What's In A Name? | Arty + Asuka | Lost Letters Car

Arty Takenaka

Looking for her own letter has not exactly been a fruitful endeavor for Arty. At this point, she’s read so many names on so many letters that she can feel a headache starting to come on. It’s disorienting, shuffling through envelope after envelope with dozens more appearing every time she turned around. More than that, it’s frustrating, and all she wants to do is stop. A break wouldn’t hurt, would it?

…It definitely might. What if everyone else was already ready to move on by now? Ugh, maybe she should just suck it up and write a letter instead. She looks at the envelope in her hand, ready to throw it to the side and give up, but though the name of the addressee stubbornly refuses to give itself up to her, she can decode a capital A… This could be the one! Just one last try.

Unfortunately, after a few seconds of trying, it becomes clear that this is not the right sequence of letters to be her mail. The name does seem familiar though… Wasn’t there an Asuka here? Arty scans the room for the pink-clad girl and heads over to her, tapping her on the shoulder.

“Um, hi. I don’t know if this is yours, but…” She holds out the letter. “The last name could be wrong though. I’m not sure.” She’s pretty confident on the first name, though. Okay, maybe like… 70% confident. Those were a lot of introductions at once on the icebreaker car and she’d kind of been too afraid of drowning at the time to listen too closely.

Asuka Fukuda

For a few brief seconds, there’s an utterly confused look on Asuka’s face. Being approached out of the blue like this by somebody Asuka didn’t really care about? It was really unexpected considering basically everything, but hey! A friendly face was waaay better than a bitchy one, so Asuka was taking the win!

“Gimme.” There’s no more questions being asked, Asuka already reaching out to snatch the letter away. “I’m glad you had the common sense to actually take it to me instead of just, like, peeking and being a bitch about it.” It’s the closest thing Arty will get to a proper thank you, and probably the world’s worst response to any icebreaker.

“…Do you want, like, money for this? Because I’m not giving it. I don’t want to have to owe you though so just, like, list something for me to do so I can say we’re even already. I mean, it’s totalllly obvious that you only really wanted to give this for that reason, right? Not even an ounce of subtly - it’s just sad. You’d definitely die trying to do anything meaningful in the corporate world.” The sneer on Asuka’s face says it all.

“….Did you even talk during the intro thing? Cuz if you did, you’re forgettable enough I can’t fucking recall a thing. Which is super sad - I mean, I hate a lot of people, but at least I remember their ugly mugs, y’know? It’s hard for me to tell who you are or what your thing is, especially with fashion choices like that.” What the fuck.

Arty Takenaka

It wasn’t like Arty was particularly expecting Asuka to be all friendly and nice or anything… but she’s absolutely not prepared for the full force of this girl’s personality. The whole time Asuka’s talking, Arty just stares in disbelief. She’d always thought the ‘mean popular rich girl’ trope from television was kind of an exaggeration, honestly. She knows rich people are jerks, of course. But she’d concluded that most of them like to pretend, even if just to themselves, that they’re good people. They pretend like they don’t actually think they’re better than her even when it’s glaringly obvious that they do. Asuka was different: she reveled in her condescension towards Arty. Arty’s almost too baffled by the borderline cartoonishness of it all to be offended. But, bottom line, she’s still being spoken down to, and in no situation is that acceptable to her.

That said—she can’t believe she did not think of asking for money for this. Asuka had been wildly off-base when she’d assumed Arty’s favor to be transactional; Arty honestly hadn’t expected anything in return for giving the girl her letter. But she should have! She should have asked. Damn it. Well, at least it wasn’t a total loss of an opportunity.

“That’s a shame. I really only ever want money,” Arty deadpans. It’s not like it’s not true, but okay, she’s also being a little spiteful. This is how Asuka expects a poor person to act, right? She’s just giving her what she wants. “But I’d take any tools or weapons you have. If not, I guess you’re pretty useless to me.” Ha! Take that! (The corporate world comment had stung.)

“…You do know I’m not dressed for fashion, right? I’m dressed for work.” Arty decides not to mention that nothing in her closet is nearly as nice as what Asuka is wearing right now; if she actually was in a situation that required fancy wear, she couldn’t do much more than take off the overalls and wear different pants. “But if you’re asking me my name, it’s Arty. I don’t care whether or not you bother trying to remember it.”

Asuka Fukuda

Asuka doesn’t seem disappointed or excited for once. She just seems vaguely disappointed by the reply if anything, rolling her eyes. “Why do you need a weapon? Oh my god, can you not punch? Do you not, like, just have muscles? It’s kind of a great thing to have.” Asuka snickers slightly, although she’s too busy preening at her own strength to really be too insulting. “I don’t think I can offer my own muscles but I guess I can punch something for you once or twice.”

The fact she was taking this seriously spoke volumes about her ability to read tone. That, or she was doing it on purpose. It was too hard to tell, and Asuka had already moved on anyways, giving Arty a critical eye. Dressed for work didn’t mean you had to look all dressed down. Asuka dressed for work, and she made sure she always looked picture perfect - ignoring how she likely had far more wealth than Arty and probably could afford nicer things overall.

“You could at least try to spruce it up a bit. I mean, even if you’re limited to drab stuff - which means your place of work sucks, by the way - you can find some super nice things on discount. At least you have that smile thing - it actually has personality. I could probably actually do a good job at adding to that if we got the chance, but probably not so…. Whatever! I guess. Although it’s probably a bad idea to remember a name, so maybe I won’t.”

There’s a pause, Asuka letting out a little laugh as she shrugs. “Obviously somebody’s just gonna lose it, so getting to know people probably just means I end up needing therapy. And I’m gonna be too busy running a business to actually deal with that, so. Eh. Do you want anything else, by the way? Cuz, like, I still don’t have tools or weapons unless you want me to punch things for you.”

Arty Takenaka

Asuka Fukuda “Why do you need a weapon? Oh my god, can you not punch? Do you not, like, just have muscles? It’s kind of a great thing to have.”

“I’m sixteen, you know. I’m still growing.” Arty hates bringing up her age as a form of argument, but now she feels like she needs some form of justification for her noodle arms. (Little does she know, Asuka’s also a teen, so it’s not actually the good counter she thinks it is.)

“So, yeah. That means you can be my bodyguard?” Arty is blatantly ignoring the once or twice part of Asuka’s stipulation. “Since I’m so wimpy and you’re better and stronger, it would be the least you could do in exchange for that letter. I’m pretty defenseless.”

Just when it seems like this interaction is turning around, Asuka appears to be targeting Arty for… a makeover? This girl baffles her. They really are like opposite sides of a ‘Not like other girls’ meme. (Arty has some of those saved, because come on, she’s totally the girl on the right.) At the compliment to her pin, Arty… well, smiles. Slightly, and only for half a second, but it’s undeniable. Oh wait, crap, the pin fell over again. Arty reaches down and adjusts it right-side up.

“Thanks, my sibling gave it to me—yeah okay you don’t care.”

Amidst all the prattling on about fashion and how great Asuka is and so on, one more thing that Asuka said sticks in Arty’s mind. “Hey, you run a business. I do too, you know.”

Asuka Fukuda

“I could have beaten a man up at sixteen.” Asuka isn’t about to let that comment slide. Age isn’t an excuse for not being a badass, after all - although Asuka probably is the only person who would think that. Typically, people who are sixteen are not looking to pick fights with adults in the physical sense. “That was like… Two years ago? And I’ve been a badass since forever ago.”

Oh. Eugh. Bodyguarding sounds kind of stressful, but Asuka did offer. Plus, it’s better than owing a favor - even though that mostly wasn’t the point. Really, Asuka had made this all way more complicated than it had to be, unfortunately for Arty. This was as good as it got when Asuka was around which was… Yeah, maybe you should leave if you want your sanity.

“Fine. You should probably learn how to defend yourself though? I mean, what if I decide I actually don’t like you? Then it would suck because I’d just beat you up. If you’re so defenseless it’d be super easy to do, so like… Fix that, I guess? No that you’ll do shit if you’re just hiring somebody.” More unnecessary jabs! She doesn’t even look happy about it - does she think it’s helpful (Spoiler: Yes).

Of course, that gets caught off with a scowl when Arty dares accuse Asuka of not really caring! She cares! She cares so much, how dare Arty assume she doesn’t? Does she think Asuka’s self-centered or something? Just because she’s gorgeous and strong and clearly the smartest person on this train? ….Oh well, if self-reflection were possible then maybe she’d catch onto the joke there.

“I care! Tell me more about the pin your sibling gave to you. It’s literally the only bit of personality for you, so might as well hear about the genius who thought you needed it. They were right - and it was smart you kept it! See? I care!” Overcompensating much? Well, congrats Arty, she’s willing to listen now.

Plus - “You run a business?” There’s a hint of disbelief. “Well, what is it? It’s not fashion or makeup, obviously. Is it boring stuff like taxes? Somebody has to run taxes - you look like you would.” Oh god her business is doomed. She doesn’t understand taxes (not that anybody really does, if you think about it).

Arty Takenaka

[Summary Mode]

“So, teach me then.” Arty pitches that Asuka can teach her how to punch stuff while she’s bodyguarding her, until Arty doesn’t need her anymore. That way Asuka doesn’t have to deal with her forever, and Arty can learn how to take care of herself. (She clearly resents Asuka’s insinuation that Arty would just hire someone to take care of her without doing anything about it herself.)

She’s surprised that Asuka actually seems to care about the pin, or at least wants to act like she does. Arty starts to explain: “Yeah, okay. So, my sibling gave it to me as a reminder to always…”—but she stops herself there. It feels too personal and she’s worried Asuka will make fun of her. So she just shakes her head. “Never mind, I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

She explains that no, she doesn’t do taxes (leaving out the fact that she has no idea how to) and that she runs a troubleshooting business, kind of a mix between being tech support and a mechanic for people. Out of politeness (and maybe a little curiosity), she asks what Asuka’s business is about.

Asuka Fukuda

[Summary Mode]

Asuka still seems super skeptical about everything going on - despite being the one to initiate things - but she agrees to teach Arty anyways. While Asuka’s irritated about “having” to help, it seems like the idea she could lie or take the statement back just don’t occur to her. She also misses the resentment too, seeming vaguely happy she gets to “teach” something.

Although that happiness kind of fades with the rejection to fully talk about the pin. She doesn’t push so much as she mutters bitterly about it before moving on. Fine. Whatever. Don’t share your personal moments with a stranger who has spent half the conversation being insulting. She didn’t actually want to talk about it anyways! So there!

Asuka seems mildly fascinated by the business talk before remembering, oh wait, no, she’s angry and petty! And so she just kind of rolls her eyes and says “cool”. The vaguest reply ever. Her mood only seems to worsen when she talks about her parents’ perfume business, which she is going to take over. Except for the part where Asuka made perfume at 13 that internationally become famous. That part she delights in talking about - and makes a point to ask how far Arty’s troubleshooting achievements go. It’s hard to tell if she’s trying to be mean or is genuinely curious.