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[waitingforplayer2]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, CHIAKI NANAMI.

FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX

*** galagamer has joined XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
<galagamer> This is Chiaki Nanami.
<galagamer> I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

Comments

[recuttal]

[Listen, it's better than nearly-cold fries. Which, Hinata's still eating them, but it's a mindless thing like a habit. Plus they just kind of float like mush in his... everything. Well, right now the mush was still around his throat, at least.

Still, her answer is a relief. It was something that once again shouldn't have surprised him, but... he knows how it feels to feel like you're irrelevant among your friends, and the reassurance on both sides is still good to have, he thinks. Ah, he hopes?]

Yeah... I know what you mean. [Still, despite all those nice and optimistic affirmations, he frowns along with Nanami's hesitation.] I miss them, too. It feels like there's something... missing.

[It had been the same feeling that had grown heavier, and heavier, every time another one of them were killed or executed on the island. This time it's just... a benign sort of absence-- though it felt a lot like everyone was still stuck in pods again, too. He wagers that's... probably how a lot of them had felt, after Nanami's death.]

[waitingforplayer2]

[ She nods slowly, thinking while she eats. ] Yeah... that's what it's like. [ Like a part of her is missing. Like she'd feel more complete, more like herself with them around again. And having Hinata and Souda around makes a difference, a big one - but she can't help but missing the others, too. ]

I know some of them have been here before... [ She doesn't know the entire history of this place, but she's gathered that much at least. Souda mentioned Sonia, and the previous her. ] So maybe I will get to see them again someday. [ She sort of hopes so... but she knows that's selfish to think about.

It's not like she's got a chance to see them again in their world, right? She died, and that was it for her. But with that thought, something else occurs to her, and she looks at Hinata curiously. ]

When you leave here... do you think you'll go back there? Maybe you could ... tell them something for me?

[recuttal]

[In a way, he knows it's a death sentence; he didn't know if all of them would end up back here again, and the alternative is everyone going home, and Nanami would just be.... dead. Again. But even still, for a moment, he just wants to be optimistic.] I hope so, too.

[His expression's still a bit forlorn, though.

Hinata didn't even know if he'd make it back, and the thought sinks the weight through his heart and to his stomach, never being able to go back to his friends on the island again. But Hinata was lucky enough to still be alive in that world-- from what he's heard from others, people don't even go back home when they leave her, but maybe there's a chance far off in the future that people will actually figure it out.

He's not sure he really deserves to go back, anyway, but he still looks at Nanami curiously.] What's that?

[waitingforplayer2]

[ Now that she's suggested it, she actually doesn't know what to say. What can she say that encompasses everything she feels about them, that can come close to making up for the time she hasn't been there with them and might never be again?

She turns it over in her head for a long time. ] I guess... just that I miss them.

And-- and I love them, and I hope they're doing okay without me, and taking care of each other, and...

... a-and maybe I'll think of other things to say, too. [ This is hard.

She takes another bite of her burger to hide her emotions. Totally normal conversation - sending a message to your friends you might never see again, across universes. ]

[recuttal]

[He continues to pick at the fries while Nanami thanks, apparently abandoning the burger that he'd bought for himself when he was certain he wasn't going to feel hungry anyway. Or forgetting about it.

It's bittersweet, when she finally comes up with something to say-- there's a sadness to his smile, ruminating on how obvious it was she still cared for them, and knowing in his heart that... if they were sent back to their world one day, she'd still be gone forever.]

I'll tell them. [He chuckles a little, fond despite the touch melancholy.] And if you think of anything else to tell them, you can let me know. I'll be sure to let them know.

[waitingforplayer2]

I will.

[ School days feel so far away now - especially the good ones. Even the ones after he and Nagito left, when she was--

She looks up suddenly. ]

Hinata-kun. You owe me a game!

[recuttal]

E--Eh?

[He looks up suddenly from where he'd been digging through the fries again.]

I... I guess that's true...

[That was.... kind of the last thing he'd ever said to her back in their world, huh? He tries not to dwell on it.]

...W-What-- like, right now?!

[waitingforplayer2]

Yeah! Ah...

[ She puts down the burger and looks around. The arcade's pretty quiet, but-- she can turn anything on she wants to.

She gets up from where they're sitting and jogs into the back, where she hits the switch that turns on the cabinet's power circuits - as the machines start up, she hurries back out to the front, digging a small sack of tokens out of her pocket. ]

This one doesn't have co-op like the one back home, but we can alternate turns! Come on!

[ And she leads him over to one of the cabinets-- Galaga. Not quite her favorite game - but pretty close. ]

i literally don't have an icon for this expression lol

[recuttal]

[He sits there awkwardly as Nanami goes to turn on the cabinets-- but that is quickly brushed aside when she's already holding a bag of tokens, and standing by the Galaga machine.

It quickly silences any words of protest he could've put up. Sure, he'd played it a few times since coming here, just out of nostalgia-- but it's different now, thinking about those sunset-framed afternoons like they were real, playing together despite how much they'd have to restart because he was losing, a few drops from the fountain occasionally escaping the stream.

The smile on his face is different than usual, something warmer, and happier; maybe it's the genuineness that makes it different, or the fact that it's relaxed, without being keyed up for the next possibility.

Hinata gets up from his seat easily, following her over to the machine, making sure his eye was still in place.]

Alright-- but I warn you, I've gotten a lot better...!

;-; hinata

[waitingforplayer2]

Right!! [ Cause he's got her talent! That makes it even better. Her eyes are shining as she inserts the coins. ]

I'll bet we could get to twelve times in a row! Maybe more!! [ She starts up the game and breezes through the first round - she's so excited that she almost loses a life at one point, but she pulls through with a perfect score - and then steps aside to let him play.

She tries not to let her excitement show too much, but she can't help bouncing on her feet a little - this is the first time, in a year or more, that they've been able to play together. And she missed it a lot, and-- she thought she'd run out of chances, but-- he's here, and it's like old times again. ]