From scratch (Shou/Aiko/Open)

Shou's eyes glittered - not even flinching at all when Aiko demonstrated her powers by killing the wasp that was close to her head. Not gonna lie, seeing blood powers is a rarity even during her journey across Japan and Aiko was probably the first one she has met with it.

"Fu~ That's hella cool, sis! So you can even make swords and stuff with your blood or something? Hahahahaha!"

Shou was clearly having fun knowing all of these since to her, this is an 'exploration' for her as well for seeing blood-related abilities for the first time and couldn't help but laugh out of joy.

Though, hearing her experience with her ex-boyfriend, Shou couldn't help but give Aiko a pat on the shoulder as her way of comfort.

"Don't mind, don't mind. You're way stronger than me at least so you can definitely defend yourself."

When she was asked a question about herself, the girl moved her hand away from Aiko's shoulder and put some distance between the two of them so at least she can be seen due to their height difference.

"I am nothing special. I don't train and my powers aren't as cool as yours."

Taking a 100 yen coin out of her own pocket, it immediately disappears into thin air and only weak sparks of electricity came out from the tip of her fingers before it stops.

"Its difficult to explain but I can only buy and sell anything I want. Its pretty useless, isn't it?"

"Well, something like that. It can do other stuff, but thank you for saying it's cool."

If she spent more time getting into the mechanics of her powers, they would be here all day. So, instead, she would gush a bit and nod when Shou stated she must've been strong to move forward from whatever caused her to gain these abilities. It caused Aiko to pause and think about how far she had come since being less dependent on her ex-boyfriend.

Aiko had trained, traveled these worlds, learned new interests, and pushed herself beyond her sorrows and limitations to see life beyond living for another. So it was nice, and even if she was stumbling about life right now, that was ok to her, and it made her smile a bit.

"Yeah, maybe you are right about that. It takes strength to move on from bad things in life. Thank you for that. I needed to hear that."

Sounding more relaxed and joyful, Aiko seemed content at the moment before her eyes blinked, and she noticed Shou walking away to perform her powers. From what Aiko observed, the woman made the coin disappear, and then some sparks of electricity came out before they stopped.

Confused, Aiko tilted her head and blinked for a few moments.

"You...are going to need to explain that more. How did the coin disappear? Did you sell the coin to make that electricity or something?"

Shou happily nodded - if her words can make someone feel even a little happier, then that's more than enough for her. She did wonder though, who would be cruel enough to hurt such a cute creature? Well, they may have certain.. 'size' differences, she still do find her cute in certain aspects worth giving a pat over.

She didn't expect that the demonstration wasn't good enough, well, Aiko wasn't at fault either. Shou wasn't really the smartest of the bunch to give a proper explanation afterall.

"Pretty much but it doesn't just have to be money.", confirming that she did indeed sell her coin for electricity.

Searching her pockets if there is anything else worth using, whatever's left was just a thousand yen and a few pieces of lollipops that she was planning to enjoy herself with during her stay in the city and took out one of the few lollipops she had left.

"For example, I can sell this candy.."

Shou waved the lollipop around with her fingers before it disappeared into thin air again without a trace just like the previous 100 yen coin and continued on.

"To buy for something like wind."

A weak gust of wind blew out of her hand for a few seconds before it stopped, slightly messing up her hair as she had it pointed close to her own face when she was waving around the candy.

That was about it - at least for Shou, her powers may seem impressive on paper but it was too dependent on the costs of things that she is selling since unlike everyone else, she can't utilize her powers straight from the source to do the exact same thing, so she has never found her power that impressive when compared to others with superpowers themselves.

With a big smile on her face, she waved both of her hands towards Aiko as well when she was done showing it.

"And that's it for Shou's little power demonstration class! Yay~"

Hm. That observation opened Aiko's mind when it came to the nature of Shou's powers. It seemed rather creative and worth exploring since if she was stronger or more skilled, that power could do a lot of damage.

"I think if you train it, that will actually become a scary power. It seems like it would have a lot of creative ways to use it, and you shouldn't feel bad about it. It's more versatile than just blood stuff."

Chuckling softly, Aiko nodded along and continued speaking.

"I think this is the best city for that kind of thing since I always hear of strong people coming from here. Maybe you will run into one of them that can help you. That's my guess."

'Scary power', huh. How wonderful would that be if it were true but one thing she could agree with is training with it, which was something Shou had neglected for a long time since her discovery with it. After all, thinking back, she was an ordinary civilian until something like this came into her hands without consent. That worries her that if she loses control of it, then innocent people would just get unnecessarily dragged into it.

So hearing it from Shou that it can get better from here if she tries to train it, it left a little.. warm feeling inside her heart at least. She really wants to give Aiko a big fat hug right here and then but under consideration that they only met each other today, maybe she will keep it for another time.

"Maybe you're right! Thanks, sis!"

Answering her with a big smile on her face, she then continued on.

"Strong people, huh. I don't really know anyone here or how much the city has changed since I last came here a few years."

It is true that Shou didn't have any opportunity to survey much of the city even back then. Being thrown in the middle of a park with parts of her memories gone, she was busy surviving at the time and went out for travelling after someone taught her the basics of survival skills.

Her eyes looked around the sky, pondering for a bit before focusing her attention back to Aiko.

"Plus I am not here to look for a fight anyway."

Covering her mouth, she couldn't help but let out a bit of a giggle.

"I am not a rpg game character where I will level and unlock skills by fighting other people for exp. It would be better if there is a day where any of those 'strong people' would teach me though."

Mmmm. Shou seemed content. The thanks that the other woman gave Aiko warmed her heart, as she liked to be appreciated. So, in response, Aiko nodded her head and spoke.

"You are welcome. It's hard to grow power, but don't give up."

Trying to muster up some encouragement where she could, Aiko herself wanted to be someone that could uplift others, and this was a small step toward that goal. Of course, she did end up blinking and staring at Shou for a while after her other comments. RPG Games were cool to her since you could grind and max out your character sheets. Of course, life didn't always work like that, but Aiko was baffled that she got that from her initial response.

"RPG Games are fun to play, though. Don't knock them."

After coughing and looking down at her side for a few seconds, Aiko continued.

"But, uh, maybe I could help you? It's nice to have friends, and maybe I can teach what little I know to maybe bring more of that power out."

There was a pause before Aiko rested her palm on her cheek and gathered her thoughts. Once ready, she pressed ahead.

"Tell me, what do you even want to do with your powers? I...don't want to give unsolicited help if you don't want it."

Oh~ Aiko is a fellow gamer as well! That excited her for a bit since she had gained a bit of knowledge about it when hanging out at cybercafes as temporary shelters, so she had a bit of chance to game here and there.

"Yeah, you're right. RPG games are fun!"

Shou never had this much fun talking to someone or rather, it has been awhile since she has even chatted this much, maybe aside during her time in the forest but that is a topic for another time. Still, even if they weren't really blood-related sisters, Aiko felt like one to her to be able to converse this smoothly between the two of them. When she was offered with help, well, she was a little surprised and before she could respond, she listened on to what Aiko said afterwards.

Lightly nodding for a bit, Shou went ahead with her response.

"Is it fine? Aren't you busy with yours too?"

It was their first day meeting and it was unexpected on the sudden gesture to help out from Aiko's part. She took awhile to think about it, not wanting to bother her too much about the whole training thing but eventually Shou's brain gave up on it - and then reached out her hand for handshake towards Aiko with a smile on her hand.

"Well, if ya' fine with it, then I ain't got complaints. I also hope that we can keep being wonderful friends from now on!"

Laughing with a joyful look on her face, she continued on to respond her about what she wanted to do with her powers.

"For what I want to do with it, I don't really know. I can only tell you I just want to look for answers about it. Otherwise, don't think that you're being a bother with your help, sis! In fact, you're hella nice to even offer it to someone you've just met today! Hahahahaha!"

Not being able to contain her joy, Shou couldn't help but pat Aiko on the back.

"Alright, so that's cool. I...didn't expect you to like RPGs. They are pretty fun because you can build up characters and stuff, and it's cool to see them grow."

After biting her lip, Aiko debated going a bit deeper into her thoughts until she just decided to be open and continue.

"Look, I get how it might sound stupid, and you can't live your whole like a game, but what's the harm of adding elements from stories and games you enjoy to help you?"

....cringe? Was that cringe? She didn't know, so the woman sighed hard and continued.

"I'm sorry if that sounded dumb...."

Scratching her head, she felt like she said something stupid and seemed a bit in pain before letting it pass. As soon after, Shou patted her back and seemed grateful for her help and how nice she was. So, Aiko blinked out of surprise and spoke back.

"..buuuuuuuuuuuuutttttt, yeah, it's totally fine. I can help you. I'm not too busy today."

Nodding and going along with things, Aiko continued.

"Some of the stuff I say may sound weird, but does it make sense that power comes from a need and not a want?"

Trying to figure out how to word this correctly, Aiko squinted her eyes before relaxing them and trying to go with the flow of the moment again.

"Like, in my case, my ex-boyfriend...wasn't at the greatest. I depended on him for a lot. I wanted him to protect me, be there for me and keep me safe. But....he broke that trust. He left me, and I felt so weak that I knew I needed to do something to get away from that bad place."

With her eyes shifting and looking down at the ground, Aiko stammered about trying to confess her true feelings and experiences, which was an awkward sensation. Yet, rather than run away from it, Aiko relaxed her heart, breathed out, and tried to look Shou back in her eye with some confidence and smiled nervously.

"You probably think it's weird, and that's ok, but I just thought that if I trained my body and my powers and pursued something that put me out in the world, out of my head, and around people that my strength would naturally grow. And, over time, it did, and I think that's why I want to help you as doing good...feels good?"

After leaning back in her chair and sighing, Aiko felt so flustered internally but just held her stare for a few moments before talking.

"Does any of that make sense?"

Shou was closely listening in to what Aiko was saying to her, nodding her head with a lot of points that was being brought up by her. While she can't agree with a few of them, she gets where Aiko's coming from. It took a moment for Shou to process everything into her head, wondering how she should respond before nodding to herself again, crossed her arms and looked at Aiko right in the eyes, brimming with energy.

"You're not wrong, what you're saying most of the time makes sense."

Tip-toeing herself upwards, she tried to go for a pat on Aiko's head before continuing on.

"You did your best and powered through the situation with your ex and you're hella strong for succeeding! Sucks for the guy abandoning someone as wonderful as you!"

Moving herself back down from patting the girls' head, Shou crossed her arms, looked away with a grin and just let out an exhale before moving forward with what she was saying.

"But my power doesn't come from neither a need nor want. It was just shoved on to me without consent and forced to live with this crap. I have no clear goals and I don't know what the heck to do with it. That's why I'm looking for answers more than anything."

It is true - imagine waking up in the middle of nowhere with no knowledge of what was going on after living an ordinary life, seeing shit that she wasn't supposed to see and later figured out that this inexplicable power was just.. there, without knowing how or why. Most people would've freaked out by then but Shou had the capability to handle that shock and dealt with it, leading her up until now.

Eventually, her attention shifted back to Aiko before her expression changed back to smiles and laughter.

"This is why I appreciate that you're giving me your time to help me out, sis! You are already helping a lot more than you think."

Aiko gave a gentle blink at the sight of Shou patting her head. It seems that most of what she said hadn't been wrong to the perception of the younger woman. So, a somewhat timid but warm smile came across Aiko's face after hearing those words.

"Uhhhh....thank you? No, really, thank you. It...wasn't a good situation. But it shows we can get through things if we put our minds to it!"

Tapping her head, Aiko nodded and continued.

"And yeah, fuck him. It was his loss."

Nothing worse than a woman's scorn, huh? For a while, that meekness was lost, and a voice of complete disdain uttered her lips before looking back at Shou and seeming somewhat puzzled. Was Shou's power forced upon her? Man, that was no way to live. Must suck, so Aiko patted the head of Shou in return and spoke.

"Uhm, for what it is worth, I'm sorry you had to go through that for your powers. I hope I didn't bring up any bad memories for you."

Although, there wasn't much time to process that sentiment before Shou praised Aiko for helping her. Yeah, Aiko thought she helped by saving her earlier, but she wondered just how deep the conversation with in regards to helping her.

"How did I help you exactly?"