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That doesn't make any sense! [Yuya looks back up at him.] We're friends, so I'm going to think about you no matter what!

[ He has to bite at his cheek to stop himself before he says something stupid like "Then we're not friends anymore!!!" because that's childish and he thinks Yuya will cry or maybe he will cry. ]

Ehh~ Can't you think happier thoughts about me? Like, if someday I disappear, just think to yourself that I'm taking a long nap, or maybe I'm vacationing out in the Himalayas, or maybe I've been adopted into a tribe of wild boars!!

[Yuya would absolutely cry.

That also doesn'tsolve that Yuya doesn't want Kano to disappear at all, but just asking and not offering anything is selfish and maybe he should have just told Nana everything and let her handle it, because she's so much better with people. Better at making them smile.]

I think happy thoughts about you here are better than making things up about why you're gone.

[ If Yuya snitches on him to Nana, Kano would be upset for different reasons. For whatever reason, talking about this with Yuya is more fine than having a conversation about not existing with Nana, even if he doesn't want this conversation either. Isn't he smiling right now? He makes sure he smiles all the time, whenever he notices people are around, so they wouldn't have to worry about little things like this. ]

There's no reason it can't be both, right? Happy thoughts when I'm here, but— how do you know Wist didn't actually send me to the Himalayas? It could have happened! You don't know, and that's the beauty of not knowing, isn't it? You get to make things up, and nobody can say you're wrong~

It... doesn't work that way.

[Yuya's expression slips as he looks down, brow knit.] When you don't know what happened, you never get an answer to stop asking yourself why. You can't be wrong, but you can't be right either.

[He knows, because not knowing has haunted hours family about his father for years. He shouldn't envy that Kano has closure for his mother, but... he'd give a lot just to know.

Though the part that hurts him most with Kano is knowing that he asked for it.]

[ There's people who take comfort in the unknown, and those who agonize over it. Unfortunately, there are so many things in life that are just that: you just don't know. You don't know how things are going to turn out, you don't know what's going to happen, or how, or why, or when, or anything of the sort, but you hope for the best anyways. You pretend, because that's all you can do to keep from going stir crazy and drowning in those thoughts.

He reaches over and pats Yuya on the head— a distraction more than comfort, something to buy him time, shift the attention away. ]

Chin up, Yu~ya! Let's try being more positive about things! Not knowing what's what, means that the best possible outcome is still a possibility, right?

[It becomes hard to cling to that after five, six, seven years. Yuya shudders briefly before he looks up at the hand on his head.

It isn't comforting at all, but Yuya offers a slight smile regardless.] Maybe if it gets confirmed.

[He leans back slightly, back to the wall. For agreeing to be secret keepers, they're both reluctant to actually get into it. But Yuya thinks he shouldn't bring up bad thoughts if what he wants is to make Kano happier.]

Hey, you want to do something fun?

[ No, see, they're great secret keepers. So long as both of them refuse to share any secrets, none of them will ever get leaked.

Here's another secret Kano keeps to himself: he would really honestly just like to go back to sleep right now, after doing nothing for a month. Wist had told him to take a nap, and it felt like the best rested nap he's ever had in his life-- until all these memories come slamming back and he feels like he needs the time to sort through them a bit, try to tease out the warm ones from the ones drenched in cold sweat. ]

Something fun... Actually, yes! There's something I would like to get done, and I think it would be fun if we did it together~

Something you want to get done? [Yuya wasn't thinking with so much purpose. He tilts his head.] What is it?

[ There always has to be a purpose, so as far as Kano's concerned, otherwise they'd be stuck in a cycle of "Do you want to do something fun?" "Yeah, what do you want to do?" "What do you want to do?" "What do YOU want to do??" and he might as well make it a productive time for himself in the first place. Fun is kind of like friendship: a great excuse to get people to do things.

He spreads his arms wide, standing in the center of the room. ]

We're going to remodel!! See, somebody moved all the furniture around when I was gone, so I thought it'd be a pain to have to do it all by myself!

[ The furniture, as they stand at the moment, look exactly where they're supposed to be, mirrored room by room in the same layout as all the other bedrooms in the dorm. But that's not how he originally re-arranged the desks and chest of drawers and all that himself, and he wants things back to how they were. ]

Remodel? [Yuya looks around. It's really just the standard furniture, isn't it?

Well, at least that wasn't him and Toki's fault.] Where did you want to move things?

It goes like this!

[ Again, his hands flash out, and he casts the illusion about the room where he would like everything to be— beds shoved together to create one large mattress, desk pulled out slightly, dresser awkwardly shoved in the corner, etc etc. If only moving things in reality were that easy, but his illusions will always ever be fake. ]

Oh, I see. You want a really big bed. [He smirks.] I guess without a roommate you have them all to yourself, right?

[He glances back, making sure the door is closed before he steps properly into the room and looks over one of the beds.] But we should probably move the other stuff first.

I want a really big bed!! And a larger closet, but I'm still petitioning for that one~

[ He hops over towards the dresser first, since it's going to be shoved awkwardly in the corner so that half the drawers aren't accessible after getting blocked off by the desk, it makes sense to start here. ]

But it's not a permanent thing, you know? Ellie's coming back. [ She's got to. ] I know she will. [ She's absolutely got to. ] So I'm holing the fort until then!

Yeah, she's at the school in Canada now, right? [He thinks he'd rather be in France.

Yuya moves to help with the dresser.] But why do you need a bigger closet?

[ If the thing about Canadians being super nice is true, he wonders how they're dealing with Ellie. He hopes they don't change her too badly. ]

Hm... I've got a lot of clothes?

[ He's got like one entire outfit that he wears 24/7, 365 days a year, but okay. ]

But you don't wear them! [He's only seen the hoodie and (an illusion of) a uniform, and also there was some stuff folded in the closet so he highly doubts it.

He regards Kano for a moment.] Is it to have another hideout?

[Like a secret room for TV or something, that actually sounds really cool.]

That's why I need the closet, to put all the clothes I don't wear!

[ It makes sense, okay?? But he turns around and pushes against the dresser with his back instead of his arms when Yuya asks the question. "Another" hideout, he says, but it's probably because he remembers Kano inviting him to the rooftop one, and now that's been compromised. Kano's got lots of hideouts, scattered throughout the campus and neighboring town and mountains, but there's no reason to have one in his own room where it's basically his own place anyways. ]

But, another hideout, huh? I was thinking about that, actually! Think I can drill a hole from my closet down to yours?

[ An escape hatch... can never have too many of those. ]

[Toki thought of the same thing, except... for a very different reason. Yuya's expression twists with amusement as they heave the dresser into place.]

You could, but why would you? Just to visit us?

[ For more reasons than one, but—- ]

Yep! Exactly that~!!

Eh, are the stairs too much for you? We'll need some rules, like knocking before you come out of our closet!

[He weaves around to the opposite side of the desk, hooking his fingers under the lip to move it.]

Ah- I got that side! This side's heavier, so you take this side!!

[ That's his secret drawer side, Yuya, let him take it... ]

But yeah, I'm old, see? I've got bad knees, so the stairs are really such a pain~ I was thinking if we could convince the second and first floors too, we could have a fireman's pole a~ll the down to the ground floor!!

You're not that much older! [Yuya shakes his head as he switches sides around the desk with Kano.] And I don't know who's on the first floor but I'd like to keep the floor in my closet in one piece.

[He starts to heft the desk again.] Maybe you should join me in the gym instead.

[ He's not that much older, but he is</>I> older, and it's a status symbol he's going to milk for all it's worth. ]

We can plan it so it's Toki's half that's missing the floor, it's okay~

[ Toki would think it's a good idea? Of course he will. He's never said no to Kano's bad plans before. ]

But no way I'm going to the gym~ I don't need that sorta place? You don't need it either?

How am I going to do my own stunts on stage and move your desk if I don't work out? [Yuya lets go of the desk, leaving Kano to either stop or try to drag it himself while he flexes an arm to show off the muscle.

He's no Gongenzaka, very few people can get to that level of brick. But he is toned like an athlete, and bragging just a little about it.]

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