[she's sitting up in bed - it's been adjusted to make it easier for her, pillow behind her back. the blankets cover her lower half, and up top, she wears a sweater with a high neck, so that whatever her skin might tell is concealed. her cane is resting near the cot, and an IV is in the back of one of her hands, the fluid in the bag partially gone.
when she hears Shin, though, she smiles, relieved - she knows those footsteps. still, her face falls to hear that tone, her expression turning closer to shame.]
[The sweater itself has him worried. He knows about hiding your neck... from the IV she's been here a while too... Midori could have done anything...]
Why do I get the feeling that's not the full story...? Try again, but longer.
[Maybe it's a bit hypocritical, but it seems a bit unfair to want the full truth from him and then be reluctant about the reverse... some part of him is aware he's getting Like This again but it's gathered a little too much momentum for the brakes he's hauling on.]
Seems strange you'd run into trouble and not alert us all to it...
[There were no pulses of sudden, acute awareness... something clearly happened or she wouldn't be lying here, but he can smell there's more to it.]
I was too far away for any of you to have heard anything. That awareness only works so far. Outside the stones, outside the border....I had gone to see the shrine, and I was on my way back. The same as I've done every week.
[she exhales, and her hands fold on her lap, taking a deep breath. all she has to do is tell him. but even knowing what she does, parts of her memory feel tangled up, some parts too acute and others harder to reach. the doctor says it'll clear in time.]
And then I heard something, something I knew I'd heard before. A creature's footsteps - and nothing out there is kind, Shin. It was a monstrous bear, and either I had stepped in its territory or somehow offended it, but even though I tried to disorient it like I'm accustomed to, it didn't want to give up. I ran, but...I'm not a match for a beast like that. I even tried to fight back with a knife I'd been carrying from the kitchen, and though I drew blood, I...
[she has to breathe again, to remember that she's safe now. and to make these words easier to say, even though her heart aches in her chest. she doesn't want to tell people what happened - but she has to. she doesn't want people to see her like this, to know she was brought down, to think she'll be helpless for a time that she can't even measure.
whatever she has to do to get strong again, she'll do it. even if it means hating what she admits to.]
It's a miracle that it thought I was dead, when all was said and done. That I was found, as though my destiny said I wasn't going to rot out there.
[A bear... he's heard the rumors about the creatures out in the forest, which is part of why his searches stopped within sight of the border, the high chances of getting lost like in February another and the strange events of last month a third. The way she said it, he was thinking... what? It was one of them that did it? The way things had been going, it had seemed all too plausible in the moment.
Strange to remember sometimes, that there's threats here besides other transfers... something, that aura around him almost, fades a little as his shoulderblades loosen. Helena wouldn't lie to him... Conceal, be mistaken maybe... but not lie. He's ignoring the voice saying he's thought things like that before. It's more of a murmur, with her.]
Well... it's good you're okay.
[He's glad you're okay... for given values of 'okay' but alive, here, not murdered or...
He can't help but think of tea and left-behind messages. It thickens his voice a little against his will, trying to keep it light in counteraction.]
S-sorry, ahaha... Interrogating someone who's injured... it's not a good look, is it? Should leave this sort of thing to detectives...
[Of which he's not one. He knows that breathing, the way memory attacks, and it makes him want to hold her hand. Instead, there's the sounds of him dragging a chair across the floor nearby, panting, the small creak of it being leaned on.]
Maybe... don't go alone, next time...
[A knife didn't do anything... Shin knows a gun probably wouldn't do anything to something like that either. But... a second person can run or message for help... if they don't get caught by something else themselves.]
Or at the least go much earlier...I was too close to sundown. I thought the darkness was fine...
[because all she knows is darkness. her navigation doesn't depend on those cues. but even so, her head lifts in his direction, the dragging of the chair.]
But you're not interrogating, Shin. I'm just so sorry I made you worried. That you had to think that perhaps the worst.
[and despite herself, a little bit of agitation slips in there. that had been the most troublesome part, floating unattached to time, aware when she woke up that she had to tell them all somehow but being entirely unfit to declare it.]
[This is going to be on his mind now... the way some fragment of his brain will latch onto a detail and spin it for hours.]
Ahaha, it's not your fault. [It's not like she planned to end up in a hospital bed... him being worried she was dead seems kind of small in comparison to actually almost dying. He sits down, his back not touching the back of the chair for still very tender reasons.] Guess I should catch you up on what you missed, huh?
[In the background, his mind's still working. She disappeared on the 15th, and the attack must have happened shortly after... depends if she got lost. Which means there was all this time that she's been here... he thinks about the second bottle of pills Midori had, that subtle attention drawn to it, the implication of a second person on his rounds... That was a hint, wasn't it? Ugh, he hates him so much...
Of course he wouldn't tell anyone. He's had Helena alone for a week... In the one place Shin didn't want to check. He's kicking himself, quietly. For not looking, not working it out... for not listening to his instincts, or to the wrong ones.]
How are you holding up...? Should have asked that first...
I've been a lot better, but that's obvious. I still have to stay here for a while, and even when I'm back in the dorms I'll need to do things to aid my recovery, but...it could be much worse.
[she's alive, after all. and the injuries had been fresh, and Dr. Sunny...he's a genius. she knows, because no one else could bring her back from the brink like that. to keep her steady, carrying her all that way.]
I'm going to recover. There's not a doubt in my mind.
[and as long as she believes that, that's half the work done.]
But tell me what I missed - I don't doubt that something must have happened in my absence, good or bad. Hopefully, good.
...Kinda worrying when you're putting it like that...
[After all, you wouldn't need to say there's no doubt if there really was no shadow of doubt... you'd just be certain. Alive is definitely better than dead, though, he can agree... He doesn't like that there's not much other medical recourse. He'll drop it though.]
Well, quite a lot of classes, that's for one. [He'd been translating notes those first few days where he thought she might be findable... not during the ones he was convinced she was dead and looking for her body though, whoops. It's a good thing they're in the same class...] My roommate moved out... I climbed the clocktower, if you can believe it. Alice saw it... I should let him know you're alright.
[He's just going to move on very quickly and casually from those. They're just things that happened, with no meaning attached... He takes out his PDA and pings Alice on the old birthday post, just a quick Found her. Infirmary. before pocketing it.]
Oh, Amami is back! Way earlier than expected, ahaha. Apart from that it's been pretty quiet...
[Quiet is good, in Yogen.]
There's some kind of speed-dating thing going on right now... They've turned our homeroom into a movie theatre. [He's been avoiding it like the plague.] You've noticed it too, haven't you? All these school bonding activities this year...
[What are they up to... it reminds him of the Attractions, honestly.]
Oh goodness, that's so much to take in! Well, Natsume and Subaru told me about the speed dating - they came last night, they're why I managed to contact you, but I was exhausted afterwards. [hence, her not calling him in. better to not dismiss him early for lack of energy.] Bonding is one thing, but love...of all the times to not be able to go about!
[she gives a little hmph, but shakes her head softly. it's all good, she'll get someone to bring her the gossip, or she'll be able to be mobile soon enough.]
And you...I can't believe you climbed the clocktower, I wish I could have been a witness. Marvelous work! Though, with your roommate gone...that means you're living alone, doesn't it? Perhaps you should ask someone if they'll come join you, for safety's sake.
[that leaves one thing untouched, and her hands shift on her blanket.]
...That said. Rantarou...does he seem to remember?
[That's right, she's a romantic. Something in him squirms a little painfully, bitterly, at Natsume and Subaru knowing when he didn't... He keeps this hidden, but maybe it shows a little in the lack of comment besides:]
Subaru's lessons have really been paying off, huh?
[The parkour lessons and the swimming lessons... bit by bit he's been getting stronger, to his surprise. Jury's still out on being dragged out to basketball games, though. Shin constantly lives in fear of being flung into an electric fence, the way they play, and has gotten very good at the ancillary game of seeming to be involved while mysteriously not being anywhere near the ball.
He probably wouldn't have been able to do it if he didn't have that goal in mind, of checking the corners of the school. He's very happy to have it as being called marvelous work.]
Ah, everyone has all their rooms already... If someone new shows up, then maybe. Unless you're offering?
[It's a joking tone, because he doesn't really expect her to be; she just might as well be a roommate with how often she comes around. Now that he and Sara have that awkward truce, he could ask but... this soon is still raw. It'd feel too much like replacing Nanami, right now. Besides, the set up with Kaede seems better from all angles. New people are also a bit of an unknown... he needs to think about it. Safety... as long as he can still lock the door, he should be fine, right?
It's time for the bad news...]
...No. I thought maybe... but he didn't really recognize me. He's a second year now, too.
[Shin's roster record-keeping has long since fallen by the wayside, as other projects and interests have supplanted it... but it's still habit to check when he passes by sometimes.]
...Well. It's better to know now, and not force a relationship on him. It makes things far less awkward.
[she takes a breath, and exhales slowly, her hands shifting a little. it hurts, in a deep place that has nothing to do with injuries. but she hopes, somehow, that he's happier. that his ploy worked. there's so much she'd wanted to ask him, to tell him, but...if he doesn't recall, then all of it is so much ashes in the fire.]
Hopefully most people don't hold him to task for things he doesn't recall.
[and because he didn't mention it, she knows Keigo hasn't come back with him. that would be important enough to say. her heart twists, but maybe they're safer not being here.]
But you've been busy - I can't be sorry enough that I wasn't right there to experience it with you.
[Shin, internally: Not going to tell her I punched him.]
Ahaha, yeah... That's the last thing he needs...
[It was the kind of thing where he'd had it set out in his head for so long that he just... kind of did it. And then immediately realized that once more it didn't translate that perfectly into reality, stinging hand aside. Why did he even...?]
He's awake, so he still has his memories of being alive, at least... but it's strange, isn't it? Knowing things he doesn't know you know...
[There's all those tales of adventures Shin just... has. He can't really say they're friends or allies so much as strangers again, reset to zero... maybe worse, with that opening. It's all stuff this Rantaro never had any choice in Shin knowing. There's not really a good comparison other than to AI, for him...]
...H-hey, like I said, it's fine. Just be more careful, okay?
[She keeps apologizing for being attacked by a bear et al like she's personally responsible for it. Well, maybe going into the woods was a bad idea, but it's not like this is the outcome she wanted.]
...
[He's already mentioned this, elsewhere but... it's a comfort that doesn't have a limit on the number of times he can give it. He misses things sometimes, but he knows how much she cares about them both.]
I'm sure Keigo will be back before New Years... Promised to make them ozoni on it, after all.
[It's a kind lie because he can't know for sure. Maybe they won't. Maybe they'll all be dead again, or without their memories like Rantaro, different people who don't know each other at all. But it's there, offered to her.]
Edited (shadow of midori) Date: 2022-04-24 11:44 am (UTC)
[Shin's skeptical about the supposed purpose of this place being to develop their souls. It feels like anything he's even managed to halfway achieve has been despite the school, not because of it... at least some of this is transferred from being unfond of Komaeda's spiels about hope and despair, but also exam season left it's mark. Giving credit to Yogen would be too close to giving credit to Asunaro. Thanking someone for permanent scars, wrist or neck or else.
Making the school better for them... Well, Shin'll do his best, whatever that turns out to be. Hopefully not something that just makes everything worse instead. It's hard to know what moves to make when it's hard to tell why what worked did or didn't.]
Not as busy as it was at the start and end of the school year, that's for sure... Seems like most people have bought what they had in mind already.
[End of year was a rush for totems, Shin's discovered. It makes sense... there's not enough time for the side effects to really kick in if something else happens to you first. And then at the start of the year there were a lot of people buying talismans but also just normal school supplies, although Komaeda handled most of those during the day. Speaking of...]
Now that Komaeda's out of the picture... it's just me and a student running the place. Ahaha, she's one of the ones from back in December, actually.
[There's just... a light testing, a sidelong look, in his words, when it comes to Komaeda. Probing Helena's thoughts on the matter, he thinks subtly but he's not as slick as he presumes.]
[ Found her. Infirmary. The message is succinct, but its meaning is clear. It's Helena — she's alive, if not unharmed.
The words have scarcely registered before Alice dashes out of the dormitory building, across the courtyard, through the school's hallways, breathless and windswept when he reaches his destination. It's there that it occurs to him that Helena could be in no condition to receive visitors just yet, that Shin Tsukimi's announcement was merely the courtesy of keeping him updated, after they searched and searched to no avail. Sharing the relief of today's discovery doesn't mean that they should both rush to Helena's bedside — not to mention that she must have numerous friends lined up to visit her, and months of friendship should secure Shin Tsukimi a place at the front of the queue.
Alice stops in his tracks outside the door, one hand raised to knock as he catches his breath. He's made no attempt to approach stealthily, and if Shin Tsukimi and Helena are inside the room, both awake after all, then they can probably hear him.
Too late, too, he remembers that the nurse's office has become Midori's domain, but he'd like to think that enduring bonding activities trapped with that man proves that he'll remain completely unruffled for the duration of his visit. In other words, he's no more likely than anyone else to disturb Helena and impede her recovery!
Knocking at last — it's still quite early in the morning, so every patient might be resting — Alice draws back to wring his hands for what feels like endless minutes. ]
[the knock, though, rouses her from anything she's going to say, and she turns her head a little in the direction of the door.]
Is that Alice? Would you be so kind as to let him in, if so?
[she can't exactly get up to let him in herself, but she wants to be a good and polite host, receiving her guests. actually, her visitors are limited, since the news of her condition has been held secret. only her, and the morning sun, and now Shin to join them.]
[His head lifts and turns towards the knock over the chair, alert because... that should be Alice but it could be Midori... though he's not really the sort to knock and then wait as opposed to just coming in anyway after. And he'd get scary if Shin went in his room without asking too...]
Ah, should be. One second...
[He's approaching the door accordingly, schooled expression appearing when he opens it that loosens when he sees it is, indeed, Alice.]
Alice! This way, over here...
[He beckons and then starts moving back over to Helena's bed, standing by it like this is a pixel CG, with the blue outlines and everything. If Alice isn't supposed to be part of this picture, there's no sign of it from Shin's calm body language.]
[ The door opening to reveal Shin Tsukimi behind it, not Midori, is encouraging, and so is seeing the man relax just slightly before Alice finds himself invited into the room. It does suggest that Midori could appear without warning, ruining the mood, but for the time being, they're truly free to visit Helena in peace.
The most encouraging thing might be the realization that Shin Tsukimi doesn't look upset — Helena can't be gravely injured, then.
That does wonders to work loose the anxious anticipation coiled tight in Alice's chest. Now his breathing just needs to calm down, and he wishes he weren't arriving as a sweaty mess... Following Shin to the bed, he pushes his hair out of his eyes for a good look around, gaze roaming until it comes to rest on Helena sandwiched between the pillows and blankets. He takes in the scene.
The IV is worrying, but Helena is awake — it's all much better than what they feared. That relief slips out, as soon as Alice tries for a greeting. ]
Welcome back, Helena...
[ Then, holding everything else in for the moment, he glances between her and Shin, back and forth. They were in the middle of a conversation, weren't they? ]
[he can see how her expression brightens to hear him draw closer, how she's genuinely happy to know he stopped in to visit her in her recovery, before it becomes something more sheepish and reserved. right, he would have thought she was dead as well...at the very least, stepped into another world. that he wouldn't have checked here seems sensible, since in this school if someone vanishes, they usually wind up as a corpse.]
I'm...so terribly sorry to have made you worry for me. If I could have reached out sooner, I would have. Please have a seat?
[Shin would never need that invitation, close as he is, but she feels like Alice would stay standing for an hour if no one invited him to relax.]
[After a certain point they really had been looking for a body... Shin had been contemplating whether calling a meeting once they found it would help... at least he was certain on making sure the teeth bandits couldn't get to her. It's hard to just wind back those emotions, like putting a car into reverse without the clutch, and they're turning into relief in turn in the process... injured isn't good but it's better compared to the worst that could have happened.
There's a reason Shin had oh-so-cleverly not sat back down in the chair he pulled over earlier; together, he and Helena are conspiring for Alice to feel at ease... as well as have a chance to catch his breath because it's clear he must have run here. Shin gingerly pushes himself up onto the empty edge of the end of the bed, legs dangling.]
We were just catching up on what's been happening... while she's been gone.
[He explains by way of Alice's look; it's own indication that he's free to if he's got anything he wishes to add about it.]
[ What a surprising expression, though it fades quickly... It's pleasant to receive such a warm welcome, but somehow unexpected, still, and in the wake of both that and the initial announcement, it takes Alice several moments to collect himself and cease his standing there, the only one of them not seated yet, despite the prompting. Finally, with as quiet a scrape across the floor as possible, he adjusts the vacated chair's placement to lower himself into it, leaving enough room for his legs.
He has taken a seat! And his voice feels steadier... All the same, he has to clear his throat, taken aback by Helena's apology. It's not unfamiliar — she's apologized for the same thing once before. ]
So the two of you have already covered all of it? Well... I suppose quite a few things have happened lately...
[ Which includes Helena's sudden disappearance, followed by Chiaki Nanami's, and now Helena back more or less safe and sound, as well as Rantarou Amami's return. Only Komaeda's condition remains unchanged.
Honestly, he absolutely has burning questions to ask, but he won't pressure Helena to repeat herself. Perhaps Shin Tsukimi would be willing to answer them later, he reasons. ]
At any rate, I doubt that you intend to make going missing a habit, Helena.
No, of course not. This was hardly something planned.
[her tone is gentle, though - she's not actually scolding or anything, and she's happy to be back and awake. that said, she is waiting for if he has questions, though she's not entirely sure if she'll give him the whole story again like she did to Shin. there's enough he can fill in privately.
there's also more than enough room for Shin to sit on the bed - perks of being short, though she can't move her legs over to give him the whole space. though if he really felt like it, he could sprawl easily.]
I'm still surprised at how much time passed...though I did spend most of it asleep. But we surely can't have covered everything - what happened to you, in the time between?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
notsosou
no subject
Date: 2022-04-23 04:38 am (UTC)when she hears Shin, though, she smiles, relieved - she knows those footsteps. still, her face falls to hear that tone, her expression turning closer to shame.]
...I got attacked in the forest.
[and that's entirely true.]
no subject
Date: 2022-04-23 04:51 am (UTC)Why do I get the feeling that's not the full story...? Try again, but longer.
[Maybe it's a bit hypocritical, but it seems a bit unfair to want the full truth from him and then be reluctant about the reverse... some part of him is aware he's getting Like This again but it's gathered a little too much momentum for the brakes he's hauling on.]
Seems strange you'd run into trouble and not alert us all to it...
[There were no pulses of sudden, acute awareness... something clearly happened or she wouldn't be lying here, but he can smell there's more to it.]
no subject
Date: 2022-04-23 05:08 am (UTC)[she exhales, and her hands fold on her lap, taking a deep breath. all she has to do is tell him. but even knowing what she does, parts of her memory feel tangled up, some parts too acute and others harder to reach. the doctor says it'll clear in time.]
And then I heard something, something I knew I'd heard before. A creature's footsteps - and nothing out there is kind, Shin. It was a monstrous bear, and either I had stepped in its territory or somehow offended it, but even though I tried to disorient it like I'm accustomed to, it didn't want to give up. I ran, but...I'm not a match for a beast like that. I even tried to fight back with a knife I'd been carrying from the kitchen, and though I drew blood, I...
[she has to breathe again, to remember that she's safe now. and to make these words easier to say, even though her heart aches in her chest. she doesn't want to tell people what happened - but she has to. she doesn't want people to see her like this, to know she was brought down, to think she'll be helpless for a time that she can't even measure.
whatever she has to do to get strong again, she'll do it. even if it means hating what she admits to.]
It's a miracle that it thought I was dead, when all was said and done. That I was found, as though my destiny said I wasn't going to rot out there.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-23 05:52 am (UTC)[A bear... he's heard the rumors about the creatures out in the forest, which is part of why his searches stopped within sight of the border, the high chances of getting lost like in February another and the strange events of last month a third. The way she said it, he was thinking... what? It was one of them that did it? The way things had been going, it had seemed all too plausible in the moment.
Strange to remember sometimes, that there's threats here besides other transfers... something, that aura around him almost, fades a little as his shoulderblades loosen. Helena wouldn't lie to him... Conceal, be mistaken maybe... but not lie. He's ignoring the voice saying he's thought things like that before. It's more of a murmur, with her.]
Well... it's good you're okay.
[He's glad you're okay... for given values of 'okay' but alive, here, not murdered or...
He can't help but think of tea and left-behind messages. It thickens his voice a little against his will, trying to keep it light in counteraction.]
S-sorry, ahaha... Interrogating someone who's injured... it's not a good look, is it? Should leave this sort of thing to detectives...
[Of which he's not one. He knows that breathing, the way memory attacks, and it makes him want to hold her hand. Instead, there's the sounds of him dragging a chair across the floor nearby, panting, the small creak of it being leaned on.]
Maybe... don't go alone, next time...
[A knife didn't do anything... Shin knows a gun probably wouldn't do anything to something like that either. But... a second person can run or message for help... if they don't get caught by something else themselves.]
no subject
Date: 2022-04-23 06:08 am (UTC)[because all she knows is darkness. her navigation doesn't depend on those cues. but even so, her head lifts in his direction, the dragging of the chair.]
But you're not interrogating, Shin. I'm just so sorry I made you worried. That you had to think that perhaps the worst.
[and despite herself, a little bit of agitation slips in there. that had been the most troublesome part, floating unattached to time, aware when she woke up that she had to tell them all somehow but being entirely unfit to declare it.]
I'd be the same, if it was you.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-23 06:59 am (UTC)[This is going to be on his mind now... the way some fragment of his brain will latch onto a detail and spin it for hours.]
Ahaha, it's not your fault. [It's not like she planned to end up in a hospital bed... him being worried she was dead seems kind of small in comparison to actually almost dying. He sits down, his back not touching the back of the chair for still very tender reasons.] Guess I should catch you up on what you missed, huh?
[In the background, his mind's still working. She disappeared on the 15th, and the attack must have happened shortly after... depends if she got lost. Which means there was all this time that she's been here... he thinks about the second bottle of pills Midori had, that subtle attention drawn to it, the implication of a second person on his rounds... That was a hint, wasn't it? Ugh, he hates him so much...
Of course he wouldn't tell anyone. He's had Helena alone for a week... In the one place Shin didn't want to check. He's kicking himself, quietly. For not looking, not working it out... for not listening to his instincts, or to the wrong ones.]
How are you holding up...? Should have asked that first...
[He should tell Alice about this...]
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Date: 2022-04-23 07:36 am (UTC)[she's alive, after all. and the injuries had been fresh, and Dr. Sunny...he's a genius. she knows, because no one else could bring her back from the brink like that. to keep her steady, carrying her all that way.]
I'm going to recover. There's not a doubt in my mind.
[and as long as she believes that, that's half the work done.]
But tell me what I missed - I don't doubt that something must have happened in my absence, good or bad. Hopefully, good.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-23 08:04 am (UTC)[After all, you wouldn't need to say there's no doubt if there really was no shadow of doubt... you'd just be certain. Alive is definitely better than dead, though, he can agree... He doesn't like that there's not much other medical recourse. He'll drop it though.]
Well, quite a lot of classes, that's for one. [He'd been translating notes those first few days where he thought she might be findable... not during the ones he was convinced she was dead and looking for her body though, whoops. It's a good thing they're in the same class...] My roommate moved out... I climbed the clocktower, if you can believe it. Alice saw it... I should let him know you're alright.
[He's just going to move on very quickly and casually from those. They're just things that happened, with no meaning attached... He takes out his PDA and pings Alice on the old birthday post, just a quick Found her. Infirmary. before pocketing it.]
Oh, Amami is back! Way earlier than expected, ahaha. Apart from that it's been pretty quiet...
[Quiet is good, in Yogen.]
There's some kind of speed-dating thing going on right now... They've turned our homeroom into a movie theatre. [He's been avoiding it like the plague.] You've noticed it too, haven't you? All these school bonding activities this year...
[What are they up to... it reminds him of the Attractions, honestly.]
no subject
Date: 2022-04-23 09:13 am (UTC)[she gives a little hmph, but shakes her head softly. it's all good, she'll get someone to bring her the gossip, or she'll be able to be mobile soon enough.]
And you...I can't believe you climbed the clocktower, I wish I could have been a witness. Marvelous work! Though, with your roommate gone...that means you're living alone, doesn't it? Perhaps you should ask someone if they'll come join you, for safety's sake.
[that leaves one thing untouched, and her hands shift on her blanket.]
...That said. Rantarou...does he seem to remember?
no subject
Date: 2022-04-23 09:54 am (UTC)Subaru's lessons have really been paying off, huh?
[The parkour lessons and the swimming lessons... bit by bit he's been getting stronger, to his surprise. Jury's still out on being dragged out to basketball games, though. Shin constantly lives in fear of being flung into an electric fence, the way they play, and has gotten very good at the ancillary game of seeming to be involved while mysteriously not being anywhere near the ball.
He probably wouldn't have been able to do it if he didn't have that goal in mind, of checking the corners of the school. He's very happy to have it as being called marvelous work.]
Ah, everyone has all their rooms already... If someone new shows up, then maybe. Unless you're offering?
[It's a joking tone, because he doesn't really expect her to be; she just might as well be a roommate with how often she comes around. Now that he and Sara have that awkward truce, he could ask but... this soon is still raw. It'd feel too much like replacing Nanami, right now. Besides, the set up with Kaede seems better from all angles. New people are also a bit of an unknown... he needs to think about it. Safety... as long as he can still lock the door, he should be fine, right?
It's time for the bad news...]
...No. I thought maybe... but he didn't really recognize me. He's a second year now, too.
[Shin's roster record-keeping has long since fallen by the wayside, as other projects and interests have supplanted it... but it's still habit to check when he passes by sometimes.]
no subject
Date: 2022-04-24 07:39 am (UTC)[she takes a breath, and exhales slowly, her hands shifting a little. it hurts, in a deep place that has nothing to do with injuries. but she hopes, somehow, that he's happier. that his ploy worked. there's so much she'd wanted to ask him, to tell him, but...if he doesn't recall, then all of it is so much ashes in the fire.]
Hopefully most people don't hold him to task for things he doesn't recall.
[and because he didn't mention it, she knows Keigo hasn't come back with him. that would be important enough to say. her heart twists, but maybe they're safer not being here.]
But you've been busy - I can't be sorry enough that I wasn't right there to experience it with you.
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Date: 2022-04-24 11:41 am (UTC)Ahaha, yeah... That's the last thing he needs...
[It was the kind of thing where he'd had it set out in his head for so long that he just... kind of did it. And then immediately realized that once more it didn't translate that perfectly into reality, stinging hand aside. Why did he even...?]
He's awake, so he still has his memories of being alive, at least... but it's strange, isn't it? Knowing things he doesn't know you know...
[There's all those tales of adventures Shin just... has. He can't really say they're friends or allies so much as strangers again, reset to zero... maybe worse, with that opening. It's all stuff this Rantaro never had any choice in Shin knowing. There's not really a good comparison other than to AI, for him...]
...H-hey, like I said, it's fine. Just be more careful, okay?
[She keeps apologizing for being attacked by a bear et al like she's personally responsible for it. Well, maybe going into the woods was a bad idea, but it's not like this is the outcome she wanted.]
...
[He's already mentioned this, elsewhere but... it's a comfort that doesn't have a limit on the number of times he can give it. He misses things sometimes, but he knows how much she cares about them both.]
I'm sure Keigo will be back before New Years... Promised to make them ozoni on it, after all.
[It's a kind lie because he can't know for sure. Maybe they won't. Maybe they'll all be dead again, or without their memories like Rantaro, different people who don't know each other at all. But it's there, offered to her.]
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Date: 2022-04-24 07:55 pm (UTC)I know. They'll be back when they're ready. If that's what their soul needs.
[even if this place is what it is...she's a little selfish, wanting to see them again. though she has to get better, so they don't see her like this.]
Until then, we'll just have to make this place better and better.
[exhaling softly, she makes herself brighten a little more.]
How's business been?
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Date: 2022-04-26 06:19 am (UTC)[Shin's skeptical about the supposed purpose of this place being to develop their souls. It feels like anything he's even managed to halfway achieve has been despite the school, not because of it... at least some of this is transferred from being unfond of Komaeda's spiels about hope and despair, but also exam season left it's mark. Giving credit to Yogen would be too close to giving credit to Asunaro. Thanking someone for permanent scars, wrist or neck or else.
Making the school better for them... Well, Shin'll do his best, whatever that turns out to be. Hopefully not something that just makes everything worse instead. It's hard to know what moves to make when it's hard to tell why what worked did or didn't.]
Not as busy as it was at the start and end of the school year, that's for sure... Seems like most people have bought what they had in mind already.
[End of year was a rush for totems, Shin's discovered. It makes sense... there's not enough time for the side effects to really kick in if something else happens to you first. And then at the start of the year there were a lot of people buying talismans but also just normal school supplies, although Komaeda handled most of those during the day. Speaking of...]
Now that Komaeda's out of the picture... it's just me and a student running the place. Ahaha, she's one of the ones from back in December, actually.
[There's just... a light testing, a sidelong look, in his words, when it comes to Komaeda. Probing Helena's thoughts on the matter, he thinks subtly but he's not as slick as he presumes.]
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Date: 2022-04-26 07:04 am (UTC)The words have scarcely registered before Alice dashes out of the dormitory building, across the courtyard, through the school's hallways, breathless and windswept when he reaches his destination. It's there that it occurs to him that Helena could be in no condition to receive visitors just yet, that Shin Tsukimi's announcement was merely the courtesy of keeping him updated, after they searched and searched to no avail. Sharing the relief of today's discovery doesn't mean that they should both rush to Helena's bedside — not to mention that she must have numerous friends lined up to visit her, and months of friendship should secure Shin Tsukimi a place at the front of the queue.
Alice stops in his tracks outside the door, one hand raised to knock as he catches his breath. He's made no attempt to approach stealthily, and if Shin Tsukimi and Helena are inside the room, both awake after all, then they can probably hear him.
Too late, too, he remembers that the nurse's office has become Midori's domain, but he'd like to think that enduring bonding activities trapped with that man proves that he'll remain completely unruffled for the duration of his visit. In other words, he's no more likely than anyone else to disturb Helena and impede her recovery!
Knocking at last — it's still quite early in the morning, so every patient might be resting — Alice draws back to wring his hands for what feels like endless minutes. ]
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Date: 2022-04-26 07:21 am (UTC)Is that Alice? Would you be so kind as to let him in, if so?
[she can't exactly get up to let him in herself, but she wants to be a good and polite host, receiving her guests. actually, her visitors are limited, since the news of her condition has been held secret. only her, and the morning sun, and now Shin to join them.]
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Date: 2022-04-28 03:01 am (UTC)Ah, should be. One second...
[He's approaching the door accordingly, schooled expression appearing when he opens it that loosens when he sees it is, indeed, Alice.]
Alice! This way, over here...
[He beckons and then starts moving back over to Helena's bed, standing by it like this is a pixel CG, with the blue outlines and everything. If Alice isn't supposed to be part of this picture, there's no sign of it from Shin's calm body language.]
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Date: 2022-04-28 06:42 am (UTC)The most encouraging thing might be the realization that Shin Tsukimi doesn't look upset — Helena can't be gravely injured, then.
That does wonders to work loose the anxious anticipation coiled tight in Alice's chest. Now his breathing just needs to calm down, and he wishes he weren't arriving as a sweaty mess... Following Shin to the bed, he pushes his hair out of his eyes for a good look around, gaze roaming until it comes to rest on Helena sandwiched between the pillows and blankets. He takes in the scene.
The IV is worrying, but Helena is awake — it's all much better than what they feared. That relief slips out, as soon as Alice tries for a greeting. ]
Welcome back, Helena...
[ Then, holding everything else in for the moment, he glances between her and Shin, back and forth. They were in the middle of a conversation, weren't they? ]
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Date: 2022-04-28 08:52 am (UTC)[he can see how her expression brightens to hear him draw closer, how she's genuinely happy to know he stopped in to visit her in her recovery, before it becomes something more sheepish and reserved. right, he would have thought she was dead as well...at the very least, stepped into another world. that he wouldn't have checked here seems sensible, since in this school if someone vanishes, they usually wind up as a corpse.]
I'm...so terribly sorry to have made you worry for me. If I could have reached out sooner, I would have. Please have a seat?
[Shin would never need that invitation, close as he is, but she feels like Alice would stay standing for an hour if no one invited him to relax.]
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Date: 2022-04-29 12:40 pm (UTC)There's a reason Shin had oh-so-cleverly not sat back down in the chair he pulled over earlier; together, he and Helena are conspiring for Alice to feel at ease... as well as have a chance to catch his breath because it's clear he must have run here. Shin gingerly pushes himself up onto the empty edge of the end of the bed, legs dangling.]
We were just catching up on what's been happening... while she's been gone.
[He explains by way of Alice's look; it's own indication that he's free to if he's got anything he wishes to add about it.]
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Date: 2022-04-30 07:09 am (UTC)He has taken a seat! And his voice feels steadier... All the same, he has to clear his throat, taken aback by Helena's apology. It's not unfamiliar — she's apologized for the same thing once before. ]
So the two of you have already covered all of it? Well... I suppose quite a few things have happened lately...
[ Which includes Helena's sudden disappearance, followed by Chiaki Nanami's, and now Helena back more or less safe and sound, as well as Rantarou Amami's return. Only Komaeda's condition remains unchanged.
Honestly, he absolutely has burning questions to ask, but he won't pressure Helena to repeat herself. Perhaps Shin Tsukimi would be willing to answer them later, he reasons. ]
At any rate, I doubt that you intend to make going missing a habit, Helena.
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Date: 2022-04-30 10:52 pm (UTC)[her tone is gentle, though - she's not actually scolding or anything, and she's happy to be back and awake. that said, she is waiting for if he has questions, though she's not entirely sure if she'll give him the whole story again like she did to Shin. there's enough he can fill in privately.
there's also more than enough room for Shin to sit on the bed - perks of being short, though she can't move her legs over to give him the whole space. though if he really felt like it, he could sprawl easily.]
I'm still surprised at how much time passed...though I did spend most of it asleep. But we surely can't have covered everything - what happened to you, in the time between?