2026-10-15: Breaking Up
- Log: Breaking Up
- Cast: Shinichi Nagisa, Kanae Fuyuki
- Where: Shujin Academy - Classroom Building
- OOC Date: October 15, 2026
- IC Date: January 25, 2013
- Summary: Kanae asks Shinichi to meet up for lunch. They have a few things to talk about... not least of which is what they're going to say about all that's gone on.
(|=================== Shujin Academy - Classroom Building ====================|)
-==================================================== Tokyo/Aoyama-Itchome ====-
Shujin Academy is split between its main classroom building, which faces the
back streets of Aoyama-Itchome, and its practice building out back. The
classroom building is a grim concrete building with sleek glass doors, three
stories tall, with classrooms for the third years on the ground floor, second
years on the second, and first years on the top. The faculty office is on the
second, and the student council room and the library on the third. Vending
machines dot the hallways here and there, and the bathrooms are kept clean. Its
front gates are wrought iron with a circular design, and a stylized clock on the
eastern wall informs students just how late they are.
The foyer is lined with glass cases proudly displaying trophies earned by its
top students, and just past them is the school store, though the yakisoba bread
there is almost always sold out. Billboards across the school announce various
articles and notices of interest. Past there, the walls are gray and white, the
floors are wooden, student lockers line the walls, and the sliding classroom
doors sport diamond windows. The classrooms themselves are rather more sober,
with simple desks and chairs for the students and a taller desk at front before
the chalkboard for the teacher. The windows to the outside seem simple, and even
have yellow curtains that can be pulled shut, but are lined in a diamond pattern
to prevent shattering. We wouldn't want our students to escape, now would we?
There is a fenced-in roof, but the door to it displays a sign stating students
aren't allowed. Despite this, it isn't locked, so nothing stops anyone from
hanging out there anyway--at least, not until they get caught. Oddly, there's
also several small planters there too for growing flowers and vegetables.
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
Shinichi Nagisa stares at a contact in his phone, on break between classes. Not one he remembers inputting. A girl's contact number. Tapping through, he replies.
>sure
>see u then
Then with a pause, he scrolls up. And up. And up. And- "THE F-" He claps a hand over his mouth. Takes a deep breath as a few people look his way, as if expecting him to 'explode'. Drops the hand.
And begins quietly freaking out instead.
-=-=-
The rooftop he knows will be unchained. The fact that he knows it, fills him with uneasy dread, imagery of him cornering Isabeau on the roof.
"Come on... man up." He tells himself, before opening the door, and getting settled near one of the sides, away from the rooftop garden. It's grey, gloomy, cold. Not exactly perfect roof lunch weather, but he's got a hot glass noodle soup with tofu in it, in a carton.
A hot green tea.
He takes a sip, then another. Then begins scrolling through his text messages, hating every single thing he's seeing here.
"Got a lot more tough apologies to make..." He murmurs, not exactly looking forward to it, but- more than willing to do it too.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
It was Kanae's contact number, as it happens, and she wanted to meet Shinichi for lunch. The 'real' Shinichi, this time.
People are still talking, of course; Kanae keeps to herself for most of class today. It suits her if people think she's got something on her mind, anyway...
And she doesn't really want to talk to Chiaki today, either. And she can't tell Himeki what really happened...
-=-=-
It's definitely unchained. Kanae waits until she knows he's gone up, and then follows after. People may assume a lot of things, knowing they both went up there.
She tells herself she doesn't care that much.
-=-=-
She has one of those canned coffees that heats itself, and she turns that on, opening it up as her shoes pad down against the concrete. "Hey," Kanae says to Shinichi.
"We need to talk." A beat, "Probably before you do all those apologies."
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
When Kanae arrives, he puts his meal down on the ledge, and his drink, he stands up and- 'We need to talk.' "I am so-" 'Probably before you do all those apologies.'
He hitches mid-motion, mid-sentence even. Then looks her way, takes a deep breath, which fogs in the January air, then nods.
"Okay. If you're sure you don't want to hear them first. Let me just get my thoughts together..."
He pauses, thinking over it all, then. "I don't... I mean I remember- but it was like a nightmare you just... don't forget."
Then he inhales once, looking a little embarrassed, "But really want to. I- can't really say that whatever he was doing isn't my fault at all. I think maybe there was a time- I was like that, or at least would have grown up to be like that."
He shakes his head, "So whatever you need me to do... no matter what it is. I'll take responsibility for it. You deserve that much after how-" He almost says 'I', "-he... treated you."
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
So--Sorry? Probably sorry. Kanae lifts an eyebrow at him in a way that might be imperious if she were taller. Alas, she isn't.
"OK," she says. "And no, not really."
So she waits for it... he remembers--
"Oh. So you were in there?" she asks. "When he was...?"
She considers. "...I mean, it wasn't your fault. You literally had a supernatural being wearing your body as a skin suit. That's the definition of not your fault."
"...But how much was 'you'? Well... I think he based himself on the worst parts of you--or the parts you were afraid you might be. Maybe both."
"Reaponsibility for what? ...I don't care about the part where we were 'going out'," she says. "We made out a bunch. I was into that; I did that because I figured, even if he wouldn't stay 'faithful', he'd be less likely to go farther with other girls who didn't know what he was--what he was capable of."
"..."
"He did mess up my relationship," she allows a moment later. "Maybe it'd have come out eventually, how Touma-kun really felt about me... amybe not. But if you want to feel bad, feel bad about that--not about remembering what kissing me feels like."
She sighs, and comes to sit down on one of the planters, smoothing out her skirt and lifting her coffee. She crosses her arms, classic closed body language. "You can skip the assuming I'm some delicate flower who was 'mistreated' because a guy didn't treat me like a doll."
"Anyway," she says, as if to move on from that. "...What I need from you is to help me figure out a way for us to 'break up' that doesn't make me look even worse than I already do. That ship may have sailed already, though."
She pauses, and hesitates. "I mean, that's what I want from you. To break up. ...No offense."
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
He raises a hand, and wobbles it, as if uncertain. "It's not like I remember watching the whole thing, or anything. It's more like- I remember it after?"
He shrugs, "I really don't know how any of this works. If you'd asked me after I got cut out of that freaky cocoon, I'm not sure I would have? Then it's like- everything fell into place after I did- the thing."
He waves a hand, like to say, 'you know'. "The Persona thing."
'It wasn't your fault.'
He actually manages a thin smile at that, "Even so. Yeah... there were parts of me in there... he didn't base that off, nothing."
That he's able to admit that, casually, without fear, perhaps it's a sign he's grown. "Probably both." He agrees with her.
"I was kind of a little shit, a few years back. Before... everything with my 'sis'- and Mikage-Cho. So, I came to be scared of who I thought I was."
'Responsibility for what?' "Well-"
'We made out a bunch. I was into that;'
His eyebrows shoot right up. Then he looks up, stuffing his hands in his pockets, rather than interrogating that. "Well, I'm glad you stopped him from doing worse, to other girls."
He then coughs, "And well, I'm glad- it didn't go further I'm..." Pause. "... a virgin."
He admits that to her, not seeming ashamed about that. "Maybe it's a selfish thing to say. But I wouldn't want my 'first time' to be remembering him, doing that. Ha... feels funny to say that."
He rubs a hand to the back of his neck self-consciously, "A few days ago, if you'd asked me, I would have said I should never date- or be with any girl really. I considered myself- too dangerous. And thought they deserved better than to date a guy with- the capacity to kill his sister. Now..."
But the idea of 'help her figure out a way for us to 'break up - "None taken. The guy you were dating was a real creep. I mean- beyond just a creep. Hmmm." He considers the matter, rolling it about in his head for a while. "Lessee... how about something simple. We talked about it and figured out we had plans for after graduation that weren't compatible. Since nothing long term was in the cards, we decided to break it off now."
He looks Kanae's way, searching her gaze to try to assess how she feels about it, "Sure it may sound suspicious to people who thought I was just the kind of guy looking to get in your pants, but- that's not the kind of guy I'm going to be going forward, eventually it'll blow over."
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
"...So that's how it is." He remembers, but he wasn't 'watching'. "...Yeah. Usually, people forget weird stuff after it happens, unless they have what we call a 'Persona'. It's not always like that, but most of the time. So maybe you would've forgotten... that would make this more complicated."
That thin smile gets a level look from Kanae. "Fair enough," she asys. "...You've got some messed up parts to you. I saw them, in your Atelier. I wanted to think it was all 'it'... but it wasn't."
"That makes sense, though. It adds up. You thought you were this terrible guy... and so 'it' was."
Some of what Kanae says is bluster; some is thinking after the fact to justify her actions; some is... she's picked up some weird feelings and tastes with all this.
"Cool," she says. "I figured... you wouldn't want to be on the hook for that, if he'd done it." Then--
A virgin. Kanae watches Shinichi a few more moments, as he explains. "No, that's cool. I'm not. Probably everyone assumes that now anyway, but... whatever. ...I just didn't want to do that with him. With 'it'. I don't want that kind of thing to be... somthing I'm afraid of."
It's funny, though. "Now?" she wonders. "Do you feel differently?"
Hmm. "Super creep," Kanae agrees. "...Hmm..." Post-graduation plans. Kanae looks down at her coffee, and then takse a sip. Her feet swing lightly, back and forth.
"...Hmm. We could sell that," she thinks. "Do you know what you want to do after graduation?" zhe wonders, and lets one arm loose, her hand sliipping down to the chair beside her thigh.
"...My future looks different than it did before all this. The guy I thought was going to be in it definitely isn't anymore. ...Well, whatever. Thanks for being sensible about it. I don't have a problem with you or anything but... I don't really know you. And I don't think we could get past... 'that'."
"...So, yeah. We 'didn't want the same things', I guess."
"..."
"I want to be friends, though. So you don't have to lose my number. ...I think you'r egoing to need a friend."
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
Usually, people forget weird stuff after it happens, unless they have a 'Persona'. He raises an eyebrow as she says that, "That's weird. Why didn't I forget what happened in Mikage-Cho? Sounds like everyone else did... even Fontaine-san."
Oof, that is something he needs to apologize for. Great. Great. Great. She's going to take that super well. But he won't shy away from it.
"I really don't know what you saw there, but- alright." He takes a breath, nods, "If an Atelier is... 'my identity'- then it makes sense it was Mikage-Cho. I think I kind of stopped... living, after that day. I couldn't move on from the thought that maybe I was responsible for it... 'divine punishment' 'karma'. Whatever you want to call it."
He nods again at her statement of his behavior, "Yeah exactly. He was everything I was afraid that I was, deep down- that I was keeping in check by just 'atoning' and letting everyone- well, you know how I was."
He shivers some, at the idea of Kanae doing that 'with him' 'with it'. Some part of him finds it a little weirdly hot, but most of him is just repulsed by it- the idea of that creature having sex with someone- in his body.
Ugh. He feels like he needs to go to the showers and wash out his brain.
Does he feel differently? He pauses, to get his thoughts in order, then, "Well, yeah. I- didn't kill my sister. I said something shitty because I was a lonely kid who was jealous she was getting all the attention- funny to be jealous of her right? She literally has a terminal disease. And I didn't do that to Mikage-Cho. I won't say I did nothing wrong but..."
He looks sideways, "... what I did to her- I think, I can forgive myself. I can do more good actually living, than I can- the way I was trying to atone before."
Does he know what he wants to do after graduation? "Do some undergrad- then, go to nursing school." He smirks at her, "If you want to sell it as not being manly enough for you, I'm cool with that, I won't complain. I was kinda ashamed before for people to know I wanted to be a nurse. Like it meant- I was less of a man... but now?"
He chuckles, "I guess I wouldn't want to be with someone who thought taking care of people made me less of a man, you know?"
'I don't really know you. And I don't think we could get past... 'that'.'
He flushes a little bit at that, then looks up, "You're a really great girl Fuyuki-san. And- I am attracted to you, I'll admit it. Who wouldn't be? Under any other circumstances- I'd be happy- even honored- to date you but- I agree. I think even if we both wanted to give it a try, it'd just be too weird for us both- too much to get past."
He then looks at her dead on, "All the same, I'm going to say it just once- I'm sorry that he treated you like that- that anyone would. You deserve so much better. Than even Touma-san too, maybe I don't know all that was going on there- but it sounds like he was being a real tool to you right before you broke it off."
He then smiles, and nods, "I can live with that. I think I do need a friend right now- and I didn't have one before. Promise I won't be weird about it, either."
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
"It's only 'usually'," Kanae says. "I don't know why it's like that, or why some people remember and some people don't. My friend Himeki... She remembers something weird happened to her--a little like what happened to you, but not with a Homunculus. But she doesn't remember everything."
Fontaine... "...Yeah. I had no idea. I knew her before, but... Not while she was out there."
"...Mostly," she says, "I figure the creepy hospital and the weird Gender stuff was you, but the horrible torturing was him. That's about how I divide it up in my mind." Pause. "...Mm, yeah. That's... rough on anyone. To feel like that."
"Yeah, I remember. It kinda put me off."
Don't feel too bad, Shinichi--part of Kanae thought he was hot, too, and found the idea of that hot, and the rest of her was vaguely disgusted and put off by that part of her.
"Cool," Kanae says. "I'm glad. ...The way you were before was really too much. Maybe you can be more 'normal' now. ...You can do good."
She laughs faintly, darkly, at the matter of manliness. "I'll think about it," she says. "But I still think that's cool. You wnted to be more hands-on, right? Do the caring, not just do the doctoring."
"...Might make the most sense, though. So yeah, I'll think about it." Her reputation won't completely recover regardless, after all.
When he flushes--well, she gets it. "...Thanks," Kanae says. "I'm glad you think so. And hey, that's cool. I mean, I know he was attracted to me, anyway." She doesn't comment on how she knows that for sure. "...But it's like that, yeah. It'd be way too weird."
Just once... "...Mm... I thought I was going to tell you to stuff the apologies, but... Thanks," she says. "The way he talked to me in the end... I don't... I don't want to be pushed around by a guy. Maybe I do like them assertive. But I don't want somebody who I have to be afraid of. I don't."
"...it was building for a while anyway, with Touma. His family was trying to change me. Make me more 'acceptable' to marry into the family, stuff like that."
She smiles back. "But I'd like a friend, too. I'll hold you to that promise, though."
"...Call on me if you have more trouble with the 'weird' stuff too, all right?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
He tries to think on it, but the fact is, like Roger said- he doesn't know enough of the rules to speculate. Eventually shaking his head. "I wish things made more sense to me, but I have a feeling things aren't going to make a lot of sense for a while."
Another nod, then, hesitation, then finally, he sighs, "She... was in my middle school in Mikage-Cho. While everything was going down- the students were barricading the classrooms and... threw her out for being a 'witch'. I think at the time- I just watched. My girlfriend was scared out of her mind at the time- and I felt- I could only make things worse, so I made it 'not my problem'."
Oof, it's hard to make that realization. "I'm glad she lived. Maybe that's why she hated me so much- because some part of her remembered."
He chuckles at the idea that 'it kinda put me off'. "That was the whole idea really. If people thought I was weird- they wouldn't try to get closer to me, just ask me to do things I'd- accept, because I felt I was atoning."
Pause.
"I'm... not sure what normal even is, anymore. I think the guy I was before I did wrong by Yanagi? He'd be considered pretty normal- other than the shitty thing he did to her. And that really bugs me." He admits, "I do want to live more normally. I just don't- want to be that kind of normal. I'll have to think on what that means."
Then he looks up, keeping his hands stuffed in his pockets, "And... well, I realize now that I really do need to talk to people about all this. Maybe- if I had, I would have gotten my head out of my ass sooner. I dunno- maybe not either."
He smiles at her as she echoes on that, "That's right. Even if I were smart enough to be a Doctor- I don't think I'd want to be. It's just- too much ordering people around. Not enough spending the time to care for them."
His reputation definitely won't recover- and he doesn't really want it to, but at the same time- maybe he doesn't have to tank it all again. Maybe he can take measures to just- be more himself, for once.
"No sweat." He says to her thanks, "Uh. Yeah. He was. He probably got that from me- I find hafu girls to be really hot. I guess- part of it is just, they're usually stronger willed about what they want, because of that whole Western part of their upbringing."
Man, he's even more deep red now, "Yeah, way too weird now. But- I don't have to look at you that way, so we can be friends. I'm good about turning that side of me off."
'but... Thanks,'
He listens to her, waiting for her to finish, then eventually, "The last person someone should be afraid of- is the person they're with. That's what I think at least."
His face kinda looks like he got a whiff of something foul smelling in the Tokyo air as she relays his family was trying to change her, "That's... super weird. It's not like you were talking marriage yet, right? I mean- I guess it's different for-"
He pauses, then reconsiders that.
"-maybe not so different for girls. I guess with the first girl I dated, back in middle school, I thought I might marry her. That's... just the way you think when you get swept up in feelings of it. It feels more weird, when it's people on the outside trying to make you feel like it has to go there."
He allows a thin smile, "You better hold me to it." But, her question of calling on her if he has more trouble with the 'weird' stuff too, all right?
"Well... I know what you mean but..." He clears his throat, "... maybe you can help me with- something else related to this...?"
He holds up his phone, "I think, I gotta draft like four more break ups with girls I don't even know. He wasn't just two-timing you, more like uh, five-timing you?"
He looks sheepish, "What an asshole."
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
"They won't," Kanae says. "I've got those guys at the Velvet Room helping me make sense of it, and I still don't get it all." Pause. "You'll get there eventually--there's this... old guy, with a long nose? He'll explain things. And then eventually you might understand his explanations."
"...Oh." Kanae frowns, looking to Shinichi. "...yeah, that's messed-up. I get it--but it's messed-up."
Kanae laughs back, looking down into her coffee. "Then it was working, all right."
But what is 'normal'? "...Mm. I guess that's true,' she says. "When you figure it out, let me know."
Kanae sips her coffee and returns her gaze to Shinichi. She should probably have gotten a real lunch, but she didn't. "Who knows?" she asks. "But you can do better going forward. That counts."
Hmm... "I could order people around more," Kanae muses. "Maybe I should be a doctor." If it's not obvious that she's kidding, she is. Regardless, "...Hmm. That so?"
"...Funny, that he'd want someone strong-willed, when what he wnated was to tell me what to do. ...Anyway, it's fine." She flips a lock of her hair with the back of her hand. "I am pretty hot." She waits a beat--and sahkes her head. "...Nah. It creeped me out when he put it that way. I didn't really have a Western part of my upbringing, you know? I'm just... different. But I've tried to get in touch with it a little more, over time. If people are going to hold it against me anyway, why not find something good in it?"
She looks out to the wall. "I lost my parents young. I was raised by Japanese people, same as you."
But definitely too weird. She'll go with that.
"I mean, we were really serious," Kanae says. "We hadn't like, made plans, but it's not like we weren't thinking about how it might go there when we got a little older."
"But, you know." She gestures at herself. "I'm not exactly the kind of girl most Japanese guys want to take home to their mothers."
But related? Kanae tilts her head, and--
Laughs. "Asshole!" she agrees, but it might not be sold that well by the way she can't quite stop laughing for a minute. "I figured," she says. "That kind of guy can't do 'loyal'."
Hmm...
"I mean..."
Kanae takes out her phone, clicks to the camera, and then lifts it up before herself.
With an angry face and her eyelid pulled down, Kanae takes a selfie--and then texts it to Shinichi.
"Just send them that. And when they ask why, say I got hold of your phone."
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
"Velvet... what now?" Shinichi looks genuinely confused, because it sounds like a Host Club out of the Red Light district. 'there's this... old guy, with a long nose? He'll explain things'.
He clears his throat, "You're not in any kind of trouble right? What kind of place is this 'Velvet Room'?"
Kanae says she gets it, and he takes a breath, and nods- "I wasn't in a good place, Sis had just died like... a few days before. Not really an excuse just..."
An explanation.
"Will do. Though- not sure it's so easy as that either." Re: Normal.
As for doing better... "Yeah it's just- I guess I thought if anyone found out what I did, my life would be over. Which I mean, I didn't think that was worth much either. I guess I just thought... I could do more good atoning from where I am than, being thrown out on the streets?"
Would his parents actually do that? Probably not, now that he thinks about it. But you don't think rationally, when you think your actions brought 'hell itself' to the world...
"I'm not sure he wanted it in a good way..."
Is the best Shinichi can think of, parsing the Homunculus mindset. It's not like he remembers what the Homunculus was thinking only what it did. That's for the best.
'I am pretty hot.'
"Yep. At least a nine." He says casually, like it's no big deal for him to say that, given that Kanae herself thinks of herself as hot.
"Hmmm. Yeah. I can see that now." He says of her being different, but... "Oh, hey... sorry." He says, as genuinely as he can about people he doesn't know, "I'm glad you had someone there for you at least."
'I mean, we were really serious,'
"Not that I'm thinking of it this way, but I think Mom would like you just fine at least. She's a big history buff, works at the museum."
He gets a curve of his lip like there's a sour taste in his mouth at the way 'That guy can't do 'loyal'.'
"Nope."
Then, she takes out her phone, clicks to the camera and- "Whatcha thinking?" Then- the face she makes "Pffbt." He laughs, a bit.
"Man. He put me in a helluva hole, reputation wise. With the girls at other schools at least." He looks up then smiles at her, "Thanks for the offer but... nah. I think- they deserve a real apology. Even if it's not my fault. I think it's my responsibility at least to make sure to let them down as easily as possible."
A beat.
"It matters." He ends on. It's not like he thinks it could scar them for life or anything, but- if it will affect their lives in any way going forward, how they approach relationships?
It's worth doing.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
"No, I--" Kanae frowns. "It's real! It's 'weird', like Personas!" The effect is somewhat lost by the fact that she laughs despite herself.
"...Right," Kanae says. "I'm not the one you owe that apology anyway. Whether she'll take it, who knows, but..." She's not going to argue giving Isabeau one.
"Mm. ...Well, in a situation like that, who can think clearly? I don't know what I would've done, either."
But what he wanted? "...Guess not."
Kanae laughs. "Bold! Good." When he agrees with her. "...Of course, a lot of guys don't think so--they want the pale Japanese ideal. But I'm used to dealing with that."
He apologizes. But this time, it doesn't annoy her. "Thanks," she says.
"Hmm. I do like history and stuff," Kanae says.
At least Shinichi laughs. It's a good sign. Kanae grins back. "...Well, OK," she says. "I guess he might not've bothered to mention he had 'me'; they might've not known."
"You're a good guy, Shinichi-kun. I'd want somebody to be cool with me, too."
She stands up. "...They probably won't thank you for the apology, but you're not doing it to look good. That matters, too."
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
"Oh. Just-... what?" Now he's laughing too, and he's not even knowing why.
"Yeah. Not sure she will either, but-" He shrugs, "No one has to accept my apologies. It's not like it'll make things right for everyone, just to hear that."
'the pale Japanese ideal.'
He grimaces at that, like it hits close to home, "I won't lie and say I haven't heard that a lot in the locker room. Mmmm..." He thinks about it for a while. "... It's kinda shitty isn't it? Guys think- that's how we're supposed to be all the time. Horny and- chasing some weird 'domestic ideal' of a girl. We watch anime growing up that says we should be like that and- get it in our heads it's okay because we're guys."
She looks across towards Kanae then, "I guess it's like that for girls too? Because shit. Even anime with girls who aren't like that- well they always 'settle down' when they find the right guy... I... guess I kinda thought that way for a while now- but, it was like 'who am I to judge? I'm the guy who killed my sister.'"
He shakes his head again, sighs.
Then he thinks on what she says then, "Glad you think so. Me? I'm not sure I am a good guy- yet." He grins her way, "But I wanna be. So make sure to smack me upside the head if I screw up, okay? Only way I'll get there."
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
The Velvet Room goes un-understood for another day.
"Guess not," Kanae allows of apologies--but apparently the ideal hits him, too. "I don't even want to know what they're saying about me in the locker room now," she sighs. Then, she looks at Shinichi thoughtfully. "You think it's not?" she wonders. "...I used to like that Touma seemed more 'civilized' than that, but as normal goes... it's pretty normal. I guess I kind of expect it, too."
But, "But you're right, it's like that with us too. I was definitely feeling the pressure on that front. Everybody assumed that's how it was going to be."
"But you aren't that guy--you know that now."
"Totally, I will," Kanae agrees. "...Probably not literally unless you really make me mad."
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
Shinichi has memories of what the Homunculus said at least, "You really don't." He agrees. As for Touma...
"Hm. Civilized is a funny word like that." Shinichi considers, then- "Sounds like his family wanted to 'civilize' you... whatever that means."
Does he know that now? Maybe...
But he'll have to keep telling himself it until it sticks.
"It's okay if you do, literally." He's still chortling, "Got a pretty thick skull. Once had a friend in elementary school say it was my best quality."