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Post by mugenginga on Oct 16, 2009 4:30:29 GMT -5
Atem couldn't tell if she wanted to continue the conversation and was hesitant or wished they would go away. He blamed the music, and was rather grateful Minato had turned it down. He knew the issue about genders in children. Especially if Naoto was an only child or the first born. It had been an issue in his own time, and while it wasn't quite as severe in the modern world, it still reared its ugly head from time to time. Modern China had quite the problem with it.
Yuugi thought for a moment before talking again, "We're going to go back to the beach. We'd love it if you came out! Oh.. um, would you prefer I call you Shirogane-kun or Shirogane-chan?"
It should be noted Yuugi wasn't offering to call her by her first name. It was just a personality quirk of the teenager. All his Japanese friends went by their surnames, and it was what he was used to. Anzu didn't, but he was on a no honorific basis with her.
Atem was a bit surprised Yuugi was offering to leave. He smiled a bit and began heading in the direction Souji had gone, "I'll see you guys later. I'm going to go talk to Souji," he stated.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 16, 2009 5:53:24 GMT -5
There was a pause. "Shirogane-chan is fine." She finally opened the door, a new novel in hand and wearing her casual clothing, a longsleeved blue shirt with a tie and pants, as well as her usual hat. "Now, excuse me. I have to go move the umbrella."
She walked past Yuugi, heading out to the beach again.
K1 sighed. "We should go." Minato nodded and stood up again.
---------------
Souji was already doing what Naoto was heading out to do, moving the umbrella and chair that Naoto had been sitting on a bit back so that it didn't get splashed again.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 16, 2009 6:05:37 GMT -5
Yuugi looked guilty as she walked off. He didn't think she was any where close to accepting of what had happened. It didn't occur to him that it was likely the way he was acting now that was causing the issue. He nodded when K1 spoke and headed after the two.
-----
"Do you need help?" Atem asked, noticing what Souji was doing as he headed out of the trees. He looked around, "Wait, where's the Pendant and the COMPs?"
Atem turned as he heard footsteps in the sand behind him. Naoya was holding out the Pendant, "Must not find it very valuable if you just left it there."
Atem glared at Naoya as he took the Pendant, and it would be this scene the others came out of the trees to.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 16, 2009 15:47:23 GMT -5
Souji looked up. "Naoya, don't take things without asking. You could get hurt."
Naoto facepalmed. The two of them had been like this for a while now. They really didn't like each other. On that note, it seemed the only person who liked Naoya was Naoya's own cousin. And the two of them were both rather secretive. It had been hard to get what little info she had out of K1. He seemed to be almost afraid of something.
"Naoya, stop being a jerk," K1 said as he walked forward.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 16, 2009 15:55:40 GMT -5
Naoya raised an eyebrow, well aware of the not so subtle threat Souji had just made. He smirked at Keiichi as the teen walked towards him, "It would have been rude to leave it there when I took the COMPs."
Yuugi finally came out of the trees himself. Atem had broken his glare already, but he turned towards Yuugi. Yuugi noticed he had the Pendant and looked over to where he had left it. When he saw the COMPs weren't there either, he realized what had happened. He looked a little sheepish as he walked over and grabbed it.
"Don't worry, Naoya wouldn't take it."
Which could be misinterperted, really. Atem got the real meaning that it wasn't a matter of trust, but more that Naoya had no reason to take it. Yuugi also got Atem's unspoken worry. It might not hold Atem's soul anymore, but it was a rather large hunk of gold. Yuugi looked a little nervous, "I'll be more careful."
Atem sighed, "Don't worry about it..." He didn't want the shorter teen to feel that bad. He realized that it was probably an exercise in futility. Yuugi was way too nice sometimes.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 16, 2009 16:08:44 GMT -5
"Make sure you give back the COMPs too," Souji said.
"He will," K1 said.
"Let's leave them alone," Naoto said before sitting back down in her chair. She flipped to a previously bookmarked place in this novel before continuing to read.
Minato sighed and walked out to under the umbrella before setting up a beach chair he had brought out with him. "Agreed."
There were a couple minutes of silence before Naoto spoke. "You have been nervous and on edge the whole time we've been here. You also haven't been sleeping."
Minato looked up, and removed his headphones. "Sorry, didn't catch that."
"You are also an compulsive liar when it comes to personal details being brought up," Naoto said. "Judging by the fact that the volume on your headphones has been low enough for you to hear me and the rest of the group all times before."
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 16, 2009 16:14:46 GMT -5
The only reason Naoya didn't scowl was to prevent giving Souji the satisfaction of knowing he had gotten under his skin with that comment. As such, Souji got one of Naoya's patented egotistical smirks. He was turned away from Keiichi as he gave it, but he wasn't really trying to hide it nor would he care if Keiichi saw it. His cousin knew he didn't back down from the obvious challenge Souji was presenting.
"Contrary to what you may believe, I do not have it out for any of you," Naoya stated to Souji. It was true only depending on how one interperted 'have it out'. He had not desire to see any of the current group killed. In his brother's case, it would be rather counterproductive on many levels. The others were annoying, but they weren't standing in the way of his goals and as such weren't targets.
Atem looked between Souji, Naoya, and Keiichi before shifting his focus to Naoto and Minato. Yuugi realized the tanned teenager was focused and walked over to the first group after pulling the Puzzle over his head, "Guys, relax. No one's angry."
Well... he hoped.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 16, 2009 16:28:18 GMT -5
Souji looked over at Yuugi before walking away toward nowhere in particular. He really didn't like Naoya, but there was no point in arguing the point. K1 groaned. "I'm gonna go swim some more."
Minato looked down. "It's nothing, really."
"Minato-san, you can use a Persona, and yet you never bothered to summon yours during the trip into the TV World. You have been physically and mentally exausted for several days now, despite having never faced yourself. You, like Keiichi-san, have purposefully avoided bringing up your past. And despite how you have become friends with Yuugi-san, Atem-san, Keiichi-san, and Souji-kun over the past few days, you have stayed purposefully detached from the rest of the group. If that isn't the definition of 'hiding something', my name is Naoko." Which it probably was.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 16, 2009 16:36:50 GMT -5
Yuugi felt like sighing. So much for relaxation. He looked over to Atem, "At least get into some shade..."
Atem looked annoyed, "I told you, I don't-"
"-burn, I know. Please?"
Atem looked Yuugi in the eyes. It wasn't a concern over Atem burning this time. Atem glanced over towards Minato and saw Naoto's eyes momentarily meet with his. He turned back towards Yuugi, surprised the shorter teen had realized it before him. Naoto was fully aware he was eavesdropping, but found the conversation with Minato more important. Finally, the former Pharaoh nodded. Souji had seperated from Naoya and K1 had gone back into the water. He headed over to the trees Naoya was flipping through is COMP under. He hoped Yuugi would keep an ear towards the conversation with Minato.
Which the teen actually was, but not as well as he maybe should have. He'd grabbed the ball that Atem had left on the beach earlier and got into the water. It was still rather chilly, but at least he expected it this time. And since he was damp, the perceptual contrast made it almost a relief.
"K1-kun, wanna play some beach volleyball?" he asked, trying to sound cheerful and most succeeding.
"What is it?" Naoya asked without looking up from his COMP. Atem wasn't surprised, and Naoya would have been surprised had the tanned teenager been so.
"Souji is going to figure it out. About you and K1."
Naoya looked up, "Your point being?"
He was tapdancing around spelling it out just like Atem was. He wasn't stupid enough to think Souji wasn't going to try and listen in on their conversation, and he was prepared to bring it to an end if it came to that. Their true relation wasn't that it was the world's biggest secret as far as Naoya was concerned, but it effected how people acted around them.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 16, 2009 23:15:00 GMT -5
Souji stopped for a moment before continuing on, moving into a path in the woods as he did so. If he was going to listen, he needed to do it where he wasn't very visible. It was a slim possibility, but if one of them slipped up and revealed something important about Naoya and K1, something that he didn't know already, he'd finally be able to fill in all of the gaps.
K1 sighed and turned to Yuugi. "Sure. Why not?"
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"There was just a problem with my Persona, that's all. It should be fine eventually," Minato said.
"A Persona is a manifestation of yourself. If there's something wrong with your Persona, there is something wrong with you. Now please explain," Naoto said. Minato frowned. She was rather persistant.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 17, 2009 0:37:54 GMT -5
Atem looked annoyed, "You can't tell me you don't care."
Naoya frowned deeply. He closed his COMP, "Facts are facts. Denying them won't change them, they'll just cause mistakes based on delusions. I don't run around telling people because it effects how people view us. It causes people to get in our way or try to pull Keiichi away," Naoya gestured nonchalantly, "Like it did for you. I can tell from how Keiichi acted that you treated him differently before you knew."
Atem paused. Naoya had met him and Yuugi after they learned the truth, "How long were you watching us before you showed yourself to Keiichi?"
Naoya grinned, "The first time I saw you, Yuugi, and Keiichi was when I showed myself. You underestimate my ability to read people. For instance, Souji's in the trees back there and thinks I don't know."
-----
Yuugi seemed to brighten up a bit. He knew he was going to do terribly with his attention split as it was, but maybe it would help K1 relax. He nodded and served the ball to the other teen.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 17, 2009 2:14:28 GMT -5
Souji jumped, but didn't move. Well, shit.
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K1 ran after the ball, intending to knock it back over to Yuugi, and instead served it right into the ground. Just to emphasize the point, the ball audibly deflated a bit. K1 turned to look at Yuugi, still holding his hands in the same position as before.
"...I think I broke it," K1 said. It was very obvious that K1 was not very good at these kind of things.
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Minato finally decided there was no use trying to dodge around the question.
"I can't use the tarot cards you guys can. In order to force out my Persona, I have to put a gun to my head and pull the trigger," Minato explained. Naoto let out a small gasp as Minato continued. "Souji-kun kept saying it was probably a bad idea for me to use the Evokers, but since they're how I summon my Persona, I had to keep using it. And then while we were going after Atem, Atem's Shadow went berserk after it saw my Evoker."
"But that doesn't explain the exaustion," Naoto said to herself.
"During the fight, I tried to summon my Persona, but when I did, I lost control of it. I nearly killed the rest of the group," Minato said. He leaned over. "I haven't been sleeping too well since then. If my Persona goes berserk again, it's likely that I'll end up dead. I don't have to summon it for it to try to kill me."
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 17, 2009 2:20:26 GMT -5
Atem narrowed his eyes as Naoya's smirk got larger, "And now he's trying to figure out how to blend back into the woodwork that he was never hidden in to begin with."
Atem glanced towards the trees, "Souji, if you're in there then you should come out."
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Yuugi sweatdropped at the busted beach ball. Well... that had been unexpected. Didn't his school ever have summer trips? He glanced over and waved his hand to indicate it wasn't an issue, "It didn't cost much, anyhow."
He glanced over towards Minato just as the teen was telling Naoto what might happen with his Persona. His eyes got wide, and it seemed the revelation had pulled him away from any issue that may have been there with the beach ball. Souji hadn't liked the Evokers since he first saw them, but Minato had obviously never had any problems before now...
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 17, 2009 2:27:45 GMT -5
Souji slowly moved out from the woods to where he could easily be seen by Atem and Naoya. He didn't say anything, but he shot Naoya another glare.
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And this was why K1 had been kicked off of every sports team he'd ever been in. However, the more immidiate concern was Naoto and Minato's conversation.
"Is there anyway to suppress it?" Naoto asked. Minato shook his head.
"There is... but it shortens your lifespan. So I'll die before my time either way..." He looked to the side. "Not that I already haven't"
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 17, 2009 2:31:29 GMT -5
Yuugi looked away, remembering when Minato had told them about Nyx and using his soul as a shield. He was pretty sure it was why the Dark Hour was back. Whatever measure had been taken to free him had apparently failed. Yuugi wasn't about to cry, but he was heading down the depressive road fast.
Naoya gave a confident smirk before turning to Atem. Who had removed himself from the conversation and was looking over towards Yuugi. He didn't tell Naoya what he was doing and had little doubt the man didn't know as he headed towards the water.
"Partner?" he asked once he was close enough. He glanced towards Minato and Naoto. Apparently she had gotten the answer she wanted. It was possible she was wondering why she'd wanted it.
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