yogen | npc contact.2

[ !! The rustle of fabric is apparent before she even finishes her greeting, the shopkeeper sitting up a little straighter in their seat behind the counter at the mention of their name. ]

Helena!

[ She can hear the voice shift slightly as npckun turns their head more towards the package under her arm. What is it... is it lunch... ]

Are you here to buy something? I have these really nice rocks that'll fit perfectly in the palm of your hand— you know the immense satisfaction that comes from something that fits perfectly? You can experience that every day, whenever you want!

Not today.

[she's used to the sales pitches - more often than not, she declines, spending money on necessities instead - but occasionally might say yes. still, today is different, and she puts the package on the counter.]

I was going to give this to you in the dorms, but I couldn't wait - I've made something for you!

( waiting for kazuki outside is... a nene! sitting beside an admittedly heavy planter that she carefully carried out. after all, it's been months since he gave her those seeds. surely he'd like to see their progress?

it took some experimenting to keep them all satisfied. the bleeding hearts are in full bloom, even now. the pheasant's eyes are smallest of the three, but bright and well bloomed despite the growing chill, and the foxgloves are tallest- and the ones she's most careful with.

she's raised them well, to keep them growing strong even as october starts. )

Kazuki-san... do you remember the seeds you gave me? I've been taking good care of them.

[ ... ]

It's nothing like that! My dangerous things aren't anything I'd leave around in a room anyways.

[ Not a room where anybody else would have access to, anyways, and it's not like they're moving everything over to the dorms. A stuffed animal, a blanket, really it's just the things they need to fall asleep at night. ]

Just make sure to be here early tomorrow, okay? Oh- but make sure to eat breakfast first.

[ Boooo, "not today" is what people tell them and then never come back, though Helena is promise-bound to visit and has no other choice. ]

A present? For me?

[ The surprise— some hesitation— is apparent in their voice, never really sure about receiving gifts that aren't commissions and looking up at Helena as if asking for permission. ]

Can I open it now?

[ Oh... he can hear the extra weight in her steps, careful as if holding onto something heavy but delicate at the same time, and turns towards her, stepping forward to fill the gap so she needn't walk all the way over to him. ]

I knew you would, lass. It has been quite some time since then.

[ Back when they were just seeds in an egg carton.

He goes ahead and sits down on the grass where he is, gesturing for Nene to do the same so she can rest her arms. ]

[mostly body, arms and hidden beneath his shirt, his legs probably got it too... face i'll give the side of it, something that won't last too long but a nice stinging feel. subaru watches them look over him with some curiosity, some unease since there's not a vocal acknowledgement (he wouldn't even need to be forgiven, but he'd selfishly want to be anyway), so he'll let them do as they please.

physical touch is nice, after all. even if it's like this. maybe this is their way of saying that it's okay...?

...]

Keigo?

Mhm. It feels like so long ago...

( ... )

I'm sorry I didn't come see you a lot, in that time. I wanted to, but... ... I found that, I've hesitated a lot with people, here. I never used to be like that... and it's cost me precious time with so many. I didn't want you to become one of them, too.

( she doesn't move the planter often- the dorms was the main big migration, and she's kind of grateful for the skylight, providing it with such direct sunlight. )

[ npckun lifts their head just slightly, trying to listen to what's going on more than to see— from all the running around they can hear, they're not going to sit up and risk being spotted.

So it's those footsteps they pay attention to, trying to figure out whose is whose— the one going towards Komaeda should be Tarou-nii, right? they're friends, and heading towards the edge of the roof with little care for his own safety to check just in case sounds like something he would do. ]

Kogamo!

[ The voice that calls out— sort of like how you would call for a lost pet when you don't know where they are— is decidedly not Amami's, though, and they freeze, breath held.

Lowering his hands from his mouth, Rokuro looks to Amami with a nod of his chin as if asking him to go look around while he returns to Komaeda's side so he can shake his shoulder to see if he's awake so he can demand where Komaeda dropped his brother. ]

Well...

[counts off on her fingers]

We're missing some, obviously. You can experience other people's memories sometimes. The little piles of rocks they make for dead people have memories attached to them. You can trade them to the counselor for things. And some of the more dangerous things the shopkeeper sells have to do with them. So they must be very important.

Thirteen... Dad said he'd just turned thirteen.

[ And they were three, ten years apart, and sometimes aniki felt more like a father than a brother, having to fill both roles. They're not so sure about dead things, but living things? They'd believe he's good with them. ]

I say what a lot?

Mm, a lot of people came to the library after, so it wasn't as lonely as usual.

[ Like, it was more investigation than reading or studying, but whatever brings people to the library. ]

I didn't know her, though... I don't think she was there a lot, so she wouldn't have stayed. It's not an important place for her.

( huh? was it july during then? )

...Around June?

( npckun your brother is why komaeda's a father, he's why! damn you rokkun for being a young dad. aside from that, rokkun really had his hands full, but it seems like him... hardworking, busy for those he care for. )

That you're not good with living things...

How nice, her death brought you tons of new friends!

( he's going to clap his hands together gently because his one finger hurts now. )

Thank you, Okane Aiko-san! ( he looks at her almost like she should follow suit as well, being grateful for deaths is a norm they need to make happen more. )

She was an artist, her last piece was the wisteria glowing blue... You can see it from here, go look...

( it's dying a little though, sorry ghostchild... 😞 )

Well, memories do tend to be important!

[ Experiencing other people's memories isn't so direct most of the time, though, and trading memories like it's currency? ... ]

Tell me more about the "dangerous things" the shopkeeper sells.

It's your present - you can open it whenever you like.

[she smiles, waiting for them to unwrap it. inside are three items - a notebook, a slate, and a stylus - all the implements for writing braille. the slate and stylus are simple, handmade things: the slate is made from wood, with a simple hinge, and the stylus is more an invented item, with the handle made from carefully shaped clay and the shaft from a broken awl made dull. but they'll have seen her use something similar enough to know what these are.

her hands fidget a little with her cane, listening for their response.]

( oh, yeah, amami kinda bristles at that — that's top secret info, not even he'd been given it freely, so he's kind of visibly grimacing. and considering the fact that they charge for the name they do give? he's looking at rokkun like, not super reciprocative of that nod, but whatever. there's a short pause, and in a voice that should be just audible to them at the edge of the roof: )

Not so loud!

( it's going to echo through the whole campus like that? plus it's only like, 6-something right now, have some mercy on everyone, rokkun. komaeda wouldn't let anything happen to them... probably.

the sigh he gives is probably audible even from where they're hiding after that though, hands on his hips like he's kind of exhausted that he has to say it. komaeda didn't explain anything, did he? anyway, it's probably not that big of a deal. more importantly: he does need to find them, so he'll circle around the structure to get a look at the other side of the roof. seeing that there's nothing there, though... maybe he'd get a better view from on top of it? thought it's strange — he's pretty sure the two of them would have seen, if kamo-kun had snuck back inside or something. give him a minute, he'll see if he can manage to grab or jump up to grab that ledge so he can pull himself up for the vantage point. hopefully it goes better than the tree did for him. )

[ Rokkun absolutely just said the name out loud, yeah.

Also I've only had wasabi one time in my life and my experience, which is going to be Rokkun's experience, is that the pain is like a knife being stabbed through the top of your mouth into your nose, it made me cry, but the pain also disappears very quickly, very different from chili pepper heat that sinks into the mouth and throat and lingers forever on the tongue.

So yeah. Once you get over the initial agony, you're fine and can take another bite. He is crying a little, though. Why is there so much wasabi, who let Komaeda do this, he wouldn't be eating this if Komaeda weren't the one who gave it to him and also he doesn't like wasting food. ]

Oh, uh—

[ Are they supposed to make their own cat or eat the rest of the rice? They're just going to hold the bowl between their hands for now. ]

Sorry, but we got these from Lucifer-senpai, so they're special. I can't let you use mine, and we don't have extras lying around... I'm sure there's black fabric at school we can use, though.

( honestly... komaeda gave rokkun rules, and someone just didn't follow them. how hard is it to act like a stranger? strangers obviously don't say names like that or show any worry, and maybe that's what makes komaeda just lay there perfectly still, holding in his breath, and he seems like... he's peaceful. maybe he's passed on, because due to rokkun's persistence, and komaeda's disbelief of his...

...

stupidity, his mouth slightly parts, and there's a small trickle of blood that seems from the corner of his mouth, and yeah it'll get on rokkun's clothes. are you ever so sick that you just want to throw up blood? no? it's komaeda's life.

anyway, a small bottle rolls from underneath his hand...

...

...

he's just laying. )

( yeah, wasabi is like a growing hot pain that creeps from your mouth to your nose, and it's like it opens the nose pores, like you can breathe and it's so bad bc the heat is just in your nostrils. komaeda gave big ass chunks, like stuffed in, so it's probably horrible, but ori's right... after the initial rush... it's fine.

oh, oh...

he digs in his pocket to pull out one (1) ramune drink from the vending machine, sitting it between subaru and rokkun. fight for it... )

Ah... is it so good it brings you both to tears? Goto-kun's batch were delicious... huh, I wonder if I can be that lucky.

( he loves the tears, keep up the good work. he'll take the container back with the last nekonigiri, and he'll start breaking it apart to reveal it's a normal one with no wasabi. he doesn't like rice though, so he picks up the head to hold out to subaru. )

Open.

Let's check, where do you all keep them? We'll be lucky.

( maybe, but listen, komaeda gave them majority of the rice, and the little cats that he made are fine. already sitting on the table for hikaru to grab those too, if they want. )

We could always try the principal's office.

They're little statues, shaped like animals. You get something useful if you buy it, but you have to trade away something very important. I think one of them even kills you, in the end.

... The others act like they don't really wanna sell them, but I don't believe it. Just don't stock them. You know what they do.

( you know what, he'll let it slide, because he knows they sell totems and he knows they shouldn't use them for themselves and he's going to assume (or kind of just naively hope) that's the only items of danger they would have. he still doesn't look like he quite gets it, but he'll nod, because it's not like he'll turn down such a simple request as that at a time like this. )

Yeah, I'll come here first thing.

( ... )

Do you mind if I stick around for a while longer?

( just... to have their company for a little bit. he'll probably remain quieter for the rest of the visit, and he doesn't want to impose this kind of mood on them for long, but... yeah. an hour, maybe. it'd help. )

[ ...He's quiet for a bit, because it's sort of like what Hanako does, granting wishes in exchange for a cost, except more limited in scope. It's dangerous business, and he strongly advises against it, but it's still an offer he leaves on the table because that's the entire point of his existence. ]

As long as the person is aware of the price, it's on them for buying it... I can understand that.

[ ... ]

But it sure is dangerous! Which one do you think I should get? The one that kills? I'm already dead, after all!

npc contact.2

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kazuki, early october

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