spirithacker | Recolle IC Inbox

This is Arisato. Are you still interested in a job at the Tea Kittle?

it cant be during school but sure???

What's your school schedule?

8-2:20 + time to get home & to work

Unless you're willing to work weekend mornings, how about Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30-4:30? The sun will start to set around then, but I can walk or drive you home before dark. You'll be working with me during my shift, so I'll be there the entire time.
The boss' number is XXX-XXXX if you have questions for him too.

im ok with it but is this legal

Not legal in that you sign a contract to be an official employee, no. But if you want to help out around the store, I will pay you for your efforts. It would be like doing chores at home. A mutual agreement like that.

sounds good how much are you gonna pay me

What sounds fair to you? $30 a month?

sold!!

[He has no idea what a fair wage is for this and it shows.]

can I start next week?

[ This is why they have child labor laws I guess ]

Sure. The first few days will be orientation so you know where everything is. Looking forward to working with you, Shinji.

you too! dont tell my parents they might think this is shady

Don't worry. I don't have a way to contact your parents, unless they come with you. Our relationship would be server and customer then.

good then im ready to start work

Good to hear. See you Tuesday at 3:30.

[A text comes to you in the late afternoon of February 3rd. The sender's name has been encrypted and errors out and there are no signs of who the message belongs to. Clicking on the profile of this Retrospec user brings up a picture of the Retrospec symbol.]

How would you like to help us help you out? Your observation period's up and I want you on this particular assignment. You'll be fine, you're probably not going to die, and we'll be able to monitor you from here. We need help. You've got the skills needed even if you don't know it yet. I know it and that's what counts. You'll be working with a group (wish I could give you the names, still putting the lists together), but your assignment partner is Makoto Yuuki. Should you choose to accept this assignment, you will need to meet at Peach Beach tomorrow morning and we'll go from there. You'll be rewarded for your success, of course, but this is only if we have an agreement. Do we have an agreement?

[No other messages will be sent from this account at this time.]

[ooc: Hello! You've been sorted into group 1. Your event log will go up at 9pm EST along with all of the other logs. We encourage you to read the main event log as well for more information about your recruiter and this note. In the meantime, head on over to this thread on the latest mod post to meet your teammates! Thank you!]

[It's been exactly two weeks since the... "disappearances" of Recollé's citizens. Two weeks since Shinji's been sleeping over on the Mayship. Time makes for normalcy, and so Sakura doesn't think twice about looking for her cousin, knocking on the door to his current room.]

Shinji-kun? What would you like for dinner?

[She calls through the door while she waits for him to open it, wringing her hands as she does. Only way to get that nervous energy out, as of late]

[There's no answer.

Or: there's no verbal answer. It's obvious that Shinji is inside because at the sound of Sakura's voice, he yelps. There's the sound of a tiny child falling off a bed before scrambling to the farthest corner of the room.

But he doesn't say anything.]

... Shinji-kun?

[That... doesn't bode well. And the fact that she heard her cousin just spikes the adrenaline in her blood. After a pause, she knocks, louder]

Are you in there?

[Trying the handle now, hoping it will open]

[It isn't locked, because Shinji hadn't thought to lock it, something he regrets now.

In the farthest corner of the room, Shinji sits with his back to the wall, hugging himself tight. He's pale, and only goes paler when he actually sees her.]

S...stay away...

[His voice is tiny and his eyes wide: in every way the picture of a terrified child.]

[-- He's confused.

Yes, that must be it. Something must've scared him, or... maybe there's something behind her? Smile stamped on her face, Sakura even makes a show of looking over her shoulder, back into the empty hallway. Nothing there.

She turns back to him]

Shinji-kun... it's me. See?

[See? Just his cousin. No harm done. As if that will be enough to quell her cousin's fears, Sakura takes a step forward into the room.]

It's okay.

[Shinji presses his back as flat against the wall as he can manage, only more fearful as she takes a step towards him.]

I know it's you - it was you in that memory too, it's not okay, it's not okay...

[There are tears at the corners of his eyes.]

Wha...

[Stopping short, barely inside the doorway, and the hand that had been ready to close the door behind her freezes]

What memory?

...There was somebody with your face and your voice.

[Not her name, and the metal parts were weird, but it looked and sounded like her, so - so-]

She stabbed me - right through me - she's the one who killed me-

[He might not have died in that memory, but he knows. It's impossible for him to have survived a wound like that for long, no matter how talented he might have been.

Sakura is the person who killed him.]

... Oh.

[she wishes she'd closed the door, suddenly -- the feeling's gone out of her legs, threatening to sink her to the floor. Inside her mouth she feels her tongue flap uselessly, for excuses, anything to say.]

I-- but I--

[Jaw clenched, she tries her best to stay strong. Is this not what Shigaraki said might happen? That she'd have to push and be the adult? It's for Shinji's sake, so she must do it, ignoring how terrified he is or that she feels her stomach coil into knots.

And when she opens her mouth, there's... a giggle, this broken noise that sounds of glass shards.

「 It was so easy. 」

She slaps a hand over her mouth.

「 If I'd known I wouldn't feel anything, I would've done it a long time ago. 」

No. No no no--

「 Look, Senpai. I was crazy from the beginning. 」]

[The memory ends.

Sakura stares blankly at the floor]

... D-do you want me to leave?

[Sakura... laughed at him?

No, no - that's not right. That's just a noise that someone makes when they don't know what to say. That's not Sakura laughing at how terrified he is of her after remembering being killed. She would never.

She would never kill him, either, but it's impossible to get the cruel smirk her face wore out of his head.]

...I don't know.

[He doesn't know anything except that he doesn't want to deal with this memory.]

[That he doesn't immediately demand she leave helps to steady her in some small way, pulling her out of her head and back to reality. This is her cousin, not her older brother, she recites -- and he's alive, and scared.

(of her)

...]

I-I'm sure the memory was scary. [God, she tries to keep her voice steady and curses herself for that tremble at the very beginning] Here, I'll -- I'll go get dinner, and then bring it for you.

We can always talk later, when you're ready.

Okay.

[That's easy. He still needs dinner. Life goes on when you remember that you died.]

...You can just push it under the door if you want.

[It isn't what she wants.

... But it's what she'll probably do. There's another tight smile as she steps back, door still open]

Okay.

... I'll talk to you later, then.

[With that, she'll very quickly take her leave, closing the door before he can see her expression break]

Twas the night before Christmas, and all down the way, not a sound could be heard, not even a-

"KWEH!"

The sound echoes outside of Shinji's house just after 10:00, when a certain someone hoped that Shinji would already be in bed. If he runs to the window and throws open the sash, what to his wondering eyes will appear?

But Togusa in a Santa Hat, a chocobo with fake plastic reindeer antlers, and the Tachikoma in an elf hat and carrying a bag of presents. All three are stock still, nervously looking at the windows to see if the jig is up and their delivery has been discovered.

Togusa had hoped that Shinji would already be in bed, and he would be right. However, Shinji takes forever to fall asleep, and it doesn't take more than a KWEH to get him out of bed and blearily peeking through the window curtains.

...What he sees is ridiculous, and if it were actually real, it would be stupid, so it's probably a dream. Shinji pinches his cheek to make sure.

Ow.

Okay, not a dream, which means Shinji has to give Togusa a look through the window like he's a moron in a santa hat.

Oops. Busted. Togusa spots Shinji in the window, and instantly looks sheepish, one hand going to the back of his head. Hi, Shinji? The Tachikoma, on the other hand, excitedly waves with a claw-hand. Hi, Shinji!

Togusa buries his face in a hand briefly. The chocobo takes the fact that they’ve stopped as a sign that it can go back to trying to eat Togusa’s hair. Its beak tries to peck in and jostles his hat. Ow.

Togusa points at the front porch and holds up the bag towards Shinji. Just because they have been found out doesn’t mean he is going to stop.

It takes a second for Shinji to remember that even if this is really stupid, he should probably do something other than stare. He closes his window curtains.

A minute later, he opens the front door, still dead-eyeing Togusa. "What."

Togusa has the most sheepish caught look on his face. He holds out the bag of presents like a half-shield, half-offering. His voice stays low. "Merry Christmas?" He sighs. "I got Sora's house again, so I thought it'd be fun to get yours, too."

Neither the bird or the Tachikoma can make it onto the porch, so it leaves the Tachikoma waving more from behind Togusa.

Shinji isn't nearly judging enough to refuse presents. He grabs a hold of the bag, holding tight like Togusa might change his mind and not give him anything after all.

"You could just give me stuff. You don't have to dress up like Santa and sneak over."

He'll accept gifts twenty-four hours a day, three hundred sixty-five days a year.

Togusa gladly lets go of the bag. No take-backsies, especially not on Christmas. He can't help but laugh at himself when Shinji points it out. "I thought it was fun. I would have owned up to it immediately tomorrow so you didn't get worried."

He shrugs and points a thumb behind him towards his partners in crime. "The Tachikoma wanted to know about Christmas traditions, and apparently Santa has chocobos now?"

So it's for the robot. Shinji can understand that, and it makes his expression soften a little. "Well... I guess it's fine if it's for the Tachikoma."

He might have a weak spot for robot tanks. Shhh.

Shinji starts pulling out the contents of the bag. The most important question, of course, is what Togusa got him.

There are a few Dad Presents in there, some science fiction books, and something that is very obviously a baseball glove. But also the requested New Pogglemon, and the new Smush game, Togusa being unknowing of the chaos that waves through friend groups in the wake of that game.

Lastly, there is one small awkwardly wrapped present with far too much tape on it. "That one's mine!" the Tachikoma proudly points.

Apparently the presence of the Tachikoma in Santa's Workshop inspired the elves, and they created a wind-up toy version of the Tachikoma, cheap and small like you'd find in a Happy Meal Toy.

There is a shocking amount of stuff in here. Shinji pulls out item after item with increasingly wide eyes.

"...You remembered what I wanted?"

Shinji hadn't expected Togusa to actually get him anything, much less remember his specific holiday wishes. Togusa's not his family or anybody with an obligation to get him a present.

To be fair, there was only one other person Togusa had been planning to spoil for Christmas, and that guy abruptly changed age categories on him.

Togusa practically beams at Shinji's reaction. "Well. Yeah. It was important to you so it was important to me. There's enough other things going wrong, you know? Christmas."

"Christmas should go right."

If there's one thing that should go right, it's Christmas. Shinji can't argue with that even if he wanted to.

"...Thanks." It's a little awkward, but no less genuine for that.

"Not right now 'cause it's late, but if you want to come over and play Smush sometime, that'd be okay."

Togusa keeps the smile on his face. He won't shake off Shuji's attempt to make it back up to him, even though the kid owes him nothing. "I'd like that."

~~Give him two weeks and he'll turn into an Ice Clambers main~~

"I'll get out of your way before I wake anybody else up. But. Merry Christmas." There's a little extra meaning on the words this year.

~~You could call Shuji a kid and he would probably just accept that.~~

"Merry Christmas." Shinji smiles a bright smile. "You too, Tachikoma."

Even if the robot only has a limited idea of what Christmas is, it still gets holiday goodwill.

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