2210/Something Nice

Something Nice
Date of Scene:	07 January 2025
Location:	Kyouka's Apartment
Synopsis:	It's not bribery to give someone an apartment if they're not directly your teacher, right?
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Kyouka Inai

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Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's waiting by the entrance of a nice-looking seven-storey brick building, with balconies starting on the third floor in front, and a cat cafe on the ground floor. He's in his black leather jacket from Kyouka, and a plain grey flannel shirt underneath that, black skinny jeans, and expensive dress shoes, and his glasses are more or less clean, and he's got a lollipop sticking out of his mouth. He's also texting.

Once Kyouka arrives he waves and punches in a code next to the door, opening it up. "Remember that," he says, which makes sense since he lives here and presumably wants Kyouka to visit sometimes.

The (admittedly quite nice) door opens up into a foyer, and past the foyer into a lobby; there's a desk almost like a hotel or a super ritzy condo building might have, but no one behind it. There are two elevators, and Mamoru hesitates with his hand over the buttons. He glances back over his shoulder, and then he just grins and hits the button for the sixth floor.

"So I've got an awfully personal question," he says as the elevator dings and the doors open.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka walks up wearing much the same thing she always is (black jeans, t-shirt, leather jacket, shades) with the only minor variations being in which particular t-shirt she happens to have on. Today it's a white one with some kind of fire-based logo on it. Maybe it's a band.

    She glances at the code as it is entered, and seems to have no objections to being told to 'remember it'. There's a good chance she would have anyway. That's exactly the sort of thing she's good at noticing. And you never know when you might need to open a door.

    She glances around the lobby as they wait for the elevator. "All questions are personal in our line of work." She says, without justification but mostly just because it seems like a cool, witty answer. She takes her shades off, folding them and hanging them from the collar of her jacket. "At this point I feel like you've been exposed to enough of my dirty secrets that the distinction hardly matters, though." She gestures in a 'ask away' sort of way.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Giving Kyouka a brief dubious look, Mamoru gets in the elevator, and unnecessarily holds his hand around the door to keep it from closing while Kyouka gets in.

The doors aren't finished closing yet before he asks, "How much do you pay in rent per month?" and it sounds natural and businesslike. It's just rude.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka steps into the elevator, shrugging her shoulders in a way which says that she doesn't find the question to be particularly offensive coming from Mamoru, although her opinion might be different if someone on the street had asked her. It's not like she's ashamed of her financial status, even if she complains about how little she gets paid. It's a lot better than she's done for most of her life!

    She does give him a look which conveys curiosity about why he's asking the question at all though. "More than I want but less than I could, really." She says, with a half-smirk and another shrug. "Something like 20,000 yen, I guess?" The fact that she's not sure speaks volumes about how closely she pays attention to her bills. She probably set up auto-pay after moving in and promptly forgot about it as long as she's not getting yelled at.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Huh," says Mamoru, thoughtfully. He looks up at the ceiling of the elevator for a moment, clearly considering something. "Okay," he says as there's a ding and the elevator stops, doors opening. Then he starts going down the hall, doot do doo, and there are only five doors in this hallway and one of them is to the stairs. It's a long hall.

They do not go down the long hall, Mamoru punches in a different number while ostentatiously hiding the keypad from Kyouka. "You can change the lock," he says, opening the door and holding it for Kyouka again.

There's a big entranceway with a nice genkan and a door immediately in front, and a tiny little hall to get to the bathroms. Mamoru opens the door immediately in front, and it opens to a spacious room with sliding glass doors to a spacious balcony.

"So what do you say about 15,000?" he asks, unable to keep his voice from vibrating with excitement. "I mean there are other apartments too, but Kazuo's mom is on this floor too, and a sixth floor view is more fun than a second-floor view, right? But we can move you further down! I mean--"

A little embarrassed, now, Mamoru rubs the back of his head and says sheepishly, "I mean, unless you don't want it. Or don't want to pay anything, that works too."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka follows along down the hallway, glancing around with casual interest. This is definitely a nicer apartment building than what she's used to, though her visits to Fuyuko mean she at least isn't completely unfamiliar with it's like.

    When Mamoru stops and opens the door, she blinks at him.. not really processing what he's said as she takes the door so she can step inside which is clearly what he wants her to do. She pauses in the entryway, glancing around again and then back to him, brow arched.

    "You want me to live here?" It's not a disappointed or dismissive retort, rather just a question from someone who has rarely been given significant favors and is always looking for the catch or the joke. When his excitement seems genuine, she turns back around to look at the apartment again (or what can be seen from here).

    When she looks back to him again she's grinning. She knew he had purchased the building of course, that he was living here himself, but hadn't really expected such an offer. After all, she had an apartment! It wasn't great, but it wasn't awful. Why would she need a new one?

    'Because why not, because I can and want to' apparently never really occurred to her as a valid reason. Luckily, Mamoru is Mamoru and not Kyouka.

    "Aw man," She says, seeming a little sheepish, though still grinning. "You know you don't have to, right? I can look out for myself. In fact, I'm supposed to be looking out for you, not the other way around."

    "Let me pay at least the 20k I'm paying now. I can afford it, and it's still a crazy discount over what it's worth."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The teenager is clearly so pleased -- it's possible to tell how happy he is because he does something he doesn't do often: Kyouka will find her grinning self enveloped in a lanky seventeen-year-old bearhug. SQUISH.

Mamoru laughs as he lets go, and his eyes are shining. "Good. Okay, that's fine. And I know you can! This isn't a-- this isn't something you *need*, I just -- I really wanted to do something nice for you, and it would make me happy if you were close. Does that seem weird?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka gets hugged! She is not a hugger. This is evidenced by how she freezes in place for a moment, and then awkwardly pats Mamoru's shoulder with one of her hands. But she doesn't push him away, and doesn't even seem uncomfortable with the gesture, just surprised and unsure of the proper hugging etiquette.

    She shakes her head a little, smiling in a more subdued manner as her grey eyes glance around the apartment (or what she can see of it) again. "No.. it's not weird. I get it. You want to be surrounded by people you trust." This is not a personal 'you' but a general one. That's a feeling she thinks mostly everyone has.

    Her eyes return to him. "Well, it's certainly 'something nice'. More than I deserve, but I'm not going to refuse it. Just feels like maybe there's someone who needs it more out there.." A faint shrug and another self-deprecating chuckle. "Though, if I start thinking like that I'll convince myself I don't deserve anything, and I'm smart enough to know that way lies ruin."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Yeah. Society sure is a thing," he says, shoving his hands in his pockets and still unable to stop grinning, despite the somber note. "And it's not fair and we both know it, but yeah -- I'm really glad you're not refusing it. I do want to be around people I trust," he adds, relaxing. "And also I don't think my face is thick enough to take a gift being turned down."

Then he swings around on his heel and jogs over to the balcony doors, opening the shades to let a lot of light in instead of turning on the lights. "I'll get the utilities turned on today, you can move in whenever you want! And if you need help moving furniture or whatever, I'll detail a couple of the boys or help myself if they whine too much. Here, check out the bedroom! And the kitchen's behind you. The other half of the balcony's on the bedroom side--"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I haven't been given enough gifts in my life to turn one down, unless I can't see the strings attached and don't trust the giver." Kyouka says, with a crooked half-grin. "In this case, I do trust you, and I can clearly see the strings. I do not find the strings objectionable, and so I have no reason to turn it down."

    She slowly seems to realize how much bigger the apartment is than she first thought- not that it's unbelievably huge, but it's a lot bigger than her current one and bigger than she first assumed from the entry way.

    "I don't own furniture." She says in return to Mamoru's offer of moving help, as she peeks into the bedroom. "All the stuff in my other place came with it. Well, aside from the kotatsu I guess, and y'know, my clothes and stuff. I'm not going to be able to fill half of this place."

    Little does she know that living spaces always get filled if you give them enough time.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Okay! There's a bunch of furniture in some of the other unused apartments that can be raided. You probably will want a new mattress, though," Mamoru says, going into the kitchen and shutting the refrigerator and freezer doors.

"I'm probably going shopping for beds this weekend anyway, I can spot you." He just looks at the sink for a moment, preoccupied, not actually seeing the sink-- and then he glances over to Kyouka, and he grins. "Hey at least if your landlord is a dick, he's predictably so and you kind of enjoy it anyway."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka rolls her eyes. "You know how much of a rich guy you sound like being like 'I'll spot you' on a mattress? It's not a bowl of ramen." She's just teasing though, and shakes her head slightly. "Seriously, you're doing more than enough already. I do actually have a job and get paid, remember? I can afford what I need, at least the basics."

    She walks over and gives Mamoru a poke in the rubs at his landlord comment. "You know I don't set out to make friends with people who are dicks, it just kind of happens. I wonder what that says about me. Anyway, don't sell yourself short."

    She turns to glance around the place again. "An actual dick wouldn't do something like this." She does seem genuinely appreciative, it's in her tone as well as the words.

    She then looks back. "In all reality I'll need to see about breaking my current lease. So there's no rush."