Upgrades
   
  

 /==================( - Inaba - Central Commercial Dist. - )==================\ 
|                                                                              |
|  Years ago, this was a bustling center of commerce and communal activity, a  |
| bright spot in a small and happy town, with each store telling stories       |
| spanning generations of the highs and lows of Inaba. Many of these stories   |
| are now at an end, as family-owned stores have been closing down left and    |
| right since the Junes department store opened close by.                      |
|  The long street where these stores reside still has a couple shops that are |
| fighting to the bitter end. Daidara Metalworks and the Shiroku grocery store |
| both stand strong before seemingly inevitable disaster, with Chinese Diner   |
| Aiya, Marukyu Tofu, and the Souzai Daigaku beef skewer stand continuing to   |
| attract hungry stomachs. Tatsumi Textiles largely survives on patronage from |
| the Amagi Inn, and sometimes it seems only one young man's obsessive reading |
| hobby is actually keeping Yomenaido Bookstore from falling apart. Konishi    |
| Liquors up at the northern end may be the next to go, following failing      |
| business and family tragedy. A small gas station does service for the few    |
| automobiles to come by here, more often servicing the buses that swing by    |
| the stop at the southern end.                                                |
|  The outlook is grim, the street populated largely by bitter elderly folks   |
| and teenage bullies looking for an easy mark. Even the local, once proud     |
| Tatsuhime Shrine is falling apart, already said to be taken over by wild     |
| animals. The whole district faces a losing battle against Junes for          |
| commerce, but this nostalgic district held dearly by previous generations    |
| will go down fighting.                                                       |
|===============================( - Players - )================================|
| Yukiko Amagi [KDA] <Konohana Sakuya>                                         |
|===============================( - Objects - )================================|
| Fortune Teller's Shop                                                        |
|================================( - Exits - )=================================|
| Metalworks <M>:          CCD - Daidara Metalworks                            |
| Diner <D>:               CCD - Chinese Diner Aiya                            |
| Out <O>:                 Inaba                                               |
 \============================================================================/
It was a quieter Sunday than most. While Sundays in Inaba did tend towards the quiet, especially when compared to something like the city, well... it was downright lazy today. For whatever reason, the majourity of people were staying at home today, and although the sidewalks did boast a smattering of pedestrians, it was just slow. One of the shops, Yukiko notes as she passes it, had even closed early for the day. Which was just terrible for her plans. You see, with Christmas coming up, Yukiko intended to use her less-busy Sunday to shop for potential gifts for others. It was likely to turn out like most years - with her waiting until the last minute to actually buy things, anyway - but at least she was giving it a go.

Eyebrows furrowing, Yukiko's pace slows as she passes by the bookstore, the signs in the windows drawing her attention. Evidently, there was a new book in the Man's Life series coming out soon, and this fact seemed to draw Yukiko into contemplation for a few moments.


Quiet Sundays suited Fumiya just fine. Still not quite over the trip into Mikage-cho, Fumiya has not once found himself complaining about dull or boring days like he used to. Chances are the habit will return, but for now he can totally enjoy the simplicity.

What is a Man's Life? A miserable little pile of secrets! Also about 500 pages.

Fumiya isn't out to do any particular shopping, indeed the fact that Christmas is coming up is something barely on the back of his mind. Dressed in his usual neons, he's just out and about for the sake of being out and about. Well, that's not entirely true. Right this moment he exits Daidara, having stopped in to see if the old man had anything that could beef up his punches and he left with a nice little attachment for his gloves. It should help him leave a suitable impression.

As he exits Daidara he spots Yukiko hanging around the bookstore. "Oh, hey Yukiko-babe." He greets. "Funny finding each other like this. What're you up to today?"


Although Yukiko's attention was caught by the advertisement, it was terribly difficult to avoid glancing at Fumiya. The neon colours tended to stand out - and Fumiya was probably used to the whole getting stared at by Inabans thing. When he notices her, she was turning her head towards him, staring in his direction with the owl-in-the-headlights look that Yukiko did so well.

"Oh, Watanabe-san!" Yukiko says, her features slipping into a bright smile. Yukiko's own outfit was par the course. A red sweater worn over her white blouse, with a long blue skirt, and smooth black shoes. The odd thing today was the scarf she wore around her neck, which had goldenish threads interweaved in the crimson silk, to ward against the cold. "I have not seen you since, well..." Yukiko says, bringing up a hand to brush a wayward lock of her hair over her shoulder. It wouldn't have been difficult - the first two weeks since Mikage-Cho, Yukiko was basically serving house arrest to angry parents.

"It is unusual to see you here, as well... are you Christmas shopping, yourself?"


Fumiya was long used to the stares he would attract while walking through Inaba. If anything, the locals were the ones getting used to him. But that's fine too, Fumiya can deal with being stared at a little less.

The inadvertant mention of Mikage-cho causes Fumiya to wince, but he shrugs it off. "Yeah, I've been around since then. I've spent a lot of my free time at Port Island, my parents insisted." So many awkward conversations he's had since then, at least it has died down.

Folding his arms, letting the bag from Daidara dangle, Fumiya shakes his head. "Christmas... Oh right, that's coming up soon isn't it..." Huh, it really DID slip his mind. Then again, his own birthday slipped his mind while he was in Mikage-cho so it's not too surprising. "Naw, I was just looking around for some new gear. You know how it is." At least, he assumes she does. Come to think of it he hasn't actually seen Yukiko fight. He ran in on her and the others fighting the DVA system, but he never really got a good look due to her being injured and Chie hulking out over it.

Idly he shivers, and blinks in surprise. "Geez, it's getting colder than I realized. I want summer back..."


That's fair. We were nowhere near Mikage-cho, and Yukiko was letting her own birthday slip her mind. Somewhat. Actually, she really did not like being made a huge deal of, so she tended to just not mention it at all.

"Sorry," Yukiko says quickly, spotting the wince on Fumiya. Glancing down and to one side, she draws her hands up to tuck in the pockets of her sweater. "Oh, right - Port Island is where you are from, correct? Or am I just, um... remembering something else?" she says, drawing her eyes back up towards Fumiya.

"I suppose," Yukiko says, glancing down to the bag. Every so often, she does go to Diadara's to get a new fan - he usually finds an interesting way or three to slip metal into a normally harmless fan - but it felt all kinda silly to her, and a bit of a waste of her allowance. She just set things on fire, anyways.

"Are you cold?" Yukiko asks, perhaps a bit unnecessarily, her brow furrowing as she glances over Fumiya's outfit. It looked rather warm, to her estimation. "Perhaps we should step inside someplace, or... um... oh!" Yukiko says, suddenly straightening up. "Have you eaten? There's an excellent Chinese diner around here, and I think I should have enough to cover the both of us..." Yukiko says.


"Aw, don't worry about it." He says, waving his free hand. It's not like Mikage-cho never happened, it's bound to be brought up from time to time. With a nod, he says "Yeah, that's right. it's been about six months now since I was transferred to Inaba." What a mess that was, he's still not sure how his parents pulled it off. If only they were a few months earlier he could've been there from the start of the term instead of June.

He shrugs. "It's just something to fit over my knuckles." He says in a low voice. "It's simple, but it works. That old Daidara dude knows his stuff." Fumiya also sets things on fire, though his fire-setting skills are probably not as potent as Yukiko's. He's more of a 'punch and punch some more' kind of fighter.

When asked if he's cold he goes to shake his head, but winds up shivering slightly again in the process. "Ehh... a little. This shirt's thinner than it looks is all." At the mention of food, his expression looks confused for a moment, then brightens. He nearly forgot he hasn't eaten yet. And now that she mentioned it he's suddenly hungry! "Aiya, right? I've been there a few times, it's good stuff." Better than the Junes food court. "You wanna hit up the diner?


Christmas sure IS coming up soon! And Chie Satonaka is SHOPPING!

No, that's a lie, she is standing next to the take-out stand next to Aiya and she is staring mournfully at it, because she has to save up her steak allowance for less delicious things, right now.

Whimper.

But she senses it - that familiar pang in her heart of hearts, and it pops her out of her mourning of complete lack of daily steak, prompting the girl to turn, blinking owlishly downrange. Squint. Ssssssssquuuuuuuuuuuuint.

"Ah!" Chie hollers, and breaks into a quick jog, waving arms overhead. "YU KI KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~~~" she cries out.

Fumiya, of course, is pink and therefore irrelevant.


"He certainly does," Yukiko agrees. Then, glancing left and right as if about to share something that is intended to be secret, (although the glances are a dead giveaway to anyone actually spying), Yukiko opens the top button on her sweater, and reaches inside it. She quickly removes a somewhat large fan, about a third of a metre long - how she kept that in there was likely a bit awkward - and offers it to Fumiya. The handle was a mahogany sort of wood, but if it should be opened, little spines of sharp metal would be extended. "To be honest, I'm not certain that I am buying these because they are weapons - he just makes them so beautiful," Yukiko says.

Regardless of whether or not Fumiya takes the fan, Yukiko starts down the sidewalk, "I think going to the diner would be absolutely fantastic," the Amagi heir says, favouring Fumiya with a little smile. Turning her eyes away from him, however, to glance up the sidewalk towards the diner, Yukiko pauses, her eyes catching upon a familiar green jumper. "Chie!" she enthuses, her whole demeanor perking up from the somewhat neutral one that she pretty much always wandered around with. Lifting up a hand, a smile spreads wide across her lips as she waves back to her friend. "We're going to Aiya!" she calls back, voice lifted to carry towards the rapidly closing Chie. "...you want to eat! I think I can cover all of us!"


Fumiya doesn't take his new metal accessories out. A fan is still just a fan, even if it's a particularly deadly one, but it's hard to identify a bladed knuckle attachment as anything other than something meant to cause harm.

Though he does take the fan to look it over when she offers. It's partly feigned interest since, to him, it's still just a fan. Though the sharp bits do look pretty effective. Huh, it's warm too...

Er...

Feeling his face flush despite the cold he quickly hands it back to Yukiko right before she calls Chie over. Though he's looking forward to the food, he frowns slightly at Yukiko's comment. "Hey hey now, I can't let a babe pay for my meal. That ain't right. I can cover my own." He says, probably trying to sound chivalrous but likely coming off as a little clumsy. Honestly, he'd offer to pay for Yukiko's if they didn't run into a third, but he gets the feeling that offering to pay like that while best friend Chie was around might not work out so well.

Also he'd have to pay for Chie's as well. He may not know the legendary beef appetite the girl has yet, a slight suspicious tells the boy that paying for her meal might break his wallet...


"Aiya!?" Chie cries, skipping to a halt right next to the duo, and bouncing up and down on her heels. Her smile is big and chipper, because Chie is basically just a huge dope, realy. There's danger around every corner, lately, but...well, Chie won't let herself worry about that. When the time comes, she can fight. For today: BEEF BOWL.

"I was just thinking I was hungry!" This is a lie, or rather, it is the truth, but Chie is thinking it /all the time/. She smiles broadly, hands landing on her hips, balled but not really held aggressively. "Ah, you can cover!? You're a total lifesaver!"

Chie blinks up at Fumiya. Whoa, was he taking on the Amagi Challenge...? It's possible, but then again, it's not like he doesn't have...other, reasons to talk to Yukiko, spotting the fan in his hands and the Daidara sack. "Ah, stocking up?" She asks, tipping her head in the direction of the bag. She smirks a little. "I haven't taken anything in lately..." She tips her head. "Might be time to upgrade?"

Pause. Rumble. "Ahhhhh now I'm hungry...."


Yukiko accepts the fan back, idly, tucking it into her belt instead of placing it back beneath her sweater. It was just a fan - no one was going to harrass her for that. But what made his words even worse was the fact that Yukiko, while knowing that he was using an English slang term, still associated Babe with Baby, a word she associated with, (naturally,) a little child. She doubted he meant it as a insult, so it was just one of his quirks that she mentally glossed over.

There was that Amagi Challenge thing again. Being one who was entirely romantically retarded, the little cues and hints that were given to her were either misunderstood, or totally not understood at all. And Yukiko was far too polite to call out anyone on blushing. In this instance, however, Yukiko barely noticed it at all. "Well, um, okay. I'll just cover mine and Chie's," Yukiko says.

Certainly, Yukiko knew of Chie's insatiable love of beef bowls, but maybe, um... "...would you be okay with just two beef bowls today, Chie?" Yukiko says, somewhat tentatively, "It'll be like eating the one I was going to help Watanabe-san buy!" In spite of being a member of what was arguably the richest family in Inaba, Yukiko's allowance was a bit stingy.

"I haven't sent my fan for a couple months yet," Yukiko tells Chie. "Perhaps after our... umm... trip tonight, we'll get something interesting that he can use to make you cool new shoes or something?" Yukiko says, moving towards the door of Aiya.


Fumiya grins at Chie. "Yeah, you could say that. I figured what I was using on normal street thugs in the old days wasn't gonna cut it against the real deal, so I got something special made up." Fumiya was about to ask Chie what she used to fight, but his memory kicked in. He may have been semi conscious during the big fight against his shadow, but it was hard to miss chie's preferred fighting style. Well, if Daidara could make glove accessories it's not out of the question he'd make something for boots. Guy's talented.

Fumiya is equally unaware when he makes people uncomfortable, so it all works out. As far as he's concerned paying for his own meal is just the right thing to do. Whether or not he was seriously trying the Amagi challenge is anyone's guess at this point. If he was, it's aborted.

"Huh... oh yeah, there's something up this evening, isn't there?" That also slipped his mind. "Guess I picked the right day to go shopping after all." All the more important to fuel up at Aiya, then!


"Ah, I wouldn't put you out for three," Chie giggles, waving her hand in a laughing dismissal. "Besides, we both have to save up! Birthdays and Christmas, all sorts of stuff is coming up!" Chie takes a second look at Fumiya, squinting at his cheeks. "And just what are you blushing at, mister," she says, leaning in suspiciously, one eyebrow cocked. "Huh??"

But after a few seconds she laughs, and angles back upright, feet spread triumphantly. "I /could/ use some new greaves, the old ones are gettin' kinda weak...I wonder if I can, like, get some that I can /wear/ wear? You know, nice butt-kicking wear-around shoes. Hiding those things under my socks is kind of a pain..."

She starts wandering in the direction of Aiya, hands finding their way into her pockets.


"Mmhmm. Evidently, we're going, well," Yukiko says, her eyes flashing back and forth between the other two, before they drop down towards the ground. "...we're going back to the castle. I'm... um... hoping that there isn't anything left in there. That means anything," Yukiko says, her voice a bit sheepish. Of course, Yukiko may be a bit dense, but Chie goes to point out Fumiya's blush like that. How (ahem-hem) rude! Yukiko's attention turns back towards Fumiya, her eyes blinking in sudden realization and confusion.

"Watanabe-san... are you alright? You do not feel feverish, do you?" Yukiko says, glancing back towards Chie, "What bad timing if he caught a fever, right before the trip into the TV world," she says, biting softly on her lower lip as they move along.

"The shoes that Diadara makes for you always look so heavy, Chie," Yukiko says, glancing back towards her friend. "Perhaps he could, umn..." Yukiko begins to say. "Well... nevermind," she finishes with, looking a bit perplexed. A pause. "Oh, the bookstore released a new book - do you think Souji is fond of the Man's Life series? It's for men, and he's a man, so..."


Fumiya blinks. "Castle?" He inquires, having not been around (or at least not in on things) while Yukiko was lost in the TV world. Truthfully, while he knew something in the TV World was happening tonight he kind of glossed over the details.

Speaking of glossing over, oh crap, Chie caught on to his earlier blushing. Damn, this girl's sharper than she looks. "Nah, it's nothing... just, you know, how if you get a little too cold your cheeks might flush to compensate." Yeah, that sounds like something that probably happens! "Don't worry about me, Yukiko-babe, I'm cool. I plan on rocking some shadows tonight!" He exclaims, almost a bit too loudly. Lucky it's a lazy Sunday and fewer people are around.

"Heavy shoes, huh?" He shifts his discussion to match the two girls. "That sounds like a pain... but I bet your legs get one hell of a workout if you leave em on." That's how it works in those animated shows, anyway.


"Ahhh, I wouldn't worry. When we went back to Thora-chan's it just had a big samurai monster that almost killed us all." Chie shrugs, as if this is fairly mundane of a revelation. "So I'm sure it won't be too bad! Oh, but, uhm, I might be...a little late," Chie says, giving an apologetic giggle, scratching at the back of her head. "Or a lot late. My parents have some chores I have to do or else."

"Oh, did it? I haven't been reading those, they seem kinda...macho, you know...?

She squints at Fumiya, then just smirks. "Oh, is that all?" she asks, in a teasing voice, but leaves it at that."

"Oh, yeah, but it's like...samurai armor! I can't wear that around everywhere! I just barely manage to sneak 'em into Junes..."

Shrug! She swings the door to Aiya open with a big grin. "But who cares about that stuff!? Meal time!"


~~*~~ And they enjoyed each others company over the bowls of steamy ramen. ~~*~~