doublecrows | [Week 1, Monday: Eichi]

[Week 1, Monday: Eichi]

[it's sometime in the evening that Akechi returns to his shared room with Eichi, the uncomfortable nagging feeling of paranoia and anxiety eating away at his gut like acid. he feels it lessen the closer he gets to said room, the closer he gets to Eichi, and he finds himself picking up the pace to get there all the faster]

[so anyway, Akechi is returning to the room tonight, but as soon as he opens the door, something. . . very off, very different about him becomes obvious]

[he has a series of bright pink scars running down the right side of his face now. hm. hm! oops]

Tenshouin? Are you here?

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[Eichi is here, certainly, as are a number of shattered and broken glasses that he's still trying to clean up. He's crouching over one pair now, silver and simple, the ones Keito wears on his face, when he glances back up at Akechi.

His expression had already been a little vulnerable, but when he sees his partner in that state, he's standing immediately, moving to his side.]

Akechi-kun? That's... [He remembers seeing Shirasu burst into flames earlier, and with his own mess around the room he's sure he knows what caused this, but there's always the risk that it was something else. Someone else.]

What happened? Whoever it is that caused damage to your flawless face... Would you like me to take care of them for you? [Does he have to BEAT SOMEONE UP]

[uM????]

[Akechi's a little too startled by the broken glasses to really register the invasion into his personal space. but then Eichi is there, and he instinctively stiffens. to his credit, he resists the urge to step back]

Oh, do you mean my-- face? [SHEEPISH. . .] I'll simply advise you not to use the wishing well and leave it at that.

Although it seems like you've already figured this out.

[just. looks at the broken glasses]

...I had wished that my childhood friend could be here. Instead, it seems they've sent each pair of his glasses.

[An explanation, even if he doesn't have to give it. He knows, and it's because he wants to ask the same of Akechi, if only to know what happened here.]

What could you have possibly wished for that it ended like this?

[. . . ah. when Eichi offers his up without any inquiry, how can Akechi refuse to share his own follies?]

I wished to surpass my father in greatness.

[he answers, while striding past his partner to scoop a pair of broken glasses up from the floor]

I suppose this is the well's way of reminding me that ambition can be a folly.

[Oh. He actually got it in return. Eichi is quiet for a second, reaching after Akechi but curling his fingers into the air instead. He steps over to watch him handling the glasses. There's shards of lens pieces all over the floor, too, and Eichi has a small pile formed where he's been trying to gather everything up. It's been taking some time.]

...It may not be my place to say so, but I believe it's fine to have ambition like that. To solve it by a wish, however... Well, but what I'm saying is that it isn't your fault. This is a place where magic is possible, isn't it? I nearly had wished to be healthy. I wonder what might have happened then.

[...He takes a step closer, not touching Akechi, but hoverhanding him a little.] How could those scars relate at all? Did something come out and hurt you? I saw one man catch fire...

[it's probably for the best that Eichi doesn't touch him. spooked by physical contact as he is, it might have shattered the moment. with the glasses in hand, Akechi moves to the pile Eichi started and deposits them on top, clearly assisting with the clean up without even being asked to]

It was something similar to that, yes.

[apparently the wishing well likes fire]

I was confused myself. . . but I can only imagine since these are akin to burn scars that the well likened me to Icarus.

[Eichi is quiet for a moment, and now that he knows Akechi is helping him, he moves to his own side and starts continuing to clean them up.]

Is your father a detective as well, then? If you don't mind me asking.

Hardly.

[he can't quite keep the distaste and derision from his tone]

He's a politician. The newest candidate running for Prime Minister.

[a beat]

I sincerely doubt he even realizes I exist.

[As he watches the glasses pile up slowly, worrying about what might have happened to Keito, he listens attentively to Akechi. A politician. That's even worse than just a rich businessman like Eichi's own father. Akechi definitely got the worse ending, here.]

...You know, I don't truly know what "family" is meant to be. Everyone speaks about it so warmly. A father, a mother, even siblings. People who care for them and spend time together, experiencing things, wishing them well no matter their goals and occasionally having small, petty fights that patch over just as easily.

I hardly see my parents, and I'm nothing more than their precious heir. The next in the Tenshouin name. All that about love... I don't know if it's supposed to happen automatically, or if it does, why I can't feel the same.

[He has... no idea if Akechi understands what he's saying, and he's a bit afraid of that. No one ever understands what he means, no one ever tries— but all of this... maybe that's why he's trying to reach out to Akechi, himself.]

I'm speaking so much on something I know nothing about, with your family, but I suppose I wanted to say that your father doesn't matter. Not that your thoughts and ambitions are nothing, but rather... I see them even without him here to compare you against.

[oh. that's. . .]

[. . . all very, very familiar]

[and yet, Akechi stiffens, because he doesn't relate to people. he never has. no one would ever be capable of understanding him]

[he focuses on the glasses, posture stiff and awkward]

I hold no love for my father, and I never will. I will be far better than him, regardless of what that takes.

[he isn't capable of saying his father doesn't matter. he isn't capable of moving beyond his shadow, beyond the pain Masayoshi Shido inflicted. not until he has his revenge. and while it's so close. . . it's also still so, so far away]

"Whatever it takes," that sort of attitude... I can understand it completely. I believe in you, Akechi-kun. And I don't believe you need a wishing well, or that you'll let it hold you back.

[Another pair of glasses to the pile.] But I hope you move carefully, all the same.

[and just like that, the awkwardness is gone, replaced again by a pleasant smile]

I've made the necessary moves for the achievement of my goals, and am proud to say that I've turned out victorious.

[oh, boy]

Once I'm finished here, I'll return home to tie up a few loose ends. And that will be that.

If that's the case, then why is it that you made that wish in the wishing well?

[He watches that pleasant smile, and for once he doesn't quite return it. His face is neutral, curious, focused.]

[urk]

I thought-- it would expedite the process. That's all.

[That makes him chuckle a bit, he can't help it. He caught him...! With all of the glasses in the room gathered, he glances around to find a dresser drawer, opening it to slide them all inside. He doesn't want to just throw them out...]

I understand, Akechi-kun. I understand, as well, that you're not the type to speak openly about these things, either, but I hope that you'll consider speaking them to me, if it might help you some.

If not, then simply know that I'll be cheering you on myself, from the bottom of my heart.

[That doesn't have the same shallowness his words do when he puts on a fake smile.]

[for the briefest of moments, there's a distasteful expression on Akechi's features. something wrinkled and ugly and not at all like the pleasant smiles he usually wears]

[but it's gone in a flash, replaced by something more pensive, more distant]

. . . of course. I'll keep that in mind, Tenshouin.

[Even just catching the briefest look at that shift in expressions, Eichi knows he's been shut out. He'd be able to tell that alone from the latter one. That's not surprising— it's more surprising that it stings so much, actually.

Like Rei had said, any of the people he'd had a chance of being friends with... he already trampled over them thoroughly, didn't he? He shuts the drawer.]

If your face still hurts, perhaps some cold water might help.

[it's a mixture of both, really. Akechi, viscerally pulling back after a moment of relating to someone, a moment in which he experienced a genuine connection, because he doesn't quite know how to take it]

[but also a moment where Eichi finally sees something underneath his usual smiles]

It doesn't anymore, thankfully. [at least the mask is firmly back in place now!!] What do you wish to do with these glasses?

[Maybe one day he'll piece that together instead of beating himself up, but for now, he's staring at the drawer he's shoved them into.]

I'd like to keep them here. They may be broken and useless, and a bad omen, but I like to think that Keito would scold me if I threw them out. I suppose this is meant to be my piece of him, here. I'm grateful it was nothing worse.

[THESE BOYS HAVE ISSUES]

As you wish. [a nod of approval and acceptance] I'm not one to judge sentiment.

Keito is a friend of yours?

Yes... my dear childhood friend. The one who will take care of my funeral for me.

[...Yeah, those go hand in hand, it's normal.]

In the end, isn't it funny? By wishing more selfishly to drag someone else into this undesirable situation to keep me company, it may have turned out better than wishing for my own health.

[WOW, MORBID]

[but that. . . actually brings up a curious point, and it leaves Akechi blinking at Eichi in a bit of befuddlement]

Why didn't you wish for your health?

What a lazy path that would be. I wish for it more than anything else, but there's no way it's possible, is there? No modern medicine has found a way to do more than delay symptoms, and family member after family member die young, for the most part.

I felt it was a challenge. Would I turn to the god who hates me, who cast me aside with this useless body and allowed me to be born to a family of so much money that I could certainly get anything I wanted, anything except this— would I pray and ask for help like that, with something as fake sounding as a "wish come true?"

Or would I move forward despite that, even in these conditions, and prove everyone wrong? Thinking on it that way, I couldn't bear to wish for my health. Then again, perhaps it's simply because it's only been a week of this suffering.

[. . .]

[. . .]

[. . .]

[wow. that's inspirational? in a certain kind of way. it leaves Akechi blinking slowly as he watches Eichi with a neutral expression]

. . . I suppose that's one way of looking at it.

[a pause. and then, he can't help but ask]

But what if, in the end, you don't prove everyone wrong? What if wishing via the well is the better, easier option?

Then I'll perish.

[Bluntly.]

"What ifs" don't really matter, do they? At the very least, if I do end up dying in this place, you can rest assured that I'll refuse to do so quietly.

[. . . a smile]

I would hope that you wouldn't give in to death so easily, Tenshouin. Not after that inspirational speech.

Oh, did you find it inspirational? ♪

Inspirational enough that I'm surprised you don't star in your very own superhero cartoon. Do you often give speeches with that much passion?

I'd prefer not to be compared to something so fake, you know. A cartoon doesn't hold the reality of what a real life "hero" truly is: someone who mercilessly slaughters their enemies and gathers praises while they bathe in guts and gore.

I don't like to play pretend like children do, so of course I speak with all of my heart. That's all.

Unless... Akechi-kun is the one who watches cartoons like that?

[oh. oh]

[but his smile doesn't waver]

You could say that I am.

[there's elaboration to be had, here. but he doesn't elaborate at all]

...Something like super sentai?

[He's thinking of Chiaki, immediately, of course.] You like something like that?

No, nothing like that. [SENTAI IS FUTABA'S THING] American comic books.

[superman!! batman!! just look at Robin Hood and you'll see the connection]

Really? What odd taste you have. I know even less about those.

[Thanks Eichi.]

[THANKS EICHI]

I'd offer to show them to you, but the lack of a library makes that difficult. Not that I would expect a manor like this to have comic books in its library, anyway.

That's unfortunate, isn't it? Perhaps you could just tell me what it is that you like about them.

It's difficult to explain. Truthfully, you'd have to experience them to really understand.

I'm not sure that I'd be interested, if they're just as fake as the fairy tales children are fed to pretend they're not dark moral lessons.

[He shits on heroes and all this but he watches Jojo, apparently, and actually wants to be the main character/hero himself? He's unfair.]

But for Akechi-kun, I'd gladly take a look, if they appeared.

[EICHI PLEASE]

Then all we can do at this point is hope this manor obtains a collection of American comic books. Perhaps then you'll understand what I'm talking about.

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[Week 1, Monday: Eichi]

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