6/12: Eichi, Akechi

[randori]

[ It's cold. It's super super cold... For as excited as Natsuo was to have the castle grounds open up, he immediately retreats back inside and refuses to acknowledge snow so early in the year. Snow is Christmas and winter break and happiness and New Years and... honestly, his last new years was spend sitting in his living room alone, eating a cup ramen in front of the television while both his parents left on a cruise without him.

Lonely!!!

But not this time— He's not going to let snow bring him down every time he sees it, and he's not going to spend his time all alone either. Late Tuesday, there's a muffled series of thumps on Eichi's and Akechi's door- ]

Open up! Open up!!

[ The muffled thumping is Natsuo kicking at the door and he's dragged his entire heavy red velvet bed sheets along with him, thrown over his head like a hood and cloak.

Did he even tell them he was coming? Doesn't matter; these are courtesy knocks and the doors don't have locks. ]

Comments

[finethanks]

Ah, it's Natsuo-kun. Hello~.

[It is very cold. His own mess is cleaned up in the room, stored in a drawer, so there's just himself, sitting on the bed in fancy, fantasy pajamas he clearly got from the tailor's room. He also has a blanket wrapped around his own shoulders, since he doesn't look too healthy at all, right now.]

Are you here to spend the night?

[randori]

Ah—

[ He draws back a little, as if not entirely expecting the door to open for him despite his incessant banging. He shrugs the blanket off and throws it over Akechi's head, since Eichi is hogging the other one. ]

Yeah, that's why I'm here! Something did happen and you're going to tell me what, right? [ He gives Akechi a pointed look, because, why is that... ]

[doublecrows]

[what??? what??????]

[Akechi's reply is muffled because there's a BLANKET on his head??? but he does manage to take it off, though the movement leaves his hair super disheveled]

You're. . . talking about my face too, aren't you?

[everyone is gonna ask about that, Akechi]

[finethanks]

[At that, there's actually no smart comments from Eichi over here. He simply shifts, letting his legs dangle off the bed, still holding onto his blanket. He'll step in if Natsuo gets to be Too Much, but otherwise...]

[randori]

Yeah! What's wrong with your face?!

[ blunt... I'm sorry. He means well, probably. ]

[doublecrows]

[DEEP SIGH]

I made a wish at the wishing well. It, as you can imagine, did not end in my favor.

[finethanks]

It's rude to ask things so bluntly, Natsuo-kun. Please have some consideration for his privacy.

[randori]

[ Oh. Right. Manners are a thing that exists.

Natsuo ducks his head for a moment, then sidles on over to Akechi, close enough that he can shove his face towards Akechi's and whisper conspiratorially. ]

Okay, now tell me what the fuck you did. Quietly.

[ ~*~privacy~*~ ]

[doublecrows]

[. . . . . .]

[why is this happening, where did his personal space go, spare him Natsuo???]

I made a wish. At the wishing well. As you can imagine. It did not end. In my favor.

[repeats himself from earlier, stopping every so often to let his words sink in]

[finethanks]

Natsuo-kun.

[That's more scolding, even if his voice is fairly gentle despite that.]

Rather than focusing on bad memories, I'd like for us to have a nice time tonight. Could we drop that subject? We could play a game, instead, perhaps.

[randori]

[ No. People wish for more practical things, like chicken wings for dinner or getting a barely passing grade in their next exam, not something like "Oh, Well, please disfigure my face, pretty please!!"

But he does back off at Eichi's scolding (why is he always getting scolded...) and goes to shuffle the blanket wrapped Akechi further into the room so they can all be inside. ]

A sleepover's where there's no secrets. It's where we interrogate each other on all sorts of things— who we like, and what we want to be when we grow up, and which teachers are on our shit list— and we learn everything about each other. You guys have never been invited to a sleepover, huh?

[ He grins this smug little self-assured grin. Learn from the master of sleepovers, he'll guide you through how it's done! ]

Well, neither have I!!

[ or not ]

[doublecrows]

[he didn't wish for his face to be disfigured the well just sucks!!!]

[also this sleepover sounds terrible]

. . . I was always too busy studying for sleepovers.

[read: his upbringing sucked and he had no friends or family who cared about him enough to invite him to sleepovers]

Based on the name, I thought it would mostly be. . . sleeping?

[finethanks]

So, it seems that none of us have been to a sleepover before. However, as student council president, there's plenty that I hear about them, you know? Sleeping is the last thing to do at something like a sleepover. Perhaps it's the same way that Iceland is green, and Greenland is covered in ice.

[It's not like that at all.] Natsuo-kun is right. ♪ There's a game I've heard rumors of, something like... Dare or Truth?

[he tries so hard]

[randori]

[ Bless Eichi for making interrogations happen. ]

Dare or Truth or Penalty!! Close enough— let's play that one! I know how to play that one! If you try to back out of a dare, you get a penalty! If you lie about a truth and we later find out, penalty!!

[doublecrows]

[NO]

I think I'd just rather sleep, thank you. I'm really tired.

[finethanks]

[Eichi outright giggles, sorry Akechi.]

This sort of thing is great for stress relief, you know? Depending on these so-called "penalties," of course. Natsuo-kun is a little threatening.

[randori]

Just don't lie to me, and you won't get a penalty!

[ Because they wouldn't choose a dare from him? They're too smart for that.

There's no escape from the game after he's gotten all hyped up about it, though, physically pulling Akechi towards the bed and trusting Eichi to follow right after, undoing the curtains from around the bed so that they're all boxed in. ]

It'll be fun, Akechi! You're a detective, right? So figuring out things about us is something you should be good at— you go first! Ask one of us whether we want to do a dare, or tell the truth!

[doublecrows]

[NO!!! but with Eichi and Natsuo on the case, there's no resisting, and it isn't long before Akechi is TRAPPED like a boxed-in detective. oh my god]

. . .

Well, if you're leaving me no other choice, I suppose I should cooperate.

[. . .]

Natsuo-san, do you want to do a dare, or tell the truth?

[did he do it right]

fuck me

[finethanks]

Ah, Natsuo-kun was chosen first! Let's see, which is it that will be chosen? Dare? Or truth?

[Why is he NARRATING NOW] I'm so excited that I'm trembling. ♪

[randori]

Dare! Dare!! Give me a dare!

[ ~*~sparkling eyes~*~
truth is the coward's way out, despite his insistence about interrogations ]

[doublecrows]

[oh, perfect]

I dare you to go to asleep.

[wow he's boring]

[finethanks]

Through Natsuo-kun's enthusiasm, Akechi-kun chooses a boring answer like that! I wonder what the response will be?

[randori]

—Penalty!! [ he's not ready to let the two of them play without him?? that's mean ] Give me a penalty instead! And it can't be sleep!

[ a rule he just made up

the game is actually dare, truth, or dare. they're the same thing ]

[doublecrows]

[oh my GOD]

Then your penalty is to lie down and pretend to be asleep.

[he still sucks at this game, holy shit]

[finethanks]

Akechi-kuuuuuun. Play nice.

[Hmmm.] Since I'm the innocent third party here, I'll decide that Akechi-kun's dare is invalid! No sleeping allowed at a sleepover. Try again~.