2026-07-30: Freeze And Fawn
- Log: Freeze And Fawn
- Cast: Kanae Fuyuki, Shinichi Nagisa
- Where: Shujin Academy / Cafe Azure, Aoyama-Itchome, Tokyo
- OOC Date: July 30, 2026
- IC Date: December 17, 2012
- Summary: Unexpectedly, Shinichi's Homunculus approaches Kanae--to take her on a date. This time, she resolves not to stammer her way through it, and decides that the best way to protect the people she cares about is to go with it for now. She tries to balance her own safety with her need to gather information, but she can't control her feelings as much as she'd like. TW: Coercion, Pressure, Misogyny, Sexual Assault (Kissing; this sure isn't enthusiastic consent!!)
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Kanae has been hard at work on her finals. She's doing her best not to have them tanked with all the turmoil in her personal life... despite the fact that she was arguing with Touma again before class today. He still wants to confront Shinichi, and she still doesn't want him confronting a Homunculus. But she can't explain that, and it's becoming increasingly more of a problem accordingly. He's starting to think she just doesn't believe in him...
Probably because, in this case, she doesn't; how can she expect a normal guy to stand up to a monster?
But at least she's been able to put that aside for a while, because finals took all her concentration. Now, still in uniform, Kanae steps out of the classroom a little later than everybody else, sighing once. She thinks she did well, but...
There's a few whispers already from people who don't want to just focus on their studies, and Kanae frowns as she sees someone looking at her in the hall.
It's a nice day, at least?
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
It's a good thing that Touma isn't in the same class as Kanae. It would not go well for him. Even if the only reason is because a Homunculus has little care for 'human' limitations.
Resonance is a tricky thing, when outside of supernatural spaces. Kanae can feel him in the school often, when they pass in the halls and he flashes her a grin. When he's watching her Tennis Practice after school.
It's hard to get a feel for distance though, often. She's not a navigator, and those spiritual senses have no room to breathe.
Which is why she only feels him for a second or two- enough to get her heart to racing, before an arm slides around her, grasping her right arm, as he takes position to her left, leaning his head to the side to say softly. "Hey Babe. ... I've been missing you."
A beat.
"No practice today, so why don't we go someplace nice and hang? On me of course. I know it's all modern and shit to let the chick pay her share but-" He grins, "-guess I'm a little old fashioned."
The entire hallway of folks notice, as girls start whispering, while guys give Shinichi wary grins because- they always support a guy 'pulling' a girl, but some of them wonder- isn't that Touma's girl? So it's mostly nervous support.
The girls mostly know she's supposed to be Touma's girl. "... Wow, she didn't even breakup with him?" One says, "Well, you know foreign girls..." Replies another.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
It really is for the best. As it stands, even their teacher is starting to hear about it...
But Kanae is not an expert in resonance. It's an extra edge to tell her a few things, but she can't use it in the way that a more experienced Persona-user like Baofu or even a navigator could. So she's surprised. She feels him close, and then--
Ah. Her dominant arm.
Kanae shivers at his murmur, and it could be mistaken for swooning out of affection or attraction... but it isn't. "A-ah," she starts, the same kind of hesitation and stuttering she's done around him so far. She feels a twinge of shame for that. She can't even stand up for...
No, that's just it, isn't it? If she hesitates, then Touma will be even more sure he has to step in. So she makes a resolution.
"...Old-fashioned's better for that," she says after a moment, and looks up to him.
No practice today, which means she doesn't have Isabeau to bail her out, but... Maybe, just maybe, she can learn something useful, too. It's not like she can get out of it anyway...
But she feels the heat of anger about 'foreign girls' too.
Kanae lifts her chin as if turning up her nose at those rumors, trying to keep her head high. "Okay. Let's go."
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
He gives Kanae a peculiar look, then as the two walk along, at her statement, he waits for a time, then, "Shit forgot how shy you are. That wasn't too much, was it?"
He asks, like a gentleman that just committed some small 'oopsie' of a faux pas.
"I'm just really into you, you know." Like that alone makes it alright. "Couldn't help myself."
He flashes a grin, "You're a nice girl, and smoking hot to boot, after all. That all the boys aren't clamoring at your door is a crying shame."
Is he- is he complimenting her?
The Homunculus must really think this is what girls want.
"But hey, lucky for me- and for you, I've got good taste in women."
Of course, he releases her for just long enough by the time they get down to the shoe lockers, as he trades out his school slippers for a pair of athletic shoes.
They... look brand new.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
"...It's..." Kanae hesitates at the question, which might make her seem shyer still. But after a moment she says, "Cat's out of the bag anyway, right? It's... fine."
A 'gentleman'. Her skin still crawls, but luckily it seems he can't sense that. He 'couldn't help himself'. "I can tell," she settles on saying instead. "Like I said, it's OK."
A nice girl, smoking hot? "I don't really have time for most boys anyway," Kanae speaks up. "It takes a lot.. to make it worth taking time out of studying, right...?"
He must.
"Lucky," she repeats, and this is a little duller. But she thinks after a moment. "Hey," she says. "..I'm not your only girl, huh?" But then, they've got shoes to handle. She has her uniform shoes; low heels that make her a /little// taller, but are otherwise just black to go with her white leggings.
"You got new shoes."
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
"Well, if you're sure." She'd notice his grip increasing on her opposite arm then, as if in reaction, if anything, more possessive now that she'd given him 'permission'.
"See? So nice..."
Nice. The word the Homunculus justified as meaning she was 'into him'. Which means it must have stuck in Shinichi's mind that she was nice to him in ways people ordinarily aren't.
But, he never presumed to act this way, now did he?
"Don't worry then, I won't disappoint."
The Homunculus may think it's silly for a girl to try so hard at school unless they're not eyeing marriage immediately after graduation.
But even then, like what, they might have to work five years at most? No need to go overboard, so long as you can teach the kids.
Still he doesn't say that, he's not going to act like that. He knows most girls don't like it for a guy to spell out what everyone already knows.
"Hm?" 'I'm not your only girl, huh?' "Well... no. But, like- hey, you want to go exclusive." He smiles at her, showing a normal amount of teeth, "I'm good for it anytime. I just figured you know. Fair's fair, right?"
If he's going to be her side piece, then he gets to keep playing the field elsewhere.
That is of course, totally fair!
"There are a couple chicks I'm checking out, sure, but they're all playing games- you know? ... Not like you."
He's so CASUAL about telling her this too. Like 'yes of course she'll understand, those are the rules!'.
"Hm? Ah yeah. Two pairs actually. One for the field, and one for training and the like." He grins, "My parents were so happy that I started playing again that they sprung for it."
Those poor parents, they think all that's happened is their son has come out of some depressed funk...
... they don't know that their son has been taken over by a monster. "So. It's not far. Don't even have to take the train. Just a nice little cafe a couple blocks from here. Been going there ever since I moved to Tokyo."
Which means, it's probably close to his home right?
Well... maybe.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
It doesn't quite hurt, but Kanae is still not really comfortable with it. She decides to ignore that for the moment. Instead, when he says she's 'nice', or maybe it's 'nice', "...Thanks."
He says he won't disappoint, and she can't come up with something about that besides, "Cool." Of course, she does try hard at school; she's consistently in the top ten, and... might still be, since she's been keeping up on her work enough that she can get by without extra cramming that she certainly doesn't have the mindset to do right now.
"Maybe I do," she says, looking at his toothy smile, and letting her dark eyes track up to his blue. "We should talk about it. ...But yeah, until then, it's fair enough. I was doing it too."
She wasn't, of course; she had a boyfriend. Just one. She wasn't playing around or anything. But if she tries to save that, then she'll just get Touma physically hurt instead of emotionally.
A couple chicks he's checking out? Kanae says, "Yeah. I don't like playing games."
She can understand the logic; not all of it is even insane monster logic. But... Shoes. Kanae finally brings up her hand to rest on his arm. "That's cool," she says. "It must be nice, having parents like that." She winces suddenly--she didn't mean to let that one out.
"Oh, yeah?" she asks. "...Well, that sounds nice." Pause. "You don't live close by or anything, do you? That'd save you time on the commute..."
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
Women, enduring things they're not comfortable with? What is this world coming to...
It's not like they've been doing that since humanity first roamed this world.
Nor does he seem to notice that she's giving just- safe answers. After all, that's just how girls are, right?
And she's a shy, nice girl. Of course she's going to be polite about everything.
"Don't I know it... it's why I like you so much. You give, you don't take- without giving something back. It means, you're real smart for a girl."
Of course, there are so many boys who think that women need to give them something back for something said woman didn't want to take in the first place.
The Homunculus is one of them.
"There's nothing I hate more than someone who takes and gives nothing back, you know?"
Worthless people. People who would be better off dead.
"Huh? Oh yeah, they're pretty cool I guess. At least they've laid off lately."
Laid off? About what?
"It is nice." He agrees, "Yep, I do. Means I don't have to deal with trains coming to school, can just jog on over. It's good for morning runs."
Most people don't know that Shinichi runs on over then changes into his uniform. Even when he wasn't doing sports, he stayed in shape. It was just- life, to him.
Once they're out the door, he has his arm around her again. Because of course he does.
-=-=-
It's not too far away. A nice little cafe called the 'Azure' with a view over the Shinagawa Bridge. A retro, Showa era span that leads to an old shrine called the Ebara, across the water way.
The cafe in contrast is a more modern affair, but not so much that it loses its charm. It's both cafe and bakery, and coffee shop.
"You can order whatever you want." He says, "No need to hold back. You train so hard that it's not like I'm worried you'll lose your figure or something."
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Kanae is trying to be bolder--but it won't be for the things Shinichi probably wants. She's pretty polite! ...But 'shy' isn't exactly right when she isn't being terrorized a little. Still... He mentions why he likes her so much. And Kanae is real smart... for a girl. "I try," she says. "I don't feel good just taking things from people."
Maybe she's opening up a little?
"Right. You're not like that. You're giving me something now."
But they've laid off? "Oh, yeah?" Kanae wonders, and sees an opportunity here. "...I don't really know how that goes," she admits. "Because my parents died when I was young."
But it is nice. It's also dangerous; if he asks her back to his place... Well, no. His parents wouldn't allow that, right? ...Right?
"Jogs are cool, though."
-=-=-
Kanae deals with Shinichi's arm on her; she's dealt with worse before, the crawling sensation she still gets about him aside. "Oh yeah?" Kanae asks. It is admittedly a nice cafe. That makes it worse, rather than better. "Then... I'll get a little of that mousse cake, and.. some coffee," she says. "I guess that's true. I still watch what I eat usually, but I do train a lot."
She bites her lip--and then decides to try to be bolder. "But you see that, right? Since you've been watching me. ...I wasn't sure I had the kind of figure most guys would like."
"Am I your usual type?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
"I bet. Just feels wrong right? Selfish."
It might become painfully apparent in short order, that Shinichi was the one who didn't like taking from others, but giving and giving and giving.
And this is definitely an inversion of that, in the worst way possible... it wouldn't even be so bad, if he didn't feel entitled to take, because in his eyes he'd given Kanae something of greater value.
His attention.
"Yep. Exactly. That's how relationships are. Both sides have to give and take. Today I'm giving."
So what will he be taking back in return? A thought that might make Kanae queasy.
'Oh, yeah?'
"... Yeah. Oh- I didn't really realize. Hope it's not a sore subject."
He doesn't look too apologetic though, "They've just been on my case ever since just after we moved from Mikage-Cho. To see you know, shrinks. But like... that's for housewives and office ladies?" He shrugs, "I don't need that shit. And now that I'm playing again, they're not going to try and make me."
-=-=-
At the cafe, he calls the server over, then orders for her the coffee and mousse cake. For him, he just grabs some plain espresso. Because that's what a monster in human skin definitely needs.
Caffeine.
But rather than sit across from her, he's positioned his chair up to hers. "Huh? Oh you mean- like, being athletic, right? Girls are all worried about people thinking muscles are unattractive."
He grins wolfishly at her, "But I like a girl who's healthy, you know? Who wants to date someone who can't keep up with them?"
Don't ask which way.
'Am I your usual type?'
"Well... I dated before, in middle school. She wasn't that like you... super clingy really."
He says, as if he's straining there, reviewing memories that aren't exactly his, like it's a haze he has to peer view for a frame of reference.
"... I've always had a thing for foreign girls though."
He says with a grin, "They're better at cutting through the bullshit, from all I've seen. Even that Fontaine girl- she's loud as as all fuck but at least she's up front about what she likes."
A beat.
"Heard she even pulled a boyfriend lately. Guess my lesson stuck? ... Now if she just loses like, twenty kilos, she'll be set."
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
You can tell a lot about something by its opposite, right? ...That's the theory here, anyway. Will it work? Maybe, maybe not. Certainly not without a little boldness.
But today, he's... giving. That's how he thinks of this; his attention, maybe? His money, definitely. Kanae can't be sure. And she doesn't want to think about what he might be taking... but that doesn't mean she doesn't think about it. The fact that his place is nearby is an alarm bell that won't stop ringing in her mind.
He doesn't look too apologetic at all. So, "It's fine," Kanae lies about it not being a sore point. "It just makes me curious, you know? What it's like. I get to do pretty much what I want within the school rules, so..."
But they 'make him'. His relationship with his parents is distant. That might be useful. "Why would they do that?" she wonders. "Totally not normal for a strong guy like you."
She assumed they'd be sitting across from each other, anyway. But now, sitting together, he's going to get more hyped. Maybe the sugar will give her a little more courage, though.
"I mean, I'm athletic," she agrees, "But... you know, other... stuff. It's not like I've got a big chest like the girls in the magazines or something."
"But it's cool you're OK with muscles. I can't stand inactive people, right?"
'Keep up'. She doesn't ask.
"Hmm..." It's strange, the way he has to think about it. "Yeah?" she wonders. 'Foreign girls'. "Bet you've never been with one like me, though. Right?"
But that Fontaine girl... Kanae's hand opposite the side he's on curls a little. She resists the urge to make a fist or something, but only barely. "She's pretty loud," Kanae agrees, and even that much sounds like a betrayal. "...I don't like dealing with her." His 'lesson' stuck. "You don't have to deal with her now either, right? Now that you taught her what's what... we can just ignore her."
Pause. "But speaking of..."
"I think we should talk about being exclusive, like you mentioned earlier. I don't like the idea of you with some other girl."
At least that much is true.
"...Touma-kun's the first guy I was ever serious about. But he can't handle us, so..."
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
"Ahhh that right? Okay I get it. Uhhhh..."
The Homunculus at least has to pause and think for a while every time it comes to recalling information that's not every day.
"... well, it's because my Oneesan passed right before we moved. So they think I'm all, depressed and shit."
He shrugs his shoulders, "I'm not really all that broken up about it though. She was... a real pain."
It's strange, seeing a monster obviously trying to be diplomatic in his word choice.
But not too diplomatic.
His arm slides around her chair, this time, as casually as if they were in a movie theater. And he's just casually taking sips of his espresso with his other hand.
"Well." He looks luridly, down at her chest, "I think your tits are just great, myself. Yeah I know guys are supposed to like them huge but..."
Pause.
"...who wants to stop because they're complaining of their back hurting?"
Now the Homunculus is using things he learned about in a hospital and using it in the worst way.
... Great.
"Nope. Never." He agrees on being with someone like her. "... I want you so bad, it hurts... but, you gotta do things the right way."
When it goes to Isabeau, "So long as she's learned her place and leaves my girl alone at practice... sure. I don't give a damn."
He says dismissively. Isabeau learned how girls are supposed to act, that's good enough for him. They don't get in a guy's face and emasculate them in front of everyone while they're just waiting on the train.
Then she brings up, "Huh- you serious?" He seems startled, but then smiles broadly, "I'd be thrilled, really, to have you all to myself."
The hand around her touches her shoulder, squeezing. "Alright then. Tell you what. You break up with him-"
He reaches around to touch the side of her cheek, guiding her to look at him.
"-and you're my one and only." As he leans in, pressing his lips against her own, in a firm, wet squish- with a hunger, a desire.
Girlfriend? Favorite Prey? What's the difference...
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
How much does this Homunculus really know? Does it have to go ask the real one, or is there some more esoteric process than that? It would be nice if Kanae could think about it distantly, academically like that. Unfortunately, she's staring into the lion's mouth right now.
...But she gets something out of it. Something u seful. 'Oneesan passed' right before they moved--and he was in Mikage-cho before... That's useful information, right? Even if it comes out that way. A real pain, which means... Shinichi... must feel differently?
But Shinichi puts an arm around her now, and Kanae forces herself to lean into him a little. She's glad a tleast that in uniform she isn't showing anything, but...
"Oh, yeah?" she asks then, and pretends that her darkened flush is appreciative instead of mortified. "Thanks. It's nice not to have to be some kind of model or whatever."
Super great.
But never. "...Yeah," Kanae agrees, and ignores the ice in her blood as best she can. "It'll be worth it," she says. "To do it right."
Which means she can put some things off for a while... Maybe forever, if she has her way.
Hopefully forever.
"Cool," Kanae says of Isabeau. "Then we don't have to think about her much at all."
No practice for a while, at least...
Kanae lets herself be guided, though she has a feeling he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. "Mm...?"
Break up with him, and--
He kisses her again, and this time she makes herself kiss back, if no more than he does.
"Mm..."
At least Kanae can say she's been hunted before. Maybe she can turn the tables on this one, too.