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[dormition]

Hi. I'm awake again.

I keep missing class, but they still want me to apply for university. Is anyone else a senior this year?

What has everyone else been up to?

Riku, do you want to coordinate our costumes for the masquerade? We can get something from the store I work at.

Comments

[rassera]

[Kaneda waits, expecting the silence that followed the question. It was a little hard--testing that patience of his as he tries not to urge the question on. Because the longer he doesn't get an answer, the worse the situation seems to be.

But when he answers, finally, those dark eyes flick up to meet the blue ones of Minato.]

We've always been together.


[It's soft, and really not a response to what Minato said, but it's the first thing that comes to mind.]

[dormition]

[He doesn't think it's unrelated at all. The angles of his face soften with empathy.]

Then... you're both struggling with that. I don't know what happened to pull you apart, but it doesn't really matter... with that pain. You both feel it anyway. Don't you?

[rassera]

...

[He doesn't answer, but the lack of an answer is telling enough to what it is--It's definitely hurting Kaneda on the inside, no matter how tough of an exterior he gives both physically and emotionally.

He's tired.

He's exhausted, really. And the worst part is, he's forgotten how to stop. Either that, or he can't afford to.]

...Yeah. But you keep going anyway.

[dormition]

Of course.

Someone just said to me earlier... "the past is always running away". We're not the type to run away, are we? So we have to keep going forward.

[Minato sounds musing and thoughtful, not bogged down by the inherent tragedy and exhaustion in both of their stories. You have to be willful to meet your fate at all gracefully.]

At least we're not alone, [he says as a gentle reminder.]

[rassera]

Guess unless we start to move, we're going nowhere fast.

[There's something to be said for your resolve, Minato. You always feel like you have such a grasp on everything in that calm, collected manner.]

...

[A bite of that piece of food he was fiddling with.]

We can't be in a place like this, yeah?

[dormition]

[The secret, of course, is that he's as lost as anyone else, just in very different, unusual ways. How to accept attachment and truly feel it, how to understand the subtleties and nuances of social interaction... how to be looked after instead of being the responsible one... even just how to articulate his own thoughts, and feeling safe enough to voice them. All things Minato has no clue how to do.

But dealing with tragedy and moving forward, that he has down pat. He finds a lot of solace in being the stable grounding point for his friends.]

Well... we could, if we shut everyone out... it's possible. [He's done it himself, if before Iwatodai.] But there's no reason to. As long as we're going somewhere together, it's better than staying in one place, alone. It's funny... that for a long time, I didn't realize that.