If I had a hammer....

[greatseal]

Who: Minako Arisato and Akihiko Sanada
Where: Iwatodai dormatory
Summary: With most of the dorm still missing, Minako decides to do some housekeeping, and winds up finding more than she bargained for.
Warnings: This log involves Akihiko, that's warning enough


If there's one thing Minako can't stand, it's being idle.

It's not that she is idle. Her jobs keep her busy enough, as well as the recent happenings in the city. But with a good chunk of her social network - and her brother - missing, she still feels like she has nothing to do, especially when she's back at the dorm in the evening. She can't build Social Links that aren't there.

So, she's begun an impromptu cleaning of everything in the dorm. The first day is just vacuuming everything, from the lounge all the way up to the fourth floor. Then she spends a day writing up plans for what to do with Ikutsuki's old office. Maybe a Foosball table would be appropriate? But without everyone there to weigh in, she decides not to do that. Her final decision comes after peeking into Shinji's dorm room yet again and finding it as empty as usual.

This situation can't continue. Never mind that her own room is just as spartan as his - she can at least spruce his up a little. Maybe hers a little too, but mostly his. It's his punishment for being missing over Valentine's.

So, the next day she reappears with a new rug, curtains, and the parts to set up bookshelves and a new and larger bed. (If anyone questions the necessity of the last part, they're only going to get a stare and an unusual amount of silence.) She was able to get these things delivered (and at a fairly cheap price - she's pretty good at haggling,) but she's stuck with them now at the bottom of the stairs. She starts carrying what she can slowly op the flights, but probably going to need the assistance of someone, or will get interrupted either way, before she gets everything to her goal.

Comments

[greatseal]

"Well, I have a rug, the curtains, the shelves, some books for them, a TV stand..." She starts counting the things off on her fingers as she turns back to the door to retrieve the next load. "I didn't get a TV yet but I thought he might eventually want to watch cooking shows without having to pretend to sleep through half of them. And also a new bed. That's what I really need help carrying up here."

[risetocaesar]

"What's wrong with the old bed?" Akihiko asks her, raising a brow. "Sure he'll like the rest of it, though. Don't know why he's always so embarrassed about liking cooking shows. Works out well for the rest of us." Even if Akihiko does like to add his own protein seasoning to Shinji's cooking.

[greatseal]

"It's not very comfortable."

Don't ask why she knows that, Akihiko. She isn't going to answer.

"I think he's just shy about having people praise him. But you'd probably know that better than me." It had taken a lot of coaxing just to get him to make that one meal for the team, and even then he hadn't wanted to stick around and listen to them saying how much they enjoyed it. Then again... afterward, everyone had wanted him to cook again, so maybe he just felt it was too much bother.

[risetocaesar]

If the comment about the status of the bed even registered with him, it didn't show. He simply shrugged and opened the nearest end of the box, sliding the pieces out and stacking them next to the wall to be assembled.

"He doesn't like all the attention." Akihiko could relate; they were similar in that they didn't like people to make a fuss over them, but for different reasons. Their reactions varied, as well, but both of them would much rather be left in peace than praised.

"He won't even recognize the room when he gets back, if you're changing that much." He lets out a brief but stunted chuckle. "Might head back into the hallway as soon as he hits the door. He'll think you let someone else move in."

[greatseal]

"I understand that. Too much attention isn't really a good thing." It's exactly the reason that, despite being so outwardly bubbly, she keeps a tight lock on personal feelings and the details of her past. She thinks Shinji is the same way. He shares only what he feels is relevant for others to know. The problem is that for him, 'not relevant' information encompasses far more than a normal person would think is reasonable. "But that still doesn't mean he needs to hide his hobbies from us."

She giggles at the second part, because she can honestly see something like that happening. At the least Shinji is going to give the room his trademark glower. "I'll just have to show it off to him myself, so he doesn't get the wrong idea."

[risetocaesar]

"Sounds pretty fool-proof," Akihiko remarked, taking the last piece out and setting it on top of the stack before leaning the empty box against the wall.

"Do you want to set this up first, or bring everything else up?"

[greatseal]

"Let's carry things up first; that should make things easier." They should probably set up the bed before anything else, anyway.

It will take a few trips to get everything in the room or at least just outside of it, and then removing the old bed and storing the pieces in an empty room, but once they finish all of that, they can start actually arranging what they have. Minako intends to start with the biggest project: the bed.

"We're going to need more space over here," she decides, while standing with her hands on her hips and surveying the layout of the room. The bed she's gotten is queen-size (and she won't be explaining that either if Akihiko notices) and so won't fit neatly into the space formerly occupied by the old bed. "Let's push the desk out of the way."

[risetocaesar]

Akihiko is happy to help her lug the rest of the furnishings upstairs, and once everything is in place, he's quick to follow her direction. She's the one for the vision for this place, after all. He doesn't know much about decorating, but he does know a whole lot about lifting and pushing things. He'll stick with what he's good at.

"Got it," he says, heading over to pull the desk away from the wall just enough to give him some breathing room to push it. "Just tell me where you want it for now."

[greatseal]

"Just move it to the right a foot or two," she directs, but as he actually starts to shift it, she notices a rattling noise from inside. It sounds like several objects are rolling around.

She's curious now, so when Akihiko steps out of the way she opens up the drawers. She hadn't really expected Shinjiro to store anything in the desk, but since he obviously did there may be some things that will be better off placed on the bookshelves.

At first there's nothing remarkable. The bottom drawer has an old pad of paper, a pen, and the radio she remembers him using before. This she takes out and sets on the desk. It could go on a shelf. The next drawer is almost as empty, holding two small cooking magazines. She takes these out to add to the shelf as well.

The last drawer reveals what was rattling. First is a small alarm clock, that looks like it was made decades ago. But the last thing is the strangest, and she almost misses it stuck in the back corner.

It's a pill bottle. Pulling it out, she sees no label on the side. Now even more curious, she opens the bottle and looks inside. The shape of the pills don't give any more clues as to what they're for.

Sorry! Busy weekend!

[risetocaesar]

When Minako goes to inspect the drawers, Akihiko moves to shift a few more objects to make room for the bed. The initial rattling doesn't escape his notice, but it's not until Minako opens the bottle that it really gets his attention, drawing him back towards the desk, frowning.

"Those were in his desk?" he asks, a distinct note of caution and something edging its way towards anger in his voice.

[greatseal]

She looks up from the bottle, at first a little awkward at being caught so blatantly snooping through Shinji's things. Medicine is something personal, and Akihiko's hard expression doesn't make her feel better. Maybe she's pried too far. "Um, yes. I'm sorry, I was curious because I didn't know he was taking medicine for anything."

If the pills are for something chronic and not just unlabeled pain medication, it makes sense that Akihiko, as his oldest friend, would know about it. And if that's true, but Shinji still hasn't told her about it, maybe it's not really any of her business in the first place.

[risetocaesar]

He holds his hand out, and the way he's staring at the bottle itself should make it clear that his anger isn't directed at her, at the very least. "Let me see."

As though he needs to see the pills themselves to know exactly what they are. Maybe he's hoping he'll see something else inside that bottle, but he knows he won't. Suppressants. That's what was hidden inside his desk. Why the hell would he still be using them now, after everything that happened?

"And don't be sorry. If he's still taking these... I'm glad to know. We need to know."

[greatseal]

"Still?" Now Minako is just confused. She hadn't been there in the hospital room with Chidori, so she can't immediately draw a connection between Shinji and the suppressants. In fact, the only time that pills were related to Shinji in front of her was one moment between Akihiko and Jin on the Moonlight Bridge, but that was so long ago, and meaningless at the time, that she's completely forgotten.

But she hands Akihiko the bottle, a frown starting to appear on her own face. He isn't the type to joke about something serious. "Senpai, what are these?"