Catch-All for Minato

[specialdog]

Comments

[compendiem]

[ Who knows about hot springs, it's probably segregated by when Hisoka is here and when he isn't. ]

Yeah... Kinda feel like I need it every day of the week, sometimes. Stress relief.

[specialdog]

[ segregated into Clowns and Not Clowns... ]

I think it's bad for your skin if you're in hot water that often... So you'd probably want to find a back-up form of stress relief for during the week.

[compendiem]

I've been in hot water for the past year. [ a bad joke

anyways ]

Back-up stress relief, though..... usually it's just sleep. Video games. Movies, but there isn't anything like that here...

[specialdog]

I was thinking more like... Back massages!

But I do hope we get movies and stuff soon. I can charge my phone now, at least, so if you ever want to play some easy games, I have a couple.

[compendiem]

[ Minato is 1) too weak to give back massages, and 2) will probably fall asleep receiving one. Not much fun at all. ]

Yeah, I'd love to play... [ KAZUAKI WOULD HAVE LOVED TO PLAY, weh ] ...at least we sort of got our sleepover, in the end.

[specialdog]

[ Minato she's trying to keep your mind off of it... But that's clearly not going to work. So she sidles up next to him with zero shame, oops. ]

Better than never getting the chance...

Hey, he wrote you that note, right? Do you want to write him a note back? You could send it off like we do the letters to Sol and Lune-san.

[compendiem]

Yeah, he wrote me the note. I... probably want to take a day or two, to put my thoughts together. The only thing I can think of right now is "I'm sorry." Maybe "See you soon."

[specialdog]

I think it would be fine if you wrote nothing but that.

... But if you want to take your time, take your time. Write to him when you're ready.

[compendiem]

[ He feels like he will never be ready, but ]

Yeah. I'll put some thought into it. There's a lot I never said to him. A lot I did say, but he didn't believe... I want to say it again. And I owe him a happiness charm, still.

[specialdog]

[ Ugh. She feels... Bad?

All the fuss she's been making about losing her friend Kazuaki, or about wanting to protect Minato... It's mostly been a front. But for the first time all day it isn't just the frustration of not having been able to do something that she wanted to do, or the anger at not having control over a situation. It's actual... g... uilt...?

Hey, this feels bad, what the fuck. Do other people just have to feel feelings? Like, all the time? ]

We need to figure out who did it. They weren't even corrupted.

[compendiem]

[ Yeah, feelings suck. Minato doesn't particularly like having them either, the way his chest aches more than his limbs, head buzzing and numb at the same time. It's frustrating. It's exhausting. There's a lot of regret surrounding how the entire day played out, and nothing more than seeing everybody go out and try so hard only to pin down one of three killers. ]

...Hisoka would be a good person to talk to, to figure it out. I haven't been very helpful to him, but I know he's been looking into it. You're smart, Akane. You should be able to help.

[specialdog]

[ Akane looks away. Sometimes... It's very hard to stan Minato. ]

Wasn't he one of the most suspicious people? Hurting himself just to make a fuss, just to make it hard to know if he was suspicious or not?

And besides, he lied about Valvatorez-san. If he's just here to stir up trouble and tell lies, how will he help us find the truth?

[compendiem]

[ ...Wasn't Minato one of the most suspicious people too? Though he had his own reasons for doing what he did, and saying what he did. He thinks Hisoka must be something like that, too. ]

He's hard to understand... I don't know why he lied, or what he has to gain from it. Dunno what he has to gain by killing, either, though. He's weird, but he's never been cruel, at least to me. I'm sure... he has reasons for why he is how he is.

[specialdog]

[ He was suspicious, but healthy skepticism cleared him! She was right, in the end. But Hisoka... Honestly, Akane wanted to like Hisoka. Enough to overlook that he's a weirdo that everyone is sketched out by. Enough to overlook him lying about Valvatorez.

But he just keeps doing things she hates. Things that make trials frustrating, when she's out here doing her best for--God, she doesn't even know why she keeps doing her best in these stupid situations. ]

He lied because he thought it would be funny. He just wanted to watch everyone run around, confused, and slow us down. [ Which, honestly, she probably wouldn't have minded so much if Minato hadn't been a suspect. ] Don't you think it's cruel that when you were a suspect, he went out of his way to confuse us?

[compendiem]

[ Is that really it? Minato has to admit that he doesn't really understand Hisoka very well, but there are parts of it he understands. How Hisoka is a thrill seeker, gets excited over danger and death in a similar vein how Minato always finds his heart racing in the face of danger and death. ]

.....A bit. He reminds me of the Darkness, when I spoke to it.

[ Just having fun with death, doing all this for entertainment. It's really bad that Minato stans him, and it's really bad that he can sort of understand the Darkness, just talking to it like he talks to his Personas, his inner selves. ]

[specialdog]

What do you mean?

[ Like when he's spoken to the corrupted? She's been practically ignoring them. They aren't in their right mind, so it seems pointless, and... A comparison to that...

... But the idea that Minato could still like someone who was cruel to him, or who reminds him of darkness is... Hm... Akane sinks lower into the water. ]

[compendiem]

Trying to understand why it does why it does... I don't think there's anything wrong with doing what you want, so long as nobody else gets hurt. That's where we differ.

[ He also just sort of does what he wants, gets what enjoying where he can, but doesn't like to hurt people- would rather that person hurt be himself, if there were an option. ]

I feel like... even though we're different... I still want to be able to understand it. I don't think I can hate it, no matter how terrible.

[specialdog]

But it's killed people.

[ Hm. That came out too fast, too aggressive. ]

Why would you want to understand someone--something--like that? What is there to understand?

[compendiem]

It's because I don't understand anything. Not knowing someone... doesn't that make you want to be able to understand them?

[specialdog]

I don't know.

I don't know but--can you forgive someone who hurts people? Someone who isn't corrupted, but just hurts people, kills people, because they're selfish?

Can you like someone like that?

[compendiem]

I want to be able to. Selfishness is something easy to understand. So I feel like I'm almost there.

[specialdog]

... You're so silly.

[ But as with every conversation that starts to skim the top of Akane's Issues, she's quick to disengage from it... ]

I'll try talking to him about it some. I want to make sure we find out who killed Kazuaki-kun and tried to frame you and Four.

[compendiem]

[ Silly is different from the usual "stupid" that he's used to, and it makes him smile a little, fond. ]

If you need me there, I can come with you. I'm sure Hisoka will be able to help... but I don't think I was framed. Four, though, was targeted. Shirasu too. I want to help them.

[specialdog]

[ Akane shakes her head. ] I can talk to him by myself. Unless you want to come...?

[ Hrm... ]

You think someone else really was limping like that?

[compendiem]

I think it'll be more productive if it's just the two of you, actually. As for the limp... it doesn't line up with everything out. The clues. There shouldn't be footprints under the water. Most of us would float.

[ Minato would immediately get eaten by a shark if he went into the ocean? ]