maskormenacelogs | The world moves faster than I knew

[ After a long, long night looking after Kazu's everything, Kururu's first priority is finding a quiet corner to curl up in to catch at least a little bit of sleep.

Her second (after waking to the comm's quiet connection still in her mind, the unfamiliar whisper of nanites under her skin, and a dozen other indications that no, yesterday really wasn't just an insane dream) is also to check on Kazu, switch out the no-longer-cold packs for fresh ones, and to make sure he's still taking anti-inflammatories regularly.

Her third is to seek out Yayoi. ]

Do you think . . . could we go for a walk?

[Yayoi's been using her moment of peace to stare at her file again. She doesn't even seem to be reading it, only looking—as if confirming that this is reality and she is holding it in her hands.

She jumps a bit when Kururu speaks.]

Ah—a walk? Um . . . sure. If you want.

Maybe for groceries? It might be nice to have dinner together.

[ She's already heading for the door, something heavier than fatigue tensing her shoulders. ]

. . . Yeah.

[She shuts her file and stuffs it into her pack, grabbing her A-T on the way to the door. It can't hurt to get a little light practice in while they're chatting.]

Yeah, that's not a bad idea.

Something with a lot of protein. It'll help Kazu-kun recover faster.

[ She waits until Yayoi's ready, not really finishing that thought until they're both walking away from the house. ]

. . . at least . . . it will help, for now.

[It doesn't take her long, barely 30 seconds to tug them on and make sure the laces are tightened correctly, muttering some vague agreement on the way out. It isn't until that last statement that she actually looks at Kururu, all attention held on her.]

For now . . . ?

[ She nods, flipping through a map app on her communicator as they start out.

The wind picks up, just a stray gust, tugging at their hair. ]

Do you remember when Akito-kun and Agito-kun were in the hospital?

How could I forget about that?

That's . . . the kind of thing that happens, when a King inherits regalia. When they overuse them, or when the king's body and the regalia are out of tune.

I've been out of the country for a while, but in all that time . . . Kazu-kun's never had anyone look at his A-T, has he.

No . . . I don't think so. [She pauses, worrying at her lip with her teeth.]

. . . How bad is it?

It's not good. The last adjustments . . . I think they were mine, from when I disassembled the first Storm regalia. When I gave all the core parts back to Ikki-kun.

So all this time, his A-T haven't been adjusted for him at all. Not even for him before his injuries.

[ Her smile doesn't reach her eyes. It doesn't reach anywhere.]

It's been a year. And then he used his Infinity Atmosphere like that.

Oh—oh. [It's a strangled little sound, thick with understanding of just how awful the situation really must be. And they don't even have Ine here to help this time.]

So, he's— What do we do?

He'll be okay this time.

[ Her fingers twist together, weaving and untangling in meaningless patterns. ]

He's been really careful, so the buildup has been slow. And even if it was a few hours between when it happened and when we found him, it wasn't more than that. Ice for another day, and good meals and a lot of rest, and he'll be okay.

That's . . . this time, though.

We can't let it happen again.

That's why I wanted to talk to you.

My team . . . normally, even if something happens to a King's tuner, we'll still look after them. So I wouldn't mind . . .

[ It's a weird thing to say, to even consider. Doubly so in that she'd never even tuned Ikki directly. But it was Kazu, it was Ikki's best friend, and they'd probably been part of each other's sounds forever.

And Makigai-sensei . . . it would be really hard for her, if they brought home a second crippled Flame King. ]

I'd help, if I could. But Kazu-kun . . .

All he would say is, "I don't need a tuner." Like Ikki-kun did, before. Like something really bad happened to him.

Of course he did. [Of course he did! As if that was anything approaching a reasonable thing to say. As if he really thought everyone was just going to sit by and let him slowly wreck himself like that.]

Emiri will never forgive me if I let him get away with that.

They're all really stubborn, aren't they? Kogarasumaru's Kings.

I think . . . it might be better, if it's you and Ikki-kun talking to him. I can tune him, and I can give him the parts he'd need to not use the Flame Regalia at all. But both of those things are ones he won't accept, right now.

. . . I wouldn't really accept the second one, either.

But like this, he'll run until his legs burn out. And even if that's what he wants . . . that's when teammates are best. For not giving up on you, even if you want to give up on yourself.

He wants to run again. He's said it, and he needs to. And he will, just because you're both here.

That's a start.

If they weren't so stubborn they wouldn't have lasted as members of Kogarasumaru.

[She huffs, combing her fingers through her pigtails, tugging gently at the ends.]

. . . I can talk to Ikki-kun. We could both talk to him, and then he'll do whatever he wants like he always does. It'll probably work out.

If all else fails, we could put the SC on Ikki-kun. We'd at least get some readings that way.

But if it's that, we should probably wait until Kazu-kun's body is a little more healed.

[ A touching scene plays out, in her mental space, of Ikki and Kazu holding hands, looking into each other's eyes.

"You've always been the one closest to me. That's why . . . "

And Ikki elbow drops Kazu into the bed.

"Submit to this, Kazu!"

Mm . . . yeah. They would definitely have to wait until he was healed. ]

Do you really think he'd . . . [Go through with it?

The question fades out before she can even finish speaking. This was Ikki. The boy known for stripping in public. Of course he'd go through with it if he decided that was the best way to help.

. . . Yayoi can only nod in agreement in the end.]

That's . . . another reason I wanted to talk to you first.

Let's leave that as a really really really last resort. For Kazu-kun's sake.

[ Her pocket chirps, cheerily informing them, "You have arrived at your destination." ]

Mm . . . Maybe I'll try talking to Kazu-kun myself first.

[Into the store then, with only a brief pause to grab a basket to take along.]

I don't think Ikki-kun would jump to that first, but I don't think it's a bad idea, either.

[ It's so different, this American grocery store—it's huge, and the produce is all jumbled together rather than being carefully stacked and protectively cushioned.

There's barely any fish, barely any seafood at all, really, but the entire back wall is dedicated to meat. And not thinly sliced strips, either . . . there's steaks and planks of ribs and roasts the size of their heads. Turkeys so big they wouldn't even fit in a Japanese oven.

Kururu stares. ]

This . . . it's . . .

It's really America, isn't it.

It's . . .

[Is this really what America is like? This constant feast?]

These . . . These steaks are a meal by themselves.

We could make sukiyaki for the entire house.

[ Even with Ikki's appetite. Even with TWO Ikkis' appetites.

She picks up a package, puzzling through the English label. ]

It's not even that expensive . . .

Nonah 005

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