harmonize_rpg | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Haruka+Mirai
Where: Mount Rokko
When: Sunday April 23rd, day
What: Biking and Social link GO~

Several days after the idea, Haruka met up with Imaizumi downtown for that trip to Mount Rokko. Getting there was a bit difficult, between the traffic and noise occasionally drowning out Haruka's headphone but once they got out of the downtown area, it wasn't too bad. Noise died down, a pleasant breeze blew by (or that might just have been the freer space), and she started hearing differences in the road as the wheels pass over.

She adjusted her headphone again, memorizing the instructions it rattled off, before turning to the volume down. Turning her head in Imaizumi's direction, she asked,

"Holding up, senpai?"

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"Depends on the sort of thing I'm doing and who with?" Haruka said, with a slight shrug. "It could be fun and have other meanings attached to it.

"What about you, senpai?"

"It's a secret," said Mirai, half-closing his eyes to stare at Haruka. He began to quietly ponder what it was he enjoyed doing for the same reasons.

"Secret, huh?" Haruka seemed to ponder over something herself. However, it seemed to quickly pass. "Interesting. Guess I'll have to settle for endlessly wandering as the question haunts my slumber?

She took a few leading steps down the path, where a set of stairs and a sign reading 'OBSERVATION POINT' pointed with an arrow.

"... Yeah."

Mirai wasn't telling. He was following behind up a wooden bridge traversing a natural rock-face, a marvelous sight of falling water, trees and mossy rocks. A glimpse down through the basin to the other side of the bridge was like a visit to another time. It reminded him nostalgically of some of the nature he had seen when young before he was being dragged all over Tokyo. Though it was certainly not comfortable musing with an audience, and he stepped back so controlled that he seemed not to have thought at all.

"Let's get going," he said.

Haruka nodded, walking up the steps a bit more slowly and tentatively. The railing felt relatively new - solid unstained and undented metal - but the steps much less so. There were gaps in areas of the stone and the path was uneven. However, the sound of running water increased, and the reason she was moving more slowly was to enjoy the sound than anything else.

Turning her head back, she said, "Oh yeah. I think this place also had some really good views of the town if you're interested in checking them out?"

"... Sure."

Whatever enjoyment Haruka thought these views could give, he was interested in checking them out. He was glad that they were enjoying the same thing for once. And he came down the stairs behind as Haruka took her time in enjoying the sounds. He had a sly smirk come on his face then, and she had a pair of hands supporting her at the back.

"Careful," and "Steady now" and "Right then" he said, and he was guiding her down the last few steps that were rather tricky and had gaps here and there.

Haruka felt the hands (still pretty big, even without the glove, and still damp and cool from the water) and paused for a moment, before letting them lead her up those last few steps. Her cane felt at some of the gaps that she passed.

"Pretty gentleman-like, senpai," she said, turning her head back slightly. "On top of helping lost sheep-kouhai in the rain and private lessons in club."

Mirai ignored what Haruka had said almost entirely. He held her, then did so again more firmly. His hands moved down her sides to her waist. He was only supporting her, poor thing.

"Hey, you only had to ask," he said a little lowly, "I'm happy to give private lessons. I wonder what your friends say to that, Kiri-chan."

Haruka felt the hands move, settling on her waist and leaving wet imprints. Her face heated for the briefest instant before she settled back into her usual self. This wasn't unexpected sort of scenario by now.

"Which ones?" She tilted her head slightly, sounding normal. "I doubt Abendorofu-san would appreciate your style of teaching."

Mirai looked predictably unimpressed by this. "Oh no. The gaijin's going to interfere," he said dryly. So much for being terrified of Germans!

A wicked glint came into his eyes then. He raised them to find that Haruka was a step away from the top. By the time they reached the top stair, he gave her a little push.

"I wonder what she would say if I were to teach you more directly."

The little push caught Haruka off-guard, causing her to trip as her cane caught on the top step. She hit the ground with a hiss as she her with her free hand, feeling a small rock dig in, and a quiet, punctuated, "Ow-" slipped out with as much force behind it as a curse.

She looked up at Imaizumi, her eyes were open. She lightly rubbed the palm of her hand (a bit of skin felt broken) before she replied,

"Don't think she'd say much? She'd probably just get you with one of those looks that can kill." Her own gaze was a little unsettling with how unfocused it was. However, she shrugged a little. "Hazama-chan might have more to say?"

Mirai's face became somewhat dark and his eyes so full of fire that it was obvious Haruka had said something wrong. He stood behind her and dripped, cold from the water. And then there was emptiness where his fire had been. Despite his rage he was just struggling to feel bothered.

He left Haruka to climb off the floor alone. He was pleased to just watch. From the way he was speaking, it was clear he was very amused indeed.

"I think she would wish you to listen to me. And probably watch."

She pushed herself up, using her cane for balance. She rubbed her palm again, lightly brushing to make sure there wasn't anything stuck, before replying,

"Maybe? She seems like she'd probably enjoy her own private lessons."

Mirai bubbled. It seemed someone had seen through their secrecy. He grasped his hands behind him and stretched out his arms.

"She already is."

Despite this, he thought he would hide the fact they hadn't done anything meaningful.

"Huh." Haruka let the word linger in the air, the way she said it ambiguous of the implication. The word hung there in the air for several moments, punctuated by the crashing of the water nearby.

Finally, she closed her eyes, lightly brushed her palm again, and started taking leading steps again. She stepped towards the railing, which faced the basin that the top of the waterfall empties into.

She said, "Sorry, senpai, probably need to skip private lessons for now? I'd have to be certain type of girl to not check things with her adorable kouhai."

"Kiri-chan, I understand. You're some sort of good girl. Good girls are so boring to talk to - though from the way we're been together I've got a better impression of you than that."

Mirai assumed she was better than he was expecting. It was as if she was the cause of his attention being drawn away. He turned and ruminatively stared into the basin for some time.

Edited 2013-09-10 21:25 (UTC)

"I can be both? Neutral alignments are usually the funnest anyway," Haruka replied. Still staring over the basin, she reached into the back pocket of her backpack and ruffled through until she found a plastic bag containing a handful of green tea pocky leftover from the bake sale. She fished out one and balanced it in her mouth like a pipe. "I like my naughtiness a bit more focused. Least I don't have moe eyes, a blind devotedness to the rules, a shining maidenly heart, and a cringing aversion to all things with a wiff of bad?"

Part of the pocky disappeared with a crunch. She held out the bag in the general direction of Imaizumi, offering.

"You don't seem like you're on the chaotic alignment full time either."

Just a considerable amount of the time.

Edited 2013-09-11 01:23 (UTC)

Mirai took one of the snacks and laughed. He was quite non-selective with his chaos and thought of his Persona's heads, all looking in different directions and gobbling whatever they could lay their eyes on. He finished half of the biscuit and held the rest of it at her - with a look on his face that showed she was going to suffer some sort of misfortune.

"Oh goodness. Well, you invited me here, so you must take some responsibility for knowing whom you're getting into bed with."

Edited 2013-09-11 09:21 (UTC)

Haruka took another bite of her stick, leaving it a small stub. She let out a short bark of laughter of her own,

"I guess so? Strange bedfellows tend to happen." With another crunch, the last of her stick disappeared. "However it ends, guess there's that much responsibility to take." She turned her head back to him.

"At least, I doubt this is going to end like some stories where it turns out you're a yandere and this isolated spot is my doom?"

Mirai looked around. There were three other people on the walkway and one of those held an expensive-looking camera. He turned back to watch the basin, fascinated by all the water churning and foaming, and wondered what it would be like to be in the middle of it.

He mumbled. "Not very isolated. I prefer to get others to do my business."

"Huh. So you'd hire tourists to dispose of your enemies?" Haruka asked. "Though you could probably charm yourself an army of assassins from school. Some of the girls from archery sounded devoted enough?"

She selected another stick and chewed it in increments. Her head tilted upwards when she heard what sounded like a a chittering and branches moving. Squirrel?

Mirai smiled and looked like he enjoyed the second idea. Very much so.

A glance up, and a squirrel was running along the branches and his eyes met its for a moment before it ran off.

"Well, fancy that."

"Squirrel, right?" Haruka asked, tilting her head with a slight grin. She'd phrased that as a question but somehow, there was a sort of a self-assurance she was right.

She slipped the pocky back into its pocket for now before picking up her phone and placing it to her ear to check the time. "Think we have time to check out one of those observation points before heading back. Still interested?"

Mirai tipped his head to one side. He stared one last time at the basin below, then stepped back and began heading towards the steps. There was enough to see, and a right time to leave when he recognised he couldn't stay forever. His feet echoed on the bridge, letting Haruka know he was leaving.

"Yeah. Let's get going."

Haruka nodded, pocketing her phone. She heard the squirrel chitter again and she lingered - firmly committing the sounds of the waterfall and the wild life to her mental map and she eavesdropped on what the others on the walkway were saying, especially about the location itself and the emotions behind the words.

She smiled at the image that built in her mind and she sped up to catch up to Imaizumi. She wondered if the observation point would be as nice.

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