sagittariusly | (no subject)

"Hm?" Ryusei came back with the helmet. Oh. Oh, nooooooooooooo.

"T-Tomoko-chan," he managed to choke out through his horror. "What would you want it for?"

She lowered her phone. "I just... I want a photo to remember you by, especially since I don't get to see you often. This is really a nice picture of you and I'll always cherish it."

Tomoko wondered why he seemed so horrified of this picture, though. "...however, if you don't want me to take it I understand."

Tomoko-chan, I am going to need you to exorcise it. That... That wasn't a nice picture at all. And if anyone were to get ahold of Tomoko's phone, or....

"I-I have an idea!" he said, going over. "How about...a current picture of us, together?" That would be more agreeable, right? Better than a picture of a photo, right?

"A picture... of us together?" Tomoko clasped her hands together. While this picture of Ryusei's would be very precious, a picture of them together would be--

"I'd like that," she said softly. "But, where should we...?"

...Maybe Ryusei hadn't quite thought that through. In any case, they wanted to be away from the cabinet.... "Uh, how about...outside? With the bike?"

That was a prettier backdrop than in here, right? Ryusei didn't know, but they needed to get away from that evil picture in case Tomoko decided to quickly snap a picture of it on her way out, after all. (It was what Ryusei would have done if Jirou had had an embarrassing photo of him in his house.) And in his panic, it was getting stuffy in here, and Ryusei needed to go get some air and calm down. "—We're headed out there anyway."

With the bike! Tomoko couldn't help but nod and smile. "Mm! That's a good idea, Ryusei-san." And she would put her phone back into her pocket and take the book from the table to wait for him to make the first move.

Crisis averted. Ryusei turned away to take a secret sigh of relief before leading Tomoko out.

"Over here," he said moments later, wheeling his bike to the curb. "Any preference for backdrop?"

She turned to look around them. "Over... there," Tomoko replied, pointing towards a vacant lot with a dead tree standing in its lonesome at the very edge. "I think that will be very appropriate for our first picture together, don't you?"

"I'll defer to you." He couldn't say that was unexpected. Interesting, though, that he started to get nervous just looking at it. How wide was Tomoko's phone? And...why did she just say 'first,' as if....?

—Back to the moment. "Where should we stand? Should we get closer?" As in, closer to the— "—To the tree, I mean," he added hastily.

Tomoko blinked, unsure of what he meant at first until he clarified it. "...yes," she said. "I think we should stand near the very base of it, as if we're under the tree's shade if it was still alive. Some say that it brings luck, and..." Here Tomoko tucked her chin down, as if embarrassed to say the following out loud, "...and I want you to be lucky for the whole year."

--that you're not with us. She kept the words to herself, though, afraid that she might be too forward with it.

Lucky, huh? Ryusei smiled reflexively. I've already been pretty lucky. Who could tell if Jirou's collapse was lucky or not? Ryusei wasn't going to count up the events of his life into pluses and minuses, but he was glad to have gone to Amanogawa. If anything were to happen from here on, he'd fix it.

"Let's go." He propped the bike up and started for the tree.

Tomoko quietly walked beside him. She wished herself and the other club members luck, too, for the rest of the school year. It wouldn't be long before Gentarou, Yuuki, and Kengo graduated, and then it would be her and JK at the helm of the club. If that day came, well, who's to say if the club would still be as active as before?

Soon they were under the tree. Tomoko stood at a spot directly under a dead branch and took out her phone again. "Here, Ryusei-san."

"—Yeah." Ryusei tentatively stepped to her side. He found his hands were clasped, and unclasped them, but un-unclasped them when he let go and realized he wanted to put his hands in his pockets, which, at this distance, brought his elbow close to brushing Tomoko's side.

It's just a picture. "Is this...?"

...it was a good thing that her hands were full with holding both the book and her phone. Tomoko gripped her book tighter and nodded. "...Mm," she said, trying to fight the nervousness she was feeling. It's just a picture!

She fiddled with her phone a bit, then outstretched her hand and asked, "Ready?"

"Yes." Smile. Smile. Don't grimace, don't blink, or they'd be here longer. He was holding Tomoko up; who knew how fresh her other ingredients had to be, and maybe the shop she had in mind would close by the time they got there. And he wanted to take the picture with his phone, too. "Ready."

Tomoko smiled, which was a mere quirking of the corners of her lips upwards, and for a few seconds she didn't dare breathe - not until a crisp snap was heard from her phone, which indicated that their photo was taken. Quickly, she flipped the phone over to look at the picture. A cursory glance at it told her it looked all right; her eyes weren't closed, though she did look a little odd. Then again, all her pictures were like that.

On the other hand-- "Ryusei-san, you photograph really well," she said, showing the picture to him. It didn't surprise her; after all, most described him as an ikemen. Of course he'd photograph well.

That may or may not be so, but it was better than the picture she would have taken if they didn't do this. "Tomoko-chan, can I...?" He held up his phone.

She blinked. "O-Of course," Tomoko said. Far be it from her to deny his request, anyway. "Should we stay here or--?"

"Here is fine," Ryusei was saying even as he raised his phone. Just a quick snap, and they could go.

Quickly, Tomoko assumed the position she did before, though instead of one arm clutching her book to her chest she now used both. She smiled again, and patiently waited until their photo was taken.

Oh, good; it'd come out okay. Ryusei came out looking slightly foolish when he was the one taking the picture, but it was fine. Fine enough, anyway, to not warrant staying in the uncomfortable position for the second it took to snap another one.

"Shall we go now?" he said as he took the step away that was natural for someone freed from a camera frame to take. "What's the address for that shop?"

"It's several blocks away from here," she said. The detour to Ryusei's house brought them closer to the store, though not by much. Tomoko glanced at the street to their left and pointed at it. "We could pass under the bridge there to get to a shortcut." It's one of the two shortcuts she knew, the other being the one she normally took when walking to the store.

How many blocks? Ah... Perhaps Ryusei had been hasty back there when he'd suggested taking the bike. He felt silly over worrying about the shop's closing time, too. Oh, well.

"Do you go there often?" he asked, making small talk as they strolled back to the bike. There couldn't be that many shops selling this kind of thing, surely.

She shook her head. "Only when the shop I go to has no supplies of what I'm looking for," Tomoko replied easily. "That store only sells books, relics, and equipments, and sometimes it carries dried ingredients like powders and leaves too. But if something needed fresh body parts, I need to go somewhere - and usually, the second store carries it."

She paused. "Someone told me that the two owners of the shops were lovers who had separated because of their beliefs, but I can't be sure." It was an interesting thought, though, and Tomoko often wondered why the two didn't end up together.

Oi, oi. Was that story supposed to be romantic? ...Not like Ryusei went there or anything. And maybe it made sense in a way: one store carrying what the other didn't. But... So pointless....

"Fresh body parts, though. That doesn't sound...." Wait, stop! Don't insult her. "—Uh, well. Is that the source of the differences?" What was the difference between the types of ingredients? Ryusei wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

For now though, he picked up the two helmets and held out the second. "Try it on."