It's been raining, on and off, all day today. It's not right now, but there are still puddles all over the city, and stormclouds over head. In a few hours, it will probably rain again, but at least the rain has probably brought the koifish at the pond out to play.
Not that Amu Hinamori is interested in playing with koi.
No, Amu has traded in her glittergoth signature style for the full effect. A short black dress with a lace-lined corset, black crinoline petticoats to give that added oomf, black stockings that nearly disappear into the skirt, and matching black boots. She has on a black jacket over the affair, and even a black X-shaped hairclip in her hair. Kohl around her eyes, and black lipstick on her lips; she's painted her nails just as black. It's a very apparent statement, from a girl who normally doesn't hesitate to smile.
She's sitting on a swing, unconcerned that the thing was still a little damp when she sat down. She isn't swinging; just sitting there staring at the puddle that's formed in the sand beneath the swings.
At least Ran, Miki, and Su look somewhat normal. The trio are busy frollicing in that same puddle, splashing one another foolishly despite their bearer's melancholy.
Only Yoru, sitting on Amu's shoulder, seems to agree with her opinion of the day.
Reiko Touyama loves, the rain, indeed, because it brings the fish closer into the shallows. Koi included! She was in fact, returning from that trip in Penguin Park from the gardens- while she was out, she had something printed out at a local print shop.
Mainly, she picked the funniest (Well she thought so!), Best, and romantic pictures from the party- and had some printed out for some people.
Reiko Touyama has no idea there was some sort of ridicolous fight after and/or during the party. To her, everyone had fun- right? That's what parties are about- having fun!- NOT before some sort of world ending event- NOT af--wait no, it was after it. Still- it was for fun!
She's been looking for Amu, Tadase and Kukai, Ayana and Ikiko. She's not worried about Ayana and Ikiko. She KNOWS how to find them.
Amu and the others, not so much. She asks and calls around and gets a vauge direction on the long way home.
Oh! There's Amu on a swing in a playground. "Amu-chan!" calls out Reiko with a soft smile.
She stops a little short when she notices Amu's choice of dress. Black? Maybe she felt gloomy because of the recent rain. Black always felt like an off color to her- though colors have deeper meanings to her than others.
She defends them afterall.
Maybe something else happened.
"..is now a bad time...?" she asks. "I have something for you!" she smiles.
"Reiko-chan!" Miki says, abandoning her play in the water to zip into the air and streak towards her fellow artist. Su and Ran just continue the game, giggling to themselves.
Yoru looks up curiously, then lets out a heavy, melodramatic sigh and goes back to staring at nothing.
It's the sigh that prompts Amu to raise a tiny little silver fish up to offer it to Yoru.
"Nyaaaan~" Yoru squeaks half-heartedly at the sight of the niboshi. Because even depressed, Yoru cannot resist food. Especially fishy food.
Once the sardine is out of her hand, Amu finally turns her gaze to Reiko. Poor Reiko is, however, already having to deal with a very wet blue Chara trying to attach herself to the girl's shoulder. Hope Reiko really likes the rain.
"Reiko-chan," Amu says gloomily. "I guess now's as good as any time. It's not like you're going to make things any worse."
Reiko Touyama has no problem being attached to! Eeeeee! "Heya Miki-chan!~" she sings out. Reiko seems to be in a good mood. She grins as she looks back at Amu and blinks. "Worse? What's wrong Amu-chan?" she asks softly. She removes her backpack and places it on the opposite swing to rest as she frowns at Yoru. Poor Yoru. She sighs a bit-- "Right--I got a thing!" she says as she removes a chocolate filled Takiyaki and offers it to Yoru. "Here, Yoru-kun~" she smiles. "I didn't forget!" she nods!
She looks back to Amu Hinamori and removes one of the yellow manilla envelopes.
"Here! I had a bunch of things printed out!" she smiles.
Here...
Indeed! Inside are pictures from the party! Some of them are of random party goers. There's a few good shots of Prism Keeper Yellow asking Kazuo to dance. There's pictures of a giant plate of shrimp!
Then there's pictures of the drama! Amu kissing Kukai! Nadeshiko kissing Tadase! Dogs- cats- living together! Okay not that.
Then a pictures of a bathroom--for some reason.
Then some more pictures of people dancing--- Tadase and Amu dancing. Ayana and Ikiko dancing.
It's not like she can make things worse, right?
"I thought you might like these!" she smiles. "I got some printed out for everybody! It sure was fun, wasn't it?" she asks.
"Reiko-chan, I drew a picture," Miki says very proudly. She pulls a notebook out of nowhere and then flips through it. "I think you'll like it," Miki explains as she finallyf inds the right page, then tears it out. The little paper expands until it is a normal sheet of paper, which she offers to Reiko. On it, there is a drawing of Prism Keepers Orange and Yellow, blasting away at a swirling vortex of dark energy. It's just a pencil sketch without colours, but the details of the figures, their actiony poses, and the line work are nearly flawless.
Yoru squeals again when chocolate Takoyaki is offered to him. He leaps off of Amu's shoulders, mouth still full of fish, and pounces on the ball of fried rice, then tumbles through the air and slowly floats his way to the ground as he begins to eat food almost as big as he is.
At least Reiko's cheered up someone.
Amu ignores her chara's antics and reaches for the envelope. "A bunch of things?" she asks curiously as she undoes the clip and then starts digging through what's inside.
Pictures. Huh. Amu starts sorting through the pictures one at a time, not really recognizing some of the people in the party. She frowns just a little, especially at the picture of the girl with the fox ears dancing with some girl in a tuxedo. "Weird," she notes, then moves on.
Finding the picture of herself kissing Kukai draws a faint smile. That moment, at least, was fun for Amu. "Oh great, you've immortalized it," she notes with a chuckle. "Tadase-kun's going to want to ..." she trails off, and then the amusement fades.
Amu puts the picture back in the envelope.
She closes the envelope once again and adjusts the brads to keep it closed.
Then she offers the envelope back to Reiko.
"They're very good," she notes, "but I don't think you should show them to Tadase, Nagihiko, or Kukai."
Reiko Touyama smiles at Miki and says. "Oh..? Let me see..." she says as she eyes it, her eyes light up! "Oh! That's lovely... is that for me?" she asks softly, holding out her hand for it if the answer is yes. No one really draws 'for her'-- she draws 'for others'! So the other way around for a change is nice.
She grins at Yoru as she looks down at Amu and smiles wide!
Amu eyes the pictures-- then shoves the pictures back... but she blinks. "No-- these are for you! I have copies for----"
She blinks a bit as she shakes her head. "Wha? Why?" she asks curiously. "I printed out copies for Tadase and Kukai-- I'm afraid I don't really know Nagihiko..." she says softly.
She pauses. "Is there something wrong?" she asks softly as she blinks softly.
Then she blushes. "A--are you and Tadase having problems..?" she asks-- thinking back to when she asked about White Day the other day.
She looks down and looks a little guilty for some reason, tapping her chin.
Miki takes a picture on the Prism Keeper's shoulder, then--since her sketch pad is already out--she starts to draw again.
Amu continues to hold the pictures up for Reiko, though she doesn't try to force them into the girl's hands. After all, there's a hand-drawn picture there, now. "Tadase ..." she trails off, then sighs. "Tadase-kun is stuck living in the thirteenth century. I love him," she notes to Reiko without hesitation. "But I don't think he can love me in the same way. I don't think he understands me. And ... it's more complicated than that, anyways. Last night he and his best friend nearly came to blows over me. I don't want them to fight. I love them both. I can't ... deal with this anymore. And these pictures are only going to hurt them all even worse."
Reiko Touyama takes the art..and the envelope as she sighs. Why does everything nice she tries to do backfires in some way...? Perhaps for small favors, Amu isn't exploding into awesome dramatic throes at her. That's something.
"...I used to have a major crush on Tadase.." she admits.
"...because..."
"Well--I---" she blushes. "I like older pretty boys, okay!?" she admits she huffs- she has a severe blush! "But--! I tried too hard to-- change myself for him I guess..." she mutters. "--and by the time I got to ask it was too late anyways and I made myself miserable in the process." she says crossing her arms. "--and it was hard to try to talk to him for a while for me. When I had to talk to him about things." she says.
"--and to be honest.." she admits. "...I was upset at you-- not for very long. But I was just irrational at the time-- because I had to go to that stupid New Years dance alone." she says with a sigh.
"...so...what I'm saying is.. that. I guess I can understand... two people being upset at someone over someone else." she says softly.
"But.."
"My grandfather used to tell me a story too- and that it's... many people treat love like a pie. That you can only give so much pie before it's gone." she says softly. "-and that makes people upset- because they're all fighting all over these pies and other peoples pies because there's only so much of it!" she says.
"But--" she says again. There are a lot of buts here.
"Love isn't pie!" she sas softly. "That's silly, isn't it?" she asks. "To think you're only capable of loving three people then love no one else ever again unless you take someone's pie slice away." she says.
"That's kind of super silly..." she says.
Amu listens to Reiko's story about her crush on Tadase. If she's surprised by the story, it sure doesn't show. She'd in fact probably say something about her lack of surprise to Reiko, if the girl wasn't launching into a moral story about the nature of love that hits far too close to the mark.
Amu tilts her head a little at the story, then slowly lowers the picture into her lap. "You are uncannily insightful for an eleven year old," she notes to Reiko quietly after a few moments of thought. "I don't think I could have understood what's going on between Tadase-kun, Nagihiko-kun, and myself at your age. I definitely couldn't have made a pie analogy that is so ridiculously appropriate."
She sighs, then smoothes out the envelope in her lap. "I don't think Tadase likes to share the pie. He wants all the slices for himself. And all of my slices, too. But you're right, it is a silly analogy. Loving Nagihiko doesn't make me love Tadase any less. Loving Tadase also doesn't make me love Nagihiko any less. But he's not ... open-minded enough for it. I think he's scared he's not good enough. And that's just not the problem."
Reiko Touyama frowns. "I felt like that about Tadase. So I tried really hard to become more elegant." she says softly. "I begged my bully for help even- and I think she knew how it was gonn end, so she helped me." she says wrly.
She giggles. "My grandpa told me that. He tells me lots of things like that." she says.
"-but you're not the problem. It sounds like Tadase needs to understand some things and maybe Nagihiko needs to , too." she says softly.
She looks down and sighs.
"People fight over silly things." she says. "All my friends... broke apart because one girl thought a game was childish and---and it took the game becoming /real/ to even begin to bring them back together...!" she says. "Almost years later. I--I hadn't seen Hoshi in months, Chouko in almost a year, and Ka-chan only in vauge passing bys-- but now we're all talking again! and--and making plans and we went to that party together!" she says a little sadly at first-- growing more hopeful near the end.
"Me and Mei tried to talk to everyone but it was hard." she says. "You don't want that to happen Amu-chan, with your friends..." she says. "And most certainly someone you /love/.." she says.
"That it takes something amazing like that to make you talk.. and be friends again." she says.
Amu sniffs amusedly. "Can't believe I'm getting dating advice from an eleven year old who just admitted to having a crush on my boyfriend," she grumbles amusedly. But at least she's not feeling quite so gloomy.
"Look, Reiko-chan," she says quietly, "You're not wrong. You're really not. But sometimes it isn't that simple. Nagihiko and I ... I think we're on the same page. But neither of us wants to hurt Tadase. And neither of us wants to be hurt. And that's the problem: Tadase isn't on the same page. So ..." she trails off quietly. "Pies."
Reiko Touyama raises a finger and huffs! "I know more than you think. I've made a lot of silly mistakes." she says softly. "So I've learned things." she says with a soft smile. She sort of bounces on her heels.
"I'm sure that Tadase will come around as long as you don't give up!" she says with a smile.
She looks down at her smartphone.
"I'm sorry if I went off on some tangents." she giggles. "Just trying to help." she says softly. "Besides, now I'm hungry..."
"..For pie." she coughs.
"Which actually /is/ limited so I need to get back before someone steals the last piece." she says.
She puts the things back into her backpack and slips it back on. "Okay?" she asks softly.
"I'll talk to you later Amu-chan and---"
"Don't worry. I won't give Tadase or Kukai these pictures then." she says. "Or mention what we've talked about."
"Not even the pie~" she winks.
Miki senses Reiko's impending leaving and squeezes the girl briefly once more, then hands her yet another picture. This one is a picture of Reiko in a rowboat telling stories to an array of fishes all sticking their head out of the waters curiously. "Enjoy your pie, Reiko-chan," Miki says, before flying back to Amu's side.
"Mmm," Amu seconds Miki's words with a nod. "Thanks," she says to Reiko. "Maybe it will help. We'll see. Take care of yourself," she encourages, before leaning back in the swing and peering down at the charas in the water. "You two done getting messy?" she asks them both. "We should probably get home and get cleaned up."