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Tweak says, "uk'otoa (uk'otoa)"

Ikeda Kiriko | 池田妃凛子 (apathyisboring) wrote in disappear_rpg,
@ 2010-08-20 00:05:00

Entry tags:

kiriko, toru

[ Pre-investigation ]
WHO: Kiriko, Toru
WHAT: Talking, etc.
WHERE: Butterfly Room
WHEN: Before the investigation, after Kiriko's text about Reizo
WHY: I wanna.

Of course it had been Toru to answer. Of course. That was very much in line with the week she was having, after all. She had even waited another half an hour, sent a second text to Kozue, and waited another ten minutes staring wistfully at her phone.

No luck.

With a sigh of resignation, she closed her phone and laptop, tucked the former away in her jacket pocket and wrenched her closet open. It was a short trip, this time - she'd spent enough time looking around in the nothings of paradise to figure out more about how it worked. Thinking hard enough about something was helpful, but it was always a little bit like groping along in the dark. Calling kitsune was also helpful - her persona was nothing like Tachibana's, but it seemed to remember how to move around in Paradise much better than she did, at least.

The door came out of apparently nowhere, as it had all the times she'd tested it before. She entered with relative nonchalance. Toru had, unsurprisingly, made it there first, and Kiriko was contemplating the wisdom of telling him she was sure it worked now, turning around and walking right back out the door.

"Hi."

She didn't - it had been quite a while since she'd been able to talk to anybody face to face. Maybe he wouldn't as so insufferable as the last time. She shut the door behind her, and started towards the couch.

"I wanted to make sure I was appearing in the right place. Looks like it's not a problem."

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2dbeauty
2010-08-20 05:42 am UTC (link)

She was smiling. A good sign if ever there was one, Toru thought rather thankfully. His efforts weren't all for nothing! In response to her statement, he nodded.

"It's improved a little. Nobody in class has made a fuss or anything, but it feels like people don't look down on me so much. They just ignore me now. W-well, except for my roommate, Takagi-senpai. He's been teasing me about it ever since I got my hair cut... but it's good teasing." He seemed genuinely pleased as he said this.

But now Kiriko was sitting, looking discouraged... disappointed, even. The current circumstances taken into account, that wasn't all that surprising. Toru shyly looked over to his classmate.

"...are you alright, Ikeda-san? You look like there's something off."

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apathyisboring
2010-08-20 05:59 am UTC (link)

They had always ignored Toru, as far as Kiriko could remember, or at least for the majority of the year. It had been Seiji who was always getting his desk kicked over... and that thought was doubly depressing. She stared off down the hall again, then turned to look at Toru.

"It will probably affect your outlook, too," she answered, looking back to him with another smile. It didn't look particularly forced, but the worried look down the hall that had preceded it...

His hesitance with the question did not go unnoticed, and she flicked a sharp eye over him as her first response. Still bundled up in the corner of the couch. Hardly impositional. Hardly a question she had to answer, if she didn't feel like it. Would he really ask questions when he was already cowering over nothing?

"Everything's so chaotic right now," she said with a vague handwave and a short, but fairly good-natured sigh. "Hard to say what will happen next."

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2dbeauty
2010-08-20 06:11 am UTC (link)

Toru shrugged, still somewhat happy. "If you say so. I don't really feel different, but this is something I should give some time, I guess. You've got good judgment..."

Under Kiriko's suddenly piercing glance, the boy wilted. How was he supposed to deal with a response like that? Cowering and shivering, I suppose. Even though I was just trying to help her...

"You mean this thing with Reizo and his dad? A-and what's going on with the school closing, and Seiji-kun dying, and the angels... a-and your parents won't let you meet up with us, right? In your position, I'd be worrying, too. That's a lot of stuff to be on one person's shoulders."

He looked out to the rest of the room. Same as always, cluttered with the spoils of their exploits in Paradise. The place that was causing so much grief for them now... "Actually, I wouldn't just be worrying... I'd freak out completely. What's going on plus what's on your shoulders specifically really sucks.

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apathyisboring
2010-08-20 06:19 am UTC (link)

"You don't say."

Yes, she had really needed that concise summary of her life going to pieces. Well, at least some of the others were in it with her together. Sort of. Not really to the same extent, but...

Her eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean, what's on my shoulders specifically?" He was talking about her parents rather than Reizo, right? Of course. Anything else would just be paranoia talking - unless they really did notice more than she gave them credit for.

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	2dbeauty 2010-08-20 06:23 am UTC (link)
	"Y-your parents, obviously. With all of this chaos going on, it must be really hard for you to be cooped up at home, unable to go anywhere or do anything. It would drive me up a wall." Hadn't she looked worried, though, when he'd said it? That was unusual for Kiriko. Highly. "Did you think I meant something else?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

apathyisboring
2010-08-20 06:43 am UTC (link)

"No."

She was eyeing him again, albeit a little more relaxed this time. When she leaned back into the couch, her french tips continued tapping against the armrest.

"You think it would bother you that much? Quite a change from the beginning of the year, Ishinomori-kun."

Another flicker of a smile. It was true, though - she had a much easier time imagining him being driven up a wall at having to go out all the time.

"My dad will be back by the end of the week. Whatever's going to happen will happen then."

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2dbeauty
2010-08-21 12:32 am UTC (link)

Toru relaxed a little. "Okay, just making sure. I mean, I didn't think so..."

Maybe he'd been overthinking. What would have specifically bugged Kiriko other than the situation with her parents? Nothing he could think of, for certain.

"...well, being inside wouldn't be too bad. But I've got a duty now. I'd hate to be isolated while one of my friends was in danger... with all of this going on around us. It's a feeling of powerlessness, y'know?"

Looking slightly frustrated, he put a hand to his brow. "Plus, I dunno how to deal with my parents. That's the real problem... they'd be the ones driving me up the wall."

"Are you nervous?"

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apathyisboring
2010-08-21 12:43 am UTC (link)

"A little." She didn't answer right away - not in itself unusual for someone as careful with their words as Kiriko, but it was a question she'd had to consider. Yes, she was nervous, but much less than she expected herself to be. She wasn't sure when the looming spectre of her father had become so much less intimidating, so much more manageable, but even as she worried what he might say to her in a calm voice with a disappointed expression, she somehow knew she could handle it, that it would be fine. It was a curious feeling to have without any kind of tangible plan to back it up, but it seemed to cement itself one of the first nights she had been home, when she had traveled back through her dungeon.

Now, what was really making her stomach flip was waiting for the door to appear down the hall.

"To be honest, I'm more worried about the stuff with Paradise than my parents."

A feeling of powerlessness, he'd said. Maybe. Not really. She knew what powerlessness felt like - being stuck at home was more like a temporary inconvenience. Nothing so crippling it couldn't be overcome.

"At least I could make it here."

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2dbeauty
2010-08-21 12:52 am UTC (link)

"You're brave, Ikeda-san." Toru looked at the floor, musing. "Real life is a million times harder."

"At least, for some people. I guess not for you."

But beneath these words, Toru's face showed surprise. Kiriko, worried about stuff in Paradise? Or, rather, worried at all? Would wonders never cease? Hadn't she just brushed it off, saying that her family was what was weighing on her shoulders the most?

"...really? I've never seen you act that way about Paradise. You've always been up front, taking charge, never afraid of anything." He fidgeted, his uncertainty of following this line of conversation quite obvious in his body language. "What's got you so worried?"

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apathyisboring
2010-08-21 01:10 am UTC (link)

She watched him sidelong, without the punctum that had previously been in her eyes. That wasn't the way she had expected him to react, and for as positive and innocuous a reaction as it was, she could see herself reflected in it. She was nervous, and the thought of being nervous was making her more nervous.

"No one's died since the beginning, and certainly no one connected to us. Mikio-san was our best source of information - and Fujiwara's gone, too. The school might get shut down because of it. You'd have to be stupid not to worry a little bit."

Looking calm and contemplative was easier when he was fidgeting and uncomfortable. Her head tilted, leaning in a little further against the back of her hand.

"It doesn't help to be so far away from everyone. This is the closest I can come to all of you. On top of it all, who knows what Shirai's getting himself into?"

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2dbeauty
2010-08-22 11:40 pm UTC (link)

"...you're right. None of this is good. It's just- well... We need somebody to not be scared. Worrying doesn't do anything other than getting your mind ready for failure." This statement led Toru into a sheepish grin.

"Of course, you're a rational thinker. I'm not, so it's a lot easier for me to rush in without thinking about the implications." Which was true. Hadn't he been the one to spend the better part of an hour on fire because he chose to fight Keiichi's shadow?

He nodded in accordance. "Not a good position to be in." And of course, Reizo. Toru couldn't stand him, but he was a valuable asset for Paradise, considering his strength and his connections to those who could get them weapons. Plus, the eye-candy aspects... No, I really need to stop that.

"Shirai's in deep. But it doesn't look like we'll be of any help... unless he ends up going shadow from all of this." He sighed. "Which is more than likely, given all that's happened..."

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apathyisboring
2010-08-22 11:51 pm UTC (link)

"I'm not scared," she snapped, though his sheepishness caused her to pause and soften her tone. "Worrying about what we're up against is different from being scared."

She listened in silent agreement to the rest of what she had to say. Yes, she was one of the few rational thinkers on the team, though that was improving. Already it was far better than it had been when she'd started out. If she was being honest with herself, she hadn't even taken it that seriously at first.

"Well, there's a great reason to worry," she answered, touching her fingers to her forehead and tilting her head back. "Why would I ever want to see the inside of that guy's head? It's bad enough to intrude on everybody else, but his business? I definitely don't need to know."

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2dbeauty
2010-08-23 02:03 am UTC (link)

A contemplative smile spread across Toru's face. "Still, worrying won't do anything. We could be up against anything from a god to a low-flying flock of pigeons, and worrying wouldn't do anything at either end."

Even when he came to realize that Paradise was no game (regardless of how closely and unnervingly it followed genre conventions), Toru had not feared what the team was up against. Worry was just a step down from that. To him, taking it day by day and disarming the horror of the situation meant constantly dragging in comparisons to games and anime. So what if it made others think he took things less seriously? It meant he could survive and be more than useless to the team, right?

"Believe me, none of us want to... I probably do even less than you do. But if things are going to be that way, we can't ignore it. All we can do is prepare."

Prepare...

Toru's eyes narrowed. "Reizo hates you less than the rest of the team, right? Would you have any idea as to what we'd face in there? I-I mean, it's a hypothetical, but it's better than fighting blind against somebody like him, yeah?" It was indeed a long shot, and he risked pissing Kiriko off by saying it, but the team needed every advantage it could get if worst came to worst.

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apathyisboring
2010-08-23 02:31 am UTC (link)

Toru was narrowing his eyes at her and she didn't like it in the least. That was supposed to happen the other way around, with her staring him down and asking imposing questions. Her own eyes narrowed and flicked up and down over him as she contemplated this, looking otherwise pointedly indifferent to his question.

Her head rolled to the side, further onto her hand, and she answered while staring sidelong down the hall.

"I don't know anything special." She spoke shortly, apparently irritated that he had asked at all. "I know what you know. He's a yakuza, his father is dead, and he knows how to hurt things. If you think that's enough to prepare from, be my guest. Sagaki thought we might be up against more glitter."

Her brows twitched lower, knitting and unknitting, only further contributing to the ill-tempered look she'd adopted.

"I doubt that."

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2dbeauty
2010-08-23 02:40 am UTC (link)

"You and me both, then..." Toru had truly hoped that Kiriko would have more insight than "yakuza, dead dad, hurts stuff." But it had, after all, been a bit of a long shot.

"I just wish we could get him back without too much of a fuss... it's the 'he knows how to hurt things' part that has me worried... since it's probably how he's dealing with the chaos right now. And what he'll do to us if we end up opposing him in Paradise." Now Toru did look worried; his face was drawn into a grim, flat look.

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	apathyisboring 2010-08-23 02:42 am UTC (link)
	She swept her eyes over him again, noticing the worry permeating his face, the way his mouth was drawn into a thin line. Kiriko sighed. "Looks like you're not all that stupid after all." (Reply to this) (Parent)

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