Not the same as before (Yata/Rhyme)

After that trip to an alternate world, Naomi wasn’t feeling too up to anything having to do with it. In fact, she wanted to avoid things like that for a while. With one very big exception. She was still up for seeing one certain person she knew was carrying a Persona. In fact, she was hoping he could distract her from the entire affair that just unfolded. She grabbed the skateboard he made her and changed her clothing to something more practical before deciding to go to Standasen. By now, it was mostly just a habit. It also had to do with the fact that she felt as if she didn’t belong in that place she was heading unless she had it with her. But mostly, it was because he made it with her in mind. That made it more special than anything else.

As the subway came to a stop, she would dash out of the car she was in a. As soon as the area was clear, she would hop on the board and ride it to the stake park. She was already getting better at this, and the more she rode, the more she felt like she could beat him someday. She still had to pay him back for the last race they had. As she arrived at the skate park, she stopped to look around for the person she expected to be there. For some reason, she couldn’t find him. The only thing she could assume was that he was near the back again. She could understand it the first time, but his skills would get rusty if he kept forgoing practice. She rolled her eyes at that stupid thought. Yatagarasu would never let his skills get rusty. He would never even admit to the fact that they might get rusty. It made her laugh just a little.

At least there was someone here that she knew, or she would have headed straight home, “Rhyme!” She would wave to the guy as soon as she saw him and make her way over to him. She had a large smile on her face. She liked seeing Rhyme too, “Sorry I haven’t been here in a while. How have you been?” She wasn’t just spouting out formalities. She really did want to know how he was doing. As much as she wanted to see Yatagarasu, she also wanted to talk to the other person she hadn’t seen for some time. Besides, Yatagarasu was probably busy if he wasn’t here at the moment. Even with that trip into the alternate world they had gone on, he probably needed some more practice with his Persona. If he was playing with his fire again, it would be better for her to stand back. She didn’t need to get caught up in that at the wrong time.

Naomi would cock her hip to the side a give a quick laugh, “I don’t think I could show my face around here if I wasn’t practicing on my own. I already have enough catching up to do, and I’m not going to make that any worse.” Granted, teaching herself wasn’t going anywhere at the moment, since she had to go by trial and error in most cases. Although, she had figured out most of the quick ways to make herself go faster in a pinch, which was a good start. She was also figuring out how to stop at a moment’s notice without rolling down a hill. She would look around the skate park when he mentioned how quiet it had been after the news about the prisoner escaping. She wondered if that was going to change soon, “You’re right. I can’t imagine what the criminal would want to do with this place. Unless you have an escape pod to Mars under the ramp, or something.” She would actually give him a look that made it seem like that was a serious question. She wouldn’t be surprised if there was something more here, considering how many people seemed to treat this place like home.

She would puff her cheeks in protest, “I’ve been fine, thank you very much. I’m not getting into any trouble that I can’t get myself out of.” Not that she wasn’t getting into her fair share of trouble, “Besides, he can’t lecture me. He gets into enough trouble himself and you know it.” That’s partially how they met. She had to laugh though, because she couldn’t imagine him any other way. In fact, she would probably take him to a psychiatrist if he ever started acting differently. She was too used to it by now. Her eyes would light up similar to a child’s when Rhyme mentioned ice cream. She was always a sucker for sweets, “Of course.” She would follow after him and give him a confused look when he mentioned that Yatagarasu wasn’t around, “He’s not here?” That was strange. She thought he spent most of his time here, “Is he running an errand or something?” She didn’t even here the last part of his statement after hearing that Yatagarasu was somewhere else. It wasn’t unlikely, given that they had met outside of Standasen, but she didn’t think he left that often, “Should we buy him ice cream for when he gets back?”