destinystrings | Two Guys, a Girl, and a Date

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Two Guys, a Girl, and a Date

Who: Shinjiro Aragaki, Akihiko Sanada, Minako Arisato, Miki Sanada, Minato Arisato
Where: DUAL LOG of Apartment snooping and Dateos
Summary: Aki asks Minato to distract Miki while him, Shinjiro (and Minako because she'll find a way anyway) snoop around her apartment for Christmas presents. But have they found more than they bargained for?
Warnings: Derps.

[MIKI'S APARTMENT]
Well Minato was true to his word, and Miki is currently not here and will not be for a good while. She thankfully has left the air conditioner running since the weather is unusually hot outside and...a bunch of stuff streamed on her bed. It seems that she had been trying on a bunch of clothing to pick the right one, then grabbed what she needed. It wasn't a mess, but there were things scattered around and left in a hurry. Not like anyone would come into her apartment, right?

Right.

[DATE]
Miki is still confused as to what is happening. Why did she accept in the first place? Well...she has an idea, but she isn't sure how she feels about that at all. Regardless, she had spent way too much time wasting to pick out an outfit that fit the weather and wasn't too casual or too fancy, considering they'd be going swimming at one point, but finally settled on a simple shirt and a jean skirt. Her backpack had everything she needs for later.

As a bonus that allows her easy movement should anything happen! ...If they should get attacked. A Sanada was never unprepared, after all.

Meeting Minato outside, she gives him a wave. It is...still rather unreal to talk with the Arisato and realizing it's not the one who monologues about how the entire world sucked and how death was the only thing unifying all of them.

"Sorry about the wait! I'm ready!" She is...surprisingly cheerful?

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Focused on his own search, Akihiko made his way over towards the bed. Mostly, it was covered with clothes that had been tossed aside carelessly, but one thing managed to catch his eye -- the head of a doll peeking out from beneath a forgotten pair of jeans.

Curious, he reached forward to retrieve the doll, moving the mound of clothes aside to reveal that there were three others much like it left behind on the bedspread, as well. It had a collector's tag tied to its wrist, which he turned over and frowned as he read.

"Hey, Shinji. Do these look familiar to you at all? Looks like they're part of a series."

In fact, they looked a hell of a lot like the doll Shinji had stolen for Miki all those years ago.

Turning away from the desk he had been edging towards, Shinjiro picks his way through the maze of clothing and approaches the bed. His eyes stray to the doll in Aki's hands first, pupils narrowing as he stares at it. It doesn't take long for an old memory to well to the surface, faded at its edges just like a well-used piece of clothing might be, but still one of the more vibrant despite the age and dust.

After a moment of silence, he moves around Aki, reaching for one of the other dolls on the bed. He finds himself wincing involuntarily when he finally gets a good look at it, a sharp sensation of phantom pain racing across his jaw. He evaluates it, turning it over in his hands and feeling the weight there. It takes a second, then another, but a small, wry smile eventually breaks across his face. "Yeah."

It's not the same one—none of them are—but the ache of familiarity's there. Not like it any of them would be the same one anyway. By the time he could've bought her one—or when she could have asked for one herself—the one he had stolen would have probably been long since retired. The tag on the doll in his hands bears both a brand and company name that looks familiar to him.

"They're the same kind," he says after a brief moment of debate. He thinks so, anyway. Could be wrong, but they're similar enough. "The girls at school liked to collect the damn things. Half of why I took that one."

So she could have the kind of doll the rest of the girls had. So she wouldn't feel so different from the rest of them. Just because she was an orphan didn't mean she shouldn't have what other girls had. That's what he thought then, anyway.

That statement draws Minako over, curious to see this artifact from the past. She peeks at it from around Shinji's back.

"....I thought it would be a rabbit."

But maybe rabbits are just Akihiko's thing? The comment pretty much confirms she knows the story they do, though.

Edited 2012-12-17 11:57 (UTC)

Akihiko looked between the both of them, biting his lower lip in thought. He and Shinjiro had both noticed the same thing -- despite there being numerous dolls, none of them were the same as the one Shinji had stolen for her when they were children.

"You know," he began slowly, still holding onto the doll as though it aided his thought process, "This place has all kinds of things you wouldn't think it did. Makes sense, since people come here from different times and different places. I wonder if we could find her that doll. Or one like it, at least."

He glanced at the dolls remaining on the bed. Some girls Miki's age might have thought they were too old for dolls, but she clearly enjoyed collecting them. They were out in the open and everything, unlike her figurines.

"A rabbit?"

He sends Minako a rather quizzical look—why a rabbit?—before his eyes stray back to Akihiko again, then to the doll, before finally coming to rest on the doll his own hands are holding.

"Maybe," he says finally, with a small shrug of his shoulders as he mulls over the idea. "You can find a lot of odd things in this place. Be worth looking around for."

And maybe actually paying for it this time, if it exists.

Minako sends Shinji a look back - the 'I'll tell you later' look. Explaining the whole saga of Akihiko using her as Miki's replacement in front of Akihiko doesn't seem like the best idea.

Also, that had better be a 'definitely' paying for it this time. He's too old to get away with theft anymore.

Her curiosity about the doll satisfied, Minako moves on, stepping out into the kitchen. There's a familiar book lying on the table, and it seems like she'd been working on making two copies.

"She likes photography, too... Has she shown you her photo album yet, senpai?"

"I didn't know," Akihiko admitted, unable to keep himself from feeling just a little guilty. There were so many things he didn't know about his sister yet; they had so many lost years to catch up on. He joined Minako by the kitchen table, looking over her shoulder at the photo album.

"Looks like she takes a lot of those..."

Oh, he knows about that photo album. There is a good pile of photos in there that he'd prefer stay hidden from the public eye. His other self seemed to have enjoyed looking like a moron through the camera lens, and it was embarrassing, to look at himself in the photos Miki had managed to take while he hadn't been looking. He may not be that Shinjiro, but he was still him, just without those experiences and memories. He didn't know if that made it better or worse.

He almost immediately follows Aki out, but hesitates, making sure to put the doll back where it belongs, looking at it one final time, before putting some clothes over it and leaving it in as close to the same state it had been in before it had been disturbed.

After that, he quickly crosses the threshold and into the kitchen. He stares at the photo album, expression unreadable. From the mess around the table, however, he can guess at what she was doing, and feels a little bit guilty. Though he had all ready known that she was going to do something like this, in a way.

"She said she was going to show it to you, but wanted to do a few things first. That's why she didn't tell you about it."

She hadn't even intended to tell him about it, but Shinjiro had accidentally stumbled his way into it.

"...Well if that's the case, maybe we shouldn't ruin her surprise."

She sounds just a little bit disappointed. She wanted to see Akihiko's expression when he got to the pages of Shinji sleeping with marker all over his face. But, a reaction like that would be too hard to fake when Miki showed the book off for real. It's for the best.

She moves to close the book again to leave it as she'd found it, except this time, the movement jostles the mess of papers on the table. Before she can catch them, a small pile slips off the table and scatters on the floor.

Yet another display of brilliant coordination from the leader in front of her senpai.

".....I'll get those." She quickly kneels to gather them up....

and stops when she spots the paper lying on top of the others.

"She did?"

He, too, was disappointed as Minako closed the book, but he supposed it would be worth it to wait. If Miki wanted to surprise him, he couldn't deny her that. He could wait just a little longer, impatient as he was sometimes.

He peered curiously at the paper on top of the stack as Minako gathered them together, raising an eyebrow.

"What's that? She likes drawing umbrellas, too?"

Shinjiro, however, is not disappointed in the least. Relieved, mostly. They can laugh and giggle at his own expense when he's not around to suffer through it.

But that changes quickly enough once the stack of papers escape Minako's guard. He begins to help her gather some of the more audacious strays that aren't immediately within Minako's reach, when he stops mid-reach, freezing at Aki's comment, curious, and looks over, eyes drawn to the paper in question.

He's not at all surprised by what he sees there; he wasn't oblivious to the tiny hints that pointed towards the idea that Miki liked Minato, and this only confirms what he guessed. Shinjiro is, however, surprised by what he hears.

Now he's disappointed.

It's at times like this that Shinjiro remembers that his best friend is a complete moron.

This is just one of the many facts of life that Shinjiro hoped to never have to teach Aki about—maybe because such things were pretty damn confusing in the first place, once you got around to experiencing them first-hand for yourself. Not to mention that talking about feelings with Aki had never quite made it onto Shinjiro's bucket list. Shinjiro had always figured, oblivious as his friend was, that Aki would fall for someone at some point or another, and start to understand that life had more to offer him than adrenaline and protein and the satisfaction of punching someone in the face. Have his moment of profound epiphany, and go through his own period of frazzled personal crisis for a few minutes, mull over it for a day or however long it took him to adjust, and then get the hell on with life.

...Granted, Shinjiro never thought he was this hopeless. Well, maybe Shinjiro did know, deep, deep down. But denial is a beautiful thing, sometimes. Makes Shinjiro worry about him less.

"Aki..." Shinjiro stares up at him with an incredulous, withered expression, almost like a mother who thought her poor dumb kid would knew more about life (and girls) than he did, only to come away from the encounter sorely disappointed, now given a legitimate reason to wonder if she would ever get to have any grandchildren to spoil. "Use your eyes."

Edited 2012-12-20 09:00 (UTC)

Minako isn't nearly as invested in mothering Akihiko as Shinjiro is, but her eyebrows shoot up as well at his statement. 'Likes drawing umbrellas,' seriously. Then again.... Knowing Akihiko, he was probably never the kind of child who had any need to learn this particular playground ritual.

She's not sure if she should feel bad for him, or admire his single-minded innocence.

In the feeling-bad vein, maybe she should give him a small hint.

"I didn't realize she was actually interested..." It's not like she's going to just give away the answer to the umbrella question, though. Let Akihiko's hamster wheel turn a bit longer.

Her statement, however, is legitimate. Miki has always acted like she's trying very hard not to hate Minato's guts. This put things into an entirely new perspective - and gave her a new character trait.

Their comments were enough to spur him to take a closer look. He had only seen the picture at a quick glance, shrugged it off as though it was nothing of importance -- just a strange kind of hobby. Peering at it a second time, he read the names that were written there and his eyebrows both shot directly up.

Even he, not knowing that ritual, could piece together what it meant.

"... oh. And she's out with him right now."

"She probably didn't want to be," he says simply.

And it's nothing against Minato, really. It has more to do with the fact that it would probably be hard to reconcile the differences between the Minato in her world and the one here, considering how different they were. The one in her world had hardly been kind. It would be difficult to find yourself liking someone you hated back home.

But he shrugs his shoulders. There's not much that can be done about it, if there's even anything that needs to be done. Minato's given him no reason to be suspicious of him, though he feels protective of her, like he's always had. But things are different here. Sometimes he wonders how much say he even has a right to have in her life here. He's still not her Shinjiro, and that decade between then and now has done a lot of things. Shinjiro remembers how to take care of a six-year-old. Knowing how to deal with a teenage girl is an entirely different matter.

He moves to gather up the last few slips of paper within arm's length and stands, setting the papers back on the table.

"Yeah," he says, fighting the urge to role his eyes. He's glad he doesn't have to spell things out for Aki. At least Aki hadn't been as dense as he could been just now. Not sure that deserves a damn reward or anything. It's like watching a duck that has no idea that it can fly, but every now and then remembers that it knows how to swim. "You sure have a hell of a way of choosing distractions."

Edited 2012-12-20 20:31 (UTC)

"...It just means she's having a good time now, right? It's like you gave half of the present early!" Okay that's overstating it by a lot, but she'd rather he thought of it that way instead of turning into an overprotective big brother.

Hopefully, he trusts his leader with his sister, too.

Akihiko rubbed at the back of his neck, nodding at Minako's suggestion. "Yeah. She's just -- she's having a good time. Minato's my friend. I trust him to look after her for an afternoon." He wouldn't do anything untoward, right? ... right?

Aki paled slightly.

"Maybe we should hurry up and finish and see if we can catch up with them."

Shinjiro arches an eyebrow. He can only guess at what kind of thoughts are beginning to take root inside Aki's mind, and wonders how long any of them will be able to keep those thoughts from digging in and taking hold like some kind of goddamn disease.

"If you didn't trust him, it ain't like you would've asked him to take her out in the first place."

He wonders if Minato even likes Miki the way she likes him. He doesn't know Minato well enough to tell if it's anything more than a one-sided crush, and Minato's quiet enough it would probably be hard to confirm right off without directly asking. He isn't anything like his sister, all upfront and forward and... tomboy-ish, of the Never-Say-Die variety. If Minato was, Shinjiro might have more cause to be concerned. Still, if the state of Miki's room is any indication, he doubts she's ready to be completely swept off her feet by a blue-haired prince charming, anyway. She'd need to find her own feet first. He's seen her nervous before. Turns her into a frazzled mess until she can calm her nerves down.

"So stop thinking whatever it is you're thinkin' about for a minute. I don't wanna have to do this shit again when her birthday comes along, so we better make sure we finish this properly before going anywhere."

...Though Shinjiro does wonder what the hell they're even up to. Not that he's worried or anything.

Edited 2012-12-21 04:37 (UTC)

To be honest, Minako doesn't know any more about Minato's behavior in a romantic relationship than Shinjiro does. Akihiko is the only person in the room with the opportunity to see that in action. ...Which actually might not make his reaction a great sign.

But still, she trusts her brother. If he wants to take Miki on an actual date she also wants to support him, as long as Miki is okay with it, too. And by the look of that umbrella, she is.

"There's not too much left to search, but then we need to put things back the way we found them."

Akihiko still managed to look panicked. He trusted Minato, sure, but that was when he assumed that Minato would see Miki the way he did -- as his younger sister, not as a girl.

He'd seen Minato with girls.

It wasn't that he was disrespectful.

But he sure did like to put his hands on them.

"... yeah, we need to do that fast and go find Minato and Miki." He began fumbling to right some of the items that had been knocked out of place; clearly, he felt the matter was urgent.

Well, he hoped what Aki had seen here was enough then.

There wasn't much he could do now that Aki had something else in mind, except try and hold him back just enough to keep him from running headlong somewhere and making a fool out of himself. It's hard to tell how much of that panic and concern is Aki is just trying to adjust to being a brother again, but he assumes that's most of it. Not much use in trying to change his mind. He's kind of sick of that today. Damn moron needed a leash just as much as he needed to learn how to heel.

But he guesses he can understand. It's hard to say no when all your dumb idiot of a friend wants to do is be a brother, since he really had a chance to.

Shinjiro sighs. "Alright. Just keep your head on." He walks past the table, making a beeline for her room again. Make sure everything is just as messy as Miki left it. His eyes glance past a hole in the wall, and he hesitates for a few seconds, staring at it, and wondering how the hell it even got there. "We can call one of them once we're out if you're that worried."

Minako feels the need to play defense against this obvious panicked brother onslaught from Akihiko. Even if she understands why he's worried, she can still think it's silly. "Minato knows you both know he's with her. He's not going to do anything to make you angry, senpai."

She follows Shinji back into the bedroom and glances around herself. Everything seems to be in order, and even if it's a little off, hopefully she'll blame a faulty memory instead of a break-in.

Akihiko looked dubious at Minako's suggestion. She was probably right, to be fair, but that didn't mean that his panic was instantly cured. He frowned, looking to Shinjiro and considering his plan of action.

It was probably better than chasing them down in person.

"Okay," he conceded, "We'll call one of them. Maybe see if they want all of us to meet up. Just so it's not too obvious."

If either one of them said no, however, then he would just have to be extra suspicious.

Or if either one of them said no, maybe it'd be because they knew that was the polite, common-sense thing to do, since you're kind of on a semi-date with someone. He doesn't know what Minato opinion of the outing is, but it sure as hell looks like Miki is seeing it as something more than just the two of them hanging out somewhere.

But Shinjiro occupies himself with making sure the door to the balcony's shut and the tarp is still covering her figurine collection. The clothes are covering the dolls, still scattered about in disarray, and everything seems to be in order. Or as much as it can be. He steals a glance around the room one last time as he steps back, watches Minako look around. He agrees with her though. Not sure Minato would be one to do something to betray Akihiko's thick-headed trust. Not when Aki had asked him to take her out himself. Though there were some things they both were going to have to learn to deal with sooner or later. The idea of Miki actually dating anyone is something Shinjiro has to work to wrap his mind around. Because she had never quite stopped being a little girl to him. Three months wasn't enough time to adjust.

"You gonna leave them alone if they say no?"

Either way, Minako is thinking she's going to need to send Minato a warning text about this whole situation. The poor guy is trapped in a problem not entirely of his own making. "I don't think Miki will be very happy if you cause her trouble..."

"I'll leave them alone." He didn't sound particularly happy about it, but he didn't want his sister to be angry with him, even if he felt he was looking out for her best interests. "If they say no. I just -- I want to check. And make sure she's okay."

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Two Guys, a Girl, and a Date

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