[OPEN] Polishing Day

What was the quietest, most private place in the school? The dorms? No. People were always going in and out of there. The bathrooms? Same. And if she took too long in there people might ask questions. The rooftop, however, seemed nice and isolated. If she stayed away from the edges then nobody would see her. So Ichiko chose the rooftop as the location of her first "Polishing Day" ritual of her time at Yamaku.

"Polishing Day" was born out of Ichiko's tendency to wear her bionic arm without the plastic casing, exposing the bare metallic mechanisms beneath. Ordinarily the casing would protect the mechanisms and prevent them from getting jammed up with dirt or debris, but in this case it was necessary for Ichiko to keep the mechanisms polished and clean to keep her arm working properly, and to keep it looking shiny and new. "Polishing Day" occurred about once a month, or more if necessary.

Ichiko had detached her metal arm and sat on one of the benches on the rooftop, with the detached arm in her lap. Using a special cleaning spray, she sprayed each part of the arm in turn, then wiped it over delicately with a piece of cloth. She did this habitually, almost mechanically, and to the casual observer it may well appear as though the rest of her was robotic as well.

Not that there were any casual observers.

...right?

Yuuji climes the hellsih stairs up to the roof top
It will all be worth it once i get up there
Her thinks to himself smiling like a small child. He had a small homemade lunchbox in his bag he had made the night before and what would be a better place to eat then the roof. Isolation and silence just like mom use to have.
He reaches the top right before the door to see a silhouette of someone already up here through the small window
With no fear he opens the door
"Hello?"
Yuuji stops seeing a young girl and a detached bionic arm
Wrong place wrong time!

Ichiko jumps, startled, as Yuuji enters the rooftop. So much for being the most private place in the school. Note to self: next Polishing Day, stick to the dorm room.

"Oh, hi! Sorry, I didn't think there'd be anyone else coming up here. You don't mind, do you?" All the while she continues laboriously polishing the skeletal bionic arm on her lap.

OH thank god! I though she was going to attack me for a moment
"No not at all... keep dong what you are doing..."
Yuuji walks up to her
"You mind if I seat here?"

Ichiko smiles warmly. "Of course not!" She lays the cloth to one side for a moment, spraying another section of the arm with cleaning fluid before picking the cloth back up and resuming her polishing. She is so absorbed she forgets to introduce herself as she usually would.

He nods and takes his seat. Yuuji takes out is lunch box, the aroma his him like a sledgehammer as he opens it. The box filled with eggs,rice and a side of cut up cube fish with a toothpick through them for touch. Her claps his hands
"Itadakimasu." And begins eating

Ichiko sniifs the air as Yuuji opens his lunchbox. "Mmm...smells good." She flips the arm over, holding it with the cloth, to spray its underside.

"Would you like some?"
Did I introduce myself? Doesn't matter now food needs to be eaten
Yuuji picks up the box and offers some

"Nah, I already ate. Thanks for the offer, though." Did I already clean this section? I can't remember.

He nods and returns to eating
Man that arm is crazy! but it must be bad not having your original arm....
He stops to examine the arm but not for long as he spills what was left of his food on the floor
"Aww! come on."
He scrambles to pick up the mess and accidentily bumps Asari a bit

"You should be more careful," says Ichiko, half-playfully. I should probably help him, but I wouldn't be much use with only one hand...

Yuji picks up his mess,closes his lunch box with his spoiled food, and lets out a sigh
"There goes my snack..."
Yuuji looks back at Asari An extends his arm
"I don't remember if I did this but my name Yuuji Takahashi. Nice to meet you..."

"The name's Ichiko Asari! Nice to meet you t-" Ichiko suddenly remembers she is holding out her stump of a left arm to shake Yuuji's hand; the bionic arm usually attached to it is lying inoperative on her lap. "Hold on a moment..." She puts the arm and cloth to one side, then twists round on the seat and shakes Yuujii's hand with her other, flesh-and-bone hand. "Nice to meet you too!"

Yuuji chuckles at her small mess up
"How long have you been here Asari?"

"I started in the new term, so only about a couple of weeks or so. How about you?"

"It's going to be my final year here."
Yuuji sets aside his lunch box
"How are you enjoying it here so far?"

"It's pretty cool so far. There's some fun people here." I think this should be the last section... Ichiko gives the arm one last spray of polish and resumes wiping it down with the cloth.

Yuuji give another look at the arm
"Y-You have to clean often?"
Still pretty cool looking arm

"Well, you're supposed to wear this plastic casing over the top of the actual skeleton, so you don't have to clean it, but I think it looks stupid, so I just wear it like this. But that means I have to clean it about every month or so, to keep it looking shiny and to stop the mechanisms from jamming with dirt and stuff. Okay, I reckon that should just about do it..." Ichiko sets the cloth aside, and re-attaches the newly-cleaned arm to her stump. A moment later the fingers begin to flex expreimentally. "Yeah, that feels better. It needed that clean, I reckon." Ichiko pauses for a moment, looking directly at Yuuji. "That must have looked really weird, me re-attaching my arm like that."

"No no... It's okay. I didn't mind."
But that's crazy how she can do that!
"Were you planing on staying here long since you are done cleaning your... arm?"

"Well, I don't have anything better to do, and it's kinda nice up here, so I guess we can talk for a while." Ichiko opens her mouth to ask about Yuuji's disability but thinks better of it. Instead she briefly scans him with her one eye to see if she can notice, and quickly spots his missing foot. Ah. Wow, must have been pretty hard for him to climb up the stairs.

Yuuji moves his arm bit
I can't imagine what it's like to lose one of my arms. Not having a foot seems pretty tame...
He sighs
"Asair, have you heard whats gong on in the school recently?"

"You mean the deaths and the disappearances? Yeah, I heard about those...it's a shame. But at the same time, it's kinda eventful! I hoped high school would be exciting, and now it kinda is, if only in a bad way. I hope the person gets caught soon, though, and everyone's okay."

Top priority: the safety of Rachel
"What a real shame is that no one personally knew the victims. When it was announced not many people mourned their death..."

"So they're only picking people that won't be missed? The murderer, I mean. That's pretty clever, I have to admit."