2025-09-03: Surface Pressure
- Cutscene: Surface Pressure
- Cast: Hazuki Nakao, Taro Nakata
- Where: Outside Gigolo Arcade, Akihabara, Tokyo
- OOC Date: 2025-09-03
- IC Date: July 11th, 2012
- Summary: Hazuki goes to the arcade and encounters the homunculized Taro... who knows she's been in the Atelier. After some threats, she manages to steal a Thread, his lucky bracelet, before escaping home. It's time to end this.
The day is turning into evening at Gigolo Arcade. Open 24/7, it's a popular time, and even so, Hazuki wants to calm down a bit after recent events. She needs to think, and to think, she needs to play.
Competition might be good.
She's walking towards the entrance when she spots him out of the corner of her eye. An average-looking boy, chubby, with dark hair and eyes. She knows exactly who he is, leaning there against the wall watching her, he raises his hand, a slow and stilted wave, clumsy in its movement.
"Ah, Nakao. Perfect timing. We need to talk."
His voice drips with ice and razors in Hazuki's mind, the uncanniness so clear, the lack of humanity so real.
"Nakata-kun..." Hazuki says with great tension, panic building. He hadn't been going to the arcade lately... so there's only one reason he's here. To lash out at her again.
Taro Nakata's smile rises, a toothy grin as he beckons her away from the doors. Against all precaution, Hazuki follows him down the street, towards a little patio for a cafe. He takes a seat, his eyes trailing to the other one for her to follow.
As she took a seat, she eyed his wrists, splayed across the table. One had a lucky 'bracelet' on it with a clasping lock. He'd rub it when he needed luck in the matches, which usually didn't work, but it was clearly special to him.
And then, she made eye contact, as a server came out.
"Two... black? Coffees, no cream or sugar. She'll pay." His words are stiltingly uncanny, masquerading as human in a way that feels more inhuman.
Hazuki's frown became wider, but she had no choice but to play along, it seemed. The server just nodded once, grabbing the two coffees quickly and leaving them be.
Hazuki held her warm coffee in hand, but did not drink it. She did not *like* black coffee, and Taro knew that.
Sipping his coffee eagerly, which must still be too hot to drink, he took a moment, before speaking. "I know you've been snooping around in *my* Atelier. Your outfit sucks, by... the way."
Hazuki froze, almost squeezing her coffee until it exploded. Wait, did the Homunculus... know? She ignored the dig at her costume, instead worrying that the Homunculus remembered what happened that day.
"I want... you to stay out. If you don't... you'll die. It's really that simple," he said with that same grin.
Hazuki took a breath, before speaking. "I'll stop you... we'll save him. We'll save Nakata-kun."
Laughing uncannily, Taro took another swig of his drink, pausing as he did so and bringing a clumsy hand to his throat like he could *feel* the burn, before continuing.
"I *am* 'Nakata-kun'. Be good and listen to reason, okay? You go in there... I'll kill you. And then I'll kill that little Humor you're fond of, just for good measure."
A pause.
"Or maybe I'll switch the order and make you watch. Who knows?"
He finishes his coffee almost as quickly as he got it, as if it was a blazingly hot soda can that he doesn't quite seem to understand is 'painful' moving to stand.
"Anyway, my throat itches. Like you Brits say... ciao."
That almost shocks Hazuki's brain, but instead, she's trying to stop him from going. She's about to lose her only chance...
"Wait!"
She pleads, lunging forward as she grabs his wrist with her free hand. Her fingers dig into his skin, trying to straight up rip the bracelet off. He moves to try and fight her off, grabbing her and trying to throw her back.
He succeeds, but at a cost, as the bracelet snaps off, clutched safely in her coffee-less hand.
"You- fucking--" he shouts out, preparing to charge her. Hazuki turns and starts running, breaking off towards an alleyway after a long chase. She keeps running, coffee held so tight it's squeezing and bracelet clasped like she'd die before she gives it up.
As she runs through, she hits a dead-end, a low fence she could climb if she didn't have her hands full.
"Nowhere to run, Nakao!"
As the footsteps slowly approached, Taro slowing his pace, Hazuki took a breath. Then, with a twist of the foot, she turned towards him, throwing the coffee directly at him. It explodes against his chest, hot coffee splashing on his face and chest, and stunning him as he turned away and looked towards the ground. "FUCK YOU-"
By the time he could regain his bearings, Hazuki is halfway up the fence, diving over to the other side and running as fast as she could.
"I'll get you, Nakao! Next time, you... You're dead!"
Hazuki got home safely, still holding that bracelet. She took a long breath. She had to get it to the Eye eventually... but not now. And not without friends.
Drawing her phone and sending a quick text to Tyler that she got the information, copying her notes and pasting them, she opened up the Dark Side of Sumaru.
It was time to end this.