2324/Kinda Short On A Lot

Kinda Short On A Lot
Date of Scene:	14 February 2025
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	Kazuo comes to check in on Koji. Koji is somewhat startled by this. Kazuo is somewhat tempted to shake Koji, just a little bit, but fortunately mainly does so with groceries. Okay, mostly with groceries. Okay, also with conversation. Turns out Koji is short on groceries and also intermittently short on words...
Cast of Characters:	Kazuo Saitou, Koji Silvia

---

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
The first check was on the wrong room. Fortunately, a couple of sentences exchanged with another passing student, and Kazuo is enlightened! ... in a very small way. It's only a few steps down the hall, past the Adrien Fashion Lair with Chrono Accessories, and then Kazuo is knocking at a door. Again. Or, if the door is open, tapping politely at the wall beside it.

Koji Silvia has posed:
This is a double-dorm room, but with so few boys of a particular persuasion attending the school, and logistics of the place means that a few get lucky, or are just able to get away with getting all that space to themselves.

The walls have had posters put up, all of them from anime of the 70s and early 80s rather than anything modern, and all of them are inside of black-framed plastic. Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Space Battleship Yamato, Go-Lion, and Science Ninja Team Gatchaman all showing a heavy sci-fi lean to the decor, which is seen again on the student storage closet that has some smaller pieces from magazines with different models of Gundam.

The opposite side has a table where the bed should be, and it's got enough space that there's a spot for a model-building and electronics workstation, complete with a blue pad that has white graph-lines to it, and next to it is a matteblack desktop computer.

The standard school bed is there, and on top of it, currently staring up at his phone and swiping away is Koji... and if he has earbuds in, no one can tell, but he does say when the door is tapped on, "Enter!"

Sitting up, he's dressed in just an RHA gym shirt and track pants, and socks... face a little pale as he's recovering from an infection.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo opens the door, enters, and closes it behind him, leaning back against the wood. He's in the full-on winter uniform, hair loose, with his habitual sparkly earrings. They fail to match the orange of the uniform. As usual. "Hey," he greets. "I heard a little from Mamoru about what happened, and wanted to look in. You doing okay?" A closer inspection of that pale face. "-- mostly okay?"

It's only after he's said that that he surveys the far side of the room; eyebrows twitch up just a little, as if mildly impressed by something. Possibly the electronics workstation. Possibly he's a secret Gundam fan. Hard to tell.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Upon seeing who is actually here, versus any one of a number of people who might have been expected to be here... Koji is at first left with his mouth hanging... and then as he claps it back shut, he shakes it off and suddenly seems to get some color back into his cheeks. Maybe a little too much as he looks around for a moment, fumbling almost to himself as he reaches over and turns the study chair in front of the computer, "OH... uhh... h-hello, Saito-sama..."

Overly formal by default, but he goes on, "You didn't need to come down here to check on me. I'm sure you've got more important things to be doing for... well... him..."

Not really sticking the landing on that one...

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"My primary job this afternoon is kitten-sitting for a kid in the hospital," Kazuo tells Koji, with an amused note in his voice. "And Anko can handle that for a while longer; by definition it doesn't need opposable thumbs. Not till kitten dinner time, at least."

He pauses for a moment. Still propping up the door, not that it needs it. "Do you need more blankets? You sound a little cold."

Koji Silvia has posed:
    "Oh... apologies... would you like to sit?"

But then he moves and sits down on the edge of his bed, "Thank you for the thought, but I'm okay. This room's temperature control is in better condition than the old room. After the flood, never seemed to work well. I'm guessing some of the wiring in the wall is bad."

But with that said, he then looks up and towards you, with his expression a faint smile, "You're looking well. I haven't seen you since... I was attacked by that creepy ramen monster. Sorry for getting you involved in that too."

There's another awkward moment, before he just takes a deep breath and smacks his hands on his cheeks, wincing and then exhaling hard, "Look... I'm really sorry for being so awkward... I just haven't seen you since the camping trip, except in passing. I was starting to think I'd done something. Or said something."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Mm. We should check," Kazuo says, as if that were perfectly reasonable to say about the wiring in someone else's building. "Have they moved anyone else in there yet? If not, I'll take a look in on my way out and see if I can pick anything up. Maybe we can connive with Inai-san to get a maintenance check."

He pushes away from the door at last, folding himself down into the offered study chair, leaning forward a little and resting arms on his knees to keep them from being quite so visibly awkward. Chairs are too small. It's just a thing. "Not your fault for my getting involved in that. Obsidian's been pulling that stunt for ... what, a year now? Off and on, anyway. That was just a particularly embarrassing new technique for it. Same thing they've been doing with the rifles." He hopes Koji's heard about the rifles. At some point.

And then there's a little bit of a blink. "Huh," says Kazuo. "I was trying to figure out if I'd done something. Or said something. You had this amazing way at the camping trip of figuring out where I was going, and changing what you were doing to be anywhere else." There's no accusation in that, and a little bit of a crooked grin afterward. "Gave up eventually and figured if I had, sooner or later you'd throw something at me in the hall, or whatever."

Koji Silvia has posed:
Koji looks past Kazuo as he brings up the Camping Trip, and at the closed door as if he could see past it, but by the end he's brought his gaze back.

    "Well... once Mamoru showed up with both you and..." He pause, and then snaps his fingers, "Suikawa-san... and pretty much was just tight with you two for the whole thing, I was pretty sure I was not entirely... welcome."

With that admission, his shoulders slump, "To be honest, it took me a bit to get over the feeling I had when he moved out that he didn't want me in his life anymore. But I get that... he's had too many times where someone has come for him, and I could have been here. He's trying to protect everyone."

Now he just falls back on the bed, grabs him pillow and almost pulls it on his face, "He's not even here, and all I'm talking about is Mamoru, Mamoru, Mamoru... ugh... I sound like one of those GIRLS who were chasing after him before Usagi scared them off!"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo's head tilts to one side. "So, because Usagi-chan spends a lot of time with her roommate, she can't also talk to anyone else? And neither can Naru? Explain this one to me; I'm a little lost." His tone of voice suggests he's joking, and so does the flicker of a smile afterward. "You were busy enough I'm not surprised if you didn't notice, but - Mamoru did a lot of cometary orbits, spending time talking with other people, then swinging by to check in. We needed to make sure at least one of us was keeping an eye on Suikawa; he both didn't have camping experience," thus the being conquered by his own tent, "and wasn't really ... together in his head, yet. He's doing a lot better these days. Still not a hundred percent, but moving in the right direction."

And then Koji's shoulders slump, and Kazuo's face is interesting to read before Koji hides behind the pillow. Didn't want Koji in his life anymore? Kazuo's eyebrows twitch a little. Trying to protect everyone? There's a faint little frown, not one that disputes that conclusion, but one that indicates a touch of surprise at something peripheral to it, something that doesn't make him all that happy.

And then he relaxes into a laugh, the far side of that pillow. "Well, if you weren't talking about Mamoru, you'd have to actually tell me how you were doing, and so far you're going to pretty impressive lengths to avoid that. Seriously, though - did you not know what living on-campus at all was doing to the touch-based psychic? You're sharp enough I'd've figured you'd've picked up on how much harder it got for him once he wasn't Hematite anymore."

Koji Silvia has posed:
Koji sits back up and gives you a bit of a flat look, "He never TOLD me that he was a touch-based psychic. By the time he was Mamoru, he was spending a lot more time with Usagi and everyone else..."

He honestly sounds both surprised, annoyed, and a little bit grumpy at that, hugging the pillow to his chest, "Okay, fine. No more Mamoru. How am I feeling? Well... I'm feeling beat up."

The young raven-haired boy just sort of sits there for a moment, and seems lost in that thought, his eyes shaded from the reflection of the ceiling light, the sound of the room's air conditioner clicking on the send more heat into the room, "I'm not beating myself up about poor Mister Okana. I was so engaged in keeping my eyes on the ice queen to really know if it was just too much area or me missing a beat... and I wasn't the only one there. So I am not putting what happened on my shoulders and running myself to another illness trying to make sure it never happens again."

To that he sniffs, and then reaches for a tissue to blow his nose, "Getting a hole in my gut was not fun. At all. The worst part was... that I couldn't FEEL anything. It was just all.. COLD. And that's gonna be there for a long time. No scars here. Just here."

Touching one hand to the left side of his belly, he then taps his skull, and gives a faint shrug, "Mom's started calling every day to check in. She wants me to come home and talk once I'm done with my meds. Which is two days from now. I think she's just... worried... because I was there because of her. She wanted me to see some of what she does for a living."

Another sniffle, and Koji just murmurs out, "So yeah... that's a long way to say... not great... but a lot better than Koji from last year would be doing."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo blinks at Koji. Then shifts one hand up so he can, slowly, lower his face into it. "Every day," he says, somewhat muffled by his own palm, "I am more and more convinced that Amy powers her American-ness by subconsciously stealing the ability to use actual words from everyone else in the vicinity, and repurposes it for her own surprised shouting."

Then Koji moves on to how he's feeling, and Kazuo straightens up again, focus abruptly keen and close. Watching even the small motions, muscles in face and hands.

"A lot better, yeah," he agrees quietly at the end. "You going to go see her? Talking to people who get it can be a good thing. So can being around people who care about you. People who don't mind touching you, and who you don't mind being touched by. Contact that doesn't hurt is maybe the best way to overwrite your body screaming into your brain about what happened."

He hesitates a brief instant, as if there were something else he might be about to say; but the hesitation fades into quiet, not into speech. Not a negation. Just putting it off, like now's not necessarily the time for a topic change.

Koji Silvia has posed:
As he scratches on the back of his hair a moment, Koji turns his head to look at the window and the night air, his eyes almost having those subtle shifts of movement as if he's begun to expect SOMETHING to happen in the middle of the quiet moments. He even reaches over to where he left his Device, disguised as his phone, and puts it back into his tracksuit pocket where it can be waiting for him, "Saitou-sama..." Then, he stops, "Kazuo... the nights I don't go out to beat up on scrub-tier youma just getting their fangs into the city... is when I'm either too beat up to do it, or I'm being kindly mauled into playing online with Usagi."

He finally looks back at the white-haired young man, "I took out that kind of screaming on them with blades and magic. Which I get isn't totally healthy but... I had, and still have my reasons."

There's another pause, and then he nods, "I'll go see her. But I know what's going to happen. Because it's what always happens. She gets melancholy and annoyed, and then starts drinking. Dad turns it into a party and fries something, and eventually I have to haul blankets over one or both of them and try to ignore the snoring from my bedroom."

For all the griping... there's an edge of a smile in his tone.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Not totally healthy, but - there's a hint of warmth in gray eyes as Kazuo inclines his head to Koji's statement. "Understood," he says. And leaves that one at that. Because not totally healthy is frequently much healthier than other choices available.

"I should let you know," he says, at Koji's description of his home life, "that I am available to send pre-timed texts or phone calls. Just in case you think you might want an excuse to escape the --" script? -- "Great Enblanketing." A note of that laughter is back in his expression, somewhere, as he says those two words. "Though I'm also sure if you really wanted that option you could set it up for yourself; but sometimes collusion is more fun."

Koji Silvia has posed:
After puffing out a breath, he actually colors more in the cheeks, and then lets go of the pillow rather than hug it tighter and give away the game. Pushing it back in place, he bows his head for a moment, before Koji replies, "That's kind of you, really. I..." Another pause, "That's something I would have asked... our friend... to do... before Paris."

He looks almost regretful about mentioning THAT, but then as he sits back, he seems to let it go as the tension seems to release from his shoulder slightly, "I... I really should thank you. I..." Looking around and back, his hands go up and back to his sides, "I'd offer you something to eat, but I'm kinda short on ingredients right now. I'm kinda short on a lot. I kinda ate through most of my stash because I didn't have the energy to go to the cafeteria. But again... thank you. This means a lot."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"So are you going to tell me what stuff you're short on, or am I going to guess?" Kazuo asks, with another quick little hint of a smile. "Because I warn you, I have sources for educated guessing, but they lean toward baking. Sometimes specifically toward muffins large enough to stand in for an entire meal."

Paris is bypassed. It was never mentioned. Clearly.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Koji grumbles, "I got too used to swiping... someone's black card and using it to buy stuff. Spoiled myself. Probably not the best of ideas... and I've not had a job since just before the holiday... so no extra money."

Instead of telling you, he gets up and goes to his desk, and ruffles through some paperwork. When he finds what he's looking for, he comes back and shows it to you. It's a list of ingredients to make what sounds like professional level ramen... specific brand-types, including where to get them, several different sauces and additives, and the meats listed are from a butcher in Juuban that gets his stuff from a farm just outside of town. Mostly pork and chicken. Finally, at the bottom is a note that says 'Only get Mushrooms if Mamo-kun isn't eating...' Followed by 'Heathen.'.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo reaches for his phone. A picture of the list is snapped. "Your butcher know you by name?" he asks, with a note of interest. "Just so I know whether I need to tell him who I'm shopping for so he doesn't get creeped out by identical orders."

He pauses. "And should I just assume that every time you're recovering, I should ply you with mushrooms et cetera? Because if you are still living next to the same two people and it didn't occur to you that you could ask them for a hand, I am going to err on the side of drowning you in food until you eventually start speaking to people like a normal person out of sheer desperation. I figure by the time you're thirty or so that might happen."

Koji Silvia has posed:
Any considerations of giving the name of the butcher he found in Juuban are immediately cut off by that idly playful threat... the idea of you coming by every day to get him to recover and come out of his shell... and the more you speak, the more his flush spreads. And then when you make the declaration of by what age he might consider actually breaking away from the introvert-style behavior he has... and the only sound you get in reply from that now red-faced boy is...

    'Ulp?!'

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Right, then. I won't worry about unsettling the butcher unless he starts giving me weird looks." Kazuo's eyes spark with mischief. Possibly that was his idea of having mercy on Koji. There is no mention of the blush. Or of the sudden onset of aphasia.

He does, however, push himself up from the chair.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Koji stands up suddenly about the same time you do, like he could sense the change in your muscles, but then he seems to waver, and something in him decides to fall back into place.

Just looking up at you, if he had animal ears, they'd be folded flat at the moment as he asks, "Why are you being so nice to me?"

It's the kind of question that has some older and bone-deep suspicions to it, like there's a kernel in him that's expecting something else behind a good intention.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Because apparently my life's secret purpose is taking care of smart people who do good things but are also idiots," Kazuo replies. There's that tilt of his head again, and his hair somehow not making a nest on his shoulders when he does it, just unfairly flowing straight down. "Which is something you should find a little familiar. It's just your turn to get taken care of right now."