It's just after most people's dinner time in Tokyo, and one particular teenager is in the outskirts of Pikarigaoka's park. The sounds of a motorcycle coming to rest in the park's parking area can be heard as one Hanako Okita revs to a stop. The girl takes off her helmet, flicks her flowing locks back into some semblence of shape, and shrugs off her leather jacket. Leaning on her Harley, she frowns as she peers at the map. Tokyo traffic can be killer at the best of times, and she's still not used to the area. How will she make it on time when school starts up if she's getting lost now!?
With a sigh, and a shrug, she chains up the motorcycle like it's a bike, then takes a golf-bag around her shoulders. She heads out towards the park, determined to make /something/ of the day. Her destination: a quiet place in the park to train!
Hanako might not be the only one here to train. Though in Shiori's case it's... a little different. This is what happens when a normal high school kid suddenly discovers he used ot be a ninja-- he finds himself woefully underprepared for the revelation. He's seen all the comics-- one day he's going to be without his ability to transform and he's going to have to figure out how to beat a bad guy without it. So best to get in shape, right?
It's not going well.
There is currently a high school aged dude somewhere in the park, possibly near Hanako, that is trying and failing to climb a tree. He has short, dusty brown hair and eyes, and wears glasses. He's of average height, and wearing a t-shirt and jeans. As stated, he is trying-- and mostly failing-- to climb a tree. He can get up to that lower branch just fine, but any higher and he can't seem to find a foothold and slides right back down to the lower branch. At least once he slides clean to the ground on his rear. He's not giving up, though!
And so the quiet night becomes... not so quiet. Ichiro, a new face around town that apparently had recently moved to Tokyo, had hoped to find a spot he could be alone to enjoy time to himself. The park at night seems like such an obvious choice, because nobody would really be out this late, right? He'd even found the perfect spot to lounge, the perfect tree to lean against and read his book.
The young man, perhaps no more than sixteen himself, is in a plain white shirt and pair of jeans, kicked back against the tree a certain ninja-in-training is using for practice, black hair tied up in a messy ponytail, while strikingly blue eyes of an almost unnatural hue scan over the pages of a book. What book you might ask? Romance of the Three Kingdoms! And... are those characters on the pages Chinese? Why yes, yes they are. Because you can't really enjoy such a book if you're not reading it in the original language. But his peaceful night is interrupted by...
"That's the sixth time you've failed," he finally comments, voice coming from the opposite side of the tree. A somewhat deep, but gentle voice. Even so, the look on his face is anything but gentle. It's at best mildly annoyed. A marker is placed in the book and it gets very pointedly slammed shut.
Hanako has found herself a seemingly nice and empty clearing, and the girl takes out a wooden sword. She's about three practice swings in, before the sound of something falling has her gasping and turning!
Sword held before herself, she frowns as she notes a young man that's just fallen out of the tree, and another commenting on the man's fall.
"...Are you okay?" Comes the girl's flat voice. Her mouth is an impassive line, and she keeps tilting her head to the side slightly, bangs obscuring her face partially.
Peeeeer. She just stares, and doesn't move, though she does seem to have a first aid kit in her bag. Otherwise, she's not making much effort to save Shiori from gravity or Ichiro.
"And why are you climbing that tree?" Pause. "Six times?" Her brow is just raised now. What is this boy up to!?
At roughly this moment, the hurried rhythm of running footsteps on the park pathway can be heard approaching. Seishi comes into sight a moment later, moving at the jog of someone trying to make up time. She's tied her hair back into a full ponytail rather than its usual half-ponytail, and it swings behind her with each step.
"Sato-kun!" she calls as she catches sight of Shiori and re-orients herself toward him. "Sorry I'm... late?"
As she gets a little closer she sees both Hanako and Ichiro there as well and her momentum peters out to a stop in time with the uncertain upward inflection of her voice. Her eyes flick toward Shiori, silently questioning: people he knows? Only for a moment, though; rather than be rude, she inclines her head politely to both of them, looking from one to the other as she straightens. "Ah," she says, only a little awkwardly, "hello."
Shiori falls to the ground again, miraculously managing not to injure himself. "Ouch!" Just because he didn't injure himself, though, doesn't mean it didn't hurt! He pauses as he hears the comment, and then stands quickly. "aa, I'm sorry," he says honestly as he bows politely. "I didn't know you were back there."
Hanako speaks up then, and Shiori turns in her direction. "Huh? Oh! Y-yeah, I'm fine," he assures her. As for why he's climbing the tree? He gives a sheepish look and notes, "I'm trying to... get in shape a little." He can't exactly tell her the whole truth, now can he? "Sorry, I didn't mean to bother anyone."
Then Seishi appears! Shiori looks in her direction and waves. "Hey there," he offers. He doesn't move to introduce either of the two epople there. Mainly because... he doesn't really know them either. But if Seishi had heard his address to either one, she'd probably be able to tell he doesn't know them.
"Yes, well... I suppose I didn't make my presence known. I'll make a note of that now that I know people regularly fall out of trees in Tokyo," that annoyed look is leveled right at Shiori now that he's on the ground, but it doesn't last. Ichiro's quite to turn it into a slight smirk, perhaps a bit of a teasing air about him at Shiori's expense. "Oh well, it was getting a bit late anyway."
He stands and dusts himself off, only to stop at the introduction of yet another person into the area. Seriously, do people just come pouring into parks at odd hours? And around the tree he'd picked to relax under! He bows his head slightly to Seishi and then to Hanako. "Hello," he says as he tucks his book against his arm and puts his other hand into a pocket. He's apparently perfectly willing to give up his spot to whatever these people are planning on doing. "If you want to get into shape," Ichiro begins, now turning to fully face Shiori, "you might try a gym, or less immediately extreme methods?" It's about now, in what light there is at the hour, that the slight hint of a scar traveling across his face can be noticed. Just under his eyes, from cheek to cheek. It's quite faint and looks like it's been there for a good while.
"Well then, I suppose I should take my leave and let you have your space to... train?" He's not sure if that's the best word to use for what he's been subjected to, but well... sure, training.
Ichiro gets a similar bow from Hanako. "Hello." She returns generally, to both him and Seishi as she arrives. Even as Shiori falls again, and she winces a little, she can't help but take a step back from the growing group. Is the girl shy perhaps?
Still, Ichiro has a point.
"That's dangerous. Please be careful." She simply states to Shiori before settling into her training. Textbook swings you'd find in any kendo class. Sword up, legs apart, swing! Up, step, swing!
She's into her eight rep before she notices that every now and then, she peers at Shiori and Seishi. It's reflexive. Fear of people's stares, their inner judgements rises in her heart, but something about the people in the park seem...almost familiar. Putting more effort into her training, she swings faster.
"I'm not in the way of some meeting, am I?" She finally asks those gathered.
The change occurs subtly, almost unnoticeably, while each of them is occupied with training or with one another. It spreads from beyond peripheral vision, in areas that the eye isn't paying attention to, lengthening the shadows of the park in evening bit by bit, playing tricks with the landscape. By the time a cold chill of alarm runs down the spine or a prickle of some unknown sense tingles the skin, the pathways and tidy landscaping of the park have become something denser, wilder: a forest stretching as far as the eye can see. It's impossible that they could have somehow ended up out of sight of a path, but somehow there's no sign of civilization anywhere. The shadows between the trees are ominously thick, the ground over their roots covered with a tangle of underbrush that seems like it could hide any number of sins.
It's not hard to tell when Seishi notices it. She was in the process of cracking a lopsided smile, opening her mouth to say something - only for the words to die in her throat as her posture stiffens and she darts an uneasy look around.
With a rustle of underbrush, a white rabbit lollops into view, its pristine fur almost luminous against the greens and browns of the forest floor. Seeing the four, it pauses, ears twitching, red eyes button-bright.
"...um," says Seishi, very articulately.
Shiori offers a sheepish look in Ichiro's direction. "S-sorry," he offers again. It's hard to tell if he caught the teasing or not. But he does seem contrite, so there's that. The mention of 'less extreme methods' gets a chuckle. "Ahaha... y-yeah, you're probably right," he acknowledge. Though the laugh and the statement both carry a very distinct nervousness to it.
As for Hanako? If Shiori's staring, it's in admiration. Her form's really good. Of course he doesn't do kendo so he really wouldn't know. But it looks good to him.
There's that too... she's familiar somehow. Maybe he saw her in one of the schools' kendo clubs or something. Really it feels like more than that, but he really doesn't know.
And then suddenly... he senses it. Whatever he'd been about to say, he decides against, in favor of looking around. Seishi's words get a blink, and he looks to her. Then he follows her gaze to the rabbit. "...Yeah, uh. We're not in Kansas anymore, I don't think." A pointed look to Seishi, brows raising. The looks asks 'is it them?' without him having to speak.
And suddenly they're in a forest. Not a park, but a forest! Hanako goes still, chill crawling up her spine, and then she's clutching her wooden sword all the tighter. Something feels /wrong/.
Her eyes stay on that white rabbit as it appears.
"Where are we!?" Her normally flat tone rises up an octave. Confusion is writ on her face, even as she tries to look calm and stoic. She'll glance towards the others, moving closer to them.
It feels oddly right to have a sword in her hands right now, and she'll end up in front of Shiori, hovering protectively out of instinct. Other than that, she stands guard, a teenager having her first brush with magic.
Seishi catches the look that Shiori turns her way, and she answers it with a tiny downward tuck of her head, the very slightest of nods. Wordless confirmation to a wordless question.
And then not so wordless, because Hanako is justifiably on the verge of panic and really there is no reasonable explanation for this that Seishi can think to offer. "It's a dream," she tells the other girl, quiet and entirely serious. "A nightmare. But it'll be okay, as long as we stay calm."
If they're lucky, she thinks, the girl won't remember any of this afterward, at least not any more than one would normally remember a dream. Otherwise it's going to be really hard to explain away. But never mind that for now; more immediately, she and Shiori need to find a chance to transform before things get dangerous. As she glances around for ideas, her eye falls on the rabbit again. "If you start going on about being late for an important date," she informs it, "I'm done."
The rabbit looks at her, nose twitching.
Then it opens its mouth and hisses at her, baring needle-sharp fangs as long as fingers, all of its fur bristling out to make it look twice as big as before.
"K'so!" Seishi yelps, eyes going wide in surprise and alarm as at least half a dozen more murderous white hellbunnies pop out of the brush with fangs bared.
Shiori swallows hard when Hanako asks where they are. "Um... I... don't really know," he offers. Which is completely true, even if he does know what's going on. Sort of. This is what happened with the giant spider, and with that thing that couldn't let Seishi see it. But... he can't really tell /them/ that, can he...?
He notices that the man who'd teased him about the climbing seems to have disappeared though. "...Well, that's one less thing to worry about..." he says quietly. Seishi's words of explanation get a nod. "That's right. It's just a dream, don't worry. When you wake up, everything will be the way it was."
And then all of a sudden BUNNICULAS EVERYWHERE!
"AUGH!" Shiori steps back quickly. And he tries to pull Hanako back as well. Deathbunnies are not something she needs to be subjected to!
"...A dream? A dream. Okay. Yeah. This is all a dream." She repeats slowly, trying to calm herself.
And then the bunny and its newfound sharp-fanged compatriots make their way from the brush in a seeming rush for blood!
Gulp. In her terror, Hanako's deadpan voice cracks.
"Does anyone have a holy handgrenade!?" She asks oddly seriously. It worked in the movies, surely there's a priest nearby!
And then she's being pulled back by Shiori! Her hand clenches her sword tighter, and she shakes her head.
"If this is a dream, then it's some kind of nightmare. I won't run from a bunch of little rabbits! Not when people could get hurt!"
She yanks her hand back from Shiori, and stares down the horde of bunbuns.
"My name is Hanako of the Okita clan! For the honor of my family and of Tokyo, I will defend you!" She calls out valiantly, before...charging at the bunnies!? It's just a dream, after all, right!?
To be honest? Seishi was not in any way prepared for Hanako to do *that*. She'd be genuinely impressed if she weren't more immediately horrified at the thought of what could happen to the girl if the Nightmare rabbits swarm her.
"Oh dear god," she murmurs, and without a second thought she reaches to yank the red ribbon out of her hair. "--Twist the cord of fate!"
As it has done no few times before, the ribbon hangs in the air, lengthening from an ordinary piece of fabric to a manifestation of the scarlet cord of fate. It loops around Seishi, transforming her where she passes through it: her simple t-shirt and jeans become the red kimono and samurai trappings of her other self, until Seishi is gone and Akashimaru stands in her place.
"Watch out!" As the murderbunnies begin leaping towards the three of them, she has just enough time to tug the Shinken from her belt and leap to join Hanako's forward charge, lashing out with the closed fan to knock back a rabbit before it can latch on with its fangs. "It may be a dream, but you can still be hurt if you're careless!"
Shiori cannot help but facepalm. That was not the reaction he intended from Hanako. Aren't people just supposed to generally accept it's a dream and take logical measures to remain safe? Play it out 'till it's over? Be LOGICAL? This is definitely not logical! And then he sees Seishi transform. Right here? But the girl will know!
...Then again maybe she'll just assume that was a dream, too. But then again... maybe there's something special about the girl too. He'd ended up in a couple of these... and look what happened to him! Besides that, keeping her alive is more important. So as Seishi changes...
"Seize the cord of fate!"
The thin red cord seems to be trying to sneak past him, to his right. His eyes are closed, there's no way he'll see it... except he does. His right hand shoots out to grab the red cord, and as his fist closes around it, it turns into a red ribbon, growing longer. Long enough to begin wrapping around his arm.
The ribbon wraps around his arm, across his chest, and to his other arm, and then down his body and up, covering the lower half of his face. Then there is a bright flash of light! When it fades, he is clad in a ninja outfit in dark blue, with a cloth around the bottom of his face. His glasses are gone, and his hair is light blue and spiky, pulled back in a short ponytail.
As Seishi knocks the rabbit back, the ninja draws his arm back, as if collecting a weapon from his back. Suddenly there is a knife in his hand. Excpet with a flick of his hand, it becomes a four-pointed weapon. This he flings in a wide arc, meant to miss Seishi and Hanako, but to at least make the bunniepires think twice about leaping forward again. If any are foolish enough to ge tin the way, well... that large shuriken is very sharp...
Only when he's got the shurkien back in hand-- since it loops around like a boomerang somehow-- does he speak. To Hanako, he notes quietly, "...Listen to her. "They aren't playing." A far cry form the loquacious, almost clumbsy young man with the glasses that had been there a moment ago...
She's certainly good with a sword! A for a human, anyway. One rabbit slams into her sword, biting down on the wood, and a deft strike flicks the creature aside! But it only seems to have stunned the thing! Another step back, a turn, and then a whack on the head knocks another out!
But there's too many, and they're already getting dangerously close enough to bite at her vulnerable flesh! One rabbit finally gets a hold of her sword, and bites it in half just as Seishi transforms! Hanako falls backwards, a step behind her!
"Wha...what are...Who are you!? How did you....?" Comes her now bewildered questions. And yet, her voice slowly calms as her eyes are drawn to that silken chord.
It feels familiar. Its like she's seen it before, touched it, felt it. An old friend she never knew she had. Clenching the remains of her blade, she slowly walks towards it.
Shiori transforms, and throws a massive shuriken! Hanako, if nothing else, can see patterns. Bunnies are bisected just before they grab at her.
"They're a threat to innocent people, nightmare or no. My family has been protecting people for a long time." She stops right in front of that chord, reaches out, and gently rubs it.
She smiles just a little.
"...Please. Let me help protect people. Seize the chord of fate!"
And then magic blossoms around her. Flower petals stream off of the girl, hair flipping in the wind as her clothes melt away in the ball of light. When she re-emerges, the trappings of a samurai in blue and white are bequethed upon her, floating in unseen wind. Two swords are at her side, and she draws the katana. Her gaze is still even, but all the terror is gone from her eyes. She draws it smoothly, and with a breath, she's into the frey.
Each cut in smooth and methodical, years of physical practice combined with the knowledge of her ancestor flowing in her veins makes her a ghost upon the battlefield. She steps in, cuts, steps away as a bunny leaps for her. In the span of a few breaths, a good third of the creatures lay dead, and not a speck of blood lays on her clothes. She flicks away the coating on her sword, polished and beautiful.
"My name is Seitetsu, of the Blue Steel! Any who harm the innocent will fall to my blade! Aku! Soku! Zan!" She changes stances, drawing her arm back, thumb on the hilt of the blade, her right arm 'guiding' it as she holds it at her side. She doesn't yet thrust, instead standing beside the other two.
"....It really worked." Comes a sudden, deadpan quip. Frown. What a night.
"It's about time," comes O-Yasu's voice, in a tone of deep satisfaction, as the baku appears from in between two trees somewhere beyond the carnage. the little yokai's eyes gleam in the darkness like pinpoints of flame.
Akashimaru, meanwhile, is silent, her own part in this battle momentarily forgotten as she watches the sheer finesse with which Seitetsu moves and the speed with which she's cut through the creatures. It's awe-inspiring - and yet, at the same time, an unaccountably uneasy feeling. Her left hand presses unconsciously against her stomach where for just a moment a sharp twinge of pain slid through her.
"Akashimaru!" O-Yasu bellows with as much volume as his diminutive body can manage. "What are you doing?"
It snaps her out of it; she pushes back the confusion with a quick shake of her head. "Right," she says, a sharply exhaled breath. "This is no time to stand around." More bunnies have emerged from the shadows, and though Seitetsu carved a significant chunk out of their numbers, the remaining monsters circle around the trio, hissing malevolently. With a flick of her wrist, Akashimaru snaps the Shinken open in her hand, turning to place herself between Seitetsu and Akahana. "We'll finish it," she says.
There are still a lot of bunnies, even with all three of them fighting. And protecting people isn't exactly Akahana's forte. the last time he directly protected someone it went rather badly for him. Or rather, for HER-- it was his past self, the kunoichi, who had fallen to protecting someone. That didn't mean he wasn't going to protect the girl. But there's some sense that... she really shouldn't need protecting from this.
Silly, isn't it?
And then suddenly the girl transforms.
...Well, that explains that, doesn't it?
Actually it does. It explains a lot. The feeling of familiarity. The feeling that she shouldn't have needed protecting in the first place, that doing so would be coddling her. And Akahana was never one to coddle. Not then, or now.
But her quip gets a smirk from the ninja, his face hidden behind that mask. His amusement is audible, though. "...It tends to have that effect." Referring to the surprise of transforming the first time.
And then O-Yasu appears, and Akahana blinks, looking in the baku's direction. "A bit of warning would have been nice." He's probably kidding, given the dry tone in his voice. He knows that wouldn't have been possible with the others here. Particularly not Seitetsu-- she'd have seen him.
And then Akashimaru brings herself out of whatever odd trance she's fallen into, and takes a place next to them. Akahana is suddenly holding a pair of straight-bladed swords with square hilts. Holding one sword in a high stance and one in a middle stance, Akahana waits for Akashimaru. He grunts an agreement to the statement...
And then he's showing that he is indeed a ninja... that he is indeed Akahana. He's into the fray, steps silent as the fog, swords glinting in the dim light as he matches those of the creatures that come for him, ensuring they taste little else but air and steel!
Akashimaru has Hanako's sword-arm twitching. The distinct urge to just take her head here fills her...and then leaves. A hand goes to her forehead. What is she thinking!?
Discipline reasserts itself, and she smirks to Akahana.
"...I could get used to this feeling." She ends, before getting to work. She takes a step back, letting Akahana get to work based off of old memories and pure instinct. Then, it's her turn, and she rushes forward! She's a constant wave of thrusts, parriest, backsteps and slashes. One bunny going for her ankle is brutally stomped on. Another is hacked in half before she skewers another three in a single blow! Wherever Akahana /isn't/, the hunting blade of the warrior woman is just a moment behind. Slice! Stab! Punt!
"Come on, Akashimaru! Keep up! You would be an embarrassment with a blade at that rate!" An old, old chide she's used ages ago in their past lives, always being merciless to the 'fake' samurai.
Akashimaru moves in time with both of the other two, tessen carving broad arcs to one side and the other as the killer rabbits try to close in - a strange instinctive choreography of violence. "As though I need you to tell me!" she snaps back at Seitetsu's taunting. It's familiar like well-worn habit, and so is the unexpectedly sharp stab of frustration that the other's words carry with them.
"Come, the light that banishes the darkness--" She raises the Shinken skyward, and as though in response to her declaration, the tessen begins to gleam with a reddish glow like a reflected sunrise.
"Nightmare Breaker!"
With these final shouted words, she leaps into motion, striking at the hellrabbits in a flurry of fast, sharp blows that send them flying in all directions to slam into tree trunks or simply vanish into the darkness. Her final move snaps the fan closed to bring it, by now blazing with crimson light, slamming down towards the ground at her feet--
--and the nightmare shatters around them, the way the one at the library did, the vision of the forest coming apart into a shower of glittering fragments. What's left is the park, just as it always was, normal and safe save for the remaining shards of wrongness lying about here and there on the ground, most of them quickly evaporating.
Akahana smirks at the chide from Seitetsu. It's familiar. But still, she's never going to learn if she loses confidence in herself. "Less talking. More fighting." The statement is terse, but that's probably familiar too. There is, however, no sharp edge to his tone. After all, a ninja would have no reason to dislike a samurai, no matter how humble his beginings.
As the nightmare shatters, Akahana is quick to release his henshin. After all, they'd left a person here, and he didn't want the fellow with the book to see them! With luck the fellow wandered off, or went to look for them in another location. Though he does look in Akashimaru's direction-- regardless of whether she's changed back or not-- and nods once, offering a smile. Hanako gets the same. Congratulatory! And then he starts to look for the fellow who was here...
Almost as soon as it began, they're back in the park. Her henshin fading, Hanako peers in her hands, then looks to the other two.
Blink. Blink. There's no smile.
Because after peering at the two, her eyes roll in the back of her head, and then she just passes out.
Not the best of starts to her magical girl career.
Well, it does in fact look like Ichiro had wandered off by the time they show back up in the park. That said, it appears he's wondering back in their direction, almost as though something told him that now is the time to come back. Maybe he knows something's up or maybe he doesn't. It's probably just coincidence, really.
But what is this? He's got the cutest white bunny tucked in the crook of his arm and it seems to be happily munching on some greens. Not quite the hellish red eyes that the demon bunnies had, but man... the similarities just seem striking. He stops however, upon seeing the three--one of which has decided to take a nap--and the bunny leaps from his arm and darts off into the night. "Oh... I figured you three would have moved on by now, but... um..." he motions to Hanako and looks between the other two. "Maybe I should get some help?"
"So what was that about keeping--ack!" Akashimaru breaks off mid-sentence into a dismayed yelp as Hanako un-transforms and promptly keels unceremoniously over. Immediately, she lunges to catch the other girl, her own henshin falling away as she moves.
She ends up kneeling on the ground next to Hanako, and O-Yasu - who had up until now remained sheltered next to a tree trunk - almost begins to pad out into the clearing towards the trio, only to duck hastily back out of sight entirely as Ichiro returns.
The offer to get help draws Seishi's attention immediately toward him, her eyes wide and plaintive. "Please," she says. "She just kind of passed out."
Ack, so much awkward! First Seitetsu passes out-- well, he's actually not sure what her name is when she's NOT Seitetsu, really; that needs to be fixed as soon as possible-- and the that guy with the book comes back. And he's got a bunny! Shiori has to resist the urge to run. Gah. He's probably never going to be able to look at rabbits the same again.
Seishi is quicker to catch Hanako than he-- Shiori is indeed /not/ a ninja when he's not transformed-- so instead he... tries fanning the unconscious girl. See, he's helpful! "That'd be a good idea," Shiori seconds. "Thank you! And sorry about the drama," he says. First he bugs the guy while reading, then they apparently disappear, then someone faints!
The look Seishi gives him a moment of pause in reaching for his phone. It's only the briefest of hesitations, almost as if he's second guessing himself about something. Though just as quickly as it happens, it fades away and Ichiro's on the phone with emergency services. It's probably not something that really requires medical attention, but still, it's better safe than sorry, right? "Ah, yes. There's a girl that's lost consciousness in King Penguin Park, we're not too far from where the playground equipment was damaged. No, I'm not sure how long she's been out but it doesn't seem serious. Yes, thank you"
He concludes his call and turns back to the trio, moving a bit closer to have a good look at Hanako. Mostly he just checks her pulse and then gets a quick look at her eyes to see if there's not some strange dilation happening. It's basic stuff to very quickly rule out some worst case scenarios really. "Mmm... I don't really have much experience with medical stuff but... I'd say she just overworked herself," of course then he's quick to move back and offer a nervous chuckle. "Ah... I'm sorry, it seems I've forgotten myself. I'm Sakamoto, Sakamoto Ichiro." Since Seishi has her hands full supporting Hanako, he offers his non-book hand to Shiori with a bow of his head.
Seishi inclines her head toward Ichiro after he's finished checking Hanako over and given his opinion and his introduction. "Thank you, Sakamoto-san," she says in a tone full of earnest gratitude, before echoing the apology that Shiori's just offered: "I'm sorry we've put you to so much trouble."
She stays with Hanako, of course, but she does offer her own name up from where she's kneeling on the ground. "I'm Seishi Tamashige. First year at Verone. The circumstances are awkward, but it's nice to meet you."
"That's probably what happened," Shiori agrees. "She was putting a lot of effort into her practice." It's true, she was. Ichiro introduces himself and Shiori smiles. "My name's Shiori Sato," he offers. "Pleased to meet you. Though it could have been under better circumstances, with me bugging you and all. Thank you again."
He's quick to wave it off with a lighthearted smile. "Oh, no trouble at all; don't think anything of it. As long as your friend is alright, I'm more than happy to help." Seishi Tamashige and Shiori Sato. Two names to be committed to memory. "I hope in the future she'll think a bit more about not overworking herself, but I suppose there's something to be said for people with that much drive to succeed, right?" He does look around every now and then, both to see if he can spot EMS or at least hear them coming so he can somehow let them know exactly where they are, but for the most part his attention is on the people in front of him.
Ae Seishi mentions where she's going to school, Ichiro looks a little surprised at that. "That's a coincidence, I'm also attending Verone as a first year," he says while returning his hand to its pocket and relaxing a little bit. "I'm planning on joining the kendo club." It's not really information that needs to be said, but while they wait they might as well make small talk, right?
"Ah," Seishi says, brows lifting in surprise at this information. "We'll be in the same club, then. I'm in the kendo club, too. Although I just started learning this year, so I'm still pretty much a beginner," she admits with a little hitch of a self-deprecating laugh. "Most of the other members have been training since at least middle school. I've got a lot of work to do in order to catch up so that I don't make a hindrance of myself for the club."
Shiori nods to Ichiro's words. "That's true, on both counts," he agrees. "Still, doesn't do much good to strive for success if you keel over on the way." There's a humorous note in his tone, so he's clearly kidding. Even if he does have a point.
He hears that the two of them will be in the same club and smiles brightly. "Oh hey, that's convenient," he notes of it. "been wondering whether I should join a club or not. I'm not even sure what they have at Seiyou." Here's more information for Ichiro... Shiori apparently is a student at Seiyou.
Looking up, "I think I hear something. Let me go see if that's them." 'Them' referring to the EMS of course. To Ichiro. "Pleasure meeting you!" And then he heads down the path at a brisk pace. He'll find the EMS, flag them down, and point them over in the direction of the collapsed Hanako.
Same club is it? Well, if that's the case he'll be seeing a lot more of at least one of these people. He nods slowly, listening to that tone of voice. His smile, very briefly fades to a neutral expression. Memories return, of better times? Unpleasant times? He's not really sure but he decides quite swiftly that he doesn't like where his mind is wondering and shoves those thoughts back to whatever dark corner he'd long ago banished them too. "Well, I'd say there's nothing wrong with being a beginner. After all, we all had to start somewhere, right?" He's back to a much more pleasant expression and as Shiori mentions his lack of activities, Ichiro can't really help himself, "I'm sure if there isn't already one, you could always start a tree climbing club." Another playful smirk on his face and perhaps even a very lighthearted tap on the shoulder with his fist.
And then Shiori's off to fetch help. He watches the boy go and start leading EMS over to where they are. "Well, since help's here, I suppose I'll finally actually take my leave." And indeed he turns to start walking back the way he had come after they left the nightmare, though he does stop to look over his shoulder at Seishi. Yes, quite unpleasant thoughts, though through no fault of her own did she bring them about. Just a tone of voice that reminds him of... someone. "The best of luck to both of us. I look forward to seeing how good you are, Tamashige-san." And then he's off, a casual stroll as medical help comes onto the scene.