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POST #1
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NEW: Updates will now be posted nightly-ish to the shirakawa_hotel comm, so feel free to track it or watch the comm. A fills list will be coming soon!
Please read the rules if you're a first-time visitor, and request/fill away, Personanons! ♥
NEW: Updates will now be posted nightly-ish to the shirakawa_hotel comm, so feel free to track it or watch the comm. A fills list will be coming soon!
"What's up with her?" he asks the lounge in general. "Think everything's alright?"
"She'd tell one of us if it wasn't," Yukari answers.
"Tch, yeah. One of us meaning you," Junpei retorts.
"So? It only makes sense she'd-"
Mitsuru turns a page in her book and even that small movement is enough to draw their attention. "I'm sure she knows what she's doing. We'll just have to continue to trust her. Besides Iori, weren't you just complaining about how much work you had for Composition?"
Junpei slouches in his seat and pulls his cap down over his face as Yukari tries to hide laughter.
Upstairs, as her door clicks shut behind her, Minako is unaware of this exchange. She works steadily on her own homework, glancing occasionally at the clock. Those glances become more and more frequent until she finally gives up on getting anything constructive done at 11:50.
Ten minutes of an excruciating wait until the clock blinks out and the waxing moon spills green light through her windows. Minako walks over to the mirror, resting her hands on the sink. "Hello?" she calls out softly. "Are you there?"
Her face in the mirror wavers and swims - she blinks, and the image has solidified into that of a young man. He smiles and nods when their eyes meet, and she has to smile back. That's so like him - never one to waste a word. She'd wondered once, when they first met and were still feeling out each other with their parallel lives, whether she should be more like him. He came across as confident and capable, someone who was easy to trust and easy to follow. She'd tried mimicking him in Tartarus once, until Yukari had pulled her aside and asked if they'd done something to upset her.
She'd told him about that the next night, and he'd smiled that secret smile of his and answered, "Your charm is your greatest strength."
She'd had to smile back at him then too - her own smile, bright and energetic and nothing like his.
"Hi," she says, greeting him again now that she can see him. "How're things on your end?"
"About the same," he answers with a shrug. "You?"
"Pretty much! Though I have got to tell you about what happened this afternoon..."
This is how it usually goes, with her chattering and him listening, but somehow it's relaxing for both. Maybe they could discuss tactics or such, but maybe it's enough just knowing that they could if need be.
"Oh," Minato says abruptly in the middle of her story, and the unusual interruption makes her stop just as abruptly, right in the middle of a sentence about Yukari telling off a pair of jerks.
"Oh?" Minako repeats, prompting him. "You've got your thinking face on again."
He looks up and meets her eyes. "That story... I feel like I understand Yukari-chan a bit better."
The silence between them is uncomfortable. Minako's assumed that since he and she are the same yet different, that the same was true for the others in their lives. If that isn't the case, this feels too much like sharing secrets.
Perhaps he picks up on that. "Don't worry, I won't tell," he assures her.
"As if they'd believe us anyway." She glances away from the mirror, her inner clock telling her the Dark Hour is nearly over.
"We need to go," he says, echoing her thoughts.
She nods. "I won't be around the next few days. We have to go to Tartarus."
Instead of responding, he puts his hand up against the mirror. She does the same, placing her hand against his; he has bigger hands and his fingertips peek out over hers at her. They share one more smile before he turns away from the mirror. Her own reflection replaces his as the lights click back on.
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"We've decided," she says without preamble as soon as he appears. "We're going to fight."
His face betrays none of the stress or worry that she's been carrying all too obviously, and she envies that for a moment before seeing the same determination in his eyes. He's gone through it too.
Did he ask you to kill him too? she wants to ask, but doesn't. It was hard enough to watch him walk out the door herself without living through it again with Minato.
"We are too," he tells her. "No giving up."
"That's right. It's up to us to save the world!" She laughs quietly, "It sounds so strange, put that way. Doesn't it?"
"A bit," he agrees easily, but her smile fades.
"I won't be able to see you, you know. We're going to be spending all of our time in Tartarus, according to the others."
He nods, and she knows that he and his friends have come to the same conclusion. Even if she's in the dorm, he'll probably be out. They can't count on seeing each other once.
"If that's the case," she says a bit tartly, "you're gonna have to work really hard so I can see you afterward. You'd better be there!"
He smiles in clear amusement. "I promise."
"Good." She taps her fingers against the sink, still feeling like something is missing. "And don't forget that I'll be up there on that tower too. Even with all this," she waves her hand at the mirror and the space between them, "I'll be there with you."
"And I with you," he says, quiet to her passionate but meaning it all the same.
Minako pauses again and this time Minato speaks first, beckoning her forward. "Here. Luck for the New Year."
"...I've never heard of this."
He looks at her, head tilted slightly and an almost playful smile on his lips. "So?"
She doesn't dignify that with a response and pretends not to hear his quiet chuckle as she presses her lips against the mirror, closing her eyes to try and fool herself that she feels his lips there instead of glass.
They pull away together. "Good luck," she tells him.
He smiles and is gone.
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