2025-12-22: Looking Out for You
- Log: Looking Out for You
- Cast: Hyousuke Suzuki, Ichika Kawase
- Where: Kameya Alley
- OOC Date: 2025-12-22
- IC Date: Wed Aug 29
- Summary: Hyousuke catches up with Ichika after the Palace, talking about their plans for the future and how everyone's handling things. There's more to his invitation than he lets on, however.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
> want to get something at the izakaya
> im paying
Normally, Hyousuke would not have hesitated to send such a message. It was innocuous enough, and the only reason that he might have thought twice was if the two of them had scheduling conflicts. However, even as he reminded himself that he was just inviting a friend to hang out with him, his finger trembled above the screen, held back as if by some unseen string laced through his joints. Every time he tried, Eikichi's words rang through his mind, clear as a bell, and he deleted the message before he had a chance to send it.
He repeated himself several times over the course of several minutes, his tapping a staccato beat that filled his dorm room's air before fading into nothingness. It took longer than he cared to admit to finally have the courage to send it, and even then, it seemed more like him forcing his finger down than anything resembling resolve. Regardless of what had spurred him on, the message had been sent, and there was no taking it back. There was nothing for it but to get dressed, get out, and try as hard as he could to seem more focussed than he actually was.
As he took his seat and began idly stirring at the steaming bowl of ramen, he wondered what excuse he could use to try and downplay the litany of bruises that wreathed his skin once more. The worst of them had been covered by a jacket - thin though it was, it was opaque and long-sleeved, hiding everything past his wrists and his collar. His knuckles were still somewhat raw, and a few purple smears still remained on his chin, but he was a Kasu student. As far as he could tell, that much might as well have been part of the uniform. In the end, as he took a slow and deliberate drag from the glass of water to his side, he settled on hiding the worst and hoping she didn't notice how fresh some were.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Expecting Ichika not to notice bruises tends to be a doomed endeavor; she absolutely notices that kind of thing as a rule. But she might or might not comment. That might be about as good.
It does, however, take her a while to get here. Not as long as it could've--she doesn't have to go through Tokyo to take another train to get to Sumaru--but a little while. So now...
Ichika steps into the izakaya, waving at Ma'am. "Hey," she says.
"Long time no see," Ma'am says to Ichika. It's early, still. Ichika smiles back. "...Yeah."
"He's back there," Ma'am says, and Ichika walks over to Hyousuke and takes a seat after making an order of her own.
"Hey," she says. "...How's it going?" Ichika finishes sitting down. She's dressed in ordinary clothes; cargo pants and tanktop.
"...Nice to be back. Even if I guess I'm not quite 'back' back for another couple of days..."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
For that unguarded moment between realising she was there and his brain kicking into gear, Hyousuke was vacant. His eyes faced forward, but did not focus. He drank, but with no real purpose, as though his body simply moved on instinct. His mind... it was a maelstrom of different thoughts, all clamouring for attention, all screaming and shouting and tearing at him. It all vanished the moment he saw her round the corner, and with a blink, he donned the facade with the practised ease of a seasoned liar. A beaming smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, a posture that kept the worst of his injuries obscured beneath shadow and fabric, and a gaze directed solely at her. He had his problems, and they warranted attention, but he did not dare to drag her down with him.
"It's good to have you back." Hyousuke replied. The face he wore might have been a mask, but that much was not a lie in the slightest. She was his friend, after all. "Just been finishing off some studies. English is kicking my ass..." That too was not a lie. For all the tutoring he'd received and all the studying he'd done, it seemed that his frustration towards the subject was nothing short of genuine. "What about you? Has everything been alright since..." He trailed off, glancing to the side to make certain nobody could hear them. "Since the raid?"
'Raid' was perhaps not the correct term, but he'd not heard anyone call it a heist. He was not (knowingly) close with the Phantom Thieves, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika sees that moment, too. It's a little weird, the way he can just put on that smile... But not because he can. Just because he does.
Ichika smiles back. "Cool," she says. "Well, you will soon. I'm coming back to Kasugayama, obviously. ...Sevens tried to call me back, but I turned them down."
Studies. "Heh. Yeah, i got mine done, but just because of my tutor." Jun! He's great. "I'm good, though."
Since... the raid. The heist. However you want to put it--
"It was a little weird," she admits. "The way he went to the police so quick... It was kind of surreal."
"But I'm good," she says. "I'm free, right? ...It's good."
GAME: Save complete.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
She was good. That was good. Better than good, even. He sighed upon hearing it, his relief evident in just that single breath, and for a single, shining, moment, his own woes were drowned out.
"Yeah, it's surreal, I saw the news. But it's..." He hesitated, trying to find the words. Some rattled through his mind, but none seemed to fit the occasion. "...It's done. He's done." As that last word left his lips, he almost seemed incredulous at the fact. As though he himself could not quite believe they'd pulled it off, in spite of remaining adamant that success was the only option.
"And I hope you don't mind me saying it, but I'm kinda glad you turned down Sevens." Hyousuke wasn't sure that was the right thing to say. He wasn't sure if it was insensitive, or blunt, or anything, but he owed his friend at least a little honesty after everything they'd done together. "You ask me, they don't deserve you." He punctuated his remark with a playful smirk. It was perhaps a little forced, but he hoped that his gladness at her remaining came through regardless. "Besides, you'd get better stories at Kasu. I bet the student paper here's way more interesting."
He paused.
"...Do we even have a paper here?"
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
RElief! Relief is a good word. "He's done," Ichika agrees. Success was the only option--and it is what happened. But--
Hyousuke says it, and Ichika actually smiles. "Cool," she says. "I don't mind you saying so. In fact, it's nice. It's good to know i would've been missed, right?
"...But i think so, too. They'd just... They'd either look down on me or expect me to look down on all of you."
"I don't think there is one," Ichika says of the school paper. "But I wanna change that. Maybe I can get together a couple people... I'm sure there's the like, you know... foundation for it. That there was one at some point."
"So hey, why not?"
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke didn't say a word when she mentioned how Sevens might have treated her, but his face spoke volumes. His smile soured while his brow furrowed - just a little, but enough to be counted as noticeable. Distaste etched itself into his features like a chisel through stone, and it was only when she mentioned starting the paper up again that it faded into something a little more neutral. He listened, nodding slightly to show he was still listening despite not saying anything, only choosing to respond once he was sure she'd said her piece.
"If anyone can do it, I'm sure it's you. You're smart, and you know good people. I bet you could have that thing up in a month."
It wasn't so much a reassuring reply as it was a statement of fact. He believed it with the same strength that he believed water was wet, and the sky was blue. "Just let me know if there's anything I can-" For a split second, he paused, cutting the sentence off midway through. The offer of help had been instinctive. That was what he was there for, after all. Friends helped friends.
But what could he actually offer her?
Another fraction of a second ticked by, and the thoughts that had once been stilled by her good news began to stir again. He wasn't smart enough to write articles - he only barely managed to score below average on his literacy tests. He had no people skills beyond projecting confidence at those too distracted to tell when it was real and when it was a front - investigation was hardly something he could proclaim to have potential in. As the pulsing in his knuckles and the dull ache that was scattered across his body reminded him, all he had was his strength.
Once more, Eikichi's words chimed like a bell in his mind. He was causing trouble for his friends. He was getting into fights. He was hurting others, and if he didn't stop, he'd hurt his friends. If he got involved in helping get the club off the ground, how much more pronounced all that be? How much would he hinder Ichika's efforts? She wanted to be a journalist - she'd earnt that future a thousand times over. What right had he to drag her down now? Distracted, he bit his tongue before he could finish his sentence, and that half-second lapse closed off with a slight hiss of pain.
"Gah, sorry, burnt my tongue earlier. And now I bit the damn thing." It wasn't a lie, certainly. But it wasn't the entire truth either. He shook it off, and donned the mask once more, the slight jolt of pain having been enough to snap him out of his trance. "Let me know how it goes if you go for it!"
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
There's not much that needs saying about that--Ichika can see Hyousuke's face, and she feels about the same way. But the paper... that sounds good to her. She smiles back. "Thanks," Ichika says. "Maybe. I hope so, anyway. I've only got so long to do it 'til I graduate..."
So having it up and running sooner than later is preferable to her. But who'll edit? SHe can't do that. Hyousuke, though, he offers, and--stops.
Ichika blinks. She waits for it, for the way he's going to answer, and then...
"Oh," she says, and she's pretty sure that's not what he meant, but...
"It's cool," ichika says. "Careful."
"I'll let you know, you know?"
She considers--and then, "Oh, sec," Ichika says, and gets up to get her own banana ramen. She missed it!
She comes back a moment later, "Well, it's nice to see you anyway. And..."
"Thanks, for your help back there. At the 'raid'."
"I really appreciate it. Things wouldn't have gone like they did without help."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
The moment passed, and she'd either failed to notice, or had elected to leave it be. Whichever had happened, Hyousuke decided to content himself with it. Her leaving to grab a bowl of her own was unexpectedly welcome too. He tried to shove the thoughts down as he always did, but every attempt he made in those scant few seconds he had on his own failed. He tensed his fingers against the table, clenched and unclenched his jaw, even tried to blink away the intrusive thoughts like they were motes of dust caught in his eyes, but they proved more stubborn than he.
Even as she came and sat down, changing the subject to the raid, they whispered from the corners of his mind, threatening to drag his focus away and force his mask to waver, if he lapsed for even a moment. But he was well-versed in remaining stalwart in the face of adversity, and spoke as if hers were the only thoughts that mattered.
"Man, you really pulled out all the stops for that one. You've really been making the rounds." It was a compliment, more than anything. No names were mentioned - even with Ma'am's penchant for privacy, he didn't dare to speak of his friends and the Phantom Thieves in the same breath, nor say what little he knew of Ririka and her allies.
"Speaking of, how's everyone else doing after that? Ryuji-san and Tsubasa-san, I mean. I haven't had a chance to catch up with either of them yet."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika knows that pressing Hyousuke on those little moments doesn't go anywhere. She just notes them, and waits for an opportunity to do something about them in time. She's got a lot of them noted by now.
But she changes the subject, and she doesn't inquire as to those thoughts. Instead, she listens to his answer, and smiles back. "Yeah," she says. "Made a lot of good friends and allies. There's a lot of people out there who want to see good things happen. You just gotta... give 'em the chance."
A pause. "Of course, you can't trust everybody. ...But there's more good people than I used to think."
No names. That's for the best.
"Ryuji-kun's good," Tsubasa says first, since Hyousuke mentioned him first. "Things are good with him." She almost mentions he was in the Palace--but some premonition of what a bad idea that would be stops her. "I'm hoping to see him again soon, even."
"And Tsubasa's great!" she says, with a rare exclamation point. "...Or, well, things are great with Tsubasa. They got their issues and all still, but..."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Good people. People she could rely on. For the briefest of moments, the question of whether he could be counted among them stirred in his mind, but he snuffed it out the instant he recognised it. He had only just managed to suppress the worst of the onslaught, and had no real desire to return to it while in polite company. There would be plenty of time for it when he was on his own, but to ask such questions and display such feelings... The thought was distasteful at best.
Hearing everyone was doing well - or, at the very least, better than before - was enough to quieten those stray thoughts, even if they could never be completely silenced.
"Good. That's good." Hyousuke said, in the absence of anything more substantial. "Just leave some of Sakamoto-san for me. It's too damn hard to find workout buddies around here..." Again that light frustration crept into his voice. Nothing overtly serious, especially with that somewhat childish pout he gave, but enough to show he did genuinely wish to spend more time with Ryuji.
"Just wish I could do more for Tsubasa-san..."
What he'd intended to be an idle thought emerged as a quiet lamentation, slipping from him as easy as a breath. It left his lips before he could bite his tongue again, and a twinge of something unpleasant rocked him. The whispering grew louder. The thoughts that he'd drag them down too - that he'd anger them again, or be found wanting if he was called on for help again - began to claw inwards, their hooks pricking and clawing and stabbing at him as he tried desperately to push them back.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika would say Hyousuke is one of them. ...But can she say that to him? Well. he might not listen if she did.
Ichika laughs about the response, though. "Sure, sure," she says. "Long as you don't start trying to kiss him, that sounds great. I like a guy with a little muscle, you know?"
She is obviously kidding.
But Tsubasa...
"They're in a rough spot," Ichika admits of Tsubasa. "There's a lot going on there. But..." She nods. "At least, we're happy. That helps a lot."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
"What, you really think I'd try to take a friend's man? You're breaking my heart." A deadpan expression. A thin frown. A very slightly furrowed brow. All signs of someone that had taken offence to the remark... scuppered by him, giggling a little a second afterwards. Even as doubt and despair began to eat away at the corners of his mind, he couldn't help but make a joke, nor could he keep a straight face after telling it. For all his experience with faking his own emotions, there were some that leaked through no matter what.
"But seriously... If you're all happy, then that's something." A rather lacklustre remark, he supposed, but what more was there to say? His friends were doing well. They weren't out of the woods yet - Eiji had said some concerning things regarding the Kawase siblings' brother in the Palace - but for the most part, things were looking up. He went silent, shovelling a mouthful of ramen in to pretend like he was eating rather than trying to work up the courage, to say something. Even after he swallowed, there was a noticeable silence as he looked down towards the bowl.
"...I owe you an apology."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika laughs cheerfully, "No, no. I'm sure you wouldn't." Ichika did not really imagine him offended, but pretending he was made it much funnier.
"Yeah," Ichika agrees. "I think we are. ...I dunno what we'll do about everything, but... It feels like we're somewhere, right?"
Ichika knows about the matter of her brother, obviously; she doesn't know what she's going to do about it. But that's something she can't really discuss openly...
Ichika keeps eating, too; it's delicious. But...
"Uh?" Ichika starts. "What for?"
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
There were a great many things to apologise for, in his mind. If he began listing them off, he feared that he'd never stop, and Eikichi had certainly not helped in that regard. Thus, he settled for the oldest one, that had been festering in his mind for the longest. With whatever strength he could summon, he levelled something resembling a firm gaze at her, then spoke in the closest thing he could pass of as a strong, sincere, tone.
"When we met, I was... kind of a dick. About a lot of things."
He didn't bother to make excuses for it. Many could've been made - he was angry, he was lost, he was somewhere new with strangers he didn't think he could trust - but none of them were welcome. Not in the one moment of sincerity he forced himself to have.
"I thought you were gonna be like all the other gangs that I'd seen. A bunch of... A bunch of dicks that just wanted some extra muscle." Every word stuck in his throat. Every word had to be forced out. Every word fell from his tongue like a lead weight, taking every mote of his strength to summon.
"But then, all... All of this shit happened. Personas, Palaces, fucking... everything. And you, and Tsubasa, you both stuck by me." He fell silent, his mind too muddled to know for certain what it wanted to say. Thoughts surfaced, only to be dragged back down into the abyss, replaced instead by other directions to take his rambling apology. Before his mind could settle on one, however, his mouth moved, and words fell past it again. "...I guess what I'm trying to say is thanks." Another thought-filled pause. A glance downwards. A tightening of his hands as he tried to figure out what he said, before the silence stretched on too long.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking to join. That's not my place, and I'm not gonna be a part of anyone's crew. Not any more. But... But if you need me- if any of you need me- I'll be there. It's the least I can do."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Yeah?"
Ichika listens. He's serious about it, clearly, so she's going to hear him out. And so, he just says it out...
"Ah," Ichika answers. "Yeah..."
"It's whatever," Ichika says, "I mean, the part about being a dick. Things are just... different at Kasu High."
About gangs.
But she watches him; it's obviously difficult. And when he says 'thanks'...
"That's cool," Ichika says. "You don't have to or anything. At Kasu High... we organize like that because nobody else is going to look out for us--we do it ourselves. But..."
"More than that, we want to look out for you," she says. "You're our friend."
"So you're welcome. And yeah, we probably will need you. This shit hasn't stopped happening, right?"
"...So yeah. It's cool."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
His lips tightened, as if to keep another stray thought from escaping. His knuckles grew a little whiter, his fingers tensing in response to something. His gaze, focussed as it had been before, grew distant for all of a heartbeat. They needed him for now, and they wanted to look out for him. He had no reason not to believe her, and for the most part, he did. But how long would that last, he wondered? How long until the fires his anger stoked began to burn his friends? How long until his actions had consequences for the people he cared about?
The hooks sank deeper. The whispers grew deafening. The flurry of thoughts that plagued his mind grew into a tempest. His muscles tensed as his mind raced, his hands began to twitch into white-knuckled fists, his jaw clenched and his teeth ground, and... and he blinked. He breathed. He forced his mind to be quiet. He could not silence it, and it was still louder than the quiet he had before, but it would last long enough for them to finish their meal and speak of lighter things. For now, at least, he could pretend he was alright. For now, he could lie. For now, he would not be alone. Tomorrow? Tomorrow was uncertain. But for now, he could force himself to be fine.
"Then I won't stop until we've stopped it. You'll make it out of this - count on it."