2025-09-10: The Winning Move Is Not To Play
- Log: The Winning Move Is Not To Play
- Cast: Katsuya Suou, Shinjiro Aragaki, Pernelle
- Where: Hirasaka Ward
- OOC Date: September 10, 2025
- IC Date: July 09, 2012
- Summary: Katsuya encounters Shinjiro in Hirasaka in the wake of the events that saw the young man arrested-- and also encounters Pernelle. Shinjiro gets to meet at talking peacock. Pernelle gets to learn about ninja attacks. Katsuya gets to regret arguing about his nickname.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Perhaps it's no mistake that his path takes him back out here. Of late, Hirasaka feels like it has been the nucleus of several events taking place in Sumaru City. Or-- not even here, alone. Haven't some of these things gone on to stretch more widely over the region at large? When he thinks even about Kaneshiro's business here...
The day is yet young. Normally, a working day for Katsuya these days is at the station, at his desk. There's paperwork to be handled. There's always paperwork. For 'some reason', though, he's been quick to jump at any opportunity that takes him outside the bounds of the station. --Well, that's been the situation, in fact, ever since he was removed from the investigation into the Joker case. Of late, though, there's a secondary reason for that.
But that's a circumstance that, he decided, it doesn't bear to dwell on.
He pauses outside the bakery just south of the train station, gazingboth at and not at the display in the front window. Funny, that this was what allowed him to make a breakthrough in the most recent case. It'll be a long while yet until the case goes to trial, and in the meantime, his superiors are still interested in working out why the suspect had been able to simply walk in and walk out without being noticed. It wasn't even as if it happened in the dead of night. Someone should have seen something. The prosecutor will want to know about it, even if conviction is already a certainty. And--
What he wants to know also is, how Myunghon had known about the camera. Was it simply deduction on their part? Did they have some knowledge about the bakery? Or...
Or is he being too suspicious?
This is the situation in which Katsuya Suou can be found early on a Wednesday morning in Hirasaka Ward, just a little bit to the south of a place where a tragedy almost happened not even a week ago: standing in front of a bakery store's front window and pensively staring at an assortment of delicately-decorated cakes and pastries as if they concealed some secret hidden agenda.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro wakes up and sleeps in Hirasaka, so it's no surprise he'd be in the neighborhood. He's passing by in that greyish-black t-shirt, no jacket, shivering slightly as he walks. He's moving through, not sure yet what he wants to do for the day besides obligations. So when he passes down the street with the bakery...
He spots a familiar cop.
Normally, his instincts would tell him to run, avoid the police, just, don't cause trouble. But Shinjiro's curious about this guy. He's a Persona User, and indeed, he did his best to help him and Tsubasa, even if he couldn't account for Shinjiro's meds.
Therefore, when Shinjiro walks past, he stops, stepping forward. The beanie on his head is a good giveaway it's him even without the coat.
"Indecisive, officer? I heard the triple chocolate here's pretty good," he says, his hands in his pockets.
Even if Shinjiro shouldn't be free from the police station yet legally, he *is*, so he has no qualms talking to the cop despite the danger flags going off in his head.
<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
"Dorayaki~ Taiyaki~ Melonpan~"
"Castella~ Coronet~ Shokupan~"
"Raise the dough into the sky, stuff it full, don't be shy~"
"Ambitious, delicious, truly so propitious, a bird could cry~"
The dulcet(?) tones of Pernelle's singing are sounds not everyone can hear, but how blessed both Shinjiro and Katsuya are that these inspired(??) lyrics reaches their ears to enter their hearts.
After all, it heralds the arrival of a great presence that is a sign of good fortune to behold! It is the one! The only! The iridescent and beautiful Pernelle, rounding the corner as he comes from behind the bakery itself, where only employees should be allowed.
He stops singing in favor of humming, his beak too full of a big chomp of bread. He has a little satchel worn around his neck -- so stylish, so chic, so definitely something he did not sew -- which has been filled with chunks of older, stale bread from the bakery, and broken pieces of failed items that otherwise could not be sold.
He struts along, humming and munching, moving right between Shinjiro and Katsuya as he goes about his day. "Good evening, gentlemen. Can you believe that they simply give away these golden treasure if you rustle your train the right way? What delights this world contains!"
And off he goes... until he realizes a second later that these people can understand him.
Pernelle, as if simply in reverse, backs up his steps to peer up at Katsuya with a cock of his head to one side and then the next. "Sassy-san! My sincerest apologies! I was so absorbed in the euphoria of baked treats that I scarcely noticed you and that iconic look of yours!"
He turns to look Shinjiro up and down. "Who is this peachick joining you today? Striking vesture on this one! One who shares your bold sensibilities of pigment. Birds of a feather you are!"
Pernelle's head disappears into his bread satchel as he fishes around, then pulls up half of a day-old croissant. It's got some dorayaki filling on it.
"Would you or your son fancy a croissant?" he offers in the world's worst French accent.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Katsuya, for his part, gives no sign that he's seen Shinjiro at all, up until the point where the young man steps up close enough that he's clearly (well, clearly enough, for Katsuya's purposes) reflected in the bakery's glass. The image of Shinjiro is of course warped and muted, but there's no mistaking that hat.
Katsuya is aware, of course, that someone had stepped in to guarantee Aragaki's release. He's even aware of the identity of the person who did it. He turns his head.
"Aragaki-san." He pauses long enough to look the young man over, noting the absence of the coat. That almost clinical dissection is interrupted when Shinjiro suggests he's considering what to order, and Katsuya looks briefly taken aback. It's true, the items on display do look good, but... "Actually, I was--"
He doesn't get a chance to explain himself, because there's singing.
In silence, Katsuya turns his head to gaze over at its source, the alleyway which leads towards the back of the bakery storefront, from which...
Even if the peacock were not singing, it still would have been a startling sight to behold. As it stands, he can only watch on in continued silence as Pernelle trots on past the two of them, his morning taking an immediate swerve from 'typical' into... something else. "Isn't that the peacock from...?" he speculates aloud, as memories come flooding back of the grand opening of a particular store in Tokyo. And it still would have been a confusing moment even if Pernelle continued merrily on his way.
Like a tape played in reverse, Pernelle backs right up to regard the two of them.
Oh, and repeats that nickname from the last time.
"I--" Katsuya starts, at a loss. "That isn't my name," he settles for, shaking his head. As he'd rationalized the last time they met, if they're in a world where demons exist, and all sorts of supernatural threats are made manifest-- if they're in a rumor where he can be spoken to by a butterfly, and where rumors come true, and time stops for an hour at midnight, and someone's 'heart' can be 'stolen' -- then something like a talking peacock is comparatively minor to accept.
But that doesn't mean he's going to accept the use of that nickname, even if he also realizes it's going to be a losing battle. ...So the workers here have given Pernelle...
It looks like day-old cake and pastries. And failed experiments, if he's to be any judge. Goodness, is that piece of a failed souffle cake? Well, there's no way they could sell that.
But that's not what he remarks on. "It's a long way from the shop for you. Do the rest of your, er, colleagues realize you're here?"
Pernelle's baleful eye turns on Shinjiro, and Katsuya finds himself glancing over at the younger man. He indicates towards him with his right hand. "Ah, so you haven't met. This is Shinjiro Aragaki. Aragaki-san, please meet Pernelle." He pauses, regarding Shinjiro's attire then his own, as subtlely as he can. "...Is the 'look' really that similar?"
And then, offering them both a snack, he says the thing that truly has Katsuya just about at a loss for words:
your son
"I... we are not..." Does... does he really look like he could have a son that age? Does he look that old?? He's only twenty-five...!
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro stops, nodding when greeted. He turns his own appraising eyes over, scanning him. Well, he doesn't seem angry to see him, so...
Then there's singing. Then there's the smell of stale bread. Then there's a peacock who is singing in Japanese.
A talking peacock?!
Shinjiro squints for a long moment, trying to figure out if the suppressants have hallucinatory side effects, when Katusya regards the peacock and starts talking to him as he returns. Shinjiro straightens up. "Is this some more magic bullshit?" he asks.
Though, he's offered a croissant... "Sure, if you're offering." Katsuya introduces him, and he nods, though he's smiling a little. "Yeah. Nice to meet you. ...Sassy-san?" he questions, trying to get the story there.
Though, about being his son... "Nah, don't have a dad. It's fine."
Finally, though... "So, what's your story, peacock?" Shinjiro asks, trying to figure out *why* a talking peacock is outside a bakery with a bag of old bread.
<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
"I am the most magical bullshit of all!" Pernelle declares proudly, puffing up his chest. This one uses Saika words! How enchanting.
"No?" Pernelle says of Katsuya's name. "This is why Tsumugi called you. I heard them! Sassy and then -san. Whatever else should I be calling you?"
It's an uphill battle to fight, to be sure, but perhaps there is a chance to convince the bird of a different form of address.
Pernelle ruffles up at the very suggestion that the others of Peacock Silk may not know where he is. "I am not so callous as to leave them to fret over my disappearance! I left a note."
BACK AT PEACOCK SILK...
Draped over one of Pernelle's usual perches is a ripped paper towel stamped in ink with a few overlapped peacock talon prints, slightly smeared.
HERE AND NOW
It may be reassuring for Katsuya to know that, as a peacock, Pernelle considers humans to come in three stages: peachick, adult, and old. But as it may be reassuring for Katsuya to know, he will probably not find this out.
Instead, Pernelle nods to Katsuya. "Indubitably! Harsh edges combined with the softness of a baffled bearing. A tranquil demeanor clearly masking the storm beneath the surface! You should be so proud."
Pernelle flaps a little, standing as tall as he can manage to 'hand' Shinjiro the stale croissant in his beak. "Here you are! Regrettably, I haven't any hot cocoa for you to dunk it in. Goodness, lad, you look as frozen as a featherless pheasant!" His head twists back and forth as he is once again corrected on the parentage. Will it stick this time?
But asked of his story, Pernelle preens and ruffles up his feathers to look bigger. "A fascinating tale, truly. I am, as you can see, an incredibly beautiful peacock with which you can hold charming conversation." Silence follows. He glances about, then stuffs his head back into his bag to toss up a taiyaki head and catch it in his mouth to swallow down at once.
"... The end!"
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Good news, indeed! Katsuya seems, if anything, mildly concerned about him, and hardly mad or upset or anything of that nature.
Bad news, however! They're no longer alone here. Another has arrived.
Which is to say, Pernelle the talking peacock. "I would not put it into so many words," Katsuya starts to say, except that Pernelle cuts him off and declares that's /exactly/ what he is. Slowly, Katsuya breathes in, then breathes out.
Indeed, that /is/ what the proprietor called him. "Yes, but that was merely..." He pauses, trying to think about what to call the name he'd been given. 'Nickname' sounds too friendly, but neither is it entirely rude. ...Is it? "My name is Katsuya Suou." Does Pernelle understand social convention? Probably not, but Katsuya's hopes spring eternal, in spite of himself.
So, what's up with the nickname, Shinjiro's look more or less asks Katsuya. The look Katsuya gives him in turn is the glance that a man being quietly held at gunpoint by a would-be robber would give someone who walked up to ask how he was doing. It's both 'don't ask' and 'run while you still can' mixed into one expression.
But, he left a note? "...I see," Katsuya says, who is clearly having some difficulty in believing how this feat was accomplished. He might not be terribly surprised if he did know.
Besides, he has more immediate problems to tackle. Even the matter of their appearances being the 'same' (he still can't see it?), the misconception that he has a son who is of like age to his /own younger brother/ cannot go unanswered. He gestures with his hands, as if to underline this point he's making here and now. "Now, please listen, I am not--"
But Shinjiro, unbothered by the mistake, just says he doesn't have a father, and Katsuya adds a note to his own internal ledger of information. No father. That explains why no one from Shinjiro's family came to the department, and instead, someone from a certain corporation arrived instead. ...Is the lack of parental supervision why Shinjiro's willing to eat an obviously stale croissant?
"He is," Katsuya says, fidgeting with his sunglasses, "the mascot of a particular boutique in Tokyo. I'm afraid that's all I know." He pauses. "That is, other than the place in question is willing to deal in 'unusual materials'." Which is to say, supernatural ones. "Speaking of... it seems that you are unable to be heard by people without a Persona, Pernelle. Is that correct...?" He's thinking back to the opening, when that girl was removed from the premises.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"You are the most magical bullshit of all," Shinjiro repeats, not as a compliment but out of confusion. "Okay." he finally accepts, and moves on, refusing to run while he still can despite the look. He doesn't know a Tsumugi... this peacock has caretakers?!
Storm beneath the surface, though... "Storm beneath the surface... heh, you're a pretty perceptive peacock," he says and leaves it at that, instead taking the croissant. "My coat got destroyed by a magic ninja." He is telling the truth. "It's fucking cold." It is a warm day.
Shinjiro tears at the stale bread before taking a bite. "Not bad," he says, having been homeless enough to handle stale bread. "Bet the fresh stuff is even better. Nice story, though I think we already knew all that."
Katsuya mentions a particular boutique. "You have a name? Is it that Peacock Silk place people are talking about? I need to get a new coat, so." A pause. "Do you take barter?" he asks Pernelle if they confirm that's the place.
<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
Katsuya protests the words being used, and Shinjiro repeats it in confusion. Pernelle, standing tall and proud, gives a single, decisive nod. He's practically sparkling under the light...
"Katsuya then!" Pernelle repeats, first name basis, no honorific. This is perhaps still a minor improvement. "I shall not deny you your chosen identity, to you who chooses to wear it so proudly!"
Please listen, Katsuya says, but this bird is not listening. He is munching on dorayaki guts. (Don't call them guts. It's just a pancake filling!!) Then he sputters, coughing up crumbs.
"Ninja are real?!"
That's what surprises him?
But Katsuya's more enlightening to what makes Pernelle Pernelle than Pernelle himself has been. The bird speaks a lot, but says little.
"Just so!" Pernelle responds to Katsuya. "Only those of the waking world can hear the soothing coo of my true voice! Otherwise I suspect it is all merely..." He clears his throat, puffs up, and calls out an ear piercing EEYAW! that frightens the other birds from their perches on the rooftops nearby. "... Or something of the sort."
He turns his attention to Shinjiro. "As he says, I hail from an establishment in Shimokitazawa know as Peacock Silk! Named for me, the resplendent Pernelle!" he offers as his introduction. (It is not named for Pernelle.) "Should you find any curious material while spelunking where your Persona can sing, my compatriots can fashion it up into something more functional. AND stylish!"
Pernelle struts a circle around Shinjiro in inspection. "Hm, yes, you do seem you could benefit from a coat." He does not point out the obvious: it is the middle of summer, and odd that Shinjiro is cold. "Tsumugi is the one to ask of pricing. Frankly. I understand little of your socially constructed number trade. But I could put in a good word, should your offer fascinate."
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
He offers his correction to Pernelle, and Pernelle responds by--
First name? No honorific?? Isn't this actually... worse, in a way? Vehemently, Katsuya shakes his head. "No, that's not... please listen, you cannot call someone by their given name like that," he says, perhaps opting to assume the better of the bird here (e.g. that he's mixing this up on accident, because he's a bird, perhaps). "It would be more appropriate to call me 'Suou'. Or, detective." He pauses, his gaze on Pernelle taking on a careful cast. "With the appropriate honorific." There. That can't possibly backfire on him in any way.
Assuming, that is, that Pernelle even chooses to listen to his pleas. (Mercy, from a bird?? how foolish)
Ninja are real?!
Katsuya shakes his head. "What, er, Aragaki-san means is, someone attacked him with their..." He trails off, thinking back.
[LOGIC]: [Easy - Success] Think back to that opening. Once they excluded a few people, who was left? Many of the people there you know have a Persona. You can surmise that it's likely that they sifted Persona-users from regular civilians. And who was the one that was doing the sorting of who to exclude or not?
"A Persona," Katsuya finishes, more confidently. "There are no such thing as ninja anymore."
So, talking birds are fine, but ninja aren't? Really.
There's one more factor here, however. "You're... cold, Aragaki-san?" It's true that it's morning, but it's July. The heat of the day is only just getting started, and today may well have cause for Katsuya to regret the suit (there's no helping it, it's a homicide detective's uniform -- anything less would be unconsciable).
"Correct, that's Peacock Silk." He glances at Pernelle as if to say, 'the name is clearly earned'.
Which Pernelle underscores, demonstrating what it is that anyone else hears when Pernelle speaks. Pigeons take flight from a nearby rooftop, and Katsuya glances around as if to check for anyone staring or watching the three of them together.
Indeed, there it is if Katsuya desired the confirmation: Pernelle knows of Personas well enough.
"It would be simple enough to buy a jacket here," he remarks instead, regarding Shinjiro and his coatless woes. Though, an ordinary piece of clothing might not 'cut it' in their shared... line of work. Fleetingly, Katsuya wonders if he might consider doing likewise, with his own attire, when it comes to supernatural realms. But, would whatever resulted 'suit him'? The proprietor, Tsumugi, had a fairly flashy look to them.
(Katsuya ought to consider how other people consider the way he looks, though.)
"I wonder... where would be a good place to go," he muses aloud. "Assuming, that is, someone had a need for such materials."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"No, it was absolutely a ninja," Shinjiro corrects Katsuya. "He was doing flips and his Persona was summoning bridges and he had a sword."
Pernelle eeyaws, and Shinjiro grimaces, but nods to the mention of Peacock Silk and the pricing. Even so... they are both seemingly curious why he's cold.
"...I have a chronic illness that messes with my temperature regulation. It's why I had the pills... meds for it." He grimaces sharply, but he's telling the truth, more or less, and it's enough to keep them from prying, most likely.
About the coat, though... "No, it needs to be sturdy and warm. Most consumer jackets don't do it, that one I had was a gift. Besides, I fight too much for something off the street."
About places for materials, though, he puts a hand to his chin. "Tartarus, the tower in Tatsumi during the Dark Hour. Mementos, which you can get to via the train station. There's probably other supernatural spaces as well."
Shinjiro does consider an offer, though. "Yeah. I was thinking I could pay in this stuff I got from a Palace. It was a big bank, so it must be worth something to you."
<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
Katsuya seems... displeased with this turn of events! Curious.
"I cannot?" Pernelle jerks his head back with a baffled blink. "Good sir, I already have! Ka - tsu - ya! A simple task, really." But as Katsuya explains further, Pernelle squints. He squints harder. His head lowers a little, as if a great deal of peacock brain power is being employed in this moment. Alas, a brain cannot work without calories, and he shoves his head into his bag, gobbling down another chunk of bread.
"Ah... HA!" he says in his eureka moment. "Such complicated social dances you humans construct! Very well, detective-chan, I shall abide."
Katusya assures Pernelle ninja aren't real, and he munches on a particularly crusty piece of bread, his gaze gone narrow again. "This is precisely what a ninja would want us to think." His gaze slowly lifts back to Katsuya with the greatest suspicion a peacock can muster.
His pointed stare only grows more suspicious with Shinjiro's continued insistence he experience a ninja.
But Pernelle does indeed know of Personas, and sees no reason to hide that. Does the bird have a Persona? CAN a bird have a Persona? This would be silly. It would be like a dog or a cat having a Persona. Or a fox that can recover your SP for egregious prices. Perish the thought!
Shinjiro mentions a chronic illness, and Pernelle gives a little nod, as if this is quite a normal thing. "And no reason, I should think," he begins, "That a coat, though also functional, cannot be its own fashion statement without any further question, mm?" He gives Katsuya another pointed look, hoping he takes the signal not to pry further. That is a story for Shinjiro to share on his own time, if he ever chooses to. Same as it is with Yanagi.
But Shinjiro is a wise boy, and denies the simplicity of a mundane coat. "Exactly so! A rowdy lad like this requires something that shall survive ninja attack, after all! And all those other locales he just mentioned." He dances back and forth on his feet as Shinjiro mentions a Palace and a bank. "That sounds sufficiently currency related! Probably! Take your spoils to our boutique and prosper!"
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
It appears it's not so much 'cannot' as 'may not'.
But Katsuya explains and this, it seems, manages to break through to Pernelle! Just a little bit, Katsuya's stiff posture eases. Good, he was able to resolve this without much difficulty. He'll--
detective-chan
Katsuya doesn't look at Shinjiro. Very carefully, he's not looking at Shinjiro. He's not looking at Pernelle, either. He's looking, if he's looking anywhere, into the space right in front of him, his gaze fixed like it's a million miles away. "That... that is not... an appropriate..." he argues weakly, even his resolve flagging under this assault on basic propriety.
[Volition]: It's important to hold your ground, but it's also important to know when to cut your losses, Suou-kun. I'm afraid there is no winning move here. This is going from bad to worse, and it could get even worse still. Do you want to continue to argue your position, knowing that?
"I... I see..." Katsuya utters, feeling defeated. "Perhaps, your initial name for me was not so..."
He still can't bring himself to finish that sentence, though.
Shinjiro argues the case. Folding his arms over his chest, Katsuya remains firm. "No, there's no such thing anymore. There are many more logical explanations for his weapon and his abilities than jumping to the conclusion that he must be a ninja," he explains. "It may be that his Persona instead enhanced his natural abilities. Perhaps, he is a gymnast? ...Why was he attacking you?" Katsuya finishes, circling back on the much more pressing matter at hand.
From Shinjiro's description, it also sounds like the same person he'd fought on the beach, which might explain the 'why was he attacking you' angle. ...Sort of. Umie had been in contact with that person, too. Hadn't she warned him that he had asked after him? That he had some sort of dislike for him, after what happened on the beach...
So Shinjiro has chronic illness. Katsuya seems at first surprised, and then thoughtful. "I... see. So those drugs," Katsuya says, pensive, "those were your medication? ...Then, why didn't they realize...?" Judging from the way he trails off and the way his expression becomes minutely more stony, he's come to his own conclusion why 'that' might be so. Fidgeting with his glasses, he looks away. "..."
He still doesn't want to believe it. He wants to deny it with every bone in his body. But--!
"I see," he says, instead, as Shinjiro says a 'normal' jacket won't suffice. There's a few reasons for that. "That makes sense."
Where materials might be found is varied, of course. "Tartarus... I see. I've only seen it once, from the outside." And he's only been to Mementos a scant handful of times. "I suppose one might find materials in a Palace, if one has appeared, or in a demon's nest. Come to think of it... wasn't there a story about the high school around here?"
And he'd have additional reasons to take a look there. He had only heard about what happened in Kasugayama second hand, hadn't he. It's too much to expect there to be 'evidence' left behind, but it may be worth a look on his own.
Still. That couldn't really have been a ninja attack, right?
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro feels supported... by a peacock, which is a really weird sentence. On the topic of the chronic illness, he nods once, before nodding again about the coat and currency. "Thanks, bird dude."
But then, Katsuya has some PROBLEMS WITH WHAT SHINJIRO WAS SAYING. "No, he was *definitely* a ninja. All he told me was he wanted me in the hospital, which he succeeded at for a bit."
On the drugs being meds, he solemnly nods once. "...I don't have a place in proper society, so locking someone like me away is probably seen as a greater good." He grumbles at that, having fallen through the cracks. It makes him angry, sad, and resigned to his inevitable fate.
So, he turns. "I'm gonna go. Have a good one, detective, peacock."
And then, he walks off. He's gone.
<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.
Pernelle looks terribly proud of himself, puffed up and tall again.
"Detective-chan is rendered speechless by my learning aptitude," he says, presumably to Shinjiro, but possibly just to the universe itself. "Praise me as you see fit, once your wits return to you!"
But now Katsuya is bringing cold hard logic into this ninja situation. Pernelle is not the type to insist Katsuya is really a ninja -- he has already identified himself as a detective! Pernelle respects this, even with his doubtful look. This is all very very much what a ninja would say...
Or a cop.
The meds situation makes Pernelle's feathers ruffle a bit. Were the meds taken in some way. But what Shinjiro says next is even more concerning.
"... 'Tis a sickly society that casts out one for the many," Pernelle says. "Should you ever require a place carved for you by force of talon, do call upon Pernelle."
But he says nothing more to try and get Shinjiro to stay. Instead, he pulls the back end of a broken taiyaki from his bag and gives it to Katsuya.
"Edifying chat, my darling detective. Let's run into each other again sometime."
And then off he goes on his way, singing once more.
"Dorayaki~ Taiyaki~ Melonpan~"
"Castella~ Coronet~ Shokupan~"
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
oh no the name is here to stay
Perhaps learning from his earlier errors, Katsuya this time doesn't attempt to correct Pernelle but stoically gives in to this cruel fate. Perhaps... perhaps it's not as bad as he's thinking it is--
Oh, who is he kidding, this is pretty bad. Especially if it catches on.
(It's probably catching on.)
At least ninja talk is something he feels more equipped to take on. "There must be some other explanation. Even historical ninja didn't attempt the sorts of feats that we see in movies," he tries to reason. "...Regardless, this person is clearly quite dangerous. I hope that you were not badly hurt, Aragaki-san."
Shinjiro explains the medication situation somewhat further, prompting Katsuya to nod as if in deep thought. "I see..." What he's saying isn't wrong. Yet, to think that the people he works with...
He knows, already, the sort of person some of them actually are. But how many more are similarly like that, only cloaking their true natures more than Ishiba ever managed? Trust is key for cooperative workplace, and yet. "..."
It's on that twist, perhaps, that their chat winds towards its end. "I see. Then, take care," he bids them.
Shinjiro soon makes his departure, and Pernelle, with one parting gift, does similarly, returning to his song. Katsuya, holding the broken-off piece of taiyaki tailfin in one hand, regards it with particular care.
Edifying... huh.