Yeah i think i heard the other group found one, too? i grabbed the one that was at the library, managed to calm it down so its not like trying to attack me or anything anymore. figured we might need it for evidence considering what happened last week
[ where the boy........ maya is looking for him, bouncing on her heels. she's wearing sandals and her kimono still despite the weather (but a scarf!) ]
Hey, Ichiro! You wanna go on a date with me? As friends, of course.
[ im making you memshare first gimme that good lore ]
None. I think.. based on this, though, I'd probably plan one based on spending time with the other person.
[ looking at his phone... ] So maybe just - walking around? Seeing the sighs, you know? Or, it's winter, so doing something fun like skating or having a snowball fight.
[ he grins down at her and then offers her his arm. ] C'mon, lets go ice skating. We gotta find you some socks.
[ and with that they can go off and head to the ice skating rink for the best (friend) date ever! it's too bad when they get to the rink to grab skates, that good old memory share decides to kick in, and this time, it comes from ichiro's side. ]
[ it starts with a day off. you've been working for a loan shark for two years now, pretending to be older than you were - he knows you're only sixteen, but doesn't really care. mozuku tells you he can't have a talent like you burning out (and he hates when he calls you that, a talent, like the only thing you're good for is being angry) and makes you take a day off from working, no matter how bad you need money. you're not even sure what to do with a day off.
... but luckily for you, you run into the one guy who probably does - kuko. red haired, half your height, and a wrecking ball of a human being, kuko is a self-declared monk with the worst potty mouth you've ever known and the temprament of a gremlin. you work together, sometimes - he never tells you much about how he got here or where he's from, he never asks you any questions, and more than anything, he's just - he's persistent, he's loyal, and he is your friend.
when he calls you his best friend, you feel something so small and so tender in your heart ache, because you're - you're just the angry delinquent. the orphan. you don't have friends. you don't have anyone besides your little brothers, and you have to work for them, every day. have to get good grades, have to go to school, have to work this shitty dirty job, have to work the clean jobs, have to do everything you can for them, and you're okay with that.
but kuko declares that you are best friends and you have never felt more thankful for it, even if you bluster a little because you do think it's a little crazy that he just kind of decides this for you. you have a stupid day where you dick off together - you get your ass kicked by the mechanical bull (kuko goes to kick it in the face afterwards, and gets headbutted in the balls, and makes a whole scene, and you think, affectionately, that this is the dumbest guy you have ever met in your entire life) you play sports, you play arcade games, you even help babysit a coworker's kid together, and you take on that mechanical bull again to win her a bigass prize at the arcade, and succeed. you're both thrown off at the end of the three minute timer, and you look at kuko, and he looks at you, and you just beam at each other, as you finally think, maybe this is what it feels like to belong.
you and kuko go through everything together. he is always there, he always has your back. you start rapping together when the anti-war pact goes through, and he's crazy good at it, and so are you. you drink cokes in alleyways after your victories, and kuko spouts wisdom that he claims is from the mahayana sutras (you are pretty sure he just made it up), and it is a bright spot in your life even at the worst times.
the memory moves on, and one day, you get a phone call from kuko, asking him to meet you at ikebukuro's west gate park.
you lay there on the ground after he's punched you. you refuse to move, because you can't - it feels like you're frozen, as your heart squeezes so tight in your chest that it feels like it's shattering. you stare at the ground, and you pant, and you try and replay the entire scene that just happened over and over and over.
the way he stopped. the way he hesitated, the way he held his head - and then suddenly screamed at you, the way just yesterday you were goofing around with samatoki-san and sasara - the dark look in his eyes and the way he screamed that he hated you, he hated you.
rational doesn't matter. thought doesn't matter. you taste blood in your mouth, and it tastes like heartbreak.
you keep it together until you make it back to samatoki's office. he's pissed off too, and you sit on his couch, and while he's ranting and talking about sasara - how he also just snapped on him, you can't stop thinking about it, and you stare at the ground, and samatoki falls silent. ]
...we started off as enemies. [ you say, and your voice feels so small - there's something thick in your throat. ] - but... the more we battled together, the more we did stuff together, we became friends before I even knew it.
[ and you remember. your mind reels with it, with laughing and talking, shared cokes and kuko's affectionate brohugs and the way he wormed his way into your life without you even asking. ] We went through so much awful shit, but we made it through together.
[ and you feel it surmounting as you talk, feel the pressure building up behind your eyes and suddenly everything just breaks -
and you start sobbing, for the first time since you were a kid.
[ maya watches this play out, and though their circumstances are different.... it strikes a chord within her. dedicating all you have to take care of your family, the feeling of belonging, the best friend you did nothing to deserve, and -- ]
[ the betrayal. like ichiro himself, maya doesn't understand why kuko would suddenly turn on him. (after all, ichiro is a good guy, helpful, kind, talented, responsible.... unlike her) she wonder, if there's some other reason..... there has to be right? ]
[ but by the time the memory is over, ending on past ichiro's tears, her heart is heavy. she reaches out to try to put a hand on his arm, if he'll let her. ]
[ hello maya!! here is ichiro. he is sitting outside of winter dorm, bundled up in a blanket and a cashmere scarf, and spotting her, he gives maya a little smile. he looks at least marginally better than before - the bruising on his face seems to have mostly disappeared, and he's no longer wheezing between his breaths. ]
[ oh, tea...! ichiro gives maya a grateful smile as he holds his hands out for the tea, and takes it. it's very warm, though she'll notice he's very careful of his right hand, holding it instead in his left. ]
Thanks, Maya-chan. I'm okay... Hope healed me up, so.
i hope you don't have to either if you if you need anything, if you want to talk about it. you can reach out, okay? maybe - maybe not tonight. i can talk like this right now but
im here for you. and - i am sorry. i'm sorry it happened to you. i'm gonna apologize because this piece of shit place won't
yeah. that's what happened to the other person i know, too. lines up with what tsuyukusa said. i'm not mad at you, either.
...
you wanna know something? maya-chan, i really hate lying. more than anything. someone lied to me when i was a kid and it changed my whole life. and my brothers, too. in a bad way. so... i don't do it. i try really hard not to. im not gonna let this dumb fucking place take that away from me if i can.
[ also bc i saw after that ichiro was trying to offer himself for the vote ]
oh and ichiro? this probably doesn't mean a lot coming from me but you didn't do anything wrong catching me your life is very precious please try to remember that
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
w1 friday!
it's ichiro - i'm checkin in
you doing okay?
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hanging in there. how about you? did you investigate?
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We found catra asleep in the library
and a goose, and some goose feathers. footprints in the cafeteria, too, three different sets.
sucks ass that we're doing this again, but you know.
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but with geese?! geez talk about an unwelcome repeat!
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i think i heard the other group found one, too?
i grabbed the one that was at the library, managed to calm it down so its not like
trying to attack me or anything anymore. figured we might need it for evidence considering what happened last week
[ please cross examine a goose ]
this whole thing's weird
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yeah fair
i don't know if i would trust those geese though they're so nasty!!!
w3, monday
Hey, Ichiro! You wanna go on a date with me? As friends, of course.
[ im making you memshare first gimme that good lore ]
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also we will get to memshare here in a second. he offers maya a grin when he sees her, bright and easy. ]
Sup, Maya-chan? For that date task, right? Which one do you wanna plan?
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[ looking at his phone... ] So maybe just - walking around? Seeing the sighs, you know? Or, it's winter, so doing something fun like skating or having a snowball fight.
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[ that sounds pretty fucking ideal, actually. ] Play some video games together, too.
What do you think? A god tier friend date. Should we go try it?
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But otherwise... This sounds perfect to me.
[ all these cute shenanigans.... soon to be ignored for memeshare ]
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[ he grins down at her and then offers her his arm. ] C'mon, lets go ice skating. We gotta find you some socks.
[ and with that they can go off and head to the ice skating rink for the best (friend) date ever! it's too bad when they get to the rink to grab skates, that good old memory share decides to kick in, and this time, it comes from ichiro's side. ]
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[ the betrayal. like ichiro himself, maya doesn't understand why kuko would suddenly turn on him. (after all, ichiro is a good guy, helpful, kind, talented, responsible.... unlike her) she wonder, if there's some other reason..... there has to be right? ]
[ but by the time the memory is over, ending on past ichiro's tears, her heart is heavy. she reaches out to try to put a hand on his arm, if he'll let her. ]
You didn't do anything wrong.
w3, thursday
Hey...
points to eyes points to the memshare for backtags today
Hey, Maya-chan.
holds u belatedly
Are you feeling a bit better?
<3
Thanks, Maya-chan. I'm okay... Hope healed me up, so.
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I'm glad..... [ she smiles a little bit, though it's faint. ] Those Thursday adventures just keep getting worse and worse, huh?
week 6, saturday
but i just wanted to say thank you
for catching me
and also for being there for the person who killed mr. sieghart
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admittedly, it takes him a long time to respond to this, but. ]
I know
if it was me, I would've wanted to be caught.
I know the person who killed Sieghart wanted to be too.
... i'm sorry this place fucked with you like that, maya-chan
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and they don't have to live with this alone
but thank you ichiro
you don't need to apologize
i appreciate everything you did today
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if you
if you need anything, if you want to talk about it.
you can reach out, okay? maybe - maybe not tonight. i can talk like this right now
but
im here for you. and - i am sorry. i'm sorry it happened to you. i'm gonna apologize because this piece of shit place won't
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thank you
the same to you okay? anytime
anything i can do
just tell me
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you really loved manwol-san too, right?
it's not your fault.
...for me, huh?
can you make me a promise to try and stay alive, no matter what?
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but i'll make that promise to you too
if i died now or gave up i'd just be throwing away everything she did for me
and denji too
so i'll stay alive as long as i can
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[ there's a long pause. ]
I know you thought I did, but
I didn't kill sakyou.
i promise. when i said you could ask me whatever, i meant it.
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i know no one's killing because they want to
but at the time i felt i really had to focus on sakyou's murder
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lines up with what tsuyukusa said.
i'm not mad at you, either.
...
you wanna know something?
maya-chan, i really hate lying. more than anything.
someone lied to me when i was a kid and it changed my whole life.
and my brothers, too. in a bad way.
so... i don't do it.
i try really hard not to.
im not gonna let this dumb fucking place take that away from me if i can.
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this place has taken a lot from everyone
it doesn't deserve to take any part of you
so keep doing your best not to let it
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oh and ichiro?
this probably doesn't mean a lot coming from me but
you didn't do anything wrong catching me
your life is very precious
please try to remember that