( natsume's been hanging around the third floor for a few reasons — most of which have cleared up extremely recently, but there's still one more, and he steps out in front of izumi when he sees him come out of the stairwell. his final reason: he knows izumi comes up here often enough, and it was the best place to find him, so... )
Sena-san... No, senpai. Let's TALK. ( a beat, and natsume steps back a little, tilting his head down hall to the classrooms. ) In private - and before you ASK, it isn't a waste of your TIME.
( :/ he's not happy about having to apologize, even if he should, because he doesn't like admitting he was in the wrong; and izumi had been wrong too, but... anyway, he wants to get this over with quickly. better to be on good terms with people you're about to be stuck with over summer break and dying of heat stroke with or whatever. )
[ truth be told, he wasn't exactly thrilled to see natsume this soon after their little spat. he was just here to idle in his lonesome, but he didn't think anyone else would come here...
he clicks his tongue. ]
...Fine. But this better be good, Sakasaki. Don't think I don't know the lies you've been feeding Kudo about me.
[ yeaaaaaaah, if natsume thinks apologizing to izumi would be a walk in the park... haha. still, he's going to trail after his kouhai anyway, albeit warily. can't be too careful ever since rika lured him into a trap, rip. ]
( natsume can't help it - he smiles at the mention of chiaki, and he shrugs as they walk. )
I was only trying to get her to fall out of love with someone like YOU. She deserves better than a broken HEART.
( which is only inevitable with izumi, for a variety of reasons. and he definitely only thinks that because she's a girl. he only comes to a stop by the end of the hall, not that far from the bathrooms.
he turns to him, hands folded behind his back. okay. he can do this. he can. ten year olds apologize, for christs sake. he's going to be eighteen this school year. he can do this. )
...I'm sorry for provoking you with Tsukinaga-senpai's NAME. ( it's not- as hard as he thinks to apologize, but it still isn't comfortable, and he doesn't look at izumi when he says it. ) I'm not sorry for cutting your hair ANY, because you deserved that for bringing up my uNIT, but I can at least admit I was somewhat in the wrong bringing him UP, fully aware that it'd get under your SKIN.
[ izumi's crosses his arms together as he hears natsume out, eyes still narrowed at him. ]
That's not going to cut it, Sakasaki. You think that's enough? Because of that, Kawai also believed that I was a flat-earther! No one's ever going to let me live that down if it spreads because they all want to take me down one way or another.
[ he starts tapping his foot on the floor. ]
You're gonna have to do better than that. Get on your knees and grovel if you have to. It's going to take me months before my hair that you just mindlessly messed with grows back.
( natsume's silent, almost like he's thinking it over - he isn't, he's just thinking about how up-his-own-ass izumi still is. it isn't every day one gets an apology from one of the five eccentrics; he should be grateful.
when he talks, he at least looks at izumi this time, gold eyes narrowed just the same. )
I would rather swallow nails than beg for your forgiveness over something as inane as THAT. ( with the same tone as "make me". ) BeSIDES, you should thank me for taking some scissors to that unruly mess you call a hairCUT. Your split ends from all the stress were really starting to SHOW.
[ oh, wow. so much for an apology. normally izumi's just going to toss out one more quip and stomp away, but with chiaki's delusions getting to him on top of all the things he'd had to endure since coming here, his patience is at it's limit already.
so he doesn't hesitate in grabbing a fistful of natsume's hair, his gaze even more ice-cold than usual. ]
I'll show you split ends. You don't seem to have taken a bath since coming here.
[ help is this really how their catfight's gonna go down tho ]
natsume makes a noise that isn't quite a yelp - more like he started one, then bit his tongue on it, and he grabs izumi's arm instinctively to try and tug him off; then he actually thinks for a second and kicks his shin instead, as hard as he can. no time to retort that he has, thank you; that he takes VERY GOOD CARE OF HIMSELF, as obsessed with his appearance as izumi is with his own. )
[ ugh, that smarts. izumi does let go of natsume but not before pulling off some stray strands while he's at it, landing on his ass on the floor. the impact was enough for the worn-out horse toy that he brought along with him to fall out of his pocket and crack open. ]
How... dare you... [ sucks in a breath through his teeth ] So much for making it up to you senpai, huh. I wasn't asking for a lot, you know? It's the least you could do after mocking his disappearance at my face!!
With all due reSPECT, Senpai, not that you deserve any - normal people don't suggest groveling for forgiveNESS. I'm not— ( another step—
and his foot lands on the toy horse, finishing it off. natsume pauses, staring down at izumi, and something shifts. his eyes are always golden, always a pretty, shiny yellow, like a cat's - but something shimmers behind them, distinctly not him. his fingers spasm briefly, fighting something before they close sharply against his palms, gripping something that isn't there (yet)—
and something snaps behind those eyes, and the next step he takes is higher, and it's aiming right for izumi's face, coming in a little harder than he might expect: )
≪I'm not getting on my knees for anyone - not a single one of you deserves that!≫
[ izumi's eyes widen at the sudden change of demeanor, quickly rolling away just in time before natsume stomps onto his pretty face. he scrambles onto his feet once he's made some distance between them, eyes scanning the room for anything to defend himself with--
oh, right, the gun. he wraps his hand around its handle in his pockets as he stares his kouhai down. ]
So what, you're going to throw a tantrum about that?! It doesn't matter anyway! He's gone! No amount of groveling can ever bring him back!
( natsume turns in a movement noticeably less smooth than their shared idol background would have him move in, and seeing izumi's hand goes to his pocket makes him pat his once - no, nothing, it's in his bag, isn't it? he clenches his fists and launches himself at izumi instead, intent on getting him back down on the ground where he belongs. )
—Then don't ask for useless sentiMENTS! You should just— ( rrrgh ) join HIM, if you miss him so MUCH!
( and leave him to be alive, alive, c'mon c'mon c'mon— )
[ izumi goes down with a yell, potentially attracting other students outside who might still be loitering around during this time. he struggles in natsume's hold, looking up into his eyes to search if this is really him right now-- ]
S-Snap out of it! What's gotten into you?! Sakasaki!!
[ his eyes scan the floor once more, gaze landing upon the broken horse toy on the ground. that's supposed to contain nao's soul, doesn't it?! and now that it's free...
the doors slide open before he can continue his train of thought, and a couple of random second-years file in to see what the fuss is all about. they rush in and attempt to pull the feral idol off of him, asking izumi what tf is going on. ]
( natsume's not really a strong person -- not normally, but adrenaline kicks in the second he feels anyone else's hands on him, and he reaches for the gun in izumi's pocket -
it doesn't have bullets in it, which is a shame, but he still pistol-whips one of the students trying to grip onto him. it's a satisfying, sickening crack to their temple, and the student's grip loosens on him as they smack into the ground beside izumi. it's natsume yet not natsume who brings the gun back up and smashes it into the back of the student's head, not recognizing one of his yearmates.
hard enough to knock them out, and he's about to turn and do the same fucking thing to izumi when the other student that'd come to help izumi out yanks him hard enough to juuuuust miss izumi's pretty little face with the stolen gun, and so the honor of "second down" goes to this poor, poor student who'd just been trying to help.
natsume smashes the butt of the gun into their throat a few times instead, lips twisting briefly at the strangled, cut-off noise the student makes until they aren't making them anymore, before he turns his attention back to izumi. there's a little distance now between them, but not too much - he'd been pulled off more or less, but with izumi's two helping hands down for the count...
if he leaves his senpai alone, he's just going to scream, which is just going to attract attention - which will make more of them come, which makes his stomach twist. so he should
shut izumi up?
yeah.
he should do that.
and he intends to! there's some distance between them since he got pulled off a little there, but he's chucking the gun at izumi's head to try and slow him down a bit so he can Get There before Someone has any Bright Ideas about calling for help again - he can't have that, he can't, he has to live and if more of them come - if there's too many, well, there's no way that he could. )
[ it's all happening so fast, like being in the middle of an action movie. izumi's too stunned to move so he's somewhat forced to watch natsume straight-up kill their schoolmates with unsettling ease - which tips him off that this can't be natsume, kind of; only guys like madara can pull off such feats, and izumi doesn't think that Double Face would be accepting new members anytime soon.
he watches helplessly as the presumably-dead schoolmates fall on the ground, but before he could bolt it out of there natsume's quickly one-upped him with a gun to the head, and he falls back down on the floor, too paralyzed to move. of course he's no match with an oddball - he's only an ordinary, boring idol after all.
but that doesn't mean he'll be going down without a fight. ]
Saka...saki... [ he tries to keep his voice steady before he's tempted to yell for real -- ] You're just going to start killing over something so inane? Do you even know the situation we're in?! Oi!!
[ at this rate they're going to gain one more tally on their arms--! ]
I know exactly the situation we're IN. Senpai, if I let you sit UP, are you going to kill ME? ( he doesn't wait for an answer, settling on izumi's stomach and placing his hands around his neck, methodical. ) Of course you WILL. You'll either kill me yourSELF, or you'll yell aGAIN, and whoever comes running will do IT.
( or they'll all gang up; natsume's fingers twitch on izumi's throat, gentle slender hands that tighten with an abruptness and squeeze. )
I'm not going to DIE, Sena-senpai. ( cold but a little rushed, hair curtaining over them as he leans in more. ) I have to get out of HERE.
( he wouldn't call it inane either. he gives izumi a smile, one that trembles on his face. )
Tell Tsukinaga-senpai I miss HIM, won't YOU? It's too bad he couldn't graduate HERE, but he should be lucky he graduated at ALL. The same goes for YOU.
[ izumi's simply too stunned to get a word in at this point, choking at the hands on his neck. he immediately wraps his hands around natsume's wrists in an attempt to pry them off him, but natsume's gotten the upper hand... somehow. this isn't a grip a third-year high school student shouldn't have, even if he's a genius. there's something fishy about that toy that izumi needed to solve for nao's sake--
but it seems as though it's too late. the world is spinning in his perspective as his lungs clamor for oxygen, eyes still boring into natsume's. is he really going to die a boring death like this...?! ]
H-How dare... I'll never forgive... you... Sakasaki...
[ his voice is hoarse at this point, but even that won't stop him from spitting out his final words. let this be a curse for this so-called wizard of happiness. ]
She'll-- She'll come for you... If nothing else...
[ god, he cannot believe that he's going to put it all on chiaki with his last breath. but one thing's for sure - obsessive types like that will find a way somehow. he would know. of course he would.
and... maybe this was all a dream. if izumi thinks real hard he could wake himself up from this living nightmare and find himself back in florence again, ready to take on a busy day now that he'll be taking care of leo from now on. surely, if he slowly closes his eyes and let go of natsume's wrist to reach out to the light, then leo will... they will...
he keeps squeezes until izumi's grip loosens and the words he'd been cursing him with fade into the buzz of his mind; he keeps squeezing until the buzz drops sharply into the silence of the hallway, and his hands fall away. natsume blinks once, twice, three times, and swears under his breath as he backs off. there wasn't— he didn't—
but he did. )
I'm going to be SICK, ( he mumbles softly, and he forces himself up; with cat-like grace he peeks into 2-D and drags the three bodies in once he's sure it's clear. up goes the window, up goes the screen. the two students - yearmates, he feels like he recognizes them a little from passing in the hall, in that vague way you know someone's existence but nothing really about them - go out first, and if they weren't dead before (they weren't, he could feel them stirring, but we don't have time to unpack all of that right now) then without a doubt the fall from the third floor, unable to brace themselves, can help that along.
he hesitates on izumi, propping him up against the windowsill. )
...SorRY, ( softer still. easier, though, this time. she'll come for you, the words surface again, and he maneuvers izumi's corpse out the window with all his might.
he washes his hands. he takes the gun and the pieces of the toy horse when he's done, and he goes to find lucy to shove his face in her fluffy white fur until he feels better. until he figures out a justification, a reason, to feel better with. )
( "She'll-- She'll come for you... If nothing else..."
He's been thinking on those words since the weekend. He's been thinking on those, and he'd seen Chiaki's ... outburst from the window, Lucy in his arms and his fingers scratching beneath her chin, and unfortunately. Unfortunately, Izumi is right. If she ever got wind of it being him, no matter how much she might've liked him prior to that moment, it'd all go out the drain. It doesn't matter if he wasn't in his right mind when it happened — plain and simple, he killed Izumi. And two other second-years who hadn't deserved it, who'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Natsume heads to the art club room after school on Tuesday, gun feeling heavy in the back of his uniform pocket. He manages to smile when he sees her despite the cloudy thoughts in his extremely unfortunately clear-head and gives her a wave, hello~ )
Miss Assassin Bug ♪ Want to grab an after-school SNACK? My treat, of COURSE.
[ Chiaki never turns down a treat, especially when paid for by a kind caring senpai. She doesn't feel quite like eating, sliding off her stool in front of her half finished painting that seems to have gotten ten new coats of paint in the same spot rather than any real progress, but sometimes you gotta paint over something ten times to feel the inspiration to move on, and sometimes you gotta force yourself to eat to feel hungry again. ]
( He glances at her half-finished painting before he steps aside to let her through, giving her a small bow and a wink from the side of the door. )
Whatever you'd like — and ladies first, of COURSE. ( Of course. His smile slips a little to concern, not at all false but — he's trying to keep a mental distance, he is, yet: ) Are you feeling oKAY? I saw what happened a few days ago with Komaeda-san.
[ Only insane people would be— because never mind what happened with Komaeda, she had to go through that clutching Izumi's lifeless body. Insane. Maybe insane is the fact that she isn't bawling her eyes out days later, that she looks outwardly fine with a skip in her step and hands clasped behind her back as she turns halfway on her heels to look at Natsume. ]
What about you? If you're sad, it's gotta be carbs. It's cheat week.
( ...She's insane, but not in a bad way - just in a way that's a little bit worrying. )
Everyone deals with their grief in different WAYS. ( Vague enough to work, and he follows after her after a moment, threading his fingers together behind his back. ) I suppose I'm SAD, but it doesn't feel like IT... Perhaps I'm still in shock that any of that happened at ALL.
It isn't every day ( he continues, voice softer ) that one of one's friends gets murdERED. Not even HERE.
( Hurt, sure, but it isn't like there's a rampant murder problem. Except lately. Natsume shrugs slightly, glancing off. )
Maybe it'll feel a little more real ( like his pulse escaping beneath his fingers, the wheeze of his breath ) in a BIT, and I'll have a nice good CRY. He and I had our issues with one anoTHER, but that doesn't mean I hated him or anyTHING.
[ Were they friends? not from what Chiaki's seen and knows, but having somebody close to you— in terms of proximity, if not emotionally— will always be a little jarring when it happens how it did. A spectacle was what it was, so that to the very end of his life, Izumi had everybody's eyes on him... ]
Yeah... I get what you mean! I'm sad, but it still doesn't feel real, like I won't get my closure until I pay back whoever did this to him.
( ...And here comes the issue: until she pays back whoever did this to him. He wonders how she'd feel knowing that person is behind her now, then discards the thought guiltily. )
My MY... Do you have an extensive revenge plan all reaDY, Miss Assassin Bug?
( HMMMMMMMMMMMMM he's compartmentalizing his guilt real quick now, good bye morals and ethics? )
Do you mind if I workshop it a litTLE? Not to BRAG, but I'm an expert at thinking of terriBLE, painful revenge plots that ensure one gets the maximum satisfaction out of another's comeupPANCE.
I'm more of the "watch them slowly suffer" variety of avenGER, but I'll see what I can do with your sole requireMENT.
( Let's see... He glances past her - stairwell, oh. )
...But you should turn around so you don't fall down the stairs and give yourself a concusSION. How are you going to listen to my words of wisdom like THAT?
[ She hums in her throat, wanting to say that she's super awesome and would never do something silly like fall down the stairs, but unfortunately with how knees work, walking backwards downstairs is sort of really awkward so she has no choice but to turn forward-facing again, trotting down the stairs with her pinky trailing the handrail. ]
Slow suffering stabbing's kinda hard, huh...? 'cause they gotta bleed out, but if you wait too long, the blood's gonna clot or they can crawl for help— or they'll just fall unconscious and that's no good! They won't know they're dying, and what's the point if they don't know!
Rather than stabBING, you could always lacerate THEM. Tie them up and carve them like a turKEY.
( it's a little sickening to talk about his own imagined faux murder like this, but he keeps his tone as airy as if he were talking about the weather. he isn't in dramatica or the entertainment business for nothing.
he steps down after her, letting his left trail on the railing too as he slips the gun out with his right. )
I think you could do IT, but it's a shame that you won't be able TO. ( he grips the gun, heart pounding - he's upset, but it has to be done. oh, rika is going to hate him; she will never forgive him. ) An idol's body is their most precious assest after ALL.
( -- he brings the gun against the back of her head without much other warning, as hard as he can muster. )
[ She was about to turn around and laugh, to say that she can do it if she—- but she won't be able to, not when something slams into the back of her head hard enough to make her vision go dim for a moment, murky black and swimming and taken so much by surprise that the smile hasn't even fully faded off her face. She feels sick, the ground unsteady but it can't be the stairs crumbling beneath her feet, it's her knees, it's her hand that grips the handrail tight and small mercies that her pinky never left the bannister because it serves to ground her somewhere when the rest of the world is falling apart.
Her other hand finds her pocket— warm metal, rough grip, an exacto knife that she pulls out and swings blindly behind her because it doesn't matter where she cuts, the blade is sharp and it will cut deep. ]
It's stupid that the first thing he thinks is "Of course she wants one that involves stabbing, she has a knife on her," but there it is; the second thought is that he needs to get it out of her hands before she reorients herself and actually, genuinely acts on her stabbing fantasies. Not that she's not trying that now, and it's not like he can dodge another good swing, so he figures out which part of him's the easiest to hide if injured — his arm — and bodies her against the wall, arm raised to catch the knife in his poor (living) hope meat when it swings his way.
[ The blade sinks into his arm, but only the inch or so that exists by design, and the knife is jarred somewhat from Chiaki's grip when it fails to cut any deeper and her back instead hits the railing running along the wall.
She lets out a little cry of pain then, willing her fingers to curl back around the handle of the knife while her other hand—- she reaches forward to where Natsume must be to have rammed her into the wall, to grab onto his sleeve or his collar or his ear or anything to hold him there so he can't escape.
How dare he. HOW DARE HE?? The knife pulls out, to plunge back in. ]
( She can have his collar, that's fine. Natsume grits his teeth, barely stalling his own noise when she jerks it out again — he doesn't want it back in him though, so his free hand goes around her forearm and tries to hold it up and away from him.
Meanwhile — he goes for a Maya and steps on her foot as hard as he can, grinding his foot into the ground. )
[ There's a yelp as she tries to wrench her foot out from under his, so in the process of jerking back, and gripping his shirt, and being thrown off balance when he wrenches her forearm up,
that is her entire weight toppling backwards down the stairs, with her hand firmly anchored to the front of his shirt. ]
( Like the plot of a bad harem manga, but involving the protagonist trying to kill one of his love interests.
Natsume goes down with her; instinct bids him to try and soften her fall, because the "she's going to kill me thing" aside, he does like her and she is a girl, but he fights against it so that he'll go down on her instead, specifically holding her in place to have her cushion him.. Something twists in his ankle as he looses his footing, but he'll just have to deal with that later — any scrapes, too. )
[ She hits the stairs at a bad angle, banging elbows and the back of her head in a different spot, maybe she takes a knee to the gut or elbow to the rib but either way it's just pain pain pain, dull and sharp and deep and raw and her vision is dark and bright at the same time, flashes of light from behind closed eyes and they spin with tears and she can't blink them away. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind she hears her knife clattering down the stairs away from her grasp and it feels like a lifeline pulling taut and threatening to snap.
Desperate, she holds on. She can't die- she can't. She still has to... ]
( It's not as kind to him as he'd like it to be, either. One leg makes it into Chiaki's gut, but the other hits stone hard and he can't help crying out either — his grip on her arm loosens, knuckles scraped and they'd bleed on the school if not for how he jerks his hand up and away.
It takes him a moment to stop his head from spinning, both from the dizzying fall and his own sudden movements, and he can't catch his breath; his chest hurts, heart pounding the way it does when you tip your chair back a little too far and almost fall backwards but catch yourself in the nick of time. Chiaki's grip is still so tight, but that couldn't have been good for her — the fall — he carefully pries her fingers off of his collar, pulling them off one by one until he can move back up a stair or two.
Breathe. Breathe. Natsume rubs his face, stares at Chiaki, and moves closer to her again. )
For what it's WORTH, ( he mumbles softly, scooping her up gently, ) I am sorRY.
( Not sorry enough, since he still - with difficulty, aching and stinging and one of his arms a bit weak given the whole stab thing — moves closer to the stairwell's railing opposite the wall and rests her against it, briefly.
[ If she could hear him, if the blood weren't rushing in her ears, if she could answer, she might say,
"your apology is worth shit."
The lifeline severs, her head hitting the ground first and bending the wrong way, the crack of her neck as it snaps resounding in the otherwise empty stairwell.
—is what he wishes he could think, but it feels like he'd be a little less human if he did. He already feels like he almost isn't, and he only gives a cursory look for anything of hers and ends up just getting his gun and heading back up to the third floor instead, heading off to the bathrooms to clean his wounds and fix what he can before he inevitably has to face anyone he knows. )
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Sena-san... No, senpai. Let's TALK. ( a beat, and natsume steps back a little, tilting his head down hall to the classrooms. ) In private - and before you ASK, it isn't a waste of your TIME.
( :/ he's not happy about having to apologize, even if he should, because he doesn't like admitting he was in the wrong; and izumi had been wrong too, but... anyway, he wants to get this over with quickly. better to be on good terms with people you're about to be stuck with over summer break and dying of heat stroke with or whatever. )
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he clicks his tongue. ]
...Fine. But this better be good, Sakasaki. Don't think I don't know the lies you've been feeding Kudo about me.
[ yeaaaaaaah, if natsume thinks apologizing to izumi would be a walk in the park... haha. still, he's going to trail after his kouhai anyway, albeit warily. can't be too careful ever since rika lured him into a trap, rip. ]
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I was only trying to get her to fall out of love with someone like YOU. She deserves better than a broken HEART.
( which is only inevitable with izumi, for a variety of reasons. and he definitely only thinks that because she's a girl. he only comes to a stop by the end of the hall, not that far from the bathrooms.
he turns to him, hands folded behind his back. okay. he can do this. he can. ten year olds apologize, for christs sake. he's going to be eighteen this school year. he can do this. )
...I'm sorry for provoking you with Tsukinaga-senpai's NAME. ( it's not- as hard as he thinks to apologize, but it still isn't comfortable, and he doesn't look at izumi when he says it. ) I'm not sorry for cutting your hair ANY, because you deserved that for bringing up my uNIT, but I can at least admit I was somewhat in the wrong bringing him UP, fully aware that it'd get under your SKIN.
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That's not going to cut it, Sakasaki. You think that's enough? Because of that, Kawai also believed that I was a flat-earther! No one's ever going to let me live that down if it spreads because they all want to take me down one way or another.
[ he starts tapping his foot on the floor. ]
You're gonna have to do better than that. Get on your knees and grovel if you have to. It's going to take me months before my hair that you just mindlessly messed with grows back.
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when he talks, he at least looks at izumi this time, gold eyes narrowed just the same. )
I would rather swallow nails than beg for your forgiveness over something as inane as THAT. ( with the same tone as "make me". ) BeSIDES, you should thank me for taking some scissors to that unruly mess you call a hairCUT. Your split ends from all the stress were really starting to SHOW.
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so he doesn't hesitate in grabbing a fistful of natsume's hair, his gaze even more ice-cold than usual. ]
I'll show you split ends. You don't seem to have taken a bath since coming here.
[ help is this really how their catfight's gonna go down tho ]
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natsume makes a noise that isn't quite a yelp - more like he started one, then bit his tongue on it, and he grabs izumi's arm instinctively to try and tug him off; then he actually thinks for a second and kicks his shin instead, as hard as he can. no time to retort that he has, thank you; that he takes VERY GOOD CARE OF HIMSELF, as obsessed with his appearance as izumi is with his own. )
Let go of ME—
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[ ugh, that smarts. izumi does let go of natsume but not before pulling off some stray strands while he's at it, landing on his ass on the floor. the impact was enough for the worn-out horse toy that he brought along with him to fall out of his pocket and crack open. ]
How... dare you... [ sucks in a breath through his teeth ] So much for making it up to you senpai, huh. I wasn't asking for a lot, you know? It's the least you could do after mocking his disappearance at my face!!
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With all due reSPECT, Senpai, not that you deserve any - normal people don't suggest groveling for forgiveNESS. I'm not— ( another step—
and his foot lands on the toy horse, finishing it off. natsume pauses, staring down at izumi, and something shifts. his eyes are always golden, always a pretty, shiny yellow, like a cat's - but something shimmers behind them, distinctly not him. his fingers spasm briefly, fighting something before they close sharply against his palms, gripping something that isn't there (yet)—
and something snaps behind those eyes, and the next step he takes is higher, and it's aiming right for izumi's face, coming in a little harder than he might expect: )
≪I'm not getting on my knees for anyone - not a single one of you deserves that!≫
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oh, right, the gun. he wraps his hand around its handle in his pockets as he stares his kouhai down. ]
So what, you're going to throw a tantrum about that?! It doesn't matter anyway! He's gone! No amount of groveling can ever bring him back!
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—Then don't ask for useless sentiMENTS! You should just— ( rrrgh ) join HIM, if you miss him so MUCH!
( and leave him to be alive, alive, c'mon c'mon c'mon— )
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S-Snap out of it! What's gotten into you?! Sakasaki!!
[ his eyes scan the floor once more, gaze landing upon the broken horse toy on the ground. that's supposed to contain nao's soul, doesn't it?! and now that it's free...
the doors slide open before he can continue his train of thought, and a couple of random second-years file in to see what the fuss is all about. they rush in and attempt to pull the feral idol off of him, asking izumi what tf is going on. ]
I-I don't know! He just... Just get him off me!
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it doesn't have bullets in it, which is a shame, but he still pistol-whips one of the students trying to grip onto him. it's a satisfying, sickening crack to their temple, and the student's grip loosens on him as they smack into the ground beside izumi. it's natsume yet not natsume who brings the gun back up and smashes it into the back of the student's head, not recognizing one of his yearmates.
hard enough to knock them out, and he's about to turn and do the same fucking thing to izumi when the other student that'd come to help izumi out yanks him hard enough to juuuuust miss izumi's pretty little face with the stolen gun, and so the honor of "second down" goes to this poor, poor student who'd just been trying to help.
natsume smashes the butt of the gun into their throat a few times instead, lips twisting briefly at the strangled, cut-off noise the student makes until they aren't making them anymore, before he turns his attention back to izumi. there's a little distance now between them, but not too much - he'd been pulled off more or less, but with izumi's two helping hands down for the count...
if he leaves his senpai alone, he's just going to scream, which is just going to attract attention - which will make more of them come, which makes his stomach twist. so he should
shut izumi up?
yeah.
he should do that.
and he intends to! there's some distance between them since he got pulled off a little there, but he's chucking the gun at izumi's head to try and slow him down a bit so he can Get There before Someone has any Bright Ideas about calling for help again - he can't have that, he can't, he has to live and if more of them come - if there's too many, well, there's no way that he could. )
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he watches helplessly as the presumably-dead schoolmates fall on the ground, but before he could bolt it out of there natsume's quickly one-upped him with a gun to the head, and he falls back down on the floor, too paralyzed to move. of course he's no match with an oddball - he's only an ordinary, boring idol after all.
but that doesn't mean he'll be going down without a fight. ]
Saka...saki... [ he tries to keep his voice steady before he's tempted to yell for real -- ] You're just going to start killing over something so inane? Do you even know the situation we're in?! Oi!!
[ at this rate they're going to gain one more tally on their arms--! ]
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( or they'll all gang up; natsume's fingers twitch on izumi's throat, gentle slender hands that tighten with an abruptness and squeeze. )
I'm not going to DIE, Sena-senpai. ( cold but a little rushed, hair curtaining over them as he leans in more. ) I have to get out of HERE.
( he wouldn't call it inane either. he gives izumi a smile, one that trembles on his face. )
Tell Tsukinaga-senpai I miss HIM, won't YOU? It's too bad he couldn't graduate HERE, but he should be lucky he graduated at ALL. The same goes for YOU.
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but it seems as though it's too late. the world is spinning in his perspective as his lungs clamor for oxygen, eyes still boring into natsume's. is he really going to die a boring death like this...?! ]
H-How dare... I'll never forgive... you... Sakasaki...
[ his voice is hoarse at this point, but even that won't stop him from spitting out his final words. let this be a curse for this so-called wizard of happiness. ]
She'll-- She'll come for you... If nothing else...
[ god, he cannot believe that he's going to put it all on chiaki with his last breath. but one thing's for sure - obsessive types like that will find a way somehow. he would know. of course he would.
and... maybe this was all a dream. if izumi thinks real hard he could wake himself up from this living nightmare and find himself back in florence again, ready to take on a busy day now that he'll be taking care of leo from now on. surely, if he slowly closes his eyes and let go of natsume's wrist to reach out to the light, then leo will... they will...
meet the silence together. ]
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he keeps squeezes until izumi's grip loosens and the words he'd been cursing him with fade into the buzz of his mind; he keeps squeezing until the buzz drops sharply into the silence of the hallway, and his hands fall away. natsume blinks once, twice, three times, and swears under his breath as he backs off. there wasn't— he didn't—
but he did. )
I'm going to be SICK, ( he mumbles softly, and he forces himself up; with cat-like grace he peeks into 2-D and drags the three bodies in once he's sure it's clear. up goes the window, up goes the screen. the two students - yearmates, he feels like he recognizes them a little from passing in the hall, in that vague way you know someone's existence but nothing really about them - go out first, and if they weren't dead before (they weren't, he could feel them stirring, but we don't have time to unpack all of that right now) then without a doubt the fall from the third floor, unable to brace themselves, can help that along.
he hesitates on izumi, propping him up against the windowsill. )
...SorRY, ( softer still. easier, though, this time. she'll come for you, the words surface again, and he maneuvers izumi's corpse out the window with all his might.
he washes his hands. he takes the gun and the pieces of the toy horse when he's done, and he goes to find lucy to shove his face in her fluffy white fur until he feels better. until he figures out a justification, a reason, to feel better with. )
06/22, chiaki's turn :)
He's been thinking on those words since the weekend. He's been thinking on those, and he'd seen Chiaki's ... outburst from the window, Lucy in his arms and his fingers scratching beneath her chin, and unfortunately. Unfortunately, Izumi is right. If she ever got wind of it being him, no matter how much she might've liked him prior to that moment, it'd all go out the drain. It doesn't matter if he wasn't in his right mind when it happened — plain and simple, he killed Izumi. And two other second-years who hadn't deserved it, who'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Natsume heads to the art club room after school on Tuesday, gun feeling heavy in the back of his uniform pocket. He manages to smile when he sees her despite the cloudy thoughts in his extremely unfortunately clear-head and gives her a wave, hello~ )
Miss Assassin Bug ♪ Want to grab an after-school SNACK? My treat, of COURSE.
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Yeah, okay! I want something crunchy today!
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Whatever you'd like — and ladies first, of COURSE. ( Of course. His smile slips a little to concern, not at all false but — he's trying to keep a mental distance, he is, yet: ) Are you feeling oKAY? I saw what happened a few days ago with Komaeda-san.
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[ Only insane people would be— because never mind what happened with Komaeda, she had to go through that clutching Izumi's lifeless body. Insane. Maybe insane is the fact that she isn't bawling her eyes out days later, that she looks outwardly fine with a skip in her step and hands clasped behind her back as she turns halfway on her heels to look at Natsume. ]
What about you? If you're sad, it's gotta be carbs. It's cheat week.
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Everyone deals with their grief in different WAYS. ( Vague enough to work, and he follows after her after a moment, threading his fingers together behind his back. ) I suppose I'm SAD, but it doesn't feel like IT... Perhaps I'm still in shock that any of that happened at ALL.
It isn't every day ( he continues, voice softer ) that one of one's friends gets murdERED. Not even HERE.
( Hurt, sure, but it isn't like there's a rampant murder problem. Except lately. Natsume shrugs slightly, glancing off. )
Maybe it'll feel a little more real ( like his pulse escaping beneath his fingers, the wheeze of his breath ) in a BIT, and I'll have a nice good CRY. He and I had our issues with one anoTHER, but that doesn't mean I hated him or anyTHING.
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Yeah... I get what you mean! I'm sad, but it still doesn't feel real, like I won't get my closure until I pay back whoever did this to him.
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My MY... Do you have an extensive revenge plan all reaDY, Miss Assassin Bug?
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[ There is no guilt here. Chiaki is Justified. ]
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Do you mind if I workshop it a litTLE? Not to BRAG, but I'm an expert at thinking of terriBLE, painful revenge plots that ensure one gets the maximum satisfaction out of another's comeupPANCE.
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[ Breaking kneecaps sounds pretty satisfying to Chiaki, but who is she to refuse revenge plots? ]
Okay, how would you kill somebody, if you had to do it? It's gotta involve stabbing.
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( Let's see... He glances past her - stairwell, oh. )
...But you should turn around so you don't fall down the stairs and give yourself a concusSION. How are you going to listen to my words of wisdom like THAT?
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Slow suffering stabbing's kinda hard, huh...? 'cause they gotta bleed out, but if you wait too long, the blood's gonna clot or they can crawl for help— or they'll just fall unconscious and that's no good! They won't know they're dying, and what's the point if they don't know!
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( it's a little sickening to talk about his own imagined faux murder like this, but he keeps his tone as airy as if he were talking about the weather. he isn't in dramatica or the entertainment business for nothing.
he steps down after her, letting his left trail on the railing too as he slips the gun out with his right. )
I think you could do IT, but it's a shame that you won't be able TO. ( he grips the gun, heart pounding - he's upset, but it has to be done. oh, rika is going to hate him; she will never forgive him. ) An idol's body is their most precious assest after ALL.
( -- he brings the gun against the back of her head without much other warning, as hard as he can muster. )
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Her other hand finds her pocket— warm metal, rough grip, an exacto knife that she pulls out and swings blindly behind her because it doesn't matter where she cuts, the blade is sharp and it will cut deep. ]
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It's stupid that the first thing he thinks is "Of course she wants one that involves stabbing, she has a knife on her," but there it is; the second thought is that he needs to get it out of her hands before she reorients herself and actually, genuinely acts on her stabbing fantasies. Not that she's not trying that now, and it's not like he can dodge another good swing, so he figures out which part of him's the easiest to hide if injured — his arm — and bodies her against the wall, arm raised to catch the knife in his poor (living) hope meat when it swings his way.
Ow, but, you know, anything to live. )
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She lets out a little cry of pain then, willing her fingers to curl back around the handle of the knife while her other hand—- she reaches forward to where Natsume must be to have rammed her into the wall, to grab onto his sleeve or his collar or his ear or anything to hold him there so he can't escape.
How dare he. HOW DARE HE?? The knife pulls out, to plunge back in. ]
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Meanwhile — he goes for a Maya and steps on her foot as hard as he can, grinding his foot into the ground. )
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that is her entire weight toppling backwards down the stairs, with her hand firmly anchored to the front of his shirt. ]
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Natsume goes down with her; instinct bids him to try and soften her fall, because the "she's going to kill me thing" aside, he does like her and she is a girl, but he fights against it so that he'll go down on her instead, specifically holding her in place to have her cushion him.. Something twists in his ankle as he looses his footing, but he'll just have to deal with that later — any scrapes, too. )
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Desperate, she holds on. She can't die- she can't. She still has to... ]
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It takes him a moment to stop his head from spinning, both from the dizzying fall and his own sudden movements, and he can't catch his breath; his chest hurts, heart pounding the way it does when you tip your chair back a little too far and almost fall backwards but catch yourself in the nick of time. Chiaki's grip is still so tight, but that couldn't have been good for her — the fall — he carefully pries her fingers off of his collar, pulling them off one by one until he can move back up a stair or two.
Breathe. Breathe. Natsume rubs his face, stares at Chiaki, and moves closer to her again. )
For what it's WORTH, ( he mumbles softly, scooping her up gently, ) I am sorRY.
( Not sorry enough, since he still - with difficulty, aching and stinging and one of his arms a bit weak given the whole stab thing — moves closer to the stairwell's railing opposite the wall and rests her against it, briefly.
Then he pushes her up and over the railing. )
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"your apology is worth shit."
The lifeline severs, her head hitting the ground first and bending the wrong way, the crack of her neck as it snaps resounding in the otherwise empty stairwell.
Chiaki Kudo is dead. ]
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—is what he wishes he could think, but it feels like he'd be a little less human if he did. He already feels like he almost isn't, and he only gives a cursory look for anything of hers and ends up just getting his gun and heading back up to the third floor instead, heading off to the bathrooms to clean his wounds and fix what he can before he inevitably has to face anyone he knows. )