generalflirt | ~♥TWENTY-NINE♥~

~♥TWENTY-NINE♥~

[Masaomi has been dreadfully ill since, well... since about Nagisa's party and going to look for a starfish the night before. Since then, well... he passed out there, barely made it home, and had been nursed ever since. He was slightly delirious though all this, and he relied on Saki to get him through things while working on autopilot. He wasn't able to really move much himself until about the 29th or so. After that you might have seen him going in and out of the kitchen. But had he not seen Saki as much somehow...?

This pattern lasts until he wakes up about three PM on the 3rd. He's finally feeling better, and is able to pick up the journal, flip through things, and then go check on Saki and... she's not there. He searches the apartment, is it just him or is it more empty. Finally, he goes to make a filtered message to her to see if she's around...

And. She's not. The filter breaks.

She's gone.

Gone.

He got back his cell phone a while ago - he hasn't opened it, really, but after Fray gave it back to him the only thing he used it for was that thing with the texts and "Tanaka Taro." But. He flips it open to see Saki's picture in there. His grip tightens. They never even talked and she's gone.. completely gone. He begins to shake. The rage lasts a while and he tries to calm down enough to make a little post saying she's gone. and finally... two hours later, he thinks he is]

[Voice]

Everyone. Ah, I - I... [...No, he can't do it. He can't be calm]

Son of bitch! No! [And then he throws the cell phone clean across the room. It hits the wall with a loud sound - it's not broke, not quite, but the battery pops out of the back and the screen cracks. But who cares. Now, now? His voice is pained beyond anything people have heard in Luceti since about when Mikado was sent home, but this pain is different - Mikado's was cold fury, this one is erratic fury and sorrow and... well yeah]

Why now?! [Voice break] Why- dammit, [He grits his teeth] Dammit!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[There's more that Shikamaru is still unsure about here, but Gold makes a good point. And Masaomi...

Shikamaru shifts his hands up behind his head with a nod. This is what he wanted to see out of Masaomi, after all. Or at least something like it.]

[At this point, Gold stands up now, proceeding to slowly circle around to the other side of Masaomi, hands folded behind his head.]

And right now, what can you do?

I can gather myself some comrades. ["nakama"] Ones who I can trust for anything, should it come to this or that.

There a test to pass before you say anything more specific?

What do you plan to do once you have these comrades? You got some goal in mind? [Gold's giving you a test right now, Masaomi. One that "Taro Tanaka" failed, as far as he was concerned.]

To start, survival.

[Lightly.]

[Given that answer...

Shikamaru raises one hand, palm out.]

Back up. If that's just to start, I think the better question to start with is what you're preparing for.

[He slips his hand behind his head again, watching Masaomi carefully. He has a strange way of doing things, and normally Shikamaru's content to go along with that. But that doesn't work here - not if they're expected to take it seriously.]

We need more than vague answers here.

You said it yourself, Kida. You want people you can trust to be behind you. [Gold would like to think Masaomi trusts him, just as he trusts him.]

...So how about showing some of that trust?

Dollars might be forming here. That's a gang from back home - I need to be ready to fight if it comes to that. What's more, consider all the experiments that go on. I'm seen the Squares come up before - like at Halloween. There's a lot of dangerous elements which are within out control to combat.

Aa. [It sounds troublesome. Things with gangs tend to be, and messy to boot. His tone becomes more pensive.] They're that much of a threat, then?

[Just like Gold thought. Masaomi wants to get these "Yellow Scarves" started in Luceti.]

To you, they're a threat. ...And you want help to be able to defend against them.

Not just them, but that's part of it, yeah.

It sounds like you're thinking about starting something up - at least if 'defense' and 'survival' are only part of your goal.

[And you're free to correct him if he's wrong on that, Masaomi.]

I can get preparing for the worst, but I don't know if that's the best response.

Enough with the secrets, dude. [He's staring straight at Masaomi now.]

For months, you've been keepin' secrets from everyone. But if you're gonna talk about "trust", it's time to come clean. This is the first time I've heard about these "Scarves" and "Squares" from you, so what else're you keepin' secret?

Ah? ...Do you want to know?

[and now he glances... at Shikamaru]

[His response isn't immediate, but he nods.]

It'd be good to hear.

Then it's unanimous. [Let's hear it, Masaomi.]

[...Fine. he closes hsi eyes and when he opens them, he focuses intently on explotaro. Saying all this in an even voice. An emotionless voice. Critical. Objective]

I moved to Ikebukuro when my parents split. I was eleven then, and in elementary school. By the time I was thirteen, I'd dyed my hair [he tugs on a lock briefly. This lighting doesn't show it well, but he is in need of a new dye job. Much of his roots are dark brown now] and I'd somehow managed to gather a lot of like minded people around me. A color gang, we called ourselves the Yellow Scarves. At the time... well, I thought it was just how things were done in Tokyo. Gangs of middle school kids, fighting stupid little turf wars until the cops showed up. That's what me and the Scarves did then, all wearing our colors. Against Green, Red, ... Blue. All of 'em.

But eventually... things changed. Between us an another color gang called the Blue Squares.

[Escalation. This is the part he could put together for himself, from the moment Masaomi referred to himself as the General of the Yellow Scarves in the past tense.

These Blue Squares have been mentioned enough times that he can bet they had something to do with that.

He said it was dangerous. It wouldn't have been just a stupid fight between kids by that point - older kids and adults would start getting involved, and they'd fight harder.]

You got in over your head.

[So this is what Masaomi's been hiding from him... From everyone. Could the fight Masaomi and Mikado had months back have something to do with all this, then?

Almost as if continuing off from Shikamaru's statement.]

And things went downhill from there, huh.

Mm. [To both accusations. He looks up at the ceiling, taking his eyes off explotaro but not putting it on to anyone else. How shall he put this...]

That bastard, Izumii - he lead the Squares. The fights got more brutal. We didn't even know what happened, really, but suddenly we were being hospitalized. It was around then I met Saki and... ah. Someone else, that is, and things started to turn around. We started to get fed information about where to fight them and with what. How to do it, who to do it with, when... Our luck was finally turning around, but then they just kept coming.

...Until Luceti, I figured that was what you called a war.

[Well that finally explains what Saki's disappearance had to do with bringing this all on, sort of.

Rooted to his spot, Shikamaru's focus remains fixed on Masaomi's movements, trying to get a read on him. He's looking at anything but them right now, not even for a blank look. But what would usually be a sign of dishonesty translates here to something more akin to... shame, maybe.]

[Gold keeps his gaze fixed on Masaomi, tracking his every movement.]

This other person... Was it that Izaya fellow? [Gold's heard enough about Izaya from his chat with Shizuo to know the guy's no good and that getting involved in something like that might be right up his alley.]

Ah.

Mmmhm.

[He'd wondered about that - he said Izaya was an informant when they talked.]

That explains some things. [A couple things. He asked Shikamaru if he was an informant too, back when they worked together on that first draft. He pauses, then adds:] He's not in Luceti anymore.

[Which they might already know. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, yadda yadda. Still a good thing, either way.]

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