yogen | npc contact.3

( 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?

[ Would mama let her go? She has no doubts in her mind that her mama loves her, for as much as she spoils her and had chosen her out of everyone to save.

Mama is a practical woman, though, and so is Chiaki. ]

Yes. As long as I get the time to tell her I love her and to thank her for everything she's done for me, I'll be able to move on. She will too; it would have happened eventually, whether that's moving away for university, or getting a new job, or starting a family.

[ That sort of goodbye isn't the same as death, but sometimes, it feels like it. ]

( My oh my. )

You're surprisingly mature for someone who tried to beat my arm senseless not fifteen minutes aGO.

( A bit of a backhanded compliment, but he means it; it's a very mature view to take. )

...You've been thinking about it a lot, haven't YOU.

Wow! Any mature person would want to beat you senseless.

[ Those are not mutually exclusive traits. ]

Haven't you, though? Been thinking about your family and friends you left behind? Though I guess you've been here longer than I have. It's been how many months?

[ Nobody is out there crying over missing their family, which is good, she supposes, it would be annoying if people were doing that out in public. But she hopes they still miss them. ]

...Nine MONTHS, more or LESS.

( He guesses. He remembers the in-and-out in March, and he was fully like this in April... It's been so long. It's almost been a year, that he can remember. )

I still think of them from time to TIME. ( More than that, actually. ) Having someone from home soothes my homesickness at LEAST, though I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell Baru-kun THAT. He'd never let me live it DOWN.

Aww, that's cute! I'm going to tell him.

[ thank you for this blackmail material, she's going to make use of it ]

( Hey Ori I got another murder plot for you— )

He'll never believe YOU.

[ let's do it ]

He will.

( STOP DON'T LET ME KILL CHIAKI TWICE )

Why should HE?

[ why not ]

Because unlike you, I'm not a liar.

( other people should get a chance to kill her too )

I— ( ... ) No, I suppose that you're NOT.

( ugh.... well. )

WhateVER. I'll take my lumps this TIME.

[ let them try ]

Are you going to tell him before he leaves? You should.

( soulenemies (fated to kill each other instead of love each other) )

I—

( Should he? Should he really? There's a lot he should say, if that's the case, but... )

I'm not going TO. He'll never want to leave then—he's terrible at letting GO.

So what? It's still important that you tell him.

[ He's not going to want to leave. Maybe he would cry. But he should know. ]

It's why a lot of people are stuck here, you know? Either they don't want to disappear, or they don't want to leave somebody important behind, so they keep reliving this place you call a nightmare. We're leaving, Natsume. All of us, someday. So say things before you lose your chance.

( ... )

Alright THEN. ( Then, then— ) You'd look cuter with your hair DOWN.

[ punches him on the arm ]

I'm always cute! Say it!

( HEY )

Ow—No WAY. You're the one telling me to be honest while I still can, aren't YOU?

( That's not what she said but that's the ESSENCE of what she said, it counts. )

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