Catastrophe! Nightmare at Scramble Crossing

Solace felt her body collide with another, then a male teenager's voice screaming just in tandem with her. Once again, she felt flat on her butt; this totally didn't feel nice, and as far as the girl was concerned, she wished for it to stop. Some tears began to trail down her cheeks, she didn't even bothering to stand up at first; why this kind of stuff had to happen to her? Had she offended any kind of Japanese deity or something of the sort?

Her thoughts were promptly interrupted by a man's voice; probably the same she had bumped into, even if she couldn't check on that. The answer to his question was fairly obvious, but somebody caring about her in this sea of faceless pedestrians made her feel so much better; she wiped the nascent tears away from her face, then stared at the person who was asking.

A grown-up, even if he wasn't an adult. He seemed to be... injured? Well, at least that's what she guessed when her eyes danced through the cast on one of his arms; she resisted the urge to wince at the sight.

"S-sorry." The brunette muttered in an almost muffled tone. "I j-just was... and th-then I..."

Meaningless blabber, but those were the only words that her mouth managed to spout; she still had some calming down to do.

Solace began to gather her bearings little by little; her frantic motions and gestures began to recede a bit. She took a deep breath, releasing it on a slow sigh, and after calming herself a bit, she took the older guy's hand with a tentative smile on her face.

The first thing she did after getting up was to dust herself off.

"Thank you." She took the time to give him a good look; didn't look to be that much, but the height difference was probably enough to make it look otherwise. Regarding his question, however... let's just say that her cheeks flushed on deep red. "That... would be me."

She felt so embarrassed that the feeling was almost tangible; it was only a natural reaction after what had happened, after all! Nobody in their right mind would've entered a place like that, right? Sometimes, she just wondered why those even existed. However, she was happy that he didn't pry further yet, because explaining what had happened would be a bit... awkward.

And with a bit, she meant a lot.

The brunette blinked at his second question, however. Her parents where pretty much at the other side of the world, but that wasn't something she would tell to a stranger at any time soon. Given her looks, it was pretty obvious that she looked foreigner, but that wasn't exactly uncommon in this city.

"They... aren't here at the moment." Not would be at any moment in the foreseeable future. Solace sounded insecure while saying that, but lying had never been one of her strong points. "But I can get by myself."

Was this guy a creeper that hid behind a smile? Her mom had warned her about the sheer amount of perverts that inhabited this country, and that was why she was currently carrying a rather big can of pepper spray on her purse. She'd prefer to not to use it, but if that was inevitable... at least she was glad to have the option with her.

Once again, the girl's cheeks were tinged by a faint, red hue. A delicate finger pointed at a nearby building; it was pretty flamboyant, the most striking feature it had being a pretty big green neon sight that said in funky letters "TeMpTaTiOn".

"I was randomly pulled into that place because the people in here are rude enough to push around a girl just because they're in a hurry!" Even if she felt pretty flustered about the whole situation, that didn't mean she wasn't really angry too. She had heard a lot about Japanese folk being polite and all that stuff, but right now... that just sounded like a lot of bullcrap.

Regarding his second statement... Solace could say that she wasn't a fan of it. Was there any need to be judgmental of her this early?

"Judging a book for its cover, aren't we?" Even if she was a small girl, she knew how to take care of herself! That's why her parents had permitted her to travel alone to a country that was pretty much at the other side of the world. She didn't know how capable the person in front of her was, but if looks amounted anything, he looked as if he had been through stuff. "As long as I don't end inside a creepy place, I'm more than able to look after myself, thank you. You have no right to say that you're more able than me on anything, especially since you don't even know my name!"

Any statement required something to prove it. And right now, this guy was just throwing conclusions without any kind of evidence backing them besides her physical appearance.

"But I'll let you make up for that mistake." She then signaled to a much better building; an ice-cream shop. "Ice-cream is the solution to the world's problems! And even you could use some, I'm sure of it!" 

Now she was staring at him with big, puppy eyes. It was pretty obvious that she was trying to coax some free candy out of him, but it wasn't as if he was forced to do so. He only had to turn down an adorable girl making a cute expression; real easy, right?

Victory! The ice-cream was within her reach now. She only had to wait a bit more and... she'd have something to have her forget this rather embarrassing anecdote

"Thank you!" Even if the boy had judged her only based off her looks, he didn't seem to be that bad. Being kind enough to buy some ice-cream to an otherwise complete stranger was really nice. Or creepy, but Solace's faith in humanity wasn't so low.

She waited on her place patiently, thinking that eating the delicious candy in a busy street. If she had been pushed into a random building by the pedestrian mass, the chances of her ice-cream ending in either the ground or her clothes was higher than it ending on her stomach.

And that wouldn't do, of course! Once her mysterious benefactor came back with the candy, she pointed at a less transited place just as she began to walk there.

"You didn't have to, you know?" The brunette asked once on her way; trying to charm people into doing what she wanted wasn't okay, but he had done that entirely on his will... "But that was really nice on your part! Thank you!"

Not to say that the stuff was pretty good. Japanese ice-cream was pretty great, even if she preferred the taste the stuff of her homeland had.

"Name's Solace, by the way. Pleased to meet you!"

Pleasantries had been delayed for too long, and the girl thought she could at least give this person that much.

Of course, Solace's first reaction at the teenager going back and actually giving her the ice-cream was to smile brightly at him. Everyone willing to buy her ice-cream was a good person, and this guy wasn't an exception. He had complied a bit too easily at first, but that was something she'd think about later.

So... Kai was his name, huh? There was something she caught on his way back, though.

"Why you only bought one? You don't like ice-cream? Are you unable to eat things with gluten? That sucks, man. I wouldn't be able to live without ice-cream! It's one of the few pleasures of life."

Well, life's pleasures weren't few, but ice-cream was definitely among them. Stuff was just too good! Still, what he had done had been really nice on his part, so the brunette kinda felt the need to pay him back somehow.

Like... with idle chat how.

"So... what were you doing here before our paths converged?" That was a funny way of saying 'crashing directly into you'. "Were you shopping? Or just strolling around here? Strolling doesn't sound like the smartest idea, given how crowded this place is, but... I guess that some people like those places. I don't."

Was she talking too much? Or too little? She had no idea, but Kai looked like a person of few words. Time to find out.

So he was saving money, huh? Why she had bought her the ice cream, then? That just didn't make sense. Well, a lot about Kai didn't make sense, but that was off the point. Not that that would deter Solace from doing what she'd do next, though.

"Wait a minute. I'll be right back!" She handed her ice cream to the brunette, as if gesturing for him to hold it as she went towards the very same shop. She bought some the very same item that he had and then handed it to him as she took hers once again.

"It wouldn't be fair otherwise!" The girl said, cheerily. Not to say that she'd feel guilty otherwise. "If you wanted ice cream, you should've told me that sooner! I could've helped you."

Now that she was okay with her conscience, everything was fine once again.

"So... the train station." That remark wasn't lost for her. If he was headed to somewhere else, why he could wait until tomorrow? That that so unimportant? Strange, but not like that mattered right now. If he wanted to postpone whatever he was going to do just for her, then so be it. She was surely worth it. Regarding her, however...

"Oh, I was trying to get back to my hotel." She quickly brought out a map of Tokyo that had a square mark on it. "The shortest path was through here, but... I didn't know it was so crowded. It'd have gone through another route if I had known. Guess maps aren't that helpful on that regard!"