyouka wouldn't have extended the invitation in the first place. "So, y'know.. thanks." She shifts a bit uncomfortably, looking away, but admits, "New Year's feels a bit empty without anyone to give a gift to."

    The bag is thrust her way. She looks at it mistrustfully again... then takes it, with a muttered "Thanks. Not for lack of the universe trying."

    Before she looks inside she hands over her own bag- a small, rather nondescript red one with green paper. By sheer coincidence, she has also gotten Fuyuko two gifts, though in her case, both are variations on a theme. One is a pen/pencil holder for her desk, made of wood, with the words "I SEE YOUR POINT" engraved on it, and beneath in smaller letters "I actually do see your point and am doubling down on the fact that you are still wrong but thanks for your unsolicited input." The other is a small wooden plaque which has engraved upon it "You don't have to be crazy to work here, we'll train you." They are well made, but probably the sort of thing you'd pick up for about 5 bucks at a home goods store. They are the sort of thing a snarky, irreverent employee would put upon their desk. They are not appropriate for an Assistant Director, even if they are the sort of things Fuyuko would probably say.

    Kyouka regards the contents of the bag Fuyuko has handed to her, running her fingers over the gloves, eyeing the bottle of sake. For long moments she doesn't say anything, because these are actually good presents and she's surprised. Fuyuko always gave her good presents, but that was before. This was after, but the presents are still good. She's clearly unprepared for this eventuality and struggling to find the correct response.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
There were things Fuyuko would have done well to skip out on. To walk away from. But she hadn't then, and she wouldn't now, and she - looks away, when Kyouka points out she wouldn't have taken the invitation, before. "Couple of years ago, you wouldn't have asked. Probably for good reason."

That's the closest she'll come to admitting that she might have been... over the top, a few years ago. Justified, in her own opinion, but - wrong.

"...I know. I got you a gift, didn't I?"

Which is as much an admission as Kyouka's words. She'd gotten her a gift because she too felt the - emptiness. The way her life just didn't have... people, in it, because they had been two, and then four, and now they were two, again. She didn't have anyone else, and the one she had -

Well, she didn't want to lose her, either.

The gift's bag is looked over, and then the paper removed, neatly folded and tucked into the side - Fuyuko is fastidious, but especially when it means drawing something out in a way that may annoy another. That, and -

There have been years of presents between them. She isn't quite sure what to expect, and putting off looking gives her that little bit of time to put herself together.

But the two items make her laugh, short and quiet but genuine, and a smile tugs at her mouth as she traces the plaque and pencil holder with her fingers. "These absolutely should not go in my office."

Oh, but they will. Somewhere, tucked away in a corner for her to see and no one else to notice. That she's openly admitted that she'd even think about putting them out - she's not thinking about it. It wasn't a thought out remark.

But these gifts - simple and cheap and exactly expressing her quiet thoughts - well.

"... ... ... thanks."

She'll take the plunge, on sincerity this one time. It's - nice. Not just to receive a present, but to - receive it from Kyouka. To have proof that she still knows her.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Fuyuko folding the paper in the gift bag and being all fastidious about it is good, because it gives Kyouka time to consider her response. She clearly has Emotions, but she's not sure exactly what they are. It's not like she's getting teary-eyed or anything, it's just that she has a habit of speaking before thinking and ending up in trouble because of it and she doesn't want to do that this time. Not when Fuyuko clearly put some actual thought into these gifts, when Kyouka had been expecting either a snarky insult or an electric-shock trap or something.

    When she hears Fuyuko's laughter she looks up, startled. It shows in her expression- not because the other woman laughed, but because she knows a genuine laugh from Fuyuko when she hears it, and it's something she's heard very little of in the past several years. In response she can't help but grin, a lopsided grin with a show of fang, and this too is genuine, not snarky or sardonic. "I thought of you instantly when I saw them. That office if yours sound awfully stuffy.. I figured it could use a little lightening up." She doesn't contradict the protest that these things should not actually go on Fuyuko's desk- she doesn't know office culture. But that's not really the point, anyway.

    After saying that, she glances back down to her own gift. Before saying anything, she takes out the gloves and pulls them onto her hands. They fit, and they are warm and comfortable. She flexes her fingers a few times within the black leather, then looks back up. "Yeah. Thanks." She sounds like she means it. "I'll use these. My hands get cold, riding in winter." An obvious statement, but a simple truth. The gift is useful, and she appreciates useful things. The sake is also useful, but that goes without saying.

    "Happy New Year's, I guess."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"You'd be surprised - or maybe not. My office might be a little stuffy, but some of the memos I have to put out..." she shakes her head, dismissing the thought of work. That corner smile is still there as she meets Kyouka's lopsided grin.

"You've always liked practical things. Stuff that made your life - easier. Knowing you I figured you might not have bothered with gloves."

It's not like they'd take any real, lasting damage from not wearing safety gear, and it's not like she'd needed to bother, as Stellar - the uniform came with the gear. But she'd need them now, and Fuyuko... had always liked giving gifts with purpose. Not just expensive or extravagant, but that fulfilled a need.

Not that she was going to examine that personal habit of hers, or anything.

"Happy New Year's. Here's to this next one being ... a year."

Low expectations.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka likes practical things because she's never had room for luxury. You need the basics before you get to worry about the luxuries, and she's barely had the basics for most of her life. You don't need riding gloves. You can just ride with cold hands and save some money, so of course that's what she chose to do. Now she won't have to, and she didn't even have to give in and buy the things herself.

    Kyouka, for a brief moment, considers a hug. It's a very brief moment, and it passes without any action towards making the consideration a reality. Their relationship has not yet returned to the realm of hugs. It may never do so again. But the fact that it was considered at all would be an indication that Kyouka is touched by the gifts. If Fuyuko had any way of reading her mind and knowing she considered it.

    "A year." She agrees, to the well-wishes. "Let it be no worse than the last, and let us live through it." It doesn't have to be better, it just has to be not-worse. That's simply the reality of surviving.

    "Want to go get some teppanyaki?"