Date Night! [RP thread for Azusa and Satoru]

[CrayonsToChaos]

The next few days passed in blur of daily lessons, and nightly patrolling. Kamiya stayed out of his way, and he was able to spend a nice lunchtime with Azusa eating the home-made bento that she had cooked. Despite a few odd looks from the people on their table, Satoru thought it was delicious. Maybe it didn't look beautiful with Pikachu shaped rice balls and hot dogs cut into the form of octopuses, but it tasted good, and the fact that she had made it just for him only added to the enjoyment. “You have to teach me to cook,” he had stated. “I will never eat school dinner again.”

Thursday night came around exceptionally quickly. Although he asked Azusa if he could pick her up from somewhere she insisted that she was fine meeting outside the venue. The Dungeon was in the seedier end of the unremarkable suburban town. From the street there was only a door, with steps inside leading into the “dungeon” of the basement. The door and its framework were plastered all over with stickers and fly-posters of various bands. The smell of beer wafted up from downstairs, and a black clad bouncer stood outside – not professional security, just a young, skinny, somewhat gothic looking boy – who was taking note of people entering and leaving. The strains of rock music could already be heard echoing up from within.

Satoru waited on the street for Azusa. He was wearing dark blue jeans, a casual button-down shirt that hung open, and a black band t-shirt underneath bearing a stylised graphic of a fly – the logo of Fly-by-Night. Red and white sneakers were on his feet.The chain of his Quincy necklace could be seen above the neck of his clothing although the cross itself was hidden underneath. This was no classy venue that required tickets in advance, it was cash on the door and a hand-stamp. He had arrived early enough that he would get there before his date, but not so early he would look like a chump lurking about outside.

He glanced briefly at his watch. She wasn't late, but he couldn't help feeling nervous. Granted, they had been getting along well at school and he had eaten her bento, but this was a proper date. Looking up and down the street, feigning casual nonchalance, he ran his fingers through his hair.

 

[Zanjutsu]

With a nervous smile Azusa had brought Satoru his bento on the first day and almost chosen to lie about having forgotten to make it - but then again she was his 'buddy', and making sure he was well and full to handle the day was very much a part of that. The alternative was of course to buy him food with money from her own purse... she wasn't a miser, but she genuinely didn't have that much money. Most went to clothes, so she had to admit she was kind of partly to blame for that - thus she would have to serve her bento. Ohhh how she botched up that Pikachi rice ball, that looked like it was begging for him to plunge his chopsticks into and end its miserable existence...

Trying to spark friendly conversation to take his mind off the poor quality bento, Azusa spoke about how recent events where she lived meant she had buckets a few places for when the rain came and that she would kind of have to use tools to get the warm water going when she took a shower - all in good spirit though as these things were just spice to her life. She kept saying that to herself though, but at least telling it to Satoru it sounded kind of funny.

"Y-you must be joking..." it slipped from her lips giving him a deadpan gaze forcing a smile to her face. Did he really mean that? Her teaching him to cook? Bringing a bento every day? Azusa was so taken aback she hardly knew how to respond. "I... I mean hopefully you don't think that I'll cook to you every day!" she said and smirked, trying to save face here. "But I'm happy Nanase-kun liked it!" she winked regaining her typical composure.

A few days passed and Azusa - although a little reluctant to admit it - was starting to look forward to the date. It was quite a while since she had last been on a real date, but then again most boys were too taken aback by her flamboyant personality to really know what to ask her out for, she thought. At least Satoru wasn't afraid of taking initiative, but she had declined being picked up and there were two reasons for that. One, she didn't like him thinking she couldn't go there herself. Two, it was actually pretty exciting going to somewhere she hadn't been before.

On the evening Azusa felt like she had wanted to surprise Satoru - show him that she was no princess and if they were going to listen to rock n' roll European style, she was all on board. Leaving her flat she had put on her piercings that she normally removed for school, one under the lips and one going through left brow. She was wearing a red, soft hat and she thought it accentuated her messy styled raven black hair and rather steel blue eyes quite well. She also wore a leather jacket outside a very yellow top with "Baby" printed on the chest. Around her neck was a red collar and she had chosen a pair of semi-spiky gold and black ear rings for the occasion.

As she strolled through the streets in her white and black sneakers with her hands in her ripped black jeans she let out a small smirk, seeing the different types that were outside tonight. She understood very well why he had offered to give her a ride, but still this was exciting and the buzz she felt when she approached the agreed place was electric.

"Ohh hi Nanase-kun!" she went seeing Satoru already there, though he looked like one who had just arrived and was looking around for Azusa. "How are you?!? I'm so excited!" she said with a large grin and grabbed his hands gently giving him the elevator look. "You look good, Nanase-kun..." her voice softened, almost teasing as she lifted her eyes from the inclined position with a blink. "Do 'ya wanna go inside?" she asked very quickly thereafter letting go of one of his hands, a single finger tugging his other hand as her smile begged him to say 'yes'.

 

[CrayonsToChaos]

Satoru would not joke about the quality of the bento. Although he hadn’t noticed that the riceball was supposed to be Pikachu, he had enjoyed it nevertheless. “I mean it,” he replied, blinking seriously. “You wouldn’t have to bring a bento every day. You could make up a list, I could buy the ingredients. We cook together and make all our lunches for a week on the same day.” Wondering if Azusa might be low on storage space or appliances, given her somewhat shocking stories about the state of her building, he said, “I don’t have much cooking space at mine, but I have a small freezer, we can stack the boxes up in there.” The tiny kitchenette was designed for the kind of single person who might see their way to whipping up a spaghetti bolognese once in a while and not much else.

Standing in the street as he waited, he wondered about Azusa’s collapsing house. The thing to do would be to say he would help her fix things but as he was feeling unconfident about both his DIY skills and how many activities he should be suggesting at a point when they had known each other for a couple of days, he hadn’t volunteered. But why was she living in a place like that? Was it a squat? Did she have an evil landlord or was she destitute. She hadn’t yet mentioned anything about family members living with her either.

He saw her walking down the street, and broke into a smile as she approached. She was dressed very cutely, and in the kind of eclectic way that only Azusa could pull off. He was surprised to see her with facial piercings when she got close-up, but they did look good on her, giving her a punky edge that was missing during their days at school. “Ishihara-san, you look very nice too,” he said, blushing just a little from her compliment of him as she looked him up and down and took hold of his hands, “Kind of a shame its going to be dark down there…” he added.

“Yeah, lets go in,” he replied. Her finger dragging on his hand encouraged her to take hold of hers properly, and he drew her towards the entrance of the underground venue. “If anyone asks, you’re definitely eighteen,” he reminded her quietly. The stairs were quite narrow and as he led the way the hand holding would become a little awkward. Their shoes briefly stuck to the stairs at every step. Posters and stickers of bands past lined the walls, and had been pasted over again and again. It seemed that a few prestigious bands had played here back in their early days. “Trapnest” and “The Black Stones” had both been here in the mid 2000s despite their rivalry. Satoru found himself actually impressed by the array of posters as they descended. “I didn’t think so many good bands would play in a small town like Sugiyama,” he said thoughtfully. This assignment was definitely playing out better than he had imagined. He had never thought he would meet a girl like Azusa, and especially one who would agree to go on a date with him.

He paid their entrance fee to the gothic looking girl with the cash box. She had blue and black fake hair pulled into two bunches, black lipstick and red eyeshadow. “Hands,” she said, holding up the stamp, before she inked the image of a bat onto the back of Satoru and Azusa’s hands. “Cool earrings,” she said to Azusa just as they were leaving. They were blasted by a sudden dominating screech of feedback followed by drums beginning a heavy and rapid beat. Even at the door it was almost too loud too talk. “It’s just the warm-up band,” he said, trying to play it cool. To talk to her he had to lean very close to her ear. “Do you want to get a drink?”

 

[Zanjutsu]

Azusa gave Satoru a roguish smile and after a brief pause she'd add.
"Yeah, what shame it's going to be dark down there, Satoru-kun." Azusa added, an innocent glance cast, but only on the surface. Azusa nodded as they approached the entrance. "Sure, I'm old enough for all sorts of things." she winked at Satoru before they started descending down the stairs, the many posters earning only brief glances from Azusa. She did take notice of the ones Satoru mentioned, knowing them very well. "This is adding to the hype, Satoru-kun..! They better be good then!" Azusa said as the noise from the actual venue grew loomed in the end and grew closer with every sticky step they took.

Satoru surely was a gentleman when he felt like it, paying Azusa's entrance like was the custom when inviting her to a date. Bringing enough money for at least that in her jacket was however proof, that she wasn't yet completely sure how he'd act in such circumstances, but she was pleasantly surprised. Well he was a bit like a stone statue when it came to emotions, but bringing out the true Satoru was probably going to take a bit of work, she thought.

"Oh thanks..! And ehrm... cool... 'bat'..." Azusa greeted the girl in the booth back giving her a grin before hurrying towards the venue partly in the cover of Satoru. 'That was a little awkward, just calm down Azusa, no knee jerk answers - you have time!' she affirmed to herself and took a deep breath. She might be acting cool, but this was testimony to the fact she was a bit nervous too - yet excited most of all.

"Hmm..?!?" Azusa said trying to hear what Satoru said, his words only compiling properly after a brief moment of gathering it in her brain. "They are surely giving it their everything!" she said, the whole place rocking with anticipation already, a buzz of movement, excitement and tension to be properly released when the main band will enter the scene. "A drink..?!?" she frowned and asked to confirm, having to lean in all close to Satoru to hear anything and to make herself understood. "Yeah sure, that would be nice. You think they have Corona here, Satoru-kun?!?" she almost shouted to Satoru, and it was a long time since she had strained her voice like that.

 

[CrayonsToChaos]

She definitely was old enough for all sorts of things, but he would banish the thought of such things from his mind because they were too compelling and also frightening for him to keep his cool while imagining them. Satoru hadn't heard of Teratoma until he discovered they were playing here, so he didn't really know if they'd live up to the hype that Azusa was expecting. “They seem pretty good online,” he replied, “and all music is better live than recorded.”

“Yeah! Not bad at all!” he replied, glancing over at the band playing at the far end of the room, over the heads of a whole lot of people. Confined to the conventions of workplace dress in their daily lives, a lot of the audience had gone to town with punky and gothic looks, but there were a fair few normal looking people, as well as the inevitable lurkers around the edges in leather trenchcoats. He and Azusa didn't look out of place. The band themselves really were there to make music and make it hard. The intense looking drummer was practically bouncing on his stool with the pounding he was giving the drum kit and the guitarist and singer were moving about the stage in an an energetic exchange of lyrics and punchy riffs.

He nodded as she asked if she'd heard correctly. He leaned his ear down towards her mouth, feeling her shout vibrating against his ear drum. “Lets go see,” he replied, and taking her by the hand made his way to the bar. Now it was the most important part to look as though he was definitely legal for alcohol, so he put on his most nonchalant look. “Do you have Corona?” he yelled at the bartender. He gave Satoru a confused grimace in response and Satoru looked over the bar to see what beers were in the fridges. It seemed Corona was just too exotic for this place, so Satoru pointed to the Asahi and held up two fingers. “CAN I GET SOME LIME?” he yelled, attempting to make the “Corona experience” with what was available. After a bit of pointing, he managed to acquire and pay for the two beers. They were more expensive than he thought but not so much that he balked at it, after all this was a date with Azusa and if he had to not buy any school supplies or use the lights for a week or two then it was worth it. He turned to Azusa and handed her the cold bottle, with the lime wedge sticking out of the top. “Here's your counterfeit Corona,” he said, holding on to his own bottle. “What do you reckon so far?” he asked Azusa, upnodding towards the band on stage.

 

[Zanjutsu]

Azusa stood expectantly a little behind Satoru waiting for what he was able to conjure up. As she stood there with hands folded in front of her she would likely look a lot more girlish than she normally did, but this place was both exciting and a little scary. It was a palette she found intriguing indeed. While waiting for Satoru she looked around. Mostly it seemed like she had chosen clothes that fitted in rather nicely - which was almost disappointing as she could do so much more 'unique'. But somewhere inside her, there was a little voice that compelled her to pipe down a little and at least be somewhat accommodating to the type of date she was going to, purely because she wanted it to go well. It was rare that she found herself thinking of what other people thought of her, but Satoru got that kind of attention from her even if she didn't like to admit it.

Seeing Satoru in the bar his expression went from 'hopeful' to 'unpleasantly surprised' before it ended up in 'hopeful but nervous' when he was clearly served something else than Corona and Azusa couldn't help but giggle as he turned around with the fake Corona and she grabbed willingly and squeezed the lemon into the beer. A little bit of silly uniqueness wasn't bad right now, and Azusa was pleased that Satoru had seemed to catch onto that.
"This drink is even better..!" she shouted for Satoru to hear her. "It's like a sarcastic Corona!" she laughed. She took a sip of the beer turning her head down and raising her eyes at Satoru as he asked her what she thought so far.

"I reckon..." she said and moved a little closer under Satoru, her large eyes glancing up to him and shoulder gently rubbing towards his torso. "That Nanase-san is nervous that his date is a fragile girl who's picky..!" she teased him and laughed before taking a large dip into the beer. "Come..! Let's head to the front of the stage while there is still time before the main act is up!" she latched on to Satoru's hand and lead him through the crowd to the best of her ability. Suddenly she had reversed the roles and she was leading Satoru. "They're playing really well, I hope the main act is going to top this!" she flicked her head back to Satoru as they made their way and she struggled to balance the beer while pushing through the crowd.

 

[CrayonsToChaos]

Satoru smiled at Azusa's “sarcastic Corona”, enjoying her quirky sense of humour. He could practically guarantee that no-one else had ever uttered that phrase before. He took a sip of his own beer, as casually as he could while he was still looking down into her eyes. “Non-sarcastic cheers,” he said, clinking his citrus-free bottle against hers, before taking a drink. He hadn't realised his mouth felt dry beforehand, maybe he was nervous about something. He gave a short laugh at her reading of him. “Picky, maybe … but I'd never think of describing you as fragile,” he replied, but he was glad she felt so relaxed. “Right!” he said, letting her take him by the hand – still cold from holding on to her sarcastic Corona, and drag him into the sweaty heat of the front of the venue. It felt like an adventure as they pushed their way through the crowd, exciting and new. For while he had been to an endless parade of gigs, it had never been with someone like Azusa. She let her enthusiasm shine out, and he felt like he could bask in it.

Sooner or later they were in front of the stage. He held onto Azusa's hand even once they arrived. People were starting to congregate more thickly here, and it was destined to become a mosh pit once Teratoma took to the stage. The warm up band finished their last song with an epic chord, then the drummer chucked his bashed-up sticks into the crowd. They flew way to the back of the room, denying Satoru or Azusa from catching a souvenir. Satoru took a sip of beer, and leaned close to Azusa as the live music was replaced between the acts with some recorded rock. “We should go to the merch stall later, I wouldn't mind picking up their CD. And it's not really possible to have too many band t-shirts... unless they are all black.”

The front of the venue began to fill up now, as more people pushed to the front to get in place for the main act. Satoru kept hold of Azusa's hand, as they were jostled by enthusiastic fans, their bodies pressed closer together as it became more crowded. A scream of feedback as the instruments were tested cut all possibility of conversation for a moment or two, but as it heralded the band's entrance, the atmosphere seemed to become even more hyped. “Even if they suck, this is still the best gig I've been to in a long while,” he said, looking into Azusa's eyes for a long moment, before he took another sip of his beer.

 

[Zanjutsu]

Azusa opened her eyes wide as Satoru mentioned the merchandise stall.
"Oh I hope they have vinyl too!" she exclaimed and unconsciously squeezed Satoru's hand from enthusiasm. "Though I mean... you can never have too many shades of black rock or metal t-shirts in your closet i think!" she gave him a wry smile and giggled. "Tell me..." she said and leaned in closer to Satoru. "Do you actively avoid band merchandise if it's olive or khaki?" Azusa inquired, a big smile appearing on her face hoping to catch Satoru a little off guard with her joke inquiry.

As they reached the stage and the warm up band she'd feel Satoru holding on to her hand still, wondering if it was a willing act or if he just forgotten to let go. She didn't mind though, and a slight blush appeared on her cheeks, though aptly covered by the darkness. Azusa looked with eager anticipation to the stage taking another inch out of the 'Sarcastic Corona', as she heard Satoru started to talk and turned towards him, both hands on the beer and a doe eyed glance as she processed what Satoru just said. She felt her eyes diving into his involuntarily and even as the crowd around them got increasingly louder in the anticipation of the main event, she felt connected to only Satoru right now. Her eyes flickered away only to reconnect with his immediately - her feelings were mutual.

"Shut up, Nanase-san, they are about to enter." her words pour out neither intended as joke or scolding as she lays her hand on his neck and draws herself close to Satoru, tip toeing in front of him for her soft lips to reach Satoru's - a faint taste of lemon lingering on them as she feels her heart accelerate from zero to a hundred in no time. Why did she do this? She seemed to surprise even her own heart, but his words, though awkward, were the sweetest thing anyone had ever told her and she pressed her body just a tad closer before opening her eyes again and landing on her heels with a slightly nervous grin. "You need to shut up more, Nanase-san." she repeated herself and turned to the stage, as it seemed like the main act was right about to enter. The band could probably see her blush from the stage at this point, but she needed to turn her stupid grin in another direction and she bit her lips trying to conceal it.

 

[CrayonsToChaos]

“Oh yeah, you’re a vinyl girl,” he said, quirking a smile as he remembered his vision of the two of them listening to [____] on an old record player. Vinyl had never been something he had collected. When you moved around a lot, it was too bulky to ship, too easily breakable. “Well… you know how I feel about black, it’s about tolerable when it has a cool band logo on, otherwise … it can go in the bin with all the olive and khaki.” He shrugged exaggeratedly, unable to keep from smiling back as he squeezed her hand a little in return.

Her eyes were locked to his, and he didn’t quite manage to get the beer all the way to his lips before he was drawn back in. He found himself caught, and the only place his eyes wavered to were her lips as she spoke. Soft and plump, a little shiny from the condensation on the beer bottle. In this light her eyes looked sea-blue. Were they always blue? Then they closed, as she reached up to press her lips against his. His mind raced uselessly, a blur of thoughts so fast he couldn’t process them, then as her lips rested there a moment, the thoughts evaporated, and all there was was that feeling of her kiss and a rising elation that this was actually happening. She tasted of citrus. He kissed her back, softly, and wrapped his arms around her waist.

When she let the kiss end and landed back on her feet, he said, “You know … given the circumstances, you could call me ‘Satoru’, if you like.” Though he said the words with no inflection, it was clearly both a joke and a serious request. The band Teratoma, had gone from an entertainment, to a somewhat unwelcome distraction, as Azusa turned towards the stage. But he kept his arms around her, standing close, the beer bottle still in his hand. “If I talk too much, will you shut me up like that again?” he asked her, close to her ear, glad that neither of them could see each other’s blushes from that angle.

The band took to the stage. While the keyboardist and bassist wore strange masks, the rest had make-up that transformed their faces into something slightly monstrous. The male singer with spiked hair and lanky limbs moved like a living skeleton, and bondage straps draped from his arms and legs. A long haired woman, wearing leather trousers and a simple black vest, carried an electric violin with her and placed it beneath her chin with a fluid, dance-like motion. For four and a half minutes the venue was filled with the eerie, melodic wailing of the violin, a drumbeat that pounded hard in the audience’s chests and crunchy, crispy vocals. The guitar and bass added a rich texture and insistence, while the keyboard’s tones gave an industrial background pulse. Whatever the hell it was, it was rock music, and enveloped in the sound, captivated, Satoru felt a sense of euphoria. He held Azusa close and the scent of her hair mixed with the smells of smoke machine and beer.