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[locumstudentesquire]

It's a spot where you can send Ryunosuke messages :V

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Early March | action at the Harvest

[judicialassistant]

[ It's not like it is even the first time that it's happened. Before Kazuma, there was Hans, and it also happened to Beatrix twice; but nevertheless, no matter how peaceful Kazuma appears, it is concerning. The Harvest staff will find that Susato still has not come down to the restaurant this morning, and the animals may be a little restless as a result.

Especially the snakes. But maybe they just know? ]

Mr Naruhodo,

I apologise for my absence this morning, but there's something I must tell you. [ Yet even as she writes this, she debates whether such a thing is better shown rather than told. ]

[locumstudentesquire]

[Ryunosuke has noticed the snakes are rather restless this morning, though he doesn't think too much of it. He's spending some time out by the koi pond again, as is becoming his habit, when he gets Susato's message.

That makes him immediately worried.]

There's no need to apologize, Susato-san. Is everything alright?

1/2

[judicialassistant]

I hope so. I do not wish to panic anyone, least of all you, but it is about Kazuma.

I

[judicialassistant]

[ Aw, hell. She needs to just say it, doesn't she? She is direct, if nothing else. ]

Unfortunately I'm unable to wake him today.

[locumstudentesquire]

[......?

Ryunosuke, unfamiliar with the deeper meaning of what she's saying, does not understand the issue fully... Though her expressing that she doesn't want to make anyone panic does imply a seriousness to the issue.]

Unable to...?

What do you mean? That is unusual for him, [since Kazuma isn't usually one for lazing about] but...

Do you need me to come up there and give him a good slap?

[judicialassistant]

[ He won't be able to see the way Susato suddenly straightens, alert, but after a moment, she does scramble to reply: ]

No need for violence. His breathing and heartbeat seem to be stable, and I'd like them to remain that way. This apparently can happen on occasion in our world of dreams.

If you'd like to come see for yourself, however, I'll allow it.

--> Action

[locumstudentesquire]

[How can something like that just ‘happen’? Ryunosuke thinks about pressing her further through the journal system, but reconsiders just as quickly. If she’s inviting him up… Better to just talk about it face to face.]

Alright. I’ll be there in just a few minutes.

[And true to his word, he arrives within the next 10 minutes or so; he doesn’t explain to anyone else at the restaurant what is going exactly, sharing Susato’s sentiment that it would be better not to panic anyone. He just says he needs to go help her with something, and that he’ll be right back. Whether or not his white lie is actually convincing is another matter…

Anyway. He lets himself into the house, announcing his arrival in case she misses the sound of the door opening.]

Susato-san? It’s me, Naruhodo… [As if she wouldn’t know.] Where are you?

[The bedroom, he assumes, but he doesn’t want to just go barging in until she gives the OK. Once she does though, he’ll just head up without any further delay.]

Mid-June

[chippedsoul]

[How does one make conversation with a bestie that he practically mauled last month, who he's been worried about, but also been avoiding at the same time?]

Hey.

[Good start.]

[locumstudentesquire]

[For the first hour or so, Ryunosuke actually leaves Kazuma on read.

It's not that he doesn't want to talk to him; quite the opposite, actually, and that's the problem. He's been hoping to clear the air with him ever since they both changed back. But the fact that it's taken this long, and then Kazuma doesn't even have the courage to come visit him and talk face to face? That stings, and it ticks him off a fair bit.

Eventually though, he's forced to concede that someone has to be the adult here. So he breaks, and picks up his journal, and sits there wondering for a moment what he should even write back.

Eventually, in his usual messy chicken scratch, the reply:]

Hey yourself.

[And then:]

If you're finished avoiding me, I'd much prefer you grant me the courtesy of a visit.

[chippedsoul]

[Getting no response isn't surprising. Getting a response much later on is also, not surprising. Doesn't sound like he's happy, of course. It's not like he was going to stay away forever, just...he doesn't really know how to handle this. Was it a good idea to just immediately walk up to the people he has hurt? Or maybe he's not ready to face the outcome.

He looks over the chicken scratch Ryunosuke considers writing a bit more before letting out a sigh. A visit has been long overdue eitherway.]

I'll be there momentarily.

[He can only work around the Wild Harvest so much before he grew tired of the scenary, unable to keep his mind distracted. Ready or not, he's coming over to visit Ryunosuke, like he asked.]

[locumstudentesquire]

[Ryunosuke doesn't bother answering again, trusting that Kazuma will be good to his word and actually show this time.

He'll find the door unlocked when he arrives next door, and if he bothers knocking anyway he'll get Ryunosuke calling down to him:]

You can let yourself in...!

[Ascending the steps to the main floor, he'll find the so-called master of the house flopped out on the settee in the living room, lounging in the most casual and comfortable kimono he owns. Jugemu the rabbit is sprawled out on the floor next to the couch, nearly mirroring his owner's repose in a rather comical fashion.

Ryunosuke sits up when he sees Kazuma though, a small frown on his lips. When he speaks, he's stern, but not unkind:]

There you are... Certainly took you long enough to come around.

[chippedsoul]

[He does knock, only to discover the door is indeed open to him. So he'll invite himself in, closing the door behind him. The smell of cooked meat will start to fill the home. Kazuma has brought a little peace offering apparently, something wrapped in a furoshiki.

As for himself, he's looking like he could use some more sleep. There were bags under his eyes, and while dress more casually, definitely not as well put together as he usually is. He arrives in time to see Ryunosuke sit up. He hears him talk as he looks to him, Jugemu, the settee and back. Right.]

I brought you something. [He presents the wrapped box. Freshly grilled yakitori awaits within.]

june | maybe before kazuma's visit, whatever ends up working

[judicialassistant]

[ As Susato stands before Ryunosuke's treehouse, something tells her to turn back. Her hand hovers at the door, poised to knock, but she has to listen to that voice in her head, telling her that she isn't the one he actually wants to see. It is more difficult today than most days to shake it off, but in the end, that seems to be exactly what she does.

How can she be an assistant to them both if she is so easily discouraged?

She takes a deep breath.

She knocks. ]

2/3

[judicialassistant]

[ After a pause, she decides there isn't a response. She knocks again, and this time it's followed by an attempt at the knob, almost without thought. ]

Naruhodo-san—?

[ It opens with a low creek.

...Why is it unlocked? He must be here somewhere. Plus, it's not as though she's never visited before... ]

[judicialassistant]

Naruhodo-san, please forgive me.

[ Finally, she'll step her way inside. Knowing his habits from their time in Great Britain, combined with the fact that she knows he is still in recovery, she expects the worst. ]

Probably makes the most sense that she'd show up long before Kaz did, yea

[locumstudentesquire]

[It's... Pretty bad. But could be worse?

The mess is, at least, not of the putrid or filthy variety. He's not COMPLETELY uncivilized. It's just cluttered, with random piles of books and papers here, empty containers of rabbit food there... Piles of laundry? In the living room? When WAS the last time he did laundry...? We just don't know.

Despite all the evidence of his habitation, though: the man himself? Nowhere to be seen.

Jugemu is here. He's flopped over and stretched out across as much of the settee as he can cover. He lifts his head and squints his eyes open very slightly when Susato first walks in, and then closes them again after twitching his nose at her in acknowledgement. His being here without Ryunosuke present isn't too unusual, but what's actually shocking is the new resident sharing the couch with him. Curled up next to him and floating an inch or two above the surface of the upholstery is a brand new baby tapir, snoozing peacefully. It doesn't react to Susato at all, apparently too deep asleep.

That's it, as far as immediate reactions to her coming inside go. No reply from Ryunosuke, no hint that he's even here... It's all rather odd. If Susato continues to poke around though, she will eventually notice that, over by the pond, there's one pile of miscellaneous clutter that looks sort of knocked out of alignment... Almost as if it were recently kicked. Or perhaps, tripped upon...?

There's a sizeable amount of water on the floor there, too. Inside the pond, the leftover lotus koi from the flower festival are going about their usual fishy business, and the three rainbow fish residents are eagerly twirling and flashing their lights at Susato in greeting. All pretty typical. The only thing out of place here, is there's an extra fish. She might not even notice it at first. It's just an unremarkable looking brown carp, lurking sleepily next to a rock by the edge of the pond that's closest to the suspicious clutter pile. One could say it maybe looks kind of dazed, if they wanted to project that sort of thing onto a fish... But that's also just how fish look a lot of the time? Sort of perpetually surprised.

...It does have some suspiciously familiar looking eyebrow shaped spots above its eyes, though.]

1/2

[judicialassistant]

...Oh, my.

[ Well, it's somehow better than she expected. Susato gives a sigh, and in her mind, perhaps she is already plotting some plan of attack. There's the laundry that needs to be done, all that water (what?), the books and the clutter... The animals don't seem hungry, at least? Her eyes wander to a clock over on the wall, then toward Jugemu and the baby tapir, comfortable on the settee.

She smiles at them, walking over with careful steps to give Jugemu some strokes on the head, and maybe some belly rubs if he allows it. She does eye the tapir almost longingly as she does this, but decides not to disturb the little one's rest. ]

Well, I certainly hope you two weren't the cause of all this. [ Teasing. She knows they weren't... probably. ] Now you just stay right there while I get to work.

[judicialassistant]

[ ......Wait, is this even reason she came? Apparently it is now.

Susato moves with purpose. Her eyes catch sight of the rainbow fishes' greeting as she picks up a few books on the ground on her way to the closet to grab cleaning supplies, namely a mop and bucket. Her hands are full, but she smiles in their direction regardless.

He'll be back soon, she thinks. To the fish, but mainly to herself.

After a moment, she also grabs his laundry basket, chucking all of the clothes he has strewn about, to at least get them off the floor and out of the way. (If there was any doubt—yep! They definitely need to be washed.)

Eventually, she makes her way back to the pond area to take care of all that water, and gets a better view of... you guessed it! More clutter. By this point, she's got a trash bag at the ready and is freely chucking things inside before the unremarkable brown carp catches her attention. ]

Oh! I haven't seen you before... [ Susato tilts her head. The mop is set aside for the moment, and perhaps her arms are getting tired. She is immediately struck by a sense of familiarity, looking at this fish, and she takes note of the marks above his eyes that look so much like his. ]

You sort of look like him. Is that why he chose you? [ She laughs at the idea. Not expecting any response, she... just continues. ] I wonder why he never told me.

[locumstudentesquire]

[(Jugemu seems to be more about the ear scratches, but. Since he's already so comfortable, he will tolerate the belly rubs. Thank you very much.)

Since fish don't have eyelids, the carp can't exactly blink at her or emote in certain ways... But its body language? The way its jolts and then shakes itself out, and the way its eyes woggle towards Susato when it realizes someone is there, and that it's being spoken to? It almost seems like maybe it was asleep up until a second ago. Or at least very, very zoned out.

That's definitely not the case now. It's much more alert all of a sudden, turning in a few erratic circles, checking its surroundings and then looking back up at Susato. Of course, to a human observer, this might just look like regular old fish behavior... Which will probably make it extra startling when the carp sort of shudders all over, and then there's a POP, and a splash, and suddenly there's a familiar little dragon floating in its place.

The dragon immediately lifts his head up above the surface of the water with a gasp, floundering a moment. Ryunosuke's alarmed sounding voice splutters out of the creature:]

Susato-san?!

july → delivery

[judicialassistant]

[ There will come a day in July where Ryunosuke has decided to sleep in, probably because Susato isn't there to nag him. Similarly, with his recovery progressing, perhaps Susato has also gently encouraged him to tidy things around his house where he is able.

Eventually, when he opens his door, he will be greeted with what appears to be a perfect cup of shaved ice, placed invitingly upon his doorstep. The ice is shaped as such that two mousey-looking ears pop out of the cup, all drenched in a syrupy blue color. Two blueberries make up the mouses's eyes, suggestive of the flavor. Attached is a small spoon to eat it with, and of course, a note. ]

Dear Mr Naruhodo:
I knocked, but you didn't answer! I hope you haven't been house-bound all day. Mr 76 has been teaching me to make these snowballs at our stall, so I thought you could use a frozen treat. I've even infused it with dreamotion so that it won't melt too quickly.

We're home now, so you can stop by for dinner if you'd like, or I can bring over a plate for you later. Let me know how you are doing whenever you are able.

Sincerely,
Susato Mikotoba

[ The note is on sakura-shaped paper, almost as if it's her signature stationary, because of course it is. Now if you'll excuse her, Susato is off to wash the sand out of her everywhere. ]

Middle of December

[chippedsoul]

[He's late, he's not answering his journal, he's not oversleeping at his home.

Where the hell is he?? Kazuma lets out a tired sigh as he takes a moment to feed the fishes in Ryunosuke's home. It's worrying not to hear anything from his best friend and yet, he can easily imagine him being caught up in something. Let's hope it doesn't involve bringing home more junk.

He heads out, deciding to go searching for his friend instead of sitting around and wait for Ryunosuke to come back from...where ever he was. All the while, he occasionally keeps sending messages to him in hopes he'll finally answer back.]

Ryunosuke, where are you? Please tell me you haven't found trouble again.

[The messages get a little more maniac after a few attempts. Somewhere in there he ends up talking about where he was, what he's doing and puts down a shopping list?]

[locumstudentesquire]

[No answers are forthcoming. Ryunosuke is not able to respond to his journal, because he is presently passed out, face down on the ground in a random alleyway, with purple milkshake splattered over and all around him like bloodstains at a violent crime scene.

The good news at least, is that he's passed out not too far from home. So Kazuma is bound to come across him eventually, if he looks hard enough :')]

[chippedsoul]

[The splotches of mysterious purple liquid on the ground is hard to miss. It really stands out in the snow. Maybe a bunch of kids were playing with paint or something. He tries to continue on his search, but he couldn't bring himself to walk away. He gets a feeling he should follow the purple splotches until...]

Ryunosuke!? [What the hell?? The scene presented to him was far worse than whatever he had been expecting. He doesn't waste time rushing to Ryunosuke's side, turning him over so he was no longer facedown on the ground. Didn't matter to him if he was getting some of that strange purple liquid on him.] Hey! [He's checking for a pulse, head pressed against his chest. He's breathing still at least.]

[locumstudentesquire]

[There is a strong steady pulse! Apparently he's just conked the fuck out, for mysterious reasons. Ryunosuke is totally limp in Kazuma's arms when he scoops him up, but a few seconds after he starts listening for a heartbeat he'll hear his friend groan faintly, slowly coming back around.]

Mnnnn... Kazuma...?

[His eyes are still shut, but... He recognizes that voice...]

[chippedsoul]

[He lifts his head upon hearing Ryunosuke's voice. Him being able to speak at all is very promising.]

I'm here. Are you hurt anywhere? What even happened? [Is it safe to move him??]