Logs: New and Old Media

June is nearly here, temperatures are warming up. Today's got some clouds in the sky that periodically offer shade from a bright sun this afternoon. And, fortunately for the proprietors, the good weather means there's relatively many shoppers around. Not that many even so. Teppei personally liked this area more than Junes... there were some things you couldn't find at big department stores, and the competition meant a lot of price cutting. Currently he's walking his bike through the streets with a click-click-click-click of the gears, pauses now and then to window browse. Right now he doesn't go into any in particular, however.

It is for similar reason that Haruko Fukui has found herself in Inaba's Commercial District. Though there is an additional motive; as her birthday is coming up and she has been saving up to get herself an early present. She is windowshopping as well, albeit by foot rather with a bicycle. She is dressed in school clothes; and she's got a backpack slung over one shoulder.

She eventually comes to a standstill near a small bookstore, and takes a look through the windows to see what's for sale, and it seems something caught her eye; as she remains staring through the window for more than just a few moments... but she hasn't entered the store yet.

Distracted a little by browsing himself, Tohno doesn't catch sight of the other student until they've come to the same shop. The clicking winds down and ceases as the teenager comes to a halt. He looks at Haruko for a moment, a little surprised at that uniform. He'd seen it before. Tohno hesitates a long moment, looks down and away and fiddles with his glasses and then back. Seemingly a little reluctant, the Yasogami student hesitant, softly speaks. "Excuse me..." Should Haruko look his way, Tohno'll greet with a quick bow.

When she is addressed, Haruko looks as though she is awoken from a trance; and it takes her a brief moment to do more than bluntly stare at Tohno. When she does, she makes a bow of her own. "Hello." She says in a soft tone of voice as she looks at the boy, who seems to be about her age. "Is there something I can help you with?"

A glance goes back to the store she was looking at, before looking back at the boy who addressed her. As she glances over him, a single eyebrow raises briefly; but the gesture doesn't last long and is easy to miss. "That's... a Yasogami High School Uniform, isn't it?"

Teppei looks away from the stare, eyes belying nervousness and it looks like he almost considers walking away then and there. Looks like he needs a moment to line up a sentence again. In the meantime the student quickly, shortly nods a yes to her question. "I... uhm..." the first year starts. Pauses, then tries again. "Just... that uniform... where does it..?" Who'd have thought someone could be so timid over such a simple question.

Oh, that's such a simple question that Haruko smiles very faintly and assumes a comforting tone. "It's fine to ask. Seven Sisters High School... it's in Sumaru." She pauses for a brief moment before adding, "I just thought I'd take a look at some stores outside Sumaru... just to see if I could find something I can't get over there."

She glances back at the antique bookstore, "Stores like these tend to have really neat books." She explains as her eyes swerve over the dusty old tomes put at display, some even older than the others, "I wonder if there's anything cool in there, you know?"

Once the ice is broken a little, the other highschooler lets out a soft breath and also relaxes just a little. Hey, look, talking to a random person didn't have terrible consequences. ~ The adolescent nods thoughtfully to the question. Sumaru. Still not quite speaking fluently but with a touch more confidence, Tohno asks, "...Where's Sumaru?" Maybe he's not so familiar with the area.

At the mention of the bookstore his bespectacled eyes slide over. He answers with a reserved, conceding nod. "A lot of the time... it's... just... old pop books." A lopsided shrug accompanies the reluctant explanation. "But sometimes..." Teppei quickly concedes.

Haruko politely explains the location and basic detail of the city known as Sumaru, smiling at the boy as she speaks. "Where are you from?" She seems interested, not noisy, if her tone of voice is anything to go by. She turns back to look at the antique books. "I know a lot of these are pretty boring, but there might just be a hidden gem in there somewhere." She giggles faintly, "But maybe it's not the best use of my money..."

Teppei pauses a second. A complicated question for a kid that's moved around so much, but he gives the over-simplified answer: Kagoshima-ken. (A prefecture on the southern most isle known for its proximity to an active volcano, among other things, but Tohno doesn't detail that). In any case, a good ways away from here. At the mention of hidden gems, though, Tohno nods emphatically. That was something he could relate to. Money...he doesn't answer that one way or another, though he looks like he's got his own thoughts on it even if the shy highschooler doesn't voice them.

The answers seems to satisfy Haruko, though it's followed up with another question. "So did you recently move to the area?" She barely looks at him while she asks the question; though she does look. It's clear the books are having some kind of fascinating effect on her that the boy lacks.

"Let's go inside, take a look to see if there's any hidden gems worth my birthday money." She doesn't even really wait before going into the store, only pausing halfway through it to motion him over. Clearly, she expects him to follow her; despite the fact she doesn't even know his name...

Teppei just answers with another quick nod; a recent arrival. The other student, in turn, looks at his bicycle beside him. Contemplates what to do with it, looks a little skeptical about leaving it alone. He settles for propping it against the wall near the door, where he can sort of see it, then follows along. He looks around at the books, not without curiosity but not with the same fascination of Haruko. As he browses a few books more or less at random, Tohno asks semi-casually, "Are there any weird rumors there about TV..?" He means in Sumaru, although that might not be clear.

Pause. Haruko turns to face Teppei, and she raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, there are." She says calmly, trying to collect her thoughts, "But that's all they are... rumours. You'd better not pay attention to them." Despite her words, she suddenly seems at least slightly nervous; but it doesn't last long.

She distracts herself quickly by finding a book on Rangaku (western science) from the Sakoku (isolation) era. "Ooh, this is interesting." She exclaims as she picks up the book and starts to leaf through the pages.

An elderly man in the back scrapes his throat. "Please don't touch books unless you intend to buy them." At those words, Haruko looks at the price ticket and quickly puts the book back down. "Not worth that much." She says softly towards Teppei.

That peculiar reaction gets the shy youth's attention. His eyes, belying a bit of anxiety, scan over her face for a second. Then back to the books, save for a glance at the proprietor when his voice comes over. Tohno moves over a shelf, stays silent until he works up the courage to quietly speak again. "...I know it seems stupid... but... please... tell me what you heard..?"

Oh no. Oh no. Haruko forces herself to remain calm and collected; she doesn't know what this boy knows, and she doesn't know a lot herself, so she decides to keep it to the rumours. "Something silly about seeing your soulmate." She answers, "In a Tee Vee that's not even turned on. Kind of ridiculous, I'd say." She forces herself to smile again, and it seems mostly genuine, "Really, I wouldn't worry about it too much." She pauses, then adds. "Anyway... I'm Fukui Haruko. Do you care to share your name?"

Tohno nods thoughtfully; his mouth curves into a slight frown. Not that he's unhappy, it's just a reflection of his contemplations. Same rumor there as here. That was interesting. The introduction draws him back to the present, away from the books too. "Uhm, sorry..." Another quick bow, palms flat against the front of his legs. "Tohno Teppei," he hesitantly speaks. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite get him off topic, and the teenager returns to it after a few seconds. "Have you heard any variations...? Sorry... I... just..." His voice falters. How could one really explain? She was right, it -is- ridiculous.

Haruko saves the introduction mentally. His curiosity on the matter was curious, to say the least. "Nice to meet you, Teppei-san." The girl says with a faint smile, genuine though. She returns the bow with one of her own, and when she straightens again she looks the boy. She couldn't detect any resonance, but that didn't necessarily mean anything... "I don't really know... I don't tend to pay attention to silly rumours like that. You're lucky I even remembered any of it."

Tohno looks disappointed, though he tries to cover that by looking over the books. Another dead end. But he mumbles out a thanks all the same. It -was- pretty interesting that it was the same across two separate cities. The highschooler will continue browsing for another few minutes but eventually, with one last bow, he moves to leave.