Two Fools

[evokingfool]

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.]

Comments

[evokingfool]

[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.

[fracta_anima]

[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.]

[evokingfool]

[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.]

[fracta_anima]

[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.

[evokingfool]

[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.]