Baku Ogata (
brage) wrote in
harmonize_rpg2014-01-21 03:29 am
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Who: Baku Ogata, Persona Users
What: Team-Building Meeting
Where: Kobe, Regality
When: After Class, Thursday, May 11th
Reserving an entire room and providing drinks? How the hell did I get roped into hosting this at such a ridiculous place? Not to mention the money spent on the endeavor, but with all of this persona business, it seemed a bit out of place to worry about finances. I didn't even have that much spending money left. In truth, however, it was a welcome distraction from the stress of having all of the explosive components of the group come together under one roof without the adults to keep them tame; at least they did that much amidst all of the fear-mongering.
Baku had naturally arrived first to sort out the room reservations and whatnot. Along with him came a certain apprehension and paranoia; it was unlike him to skip out on kendo for something like this. What if someone caught wind of their activities? Despite a certain amount of inner protest, he knew that this was something that had to be done. No one of them would be able to succeed against the threats to come.
The teen soon began to regret arriving too early; he fiddles apprehensively and turns down several drinks before the first person arrives.
What: Team-Building Meeting
Where: Kobe, Regality
When: After Class, Thursday, May 11th
Reserving an entire room and providing drinks? How the hell did I get roped into hosting this at such a ridiculous place? Not to mention the money spent on the endeavor, but with all of this persona business, it seemed a bit out of place to worry about finances. I didn't even have that much spending money left. In truth, however, it was a welcome distraction from the stress of having all of the explosive components of the group come together under one roof without the adults to keep them tame; at least they did that much amidst all of the fear-mongering.
Baku had naturally arrived first to sort out the room reservations and whatnot. Along with him came a certain apprehension and paranoia; it was unlike him to skip out on kendo for something like this. What if someone caught wind of their activities? Despite a certain amount of inner protest, he knew that this was something that had to be done. No one of them would be able to succeed against the threats to come.
The teen soon began to regret arriving too early; he fiddles apprehensively and turns down several drinks before the first person arrives.
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After a quick exchange, she was led to one of the private rooms away from the loud chatter in the main area and down a hallway to the far room. She thanked the maid and closed the door before turning her head towards Ogata and said,
"Hey."
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Needless to say, by the time she had been led into the private room her face was about as red as a tomato. How was she ever going to survive all of this..?! Sayuri tried to respectfully bow when she spotted Haruka and Baku, but from the embarassment she almost tripped over her own feet instead.
"U.. um, g-good day, senpai!"
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In his pocket he had the coupons for everyone, and it didn't take long for him to be guided towards the private room in the back where the team was slowly assembling.
"Good afternoon, everyone," Taue grinned, reaching into his pocket and plopping the pile of coupons down, dead center. "Welcome to the jewel of Kobe. This place is wonderful."
Taue, it seemed, had been here a time or two. That much seemed certain by the fact that a young maid/waitress was already coming over to him, carrying a cup of coffee with milk and exactly two spoonfuls of sugar to the table. She bowed, and placed it in front of one of the seats.
Shinichiro nodded his thanks, and turned to the group as he sat down.
"Service is great, too."
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As soon as she heard the first cheerful "Okaeri nasaimase, ojou-sama!" Kisa knew this was going to be an uncomfortable experience. It felt like the sort of place otaku would frequent. Was this just to throw the adults off the trail?
That made her uncomfortable for entirely different reasons, but she knew she shouldn't jump to conclusions. And, at any rate, she had obligations to deal with now.
She made her way over to the group briskly and took a seat. She hid her discomfort quite well as she greeted everyone who'd arrived so far, but something in her face twitched almost imperceptibly when she saw the stack of coupons.
Then again, Taue did have something of a reputation...
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"I have no clue how you roped me into this, I don't even know what kind of place this is! Could've met at a park, or absolutely any other place, I had no-" his rant was promptly interrupted by the arrival of Sayuri, at which he abruptly turns to her.
"Uhh... hello, I'm Ogata Baku, but I don't think we've met..." his gaze turns back to Haruka for some sort of answer as to who she was, but he was again interrupted by other more familiar faces - Taue Shinichiro and Kisa Saiga. The fanfare with which Taue unleashes the plethora of coupons on the table causes Baku's eyes to widen, mostly at the sheer number of them. How many times has he even been here? Is there something here I'm not getting, or...? Despite the shock that the setting had on the teen, however, there was still a palpable sense of urgency surrounding him. There was definitely something he needed to say - else he wouldn't have suggested meeting in the first place.
"Shitaka-san, who else is coming?"
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Though she couldn't see it, she heard a loud plop and several pieces of paper scattering across the table....Least there was someone who'd been there more than her. She pushed a coupon that had touched her hand back towards the larger pile in the center, and nodded to Saiga as she entered.
"Imaizumi-senpai, Hachi, Suzuki-san, and maybe Abendorofu-san," she replied. "So we can start now and catch people up or take advantage of some of these coupons I guess?"
As if on cue, a maid returned to check on the filling room. At her question, Haruka asked for a piece of chocolate cake and iced green tea. At least she might as well enjoy something out of the coming topic.
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But she was quickly distracted after that by Taue's display of the coupons. How could one person have all of those for a place like this?! Why would a person have even one of those for a place like this sounded like an even better question in this case. Sayuri bit her lower lip to keep her face from going pale from shock at the sight, awkwardly avoiding meeting the guy's gaze in any way. And when the waitress was taking orders, all she did was shaking her head and politely saying that she didn't need anything and would be fine. There was no way she could eat something in a place like this, it was making her stomach shrink from nerves..
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He was late. What a shameful thing to have done! He might as well keep quiet and wait at the back for them to finish speaking. He thanked one of the maids politely, flirted with a gentle touch and delightful smile and took one of the drinks.
"I'm never late, Kiri-chan. I just arrive gracefully," he said.
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One foot, then the other.
Minoru stood staring at this locale with doubt in his eyes, a slight scowl, and the sort of trepidation reserved for going into a death gauntlet. He breathed deep, walked in, and immediately felt the culture shock when he was approached by a maid... There was some staring and bowing back, but he just wanted to tell her that's not how a Japanese woman should go about and oh the 19 mistakes in form but, he couldn't make a fuss. Not until he was with the others.
He walked into the room and eyed them all. What an assembly.
Those foreign movies that he'd been watching to try to "get" them - now borderline Wisney, but thanks to property merger in the early 21st Century, still valid - had brought words to his mouth when he saw them. He thought of wrinkled old men in black cloaks, in authority, whose point of view nobody bothered to listen to before demonizing, and whose words just fit this place very well.
Insignificant rebellion.
"Hello, friends. Ah, and what a day to--"
He made a sound like someone had just stepped on a sore toe. A sort of pained squeak.
"--avoid some of our responsibilities and get... away from the pressures of our guardians... right?"
He paled a little. His hands were visibly white and twitchy.
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The German took a seat farther away from the group but within earshot, not making eye contact with anyone. While distant and curt, she was still for the most part polite.
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Judging from the way the words defy his own independent tendencies, Baku correctly assumes that the voice that he's most recently heard belongs to Suzuki Minoru, the school's newest organizational fanatic, or so the whispers around the halls had told him. He was reminiscent of Ryuta, in a sense, but at the same time there was a fundamental difference that had somewhat soured Baku's view of the kid; he could tell this much by his choice of words alone. It was almost as if he were mocking their very purpose for calling this meeting. Baku's stare is without malice, yet confident and level as he responds.
"You're half right. I certainly did intend to elude Yachiyo-sensei and the others, but as for responsibilities, well... that's something we can't afford to neglect," his expression lightens slightly as his voice takes on a bit of a teasing tone, "Suzuki-san, right? I'll be honest, I'm surprised you bothered showing up to something like this."
Then again, he was surprised that Mirai and Chloe showed up too.
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But this was something he understood.
"Someone died. It affects us, and we are responsible for doing something about it. Even if I don't like the idea of going behind the backs of our superiors, a proper Japanese youth never shirks responsibility... And never over something this important."
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She also would have never thought that she’d walk into one sometime soon, as it wasn’t quite her cup of tea. But then again here she was.
Honestly, she was happy that she found her way here without having any kind of major troubles this time.
She would never openly admit it but deep inside she knew that her sense of direction was extremely poor.
Originally, she had arrived pretty quickly. Maybe even before some of the others. Even so, she was the last one to enter the meeting room. Not on purpose of course.
Somehow it seemed as if the maids, she had asked for the room everyone should be gathering at were mistaking her for a new co-worker and therefore tried their hardest to introduce her to the workflow.
It took the totally confused Himeko a while to free herself from that unwanted “part-time job offer” but in the end she finally managed to make the real reason for her being at a place like this clear to them.
Greeting the others with a bow, she quickly grabbed a seat somewhere as soon as she could.
“I don’t know what those maids here are thinking… trying to make me one of them… As if I would fit into a group of burikko-people with ultra-high pitched voices. The only cute thing about them are their cute clothes.”, she mumbled, shuddering slightly. It was still a bit of a shock for her and it also irritated her in a way.
Even though, she acted cute herself most of the time she couldn’t stand people trying to overdo it. There was a small but crucial difference between a normal cutesy act and acting “burikko” (so to say feign cute behavior to an extreme and make it come off as fake/inauthentic) and Himeko as someone who tried to make it come off as natural as possible was generally bugged by everyone crossing that line.
“Anyway... “, she decided to change the topic rather quickly since there was a reason they all gathered here after all. “Did I miss something important?”
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It came automatically, probably because it was better than the stuff that had to be said next. Her cake and iced green tea arrived then and though they tasted just the way she liked it, she worried her fork into the cake without really seeming to pay attention before saying,
"Since we're all here and Suzuki-san brought it up...what do you all really think about what happened?" Though Haruka looked and sounded like she usually did, there was an underlying tension in her words that didn't leave any question about what the 'what' was. "Didn't really get to talk about it last meeting aside from being rail-roaded again."
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If this whole meeting was going to be about discussing their feelings on the matter, she might as well have not shown up. She was done with feelings, done with this stupid game of adults vs students. They had been told they had a responsibility, and normally she was down with being responsible.... but after what had happened, after looking at their situation.... why did it matter? It wasn't like they had a choice to shirk this responsibility anyway; the government had them all by the throats. There were no choices, merely a pathetic illusion of freedom.... and that made her angry.
Chloe stared at the table, a hint of that anger managing to leak through her carefully constructed mask. Even the small amount of anger that shone through made the German look all the more intimidating and terrifying. Thinking about their situation added fuel to her already furious fire, and the German did her best to push the anger back down as her bandaged hand clenched at her side.
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But there was still one question playing through her mind. The girl didn't speak up about it since she sure didn't want to be rude and interrupt anyone, but with Haruka asking that question, it was a little easier to try and blend it into the conversation there. Although asking something meant having to look up a little bit again.. but Sayuri slowly gathered the courage to do so.
"Um, well.. if it isn't too rude to ask, I was wondering if that is what it's always like.." This was her very first contact with all those supernatural things, after all - it was right after she was even told about any of it that she was already forced to go along with them into that world.
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"Nah, not really." Definitely. "Usually get thrown into more quiet spots with generic mooks to beat up."
Beat. A bit quieter,
"But might not be the last time we see a place like that?"
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He was too busy thinking, searching for answers and pondering what had happened to run everything through his mental filter of loyalty, propaganda and patriotic jargon. So common sense came out undiluted.
"Honestly, if it happens, I wonder what you're supposed to do about it."
He stopped, pursed his lips, and made a slow, trailing gesture with the hands. "Sure, the authorities will be thinking of something - I trust they will - but it is expected of a proper Japanese youth to solve problems, and do the best in face of adversity. And a life was already lost," his voice quieted a little, "since we were... not prepared."
Looking up, he asked. "What will we do, when we face our reflections? Have we all made plans for the mental discipline it will take? I mean," a slight shrug of the shoulders, "we were prepared for shadows and avoiding making those mistakes. I guess it makes sense we just do the same but adjust the target audience... er, so to speak."
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"Like it or not, we seem to be their last line of defense. You see the suits they wear on the other side? They look intimidating, but I'm willing to bet that they wouldn't need us if those suits stood a chance," he sits back down and sips on some sort of soft drink that was left for him some time ago. He'd have complimented the staff on the remarkable taste if he weren't so focused on the conversation at hand.
"I... heard that the thing that killed her, it looked just like her, right? I've started to wonder if maybe our presence there is creating these things. The people who enter are reflected, and that's what's causing all of this..." his voice has taken on a more solemn tone before continuing, "but there's not an obstacle in existence that can't be overcome. I really believe that."
"So that's why I wanted to call everyone here. This isn't just someone else's fight we're fighting... Hazama-san gave her life to give us this information, and I'm going to use it however I can to make sure that what happened that day never happens again."
He falls silent again and crosses his arms, staring out at the others who are probably staring right back at him by now; it was all he could do to refrain from talking about the other side of that coin. The fact that they didn't know much to begin with - the fact that more of them could end up just like her.
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"Sure, our superiors are not perfect... but I trust they will strive to be, rather than let down our country. It's to be expected. Kyoto wasn't built in one day."
With a slightly more bitter note, he added: "Does it matter? It doesn't answer the question: What do we plan to do when our turn comes?"
His voice was calmer, more crisp. "I don't imagine they would take excuses. 'I'm sorry, we were too busy questioning our leaders to figure out what to do here. Could you kindly wait there, by the corner, as I work through the motions? Much obliged.'"
A hand gesture for each word. "Structure. Order. Decisiveness. We need those to fight, for our country and for our survival."
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She wrapped her fingers around her cane again, feeling the grooves and bumps with aching familiarity as her hand dug in tight.
Miyume hadn't given her life for that. She hadn't done some noble sacrifice for the greater good or was some sort of martyr or sacrificial lamb. She'd been backed into a corner and then right off a ledge.
She still heard the rest of what Ogata and Suzuki said but it took a while before she pulled herself together enough to say,
"I'd settle for us being able to make it to graduation." She loosened her fingers from her cane a little, trying to look and feel more like her usual self than want to run out again or lose it entirely. "Whether the adults know better than us or not or even have noble intentions for the supposed greater good, they got different priorities. Otherwise they wouldn't have needed to keep dragging us into this? Or send the principle himself to make sure Miyume-chan came back to school?"
Miyume never answered whether she'd wanted to come back or not either...just that it didn't matter what she wanted...she should have at least been allowed to make that much of a choice herself. It was her future.
"They seem pretty hung up on keeping us until graduation at least. Even if we wanted to walk away, doubt they'd really let us." It was an illusion of choice. "We don't even know how long this is really going to be. Some of us are going to be out in ten months but the rest of us are apparently looking from anywhere between two to three years unless we somehow defeat whatever menacing, supposedly world threatening evil from beyond awaits. That's a pretty long time to be expected to suck it up and wait and see if we're going to end up like Miyume-chan or not."
'This is my place in society, Haruka-san. I'm not fighting it anymore. It's the price I pay for being defective.'
"We can't exactly plan for what we don't know is the trigger? Society's a pretty broad big enemy to prepare against." Beat. "But we can at least keep an eye out for each other where the adults can't? Wasn't like they noticed what was going on with her. And at least we can all agree we want to survive?"
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He paused, catching his voice.
"I won't have people dying resting on my conscience for being negligent and not even suggested we do something about it."
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"Couldn't make everything out," and no one else filled in the gaps for her, "but her Reflection was convinced she was broken. Miyume-chan thought-" She swallowed hard. She couldn't lose it again, not right now. She could at least wait for another time,
"-sorry, something off with the green tea today." The lie came out easily and she made it look true when she composed herself, like she was herself. "Anyway...she thought she was defective. Which I guess people who didn't know her," and were stupid, "might have summed her up with? Just a burden who just needs to be 'fixed'.
"So with that in mind, anyone have any ideas about our group? Yourselves or anyone else."
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He approached Haruka, leaning in.
"I'm sorry," he said, a little stiffly, in the sort of way anyone who knows there's nothing right to say would show. He followed by, "Should I go outside and have them bring you another tea?"
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Then, she turned and said, deceptively like herself, "Huh..." She nodded. "If you don't mind, Senpai?"
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"Well, whatever we do, we have to become stronger. I plan to start training hard soon, and... well, I would really like it if you would come along. Any of you," he pauses to stare at his drink pensively, "because I think Yachiyo-sensei and the others are only correct about one thing: these 'persona' things are the key to fighting back whatever the hell these things are."
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Except by the time Baku spoke up again, there was something interesting in it to her-- training? She had never really done training of any kind other than what she did in kyudo club, but she doubted that really counted in the grand scheme of things. And he did say that they needed to get stronger and train to win.. and Sayuri even knew it herself. She wasn't strong enough to fight. She probably wasn't even as strong as all of the others sitting here at the table.
So she weakly nodded and rose her hand a little.
"Um.. If you don't think I'd be a burden, I'd like to train along with you. I don't have much experience though.."
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"No burden at all! We'll start tomorrow! I really hope you guys plan on training too; we don't know much about this threat, but it won't matter if we're not strong enough to deal with it."
Right, become strong, then we'll have the power to stop all this. That's all that really matters right now.
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"Training's good. Have to skip tomorrow though."
Considering critical thinking had taken her out of the classes she wanted to take and had come to Chitoku for, she wasn't missing club practice too. She also didn't feel like going back into the other world, yet.