144/Perilously Close to Heresy

Perilously Close to Heresy
Date of Scene:	20 July 2023
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy
Synopsis:	Kyouka checks out a rumor about a problem student, and manages to link two of her *personal* problems together. Kazuo ... is not entirely sure if the guidance counselor is secretly a cultist or something.
Cast of Characters:	Kazuo Saitou, Kyouka Inai

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Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    Overheard in the faculty room: "... and I don't know what that Saitou boy brought in but I'm worried the police might wind up involved." "Why don't you look?" "I don't want them to get involved with me as a murder victim!" "Oh, come on, he's not that bad..."

    If that Saitou boy is carrying contraband, though, he's not worried about getting caught with it. There are a couple of smallish, odd-shaped lumps in his satchel, yes, but he's not hiding them as he goes through his day, and he's not looking over his shoulder more than usual, or engaging in any shady one-on-one whispers with other students.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    It's not that Kyouka is particularly looking out for Kazuo. Not any more than any other student. But she does have an interest, the fact that he's not actually magical notwithstanding. Perhaps it's personal- he reminds her of herself at that age, in some ways.

    Which might be why, as Kazuo is crossing from one building to another at some point during the day through a conviniently shadowed nook or alleyway (the sort of shortcut delinquents use and therefore the normal students tend to avoid), he gets called to halt by a at-least-mildly-familiar voice.

    "Hey kid," It's Kyouka and she is, perhaps a bit bizarrely, sitting upon a large air conditioning unit, a big grey metal boxy thing thats at least six feet tall. She's perched on the side, legs dangling off, leaning on one hand. Narrow, rectangular-lensed sunglasses on her face. An observant person might notice the open window on the second story directly above, but obviously that can't be connected.

    "Some rumors going around that you got some kinda super-illegal shit in your bag today." She doesn't seem like she's going to demand an insepection, and acts more like she's genuinely interested. "Might wanna try being a bit more subtle in the future, yeah?"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    There's a voice. Kazuo glances around - not on his own level, but up to the window first, before focusing in on the air conditioning unit and its occupant. Well, that's one way to get the height advantage.

    The next thing Kyouka says, though, gets Kazuo to roll his eyes. "Oh, yeah. Super illegal." He reaches in and doesn't need to fumble, just extracts one of the lumps and holds it up. Little boxy unit with large readout on a wide velcro wrist cuff. "I might steal somebody's blood pressure with it."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    It is mildly mysterious how Kyouka even got up there, as the edge of the unit is a foot or so above her head-level were she standing on the ground, but then again he has seen her arms without a shirt covering them so maybe its not that weird (other than why she would choose to sit there in the first place).

    Her eyes narrow (though its kinda hard to tell with the sunglasses) as he pulls the item out of his bag. One pressed-slack-covered leg crosses over the other, as she leans her elbow on her knee and quirks her brows at him. "So not illegal. But still pretty unusual for a kid like you to be carrying around at school. Everything okay, Saitou-kun?" -kun now, is it? This guidance counselor gets chummy pretty quick. Then again maybe it comes with the territory.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    Look, there is nothing wrong with standing on tall things. Or sitting. And alas, -kun is an adult privilege. Kazuo doesn't even bridle. At that. At the everything-okay with browquirk, he manages not to roll his eyes again, at least. There's a flash of stormy irritation, but he keeps it out of his voice. "I'm fine, thanks. There's a junior who's been feeling a little wobbly off and on. I figured, if they had solid numbers, they'd be less likely to convince themself it was nothing and they didn't need to go to the nurse when it was really heat exhaustion or something. And yes, I have the receipt. And yes, my mother knew I was buying it. Did I miss anything?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka suddenly launches herself from the top of the AC unit with a push of her arms, landing lightly on her feet beside the boy. Hands go into her pockets on seeming automatic reflex, and she looks at him over the top of her sunglass lenses.

    "That's awful kind of you, Saitou-kun. Spending your own money to help a fellow student in need." Does she sound smug for some reason? It's almost as if she's trying to provoke a denial, though it could just be that she's insufferable.

    Her head tilts to the side, red hair falling against her shoulder. "A junior who's been feeling out of sorts, hmm? Seems some of that is going around lately. Mind telling me who? I've been speaking to Nurse Meiou about some of the issues we've been having." A lie, but not much of one. The topic hadn't come up between them, yet, but it's likely to do so.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    Kazuo neither flinches nor flees as she lands next to him, just turning his head and angling it to be able to eye Kyouka sidelong. White hair falling against the shoulder of his black uniform jacket. Funhouse mirror. "Did I perhaps fail to make clear the implicit 'giving them the things to make their own decisions about who to talk to,' or did you hear it and just decide to be an ass anyway?" The sentence swaps from reasonably polite forms to, er, not midclause. It's like he's trying to get a detention.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    A somewhat vulpine grin from the guidance counselor, which shows just a hint of slightly-too-sharp canine. "Maybe a little of both. Thing is, Saitou-kun," And she starts walking around him, hands still in her pockets, half-turning as she walks to keep her front facing him even as she does so, "My job here isn't as simple as talking to kids who need a little help finding the right path. The Headmistress trusts me to deal with matters of a more.." A quirk of lips, a shrug of shoulders, "nonstandard purvue. This smells," A brief indrawn breath through the nose, as if to demonstrate, "Like something I should be interested in. And if I'm right, you'll be happy I stuck my nose in. Or at least your wobbly friend will."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    Kazuo's expression shifts ... but not toward more irritation. He lets his head roll to look at her out of the corner of his other eye, as she comes up around that side, and the smile is light and laughing, and he lowers his voice to a conspiratorial tone.

    "Inai-sama. If this is your way of telling me that you are secretly a vampire..."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka smiles wide enough to bare her fangs which, while not exactly vampire-esque are certainly more pronounced than the average person's. "Why, would that make you think I was cooler?" She asks, as if willing to cop to vampirism if it gets her some 'cool teacher' points.

    Then she casts her (admittedly sunglass-shielded) eyes upwards towards the bright afternoon sun. "Though if I am I must be one of those sparkly ones." A lift of a pale forearm, white sleeve pulled back. "Mmmm, nope. 'Fraid not."

    In a suddenly more serious tone, "Have known a few, though. Of a sort."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    "Is that so?" ... that might actually be genuine interest, there. "Should I tell anyone I find with sudden inexplicable pallor and a taste for spinach that they should give you a call?" Absently, the monitor is tucked back into Kazuo's satchel.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka seems to consider this. The very fact that she is taking what might be offered as sarcastic quips seriously probably only adds to the mystery. "No. But you should definitely tell me about them." She says, with a nod of her head.

    "I will tell you that the monitor isn't going to help. Or at least it's not going to tell you anything that isn't obvious without it." She pulls a hand out of her pocket and holds it up, ticking off on fingers. "Sleep. Food. Especially high-protein food." Then she adds, "Coffee doesn't help."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    Stricken. Stricken! Kazuo's eyes widen, and he takes a theatrical step back with gasp. "With the greatest of respect, Inai-sama, such words might stray perilously close to the borders of heresy! Coffee always helps."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka shrugs her shoulders. "Look kid, I don't make the rules. If coffee could be a cure-all for energy drain I would absolutely sign off on that petition, but I was never one for healing in the first place. More inflicting the injuries." A roguish wink.

    "Anyway. It's good that you're trying to help. I'm just trying to help you help. The world needs help, Saitou-kun. Just a shame so many people try to get in the way."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    Energy drain? This time Kazuo doesn't cover his reaction with theater. There's a flicker of a frown - not confused, but puzzled. Thoughtful.

    It's a ridiculous answer. But it makes more sense than the ones he'd come up with. A drugged Naru wouldn't have wanted food. A sick one wouldn't have wanted protein.

    The problem is, if Inai's right ... is she right because she's fighting it, or right because she's behind it?

    "What kind of help do you think the world needs?" he asks.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka lets out a heaved breath at that question, taking a step back from Kazuo, still with her hands in her pockets, and leaning forward slightly. "Well, ain't that a question. What kind of help does the world need? How do I answer that in less than a half-hour lecture?" A laugh that might have just a hint of bitterness to it.

    "The world.. the Earth.. kinda in a bad place at the moment, in case you hadn't picked up on it. Oh, not armageddon-style shit, not yet." A quirk of lips. "But shit ain't right." Her voice is different, perhaps unconsciously so. Less formal 'teacher' tone, more street, more dropped endings and slang contractions, "There's trouble brewin', and I don't mean the usual geopolitical nonsense. What the Earth needs is its protectors. On the right side." A glance off towards the side, up towards the sky. "Not sure they are at the moment. Not all of 'em."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    "War in Olympus," Kazuo says, just those three words in English. And then in more normal language: "Is that what you're getting at?"

    Because 'Inai, are you in a cult?' is probably not a good question to ask.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "More like war in the heavens. Olympus is a bit of a lowball." She says, suddenly with a light laugh, turning her back on Kazuo suddenly to look off into the sunlit schoolyard a few yards away.

    She glances back over her shoulder at the boy. "You seem to be straying adjacent to some shit you probably will wish you hadn't, Saitou-kun. I'm not going to stop you. But I don't want you walking blind. I don't want anybody walking blind."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    Kazuo laughs, very soft. "Pity," he says. "If more of us could see where we were going, fewer of us would be bothering to walk at all."

    ... maybe the school should consider taking Camus off the English curriculum entirely instead of only partially.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Now that is something I happen to agree with." Kyouka says. She still has his back to him, and is still looking back over her shoulder. "But a counterpoint- standing still is boring. And why walk when you can run?"

    She laughs then, surprisingly jovial, tossing her head in a way that makes her bright red hair sway back from her eyes. "Take care of Naru-chan for me, huh?" Either she's smarter than she seems, or she knows a lot more than she let on. Probably both, really.

    And then she's walking away, hands in pockets, back out into the sunshine and around the corner of the building.