2025-09-11: Karaoke Confessional
- Log: Karaoke Confessional
- Cast: Shinjiro Aragaki, Umie Akabane
- Where: Paulownia Mall, Tatsumi Port Island
- OOC Date: September 11, 2025
- IC Date: July 09, 2012
- Summary: Shinjiro and Umie catch up about his injuries, but don't get a chance to talk about what happened with his arrest. Instead, they have a private conversation where Umie learns what Shinjiro's been hiding for two years from almost everyone: his inevitable death.
- Content Warning: Depressive thoughts and speech
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
IT'S BEEN A WEEK. Shinjiro Aragaki has, since assisting Myunghon in Mementos, been stabbed by ninjas, rejoined SEES, been invaded in his hospital room by a Niko, met a peacock, it's just a whole thing.
Umie wanted to meet up though, so Shinjiro invited her to the mall. It's a slower hour right now on a Monday, so there's not too much risk of overhearing anything they talk about if they're quiet.
He's sitting on a bench waiting for her. His phone is in his pocket, as he people watches, passing time. His red coat is gone, instead wearing his greyish-black shirt, and he occasionally shivers lightly. He also seems to have been injured recently in the side areas, as the outline of bandages pokes through his shirt.
For now, though, he's got a canned coffee at least. There's a second one next to him, still cold.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Umie's week? ..... rather boring, for once.
And she haaaaates it. Mementos' visits have been dangerous, but in a predictable way where she is still very likely to die, but in a way that would only make others shake their head at how senseless it is. Dark Hour jaunts have had the usual: an increasing risk of injury from climbing up things during a time where no one can help her. No gossip or leads about the Old Maid. Toki's got no need for extra people at her start-up because it hasn't *started up*. Umie can't even bug Ren at the Triple 7 because he's not been doing shifts lately! What is this nonsense?!
The only solution is to *find* something.
And oh hey Umie should check in on Shinjiro, come to think of it; she needs to talk with him, now that enough time has passed where she can look Shinjiro in the ends and lie, if needed.
"Aragaki-k-- Whoah, hey." Shinjiro can see the way the different emotions shift on Umie's face, from that cool nonchalant, almost smug expression she typically wears, to those eyebrows dipping down, her lips thinning out, and those red-brown eyes sharpening as she takes in the signs of injury on his body. "What happened?"
Which means she nearly sits on the drink he's offered for her, but she quickly spots it out of the corner of her eye, deftly evading disaster by grabbing onto the drink. "Oh, ah, was this for me or you?" she asks, below her breath, as she naturally invites herself to sit next to Shinjiro, with a casual friendly distance between them. (All the better for trying to examine what in the world happened.)
"... Mementos or Tartarus?" she asks, beneath her breath.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
As Umie approaches, Shinjiro waves. When she notices the injury, he purses his lips slightly. "It's fine." That always means it's at least only partially fine, and more likely not fine.
"It's for you," he says, addressing the drink. "Thought you might want some."
About Mementos or Tartarus, though, he shakes his head. "Street ninja in Sumaru. This... fucking homeless guy with a samurai sword and rich people clothes and a Persona wanted to put me in the hospital for some reason. ...succeeded, too, though at least I did some damage myself. I checked myself out overnight but it's not fully healed." He seems to not want to dwell on it too bad, because he still has no idea *why him*.
"How are you? We haven't... spoken since that Mementos trip." She knows the one.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
'It's fine.' Of course he'd say that.
'It's for you.' Of course he'd do that; and Umie, unable to be the ungracious friend, accepts it with a nod and a small grin. "... Thank you."
Still, it can't go without a comment.
"Let someone be concerned about you for once," Umie dryily comments back, as she opens her drink. She fishes out a packet of spicy seaweed crisps and opens them, offering them out to Shinjiro. "What happened to your jacket?"
Of course she'd ask.
And she instantly regrets it, as she coughs on her chip. "... Wait--" she gets out, before she takes a drink. "...What did he look like, specifically." Shinjiro *implied* that it a guy, and so far, there's only been two ninjas she's encountered personally.
_Out of the people she mentioned this to, she forgot Shinjiro_. Since when was that asshole ninja going to attack Joker, Umie? Do you see the Phantom Thieves going around eating at some late-night ramen shop?! And either Katsuya or Tatsuya? They're already likely on that ninja's list! _Umie, did you plan this out at all_.
".... _goddamn anal bridge ninja son of a bitch_," she hisses, under her breath.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"That sounds hard," Shinjiro says about letting someone be concerned about him for once. He's masking a little better after his talk with Akihiko today. "Instead, I'll eat this crisp," he says, taking one and popping it into his mouth as they're offered.
"Ninja tore it apart. Already had the wound on the shoulder, so I just tossed it. Got an order in for something new from this one place, though." He shrugs.
But then, Umie starts asking him to describe the guy, and then realizes who he is. He's about to describe, when he hears the word 'bridge ninja' faintly. "Oh he was definitely a bridge ninja. He was... it's really hard to describe since I tunnel visioned, but I'd say you could see him as both a homeless guy and some sort of rich club fashion-forward dude? With a sword in a shoulderbag."
"...you've met him, haven't you." Shinjiro sighs, not upset Umie didn't tell him but more upset this keeps happening. "At least someone believes in ninjas. Aki didn't, when we talked earlier." A shrug.
"It's not on my big list of worries right now."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"I appreciate a good challenge," Umie says, with a small, wry grin at Shinjiro's quip. "Keeps me sharp." If he's able to joke about it, he must be in decent enough spirits. That, and he agreed to meet up with her.
From this one place. "... Peacock Silk?" Umie ventures, randomly. Logic catches up with her gut, and confirms it: someone like Shinjiro wouldn't have the spare funds to get a jacket unless they took something cognitive, and he'd be too proud to accept help from SEES over it.
Whether or not he confirms it, Umie offers, "... I'm getting something myself. With everyone running around with these fashionable battle-ready clothes and me still using a tank top and shorts... I think I need to up my game a little... My own jacket's getting worn down too." She's not wearing it now, opting for a heather grey patterned tee and shorts. "It'll take a while before it gets done fully, though..."
Shinjiro describes him, and Umie groans, sighing into her palm as she massages her temple. "That's him alright. Came after me in Shibuya, but neither of us could use our Personas, so it was mostly him making threats at me." She sighs. "Easily could have killed me right then and there, but he needed information from me." Umie looks back at Shinjiro, briefly confused. Aki? Oh. Akihiko. She lets herself have a small smile at that, glad to hear, if in a sideways fashion, that he and his childhood friend are talking.
"He's a ninja in the same way I'd call whatever the hell I do 'ninja'. Someone underneath him visited me a few days ago, at my place of work. Younger guy. He..."
She frowns, taking that moment to munch on another chip. "... I had to buy him an umbrella, because the one he was carrying did more to direct the rain on him than actually keep him dry. ..." Pause. "..... Kurou Ryouhara was the kid's name, but his boss, Bridge Ninja-san, no clue on his name. Bridge Ninja-san was pissed I wasn't taking care of my weapon."
She bought the second ninja an umbrella. Because of course Umie did.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro laughs at the challenge, briefly, but the Peacock Silk comment just gets a nod. "Why didn't you tell me talking peacocks exist."
Another soft smile, though. His smile is pretty nice. "Yeah, I need something that'll keep me alive. It's gonna be nice, I think."
Though, Umie talks about ninjas. "You bought a ninja an umbrella- wait, no, that's not surprising. You okay?" is what he settles on.
Though, mentioning Aki makes him take a breath. A sigh. "...I... ugh. Shit's gotten real. Some things have caught up to me." He's much more melancholy now, the decent spirits fading a little.
"I'm rejoining SEES. It was inevitable, anyways." That's how he reassures himself, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"The same reason you haven't been telling people about ninjas and projectile-shaped weapons that summon Personas," Umie says, with a smirk. "Besides, I'm not even sure if it's just some elaborate trick set up for a laugh."
Something to keep you alive. "What, and not just fashionable and hopefully water-resistant? Come on, Aragaki-kun, how many chances will you get like this?" She's joking with him, of course.
"Yes," Umie says, on the subject of Kurou. "I think he was too bewildered to really do much, but I don't think it'll end there. Be careful, Aragaki-kun. If this was because of me, I doubt it's going to stop."
All this talk about umbrellas and ninjas and...
Shinjiro had something else he was holding inside. "Eh, let's table all that talk about ninjas for now. What's up?"
He's rejoining SEES. There's a weight to that decision Umie can feel, despite not knowing the full shape of what lies behind it, or its history.
She can do something about that, though.
Umie nods. "If you're sure about it. Whatever's happening with Tartarus is just as important as whatever's happening with the Old Maid, or anything else." ... Still, it's causing him a lot of heartache, and a despondent Myunghon's comments bring to mind the further implications behind Shinjiro's words.
"If you feel up to it, would you like to tell me why you quit them, in the first place? The full story." That sardonic manner of hers, often coming out when dealing with people like Shinjiro, has faded to a faint whisper. "We can go elsewhere if you need someplace private." She turns her head to start looking around already, as if trying to anticipate Shinjiro's answer.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"It's definitely not, it was just... a talking Peacock on the street singing and holding a bag of day-old bread." Shinjiro confirms about Pernelle. He smiles a little more about the fashion.
Ninjas, though, get a nod. "I don't know what it was about. But thanks."
...but it's time to go. Umie has a request. She wants to know. Normally, Shinjiro would push her away... but she was there in Mementos. She already heard what he has to say, partially, so...
"Sure. There's a karaoke place, right? Should be soundproof." He'll probably offer to pay the room, as USUAL.
When they decide to go, Shinjiro steps into the karaoke room after they get set up and takes a seat. He takes a long moment, looking at the menu briefly but not finding himself hungry, instead clearly using it to fidget, since they both know they don't want people walking in.
"We need to start in middle school. That's when Kirijo recruited me and Aki. We were a team, trying to clear Tartarus, but we couldn't get past the first floor, knowing as little as we do now, being so young. We didn't even know other Persona users existed." It sounds kinda funny, but he's not laughing. "We'd patrol during the Dark Hour and had better results, at least."
A pause. He swallows. "Two years ago... I really fucked up, Akabane. I did something I can never take back."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
".... Pernelle was... walking around outside the shop?" Of course, no one would have been able to hear him talk unless they had a Persona, but still!
Besides that...
"Whatever Bridge Ninja-san's reason is? It's my problem now," Umie says, her gaze sharpening. "I don't take well to people spreading their complaints with me onto my friends." She takes a moment to dramatically eati a seaweed chip... and sip on her drink. "Thank you for telling me, though."
A karaoke place? "Oh yeah, good idea," Umie says, nodding. "Right up those steps-- yeah."
Soon enough they're in their own room, though Umie's more willing to sit in on the couch at an angle from Shinjiro, giving him enough space to process, without getting too close, or be the one staring at him from the opposite seat.
She doesn't say anything; she lets Shinjiro talk when he's ready, stifling back any need to question or clarify. Tartarus feels like something new, but if it could only exist during the Dark Hour, why not?
The details feel like a bad dream: Middle school. Didn't know other Persona users existed. A cold chill goes down Umie's spine; she knows where the verse of this particular song can lead to, especially with how the melody. "... You..." Umie's head feels heavy; her gut twists in sympathy. No wonder she felt that need to reach out to Shinjiro.
No wonder she can't look him in the eyes, like a coward. Nothing good could happen from what he says next, and Umie is unable to keep herself from talking over it.
"... It wasn't your fault." She's talking, and he hasn't even said what he did. "Whatever it was, you know it wasn't..."
No, this isn't the way she wants it to go. Umie breathes.
"Tell me what happened. Trust me on this, Aragaki-kun-- I won't think any less of you. I know you well enough to be able to say that."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
At the karaoke shop, Shinjiro's breathing a little raggedly. He's explaining, but the stress is getting to him. He feels like he could have a coughing fit, honestly, and he's trying to suppress it.
"...let me finish," he says, as Umie cut herself off. He takes a moment, and when she says she won't think any less of him, he averts *his* gaze.
"...We were on a patrol in residential. Fighting some strong Shadows. Nothing we couldn't handle, but I got angry. And then..." And then...
"I lost control. My Persona went berserk, rampaging everywhere, and it smashed..."
Another breath. He's keeping his voice low.
"It smashed into a house. A woman was killed. A single mother of an eight year old child."
He's looking down now. It's so hard to share when you're not trying to help someone. When you've been ground down all week.
"With everything else going on with me... we can't go back to how things were, but... there's something only I can do."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
He insists; he's gotten this far, exposing that wound inside him to someone else.
You can never do these things halfway.
And Umie, finally, becomes quiet again, her gaze solemn as a funeral as it becomes Shinjiro's turn to look away.
She didn't know you could lose control of your Persona; it didn't even come up as a possibility. It would be easy to look at Evokers being the cause, but wouldn't an Evoker make it less likely? To make it a conscious act, each time...
"...." Umie's lips want to say the same words she did before, but they'd be meaningless, now. She's already said them, even used them as a weapon without realizing it, like she could defend the two of them against things that have already happened. A useless oracle to the last.
Shifting her body closer, Umie's hand reaches out tentatively, searching out the space between herself and Shinjiro, in order to settle on his closest shoulder, nails coral red.
Her right hand.
Isn't it fun
No wonder.
to find friends
No wonder.
with similar interests,
No wonder.
Umie-chan?
Her hand casts across that gap that feels like a chasm, gripping onto Shinjiro's shoulder with a stiff, shaking grip.
".... You're right," she says, at last, her eyes looking up towards Shinjiro's downcast face.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
As Umie supports Shinjiro, hand moving to his shoulder, he doesn't move. He's not a crier. He might be pouring tears otherwise. Instead...
Her words come out. He's already hyper-ruminating, worrying about everything. She's trying to give him support, but she hates him, doesn't she? Can't trust a killer. Can't trust someone who can't even control his damn Persona. It's not like Myunghon, and even that is at risk. He's not even remembering what Umie said last time right now, instead just... staring into the menu as if he'd burn holes through it with his eyes.
"The boy. Ken Amada. He... showed up at the SEES dorms the other day, because it turns out he has the potential to be an Evoker user. It's my fucking fault he might have to dive into this world at *ten years old*, awakened to the Dark Hour. I saw him there, delivering a package, and just..."
The words that leave Shinjiro's mouth are not the ones that are obviously finishing that sentence.
"I should have been the one to die that day."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Watching Shinjiro in those moments, as Umie slowly gains back the heart to even do so, threatens to crumble her resolve like a sand castle once again.
But it makes everything, and all his actions, make so much more sense.
"... I see. So. You're rejoining SEES, because of Amada-san, right?"
The only way forward is to ask more. "Does he know that it was you? Has he said anything about it?"
If Shinjiro is seventeen, and this happened in middle school, it'd be... two years, at least. Which would mean Ken could be anywhere from eight or even younger, depending.
"Of course you didn't know. It took me years before I even knew there were others." Her nails dig into Shinjiro's shoulder briefly, on reflex, before quickly withdrawing back as if Shinjiro's shoulder was red hot. "Why did Kirijo... they... why did they let the two of you just..." Anger catches uselessly in her chest, an impotent wave.
It can't go anywhere. It won't solve anything, so it comes out as tears. "... You and Takkun... I swear... peas in a pod, with how you're sounding."
What does he plan to do? Can Umie dare to even know?
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"...yeah." Shinjiro replies about rejoining. "I don't think so. He didn't seem to recognize me."
Two of them, though... "Me, Aki, and Kirijo... were an unstoppable trio. But I've fucked up. More than just that. In so many ways I can't ever take back. I've already hurt Kirijo. You need to understand that, Umie."
A breath, as Tatsuya is mentioned. The things he told Shinjiro... they pang him. The reminders of innocent sins flood his mind, as he starts taking some breathes.
"I wanted to be punished so bad. But they covered it up as a drunk driver. So I..."
He trails off. He rolls his shoulders. Why is this harder to tell Umie than it was Mitsuru?
Because, instinctively, he knows Mitsuru won't hate him for what he's done. Their bond is too strong for that. But...his bond with Umie is growing all the time, and perhaps, no, it's because he's afraid he'll lose a new friend, someone he's learning to care about.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"So... you're going to have to decide when you want to tell him, sounds like," Umie says, softly. "Are you absolutely, positively sure it was him?"
It's a rhetorical question; he'd know, just like she'd know. She memorized the names of that family.
Kirijo. The way he's talking, it's not a corporation, but a... person? "Oh, I meant the corporation, not..." There was someone with the surname Kirijo that was part of their group? "I don't blame someone specifically."
"You've gotten to this point watching everyone pretend, or go on not knowing, what actually happened," she says, softly. Is that really how he feels, or is she imposing what she feels on him?
She takes her time, drying her tears as Shinjiro stalls, eventually shelooks down towards the menu in Shinjiro's hands, and finds some solace in taking control of the situation-- even if it's unneeded. "... Keep going, but take as long as you need to. We can order drinks, if your throat's dry." She holds her hands up. "I'm not going anywhere." Her own throat feels rough, despite not being the one doing the talking... or the confessing.
"... If you make it through... there's..."
'Are you 'absolutely, positively sure' you could trust Shinjiro-kun, Umie-chan? Maybe it's all a lie to make you confess~ But look at him, so sad, and helpless... you love it when someone so strong and tough gets like that in front of you, because you can be the one in control~'
"_No_." Umie's eyes widen; fingers unclenching.
She closes her eyes. "... Sorry, Aragaki-kun. Please. Keep going. Just... bad thought."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"I asked to see his picture," Shinjiro confirms. "It's him."
"Both are tied. Mitsuru Kirijo, the heir... is one of my oldest friends." He nods once, as Umie says they can get a drink. "Please."
He'll wait for drinks to come out, getting some juice himself, before he continues. Having taken a drink, he's calming a bit, but Umie says to please keep going. He waffles. But in the end...
"...I punished myself. I heard that... Strega had a drug that could let someone control their Persona. I started buying it. It's how I got my Evoker when we were rescuing that girl, too."
A shaky breath. He burrows his head into his hands. This karaoke room feels like a confessional. Maybe that's what he needs. He doesn't know that he *trusts* Umie, but he's this far already.
Maybe it's better for her to know, so she can cut him off now.
"The pills... they worked. Besides the gradual organ damage, of course. And once you start them... you can't stop, or your Persona will kill you."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
It's him. Umie nods, placing her hands on her lap with a sigh. "Then that settles it."
"Mitsuru Kirijo..." She remembers there being someone in the battle with the two Arcana Shadows (not that she even knows what they are called) that seemed to try to take command. Maybe that's her? She fits the profile.
Or maybe...
'Please.' Umie nods. "Okay. We can take a moment to take a breather, I think." She's managed to keep herself from interrupting, but she still feels winded, somehow.
But the one who'd appreciate the silence that follows may be Shinjiro, as Umie closes her eyes, her mouth opening in small, soft breaths that are barely audible. It's so quiet that Umie startles as there's a knock on the door; she springs up to get it.
"I'm paying for the drinks, by the way," she says off-handedly, giving Shinjiro a cool look as if to challenge him to a senpai-off. "You paid for the room. Least I can do."
It's almost like a signal, to show that Umie is still there, instead of shrinking away.
Unfortunately, it didn't end with that night. Umie punished herself in certain ways, but Shinjiro...
... clearly he needed something worse, for an act borne out of violence.
"Str--" Umie makes a choked sound. "A... Aragaki-kun..." A horrified expression creases her face. "Strega's been helping the Old Maid... Takkun and I had to fight them off when they attacked Kasugayama High. Mishina-san told me how they had someone there that scrambled up everyone's perception of the place: a Navigator, but just, not for Navigation."
They could have killed him at any moment. Why didn't they? Were they trying to get him to join them, or are they more mercenary in nature compared to Old Maid?
Wait, no, there was something else there. A drug, that can help control Personas? "How is that even possible? Personas... can't..." It messes with her very definition of what a Persona is. But if a Persona is a part of the self, and the self can be affected by medication--
'Besides the gradual organ damage, of course.'
Someone is laughing, somewhere. Are the rooms really as soundproof as much as Umie thinks they are?
"... Aragaki-kun..." Umie can hear the pound of her heart in the silence that follows that unfinished sentence.
"But... it's not like you're not going to die, right? Kirijo's..."
She's not Badb, don't be silly. She doesn't come before people before they die. But everyone eventually dies, right? But she's not--
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"Okay," Shinjiro says regarding the drinks. He didn't interrupt her breathing, breathing himself.
About Strega... "I know. They're free spirits. They're not all bad, but... they kill people. For fun. I can't respect them... but they had what I needed."
A breath. HE doesn't respond on how that can be possible, because he doesn't know. Instead, he lapses on the organ damage again.
"I have..." He's trying to be precise and quick, but he pauses, and he knows that's going to hurt Umie. "I only told Kirijo last week. I have maybe a year, given the two years of damage. They're doing my results right now, but I know what they'll say. She's trying her best..." It seems like he doesn't believe it'll work.
He looks to Umie, removing his head from his hands. He can already expect what to see, as he tries to meet her eyes. "If you want to leave, you can. I'll understand." Delete his number and be gone. It'd be better for her sake.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"And wait... you let yourself get turned in with Neon-san." _Again_, she wishes she remembered Tsubasa's full name. "Aragaki-kun, they would've mistaken those for..." She trails off. "... But Kirijo took care of it, right..."
Strega being free spirits, however-- "... How do they even have this drug...?" she wonders, aloud.
As for the rest...
Shinjiro might as well have said 'please don't leave'.
'Wait until you turn twenty.' Umie said something like that to Shinjiro. Akechi himself had laid the possibility of a timer on her own doorstep, but that was still an unknown, and not something that could be quantified with a medical test, or how cold your body felt, despite it being summer. Or blood on your fingers, coughed up after a fight.
".... what kind of person do you take me for, saying something like that?" Her reply comes out in a shaky hiss. "No way. No. Fucking. Way. Your phone number is staying in my phone, and I'm *not* deleting it."
"Your friend, Aki-san." She only uses the nickname due to not remembering his surname. "Does he know?" He's already lost his sister to Old Maid, right? Then... "We'll get the Old Maid before then. If it comes down to the wire..." She frowns. "... No, we better not even consider 'changing his heart'. There's something going on with him, and I'm pretty sure, if we took it to that level, we might endanger the Phantom Thieves in the process."
She leaves it vague; the matters of 'Him' (whoever Tatsuya means by it) is not something that should be called out lightly. "Besides, Goro Akechi-san's also been following this case. Really don't need to condense his casework for him," she says, with a faint, if pained, wry grin.
"I'll keep an eye on Aki-san, as best I can. I doubt he'd want anything to do with me, though..." She frowns. "... I'm the one who was calling you to go running straight into death, after all..."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro's trying not to freak out, but it's too late for that. "I was prepared to die in jail, Akabane."
As she shakily hisses, he frowns, feeling worse. "I didn't- I just meant... I'm a burden on everyone around me. I have been my whole life."
"Akihiko Sanada," he says. "He's... like my brother. He doesn't know." That sounds paradoxical, but with the burden comment... "I can't tell him. I just... I can't."
The Old Maid is the last thing on Shinjiro's mind right now, and so is Akechi, but he nods. "Yeah."
But about keeping an eye on Aki... "...thanks. But you didn't do anything wrong. Don't believe you did. I made this choice of my own free will... all of them. I have to be the one to face the consequences."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"You're not. You're absolutely fucking not." The profanity falls off Umie's lips so easily, now that her emotions are on high alert.
She's terrible at this, just like she was with Myunghon.
How can she be? She can't even admit her own sins, just the sins and trials of everyone around her, in an effort to 'keep people from making the same mistakes'. What mistakes? The mistakes still happened, and still do, because Umie can't be there for everything. Two years ago, she was in high school. At night, she just wandered the streets during the Dark Hour, dealing with demons, continually moving on towards that magical day when she'd graduate and go to college.
The talk of Old Maid normally had been the thing that drove Shinjiro; even that seems to not fire him back up, but could Umie blame him?
'Go on; say something cute and positive to cheer Shinji-kun right up. Tell your kouhai what you think your he wants to hear. The clock is ticking, senpai, tick tock~'
Umie slips off her couch numbly, crossing those first few steps to lay her hands on Shinjiro's shoulders in an awkward, but open gesture. Then, she draws him into a hug, hard, shaking, and unapologetic. She lets it be there, for as long as she can stand, or Shinjiro can stand.
And it's in the sanctuary of that hug that Umie admits the words she's never told anyone, save for the lone girl trapped inside her soul, who sat as the crime's only witness.
"... I... killed someone... too." The tone those words are delivered in, pressed into that small space, are as naked and scared as Umie's ever sounded, a far cry from her usual bravado.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
The cursing shocks Shinjiro enough that it might actually be helpful, but as he finishes, and Umie comes forward-
She hugs him. And in the end... he hugs her back, and holds out for a similar length of time. Especially when he hears what Umie has to say.
What does he say to that? He doesn't know. But he knows he has to try and express what he's feeling about it.
"...you're safe here. I promise."
It's awkward, as well, but not in the way that senses he's uncomfortable about it. Comfort's just never been his strongest suit, even if he tries.
When the hug eventually breaks, Shinjiro takes a breath. "...thank you."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Despite the many, many times Umie has seemingly refused to understand the meaning of 'over-explanation', the moment it comes to something so personal, Umie doesn't elaborate.
This is still the space that Shinjiro opened by opening up his own wound; her simple acknowledgment of that small part of her own psyche. There's no need to go further.
'i promise.'
Of course Shinjiro has to say that. He absolutely has to say that, because it's something that could one-up Umie's hold on the situation, overturning her lead on the Senpai Wars. Her shoulders shake with the effort of holding back tears. "... I'm trying to be the one to make you feel safe." Umie Akabane, all 5'1" of her, hugging over a young man who, despite being 17, towers over her. (She's used to that. She doesn't care.)
It's caustic because she can't accept it, especially from someone younger than her.
.... But she's never told anyone those words. It was a road that had been inadvertently been opened up through the several weeks of trials, until she was ready.
When the hug breaks, Umie's eyes are red.
And of course, he has to *thank her*, after all of it.
"... seriously..." Umie grins, choking back a laugh. "All I did was interrupt you. Save your thanks for the drinks." Because she can't accept his thanks, either.
She settles back into a sit back in her couch, the pad still warm from when she got up. "... Your secret's safe with me. When you get the gumption to, you can tell Sanada-san. Maybe, because you've told me... it'll get easier to, when that day comes." Not that it'd be easier, but easier to *do* it.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
The hug has broken. But Umie has some words for Shinjiro, and he listens. "But you listened. ...perhaps that's what people sometimes need."
"Likewise. I won't tell a soul," Shinjiro assures Umie. "Our own karaoke confessional."
He tries to smile. It's not ready yet, not full, but... he smiles nonetheless through the pain. "We'll figure this out. For as long as I can, I'm not going anywhere... and I believe you that you won't, either."
Once they're ready to leave, he'll text her once he's back home. Make sure she knows he's safe.
...and for him to make sure he knows she's safe, too.