yogen | npc contact.2

[ UGH she should never have opened the door ]

Don't be so eager to run into death's embrace, Sakasaki.

[ She's not going to shove him off the roof, and in extension that means she will not have to subject herself to a picnic date. ]

( "she's not going to shove him off the roof" this is the most disappointing sentence

he props up his head on his arms to look at her though, she is so... )

...You shook on IT, Miss Student Council PresiDENT. ( a half-there kind of smile ) Going back on your WORD? It's not unusual for politiCIANS, but I thought you were a different BREED.

It was a promise for "next time," and there isn't going to be one.

[ No more picnics with you, mister. Besides, there's nothing for her to gain from murdering Natsume right now, and she does not do things without reason. Again, there's the thought that opening the door was a mistake. ]

Why do you want to die?

[ Her gaze levels on his. If he says he doesn't, then he shouldn't be joking about it. If he does, then she'll be having more words with him. ]

( Ah, scary. Natsume matches her gaze, unblinking... then closes his eyes again. )

Do you dislike being treated to nice THINGS?

[ Natsume closing his eyes makes Maya feel like she won, a little. Win what? not important. ]

Is your death to be a "nice thing"?

The picnic is supposed to BE. ( .... ) Or WAS.

( Why do we have to talk about death? We just told a whole group of people they were already dead and it went really poorly. Let's just stay off that topic— )

You wouldn't consider getting rid of a nuisance a good THING? ( —he knows he pesters her, and he also knows if he could get rid of the annoyances in his life he would probably feel better. Maybe.

...If he had good reason, anyway. )

[ He's the one who brought it up in the first place ]

...There are ways to get rid of nuisances without killing them.

[ so yeah he's a nuisance. But if she'd wanted him dead, Hiro would've stabbed him by now ]

( STOP HE BROUGHT UP THEIR DATE. )

... ( she's not wrong, but there are some pests you can't get rid of without such extreme measures. like cockroaches or ants. bedbugs. mice.

he thinks about his words, rubbing the long sleeve of his left arm between his fingers, and )

I don't want to die; I just wanted to go on a date with YOU. Promsing you something as ridiculous as being able to push me off the roof was just an exCUSE. I didn't think you'd ever actually do IT.

( not because she can't, but )

You aren't the type of person who celebrates the loss of LIFE. ( ... ) This year must've been exhausting for you to deal with already, HM?

Do not make promises you have no intention of following through on.

[ If he had any thought the trade off might be worth it, she's going to have to stop him right here. She who led a student council election gladiator fight... but with her careful neutral expression and level tone, her thoughts on the matter can only be assumed. Most assume the worst from somebody decidedly closed off and who is in a position of power, but she thinks back to the last time she posted anything to the pda forums, a fleeting message minutes before the school year turned and the forum wiped clean once more.

So no, she doesn't celebrate loss of life. But she also has no choice but to accept death, the knowledge that she cannot save everyone. Sometimes you have to lose the battle to win the war. ]

...I've seen worse years. This year has been comparably tame, so far.

[ Still exhausting, but she's in no position to complain. ]

( Natsume gives her a look that plainly reads take your own advice, he'd follow through with his half of the promise (picnic) she just isn't going to go through with hers (murder). Him admitting that he knows she wouldn't isn't any failing on his part; he likes getting the better end of deals.

...But putting that aside, a worse year would probably be last year. One student standing, and not even completely whole, either. How many third years this year have died in comparison? He can't remember all of their names or faces, but he feels like it's less than he thinks. )

Maybe we just want to be bad students for YOU, since from what I reCALL, there weren't many deaths over summer BREAK.

( There was that thing with Legion and all, which I think was during the break, and then there was everything that happened in the memory-dream-things, but those last ones don't count. Technically. Maybe. He's still on the fence on them and he doesn't really like thinking about them anyway. )

Murder doesn't impress a girl like YOU, though, so what DOES?

[ Coming back after summer break to an empty school building would have been something. Tomorrow, when there's going to be nine discovered deaths, Maya's going to stare up at the ceiling for a moment.

She kind of feels like it right now, with that sort of question. ]

...Somebody achieving the impossible, I suppose.

( The point of the impossible is that you can't achieve it, not without a miracle, or by being blessed. Not that it's a deterrent normally, but it's... nothing he's brushing off so easily now.

And then he remembers it's at the turn of the century here, and his mouth twitches slightly. )

Have you ever experienced virtual realiTY?

( Maybe she's not actually from wherever (whenever) this school is and the answer is yes, who hasn't, but maybe it isn't and he can tell her about something fun. )

[ what ]

I thought you were here to rest your eyes, not run your mouth.

I'm a man of many taLENTS. I can do BOTH.

( look at him, eyes closed, mouth open... This is what peak male performance looks like. )

If you could go anywhere in the WORLD, where would you like to GO?

Home.

[ PLEASE take a hint, Sakasaki

But it might have been her honest answer anyways, to go home to a place that's not here, where Hiro needn't fight for her sake and she needn't fight for the students'. ]

( No, he's going to ignore hints. He's decided he doesn't want to behave anymore. )

You could always leave me here and let the ghosts that roam the halls at night eat ME, Little Wolf. ( Haruka would be cute company, actually. ) I still haven't successfully exorcised them YET.

( ..............because there are no such ghosts obviously but anyway. )

What is home to YOU?

[ gets up to leave him here and let the ghosts that roam the halls at night eat him ]

( oh she's really just gonna let him stay in the student council room? all by himself? is she really? )

You trust me that MUCH, Miss Student Council PresiDENT? ( ...he says, slowly getting up, he does feel better now but he still wants to talk to her. conversations are such a delicate dance though— ) Little Wolf, don't LEAVE. You can't give getting to know me a fair shot if we don't talk about things that don't mean anyTHING.

( ... )

You can't know if things would be different if you said yes or no to me without tryING. ( me, who had to reread our last thread even though i hate rereading my old threads, just to remember what their friendship thing was about in the end. ) I promise to be quiet unless spoken to FIRST, so come finish your WORK.

( unless he can look at it :3c )

...Please?

[ There's nothing he can do here, with drawers that are locked and everything neatly put away at the end of the day, the only thing really accessible being the papers Maya were writing on now tucked away in a folder in her bag, and that requires getting through her and a very sharp pen first.

There's nothing here. There's no reason for him to be here in the first place. ]

You're asking two different things of me, Sakasaki. Getting to know you has nothing to do with answering your inane questions; it requires you putting yourself forward.

[ The opposite of being quiet, him talking about himself even though both of them know she will immediately give him that look that says "why are you telling me this, I don't care" ]

( Nao's right, he's an embarrassment if he's going to keep trying like this even though trying to get closer to her just ends up like this. Natsume rests against the table, frowning at her; irritation licks the edges of his words, a little more curt than necessary. )

Well, you wouldn't agree to play twenty questions with ME, so I've never suggested IT.

( She has a problem with him making her his soundboard but she won't give him anything in return, so really, who's problem is this? )

What do you want to KNOW, Little Wolf? My ashamed past with crossdressING? A story of my first LOVE? The reason I won't leave you aLONE? How much I regretted bargaining away my eyesight for a girl I don't know and only owe a single debt TO, despite accepting the consequences of my acTIONS? Even though it means I'll never see a smile again in a year's TIME, even though it means the way I read fortunes and people will have to change—how terrified it makes me to know that if I don't learn how to live without seeING, I'm easy prey for those less inclined to reason around HERE?

( —which is a lot, and he pauses to... sit back down properly, leaning back in the chair, not looking at her. )

Why I left an important meeting and sought you OUT, instead of talking to the gardenER, or finding Hiro-kun, or someone more amicable to chatting with ME?

( ... )

Just GO, Little Wolf. ( Closing his eyes, whatever, it's fine. Haruka can come find him and he can go eat his weight in pudding. ) I'll leave after you DO. It'd be awkward if we left at the same time after getting on each other's NERVES.

[ ...???

There is so much she wants to retort, but there's also so much that leaves her speechless, biting back anger, discomfort, anger, concern, anger, and crossing her arms over her chest and pinning him with a stare that would be more effective if he'd just look at her. She wants to address all of it, none of it, none of this is her business and asking Natsume to put himself forward doesn't mean dumping all of this on her. What is she supposed to do with this? Fix it, is the natural response, but she's angry. ]

I'm not leaving. This is my room.

[ The stuco room. Her room. It's the same thing, and as childish as the reason is, it still stands: he's not kicking her out of her space. ]

If you wanted pity, you would have gone to Hiro, or any of your other friends. If you wanted help, ask me for help. Do not guilt trip me into doing what I have done anyways.

[ There's the heavy thump of her bag being set on the floor, and another of her hands coming down on the table surface in front of him so that she's standing directly across from him. ]

What do you want from me, Sakasaki?

( 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. )

[ There's a word for when you propose a bad deal and then a better one that's still bad but seems so much better in comparison, but I don't know what that word is. The sentiment still stands though, one where neither of those sit well with Maya but one is something she doesn't like entertaining and the other is one she can't. ]

It's not a physical, pen and paper contract. If the details are divulged while the president is still alive, then the contract is void. I will not let that happen.

[ In the end, she goes for the business option, because getting to know her for her is something Natsume is just going to have to figure out without being told directly: that she's a person who takes her job seriously, who would rather act upon concern than show it, who is willing to make sacrifices, who has confidence in herself and her capabilities, who isn't impossible to make friends with because Nao somehow managed it in the two months she was a student here.

She likes lavender. ]

( He knows all of that, just like--

Yeah, he knew which one she'd answer if given the choice, so he isn't surprised or disappointed; just acceptance at her answer. But no one can't say he didn't try, saying what he wants and having a plan to fall back on that's just as important. )

And this agreement's going to let all current third years graduATE. ( From what he remembers Subaru saying. He peers up at her, unflinching. ) But what do you get out of IT?

( ... )

And how can you prove that it isn't anything BAD? Because people aren't swayed by WORDS, but by what you DO.

( or this is becoming real apparent for some people in their group. That should make her happy, though. )

[ She raises her eyebrow at him. ]

That is not what my contract is.

[ Letting all the third years graduate? No. Just making it to the end of the school year alive isn't going to cut it. ]

I can't prove anything. Suspicion on the student council president is normal— it's a position that paints a target on your back from the possibility of being detrimental to the student body.

[ What does she get out of it? It's a terrible position to be in, discriminated against, with a false sense of power and all the responsibility without the appreciation. It's one she wanted. ]

Think what you want of me, but I believe focusing on graduation is short-sighted. That is not my goal. Changing the rules is.

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