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WHO: Himeko and Taue
WHAT: The first in-person meeting! Also tomfoolery.
WHERE: Outside the girls' dorms.
WHEN: After Himeko's dance class.

Counting on his fingers as he walked the last few feet over to the steps in front of the girls' dorms, Shinichiro realized he'd made at least three enemies so far -- a bad rate even by his usual standards. More people usually were okay with his brand of...whatever he was, but with the MiMi Connection (his private name for them, don't ask) and Rules-kun already on his bad side (and vice-versa) he badly needed some friends, lest he spend his entire Chitoku Academy term in classes and actually doing significant quantities of work.

That was why he was here now. He and Himeko had, if not completely hit it off, at least gotten off to a much better start than he had with his other Persona-wielding classmates.

It would be nice to meet someone without any tension hanging over it, he decided, pulling up a seat on the step and awaiting the arrival of his kouhai.

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Himeko had never thought that he would know a lot about the idol business. Maybe a bit, but definitely not that much.
“You know a lot, don’t you Taue-senpai? Well, I kind of expected it to be that way.”, she said, smirking a little.
“To tell you the truth, I’m not very obedient when it comes to rules. It probably would be the same with that ‘no dating’ rule, but I have never fallen in love with anyone before and...you know? It may sound strange, but to me the whole dating thing really is a little awkward. I’m just not used to it.”, normally, she wouldn’t tell anyone things like these so easily. However, after that embarrassing situation, she felt like telling her senpai the plain truth was the least thing she could do.

She listened carefully to what he said about the whole idol culture. She could totally understand what he meant.
Himeko loved idols and was never forced to become one herself. Or so she liked to believe. It was true that her parents did let her choose if she wanted to go that path, at one point. But she knew that if she would have refused back then, she would have also brought shame on her whole family. Even more than she already did now.

Nearly her whole family worked in the entertainment industry. Most of them were strict people, who were constantly loading more pressure onto her than she could handle. Honestly, she hated being around them, but there was nothing she could do about it.

“There are things in the idol world that I clearly don’t like, as well.”, for a moment she thought about how to phrase the next part of what she wanted to say. “I've always wanted to become an idol that could be true to herself. Just be me or something like this. I realize that this won’t happen by now. Everyone is expecting me to become something I’m not and I gave up fighting it, quite a while ago. But even if I have to act out a role in front of others, I don’t want to lose myself while doing it.”, she nodded to herself, while talking.

“I bet you can relate to at least a part of it. People must be expecting a lot from you as well, don’t they?”, she didn’t know why, but she somehow was happy to talk to someone, who had probably just as much pressed on his shoulders as she had herself.

“Maybe~~”, she replied to his teasing. “But remember that it’s an exclusive offer, only for you. Nobody else is allowed to tease Uehara Himeko without receiving a punishment! You better be proud, senpai!”, a mischievous smile flickered across her face.

She sat down at the table he guided her to and immediately took a sip from her cocoa. It was still a little hot, but utterly delicious. She didn’t even need to put in into words, her content expression spoke for itself.
“I know, I know!”, she said excitedly. “It feels like we are heroic heroes straight out of a movie! Don’t get me wrong... the whole situation is pretty bad and probably dangerous, but I can’t help it. The ‘hero’ vibes are too strong.”, she added.
“But... speaking of heroes! What you did, when we had to use that evoker thing for the first time, really impressed me! It looked very heroic, senpai !...Even though, I honestly thought you would die.”, Himeko chuckled, while recalling that scene. She really couldn’t help it. It was normal for her to go all excited over dangerous situations.

"Most of it's on the internet, you know," he replied, with a shrug. "Most of the scandals have articles that explain why what this idol or that idol did is the Worst Thing Ever."

It was hard to miss -- and even more so lately, because of Taue becoming much more in tune with societal events as he'd gotten older.

"Dating is kind of awkward," he admitted, "but that's just because romance and love are also totally awkward. Especially at our age, still bundles of hormones and emotions." Right. And his dad wanted him to *marry* someone. Now. Thank God he'd gotten the kibosh put on that, for now at least, or he'd have lost his mind.

"It's not good to be too obedient," Taue said, a moment later. "Keep that with you. It's a good thing. It makes the right people nervous. And if you can become the idol you want to be, all the better."

He was hopeful for her. She was headstrong enough to get there.

He couldn't help but chuckle at her animated pronouncement. "I'm honored, Himeko-chan," he replied, barely resisting a comment about how he didn't necessarily *mind* punishments, depending on the sort. But he'd set her off once already, no need to do it again.

Her general excitement about the entire Persona situation was cute, though he was surprise that she didn't seem more worried. Her explanation...oddly enough, made sense. Heroes got through this sort of thing okay most of the time, right?

"No need to be impressed," he managed, after an embarrassed moment, cheeks tinging pink. "I was just angry, and I didn't think it would kill me. I wanted to show that teacher up so damned bad..."

“Yeah, it is. But most people who don’t care about it just skip those news.”, she replied. “And all scandals are like the worst thing ever. At least for the hardcore wota.”, Himeko said in disgust.
As an aspiring idol she probably shouldn’t think bad about any fan. She had been scolded for this behavior often enough, already. But if one thing about the whole idol culture did bug her more than anything else, than it was definitely the attitude of the hardcore wota, who were at least three times older than she was.

Idols existed only for their fans and betraying them, even if it was just once, could destroy the idol's whole life entirely. She was sad, whenever an idol had to apologize in public and retire shortly after. It just wasn’t fair and they were people like everyone else, who naturally made mistakes. But this was just how the whole idol culture worked and she surely wouldn’t change it.

“See? You agree with me!”, she was happy that at least someone seemed to understand her. “A good friend of mine once told me that it becomes less awkward, when you actually fall in love, though…”, for a moment she was thinking about the person, who made that comment and sighed a little. “I guess, I’ll have to see that for myself to believe it…”, in some of the dramas she had watched, the couples did look cute and dating didn’t seem as awkward as she thought of it. But dramas hardly resembled reality in most cases.

She nodded at his words of advice and showed him one of her bright smiles again. “I’ll keep that in mind and become an idol that will make you proud!”, she said half-jokingly, saluting in front of him. “But even if you don’t care about idols in general, you have to become my first fan, Taue-senpai! We’re allies, so you have to!”, shortly after saying it, she realized that this wasn’t a very strong argument and not even an appropriate reason to acknowledge her if she would become an idol.
It wasn’t even true that he would be her ‘first fan’, if he agreed. At all schools she had visited so far, there had been a group of boys following her around and claiming to be her biggest fans and supporters.
But since she never did anything to earn their admiration, she always found this behavior to be rather irritating.

Himeko was contented with his answer. She still had a feeling that he didn’t take her statement as serious as she was with it, though. “You better be! It’s the one and only time I’ll make such an exception!”
It was rare for her to act that way. Strange enough, that she didn’t mind him teasing her, but almost demanding for it was more than untypical. She didn’t know a lot about him yet, but it seemed to be enough to determine that he could be trusted.

For a few seconds, she watched him with amazement. He was obviously embarrassed by her words. Something she hadn’t quite aimed for…but it was funny, nonetheless. After chuckling a little, she put a mischievous grin on her face. “Senpai~! I didn’t know you are that easy to embarrass!”, there was actually a little bit of teasing in her statement this time.
“But that teacher really is the worst, isn’t she? We should play her a prank or something sometime!”, it was a rather childish idea and she knew that herself, but playing pranks was something she was secretly skilled at... plus, it was fun.

"If you hold up to your end of the bargain, Himeko-chan, I'll definitely be your first fan. But you have to do it your way, okay?" Her pace was somewhat easy to get swept up in, especially because Taue was nowhere near as serious as the title of heir could often indicate that he might be.

"Oh, I'm fairly easy to embarrass. I get as good as I give most of the time, really. You just have to have the courage to go through with it, really!"

He didn't mind being teased - particularly not by a cute girl by Himeko, but in general, too. Being teased meant that he was part of something, like everyone else.

Being the heir to the Taue Corporation had undeniable benefits, but there were also days when the expectations ran him ragged.

"No pranks, though," he said, sighing a bit as he sipped his coffee. "The school's already probably irritated enough at me as it is. Gonna have to dial it back a little bit."

He frowned; otherwise, he might have been onboard with the childish plan. Any resistance he could muster was still resistance, after all.

“Of course! It’s a promise, then!”, she declared, seeming highly motivated by that.
Having someone in her fan base she kind of liked, made it a lot easier to try hard at auditions. It was much better than having to think of all those strange people, whose behavior was just plain irritating.

Himeko was fast as always when it came to her cocoa.
“I’ll definitely keep that in mind, senpai!”, she replied with a smile and took her final sip.
They hadn’t been seated long and she had already finished it completely.
It had been delicious, even better than the cocoa she had at this luxurious restaurant she went to with her family once. Probably, because she had fun drinking it right now, while she just felt out of place when she was at that restaurant.

“Aww~, that’s too bad!”, there was a small hint of disappointment in her voice, when they talked about her prank idea. “But it can’t be helped! I wouldn’t want to make your situation worse and maybe I shouldn’t overdo things, either. I still haven’t gotten my punishment for all the uniform modifications.”
The thought of the uniform problem made her sigh. Without her modifications the uniform was just boring and not cute at all.

Topics like these were just depressing and originally they had been coming here to have fun and forget about that for a while. Himeko immediately thought of something to brighten up the mood a little.
“I know! Let’s take some Purikura, when we’re both done with our meals here! I haven’t done that in ages and... Ah, wait!”, she suddenly stopped. “We can’t. You’re not a girl, so this is gonna be awkward...”, there had been those unwritten rules concerning Purikura, she totally forgot about.
She giggled at her own stupidity. “Well~ you better only give me that sightseeing tour, after this!”

(So so sorry for the delay on tagging you. Won't happen again, I promise!)

She was far more enthusiastic than he generally was about pretty much anything. Unlike most enthusiastic people, though, she didn't really annoy him. There was something genuine in her that Taue seemed to enjoy, a far cry from his own ways, and just sitting and listening to her was nice.

"This place is basically a military academy," he said, sipping his coffee. "A really well appointed military academy, and only a small percentage of the students are actually "soldiers," but one nonetheless. Makes sense why it's so strict." He sighed and took a bite out of his pastry, listening as she continued on, raising an eyebrow at her offer.

He'd been just about to comment on how it would look for the two of them to be in a photo booth together when she promptly corrected herself. Damn. That would have been an entertaining moment if she realized mid-pictures. Probably red as a tomato, too.

"There kind of are, aren't there," he chuckled, grinning at Himeko widely. "No worries, then. Just the sightseeing tour, unless you come up with any other ideas."

(It's fine~. Don't worry about it!)

“A military academy, huh? I don’t really like the sound of that and I can’t see myself as some sort of soldier either…but I guess you’re right with that.”, she sighed.
“That’s definitely not what I’ve been coming here for. Then again, in my case this invitation came at the right time. If I wouldn’t have received it back then, I would have probably already ki….”, killed myself. That was what she wanted to say.
Fortunately, she was able to stop herself from blurting it out. There was a small possibility that he already understood what she wanted to say, though. Once again, Himeko observed her senpai’s reactions for a few moments, before she continued speaking in a more cheerful manner.
“Never mind, never mind~~! Um… By the way! Why did you originally change schools, senpai? I mean before they forced us to be soldiers or heroes…. Because of the higher chances to be able to go to a good university?”, she tried to change the topic away from herself. She really wouldn’t want to get depressive now.

His reaction to the Purikura topic embarrassed her a little. Judging his expression, she had the feeling to know at least vaguely what he was thinking. “I really didn’t do that on purpose! It’s just… except for my cousin in Sapporo, I haven't been meeting up with boys before. My old school forbid it, too. Sometimes, I tend to forget that you can’t do specific things with someone of the other gender.”, she playfully poked her tongue out at him. “It’s a good thing, though. That just means that I don’t think of you as weird and irritating… and trust me. Most of the people in my old class were and it doesn’t seem to be a lot better here.”

For a moment she kept quiet, thinking about something.
“Say Taue-senpai isn’t there anything you’d like to do? Since we came here because I wanted to, I wouldn’t mind doing something you want to next. Unless… you have some dirty secrets you don’t want me to know about or~~~ you are too embarrassed going somewhere you usually go to, accompanied by a childish looking girl!”, she said jokingly.

Taue regarded her carefully for a few moments -- and he most certainly caught the start of the 'k' word.

He wouldn't push the point, though. It would simply be another piece of information filed away about a girl that was rapidly growing far more complex than she seemed and/or wanted others to perceive her as.

"I'm here because I got in, and mom and dad thought it might be good for my image," he explained. "The Taues are pretty well liked here, but we're a bit international for the liking of a lot of the higher ups in government, and society's starting to turn on us a bit for it. Not sure it'll help, but it was worth a shot, I guess."

Taue shrugged. Not so worth a shot in retrospect, he figured.

"Not accusing you of doing it on purpose," he grinned, "but nor would I put it past you. And yeah, this place isn't bad minus the obvious drawbacks. I take a lot of grief, but I'd take a lot of grief anywhere."

Her question caught him a bit off guard, and he took a moment to think about it.

"There are lots of things I'd like to do," he said, smiling sweetly at her, "and I'm not too embarrassed to go there with you. You're less childish than you let on. But I'd like to do it when we have more time. Today's about hot cocoa and showing you around."

He thought for another moment, and stretched, finishing off his pastry.

"Besides, I've got to leave something to the imagination so you'll want to hang out with me again, Himeko-chan!"

Honestly, Himeko was relieved that he kept quiet.
The whole thing was indeed pretty complex and she wasn’t even sure if someone, not very familiar with her situation would understand it.

“I see! The whole business stuff seems to be as much about a good image as idol work is, right?”, she remarked, not quite sure if that was an appropriate comparison or not.
“I really don’t get why everyone is that much against being international, though….”, she added, thinking about it before continuing. “If my English wouldn’t be as bad as it is, I’d love to travel to a different country someday!”

Himeko nodded a few times while he was talking. She seemed to be contented with what he said.
“Got it~! It’s a pity that we don’t have that much time… but getting to know this place a little better isn’t bad either.”, she replied, returning his smile.
“I’m looking forward to the places you’d like to go to, then. Not knowing what kind of places they are really makes me want to hang out with you again as soon as possible!”

There was a little moment filled with silence, in which she realized that he could possibly get a part of her statement wrong.
“It doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t want to hang out with you without a reason, of course!”, she hastily added.
“I actually think it’s fun talking to you… um… is it alright to say that or does it sound weird again?”

((Going to try and move towards wrapping this one up. We can start a new, more recent in time thread. Ton of stuff in game's happened since we started this. xD))

"Not weird at all," Taue replied, smiling. "I understand. You clearly just want to flirt with me subconsciously. Such things happen."

The grin he favored her with seemed to indicate that he was kidding.

Mostly, anyway.

"Naw, I know how bad that'd look for you, so don't worry about it. Now, if you're done with your pastry, come on. I've got a town to show you, after all."

(I think so,too! We should probably just skip the whole "sightseeing tour" and end it here...otherwise it would take too long :"D
We can start a new one whenever you want to~ Just tell me to start one or start one yourself when you feel like it!)

Even though she assumed that he was only kidding by observing his facial expression, the comment was still enough to somehow embarrass her.
“I-I’m definitely not flirting! I would…I would know if I intended to do so, even if it was subconsciously! “, she replied, trying to avoid looking at him directly, so he couldn’t see that she was blushing in embarrassment again.

“How do we always get to these kinds of topics anyway… I just wanted to say something nice…”, Himeko muttered. But after a moment of sulking, she decided to get up from her seat and just act as if nothing had happened. “I’m ready! Let’s go senpai!”

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