Tohko Kirisaki :: Corpse Party RP blog. Timeline :: Before and after Blood Drive I track the tag :: princessofbyakudan :: Icon/Top Pic :: :: Profile/Bottom Pic :: var sc_project=10746697; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_security="b07f0f36"; var scJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://secure." : "http://www."); document.write("");
Yuuya had been avoiding flowers in the past, mostly because of his negative association with them. But now that they’d been dating for some time, he wanted to finally give her flowers. He could just wait for White Day but….doing it on her birthday just seemed more personal. The hardest part was asking Haruna for help.
She was defintely surprised at first, but thrilled once she realized it was a genuine request. Together, they picked out red carnations, red roses, and red
camellias.
“To symbolize love~” she’d explained. When picking the centerpiece flower, Yuuya wanted to go with sweet pea, but Haruna was so fervently against it, he finally relented and asked her to explain what some flowers meant. In the end, he went with a white chrysanthemum; the symbol of self-esteem and truth.
When he finally got to the point of giving them to her, he suddenly found himself uncharacteristically nervous. What if this wasn’t the right gift? Maybe he should have gotten her something else…something that wasn’t so ephemeral. But it was too late to turn back now. Putting on his best smile, he held out the bouquet to her.
With the exception of some minor bumps and surprises, Tohko's birthday track record was generally rather positive! She couldn't remember a birthday where she'd ended it disappointed or sad. This was especially true since entering high school, where she'd gained more special friends, and and an extra special someone as well~ Her birthday was on a Wednesday this year. Annoyingly the middle of the week, so her actual party was going to be on Friday. Today though, stepping out of her house, she was greeted by Yuuya and her second gift of the day (the first being the special and probably rather fattening breakfast she'd gotten from her mother). !!
"Eeee!" She loved flowers, and eagerly took them from him. The temporary nature of them didn't bother her. Lately, she'd made a few friends that were into pressing flowers or taking photos of the bouquets so the memory could remain. Tohko inhaled the lovely scent and stood on her toes to thank Yuuya with a small number of kisses. "These are gorgeous~" And this was the first time he'd gotten them for her, wasn't it? He probably had to buy them from his sister and aaaa, their relationship still wasn't the beeeesst? "Thank you, Yuuya~"
She let their fingers brush teasingly as they walked to school, chatting with him about this or that. They had a project to finish by Friday, though hers was thankfully seventy percent done thanks to both Mitsuki and Fukuroi being in her group. Besides that, she was curious what he had planned for later. She knew there was something (he'd had that look about him these last few days), but she wasn't quite sure what. He was a darn good secret keeper.
“I do” he replied, confirming the reservations online as he did so. “I was thinking perhaps a cabin this time, hm? Just so we have a little more space.” It wasn’t something he could even dream of affording last time they went, but things had changed a bit since then. Ideally, he’d love to hunt with her too, but he hadn’t (as of yet) figured out a practical way to accomplish that.
“Is there anything we didn’t get to do last time that you’d like to try?”
"A cabin? Actually yeah that sounds great!" They'd have a bunch more space, they wouldn't need to spend time pitching the tent (not that she disliked that part) nor would they have to worry about sudden rainfall potentially ruining their gear if it was nicely tucked away. "If the cabin has a little stove and maybe a fridge we can be a bit more ambitious food wise." She thought back to the last time they'd gone camping and considered his question.
"We didn't get to fish." She chuckled. "We also didn't get to do the ‘special thing’." Which only made sense. They'd never hunted without her father before. Gosh just the idea was nerve wracking. "It'd be over the weekend, right? When would we leave? Friday night? I'd love to go swimming with you again." And a bunch of other stuff too, gosh. Though this was for her birthday, already her mind was swimming for ways to make things romantic.
There was a bit of a wait, but as soon as Kai was told who was waiting for him, he stepped away from his station and peeked out into the waiting area.
“Eyyy, Kirisaki! Glad you could make it.” He gestured for her to come over, and then turned with the assumption that she’d follow. His previous customer, a blonde-haired woman, looked ever-so-slightly dissapointed that Kai’s attention had shifted so suddenly.
“I am not letting you leave until I give you a makeover, I’ve gotten so much better, and I was already amazing before, so…Oi!” Shimada put his hands up when he caught his boss staring at him with a strange mixture of amusement and impatience.
“I gave her a coupon okay? She’s gonna pay for it!”
“Just checking. I know you like to do favors for ladies, Shimada.” With a small grumble, he led Tohko the rest of the way back.
“I’ll pay for it, alright? She’s just mad because this girl forgot to pay this one time. Okay maybe twice but things happen! You know how it is.”
Tohko avoided eye-contact with the woman, not wanting to give them impression that she was competition. Heck, good luck to you! Following behind Shimada, Tohko couldn't repress her giggles as he was reprimanded.
"’Favors’? Tsk tsk!" It was highly likely that he was hired for his face as much as his skills (or even more so), but if he kept forgetting this was also a business he might be more trouble than his boss bargained for. That said, she definitely perked up at the thought of a make-over. "I know you took classes on make-up in school, but I didn't know they let you do them here too." A good idea struck her.
"Oh! Say, now that you've got this job, have you considered taking pictures of the work you do and putting them up on your blog? A man with a beautiful face with beautiful proof of his work could only benefit the salon." If you’d told Tohko a few years ago that she’d one day be having such a pleasant talk with Kai Shimada of all people, she would’ve given you such a nasty look.
‘ ‘ Auntie Tohko Auntie Tohko!! Me and Ren got you something ‘ ‘ Even though Tohko wasn’t Kyouko real Aunt yet she still liked to call her that. She stood next to Ren and held up a handmade bow. ‘ ‘ Mommy helped me and Ren make this for you. ‘ ‘ Ren stood behind Kyouko shyly ‘ ‘ Happy.. Happy Birthday ‘ ‘
Listen. Tohko had exactly zero complaints about little Kyoujko calling her ‘auntie’. I mean hey if things between her and Yuuya keep progressing smoothly...
“You made this for me? It’s wonderful~“ Kneeling down, Tohko removed her own hair accessories and gently inserted the bow the twins had sweetly gifted her. “Ooo~ How do I look?“
That morning, a small package arrived for Tohko from Shimada, of all people. inside was an ornate hair clip with a note folded beside it. Once she unfolded it, a coupon for Asuki’s Hair Salon fell out, and a brief message was written inside.
Kirisaki-san,
Guess who just got a job at Asuki’s? This will look great on you regardless, but it will look even better if you let me do your hair up right! Come on down birthday girl ;)
Oh wow! If there was one talent she couldn't deny that Shimada had, it was a taste for jewelry. Particularly women's jewelry actually. She figured it was a natural side-effect of being a model and being surrounded by so many well accessorized people in the business. Lately, it would seem that the man had found his true calling, that of a hair stylist. Privately, she'd always liked the way he styled his hair...
Tohko checked the time on her phone. Today was a day off, so there was nothing stopping her from talking a nice walk down to the salon in question. Just to be safe, she called ahead and asked if they did walk ins...
---
She was sure to grab a smoothie before entering Asuki's. Stepping past the front door, she was greeting with the familiar smell of shampoos and hair dye. She spotted Shimada over with a customer. She took a moment to appreciate how happy he looked working on the woman's hair. It was always endearing whenever she saw her friends doing the things they talked about doing back in high school. Tohko was snapped out of her thoughts by a woman at the front desk. Heh, oops.
"Hi there~ Is it possible for me to ask for a specific stylist?" The woman glanced over knowingly at Shimada and looked for all the world like she was trying to not roll her eyes. Haha. "Is he annoyingly popular already? I’m not surprised. I don't mind if there's a bit of a wait. I'm not here to distract him. Trust me, we're just friends." She could tell the woman didn't believe her at all, not that it really mattered. Tohko was directed to a plush couch that served as the waiting area and waited patiently for her turn.
"Happy birthday Tohko! Say, it's been abnormally warm lately, how would you feel about a camping trip this weekend? We haven't done that in a while." He may or may not be a few clicks away from reserving a cabin, but bae's on the phone so she doesn't need to know that yet.
"Thank you!" Eeee~ Tohko plopped down on her bed and grabbed a nearby pillow to snug while she talked to Yuuya. She'd received calls and texts and well wishes all day but his was the one she'd been looking forward to the most. She audibly gasped when he brought up the idea of camping. It had been a while since it was just them, alone in the lovely woods. "Honestly? I'd love to." She chuckled softly. "Remember last time when saw those cute foxes going for a swim?"
Yuuya listened intently, his expression remaining focused until she mentioned the Christmas party from long ago. For a moment, he frowned, focusing harder still to dig into the far reaches of his memory,. When he finally recalled it, Yuuya slipped back into a soft smile.
“Of course….Kurosaki was very eager to have me come to that one. I’m curious though….did it stand out for you for some reason?” She’d always been a bit more sentimental than he was, but for her to bring that up after all this time, he had to assume it held some special importance for her. But what? He coudln’t recall anything particularly significant happening.
Yuuya felt a small pang of jealousy when she mentioned baking a Christmas cake with some other boy, but he quickly reminded himself how silly that was. After all, ‘Ma-kun’ wasn’t here now, was he?
Spending Christmas with your family was something he was a big more familar with, though reluctantly so when he got older. Tohko obviously had fonder memories of that.
In any case, playing in the show was something he could do for her, but baking a Christmas cake was something else he was pretty set on now. The only issue was, he still needed to figure out how to make that happen with their current….resources. He’d have to talk it over with Yuki later on.
Actually, she hadn't mentioned it for any real reason other than to see if he remembered. That said, it was a special memory. An outing with precious friends. Knowing what she knew now didn't dampen the feelings she had about the party then.
"Oh I bet he was." She chuckled to herself, but otherwise kept a careful eye on Yuuya's expression. She still wasn't too sure how willing he was to talk (meaningfully) about Kensuke. "It was just a fun memory. All of us together. Oh, do you remember your birthday? We came to get you together, me and him. That whole day was so much fun, especially after my nerves chilled out. Say, Yuuya, when we were all together, did you ever enjoy it?"
After his answer, Tohko gently led him out of the lab and into the hall instead (to get him away from his presents). On the walls outside of their main home base, the five of them had already started making good on Tohko's idea of decorating with chalk drawings. There was so much canvas, the kids could draw for as long as their imaginations ran wild. Tohko had sectioned off a nice chunk of wall for just herself, and another just for Yuuya. It was always very interesting to see the different art styles next to each other. Tohko was debating whether or not to suggest the same activity to the rest of the Byakudans, but was a bit worried that somehow or another, it might get back to Yuuya. Would he feel like she'd ruined something that was just for them? Would he not care? That would be the better option of course, but...Hm. Pushing that from her mind for now, Tohko picked up a piece of chalk from the jar she'd placed near the wall.
"So, there's this empty space here, and I was thinking it might be fun to draw a tree together, just you and me. Maybe some other usual decorations too. Or if you don't wanna, we can do whatever you'd like. Either way, I just missed you~ I don't really mind what we do."
“Oh, he wanted me to, but I encouraged him to do it solo this time around. He’s honestly smart enough, and it probably evens the playing field a bit.” Of course, that wasn’t the real reason Yuuya backed out; he wanted to have some alone time with Tohko, something that was increasingly rare nowadays. Despite caring very much for the children, he missed it a lot. And with Christmas right around the corner, he naturally had more intimate things on the mind.
In one of his most recent conjuring activities with Yuki, Yuuya admitted that he wanted to do something ‘special’ for Tohko this Christmas. This got Yuki very excited, and immediately she had started suggesting romantic sleigh rides, cuddles by a fireplace, and mistletoe. Yuuya was almost surprised a girl her age thought of such things, but maybe it was just a girl thing? He had no idea. It certainly hadn’t been on his mind at that age.
While they were all good ideas, Yuuya couldn’t help feel they were a bit cliche (not that he said this aloud), and told Yuki he would think things over. He tried to come up with the perfect idea for Tohko, but he quickly realized that figuring out what someone considered the ideally romantic Christmas evening wasn’t the easiest thing to deduce from other kinds of behavior. He could ask Tohko straight out what she wanted, but he had a feeling the answer would just be something like ‘anything with you’ which, while sweet, wasn’t very helpful. Besides, that would ruin any possible element of surprise, wouldn’t it?
After thinking it over a bit more, Yuuya ultimately decided to ask anyway – just a bit less directly than ‘what do you want to do with me for Christmas?’ when he did so. His mind was still racing when he finally found her alone in the science lab, so he didn’t even notice her slip some items behind her when he came in.
“Tohko, what sorts of things did you like to do most during Christmas back home?” It wasn’t going to get him exactly the answer he wanted (unless she had a boyfriend before she died…that wasn’t something he’d considered before). But it would get him a better idea of what sort of winter activities to work from, right? That was the hope at least.
Yuuya's explanation sounded sensible enough that Tohko didn't question it. Though she was kinda in the middle of something, she was honestly more than a touch happy to be alone with him. It wasn't until now that it really hit her how jam packed their 'days' had been with their three little visitors running around. Behind her back, Tohko covered up the items she was trying to wrap with more newspaper. Once everything was hidden, she stood up and moved over to Yuuya.
"Let's see...When I was little, there were little parties that I would go to. Mitsuki and I always went together. Mom and I would also bake a cake together, that was usually for the two of them to eat on Christmas Eve~" She sighed wistfully. "They usually saved me a piece though. When I got a bit older, I'd still spend the day of with my family, watching movies and hanging around inside cause eating out would cost a lot, haha. I'd have a party with my friends a day or two later. Oh! Do you remember? When our group had an 'After Christmas' party~" Kurosaki had been eager to help plan it, so there was no way he'd miss the opportunity to drag Yuuya out to enjoy the holiday. Thinking back, Tohko remembered the two Christmas Eves that were a bit more noteworthy.
"Middle school was when stuff got a bit different. Ma-kun and I baked and cooked together while our parents went out. We'd go out on Christmas Eve to ice skate, shop, play in the snow, or go for walks further out from the city. We'd spend the whole day together, sort of like an all-day party! What about you, Yuuya?" She took the opportunity to imagine a tiny Yuuya dressed up for a little party. Heh~ While he answered, Tohko held out her hands for Yuuya to hopefully take.
Yuuya listened with a well-practiced frown as Kurosaki described some of the things he had seen. It didn’t surprise Yuuya of course - it was no secret to him that Kurosaki was fond of the girl, so if the school got wind of that, of course it would show her being killed in the most brutal way possible. And it was right in line with the strange things they heard thusfar as well. He did notice Tohko looking incredibly uncomfortable though. He was about to step in and gently change the subject when one of the smaller girls that came with Kurosaki acted first. Her small gesture seemed to snap Kurosaki back to reality, which he was grateful for.
“Visions?” he repeated once Kurosaki went on. “No, I think it’s defintely just targeted hallucinations. I mean, what would I be laughing about in a place like this?” Well in truth he could think of a few things, but none of them were terribly likely. And certainly none of them would involve Kurosaki’s name, right?
Soon after, they finally started to move again, but it wasn’t long before they hit another road block. Quite literally, a new hole now existed in the middle of the path, preventing anyone from crossing. Yuuya had to suppress a groan of frustration, this almost felt like the school was doing it on purpose! Actually, that wasn’t entirely impossible, was it? They were able to work around it though, but not without a price. The classroom they cut through smelled AWFUL, full of horrible rotting corpses of students that (apparently) died at their desks. And when the door at the other side ended up actually being stuck, Yuuya did groan audibly with the others.
After trying to force it open for a bit, Yuuya opened his mouth to suggest that they just break it down, but Kurosaki beat him to it. However, his friend’s idea of running at it himself seemed….a bad choice. Kurosaki was strong enough, but it would be much more efficient for him to do it. Yuuya opened his mouth to say so, but again, someone else beat him to it. This time it was Yuka, which made him smile, and Tohko joined in shortly after. However, just as Yuuya was about to agree this was the best course of action, he was cut off again, this time by an unknown source.
Something was trying to come in from the other side.
Yuuya tensed, his mind racing to think of the best course of action here, but since it sounded close to breaking anyway, he ultimately decided to move out of the way like the others. The familiarity of the voice didn’t quite click in his head until he actually laid eyes on Fukuroi and Yamamoto. This didn’t ease his tensions though, especially not when they had just been talking about the latter a few minutes before. Yuuya opened his mouth to ask Tohko to try and confirm that Mitsuki (at the very least) was real, but was distracted by Kurosaki moving forward without thinking. He made a movement to stop him, but once again, someone beat him to it. As if this wasn’t enough, Tohko went on to ask Yamomoto a question that (presumably) she’d only know if she was real.
Yuuya stood there a moment, a mixture of pride and relief washing over him. The former wasn’t hard to figure out, he was proud of Tohko for taking initiaive at a time like this, but the latter required a bit more thought to parse out. By the time both Fukuroi and Yamamoto had been confirmed to be real,he realized what it was: everyone was acting far more in sync than before. If this kept up, they might just get out of this awful place alive.
When asked how he was, Yuuya provided an overview of the events thusfar, but kept it brief – both to allow Tohko to elaborate on her own parts as much as she saw fit, and to not stall too much before hearing Fukuroi’s and Yamamoto’s tale. For all he knew, their experiences might help them further piece together the puzzle slowly forming around this school, and their key to getting out. However, there was one more thing he wanted to take care of before delving into that, so after Tohko explained her piece of their journey so far, he cleared his throat.
“Before we talk more, I think it would be a good idea to have some sort of…plan, in case we get separated. Most of us know each other to an extent, but it would be a good idea to have a more definitive way for each of us to identify every member of our group.” Simply sharing passwords didn’t seem wise, because the school was probably listening even now. But was there any other way?
“We could each share a fact about ourselves, I suppose.” he offered, though his tone made it clear how unsure he was about this strategy. “ I realize that doesn’t’ guarantee the school won’t pick up on it though, so if anyone has a better idea…” Somewhat unintentionally, his eyes lingered on the two girls he was least familiar with when he said this. At the moment, they were his biggest concern, since he knew nothing significant about them.
Between the two of them, Mitsuki was the more wound up. Reuniting with Tohko and Kurosaki was doing her a lot of good, but it wouldn't take too long to notice that she kept glancing around the room. If the school creaked or there was a suspicious scratching noise she carefully grabbed hold of Fukuroi's wrist and moved him a few feet away from where he'd been before. He didn't seem to mind at all. If anything, he seemed to be incredibly trusting of her judgement. After Tohko and then Kurosaki were done explaining their own adventures in the school, Tohko couldn't hold back her curiosity.
"Seriously though, what happened to you two?" She regarded Fukuroi's disheveled appearance with concern.
"In simplest terms, I suppose. We've been on the run." One of his lenses were a bit chipped. It was clear that the damage was grating on his nerves because he kept glancing down at it. His explanation wasn't nearly enough for Kurosaki, who pushed for more details. Mitsuki, still on watch, gave them up.
"After the charm we ended up in that other building, the one with the art and music rooms. We came across this storage room, packed full of super dusty boxes. There was this odd mirror, and this ghost tried to strangle me until he saw Fukuroi and then he went crazy." She sighed, exasperated, and ran her fingers through her hair. "From what I could gather, Fukuroi looks like his brother or some crap and I guess he's super pissed at the guy because he's been trying to kill him ever since. Grabbing him through the wall! Scratching at him from under the floor boards! At one point he dragged him halfway across the school too." She hands balled up into fists. Fukuroi sighed softly in something like personal shame and refused to meet Kurosaki's concerned gaze. "Haven't seen him since that last earthquake, but until we go home ya know?"
"Y-Yes, well...Let's see...Aside from that specter we met a couple of students from Kisaragi. Morishige-san, and Suzumoto-san. We were separated earlier, but after meeting up with all of you, I feel that we'll see them again soon." Tohko perked up.
"Kisaragi? Yuuya and I met some kids from Kisaragi too. Ah..Oh my god what were their names...?" She shut her eyes to remember their faces. "Naomi...And Ayumi...And Kishi...Numa?" At that last name, Nana made a soft noise of recognition.
"Oh! Is...Was he alright?" Nari regarded her interest suspiciously, but Nana stubbornly kept her gaze on Tohko instead.
"Yeah, we only met for a bit, but all three of them were fine."
"That's good to hear, I'm certain that they'll reunite successfully as we have." He trailed off as Mitsuki moved him again.
"You know, I wasn't thinking about it before, but Tohko, you mentioned a little ghost boy. Didn't Suzumoto mention a little ghost girl?" Fukuroi thought back to an earlier conversation and nodded. Since the others were curious, he filled them in on what he knew. Prior to meeting with Mitsuki and Fukuroi, Morishige had saved Suzumoto from one of the ghost children that had taken her hostage.
"He offered her some sort of tribute. An item of hers in a small bag. After that she released his companion and vanished." He seemed hesitant to disclose what had been in the bag, but Tohko didn't need him to say it. She and Kurosaki went over Emi's words about 'cogs' once more. "I see. How many of these children are there that serve as cogs? The two of you severed the first, and the two we met severed the second."
"Not sure. We're gunna have to find Urabe again. Either way, do you think we did what she said, and that's why we're finally together again? I've been looking for you guys for hours but it's only after Kirisaki and Kizami gave that kid his tongue back that I found you." It was certainly sounding more and more likely. But if that was the case, why were they still here? Was there more to do that Emi hadn't filled them in on? Yuuya's words about a plan was met with quiet nods as everyone tried to think up something. "I know it's lame but I feel like what we were doing before is best? If we share anything out loud, we might get overheard. It we change something like, physical about ourselves...Maybe like writing a number on our arms or whatever, it could still be found out. Secret past info works great though." Mitsuki sighed, having to agree. It was her that pointed out the elephant in the room, however.
"Your little friends though..." Everyone turned to look at the three Musahigawa girls. Chihaya wrapped her arms around one of Kurosaki's and regarded Mitsuki as if the older girl were trying to get the three of them kicked out of the group right now.
"Kuro-nii will vouch for us! He knows all sorts of secret things about us!"
"Huh?" Kurosaki, completely caught off guard, looked from Chihaya to Mitsuki, to Nari and Nana and then back at Mitsuki again. Nari was sighing to herself and refused to meet a curious Nana's gaze. Mitsuki gave Kurosaki and incredibly suspicious look.
"Ch-Chihaya don't say it like that!" He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly before clearing his throat. "But y-yeah um...I can do the secret thing with them."
"Uh-huh... Well, that leaves one person." Suddenly, the attention shifted firmly to little Yuka who shuffled uncomfortably from all the sudden attention. Tohko moved her so that she could place her hands on Yuka's shoulders. "I'm just asking, since she came from your party, do you two know anything about her that can vouch for her being the real thing?"
Despite his nervousness, Yuuya found himself moving along relatively easily as long as he followed the beat. He wasn’t an expert in any style of dance, but whatever he was doing seemed to make Tohko happy, and that was more than enough for him. Even the dip came naturally, and unlike Tohko, he had no fear of dropping her even the first time.
When the song switched to a more upbeat one, Tohko’s encouragement to be ‘carefree’ was actually the first legitimately nerve-wracking thing since they started. He was used to doing things by a formula (dancing, social interactions, etc), so a truly freeform request was always inherently anxiety-provoking. But this was Tohko, wasn’t it? He needn’t worry about being judged too harshly. Keeping a careful (but hopefully subtle) watch on his own feet, Yuuya began to truly move with the music. And it was fun.
“Hm?“ He frowned, taking a moment to switch his mind back to their conversation and recall what she was talking about. “Ah yes, heh, that was….well you know, the game does give you instructions on how to move.” Granted, it was in real time, but he was more than used to adapting and learning quickly in all that he did.
“That was when you first gave me the D-Cross keychain, wasn’t it? I still have that you know, carry it with me everywhere.” He didn’t pull it out just then, since they were dancing, but even now he had it on his person. His smile grew as he watched her shake though.
“Well well, it seems like you have some moves of your own” he teased, reaching out to take her hand again. “Maybe you can teach me something new?”
It was a memory that stood out in her mind for a number of reasons, none the least of which was the fact that it was one of the first times Yuuya had truely surprised her. Now, nearly five years later, Tohko had learned that Yuuya was just full of surprises. Thinking about it now, it made Tohko excited for the future. It was nice to know that there was more than likely an endless amount of things to learn about the person she loved most.
"Yeah it was!" She could vaguely recall thinking at the time that he didn't really like the key chain, though many days of seeing the chain hanging out of his pants pocket at school had eased her of her worries. Even now he still had it~ When he mentioned as much she beamed at him. "They're going on tour again this year. If they're playing somewhere close-ish do you wanna go see them again?" Hopefully the lead singer hadn't lost her sense of humor! The jokes she had mixed in between the song had been such a treat.
When Yuuya took her hand, Tohko regarded him with happy curiosity. Hoho she was perfectly happy to teach him something new. Hmmm, but what? Almost on cue, the music faded into something a bit more sensual. Tohko turned around and wrapped Yuuya's arms around her waist. For a while they simply swayed to the slower beat and let their heartbeats relax. Eventually, Tohko began to exaggerate her hip sways. She leaned her head back against his chest and let out a slow, soft sigh of contentment.
Yuuya listened carefully to Tohko’s answer intently, and was not at all displeased with what he heard. It only strengthened his strange, growing desire to consider such a thing with her, because it honestly sounded like their interests were in line.
“Companionship…and protection” he repeated pensively, though showed no real sign of what this made him feel. When Tohko got up to go to the kitchen, the choice to follow her was an easy one. The show was interesting enough, but Tohko had proven far more so more than once since he’d met her.
When Tohko uttered the word ‘mama’, it took Yuuya a moment to register the implications of that. This…was Tohko’s mother. And the other voice…was that her father?
It turned out it was.
Yuuya listened eagerly even through the more mundane aspects of the conversation, absolutely fascinated to learn what a parent and child even talked about. He had no idea what he would say to his parents if for some reason they ever met – he had no idea how that relationship was supposed to work. At least, not until now.
He smiled politely at the greetings, as well as the mother’s reassurance that he ought to check with Tohko if he felt any discomfort, but the father’s question made him pause.
“…..actually, I do have…..a question” he replied, trying to choose his words carefully. Well, he had a lot of questions, actually, and most of them were still about the nature of this strange relationship they had with their daughter. But aside from there, there had been one thing he was wondering ever since the call had started.
“Not really advice per se but…..what do you two…do?“ He had no idea what witches did when not traveling, nor if male witches were even something that existed. And if not, what did a non-witch do?
Rumiko set down the magic mirror she and her husband were speaking through so that Tohko and Yuuya could have a stable view of them. When Yuuya asked what it was they did, she answered first.
"I work with animals that want to assimilate into human life without a witch." It was usually mammals that did this, but Rumiko had met all sorts of creatures. "It's harder to do, since so much importance is place on witch-familiar relations. It isn't impossible though, if you're ever interested. Many of the animals I meet want to go to school or travel." Next it was Shuu's turn.
"I study and experiment with plants in order to see how they can be used in both potions and medicine. You see, not every human can use magic and there are many non-magical humans that try to live using science instead of relying on potions and charms. I think it's fascinating to see them make more and more every day with nothing but their hands and minds." Shuu's tone was wistful. "That said, there are some things science just can't do." Shuu snapped his fingers, making a small gift box appear in his hand. "For you, sweet pea. A house warming present." Shuu drew his own rune on the surface of the mirror and then pushed the gift box through the screen. Tohko beamed, happily accepting the box on her end. She opened it up and squealed.
"Thank you!" Inside were three small pink vials shaped like stars. Looking over at Yuuya, she explained. "I'll show you how to use them once it's dark. They're fun little charms."
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