shifted_logs | Momentum

Entry tags:

Momentum

Characters: Kyouya [

polarisation]
Location: The Ootori Group's Tropical Aqua Garden. An indoor pool area!
Time: Vaguely during the Tarot Card plot.
Summary: Sefton bumps into Kyouya.
Warnings: These Air Treks are used by professionals. Do not try these speeds at home. Keep out of reach of children and small pineapples.

Kyouya adjusted his glasses and surveyed the gardens. So far, everything had been going well. They'd removed the more dangerous reptilians and moved all the switches away from places where idiots with water guns might hit them. If there was one thing Kyouya's friends could do as no one else could, it was demonstrate how nothing is ever fool-proof. Their creative stupidity was boundless and ideal for such tests as these.

But now that they had made their adjustments, everything seemed fine. The garden would be ready for opening in under a month and Kyouya would have performed admirably in this little test handed out by his father.

So, Kyouya made a final note in his laptop before standing up, drinking the last of his lemonade, and heading out towards the exit. He wasn't smiling, of course. There was no one to smile for.

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"See ya later, kid!"

"Yeah, yeah," Sefton replied good naturedly. Finishing with the laces on the motorized skates, he knotted the laces for his regular shoes around the strap on his bag and carefully stood. "See you tomorrow, Pete."

Bag fastened over his shoulder, he pushed off against the ground and let the motors carry him outside the pool room, and then out of the gym entirely. Glancing from left to right to make sure the path was clear, Sefton concentrated on attracting and tilted himself to the side, turning down the road towards his current sleeping arrangements.

To be honest, he was a little worried. He had been in town for several days already, and Chivy had yet to show his face. Maybe he'd hit some trouble in the last town? Or took the wrong bus to his next destination...

Sefton frowned to himself as he considered. It wasn't like his friend to be unable to track Sefton down only a few days after he had left. His knack seemed determined to lock onto him every other chance it got. With a sigh, Sefton let his ability pull extra air into the motors and sped up, feeling assured now that he was behind the gym (where very few chose to roam), and failed to check his path in his distraction.

T-minus 5 seconds until impact.

4...

3...

2...

1.

Since his final year in middle school, Kyouya had become surprisingly accustomed to being flattened by fast-moving objects. Usually, however, they were blond and talking quickly about something that Kyouya had to do, right now, because it would be oh-so-much-fun. And usually they didn't him him with quite as much force.

Kyouya sat up, clutching his laptop to his chest. As that was undamaged, Kyouya took the opportunity to look around and discover what, precisely, had nearly damaged precious hours of work. (As if he didn't have back-ups.)

Oh, it was that boy, the one Tamaki had rather foolishly taken an interest in. Typical Tamaki. Kyouya pulled himself to his feet. "Are you all right?"

Sefton groaned quietly, sitting up while clutching the arm he had landed on. The wheels on his skates continued to spin with a quiet hum as the motors churned and eventually ground to a halt. Taking a moment to gain his bearings, the fact that he must have hit someone instead of something was something he tried to ignore while he took stock of himself.

Except that he couldn't ignore it any longer when the somebody asked him a question, and then when he realized he recognized the voice. Sefton swiveled to face the other teen - the one that persistent blond guy apparently was friends with - and felt something crack inside. With the amount of force that crash had... who knew how deeply the guy had been messed with?

Sefton felt as if he was shaking, but he knew it was more of a mental thing than physical. He scrambled onto his feet, carefully keeping the weight on the front wheels, and nodded. "Y-yeah, I'm fine," he replied, forcing himself to let go of his bruised arm while trying to look casual about it all. "Are you okay?"

More than that, why was he there in the first place?

Kyouya straightened out his glasses, then assessed the boy critically. He noticed the grown, the way the boy held his arm, and, last of all, the states. Then he fixed on his smile again.

"Yes. We keep some medical supplies here. Please allow me to give you one of our First Aid kits. They're the highest quality supplies available in my world."

Kyouya reasoned that it was an excuse to keep the boy around a little longer and to learn more about him. It was always his habit to know everything possible about those connected to him and his companions, and his usual means of gathering information weren't left open to him. Besides, he wanted to know what Sefton was doing in the gardens.

"Said I was fine," Sefton insisted, with a shake of his head. More than anything, he wanted to flee, but if he did so without properly excusing himself, there was a chance Kyouya would seek him out on the Plane to check on his condition or some other reason.

Absently, he wondered why the finest medical supplies of Kyouya's world would be kept inside a small-town gym, where they didn't even belong, but was more interested in ending the conversation than satisfying his curiosity at the moment. "But, uh... thanks. Sorry, too."

"I insist," Kyouya replied. If he were one of his Hosts (more of them than just Tamaki), Kyouya might have taken the boy by the arm and dragged him to the supplies. Instead he just smiled, calm and friendly. "Besides, I'm curious as to how we bumped into each other here. We can discuss as we walk."

Knowing that this boy was less than sociable, Kyouya added, "It's just over here. Then I'll let you go. I'm leaving anyway."

Sefton hesitated, then sighed a bit roughly. Better to go along than risk being grabbed and worsening the effect. "Fine... but then I really have to go," he said, hoping that adding the urgency would somehow speed things up.

Perhaps Sefton could get his question answered in the meantime and still get out without adding to the damage already done. A bit win/lose, but that was better than the deals Sefton usually got from accidentally using his ability.

"It won't take long." Kyouya glanced at the boy, still wearing his game smile, and then started walking towards the main office building. He pulled a card from his pocket and slipped it into the slot. Kyouya now had full access to the building.

"I'm surprised to see you here. I didn't know that people could meet each other outside of the Plane."

Kyouya was very glad that Tachibana and the other two were out front right now. He didn't want to seem insane. That would count against him awfully.

"You're telling me," Sefton replied noncommittally. He stopped following when it seemed Kyouya was using a special key to get into the lobby for some reason. Weird. After a moment, he bit the bullet and asked, "What're you doing here, anyway?"

As far as Sefton had been able to tell, this guy and his friend were definitely of the higher-society. (And, come to think of it, the people they had shown up with in the hot springs were likely of the same sort.) Why would he be hanging around what amounted to the small town's community center?

"My family owns the Tropical Aqua Garden. I like to help the company in whatever way I can." Kyouya's smile was completely neutral and did not reveal what usually happened to people who trespassed on Ootori property. He kept his curiosity well-contained as he opened another door to get into the private offices. Then he pulled a medical kit out of the closet.

As in an inexplicably high number of Ootori products, there was a built-in recording device in the machine. Kyouya didn't turn it on quite yet.

Sefton followed Kyouya once again, trying his best to hide his awkwardness, guilt and confusion. Hiding how sore his arm felt was the easy part. At least the building didn't have anything against people wearing skates inside, since it was one of the few activities allowed on the indoor track. "Tropical Aqua Garden?" he repeated. One of the patrons looked up as he passed, and Sefton didn't fail to notice the odd look he received for the question. He simply shrugged, thinking the person was confused as to what Kyouya was referring to - as far as he knew, there was nothing like that within the town.

What was "the private offices" to Kyouya turned out to be the manager's office for Sefton. While the other teenager waltzed right inside and retrieved something from one of the filing cabinets, Sefton waited outside the door, unnoticed by the busy manager, and watched in mounting uncertainty. Was the manager really that oblivious to not notice...?

With Kyouya's back turned, it presented the perfect opportunity for Sefton to run. Instead, he took a quiet, shaky breath and forced himself to stay. Meltdown later, Sefton. Focus on the now, then get the hell out.

Kyouya walked back out, locking the door behind him with a touch, and held the box out to Sefton. "That's the name of this place. I'm surprised you don't know where you are." How Sefton managed to get in was a matter of curiosity and concern to Kyouya. No average boy should be able to get past Ootori defences.

Taking the box by the edge, Sefton carefully stuffed it inside his messenger bag for the moment. When he looked back up, he was simply confused. Questions started to bubble toward the surface and found himself warring between staying to ask or simply thanking Kyouya and jetting out of there.

"No, it's not," he said slowly. "S'the Newport Community Building."

That made Kyouya pause. It seemed like a very big mistake to make. Kyouya didn't glance around - he knew where he was - but he said, letting a slight amount of confusion ring through, "This is the Ootori Group's Tropical Aqua Gardens. In Tokyo."

"Tokyo?" Sefton repeated, almost dumbly. That would somewhat (somehow) explain why someone who was obviously Japanese was hanging around such a small, American town. It wouldn't explain, however, how Kyouya could actually be in another country and not know. He then shook his head and corrected, "It's Newport, Kentucky. In America."

Before he could say or do anything else, like run away from the rapidly deteriorating situation, something appeared and stuck itself inside his head. Now? It was happening now of all times?

Ruthlessness and cynicism in the name of profit; ever accumulating things of merit, profit and value; protecting what is valued; valuing things close to him, whatever they may be; values for idealism hidden behind everything else, the cunning face, the guiltless actions.

The feeling faded, but Sefton knew by now what would come immediately after and was helpless to stop it. A room, large and mostly unoccupied. A table, covered in games of cunning and profit—chess; cards. Beyond that, a piano, surrounded by faces, some actually familiar to him (while some not). As always, everything is important... so, so important.

The image faded, and Sefton reached out for the wall to lean against. His balance was especially tricky thanks to the skates on his feet, and he would much rather not put too much pressure on the motors and careen right into Kyouya for a second time in the same day.

Kyouya was at Sefton's side when he saw the other boy falter. Right now, the script called for the concerned utterance of this boy's name. Regrettably, he didn't have it. Instead of faltering, he said, "Are you all right?"

It could be a concussion from the fall. It seemed unlikely, but it was possible. More than his usual desire to use people, he felt the slightest desire to assist this stranger. He thought that Haruhi would accuse him of being a kind person again, and he had to keep himself from smiling fondly at the thought.

As Kyouya moved in, Sefton moved out. Using the wall, he pulled himself back and allowed the wheels to roll him about half a foot away. "Fine," he insisted. "Dandy."

Confusion and curiosity had been pushed aside when Kyouya moved closer. Now, all that remained was the desire to run and allow himself a moment to properly freak out before shoving the incident into the dark corner of his mind where the rest already waited. Shaking his head, he once more added, "I have to go."

"You seem less than fine." Still, Kyouya stepped back. The boy did seem to have an aversion to being near people, something Kyouya could sympathize with. And this response was very curious.

"I will want to discuss this 'Newport Community Building' with you in the future."

"Yeah, I know. Some other time, maybe," Sefton said vaguely, choosing to ignore the comment on his current status. He wasn't quite sure what to make of Kyouya's actions when coupled with what he had seenfeltexperienced and the fact that his ability must have had some effect on the other teen. Deciding it was something he would deal with later - maybe on the fifth Tuesday of Octember - Sefton turned and skated his way out of the Building, allowing himself only a moment to grimace at the way things had turned out.

Deftly dodging one of the people entering the building and taking a much more sedate pace than before (lest he start the entire cycle over by bumping into someone else), he mulled over the chances of Chivy showing up now, after everything else had happened. It would be just his luck, wouldn't it?

Kyouya watched the boy go then smiled to himself. It was unusual and therefore interesting. Kyouya liked interesting things, challenges and puzzles, and he couldn't know that Sefton knew (to some extent) that he liked it now.

He walked out the exit to where the Ootori family staff were waiting for him. "Tachibana," he said. The man stood at attention. "Did you see another boy leave here?" Kyouya didn't look at Hotta, but he said, "No, I don't mean Tamaki." He maintained his calm façade, though he felt the murmur of a smirk on his lips when Hotta blankfaced. It always did disturb Hotta when Kyouya could read his mind.

"No, Kyouya-sama. Was there another person in the park?"

To keep his guards from going mad with shame and concern, Kyouya said, "There wasn't."

Tachibana, Hotta, and Aijima never failed Kyouya. As he walked to his car to head back home, he considered this interesting fact. He would have time to question it later.

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Momentum

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