Social Lessons (Open)

It was a late evening walk for someone such as Yuzuru, but even this late at night he would constantly get glances from people who seemingly either veered away from him, or stopped to stare at him. Some ladies uttered about his attractiveness, men steered away as they thought the look on his face was absurdly intimidating, and others seemed to at least have an inkling to his heritage and wondered if they could get an autograph. He tried his best to ignore the stares as he was already running late to attend one of his instructors lectures on modern musical theory and due to his agreement with his family he knew that missing too many of these lectures would only lead to him being locked back in his home in the compound. And to be frank, he liked his freedom, and the Shin'o Academy a bit too much to just let this wonderful journey end right there.

He picked up his pace, wandering through the early evening comers and goers, while constantly looking at his watch on his wrist to see just how much time he had left. At this point he had a feeling he would be late at the earliest, but at least he knew he could make it reasonably if there were no distractions.

"Perhaps I should have called ahead, probably wouldn't have hurt."

He mumbled to himself as he slid between members of a particularly loud group of drunkards, who had stumbled out of a nearby tavern, or rather had been thrown out. He ungracefully bumped into one of the men, a rather large man still in the process of ingesting his frothing brew with one hand while holding a rather stale looking piece of bread in the other, and for a second an air of tension passed between the two. Perfect, just what I needed., Yuzuru thought to himself as the drunk man stared holes into him, wearing half his drink, and looking particularly unstable at that particular moment. The man took one look at his face, almost in a permanent scowl, and prominently a source of internal turmoil for Yuzuru who always got judged by his more stand-offish appearance.

"I'm in a rush, would you mind moving?"

He said, hoping that possibly honesty would be the best policy at this moment, but it became clear by the sudden silence from the annoying drunk crowd around him that this was not going to be a quick interlude.

Of course she was amongst the crowd at this hour, Nami usually went about the busier times to pick up on any happenings or information that may be floating about. She perhaps could be called the nosiest cretin to have ever been born, but she only saw such habits as practical and useful - knowing as much as she could of others and their movements would always prove useful in the future... Especially in the way of making friends.

That was what that old man wished for her, yes?

And such an opportunity seemed to befall her; a man she recognized was making his way through the crowd, and by the haste in his step, he had somewhere to be. He was an academy student, absolutely, though her memory was failing on his name. She had seen him, remembering that persistently upset-looking face, wondering what he could be griping about, but never quite getting around to asking.

What was his name again? It was at the edge of her mind... He hadn't been there long, she hadn't the time to fully learn about him...

Her footsteps led her to his path, until the two would have almost collided if not for Nami suddenly correcting a step slightly out of the way.

"What is your name?" Her eyes drew up to his, hardly a greeting or a smile, merely throwing the question as a request for information.

No sooner had he asked the drunk man to step aside did he feel a slight disturbance behind him, it was ever so slight, much like when a shiver would jet up one's spine with a cold breeze. He hesitated to turn around and take a look, as to avert his eyes away from the burly man in front of him might illicit a physical response of some capacity. Before Yuzuru could make a decision on what he could do, the crowd began to disperse, and the man in front of him, coughed and then spit on the floor before wandering away from the entrance of the tavern. Yuzuru titled his head and then readjusted the strap on his guitar slung to his back before turning around.

What he thought might have been a larger threat than the drunks, at least it would have explained the expeditious retreat, was instead a woman of moderate stature, and almost emotionless gaze. For a moment, Yuzuru held his gaze, his eyes not softening, nor his demeanor as he tried to ascertain her identity as he could have sworn he had seen her before. Maybe in passing? Maybe at the academy? Such thoughts were interrupted when she asked him a question without so much as one single emotional queue to sort of tell him what her goal was.

"Yuzuru Satoshi."

Blunt and to the point was his response, as he scanned for any sort of recognition, or perhaps a single iota of emotional response to the name. Perhaps she wasn't from the academy after all? It would be odd that his identity wouldn't be known by some people in his year and it did appear, at least, by her physical appearance that they were roughly of similar age. It was entirely possible that she was his senior or perhaps she was just some random individual from around the Rukongai, but Yuzuru couldn't help thinking she was someone from the academy.

"And you are?"

His tone came out gruff, not on purpose, but due to frustrations he was feeling at that moment from not being able to place an identity to this young lady. He never really had much time for dialogue with many people and as such, usually he tended to make mistakes in social interactions. This sometimes lent into people believing he was a jerk or an asshole, when in reality he was just socially inept. His eyes darted away for a second, mentally kicking himself in the ass for coming off as he did, and internally trying to rectify his approach to this potential conversation.

She held no visible intimidation to his stature or body language, her wide maroon eyes peering at him as if she were studying a book or specimen. Beneath her gaze, her mind was attempting to work out how this should go; she was already up front and requesting his name, in which he obliged with a Yuzuru Satoshi. Ah, he definitely hadn't been in the academy very long in that case; that was a fairly recent name that appeared. In that case, he most definitely was not familiar with her or her methodology which others seemed to find unsavory. Perhaps this was an opportunity?

"Nami Miura," She'd point to herself, her gaze and expression hardly changing, not even the crowd around her serving to distract, "You appear upset, why? Have I done something?"

Her tone was far more on the gentle and curious side; she just wanted to understand the man a little better, and was being rather straightforward about it.

He felt himself being sized up by this woman in front of him and not in an aggressive way, but in a way that didn't make him feel totally comfortable. It almost felt like he was being treated as some kind of subject for an examination, it wasn't an alien feeling to him as most of his music instructors treated him like that, but it felt odd coming from a less academic view point. His face grew sterner as the anxiety of whether she would answer his probing into her identity in some kind of capacity grew. It was times like these that he cursed his father's genes for giving him this face. He wouldn't have to wait long and a slight softening of his face accompanied by a sigh of relief followed her answer.

At least they wouldn't be awkwardly standing in the street staring at each other anymore, wouldn't want the wrong type of rumors being spread. He already had enough of that to deal with at the academy. No need to add fuel to those flames.

"Miss Miura, I would love to stay and c..."

He put on a kind tone, which was harder than it looked as he actually had to try his best to keep that tone going as he tended to come off rather rudely in an unintentional manner. However he was stopped mid-sentence by Nami's follow up to her name reveal. She asked probably what she thought was an innocent set of questions, but to a man who was trying his best to come off one way and failing miserably it was like getting punched in the gut. For a moment his eyes went wide, making him look angry, but I'm reality a sense of crushing defeat was washing over him.

Internally he tried to get himself in order, his mind telling to snap out of it, and answer her before she got the wrong idea of his tone and facial expressions. Further realization that his only real conversations with women he had were with his mother, girls who were only interested in him because of his looks, and instructors who were indifferent to his facial reactions didn't help matters. It was almost like he was stuck, at a loss for words, and couldn't find a syllable to speak. He began to tap his fingers on the strap to his guitar he was clutching nervously, trying to get his thoughts together by focusing on a calming melody being tapped on his strap.

"I'm sorry if it seems I'm agitated, my face just naturally defaults to these sort of looks!"

He blurted out finally, bowing a little bit as he said that, and lowering his head in apology. To be frank, this was probably the only time outside of an academic, or a familial setting that he had ever admitted his issue. Most of the time he let the misunderstanding go as he didn't want to interact and was far too shy to admit to his curse. But the slightest indication of this lady feeling she had done something to wrong him caused this anxiety driven response.

While he did this bow of apology, he heard some mumurs of nearby passer-by who were clearly wondering what he had done. The sad realization that he was being villainized again made his heart sink.

Even if it didn't appear so, Nami was having her own social conundrum. The man only seemed to get even more upset, which just made her even more confused. She didn't do any of the typical things that would provoke such a response; her voice was low and gentle, her body language was unassuming and still, and she had been nothing but polite. So why did he appear so upset and threatened?

She figured maybe referring to his apparent emotional state was causing the reaction, he only seemed to worsen when she asked that question, after all. She'd look along his body for some other way to divert the conversation, hopefully into one that caused him less distress. Almost robotically, she'd raise a hand to point at the guitar strapped to his back,

"How well do you play?"

Yuzuru was a bundle of different emotions right now, he wasn't angry, nor was he upset about how she thought he was angry, but in a very distinct way she was pressing a very prominent button that he didn't really liked pressed. His facial expressions and lack of social skills always seemed to bite him in the rear and with this girl, she seemed to be quite blunt, or seemingly lacked the same social graces that he did. Either way, she was making it extremely difficult to explain his situation in a way that wouldn't have him come off as some kind of brute, but she seemed to swerve away from his facial expressions displaying his emotions in a negative light toward something else.

She asked how well he played, which to Yuzuru was a new question in its' own right. No one ever really asked about how skilled of a musician he was or why he always had his guitar with him at all times, but this girl seemed to want to cut right to the chase. At first he wondered why she had asked, but he decided better to not poke that particular bear, and instead focus on something other than his lack of control over emotions or facial expressions.

"I've been playing since I was six. So, I would say that I'm pretty good. At least that is what my family thinks, I mean otherwise they would have wasted a fortune on an amateur."

He said as he clutched the strap of his guitar tight, remembering what it was like at the compound, and how much of his youth was spent being bounced around to different instructors to learn different instruments and music styles. He enjoyed studying music, but his family had really never given him the type of nurturing that a young child should have got or allow him to interact with people his own age either. It was a lonely world that he had lived in and outside of the few visits he had got from his brother? He had been practically isolated. It was different now, but with his lack of understanding of interactions he tended to not have many good or great conversations. Most of them were with teachers and the few times that he got the opportunity to speak to someone his own age, he seemed to muck it up.

He glanced at her, wondering what her angle was, and then with the softest facial expression he could give, which wasn't saying much he would ask her a question:

"Do you want to see it?"

Nami's brows rose at the implied length of practice he had put into the instrument, as well as the implication of his family being well off. He seemed very... Shaky, for someone better off than her. One couldn't afford to be all stutter and hesitance in her district; Either you were targeted as easy to intimidate, bully, or in worse cases kill. Thus being exposed to such a person was a very... New, experience to her. While she didn't look upon him lesser for acting in such a way, it did bring the thought that perhaps he was pushed around for looking so intimidating yet being so meek in spirit.

She'd point at the instrument rather insistently for a moment, "Please play. I would like to hear it."

She really wanted him to play right now? In front of all these people in the middle of the street? He raised an eyebrow and looked at his trusty guitar in its' case before letting out a deep sigh. He really didn't know what type of music that she liked, but he was quite comfortable playing in front of people. He had sold out many theaters, well it was more like his parents sold them out, but he had been there playing in the background as their guitarist. Most of the times in those moments he would play their songs, but there of course there was a single time that he played one of his own specials, and it had earned a solid applause of acceptance from his family and the audience. He began to unpack his guitar, removing it from its' case showcasing the bright red color of a very basic looking guitar, mind you the guitar was extremely well maintained, and on it was engraved "Satoshi Brothers" in Kanji.

This guitar had a great deal of sentimental value for him and through it he always seemed to showcase his emotions much better than through his speaking. He pulled the pick that was clipped on top of the headstock and began to calibrate the tuning pegs to obtain just the right way for the song he was about to play. He thought for a second, his eyes staring at the guitar as if willing it to tell him what to play, and as if on queue he nodded in agreement, it was like the instrument was telling him what to play.

"This was a song that my brother liked...I apologize if you are not a fan."

He said gruffly, closing his eyes, and walking over to a nearby wall before leaning against it, leaning slight over, as he played a riff that came off almost country, but with a hint of rock to it. He then began to play, not once opening his eyes, and looking about him as the opening riffs of "Gunslinger" by Avenged Sevenfold filled the evening air. People stopped, drunks stopped being so drunk, and the sounds of nightlife came to a halt as the prodigy of the Satoshi family allowed himself to be consumed into his performance. He began to sing, softly, and with a bit of grain to it that allowed his voice to resonate with the people who were paying attention. Not once did he open his eyes and not once did he interact with those around him, he allowed the instrument and the song to use him as a vessel to display its' greatness to the Rukongai and to all that would listen.

People began to sway a bit, the manager of the nearby tavern came out in a stupor to stare, and people who were doing business found themselves completely preoccupied paying attention to the song being played. Needless to say, Yuzuru was playing it flawlessly in a way that they probably hadn't seen before, and it was completely impromptu and completely genuine. It was almost odd to see what appeared to be a stoic man singing of the a lone gunslinger just trying to make it home to the one he loved, talking of the letters he had obtained, and about how he had always remained pure for their love. It probably added to the mystique of the performance and definitely almost seemed to reveal a deeper sorrow to Yuzuru than thought possible. He continued to play, even as the crowd increased in size, almost blocking all traffic at this point, and no one dare come close to him while he played. Scared to insight his wrath or perhaps scared that this once in a lifetime performance would end.

Nami stared rather intensely at the guitar as the young man presented it to play, as if trying to discover the inner machinations of music and charm with a focused look. Her feet would unconsciously follow his as he moved to lean against a wall, not really concerning herself with his comment as she was far too interested in evaluating his skill with the object.

..And then he played.

He certainly played, Nami being mere feet from him as she watched with round eyes. She felt an unfamiliar sensation in her chest - no, not unfamiliar, but out of place. She didn't feel this rising and sinking unless she was engaged in a chase, or did poorly on an exam, or perhaps even stood alone deep in thought. Her pragmatic intrigue turned into a sense of admiration and emotion, two hands slowly rising to softly clap along to the strums of the song, a shimmer to her eyes that wasn't there before present as she was enamored by his performance.