897/Levels of Reassurance

Levels of Reassurance
Date of Scene:	01 December 2023
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy
Synopsis:	Surely Kazuo does not appear before Kyouka bearing gifts purely out of altruistic benevolence. At least these two are starting to be slightly less incompatibly feral at each other.
Cast of Characters:	Kazuo Saitou, Kyouka Inai

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Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    Sometimes, Kyouka Inai has to watch out for ambushes.

    But if Kazuo Saitou sees her at least once a week anyway, you might think he'd try to catch her on her way into or out of there. No. No, he does not.

    At least he also is hunting for her at a reasonable hour, when she's on her way out from Ostensible Day Job, instead of just turning up in her desk chair one morning like some people.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    To imply that Kyouka Inai is not always watching out for ambushes is the same thing as to state that one does not know her very well. You do not make it through a decade of mahouing in this city without having eyes on the back of your head.

    Which is not to say that she's impossible to sneak up on. Just that she's always, to some degree, expecting to be snuck up on. As it is, she is making her way towards the street outside the school where she parks her bike in the spots reserved for faculty.

    She does not appear to be keeping a particular eye out for anybody.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    It is very likely, thus, that she already knows where Kazuo was hanging out in casual wait, and when he starts moving and at what angle, and that he's holding something, and when he calls, "Hey, Inai-san, I think you dropped this," of course he's tossing it her way.

    The pack of cigarettes is even her brand.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    She might notice him well before he expects to be noticed, but to say that she expected him to be there or even that she was expecting the toss would be giving her too much credit.

    That doesn't stop her from snatching the pack out of the air, glancing at it before looking back at Kazuo over the top of her ever-present sunglasses.

    "I know for a fact you're not old enough to buy these. I thought you were turning over a new leaf, Saitou-kun."

    The implied admonition doesn't stop her from banging the pack against her wrist, opening it, and pulling out one of the cigarettes to bit lit with her silver zippo- after she has officially crossed off of school property, of course.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    "Would you be happier if I'd stolen them?" Kazuo asks, overtly amiably cheerful, jacket slung loosely over a shoulder. The darker fabric at least counters some of the way his pale hair picks up the orange of the uniform shirt. Now it's merely reminiscent of smoke drifting over a fire, rather than trying to pick up on the fire itself.

    The step officially off school property isn't marked, at least

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "It would demonstrate a commendable ingenuity, at the very least." Kyouka says, equally amiable, though whether or not this is preferable to using a fake ID (or some other equally illegal but less malicious method) is not commented upon.

    She continues walking towards her parking space, now trailing a faint grey smoke trail, though its in the direction that carries her past Kazuo anyway, as he surely planned.

    "What can I do for you, Saitou-kun? Surely you do not appear before me bearing gifts purely out of altruistic benevolence."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    And Kazuo falls in mostly beside, a little behind, at a distance that's conversational but gets burnt grime in his lungs mostly only when the wind is cruel.

    "Osaka showed me the place you showed her, is all," he answers. "Nice."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    To her credit, Kyouka does her best to make sure her second-hand smoke does not bother her newly-acquired companion, a skill she is reasonably good at as any smoker living in such a crowded environment must be.

    "I can't take credit for that one, as it was shown to me in turn." Kyouka replies humbly. "By my boss, no less, andthough I am always mistrustful of gifts which appear to have no strings attached I am never one to let a useful gift go to waste, paranoid suspicions be damned."

    She grins. "I'm being overly dramatic. It's safe, at least as of right now, though I think it needs better security long-term if we're going to use it as a base of operations. I'm glad she showed you."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    "Instead of 'first person to give in to temptation hands it over'? Yeah, maybe. Or maybe leaving the security crap will keep people from trusting it too much, who knows." This is what passes for optimism, clearly.

    There's a brief flash of teeth, then, something like a quick grin returned Kyouka's way. "I checked in on the punchy planet, by the way. She's adjusting fine. Got her feet under her."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "At the moment," Kyouka says, pausing a she reaches her bike parked alongside the sidewalk and turning to face Kazuo, making no move to actually begin getting on it or anything so dismissive, "There's nothing there worth handing over. In time that may change, and therefore so should the precautions. I'm not interested in creating a fortress... just using common sense."

    She makes a noise at the mention of Jupiter, neither positive nor negative, just acknowledging. "Good. When I heard she had previously known both you and Shields I knew there was potential there, although I've had unfortunately little time to look after her myself."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    "You'll be pleased to know she's punched me in the face for being an asshole before," Kazuo assures Kyouka, pausing to loiter in turn by her bike, just a little.

    He doesn't say anything about Shields. Nothing at all.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Were you being an asshole?" Kyouka asks, with mild interest- in other words, 'did you deserve it?'

    "Look, Saitou-kun, I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up with you as well as some of the other kids but it's been busy and I have a feeling it's only going to get busier." She says, taking a drag from her smoke and blowing the resultant plume away from him. "But I appreciate the work you've been doing. I've heard some from Usagi-chan and Naru-chan."

    "I anticipate some.. significant movement in the next month or so. Be on your toes, alright? And remember, you can call me if you need to."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    "Oddly, for once, I was not the asshole she was looking for," Kazuo answers, which is not exactly a no. "But it bodes well for there being pain and suffering to help dissuade me from future poor life choices." ... it is not inconceivable that he might be related distantly to Hannah somehow. Punching as a love language?

    The other-kids bit gets a casual gesture, as if to swipe any concern on that front away. And the next month or so ... well. The smile doesn't change. His eyes darken, but the smile doesn't change.

    "Not on my toes, granted," he says. "Too unsteady to take a hit from there. But I'm watching."

    He takes a step back, giving Kyouka a little bow, and starts to clear out of the way.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Oh yeah? Good for you." This in response to the information that the punch was mis-targetted. Although it still resulted in being punched, at least lessons were learned.

    Seeing Kazuo stepping back and deducing that his intended goals have been met, Kyouka reaches for her bike helmet, though she doesn't put it on yet, as she still has a half-smoked cigarette to deal with.

    "You cannot possibly understand the level of reassurance that gives me." She says, in reply to his comment about watching. "You're a good kid, Saitou-kun. But despite that, I think you might just be bad enough to survive what's coming. Let's try and make sure everybody else does too, huh?"

    With those cryptic remarks, she is putting on her helmet (where did the cigarette go? Unclear.) and swinging her leg over the bike, firing it up.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
    "'Survive' has too many goddamn meanings lately," Kazuo mutters on his way away. Which is less cryptic to Kyouka than it would be to most people.