1st Investigation

[detecting]

Characters: Naoto Shirogane and you
Setting: Room 2-03 & various floors of the tower. Please specify which floor in your tag!
Format: Starting with action tags, but I'll be happy to prose it up with you if you if that's what you prefer!
Summary: Naoto is back in the tower and has feels. Most of them are on the unpleasant side.
Warnings: None.



> Room 2-03

[Naoto never thought that she would find sleep paralysis comforting, but that seems to have changed. After spending time in a wasteland, surrounded by dilapidated ruins that she once called home, never knowing what to expect it was... nice knowing exactly where she was and what was happening. She knew it was foolish to feel as such -- she would not consider the tower to be a "better situation" -- but seeing Inaba like that, being so completely and utterly alone was something she never wanted to experience again.

Once the paralysis wore off she wasted no time checking the trunk by her bed, rifling through her possessions to see what was there, finding her clothes and getting dressed. Time to see what's been going on in the tower in her absence.]

> Exploring the tower.

[Interesting. The tower seems to have expanded considerably while she was gone. TIME TO INVESTIGATE.

Approach?]

Comments

[detecting]

[If this was anyone else she might have been able to keep herself composed, but this was Yu. She didn't know how or why, but being around him made that difficult. She was able to smile with him. Laugh with him. He pushed her to do things she would have otherwise considered meaningless.

The sheer amount of concern in his eyes made her feel pathetic. He was worried, but even now she wasn't quite sure how she should feel about it. She still wasn't used to people worrying about her. At least... she wasn't used to people showing it. With most others it wouldn't matter. She wouldn't have cared, wouldn't have expected anyone else to care, but Yu? He cared. He cared about her -- about what she was thinking, about what happened to her, about her feelings.

The time she had spent away from the tower had made her far more appreciative of that fact, but... it scared her, too. Because what if this wasn't real? What if he wasn't here? What if he stopped caring? What if she was left alone again?

Naoto steels herself and nods. She would never admit to it, but right now she really did need him. She needed a friend. She needed someone to stay with her. Needed someone to simply be there.]

Yes, let's. This library is rather unsettling.

[pitiedthefool]

[If it had been a few short months ago, he would wonder out of curiosity as well but, oddly enough, he feels as though he understands himself even better with all that's happened since that time. Learning what Izanami did to him, how that little 'push' prompted his soul to open up and reach out to others easier... Some things about how he'd changed in leading them made sense.]

That it is.

[Yu blinks, and the concern dwindled slightly as he turned around to quickly put his things in his bag and nod to her before walking out with his friend. For all he cared, they could just wander the tower aimlessly so long as his company helped her with whatever pain she was feeling. It hurt, seeing her like this- seeing any of his friends like this. And lately, that's all he feels like he's been seeing. In this place, he's felt his faith being tested, and he hasn't given up that spark he'd been given.

Before they leave, however, he gives her an option.

Yu holds out his free hand to her, still wrapped in a bandage from a small burn on his palm, real as ever. Whether she took it or not,he didn't mind. Because he promised himself and his team silently as they said their farewells at the train station: if anything happened, he would come running. Now, he amended that vow to this.]

Where would you like to go? [He would not leave them, no matter how murky the road ahead becomes.]

[detecting]

[ >Yu is offering you his hand. Will you take it?

> Yes
> No

> Yes

Part of her isn't quite sure why she's doing this, why she's just agreed to walk hand in hand with him. The rest of her doesn't question, only accepts, because she needs this. Physical contact was still so foreign to her, but after what she had been through it was a comfort to have this assurance. To know that she was with another human being.]

The media room, perhaps?

[It was definitely one of the more cheerful floors and if anything it would provide mindless distraction.]

[pitiedthefool]

Sounds good. [She could probably use the distraction right now, and even though his eye twitches slightly when Naoto takes his hand... Yu doesn't mind. He doesn't mind because it's a real reaction that she can see and feel; feel the warmth of his hands, the cloth of the wrapping around where the burn is even if it's slightly painful to him. He's had worse injuries from being inside the TV, after all.

The bottom line was he was indeed here. This was real and she didn't have to worry about him disappearing in a whirl of smoke. Because her senpai and friend was here, gently leading her along to the staircase again while holding her hand, trying to assure her in his usual silence that he is present and sound of mind. It's what she needs, and he's here to listen if she wants to talk.

Yu spared a kind, very small smile. Wherever she was for this amount of time... she'd been alone, right? ... He knew what that pain was like, even though he learned it by different means.]