It's opening day at the new Clover Path Indoor Street Market! Dozens of stalls and dozens more people have filled the refurbished shopping center and brought everything they've ever bought and then didn't want anymore - more old clothing than you could shake a sweatshop at, books ranging from antique to reasonably new, piles of VHS cassettes, housewares of all kinds, decorations, jewelry, both home-made and store bought, even small businesspeople selling things like essential oils and incenses, board and card games, and a few stalls selling tasty-smelling ramen bowls and various fried treats.
Once school got out, Kukai Souma had rapidly changed clothes, left his uniform behind (thank goodness he had several), and carried an empty backpack to the street market, looking over the various items and things being sold inside the market. His backpack was actually a little heavier with a large mystery novel he'd picked up for his brother Shusui on the cheap, a signed soccer ball with an authenticity note, and several other interesting goodies...
Judging by the school uniform, Naru wandered over here directly after school. The school bag over her shoulder is another good clue. She has managed to get herself a drink of some sort, holding the cup carefully as she walks amongst the aisles.
Naru lingers at what can only be called a junk stall. Full of bizarre and outdated and random treasures and 'treasures', mostly of questionable quality and functionality. She reaches over to dig out a bag of what looks like holiday twinkle lights, all jammed into the bag willy nilly.
Daichi lands on Kukai's shoulder and tugs at his collar from where he'd been flying around, looking with giant eyes at all of the stalls. "Kukai, c'mon! You gotta see some of the cool stuff at this stall over here!" Kukai blinks and looks up, then nods. "Ooh. Ok, sure."
He moves over to the stall where Daichi is motioning, filled to the brim with items of highly questionable value, quality, and use. Kukai nods to the stall owner, an older man who grins and nods back, then goes to looking.
Kukai hmms, picking up a small black metal wall sconce, and tries to determine exactly what you could use it for. There's a girl here, with both hands buried in a bag filled with what looks like twinkle lights. He leans over towards her and speaks quietly. "Any idea what some of this stuff is good for?"
"Hmm?" Naru asks, drawn away from whatever she was thinking about while considering the twinkle lights. A smile and a little bit of a laugh. "That? I think it's supposed to hold a candle on a wall. Although I'm not sure how, exactly." She twists her head a little, trying to see if the sconce would work better upside down.
"I'm pretty sure that the internet phone, tested for Comptutors is probably not super useful to anyone, if they can't spell computers correctly." Naru giggles, pointing at a faded and somewhat battered little box with clearly outdated technology proudly held within. "I'm wondering if these actually work or not."
Kukai grins at Naru, then looks back at the sconce for a minute, turning it upside down. "Uh... huh. I thought it was for a wall shrine or something. I guess it's for whatever you can fit on it." He flips it around, then hmms. "There's a pair of hooks on the back of it, so I guess that's part of it?" He shrugs, then sets it down.
He looks over at the box, then laughs. "Maybe it's Comp Tutors? People teaching other people how to use computers? I dunno. But a lot of the stuff here is like that. Some of it's interesting, though." He points over towards another stall nearby with a big oni mask hanging on one side. It looks a little weatherbeaten, but it's still properly scary.
Kukai grins again, a big, infectious, morale-boosting grin, then offers the girl his hand. "I'm Kukai."
"Ooh! I hadn't thought of it for a shrine." Naru considers the sconce anew, leaning in a bit to look at the hooks on the back. "Maybe it's missing a piece?" She offers and then turns her head when he points towards the mask.
"Oh wow, that is pretty cool. I'm not sure I'd want to wake up to it every morning, though." Naru giggles, shaking her head and then looking back to Kukai. "Hi!" She takes his hand, giving it a shake. "Nice to meet you, Kukai. I'm Naru."
Kukai smiles at her, then nods over one shoulder, indicating the market as a whole. "So it's always more interesting to go through a place like this with somebody else. Would you mind if I hung out with you for a while? It'd be helpful to bounce ideas off somebody else."
He hmms. "Did you come looking for something in particular, or just to fish around for a good deal? I'm sort of hoping to find something interesting." He moves over towards one of the other stalls nearby, looking over a box filled with old manga books. "Huuuh..."
"That sounds great. It always feels a little weird wandering alone, you don't have anyone to make silly comments to, and you look crazy making them to yourself." Naru grins at him and then gestures at the lights before quickly paying for them and managing to shove them into her school bag. Decision made.
"I'd hoped to find... something." Naru explains as they walk over towards the manga stall, all filled with boxes of colourful books. "Not sure what, but I'd hoped inspiration struck either for my room, or that I can inflict upon the boys' apartment, not that they know I'm trying to inflict decor upon them. Other than the walls. I get to inflict decor on the walls." She grins brightly, looking into the box at the manga. "You?"
Kukai chuckles. "Yeah, some people have told me I talk to myself before, but I try not to worry too much about it. I'm usually with friends, though, so making silly comments is easier." He cocks his head as she buys the lights, then grins. "What're you gonna use those for, if I may ask?"
Kukai sets the box of manga down and looks over at the other old magazines and recent novels and such. "Yeah, I've got the walls of my room covered with posters and pictures and a couple old charms hanging on the ceiling and the like." He thinks for a minute. "Well. I like sports stuff, but I've also got several brothers who like all sorts of things, so if I see anything they might be interested in, I'll get it for them. Maybe. Also I kinda like weird, supernatural stuff. It looks cool."
He scratches the back of his head, then grins. "And I may be kinda hoping I get lucky and recognize something valuable that I can buy for silly cheap and then sell online or something. Not that I expect to find anything like that, but it'd be cool to be one of those people who bought an artifact or a valuable painting at a place like this and sold it for buckets of yen."
"If they work, and if I can make it work as I envision it." Naru explains, with plenty of caveats. "I want to use them to actually make the stars in a mural twinkle, cause I think Endy would find that pretty cool. And if he doesn't, then I'll put it in my room, cause I think it sounds pretty cool. If it works." She uses her hands, holding up to gesture, as if she can attempt to provide some of her vision of it to him, simply by doing so.
"My room is super boring right now. I have hardly anything up, and I want a new look. So that's another reason to come here." Naru explains and then considers him. "What sports do you play? Or are you purely a spectator?" She giggles at his aspirations towards wealth via flea market. "That would be cool. Rare art, or expensive jewelry that people think is just a fake."
Kukai nods, grinning as she talks. "That does sound pretty cool. If you're willing to put the effort into it and he likes the mural in the first place, that sounds like it'd be really awesome." He watches her talk with his hands and grins, giving her a thumbs up. "Awesome."
He hmms, moving over to the next stall, and holds up a truly tacky looking set of pink window curtains with pink strawberries all over them. "... eh? Eh?" He grins. "It's something, at least, even if it does burn the eyes."
He laughs. "Yeah, I know. A piece like that would go a long way towards making life a lot easier, even if it is pretty awesome right now. As for sports? Oh man. I'm on the Seiyou Public soccer team, the basketball team, I skateboard, I snowboard, I'm learning tennis, I wanna play cricket and hockey more than I do now... basically, I wanna be the best sports player in the world at all the sports." He grins widely, eyes closed. "That's the dream, anyway!"
"Paired with these cushions?" Naru holds up a pair of sofa cushions that are the sort of brown that is so dull, it practically vaccuums excitement out of the world by their very presence. "I'm not sure which would win, but I bet there'd be amazing battles when people weren't looking." She grins at him and then sets the cushions back down.
"Wow.. you really do want to do all the sports!" Naru blinks at him and then laughs softly. "How do you have time!? Snowboarding sounds pretty cool. Snow seems more forgiving to fall down on than concrete." She grins at him. "Which one's your favourite?"
Kukai's nose wrinkles wryly. "Those cushions look like someone dragged a bedsheet through a mud puddle, held it up, and said 'you know, this would be a lovely color on the couch. And yeah, the battle would be epic. The dresser would lose a knob in the war. The end table would break down into PTSD-induced weeping fits randomly."
He nods. "Yup. And swimming, and baseball, and everything else I can't think of. I want to be great at all of them. And... time?" He snorts a little. "Who has time for anything? I'm usually busy, out doing roadwork jogging, or at one practice or another. I had to requalify for the basketball team a few days ago." By 'roadwork' he means 'patrolling', but she doesn't need to know that. "I need to make two more of myself to go do all the sports I don't have time to do now. I just... do whatever I can, whenever I can, you know?"
He moves over to look at an old offroad bicycle someone had dragged in, examining it. "yeeeeeesh. Someone rode this hard and put it up wet. Literally." He pokes a finger into a rust hole in one spot.
"I am pretty sure mud puddles would be offended by that comparison." Naru giggles softly and then laughs more heartily at the mental image. "The rug would try hiding under the couch, scared."
"Sleep? Have you considered sleep somewhere in there?" Naru asks with a grin and she picks up a dayglo coloured nerf gun, almost as big as she is, really to point at him and the poor bicycle. "Pew pew. Which is exactly all the ammo this comes with. Perhaps the couch ate the rest of it, and can share it with the rug." She grins at the bicycle. "More than a few times, really. Too bad, it looks like it used to be a nice bike."
Kukai laughs, then makes a rude noise in his throat. "Sleep? Who's got time for sleep? If I can cram in 5 hours a night I at least don't feel like I'm half dead. Of course..." Purple hair and floral scents pop into his mind. "I can be convinced to sleep a full 8-10 hours."
He eyes the Nerf gun and giggles. "Oh man. Those things are awesome but I could never own one. I had one when I was little and shot my brother's science project off the counter with it. Stank up the apartment something godawful. I haven't gotten over it yet."
Kukai runs one hand over the bike and nods, tapping the brand icon. "Soma. Makes everyday street riding bikes and things. They're pretty good." He grins. "Of course, I only know because it's almost my last name, Souma. And you know, bikes. But I like my skateboard better." Kukai looks over at her. "So what about you? What do you do in your spare time besides decorate rooms?"
"I am pretty sure that by comparison to you.. and just about everyone I know.. I am the most boring person in Tokyo." Naru declares with a grin. Apparently, it's not a sore point. Much. Not really.
It might also be somewhat relative.
"Ummm." Naru considers as she sets the nerf gun back and then picks up a trio of soft bean filled balls. "Do you know how to juggle?" She asks, tossing them into the air, and managing it for.. not very long. But she managed it! "I draw a lot, and paint. I try and keep up with Usagi, but she's busier than I am." She pauses and then giggles softly. "And I made Kunzite come to dance classes with me. They are surprisingly a lot of fun."
A casual toss of the bean bags at him and Naru asks. "Do you just have one brother?"
Kukai grins. "Yeah but we need the so-called boring people. The vast majority of people are boring. But it's not boring, it's more just... normal. Maybe I'm the unnatural one, wanting to do so much."
He watches her juggle a little and oooohs. "Wow. No, actually, I don't. I could probably learn, but I think I might put it off till later." He watches her and then grins. The name Usagi sort of drips past - he knows someone named Usagi, but there's a lot of Usagis out there, honestly. That other one, though?
The bean bag sort of bounces off his chest, and he has to scramble to grab it. "Um. Um. um." He coughs. "You mean Kazuo, yeah?" He grins weakly. "So apparently you and I know a bunch of the same people, huh?" He scratches the back of his head. "That's a hell of a thing." He seems to be trying to decide if it's embarrassing or awesome, and this being Kukai, he fakes it till he makes it, putting on a wide grin. "That's cool!"
He shakes his head. "No, I've got 4 brothers, all older than me. It can be sort of annoying, but I love 'em."
"Four!?" Naru hits upon the important part of this conversation first. "Wow. I can't even imagine." She shakes her head a little and then laughs. "Do they all do all the sports? Your poor parents, trying to keep up with all of you."
Naru laughs easily and nods. "I generally just assume that absolutely everyone knows either Mamoru or Usagi or Kazuo, and so far it's pretty much always accurate for the interesting people." She sets the other two beanbags down and holds up her hands to have him toss her back the third one now that he's caught it. "I also think my brain just categorically refuses to come up with Kazuo on command."
Kukai laughs and then shakes his head. "Actually no. Kaido is a bodybuilder, Unkai is sort of a samurai-office manager, Shusui is a computer programmer, and Rento is studying to be a decorator. And our parents are out of the country working right now overseas, so Kaido's in charge."
Kukai smiles weakly and then shrugs. "Yeah, I guess so. Just about everybody knows them." He tosses her back the last beanbag and hmms. "And yeah. I never met him as... Kunzite? Maybe once. So I was introduced to him as Kazuo, and that's what I've been trying to call him. That or Wall-kun."
He looks around for a minute, walking with her, and then stops, picking up a little ivory carving off the table at the nearest stall, looking at the little praying woman. "Ooh. This is nice."
"Everyone knows them. Nearly." Naru confirms and then laughs softly. "Slowly, I'm meeting more of the everyone. Which is odd, all things considered, but there's a lot of odd." She sets the last beanbag down. She giggles softly. "Wall-kun. I should remember that for next week." She laughs as they walk over to the next table, with things that are actually fairly nice on them.
"Ooh, that is pretty." Naru confirms as she looks at the carving in his hands, her attention settles back upon the table and she looks over the trinkets thoughtfully. "I should get Ami something. Maybe something silly, rather than a pretty trinket. Although pretty is tempting."
Kukai chuckles and then nods. "Yeah, there's so many people. I'm trying to help keep track of everybody, but 'everybody' keeps getting bigger and bigger every week or so. And I've got my own issues to deal with. But as far as problems go, it's not a bad one."
He grins. "Yeah. You might actually get a grin out of him. Or what passes for a grin. Oh. I should ask, how's Mamoru doing? Have you heard?" He looks at the trinkets and carvings and decorations. "Yeah, this sort of thing makes a great gift, but then it's 'where do I put this?' It's worth thinking about, though." He sets the carving down, looking over the list, then picks up a small round charm with several kanji on it. "Oooh. This looks really cool. I might..." He looks down at the little tag on the bottom and winces, setting it back down. "Maybe later."
"Bigger issues than what I have to deal with, which is basically fussing over the lot of them, because I am boring and normal?" Naru asks casually as she picks up a little trinket and admires it, without any real intent to buy it. Silly, or at least smile inducing has won in the potentials in her mind.
"Last I heard, he was still pretty sick." Naru wrinkles her nose a little. "And while no one's said so, my guess is that he's probably hitting fairly bored and cranky about it too. I'm going to try and stop by the apartment tomrorow I think, and see if he's interested in a visitor and some distraction." She sets the trinket down with a similar little wince at the tag as the one Kukai gave and then moves on towards something more in her price range. "I've redone some of my sketches to show him, after my sketchbook got.. er.. lost." She erms softly. "And I'm thinking he might not be so interested in the foilage motif we discussed initially anymore. I know I'm not so keen on vines right now."
There's a long-suffering sigh from Kukai as he laughs. "Being boring and normal is perfectly fine. So many people in the wider group are like 'oh, we have to do this big, huge, important thing' and they forget why they're doing it, to take care of the boring, normal people. So I like the boring, normal people."
He frowns a little, then looks over at the next stall for a moment without really seeing it. "I ran into the plants or flower things once, but then recently I was sort of blown up and had to spend some time in the hospital, so I haven't been able to help everybody like I wanted. And I lost track of some other important things I was watching out over. I'm so behind, I'm never gonna catch up." He makes a face. "It sucks."
He nods, listening to her. "Maybe something in a nice flamethrower motif? Possibly an industrial park, or something in concrete?"
"Is that part of the guide book or something?" Naru teases lightly and winks at him. "Yes, I know. We're why you guys do things. I think I got the same speech from Endy, and Usagi." She grins. "I'm fairly content in being boring and normal."
""Ugh. Blown up sounds way worse than the mirror. Or the vines." Naru reaches out to offer a light touch to his arm, easily dodged should he be touch adverse. "I'm sorry to hear that. I'm glad you healed up. I'm not sure it's a race, to be behind in. I think you just jump in when you can help, to do what you can. That's how I think of it at least." She smiles a touch. "Of course that's from someone who can't help at all, so take as you will."
Kukai chuckles and winks back at her. "Yeah, it's right under 'don't get blown up' and 'don't use your powers for evil.' But..." He shrugs. "It only takes meeting one or two people who are all like 'I'm doing this for any other reason besides the people!' to make it really important."
He grumbles. "I sort of pissed off somebody that did something really bad, but then what was going to be just a fight turned into being launched into a diner, and the gas line near it blew up. I did put holes in their building, though." He talks about it all lightly, with an annoyed tone to his voice, like he's talking about losing a particularly important sporting match.
He smiles and is more than happy to let her touch him, patting her arm back in return if she lets him. "Yeah, I had a bunch of visitors and such. And I don't think of it as a race - more like 'I have so much to do and it is all important and I am not getting any of it done.' But yeah. I guess I'll just have to say c'est la vie and do what I can when I can." He grins. "It's good advice, though, even from someone who 'can't help', like you say."
"Psst. Kukai." Naru leans in a touch, comfortable with being patted on the arm. "You messed up the 'don't get blown up' part, so please try and stick with the don't use your powers for evil bit, if you would." She giggles softly, teasing as she straightens, resettling her school bag on her shoulder.
"I'm usually unconscious for them, and after the ones I'm not unconsicous for, I'm really glad for the ones where I am unconscious, but even I'm learning that 'just a fight' is pretty much a myth." Naru seems just as a blase about the notion, something about the sheer oddities of her current world.
"Okay.. so you have so much to do, and it's all important, but it's no different than homework.. mmm.. more like group work. Okay, a little different, but bear with me." Naru considers her metaphor a little further. "If you try and do everyone's job, then you do it all badly. If you focus on one bit, you dont go crazy with trying to do it all. So yeah. Do what you can." She chuckles. "I also provide doodles and sometimes cookies, but Makato's are better."
Kukai blinks as she leans in, then laughs and blushes. "What if somebody uses my powers through me for personal benefit? Like, say, if some guardian spirit decided that I needed to flirt with more people, and then ended up flirting with everybody until I pissed off a curse-slinging witch girl? Would that be 'use powers for evil'? Or 'get screwed up but solid'?"
He chuckles and then shrugs. "Well. I dunno. Sometimes 'just a fight' is just that, but compared to the average person it's a lot more insane. So I get where you're coming from."
There's another grumble as she mentions 'homework'. "Yeah I hate to say it but I'm crappy at homework too. But... I get what you're saying." He grins. "I can't bite off more than I can chew, and if I try I'll just end up hurting myself and others. So I just need to do what's right in front of me." He ooohs. "Cookies are awesome, though."
"Mind controlled is totally a pass on using them for evil. It's not you." Naru declares with a nod as she picks up a little stuffed toy, a wide eyed derpy sort of lion. In blue and waggles it in Kukai's direction. "Might be your body, possibly even your powers, but not you." She quirks a brow at him and then asks. "That sounds suspiciously like a story that I really want to ask questions about in another time and place."
"Cookies are awesome. I haven't done a lot of baking lately." Naru considers a moment. "Maybe I'll see if Makoto is baking over at the apartment, and if not, steal the kitchen for a little while. I'd make myself sick eating a whole batch by myself, but ther'es enough people there that I basically need to make a double batch. Especially if Usagi is over." She pauses. "Triple batch."
Kukai chuckles and walks along with her, nodding. "Yup. Even if it is me, sort of, but not me, but sort of me. It's a long story. And sure, I don't mind. Well. I guess I don't mind, but we'll have to get back together to talk some more. I'll get your number."
He nods, then smiles, looking through the stalls. There's a clock on the wall. "Crap. I sort of need to go in a bit. Got things to do, you know. It was really nice meeting you, Naru. Lemme get your number and then I'll see you around. And I will eat your cookies, I promise."
"I should probably get to homework. That dreaded homework but someone has to pretend they're good at it." Naru chuckles easily and goes digging into her schoolbag to emerge out with a pencil and a sketchbook. She writes down her number to pass to him.
"There. Story expected at some future point. I'll provide the cookies." Naru smiles. "Nice to have met you, Kukai. I'm glad I decided to come out to the flea market." She turns to the stall attendant, paying for the derpy blue lion before she tucks it, and her sketchbook back into her bag.