yogen | npc contact.3

( Have Maya ask Natsume out on a date. )

[ The snow needs to stop. You can speedrun a date in fifteen minutes, can't you? hhhhhh...

Alright. Exams finished with, she's going to pack up her things and sling her bag over her shoulder and stomp over to the room next door so she can do what she hates people doing to her, which is march up to Natsume's desk before he can leave and pin him with a death glare. ]

You're going to have to settle for half.

( ............Please, she's causing a scene, which isn't helped by the fact Natsume freezes mid-packing up to stare at her, trying to think of what... this... could be for? Settle for half of what? Hello? Help?

He's still confused as he finishes packing, though it only reveals in his slow return to it and the crease between his brows that stays despite his easy smile. )

...That's FINE. I don't expect anything more from YOU.

( Is that insulting to say... )

[ It isn't insulting, considering the fact that eight months ago she wouldn't have even given the idea anything more than a passing thought, let along act upon it. ]

Come along, then. We don't have all day.

[ ...He has all day, but she's not giving him all day.

The moment the last of his things are packed, Maya turns on her heels and walks out the room, no walking together today, he has to catch up to her— she's headed for the elevator. ]

( That gives him time to run through the list of grievances she has with him (many) and figure out which one he's in trouble for now, because there's nothing he can really do for her and there's no reason for her to seek him out otherwise...

He follows after her, quicker once he realizes she'd probably leave him if he didn't get in the elevator before the doors shut. It's Maya, after all. So he waits to make it in time before he talks, a sigh at the start of his words. )

For someone seeking me out for ONCE, you certainly don't seem excited to spend time with ME. Haven't you learned anything from ME, Little Wolf?

I make a concentrated effort not to follow your examples, Sakasaki.

[ He's SAPPY she would rather die

...she supposes she can stand to be a bit more excited, though, the crawling in her chest feeling more like unease than butterflies, but it's hard when the elevator still faintly smells of blood no matter how hard and long the janitor scrubbed off the walls and she's stuck in a small enclosed space with somebody she... ]

I'm here to fulfil your wish.

[ With that, she slams her hand on the red button, and the elevator car plummets. ]

( His wish?

Oh, the one about having a date with her on this day—he hadn't considered it plausible, though he does remember off-handed mentioning that he'd wanted to confess on a more romantic date, like Christmas Eve, and it's kind of sweet, actually, that she'd fulfill it—

and it's the last thing he thinks before his stomach drops along with the elevator car, and he braces himself against the wall, last thought turning from "that's sweet" to "never mind". He's only gone once, to see what Yumenosaki would be like, what Ensemble Square would be like, and it was...

A failure. Idol utopia gone too far, his efforts sunk into the ground. Perfectly ordinary looking, until you heard smart comments exchanged between idols, secrets leaked and spotlight stolen for a chance at being a star for a day. Natsume turns his gaze, sharp and wary on Maya. At least there's time to wonder; at least there's time to steady his voice and ask: )

Why.

( A question that applies to plenty of things, actually. )

[ She almost considers not answering, but she can only stretch silence for two or three seconds; a full sixty feels like an eternity with that gaze burning into the side of her face.

"Why" is a good question, though. One that "Because I felt like it" is a non-answer to, even if it's why, if only because she always has a reason, pros and cons on a scale cushioned by justification.

... ]

You asked for it, once upon a time. We don't have to stay long.

( ...

Natsume watches her a little longer, then turns his gaze away and to the elevator doors instead, exhaling slowly through his nose. Easier to sift through his mind and figure out what he asked for, the other month aside—

He closes his eyes. )

It's FINE. ( It'll be a learning experience. ) Let's enjoy ourselves as best we CAN, Little Wolf.

( And maybe by the time they come out, it'll have stopped snowing, and he can walk her to the gate like a proper gentleman and watch her disappear. She's only giving him half, after all, but half is still better than nothing. )

[ With the blame shifted, Maya leans against the bar on the wall and also stares at the door to wait, stomach settling as the elevator reaches freefall, bracing herself when it starts to decelerate at the end.

50-50...

The elevator doors slide open, warmth hitting their faces like a breath of air having been held until their arrival. The sun is harsh, enough to make Maya squint, ducking her head and shrugging off her school bag so that it falls on the threshold, the door unable to close behind them and leave them stranded once they've stepped out into the street before them.

They find themselves in a neighborhood, single story houses with long driveways and wide front lawns, a basketball hoop standing abandoned in the middle of the road, next to bright white of chalk in stark hopscotch squares. Powerlines run down the length of the sidewalk directly overhead, the hum lost in the distant roar of an airplane far up in the sky, headed towards the thick line of trees marking the horizon.

It's a mid-summer afternoon. There are no other people around. ]

...As of now, this is the best I can do to bring you outside, without having you keep your eyes closed the entire time.

( Ugh, summer. He can't help but think it when the initial heat hits his face, when the sunlight bears down on them so hard. It ties with winter at the bottom for him, but at least it's warm.

He lets his eye adjust for a moment before he carefully sets his bag down, too; he can't help but think of how ordinary the street before him is. Just a regular neighborhood, if terribly empty, and he steps out after her.

What makes this world so terrible for her, he wonders, but sets the question for now. Even if this is a look into her private life, ostensibly, he knows that it isn't the time to pry about that. )

I see; thank you THEN. ( ... ) Are you letting me walk you HOME?

( Only half a joke, turning again to take note of their surroundings. To be honest, even if it's ordinary, it's not really the same as the places he's stayed. )

[ Summer. It's not so bad as the unfiltered heat on the rooftop, but while there are some trees lining the street, they mostly stand in yards too far for branches to extend their shade all the way to the sidewalk. The winter uniform is kind of suffering, actually, but Maya would not say no to cutting this "date" short on account of it. ]

No, I'm not letting you see what my house looks like. It's a bit of a walk, but the shopping center is just up ahead. There's air conditioning inside.

( They should've ditched their jackets at the elevator. It isn't too late.

....Yeah, it isn't too late, he's going to take his off and toss it back in with his bag. It's not like his tallies are a secret, and they haven't grown in number, so it's fine. It's fine, around her. )

I know you wouldN'T. It just seemed a waste not to ask anyWAY. ( He won't hold out hope though; it'd take a while, and though they have time they don't have that much time. ) ...Is it going to be as empty as HERE?

Yes.

[ It's exactly what it looks like: a painfully normal world, whose nightmare consists of being completely devoid of people. No friends, no family, no strangers, no enemies... an ideal, sometimes, and other times the silence becomes grating and the insignificance suffocating. ]

Do you understand what this place is?

( Better than Yogen by a mile. He wonders if she comes down here on her own to escape the ... everything school life can be, then shrugs and leans closer. )

A lover's paraDISE.

( ...They're the only two people in the world, after all.

But he's stepping away quickly to move down the street, not really having to feign interest as he glances at houses and everything else. )

In geneRAL, ( he says back to her, voice raising for the little distance he's put between them, ) it's what you imagine to be the worst possible thing to happen to your world, isn't IT? Mine is...

( ... )

A total collapse of the "idol utopia" we've all been working to aCHIEVE, falling right back into its old and unhappy circumstances it was supposed to be a sanctuary FROM. In esSENCE. ( Which doesn't really mean anything to people who aren't idols, but, well. ) And yours is—

( a turn on his heel, looking at her, curious. )

...Being completely and utterly aLONE?

[ ughhhhhhhhhhh smart of him to move away. Maya doesn't bother looking around as she walks; she made that mistake the first few time she's been here, desperately wanting to catch someone on the other side of the windows but the only person who ever stared back was her own reflection.

While not a lot, she does come down here occasionally. Not to escape, but rather to remind herself: it could be worse. ]

...Something like that. It figures you take your job seriously enough for that to be the world you're shown, though.

[ As for her... being student council president is only a means to an end. Her world isn't the school, isn't the bloodlust and bloodshed of day to day living, because at least there, at school, her efforts mean something. She has a council to lead. She has a brother to protect.

Who is she without all of that? ... ]

I didn't bring you hear to talk about that, though. I just thought it would be a nice place to spend some time.

[ She has somebody with her, after all. Him being here already stops this place from being her personal hell. ]

( Lover's paradise it is, though the emptiness eventually has him slowing down so he can fall into step with her again. Less empty, then. There really isn't anyone or anything else here... It's such an ordinary nightmare.

He's glad for it. )

Even if your company is ME?

( ...♪ )

[ STOMPS ON HIS FOOT
wipe that grin off your face, mister ]

( SO EVEN IF THAT COMPANY IS HIM? )

You-- ( ow... ow... he's not going to stop grinning he's just going to look away so she can see it, same thing!!! ) have such a cute face when you're embarrasSED, Little Wolf. I can't help but want to see it more and more ♪

[ Hurry up and go blind already!!!! ]

I'm going to shove you into the fountain.

( no, you have to wait until september for that though february is the halfway point so he'll be half-half blind.

he already doesn't really like how degraded his vision is now, but he doesn't want to let her know that. )

But I'm already dripping with good LOOKS. It'd be such a WASTE... though it might feel NICE.

( also, he might pull her in with him, you have been warned. )

[ ughhhhhhhhhhh he sure is dripping with something ]

You're banned from talking the rest of our way there.

( .................

Natsume pretends to turn a key and lock his mouth shut, still smiling, and extends his palm to her, as if to let her have this invisible key. )

[ She makes this face and takes his hand and then tugs him forward to keep walking like this is in exchange for his silence. Most people throw away the key, Hiro would have been clearer in his charades. ]

( Most people throw away the key because they aren't planning on using it as a way to hold someone's hand. Fortunately, Natsume is, thank you for cooperating...

...

He can be quiet, walking with her; he won't even do that stupid thing of swinging their hands. A little tempting to try and interlock their fingers, but he won't push his luck for now. They have time. )

12/24 mayachan, peace refers to this as "nmsing it"

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject