The sun has set the night is fallen. It's still Early though! This evening finds Rena Sakai visiting the Minami Mart! She hasn't been home yet and is in her Seishou school uniform. The infamous fuku style uniform that screams look at me I'm a Sailor! Uniforms aside the girl is skipping along down the aisles. Yes actually skipping! She happens to be moving through the baking aisle at this time.
The girl stops in front of the flour. Thankfully she's got a cart for what she goes after next. She reaches down to the bottom shelf and grabs a 11 kilo sack of flour! She is clearly used to the weight as she tosses that into her cart. Then its onto some other stuff.
"Ooooh! Chocolate chips! TANDY CAKES!!!" She happily exclaims as she grabs several bags of chocolate chips and then peanut butter. Lots of peanut butter!
It's a different, more cutesy, style of sailor uniform that the Seishou Elementary girls wear; Hoshi among their number is wearing hers today, followed by a pair of magic stars that are carrying tiny baskets full of tiny snacks. The girl isn't properly doing groceries, spending essentially her entire time on the candy isles.
Kukai Souma has already been home and changed out of his school uniform into street clothes. He looks like he's been working out. Or worn out, one. He's got a basket on one arm and a list in his pocket (because the last time he forgot what his big brothers wanted from the supermarket they made him go back and get it with his own money over and over until he got it right. Never again.), picking up a few snacks and things. Of course, then he turns a corner and is almost run down by the girl with the cart full of cookie materials. "Hey! Watch out!"
Yes!! Tandy cakes are on the menu this week! Oh and maybe some peanut butter cookies! Oatmeal raisin too! Rena is a kid in a candy store at the moment. She's getting all sorts of goodies into the cart. She also grabs a big sack of sugar because, hey that is a food group!
Then all of the sudden, Crash! Somehow the sack of flour got opened in the crash and Rena is now coated in the white powder. Thankfully there was no water in the cart. "Umm. Hi!" Quickly she backs the cart off and gets the sack of flour out of her cart and replaces it with a closed one. "There! Now No one will know!" She giggles a little before looking at Kukai.
"Hiya! I'm Rena! Rena Sakai. Nice to meet you! Would you like a muffin?" She asks happily. She doesn't seem to care that she is coated in flour. Perhaps she is a few chips short of a cookie herself? "I was just getting stuff to make for school next week!"
Hoshi notices the crash and heads over to help. One star manifests with a vacuum cleaner, and tries to land on Rena's shoulder so it can pretend to vacuum up all that flour. (It has no actual effect upon doing so.) The girl tries to see if there's anything she can do here. "Hi. Everyone alright?"
Kukai Souma blinks at Rena, who's covered in flour. He reaches down, brushing off a little flour from his basket and then grinning. "And you came in looking like a big white cloud in the first place, yeah?"
"My name's Kukai Souma. Nice to meet you! Are you new in the neighborhood? And which school? Not Seiyou Public - I think I would have noticed already." He looks over and down, then grins widely and ruffles Hoshi's hair. "Hey there Hoshi-chan! Why do you keep popping up around such strange people, huh?"
"Of course not Silly! Why would I have pulled a broken bag of flour out of my cart if I did!" Rena giggles a little as she sorts her things quick. A pleasure to meet you. I go to Seishou public.
Then suddenly, Star on her shoulder trying to vacuum up the mess. Its so cute she just wants to pat it's top point! In fact she moves to do just that then she stops. Thats right! Remember, people might think you're crazy if they realize you're seeing things. That doesn't stop her from looking right at it.
"Oh Hey! Nice to meet you! Yuppers! I've been in worse situations! You shoulda seen the kitchen when I first made icing! I threw powdered sugar all over the place! It looked like christmas! Oh and of course then I had to clean the kitchen but it was so much fun! Mom helped me!"
Hoshi notices Rena sees her star, which is common enough that she's no longer surprised by that. "Hi. I'm Hoshi Kogane." She endures the indignity of the hair ruffling, but clearly isn't pleased to see it happen. "That's a Seishou uniform, like mine." She points out, though they're not the same uniforms. "What grade are you in, Sakai-san?"
Kukai Souma arches an eyebrow as she moves to pet the little star on her shoulder. It's a very clear sign she's magical - personally, Kukai might've said 'touched' - but he grins to her.
It's about this time that Daichi, Kukai's little Guardian Chara, sails over from the other side of the store. Daichi lands on Kukai's shoulder and tugs his collar. "Kukai! They've got sweet yam chips over there! Let's get a bag while we're here, huh?" Kukai nods to Daichi, but doesn't say anything to him. "Ah, Seishou. Awesome. I shoulda guessed."
Rena Sakai smiles a little. Oh goodie now there are more of them! She looks right at Daichi for a moment. Then she just sighs a little before looking away. How crazy is this City! She quickly recollects herself but she still catches herself looking between the star and Daichi. What chaos has she fallen into.
"Oh umm yes, I'm in middle school. Nice to meet you Kogane-san, I'm in Eighth grade. I am in Drama club and well I to bake. My mom and dad run a resturant in the center of Tokyo. They like to encourage me to practice baking so they get me the supplies when I need them. I make goodies for my friends. Its really fun!"
"WOuld you all like some muffins? I got some left from today and they are super dupey yummy! I just made them this morning before school." She reaches in her back and gets out a smaller bag with sever chocolate chocolate chip muffins in it.
"Muffins would be great." Hoshi holds a little basket full of sweets, so it should come as no surprise that she's interesting in more things along the same lines. One of her stars with full baskets chases along Daichi to look at the sweets there. "I'm in fourth grade. Guess you must be fourteen, Sakai-san?"
Kukai Souma says, "Kukai nods and holds out a hand. "Sure, I'll try a muffin. And that explains why you're getting so much stuff for baking. I was a little confused!" He looks over at Hoshi and Rena, then smiles. "I gotta find a couple more things for my brothers before I can get home. How about you two?""
Rena giggles a little as she hands a couple muffins to both Kukai and Hoshi. "I think your friends might want some too!" She giggles a little bit and puts the rest away. Then she just looks around, "Oh I need to get a few more things too. I think I need cinnamon and raisins! Oatmeal Raisin cookies are always super shiny."
She smiles as she nods to Hoshi, "Yep! I am 14 and sorta getting to better know everyone in school. Things got off to a weird start this year and I sorta was keeping quiet but, I am going to finish this year the right way with loads of friends!"
Hoshi takes a bite out of a muffin, a satisfied smile on her face as she chews slowly, clearing out her mouth before opening it again. "It tastes really good, Sakai-san." She compliments, looking like she wants to take another bite right away. "I'm part of Astronomy Club." Which may or may not be related to those stars that surround her, like the one that pops out on top of her head, holding a telescope and looking at the ceiling.
"I'm just buying some sweets, I missed a friend's birthday party and I heard it sucked, so I'm buying her some sweets to cheer her up." Hoshi explains her reasoning for being here, "And I thought I might as well get some for me while I was here anyway, right?"
Kukai Souma gives Rena a thumbs up, stashing the muffin for a little later. "I'm in 9th grade. And I'm on the Seiyou Public soccer team! And basketball team. And baseball team. And I skateboard. And snowboard. I love all kinds of sports!" He grins. "I'm also one of the Seiyou Public School Guardians, the Jack. We look after the welfare of the students and keep things running smoothly at the school."
He nods to Hoshi. "That's a good thing to do for a friend. There's lots of problems that I had when I was younger I wish I could have talked over with some sweet bean buns with a friend."
Rena Sakai giggles, "Thank you! I just love cooking and doing things for others. Entertaining too!" She thinks a moment. It takes a moment but she does spit out what is on her mind. "Would the person in question have umm... Koi swimming around her?" She asks to Hoshi. She hopes that she is wrong but she knows how rough a day she was having. "Oh umm Astronomy is pretty cool too!"
She looks at Kukai and giggles a little. "OH that is awesome. I wouldn't make a good guardian. I'm not very athletic and I just sorta do my own thing. But that is really cool. All of those sports? You must keep very busy!"
"Are you sure your title is not the Jock?" Hoshi jokes, a gentle poking fun at the two things Kukai has said to introduce himself. "I try, she doesn't have a lot of friends." Hoshi has high standards for 'lot of friends' and low standards for 'being friends' so her perspective is a little skewed.
"... yeah, that's her. You know Rei-chan?" She asks Rena, now suddenly more curious. "She's a nice person who deserves to have fewer mean people try to bully her." She sounds genuinely upset by the idea of bullying.
Kukai Souma sticks his tongue out at Hoshi for a second. "Bleah. At least I'm not a jerk of a jock." The conversation seems to be helping him relax at least - he must've been tense when he came into the supermarket for some reason. "Oh, it's not too busy. I don't do much else - Guardian work, sports, hang out with friends, home. Plenty of time to do whatever I want. And you could be athletic - you just need some of my super-special training!" He gives Rena a thumbs up.
Daichi tugs on his collar again, taking up place on his shoulder, then points at Kukai's pocket. He reaches down, looking into it and pulling out his phone before making a face. "Gimme a minute? I still need to grab some stuff or my big brothers are going to send a search party after me."
Rena Sakai nods to Kukai. "Yeah, you don't want that! Things could get crazy! Then they will think some crazy girl coated in flour held you prisoner!" She giggles a little and gives a little wave to Daichi too. At this point she's given up on trying to hide the fact that she can see these things.
She turns her attention fully onto Hoshi and nods to her. "I met her earlier. She was having a rough day. I did all I could to try to make her feel better but it didn't work. She explained to me a few things and I agree. I can't stand bullies. They are such jerks! She mentioned a certain jerk that did something really bad. I still can't believe there are people like that out there!"
Kukai Souma moves quickly off through the store, collecting items from the list : magazines, chips, dinner materials, energy drinks, shampoo, a newspaper, and bag of sweet yam chips. He catches up with Rena and Hoshi near the front of the store. "OK! Gotta get a lottery ticket for Unkai and then I'm ready."
Rena Sakai giggles a little to Kukai, "That was quick. I thought we wouldn't see you again for a while. Looks like you got your stuff. And apparently you were persuaded by someone for the chips." She giggles some. Yes she seen that and she heard it. Hard not to. "I guess I gotta say good luck if you are playing the lottery."
Kukai Souma shakes his head. "It's not for me, it's for my brother. He said today's his lucky day and to get him one for some reason." He looks over her cart. "Are you gonna be able to carry all that stuff home? Do you have a bike or something?" He eyes that eleven kilogram sack of flour specifically, after she'd mentioned not being very athletic. "I think Hoshi's carrying part of hers home in her stomach."
Rena Sakai giggles, "I don't live very far and I can handle sacks of flour. Usually I get bigger bags then that but this month has been kind of slow. What with that crazy weather at the beginning of the month? It kinda left my parents business hurting because people couldn't get out to go and eat. Thankfully that didn't happen over Valentine's day. That is always a big one you know."
Hoshi got a phone call that distracted her, someone who she seems to reluctantly refer to as 'Mom.' Like, the word doesn't sound natural coming out of her mouth. "I'll be home soon." She promises, and then swipes the call away, putting her iPhone back in her bag. "Sorry guys."
"I got my dad some chocolate for valentine's day." She segways back into the conversation, smiling. "He's probably going to give me tons on white day. Last year I forgot and so he didn't give me any on White Day, that was mean." She doesn't seem to think of it as that big of a deal. "My dad works for a foundation that does all kinds of good work, he gets invited to all kinds of important talks, too. It's not as tasty as having your own bakery, though..."
Kukai Souma grumbles good-naturedly. "I dunno. I actually don't go in too hard for Valentine's Day or White Day. This girl I know, Sion? She says I should do more during them, but I don't see why one day has to be so special." He sets his basket down and begins unloading it for the cashier in his lane, separating him from Hoshi and Rena for a few minutes. Finally he catches up with them once everything's paid for. "OK. I gotta go this way." He points right, along the sidewalk in front of the store. "How about you two?"
Rena Sakai smiles to Hoshi and nods, "My parents run an international style resturant. Its why I bake all sorts of fun things. I just have fun there and I get to try all different things. Some of them are really weird. I got to try frog legs once. Those are so strange. They are crispy and they taste sorta like chicken."
Once she is checked out, she has several bags and the sack of flour is resting over her shoulder. She smiles a little. "Same way." She giggles a little as she carefully walks trying not to bump into anything.
Hoshi pays for her stuff and just puts it all in her bag. That's a lot of candy to buy for a ten year old. "I can go a few different ways, but that way works." She smiles, grabbing her bicycle and slinging her bag over the handlebars, then walking along with the others. "That sounds really cool, Sakai-san, I'll have to get dad to take me there sometime."
Kukai Souma waits until they're some ways down the road before looking at Rena. "So... We can tell you can see things. Do you have any specific .. anything you need to talk about?" As if to put it in perspective Daichi looks around Kukai's head at Rena.
Rena Sakai smirks, "Welp guess my secret is out. Yes I can see the fairies and Guardians and Koi and Stars." She continues walking, still having the flour on her shoulder. SHe simply smiles a bit and nods, "I'm not magical. Not hiding anything. I just can see that stuff for some reason. It doesn't make much sense to be honest. I ran into someone the other day and I just could see their guardians over their head. That is what they called them. They had two of them. I sorta dived into the ocean and rescued one. But This is all new to me. I've never seen anything like this. I don't know what changed but, I guess I am just lucky right?"
"Depends on what you call lucky." Hoshi says in a light-hearted tone, though it suggests she believes magic isn't entirely roses and sunshine. "There's people who use magic for all kinds of bad stuff, and they might decide that you being able to see it means you're going to be a problem to what they're doing..."
Kukai Souma nods. "It's entirely possible somebody could decide you'd make good food for their pet monster, or a battery for their machine, or a sacrifice to whatever youma of the day they're following. Are you sure you can't... do anything?" He waves his hands around a little, the bags on his arms shaking. "I mean if you can't that's ok. I do need to get you some... do you have a private cellphone?" He taps his pocket. "Most of us do."
Rena Sakai shakes her head, "Nope. Sorry. I am just a normal girl. I know you are more then you seem but I'm not! Nothing flashy no magical powers. Just my baking! Some people think thats magical!" She giggles a little. "I am just what my parents taught me to be. Myself. No one else can be me and I definitely can't be anyone else so why try? Besides I like to think I am a pretty shiny person don't you think?" She laughs.
"Oh and umm, The koi girl warned me to be careful. She said if I feel anything evil I should run! THat is what I am going to do to! I dunno how to fight or anything so I am just going to let you awesome people do it!"
"That's true, run if you can't fight, or even if you can fight but can't win." Hoshi agrees with the general idea behind that, and doesn't press into any of the other details. There's three possible situations, Rena is right, Rena is wrong and Rena is lying; and Hoshi doesn't believe the last one to be likely. "Souma-san is right, if you can share contact with us you can call us if you need help."
"And if you can't, it's ok. We'll keep checking in on you from time to time, and I may be able to get you a cheap little phone of some sort if you can't get one. It's as much for us as it is for you - we can talk to you if you need help with something, or something new occurs. And it's important to keep you out of bad hands so whatever does come up doesn't get any stronger."
Rena Sakai nods slowly, "Okay! I do have a phone! I can give you my number. I don't mind and hey! New friends!" She beams over that. "If you want to hang out sometime we can do that too! I would enjoy that and can have snacks and sweets and... It would be a party!" Her brown eyes light up over that.
Then it is back t business for her. "But really who would want to bother me. As long as I am not tipping off that I can see things no one will really mess with me will they? Not like they will get anything from me other then baked goods!"
"They might, they might not, you can never be sure." Hoshi warns Rena, and adds on after that, "And you can't easily tell people are planning to do bad things until they do, you know? They might find out and only do bad things later, and if you're there..." She shakes her head with that sounding uncomfortable. She does share her number with Rena, "As Souma-san says, just call if you need help!"
Kukai Souma gets his list out of his pocket and a pen, writing his name and number down on the back of it, and tears it off, handing it over to her. "Here. Yeah. Without going into a lot of detail, if you need help, we can give it." He grins. "But things have been sort of ..." He trails off. "Actually that's not true. Things have suddenly gotten kind of busy, but not nearly as bad as they were when Wal... when the storm came through."
Rena Sakai blinks. She may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but she is not a complete idiot. Was there something more to the storm that brought the city to a stand still? Did it matter now? Was the radio girl right?! When did this pose turn into a soap opera!?
She looks at Hoshi and Kukai quickly she tries to pocket the numbers only to drop one of her bags. Thankfully not the flour. Nope just the one with cookie ingredients in it. "Aww! phooey!" Carefully she kneels down to get it. "I will put those in my phone a little later.
And they hit the point where Hoshi really ought to divert from their paths. "It was nice meeting you again, Souma-san. And it was nice meeting you, Sakai-san. I need to go that way, otherwise I won't be home before I make anyone worried." She climbs atop her bicycle but doesn't start riding off yet.
Kukai Souma nods. "I gotta go the other way as well." He waves to Hoshi. "See you soon, I'm sure." He looks back over at Rena. "Feel free to call anytime, ok?" He grins, that infectious, incredibly cheerful and self-assured grin the Jack of Guardians is so well known for.
Rena Shrugs, "Its cool! I'm the next apartment down anyway! It was nice meeting you both! Be safe on your way home and umm... Don't get hurt okay?" She comments having a pretty good idea that they both deal in the ugly stuff. "I will totally plan a get together too!" With that she quickly moves down to the next apartment and enters.