It's been cloudy and humid overcast all day in Tokyo, but thankfully it's been cooler than usual, with a nice wind blowing across the city. For now the intermittent rain has stopped, which means people are out on the street in the entertainment district. There's a mix of people, young, old, local, foreign, all sorts, going in and out of nightclubs, bars, stores, restaurants, arcades, pachinko parlors, and movie theaters.
It's not exactly the normal place you'd expect youma - the press of people would usually point them out with screams and missing people - but that's what makes it tonight's patrol for Kukai Souma. Enough parks and jogging. For tonight it's fun to walk around with a bunch of other people.
He's got a small shaved ice cone he picked up from a vendor, and is munching it and sharing bites every so often with Daichi, who's riding on Kukai's shoulder, as he moves towards another one of the giant movie theaters in the area, looking up at it as people begin pouring from the doors...
Sora picked a sappy romantic comedy for the date. Sure, it's clichy and it's run of the mill, but she wanted to laugh and have the topic match her emotions. So when they leave, she's feeling giddy and in a good move. She's got her arm wrapped around Jiaying's waist, "What'd you think, Jiji-chan?"
Jiaying Maki was actually confused by at least some of the comedy and romance elements, not because she doesn't recognize either, but because there's some cultural differences! Still, a few questions aside, she did enjoy the movie and particularly the company. She's got her arm around Sora as well, quite happy by the looks of it. Though the Jiji-chan bit gets a bit of an embarassed look, "I still can't think of a silly one for you!" Almost like she's whining. She starts laughing after though and leans in closer to kiss Sora's cheek.
She definitely enjoys the weather though, all of the rain lately has done wonders for her sense of smell. She's not expecting an attack or anything along those lines for obvious reasons. Nor is she expecting a Kukai, whom she spots out of the corner of her eyes. There's a brief moment where she tries to guide Sora away from him in a vain attempt to avoid a confrontation after such a nice date. Something tells her she was too late though!
Sappy romantic movies have never been Kukai's style, even now that he's ending up watching more romantic-style movies. He's always been an action sort. Of course, now that he's spending more time with Na-chan, there's certainly more kissing in the movies he watches.
It's more the voices than the words Kukai catches. He knows those voices. But before he can think 'is it actually a good idea to go say hello to the girl that hates me and the other girl I don't know so well' he's turned and... Oh. They've got their arms around one another. That's a thing. As far as Kukai's concerned, that's actually a great thing.
He grins and raises the hand that doesn't have the shaved ice in it. "Hey! Hello! How're you two?" No comments about their embrace, or the happy smiles on their faces. Let them lead into it. Daichi, too, is restraining himself, staying on Kukai's shoulder despite a desire to flit into the theater for popcorn.
"You don't need one, though." Sora responds, blushing a little at the kiss, and keeping walking. She's not sure why Jiaying seems to change direction so suddenly until she hears one particular voice, and her smile fades. "A lot better before you showed up." She answers Kukai's question with mild vitriol.
Jiaying Maki lets out a sigh that sounds suspiciously like, "Ni zhege baichi." Then she's facing Kukai with Sora. Sora might notice she squeezes just a touch tighter, just in case. She offers a polite wave and says, "We're doing well, you? Are you running late for a movie?" Hey she wants to avoid a fight! Then there's the idea of distracting Sora instead as she says, "I don't know, it's only fair if we both have silly names right?" Her voice has the tone of one trying to play intermediary without the experience for it. That kind of slightly higher pitch than usual!
Kukai hmms at Sora for a moment. "Still the ball of cheerfulness and light as ever, Sora?" He looks over towards Jiaying and then grins. "I'm actually just out patrolling. Sheer luck running into you two. How've you been, Jiaying?" Daichi waves happily at Jiaying, still sort of shying away from Sora.
He grins at Jiaying's other comment, then nods at her. "So.... you two are together now? That's good! I'm glad for both of you, really."
"I wouldn't call it luck. More like ..." Jiaying's attempts to defuse this get through to Sora, and she stops whatever insult was no doubt about to come, and instead she focuses on, "Yeah we are. You could've been my boyfriend, but you didn't realize what you're missing out on, and now it's too late. Hope you're happy." Still not quite the most pleasant of retorts, but at least it's not too harsh. She turns to kiss Jiaying, to hopefully defuse any objections her girlfriend may have to her attitude. "So keep trying to think of one, Jiji-chan~"
Jiaying Maki relaxes almost visibly as things are set to a level she's comfortable with, which is more pointed commentary and not a potential fight! Well, the violent or yelling kind at least. At Kukai's comment though, she retorts, "I think she's got a pretty good reason to be angry with you Souma, you burned that bridge along with quite a few others though." She sounds flat, rather than angry, like she might be annoyed now. What, he insulted her date!
She huffs, then shakes her head quickly and asks, "Isn't it cheating to patrol where it's quietest?" Might be a little bit of needling still. Still, she squeezes Sora and says, "Maybe I should just use Sora-chan. That's the right one right?" Jiaying. Still completely awful with suffixes.
Kukai hmms. "Well, good luck and bad luck are two sides of the same coin, Sora. Things happen." He looks back over at her, then at Jiaying, then grins widely. "True! But if I'd stayed your boyfriend, I'd have never gotten with Nagihiko, and you'd apparently have never gotten with Jiaying. So things worked out in the way they were supposed to. So yes, I'm very happy." Probably all in all more pleasant to Sora than she's been to him.
He looks over at Jiaying and shrugs. "It was a long and kinda bad story all the way around. And maybe I'm trying to rebuild my bridges, huh? I'm not the sort of person to be a giant douchebag all of the time." At the patrol comment he shakes his head. "Not really. I usually go through the parks most of the time, but once or twice a month I try to come either through here or through the commercial districts. Quiet can mean 'hasn't been noticed yet'."
Daichi grins and watches the two of them, then pipes up. "Sora-chan!"
Sora sighs a bit at Kukai's logic, not really wanting to argue with it. "I'll grant you that being with Jiaying is the best." She's about to agree that Sora-chan is fine when Daichi does a stupid. "Souma-san, if you can't keep that pest under control, I'll find some way for it to be controlled." Sora's tone is dark and angry, whatever dislike she has for Kukai, it seems her opinions regarding Daichi are a distilled, concentrated form of that.
Jiaying Maki makes a mental note to find out why the sprite gets that much more vitriol. She's looking between the two of them curiously, not hiding it super well at first before catching herself. The logic makes her head hurt though and she asks, "That's- You know that's kind of insulting. I remember you being a touch less, uh, abrasive." Feeling like she may have dodged an unseen bullet, she glances back to Sora, kisses her cheek lightly and murmurs, "Easy now."
The patrol part gets a curious look and she asks, "What exactly do you patrol? Sticking to the main streets can't get you too much and the back alleys aren't really safe on a few levels. You're cruising for snacks right?"
There's an indirect wave of his hand at the street as Jiaying speaks. "It's more feeling - I stick my head down the side streets, look around in the alleys and the little places, seeing if I or Daichi get a sense for dark magic. I'm not really good at it, but I'm trying to get better. The snacks are a bonus."
Kukai arches an eyebrow at Sora as Daichi yelps and hides behind his neck. "Hey. You don't threaten Daichi, ok? He's not trying to hurt you. Geez. I know you two have history, but leave him alone." He sounds a touch more annoyed than he did beforehand.
Kukai grins weakly back at Jiaying. "Sorry. I'm not trying to be abrasive, I just know what I know and I try to speak the truth. I'm really happy for the two of you, honest."
"He needs to realize that he's got no right to be acting familiar with me, Souma-san. If he doesn't, I will make sure he does, because he is hurting me, and I'm done letting him get away with that." Sora makes it very, very clear. "If you can't deal with that, just stay away from me."
Sora lets out a breath as Jiaying kisses her cheek, and she turns towards the girl, planting her lips on the other's, and wrapping her arms around the foxgirl. She's maybe making out a little more aggressively than she has before.
Jiaying Maki shakes her head and says, "So snacks. If you want to practice, you could try to stop upsetting Norie long enough to maybe get help there." Hey wait, that's right, he is on the bad side of two people she cares for. Still, she keeps a mostly neutral tone. "If I thought you were trying to be intentionally abrassive, I'd have smacked you instead. It's appreciated, but how you state the truth is important." She still doesn't know what this history is or what the real issue is, something she was actually going to just ask about since it's still happening, but then suddenly girlfriend is being aggressively friendly and that's not necessarily a bad thing! So she focuses on that kiss instead!
Kukai grumbles. "Ok, ok. Daichi, don't talk to Sora anymore, she doesn't like it." Daichi peers out, still nervous, like a little kid, and then nods. "OK..."
Kukai looks to Jiaying and then rolls his eyes. "Norie can stop shooting everyone she sees with dark energy and screaming her head off about how awful I am. That gets old, fast." He does in fact sound a little more annoyed than usual. He seems as if he's going to continue, but then Sora and Jiaying are aggressively friendly in public and he stops, rubbing his chin. After a moment he waves at the two of them. "You two have a good evening. I'll see you around." He turns to make his way back along the street.