2025-09-21: Splatter
- Log: Splatter
- Cast: Tsubasa Seki, Ichika Kawase
- Where: Sumaru Prison, Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru City
- OOC Date: September 21, 2025
- IC Date: Saturday, July 14, 2012
- Summary: Ichika and Tsubasa finally go back together to the Sumaru Prison... but a phone call from Tsubasa's mother interrupts.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa skipped school today! That's not... uncommon, really. Punks like them do sometimes just decline to attend school, but Tsubasa's definitely on the higher end of classes missed, in their gang. Instead of going to school, they broke into an abandoned office building and stole some routers that were still lying around, which is a totally normal thing to do with your day.
They've since stashed those, though, and have called Ichika out... to Sumaru Prison! Nothing's playing until the evening, but as they explain, when Ichika gets over to the horrible oppressive building...
"Kinda hard not to blame goin' out for that night, right? But if you fall off a horse you're supposed to get right back on the fuckin' horse. Anyway, I been avoidin' the club, and where the fuck else I gonna go to hear a band? Port Island?" They snort, derisively. "Bet they don't even play anything good in there."
(You know, Club Escapade, which technically doesn't even let kids like them in. Tsubasa doesn't even know what sour grapes are, shut up.)
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika did not skip school today. She's been doing that less lately! But it was still only a half-day, so she's around when Tsubasa calls her out. Sumaru Prison!
"...Yeah," Ichika agrees. "Kinda, yeah." Get on the horse. Get back on the horse. "Do people fall off horses a lot?" Ichika has to wonder. But, "Guess that's true," of the club."
She does not comment as to whether or not Club Escapade plays anything good, or whether she has been in there.
Instead, "But I mean, it's not like we met them here, so..."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
It's cool that Ichika's engaging more. Tsubasa...
It's complicated. But why should they bother with the pantomime when society doesn't want them to begin with?
(Yesterday, a teacher gave them detention again -- claiming that their binder wasn't part of the uniform, on top of Tsubasa refusing to wear a skirt. Well, given how proud they've been of it...)
"Apparently," they shrug, kicking a can into the prison. "Or at least that's what people say about it. I never actually seen a horse for real before."
They shove their hands into the pockets of their boardshorts, ambling into the prison. (Princess is borrowing Lance, presently, because she has to go into hostile territory to visit a store and everyone thinks Lance is a ferocious fighting dog. But she wanted to deliberate over that purchase herself, and that's why Tsubasa isn't bodyguarding her, too.) "Yeah," they say, in that gruff, stoic voice of theirs. "It weren't here... so it is a bit stupid to feel weird about it. I just, y'know... there's a bit of me what wonders if it's cool. Y'know?"
It's not easy for them to admit it's their emotions playing up on them, but if they man up and cop to having weird feelings about it... well, it's not just them who had a bad night, back then.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika's trying, anyway. Jun's tutoring her; she has some actual direction. Her bad grades might not be a dealbreaker for what she wants to do.
As long as he doesn't wreck it all somehow. ...But she hasn't seen him since...
Well. "Huh," Ichika says. "I like the outdoors and stuff, but I've never been to see horses." She pauses.
Ichika walks along with, and listens. It wasn't here, but, "...No, it's not stupid," Ichika says. "I feel like that about a lot of places..."
Going to Yumezaki at all is a trial, sometimes.
"I get it," she says. "...It's the same."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
And that's why Tsubasa doesn't generally goad Ichika to skip class with them, these days.
... most of the time.
"I heard they're pretty big," Tsubasa says. "Like... this big." They pull their hand out of their pocket to gesture at about chest height. Note to the audience: Tsubasa is deeply underestimating how large horses are.
They would probably be terrified if they came face to face with the megafauna humanity collectively decided was its taxi.
"I just think, y'know... like, if I'd been payin' more attention, would I have seen 'em while we were here? It's not like I weren't keepin' an eye out... but I still didn't see shit. Ain't really gone to other shows, since... felt like it'd happen again. But it's not like... this is just a joint, right?"
They kick at the wall beside the long lounge couch seating propped against the wall, the upholstery a touch frayed from rough wear and tear, as if to demonstrate their point.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Most of the time!!
"Huh," Ichika says. "I guess they'd have to be pretty big for you to ride them..."
Ichika would like a horse. Horses could be Ichika's friends. But maybe not immediately.
"...Nah," Ichika says, shaking her head. "You were specifically looking. They didn't want us to see them, or there were too many people here to, or whatever."
"...Sorry."
She nods then. "Yeah. It's just a place. It's a good place, even. Our kind of place."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Yeah," Tsubasa agrees. "Pretty big." Tsubasa is still envisioning horses at a mere three quarters of their true size.
They shrug, turning around to lean on the wall. "Don't gotta apologise," they assure her. "You're right, Boss. They was skulkin'." Damn, look at Tsubasa with those ten-dollar words like skulking.
Don't ask them where they picked something like that up. They haven't told Ichika they met anyone when they were stealing shit, and they don't plan to.
(... they did look Miho up, though.)
Still... Tsubasa smiles, briefly. "Yeah," they nod. "It's, like, our kinda --"
A chiptune version of the chorus to a popular Visual Kei song interrupts them, and it's not the band come to set up ridiculously early in the afternoon -- it's Tsubasa's mobile phone. (Musical ringtones are the 'in' kind of thing. Missing a call because you thought it was background music is a small price to pay for self-expression.) "... one sec, Boss," they frown, as they flip it out and bring it up to their ear. "Yo," they start, only for their expression to grow more closed in an instant. "... mom?"
They lean a little more heavily against the wall, as they listen. They can hear the numbness of her tranquilisers in her voice, and they know she doesn't get that high for no reason. "Uh, hey... you all right?" They ask, hesitantly. A light pause, "Sh-- I mean -- somethin' happen?" Whatever the response is, one of their legs draws up, heel planted against the wall, free hand coming to rest on their knee. "Oh, so -- you, uh -- wanted to catch up? Uh -- I dunno, uh -- ran into a guy the other day? I thought he was a jerk, but turns out he was cool." They're quiet, a moment, then... "... new friend, sure." A moment longer -- and Ichika knows them well enough to see their expression sour, even when it's so guarded and stoic. "Good for him." They don't really wish their father well, but they need to mind their manners. They don't know who's standing over Etsuko's shoulder, after all. A thread of anxiety files through their voice, as they add: "H-- hey, he ain't gonna -- want me to call him or nothin', right?"
Their hand curls to a fist, against their leg, as they hear what she has to say. Their tone is measured, and measured precisely, wavering at the edges with the tensile force it's under. "... don't tell me it's not my fault," they plead, though it comes our far sterner and harsher. "I know. I know --"
Something they hear makes them flinch, as if struck. "Fuck off!" They snap, finally, their shoulders curling forward. They try to catch themself a moment later, shaking their head a little against their phone and the wall. "No -- no, you don't gotta -- I-I'm sorry, jus', look, I ain't a girl," they insist, biting at their blue-painted lip. "... mom, it matters, don't pull that, I... i-it's not about you!" Their voice breaks, as they struggle to reason with her, tears stinging their eyes. "Y-you didn't -- I'm -- l-look, I gotta go, all right? Yeah? I gotta go, mom. Whatever. Bye."
They flip the phone shut, and shove it back in their pocket, roughly.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Skulking! That is a cool word. Ichika doesn't ask where it came from, though. She has no idea about all that. "I guess," she allows.
Their kinda--
A call. Ichika is patient about that at first. "OK," Ichika says, and prepares to wait--until she hears that small address. The phone call half she can hear tells a certain kind of story, along with Tsubasa's movements. She sees their sour expression. She notices the anxiety--
Ichika stands still, resisting the urge to cross her arms in concern. They know, they know--
'It's not about you.'
"..."
"You OK?" Ichika asks. "Sounds like it was rough."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa's breathing a touch more heavily than they were a few minutes ago; their lips press tightly together, and their nostrils keep twitching as they try to bury the face they're trying real hard not to start crying out here. It's not like anyone is even here at the club at this time of day, but...
"It's cool," they say, roughly, stare fixed out towards the opposite wall, not even taking in the stage or the caged equipment at either of their peripheries.
Their hand curls to a fist, clenches, and holds there for several seconds before it relaxes. "..."
Tsubasa takes a deep breath, and grabs the back of the lounge to steer themself sitting.
Another breath, another lacuna as their lips part only to snap closed again, as if the bile inside them needs to be kept under lock and key.
"... no it ain't," they admit, a moment later, elbows coming to rest on their splayed knees as their shoulders slump forward.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika can damn well tell it isn't 'cool', and she waits as Tsubasa works that out. She waits, because there's not anything else she can do in the moment, but she prepares to--
It's not necessary.
"It's not," Ichika agrees. "...What's going on?" she asks. "What happened?"
Ichika moves to sit down with Tsubasa, getting on their level instead of standing over them.
"Let's talk about it."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa is all but motionless, for long moments, staring out into the middle distance as Ichika seats herself. It is a silence characterised by the breaths they take, as they try to work themself up to telling; there are a few more bars of silence, still, before they get there.
"... she was callin' me 'bout a promotion my father's up for," Tsubasa says, their eventual words stiff and dour, face fixed in a stony frown. "No clue why she thought I gave a shit." Their fingers curl, against the fabric of their shorts. "But she was fuckin' blazed --" they say, too quickly, before their eyes widen a touch. A light pause, as they chew their lip. "She's... she's into drugs, man," they admit, quietly. "Like, uh -- prescription shit -- shit they give you to calm you down or whatever. But she just... completely checks out, you can hear it... whatever," they shake their head.
"Thought... maybe he'd hurt her too, or somethin', but... she didn't say shit. Just 'bout how she'd handle it -- how she was a failure of a mother -- she tried to tell me it ain't my fault, but if she fuckin' believed that, she woulda said somethin' when he was scrubbing ' my fuckin' skin off. Fuckin'... not just tell me to behave myself." And there are questions, perhaps, for a future that never was, what happens to mothers as the years go by and the children become targets...
"Don't sell me that shit," Tsubasa insists, as if the idea that their own mother doesn't blame them for their abuse is just another malicious lie.
"And she fuckin' -- thinks she's bein' so nice with that sweet baby girl shit and I just gotta cop it an' I'm sick of it!" Their voice grows shrill as it raises, though they realise their loosening grip on their temper and clamp down on it a moment later. "Fuck, I shouldna swore at her, she was just upset... I'm such a selfish piece of shit."
How interesting that they so easily pivot to finding blame in themself after they were driven to tears.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika can handle silence. They're more or less alone here, and likely to be for a while yet. There's no particular need to rush other than her own anxiety about what's going on with Tsubasa. ...No, maybe not just with Tsubasa, considering.
"A promotion," Ichika repeats and listens--and then is kind of... uncomfortably silent, about the drugs. Not because of the drugs themselves, but because of what Tsubasa confirms.
That maybe he'd hurt her, too. Ichika can't help but wonder if she'd have--
She shakes her head. "Handle it?" she wonders.
"I'm not gonna tell you what you think, and I'm not gonna tell you what she thinks," Ichika assures Tsubasa. "I wouldn't know. You would."
But she thinks she's being nice. "...Maybe," Ichika admits of swearing at her, "But it's not cool that she won't listen to you, either. If she's trying to be nice to you, the least she can do is suck that up, right?"
"...You're not. You're hurt, too."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa... always figured they got the brunt of it, but...
... sometimes there were weird thuds, at night, and they weren't allowed in their parents' room on penalty of death.
"I -- I was like, did I gotta call him or somethin', since I didn't know why she'd be tellin' me he was even gonna get a promotion in the first place... but she just told me to leave it to her. Maybe she'll be speakin' for me... I dunno." Tsubasa sounds unsettled, as they try to explain.
But... Ichika says they'd know, and they nod, mutely, listening as she goes on.
"She told me not to go on about it when I said I weren't a girl, like it was this stupid argument I shouldn't even still be havin'," Tsubasa says, their shoulders sinking a little more.
They look down at themself, when Ichika points out they're hurt, blinking at those tears. Their fingers flex, and uncurl, and mutely reach out into the space between them, open-palmed.
"She should hate me," Tsubasa says, quite morose. "I killed the daughter she really wanted... now I'm wearing her skin and her face. 'Course she's upset." They bite their lip, for a moment, still wound tense. "I was scared father was gonna take it out on them since he couldn't beat my ass... but I dunno what he'd even do."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Leave it to her, huh." Tsubasa sounds unsettled, but it unsettles Ichika, too. She doesn't know what that would mean.
"Sucks," Ichika answers about what Tsubasa's mother said. But then... Tsubasa expresses that about--
"You didn't kill anyone," Ichika is quick to correct once Tsubasa finishes. "There's no 'of course' to that. You are who you are--if she doesn't like it, that's her problem."
A pause. "...Maybe," Ichika admits of what Tsubasa was afraid of, "I don't know either. But like..."
"Don't go doing his job for him. Just because it sucks for her doesn't mean she should talk to you like that."
Ichika reaches out--to take Tsubasa's hand, gently.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"I dunno, she's like... big into her responsibility and shit," Tsubasa shrugs a shoulder. "Like, getting me into Akiyama was all her. Father didn't give a fuck."
Which might explain why the only school she could convince to take them was Akiyama.
Tsubasa sighs. "Yeah," they grumble, "guess I need a sharper sword for that... feels like I did, though." Come on, Tsubasa, think positive! You can totally kill a guy with your bokken!
(No, they're super not over meeting a woman who has almost definitely actually killed a guy with that sword, by the way.)
"... feels like I was the one takin' it out on her," they say, as their fingers curl between Ichika's and clasp tightly to her. "My older brother's the one what takes after her," and here they say onii-sama, as formal as their regard for their father, "I just got her looks, man... as for the rest of me, I'm just like my fuckin' father. When I think about that... I can't stand sayin' she shouldn't talk to me that way."
Tsubasa looks away, and their concealer and fake tan can't hide the shame, there.
"Jus'... hear it in his voice."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Ah, yeah." Ichika nods. Akiyama. And of course, Father didn't care.
"You didn't," Ichika reiterates. "You'd need a much sharper sword," Ichika agrees. "...besides. You didn't kill anybody. That's a fucked up thing to say to your kid."
That woman must be very cool and attractive to make such a lasting impression.
"Not how it sounded to me," Ichika says. "You were all concern til she started treading on you. What, you're not allowed to speak up when somebody says something shitty?"
A shake of her head. "...You know him better than I do," she admits. "But I've never seen you act like I've seen him act. All... Smile in public and fuck somebody up behind closed doors."
"He's an asshole."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Fucked up, huh." Tsubasa sighs. "I mean... she didn't say it just now..."
As if it makes it so much better that some of these insults were in the past.
"I shoulda been more respectful," Tsubasa shakes their head, when Ichika points out how concerned they were, though they squeeze Ichika's hand, too. "She's my mother. And maybe she needed help, and I... just got hung up on her sayin' she cared about me the wrong way, like, how selfish is that..."
Tsubasa always insists they're acting in self-interest; they get theirs, and if they've decided to invest in you, maybe they make sure you get yours too. But how much of their self-identification is rooted in the criticisms of their family?
They shake their head, again, a touch more forcefully. "He -- he's always losin' it," Tsubasa says, "just like I do, man. Real... a real temper. An' he only cares 'bout how he's seen, an' if I didn't, why the fuck would I look like this? Thinkin' what other people are gonna say all the time... and we're both fuckin' cruel, and nasty, and mean, and selfish. Maybe that's why he hates me so much, I dunno... if it's all like that, he's gotta hate mirrors too."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"That makes it better?" Ichika wonders.
Ichika keeps hold of Tsubasa's hand, resting her other hand on top of both of theirs and squeezing back. "What, so giving a shit how you feel at all makes you selfish?"
It's... frustrating, for Ichika, hearing this. Because she does see the roots of that idea. Self-interest... Just because they keep being told that.
"Yeah?" Ichika wonders. "Then why've you never lost it on me? Or the Princess?"
Or Lance, but she doesn't want to pull Tsubasa up that hard.
"He hates you because you won't do what he wants. Because that's how he is."
"You care about more than just how you're seen."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"... I guess not," Tsubasa admits, though their voice is small.
A suppressed sob wracks through their body, swallowed down, when they feel Ichika clasping their hand; they can't quite hide it, though, because even their hand trembles. They shift, a little, leaning their weight on her shoulder. "I dunno," they admit, when Ichika walks their logic out. "Like... I should feel something else, or... I dunno."
Because of course their feelings are wrong, if they're making them feel bad.
Still -- Ichika wonders why she's never lost it on her. "I -- I guess you just never really pissed me off?" They try to explain it, haltingly. But they sigh, again a moment later. "No, that ain't it... I just don't wanna hurt you guys."
(Indeed, Tsubasa cares so much about no one losing it on their dog that they specifically trained her to go home on her own whenever trouble picked up.)
"Life'd be so much easier if I just caved," Tsubasa remarks, glumly. "Sometimes I ask myself... how long I could cope with that shit... y'know? Just fuckin' lie, it's easy, man..."
It's not such a dissimilar thought to wondering whether life would be easier as a married woman.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika tries to be steady, present. She doesn't back off; she stays right here, by Tsubasa's space, her hands on theirs. She spots that shift...
"I don't think so," Ichika says. Of feeling something else. But--
They try to explain it away, and Ichika doesn't have to prompt them to figure it out. They don't want to. "Yeah. You don't want to. ...So you don't."
Life would be easier...
"Is it easy?" Ichika wonders. "If it were easy, you'd be doing it already, right? Because this? This isn't easy."
A pause. "...But I thought about it too. Lying. ...To me, though. Just... pretend it never happened, marry some other guy... Pick up what I lost, and just... live that."
"Might work for a while, like you might be able to cope for a while. ...But it's not where I am right now. And 'caving' isn't where you're at, either."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"But... I get so fuckin' mad." Tsubasa says, slowly. "And it's always, like, we set him off... and shit sets me off all the time, like..." It's like one of those stupid picture games they show kids, where there are two copies of a picture with a couple of key differences. It's embarrassing to them that they'd struggle at it.
Still... if it were easy to beg forgiveness from their family, surely they would have, already.
"But it's hard, right?" Tsubasa asks, weight sinking in against her as their shoulders curl in around their chest. "Like... like everyone says not to do it, but... but like, if I'd just wear the fuckin' skirt, they'd stop givin' me shit at school. If I'd just quit it with the stupid clown shit, I could go back home, and man, there are like, ten times less cockroaches over there, and the hot water actually fuckin' works, an'... f-fuck, man, I dunno."
Snif. They're not crying, shut up.
"Nah," they cut themself off, after that interrupted breath, "I-I mean, I do know. Knew when he hauled me outta there and threw me out the front door... guess I'm just that stubborn. But I can't do it, man... I can't be like that."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"You never hit people you care about about it," Ichika says, sure about that one. She's seen Tsubasa get mad, after all. ...And even if it feels 'generous', he's supposed to care, right?
"Yeah," Ichika says then. "You do know. You can't do it--and that's fine."
"...It's not OK, how he treats you. It's way beyond like... anything."
"But that's what I think. You're not out here because it's easier. You're out because it's the only way to live at all."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"I... I guess not," Tsubasa says, haltingly. "But... he does. Like, he hit me, and... I can't prove nothin', but I reckon he probably hits my mom, too. Jus'... from hearin' shit, y'know... told myself it was the normal shit you don't wanna think about with your parents in the bedroom, but... I dunno."
And really, it speaks volumes that Hanzou not only keeps his abuse behind closed doors but segregated between his family members.
(... Ichika might never have known her little girl was being hurt until it was too late.)
But... it's fine, not to be able to do it. What he's doing isn't okay. What they're doing isn't easier. Tsubasa listens to it all, and takes a deep, shuddering breath.
"At least I'm alive," they say.
"I don't... really wanna die."
The hesitation there speaks to the struggles they have, the questions over whether perhaps they ought to make life easier for Hanzou; but getting down to brass tacks, they want to live. They keep fighting for it, day after day.
And to say it at all is bravery, in the face of their transphobic family.
"C," they start, stammering and choking on the word before they manage to get it out, "c-can I have a hug."
A hug in public!! Terrifying!! Luckily, no punk worth their rep would be here in the afternoon. Nothing cool happens here until the sun goes down.
And as Tsubasa latches onto Ichika, they mumble, into her shoulder: "... he's pretty bad, huh."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Hits them, and... probably hits their mom, too. That makes Ichika's heart sink a little further. "Yeah," Ichika says. "...You could be right."
She won't live like that, either.
But now--At least I'm alive. "Right," Ichika says. "...Whatever else is wrong, whatever else is there... We're alive, yeah? That means a lot."
They don't want to die. That's good! That's good.
But...
Ichika nods. "Yeah," she says, and moves to wrap her arms around Tsubasa. "It's cool," she says. "You can."
She is silent until Tsubasa speaks up, and if anybody gave them shit that would be a problem... for that person.
"Yeah," Ichika agrees. "Yeah, he is."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa could stand to be a little less right, about something like that.
"Yeah," Tsubasa nods. "We're alive. You too, man... it matters." Ichika's problems might be far more a story of misogyny than transphobia, but there are more similarities than differences, between them.
(Even if her family is so much warmer than theirs.)
Tsubasa would of course be mortified if anyone gave them shit right now, but luckily, no one's around to even try. They hide themself away in her arms, and to take that comfort, too, feels selfish to them.
"Way beyond anythin'... it's hard for me to think that way. But even when I say he isn't that bad 'cuz he ain't done somethin', he's always gone ahead and done it... like how I said he never hurt me that bad 'cuz he never hit me. T-then he -- hit me. Like, shit, man, I'm scared he'll really hurt me one day... prolly make me dig my own grave while he was at it. That's... kinda fucked up, right...?"
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Yeah," Ichika agrees. "Me, too."
Ichika is glad to be alive, too. And there are similarities. A lot of them.
But Ichika doesn't think it's selfish. Hard to think that way...
"Yeah," Ichika says. "He's not supposed to be like that. And he doesn't want you to think he's like that, I guess. But he is."
A pause. "...Yeah..."
"That's super fucked up," Ichika agrees. "...I wish you didn't have to see him again."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"If you asked him, he'd say he's a great dad," Tsubasa says, and the resentment in their tone is obvious. "Like, he's sacrificed so much for his family... fuckin' liar."
They clutch a little tighter, hearing Ichika's wishes, with a high, keening sob.
"I-I'm cool," they insist, tears in their eyes. "I'm cool, it's cool..." Though, as previously established, Ichika can damn well tell it isn't cool, so it's unclear who Tsubasa thinks they're fooling.
"He just scares me, man," Tsubasa says, quietly. "He really fuckin' scares me... I don't wanna ever see him again, neither. But not even the cops can stop him... shit, half the cops are his best fuckin' pals. I think maybe he's wrapped up in somethin', like, somethin' bad, the cop what beat up Yeo-sama was answerin' to someone bigger and those cops were friends with my father and... and I'm just in the shadow of it all and I'm dumb as shit, man, I don't know nothin'..."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Yeah," Ichika agrees. "It's bullshit."
It's cool, but it's not cool. It's not cool at all. But Ichika dosen't contest that aloud this time; she just listens.
"..."
"...Maybe," Ichika thinks, and thinks back to Eiji, what she learned in his Palace. She thinks to how he can pull all that stuff off, and it might not just be his dad.
She thinks about the suits commanding that woman...
"It's OK to be scared," Ichika settles on, feeling lame. What can she say? What can she promise? She can't even take care of Eiji, like she is now.
"Just... hang on, okay?"
"I'm not going anywhere, anyway."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"I'm not paranoid," Tsubasa insists, though all the evidence suggests they surely are. Those reams of documents on their desk, all hand-written, must surely be nothing but. "Somethin's goin' on."
But there's nothing they can promise about it, either.
They can't fight something they can't even see.
(They couldn't fight, even if they wanted to.)
But Ichika assures them that it's fine to be scared, and they curl their arms tightly, around her, when she asks them to hang on. That literal answer is accompanied by a small, wretched, "'kay," and Tsubasa tries to ignore the way they're trembling.
"T--thanks, Boss. For real... I'd be so fucked without you. I... I know you'll be there to pull my ass outta the fire... yeah?" And their casual slang isn't just a thought exercise, with the story written over their right side.
It means something.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"I believe you," Ichika says simply. She has lots of reasons to believe them--she just... can't share what they are. "I do."
Ichika stays there, though. Sh e stays with Tsubasa, and doesn't ignore the trembling, and tries to be as strong as she can. But out of the fire...?
"Yeah," Ichika says.
"I will."