<@Ardweden> [It's been a little over two weeks since Kaede, Wataru, and Haruko went to meet Kyoko at the Pao Pao Cafe. Since then, in addition to his usual schoolwork and work work, Kaede's met with the others to discuss the Council of Mysteries books, helped Akemi finally take care of the motor club photo shoot with Haruko and her mechanics club, and had some dreams about his past self. Those were all things.] <@Ardweden> [He had also more or less requested a talk with Kyoko alone. She suggested he meet with her at the end of her shift at the Pao Pao Cafe on a weekday evening, and so here he is - arriving around the time she suggested, after closing. It's a dark, cool but not chilly spring night.] <@Ardweden> [Start!] * Kaede waits, in a tight trenchcoat there out on the block. Just in case. He doesn't seem to be looking anywhere in particular but he's also kind of situated in a place with a general view down the streets before he blows on his hands. All alone. Just him and the phone in his pocket. And he shut her off for the time being for once. <@Ardweden> [It's a solid fifteen minutes before he finally sees the lights switch off in the Pao Pao Cafe and the door opens, Kyoko Ozora stepping out into the evening. She's wearing a light jacket and a skirt, as well as a backpack, and she locks the door behind her.] * Kaede puts his fingers in his coat as he leans on back and then blows out a breath at an errant strand of hair. His expression focuses a little on Kyoko as she comes out, but he doesn't comment. Or even gesture her over really. Still making sure of the surroundings. <@Ardweden> [Kyoko looks around after locking up and clearly spots Kaede, walking quickly over to him. "Hey."] * Kaede nods in reply, watching Kyoko with a slight tilt of his head. "Evening..." His expression jerks back over to the building. "Is it just you as a closure or should we be expecting anyone else?" <@Ardweden> ["Just me tonight." She shrugs. "Everyone else went home. Did you bike here or...?"] * Kaede rubs his hands as he glances down. "Took the subway. Figure it would be easier than having to bike late at night. Besides, I rather enjoy walking." He glances back up. "I'd understand if you would wish to get straight home but I would be more than happy to just walk with you to give you some free time. I know how it is. This is your show..." <@Ardweden> [Kyoko nods. "Okay." She waves for Kaede to walk with her. "Come on."] * Kaede heads on with her, quietly for a while with a quick nod. They'll probably be quiet for a while before they get a good stride going. Unless she initiates. <@Ardweden> [They get maybe half a block before Kyoko asks, her hands in her pockets, "Why did you want to talk to me?"] * Kaede lets out a breath before he starts it up with a glance up at the buildings, slowing his stride but not quite stopping. "Because you were right." <@Ardweden> [Kyoko looks at Kaede, sharply, before she looks ahead again. She doesn't say anything.] * Kaede glances back at her moments after she does, taking in the pack as if for the first time. "This is usually the part when people ask "about what?" <@Ardweden> [It's a yellow, pink, and black backpack with glitter flowers all over it. "About what?" Kyoko asks.] * Kaede huhs at the pack but then focuses back again on the road ahead. "We've got no business asking you about this. I hadn't taken the opportunity to get to know you. Granted, if Kinsha hadn't told me that she was going over and asking for additional advice, I probably would have barely known you at all...." <@Ardweden> [She nods, still looking ahead. And walking.] * Kaede stops for a second, just to watch her go, waiting for a response. <@Ardweden> [She takes a few steps before stopping, too, and looking at Kaede. "You were done?"] * Kaede looks for a moment, shuffling embarrassed. "Well....uh...yes. At least with that statement." His head drops a little. "I can't say that I'm necessarily the best at this. My apologies...." <@Ardweden> [Kaede can hear Kyoko sigh, maybe in exasperation. "You're fine." And then he can hear her moving away, but she keeps talking. "It's not like I expected any of you guys to remember us. Or care."] * Kaede looks up for a moment. "About what Reiji did? Cause from what I heard, what you did was basically try to stab everyone." <@Ardweden> [Kyoko looks at Kaede, and she stops again. "What?"] * Kaede gives her a small shrug. "From what I heard. I wasn't there, remember?" <@Ardweden> [Kyoko blinks. "... When?"] * Kaede waves his hand slightly dismissively. "A long time ago. Look. It doesn't matter. I..." He sighs, hunching up his coat. "The fact of the matter is...I'm getting to know you know. And I know what your brother did...and it was important...but more importantly..." He frowns and adds, a little softer. "I know what it's like..." <@Ardweden> [Kyoko nods, looking Kaede over. "I don't know you, either," she admits.] * Kaede sighs. "So there's a thing..." He glances at the road ahead. "Are you really wanting to go straight home after all this? Waterfront's peaceful. Or we could hit an Arcade...a bite to eat or something?" <@Ardweden> ["I need to get back to Reiji. But..." She hesitates, then continues, "I guess picking up some food wouldn't be a bad idea. I don't really want to cook tonight."] * Kaede nods, glancing back. "And I'm sure food from the restaurant where you are working is just something you never want to do?" <@Ardweden> [Kyoko laughs, a little. "Nah, it's fine. It's just I eat it a lot. And it's closed, anyway."] * Kaede glances at her oddly, looking down at her pockets. "You have a key..." <@Ardweden> [Kyoko just rolls her eyes. "Yeah, and I'm not opening it up again. So." She gestures. "Lead the way, Takeuchi-san."] * Kaede snerks, then gestures that-a-way. "Think there's an udon stand that way. Usually open pretty late. I tend to go there when I'm caught out late." <@Ardweden> ["Udon sounds pretty good. Maybe I can get some for my brother, too." And so, Kyoko goes that-a-way!] * Kaede gives a quick nod and heads that way. To the friendly (!) (Cause they're always friendly) Neighborhood Udon cart! <@Ardweden> [Kyoko also does! The cart is open, and Udon Guy is friendly, doling out steaming noodles in broth with a greeting and a smile. Kyoko gets a medium sized bowl of the stuff and then some extra in a container to go, which she holds by the handle (it's hot! and she has a bowl of udon already!).] * Kaede blinks as she gets it all to-go and then hurries up with his own order and grabbing it to pay, bowing in thanks to the shop keep. He rushes with his own bowl to keep up. "We weren't staying to eat it...?" <@Ardweden> [She blinks at him, balancing her own bowl. "I didn't think you'd want to talk about stuff in front of him."] * Kaede snorts. "Honestly, I'm not ashamed of it. This isn't card related. This is....life." He frowns fidgeting with the plastic of his carry-all as he's going. "Like I was saying, I know what it's like..." <@Ardweden> [Kyoko nods. A little more walking gets them to a small park that's little more than a patch of lawn, some trees, and a couple of benches. She walks over to one of the benches and sets down the container and her backpack, then sits.] * Kaede takes a deep breath. He might as well continue. Otherwise, they're going to be starting and stopping all night. "I mean...the whole thing. Working to support family. Feeling as if you are the only one who can do it. The exhaustion. The worry every night. Sometimes it felt like things were going to break. All the time. But eventually, things worked out..." He rustles his plastic bag as he settles the udon bowl in his lap. Tasty tasty Udon. <@Ardweden> ["Yeah?" Kyoko asks quietly, when Kaede trails off. She twirls and picks up a string of udon.] * Kaede looks casually and without inflection, adds, "Yes. He died." And then takes the moment to slowly slurp up the udon. <@Ardweden> [Kyoko chokes for a second, then coughs violently, one hand to her mouth. "Shit!" she manages to say when she's breathing again.] * Kaede waves it off. "Past his time. And I still have a sister to look after. Really, it was probably beyond time for him to go. It's just difficult sometimes. To want to have that hope..." He doesn't get up. <@Ardweden> [Kyoko breathes. When there's a break in Kaede's speech again, she says, "I guess that's one way for that story to end."] * Kaede snorts then finally turns to look at her. "Sorry. I doubt it will be *yours*. I never said I was the best at telling stories..." He plucks off his glasses and starts rubbing them clean. <@Ardweden> ["You could have waited for me to not have noodles in my mouth to deadpan about the guy you were trying to take care of dying," Kyoko points out. "So you get a four out of ten for delivery."] * Kaede snorts again, slowly slipping on the glasses again. "You *are* right. It's a terrible waste of good noodles." Still deadpan. <@Ardweden> ["Yeah." Kyoko gathers more udon with her chopsticks. "Sucks that he died, though."] * Kaede gives a small shrug. "Grampa Shiro had lived a long life. He knew, in the end, that the shop was being managed and taken care of and that the Takeuchi name was still held in good standing, so I have no regrets...." He pauses. "That was a lot easier than I thought it would be..." <@Ardweden> [Kyoko looks at Kaede for a second, then she nods.] <@Ardweden> ["That's not such a bad ending, then," she says, kind of cautiously.] * Kaede frowns a bit as he looks down at his bowl. "The end isn't important..." He stares at the whole pile of noodles. "At least...it wasn't when I was in the middle of it. The important thing was the day to day. I guess I owe it to the people around me to pull myself out of it, but I can't say I did them any favors...." <@Ardweden> [Kyoko lets out a short, harsh laugh. "And you're saying I'm not doing you guys any favors?"] * Kaede doesn't care about the harshness at it, but he does actually grin a little at that as he turns to her. "Why should *you* care? We're just some people to you. You've got a brother to look after. A job to do. And yourself to take care of. The world can go blow itself right off for all you care, right? I mean...I'm just guessing here..." He doesn't sound judgmental at all here. <@Ardweden> ["Yeah. Sure." Kyoko slurps up some noodles.] * Kaede sighs, losing the smile, picking back at the noodles. "I'm saying...you don't *owe* us any favors? Really, who are we to you? No one. Other than bad memories of a worser time. Kinsha-san tries her best, but I think she knows how to think with her heart more than actually knows to *speak* to people. This may be more for her than for you. Me..." He digs at his noodles, trying his best to * Kaede get a tangle ready for a long slurp. <@Ardweden> [This time, she doesn't prompt Kaede. She just waits. And drinks broth.] * Kaede finishes off then looks down at it some more before finally setting down his sticks and looking at Kyoko. "I wouldn't get into this if it didn't mean something." <@Ardweden> [Kyoko sets her bowl down on her lap and looks at Kaede for a long moment. She sighs, then, and looks away. "It doesn't matter."] * Kaede peers hard, trying to see if he can get a read on what she meant, but finding none. There's another shift in expression, a shift in the bowl. Just gonna have to wing it. "Because you see this ending poorly no matter what?" <@Ardweden> ["No. Because if you help Reiji, then it doesn't matter *why*. Just that you do it."] * Kaede 's lip thin, but there is a bit of a half-smile there. "...well. That's one way of looking at it." His expression loses it. "But what about you....?" <@Ardweden> [She glances back. "What about me?"] * Kaede tilts his head over to the side. "Well...you've been taking care of him all this time. Even though it's hard. But honestly, this isn't about just helping your brother. Haruko-san may want that. I'm not entirely sure. But this is about helping *you* too. You're important..." <@Ardweden> [Kyoko laughs again, and she stands, mostly empty bowl in hand. "Nah."] * Kaede juggles his noodles, taking in one last long slurp. "World isn't important. Universe isn't important. *You* aren't important. So long as it's helping your brother. Isn't that true? Everything else is just a distraction. A pointless waste of time..." And then he tilts the bowl back to finish the broth. <@Ardweden> [Kyoko just walks off, only a few steps, to dump the bowl into a trash can. She returns and grabs her backpack, slinging it over her shoulders, and picks up her take out container. "I've never been as important as him," she tells Kaede. "It was true then, and it's true now."] * Kaede steps up as he tosses his own away in the trash, then glances her way, expression impassive. "Well then. Maybe two nobodies like us *do* have something in common after all, don't we?" <@Ardweden> ["I never said we didn't."] * Kaede smiles a little at her now, then glances back. "I can do the udon thing more. If you'd like. I can't speak much for the conversation. But I do tend to, at least, shut up far more often when people tell me to than Kinsha-san does...." <@Ardweden> [Kyoko watches Kaede. She's been doing that a lot this evening. After a few moments, she finally says, "Sure. But you'll mostly just be walking me home." Her mouth curls into a tiny smirk. "You can protect me from thugs, or whatever, since I'm so important."] * Kaede settles back with a hand in his pocket, giving a small half- smirk. "I've been known to wield a pretty mean pipewrench at that. Besides. It would cut down on explanations of spear marks in their torsos." <@Ardweden> ["I can use the other end," Kyoko says, dismissively. "But yeah, it would be easier."] * Kaede regains his neutral stance as he looks her over. "You don't need to be important to have people care, you know. Apparently..." He frowns, as if mulling it over himself. <@Ardweden> ["Apparently what?"] * Kaede shrugs. "Apparently you don't have to be important. Worked with me. And I mean, have you *looked* at me? You've *got* to be pretty brain damaged to care..." <@Ardweden> [Kyoko looks Kaede up and down. "I don't know," she says. "You're pretty put together, really."] * Kaede snorts, then looks at Kyoko side-ways. "May seem like it from the outside. But appreciate the compliment." <@Ardweden> [She grins back. Kaede probably never saw Kyoko grin before, and it's brief. "I'm heading home. Are you coming with?"] * Kaede looks at her, then sticks his hands in his pocket, giving a smile. And while Kaede smiles are equally pretty brief, this one is unusually *lingering*. "Well, I *suppose* I could help straighten up or something else. After all, I would imagine it would be hard, given how busy you are..." <@Ardweden> [Kyoko adjusts her backpack and rolls her eyes. "We'll see."] * Kaede hehs, then loses the expression, though the trace of amusement still stays. "That we shall. Shall we then?" <@Ardweden> [She nods. And so they go!] <@Ardweden> [End.]