yogen | Kiss of Life

( it's around five to midnight, and while the study hall itself is lit up, the windows leading out reflect only what's inside with the darkness past them too deep to make anything out with light-adjusted eyes. it's quiet too, almost eerily so. most people, they wouldn't want to be up during silent hours — at its best it tends to be uncomfortable, and it's moderately terrifying at its worst. when it comes down to it, the general consensus seems to be that if you don't have a murder to commit, it's better off getting to bed or somewhere private before the clock hits. not that amami has to worry about anything like that anymore.

so anyway, here he is, sitting backwards in one of the room's chairs so he can face the doorway. with one arm draped over the backrest, he taps absently through his re-acquired phone with a troubled look to him. seriously, it's one thing if he's got pictures of the cat, that's fair, but it feels like a good sixty per cent of the pictures he'd taken before getting here are just up and gone...

well, that's a problem for another time though. when he hears the click of the door opening, his attention snaps back up to shin, interest sparkling in his eyes. good, good — he actually showed. a smile spreads across his face, and he'll lift up the hand with the phone in it to offer a wave, locking the screen once he does. )

Hey there, almost thought you weren't gonna come.

Well... I'm here now, aren't I?

[He's a little on edge, evident in the turn of his head, because the soundless time really is Shin Paranoia Hours although being able to be in a locked room that has someone else there if needed has mitigated that somewhat from the days where it was 'pick a classroom'.

There's also his own returning uncertainty around Rantaro adding into the bargain; the whole 'threw someone out a window'... well, in context it makes more sense but that doesn't mitigate that 'oh yeah, he's dangerous' feeling. Still, he... well Keiji was like that too. It's... not unexpected... As long as he knows what he's dealing with...

He notes Rantaro's phone with a glance and takes out his own to check the time... worryingly close but if they're quick enough...]

We should swap numbers before it starts... just in case.

[Rantaro was weirdly unfamiliar with what they're about to do, so if it doesn't work even with Shin's prior demonstration, it'll be good to be able to text each other. That, and it's useful for the future as well...]

( oh wow, sharp reply, huh? amami's smile shifts into something a bit sheepish, but none too bothered by shin's short response. )

C'mon, you know I didn't mean anything by it. It's not a bad thing around here, being cautious.

( and meeting ~~some guy~~ a known murderer in the middle of the night when nobody else can hear you call for help? yeah, amami can see how that kind of thing might make someone tense. he's putting himself in a position that only feels a step or so behind that though, so assuming this goes well, maybe it'll build some a better foundation for something resembling trust. he's not hoping for too much, but—

well, that's getting a little bit ahead of himself, isn't it? for now, he'll rest his chin against the palm of his hand. )

But yeah, I can give you mine. You ready?

( because if he is, amami will list his off, tapping through his own menus to pull up a new contact listing for shin's. )

[Ah, that... was a bit rude, wasn't it? The reassurement isn't exactly reassuring... but Shin's used to the kneejerk apprehension that kicks up at that kind of thing.]

S-sorry... just give me a second.

[He types it into contacts - no fancy name for Rantaro just yet - and then brings up his own to read off, maybe with a bit of a false start where he has to look it up in the device first because this isn't actually his original phone.]

There! We don't have long so what's this-

[And then the half-sound of the clocktower's cut-off chime and silence hits in the middle of the sentence, Shin's mouth still moving for a second before closing, though naturally Rantaro can actually hear him trail off. He really hates this, his stress levels already rising, and he busies himself with the phone, screen lighting up the half of his face above the scarf in the dark.]

Whenever you're ready.

Edited (icon whoops) 2021-11-06 10:39 (UTC)

( the phone message, that's cute, the way it lights up in amami's hand. he flashes a smile, and i don't know how these things work, but just like that, shin will have access to sound if he so chooses to take it. amami's assuming he will anyway, 'cause he's gonna just keep talking. )

... You could've finished what you were saying.

( he'll hear it distinctively in his right ear, though it may be harder to pull out from beneath the sound of the wind outside. it sounds like wind anyway, though if shin bothers to glance out the window, there's no indication of it rattling, or even the leaves on the trees outside being disturbed by more than a gentle breeze.

if he doesn't look though, amami will — a habit he still hasn't quite managed to break. he only peers outside for a moment or so though before returning his attention to shin, still looking faintly amused, but carefully gauging his reaction all the same. )

So what do you think?

( he wasn't lying, at least. )

[I'm already picturing Amami's portrait in the bottom left of the UI with the smile appearing when clicked on and it's great.

Shin's... not very practiced with this, but he's aware on some level when the possibility opens up, it's hard to describe, and letting it through is easy as turning on a faucet; it's visible the moment he does because his head lifts in blinked surprise, turning back and forth a little in attempted futile triangulation and ending up with his right ear tilted more towards Rantaro, making all these sprites a little flipped from now on.]

You weren't kidding...

[Not that Shin expected Amami to be, honestly, beyond the normal reflex of suspicion. Call it a hunch... but he seems more the type to not tell the full truth and imply rather than outright lie. ...It's sneakier in some ways.

He turns the sound off and back on as he walks to look out the window himself... the wisteria looks the same as it always does. Which makes sense given it's just sound that's the difference, but then where is this coming from? Is it coming from anywhere at all?]

...

Hey, how many tallies do you have, Rantaro?

[He's going somewhere with this, by his tone, but it is also a tiny fishing for info in it's own right, dwbi.]

( gotta photoshop it soon... we deserve it.

anyway, there's a raised brow as shin voices the question, but he supposes it's a fair one. it was only a matter of time before someone asked. )

Oh, are we trading?

( because that's his expectation now that their meaning is common knowledge — but then again, it's not as if he has a lot to hide. his run-in with "clamor", the exchange, those things seem to be known well enough by now. besides, while it's true that amami would rather keep the number to himself, shin's the cautious type, and it seems too out of nowhere to really be completely without reason. with that in mind, he won't necessarily wait for shin's answer before offering his own, though he still looks like he's waiting for a return after. )

They're at three now, for me.

[You guys are already doing wonders with the escape rooms, take it easyyyy.]

Ahaha, I guess we are.

[Trading does make it easier. Three... that's lower than he expected, especially counting the impostor. It's the amount he had when he woke up here... He tucks it away to ruminate on later because he doesn't have much else to compare with yet.]

Then... I wonder if you heard it. Last month, there was quiet white noise around this time of night.

[This wind... it'd be hard to hear something that soft under it, maybe. Or maybe it was the wind, just heard very faintly?]

...it stopped when I got six.

[Given that month, it's either the tally itself or the exchange trip... which he's not going to linger on mentally for too long. So it's a trade, but it's also information pointing towards the situation at hand.]

Noises during this time with specific conditions... there might be some kind of a connection, don't you think?

Last month...

( amami's gaze drops, hand brought to his chin in thought as he tries to go over it. he has to really chew on it for a moment, because for him, it wasn't quite so recent. last month, he'd gotten the totem. last month, he'd gone on the exchange trip. on the exchange trip, he'd spent until some time after the new year in lanling, only to find himself back here after... back in last month, again. so he's processing it, flipping through the dates in his mind when it finally catches, where on the calendar he's supposed to be searching, and he'll offer a nod a moment later. )

I remember that. ( vaguely. blurrily. ) Probably not as well as you though.

( his gaze flickers back up to shin, looking more curious now. )

It's a good idea though. Kind of like... when the boundary around the school began to weaken. Only certain people could go outside, yeah?

Memory again, huh...

[He does have the lantern on him, taking it just in case in two directions at once. It might just be there was a lot happening that month, even though Shin doesn't know Rantaro knew the victims personally.]

Yeah... Can't help but wonder if that was because of the number of tallies as well...

[He couldn't go outside himself, but he saw other people doing it. Unbeknownst to him it was simply because all three were deaths, not murders.]

Actually... that's kinda strange in it's own right, don't you think? Why it got so much larger all of a sudden... Sure there was that fundraiser for dorms, but.

[What actually governs it? Boundary... he can't help but think of Nene's description of the Far Shore.]

Edited (additional thought) 2021-11-18 23:30 (UTC)

Ah— not that kind of memory. It was just... you know, it's been a while.

( exchange trip really messed up his sense of time and the relation he has to recent events, but it's for the best, really. either way, he's not lingering on that, dismissing the subject with a wave. his eyes do linger on that lantern if he can see it on the other, and there would be clear interest even as he continues, but he's not going to ask into it and pull them away from their current topic either. )

More importantly, there was the talk we had with Kazuki-san. Said he was going to see about having it taken down but, clearly, that's not what happened.

( considering the state of the chiaki and all that. )

I'm more curious about those steps before — I think you might be onto something, but it's hard without knowing the numbers. I know that some people, like Komaeda-kun, could make it out no problem pretty early on. Meanwhile, I wasn't able to until later, only just in time to go out and talk to Kazuki-san about all of it.

[It's a small lantern, but it's still large enough to make a rounded shape of his jacket pocket that Rantaro might recognize. From the movement of his eyes it's clear he's noticing and filing away Rantaro's interest, and taking the moving on as it is. His look is contemplative, pensive.]

So there's someone in the school with the power to do it... and Kazuki knows them.

[Or multiple someones. Still, that's incredibly useful information, even if Kazuki wasn't able to persuade them. The barrier's not just part of the school, it's under active control. The little part of him that's been seeing agency in everything in Yogen is going 'I knew it'.

Komaeda but not Rantaro... he's making a mental note of it even though it's not much data to go on. He can at least ask Sara about if she could later, as well. Actually, thinking of, wasn't she running around asking people things, early on?]

Huh, maybe we should hold a survey.

[It's that half-joking hypothetical tone, and by 'we' he means probably not him, but it's a possibility.]

Yeah. I tried asking him, actually — the counselor — but he's no help at all. I'll bet if we asked him about those earlier months, he'd know about those conditions too, but...

( he trails off for a moment, sighing as he looks out the window. )

The rumours surrounding that guy, they're not exactly good, huh?

( the last person amami wants to have to barter with is the counselor who only sees murderers and steals memories. )

[The Counselor is the one controlling the barriers?? Hh.]

Good luck getting anything out of him... He didn't let anything slip, did he?

[Shin knows that kind of person... you'll only get what it amuses them to give, and they'll make you dance for it. You have to be the sort who can get people's tongues to trip up yourself... or find some form of weakness, something they fear...

Still it's good to know for the future, having a name. Filing it away...]

Yeah... Wasn't surprised to hear he was bad news back then, either. [From Rei, but he's still in the mode of being secretive about her existence until she has a body. And the newest ones only make that worse.] There's that one that he's able to steal memories... Don't like thinking that might be why we don't remember getting some of these, ahaha. If it's true.

[If it's true. There's some ridiculous things being said about near all of the transfer students at this point, for example... but it wouldn't surprise him at all if it was. He rubs his wrist a little. The itchiness of forever-healing skin is something they've all had to learn to block out or be driven mad, but it's still a reminder. And... where do they come from, actually. If they're something like the barriers...]

Like talking to a brick wall. ( which is about what amami had expected, but he shrugs. )

I have other avenues I'm thinking of checking out though. He's not the only one who's got rumours floating around about him.

( which would actually, be a perfect lead into sharing some yogen history with shin, but amami's more interested in the things he doesn't know. he can loop back around to anything else, but— )

Speaking of which, didn't you mention something about memories before, too? You seem pretty interested in them.

( not that it's a bad thing, mind you; actually, if anything, the repetition has piqued amami's interest more than an offhand mention may have. speaking of them more generally has helped too. always easier to engage in a topic you're curious about when it's not a spotlight shone directly on you. now, watching shin, his eyes are bright and expectant. )

Kiss of Life

11/05, shin

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