In Gardens of Memories
LOCATION | Kyoto, Japan
DATE | 20 July 2025
INTERACTING | @Katsuro Souto
00:19⠀─── ◉ ───────⠀02:51
#e63b7a | DIALOGUE
@Colin McCoire | @Meyra Lancaster| MENTIONINGIn the midst of Buddhist temples, gardens, imperial palaces, Shinto shrines, parks and traditional wooden houses stood the Mochizuki house. A traditional minka with its wooden floors, sliding shoji doors, expansive living spaces, high ceilings, and open layouts, wooden verandas circling the home. The house was surrounded by a typical Japanese garden and everything looked kind of idyllic. Almost as if it was coming out of a book.
They had arrived sometime last night and Jun was already feeling like Japan was suffocating her. It had been her home for so long and she had always loved it, but now it was full of expectations and memories and watchful eyes. What used to be their home, felt somehow empty now. Not just because many furniture and decorative pieces were back in England, but because his presence was missing. Even when her Dad had lived here his entire life, when she had been raised here, he had always wanted to leave and now he was buried in this country for eternity. It made her feel disconnected and lonely in a way she couldn’t quite describe. Every emotion was mixing in the young girls mind and it simply felt like too much. It made her miss him more. Like he had evanesceded from this place, with his death.
To make matters worse, her Mother had held a long talk about how the eyes of many would be on Jun, with their return. As the only child, her fathers name, legacy, property, wealth, it all technically went to her, even when her mother was still around, Jun was the heir. Everything that had been Saburo‘s, was hers now. This was the first time they had returned since the funeral and since packing everything up and leaving. Jun‘s first year of Hogwarts had went by in a blur and was mostly spent with Mey, or alone. Her Mother often told Jun, her reticence was what pushed possible friends away, but Jun barely put in an effort to change that. She had Mey and that was enough. How could she even think of other people coming close, when there was always that dark curse looming over her?
The young, recently turned second year, Ravenclaw had been sitting in the little library of their home, trying to read and shut out any thought. She was currently trailing through the shelves, her fingers brushing past various books, until they stopped on one called My little Moon. Her chest tightened, the nickname her Father had always used for her imprinted on the dark blue book in silver lettering. Her eyes burned a little and with one swift motion, the book was in the death grip of her hands, her shoes clicking against the floor as she stormed out of the library. Her legs carried her quickly, screeching to a halt outside of her Fathers old office, that she knew her Mother was currently in. She lifted her hand and knocked thrice. There was silence, then her mothers composed voice sounded through the door. Jun slid it open and looked straight at her Mother by the old wooden table. She didn’t dare to step a foot inside.
„I am going to the park,“ she spoke, her voice similarly composed to her mothers, but she knew that she could tell her eyes were watery and her knuckles were turning white with the grip she had on the book. The Ravenclaw had been finding it hard to speak in Japanese here. Of course she could still speak it perfectly, but there was something holding her back. Something sitting deeply rooted inside of her. „Of course, just be careful and take your wand“ her Mother replied in Japanese and Jun nodded slow. It was tugged away in the inside pocket of her sweater anyway. She wasn’t allowed to used it outside of Hogwarts either way, but she still carried it around.
Jun send her Mother a wavering smile, sliding the door shut and turning on her heel to leave the house. The floors of the Veranda croaked even under her light weight as she stepped outside, hurrying down the stairs and rushing into the warm air. Her steps carried her out of the tall gates separating their house from the surrounding ones, then she made her way to the familiar park close by. It was like a large garden with a stream running through it, koi ponds, rocks, plants, trees, little bridges and benches. Sunflowers, Hydrangeas and Lotus Flowers were blooming everywhere and many residents were strolling through the sun.
Jun walked until she was deep in the gardens, finding one of the large trees that stood just by a stream of water. She sat down on the grass, leaning against the trunk and taking a deep breath. She ignored the bypassers and flipped the book open instead, her fingers tracing over the first page, trembling slightly when she saw her fathers name written on the first page. She closed it again and just stared at the water, dreading the next few days of being here. She so wished Mey was here. In this moment, she wouldn’t even mind Colin and Liam crashing past them, just for a little feeling of home and normality.
code by charisse
In Gardens of Memories
It was a warm afternoon of late July, the bright sun rays pinched the skin and the fresh breeze blew in rare occasions. Usually in days like these Katsuro would spend his time playing at the pool with his brothers or enjoying his time on the luxurious garden surrounding his family house. But today Osamu decided to spend his time studying with his nose glued to endless pages, and Ryota had been annoying his brains out nagging him to play with his toys, so Katsuro found himself desperate to find a different escape. Telling his mother he needed to go buy some supplies for his writings, Katsuro left the house to go to the nearest market.
Just as he stepped outside the tall gate that separated his home from the world, a movement appeared in the corner of his eye and caught his attention. For a long time the house next to his family's had been empty, after some mysterious event that took the life of Saburo Mochizuki, Jun's father. And since then, he had not seen her or heard about her. So it came as a surprise when he saw Jun leaving the house with a book cradled in her arms. Last time he had seen her was during her father's funeral and the sight of her silent tears had never left his mind, something about it had made his heart ache in a way that was unusual and inexplainable to him.
He didn't gave his actions much thought before his feet started to carry him to follow her. Jun brought them to the park where they used to play when they were younger. He could not avoid the memories that surfaced as they crossed the familiar spaces. A small smile played on his lips as he remembered the one time she pushed him into the lake after he said something she obviously didn't like. At the time, he had hated her and had planned a million ways to get revenge, but now, somehow, the thought brought him nostalgic amusement.
He stopped a few feet away from her when he saw her sitting on the soft, cool grass beside an old tree on the bank of the stream. His small smile turned into a large smirk, his brown dark eyes glowing with mischief. Clearing his throat to try and call her attention, Katsuro crossed the few steps separating them and let himself fall on the grass beside her, "Look what summer brought back!" He said lightheartedly his eyes staying on the running water, "Couldn't handle how much you missed me?" He asked with a bright smile finally looking at her.
| Date: 20 July 2025 Location: Kyoto, Japan Outfit: Reducio Interacting:@Jun Mayumi Mochizuki
 |
_________________________________________________________ |
PC name: Meyra Lancaster
In Gardens of Memories
LOCATION | Kyoto, Japan
DATE | 20 July 2025
INTERACTING | @Katsuro Souto
00:19⠀─── ◉ ───────⠀02:51
#e63b7a | DIALOGUE
Name Name| MENTIONINGEntirely focused on the water stream beside her, Jun had not yet noticed her silent follower. She hadn’t paid much attention to anything around her, not even the people. Most residents that lived here had surely forgotten who she was anyway. Not that she had changed a great amount in the past two years. Jun was perhaps a bit taller, looked more grown.. but there was one significant difference in her demeanor. Something that seemed guarded, unlike the once smiling and kind girl, who was happy and open and optimistic. That Jun had been replaced the day her father died and a part of her was overtaken by a creature, an illness, that she kept hidden away. One that she would not dare to show here.
The young Ravenclaw had just been about to open her book back up, the one that had caused her to search for a place free of walls in the first place. Then she noticed the shadow of a figure. Someone watching the stream perhaps? Why anyone would stop so close to her, Jun could not phantom, but when that shadow spoke, the sound was familiar.
In surprise, Jun‘s hold on the book tightened slightly and the image of a young boy, that devious smile and those brown eyes popped up before her inner eye. Like a memory long hidden away in the depths of her mind, along with everything that belonged in Japan.
Carefully, almost cautiously so, her gaze slowly lifted to the boy who had just dropped into the grass beside her. Katsuro Souto. There was no mistaking him. Jun would easily recognize him anywhere. For a moment she was tempted to get up and sprint away from the boy she once called her childhood friend. Katsuro lived right next to her and their families had always been somewhat close. Close like shared dinners every now and then, sending Jun or Katsuro over to one another to play, chasing each other in this very park, or listening to their parents speak of how they’d go to Mahoutokoro one day and achieve something great. Close in the way that Jun knew he had been at her Fathers funeral, even if she didn’t remember much of it. She had drowned everything out that day.
A few heartbeats passed before the storm of memories inside of her stilled and she remembered that she had to answer him. „Quite the opposite actually. I did not miss your mischievous nature, in fact I was rather content without it.“ Jun spoke and was a bit surprised by the coldness in her voice. Katsuro had not done anything to her but he had caught her at a bad time, one that she could not use his presence in. Jun had developed and the Japanese Boy did not know this version of her. He may have known her when they were children, but now.. now her perfect demeanor was not breakable. She wouldn’t chase around the park with him anymore, she wouldn’t let his bright smile cause the corner of her lips to lift in amusement. Jun could not let this version of the past seep through the cracks again and that meant keeping distance from her childhood friend. That meant holding Katsuro Souto at an arms length to the best of her abilities.
„Did you follow me here?“ Jun asked with a straight face, the book still clutched between her hands.
code by charisse
In Gardens of Memories
"Oh...wow!" Katsuro exclaimed playfully, with a short laugh, not letting Jun's harsh and cold tone discourage him, "Say that again, I may believe it if I hear it a second time." He continued in the same tone, accompanied by his most charming and too much confident smirk, his dark cocoa eyes sparkling with amusement as he looked at her over his shoulder.
A shrug was his first response to her next question. Did he follow her? Well, yes. But that doesn't mean anything and was completely irrelevant at that point. "You're so full of yourself Jumi-chan, why would I follow you?" He asked her nonchalantly, but his gaze finally diverted from hers to look more closely to the book she kept securing between her hands, "What have you been reading?" Katsuro asked his childhood friend, his glance turning more meaningful, a shadow of understanding hovering over his face, as he read the silver title on the dark blue cover book, My Little Moon.
He couldn't be sure before her answer, but he almost guessed what it was about, and suddenly he realised, why that book seemed so important to her and why she had been holding it with such reverence, because it was indeed more than just a collection of pages. Her family name meant full moon, one of the most ancient and respectful families in the wizarding Japanese world, and he knew she had always been someone's Little Moon, someone who was no longer on their side of the veil.
Noticing his possible mistake, Katsuro cleared his throat and quickly changed his posture, hoping she hadn't noticed that, for a brief moment, he had regretted his own question. "How's Hogwarts been treating you? Never thought you would want to attend an inferior school." He said this as he rose from the grass and calmly walked to the riverbank, crouching down to begin separating and picking out some pebbles at the water's edge, "Mahoutokoro would be quite more fitting for someone of your name Jumi-chan." He told her returning to his usual teasing tone, "It would have been nice to have you there." He finished letting some truth subtly lace his words, though the cheeky smile he sent her would absolutely leave some doubts wondering between them.
Date: 20 July 2025
Location: Kyoto, Japan
Outfit:ReducioInteracting:@Jun Mayumi Mochizuki_________________________________________________________
PC name: Meyra Lancaster
In Gardens of Memories
LOCATION | Kyoto, Japan
DATE | 20 July 2025
INTERACTING | @Katsuro Souto
00:19⠀─── ◉ ───────⠀02:51
#e63b7a | DIALOGUE
Name Name| MENTIONINGSame thing like the post on the train, sorry Mey, very rusty with this lolWhatever had the young Ravenclaw done to upset some higher deity, or possibly Merlin himself, and reign the chaos of Katsuro Souto upon herself? It was not that she terribly disliked him or that he was somehow evil, it was more of a genuine annoyance that followed his insistent questioning, those curious brown eyes that seemed to notice absolutely everything and the fact this boy knew the gentle, soft, playful and child version of Jun Mayumi Mochizuki. Katsuro knew the girl that would play the harp for hours and run from him as he chased her through the park, he knew the careless laughter that rang like church bells with every disturbed tutoring session and he surely remembered sitting with their parents for tea, sharing Mochi, Taiyaki or Dorayaki. What should have been fond memories, had been locked away with the version of herself that she had left with her father, the version she had lost when the curse of the full moon had invaded her veins and being.
Despite Jun‘s cold tone, Katsuro remained with a playful tone, his laugh sending another wave of nostalgia through her. At his next reply, Jun rolled her eyes. Jumi- chan. She disliked it when he called her that, like she was still a tiny baby or possibly his friend. They had not seen each other in years, nor was he at all aware of how Jun‘s life had done a full flip. Therefore one could have hardly called them friends, perhaps acquaintances was a better choice of words.
„Perhaps because you cannot entertain yourself without the risk of boredom?“ She replied to his question and raised an eyebrow as his eyes fell to the book she was still clutching. Then came what Jun had hoped he would not ask. It was not as though one could have expected Katsuro to simply leave someone to their business, at least not in the Ravenclaw‘s eyes, in which her opposite was entirely too noisy.
„I do not believe that is any of your business. Have you forgotten your etiquette lessons already? I am perfectly content with my own thoughts to my book.“ As she spoke, Jun was entirely aware that she was being too harsh with her tone of voice and choice of words, which were not particularly kind. Rather a passive dismissive politeness. Maybe even slithering across the edges of cold.
‚My little Moon‘ would have possibly sounded too familiar for the Japanese boy not to notice a similarity. While childish and too unknowing, Katsuro was not dimwitted or unintelligent.
There was a soft breeze that filled the momentary silence, pulling on strands of hair, leaves and the grass they were sitting in. The sun was warm and its streaks were reflecting from the water close by, not disturbing the shadow of the tree but creating a brightness around them that reminded Jun of warm summer evenings when they were little. It was peaceful and for a moment, she let herself feel a part of that safeness that came with the nostalgia. Then the young girl caught herself and her eyes flickered back up as Katsuro spoke again.
He rose from the grass and walked to the riverbank and Jun followed his movements with her gaze, watching him crouch down and pick up pebbles at the water‘s edge. With his next words, that teasing edge was back and Jun refrained from a sigh leaving her lips.
Pointedly ignoring his last words, Jun sat up slightly and laid the book down beside her in the grass, careful to put it somewhere soft and clean. „Hogwarts is a good school. If you’d give it a moment of thought, you’d remember its history and students.“ She started, her finger’s mindlessly brushing through the shadow cooled grass beneath her, her gaze fixing on a small bug climbing through the blades of green. „Besides, the Castle is quite beautiful and the Professors are.. good.“ The arguments coming from her lips were quite weak. Jun had always been excited to go to Mahoutokoro as a child, as it was one of the greatest magical schools. Only that faith had decided differently and she had Mey, so it was for the best. At least that was what Jun would tell herself. „How are you getting along with the level of teaching at Mahoutokoro?“ Her next words were the first she could think of to distract from herself.
code by charisse
In Gardens of Memories
Distant and cold. Colder than the serpentine running waters at the river. That's how she felt. Katsuro couldn't start to pretend that he knew how it was to lose someone you care deeply about, in his life he had not experienced such a thing yet. So he couldn't say that he understood Jun, not completely. All he knew at that time was that his childhood friend was not there with him. Instead, that girl sitting on that blanket of bright green grass, was someone else he didn't know. Realising that wasn't exactly pleasant nor easy to accept.
Jun still looked like Jun. A bit taller than last time he had seen her, but beside that, on the surface she was the same. He was sure he would recognise her in every place or circumstance, because they basically grew up together. But at that place and time, her voice no longer cared that annoying, cheerful sound that once had filled his ears and entire rooms. Her brown eyes were no longer filled with that shining glow of pure happiness and sweetness, nor filled with tears from his shenanigans. Damn, he would prefer tears to what he could see now in them, that detachment, that dullness, that...coldness...
Even her words were cutting and sharp. He knew he was not her favourite person, never had been...but she had never sounded like that before. Polished and well mannered? Yes, obviously. That came with the world they both had born into. But harsh and cutting? That was completely new to him. Katsuro looked at the pebble between his fingers, absentmindedly running his thumb over the smooth surface as he remembered how things used to be when they were little.
„How are you getting along with the level of teaching at Mahoutokoro?“
Katsuro listened to her question directed at him, after she listed a series of weak arguments in defense of the Scottish school of magic. He finally raised from his crouching position and turned to face the river, his back to her. The pebble slipped from his fingers as he tossed it, falling with a plop into the running waters. “As expected.” Katsuro replied, turning calmly to face her, putting his hands in his trouser pockets and displaying his characteristic arrogance once more, “I’m doing great obviously.” He said proudly of himself.
“Maybe I’ll visit Hogwarts this year.” He continued, looking up at the tall branches of the tree that now danced before his eyes, with a fresh breeze caressing its green and yellow leaves, leaving the blue sky as its background. “Maybe I’ll change my mind about it then.” He scoffed as if even just the idea of it being slightly enjoyable was laughable. He looked down at her again, a smirk on his lips, “Well, if it has you there…can’t be that bad can it?” Katsuro tilted his head to the side, a mischievous grin spreading through his face, “with that new friendly way of yours…I’m sure it’s even more welcoming and cozy.”
Date: 20 July 2025
Location: Kyoto, Japan
Outfit:ReducioInteracting:@Jun Mayumi Mochizuki_________________________________________________________
PC name: Meyra Lancaster