Exploring the Alley [Takumi/Yumi]

With most of his mental faculties still being focused and directed inward, Takumi would barely have any sense of his surroundings while he walked around in an almost zombie like fashion, wading through the various people of the crowd that filled up the area. It was bodily instinct alone that allowed Takumi to wade through the sea of bodies surrounding him as his eyes focused on the bright and fancy signs set up by all the different clubs to help draw attention to their respective booths. His eyes would still be tilted upwards slightly as his head swiveled from right to left, but the general rotation, along with his forward directed foot plodding, would be abruptly interrupted by someone else's forehead slamming into his own.

Oww- Ah!" Not much more could come out of Takumi's mouth as his eyes clenched shut from the pain, which wasn't actually all that much but being caught off guard while both of them walking into each other adding a bit to it, and his hands instinctively shooting up to press against his forehead and apply pressure to the area... because for some reason pressing his fingers up against the slightly red mark now on his forehead would somehow help small amount of pain subside.

Oh! I'm sorr- Takumi finally opened his eyes and saw a girl with hair more red than a tomato and longer than a line out the door at a Moonbucks Cafe during peak hours, also seemingly in a fair amount of likely exaggerated pain from the collision. Takumi's instincts compelled him to immediately apologize to the girl for walking into her because of his tendency to zone out in these types of environments, but his attempt would be stopped by the girl doing the same.

Takumi watched as the girl with an expression of contrition pressed her hands against her forehead, much how he had just done seconds earlier, before shaking off the incurred headache and doubling down on her apology, this time asking if he was a visitor. As the seconds passed by and he had more time to actually process what just happened, along with seeing the girl jump into her own apology despite the pain, Takumi mentally fell back into a slightly more relaxed state of mind and smiled leading into his response.

No no no, that was totally my fault... Takumi's smile would persist as he brought up both hands to about chin level and waved them away from each other and back together, as if metaphorically waving off the girl's apology because it wasn't need. I'm sorry... I wasn't paying attention while walking around and I sort of zoned out for a second...

Takumi chuckled when the girl made a small quip about their encounter not being the best introduction to the school for him, meeting her offer of a handshake with a more confident smile now. I'm Takumi, from class 1-B. Nice to meet you!

Not wanting to let a silly accident ruin Yumi's day nor his own, Takumi immediately went into engagingly friendly mode, making sure his smile and body language reinforced what he said. He didn't want her to think that their collision was her fault, nor did he want her to carry around any bad feelings for the rest of the day because of this. With the way she jumped to apologize let him know that she wasn't angry at him for what happened and he felt that his reaction would let her know the same on his behalf.

So you're class president of 1-C? That's gotta be pretty cool! Does that mean you're busy with a lot of stuff here today? Wait! Did I get in the way of something?! Do you need to be going somewhere else right now? Wow! I'm REALLY sorry now...

Takumi wasn't afraid about how their paths crossing might have ruined her day before aside from that initial instance of seeing her in pain exactly as he was, mostly because of her demeanor once she started speaking to him, but as soon as he found out she held a position of responsibility he began to have a mini panic attack about how he might actually be getting in her way. He didn't know much about what a class president was supposed to do in general, but he figured that whatever responsibilities Yumi held because of the title were likely doubled or tripled because this was Yuuei Academy, and then doubled or tripled again because the Sports Festival was kicking into gear and everyone was busy with their own stuff. Even if she didn't have anything to do because of being president, there was still the chance that she was competing in some events and was on her way to be training right now, or helping out with a booth for a club that she belonged to.

At this point, the bright smile would melt slightly into an expression of mild discomfort, not enough to make it look like he was in a really bad mood or terrified, but enough to display that his mind was in the middle of a tiny downward spiral over something that he wouldn't actually think of as a big deal if he was looking back on it with a clear head, but in the moment with all the craziness of the Main Alley going on and the energy of the Sports Festival his mind was definitely working a bit differently and less objectively.

Takumi's awkward innocence would inevitibly lead him to go from ping ponging enthusiastic apologies between himself and Yumi to laughing along with her at what looked like a potentially never ending chain of contrition. Luckily, neither of them were actually angry or even necessarily upset with each other and both wanted to assume the responsibility of just being a little absent minded for a moment in a crowded area. The constant head nodding and waving as if to wave away the other person's apology turned into a common laughter and Takumi really felt that that alone was enough to really open up a friendly path way to some common ground and interaction.

After the subsequent introductions between the two Clumsy Cleos, Yumi didn't seem as if she recognized Takumi, which was understandable considering that he had only been living at Yuuei for a total of 40 some odd hours and had yet to actually attend a class. It went without saying that Takumi didn't know Yumi at all besides the fact that she was a student and the name that she had just provided. Takumi watched as Yumi said his name in triplicate and then followed it up with "B, B, B," although the three B's would confuse him.

B B B? What's that mean?

As Takumi tried to process the second half of Yumi's memorization, the girl would give him a smile and an explanatory apology followed asking him if he was new to the school or if they just avoided each other up until now by chance. A small chuckle, really more of a short exhale of air puffing out through his nose accompanied by a smile, came from Takumi as Yumi explained how she often forgot the names of her own classmates. Takumi would wait to answer her question, letting Yumi make another quip about picking a great time to come to Yuuei with the Sports Festival going on and how stressful it must have been.

Yeah, I'm actually pretty new... like less than two days here, haha... Takumi would break between the different parts of his response with a more friendly, audible chuckle as if it was more of a transition between the ideas of what he was saying rather than anything actually funny happening. I... I don't feel too stressed out... at least not about people wanting to mess with me or anything like that. I mean, I signed up for the Rescue Course event and all, but who would want to do anything to someone in that event, right? I am a little stressed about my event though, but only because I've never trained or done anything like this before...

Takumi's smile and laugh became distinctly more sheepish as he finished talking about his own participation in the Sports Festival and how his absolute lack of experience and training partially dictated his feelings. With how much everyone was either focusing on training, meeting up to plan training, or discussing training in the online chatroom, Takumi was starting to feel like he wasn't pulling his weight. He had never done any training before in his life aside from general physical education classes that his previous school required, and now everyone was kicking themselves into high gear and working hard while he was just walking around and just trying to get acclimated to the new environment. It definitely wasn't the best of feelings, but Takumi was pretty lost when it came to that kind of stuff and any attempts to train, at least without guidance of a teacher or at least a more experienced student, would likely just be wasted time and energy. At most, Takumi would likely only be able to get any real benefits from jogging in order to improve his endurance.

When Takumi thought about how most of the other students were training and became worried about his clumsiness interrupting or delaying any training that Yumi was trying to get done, she wasted no time in reassuring him that his fears weren't the case and that she was actually enjoying some free time, something she admittedly didn't have much of until now. Part of him felt just as guilty for possibly ruining what she considered to be the first block of free time she had all week, but again Yumi quickly dispelled that fear with her generally inviting warmth and friendliness, describing herself as being free as a bird and this sudden encounter as a story to tell later and giggle about.

Takumi felt his heart relaxing once more with a calmer, less awkward smile once again finding its way across his face as Yumi went on to ask him about what he was up to. By his own admission, Takumi was a little zoned out when they bumped into each other. Umm, I was, uh... I don't know where I was going actually... A look of confusion showed on Takumi's face as he tried to think through what he was doing before he bumped into Yumi. I think I was just walking around... I don't really know much about anything that's going on at Yuuei, besides the Sports Festival, and last time I tried to walk around I ended up getting lost while looking for the cafeteria. At least this place was easy to find because of everyone flocking to this area... But yeah, nothing going on, just exploring...

Takumi trailed off at the end of his own explanation and then paused slightly while he turned his head slightly and started looking around, hoping to find some spark of inspiration for a better answer. After a brief moment of scanning, Takumi found nothing that piqued his mind and quickly shook his head as if coming back to reality.

Yeah, I really don't know most of this. I got a snack earlier from one of the food stands, but haven't really checked out any clubs or anything like that yet. What about you? I mean, I know you said this was your free time, but I'm sure you were heading somewhere before you zoned out, right?

Takumi figured that even with this being her free time, Yumi was looking for other friends to hang out with or some food to get, probably to replenish her energy after some intense training or just a hectic schedule in general.

After confirming Yumi's suspicions regarding his own tenure at Yuuei Academy, along with reassuring her that she wasn't just forgetting who an old classmate was, Takumi found himself telling the girl about his own feelings about the Sports Festival experience so far. It was nice of her to voice some concern over any potential stress he was feeling, and funnily enough he completely misinterpreted Yumi's thoughts when it came to the stress that came with the event. Takumi mostly read into her words as the implication that other students would be on edge and socially aggressive, possibly to the point of looking to start fights, but in reality Yumi was really just referring to a general strain in tensions between students especially when it came to looking to cram in some last minute training. Takumi's original inference was fair, considering how heated things got at that meeting for the other Rescue Course students earlier, but perhaps it was still a bit silly of him to immediately jump to that conclusion.

Ahhh, yeah... A few people I've come across have been getting pretty... uhh 'amped up' about training? But I can't blame them or anything like that. I'm focusing on my own event for now, but I'm not too scared about failing or anything, since this is literally like a starting point for me. No matter how good or bad I do, it really just serves as a good base for me to look back on, especially with all the teachers watching even though I haven't even met my teacher yet...

Takumi laughed as he trailed off the end of his little ramblings about his own stress and focus regarding the Sports Festival. With the exception of the tension from that prior meeting, most of his experiences at this school, so far, had been positive and he had been keeping himself in a good mood throughout his adventuring around the campus as well. Then he suddenly felt a little bad, just slightly guilty really, over how much she was asking him and appearing to want to be helpful without himself doing the same.

What about you though? I mean, I'm assuming you aren't doing the Rescue Course since I didn't see you at the meet up, but are you doing something like the Obstacle Course or the Fighting Tournament?

After Takumi's super long tangent about how he was just sort of zoned out for most of the time he spent wandering the Main Alley, with no real goal in mind as he explored, Yumi mentioned that she was in a similar predicament. Apparently she was contemplating visiting a few booths run by different friends, but was having difficulty deciding which one to start with, which led to another predicament involving figuring out where to find dice when she decided that using such a tool would be the best way to make that choice. Takumi burst into a light, but expressive, laughter as Yumi bashfully shrugged off the dice idea and admitted to her tendency to let her mind run through ideas too quickly to the point of ending up with no clear answer.

Afterwards, Yumi gestured towards one end of the alley and asked if Takumi felt like joining her along in her wandering. Takumi nodded his head slightly with an innocent grin as she mentioned grouping together with someone familiar could be beneficial despite them having just met. Despite his posture and face projecting an agreement, Takumi wouldn't be able to verbally answer the call to adventure before Yumi abruptly reverted back to waving her hands again as if in a small state of panic, trying to elaborate on her plans to check out a few booths while she still had the time.

Yeah! Sounds like fun! Takumi would begin stepping in the direction that Yumi pointed to with her thumb a few seconds prior, maintaining a swivel in his neck to keep eye contact for an extra few seconds. So, do you wanna check out some random booths or visit the ones with your friends first? I don't mind either way... although I guess this doesn't help since you couldn't decide before either...

Takumi would quickly slip into a bashful, almost awkward, laughter and scratch the back of his neck as he tried to joke off the realization that he basically just asked Yumi to make decisions that she literally just admitted to being unable to make on her own. In his own slight state of panic, Takumi would quickly remove his hand from behind his head and perform another small "wave off" motion before dropping both arms to his side and speaking back up again.

Orrr I guess we could just walk along and just see what seems most fun as we pass them by, right? That way we don't have to think so hard trying to decide? Takumi felt that maybe letting things be a bit more thoughtless and decided in the moment, once they were actually going on their merry way, might be the best was to proceed. At the very least, just going ahead without too many preconceived ideas on where to go would help slow down Yumi's knack for overthinking things and possibly ending up without making any decisions again.

Regardless of how Yumi responded to his idea, Takumi would be ready and willing to walk along with her and visit whichever booth she decided upon, whether it be decided upon in her mind beforehand or just in the moment as they passed by. He was just happy to be exploring the area with someone's company and not just wandering around aimlessly in a sea full of strangers.

Even though it wasn't exactly a big misunderstanding, Takumi still found a little humor in his interpretation of Yumi's meaning behind other students being on edge versus what she really meant by the comment. Stress was often painted and perceived in a very negative light, but positive stress was very much real and it was likely that many of the people competing in the Sports Festival were able to take all that stress and channel it into legitimate self improvement and progress. Yumi's explanation was spot on and he couldn't have put it in better words if he tried. This whole place had a special type of energy in the air since Takumi had moved into the Yuuei dormitory, and he had mostly just chalked it up to being something special about Yuuei in general, but maybe a fair amount of this amped up energy that he saw carried around by nearly anybody he encountered was due to the incoming event.

Before Takumi could comment on what Yumi said, she spoke back up past a nervous smirk accompanied by some passive hair twirling to compliment him on his self proclaimed acceptance of a possible failure. She mentioned how his perspective regarding his own upcoming performance, for better or worse, must have meant he carried around a lot of confidence but the reality was contradictory. Still though, Yumi's smile getting brighter was definitely a heartwarming sight for Takumi and she even went further to mention how his being new here gave him an inherent advantage for the competition, even if it wasn't necessarily an advantage that would translate well to the Rescue Course.

Oh, I wouldn't say that it's confidence or anything like that... Takumi laughed a bit more than a chuckle as he played off of Yumi's confidence comments. It's more that, I'm just okay with not being as good as everyone else. Of course, I'd rather not be, but I get it... I've been here a couple of days, everyone else has been here for months and training hard every day. It would be kinda messed up if I was magically at your level after not working as hard, or for as long, as you, you know?

Takumi was hoping that his own explanation behind the acceptance of potential failure wasn't too self deprecating; understanding that his own effort thus far didn't come close to matching everyone else's, and therefore should fairly result in his abilities being below those of everyone else, made perfect sense. Hell, if Takumi outshined most of the other students in the Sports Festival then it might say more about the quality of training that Yuuei provided its students than anything about himself.

After mentioning that he was participating in the Rescue Course, Takumi decided to ask Yumi about her own respective events, to which she responded with the Obstacle Course as well as the fighting tournament that a lot of people seemed pretty anxious for. Without prompting, Yumi explained her decision to try the Obstacle Course because of learning how to fly while utilizing her quirk, although her explanation of using positive and negative charges had Takumi's brain beginning to overload. Just short of having steam spewing out of his ears from the science jargon almost mentally frying him, Yumi would save him by specifying that her quirk was really just shooting electricity out of her hands, although Takumi still didn't know enough about science to piece together how electricity lead to flying.

Ahh, I'm sure you won't get knocked out right away... I mean, I don't know what a lot of people can do but shooting electricity HAS to be good for stuff like fighting... Takumi would keep a friendly smile while he offered encouraging words to Yumi, although his hands would move up to about chest level with his fingers all pointed forward and slightly spread out while he mentioned electricity, much like Palpatine shooting Force Lightning at someone. ...And even if you did somehow lose early, electricity is pretty flashy, especially if you can fly with it. I can't imagine anybody not being crazy impressed by that. His voice was very uplifted and full of sincere cheer, as opposed to the usual tonality of optimistic concern that people used in order to mask borderline pity whenever they tried to cheer people up with nice words.

Takumi wasn't sure sure if what he said would be helpful for Yumi, but she seemed to be in relatively good spirits regardless so the pressure couldn't have been THAT bad for her. If she cared more about standing out to judges than she did about winning, then maybe that was an easier approach to the competitions for her and would let her be more relaxed when the time came. Luckily it seemed that regardless of how she felt about the events, Yumi was still feeling bright and brimming with enthusiasm to enjoy the present moment, more than eager to explore the main alley for something fun with Takumi's company. When he suggested a potentially more freeform approach to deciding which booth they should check out next, he was met with an adorable giggle from Yumi as she mentioned that not being the best idea, and after she calmed down she seemed up for just wandering around and stopping once they came across a booth that piqued their interests.

Takumi walked along with Yumi, keeping pace to remain beside her rather than following from behind, trying his best to keep his eyes peeled for anything that might seem fun. Even with his mind more focused, Takumi still had a bad habit of missing so many details when it came to his surroundings, it was a miracle that he didn't end up tripping or bumping right into someone else. There were still plenty of attention grabbing games in the area where the pair explored, ranging from things like timed basketball shooting games, to popping balloons stuck against a wall with darts, to tossing plastic rings onto bottlenecks arranged into a square formation, even to games with large buckets tucked away at 45 degree angles with large whiffle balls that needed to be lobbed into them. Eventually, Yumi's eyes were grabbed by a simple target practice game with pellet guns, upon noticing which she would casually, albeit seemingly apathetically, gestured towards it with a shrug.

Sure, looks fun enough... Takumi smiled brightly at Yumi as he walked towards the booth, figuring that the worst thing that could happen was that the game wasn't all that much fun, or that maybe the first game wasn't really free like she thought. Once they approached the booth, Takumi would be ready to compete alongside Yumi once they were cleared to play. Before the game would start, he would still turn to her with a friendly, but slightly daring, smirk. Given the nature of the Sports Festival, maybe we should make this competitive and see who can get the most points on the target?

If Yumi said no for any reason, Takumi would simply offer a more innocent smile and a cordial nod to just play the shooting game at his own pace with no regards for her own target. However, if she agreed to the friendly challenge then Takumi would be ready to really focus his inattentive eyes on his target and try to get as many bullseyes as he possible could.

As the conversation between Takumi and Yumi moved along to the general capabilities among the assortment of students, Yuuei and otherwise, participating in the sports festival, the girl made a good point regarding how the mere possession of a quirk was enough of an advantage to standout among many other people in the world. Takumi sort of forgot just how rare quirks were in general still, especially since coming to Yuuei where everyone seemed to not only have a quirk, but a very impressive one that was probably well suited to heroics as well. Still, Takumi knew that despite his own quirk setting him apart from many of the people he had met in his life so far, his life up until now had been more like a small pond and this new move had suddenly dropped him into a vast ocean of all sorts of bigger fish.

Haha, I suppose you're right... Still, I'm just trying to keep my expectations realistic; it isn't like I'm feeling badly about it or anything... Yumi made some comments about other new arrivals to the school that might be competing with as little experience under their figurative belts as Takumi had. It was a sweet gesture, and one that wasn't lost on the boy at all, even if she might have been afraid of him interpreting it with negative undertones, but he really didn't need any extra cheering up when it came to the likely realities of what he was capable of compared to other. ...Yeah, I see what you mean. Either way, I guess it'll just come down to me finding out when the time comes...


After hearing about Yumi's quirk and mentioning that he didn't know much about electricity nor how it worked, she confided in Takumi that her own knowledge on the subject was also lacking and was mostly supplemented by the help of a smarter pen pal. He smiled back at her warm admission of ignorance, recognizing it for the attempt to open up that it was, but he felt more welcomed by her own chuckle before talking about the risks of having such a flashy quirk like hers.

I'm sure that you'll turn some heads and impress lots of people either way. Like, I'm sure the worst case scenario is even if you do something dumb, there will be a teacher or hero that sees a quirk like that and wants to help train you, ya know?

Hopefully Takumi's reassuring words would be enough to help Yumi, although she really didn't seem like she needed any help with the mental or emotional aspect of the upcoming competition. Perhaps she might feel more nervous on the day of her event and his words might become more useful, but either way he was happy to at least offer more warmth and hopeful sentiments for the time being.

By the time the pair found some booths with games and decided to give one a shot, it only seemed right that in the spirit of the sports festival that they play the shooting game as a competition against each other too. It was a friendly challenge with nothing more than a fun time and perhaps some momentary bragging rights on the line, but the suggestion seemed to elicit a more cheerful and excited reaction from Yumi, her teasing tongue sticking out towards Takumi before they began shooting giving him all the information he needed that this would be fun. A fun, more innocent than smug, grin appeared on Takumi's face as he steadied the weak rifle in kind with Yumi, preparing for the beginning of the competition.

Their rifles aimed at the set up targets and a loud bell DING signaled the beginning of the match, and Takumi closed one eye, braced the gun, and focused on what was in front of him as he pulled the trigger. He missed miserably, the weak projectile being caught by the wall standing behind the targets. Takumi couldn't even believe it, not necessarily out of shock at his failure but moreso out of his lack of situational atunement, and the next few trigger pulls would be carelessly cranked out in a rapid succession (albeit still slow compared to what most kids with decent reflexes might be able to pump out), half of them missing the target altogether like the first shot with a select few poking holes around the outer edges of his target. A few more shots would emerge from the barrel of his poorly aimed gun; a final desperate attempt by the clumsy boy to earn himself some points against the girl he had just valiantly challenged, most of them still completely missing.

Wow... Okay... So I'm really bad at this, I guess... Takumi began his words with a bit of a flabberghasted stupor, but it quickly transitioned into a more joking tone as he began his self assessment of the poor performance in their match. He would set down the gun and turn to Yumi with a hearty chuckle and bright smile before speaking again. How'd you do? I'm just assuming you beat me pretty badly, haha...

Takumi would look over at Yumi's target and glance at how many bullet holes might or might not have been there for a quick second before swiveling his head back to face her again. Regardless of how well or poorly she did, he would still be cheery and in good spirits, ready to play again or move onto a different game if she wanted, or go back to exploring other areas of the main alley as well.