and doesn't the number six sound a lot like...? ;*
Oh my, everyone has been so patient. I take such a long time to hit my "peak," if you will, so I apologize for the delay!
SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI: PERSONA 4 KINK MEME
PART SIXAs all you charming little anonymous know, in this very post of mine, you can comment anonymously with any pairing from Persona 4 and whatever astoundingly perverse or adorably ( Read more... )
SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI: PERSONA 4 KINK MEME
PART SIXAs all you charming little anonymous know, in this very post of mine, you can comment anonymously with any pairing from Persona 4 and whatever astoundingly perverse or adorably ( Read more... )
Nanako goes back up to her room, crawls into bed, and pretends to go to sleep. She doesn’t know if she wants breakfast tomorrow.
*
Her father is a police officer. He stops bad people from doing bad things, and if they’ve already done bad things, then he puts them in jail. He smokes and drinks coffee because he’s a police officer. He has a gun that Nanako’s not allowed to touch. Right now he works a lot because a lot of bad things are happening in town.
Her Dad’s the best, even if he’s never home enough.
Her teacher says that because there are a lot of bad things happening, she has to be careful. Don’t let in strangers. Watch out; some people might carry knives. A boy in the fifth grade says that the killer is a cannibal. Nanako doesn’t know what that means, but the teacher gets mad and spends a long time talking with the boy. No one else in her class knows what it is, either. She’s going to go home and ask her big brother what it is. She repeats it in her head so she doesn’t forget. Cannibal. Can-ni-bal.
While she’s repeating it to herself, the teacher’s let the fifth grader go. As he passes her, he bares his teeth and makes claws with his hands.
Her brother’s taking midterms in school right now.
(Cannibal.)
She’s going to give him the paper armband she made if he does well.
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D:
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Dad buys takeout and puts it in the fridge so Souji won’t have to spend time cooking food during his midterms week. Dad calls home right before dinner to tell her that she can just heat dinner tonight. He won’t have time to come home tonight, because he needs to finish the last few forms on the Kujikawa case. She’s lucky to be alive, he says, with the injuries she has. But she’s holding up remarkably well. Maybe, he says, when he thinks she’s not listening, a little too well.
The fish Souji brought home the night before are gone. She thinks maybe he fed them to the cats, but the cats aren’t crowded by the garage like they normally are when he feeds them. Souji calls home and says he’ll be back for dinner, since he’s too tired to do anything else. He really does look tired when he comes home. He’s brought Yosuke back, too, which makes her happy. It’s always fun when Yosuke’s here. Her big brother likes it when Yosuke’s over, too.
They’ve brought over Chie and Yukiko, too, and a new boy, Kanji. Nanako has seen Chie playing with her brother, and she knows that Yukiko is an Amagi and will own the Inn. They both look a little tired. Chie looks like she’s been crying often. Nanako thinks that it must be the midterms.
The new boy is Kanji Tatsumi. He’s big, and he looks angry at everything. But he’s nice. He mumbles something at her, about how it’s nice that she’s so normal and kind. When she says that he’s nice, too, he blushes and pats her on the head. Then he puts his fist in his mouth and excuses himself.
Nanako tries to make them go outside and play with each other, but they make her sit in front of the TV while they work. She doesn’t want them to work, but she’s a little relieved. She doesn’t want them to watch her.
*
They eat at the coffee table. Souji sits next to Kanji. The things they talk about are weird. Kanji says that the food’s pretty good, but not very filling. Yosuke eats a lot, which is surprising, because he’s so skinny. His jeans look like they’re about to fall off of him.
“I know,” Souji says. He shrugs, and helps himself to some fried pork. “It helps.”
“Not as good as…” Kanji trails off. He looks to Chie, who’s been pushing the vegetables in her bowl around for a while.
“I think it’s good,” Nanako says.
“I do, too,” Yosuke says. “Tastes great.”
“Well,” Souji says, and he smiles as he says this, “you do eat a lot at Junes.”
Yukiko reaches over and adds some beef to Chie’s plate. Chie shakes her head. “You have to eat something,” Yukiko says, and Chie says, “I know, but…”
They’re fighting, Nanako knows. She feels her stomach get tight.
“Why aren’t you eating anything?” Nanako says.
“I am,” Chie says.
“It’ll be hard to fight if you’re hungry,” Souji says. It sounds calm, but he’s getting involved in the fight now, too. “Come on.”
Chie frowns at everyone. She hunches in, picks the bowl up, and picks the meat out of it. She opens her mouth. Then she eats. Everyone is watching. Nanako thinks that Chie growls, a little. It sounds painful. When she finishes, everyone else looks down at their bowls.
“God,” Yosuke says. “This tofu’s great. And I don’t even like tofu.” He looks up. He looks puzzled. He looks over to Chie, and then he says, “This again?”
“Shut up, Yosuke,” Chie says, and helps herself to more rice.
*
Nanako insists on doing the dishes. Kanji and Yukiko help clean up, too. Souji and Yosuke are talking with Chie on the couch. Every now and then, Nanako catches snippets of conversation; and she can tell by the way Yukiko sometimes turns her head so her ear’s facing the living room that Yukiko’s listening, too.
They’re talking about steak. Or Yosuke’s talking about steak.
“It’s not like steak at all,” Chie says.
“Well, how is it any different from eating a damn cow?!” Yosuke says, loudly enough that Nanako can’t pretend she didn’t hear it.
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“What are you all fighting about?” Nanako says. She won’t back down. Kanji looks flustered. He dries a bowl so hard that it squeaks.
Yukiko bites the inside of her cheek. Then she says, “Sometimes, when you start getting in trouble, you have to do things to… get out of trouble. And sometimes those things get you in more trouble.”
Like when Hiroshi hit Daiki, and then lied about it, and then ran away, and got in more trouble when they finally did catch him. But Nanako thinks that her big brother and his friends have bigger problems than that. It must be hard to grow up.
“What kinds of things?” says Nanako.
At this, Yukiko goes quiet. Kanji moves onto drying another dish. Souji, in the living room, says, “You did it for Yukiko-san. Now you have to do it for yourself, too.”
“What kind of things?” Nanako says.
“I don’t know,” Yukiko says. “A lot of things, I suppose.”
Yukiko is pretty, but she isn’t very nice. Nanako isn’t sure if she likes her very much anymore.
“What is,” Nanako starts, and then stops.
“Hmm?” Yukiko says.
Nanako lies and says that she forgot.
“Oh,” says Yukiko. “That’s too bad.”
*
Her brother and his friends go to Junes for dessert without taking her. They say that they need to run an errand together, and they’ll be back soon. Souji tells her to not watch the news. Nanako wants to watch a game show, but her favorite one isn’t on. She does her homework instead. Five times five is twenty-five. Five times six is thirty. Car, cactus, chair. The cactus is the one that doesn’t belong.
She opens the fridge. There’s new meat in there. She throws it out again.
Souji comes back home alone with a small cake. He sets it on the kitchen counter first, though, and sniffs the air. Then he says, “Did you throw out the meat again?”
“No,” Nanako says.
Souji gets on his knees and goes through the trash. He removes the slabs of meat from the compost heap. He sighs, and lets it fall back in.
“Don’t do that anymore,” he says. “I wanted to eat it.”
“You eat too much meat.”
“I cook for people at school.” He washes his hands before he brings her the cake. Nanako sets the table for them. “Do you like chocolate?”
“I love chocolate,” she says, because she does love chocolate, and it’s just like her big brother to remember what she likes. He cuts the cake and gives her the bigger slice. He eats some of the cake, too, even though Nanako says that it’s not fair, because he went to Junes without her, so he shouldn’t get any cake. He agrees, and puts both pieces in front of her; but she shouldn’t be selfish. She eases the plate back to him. She won’t be able to finish it all.
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It’s nice having a big brother.
After the cake, he looks over her homework. Car, cactus, chair. Cat, chimney, chutes. Cabbage, cassette, cannibal.
Souji pauses at that, the tip of his pencil leaving a little mark on the worksheet.
“No,” he says. “That word’s ‘cabinet.’”
“What’s a cannibal?” Nanako says.
Souji puts his arm around her shoulder. She knows he won’t lie to her.
“A cannibal is a bad person,” he says. “A very bad person.”
“What do they do?” Nanako says.
His grip on her shoulder gets tighter. “They’re humans who eat other humans.”
“Why?” she says.
“I don’t know. Maybe they have to.” He lets go of her and goes back to checking her worksheets. His brow is furrowed. He rests his cheek on his fist.
“Is the killer a cannibal?”
“I don’t know,” he says. “Maybe. Dojima-san seems to think so.”
“Maybe a dog ate the bodies,” she says.
Souji shrugs. She can tell that he doesn’t like talking about this. She remembers hearing that some of his classmates were killed.
“What do you think, big bro?” she says.
“I don’t know,” he says. “Maybe the killer’s human. Maybe the killer didn’t want to do it. I can’t believe that anyone would want to do this to another human.” He pats her head, like Kanji did. “I don’t know,” he says. “But I do know that whoever did it isn’t human. And I know that your Dad will catch them for sure.” When he says this, he licks his lips, like he’s hungry. He rubs his hand over his mouth.
“I want more cake,” she says, knowing that he won’t say no. He gets up and makes it for her. Nanako feels a sick, slimy feeling in her stomach. She hugs her knees to her body. She thinks that he’s lying to her. She thinks that he’s in trouble.
((So many scenes with food! I’m hungry. But not for the things that the IT is for. Uh.))
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I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.
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Yukiko wakes up hungry, as usual.
It isn’t like the craving for toast and butter in the morning she used to have when she dieted (which now seems so far away-she worries about losing weight now, not gaining; of throwing up her meals and losing sight of whatever shreds of pragmatism that lets her survive in favor of wasting away), but a devouring, murderous hunger. She stays curled up in her bed for a few minutes, fighting the urge to bite into her own arm, or to chew off her tongue.
She barely sleeps more than a few hours at a time now, unless she’s so tired that she collapses for ten or twenty hours straight. And then she wakes up with blood in her mouth, because it turns out that she’s bitten into her thumb and sucked off of it. But now her mouth is clean. Tastes sour and dry. Yosuke says that he bites down on his socks at night, and as for everyone else, it’s a mystery. Yukiko doesn’t like to talk about it. She finds it a little embarrassing.
She gets out of her futon, folds it, sets everything as it should be. Before she leaves her room, she tunes into the local radio station. Investigation on mysterious Inaba disappearances continue. Daichi Gouda-san from Okina City was last seen six days ago in Okina City, thought to have fallen victim. His family implores for anyone with information to step forward. Expert in the Inaba case, Naoto Shirogane, says that it’s likely that Daichi Gouda-san fell victim to the murderers, yes, murderers. It’s unlikely that any single person could pull this off-
Daichi Gouda-san. Yukiko vaguely remembers him. He was stringy.
*
“Yo, Yukiko-san,” Yosuke says. He’s on his bike, which has certainly seen better days. His shirt hangs off of his body now. He looks at her in a way that makes Yukiko want to hit him, just to be on the safe side. She doesn’t.
“Yosuke-kun,” Yukiko says. She looks down the path, hoping to see Chie, but she’s not in sight.
“Chie’s at the shopping district,” Yosuke says. “You know that Souzai Daigaku will throw out whole sausages?”
“Oh?”
“She’s sneaking some over to Kujikawa-san. You know. So they don’t get too suspicious.”
Yukiko wants some. It’d be nice. For many reasons.
They eat once a week, which is enough to live off of, but not enough to ever feel full. It’s harder when they go into the TV, especially when they’re trying to rescue people from whatever virus had gotten them. Last time had been worse than usual; Kujikawa and Teddie had turned, and had to be suppressed in kind. They had only survived because Kujikawa so generously offered herself up to them so they could keep fighting.
Poor girl. It’d be hard for her to continue her modeling career. Not that the world has much use for cannibals.
“How is she?” Yukiko says.
“Great. Fine,” Yosuke says. He walks his bike so they’re going at the same pace. “They’re letting her out today. Only problem is Shirogane asking all those questions. Wonder if we can eat him, huh?”
“Yosuke-kun,” she says. She’s not sure if Shirogane would be good. He looks skinny.
“I know, I know,” Yosuke says. He frowns. “Geeze. I was just joking.”
Yukiko isn’t so sure. But he’s her friend, and… well, that girl who just walked by looked tempting. Yukiko didn’t get a glimpse at the girl’s face, and the girl wears her hair straight down, plain, which is good, because Yukiko doesn’t like knowing the names of her food. She imagines tapping the girl’s shoulder, and then knocking her down and dragging her off somewhere, stripping off the girl’s uniform and then taking a bite of her…
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“Partner says that he’s already picked the next person,” Yosuke says, when there’s no one around them. “He wants us to meet after exams at Junes.”
“All right,” Yukiko says.
A girl bikes by. Yukiko swallows. This is the strange thing about her new condition: how it’s brought all kinds of things to the surface, and only certain things excite her.
*
Chie does smell a little like sausages when she comes in. Yukiko smiles at her, and wonders if anyone else can smell it, or if it’s just her.
“Sorry I couldn’t walk with you,” Chie says, before the first exam starts. “Yosuke told you, right?”
“Yes,” Yukiko says. “Does Kujikawa-san look well?”
“I think she’s fine,” Chie says, a little distracted. She touches the collar of Yukiko’s uniform. “Did you-”
“I thought I washed it out.” Yukiko frowns, and gives it a little sniff. No, she did wash it out. Chie must be a little hungrier than usual.
“They’re letting her out today-Yosuke told you, right? They’re going to, I don’t know, draw some more blood-something like that.” Chie touches Yukiko’s neck again. “Are you wearing perfume?”
“I don’t know,” Yukiko says. She tugs the collar down a bit. They have this conversation almost every other day, now. She flushes when she sees Chie’s eyes, fixed on her flesh. She goes even redder when she sees the quiet girl who sits in the back staring at them, a funny, confused look on her face. Yukiko smooths her uniform down. “No.”
Chie makes a small, disappointed noise in the back of her throat. Then she says, “Are you-are you on your period, or-”
“Chie!” She’s so red now that she’s not sure why she even bothers speaking. “That-I-”
“I know,” Chie says. “The words just came out-don’t be mad, I didn’t mean…” Chie tilts her head down, rests her forehead on her fingers. Yosuke’s talking with Souji, making wild gestures and talking a mile a minute. Then she looks back up and says, “You smell nice today. That’s all.”
“Yes,” Yukiko says. “Yes. Thank you.”
It’d be nice if she could tear off Chie’s mouth-she thinks this, and shudders. She wants the exams to start.
*
Devour!
The word shows up halfway through the test.
She wishes that it hadn’t. It looks like a command.
They’re going to go hunting tonight.
She shivers.
There’s going to be a fog.
Her pencil skips.
Souji is going to lead them.
Oh, she’s so terribly hungry.
They’re going to eat tonight.
((PoV switch, because sometimes being horrible to Nanako makes me sad. :(
Thank you, as always, for reading. My apologies for the late updates. I’m a college student determined to take classes with wildly incongruous midterm schedules. Four hundred pages of reading to catch up on. Ha, ha, ha…!))
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Four hundred pages! Makes my college work look like nothing, and you still manage to write for the meme? High five.
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ffff it's my own fault for slacking off during midterms period. But! *high five!*
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...And now both Souji and Serph freak the hell out of me, especially after reading somewhere that Serph is Souji's father... So it runs in the blood. Talking about meat, this makes me hungry.
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“Well, what’s the point in studying?” Yosuke says. He tugs at the chain. It seems to have slipped.
“Don’t say that,” Chie says.
“Come on, Chie,” Yosuke says. “You think we’re going to have a future outside? When we’re like this?” He kicks his bike. “Damn it!”
“Don’t-”
“Oh, like you give a shit about my bike!” Yosuke snaps. “What does it matter, anyway?” He gives the bicycle another kick, and then his shoe lace gets caught in the spokes and he falls into the bike rack in a tumble. The students around them laugh, almost in relief, and then stop when Yosuke looks up at them, his teeth bared. Later, some students will swear that his eyes were almost glowing.
*
“They don’t know,” Yosuke says on their way to Junes, “how lucky they are.”
He’s walking his bike to their meeting place. Yukiko and Chie walk beside him.
“I mean,” Yosuke says, “I could kill them if I wanted to.”
He rubs his nose with the back of his finger, almost sheepishly.
“Whatever, Yosuke,” Chie says.
“I could,” Yosuke says, but quietly and with great embarrassment. Yukiko looks down at her nails, and wishes that she had painted them a color other than red.
*
Kanji is already there with Souji. Kujikawa is there, too. She looks all right, for a girl missing a few feet of intestines and a good deal of other things. Yukiko’s a little jealous. At least Kujikawa will have a good excuse for not eating much normal food.
Kujikawa waves at all of them. Souji looks strangely grateful; the reason for that is evident enough as Kujikawa runs her hand along a water bottle with an obscenity that Yukiko has only recently come to recognize in things.
“Exams went all right?” Souji says.
“Sure,” Yosuke says. “Whatever. They’re awesome.”
“You should care about your studies a little more,” Souji says.
“Yeah,” Chie says.
Souji puts his hand in the air to stop the argument before Yosuke even opens up his mouth. Then he rubs his jaw and says, “Well, I’m feeling a little hungry right now, so why don’t we pool our money together and get something to eat?”
They’re out in the food court, so it won’t do to bust out the pounds of raw meat, like they normally do. Yosuke gets up. “I’ll cook,” he says.
“Great,” Souji says, as they all reach for their wallets. “Well, I’m in a mood for noodles. Pork sounds nice today.”
“Me too,” said Kanji. “Steak yakisoba.”
“I’ll have whatever senpai’s having,” Kujikawa says. Her smile almost seems to glitter. Souji smiles, too, but uncomfortably.
“I’ll have the pork and cabbage dish,” Yukiko says.
Souji looks, pointedly, to Chie, who frowns and folds her arms over her stomach. “We’re going to be eating later, anyway,” she says. “It’s not like I have to-”
“Just do it,” Souji says. “I don’t want you to get too… eager.”
Chie flushes. Then she says, not looking at Yosuke, “Steak.”
“What am I, a waiter?” Yosuke says, his face pained. “Geeze.” But he takes their orders and goes to make their food. They all like their meat a little rawer than normal.
“So this is what you guys do on most days,” Kujikawa says. She blinks and looks around at all of them. “Wow. It’s so much more… normal than I expected.”
“Are you all right?” Yukiko says.
“I’m fine,” Kujikawa says. She seems different from usual, brighter and bubblier than the girl they met at Marukyu’s at the beginning of the month. “Thanks for worrying, Yukiko-senpai. If you want, I can give you a personal show.” Kujikawa fingers the collar of her uniform, her gaze sticky and hard to pull away from. Chie puts her hand on Yukiko’s arm, and clears her throat.
“So Souji-kun’s already told you about everything?” Chie says.
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