lower

[sisters]

Who: Rantarou Amami, Nagito Komaeda, & friends
What: Hopezone 2022
When: January onwards
Where: Yogen high school (maybe?)
Warnings: TBE

This uneasy feeling is weighing on me / I forced down my heart’s desires that I wanted to follow so I wouldn’t spit them out / They built up inside my chest, like dregs, and clouded me.

Comments

[rearranger]

[ It's not, mostly because there's only about 30 students left in total, meaning it's mostly transfer. He's still not quite comfortable with it, but it's tolerable. He looks up from the notebook he's scribbling in when Amami address him. ]

Me? Nope.

[ He usually just wanders off for awhile. ]

Whatchya need?

[sisters]

Nice. I wanted to see if you'd do lunch together.

( anyway, leaning on the desk, he'll peek down at the notes before glancing back up to meet ranger's eyes, smile bright and warm. )

I've got something for you too. Call it a thanks for before.

( "which before?" yes. )

[rearranger]

Sure, I don't mind.

[ The scribbles appear to be math problems, though unlike most of Yogen it can be assumedthat the answers are actually correct. His writing is neat and uniform. ]

Nothing you gotta thank me for.

[ He's not going to say no though. ]

[sisters]

( amami shrugs, because he sure will be thanking ranger anyway. but it doesn't look like they'll be going anywhere for this lunch, so amami glances around and grabs a free chair, pulling it over and up to ranger's desk so he can sit properly — or, well, kind of properly. he's sideways on the chair, one leg tucked under him, pulling a couple containers out of his bag to set them on the desk. )

This one's yours. ( noted as he pushes forward a small tupperware with what looks like some kind of cake inside. ) You like sweets, right?

( or at least, he'd kind of figured, based on the ice cream cone and the proposed gift komaeda had told him to hand over. )

[rearranger]

[ ...?

He stares at the container for a few seconds. He doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, but he doesn't dislike them either. He could say they're best in small doses if he ate more often, but it winds up being more nonexistent doses. ]

Me? Sure, I like 'em well enough... Did you make it?

[ That doesn't really explain why he'd give it to him though. There's better people to share with. ]

[sisters]

Yeah. You know sans rival?

( also known as the cake recipe he spent all of november perfecting. )

Even Kudo-san gave this recipe the green light, so it should be pretty good.

( if he can praise himself so highly. it's fine. second-hand praise coming from kudo-san, not necessarily himself. though, come to think of it, he wonders if those two might get along... or maybe it'd be a too alike to get along situation... pocketing that thought for now. )

[rearranger]

Yeah. It's a Filipino cake. Cakes like that are hard to master.

[ They're not as tricky as some dishes, but still, it's both a science and an art to make a proper cake. The card tips to the side enough for him to take a couple bites of it before he moves it back, setting the fork down. There's not much of a reaction, but at the very least he doesn't seem displeased. ]

Ah... It's pretty good. It's not too sweet, and it has about the right amount of crunch.

[ Granted, he doesn't have a lot of experience with food, but he can at least tell when the texture of something is wonky. ]

You enjoy baking?

[sisters]

It's not exactly my specialty, but I've had some practice. This was a recipe I was working on for Kamo-kun's birthday, so I felt pretty confident in it.

( a special recipe! it's right up there with hot and sour soup. what matters is that he knew he wouldn't bomb it though. )

Anyway, if you like it, I'm glad. I realized I don't actually know all that much about you, and since we're in the same class, maybe now's a good chance to do that.

[rearranger]

[ Then it was something he'd been working on. That makes more sense. ]

Seems like you've got it down pat.

[ He cants his head to one side. It's true. He's seen Amami around, and they talk well enough, but it's true enough that Ranger in particular seems to never talk about himself. Why would he though? ]

I don't mind, but I dunno that there's much to say about me.

[ The fact that he's an AI with all the bells and whistles created by prodigies at a shady megacorp apparently doesn't count as interesting enough to note. ]

Whatchya wanna know?

[sisters]

I'm sure there's plenty. I mean, I don't really consider myself all that interesting either.

( apparently being an ultimate adventurer isn't anything to write home about, just something komaeda likes to parade around like he's some sort of show dog. in any case, he shrugs. )

How about where you come from? Family, school, what types of things you like. Anything works — or we could make it a game. I know being put on the spot can be rough.

( two truths and a lie worked out pretty well for him before. )

[rearranger]

[ It's true, Amami isn't nearly as interesting as Komaeda thinks he is. But if anything is fine, then Ranger supposes it doesn't matter whether or not it might be of interest as another person. ]

Well, I don't have any family, and I never went to school or anything like that.

[ He'll take another bite of cake. It's not as sweet or flavorful as the last coupe, he notices, and he thinks that's because his taste buds have started to adapt to it already. It lets him appreciate it in a different way, as it makes it easier to catch the nuttiness hidden behind the sweetness. This must be the kind of dessert where the flavor builds. ]

I lived in a facility with a few others, so coming here's the first time I've gotten to see anywhere else. Kinda a waste if you ask me, seeing as this is just a school, and it's way smaller than the place I came from. Though I guess there's a lot more people here.

[ He shouldn't, but Ranger thinks that he likes the people here better. ]

[sisters]

You don't say...

( sounds to him like ranger's exactly the type of person who's supposed to be in a place like this, growing and learning about the people in the big wide world if his own was really so small, but he doesn't say that. )

I dunno, that sounds pretty unique to me. Sorry if I'm not supposed to ask, but what kind of facility was it?

( ranger sounding like some kind of sci-fi fantasy novel right about now. you know the golden compass, when they have the kids in that place in the snow? like that. )

[rearranger]

Mm? it's fine, it's no big secret anymore.

[ It would have been back home, and even now he considers what might happen if one of the other Floormasters appear. But in the end, there's no one in this place that could reach that facility. ASUNARO means nothing to those here save those who were involved in the Majority Game. ]

It was meant to be the ideal environment for researchers in the medical and technology fields. You know, the kind of place that will throw endless money and resources at them to get results. The place was big, but there weren't many people in it... Ah, it's not like the world itself is anything special though. We're in the future, but other than that it's just a normal place like this. It's just about advancement.