Title: Exams, AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH!
Summary: Okina's fountain casts its spell on another group of friends. And Fate brings a new friend over to play, too!
Who: Kazuo Yuudai, Yoh Yamagatani, Fumiko Kohaku, Keiko Sasakabe
Location: Okina City - Fountains
For those who just want a place to sit down to pass the time or perhaps enjoy concessions, there are numerous rest areas strewn along the path. There are many nice fountains surrounded by benches or the odd landscaped plantlife, and this is one of them.
A relaxing mist pours fourth from the nearby fountain, making the air a little chilly on colder months. In warmer times, it is very refreshing - if not a little loud. The benches are of a very sturdy design even though their construction isn't uniform across Okina City. Some are wooden, some are made of metal, and some are some kind of plastic. They are all comfy places to sit, be it by yourself, with a friend, or a whole group of them.
This is not a good place to hide from people. There is something about these parts that seem to drag people you don't want to see towards you, as though a fountain were some sort of spiritual lost and found. Conversely, a gathering of friends will somehow always come to the right spot without any additional instruction.
EXAMS. EVERYONE LOSE IT, QUICK.
Okay not really. But this is serious time.
Due to the time of year weatherwise, and what is happening at school, there is like, no one under 21 roaming about at all. Every kid with any lick of sense is inside studying unless they had an errand to run, or were in between brain meltdowns from staring at work too long.
The skies were crystal clear, and wonderful to look at. No wind was rolling in Okina, but it was still very chilly and warranted a jacket or other warming clothing.
The Okina fountain, well known for it's mysterious nature, looked like its water would freeze at any moment, as it was cut off. On the rim of the fountain sat an ever-getting-taller teen, Yoh Yamagatani. At this point he was probably 6' straight. Lately he has been hitting a growth spurt unlike anything he has ever seen. Considering how short his mother is and father was, getting this tall is sure baffling to the fellow.
He currently had an english book cracked open; one that may look familiar to some who may show. Today was math testing at Gekkoukan, and a subject Yoh was pretty good at. Yoh was dumb, but there is only 10 numbers in existence; learning how to use them would be cake.
He was currently studying as hard as he could, wearing his usual outfit, supplemented with a black leather jacket and gloves to keep warm.
A still quite tiny Fumiko walks over to the fountain, humming to herself. She is bundled up against the cold in a knee-length white coat and matching scarf, with candy cane-striped gloves and red boots. "Hi, Yamagatani-san. You said you wanted to do some more studying, right?" She sits down next to Yoh, pulling her own English textbook out, "Do you want to practice verbal or written English?"
As the wind blows through the plaza, the little loli tugs her newspaper boy's cap further over her ears, trying to keep them covered from the chill. She tugs her coat tighter around her, "And do you really want to practice /outside/? It's freezing out here!" Sure, it's sunny - but there's already a thin skin of ice over the fountain water! "Wouldn't it be better to work inside? In one of the cafes or something? They won't kick us out as long as we're eating!"
Nose in a book as usual, Keiko wandered idly around the fountain, no real destination in mind but feeling too restless to sit. It was cold, and while she didn't really mind it, it was a bit warmer in practice to keep moving. She wore a jacket and scarf for warmth, but had forgone gloves for an easier time turning pages; her book of choice today was history, though the satchel slung over her shoulder was clearly full of other subjects of study.
Not that she really needed to study. She'd always tested well, it never took much effort to pass. She liked school, really that was the whole of it; without much else to distract her from her studies, she'd always found it easy to keep ahead in them. Be that as it may, she still made a point TO study -- better safe than sorry, and a refresher course never hurt.
She wasn't entirely sure why she'd decided to come outside today. Maybe just to get out of the house, do something different. It wasn't particularly crowded, and she found herself at least moderately enjoying the atmosphere, however chilly it might be.
This is pretty far out for Kazuo to go for studying, too. But then again, he /really/ needed to get out. His brain was starting to melt and ooze out his ears from sitting inside and staring at the same four walls. The fact that he was inwardly going 'GAAAH OH MY GOD EXAMS AAAAH GOD HELP ME EXAMS' probably didn't help his feelings of claustrophobia. So it was that he picked up his textbooks, bundled up, and just went somewhere, shoving the last bit of his allowance into his pocket to get a ticket on the train.
And where has he found himself? Okina Fountain. But he'd never really spent a lot of time there before, which was a little odd. As soon as he exits the train, he heads right for the fountain. He plops down on a bench far enough away from the spray not to have his textbooks get damaged, and opens one.
Kazuo doesn't seem to notice Yoh at first, until he wakes up from his study-induced trance to note the not-so-subtle resonance. He pauses a moment, blinking at the page, before he finally looks up, with another blink. He notices Yoh and smiles. But for the time being, doesn't disturb the other fellow, since Yoh looks busy studying, too.
Though as he looks down at his book agian, he hears Fumiko's voice, and looks up again. He smiles, and decides that, since Yoh's attention is now broken from the book, that he'll speak. "Hi there, you two," he offers from his seat.
Keiko passing by draws his gaze, and he offers a smile, but since she seems as though she's busy reading -- and she's still moving, so it doesn't look like she's planning on stopping to chat -- he doesn't say anything. Besides, he doesn't know her.
"Punctuation? The heck is this..." Yoh seems stuck at a certain point, unable to decipher whatthe heck punctuation is for. All these symbols, so foreign, yet used in many different languages, just not their own. Must be how it is written. Then, a loli voice speaks up nearby! The teen slowly looks up, and sees someone he just saw yesterday! "Haha, smaller world than we think! Hey, Kohaku-san. and sure! I could use help on verbal I suppose." A small pause. "Oh, that sounds like a good idea! Why didn't I think of that." Derp.
Keiko has not been spotted. Yet.
The tiredness is evident in Yoh's face, having small bags under his eyes, and his hair, despite being wild normally, seems almost frazzled. And then a handsome voice, easily recognizable can be heard again! "Oh, heya!" the teen says with a smile. "Wow, surprising to see you both so soon! What are the odds?"
The teen looks absolutely amazed. He quietly wonders if this is a setup of some kind.
"Well, everyone's getting a bit...fried, I guess, with all the studying we've all been doing. And cold air does help keep you awake and more alert! I remember reading that in a medical text," Fumiko says. "But coffee's just as helpful for that, you know. Or tea. But...coffee's more useful, during exams; it has more caffine."
Fumiko is showing the strain too; she's wearing a bit of makeup - more than usual to cover the bags under her own eyes, and her hands tremble slightly from caffine jitters. Her eyes are a little too bright as well. Her own hair is still neatly combed, though. She twitches as Kazuo approaches, "Oh! Hi, Yuudai-san! Gosh, it seems like everyone's showing up for a study session, doesn't it? Should we move into one of the cafes? It'd be warmer. Probably not quieter, though."
Keiko gets a twitchy glance - how much coffee has Fumiko had already? - but the loli doesn't say anything or make any gestures towards her; Fumiko doesn't know the girl, and there's studying to be done.
"Hnn...punctuation isn't too hard once you get the hang of it," Kazuo offers to Yoh helpfully. "A lot of written English seems to me like it's based on looking how it sounds. To an English-speaker, of course." He chuckles slightly as he registers Fumiko's suggestion to go indoors, and nods. "That might be a good idea," he notes with a smirk.
Kazuo pauses a moment, blinking at Fumiko's seeming over-animatedness, and raising an eyebrow. "Eh...that's true, but it can also turn you into a nervous wreck, so be careful," he cautions.
Since it seems like Fumiko and Yoh are about to go somewhere indoors, Kazuo closes his book and stands, walking over to Yoh and Fumiko. He notes Keiko, but assumes she can see him crossing her path....
Unfortunately, albeit rather characteristally, Keiko had grown rather complacent with the general lack of people about. Content with the fact that her path around the fountain kept her out of the way of the benches, she hadn't really been paying attention to much else. In consequence, she failed to notice the boy until it was too late to avoid colliding with him.
She squeaked and stumbled back quickly, keeping her feet though the book wound up falling to the ground and she nearly dropped her satchel as well in her haste to backpedal. She had begun babbling apologies almost immediately, before she really had any time to look at who she'd run into -- or if they looked particularly upset or not -- blushing furiously and mentally scolding herself for not remembering to look where she was going for probably the umpteenth time this year.
Huh, maybe that is why he made his way out here! "Oh, good idea! Caffeine may help me study more." His energy drink fad seems to have vanished, as well as carrying around a duffel bag full of condensed metal for weight training. Truth is, he got so strong thanks to Magni that even putting bards of lead in the thing didn't help him train anymore, and justy became a nuisance to carry around. So, it is now at his room, holding random things, as well as a makeshift bed for his cat.
Not like the cat slept in it before as a stowaway anyway.
"I knooooow," Yoh says spiritually. "It is like we were meant to see each other again. Ooooooo." He wiggles his fingers. "Oh, you are?!" the teen asks Kazuo rhetorically. "I bet it helps if you ever make a trip-- uh." Yoh spots a somewhat familiar girl walking right at Kazuo without looking up. He wants to say something, but he only finds himself pursing his lips.
"You uh, okay?" he asks both of the collision victims. Keiko gets a longer look as the gir registers in his mind somewhere. No name comes to mind though. Maybe he forgot it.
"I'm fine!" Fumiko insists to Kazuo. Her trembing hands suggest that this may, in fact, be blatant lies. She stands, about to follow them to whichever cafe the group picks...and then Keiko collides with Kazuo. Fumiko startles and "eep!"s softly, half-stepping behind Yoh before blinking, wide-eyed, at Keiko.
"...Okay, maybe I've had a cup or two too many. But I'm okay! I just, um, probably ought to eat something. Without much sugar in it," the loli concedes to Kazuo, still jittering in place behind Yoh. "I'm okay." A blink at Keiko, "Are you okay?" It doesn't look like the girl ran into Kazuo too hard - you can't walk very fast while reading, not without risking tripping over your own feet.
Kazuo grunts slightly at the impact, but aside from a bit of surprise, is unfazed, aside from the backwards step he takes. He takes a moment to see if the girl who ran into him is about to fall over, and when he sees she is fine, tries to catch the book before it hits the ground, since that's the first thing he notices falling.
As for whether he looks angry? Not really. He doesn't look too upset at being run into; he looks more concerned than angry. But there's a frisson of irritation visible in the set of his brow. And at well over six feet tall, he probably looks at least a little intimidating.
But his words aren't cruel or unkind. What he says is, "Whoops. Sorry about that, I didn't know you couldn't see me. Are you all right?" If he was unable to get her book before it falls to the ground, he will take that opportunity to pick it up for her now.
Once he's reasonably sure Keiko and her things are all right, he turns his attention to Yoh and Fumiko. "Yes. No sugar would probably be a good idea," he agrees with a chuckle. And to Yoh? "I'm not a nervous wreck. Yet." Exams are still going on, after all. He probably /would/ be before it was all said and done. But not yet.
Too bad he couldn't drink yet. Not that he would.
She gulped faintly, peering up at the boy she'd run into timidly. She wasn't exactly tiny, but she was by no means large, and he was still a good bit more sizeable than her. It would be a pretty blatant falsehood to claim she wasn't intimidated. She gulped thickly, automatically stammering out a few MORE apologies before managing to get her mind in gear enough to say something else.
"I-I'm okay..." it came out as something of a squeak, and she blushed deeper, if that were possible, and cleared her throat slightly. It may have been only three people, but feeling like they were all staring at her would have flustered her at the best of times. She glanced around the 'group', blinking when she spotted Yoh -- she recognized him, if somewhat vaguely. Where... oh, yeah. She'd met him at the ice cream stand, hadn't she, a while back. She wasn't entirely sure why she remembered that, but at least she remembered something.
"Sorry," she mumbled again, though a bit steadier now, "I wasn't paying attention. I didn't mean to interrupt."
Yoh listens to Fumi's plea of 'being fine' and udnerstands it. She is as fine as a teenager can be during tests. Which is not fine at all, but it could be worse. It is as good as it gets while scared for your life with grades. the girl takes refuge behind Yoh, which makes him grin a little, but is sitll looking at the mess ahead. Seems a little one-sided actually. Kazuo is unmoved by the impact. The other girl looks quite shaken.
"Tomorrow is our English portion, so I definitely will be myself." He perks up. "Lets get inside somewhere where it is nice and warm!" As Yoh finishesd this, he remembers that there is a fourth party among them. Maybe she would like to come?
"Hey... you look familiar," Yoh comments to Keiko. "Have I seen you somewhere before?" The teen takes a look at the book of hers. probably study material as well. "Want to join us in a cafe? Another person could help us study more."
"Let's," Fumiko agrees with Yoh. "It'll be warm, and we can get something to eat and drink while we study. Maybe some more coffee." Didn't she just agree that she might've had too much coffee already? Oh well. Her attention shifts back to Keiko, "You didn't interrupt, really. We were just about to go to one of the cafes - you can come with us, if you want. Are you any good at English? We're planning on studying that, Yamagatani-san has an exam in that tomorrow, and I've got English...um...day after tomorrow, I think."
Okay, maybe she needs a little less coffee. Or a little more. She hasn't quite hit the right amount yet, either way. Fumiko shrugs, "Let's get inside, I think we'll all feel better with a bite to eat and maybe something to drink." Her exhaustion shows in other ways, like how she's sort of repeating herself; that's probably the third time so far that she's mentioned getting something to eat at the cafe.
Kazuo smiles as Keiko notes that she is all right. "That's okay. I can understand; exams are going on, so a lot of people are concentrating on other things," he notes. He doesn't know that she doesn't need to study....
Well, fortunately it doesn't look like Kazuo's all that upset over being run into. So that's something anyway. No harm done on his end, it seems. He nods, in fact, to Yoh's statement, and looks to Keiko. If Yoh knows her, then she's all right; Yoh strikes him as not the kind of person who would associate with 'the wrong' kind of people. "The more the merrier, I say," he agrees.
Fumiko may be repeating herself because she's tired, but Kazuo gets the wrong idea. He assumes she's repeated it because she's hungry. So he chuckles. "Probably a good idea," he notes. "Maybe something to mitigate the influence of the caffiene, at least a little. I don't know that I could pull you off the ceiling if you start swinging from the light fixtures, though." Loli monkey, what an awesome concept!
Well, he didn't seem mad. None of them did. That was a good sign, at least. She glanced over at Yoh, blushing and smiling faintly. "Oh, um... well, sort of. I think we've met in the mall, once or twice, a while ago."
It took her a moment or two to realize she was being invited along; she hadn't really expected that, even if she did 'know' one of them, relatively speaking. She blinked and glanced down at her books. "Oh... well, I..." it was a little cold. And come to think of it, she was kind of hungry. ...Maybe a study group wouldn't be too bad; it'd mostly just be sitting and reading, right, exchanging occasional facts or answers? That seemed like the thing to do. She'd never really studied in a 'group' before -- or in anything other than alone or in class.
She shrugged slowly. "I... g-guess I can. If you all r-really don't mind."
"Oh, snacks..." Yoh trails off with. His stomach grumbles at him suddenly, indicating it has been alerted to the presence of possible foods in the near future. TUMMY HUNGRY. FEED HIM, SEYMOUR. "Do feel free to come," Yoh chimes in with, trying to be perky and cheerful, even though the weather is not helping his mood. At least he tries to mask his foulness that accompanies winter. A look to Fumi. She seems a little out of it. been too hard at the books?
Indeed! In spite of the wintery thug look Yoh has on now (black scarf, black leather jacket, black gloves, unkempy hair, etc) He actually does associate with the wrong crowd. A lot. Why, someone here is with a bad group! But it never rubs off on him. He just makes friends with everyone! A look to Kazuo. The same thought just went through his head there. "Heh."
D'aww. Keiko blushing! Adorable. Yoh smiles gingerly at the sight. "Yeah! Something like that. What was your name again? I am Yoh. I completely forgot, sorry! Never good at names right off the bat." He has to match something to the person before he can remember it on queue. "I don't! I need help with English soooo badly..." the teen states, almost sounding in despair.
Fumiko has definitely been studying too hard; she's neurotic to begin with, and she's been even more driven than normal due to...recent events. She actually doesn't notice Yoh's glance at her, "Yes, someone else to help us study for English would be very welcome."
A soft giggle. "Yoh really is bad at names," Fumiko assures Keiko. "I had to remind him at least three times before he managed to remember mine." She glances at Yoh and Kazuo, eyeing Yoh more pointedly after his stomach growls. "...which cafe are we going to?" She shivers as it seems like the wind blows right through her coat.
Kazuo offers Keiko a polite and friendly smile when she seems to be open to the idea of joining them in heading to a cafe. Sure, he doesn't know her, but there's only one way to remedy that, right? He turns at the rather loud and angry-sounding rumble of Yoh's stomach. "Whoa. Little man in there hungry?" he inquires, teasing slightly.
Kazuo snickers a little as Fumiko mentions Yoh's inability to remember names quickly. "So I assume this means he doesn't remember mine?" Despite his words, he sounds like he's only kidding. Which cafe? Good question. "Eh...I don't know this area too well, so having me suggest something is probably not a good idea," he cautions.
OOC: Fade
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