Naturally, the group explodes into chaos. Luckily no one pulls a weapon on you, though the look you get from the Detective Prince of all people is one that would kill if looks could do that. (Fortunately, you did plenty of experimenting to see if they could, in the second week, and maybe Joshua wasn't the most accurate test subject in retrospect, but if it didn't work in the UG...)
In the middle of all the startled shouting of "Who are you" and "where the hell did he come from" and stuff like that, Kitagawa keeps his aloofishly cool head and just raises a hand in bland greeting. "Hello, Sakuraba-san."
"Hey, Kitagawa-san," you reply just as evenly, though you put a little more enthusiasm into your expression. "You can just call me Neku, we're not in school."
"Then I must insist that you call me Yusuke," he replies.
"Sure thing," you say, and that seems to have given everyone else either opportunity or incentive to chill. "Gonna introduce me to your friends?"
"Ah, of course. Everyone, this is Neku Sakuraba, a third year at my school, in the music program."
"Yeah, that's great and all, but not the point," Blond Guy says. You hold up a hand in surrender.
(The other, buried in your pocket, is fingering the old pins you have stabbed through the inner lining of your uniform pants, but they don't need to know that.)
"I'm not going to turn you guys in or anything," you say quickly. "If you ask me, the Phantom Thieves did a lot of things... maybe not great, but at least they tried. That's more than a lot of people."
There's some relaxing of shoulders, one of the blond girls in the Shujin uniform sighing loudly. Even the blond guy doesn't try to deny it, just looking at the floor and kicking his feet defeatedly.
"Then why follow us at all?" says one of the other girls, the dark-haired one. "If you're not interested in the Phantom Thieves..."
"It's not that I'm not interested," you say. "Even if I wasn't before, it's hard to ignore a talking cat."
"He can hear me?!" you hear the cat say. It walks up to the front of the group, tail lashing, fur poofed up. "Just who are you?"
"Neku Sakuraba," you say, "former dead kid and all-around weirdness magnet." The pronouncement is met with silence, though several people glance at Akechi, for some reason, as he lifts a hand to his chin.
"It's true, then?" says one of the blond girls, the one with long blond pigtails. "A real shinigami lives here?1" She casts a paranoid glance at the wall, as though expecting Joshua to jump out any minute.
"Yeah," you say, and you know it's wistful, and sad, and damn if it doesn't still hurt. If you aren't still waiting, on some level, for Joshua to return your call. "He... We used to be friends."
no subject
In the middle of all the startled shouting of "Who are you" and "where the hell did he come from" and stuff like that, Kitagawa keeps his aloofishly cool head and just raises a hand in bland greeting. "Hello, Sakuraba-san."
"Hey, Kitagawa-san," you reply just as evenly, though you put a little more enthusiasm into your expression. "You can just call me Neku, we're not in school."
"Then I must insist that you call me Yusuke," he replies.
"Sure thing," you say, and that seems to have given everyone else either opportunity or incentive to chill. "Gonna introduce me to your friends?"
"Ah, of course. Everyone, this is Neku Sakuraba, a third year at my school, in the music program."
"Yeah, that's great and all, but not the point," Blond Guy says. You hold up a hand in surrender.
(The other, buried in your pocket, is fingering the old pins you have stabbed through the inner lining of your uniform pants, but they don't need to know that.)
"I'm not going to turn you guys in or anything," you say quickly. "If you ask me, the Phantom Thieves did a lot of things... maybe not great, but at least they tried. That's more than a lot of people."
There's some relaxing of shoulders, one of the blond girls in the Shujin uniform sighing loudly. Even the blond guy doesn't try to deny it, just looking at the floor and kicking his feet defeatedly.
"Then why follow us at all?" says one of the other girls, the dark-haired one. "If you're not interested in the Phantom Thieves..."
"It's not that I'm not interested," you say. "Even if I wasn't before, it's hard to ignore a talking cat."
"He can hear me?!" you hear the cat say. It walks up to the front of the group, tail lashing, fur poofed up. "Just who are you?"
"Neku Sakuraba," you say, "former dead kid and all-around weirdness magnet." The pronouncement is met with silence, though several people glance at Akechi, for some reason, as he lifts a hand to his chin.
"It's true, then?" says one of the blond girls, the one with long blond pigtails. "A real shinigami lives here?1" She casts a paranoid glance at the wall, as though expecting Joshua to jump out any minute.
"Yeah," you say, and you know it's wistful, and sad, and damn if it doesn't still hurt. If you aren't still waiting, on some level, for Joshua to return your call. "He... We used to be friends."