yogen | narumin rescue squad

Um...where are we going? Good question. I don't even know where we are... I guess we could look for the other group? Maybe they're having better luck then us? Or get dinner! We're outside, so senpai, are there any good ramen places near here?

[ Luck. Komeada. Its a joke, get it. Anyway she's not sure if they're actually in the same place but if Narumi is kicking them out, Sara's at a bit of a loss. Hanako did not give detailed instructions on how to heal a soul.

Well, lets just hope for the best! ]

Maybe its one of these locks? [ She taps the biggest one. Tap tap. ] Like, a time keeping one! So you know what time it is when someone breaks in? Haha...

Sara, why would it be under the floor?

[Sorry to go all wrong answer in trials on you but... what. Come on. Well, maybe there's a basement but... no, it doesn't make sense.]

...Ramen sounds really good right now. [He's increasingly wanting out of this house, for multiple reasons... that being one of them.] ...You come too, Narumi.

[He can't actually force him to... even less than normally even, but... doesn't feel like a good idea to leave him here anymore.]

Edited (can't think bc music but might have misread smth earlier) 2021-10-25 03:40 (UTC)

[ No offence, but he maybe doesn't want to go with people who didn't know what they were doing here, don't seem to know what they're going to do out there, and also admitted that the other half of their gang is waiting out there. ]

Sorry, I already brushed my teeth.

[ Can't eat after you brush your teeth, that's the rule. ]

There's not going to be much still open this late at night, but I can give you directions to a place that's cheap.

Er...maybe there's a basement down there? And its also locked, and thats why there's a ticking noise?

[ Which translates too: She has no idea. Locks seem like the only thing in this house expensive enough to be ticking. ]

Ah, okay. My treat though, if you change your mind? [ Brushed his teeth, but not that he's had dinner? Its worrying in a way thats hard to put her finger on. Well...if free food isn't tempting, Sara doubts much more then putting him at gunpoint is getting Narumi out of this house ]

I just want to eat something from a restaurant, so I don't care if its the worst raman ever!

[ It's an apartment building so maybe the downstairs neighbors are the ones they should judge, leave him alone ]

A restaurant. [ He was thinking more of those street stalls, but okay... okay. Some people have money and can afford fancy dinners. ]

There's a restaurant near the center of town, where all the skyscrapers are. It's pretty far, so... I guess I could come with you, to show you the way. We can probably catch a bus there if we're quick enough, but it'll be too late to take one back, so hopefully you guys are meeting up with your friends somewhere in the city.

[Clamor may or may not have been trying to straighten up Narumi's room while the others were chatting, but considering his own lab back home tends to be kind of a mess, well... at least some of the mess has been moved from the floor onto a chair. It's less of a tripping hazard now!! Narumi's bed is also made. What else can he snoop at while Narumi is distracted... maybe the rooms of his other family members? How clean are those? You know, just to see if he's getting these bad habits from anyone, or if there are any other weapons/bombs in the building they should be worried about...

but anyway let's assume at some point he slips back into the entrance area to catch the end of this plan.]

Do you have a favourite place, Narumi? It doesn't have to be something fancy. [like, do they even have any money?? how much dream-change does Sara have in her pockets... maybe they should stick to whatever's cheapest]

Think of this as our way of making things up to you. [aka he still has to come along, he already admitted he'd be willing to so no take backs]

[ Clamor snoops at the other bedroom down the hall and finds it to be very clean in comparison to Narumi's. There's a large queen sized bed at the back of the room, a small bedside table on either side, and a small blocky television across from the bed on the opposite wall. He can see a layer of dust on the tables and on top of the television, like this room hasn't been dusted in a very long time. That's the only other bedroom in this place; it's the two bedrooms + half bathroom on the top half, and the kitchen + living area on the bottom. The ticking can be faintly heard somewhere in between the two floors. ]

Oh... uh. I don't eat out much. [ Who has the money for that? Eating out is like a once a year thing, like for birthdays or holidays except you got to choose just one to celebrate per year. ]

If you're treating, I'm not going to be making demands... Ramen would be fine. I haven't had it in a while.

[ Sara is choosing to believe that her boundless confidence that she has money will simply manifest into this world. She has not checked her wallet. ]

Me neither! Oh, I want extra pork...maybe we should get side dishes to share too...is anyone allergic to anything?

[ Are we really doing this, guys? Learning about Narumi not by destroying fragments of his hometown but by eating together and chatting and hanging out with him? ]

I hope there are good desserts...

[ Really the only thing he's interested in right now, knife out and poking at the small of Narumi's back to drive him out the door and down ten flights of stairs to the ground floor below, the elevator does not work. ]

["""clean""" except its caked in dust....... where your parents at, Narumi? tell them to clean more all that dust can't be healthy.]

Anything is fine with me. [Clamor is the world's worst vegan, he doesn't wanna be difficult... it's fine he'll figure it out when they get there. they're definitely just gonna take the bus to a restaurant and have a nice meal and nothing bad will happen along the way or when they get there.

also Clamor is standing on the wrong side and thus doesn't see Hanako threatening Narumi with a knife because i think its funnier this way]

Just as long as it's not anything spicy...

[He's got a cat's tongue. And also can't handle much meat, so he's 100% here for the broth.

Also ten flights of stairs and no elevator... has he been put on this earth to suffer (yes). One of his scarms is keeping a firm grip on the handrail because 'hey what if you fell down all these right now' is getting some lovingly rendered mental renditions.

Getting further away from the ticking reassures him a bit, though. Trailing behind and already out of breath, he spots Hanako pointing a knife at Narumi's back and shoots him a 'really???' look. The siren call of free food (which, mood, again) is already enough, it's not helping, what are you doing.]

[ The group opens the door to feel the crisp night air on their faces, frozen rain falling like shards of ice, a pop and then a boom and the heat and pressure flinging them all forward away from the apartment building that blows up behind them, each with the distinct suspicion that yeah, if they had left Narumi behind I would have killed him at the first possible moment.

Instead, they manage to make it out alive. Narumi had thrown himself to the ground, hands behind his head to protect his skull and neck like the precaution had been drilled into him. Hanako stands facing the building, hand held out to the side at the end capturing the bulk of the fire with one of his souls and redirecting it away from them— it hits a Toyota Corolla parked on the curbside and Narumi lets out a low moan when it bursts into flames because that was his dad's. ]

But spicy broth is the best onee- [ The building explodes.

The flames burn bright, and even with Hanako's redirecting, Sara does not throw herself instantly to the ground like Narumi. Her instinctive reaction is to freeze up on her feet, and so she ends up slamming onto the pavement with a muffled groan as several pieces of debris fall down around her. The bloodstained sweater she'd been carrying before they left makes an ok shield for her face, but she freezes as a few smaller pieces of glass and plaster rain down around her.

Once again, she's somehow fairly unscathed despite the obvious and shocking danger (clearly thanks to Hanako -> trust and option of Hanako is now 100%). ]

An...explosion? I don't...understand. [ This isn't reality, but why is it so violent? The ticking noise in Narumi's house, and then suddenly this. For what reason? Was it some reaction to their intrusion, or was this some twisted reflection of reality. Ask Narumi about it. Yes, thats the obvious reasoning, the logical path to start down here...but its all she can do just to shakily get to her feet and look around in the freezing rain to see if Clamor and Shin also made it.]

Y-you guys? Are you okay?

Edited 2021-10-29 06:27 (UTC)

[the literal and figurative whiplash of cheerfully chattering about ramen one moment and then faceplanting on the pavement from an explosion in the next

Clamor just kinda lays there in shock for a minute before pulling himself back up, turning around so he can at least... stare at the burning? collapsing?? building they just stepped out of, haha what the fuck. also rip to his soul-monocle which is now on the ground and in pieces. at least no one died(?)]

... Is everyone okay? [for comedic purposes he says this at the exact same time Sara does]

[He is literally opening his mouth to say something along the lines of 'you can't say if it's the best or not if you can't taste it over the spice, Sara' and thankfully, or unfortunately, one of those, this thought is destroyed never to be said, by an explosion.]

Waugh!

[Like Clamor, the shockwave sends him faceplanting into the ground and agh, fuck, his shoulder-]

F-fine... Ugh...

[He sits up... slowly... face a little waxen and debris falling out of his hair which has been revealed by the beanie lying next to him... but he's okay. And there's that smug part of him internally going 'i called it' and 'wow that was close' that is sadly going to go high-five-less because the rest of his thoughts are 'ow'.]

Do none of you hear a mysterious ticking noise and not think, 'bomb'?

[He's gesturing in a familiar jazz-hand way with the arm that'll still move. Come on. He thought he was being pretty clear about it! (Shin you were not being clear, and your experiences are not universal.)]

Good thing we got Narumi out... [Where is Narumi... staring in horror at the car, okay. Understandable.]

Edited (minor tweak) 2021-10-29 06:50 (UTC)

That was a bomb?!

[hello he is from a fantasy world where modern plumbing is new and exciting to him, you think his first thought after hearing a ticking sound was a BOMB

legit just thought narumi's parents had a clock hidden under the floorboards or something]

Why was there a bomb...?

[ Narumi legit thought Shin was just crazy. But he slowly pushes himself up onto his feet and has to give this one to Shin. He looks from the burning car to the burning building and thinks about his bed inside that if he has to crawl through the flames to get back to, he's still considering it. Heaving a sigh, he runs his hands through his hair and stares at the ground. Looks up. At least it's—

The rain stops. ]

That's why you asked him to come with us for dinner??

[ She makes angry jazz hands of her own to gesture to the shellshocked Narumi! It was unexpectedly social for Sou... She should have KNOWN he was plotting again. Plotting to not let anyone know he knew there was a bomb in the house? What?

The rain stops but she's already wet AND singed so there's no point, and she's still mad.]

...I guess it was a bomb. [ They're all just going in a circle recognizing that bombs exist and one was present. ]

The ticking noise was here before we got into your house...so... [ Deep breath. ] ...does someone want you dead, senpai?

It worked, didn't it? Of course, I couldn't have done it without your help, Sara.

[She's the one who actually got Narumi moving. Why are you looking so smug and evil about this, Shin please. Except his arm isn't doing the thing and his beanie is missing and his hair is wet with rain, so he looks more like an smug evil kitten.

Plotting to get a guy out of his own house! Besides, isn't that what you're supposed to do? Evacuate without anyone panicking? ...maybe he did that too well. He jams the beanie awkwardly back onto his head and looks at the flames wondering if they're supposed to do anything about that, one keen ear on Narumi's response.]

[ If anything, Narumi looks thoroughly resigned. He'd taken half a step towards the burning apartment before Sara directs that comment at him and he's forced to stop and turn around. ]

Does... nobody want you dead?

[ Is this not a universal experience? ]

I mean, I don't think I got on the wrong side of any specific person. Maybe the local gang syndicate.

... Maybe we should move away from here, then.

[finally getting back onto his feet, pocketing the destroyed soulocle, and offering a hand to anyone who needs it... no one seems to be injured and his magic can't un-explode a building or a car, so. he can save his mana for later, no fancy tricks for right now.

he puts a hand on Narumi's shoulder, attempting to gently steer him away from the carnage.] Unless there's somewhere else you'd feel safer, we did already promise you dinner.

Oh... yeah. [ He lets Clamor steer him, though obviously reluctant. ] They'll probably come back to check that the job is done.

[ That he's dead, etc. and he'd rather be sitting in a ramen restaurant halfway across the city in his pajamas than here when that happens. He's cold, wet, hungry, but it could be worse.

... ]

I don't have anywhere else to go, so... anywhere is fine.

[ But first he peels the wet socks off his feet and lays them at the side of the building, just in case a miracle happens and Satou comes home and he'll know that Narumi made it out okay, he wouldn't want his dog to worry. ]

Are you a gangster...?

[ Maybe people want her dead...no comment at the helpfully malicious Sou in the corner. Evacuate without panicking...sure. Why is he so smug whenever he's right. She's not going to say thank you! ]

I guess I still want raman. [Clamor is taking care of comforting Narumi, so Sara She gestures off towards a road. ] How close is this place? Should I call a cab?

[ Manifesting her dad's wallet into her pocket through sheer force of will. ]

...your parents don't happen to have loans, do they?

[It's strange they'd take an interest, really... to this extent, at least, given Narumi's house and general state of life. Then again, he got put in a game of literal mafia so can he really throw stones in his own one.

Maybe he's approaching this the wrong way. It's his mind they're in, after all, which is why they... probably don't have to worry about the other people in the building. People being out to get you, kill you, being on a timer... it's a worryingly familiar feeling. A lot of it has been, really. He tries to tamp down his own sudden spike of paranoia about any cab they get also exploding, thinking about this was a bad idea actually why did he do it.]

City center, right? [He remembers that much.] Since it's stopped raining... it'd be cheaper to get the bus or train.

[Sparing... Sara's dad's wallet a bit. Not that it really needs it, but if they do find the others that's nine people getting ramen potentially.]

[ Narumi gives that awkward sort of "I don't want to talk about this" smile and refuses to make eye contact with anybody because sometimes you can't help your lot in life. You just have to do your best not to think about who else in town would give you loans enough for a new car and another home because that sort of thinking makes the soul feel dreary. ]

The bus stop is this way...

[ He heads off the direction Sara was pointing to lead the way to the bus stop. It's about three blocks over and it's just a sign with no bench and they get to stand there for several long minutes before realizing that the bus only comes every hour or so if they're lucky, or maybe it's stopped running for the night if they're not.

Are we really going to the restaurant, you guys, we can time skip to the restaurant ]

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