Post by Fusae Umezono on Apr 1, 2009 9:08:48 GMT -5
There were few things better than closing up the stuffy little steak stand that was Souzai Daigaku, especially on muggy weeknights like this. All that you could hear were crickets and those infuriatingly annoying frogs, which didn't mesh well at all with the sizzling of the grill. Not that it had seen much action over the day, as mothers had shepherded their children down the street with tightly held hands, students hadn't stuck around long after classes ended, and even the local families didn't come out of their own stores and homes so much. Hell, if she didn't know better, even the stray cats and dogs hurried down the streets, refusing to pause for a sniff at the local favorite telephone pole.
Another kid had disappeared; you'd think the gossiping housewives would realize that maybe having so many runaways all in the same year would say something. Then again, that was nothing new back in Osaka.
Now the dead body found the next morning a few blocks over, that was something to be wary of. Some of the local students had made comments about the concrete under his hanging body still stained that dark, rusty red; you didn't get moments like this all too often in Inaba. People talked about it nonstop.
That was the reason why Fusae had slipped her old switchblade in her pants pocket, and why she hated the way the grate was so damn loud as it slid down to be locked. Her ears strained over the rest of the noise (those damn frogs, there were So. Loud.) and she forced herself not to be so jumpy.
No, not jumpy. Alert. Awake. Inaba had made her damn complacent, and it didn't make her happy in the least. She was still better off than the usual Inaba resident, though, if only because old habits died hard.
---
It was nights like this that made Nephi sigh with utmost nostalgia. He loved luke warm evenings, the sound of the frogs as they appeared to get on everyone's nerves, and the distant smell of Fusae's cooking. That could be taken in either context, depending on how well you know the woman. He wouldn't recommend being snarky around her if you weren't him... but that's just the thing. He sort of took pride in being able to tweak her nerves; being able to push any button.
But he would never become as bold as to tell her that he had been sitting on the particular fence waiting on a particular person to stop working for the evening. Instead, he kept quiet as she walked by, only moving at a chameleon's pace to get into a hunched position. He would wait until the perfect opportunity to...
LEAP! Arms outstretched, he waved them in her face, carrying a very distinct twisted face as a few unmentionable words escaped his mouth. All for entertainment, all for the -- shit, was she going to CUT HIM?! Quickly, he jumped back, stuffing his hands into his pockets whilst giving a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.
"Oi! Fun and games, hag!"
---
See, there were very few things that none of the residents of Inaba had really had a chance to learn about Fusae (not for lack of trying, on her part), and one of them was how fast her hand reached for the nearest known weapon in the face of an attack. Self-preservation skills died hard.
"Oh, don't you have the fucking nerve, kid!" The switchblade went back in her pocket though, almost a bit sheepishly. Wouldn't do her any good to freak and strike out, or end up gutting the kid. He was a persistent hangers' on, but not actually harmful to her, as odd as that sounded. Being so uptight, she'd almost been asking for someone to jump out at her like that; hell, if it had happened to anyone but her, she would be laughing her own ass off right now.
Well, that, and if he hadn't caused nothing short of a migraine for her at the doctor's in Okina. Even looking at him now gave her a little residual twinge of a headache, the same one that had been following her for weeks.
She gave him a look, one that obviously said that She. Was not. Amused. "For the love of-- Tch. Nice to see you're feeling better." So maybe it was a little jab at the fact that she'd shelled out a quarter of a paycheck to pay for damages. So what?
---
Laughter could be heard echoing throughout the area as Nephi found so much humor in how she freaked out; aside from the fact that he almost became a barbarian's lunch or something. Tipping back and forth upon the heels and toes of his boots, he continued to stare at her. God, how he missed being able to scare someone like that.
And her of all people!
He could almost find as much enjoyment of bothering Hiroki, without the pain involved. Surely, he felt a hell of a lot better... well, better than the doctor incident. At least that injury wasn't permanent or anything.
"Yeah..." He murmured, reaching to scratch at the back of his head and neck. Why would she care? And, for lack of a better question, why in the hell was he even bothering? Surely Hiroki had given him something to do...
Nephi almost had acted his thought of cowering out, but he was strong, damnit! He shouldn't cower in front of someone like /her/!
"Uhn... Yeah, I do. So what?"
"A-anyway... why are you out so late? Y'know of that murder and stuff, right? It isn't like anything can stay secret long in this hell hole. T'ch."
---
Oh, well, nice to know the brat was having a good time at least. Only not. Heck, he almost looked normal just hanging out like that, if you ignored the fact it was too late at night for him to be out.
"Keep it that way," Fusae grumbled, giving him a light prod with her finger as she went to walk around him. Better not let him think all was forgiven for Okina; she'd get that money back eventually, whether it was from him or not, but until then...
Except she stopped after a few steps and glanced back at him as soon as he spoke again, before turning around fully to rest a hand on a cocked hip and narrow her eyes as if studying him. "Work. I don't get out in the middle of the afternoon every day like you do, y'know, and night's no biggie for me. 'Sides, the same could be said for you." He wasn't the biggest kid after all: really more of a runt compared to some of the other boys running around Inaba, looked like he should be getting harassed and shoved around as a Yasogami freshman, and a rather puny one at that. The damn uniform was the only reason she'd go so far as to think of the local high school, in the first place.
"Don't you have homework or cram school or somethin'? Someone at home's bound to not want you out because of the same reason."
---
Once more did Nephi shrug, knowing full well that his mother wouldn't care, nor his brother. It was a sort of... free for all at home, and somewhere he'd rather not be. Especially now that he hung around with Amenthes most often. After all, he wasn't a small kid, or someone who was afraid of the dark. In fact, he loved it more than ever!
"Kinda hard, y'know. I skip out on school a lot. My family hates me, and I have other places to go and other things to do. Like ya, I kinda work, just not the same things...." He paused, lidding an eye. "S'not like I can cook, but I can do things that are helpful. Kinda..."
Ruffling into his jacket pocket, he grabbed a rather expensive looking leather wallet; clearly stolen, and with one swoop of an arm, tossed it at her feet. He wasn't expecting her to take it, but if she did, it could be payment? Right?
... "s'there anything wrong with bein' a decent human being, once in a while?"
He crinkled his nose as he recalled her words, slightly smirking.
"'Sides, what's the worst that could happen?"
---
Ugh, she'd seen this more than once. Kid who didn't get along with the parents (and, once in a while, it was a legitimate reason, but just not often enough among the girls she had used to run with) and decided to find some sort of gang as a surrogate family. No wonder, then, he'd probably been given a rounds and everything for pick-pocketing work; he didn't blend in with the crowd so well, but that could be fixed with a dye-job and keeping his mother's eyeliner out of his hands. He had attitude enough, even if it wasn't necessarily the good kind.
"Yeah, sure kid, keep--" And then the wallet skidded across the pavement, very neatly coming to a stop at the toe of her boot, and she raised an eyebrow. "What the fuck, man."
With a smooth motion, Fusae kicked the wallet right back, not caring the least about the faded dusty footprint on the smooth leather. She hadn't even liked to take wallets from the commuting white-collars, even back in Osaka with the girls. One month of working on the straight and narrow as part of a job program in senior year of high school had cured her of feeling guiltless when just taking wallets.
"Take that back, I don't need it. There're better ways to pay someone back, y'know."
Not like she had any idea how he was planning to do that, any time soon. Maybe he'd get extra points for trying, anyways.