Luck (Kaitou)

[REIKA HANAE]

Humans created so many unnecessary things. It seemed like for every ridiculously awesome thing they created, like this super expensive; super nice camera with a very powerful and high quality zoom, they would also create something really dumb, like this shrine. What purpose did something like this serve? It seemed absurd to Reika that people could actually believe in all these gods and monsters, but she knew people better than that. The shrine did have a purpose: comfort. To ease the paranoia of evil spirits or whatever, to make people think that whenever they got a lucky lot that it meant anything more than they were lucky at that one moment, but perhaps the most important thing it did was give money to the people that perpetuated these myths and mislead people into believing them.

People were so stupid. However, Reika had to understand this, for her methods were similar. Sweet words, terrifying tales...it was all transparently obvious to her, yet people continued to believe in it. It wasn't why she came here, but it was always interesting to think about. Humans were truly the only interesting thing in this boring world.

No matter how stupid the existence of this place was, Reika did have to admit that it was pretty. It appealed to her inner artist, and it was quiet and full of high places to explore. She figured she'd come here, climb a tree or something and take some pictures. Maybe take a nap too while she was at it. The trip there was uneventful, but things never seemed to stay that way for her. She could never tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

First, Reika quickly found the largest tree at the shrine. This should be more than high enough to give her a good view of the shrine and the surrounding streets. It was perfect. She was more than agile enough to work her way up it quickly, even with her bag. However, there was one problem with trees: they had branches and leaves all over the place and they kept getting in the way of her shot. Frowning, she decided to climb a little higher where the leaves would be thinner. Up there was certainly better...but she was sure she could do better if she climbed just a little further forward. Just a little...more...

SNAP

The branch snapped under her and she scrambled to grab the closest branch she could as to not topple to the ground below. However, that branch couldn't hold her weight either and she continued to plummet to ground hitting all the outer branches as she fell. It hurt quite a bit, but Reika realized there was nothing she could do at this point. She held her camera close to her chest to protect it and braced herself for the landing.

The landing wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it would be, in fact, it was oddly soft. Looks like Reika was going to get out of this with only a few scratches! Lucky. She shook her head and quickly stood up and brushed herself off. That's when she realized exactly what she landed on. A small chuckle escaped her lips as she looked at him. Poor bastard, he just keeps saving her ass.

"Fancy seeing you here."

((You told me to leave how she landed ambiguous, so I did! Also, feel free to decide how long it's been since the last thread. If you don't care three days sounds okay.))

[KAITOU NAGANO]

There is a street gang that used to hang around Naganaki Shrine every night. They were raucous troublemakers, picking fights and harassing any who crossed their path. Led by a yankee who fancied himself a Reaper, this gang came to be known as the Pale Riders. Two years ago, they dissolved without a moment's notice...

But to this day, their former boss still finds the time to loiter around the shrine, even with all of his responsibilities as the leader of an entirely different organization. Though it was the middle of the day, Kaitou was wide awake and sitting against the wall behind the shrine, reading a light novel. The blonde's delicate sleep schedule had been thrown off balance for three days now, and he had resigned himself to actually sleeping at night and being awake during the daytime again. Since he did not attend school like the rest of his teammates, he instead did his research and intel gathering during the day.

When that got boring, he took some books with him and left for Naganaki, deciding that the rest of the afternoon would be better spent catching up on Haruhi. Students often came to the shrine after school, but few ever came around to the back, where there were only trees and stumps. And occasionally, his old gang members. Today, it was just him and his books, and without anybody around to annoy or distract him, Kaitou let himself be absorbed in his reading...

---

A few hours passed in the blink of an eye for the teen, and before he knew it, his phone was vibrating in his coat pocket. He'd set a silent alarm for half-past five so that he could make it to Paulownia before dark. Letting out a quiet sigh, Kaitou folded the corner of the page he was reading and gathered his books, dumping them in the messenger bag he had brought with him before slinging it over his shoulder and walking around to the front of the shrine.

He barely heard the snapping tree branches before jerking his head up.

"Gah!" the blonde cried, quickly reaching his arms and bending his knees to catch the falling person in his arms. It worked well enough, except for the fact that this person was just a bit heavier than he had anticipated, and so he fell flat on his back while holding onto them. The fall winded him, a result of the bulk of this person's weight being shifted to his stomach. When he regained his bearings (uncomfortable as he was with somebody sitting on him), he glared up at the person he had saved, about to fire a seething remark about their weight (or something).

That was when he caught a glimpse of the chuckling Amaranth that he had once again bailed out of a treacherous situation. She stood up, remarking on the rather odd coincidence that they would meet again, and here of all places. How lovely. Amaranth was probably near the end of Kaitou's 'to see' list right now, if not sitting at the very bottom itself.

"Y...You! What the hell are you doing falling from a goddamned tree in Naganaki?!" Kaitou yelled, wincing as he brought himself to his feet. "And for that matter, how did you even fall from a tree in the first place? Are you perhaps packing more weight than your frame implies?"

[REIKA HANAE]

Reika counted down the seconds in her head. He naturally didn't pick up that it was her right away, she did just land on top of him after all, but his reaction when he did was bound to be hilarious.

3...2...1...

He jumped, and she somehow managed to hold back her own laughter. That didn't stop a ridiculous grin from growing on her face. She glanced down at her camera as she put the strap around her neck. It looked like it was undamaged, excellent. She didn't want to have to drop a couple another large stack of her hard earned loot into getting another one. She had better places to put that money.

"Well, gravity does tend to make me do things against my will."

His next sentence caught her a bit off-guard, but it didn't bother her in the slightest. Reika was more than capable of laughing at herself, and was pretty comfortable in her own body. She just snorted loudly before giving him an exaggerated shrug.

"Guess I should cut back on the cake. Didn't mean to squish you man! Oh, and thanks for saving me again!" she bowed in an over dramatic fashion. "You seem to have a sixth sense for when helpless girls are in trouble Mr. Hero."

[KAITOU NAGANO]

"Helpless girl my ass!" Kaitou growled, pointing an accusing finger at the girl in front of him. The urge to throw something at Amaranth was rising steadily, but all Kaitou had on hand were his books, and he wouldn't dare risk losing them by launching them at her.

"..." A few moments passed without the blonde jabbing at her before he sighed and closed his eyes, folding his arms and turning his head to the side as a very clear (if not exaggerated) indicator that he was only saying this next line out of obligation. "You're not hurt, right? It would be a hassle to drag your ass over to the hospital, so don't bother answering unless you broke something."

As an afterthought, he placed a hand on his stomach and winced, turning back to shoot a glare as if it were Amaranth's fault. Which it was, for the most part. "On second thought, maybe I need a trip to the emergency room..."