yogen | npc contact.2

( sniff sniff... what's on them hope... despair... better be hope!! they have powers, komaeda can sense that little hope. )

Were you able to fix whatever your bad idea was? There's a reason bad things happen, so good things are built from it... at the time, hope was made because you learned something, and now you can perfect it, and who knows... for others it may have given them a chance to realize that they're capable of something. You are a cultist... so I can only imagine what you did that made you so excited...

( let him think... hmmm... )

Brought back someone from the dead?

( add would have killed us if they're not invited.

they can hang into komaeda all the time and go where he goes, so their regimen for day 1:

- komaeda waits for them to fall asleep first.
- they get a full night's rest
- komaeda finds them clothes of their size to wear
- wonders if add will share
- they get ready to wash up, and he gets them food
- go through some lucky occurrences
- they visit helena, and komaeda says hes going to get them something from the vending machine, so they stay w helena until he gets back. (takes a detour to the clocktower to check on things)
- comes back and komaeda's idea is to build a squirrel blocker for the bird feeder that will be places outside amami's window
- they can visit rokkun if he's around maybe
- go hang with sara and see if she'll teach them math

this changes every day. )

Oh, you're right. I thought of something else.

[ Murdering Subaru feels like it would make him happy. ]

But, like I said, it's not altogether important for me to be happy. I'll take what I can get, but there's no reason to put the extra effort into it. You definitely don't need to accost me in my own classroom at the end of school.

[ oh they still have favorite people here...

why is Komaeda a good dad and then Rokkun's out there like... the across the street neighbor you try not to make eye contact with but sometimes you accidentally do so you wave to them and then quickly turn around and go home ]

Yes! That's the one.

[ They step over the scattered pencils and take that one from Komaeda's hands, laying the wood on the ground and sitting in front of it all cross legged, pile of wood on one side, a wider plank being used as a clipboard for the piece of paper they're doing rough calculations on.

They're going to trace out with pencil where to cut and then hand the wood over to Komaeda. He gets to use the table saw. ]

( ... he's insane.

he won't sit down, but he's finally going to take his hand back from rokkun. )

Let me help Akehoshi-kun make the plates.

( IF rokkun let's him go, he'll be on your side to help you subaru, give him a few minutes. talking about accosting, is that about what komaeda did? )

You were leaving, it was the only option I had at the time. I thought we were partners in crime...

( komaeda could have been selfish and say they all left, but he needs npckun to know that there are others...

is npckun still embarrassed by him, god, i'm crying, komaeda will wave to him and then be like... maybe they can all get together during break and read books in the library. there's always watching a movie... tuesday, is family movie night rokkun, be there or be square. )

( he could cut his hand off with that, but you know, he'll use it properly, and hold the plank still to cut along the line that's been shown to him. one or two times he almost nabs his finger, but he's pretty lucky that he almost tripped over that pencil that rolled in his direction huh? pulls him away just in time from almost losing a thumb. )

I wonder... if you'll find a bleeding heart dove.

[that's-- that's so not fair, they can't kiss him this much after he already said before he wanted to kiss them first!! but subaru really feels like he can't do as much the same, not because he doesn't want to but because he really really wants to and

he knows he's a sun that burns a little too bright, a little too hot, and the last thing he wants to do is overwhelm keigo. even though he's sort of overwhelmed them already.

but it's with a careful restraint, heart like a bird freshly put in a cage, that he turns his head to kiss them lightly on the lips. more like a brush, because he has a lot of energy and plenty of antsy feeling that makes him want to do so much more, that he is just focusing into very much not that. it's terrifying, it's so terrifying, but in a rollercoaster sort of way.]

There's nowhere else I'd wanna be right now, Keigo. I can afford to skip a day, so...

[he trails off, tracing constellations against their back with a heady, sly sort of grin.]

Think your customers would mind if I hung around? ☆

[smooching the shopkeeper whenever they weren't pitching sales and hanging off them and probably whining if he didn't get enough attention until keigo gave him some,]

( actually depending on who's doing the forgetting here, it could be very nice and freeing, which is what natsume is going to find out next month when chiaki doesn't remember him and he gets to survive another week, until i accidentally post to the drop page )

...I'm not Baru-kun, who can remember the face of every fan who's ever come to one of our conCERTS, but to forget anyone still HURTS. I'm sure being forgotten is just as BAD, if not WORSE, but it gives you another chance to change yourSELF. ( Free second chances, and all it cost was all of your memories together. ) Imagine you royally screwed things up the first time with someboDY... If they forgot YOU, you could just start over aGAIN.

But you could do it right, that TIME.

( better. )

[if he thinks murdering subaru sounds great now just wait!!!!

but subaru will appreciate the help even though it's simple, it's pan-toasted bread layered with slightly runny eggs and not-so-crispy bacon, the kind of meal that a mom might indulge her kid with or a teen standing alone in his kitchen would make before taking his dog on a walk just to feel normal.]

And on the flipside, that just makes me want to visit you more.

[he's a defiant person by nature]

( Natsume gives a start, pressing back into his seat—looking right at her, up at her. "I'm not leaving," but she was going to before he said anything, so what's the truth? It's true, though: if he wanted pity, he would've gone to someone else. If he wanted help, he'd...

No, he wouldn't have gone to her. None of that is anything she can help with anyway: she can't alleviate his fears, or stop a bargain (a contract) that's already been made. She can't or won't tell them what this school actually does, if Stephanie is right and they're all just food ripening like fruit, or if graduation is a good thing and what a "good thing" really is, since the definition isn't the same for everyone.

He looks at her, surprise slowly receding as he straightens in his seat again, hands settling on either side of hers in front of him. ...he wonders if other people get these displays of emotion from her, or if he's special.

There's a lot, though. To get to know her through her, and not her twin brother or her friend; to be able to put himself forward without it having to come to an argument first, because she actually asks him things so he can answer; to being called a little more familiarly, since while they aren't friends they're not exactly acquaintances, either; to know about the nature of the contract that'd been brought up at the meeting. Natsume knows which of these will get him a roll of her eyes, which ones she'll decide is a waste of her time in answering, which ones she'll look at him like he's an idiot for, which ones she'll say is none of his business.

She's not that unpredictable, except for when it gets tense like this.

So he weighs them in his mind—which ones would be most useful, which ones would make him happy, which ones she's most likely to entertain—they don't all tic the three boxes, just like how you can't have something done quickly and cheaply and expect it to be of a good quality, or have something that's top-quality and but done on a budget to be fast.

Natsume's mouth twists, and his reply is said quieter than her question was asked: )

To get to know you for YOU, rather through your brother or Sato-chan or other hearSAY. But if that's not to your liKING, then... let me see the contract you have with whoever's running this SHOW, since it isn't the principal or the vice-princiPAL.

( Barring that, a way into the faculty office, but the student council isn't really that powerful outside of manga; there's no reason to think she'd have any more access to it than him. )

[ Have you seen the guy? He's embarrassing. He's also not much of a family man, or a book person, or a movie person, but sometimes npckun will trap him inside the art room and just sort of sit there leaning against his leg while he draws or something, they can read their own book. It's about wagons. ]

We won't. They live in the Philippines.

[ npckun watches him carefully. blood is okay, technically, because they can just paint over it, but it's still gross and if Komaeda loses a finger they're not going to know what to do besides ??? stick it in a glass of milk, this is what you're supposed to do for teeth, they think. ]

Yes.

[ Sort of a distracted yes, between lifting a hand to touch their lips and trying not to squirm too much at the light touches on their back, but also, yes. ]

You'll just have to work hard for my sake.

[ Stay there and be advertisement. There is no option to not be there. ]

[ She's... not here! Nowhere near the tree, nowhere on the grounds, but if he points the gun towards the library window he might see a little ghost girl poking her head just above the windowsill and making shooing motions at him.

A painting's supposed to be hung up where people will enjoy it. So go do that. ]

I'm taking a break from crime.

[ Komaeda can't use that excuse on him all the time— Rokkun's already told him he's playing the waiting game until graduation or until something else forces his hand, but that's neither here nor there, letting Komaeda go help make the breakfast neither of them are going to eat because it's after school. ]

Both of you could probably stand to know comfortable silence. I don't mind company, but...

[ Don't talk to him? Don't interact with him. Don't try to reel him in and make him do things when he's already set on doing not those things. ]

[ There's a little twist of the lips again, one that says "been there, done that" but isn't altogether happy about it. He's lit somebody on fire once, and is the one who remembers more of it. ]

Starting over doesn't erase the things that I've done. Even if neither of us remember, the marks are still there.

[ On the soul. On the... wrist that he idly rubs with his other hand. In unconscious thought and gut feelings, it's there. ]

I guess I'd just feel guilty about it. Things will carry over to new game plus.

I always do, don't I? ♪

[he'll peck them on the cheek this time, because it feels nice. maybe he'll just do this the next like hour while the school is still very much theirs and no one is looking for either of them, seeing where keigo's weak kiss-wise. subaru's fairly sensitive by the ears himself.]

That poster I stuck to the board wasn't the only thing I did to boost your sales. I'm doing everything I can think of for you, so of course I'll bust my ass in shop too!

[drawing crowds, keeping them there, as long as keigo doesn't mind playful flirting with the customers maybe subaru can play salesman and get rocks sold....]

( Being fair, the guy probably deserved it. )

You have a kind and pure SOUL.

( natsume can't feel bad for the things he doesn't remember doing--unless he knows why, he can't. thinking about if the tallies he doesn't remember are because he died, or if they were in self-defense, or if he just snapped and killed to kill... he can't imagine that last one, but who knows.

it was only two. if he started with more, he might feel more sick about them. like the fifteen he'll start next year with if he lasts that long, left wrist going behind his back even though it's covered. )

But neither of you will rememBER. ( ... ) Does anyone in this school remember everything that happens each YEAR?

( why does all npckun know is to lock people in rooms, that's good, as long as they read something while keeping themselves calm.

and komaeda can look at them from afar like they're animals... like what do family do in their natural habitat? "komaeda is npckun's dad?" what do blood family do in their natural habitat. )

...Hm? You've never seen one outside the Philippines?

( not everyone is lucky like komaeda, but npckun shouldn't just chop it up to having to be in that location to see them. he wants to see one since it's the bird that comes to mind, maybe he does lose a finger to make it happen... tempting, but he looks up to see npckun staring at him, and he lifts a hand to pull at his shirt to look at it. the little red color in the middle of their chest is the best part, but wouldn't be for komaeda's attire so he searches for a stain.

no stain... )

...Is there something on my face? I know that I'm ugly, you should keep coloring.

( stop looking at him? )

Edited 2021-10-14 17:59 (UTC)

( shooing, but not come here, oh my god she wants him to hang it on the tree? he looks up at the branches, seeing the petals and searching for the newfound blooms — he understand how this works, and so he wants to hang it on the branch where saihara is.

he did solve her case, and he thinks that he should be able to see the painting while he waits.

...need rope. )

I need rope, go retrieve that for me!

...Is that it? You're right, maybe I should just...

( comfortable silence? he guesses that's one way to stay to themselves, mind their business, and maybe this wasn't the best time for komaeda to pick up a knife as he looks down at it. )

For that sort of silence, spilling blood is the only way.

( it's the aftermath of being trapped within the void for no one to bother you, he thinks as he taps the sharp end of the knife against the table. turning away, he's looking for the plates so that he can pass them out, and once he finds a large one, he holds it out for subaru to take.

as for what subaru does? well, rokkun did that to himself. )

[comfortable silence... subaru told someone else he can get maybe an hour max, just because of class, and he'll take the plate from komaeda to prepare the presentation. they're going to eat breakfast after school.

... he's also going to take the knife.]

We're not spilling blood in the kitchen, Maddy, you're gonna contaminate the food.

[it wouldn't be quiet anyway... not with subaru and komaeda around...]

Roku-chan, do you just go straight home after school?

npc contact.2

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