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[kirijo]

placeholder, i'll deal with this later

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[ Text (backdated to the start of the month) - To Kotone, Yukari, Ken | Locked to Shinjiro ]

[kirijo]

Good afternoon, everyone.

I'm writing to inform you all that it will be Aragaki-san's birthday soon. Given that we celebrated Amada-kun's recently, I thought it might be best to share this with you so that we could plan for festivities of some kind.

[whatsamada]

Is it really? I didn't know his birthday was coming up so soon!

[kirijo]

It is indeed. August 11th.

[piercedyourheart]

wow that is really soon
shinjiro senpai seems like the kind of guy whod completely hate a party
or anything else that would make a big deal out of his birthday
maybe we could do something lowkey?

[kirijo]

A good idea. As you say, Aragaki-san isn't one for anything elaborate. He'd probably enjoy something more subdued.

[foolaround]

hmmmmmmm (ʃ⌣́,⌣́ƪ)(ʃ⌣́,⌣́ƪ)(ʃ⌣́,⌣́ƪ)
maybe we could just make a cake and order from that one place he likes?

nothing big, but it'll show we care, y'know?

[kirijo]

I think Aragaki-san would enjoy that. It's simple enough that he won't think we're making too much of a fuss out of it.

text; un: piercedyourheart

[piercedyourheart]

[ yukari feels, against all odds, good. really good. she and mitsuru's talk by the campfire while on their delivery quest helped put a lot of things from the last few months into perspective, chief among them how her self-imposed isolation left her powerless, uncertain. afraid. now that those invisible burdens are lifted, she feels as if she could do anything.

or almost anything. because no matter how much she tries engaging mitsuru or kotone in conversation, there's barely any response. neither one of them are in the same room for long, if they leave their respective rooms at all. the mood in the house has never been cheery (they've all seen too much, done too much for that), but this time despair is borderline tangible.

whatever happened while they went on their quest was bad. still, yukari decides to wait this out. maybe it's something they'd mend in time and god knows everyone was patient with her while she wallowed in her emotions. she has faith s.e.e.s.'s field leader and club president will work things out on their own.

that attitude lasts one week and a half. yukari can't spend another breakfast standing idly by as mitsuru and kotone eat in total silence and stare at their food or the floor rather than each other. she leaves the house for an errand, if only to escape the crushing atmosphere, and pulls out her phone when her head clears a little. ]

okay i cant do this anymore
ever since you and kotone went on that trip both of you have been acting weird
so whats up? what happened

[kirijo]

[ Within a few seconds the message is marked as 'seen,' but an actual response isn't as forthcoming. After several minutes the dancing '...' of someone typing appears in the corner of the screen, but that proves to be a false start as Mitsuru discards whatever she was attempting to say and the icon vanishes.

[ The pattern repeats itself several times before a reply actually materializes. ]

I barely understand it myself.

[piercedyourheart]

mitsuru that literally doesnt explain anything
if you two had an argument thats fine
arguments happen
but this feels bigger than that, you cant even be in the same room

[ a pause as yukari thinks of another way to tackle this. ]

what do you think happened at least

[kirijo]

It wasn't an argument. Not exactly, at least.

[ She isn't trying to be obtuse this it's just ... difficult. It was painful to dwell on, much less discuss it and attempt ot parse through it all.

[ But, by now, she's also learned that simply wallowing in misery accomplishes nothing, so ...

[ She takes a deep breath and begins typing. ]

After we made camp at the end of our first day of travel, we had an opportunity to sit down and talk. To clear the air between us as you and I had.

At first that conversation went well. We apologized for worrying each other. Kotone admitted how much she's been struggling with the reality of her own death, and how difficult she finds discussing her problems.

[ Putting that into words brings the memory of the conversation's end rushing back to the forefront of her mind. She can see Kotone's wounded, heartbroken expression as clearly as she would if they were still standing there, and it dredges up a fresh wave of guilt and self-loathing. ]

Then, she brought up a [ She gets hung up here, and retypes the sentence several times before landing on: ] a previous discussion. One from before our final battle with Nyx.

[piercedyourheart]

[ the dots start and stop several times during mitsuru's messages. based on what she's saying, they should have come back feeling as rejuvenated as yukari did, but clearly many things had gone awry. ]

and the discussion from before nyx was....
bad? or okay but hard to talk about

[kirijo]

[ Mitsuru tries to explain it, but that very quickly devolves into typing, deleting, and re-wording the same paragraph of text over and over again.

[ How does one even begin to explain something like this ...?

[ Yukari knew some of it, of course. She had told her about how trapped she had felt by the expectations that came with her family name, how she felt as though the things that she could contribute were ignored on the basis of her sex, the reservations she had about her engagement and how thoroughly repugnant she found her fiance when he showed his true colors ...

[ But telling her that she had asked Kotone to run away with her? Explaining the feelings that drove that decision, even before she understood what they were?

[ Eventually, she just presses the backspace key and deletes all that she'd written. ]

I don't want to discuss this over text, Yukari. Can you come here, please?

let's saaaaaaaaaay october 25

[piercedyourheart]

so i know theres no actual halloween here but people were kind of excited for it anyway
and i think theres a concert that day too
did you want to do anything? jeez did we even get the chance celebrate last year

[ going to tartarus and fighting scary monsters is kind of like getting in the holiday spirit. right? ]

Re: let's saaaaaaaaaay october 25

[kirijo]

I don't believe that we did. I'm certainly not opposed to celebrating it this year, though I haven't made any plans as of yet.

[piercedyourheart]

me neither
but kotone keeps sending texts like "🥺 dress up with me" and showing me costume ideas for three people
so your plans may be getting made for you

[kirijo]

I appreciate the forewarning. Dare I ask what ideas she has floated?

[piercedyourheart]

[ as a reply, mitsuru receives several screenshots of she and kotone's text chain. there's Legally Distinct naruto and sailor moon, m&m costumes, pictures of visual kei bands.... ]

shes had a few ideas

[kirijo]

That's quite the colorful spread.

[ Though, to be perfectly honest, that Kotone would come up with such a variety of costumes that she herself would never think to wear isn't exactly surprising. ]

I'm not certain how I feel about all of these possibilities ... but I do like the idea of the three of us sharing a theme. I've never gotten to do something like that before.

[Action] The Missing Mindful Quest

[toasterdevotion]

[ Quests... they had intrigued Aigis, of course, so she decided to tackle whichever seemed most important. The problem? What she deemed to be the most important quest, involved infiltrating a spa. She's not opposed to going to one, but it would simply be for the experience... as she doubts that there are any spas that can provide a treatment that would be effective in any way on her.

So... it might be difficult to justify staying there long enough to investigate, unless...

Mitsuru happened to be nearby, and Aigis needed someone to accompany her. Thankfully, Mitsuru obliged, and so there they were.

Checking in was simple enough... Aigis could pass off fairly easily after all with the right clothing, but then as they entered the spa building proper... ]

Eh?

[ Not that it was going to be a problem, but it was now very clear that she's... a tad robotic. ]

Mitsuru-san!?

[ She turns around immediately to check on Mitsuru, and...

Well, seems like the situation is shared. ]

[kirijo]

[ It was indeed, and to say that Mitsuru was not happy about it would be a dramatic statement.

[ Her initial reaction is the expected shock and confusion, and she quickly tries to cover herself to preserve some tiny shred of modesty. Surprised as she might be, though, Mitsuru is still Mitsuru. Her mind starts collating possibilities, trying to gain an understanding of her predicament so she can regain control of it. ]

S-some sort of enchantment ...

[ It affected both of them as soon as they entered, so that was most likely what triggered the spell. Whether or not there was some way to undo it was less obvious ... exiting through the same door might reverse it, but she was not going to walk out into the street as bare as the day she was born on a 'might'. ]

[toasterdevotion]

[ Aigis is still trying to get used to how many crazy things can happen in this place due to magic. Aigis is, expectedly, not affected much by the situation... but she is sympathetic toward Mitsuru, who is affected. ]

I-I see... however, all things aside, you are alright?

[ Nothing else aside from the sudden exposure, right? ]

You can hide behind me, if you wish.

[ Which may not be ideal, but it's something, right?

[kirijo]

[ She appreciates the offer, but the situation being what it was, it did little to assuage her anger. Still, they had come here for a reason ... ]

I'm alright.

[ As alright as she can be, at least. Completing their mission and finding the one responsible so she could personally show them the error of their ways was motivation enough to keep her moving forward. ]

Though losing our weapons complicates things somewhat ...

[toasterdevotion]

Mm? I should still...

[ She holds up one of her loaded arms and performs a status check on her ammunition expecting to still be fully loaded... only to discover that she's completely empty. ]

A-Ah! Indeed, even my ammunition has disappeared...

[ She's suddenly much more visibly distressed, at least judging by how her body language suddenly changes from one of composure to a more nervous one. ]

[kirijo]

[ Mitsuru's feeling that same unease ... If the purveyors of the establishment are preying on their guests as the quest-giver believes, magically stripping patrons of their clothes and possessions like this makes strategic sense. It's easily played off as an eccentricity of a fae-run onsen to divert potential suspicion, but it also leaves their erstwhile targets as vulnerable as possible from the moment they enter the building.

[ She huffs, annoyed. She had been expecting traps of some sort, but she hadn't been expecting to find them until they were further inside.

[ Then the distress in Aigis's voice draws her out of her own head. ]

We still have our magic. [ Mitsuru says, voice firm and reassuring. ] We need to be on our guard, but we're not defenseless.