yogen | npc contact.3

( 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. )

[ If he tried she would have crushed his fingers in retaliation, but it's a nice quiet walk for several blocks, residential streets phasing into commercial, ones that would normally be overrun with cars if not for the eerie absence of anybody else in this ghost town.

The mall they eventually come up to is on the smaller side, two stories high and structured as stacked rings enclosing something of a courtyard at the center where a fountain full of pennies sprays water over ten feet high and flowering bushes line the perimeter, almost reminiscent of the school's courtyard. All the shops, naturally, have their lights off and aren't staffed, but there's clothing shops and an ice cream parlor and a small movie theater and an arcade and one of those indoor ice rinks with synthetic ice so that inside it's pleasantly cool but not freezing.

This is where the date planning stopped. ]

( ...Well, at least there's plenty of choice.

Movies would be easy, but someone would have to set everything up—not to mention they'd have to decide on a movie. You can't bring things back from the world down here, so outside of dressing cutely, shopping—or rather, shoplifting—from the clothing stores wouldn't serve much of a purpose... but her sense of style is cute, and she's probably dying in the uniform. It might not be a terrible idea to find something lighter to change into, even if she ended up sticking with the long sleeves business.

He could show off in the arcade, but they've technically already done games as a date. Natsume hmms softly, turning his attention to the ice rink.

... )

Do you know how to SKATE, Little Wolf?

Only forwards and backwards.

[ No jumps or spins or anything fancy, but she isn't against ice skating, especially since she's kind of dying in the uniform and she'd be dressed for the occasion in there. Natsume can shoplift a jacket, she'd sideeye him but not say anything. ]

Is that what you want to do?

Are you still holding to our "one activity only" rule on DATES?

( ... )

I do though, YES. ( If this is their one activity, so be it. ) But I don't know how to ice SKATE, so you'll have to teach ME... Pretty PLEASE ♪

[ ... ]

Yes.

[ Because if he's giving her a choice, she's making it, even if she has suspicions that not knowing how to skate is a lie. How can somebody know vr but not how to skate? ]

I'll teach you, but I won't claim to be a good teacher.

[ As she's expressed before, she is good at bossing people around, less good at holding people's hands through things. ]

( Is it really that weird? There's people who know how to ride horses who've only read how to skate, so the theory is there, but...

Yeah, Natsume's lying, he knows how to skate. Forwards and backwards and a few small, but impressive, tricks. )

I know THAT.

( And he still wants her to "teach" him. )

Thank you in adVANCE. I'll do my best to not disappoint YOU.

[ hm!!!!

But, fine. She can't decide whether to have high expectations for him or not, but it doesn't really matter. If he's a quick learner, great. If he keeps falling on his ass, great. ]

Let's get to it, then. You'll want to find skates that match your size exactly, and pull the laces as tight as you can. It's easier when somebody else does it, so we'll tie each others'.

( He can't tell if that's what she really believes or if this is her attempt at making this like a date, then figures it's the first and pulls her to find some skates then.

...He's never properly owned a pair of skates, so he can't judge quality, but ones for public use sure are something else. He ... lets her hand go to properly take his shoes off and set them aside neatly, tugging the skates on and aaalmost starting to tie them himself before he stops and looks at her. Drops the laces. Heheh.

...mini-talk time. )

Did you come here ofTEN? To the mall, that IS.

( Did she have friends to come with? Or just her brother? ...It's a little weird to imagine her just coming here to hang out like a regular girl, but years at Yogen aside, she is... just an ordinary girl. One he probably wouldn't have given much thought to without the circumstances they have now, but he's sure she could say the same for him, too. She doesn't seem like the kind of girls into idols, after all. )

[ OKAY SO maybe she's used to tying Hiro's laces all the time and just figures it's easier when she does it but anyways... yeah. Public skates are all banged up and scuffed everywhere and the blades are duller than it should be, but this is just a normal ice skating rink for normal people. ]

Only when we needed to buy something.

[ "We"... her brother? her parents? friends? There's no elaboration either way, attention turning to Natsume's skates to get them laced up. We're not doing this small talk thing. We're going to learn how to skate, then we're going back up the elevator, then she's going home. ]

Do you know how to rollerblade? Or is this all new?

( He's gonna give her date a 3/10 wtf

Anyaay, his nose scrunches and he looks off, uh. Better to say yes or no... No, if he says no that actually suits him, he doesn't like being out and rollerblading isn't elegant or pretty so it's okay. Lie or truth, though, he hasn't done it in a while. It's fine, )

..I haveN'T. ( ... ) But I'll manAGE. I wouldn't want you to spend the whole time teaching me anything--we should both be having a good TIME.

( Let him at her skates he'll tie them together. jk he'll do them normally don't worry )

[ Good. Don't come back. ]

If you're as quick a learned as you claim, then we won't be here long.

[ Skates on, she starts for the rink, little stomp stomp stomps on the soft ground bc you have to march with skates on until you get onto the ice, and when she does, she slides a little further towards the center of the rink to give Natsume ample space to come out too. ]

Hold onto the wall if you have to. Has your balance been affected much?

( He likes her more than a bad review, sorry.

Balance though... He follows her example to the rink and edges onto the ice, a little too aware of the concept now that it's been brought up. He should be fine--he hasn't noticed anything too drastic--but since she mentioned it... He wishes she hadn't. )

At FIRST, but I've gotten used to adjusting my balance as needed over the MONTHS.

( Has it already been three months since then? ...

He does hold onto the wall at first, pulling himself around the rink a little and leaning against it. When was the last time he'd done this? ...Maybe she'll teach him something yet. )

It hasn't been as bad as I thought it might BE. ( considering other visual-related pursuits. ) I'm sure if I had picked going deaf instead I'd have a bit of a harder time THOUGH.

( haha. hmm. )

If you had to choose between the TWO, which would you PICK?

[ It should be something on his mind at all times, not just for ice skating but for being around the school— if he ever gets into a situation like the practicum, or being outside in the forest, or one of the cats getting underfoot.

... ]

Of the two, I would rather be deaf.

[ It's a distasteful question, but one she can answer, her first instinct being to give up her hearing in exchange for being able to see. People are always walking around with headphones or daydreaming lost in their own heads, anyways, not being able to hear the world around you can come to be natural. In a place like this, though...

And, also, ]

If I couldn't see, I wouldn't know when Hiro needs me.

[ Deaf is fine, when your twin brother hardly ever speaks anyways. But she has to see to do charades. ]

I thought that would be your anSWER.

( Even if it puts her at a disadvantage, not being able to hear when someone's coming. Her brother's more important to her. ...She wouldn't be able to hear him, either. He geeently pushes himself out to the center of the rink, stopping using his hand on her shoulder.

...

He moves it away, looking to the right so he can keep her in his dimming peripheral left. )

Hiro-kun isn't selFISH, and he loves you more than anything in the WORLD. He'd accommodate for YOU, just like you accommodate for HIM.

( That's just how siblings are. Even Natsume, with his bloodless relatives... Back to looking at her, shifting to keep his balance. Better. )

I won't expect him to do that much for ME, but we'll figure something OUT. ( He still has nine months before he's completely blind, but...

...

He swallows that back, because she doesn't like talking about it, and instead swerves back to something safer: ) What's NEXT, Sensei?

You learn best by doing, so...

[ She skates forward, around the perimeter of the rink just slow enough that he can't say she's running away from him, and then loops around so she's behind him. ]

Take two steps and let yourself glide. Then I'm going to push you over.

( This would be the ideal place to get rid of him if she wanted to, though. Supposedly trapped in the middle of an ice rink, and all she'd have to do is bolt back to the elevator and leave him to die. )

...An idol's face is their most important selling POINT, so please don't try to break anything of MINE.

( ? Don't push him over... But he'll take two steps and glide as instructed, being a very good boy, though if he hears her actually coming up on him he'll turn around sharply to catch her—

otherwise he'll just keep on keeping on, he's good skating. )

Learn to break your fall instead, then.

[ I wikihow'd how to ice skate and the first step on the rink was to practice falling since it's going to happen inevitably, it sounded reasonable

so yeah she's going to come up behind him and shove him on the back. ]

( I have to wikihow how to ice skate too, I'm glad we share this

but Natsume's, yeah, gonna turn on his heel in a show of "he definitely knows how to ice skate, the lying liar" and grab her hands instead. Now they're holding hands, on the rink, this is so romantic(?). )

... ( ... ) I lied earliER. I can skate perfectly FINE.

( No SHIT! )

Shall we DANCE, Little Wolf? ( ♪ ) I'll teach you how to SPIN.

( please kill him )

Edited 2021-12-24 03:31 (UTC)

[ After the shoelace tying thing I didn't trust myself to know how to skate, I've skated for years but what if i was doing it wrong this entire time

SHE KNEW IT THOUGH, SHE KNEW IT she nearly falls into him with the momentum and she really wants to break his fingers if only she had Chiaki's grip strength but she has to settle for holding his hands a little tighter, so she can rebalance herself or so she can get her murderous intentions across or something like that. ]

We will not. Let go of me. I'm leaving you behind.

You should know better than anyone else that I'm not interested in dyING, so you'll have to try harder to convince me to let you GO.

( Come on... He'll let her get her balance though, and despite his words he does let... one of her hands go, drawing her closer by pulling her other hand up and resting his cheek against their joined hands. Warm. )

...Were you always such an unromantic GIRL, even before you DIED? I don't mind if the answer is YES, but I thought even the most stern of young women still dreamt of skating hand-in-hand with someone ( they liked ) from time to TIME. Or has it been so long that you can't rememBER?

Edited 2021-12-24 04:16 (UTC)

[ Doesn't matter. Most people who get murdered weren't interested in dying, that has no bearing on her abandoning Natsume here and taking the elevator out on her own. ]

It hasn't been that long since I died. [ Not so long that she would forget what a "normal" high school life is supposed to be like, to want to make that her impossible wish for this school. ]

People only fantasize about that sort of thing if they have somebody they like. I didn't.

[ Never liked like anyone, never talked about this sort of stuff to anyone, never held anyone's hand like this, never went on a date with anyone... ]

You would have been the first.

( ...

Natsume stares at her like he isn't sure what she's saying, and even still, maybe he doesn't, because he tends to overthink, and she's been very clear about this and that, but she also doesn't really mince words when she is being honest, even if that isn't always (no matter what she says), and—

He lowers their hands and hopes she can pretend the redness that spreads across the apples of his cheeks and up to his ears is because it's cold in the rink and not because of anything else. For him. For the both of them, because he drops his voice to something quieter, even if they're the only two people here, and always will be, in this moment. )

I can still be the FIRST, at least for toDAY.

[ She doesn't look back at him, doesn't need to see his face when she can feel the heat in his hands— their hands.

It's a bad idea. She knows this. It feels like standing at the edge of a cliff, where if she takes that next step, it's something she can never take back, she can't allow it to happen.

Not even for a day. Not even for an hour. ]

...only because of that impossible wish of yours. That's all this can be, if you're alright with that.

( Ugh— )

I only wrote that because I thought it'd embarrass YOU.

( Because he thought it wasn't possible. It's okay to love people if they won't love you back, even when he isn't completely happy with that, either. He looks away from her, first to the side and then down and then finally up, because looking down actually does mean looking at her, or near her, why does she have to be shorter than him. Terrible. This is...

A terrible idea. For the both of them, but he's already crossed one bridge that shouldn't have been crossed (confessing to her, not that many months ago), and she's admitted if only in technically a hypothetical the same.

"A person she could fall in love with," he wants to kill Komaeda. Maybe when they get back to the school and he sees her off, he'll go find him. )

I'm a very greedy young MAN, so it's NOT, but I know you can't let it go further than THAT.

( ... )

I'll LIVE. In LIFE, I wasn't allowed relationships like this anyWAY. ( Like this. He doesn't know if he's so jittery because this is a terrible idea, or because he's excited. Maybe both. ) Things are gradually changing in the idol indusTRY, but we're still discouraged from getting into anything more romanTIC... I'd say it's no different than HERE.

( Just... for different reasons.

He exhales slowly and tests the waters by linking their fingers, the way he'd wanted to when they were walking together here in the first place. Still not really looking at her, but he's at least looked back down enough to have her in his peripheral. )

The question is: are you okay with THAT? ( ... ) With THIS?

( There's still concern for her and what she wants. Even if he is greedy, even if the feelings he has for her are... )

Edited 2021-12-24 05:54 (UTC)

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