hikaru catchall

[exercisms]

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[exercisms]

Hikaru-san.

[He hasn't been there too long, but he probably did stand there awkwardly for a little while before approaching.]

What are you doing?

[heartablaze]

Finding rocks. [See? Rocks! Here they are! It is a very neat little pile.] I wanna write names on them and put them near the shrine in the inn. The stream makes them nice and smooth, so I think they'll look nice.

You wanna help? I had something I wanted to ask you, anyway.

[exercisms]

Mm. That sounds nice. I'll help.

[He'll start looking for rocks, too, but will look up at her at the last comment.]

What is it?

[heartablaze]

I promised you I'd try to remind you, and I wanna keep my word. [She straightens up, a few extra rocks in her hands.]

Do you remember what you promised your brother, Shigeo-kun?

[exercisms]

That's kind of you.

[He brightens up at that.]

. . . I do remember. I promised him that I would change.

[heartablaze]

[She beams. Yay, he has remembered! Sure hope this wasn't what he forgets in two days oh no!]

Yeah! Okay, good. Next time I see you, I'll ask again, okay?

[exercisms]

Yeah! Do you remember Umi-chan and Fuu-chan?

[Her friends!]

You didn't write them in your book.

[heartablaze]

...Eh?

[She looks up from where she's leaned over, tilting her head in confusion.]

Do I remember... what, Shigeo-kun? I didn't hear you.

[exercisms]

Oh no. . .

[Her friends. Oh no!]

I wrote it down in your book. Your friends, the ones you didn't want to forget.

[heartablaze]

You... did?

[This is the first she's heard of it?]

My book was empty this morning, Shigeo-kun... I mean, outside of what Hansa-san and I wrote...

Maybe I just missed it? I've got a lot of friends, but...

I... don't think I ever told you about any of them. Did I?

[exercisms]

You. . . you told me about two of your friends that you didn't want to forget.

[But the book didn't help :( Oh no.]

[heartablaze]

...Did I?

[Her brow furrows. Who... else was left? Who would she have ever asked someone to remember like that?

Slowly, she starts listing off on her fingers.]

Clef, Presea, Ferio, Ascot, Caldina, Rafaga, Emeraude, Zagato, Lantis, Primera, Eagle... um...

It wasn't any of those?

[exercisms]

[Shaking his head, increasingly dismayed. He's silent for a long time.]

Hikaru-san, is it okay if I tell you about some of my friends?

[heartablaze]

[oh no mob don't look sad.... :(]

Yeah! You said you're a second-year, right?

[exercisms]

Mm.

[But he's not going to tell her about his friends from school. He loves them, but they're not his most important people.]

Um. Their names are Umi-chan and Fuu-chan.

[Can she understand him when he says that?]

[heartablaze]

Umi-chan... Fuu-chan...

[Said as though the sounds are foreign.]

Mm.... They're cute names! Are they girls at your school?

[exercisms]

They live in Tokyo! But when we get out of here, I'm going to go visit them there.

[Smiling just a little at that.]

Do you want to come meet them, then?

stares into the sun

[heartablaze]

Meet them?

[I mean, that sounds like fun! But hm.]

I don't know what that place is, though, Shigeo-kun... I think that's where Usagi-chan and Yoshizawa-chan might live, though? Oh, and Shiro-san, too.

[exercisms]

[Oh, hmm. Yikes.]

Where do you live?

[heartablaze]

Cefiro. [Said very confidently.] It's an important place to me.

[exercisms]

Well. . . we'll figure out a way for you to come visit us in Tokyo. If we can come here, it's possible!

I just really want you to meet them, because I think you'd get along with them.

[heartablaze]

Mm... I'd like that.

[She's started a little project with funnier shaped rocks on the shore - they won't work for what she needs for the shrine, but that doesn't mean she can't have a little fun with it. Right now it just looks kind of like the start of a box or something.]

Shigeo-kun, um...

Thank you. For... standing up for me a little during the trial. I know you shouldn't have had to do that.

[exercisms]

[Hikaru. . .

He continues picking up rocks, but he looks a little troubled.]

Vezda-san is not very tactful. He pushes too hard without thinking, and takes his feelings about things out on others.

[heartablaze]

Mmn.

I know he can get kind of angry really fast... but he wasn't wrong to ask what he did or anything.

[He didn't have proof that she was telling the truth, after all.]

I'm gonna try to talk to him later. I told him I would. I... think he'll still be mad, but...

I just didn't think telling something like that completely was a good idea. I didn't want to hide it, or that I used it... but I... I think bringing up anything more than that would have just made things even worse when we were supposed to be talking about Raven and Laine-san.

[exercisms]

I don't think he was wrong to ask, either. [He nods in agreement.] But it would have been wrong to spend time at trial on that, when we didn't have time. [So that's why he jumped in.]

But. . . [He's frowning.] I didn't really like hearing what Cervantes-san and Shiro-san said, either. People like that - kind people, who want to protect your feelings - sometimes even though they're kind, listening to people like that is the wrong thing to do.