Nightlife
Katara wondered if she would ever get used to the peculiarities of the city. There was rarely stillness here- the city woke up in the morning and likewise came alive at night. Where, in her village, the night was quiet and tranquil, in Bunkyo all sorts of characters came out at night. It was interesting to her to see the lights of the city mirror the nighttime sky. Katara had been warned often enough to understand that there were some shady people she ought to watch out for, especially when the moon was high, but she had never been one to allow her actions to be influenced by fear. Besides, she had always felt a special connection with the moon, the mistress of the tides, and she was more than capable of fending for herself.
The dark presented a certain sort of limbo in time. It was easy to ignore the hour when you didn’t have the lengthening shadows to remind you the day was slipping away. It was relaxing for her, as someone with a busy schedule, to take a while to forget about her obligations and just enjoy the cool air and the full, bright sky.
There was a nice breeze out tonight, less bone-chilling than it had been most of the winter. Coming from the South Pole, anything above freezing felt like shorts weather to her, so she was rather lightly dressed for midwinter. Katara turned her head to see a stranger looking back at her- tall, spectacled, dark-haired.
❝ You have been staring at the sky for some time… ❞
“Oh…Yeah. I guess I just got distracted. It really is a beautiful night, isn’t it? I wish the city lights didn’t wash the sky out like this, though…” She walked towards him and offered her hand. “I’m Katara. Nice to meet you. I just moved here recently.”
Upon closer inspection the figure was a female close to himself in age. Older, if his assumption was correct, and slightly darker and shorter than him. She greeted him, hand extended, with a warm smile. It was only polite to respond with the same. He accepted her hand and quickly cleared his throat for an introduction.
❝ Uryū Ishida. I have recently moved here as well. I am still quite unfamiliar with the town. ❞
After releasing her hand he reached the adjust his glasses while his head turned to examine the stars above. The sky was, as she said, beautiful. The same beautiful sky that hung over Karakura town. That was what he suspected at least; the boy had never taken much time to appreciate the night sky. It appeared the same. Lacking the opportunities to live elsewhere left him unfamiliar with a night sky undisturbed by city lights. His next words were uttered unconsciously.
❝ I would like to see the sky without city lights sometime… ❞ Attempting to not become lost in the scenery above his attention became focused back onto the girl. By the wording of her sentence an assumption was made as to her previous living location. ❝ Have you lived in the city before? Or perhaps somewhere where you can see the sky better? ❞
Katara squeezed his hand gently, smiling pleasantly up at the tall figure before her. His eyes in this dim lighting looked black, but (besides being nearly sure that this was an impossibility- she had come to realize you could never be completely sure about anything in the city) she could see a dark shine of blue in the soft flush of moonlight.
Despite herself, Katara had yet to become calloused to the people of the city; she wasn't suspicious of every person who passed her by, she didn't cross the street when she saw an unfamiliar figure coming towards her. She thought it was a little silly, the way some people here lived their lives in fear of other people- but, then, she had a viable mechanism of defense slung over her shoulder in a leather water pouch. Her expression was soft and she was almost naïve in her trust of others.
❝ Have you lived in the city before? Or perhaps somewhere where you can see the sky better? ❞
Katara nodded. Her eyes seemed brighter as she remembered her place of origin. "Yeah, actually. I was born and raised in the South Pole. No lights for thousands of miles around. The sky looks like a painting from there. I don't know that there's anywhere in Japan where you can find that type of view. What about you? Where did you move from?"












