thenearshore | Closed | A Sudden Departure...

Who: Residents of Izanagi Temple and close CR

When: Aug. 22

Where: Izanagi Temple

What: Kanji's housemates process his departure

Morning of the 22nd - Closed to temple residents only

[Immediately upon waking up, Naoto can tell that something feels off. There's a certain emptiness in her chest that wasn't there when she'd fallen asleep the night before. Uncertain if she's just overthinking things or not, she slowly gets up and starts her morning routine. It seems she's up before the others again today, so she sets about readying some morning coffee and tea for everyone. She opens the cupboard where they keep the mugs, pulling out one, two, three, four, five... Her hand stops. A sudden thought completely rupturing her calm. This unease she's feeling... could it mean that? No. Please no.]

[She sets the fifth mug down with the others before running back down the hall and up the stairs. Her footsteps likely loud enough to wake the others, but Naoto's too focused on proving to herself that this fear overtaking her is completely unfounded. It has to be. She stops outside Kanji's door. Her hand hesitates for a moment. Then, slowly, she opens the door just wide enough to poke her head in. Her heart skips a beat, and she lets go of the handle. The door slowly creeks the rest of the way open as Naoto stands in the door-frame, as the hallway light behind her filters in on an empty room. The five mugs sit unused in the kitchen.]

Afternoon of the 22nd - Open to Close CR

[Throughout the rest of the day, anyone who visits the Izanagi temple will notice that its residents seem more sullen than usual. Naoto, in particular, is sitting off in a corner of the temple's back porch by herself. She'll greet anyone who approaches her with a small smile, but it's clear that she's not alright. Her eyes seem unfocused, as if she's staring through you instead of actually at you, and her voice is also a little more hushed than usual. All of this creating just an overall air of numbness about her. She could use a friend right now.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ With so many people getting up, coming and going, running through their routines, Souji has adjusted his. He takes care of the cats, first, and then walks around the temple grounds to make sure nothing is amiss. Then he returns to coffee and tea set out by Naoto, or Kanji, or even Nanako or Homura, and he helps make breakfast with whoever wants to do it that day.

He runs through this routine. He then comes back in, walking through the kitchen, and - pauses, seeing the mugs. It gives him a weird feeling in his chest, these innocuous mugs that are just out. It's harmless, honestly, but it. It's still a lot.

So he heads up the spiral stairs of the kitchen, two at a time, and stops when he sees Naoto. That feeling grows into dread, because that's Kanji's room. ]

Naoto?

[Naoto doesn't turn at first. Instead, she stays staring blankly at the now empty room which had once been Kanji's. It's like her brain is operating on a delay, and finally, after a moment, she seems to recognize that Souji is standing there. She turns to look at him, and it's clear that right now, in this moment, she's doing everything in her power to stay composed.]

Souji=san, have you... seen Kanji this morning?

[ There's no one else in the hall, either because they're asleep or preoccupied at the moment, and that... it makes it feel a little surreal, really. Souji braces his hand against the top of the railing, hesitant to make his way down the hall to where she stands. Like that will make it less real.

Something lodges in his throat, just a little. He closes his eyes and lets out a slow, steady exhale. ]

No. I haven't.

Oh...

[That's it. That's all she says, as she turns back to look into the room. A moment hangs in the air as the two of them stand there in silence. Then, she seems to totter a little, before slowly sinking to her knees. Her shoulders begin to softly shake from her quiet sobbing.]

[ It takes Souji all of a few seconds and even fewer steps to decide to go to Naoto, long-legged and immediate as her knees give way. He drops to his own, and while he should maybe hesitate, maybe remember that he's nothing more than a figment of a ghost in her heart... he doesn't. He puts his hands on her shoulders, first, and then goes to wrap his arms around her.

One hand cups the back of her neck, and he bows his head forward. Solidarity, understanding, sharing that same pain.

Tatsumi Kanji is gone. ]

[Naoto is too stunned, too numb at first to react to Souji's embrace. It's certainly not unwelcome if at least surprising in and of itself. Still, Naoto's too distracted, her brain still working to process the simple fact that Kanji is gone. He's just gone without warning or a word goodbye.]

[Slowly, as Naoto comes to terms with this, her own head leans forward. It comes to rest gently on Souji's own, as the two of them gaze down at the little floor space still between them. Each of them dealing with their own silent sorrow yet both entirely in solidarity with the other. One, two, three, drops of water patter to the ground, and Naoto's shoulder softly shake with every quiet sob.]

Closed | A Sudden Departure...

I arrive

Just in time to break my heart ;_;

mwahaha

/descends into a puddle of feelz and tears

gonna make it worse.

Y u do dis... ;_;