<@Grysar> [Date: May 5th, 2004. Warm, a little humid, but a light breeze. You both catch the 9:34 out of Aomori City. There was a little more time with family after the picnic, but Nozomu was sadly caught up in damage control mode. He suggested that there may be a chance to talk more on his next business trip to Tokyo.] <@Grysar> [The train is has no small number of occupants, but you're able to find two seats to themselves, and Katie can manage ensuring your privacy when people pass by without exerting herself too much.] <@Grysar> [Kyon will continue on to Osaka when he gets to Tokyo and Katie will head off to home. But until then, you've got some time to yourselves.] <@Grysar> [Start!] * Kyon settles into his seat in the Green Car, stretching his legs out, before rifling through a bag at his feet and then thrusting towards Katie a bun and a plastic bottle of milk coffee for breakfast. * Katie yawns and takes the bun and coffee with a mumbled thanks. She starts messing with the wrapping. * Kyon takes out a salmon onigiri and a bottle of tea for himself, and then leans back in the seat, looking out the window. "So now you've done it. Was that good?" * Katie nods, getting the bun out of the wrapper. She bites into it. * Kyon uncaps the bottle and sniffs the tea carefully. "Highlights?" Your mother wanted me to know that she doesn't want me to think I'm being pressured into marrying you. Your father thinks I'm much more polite when I'm tired and thinking I'm a different person. * Kyon snorts. "Not sure how much she'd mind it, though. And are you? More polite?" Mikari is more polite. More Japanese. * Katie opens her milk coffee and has a drink. * Kyon unwraps his onigiri. "Not the same thing. But probably my father'd take it that way." Yeah. * Katie rubs at her eyes with the back of one hand. "She... I..." She trails off, then starts again with, "How about you? What do you think of the trip?" * Kyon bites off the tip, and looks out the window. "More eventful than I expected. But it also went pretty smoothly. No blowups. No ice outs. Normal, minus the past life rearing her head." He takes another bite, and then says, "Better ganmodoki than last time." * Katie smiles a little. "Ganmodoki? That happens every time?" * Kyon shrugs quickly. "My favorite thing she makes, and she knows it. So yeah." * Katie nods. "Your mother really cares about you." * Kyon nods back to her, his face stilling, and he takes a gulp of tea, before saying, "Which is why she sent me to Tokyo." * Katie just makes a small noise and looks out the window. [Mostly farms, some white long demi-cylindrical protecting the crops. The occassional figure. The sheer volume of visual stimuli is not headache inducing, but makes it much hard to just try to take in everything.] * Kyon raises his eyebrows. "No, I mean it. She really thought it was best. Sent our lawyer down to do the scouting. Find the right school for me, get the right situation set up. Father might've done it because it was good for the business. Still don't know that. But she did it because of me." Or because of both. Your father. * Kyon nods curtly. "Right. Maybe both." * Katie looks back at Kyon and nods, and eats more of her breakfast. * Kyon gives her a sidewise look. "Was it what you expected?" I don't know. I didn't know. What to expect, I mean. Your parents are hard that way. * Katie picks a piece of her bun off with her fingers and starts rolling it between them. "It's not like I've done this before." * Kyon nods quickly. "Still. No images? No ideas about what'd happen? Now that it's done." * Katie wrinkles her nose. "Okay. If they *did* try to marry us, my plan was to knock everything over and run away." * Kyon smirks. "At least it's not blowing over the brewery." Fire's a lot better for that, anyway. Yeah, but I'm not going to set my family's business on fire. Just counter-productive. * Katie laughs a little. "If you want to inherit it, anyway." She eats the mini-bun of bun. * Kyon shakes his head quickly. "Even if I didn't. Too much history. I'd feel guilty." * Katie hums softly and nods, her eyes distant. She eats her bun, like a normal person this time. * Kyon looks at Katie sidewise, and stretches his legs out under the chair in front of him. "Happy to be going back now?" * Katie shrugs. "Not really." She looks back at him, and sound around them stills. "I don't really want to deal with..." She waves vaguely. "Arcana. Stuff." * Kyon nods, and smirks. "Even less than dealing with my family. Bad sign." *Ugh*. Yeah. I mean I *wasn't*, but then it followed me there. * Kyon looks at her, non-plussed, and then takes a sip of his tea. * Katie rubs at her face. And finishes off her goddamn breakfast, so now she just has coffee. * Kyon waits, and has more tea. Presumably Katie'll explain when she's ready. * Katie sips her coffee, too, and then says, "" * Katie takes a deep, breath, trying to steady herself, and it kind of works. Her fingers are tight around the bottle. "" She trails off, then starts again. "" * Kyon nods back, looking more thoughtful this time. "" * Katie winces, but she doesn't say anything. * Kyon cocks his head a little. "" * Katie shakes her head. "" * Katie shakes her head rapidly, now clutching her coffee with both hands. * Kyon raises his eyebrows. "" He looks her over, and stops. "" * Katie bites her lip, as hard as she figures she can without actually wounding herself. "" * Kyon thins his lips, and taps a finger on the top of his tea bottle. "" * Katie shakes her head. "" She hesitates, then says, "" * Kyon watches her again, clearly thinking himself. He fixes his armwarmers. * Kyon nods quickly, and then says quietly, "" * Kyon looks thoughtful. "" * Katie trails off again, obviously thinking, and then she says, "" * Kyon frowns. "" * Katie nods. "" * Kyon nods curtly. "" He smirks. "" <@Grysar> [So, as Kyon puzzles this through, there are a few different things at work. First off, Katie is generally reliable on interpersonal or observational matters, so taking her at her word about what she's witnessed of Kazuko made sense. That said, you've also met Kazuko's father and he didn't seem like a fabrication. Some of Katie's hypotheses wouldn't contradict that, but it would be a natural area to explore more. Finally, in that pretty well developed untrusting part of Kyon's brain, there's a note that Mikari isn't Katie and thus may not be as reliable, that said, may be best to tread carefully there as sometimes people can strongly identify with their past selves.] * Kyon twists his lips to the side. "" * Katie tilts her head at that, then says, "" She pauses, then, "" * Kyon nods quickly. "" * Katie nods slowly. * Kyon pauses, and then says in a more curious tone, "" * Kyon nods, slower than usual. "" * Katie closes her eyes, trying to remember. "" She opens her eyes and sips her coffee. "" * Kyon nods back to that last part, and his eyes soften a little. "" And then he cocks his head to the side, thinking. "" * Katie lets out a small 'heh'. "" She has more coffee, then sets the bottle on the tray and turns it without letting it go, tracking the dents and smudges she put onto the plastic. "" * Kyon snorts. "" * Katie snerks and nudges Kyon lightly with her elbow. "" A thought occurs to her and she actually laughs. "" * Kyon smirks. "" * Katie smiles back. "" She sips her coffee. "" * Kyon shrugs quickly. "" * Katie makes a small 'hm' noise, but she doesn't have any more to say to that. Instead, she says, "" <@Grysar> [The train makes a brief stop. Mid-sized town. Fairly unremarkable, though there is a church near the town center, which is a little unusual. People who pass you by on the way in or out of the green car seem to take no note of your conversation.] * Kyon gazes at the church. "" * Katie glances at the church, but she focuses more on the people silently passing by. "" * Kyon thins his lips. "" * Katie lets out a small sigh. "" <@Grysar> [Mix of families returning home and business travelers. The church looks to be a 70s design, making heavy use of concrete, but with a modernist flourish or two. The train resumes moving shortly there after. There's a golf driving range or two on the way out of town, with multistory green netting to catch errant balls hit by the very skilled, steroid users, or Satoshi.] * Katie taps her finger on the edge of her coffee bottle. "" The driving range goes by, and she watches a ball sail into the tall green netting. "" * Kyon nods back. "" He stretches, pressing his shoulders into the back of his seat. "" * Kyon furrows his brow and frowns. "" * Katie pauses, frowning, then amends, "" * Kyon nods. "" * Katie takes in a breath, then says, softly, "" * Kyon nods slowly, scowling. "" * Katie nods too, clearly troubled. "" * Kyon cocks his head and then leans closer to her, shifting his bottle of tea. "" * Katie nods again, not really looking at Kyon, her expression not smoothing over. "" * Katie sighs, and she looks at him now, suddenly tired. "" * Kyon nods quickly. "" * Kyon drinks more of his tea, and then sets the bottle aside. "" He smirks. "" <@Grysar> [Katie and Kyon discuss lighter topics over the remainder of the journey. Katie makes her exit in Tokyo and Kyon transfers for a train down to Osaka to participate in an evening game.] <@Grysar> [End!]