Reiko Touyama had come to Seiyou to deliver an orange envelope herself sneakily. Then she remembered school is not actually in session. So then she grew disheartend and ended up in Seiyou's Observatory. Really. She doesn't quite remember coming here- and seemed confused finding herself sitting here. She frowned a little and looked down at her letter and just sort of---lost it--- there was a lot of shredding sounds and then orange confetti falling around her.
A tiny koi janitor appeared and started pushing orange paper into a pile and looking sort of grumpy about it's low minimum wage koi job.
Nrg-- why'd she do that!? Ugh--- now-- what....
She thought back to the discussion with Ikuto and she fumbled for her phone. Should she try contacting directly? Nrg-- no. She wrote the letter because she knew she'd fumble into awkwardness. She put her phone away and just sort of crossed her arms in frustration.
Why did things always have to be so hard.
Tadase ends up in the Observatory more and more lately - spending as much time thinking about things himself and just ending up in front of the two massive doors, and wandering in. Something about leaning up and looking at the roof helps somewhat. Or maybe the chairs just happen to be really comfortable.
Which is what has happened today as he steps in quietly - though today, the doors were already ajar. It's not uncommon for him to meet people here, either - especially not after Mamoru 'died'.
Which means that he's walking in just in time to see Reiko tear up her letter. He stays quiet for a moment, but eventually decides (with some poking in the cheek by Kiseki, who is floating nearby) to approach her.
"Touyama-san, are you okay?" he asks, softly. There's an equally soft smile on his face.
Reiko Touyama has paper hanging around. It appears to be pieces of an envelope and orange letter paper. There's some fish pattern to the paper. Reiko's handwriting is messy and looking at seperate small pieces don't tell much. The koi continues it's cleaning. It pops away, appears on Reiko's shoulder. Brushes off a few stray pieces and then goes back to work on the stuff on the floor.
Reiko doesn't really understand this either as she grumps---
Tadase's voice-- she didn't notice his entrance- causes her to jump and hair to stand on edge-----eeeeeee! No of all-- the people to walk into this place right now- it's Tadase!? Ugh she kind of just wants to cry.
Two koi appear next to her with an audible pop and begin giving Tadase the stink eye. Since Reiko can hear it this time she stands up and turns around with a stamp and yells. "GO AWAY!"
All the koi dissapear with a sudden pop. She then pauses-- a sudden dour expression appearing---!
"N--not you!" she says pointing at Tadase. "I--I'm talking...to my koi--please..don't..." she huffs and flumps back down into the seat. "My koi have been kind of betraying how I feel... a lot recently... and.. in extreme cases... have actually talked! n'... forced me to transform without me doing it..." she says. "-but only when I try to hide important stuff inside I guess." she says, crossing her arms.
"I just feel sad n' angry n' upset all at once n' it isn't fair to you n' all i was trying to do was not ruining your evenin at the dance when I was havin a crummy time." she mutters, tapping her foot a little, speaking in a soft low voice and keeping her head down towards the floor.
Tadase (and Kiseki) stop dead when the koi appear and make faces at them. He makes a step back when Reiko yells - but it turns out to not be about him.
He sighs, as she takes a seat and starts talking. "Well... I don't know anything about magical orange-color koi. But I know a thing or two about having a little magical friend who can sometimes disagree about what's best for you." he says, side-eyeing at Kiseki. Who is side-eying Tadase.
"Touyama-san. Please. Take a deep breath." he says, standing in front of her, looking at her, trying to do something to help. Wanting to help. "Take a deep breath and be calm. I don't know what's going on, but I'd like to do what I can, and at least you can talk to me, I hope."
Reiko Touyama just sort of sits there and arms crossed and posture mostly guarded. She can see Tadase's feet though..."You can sit down..." she says softly-- her foot kind of tapping a little. She gives it a bit--- wether Tadase sits down or not... her thoughts continue in her head.
She doesn't want to do this. In fact, she just sits there and her thoughts run- and she wishes she could--- just beam these things into Tadase's head. Luckily, no koi appear at this thought. Right now, her koi don't seem to be appearing at the moment.
She finally begins talking.
"I'm kinda nerdy...n' awkward. n' I like to draw... n'... anime! and-- I like to watch war documentaries with my grandpa... and.. and I used to play a make belive pretend game of magical girls with my friends even when it wasn't really acceptable to do so at my age-- and before it became real n' stuff. So I have some bullies and I'm not really popular." she admits.
"--n' so-- when I met someone I liked--- I got kinda worried n'.. we were similar in some ways. Because I protect people with my koi and I support-- that's how it is in the story---I'm Red-chan's support- but I thought that-- I'm too outta my leauge..."
"S--so .. I got my friend and--- I went on an adventure for a night to steal a special rose from a bush that was supposed to be special and magical and help me... and-- I gave it to--- him....! I--i got help from a bully who is really elegant! Who.. who helped me because it amused her I was goin to her for help! And she taught me how to dress n' I got some new clothes! And---I felt super confident for a change for a bit!" she says.
Reiko seems to be using the word 'him' here- but the subtext is enough for Tadase to figure out who she's actually talking about. He got the rose- afterall!
It's probably just easier for Reiko to talk about this if she's pretending she's talking to someone else.
She hasn't even looked up!
Tadase takes a while to respond. He's taking it in. All of it, slowly but surely. "Well..." he starts. Then he stops, again. He's still trying to figure out how to respond, because he doesn't really know what to say or do. "Touyama-san. I didn't know." he starts, his hands drooping to his sides.
And now, he finally sits down. "I mean I figured something was up when you gave me the rose. But since you never said anything..." he takes a big breath. "And what you do is important. And cool! And I've seen you fight. it's impressive. You should be confident!"
Tadase has NEVER been good with this kind of thing. But he also doesn't want to be MEAN or hurt Reiko, so he can't just call Kiseki. The tiny king is floating nearby, looking at them both.
Reiko Touyama still has arms crossed. Still staring at the floor. She isn't looking up. She just sort of keeps guarded as she listens. "..cuz I was still workin on it and--and I was still stammering n' stuff and I'm still stammering now." she says. "--n' I drew this picture and was gonna talk to you about on Christmas since... that sounded romantic. You know..? But by then it was too late n' stuff."
She says silently.
"...huh? What- no.. I-- i'm not upset at you Tadase." she says. "That'd be... unfair? Wouldn't it? It is unfair! I shouldn't even be bothering you with this now." she mutters. "Only reason I am is 'cuz you're here n'...I tried to deliver a letter about this to you because Ikuto said I should talk my feelings anyways--- but I forgot school wasn't even in session yet cuz...I'm just a koiheaded jerkface..." she mutters.
"-and I found myself here and I just got frustrated and tore it up and then I got upset about that." she says as she sinks into the chair deeper.
"It's okay if you're upset at me or scared or.. something. I just.. I didn't mean for my koi to be like that I just wanted to try to improve me mood at the dance but no one even wanted to go with me and I just ended up alone and miserable for the rest of the night and even that jerk cat got a date!" she huffs.
Tadase shakes his head. "I'm not upset at you. Or anything." he pauses. "I'm... maybe it's not fair for me to feel like I ought to apologize, but I do."
"You're a nice girl, Touyama-san. And you're powerful, too. So powerful maybe it's hard to contain. Like I said, with Kiseki it's hard to keep him under control all the time. So I understand about the Koi!" he says emphatically.
Then he puts a hand on her shoulder. "I'm worried about you, though - I don't like to see people sad or upset. And you... kinda look to be that way. And I'm pretty that jerk cat's date is just another jerk cat so you're not missing anything."
Reiko Touyama looks up a little, though, not at Tadase- but it's a start. "Don't need.. to apologize. There's really nothing to apologize for." she mutters. "Just... like. Ever since this whole magic thing I thought it would be super romantic, you know...? To meet a magic prince... or someone you're destined for... and stuff like that and--- I mean! I even saw that! Like-- the Cute Wolf met her girlfriend cuz of an accident where she formed this magic bond by accident with someone else who was just a friend before... and it's a super neat story too! N'... I don't think anything like that will ever happen to me."
She looks back down. "I'm sorry I'm sad and upset I dunno what to tell you about that. I figure It'll go away after a while. I just dunno what to do to hurry that up. I tried n' stuff but most of what I've done just kinda made it worse." she mutters.
"You know, I'll be honest with you, Touyama-san. I think it was pretty romantic. I can see it from your side. But just because this wasn't your story doesn't mean you're not going to get a story, right?" He looks into her eyes.
"There's a lot of people in the world. And if you're destined for one, that means you're gonna run into a lot of people you're not destined for, and you might hit them first. You can't let that stop you. Don't end your story here, Touyama-san. I'm sure there's a prince out there for you, too - and you wouldn't want his first impression of you to be seeing you sad and upset?" he offers, trying to help give her a reason to bring her mood around.
Reiko Touyama shakes her head. "No one's gonna find me moping in here." she adds. "Except you apparently." she mutters. "Why you even here? This place seems kinda quiet and lonely..." she mutters. "I just kinda ended up here like I said...."
Then she remembers something unrelated...
"Hey..."
"...what does Ikuto do exactly? Um. He did this. thing. With a violin and. This black egg came out. And then he merged with it and became a figure skater- cuz I was at an ice rink trying to cheer myself up I guess."
"I know my Chroma Crystal reacted to it- so it was bad stuff. But I hit him with a massive blast of color energy and that seemed to work well. Color Energy seems to get rid of bad things. I know Cute Wolf's howl has a similar effect." she shrugs. "I dunno why..."
"I've gotten really good at that...I'm able to use the more powerful version of my normal attack now my character's supposed to have in the story!" she says a little bit, smiling just a little. "I was able to blast a better deal of the bad energy that was infecting Cute Wolf's girl away with it."
She pauses and looks back down.
"I'm sorry about all this..." is all she says lowly. "I just didn't wanna upset you after Christmas and the new year.. and--- I didn't even give you a gift! Because...it wouldn't. Really be appropiate. To give you a drawing like that. After that." she muters. "And--haven't been able to bring myself to draw another yet..."
"..and I feel bad about that.."
"..because you deserve a nice gift!"
Tadase smiles. "This place seems like it's in the middle of nowhere, but it's shockingly easy to find - as long as you don't know where you are." he says, cryptically. "Really everyone who gets lost on these grounds ends up here." he explains.
"Ikuto... steals other people's dreams. That's what the Heart's Eggs are. And when he absorbs them... he's taking on those aspects. Like when I become Platinum Royale. But with someone else's. That's what makes it dark, why it reacts so poorly to your magic, and Ikiko's howl. Because abusing someone else's dreams like that... it's not good for anyone."
"You've already apologized. You don't need to anymore - you don't need to feel bad anymore. I don't need a gift..." Tadase adds. The number of times he's had to tell people he didn't deserve a gift... this christmas alone... is a lot.
Reiko Touyama thinks about this... "Oh..!" she says. "That.. makes more sense than... me being confused.... about how an egg and a cat... makes a figure skater..." she mutters, tapping her bottom lip. "Ikuto said that... the secret to getting a guy intrested... in to spin 'em around and...leave em panting and wanting more..." she says-- a little paraphrasing from what she understood. "It was rather lewd actually!" she blushes with a huff! "He even spun me around before saying it!" she huffs.
"Jerk...."
"He said I should still talk about my feelings thou, n' I guess he was right at least..." she says looking down. "-n I don't want my fish making faces at you n' Amu forever.. because. I really didn't wanna talk about this to Amu." she sighs a bit.
"I imagine that would had went worse!" she says.
Tadase smiles. "I think Amu-chan's more understanding than people give her credit for, really." He doesn't go out of his way to directly talk about the outer shell she puts on - because he doesn't want to comprimise it. And he doesn't stay on her as a subject for long because he doesn't want to make Reiko feel bad - but she might still catch the look on his face or the way he says her name.
"Look, Ikuto's bad news. I've known him for years. There's a good guy in there, but he's hiding it so deep - and I don't know why. I think he likes messing with people. I don't know, I guess with all your koi you've never been around anyone with an actual cat, but he shares a lot of their bad habits, and one of those is messing with people."
"But that doesn't mean he wasn't right about sharing your feelings. I'm glad you talked to me, Touyama-san."
Reiko Touyama nods.. "I am too..." she admits silently. She does in fact, feel a little better, at least. Maybe not full force mode, but enough. "Just lots of stuff happening recently..." she says.
"Oh---yeah. My... grandpa's been seeing my koi since the begining apparently of this all... and he finally asked me about it recently. So I had to come clean about it all. Parents don't see 'em. Most adults don't. Most kids don't. Only some can." she says. "So..if something happens with me magically...it's okay to let him know, cuz he knows."
She stands up. "Um... I should. Probably go, at that. I was supposed to be home already! N'... I only came to drop off a letter...." she pauses.
"...that's all over the ground..."
She pauses. "Um is there a broom somewhere?" she asks.
Tadase smiles. "My uncle's like that." Tadase doesn't mention that his uncle is Tsukasa. "But I'm sure you'll be OK, Touyama-san." he adds, helpfully.
After a moment, Kiseki floats off and Tadase follows him, and there's a small brush and a dustpan. He passes the brush to Reiko and handles the dustpan himself. "Easier if someone helps." he offers. "This has been a really crazy last month, and this one's gonna be crazy too." he admits. "But it'd be a lot worse if there weren't people like us willing to help out."
Reiko Touyama begins sweeping up bits of orange and making sure that which is on seats get down to the ground to get swept up! There's still the pile from the koi earlier, too. Minimum wage koi is thankful for the help from boss. /somewhere/.
She talks. "Yeah..." is all she can really say to that statement. She sure hopes she'll be okay. Somethings don't feel right. Not this situation. Other ones.
"I just hope things calm down soon." she mutters. "Just wanna bring a happy end to the stuff I'm already helping with!" she says with a softer smile of sorts.
She looks around.
"I think..that's all the paper." she says lowly.
"Okay! So.. now I'm ready to go..!" she says.
"Um..."
"Thanks for talking... n' stuff." she says awkwardly.
...she just stands there...
"Oh--yeah I should. Actually. Leave..." she stammers.
Then she actually begins to leave. Finally.
Tadase just smiles. He keeps smiling until Reiko feels comfortable enough to leave. It's only once she's out of sight that he collapses down into one of the big chairs. "I hope she'll be okay." he says, slowly sinking down into it.
"I'm sure she will, Tadase. You could've just asked me to talk to her in your place, though." Kiseki adds, stepping up behind him.
Tadase looks at his small Chara. "She deserved more than that."