286/Donuts

Donuts
Date of Scene:	23 August 2023
Location:	Kaoru's Donuts
Synopsis:	Kyouka happens upon Hotaru by the donut cart, and buys her one.
Cast of Characters:	Kyouka Inai, Hotaru Tomoe
Tinyplot:	Midnight Tokyo

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Kyouka Inai has posed:
    It's a blazing hot summer's day, as they tend to be in Tokyo. Blazing hot and humid. Exactly the type of day people want to get out near the shoreline, where the water has a moderating effect on the air and the breeze blowing in from the ocean helps things feel a little less gross. Perhaps that is why Kyouka Inai is walking down the sidewalk along one of the streets adjacent to the shore. It's a normal city road, buildings lining one side, but the other has a waist-high stone wall on the other side of which is either water or beach, depending on which part of the road you're currently walking down.

    The young woman is dressed casually, considering she's not 'on the job'- a black 'Nemophila' band T-shirt and jeans with several obviously-purposeful rips in them lead to calf-high black boots. Of course she's wearing her usual rectangular-lensed sunglasses. No smoking today, just gum-chewing, her jaw working steadily, though it's about to be occupied by something else, because her destination is the donut stand which is currently parked along the sidewalk a little ways ahead of her.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe was sitting on a bench, her eyes lowered and phone in her hands. Looking as saddened as ever. Why? She'd gotten a text from her father... it turned out he wouldn't be going on the board walk with her today. She'd been excited. Summer was almost over and she'd been looking forward to spending the day with her father. Yet, once again, work came first. A bitter side of her wanted to lash out and ask him why she had to lose both her parents. But she never said that. Even if she thought it. Even if she wanted to lash out and say something vicious and even a little cruel. Instead, she just stared at her phone for a few more moments before sitting back and looking up at the sky.

Unlike Kyouka, she wasn't wearing such clothing. She was wearing a long sleeved black dress, with a ruffled shoulder covers and a flower pin. Under it, she wore dark blue tights. It looked... nice. Albeit, very hot. Oddly, she didn't look very hot despite the sun. She mostly looked... sad.

She glanced up and saw Kyouka approaching, her eyes going wide. "I-Inai-senpai. Hello, I didn't know--" Then stopped. Didn't know you went to the beach? Didn't know you existed outside school? Yes. Adults, also, went places. Scary, that. "Ummmm... what's... Nemophila?" she asked, seeing the woman's shirt and quickly distracting herself.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    This meeting is clearly not engineered, as when Kyouka hears Hotaru call her name, she glances over and it clearly takes her a moment to even realize who the small girl is. Yes, they've met before, but she's met a lot of students, and suddenly coming across one 'in the wild' so to speak necessitates crossing a kind of mental bridge between 'work' and 'life' in order to properly place them.

    It doesn't take her that long though, and she halts her forward progress near the bench the girl is sitting on, though not directly in front of it, as if she wants to make sure she isn't invading any personal space. "Tomoe-chan, was it?" She says, as if she's perhaps having a hard time remembering, although truthfully now that it's 'clicked' she knows exactly who this girl is. "Nice day, huh?" It's hot, but then again it's always hot in Tokyo in the summertime.

    At the question about her shirt, she glances down, then shrugs. "Oh, just a rock band. They're pretty good. I saw them in concert a few weeks ago and picked up this shirt.. it's nice to not have to dress all formal all the time, y'know?"

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe nodded. "Yes. Hotaru Tomoe," she said, giving a small smile before glancing up. The smile falling off her lips before she kind of dropped. "It was..." she mumbled softly before looking back towards her phone. As if, somehow, looking at it might make her father actually change his mind.

Instead, she was greeted by nothing.

"A rock band? I haven't heard them before, are they new?" she asked. Well, Hotaru didn't... exactly look like the 'rocker' type. Then again, her tastes were always a bit... off. She didn't look like the kind of kid who'd pet an elephant, have a haunted doll, befriend a cursed ghost and stay up late watching slasher movies but when you were a weirdo, you did weird things.

"I think it suits you, you look nice in more casual wear," she said with a fully genuine smile. Even if the comment seemed... odd, she at least seemed to mean it. "Are you meeting someone here?" Then she let out a gasp and her cheeks went red. "D-do you have a date? Should I go before they get here?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Not new-new, but they've been getting more popular lately." Kyouka says, with a lopsided smile and a shrug of her shoulders. "It might not be your sort of music," judging entirely by appearances and what she knows of the girl's personality, "But I like them a lot. I even got their latest album autographed when I saw them." She seems proud of this.

    At the comment of a more casual style suiting her, Kyouka gives a faint snort of amusement. "Not sure if I should take that to mean I look good now, or I normally look like I don't belong as a teacher at school." She says, with genuine humor rather than any sort of offense. "No, I was just passing through the area and I decided to stop for a donut." She points to the stand... then laughs more fully at the mention of a date. "Hun, if you think I have time for dates, you seriously underestimate my work load. Do you want a donut? C'mon, I'll buy you one."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe nodded. "I'll need to try and give them a listen sometime, then. I might... I don't... know if I'd like them. But... I'll try anything once. And I'm so happy you found a band you're enjoying so much."

For a moment Hotaru just blinked, her cheeks a little red. Then... she gave a light sigh and said in a playful, teasing tone. "I mean, you do seem a liiiiiittle out of place sometimes with the other members of staff. I thought you were one of the seniors the first time I saw you. But... I guess that makes sense. You're one of the school counselors, you're probably supposed to be closer to the students than the teachers, right?" she asked with an affectionate smile. "I've only heard the other students saying good things about you. Well. Mostly." If Takashi mentioned her... it probably wasn't good.

Bribery, however, was always effective. She got to her feet and nodded. "Well... if you were going to get one anyway... I do really like the dark cherry ones..." Well, at least in that regard it was looking up. Even if her daddy wouldn't be joining her.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    If anything, being told she could be mistaken for a senior pleases Kyouka. She has no real desire to return to being a teenager, but in the world of magical girls, she's already past her prime, so it's essentially being told she looks like she 'still got it'. And she appreciates that. She doesn't say as much but she does shrug her shoulders and smile. Takashi probably did not have kind things to say, nor Darien, who has publically called her a pain in the ass. But you can't please everybody... especially not people filled with dark energy.

    When Hotaru accepts her offer, Kyouka grins, offputting positive energy. "They are really good, aren't they?" She asks, as she turns to walk towards the cart again. "I'm partial to the apple-jam filled ones myself, but I'm not about to argue with you on donut flavors."

    As they approach the cart, she asks innocently, "So what are you doing out here all by yourself, anyway? Just hanging out, enjoying the sunny day?"

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe was now rocking back and forth on her feet a little bit, excitedly waiting for donut! Donut! Donut! Donut! Donuts were great. "Ohhhh. The apple-jam ones are pretty good. Daddy likes the bear claw ones that are filled with it. When I was younger he'd sometimes go and grab one of the really, really big ones and when he brought it home, he'd give me a piece because he said it was... un-bear-able to see me not as sweet as could be," she said before laughing at the terrible, just. Awful pun. The pain. The cringe.

Then the smile fell off her lips when Kyouka asked what she was doing here. "Actually... daddy was supposed to come and... meet me. We were going to walk the board walk today. But work came up... again... like it always does every time he says he'll do anything with me..." she muttered, this time her voice filled with bitterness. "You'd think he'd be able to keep at least one of his promises..." Once again, she looked at her phone. Willing it to get a text that wouldn't ever be sent.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka nods her head along with the talk of donuts and sweetness, smiling, but when Hotaru brings up how her father was supposed to come and meet here but bailed on her as he, apparently, always does, she lets the smile fall away. "Oh.. that must be hard. Your dad is an important person at Obsidian Corp., isn't he?" She asks, as if she isn't sure, her face the picture of sympathy. "He must have a lot of important work to do, but I understand how that can be hard on you, too."

    She walks up to the donut stand as she's saying this, and takes a moment to order a couple of the fresh donuts, one of the apple-filled ones for herself and one of the dark chocolate cherry ones for Hotaru. She digs a few bills out of her jeans pocket to pay, handing them up to the guy working the cart.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe nodded. "Yeah. He's always doing very important work for the future of all humanity and stuff like that," she muttered, a spiel she'd heard a thousand times. "You'd think his daughter might be one of those important things at least once. But--" Then stoppped and took a slow, deep breath. "I'm sorry, that's not fair. I... I know what daddy does is very important. He helps a lot of people and I'm... very lucky. If not for his work, I wouldn't even be able to walk right now or feel this donut at all," she said, holding it up and taking a small bite.

"... I just... miss him sometimes. Ever since mom died and the accident it just... almost feels like he's another person. But I know it's for the greater good. That... that his research is super important and one day he's going to change the world for the better. Then, maybe, he'll have time for me again."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I mean, if you look at it on a more personal level, you kids are the future of humanity, right? That's why I do my job." Kyouka says, with a smile, as she hands over the donut to Hotaru. "What's the point of improving the world if you're not going to improve the people who are going to live in that world." Her smile is sympathetic, as if she understands what Hotaru is going through.

    "It sounds like your dad is dealing with his grief in his own way. People handle things like the death of a loved one differently, and sometimes it's not easy for them or the people around them. But it's possible he will work through it on his own.. sometimes people do need help, though." A shrug of her shoulders as she bites into her donut.

    "Does he ever tell you what he's working on? It must be pretty interesting if it's so important."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe nodded. "I guess. And... he's... trying to improve it. He's working so my prosthetics aren't... rejected... as much, I think? Because of the ummm... stuff he uses. S-sorry. It's... a lot of it is really advanced and I don't really get it," she mumbled softly. She didn't want to, either. It always made her sad.

"You're probably right. I... I miss mom too. I just wish it didn't always feel like I'd lost both parents. I just... want my daddy..." she muttered, before taking another bite. It didn't help that Kaolinite kept trying to step in and be the 'mom' of the house at times. She was NOT her mom. She'd NEVER be her mom. She took a much bigger bite this time, before glancing over to her. "Hmmm?" she asked, before eventually swallowing the big mouthful. "Mostly prosthetics, I think. 'Creating the ultimate life form' he calls it. Trying to extend life, cure diseases, all of that. It's... important. I know it's important. Daddy's work saves so many lives every day. And I know any time he spends not working probably results in... who knows how many people not being saved. And I know it's selfish to want him to spend more time with me despite that..." she muttered, obviously having done those mental calculations herself quite a few times. And beaten herself up for it.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Don't worry," Kyouka says, with a gentle laugh. "I don't really get all that advanced sciency stuff either. I've always been more of a... direct people person, y'know? I'm at my best talking with people on the streets, or dealing with problems head on, rather than in a lab or a classroom. Kinda funny that I ended up working at a school, I guess, but.."

    She puts an arm around Hotaru's skinny shoulders as she eats the donut, giving her a little squeeze. "It's not selfish to want to spend time with your family, even if the work he's doing is important. Society has needs, but people have needs too. And really, what's the point of saving the lives of strangers if you don't bother with the ones closest to you?" She shrugs again. "I'm not saying what he's working on isn't important.. just that sometimes it's easy to look so far into the future, you lose sight of what's right in front of you. And I bet he might realize what he missed and regret it, down the line, when you're grown up and your own woman who doesn't need to wait for him anymore."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe nodded. "Is that why you're a counselor? Because it makes you feel young again and like you're able to just be around people like on the streets?" she asked. The absolute rudeness of her question completely flying over her head.

She let out a soft squeak when she was grabbed, but quickly relaxed. It wasn't direct contact, so she didn't need to worry about being 'weird'. Besides, Kyouka didn't have any injuries she could see, so it wasn't like she could heal what wasn't there. "Yeah. I'm already a lot older and more mature than people think. Sometimes I swear the only one who even listens to me at Obsidian is Takashi-senpai. Everyone else just tells me to sit and wait until 'daddy's' done. But he's never done, there's always more work to do and maybe I could even help if they'd at least let me try," she said, before taking another bite. "I may just be a kid but that doesn't mean I'm dumb. I'm just... inexperienced." Angry donut bite!

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Well, no," Kyouka says, with a gentle eyeroll. "I'm a counselor because it's the most convenient place for me to be while I do my job.. the Headmistress has pretty strict requirements of me, you know? But it helps that I'm pretty good at this whole 'people' thing regardless. Some of the time, anyway." She amends. There are certainly times when she is less good at it.

    "I've met Takashi-san. If he listens to you, then you must have some pretty good things to say. He doesn't strike me as the sort to listen to someone who is speaking silliness." She says, with a bit of a wry tone. Her own donut is already more or less gone. She doesn't mess around when it comes to eating things.

    "I wonder," She says, almost absently, as if she just thought of something. "Have you heard of something called Project Midnight Tokyo? It's just something I heard about, with regards to Obsidian Corp., and I was wondering if maybe that's something your dad is working on. It sounded pretty important."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe blinked a few times, trying to process that. "I... I don't get it. Isn't... being a counselor your job?" she asked. "What's your job, if not being the counselor? Are you like... gasp... are... are you also security? Are you undercover? Are you a spy?" Well, she was a kid. And she... had ideas. Of course she had ideas.

She also, well, looked pretty cheerful, when she was told how Takashi didn't just listen to anybody. "Mmm hm! He's really smart. Not as smart as he thinks he is, but he's still really smart. And nice! If there were more people like him in Obsidian, we wouldn't have all the issues that seem to keep cropping up," she said hapily before taking another bite.

And promptly choking on it, tears welling up in her eyes while she pounded her chest a few times. Shaking her head wildly, she tried to get air again before, finally, choking it down. "M-my daddy has NOTHING to do with Midnight Tokyo! It's a stupid idea that--" And then paused, her cheeks going bright red and staring at Kyouka for a moment... before looking away. "I-I mean, I've... I've never heard of it," she said in a very soft voice. All but sweating now. She was a terrible liar.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Would you believe me if I said it was a little bit of all three?" Kyouka says, with humor in her voice, when talking about her job. "Let's just say that I have a particular set of skills that the Headmistress thought would be useful to have at the school, even if the more traditional guidance counselor stuff isn't exactly my strong suite.. but I do like to think I'm fairly good at giving out advice."

    She quirks her brow at the reaction she gets when she mentions Midnight Tokyo. She even pats Hotaru on the back a little to make sure the girl isn't going to choke. "Whoa, whoa, easy there. You need to eat the donut, not breathe it." She twists her mouth to the side in an apologetic grimace. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. It's just.. I've been hearing some things. That's part of my job, you know? And one of those things was about this Midnight TOkyo thing, and how it might be kind of a problem, so I've been trying to find out more about it. But don't worry.. I'm not going to like.. grill you for information or anything." She says, with a laugh, her arm still around Hotaru's shoulders.

    "Oh no, certainly never that.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe would think that Kyouka was amazing. Oh my gosh. A particular set of skills? She was a top secret undercover spy for the government in... their school... for reasons? Okay, that didn't make sense. Didn't make sense AT ALL.

But as Kyouka pulled her close, whispered about the things she'd heard, Hotaru kept her eyes down. The last little bit of donut in her hands. She gulped for a moment before speaking up. "It's... Midnight... Tokyo isn't... it's not part of my dad's... he'd never, ever do something that terrible. And it won't... won't happen. It'll never, ever, ever, ever happen. I'd stop it myself if I had to. Takashi-senpai's already working to..." Then she trailed off and looked up at her. "Wait... how... how do you know any of this... are... are you..."

Her eyes went wide. "Are you... a sparkle skirt spy? D-do you know who I am? Who e-everyone is? Y-you can't tell them, if, if people knew who I was, they'd... they'd..." Then she trailed off. They'd want? Hate her? Possibly. Firefly was... kind of mean. "... I... I can help people like this. See things I wouldn't if I... wasn't. And I can help, now. Use it for... good... stop things like... Midnight Tokyo..." she said gently. "If people found out who I was, though... I might not be able to help anyone anymore..."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka of course, has no idea who Hotaru is, specifically. Oh, she's perfectly aware that she has magic- the girl is like a beacon full of it, very obvious to someone with Kyouka's particular skills, as noted. But specifically that the girl is Firefly, or what in particular she had done? No clue at all. However, she is also very, very good at acting like she has a way better hand than she actually does. That's why her friends would never play cards with her anymore, after a while.

    "Sparkle-skirt?" She actually laughs a little. Her ash-grey eyes are soft, sympathetic, overtop of her sunglasses. "That's a funny name for them. No, Hotaru-chan." Speaking lightly, still with an arm around the girl's shoulder. "I'm my own boss, at least in matters like this. Sure, I work for the school, but when it comes to knowing things and knowing people, that's just my own initiative. Y'see.." She leans back a little, gesturing with her free arm out towards the city. "I've been protecting this place for a long time. Before you were born even, I wager, I was already out there fighting monsters and trying to keep people safe. I saved this whole city from destruction.. twice actually, right out there." She gestures towards the currently-calm waters of the bay. "Lost a couple good friends in the process. So you have to understand I feel a pretty strong attachment to it. This is my city, at least in my head. And so it's pretty important to me that I keep it safe."

    "I can't really do it the way I used to. You understand that, I'm sure. But I have other ways now, other means. A lot of it is knowing things. People, names. Having people owe me favors, and making friends in the right places. I think you and I could be friends, Hotaru-chan, I really do. You seem like a sweet girl in a tight spot."

    Her eyes are suddenly more like steel than ash, hard and unyeilding as she regards the girl. "If this Midnight Tokyo thing is as terrible as you say.. as terrible as I have reason to believe from the other people I've been talking to... then I need to know what it is. I don't intend to let the city I saved get messed up now, just because I can't go out there and fight myself anymore. This is how I fight now. By finding things out. And I will find out. I have other sources already cooking. But I'm sure that if you told me what you know about it, it would be immensely helpful."

    She smiles again, pleasantly. "Besides, I could buy you another donut while we talked."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe gulped and lowered her eyes, taking another small bite of her donut. IT was a lot to process. A lot to... feel. She felt... trapped. Helpless. She was trapped, helpless. "You... lose your friends?" she asked gently. "I'm sorry. I..." she whispered, looking out to the water. A hand lifted up to her heart. This was her city too, wasn't it? Kyouka's? And... she had to... what if they couldn't stop it? But...

"I don't... want another donut..." she said gently. "I just... I want to... help people. I want to make things better. And sometimes that means doing the wrong thing for the right reasons," she said gently.

"... Midnight Tokyo is... it's something they can't do now. But if they did... a lot of people would die. I think... almost... everyone would die. They want to overlap it with... overlap tokyo with the dusk zone. To give the... dark energy users an edge," she mumbled gently. "Just... don't... t-tell anyone I ever said this. If anyone found out I told you... I couldn't... help anybody, anymore. But... there's a lot of us there who plan to stop it. We... we won't let it happen. But..."

"... If we failed... if we all... disappeared... if, somehow... they managed to succeed? Then... then someone outside of Obsidian... should know what they're wanting to do. How horrible it is. How awful it is. And it's.... it's horrible... I've seen what happens when normal people go into the dusk zone... they don't... they don't come back... they usually don't come back..."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka shrugs as she looks out over the water in front of them. "It's not easy, losing people you're close to." She says, her tone soft but laden with the experience of someone who knows what she is talking about. "But sometimes you have to accept that when something is really important, it's worth putting your life on the line for. And that not everybody who chooses to make that decision walks away again. I take solace in the fact that we won. The city is still here. And even though those friends might not be here, or might not be friends anymore, I know that they would be proud of what we achieved because of what they did."

    She looks down at Hotaru next to her. "I think you will help people, Hotaru-chan. I think you can help people, and you will, because all it takes is that desire. The feeling that sitting by doing nothing just isn't an option. It's an eternal balancing act, between what needs to be done and what the cost of that action might be. And we can't always know if the choice we make is the right one. But it's still important to choose, because sitting back and doing nothing just isn't an option."

    She listens in silence to the girl talk about what Midnight Tokyo actually is. If she's shocked, or horrified, she doesn't show it on her face. Rather her expression remains firm, somewhat grim but closer to neutral. "You don't have to worry about me telling anyone you talked to me." She says, softly, when the girl is finished. "I don't betray my sources. And I don't betray my friends. I'm glad to hear you're against this idea.. and that you're going to try and stop it. But I hope you understand that I can't just sit back and do nothing, either. Because for me, it really isn't an option. This is who I am, and who I've been for a long time."

    She takes her arm away from the girl finally, not so much releasing her as just giving her some space, as she folds her hands in her lap instead. "I didn't put my life on the line, let my friends die, to save this city just to let someone else wreck it now. Sorry, it just ain't happening."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe nodded, reaching out to her for a moment before pulling her hand away. "I ummmm... I'm really sorry for your loss. Losing someone you care for... it's... not... it's painful," she whispered. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. But... I'm... I'm sure if they... knew the risks... it wouldn't be a choice they regretted." That was probably a strange thing to hear from a child.

She gave a small, feeble smile to her. Before nodding. "It's... not easy. I know... I know sometimes I have to play the role of bad guy. But... it's... better, I think. This way. Everyone... everyone's doing their hardest. And... I know they want what's best. But sometimes... you have to do a little wrong to do a lot right and... if someone has to do that... I'd rather it be me." Slow, deep breath.

At least she, in theory, wouldn't be betrayed. Maybe. But she wasn't certain of that. Kyouka meant well... but... some of the people in obsidian could be incredibly convincing. And she didn't know if the woman would truly keep it safe in the end. But if something did happen... well... her dad was on the board. She was a lot safer from consequences than most in Obsidian.

"I know. I know you'll try and do something. You'll try to stop it. But... if things go right... you'll nevert have to. It's not part of my dad's department or... I know he'd find a way to stop it. But... but they won't succeed. Even if it was something that'd give them a lot of power, the ability itself just... there's no way it can happen. I've seen the dusk zone. It won't... move... over... like they think it will. It can't. And even if they found a way... we'd stop them." Spoken like somebody who truly believed it... yet... could possibly be wrong in the end. It remained to be seen.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I've thought that way before, you know. In my previous life." Kyouka says, with a small, lopsided smile. "That doing a little bad for the greater good was worth it. I dunno, maybe sometimes it is. But somebody I cared about a lot, and trusted, told me that if you make that choice too many times, you stop realizing what 'a little' looks like. And before you know it you might be doing more wrong than you think, and for less good than you hoped."

    She shrugs her shoulders as she puts her hands in her pockets. "I was never good at the philosophy. What's right, what's wrong.. seems to me a lot of that depends on where you're standing at the time, and who you've got standing with you." She glances back down at Hotaru again. "But my advice to you would be to make sure you have firm footing before you make any decisions like that. And make sure you know who your friends are. Because they're the ones who are going to tell you if you go too far."

    "I hope you do succeed in stopping this thing internally. And, I'm not going to tell you who because I made similar promises to them, but you're not the only person inside Obsidian who I've talked to about this, and they also don't want it to succeed. Maybe for different reasons, I don't know. But it seems like there's a lot of opposition and that's a good thing."

    "Still, you'll forgive me if I don't exactly just lay back and trust somebody else to get it done. That just ain't my style."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe nodded. "I know. It can... it can be really hard sometimes. It's why I'm trusting someone smarter than me to try and be that guide." Unfortunately, that person she chose was Takashi. So uhhhh... how... much smarter he was was up to debate. Very, very heavy debate. "I've seen what happens when people go too far. Even... smart people. And I don't... I don't want to be that person. I just want to use the time I have left to help as many people as I can."

To be honest, though, there was really only one person she trusted to always do the right thing. Her daddy. And uhhh... that was realllllly not a wise choice.

"T-thanks. And I understand. I mean, it'd... I'd probably try to stop it, too, if I was in your shoes. And I think I can imagine who told you." She was thinking Takashi. "I think anyone with half a brain wouldn't want it to succeed. It's a terrible idea. You can't just... move the dusk zone into here. People can't survive there. I can't even go there for more than a few seconds without having a seizure. It's just a nasty, awful place. Have you ever been there, Inai-sensei? I don't recommend. Even if some people like it, I don't. Just because like. someone CAN go to the bottom of the ocean and see the crabs and stuff doesn't mean you should just drown a city and it'll be okay."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka smiles and reaches out, putting her hand on Hotaru's shoulder again, gently. "I think you will help people, Hotaru-chan. I think you probably already have. You've certainly helped me, and I'm grateful for it. I won't forget what you've done here, when the chips are down. You can trust me on that."

    It wasn't Takashi. It was actually Pyrite.. although of course, Hotaru wouldn't have any reason to suspect that, probably. And Kyouka does plan on talking to Takashi too, as soon as she can pin him down.

    "No, I've never been to the Dusk Zone." She says, with a faint quirk of her lips. "Darkness was never my element. But I know about it, of course. And I know it's dangerous. But some people only think about what's good for themselves, I'm sorry to say. I used to be like that, a long time ago. Thankfully I got over it. Some people never do."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe nodded, a small smile on her face. "I hope so. Just... please don't get hurt. Because if you got hurt because of what I told you, it'd... it'd be my fault," she said, giving a small smile to her. Then... she paused when she glanced over to a small fish and chips stand. And then glanced back to Kyouka. "Ummmmm... I know I don't want a donut but... wanna buy me breakfast?" she asked with a playful smile. What? She had an allowance. She couldn't just buy all the beach food she wanted. And she'd kind of... skipped it. Since her and her daddy were SUPPOSED to hang out at the beach together today.

"It's really not a nice place. Some people seem to like it, but I can't. It's so... dark and ooky and creepy. But like, not in a good creepy way like a horror movie. But in a bad way that's like... real? Kind of uncanny valley, I guess? I just don't like it. I don't think you would, either. And... yeah. I know a few people who only ever seem to care about themselves, no matter what. Like Kaolinite." Yup, just had to throw that one in.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Don't worry about me, kid." Kyouka says, flippantly. "I've been hurt before, but I get better. And I've been doing this long enough that I'm fairly confident in my ability to make it through to the other side in one piece. It's nice of you to worry, though. Truly."

    She glances over to the fish and chips place as it is pointed out, and she does roll her eyes again.. but she also smiles. "You know what, sure. I think you've earned it. We can get you some breakfast. And we can talk about something nicer, how about that?" She asks, as she turns to head over to the other stand. "It's too nice of a day to spend it all on doom and gloom."