Getting closer
shintaroxisaragi:
“I see. Shima it is then.” That went much smoother than he originally thought it was going to be. It was good to know that this guy didn’t really care about whether or not someone called him by his name with honorifics. It told him a couple of things about Shima. Actually, this whole conversation did, but he wasn’t going to set anything into stone just yet. All he could think of was that he reminded Shintaro of Kano. They seem like they would’ve gotten along to some degree. At least, until Kano sought out his weak spots and prodded them until Shima lost his mind.
What a funny idea…
That thought had his heart beating a little faster. So much happened between him and Kano. Out of all his friends, he was probably the one he missed the most. Sure, he got along with Kido, Marry, and Seto just fine. Kano just, got to him differently. Not to mention everything that happened between them. However… thinking about it, he didn’t remember why they fought in the first place. He was sure it was something important, but… He couldn’t remember. That’s frustrating.
As he tries his best to remember what the reason was, his eyes turn red once again. Not that he could really tell. Out of everyone else, he had the hardest time controlling his own ability since he never really got to use it until the end of each loop. Sometimes, he never even used it. Wait, didn’t he meet the person who gave him his ability? The harder he thought about it, the more frustrated he got. All he could see in his mind was a body that looked to be scribbled out with a black marker. What the hell was the reason for that?
Hearing Shima speak again snaps him out of his thoughts and he mentally decides to shelf that for now, too. “Yeah, I get it.” His eyes shift back to brown within the second. When the other mentions how the people here can get weird, his mind flashes back to meeting Leo. That man surely was something else. Never before did he ever think he would meet a fellow composer that seemed to have completely lost his mind. Just remembering how cold it was that day was enough to make him shiver all over again. “Weird seems to be an understatement.”
Hopefully Leo was okay now and in good hands.
Shima explaining that he was a monk wasn’t really that strange, and he even cracks a small smile that lasts all of a millisecond when he does the mantra. It was slightly amusing that the man found it necessary to explain his whole situation when Shintaro really wouldn’t have questioned him on the matter. He was a monk? Neat. Not that he really knew what monks do, but that meant that, to some extent, Shima was a hard worker. Or, at least dedicated since he still considers himself one after coming here. “My family wanted me to become something big, but I ended up falling for composing. I wrote a few songs, but… Never posted them.” Had Ene not destroyed it, he would’ve uploaded it.
What a waste.
The last question drops on him like a bucket of cold water. No, he hadn’t realized his eyes were doing that and he sure as hell didn’t like the fact that it supposedly happened while they were talking. He remembers when he thought about his past and mentally slaps himself. Idiot! Shintaro closes his eyes and groans, reaching up to rub the bridge of his nose. God dammit. How was he supposed to explain why his eyes went red without sounding like he was lying? How can he just tell someone without sounding crazy? There was no way to explain it either without going into the nitty-gritty.
After a moment, he opens his eyes and drops his hand. “No, I wasn’t aware. But I know why.” No more thinking about his past, or any of his pasts, while out with anyone. That was a dangerous game to play. What if it happened and the wrong person saw it? They’d surely attack him! What a stupid thing to expose. At least Shima didn’t outright run in fear.
“I can explain, but I would rather not do so on the street where everyone can hear. Since you saw… and told me about you being a monk, I guess I can tell you about it. Just. It’s difficult to explain.” What an understatement.
Honestly he was appreciative of the fact that he wasn’t the only one who had had strange encounters thus far, for it gave him a sense of unity: ‘you’ve seen strange shit, I’ve seen strange shit, let’s be friends’. Maybe not entirely, especially not when Renzou had full intentions of betraying Shintaro’s trust if it ever came down to it, but the sentiment still stood. Friends until they weren’t anymore, that was a good way to deal with people. Even then, even faced with betrayal, his own comrades had appeared stupidly intent to still trust in him, something which Renzou to this day still couldn’t quite conceive, but he supposed it made things a lot easier for him.
On one hand Renzou was incredibly interested in hearing more about Shintaro’s supposed peculiar encounters, for at least he’d know what to prepare himself for (he didn’t doubt that there were weirder creatures out there than squid girl) but on the other hand, the matter of Shintaro’s eyes was much more pressing in his focus. Although he didn’t go around promoting himself as one, Renzou was quite the nagger and quite the person to stick his nose into other people’s business. He would be an incredibly bad spy if he didn’t go around snooping in other people’s secrets after all.
It did however amuse him slightly that his conversational partner didn’t find his supposed occupation weird in the slightest. He didn’t really tell people about his family business usually exactly because he didn’t want to seem uncool, but this guy just shrugged it off as though it was the most normal thing in the world. Taking his parents and older brothers into consideration, Renzou didn’t really look the part of a man of the cloth in comparison (Kinzou being the only exception to this rule, but that guy was an exception to every rule ever made) and he didn’t really feel like one either.
“Composin’ eh? That’s...” So normal. Good for Shintaro. Words trailing off, Renzou never finished his sentence, trying to imagine a world where he himself had time to sit down and do stuff like that. With both normal school and cram school he barely even had time to run around in the tails of girls vying for their affection, so he would never have time for something like that. Neither did he have the creative soul for it if he had to be honest. Renzou had however considered for a mere moment to pick up the guitar or something because chicks digged a man who could play, but that dream had been quelled after hearing Kin-nii perform his blasphemous act towards music. How Izumo had found that interesting, he still failed to comprehend.
Looking around, he had to conclude that there were indeed quite a few people around, and if Shintaro was about to let him in on some secret and didn’t want the world to hear it, then Renzou wasn’t one to tell him to stand here and burst it out in the middle of everything. Honestly he had been on his way to the bookstore to see if they had some of the magazines he enjoyed reading back at True Cross, but a quick glance at his wristband watch dictated that he might as well forget about that idea for the time being. Of course he could try and look at a convenience store, but the selection was usually much smaller in such places. Such a shame. He’d have to return another day.
“If yer sure, then come with me.” Giving Shintaro little time to consider, Renzou turned on his heels and walked back from whence he’d come, gesturing for the other boy to follow. “My apartment’s just ‘round the corner. I ain’t got a room mate or partner or whatever ya call ‘em yet so it’ll be completely empty. That good enough fer ya?”
Truly a stroke of genius there. Honestly having to invite a guy to his place as the first visitor was kind of depressing, but it’d have to do with how things turned out in the end. And it annoyed him, but he was curious about what Shintaro had to say. Perhaps, depending on the absurdity of the tale he was about to hear, he could return the favour and talk about his own exorcism career. The guy did make it sound like he was about to spill something pretty big after all, so maybe it was only fair. But on the other hand, maybe it would just make it seem like he didn’t believe in Shintaro. ‘Yeah, your story is cool and all, but did you know that demons exist and that we’re surrounded by them right now?’ Probably not the best course of action for someone who was about to spill his heart. This was really rather annoying.
Stepping up to let the other intrude upon his rather plain place, Renzou opened the door to the apartment that had been him dedicated for the time being. “This is it. It ain’t anythin’ impressive, but it’s home I s’pose. Just moved in so I still gotta make it feel right ‘n stuff.” He took off his shoes and walked further in as he cast a glance backwards, a smile present on his face. “Need a drink or somethin’ first? Ya still look pretty shaken up. I ain’t got much but I can at least offer some tab water.”
