(no subject)

[heirofkobe]

WHO: Taue & Sekimiya
WHAT: Counselling.
WHERE: Sekimiya's office.
WHEN: Monday following Miyume's tragic passing.



He didn't like the girl -- but that didn't matter. Not one bit. It was perhaps the most despondant Shinichiro Taue to date that arrived at the office of Sekimiya, not even dressed in the school uniform, but whatever he'd managed to find in his closet that day.

He needed to be here. Needed someone to talk to - and fuck if he'd pour his soul out to Mirai, his roommate. Considering Mirai's connection to the deceased, that might have gone even worse than this.

Taue heaved a deep breath, and knocked, thrice. "Taue here," he called, voice firm.

Comments

[harmonizenpc]

"Taue-san, there is nothing that could come close to preparing you for this."

It was blunt, but there was a hint of something that might have been regret or contrition there was well.

"Some naturally cope well with adversity. Others don't. Now that you know how you react, the next step is to work on it. Try to consciously control it.

"There's no shame in what happened unless you let it go without learning from it."

[heirofkobe]

Taue shook his head. "I didn't even have to DO anything," he spat, in disgust with himself. "Not even throw up one of those heals -- still can't believe that actually WORKS, by the way."

He closed his eyes again, trembling for a few moments, trying to force the darker thoughts out of his mind and failing. Utterly.

"Is this how it's going to go," he asked, when he opened his eyes. "We get picked off one by one? Unless we know what the Hell's happening, we're just lambs to the slaughter, aren't we?"

Taue's usual confident exterior was utterly gone, replaced by a more justifiable fear. He was a teenager - with some odd phenomenal power - but a teenager nonetheless.

[harmonizenpc]

"Not necessarily," she replied, perhaps unexpectedly. "It may not have had anything to do with the shinmen at all."

Sekimiya fixed Taue with a steady gaze. "It's true that we've never seen something quite like this, but in prior incidents, Shadows didn't discriminate between those with the shinmen and those without. If these entities are anything like Shadows, her mental state may have had more to do with it.

"If that's the case, you're no more at risk than anyone else. And we know enough to keep others from making the same mistake. But we need you -- all of you -- to step up."