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[i_think]

For crystal messages, meetings, or what have you!

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[Action; 7/9 much later, after her meeting with Cilan]

[properprincess]

[After leaving Cilan, Sonia runs all the way home, happier than she'd been when she left and seeming to almost float. The front door opens with a slam and she ignores that as she goes over to greet the Dark Devas in their exercise palace.

But, she's too happy to stay still for long. And she wants to share her happiness with her friend.]

Nanami-san? Are you home?

[i_think]

[ In fact she is. She had been napping on her bed (in the middle of the day, but she had never really gotten a completely regular sleep schedule), but the door slam woke her up. She stumbles into the main room where Sonia is, rubbing her eyes. ]

Sonia-san?... Is everything okay?

[properprincess]

[Sonia turns gracefully on her feet and then launches herself into a hug at her friend, giggling as she does so.]

Everything... is wonderful!

[Sorry, Nanami. The air is thick with both the sweet, warm smell of fresh pastries and the tinkling of glass from a chime.]

I love today!

[i_think]

O-oh!

[ Between Komaeda and Sonia, she's started getting used to this. She's a little too surprised to really do much in the way of hugging back, though. ]

What happened...?

[properprincess]

[She can't help it. She feels so unburdened for the first time in months. Not since she woke up "on the trip" with the others has she felt so much like herself.

It is weird, considering all the discussions she's had today have been extremely serious and heavy. But lightening the load has made it easier for her to breathe and focus on the fact that she might be allowed to be happy.]

After our talk and those with Nagito-san and Hinata-san, I...asked Cilan-san to meet me down by the lake.

And I told him everything.

08/12 [Action]

[eyeswideopen]

[It's evening, and he is sitting on his master's backporch chanting his injuries into healing. His voice rises and falls in a practiced rythm. Chiaki will be arriving any moment now and he wants to have the day's business done so he can bring up something he's finally ready to talk about.

With Hajime gone to face Piphron, there's no better time. He can keep Hinata's silence and personal battles to himself, and ultimately keep that secret until Hajime is ready to reveal it. But, allow her to know most of the truth.

He doesn't keep secrets from friends and especially not from his partners. The wind stirs his hair, and tugs at his loose shirt, sliding through the wind chimes dangling from the edge of the awning. The air still smells of rainstorm that cut outdoor training short. He hooks his hands on the bottom of the shirt and tugs it over his head, tossing it aside.

The bruises have faded to barely visible and he once again reviews the scars on his body. In the time he's spent training with Mu, he had put on muscle but it's only in these past two weeks he can truly see it. He's still thin and wiry but there's a lithe tone to his body that he'd lacked before. Nanami will find him sitting like that with his gaze on the stars over head.]

[i_think]

[ She's waited long enough. Frankly, she's surprised she was able to wait this long. And as she had almost expected, Sonia's new memory has eaten away at her. She feels almost like she was out of sync with the universe.

The problem is, as hard as this is on her, she doesn't want to have this conversation. She's scared of the results, frankly. (Though not for her own sake.)

But she has to ask.

When she arrives at Komaeda's, she overcompensates, smiling a bit brighter than usual-- and with how he looks, splayed out like that, it honestly isn't that hard.

But on closer inspection -- particularly in her hair, where the textures are more complex -- there's something a little off about her. Like she's not being fully rendered, or textures are popping in, or the resolution on her is just a little less than it should be.


As usual, she's brought lunch, and she passes him a bento box. She's learning how to make slightly more complicated things, so today it's noodles with soup and things. She sits next to him, not quite sure where to start, her own box still untouched. ]

How... are they? [ The news. Start with that. It was tangential to what she really wanted to know, at least. For once, she doesn't really feel like being direct. Not right away. ]

[eyeswideopen]

Before we get into that there's something we need to talk about. [He takes the box from her hands and turns fully to face her. There's something off about her features and he can't puzzle that out. He'll ask about it after he tells her...]

I told you I was beginning to remember things. But I never said what exactly it was. ...I'm remembering my years in school. Ah, I guess you could call them...the eve before we became Despair.

Between this mind of mine that's feeling so much and so aware I sometimes need peace...to not seeing anything but my own designs, [He drops his eyes, staring at the ground. It seems easier.]

I couldn't talk to anyone about it save, Hajime. Ha, I wasn't sure what to say about it to you. I know you wouldn't judge me for it but...it feels shameful. Like I'm not worthy of you to be so... But, I knew I had to tell you. When ahaha, I was ready. [He raises his head, raking his hair out of his face to look her in the eye.] I got suspended.

When it's very likely, I should have been expelled for...what I did. Sorry for...taking so long to tell you. Mm, I have more memories but...that's the one that bothered me the most. Since...when I did something like that last time...

[His eyes slide away from hers. Thick black chains wind around his his wrists, and the ghost of his Despairing self enfolds over the present. Last time, he set up his own murder.]

[i_think]

[ She takes his wrist -- not hard, but firmly. Her fingers brush up -- throughagainst the chains and shackles, and she holds those too. It's all him. ]

I came here to ask you that.

[ She says it quietly and she can't look at him. Those chains... she wants to really, really make sure he's okay. She rubs his wrist, almost massaging it. She can feel his beating pulse, so human and warm to contrast that cold metal. ]

Sonia-san remembered, a-- a few days ago. [ She shivers. The memory hasn't gotten any weaker. ]

Everyone was there. The entire class, the teacher... [ me ]

But you and Hajime. You were gone. And I didn't know how to ask you why. I guess I still didn't.

[ She'd lost her chance before she'd told him, hadn't she? She leans back against the bench, now intertwining her fingers together, a sad little confused smile playing across her face. (It's probably a smile.) ]

Ah... we still don't know how to talk to each other, any of us... it's a process, isn't it? Just like anything else...

But Nagito-kun... did you really think for a moment that I would think you're unworthy? How could I?

[eyeswideopen]

...Hajime, as far as I know. Was off becoming...Kamukura. I don't actually know what happened past I was suspended. I haven't remembered that far. [The entire...his grey eyes widen as he squeezes her fingers.

He hasn't answered her about the idea of him being unworthy. No, that got kicked out of his mind because now he has to ask her.

Komaeda looks at her face as he asks.] ...the entire class. All of class 77.

8/15; amulet

[hopedout]

Nanami.

[ His voice is firm as he speaks through the link; he's tired, exhausted, even. But at the same time, affection threads from him to her nevertheless. Of course he's taking a nap on the bed, but he's taking his time to do something like this. Because she needs to know. ]

I'm back. I... I'm a little tired, but I'm finally back.

[i_think]

[ She's still working the bookstore. Every day has felt long, for more reasons than one, these days. But she returns some tired but happy affection back to him through the link.]

I'm glad. The island isn't the same without you.

Are you at home?

here comes the hinanami icon spam

[hopedout]

...Yeah. I'm taking a nap though, so you might have to wake me when you come over.

[ Essentially. ]

[i_think]

I can do that. Be over in a little while, okay?

[ After she gets off work, she lets herself into his house and finds his room. She flops down on the bed next to him and immediately embraces him. ]

[hopedout]

Bwaah--!

[ And that immediately wakes him up causing him to jolt slightly, to the point where the ahoge on his head immediately sticks up. The embarrassment and surprise causes a kusamochi to appear out of scenic nowhere, falling right onto Nanami's face.

Sorry, Nanami, he was actually napping.... ]

09/15 Afternoon [Voice]

[eyeswideopen]

[After calming Hinata down, as much as he could be. Komaeda lightly taps at Chiaki's mind like someone on a window.] Chiaki! Where are you right now?

I lost track while I was busy shelving books.

[i_think]

[ Chiaki's actually got the afternoon off, and she's been spending a big chunk of it sitting cross-legged in her and Sonia's backyard. She'd been able to use Dunamis on the trip to Piphron's, and the experimenting had fascinated her. Now she was staring at a flower and trying to change it into a different one.

So far it wasn't working so much. ]

Komaeda! [ As she looked away, she noticed the flower glitching - but a quick glance towards it and it still looked ordinary. ] I'm at home. Are you all right?

[eyeswideopen]

Ah, no but let's talk about it when I get there. I'm hauling Hajime with me.

[He sends gentle feelings into the link. His love and faith as well as threads of hope to bind it all together.]

Please don't worry, I'll be alright in time.

[i_think]

[ A moment of alarm, and then feelings of concern and comfort flow through the link. She touches Hinata's mind, as well, to share the emotions between the three of them. ]

All right. [ She gets up from her spot in the yard, stumbling slightly as the feeling comes back into her legs. ] Please be safe, all right? I'll make some tea.

[eyeswideopen]

Of course. We'll be there soon. [Komaeda had stopped briefly by a bakery get some flaky still steaming pastries to go with the tea. He's reasonably sure Hinata needs some kind of nutrients and Chiaki probably forget to eat.

By the time they arrive, he's composed himself and scrubbed his face. He only partly looks like five miles of bad road. Instead of bothering with things like the rules he steps right inside with his bag of steaming turnovers (something he's found he quite likes in terms of foreign foods) and holds the door open for Hinata.]

Chiaki. I brought food with me. Have you eaten at all today?

Voice 9/16

[eyeswideopen]

Chiaki? [He's exhausted but, sitting at the bookstore for an early shift, he had reached out. He needs to be the sane one. Even if his threshold feels so thin.]

I...I feel like I didn't explain why I left all that properly. I'm sorry.

[i_think]

[ A little feeling of surprise returns through the mental link as a lightly dozing Nanami wakes up again. It takes her a few extra moments to register what she's heard. ]

Nagito-kun...? [ She hesitates to send any more emotions through the link, so for now she only sends words. ]

Are you all right?

[eyeswideopen]

I forget, did I mention that Enoshima was using a video on us? [He focuses on explaining himself. That's what he can do right now.]

[i_think]

[ She goes quiet again, trying to remember the events of the previous night, painful though they are. Looking past the nightmares that have kept her awake since. ]

I think so...

DR3 spoilers

[eyeswideopen]

It was brainwashing. I had only had an hour since that happened. Since the effects were to encourage seeking out despair...it was too dangerous for you both for me to stay.