personavelvetroomdr | a wild punk knitter appears

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a wild punk knitter appears

Kanji's just confused by this whole blue room thing. The... Velvet Room? Didn't Souji-senpai mention something like that once? Well, whatever; he mostly just wants to go home.

And home is where it sinks in that whatever's happening is real enough to take seriously, because his mom's not there.

Okay. That's. That's gonna be weird, but he can work with this. He'd still rather stay at home than anywhere else - it's familiar. And it has all his craft shit.

Once he's had a moment to be weirded out, he might even take some of that craft shit outside for a little project work somewhere. The hill, probably, since it has a nice view.

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"Don't I know it? I recall how soon after I was effectively rescued from my circumstances, my world's version of you appeared on the news, speaking in my defense. Suddenly, we were the talk of the town, me as the 'poor, orphan boy' and you as an underdog 'hero.' I would say it took until the murder of Mayumi Yamano for people to finally shut up."

He crosses his arms, scowling, but not at Kanji, at least. It's the situation that was so insufferable. "But I digress. It's good to hear that the matter was resolved in the end- for me, it was the first of May when I had arrived, having successfully obtained the power from the gas station attendant and made contact with Teddie... But that's perhaps something to discuss somewhere more comfortable.

Aiya's and Souzai Daigaku are right there, but then there's the food court..."

Options, ah. You have to both love and hate them.

Kanji sighs. Damn news. "Well, at least that's a better start than that damn biker gang special." Took him forever to convince his mom he hadn't done it on purpose and the crew just saw a tall punk and went to town--

Wait.

"May? And you - how the hell did you get to the gas station part so fast?!"

...Oh. P-pfft. That is quite the reaction, isn't it? He can't hide the smile that takes form. Is Kanji impressed? Good. That means he's doing something right.

Pleased with this turn of events, he tips his chin up and says, "I've a keen eye. The night I met you, I caught a glimpse of a strange man at the Moel Gas Station, but he vanished in a literal blink of an eye. We crossed paths a few more times, with him offering me an umbrella on a rainy day and hinting toward the Midnight Channel and, later, he took a distinct interest in my investigation of the Midnight Channel and the murders of Mayumi Yamano and... Saki Konishi."

His smile wanes for a moment. Saki's death is an unfortunate sore spot, with many unsaid regrets. Still, he must continue. Dwelling on what's already come to pass will not aid either of them. So, he presses on.

"And then there's the fact that the day Dojima-san picked up his nephew, I bore witness to him shaking hands with the attendant and getting a sudden and unexplainable headache. The next night, I witnessed him get partially stuck within the TV after experiencing a similar headache. Ergo, after ruling out Marie-san as an option despite her ties to the Velvet Room, I simply concluded that the attendant granted Narukami-san his powers and sought to gain them as well."

In other words... yes, this kid certainly is sharp, and perhaps a bit stubborn.

"...Yeah, I guess that'd do it." Not having anything to fuel up, Kanji forgets the gas station's there half the time.

Well, he used to. After the other day, that'll probably never happen again.

"You still hungry, kid? Aiya's the obvious choice."

"Aiya's works well for me. I've enjoyed their cuisine, even if we tended to have it delivered the few times I did eat it." Well, barring the one time the two of them tried to go in and eat, only for Yu, Yosuke, and Marie to all be there.

Well, that doesn't matter now. Kanji is here, and that is a far bigger priority. And, thankfully, it's incredibly close, so he'll turn in its general direction.

It is close, and even better, the general lack of actual people means he won't be harassed by a plainclothes cop!

...Okay, so it's a little weird without Nakamura-san actually at the counter, but still. Food. Best restaurant food in town.

"So, two questions from what you said out there. One, who's Marie, and two, why'd Souji-senpai's parents decide 'thunder god' was a good family name?"

He's about to take a seat, but then pauses, eyes blinking wide open. "...Wait, are you saying that Yu Narukami goes by a different name in your world?"

There's another name discrepancy? One besides the Akiras and Rens? Ah, but he asked about Marie, too. "Ah, but Marie-san is a strange amnesiac girl with ties to 'the Nose,' who I assume is Igor, and who was evidently sent to keep an eye on me. She also likes to write poems yet is simultaneously defensive about said poems."

Edited 2023-09-15 19:02 (UTC)

"Souji Seta." What the fuck. Naoto'd probably start a conspiracy board or something at this point, but Kanji just has a headache.

He snorts. "Dude's sure got a nose, don't he. Never heard of her, though."

(The irony is that if Akechi were actually at the end of his Inaba timeline, he'd know a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. It wouldn't apply, but he'd know it!)

"...So it's another Akira Kurusu and Ren Amamiya situation." Very, very interesting. He's got a furrowed brow, and he's stroking his chin in deep contemplation. "Just as interesting that you never met Marie-san. I suppose, though, that it's not the most impossible thing, since you come from a world where I presumably never was sent to Inaba, and there are worlds where vampires exist and thankfully don't sparkle."

"Another who now?"

As for the rest, who knows. Kanji sure doesn't.

"Ah, just someone who is apparently very important to me in the future." He grumbles a little, cheeks lightly pink. "...My, ah. Future self is dating him."

Which is very, very strange to admit, even to a version of Kanji. Imagine finding out about your future love life. It's weird.

"Huh. Hell of a thing to know ahead of time." At least Kanji's not going to give him shit about being into guys. For one thing, he likes to think he's not that big of a hypocrite.

(Even if mostly he's into 'whatever the hell Naoto's doing, as long as Naoto is doing it with confidence.')

"Got any idea what he's like?"

He'll go ahead and sit down, now that the initial name confusion has been settled. "Well, I've met a few versions of him here with different temperaments. I feel as though they generally have a mysterious vibe that draws others in, occasionally with a playful sense of humor. Then there's Akira-kun, who is very young and I honestly relate to more like Nanako-chan."

Nanako... ah, another face he sorely misses. Alas. "But I suppose the benefit of seeing a bunch of people who are 'the same person' is that their differences still make it easy to see them as individuals. So interactions with them are less 'this is the person I'm going to date when I'm eighteen' and more 'they look like the person who I may end up dating, but they aren't literally him.'"

"Guess that's a good way to look at it." As good a way as you can get when there's like six of any given person around.

Or at least of those two people in particular. Whichever.

He looks up at the menu for a moment, chin in hand. "Hmm... Everything is free here, so technically, we could order their most expensive items without fear." Oh, how tempting. Even their Mega Beef Bowl would be free even without completing it. Heh, heh...

What fun.

"But I think the most unfortunate thing about all this is how empty the place feels. All the people you'd expect to see, like Chie-san, Amagi-san, even Hanamura-san and Teddie-san... Just absent. I did encounter the fox in the TV world, but otherwise it's almost a ghost town."

Kanji's sticking to his usual, because you can't go wrong with roast pork ramen. Also it's not raining, so the mega beef bowl wouldn't feel right.

"Yeah, it's weird as hell not havin' Mom in the shop, but... rather stay there than anywhere else." Not to mention not having Naoki across the street to go bother.

Hmmm... perhaps some gyoza and a large bowl of nikudon to start. He gives the order to one of the cognitions to start before setting his attention back on Kanji. "I know the feeling. Initially, it was just me at the Dojima house, but now I'm staying with my future self, a littler version of myself, and a five year old Akira-kun. It's certainly preferable to being alone, but I can only imagine how awkward it'd be if another universe's Dojima-san, Narukami-san, or Nanako-chan were to appear."

"Knowing Souji-senpai, he'd just roll with it. Dojima-san probably would too, once he got his head around it." Sure, he's a cop, but he's the only cop in town who can actually tell the difference between 'Kanji actually did a thing this time' and 'everyone's blaming Kanji for existing again.'

"Nanako-chan would have a billion questions, but that ain't necessarily a bad thing."

He nods along. "I can see Dojima-san being a little alarmed, but he's a good man. I doubt he'd kick us out, especially considering the kids. As for Nanako-chan... I can only imagine she'd be ecstatic to have some new playmates. Space is the main concern, if anything."

Then again, this place abides by very unusual rules. Perhaps the space would expand. It wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen.

Edited 2023-09-15 22:30 (UTC)

"...Yeah, that ain't exactly the biggest house, is it."

But they got a resourceful bunch of people here. If it came to that, they could figure something out.

"Bigger than some of the homes I've lived in, but living with two other children and a teenage version of myself certainly does change things." Granted, that's only one more person than had been living there in his world, and no adults.

Ah... No adults. "To be honest, I think the most difficult part is that we're all either children or teenagers. We're trying our best to take care of the kids, but obviously an eighteen year old detective is not the same as a man in his forties who already is a parent, and I'm certainly no more experienced."

"Yeah." Kanji sighs. "At least they ain't here on their own, but..."

He's sure as hell not equipped to raise a kid. He's still a kid himself.

"We're doing our best. I think my older self has an edge in that he actually knows how to cook, somehow, and he's lived with Nanako-chan for long enough that he's easily the most experienced out of us in caring for younger children."

He blows a small sigh at that, thankful for the food as it finally arrives. "I obviously won't try to rope you into impromptu babysitting, but I have a feeling they'd be very interested in one of your plushies."

"How that happened is probably he listened to Souji-senpai." Kanji's not a bad cook, but Senpai's definitely on another level. (The girls are... well, has Chie ever been in the same room as a cookbook in her life, and Yukiko's improving, and Rise does okay when reminded she's not cooking for either the tofu shop or only herself.)

"Sure, no problem. What kinda animals do they like?"

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