2025-11-04: Powerless
- Log: Powerless
- Cast: Shinjiro Aragaki, Minako Arisato
- Where: Iwatodai Dormitory
- OOC Date: November 04, 2025
- IC Date: August 05, 2012
- Summary: Minako finds Shinjiro in a funk, and provides him some leaderly compassion. They discuss all the supernatural things he's been struggling with and the feeling of being powerless, before he vaguely confides that he believes he hurt Mitsuru. They agree to try and give her some more support.
(|============================================================================|) (|============================ Iwatodai Dormitory ============================|) -================================================== Iwatodai City/Iwatodai ====- A large four-story dormitory used by the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, only five minutes from Iwatodai Station. Upon entering, one passes a desk with a sign-in book for guests to find a large carpeted common room that's well appointed for co-ed gatherings. A TV is usually on with the local news or a movie that's been loaded into the DVD player for a student to enjoy. A table for shared dinners, or more often study sessions, takes up the other half of the dorm, as well as a kitchen should one dare to show off their skills to their fellow students. There are two winding staircases on either side. The one on the left simply says 'Boys' while the other on the right states 'No Boys Except By Invitation.' The implicit threat of execution need not be written down for those who violate these rules. The second and third stories are living spaces divided by gender with common spaces that have study areas and bookshelves available. The fourth story is the command center with surveillance capabilities for not just different parts of the city but each room within the dorms. The Chairman has assured all who live here that this capability is strictly necessary. BGM - Dormitory Theme - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj-FrFI0qnM
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
It is Sunday in the SEES dorms, and Shinjiro Aragaki is NOT cooking. That's not all he does! Though, over the last week, he's been a bit distant, he's still sleeping here and cooking here normally, even as he helped the Cardboard Dragon technically with Taro Nakata's Atelier instead of SEES, guarding their internet cafe booth.
The distance isn't clear where it came from... but he hasn't been interacting as much as he had before, and the perceptive could notice. He knows what it is, of course, the encounter with Mitsuru and Reiya and his fear of causing problems for the living, but he's not sharing that information.
However, he has been buying stuff for the summer vacation in less than a week, so they can be sure he'll be there, at least.
Right now, Shinjiro's alone on one of the couches. He has a book in his hands, though he's clearly having trouble getting through it. The book is No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai, which he's mentioned before.
After a long moment trying to stare at a page, he sighs, placing the book back down. He places his head in his hands for a moment, running his fingers through his hair, before straightening up, trying to put back on his metaphorical masks.
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
Minako slept in a little late today. She often does on Sundays, unless she has a part-time job to do in the daytime. She comes down the stairs, then, and rubs at her eyes. She had been up in her room after getting up, and she pauses as she sees Shinjiro...
...and a familiar book.
She starts to open her mouth -- but she sees the way the mask falls. The way his worries are clear, as he puts his head in his hands, and Minako's smile fades for a moment. Then, she takes a couple more steps down the stairwell.
"Hi, Aragaki-senpai," she says. She hesitates for a second. "Everything okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro, for once, is not alert as Minako rubs her eyes. It's when she comes further down and greets him that he tilts his head over, face reverting to neutral.
"Hey, Arisato," he greets, before seeing her hesitate. AS she asks that question, he considers.
The answer is 'no, not really', but he can't just burden her with that. Then again, she's one of the leaders... but he can't tell her what *happened*, can he? It's between the six people that were in that room.
"I'm fine," he first answers reflexively. It's said with all the practice of someone who's had to say it a thousand times. After a moment where he considers leaving it at that...
"Just stressed," he admits. "Things have been pretty rough lately all around."
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
"Ah, yeah..."
Minako trails off, before she walks closer. She stops behind the sofa -- the one opposite the one that he sits on -- and puts her hands on the back of it, and looks at Shinjiro with a thoughtful expression.
"Things with the trip?" she asks. She hesitates for a second. She can hazard a guess about what else it might be, too.
"...you know, the stuff with the Dark Hour and everything else?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Part of Shinjiro wondered if Minako would say a platitude and leave at that. People usually do. But instead, she move to engage, and he watches as she places her hands on the sofa.
"Trip is whatever. It's like a week, yeah? I didn't have enough prep time, but it's better to go, right?" He's still a bit uncertain. Has he earned something like that? But he's trying to mask it as best as he can. He's the senpai here.
Though, then Minako pierces the actual problem. "...it's been a shitshow," he admits without censoring himself. "I've been dealing with that, some Palaces, *two* cursed circuses, some stuff with the Cardboard Dragon..." Another sigh.
"It's not like it was back in the day anymore. The world's a lot bigger. There's more people who can get hurt."
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
Minako never likes to look away. She looks at him, and then there is a nod of her head. "Yeah," she says. "It'll be nice to relax. But there wasn't a lot of prep time, either."
She doesn't flinch at the coarse language. She doesn't swear as much as he does, but she isn't exactly the type to never swear. "I heard about the cursed circuses," Minako says. She frowns, though, and tilts her head. "The Cardboard Dragon and Palaces, huh?"
She hesitates.
"...Well..." She trails off for a second. "...I hate it when people I care about are in danger. And especially if it's dangers I can't see coming. That leaves me feeling... I don't know. Powerless?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"It'll be cold," Shinjiro mutters, even if that is the oddest thing ever to say about a beach. "But... might be nice, even if I'm honestly too busy for this." What does it say about him that he refused to fight, and the moment he came back, he started to overwork himself?
A pause, as he considers what to share with Minako, and decides to trust her. "A contact of mine is being threatened by a Palace Ruler, and then some guy just got murdered while my allies got brutalized trying to protect him." He's craving eel, suddenly...
Minako, though, is thoughtful, and talks about people in danger. "...yeah. Just watching the world move by for the worse, being unable to act on it... it sucks."
His neutral expression breaks into a frown at that. "I'm being a downer," he says, shaking his head.
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
"I-I hope it won't be cold," Minako says with a little laugh. She isn't sure if it's a joke -- even if it doesn't sound like he meant it as one -- and then she hesitates for a second. She smiles, then. "I hear you about feeling busy. I want to explore Tartarus more, and..."
She trails off. "...but, it might mean we really do need a break, so we're at our best."
She gets quiet, then, as Shinjiro explains more. She frowns when he explains it -- and her eyes widen a little bit. She shakes her head quickly. "Hey--hey, it's okay. You've got every reason to get down about. I'm really sorry about... about the guy who got murdered. That's horrible."
She hesitates. "That's a lot. It's... remember you don't have to handle it alone, okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro realizes he said that aloud where she could hear him, and sighs. "I've got temperature regulation issues. It's gonna be cold for me," he admits. It'd explain why he's always wearing a thick coat. But it wouldn't explain the rest of his apparent poor health, the weakness in his muscles, the pale skin, being slightly underweight.
On the subject of breaks... "Maybe you're right," he says, considering. "Myunghon can probably handle it without me." They'll need to learn, either way.
Though, as Minako is sympathetic, Shinjiro nods. He feels awkward about this situation, but he's trying to be more honest with his leader, at least so he doesn't screw up group cohesion. But there's a lot he's still hiding.
But then Minako says that he doesn't have to handle it alone, and he thinks back to everyone else who has been trying to get him to believe that. "Everyone else has a lot on their plate."
He's pretty bad at asking for help, so his first reaction is to try and justify why he doesn't.
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
"Oh--oh, yeah, that would do it," Minako says. It does explain why he wears a coat all the time. Though, he looks good in it, and it's just his look. She looks slightly guilty for having brought it up.
Then, she nods. "It'll be okay. And... when you get back, you can catch up, right?"
She doesn't know Myunghon. But she trusts they can handle it.
"I know," she says. "Everyone's got a lot going on, but... if we help each other, it means we're sharing it, right? So you're not alone on this kind of thing, if you wanna ask."
A beat.
"And if you need to keep something quiet, I can keep my mouth shut."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"Don't worry about it," Shinjiro says gently, noticing the guilt. "You didn't know."
Catching up... "Yeah, I guess. It's just the worry of coming back to Hell, you know?" He's straightening up a bit, at least, not as tense, even as he admits that.
But Minako's next words, the ones about sharing and keeping quiet... make him laugh gently. He smiles lightly at that, which looks better on him than the frown does. "Thanks, Arisato."
And then he pauses, and considers. Keep her mouth shut, huh? He can't say everything, but maybe a neutral party is a good person to tell...
"...I got into a fight with Kirijo. Can't really talk details. I just know I probably hurt her. Rarely if ever heard her yell like that, you know?" He rubs the back of his head. "Don't repeat this, but she's important to me. All my good memories are with her and Aki."
"I've already put a lot on her. The three of us shared burdens no one else knows about, but... it just sucks to watch her grind herself down. What were you saying, powerless? That's what it feels like."
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
"Thanks," Minako says, when he reasures her. Then, there is a nod of understanding -- and she thinks of those years where she worried what she would find, when she was reunited with her brother. It wasn't life or death...
But she can imagine the anxiety.
She listens to him -- and there's a slight widening of her eyes, at the mention of Mitsuru losing her temper. It is hard for her to imagine, but that may be the point -- how little SEES knows of Mitsuru, how much of her is hidden. Minako nods, after a second.
"That... yeah. That makes sense," she says. "She takes a lot on her. I'll... I'll try to look after her, okay? I won't say you said anything. But..."
She considers. "Maybe with two of us on it, we can help," she says. "It can't hurt, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"...thank you," Shinjiro says when offers to look after her. "I'd... appreciate that. I need to talk to her, but I might wait until the trip. She's sure to be busy until then." He sighs.
Another smile. "I think we'll be in good hands with you as one of our leaders. Your brother, too. He's pretty dependable." It might seem odd to say that about the gloomy monotone guy, but Shinjiro absolutely means it. He's seen enough of Minato so far.
<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.
"The trip is a good time," Minako says to him. She tilts her head to the side as she considers what he says for a second. "Since... it's making us all take a deep breath. And that includes Kirijo-senpai."
Then, Minako brightens -- and she folds her arms, proudly. "Thanks. I'll do my best to not let you down," she says. "And... yeah. My brother is reliable, too. I know he'll do a good job. And I'll be there to back him up!"
And have the energy for the both of them.
She smiles back at him. (He has a nice smile.) "Don't worry. I'll talk to her -- maybe I'll get her off for some girl time on the trip."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"Yeah. Maybe that's what we need," Shinjiro says. "Just a change of pace."
Shinjiro considers what she says about not letting him down, and nods. He doesn't think she will. If anything, it'd be the other way around.
Minako's smile is also nice, and the fact they're no longer frowning is helping shaking him out of it. "Yeah? I can see that being good for her. Especially since I will probably have to deal with some of Iori's nonsense." Oh no, he's got future sight... "May there be mercy on us all."