The apartment I am assigned to is located right in the heart of Konoha. It is right above the stores of what I am guessing is a part of a sort of shopping district for the village. One of many too be sure but still. The streets are narrow and windy, the stores are about two stories only, and though they do not lack the overgrowth of trees, the trunks are spread far thinner and fewer in between. My new 'home' is above a tea store, that's all it sells… tea. Not even the cups but the tea leaves. I know that I am now is a new sort of culture and all, but I remember in my life before hating tea. Is this irony? It just tastes like strange hot water to me! All the same the store looks nice enough, it has dark purple fabric popping out in a small extended roof overtop the entrance, the material is lightly faded from the sun, it doesn't quite have an inside part but you can walk in it about a few steps. The tea is in little brown bags painted on the outside with different coloured symbols to inform people of the type of tea. It lines the shelves row upon row throughout the store. A woman maybe in her late twenties with brown maple coloured hair and near black eyes, stands inside sitting on a chair next to a table with a small cash register. The stairs to the apartment are along the side clearly visible for anyone to see. Said stairs lead up to a door with chipped dark green paint and a door knob that squeaks far too much when it's turned. Koharu walks me HERSELF, that makes me jittery.
Kousei and Masaki will stay together, to me that is a big relief. They will take care of each other, I know that. I've never had to… worry about someone else… at least not in this life. My other life? Sure. But their were people there who worried for me too, I had parents, friends, and family to watch my back. Here I had, or sort of had Keiri and Kanpu, but they didn't do much, there simply were too many kids to focus so much on one kid after all. Yet at the same time there was no one actively moving against me in any way so I didn't feel the need to be defensive more than limiting certain parts of myself when interacting with others… That might sound wrong but I can't quite talk about learning about the world through a tv show can I? Now though not only does no one care about my existence, but their are people here that I am sure would want to take advantage of me, regardless of whether or not they know my secrets. I am fairly certain even without my more childish mentality due to being the body of a five year old I would be crying if not for the deep calm.
"You'll have to visit me sometime dear," Koharu states opening the door after inserting the key. I hear the faint scrambling of someone surprised from inside. The door opens wide and I see a girl. My age, maybe a little older with stark dark purple hair and brown eyes. She quickly stiffens at the sight of Koharu clearly knowing who she is. "this is your roomate Ami, Ami meet Sayori." Koharu introduces the two of us. I looks around the room, like the building itself it is old, seemingly coated in a thin layer of dust that is in need of cleaning, the walls are a dull light beige and I see a few lamps on the walls. There's a sofa against one wall, a circular table with four chairs, a small kitchen that looks lightly stocked off to the side, and three doors leading to separate rooms. A bathrooms in the middle by the looks of it flanked on each side by a bedroom. What I find curious is a fourth door on the opposite wall with a little window, something to check out later. It's not really decorated but apparently it's ours now. From the looks of things, the dishes in the sink, the the disarray of items, Ami has already been living here for a little while at least.
"It's nice to meet you." I say with a short bow to the girl and the best friendly smile I can muster. Ami… why does that name sound so familiar? She definitely isn't part of the main cast so why? I'll have to think on it later. Her eyes are colder than most children, not completely unfriendly but guarded, not threatening no, she's just sizing me up. It honestly feels a little uncomfortable but what room do I have to say that when I am doing the very same thing to her?
"I'll leave you two be. Classes start at 8 in nine days at the academy. Until then I'm sure you both have things to do." Koharu says taking out of her pocket two envelopes. She hands one to me with the key she used to open the door and one to Ami.
"Thank you, Koharu-sama." Ami says and gives a friendly wave.
"I expect big things from you Sayori. Do not disappoint me." She informs me and I gulp not becuase of her words, no, I don't care if I impress or disappoint her. I gulp becuase she just completely ignored Ami to speak to me and I have a feeling she did that on purpose too. Koharu walks out and I don't turn around as I hear the click of the dark green door shutting behind her.
"So… which room's mine?" I ask trying to find the least confrontation subject I could while also setting in motion the means to leave the situation to let things blow over. I am to live with this girl for the next ten years I want to get things started off well.
"The one on the right is mine…" Ami says emphasizing the 'mine' to a very strong degree, as though I was going to challenge her for it. It worries me more than a little though. "You can have the other." She then says with a huff, her eyes narrow as she storms off her envelope in hand. I sigh in relief as she goes, walking to 'my room'.
My room is the one on the left (of just as I guessed) a bathroom. The bathroom from my brief peak is small like the rest of the apartment, it has a shower with a curtain that's edges are turning yellow from mold and doesn't look to be in the best condition, a mirror, a toilet and a sink. There is a small cabinet I will explore later for now my priority is my room.
At the orphange rooms were large and wide for many people to enjoy. The whole top floor was in fact one giant room where all the children slept, we slept on opposite sides in rows of beds so squished together they seemed like only two incredibly long beds. It was not uncommon for chidlren to wake up cuddling one another having rolled onto another's space in fact. This room is nothing like that. It's not a long rectangle but a square about 3 meters by three meters. There's a single bed in one corner next to a small window with a blind by the looks of it. The bed has one pillow and a dark red coloured blanket. At the foot of the bed up to the wall is a small cupboard, is has two wide swinging doors and looks newer than the rest of the stuff in the room being bright white, in contrast to the otherwise weathered and worn apartment. Next to the bed was a wooden bed side table with a single small drawer that seemed to be lockable based on the little key on it next to the small lamp with no lamp shade, finally there was a wooden chair in the remaining corner. This was my room and though I had never minded tight spaces in the past, how everything was touching or centimetre from touching each other did make me rather… claustrophobic. It didn't matter though because this was my room and so it was going to be my home. I went over to the window opening it wide to allow air to flow into the room. I could hear the bustle of the street below, a few brave customers haggling prices with the stubborn store owners. From here I couldn't see much other than the stores across from the apartment, one a book store I would later go take a look at, another a fabric store, and a store that seemed to sell knicknacks like masks.
I slipped my backpack off my shoulders throwing it onto the bed, it bounced a moment or two before stopping as I dumped the contents out. Two shirts, two shorts, one pair of pants, one pair of socks, three sets of underwear, a set of sandals, a scarf, a jacket, one note pad, two jars of ink, a writing brush, and my prized possession an old reed I had carved into a make shift flute/blowdart. Now that had a funny story attached to it, I thought with a smirk, no one messed with me after that… event. These are my entire set of belongings, well these and the clothes I am currently wearing, an addition shirt, shorts, socks, and a set of boots that nearly touch my knees. Come to think of it I really should have taken my shoes off at the door huh? Keiri would be furious with mud trailing in on her clean floor, the thought makes me feel… sad. I sat down in my melancholy for a moment processing before the calm would take it away.
It would be so much easier, I can't help but think looking out the window at the street once more, specifically looking at all the people… if I only thought of them as characters in a book or tv show, if I thought they weren't real. It would make all of this so easy. You don't need to care what happens to fake people right? You don't need to feel empathy for them. You don't need… to miss them. They aren't fake though. I've known that from the first time I saw them. How could they be fake when they live, laugh and cry the same as anyone else? So it isn't easy. Not at all, and for a moment I wish once again to be at the orphanage. I feel my face become wet startling me. I don't cry a lot, or ever really. So these tears are unexpected at the very least.
I take a shaky breath in and resume putting my items away. The clothes I put in the cupboard, with the sandal on the highest shelf because I seriously doubted I would ever use them unless I was going to the beach. I mean seriously what is it with sandals around here? The ink I placed in the bedside drawer right next to the notebook and brush. The flute on the top of the table. I throw my backpack onto the chair. It took a depressingly short amount of time to unpack my entire life… finally I opened the envelope seeing what must be this months allowance. I counted them up with ease. The currency is ryo which is super confusing to me but basically 1 dollar is around 50 ryo give or take. I have about 15,000 ryo here so that must be my monthly allowance, at least for first year. I want save every little bit I possibly can, you never know when you will need some money in case of an emergency and all that. I tuck it away under my sandals in the top shelf. The obvious place is the drawer after all and even if it can lock I doubt a good kick wouldn't force the thing open.
Satisfied I nod to myself wondering what to do for the rest of the day, and well the rest of the week until the academy starts. I can't exactly stay cooped up in my room, so I leave my little square room to explore and catalogue the apartment. I spot Ami, she's on the couch from the looks of things equally as bored as I am. I give her a smile and she rolls her eyes in all the six year old viciousness she can muster. It's very cute to me, like watching a grumpy cat staring at you. I move to the kitchen past the table taking in what we own as I rummage through cupboards and drawers. Two pots, two pans, one wooden spoon, one spatula, four spoons, four knives, four forks, eight sets of chopsticks, four plates, four bowl, four cups. The cups, bowls, and plates all match with a white ceramic colour too. In the shelf we have a few odd cans of beans and stuff, rice, and several things of instant ramen. I groan, I wonder if this is standard? Is that how Naruto got introduced to ramen? Was he just given them when he moved into his apartment and never figure out how to cook anything else?
We have a stove with an oven underneath, a fridge, and many cupboards all surrounding a sink. In one of the lower cupboard we have a small washing machine, which is good because I would really hate to have to scrub my clothes clean, though I also note that their is absolutely no laundry detergent. So the first thing to fix about this place is it's complete lack of food, second is its lack of soap and cleaning supplies. I have never been much of a cook if I am being honest, my meals I could make in my past life were… passable at best but I was always too busy to really get better at it. Hopefully that can change.
I find a drawer full of cloth and napkins and move to the front door finally taking off my boots. My final exploration is the new interesting door. I open it wordlessly and finally something about the apartment excites me. It leads to a back platform of sorts. From the looks of things, the apartment must have been added on later than the rest of the building was built. A mortar platform no railing or anything, a death trap for children in my old life but here nothing anyone blinks at twice. It faces the opposite way of the street having a perfect view of the village. It seems stable enough to walk on too and is large about nine by eight meters. There is a lot I can do with a space like this. But for now I just sit down and decide to meditate for a while something I started to do a few months ago when I couldn't sleep and was trying to. Honestly I think I may be a very… interesting person, I mean who accidentally meditates?
Meditation Proficiency Level 4
Ability to calm mind, body, and energies to centre oneself. Increases regeneration rate by 1% per level. Increase in overall energies control 1% per level. Chakra cost reduction 0.02% per level. Current capability 104% regeneration rate, 4% overall control, -0.08% chakra cost.
I'm not quite sure what my usual regeneration rate is… but I know if I am going to be training this technique will come in handy. I wonder can you meditate and play the flute? That way it isn't as boring? Because right now meditating is pretty boring. Maybe at a higher level with a song I could pay in my sleep? Or sorta sleep… what exactly is meditation? It's kinda feels like sleeping while not sleeping so… ya meditation is weird but chakra control is important as far as I know and reduction in chakra cost even if it is… exceedingly and disappointingly small will also help. I breath slowly in through my nose out through my mouth letting the sounds of the village float around me. I wonder… when I join the academy I will have many choices. I will probably meet many character of the 'main cast' maybe even Naruto… what should I do then? I guess I'll just have to figure it out.