#ic akemi

[shslfacecards]

Cleanup Duty [Open]

This was one thing Akemi never missed when she was initially pulled from her old school-- being assigned the job of cleaning the classroom after school. Even worse, she had to be the one to mop. And this time, she wasn’t assigned a partner that she could just shove the work onto, leaving the critic to do much of it herself.

With an irritated huff, she placed her shoulder bag off to the side of the doorway, grabbing the bucket and all other necessary tools for the job. She didn’t want to rush this job, knowing that being sloppy would reflect poorly on her-- as little as she cared about this, she supposed being viewed as lazy was not desirable. But taking her time was hardly an option, as she had much more important things to do.

After trudging through her work, silently cursing the menial and disgusting nature of it, she gathered up the bucket of dirty mop water and her mop, carrying it toward the door of the classroom...

Crash.

And, of course, as a bit of icing on this bitter, stale cake, her foot managed to catch on a rag on the floor, sending her sprawling and the water bucket flying. As she became covered in the dingy water, the critic let out an impressively loud and shrill scream.

“What the hell-- augh!”

As if to taunt her, the now empty bucket rolled straight out of the door and into the hallway, coming to a stop somewhere out of her view.

[shslfacecards]

❇ Yvette to Shinju, Kaida to Tsubasa, Yvette to Nobu, Momiji to Akemi (only this one they're looking at the ocean instead of the stars)

❇ - Stargazing with them

Shinju:

It was kind of cool out tonight, but that’s what lots of blankets were for! This was practically a blanket fort, but it was super comfy for her and Yvette. She looked up at the stars with an intrigued expression, trying hard to make out a constellation from among the myriad of dots.

“Ooooa...I’m so bad at finding them....I can always find them in the summer, though...”

Tsubasa:

The painter didn’t spend too much time outside lately. He always did prefer it in his room, and Kaida’s discomfort with the outdoors only further pushed that. Still, Kaida wanted to go stargazing, so he was more than willing to oblige.

He brought her to that park bench, the familiar one they tended to sit at whenever they went out to walk, and once they were sitting, he allowed her to sit as close as she needed to.

“...I do not often go out late enough to watch the stars.....they are...nice....”

Nobu:

Stargazing? He’d never done that before! He’d never really even walked around at night much before. But that was okay, Yvette was here! That must have meant this was okay.

He stared up at the sky, eyes sparkling just as brightly as the stars were. They were so pretty...! It was like the sky was full of glitter!

“Yvette....how far away are the stars?”

He asked, reaching out with one hand as if he would be able to grab a handful of them.

Akemi:

For the past couple of months, Akemi scarcely went out unless she needed to. It was a lot to adjust to, and it would take time before she felt safe returning to any sort of social world, much less the art world. But somehow, the idea came up that they should go outdoors and watch the sea for a time.

Well, it wasn’t a bad time of day....not many people were around, it was also fairly cold, but.....it was good to be outside. Akemi sat near Momiji, the distance she allowed between them was gradually lessening as time went on. For a while, there was silence. Simply having each other’s company and watching the vast water in front of them.

Eventually, she spoke up, not taking her eyes off of the water.

“....I can hardly remember the last time I simply looked at something like this. It is....rather strange.”

[shslfacecards]

♥ Kaida for Tsubasa, Momiji for Akemi

♥ - Stroking/brushing their hair

Tsubasa:

Some time ago, Tsubasa would have flinched away from anyone trying to touch him, let alone trying to touch his hair. But this was Kaida, and she was the exception. When she started brushing through his hair, which was out of its signature ponytail for once, he simply closed his eyes and calmly allowed her to do so.

Akemi:

Since dyeing her hair, Akemi had kept it pulled back in a loose bun for the sake of simplicity. She’d used black dye, so it was easier to keep it up and avoid having to do much else with it. Still, once in a while, only when she was making some small attempt to relax, she would let her hair down.

It felt very odd to have someone else, outside of a hair stylist, stroking her hair in any way. She and Momiji hadn’t been very affectionate thus far, so it was a very foreign feeling to her. The critic’s initial reaction was to keep her head still, to avoid any unwanted pulling from jerking her head to the side too quickly. It was unexpected, definitely, but....despite the slightly flustered scowl on the critic’s face, she didn’t feel entirely bothered by it. She silently mulled over the various pros and cons to allowing Momiji to continue, but eventually decided that there were no dangers to this and allowed her shoulders to relax.

“.....”

[shslfacecards]

Closed starter for shslgiantnerds (Starter 2)

Akemi hadn’t celebrated Christmas before. Not...really, anyway. Her parents had, once upon a time, but she always allowed them their own private date night on that holiday. And any supposed ‘magic’ of the holiday was crushed by Jiro Kuro...so she was apprehensive about celebrating for a change. Was there a protocol to it...? Was there a set of rules? Would it be possible to do something incorrectly? It seemed unlikely, but Akemi thought rather hard about it.

Still, she had dressed up somewhat, recalling that her mother had always looked...very nice...before she went out on Christmas. It wasn’t anything major, just her nicer shirt, a little more care in pulling her hair back, perhaps something to conceal the bags under her eyes...

She adjusted the box under her arm, checking the wrapping one final time before lightly tapping her knuckles on Momiji’s door and stepping back to wait for her to answer.

[shslfacecards]

In Akemi's room: A decently sized slice of cherry cheesecake and a book on female artists and their accomplishments from Yvette.

Akemi stopped short and stared at the cheesecake, her brow lowering in confusion. Who had--.....?

Yvette? She was the....sketch artist. The one who didn’t wish to have her work criticized. Odd....what made her feel as if she should give her anything....? She picked up the book and looked through it as well, noting the author and the supposed accuracy of its contents. This seemed...oddly fitting...

Akemi was certainly confused. She would.......have to thank the girl later. This was far too generous.

[shslfacecards]

Gentileschi’s Judith [Akemi Arc P.9-FINAL]

Guilty.

The words rang through the courtroom like a gunshot. The silence that followed was so absolute and final that, for a moment, Akemi wondered if there was supposed to be some sort of punchline afterward.

But the punchline never came. In slow motion, Akemi watched as Jiro’s once smug expression slowly turned to one of pure shock and disbelief. He slowly turned to look Akemi straight in the eyes, a look filled with nothing but contempt and despair. For the first time in his life, Jiro Kuro had lost.

But....so had Akemi.

The news cameras covered it all, as Jiro Kuro was led out of the courthouse in handcuffs. His head was down, the officers covered him as best they could, but either way, the news would soon fill with the images of a broken man.

She was led out of the courtroom surrounded by flashing cameras, screaming paparazzi, journalists...

She didn’t say a single word. She didn’t look at them, she didn’t answer their questions, she didn’t acknowledge them in the slightest. Half of them were hardly even journalists-- she could tell that some of those in the crowd were deeply affected by the results of this case-- after all, they were employees of Jiro Kuro. His loss would ruin their careers, for a time. Regardless of the verdict, they were convinced that this had all been a sham.

They were convinced that Akemi Kuro had lied.

“You ruined him!”

“You bitch!”

“Lying just to save your ass!”

“She’s only after the riches! She doesn’t give a damn about family!”

Akemi kept her head held high, and the officers shielded her from most of the photos and angry crowd-goers. What they couldn’t shield her from was the large, metal water bottle that someone suddenly lobbed at her from somewhere in the crowd. Before she could think to dodge, it slammed her square in the nose and sent her stumbling.

She supposed some people were happy for this outcome. Those that took her side of the case. But those people were quiet about the victory. Those who were angry....they were much louder. The loudness would certainly have its ramifications....just as she knew it would.

She was ruined.

It was over.

......wasn’t it?

[shslfacecards]

Gentileschi’s Judith [Akemi Arc P.8]

The defense hearing came to retaliate against Akemi’s words with all the force of a hurricane. Naturally, Jiro had hired one of the best lawyers available. They countered every one of Akemi’s claims, citing her age, childhood imagination, forgetfulness...they blamed the sudden resurgence of this case as a ploy to gain control of the family fortune. They threw whatever they could at her, and....seemingly....the press ate it up.

Some stations of the media quoted the closing statements of Jiro Kuro above anything else.

“I love my niece as I would love my own daughter. I have only ever striven to protect her from the cruelties of the world, and I have fought to mold her into the thoughtful, intelligent young woman  she is today. I am saddened by these accusations, but I will not allow them to alter the way I think of her.”

Akemi sat in the courthouse, feeling the intense, pressing silence surrounding her. Days had passed-- days in which no decision had been reached, days in which Akemi didn’t dare to go to school, or to even leave her hotel room. Not until this was over.

And that time was nearing.

She stared straight at Jiro the entire time, not yielding, not even listening to all of the pointless jumble of legal terms that were being spoken. She didn’t care about any of that. She only cared about hearing one word: guilty. Preferably, not preceded by the word ‘not’.

[shslfacecards]

Gentileschi’s Judith [Akemi Arc P.7]

Anyone who followed the news would see the same story popping up in a number of places. The trial of Jiro Kuro was beginning soon, and the controversy surrounding it was astonishing. People fought about the legitimacy of Akemi’s testimony, claiming that she could easily be lying or remembering details wrong from so long ago, claiming that she could have an interest in her inheritance and swearing that a man such as Jiro Kuro could never be guilty of such a crime. Others insisted that Akemi was the victim, that she needed protection.

The media was divided, and no one could know the full truth of what happened. No one, that is, but Akemi Kuro and her uncle, Jiro Kuro. It seemed that, on the day of the trial, every news outlet had at least some small input to add to the matter. Speculation on who was telling the truth, discussion on the future of the Kuro art empire, the future of the Kuro family, and of course, speculation on the end results of the trial.

The day passed and the media filled with comments and pictures of the trial. Courtroom sketches depicting Akemi with newly blackened hair, sitting on the stands and delivering her testimony, flooded the televisions.

The news outlets showed snippets of her statement again and again. Naturally, everyone used different segments, but the same words could be heard no matter where they were reported.

“My uncle...if I dare call him that...conspired with a hired killer to plot the murder of my parents.........I know this because I was an intended victim. I heard the conversation from my hiding place...”

The most important details, however, came from the remainder of the questioning.

“I lived with him for the next years of my life. And he never missed an opportunity to show me how lucky I was that I had been hiding, and to remind me that my fragile life was clasped tightly in his hands. My room was filled with funeral flowers, as well as the flowers my parents often kept in the home, as a further way to control me. I could not step out of line, for fear of my life. I lied in my testimony as a child due to this fear, and....I cannot hope to undo the damages I have done, nor can I hope to repent for what I have failed to do.”

The words had been said. Now, all that remained was....the defense.

Then...the verdict.

Then the aftermath.