1459/Ladies and Gentlemen... The Weekend.

Ladies and Gentlemen... The Weekend.
Date of Scene:	26 April 2024
Location:	Four Clover Mall
Synopsis:	Friday Afternoon, After School. Sure all the students at Radiant Heart are still going back to class on Saturday, but they can at least PRETEND it's the weekend for a little bit.
Cast of Characters:	Koji Silvia, Ren Morimoto, Yaling Yao

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Koji Silvia has posed:
School has been out for only a half hour, and already students from high schools all around the ward are filtering into the Mall, including those from Radiant Heart Academy. Some are going right for the food court, others are converging on their favorite stores or places like the movie theater. Still other are just outside lounging on the steps and enjoying the cooler spring weather after the winter.

For Koji, he's down in just his 'civvies', outside of both henshin and school uniform, and is currently scrolling through his Device-turned-Phone at the store directory for the Mall as he waits for someone to show up. Eyes half-hidden by the reflection of light from his glasses, he watches the words << No Messages. >> scroll across it in the blue text of Hanzo, and then just sighs and goes back to looking, "How can this be a mall and not have a bargain electronics store..."

Ren Morimoto has posed:
Skipping out on a club meeting early feels a little sacrilegious to Ren, but the English club can survive without him for one day, he supposes. Besides, they were all enraptured by the television show they were watching, and no one had even noticed him slipping out. So he makes the trip to the mall still in his school uniform, black and orange sports jacket worn overtop, with no time to change if he doesn't want to be late.

Immediately once inside he divests himself of outer layers, jacket now tied around his waist and sleeves rolled up past his elbows. There's a spring in his step as he contemplates afternoon activities, but first thing's first: his hand shoots up in a wave from some distance away as he calls out, "Hey, Koji-san!"

Accelerating to a light jog gets him closer within a moment or so, and his follow-up to his greeting is much lower in volume. "Sorry if I kept you waiting!" A quick smile flashes across his face as he shoves his hands into his pockets, the way he's rocking up onto the balls of his feet indicative of some pent-up energy he's possibly looking forward to burning off via mall sightseeing. "Where d'you want to go first? I'm down for whatever!" And there's truth to that; Ren just seems excited to be out and about.

Koji Silvia has posed:
As Koji looks up at the approaching Ren, his phone is flip-clicked shut and slid into his pocket of his pants, and the long-haired boy raises his hand and waves back at the approach. The sunny day hides a little of the flush at being called 'San' by someone else, but he clears it away with a cattish tilt of the head, "Oh, it's no trouble at all, Ren..." trailing off as he really doesn't know what to address the other young man with at the moment.

Turning to look at Four Clover Mall once, he then looks back at Ren and adds, "Truth be told... I've never really been here without one of the girls, like Usagi or Chiyo, or someone else hauling me along... and not since they had to do the remodel from the gas leak last year."

With a shrug, he musters up, "So... uhhh... what do you want to do first?"

Ah the eternal problem of life... Decision Paralysis...

Yaling Yao has posed:
Yaling really doesn't lack any choice when it comes for school clubs, yet she too is at the mall. She is looking around for gardening supplies right now, but if she has time later, on her list there is also sports and/or romance manga. Well, that and some volleyball supplies too, but she thinks she is good as is on that front. It would be mostly to make sure nothing is missing. She is not paying any mind to the occasional whispers from other people over the snake sleepily coiled around her neck, even if that's something she still has to get used to, both on the front of having a snake there and having people pay attention to it.

She is walking about like this when she notices Ren lightly jogging in the mall, at which she speeds up to meet him, wanting to check on how things went with the herbs she provided. "Ren-san, hello! Has everything been alright recently?", she exclaims, before her gaze falls on Koji. "Oh, you are here with a friend!" Bowing slightly, she smiles at him and says "Hello, I am Yaling Yao, wonderful meeting you."

Ren Morimoto has posed:
Catching approaching movement in his peripheral vision, Ren does a half-turn towards Yaling as she walks faster towards him. It only takes a moment before he's recognized her from when she'd made herbal remedies before finals, and when she greets him by name, it makes the smile return to his face.

"I've been great! Thank you for the tea, I slept like a baby. It really worked well," he tells her, before he remembers his manners and says, "This is Koji-san, we went on a camping trip together. And now we're going to look around the mall, but..."

His voice drops, like he's revealing a very important secret, "Neither of us know where to start. What do you think? There's the bookstore, or the sporting goods store... or the cinema!" Briefly his eyes brighten at the thought of seeing a movie, which is perhaps his favorite thing to do. But he doesn't push the topic, instead saying, "What are you here for today? Maybe we could all shop together! I'm just looking today, I don't have anything I need." Though at that exact moment his stomach decides to let out a sharp grumble, and he frowns down at it.

Though he doesn't actually mention the food court as a potential stop. He's trying to ignore it!

Koji Silvia has posed:
The long-haired, glasses-wearing boy gives the newcomer a polite and courteous bow as he adds, "Koji Silvia, and despite the non-standard clothes, I am 10th year at Radiant Heart Academy. A pleasure to meet a friend of Ren's, Miss Yao."

There's a twitch when Ren's stomach makes it known what IT wants versus what the rest of them might want to do, and he comes back up, letting the light play off his glasses as he pushes them up to resettle them on the bridge of his nose in a smooth gesture, "There's a place just inside the food court where they do grilled skewers. Both meat and veggie. We can stop there and get a snack before we hit the bookstore. One of my favorite manga authors was talking about some new work they were enjoying called 'Isekai Academy'. Instead of being about us going to another world, it's about kids from other worlds coming to Japan.".

Once more he turns to Yaling and then adds, "Of course, I'll cover... since we're meeting for the first time and all. It's only polite, like my father would say. Buuut... unlike him I didn't forget my wallet at home and end up making you cover it instead."

Yaling Yao has posed:
Yaling nods with satisfaction hearing that Ren's sleeping problems have gone away. "Well, isn't that great! If you would like some more, don't worry about it. I have everything you could want and more." Her gaze wanders around the mall as she asked for an opinion. "I was actually looking for gardening supplies since we are starting to run short, you know? But that's something I can just as easily do tomorrow, so exploring the mall is just perfect to me. I haven't been here much, so looking at everything it has to offer would be awesome!"

She turns her gaze down in surprise when she hears the grumble of Ren's stomach. "Running around on an empty stomach is no good at all. When was it the last time you ate?" She is about to forward a suggestion on the matter when Koji does the same, and he gets a thumbs up from Yaling. "That actually works great with me, we can even share reading recommendations, like sports manga for one! Your example actually seems interesting: I imagine those kids have a lot of new experiences to make." Which is actually something that resonates with Yaling, for reasons of her own.

"Thank you, your plan sounds great, Koji-san, lead the way", Yaling agrees, taking note of the politeness Koji is demonstrating. Next time around, she is going to repay the favour. Or at least, offer to.

Ren Morimoto has posed:
It would be only a slight exaggeration to say Ren's heart did a little flip when Koji mentioned skewers (in reality, it was probably his stomach doing the flipping). He rubs the flat plane of his midsection as he tries to stave off another mortifying grumble from his stomach, and then his hand lifts to run through his hair, sweeping it from his forehead.

"That sounds great," is what he says at first, though when Koji offers to cover there's a moment of great indecision on Ren's part. Is he offering just for Yaling? Hopefully so, because Ren's instinct is to refuse out of politeness, and also embarrassment because no one should have to pay for the ludicrous amount of food necessary to feed the gaping maw in his tummy. He shakes his head at Yaling when she questions after his eating, quick to add, "I had lunch, I just work up an appetite fast is all!"

He looks back and forth between Koji and Yaling, apparently deciding to just stay silent on monetary issues after that, and so he moves on to another topic: "The bookstore sounds great! I want to check out their English section," he says, hands back in his pockets. With their plan solidified, Ren consults the directory they're standing besides, and then nods once with surety as he figures out which way to go. And thus: he goes thataway!

From over his shoulder, his stomach announces itself again, and then he scuttles back to Koji and Yaling's side in realization. "Right. Food. I forgot." How in the world did he forget?!

Koji Silvia has posed:
"Alright, then we-...."

And Koji watches a Ren just goes haring off towards where the bookstore is, only to turn and come right back to stand with them, and he just gets this amused look on his face. Instead, he musters up his best Senpai expression and says, "Follow me."

As he turns and goes up towards the intersection with the others, he adds, "I'm used to the smaller and tighter malls in Akihabara. I go shopping there for junk electronics and old stuff for the Computer club. This week we've been rebuilding some old Sega platforms... but it's not going well, and it's hard to find parts that are cheap if you don't know where to look."

Bringing the conversation around as he turns left, then hooks Ren's arm before he can go right, reorienting the group towards the smell of food, "I've never done any real gardening, myself. I do tend some plants for my parents when they need. My dad, for all his woes, actually has a pretty good hand with them. He likes growing decorative stuff for Mom so she can relax when she gets home from work."

Of course comes the evasion tactics of not running into anyone walking, and of course, not having to apologize for it either, since there are older couples and people here besides the invasion of high school age kids... and then the potential 'rival school' problem, but Koji seems to be very graceful when it comes to plotting a course in a crowd, "I speak English, you know. Actually English, Japanese, and Portrugese. I don't talk about it much, but my father is from the US. His family is from Brazil. He wants to take me to both someday after I graduate."

Finally... his guidance reveals to both the sprawl that is the ancient tradition of THE FOOD COURT, and it's wild displays of varying types of fast and local foods. One of the few places in the world where an onigiri can be right next to KFC, and across from a curry stand.

Yaling Yao has posed:
An expression of interest appears on Yaling's face when Ren mentions he gets hungry fast, mostly because the impression she got from that is someone who does lots of physical activity. He is clearly in shape for someone who allegedly eats lots. "What kind of sports do you practice?", she asks, not even bothering to check if her hunch is correct first, absorbed as she is in the moment.

Ren forgetting his appetite so quickly makes Yaling snort in amusement. "I can see you are just as hungry for a good book", she jests in a friendly tone. "Since Koji-san is so generous, let's go eat something, and then we can turn the bookstore upside-down", she exclaims, totally giving the impression that she actually intends to give an exhaustive search.

"I don't really know much about decorative plants, but your father sounds awesome. Preparing those little gifts for your mother is heartwarming", Yaling tells Koji as she marches towards the food court. "My father's specialty is medicinal plants, and I have inherited that passion from him. But really, there is also the fact my teacher is the best at the matter."

"Three languages!", Yaling exclaims. "That's... wow. You are impressive, how long did it take for you to do it?" Regarding for a second the food court around them, Yaling asks Koji "Could I have the skewers too, please?"

Ren Morimoto has posed:
Ren has the good sense to look a little abashed as he comes back to the other two, but then they're off (properly, and in the right direction!) so there's not a whole lot of time for him to stew in his embarrassment. And thankfully Koji catches him before he goes off the wrong way again, so there's a darker splotch of color on his tan face, high on his cheekbones, as he's led towards the food. "Oh, that's cool that you fix things!" he says, and thinks back to when the DVD player stopped working in English club and they had to source a brand new one.

He doesn't have anything to add about gardening as it's not something he has any experience in, but he's still listening, and so when the topic changes to himself, he tips his head to the side. "I'm in the baseball club," he explains. "Short stop. Plus I run and stuff sometimes, to keep fit." When they move on to the languages Koji can speak, Ren grins. "I'm not fluent, but I spent a semester in California, so I can speak English pretty well! And I picked up a little Spanish too." Which, naturally, he follows up with "Me llamo Ren! Donde está la biblioteca?" with a grin at Yaling when she mentions turning the bookstore upside-down.

Which, technically, is asking after the library, not the bookstore. But he doesn't know the Spanish word for bookstore.

He doesn't mention what his dad does, though his head ducks a little as fathers are discussed, but then they're onto skewers and he perks up. "I love food courts because you can get a little bit of everything, when you're really hungry. Like a buffet!"

Koji Silvia has posed:
Almost immediately, without thinking, Koji says, "Libreria, Though in Portruguese it's Livraria. Some of the words don't parse over as easy."

That segueways into telling Yaling as he brings the group up to 'The World On a Stick' Skewers, "Both my parents speak English, so we talked a lot as a kid, and my dad made sure I was learning his home language too while I was learning Japanese in school. It's a little like having a remote control but for how you think. Because speaking means thinking in a different language. It's why English can seem so... abrupt... compared to Japanese."

The comment about baseball makes him roll his eyes, "And my dad WANTS me to play baseball but I am not good with things being thrown at me. I duck, not swing a stick at them. I'm in Gymnastics myself. I don't compete, but I do help with the younger students."

As he looks at the menu, he goes on, "Nothing wrong with medicinal plants. A lot of them carry over into cooking. Like turmeric. It's tasty in curry, and has a lot of benefits for the stomach."

He orders himself two Mapo Tofu skewers... pork meatballs with peppercorn spices between chunks of firm tofu brushed in chili sauce.

Yaling Yao has posed:
Spanish is not among the languages that Yaling knows, so she just looks at Ren perplexed. For all she knows with the latter part he has just asked her to sprout wings and fly towards the moon. Though Koji comes to the rescue with his correction. "Oh! Is Libreria like "library"? Are we talking about the bookstore still?" Since everyone is bringing up their languages, she clarifies hers. "I know chinese because it's my native language, then japanese because I live here, and lastly english because they teach it in school."

"I play volleyball instead, looks like we have no crossovers", Yaling remarks. She ponders chicken and eggplant skewers. "I will have those", she points.

Ren Morimoto has posed:
"Libreria," Ren repeats to himself, a couple of times in fact, like he's working to memorize it. "Yes, though I got some of the words wrong." His head tilts when Koji rolls his eyes, but unlike what the Ren of the past would do, he only makes sympathetic noises... and doesn't try to recruit for the club.

He takes the longest to order once they've lined up in the queue, clearly conflicted as to what he wants based on the furrow to his brow and the downturn to the corners of his mouth. "I'll have the, uh, two of the gyuniku. And two of the yakitori, and-...."

He must be hungry. But he also brandishes his own money rather than even entertain the thought of Koji trying to pay for him, still slightly concerned that it might happen if he isn't fast enough.

"I'm in the English club too, though it's more about consuming English-speaking media than it is just learning the language any more. We watch a lot of television," he explains.

Koji Silvia has posed:
There's a grin from Koji as he puts down for his and Yaling's food, watching Ren fiend out on the local custom and getting enough for 3 people, "Oh, do you guys ever watch any dubbed anime? My dad is a HUGE fan of Starblazers. He says it's what inspired him to move to Japan. Starblazers, what they call Voltron, Speed Racer... all the really old foundational stuff."

Picking up their order, he hands Yaling her skewers, "Maybe you can give me some lessons on basic Chinese... some of the stuff I buy is Chinese imports and I don't always know the labels well. Some of these scammers who call themselves shopkeepers love to sneak in junk when they can. Not that what's made is China is bad... just... y'know... national pride and all."

Taking a bite from his, he moves back and looks around for a moment, then adds towards the girl, "Three of us all know English huh?"

So he says, in an English that is barely accented, "Make sure to grab some napkins, Mister Ren. They'll make you buy anything you get food stains on."

And he winks at the girl before saying, still in English, "Shall we go to the bookstore?"