Imaizumi City

[Deleted]

Signups

Discussion

---

It was a warm day, about twenty minutes after school had ended. On such a day, there were plenty of people out and active. It wasn't too hot, there wasn't a sign of rain, it was pleasant and comfortable outside. As such, just about everyone who was so inclined was out browsing the city's shops, or just having ice cream or crepes or something like that.

As such, the Imaizumi Market District was bustling with activity. This wasn't the only market district in the city, really. It was the largest and most varied, though, with others tending to specialize in food or electronics. And on a day such as this, why not go right to the biggest one with the most variety of shops? That was the logic of most of the people who had gone to the market district today. And after three straight days of wet and stormy weather, there was certainly a fair number of people who wanted to get out and do something, even if it was just some shopping. Students from Imaizumi Academy were fairly lucky, having not had to go very far to reach the market district.

Such was the case of a certain off-duty member of the Enforcement Bureau. Hoshino Kameyo had made an immediate beeline for the market district right when the school day had ended. And having arrived, she was going to pick up a snack before browsing the electronics stores for a while. Probably taking a look at the clothes store(she wanted a new pair of pyjamas) shortly, as well. Her school uniform proudly displayed her nature as a student of the city's academy, the blue vest, white undershirt, and blue skirt familiar to just about everyone who had ever been to the city. It would be inaccurate to say that Imaizumi Academy was the only school of it's kind, even in Imaizumi City itself. However, it was the school the city was named for, and the largest and oldest of the schools in the city on top of that. It also had, possibly, the uniforms that would be most familiar with people from outside of the city.

Kameyo rolled a single coin over her fingers idly as she walked. The first line of duty was, of course, to go get a snack. She was searching for her favorite crepe stand, located nearby one of the market district's many fountains.

---

Needless to say, there were many students out in the market district today.

Ayako had enlisted the help of one of her friends to attach the umbrella to the back of her wheelchair. While she liked going out on warm, sunny days like this, the sun was very bad for her skin and she needed some form of protection from it. The umbrella was doing quite nicely to that end. Holding down the automatic movement button, she passed by a few shops. She had recently gotten the extra money which served as her allowance from her parents, and had made a decision on what to buy quite quickly. Last time she had been in the market district, a large teddy bear in one of the shops had caught her eye... Ayako wanted that teddy bear, very much, and she was sure the money her parents had sent her would cover the cost of the stuffed toy.

If only she could get to the shop a little faster. She hoped it was still there.

[Rain]

Down in the deepest, darkest, most distant dungeon of the school, there was a girl. There was almost always a girl, since the room, whatever its original purpose, had full plumbing, and she was pretty good at using lava as a stove, so she only really needed to come out to get food to cook occasionally. Digital downloads removed even the need to come out to get new stuff to pass the time with.

What was unusual, on this day, was that Natsumi was awake. Predominantly nocturnal, 'midday' was something she generally slumbered peacefully through... but not now. The sound of the lower years running past had jolted her awake, and after they kept coming--had someone set up a scavenger hunt or something?--she simply locked the door and moved over to her laptop. Most of the people she talked to weren't on at the moment, apart from a few in other countries or who were on lunch break.

So she just sat there watching anime instead.

[dblade26]

Unusually, there was, as only occasionally happened in Imaizumi Academy, a sudden insistent knocking on the basement room's door.

Even more unusually, the insistent knocking was followed up by an even more insistent and surprisingly cheerful male voice.

"Natsumi! Natsumiiiiii~! It's Isamu! I brought food! I hope you don't mind but I'm coming in!"

The cheerful male voice belonged to one Isamu Matsudaira, who rather than heading outside to enjoy the nice weather had gone down several flights of stairs to Imaizumi Academy's practically abandoned and supposedly haunted basement level with a spring in his step, a grin on his face and a bag full of snack foods in his hands.

Isamu's greeting was accompanied by the sound of the doorknob twisting frustratedly against it's lock, then a barely audible *pop* followed by the much more notable sounds of the lock being picked.

[Rain]

Wincing, the hikikomori shuffled over to the door and turned the key, having not removed it in the first place, before returning to her corner and the cup of tea she'd left there. Why did he have to keep visiting? She liked it when her sister came all the way down, though she didn't do it that often because it was such a ridiculous journey, and one or two of the teachers weren't that bad (but that PE teacher was overbearing, even if she did have a few good tips)... but why did this ridiculously cheerful enforcer have to keep bothering you?

"If you're going to come down, at least leave it until seven, that's when I normally get up..." Natsumi mumbled, sipping her tea and closing the window on screen. No way was she going to keep trying to watch something as off-the-wall as that with visitors around... it was hard to cconcentrate enough, for one thing.

[Roxas]

Looking rather pleased with herself, a girl with a red eye and green eye exited a shop, violin case hanging from her back and a large teddy bear in her arms. It was something of an impulse buy, but hey, she had the money for it, and it was clearly made for someone like her! Truly, it was a mistress' companion!

"Hm... I think someone like you needs a name as grand as mine..." Beatrix muttered thoughtfully, holding the bear aloft as she began to walk home. "Something like... um... Beary Awesome Cool Animal! Actually, no... Teddy Ted McTedderson? Ahaha, I'm kidding~!"

Cheerfully talking with the bear, Beatrix paid little attention to her surroundings.

[Deleted]

There was a mechanical whir as Ayako's wheelchair came to a halt, a short distance away from the shop that had held the huge teddy bear that Ayako had made her trip out to purchase. Without delaying a moment more she held down the movement button and approached... only to see another girl leaving the shop and holding the teddy bear. Her face immediately fell.

Ayako recognized the girl, vaguely. The differently-colored eyes certainly made her stick out... She was a few years older then Ayako herself, in middle school. But Ayako didn't really think about that. She was just... very upset. She had made her whole trip out here, on her own, to get that teddy bear. And now someone else had bought it on the first day since she had last been able to go out...

Ayako knew this girl was rich... maybe she was the nice, kind ojou-sama type...? Maybe she wanted the teddy bear, too, but Ayako didn't have enough money to spend on toys most of the time... she couldn't help but ask.

She approached the other girl.

"C-can I have that t-teddy bear?" she asked, unable to keep the sadness out of her voice as she started to fumble with her bag, "I-I'll even p-pay you..."

[dblade26]

"I'm sorry. I'll be sure to remember that from now on."

The enforcer dropped the bag in an empty corner.

"It's mostly snacks and junkfood, I hope you don't mind but I was always told that it's rude to visit someone without bringing a gift in exchange for hospitality."

He sat down cross-legged on the floor, perfectly aware that he was barely tolerated here but not wanting to acknowledge the fact just yet.

"Were you watching anything good before I interrupted?"

[Rain]

Sinking down into her blanket once more, Natsumi shot looks that were alternately fearful and annoyed at the male, wondering what she should tell him, before deciding that it was best to not have to answer all of this person's questions about her interests and what she liked with a quite "No."

Opening a program, she began clicking away, trying not to let her concentration slip and be blown up by the puzzle, and hoped that Isamu would go away shortly.

[Roxas]

"Eh? Why should I?" Beatrix asked haughtily, immediately going into 'arrogant brat' mode as she turned to face whoever spoke to her. "I bought Teddington for myself! Maybe you shouldn't have been... so..."

Realising just who she was speaking too, or rather the condition of the person she was speaking to, Beatrix immediately shut up, looking very worried. It... was kind of frowned upon to talk like that to people in that situation, right...? What if someone saw her? Her reputation would be shot! But... Beatrix really wanted this bear...

"Um... what I meant was... uh... this is..." she stammered, unable to find a reason why she couldn't just give it away. After all, it was an impulse buy... on the other hand, giant, cuddly teddy...

[Deleted]

Trembling, Ayako raised her wallet out of her bag. This girl had reacted with... for a moment she had sounded so haughty. Like she wouldn't ever even consider it. Then she had undergone a complete shift... but the initial reaction had mostly served to upset Ayako even more. By this point, she was making a valiant effort not to cry. She felt a little bad about asking this, but having her full allowance was the only thing that allowed her to afford such a large teddy bear.

"I w-wouldn't n-normally ask, but I don't usually have enough money to buy things like that..." Ayako opened up her wallet. "H-how m-much was it...?"

She'd wanted that teddy bear for days, but it had rained for so long that she simply wasn't able to go out to buy it.

[dblade26]

Isamu just shrugged and leaned against a wall. There was a barely noticable *pop* that might've been a sealed container opening and then he had a stick of Men's Pocky in the corner of his mouth.

He pulled a tablet out of his pocket and began reading something, pausing occasionally to scroll downwards or click through the pages, not really doing anything but obviously not leaving either.

[Rain]

It was kind of clear that the hikokomori girl was getting more and more agitated as he hung around by the simple fact of looking at the clear glass sheet that ran down the centre of the room. Beneath it, the rock's temperature was gradually increasing and beginning to glow cherry-red. It was only a matter of time before it rose all the way to melting point and became manipulable. Isamu would probably be better off getting out of there before the scantily-clad girl snapped entirely.

(ooc: I'll have him run into Yuki if that helps afterwards.)

[dblade26]

Isamu just shrugged, stood up and walked out of the room, making sure to shut the door behind him but leaving the bag of food there in the empty corner.

He headed towards the outside, chewing on the pocky and keeping his eyes more on the tablet than on the stairs despite the incredibly long walk back up. Maybe something interesting and exciting would happen, but he honestly hoped everyone would just decide to relax a little bit and enjoy life instead.

Things never seemed to work that way, though.

[Rain]

Not looking at where he was going, Isamu would find himself walking into a hoodie-wearing teacher, and despite her being possibly lessfocused on what was going on, being busy trying to get the last drop out of a bottle of sake, either bouncing off or outright falling over. Yuki's balance was frankly ridiculous, to the extent that she probably subconsciously used her ability to maintain her capability to balance on top of a broom whilst students tried to knock her off using whatever they had on hand.

She was a good PE teacher, implausibly. Everyone got a workout.

[dblade26]

Isamu was knocked off balance but managed to catch himself rather than outright fall over.

He stared at the obviously intoxicated teacher with enough surprise to warrant at least one slightly raised eyebrow. It was also incredibly tricky.

On the one hand, she was clearly enjoying her drink and he had no problems with that on a personal level. On the other hand, public drunkeness was...probably bad for people eventually and as an enforcer he had a sacred duty to look out for people's safety and best interests.

"Umm..excuse me? Are you sure it's okay for you to drink that much inside a school?"

[Vinestar]

"Mm..." Nodding to the beat of a song, Tenri idly tapped a notepad with her writing utensil. Seated in a cafe, the young musician was at work composing a new song. Looking outside, the girl watched the beautiful day transpire. Much as it looked quite nice, heat and the girl simply didn't seem to mix. Perhaps that was why she was in an airconditioned room with a parfait.

It seemed like a ritual for the girl. Immediately hop into a cool enough enclosure and work on her music as soon as school let out. Homework and hobby were done at the same time, which sometimes led to bad marks on assignments. That was a rather bad habit, but she managed to get by at least. Twirling her treat, the student then happily munched on the cookie stick which had been previously been dipped in the swirled cream.

[Deleted]

As Kameyo headed for her favorite crepe stand, she passed a small cafe. Glancing over at the cafe, she saw the patrons enjoying various foods(including another Imaizumi Academy girl with a parfait). However, that wasn't what made her stop. What made her stop was the rough-looking man leaning up against the cafe's entrance. He had a shock of red hair that looked to have been gelled to stand up, and was wearing a white tanktop and blue jeans, smoking a cigarette. Kameyo frowned. Smoking a cigarette right out by the entrance of a cafe?

That was obnoxious, but it technically wasn't illegal...

A small girl in an unfamiliar middle school uniform with black hair exited the cafe, clutching a bag to her chest. The man immediately grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. Kameyo's expression hardened as he demanded that she hand over the contents of her bag while the girl tried to pull away. Rolling up her sleeves, she began to walk right towards them.

"Really now?" she asked, drawing the adhesive grey Enforcer badge out of her pocket and sticking it to her chest, "Trying to take money from a girl like that in broad daylight? In the middle of the market district? Did you think no one would see you?"

The man looked up, still holding the girl's shoulder. "What's your problem, you-"

His eyes noticeably fell on Kameyo's badge.

"..."

"Enforcement," replied Kameyo with a grin, gesturing to her badge. With a rather unpleasant mutter, the man let go of the girl and walked off. Kameyo turned her attention to the girl.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Y-yeah, I'm f-fine..." the girl replied, collecting herself, "Th-thanks..."

Kameyo looked up, and decided to enter the cafe. If that man had been harassing anyone else, it'd be best to know. The door opened automatically before her, and she walked in.

[Vinestar]

Blinking at the spectacle that happened, Tenri dropped her pen as she saw what happened. The fact that such a small girl cowed that ruffian... An Enforcer? She had heard of them, but this was her first time seeing one in action. It was a bit surreal, a child like that in charge of enforcing the law. And she was even from the same school too! She knew that looking too long would be rude, but her eyes were drawn to the enigmatic student.

[Deleted]

There were several things on Kameyo's mind, at the moment. One was that she should've made that thug stick around in case he actually had harassed any of the cafe's patrons. Another was that, in spite of this being her duty and that she very much wanted to do it... she was delaying getting one of those crepes. The people in the cafe were naturally rather shocked to have seen such a scene take place right outside the entrance.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you," she began, looking around the room at the assembled patrons of the cafe, "But has that man been here before? Did he trouble any of you on your way here?"

It was, needless to say, important to find such things out. If he had been causing trouble here, Kameyo would track him down and give him the beat-down he deserved. Well, if he resisted. If he really resisted...

Well, Kameyo had ways to deal with that.

[Rain]

"Course it is, I drink with my breakfast before comin' in," Yuki said, looking at the enforcer boy as if he had just said something completely idiotic. Not a good idea to drink before showing up? What sort of braindead idiot would suggest that it wasn't a good idea? She effectively had endless alcohol tolerance so long as she had her power, even if she left just enough of an edge to it that the alcohol had some effect she could enjoy...

[dblade26]

"Umm...Well....o-okay then. I...I guess if you do this pretty often it can't be that bad right? eheheh~"

He wasn't quite sure why, but something about the way the gym teacher answered him made Isamu feel like an idiot just for asking, as if her public intoxication on school grounds were just an indisputable fact of life that he was clueless for having questioned.

He was certain there were rules against this sort of thing, but the woman certainly seemed happy and the boy was certain that if her drunkeness had ever hurt anybody that his fellow enforcers would havs stopped her by now.

"Umm...would you mind giving me your name in case my superiors decide to question me about this later? My name's Matsudaira, Isamu Matsudaira."

He grinned as he spoke.

[Rain]

"Yukimura Yuki... surprised you haven't heard of me, really," the meganekko said, draining her bottle and carefully placing it by a wall before giving Isamu a stony frown, "Enforcers are always bothering me 'bout stuff... seem to think I should put more effort into using my power and then go join them. Hah! Like I'd ever want to be a stick-in-the-mud like you lot, teaching PE is much more fun."

[Roxas]

...Gah, why was it so hard to just say no? That was the normal, proper course of action, right? She'd bought it first! It belonged to the great Beatrix Alexandria Katherine Avalon! If this girl had wanted it so bad, she could have sent a servant or something! ...Unless this girl didn't have servants. Well... that was all her fault! But...

Beatrix glanced around the street, wondering if people were watching and judging her. They'd see a girl in a wheelchair begging for something, and if she refused... she'd look really bad and evil! That wasn't fair! But there was no way anyone would take her side on this! Damn it all, she wanted the teddy!

Still, Beatrix found herself simply stepping closer and placing it on the girl's lap, gaze averted and totally not pouting.

"You can borrow it for a little while, I guess... just look after it!" Beatrix commanded, turning away to walk off and sulk. Such a lovely bear... impulse buy or not, it was still so fluffy... well, as long as it was looked after...

Wait, I can just forget all about it! Then I won't feel so bad! Beatrix realised in her usual moments of sheer brilliance.

[Deleted]

Eyes shining, Ayako took the large teddy bear and hugged it against herself. She only released it and carefully adjusted it so she could see when she realized hugging it like that had made the world go completely dark. The teddy bear was large enough to completely obscure her from the front. She would have to show Natsumi when she got back to the school... but, of course, she wouldn't forget the girl who had given the teddy bear to her. Ayako had promised to pay for the bear, and she would.

"Um..." she began, approaching the older girl from behind, "Th-thank you... um... h-how much was he? I want to pay you..."

[dblade26]

"Yukimura...Yuki?!"

Isamu recognized that name, and with it the fact that he was clearly way in over his head.

He had never actually seen the Academy's Girl's PE teacher, but her reputation for drunkeness, public indecency, laziness and general disreputable behavior was legendary around the school. Equally legendary was how ugly things got on the rare occasions when she decided to make trouble.

Oddly enough, he'd always imagined her as some kind of constantly drunk ten-foot-tall demon ogre. Not at all as the barefoot, friendly, bottle fairy unreliable-older-sister-type of lady that stood before him now.

Well...she seems alright, and not violent so far.

"Well, as long as your drinking doesn't hurt anyone I really don't mind it. I mean, there's really no harm in a person enjoying themself if they don't get hurt or bother others, right?"

This time Isamu gave a genuine smile, though he scratched absentmindedly at the back of his head at the thought that he might get in trouble for not taking action against her.

[Roxas]

"Pay me?" Confused, Beatrix turned to face whoever spoke to her with a small frown. Who owed her money? Beatrix was quite sure she hadn't lent anything... oh wow, that was a nice bear! She wished she had one like that. Maybe it was sold somewhere nearby?

Oh, right, payment. "Uh... pay me for what, exactly? I'm fairly sure I didn't give away any toys... by the way, where did you get that bear? I want it."

Beatrix never was good at using her power productively. Granted, it was difficult to do so, but still, she always did a good job confusing people not in the know.

[Vinestar]

"Ah." Breaking out of her shocked silence, Tenrilooked up at the smaller girl's gaze. "No, this is the first time I've seen him here." Looking at the Enforcer, the countryside born girl was still very surprised that there was such power wielded by one so young. This city truly is something different. "You're very brave for sticking up to others like that." The musician commented, a small smile on her face. "Do be careful though, okay?"

[Rain]

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Yuki said, stretching. Her day off... and she'd ended up arranging a scavenger hunt for the lower years to keep them occupied. Eugh, she really ought to get a hobby... and hope that someone realised the final clue pointed to her pocket. Speaking of which... she'd better get back to the PE office, she was out of booze and that was the only place to reliably find her, "Well, I'm going back to the PE office. See you around, icecream."

[Deleted]

"... Eh...?" Ayako stared in confusion. She'd... just got the bear from this girl... and now she was acting like she had never given it to her? That... didn't make any sense. She had just given it to Ayako. How... how had this happened? She was helplessly confused. "But... you just... you just gave me the bear. I asked, and I said I'd pay you... and you gave me the bear... how... but...

Ayako truly had no idea what had just occurred. "It just happened... a-are you okay...?"

---

"Careful? Around delinquents like that? They'd never lay a finger on me," replied Kameyo with a cheerful, confident grin. This girl must've just gotten here, she guessed. She hadn't heard of a recent transfer, but Imaizumi Academy was a pretty massive school so it wasn't entirely impossible that she hadn't heard news of a new transfer student. Then again, news of transfers tended to travel pretty fast... but whatever.

"So, are you new around here?" she asked. She could put off her snack to talk to the new transfer, "'Cause you don't seem too familiar with Enforcers or anything... Anyway, Hoshino Kameyo, member of the Enforcement Bureau's Core Functionality Divison. What's your name?"

[Roxas]

"Of course I'm okay! Do you think I have a problem?" Beatrix demanded, glaring at the girl, then relenting a little when she remembered that she was in a wheelchair. Averting her gaze once more, Beatrix continued, "...My memory is perfect, so I'd know if I ever had that toy, you're obviously mistaken."

It was the only explanation, after all. Why would she forget about such an awesome toy?