Rika has a so-called birthday party.
Current IC time is: Dec 25 2002, evening
Yamate Dori Street
Yamate Dori is not a street. Well, it’s a street, yes, but were you to take a picture from space or at least from an airplane, it’d look more like a tree, since individual buildings, almost exclusively residential, are spread out in all directions like leaves, with small alleys, paths and driveways between them. There’s enough trees in the house yards to make the place look like a village.
It got a little colder in the past few days. The autumn chills and dampness gave way to natural Tokyo winter - finally, with thin fluffy snow falling down the heavens. The second time this year, though it should have been the first. It’s been piling up for a few days now, thankfully, not in quantities significant enough to cause traffic problems.
Usada Hikaru
Long lavender hair is pulled into a pair of pigtails, knotted at the bases with large ribbons in a blue check pattern, flaring out from either side of her head to dangle around her waist. Bangs wisp free over her eyes, but the rest of her hair is gathered up in an unusual headband, large, white, and with a pair of bunny ears jutting up from it, yes.. large white bunny ears.
Her face can only be described as cute, her complexion pale and flawless, a tiny button nose set between two big purple eyes, bunny eyes, with slender lavender brows arched above them.
She wears a white oversized collared shirt, only her fingers jutting out from the long sleeves, the buttons of the shirt shaped too look like tiny dice. The shirt is untucked, and a blue check pattern skirt peeks out beneath it, stopping at the knees, with just a slight pleat to it. A satchel is slung over her shoulders, ball shaped with little ears and eyes stylized on it so it looks a.. bunnyball. She must like rabbits.
No rest on Christmas day for this bunny, she had to work an afternoon shift, and even worse, she forgot her train money. Which explains how Hikaru wound up trudging through the nicer residential districts of Tokyo on the way to her own home, hands shoved into the pockets of the jacket she threw on over her clothes, even her unflappable cheerfulness a little diminished, puffing out a sigh as she trudges down the streets, her gaze generally on the ground in front of her.
Rika
This girl fits the textbook definition of ‘cute redhead’, and while she’s unmistakably asian, her relatively pale skin and dark green eyes, coupled with flaming red hair cut in a pageboy style make it easy to forget about it, especially since there’s no sign of hair dye. She does seem to wear some makeup on her face, still posessed of soft, childlike features, but it’s hard to trace just what did she do with it - there isn’t much. Overally, she resembles a fox - lithe and slim, and generally small, since she’s rather short. An unusual hairband rests upon her hair - a silvery, thickish metallic object with glistening chrome parts, a pretty toy with a few blinking leds which would look much less out of place on an android’s head. She is wearing a winter coat, a pure deep coca-cola red wool which has a white fur collar and cuffs to it. The fur is either natural or at the very least a very high quality artifical affair, and she looks very much like a Santa Claus’ redhead assistant - if he had any, that is. The coat ends halfway through her thighs, revealing the deliberately faded blue bellbottom jeans, which offer only a glimpse of the blue and white sneakers on her feet. On her back is a fancy-looking black backpack, which, beside the obvious hundred and a half pockets sports what looks like decorative Angelic Layer style wings on the sides.
And lo and behold, Usada is treated to a sight mightily unusual, if not downright weird, for there’s no rest for the wicked either. Rika is there, in her silly Santa Claus assistant outfit, looking grumpily in the direction a truck just left… Well, that wouldn’t be unusual at all, however, the poor girl’s standing between three giant ice cubes, each almost as tall as herself. Ahwell. Rika sighs, rubs her palms together and leans into one of the cubes, vainly trying to push it towards the gates of her house. Despite the thin layer of cute fluffy snow on the ground, the cube certainly isn’t slipping just yet and stands there unmoving.
It’s pretty hard to miss the sight of a Santa girl and three enormous ice cubes, and red eyes blink when they look up.. “Maeki-san….” Hikaru is always a little.. tentative.. around the scary mathematician girl, and she is slow to approach, but curiousity has always gotten the better of her.. so she asks. “Isn’t that.. a lot of ice?” She looks from one.. to the next.. to the next.. and then warily towards the redhead. She’s better not start talking about how many frozen waterdroplets are in each one.. or this bunny is outta here.
Rika grins in Usada’s direction - beep snap goes her hairband while she keeps pushing the cube, which, giving in to her advances, slowly shifts an inch towards it’s intended target. “That’s my birthday present, Usada-san.” she responds, “Though apparently it didn’t include handling fees.” she adds, leaning against the icy present further. “The first truck’s drivers were much nicer…” she mumbles.
“Haaaaaa..” goes Hikaru, blinkblinking reflexively at the beeping and snapping of the hairband, you’d think a wannabe idol would be better around a camera. “Birthday present?” she echoes, curiously, rubbing the back of her neck a little, and then asking. “Do you want some help.. Maekisan?” A little ice won’t make things any colder! Hopefully.
Rika pushes, moving the ice cube a bit further inside. “Yeah, the Paranoid Redhead doesn’t have a date on her own birthday, as usual.” she says, and pauses for a moment, breathing heavily. Good thing Usada doesn’t know how to calculate the cube’s weight, or she’d think twice before asking to help, cause it weighs around twenty times more than Rika herself. “Be my guest?” she says after a pause, and leans into the cube again. What if she meant something more specific than just accepting help?…
Hikaru stops to think about that for a moment. “Do you always have a date on your birthday.. Maekisan?” She never figured out the two were related, apparently. To the offer, she assume the obvious, “Hai!” And she leans her own weight into the ice cube, immediately regretting it and ooofing against all the weight. Which.. of course.. brings on the next obvious question.. “Eeto.. what are you going to do with all this ice?”
Rika giggles, “I always DON’T get a date on my birthday. Funny, seeing as it’s Christmas and all. You know, time to get presents and give presents, and I’m there alone and parents are out on a trip again. Oh, but ofcourse they will be sorry, and they’ve called most of the day, and they’ll be dragging back something special again, but what good is it when the only person to help me push that ice cube is my classmate who’s even shorter than me!” she blurts out in a single breath, throwing her arms up in exasperation, and stops abruptly. “Uh… Sorry.” she says and throws herself into the cube, a faint blush which is most likely the sign of exertion and cold weather reddening her cheeks. Apparently, the cube was waiting for just that, cause it suddenly gives way and slides all the way into the gates of Maeki residence, leaving both girls to tumble down onto the ground in it’s wake.
Hikaru glances away at that, her cheeks blushing a little bit, she understands exactly how Rika feels, after all. “Gomen ne… Maekisan.. that sounds like a horrible Christmas..” Of course with her attention thusly diverted, she doesn’t notice the sudden exertion into the cube, and goes ‘kiiiii!’ as she goes tumbling to the ground, watching the ice cube skitter away. “Fuuu.” She makes her way up to her knees, looking towards the redhead. “Daijoubu? I didn’t know you were gonna push so hard!”
Rika sits up and sneezes. “…and they’re talking about me to somebody again too…” she mumbles, looking down into the trail the cube left in the snow. But that doesn’t last long, and she quickly scrambles up, reaching down with a hand to Usada. The hand’s cold and wet, but that probably doesn’t matter anymore. “Want to see what I needed the ice for?”
She is always such a confusing girl, at least to the simpleminded redhead, and she pauses a moment before wondering. “Your parents are talking about you… you mean?” Piku. She takes the hand when it is offered, it isn’t like she could be any more cold and clammy anyways! “Aaa… hai!” she chirps, perking up, clearly curious what in the world could involve such enormous blocks of ice.
Front yard
The neat and orderly front yard of the Maeki family house has trees planted at even intervals along the white brick fence that surrounds it. While the garden is cute and homely, with several benches in strategic places, its own sakura tree in the middle and firm paved pathways twisting around the bushes here and there, it appears that some of the trees, the bigger ones, were planted considerably later than the others, as if specifically to plug holes in the greenery coverage of the place. The same can be said about the bushes. In contrast to this odd bit of chaos, the house is painted a pretty white and with it’s red-tiled roof looks like something from a kid’s picture book, decorated tastefully in places. Down to the gilded door handle, the house visibly speaks of the fact that the family living here is quite wealthy.
It got a little colder in the past few days. The autumn chills and dampness gave way to natural Tokyo winter - finally, with thin fluffy snow falling down the heavens. The second time this year, though it should have been the first. It’s been piling up for a few days now, thankfully, not in quantities significant enough to cause traffic problems.
Into the front yard of her house and following the trail of the runaway ice cube, the girls come to a sight no less bizarre than the ice cubes outside the fence. It looks like Rika’s been at it all day, and probably, went through several ice cubes already, at least, a large pile of broken ice chunks towers between two bushes. What’s more interesting is the half-finished ice sculpture standing off to the side, carefully settled so that it wouldn’t be visible from outside the fence even if the gates were opened. While you can’t deny Rika some artistic experience, the experience with hammer and chisel she certainly lacks. At least, that’s probably how the previous versions of that humanoid female form met their end. “Of course they talk about me. It’s not like they have anyone else to talk about. I’m the only kid in the family.” Rika says, closing the gates.
Bizarre is a good word for it.. and Hikaru looks from one experiment to the next, scratching the back of her neck and looking to Rika. “Haaaa.. it’s very nice… Maekisan… is it supposed to be a person?” An art critic she is not. To the reply, she shrugs a little, and glances away. “It’s not okay for your parents to talk about you?”
Rika shrugs, and walks towards the half-finished sculpture. That’s what the ice cubes are for - they’re spares. “A person. Person is a good word.” she says, picking up the hammer and chisel lying down beside the half-chipped ice block. “Talking about me would be perfect,” she says, going round the sculpture to peer at Usada across the figure’s shoulder and chip off a chunk of what looks like a very …mmm… anime hairstyle. “…if it weren’t winter. You know, first I sneeze, then I start coughing, then I catch a severe cold and die, chipping ice under the winter skies, and when they’re back there’s only my frozen body to remind them that they’ve talked about me too much behind my back…” she says, clumsily chipping out piece after piece of ice. It certainly resembles someone… Knowing Rika and her archives, it’s surprising it’s taking her so much tries to get it right, actually.
Hikaru watches the redhead work, trying to place the figure, her own archives quite a bit more… cloudy. Must be from all that pink fluff on top of her head. To that explanation, she blinkblinkblinks, “Haaaaa… I never thought of it that way… Maekisan! I guess I’m glad nobody is talking about me!” Of course.. it’s just a pure irony of the world that she sneezes at that moment. achoo! “Uh-oh..” She looks up to the heavens warily.. brushing at her nose. Who knew it could be such a dangerous thing..
Rika tsktsks from behind the sculpture, “Aren’t you an idol singer? I’m sure people talk about you. In many interesting ways.” she grins a rather disturbing smile, leaning onto the sculpture’s shoulder. The face’s still rough, but the hair’s unmistakeable. It’s Aeris’ hairstyle. “You know… about what would they like to do with you if they got you alone for a moment… or even, TO you…” Rika continues. She’s just being mean, isn’t she? “…all the positions, and costumes, and other participants they must be imagining, and all the things they discuss amongst themselves in great detail, and your exact weight and measurements, and where to get your nude pictures, and whether you even did any… and if you didn’t, how to stick your head onto the picture of someone else, hoping at least that’ll do…” Putting the hammer and chisel into her pockets, she starts using the warmth of her hands to form the ice, smoothing the surface, making the face of the figure into glistening shining glass.
Hikaru’s cheeks blush a little, and she shakes her head, insisting. “I’m sure nobody thinks about those..” ACHOO!! “O–oi!” Her cheeks turn a rather interesting shade of crimson, looking up at the sky. “Stop thinking about that!” ACHOO “Moooou..” Things continue in this vein for a few more sneezes as she tries to figure out who could be thinking such horrible things, before she finally decides. “At least the publicity is good…” She sniffles, brushing her hand across her nose once again.
Rika giggles behind her sculpture, the fingers working the face - much more recognisable now… almost perfect, though the eyes will need work with a chisel alright. “Oh, and it’s Christmas!” she comments. “They must be with their dates and fantasising about you instead… you should be proud.” she winks, and moves around to the front of the sculpture, working on the torso now. While the figure is not explicitly nude… well, it COULD be in a jumpsuit or something… it’s certainly alluring, in a way an ice sculpture can be considered alluring. “It’s not like anyone’s talking about me except my parents. Parents and maybe Toyomimi. But she’s probably yelling instead if she has someone to yell at.”
“I’m sure nobody is doing that..” Hikaru insists stubbornly.. earning another sneeze for her troubles, looking accusingly up at the sky. “You pervert! Ecchi!” She shakes her fist at the sky, then looks back towards the sculpture, blushing anew as the figure begins to take shape. Goodness. “Haaaa.. she is a loud one.. I wouldn’t want her thinking about me… those sneezes probably hurt..” She gives Rika a little grin at that, see.. she can make jokes too.
Rika chuckles mirthlessly, “You bet they do.” That sounded entirely serious. Getting out the chisel, she starts working on the tiny eye and mouth detail, an exacting work. And if she misses even a bit, she’ll have to start anew. “But don’t worry. Toyomimi only thinks about me lately, I suppose.” No explanations as to why.
“You two do seem to fight a lot..” Hikaru comments idly.. rubbing at the back of her neck, watching Rika work with a sort of idly curiousity to the whole thing.. she is a completely different kind of artist, after all. She is quiet for a bit, watching the sculpture take shape, before commenting. “Well… I guess that is lucky for the rest of us, then!”
Rika steps back. All the small face detail is done, and it’s truly evident now the figure is Eileen - not clothed, with the level of detail gradually diminishing towards the edges of the figure, but the face is vivid and true. Rika drops the hammer and tosses the chisel at the other ice block in the yard so hard that it embeds a few centimeters into the slowly melting cube. “Pencil.” Rika says and breaks out into a giggle. “That was interesting.” she says, with a hint of sadness in her voice.
The blush on Hikaru’s cheeks hint that she does know who the figure is supposed to be.. and she does her best to not look at it too closely when Rika is watching her, checking it out when Rika isn’t looking instead. She flinches a bit at the thrown chisel, Rika just has a way of keeping her off balance like that. “Pencil?” she echoes, and she’s not entirely oblivious to that sadness, so she tries to brighten things up. “Aaa.. it’s a very nice sculpture, Maekisan! Very lifelike.. are you going to be an artist after highschool?”
Rika shakes her head. “No.” and turns around to look at Usada, a twinkle in her eyes suggesting a tear… but offset by a disturbing, evil smile. Usada saw this one before, the smile. The smile of Rika torturing Usada with mathematics, knowing that it hurts her and still continuing. Turning back to look at the sculpture finished she cannot avoid a beep snap photograph… but just as the flash lights up the yard in a brief snap, the sculpture explodes violently in a shower of ice, blown up by an unhealthy amount of fireworks carefully clustered around it’s base while it was still an ice cube. When did she light the fuse? As the burning green and pink lights fly past Rika’s hair, almost setting the already bright red on fire, she turns trimuphantly towards Usada and says, “After highschool, I’m going to be a witch.” she says with a smile… Defused, as if this explosion took out most of her sadness. “Maybe an evil one.” she adds as an afterthought. The figure’s head rolls across the snow to rest at Rika’s feet. Kneeling down before the head, she passes a hand across it’s cheek. “It was fun while it lasted… but I’m the future, and this isn’t.” she says, and with these words the head cracks into more pieces and no longer resembles anything coherent.
Idols are supposed to be used to explosions and light, yes? Well Hikaru is still very much a wannabe idol, and she ducks behind a block of ice with a ‘kiiiii!’. She watches the whole thing warily, only stepping out from behind it when the whole thing is settled. “Haaaaa.. well… I guess you’d make a good witch… Maekisan. You are always doing strange things..” She grins, a little sheepishly, but enough to show that it is meant as a compliment. “I’ll cheer for you!” She adds, although she is hasty to add. “So don’t blow me up too, ne?”
Rika giggles, as she stands up, “Well, I’ll try not to.” she says. Probably in reference to the blowing up question. “I still have some birthday cake and tea if you want them.” she says, glancing warily at Usada. Did she scare the poor idol enough just yet?
“A–arigatou..” Hikaru thanks, clearly a little unnerved by the whole ‘maybe’ part. Oof. To the offer, she fidgets a bit, scritching the back of her neck and admitting. “I actually need to get home… I need to make my neighbor dinner..” She grins though, adding. “Maybe another time!” The fractured sculpture gets another look, and she adds. “Merry Christmas, Maekisan!” And she starts towards the gate at that.
Rika sighs faintly, and smiles at the departing Usada, “I see.” she says rather blankly. Maybe even slightly enviously. “Merry Christmas, Usada-san.” she adds and remains standing like that, her freezing hands hidden in the pockets of her Santa Claus coat until Usada is out of visibility range and out of the redhead’s lonely birthday.
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