Trip Out Of Town

[1in_perfection]

The class door rattles shut behind her, and it's only when Mitsuru is certain that there's no one watching that she breathes a sigh of relief. Since her absence, Arisato has done an admirable job of holding the student council together, but it feels good to be back in control and running damage control. (Which there is blessedly little of

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[for_my_father]

Yukari sighs as she exits the change room, sports bag slung over her shoulder. She looks around before heading towards her classroom, needing to grab her school books before leaving for the day.

That's when she sees Mitsuru. She backs up quickly, hiding herself behind a corner before the other girl notices her. Calm down, she tells herself harshly. She's a Kirijo. One of them. Nothing else.

Taking a deep breath, Yukari walks out into the middle of the hallway, heels clicking coldly on the floor. "Kirijo-senpai," she says with more genuine warmth than she'd care to admit as she passes her upperclassman. "Done for the day?"

[for_my_father]

For a moment, Yukari muses on how much easier her life would be if Mitsuru would just say things straight out instead of beating around the bush all the time. Oh, please. It's not like you broached the subject first at all.

She shushes herself harshly. "Okay. Okay, sure. Where to, exactly?" Yukari keeps annoyance out of her voice as she realizes that wasn't the first time she'd asked that question. Patience is a virtue in dealing with the Kirijos, Yukari.

[1in_perfection]

"Mikage." Is all Mitsuru provides, as she dials up the coordinates. "It's a nice enough place, and has been pleasantly quiet in the last few years as well." She doesn't press the button once the settings click into place, however; instead, she looks back over at Takeba.

"The roof would be suitable as a departure point, if you have no objections."

[for_my_father]

"Mikage?" Yukari thinks, the name sounding familiar. It doesn't stand out as especially special to her, though the way Mitsuru describes it as pleasantly quiet 'these past few years' immediately sets off alarm bells.

"Okay." Yukari leads the way up to the roof, eyebrows furrowed in thought. Mikage, Mikage...of course! How could she have forgotten? In the early days of her research regarding the Kirijo Group, she'd come across the name of the town. It was only a quick mention, as the place the young master of the Nanjou Group attended school back when the Kirijo and Nanjou were one entity. This could work for her.

"I'm ready when you are," she says quietly as she holds the door to the roof open for her senpai.

[1in_perfection]

"Very good. If you would step over here, we can leave without much trouble." Mitsuru steps over to the side of the building that covers the stair well; a location that provides just enough cover to prevent anyone from seeing two high school students suddenly vanish into thin air.

And with one button press and that familiar stomach lurch, both of them are whisked off and deposited at-

...A roof top. On another school. The only thing that really serves as a clue that they're somewhere else is because there isn't any bay or windmills dotting the skyline.

"...That was unexpected." Mitsuru says, looking around. "I'd thought that the coordinates would drop us off near the school gates, rather then this."

[for_my_father]

Yukari, of course, immediately takes that as a sign that something's gone horribly wrong. And I don't have my Evoker.

She looks around cautiously, first to see if anyone's seen them--negative--and then to try and get the lay of the land. "That's not...bad, right? We're not trapped here forever or something? Your PINpoint isn't locked up, right? We can get back to Iwatodai?"

[1in_perfection]

"Even if it had, all that it would take to get us back to the dorm would be a train ticket, and a few hours out of our lives." Mitsuru glances down at the PINpoint as she says that, to check that it is still functional. "...But it doesn't look like it's something to worry about; all of the commands still seem to work well enough."

With that said, Mitsuru looks back up and glances around. "Fortunately, I don't think we'll have any trouble with exiting the building. It seems as if classes have been over for several hours already."

[for_my_father]

Yukari sighs, trying to forget that she should be back at the dorm, studying or researching or doing something else, anything but having a heart to heart with one of her worst enemies.

She walks over to the door, giving it a soft pull. Thankfully, it's unlocked, and Yukari walks through, treading lightly on the stairs despite the school most likely being empty. There still might be someone around, after all, and they aren't wearing the proper uniforms.

"So what is it, exactly, you wanted to talk to me about? And why here?" She'll be damned if she has to bring up their issues first.

[1in_perfection]

"I felt a change of scenery would be helpful, for what I'd like to discuss." Mitsuru replies, and only talks again when they've reached the bottom of the stairs. "The dormitory or the school seemed like a poor place to talk about what happened...During that incident."

And at least she gets that out without much trouble, even though her fingers noticeably tighten around the handle of her book bag. "We have some unresolved issues with what happened there, mainly in the form of memories."

[for_my_father]

"They've...mostly faded away," Yukari says quietly, looking around in order to not meet Mitsuru's eyes accidentally. "I don't remember much of whatever they made me think before it all started to unravel." The only part she does remember, even clearer than when everything was falling apart, was the sense of comfort in knowing her dad was coming home from work at the end of the day.

"Just bits, pieces...feelings, mostly." She leaves that there, waiting for Mitsuru's response.

[1in_perfection]

"To cut to the point, you don't have any concrete memory or recollection of that false family they imprinted you with?"

If she really stopped to consider it, Mitsuru would probably be a bit concerned over how close that hits when it comes to Takeba's father. But as it is, she's more concerned with making certain neither of them has any false memories about a nonexistent cousin.

[for_my_father]

"I know," Yukari admits, "like, my mind knows. I just...it wasn't me. I'm not Laura. You're not...you're not my cousin and my dad..."

She stops herself there. Too much information. If Mitsuru makes the connection about Yukari's dad being involved in whatever the Kirijo Group had going on, that's a large part of her cover blown. "It doesn't matter. It'll all fade away in time."

[1in_perfection]

"It's nice to know that we're in agreement on that." For a very rare change. "And I am also certain that the aftershocks will gradually fade away. Those men didn't leave us with anything concrete-"

And that in turn is as much as Mitsuru is comfortable in talking about that. The fact that the Strangers had her addicted to placebos is still unnerving and embarrassing, in equal amounts.

She glances over at Takeba, with a questioning look. "Your father, you said?"

[for_my_father]

Yukari exerts a lot of willpower to keep her face emotionless, and even more to make it not obvious. She does clear her throat, though, if only so she can say, "Hm? That's..."

Distraction. She needs a distraction. "...what about you? There aren't any...physical aftereffects?" Yukari clenches her hand around the strap of her bag, praying that bringing up the drugs will be enough to keep Mitsuru from questioning further.

[1in_perfection]

"...I'll get the door." Mitsuru says to stall that question. (Even while a part of her mind screams at this breech in etiquette.) Even after walking through the school, it seems like they've successfully managed to avoid meeting up with either students or faculty.

That said, once the door is opened, and they're able to step outside, it's much harder to dodge that question.

"As it turns out, the drugs were weaker then I expected; most of what I experienced was due to strong, false memories of going through withdrawal."

[for_my_father]

"Oh?" Yukari walks through, a little unnerved at first at the presence of students around the campus. She stares straight ahead, though; if she just acts like she belongs there, who are they to judge?

You're over thinking this. As she's wont to do when stressed, so she really can't blame herself at the moment. "So they were, what, sugar pills? Placebos?"

Just a little more and Mitsuru will forget all about Yukari having a father! Or not, as the case may be.