Kyouko walks down the sidewalk, leading her ragtag group of humans and canines. They are in a nicer area of the city than the one in which the apartment she and Momo currently share is located- rather closer to the location of Mamoru's apartment. She has her phone out, the navigation app enabled, leading them towards the building where the nearest listing she and Momo had uncovered is up for showing.
She's dressed.. somewhat nicer than normal, although for Kyouko that simply translates to a newish knee-length white pleated skirt and a black button-down blouse that probably came from Momo's Thrift Shop, but is in a good condition. Combined with a pair of sandals, she's looking rather more sharp than usual. All the better to make a good impression on a realtor or building owner! Plus, it helps if she looks slightly older than her actual age of 15 (which, for the record, is too young to rent an apartment without parental co-signage).
"I think it's that one over there.." She says, pointing.
Walking along with the Sakura sisters is Izumi Izono, a seventeen-year-old student at Infinity. He's not dressed nearly as well as Kyouko, but his general mode of dressing is very obviously and seemingly effortlessly fashionable. His hair is a truer blond than his true identity's, and shorter, eyes a more hazel green than the cat green. He seems casual and amused, hands stuffed in his pockets.
It helps that he knows this area. "Yeah, it is." He smiles crookedly at Kyouko, watching the elder Sakura girl with evident, quiet amusement.
It's a very groggy and bleary-eyed Momo that greets, well, the world. She's currently full of blinks and grunts which are in contrast to her own well put together attire. Unfortunately, her idea of 'older than she is' is still around the age she is now. So the braided pigtails and fashionable but still pink skirt and white blouse probably doesn't lend her to a more mature age. But still, she tried! And besides, what's more heart warming than an of-age woman looking after her poor orphaned sister?
She hits send on a text to Mamoru. "Mmm. Grunt. Grumble." Yes, these are actually said and not sounded out. "And I just sent a text to Mamo-nii, asking if there's any in his building."
Dog trots by them, panting and sniffing. There's a new collar around his neck, but it's more as a signal toward people that Dog has humans rather than a handy leash carrier.
(Also, Momo totally picked Kyouko's skirt out. Well, she has a rack of 'Stuff Kyouko Could Wear' at the thrift store that causes raised eyebrows from her boss. But she does a good enough job that the older woman allows the odd bit of eccentricity from her young employee. Though currently the Kyouko Rack and the Cabinet of Questionable and Rusty Treasure are her most noticeable contribution to the store's decor)
Her hand slips against Zoisite's elbow because there are Roads to Cross and she's still mentally eight when she first wakes up. She looks up at him, normally large eyes hooded with sleepiness. She'd stayed up far too late looking up possibly haunted or likewise questionable apartments and clutches the paper list in her other hand. "Zoi-nii? If it's really haunted and the ghosts are cranky, would you still visit us?"
"There's no such thing as ghosts." Kyouko says, dismissively, as she leads the way across the crosswalk and towards the building. "I mean, spirits of the dead, sure, but they got better things to do than hang around an apartment and bang pots together." Generally, in her experience, they either move on, hang around to help their friends vanquish evil, or turn into youma. The last is the one that's most concerning, but they are also in a uniquely advantagous position to deal with a youma-infested apartment.
She pulls the door open and marches right up to the desk where a lady is sitting. "We're here to see.. umm.." She glances back over her shoulder at Momo. "Which apartment was it?" She turns back to the woman as she waits for her sister to give the actual answer. "The haunted one." She says, off-handedly.
"Izumi," the blond says in a stage whisper, putting one of his hands over her own. He smiles winningly down at her. "Of course I'll still visit. After all, Kazuo was a ghost for a while," he offers teasingly. It is true, even if the comment is affectionately teasing. He resists the urge to twirl his hair around a finger, a gesture that is more in line with his true self. Instead, he produces a treat for Dog out of one pocket and offers it over.
He watches the lady at the desk, his face fixed in a wry smile. "I'm just here for moral support," he says by way of explaining his presence. "They're the ones running the show."
"True. I would have haunted you if I could. Nicely! I would have been all 'Kyou-neeeeee, eat more veggieeeessss!'"
Momo stage-whispers back. "Sorry, Izu-nii!" Hey, close enough.
Dog accepts the treat with a woof and a wag of his tail, crunching along the sidewalk as they enter the building.
The woman's eyes light up at the prospect of getting a Jiko Bukken off her books. There's a moment of inner conflict, though, and finally she looks at Momo. "Are you sure it'd be a good place for you, dear?"
Momo scoffs and waves her hand. "I'll be fine! I watched Daddy hang himself after he killed Mama. But don't worry, he's not haunting us! He's safely burning in hell."
Kids say the darndest things, don't they?
"Besides! That's what we got Dog here for! He's got Ghost Rabies. If a ghost tries to hurt us, he'll bite them!"
Dog woofs and wags his tail.
Kyouko scowls at Momo and turns around to swipe at her. "Hey, c'mon now." She turns back to the lady with a cockeyed grin. "Don't mind her, she's at that age, y'know." She leans in, whispering behind a hand, "Like, says shockin' stuff to get attention. Teenagers, you know." As if she herself is some kind of full-grown adult.
Still, the building-lady seems to assume she is the 'adult' here if only for lack of other options, and so doesn't shoo them out but turns to bustle down the hallway and lead them to the elevators.
Kyouko follows along, adding, "You don't have to worry about us, though. We ain't the type to be put off by a place's history, s'long as it's in good shape now.. and we love gettin' a good deal. I warn you miss, we drive a hard bargain but we're great tenants!"
As they ride up, she tactfully does not mention the (multiple) times her previous apartment has been exploded.
Izumi snorts softly at Momo's commentary, shaking his head. "I guess her being that age and what she comes up with for it is good for that kind of place, you know?" he offers to the desk lady with a helpless shrug. He follows Kyouko's lead, giving the lady a winning smile.
Generally, exploding apartments are left out of a rental history... mostly because the landlord or lady might be scared of seeming insane to others.
Momo blinks between Kyouko and Izumi. What? She told the truth! Maybe not about Ghost Rabies, but everything else is more or less sound!
She shrugs and follows them, making sure Dog is close behind.
"I have a list." She likes to think she's helping. "There's many good places that people seem scared of."
The apartment in question is on the 10th floor. The building-lady lets them in, and then mostly stands back to let them look around without interfering too much.
It looks quite nice. There's no remaining evidence of whatever took place here to get it on the undesirable property list- this is usually the case though. They pretty the apartments up in order to make it as easy to forget as possible.
It's certainly a lot bigger than the Sakuras' current place, although it'd be pretty hard for it not to be. There's two whole bedrooms and everything. Kyouko stands in the middle of what seems like a cavernous living room (especially with no furniture in it) and peers around.
"Mmmm.. I dunno.. it's almost too big.." She says, causing the building-lady to make a startled sound.
Izumi shakes his head at Kyouko. "It won't be when you get furniture in," he comments. "You'd be amazed at how people are like water- we just sort of spread out to fill our containers." He smiles a little, looking at the landlady. "Do you mind if I do something real quick? It's just masking tape." He spins the roll on a finger. He'd figured there might be something like this.
"You want visitors occasionally, right?"
Momo doesn't think it's too big. Well, it does, but it doesn't.
She rushes over to the balcony and steps out, scanning the Tokyo Skyline. It's a pretty view, gorgeous, even, but that's not what she's looking for.
Suddenly she gasps and turns toward Izumi and Kyouko. "Look, look! We can see Mamo-nii's apartment from here! Twin Parks is almost teeny from here!"
And there's Dog, sniffing and sneezing at a spot in the living room, occasionally pawing at the spot that the landlady is probably familiar with. "Ohhhh, poor Dog. He smells the Death Cooties."
But then her attention is on Izumi and she hovers near him, watching what he does with Much Interest and Curiosity! "Oh, yes! You and Mamo-nii and K...azu-nii and all the other Nii's! And and Naru-chan and maybe Mamo-nii's lady friend and her friends."
Dog looks up at Naru-chan's name, recognizing it. He barks in agreement, tail wagging.
"Yeah, I guess.." Kyouko sounds somewhat doubtful as she continues to glance around the living room, which still seems very large to her, although what Izumi says no doubt has some truth. She walks over to the balcony as Momo exclaims about the view, and grins slightly, putting her hands on the balcony and peering over towards the building Mamoru and Co. inhabit. "Sure can. Nice view.. that's a point in it's favor."
The building-lady looks distinctly nervous as she notices Dog sniffing and poking at that one particular spot, and seems to grow a bit pale at Momo's mention of 'death cooties!' but she then looks at Izumo and the masking tape on his finger. "G-go ahead.." She offers.
Kyouko looks back over her shoulder, then turns, curious.
Izumi sets to, taping out rectangles and squares for common furniture items- a couch here, a table here, a chair here, and at this point he decides to go for broke, moving around the apartment. He tapes off areas for beds for both sisters and even a reasonably-sized crate for Dog, just in case. "This is just the basics for furniture," he announces when finished. "A couch and a couple chairs for visitors, though I don't expect you to have as much room for visitors as we do... some beds, a table for places to put things like food when people are visiting..." He shrugs. "And a crate, for times when Dog needs a time-out or just a place to lay down by himself." He grins broadly at the landlady's unease.
Momo doesn't really notice the unease in the landlady. Afterall, Momo expected some of these places to have Death Cooties. Her only concern in regards to those, if they don't fester to where human noses can pick them up, is poor Dog would probably drive himself crazy!
She does, however, follow Izumi around. At one point, in one of the bedrooms, her eyes go a bit wide. "That's a big bed!"
She follows him back out into the living room. "Dog hasn't needed a timeout yet. He goes potty where he's supposed to! But sometimes he needs Alone Time." She whispers to Izumi. "He's a bit introverted and likes to ponder Dog Things by himself sometimes."
She's not one-hundred percent what exactly an introvert is, but she knows Mamo-nii is one.
Kyouko quirks a brow as she watches Izumi marking out areas for all of the furniture. She walks between the carefully laid-out lines, filling her mind's-eye with what the room would look like with all that stuff in it. It's more 'stuff' than they currently have, that's for sure. "Mmm.. I guess you're right.." She allows, the room in her head not seeming quite so oversized as the one in reality, empty of furnishings.
The building-lady seems pretty okay with letting them do this, although she continues to give Momo some strange looks! She doesn't comment though- this place has been on the market for a while and she'd love to get it rented.. even to weirdos!
But After a few more minutes of poking around, Kyouko says, "Well, this place has definite potential, but we gotta see a few more before we decide." Over the building-lady's protests, she heads back to the elevators, adding, "We'll let ya know if we decide to take this one. It certainly seems pretty nice but we gotta explore all our options, y'know?"
Izumi grins Momo, though Kyouko's response gets him gathering up his tape in a ball. "Smart girls, these ones." He ruffles Momo's hair affectionately, tucking his roll of tape away. The blond teenager tilts his head. "Where to next, Kyou-chan?"
Momo giggles at the ruffle. At Kyouko's proclamation of them moving on, she uncrumples the piece of paper in her hand and puts a star next to this place. "It really is a nice place," she tells the lady. "If we don't take it but find people who don't mind this stuff, we'll let them know!"
Momo scurries after her sister and holds up her list before linking her arm through hers and resting her cheek on her sister's shoulders.
Kyouko is not actually all that much taller than Momo, and so she makes a good walking companion for her imouto. She grins down at her sister as the girl links arms with her as they exit the building. "Exciting, huh?" She asks, her tone half-teasing, half-serious. "We ain't ever had to look for actual decent apartments before. When I got the one we're in now, my only criteria were basically 'dirt cheap' and 'landlord who wouldn't ask questions'."
She glances over her shoulder at Izumi as they turn onto the sidewalk to head to the next building, which isn't too far away. "Thanks for comin' by the way, Izumi-nii. It's always good ta have an extra pair of eyes, an' stuff. S'not like any of us are property experts, or nothin'.."
Izumi Inoba grins a little. "Yeah, and I figure you two aren't used to thinking of things like 'how much room furniture actually takes up'," he admits. "I'm glad to be along for that. I'm no expert myself, but I do know how much room furniture takes up. And it's hard to visualize it, sometimes." Thus, the tape. It worked, after all, for giving Kyouko a sense of the amount of room she would need.
"Momo-chan, the bed I sized out is just a twin- small, for small fries like you two." He grins wolfishly. "My bed is bigger than that." Granted, he's taller and obviously needs it.
Momo nods excitedly, completely serious! "So much fun! I like there being options! And some of these places may even have a bidet! I don't know what that is, but it's gotta be fancy if they use a French word for a fancy toilet!" She reaches back to hook her arm through Izumi's as well.
She looks up at him, eyes wide. "Wow! Small beds look huge when they're made with tape! I could fit myself and a Dog on that! Oh, oh! Did I show you my sleepy-cave yet? I made it out of bookshelves!"
She is legitimately and completely proud of her sleepy-cave, even if it is a bunch of pillows and blankets.
And then she looks over at Kyouko. "Heeheehee, you said 'snot.'"
Kyouko scowls at Momo. She knows she don't talk good, but maybe she's mildly self-conscious about it these days, now that she hangs around with all sorts of upper-crusty, well-educated types! Maybe she even blushes a little bit, and it's totally coincidence that when she next speaks, she carefully doesn't use any contractions or slang terms, but pronounces every word almost deliberately.
"That place was pretty good, but I think we should consider our options carefully before making a decision. The next building is just up and around the corner. Come along."
She then seems to go back over her sentance, nodding at the conclusion of her review. Yes, very well-spoken. She's the servant of a Prince now, after all. One must not embarass one's employer with all those 'aint's' and 'done goods' and such.
Izumi pointedly ignores Kyouko's abrupt switch in speaking patterns, though it may be worth reassurring her later that she doesn't have to change herself just because she's one of the Shitennou (Go-tennou?). He follows Kyouko with a grin. "Good plan. Want me to lay out furniture again, help you see how big things are?" He resists the urge to scoop up Momo and cuddle her close, instead occupying his hands with the occasional treat sent Dog's way.
Momo droops! "Kyou-neeeee." She whines a bit and tugs on her sister's arm. She was just teasing! It's what sisters do!
Large Woefully Apologetic Eyes for her sister!
Dog is happy with the addition to the group. Of course, it helps that the addition is also a walking food dispenser. Happy crunchy Dog.
The next building isn't quite as nice as the first one, and the man who greets them inside is a bit grumpy and old! He frowns at Dog, although the listing did say that the apartment was pet-friendly, and stumps his way down the hallway to show it to them once they make it known which apartment they are here for.
Kyouko frowns slightly at the attitude, although she doesn't rule the place out at once- it's a huge step up from their current situation, even if it isn't nearly as nice as the one they just saw. "It's okay." She reassures Momo, as they step through the door to look around. This one is also only on the second floor, which means not as many nice views.
Hazel eyes briefly flick to cat-green at the man's attitude, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it flash of intimidation. He seems pleasant enough on the surface, but it's possible that the Sakura sisters might notice that it's a touch warmer next to him than it was. He doesn't comment on the grumpy old man at all.
Dog decidedly chooses to ignore Grumpy Face. He's all happy wags and happy pants.
Until they reach the apartment, though.
All of a sudden his tail his between his legs and his head is drooped, growling deep in his throat.
This causes Momo to pause, but she's still happy from Kyouko forgiving her!
"Okay, but we're gonna look around a bit anyway, okay? It'd be rude if we don't."
As much as the grumpy building attendant might not seem to give it much thought, Kyouko obviously does notice Dog's reaction, and it has her frowning even as she starts to walk around the apartment, peeking into the various rooms. "Mmm.. I'm not sure I like the.. 'vibe' of this place." She mutters as she returns to Momo and Izumi.
She glances at Dog again, who doesn't look any happier than when they walked in. "I have a feeling that whatever went on here, it was a little worse than the last place. I dun believe in ghosts or nothin', but that doesn't mean negative energy clinging to a place isn't a real concern."
The blond nods a little. "And at the end of the day, it's about being comfortable where you live," he says. "And I'd worry about negative energy in more ways than one." He sets a hand on Kyouko's shoulder, eyes flicking briefly to the attendant before fixing back on her. He ruffles her hair affectionately.
Momo sighs. "I do like the view of the other building, though. It has a nice mural."
She isn't being sarcastic, despite what the landlord may think!
When she gets close to the door, Dog, who'd went from growling to a low whine, reaches his head in, clamps his teeth on Momo's skirt, and tugs her out.
Momo pats his head. "It's okay, Dog. We won't live here." She turns to the landlord. "But if we find anyone interested, we'll tell them!"
But the first place has dibs, because this guy is cranky.
Kyouko shakes her head slightly at the building guy's attitude, although then she tsks at Izumi as he ruffles her hair. She ducks away from him, but the glance she shoots at him is affectionately challenging, rather than genuinely angry- she ain't no kid! If you wanna ruffle some hair, Momo's right there, lookin' all ruffleable! Still.. it seems the decision is pretty unanimous that this is not the place for them, with even Dog agreeing!
Soon they find themselves back out on the street again. "Did Mamoru ever get back to you about potential places in his building?" She asks Momo curiously, turning around on the sidewalk to address her sister and resting a hand on her hip as she waits for a reply.
Izumi laughs at Dog's reaction. "Trust the dog for this one, guys!" he cheers. He shoots Kyouko a challenging grin as they leave, flipping his hair a bit and wiggling his fingers at the grumpy man in a far-too-cheerful manner.
Momo looks up from Dog and blinks at Kyouko. "Hmm? Oh!" She pulls out her phone and taps it a couple time. "Yup!"
She holds up the phone for her sister to read.
And Momo very much is ruffleable and actually likes it! Though before long she may need to redo her braids!
"Well, I guess we can go check that one out, then." Kyouko says, nodding her head. "It sure would be convinient to live in the same buildin' and everything, although I dunno if even a haunted apartment in that place is gonna be in our budget.." Technically, they could draw as much money as they needed from Mamoru's vast funds, but Kyouko has made it very clear that does does not intend to rely on his support any more than she needs to in order to provide a decent life for herself and Momo.
"Still, don't hurt to look." She grins, as she turns and begins to process down the sidewalk towards the familiar building, though truth be told she approaches it from the sky more often than from the ground. She glances at Izumi. "I assume the security is good an' stuff, right? You guys never had any problems I haven't heard about?" You know, aside from aliens attacking people and Witches hatching in the living room.. but building security can hardly be blamed for that kinda thing.
Izumi shrugs dismissively. "It's probably more affordable than you think- we have swankiest ones in that building, and pay out the nose accordingly." He ruffles Momo's hair, to compliment the ruffling he gave Kyouko. "We should check it out, regardless."
Eeeee! Momo is ruffled!
She looks at the list in her hand and finds this address. Next to it, she draws an angry face with its tongue sticking out.
"Think that'd help us? Knowing people who're in the swankiest of swanky?" She scribbles the apartment number and such onto the piece of paper. She's thorough!
Dog is feeling much better now. He shakes himself off, ridding himself of the creepiest of creepies.
It wasn't an evil place, just really sad. And Dog really does thing that Cranky Face should have found that old man much sooner than he did.