The Phantom of the Auditorium (For Uravity):

Takeru wasn't normally the most humorous of people.
His sense of humor was a dry, often deadpan cynical wit that at best could be described as morbid, at worst, gloomy to a sickening degree.
Which is why today was a particularly... odd example.
Not many people knew this, but beneath one of the drama club's auditorium stages was a storage basement.
And in that storage basement was a piano.
A piano that had been kept in very good condition.
Because of the way the stage had been constructed, sound could travel at a reasonably loud volume from the bottom.
As to how he found his way in there, it was because someone left the door unlocked.

Now the reason why he was down there was because he had been roped into helping for something-or-other because he was close by.
So as he sat at the piano, he thought briefly as to what to play, making sure that the storage room door was locked from the inside, before settling on a song.
All at once, the first few notes of 'The Phantom of The Opera' began to ring from beneath the stage, a song that he would dedicate himself to playing until the end.
His hands danced across the keys, skillfully going across them.
He was tempted to sing, but that might give away the joke.

Noriko's silently typing away, near the storage piano that'd been within the storage room, of course. The Takehaya had been sitting upon a multitude of wooden crates that were shaped into a massive throne of sorts. She sat, cross legged, in the seat of the throne. The technical engineer's back hadn't even been against the throne, causing her to be relatively hunched-over. Her pair of massive headphones hung from her neck, still broadcasting some low-volume J-pop. On her screen was a multitude of applications that may be overwhelming for the average person to make sense of - but Noriko had been hard at work, developing various complex programs that'd for-sure improve the technological quality of the drama club's performances. This had been one of her few places of solitude within the school where she wouldn't be interrupted – yeah, that sounds like a good excuse.

The key to the storage room had been on the makeshift armrest to her right. She's not even aware of the presence of the other person until the piano in question had been used! Her focus is disrupted, and Noriko is clearly caught quite off guard.
"W-Wha'?!" Noriko suddenly exclaims. She begins falling back, with a onto and through the makeshift throne, her throne will tumble around her and return to it's previous form - a herd of storage crates.

Takeru for his part hadn't been expecting anyone.
Which is why he found the new girl hidden there a surprise that nearly made him loose his concentration on the piano piece, barely managing to suppress it (with a slight error though that made him curse mentally).
Afterwards, he went to her.
"Well, well. We have a Christine here, it seems. Do not worry. I don't intend to harm you. But i'm curious: why are you here? I thought most of the drama club would be above in the light... unless you're one of the many shadows that work in the background." he asked her.

Noriko re-adjusts her wide-rimmed classes that for-sure would've been moved in all of the disarray. Slowly, she regains her breath while sitting back up. Her composure isn't regained, though, at least not immediately. Now once more sitting cross-legged atop of the many crates now littered across the floor, Noriko's gaze hesitantly returns to Takeru. A hand silently rubs at her temple.

"I-I'm tech' support," Noriko says, in a tone just barely above a whisper. Her gaze would've been awkwardly averted to the grounds below the two as she eyes the cover of her now-shut laptop. Said cover would've been littered with all sorts of j-pop and anime stickers. A hand reaches for the laptop slowly, as if not to draw attention yet again. It's placed on her lap and then opened. Her irises grow smaller in size as the laptop becomes active.

Tech support, huh?
Well, that figured.
He smiled.
"Ah, I see. Out of the spotlight, what you do is part of the magic. The actors may make the characters relatable to the audience, but it's people like you that truly immerse the audience in the show. Good special effects is key to creating the sort of synthesia that you want to make. Forgive me for disturbing you earlier. Had I known you were there, I would not have done something that scared you so badly." he said. Truth be told, one could counter that if he didn't want to disturb anyone else, he shouldn't have done it at all, but he just couldn't help himself.
Also, it seemed like she didn't get the joke he had made earlier.
He sighed mentally. Why is it that it seemed like so many people didn't care for the classics...?

Noriko is off-put by the compliment. She couldn't remember the last time that she was given one of those. At least, she couldn't remember the last time she was given one by a real person. Not via text on a screen by a stranger on the other side of the world. Her eyes widen slowly, and this effect is perhaps magnified by the large glasses that she wears. The teen's gaze is averted from her laptop to Takeru. There's a hesitant pause, as she'll have to mentally prepare herself for such an inquiry - or, well, any, really.

"D-Do you really mean that?" She asks, in the same faint tone as previously. Noriko had a strong passion for acting in general. Being complimented for supporting such a passion was a big thing, at least for Noriko. The shimmer from the teen's laptop is vaguely reflected off of her glasses, perhaps giving Takeru a slight view of the complex program that Noriko had been developing.

Well. Seems like she really was the shy type, the kind not used to praise at first.
Much like he had been (and maybe still rather was...).
Was it him, or was her screen being reflected off her glasses...?
"Yes. I do mean that." he said simply and calmly, like he was reaffirming a statement of fact.

The ends of Noriko's lips form into a faint smile. In this moment, she's at a loss of words. That's not to say this isn't common, though-- as she isn't very used to socializing in the first place. There's a brief pause, before Noriko actually gives a response. If you're even generous enough to call it that.

"T.. Thanks." She's clearly not going to be one to keep the conversation rolling at any reasonable pace.

Oh yeah.
He had forgotten something important.
"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Takeru Kagemaru. What's yours?" he asked her casually.
It was gentleman's conduct after all to introduce oneself to another when meeting, especially when it comes to women.

Noriko awkwardly peers a few feet away from Telos, after a few moments of presumed direct eye contact. Her lower lip is bitten for the briefest of moments, but she'll respond soon after.
"U-Uh.. I'm Noriko." And someone who hadn't expected to engage in social interaction in this moment. These sorts of things needed mental preparation, which she simply hadn't gotten any of!

So that was her name.
Noriko.
"Huh. Alright. Say, what's that computer hooked up to that lets you control the stage stuff? Some kind of app? I thought there were special controls for this sort of thing..." he said, trying to make conversation with her the best he could.
Well, admittedly, he was curious, but he needed to draw her out of her shell before he could really start working magic.

The new inquiry gives the Takehaya some sense of security. Noriko's back in her element, at least to some degree: tech talk. Even if she's never really done it face-to-face. She'll flicker her gaze back onto her computer, as opposed to a random location within the storage basement. The teen reviews her programming while mentally preparing her next line. Everything seemed fine so-far.

"Well, it's wireless, actually. I had to make some modifications to the stage equipment, but it should work out just fine." She states, in a tone of voice slightly louder than it had been previously. Not an ideal tone for conversation, but it's definitely something. Courage's suddenly spurred within her, and she continues, "The old wired connection was surprisingly faulty and could've lead to short-circuiting, or even fires if used in frequent excess. This is a lot cleaner and safer."

That perked his interest.
He always did like machines.
He nodded at her words.
"Nice, nice! You not only made it much safer, but also easier to use. Although... is there a way someone else can use it if you fall sick or something? I mean, i'm sure there are plans in place, but..." he said, genuinely curious.

"Frankly, I think you're a genius." he said.

Noriko's been given an awfully large amount of praise during this conversation, and it's certainly something she's not used to. She's not sure how to feel about it-- well she knows how she -should- and how a person would, ideally. It's just.. Odd, for her, at least. Heeding his statement, the 'technomancer' considers a response.

"W-Well, I just made it about an hour ago. The program's just in my computer as-is, but I'll probably end up sharing it with the representative of the drama club, using cloud storage."

Only an hour ago?
Wow.
"Wow. That kind of program must be complicated, and you made it under an hour? Man, you really are a whiz with computers. I can do a similar thing with writing, but... wow. That really is neat." he said.
Good, he was drawing out more from her.
It was getting more interesting every second.