2026-01-05: Elephants in the Room
- Log: Elephants in the Room
- Cast: Julian Marlowe, Ichika Kawase
- Where: Kasugayama High School - Counselor's Office
- OOC Date: January 05, 2026
- IC Date: September 05, 2012
- Summary: In their first session after summer vacation, Julian addresses the matter of Eiji Kamiya with Ichika, pleased to hear she's doing better now that a massive weight is off her shoulders. They briefly discuss Ichika's grades and future plans, before the session is interrupted by one Kotoha Shiranui. This prompts Julian to confide in Ichika in regards to the circumstances that led to the changed behavior of his latest 'fan'.
<Pose Tracker> Julian Marlowe has posed.
School is back in session, which for Julian Marlowe means a booked schedule full of counseling appointments from all the students who missed his support over summer vacation!
...He wishes. Counseling is still something most Kasugayama students don't see any value in, and only put up with when it was literally a punishment. On top of that, some of the appointments he did have were cancelled at the last minute, and he has a sneaking suspicion why that might be. He's heard the rumors. From who some would call his 'lackey', Tomoyo Harayama, whose behavior is not doing anything to dispel those rumors.
It's not a great situation, but it's also something that he doesn't feel he has a great amount of control over. Tomoyo at least listens when he asks her not to glorify him overmuch, but now Kotoha Shiranui has entered the picture, who does whatever she wants. And right now, what she wants is apparently to enforce some semblance of order on campus, while shouting his name a lot.
Thankfully, Ichika Kawase's name did remain on the schedule. There's someone who really makes him feel appreciated, if she cancelled on him that would hurt more than most. Besides, he's very curious to know how she's doing now, after Eiji's public confession. That unfortunately had to wait until now, as he can't let personal curiosity supersede professional distance.
He's not going to make a secret that he's pleased to see her return to his office, though. He's got the full complement of scones going today, along with a new variety of flower-based tea to try.
"Ah, Kawase-san, welcome! Please have a seat, pour yourself a cup of tea if you like. I've prepared Hibiscus this time - its light acidity does wonders to offset its generally fruity flavor, I find."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
School is back, and Ichika has had a lot of feelings about a lot of things already. But today she's at school, and she hasn't actually skipped any classes this term so far! She's heard some of the rumors herself, but...
She doesn't really believe them, herself.
But now she's here! Ichika, in uniform (alterations and all) with much shorter hair, steps inside and waves. "Hey," she says. "Nice to see you."
Pause. "...Sure," Ichika says, and sits down, pours herself a little tea, and takes in the scent. "...Smells nice," she says.
Then she looks to Julian again. "Thanks." She takes a sip. "...Mmm." After a moment she nods. "Yeah. I can taste what you mean."
She'll drink more when it's a little less hot. For now...
"So, uh..."
She glances from the scones to Julian, "Long summer, huh? Feels like it took a while, anyway."
<Pose Tracker> Julian Marlowe has posed.
On his side of the table, Julian has his own cup of tea already poured, along with a notebook and pen. But the latter are rarely touched during the sessions themselves, these days. Writing things down as they're speaking makes people nervous, he found. ...Instead, now he worries if not writing anything down makes it seem as if he doesn't care. This isn't a worry-free job, for many reasons. But one he does gladly.
"You changed your hair," he makes the obvious observation, without a value judgement. It's not always easy, but he isn't supposed to lead with personal opinions, as it can color how those who come to him feel before they've expressed it themselves.
He raises his tea cup as if giving a toast, taking a sip of his own. Quite a good balance, indeed. Much better balanced than he feels. ...Come on, what kind of a thought is that? Focus Julian, you're in the middle of a session.
Calmly setting down the tea, he lets out a short chuckle at the way Ichika opens the conversation. "That's not something I hear often from students. Or co-workers, for that matter. If anything, vacation never lasts long enough for their liking. Should I take that to mean you've looked forward to returning to school?"
Leaving room for Ichika to respond, he admits afterwards, "I've quite looked forward to it, myself. On paper, my primary profession is a teacher, but it's this part of the job that I find most personally fulfilling. I've yet to find a hobby that matches it, in that regard."
...Well. Unless you counted 'being a masked vigilante' as a hobby. But enough said about that. There are more important matters to get to.
Shifting in his seat, his expression turns more serious, as is only fitting for said matters. "Now, I don't want to seem pushy, in regards to what I know is a difficult subject for you. But it is part of my job to address any obvious elephants in the room first and foremost. This one was... particularly hard to miss, given that it was all over the news."
It's so obvious that the name of this elephant is 'Eiji' that he doesn't see the need to spell it out. Instead, he moves straight to the most important question.
"Are you okay?"
Simple and open-ended, he leaves Ichika the room to respond as curtly or elaborately as she chooses.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
There's a lot to worry about.
"Yeah," Ichika says of her hair. "It's a lot easier to take care of now," she leads with. "...A lot easier. But that's not why. I just kind of... wanted to leave some stuff behind," she says. "It felt right."
She can make her own value judgements! As to the long summer... she looks thoughtful when he suggests an idea. "...Kinda yeah," she says. "I hadn't thought about it, but yeah. It's like... School's sorta a means to an end for me. I liked being Off, but I had a lot to do during the summer too..."
Not that she can explain why she was so busy. It occurs to her it might be dangerous to tread on that too much; after all, she was busy being a Phantom Thief, by the end there.
"Oh, cool. Yeah... You seem into your work. It's good, right?" she asks. "You should do stuff you care about. That's... important."
But a difficult subject--she knows what that means. And there is a big elephant in this room.
"...I'm OK," Ichika answers at length. "It was... I have a lot of feelings about it. How he was hurting other people, too... How him going away doesn't... change what happened. But I think I can move forward, you know...?"
"Well, I hope so. I'm trying, anyway. But I feel like I can. I'm sort of... trying to look ahead."
She pauses. "People keep telling me I should spend more time being 'young', and I think that's kinda true, but..."
"If you're not going towards something aren't you just sort of aimless? I think that's true, too."
<Pose Tracker> Julian Marlowe has posed.
Leaving things behind... a symbolic gesture, then. A reminder that things are different now. Julian can see how that might be fitting, even if he couldn't imagine himself with neither more nor less hair. He doesn't say anything about it, even after, merely nodding in understanding.
Kind of amazing, how she decided to do the exact same thing as Ogre did, back in the Palace. He can only imagine that she and Ichika were both victims of Eiji. It's the only thing that makes sense.
But of course, even regular normal teenagers have busy summers, he quite understands. But that's not the only reason why he touched upon her feelings on school. "I think we're much alike in that regard, actively working towards accomplishing that which we most wish to accomplish. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed, I assure you."
...Does he know about her Phantom Thief activities? Did the rumors have it wrong, and he's not a Brainwasher, but a Mindreader??
"This has not been an easy time for you, but it's obvious to me that despite everything, you've been putting the effort in. How do you feel, about your exam results?"
Ohhh. Yeah of course the teacher would talk about grades. Which may not have been exceptionally high, but Ichika could be forgiven for not being able to focus on her school work at all, what with the whole Eiji situation going on. That's all he was getting at.
And now, Ichika feels as if she can move forward. Julian gives her a firm nod. "Putting the past behind us is never easy. No one would be helped by pretending it's not there. But if you can manage to look ahead instead of behind, you have already taken a very important step."
Talking to yourself? Shut up, myself.
He lets another chuckle escape in response to Ichika's following words, making him feel the need to explain that one. "I don't believe anyone would take me seriously if I claimed to be an expert on 'youth'. But I would say... there isn't a single 'correct' response, there. I don't believe there's anything wrong with living in the moment, nor should it be an obligation. If you feel positive about the future, then by all means, don't let your desired future out of your sight."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
It's certainly a logical explanation. ...Though Ichika's hairstyle is a little more polished than Ogre's was at the time; in reality, she got it touched up by a professional later.
Alike? "Hmm... That's cool," she says. She doesn't mind being like him in some ways; she thinks he's pretty good. But she does worry for a moment--which efforts, exactly? Until--
"Ah, yeah," she says. "Well, it's mostly the help I've been getting, but..." She nods. "I feel pretty good about it. I still don't know if I'll manage entrance exams or whatever, but... I feel pretty good about where I placed. I felt so behind for so long, after having to take basically a whole term off... And now I think I'm getting somewhere."
They weren't exceptional, but they were sure better than they would've been otherwise. She worked pretty hard at it.
"...Yeah," she says. "Thanks. I'm trying, anyway. I figure... I don't want to be trapped there forever. And..." She bites her lip. "...I gotta keep moving. I'm not leaving her behind, I'm just... moving forward."
Her? Well, it might not be hard to guess who 'she' is, if she's not Ichika's past self.
She doesn't recognize his conflicts. Maybe that's better.
He laughs, though, and Ichika tilts her head. ...She grabs a scone while she listens, biting into it and appreciating the flavor and texture for a moment.
When she finishes chewing, "...OK," she says. "I appreciate that. Like..."
"I've got a few things I want to do, in my future? ...I'm gonna maybe try to get into a university. So I can study, uh.. journalism. But whether I can do that or not, I also want to have a family..."
"It's part of why Eiji was so bad," she says. "...I almost had what I wanted. But not really. I didn't want it like that."
"And like... That's... how it happened, you know? He got mad because I had worries. Because I wasn't sure, because we were moving so fast..."
She sighs. "But that's on him, not me."
"Now..." She actually smiles, and picks up her teacup. "I've got prospects. It's nice."
<Pose Tracker> Julian Marlowe has posed.
It's 'cool', is it? Here Julian was already regretting his word choice. She's clearly just being polite, he's pretty sure there's nothing cool about being compared to a teacher. Stupid, stupid.
He doesn't feel the need to ask specifics about the help, but if he had to guess, he wouldn't be surprised if a certain Kashihara was involved. How that boy manages to achieve those kinds of results and still find time to help others pass their exams as well, he'll never know. All he knows is that Kasugayama is lucky to have a decent number of positive figures among the student body, Ichika included. If anything, what he's seeing now parses as false modesty.
"Regrettably, there are many who are too proud to accept help, no matter the evidence that they need it. Make no mistake, regardless of how it came about, your own attitude is at the root of your success. I see no reason to doubt that you'll continue to improve from here."
It feels like there's a joke about yourself in there. Didn't I tell you to shut up, myself?
Julian doesn't actually have a very good idea about who the 'her' might be, that Ichika mentions. His first thought is of Ogre, which, even if he could never guess the full truth, you can't fault him for seeing a strong connection there, in light of everything that happened. Not his place to pry, anyway.
He leaves the scones be for now, himself. Imagine if he ended up talking with his mouth full, how ungentlemanly would that be?
"You mentioned your reporter friend," he notes with a nod. "I can see she's had a big influence on you. I consider it quite enviable, really, to be so certain of what you want, at your age." He folds his hands together in front of him, sobering. "...But, yes. Unfortunately, deplorable individuals exist who would take advantage of people's hopes and dreams like that. Honestly, who would lose their temper over the mere voicing of concerns?" Easy for him to say, perhaps. Is it even possible for Julian Marlowe to lose his temper?
His smile returns when Ichika's does, raising his own teacup. "I can't tell you how pleased I am, hearing you put the blame where it truly belongs." That sure used to be different, he recalls. And it's far from unique to Ichika. "It may be the most difficult step to take, but you managed it. Even if I just got done talking of the follies of pride, that certainly is something that you can and should take pride in."
Just, everything in moderation. Same as drinking tea. Small sips.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Super cool.
It's definitely down mostly to Jun's tutoring, in Ichika's mind. But he says it's her attitude... "Mm," she says. "Maybe. I do want to keep improving..."
Ichika doesn't elaborate for now; some things, she just kind of glides over, or assumes are obvious, if she thinks about them at all. "Yeah. I met another, too... She got me thinking about how photography would help." She pauses, and then smiles. "You think so?" she wonders. Knowing what she wants... "I mostly hear people telling me to slow down..."
But deplorable individuals. "Yeah," she says. "Yeah."
"It is his fault," she says. "I thought for the longest time... that it was mine. That I could've changed things, if I'd just done something different. ...but I guess I had to admit I didn't have any 'power', back then. I couldn't change it because he took that control from me. Now... It's different. I'll make my own path."
She smiles. "...Thanks," she says. "I... I will."
She sips her own tea, too.
"I think..."
"I think it's like that, anyway."
"So, um..."
"Thanks."
<Pose Tracker> Julian Marlowe has posed.
Julian has seen no reason for assuming Ichika won't keep improving. Now that she's no longer trapped in Eiji's stranglehold. This is exactly why he has a positive opinion of the Phantom Thieves. Who could look at someone's life being so strongly improved by their actions and think badly of those responsible for taking that weight off their shoulders? Maybe if there was anything to respect about the individuals they choose to target, but that sure hasn't been the pattern.
And, yes... it feels very good to have played a part in it himself, in multiple ways, even if he can't tell Ichika about the more direct way. But regardless of how it came about, seeing someone so enthusiastic about a brighter future than they once thought possible, that's all he wants to see.
While the advice to slow down is warranted at times, his opinion on that is simple, calmly explaining as he sets down his cup, "Well. I believe the expression 'take it at your own pace' doesn't suddenly become invalid if your pace happens to be a high one." Everyone pursues their happiness differently. All that matters is that you do indeed pursue it.
He can't say, and obviously wouldn't want to, how painful it was to hear Ichika so convinced that she was 'trouble'. But now everything is clear, how it was all due to the faults of another. Thank you indeed, Phantom Thieves.
Being thanked like that is enough to get a little embarrassing even, the counselor scratching his cheek. "...All I have to do is say what I truly believe, my part of the work is the easy part, really. It's you who--"
Abruptly, the door to the counselor's office flies open, another girl in very flagrant violation of the dress code by wearing a red and black ensemble that look like they're from a different school entirely. Does any school even have uniforms where the skirts go all the way down to your ankles?
"Yo, Counsel Boss! Got another name for your list! ...Oh hey Thorn Boss."
Julian's face slides down into his palm. "Shiranui. After my appointment?" The girl flashes a thumbs-up in response. "Sure, you got it!" And just like that, the whirlwind is gone.
Julian sighs. "...Sorry about that. Where were we...?"
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
The Phantom Thieves did a lot for Ichika--and not just as Thieves, either. Talking to them as people helped her, too.
To say nothing of what two of them (one of the originals, and a new one like her) are doing for her mood...
"Hmmmm... OK," Ichika says. "I mean, I'm not gonna go too fast," she allows. "There's some stuff I have to wait on. But I can set out some groundwork, right?" She smiles.
His part of the work is easy? Ichika's not so sure, but--suddenly--
"Oh, hey Shiranui," Ichika greets, nodding her way. She is a little /surprised/ but not terribly /disturbed. And her skirt is just as long, anyway.
"Heh," she says. "You got a new fan, I see. Or maybe more like an assistant?" she wonders.
"You can tell she thinks a lot of you. ...I mean, uh. Not like that," she's quick to clarify, "It's not weird or anything. It's just kinda funny."
"We could use a little more order around here so I don't especially mind. Success story, maybe?"
<Pose Tracker> Julian Marlowe has posed.
Good thing that Ichika hasn't gone into detail about how there are two people doing wonders for her mood. Julian would have absolutely no idea what to do with that except say that he's 'not that kind of counselor'. Relationship counseling is something he cannot do, for a number of reasons. ...Technically he's already going beyond what the school would prefer for him to focus on, but never mind that. He's not... not doing that, he mentioned grades!
But, never mind his train of thought, that's been thoroughly derailed by another instance of his door randomly getting thrown open. This has been happening way too often lately. It's already stopped startling him and moved into just being tiresome.
"Please, don't start," he responds without raising his head. That's what they commonly call it now. One was 'teacher's pet', two was enough to elevate it to 'fan club'. Both assisting him in their own ways. He can only hope they're not saying--
Julian goes white as a sheet at the mere possibility of Ichika's words, taken a different way. "I..." Lost for words for once, it takes until the clarification for him to let out another tired breath, rubbing his forehead. "Really. You don't think it's weird?" Makes one of her, he's not willing to bet on the whole school feeling that way.
"Maybe...?" is the best he's got on 'success story'. There's no way to set the record straight for the whole school, but... at least he can explain himself to Ichika. As weird as it is to be the one talking of his problems during one of these sessions... it's not that she isn't related to it, if tangentially.
"There's no easy way to say this, but, Shiranui was... abducted, by people related to Eiji Kamiya." He pauses to let that sink in, before he continues.
"She'd come into my office before, mostly disinterested, but... I learned some things." Which he can't go into detail about, but, "Enough to realize that, when I heard she was in the hospital, no one would come to visit her. So I decided to. She doesn't remember what happened very clearly, but the name 'Eiji Kamiya' was clear enough. ...This is likely her way of paying me back, for supporting her in her moment of weakness."
Ichika can probably put two and two together, from what Vesper told Ogre. This is the Kasugayama Student who got trapped in Eiji's Palace, and Vesper rescued. The circumstances are not entirely the same, but... it's not unreasonable to think that this could be how Kotoha remembers it.
Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, Julian adds, "...I only told you what she told me outside of our sessions, but this still feels a bit like a breach of confidence. Still, given the circumstances... I thought you should be aware."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Maybe he should invest in a lock? Hmmm, that might be bad for other reasons...
But Julian asks her not to start, and Ichika would laugh if not for the fact that she had to correct herself a second. "No," she says. "It's pretty normal for a student to have like, a mentor?" she says. "It's a little weird how she does it, but... not in a way that's weird for Kasu High, if that makes sense."
But maybe. Hmm.
"...Oh." Ichika sobers quite quickly at that; she remembers there was a girl Vesper mentioned, but whether or not she's the same girl, Ichika couldn't say. Either way, he went to go visit, and...
"Yeah, I get it," she says. "That's cool. In that case it's definitely not weird."
She has a feeling it's the same one, though.
"That's fine, I won't tell anybody," she says. "But you can tell her she can talk to me if she needs to. About... him. What he was doing."
"But anyway yeah. That's cool of you. I'm glad she got out. ...The stuff he was doing..."
"I thought I'd end up in that line of work," Ichika admits plainly, though it's hard to do. "I thought I wasn't good at anything else, and it was just inevitable, since he ruined my life. The line of work he forced girls into, I mean."
"...Even if he didn't get around to forcing her into anything... And it's not my business if he did--it's scary stuff."
"...So anything you can do to help someone out like that--that's not weird. It's good."
"If it helps, I can bust some heads if people start talking weird about you." Pause. "I mean, uh, 'strenuously debate' them. Yeah. that's the word Tsubasa said was good."
<Pose Tracker> Julian Marlowe has posed.
Julian likes to say that 'his door is always open', but he did start to lock it when he wasn't in, after his expensive tea set was stolen. Then he found out people were picking the lock, so he gave up and started leaving scones out for any would-be thieves. That actually worked better as a deterrent, it's not fun when people expect you to break in. Though some still do. They're good scones.
Not that any of that matters, because yeah, he is so not locking the door when there's a student in there with him. Plenty of fuel for rumors already, he doesn't need any more.
Julian only nods to agree with Ichika at, "...Yes, little weird. I'm more used to mentoring being something that both parties agreed to." Though admittedly, it's not hard to believe these things work differently at Kasu High. Especially with how non-confrontational Julian is. Encouraging people to do what they want all the time may have backfired a little bit.
Ichika seems to be taking things in stride for the most part, which is a relief. Not just because he'd hate to upset her, he'd also hate to be prompted for more details. Such as, how he knew the girl was in the hospital to begin with. It would only raise more questions if he admitted to having brought her there himself.
"Unfortunately, I could hardly inform the entire school of this, so there is... not much I can do about these rumors. If I let slip that I spoke to you about it, I rather suspect I'll be in for it already. But, I'll keep your offer in mind."
Should it be necessary. The girl does seem fine now, but. He's seen his share of cases where appearances were deceptive. And it's true that Ichika could likely provide more support than him, should it be needed.
Maybe it's putting his head in the sand a little, but Julian's grimace betrays how much he does not what to think about what could have happened. Has happened, to other girls. And undoubtedly continues to happen, elsewhere in the world. Makes him sick to his stomach to be confronted with the fact that humans can be that cruel.
"...I can only do so much," he responds, painfully aware of his limitations. "But I want to do what I can."
Then he sputters, at the notion of 'busting some heads'/'strenuously debate' on his behalf. "I... don't know if rumors of the Thorn Boss joining forces with the Counsel Boss would be an improvement, but thank for you for the offer."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
They are good scones. Ichika's gonna have another. Just one more, though.
"Heh. Yeah, I guess so. But that's Kasu High for you. My crew just kind of... Well, it just sort of happened."
Ichika can take a lot in stride, more than she used to be able to. But that's because of her 'extracurricular activities', in part, which she obviously can't explain to Julian. ...She does believe strongly in a girl's privacy, though. So that helps.
"Ah, yeah. You can't, and shouldn't, yeah. Well, it'll be fine. People talk, but like, if they hear something more interesting they'll talk about that instead."
Ichika notes the grimace--and she reflects on what it must be like from his position...
"Thanks," Ichika says. "You did a lot. You helped me see I have other options. ...Helped me sort out how I was feeling."
She considers that. "Guess that's true," she admits. "Well, I'll still stomp down on rumors when I see them, but I won't make a thing of it, OK?"