#save Yaguchi too

[whathas4letters]

He's down horrendously bad for Mori holy shit. Look at that dork ass loser trying to play it cool. Fake idgafer, I saw you had your hope up 🫵

This must feel like a proposal to Yaguchi.

[whathas4letters]

SHE'S BACK!!!

My love my light my everything

Her

[koinodancesite]

“Joshi Kashimashi Monagatari”

Release date: July 22, 2004

Oricon Weekly placement: 3rd

B-side: “Ganbare Nippon Soccer Fight!”

Members: Ai Kago, Ai Takahashi, Asami Konno, Eri Kamei, Hitomi Yoshizawa, Kaori Iida, Mokoto Ogawa, Mari Yaguchi, Miki Fujimoto, Nozomi Tsuji, Reina Tanaka, Rika Ishikawa, Risa Niigaki, Sayumi Michishige

The Wikipedia entry of “Joshi Kashimashi Monagatari” lists nine different versions of the song. The single��s home album, Ai No Dai 6 Kan, includes two different ones in the same record; the group’s most recent album, 15 Thank You Too, features a 2017 version. It’s designed to be endlessly edited and updated: it’s a group roll call as a single, easily adaptable to suit the line-up of any Morning Musume era.

Morning Musume in 2004 boasted six generations within their lineup in exception of Maki Goto, the sole member from the third generation, who graduated back in 2002. Many have come and left, but the group still counted a whopping amount of 14 members when they released “Joshi Kashimashi Monagatari.” Perhaps they’ve been due for a re-introduction, especially with the recent addition of Eri Kamei, Miki Fujimoto, Reina Tanaka and Sayumi Michishige.

Each member gets four bars of lines based on her personality or background trivia, though the quality of information varies from idol to idol. Some can be insightful: a star idol who would eventually take leader duties, Ai Takahashi is revealed to let her native dialect slip when caught off guard. Others prioritize a laugh over substance: all of Sayumi Michishige’s part is dedicated to the fact she looks so cute without makeup that she’s the subject of envy from her seniors. A few are simply underwhelming: the only noteworthy fact of Moko Ogawa seems to be that she’s always happy.

Kaori Iida’s section particularly draws some dark humor in expense of her age as well as the fact she’s the only one left from the original five. “Your old friends, one by one/ are getting married, that’s the reality,” the group sings. It’s hard to decide whether it’s slightly mean or it points to the fact that Morning Musume (as well as Tsunku, the producer and the song’s lyricist) are that tight-knit of a group, enough to get a little personal with the jokes.

“Joshi Kashimashi Monagatari” does present a closeness, however true it may actually be, between the members. A lot of the song’s humor comes from petty yet friendly bickering concerning details only noticeable by people who spend almost too much time together: Asami Konno gets teased about her constant obsession of fixing her hair; everyone is tired at Risa Niigaki’s habit of fishing for compliments whenever she cuts her bangs.

The single does well to re-establish the image of Morning Musume for those who may have been struggling to keep up with them over the years. It’s also a fun shortcut for anyone curious to know who’s who in the group. With multiple entries updated almost yearly to accommodate a new line-up, that introduction function of “Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari” is yet to be lost.

Strictly as a song, however, it depends a lot on one’s personal investment with the group. The loud horn riff provides a fine hook, and the top line is a hummable joy, but the catchiness of both comes almost out of necessity to hold a listener’s attention for 14 consecutive introductions. They can be the song’s saving grace when the jokes don’t hit as well as intended. “Joshi Kashimashi Monagatari” is a neat introduction to Morning Musume when it comes to content, but the group has provided better entry points when it comes to the actual music.

[6]

[recentanimenews]

Higehiro – 06 – Doing the Best We Can

Trigger Warning: This episode contains a scene of attempted rape.

With Sayu now working a part-time job, it was only a matter of time before the show’s first truly unsavory character reared their ugly head. Yaguchi Kyouya is that character, and to call him “unsavory” is putting it all too lightly. Just because he and Sayu slept together a few times, he believes he’s entitled not only to know where she lives now, but to sleep with her whenever he wants.

Yaguchi is a truly detestable scumbag in the SAO tradition of scumbag villains: a guy specially formulated to be loathed with extreme prejudice. There are moments when his presence in this show is so out-of-place compared to all the caring, compassionate, and protective people around Sayu, he feels like a caricature.

Lest I forget: Yaguchi and men like him who took what they could from Sayu and then discarded her are not only a crucial part of this story, but all too common in real life. Yaguchi shows no regard for Sayu’s agency or choices, blows past all personal boundaries, lies to her face about “just wanting to talk.” And the worst of it? When he attempts to rape her, she puts everything on herself, fearing the consequences to Yoshida and Asami.

That she’s of the mind that she has to let Yaguchi have his way with her so others won’t get hurt shows how far Sayu still has to go in being able to protect and value herself. And she would have absolutely been raped had Yoshida not taken it upon himself to read her text as a call for help. While I normally detest violence, I feel Yoshida goes far to easy on him; he should have to bear at least a shiner for his transgressions.

Yaguchi is absolutely wrong that they’re the same and the only difference is Yoshida isn’t sleeping with her. Yaguchi is definitely a criminal for having sex with a minor, while Yoshida’s harboring of Sayu is a lot more of a gray area. But worst of all to Yoshida is that at no point does Yaguchi think about Sayu. It’s all about what he can get, and why Yoshida isn’t getting it to.

Thankfully, Yoshida is firm enough to get Yaguchi to promise not to bother Sayu again, but we’ve already seen the value of this guy’s promises. Yoshida knows he may not know if he can save Sayu or how, but at least he’s trying! All the others did was hurt her more. They don’t get to protest his attempts to save her when they never tried.

When he returns to the room to comfort Sayu, she doesn’t know why she got so scared when he tried after they’d done it so many times before. Yoshida simply says that’s normal. She was right to turn him down, did and said nothing wrong, and needs to think about herself more. Seeing her not able to be the normal teenager she should be hurts, but becoming one starts with caring about herself.

The next day, Asami notices that something happened between Yaguchi and Sayu, and when Sayu won’t say anything, she confronts him. He tells the truth about what he tried to do to Sayu, then apologizes after Asami slaps him and leaves the break room, admitting he “got a little rough” (ya think?) Sayu asks why he didn’t tell Asami about them, and he says he promised not to if she brought him to her place. So I guess he’ll keep some of his promises?

Sayu doesn’t forgive Yaguchi—she never should, frankly, unless he shows serious signs of changing—but isn’t “mad” anymore, and is also present enough to make clear to him if he tries anything again she’ll be mad. His assurance he won’t seems more couched in the ferocity of her two “guard dogs” in Yoshida and Asami, but if there’s one quality of this guy I’ll put my faith in, it’s his cowardice, and if that means he really won’t try to touch her again, I’ll take it.

After Sayu’s shift, Yoshida texts that he’ll be at work late, so Asami invites herself over to her place to protect her. She stops by her palatial estate for some stuff, and we learn that she’s the daughter of a politician and lawyer who are almost never around, and Sayu’s the first friend she’s told about her house. By opening up a little about herself, she inspires Sayu to do the same, telling her plainly about how she came from Hokkaido and stayed at various guys’ places, including Yaguchi’s.

She continues that she kept running from place to place and nothing ever changed, until she met Yoshida and then Asami, and realized how “stupid” she was being. Heartened by Sayu opening up, Asami takes her to a special spot where you can see the stars despite still being in Tokyo.

As the two gaze at the stars, Asami tells Sayu more about herself, how she dressed up as a gyaru, but her parents didn’t understood she was doing it for attention she simply wasn’t getting from them. And while she’s expected to follow in her mom’s footsteps in law, what she really wants to study is literature and become a writer. That led to a huge argument with her mom.

That’s when her dad took her to this starry spot and assured her their worries are nothing compared to those stars. But while Asami knows humans are to small to be seen compared to the stars, they still have pasts and futures that matter. She knows Sayu’s past was rough, but she got through it to get to where she is: in a position to choose her future. It’s the second straight week of heartwarming girl talk, only this time between girls of the same age.

The next day after Yoshida comes home early, Sayu tells him that living with him, she’s finally able to start thinking about a future. She just needs a little more time. Yoshida will give her all the time she needs. She may have  met one too many Yaguchi Kyouya’s on the way, but those assholes are but insignificant specks compared to the growing constellation of good people she knows, who care about her and are slowly but surely teaching her to care about herself.

By: sesameacrylic

[mysticalibra1994]

Huh, you know, ever since I read that on my tablet (I'm on my laptop now), it somehow gave me an idea of a fanfic.

1.) Akemi: + He knew. At first, he had a hunch. Then, some theories (especially during their Laundry Time; I assume that those private boarding schools do a "chore wheel"). + Of course, he doesn't out Taro (my OC). He may be perverted, but he's not a monster.

2.) Shikatani: + At first, he was a bit skeptical about why there was women's underwear in Taro's luggage (he was a bit relieved that he wasn't the only crossdresser). +They both did a bit lowkey flirting, but nothing really clicked (that is, until "the incident"). ["The incident" in question was that one of the teachers (aka one of Shikatani's clients) went a bit too far with the rope, the Science Lab's faucet, and Shikatani's neck. Luckily, Taro made it in time. But, Shikatani gave him permission to "let go to inform the others". Yes, he knew what would happen, but the Megane trusts him... After a quick save and CPR, he came to (Taro quickly apologized and took full responsibility for the situation).] + Ever since, they grew a bit closer.

3.) Toono: + Nothing clicked until he accidentally walked in on Taro changing. - At first, he was a bit confused until he noticed "something"... + Toono promised him that he wouldn't out him (which makes sense since he kept a big secret that involves his "relationship" with Kashima).

4.) Kashima: + Speaking of which, Kashima accidentally overheard Toono's conversation with Taro. + Like his "boyfriend", he's supportive of Taro. + Due to being an older brother, he's protective of Taro due to him resembling his siblings (which is nice since Taro's an only child).

5.) Tamura: + Was a bit confused during some of their "games" (which Taro chooses to not play). + Protective as hell against the bullies (and horny dogs of students and teachers).

6.) Ayato: + Ayato felt some vibes while "feeling his own vibes", but never questioned it. + During serious moments, Ayato would let Taro use his headphones if he got traumatized from his past (aka Taro's old-fashioned relatives).

7.) Itome: + Due to his calm, nice, and quiet nature, he never negatively judged Taro. + In fact, whenever something bad happens related to Taro (albeit big or small), he would feel genuinely concerned for his well-being.

8.) Fujisaki: + As long as Taro doesn't interfere with his relationship with Ayato, he's not bothered by it.

9.) Yaguchi: + Honestly, I'm not really sure where he would stand on this. I mean, sure he knows what it's like to lie about who/what he is. But, I don't know whether he'll be for or against it...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taro, at first, wanted a simple club to join. He got anything BUT simple. Thanks to his quick wit, he would lie about his "ahem" due to his personal reason of his past. Since Akemi is smart enough to know something's off, he pretends to overlook it like it's not a big deal (they both would talk about it when they're alone for a short while and Akemi completely understands the importance of consent.

I wish I could say more (without spoiling), but I'm not sure how long a reblog should be...

Soo if its not a problem, i would like to request yarichin's characters reaction to new student transmasc ftm readerr 👉👈 like he accidently went to "photography" club and after a while refusing to have sex, he comes out to them.

Like they're probably 1 year on T and had top surgery.

I dont see many FTM content so it would be nice!

Btw english is not my first language, so dont mind my grammar pleasee

~ ⭐

Hi! Your English is great don’t worry! The reason we held off on FTM content is because we used to have another admin who was FTM that we thought could accurately answer them best, but he is not a part of this blog anymore, so please be patient! More content from the FTM asks will be coming soon!

—Admin Bii

Akemi

Akemi always knows when something is up. He even knew when Kashima and Toono were faking their relationship. So don’t even bother trying to hide anything from him.

Akemi of course does find out one way or another, unbeknownst to you, until he calls you out on it when you two are alone.

Of course he isn’t going to out you, and he’ll let you come out on your own terms. He isn’t a monster.

Until you are ready, he quickly changes the subject of you being involved in the club activities if someone else brings it up

He’s patient with you and doesn’t force anything.

Itome

He first feels guilty for making you feel pressured to do anything.

Then he feels proud that you could tell him.

Itome is a man of few words, so he just hugs you and hopes that it conveys enough.

He whispers that you can come to him for anything if you need it.

Shikatani

Well, the guy is surprised. You looked just like any other guy to him.

Still, it’s not a bad reaction. He honestly doesn’t know what else to say other than ‘oh, okay. Neat.’

He doesn’t treat you any differently. But he thinks twice before offering something that might make you uncomfortable, like cross dressing.

He appreciates how hard it must have been to come out

Tamura

Tamura is a supportive softie, you can’t change my mind.

You two get a closer bond now that you two aren’t hiding anything.

You two get thick as thieves, having a brotherly bond, ruffling each other’s hair and play fighting

He really admires how brave it was for you to let everyone know

Yuri

Yuri’s reaction is hard to interpret, but you can easily tell it’s a happy one.

His reaction consists of jumping and babbling like he always does.

He flips backwards over the couch and stared at you with a smile, his eyes peeking out of his sunglasses juuuust a little bit.

Kashima

Kashima gives you a big smile and puts you in a headlock

He makes absolutely sure you feel welcome

He deadass would take you to pride, he is such a good ally

Toono

Toono was terrified that when you said you had something to say, worried it would be some other goal he had to meet

But he was pleasantly surprised by your actual announcement

He gives you a gentle smile and tells you you’re always welcome

[annocinema]

Return of Ultraman: Proto Shin Godzilla - Part 2 Upon rewatching "Return of Ultraman", it struck me that the film's final scene was remarkably similar to "Shin Godzilla"'s. In both, after the monster is defeated in the climax of the film, a relaxed orchestral piece plays in the background, and character relationships are predictably resolved. The music is almost cliche. From the atmosphere, viewers start to expect a neatly wrapped, Hollywood-style ending. This is when the music suddenly stops, and the audience's expectations are turned on its head. Up until that point, our main character was having friendly conversations with supporting characters, but then they suddenly become alone. They look off into the distant destruction in eery silence and serious expression, reflecting on the events that led them here. Either with sadness or with determination, the characters convey a completely different atmosphere than what was before. However, this is where the two films' endings diverge. While there is no salvation for "Shin Godzilla"'s Yaguchi, "Return of Ultraman"'s Hayakawa is saved from despair by his comrades who reach out to him, resulting in a hopeful ending. "Shin Godzilla" couldn't do this, since the theme of friendship wasn't present in the film. The serious and realistic style of the work would have been compromised by this. Instead, as the final punctuation to the film's foreboding tone, we see Godzilla's tail with imminent humanoid offspring, only barely prevented by Yaguchi's efforts. But why did Anno reuse this ending? Perhaps he felt that this was the best way to end a tokusatsu work. An inevitable way. Or that the idea he came up for "Return of Ultraman" was too good to only be used in such an obscure, lo-fi, and dated work. Either way, I encourage you to rewatch the final scenes of "Shin Godzilla" and "Return of Ultraman" to see for yourself the remarkable parallels, and to understand Anno's recurring narrative techniques. For those of you who haven't watched Anno's "Return of Ultraman" yet, it's just under half an hour, and I've uploaded the first ever subbed version onto YouTube! Link is in the bio! (at The New School)

[quickdeaths]

@moonsmultimusings continued from here

Shinobu's attention drifted across the office, taking note of the various tools and items strewn about in absence of anything else to do. They were under orders to attend these sessions, but under no such obligation to engage with them. Of course, Shinobu considered herself polite, so she wouldn't refuse to answer questions, or otherwise present herself as a problem. Truthfully, simply pretending to be a typical and well-adjusted young person would likely be her ticket to relative freedom.

Either way, she did not expect much in the way of genuine insight. The rotten things in her head were buried far too deeply to excise. Pulling them out would simply pull everything else along with them. Such was her reading of herself, though the doctor was right that, at the moment, it was her body that needed as much attending as her mind.

"Thank you, sensei," Shinobu said as they took the ice pack and pressed it to their cheek. She thought little of Nanahara's ability to throw a punch, but whether he'd been lucky or not, the bruise did sting. Still, little pain could compare to that which had caused the scar on her cheek, so she wouldn't complain. Things could have been much worse, and it gave her a dark satisfaction to know that Nanahara's injuries far outweighed her own.

From her seat on the couch, Shinobu nodded in the doctor's direction. "That's correct. I'm Yaguchi, of Class 3-A." From behind her glasses, her red eyes were unblinking, staring impassively back at Maruki as though she were entirely unfazed by anything and everything. "And, if it's no inconvenience, I would appreciate a cup of black coffee." Perhaps the scent of fresh coffee would free her from the rank, wilted scent on her collar.

With her bow safely in its case against the side of the couch, untouched by even a single drop of warm coffee, Shinobu crossed leg over the other and held her hands in her lap, looking very composed and very proper. "Aside from the obvious physical bruise upon my person, I'm quite fine, thank you for asking. And furthermore, I would like to extend my apologies to you, sensei."

Yes, this would be quite simple, she imagined. Either the doctor would understand her to be quite normal, and release her from her obligations, or decide that she was the wrong sort of trouble and cut her loose simply to spare himself the headache of dealing with her. Neither option was entirely undesirable. Whatever allowed her her small amount of freedom again.

"I can understand Principal Kobayakawa's concerns, but it is unnecessary for me to be here." Kobayakawa himself wouldn't listen to that sort of reasoning, but Maruki's sign-off would be enough for him to consider his own skin saved. "With your recent arrival, I'm sure you have been very busy. It must be inconvenient to be assigned a student, particularly in place of a student who might more readily require your assistance."

[koinodancesite]

“Soda! We’re Alive”

Release date: Feb. 20, 2002

Oricon Weekly placement: 1st

B-side: “Morning Coffee (2002 Version)”

Members: Ai Kago, Ai Takahashi, Asami Konno, Hitomi Yoshizawa, Kaori Iida, Kei Yasuda, Maki Goto, Mokoto Ogawa, Mari Yaguchi, Natsumi Abe, Nozomi Tsuji, Rika Ishikawa, Risa Niigaki

Cheerleading becomes quite literal in “Soda! We’re Alive” (That’s Right! We’re Alive). “Effort! The future! A beautiful star!” Morning Musume shout in the chorus like a pep rally chant while a marching band plays anthemic rock music behind them. A global-minded callout celebrating collective success sounds fit for the single, which also served as the theme song for TBS’s news coverage of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

“Soda! We’re Alive” starts inspired but it struggles later to fill some of its space. The second verse’s lack of logical association with the song’s message might not be so much of an offense after being exposed to many other lyrical absurdities in prior singles: just consider the mish-mash of “The Peace!” But the recycled ideas, like the extended “pump it up” section or the beat breakdown feel too drawn out as they make their second round into the music.

The stylistic experiments on the vocal front ends up saving the song. Morning Musume use the verses to try out some soul-music grunting and Michael Jackson-esque ad-libbing. The intentional silliness allows some room for aloofness while it flips the cheesiness of a line into an entertaining quality: “We’re alive because we’re worried,” they sing before grunting “the ningen (human)” and screaming it in unison.

A lot of the lines here are silly when you hear it on record or read it on paper. To remind, the chorus is a rallying cry shouting “Effort! The future!” But it comes alive once you join in and sing out loud together with Morning Musume. Participation plays out best in the post-chorus where it suddenly gets very sincere: “I want to be happy/ I want to keep protecting you,” they sing with the music, too, turning into a different song before going back to the silly main anthem. If the shift in tone seems abrupt, try singing it and really take that earnestness to heart.

The post-chorus also blurs the role of Morning Musume in “Soda! We’re Alive.” The first line reads more like a self-reminder, emphasized more on that final lyric: “Even a normal person like me should be able to do it.” But the chorus frames the group as a cheerleader leading a massive audience with the song addressing matters bigger than them. While later singles would put Morning Musume in the latter position outside of a particular struggle, “Soda! We’re Alive” resonates as the group shares their voice with the rest of the crowd.

[6]

[more-than-a-princess]

Shinobu insisted she'd thought it through, but Sonia wasn't convinced. She'd considered the logic of it, yes, and providing some comfort to her, a queen of a nation who didn't deserve it. But that was all, and it wasn't the whole picture as far as Sonia was concerned. "Well, I am not going to doubt your physical and mental capabilities for the job, that is not my place to say," She began carefully. She wasn't wrong: it wasn't the place of any of the former Remnants to speak out against the Future Foundation. Barring Hajime who, no matter the member of the Future Foundation he faced, could find fault in their line of thinking. Probably why Naegi alone handled him, Sonia supposed.

Still, it only felt strange to be asked such a thing because, at the end of the day, she wouldn't have a say in it. She'd be assigned someone to fulfill their duties first and foremost to the Future Foundation, not to her, and be the only person from the Japanese headquarters who would dare make the journey to Novoselic. A place where, if she understood the coverage from the papers, had begun to thoroughly renounce their interest in Japanese culture in favor of European traditions. Ones that didn't glorify the former Princess, now Queen Sonia, but European traditions nonetheless. Most of the Japanese expats who had survived The Tragedy in Novoselic faced constant hostility from the native citizens. Even those who simply looked Japanese but weren't were subject to discrimination, according to reports.

Shinobu couldn't look at her. Just as well, she was difficult to look at after The Tragedy, and maybe she was beginning to realize just how dire a future was being sentenced to Novoselic with a known mass murderer. And if she couldn't say it, it would be up to Sonia to do so. With a deep sigh, in the most diplomatic fashion she could.

"I do not think it will matter much to the Future Foundation if the person sent to accompany me is sympathetic or not. As long as I stay alive and fulfill my country's and the Future Foundation's conditions," Sonia admitted. That was truly too optimistic for the likes of the organization, considering Sonia's happiness and interests in it all. "I just don't know if you've really considered the extent of what you're suggesting, Yaguchi. I meant what I said, I certainly don't object to your company and do like having you around, but you must consider the long-term implications."

"For all that you have suffered, you are a hero in this Tragedy. Japan, and the majority of the world, acknowledge you with the utmost praise and respect. You helped save millions of lives and, in that, you have a whole life ahead of you now."

Sonia paused for a sip of now-lukewarm tea. It was the most she'd said in quite some time, and after the birthing of the kittens she was feeling fatigued herself (though nothing compared to the mother cat, of course). "You can do anything you want: have a career, even something you hadn't considered whilst at Hope's Peak. Have a wife. Have a family. The world has changed, Yaguchi, and you can have whatever life you wish. You don't have to be condemned to a cold, crumbling castle for the rest of your life the way I must, married to one of the last surviving aristocrats that my country and the Future Foundation have selected for me so I may keep the royal lineage intact. I just..."

She set down her mug, wondering the best way to phrase it. With a small shake of her head, she reached over to take both of Yaguchi's hands in her own: if the other woman wouldn't look at her, she'd ensure she'd pay attention to her words regardless. "I just do not want you to sentence yourself to a small, sheltered life, one that is always in danger because of me. I will not object to you accompanying me but the moment you wish to leave, you must put in a transfer and leave Novoselic. I would never hold it against you. I want you to live, Yaguchi, and have a life you make for yourself. All of us former remnants, we will never have that. And we do not wish that fate on anyone. I certainly don't wish that for you, a prison sentence of an existence. Will you promise me that? That you will leave when you want to go somewhere else?"

It was natural for Sonia to be surprised, she supposed. After all, she'd already convinced herself that she deserved her poor treatment, as penance for what she'd done. Indeed, what she laid out to Shinobu sounded as a punishment - a cold castle from which one could seldom leave, in a foreign nation, surrounded by people who were entirely unsympathetic to the Queen of Novoselic and, likely, anyone who aligned themselves with her. How wretched that the likes of Togami saw fit to send Sonia back there at all, merely to consolidate their own power and enrich their own pocketbooks.

Sonia didn't seem to understand that with each sentence further impressing upon them the awfulness of the situation, their resolve was further bolstered. That Future Foundation was willing to send her there with minimal protections and no regard for her emotional well-being was a black mark against the organization Shinobu worked for, in her eyes, whether or not they had their reasons. Perhaps, had she more faith in them to take care of Sonia, she wouldn't feel such a strong desire to intervene personally.

But then again, likely not. As Shinobu looked at her, she knew it would be too difficult to walk willingly out of her life again. "Mm, I've thought it through thoroughly," she said with a nod. "I'm a combat veteran with a great deal of expertise in sensitive situations, and my physical condition is improving by the day. I'm not worried about my own safety, and, I hope that by being near, I'll be able to extend some of that safety to you, as well."

That was certainly part of it. Seldom did Shinobu consider themselves to be of any use to anyone, but they could at least keep any harm from coming to Sonia. More importantly, though... "I know it's a strange thing to ask, from your perspective, but as long as you aren't opposed to it, then I'm glad." It was hard to keep looking at her, and so Shinobu turned her attention first to the kittens, and then to the ceiling as she sat back. "They're going to send someone along with you regardless of anything I do or say. If the situation is as dire as you say, if you'll be isolated and alone in a dangerous place, then I'd rather you be accompanied by someone who cares about you, rather than some indifferent or unsympathetic Future Foundation agent simply doing a job."

Of course, Togami did present an issue. Sonia was right that he would likely see no reason to approve Shinobu's request, out of petty sentiments rather than any belief in it as the best choice. For a few moments, the archer considered whether they could just kill him. His money would be better used by Future Foundation without his presence, and it wasn't like he was especially popular or likable. Shinobu may have made up her mind to quell the violent urges inside of her, but there was always room for exceptions. Togami wasn't even physically imposing, so it would be easy to enter his office, and leave with his brains splattered across the table, or the imprints of her hands black and blue around his neck.

Perhaps it said something about how she felt about Sonia that it was so easy to bend and break her own internal rules on her behalf. But, no, killing Togami would likely not help the situation, she admitted to herself - even if everyone would be better off were he a hideously mangled corpse. "I imagine that Togami would not be amenable to such a request, no." She'd simply say that much. There was no need for Sonia to know that, for a short moment, she'd been considering how best to murder him

"However, I'm not above going around him. I worked underneath the chairman in the 2nd Division for a number of years, and although I wouldn't call us personal friends, I would hope that we have a degree of mutual personal and professional respect." Munakata did understand violence, and while she hoped he would accept her request out of personal affection, she was prepared to put him in the unenviable position of choosing between a former subordinate, and somehow who he rather disliked, in Togami. They'd all sent her to Jabberwock Island due to believing her unstable and unsuited for traditional work. It wasn't hard to believe that if denied a simple request, she might act irrationally, and do something dangerous to the person who she saw as most impeding it.

Well, Munakata was probably too sharp to be drawn in by such an act, but if he was her only option, then Shinobu would do whatever was needed. "I'll speak to the chairman on my own time - I'll arrange a visit when I return to Japan, and speak to him in person about it. Hopefully he'll be willing to hear me out, and might see the logic in my proposal." There were indeed a number of obstacles to her taking a place at Sonia's side in Novoselic, many of them far more troublesome than simply speaking to Sonia. Still, it had been securing her approval that had been the source of Shinobu's hesitation - the fear that Sonia may not want her around like that. "As long as it's alright with you, Miss Nevermind, then I'll do whatever I can to ensure it comes to pass."

[more-than-a-princess]

Sonia knew what had come over Miss Ji-yeon, even if Shinobu didn't. For someone constantly slighted by society and government, who had to struggle in ways Sonia herself could never imagine enduring, the representation of everything she loathed standing before her would certainly be enough for her to hate Sonia Nevermind on sight. For the most part, Sonia didn't meet too many anti-monarchists face-to-face: her family's PR and security teams saw to that, both to help preserve the mental stability of those in the Royal Family as well as their safety. Sonia had been unprepared to meet Ji-yeon. She rather wished Shinobu had done better to ready her and Ji-yeon alike for their meeting.

"She was not wrong, though," Sonia conceded, switching her phone to speaker and setting it beside her. It seemed she'd been wrong: Shinobu had quite a lot to say, at least for her friend's standards. "I do not belong at Hope's Peak, not really anyway. It is something I have felt since I arrived here: she is not the first person to remind me of it, nor shall she be the last, I imagine. After today, I will not hold my breath for a reply from her: not when she was not fully in the wrong."

It was her way of admitting the impossible. She was adamant against failure most of the time, but a friendship with Ji-yeon seemed impossible. A lot of things seemed impossible, but perhaps the most important was salvaging a friendship with Shinobu when one of her closest friends despised Sonia's entire existence and it was likely that Shinobu agreed with her various criticisms.

Sonia sighed, leaning back lengthwise against the couch, the way her nannies used to snap at her for doing back home. A lady needed excellent posture at all times, and that included sitting straight on furniture and barely allowing her back to touch the backs of chairs and sofas. Princesses sat like proper young ladies. She was still working on finding her confidence to be one again.

How odd: usually one person's opinion, save for her various family members, did not affect her so much.

"I am not angry with you," Sonia assured her. Confused by her choice to bring her to an event where she'd surely make a scene and her friend would hate her, yes, Sonia was very much that. But not angry at Shinobu: she wasn't sure if such an emotion was feasible when it came to them. "And after what Ji-yeon-san had to say, I was not much in the mood for company anyway. But I do not understand why you would bring me to an event to celebrate your close friend when she would certainly hate someone like me? She loves you, Yaguchi-san. I would guess that she is in love with you, and she was hurt with my presence there as I represent everything she believes to be wrong with the world."

Certainly, Ji-yeon wouldn't be worried about anything else. If she wanted to date Shinobu, as much as the thought made Sonia wince, there shouldn't be anything in their way. Her friend never seemed to be taken with their fangirls and no one else, besides Anzu, was addressed by their first name. To Sonia, that was enough proof that if they were honest with one another, Ji-yeon and Shinobu could pursue something more if they wished. Even if that likely would result in less time Sonia spent with them: she couldn't imagine that was a friendship Ji-yeon would allow to continue.

But maybe she shouldn't have said anything: Shinobu went silent at Sonia's insistence that Ji-yeon was in love with her. Perhaps it was too personal a topic: for someone who seemingly went on so many dates, love was a line Shinobu didn't cross. Sonia took a breath, preparing to apologize for her assumptions before Shinobu cut in instead, her voice strangely soft and unlike her.

Sonia's eyebrows raised, never having heard her so rattled. "To be honest, after today, I was not sure if I was your friend or someone to be berated by someone closer to you. I would imagine you would agree with Ji-yeon-san and, in that case, why would you want to be friends with someone like me? I said it before: she was not wrong. I have so many privileges, I am part of a system I cannot fully control, and I will never know what it is like to struggle the way she has."

That Sonia had answered the phone at all was more than Shinobu expected, but even if she only had a few minutes of Sonia's time, surely that was enough to express some of what she wished to. "I wanted to speak with you about what happened. I honestly have no idea what came over Miss Ji-yeon that would implore her to speak with you that way. She isn't like that, usually." Was it only that she'd misread Shinobu's feelings towards Sonia? Why that even mattered, they weren't sure. After all, there was no further romance to be had between Ji-yeon and herself, so what harm would it have done were it true?

Shinobu was about to say more, before her breath hitched in her throat and she fell silent. That wasn't the real issue here, was it? Had Ji-yeon's feelings, her emotional state, been the thing that was bothering Shinobu, then they wouldn't have left her at the university courtyard. It was Sonia who she was worried about, Sonia who she needed to speak to, Sonia who she wanted to comfort and reassure. Tomorrow, or perhaps next week, she'd speak to Ji-yeon, but there was nothing to say of her now, not when she had Sonia on the phone.

"...But, that isn't important right now," she murmured. "Miss Ji-yeon can, and should, apologize to you on her own time, but that isn't why I'm calling." There was rain drumming on the roof of the house, and against the balcony's railing. Down below, the koi seemed to be swimming around happily, as if the rain was rejuvenating in some way, and not even the cloudy sky could fully block out the light of the moon. Even with the rain, it was a peaceful night.

"I regret that-" She swallowed, giving a soft shake of her head. If there was a time to be honest, wasn't it this one? The moon peeking out from behind the clouds, the rain erasing all the patterns she'd drawn in the rock garden sand the day before, the cobwebs above the dojo doors that she could just barely make out at distance dripping and threatening to fall free. Shinobu Yaguchi's peculiar way of speaking was designed to keep others at arms' length, to keep herself safe in some way, but what value did that have when attempting to comfort someone else?

"I'm sorry," she said, more clearly. "I'm so sorry, Miss Nevermind. She should never have spoken to you like that, and perhaps more importantly, I should not have allowed her to speak to you like that so unchallenged. If you're angry with me, or upset, or unwilling to forgive me, I understand." The complicated way she regarded Ji-yeon Iida was not an excuse to stay on the sideline, uninvolved.

If anything, it should have emboldened her to speak up more clearly, knowing that the friendship she had with Ji-yeon was strong enough to survive that turmoil. And, if she was honest about things, her relationship with Ji-yeon was her past - something that had ended over a year ago, and could not be returned to no matter how much Ji-yeon wanted to. Sonia's friendship, meanwhile, was her present. Perhaps even her future, if she were lucky enough to not lose her.

Which, of course, she was likely in danger of doing. Sonia had been brought out and gawked at by the crowd, then humiliated, all while her so-called friend stood by and did nothing. If she was angry, it was understandable. "I wanted to run after you," the archer murmured, by way of explanation rather than excuse, "but it felt like I was frozen in place, and by the time I regained my senses, you were gone. Though, it shouldn't have come to that in the first place. I should have defended you better, and I'm sorry that, as your friend, I let you down."

There were about a dozen other things that they wanted to say, but Shinobu could tell they'd rambled on too long already. Still, they had to fill one more moment of silence with something, in the interest of honesty. "Miss Nevermind," she started, her voice so soft as she spoke the other girl's name, "you know that you're very important to me, don't you? That I care about you very much?" A quiet, gentle breath escaped her lips as she leaned forward against the railing, waiting for Sonia's response with her dark eyes angled up towards the moon. How pretty.

[quickdeaths]

Once the bow was lowered and attention directed, Shinobu found that the girl had a question that was unlike what they'd expected. If Ayako had any questions at all, she'd expected them to be about form - at what angle to lift to keep the motion clean, or at what point the gentleness of an arm became too loose, and required additional rigidity. Instead, the question was of a more philosophical sort - the kind of question that Shinobu imagined neither her father nor herself were especially suited towards answering. She hummed, faintly gesturing to the plaques on the wall near the entrance.

"Naturally, the foundational text regarding the dojo and its principles is plain to see upon the walls." That contained everything - the history, the masters, the short, simple platitudes designed to motivate and mold young students into being worthy of the style. To most people, that should have been enough. "If sensei were here, he would say that if you can't grasp it from that, and from seeing me shoot once, then you've failed to understand anything." Her father was a demanding teacher who took few students, and Shinobu had little doubt that he'd reject Ayako rather than answer a question of that sort.

But Shinobu was not her father; she was better, in so far as archery went, and while the question Ayako asked wasn't one that had an easy answer, to give her best attempt was more polite than to simple leave it to the girl herself. "It certainly isn't to hew as closely as possible to the traditional understanding of kyudo." Taking the string from the bow and returning it to the rack, Shinobu rested her chin at her fingers, thoughtfully. "But neither would I say that an over-emphasis upon one's personal qualities is desired, either." Those were to be pared down for easier success.

After stepping to the side, to allow Ayako access to the bows and the shooting space should she desire, Shinobu lowered themselves to the ground, sitting seiza in her kimono. "These are rather my thoughts, not sensei's, though perhaps they may be of some use to you regardless." With her interest in literature and strong academic performance, there were some themes to pick apart from the dojo's mythology. "As I said, my ancestor was an orphan with little means after his father's death. There were circumstances to his life that were immutable. Yet, when he competed in the Toshiya, even at a young age, he rejected the possibility for failure."

Perhaps that was it - relentless success at any cost. "Outside of the dojo, one is confronted by things they cannot control, but with a bow in hand and a target on the horizon, you are the only person responsible for your own outcomes. To change what cannot be changed might be impossible, but I believe that as it relates to kyudo, in this dojo, it's all that matters." No, her ancestor could have never excelled against such odds, and yet he had. No, her great-grandfather and grandfather could not have reshaped a drowning dojo in a more modern image after the war to save it, and yet they had. No, she could never surpass Masaru, perfection given flesh, and yet she would. It was her only purpose.

"If there's something that holds you back, Miss Mitsuzuri, discard it. Obstacles and hindrances should be fuel for ambition, not clinging specters dragging one down." If she had something of that sort, at least. They couldn't say for sure - this was no social call. Then again, coming to such a place as the Yaguchi Dojo for instruction meant she surely had some reason to desire excellence. "I suppose that's one interpretation of the Yaguchi Dojo. Training across styles, cultivating both mind and body, so that there may be no excuses for failure, and for success to exceed even when might be believed possible by those with lesser ambitions."

Some individuals are born with innate talent, whilst others attain excellency by working harder than others – and even the former can have a ranging variety of attitudes, some keep on honing their skills and there are those who think they can keep ahead of the curve and flaunt their skills forever. The worst, in Mitsuzuri’s opinion, are the hacks who act all high and might, the best thing to grace the face of the Earth but are full of hot air. She would like to think she was the hard-working time, aware of her limitations and she has a lot to learn. The truth was that the Homurahara archery club’s veterans now live at the shadow of someone who isn’t among them anymore and could come back if he wanted to, and none of them could escape that visage – and Ayako wanted to break the circle, to surpass her rival and also grow as a archer by herself.

❝ It does makes sense. I only know one person who would do a favor without asking for any sort of recompletion or reward. ❞ again, it was the shadow cast over the club. ❝ I would imagine that people who would want to keep practicing after school or are interested in the sports would rather go to a style they are familiar with and mouth-to-mouth advertisement is the best. ❞ Ayako didn’t mind one bit. She wasn’t sure if there was any sort of financial transaction involved but if one or two students from Homurahara enrolls to their school or talk about it to their friends it would generate a positive buzz. And, in a sense, they would also serve as an advertisement during the competitions so it is a win-win for Yaguchi-sensei.

In any case, Ayako didn’t take long to get charged. Now that she was properly dressed a lot of her nervousness had dissipated and was replaced with a lot of gusto to learn and give her best – she would always give 400% no matter the activity, specially sports (regular studies not so much, admittedly, she wasn’t so bad at them through). There was something familiar at the ambience of an archery range even if it wasn’t the one she was used to. It was a little strange, like she had went back to her freshman year in the club learning from her senpai – and yet she was so much more acknowledgeable and hopefully a smidge more mature. A quiet nod followed as Shinobu stated her intentions, making way to watch the specialist’s form. One of the things that many struggle to understand is that archery is less about physical prowess and it is more about a state of mind: if one’s mind is clouded or dull, it will reflect in the shooting. Self-control and emotional stability are what matters and less applying force – of course, it is easier said than done and it is hard to find the right amount of control and mindlessness. Perfection shouldn’t be something forced onto someone, doing everything systematically perfect to a T but a thing that comes naturally. Basically a level of skills that bridges the gap between calculating and spontaneously.

Ayako watched the  hassetsu with great interest. She noticed that a lot of the kids of the dojo struggled with the footing. This is something that varies accordingly to one’s height so it was important for her to pay attention how Shinobu handles that point – but she was enticed by how fluid the movements were. It was like watching a legendary onna-bugeisha coming to life, every stage of the draw fluid like the river and light as the wind. Effortless, without taking shortcuts. There was a moment of silence as she still relived the moment within her mind, the way the arrow found its way to the target was almost like destiny.

❝ In terms of beauty of the draw I don’t hold a candle. There is something I would like to ask to make absolute sure if I’m getting it right; what is the spirit of your school: to follow the tenants as closely as possible or to find a point in which your personality shines through while still within the tenants ?  I do get the feeling it is the later, I could feel your spirit in your shot but there was another thing that I couldn’t put my finger on. ❞ maybe what Ayako can't see is the key to what she have been lacking.

[quickdeaths]

"I suppose you could say that." It wasn't the real reason they'd accepted Miss Kashima's confession, but it was the easiest way Shinobu could think of to explain it without outright lying. It wasn't untrue - rather, more an incomplete picture of the situation. If Maruki were to look more into her history, or ask other students about her, Shinobu expected that he'd realize there had to be something more for someone so antisocial to be so romantically-inclined. It was her hope, however, that she'd never again darken this office with her presence.

A hope that was dwindling with each passing question. She'd let too much of her inner darkness spill out, and now she would pay the price for it. The only saving grace was that Shinobu imagined the specifics wouldn't get back to their father. So long as they weren't expelled, and their training wasn't hindered, he wouldn't care. It would be shameful to sully the Yaguchi Dojo's name with her mistakes.

Shinobu couldn't shake the feeling that Maruki was analyzing her in some way, but it was his question regarding the impression she gave that seemed to press a sort of off switch on her. As much as she tried, there wasn't anything Shinobu could do to hide the faint flinch, nor the way her eyes seemed to fog over, focusing on nothing in particular very far away.

Static.

You can dig all you like, sensei, but you won't find anything underneath the filth, for that's all there is to find. It doesn't matter what people think of me at a first glance, or second, or ten-thousandth. I'm only barely a human being to begin with.

"Perhaps sometimes, but I don't concern myself with what others think of me, so long as their opinions don't reflect poorly upon my family." To a point, Shinobu enjoyed being hated. To know that she'd so thoroughly lodged an arrow inside someone's head that they couldn't help but seethe at the thought of her... wasn't that its own form of power and control? "Given my circumstances, or my reputation, I wouldn't be surprised to find that others craft a version of me in their heads on rumor alone."

Having managed to focus their cold gaze once more, they gave the lightest of shrugs. "I don't think I'm unique in that fact. It's a natural truth that many judgments will be incorrect, or incomplete." Again, she shrugged. "It's inevitable, and it's rare to have the opportunity to correct a mistaken impression. However," she said, looking back to the doctor. "It appears you're forming some sort of opinion about me yourself, sensei. I'd ask that you explain your thoughts more clearly, so that I might have that opportunity."

A simple explanation for such a stark contradiction? Maruki was all ears to hear it, as whatever way he spun it, he couldn't come up with the sort of easy explanation Shinobu believed she had. So far, her motives were difficult for him to discern, even with the experience he had in dealing with cases.

The answer he was provided was truly rather simplistic. More than he would have offered it. Not that it was entirely out of the realm of normalcy for him to overcomplicate the problems he considered in his search to come up with the best solution. She wanted to give Kashima a chance to prove herself.

Could it be that simple? He would argue that such a premise could work under circumstances with lower stakes — inviting her out for a friendly outing rather than a romantic one, for instance — but the idea itself was intriguing in its implications for Shinobu's thought process.

“So you accepted her proposal because you didn't want to judge her character by first impressions alone,” he repeated. Part of active listening was repeating things to assure he was paying attention and heeding her words, and this conclusion in particular felt like an important one.

Sure, the description she'd provided of Kashima was cold, ruthless even, but if it was true that Shinobu accepted the date on such a premise, then there was hope yet for future relationships once she could find someone who would meet these standards. The emotion fueling it wasn't necessarily hatred or malice, but disappointment over misplaced faith. Had she presented as more heartbroken about their relationship fizzling, he would have focused more on this element. However, he deemed it more important at the moment to present this not only through the lens of future relationships, but what it said about the girl herself.

This restatement of her explanation provided a springboard to lead to this. “Would you say people tend to judge you based on first impressions?” One's perception and how they interacted with the world was based on personal experience first. Considering Shinobu's unique circumstances, he could imagine she would be on the receiving end of some harsh judgments. It only made sense that she wouldn't wish to carry that forward. At least, not without substantiation.

To him, it was beginning to look like a classic case of someone who wanted to have more faith in humanity, in others, than their circumstances would allow. It was by no means unusual, unfortunately, though it could present in a number of different ways. He frequently wished there was more he could do to help these people than speak them through their problems, but alas. His abilities in his current position were limited.

[more-than-a-princess]

She had no business telling him so much. Maybe it just was awkward silence that she felt she needed to fill: the school had entrusted her with showing the alumni around and helping them feel welcomed back, and she took her duties, just like all of her other duties in life, seriously. But regardless, even if it had made him feel awkward or put him on the spot, he responded in kindness. In understanding. Sonia smiled softly at that. "You are very brave, then," She replied honestly. "Family obligations, no matter the specific family, can be difficult to set aside when there are people you love involved. I cannot profess I get along with my own family always but I do love them." Even when I'm not sure they truly love me in return, but what I represent for them.

The quiet part was left unsaid, as she always did. Introspective and unflinching in the presence of others, even when a baseball hurtled through the air towards her. Before she even thought to duck, the man had reached out and stopped it with his bare hand, leaving her to gaze at him with widened eyes. "Your reflexes are extraordinary, sir!" She exclaimed. "How did you learn to do that, to listen like that?" If anything, it was the sort of hearing and quick reflexes that would save a life not just from a baseball but from an advancing enemy. Even thousands of kilometers away from Novoselic, it wasn't an easy task to ignore her military training.

But he clearly hurt, that sort of impact was not something easily shaken off and forgotten. "Oh yes, of course," She nodded, just as Leon Kuwata was approaching, jogging with a concerned expression. Probably to apologize, though Sonia hoped there was no permanent harm done. "I am just fine, thanks to you. Please, see to what you need to and I shall handle things here."

That was her plan, in any case, until while engaging in conversation with Leon and several alumni who had also approached out of concern, she heard an audible SMACK! of something colliding against stone. So did the group, though Sonia was the first to excuse herself and make her way towards the noise, with others to follow. "What in the world-!" She exclaimed, shocked before recognizing the blur of red hair and unmistakable fury in the eyes of the assailant. "Yaguchi-san, what are you doing!?" She shouted at her. The fact that the man she was assaulting was one of the school's alumni shouldn't have been a factor in getting her to stop and thus Sonia didn't bother mentioning it, but as both people continued to hit and avoid being hit, it was clear to her that if anyone was going to stop them, they'd have to physically separate them before verbally addressing the situation.

"Oh for goodness sake," Sonia exhaled audibly before marching right over with every intent to be the person who broke up the squabble, but both the man and Shinobu were too quick for her. Just as she'd attempted to separate them, he'd pushed her aside, and Sonia's lack of balance in the process found her falling, right on her backside in the grass.

"Well, that was uncalled for," She insisted, just as one of the Class 78 members, a shorter boy with brown hair, hazel eyes, and a prominent ahoge declared he'd go and get a teacher to handle it. Just as well, Sonia thought as several of the alumni who had been watching the baseball demonstration helped her to her feet. She didn't want to leave either the alumnus she was showing around or Shinobu alone, though at the moment it seemed the man was either successfully dodging every single blow Shinobu now tried to land on him or was gaining the upper hand in a fight he didn't start. She'd have to ask Anzu about it, unless she arrived due to all of the commotion. Plenty of other students and visitors alike had gathered around to watch.

Masaru nodded in silence as she explained her situation. It would have been rude to interrupt her, and whatever thoughts he had about things could be safely kept to himself, for the most part. "Family pressures, huh? That's tricky." He nodded, though he imagined there was a big difference between her situation and his own. "I tend to think that most things aren't impossible, but, sometimes the consequences just aren't worth the hassle." Surely she'd had enough people telling her what to do, that adding a stranger's dissenting voice would only add to the noise.

"Well, I'm sure you're a lot more than your talent, Nevermind-san," Masaru murmured. "But I get it. Family obligations like that are rough." Quietly, his tongue clicked against the inside of his mouth. "I actually come from a family of some minor status, and walking away from that, even if it was the right call for me, wasn't without its issues, or things I had to give up." A baseball field... Some distant affection settled on his face as he watched. When was the last time he'd been to a baseball game, Masaru wondered? Maybe with Haruna, and the boys - taking the bus over to see the Swallows on a summer afternoon, and eating shaved ice afterwards to cut the heat. He'd probably never do that again, huh?

"Why are you acting so gloomy, Haru-nee," Anzu grumbled. "You were all cheery when you were bugging Sonia-san earlier, so what's the difference now?" Her sister was really cramping her style, as they wandered around inside the main campus building after grabbing a bite to eat. "I'm not gloomy," Haruna muttered with a roll of her eyes, "just disappointed." She gave a soft sigh, adjusting the ribbon on her blouse. "I heard from someone who heard from someone that Masaru-kun was coming, that's all, but I didn't see a nametag for him, and it looks like he's not around."

She said it so casually. Was she stupid? Well, of course she was stupid, Anzu thought, but not usually 'stop her sister in her tracks' stupid. "What." That couldn't be right. No way, no way, not here, not now. "Masaru-nii?" "Yeah," Haruna replied with a nod. "But, I guess he decided not to come. It makes sense. I can't really blame him. I guess." Anzu barely waited for her to finish her sentence before grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. "Why didn't you say something to me!? If there was any chance at all he was going to be here, don't you think I should know that!?"

Haruna frowned, looking up at her younger sister. "Why do you care? I could have brought him to come see you after we caught up, and since he's not here, it doesn't m-" Frustrated, Anzu let go with a forceful shove. "I have to go make sure for myself, I have to go find Shinobu-chan before she does something crazy. Dammit, you only ever think of yourself, don't you?" At that, she turned and sprinted off, nearly stumbling as she raced down the hallway.

After turning back to Sonia from the baseball field, Masaru was about to give his name when he heard the sound of a metal bat making contact with a ball, and the whirring sound through the air. His reflexes were lightning quick, sticking out his bare hand and catching the baseball speeding towards them before it could collide with Sonia's face, with only a small wince to show for it. "Great hit," he praised as he tossed the ball back over the fence, then looked to Sonia. "Are you okay, Nevermind-san?" The baseball hadn't hit her, but he still wanted to make sure she wasn't shaken up.

Once he'd confirmed that she wasn't hurt, Masaru nodded with a small smile, lightly shaking his stinging hand. "I'm going to go get some ice, or at least something cold from a vending machine. I'll be back in just a minute." With a light bow in recognition of the trouble, he jogged off away from the field, and around towards the backside of the school, on an empty part of the path clearly not meant for any alumni activities. There probably weren't any vending machines there - at least, there hadn't been when he was a student - but there were other reasons to put some distance between Sonia and himself, reasons that had only become apparent once they'd stopped walking.

"Okay," he started, eyes flicking back and forth, looking for the sight of the person who'd been following them. "I'm by myself now. That's what you were waiting for, ri-" An arrow roared through the air, fast enough that Masaru only had a moment to jerk back to keep it from spearing through his chest. Instead, the arrow cratered into the ground right in front of him, shooting rock and gravel up from the ground and scattering dust. Whoa, he thought. Still, he barely had a moment to think as a volley of arrows flew towards him. More aware, this time, he ducked and weaved, intimately familiar with aspect of an arrow's flight, even managing to snatch one inches from his face, though the force of the projectile burned the skin on his palm. Looking up, Masaru was dumbfounded by who he saw. "What the hell..."

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Shinobu was losing her mind. How many years had it been since she'd made up her mind to kill Masaru? It had always been in the back of her mind - a hateful rot, festering each time she stepped into the dojo. She'd had so many plans after graduation, and yet here he was, just standing at Hope's Peak Academy like it was nothing. She'd never get another chance like this. He'd stolen her life, he'd stolen her future, and now he was even trying to steal Sonia. Now that he was alone, they no longer had to wait, unwilling as they were to try anything if there was even the smallest possibility that Sonia might be hurt.

And yet, even thoughts about Sonia were washing out in red rage. Masaru needed to die, right here. It was fitting, wasn't it? Right here, at the school she was only a student of because of his cowardice, with the skills she'd learned only due to his failures. He'd avoided her first arrow and dodged the following volley, but who cared about that? They'd kill him with their bare hands if they had to, ripping and tearing and choking and punching and scratching and slamming and striking and ripping and tearing and ripping and tearing and ripping and tearing and ripping and-

"〇...〇〇?" Why was he looking at her with that stupid expression? It just made Shinobu angrier. "Shut up!" Shinobu knew she was an archer, first and foremost. She was tall, and athletic, but she wasn't a hand-to-hand fighter, outside of beating up men who came looking for her, hopped up on jealousy and impotent anger. Still, if her arrows weren't going to work, then what option did she have? Closing the distance, she grabbed at the side of her brother's face, rearing back and taking advantage of his momentary confusion to slam his head into the school building, until blood dripped down from his forehead to cover part of his face. "Don't ever say that name again!"

Somewhere between the third and fourth slam, Masaru managed to wriggle out of her grasp and scamper back. Running away, just like always. He didn't even have the decency to let her kill him. "You're mad," he muttered, wiping blood from his face and flicking it onto the ground. "Okay. I don't know why, but, you're mad. That's fine - I would have liked to see you again under different circumstances, but it's fine. I'm not going to fight you, 〇〇, so-" "Then shut up and die! Stop talking like you know me, or like you understand anything, and just die!" Again, she tried to assault him with a flurry of punches, kicks, and grapples, though it seemed like Masaru had the edge in dodging or deflecting her, once he'd focused.

[more-than-a-princess]

In the time she'd known her, Sonia had never seen Shinobu so defeated. Tall and proud and with a chill in her demeanor, absolutely, save for the rare times Sonia could remember her red gaze softening for a brief moment. But never defeated: she supposed it was the effect of being a former Remnant, now imprisoned on an island in the middle of nowhere while the rest of the world debated about what to do with her and her former classmates. They had no say in it all, that much Sonia was aware of: that was why Masaru had taken it upon himself to seek out the Princess of Novoselic. He was a brother desperate to save his sister, and would use any tactic and person he could to do so.

And so Sonia too sighed: every day was a reminder that the person she once knew, the person who loved kaiju movies and maintaining a small but well-loved personal library, was gone. "I have the feeling, when I am around Togami-san, that whether the Tragedy had happened or not, he would have found his way into political influence anyway. Before it all happened, corporations were already influencing politics far more than free and fair elections," She paused, chuckling dryly. "But that is probably a moot point coming from me, my nation being an absolute monarchy. I just want a chance to help build a better world for everyone, where not only a small, wealthy faction of people benefit from laws and practices."

The thought seemingly had tired them out, and Sonia turned her head as Shinobu fell back against the sand. With a deep breath, she held her tongue at the sight of them: there was the defeat again, with a level of comfort she felt they'd only trusted Anzu with back then. Nothing less than composed, neatly ironed and buttoned or clad in her kyudo uniform. Sonia understood it: no matter how much either girl could criticize and resent their place in their respective families, they still maintained the image desired of them.

But even on her back, Sonia thought, with a hand over her face, Shinobu would burn like this. She wondered what it would be like to lay beside her, to shield her from the sun and rain and hatred and demands for her corpse. Thoughts that were washed away with the waves that lapped at the shore nearby.

"I used to think that, after giving my life to my family and country, that I at least deserved real love and happiness with someone," She began, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her forearms atop them. "But now I think that is not assured for anyone, no matter what the sacrifice. So all I can hope for is to try and create a more just, better world than the one we had."

She raised an eyebrow at Shinobu's admission: another addition to the list of ways Shinobu Yaguchi had changed. Sonia doubted she would've buckled to illness, particularly the mental sort, as a teenager. "You needn't apologize for how you feel," She assured her. "But I will speak to the Future Foundation regarding access to your cabin. In the meantime though, it might do us both good to get out of the sun for a bit!"

She nodded, determined, before kicking her legs out in front of her and scrambling to her feet. Mustering a smile, she reached down for Shinobu's uninjured hand with one of her own. "If you plan to help me convince your comrades, allow me to assist as well. I cannot take you on my ship without causing a commotion, but I doubt anyone would complain too much if I was in dire need of a cold drink at the hotel and asked for you to accompany me. Shall we?" She wiggled her fingers some, beckoning Shinobu to take her hand and pull her up, up out of the hot sand, the oppressive midday sun, and the dark depths of her mind.

The former archer looked down at her hand, covered now by Sonia's handkerchief, the blood slowing from her thumb by the moment. There was something wrong with her, with her brain. Had they always been so unstable, or had the Neo World Program shaken her head back and forth with enough force to cause her madness to overflow its cup, and knock it over entirely? Sonia had guaranteed her life - that she would not meet her end back in the nation of her birth, and though it might just have been the natural politicking of a princess, it certainly seemed spoken with a degree of firm conviction that lend believability.

Yet, still, they couldn't help but believe it. Whether a justified fear or a paranoid byproduct of her addled mind, Shinobu could only see the trip back home in a singular light. Every request, every concession, it had all spawned from that unwavering understanding that her life would soon be at an end. It made it easier to keep from gazing out into the sea and imaging herself beneath its waves, or stealing a knife and following the vertical line of her chest, so that she might at least take out the evil inside her rather than die unclean. If she were to live, what even remained for her?

"I see." There was no point confronting her, and Shinobu simply sunk into the sand, exhausted. There was a bird flying over the water, lurching down just to skim off the water's edge, and escape with a fish in grasp. Was it mocking her, with its freedom? With its carelessness? With the ease with which it could catch a fish even on a quiet day? Some recessed part of her wanted to tear it to pieces and feast on its innards, and perhaps this too set her apart from her peers. Their mind was so uniquely shattered that who could say if all traces of the Remnant of Despair had truly been eradicated? Wasn't that an argument, then, for allowing her to die?

"If someone like Togami is to have a hand in Japan's future political system, then I can only extend another of many apologies to the Japanese people for my actions." Namely, in not killing him before he had any chance for power. Another point of separation. The likes of Murasame or Shikiba, even Matsuda, treated death as a faraway thing. To Shinobu, it was familiar, even uncomfortably warmly so. She had no further desire to hurt anyone, and the thought of doing so brought bile up her throat, but it was impossible to separate herself from the beast she'd been.

If she was condemned for her actions regardless, perhaps she should have been more particular in them. Surely there were people alive who would have served the world better in death than so many she'd killed. "But as for whether it would be of benefit, it's hard to say." With a weak sigh, she collapsed onto her back, her left hand shielding her from the sun, casting in silhouette the jagged cuts and burns around her ring finger. "I think the knowledge that someone consigned themselves to a less happy life on our behalf would only depress most of them, truthfully, though it's hardly anything for us to decide."

That lingering piece of evil lodged in her brain, that thought that came easiest, quickest, before being quashed back down by shame and rationality, made its point easily enough. If people were going to accept misery, then they should have simply rolled over and allowed Despair to win. Fighting so hard for Hope was meaningless if this was all they did with it - half-measures and limp concessions. There was no fairness in that line of thinking, but neither was it untrue, in her estimation. Had not they all sacrificed enough, those who stood on the right side of history, those who had clawed the world back from its edge?

"I regret, Nevermind-san, that I'm a poor conversation partner at the moment. I'm not well, today, I think." Mentally, at least. "Future Foundation won't allow me to return to my cabin early, but I may as well continue to be derelict in my duty for the day." A bird's taunt or no, the fish were staying from the shoreline. "I'm afraid you'll find me a scrambled, inconsistent speaker." She wasn't asking Sonia to leave - as if even she could - but simply suggesting to the woman that her efforts were better spent elsewhere, more than likely.

"As for my classmates... I don't speak often with them, given the shape of my evenings, but when I do, I'll... see if I cannot convince them to be a bit more forthcoming with you about their situations." Some may have been lost causes, but surely there were others who could benefit from Sonia's presence. "Matsuda's work is inconsistent, but I imagine some of the others will be woken up soon, as well." They shrugged, a weak gesture made even weaker by their position, prone, in the sand. "You'll hear about it, I'm sure, but if I have any involvement, I'll try to refer anyone to you who might be willing to talk to you. Perhaps it will help."

[more-than-a-princess]

Maybe the best way Sonia could have described the woman was 'stoic.' Agent Yaguchi followed orders unless otherwise persuaded to do otherwise: her foray into cuticle repair and nail polish on her first day was one such 'otherwise,' if only due to the fact she'd sat far enough away and stared at her and Akane that it would have been inappropriately impolite if she hadn't asked her to join in. She wasn't Togami, in any case: Sonia didn't have a compelling reason to administer a swift slap across the face the way she often felt in his company.

Thus, to see her in such a state was difficult to ignore. "You must have loved them very much," She offered, though a bit pointlessly. "To react like that, to thoughts of those no longer alive." Wanting to stay on the island was insanity, but being overcome with emotion by memories of the dearly departed? That was healthy, Sonia thought: unless you were the cause. It was why she took to her own tears in private, at least once the five survivors had gotten to work in reviving the others. Their friends would be discombobulated enough, they didn't need those trying to help them acclimate to the real world to be falling to pieces in front of them.

They needed others to help and support them, even if those supporters cried and drank and broke again and again behind closed doors, in the comfort of their cabin and too many familiar knick-knacks from home.

"That is a depressing thought," She replied, frowning. "it is the same for me, though for entirely different reasons. My only family now is here, my...found family, I suppose, the fellow former remnants. Anywhere else in the world, I do not think I have a place there anymore and I am unwanted, despite how much your cohorts are firmly insisting otherwise."

That was putting it lightly: she had an expiration date on Jabberwock Island. When all of her friends were revived, she was expected to make her departure, with the person she loved by her side. It was all Sonia had left to believe in: that the simulated feelings combined with their pre-despair memories would be enough for her and Gundham to open their hearts to one another again. It had to be.

"Perhaps wanting to remain here as a member of the Future Foundation is as ridiculous as watching childhood films and expecting to feel better about life afterwards," She replied, sighing down at the reel. If only a well-mannered cat that walked on two legs, spoke with a polite and friendly tone, and offered her tea and cake in his comfortable, cozy home was real. "Still, if you truly want to help and not be swept up in the bureaucracy of it all, I suppose that is something remarkable. Not that I wish to sound anything like Naegi." Once, his sort of optimism and hope would have resonated with her, something she could easily chime in with and truly believe in. Everything was different now, right down to her choice of films to watch. "We do not have much say in how we are treated here, except for the fact that we should be grateful that we were rescued and not killed on sight." Her tone betrayed her words, as if there were too many times she'd wished for that very outcome, now knowing what she'd done. "We should begin the film though, before island duties require us elsewhere." Her to the farm, Agent Yaguchi to...wherever Agent Yaguchi went at that time of day.

A combined effort from both women got the reel set up, in place, and started, and by the time they'd reached their seats, Haru was beginning her adventure in saving a prince among cats before being whisked off into their feline world, needing the Baron and their allies to rescue her. She did not care much for the idea of balls anymore, but Sonia's expression softened at the nearly-turned cat Haru being swept up into a dance by the masked Baron, to relieve her from being married off to the feline prince whose heart resided elsewhere. The aforementioned tea and cake was another favorite of hers: before The Tragedy, Sonia had plenty of fictional men to blame for her standards in a partner. Something she thought no one could have lived up to, until the day she'd met Gundham Tanaka.

Gundham...Sonia sighed, just as the credits began to roll, closing her eyes. She could see him then, not as he lay in a coma, so thin with tangled hair and a ghostly complexion. She saw him as she remembered him back then, in his carefully tousled hair, his brown Hope's Peak uniform, and an array of hamsters perched on his shoulders or an outstretched hand for her to take-

"This is where you've been!? We've been wonderin' where the hell you went, Sonia!"

Both doors to the theater had been thrown open, casting the bright lights of the lobby into the room. The sound had given reason for Sonia's head to turn, and the light made her squint, but she could still make out the form and accent of Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu. And an annoyed Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, at that.

"I did not think I was needed until later in the day," She answered quickly, alarmed. "Is there something wrong, Fuyuhiko? Is everyone all right!?"

"Yeah, now that you'll get off your ass and come with me!" He shouted, storming right down the center aisle and grabbing Sonia, albeit roughly, by the arm. "C'mon...it's Tanaka, Sonia! Hajime and Kazuichi...they figured out how to open his pod today. He's awake, Sonia. In the hospital, he's asking for you!"

She'd allowed herself to be dragged until the weight of Fuyuhiko's words set in. It was her turn, then, to be overcome with emotion. With shock and joy and apprehension and anticipation, all swirling together into hot tears down her cheeks. "Yes...we have to go, I must go!" She nodded, wiping at her own tears with the back of her hand as she grabbed her bag, racing after Fuyuhiko up the aisle. "Agent Yaguchi!" She half-sniffled, half-wailed behind her. "I leave the theater to you! I must be by Gundham's side now!"

"It's miserable, isn't it?" She was standing close, with her hand beneath the reel, as though it was only her effort that kept it upright, from slipping out of Shinobu's hands. "You can try all you like. You can find a place that'll have you. You can fall in love again. You can look at the way the world was a year ago, and how it is now, and know that everything you did made a difference. In world history, recorded and otherwise, you're one of the greatest heroes in history, Shinobu-chan." She looked over to Sonia, a complex expression hateful and pained and adoring all at once. "Sonia-chan's right. You're not the bad guy here. You're a hero."

It was hard to block out Anzu's voice delivered in such a soft, empathetic tone. The cruelty, the rage, the gleeful hate, those were all so unlike the dead girl named Anzu Tachibana. This, though? Weirdly poetic, with a flair for the dramatic, all wrapped in empathy and warmth? That reminded far more of her. "But it doesn't matter, right? Seiko-chan's gone, and I'm gone, and our classmates, and your family. I get it, Shinobu-chan. It took everything you had to keep moving when the world was ending, and what use is being a hero if you're all alone? We both know you can't do what you did a second time. You're too broken to rebuild, and the world is never going to let you forget. You keep wearing Seiko-chan's earring, and my necklace, but it's over. It's over, Shinobu-chan."

Hand shaking, she clumsily took the offered handerchief, fingers brushing against Sonia's. "You're never going to get back to that, Shinobu-chan, any of it. You're not going to be rewarded for what you've done, and nothing can make up for what you lost. Just let it be over." Cloth on skin, she wiped at her eyes, not caring if her eyeliner was smudged. A beautiful, dry handkerchief from the hands of Sonia Nevermind, used to wipe the face of Shinobu Yaguchi, wet through her own foolishness. How cruel to remind her of that.

As she collected herself and stilled her breathing, Shinobu felt the faintest urge to say everything. They had been friends, once, close ones, and they had loved her to the point of pain. They'd spent so much time together, gone on dates in everything but name. She had looked at Sonia and seen a light so beautiful and bright that to glimpse it for even a moment was agonizing. Shinobu no longer awoke tormented by dreams of pressing her lips to Sonia's, no longer thought, alone, of the sight of her body in a swimsuit and then felt disgusted with herself, no longer ached to say 'I love you so desperately, please assure me that that's alright.' No longer did they think of her that way, but still, they cared for her. If only that was something she could say, Shinobu thought, as the urge passed and the handkerchief was politely folded and stowed in her jacket pocket.

"I appreciate it, Miss Nevermind." One final breathe steadied her, with only a bit of ruddiness on her cheeks, and smeared makeup, to show that anything had been the matter. No, it was impossible to say everything, to dredge up ancient history that Sonia did not remember. If there was truth to be shared, it could just be this. "You know, I've never claimed to be especially healthy, so perhaps it does make me insane to prefer here to other places." Even when things here were like this, Shinobu could only imagine what life would be like back in Japan, in that empty apartment too big for one person. "Given that I can't easily explain it, I don't expect it to be easily understood."

Just give me a little time, Anzu. I know I don't have much of it left, so just leave me to make sure my affairs are in order, and my absence won't cause any trouble. I'll more seriously consider it then. "There's... truly, genuinely, nothing for me, away from here. There's nowhere that I want to go, and little that I want to do. I prefer my freedom to the lack of it, but it's a hollow sentiment, overall." Shinobu removed her glasses, wiping them with her tie and pushing her hair out of her face. Her nails were still matte black, unmistakable. "I don't know everything about your situation, Miss Nevermind, but I'm sure that sounds ridiculous to you, when you lack that luxury." She only hoped Sonia wouldn't resent her for it.

"At least here, I can do something good for someone," she explained. "Or try to, anyway. I'd like to be seen as a reliable person when it comes to you and your friends, though I'm afraid my failures might outweigh my successes." Especially with so little direction. The goal of aiding the remnants was one she'd come up with alone, and the lack of support from Future Foundation proved that. Certainly, they weren't inclined to make her job any easier. It was because of Future Foundation in the first place that Shinobu felt so strongly about what she'd set out to do.

"I resent the way my colleagues speak of you all. I resent the way my superiors consider you pawns to be moved around on a game board, rather than people. I'm not blind to what you've done, but neither can I condone how you're treated here" A former husk knew how wretched it was for one's humanity to be denied. So loathsome. "That's why I prefer to stay. It sounds childish to say aloud, but at least if I'm here, there's one person at Future Foundation not so blinded by hate as to forget basic humanity." Even if they never accepted her, even if they never trusted her. Shinobu didn't need acceptance, or trust, or warmth so much as she needed to find something to be useful for. Habits as they were were hard to change. "I'm not someone to be celebrated. I simply want to offer a hand, in whichever way I can, to you and your friends." Just as long for it took for them to recover, to begin to heal. Then she could leave everything. She just needed all of them, especially Sonia, to be okay.

[quickdeaths]

As the collar clicked off her neck, as Sonia said, Shinobu wasn't overcome by bloodlust. Her hands stayed at her sides, rather than reaching for the other woman, and her sharp teeth felt no urge to bite or tear. "No, I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anyone," she repeated. Anyone else, anyway. That she felt regret for her actions, pain for what was lost, anxiety for what was yet to come, was all true. That there was no one she wanted to hurt, though? An untruth, something they'd become exceptionally comfortable with in recent years. There was exactly one woman alive who Shinobu Yaguchi wished to see the complete, ruthless destruction of, that she could never again ruin the life of another.

At Sonia's direction, Shinobu took a seat in the sand, entirely unbothered by any further mussing of her clothes. Ripped and untidy as they were, sitting in the sand would hardly do anything worth commenting on. The canned coffee only lasted a few seconds more, before it was set aside, empty. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was, but perhaps that was just another form of hurting herself - choosing to ignore those important warning signs. Vaguely, Shinobu remembered that the guards were supposed to carry water with them, given how Shinobu had already passed out in the heat once before, but they imagined that those assigned to watch them had every reason to 'forget' to do so.

"I'm not in the business of complaining about things, Nevermind-san," she murmured once Sonia had sat down beside her. "I deserve this treatment, anyway, and it would be disrespectful to the dead to whine about clothes, or about not being given ointment for burns." What right did they have to be unsatisfied? It was their lot in life to accept the unacceptable, anyway, and with so much practice, this situation shouldn't have been too difficult. Anything she had to complain about at this point was just an expression of her own weakness.

But explaining fishing, at least, was something that she could do without much trouble. "It's not too difficult," she murmured. "The lure's attached like this, and so long as it doesn't break off, it doesn't need to be changed." Without looking to Sonia Nevermind, still cagey about properly meeting her gaze, she worked her fingers over the reel, showing how it would be spun to tighten the line. "When there's a bite, the intent is to alternate between pulling with the rod, to draw the fish closer, then tightening the line so it can't move further away, until you've managed to bring it to you." Of course there was no reason for a princess to know those sorts of things, and it was not necessary for her to participate, save for her request to do so.

"Admittedly, these circumstances in particular are not ideal," Shinobu mumbled as she set down the rod, taking the lure in hand. "The fish escape more often then not, as the hooks aren't barbed, and they've been artificially dulled." Slowly, she pushed her thumb against the point, watching it push against her skin without breaking it. "For my safety, I suppose." Not that it mattered, if the way she abruptly slit her finger across it with only the faintest flinch was any indication. A few drops of blood dripped onto the sand as Shinobu frowned. "If I have any complaint, I suppose it's that. I'm capable of drawing my own blood with any number of objects, so to keep me from proper hooks, or knives, or exercise equipment, out of a misplaced and paternalistic sense of looking out for my well-being, isn't necessary."

The sleeve of her blazer cleaned the blood from the hook, before the rod was held out for Sonia to take. "You can simply cast it as it is. The tide will carry the line, so there's no need to exert yourself by attempting to cast for distance." Once Sonia was set up with things, and seemed to be able to handle the rod on her own, they leaned back, palms pressed into the sand. Talking about fishing had been an easy distraction - something to fill the air rather than talk about herself or her situation - but now it was back to the earlier conversation, wasn't it?

"My experience is routine, I suppose, so there's not much to say about it," they started. "I eat alone most mornings, then come to fish, then typically eat alone in the evenings, before being locked in my cabin for the night." A quiet shrug. "And there's little reason to feel any joy. That, too, would be disrespectful. Only a monster would be able to feel any happiness, or desire things for itself, after doing something so awful." She was monstrous, perhaps, but trying very hard to no longer be a monster. If there was something she could do to make up for what was done, she'd do so in a heartbeat, but it was the unfortunate truth that no one, and nowhere, wanted her.

Shinobu sat up, one knee pulled into her body as she gloomily rested her chin on it. "And for the future, there's no purpose in me thinking about it. I've been told discussions are ongoing, and that I might be summoned in the future, but I imagine Japan has no desire to house me again." Understandably so. With the people making such a decision the replacements for people she'd killed, how could they trust she wouldn't repeat her wretched, violent actions? "I have no future, Nevermind-san. There's a high chance I'll die on this island, one way or another."

Sonia smiled faintly at Murasame's explanation. It didn't pain her, it simply brought about the unavoidable fact that she knew it. She knew it all too well: the crowd that had amassed for Ji-yeon Iida's concert (though that was partially her fault, when word had gotten out that Princess Sonia of Novoselic was in attendance: Ji-yeon was right to hate her for that one). And who could forget the Great Valentine's Day Riot. The energy brought on by frantic girls in the Hope's Peak courtyard had made the often bitter cold day warm, with heightened excitement and nerves. She'd pressed her own box of chocolates for Shinobu into Anzu Tachibana's hands that day, insisting she hadn't wanted to be trampled by the swelling crowd that seemed to multiply by the minute. But a part of her had pushed the task onto Anzu because she would not, could not, face the truth: that she was in the process of being an embarrassment to the Novoselic Royal Family and her country.

She'd had no interest in presenting such intricate chocolates to a boy. Instead, they'd been designed, crafted, packaged, and addressed to a girl, the flavors of bitter cocoa, matcha, and spicy cinnamon conveying what her words could not: I see you. I understand you. Please let me care about you, just as you are.

It had never come to fruition, of course. Shinobu herself had seen to that when she cut her out of her life entirely. And it never would. But there were things about a person that one could never forget, no matter how much Junko Enoshima tried to twist and warp them into a shell of their former self.

"We will be fine, thank you," She replied with a nod. It was nothing Murasame needed to know. Or anyone, really: so much of her life had died in The Tragedy. Her freedom. Chiaki Nanami. Any hope of shaping her life even somewhat on her own terms. Everything regarding her existence now was to nurture and protect the monarchy: sacrifices had to be made, her happiness being one of, in her opinion at least, the most prominent. Another truth no one needed to know: this wasn't about her. Nothing would, truly, be about her ever again.

But she could make a difference in Shinobu's future. The canned coffee would be a start, the key coming next, despite the other woman's protests at releasing her from her chains. "Yaguchi-san," Sonia spoke gently, "Do you want to hurt me right now? No?" She fit the key into the lock and turned it swiftly, hearing the mechanics inside spring free before the collar itself fell apart. Sonia caught the pieces in her hands, tossing them aside on the sand. "Then you are not going to hurt me, or anyone else. Remaining locked and caged up like an animal hardly fosters trust, and acceptance, and in time, forgiveness. I may not know you well now, Yaguchi Shinobu-san, but I would be hard pressed to believe that you are not consumed with feelings of regret, of pain, of plenty of other awful things. But wanting to harm anyone right now? That is not one of them. Now please, do sit and make yourself comfortable as I pass out the other beverages."

She'd ensured there had been something for everyone, that they had choices besides just water. That had given her a bargaining chip, which had been Sonia's intention all along: to try to begin putting Shinobu at ease, and ensure both the Future Foundation and her own staff would give as much distance as they could for her to associate with the former Remnants of Despair. This had bought her a space of several dozen meters, Shinobu's guard and her team choosing to take up residence on a few benches while Sonia herself, paying no mind to her expensive attire, sat right down in the sand, parasol in one hand, and a bottle of milk tea in the other. She'd even removed her espadrilles, allowing the warm sand to seep between her toes. Something Sonia smiled at, as she balanced her parasol in one hand and her drink in the other.

"Ahh...that is much better," She sighed, content. "Yes, I wanted to know about your life here. What you are experiencing, what you dislike and your concerns, and if there are joys and things you adore here, those as well. You see, I would like to help you if I am able, but I cannot feasibly do such a thing if I do not come to know you, and hear from you directly about the state of things and what you would like in the future."

 A sip of her tea, and Sonia stared out into the never-ending kilometers of deep blue sea. Maybe in another lifetime, it would've been easy to forget the state of the world in a place like this. Something someone once might have described as paradise. But even on beautiful islands surrounded by ocean as far as the eye could see, the weight of The Tragedy, regret, and responsibility weighed heavily on everyone. That much, Sonia grasped already. "But if it is not too much of an imposition," She continued, securing the cap on her drink before setting it beside her. "Would you mind terribly if we kept ourselves occupied during our conversation? You see, I have never learned how to fish before: I never had the patience for it growing up, when my father tried to teach me. Would you mind showing me how, so we might fish as we talk?" Truthfully, it was something Sonia didn't even know Shinobu could do: feeding the koi on her family's estate was one thing, but using a proper line and lure was another. If she'd known all those years ago, she would've asked for a lesson then, sharing lighthearted memories of summers past at one of her family's country estates and the failed attempts to show the Princess of Novoselic how to catch fish. There was no time like the present, and it wasn't as if Masaru Yaguchi's request or Ji-yeon Iida's firmly worded warning were in opposition to a fishing lesson.