towerofanimus | Two Fools

Entry tags:

Two Fools

Characters: Minato and Minami (

fracta_anima)!
Setting: Cafeteria
Format: Action tags. Can switch!
Summary: Minato and Minami decided to meet up for lunch. And to clear things up between them.
Warnings: None...so far.

[Sitting at a table with his food, Minato waits for her. Their conversation earlier was...cordial, but here, face to face, they don't have to dance around topics and avoid talking about it over the public network.

From the names she mentioned earlier in her broadcast, it's very likely that Minami's in SEES. Her reaction to Shinjiro's name implied that she's from the 'future'. Ahead of him.

He lowers his drink and glance around.]

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[Minami spends a good five minutes frozen outside the cafeteria, chewing her lip. She'd dressed in her school uniform, evoker in its holster at her waist, SEES armband tucked into her pocket should she need to provide any proof. Was this a good idea? Was he really.... was he really from another world?

She didn't know. She wouldn't know unless she tried and she was all alone here. She knows her main strength in battle is her personas, despite training as hard as she can with her naginata--which she doesn't even have. Plus track. Yuuko always commented about how she's really good at sprints.

But she can't just stay here. She needs to move on. So Minami takes a deep breath, forces her smile on her face--why was it so hard to fake a smile lately?--and heads in with a cheery wave.]

Hi! I'll be back in just a minute! I need to get something to eat or I really will die of starvation!

[And another five minutes later she's sitting in front of him, a big bowl of oatmeal and a biiiig pile of eggs and waffles swimming in syrup on her tray along with some strawberry milk. She takes a bite of the oatmeal, declares it not bad, and digs in.]

So, um, how about we get straight to the point and clear the air between us? Since I'm pretty sure you're not the Minato I know, unless this is some kind of sick joke.

[She plants her feet firmly on the ground beneath where she's sitting, ready to run at a moment's notice. She knows he won't do anything in a public setting, but she doesn't trust him, barely has a reason to. Who can blame her?]

[Unlike the other Minato here, he's wearing his SEES armband openly. With people knowing there two of them, it's his way letting them see the difference.

He put down his drink (fruit juice, if Minami care to notice), and stare at her.]

Of course. I'm very sure I'm not the Minato you know. If we're thinking of the same one, he's elsewhere in this tower.

[Better to let her know that now, instead of later and surprised. Or possibly surprised and mistaken the Strega version for himself.]

And I know you're not the girl I know, because your name is different.

You know another me? [Were they raised together in his world?] And my name is different? That's weird.

And wait--[She briefly looks panicked, but manages to clamp it down. Come on, Minami, he's your brother. In some way. He.... he can't be all bad, can he?

But all the things he's ever said, ever did. All the things that left her with doubts and fears about her abilities as a leader, as a member of SEES, all those people who sent her way saying they didn't want her even though she now knows it wasn't true at all.... it's all playing back at once in her mind and it's hard to keep her hand from shaking and almost dropping the spoon. He's here, too?

She has no idea how she feels about that at all. She's still trying to figure out the whole 'brother' thing and she knows she should tell him, she should, except....]

He's in Strega, right? [Her voice is firm, the tension she feels not betrayed at all, but it and her face are both very serious indeed.]

[For him, they're raised together until that accident.]

Yes, he's in Strega.

[He insulted his team, showing disdain to SEES and their actions. Calling him a tool for the Kirijos.

So what? Even knowing they're being used to clean up the Kirijo Group's mess, he'd still fight the Shadows and climb Tartarus.]

[Same for her.

And then both thought the other was dead.

Minami picks at her food now, her expression souring even as she forces down the oatmeal, which doesn't taste very good plain, but she can deal with it.]

Then he's most likely the one I know. He's.... he's dangerous. Always insulting my team and.... and Kirijo-senpai.... and everyone. [and criticizing her worth to the team and as a person.] He's the one who killed Shinjiro-senpai. And for some reason that Amada kid was there, too, and--[She takes a few angry bites. No. No. Calm down. Don't get worked up.]

Has he been causing anyone trouble here?

[There's a look of surprised in his eyes, before it's gone.]

No, he haven't been causing trouble. [They're on...well, they agreed to not cause trouble for each other.] When I saw him, he's been helpful.

[A pause, before he ask.] Ken was there? [Shinjiro. Ken. It might be the same in his future and he doubt he'll kill his senpai.]

Good. Good. [She's the only one that needs to worry, then.]

Yeah. Ken Amada. He's.... I've seen him with Strega a few times. Usually they keep him away from the big stuff and.... I don't know all the details, but we went after Shinjiro-senpai when he said he needed to talk to someone and found.... [She squeezes her eyes shut.] That jerk had just shot him! We couldn't.... we couldn't do anything. We were too late and....

[She opens her eyes, takes a deep breath, and looks up at Minato, then looks away. It's so hard, talking about him like this when someone who, for all intents and purposes, is him, is sitting right across from her. Sharing a meal. The whole thing is even more surreal than when she'd first found out about the Dark Hour.]

So. You said you met another me? Do you.... do you guys go to Gekkoukan together? And why would our names be different? That's kind of weird. [Change the subject. Change it now. Just for now so she can collect herself.]

With Strega? The Ken I know is with us.

[In SEES.

Minato frowns, listening to her. He find it hard to think the other Minato would just shoot Shinjiro. Not without a reason.]

...Yes, I met another you, but... [His expression, if anything, is stoic. Controlled.] We never went to Gekkoukan together. Minako...died in the accident.

Before I came here, I was in another world. The Underworld...and I met her there later. She's...from a world where I died instead.

[They're living each others' lives. All the similiarities brought up...discomforting thoughts. Personas are parts of their mind. What does it say about them if they have the same Personas?]

Oh.

[She looks like she's been hit by a ton of bricks hearing that. So in their universes, one of them did die? Is that why this Minato is in SEES? Did her dying save him from that? From those horrible things she wishes she didn't know happened to him and the other members of Strega?

She eats a few more bites. Hey, she's almost done with her oatmeal. Awesome!

Quietly, she speaks up, more looking at her bowl than anything else, stirring around the small bit at the bottom.]

I.... I barely survived the accident in mine. We.... Minato and I.... we thought the other was dead and.... he still has no idea I'm alive. He thinks--Minami Arisato isn't that uncommon a name, you know? And I had no idea his last name was Arisato until.... until yesterday. When we looked through Ikutsuki's files and....

[She sighs. She hadn't even told the other members of SEES this and now? Now she's telling Minato. Not Minato. Another Minato.]

I still can't believe that bastard used us.

[Minami rarely curses, but calling Ikutsuki that? Letting the sheer venom slip into her voice, directing all of her anxiety and anger towards a dead man who will never bother her again? It feels good, eases her tension in a way she isn't sure is healthy, but is definitely helping her cope.]

I'm sorry. It's.... it's been a hectic few days.

...So that's why Mitsuru-senpai distrust Ikutsuki.

[She always seem distrustful, every time she mentioned his name. She never told him why, just that he's not a man to be trusted.]

...No, I'm sorry.

[The apology came rather easily. The last time he saw 'her', it's after his revival and gaining those memories.]

Seeing me must be hard on you.

[He almost say her name, but Minato's not sure if he's allowed to. They're not close. There's all the history between Minami and the other Minato.]

...You're here, so it's best if you relax for now.

[Minami shifts uncomfortably.] Y-yeah. It is. [She can't believe she admitted that. Not at all. But he's being kind to her and he's in SEES and her head is still spinning from everything.]

I'm trying to. It's just.... like I said. It's been hectic the last few days. Last time I saw the Minato I know, he.... and then Ikutsuki he.... ummm.... [She pauses as something clicks. Oh, right. The time issue she heard about.]

You don't mind me telling you, right? [Because now that she's opened up about it a little bit, it feels like it'll come pouring out of her at any second and some part of her, some small part of her, wants to trust him. This is Minato. This is the person her brother could have been and she's just so very tired. So tired of being the strong one, the leader, the one who has to make everyone happy.

It can't hurt to talk to this one? Especially if it might be relevant to his future in some way?]

[He shake his head. He heard a lot of things about the future. There's still some blank spots, which will bother him because he don't know.

Minato dislike being ignorant for so long, if the knowledge is what causing his friends' distress.]

No, I don't mind. [A short pause, before he speak again.] But don't force yourself.

[She shakes her head.] I won't. But....

[And she tells him. About the Hanged Man shadow and how they thought defeating them would stop the Dark Hour.

About the celebration right after, how happy everyone had been.

About the Dark Hour still happening, what Aigis was forced to do, and Nyx.

What Aigis managed to will herself out of before she could kill all of SEES.

How Mitsuru's father struggled with Ikutsuki and both fell from Tartarus.

How they went through the files. Found out.... things. How Ikutsuki had been manipulating things behind the scenes for years, how he framed Yukari's father, how he did experiments on people behind the Kirijo Corps. back.

She does not mention how painful it's been for Mitsuru and Yukari. She has a feeling he might already know. She does not mention any specifics of the experiments or how Strega was involved.

She does not mention how he manipulated her own life, used her being on the edge of death and the scramble to resuscitate her to take her brother away from under everyone's nose.]

....and I think that's everything about the last few days?

[She goes to take another bite of her food, only to find she's eaten her way through it. Despite how hard it was to get out what she did, she feels better. Drained, tired, but lighter. The tension headache that had been building since yesterday is gone.

In other words, yes. Just getting it out has done her a world of good. She can actually look Minato in the eye now.]

[Without a word, he listen. To everything she told him. A lot of it...it's hard to believe but she's telling the truth. Or rather, what reason would she lie to him?

Dark Hour, Nyx, Aigis and Mitsuru's father... He knew Mr. Kirijo will die in the future. The man appeared before them as a dark ghost in Hell. What he didn't know at the time was the situation behind his death.

Until now.

He now feels like he understand his senpai a little more, the pain she try to withheld. Which he can tell is there, but never pry.

Yukari...he can only imagine what it's like for her, if it's the same in his world.

Slowly, he stand up and walk over to Minami's side of the table.

And hug her.]

[It shocks Minami when he does and she's stiff as a board for a second. When was the last time someone had hugged her? Someone had held her? Someone had listened to her problems? Minami had spent so much time trying to make everyone happy she often forgot about herself and now?

Minato--not Strega, but her brother. Sort of--was hugging her and it felt so warm and familiar even though she knew this wasn't the person who was really her brother. Minami doesn't remember much of before the accident--she'd been only four and had a severe concussion and other injuries that left her on the brink of death.--but she remembers how her brother hugged her. How warm it felt. How safe she'd felt.

She breaks down, holding fast to Minato. She isn't crying, but she's shaking, clinging for dear life to him. The last few days--few months--her entire life had been hard and trying and she had tried so hard to smile despite that. Then the Dark Hour happened, Iwatodai, SEES, the fate of the world on top of that and Minami felt like she belonged only for it all to be so futile. So very futile.

For the first time in a while, since the day she'd snuck down to Aigis's room for a change and fell asleep in a sleeping bag there, she feels safe. She feels.... not whole, but healing. She feels like....

like she actually has family.]

Thank you.

[He can feel her shaking and wish to comfort her more. She's not Minako, he reminds himself, but she's still her. A version of the sister he was separated from for so long.

He hugged others before. Chihiro, Fuuka...but none of them really understand him. Who would, if he never opens up?

Until the gods brought him to the Underworld, forcing him to expose himself. Then came...Minako, too, and he felt relief. Relief to find someone that understand his worries and the pressure he lives with.

And...the moments when they can bond as family again.

Looking at Minami, he want to give her that chance. It might be a bad idea, but if Minato never do anything, he would regret it.]

You're welcome.

[A gentle smile. For as much as possible, he's here.]

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Two Fools

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