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Oubai, Kouchisei ([info]daioujou) wrote in [info]disappear_rpg,
@ 2010-08-27 22:26:00

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Entry tags:kou, kozue

WHO: Kozue and Kou.
WHAT: Revision and gossip.
WHERE: The fancy pastry cafe Kozue likes to visit.
WHEN: Days before the start-of-term, post dungeon.
WHY: To study and learn.

Kouchisei looked behind the spotless glass screen, undecided. Weren't these desserts usually made with too much sugar? Shrugging the thought off, he decided that a chocolate-filled croissant and a side-order of cream was probably too much, but that the marzipan apricot tart was fine. He was remarkably good at not coming to places like this, and looked a little confused. Maybe he was just used to eating less dessert and preferred cooked meals, or maybe he was used to going to places it was more acceptable to visit alone.

He was already thinking that his reaction to recent events stood alone; if he was considerate to Shirai, then it meant admitting wrongness to himself. And the fact that he believed he was right gave him the worst way to deal with things, and was bringing him into situations that had him dealing with other people and not keeping himself emotionless and untroubling. But then he thought back on that dream he had experienced, and his hands began shaking with rage - either because of how it had started, or that he had been silly enough to go there in the first place. That would mean that he was cold-hearted though, and he didn't think that. He just found himself without the energy and huggable warmth of others.

But he remembered how far he'd came from over a year ago, right after those 'uncaring' people had saved his life. There was a powerful connection there, whether he wanted it or not, and as much as it felt strange to admit it he wanted that bond because it stopped him feeling alone. Those people had helped him. Thinking of that, it led him to ponder as to how two of them could do something he thought so terribly wrong. They'd tried saying it was best for everyone, but he couldn't believe that because name had come too quick. They were trying to say it was for the right reasons and, in his opinion, couldn't admit that it wasn't.

He ordered an orange juice, and while he waited hid his head behind a wooden privacy screen. That night had been bad, and with it being big enough for him wanting to talk about he felt he needed to find somebody with a connection, and by the time he had been ready to admit it to her, Kozue had moved on. The incoming arrival of his food gave him time to think; he hadn't found himself capable of loving her, but he wanted her input because he valued it. It was for the best things had cooled. That recent shock had been bad enough for him, and now as he pulled out his revision notes it had made him realise how bad that night could have been for other people.

Maybe he needed to change.



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[info]anthesphoria
2010-08-31 02:56 am UTC (link)
The invitation had been an odd one. Meet Oubai at the pastry cafe? Really? Of all places, and of all people? At first, she had ignored the message, but as it almost always did, curiosity propelled her out of her room and down the street to the cafe. What did he want? Certainly, it wasn't really about school notes. Oubai would never need to see her notes, as full as they were of doodles and... well, doodles. And she could not quite comprehend the idea that he was offering to help her with her own academics.

Maybe it was guilt. Maybe he'd come to some startling realization after being kicked off the proverbial island in the dungeon, and was trying to mend bridges? But they'd already mended, at least by what Kozue imagined Kou's standards to be. The blank plaque actually sat on her vanity in her dorm room, as a reminder of the fact that she did have power over her own life, and, moreover (since it was still blank and a shade of virgin white that made Kozue smirk with irony now and again) that she didn't have to make that choice any time soon.

She stepped into the cafe with her mind still not fully made up as to whether or not she was planning to stay and talk with Oubai. But, once she saw him, it was too late to slip out. And besides, once she saw him, sitting over his notes with an orange juice on the table beside them, looking awfully out of place in the hip, westernized setting, Kozue's twin sentiments of curiosity and compassion kicked in.

She took a seat at the table opposite him. "Afternoon, Oubai-senpai."

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[info]daioujou
2010-08-31 10:49 pm UTC (link)
Kouchisei put on his emotionless face, cold and vague, as Kozue approached the table. A sip from the glass of orange juice, and he was regarding her carefully. It was a promising start for them that she hadn't turned and headed outside. His left hand joined his right in the cradle of his lap, and he regarded her carefully.

There was nothing that had seemed to change about her, anyway. He eyed her as she sat down, and now that he could actually see her he was trying to look interested; he just hoped there was nothing in his expression that would frighten her because he wasn't good at this sort of thing. Actually, this would be one of the few times he'd done it.

He had been expecting this arrival. He knew he couldn't be the sort of person she liked, but he liked to think of himself as the sort of person who could be useful. Because that place had shown him some people thought he was not.

But more than that he wanted to know if Kozue was okay. Getting her outside seemed to show she was partly that, judging by her appearance and curious demeanour.

"I think we won that. You're not hurt, are you?"

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[info]anthesphoria
2010-09-01 11:05 pm UTC (link)
"I'm not hurt," Kozue confirmed, with a slow nod. She felt uncomfortable, scrutinized, and though at first she wanted to shrink slightly in her seat, that wasn't fair. This was more her turf than his, she was inclined to believe. She should be able to hold her ground—so she raised her hand for a waiter. She'd get something to eat, which would give her something to focus on if (when) the conversation got awkward.

She swallowed, and looked back directly at Oubai. "How about you? How are you feeling now?" Since were you hurt was insensitive given the situation, or at least verged close enough to insensitive that Kozue avoided it.

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[info]daioujou
2010-09-02 12:48 am UTC (link)
Kouchisei paused, and inclined his head a little to the right, "It doesn't matter."

He'd never found himself having to be this open before - he didn't even talk like this with his father, not since they had begun spending more time apart after his mother died.

That needed to change, he thought.

And now here he was, drinking orange juice with a girl he wouldn't have begun to imagine he cared for. There was now a smile on his face. He felt comfortable with this change, and hoped he would continue to be. "Seeing the blue sky after being in that place fills me with joy. I feel glad to be alive."

But in all honesty he wasn't happy. The difficulty came in managing this anger he was feeling. Kozue was a useful distraction.

"Anyway, I said I was going to help. Did you bring everything?"

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[info]anthesphoria
2010-09-30 12:00 am UTC (link)
With some hesitance, Kozue pulled out her books; it was equal parts hesitance to be helped by Kou, and hesitance to deal with school work. As much as she did not want to admit it, things about him continued to prick at her; memories of having cared what he thought and, by extension, of having cared what Fumiko thought. It was galling, in a way, to recognize that she kept conflating the two of them.

He wasn't her grandmother.

She reminded herself of this again, and slid her book onto the table. "Right here."

"I'm… yeah, that's how I feel, too. Glad to be alive." It came out with a long breath, deflating, relieved.

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[info]daioujou
2010-09-30 12:18 am UTC (link)
Pulling her book to his side, Kou rattled his right-hand fingers, and felt like he shouldn't be helping her at all. This was not the sort of company he kept, if he had it at all - he knew he would be getting something from this exchange, and that was to deal with Ikeda indirectly.

What he wasn't was rude in asking about that.

He flicked through the work and observed Kozue's handwriting. It was neat, very smooth - he had almost nodded appreciatively, except his gaze had caught the doodles of hearts and other stuff. Now his expression was blank. What could he say about that?

"Have you made plans for the future? Some day, this will be over. Maybe I'm a little too young to be asking, but I think it's a good thing to know."

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[info]anthesphoria
2010-09-30 12:27 am UTC (link)
In all honesty, she was just relieved that the conversation had turned immediately away from school work—and she was intending to keep it there as long as she could. Although plans for the future wasn't really comfortable ground, either...

"Well, not really, but I've been thinking about it, at least a little. I'm not getting married," she provided, although she did not sound as sure of it as she would have liked. "Not right out of school. Probably won't go to college either, so I don't know. But it seems like there are..." She let out a huff of air and turned to her food. That, at least, offered her comfort. "Well, I'm looking at things."

She prayed he would not ask which things, for this was a drastic overstatement. She had "looked" at "things", if by that you could mean browsed the internet for a while in idleness. Half of the things she had told him, she was not even sure of; who was to say she wouldn't decide to marry someone? It was easier (but it was losing herself) or work for her parent's company (easier, but losing herself again, a self she was still only keeping a tenuous hold over). And her ideas for the what else had ranged the far, wide gamut of "Kiriko's secretary" to "socialite with no job" to "sociaite with a part-time".

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[info]daioujou
2010-09-30 01:04 am UTC (link)
Studying Kozue for a moment, Kouchisei appeared disappointed. He wasn't going to insult her intelligence openly - she was friends with Ikeda, and that woman had bought her way into the affections of a lot of people. It would be easier in a few years; he would be in a place where they wouldn't bother him. Because they would be a distance away.

"You will make someone happy. You're not stupid, and I can think of worse people." He knew most of them. "I don't want to hear in twenty years that your life has rotted away. So what is up your sleeve?"

He wondered what was so terrifying about having that worry about meeting someone taken away from you. If you trusted those helping you, it wasn't a problem.

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[info]anthesphoria
2010-09-30 01:18 am UTC (link)
Her face wrinkled a little. "Thanks, Oubai-senpai, I know you mean it nicely, but… making somebody happy isn't really what I want, at least, not the most. I want to make me happy." She peered down at the notes, trying to remember when she had even taken them; school, actually lessons, had been a blur since it had started up in September. Was it really already November? It couldn't be.

"I've got time to think about it. I don't graduate for more than two more years, after all," she responded, hopefully dodging the question; meanwhile, she was frantically rifling through things she could say she might do, and it was perhaps a little disturbing how much easier she found looking for quick shabby lies about her future, than she found actually planning for that future.

"What about your own plans, senpai?"

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[info]daioujou
2010-09-30 01:34 am UTC (link)
He touched his glasses. "I've got a few of them, but mostly I'm going to focus on medical school." It was a good distance away from most of them, he decided, and probably a poor reason for going. But it made him comfortable in his skin. People wouldn't know him there.

What were his plans were for his personal life? They were too private to be telling Kozue, who would certainly in his mind tell Ikeda.

It was also noticably quiet.

"It's a year away, so I guess we've both got plenty of time. Cake?"

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