75/Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend

Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend
Date of Scene:	01 July 2023
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	(Backscene set pre-Game Opening) Naru straggles in to school the morning after the OSA-P attack. The straggling part gets her some attention. In the ensuing conversation, Kazuo jumps to some very, very wrong conclusions. Naru is at least entertained?
Cast of Characters:	Kazuo Saitou, Naru Osaka

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Naru Osaka has posed:
It was, to say the least, a long night. A confusing night. A night with a 'break in' at the jewelry store, and by the time the police came to an anonymous tip... Well it really did look like a break in. Many statements made, and some cleaning up, and confirmation that Naru and her mother had no lasting harm. There's much insurance paperwork and a whole lot of inventory and cleaning up on deck for Naru's mother in the coming days and weeks.

Naru left a note assuring her mother that she was fine, and had gone back to school so that her mother didn't worry. It's early. Obnoxiously early really. Sleep had been broken and elusive after everything that went on, and she does have history class first thing. Somehow at this exact moment, she doesn't want to miss history class. It shouldn't be important, but it really is.

And so Naru is out walking back to school at o'stupid early, the sun joining her, but not yet heated up with the day. Her steps are slower than usual, she's not sure why she's all stiff and a bit achey this morning. Clearly it's just the stress of it all. Her dreams were really odd, but dreams don't usually give you a wickedly sore throat, do they?

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Here's the thing about school uniforms: they are, by definition, identifiable.

The figure that falls in beside Naru in the shuffle across one street is wearing a warped mirror of hers. Mirror: orange and blue, because somewhere a designer is laughing evilly over having levelled the school's playing field by making everyone's skin look off. Warped, because boys get a black blazer - over the shoulder right now in the interest of keeping the not-yet-heated-up status - and because the individual in question is probably tall enough to use Naru's head as an armrest.

He does not, it should be noted, attempt to do any such thing. Possibly he would like to live rather than risk a stressed and stiff and possibly cranky Naru chewing her way through his ribcage and using his corpse as a tauntaun.

"Hey," the tall, white-haired, apparently half-awake schoolmate says after a swallow of coffee. "You're not usually out this early, are you? Don't remember seeing you before."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"You have coffee." Naru possibly should be wary of someone just appearing next to her as she walks down the street, but whatever paranoia might develop courtesy of bad 'dreams' is currently fully quelled by tired. She angles her head up to look at him, and then up a bit more and then a wee bit more besides. She is small for her age, even in Japan and it's currently on display as she squints up at a schoolmate. Colour-coded for everyone's convenience. "I didn't think any of the coffee places were open yet." She turns her head back to watching where she's walking, that particular motion tweaked all of the aches, some she hadn't fully realized she had yet. "I'm hoping to get back to school early enough to not worry anyone." Little does she know that the worrying has more than begun.

"Why are you out this early?" Naru asks after a few slow steps down the pavement.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Don't be fooled by the outfit and the Y chromosome. A few of us have cultivated the arcane skillset necessary to measure grounds, pour water, and wash out cups." The young man's solemn nod is half-visible in the edge of Naru's vision, mostly through the consequent ripple of paler highlights in pale hair.

The coffee's gestured with. The boy's own steps have slowed to match Naru's speed, or lack thereof. "Me? Avoiding a couple of idiots I won an argument with. If I don't take the same route in to school at the same time every day, they're a lot less likely to start another argument on the way in." A moment's pause. "You get in an argument yourself last night, or did your ankles just start one without you?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
The reality of the tall boy next to her having had the foresight to make his own coffee just brings a resigned sigh from Naru. "I've known too many awesome male baristas to discount the ability of boys to make coffee." She notes with a hint of amusement, faint, but present. Promising. She walks.. slowly.. a little ways in silence as she considers the 'arguments' in question. "Makes sense." She finally decides. "Although it gets you to school awfully early, but it's quiet at school this early. It's nice."

His question loses the amusement in her tone again, and she's quiet as she considers her reply. Consulting with what little she remembers from the night before, broken up into pieces and confusion and things that her brain cannot.. or will not.. parse correctly.

The answer comes quietly, long enough after the question that the potential of her not answering is starting to come up. "I.. I don't know." She admits finally, a crease on her forehead as she realizes that it's the only answer she can give.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
There's a casual little nod about the quiet. Appropriately, no answer out loud. Not then, and not while Naru's thinking. Not a foreboding silence. No pressure, apparently. And no pressure in the question he asks when she does answer, which is ... probably a good thing.

"Whose party were you at?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
That return question is enough to startle Naru out of her own melancholic thoughts and she laughs. It's not so much amusement in her tone, as a noise wrought from too much overthinking, and utter disconnect all clashing at once and the absurdity of it all coming out in laughter.

She takes a moment to gather herself back to something akin to functional before quirking up the side of her mouth. "I dunno, but there was a lot of Tokyo PD and broken glass and I clearly got slipped something trippy because it doesn't all quite fit together right. Zero stars, do not recommend."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
There's a (non-coffee'd) hand extended, but not quite into personal space, and Naru doesn't descend so far into disconnect that she needs some help keeping herself vertical. The mouthquirk is caught, and the other teen drops his hand again.

"Damn," he says, and it's a little admiring for some reason, as if he'd just reevaluated Naru and she'd moved up a few steps in his estimation. "Well. If whoever it was gives you more trouble -" why does that sound like there's a silent 'if they get out of the hospital' appended, like that weird E in some words in English? - "you can tell me, all right? Kazuo Saitou." The room number he cites (homeroom, not dorm) suggests he's a couple of years ahead of her.

(And probably still out of his depth with this one.)

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Naru Osaka. Usagi is my roommate." Naru replies quietly, braving a glance up at him again and this time, acknowledging that looking that far up is not a comfortable motion. "Thank you."

She's quiet again, for a few more steps. Progress is being made in heading towards the school, her steps might be slow and uncomfortable, but with a determined steadiness that will probably serve her in very good stead for years to come.

"I hope I only call on you socially." Naru comments after a moment. "But it all feels .." She struggles to put words to what's in the back of her mind, formless and desperately trying not to be noticed, or examined, or understood. "Unfinished." She decides on eventually.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Usagi? Is that the girl with all the -" Kazuo gestures with his free hand, a vague suggestion of the little round bun and then the great flow of All The Hair. Apparently he's seen Naru from a distance enough to have an idea who she might spend time with.

The 'socially' comment wins Naru a quick, lively grin. But it's the solution to her struggle that calls the laughter out from silent in his eyes to being a live thing, aloud. No mockery here. Almost a delight.

"Of course it does," he says, and his voice is outright warm. "We're not dead yet."

Naru Osaka has posed:
A quick bark of laughter, this time with warmth and amusement even. "Not dead yet." Naru has to agree with Kazuo on that point. It's not exactly board sanctioned trauma therapy, but it seems to be helping at least.

"Yes, that's Usagi." Vague gestures about all the hair are more than sufficient to identify the blonde tornado that Naru lives with. It also confirms that she's a couple years behind Kazuo in school.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
There's another nod, with an echo of the laughter in the lingering smile - maybe an echo of Naru's instead of his own; hard to tell. And one more, nailing down the tornado's name firmly. And then it's just walking, keeping pace. Unworried company till Naru can duck into her dorm.

He keeps the coffee for himself, though, the jerk.