2026-02-22: The Reason You Hit Back
- Log: The Reason You Hit Back
- Cast: Tsubasa Seki, Hibari Aoki, Ichika Kawase, Kurou Ryouhara
- Where: Kasugayama - Classrooms
- OOC Date: 2026-02-22
- IC Date: Sat, Sept 29 2012
- Summary: The Thorn Boss and her gang encounter Kurou, and lay down the law. Kurou doesn't get it. :(
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHUql3OC_uU Offspring - Come Out and Play
Tsubasa's been a wreck, ever since everyone pulled them out of Siren Alley at the start of the week. But there's a trick to being hurt at Kasugayama: if you show how hurt you are, those harpies under the Foundry Boss will come around starting trouble, like they've got some kind of blood feud or something.
(Because they do. Ichika stole half Kyoko's gang, and she's never forgiven her.)
So they square up and bear their stiff and angry muscles, and if they're a bit quieter at school, it's probably for imposing reasons and not because they're trying not to complain.
They wear the boys' uniform, but adopt the sukeban's style for it: the bottom half of their uniform is unbuttoned and tied about their waist, exposing the binder beneath it. (Their sleeves are rolled up to their shoulders, too, and their pants are definitely worn lower than uniform regulation.) Their hair is far too flagrant to be uniform code, bright magenta and green in a metalhead shock across their head. Their cyan and blue makeup paints a deep fake tan, coupled with concealer to cover all those pesky burn scars.
In this way, they kind of end up at a visual mid-point between Shuyo (wearing the boys' uniform, but with his collar unbuttoned and shirt untucked) and the girls (like the Princess, whose clipped hair decs give her an artificial hime cut around her surgical mask, and whose bright pink socks aren't even rolled up properly, unlike her sleeves, which are rolled up to her shoulders too); it's pretty immediately identifiable, because they're travelling as a pack for safety. At least Saturday's a half-day...
<Pose Tracker> Hibari Aoki has posed.
One of the few people who can (sometimes) get away with showing weakness at Kasugayama is Hibari Aoki.
Hibari, at first... well, at first she was a target. Then she was under the auspices of the Thorn Gang, and these days she has her own position; as the most prominent rumourmonger at Kasugayama, she ends up talking to people from many gangs, trading information and advice (for some students trust her more than the actual counselors, though Marlowe is better-liked than the last one).
It gives her a weird status where people respect her across gang boundaries, and a safety net: nobody wants to be the one to attack her, because *that* means she'll be able to make your life a pain, trading the information that she picks up but usually keeps to herself because it will only inflame Kasugayama's semiconstant gang war. It's not violence, but it could lead to violence.
Also she's still a member of the Thorn Gang, so you have to deal with *them*. Who are, almost universally, a lot better at fighting than Hibari is. This is also why she doesn't talk to (most) Foundry followers much.
But she still doesn't like to. She doesn't want to be a burden. Rather the opposite - which is why she's stuck with Tsubasa's pack to provide support. Of all the gang Hibari is one of the most... 'clean-cut' might not be the best word for it, but she looks more like she's trying to be a good student. She wears the girls' Kasugayama uniform without complaint or significant modification, aside from a few more subtle ones, because the original cut does not flatter a girl on the heavier side. Which she is. (Despite all the additional running around she's done lately in supernatural spaces. If anything it's only made her thighs more solid. She would despair if it was something she cared about.)
But she does have the hair dye that would be breaking uniform rules most places; freshly redone, ombre from her natural dark to a vivid red near the tips. Of course, as Kasu if that's the only rule you're breaking about appearances you're barely breaking one at all, but it does make her stand out.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika doesn't really want forgiveness from Kyoko anyway; she's kind of a huge bitch.
Ichika is squared up, and she is there looking after Tsubasa but not making it too obvious. She wears the uniform of a Boss; her skirt is ankle-length, her midriff is bare, and her tie is black. Her hair's shorter than it used to be, but it's still bleached-blonde, and her red eyes are sharp. Saturday's a half-day, but...
Ichika's up front as they walk here today, flanked by her gang members.
And she's on the lookout for trouble.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Meanwhile, Kurou...
Despite all that's happened -- despite a picking a fight with the Phantom Thieves, despite spells and swords, rocket launchers, and nearly getting run over by a Persona motorcycle -- there is Kurou.
He barely looks worse for wear, although he is wearing his winter uniform, and adheres to the 'guidelines' more than most Kasu students in his clothing. His long hair and bright streaks are, of course, a different story. He an Hibari have similar sensibilities this way. But this means any injuries could be hidden and healing under his pants and long sleeves. But here he is back at school. Attending class. Focusing on absorbing his studies.
Eating lunch.
And messing with plastic bottles...? More specifically, he is messing with the cut off tops of plastic bottles. Kurou sits on the ground, against a wall. Between bites of his lunch -- a simple bento of rice and tamago -- he carefully pushes a pen under the caps in an attempt to push them off without unscrewing them in order to preserve the seal of the plastic ring.
He is alone in his meal and his strange, self-imposed task, for as Kurou had told Tsubasa before, he doesn't run with anyone. No one but Ryouhara, and Ryouhara is not a gang at Kasugayama. It may be more obvious now how he manages that... Kurou is someone who can hold his own, if not outright avoid trouble by being a god damn ninja. You can't fight what you can't see.
But they can see him right now, squinting in focus as he slowly pushes out another bottle cap with a clicked pop --
-- too quick and sudden for him to catch, as it rolls out on its side and into the path of the Thorn Boss and her gang.
Unhurried, Kurou takes up his chopsticks to take another bite of tamago as he slowly looks up at them with his ever-stoic face.
"Good day, senpai," he greets politely.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa both can and has served a guy his own ass for trying to fuck with Hibari, and that would be bad enough, except that they don't just jump a guy alone. Or a girl! And isn't it unfair that Ichika's got a couple of guys in her gang to do the fighting?!
(Anyone who implies that Ichika can't kick her own asses, of course, is really walking on thin ice. There's a reason she's the Boss, though Tsubasa's less likely to give a girl a history lesson than they are to just punch her about it.)
There's a good reason to look out for Tsubasa right now, though: they know Kurou goes here, and at least when they're hanging out in the battered remains of the greenhouse (which is, naturally, their territory), they've told everyone how shit scared (their words) they are of what happens when he rocks up for round two.
(We note for the crowd that their story for Shuyo and the Princess is that some folks in masks came and rescued them. Of course, Hibari and Ichika already know everything about what happened because Hibari's the maven of all knowledge, and Ichika, well, duh. Both of them know those two are smoochin' on each other by now; Tsubasa lives with Shuyo, and as soon as the Princess got back from her family trip she pinned Ichika down and DEMANDED she dish, gurl.)
They don't actually notice Kurou at first, though. He's sat there against the wall, and, well, he's a ninja! Why would ninja sit themselves down somewhere obvious... or make themselves obvious, at that? The dressings over the cuts on Tsubasa's arms are far louder than whatever he's got going on under his winter uniform. (The cuts are healing up good, at least. You'd never guess that the murder-slashes happened just a week back!)
But then -- pop! -- roll, roll...
Tsubasa looks down at the cap, and then over to where it rolled from, their eyes narrowing and their muscles stiffening.
"Some fuckin' nerve," they snarl out, in response to his polite greeting. Their hands curl to fists, beside them; the trick, of course, is how that pressure stops them from trembling.
<Pose Tracker> Hibari Aoki has posed.
While Hibari didn't *like* being rescued by Tsubasa, precisely...
She isn't comfortable fighting people. Shadows are one thing, but people are another; it makes her freeze up, and while she gets over it, by that point she's usually been punched.
She even did against Shiryuu - not that anybody knows that but Ichika and Tsubasa, and they haven't been telling... only the presence of so many other people backing her up (and, in turn, depending on *her* to back *them* up) kept her quite on task with Kurou too.
(But maybe rescuing Tsubasa then made up for it? Huh.)
This is the part that makes Hibari worry, though. Kurou obviously knows who Tsubasa is; he saw them without their mask. He *didn't* see Mujina without hers, and she doesn't think he'll be able to put it together; as far as Kurou knows, Hibari's just another member of the Thorn Gang and along for that reason. She hopes.
Hibari steps forward and stops the cap with her shoe. She's not even sure what it is at first - some kind of trick? But, maybe it's just a bottlecap...
Hibari slides it away from her using the toe of her shoe, scooting it not toward Kurou but off to the side, somewhere. She's trying to keep her face neutral because she's *really upset* with him and has all the memories of fighting him and his Persona, but... she can't let him know that, can she?
So when Tsubasa takes the lead, she doesn't exactly stop them. She's here to watch. And back them up. (And talk with Princess - but maybe not NOW. She did some of that earlier. There will be more later.)
...and her curiosity gets the better of her anyway. "What are you DOING?" Is this a ninja thing? she wants to ask, but doesn't. It comes out a bit sharper than her usual speech. Maybe not a surprise given what's happened to Tsubasa lately.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
There's a part of Ichika that does like fighting people. It's part of why she does it! It's really satisfying to headbutt Kyoko and steal half her gang. it feels good to win. Even losing, at least it's a sensation of having tried something.
But Ichika doesn't really truck with talk that the guys do all the fighting for her--or worse, that they do it because of what she 'does' for them. She can fight her own battles, too. And does.
And now, though...
Well, now isn't before when she dished out some way too personal details to Princess because of course they talk about those things. It isn't when Tsubasa and Ichika were talking about what happened. No, it's now, when Kurou is... normal.
Super normal. Not throwing around skulls or blades or almost being shot when she put the sight of her rifle over his heart and he just--
"...heard you fucked with my guy," Ichika says archly, turning to cross her arms and look down at Kurou.
She does not really care what he's doing.
"Doesn't make it a good day for me."
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
In what might have been an anxiety inducing turn of events, Kurou never did rock up for round two. He is oblivious to the idea that a round two should ever occur to anyone. They did technically flee 'round one', but the terms were either find a way to escape or try to take Kurou's life.
They refused the latter and chose the former. This satisfies an unspoken question and designated the end of their battle. It's cut and dry to Kurou and, perhaps, only to Kurou. So he's here collecting plastic bottle caps and eating egg like nothing ever happened.
Tsubasa's hostility does not surprise him, but the company they travel with... Kurou pauses, his next bite just short of his lips before he abandons it to set back into his lunch box. Kurou knows who Tsubasa is. He does not know that Mujina and Ogre are here now. Phoenix is a mask that protects Tsubasa, and it might be a mask that is also meant to protect Tsubasa's friends. The Thorn Boss knows that Kurou and Tsubasa have been in conflict... but there's a lot of room to explain that without supernatural elements.
Maintaining that secrecy will make this a complicated conversation.
Hibari's question is mercifully easy for him to answer.
"Removing the caps," Kurou explains. "I want to fill a labeled bottle with my own brewed tea, but make it appear as though it has never been opened." He packs his half eaten lunch to stand up and address the three of them. "I apologize for letting it get away from me."
He addresses Ichika. "... I see. Then... do you require retribution?"
There is no challenge in his tone. A simple, conversational question.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa's never gonna give Hibari shit for that, man. Shiryuu's scary. Like, objectively. There's gotta be a unit of measurement for that shit somewhere...
(Tsubasa, Standard Terror Units are not and have never been a thing, you gotta stop trying to logic out your trauma with nerd shit.)
... if you ask them, though, Hibari rescuing them totally made up for it, not that there was even all that much to make up for in their mind to begin with.
"I told 'em everythin'," they issue to him, sharply, folding their arms. (It's a gesture mirrored by Shuyo, on Ichika's opposite side.) Which explains why Ichika heard about it, and why Hibari would ask so sharply, too.
What he's doing, though... Tsubasa's lip curls in a sneer. "Roofie shit," they conclude, and in their laconic way they're accusing him of slipping poisons into that apparently unopened bottle of tea. They look to Ichika, expression grim and stern. "What's ya call, Boss?"
The Princess, at this point, takes a step back to hang out with Hibari, because she can tell when someone's itching for a fight and she just did her nails.
<Pose Tracker> Hibari Aoki has posed.
It IS ninja stuff! Hibari thinks. Poison in a teacup... she's seen that on a historical television drama. (Not that historical if it had ninjas in it.) Even if Shiryuu was a little more *direct* about killing people - well, kidnapping people - and Kurou was just as direct about defending them, than poison would be.
Or, she adds with a mental addendum, he's putting booze in it for himself. This IS Kasugayama. But probably the ninja stuff.
"Huh," Hibari says, not quite disbelieving but also not entirely sure what to make of it. "That's really weird." She's kind of glad she didn't give it back. Tsubasa apparently agrees with her even if they didn't put it quite the same way as she would... Hibari tends to be on the more soft-spoken, less aggressive side. Even her sharper tone was a bit of a deviation.
But, well. Tsubasa told her everything. (Or didn't need to tell some of it, but it's as good an excuse as any.)
Hibari glances toward Ichika when she's brought into this. She is the boss, after all. Princess has the right idea; Hibari hasn't done her nails lately (she tends not to; nail polish doesn't always agree with kitchens if it chips, and while that's more for when you're working at it all day at a restaurant she simply never got in the habit) but she'd like to keep her hands clean too.
She's here, after all, to see. If the rumourmonger sees it, anybody might hear about it. It's not really a threat but it's not really not one either. Hibari doesn't usually abuse her position like that... but people don't usually go kidnapping either.
(Though she's not eager to spread Tsubasa's kidnapping around, either. But 'Kurou picked a fight with the Thorn Gang and ate shit afterwards' - that's something that might get out. ...she has a pretty optimistic impression about Ichika and Tsubasa's chances, two on one without Personas and without swords.)
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika has a difficult position for a moment; when Kurou explains what he's doing, Ichika is legit curious. Is it just to make his bentos seem nicer? Is it indeed roofie shit? She doesn't know! She wants to know!
...but all that pales in comparison to what he actually asks, and Ichika matches eyes with him if she can. It's like she's trying to look through him as much as at him... and it's not easy to do.
So she doesn't call it weird. She doesn't address it at all. And while Hibari might be here to see...
Tsubasa asks her call, and Ichika keeps watching Kurou.
"I should," Ichika admits. "That's how it works at Kasu. You hit me and mine, I hit you and yours. It goes on like that. I could lose a lot of respect if I don't make you answer."
They could also die to his ninja tricks if he does; what kind of bullshit does he know even without a Persona?
"...But us having it out isn't gonna make my guy any less fucked-with. The reason you hit back is so they know they can't hit you without a cost."
"And you haven't come at them since then."
"So my call..."
"Is this."
"You come at them at school, and I'll bring everybody down on you. You don't, and you leave it off campus..."
"Maybe I'll find you off-campus and settle it then."
"But if you don't fuck with them here, I'm not gonna make this into a war."
She keeps her arms crossed, and then tilts her head to Tsubasa. "That's the decision," she says, and then nods to Shuyo, too.
"But if you come at us away from school... I can't guarantee I'm gonna follow 'rules' about it, either."
Ichika doesn't like their chances of taking Kurou on. But she can't just let it go, either. She doesn't break eye contact unless Kurou does.
...And so he might see that she's working at this, not just brave for free.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
"Everything," Kurou repeats, and though his face is not in the habit of doing very much at all, his head gives an uncertain tilt. If they say so...
Tsubasa draws their own conclusion, and Hibari calls it weird. Kurou shakes his head. "The prison has rules about what can and cannot be given as gifts. But certain prepackaged goods from convenience stores are acceptable..."
He trails off, sensing, for once, that maybe no one here actually wants the actual explanation. It is a thought they could finish, if any of them have the presence of mind to care: if Kurou makes it look prepackaged, he could conceivably gift someone in prison with his homemade tea.
Maybe it is weird. He does not say anything, and seeing Hibari is not giving it back, he keeps his hand on the strap of his bag. He'll have to try again for another success later.
Instead, he focuses squarely upon Ichika, the Thorn Boss, for he has wronged a member of her gang, and Tsubasa themself defers to and respects her call in this matter. In this, Kurou understands Tsubasa implicitly. And in this, he does see how much Ichika cares for Tsubasa in working at that bravery.
"I see," Kurou muses with her explanation, as if he does not understand the rules of Kasu in their entirety. This is because he doesn't. He's a second year, but was never a first year here, and he started late into the current school year.
"There is no reason for me to target Seki-senpai at school if I am not ordered by my own 'boss'." That much is all right to say, if they were told 'everything', right? Tsubasa seems stressed enough without having to come up with more lies. (Whose fault is that, Kurou?!)
It's easier for Kurou himself to be brave, knowing how Tsubasa -- how Phoenix -- reacted to the idea of killing him. Even so, here stands a rumormonger. Kurou concludes Hibari to be the most dangerous individual here. She does not need violence to be a threat. But... from where Kurou is standing, it would be interesting to learn that there was anything left to threaten.
"... In the event that should happen, I find it strange to reward me with the opportunity to test my skills against Thorn Boss-san. But that is your decree, I will consent to your terms."
Now he looks to Tsubasa. "... Does this satisfy you, Seki-senpai?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Gross weird," Tsubasa agrees, in their usual laconic way, with Hibari's assessment. One presumes that this is in contrast with cool weird.
... or it might be booze. But Tsubasa's pretty sure that whatever it is, it's super drugged. His explanation about it being a prison thing, though... he's got folks in prison? Their eyes narrow, again.
Whatever they did, Tsubasa decides, they probably deserved it. At least the fuckin' Ryouharas still get put away for murder or whatever the fuck the guy did.
So, of course, they want to kick his ass about it -- and about everything else -- but that worry in the back of their head isn't any less raucous; and the edge of fear in their stony gaze is still visible, for those who know how to look, which might explain why Shuyo's kept his own counsel while glaring him down.
Left to their own devices, they'd absolutely kick his ass anyway, though; and Ichika must know that. They don't respond to their own fear by backing off. They fight the problem until it stops being threatening, and hopefully, no one manages to psyche them out in the middle of that brawl.
(It's pretty easy to psyche Tsubasa out. They're a very emotions-forward fighter.)
So their fingers tighten, against their arms, as they hear Ichika outline a plan. Their first thought of course is that it's a crazy risk -- they're going to look weak if they just let him walk, and they've got the numbers, they oughta just kick his ass! -- but the thing about their own hot emotions is that they know Ichika's got a cooler head.
So she tells them what the call is, and they nod, stern. "Yeah, Boss." They don't entirely get it -- or like it -- but they trust that it'll make sense when their sympathetic nervous system isn't flooding them with insistent directives to serve this guy his own ass before he stuffs them in a fucking sack.
Their fingers dig in a little tighter, though, when Kurou points out that Shiryuu could order him to jump them at any time. It's weird, though. The first thing he says is like he doesn't wanna start shit if he doesn't have orders to do it, but the second one's like... he totally wants to start shit?
Their brain feels like it's gonna overheat trying to make sense of this freak (a rather unkind subjective assessment from Tsubasa, but one they are quite content stating as if it were a fact). They meet his eyes, though, with their own steely blues, and perhaps he will see there how much they hate him...
... with an edge, behind that anger, which betrays how scared they are of him too.
They grunt, in response to his question. A moment later, they volunteer a verbal answer: "If it flies with th' Boss, it flies with me."
They really can't make it much clearer who's the one doing the talking right now.
<Pose Tracker> Hibari Aoki has posed.
The prison?
Hibari puts little bits of knowledge together like that almost by reflex, but she doesn't know who Kurou might know who's in prison. It doesn't surprise her that he does, granted... Maybe that, too, is a ninja thing. Certainly it'd be her guess.
And Hibari didn't keep the cap for herself so much as kick it off to the side, because it looked like trash. Kurou could get it if he wanted, but it's probably dirty now...
Hibari is happy to leave the decision-making here to Tsubasa, who was the one actually taken, and Ichika, who's in charge. It's rare for Hibari to accompany them on this kind of response at all, but she did it for a reason.
And Ichika's response - well. It doesn't make her *happy*, precisely, but she doesn't hate it either. They're not turning it into a war. She didn't realize her hands were clammy until this moment; she ends up absent-mindedly brushing them against her hips as she straightens, losing some of her tension.
BUt then she gets it back when she speaks up, after Tsubasa has their last word. "Just remember," Hibari adds. "If you mess with someone, I'll hear about it. It's not just them..." with a nod to Tsubasa. "If you mess with anyone in the Thorn Gang at school, I'll know. And then Kawase-san will know." Kawase-san, not Ichika-chan like usual; she won't name Ichika that way when she's talking to Kurou, he doesn't get to join in that familiarity.
"And if you go after *me*, you won't be able to stop me from getting the message out. So don't try." Hibari occasionally has a rumour from demons - not that unusual in Sumaru, even if the rumourmonger doesn't have any other connection to the supernatural. It's not hard to believe she could give one something to spread, either.
She doesn't think she can tell him not to go after anyone, and have him listen - and there are people in Kasu that Ichika and Tsubasa and Shuyo wouldn't defend anyway. But she can keep him away from Princess - and herself - that's enough for her.
So why is it so hard to say? Her hands are clammy again with nervousness, her stance tense.
Because Kurou said that he wouldn't *unless* his boss told him to. And Hibari doesn't trust Kurou's 'boss' as far as she can throw him (not very). Nor does he seem very worried about it. It's like he's expecting the request already...
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
The prison... Ichika can't help but let out, "So you care about somebody in prison." It's not judging; it's jsut a statement of fact. Or at least, ventured potential fact. She doesn't dwell on it, though. She can't.
Instead, she lays out her 'plan', such as it is, and Ichika absolutely knows what Tsubasa would do here, and how it might just get them killed. She doesn't want that. At the same time, she can't just do nothing--for the very reasons they think.
At least Hibari knows, and is her own kind of threat. "She's right," Ichika says. "She's bigger than us in some ways; I'm not the only one who'd defend her. ...Not that that seems to be something to turn you off," she notes.
But his boss...
"I see. So you're only in it for the orders. it's not 'personal' for you. That's unusual around here; around here, we take it personally when we get hurt. We take it personally when someone comes after us. You'd do well to keep that in mind."
But if it happens...
"What you consider a reward matters less to me; I'm loyal to my crew, and that means I'll defend them when it comes down to it. So that's my decree. Long as you don't treat it as a reason to go after them just to get what you want, that's fine with me."
If it flies with the Boss..
"So that's it. You can go back to your... tea, I guess."
Prison tea. She's curious, but...
"Just remember we're likely to do stupid things when we take it personally, and you might not like those as much as a chance to 'test' yourself."
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Weird and gross weird. And an explanation met with even more ire. It wouldn't be difficult for Hibari to find out later: every Saturday, Kurou goes straight from school to Konan, and visits someone at the prison. Anything beyond that would take a little more effort, but perhaps only a little.
Only Ichika asks further. "Yes," he says, simply, but for all his lack of social grace, knows that elaboration would not be entirely welcome.
Tsubasa does in fact defer entirely to their boss, despite the tension that Kurou still senses. He's been in enough fights to know when one wants to start, or when one doesn't want to be over.
It is with surprise that Kurou finally reads that underlying emotion behind Tsubasa's anger: fear. Ah. Yes, that makes sense. It is not that he thinks Tsubasa immune to fear, of course. He saw it for himself, but the circumstances were quite different and very worthy of fear. To have it now...
Kurou closes his eyes for a moment, considering.
He comes out of it as Hibari makes her own threats. "I do not doubt you, Aoki-senapi, but it is not up to me if I must act. Still... thank you for your warnings." As if she were doing him a favor by letting him know should this ever need to come to pass...!
Ichika understands it, and Kurou nods. None of this is personal. But, as he says, knowing does not change what he must do when he must do it.
"If your concern is respect, then know I have have not spoken of this. A fight between us may instead reveal and call attention to the fact Seki-senpai and I ever came into conflict." Will it make them more hostile to point that out? Unfortunately, Kurou is also devoted, to some extent, to pragmatism, and must point this out.
"However... if your concern is taking it personally..." Settling that fear in Tsubasa... "Then I have a suggestion."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Ichika's right in her assessment of Hibari, Tsubasa thinks. If shit hit the fan, Hibari is their first defense with regards to knowing and saying; she's the one who can best control how that information is presented when it goes into circulation, too. (Tsubasa thinks the ability to frame information is probably witchcraft shit, personally.)
The Princess, on the other hand, has her own method of defence against miscreants -- and one she's shared with Hibari! -- in the form of pepper spray disguised as canisters of perfume. Just because she hates being hurt doesn't mean she's all that worried about hurting other people. Indeed, if she could take her airsoft gun to school, everyone would be singing a much different tune about her...
(who gave the princess a gun. who authorised this.)
Ichika explains things to Kurou, though, flat-out; and Tsubasa wouldn't have thought of it with him, not the way they explain things which don't make sense to Ichika, entirely because they hate his guts. Hearing her say it, though, they hear the logic -- they remember how confused he was about even basic things, too.
With him talking like it's not his call at all, it's like that report to Child Services is looking more and more sensible... but Tsubasa buries that line of thought real quick, because they can't (afford to) be humanising this jerk.
The unfortunate fact about Tsubasa is that they gate their empathy and connection pretty hard; if it's not safe to come out of their hiding-hole and sympathise with someone else, they're just gonna be an asshole about it.
They don't know what to think about him keeping his silence on it -- though if they were thinking a little more clearly, they'd realise that of course he has, it's Persona shit, they had to edit the story just to make it something that wouldn't cause Shuyo and the Princess psychic damage to hear about. (They know he's real dangerous, though.)
He proposes a suggestion, though, and Tsubasa's lip curls. They grunt, wordlessly, and not without derision.
It's Shuyo who looks over to Ichika, instead. "We gonna hear him out, Boss?" He asks; and his arms are folded, too, but not quite as tensely as Tsubasa's are. In his case, he really is doing it for intimidation and not as an attempt at intimidation that's covering up a head that's always screaming.
<Pose Tracker> Hibari Aoki has posed.
Hibari is not authorized for airsoft guns.
(Neither is anyone else, really, but that doesn't stop THEM...)
Listening, learning, and sharing your knowledge might be a superpower, but unfortunately it won't stop people from hurting you, unless you make it obvious *first* what's going to happen; it's not the kind of power you can swing back with in the moment. You have to use it either before or after. And Hibari is not normally the person who strikes first. She only doesn't feel bad threatening him with exposure because...
Well, because he and his ninja compatriots went after Tsubasa first.
So she's said her piece, and made it clear, and that's her major contribution, short of picking up on something left unsaid. She glances at Tsubasa, perhaps having picked up *something* about their feelings.
Honestly, Hibari's misread them a little. They must be really concerned about keeping the Persona stuff quiet - as far as Kurou knows only Tsubasa has any idea about the details, they must have been worried he'd spill something. But Kurou's ... backing that up? Well, that makes sense, he's a ninja and they don't admit to anything. She's read Shuyo completely correctly, though.
"How do you *not* take something like that personally?" she says, keeping one eye on Tsubasa. That's really up to them, isn't it? They were the one taken... though Ichika probably has something to say, too.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Hibari's question is fair to Ichika, anyway. How do you not? But Ichika indeed does not ask further about this person in prison Kurou cares for. She's busy. 'Thank you' for her warnings, and it is not up to him...
"Right. Because you'll do whatever's asked of you," she says, and it doesn't sound like a compliment when she says it. It isn't.
But respect... Hmmm. "True," Ichika says of calling attention to it. "That's true. As far as anybody knows nothing ever happened, unless somebody spills it."
Pragmatism. But he has a suggestion...
Tsubasa doesn't like it, of course. But Shuyo...
"Yeah, actually," Ichika answers. "I gotta hear this. What's this secret about taking it personally?"
She's starting to understand Kurou a little better, she thinks. Ordinarily, that would be worth celebrating. One of her favorite things is understanding boys, who are so otherwise mysterious.
But this time, she doesn't like it much.
"Go ahead."
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
"For him, I will," Kurou confirms.
It does not matter if she is complimenting him or not. It is simply fact.
As Kurou said before, he and Tsubasa are not friends. It is not necessary that Tsubasa -- or any of their gang -- like him. But it is also not necessary that Tsubasa be afraid of him. Fear can be quite debilitating, left unchecked.
How do you not take it personally, Hibari asks.
"Mm," Kurou concedes with a soft murmur. "Whatever my convictions and my orders, Seki-senpai was wronged. You want them to feel safe. Safety is an illusion... I do not know how to restore it once it breaks. But... this may offer a sense of restored control."
Kurou reaches into his shoulder bag and pulls out an oddly shaped stone, small enough to fit in his hand, but smooth on its surface. He shows it in his palm, then takes hold of it, his fingers fitting easily along bumps along it like a handle, with a knob of it protruding outward. Kurou demonstrates its use by pressing the knob into the meat of his shoulder, where it meets his torso. He taps a few other areas along his neck and arm before presuming they get the picture.
"The... 'muscle knives'..." The Tsubasa described the pain resonated strongly with Kurou. "This tool can be used to alleviate those symptoms. It maintains both heat and cold very well, and is a convenient shape. If I lose it, it will be very difficult for me to find another one of the right shape and composition. I do have other methods of dealing with the symptoms, but... this is one of the most effective, and I do risk losing control of the situation without it."
How often does Kurou have such symptoms? Enough to always be carrying this around with him.
He offers it toward Ichika to take or not, as everyone has made it more than clear she speaks for them in this situation.
"If Seki-senpai's discomfort lingers, I recommend using it until they pass. Then you may destroy it, throw it into a lake, or use it as some form of leverage against me. Whatever you decide."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa's easy to misread; they're stoic, and laconic, and they don't so much front as much as have six different layers of fronting. Hibari's question absolutely rings true to them, though.
Seriously, is this kid some kinda space alien???
(No, Tsubasa, he's just neurodivergent.)
Ichika gives him leave to speak, though, and Tsubasa shifts their gaze from her -- because of course they're looking at her when she's talking -- back to Kurou. They watch, suspiciously, as he talks about how they were wronged (YEAH ACTUALLY! SO DON'T DO IT!!!), and how he doesn't know how to restore broken safety (honestly a fair point but Tsubasa's not gonna give it to him).
He takes one of those weird ninja tools (it's either that or a rock???) in hand, and explains how it helps him alleviate his muscle cramps. Tsubasa just looks more disturbed, as he keeps talking, though their sneer never really leaves their face. It just kind of... gradually graduates to a grimace, as he finishes talking.
"What kinda sick shit is that?!" They blurt out, despite themself. "Fuck you, man! You're the one who tortures people, if I wanna kick ya ass I'm doin' it meself!"
It's not that they don't want him to suffer, it's just...
What the fuck kinda guy are they if they do the same thing to him?
<Pose Tracker> Hibari Aoki has posed.
Hibari is usually pretty good at reading Tsubasa, and Tsubasa isn't as *always* as hard to read as they think they are (which Hibari thinks is more charming than anything else), but pretty good isn't perfect.
She actually did expect a reaction to Kurou's... rock? Hibari vaguely recognizes it - not exactly, but the shape is naggingly familiar and once Kurou explains it a little she gets it.
Her eyes narrow a little. Why? she thinks. Why be part of the kidnapping, hold Tsubasa until they tracked them down and broke them out, and almost kick all of their asses in the process until they had to run... and then offer help?
(Honestly she was just going to suggest that Tsubasa go to Tominaga, if they could both find the money and wouldn't be uncomfortable with it. He handles more than just back pain!)
She wants to ask why. She can't quite bring herself to do it. There's got to be some kind of catch... or she *really* doesn't get Kurou, which is also possible. He's a student here but they've never really interacted much; he's never come to talk to the rumourmonger and they're in different years, so don't run into each other much normally.
"Seki-san," Hibari says, "you promised." Promised not to start a fight, that is. They did *not* promise to take the... stone knife being offered to Ichika. Or whatever. It reminds her a little of some of the weights she owns, actually.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
'Safety is an illusion'. Ichika scowls at that, but has no particular retort. Instead, she listens. She listens, and watches as Kurou shows how to use it. A rock...
At first, it's nice enough. It's a gift. And then--
'Or use it as some form of leverage against me.'
There is a sudden and ringing CLAP!!
...And when sight registers, Ichika's hand has gone across Kurou's face, hard enough to leave a mark--hard enough that her fingers sting like the tears in her eyes. Tsubasa has already asked the question in her mind, on her lips, and she hears it after she slaps Kurou, her mouth pressing together into a thin line.
"Absolutely not," Ichika answers. "Hurting someone just to make myself feel better... I won't be that kind of person. I won't have it!"
Tsubasa promised. Ichika didn't. It could well turn into a fight right here, right now--
"It's sick shit," she agrees. "One plus one equals two. I hurt you, you hurt me. I control you, I feel better about me. It makes sense, all right. And I won't have it!"
"Keep your rock. Have the joy of it."
"Maybe we'll have to fight one day after all," Ichika says. "Might happen, since your Boss insists."
"...But know it's not going to be a 'privilege' for me. Fighting someone like you..."
"If you really think like this, I feel sorry for you. And I think you really do."
"...If you'll take the deal I offered, it still applies."
"But unless you're here on 'orders', I don't want to talk to you again."
"Let's go."
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Is there a catch? In offering this tool at all, Kurou has already provided Hibari with a nugget of information he cannot take back, even if the offer is rejected. It may not be a lot, and it may be of no value to people of their level of integrity. But it is not nothing.
Kurou looks blankly at the Tsubasa as they are disturbed, but this offer, and then Ichika --
Some people say they 'see red' when they are angry. Kurou will have to reflect on that inaccuracy later, because he is not angry at all, and yet as pain explodes on his cheek, there is a fraction of a second he swears everything was simply red.
Her confirmation comes immediately after, and rather than insist further, Kurou idly presses the knob of the stone into the bottom of his neck, where it meets his shoulder.
Slowly, his head, which had been jerked to one side by the force of Ichika's slap, moves back forward to regard the angry Thorn Boss. There is no comprehension on his face whatsoever, and his silence may speak volumes about the intensity of his confusion.
"I am afraid I do not understand," he admits. To Tsubasa: "You rejected the opportunity to to kill me, and to alter my conviction. You do not want to 'torture' me, but you still crave inflicting pain upon me." He does not say 'change of heart' because this is associated too strongly with the Phantom Thieves, and this stands to connect Tsubasa as one of them to anyone within earshot too much for Kurou to feel that isn't a betrayal of their request to keep it secret.
Then, to Ichika, if not the gang as a whole. "You have come to make threats and intimidate me, and when offered an option that would succeed in that, you say you are not that kind of person."
Kurou pockets his tool and stretches his neck side to side by bending his ear toward his shoulder, and then the other.
"... Very well," he says, despite not understanding. "Your original terms, then."
And then, with Ichika declaring the conversation over, he sits back down, and begins working on another successful attempt at getting a perfectly sealed bottle cap free.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"I ain't --" Tsubasa starts, to Hibari, except, like
Ichika just up and slapped the guy and that really effectively ends both of those sentences. "Whoa," Shuyo supplies, surprised-impressed, instead, and his sage advice to Kurou is this: "You shouldn't've done that." He made the Boss mad, man! He done fucked up!
(Tsubasa will explain it to Hibari, later, the reason why they and Ichika were both ripshit pissed, the chronic pain he was expressing and the tool to manage it he wanted to give up. ... that is, if Ichika doesn't get there, first.)
Tsubasa's not surprised to see her anger, though. The only reason they weren't the one to slug Kurou, really, is that they did promise; their anger doesn't overbalance their need to not go against Ichika's orders out here. They wouldn't mind if it turned into a fight, though; indeed, they unlace their arms from their chest, shifting one foot forward, in silent preparation for it to turn into something.
"I got standards," Tsubasa spits, off to the side, when Kurou expresses his lack of understanding. "I come for you, you'll be awake an' on ya feet. We ain't like you... don't you forget it."
Their hand clutches, at their side, before their fist relaxes again.
"Yeah, Boss," Tsubasa nods, to her, sternly -- and they and Shuyo will follow her out.
(The Princess will, of course, join back up with them once they get out of violence distance. She was standing back, and her contribution to the whole thing, as they leave, is a catty: "What's with that guy?!"
... a dozen books could be authored on what is with that guy specifically.)
<Pose Tracker> Hibari Aoki has posed.
Hibari...
...did not read that particular message in that particular way, possibly because she has never had chronic pain to treat, just the usual aches and pains of activity. She's generally very alert for social pitfalls but she has blind spots and that, apparently, is one of them.
('It's a shaped rock', is her later response. 'Wouldn't he have *more than one* if he's offering?' It never occured to her even once that he might be making the offer as a way to... not punish himself, precisely, but show amends by giving it up.)
As for now, though... she hadn't expected to turn physical, and Hibari lets out a sound best described as 'eep' even though she tries to muffle it; she hops backwards a step in case Kurou responds in kind.
But he doesn't. He just stands there and takes it.
And for all Hibari's difficulty fighting, she's not sure *she* could just do that. She might have fallen; she probably would have panicked. She'd probably try to hide tears if she got hit that hard without any time to psych herself up. But the one thing she would not be able to do is stand impassively.
"..."
Part of her feels she should apologize to Kurou for letting that happen. The bigger part of her feels that after what he did to all of them he probably doesn't deserve it from her - but he doesn't even know she was there - ugh! This is complicated! It was easier when Mujina just watched, and spied, and broke into Palaces and Mementos, instead of trying to get involved...
...but worse. She wouldn't give it up.
"...we'll go now," is what she says instead. "Don't worry. You didn't start that one." He's safe from Rumourmonger response, in other words, as Hibari tries to find a place for her hands and settles for behind her back as the group heads away.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Kurou looks up at Hibari and gives a nod of acknowledgment.
His appreciation for her warnings, and for this moment of clarification, is genuine. Kurou struggles with the basic of social interaction. He'll never reject someone making their meaning more explicit.
But Tsubasa says they'll come for him, awake and on his feet. That's the difference.
Kurou knows better than to try to reopen the conversation, and they're walking away as it is. But it's going to gnaw at him... How does that work with being a Phantom Thief, who can swipe someone's own heart out from under them, and change the person they once were overnight?
He really doesn't understand.
In silence, he tries to pop another cap free. Oh. This one's seal ripped partway...
It's all right. He still has one more try left.