![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerMain Points:
Death Mark/Shiin
Chapter Summary: Yashiki tries to get through another lecture from Sakamoto.
Word Count: 850
Rating: Teen
Spoilers: Major spoilers for the first and minor spoilers for the second game.
He’s usually quiet and doesn’t respond to her lectures, so perhaps it won’t be taken out of the ordinary if he just stares at his hands. He couldn’t look up, move, or speak if he wanted to, a state common when confronted by spirits, but this time it’s not a supernatural phenomenon and he knows that all too well. It’s what prompted many in the family to lament his position born as the Kujou heir, and it’s not like he can blame them. Never mind if he calls himself Yashiki, it won’t change the fact that he’s still Masamune, still as weak and useless and unable to save anyone. Days when he couldn’t even make himself get out of the bed or goes through the motions of routine with less animation than a doll like Mary.
“Yashiki-san.” Sakamoto-san’s voice breaks through the haze. From the tone, this time she’s refusing to take silence for an answer. Yashiki reluctantly glances up.
The frustration and anger and impatience he sees on her face are all easy to spot; it’s all he’s seen of her. But there’s something else in her expression he can’t quite name. “I asked you a question.”
He really has no idea what answer she’s looking for, though. And it’s frustrating to no end when he can’t find the right answer in a conversation, but, well. She already thinks he’s the lowest scum of the earth, and may not even be entirely wrong, so if he answers incorrectly, her opinion of him can’t drop much lower than it already has.
“I’m doing my best, but I’m focused on the case,” he mumbles, as she stares at him, judging, tapping a finger impatiently on the desk, and he wants nothing more than to run, hide, be away from all of this. But he can’t. He may be a coward, but he can’t give in to that fear, not unless he wants yet another student to die. Still, this is a waste of time, both his and Sakamoto-san’s, so he can retreat a little more gracefully. Probably to the infirmary; he knows that it’s largely because of their interest in the case, but equally knows that he’s ruining the girls’ reputations from associating with him. The Kujou family is cursed. He stands, bows a little. “If you’ll excuse me.”
Before he makes it far, though, she interrupts again, voice a whip crack. “Sit down, Yashiki-san, I’m not done speaking to you.” Of course she’d like to have the last word.
“I’ve already wasted enough of your time.” He might as well voice that out loud, because she isn’t getting it and he’s just tired.
“Yes, you have.” It’s sharp but...thoughtful? That’s new. New and confusing, because he’s pretty sure he hasn’t done anything differently than usual. He doesn’t sit, but he does stop himself from fleeing the room. “You truly believe this ghost nonsense, don’t you?”
That’s...also a confusing question. He knows she doesn’t, sure, but that’s an entirely different matter. “I wouldn’t have taken the case if I hadn’t.”
She crosses her arms, but—is that guilt? Has he started hallucinating? “Since you arrived, I admit I’d believed you to be a con man, draining our funds with little to show for it. Or worse.” Yet another glare. “But you genuinely do care about the students, and no matter how much ghosts don’t exist, you believe in them, just like they do.”
He’s even more at a loss, because he’d thought that to be fairly obvious from the beginning. “Yes?”
She doesn’t respond right away. Thinking about what she wants to say next, or how she wants to say it, perhaps. Then she sighs. “You will go lie down in the infirmary and try to get some sort of rest. We will talk more after.” And if he doesn’t follow directions, she will scold him further.
“Yes ma’am,” he responds, more on instinct than anything—it’s a miracle he didn’t say Saya, instead—and makes it to one of the cots in the infirmary. They’re a little uncomfortable, and he’s already at the age where even sleeping normally in the luxurious Kujou Mansion beds can cause him to wake up with aches with no clear cause. On the other hand, she was right; he’s exhausted, what with nightmare after nightmare, and some rest would do him good. If he can manage it. Falling asleep here is easier than at ‘home’, though (like that house has ever really felt like a home), and just before he drifts off, he thinks he hears a snatch of a lullaby, like Saya used to sing when neither of them could sleep. It’s a memory, probably, but a good one, for once.
Death Mark/Shiin
Chapter Summary: Yashiki tries to get through another lecture from Sakamoto.
Word Count: 850
Rating: Teen
Spoilers: Major spoilers for the first and minor spoilers for the second game.
“And another thing! Don’t you care about yourself at all? Look at the example you’re showing the students! They’re already scared out of their minds, and you show up here looking like that. You’ll just fuel the rumors.” Sakamoto-san lecturing him is...nothing new. He’s gotten used to that specifically in his time here. But something about her second sentence sounds exactly like Saya.
He’s usually quiet and doesn’t respond to her lectures, so perhaps it won’t be taken out of the ordinary if he just stares at his hands. He couldn’t look up, move, or speak if he wanted to, a state common when confronted by spirits, but this time it’s not a supernatural phenomenon and he knows that all too well. It’s what prompted many in the family to lament his position born as the Kujou heir, and it’s not like he can blame them. Never mind if he calls himself Yashiki, it won’t change the fact that he’s still Masamune, still as weak and useless and unable to save anyone. Days when he couldn’t even make himself get out of the bed or goes through the motions of routine with less animation than a doll like Mary.
“Yashiki-san.” Sakamoto-san’s voice breaks through the haze. From the tone, this time she’s refusing to take silence for an answer. Yashiki reluctantly glances up.
The frustration and anger and impatience he sees on her face are all easy to spot; it’s all he’s seen of her. But there’s something else in her expression he can’t quite name. “I asked you a question.”
He really has no idea what answer she’s looking for, though. And it’s frustrating to no end when he can’t find the right answer in a conversation, but, well. She already thinks he’s the lowest scum of the earth, and may not even be entirely wrong, so if he answers incorrectly, her opinion of him can’t drop much lower than it already has.
“I’m doing my best, but I’m focused on the case,” he mumbles, as she stares at him, judging, tapping a finger impatiently on the desk, and he wants nothing more than to run, hide, be away from all of this. But he can’t. He may be a coward, but he can’t give in to that fear, not unless he wants yet another student to die. Still, this is a waste of time, both his and Sakamoto-san’s, so he can retreat a little more gracefully. Probably to the infirmary; he knows that it’s largely because of their interest in the case, but equally knows that he’s ruining the girls’ reputations from associating with him. The Kujou family is cursed. He stands, bows a little. “If you’ll excuse me.”
Before he makes it far, though, she interrupts again, voice a whip crack. “Sit down, Yashiki-san, I’m not done speaking to you.” Of course she’d like to have the last word.
“I’ve already wasted enough of your time.” He might as well voice that out loud, because she isn’t getting it and he’s just tired.
“Yes, you have.” It’s sharp but...thoughtful? That’s new. New and confusing, because he’s pretty sure he hasn’t done anything differently than usual. He doesn’t sit, but he does stop himself from fleeing the room. “You truly believe this ghost nonsense, don’t you?”
That’s...also a confusing question. He knows she doesn’t, sure, but that’s an entirely different matter. “I wouldn’t have taken the case if I hadn’t.”
She crosses her arms, but—is that guilt? Has he started hallucinating? “Since you arrived, I admit I’d believed you to be a con man, draining our funds with little to show for it. Or worse.” Yet another glare. “But you genuinely do care about the students, and no matter how much ghosts don’t exist, you believe in them, just like they do.”
He’s even more at a loss, because he’d thought that to be fairly obvious from the beginning. “Yes?”
She doesn’t respond right away. Thinking about what she wants to say next, or how she wants to say it, perhaps. Then she sighs. “You will go lie down in the infirmary and try to get some sort of rest. We will talk more after.” And if he doesn’t follow directions, she will scold him further.
“Yes ma’am,” he responds, more on instinct than anything—it’s a miracle he didn’t say Saya, instead—and makes it to one of the cots in the infirmary. They’re a little uncomfortable, and he’s already at the age where even sleeping normally in the luxurious Kujou Mansion beds can cause him to wake up with aches with no clear cause. On the other hand, she was right; he’s exhausted, what with nightmare after nightmare, and some rest would do him good. If he can manage it. Falling asleep here is easier than at ‘home’, though (like that house has ever really felt like a home), and just before he drifts off, he thinks he hears a snatch of a lullaby, like Saya used to sing when neither of them could sleep. It’s a memory, probably, but a good one, for once.
