Chance meeting! (Ecchan, Kokoro)

Today was an.. acceptable day.  The day's classwork hadn't been overly cumbersome or hard, and had even allowed Kokoro to take center stage in vocal rehearsal.  It had led to a moment where she'd gone from pushing a classmate to go all in on practicing a line to getting extra perky for her performance.  As far as she was concerned she'd been quite the angel, lighting up the rehearsal room with her vocal range and shining presence.  Some of the other girls had been giving her dirty looks, though, or at least that was how Kokoro interpreted their expressions.  But no matter!  The weather outside was pleasant, not really all that warm and not too cold, with just a slight breeze adding an autumn crispness to the air. A fine fall day.

Kokoro had resolved to shed her suspicions about her classmates' reactions by doing something fun after school.  Now that she was outside and free from the classroom she wasn't at all sure what that fun entailed.  There wasn't any homework assigned today, not really, and so she was stuck in the quandary of just what a girl ought to do with her time when she was free from other requirements.  Maybe have an idol meeting with her new partner in music,?  Matylda had said something about a mountain of homework of her own though, and that meant that idol activities were out of the question for now.  What to do indeed?  The pigtailed idol strode forward, hand on chin as she thought the situation through, considering what places were within walking distance of the school.  So wrapped up in this all was she that she didn't realize that there were in fact other girls around her.  Not until she felt herself bumping into one of them, albeit too lightly to cause the girl to lose balance or topple.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!  Clumsy ol' me didn't mean to bump into you!" she remarked, switching on her idol mode as she turned to face the girl, "Are you all right?  Sorry, Ko-chan just has a lot on her mind."

林 越前
Echizen wasn't in a particular hurry to get anywhere per se, rather she just wanted to free herself from the confines of campus. Lecture and print became a toilsome chore eventually, and today had broken the camel's back. She slugged back a glass of water from the tap in a rather brutish fashion before yanking her purse from the couch, swinging the black back over her body until it fell against her hip. Her hands fumbled against the outer zipper as she retrieved a hair tie, pulling her mane into a loose pony tail. She tossed the door open, stepping out in the hallway as she dug around for her cell phone. The contact staggered her, but she wasn't put off by the girl. She'd just walked out of a door. It was understandable. The response, however, dumbfounded her. She let her face hang puzzled momentarily while she gathered her wits. When she spoke, her speech was comparatively sluggish. She waved off the apology, responding with a mild "don't worry about it." She paused, choosing her words carefully. "You're Kashima-san, right? You seemed a lot more serious when I was walking by the music rooms." Echizen slips forward, closing the door behind with her foot. She shrugs at Kokoro. "Guess everyone handles their passions in their own ways." She holds her hand out, "Hayashi, Echizen. It's nice to meet you."
230 WORDS First Meeting NOTES AND TAGS Amaya Kawahashi

credit to alisha of adoxography.

The girl was a bit tall, very blonde and seemingly without the sort of annoyance that Kokoro had expected her to have.  It did get fairly annoying when someone just bumped into you out of nowhere, like they hadn't at all been paying attention to their surroundings.  This girl on the other hand was slow to respond but didn't seem to be upset in the least.  Kokoro studied her for a moment to try and figure out what she meant by 'a lot more serious'.  Drat, she'd been in the area when Kokoro had been in full instruction mode?!  No way would the idol mode make sense with that kind of contrast, or at least it didn't unless she could brainstorm something right here and now.  Words were hard to come by as the smaller girl looked down to the hand the blonde had extended.  Still on idol auto pilot, Kokoro awkwardly reached out and weakly shook the hand while still smiling cheerfully as could be.

"Oh well, sometimes it just takes a little different of an approach to help everyone learn a song!" Kokoro attempted to explain, flashing a peace sign more out of habit than it making any sense in the moment.  After letting the girl's hand go, she stared awkwardly for another few moments while her brain caught up to speed.  Echizen definitely recognized her, that was undeniable - so that meant, in tandem with the remark about the music room, that the girl might be a music student as well.  Or not.  At this school you really couldn't get a bead on someone's art unless you shared it with them or caught them in the act.

"Nice to meet you too!  Kokoro is always happy to meet members of the public!" she flashed a big dopey smile and posed like she was on the cover of a magazine or album.  Then her brain finally caught up all the way and she asked, "How was that?  Suitable for an idol, yes?  I've been working on my persona." A pause preceded the question, "So what's your passion, Hayashi-san?  We all have them here, so I'd like to know what yours is."

林 越前
She pauses slightly, covering her face suddenly and snorting out a choked laugh. "Gosh, I must seem so boring by comparison." She continues to laugh before closing the door, staring out into the sky wistfully. "I like words. I like learning how words work, and all of the different things that people can do with them. Because of that, I really like reading new things, or learning new ways to read things and discovering something new in old books." She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear as she starts walking. "It's kind of like a treasure hunt." Echizen stares off at a cloud, her mind wandering briefly. "I guess there are a lot of words like that in music too. Maybe I'm just expecting to see words used artfully there, so it doesn't feel like I'm uncovering some grand secret." She looks back at Kokoro, her face softened by a smile. "I guess your aim is to become an Idol then? If you're not busy, mind joining me for a coffee and telling me why an Idol? I could use something warm to drink." Echizen had theories, or perhaps wild guesses would be a more apt description. She wasn't necessarily looking to confirm her own theories here, but rather her curiosity. The life of an idol was far from one she would have chosen. Perhaps talking to Kokoro could teach her something new, or at the very least give her some insight as to why someone would be interested in becoming an idol.
256 WORDS First Meeting NOTES AND TAGS Amaya Kawahashi

credit to alisha of adoxography.

From the blonde's response about her passions, Kokoro gathered she was speaking to someone on the writer's track at Fukui.  Assuming that the girl's passions informed her artistic talent it was only natural to guess that she'd taken up an author's path.  While Kokoro was somewhat attuned to literature it definitely wasn't a major strong point for her.  What attempts she'd made to write things in the past hadn't really added up to much in the eyes of either herself or others.  Writing songs in particular could be really challenging for a girl who had no real background in it, which was probably why Kokoro's had always ended up weird.  Not as weird as her new idol partner but definitely not the sort of thing that ever went well with the music that Kokoro was somewhat capable of composing.

"Of course, my goal is to work hard to become a top idol!  It's not that easy to get started but I'm excited about the future.  Not knowing what will happen is part of the fun," Kokoro explained happily when she was asked by Echizen, "I'd love to join you for something warm to drink.  Pretty chilly out today!"

As they walked, Kokoro tried to remember if she had anything to show as examples of her new idol group's work.  They'd only formed pretty recently so there weren't any Lives to show the other girl, not even any costumes had been made just yet.  Matylda had a lot of ideas to that end but neither of them really knew how to sew either, though her partner was supposedly looking into finding someone with experience making costumes.  The pigtailed girl reached into her school bag and fished around for a bit, causing the various items inside to rattle around a bit.  Finally, she had hold of a clear folder with some of the posters they'd mocked up for trying to recruit more members of the group.  It showed both herself and a girl with light brunette hair in school uniforms posing under a tree: Kokoro simply had a welcoming hand outstretched to t he viewer, but something was off about the brunette.  Kokoro held the poster up to her face and stared at it for a long moment before realizing that the weird thing was the brunette making the devil horns with one hand as if at a rock concert.  

An awkward laugh escaped her lips before she offered Echizen the poster, "Here, this is a poster for my idol group!  We're new and actively recruiting.. let me know if you have any questions.   Also.. where should we go for drinks?  We didn't pick a place out did we?"