Overdue Overture [Yuuto, Mirai]

She seemed rather enthused about the idea, that was good. It was a fun little activity that they could do together. However, he wasn't expecting her to suddenly grab a piece of paper and start working on something herself. He was about to ask what she wanted to do, nearly reaching for one of the instruction pamphlets, only for her to turn around and face away from him. Despite him trying to peek over her shoulder, she kept the project expertly hidden, so, Yuuto eventually settled down and waited patiently.

And, that patience would certainly be worth it. As she turned around, Yuuto smiled, a hint of almost child-like curiosity in his eyes as he waited for her to reveal her personal project, and she revealed a kunai. It was a bit crude, only to be expected from someone picking up the art for the first time, but, nevertheless, it was impossible to say it was something else. Yuuto's lips parted as he looked at the creation, gingerly reaching out to touch it.

"That's wonderful, well done. I hadn't expected you to grasp it so fast, nor be so inspired so quickly. Would you like to try your hand at a crane?"

“Why a crane?” Mirai curiously asked. She could not recall seeing any “crane” decorations around his place. She even took a moment to glance around the room and saw nothing that resembled one. “Daggers are more… me,” Mirai said, picking up another piece of paper and trying her hand at the dagger again. Stars shined in her excited eyes a she made each fold, her tongue sticking out as she focused harder on sharper edges and cleaner bends. And again, she was done!

“Look,” Mirai pulled up another paper kunai, this time a little better than the last. She even twirled it between her fingers, a gentle expression of her agility barely denting any parts of the paper. She suddenly threw it toward the wall. It flew pretty decently for about three feet before falling to the ground. “Hm… Needs improvements.”

As she looked around for some kind of visual reference, Yuuto quietly slid the manual over to her. It had illustrations of what each origami piece was meant to look like. But, Mirai was quick to start on something new, watching as she worked on making another kunai, taking note of the creases and particular folds made to try and create a sharper edge. As she held up the retry, Yuuto couldn't help but smile. Despite the rather morbid and sinister appearance at a first glance, it was something she enjoyed.

"If you're wanting to make it fly farther, you're going to want to make more layers, give it more weight. Also, be sure to give it a lot of force as well."

Taking the manual in his hands, he quietly flipped to an illustrations of an origami crane, one far better than the one he had created, and he held it out for Mirai to see.

"But, as for why, cranes are one of the most classic and famous pieces of origami. Plus, there's an old story from Japan involving origami cranes. If you fold a thousand of them, your wish would come true. As a result, it also became a symbol of hope and healing during challenging times."

He smiled wistfully, remembering a few reports from the World of the Living about people folding origami cranes as a way to pray for people.

"I know that daggers are something you enjoy, but, I'm sure there's an animal in here you might want to try and make, or even just one you'd like in general. You never know if you don't try, after all."

The example Yuuto gave confirmed something in Mirai’s mind. It’s not that he liked cranes specifically. It must have something to do with a piece of culture out there. The fact that people believed they granted wishes because you made a thousand sounded more like a trick people told children to see how far they got, showing more disciplined traits or something. Mirai raised a curious eyebrow.

“You don’t believe in the wish thing, do you? Sounds like nonsense.” There was no way to sugar coat her thoughts on that, and she wasn’t feeling the need to right now. She took a moment to contemplate her choices, while listening to his explanation about the wish. More daggers or… some animal. Deciding to give the animal a chance, she took the instruction book and began looking.

“Besides a crane… What else could be made? What about a tiger?” Mirai’s voice started trailing off as she looked through the book, thoroughly analyzing the difficulty of each by imagining the steps in her head. After a moment, she suddenly stopped, looked up to Yuuto, and tilted her head. “Uh… Is this… romantic to you?”

'I haven't seen much origami in any of the manga I read... or the books. Hm.'

Believing in the idea of a wish being granted? Perhaps when he was younger. But, nowadays, certainly not. So, with a simple shake of his head, Yuuto moved a little bit to sit closer to her, and peer at what she was looking at. A tiger would be a fun choice, and it wasn't too particularly difficult, though that was still dependent on the style. As Mirai stopped and looked at him, Yuuto chuckled softly as he reached up to pat her head.

"Well, not explicitly, but, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It's okay to just have a bit of fun. Is...this not to your liking? We can do something else, if not."

“This is giving me ideas for training, actually,” Mirai explained as she turned the instruction book page again. She hadn’t found a tiger yet, or anything that really piqued her interest, so she stopped and then picked up the paper dagger she hadn’t thrown. “Some of our new recruits cold use some training aiming at new targets without worrying about damaging more than a little papercut… This could work?”

Mirai held out the kunai to Yuuto, curious about what he thought and then turned the page. “I knew I’d find a tiger.” After a quick analysis, she raised an eyebrow. "More difficult than I thought... Oh well." Mirai looked around at the available paper and began making her choices. "What are you making next?"

His eyebrow rose as she mentioned ideas for training. He hadn't thought to incorporate something like origami, or even just the eventual constructs themselves into the division's training, but, perhaps she could enlighten him. As she explained her line of reasoning, a hand went to Yuuto's chin as he considered the idea. It was an interesting idea, all things considered.

"Hmm...not only could it allow for minimal damage, but also let them focus more on technique, rather than entirely on strength. But, I'm not sure how the new recruits would take it. We'll have to give it a test run to see how things play out."

As he watched her flip through the manual, he smiled, before eyeing the kunai, and that smile was quick to turn playful and sly. Without a word, he quickly snatched a sheet of paper from the large stack, and in a moment's notice, he had formed a simple throwing star.

Its edges had been notably altered to prevent any real injury, and Yuuto held it expertly, flat on his palm, wrist curved, and his thumb holding it in place. As she asked, he playfully tossed it toward her, lightly hitting her forehead.

Mirai was stunned. The paper star hit her head and for a moment, she could not fathom what was going through this man’s head. The star fell into her lap, so she picked it up, looked at him, then him again. ‘That smile… He wants to play.’ Still staring at Yuuto, Mirai’s expression distorted to one of chaotic mischief. “You want war, you got it,” Mirai said beginning to fold as quickly as she could, making kunai after kunai. She needed an arsenal if she were going to go to war.

Once she was satisfied with the amount of kunai, some were clearly rapidly made, others better as she got the hang of it. She immediately threw one at Yuuto, giving no hint that she was done and just tossing the last one, aiming at his forehead.

Were he to be honest, he had been expecting her to scold him. It was, after all, a rather childish move, and hardly becoming of the Stealth Force Captain, much less for a date. But, for him, there was nothing wrong with a bit of teasing and a bit of fun, even for a date. They were friends, after all, not strangers trying to maintain some kind of image of themselves.

But, it seemed that there was still more that he had to learn about Mirai, as Yuuto's expression shifted to one of surprise as he watched hers change as well, one to meet that mischief that he had presented, his lips parted in genuine, but welcome shock. With a quiet chuckle, Yuuto quickly swiped a handful of sheets, sliding away from her as she started to fold more faux-weapons, taking the time to make a series of weapons himself.

As she threw hers, Yuuto would throw a kunai to meet it, but, as he threw a kunai to meet the last one, he sneakily added a throwing star underneath it, intending on having it slip under the clashing kunai to hit Mirai in the center of her chest.

Mirai did not turn down challenges often, especially ones from Yuuto himself, so it was ON! Mirai knew Yuuto’s sneaky tricks, and even with that speed, it really was just paper… She noticed the incoming star beneath the kunai he threw and was forced to dodge. She did so with a small hop to the side, bringing her hand down just behind her to catch the star and immediately throw it right back at him.

“I will not be defeated, Captain,” Mirai said, a mixture of excitement and seriousness in her tone as she grabbed two more of her paper daggers and threw them at him again. One aimed for his forehead, the other for his heart. It was like her training had kicked in, even if she was holding back. It’s not like she was using reiryoku… yet. Knowing she could get carried away, he’d have to watch it.