yogen | npc contact.3

( me out here like what are civics even, we didn't have a proper civics class in my school, i'm crying, chiaki why don't you teach ME

Natsume takes the notebook from her, skimming her notes. Is she a good notetaker, does she doodle in the margins, this is important lore info... He's going to go to a fresh page anyway and take the pencil she'd been using to start writing questions though, thinking. )

You're rather easy to please, aren't YOU. ( Not a bad thing, but studying isn't... difficult... ) ...Your punches certainly smart THOUGH. Did you get into fights often at SCHOOL?

( ... )

Before you came here, I MEAN.

( Her place. )

[ Her notes are somewhat scarce; it looks like rather than writing down everything the teacher says, she writes down just the parts she doesn't understand or wants to review. Normal notes in black ink, more complicated (and more thorough) notes carefully copied in blue, and occasionally a word is circled or underlined or penned into the margin in red. She writes only on one side of the paper and sometimes there's doodles but only on the very top margin so that nothing will bleed onto her notes on the other side and they're not actually doodles of things but more like shapes and patterns, like you see in adult coloring books.

Lore info aside, Chiaki laughs ]

No way! Nobody would dare fight me! They already know they'd lose!

( YOU ACTUALLY GAVE IT TO ME, puts this away for safekeeping. At least it's good enough for him to formulate some questions—he'll focus on what she doesn't get and extrapolate on it a little. Give three paragraphs worth of explanation or don't get praised. )

And what titles do you have to your name to prove THAT?

Anego!

[ Big sister, but like... in a yazuka context ]

( In what world is anego a ti... oh. Oh. )

You know, ( thinking, ) you aren't the first person aligned to those types of groups that I've had the pleasure of working WITH.

( Double Face is more than a little suspect, but as long as they take care of what needs to be done... )

I should hope not! You may be stupid, but you know how to talk to people, so I bet you have tons of normal high school friends!

[ Because that's the group she's talking about. Just normal high schoolers. Hanging around rooftops, hammering nails into wooden bats, you know. ]

I didn't to your run-of-the-mill high SCHOOL, so not particularLY.

( how yogen is his normal high school experience )

I attend a private academy for the performing arts--there's a general education course naturalLY, but the main focus is on various other vocaTIONS... It's a school most famous for churning out idols above all else THOUGH. You could say we're all more like friendly rivals inSTEAD.

( not ... entirely the truth but not a lie either tbh )

[ See, Yogen is such a good experience for so many people, I'm glad they're in a better place now ]

Were you any good? Did you beat up a lot of people?

( STOP Natsume's having so many quintessential teenage experiences here he can't at home, terrible )

SorRY, Switch isn't that kind of uNIT. If you want FIGHTS, you can ask Knights, and if you want covert operations to keep ne'er-do-wells in CHECK, you can get in touch with Double Face—but Switch's one and only desire is to bring happiness to those who seek us OUT.

We were a novice unit last year TOO, so we strategically picked our battles when we had THEM. ( what shows would do the best, which venues would work nicely with their theme... if sora wanted to do it enough natsume would immediately cave and figure out the little details he usually pays attention to later. ) RegardLESS, idols don't fight with their FISTS.

( ................................ )

Most of them DON'T.

Who does? Subaru?

[ He looks like that kind of guy ]

His unit is rather fightY, but he wouldn't hurt a FLY. Baru-kun has a soft HEART, unlike ME.

( Subaru would never, could never, kill someone. Natsume believes that to be true, even with the practicum having just finished. )

Nito-senpai is SMALL, but he's definitely not afraid to hurt someone if they threaten one of his kids in Ra*bits... ( doodling some stars on her paper thoughtfully. ) And Mika-kun only hesitates to punch people on the off-chance Shu-niisan doesn't want him TO, but I get the feeling he'd do it anyWAY. He's scrufFY.

( Mika... )

You two would get along WELL.

[ ...........yeah, actually. If it were Subaru vs Natsume, Chiaki would bet on Natsume to tear him apart. ]

Mika's right. If you're going to punch somebody, do it with conviction! If you hesitate, the other person's going to get you, so never mind Shu-niisan.

( Thanks for the faith. )

Shu-niisan just thinks violence is barbaric and ineleGANT... It isn't anything beautiful to HIM. ( pause. ) But I've also heard he took an axe to a computer after reading some rather scathing comments ONCE.

[ That last comment makes her burst out laughing in surprise, if only because she can't decide which is more insane: somebody who keeps an axe next to their computer, or somebody who would go out specifically to find and axe to bring back and smash it up. ]

I could've shown him violence that's super pretty! Come on, stand up, I'll show you and then when you go home you can prove him wrong!

( It's never specified, but either is extremely possible.

WHAT HAPPENED TO STUDYING.......??? But he's interested, so he'll get up, yeah. )

When I go HOME... ( ... ) Is that the ending you're hoping FOR, Kudo-chan? To return to the last point you rememBER?

[ It's a study break!! Let her demonstrate a spin kick using Natsume's face—- ]

No? The last thing I remember is dying, so what's the point?

( HEY NOW he dodges but barely, gathering a small ball of white light into his hand to throw at her face. Like a snowball, but it's just blinding. )

—That's just what a lot of people here WANT. Not many of them were dying last they recall, granTED, but all the SAME. ( gh ) Do you have to attack me to show OFF?

Wha- hey!

[ She follows through with the kick and spins to put some distance between them, waving her hand in front of her face as if wafting away smoke instead of light. ]

Don't move next time! That's dangerous.

[ Fine. She can do a little capoeira demonstration without putting a shoe in his face, like breakdancing but slow. ]

They just don't recall it. What about you? Do you remember?

( What's DANGEROUS is her FOOT BY HIS FACE.......... )

Not at ALL. I know that I must have died someHOW, otherwise I obviously wouldn't be HERE, but the how and why eludes me STILL.

( It was probably something ordinary, but tragic. A bad fall off the stage, or maybe they'd gone a little too far with their work and the higher-ups had thought it prudent to take them out using a unit from their own agency... )

It doesn't matter than MUCH. ( If he can't remember it, he can't remember it. It bothers him, sure, but he can't get stuck on something he can't reach or investigate— that he isn't even sure he wants to know. ) I've got plenty to focus on figuring out HERE.

Like what? How to get out so you can properly die?

[ That seems to be the end goal here, at least for the transfer students who still believe they have something to get back to. That was her too, when she first got here, but when she sat down and really thought about it...

Why would she be so quick to leave? She can do whatever she wants here, play until she's satisfied, and when she's ready to go then she'll go. No need to race to oblivion. ]

Not everything is about DEATH, Kudo-chan.

( putting aside his ever-present existential crisis that just lurks in the back of his mind waiting for the moments when he's alone to pop out, like some monster under the bed that shows up once your mommy and daddy close the door )

I want to understand this school and how it funcTIONS. Why there's only ever three-hundred of US, and why some people who died—like countless others in your case must have—don't come HERE... Why some spirits reMAIN, turning into youKAI.

( kazuki was probably always a monster. haruka, though, he's not as certain about. )

Little mysteries like THAT, among oTHERS. ( A little shrug. ) I may as well enjoy my youth while I still have IT, and I have an insatiable curiosiTY.

( ...

But how to get out, too. Learning how he died, why he died, if there's anything he can prevent it for a little longer might be nice. Seeing Sora and Tsumugi again, his Eccentric kin... but it feels silly to say any of that after her words, so the wider scope of things he's focused on here it is. )

[ In this place, it sort of feels like it, though. Even those curiosities of his— "why me?" "what's going to happen to me?" "what can I do?"— revolve around the simple fact that this is the end of the line for them, a station platform for them to wait until the train comes, to sweep them all away. Even train stations have a holding capacity. ]

If given the choice, would you want to stay here forever, or move on to god knows where?

( ...mmm. )

There's pros and cons to BOTH.

( Which is only slightly a cop-out answer, and most definitely one said to buy a little time. )

But I think I'd... ( ... ) I'd move ON. I, more than anyone ELSE, know there's nothing to be gained in being stuck in the PAST. "Without an ending, there would be no beginning"—that is to SAY, you can't start a new chapter in your life without first closing the previous ONE.

( It was... is still a hard lesson for him to take in, but one he's been working at, little by little. )

Also, this school is a nightMARE. If it were a little niCER, I might consider staying a little more seriousLY.

( ? he's probably joking. )

This school isn't a nightmare. You just have to not get killed, and join a sports team or something.

[ Be like Subaru who always looks like he's having fun ]

I'd choose the same, though, I wouldn't exactly be rushing towards it. There's stuff I want to do here, too, and if possible, I want to say goodbye to Mama before I'm gone.

( No, it's a nightmare. )

Then we're one and the SAME, Kudo-chan. ( So many things to look into... and if he could say goodbye, then... ) Do you think your mama would let you GO?

( ... )

Do you think you could really let go of HER, if you got to see her aGAIN?

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