Yul frowned uncertainly, his eyes flickering about. "It's... not really something for talking about publicly." He grimaced. "But you probably heard that Matsu Chiyoko was killed. And you might have heard that Hyeon-ju-san was hurt, too."

He gave a sort of awkward shrug. "So, we've got a lead on the one responsible. Some of us are gonna... handle it." He said.

"I-" she shook her head. Inhaled deeply as she fully turned to him. Exhaling as she linked her hands in front of herself. "Just- be careful.. yea?" she said, looking up to him as she did.

Smiling, Yul nodded. "I will. I promise." His eyes were warm as he met her gaze.

After a few moments, he circled around, reaching past her to grab a slip of fabric. "What about this? It's soft, and the color suits you." It was a gentle blue, pale but lively. He offered her the slip with a smile.

When he broke and reached passed her she glanced down and away, hiding the reddening of her cheeks. With a little exhale concealed as he picked out the swatch. Slowly coming back to the moment as she shook her head at some inward thing. Reaching out to take the swatch with a slightly muted smile, "I agree," she said, looking up to him with a renewed smile and a nod.

Brushing her hair away from her eye-patch with one hand she held it against the top of her head while placing the piece of fabric up by her eye. "What do you think?"

Yul's hand down at his side twitched towards her briefly, then went back to his side, smoothing on his pants leg.

He smiled at her. "You look lovely, Ichika-san. I think that'll be perfect. Is it comfortable?" Yul's smile faded, just a little. "Or... do you think it would be comfortable, as an eyepatch?" He'd never asked her about her missing eye... missing or injured, that is. He presumed.

Ichika paused a moment then, immediately almost looking away noticeably but she held herself well for a moment. Looking down instead as a natural cause when she pulled the material away and let her hair drop back into place. Bringing the material down she rubbed it between her thumb and index, thinking on it. "Mmm," she nodded, "yea, I think so. Come with me while I go let the artisan know, yea?" she said, looking up to him with a soft smile.

"Sure thing." Yul said, returning her smile with one of his own. He walked beside her as they moved up to the front of the shop.

As they walked, he glanced at her. "Anything else you want while we're here? The fabric seems awfully nice. You could get... uh..." Yul made a vague gesture. Until recently, he wore basically three outfits, even if he had multiples of one of them.

"Another dress?" she asked, but knew the answer and laughed into the back of her hand. Leaning her head forward to the laugh a little. When she leaned back up she nodded. "Mmm, I was thinking of also getting a yukata for the upcoming festival, yea? Something to wear special for the event and everything," she said, the counter wasn't far and she stopped them just before it.

Yul's eyebrows went up. "That sounds like a great idea, actually. It's certainly been warm enough for one. I wonder if other seasons are cooler."

He looked around, but Yul definitely didn't have an eye for ladies yukata.

"I don't know.." she said, glancing to Yul with a little smile she hoped he'd step up all the way with her. Stepping toward the artisans little counter she cast him a smile before looking to see Yul was there before she continued. Then she began talking with the artisan. Speaking about different qualities, what was needed, all of that.

At one point when he seemed uncertain how to make it Ichika paused and looked to Yul. Checking to see what he was doing while she spoke with the artisan perhaps.

Yul was certainly willing to walk beside Ichika. When she looked, he was there, his smile as encouraging as ever.

"I think so." He nodded, his smile taking on a bit of smirk. "I say go for it. That's an important part of life, you know. Going for it."

Looking directly to him for the barest of moment she looked him straight in the eyes, her own seeming to acknowledge something in the way she looked to him. A brief smile as she nodded, looking to the artisan.

"This should be good for an example, yea?"

Bringing her hands up she started from the back and carefully worked her fingers around until she had pulled the eye-patch free. Not looking away from Yul, not looking toward, she looked ahead toward the artisan and spoke with him about the fine details of what makes the type of accessory most comfortable.

From the angle it would be easy to see, only if he wanted to.

It was a difficult thing to decide. For many, the polite thing would be to not look. But for Yul... whatever let her to conceal the eye was a part of her. And, in a way, removing the patch in front of him was a sign of trust, as though she'd whispered him a secret. Would he stop his ears to keep from hearing, if she did?

Yul turned his gaze towards Ichika.

From the bottom of her eye there was the scar left in her skin, something sharp or hard had broken it some years ago. Losing sight of it as she glanced down, a redness to her cheeks, she inhaled deeply and exhaled again. A little nod she looked up and then looked to Yul for a moment, saying nothing.

Ichika's eye was a cloudy blue color, a bit unsettlingly so. Where there was this vibrant life in one, the one that watched him closely for his reaction, the other was merely a follower. Where she looked, it looked, but it didn't see when she saw it just moved as it used to.

Both hands down in front of her she dug her nail into her palm, finding some relief in the small scratching.

"I-" she closed her mouth, not finding the words. There was a pounding in her chest but.. she remained composed. With a soft reminder the artisan said he was done looking it over, that he'd have it ready for her tomorrow.

For a moment, Yul just looked at her. Then he smiled, his eyes kindly. "So... did you want to ask about the yukata now, too?"

He chewed his lip a moment. "I mean... if you wanted my opinion on something, I'd be more than happy to share. Or if there was something you wanted to show me, or tell me about, well, you know you can trust me, right?" Still that gentle smile, but his eyes seemed intent.

"Y-" she choked up a little, laughed off the tension. "Yea," she nodded her head. Smiling a goofy looking smile. Looking to the artisan she quickly dipped her head and pulled up the eye-patch again. Taking a small bit of time to affix it but somewhere in the middle she seemed to start to cry. Yet, she soldiered on like it wasn't happening.

"I-" she glanced passed him, her tone tinged a bit by the overwhelming nature of what she felt. "Over there, I think?" she said, pointing over one of the corners of the establishment as she looked for her purse. Not quite finding wherever she had it right away.

Again, the polite thing might have been to ignore it, but Yul was more kind than polite.

"Ichika-san..." Yul murmured, frowning. "What's wrong? Hey. It's okay." For a moment, once again, his hand twitched towards her, then stopped. He shifted a little awkwardly. "This'd be easier if you were a Unicorn." He muttered.

Having been caught off-guard last night, today Yul had a handkerchief, a simple one in dark purple. He pulled it from his jacket pocket with a smile. "Here." He offered it to her.

"Taking the handkerchief she gave him a little smile, dipping her head. "Over by the clothing hmm?" she tilted her head toward behind them where the artisan was perhaps vacating the space. Still, it was public so.. she glanced back over toward the clothing racks which certainly were a little more private than standing in the middle of the workshop. Maintaining something of her dignity in how she walked like nothing was bothering her all the way there.

"S-sorry," she said, once they got over there, brushing her face dry and lifting the eye-patch to do the same for her other side. "I-it's just hard to well.. bring up, I thought I could do it without acting up but you're-" she stopped herself, shook her head. "You're too good of a person, hmm?" she said, a melancholy little laugh.

His eyes still concerned, Yul walked with her over to the racks.

Yul half-smiled, half-winced. "I don't know. I guess." He looked around, then shrugged sheepishly. "I mean, I try to do the right thing. And to be kind whenever I can."

Once more, he smiled gently at her. "So... you wanna tell me about it?"

"You do it really well," she said, laughing a little as she brushed away the last of her tears that were there for the moment. Though she kept the handkerchief to hand.

"I-" she shook her head. Looking to him for a moment, "I had a friend like you once, yea?" she smiled a little, finding a little stepping ladder to sit on for the moment. "We had a dojo in the city too and he trained there before going off to," she waved her hand in the air a little. "Anywayy.." she looked up to him a moment and smiled a little nod. "He was there for me when we were growing up. One of my closest friends out of the little group. You know," she touched her eye-patch, "he was there when it happened yea?"

"My mother was.." she shook her head. "I left home that night despite the wishes of my parents because I was.. angry," she said, sheepishly as she looked down. "I went off and spent the time with my friends instead. Grabbed my swimsuit and we all went down to this little waterfall by the lower end where we all lived. My memory gets a little fuzzy after that," she says, brushing some errant hair behind her ear as she takes a moment for a breath.

"Hitting your head can cause that bit to happen a little, scrambles a bit yea? Flashes come back now and then but," she shook her head. "Anyway.. I woke up some days later in a hospital. Doctors told me what happened, more or less," she shrugged. "Apparently he was the one who carried me out of there, ran all the way back to the city. When I woke up though.. he never showed up, not when we started getting back together and my friends helped me get back into things, yea? He never showed up again though, always," she shook her head. "Wondered if it was because of my eye.. how it couldn't look at me anymore but," she just shrugged, bringing the handkerchief up to her eye lifting the eye-patch to catch the tears before they fell this time.