2025-10-03: Mending The Cracks
- Log: Mending the Cracks
- Cast: Myunghon Yeo, Shinjiro Aragaki
- Where: Naganaki Shrine
- OOC Date: October 03, 2025
- IC Date: July 20, 2012
- Summary: Myunghon and Shinjiro meet up for the first time since their fight days earlier. They both apologize, before having a frank and candid discussion about their fears and needs, repairing their bond in a way that may just make it stronger in the long run.
(|============================= Naganaki Shrine ==============================|) -================================================== Iwatodai City/Iwatodai ====- Naganaki Shrine is a piece of tradition in the middle of the city. Long stairs lead up to a stone-pathed pavilion lined with sacred trees; immediately to one's left is a children's playground, with slide, see-saw and a jungle gym. The first part of the shrine proper is the cleansing area, where one washes out one's mouth and hands in order to respectfully meet the Gods. This done, one may approach the shrine. Two lion-dogs fiercely guard the monetary offering booth, where many a student has come praying for academic success. Off to the side, one may receive a relationship fortune and tie it off, in hopes of growing closer to a special someone. To the other side of the shrine are red pillars which lead one to the /Inari/ Shrine, another place for prayer. One may receive items, here, if items are sacrificed in turn. Beside the Inari Shrine is a great sacred tree, protected behind a fence and by a series of tags tied about it from a holy rope; a sign beside it describes the history of this place, going into the sacred tree and the Shrine's deity.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
> Shinjiro-ssi, I'd like to apologise in person...
> I know I'd panic if I suddenly saw a message without detail, but I'm very bad at typing my thoughts over the phone and you don't deserve that. Is the Naganaki Shrine okay? I'll wait by the swings again...
It's getting late. The setting sun bathes the Naganaki Shrine in a warm orange glow, and a resplendent view over Tatsumi Port Island is one of the main attractions of coming here at this hour. Myunghon does look, but their thoughts are inwards as they idly curl up within that swingset, their legs pulled up to their face like on that first day they met here, when Shinjiro trusted them with the news of his condition.
This time, they're dressed in Mei's white coat. They have a chocolate-coloured blouse underneath, with another black ribbon tie and brooch over their neckline, and a lighter brown inverted pleat skirt to go with the black leggings and white Mary Janes this time. It's different clothes, but not altogether that different from the set they were wearing when they were arguing.
But it is different than the set Myunghon wore on that day. It may not seem like much, but the white coat has always signified something different than the black coat. Not something as straightforward as life and death, but... it is the embodiment of things left unsaid, above all else.
They have another plastic food container balanced ontop of their knees.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
> yeah. i'll be there shortly
Shinjiro keeps his word. He doesn't make them wait too long, because he was considering apologizing when he can, and there's a nagging guilt at the fact he had to wait until they spoke first.
His feet move him towards the swings, looking over Myunghon with a nod before he takes a seat next to them.
"Hey," he finally breaks the silence. "...I'm glad to see you again," he admits, having thought that was the end between them in the deeply paranoid part of his brain. He's had, surprisingly, some good chats since the fight, and doesn't seem totally melted down.
His eyes scan for the sunset, before glancing over towards Myunghon, giving them space and time to work through their own feelings before he apologizes.
"...I'm sorry. I kinda fucked up back there."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon does take their time, but they don't have obvious, visible tension in them as they sit in that half-asleep motion on the swing. They haven't thoroughly dozed off either, there's just a somewhat... relaxed, perhaps accepting kind of air about them.
"Mm. I am too. I was really scared you'd... you'd say no," Myunghon does admit, as they hold onto the food container. "Are you hungry...? I... baked more cookies. I thought the sugar may help." These ones are misshapen, though they have the heart of someone one-handed who tried their best without a Suou-san to look after them.
Shinjiro gets the first thing off his mind, something that's already on his mind as well. Like Shinjiro, they've had some good chats on their end too -- like mending things with So-young first and foremost, which bolsters their confidence that they can mend things here too.
"Shinjiro-ssi, I... no, it really was not you. I was being very unfair. I knew what you confided in me was... it isn't something you confide in with just anyone, and then I turned it around and said something very cruel to you."
Their heart's heavy, but they've prepared these words, thought about how to say them. Because you dwell on these things for a long time when you've committed yourself to apologising. "I can't take those cruel words back, even if I wish I could. ... will you forgive me, Shinjiro-ssi?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"...I wouldn't do that to you," Shinjiro says softly, before looking over the cookies. He considers it in his mind, before nodding, reaching a hand out once Myunghon offers. "I never got to say last time as much, but... they're good. I appreciate you going to the effort."
Shinjiro considers what Myunghon says about confiding... "I told Kazama and Shimizu. I was in a bad state with each of them and felt it would be better to be honest, even if I was terrified it'd go wrong..." His soft smile indicates it went fairly well, at least.
But then, Myunghon apologizes. The smile fades a little bit, but there's appreciation behind his facial expression either way. "I forgive you. I never... blamed you. I... I know it's a lot to put on someone. The weight of my condition. I worried that telling you broke things, pushed you away... that was selfish of me to think."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
It's another way, perhaps, of Myunghon saying: I'm refusing to let our fight ruin a new thing I was embarking on, because they cooked a second batch of cookies. They hand the container over, since they're not going to be able to eat it anyways. It's okay. They made sure they were fed for this, because they're going to need a lot of brain juice. They're still a creature dependent on calories and nutrition, no matter how much they want to believe otherwise.
But... Shinjiro says he also confided in others. "... I'm sure they'd also be happy to be called Mio and Shinobu," they gently remind, since if they're important enough he can confide in them his condition, surely yobisute is also fine. "But..."
A pause. "That... also relieves me? I think-- being the only one who knew... it wasn't fair to ask you to share it further, it wasn't my place to ask. I felt the need to have a stiff upper lip, to be brave for you... to take charge of that one year left. But even sharing the burden, some things are easier with even more people. I realised I continued to try to be the adult I thought you needed."
They lower their head, draping that white coat, with the koala pin glimmering in the sunset, closer to them. "... it happened to me once before, you know. The woman who made this coat for me, a precious friend of mine, a woman named Mei... I last left her with similarly cruel, vicious words. Then she fell to Apathy Syndrome... I never had the chance to apologise. I left things unsaid, and now I have nothing but regrets. I was so mortified it would happen again."
They lift their head up gently, tears in their eye. "I'm-- I'm resolved to not let that happen again."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro takes the cookies, cracking open the container gently and removing one. He listens to Myunghon speak as he tastes it. It's not the best, no. But it has heart and flavor. That's all he cares about. He smiles as he eats it, genuinely.
"Ah... I didn't want to assume," he rubs his head sheepishly about yobisute. Even if he doesn't use honorifics, he still tries to be moderately polite...
But Myunghon mentions their stiff upper lip, their attempt to be brave. "I... don't talk about this much but... I'm not brave. I try to be, show a big front, just like you. ...it's not true, I'm scared that someday I'll be nothing but memory. That I'll have been eighteen years old and just... not in the lives of the people I care about, not able to care for them in their worst moments like I wish I had accepted two years ago."
Myunghon explains about Mei. Shinjiro frowns softly. "...I'm sorry for your loss. I don't want it to happen for you, either. I... tried not to bond with people, fearing that I'll just hurt them. ...then I saw your kindness and just couldn't help myself. That fear I never want to show... it rules me."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Cookies, made with heart. It has all the neat little imperfections of someone who's really trying.
"I don't want to assume either, but... I think I've become the better person I am now over only the course of a month because of everyone." Myunghon does try to work through their feelings slowly. "Everytime I've bonded with friends, it's always ended in separation and tragedy. I had to leave Yuarin and Mihoin and Remi behind for a time, and... then I lost Mei as well, and don't keep up with the others from university as much as I should, because it is painful..."
They shiver softly, as a wind passes, seemingly right through them. Shinjiro speaks of the front that, much like Myunghon, he feels the need to put up. But that they're ruled by a fear that they'll be nothing but memory within... but it was their kindness that drew them in.
At their worst moments, Myunghon thinks of that kindness as false, in some way -- since they've internalised that the only thing core about them is fear and weakness.
"I knew I couldn't leave you alone, Shinjiro-ssi. From the first day we met, when you presented the case of the Joker Killer to me. But..."
The swing creaks gently. "I was always afraid of that same outcome, deep inside. When... when you confided in me, I really felt like that same fear was ruling me, gripping me. I really felt like I was helpless to do nothing but follow that same script, when we argued a few days ago."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro's still eating the cookies. It's not like before, where he took one and struggled. The sugar's helping.
"I... get it. I've never had many friends, Aki, Kirijo, but I tore myself away from them in that same fear. But then... esprit de corps, you said. Taught me I can have friends again, that I can be around people without inherently harming them. I...think that made me worried, made it harder, because I worried I wasn't doing enough to care for people before I go. To make sure they'd be fine when I'm gone."
A pause, as he considers being left alone, swaying his feet on the swing. The script, the argument, the fear. "I get that, too. I get like a bull in a china shop, following my passions, never stopping to think. But I... spoke to Tsumugi Kujaku today. I wanted to know that... even if we hadn't talked again, that you'd be alright being around them, so that I could rest if something happened to me. ...I was wrong about them, and... our conversation helped me realize I'm really afraid of two things."
"I'm afraid of dying, Myunghon... leaving people behind in a worse state than I met them. But I'm also worried of living with that as a possibility, of being able to accept my status as a person himself worthy of love and care when I will inevitably hurt everyone." The way he says it sounds like he's not entirely sure about it anyways, that he still hasn't accepted he is, but that he's self-aware to verbalize to someone he trusts.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Esprit de Corps. They listen quietly, intently, as Shinjiro speaks of how freeing it was to be able to have friends again, but -- it also inspired worries in them...
"That idea that you aren't a friend if you aren't doing 'enough'... that's really hurt both of us," Myunghon reflects. "That there is a such a shape in which a friend should be, and if we aren't meeting that ideal that only lives in our heads, we're hurting people, wasting their time."
But Shinjiro spoke to Tsumugi, and their breath hitches for a moment, because they're not sure if they're ready to touch on one of the core reasons the argument happened. "... I... my mind often tends to leap to the worst possible conclusions. I felt as if I had to pick between one or the other when asked me about trust back then, even though I know that's not what you mean." But it sounded like it went... okay? Tsumugi's always had a way with words. "They're..."
A pause, as they continue to rock gently on that swing. "It isn't as if I've had conflicting thoughts, but... Tsumugi is..." A deeply furrowed brow. "Not just Tsumugi. I think the people at the Peacock Silk have an idea of how to be comfortable with life that I don't understand and crave knowing."
Shinjiro says he's afraid of two things. Leaving people behind in a worse state... but also being afraid of being able to accept love and care, as being someone worthy of it, when he'll inevitably hurt everyone.
"... when I met Tsumugi for the first time, they rekindled the possibility that I still might desire intimacy and closeness," Myunghon quietly shares. "I'd considered myself a corpse, then... No Longer Human. That I still deserve love and care, too."
They quietly rise from the swing, draping themself tighter in Mei's coat still. They offer their hand gently to Shinjiro.
"I think it's better to admit we're scared, and be scared together. I just... would like to be a friend, helping you enjoy the most of the time we both have here, instead of be a beacon of hope that will solve problems for you. And since you've told Mio-ssi and Shinobu-ssi... let's work on it with them too. That's a relief to you as well, to have more people to share it with, right...?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"...yeah," SHinjiro nods about their reflection. But then their breath hitches as he mentions Tsumugi. When they share their initial concern, though, he's not dismissive, nodding once. "I'm sorry. I won't ever force you to choose if I can help it." He doesn't even sound bitter or self-effacing about that - as if it's just a fact that he won't force them on that path.
As they both rock, he considers Peacock Silk. "I bought a very nice coat. Got it half-off, technically, paid the final deposit with an interesting conversation." A pause. "I might want to know more about their staff myself, even..."
Myunghon mentions intimacy and closeness, corpses, no longer human. Shinjiro inhales slowly, before exhaling.
"I've been seeing myself as a dead man walking. But maybe that's not fair to myself..."
Myunghon rises and offers their hand. Shinjiro sets the cookie tin down for a moment, before reaching his hand out to take theirs. It's cold... but not uncomfortable.
"You're right, Myunghon. I don't need a beacon of hope... and you don't need a teenager to look up to you with that pressure. All we need is to do is figure it out together, whether we're afraid or not."
Myunghon asks one final question, and there's a soft smile once more. It's cute as usual. "It's weird, but I haven't been pushed away... only been offered help. Mio, Shinobu, Akabane... Kirijo. They didn't reject me." He only uses partial yobisute, for he has never broached it with Umie and also if he called Mitsuru her first name without an honorific he might die.
"And neither did you, and I appreciate that."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
"... I knew you were concerned. I should be, too. You did literally have to save me from perishing in Mementos, with the others. I..." Myunghon hesitates, thinking back to Yua's words just earlier. "I know that caution is warranted," they do admit. "How they view the supernatural, and how one should exist in physical reality... they thread the eye of a needle I do not know how to, just yet. Not without fear and violence. And on that day, you were the one to remind me that mine isn't a path of fear and violence."
But Shinjiro got a nice coat from there... it is nice -- cognitively resonant, too. He might also want to get to know the staff better...
"There is a young woman there, Yanagi Nagisa. Sa-ya. I find her jewelcrafting very exciting to watch, and we seem to converse very naturally too. She has a honesty about her own short life that I find cuts through the very same things we worried about... she made this beautiful Koala Pin for me."
Ordinarily, Myunghon would be worried about revealing something like that -- but the ease in which Yanagi admits that they love Tsumugi because Tsumugi wouldn't grieve for them was eye-opening.
But Shinjiro, too, has seen himself as a dead man walking -- much like how Myunghon has seen themself. He doesn't need a beacon of hope... and they don't need a teenager to look up to them with that pressure. They need to figure it out together, afraid or not.
His smile *is* cute. They're better off like this, working through it slowly. "... mm. And we'll continue to. I made up with So-young too... I do tend to jump to the worst conclusions so quickly -- because I'm afraid. She even helped me with bathing, something I've always struggled with on my own but never had anyone to ask for help with..."
A soft pause. "We want you in our lives, Shinjiro. We'll make this time we have well-spent. ... have you had dinner yet? I was thinking about that ramen place you said you trained with... even if I can't enjoy much from it, I'd just like to see a place that's a bit special to you."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"We both have things we need to figure out.. we can take time on it. There's no need to rush, even if that seems paradoxical." Shinjiro replies about threading the eye of the needle.
Yanagi Nagisa... he commits the name to memory. "It's cute. I'll have to meet her, then."
"I'm glad you two made up," he tells Myunghon. "I'll tell her, eventually, on my own time. It's... a hard conversation to keep having, after all."
But they want him in their lives, and that finally makes him pause and take another breath. What comes out of it is a somewhat brighter smile, as he shakes his head. "No, let's go. It's not far from here. We can get some tea."
Before they finally part, though, Shinjiro turns back to the sunset once more, observing the place where this all began, where the stress first started, before moving forward and letting it start to dissipate.
It's time to figure out how to live, even if it's slow and messy and painful. Even if he's not sure how much of it he wants. But... even if he still hates himself in some ways... rolling in that hate isn't the answer.
His friends taught him that... so he has to try for them.