97/Glitter-baka and the Music Wars

Glitter-baka and the Music Wars
Date of Scene:	26 June 2015
Location:	Mitakihara - Downtown Neon District
Synopsis:	Some nerds are in the neon district, and so are some cool guys, and so is glitter-baka with his pomade.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Shiori Sato, Hinote Kagari, Kurota Aizawa

---

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Ah yes, the Neon District. Lately, Kurota feels more at home here than at his actual home. That's not surprise, considering the amount of time he spends at the various clubs here, both performing and just hanging out- not to mention all the cool shops and stalls and stuff. He'd die if his bandmates ever found out, but he actually collects merchandise from this hot new idol anime, Singing Love Melody Blast. I mean look, it's the lamest thing ever and he knows that, but the animation is good and from a technical perspective.. ok he just like dancing cute anime girls, but hell if he'd ever admit it. Hence him being here by himself, hours before he's scheduled to meet his friends for a performance in a nearby club.
    He emerges from one of those little anime paraphenalia shops, stuffing the latest Singing Love Melody Blast character CD deep into his backpack underneath a spare hoodie and several skeins of replacement keyboard wires. It'll be safe there. Yes.
    The young man reaches street level, glancing at the bustling crowds. He reaches back and pulls his hood up, shading both his face and the large black headphones he wears, their blue-LED-lined, padded cups obscuring his ears. Can't hear anything in this crowd anyway, so the hand in the front pocket of his hoodie, into which the headphone wire vanishes, presses play on his music player and, the thump of bass obscuring the cacophony of city life, he begins to push his way through the crowds down the street.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
So up ahead, there's this super tall nerd being accosted by a super tricked out pop idol rep. The tall nerd's leaning away from the hyperactive construct of glittery bling and sculpted hair product, holding an open book up and away from him. "No, I'm not interested," he says, his voice firm, and only just starting to get loud. There's basically no way for him to pass except by pushing the guy, and he also looks like he doesn't want to get sparkling pomade on his overpriced cardigan.

"How can you not be interested? This is only the latest and greatest release from everyone's favorite idol group, Sunny Peach Puffie Bright! C'mon, man, you GOTTA like them--"

Tall Nerd (who is actually named Chiba Mamoru but Glitter Jerk doesn't care) gets even taller as he draws himself up, glaring down through his glasses. "I don't like music!!"

The whole street seems to scratch like a record as half the people around turn to stare. This is the Neon District. This is clubland. And that is a dude in glasses with a book wearing super conservative black and grey clothes.

Hinote Kagari has posed:
Hinote Kagari isn't here for music, or CDs-- nono, he's here to look for figurines from fantasy manga and anime. It's not a big hobby of his--- but when you have the need, the need to put something on a shelf and gather dust because it looks pretty- there's only one place to go!

He walks from a shop with a small bag and taps the side of his chin. "I wonder if the others want something...." she says.

Though his thoughts get destroyed by someone yelling. He looks down towards the tall nerd, and the pop rep and decides to walk his way toward's that commotion.

"What's going on here, hey-- people are here to have fun and enjoy themselves!" he spouts. "Why are you hassling each other!?" he asks demandingly.

Shiori Sato has posed:
    Well, someone who /does/ like music is Shiori Sato! Which is why he's here at this moment, he's enjoying some of the sounds. For once he's taken the time to get dressed up for something, and is wearing a nice suit. Doesn't make him stand out any more, but at least he looks nice.

    Also, uh, he might or might not be heading out of a karaoke place.

    Well, that commotion doesn't bode well. Shiori actually didn't know what the problem was, but when someone shouted, he headed over in the direction of the shout. Like as not, li'l mister Glitter Jerk is probably far too close to Mamoru to not be invading his personal space. Shiori looks at the situation. A CD? Something similar? "Hey, what's that?" he asks the glittery dude. Distraction tactics!

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Kurota just happens to be passing directly behind the tall nerd when the rep starts hassling him. Although the thumping music in his headphones drowns out most of the actual words, years and years of wearing headphones literally all the time have given him a pretty good handle on how to read lips, at least enough to get the gist of what someone is saying. In this case, it's even easier because the rep is holding a CD or whatever of Sunny Peach Puffie Bright.
    This strikes a nerve with the normally insular Kurota, because OBVIOUSLY Singing Love Melody Blast is everyone's favorite idol group.
    He pauses,pulling his headphones off of his head so they fall down around his neck, the thumping bass of the music audible over the crowd because he doesn't bother to stop them playing, but it's not loud enough to interfere with conversation. "Oh come on, it's obvious the dude doesn't like Sunny Peach, aka Miss Mediocre, pal. He probably has more discerning taste, and is a fan of Sing-" He pauses as Mamoru says he 'doesn't like music'. One eyebrow slowly creeps upwards. IS HE THE EMISSARY OF THE STATIC?!?!?!!

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Kurota then adds as an aside to Hinote, who has started spouting, "Some things are worth hassling over dude, this guy just said he doesn't like music."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I'm not hassling anyone!" Mamoru protests, lifting both hands -- one of them still holding a book -- and taking a half-step further back. This means he actually hits the building, thunk.

Then Shiori steps in with a distraction tactic just as Kurota starts defending him with some weird kind of logic that won't wash but the distraction's /perfect/ and Mamoru flashes a grateful look in the other bespectacled guy's direction and starts edging away as Glitter Jerk turns to shine his thousand watt smile at a more receptive target--

Except then Glitter Jerk shoves the sparkly USB dongle in Shiori's hands and rounds on Kurota. "WHAT did you say? FIGHT ME. SUNNY PEACH IS MY SISTER! At least THIS dumb jerk has an excuse -- no taste at all! But you! YOU!!"

Mamoru edges away, edges away. He's side-eyeing Kurota, because one must side-eye those who side-eye.

Shiori Sato has posed:
    Suddenly there's a USB drive being shoved into his hand and the glittery person is starting to yell at the other guy. Shiori looks up, offering a smile and a grateful look at Kurota. He doesn't speak yet because he doesn't want to attract Mr. Glitter's attention. Then he turns a look at Mamoru, and nods. It should give him enough time to find a bit of personal space again!

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Kurota is side-eyeing pretty hard at Mamoru. Could he have found his destined enemy at last?! Who doesn't like music! Obviously only servants of the ultimate evil. But he doesn't really get a chance to pursue the matter right now, because suddenly glittery-dongle-guy is all up in his grill, shouting about how his sister has no talent, or something. Luckily, Kurota is not easy to intimidate, thanks to a lifetime of being surrounded by arrogant elitism. "I said," he says, frowning, speaking slowly as if to an idiot, "That Sunny Peace sounds like a strangled cat, and that if you don't get out of my face, you're going to have more to worry about than Megane-kun who doesn't like music not buying her latest single." He gives the guy his best 'come at me bro' stare, which is pretty decent, though he's still just a 16 year old kid, and pretty skinny even if he is above average in the tallness department.
    He then turns abruptly to Shiori. "Give me that." he says, snatching the dongle. "You don't want that. Here, have some real music." He reaches into his own pocket and pulls out ANOTHER USB dongle and puts that one in Shiori's hand. Then, still ignoring Glitter-san, he turns to Mamoru. "And you," He says, still frowning. "Elaborate upon your earlier statement please."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Glitter-baka is a lot shorter than Kurota and Shiori. His face goes apopleptically red. "SUNNY PEACH!! PEACH!!!" He's about to like, physically go off on Kurota, but a) Kurota's not caring even a little bit, he's not even looking at him anymore, and b) he's substituting Sunny Peach for Singing Whateverface and that's way more terrible. His face, in fact, gives up on angry and snatches the dongle back, then runs off into the crowd before anyone can see him cry.

Mamoru, on the other hand, hasn't QUITE made his getaway: he'd started to meander off, reading his book again, but then--! THEN. His own damned internalized politeness means he can't actually just ignore someone obviously addressing him, even if they're rude (which is how he got himself in that situation in the first place), and he stops in his tracks and glances over his shoulder at Kurota. "Which one? 'Leave me alone', 'I'm not interested', or 'go away'?"

The politeness only goes so far.

Shiori Sato has posed:
    And then suddenly there's ANOTHER flash drive being switched out for the previous one. Shiori's actually a little confused now. "Er... thanks?" he says to Kurota uncertainly. Boy if they knew he liked both, he'd probably never hear the end of it.

    But suddenly Mamoru's being asked by yet another person to explain himself. Shiori replays the conversation in his mind, and realizes what it probably being asked about. To Mamoru, he explains in a sidelong whisper, "He probably means the 'don't like music' comment."

    And then he turns to Kurota with a friendly smile. "Ah, I'm sure he just said it to get some space. Our friend here is very persistent with his music." Pause. "Er, his sister's music. But you know how it is, right? When people get too insistent about you doing something you don't want to do, you get upset and say things you might not have meant the way it came out."

    He's trying to do some damage control, but he's not sure how well it's going to go. People are very passionate about their music. He's seen THAT side of things, definitely. It's why he chooses to keep his own musical pursuits to himself.

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Kurota vaugely hears someone shouting about fruit behind him, but his mind, it is like a laser, and currently it is occupied burning a hole into Mamoru's forehead to try and figure out if he is Evil or just Boring.

    When the older guy turns around and delivers that snarky response, it seems 'evil' is beginning to win, and Kurota is opening his mouth to deliver The Truth when Shiori steps in, playing the Agent of Peace.
    Pretty effectively this time it seems, because he makes some pretty good points despite being a suit. Kurota shuts his mouth again and considers, head tilting slightly to one side, the bass still 'thrmmthrrmm'ing out of the headphones around his neck, the rest of the music drowned out by the crowd noise. "Well," he allows, "it's true that The Man can get you down. And I guess that guy was being kind of a tool.." he narrows his eyes at Mamoru again. "So really, you do.. like music, right?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
That cold, flat challenge in Mamoru's eyes while Kurota's burning a hole in his forehead probably isn't helping the 'evil' estimate much-- but it dies down as Shiori proves himself not just a life-saver from Glitter-baka, but also a reasonable and polite human being. By the time Shiori's done, in fact, Mamoru's gaze is much warmer from behind his own glasses, and the slightest hint of a smile tugs at one side of his mouth and the corners of his eyes.

"That's exactly it," he agrees with Shiori, putting his finger between pages to mark his place and folding the book in his hand. Then he actually looks somewhat apologetically at Kurota and gives a one-sided little shrug, despite the eye-narrowing. "Of course I like music. I don't even hate pop, I'm just indifferent to it. My latest favorite is Oue Hikari, but my all-times are Satie, Kanno, Couperin, and Glass."

He's not even being smug, it must be for real. But then he looks distinctly wry. "I'm not sure that's what you want to hear either..."

Shiori Sato has posed:
    Shiori nods to Kurota's words. "Yeah. I know I've done that a few times." Referring to having said things he didn't really mean to get people to leave him alone. Hopefully things can be patched up. And sure enough Mamoru confirms it. Shiori nods again. That's what he'd thought. As for Mamoru's choices not being what Kurota wanted to hear? He adds his own two cents. Or possibly two yen in this case. "I don't really have a favorite type of music. I'll listen to just about anything."

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Well, normally Kurota would argue for many hours about what is or isn't 'good music', but at this juncture he's just more concerned about the fact that Mamoru likes music at all. No self-respecting servant of the Static would admit to liking music, or at least so Kurota reasons (he's never met one, really), and so when Mamoru goes back on his earlier statement and even actually names some artists, the scales swing swiftly back away from 'evil' and soundly to 'boring', which is unfortunate but not worth brawling in the street over.
    He visibly relaxes, and shrugs his shoulders. "Whatever, friend, you like what you like. I just have personal.. issues with somebody saying they don't like music at all. Sorry for being rude." He can admit when he's wrong! Even if he wasn't half as rude as glitter-baka, now safely away somewhere probably sobbing to his sister about uncouth philistines on the sidewalk.
    He then regards Shiori for a moment. "If you wouldn't mind a word of advice," he begins, taking in the suit-wearing, smiling, polite, 'listens to anything' guy with another glance, "come by The Glowing Pineapple at 8pm. It's a club down the street. If you'll listen to anything, start there." He slaps Shiori on the shoulder, then starts to turn away.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
And. In fact. This suit-wearing, smiling, polite, listens-to-anything fellow spectacles-san might be a really, really good shield between himself an Hannah Sharpe's enthusiasm when it's time for study group. Mamoru nods to Kurota, and even gives him a casual salute at the apology.

Since the blue kid's giving Shiori advice and inviting him places, he figures it's the perfect opportunity for him to do the same. At least the invite part. Once Kurota starts to turn away, he glances to Shiori again and says frankly, "If you need a study group, you're welcome at mine. We meet Tuesdays at the public library in King Penguin Park." He pats at his pockets, then ahs, and sleight-of-hands a business card into thin air. This is offered to Shiori. "Drop me a text if you're interested."

Shiori Sato has posed:
    Shiori mainly stays quiet while Kurota and Mamoru explain things. Though when he's invited to the club by Kurota, he blinks. "Glowing Pineapple, huh? Sounds good." He smiles. "Thanks, I'll check it out."

    And then a study group? And a very classy business card reveal! Shiori chuckles, and accepts the business card. "Neat trick. And yeah, I can always use more study time. What do you guys usually study?"

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Shiori responds but Kurota is already making his way away through the crowd, his headphones replaced, drowning out the sounds of the people once more. He figures he can count this as a win, since he not only schooled some dope about the true quality of idol groups, he also ruled someone out as a Bad Guy. Sure, maybe ruling out a random person isn't as important as actually identifying a Bad Guy, but at least he can tell Mizudori later that he was 'working' with a straight face when he was really sneaking off to buy shameful pop-idol paraphenalia. Yesss, alibis. Plotting furiously, he is soon out of sight.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Pretty much everything, as the grade spread os fairly wide, but the focus right now is on English, German, and Japanese-- we have an American in the group," Mamoru explains. There's only that slight smile at the 'neat trick'. "Anyway, I hope you come by. Thanks for the saves back there, man."

Now it's the tall boy's turn to leave: instead of physical contact, or even a bow, he gives a little wave. "Either way, nice to meet you!" With that, he's also on his way.

Shiori Sato has posed:
    "Oh I can really use that," Shiori replies. "My English is... really bad," he admits sheepishly. Though as Mamoru make shis exit, Shiori waves as well. "Good too meet you too. I'll see you them, hopefully." He sighs in relief once everyone's out of earshot. Whew. He's not sure that wouldn't have come to blows if he hadn't stepped in! Now, though, Shiori slips the business card into a pocket and starts to head for that club. Just to see where it is, for right now. He's got a feeling his suit probably isn't the best outfit for a place called the 'Glowing Pineapple'.