npc contact.2

[adsum]

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[crystallomancy]

( Hmmmmmmmmmm that's a no, probably, so he'll shrug back and eat his carrots. )

Never mind THEN. It's a fairly private THING, but I was going to exchange one with YOU... What it means doesn't matter to ME, but I figure if we're FRIENDS, then it's something we can trust one another WITH.

( ...picking up a strawberry half— )

Trade for an octoPUS.

[adsum]

[ hmm, a tough sell, but strawberry is like desert, so he relinquishes an octopus, setting it in the middle of Natsume's bento and then gesturing a little to him with his chopsticks.

What's Natsume's secret... he wants to know ]

[crystallomancy]

( Delicious little octopus...

Natsume looks at him blankly, then eats his new treasure. Hmmmmmmmm...... )

The last time we did THIS, you wouldn't trade stories with ME.

( The counseling sessions. He talked about the stuff in his, regardless of if either of them were on the same page about who it was about, and then Hiro didn't do the same for him, so. )

Do you think I'm going to let you be so unfair to me aGAIN, Hiro-kun...? Think aGAIN.

( ...but he's smiling so maybe he's not that irritated by it! :) )

[adsum]

[ Look... for whatever reason, it's hard for Hiro to talk about things. The counseling sessions were private counseling stuff anyways, not stories he'd bring back to a friend. Even if he does feel and look a little guilty with how much Natsume gives and he takes without reciprocating.

mmmmmm

He points to Natsume and tilts his head. What did he want to know? ]

[crystallomancy]

( ...It really isn't fair of him to ask Hiro to share anything with him anyway, or at least guilt him into sharing things. He knows that, especially since he's already fairly open with him with other things, but—

Natsume wordlessly taps his left wrist, then Hiro's, and draws four lines in the air, then another through them.

Tallies. )

[adsum]

[ That's

not a story, which Hiro finds he would rather share, even if he had to pantomime for half an hour to get his points across, than to disclose something like that which ... it's private, is what Maya told him. Not unkindly, he's somebody who looks like he'd be easy to kill, that people don't need to have the wrong idea when looking at his tallies.

... Not looking at Natsume, Hiro holds up three fingers. ]

[crystallomancy]

( Only three?

It must be nice. He folds one of Hiro's fingers down, counting two. )

I had two at the beginning of the YEAR. ( and

and it isn't easy to share his, to explain past that. Je doesn't tell anyone how many he has without reason, and he lies if he ever discusses them. Easier to say, I have two and I don't remember where from than say anything at all. People don't press for two.

They would for almost eight times that. Natsume presses his lips together and lets go of Hiro's hand, but he doesn't look away. He watches him, eyebrows knitted. ) And I have fifteen NOW.

[adsum]

[ Hiro looks up like why the fuck does he have fifteen now, he's going to tell Maya

...he taps a finger to his chest, and then brings his fists together in a wringing motion. Does it hurt? ]

[crystallomancy]

( The way Maya won't even be surprised because he already showed her.

Natsume starts to shake his head then hesitates, picking up his chopsticks again to push around his rice. Goodbye, Kuromi. )

SomeTIMES, when I think about who they ARE. I only personally knew two of them; the others are nameless to ME, but they weren't to someone ELSE.

( And, knowing what he does now... a longer wait, then, for them. And for those on the fourth floor, would they ever...? Maybe they were just memories. Remnants of those who had passed on, waiting to be stumbled upon by hapless travelers invading dream-memories they shouldn't be in. His mouth turns into a thin line, and he tilts his head at Hiro. )

What about YOU?

[adsum]

[ It hurts more when you know who they are, and that's something Hiro understands intimately, looking down at his hands briefly and then up at Natsume before nodding. One of his tallies was definitely Kouji, and despite that guy's relationship with Maya, Hiro didn't really hold any ill will towards him otherwise.

He just had to die.

It's fine. He came back. But Hiro doesn't look all too happy about that, not having gone to see Kouji, just like he hadn't gone to see Nao when she returned. ]

[crystallomancy]

( "Despite that guy's relationship with Maya" stoppp what relationshipppp

What an unhappy look... One of Hiro's tallies has to be Kouji, and Kouji is back, albeit without memory, and he wonders if that would make Hiro feel better. He wonders if both twins have avoided seeing him, like they did Nao.

...But he knew they were friends with Nao, just unsure of what to say to her again. Kouji is a little different of a matter. )

Are you thinking about Seki-kun?

[adsum]

[ Hiro nods, slow, with a quick glance up at Natsume as if trying to figure out how much he know about why Hiro did what he did to Kouji, how it was asked of him and that he regretted it and now that guy had to go and forget everything, leaving Hiro with the memory and the guilt and nothing to show for it. It doesn't seem fair. ]

[crystallomancy]

( ... )

He doesn't remember anyTHING. Not you or Maya-chan, or what hapPENED. I told him he's been stabbed beFORE, but I didn't say who did IT, and I wouldn't tell him why even if I KNEW.

( Because he's afraid that if Kouji knew, he'd go after Hiro, and—

well. Natsume has been trying not to kill people, but he might not hesitate for Hiro's safety. He might not. )

You never told ME. ( Hiro doesn't have to. But Natsume glances at him, eyebrows pressed together. ) It's not necessary for our friendship eiTHER, but being friends means we can help each other carry the burdens weighing heavy on our HEARTS.

[adsum]

[ There's a little distressed face he makes at Natsume telling Kouji he's been stabbed, but it relaxes when Natsume continues to assure him that he wouldn't have snitched.

...Shifting backwards, Hiro links his two pinkies together in the sign of a promise, then flips his hands around to hook his thumbs together, fingers splayed out to flap slowly like a bird taking off as he lifts his hands. Something about a promise, something about freedom. ]

[crystallomancy]

( he's no grass, and he likes hiro, too. hiro's never snitched on him either as far as he knows so all's good.

Hmmm. Natsume pops some of the ruined Kuromi in his mouth, thinking about the motions. Take it a bit at a time... )

...Did stabbing him free you of a proMISE, or did you make a promise about it to ensure someone's freeDOM?

[adsum]

[ Hiro, reporting everything back to Maya,

He holds up two fingers, but sort of hesitantly, like that's not exactly it but it's the closer of the two options ]

[crystallomancy]

(　thinking about all the conversations they've had................ strike him down now )

Hmmmm.

( Now it's more like, which part of it, or if the whole thing's just askew slightly, like when you move furniture in a room and keep hitting your knee on the couch that shouldn't be there but is now because you made some adjustments.

time to piece out this ig welcome to a long thread of choices. didn't have to be this way. )

You made the proMISE, or was it one made by something ELSE... or a third opTION?

[adsum]

[ Maya, reporting everything back to Hiro,


but okay, we're really playing 20 questions, huh

He holds up two fingers. ...three? ...two. Not something, but someone. ]

[crystallomancy]

( and who does nao report to?? ugh

Three... so third? But closer to the second... )

Someone else made a proMISE. ( ... ) Maya-chan? Seki-kun? Sato-chan?

( the only three people he can think to link to hiro ngl )

[adsum]

[ He holds up two fingers, but really Natsume only needed to give him the latter two options, because all Maya would have to do is ask him to do something and he would. ]

[crystallomancy]

( First part: established. Key notes: Seki-kun made a promise. )

With you or someone ELSE?

[adsum]

[ He holds up two fingers in one hand, and then a second after, holds up one finger with the other. Seki-kun made a promise with somebody else first, then turned around and made one with Hiro. ]

[crystallomancy]

( Someone else, but then the second one... Oh. )

...And yours involved freeDOM, or was that the FIRST?

[adsum]

[ ehh... here's another time he holds up one finger with one hand and then two with the other, because it was both, but the first more than his own ]

[crystallomancy]

( how they're doing this instead of hiro just talking which natsume knows he can do because he's done it with him all of one time before and it's a moment he cherishes plenty )

Freedom from WHAT, I wonDER... Well ( glancing around a bit, ) I wouldn't blame him for wanting it from HERE, but to escape the trials and tribulations of this cycle you'd have to achieve something very few people DO.

( Putting graduation all the way to the side there, like, enlightenment and escaping reincarnation and all is so narrow. You'd never know if you did either; the soul ceases to exist after it ascends, after all. )

Who did he make the first promise WITH?