It's a grey day in the greater Tokyo area. It's not quite winter yet, but the highs have been in the 60's this week, the bulk of the day colder still, and that gloom is only reinforced by the thick clouds overhead, threatening to spill over at any moment. There isn't much respite in sight. It's going to rain tomorrow. And the day after that. But it's not really a bad grey. It's grey but normal, and to some of the girls in this city, that means a lot. These are just fall showers, weather the people here have grown up with, not the freak storms and sudden deluges that come from much less natural sources. That, perhaps, is a welcome relief.
It's 3:46pm, and most of the students at Seishou Elementary have already gone home. A few, though, make up the usual crowd of stay-laters. It's all the usual groups. Habitual takers of remedial classes. Those who study late, either because of diligence or a lack of anything better to do. And of course, those who immerse themselves in club activities. On the second floor of the building is a room which is a frequent second home for one such group of people. The art club is working a little late this afternoon, the students there eager to put the finishing touches on a project they've long been working at.
Hiroko is alone in her corner. None of her mean girls are part of the art club, which is perhaps what makes it a safe-enough spot for Reiko. And Hiroko has been quiet lately, even a little withdrawn. She's sitting in front of an easel, staring out a slowly setting sun, rendering it in charcoal. It's not purely representational. No, her work today seems to be a little more abstract, surreal elements creeping into that landscape. From a technical and aesthetic standpoint, it's good, even if it's a little strange to see something so defined by its colors getting rendered in greys. It's not clear if she's really enjoying herself, though. She rarely seems to.
The teacher supervising the club finally speaks up, the woman in her early thirties standing and smiling. "That's enough for today, kids." The room is already mostly empty, of course. Only Hiroko, Reiko, and a few others have stayed this late, and most of that latter group is already packing up their things by the time Hiroko finally lifts the cover back over her easel.
Reiko Touyama is also in art class. She's painting her usual Prism Keeper-themed and Magical Girl pictures and her usual pictures of fish and other aquatic life and you know. Koi. ALWAYS koi. Her signature was a little tiny koi on her pictures, afterall. She's been busy on a scene of koi and sighing a bit to herself. She had things on her mind.
She met a boy. She likes this boy. She met this boy exactly once. This isn't a bad thing- it just means it gives her time to PREPARE.
She obtained a MAGICAL LOVE ROSE-- that is. She snuck into the botanical gardens and stole a rose off a bush. It isn't really magical. It is a pretty rose.
Then she practiced in the mirror and--- she's cute! Sure. Orange hair glasses. But. She sucks. So hard. She's /so awkward/. She stammers on her words. She usuals double meaning words and ugh!? How can you intrest a /tiny king/ when you aren't elegant!
She's been trying to approach... well. Hiroko. HIROKO of all people. She hates this. She doesn't really... like Hiroko? She doesn't hate her. She used to be friendly. She's not a bad person? Just.... abrasive. and a bully. BUT the problem has been her cadre of mean girls. BUT she's right there. Without them. Now is her chance to strike like a koi after a food pellet!
She does just that. Packing her stuff up quickly and prancing over in tip toe. "Uh----"
"Hi Hiroko?" she asks. Yes. This is a good start. Hello!
Conjuring kindness is a little harder for some people than others. It's not that Hiroko really struggles with it, though. No, her cool demeanor comes a little too easily for it to be considered a struggle; if anything, it's effortless. It honestly seems like she's not even trying, like the idea of a softer default never even occurred to her. Which is perhaps strange, given how she /used/ to act. Whatever she once was, though, today she only turns toward Reiko and offers a brief, "Hello Touyama-san."
And then she quietly turns back to her easel. She lifts the picture, now zipped up in a plastic cover, off the stand. She sets it aside. She begins to fold the wooden frame of the easel into its more compact form, moving it to the corner of the classroom where the others are now resting. It doesn't occur to her to add more to the conversation. In fact, it probably doesn't occur to her that Reiko was doing anything more than offering her an obligatory greeting, which she herself only returned out of her usual politeness. Reiko isn't usually eager to initiate conversation with her.
Reiko Touyama blinks! Oh. Well. This isn't awkward at all. People are filtering out. And Hiroko is still going about her bussiness. She wonders why. She said hello! Aren't you supposed to stop and s---oh right- she's here because she's having trouble with THAT EXACT THING. She sort of presses her teeth together and actually follows Hiroko. When she turns around from putting the easel away- there she is!
"Hey. Um. Can we. Talk. For a moment?" she asks cautiously. Maybe a bit embarassedly even!
There's a moment of surprise on Hiroko's face. It becomes clear quite quickly that she wasn't deliberately ignoring Reiko, that she instead simply didn't expect the orange-haired girl to have anything more to say. But now that this is a conversation, a real conversation, Hiroko's practiced politeness again comes to the fore. Finishing putting away her easel, Hiroko turns toward Reiko, her hands still grey and black from the charcoal. The fact that she never, even once, smudges her clothes or face with an accidental touch, is telling of just how composed and self-aware she usually is. If that's a good thing.
"I apologize. I didn't realize you had something you wanted to talk about, Touyama-san. But yes, I have a moment. What is it?"
It's not exactly clear what she's thinking. She's smiling, slightly, and it doesn't seem /fake/, but there's not a lot of enthusiasm in her demeanor. It's more a practiced, requisite friendliness than anything else, not off-putting but also not particularly inviting. Her eyes narrow slightly, though not in an aggressive way, the grey-eyed girl just focusing a little more as she starts to pick up Reiko's tension. "Is something the matter?"
Reiko Touyama flutters her eyes a bit. Merf. Ugh. She's sort of fumbly and weird and sort of sputters in that young genius way of not knowning how to social with people beyond people she's already befriended. There's tension and it feels kinda like 'ugh why am I even bothering- you know this show and it's fake and it's what she uses to make herself always appear right even when she isn't and maybe she's only acting this way because the MEAN GIRL SQUAD isn't around her! It's like some sort of /DEFENSE MECHANISM/ that's it!'. These are all the thoughts ruinning through her head.
Oh right. She's just been standing there sweating and wide eyed when all these thoughts race through her head for the moment. It looks odd. But yay! There's still not a lot of people around and the teacher's left.
Nerg who does she ask.
"H..-Hey! Teach me how to be Elegant!" she says suddenly, fists out in front of her, and maybe even a little pleadingly. Yeah she just blurted that out without even thinking about it. Is she forgetting something!? Oh right.
"I mean...please!?" she asks.
"Elegant?" There's a clear questioning note as she repeats that word, the girl surprised to have heard that question. The why isn't readily apparent, though, and that look is gone quickly enough as her face takes on its usual more composed expression. She smiles broadly. "I would normally think it more proper to leave teaching these matters to one's mother, but I understand that you only have your grandfather available. /Since you're so insistent/, I can do that, Touyama-san." She pauses there, a more appraising glance looking Reiko up and down. "We likely have a lot of work to do, though, to accomplish that particular goal. And as with all things, you will have to be patient and humble to learn." Her smile widens a bit more. "And you will need to actually listen to what I tell you. Is all of that agreeable to you?"
Reiko Touyama is looked up and down in an apprasing glance. She looks kinda like a hot mess. This is not even a little close to anything one could call 'Elegance'. She dresses much like your typical nerd/dork sterotype and this big rimmed glasses- and her mannerisms are all wrong. Of course- Hiroko doesn't know /why/- and she doesn't ask why and Reiko is kind of grateful for this. She really doesn't want to get into how she likes this boy she only met once.
She blinks. She frowns! She has a Mom and a Dad, but-- well. They're never home. She sees them in passing maybe once a week. It's kind of horrible. Maybe even worse than your parents being dead. Mei-chan has it worse of course at the moment- but-------
She just shakes the thoughs out of her head. Shake shake. This doesn't seem aimed at Hiroko.
She seems to think on this. Woah!? She said yes!? She expected some backhanded retort. Well. She DID get that. She's just not coy enough to pick on the subtle talk of 'we have a lot to do'.
"Nrg--- Okay. I can do that Hiroko-san." she says. Hiroko just got a -san! That's an improvement in some sort of status in Reiko's own head. Right? "But... on one condition. Not around your squad of jerks. It's always just you and me unless I agree otherwise, okay!?" she asks.
"I can't agree to that precondition, Touyama-san. That would be a betrayal of my friends, and thus a sign of poor taste. I can't agree in the same way that you have never agreed to my assertions that Akatsuki-san is holding you back, true as they might be." She pauses there. "But you don't need to worry, regardless. They are my school friends only. I'm too busy with more important work to see them outside of this building." She hasn't seen her friends outside of school? That might jibe with what Reiko knows. After school play was the first place Hiroko disappeared from, when she drifted away from Mei and her circle. "So you won't be seeing them, since we'll be meeting after school, and lets just let the matter of our friends rest at that, shall we?"
"Speaking of which, your first lesson is one of tact. You could have said that less confrontationally by simply saying you would prefer it if we met alone. I would have read the subtext, and it would've spared us this awkward conversation, wouldn't it?" she asks, an almost chiding note in her voice. It doesn't quite seem her; is she channeling someone else? "Sometimes the truth is called for, Touyama-san. And sometimes it just makes things more awkward. You have to be bold enough to speak your mind when necessary, but smart enough to be careful with what you say when it's less important." She pauses there.
"But honestly, I think that's the least of our worries. We have some more fundamental issues to work on. When would you like to begin, Touyama-san?"
Reiko Touyama presses her teeth together!? She can't agree to that!? Then... then that's lame! Now she'll NEVER have a chance! Something inside her tells her to let Hiroko finish before she actually opens her mouth- says something stupid and storm off like she ALWAYS typically does. Wait. Tact!?
She's Tactful! She's TACTFUL AS GLUE! OR A TACK! TACKFUL! She isn't, but she thinks she breaches concepts good. About this time her arms fold in front of her as she frowns. At least that this will be happening after school when Hiroko's jerks are gone is good. She doesn't really agree with the statement about Mei-chan still. Hiroko will always know her answer to this and it's 'Hiroko is a jerk' of varying degrees.
Jerk Jerk Jerk!
But. Right now. She's being nice at least talking to her and agreeing? That's something. Maybe she's not a HUGE of a jerk as she thought, she thinks.
She huffs. "It's wrong to lie to people....!" she huffs. But maybe that isn't really the point Hiroko is trying to make.
"But okay. Sure. Um. When is good for you?" she asks as she head tilts at Hiroko. "My schedule is open. Most of the time. Sometimes I'm late. Stuff happens." she insists. You know. /Youma Stuff/. She doesn't say that though.
Griselda has been busy too, wreaking havoc in her own, recently quieter way. Say what you will about Hiroko: she learns from her mistakes. She might be a pint sized villain with an unabiding, dark magic-fueled rage toward the Prism Keepers, but she has been keeping a low profile during the last few months, building her power slowly, in more subtle way, sending only her most minor shades as fodder while draining color in less obvious ways elsewhere. And that might make her dangerous. Very dangerous. The last time Reiko fought Hiroko, the Grey Girl was playing for keeps, and it was only a lucky break that drove her back.
But for now, it's just Hiroko, and who knows how much Griselda has crept into her. Maybe a little. Maybe a lot. The only thing that's certain is that it's doubtful that it's none at all, even if she's not showing it very much.
"My parents frown on needless pursuits cutting into study time, but it you feel this is serious, I am willing to help you immediately after school. They're not home anyway until late evening, and I'm adult enough that this time slot is typically left to my own discretion." It probably has nothing to do with her being an adult, though neither of the two girls is likely aware of that.
"We can start now, if you'd like. I do have an idea. A place to go, if you're willing. Don't worry. It's a public place. I think your grandfather should be OK with it; I'll let you borrow my phone to call him."
Reiko Touyama shakes her head. "Grandpa knows I do stuff today after school late and also I have my own phone." she says. She is not like- some poor person!? Without a phone!? That's the /subtext/ she gets! How Rude! Subtext is so weird- why assume! If you assume you make an ass outta u-n-me! Of course- Hiroko is probably just trying to be..... nice? Ugh. /UGH/. This is confusing. She's used to dealing with jerk Hiroko.
She just shrugs at the comment on parents and sighs. Oh. 'Adult'?... Grandpa trusts her with her time.... her parents just aren't there to even notice. Does that make her.... Adult? Wait. is Adult the same as being Elegant!? "Is being adult the same thing as Elegance!?" she asks.
"And...uh. Sure. I can do it now. I don't have any plans...." she says quietly.
Hiroko pauses there, mouth open for a moment but not sure of what words to use. Does that question catch her off guard? No, of course not. Nothing catches her off guard, right? "Being an adult is about priorities," she begins, her tone neutral and matter-of-fact, as if she stating a simple matter of fact, like a science lesson. "You can have an elegant child or an inelegant adult. What separates an adult is putting important things above things that are trivial. Being willing to sacrifice a little today for a lot tomorrow. Even as a child, you can act like an adult if you prioritize your future over things that won't matter in a few years. When you're trying to get a job or get your art shown, they won't care how fun your play was. They'll care about how good you are, how well you know your field." Again, that sounds more like recitation than her own belief, though it's difficult to catch to a child's ear. Hiroko likely asked a similar question once, and someone gave her the very response Reiko is hearing now.
It's a response that Reiko might disagree it. It's the kind of thing Reiko might even vocally object to. But Hiroko forestalls that, seeing that the two of them are close enough to packed up. "C'mon," she says, lifting her wrist to look at her watch. "Lets go, or we'll miss the bus." She begins to lead the way out the door. "It shouldn't be long. It's about a ten minute ride."
The two slowly make their way out of the school, Hiroko not saying much. They pass through the front gate, walking the extra two minutes to the bus stop that delivers many of the students here to their place of education. They don't have to wait long. True to her word, they /would/ have missed it, had they dawdled. Hiroko is apparently good about things like that. "I'll cover you, Touyama-san, since I'm insisting we go there." She hops on first, paying for both of their fares. It's not clear what's motivating her. It doesn't seem like pure niceness, or generosity, or some backhanded intimation that Reiko is too poor to pay a bus fare. No, it almost seems like she lives by a lot of rules, that she has been taught exactly what is and isn't proper in every, perhaps too many, social situations, and she reflexively lives by that set of guidelines.
Maybe it's not surprising. This is her reputation, after all, among everyone that isn't the peers she terrorizes. Hiroko Koumoto, the polished perfect daughter.
Reiko Touyama blinks and frowns. "But..if you're an adult now....you can't be a kid later....." she murmurs. It's kind of low and seems more like she's stating some sort of profound fact that floods her head rather than telling Hiroko something directly. It makes sense to her at least. Sometimes some adults she talks to don't remember what it was like to be a kid. 'Stop feeding the fish!' fishies are there to be fed! She crosses her arms at some particular koi related memory of long past as she hrmphs to herself.
She follows along, she doesn't say much either. "You know....you should come to feed koi with me sometimes." she says as she crosses her arms and gives a matter of fact nod. "I think you'd enjoy it and adults enjoy it all the time so it should be something you enjoy too!" she insists. She expects to be rebuffed, but that's okay. Though Reiko only seems to ask specific people along for this kind of activity. Is she trusting Hiroko a little? maybe but-----
Reiko just shakes her head. She has a bus card- but she's not about to say no to Hiroko paying the fare. She keeps quiet. The ride is awkward. She sits across from Hiroko- by nesscity, which leaves her faces her from across a bus asile. She tilts her head at her. Then- at the same time, with a small little magical pop- a koi - that is more like a cairicture of a koi- appears next to her face and seems to be making vaugely the same expression. No one else on the bus reacts to it. Hiroko may or may not be able to see it. It seems familar. But not. Reiko isn't Prism Keeper Orange right now- after all. But that is some sort of familar koi. Reiko doesn't seem to aknowledge it's presence.
"Just because I'm doing this to help you doesn't mean I am suddenly interested in pursuits like that," Hiroko says, her voice flat and to-the-point there. So much for tact. She draws that line pretty clearly. The word "childish" isn't quite included in that statement, but she was probably thinking it.
The bus keeps rolling, the scenery behind Hiroko all familiar to Reiko. It doesn't seem like they're going far from the environs of the school. The silence after Hiroko's statement grows a little more awkward with each passing moment, until eventually the black-haired girl herself feels compelled to say something. She explains their destination. A little bit, anyway.
"I come here sometimes. It's not the kind of place I /usually/ shop." There's a haughtiness to that, as if the place she /usually/ shops is somehow clearly superior. What does she usually wear, anyway, though? Reiko hasn't seen her out of her uniform in a long time. What passes for casual clothing for Hiroko Koumoto nowadays? "But it's close to the school, so if I feel like not bothering my mother, for the sake of her convenience, I go to this place." Is this the only place she gets to shop alone, then?
"I'm not saying you can /buy/ elegance, but a good social presentation starts with your physical appearance." She really feels the need to explain this one. Her explanation seems to stretch a little further with each word, though, and she slowly starts to seem like she's convincing herself. "So trying stuff on is sometimes a good way to envision yourself with a different image. Purely as a mental exercise. So that's what we're going to do. It will be a good place to teach you how to act like a proper lady too." Suddenly they're ladies?
Reiko Touyama blinks. The koi dissapears when Hiroko starts explaining thier destination. Hiroko didn't seem to see it. That's good. Reiko might had caught it out of the corner of her eye. She started to have a tiny panic attack inside when she realized. She takes a deep breath and looks up.
She head tilts. "Okay...?" she asks. She takes in the words and she head tilts. She peeks at her phone and taps the screen. Yes she has an allowance. yes she was a bank account, and yes, the parents set up some weird allowance granter the bank offers that's get 'sent' to a card. Her parents work hard. They are good off. Not super rich. Not middle class either. She sits in that bracket of 'having disposable income regularly-but she isn't buying a car or somethin anytime soon'.
She head tilts. "I dunno what passes for....elegant clothing." she says softly and closing her eyes. Tadase, looking like a king and....her--- red headed queen!? That mental image fades fast as she huffs! She doesn't feel very 'Queen like'...
"L..lady?" she asks with a series of fast blink. What does she mean by that!?
"Yes, like a lady. You can get away with a lot of questionable things in school, but outside of school, all girls should try to act like ladies." Hiroko speaks with confidence. Almost. She sounds almost entirely sure, but to a keen ear, that fact that she's simply reciting rather than stating her own thoughts is easy to spot. There's not a lot of time to think about that, though. The bus arrives, and Hiroko stands a little too quickly. Is she eager to be here? Exiting the bus reveals their destination; the bus stop is just in front of it.
Hiroko steps out first, leaving her standing on the sidewalk, facing an archway that leads into a long open air shopping center, stores on either side of an open air pathway that seems to run the entire length of this large block, an arching trellis with vines above providing a bit of shade. It can likely be covered during the rainy season; it probably will be tomorrow.
Perhaps surprisingly, this place seems very . . . normal. It's not bad by any definition. The decor is nice, and the clothes look good; this is the type of place almost any Japanese girl would enjoy shopping it. But Hiroko is the daughter of a semi-well-known socialite, probably with a different set of standards placed upon her. Then again, that might be the reason she comes here alone.
Hiroko glances her watch again before turning toward the bus door, waiting for Reiko to get off. "C'mon. It's at the other end of the plaza. I don't have all day." Suddenly she's impatient?
Reiko Touyama gets the idea that Hiroko both.... belives what she's saying. but that she's also parroting... something. She head tilts. She wonders where this comes from. Hiroko's parents aren't abusive... right? Of course not. She's a jerk- not hurt! She crosses her arms as she gets out after Hiroko and follows along. She keeps pace good. She listens and glances at the stores.
She's been in this plaza before. It's a nice plaza. Not special or rich looking and that seems kind of out of place for her. Hiroko shops here? She's so elegant and stuff. Maybe she's only allowed to go to the good places with her mother? She doesn't know.
She follows along as she keeps pace. and frowns a bit. "If you don't have time....we can do this later you know...." she says quietly.
"And um. Thanks. and stuff. Anyways." she says sheepishly.
"I try to be helpful," Hiroko says quietly as she begins to walk. That's not entirely untrue. The adults at Seishou Elementary certainly consider her so, and they're not being entirely misled on that count. She's the type responsible enough to be class representative or be part of a student council, albeit an iron-fisted and mean one.
The two walk in relative silence for a while after that, slowly heading through the throngs of shoppers, past the varied stores. At this hour, the crowd is still full and lively. Hiroko doesn't seem to be terribly shy, herself, walking abreast with Reiko. There's awkward tension between them, of course, between usually-bully and usually-victim, but she doesn't seem to much care right now. Her attention is instead occupied with the stores here, eyes constantly wandering. There are touches of glamor here too, a few high-endish stores that sell off-brand chic. It's the same styles and quality, really, absent the designer labels that add a thousand yen (or several) to the price. But Hiroko doesn't seem to notice those; she seems more occupied with everything else. There's a lot to take in here. Not just clothing but food hawked from tiny eateries or stalls set up in the middle of this passage. And of course, that everpresent staple of Tokyo life: the vending machine. They're here, against every inch of otherwise empty wall, selling food and drink and much more beyond that.
It's a few minutes worth of walking to the girls' final destination. It's a store catering to girls Hiroko and Reiko's age, though the styles being sold look a little older than that. Not quite mature by adult standards, but it's definitely a little less elementary school and a little more teenager, even if it's sized for the former.
The store owner seems to recognize her. "Hiroko-chan!" Chan. It's strange, really, to see the open affection which the well-dressed, middle-aged woman has for her, perhaps a bothersome reminder of how different she can be around adults. Hiroko just bows, ever the polished young girl. "Good afternoon, Kichida-san." The other woman is probably old enough for a more respectful honorific, but addressing her this way is probably flattering in its own right. And then the middle-aged woman sets her eyes on Reiko, warm expression glowing. "Finally, you brought a friend! What is your name, dear?"
Reiko Touyama follows along brisky. Typical mall. Typical Plaza. Vending Machines. Busy. None of these surprise her. She does nod a little at Hiroko's words. She tries to be helpful...? She hrmphs a bit to herself. No. Hiroko's still mean. and a bully. And hangs around with other jerks and bullies and plays suck up to adults. This is how she sees it, afterall.
She looks around the stores. Woah! She's seen it from the outside before- but--- it always looked like it was for older girls. It is clearly not. These are things very close to her size and Hiroko's size. She softly peeks around all over. Sort of zipping around the front area of the store. Hiroko forgotten all in a moment as she eyes a lovely orange dress she's seen a version of for older girls.... so pretty-----
'Finally, you brought a friend'. This stabs her suddenly. It makes her pay attention before. She is not Hiroko's friend and she goes to say that. But... she purses her lips. 'Finally, you brought a friend'. Finally? She doesn't even...shop? With any of that mean girl squad? This kind of makes her feel bad and she looks down. She can't bring herself to correct the woman. Everyone...should shop with someone. sometimes. Right? That's a thing you do together. That's how you ask people if you look nice in things....
"My name is Reiko Touyama." she says politly. She does not correct the friend part. That's all she says.
"Touyama-san is looking to change her image a little," Hiroko says, rising from her slight bow. She doesn't correct the woman either. "Do you mind if we just browse a little?" Kichida just smiles. "Of course!"
Hiroko briefly turns toward Reiko there, looking at her appraisingly, before looking back at the woman running the store. "I think she needs to dress up a little. Something a little more serious, but still everyday. Something with color, but a little darker. Do you have anything like that?" she asks. The woman thinks on that, her style of conversation animated and lively. "I'm not sure what would go well with that beautiful hair of yours, dear. Oh!" She seems to have an idea. "Just a moment!"
Hiroko and Reiko are left alone in the front of the store as the woman drifts to the back to start thumbing through a rack. "If I might ask, why do you suddenly care so much about being elegant, Touyama-san?"
Reiko Touyama looks to Hiroko, who didn't correct Kichida. She head tilts. Maybe you don't 'correct' adults? It's really weird. She looks back to the dresses and clothes and shirts and pants and everything she can see without straying too far from Hiroko. She's not trying to dissapear. She just finds this exciting. She does pause though....
Why does she suddenly care? She didn't plan on answering this. But now she's feeling bad and---maybe Hiroko does deserve the truth right now- She did /immeidatly/ move to help her out afterall without also like, Oujo lauging at her.
"Well. Um. There is.. um. A boy I like..." she says silently. "...and I dunno if I can impress him like I am now." she admits softly. "I mean. I'm not trying to change completely, but I think he's the kinda guy who would like someone proper or somethin..." she says as she looks down a little bit.
"I see," Hiroko says. She seems to be thinking about that very situation. Maybe even a little too hard. Does she even have advice to offer in a situation like this? It's not like she has ever been seen hanging around boys at school, after all. Not only is she a little young to even be interested, but most of them are as afraid of her as the girls in her grade.
"Well, then. Maybe a change of image /is/ in order. I don't think you need elegance, though. Most of the boys in our school don't exactly have much grace themselves." There's a haughty "unlike me" buried in there somewhere, judging by her tone. "But you won't get anywhere with anyone if they don't notice you, elegant or not. And you're a little too shy when Akatsuki-san isn't around, Touyama-san. Say what you will about her behavior, but she isn't afraid to speak her mind and approach people. That's really your issue. You need presence. That's what gets you noticed."
Kichida finally returns, holding up a few hangers. "I would love to see you in this, Reiko-chan!" It's a bit of a change from Reiko's usual style, though. No orange in sight. It's a deep red dress in satteen, a bow in the front, ruffled at the bottom, cut just above the knee. Hiroko frowns a bit, though, having her own input. "That goes with her hair, but it needs something darker to round it out, don't you think? Black leggings, maybe. And something to go around her shoulders. It'll look too formal without sleeves in that style." Does she care about fashion? Or is it just another thing she has been taught? The two of them seem to hash it out between themselves in short order, Hiroko's suggestions added. And then a cluster of hangers are pushed toward Reiko. "Try these," Hiroko says.
Reiko Touyama likes boys in that romantic stories and fairy tales tell her. You find a boy and then everything is happily ever after. Also. The fact he's a tiny prince may have something to do with that. She doesn't say anything of this of course. She meeks at Hiroko. "He...actually goes to Seiyou..." she murmurs. "...but that's not like a special school or anything. Public, too. So. Maybe the same." she mutters a bit.
She head tilts. Okay. So Hiroko doesn't make fun of her and goes into anayltical fashion advice mode with the clerk/owner. She watches them exchange talking back and forth. It's very much like...watching two adults talk among themselves. It's very weird and unsettling to Reiko.
She blinks at the clothes given to her. "Um. Alright... a moment!" she says.
She peeks into the fitting room and dissapears behind the door. There's the usual commotion assumed with changing clothes. She peeks at herself in the mirror in there and blushes. Huh..... this looks nice. She head tilts. She never really looked at clothes like this. She usually wears T-shirts. She peeks out Shyly---but then comes out in full.
"Um. What do you think...?" she asks the two.
Kichida responds first, the middle-aged woman's face lighting up, a smile erupting on her face that seems easy and natural for her. She smiles a lot like that, actually, if the faint lines in her expression are any indication. It's an expression of enthusiasm and eagerness that's well-worn on her face. This is her joy, it seems, the reason she runs this place. "Touyama-chan!" she says warmly. "You look wonderful!"
Hiroko's response is a little slower, though. She's having one of those moments when her refined facade drops and her true feelings shine through, but this time, it's only silence. She's surprised for a moment, the slightest tilt of a head usually upright with perfect posture, as if trying to figure something out. She doesn't actually say anything until Kichida looks at her to hear her opinion, though, the pull of expectation pushing her back into her usual practiced poise. "Yes. Of course. I think so too," she says politely. It's not clear whether she actually likes it or dislikes it, though; what else would she say in front of others, an adult especially. She just might have been interrupted from saying whatever she was actually thinking. She looks at the older woman next to her, a pleasant but much more rote smile spreading across her young face. "Kichida-san. Can you excuse us for a moment?" The reply is quick. "Of course, Hiroko-chan."
And then it's just Hiroko and Reiko. The black-haired girl is quiet for a moment before asking a simple question, "Well. What do you think? How do you feel?"
Reiko Touyama just kind of unbashedly blushes for a bit. She feels...fancy? Maybe not elegant, no--but it feels like there's /eyes/ on her. She looks at the two and regards Hiroko for a small while as she head tilts, she's silent? Is she caught off guard? She doesn't know. She just looks between the two as she holds her hands in front of her shyly....
Then she pauses. "How do I feel..um... like there's eyes on me, even though it's just ... you and um, Kichida-san..." she says softly. "But... um, I like it?" she says. "I feel kind of fancy. Is this everyday wear?..." she asks silently.
"Everyday wear?" Hiroko repeats, a brief pause a moment later suggesting she's not quite sure how to answer. It's only a beat of at-a-loss silence, though, before she regains her bearings, replying almost reflexively, "Perhaps, depending on the kind of life you live. Maybe not so much for you." It doesn't seem like she intends that as a snub, even though it comes out that way. If anything, her tone doesn't seem negative at all when those words are spoken, merely a little flat, almost as if she viewed it as a good thing to have less occasion to dress up.
"I would call this half-a-step above casual." Her speech slips again afterward, into a style that doesn't seem quite hers. Like she was repeating someone else's wisdom. Maybe she even believes it's her own. "What matters is how you sell it, Touyama-san. If you're relaxed and casual, you won't seem overdressed in the nicest clothes. If you're nervous and self-conscious, anything will look like too much."
And then she pauses, her voice softening by an almost imperceptible half-measure. "But it's something you learn. If you're patient and apply yourself, you can learn anything, even if it's not natural for you. If you're serious about getting positive attention with your clothes, it's something you'll have to put a little bit of effort into. Everyone has to, in the beginning." That part, at least, seems a little bit more th product of her own experience. But she lets out a slight sigh there, slipping back into a tone that's a little less friendly. It's hard to spot with a child's eyes, but she's not quite comfortable playing the good friend. Not anymore, anyway. The words that follow don't seem intended to be meanspirited, but there's a dismissiveness there that's hard to miss. "But you still have a lot of work to do. Is it something you're actually willing to work towards?"
Reiko Touyama walks twoard's a mirror and turns around in it again as she sighs and lets out a slight completely non-confidence boosting sigh. Nervous and self-conscious were pretty much the two words that mostly described Reiko Touyama- in certain situations. When you're after a boy! Well, that's something to be nervous and self-conscious about!
"/just/ above Casual!? But this is really fancy, isn't it?" she asks curiously as she turns back around to face Hiroko. She doesn't, in fact, know what fancy really is. Her parents never actually take her to any fancy function dinners they go to- the fanciest dress she has is basically a common summer dress.
She turns around and blinks and head tilts. "So practice... okay. That just means wearing this when I can then... like in public!" she says. Yeah in public.. where eveyone can see it... all those eyes. /looking/ and /sideglancing/ and--- uggghhhhhh~
She visibly wilts a bit. She notices the sigh but can't quite read into it more than 'Hiroko-san is getting annoyed with her' so she changes gears.
"...Should we get more..or.. is the one going to be good for now and then...more later...?" she mutters the soft question to get back on track.
"I guess I mean..."
"I don't really have a chance as I am now... right?" she asks.
Something about that strikes an invisible chord with Hiroko. /I don't really have a chance as I am now./ There's personal resonance there that Hiroko puts enormous effort into not showing. It comes out only as the slightest downturn of one side of her mouth, a frown that begins to form for only a split-second before it's quashed.
"Well. I don't know who this boy is that seems to have you so preoccupied." The dismissiveness there is a little more apparent, when she speaks of the phantom boy of whom she stills knows little. "So I don't know what his standards are. You asked for elegance, though, and that's a goal you can only strive for with a little bit more effort." There's another pause, lips briefly pressed together as she resolves some internal conflict. She's decisive, though; whatever she's wondering about, she decides her course of action quickly.
"Have you considered that maybe your priorities are wrong here? You should strive to present yourself better for better reasons than getting some boy to notice you. You could do much more with your abilities if you weren't wrapped up in trivial things." Trivial things. What does that mean? Reiko's friends? Her hobbies? Her crushes? Maybe all of them. Hiroko seems to genuinely believe they can be pushed aside, though. If she doesn't truly believe it, she has done a good job of convincing herself.
Reiko Touyama could say a lot of things here. Some of them can be seen as make-belive, or over statement: 'He is a prince, and I wish to be an elegant princess to catch his eye.'. Except, that's kind of what he is to a degree- a sparkly prince. He protects people and supports people with magic... like she does! Well- she wouldn't say that. That'd get odd looks from Hiroko and of the few genuine 'normal' people- as far as she knows- she could tell her issues to about- Hiroko isn't one them. So what Hiroko gets is some confused noise of 'nrrrghf!'. It isn't a coherent thought.
It does give way to more thoughts though. What are Tadase's standards anyways? And--- no, she isn't going to give Hiroko the name of this boy. Because when this is over-- Hiroko's going to go back to her mean girl squad tommrow and she doesn't want to hear the teasing. The fact 'she likes a boy' is enough embarassment bait as it is and the fact she went to Hiroko for help is also embarassing.
"Let me.. get back into my normal clothes..." she says. She steps back into the changing room and comes back out in her school uniform she was wearing when they left. She takes the clothes to the front and places them on the counter. She frowns at Hiroko. "H-hey..." she says. "..what do you mean by that? Just because...I like.. someboy.. doesn't mean I'm going to stop drawing! or going to Anime Club or Art Club... or stuff...!" she says. Stuff. Probably magical stuff she can't actually talk about.
So 'Stuff'.
"What could I do...?" she asks with a sigh. "I mean. That I'm not doing already, eh?..."
There's also a lot that Hiroko might say here. /Talk to him./ /Put yourself out there./ /Be yourself./ Many useful things that ultimately go unsaid. Maybe she's holding that back for some reason. Maybe it's meanness. Probably not, though; it was never quite her style to set people up to fail, merely to somehow know and smugly gloat when they do. More likely, she simply doesn't know herself. She has certainly never mentioned a boy in her life. She hasn't mentioned much at all, really, about her life beyond the school uniform they're both wearing now. Not for a long time.
"I just think everyone should strive to live up to their full potential, even if that means making sacrifices. What kind of artist do you really want to be, Touyama-san? Is being a mangaka truly the end of your ambition? You could do more than that. Be more serious than that." Be more like her, she means. It's hard to pin down whether that's just arrogance, or if she's trying in her own awkward way to pull Reiko into her world.
Reiko might have words for Hiroko in response; even the sometimes-shy, sometimes-awkward orange-haired girl has steel in her when she really feels pushed to her limit. Sometimes that hair is fierce fire. But Reiko is preempted by someone with a bit more pull. Here Hiroko's phone rings, and the black-haired girl hurriedly moves to the entrance to retrieve it from her backpack.
"Hello mother. I hope your day has gone well." There's a cold formality there, almost an insistence on procedure. There's no smile on Hiroko's face, though; this seems functional more than affectionate. "No, mother. I was helping a classmate with something. I . . ." She's cut off. "I understand. I apologize. I'll be home soon." The tiny indicator of human emotion that follows comes as a small respite that softens the otherwise harsh, antiseptic feeling of the call. "I love you too." Obligatory? Probably, hopefully not.
Hiroko hurries back to the counter, with a haste that Reiko might remember from days long past. Even in better times, she was always the dutiful daughter, ever quick to respond to her parents' whims. She speaks first to the middle-aged woman running the store, who's now fussing affectionality over Reiko as she talks to her about her purchase. "Kichida-san. I have to go. Can you take care of Touyama-san? I don't think she has ever gone home from here."
The woman's face takes on a matronly smile, though her eyes are wrinkled with slight concern. "Of course, Hiroko-chan. I'll tell her the way. Please give your mother my best. And do come back soon."
Hiroko just gives a polite bow. "I'll try," the gray-eyed girl replies to the vendor. And to Reiko, "I apologize for my abrupt departure. Please take care on your journey home." It seems genuine enough, though with Hiroko, it's always hard to sort her trained etiquette from true concern. She's a good actor, sometimes, in very limited ways. She can polish her words to the point where sincerity disappears, and only shining decorum remains. There's not much more opportunity to think on it. A few moments later, her things are gathered up, and she's gone. Kichida-san just smiles at Reiko, offering a few final words.
"These are hard years for any girl, you know." What does that mean? She doesn't explain; maybe it's something she wants Reiko to figure out. "I'm sure you'll look beautiful in these. You should have a little more confidence. You never know when you'll need to step up into the spotlight. And please. Come back here any time, even if you're only browsing."