MISSION 2.C

[adsum]

Participants: Natsume, Komaeda, Hinata, Helena
Location: Fourth Floor
Date: 08/22 - 08/28

(ooc notes: I will state any possible content warnings in the subject line of the mod response when it comes up. If anything makes you uncomfortable, please tell me so I can back off and refocus the thread.

There will be no tag order, and a mod response will come after at least 4 player responses OR the next day, whichever is earlier. Please note this means that if you're absent for a day or more, the thread will move on, but I will pace things so that people aren't missing large plot beats.)

Comments

[commences]

( 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... )

[decrypter]

...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.

[crystallomancy]

...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.

[commences]

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. )

[futurebullets]

[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.