Recess! Recently the schedule changed for the third term, which meant different classes were having thier time off at the same time, and Group C was finally going to be with Group A! This meant, that, Reiko was gonna see Hoshi again at Recess! It's been a while!
She'd hope that, Hoshi would come to her- but she's keeping a look out as she looks down at the sketchpad. She's drawing some sort of scary guy in a black labcoat and wild hair. What's that about? Regardless, her drawing is impecable and professional looking as ever- she's even a little better than when Hoshi saw her last!
She otherwise looks nervous.
For her part, Hoshi comes out of class talking to a group of girls that scatters quickly, leaving Hoshi to herself as she heads by, mostly coincidence, towards Reiko. Only when she comes close does she notice her old friend, and she's immediately all smiles. "Reiko!"
Reiko Touyama is sketching hair lines. This is harder than you think. Sometimes she has to erase- but that's an eraser is for! The idea is to draw light enough that you don't need to scrape the paper to erase. She then looks up-- just time to hear 'Reiko!'.
"H-hoshi!" she beams wide!
"We're in the same recess period again!" she says! "Isn't that neat!?" she asks. She pauses. "Mei.. transfered... for. um."
"Well her mom made her go to a finishing school." she lies. She can't actually tell Hoshi the real reason.
"But---I'm still here!" she smiles. This is a brave-face! She doesn't want the first interaction she's had with Hoshi to be her breaking down into a crying fit.
"Um..." she says.
"How is... your dad?" she asks. She doesn't ask about Mom. She knows about that awkwardness and the trouble it caused.
Hoshi sits down next to Reiko and glances at what the other girl is drawing, "Is that guy from one of your stories?" She asks, letting the whole thing about Mei wash over her as she tries to wrap a comforting arm around the obviously not entirely comfortable Reiko. "Dad's fine, he's busy. How's your grandpa?"
Reiko Touyama has an arm wrapped around her. This /does/ help a lot. A real lot! She smiles! She hasn't had any of the old group around in a bit- except for Mei- and now she's gone, too. She beams a little in a smile. "Your dad always was busy...." she can relate to busy parents. Like how she never sees hers except once in a blue moon.
"Grandpa's okay! He's doing well!" she beams.
"Oh---this is... um.... 'Riventon'. He's uh. No he's not one of my stories. He's a bad guy though." she says with a series of nods. "I uh. Felt like drawing a bad guy." she lies. No, drawing people just lets her square her thoughts when she's thinking about them.
"What's this Riventon like then?" Hoshi attempts to cheer Reiko up even more by encouraging discussing story characters, little does she know that this is no mere story. "Is he a mad scientist who tries to redirect an asteroid to the world to get revange for his lost love?"
Reiko Touyama thinks about what to say. "I don't know. He /is/ some sort of scientist but he doesn't care about anything he does and doesn't mind hurting people or wrecking things to do it." she says. "I dunno about summoning meteors." she giggles a bit. "He kinda uses blasts of 'dark energy' maybe..." she says. "..and stuff like that." she says.
Then she clears he throat. "You know, typical anime thing." she says like she has to cover her tracks somehow.
"That sounds weird. If he doesn't care about anything why is he hurting people and wrecking things? I'm sure he must want something" Hoshi seems to insist, then immediately starts thinking about what he might want. "Uh. Maybe he wants to become immortal? That's a common bad guy goal, right?"
Reiko Touyama thinks about this. "I think he just hates people messing with him or he sees stuff that's really mean as 'reasonable'." she asides. "I dunno, maybe he does want to live forever, or maybe he's just aimlessly doing evil because he thinks it's right? I dunno really..." she says. Indeed, she doesn't, infact know.
She's not going into the Ayana situation. Nope. Not with Hoshi right now.
She closes her sketchbook and slides it into her backpack as she sighs and fixes her glasses on her face.
"...My parents promised to take me somewhere soon. I'm not sure if they're gonna keep the promise." she admits. "I just wish they'd stop promising me things if they're not gonna keep it..."
"If they break their promise, I'll go do something with you instead, promise." Hoshi sounds quite sincere, and pulls the other girl a little closer. "I know it's not the same, but we haven't done anything in ages, so I hope it'll at least be nice."
Reiko Touyama gives Hoshi a light hug. The two may not have talked in a while- but it's not been due to lack of trying. Just--- life stinks. There's no ill will there. So when Hoshi says something sincerely she smiles a bit. "We should do that anyways..." she says. "I mean! We need to catch up and it'll be easier to discuss things now!" she beams.
"I mean when have the one period together..." she says softly. "I really need to bring all the new stuff I've drawn and show you!" she says softly.
"I'd love to see it." Hoshi sounds genuinely excited. Like Reiko, she's not meant to exclude anyone. They just ... didn't manage to find eachother at the right times. "And we should. Maybe I could come visit this weekend? I'm sure dad won't mind as long as I let him know where I'm going."
Reiko Touyama beams! "Sure! We can... have a small sleepover maybe!" she says. Hopefully, she thinks, a creepy doll isn't going to make this difficult or hard to explain away. Nah, she has the charm braclet! That'll help make things easier, she thinks.
"We can order some food and--- talk and maybe watch some movies!" she says.
Also this might get her parents off her back about friends.
"I'd have to ask first before I can promise that..." Hoshi sounds a little less certain about that, perhaps a little worry there. "I don't know if anything interesting is going to be in the sky this weekend. Dad might want to look at something special. If there's not, I'm sure he won't mind."
Reiko Touyama says. "Oh... this weekend...." she looks guilty suddenly. This weekend is....
"Well the sky's going to be blotted out by the storm, right?" she asks with a short smile.
"--but it might be dangerous! What if the storm gets too big!?" and what if it's a mega witch that wants to destroy the city? UGH.
How can she... tell Hoshi this.
"I just have a bad feeling now I guess." she says. "About the storm..."
"Oh. Right." Suddenly Hoshi remembers that it'll still be there, and starts to look a little sad. "I guess if we won't be able to see anything there's no harm in sleeping over. I guess dad won't mind, as long as the storm isn't going to get too bad, at least. Wgt do you have a bad feeling about it?"
Reiko Touyama nods. "Well. um. I just do!" she says. "I man it's the middle of winter! And---we shouldn't be getting storms like that, right!?" she says. Ugh, shes feeling lame for lying but what she's supposed to say? 'oh a giant monster might murder everyone'.
No, just there is a bad storm and that's what she's sticking too!
"The news should have all the info really." she insists.
"You're not saying everything." Hoshi accuses Reiko of hiding something, but she doesn't really seem to mind. "If it's some kind of secret you've promised to keep, I don't mind, just don't think I won't notice you're hiding something, please."
Reiko Touyama huffs. "About a storm!? What would I know about that?" she asks curiously. Yes she does, but she isn't going to huff. "Look, just. I'm just worried, okay?" she says with a sort smile. That much is true on her face- she is /worried/.
"S-sorry, I'm not..meaning to seem shifty on purpose..." she says.
"Just...worry. N' everything." she sighs.
Hoshi doesn't push any further, just holding on tight and saying a simple phrase. "I'm sure it'll be fine." She looks back at the drawing of Riventon, "So you said he's a bad guy, right? What kind of bad things does he do?"
Reiko Touyama put her sketch book away, but she still answers about 'Riventon'. "Bad things. He did something bad to one of Prism Keeper Orange's friends." she says. Not a lie. It indeed happened. "Then she had to help fix it." also, not a lie.
But as far as Hoshi's concerned she's just telling a story.
"He... filled the friend with dark energy so--- he could 'fix her' when she wasn't broken." she says.
"That sounds very mean" She hears Prism Keeper Orange being mentioned, and thinking it's just the same old game she puffs up and kind of beats her chest like she's very scary looking. "Maybe Prism Keeper Yellow needs to come teach him what happens to meanies."
Reiko Touyama listens to this and it illicits a sad smile. Really, because having a 'yellow' around would help ease things for her. They'd be at least two again! But Hoshi's been out of the game for so long- and that Yellow Prism in her backpack hasn't started glowing and trying to escape her backpack so- Hoshi can't posssssibly be 'Yellow' right?
...Right?
She smiles and stands up from the bench as she motions. "Come on---I'm hungry let's go to the vending machine before recess ends!" she beams.