video;

[strangelic]

I want to--Um...

I feel like life would be improved here if we all played more games, and... [ Kate, why are you making him do this? ] I-I wanted to ask if anyone else had any games that they could teach us. Party games, this time, not card games. Like Twister.

[ He glances off screen cautiously, then looks back, trying to seem more courageous on the subject than he is. ]

Kate thinks that life here would be much improved if we all played more together, and I have to agree with her. Play is important...for the well being of people, especially those who don't have anything else to occupy their time.

So...that is to say, if we could organize a...party, I suppose, everyone would be invited. We could hold it at the bar.

[ Yep, that's it. ]

Comments

[truthvalue]

Um ... that was me. It seemed like the least embarrassing suggestion.

[outermirrors]

And was it the least embarrassing suggestion?

[truthvalue]

The others were to have someone rest their head on my lap, sit on my lap, or give me a hug.

[So ... yes. A piggyback ride was the least embarrassing of those choices.]

[outermirrors]

I'm sure one of the girls would have loved giving you a hug. Especially Amagi-san or Kujikawa-san. They always seemed to really like you a lot.

[The teasing grin can be heard in her voice even with the lack of video. Hopefully he doesn't think it's too soon for such things.]

[truthvalue]

[It's not too soon, he's just caught a little off guard - maybe more than a little, since all he's able to do is shrug and smile sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck.]

[outermirrors]

Sorry I thought that might have been the same in your version of home.

[She does sound apologetic about possibly embarrassing him though. It was sort of obvious how much the two seemed to like him back in her version of home and maybe it was for Souji based on his reaction.]

[truthvalue]

They're both very nice.

[There was a hint of that, for a while, at least. They all drifted apart after Nanako died.]

Maybe if I'd stayed in Inaba longer.

[outermirrors]

Yeah I guess. I didn't do a lot of talking to them, it always seemed like they were a little out of reach.

[Now she knows it was just that it was their super secret shadow fighting club, but then it just seemed like she was getting a return on all the nasty karma she'd been putting out there.]

We all knew it was temporary. A year is a long time while being too short at the same time.

[truthvalue]

[It's interesting, hearing Ai call Yukiko and Rise out of reach when she herself seemed to possess that exact air of being unattainable. Maybe that was just the mask she decided to wear, as everyone wears a mask of some kind or another.

What she says about knowing his time in Inaba was temporary does give him a moment's pause. He purposefully avoided becoming too close to anyone because of the short-term nature of his stay there, a decision only further solidified by the distance he put between himself and his friends once Nanako died. He wonders now if maybe it was a mistake to do so. There had been signs from some of the girls that they may have wanted to be more than friends; Souji too developed feelings, but chose not to act on them. If everyone knew he wouldn't be able to stay for longer than the year, would there have been harm in allowing those feelings to unfold? Souji didn't know his time with Mason and then Wanda was fated to be cut short, either, but that didn't stop him from acting on what he felt for both of them.

To the camera, he shrugs and smiles ruefully.]

I guess I can't really know for sure, now.

[outermirrors]

[It had been a choice to keep herself as unattainable as possible. Keep the walls up and solid and never let another person in far enough to hurt her like the kids at her middle school had. It didn't do anything in the way of helping her make friends but she got to go home with dry cheeks and her mascara intact.

Knowing didn't change the fact that she was grateful. Maybe Souji wasn't the one to hold her back from jumping off the roof, but Narukami had and she would repay that debt to the best of her ability, even if it was to a different boy from a different version of home.]

Who knows we might still get home and you'll be able to find out then.