Chapter Text
-March 2, 2012-
“No no NO!” Marie angrily shouts at Rise “'Whereas my soul hovered like a cloud' is thematically better! Your mind can't float!”
“The song is about one's state of mind; The soul has nothing to do with it, Baka Marie-chan!” Rise shouts at Marie, equally as scorned.
Rise Kujikawa and Mariko Kusumi (Or Marie if you wanna stick to that), are on Rise’s bedroom, sitting on her bed.
A room that Rise didn’t bother to decorate too much since her arrival back in June of the last year. Still, it has a bit of her touch. The bed is very pastel-pink/orange with 2 pillows, full sized, a large yellow rug smack dabbed in the middle. There’s a make-up vanity at the back wall (from the bed) with a large mirror dresser next to the bed, between the windows, with the closet next to the makeup vanity, and a medium sized TV on the opposite side of the mirror dresser.
The bed is scattered with notebooks, crumpled papers, pencils and an empty plate with crumbs, the remains of cookies, formerly eaten by the two presences in the room.
R.I.P cookies
THWACK
Rise felt a light, if sharp pain from the top of her head, courtesy of Marie smacking her notebook on said location. “Cherry Tofu!” Marie growled as she glared at Rise.
“Oh, that does it!” Rise grabs a pillow and smack Marie with it. She didn’t flinch or move, but that didn’t stop the twitch that formed on the poet’s forehead “Emo Poet!”
THWACK!
SMACK
This went on for 5 minutes. The two girls just had a random pillow fight until both got tired and lied on the bed, panting.
“…Jerk.” Grumbled Rise as she wiped a few beads of sweat from her forehead
“Back at cha dork.” Fired back Marie, with enough sass to fill a small jar.
The two got up and saw the mess they made. The papers they were working on got scattered or cluttered thanks to their little fiasco.
“Oh, goddamn it…” Rise cursed herself, face palming. “You know, you shouldn’t get on my nerves Marie.”
“Oh, shut up.” Marie snapped at her, annoyed. “Pick up the papers, let’s organize them and move on. I’m not in the mood.”
Rise cringed, not expecting Marie to be that direct with her, not that Marie isn’t already direct. ‘I think I pushed it too far…’ “Sorry, I’m just…” Rise sighed, lumping backwards, hands on her lap, “Nervous, you know?”
Marie eyed Rise, briefly halting her paper pickup. She knows what’s on Rise’s mind, or rather, what’s been on her mind for the last week.
-Flashback, last week-
“You want me to what?” Spoke Marie as she ate some beef skewers, legs crossed as she stares at Rise, who is less than enthusiastic.
“What?” Rise asks, pouting. “You’re an artist, you write poems-“
“-Pathos.” Rise rolls her eyes at Marie’s correction.
“Same thing. You write, and I need that. I’m working on my comeback campaign, and I need someone who can help me write songs for the album.”
Marie understood Rise’s plight, and yet while she found it noble and all… “And you came to me.” Marie deadpanned.
“W-what? You think I can go to anyone else?” Rise argued back, her pout wider now. “You’re the only one of my friends that is an artist like I am Marie-chan! Me, a singer and dancer on-stage, you, a writer of worlds and feelings. I need your words to get me to dance.”
A groan from Marie. She put her now empty skewer down, hand on her chin as she stares at Rise intently “And what’s in it for me?”
“W-whatever you want! Honest!” Rise is just happy that Marie seems to be contemplating it at least. She was afraid Marie would shoot her down at first words.
Marie raised an eyebrow, surprised, yet curious. She taps her fingers on the table, pondering her options. Rise noticed and started to panic. ‘If she backs out, I’m toast…I got to convince her. Reel her in Rise…’ “I mean, I’m not rich or anything, but if it’s something I can do, I’ll do it.”
“Hmm.” Despite the claim, Marie wasn’t entirely sold, but her curiosity ultimately won over. She nods, and crosses her arms, leaning back on her chair. “Well, as long as you don’t go back on your word, I won’t zap you. I’ll stop by tomorrow.”
“R-Really?!” Rise let out a small gasp. “Oh, thank you thank you thank you thank you Marie-chan! I promise to listen to your advice!”
“Yeah yeah Tofu.” Marie casually waved her hand. “Just be ready for criticism. I throw more of that than Phones throws bad flirting lines.”
Rise resisted the urge to laugh at that. She failed. “Oh man do NOT tell him that.”
“Too late.”
-End Flashback-
Marie closes her eyes and leans up. A deep breath in, followed by a smooth exhale. “I didn’t ask-“Rise perked up, and sees Marie pick up some of the notes both wrote, specifically Rise’s, setting her own aside. Marie quickly reads them, and frowns. “…Yeah I kinda see the problem.” She lowers the papers and stares at Rise “You never told me the theme of your album. I just followed your flow; except that your flow is as spread out as the bear’s taste in women.”
“…Pfft.” Intentional or not, Rise stiffed several giggles, covering her mouth, and utterly fails at holding back her full laughter. “Oh, wow Marie-chan. That is a good one.” Rise leans back, breathing softly as her chest rises and lowers slowly. She blinks as she stares at the ceiling. “Theme huh…” she grabs some of the papers and brings them up to her face, skimming through each line. “…Yeah I see what you mean. There’s no direction, no message for anyone to understand.” She lies the papers down, sighing. “This sucks.”
“Yeah I know you do Tofu.” Marie reprimanded with enough sarcasm to wipe a toilet clean. “What are you going to do about it?”
Twitch
Rise quickly got up and grabbed Marie’s cheeks, grinning mischievously. “First of all-“
“GHOFFHUWHA-“ Rise stretched out Marie’s cheeks, playfully melding and toying with Marie’s face. Ignoring her twitching eyebrow and glaring eyes.
“-That smack on my butt was uncalled for you dirty player. So I-“
“ZHAFPFHING OUUU” Marie grabbed Rise’s arms and for a brief second, glows yellow. She jolts Rise ever so slightly. Rise yelped and let go of Marie’s cheeks, rubbing her elbows.
“The heck Marie?!” Rise shouts “That hurt!”
Marie rubs her cheeks, rolling her eyes as she does so at Rise. “Pinching my cheeks wasn’t pleasant either. Do I look like Green’s huge mutt to you?”
“…Well now that you mention it-“
“Don’t.” Marie stops Rise in her tracks. She sighs. “We’re off the rails here, and this isn’t helping.” She sighs, and hops off Rise’s bed, dusting her skirt. “Let’s go outside and clear our heads. A walk around town. Sound good?”
“…” Rise eyed the time. Its early still. “Yeah…I guess that’s better than pushing your buttons.”
Marie scoffed “I’m not your entertainment Tofu.”
“Yeah…sorry.” Regretfully, Rise followed Marie outside of her home, with shoes on (Or in Marie’s case, boots).
The walk was quiet, but it was calming for Rise especially. Her tangled thoughts were put aside, and she stared at her small hometown. From the fluffy white clouds, the bird chirps in the sky, the cool, gentle wind breeze alleviate her thoughts from knotting any crazier than it already is.
A deep breath in, followed by a smooth exhale. The pleasant scents of nature far more than the rowdy smells of trash, concrete and humans took over and alleviated Rise’s nerves, if ever so slowly.
The walk came to an end near the outskirts of town, close to the riverbed near a hill. Rise sat down under a cherry tree, with Marie right beside her. The wind calmly brushed her skin and hair, waving her pigtails as she stared at her town from afar.
“You know…I’m going to miss this place.” Rise hated to admit as much, but she can’t exactly fulfill her goals if she stays. “Inaba is my hometown…” she slid a hand to her chest, closing her eyes. “But despite my love for it, I have to leave it. Ironic isn’t it?”
Marie shrugged as she leans on the tree, legs crossed. “Not really. Its part of life.” She stares up, seeing a bird’s nest. The momma bird pushes the smaller bird off the next, and the bird takes to the skies, albeit with effort. The momma stares proud at her child. “Sometimes, we have to leave what we love behind; pursuing ambition often demands renouncing the ties of childhood.” Marie sighed. “You humans are weird like that, I guess. You enter adulthood, and the chains of youth are unshackled; never to be put on again. Everyone binds expectations on you, and you often look back to those innocent years; never realizing that the happiness of those times was a one-time deal.” Marie stands up, and walks over to the hill, staring at the sky, much like Rise was earlier, and extends her hand to the sun. “Then you realize, you were never burdened. You were just led to believe you were.” She curls it up to a fist and lowers her hand.
“…Jeez, you really live up to that pathos thing.” A bit sarcastically, but Rise wasn’t shoving off what Marie said.
In many ways, it’s the truth. Askew, but Marie isn’t wrong. She isn’t sure how other cultures and countries deal with adulthood, but Japan is rather strict about it.
By high-school, graduates are expected to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. It’s a huge burden, especially when not everyone knows what they want to do with their lives; they’ve barely even discovered who they are, let alone what they want to do.
‘It isn’t fair…but then again, when has life ever been?’ Rise bitterly thought as she stared at Marie.
Her thoughts drift to the former Goddess. ‘She would know how that feels…maybe more than many.’
An avatar of Izanami, solely created to manipulate weather and events related to it, as well as watch over the stupid game that Izanami started with rumors to judge humanity.
Just on the actions of 3 people.
‘I don’t think I’ll ever understands Gods…do I even want to?’ Rise thought as she stared at Marie silently. ‘She’s been through one heck of an existential crisis…we saved her, yeah. But she’s on that very spot right now…’
What will Marie do with her life now? she never really bothered to ask, and in partiality, Rise feels guilty for not doing so. Despite differences and the usual minor spites, they have, clash of ideals and how to express art, Marie is her friend.
Some friend I am, smacking her with a pillow like that
I wonder what goes in that head of hers…I doubt its just poetry or sarcasm.
What does Marie think half the time anyways?
Hopefully its not another Naoto-kun mess.
Rise frowned at her own thoughts as she wondered back to the few times she spoke to Marie, be it alone or with the group.
She is good with the guitar. Gotta admit, that shocked me back at the Junes concert. She can sing really well too; has the right voice for it.
…I wonder if she’d be interested in being an idol.
Nah. Ms. Ochimizu and her would fight every day. Tempting, but no.
Besides, Marie doesn’t strike me as someone who would go on stage and do what I do. She’s more reserved than that. Not like Naoto-kun though.
Huh… she’s like a middle ground of Naoto-kun and myself, with a lot of sass thrown in for good measure.
Kinda velvety with that mysterious vibe, but not too much that she’s hard to read. Her outfit is nice, she has good fashion taste.
…Maybe as good as me. Maybe.
Wait.
Velvet…
“That’s it!” Rise abruptly yelled out of nowhere as she stood up. The shout surprised Marie.
“The heck?!” Marie broke out of her trance and turns to Rise, blinking “What’s it?”
“Marie-chan you are a genius!” Rise walked over to Rise and hugged her. “Thank you for being you!”
“…You’re welcome?” Marie wasn’t even sure how to respond to that. She just stood there with a blank stare on her face. “You wanna explain? Cause I’m more lost than Red trying to cook.”
“…Pfft.” Rise breaks the hug and stifles her laugh. “Ok, truth aside-“ she clears her throat. “I got an idea for the album’s theme.”
“…And?” Marie asks, curious.
Rise raises her hand, grinning as she only has 1 finger raised “Velvet.”
Silence from Marie. She blinked, then blinked again, the blinked 182 more times to the beat.
“I’m sorry I don’t follow.” Marie deadpanned, scratching her cheek.
“Velvet!” Rise exclaims again. “A mysterious, yet deep profound love that intertwines two unlikely people.”
Eyebrow raised; Marie tilts her head as she ponders what Rise just said. “…Huh…well that can work.” She nods. “I mean…mystery and profound tend to bring in a lot of emotions. Joy, surprise, disappointment, even a bit of anger and resentment.” She smiles at Rise. “I like the idea, but we need to brainstorm a little more.”
“Oh, that’s fine by me!” Rise practically leaps of glee, cheerfully smiling all the way. “Ok, back to my place!”
GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWL
Marie stared at Rise’s navel, stunned. “…Wow.”
“I-ignore that…” Rise rubbed her stomach, embarrassed as she hides her blush. “L-Lunch first Marie-chan! THEN, brainstorming!”
Marie shrugs “Works for me. Come on piggy.”
“Yeah let’-wait what did you just call me-“ Rise turns to Marie, except that Marie already got a head start on her, having sprinted earlier. “oh you-GET BACK HERE MARIE-CHAN! TAKE THAT BACK!”
“CATCH ME IF YOU CAN TOFU!” Marie turns her head and playfully winks at her. “LAST ONE TO AIKA PAYS UP.”
“NO FAIR!” Rise, despite the moment, felt delighted, almost like a child again. ‘Thank you Marie-chan…’
With an idea set up for the album, Rise and Marie decide to eat first, then work on the album’s songs. What will transpire from this, and will their friendship develop? What will come next…?