Another chance - Ranna and Kappei

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

If Ranna had been thinking about that sort of thing, she would have thought it was more likely people were assuming they were off to have sex somewhere.  But they were likely to think that just as a boy and ‘girl’ together.  There was no point in trying to dispel that image, especially in a place like this.

She looked over the building, impressive enough maybe, in its way, but every building here was designed to look impressive, overly fancy and luxurious, especially to someone like her, who was still not used to being around that sort of thing.  She did not stare too much, letting Kappei lead on, to the final destination.

[Nan-Yo]

"Our place is on the top floor." Kappei explained. Surprisingly, Most of the residents had chosen to make the middle of the building their home. Kappei didn't really understand this, if you could choose to live in a tall building, why not choose the top? It was a good thing though, since it allowed him a lot of options when choosing their apartment.

Leading her towards one out of multiple large revolving doors, the two of them passed through into a rather gaudy marble lobby. Royal red carpets were furnishing the white floor and golden tapestries were decorating the reddish dark wooden walls, Along the walls potted plants were strategically placed out around emerald green couches. Holding Ranna's hand, Kappei brought her up to what looked like an information desk where a woman in her early twenties was sitting.

"We are here to look at Apartment 296" Kappei told the lady, handing her his student ID card.

Edited June 18, 2023 by Nan-Yo

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

Ranna's answer to that question, if she had been aware of it, would have been it depended on exactly how tall the building was.  In something like this building it did not really matter.  But if it was something like a skyscraper, she would have been a little uneasy on the highest levels.  She was more focused on the interior decoration, more of what she expected, that elaborate decoration the place loved so much, to look important and for the rich and powerful to feel at home.  It longer felt as strange as it did when she first arrived, but she had not completely got used to it either.  She always tended to look around in new places too.  It helped her avoid the conversations she was not really looking forward to.  Instead, she let Kappei do his thing, before the uneasiness of seeing the room he thought they should live together in.

[Nan-Yo]

The residential zone had technically not just been created for the rich since it's main purpose was to house all the teachers, staff and other personnel that were living and working on campus. It had been somewhat separated from the rest of the academy mainly because this very reason. That however did not mean that the school had been cheapening out on the extravaganza. A happy educator was a loyal educator. A school that was raising the elite, also wanted elite teachers.

"Kappei Sawai?" The young woman read out loud, waiting for the young man to confirm with a nod, before continuing. "That would make you the married couple then?"

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

Ranna twitched and shot Kappei an irritated look when she heard that.  He really was reminding her of Reiko at the moment.  How many people had he told they were already married?  She was both curious to hear and somewhat dreading his response.  Just what would he say about that?  If it was just the two of them she probably would have said something, but she had no idea what sort of reaction it would cause if she made a point of the fact that not only were they not married yet, but she not even completely agreed with the idea yet.  The annoyed look remained on her face as she went back to looking around as she had before, waiting for the response and what came next.

[Nan-Yo]

Ranna's being irritated by what the woman said was understandable, but she was still wrong to blame Kappei. There was only one way that student would be able to live in the Residential Zone, and that was if they were married, or engaged. So naturally when he had filed the paper works, he had to write down that he was going to be married.

"No, that is... not yet, we are going to be engaged soon." He explained to the woman, making sure to set the record straight. Being married would only help to protect Ranna, if people actually was aware that she was already taken. Instead of asking more about it, the woman just nodded and reached down under her desk Fishing up a beautiful gilded key with the apartment number on it, she handed it to Kappei.

"I'm sure you two will enjoy married life." She said, smiling widely as she peered at Ranna. Something about the sparkle in her eyes told Kappei that he wanted nothing to do with her and he hoped that she wasn't the only person hired to watch over the lobby of the residential building.

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

Ranna was not sure what to make of that woman’s look.  She did not respond or even look her in the eye.  Though she was not thrilled to be led away either.  While she did not really expect Kappei to do anything to her, it just felt weird to go to a room like this alone with him, to have to live with him, even in a fake marriage.  She could not be expected to be completely comfortable with it.  Even she realized she thinking like a girl in a way, but that was natural as far as she was concerned.  If she was not, she would have probably fought this idea much harder, even if it got her in trouble.

[Nan-Yo]

Kappei accepted the key and took Ranna's hand in his own again. Gently pulling her along he headed further into the lobby towards some intricately decorated elevator doors. Pushing the button he turned to Ranna.

"This building have several safety features. Take this key as an example. Without it, we wont even be able to access the floor where our apartment is." He explained to her, wanting to give her something else to think about. She had not exactly been enthusiastic about his plan to begin with, so he didn't want her to focus on the positive aspects instead of the negative ones. This place, for a lack of a better word for it, was a fortress. The people living here were not intended to mix and really interact with the student body. So the place was kept a bit separated from the rest of campus. The academy was meant to raise the new generations, and as such the teachers were just there to help and guide them. In the end, the students were valued higher than the teachers though. Because of this, if a conflict arose, it would be the teachers that were in trouble. This created a problem though since the teachers also held a high value. So this place had been created with that in mind. Both a prison and a palace, a fortress that would keep uninvited people away.

With a soft ping, the doors slid open and Kappei pulled Ranna along with him into the rather spacious elevator. The room closed behind them and Kappei inserted his key into a slot next to a multitude of buttons. There were twenty of them. There was two lower levels, the ground floor that they were on and an seventeen floor above them. Kappei pushed the button that said [17]. With a sudden subtle shake, the elevator started its ascent.

 

 

OOC: Sending you a short description of what the elevator looks like.

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

Ranna was seeing a potential issue here, only one key for both of them?  She was not really sure how this was all going to work out, though she did not intend to spend more time here than she had to.  She was hopeful she could find a way to safely do little but sleep here.  She was still trying to avoid thinking about that too much or the strange look from the woman below.  At least the elevator was big enough, she did not feel cramped and she could get a little space.  She just focused on the floral pattern on the floor and wall.  Something that gave her a little more excuse, less boring than looking at a conventional wall.  "How convenient, one of us can lock the other out."  She pointed out the complication with there only being one key.  She also was not that thrilled about the button he pressed.  Not a crippling fear or anything, but she would maybe be a little uncomfortable looking out a window from that high up.  She would figure that out when they got up there.

[Nan-Yo]

"Lock the other out? What are you talking about, Ranna?" Kappei had let go of her hand as they had entered the elevator, and he was now slightly leaning up against one of the gilded railings in it. The dark walls had gold-inlaid flower patterns on carved wood panels and created a rather pleasant atmosphere. Having just enjoyed the soft drone of the elevator music, Ranna's sudden sarcastic remark had him really confused. What was she even talking about?

The elevator kept a steady pace, climbing ever upward. They had passed floor seven when Ranna spoke up, and they were now passing the twelfth floor. Kappei wanted to say more on the subject, but before he had a chance to come up with anything else to say, the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened again.

"Let's just get to our apartment," Kappei told her as he stepped out, expecting Ranna to follow suit. With seventeen floors above the lobby, one of which was dedicated to various activities instead of being a living area, each floor had nineteen apartments. Aside from housing the same number of apartments, each floor had its own distinct personality. The floor that Kappei and Ranna were going to live on had marine-blue wallpaper with silver inlaid rustic patterns decorating it. The floors were a dark blue with more silver patterns, and the doors were a deep dark blue. The ceiling in the corridors outside of the apartments had a domed curvature, being the only one of the floors with this particular quirk.

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

That remark was less sarcastic than some of hers.  She did see an issue with two people having to share one key, especially if they coming back together, as Ranna preferred and Kappei seemed to be okay with.  One could theoretically lock the other out, or if the wrong one came back first, the other would be stuck waiting outside.  “Two people, one key.”  Ranna repeated her issue with this detail, one more complication of living in this place she did not really want to.

She was glad not to see any windows in the halls as they came out.  The hall itself was appealing enough, enough she did not mind taking her time going through it, taking the time to look at it, the last sights she would get before they reached the room.

[Nan-Yo]

Leading Ranna down a corner and through another corridor, Kappei listened to her dubious reasoning. He understood now that the remark she had made was based on a misunderstanding. The problem wasn't the misunderstanding itself, though, but rather that she had just jumped to the worst conclusions immediately. Wouldn't it have simply been better to ask him about the key instead of just making assumptions?

"This is a spare extra key." He explained as they walked around another corner and arrived in front of a dark blue door with the number 296 written out in white on it. He inserted the key into the silver doorknob and twisted it, then pulled the door open. "We will get two more keys when we move in."

The apartment, unlike the corridors outside, lacked some of the bluster that the rest of the building had treated Ranna to so far. Stepping inside an open hallway, she could see two doors to her right and three doors to her left. The door closest to her left, unlike the other doors, was a pair of sliding doors. In stark contrast to the dark red Bloodwood flooring, the walls were white with nothing on them.

Edited June 18, 2023 by Nan-Yo

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

It had been a natural assumption as Ranna saw it, if the whole point of this was for them to live as a ‘couple’, why not just give them two keys from the start.  Considering her feelings about this whole plan, it was natural for her to make more negative assumptions.  There were worse assumptions she could make too.  They would have never made it this far if Ranna was seriously worried Kappei might try to pressure her into sex.  Considering the nature of the place, and way things worked here, it would not have been completely surprising if she had made that assumption.

The room itself was not impressive so far.  She made no effort to explore on her own.  She was not looking forward to some of the sights either.  This room was meant for a couple, it was another completely natural assumption there was only one bed.  One of them was surely a bathroom too, she did not try to guess what the others were yet.

[Nan-Yo]

"I'll give you a tour then? and you can tell me what you think about the layout." Removing his shoes in the hallway, Kappei closed the door behind Ranna and handed her the key since she had made a fuss about it. Walking up to the red sliding doors to the left, he slid them open and revealed a very large, empty room to her. Seven meters wide and four meters deep, the room didn't have the same flooring and white walls seen in the hallway. There were no windows, but a lightbulb was hanging from the ceiling, providing illumination when Kappei flicked on a switch.

"This is our common room. It is basically a place where we can just relax and lounge around." Kappei explained. He was fully aware that Ranna could probably figure out all this stuff herself, but since he was showing her the place, he had decided to do it properly. Giving her some time to check the empty room herself, he headed towards the second door on the left side and opened it.

"This is the bathroom." he said, walking into the small anteroom just inside and opening the second door, which led into where the bath and the shower existed. Walking back into the anteroom again, he waited for Ranna to show up so that he could explain things to her and show her around.

Edited June 19, 2023 by Nan-Yo

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

Ranna was not sure how she felt about the first room being empty.  She realized what that meant, it was up to them to get whatever furniture they put in there.  Not exactly something she was an expert in, and at the moment she had no idea what she would prefer to put there, if it was up to her.  She just looked around, then continued on the tour.  She did feel a little better about being the one who had the key.

No surprises in the bathroom.  Of course she expected the biggest awkwardness here to come up soon.  Was the bedroom next, was the bed going to be there already.  That was the biggest question with this whole thing.  Was he expecting her to sleep in the same bed as him?  It was not a question she was looking forward to finding the answer to.  She was a little more curious about what the other rooms might be though.

[Nan-Yo]

Showing Ranna the washing machine and the dryer in the small anteroom, Kappei opened another door to their right and showed her a small room with a toilet washbasin inside of it, both of which were marine blue. Unlike the rest of the apartment, the bathroom area didn't have wood flooring, instead it was covered from floor to ceiling with marine green and blue tiles.

"The bath and shower are separate from the toilet, as you can see." Kappei elaborated, allowing Ranna to peek inside the larger area that you reached after you walked through the anteroom. Entering the largest part of the bathroom, the bath itself was directly to the right. A large tile-covered Jakuzzi basin with enough room for at least three people to be taking a bath in at the same time. Directly below the Jakuzzi was another area where at least two people could shower at the same time. Having shown Ranna the bathroom, Kappei walked to the end of the hallway, where the third door on the left was directly opposite a similar door on the right. Waiting until Ranna had finished inspecting the bathroom on her own, he continued.

"There are two bedrooms. Well, I guess we could use them for whatever we want, but that is how they are set up." Opening both the door to the right and the door to the left, he revealed the rooms to her. The red wood floors continued spreading into these rooms as well, and the walls were as white as the ones found in the hallway. Just like the common room, both bedrooms were completely empty.

"You can choose which one of these you want, and I'll take the other one." Aside from where they were located in relation to the bathroom, both of the rooms were practically identical. The only difference was that the one to the right had one more window. These rooms were the first ones with a view, so if Ranna walked up to them and looked out, she would finally be able to see how high up they were. More than sixty meters above ground, she could see the entire campus from the windows. Landmarks such as the female dorm and the principal's faculty building were easy to make out, but more so than any of the other buildings, the arena dominated the landscape. Dwarfing all of the other buildings, the enormous sphere loomed over campus as a domineering giant, just waiting to swallow everything else. Only visible from the room to the left, less oppressive was the view of a giant lake far away, found behind the small forest. Born from a crater, jagged cliffs and mountains towered up around it.

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

There was certainly room for bathing/showering, Ranna had no intention of doing that with Kappei for the foreseeable future.  It did certainly build up the idea the room was meant for a couple.  Everything remaining impressive looking and all that, though she was not fond of the idea of living here.

That being the case, the fact there were two bedrooms was rather surprising.  While she would still prefer to be somewhere, it made the room a little more appealing.  “The left.”  She said without much hesitation or elaboration, though she kept her distance from the windows of either room.  She did not expect to look out of any of them very often.

[Nan-Yo]

Kappei glanced at Ranna and smiled wryly. Both of the rooms had their pros and cons, depending on how you looked at them. Personally, he preferred the room to the right himself, but he had actually guessed that the young girl would choose the one to the left. Even if being closer to the bathroom wouldn't technically make any difference, Ranna probably wanted to be able to walk back and forth between the bath and her own room as quickly as possible.

"You can see the lake from that room." he informed her, nodding his head as he headed towards the final door on the right. Opening it, he revealed another fairly large room, this one bigger than either of the bedrooms, but smaller than the common room. Aside from the two large windows, the only thing remarkable about the room was that there was another door inside. Opening that door as well, Kappei showed Ranna the kitchen. The kitchen had a stove and a refrigerator, as well as any other type of commodity that they would need. In the middle of the room was a large kitchen island. Red tiles decorated with flowery patterns carved into them gave the kitchen a cozy feeling. With two large windows letting in light into the room, it was definitely a place where it would be fun preparing dinner.

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

Ranna did not look towards the window, was not sure if she ever would.  The view was not something she looked forward to seeing for herself.  She just went along with the rest of the tour.  When she saw the kitchen, she had mixed feelings.  She would at this point have preferred to have more excuses to be out, if she was by herself, maybe the kitchen would have been nice.  But since there were two separate bedrooms, maybe she could just hide herself in her room most of the time.  The less she had to think about the situation the better.

[Nan-Yo]

The room that had opened up and lead into the kitchen, was of course meant to be the apartment dining room. But unlike that room, kitchen itself was already fully furnished. The red tiles on the floores matched the smaller orange and red ones on the wall as well as the dark orange ceiling. The kitchen island, and the other desk surfaces, were a bright orange, complementing sunflower colored refrigerator and stove.

"As you can see, the other rooms lack any sort of wallpaper and decorations" Kappei told her, bringing up the obvious. He gestured for a stack of large thick books that were placed on the orange kitchen island.

"So I asked them to leave us some books so that we can decide on how we are going to decorate the place." Kappei didn't know if Ranna had an interest in these kind of things, but she was going to live here for the forseable future and no doubt spend a lot of time in this apartment. If she just brushed it off and didn't tell him what she liked and disliked, she could end up with something she truly hated.

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

“Oh goody.”  Ranna replied, looking at the books.  Large books, thick books.  That was a whole lot of options.  Under other circumstances she might have been less bothered by it, though she did not really have experience with that sort of thing, but she was not thrilled about doing it in these circumstances.  Doing it as a ‘couple’.  It might have been something she could hide herself in her room and distract herself with, but going through with it still felt like a step in a direction she was trying not to take, making things slightly more official.

[Nan-Yo]

Kappei handed Ranna one of the books and then grabbed the other four. Walking back out into the empty room just outside of the kitchen, he plopped down on the floor and gestured for Ranna to come join him. Because they didn't have any chairs yet, he decided it would be easier to sit on the floor instead.

"We'll just look at some wallpapers today and decide on how we are going to paint the ceilings. We can decide on furniture at some other date." he explained, opening up one of the four books he had and started flipping through it until he found the page he was looking for. Opening it, he spread the book open and showed Ranna a darkly red wallpaper with gold patterns that had a regal look to to them.

"I was thinking Maybe I'd go for this one for my own bedroom, and top it of with a red ceiling". He told her, showing her his preference for strong colors and heavy patterns. Both the kitchen and bathroom had been the same, if not exactly tacky, showing her that Kappei's taste was anything but milk-toast.

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Nan-Yo

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

Ranna reluctantly followed, sitting not especially close, but not overly far.  She opened the book to a random page.  She skimmed through various options but noting was really sticking out yet.  When Kappei showed her what she was thinking, she sort of shrugged it off.  “It’s your room, go ahead, if that’s what you want.”  That was the room she cared least about here, and did not intend to spend time in, if she could avoid it.  Maybe they had to come to agreement on other rooms, with the possible exception of her own as well, but she figured Kappei could just do whatever he wanted in his room.

[Nan-Yo]

"I was thinking maybe something green for the common room? And maybe orange for the hallway?" Kappei suggested, as he pushed the other books her way. Each book had at least a hundred different wallpaper examples, so there was a lot to choose from. He had mentioned his own room as an example and inspiration, so Ranna's answer wasn't exactly what he had hoped for. It was his room, but how would she have reacted if he had told her he was going to print up large images of her and use as wallpaper instead?

"They'll have it finished by Monday if we decide today." They only had to decide on wallpaper today, but come Monday when they moved in they'd have to go ordering some beds too. He didn't bring it up now though, because he figured it would be too much too soon. They still had to go shopping for their wedding rings today after all. 

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

Ranna was not too concerned about beds at the moment.  Just not thinking too much about it.  As long as they were sleeping in different rooms and different beds, that was not very high on the list of things bothering her.

The wedding stuff bothered her much more than that.  Whether it was for show or not, it was still real, she would really be his wife officially and legally.  That was still not something she was comfortable with.  Doing it so soon, to someone she barely knew and as a girl marrying a boy.  Almost  anything was preferable to dealing with that right now.

She was fine taking her time with decorations, she would not choose any color especially fast.  If she could avoid that shipping trip today that would be ideal.  “Make it rival the Student Council chambers.”  Granted she had never been in their personal chambers, had no idea what they looked like, or if Kappei did either, but if she was going to be forced to live somewhere like this, she was pushing for the opposite of the look of the old Rangorn home.