2026-05-06: No Stress Whatsoever
- Log: No Stress Whatsoever
- Cast: Maria Sakurai, Goro Akechi
- Where: Seven Sisters High School - Classroom Building
- OOC Date: May 06, 2026
- IC Date: November 05, 2012
- Summary: Akechi drops in on Maria and learns a horrifying pastime of hers. He tasks Maria in turn with a terrible quest that threatens to destroy her free time for the rest of the semester...
<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
click, click, click, click
The sun hangs low in the sky, a casualty of the Earth's tilt. If someone asked Maria why it was getting darker earlier, though, they'd get most likely a blank stare. Is it not supposed to get dark earlier? It is autumn, right? ...It must be nice to have a mind like a sieve, sometimes.
click, click, click click
She's alone in the courtyard, her gaze turned up at the clocktower that looms overhead. Her knitting needles flash erratically. She's got... something, made of fiber in her lap that she's working on without looking at it, but it's hard to tell what it is. It looks like a lump, presently.
click, click click click
The Wang Long lady had said...
...that 'Joker' was no one person. That anyone could turn into Joker with enough sin and hatred in their hearts. So, was that person Tsubasa had told her about a real person who had changed, too?
click click
"Oh--"
Maria looks down suddenly at her knitting.
"--wait, I messed up!" she gasps, unknitting her last few stitches.
...it must be nice to have a mind like a sieve.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
And just out of her field of vision stands Goro Akechi, from an off angle at her right shoulder. He's leaned up against the wall, every so often - peering out as Maria works at her knitting.
One might say this is stalker-ish behavior in a boy, save he's not just any boy. He's a Detective.
"No signs thus far..." He muses in a muted manner, as he places a hand to his chin, "... curious. Could it be that she has come to terms with her behavior, and no longer feels as much guilt for the act?"
'Oh--'
'--wait, I messed up!'
There's an exaggerated reaction on Akechi's face, of an awkward smile, along with a sweatdrop beading down the side of his forehead.
"I think perhaps it's just she's not the type of person to overthink things."
Tapping out a text on a burner phone, he sends it to a middle man.
>alert them that theres been no change
>they should move to another
He types, even changing his grammar to text in a way that's atypical for him. Before snapping the phone shut again, and putting it away. Then he slowly begins to approach, briefcase in hand as he walks up behind her.
"Why hello, Sakurai-san. I saw you on my way out and thought I'd swing by-" Pause. "-Oh. You're knitting? I wasn't aware that was something you were into." He says with a positive shift in his undertone to make it sounds like he approves.
It would be just as well if she isn't the type to overthink it, if the change were long in coming... he'd prefer it that way, at least.
<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
"Oh no, oh no... did I mess up that one, too?"
The thing about knitting is that once one has made a mistake, it's no mean feat to undo it: in essence, one now has to knit backwards to fix the error.
"aaaaaaa"
Wide-eyed in horror, Maria works feverishly to fix the mistake, stepping backwards stitch by stitch until, finally--
"Got you!" she cries out, stabbing one (now freed) knitting needle towards the heavens in her triumph. She's still in that pose as she, second by second, realizes she's not alone.
"a," Maria articulates, exactly. Her expression is a blank one for a longer moment still.
"Akechi-sempai!" All at once she sweeps to her feet, knitting project, needles, tangle of yarn and all. The ball flies from her arms to bounce, once, against the paving stones and quickly rolls away. Turning her head, Maria watches it go until it comes to a stop at last by a bush, its long tail still connected to the project in her arms.
Then, quite abruptly, she turns her head back towards Akechi. "Uh huh! My grandma taught me! See?" She proceeds then to display her current project. "It's a bunny!"
BGM - Soothing Hymn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaUq8QiIb-U
...is that a bunny? The ears are long. Far too long, and manage to bend at an unearthy angle. The torso twists about in a way that some would consider highly unnatural in a plush rabbit, let alone a living one. Something about the angles of the limbs also just doesn't seem right. Still half-finished, the unknitted yarn extends from its midsection like an umbilical cord.
"I've been working on it for a few weeks now!" Maria continues blithely.
"Oh, but what about you? How are you doing? Were your exams okay?"
Says Maria, who scored in the bottom third. As usual.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
Mistakes aside, Akechi actually does find knitting to be a rather impressive skill for someone to have in the modern day. Thus he seems unperturbed as he hears her frantic correction, walking up...
... to catch her in that pose.
As she realizes he's there though, he chuckles mirthfully, "Haha... full of energy as always I see." He chuckles, actually considering whether that pose is from Featherman for a time. He is a fan certainly, but he hides that he is.
And then, she shows him.
The Bun.
Akechi's expression has a moment where surprise flickers over his features, before returning to a pensive expression.
It's like something out of a horror movie.
Could she be closer to changing than I thought?
Or...
"I can see you've been working hard." He says solemnly, to the visage of horror, his brown eyes hypnotically caught, like he might look away-
-might blink-
-and be devoured.
"It's a rather... unique design as well. Are you basing it on... some media you've seen recently?"
He forces himself to break eye contact, fortunately it does not try to devour him, as he suddenly walks on over to bend down and pick up the ball of yarn by the bush, as he spools it back up on his way on over to Maria.
He should probably stop before he reaches her. He doesn't want to get in biting range.
"Oh, are they posted? I haven't even had time to check, to be honest."
He lies. Of course he was at the top of his class. He checked immediately. But it more fits his image if he says he didn't have time.
"... But I suspect that I did quite well. What of yourself?"
<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
Is there ever, really, a point in time when Maria Sakurai is anything but filled-to-the-brim with sparklingly-pure energy?
Well, probably yes, practically speaking, but that time is certainly not now.
As it so happens, it's actually a pose from a magical girl show... but in practicality, it's not all that different from a pose from Featherman. But all that might well be forgotten when she shows him her project of the moment.
This is probably a blasphemy. A sin of creation. Something that shouldn't exist. Maria looks pretty pleased with it.
"This is my best one yet," she affirms, beaming.
It might be better not to look at it so hard. Who knew that from yarn, such horrors could be?
But, is she basing it on some media? Something she's seen or heard lately? Maria blink-a-blinks, confused. "No?" she says to him. "I just followed the pattern."
This seems, even at a glance, a dubious claim.
Akechi isn't devoured, fortunately. He's able to gather her yarn. "Oh, do you want me to-- oh, okay!" Maria says, starting then pulling up again as soon as she'd started as he makes his way over to her. "Thank you!" she chirps, accepting the spooled up ball of yarn. "It gets all over the place sometimes." Mercifully, she stuffs the offending plush 'rabbit' back into her school bag as she continues to wind some of the loose yarn back into the ball from the mess she'd made before with her un-knitting. Surely, it can't leap from the bag and bite him like that...
Maria stares at Akechi. She blinks. "Oh, uh, you're top of the class!" she informs him, since he clearly doesn't know. "Congratulations!" And if her hands weren't full, she might well clap. But, as for her--
"Um..."
She pauses.
"A few points below last time," Maria admits, shoulders sagging. "But, that's pretty good, right? I mean, I missed class, and I had to play catchup, and... I did my best!"
She'd only sort of gotten a scolding from her grandmother, at that.
"So, now that you know you did really well, sempai, are you going to celebrate?"
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
Akechi in his commercials pretends to endorse sugary snacks, for as a Detective he needs them to fuel his brainpower! It's simple biology isn't it? Glucose becomes ATP...
... except he doesn't actually care about sweets. It's about branding. Nevertheless, it might be said that more of his energy is spent on his brain than the rest of his physical form.
Some part of him muses if that's why Maria has so much energy to spare. Now, it's not as if he thinks she's some simple creature. A pure maiden. Of course not. He saw her bare her soul in private, he understands that there's a lot more in there than most people see.
But while she isn't simple- that doesn't mean there isn't a simplicity to the way she lives her life that even he can appreciate.
All the same, he's now imagining a shelf of completely finished horror monstrosities in Maria's room at her home.
"Your grandmother must be very proud of how far you've come." He says solemnly, pitying the woman for what is assuredly a Sisyphean task of teaching her.
It would be easier to stomach if Maria's next line was that 'Oh yes it's from the horror movie- 'Lagomorph IV: Curse of the Bloody Yarn..
No such luck.
"Ah! My mistake."
Don't ask to see the pattern
Don't ask to see the pattern
"I don't suppose..."
YOU FOOL!
He deposits the Yarn back in Maria's hand. "... ah you're quite welcome- I don't suppose that you take commissions from time to time? I might know some individuals who would be interested in such."
Akechi no
"Oh am I?" He actually has the grace to look startled for a moment, then chuckles with a wide smile, "Haha- and yet you asked how they went, knowing full well the results." He teases, "Well, I can't be upset at that. You did it merely to prompt a congratulatory message."
Before he then looks, subtly sorrowful, "Ah yes. I suppose it couldn't be helped then. After all that was quite a length of time for you to miss class... I'm honestly surprised they made you take them at all, given the suspicions that foul play might have been involved."
Or you know- a supernatural Dollhouse Corporation that just ate two weeks of her life.
"Still, I can't wait to see how well you perform come finals. I'll be cheering you on next time- Sakurai-san, to show everyone how far you've come."
No pressure Maria. Just you know, a celebrity who is going to be actively invested in your scores.
NO PRESSURE!
"Ah- well now that you mention it." He says, surprised that he can actually answer that question, "I've actually already celebrated exams being finished - at least, by taking an overnight hiking trip with a friend to watch the Orionid Meteor Shower."
Though he does chuckle after that, "Haha, though I suppose I haven't yet celebrated my actual performance...!"
And yet, he smoothly transitions that into, "Well- exam scores not withstanding, I do hope that all of your friends celebrated your return... it must have been quite frightening for them."
<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
It would be easy to assume that Maria is Maria: a stream trickling merrily along, without a thought or concern in the world. Or, indeed, any threat beneath those rushing waters. What she conceals is a frightening depth to her.
Someone might say that it's not just depth. It's what lurks in those depths, something that slumbers, yes, but when roused...
Maria has come to understand that part of herself just a little bit better. It's just a small saving grace, as it were, that while everyone else saw it, too, most of them don't also realize that she was there fighting her drowned aspects alongside them. It's one thing to assume that it's over and done with, and Maria no worse the wear for it. It's another perhaps to realize the opposite is true.
She's made her peace, yes, but now she bears the Shadow's charge: acknowledge and move forward in understanding. She's no longer quite who she was, however things might seem to be as they were once were.
This is a world that will hurt her for not following the rules. She can't cover her eyes from that anymore.
Perhaps, then, that's why...
...that rabbit, and its friends exist. Somewhere, in this world, perhaps even on that shelf in Maria's room...
Maria, enthusiastic, nods. "She is! She'd like it if I made scarves, though. But, I have a hard time keeping the rows straight?" One shudders to think what a scarf she made must be like.
But does she do commissions?
"No." Maria pauses, thinking about this carefully. "But, do you think someone would like them?" She thinks about it some more. "I might! I make them for me, you know, but I wouldn't mind sharing." She scuffs a shoe absently on the stones. "I tried to join the sewing and knitting club here last year, actually, but once they saw my animals they told me not to come back..." She pauses, then all her cheer returns. "So, it's great that you like them, sempai!" And that he thinks other people might like them, too.
She had already noticed. Isn't he always at the top? But she still had asked.
"Well," she says, as if slightly chagrined, "It's polite to ask, right?"
Meanwhile, her own scores had been... well. They'd been.
Maria nods. "You know, they asked me that. If I wanted to take them later? But, I thought it would be better to take them with everyone else," Maria affirms, nodding some more. "It was just the midterms, anyway. Next time, I'll do better!" Next time, probably, she'll end up in the bottom third again.
Akechi says he'll be rooting for her next time. "Ah... hahaha..." Maria giggles, nervously. Happy-go-lucky, yes. Immune to the pressure from a celebrity classmate? No. No!! She may have started to sweat a little bit.
"Oh-- really? So you knew how you'd do, and already celebrated?" Maria appears to be thinking this over with care. "Huuuuh, that really saves a lot of time..." she muses.
"Huh? --Oh! Yeah! Yuri-chan cried so much, I thought she was going to shrivel up! And, even Harucchi was in tears! They thought I'd really died this time..." Maria shakes her head. "It's okay, though. I'm just fine, now!" She gestures towards herself. "And, I'm going to start my own club soon!"
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
Yes indeed- perhaps it might even be said that he had a role in rousing it, purposefully, in the act of suspecting it was there.
It's just, what has happened since has gone far beyond his wildest of expectations... she learned the lesson well. Perhaps- too well.
It's just she learned a facet of it that he has never quite taken to heart.
'No.'
At first he's thinking she's wiser than he thought on this matter, but then she asks a follow up. "I think there are certain individuals who might enjoy having a piece like that. Niche collectors especially..."
He's being diplomatic, but perhaps he's considering a future... idea, based on it. "That was rather cruel of them to exile you." He says of the sewing and knitting club's reaction to her animals. "But their opinion amounts to little. What matters is whether you like them - and enjoy the act of knitting." Wow! Surprisingly positive advice.
There's some light laughter at her response, "Indeed it is. I suppose I'm just teasing..." He says with a broad grin, "...sometimes I just can't help myself." He's actually surprised that they made the offer to Maria to delay her exams, but then again- she is an athlete.
Such accommodations are often made for people who play sports.
And he still has that broad grin plastered on his face as Maria feels the pressure of doing her best next go round. "Well then. If that's the case, I'll have high expectations of your performance next time."
There's a nod at her statement that it saves time, "Ah yes, well to explain- in part my intentions were to motivate that friend to give it his all during the exams, with the incentive of the trip after. It certainly paid off for him."
And then- he feels something of relief at the fact that there are people who missed her, friends- he also feels... somewhat jealous, in a contradictory way.
His fans would miss him, if he vanished- but then they'd follow the next media trend out there. There's no one who truly knows him, that would miss him...
"I see- I admit I'm relieved to see you alive as well. Though... forgive me if I'm not as expressive as your close friends." He's not about to cry in public, definitely not, even if he weren't a young man- well- "Oh? What sort of club are you forming? Do you have enough members for the initial formation?" He asks, latching onto that instead, to get away from such thoughts.
<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
Maria is wiser than some give her credit for with some things.
Other things... not so much.
"Yeah," she agrees with a sigh, her shoulders slouching. "It's so weird. They wouldn't even say why. Even when I asked them, they just got all quiet about it." Almost as if they had been traumatized about it, somehow. "But, right! I like to knit, even if other people don't like it. So it's fine," she continues. "If you do know if someone's interested, though, I can make something special, just for them! ...It'll just take a little while. You can't knit that much even in a week." She grows serious. "I have to study, and go to school, and do my part-time job. And my bike needs some new parts, too..."
Even if it's going to get to be harder to bike, once it's winter, even in a place like this.
Maybe it was that, even if she's no longer on any team as such. Maybe it was because she survived that subway accident earlier this year, was out of school a bit then, and then had vanished into thin air and even ended up as a missing persons case more recently than that. Maybe it was sympathy. Or maybe they hoped the extra time would help her bring up her scores out of a potential 'bottom ten' situation after all that had happened.
Her grades had been more or less the same as before, though, if a few points lower. Hooray, consistancy?
"Ah, ahahaha... I don't suppose you have any tips, sempai?" Maria giggles, even more nervous about the prospects of her finals for this term under the weight of the genius detective's scruitiny.
She'd suggest they'd study together but, no. No, that's how you end up experiencing social death. Even an idiot like Maria knows that the punishment for her peers for getting too close to the Prince would be extreme... don't some romance novels start out with a situation like that??
Maybe she can find out who tutors him. It would be nice to get a leg up.
"Oh, really? I'm sorry for worrying you, sempai! But don't worry. It won't happen again!" she affirms, patting her hand against her uniformed chest. "Next time, I'll take better care of myself."
But, what's this about her club idea?
"Well, actually, I have a new idea lately, too, but... I was thinking, why don't we have a biking club?" Maria suggests, clasping her hands behind her back. "We have places where people ride bikes, and I've been doing it for ages on my own, but what if we got together and rode bikes? We could even bike on some the friendlier mountain trails!" Maria ethuses.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"Perhaps they are just somewhat cliquish." He lies, because he knows why. It's still no less mean. "Hmmm." He puts a hand on his chin as he looks at the bunny again and- "I might just. I'll need some time to check with them, but- you wouldn't mind if I passed along your contact information, would you?"
The ghost of a scheme is forming in his head, but he's not going to jump the gun yet, he needs to let it marinate first, to make certain it's the right path.
It's true that Maria would get a lot of sympathy points given both situations in a single year...
... but then she asks for tips- "Well. I'm not certain my advice would be right for everyone, but I feel the one consistent tip that is true no matter who you are- is taking well-organized notes in class."
He says with a smile, before- "I'd show you my own, save that I don't have any examples on hand. I'm so rarely ever here for class." Then how does he get top of the class!?
Geniuses. They're infuriating.
"If you'd like, I can try to tutor you all the same." He suggests, if only to assess exactly how Maria would respond to that. Either way would tell him something of her.
"Haha- it's fine. It's not as if you can help the circumstances you found yourself in." That's... peculiar phrasing. Does that mean he knows something about them?
"Ah." Akechi looks mildly surprised at the fact she wants to start a biking club, something that he's actually interested in, as he strokes his chin, "Well- if that's the case, I might join myself? I actually rather enjoy cycling... though mostly as a solo activity for exercise. Do keep me informed about your progress... and I'll see if I can make time in my schedule."
Hey way to go Maria.
"Actually I did have another question for you, now that I think about it. You see- I'm on a rather peculiar case right now..."
As he takes a pocketbook out of his uniform jacket, and opens it up, looking at Maria, "... I don't suppose you've glimpsed a Pink Cockatoo around town?"
<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
"Hmm, maybe," Maria allows, on the 'cliquish' nature of the sewing and knitting club. "But, if you're sure, I'm willing to give it a try!" she tells him, glancing down at the yarn and half-finished doll (or terror) stuffed into her bag. "Hehe, I haven't made a doll for anyone else yet. It's kind of exciting..." she adds.
She really doesn't know, does she. Somehow, she doesn't know.
Ever-hopeful, she asks Akechi for tips.
"...Oh, really..." Judging by the way she wilts, though, it would seem that his suggestions are not what she was hoping to hear. "I guess that could work, but, how do I take better notes, then? What about--"
He's already headed her off at the pass, as it were: he doesn't have any, because he's usually not even here for class! ...Which is another thing that Maria technically knows, but which rather slipped her mind in the meantime. "Right, right, you're-- um, but then, how do you take notes to do well on your exams?"
She pauses. She pauses, staring up at him.
"Oh-- someone's helping you out, right? That's so nice of them!" Maria decides. "Maybe they can help me!"
He offers, all the same, to tutor her and Maria, glancing past him, shakes her head. "No, you're pretty busy for that kind of thing, right? But, if you can share the name of whoever tutored you, then, that would help!" she says, punctuating that with a nod.
She blinks, at that phrasing. Even for her, that sounds a little weird.
Of course, then she speaks of her dream of a biking club for athletics (probably the better idea because 'urban exploration club' will get shot down in a second by the teachers) and he says that he...
...might want to take part in it??
Maria, expression blank, is torn between several axes at once.
Would having him in her club get people to join?
Would having him in her club get unwanted attention?
He... bikes?
"S-sure!" Maria chirps, perhaps a little more fatigable than usual as she considers, briefly, whether this turn of events will get her murdered by her classmates. "You know what, I, just had an idea for who else I could-- use!"
Maybe what she needs to do is get other people on board, first, and then try to get it so that it's not, him joining her club so much as it's him joining the biking club. Perfect. Undefeatable logic. It should be fine.
But he has one more question for her, and she, puzzled, asks, "What is it?"
He tells her.
Maria takes a step back in shock, her hands raised before herself defensively. "W-what? No way... a Pink Cockatoo? You've heard about her, too?"
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"I can imagine it is. There is a certain satisfaction to working hard for other people."
For acknowledgement, for validation, for approval, for worship- none of which he says out loud. It's plausibly deniable that his statement is simply affirming the value of hard work.
"My recommendation? The notebook you use for studying isn't the one you should bring to class. Instead, take down the bullet points from lectures, then that night, organize them into a more readable format. It's a bit time consuming but- it's also an efficient way to review."
He smiles at her and chuckles, "Haha... amusingly enough it's actually how I often conduct interviews now with witnesses and suspects to sort through my caseload. It helps me with identifying inconsistencies in their testimony."
She then asks how he does that- and he's about to answer, but she preempts him-! "Oh. In a sense you're correct, but it's more that a classmate delivers my homework assignments to an individual who brings them to me by courier- assuming I'm not in Sumaru City that day."
A beat.
"I'd mastered the material for this year several years back- but it was decided that it was better if I not skip any grades, in order to have more time to do my job as a Detective."
Japan isn't big on even geniuses skipping grades anyhow. They value the experience of school too much.
"I still turn in all of my assignments and sit for my exams of course... it's just that it doesn't take a great deal of effort. At best, the time I spend studying could be considered a refresher."
Oh no. There goes Maria's hope that he has a TUTOR to refer to her-!!! Geniuses!!!! So frustrating!
"Well- I understand, and it's true that I have little enough time as is. Though if you ever need assistance with understanding anything conceptually, feel free to text me, and I'll answer when I can."
He's so nice isn't he! Even having no time, he's giving her the option every girl dreams of- of texting a celebrity.
Don't worry, he won't tell your classmates.
Maria's sudden blue screen of death causes Akechi's head to tilt, as he looks her in the eyes, about one step away from checking if she's conscious- before she answers.
"Haha- then it's settled. You'll have it set up in no time." As he offers to do none of the work towards forming a club, leaving it all to Maria.
Such as budgeting proposals, faculty advisors, approval by the Student Council and Administration...
Don't worry Maria, that's not that much! Or at least it wouldn't be- if you weren't already behind.
And then he mentions the Pink Cockatoo, and her reaction... interesting. "Indeed I have. I'm- trying to locate it for a client of mine. I believe her name is..." He checks his notebook, though of course he doesn't have to, "...'Jerri'." Before his gaze rises again to meet hers, "What exactly have you heard about her?"
<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
She nods, a little bit excited by this potential opportunity. "It is, right?" she tells him, already thinking about what she might be asked to make. She's made kitties, and bunnies, and doggies, but... oh, a toy horsie could be cute.
It will cause nightmares, is what it will definitely do.
He gives her his own tips on how best to take notes. "Huh... I always tried to write everything down," she says, rocking back on her heels as she thinks it over. "So I should... do the basic topics? And, reorganize it later?" She frowns, the expression itself perhaps more of a pout, for her. "Hmmmm. Seems hard, but..." She's an athlete, she can't back down just because it's hard.
He adds that it's often how he does it for work and that, too, reminds her that this isn't just a matter of school. Her upperclassman works as a detective. He's on a whole--
--different level, really, as Akechi explains. Specifically, about how he's already mastered the course material years ago. About how he has his assignments send to him by courier, when necessary. About how even the studying is more refresher than anything else.
Maria, who vaccilates between struggling futilely and spacing out in class (unless it's math), visibly deflates.
"...Really...?" she wonders aloud, dumbfounded by the day's revelations of just how smart her senior is. Well, she'd known he was smart but this sort of smart is just... just...
There's no way she can compete... and still, he's expecting her to do better next time.
Very quietly, as she stands there, Maria's soul begins to drift away from her body. aaaaaaa
But Maria wouldn't be Maria if she were the sort to be so soundly defeated. Okay, then, she'll get in a huddle with her friends, and figure this out. They'll study together, every day, if that's what it takes! Okay, then, she'll-- see if she can get a very good tutor! She'll try her best!!
...but it's going to be really hard...
"O, okay. But, only if it's really hard!" she says, making fists before her. "I-- you have to do some things by yourself!" Or with friends, with whom you can safely study, one assumes.
Ignorant of the trials and tribulations that lie ahead with her new dream of a club at school, Maria nods. "Yeah! Just you wait, I'll, get other students interested, and we'll get it approved, and we'll have a club," she tells Akechi, recovering already from the realization that she'll have to tread certain lines very carefully lest she get murdered by her classmates.
As regards that Pink Cockatoo, though...
"Um," Maria starts, having had that fraction of a moment too late to realize what it is that she's said to him. He's a nice guy, but is he really going to understand if she just tells him her new secret? Or about what really happened to her. "Well, just that... she's kind of mean? I guess, her owner wasn't very nice..." she says, closing her eyes as she smiles and starts to sweat. "And, that she can make people disappear. Um. That's what a friend of mine says. But, um... there's no such thing as a magic cockatoo..."
Excellent. Perfect save.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"Precisely. If you take the time to do it that way, then you'll already be prepared for exams long before they take place. It will likewise help to facilitate homework assignments. By the time you get to them, the material is still fresh within your head."
So his solution is basically double homework. This is definitely what poor Maria wants to hear. He's all smiles as her soul flees her body.
"Ah yes. I do try not to tell too many people- I don't want to sound like I'm bragging. In the end- I'm a student, the same as all of you."
'Same' is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. Like- an entire pyramid's worth.
"Certainly. I'd expect nothing less." And now Maria likely has anxiety about what qualifies as hard enough to ask for help. If she's only asking when it's hard- then what if it qualifies as easy for him.
As they move on to the Pink Cockatoo, Maria begins to describe certain details abut Jerri. And Akechi nods along, looking like he's paying close attention.
"... Make people disappear you say." He pauses on that, before he then looks up at Maria, giving her a serious look in his brown eyes.
"That's interesting, in light of your recent... disappearance. Tell me Sakurai-san... did Jerri make you disappear?"
The pressure is on!
How much does he know!?
How could he know?
"Just kidding." He grins at her, "Of course a Cockatoo couldn't be responsible for that. I hope it was good for a laugh though."
It doesn't answer all of his questions, unless she chooses to volunteer right now - but it does tell him one thing.
She remembers. How much is up for debate- but she remembers some of what happened to her.
<Pose Tracker> Maria Sakurai has posed.
"Oh," says Maria, because she's a little preoccupied with her transient teenage life flashing before her eyes. That's a lot of work. That's a lot of work! It's like having double homework, and that's on top of school, her part-time job, her friends and hobbies, chores at home, and trying to fit in time to be a superhero by night. How do they do it on the shows? She's feeling a little light-headed just thinking about it.
But what, exactly, is her recourse here? Having to tell her sempai that no, she's scored about as well as she always did, and look him in the eyes and see his disappointment in her??
Absolutely not. Absolutely, absolutely not. She'll... she'll have to figure it out. Somehow. If Akechi could read minds, right now he would hear Maria screaming inside her heart.
"Y, yeah," she tells him, feeling dazed. "O-of course not! You're a really nice guy, Akechi-sempai..." She low-key would like to lie down on the grass and stare at the sky for a little bit.
But resilient is her middle name. Hard times might be ahead as the school year proceeds, but she'll do her best...!
And then he brings up the matter of the Pink Cockatoo. Jerri, he says, is her name, and she makes people disappear. Allegedly.
Like Maria?
"E-ehhh??" Maria utters, hands palms-out, raised near her face. She's wide-eyed in nothing less than shock. "O, of, of course not! I, I wasn't-- I didn't--"
It was a joke, he says, and Maria's face breaks into the most brittle smile. She giggles, nervously, lowering her hands. "Oh, um... yes! A bird can't... use magic!"
Silence, at least on her part, settles across the courtyard. Maria sweats.
Then, pointedly, she looks up at the clock. "Oh, um-- look at the time! I'm going to be late, I have to walk the cat!" Her grandmother's cat has never once been the sort of cat one can 'walk'.
Without bothering to correct herself, she waves 'bye-bye' before bolting for the door.
This isn't like her at all, she considers, racing through the halls. Is it because he's trying to get her to do better in her courses? Or because of those questions about that bird? She's not usually this rattled, but...
Even she is given to wonder: does he know something? Did someone tell him about 'Jerri'? And...
What is Jerri, anyway?