[x] Ask your Aunt, what she's going to do today.
[x] Hug Evelyn when she gets here. If she asks, just say you wanted to hug her. That's all. Actually hug all your friends when they get here because why not.
[x] Talk with all of your friends once present and on the way to Mitakihara.
-[x] About which places you'll visit first.
--[x] Ask about which places Ariane is particularly looking forward to. The answer is probably 'everywhere' but, well who knows?
-[x] ...maybe see how far behind you are in your reading contest with Evelyn. Quietly vow not to make this so one sided.
-[x] Ask Kishi if she's made any new miniatures. What kinds? You'd like to see them some day.
-[x] Ask Mariko if there's anywhere she'd like to go during the trip.
-[x] Telepathy Ariane. Ask if she cleansed after training last night. You kinda forgot.
You turn your gaze away from the clock and nod gladly at your aunt.
"Don't worry, we're there to have fun, not to cause ruckus! You know you can count on us, right?"
The woman lets out a sigh and shakes her head lightly. There is a faint smile on her face, half-hidden by her crossed hands.
"I'm not afraid of that, rest assured," she tells you.
"But it doesn't hurt to be careful, now does it? You never know what you run into."
"Yeah... but we'll just cross that bridge if we come to it," you say.
"But besides that, what are you going to do during the day? I mean, you're not going to just sit here the entire time, are you?"
"Of course not!" your aunt says with a teasing grin.
"I'm just going to be a boring adult and go to work myself. Cathy and I need to get some stuff done so we can have one or two shorter workdays next week."
"Oh, what for?" you ask.
"Mostly for getting your group time to practice under supervision," comes the answer.
"I suspect miss Mariko might need that at least, and it wouldn't hurt the rest of you either to keep these sessions going for a while."
You nod at your aunt with affirmation, but don't get to say anything as the doorbell rings out of the blue. You jump off the table nigh immediately and blink towards the door,
"Oh, I guess Evelyn's here. Just a sec!"
You practically dance over to the door with light-weight steps leading the way. You throw the door open quickly, leaving Evelyn stunned by the suddenness of it. As such, she is unable to do or say anything meaningful before you've thrown yourself out and glomped her tightly.
"Hii Evelyn~! How are you?"
There is a moment's silence as you friend struggles to digest what just happened. You try encouraging her by looking up at her with wide eyes, something that makes her blink in confusion.
"Um, Tamiko? Why the sudden hug? Did something happen here, or-?"
"Nah, I just felt like hugging you! That's all," you inform her brightly.
"Well uh, alright? That's great and all, but- Aaaaa!" Evelyn screams out in surprise as you pull her into the apartment and close the door behind her. You briefly wonder how that must have looked like to a potential outside observer, before brushing the thought off. The answer, of course, is a horror movie.
Instead, you grin brightly at the flustered girl and hug her even tighter. Your friends are too huggable for you to resist, and you can confirm Evelyn being near the top! She doesn't seem too happy about you doing that without any warning though, so you try to assuage her a bit,
"Aww, don't be mad! You arrived just in time to share some breakfast with us!"
"But I already ate my breakfast?" Evelyn wheezes out in a confused protest beneath your hold. You have a simple counterpoint to that one.
"Pancakes!"
Evelyn manages to let out a sigh, seeing that there would be no reasoning here, and responds,
"...Alright, why not? Mind letting me go, though?"
"Maa~, you might want to hurry then. This little rascal has emptied half of the place already," your aunt- well, uncle now, calls from the kitchen. The illusion seems to have gone up while you weren't looking. But regardless of that, the point still stands, and you ease your grip on Evelyn to drag her to the kitchen for second breakfast.
Despite her claims to having already eaten, Evelyn definitely seems to find the remaining pile of pancakes appetizing enough to devour them in short order in between the casual chatter between the three of you. It makes you feel a bit dismayed to find that you're good two books behind Evelyn on the reading contest, and you carefully skirt around mentioning that directly.
In your mind, you quietly swear to not make it so one-sided.
You manage to finish the meal in good time too, seeing as soon as you're finished, you can hear Kishi calling to you telepathically, telling that the rest of your friends are down at the yard.
You and Evelyn make your way down without further ado, only grabbing your winter coats on the way. True enough, Kishi, Ariane and Mariko are all waiting down there. The former two seem upbeat enough, chatting with each other until you arrive, but Mariko looks like she's about to fall asleep any second now.
How long she stood up last night is a mystery to you. But you can ask that later. Because right now you have some hugging quotas to fulfill.
"Hi everyone!" you cheer and jog down to the others, going to Mariko first. Consequences be damned, she's getting a hug too to brighten up her day. The girl stiffens up immediately upon contact, and for a moment it seems like she might react badly and rashly to this. Fortunately, she manages to catch herself before anything happens.
"Just, ugh… C-could you please not do that, please?" she pleads you with heavily forced calmness, and you decide let her go. For now…
"Thank you."
"Aww, don't be so sour about it. Hugs are great!" you protest with furious nodding from Ariane behind you, before jumping over to give a quick, shared hug to her. Kishi follows soon after, even if she's somewhat confused as to your reasons why you're doing this.
Once you're done, you pump your fist into the air and announce,
"Alright, I proclaim the first excursion to Mitakihara City… To! Begin!"
"Aye aye!" Ariane yells happily right after you, with the others following in a bit more subdued manner, due to being more busy about laughing at your enthusiasm. You out a little but let it slide as all five of you climb to the black car for your journey to the South.
It takes barely five seconds for the active chatter to start between you.
"So, what places are you looking forward to the most, Ariane?" you inquire, giving the girl a curious look. Frankly, you suspect you know the answer already, but it never hurts to-
"Everything of course!" Ariane announces before you can finish that thought.
"There's just so little time…"
Called it!
"I can relate to that," Evelyn continues from that with a light chuckle.
"But it's not like we can't come here too during other weekends, right?"
Ariane gives a pout at that.
"That doesn't mean it's only a limited time."
You let out a chuckle at that and turn to face Mariko who has almost collapsed against the window and is one step away from falling asleep on the spot. You feel kind of guilty snapping her out of it, but she needs to socialize with all of you.
"Hey, Mariko! Is there any place you'd like to go during the trip."
The girl in question snaps her eyes open instantly and blinks a few times in confusion.
"Huh, whazzat… Oh, right. I-I can't really think of anything off the top of my head. Sorry…"
"Eh, it's fine," you reassure the girl.
"You'll probably like the ideas we've had anyways!"
"Right…" Mariko nods slowly, and you watch how she sloops against the front seat of the vehicle. You shake your head in amazement and turn to look at Kishi.
"Well, leaving aside the sites we're going to visit…" you begin, your mind travelling to the first time you visited the girl in search of some other topic.
"Kishi, have you made any new miniatures since I was over to your home?"
The girl seems to be taken aback by the sudden question.
"Eh? W-what-?" she blurs out hastily before composing herself.
"Uh, I-I haven't really done much lately, j-just a couple of soldiers…"
"Oh, what kind?" you press on.
"I'd like to see them all properly some day. You have so many, and they look nice!"
"Uh, t-thanks?" Kishis stutters out, with her cheeks reddening at the sudden praise.
"But they're just basic footsoldiers, nothing fancy. T-there hasn't been too much t-time to do much else."
"Oh, what are these things you speak of?" Evelyn pipes in with some interest.
"Care to explain?"
You take the interruption to the conversation to give Ariane a quick look. She has become busy while your attention was elsewhere. The girl staring out of the windows the passing landscapes and the scenery, mesmerized by the sight. She has never been this far outside her home, and she's taking it all in while she still can.
'Do you like it?' you ask her through telepathy, while half-listening to the chatter between Evelyn and Kishi.
'...Yes, I love it so much,' Ariane sends you back, her eyes not leaving the windows once.
'Mhmm… Also, did you remember to cleanse your Gem last night?' you ask her, recalling that she was heavily involved in the experimenting, and probably accrued her fair share of grief too.
'Yup! Bad dreams come when I forget that,' she trails off as her gaze turns towards the front of the car. her eyes widen and she starts speaking out to everyone.
"Is that… Is that Mitakihara?"
You all turn to look through the front window to see the great skyscrapers of the central city rise there. While Northern Mitakihara has its fair share of those, the sheer artistry put in these leaves you speechless. It's nothing like in your home.
"Y-yes, that's Mitakihara City," Kishi answers the question.
"T-this is only the Northern side, though. T-the buildings get smaller when you move South, and w-we'll be starting the tour from South-Western green areas."
You nod absentmindedly to the words, but focus most of your attention to the cityscape around you. There is truly a lot to see and do here. One day cannot do it all justice.
It takes a few minutes for the driver to take you to the parking lot where all of you exit the vehicle, leaving the aide to trail you. Ariane has brought out her phone, and is taking a picture of herself with the scenery to send it to her father. Mariko seems to have energized enough to not fall over for now. Kishi and Evelyn keep looking at the snow-covered park around you, which is easily the size of a small town.
It's time to start your plans!
What do you do?
[] Talk with your friends!
[] Your plan is to take Northern route through the urban center. It's shopping time!!!
-[] Observation Post!
-[] Some specific-kind of store!
-[] Suggest something that could feasibly be there.
[] Your plan is to head straight East, through the old town that has the most historical sights and museums, while grazing the center.
-[] Natural Museum!
-[] The parks!
-[] Some local store!
-[] Suggest something that could feasibly be there.
[] Your plan is to take a Southern route through the park and cultural area. It cant be that bad during the winter, right?
-[] Skating ring!
-[] The park sights!
-[] Art museum!
-[] Suggest something that could feasibly be there.
[] Write-in.
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Mitakihara is a huge city, so there isn't time to go through all of the routes in any meaningful capacity. I recommend you expand on the options presented under each other routes, since this is a rare chance to get the group to places and environments in which you would not often see them. You can pick some options from other routes but that takes some time or requires you to bother Ariane's aide to take you there
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