Looks Can Be Deceiving [Kasha, Kyo]

"Mmm. I see, that sounds about right. Am I not stuck up though?"

It only occurred to him after it that asking such a question so soon after poising the question about Eri was not the smartest move, the words possibly easily being skewed given that Kyo was speaking from a romantic perspective with her and Kasha was looking at it from tolerating a person's presence in general. Oh well, he was sure he could clarify anything he misunderstood while taking a seat to peruse the menu and think about it.

What did he want? He didn't particularly mind, it was more a matter of judging other's choices of food that he thought more about. He did say he'd have something already regardless. No point in changing his mind now.

"Definitely not like she is."

Kyo admittedly did in fact take that exactly the way Kasha had thought he might, the subject having still been romantic interest. Uh, well, weird question. Kasha was a cool guy and all, cute face. Maybe not the worst person to bring home to mom and dad? Not the best, either though. Whatever, not important either way.

"Way I see it, you're pretty competent and you've got the skill to back it up. Especially this last year! You really picked up on things quick, that was pretty impressive."

Naturally he'd noted that, astute as he was. It was hard not to notice when a classmate suddenly started getting everything figured out, and Kyo always respected a quick learner.

Kasha tried not to let his expression change much at the last part, commenting on his sudden rise in skill. It was the opposite really, he'd just stopped pretending to be less capable than he really was and he would prefer to keep up the illusion that he did just improve that little bit extra towards the end instead of admitting the reality to Kyo. He'd probably not understand it, and Kasha wasn't going to go on a lecture of his family either.

"I suppose you're right, something just clicked to me I guess."

He leaned back a little bit in his spot, hands folding together and not exactly keen to go back to small talk about girls that he didn't really care about from the Academy. Maybe a change of angle.

"Why did you choose the Fifth Division anyway? Seems like a peculiar choice."

"Well hey, good to hear all the same."

Kyo relaxed in his own seat as well, ordering a barley tea just for the sake of having something to drink. It wasn't his favorite, but it went well with this sort of fare, so may as well, right?

"I'm hardly cut out for Kido or Research, so those were right out from day one. Maybe I could have made it in Combat if I studied up a little more, and Earth Affiliation just didn't stand out to me. Besides, even if I'm not exactly cut out for all that sneaking around, I can tell you where you oughta go to sneak in somewhere like nobody else, and I can sure tell you what to hit if you need to take it down."

There was an undeniable pride as he said that, which was quite different from his usual cocky demeanor. After all, he knew how competent he was when it came to his architectural pursuits, and he wasn't the sort of man to understate them.

'That's reasonable."

For a man of his temperment he was incredibly level-headed and thoughtful. It was surprising considering his brutish look, you might immediately jump to the conclusion that he was all brawn and no brain. Kasha's could not even particularly say that he was fit for this division compared to Kyo, the only thing that suited him to it was his own upbringing making him naturally attuned for deception and the like.

"So have you had any assignments out in the field then, since we graduated or even beforehand?"

"Ah, yeah, I've had a couple. Went down to Earth to tear down one of the last outposts we had from the war, that was...well, it could've been worse, I guess. Breaking prefab structures isn't exactly what I studied for, you get me?"

Kyo shrugged it off, not exactly excited about that assignment. Of course, he knew it had been an important one, so he wasn't going to snub something like that.

"You ever been down to Earth? I was in Florida. Pretty place, I've never seen that much water in my life."

"I can't say I have."

He admitted, no he had spent most of the time since he joined the Fifth Division tuning up on his deception and natural intuition towards misleading people and turning it into a practical skill. A lot harder than he thought at first since it was not subtle things but trying to emulate a completely new identity and Kasha found that much harder with the small issue of his rather big ego.

"You do come off more as a builder of things, I heard that the Kenpachi Foundation was your own designs. No?"

Kasha did remember the recent tragedy.that was the destruction of said Foundation. Kasha did think that was a little extremem compared to dissolution, surely there would've been something useful for the infrastructure instead of just blowing it up.

"Ah... Yeah, I drafted that one. I think it was one of my better ones, but I guess it just ended up taking up space."

It wasn't really hard to tell at all that Kyo was fairly disappointed at the demolition of the building. After all, it'd been one of his first major projects as an architect, and he certainly thought it had been an aesthetically pleasing building. But he guessed that was the nature of his work. You didn't get to see everything last forever.

"I have plans finished for Earth Affiliation barracks, but red tape keeps holding me up. Between you and me, I think their captain just doesn't want it done."

Of course, even all this talk about his work getting the short end of the stick wasn't enough to keep Kyo down, and his boisterous grin was still present. It wasn't a fake smile, as he wasn't nearly that duplicitous. He was just someone who didn't stay down about things.

There was nothing more frustrating than red tape, he agreed. He could not display the extent of how Hoo Kanmuri Ken due to the Koizumi's own "red tape" so the feeling of being barred was mutual - especially because he thought his own twist of the school was far more elegant than any of his bloodthirsty predecessors. If he had to guess that whore he called his teacher was probably fighting right now, or one of two other things. She was a very simple and unrefined woman.

"Well, considering her promotion to Captain Commander. I think that might be to your benefit, Sawachika. Surely the next captain must be more willing to avoid living in tents."

It was the closest that he could really do as console and supporting the man who was so refined underneath that boistrous attitude of his. You wouldn't expect it really, though in a way he supposed that his own appearance was very deceptive. A strange kind of quirk that they both seemed to have.

How ironic.

"Ah, that's right, I hadn't even thought about that. It'll probably take some getting used to. I don't even know who'll end up taking over that division, but honestly I think anyone would have to be willing to avoid the tents."

He understood, in the abstract, the Captain Commander's attachment to the tents. After all, he'd discussed it with her before when he was demonstrating his plans for her division's barracks, and he knew that a lot of it boiled down to personal preference. Given her upbringing was so radically different from nearly anyone else's, he had to figure this would go better.

"You have any guesses who'll take her place for Earth Affiliation? From what I've heard, she seems like she's making some pretty big changes to the captains."