[AQ]Throwing Rock [Keiko and Hikaru]

[Hikaru]

Hikaru had moved all his crap into his dorm and gotten everything set up. And classes were certainly done for the day so he decided he might as well go out and see the arcade he'd heard so much about. The town he was from or the towns he'd moved to never had them, they seemed rare now a days considering all the home consoles there were, but something was sort of... nice about an arcade. Maybe he'd meet someone? He had no clue anyhow.

He did notice the flier outside the arcade that showed off the new rock band game, he'd never been great at them but he liked watching his cousins do it, the patterns interested him to no end, a lot of the time he'd bother them again and again about playing a certain song so he could study and memorize the pattern. Something that they called him weird for but-- it just captured his attention.

He wandered into the arcade, glancing around at all the machines lit up by the black lights and listening to all the chatter and electronic beeps and whistles going off in the background. It looked an interesting enough place, it certainly felt... safe. Deciding he had nothing to do and no where to be he purchased some tokens; looking around to see if he could possibly find some game that looked interesting or familiar until he happened upon the new Rock Band machine and stepping onto it's platform. Hikaru looked it over and decided he may as well try it out, from what the flier said it was apparently pretty interesting with a huge new list of songs. Maybe there'd be something he liked?

[Keiko]

Taking time out to hang around the double A wasn’t exactly Keiko’s normal go-to place for a good time- the arcade machines ate up money faster than you can pull out yen for them, and for a constant cheapskate like Keiko it just wasn’t worth it for a couple hours of mindless gaming. Today was a little different, though: Rock Band was there. A favorite game of a near and dear friend of hers, Keiko could not tolerate the fact that she was rather painfully terrible at it. As a woman of appearances, just the thought of having to fail infront of people who look up to her was truly despicable.

So, she came in looking for practice.

Initially she almost had the mind to cover up a portion of her face- just for the split possibility that one of her more ungracious subjects were to see her out lowering herself to such simple pleasures of all things. The coast seemed clear of any familiar faces, though, so whatever pretense she was building up in her head as an excuse cleared up soon enough. A warmth spread in her cheeks due to minor embarrassment, but all was waved off once she totally confirmed no one was actually looking at her- even when she fumbled over the token machine with her stingily spent coins.

So the tall woman snuck around to find the machine in question, which was easy enough due to the promotion it was being given. Unfortunately, however, there was already someone standing at the platform. It was a multi player experience, sure, but… What if he was waiting for someone? Should she be confrontational? Should she be nice? There were plenty of ways how to handle this particular problem, but one thing she knew for sure: she was going to play that darned console machine, or die trying.

“Are you waiting for someone?” Taking the neutral approach, Keiko paroozed her way onto platform in question, audibly clicking the metal with her heels as a strong attestment that she was there. Still clearly trying to get the stranger’s attention, she leaned fully to get in his line of sight, and pulled her thin lips into a tight smile. “Because I would love to play. Could I take the bass?”

[Hikaru]

Hikaru sighed, moving to get some tokens from his pocket, jumping when he heard a voice combined with the loud metallic clanging on the platform he was currently standing on. "Ah--" he squeaked. "Yes-- I mean no! No I'm not waiting for someone and yes, you can uh play with me-" he grabbed the bass and passed it to the long haired woman. She was... very commanding. He wasn't necessarily bothered by it but it did intimidate him into not talking. He felt very much like he was in grade school again with how quiet he was being. Trying to force himself to talk to the new addition to his game. "You have ah- tokens right?" he smiled, trying to force confidence. 

He put his own tokens into the machine and put the remainder into his pocket, staring at the machine in front of him, waiting for the girl to put her own tokens in. "Uh, my name is Tanaka Hikaru." he mumbled, glancing at her again out of the corner of his eye, she was certainly very pretty if not just a little terrifying for him. "So it's got a new track list I think, you can pick the first couple of songs if you'd like!" 

[Keiko]

There was always an exhilarating rush of power that came over her when things more or less went her way; in the current case, seeing how quickly this stranger meekly gave into what she asked more or less caused a more simple and plain smile to settle nicely on her cheeks. As quick as the guitar-looking controller was pressed against her chest she took hold of it with her hands, as if she almost expected him to rip it from her all at once, and was in the middle of putting the strap over her shoulders as he inquired her about her tokens- this time with an awkwardly formed smile.

She settled the guitar strap over her shoulder as she looked at him with a raised eyebrow, not at all sure what to make of him, then looked away as she pulled out the required tokens from the small purse she was carrying them in. Had it been not a complete stranger she could pin the cost of playing on, she probably would’ve made them pay for her, but this time she figured it was allowed for it to be all on her. This time.

A small introduction caught her ears, right when the final token was placed in the machine, and she turned to face him fully with a finger placed on her smirking lips. “Mister Tanaka, is it? It’s a pleasure. I’m Mori Keiko- feel free to call me Mori-sama, okay?” With a wink, she pulled away from both his gaze and the machine in order to get back into position.

“I don’t mind what songs we play! I am sure I’ll be good at any one you pick.”

[Hikaru]

Hikaru stood rather awkwardly, god he didn't know how to interact with her at all, pushing his start button and nodding. "Still, it'd be fair if we both picked one but uh-- I'll pick one first I guess." he nodded, mostly to himself. Scrolling through the music list until he found one he liked the sound of, he wasn't that great in English, but he liked the sound of the song he picked though. "That's a pretty name." he commented, glancing at her and noticing the wink, flushing a little and looking away. Gesturing at the screen lightly "Please pick a song, Mori-sama." 

"So uh-- you look... young? What school do you go to?" he questioned, thinking it over a moment before panicking "N-Not that I'm being creepy! I'll tell you too of course! I ah-- I'm a second year in Seiyo Academy-!" he burst out. "Ah- sorry uhm... you don't need to answer if you don't want to, Mori-sama."

Keiko