This kitty's coming out of the bag [closed, in progress]

[onoesimemo]

Who: Neku, Sho, Mr. Hanekoma
What: Sho... fills Mr. H in on recent events, at Neku's urging.
When: Day 251
Where: Neku's house, which is henceforth dubbed the Shibuya House
Notes: There was an AIM log between me and Ryuu where Neku urged Sho to tell Mr. H... I'm made of suck and lost this log, but it happened.

Comments

[wildkatcoffee]

Hanekoma leaned back and listened to the story without interruption, calmly sipping his coffee as Sho poured out all that he had been through. As he spoke, the Producer had to revise his opinion of the ambitious young Reaper. Sho had always been brilliant, a protégée really, but introspection had never seemed to be one of his strong suits. To Hanekoma, he'd always seemed the type to push forward without much thought to consequences, trusting in his natural intelligence to carry him through.

The Sho that stood before Hanekoma was still the same arrogant and inspired young man he'd known before, but now it seemed there was some wisdom to temper his drive. In a twisted way, what these "Nobodies" had done to Sho was more merciful than what Hanekoma had planned. His time without a heart had apparently given the young Reaper a clearer understanding of what was really important to him. It was unlikely that the transformation brought on by passing through the Taboo sigil would have resulted in the same realization.

He wasn't as surprised to hear that Kariya was the one to resolve the situation. Most people didn't think much of the lazy Reaper, but Hanekoma was not one of them. While he and Kariya had never been too close, they had both been in the game for a long time. He’d always felt if anyone had any idea about who the Producer really was, it was Kariya.

Taking a final sip, Hanekoma set his mug aside and ran his hand through his hair. "Well I gotta admit that's quite the chain of events there Sho. I suppose you always were the kind of guy who learned best from the school of hard knocks, though I'm glad you got a second chance this time around. I think the expression here is, 'any crash you can walk away from.' Every moment you’re alive is another moment to enjoy.”

Suddenly Hanekoma’s expression changed to look as if something had just dawned on him, though of course he’d been thinking about this ever since being reunited with his former student. “In fact, I’ve just had an idea. See Sho, you’ve always had the skill to be an artist, a real one, but you’ve never been able to understand what it means to be one. I think now you do, and if you’d be willing, I’d like to give you some pointers. Real ones this time. I think it would be good for both of us. Besides, I can help you make this place the definition of hip,” Hanekoma added with a wink.

He became a bit more serious though as his mind turned to the other subject at hand. “These Nobodies, I’d say I can’t understand how they could do that to someone, but I imagine not feeling makes all kinds of things easier.” It certainly would have made some of his own choices less painful, which to Hanekoma would have been much worse than the pain itself. “I’m thinking someone should have a little chat with them sometime soon, try and convince them the error of their ways, but before that I think I should learn a little more about the situation here. I get the impression there are a lot of worlds competing for space, perhaps its time I could a feel for their borders.”

[onoesimemo]

Neku folded his arms and leaned against the door, listening to the awful details of Sho's story, and Mr. H's advice. When the two were done, he turned, eyebrows raised, to Sho.

"What do you think we should do, Pi-Face?"