towerofanimus | insert appropriate lyrics here

Characters: Minato and YOU.
Setting: Room 2-02, cafeteria, anywhere.
Format: Starting in third person, will match.
Summary: Minato's return, before he went off to eat and explore/talk.
Warnings: Mentions of dead people and basically experiences in ruined homeworlds.

2-02
Waking up in an familiar bed—his bed—and feeling the familiar presences of the voices confirming his Social Links. His alive Social Links, nonetheless, kept him from getting up at first. Was this a dream, or was he truly back in this tower? Minato didn’t dwell on the question for very long. His dreams never tried imitating the feeling of knowing his Social Links was alive (not dead, not like back in that world when he found the bodies of everyone) to such a degree.

So he’s truly back.

Slowly, he got out of bed and explored the room. Did anything change in his absence? And what about his roommates? They’re still here, or went back home like he did?

“...Yu?” His voice sounded raspy from disused. Minato knew he’s quiet, but there wasn’t any good reason for him to talk back home this time. He had no one else to talk to, no one but the voices to listen and the infrequent appearances of Pharos. “Mondo-san? Richtofen-san?”

He wanted to talk to people again.

CAFETERIA
The first thing he did after leaving his room was to head for the cafeteria. After living on canned and preserved food for so long, he longed to eat other type of cooking and food.

The sheer amount of food on his tray looked rather surprising. It’s a little more than Minato usually put for his first serving, but he didn’t mind it. He’s going to eat a lot, no matter how many servings he’s getting. After a certain bowl of oatmeal.

No complaints at all from the young man, who was absent for the past month.

EVERYWHERE
After he’s done eating, Minato made a quick trip to the nearest terminal to put up a post and stay there long enough to answer anyone who replied. Typing, talking with his voice, it’s all the same for him on such a simple activity: conversing with others.

Once it’s over for now, Minato made his way to explore the tower and re-familiarise himself with the place. For all he knew, the tower might have new places to see or changed things in his absence. It’s a little better than back home, where there were actually signs of life around if you look carefully. Even if this tower and the admins can be horrible to them.

But if he can admitted it, it was nice to see living people again.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Chow time!

Minato resume eating in earnest, this time to savour his food a little more slowly. He's still hungry, but with Hidetoshi eating with him, he can eat slower and enjoy his company.

And also, he can watch Hidetoshi at the corner of his eyes. His paler skin still haven't escaped his notice.

Aw yis.

They had ate lunch together a few times after working on one student council project or another, and Hidetoshi's eating habits haven't changed at all during the passage of time between then and now; he still ate with small, careful bites like he was concerned about choking if he ate too fast and he still wasn't that conversational while eating, focused mainly on shoving his meal into his mouth in small portions.

Not noticing Minato observing him out of the corner of his eyes. You know the pale look people get after they spent too much time stressing out and watching reruns of old horror movies, and too little time sleeping? That's what Hidetoshi looks like.

He definitely saw how he looks. That's why Minato will bring it up out of concern.

"...Hidetoshi-kun, did you get enough sleep?"

The teenager pauses, chews the food in his mouth and swallows, somehow managing to not glance evasively away from Minato. Well... He'd been going to sleep at his regular times, but lying in bed and staring blankly up at the dormitory's ceiling, sleepless, wasn't exactly restful.

He shakes his head confidently.

"Of course I have, Minato-kun. There's no need to concern yourself about something trivial like that."

"I know."

That Hidetoshi can take care of himself. Back home, when they just have to deal with student council work and troubling students, Minato can trust Hidetoshi to deal with things.

In a more horrible atmosphere like this tower, where death was likely?

"But I couldn't help noticing you seem a little pale."

~~Sooner or later, Hidetoshi's gonna break down form the stress of pretending he's not really that stressed and the whole thing will suck majorly.~~

HIdetoshi set his fork down next to his plate.

"It's been some time I've been outside, I admit."

He mused offhandedly.

~~If that happens, Minato will make Hidetoshi sit down and relax.~~

Minato finished chewing the food he's eating, swallowing it before he said.

"...If you like, we can walk around in the meadow floor."

That floor was already one of his favourites to go to.

~~If it gets to that point, Hidetoshi's gonna need a lot more than just sitting down and taking a breather.~~

He considers the offer and then indicated his acceptance with a nod, and picked up his fork again.

"Alright. However, let's finish breakfast first."

There's not much left on his plate to clean off anyhow. It should be quick.

~~If it does, Minato will do those extra things for Hidetoshi.~~

"Alright."

Minato nodded, before returning his attention to his tray. He still have a fair amount left to eat, but it won't take him too long to finish it off.

~~The perks of having a friend willing to play therapist for you in the midst of a nervous breakdown. |3~~

And once they're both finished eating, Hidetoshi will return his empty tray to the kitchens, and be waiting patiently at the entrance for Minato to return his own tray, shoulders stiff and back straight as ever.

Because Minato was worried about Hidetoshi, he finished his tray slightly faster than he normally eat at. After returning his tray, he walked over to meet up with Hidetoshi by the cafeteria's entrance.

No need to delay this trip any more, as well as a potential talk.

And when he reaches the cafeteria's entrance, Hidetoshi will greet him with a nod and while they walk down the hallway, is seemingly willing to make casual conversation. The cafeteria was on the first floor, while the meadow was on the twenty-fifth floor so they have some time to walk.

"Barring that one time, we've never hung out outside of school, have we?"

Quite some time until they arrive at the meadow. And really, Minato wasn't in any hurry, so he didn't mind talking along the way.

"No, we haven't. We usually have our plans after school."

If Minato wasn't studying, he's meeting up with someone after school. Or a group of friends to hang out, whenever they can.

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