17/Office Hours 2 -- Kyouko

Office Hours 2 -- Kyouko
Date of Scene:	02 July 2023
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy
Synopsis:	Not actually in an office, but sometimes field work is necessary.
Cast of Characters:	Kyouka Inai, Kyouko Sakura

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Kyouko Sakura has posed:
Technically, it's been about a month since Kyouko's transfer to Radiant Heart Academy became official on the paperwork. It's been almost two weeks since she stopped dragging her feet on actually showing up in Tokyo for the purpose of investigating the school. But has she been on the grounds of the Academy yet? Naaaaaah. That's for chumps. For nerds. For losers who actually get good grades and don't fail out of school.

Well, it turns out it's also for obnoxious delinquents like her who've been promised snacks. So she's here...but she's not sure what to make of the place. Kyouko is actually gawking just a little bit as she circles the main office once, twice, three times, scowling more deeply with each circuit. Finally, after the third time she walks around the castle-like building, she flings herself furiously into a nearby bench and just glowers up at it with deep feeling. And she says, rather sullenly, and not *too* loudly...

"Wait till I find the right rocks for those windows. Just *wait*."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "You know, it ain't a good idea to break windows around here without a real good reason," A voice comes from behind Kyouko, behind the bench. Near, but not like, right in her ear or anything. A hasty examination (as is almost certain to happen) will reveal Kyouka, who appears to have been making her way towards the building in question when she overheard that remark- even if it was spoken more quietly than seems reasonable for such overhearing. She's not been on campus that long herself, but long enough to know she isn't supposed to wear her leather biker jacket in front of the kids, which is why its slung over her shoulder instead, held nonchalantly by a couple of fingers to dangle down the back of her button-up white dress shirt.

    "Not that I've never gone in for some window breaking in my day," She continues flippantly, gazing with ashen grey eyes towards the windows in question. "Just I feel like you're underestimating the capabilities of the staff here at findin' out who does shit like that... and holdin' 'em accountable for it."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    In an instant, Kyouko is in motion, bolting up from the bench and flailing angrily around as she looks for the source of that voice. It doesn't take long for her to see Kyouka and level a sullen glare at her. But she's also a little red with embarrassment at being overheard like that. She wasn't speaking that loudly, was she? She's not *that* stupid, right? (Maybe a little.)

    "Yeah, well...maybe staff is just gonna underestimate *me*," she grumbles in response. "Whatever, it doesn't matter, it's not like I'm gonna spend much time here! Class is boring. Seeya!" And she's making the attempt to just...walk away from Kyouka in the direction of the nearest exit from campus, with nothing more than a hurried wave.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Deft fingers nab the back of Kyouko's collar with unexpected speed. Kyouka's fingernails are painted a dark red, darker than her hair (which is a similar shade to Kyouko's own) and chipped in a way which suggests she doesn't re-do them often enough. More unexpected than that, though, is the strength with which she tugs the girl backwards- it feels as though if she wanted to she could literally lift the teenager by the scruff, despite not being that much taller than her. This is without any magic in the equation of course.

    "Eyyy, hold on a second there, scout." Kyouka says. She's got something of the street about her accent, talking in a way which probably rings somewhat familiar to Kyouko from her everyday experience rather than the educated way one might expect from a teacher. "No runnin' off just yet. You got a whiff of somethin' about you that warrants you and I having a bit of an extended chat." A toothy smile, slightly lopsided. "I think you might even be interested in what I'm gonna tell you."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Well, that warrants a second episode of indignant flailing around. "Hey! What do you think you're doing? You can't manhandle students! That's bad teaching! You'll get in trouble!" Never mind that Kyouko herself was talking about vandalizing the school office like thirty seconds ago. Teachers are supposed to actually *care* if they're breaking rules, right? That's *different*.

    But it's evident that Kyouka isn't just going to let her go, so she quiets down enough to consider the counselor's words. "I think you're wrong," she finally says. "But I'll talk if you get me one of those taiyaki that the stand right outside the gate was selling. I don't do anything for free."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Who's manhandling. I'm /guiding/. That's my job, I'm the guidance counselor." Kyouka says, releasing the nabbed collar when it becomes apparent that Kyouko isn't going to sprint for the hills, at least right away. "Sometimes I find that some students need a little more physical guiding than other times." She heaves a faint sigh, glancing back towards the building.

    Then, "Alright, fine. I could use a smoke anyway and I'm not supposed to smoke on campus. Bad example or some shit." A roll of her eyes before she starts walking back towards the gate. "Come on. And don't try to run off again or I'll tell the taiyaki guy not to give you one ever. I can do that you know. He owes me."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    At the reveal that Kyouka is the guidance counselor, Kyouko makes an absolutely horrified face. It's like Kyouka just said she eats younger redheads for breakfast and is planning to fry Kyouko in teriyaki sauce as soon as they get to a kitchen. That's how distressed and disgusted she looks. But Kyouka's agreement to procure snacks makes her relax, and Kyouko trots after the counselor. "What? You can? That's playing dirty."

Is that a hint of grudging respect in her voice? It just might be. She's still aggressively sulking and making a big point of scowling whenever Kyouka looks at her, though.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka doesn't look that much, she just walks, rather like she owns the place. She doesn't, of course, nowhere near- she's as close to a lackey as it's possible to be while still being a legitimate employee. She's not even qualified for the job she's been hired to do. But here's lesson number one kid, walk like you own the place and sometimes people assume you do, even if its patently ridiculous. She says nothing of course, at least until we exit the school gates and approach the taiyaki stand, a food cart which has prime position to feed hungry students. Luckily it's late enough in the afternoon that there's not a line.

    "Hey, Taro," Kyouka greets the guy behind the stand by name, lending credence to her story (or that she's a smart liar). "Gimme one for my friend here," She jerks a thumb at the sulking Kyouko. "And one for me, but bag it up, I'll eat it later, yeah?" She produces a 500 yen coin from her pocket and flicks it into the counter. "Keep the change." Uh oh, big spender over here. There's also a cigarette in her mouth, all of a sudden. Where'd that come from? Unclear. There was no sign of a pack. But now she's got a silver zippo lighter too, a fancy thing all engraved on the sides, and she flicks it open with a metallic 'ting', lifting the flame to light the smoke as she leans back against the brick outer wall of the school, far enough away from the gate to not be easily visible from inside. Because she doesn't wanna get yelled at. Again.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    After a while, Kyouko's scowl lessens into a sneaking look of curiosity. She hates to admit it, but this lady has an aura that's kind of...cool. That's annoying. It's annoying that the guidance counselor seems cool. She's supposed to be a boring stuffy proper adult, not...whatever this is.
    She does stick practically to Kyouka's shadow all the way to the taiyaki stand, determined not to let her promised free snack get away. Her only commentary on the order is a sulky mumbled, "I'm not her *friend*." But it's not very loud, just in case Kyouka takes it as a cue to change her mind about actually getting her the taiyaki.

    When the snack is handed over, she grabs it and follows Kyouka back to the wall. "Where'd you get the cigarette?" She bites into the taiyaki between sentences and speaks with her mouth half-full. "Can I have one? Gimme one." She doesn't actually want to smoke. That's gross and bad for you. She's just testing how far she can push boundaries.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    To be fair Kyouka hardly even qualifies as an 'adult'. At 23 most of the other faculty probably still think of her as a kid. But the gap between 14 and 23 looks way more substantial at 14 than it does at 40, so one can hardly blame Kyouko for thinking that way. Kyouka takes a drag on the smoke, as if she's been waiting for hours, then blows the smoke away from Kyouko, because she's not a monster. When the girl asks for one, Kyouka takes it out of her mouth and holds it off to one side. "I bought it, with money, and no I'm not a fuckin' charity, kid. Go steal your own if you want one." She hesitates a moment, then adds. "But don't smoke, it's bad for you." Then after another moment, "Also don't steal, it's illegal." Another heaved sigh, as she realizes perhaps how hard this job actually is.

    "Now look, you got your pastry fish so hear me out, yeah?" Kyouka gestures with the non-smoke-holding hand. "You got magic." It's not a question, it's a statement. "I can smell it on you. Don't know what kind and I wager it doesn't matter much. You got some weird invitation to this place, right?" A jerk of her head towards the school. "Not everybody here has it, but the ones who get the invitations always do. And those are the ones I'm interested in."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    At that response, Kyouko's eyes bug out a little bit, and she gawks some more. Did the theoretically responsible adult just tell her to STEAL a CIGARETTE? While using a bad word? Really? That's...that's...

    That's *so cool*. Now she's mad. This stupid school got a *cool person* to be the guidance counselor. That was *really* a dirty trick. Even if she's backpedaling on the matters of smoking and stealing now, Kyouko can still tell that she's actually kind of cool.

    She continues gnawing away at her taiyaki while Kyouka speaks to her. When confronted with the acknowledgment of her magic, she just narrows her eyes and takes a more decisive bite out of the pastry. She lets the question sit for a few moments as she chews. Finally she says, "Yeah. I didn't wanna accept it, but...I thought about it for a bit. Something's going on here. And I wanna know what it is." A beat. "But that doesn't mean I'm gonna come to class!"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Well fine, I don't care if you go to class. Also I just told you what's going on, they're gathering all the magic kids here, or tryin' to anyway. Although I don't know the actual reason, other than it kinda makes sense cause its easier to keep 'em from getting killed that way. Now look," Kyouka's hand vanishes into the pocket of her coat and comes out a moment later with a business card. It's one of hers, with her name and position embossed on the front, along with her office phone number. A pen is also produced, and she scribbles something on the back before handing it over.. pausing with her finger on it to ask, "You can /read/ right?" With a suspicious look. Ouch.

    Assuming Kyouko can, in fact, read the text on the back of the card says 'secret magic fite club, 4:30pm wednesday, Gym A'. "That's why I'm here." Kyouka says, tapping the card as she holds it to be taken. "Because all ya'll punk kids are gonna get yourselves killed, or at least some percentage of you are, and I've seen enough people get killed in my day that I'm kinda tired of it. So if you want to learn how to be better at not-dying, you should show up." A mild shrug. "Or hell, if you think you know everything you need to, show up anyway. You can show off in front of the naive little mahous and make yourself look cool."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "Of course I can read!" Kyouko bristles at the implied insult, as if she hadn't just been aggressively playing herself up as a delinquent who never goes to school or learns anything. To prove that she can read, she looks at the card while Kyouka is explaining, and in response she just says, "You spelled 'secret' wrong. Totally the wrong characters." No comment on 'fite,' the word that's actually spelled wrong.

    But after a beat she grudgingly adds, "I'm not gonna *help* anyone there. I'm only gonna practice *my* stuff. Will there be snacks and soda? I saw a konbini that had sentai team branded ramune yesterday. I want that stuff. Then I'll come."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "There will be school mandated refreshments which are /not/ branded because we don't take sponsorships." Kyouka says drily, "and ramune is gross, do you have any idea how much sugar is in those things? Terrible for you." A pause, as if perhaps acknowledging her private horror at now being old enough to have to think about such things.

    Also she totally looks at the card to see if she spelled 'secret' wrong, as if that's something she might actually have done. "No I didn't." She says, defensively, also without commenting on 'fite' which is obviously the correct way to spell 'the act of two magical girls in combat'.

    "You don't have to help anyway. I'm helping you, that's the point. If you happen to accidentally help someone else by example all the better but you don't need to try. I'm not hiring you as my assistant. I'm drafting you into my private army." A snort, then hastily, "Joke, that was a joke. It's just training, alright? Kinda my... thing. I gotta do it. I wanna do it, actually, but that's hardly relevant."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "Sugar is the only reason life is worth living," Kyouko mumbles, half under her breath. Then she hastily barrels onward in the conversation before anyone can comment on how honestly pathetic a thing that was to say.

    "You want to do it?" She squints intensely at Kyouka for a long moment, suddenly very serious. "Really? Are you sure? 'Cause if you're just doing it to help other people it's completely stupid."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Yeah well, you're probably running around alleyways in the middle of the night stabbing dudes, you probably burn plenty of calories. Try sitting behind a desk all day and then see how much sugar you can intake before you start putting on weight." Kyouka mutters, venting some of life's unfairness on an innocent child who luckily is unlikely to take it seriously. She takes another drag on her smoke, contemplating her response to Kyouko's other question.

    "I guess it's not that simple, no. I mean it's not like I'm not benefitting from the arrangement. I mean my other choice was 'become an irrelevant nobody' and it's certainly better than that." A mild laugh, with just the faintest tinge of bitterness. "But it just so happens I also legitimately dislike seeing people die, especially kids who got suckered into a raw deal, so if I can help them out while also maintaining my own karmic positivity then sure I wanna do it." A pause, then, "They also pay me."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    The venting about desk job problems gets totally ignored. In one ear and out the other. Kyouko isn't here to care about stupid uncool adult problems. So yeah, that's fine.

    But she listens seriously to Kyouka's explanation of her motives, frowning a little as if she's actually pensive and thinking for once in her life. Her mouth turns downwards, and she's sulking a bit...but finally, she nods. "I guess if it's a job it's fine. It's kind of a stupid job, but it's money, right? And you're probably not fast and strong enough to just steal *all* the money you need, 'cause you're a grown-up and a teacher." That last bit is definitely delivered as if it's a sick burn.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Kid," Kyouka says, flicking the last ash off of her cigarette before stubbing it out against the brick and then making the butt vanish in much the same way the cigarette appeared in the first place, "Don't make me mug you to prove a point. Those days are behind me and besides, it's hardly fair. What are you, like twelve?" She smirks, clearly guessing low on purpose. But then she suddenly has that silver lighter in her hand again, and she's flicking it back and forth between her fingers in a way that makes the light gleam off of it, and leaves little doubt when it comes to her manual dexterity, if not her strength.

    "Thing is, there comes a point where you realize that life is just trying to rob us all blind, and the only chance we have to keep what little we get is to stick together once in a while." The lighter suddenly vanishes, through some sleight of hand. Or perhaps actual magic. "Stealing from other people is just giving it more to take from you. Better to share. Then at least you have a better chance keeping what you got."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Sure enough, that guess gets a glare from Kyouko, who also outright shakes her fist. "I'm fourteen! I'm not a little kid!" But whatever other protest she was going to make fades away as she registers what Kyouka's doing. Okay, so maybe this lady is actually competent at *something*.

    Her expression goes more sour as Kyouka talks about sharing. "Really? Ugh. I don't think you know how the world works. I dunno how adults manage to be so stupid sometimes. But look, I got nothing to do on Wednesday afternoon, probably. Maybe I'll be there."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I mean, I'm not gonna force you. Do whatever you want." Kyouka pushes herself off the wall, straightening and slinging her jacket back over her shoulder. "But I think you'll have a good time... one way or the other. And there will definitely be snacks." She turns back towards the gate to the school, pausing only long enough to collect her previously-paid-for taiyaki for herself in a little brown bag.

    As she moves towards the gate, she says over her shoulder, "Nobody has the world all figured out. But you're not gonna learn by stealing petty cash and cigarettes. Set your sights higher, kid. You'll find the view a lot more interesting." Then she's gone around the corner, back into the school grounds.