From scratch (Shou/Aiko/Open)

Ah~ Home sweet home.

After her long travels around Japan, she had finally returned to Karakura City on a peaceful sunny afternoon, where this odd journey of hers had started. Shou looked no different than a lot of other civilians roaming around the city, sipping off the packet of apple juice by her hand with a small backpack behind her back and humming along in her own tune as she walked across the sidewalk. She would get a few stares here and there due to her eye-catching smooth, black hair and deep red eyes but that was about it.

"Pu- ha! Nothing beats having a drink at home!"

Exhaling in happiness after a good sip of her drink, she went ahead and finish up the rest in one go before crushing the packet of juice on her hand and chucking it off to the nearest bin.

She looked around to familiarize herself on what part of the city that she is in since it has been awhile when she has last stayed here before going on a travel on her own. There wasn't anything in particular that she is looking for and is just curious to keep in touch on what is going around here.

After a short silence, she just spoke to herself while smiling ear to ear, "Let's hope there is some fun here."

Life was filled with the nature of randomness. One minute you can be minding your business and enjoying your existence; the next, you can be laid out flat by a drunk driver. So, in that same vein, Shou may have been having the time of her life just walking about; but it seemed destiny had other plans for her.

Above Shou, a large cargo box filled with random junk began to fall off a rooftop due to a worker's negligence when unloading and loading materials into the building. With the container being the size of a small car, there was no doubt this may cause significant harm or death to any random person without some supernatural defense or power. So, there was little time for most to react.

Despite that reality, a strange woman with a blood halo above her head lept into action, screamed and grabbed Shou, and dashed to the street overhead as the dense wooden box exploded. In its wake, wood, metal, toys, supplies, and all sorts of random stuff exploded across the street. In response, this gothic-looking woman used a weak, crimson shield to protect them from the debris as other people on the block shouted in surprise.

After the dust settled, the woman who saved Shou was flustered and red. She didn't save her because she had some super amazing power, but more because of anxiety. When you are out in the city, she just learned to be aware of her surroundings and just so happened to see the incident out of pure luck and reaction time.

So, this is where the situation's awkwardness comes in as she gently lets go of the other girl. Then, when that was done, Aiko forced herself to be social and check on the other woman's health.

"Hey....are you ok?"

Maybe she was relaxing a little too much now that she is back at home - it all happened so quickly so Shou had some trouble processing the situation. A second ago, she just finished up her drink and was about to head off further into the city and the next section, she was pulled by her arm by someone.

Crash.

Protected by a crashing cargo box from above behind a barrier, it was something she didn't notice right above her head. Normally, Shou would've noticed this sort of occurrence and dealt with it on her own but have just let down her guard too much. Man.. she was this close with meeting the lord of isekai himself if that actually fell on her.

Shou shifted her attention towards the woman who had saved her, checking out who had saved her since the least she could do was to say thanks - long black hair, school uniform albeit darker.. red eyes.... towering sister...... big.. assets.... eh?

Noticing how similar their appearance was down in the choice of clothing, when Aiko had let go of Shou's arm, she immediately grabbed her hand with hers, "Are you my sister or something!?"

Almost not being able to contain her shock, she had never thought this is the first person she would encounter right after she entered the city. Of course, she snapped back into reality and realized what she had did to a random stranger that helped her and let go of her hand.

"Sorry sorry! I was really rude! I am without a scratch because of you. Thank you very much for the help.", as she tried laughing off on what she did earlier ago.

Shou placed her hand togethers, apologetically bowed down slightly with a smile across her face and looked up towards Aiko, "Let me at least treat you to some good food or something. I'm really sorry about that."

Uhm, this WAS awkward.

The woman had a point: they both liked heavily alike. The eyes, the hair, the clothes; the two of them may as well have been lost sisters if it weren't for the fact that Aiko herself had two balloons on her chest compared to the other chick.

So, Aiko's face briefly turned red as Shou grabbed her hand, and she nodded meekly in return.

"Maybe....? I don't know."

Laughing nervously, Aiko just decided to let go of her tensions to go for the ride. Eventually, she took a few quiet inhales and exhales to let go of the uneasiness of the circumstance.

"You aren't rude. You are just excited. I'm happy I could help you."

That was a more honest smile than before, as Aiko wanted to be a good girl. So, being told that her actions produced a positive result made the gothic-gal happy.

"...if you want? Ok. I'm hungry."

Not one to protest a free meal, Aiko looked to the side and gushed a bit as she rubbed her head.

"Lead the way."

Maybe it was too much of a coincidence. Her past was extremely fuzzy to begin with, only remembering that she had two older brothers and a sister but faces and names were blanks in her memory at this point but at the moment, there is no reason to ponder more about it.

Who knows?

"Sorry to spring that on you. I might've mistaken it since you looked pretty familiar."

Shou was happy that she wasn't bothered by what she said and the fact she had helped Shou out when she had her guard down.

"Right! What's your name? My name's Shou! Pleased to meet 'cha, sister!"

Seeing how Aiko had acted nervously, it kind of roused up Shou's feeling of wanting to tease her a bit by calling her 'sister' even though they aren't - though she also cannot confirm nor deny that as well.

Hearing her accept her treat to food, she grabbed Aiko by the wrist and tried to gently pull her along while humming. Though she said that, she isn't really that familiar with this part of the city either as it has been a few years since she has last stayed here.

Eventually spotting a nearby crepe shop at the corner of her eye, without being forceful, she tries to guide her to the shop by hand and stop by right in front of it. Even being a girl herself, she wasn't too sure if it is a right place for a girl to eat either.

"Pick anything you want, sister! Anything! My treat!", gesturing over the menu of numerous flavors of crepes on top of the shop.

Aiko relaxed internally by slowing her thoughts down a bit. For the time being, she accepted the weirdness of being thrust into such a sudden circumstance. She needed to work on her nerves and kept looking at Shou as a result.

"No need to apologize. I think you were just joking."

Smiling a bit, Aiko nodded and continued speaking.

"My name is Aiko Aimi. It's good to meet you as well~"

With a soft exhale of breath, Aiko continued her breathing exercises and kept letting Shou take the leads. As it seemed the other girl had a better direction of where to go than Aiko herself. So, her bloody eyes just looked at the woman grabbing onto her hand and she felt like she was in a story where the character gets swept off their feet toward some adventure.

Meh, maybe she looked at one too many animes.

Regardless, when they got to the resturant, Aiko strangely knew exactly what she wanted and pointed at a picture of strawberry crepes.

"Whatever that is, I want it. I like creams, sweets, and stuff."

Scratching her chin, Aiko gave a nervous laugh and waited to see what SHou would say.

"That's a wonderful name, Aiko-san!"

Shou gave a thumbs up, showing approval on how good her name sounds, at least when compared to her own's. Well, she had a bad naming sense to begin with so now she is pretty stuck with this name long-term once she decided on it anyway.

When Aiko picked the strawberry crepe off the menu, she was smiling ear-to-ear uncontrollably as she nodded, went off to order and came back with not one but three strawberry crepes on one of her hands.

The gap between her seemingly dark-ish appearance and wanting strawberry cakes was a sight for sore eyes - Shou couldn't help herself to tip toe herself higher to give Aiko a pat into the head for a few seconds before handing her the strawberry crepes.

"So cute ♡ so cute ♡. Here's your strawberry crepes, sister Aiko!"

Following up after that, she continued talking.

"So, sister, what are doing here in the city? Taking a walk as well?"

"T-thanks."

It wasn't often that Aiko was complimented on her name. Perhaps her name was lovely sounding? Eh, regardless, she wouldn't deny the compliment. That would not be polite to her, at least.

Instead, for the moment, she mildly blushed as she was somewhat flustered; but kept it under control as the workers around them prepared their food. And when Shou returned, Aiko didn't hesitate to take the delicious sweet treat. Though, the pat on the head made her turn red for a few moments before it subsided.

"I appreciate it."

Aiko wasn't bothered about the sister comments much; she was just unsure how to respond to that before shrugging her shoulders.

"Whatever you say, non-bloody sister."

Well, that made sense, right? Shou looked like Aiko but with less boobage, blood, and a gothic atmosphere. Humor wasn't Aiko's strong suit, ok?

Regardless, she let out a soft sigh and sat down before looking at Shou with a curious expression. After taking a few moments to let the sweet, gentle, and cold textures of the fruity snack hit her mouth, the crimson gaze of Aiko lingered on the other girl as she spoke. Did she ask her why she was out? Hmm, that was an easy enough answer to give.

"Just out for air. I worked, trained, and shopped today and n to just...exist? Maybe I was looking for something, so it was nice to run into someone friendly."

She then narrowed her eye on Shou and spoke further.

"What about you? You seem alone as well; why are you out by yourself?"

Ah~ Ah~ Shou expected a little bit more out of it when she called her sister intentionally to mess with Aiko but it seems that it had very little effect. Well, if it didn't bother her much and it felt easier to roll off of Shou's tongue now, she decides to just keep going with it.

"Bloody?"

Shou couldn't help but burst out laughing at that. To her, it didn't make any sense at all and because of that, she just find it oddly cute and funny. Even her own sense of humor is weird for laughing at that.

Managing to calm herself down, while Aiko was munching down on the crepe that she bought for her, not wanting to disturb her meal, Shou looked around her surroundings - students hanging out near the crepe shop, an elevated railway just a distance away from them, a park populated with children playing football and just few other businesses operating nearby. Kinda weird isn't it? She claimed that this was her home yet she didn't have recollection of any of these places.

Her attention turned back to Aiko when she answered and questioned back, Shou couldn't help but giggle a bit before responding accordingly.

"Well, it is good to know that you exist then. I just came back after travelling for a long time, so I thought of coming back home for a bit."

Her eyes shifted around, trying to more properly observe Aiko this time since this initial encounter and continued on, "You mentioned training? You don't look like you go to the gym. Is sister Aiko one of those people with superpowers or something?"

Ignoring the.. well, obviously larger bust size that Shou couldn't help but feel a little despair over this "small" difference between the two of them, she had only asked that question out of curiosity since her physique doesn't really look like someone who would work out.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, sis. I'm just asking for the fun of it."

Aiko just coughed and chose to ignore the bloody laugh comment. It was just something that came out of her mouth, and she felt she didn't think that comment through. So instead, she just focused on finishing off the last of her sweets before letting out a quiet sigh of contentment. Aiko did enjoy that treat, at least.

Though her eyes blinked when Shou started asking if she had powers, in response, she confirmed her questions by giving a nod and speaking on the nature of her powers.

"Yep. I got blood powers. I don't think I can explain them in one setting, butttttt...."

After she pointed at her blood halo, it seemed to make her body glow a rich shade of crimson for a moment before a small arrow made from this fluid extended from the halo toward Shou and slaughtered a wasp that was about to land on her head. Once slain, Aiko pointed at the ugly bug and commented.

"....I think that gets the picture? I'm an anxious person, so I see stuff like that coming."

Nodding her head again, she continued.

"I try to train mentally, physically, and with my supernatural power. I just....want independence. I figured developing some power or strength was fun since my last boyfriend left me, and he always defended me, so I have to learn to defend myself."

Not wanting to go into detail, Aiko coughed and looked at Shou again.

"What about you? Do you train or have any powers?"