It's late February. But more importantly, it's bordering on Early Spring. It's starting to warm. If there was any snow, it's long gone in Tokyo. But more importantly. To a certain, orange haired, bespectacled young girl, it meant that the koi were going to start being active again, instead of hiding in the deep water.
So Reiko Touyama has find herself peering into the water at the side of the koi pond with wide eyes as she grins. There's koi, yup! There's not many daring to come into the shallows, but they're there! Soon they're be the whole school zooming around before too long, she thinks!
"I should had brought my sketchbook.. but..." she raises her phone and grins as she takes a shot with the camera phone. And a few more, so she can use them as references later for this exact moment~
"Perfect~" she sings out as she spins once in place.
"Taisho Sanke - yes, yes, I am sure. I will leave it up to your knowledge to select one thta is adequate, yes?"
The sound of someone speaking nearby might surprise Reiko, especially as it probably sounds fairly familiar. Specifically, it was Eilam of all people, walking along the trail of the park towards the koi pond, slowly, holding onto his stave with one hand and pausing now and then, using a bluetooth headset to hold the conversation handsfree.
"No, I shall take care of that too if needed, all I need you to do at the moment is prepare the documentation I asked for and present it accordingly." He seemed fairly tired, though he was as dressed up as ever, probably much the same as the last time(s) she interacted with him. Suit and tie, nice crisply clean clothing, smelling faintly of the strawberry and ocean flowery smells.
Reiko Touyama had moved to taking video now of the koi pond when she hears a voice. A familiar voice. "Eilam-kun...?" she asks to herself. Oh. Eilam-kun! She hears something about Taisho Sanke, but not much else. Does Eilam think that's the koi in the pond? That's possible.
She gently looks back to the pond before she shuts off the camera on her phone and goes to catch up with Eilam. He's taking handsfree it seems.
So she just makes sure he can see her so he can talk when he's done talking on the phone with a slight smile. When she gets a chance...
"Hi Eilam-kun." she says with a smile! A wide one.
Reiko suddenly being visible and getting his attention like that surprised him. Seeing her out here at this time of night? Well, shouldn't be /too/ hard to imagine her being here given she likes fish. He waves at her before giving a simple, "Thank you. I will contact you later to see how things are going." And with that he takes the earpiece out and puts it into an inner pocket on his jacket. "Well... fancy meeting you here. A passing thought made me think of the Koi and I thought I would stop and look at them to see how they were doing, since I last saw them here with you."
That said, he walked over towards Reiko and attempted to get a hug out of her(Even kissing her cheek gently should she not deny the hug). "Have you been good?"
Reiko Touyama accepts the hug. And the kiss on the check. Which quickly reddens because she blushes. Yup!
"Koi are pretty. They're not fully awake yet, but some are." she says. "It won't be too long. I always try to be here to see the first few." she says.
She head tilts. "I heard you talking about koi...?" she says. She knows her stuff when it relates to koi.
"Are you looking into a pond on your estate?" she asks curiously. "Now's a good time to start." she says. "and you have a lotta space on your property for a nice sized pond I think." she says.
"I should have known. You are into your Koi after all. Though as for what I was talking to people about a koi for, you'll have to wait and see. I do enjoy my privacy in some matters after all." His tone implied he was half joking, but perhaps it /was/ something private. Maybe he was buying it for a pond like she thought, or entering someone elses fish in a show! Walking forward a little, Eilam moves to a bench to sit with a bit of a breath let out. "I admit I do not know the most about fish, which probably upsets you a little, hm? I have always been fond of eating certain kinds of fish, but never was much on trying to catch them or anything like that. Never was really... strong enough to get anything bigger than sunperch. The sudden jerking could always wrest it from my hands too much, so in the past I always had to tether such to me or something. Too much effort and all."
Reiko Touyama shakes her head. "Well if not a pond, a few koi in a tank could be okay too." she smiles. "Just gotta make sure they have a couple friends in there. They like their schools." she says. She head tilts. "Oh, I've fished a few times. It was fun!" she says. "-and yeah fish can fight heavy if you're not ready." she says meekly. "You should go on a charter boat sometimes. They fix the pole for you and everything and you just reel and they'll handle it for you!" she says.
"But it's not that season yet. Gotta wait till it gets warmer. It'd be chilly out on the ocean right now, brrrr." she says.
"But yeah, koi are sorta my thing?" she grins, one of those orange, magic kois of hers appearing for a second, nodding matter of factly next to her head. Yes, it agrees.
"Fish are yummy, regardless." she says. "I mean. The fish that are good for eating. I wouldn't eat a koi. They're bottom feeders. They probably taste like mud anyways even if people did." she says with a bleh.
"I will have to pass on the boat idea."
It was said rather softly as he shook his head a little, a tiny shiver running through him. "I do not... do well with water. If it ruins your view of me, it is unfortunate, but I have always been rather cowardly when it comes to water. Well, for a lot of my life, any way of it. I have drown in the past, and with my condition, it is... not a pleasant experience. If you had not tried to protect me that day in the park, but I was still with you at the dock? It is... possible I might not have tried to help you."
Admitting such seemed rather taxing on him, like he just didn't enjoy talking about the subject. But, if she put two and two together, he /did/ risk helping her at the waterfront area where she fell through the rails even at his own expense, which was at least something. Kind of.
"You are doing well though, yes? Your family and friends?" His phone buzzes in his pocket and he pulls it out briefly to glance at it. "Hm... since koi are your thing, what do you think of this one?" he offered over the phone to show her, a picture of a Taisho Sanke. In fact, two. One large, older Sanke, and another much younger one. Presumably parent and adolescent, or showing what it would grow into. The younger was probably a year old at this point or close to it.
Reiko Touyama head tilts and blinks! "Oh! I completely forgot!" she says. "I'm sorry." she says. Sometimes. She just forgets things like this. "Well! I'll be sure to take pictures if Grandpa takes me out this year!" she says. "For you!" she says. "And maybe I'll catch something I can bring over and have cooked!" she says.
She head tilts a bit.
"Well... Sumire-chan is back in Tokyo." she says. "She's the idol, Indigo Angel Tenshi. She was also. Part of the story." she says.
"She'd be Prism Keeper Purple..." she mutters. "I tried to explain this stuff to her. I even transformed! But she wasn't able to see through the obfuscation that 'normal people' have." she says.
"It may be a good sign, that maybe she won't awaken and get caught up in the mess the rest of us are in." she grins weakly. "That'd be a nice change. One of my friends NOT being dragged into this!" she says.
She blinks and looks at the two fish. "Oh, those are super pretty. Not a lot of the black spots... but perfect on the orange and white!" she says.
"I like more of the orange.. obviously." she blushes. "But the black adds character, but not too much of it." she says.
"Sumire? Indigo Angel Tenshi? Hm... no, I cannot say I recall her. I have never followed the idol trend in Japan, though. I have not been back to Japan since it became a thing until now, and... well, I have always found it rather awkward, myself. At least for males. Some people take it too far, but perhaps I should look into her and see, if she's someone you know? Maybe she would be happy to see you at one of her shows?" idly hinting that he was willing to take her or at least try and get her admission.
He couldn't really say much to the not having a friend get dragged in, but the sentiment was at least present enough to pick out.
"And yes, I... liked the orange as well. I thought you might like the same, haha."
Eilam Hisakawa adds with an amused tone, "And if you decide to write me into your thing, at least give me cool powers and make sure I am sexy and not all weak?" Yeah, he was teasing about that, even if it'd probably be nice.
Reiko Touyama shakes her head. "Oh! We've met already. I have backstage passes already!" she beams. "She goes to Verone though. Because rich person school and all that." she sighs glumly.
"Kinda wish she'd come back to Seishou. I mean, Hoshi-chan is rich and she still goes to Seishou!" she says.
She head tilted and blushes at what Eilam suggested. "The story doesn't really work like that..." she says. "I mean. I haven't tried it. But maybe I don't want to. And besides. Mei-chan was the writer. I was just the artist and illustrator." she beams.
"If someone was gonna add to it, it'd be Mei-chan." she says softly. "Then I'd draw it." she says.
"But. Well. I don't think we can add to the story else..."
"Like Mei-chan could just write 'and then the Prism Keepers defeated Griselda, saved their friend and defeated Nox and the Grey Kingdom!' and we'd be done." she says.
"But it's never that easy." she sighs.
"I admit I do not know magic, but... perhaps that is the point? If your heart is not really into it, it is not a thing. Probably why I was never aware of magic for so long. I have never... had the heart for anything, I never did anything wholly or even applied myself to much. Too much apathy." Still, he tucked away where she attended school for later use, if he ever came across her. Then something came to mind.
"Heeey, have you ever heard of a game called Splatoon? I tried playing it last week and it seemed like something you might find enjoyable. But maybe you are not a videogame type?"
Reiko Touyama sighs and shakes her head. "Yeah that's more or less it." she says softly. She frowns. "Well you can't be apathetic forever, can you?" she asks. "Surely there's things you look forward to and enjoy?" she asks softly.
She head tilts. "Oh! The game with the squidpeople? Yeah!" she says. "I played it once. At a friends. I admit. I don't own a games console." she admits softly.
"I like mobile games. Usually..." she says.
"But games are fun sometimes when I play them!" she says. "I like to spend my time drawing and working on my art instead usually." she admits.