yogen | MISSION 2.C

Talking about names... Sakasaki-kun — ( with a smile, slightly uncomfortable. ) Are you feeling alright, calling me Komaeda-kun would work much better...

( as for the counselor, that's something... now he's trying to see if they have any visual similarities... and he was the one who told komaeda those memories with rokkun were nothing. ) ...He would deflect and ask me if I ever had a counselor before, which the answer was pretty obvious... I never used one before, so I had to take what I could get. But Tohoku University... that's something... where is that place located?

( he hums in thought, bringing a hand to his chin as he taps once, then twice. )

About the mother, that sounds correct... from what was said, it resembles a mother who left their children, but misses them dearly — ah, left the father and their two kids, but took the third along.

( ... as for helena's question, there's something uncomfortable that stirs in the pit of komaeda's stomach. he doesn't look, but knowing that hinata's here, knowing that his memories are... scuffed, the way to meet with the counselor is by receiving a note after an outed murder. his hand lifts, scratching at the back of his head as if he's thinking of how to respond to that.

... it's not a conversation he's had with hinata yet, and when the other learned before...

... )

Why not try to speak with the nurse, she could give a specialist referral to meet with the counselor. I've spent my days in a hospital, so I'm familiar with the method.

There's nothing wrong with calling you by your NAME, Nagito-kun. We're friends forged by fire NOW.

( (: )

But putting that aSIDE. Tohoku University is located in Sendai— ( helena doesn't have a japanese name, she might not know where that is? ) which is a city in the Miyagi Prefecture of Japan. It's an extremely selective university, too; its entrance exam is considered one of the most difficult in the counTRY.

( Listen to this nerd go. )

It's well-known for its three princiPLES, as well as its pioneering move of being the first university to accept women and foreigners as students in the PAST... It's interesting that he received his degree from there THOUGH. Maybe in the past its social services were more celebraTED, but it's famous for its law program nowaDAYS.

[she appreciates the background information! it paints a better picture of this man, who she's prepared to believe all sorts of horrible things about with him leaving his children. at the least he's a studious sort, but it doesn't excuse that...or the mother for leaving. really, the children are innocent here.

her eyes closing, she contemplates the matter at hand.]

If none of you can make a convincing reason to get a recommendation to see the counselor, I can.

[lying isn't entirely to her preference, but she is a fiction writer. if she thinks about it like that, it will be okay.]

A school for those who lack talent, they're like a reserve course, trying to make it to the top, yet failing.

( yeah, arata-sensei went to a poor people's school, for those who lack talent, and so that means komaeda doesn't care for it now that he's heard it. )

What sort of method is it? It's probably best that one or two people take part, reoccurring practices can make those who have a degree in tampering with the mind wary.

( ... )

We're counting on you, Adams-san!

( ugh komaeda just doesn't understand........ if not for his chosen professions, natsume might attend tohoku. you don't know. )

...I can think of a few reaSONS, but your method might prove safest and most seCURE, Little Bat. ( so: we're counting on you, adams-san! ) Nagito-kun and I will just be backup in case yours doesn't go as PLANNED.

[It's a lot to take in. That the boy is here, maybe even somehow still alive from the way the others are talking about him? That the boy - Arata Rokuro, he has memories with Komaeda, but they aren't real...?

And the... counselor. Arata Mizuki, he's here in this school. The one that left Kogamo all alone in the woods every six days. The one that wasn't there for Rokuro when he was dying all by himself. The grief in his heart shifts to embers, a spark that's kindled.]

...Komaeda, what you said earlier about your memories with... Arata... That's wrong.

[Hinata turns his gaze on him, just for a moment. It isn't rebuking the way it could've been after he felt betrayed by Komaeda later in his life; now, it's simply sharp with the conviction of his words.]

I don't know anything about memories being fake... [And it's not like he can question the impossibility of it after what they just went through.] ...But it doesn't mean that they don't matter. Even if it didn't "happen", the feelings and emotions still matter. Those are still real. [With those words, he looks to Natsume and Helena as well.] Whatever we do... I want to fight for those kids. I want to help them. We promised to help Kogamo, and that's as real to me as standing in this room with the three of you right this very moment.

[Hinata has no way to know that he's already had thoughts and words that carried this conviction just the same, the way he cares about Saihara and Nene with all of his heart. Both of them engraved there, belonging and irreplaceable. It doesn't matter if this school is what gave that to him - because Hinata would give everything that he is for either of them, without question.

Even if he can't remember that he realized it before, his heart is unchanging. He's still Hinata Hajime.]

I... want to try and go with Helena, too. There's a lot I want to say to the counselor. [A lot he needs to.] I don't know if we'll both be allowed in at the same time, but... I want to try, at least.

[If nothing else, finding a convincing argument won't be hard. Hinata is stressed out literally every day of his life.]

[nodding her head, she reaches up to touch where the ribbon should be if she hadn't given it away. empty space, and it reassures her, enough to carry on.]

Nightmares born of worry. I can claim they plague me so badly I can hardly get a night's rest, that I wake up distressed and can't manage to settle down. It would help if there was a way to make me look more tired, but in any case, I can say someone said to ask. And if we can't all go in, we should think of what we need to say, so that whoever's chosen can get the answers.

[pausing for a moment, she's lost in thought.]

As real or not real as any of that might have been...I don't have my ribbon anymore. I gave it away and it's still gone. Something had to have changed. I don't know what, but it did.

...

( he's quiet at hinata's words — the emotions and feelings he feels, that those are real. it makes him chuckle when they come from someone like him who lost their memories not once, but twice, so this would be a subject for him to comment on. if it was any other day, komaeda would have rolled his eyes, and ignored hinata, but he stares towards the other...

there's a part of komaeda who wishes that his feelings weren't real, because those are the scariest part... like being here now under the roof of this room — it could collapse, and everyone could die instantly. )

Hinata-kun, I do think you should take that offer with Adams-san... both of you may be able to use it to your advantage, as for me and Sakasaki-kun... we'll go about other methods. Like learning where that place was... Wonder if it was Saransk... he'd joke about us going there in our younger years.

( at the mention of the ribbon, komaeda pauses, eyes closed before exhaling. it's only for a moment as he finds himself walking a few steps away. )

Edited 2021-09-10 06:47 (UTC)

If you need help looking tiRED, I'm able to perform a little magic with makeUP.

( ...It's part of his profession's skill set, looking pretty. He can make someone look worse, too. Saransk makes him glance over to Komaeda though—Saransk...

Natsume briefly turns to smile back at Helena and Hinata, even if only one of them can see it. )

But make sure you rest up before you GO. Today's been harrowing on all of US... It wouldn't do to go too SOON.

( But then he takes his steps after Komaeda, catching his ... sleeve, yeah, to get his attention, and he lowers his voice: ) What else did he say about SaranSK, Nagito-kun? Because Kudo-chan also suggested she and I could go there for one of our very far away date spots when she won me as a boyfriend for a WEEK.

( komaeda forces himself to stop, eyes glancing back as he comes face to face with natsume, which he's unable to hold back his smile. it's not like the other wants anything from him, and when komaeda thought he was doing him a favor by making more of a distance between them. he doesn't say that aloud, but his mouth parts into an "o" curious at a familiar name — kudo chiaki said what? )

...Komaeda-kun? ( he asks, lowering his voice even more as he finds that this conversation should be between natsume and him. he stands close, leaning towards natsume to keep his voice within hearing distance since he already talks low. )

Ah... this will sound crazy but... ( a date spot? ) We went there to elope... we hid for a week amongst the bleachers of the Mordovia Arena.

( which ori says linear time is a construct, and so it was built earlier to, and created fast enough to fit rokkun's needs. )

I'm unsure if that location is the ideal place for a romantic getaway, but... it is home to the Family Monument, and... he's a person who loves his family, if that symbolizes anything. ...Did Kudo-san tell you where you'd both stay during your time there?

( this is months ago... but let him think, gaze dropping between them. saransk... she'd wanted to go to it because... )

No, she hadN'T. She told me that if the forest didn't work OUT, she'd like to go somewhere far away that she'd never been beFORE, and mentioned that PLACE. ( and then guam, and getting passports from rokuro. speaking of i don't remember if he ever got it, things to doublecheck. ) Saransk, of all plaCES... I wasn't aware it was such a tourist TRAP. Aren't Moscow and Saint Petersburg more popuLAR? Not to mention YekaterinBURG.

Edited (thanks mobile) 2021-09-10 23:24 (UTC)

( with a hand brought to his chin, komaeda cups it in thought with a small hum at the information. saransk is a random place to choose out of all places, but it's a location no one would really think of. natsume's right about it being a tourist trap, and it's smaller than the other locations. )

...Huh. When I first met Kudo-san, she was attached to his arm... so they have plausible history together, and it was Rokkun who told Sena-kun and I that we all attended the same middle school together. She could have learned it from him...

( and the boy that they met in the memory was nothing more than fresh out of the very place. pale green eyes look towards natsume, meeting his gaze as he speaks again. )

As for Arata Mizuki... I can't say he hates his own sons, I've been told that he was the best father despite coming home once a week, but his relationship with Rokkun is... strained. ( from their conversation, he was trying to expose komaeda to an obvious disconnect. like the memories of the him "before" wasn't the him "now", and so the beliefs that rokkun have are different to what komaeda knows. that makes the construct of their lives a lie, everything the other knows about him... ) ...This means he'd know more about Saransk, so he can enlighten us together... if you aren't busy, Sakasaki-kun.

( besides, known murderers versus a set sent through the nurse's recommendation could give two different conversations, and so it wouldn't be bad to see what information they can get from this. besides, he trusts hinata's own intuition, and if komaeda believed in anyone on jabberwock island despite the hiccups in their investigations — he quickly glances at hinata out the corner of his eye, and a passing thought of if he'll save the arata's futures too. helena showcased the type of hope she has, something that sits on komaeda's mind, and he believes that something will come together if they link into pairs — brave, strong, afraid of the accidents, and the loss... but that makes her even stronger.

he doesn't worry for them. )

If he can give us insight on locations, we can see how it connects Kudo-san and Rokkun, Kogamo-kun as well. We can catch up with both Adams-san and Hinata-kun, and bring our information together...

( that said, he has to talk to rokkun personally, but there's this uncomfortable feeling in his stomach... )

Edited 2021-09-11 00:11 (UTC)

...You do know I can hear you both. You needn't be whispering and trying to hide something from us, as if we didn't all go through the same events.

[her tone is still soft, still kind, but there's a thread of exhaustion in it, inflexible as steel. her patience only will last for so long, and this is strange, and it's been a long, long length of however many hours it has been.]

If we don't know, then fill us in, because those kinds of secrets aren't meant to be kept.

...My apoloGIES, Little Bat. The city name just caught my attention for reasons you've overheard: I'd heard it from a late student HERE, and it seems strange that the both of them should reference the same exact ciTY.

( he hadn't been thinking much of it; komaeda's given him much more to consider... he steps back and turns to her, standing beside komaeda with a slight smile. he's glad she's blind, now; he knows it doesn't reach his eyes. )

Ngito-kun and I will also visit Arata-sensei, but for a different reason than the two of YOU... He's right when he says we might be able to get different information from him thanks to our ( pause ) previous invitations to his ofFICE. That's ALL.

Explaining it would serve no purpose when we hardly have all the information, when it comes to me and Sakasaki-kun... we won't share baseless rumors like this.

( he pauses, chuckling to himself, but is that him stretching the truth, or being honest; perhaps its the way he looks at natsume — those eyes are telling, and with them being so gold... it's funny. anyway, it's hard to tell with him considering he takes nothing seriously. )

That said, when we left with the body... did anything else specific happen, or did you two stay with Kogamo-kun until...

( he's not sure how long, but if there's anything else the group needs to share, then it should be good. he's looking away from natsume, and glancing towards helena and hinata. )

[Hinata looks Komaeda and Sakasaki over with considering eyes - fortunately not suspicious, but still sharp with observation. There's the distinct feeling that either of them might have more to say, but it seems better to wait to bring it up for now.

He has to take a second to breathe, thinking about it again, but he powers through the heavy feeling in his chest.]

We were with them for a little while. Not a really long time- [Not long enough, never long enough-] -but... I hadn't even realized you two had left with... the body. I think Helena probably realized first, since I was distracted. That was when we talked to Kogamo a little and learned about their father. But after we realized, when Helena opened the door... [Hinata shakes his head, disbelief coloring his voice.] Outside, at first I thought it might be snow, but... Snow doesn't look like the world fading away into nothing. It was... eerie.

[Even now, it still sends a shiver up his spine, an indescribable feeling of wrongness.]

After that I set Kogamo down, and Helena and I left the house to try and find you two. The last thing we could hear was- [don't leave me alone don't leave me alone don't leave me alone] Kogamo was... calling for us... But then we ended up in the darkness and lights, and we found you again.

MISSION 2.C

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