There she was. Locked out of her own apartment. Her arms filled with bags, several canvases leaning against the wall, and her key stuck in the lock not wanting to budge. One would think someone who was as successful as she was could afford a better apartment. Oh no. That would make life too easy. Setsuna Sadako didn't do easy. No, she spent all of her hard earned money on art school, instead of getting a nice apartment. Leaving her fighting with an ornery door in her Uncle's apartment building. "C'mon! OPEN!" She shouted, not caring if anyone else in the place heard her. She kicked the door. Next week the draft for Welcome to Temptation was due, and she REALLY needed to get working on that. The hentai manga was her biggest secret. If any of her family or friends knew that she was really Harumi Tetsuya, they would probably never let her live it down. It wasn't like she wanted to be a hentai artist for the rest of her life! She just made such great money! Art School wasn't cheap. "ARRGGHH! STUPID DOOR!" Now she was reduced to cursing, as Setsuna dropped all her sacks to the ground. Two hands twisting and gripping the knob as she kicked furiously at the corner. "LET ME IN. LET ME IN OR I'M GOING TO BURN YOU DOWN, DOOR!" Setsuna wasn't too worried about looking crazy.
"Mmnn..." Satoshi woke up to muffled pounding sounds followed by frustrated screaming from someone downstairs. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked at his clock with an expression on his face that said he just wanted to go back to sleep. 12:00 AM. He pressed down on the snooze button repeatedly before finally giving up and removing his sheets, getting out of bed and heading for the bathroom. He stood, staring at himself in the mirror for a moment before shrugging and continuing with his morning routine. As he stepped into the living room, he found his sister on the couch, wearing earmuffs and reading manga. He walked into the tiny kitchen and got out what was left of the milk."Oh! Sato-niisan, you're finally awake!" His sister exclaimed. She obviously couldn't tell how loud she was. He sighed, "Yeah.." After emptying the carton into his mouth, he motioned to the book in the girl's hands. "What's that." She held the book up proudly, showing him the cover of her brand new obsession, 'Welcome to Temptation'. Another smutty novel, he assumed. "Ne..?! you're a lot like the main guy in this, niisan!" She shouted. "You kind of look like him, too!" "Really..? How s-" "LET ME IN. LET ME IN OR I'M GOING TO BURN YOU DOWN, DOOR!" They looked over to the door, as if expecting someone to suddenly kick it down and steal all the food; Then Satoshi set his milk down and wiped the condensation off onto his sweater. 'So that's why she was wearing earmuffs..' "It's the landlord's niece!! She's having problems with her door again!" his sister explained. "At first, I thought she was some lunatic lady! But she just can't open her door-so I found these earmuffs..!" Her head shot up from her manga, as she got an idea. "Hey, you should go help her!!" He nodded. Sato calmly walked to the door and headed down the flight of steps, to see a girl having an all-out battle with her door for entrance, bags sprawled out all over the floor, other things resting on the wall; They shook as she beat into the door. He had to smirk to himself at the sight. 'What was her name again? Setsuna..?' He'd seen the girl before, but never quite as brazen. He shook his head and let out a light chuckle, as he walked up behind her, pried her off off the door and gently pushed her to the side. He worked the key that was still in the lock and opened the door with ease. He pulled the key out and offered it to her, then picked up her bags and nodded towards the door. "In."
"It's not going to work I alr-" Yet the key turned and he opened the door. "Okay, I swear it wasn't that-- !!" He dropped the keys in her hand and picked up her things. Gesturing for her to head on inside. But Setsuna was standing there staring. Her hand still outstretched with her keys sitting in her palm. At least until her hand tilted to the side and her keys dropped to the floor with a CLANG. Even that didn't seemed to break her wide-eyed gaze. Her inner dialogue was lit up with a flurry of activity. Takeo. That's Takeo... the absolutely perfect, real live breathing Takeo. Walked right out the pages and straight in to my groceries! Wait. C'mon now... Obviously you've been skipping too many meals and you're hallucinating sexy dream men. ...How long have I been standing here staring?! "Hi. HI. Damn, hold on." Setsuna stooped to quickly picked up her keys and grab up the empty canvases that were leaning against the wall. It was the perfect cover to hide her now reddened face. People loved saying artists were a little kooky, senile ever. But Setsuna was pretty sure she was just plain stupid at this point. She rushed inside the apartment. Inside the place was cramped. Not because the apartment itself was small, but due to all of her art supplies littering the walls, floor and any surface that dared to be empty. There were colorful paintings, pencil sketches. Clothes lines with drafted manga panels hanging by clothes pins. Almost all of them the worst and most raunchy scenes from Welcome to Temptation, which really wasn't helping Setsuna's mindset. She emptied her hands at the nearest table and was quickly grabbing at the bags Takeo -- err -- THIS GUY had. "Thank you very much! I'm sure you're busy so, ...thanks for the help!"
An awkward silence. How long was she just going to stand there, staring at him? Not that he disliked it or anything. In fact, compared to all the girls who pressed themselves against him or squealed like he was some kind of idol, her reaction was kind of.. cute. Or endearing, at the least. She dropped her keys, and he could have sworn he heard her whisper 'Takeo' under her breath. He looked down at them, ignoring it. It might just cause another, even more awkward situation. 'Can't really pick those up at the moment, might as well keep standing..' After a few more uncomfortable moments standing in front of the open door, and long after Satoshi began to feel self-conscious, the girl seemed to brake out of her daze long enough to greet him, take her things inside and thank him before grabbing her groceries. Feeling shooed away, Sato held onto the last grocery bag, a worried expression playing his face. "I'm sorry, I feel like I've done something.. weird?" He gave her a warm smile, "At least let me help you with this last one?" He peeked inside of the apartment behind her, catching a glimpse of all the brilliant hues, beautifully blended into indescribable swirls - accented wonderfully by godly lines and smudges. The perfect definition of art. An artist. He smiled a little wider in admiration. "Of course, if you have something to do right now, I could take you out somewhere later.. or whenever you're not busy.." Completely caught up in the paintings, he hadn't realized the premature comic pages hanging from a line. 'So she's a mangaka--oh?' He saw something strangely familiar. 'So she can draw porn, too..' The cover of her sister's het manga suddenly hit him in the face. It was the same art style. And these pages.. He looked at the girl in front of him, brows almost touching his hairline in surprise. He'd never thought that this was what the hentai artist was like in real life. Caught a little off guard, he said something without thought, "Tet.. suya..?"
Setsuna froze. Again.. Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. How did he figure that out so fast?! Well. That's it then. We have to kill him. ... Yeah, that's a stupid idea. Think woman! You're staring again! "Whaaaat? Noooo! Hahaha! What are you thinking? My name is Setsuna. Good guess though! Hahaa..." It was probably the most nervous awkward laughter that had ever come out of her mouth. He was holding her last bag hostage though and she had already made herself look foolish enough without snatching it out of his hands and slamming the door in his face. Hostage! That could work! Complete ridiculous panic had set in by now. She was now listening to her inner voice's ludicrous suggestions. "Um. Come in! Follow me, over here. Right to this door." Setsuna didn't give him much time to question. Snatching his sleeve, she was practically tugging him through the small living space over to a door at the far side of the hall. In the flash of a moment, she swung the door open, shoved him self and closed it behind him. There was the soft CLICK of a lock and a thump of her leaning against the door. Wait a second. Did I just kidnap somebody?! Her face dropped in to her hands and she groaned out loud. She had just kidnapped someone for discovering her pen name. Why didn't she think to make up some story about keeping the papers for friends?! It would have made sense! She couldn't let him out of the closet now. What if he called the police? "So... funny story... I'm the building's crazy lady. If I let you out of the closet, you have to swear you saw nothing and pretend all of this never happened!"
"Y-Hey!!" He kicked the door with his knee as it locked after him. He inhaled and exhaled deeply in frustration. He was trapped in the closet. THE CLOSET. Of all places. With some lady's groceries, and he hadn't even had breakfast! "..." He pulled on the chain above his head and peaked inside the bag, only to drop it on the floor. Ugh, now why'd he have to go and say her name-now he was stuck in her closet. See what you've gotten yourself into!? Ignoring a little porn wouldn't have killed you!! 'Maybe that's why she was staring like that.' He should've gotten the hint from the get-go, and yet here he was, in a cramped closet with uncooked food.. His stomach growled. Oh, and he had skipped breakfast to help out this stranger with the door. He punched the door with the side of his fist and rested his head on it. Maybe gambling was best thing to do in this situation. He was desperate after all, and the only thought running through his head was the smell of that bowl of ramen he had the night before. "Well then... If you don't want me to spill the beans to the whole building, you should bring me something to eat." he said in a dark tone. It came out lower than he had intended, and it surprised even himself. He stared at the woman's shadow underneath the door with a completely serious face. He had been the curious cat this time around, and remembering this, he was completely lacking in faith that he would ever escape. Then again, what did he have to lose? He was at her disposal! Mentally crossing his fingers, he waited in silence.
Setsuna swung open the door, giving him a glare that was oddly accusing considering she was the one that locked him in the closet for no reason. "I'm not actually going to leave you in the closet! She snatched up the bag he dropped, leaving the closet door wide open as she whisked it away to small open kitchenette. Everything in the apartment seemed to be an open studio, outside of the bedroom and a bathroom down a single hallway. She set the bag on the kitchen counter, quickly pulling things out of her bags to keep her hands busy and her eyes off him. Last thing she needed to do was keep on gawking at him like some sort of psycho. "Sorry about the closet. I just get a little nervous with people. I CAN fix you breakfast to make up for it, though." The question was... did she make a quick breakfast and send him on his way as quickly as possible, or apologize with something good after she probably traumatized him after shoving him in a closet. Setsuna also had to admit, she was very curious about the man that made a spitting live image of her favorite and most drawn character in the Temptation universe. But knowing that he knew her pen name was horrifying. Did he know he looked like one of her characters? Did he read the manga? He was clearly somehow familiar with it! "So... umm... What is your name, then?" she asked, attempting to be sly about it. Setsuna decided on the complete, good breakfast. She already prepared her rice cooker and was pulling an apron off a hook on the wall to wrap around her waist.
He let out a relieved sigh and walked out of the closet, still clearly shaken from the sudden change in environment. He peaked at the comics pinned on the clothes line one more time before shaking his head and making his way towards the kitchen, where Setsuna was preparing to cook something. He watched her as she turned on the rice cooker and put on her apron. "Oh, rice?" He smiled at the thought of a fully cooked meal. Score. "Ehh, you're getting me excited, lady." he laughed a little to try and forget what just happened, and to focus on the home-cooked meal she was making. Man, he hadn't had one of those in years, it was like a dream! But another thing was nabbing at him. The silence. He'd never felt so awkward in his life, then again he'd never been let into anyone's-let alone a stranger's-home in such a manner. And on closer inspection, it seemed that she was avoiding eye contact. "It's.. Satoshi Arakaki.. but, ..I go by Sato." This secret, he wondered, just how long was she planning on keeping it? He shook his head slightly and looked over her shoulder to try and guess what she was going to cook. "..Oi," he hesitated, he was planning on confronting her about the ruckus that had woken him from his peaceful mid-day slumber, but decided to just bring it up later, after she has finished cooking. Strangely enough, he felt that he wanted to know more about her, she wasn't like many girls he had met before. And seeing as she had shown some sort of interest in him as well, he took her question as an opportunity to strike up a conversation. "Setsuna, right..? And your last name is Sadako?" It was her sister who told him that. Then again, everyone knew the landlord's niece. "..Why 'Harumi Tetsuya'?"
A pan slipped from her hand and clatter on the stove as she fumbled to catch it. This time it wasn't the mentioning of her pen name that got her, but the fact he said she was getting him excited All Setsuna could imagine now was Takeo naked in her kitchen with a devil-may-care smirk and holding a spatula. It didn't even make sense. "Haaa haa. Harumi Tetsuya, me? Where'd you get an idea like that?" Aside from the hundreds of draft pages strung up every? Not a clue, Setsuna! Setsuna rest the pot on the stove (this time -without- dropping it) and started mixing up a Miso soup from a package. Afterwards, she was pulling out some green onion from her grocery bags and some fresh tuna. Cooking was something she did a lot of, because she appeared to handle the food without having to think twice about it. It was a good thing too, because Setsuna was busy mentally kicking herself for being a pervert, a lunatic, and wondering why she invited him to breakfast knowing full well she was probably going to make matters worse. Setsuna cleared her throat, now setting a tea kettle of water on to boil. "Okay... you got me. I just kinda picked a random name, so I wouldn't have to use my real one. Which by the way, you can tell no one about." Her tone was perfectly friendly, but the large santoku knife she had in her hand pointing suggestively in his direction could be misconstrued as threatening.
