2025-11-17: Many More To Come
- Log: Many More To Come
- Cast: Shinjiro Aragaki, Mitsuru Kirijo
- Where: Kirijo Palace, Yakushima
- OOC Date: November 17, 2025
- IC Date: August 12, 2012
- Summary: Shinjiro takes Mitsuru aside during the SEES beach trip to apologize for his previous behavior in their confrontation, before asking a fateful question: can he still graduate and fulfill his promise? Mitsuru affirms him, but when asking the motive for changing his mind, she ends up comforting him as he explains his newfound reasoning and fears about dying and hurting others. They agree he should take the chance to live selfishly, as he decides to keep trying.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
It's been an interesting few days. Birthday, souvenirs, beach time...
But eventually, a nagging feeling hit Shinjiro after his birthday, and he knew he needed to talk to Mitsuru. When's a better time than vacation, huh?
Really, there's no good time for the type of things he needs to talk about.
Shinjiro Aragaki has left a note with a maid, asking for Mitsuru to meet him on the veranda, or whatever the closest thing there is to a veranda in a rich person's forested megamansion.
He's in a grey t-shirt, long-sleeved, much like he was during his birthday dinner. He has dark jeans and thick boots on, and is wearing a pair of fingerless gloves because he's outside.
His right hand is on the railing, looking out over to the setting sun over gorgeous natural scenery. It's nice. He already went on a solo hike to see the animals Mitsuru gave him information on, after all...
He has waited until he knew the rest of SEES was settled, and doesn't expect them to come interrupt. It should be fine.
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
'Interesting' is a good word for it.
Mitsuru Kirijo had initially been incredibly reticent about taking this trip when Ikutsuki had sprung his little surprise. It took no small amount of convincing from SEES members (junpei) in desperate (junpei) need (junpei) of a beach-based (junpei) break to persuade her to relent. (... junpei) And the entire trip over, she was still reluctant, for any number of reasons, chief among them a desire to not disturb her father on his own valuable break time.
... But she has to admit, begrudgingly or not...
She needed this, too. Much more than she expected.
Admittedly, 'enjoying a break' isn't quite the same as 'taking a break from work,' and Mitsuru's still been pursuing a few or her more... clandestine... projects while she's been here, on top of just prepping an agenda of things to tackle once they return.
She's in the middle of the latter when one of the maids approach her, a note in hand. Mitsuru, sitting cross-legged on the bed she's called her own in this off-puttingly ostentatious estate since she was a child, looks up from her work on her laptop and blinks. She plucks the note, reads it, and furrows her brows in faint thought.
"Ah," she exhales. "Thank you, Yamajiro-san. I'll be right there."
A second passes after the maid leaves. And then Mitsuru shuts her laptop, and - only somewhat reluctantly - peels herself away from her work.
Back to break time.
-+-
"It's a remarkable view, isn't it?"
That familiar, composed voice drifts by behind Shinjiro as he watches the sun sink beneath the tree-dappled horizon, painting heaven with a smear of orange-pink-purple gradations. It creates a perfectly tropical backdrop to this subtropical setting, the humidity dulling at night but the warmth lingering even as the light of the sun fades, bit by bit.
Mitsuru stands there at (one of) the entrances to the Kirijo summer "home"'s stately veranda. Arms folded under her chest, elbows propped on palms, the Kirijo heiress focuses her gaze forward toward that setting sun with an unusually fond look on her face, full of quiet reminiscence.
"When I was younger, my father would put me on his shoulders so I could watch the sun sink. I think I asked him some silly little questions, like why the sun wanted to hide. He'd humor every one."
... Sometimes her grandfather would, too. ...
She shakes that memory out of the forefront of her thoughts by focusing on the present, instead, walking closer towards the polished stone railing of the veranda and settling there comfortably before she looks sidelong towards her old friend.
"Did you need something, Aragaki? Is everything well?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Part of Shinjiro worries he'll be burdening Mitsuru by asking her to come out here. But it's important, so he takes that risk. He can always become a ghost again if he fucks up.
"Yeah," he replies about the view. He listens to Mitsuru describe her father, and their experience together, with a soft smile rising on his face. It's not one he can picture, never having anyone who ever took that role for him, but... it does contextualize the mysterious man more, and it does sound like a pleasant memory for her.
He looks from the veranda to her as she joins him. Without the beanie, he looks a lot more similar to his school days, than the overclad thug of today.
"I think it's as well as it can be, given everything. I had something I wanted to talk about... and an apology to make."
He seems genuine, at least, as he looks to her, remorseful. "...we shouldn't have sprung that on you, back at the dorms. I'm sorry."
It's clear he's been thinking about it for a while, though he's an overthinker in general.
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
I had something I wanted to talk about... and an apology to make.
Dark red eyes turn a questioning stare Shinjiro's way.
...we shouldn't have sprung that on you, back at the dorms.
And then turn back towards the forest a moment later as lips part out the softest exhale of realization:
"... Ah."
She had at least some inkling of an idea that it might be about that. Things have been... tense... lately, since that day. And yet...
And yet, even so, Mitsuru shakes her head, those red locks swaying behind her with the motion.
"It's... fine," she manages, after a moment. "I shouldn't have lost my composure like that. It was... unprofessional."
Shouldn't have is a phrase that has a considerable amount of overlap with didn't want to. A more professional way to put it, perhaps.
"I imagine your approach was Takeba's idea," she surmises simply. "I understand why. It's for the best she has someone or something to focus her anger on." A frown settles on those scarlet lips, for a few lingering moments.
"... No one wants to have their worst thoughts about their father vindicated."
She pauses here for a moment, before she sighs. Eyes shutting, she leans forward, resting her weight on her arms as she folds them over the top of that sun-warmed stone railing.
"Besides, you were right. I understand I am not very... approachable."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"...I get it," Shinjiro says about losing composure. "...but we're too young to always be professional, too," he muses, looking back to the forest at the same time as her.
"I'm not going to put it all on her shoulders," he says about Yukari. He was clearly worried, too, even if his own approach was worry *for* Mitsuru instead of *about* Mitsuru. "I do understand there's things going on there I just don't have all the information on, and it's not my place to pry. But I was still a collaborator."
He exhales at the approachable comment. He doesn't quite know what to say, except... "It's fine. Neither am I, usually. It's something we have to work on, as their seniors."
Though, that reminds him. He shifts back towards her. "That wasn't exactly what I wanted to discuss, though. I..." He stumbles for a moment. He's been considering this for a few weeks now and it's still hard to bring up. He falters for a moment, not sure he'll even say it, before... taking another breath and nodding to himself.
"If I was to come back, is it still possible to graduate with you and Aki?"
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
With her observation on Yukari, Shinjiro moves to take some of the blame almost like a reflexive action. Despite herself, a soft "hah" escapes Mitsuru's lips, a sardonic kind of smile briefly toying at the corners of her lips.
"Non, merci," she says, turning an arched brow on Shinjiro. "It's alright. I'm not assigning blame on any of you, so I'm afraid you have none to shoulder. This was simply... a long time coming."
She leaves it at that, though. After all, he's right; this isn't something he should have to worry about. This is wholly her mess to try to disentangle.
So instead, she considers his observation on both their problems with aloofness. Her expression softens, frown lingering on her lips as she concedes, "... Yes, I suppose so."
It's not something she's ignorant of, after all. No -- she's painfully aware of it.
But it's when Shinjiro starts to pivot back to his original topic that Mitsuru's attention draws back towards her fellow SEES co-founder. "Yes?" she prompts like a flooring to ground himself on as he stumbles, hesitates. It just makes the look in her eyes even more curious as she shifts to look at him, the split hems of her breezy, creme-colored grain de poudre pants rustling with the motion. She is, as ever, a picture of stylish control; between the pants and the sleeves black turtleneck she wears, she somehow rides a line between style and practicality that always weaves a powerful illusion of making her look older than she is.
If I was to come back, is it still possible to graduate with you and Aki?
"--What?"
But it's an illusion that's always dashed against the rocks in moments like these.
It's a look of naked bafflement that widens Mitsuru's eyes and has her lips hanging open for a few precious seconds before she has to forcibly remind herself to clamp them shut. It doesn't really change the brow-lifting alarm in her expression, though, like she's having difficulties processing what Shinjiro just said.
You need to just --
give her a moment.
She's like an Ahab that managed to harpoon her white whale and not get dragged into the crushing depths with it right now.
"I--" a second passes. And then a sputter of a happy-yet-confused laugh escapes her lips, despite herself, one she instantly terminates by flying a hand up to cover her lips. "I'm sorry, I just -- bien sûr, of course, of course you can. It will take a bit of work from both of us to make work, but--" she's had the groundwork for it laid out literally since he stopped coming to classes, she elects not to say right now. Instead, it's her turn to hesitate.
Happiness and confusion dwindles slightly. And the pragmatist in her wonders:
"... Truly? Not that I want to question it and risk you changing your mind, but -- what changed your mind, Aragaki?"
Last she knew, his reasons for rejecting her were... well... she has the cruel context for why now.
Even if she still refused to give up on that promise.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro taking the blame for something is honestly a free action, like talking. As she says none of them have anything to blame, he frowns a bit again, but says nothing to it, or her concession about having to work on it. He doesn't want to press with his feelings about it.
It's when she offers that mooring that he finally comes to his words, and these words do not have... quite the reaction he was expecting. Maybe it shows he really does overthink how perfect Mitsuru can be, though it's admittedly charming to watch her be baffled, and he stores this image into the back of his mind reflexively.
He gives her a moment, though a bit of tension exhales as she insists it's possible.
As she asks why, though, he places his other hand on the railing as well, looking up to the sun. "Well..."
"As you probably know, my current life expectancy is... less than a year. I've known it was happening longer than that, but I didn't ask any doctors about it. I knew it'd get back to you if I did. I was scared."
He's still scared. His hand trembles as he says it.
But, he turns back to her at this point. "Then, Yamagishi's rescue got me back into the fold. I met some people in Sumaru. I had some time to think, remember what it feels like to be in a team again."
"...Amada came back and I knew I had to take responsibility. But even then, I've been... I didn't want to attach. I didn't want to *live*, because isn't it selfish? For the one dying by his own hand to try and live anyways, knowing he's just going to provide pain to everyone who cares about him?"
He exhales softly. "The people I've met... convinced me that it's better to try than to give up, to let myself shatter. That... if I do it for anyone, do it for myself, and if I can't do that, at least do it so others can have the memory. I was convinced to start a bucket list. I was convinced to try and do the things I will never get another chance to do."
He laughs, gently, at this, smiling at Mitsuru. "And one of those is keeping that promise that I made. I've never forgotten."
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
Why?
Well...
She does know. She knows, at least, what the doctors have told her. That they can minimize the symptoms, that they'd do what they could, but Shinjiro's condition had already progressed too far, and a way to reverse it would simply be...
...
Her brows furrow as the memories bubble up to the surface. Something stubbornly defiant sparks in those red eyes as she fixates forward, jaw tensing faintly and lips thinning gradually.
I was scared.
She can't help but notice the tremble of digits on polished stone. It was the way shee was raised; the way she was trained. Observe, and notice things. About events; about people.
Was is much more of an is.
"..."
She's quiet, throughout most of Shinjiro's explanation. Just listening, and thinking of how the little muscle spasms in Shinjiro's grip saying volumes more than even those frank words do. Gaze hooding, she can't keep those little fragments of guilt out of her stare as Amada is invoked, as Shinjiro explains himself, and so instead she directs that look down towards the creeping brushland ringing her family's summer estate as he speaks about his bucket list.
Impossible. That's what they said. Mitsuru hates that word. 'Impossible'. There's already too many things in her life that are 'impossible' already. And what's the point of all her family's wealth and influence if she can't even save one life?
It's not fair.
Her eyes widen briefly as he speaks.
But by the end, at his laugh? Those eyes squeeze shut,
I've never forgotten.
because she doesn't trust what will happen with that growing moisture behind those lids if she opens them back open.
For a long time, she's wordless. It's only when she's gotten that emotional reflex under control that she dares to part her lips to speak.
"... You know, my father was caught in that accident ten years ago," she begins suddenly but slowly, as if trying to find the right words for what she is trying to say. "He was the only one who survived. It was... the first time I realized, really realized, that he could die. And it terrified me. When I discovered my power, I promised myself: I would use it to keep him safe, no matter what."
She considers a moment after that rare moment of confidence. And then:
"I'm unsure I have lived up to the expectations that have been set before me. But there are some things I refuse to give up on."
She is bad at consoling others; she knows it. Awkward, and never certain how to approach to truly provide comfort. Even the way she lifts her hand now is stiff and uncertain in a way she rarely lets herself be seen, hesitating with the brief, inward curl of her fingers just before the precipice.
The way it finally settles on Shinjiro's forearm, the arm that trembled, is ultimately still stiff and uncertain.
But it's still there, as if to say to a dear friend: it's okay.
"I refuse to call it a bucket list. I refuse to give up. But... you should pursue what makes you happy, Aragaki. You should... live a fulfilling life, and do the things that you wouldn't have. And I will use what power I have to fight for that, too."
She can't accept impossible. But at least...
"And no matter what... I will make sure we graduate together. All three of us. ... No matter what."
... she can support her friend.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro never pauses his explanation, even as he sees Mitsuru process it. He knows it's important to reach the end.
When Mitsuru begins with that anecdote about her father, that promise she made... well, he knows how her promises are important to her.
His face softens as she says there's things she won't give up on. He gave up... does he really deserve this? To have a friend who still cares about him after all this time, who'll still fight for him, after everything he's done in his self-destructive path?
Her grip reaches him, to console him. Shinjiro has seen sides of Mitsuru the others wouldn't believe, but the side where she shows even a shred of vulnerability is the one he appreciates most. It's how he knows they *are* friends.
She won't call it a bucket list. She won't give up. She'll make sure they graduate. She'll fight for him to have a fulfilling life.
Suddenly, he laughs. It's not humorous, but it's not sad, either. It's a laugh of perhaps surprise at something. He wipes the corner of his eye, a person who's almost never cried in front of others in his teenaged life, killing the briefest moisture that impacts.
"...I guess I was a fool. To give up on myself when no one else has, when they won't. I've been too busy hating myself to really see the truth."
Shinjiro gives a soft smile. "I'll do my best to work for it. I'm not giving up again. At the least..."
Another small laugh. "You'll always have this memory, Kirijo."
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
Laughter; she doesn't expect it, and it inspires a brief blink of understated alarm because of that when she hears it.
But as Mitsuru turns that bemused look Shinjiro's way, watching a rough finger wipe moisture from an eye -- as she listens to his words... that expression softens swiftly.
"Hah," she exhales herself -- it's a little chuckle, and this one is more amused than the flabbergasted affair of earlier as she shakes her head ruefully. Her eyes shut; a little, knowing smile touches her lips, all of it undercut with a current of fondness swimming beneath the surface sentiment.
I guess I was a fool.
"Honestly, Aragaki," she says, that self-assured tone returning, even if just a little.
"It certainly took you long enough to realize."
Confident, knowing, in all those subtly 'perfect' ways that Mitsuru so often comes off as. But she has reason to be so expectant.
After all... she's always known that Shinjiro Aragaki was someone not to give up on.
And it's about time he saw it, too.
He offers his assurances. She'll always have this memory. Within his laugh, she reopens her eyes.
"Yes," she says, before repeating what she said before, at the beach: "With many more to come."
... Regardless of how long Shinjiro has.
"But now certainly is not the time to focus on me, is it? You have many memories of your own to make, oui? Your friends were right: you have the opportunity to be selfish, Aragaki. You ought to seize it.
"... Take it from a friend, joining the chorus: such opportunities shouldn't be wasted."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro pauses for a long moment at Mitsuru's chuckle and response. Took him long enough to realize...
And then, he laughs fully, amused. "I guess it did."
As she says many more to come, he nods. He's better equipped to believe it, right now. But she tells him not to focus on her, that he has the opportunity to be selfish, and he should seize it.
Such opportunities shouldn't be wasted.
"You're right. I'll do my best. I can't promise I'll never backslide, but... I'll try."
The sky is getting darker, so he turns back to the entrance to the house. "...we should head inside. Thank you for coming out to talk to me."
He, admittedly, has other things he wants to talk about eventually. But they're all trifling, or matters of school...
He has time, doesn't he?