yogen | npc contact.3

I could tell you what I know, and then you can say if I'm on the right track or now, how's that?

( sweets are disgusting, just say counselor is flirting with komaeda because a way to a man's heart is through the salty stomach. )

Bev likes high places, I see them up there... a lot. Hm...

Hm.

[ Sure is a cat thing, yeah. High places, avoidance, giving people dirty looks... But he's sure little Koko has shown more personality than just "unproperly socialized cat" ]

( LILY MAY DOESN'T DO THIS TO KOMAEDA!!! bev's a demon... clawing people's eyes out??? what does that cat do aside from... )

Ran away... into a room where there was a gun...

( or was that lily may? dementia. hm...

...

...

... )

Where does Bev like to be aside from coming here?

[ I finally have a second cat to shape Bev's personality around and so far it's M U R D E R

cute, though ]

Here and there. Aside from those high places, you don't often see that cat around, do you?

[ Unlike Lily May who has no trouble getting underfoot when there's a lot of people around, Laurie Bev doesn't seem to hang out with people. Preferences might, then, be places where there aren't a lot of people, like the counselor's office, or...? ]

( scratches your face and bites your ears after 9 hrs of sleep. )

This is presumptuous of me, but I tend to try and engage with every person and thing I meet. I'm not afraid of the consequences.

( perhaps that's why he's in this position that he doesn't understand, why he feels like half of these relationships are suffocating, and how he wishes he could detach properly.

don't you tell me laurie bev be out there in the courts. )

I've met it once or twice, and maybe if I'm lucky, that one will appear to eat... You rarely hear anyone talk about it.

Is that so strange to a creature that naturally blends into the shadows and makes no effort to stand out? There are three hundred students in this school— we lose some, we gain some, but the number is kept pretty steady throughout the school year. Most students are just like that black cat.

[ Ignored. What makes Komaeda so interested? It's just a cat. ]

If you say that... Kaneko-kun said I never noticed him because... he didn't stand out, or something along the lines. Are you saying if I force myself to acknowledge that cat, I'll see it more often?

( like how the npcs are never seen, but one day they suddenly have a name and face, and they're part of their life. considering he's saying the cat blends into the shadows. )

Hm...

You're familiar with the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon, aren't you? The frequency bias that suggests that noticing something once, has you noticing something more often, which leads you to believe it exists more often.

[ But also, yeah. Sometimes you force yourself to acknowledge an npc and tag the npc contact with them and see them more often that way. ]

It's almost as if you're able to see things that aren't there... if only you pay attention.

It's all cognitive, so my eyes aren't any use if my mind doesn't align properly.

( that's true, that's how... life works, basically, but some can go years and years without noticing someone, just like komaeda who ignores everything, but keeps walking — he doesn't have time to stop. hm, recently he has been looking around, adding new colors to his black and white world that he lives in, but only a bit. )

...If you forget, it'll disappear until there's something to jog your memory, but that means... the cat has always been there, I just never paid it any mind if this is the method we're going by.

( is this how npcs disappear. )

Is that why you prefer the black cat to the white, hidden in the shadows, unknown, but sees everything, almost like you.

[ That's how npcs disappear, with their generic appearances where nothing stands out so that you don't notice when they're there, and you don't notice when they're not. The counselor too, once he leaves this school, is just another face in the streets. ]

Haha... You make it sound as if I'm omniscient.

[ ... ]

I like both cats.

...Do I? What don't you know, Arata-san?

( he knows so much, he's aware of everything thing happens here, and it's almost like he plays god. with the barriers around the school that he sets up, )

Are you the reason we can't leave the school, why we pass out?

( ... )

I like both, too.

[ ...

He smiles ]

What do you like about the cats? Can you like something you don't even know?

( hm, he sees, but he's not disappointed. )

I'm aware of one, but I like how soft and fluffy she is... white and the other black, sickly and aggressive. I don't get attached to living things that much.

( he nods to himself, looking at the counselor. )

...Will you let us leave without passing out? ( or is that another if they stop believing they'll pass out, they'll make it through. )

[ "I don't get attached to living things" says Komaeda who would sooner hang out with a cat than a person ]

You say that as if I'm a gatekeeper. Freedom is something much more satisfying when attained through your own efforts. It's not an experience I will be taking away from you.

It's not an experience taken, but one learned. I was only curious if you'd let us!

( you know, he could say no, and then they'd just find some other means of doing so, but now that he thinks about it... attained through their efforts, it's like the adderstone that helps them see ghosts, maybe there's something that lets them pass. )

It could be an item, or we just luck into it...

( oh arata-san, how you make him think. )

You and the rest of them have that in common, though...

[ Dig into your fairytale books and see ]

Do you still think yourself as apart from the rest?

( he's going to think about it..... )

No.

( ask him if he's lying. )

...Good for you.

[ It doesn't matter to him if Komaeda is lying. Sometimes, lies say just as much as the truth. ]

Tell me about those you are with.

Will you tell me who you're with, too?

( equivalent exchange or something like that, but he guesses there are people he's with more than others. as he thinks about it, that's the scariest part, and he's already looking down at the ground figuring if he's made a mistake. )

Of course.

[ For him, it's an easy answer. There's him himself. The faculty, old and new. The cats, to some extent. The school...? ... ]

...There are many, aren't there? Even if in the smallest of ways... You don't need to stand side by side with everyone, you hold no responsibility to push them from behind nor lead from up front. But the threads are there. I can see them.

Hm... Let's talk about that, then.

( he walks back over to the desk counselor is sitting on, and he pulls himself up to cross his legs, he also is willing to give back the nuts he took. )

I've always known that, my position when it comes to helping them. If I push them the entire way, then I'd take after Sisyphus, because they'll only roll back down. They haven't learned anything if it's only my efforts, but I don't mind a small push, because then they'll have to figure out what to do to avoid falling to the ground.

( clearing his throat, he thinks of the people here that he speaks with, and then he looks down at the ground for a moment to search for any bloodstains that might still be there, like the one he found under his desk once. )

Name me two people, and I'll speak.

[ Those nuts were in his pocket... And if there were any bloodstains on the ground, they've long since blended into the floor, dark with age and deoxygenated hemoglobin i think is what turns blood black. Anyways, they're not sitting on a blood puddle or anything. ]

Kiyoshi, and Akeru.

[ Two names. Your turn. ]

Balder and Frigg.

( ...hm. give back nuts. )

You could say I'm very close to them within December, and it's not everyday I get to speak about them so openly! It's quite a heartwarming story, since they effect us even now. What do you like about those two you've mentioned?

( yes. )

[ If he holds his hand out, the counselor will give the nuts back. Hot potato. ]

So you align yourself with the gods? Funny. Tell me more about you and them.

[ Komaeda's question? Never mind that ]

Well, you know the story of the Mistletoe, don't you? We all take part.

( anyway, komaeda's question. )

Your turn, tell me about the people you spoke about.

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