View source for 2794/And You Want What Exactly

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2025/10/18
|Location=Radiant Heart Academy
|Synopsis=More aftermath of the Bro Fite and the Identity Reveals: Kazuo comes looking for Takashi. To. Check if he's - what? No, really, what??
|Cast of Characters=58,40
|pretty=yes
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{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:58|Kazuo Saitou (58)}} has posed:'''<br>There are many times when people are looking for Takashi, in one or another of his forms! Sometimes they are school staff. Sometimes they are Obsidian allies. Sometimes they are students trying to be sure where Takashi is so they can duck him (clearly they have no taste). Sometimes they are, well, Mamoru.<br><br>This is probably the first time that the person loitering by Takashi's usual path on leaving class ''also has white hair,'' though.<br><br>At least Kazuo is tall enough that even with dispersing students in a way, Takashi can see him ''before'' they are in awkward conversational range...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:40|Takashi Agera (40)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Frankly, the two of them are tall enough they can both lock eyes over the thrall of students. It's rare that Takashi has to look ever so slightly up to do that though. And it's obvious the taller boy is here for him by the way he doesn't just look at him and regard him as existent but keeps focusing on him, and Takashi sighs and rolls his eyes, shifting his way through the throngs of students to make his way over to him. On the one hand Takashi looks more annoyed than any other emotion, but on the other hand he's got his hand in his pocket where he's making sure he's got his fingers on a small marble shaped artifact; it's really hard to Duskport out of the School Grounds ever since they got that damn artifact of theirs, and he can't judge from Kunzite's face yet if he should be making plans for a quick escape, but he's got something like that anyways.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"And you want... what, exactly?" Takashi asks, gesturing with his free hand once he's close enough to not need to raise his voice.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:58|Kazuo Saitou (58)}} has posed:'''<br>Takashi's roll of eyes wins a small bow in return, just the casual-polite-greeting level - not pointedly polite, even. As if this were an absolutely normal encounter instead of a weird one. Kazuo comes to meet Takashi partway, turning to walk beside him rather than try to keep a standstill among the other moving bodies. (He absolutely could. People tend to flow around both him and Takashi, rather than through. But courtesy is still a thing, sometimes, even to strangers.)<br><br>"Just to check in on you," Kazuo says. "Both of you go for the gut when you get mad enough; I know Chiba's already checked in remotely, but it seemed wrong not to find you in person and ask if you were okay." He pauses for about half a step. "Are you okay? Or at least on the way there?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:40|Takashi Agera (40)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"I'm not sure why I wouldn't be okay." Takashi grouses, shoulders hunched. "My former brother just dragged my name both out into the sunlight and everything I ever did in the mud to my face, and the only tiny saving grace was that I'm even more powerful than I thought I was, which also means agreeing to keep my Device in someone else's hands for the fight was a monumentally bad idea."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"You know, other than that, I'm fine." he says in the most huffy not-fine tone. "But hey. Now you know fully who I am so there's that. So I can also spend all day at school wondering who's gonna get up in arms about stuff I did as Riventon while I'm unable to fully access my powers because the aura of this school sucks." he continues. "So all things considered I'm doing pretty well."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Takashi shakes his head. "But I'll be fine, because I'm always fine, and this will just be a bump in the road I can laugh about someday, and be amused at how much it bothered me."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:58|Kazuo Saitou (58)}} has posed:'''<br>"If it's any consolation, if I were going to, the people who ''already'' knew would have been going to anyway," Kazuo says, more than a touch wry. It is not a consolation. It is at least a lessening of the extension of the damage. (Whether or not his complete failure to react to or acknowledge 'former brother' is also a lessening is anyone's guess.) "But if you pull something that's a bad enough monumentally bad idea for them to do that, you'll probably need it, because someone as smart as you are screwing up a risk-reward calculation that badly says 'help, help, someone dropped a worm in my brain.'"<br><br>'Fine' is not challenged, no matter how not-fine it is. Takashi is neither close enough for Kazuo to prod him the way he does Mamoru, nor held so much at arm's length to be called on it the way Kazuo would some random student. Middle-of-the-road black-sheep quasi-family. Schroedinger's quasi-family, maybe.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:40|Takashi Agera (40)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"It is not a consolation, because none of you should have known, and if you did learn, this wasn't the way." Takashi says, firmly. "And I really don't need people who can't see the whole picture worrying about a risk-reward calculation when they don't know the full extent of either. And they wouldn't listen to me if I told them anyways. Because I have been. And because there's already a worm of sorts in your brains, and it's pointless fear and lack of knowledge." he says, very directly.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"But I admit, I don't understand why you're here, unless it's a prelude to something else. You've chosen your side, though I admit I have a slightly more increased baseline respect for you not having chosen mine and then leaving it." he says.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"But you're with Mamoru, and as long as he's content to be wrong, I can only assume you are as well."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:58|Kazuo Saitou (58)}} has posed:'''<br>At 'can't see the whole picture?' Kazuo gives Takashi an arch of eyebrows, but it's not a pointed one either; it's a touch wry, but that's about it. There's no reaction to the accusation of cowardice and ignorance, either; not angry, not laughing, only an opinion noted and filed. "I'd be interested to know which parts you think I don't see, sometime. But I understand if that's not something you're in the mood to give away this decade."<br><br>At Takashi's admission of not understanding, Kazuo turns his head, looking directly at him for a moment as they walk; peripheral vision gets to keep him away from obstacles. "He cares about you," he says. "Sometimes these things are transitive. If he cares about you, and I care about him, then I need to be concerned about you, too. Different people take that to different lengths at different times. Right now, it's 'huh, if he's bleeding that badly, Agera probably is too, and that's dangerous for him.' Probably not anything I can help put a patch on. But I figured that I'd take the risk of being chased away or chewed on a little instead of the risk of missing something I ''could'' help with."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:40|Takashi Agera (40)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Hey, we're halfway through the decade at least, so it's not as far as it could be." That was a small, strange joke. "Look, the long and short of it is that I've seen what's coming to this world in the far future. It's not something the other stupid future would have had to deal with because it's out of the Dusk Zone and there wasn't one in Zombie Tokyo." he says, refusing to refer to it for the ruling family but more for the calamity now.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"You need firepower beyond what all of the sparkles can manage to deal with it, alright? So the risk, is utter destruction, and the reward is not that. That's what it's all about." he says. "In the end. All of the peices that come together to make one puzzle. And Mamoru knows that. He knows it because I talked to him. And he tosses it all to the side because he's love-blind - no offense to present company but he is."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"He's never ''had'' a family beyond me, and so it stands to reason he'd get a little weird about it, but I didn't think he'd turn his back on what he had for all those years..." he says, only a LITTLE bitter.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"So there's your short answer. Maybe someday I'll show you directly - if you can handle it. But that's not important."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"I understand the idea of transient care." Of course he did, he had employees, he had Hotaru. "But the problem is personal. He knowingly put me into a position where my safeguards were off and then went after me, all so he could hold it over my head when I went off. And look - it's my fault for not seeing it. I could have handled that a few years ago, no problem, but I've grown stronger and I need more safeguards. And that's on me, I see it now. But that wasn't the point he wanted to make. And he made me look like I couldn't handle myself in front of someone who is as close as I get to have to a little sister, and one of our old teammates, now only his - and I don't think any of that is something you can solve. I've worked to solve some of it, but the rest, that's on him."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:58|Kazuo Saitou (58)}} has posed:'''<br>That was a joke that was apparently perfectly suited to Kazuo's sense of humor, given the grin and the glance Takashi's way again. The grin fades as Takashi goes on to sketch out the vague shadow of a threat; the attention does not. He listens.<br><br>"He's doing the math differently," he says. "We haven't talked about it, but I think he thinks we'd wind up with a stronger total force if you could work with the sparkles without making half of them have to divert effort to keeping from sideswiping you more. At least, that was the practical issue we ran into in Zombie Tokyo." A brief shrug on Kazuo's part. "I shouldn't say 'thinks.' I doubt he's thought it through; you know how much he moves on what looks like impulse, doing his processing below the conscious level. And the whole thing's not his choice anyhow."<br><br>There's a couple of steps of quiet.<br><br>"I admit," Kazuo adds, "that if you had to find out the hard way you needed more safeguards, I'm glad it was with someone who could recover from the hit."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:40|Takashi Agera (40)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Oh I know, he's smart when he actually applies his brain but usually he just DOES STUFF FOR REASONS and it's annoying." Takashi grouses. "And look, if it's not his choice only because he's abandoned his own decision making. He used to be a leader you know. And I mean just in this life, as Hematite. He's entirely capable of forging his own path - of making better choices. And yet, here he is, driving a wedge between us, intentionally pissing me off, making it difficult to save him. And you know he's going to blame me, or Obsidian, or me being in Obsidian, when things happen he doesn't like, but if he'd help me out instead of working against me, bad things might happen less. To him, to people he cares about, to people I care about."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Getting in my way, preventing my success... it is more than just a bad idea, it is self-sabotaging, it's suicidal, and I just. don't. understand. it. He's in the position to see it, if anyone else is. That's why his actions frustrated me so much. I've never felt so... alone." Takashi admits in a rare moment of honesty.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"But fine, whatever - I've got some new stuff coming and I just can't let this bother me."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:58|Kazuo Saitou (58)}} has posed:'''<br>"His behavior makes more sense," Kazuo says quietly, "if you work from the presumption that he thinks you're taking damage from what you're doing, instead of the presumption that he's suddenly reversed behavior patterns." He half-lifts his hand, the one on Takashi's side - not nearly as far as he lifts it when he's Kunzite on the attack; just far enough for the forestalling motion to register. "Believe me, though, I'm all with you on the ''doing stuff for reasons'' being annoying. Trying to figure out what he's reacting to ''now'' is a full-time job. For an omniscient ''squid.'' It takes at least ten arms and all-seeing clairvoyance to have a chance to keep up."<br><br>He exhales through his teeth. "I'm not going to try to make too much sense of either of you for the other, though. You're right. That's something you two need to handle between yourselves, if and when you've both calmed down enough not to get knee-jerk angry at each other again from the first three words one of you says. I ''am'' going to hope you're careful with the new stuff coming. Feeling angry and alone makes it easy to slip."<br><br>''Feeling'' alone. Not being alone. Those words are carefully chosen.<br><br>He wishes he thought Takashi would notice the difference. But who knows? Agera surprises him often enough.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:40|Takashi Agera (40)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Yeah, the math works out incorrect if you start with the wrong numbers!" he replies, a little frustrated, at the idea you could work from the presumption that what he was doing wasn't brilliant.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He shakes his head. "Look, if ''he'' doesn't know what he's doing, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't - he just does, like we said, what feels right - then I'm not sure you can know either. Or at least not before several other more vital mysteries of the universe are unlocked. Or at least that's been my perspective."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Look, I am being careful. That's why Hinoiri has the Memory Jar, in case something slips with me. I'm making backup plans. Like I should have at the fight." he notes.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Look, if we're gonna talk - it should be through text. He'll feel safer that way. I will too. He's got my number. He already sent me something. If he wants to send me more stuff, he has my number, and if I get a break on my projects, I might even reply."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"... If for no other reason than that I'm used to us texting." And it's not like he likes talking to his brother or anything, baka.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:58|Kazuo Saitou (58)}} has posed:'''<br>"Thank you for being careful." Kazuo shifts to give Takashi another little bow, so well as he can while they're both moving. "And yeah, he's on the same page with you where it comes to texting." (And he said, well, that's one thing we got. Breakfast at Textfany's, Tokyo 2025.) "If it's all right by you, I'll give you a number to reach me, too. Not that I expect you to use it, but so that the option's there." A different sort of backup plan.<br><br>... granted, one made in the awareness that Takashi ''knows'' they have multiple people who can figure out if a phone's been messed with without engaging directly. Mutual assured embarrassment is a great way to avoid waking up to a ringtone youma.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:40|Takashi Agera (40)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And even with that knowledge shared, Takashi is careful. He doesn't hand over his phone - he hands over a business card and a pen. "Write it, or if you don't remember it - I know people may not often text themselves - you can get mine from Mamoru and text me." He says.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It's emblematic of how careful, how cautious he's being. When you're doused in Dark Energy and feeling attacked, anything can be a threat, a risk.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Just if you start messaging me to complain about whatever Obsidian's doing I'm gonna block you." he warns, and it sounds like this something he's had to do before?<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:58|Kazuo Saitou (58)}} has posed:'''<br>There's a number inscribed carefully on the back of the card, numbers almost neat despite that the card's wobbling on the not-terribly-flat surface of Kazuo's palm. Card and pen are handed back; the whole operation is carried out where Takashi can see it, and know that no weird energy traps have been laid into the ink. It is undoubtedly not Kazuo's primary phone number, but odds are good it is not a random pizza place Masato remembers from the US.<br><br>"Granted," Kazuo says. "Though I'm unlikely to do that unless it's to warn you about someone making a particularly idiotic move against one of yours. Wasting time with random complaints is something I save for Sanjouin."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:40|Takashi Agera (40)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Ah, some things never change. He's good to complain to. And I'm glad he won't be able to escape them." Takashi says - one hundred percent seemingly seriously, as seriously as anything else he'd said, as though this was a sacred duty they shared.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There's an audible ping from somewhere, and Takashi blinks. "Ah, I must go. I've got some interviewees and I can't keep them dramatically waiting forever, so I need to get away from the campus now." he says, pocketing the card. "Hopefully I won't see you terribly soon - or not on the other side of a battlefield." he says, almost... tauntingly, or maybe warningly. In any case there was information given on that last exchange, but was it... intentional, or just Takashi being talktive? That's for Kazuo to ponder as Takashi takes his leave, walking briskly.<br> <br>
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