1128/Try the Taiyaki!

Try the Taiyaki!
Date of Scene:	17 February 2024
Location:	Penguin Park
Synopsis:	A very exhausted Mio meets Katsumi and Hinoiri. Taiyaki is had and new friends are made.
Cast of Characters:	Mio Morita, Katsumi Cora, Hinoiri Kirara

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Mio Morita has posed:
Its a fairly warm winter's day. Birds are chirping. People are strolling through the park. Things are pretty nice for the most part. Amidst the humdrum of the day, a table is set up in the park. On said table is a mixture of baked goods including brownies, blondies, coffee cakes, Candy Cakes, Taiyaki and a few other interesting foods. Manning this table is Mio Morita. The girl is doing her best to raise money. At least that is what the signs on the table say. 'All Profits go to feeding the homeless.' is sketched on the signs. That and of course prices for the different sweets.

Mio is working her tail off. Or would if she had a tail. Thankfully she doesn't as that would bring about a whole new level of chaos for her to deal with and honestly she simply doesn't have enough mental energy for that right now. "Okay that will be 600 Yen, thank you. Have a lovely day." She comments to a patron who is buying from her at the moment. There is of course a problem though. She is clearly tired. Her eyes are on the heavy side and while she is focused on working, She is making a mistake here and there. Those mistakes equate to foods going out for free which isn't exactly a good thing when you are trying to do a bake sale for charity.

As she gets a little break from the ongoing customers, she flops down on a chair and just leans back. "Ahhhh This feels nice." The chair by no means would feel nice. Its a pretty common folding chair lacking any cushioning. Another person comes along and picks up a couple taiyakis. She quickly collects the money for them and puts them in her money box.

Katsumi Cora has posed:
Away from the school, Katsumi is dressed in a warm sweater and jeans, matched with a pair of tennis shoes. His cane tak-tak-taks along the ground as he walks, feeling the warming air on his face, his sunglasses settled down to protect his eyes. Next to him, Kobo is in a trot, keeping up with the young man. "Why can't every day feel this nice?" he asks curiously.

He's not expecting an answer, but as Kobo picks up the scent of Mio's baked goods, the shiba turns and gives a gentle tug on Katsumi's hand. The young man has learned to trust the little guidances that his spirit guide have given him and angles his walk over to Mio's table.

As he gets closer, he can pick up the scent of the baked goods and his smile warms slightly. "Something smells declicious." he suggests, still facing forward as Kobo brings him to a stop at Mio's booth. "Is that taiyaki I smell?" he asks, catching on the scent of pastry and red bean paste.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was, once again, wearing her jacket. She'd finally gotten it fixed. Woo! And she was in an oddly good mood. Sure, she and her girlfriend had broken up, but they'd be friends. More importantly, her ex was ONE PERSON AGAIN! YES! And she felt pretty great about the whole thing.

When she saw the stand, she rolled her eyes. Ugh. Nowhere good as the stuff from Kirakirafantastica buuuuut... that was a good cause, right? She decided to walk over... however, before she could order anything, her eyes fell on Mio.

And she stared.

And she just... "Wow. You look like shit. Did you get hit by a bus or something?" she asked. Tactfully.

Mio Morita has posed:
Mio remains seated for a moment. It then slowly clicks that Katsumi is blind and his seeing eye dog brought him to her table. "Oh umm. Hello Yes!" She smiles and stands to her feet. "Right now I only have red bean paste ones. Had a little mishap with the chocolate ones that I had initially made." She smiles. "Would you like one? I made them just last night." She smiles happily. Its clear she is trying to cover up her exhaustion. Sadly its not working so well as its heard in her voice. "OH I have treats for dogs if you would like one to give to your service dog." She smiles to him even though he wouldn't be able to see it."

Then out of nowhere, There was a very clear description of how she looks. "Oh umm. Hello! It only feels like I did. Sadly I've been really busy lately and I've been having trouble finding time to take a break." She responds to Hinoiri."

She smiles to both Hinoiri and Katsumi. "Nice to meet both of you. My name is Mio Morita. I do this bake sale every few weeks to raise money for feeding the homeless. All the profits from the bake sale goes to getting stuff to make sandwiches for the homeless. Its a fun thing I do to help bring people hope." She smiles saying that. Another person comes up and gives her some yen for a candy cake. The money is quickly put into the money box.

Katsumi Cora has posed:
"Hi!" Katsumi responds to the voice, his head swivelling around to face Mio, now that she is speaking directly to him and can focus on her that way. "Sure, how much are they?" he starts to ask, before adding with a smile. "My mother showed me how to make them when I was younger, but we always had a time getting the red bean paste since we lived overseas. So it was usually custard." he explains. "Kobo, would you like a treat?" The service dog sits on his haunches obediently, waiting patiently for the promised treat. "That's fine." comes his explanation to Mio.

He was about to say more when Hinoiri's arrival and explanation of how Mio appears draws his lips into a thin line of concern. "She sounded rather nice to me." he offers, trying to bolster Mio's spirits.

"It is nice to meet you, Morita-san!" he offers when she gives her name, "I'm Katsumi Cora, I go to Radiant Heart in grade 9." That offered in way of explanation. "I'm also in the cooking club and know how to make Taiyaki if you have a prepared mold. So... if you need help?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara glanced over at the offerings, cocking an eye. "Really? How much does this tend to bring in after expenses? I mean, if the goal is to buy stuff, to make stuff to sell... so you can buy more stuff to make and give to people, seems like it could be pretty inefficient unless you're upselling a lot. Then again, if homemade, probably is upsold a lot... I'll take two."

She glanced down to the dog, before looking back to Mio. "You should try to get some sleep, though. It doesn't do you or anyone else any good if you end up exhausting yourself cooking. What if you end up messing up and poisoning some of the pastries? Who's going to want to buy pastries from a place that gets a rep for food poisoning if you mess up?"

Maybe it was a bit much to just... dump on the girl. But, believe it or not? She was trying to help.

"... I'd offer some help too, but I don't really... cook, much. But seriously. Girl, this can't be good for your grades..."

Mio Morita has posed:
Mio smiles upon hearing the school mentioned. "Oh! I attend there too! I am in Grade 10." She smiles a little bit. Quietly she gets out a doggie treat and tosses it to the dog. "There you go! Hope you like it." She comments before looking to Katsumi. "If you would like to. I do have a Taiyaki maker here and I have some Bean Paste for them. I came with fifty Taiyaki and I think I sold 43 of them so far." She states the price to Katsumi and nods, "IF you would like to help you are welcome."

She turns her attention to Hinoiri and she smiles to her. "I know. I wish I could rest more but I've just been so busy with my extracurriculars. There is just so much I have to do. My dad chewed me out about my time management even though he is the reason my time management is so off right now. He gave away a bunch of my taiyaki without asking me. I just... I dunno." She frowns and looks at her baked goods. "I wouldn't sell anything if I didn't make sure of the quality myself." She states feeling more than a little worried about it now.

Katsumi Cora has posed:
Taking out his wallet, and Katsumi feels his fingers around the coins, getting out the proper ones and holds them out for Mio to take. Kobo, in the meantime, is happily enjoying his treat, the dog's tail flapping back and forth even as he tries to convince Katsumi to be closer tio the others.

"Well, that's three more down!" he offers hopefully to Mio, assuming that Hinoiri is going to buy the two that she had mentioned. Mio mentioning that she's in tenth grade gets him to nodding his head. "Here, I'll give you my phone number, we can meet some time and work on them together. Many hands make light work, after all!" he offers cheerfully.

Though as Mio goes into her father, he can't help but to feel a pang of sympathy for her. "Yeah, I get that. My dad wanted me to be a baseball star." A slight grin. "I have a hard time keeping my eye on the ball though." A little humor hopefully to make the girl smile. And once he has the baked good, he takes a bite of it and closes his eyes, chewing on it slowly, savoring the taste of it. "The pastry is flaky and moist... I can feel the slight crunch when my teeth cut the tension of it. The bean paste is smooth but not overly sweet. It has a rich, almost fruit like texture and taste. You may have had to make these in a rush, Morita-san, but they are really good!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara just sighed, pulling out her own wallet and pulling out three 500 yen coins. "Six hundred yen each, right?" she asked, placing them on the counter. "Keep the change. Sounds like your dad is a jerk. Did he at least pay you for them to make up for the expenses in making the things to begin with?" she asked, glancing back to her.

Of course, after Katsumi's raving review, she made sure to give it a little sniff... before biting into it. Her eyes went wide...

"You know... this... is actually really good. You've got a real talent for this. Heh. Should introduce you to my roommate. Oh, right. Hinoiri Kirara, grade 9."

She glanced towards Katsumi and sighed. "You know, you both seem to have some issues with your dads. Is that just common here? Another friend of mine, Adrien, has the same issue. If you both go to RHA, why not just tell them to get bent? You've always got the dorms to fall back to."

She then glanced down to the dog and... "Wait. Is that a... oh. OH! I'm sorry, I uhhhh... didn't... realize. Eh... errrr... Friend of, uhhhh, Steiner-san?" she asked sheepishly. Yes. Because all blind people know each other.

Mio Morita has posed:
Mio smiles and takes the yen. She quickly puts it in the money box and smiles. Then with a smile she takes down the phone number and puts it in her phone. "Thank you Katsumi-san. She giggles a little. "I've been making baked goods like this since I was little. My mom kinda got me to inspire hope with people. So I do my best. I want people to always know that no matter what is going on, Hope springs eternal." She beams happily. "I think thats why I started doing the baked sales. Sweets always made me happy and these are super yummy. What I serve the homeless is usually sandwiches. Stuff that is a bit more filling and will last a little longer in the belly than a bunch of sweets!" She giggles.

She turns her attention to Hinoiri and accepts the yen for the taiyaki. "He didn't. He just said that I can remake them and I should have plenty of time without school being in session at the moment." She frowns. "I told him I'm going to find another place to store my baked good. I'm sorry. I love my dad but I can't have him just giving away my baked goods to my cousins whenever he feels like it."

She pauses and sighs. "My dad isn't That bad. I love him. Its just since we lost mom, we only had each other. I think my going to Radiant Heart has him going a little crazy or something."

Katsumi Cora has posed:
"Nice to meet you, Kirara-san." Katsumi starts to say. He really is not trying to draw attention to his blindness, which is why he's being glib about it, but when Hinoiri catches on, one can almost see the little twitch of his nose as he braces, "Oh! I already live in the dorms. My father plays for the Chiba Lotte Marines, so he doesn't have time to raise me and my mother is in the States." he explains. But when she mentions Steiner, there's a brief look of confusion. "I'm sorry, I only arrived in the school this semester, I have not had a chance to meet the local sight-impared community." More humor.

Though it seems that he and Mio are finding a lot of their stories in common, but he's not really pressing on the issue much. "My mom taught me to bake when I lost my sight. It was a way to focus. I could feel the differences in ingredients and learned how to measure by touch and weight. "But I'm more than happy to help and practice!"

But her story about her dad and the loss of her mom, he folds his hands in front of him. "I'm sorry for your loss, Morita-san." comes his quiet words of sympathy.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Uhhhh. Hope. Right. Yeah, that's... a good thing, I guess. Just uhhhh... don't lose sight of it or something," she said before taking another bite. Damn, this was really good. After she swallowed she spoke up again. "Did you make these from scratch? Good job. And... yeah. You'd think the support systems in this country would be good enough kids wouldn't need to..." Then she trailed off, shaking her head. Finally clueing in that she miiiiight be being a bit of a jerk.

"... You know... you can love someone and still think they're being a jerk. Giving away your hard work and then telling you to deal with it is a pretty jerky thing to do. Especially when it's for something like this. Bad enough to steal them from his daughter, but then to steal them from a bakesale, geez."

Then glanced to Katsumi and... "Your... mother is in a state of what? Err. I'm not from japan, so... I'm not up to date on all the turn of phrases." Pause. "That's... not meaning your mom is dead too, is it? Cause ummm... yeah. Sounds, errrr, like you two... got... it rough then. My, uhhh, condolences," she said sheepishly. "... Here, I'll ummm, take the rest of the taiyaki. You said there's... 4 more, right? Here. Just... yeah," she said, taking out a 5000 yen note. She held it out, cheeks burning.

... Yeah, she finally realized she mayyyy have said a few things that were... rude. Kiiiiind of massively rude.

Mio Morita has posed:
Mio smiles and nods, "Its alright. My mom passed when I was really young. I miss her a lot but I know she is still with me. I just hope she is proud of the person I am becoming." She gathers the remaining taiyaki and bags them up for Hinoiri. "I do actually make most of my stuff from scratch. One of my favorites is actually the Candy cake. Its a cake with peanut butter and chocolate on top. It is so yummy. Like a candy cake bar!" She beams happily."

"Oh I bet thats challenging! I couldn't imagine how difficult it must be to bake without being able to see. No offense meant. I would just have a lot of difficulty with it." Mio comments as she puts the yen into her box. "We are going to be doing up some good sandwiches for everyone next week. I can already tell!" A couple of students come by and buy up several brownies before walking away. "Have a nice day! Thank you!" Mio calls out as she works.

"I think my dad is having issues since I am not doing this stuff at home anymore. I am doing the work here at school. I dunno if he thinks that I don't need him anymore or what but he is really thrashing out about it. I am hoping he will see that he is just pushing me away more by doing this stuff. Plus how does he know what I am doing so often. Doing the baking for the bake sale takes a lot out of me. Then there is the school work when school is in session and the other extracurriculars... I just wanna handle everything right." She pulls some yen from her own pocket and puts it into the pay box. Collecting a blondie she takes a bite and smiles. "Mmmmm I like these a lot."

Katsumi Cora has posed:
"State of..." Katsumi takes a moment to translate and then shakes his head quickly, trying not to giggle. "No no, she lives in another country, the United States!" he explains. "She has a show there, The Homely Hearth!" A small sigh and smile. "I really miss her, but we talk every night."

But his demeanor brightens when Mio mentions the sandwiches, and he smiles. "Bread is my speciality!" he offers cheerfully. "I make a great milk bread and sourdough, as well." There's excitement in his voice. He doesn't get to bake for others often.

But then he realizes that he is interrupting Mio's sales and he clears his throat. "I... I suppose I should get a move on my walk. It was really nice meeting you, Morita-san. And Kirara-san, do not be so hard upon yourself. You sound like you really care and are a good friend. And that's something that a lot of people need! So don't be so short-sighted."

He unfolds his cane, doing a few taps on the ground as he prepares to feel his way out.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. "Uhhhh... that... sounds rough. I ummmm... sorry. At least you have memories of her? That's... better than nothing? I'm sure she'd be proud of you so long as you tried your best at whatever you did."

She took the taiyaki with a nod, chuckling nervously. "Yeah. I guess... some parents just... cling to their kids then, huh? I uhhhh, hope you manage to work it out. I should probably get going too."

She glanced to Katsumi and perked up slightly. "Ohhhh! America! Yeah. It's... an interesting country. Nice, errr..." Collection of leylines? "... Towers," she finally offered. "I'm gonna go drop these off. Thanks, good luck with your sandwiches. Try and take a nap or something later, before you pass out. Hard to save the world or whatever if you're falling asleep on the job. Yeet," Hinoiri said before lightly jogging off as well.