Unmei Tama was sitting at one of the game stations and... to be fair... completely wrecking it. She'd actually managed to gain a bit of a crowd, even, which the girl had yet to notice. Why? Because she was quickly approaching a high score. Which, considering who likely HAD the high score, was nothing to sneeze at...
Of course, the girl was cheating. But none of them had to know that. In fact, she was just as shocked as everyone else, amazed at how much focus and control the game seemed to be giving her. Mimicking the great Ami's movements almost perfectly.
Jiaying Maki is at the arcade herself, though she's avoiding the crowd, made even more obvious to anyone with magic in that she's got a charm stuck to the top of the machine to keep normal people away. Seems she's trying to create a ward like some of the other girls use! This is more than a little obvious to anyone with a hint of magic though. It's bleeding the same pale green energy the girl herself trails when using magic, looking like mist and it's almost crude in it's implementation. It's better than it used to be though.
This experiment is also letting her practice something else! The newest fighting game without some turbo nerd beating her relentlessly in game so she can actually practice in peace! The gathering crowd is getting her attention though, since that kind of thing always leads to trouble here.
It's unusual for Kukai Souma to be at the Game Center - he's not a big video game player, and doesn't usually patrol around this area because he knows there's at least one of any of a dozen magical types floating around it at any time, so strangely it may be one of the safest places in Tokyo.
Today, though, he was nearby and decided to stick his head in for a few minutes. No harm in wandering around and maybe playing a couple of the sports games. Right now, though, there's a giant pile of people looking at one of the game stations, everyone watching... someone that's obscured by the press of people. And there's a charm stuck to the top of one of the machines, with a familiar foxgirl sitting there, playing on it. That's one way to keep people away, he supposes.
Unmei Tama finally died, about ten points from the top scores. She then smiled turned and... shrieked. She recoiled in shock from the crowd.
Her initial expectation had been to draw maybe one or two people going all 'I can beat her' and then use that to get them with a pride gems. She hadn't expected a CROWD! She froze completely in place, before shaking her head, grabbing her bag and fleeing the scene! Bumping people(including almost slamming into Jia) before making her way to the exit and colliding head first into Kukai, stumbling back and likely falling on her butt.
Jiaying Maki heard the shriek and acted before thinking, sliding from her seat, snatching at the tag as her game ends and stuffing it away while at the same time drawing magic to her hands. That's about when she's narrowly missed by the panicking girl. "H-hey!" she calls out after her, checking over her shoulder into the crowd to see if there's some kind of youma in the crowd. As she turns to follow after her just in case, she's stopped by the girl plowing into Kukai.
Stepping up to the two, she asks, "Are you two okay?" Starting in what sounded like Chinese before catching herself. She's got both hands out at least. Kukai's then given an odd look since she usually runs into him patrolling or being harassed by her girlfriend. The crown's not common.
Kukai was just about to pick up a baseball and see how strong his pitching speed was a moment before he hears that loud, terrified shriek. His head snaps back over towards the crowd as he sees the girl who was apparently in the middle of the pile diving away from it, rushing past Jiaying and bobbling into her, a moment before she runs more or less head long into him!
It takes a moment for him to recover, trying to not be knocked onto the ground as he hangs onto the machine near him. "Geez! What's wrong - are you ok?" He looks around for a moment to see if anyone's chasing him beyond maybe a few hangers-on who were watching her play, and then reaches down to offer her a hand up. "What was that about?" He looks up at Jiaying, blinking at her for a moment before he gives her a weak grin. "Hello. Is something going on over there?"
Unmei Tama sat on her butt for a few seconds, staring up at the guy. There... was really... no good way to say this. Honestly. "I... I didn't realize... how many people were watching me," she mumbled softly. It seemed she wasn't the... best at dealing with crowds.
She stared up. Then looked down and quickly gripped the hem of her skirt, shoving it back down. Fortunately she was jsut over reacting, no panty shots today, it wasn't that kind of anime! She then glanced over to the other girl, giving a small smile. "S-sorry. I ummm... I'm fine," she said weakly. She then glanced up at Kukai one more time.
And realized she'd just been sitting there while he held out his hand. The entire time. Her cheeks turned scarlet again and she quickly took his hand, letting him help her up. "Sorry!" she said quickly. "N-nothing is going o--" She then heard people... coming... after her. The panic was evident on her features as people from the crowd were starting to move towards the girl with the great score. A pleading 'save me' look was flung kukai's way. Though it might not have been intentional.
Jiaying Maki shrugs and is about to reply to Kukai's question about something happening when the other girl beats her to it. "Not that I could see. That's not my specialty though." She hesitates before adding, "Causing problems is more my thing right?" Looking over her shoulder as the crowd starts to hem in. When Kukai's given the girl's focus, Jia begins to laugh, some private joke as she steps between the crowd and the other two. The 'ignore me' charm she had been using is palmed, then she pats the girl's shoulder behind her, sticking it to her while saying to the crowd, "Come on come on, give her some space, you scared her off. She's run off home already." There's a beat and she wonders if she hadn't damaged the spell charm with her hurried pocketing of it. Too late now!
Besides, she's got a funnier backup plan, one that will probably get her in trouble and would probably mean she'd want to change her disguise up, or at least avoid the crown for some time. It would be so funny though.
Kukai nods after a second and then smiles. "It's ok, I get nervous sometimes when I'm in a big crowd or something. Just relax, they're not gonna hurt you. Most of them have wandered off." He watches her pull at her skirt, which is already almost down to her knees, and then grins weakly. Probably a nervous tic or something.
She then blushes and reaches for his hand, and his fingers wrap around her wrist, pulling her up onto her feet. He looks back as more of the watchers begin moving in and she practically begs him with her eyes to save her. Okay, sure. He starts to move forward before Jiaying moves in, patting her charm onto the girl's shoulder and waving at the crowd. He nods and moves over to the other side with Jiaying. "You made her nervous people, she's not used to having a bunch of people watching her. It's ok, she'll be back at some point. Try again some other time."
He looks back at Unmei after a minute, hoping most of them have wandered off at this point. "You ok?"
Unmei Tama nodded, smiling at the guy. Oh, good, the two of them were--
'The girl just put a charm on your back. Magic tracked and... hum. Damaged. It's fine.'
She blinked. What? Why would... She looked shocked, before blushing and shaking her head. The charm wasn't working. She hid a little behind Kukai, shaking weakly. "Sorry," she whispered, closing her eyes.
She looked down at his hand. Should she grab it? Was that too forward? He was protecting her, right? Did that mean she owed him something? should she give him a hug after? A kiss? That made her cheeks turn even more scarlet and she could hear the laughter in her head from Pin.
Jiaying Maki knows her own magical aura and knows when she's messed something up. This annoys her because she was so sure she was getting better at this sort of thing. Looking over her shoulder, she points her finger at the charm and burns it away with more of that mist. The little voice in the girl's head would probably be able to tell she just overloaded it to destroy it rather than try and palm it again.
She's still standing between those that gathered and the other two and her shadow's moving strangely, exactly like it's got a will of it's own. It's only after it's left her shadow that it becomes clear that she has two! She says something quietly in Chinese while, a tone of caution, like she wants something to wait until it gets worse or better before acting maybe?
Kukai cocked his head, looking at the girl as she runs through a gamut of emotions on her face. "It's.. ok. Really, you're doing fine." He blinks, then looks over at Jiaying as the girl seems otherwise distracted and upset. "Look, if you want, we can just escort you outta here and ... you know, whatever. It's all right."
He looks back to Jiaying and the annoyed look on her face, missing her shadow for now, then nods at her. "Look, maybe it's best if we help her get outta here, huh? I mean..." He looks back at the girl. "Y'know, I don't even know your name. I'm Kukai. Wanna tell me who you are while we go, or do you have something else in mind?"
Unmei Tama shook her head. "I... I think that'd be a good idea." Just sending all the mixed signals. "I'm Unmei. A... a pleasure to meet you. Sir," she said quickly, politely. Her accent was a bit hard to place, though her japanese was fluent.
'Whoever she is, she broke the magic on you. You're safe. It's gone now.'
'Why aren't they going?' she asked mentally.
'It's their sins, child. You draw them to you, like moths to the flame. Choosing one or two to destroy the rest would be--'
'No! I can't, too many people would notice. And you know my rules.' She nodded. "Let's... get out of here. Please." And she grabbed Kukai's hand. The crowd seemed to be growing a little, even. More of them focusing than was probably normal. But, then again, gamers!
Jiaying Maki says something else in Chinese before turning to grin at Kukai, "Oh leaving may be a good idea, yes yes." She may or may not even try to guide them out of the way. Mostly because as she's attempting this, her shadow sliding free, leaving a chill behind as it passes through the crowd. The foxgirl says, "Definitely time to go." She's got a rather toothy grin forming and she's trying not to start laughing as all of the arcade cabinets along a line start to flicker, then the chairs closest to those flickering start to float. Kukai may know what she's up to.
"I bet we could go get a shake upstairs, find a nice quiet corner. Could even make sure it stays quiet right?" Wink wink, nudge nudge.
When Unmei tells them her name, Kukai grins and nods, reaching up to pat her shoulder. "It's nice to meet you too! And.. jeez, don't call me sir. I'm your age!" He then nods. "OK, we'll get outta here. We'll go..." Jiaying chimes in, and Kukai can't help but grin back at her. "Sure, we'll get outta here, go get something to eat or drink upstairs, hide in the crowd. How does that sound?" He motions towards the nearby stairs. "We can talk more there, if you want."
Unmei Tama nodded, then found her eyes drawn to the chairs. There was no doubt that she saw them. Though she didn't seem that shocked. She then quickly turned back to Kukai, a grin on her lips. "Yes. I ummm... I'd like that. Thank you."
She'd give his hand another small squeeze, letting him lead her up the stairs.
People were starting to notice the odd flickering lights and floating chairs and... actually dispersing. Well, a few were examining the odd sight. Others were making a beeline towards the exit. mission success!
Once they were upstairs, she let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much for... ummmm.... helping me." If daichi was out, her eyes would linger on him, just a moment.
Jiaying Maki waits for a little while before her hand briefly trails mist and the hint of a sound of laughter follows behind Jia before fading away. Her shadow's back to acting strange again. She feels accomplished, she did it without Meifeng through an arcade cabinet across the room which means both of them are learning, right?
Pointing up, she asks Kukai, "You two want to get the shakes and I'll find a seat or do you want to just stick together the whole way?" The lingering view on Daichi isn't immediately caught, but that's mostly because she's distracted, head canted to one side to listen for any problems from the arcade.
Daichi has been around Kukai but his attention is wholly on the games and things. He does however end up going over to give Jiaying a hug on the neck before being distracted by more flashy shiny lights. Kukai is also distracted enough to not notice Unmei's eyes on the Chara - oh well.
He glances over at Jiaying as the chairs start to move around, and then grins weakly, turning Unmei over towards the door. "OK! Time to go, then. Let's go." They get upstairs away from everyone, and Kukai grins, bowing his head to her. "No trouble. Jiaying and I are good at helping people. We're used to it." He looks over at Jiaying and then nods. "Sure, that sounds good. What sort of shake would you like? We can go get them if you can find us a booth."
Unmei Tama nodded, smiling. She'd of course get chocolate when it was time to order. "Well, thank you very much, Kukai, Jiaying," she said with a smile. 'He's magical too, isn't he?'
'They both are. Perhaps he's a magical girl too.'
Unmei found her eyes instantly go to his chest. And then her cheeks turned even redder. 'I... I don't think it works that way.'
'You never know. There's a lot of magic. Either way, don't try to gem them. If they have their own magic, it makes the process far, far more difficult.'
'They saved me, I wouldn't do that to them!' She followed him around. "So... are you two team mates?" She then paused. "D-dating?" she asked a little sheepishly. They were both kinda cute. She could totally ship them.
Jiaying Maki tilts her head from side to side considering quietly, then shrugs, "Anything, but chocolate or anything with grapes and..." she holds her fingers up, counting something down before she shrugs. "No chocolate, I don't think they use real grapes in this stuff. Surprise me otherwise?" She does not the odd look from the girl at Kukai, which gets a distinct comment from her in Chinese that sounds just like surprise. Also Kukai would probably recognize the look on her face before she hides it.
The hug from Daichi is given minimal attention, mostly because of where they are and all. She disguises scratching her neck to give him a pat though.
Finally there's the question from Unmei which gets a short bark of laughter from the girl! "No no, he's dating-" she pauses and looks embarassed, "I know we've met once, but that was before the stuff in November and before I went home to Taiwan an-... I'm bad with names." Continuing after a moment while fishing out a few yen notes for Kukai, "I'm dating someone else too, she's not here today though." The teammate question gets a shrug, "Teammates in... games or something? Nice to meet you too- I think I missed your name though." pause, "See, told you I was bad with names."
Kukai grins at the not-quite-pretty Unmei and then nods. "Sure, sure. No trouble." He heads towards the counter after Jiaying says no chocolate and no grapes, then looks back at Unmei. "Teammates? Dating? Oh wow, no. Jiaying's kinda got somebody, and I've kinda got somebody. It's complicated. But she's somebody I know."
He steps up to the counter and grins. "Two chocolate milkshakes and a cherry vanilla milkshake please. And a large order of fries." The girl behind the counter nods and goes to working as Kukai turns back to Jiaying and Unmei. "Na-chan. I'm dating Na-chan." He grins for a moment and then nods, motioning to Jiaying. "Yeah. Just..." He looks at Jiaying for a second. "Friends? Friends. And - Jiaying, Unmei. Unmei, Jiaying." He grins widely, that Jack's Grin, the morale boosting hero's smile. "I'm trying to get better with names."
Unmei Tama nodded. "Well, you said you two often do this, so... I just thought..." She relaxed a little. "It's nice to meet you. Thank you for helping me back there. I only expected maybe one or two. Not a whole crowd. People here are a lot more into game than back home, i guess," she said with a light chuckle.
"OH! well, just friends is nice. Maybe, err, we can be just friends as well?" she offered, giving a sheepish smile. "I don't really... have any. yet. If that's okay, I mean." A little less shy without a whole crowd watching over her. She happily took her shake and sipped from it. "Na-chan? So she's kind of a... no-body?" she asked. It was a pun! It wasn't meant to sound mean! She was ust bad at htis!
Jiaying Maki tilts her head from side to side and says, "I just said I had someone!" she reaches out to poke Kukai, mostly in a teasing manner. Then she turns on her heels before they make it to the counter as she wanders over towards a table, finding one as close to out of the way as she's going to get. Since the other two are distracted, a a charm comes out and she sticks it to the leg of the table, burnt with the same spell she had on the arcade machine earlier.
She then fishes her phone free and begins to text someone.
Kukai grins and then shrugs. "You're welcome. And yeah, a good gamer can get a lot of fame here. Professional gaming is a big deal for a lot of people. So if you drew a crowd, that's good!" Kukai shrugs. "I'm not real good at video games, so I don't know how well you were doing, but... hey, 30-40 people can't be wrong."
He nods, patting Unmei on the back. "I try to be friends with everybody! I wouldn't mind at all." He blinks at Unmei's quip, then grins. "No. Na-chan is short for.. Nagihiko. Definitely not a nobody." There's a short pause before Kukai mentions who he was dating.
Kukai looks at Jiaying, then grins, poking her back, as the girl at the counter brings over their milkshakes. He picks up his and Jiaying's, carrying hers over to the out of the way table. "Here ya go, try this. See what you think."
Unmei Tama gave another nod as she listened, smiling to him. They were both very nice, she couldn't deny being quite happy to have met them. "Nagihiko? She sounds nice." If she knew that was a boy's name, there was no sign of it. Soon they were all sitting together.
Her eyes flickered to Daichi, just for a moment. Before she smiled back to the two of them. "So... ah. I wasn't aware pro gaming was so important here. I'm not anywhere near that level, I was just... really in the zone this time." To be honest, she couldn't help feeling a little over whelmed. Whoever had won that high score had to have been amazing. "I uhhh... I'm actually new to Tokyo, to be honest. I'm still learning all the sights." She gently swirled her shake and glanced up at them. "But... errr... if we're friends and all now... are the rumors true? I mean, I've seen the message boards and the websites. Are there really a lot of magical girls in this city?"
Jiaying Maki takes the offered shake and sniffs it, wondering if she can figure out what the flavor is before she takes a sip. Not that she doesn't trust Kukai, this is just something she's prone to doing! Setting the drink down she holds a thumbs up. "I didn't think the gamer scene was that big out here, Iknow it is back in Korea and a few other places." she twirls a finger and adds, "I guess fighting game tournaments get a lot of eyes. I need to keep practicing for those."
To Unmei, she shakes her head, "I don't know who has the high scores, you were playing one I skip a lot though sooooo... that." Another sip of her shake. Surprisingly she keeps a straight face when asked about magical girls. "You mean like the cosplayers?" Haha, bluffing!
Kukai grins and lets the Na-chan bit go at that. "Yeah." He sees her eyes looking past him at something - Daichi? Maybe.. He nods at Unmei, then grins. "Well, hello! Where are you from, then? I was born and raised here, myself."
He arches an eyebrow, then hmms, leaning in a bit. "... Websites, huh? Magical girls, huuuh?" He looks at Jiaying, then grins. "Maybe there's a lot of them, yeah. I've heard that rumor too. And a lot of cosplayers and the like, too."
Unmei Tama nodded, blinking. "Oh? I heard that they were real. I thought I even saw one, once. It would have been cool. Like the cutes. Or the sailor moons." ... Sailor moons.
"I'm from europe. Italy," she said quickly. "I was moved out here once I was adopted," she sounded a little rehearsed. "I only arrived about a month ago, honestly." Almost fluent, too.
"I used to read all about those kinds of things. Magical girls, fighting monsters, it all seemed so cool. I'd heard that in Tokyo, they were real.'
Jiaying Maki holds up a hand and says, "I'm Taiwanese" She doesn't say what she was originally going to. That's a national thing and one she's learned to shut up about! "The Sailor Moons?" She rests her chin on her hand and looks past Kukai into the crowd, "I don't think that's a cartoon my dad's worked on. I'll have to ask him. A lot of cosplay and fun things though." Beat, "The cutes?" She's not sure of that one at all.
"Your Japanese is better than mine, I'm surprised after only a month." What, she's being honest! And maybe poking a bit because... she's got reasons okay! Totally not because she knows she still mangles the language!
"Speaking of cosplay Kukai, weren't you dressed up at the halloween party?"
Kukai has to bite back a laugh as she talks, but then she mentions where she's from and nods. "Ah, that's pretty cool. You speak good Japanese! And that's cool.." He nods, thinking. "Yeah. I've read a lot of things about that sort of thing too. There's.." He looks over at Jiaying, grinning. "I mean maybe there's something like that but I dunno."
He nods. "Nagihiko and I dressed up as a couple characters from an anime. I don't remember the name - it was something Nagi was into more than me."
Unmei Tama blinked a few more times, then yelped. "Oh! Yes, err, of course. I-I studied it a bit before coming here. Anime and... things like that."
Pin gave a little snort. 'Oh, yes. Cartoons. Has nothing to do with our little help.'
'Well, I can't SAY that, now can I?' she mentally snapped. "Yeah. I talked to another girl about it," she muttered, then glared at her drink. "She decided to lie to me and kept mocking me. Saying she was one of the magical girls. That she was cure sunny. As if, looked nothing like her." She glanced to jia and smiled. "Your japanese sounds fine to me. A bit of difficulty on some of the faster words, but still not bad."
Jiaying Maki looks to Kukai and says, "I've read a few things I guess. I find the stories out here in Tokyo rather strange though." What with all of those normal people ignoring the magical side of things! She takes a pull of her shake, then stirs it around with her straw.
"Someone was mocking you for it? That's... dumb. What's the harm in fun things like looking into that? I like to poke into hauntings myself."
Kukai huhs and rubs his head. That might've actually been Sunny, but who knows... "Well, yeah. There's some people like that. I dunno, though." He takes a sip of his shake and then nods. "Yeah. I'm... kinda superstitious myself. It's a long story. I blame my grandpa, he runs a temple up in the mountains."
Kukai sits back, then nods at Unmei. "Feeling better? I think most of those people have taken off..."
Unmei Tama nods. "I feel a lot better. Thank you so much for saving me," she said with a small smile. She then glanced back towards Daichi. "I... honestly believe in some ghosts. Or at least, guardian spirits. I don't know about... full ghosts. When people die. But I do think there are some things that... may haunt us at time."
She frowned. "I hope most of them are nice."
Jiaying Maki tilts her head and says, "I imagine most are. Then again I ca- can imagine that some are just lonely and lashing out right?" She looks down briefly and wonders just how much the Ghost has picked up since she's sort of learning. Through TV. You haven't lived until you see a possessed doll channel surfing. With a vampire nearby.
"I'm glad you're feeling better though.If you get that overwhelmed again-" she thinks quietly, "Maybe give one of us a call rather than screaming? That draws more attention right?"
Kukai nods at Unmei. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's some kinda ghosts and the like - guardian spirits and rotten jerks, too." He looks over at Jiaying, then grins. "Some are just lonely and the like. I just hope ghosts learn things after death instead of being stuck in a loop or repeating." He leans back, looking pensive. "That being said, I feel like spirits learn things after passing." Maybe he knows a bit about that?
He sighs, then grins at the two of them. "Really dark conversation. Let's lighten it up, huh? And yeah, do you have a phone? You can call one of us if you want if you need help or something like that." He pulls out his phone.
Unmei Tama turned bright scarlet then. "S-sorry. I was just startled by... so many. I only planned for maybe one or two. That many was... a tiny bit... just a little... over whelming." She reached up and nervously fiddled with a hair strand. "I'll try not to--"
Then blinked. Her eyes lit up. "Oh, I'd lo--" Then paused. She slowly shook her head. "I'd... like to. But my... parents are very strict about who I can and can't give my number to. I... I can take them, but I'm not sure I'd ever be allowed to call you."
Jiaying Maki looks to Kukai and says, "It's not that dark is it?" He might know why she's not phased by it, but she does drop it at least, for the sake of the new girl! Looking over to her she asks, "What about uh.. hm." She rubs her chin and leans to one side. "Maybe a payphone? Those still exist right? Or uh..." she shrugs and shakes her head.
Kukai nods and then pats Unmei on the shoulder again. "It's ok. Hey, if you're that good at games you'll get people aroudn you like that again. So.." He nods after a moment, then grins. "I'd rather you have my number and not need it than need it and not have it." He passes over the number to her, ending up writing it on a napkin and pushing it over.
He then hmms, nodding at Jiaying. "Actually I gotta get outta here, I have some stuff I gotta go do. Shopping for Christmas and that sort of thing. I'll see you two around, ok?" He stands up out of the booth. "It was nice to meet you Unmei, and good to see you again Jiaying."
Unmei Tama nodded. "Thank you, that sounds great. If I do need it, I'll give a call. And--" There was a ring and she blinked, pulling out her phone. It was completely black with a bit U on it. "Huh? Oh. Right. I'll be there soon! Err, no, I didn't." She cringed. "I'll take care of it, I always do." She then turned the phone off, giving a smile. "Thank you very much. I... I hope we can meet again!" She ten grabbed her shake and fled, racing down the stairs.