balance_logs | [mostly open!] collecting friendship fragments: balance edition

Entry tags:

[mostly open!] collecting friendship fragments: balance edition

Who: Kaede Akamatsu (

gotyourbach), Kokichi Oma (

slieght), Maki Harukawa (

erlebnisse), Shuichi Saihara (

diffidentive), and YOU!

Where: assorted locations!

When: Within a few days of newbie arrival

What: a Dangan class ~~trial~~ meeting, and Kaede introducing her old friends to her new friends! Please let her introduce her friends

Content Warning: DRV3 spoilers likely in thread A below, others will be marked as needed!

A. Closed to Kokichi, Maki, and Shuichi

[Hardly anyone can be surprised that of all the places on the Moon she could have asked them to meet, it would be the Academy's music room. It's the place she feels the safest, after all! There's even a handwritten note on the door: CLOSED FOR A PRIVATE SESSION ♡♡♡

Kaede sits at the piano bench, because of couse she does, while she waits for the others to arrive. She pulled some chairs down from the stack for everybody to use when they get here, and she brought some safe-for-consumption snacks from Bender's café, just in case. Like the perpetually warm and soft chocolate-chip cookies! Everyone likes those.

After that, she just has to ward off the urge to play piano. It's like, right there. But she'll have time to play piano later! It's fine!]

B. Friendship Fragments - Shuichi (joint prompt with

diffidentive)

[Kaede is walking with Shuichi toward the Artificer's office, chatting animatedly about -- something. Music, magic, regaling him with tales about her adventures in the Bureau, always with the most positive spin on it. But when she spots one of her friends, she grabs Shuichi's hand without warning and tugs him toward the new person.]

Hey, hey! Have you met Saihara-kun yet?

C. Friendship Fragments - Kokichi (joint prompt with

slieght)

[It's nice that the Whomping Willow isn't so whomping anymore. Kaede remembers when it was literally attacking people on Maru. But it seems friendly enough now! She and a shorter boy are sitting under it, Kaede with some homework that she... hasn't started. She seems to be pouting at Kokichi for something he said until she spots someone she knows, then she's waving frantically, trying to gesture for them to come closer.]

Hey, over here! I have to introduce you to someone!

D. Friendship Fragments - Maki (joint prompt with

erlebnisse

[Or, maybe, you've come to get yourself some dinner. Kaede's set up shop at a table with a rather severe-looking girl, and seems to be instructing her on Bender's rather... esoteric methods of making food. There's a dish of melting green tea ice cream in front of her that she seems to have forgetten in her animated explanation, and a few other assorted goodies that Kaede's just gotten in case Maki wants them.

She brightens when she spots a familiar face, though, waving for their attention. Maki tenses up as Kaede calls out, startled and uncomfortable. Her glare is intense, eyeing whoever approaches like she's sizing them up and judging them already.]

Hey, have you gotten to meet Harukawa-san yet? Do you have any recommendations for stuff she can order?

E. Wildcard! OTA [Wanna meet the kids somewhere else? Did we discuss another prompt on plurk? Feel free to use this log as a catch-all for that kind of thing!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Seeings how this meeting is going to involve Maki and Kokichi being in the same room, presumably for the first time since they arrived here...Shuichi makes sure to wrap up his Moon Base investigations early enough for him to arrive at the music room ahead of time.]

[Sure, Maki SAID she wasn't going to kill him, but that doesn't mean she won't get into a fight with him. Verbal or otherwise. Especially since Kokichi lives to press people's buttons. And somehow he doubts that having nearly died at her hands will change that much.]

[So he opens the music room door a good twenty minutes early, sliding inside and looking around as he lets the door close behind him. He offers Kaede a small wave when he catches sight of her, walking over and taking the seat across from her.]

Hello, Akamatsu-san.

[Again. Since he already saw you this morning for breakfast and everything.]

[Kaede jumps, lifting her fingers from the piano keys. She hadn't been playing! She'd just been thinking about it.]

...Oh! Saihara-kun, you're early!

[She gives him a bright smile and turns on the bench, clasping her hands in front of her as if that will somehow help her contain her excitement. Excitement, and a little nervousness... she hasn't gotten to talk to Maki yet; for her, it's been literal months, while for the other girl it's presumably only been a little more than a week. What if Maki holds a grudge...? She did seem kind of stern.

Well, she'll cross that bridge when she gets to it!! For now, her attention is on Shuichi.]

Did you have fun checking out the base? Oh, oh, did you make any friends?

M-mm... [He nods a little. He is early and he did have fun. He guesses?] I met a few people, though...I wouldn't say I made friends with them, exactly.

[He's not you, Kaede. He lacks the ability to make friends instantly.]

Oma-kun and Harukawa-san aren't here yet?

Well, I'm sure you'll become friends once you get to know them a little better.

[He is a shy boy. She pushes herself off the piano bench and slides into one of the chairs nearby, passing him one of the bags of perpetually-warm-and-soft chocolate chip cookies as she shakes her head.]

Not yet. Oh, but I got these from Bender... do you think Harukawa-san likes cookies? I figured Oma-kun definitely seems like the type to like sweet stuff, [he is. a big child, after all,] but I wasn't too sure.

Oh, I got tea, too! [Plop! goes the thermos she hauls out of her backpack and sets on one of the desks. Added to it goes some mochi, in case Maki likes Japanese-style sweets? The student handbook just said she liked lake shores, which wasn't a big help to snack selection.]

[She's heard, of course, about kokichi being around and Kaede and all. She's not entirely sure she believed it, so it's important she sees them with her own two eyes.

That's really her motivation for going to this, especially because if someone's trying to trick Shuichi and lie to him, they'll have to answer to her.

But there's all sorts of strange goings-on around here, that honestly? She's not sure she'd put it past this place to somehow have dragged them in here too. She's already established that she and Shuichi were from different time points, after all.

Still, Maki doesn't feel fully prepared to walk purposefully into the room and see. Kaede.

Just...there. Like it's normal. Like everything's fine and dandy.

Maki freezes a moment and just stares at Kaede, unable to take her eyes off of her for a moment, before finally she tears her gaze away to look at Shuichi and sorta. Make sure he's okay.]

...Am I late?

Oma-kun definitely likes sweets...I'm not sure about Harukawa-san. She might!

[He doesn't open the cookies she offers him, however, instead just holding the bag in his lap. He's not overly fond of sweets himself, but saying so would be rude so he'll just hold onto them for now.]

[He leans forward and picks up the thermos, unscrewing the cap.]

Did you bring cups? I can go ahead and pour some for us while we wait for-- [Oh, speak of the devil, and he shall-- oh, no never mind. It's not Kokichi. So not the devil. Shuichi smiles softly at Maki, seemingly perfectly fine. No need to worry, Maki. You aren't going to have to beat anybody up for tricking him. This really is Kaede, it seems.]

No, you're not. You're early actually.

Mmhm!

[She's rummaging through her backpack for the cups when Maki enters, and abruptly, cups are forgotten. It's not weird to be anxious, right? Maki is so severe... it'd make sense if Maki didn't want to associate with her at all after what she did.

But also, even if they'd only known each other for a short time, Kaede missed her, just as much as she missed many of her friends from that academy. So she gives her a smile, trying to hide her hesitation behind it.]

Harukawa-san... it's really good to see you. It's been a long time!

[A long time, Kaede says, and Maki glances to Shuichi and then at the ground, grabbing at one of her pigtails to wind uneasily around in her hands.] ...Do you even know how long?

[OH, hm, not a nice thing to say, probably. Kaede's evidently been here a while, but it's so-- odd. It feels like she's just seen Kaede, but at the same time she's aware of how long it's been for them.]

How do we een know you're the real Akamatsu? After all, what happened to her isn't something someone just comes back from like nothing's wrong.

[Leave it to Maki to get right to the point here]

...

[Kaede's eyes drift to the floor at Maki's initial question. Yes, she does know how long. "Too long," is the right answer, and so is "several months." But before she can put that into words, Maki's continuing to question, and her gaze shoots back up again, wide-eyed with a hurt confusion.]

H-Huh? [is all she can manage at first. After what happened... Her hand goes to her throat reflexively before dropping down to press against her heart.] Umm... I can tell you about... about stuff we went through, if that would be proof? O-or... I could try to explain about how time is all messed up, but I think we should wait for Oma-kun for that.

[She looks to Shuichi kind of helplessly before looking back to Maki.]

But I promise, I'm me. I could play a really difficult piano piece? Would that help?

Harukawa-san...

[Shuichi looks back and forth between the two girls, unsure of what exactly to say. He's sure that this really IS Kaede, yet...he's not sure Maki will buy his "evidence". Even as he thinks about it, he realizes how feeble it sounds. How laughable it would be to say that he knows this is the real Kaede because of something like the feel of her hand or the way she moves and the things she says.]

I know it's...hard to believe, but it really is Akamatsu-san. Please...come sit down. Once Oma-kun gets here, we can discuss things in more detail and hopefully make sense of...well, everything.

[Like how two people who are supposed to be dead are suddenly alive again. And why Maki remembers things that Shuichi doesn't.]

[Somehow, Kaede's offer to play some difficult piano piece seems fitting enough. She releases a breath in a rush, a sort of deep sigh of resignation. She looks at Kaede and then at Shuichi, then shakes her head.

She's not sure she believes in it. There's a terrible, vicious part of her that thinks, 'why her? Why not Kaito?' But that isn't fair to Kaede, who likely had as much to do with arriving here as they did.

Her fingers clench into fists at her sides briefly before she gives in and stiffly takes a seat, hands folded tightly in her lap.]

If he even shows up.

[That's all she says. No acknowledgement on if she believes Kaede and Shuichi or not on Kaede's realness. Just...moving along.]

[Shuichi looks a little relieved when Maki sits down, though still somewhat tense. He glances up at the clock.]

Well...there's still some time before we agreed to meet...

[Maybe he's just planning to arrive exactly on time, rather than early. Hopefully. Please don't ditch, Kokichi.]

I think he'll show up...eventually...

Y-Yeah. You're both really early!

[Kaede's hand grips her vest more tightly as she looks to Maki. It doesn't feel like this has been finished, but... She has to be strong. For Shuichi, if nothing else; she owes it to him to be someone reliable, to finally be someone he can trust. For real this time.

Even if Maki doesn't believe her right now, that just means she'll have to find a way to prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Maybe by playing something like Liszt's La Campanella?]

...Oh! [She got distracted thinking about piano.] Um, I was telling Saihara-kun, I brought tea, and cups, and there's snacks if you want any...

[She buries her head in her backpack again to dig out the plastic teacups stolen from Bender's café.]

[Don't worry Shuichi, he'll show. Maybe if he knew Maki would be here he wouldn't have, but nobody was kind enough to warn him. So, a little before when they're supposed to meet, he shows up. Knocking to announce he's there before heading in.]

Saihara-chan, Akamatsu-chan, you're both totally here already right? You'd both totes be-- [Ah. A..h.....that. Sure is a third face he wasn't expecting to see. Kokichi freezes and pales a little once he spots Maki, just totally blanking on what he was saying, how he should be feeling...everything. But he seems to somewhat recover after a moment.] ...early.

[Quickly plastering a smile on his face, shaky though it is, he offers her a wave and enters the room only enough to be able to close the door behind himself. Not sitting down, nor moving towards any of them. You know. Just in case he needs to run.]

Heeyyyy Harukawa-chan, short time no see, aha...

[She doesn't, honestly, expect Kokichi to show. Maybe she should have, maybe it's something she should've prepared more for, especially now upon seeing that Kaede was definitely here and alive.

But she hadn't. So the sight of Kokichi sauntering in through the doorway is a vicious stab to the chest, his words barely registering. She twitches, a little, her body jerking to turn towards his direction, a swirl of emotions twisting in her gut so tightly that it just disappears to a numbness.

She's angry and frustrated, maybe a little guilty. A little satisfied in seeing how the color drains from his face.

Her fingers curl against her knees and she sits up straight, trying to figure out what to say. Eventually she forces her gaze away to glare a hole into the floor instead.]

...So he did show. [That's all she manages out, not even addressing Kokichi's greeting.]

[Oh no...did nobody tell him? Nobody actually...told him Maki was here, did they? Shuichi didn't know when they took their test. And if Kokichi was just told that this was a meeting for "all of them"...]

[Oh boy.]

I told you he would. Um...Oma-kun, why don't you come sit down? [He gestures to the seat beside him, across from Maki.] We have tea...

[And cookies! He knows how much you like both of those things.]

[Kaede pulls out the cups and glances to Shuichi questioningly. Did something happen? her eyes ask, and though she really wants to ask out loud, the atmosphere seems kind of tense.]

Y-yeah. Tea and cookies and mochi! I wasn't sure if you guys would want Japanese snacks or not... the cookies stay warm like they just came out of the oven. That's cool, isn't it?

Edited 2019-08-19 14:54 (UTC)

[Yeah, you could say that. Something sure did happen. Several somethings. But Shuichi isn't sure it's his place to tell Kaede about those, so his expression offers no answer to the unspoken question.]

[Sorry, Kaede. You're going to have to actually ask if you want to know. Even if Shuichi wanted to tell you, it's not the sort of thing that can be conveyed with simple glances and minute changes of expression.]

[He's dead. Maki is absolutely going to kill him. The expression on her face and general dismissal of his presence just has him wanting to bail. He can do that, right? Can't he just talk about whatever they're going to talk about later, without Maki there?

No, probably not. And they have to work together if they want to save everyone back home...

He lingers by the door, clearly not wanting to sit down as asked. Or even enter the room more than he already has. He can escape a lot easier if he stays by the door!! But eventually the leader does as asked, moving somewhat stiffly as he walks over to the chair and takes a seat.]

Is it some of that magic tea that Bender-chan makes? I'll definitely take a cup of that! [Not that he'd say no to tea either way, really.]

I don't have a preference. [Maki is...not making this much easier, sorry guys. She slowly exhales and closes her eyes, trying to just. Recenter herself, or something.

When she opens them, her normal glare is trained on Kokichi again. There's...a lot she could say. A lot she wants to say but doesn't really know where to begin. So instead she opts to look away with another sigh and say:] I'm not going to kill you.

[Which might seem WAY out of left field for Kaede, but look, it makes sense.

God, she feels exhausted already.]

...I'll take tea too.

Eh? Huh?

[Maki??? Kokichi???? Nobody is killing anyone! Why does this have to be said?!

Oh God. Did Maki kill Kokichi during the killing game...? Shuichi didn't answer her unspoken question, so all she can do for now is just pour tea in to the cups for them all and open a bag of cookies for anyone to take.]

U-Ummm... yeah, it's some of Bender's tea. Oh, but it doesn't do anything special! I'm pretty sure it's just tea.

Is there anyone else coming...? I only brought enough for the four of us, but I could get more!

[Is there anyone else? It seems worth it to ask if they've found any more of their friends.]

[Shuichi glances between Maki and Kokichi, relaxing somewhat when Maki said she isn't going to kill him. Sure, she said that yesterday but that was a whole day ago. A whole day for her to reflect and potentially change her mind.]

I didn't invite anyone else, so...

[He would have sent Kaede a message beforehand, had he encountered any of their other classmates. Or told her by now, given how early he was.]

[Tensing at being addressed, he turns his attention back to Maki and just...stares at her for a few moments. Assessing her and whether or not that was the truth. But it seems to be, so he tries to relax again, laughing it off a little.]

Of course not! We have to work together to save everyone, right? So killing me would tooootally not help. And--

[He pauses, not allowing himself to just mindlessly run his mouth like he's so used to doing. Saying that she was unsuccessful the first time would both bring up bad memories for them both but...he's betting would provoke and invite her to try to kill him anyway.]

And I'm the rogue here, so I'm extra useful! Rogues are super important assets to any proper party.

[Totally a bad idea to kill him. But okay, enough about that!! He glances at Kaede, resisting the urge to ask if Maki's told her or not yet. Of course she hasn't...it's not like Kaede ever got to learn about her secret. And...does she need to know? This isn't a killing game. And sure, he's still pretty bitter, but he just said they need to work together. So he glosses right over her confusion about the killing stuff.]

Aw man, you should have gotten the magic kind. Everyone seems so tense. But I didn't invite anyone else either. I haven't seen any of our other friends...

[Sad as that is...]

[Maki doesn't know much about RPG parties, but she's aware she's a cleric and now that Kokichi is a rogue. She glances to Shuichi and Kaede, wondering, but she decides to announce her new, uh...title thing too.]

I got assigned as a 'cleric.' [She says it in a decidedly bitter tone and looks a bit put out about it, because really, a cleric? her??? Jesus.

But she hasn't seen anyone they know either and shakes her head.] I think it's just us. We should go ahead and start. [before her patience runs any thinner]

a.............finally.............why didn't we placeholder this at the top?

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do i even have to warn for v3 spoilers i feel like it should be inevitable at this point......

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one day i'll learn to double check my small tags. today is not that day.

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1/2

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