Fantasy Tsugu's Corner [CLOSED]

[Ariel]

 

[Ariel]

Every day starts the same and ends the same, save your very first day and very last day. Every day starts and every day ends. Your very first day starts and ends. Your very last day starts and ends.

The blistering heat beat down upon them, the air alight with chatter and the sounds of summer insects only combated by the chime of the final bell. School was out, much to the student body's relief and students flowed from the classrooms to continue their day. For four of those students it would be their very last day, an ending to an adventure as they say.

And on a street corner a few blocks from the campus was a street.
On that street meeting another was a store.
An internet cafe.

Tsugu's Corner.

~

Riku tilted his head toward the blinding sun, frowning at it, a clear indication of who he was blaming for the onslaught of summer. Every day seemed hotter than the last so much so that he thought he'd fry come tomorrow. Riku Otomoto, an average guy in an average life. He had friends, hobbies, sure, but never invested himself fully in anything. Some might have called him free spirited.
He just called it surviving.
Living wasn't a word that could really describe day to day for Riku. Living was a word for people who enjoyed things, people, their time, life. He wasn't exactly sad, not really, but happy? He wasn't really sure what it was or what it meant.
Lonely?

Maybe.

When he looked up again, drawn from his thoughts, he noticed he had stopped on a street corner, having walked down a ways he hadn't remembered ever coming down, let alone existed though it wasn't as if he paid close attention to anything.

It was a cozy little shop, something he wasn't sure the purpose of as it did not advertise but in faded purple lettering above the name was displayed. Fitting for the shop on the quiet street corner.

He entered the building, peering around curiously, surprising himself with his own actions. He may have usually thought about something if that, but wouldn't usually go any farther than that. And yet here he was walking up to the counter where a small older woman stood, or so he figured by her posture and size. The rest was up to speculation as she was dressed in a kimono way before his time and had a mask over her head that seemed to be made of wood and over her face was what looked like a scroll, cascading down and hiding any features.

"Excuse me," Riku murmured, looking away as he was unsure where to rest his eyes on the woman with her mask. He figured it would be more polite to advert his gaze as he spoke.

"What... is this place exactly?"

Pyosimros Rantos Venelopi

 

[Pyosimros]

Akari Katou

Mentions - Ariel
- -

A single bead of sweat ran out Akari's face as she stared down the clock placed at the very front of the classroom. Her eyes fluttered, her fingers tapping in synchronization to each second that ticked on the clock. There were many things that gave the woman discomfort, and a blistering summer day was one of them. It stung the skin, causing distractions that she couldn't help but notice. The chime of the final bell was what Akari waited intently for, and eventually, she was graced with its sound.

Akari quickly rose from her seat, preparing to leave. Flattening her clothes, pushing in her chair, and grabbing her bag, she then began her walk towards the entrance. She wanted nothing else but to return to her air-conditioned home and relax, if only for a moment. However, such a dream seemed to be one that was achievable.

"Akari--hold for a minute, I need to talk to you," her teacher called casually.

She gave a light sigh, looking at her superior with defeated eyes. "Of...course sir," Akari spoke slowly, words she despised saying in the current moment.

Changing her course to now walk towards her teacher, Akari eventually made her way towards him. Her teacher began with a simple praise, and continued speaking. The words barely registered in Akari's tired mind, though she assumed they were positive. She simply nodded along, spoke in short responses, and silently prayed for the conversation to end. But it didn't. One minute passed, then two, then five, then ten, then she couldn't count any longer. By the time her teacher had dismissed her, Akari had already been late for her bus.

A deep breath came from the girl as the realization came to her -- she'd have no choice but to now walk home. Not much of a fusser, she continued onward and began her journey. From a classroom providing shade and minor comfort from the sun's rays, to the outside world that scarcely gave such protection.

~~

Akari's breaths grew heavy as she approached a street corner, she felt as if she was being scorched. She shuffled her feet against the ground as she looked at the seemingly unchanging streetlight with worried eyes, before she wiped another bead of sweat from her forehead. Waiting long enough, her gaze went to other things. Beginning with the things that stood in front of her, Akari eventually turned and saw what she had never seen before: a strange shop of sorts.

Akari couldn't explain it, however something drew her to the shop. Might as well take a small break from this heat, she thought, now finding herself walking into the building.

It was quaint, something she expected by looking at the exterior of the shop. Behind the front counter sat a small woman with some sort of mask -- intriguing and strange. Talking to her was a stranger with green hair. Akari, seeing the current conversation, decided to not interfere at this moment. Instead she made her way to the wall near the two, but still an adequate distance from them. She leaned against it, making sure she was still in earshot to acquire any meaningful information before she herself would hopefully be able to speak with the woman.