🛸 2 // JOURNAL ENTRY

[mwehehe]

Sender: Futaba Sakura
To: Everyone
Subject: Question


You ever just.

Lock yourself in your room for like a month and forget what time is? I mean, I guess I ate at least, and I didn't just fall asleep for a whole freakin' month like after the Medjed thing but

like

a whole. Month. Least it was fruitful.

Which uh, leads me to my actual question: who has some technology here with 'em? Phones, laptops, things that require a power source cause I think I figured out some dream crystal things, but it might require a more... ambient dream energy. Dunno how THAT is gonna be harnessed yet, but I need to know my many sleepless nights and curryless days weren't for nothing. Testing on my own stuff is fine, but knowing it's not just a fluke is even better.

Comments

[herewardbound]

He was silent, for several seconds, listening as she spoke... and nodded. "If you're serious about that... then it's a deal."

Something in the back of his mind burned, and the sense he'd gotten a few times before, here, flared to life-

Like something he'd been missing. Something that had been lost. The ghost of a voice he could barely remember whispering-

I am thou, thou art I...
Justice.

It hurt, because while he knew he'd been played, left to be a pawn in a game he never could've understood, there'd still been a choice, somewhere along the line, to chase Shido's shadow instead of his own way. That starting on that path had been a mistake to begin with, and everything else, whether he'd had a choice in it or not- had followed from that. It hurt... but that didn't have to be a bad thing.

"While we're on this... train wreck of a conversation, anything you'd like to get out of your system? I'm offering a one-time promise of no payback if you'd like to take a swing, say something to twist the knife, or whatever. Nobody would argue I hadn't earned it."

[mwehehe]

"Of course I mean that, I'm not gonna just let you go power-hungry and somehow create a Palace we can't infiltrate to stop. That'd be ridiculous." Futaba huffs some, almost appalled that he'd even suggest that she'd be remotely okay with that.

His offer comes at a surprise though. She had looked away in her huff, but she's back to looking at him, as if really contemplating it, scrutinizing—

"I've thought about it before," she says quietly. "But what would it accomplish? I'd have a hand that hurts, you'd probably have a sore nose, and mom would still be gone. I can blame you, but neither does that bring mom back. It's not even completely your fault, so I can't place the blame solely on you. If anything, I'd want to yell at Shido the most."

Truly, if she said anything really terrible, it wouldn't accomplish much except for making her feel worse than before. Futaba is quiet for a handful of moments, finally taking in a deep breath and speaking.

"I don't forgive you, but I do accept your apology. I can probably forgive you eventually, but it's going to take a lot of time, sorry. Just... as long as you give me a reason to trust you, I can get over it." She could get over a lot of things quickly, but this was a very deep pain that she still could have nightmares over— it was one of the first she had when she was here, in fact. But Futaba had been healing, slow as it was, so perhaps this could help be a balm as well.

[herewardbound]

He nodded, quietly. That was... fair. "You don't have to explain yourself to me. I get it."

He inhaled. "My mother... Shido made her life hell. Not directly- he never cared enough to try to do it directly. But... in all the ways that matter, he killed her. Even if he came to me on hands and knees, if he admitted all of it, begged for forgiveness, swore to be a better man- I couldn't forgive him. So... I get it. I-"

He stumbled, over his words. There was a lot to be said. A lot that could be said, and some things he found himself wanting to say, but...
"I'll leave you alone."

[mwehehe]

"He made a lot of lives hell. ...sorry about your mom, she didn't deserve that, and neither did you when he killed her." Futaba is genuine when she says that, because Shido killing moms seemed to be something she'd have two nickels for, and while that ain't much that's just weird.

"You don't have to, it's fine."

...huh. Weird she'd say that, but...

"...we can probably be friends. It'll be weird for a while, but it wouldn't be... terrible, if you wanna be friends."

[herewardbound]

He laughed, but it was a wet, half-choked sound. "Are you sure about that? I'm... really bad at it."

Possibly the understatement of the year.

[mwehehe]

"Yeah. But like I said, I won't go easy on you. I can use my Persona here and I have no problem using it like an actual UFO to beam you up and dropping you on your ass."

...look, she would and she wouldn't feel bad about it at all if it happened.

"Plus, your phone is only at like, 40%. Do you really wanna leave it with me?"

[herewardbound]

He actually snorted. "Oh, what else could you possibly dig up? A fake-ass food blog and a handful of texts? I'll come back and get it when you're done."

[mwehehe]

"...did you really run a food blog? What the hell were the posts even about?! Did you post about Leblanc at least?"

The most important thing here, clearly.

[herewardbound]

"Don't remind me. It was something one of Shido's publicists recommended. Standard idol culture bullshit, maintain a social media presence, cultivate an image of liking trendy cafes and crap like that." He made a face. "I never would've posted about Leblanc. I actually fucking liked Leblanc."

Though the idea gave him pause. "Although... now I do somewhat regret it. Can you imagine the average 'Detective Prince' fangirl trying to order that kind of basic bitch drink? From your father? It might almost have been worth getting myself kicked out."

[mwehehe]

"I don't think Sojiro would even let you order something fancy unless it was just a premium bean. Nothing fancy or frothy or super sweet like at big chains or something. He'd probably kick you out."

Sojiro was pretty serious about his coffee, and a frappuccino? In his establishment?! That was ridiculous. "Any fangirls would probably get kicked out anyway, I'm pretty sure the only people our age that went in there were the Phantom Thieves. The old people that frequent the place would probably get mad about too many of us."

[herewardbound]

"I don't get it! If you're going to order coffee, order coffee. If you don't like coffee, order hot chocolate, or tea, or something. Your half-caf soy half-ristretto misto with three vanilla pumps is holding up the fucking line and I have a train to catch in twenty minutes! Who the hell does that?!"