[Open] What...what just happened?

[sewdamncute]

Who: Kanji and you
Where: All over the city
When: July 11th, all day
Style: Action to start, but can match to you
Status: Open!

[He'd woken up near that strange coral thing, but he was pretty sure that he was dreaming still. Kanji wasn't a panicky kinda guy though, so he'd take his time and figure out what was going on.

This was a pretty strange place, even for one of his dreams. An underwater city? He tried to remember if he watched any strange movies about Atlantis the night before, but he was pretty sure the last thing he watched on TV was a samurai drama with his mother. And the sight of the strange fish swimming by his head as he walked around was just a bit too much for him.

He sat down near the carnival entrance and took out the Starfish Communicator that had been beside him when he woke up and the stupid paper brochure as he used the towel around his neck to dry his hair some more. The brochure called this place Vatheon and said that he was stuck here.]

What a load of shit. This's gotta be a dream. I'm gonna wake up in my bed and Mom's gonna nag me to eat before school. It's just another fucking normal day, like the others've been since Senpai left.

[He scrolled through the list of foreigners and almost dropped it when he saw familiar names. His friends were here! Sure, some were missing, but Yu-senpai, Yukiko-senpai and Naoto were here! He saw their address too and nearly dropped everything again as he jumped up and ran towards where they supposedly were.]

Yu-senpai! Yukiko-senpai! Naoto! [His voice went before him as he ran through the Nostalgia Nook to where this detective agency was situated.] Oi, where is everyone?!

Comments

[detectiveprincess]

[No, Naoto hadn't expected him to change much. Especially since he had arrived so soon after their senpai had left.

Did she like it here? She hid her eyes under her cap's visor.]

It's... been alright. There's been much that's gone on... as well as not much that has gone on.

[She wouldn't tell him yet about how she almost died a couple months ago. She hadn't even told Yukiko-senpai yet.]

[sewdamncute]

[He noticed the way that she kept trying to hide her face from him and it annoyed the hell out of him. What did she have to hide from him of all people?]

That ain't no answer, Naoto. Just what's been goin' on around here that you think you need to answer me so ambiguously.

[Yes, he knew what that word meant and how to use it, okay. Not dumb.]

[detectiveprincess]

[She looked up at him, revealing her new age to the taller boy. She was older than when he last saw her.]

I can only explain what I know... And what I've been through... We're all still trying to piece this world together...

[sewdamncute]

[When she finally looked at him properly, he could see what it was that she'd been trying to hide. Everything about her face looked just a little sharper, more mature. It wasn't a huge difference and only someone who'd spent a lot of time around her would even notice it in the first place.

When it came to Naoto, Kanji noticed though.]

You don't look too different, so you ain't changed genders or something suddenly. Anything else is just cosmetic, yeah?

[detectiveprincess]

[Oh if only Kanji knew what she'd been through.

Her eyes fell. Cosmetic... If only that was the only case. She'd been through hell and back: curses every monthish, a kidnapping/murder case that reminded her of back home, emotional rollercoasters...

And she had backslid to where she'd been more like she had been early on...

Hiding her real gender from Vatheon.

Her eyes stayed on the ground to the side.]

Cosmetic... Of course... Let's go inside. I'm sure you're probably hungry.

[sewdamncute]

[He reached out hesitantly to grab her arm, face flushed from the bold action. God, he'd never let himself do that with her back home and it was strange to do it now.]

I...I only meant physically. I...dunno what's been going on here, but I doubt that it's been easy. That's all. I, uh, [he rubbed at his neck with his free hand, still unwilling to let go of her elbow] I wanna know what's happened though, Naoto, if you, uh, wanna tell me.

[detectiveprincess]

[Naoto makes a soft noise as she's grabbed. What was he doing? He'd never done this before. Why now?

She looked up at him, eyes pained slightly.]

No, it hasn't been easy... Especially since I've been here for nine... almost ten months. And what I came in on wasn't an easy start either.

[Well... This was a start to a long story.]

[sewdamncute]

[Yeah, he'd never touched her like that before, but he didn't have to be a genius with girls to know that if he'd let her go before without trying to stop her that it would have ended badly for him in the long run.

Not if he...wanted her to relax around him.

Yep, didn't have to be a genius to know that at all. Especially not with a girl like Naoto, who was hard to get to know in the first place.]

Wh-what happened?

[detectiveprincess]

I came in on a kidnapping murder case. No one knew what was going on or who was doing it. The only thing truly consistent with each case is that the victims never completely remembered who it was until the last victim... And The Tower tarot card.

[Naoto swallowed, looking away.]

I came in too late... It ended when the person doing it gave himself up. No one knew who it was. People got hurt... I could do nothing. It's why if anyone ever dies here, there are punishments in place now for the victim when they are returned to life and the person who did it.

And then there are the curses...