yogen | six reconnections ➱ open feb catch-all;

Entry tags:

kokoro connect: himeko inaba

six reconnections ➱ open feb catch-all;

Who: Himeko Inaba and YOU.
What: Catch-all log for February
When: Throughout February.
Where: Various locations as listed.
Warnings: None for now, but will be updated as necessary.

↳ option one. ( during the disney trip, but not at disney )

[Perhaps you're one of the plucky ones that decided to say no to Disney, like Inaba and find yourselves rather bored--and well, given that everything is basically self-study now and Inaba is, well, not exactly hurting in terms of her studies, as she was a naturally good test taker. And on top of that, she was actually decent at math, so it's actually rather...

Well - it certainly doesn't push all her worries, but it definitely allows her to relax a bit, knowing that having an emptier school meant all the nuisances were gone, albeit temporarily.

Which also meant that she could do as she pleased. Hence for those who might still be around, they might notice her in various places, but especially on the second floor - particularly in the cooking room and workshop.

What she can be found doing in the cooking room is well, trying to teach herself how to cook a little better--it's something that she had been doing before, back home and is something that she wants to carry over here. Even more so since it's actually a matter of survival.

Probably doesn't help that she's not all that great of a chef and finds it rather frustrating to do so...]

[But she can't rely on others to cook for her in the first place!! What if someone decides to take advantage of that...! Well, at the very least, she isn't blowing up the kitchen and is instead just frustratedly staring at her cooking notes. It's probably fine.]

↳ option two. ( feb 12th )

[So. How about that tuition, huh?

Inaba, someone who looks at the PDA when she has the time to, even if she doesn't reply to everyone's antics, given the way she is.

But then that ping goes off and well...

...time for her to investigate the matter! People might notice her snooping around places where faculty may be while trying to be natural about it; not to mention that she's polite about it and all. But it's odd that she's trying to be so proactive and trying to actually talk to people, isn't it?

Hm.]

↳ option three. ( valentine's day )

[Otherwise known as "the worst day in Inaba Himeko's existence".

She's awfully aware of what day today is and while she's already naturally distant to most people, today is a day where she's... well, not in the best state. In fact anyone who is a third year, or teaches third years will probably notice that she's looking a lot more lethargic, and not in a 'she hasn't slept' way but she also has bags under her eyes showing that she hasn't slept much lately.

People who are observant will definitely notice that she's fiddling with her pendant idly, sighing heavily every now and again to the point where it's honestly just kind of sad.

After classes, she actively avoids people, wanting to find a room without people--or well. At best a place that she can keep herself distracted.

Which is why she chooses the library, stockpiling on a lot of random books. But none of them are romantic in nature. It's fine.]

↳ option four. ( wildcard )

[I wrote this all at 3AM, come @ me with anything else you want to do with Inaba, I'm down for a lot. She isn't going to Disney, but if anybody wanted to attempt to convince her prior to it, feel free to make An Attempt at least. Feel free to hmu at

tsundereban or on the Discord to plot something out!!]

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[Shin's not one to judge Inaba's proactivity in talking to people, given it would be kind of throwing stones in his very own glass house. He's also faculty enough to often be in the very same places she's making enquiries at, so he's noticed a pattern. At some point he gathers his own proactivity to actually say something about it.]

Hey, Inaba.

[He's at his desk in the Faculty Office, shuffling paper about. It's the kind of offhand friendly (not Subaru sunbeam levels, but pricked cat ear and tail levels) greeting Rantaro also gets; it's quite possible being around Ranger rubs off on a person this way.]

Are you looking for something?

[It's best to open conversations with a question sometimes, even if Shin is already very sure the answer is yes.]

Ah, hey. I am, actually--I was looking to see if any of the other faculty members are in. You know, the ones that aren't transfers. I was planning on asking them a few questions, that's all.

[Not that she's keeping it a secret what she's asking about, but she certainly is playing her hand close to her chest for now, just in case. Not to mention that her voice sounds a lot like it would in customer service, polite, a bit higher pitched than normal.]

[ It's Same Hat Day at Yogen.

He might've spotted Inaba around a bit, certainly more tired than usual, but he made a mental note to not hound her so much about it. Truthfully though, Miyuki's busy dealing with his own trauma. Maybe not quite as traumatic considering he only has one book, but still lost in his thoughts all the same.

...Until, he gets a glimpse at this scene. ]

Doing a little speed reading there?

[ Unless she's researching something. ]

I wouldn't necessarily call it 'speed reading'. Even though I am pretty fast, yeah. Just didn't want to deal with people today of all days. You know how it is. Books are now my best friend.

Ah... they tend not to stay past six.

[Shin... does not like them, the slightest inflection of it in his voice. He doesn't like being in the same room as them, it makes his skin feel like it's going to crawl off, listening to the people who killed so many students like it was a game laugh and talk amongst themselves. But he keeps his ears pricked, anyway, just in case.

Nothing truly useful so far, unfortunately. Apart from getting some advance warning of what finals entailed so that plans could be made.]

Ahaha, not the most helpful sorts, are they?

[He's for sure noticing That Voice given he's practiced at using it himself. He's not sure what to do with being on this side of it.]

Err... I could ask...?

[Trailing off question mark? He's not going to pry, because she really has no reason to trust him (and that's a bad idea anyway, says that core-deep voice), but the implicit offer of assistance is there if she wants it.]

...I should get going too, come to think of it.

[He's already starting to pack up, stacking the papers for tucking under one arm purposes because he's not trusting Komaeda with free access to his students' assignments at all, for one. But it'll leave the Faculty Office conveniently empty if Inaba wants to rifle through it, whatever she's trying to find out.]

[ He does, but-- hm.

Oh. Right. ]

Oh! R-Right. You know what, I hadn't even noticed, haha.

[ He. Absolutely noticed. More than anything, he noticed how dumb it was to even say anything at this point. ]

Well, if you haven't noticed, that's totally fine by me.

[If he's not going to bring it up, neither is she, regardless of whether she's noticed or not.]

There's a lot of books I haven't read, even though they are pretty old. But some of them are interesting... and I was thinking that maybe I should also read some detective novels.

Haah... damn, I came too late? What a pain in the ass.

[She sighs, sagging her shoulders before shaking her head, dropping all of her pretenses.]

No, it's fine; I'll ask them myself tomorrow if I have to, since it's something that I'd like to hear with my own ears, anyway.

Not a bad idea, actually. Although, you'd think you'd get tired of trying to solve mysteries at the rate we're going.

[ ...Alright. He'll bite. He needs the distraction too. ]

Can I see one?

It isn't about having a distate for them or not. I thought it'd be a better use of my time than just doing nothing all day. I'm no detective, so if in the off chance some shit happens again...

[She knocks on the mystery novels.]

...maybe knowing the genre more will be of use. Although it'd also probably be better to actually be on the scene for once, if I'm going to be honest.

[Everything being complete hearsay is actually a weakness in this case.]

But I will say that I'm not really interested in solving these mysteries for justice. There's no proper justice in a world that is supposed to be the afterlife. Any punishment that can be doled out... does any of it hold any significant meaning that can truly deter someone into not repeating the act? Honestly, you'd have to be something inhuman to do that much, here. A god, or something.

[She laughs, something derisive and bitter.]

Here, take this one.

[She goes through her books before handing over Murder on the Orient Express.]

Although if you want something that isn't a mystery... I can have you read something a little more modern that isn't a book. Though whether it's interesting or not, I couldn't say; don't really know what your tastes are.

Hm, Agatha Christie, huh.

[ Said with the confidence of someone who's probably not even read Orient Express. Interesting.

More interesting though, is Inaba's thoughts on why they're doing this. With that, Miyuki takes the book and takes a seat across from her, flipping through the book a bit. ]

I wouldn't say what we're doing is so much about justice, as it is accountability. That much we can do as human beings, considering we don't have the authority to really dole out any particular punishment. Not to mention, I feel as if most of us have people willing to defend us if it comes down to it.

[ He'd swear up and down it would be someone like Subaru or Komaeda, but they have people willing to defend them, so it wouldn't work. Not to mention, given what Natsume told him... ]

Even if there was some kind of deity at work, wouldn't that be easy to figure out? Generally they'd make some kind of grand appearance at some point.

[ Boasting about how foolish everyone is and that someone else was next. ]

Well, it's all selfish reasons, anyway. Accountability doesn't really matter if nothing is done about it. There are several killers that are just honestly doing whatever the hell they want, really. All "solving these mysteries" really does is just points out a killer. And what happens after that...?

[She's then quiet for a moment, but then conintues.]

Ah, no-- I'm not referring to the culprit as a deity. Rather it's more... like, magical voo-doo police? Like you go and find the culprit and some god or another is like "yes, I spite thee".

[This is stupid.

She should stop this.]

Well, given how this all is, I wouldn't be surprised at all if people would defend each other even if they knew that they were the culprit. Well. People already do regardless of the truth.

[Inaba scoffs a bit, in a way that sounds almost amused.]

I'm just lucky I didn't get accused; I don't think I'd be lucky enough to have other people defending me. I'd just have to brute force it with the evidence.

Well, now more than anything, there's no one really to enforce it. I don't know exactly how much power we have in the student council, and with no principal or vice principal to speak of, anyone who can play the "voo-doo police" role is gone.

[ It's all really stupid and silly, but he didn't know exactly what would work or not. Honestly. The existence of the supernatural only makes him know even less about the world. ]

--Yeah, I'm not too sure about that. With regards to President Arisu and the Vice Principal, I don't think you'd be tall or strong enough to do it. Not to mention in your state at the time... knowing that, I'd say I'd have enough of an argument to tell anyone that it wasn't you.

[ With Hiro, maybe. But even then. ]

Still, I'm probably in the same boat. Akehoshi mentioned going to bat for me as a friend, but I didn't feel like I could accept it. In all honesty, I don't know if I could confidently ask for someone to defend me here.

Exactly. Well, if this school wasn't hell already, it's going to hit rock bottom without something holding it together soon.

[Or at least, that's what she thinks.]

Obviously. I mean, that's for this particular case only, right? And again, it's just something that can be pointed out with just simply the evidence alone... along with my physical state.

I won't expect any defense for any future murders. Just facts.

Hmm.

[ Just facts. ]

I guess given the circumstances, saying that you wouldn't kill anyone here is more of an opinion. I can't speak for how you were during your lifetime, after all.

[ He doesn't know the difference between the Inaba who was alive and the Inaba who's here after all. How could he? For all he knows, they were completely different. ]

Death probably changes a person more than the obvious way.

I wouldn't kill anyone even if I was alive. Not that it's something that I can prove.

[She says this as she fiddles, again, with the pendant around her fingers.]

But it's true that it changes people. Many things do.

Then that'd make it a fact you'd have to prove.

[ With help, maybe? But, that's not important.

Miyuki's noticed the pendant before, figuring it to be a nervous tic that Inaba had. Even someone as guarded may let their guard down like that. It struck him as something that she might've gotten here, but-- no, she probably wouldn't accept a gift, or present from anybody at this school.

It takes a moment for him to suddenly realize, and then close the book shut with a sigh. ]

But not everything. Which is why we're both here, isn't it.

Proof that I've never killed anyone while I was still alive doesn't exactly exist in this world. That's just something you're going to have to trust my word on.

[...]

I...

[Her hand closes over the pendant and then lowers to her side.]

Maybe so.

[She smiles, but it's not one that meets her eyes in the slightest bit--in fact, the light in them seems to fade, looking almost glossy.]

Doesn't really change much, though--being here, or otherwise. Although people would argue that there has to be "a way back home".

[ He's silent for a moment-- as if he's trying to fight against common sense. Of course, even if he has (??) before, people don't just come back from the dead.

But... ]

If there's even a slight chance of that being possible, I want to hold onto it. It's either that or I'll end up as a lingering spirit.

[ Bound by missed opportunities, unfulfilled goals. ]

Even you have to admit, if there's even a one percent chance, you'd have nothing to lose by betting on it. To pick up where you left off, to make it count this time.

You're lucky. To be able to think that way. Because to me... there's no chance that I would pick up where I left off. That I would actively choose to go back.

Then again, I guess I'm the weird one here, huh.

[She laughs, a little brokenly.]

Edited (oops i forgot something) 2022-02-11 05:33 (UTC)

[ --he's not laughing. The intonation is caught, and he watches. She wouldn't choose to go back? Even, before that. ]

I think it's the opposite, Inaba. Even if I hold onto that one percent, that's still an overwhelming disadvantage against me. I'll keep that hope alive, but it'll eat at me until I know it's completely hopeless.

[ Which turns his stomach to think about. ]

If it were easier for me to accept that I'll never see my family or my friends again, that would be true Hell. It'd be the same as letting go. I'd say it's lucky that you're able to disregard that so easily, but...

[ He draws a finger to point directly at her pendant. ]

You're just as unlucky as I am.

It's not wrong to hope for possibilities that might end up in a positive ending.

[She doesn't think that a person's hope is necessarily wrong, or even bad. But she doesn't have that same sort of outlook, and it shows in her sad, solemn smile.]

"Unlucky", huh? ...Mm, I wouldn't say that.

[Unconsciously, a hand reaches to her other wrist, where the tallies are.]

If I were truly unlucky... everyone I loved and cared about would be here. They would all be dead. But I'm alone, just like I was from the very start. And--I won't hope for kindness, or love, or friendship, or any of that. Because once I find out the truth behind certain things, that will be end for 'Inaba Himeko'.

[ The truly unlucky part, he realizes, is sitting right in front of him. It's all too familiar, to the point where he's tempted to ask about any rich relatives she might've had.

She has a point. He'd already decided that he'd rather be here by himself than have anyone he knows wind up in purgatory like this. Having to suffer through everything he's going through. It's just in his nature to take on all of the responsibilities so others can enjoy themselves.

It just doesn't sit right with him, though. ]

Sorry, but that's wrong.

[ The problem was that he'd heard similar stuff to this before. Unfortunately, she can't escape kindness. Or, in reality, selfless idiots. ]

If you were truly alone, I would've taken the book and left by now. Like it or not, you've made a companion. As long as I hope for the impossible, that's how it'll be.

[ You done fucked up now, Inaba Himeko. ]

[It takes her a moment to process the words but when she does? It's with a break in her all too calm mask, the sad, accepting smiles that she's worn throughout as she slams on the table.

Ma'am, this is a library--]

Why the hell would you want to, with someone like me, who--

[She hisses through gritted teeth for a moment before trying to recollect herself, getting up from the chair she's sitting on.]

...If this is about 'paying me back' from last time, then stop it already. I don't need it.

Please, you already said that was a freebie. I'm not going to take that for granted.

[ He's poor, he'll accept free stuff whenever he can. Still, the fact that she's showing any kind of emotion like this can only be a good sign. ]

You said it yourself. Humans can't be expected to go on by themselves. Say what you want about yourself, but I don't think you've shed your humanity just yet.

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six reconnections ➱ open feb catch-all;

Option two! (but he's def going to notice that exhaustion there in the third prompt rip)

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