[Meanwhile, over here, you meet up with Chikako after school, as planned.] Um..excuse me..Miss..Chikako was it? * Kaede adjusts his glasses, looking a little nervous. * Chikako nods. "Yup! That's my name! It's so cool!" * Kaede winces slightly but tries not to show it..he's still not sure what to make of her. I wanted to talk to you a bit about this festival that's coming..err..when is it? March first! It's gonna be so cool! You're gonna do something cool for it, right? Um..yeah..cool.. * Chikako grins. "Cool!" * Kaede adjusts his glasses again and tries to look her in the eyes for more seriousness. Well, who would I talk to about setting up a booth? I'm trying to promote our shop and..well, frankly I feel a little lost. * Chikako thinks. "Well, you could ask Kyon. He's the Vice President, and pretty cool about stuff like that. Or it's cool if you just tell me what you're gonna do, since I'm on the committee." * Kaede makes a face slightly at the mention of Kyon's name. "Well, Kyon already knows about it..but I think I'd rather talk to you.." Ok, that's cool. I'm..not really sure..I've never done a promotional thing..I was thinking of..having people bring their bikes to school so I could take a look at it..suggest improvements..is it alright if my sister came too if she could? * Chikako nods. "Volunteer help is always cool." Good..if you could help set it up or something, that would be co..um..great. * Chikako taps her chin. "Well, why not ask Katie and Kyon to help? I'm sure they'd be cool with it." I..well, I was going to ask them too.. I could use all the help I could get. * Chikako considers then grins. "Well, I can probably find some people to help out, so it's cool." I'm..not used to so many people being so helpful..it's a little weird..but..um..thanks. * Chikako grins. "It's cool." * Kaede gives the Kaede equivalent of a smile, which isn't much of one at all. ( After years of disues, the muscles he needs to form a smile aren't developed properly :P ) * Kaede starts to head off, then stops, turning around slowly. "There..is something else I wanted to ask you." Cool! ... What's that? Well..you seem to know a good deal of the people around this school. Does the name Riko ring any bells? Black hair, slightly curled at the end...? I'm afraid I don't know her last name. Y' mean Riko Tokuzawa? Yeah, she's a really cool swimmer. I've..seen her once. Do you know where I could meet her? She's probably at the pool. Or maybe at a martial arts class. I hear she's a super-cool martial artist. * Kaede digs through his kaban and takes out his notepad, making a little note to himself. Right now? * Chikako thinks. "I did a really cool article on her a few days back in the paper. I can look for it if you want." * Chikako nods. * Kaede shakes his head. "That's alright. I'm just interested in talking to her personally." Ok, it's cool. * Chikako grins. "You have a crush on her, I bet. Cool!" * Chikako giggles. * Kaede stuffs the notepad back in his kaban and waves as he heads off. "Thanks for all your help, Miss Chikako." * Kaede almost stumbles as his shoulders stiffen at the comment but tries not to show. * Chikako giggles. "No problem. It's cool." * Kaede nods and adjusts his kaban in his hand, running towards the pool to catch her. Ah! Wait a sec! * Kaede stops and turns around. "What is it?" I was thinking, since we have Monday off... cool, huh?... Maybe we could get the group together and have a super-cool time at Disney Tokyo tomorrow. What do you think? Sound cool? I..um.. * Kaede blinks confused. "Disney...Tokyo?" * Chikako nods. "It's supposed to be so cool!" Well, I guess if you endorse it, it must be. * Kaede adjusts his glasses and sighs. "Alright, I'll tell them." * Chikako nodnods. 'Kay. Actually, I'm going that way now, so I'll do it. I just thought it's be cool to ask you, since you're already here. * Kaede nods and bows. "Thanks again. Um..Chikako?" Yeah? Could you not tell the rest of them I asked about Riko? I don't want them to get the wrong idea.. * Chikako grins. "Sure. I'll keep your crush a secret." * Chikako giggles to herself. "A secret crush. It's so cool!" * Kaede 's eyebrow twitches just slightly. "Right...thanks." * Chikako nodnods. "Good luck!" * Kaede sighs and rubs his forehead before running off to the pool. [You get to the pool before long. Riko is, in fact, swimming in it.] * Kaede peeks around the corner slowly edging out, trying not to startle her too much. * Riko isn't paying attention, as she's concentrating on swimming. She's pretty durn fast. * Kaede adjusts his glasses and tries clearing his throat to get her attention. "Mi..Miss Riko Tokuzawa?" * Riko keeps swimming. Going to have to be louder than that. Or you could just wait a bit. * Kaede looks around to see if there's any other students there as he walks to the pool edge. [Nobody else around at the time.] * Kaede clears his throat again, louder this time and actually manages a bit of a smile..it looks forced though. "You're very impressive." * Riko finally hears and stops at the edge of the pool. "Thanks. You're that guy from yesterday, right? The one with Kyon." * Kaede loses the smile almost as quickly as it came and sighs. "Don't take time for any pleasantries do you? I suppose you could say that, although with him is..well not how I'd see it." * Riko pulls herself out of the pool and picks up a towel from a nearby bench. "Good. You should stay away from him." I wanted to talk to you about that..you said..well, what kind of history have you had with him to make you so.. [Incidently, you notice a scar on Riko's shoulder.] * Kaede thinks for the word. "Angry doesn't seem to fit it.." * Kaede shakes his head. "I can't do that...if I stay away, I won't have a clue what's going on here." * Riko frowns. "It's not something I wanna talk about." She points the scar out instead. "But see this? He $#@%^in' stabbed me with a sword last week." * Kaede manages a weaker smile, but it is completely strained rather than friendly. "Tell me..if I said "Two of Pentacles," how would you react to me?" Two of... Wha? What's a Pentacer? * Kaede nods slightly. "As I thought..." He sits down at the pool side. Tell me what else you know about him..if you feel comfortable. * Riko frowns. "He's a real bastard. I mean, Jesus, sure I was going to beat him up, but he stabbed me! I should file charges for that." And Katie too..I saw her talking with you..she seemed fairly concerned.. It does seem a little like overreacting.. * Kaede rubs his chin, seeming to be thinking, sighing. "I wish I was there so I knew what exactly happened.." Wait...you said you were going to beat him up? That was before he stabbed you right? * Riko frowns. "Well, I can't do it anyhow, since it's technically self-defense. But it's not like I was gonna kill him." What..did he do? * Riko frowns. "I really don't wanna talk about it." * Kaede frowns too. "Alright..I know you don't feel comfortable talking to me..I mean all you know is that I hang around with him..." * Kaede starts to get up and sighs, adjusting his glasses. Look, I'm saying it for your own good. He hurt me. You can see that. He hurt... um, someone else I care about. He'll probably hurt you too. But I can't know what to believe if you don't give any reason why you think that.. * Kaede frowns even more. "Alright...I guess..that's a good enough reason.." But all of the rest of them stick around Kyon too..I'm not going to just... I don't know...thank you for listening to me, Miss Tokuzawa. * Riko bites her lip. "You're gonna regret it." If you feel you want to tell me more.. * Kaede digs through his kaban for his notepad, scribbles down his cell number and tears out the paper. "Here." * Riko sighs. "Look. Can you promise to keep it a secret? Especially from Kyon and that reporter... whatshername?" I won't say a word..they...well, as long as she didn't say anything, they don't even know I'm talking to you right now.. * Riko folds her arms. "Hmm..." ( Meanwhile, the GM juggles two windows ;_; ) (Sorry, but it WAS important ^_^;) * Riko hangs her head in thought. "Hmmm..." Alright, but if you tell anyone, I'll beat you up. If you want to think a while before telling me, that's alright..I...errk. Don't think I can't do it, either. I've won two karate tournaments, so... * Kaede 's eyes go wide at that comment. "Oh..okay.." I don't doubt that..I have a feeling Katie could probably beat me up if she tried.. Those stares..just... * Kaede shudders. * Riko smirks. "Are you sure you want to know, then?" * Kaede hangs his head and keeps his voice low, but loud enough for her to hear it. "I'm good about keeping quiet..I didn't say a thing about my family for so long, I don't think this'll be a problem." Tell me.. Alright. I used to live in Aomori, not long ago. So did my cousin, and so did Kyon. * Kaede nods and sits at the pool edge listening. They were friends, or something. I'm not sure what. But something happened. I don't know what, but Souichirou moved to Hokkaido with his parents. At the same time, Kyon moved here. Then I heard that Souichirou ran away from home. Souichirou is your cousin? * Riko nods. "Kyon must have had something to do with it. It's too convenient." * Kaede rubs his chin and sighs. "So you couldn't even ask your cousin what happened between the two of them?" * Riko shakes her head. That's a shame.. * Kaede frowns and looks down at her. "I hope you find your cousin." I..won't say anything..though it might be a good idea to ask just exactly what happened between the two of them rather than trying to beat him up all the time...but it's your decision. Me too. There was a guy helping me, though. If nothing else, you might.. * Kaede blinks. What does this guy look like? When I first got her, he's the one who told me to be careful of Kyon. I guess I should have listened better. * Riko grins. "He was handsome. Had long, wavy silver hair. And a good fashion sense." Wore a lot of necklaces, too. I..don't remember seeing anyone like that. I'd think that'd stand out though.. * Kaede smirks slightly. "Not a student here I suspect?" Nah. He was probably a senior, or maybe in college. He was nice, though. And more importantly, he was right about Kyon. Alright.. * Kaede takes a deep breath. "Thanks for talking again, Miss Tokuzawa..I appreciate it." He didn't like Kyon much, either, so... what can I say, mutual benefit. * Riko nods. "Don't forget your promise." I don't think there's many people who really LIKE Kyon..tolerate is a better word for him. I won't forget.. * Kaede waves and walks away from the pool down the hall a bit before taking out his cell and dialing Satoshi's number.