2588/In Which the Dread F Word (Feelings) Must Be Used

In Which the Dread F Word (Feelings) Must Be Used
Date of Scene:	04 June 2025
Location:	Sugata's House
Synopsis:	Wako and Sugata must discuss... feelings. This is easier for Wako than it is Sugata.
Cast of Characters:	Wako Agemaki, Sugata Shindo

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Wako Agemaki has posed:
Eventually - once she and Takuto actually remembered - Wako got her crepe. She's left Takuto in high spirits, full of warm feelings and a fresh inspiration to go find her fiance and give him a hard time.

The first trick is finding him, of course, which might take a while given the unnecessary size of his house.

But she at least knows where he was, so she's headed for the onsen, slippered feet making a light little tmp tmp tmp on the wooden floors as she patters along.

"Su ga ta kun~~"

Is he getting the sense that he might be in a bit of trouble right now?

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Sugata had, in fact, been aware that he would be in trouble. That is why he let Takuto go tell Wako, actually, even though he knew that was only putting it off, because then he'd at least be the one to tell the whole story and get her initial response.

He spends the time toweling off and getting properly dressed, and as a result he's got the snacks Takuto gifted him held out as an offering as Wako marches towards the onsen.

"Wako-chan," he says, mild and assessing, trying to guess at how much trouble he's in. "Takuto-kun found you?"

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Tmp tmp tmp tmp. When Sugata shows himself at the end of the hall, Wako marches purposefully toward him, stopping a few meters away to plant her hands on her hips. And looks at him, chin lifted so she can meet his eyes squarely.

"Sugata-kun," she says again, enunciating very clearly. Her expression is deadly serious, even grave.

"We need to talk."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Hm. Even though Sugata was expecting it - and even though he can tell what she's doing - there's something very unnerving, bordering on sinister, about that grave stare, that dead serious voice, as she says those words.

"...I owe Takuto another apology, don't I?"

It's a voice of surrender, and he offers her a faint bow, recognizing his fault.

"He did laugh about it, eventually?" This will not save him, but it must certainly be said.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
She tries. Wako really does try to keep up that straight, ominously serious face as she stares him down. She tries - but in the wake of Sugata's bow, that resigned question, the corner of her mouth starts to twitch. The corners of her eyes begin to crinkle, bringing a hint of a sparkle into her stare.

The moment hangs suspended for a heartbeat, and then another - and then Wako gives up and breaks out into peals of laughter, hard enough to double her over.

"Seriously, Sugata-kun?" she gasps out between giggles. "You really opened 'I want to kiss you and it's distracting' with we need to talk?"

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"In my defense, we did need to talk. About our relationship. All of those words were factual and true." A beat. "Poorly chosen, and giving the exact wrong impression, but... still factual and true."

He's never going to live this down. Some day, far in the future, Takuto will have something of great important to discuss, and he'll say, we need to talk and Sugata will just have to live with that."

He waits for Wako to get herself under control, unable to resist the fond smile that crosses his face.

"He told you about the kissing part though, so you have to know I wasn't a complete failure at this conversation."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"Somehow." Wako shakes her head, but she's grinning at him even as she wipes the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes. "Geez! Sugata-kun..."

A deep breath to finish getting herself under control, and then she's crossing those last few meters of space, smiling as she approaches the rest of the way. "You're kind of hopeless, aren't you?" Her tone is light, teasing. Affectionate. "But yes, I guess you did get there eventually, huh?"

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"I had to be burdened with some form of fatal flaw," Sugata laments, and then grows a bit more serious, looking down at Wako, affectionate, fond, serious. "If Takuto-kun old you all of that, you can... probably guess that he isn't the only one I have those sorts of... feelings, for."

Yes, there was a pause before the word feelings, Sugata grimacing at uttering it in spite of himself, before quickly getting under control. "We didn't choose our engagement. It was decided by our families. But if we decide to marry, I hope it will be our choice, our decision."

Because he loves her, as he loves Takuto, though not in the same way, because they are not the same person, and even as a trio they each have their own means of relating to one another.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Wako can't quite suppress a little giggle at that grimace. It's just... so very Sugata. They've both grown a lot since the day Takuto washed up on the beach of Southern Cross Island, but at the end of the day, after all, Sugata can't be anyone other than who he is.

Her smile turns a little sheepish; she ducks her head slightly, lifting a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. "To be honest... I used to worry that you hated the idea. Because it was something that was decided for us. I was always kind of afraid to ask what you actually wanted, in case your answer was that you'd rather we weren't engaged at all."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"I wish it had been our choice," he says, blunt on this as he rarely is, when they have left so much unsaid, for so long. "I didn't see the point, in speaking of it, for a long time. It was decided, after all. Whether we wanted it or not, it was going to happen, just as we were going to bear our marks, just as we were going to be trapped on Southern Cross Island."

He pauses, here, and looks at Wako, in the backdrop of a home that might look ancient but is new, in a city he had wanted and planned and intended to all-but-die for her to visit, but had not thought he would see.

"But we do have a choice, now. And though I won't thank them I'm glad it's you."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
At his blunt words, Wako simply nods, calmly, still smiling. It doesn't sting to hear him say it - how could it? This much, she knew all along.

"I've always been glad it was you," she replies, milder in tone but no less honest in a way neither of them has really been accustomed to. "But I feel like I owe you an apology. If Takuto-kun hadn't come along, I'd have let things stay like they were... and I'd never have been able to talk to you about any of this, because I knew it wasn't the way you wanted things to be."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
It is what it is. It was, what it was. They had no true choice, on the island, in their stagnation, and Sugata had - in so many ways, he had played his part, been the Shindo, been the Sugata, been who he was expected and meant and needed to be. He'd encouraged Wako to keep singing, to keep thinking of the day she could pursue her dream, but he'd never thought of one for himself, never considered a broader future.

"I don't think you do. Or if you do, it's no more than the apology I owe you, for never sharing my intentions for Glittering Crux."

Because it had been his plan, to work with them, to awaken his mark, to stop Samekh in such a way that there would never be another Sugata, and Wako would be free to do as she pleased, and he certainly hadn't told her.

"We chose not to say a lot of things, and we kept our own counsel, instead of talking, like this. ...and though in some ways it certainly was more comfortable, this is better for us."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
At that, Wako shakes her head, her smile growing warmer and brighter and achingly fond. "Well, yeah," she returns teasingly, "that was definitely a boneheaded thing that you did. But we stopped you, didn't we? So now the three of us get to be here together, and you're right, that's much better. Even if maybe you and I still have some bad habits to work on."

She clasps her hands behind her back and leans forward, tipping her head back to look up into his eyes with a distinct spark of mischief. "So, Sugata-kun..." She draws his name out. "Was it only Takuto-kun who's been distracting you, lately~?"

Sugata Shindo has posed:
They have their whole lives to work on those bad habits. It's a thought that never would have occurred to him, three years before.

"If I lied and said he was, would I be free from torment?"

Of course it wouldn't! He has, after all, already admitted it would be a lie. And what a lie, when Wako is such a distraction - the girl he grew up with, the girl he befriended, the birthdays he never acknowledged, all with her at his side, and with her growing in leaps and bounds every day, with all of them becoming more than they ever thought they could be -

"The only way you'd be more distracting is if you picked up kendo."

None of that will stop him from teasing her, though.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"Not a chance!" Wako declares, beaming with delight at his answer. "Do you want Benio to show up from the island and chase me around the dojo with a bokken? Is that what you want?"

She inches a little closer, brings up a hand to poke him lightly in the middle of his chest with her index finger.

And then while he's distracted, she throws her arms around his neck, goes up on her tippy-toes, and kisses him on the mouth.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"Well, you can't say it wouldn't be funny," Sugata laughs, quiet and soft. "She'd have plenty to say about that, but it would be worth it. For me."

Not for Wako, but that's her problem, his bright eyes say.

And thus, he really is very distracted when she throws her arms around him, pops up on her tip-toes, and kisses him fully on the mouth. He goes stiff with surprise for an instant, and then - melts into her, kissing back, not especially gracefully, but with certain interest.