8th Staple [Voice]

[weightlesscrab]

Is everyone quite done with talking about this silly holiday?

[ Senjogahara, for her part, has one single bag of giri choco that she picked up almost on a whim, and before yesterday was over, it had been thrown in the trash bin of her apartment. There was also a batch of honmei choco that she made in Araragi's memory, then proceeded to eat as an

Comments

a million years later sobs

[generalflirt]

I'm not sure I'd call it silly, Hitagi-sama.

pshaw

[weightlesscrab]

It is a holiday centered solely around the obligations and unrequited loves of delicate maidens who give gifts without knowing for certain whether they will receive a response. What would you call such a thing?

[generalflirt]

A leap of faith, perhaps...? Or maybe you could call it a burst of emotion in which the love-love feelings of a maiden penetrate the souls of men!

[weightlesscrab]

[ ... 'Burst of emotion'? She pauses for a moment, suddenly wondering. Why did that sound less ridiculous than it should have? But she continues, voice not betraying anything. ]

Such a thing could just as easily be taken advantage of or brushed aside. I think you underestimate the strength of a maiden's heart when it meets the sharp, cold sword of male cruelness, Masaomi-kun.

[generalflirt]

And perhaps you're overesitmating a man's cruelness, Hitagi-sama? After all, even if men might be as beasts, ladies are the beast tamers to put down that behavior. I'm no doubt a maiden's heart is one of the most mighty things out there.

[weightlesscrab]

Se-n-jo-u-ga-ha-ra-sa-ma.

[ She punctuates every syllable. ]

I find it a fair estimation, myself. What say you of the countless girls whose hearts are consumed by those beasts every year? Maidens in their prime plucked from grace without any warning.

[generalflirt]

I say that it's the job of us real men to slay those beasts.

[Flatly. Coldly. A little... distantly.]

[weightlesscrab]

[ She notices the change in tone, but doesn't yet say anything of it. ]

Hm, so that makes you a real man?

[generalflirt]

Naturally, Hitagi-sama~! You can trust me with any maiden!

[weightlesscrab]

The more you insist on speaking so familiarly, the less I am inclined to believe you. If you don't listen to a woman's simple requests, there's no telling what you will do if you ever manage to reach a situation that is even more tempting. After all, you seem just as weak-willed as any male I've ever run into. Are you truly so desperate?

[generalflirt]

But I just feel close to you, allowing myself too much distance is bad for the heart you know!

[weightlesscrab]

Only if being close would not also cause similar or worse problems, don't you think? The sooner you stop holding on to such a spontaneous and irrational hope, the less it will hurt if you receive explicit rejection. [ She doesn't even notice that she's said "if" instead of "when" ] Though maybe you deal with such a rejection by clinging closer in an attempt to change opinions. Don't you think that might be your problem?

1/2

[generalflirt]

Well, it might be a problem, but if it is, then the obvious solution is for me not to be rejected in the first place, riiiight?

[generalflirt]

-Not to say that you have no choice though, Hitagi-sama!!

[He clarifies quickly. The image of being stabbed still stands out to him, how gorgeous she is and how much more her words sound pretty today as compared to usual]

In fact, were it any command but to be apart from you forever, I would obey it for you! After all, my name is read "righteous vassal."

[weightlesscrab]

Ah, is that so? I was thinking the reading was rather different. Hm. It doesn't seem to suit you well, or rather, it seems like it wouldn't suit you quite so much as a different set of characters.

Any other command, you said?

[generalflirt]

Mm. Any other command.

[...He's somewhat surprised by how much sincerity he drudges up for this. He laughs]

Aren't you my ojuo-chan?