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Christmas in Junes
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/=====================( - Inaba - Junes Dept. Store - )======================\
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| Every day is great at your Junes! o/~ This jingle is one reason why Junes |
| is so prominent within Inaba. Just one store in a major department store |
| chain, Junes offers many different products at unbeatable prices, from |
| simple groceries to comfortable furniture and even an expansive electronics |
| department, the latter of which has been proven very popular by some of the |
| teenage crowd lately. |
| The department store is so massive that the elevator is the preferred |
| method in which to go anywhere around the place, with different floors for |
| different departments within it. Although the goods are varied enough that |
| each may as well be their own store, at least several things are constant: |
| the bright and cheery colors, the frequent announcement of some special deal |
| or another going on, and most importantly, the endless looping elevator |
| music of the theme song that can even rival Satomi Tadashi's for sheer |
| catchiness. |
| Customer Appreciation Day is said to be every day at Junes, but this sure |
| doesn't seem to show with the majority of its employees... especially the |
| part-timers. Lazy, rude, and prone to complaining about their salary, they |
| are not pleasant people. Even so, that hasn't been enough to drive the |
| customers away. |
|===============================( - Players - )================================|
|===============================( - Objects - )================================|
|================================( - Exits - )=================================|
| Elevator <E>: Junes - Food Court |
| TV <TV>: TV World - The Stage |
| Out <O>: Inaba |
\============================================================================/
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Christmas at a Department Store. Even though many people would rather spend time with their loved ones, and most would certainly rather have today off, Junes is opened and decorated to celebrate this ultimate commerical holiday. Oh and it's probably important to those Christians too. Whatever. But who would even be here today? What kind of girlfriendless loser with nothing better to do in the world would be here on /Christmas Day/...
Oh hey it's Fumiya.
80s Kid wanders the corridors of the store, with an new MP3 player (thanks to his parents) blaring various rock Christmas melodies from the US. Though he mysteriously skips forward whenever 'Jingle Bell Rock' comes up on the queue. It brings up bad memories about an ignited sweater, fruit punch, foam, and the girl's bathroom.
Having stubbornly used a cassette player for so long to maintain his stubborn image, this massive leap forward in musical technology has him interested in more, so he's currently hanging out by the electronics department, wondering how much he should drop on one of those prepaid card things to download music online.
Oh man. Flaming Fumiya. Good times.
Shirou is going around the aisles himself, rubbing the back of his neck, yawning slightly. He's avoiding family today; His Father is bad talking, well, him and Sancho mostly, and he couldn't take it anymore. So he's checking out a bunch of movies, somewhere in the deepest darkest parts of the electronics section.
"Man... how come most of these /suck/...." Shirou is a tough movie critic...
Maki? Spend time with her 'family'? Pshyeah right. She is finishing up some last minute 'christmas' shopping because items are cheaper in a department store on christmas, right? Right. So. She sees Fumiya first because well--he's pretty obvious. But where is Maki precisely?
Well she is examining the movies on the other side of the aisle from Shirou, having totally missed him until now. She tosses a wave to That 80s(?) guy.
If Susumu had had even the slightest choice in the matter, he would not have come to Junes to do any sort of shopping, even extremely last-minute Christmas dinner shopping. But most of the other food stores in Inaba are closed, and those that *aren't* don't have what he's looking for. When, extremely reluctantly, done only because his father urged him to at least *try*, he gave a call to Junes, and the person on the other end of the line told him cheerfully, why, they *do* have that product in stock, his father gave him several fresh yen bills and asked him to get on over there, and to be careful on his way with that foot on the slippery roads, and to keep the change for having to go to the trouble--Uezumi-papa wanted to keep an eye on the food, and, well, there's no one else in the household to go.
And so Susumu is at Junes with a rather foul look on his face, carrying a shopping basket with a couple different fairly esoteric spices and herbs. The electronics department is on the way out, and the *only* reason Susumu stops there is to sit down and catch a breather on one of those fancy listen-to-music chairs. His foot is *killing* him, and he really is in a bad mood! One can practically see the gray stormcloud drizzling down over his head. It doesn't even have the benefit of snow, which is really quite pretty but also a bitch and a half to try to walk in when you've got crutches.
"Because it's Junes," Susumu adds in a mutter, overhearing Shirou's remark. He doesn't really mean to be heard by his fellow first-year, but, well...
Oh hey, if it isn't Shibrou. Fumiya wasn't really expecting to meet anyone he knew at Junes today, but it's all good! Having absorbed so much American culture he's always been a little disappointed at how Christmas isn't as big a deal in Japan as it is across the ocean. So he always takes any chance he can to liven the day up.
"Because you aren't looking in the right sections, man." Fumiya adds, almost immediately after Susumu. The 80s Kid turns to glance at him, he's never met him face to face but he has seen him around Yasogami. Fumiya merely shrugs in response to his comment, he doesn't necessarily disagree, Junes DOES kinda suck when it comes to in-depth selection and options for, well, /anything/. "But you probably won't find much here anyways."
Fumiya almost doesn't spot Maki, but his babe-dar never fails him. Especially when there's a girl waving his way. Not one to be rude, Fumiya grins and waves back, not immediately recognizing Maki. It takes a few moments for him to recall the battle at Onisaka Tower, which was his only real exposure to the girl.
Realization spreads across his face, and he nudges Shirou. "Hey..." He whispers. "Isn't that, you know, that girl from that place?" Shirou should know by now that Fumiya's attention span and memory for most things isn't so hot, so it should come to no surprise that he doesn't quite remember.
"Yeah, tell me about it." Shirou snerks just a bit, glancing to the poor kid. Wait... he squints a bit, tilting his head a little bit. He looked a little familiar. He gives a friendly wave at least, walking around through the aisle towards him, and coincidently around the shelve he was looking at, getting closer to Maki and Fumiya.
He's nudged by Fumiya, and he blinks just a bit before giving Maki a bigger wave. He whispers back. "Yeah, Maki Sonomura... should be cool though, she's better now. In many ways."
He smirks just a bit more. "BUt as I was saying... no classics section, just recent action flicks and cartoons for the kids, and those tearjerker movies that I can't stand..."
Maki goes back to perusing movies. Unlike Shirou, she has no trouble finding 'Chainsaw Massacre: Japan IV', just what she was looking for. She looks up to Shirou and adds, "What sort of classics are you looking for?" She seems to remember him too, though she doesn't seem too surprised to see... like the one Inaban who actually prefers Junes to the other stores at a Junes. She does, however, glance on over to Mysterious Warrior Susumu whom she doesn't recognize and is on el crutches.
Hm.
"Need me to get you anything?" She asks.
Well, it's *sort of* a big deal? People still have parties and stuff, and they exchange presents, and they have Christmas cake and Christmas trees and stuff, they just... yeah. The spices, for the record, are for tonight's chicken dinner--Dad wanted to do something ~crazy~, and he can't continue with dinner until he has them, though he can at least work on the Christmas cake. Susumu is frankly surprised Junes even has the aforementioned spices.
He gives an unamused look Fumiya's way, though his expression does shift slightly when he realizes both him and Shirou, who actually responds to him. Not like it's impossible to just happen to run into people you know in a small town like Inaba, but it's just... really embarrassing to Susumu to be seen in Junes. Blue lines streaking down the top of his face, Susumu lets his head sink down as he groans lowly.
The girl with the thing? Susumu wouldn't know a damn thing about any Mikage-cho, though he knows a bunch of his classmates and senpais were in Lunarvale for some odd reason when it disappeared behind the dome of light. He lifts his head when Maki offers to help him out, and offers her a weak smile. "Oh," he utters unenthusiastically, "no, not really, I got what I came for..." A brief lift of the basket. The group may notice there's like two things in there. Two very small things.
Despite this, they're on the pricy side, even for Junes. Spices are ridiculous sometimes.
Fumiya blinks vacantly as Shirou fills him in a bit. "Huh, really? Ok." Shrug. If she's cool, then she's cool! Fumiya mostly remembers something about some other girl from Mikage-cho being dangerous, but must've gotten his memory-wires crossed. Ah well, whatever. He pauses for only a moment, before adding, "So is she single?"
Keep your eye on the important stuff, 80s Kid!
Fumiya starts browsing the movies too, since that's just what you have to do whenever you run into someone you know browsing something. "No classics huh? Yeah, I see what you mean!" Fumiya exclaims. "I mean, they don't even have the internation release of the Back to the Future trilogy. Talk about a bummer."
As Maki offers help to Susumu Fumiya turns back in his direction, forgetting momentarily why he would even need help. Oh yeah, right, crutches. "Wooooow...." He says in a low voice, to Shirou. "What happened to that dude again? I think I'm behind on my gossip." Fumiya needs better sources. He can't keep getting all his info from Riddle-sensei, even if he DOES have a fantastic 'fro.
Maki glances into the basket. "Oh hey! You cook? That's great and--wow, those are pretty expensive spices..." Maki looks back up to Susumu, "You really take it seriously, don't you? "She does not yet realize that he is actually trying to BE a chef? Or a soccer chef. Or something. "But honestly, I don't mind helping ah--" She looks over to Shirou and Fumiya, as if expecting them to be big manly men of manliness with muscles and brawn and building the eiffel towerses.
"Well, it's not a video store so they probably only sock the pop culture stuff, or what's...popular, you know?" Maki asks. "I mean they have Chainsaw Massacre: Japan IV."
She holds the gruesome title up so Shirou can see.
She must have missed the query about availability. Or she ignored it.
Susumu gives Fumiya a flat look when, despite Fumiya's best efforts to be subtle (hahahahahahahah), he overhears the guy asking what happened to his foot. A sigh follows when Shirou admits he doesn't know what's up with it. Being in general a pretty friendly guy, even if sarcasm is his refuge, the violet-haired boy just sighs and ignores it as he lowers the basket. Looks like they don't really recognize him that much, though it would be really mortifying if they *started* to recognize him as a result of spying him in Junes. He thus decides to talk more to Maki, whom he is pretty sure he's never seen at Yasogami.
The irony is not lost on Uezumi the Younger.
"Yeah, well," he replies, scratching his cheek a little, "it's actually Dad who's cooking tonight, but yeah... I really don't have anything else to get, but I guess if you wanna help, you could hold the basket while I get up--I really wanna get out of here already." The grumpy look returns, particularly as the conversation returns to Junes' lack of anything classic, or really anything that has class. "Yeah, if you want good movies, you should go to a *real* store," he supplies, not quite looking Shirou's way. "You'll probably have to wait 'til tomorrow, though. It's pretty dead in town with all the snow." And, you know, Christmas.
It's a goooooood thing Shirou only thought that. If he actually said a totally awesome series like Back to the Future was dated, why, they would be /fighting words/! Fumiya would lose it quicke than Marty would after being called chicken!
He and Shirou still need to have a talk about everything that happened in Mikage-cho anyway. But it's something Fumiya has been postponing for one reason or another. Most likely just through plain ol' slacking.
"Chainsaw Massacre: Japan IV? That title sound like an American flick... what was it? Idaho Chainsaw Massacre?" Fumiya ponders, probably missing the connection, or the utter lack of one, between the two films. "Well, there's always online!" He offers helpfully to Shirou. "With places like Amazon you can find all the stuffy nerdy preppy movies you could ever hope for!" Fumiya says, enthusiastically slapping Shirou on the shoulder.
"Family errands eh?" Fumiya comments, finally jumping in on Susumu's conversation. "Kinda bogus to be sent out on Christmas day with a bum foot. Need any more help there?"
"I'm sure he's fine, Fumiya. And dude, did you suddenly become an advert for them or something?" He teases back, trying to give Susumu some space; he's already said he didn't need help. He's not an invalid. But his respectful distance /might/ be considered to be just being cold though; Shirou's hard to read around new people until they can learn to pick up the slight varations in his vocal patterns.
"Hey, I just want like, a little bit of class here is all. It's either here or I go out to Okina; Kenda's Video Emporium went bottom up, what, a year ago?"
Maki should know, Shirou tries to support local buisnesses. But that's a small point now. "What brings you out here anyway Fumiya?"
"Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Maki says, "It's not really related, it's just trying to cash in." She shows the sticker, "Pretty cheap entertainment right?" She lowers her hand though as Fumiya just... just goes on and on. She gets a blank look in her eyes before, suddenly stirring, he adds, 'Oh, yeah, yeah," She gives Shirou an odd look before looking back to Uezumi. "Sure, I'll hold your bag." She moves a hand to take it. BIG STRONG MAKI getting to help out the cripple. She actually is appreciative of the idea of helping someone else out. Sure, it's kind of SELFISH too but it's okay, she is just happy to be in a position to be able to help.
"...Yeah," Susumu admits unenthusiastically as Shirou points out that the only small-town video store in Inaba folded about a year ago. Of course, Susumu is a guy who would be willing to go all the way to Okina to make purchases if he had to, but given how slow he already is with this foot, and the fact that his dad already has the stuff out, he knows he can't really go all the way out there to get what he needs. Dammit, Junes.
He shakes his head at Fumiya, though, feeling a little better about the offer, though he's actually more appreciative of Shirou saying he's sure he's fine. Susumu really would rather get up himself, even if he's letting Maki hold his stuff for him. "Yeah, I'm fine," he simply says, grabbing his crutches and leaning forward to get back on his feet. "It was just an accident a few months ago," he adds by way of slightly awkward explanation. "And yeah, I guess, but somebody had to do it, and Dad couldn't, and there's nobody else." He looks back at Maki and holds out his hand to take the basket back. "Uh, thanks, by the way."
The movie talk is completely ignored. Susumu is *so* not interested, even if he does find himself glancing at the box. Man, who would get a movie like that at a holiday like this?
Fumiya very rarely thinks of what other people might think or feel as a result of what he says, so even though he means his offer genuinely he just didn't imagine Susumu would take it a different way. But it's the thought that counts! Right?
Fumiya shrugs when Shirou accuses him of working for THE MAN. The big, internet superstore Man. "Hey, I was just able to get a few hard to find stuff there, is all. There's lotsa cool stuff you can get on webzones like that. It's the communications age, Shibrou, get with the times!"
I'll just pause for a moment while reality resets itself after CRASHING HORRIBLY as a result of those words coming from /Fumiya/.
"Well whatever you're into, it's all good." Fumiya says to Maki, which pretty much means 'I can't be bothered to think too hard about why you'd like something like that, so go nuts!'. Seeing that she has Susumu handled, Fumiya hangs back to let him stand on his own like he wants.
Shirou's head tilts down, and he's pinching the bridge of his nose, and his shoulders are shaking a little bit. He might /actually/ be close to socking Fumiya. But not just yet. No, he needs a rolled up newspaper or something to smack him with.
"F-fumiya, did you just... /dude/ don't even go there." He gives him a Death Glare at... roughtly 16 percent power. But it's in fun, and he should know this by now. And he's not trying to outright ignore Maki and Susumu, just he wants to give them their space.
The mentioning of an accident finally jars his memory though, and he gives Susumu a quick, knowing glance. He'll have Sancho drop him a line next time he's around the soccer field... and if his half-brother is feeling like doing anything for him, of course.
"...'get with the times?'"
From not too far away, Thora stares on in shock. She seems to have just literally /appeared/ from nowhere, an empty plastic bag balled up firmly in one hand, the other resting on her hip. A tiny smirk is sent in Shirou's direction and with a casual gesture, she tosses the empty bag into the nearest trash can. "Hey guys. Merry Christmas."
"Oh! Thora!" Maki says, head jerking. "Been a while, hi!" She waves towards her, offering the bag back to Susumu as it seems he wants it back. "I hope it gets better soon," She adds, because she's not really sure precisely the nature of the accident or what, but hey well wishes right? She smiles at him, "Don't mention it. I hope you have a great meal."
It's actually a gift. But Maki doesn't explain that because it involves other explanations. She isn't against chainsaw massacre movies though, she finds them pretty interesting in the same way other people find soap operas interesting. Sure there's gory death, but there's so much easy drama--
Susumu eyeballs Fumiya when he tells Shirou to get with the times--this, coming from the 80's guy? But he still grins a bit and says, "And that'd be, what, the nineties for you?" He laughs at Shirou's response too--looks like even the /dread pall/ of Junes is not enough to get him to lighten up when there's something to actually laugh at. This dies a little when Thora shows up; Susumu doesn't collapse in shock or anything, but his heartrate does jump a little as he grimaces and glances over his shoulder at her, missing the knowing glance Shirou shoots his way. ...ugh. Well, she's a good member of the soccer team, so... "Hey, Kobayashi-san," he says, throwing her a wave and an attempt at a smile.
Maki, at least, seems nice enough. She reminds him a little of Yukiko, somehow. He's not exactly sure how. "Thanks," he says again, because hoping it gets better soon is a nice gesture, even if Susumu knows that's not going to be the case. Well, with enough physical therapy, it ought to get better *eventually*, but he really screwed up... "Thanks, we will! ...uh. Probably should get going soon, though," he adds, looking around the store. "Dad's waiting--we kind of found out we were out while we were in the middle of making it."
Fumiya feigns being hurt at the comments. "I have /no/ clue what you guys are talking about. I'm totally with the times! ALL of the times!" Ha ha ha ha. What a terrible joke!
Fumiya waves to Thora as she arrives. "S'up Thora-babe? You also don't have anything better to do on Christmas Day than hang out at Junes with us losers?" He asks, making light of his own situation. I mean, seriously, it's /Christmas Day/. Fumiya would be in Port Island instead if his parents didn't decide to come to Inaba to stay at his grandparent's place. It's his first Christmas not in a big city in a long time, maybe that's why he went out to Junes? It wouldn't be the first time he went there for some of that bigger city nostalgia.
"Oh, leavin' eh?" Fumiya says, noticing Susumu getting ready to do so. "Ok Bro, watch the walk back. Merry Christmas, eh?"
Shirou gives a wave to Susumu. "Ja man." A hint informal, but whatever. Thora's here.
He gives Fumiya a bit of a playful shove as he moves over to his girlfriend, giving her a quick snug. "Merry Christmas, Thora-babe." He says, winking just a bit. He yawns a little bit, shrugging. "Hey, losers like us gotta stick together though, right bro?"
"Gosh Shirou, we could always go somewhere again." Thora says casually, seriously entertaining this thought. It's Christmas Day, why spend it hanging around /Junes/? Thora was just here earlier to make a special trip into the TV to give Teddie something. She'd actually gone in a whole lot earlier but then she got caught up with explaining Christmas and gift giving and GOSH THORA-SAN WHY DON'T WE GIVE EACH OTHER PRESENTS EVERY DAY????
It was pretty awkward, really, but at least Teddie appreciated getting a gift. As for alluding to this, "I had to track someone down to give 'em a gift, Watanabe." She can't name names with Susumu here. Her fellow soccer player gets a nod in greeting. "Hey Uezumi. See you in practice, eh?" She's actually quite oblivious to any real discomfort her presence gives him. In fact, she usually assumes people are disturbed by her presence anyway.
"Maki...?" Thora headtilts, "What are you doin' all the way out here?"
"Yeah, sure," Susumu tells Kobayashi before waving and smiling at the others. "Yeah, Merry Christmas to you guys, too." Then he heads off to make his purchase and get the hell out of ///JUNES/// \E____E And then have himself a delicious if somewhat awkward Christmas dinner with Dad at home!
It's high priestess combination. Of course, Maki tends to revel in her darkside a bit more these days. Why is that? Everybody was so nice to her! Well, yeah. She seems to think people will be cooler with her Aki aspect now, so--why be a goody two shoes ALL the time when you can sometimes act on your impulses and generally be a healthier saner individaul? Well, okay, 'saner'.
"Oh gosh, I shouldn't keep you! Good luck!!" She waves excitedly at Susumu. What a nice guy without any secret issues at all, she thinks!
"Ja?" She quips.
"Getting a video. Though I guess I could stay in Lunarville for that, I actually have to check up here every so often." But why does she have to do that? It's a mystery. It may even be more than one mystery. Or maybe only one. She WAS seen at the ball with Yosuke, after all. "Plus, what, so many cool people in Inaba." Even if there are a lot of dumbasses, but Maki thinks positive. ly.
"Someone eh?" Fumiya glances between Thora and Shirou. He hasn't really had time to get to know Teddie yet, so he doesn't make the connection. Besides, it just makes more sense to be Shirou. "Well maybe I ought to leave you two lovebirds alone."
He glances back at the electronics section one last time, and shrugs. He can get one of those music cards later. Besides, with his little brother in Inaba for a couple of days, he has been pestered into hanging out with him.
"Well I guess I'll be on my way. Still plenty of time left in the day to take care of stuff. I'll see you guys later." He pauses. "Oh, and thanks for the gift Thora-babe! Nice pick. But, uh, I might be a little late with a return gift." Due to not having much personal income, Fumiya's been dragging his feet on getting a part-time job himself.
Shirou snugs Thora a bit. "That...sounds like a plan to me." Forget hangin out with the family. He'd rather be with someone he actually cared about.
He waves to everyone, as he shrugs towards Thora. "Shall we?"
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