twelve 💕 username: inaban

[dereban]

Guess I'm living alone again, so if someone is in dire need of a roommate, I'm screening people, I guess.

On that note: if anybody knew Atsushi - the one that was living with me, the slightly darker, edgier one? He's gone now.

So, I should also ask: does anyone really believe that people who disappear from this place really 'go back home'?

Comments

Action, because I can

[sweetsleuth]

[As if Ranpo wouldn't come over the moment he heard. Knock, knock.]

Himeko? It's me.

[dereban]

[There's no physical response...but does he have his device on him? Because said answer comes as a text message in two words:]

Go home.

[Yeah, it's made rather obvious that she's not in a good mood.]

[resenting]

You too, then. That's a pretty sick joke.

I assume the people saying it probably believe it.

[sweetsleuth]

[...........]

[After about a good twenty seconds of silence, the door just clicks open. Did she really think he didn't know how to pick a lock?]

As if I'm going to just leave you here by yourself?

[dereban]

Unfortunately. If it was supposed to be funny, I sure am not fucking laughing.

Well, there's no proof that they are back home. But they're also not here.

[dereban]

[She's going to need better locks now, thanks Ranpo!! Again, no verbal response, as she is not in the living or dining areas, having holed herself in her room.

There's a lengthy pause before another text message rolls out.]

I've been alone for a long time.

I can handle myself.

[resenting]

No, I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to be the ones laughing.

I've had people tell me they've gone home and come back like it's some kind of proof, but that's still just expecting us to take their word for it.

[dereban]

Guess not.

I'm one of the people that has returned home and come back, and while there's precedence for it, that still isn't any sort of viable proof. Just because people 'disappear' does not necessarily mean that they have returned home. Even if the occurrences of it happening may be often enough, it doesn't make it fact.

[sweetsleuth]

[He's not actually going to read those right now. Is her room locked too? Because he can break into that one too if he has to.]

[If not, he's just opening the door.]

[resenting]

It's the closest thing we have to an answer, I guess. It's convenient to assume the two things are the same, even if it's just believing what you want to believe.

Well, in my case the other world's much worse than this one, so I don't know what I wasn't to believe. I can't just trust what people tell me blindly, even if I wanted to.

[dereban]

[Good news: it's not locked! And Inaba is on the bed, still set up in the same way that it was the last time he was here, with a bunch of snacks next to her and her laptop on her actual lap as she seems to be working on something.]

You really shouldn't have come.

[sweetsleuth]

Did you really think I wouldn't?

[He takes a seat next to her, not reaching out for her yet, but sitting close.]

[dereban]

...

[She's quiet for a moment, hanging her head as she closes her laptop, not wanting to really work on this project for much longer.]

No. You're not that kind of person.

[sweetsleuth]

Then you probably already know what I'm going to ask, right?

[Only when the laptop is closed does he shift closer, wrapping an arm across her shoulders, looking a bit relieved that she isn't insisting otherwise.]

Come stay with me for a while. I don't like the thought of you holing yourself up here on your own.

@perfectcopy, text;

[dvine]

I sincerely hope so

A lot of my friends that were here and that I knew back home disappeared. I don't have any magical powers nor am I some kind of genius to investigate all that so praying that they are alright and back home safely is all I can do

[dereban]

[She doesn't push him away, instead instinctively leaning closer to him in spite of herself.]

You're living with other people though, aren't you...? Would they all be okay with that?

username: annehappy

[depthsofdespair]

Inaba? Do you need anything?

[She's not even going to bother with 'are you okay,' since obviously Inaba is not okay. This is what happens when you get too close to people, after all; You lose them.]

[sweetsleuth]

I live with Atsushi and Tiger-- they wouldn't mind at all.

[--though the real question is whether Inaba would be able to handle how much of a mushy married couple they act like for more than a few days lbr.]

[dereban]

No.

Why would I need anything?

[dereban]

And I wouldn't be a third wheel?

[Because she doesn't think that she'd be able to take it if that was the case. She'd rather stay here and be miserable for a while.]

[dereban]

I want to cross my fingers on that front as well.

But at the same time, one of the people I knew that disappeared isn't from a good place. This place is arguably better.

[sweetsleuth]

There'd be four of us, not three of us... and four wheels make a car, so it'd be fine!

[What even is this logic--]

I know you probably wouldn't like that arrangement in the long run, but staying by yourself in an empty apartment is just lonely.

[dereban]

[She looks at him seriously, but if he pays attention, her eyes are red and poofy. It's clear that Inaba's definitely been crying recently.]

I've stayed in an empty apartment in this world for months.

It's fine. I can handle it.

[dereban]

It's just assumptions based on prior information.

It's the same for the person that I knew that left. It's fair to not trust what people tell you blindly, though.

[dvine]

oh damn

well, we can hope that the person returns here then? I've never met someone who didn't want to go back