(s)ᴀɪɴᴛ

You’re going around your daily routine, well whatever passes for it these days at least, when you hear a series of loud sounds. First, a loud crack, one that reverberates throughout the ship, followed by an even louder clang, followed by a siren blaring for a few short seconds before being suddenly silenced. 

But threaten a soccer loving girl that she immensely cared about? Kaoru drew the line there.

At Shinsuke’s threat Kaoru stood up so violently that her chair fall backwards with a loud clatter. “Don’t you DARE!” She yelled, slamming her hands down on the table in front of her. Fear was still in her eyes but it mixed with anger now. “Don’t you dare hurt Shinobu-chan! I don’t care what you do to me but if you hurt Shinobu-chan I’ll I’ll…” She took a breath. “I’ll stick you back in your body and shove you out the airlock." She hissed, hands tightening into fists.

Still, as angry as she was, as awful as Shinsuke was, Kaoru was shaking like a leaf over her outburst. Not in fear of Shinsuke’s reaction but just from her own outburst. She didn’t often respond in anger and it left a bad taste in her mouth.

But this was the person who had caused them all so much misery. This was the person who had backed them into corners again and again until someone snapped and people lay dead. This was the person who had killed Kaoru’s friends.

"Communitie Corp. is what? Bankrupt? Disbanded?" he scoffs, "I’ve… Been prepared for such an inevitability." he closes his eyes, having hesitated for just a moment, "But I am Gacchiri Hayate. If there is anyone capable of reviving it, it is I."

In a way that he thinks is sneaky even though it definitely isn't, he dims the lights. Just a little. Only enough for her to notice.

"Nuh uh, Gacchiri. My lips are sealed. You're gettin' nothin' else outta me!" He plays a soundclip of a zipper over the speaker for added effect, because he's hilarious like that. 

But she didn’t feel like she was trapped anymore or like she couldn’t breath. She wasn’t quite sure if she could stand up just yet however… 

Kaoru flinched when he yelled, closing her eyes again. “I-I needed the lights back on…” She whimpered in weak protest. She had to have the lights on…

She blinked. What had she been doing again? She couldn’t quite remember…

He would find something else. Of course he would. He was fucking smart, excellent at countless things. "Yeah, no shit," he replies flippantly at her tiny retort. Wow, it was as if he could not glean that information himself. Thank you for the obvious, Kaoru. 

"A LIKELY FUCKIN' STORY!!" he thunders, intentionally being loud, almost loud enough to shake the walls of the hallway. Though... that's a bit cheap too, really. He knows she'll flinch if he raises his voice. Let's switch gears.

Both the suddenness of it and the that it was Shinsuke made Kaoru flinch horribly and clench her hands, She half expected the lights to go out.  

He shakes his head at Kaoru’s suggestion slightly, “Oh, there’s no point in that. He’s certainly well aware that each and every one of us are less than thrilled by his actions…” he notes, flipping his notebook to a fresh page and placing a bookmark in the textbook he’d been reading.

"That said, I assure you, this is no laughing matter. I am quite serious. A businessman keeps his word, and my skill as such is far superior to that of subterfuge. I’d been aware you’d hear, but allow me to demonstrate my resolve."

But with Kaoru's reactions becoming stale, he turns his attention to Hayate now, he of the big ol not so humble brag. Good fuckin' god, was this guy serious? Hayate proceeds to then say that he's very serious, and it's all Shinsuke can do to stop himself from lapsing back into peals of laughter. 

"Holy shit, I didn't think you'd actually say it. What a nice surprise. Thanks! I'll remember that if I ever decide to tear the rest of you SHITTY FLESHBOMBS limb from limb! Maybe I'll let you go first, even!" The smirk in his voice is almost palpable. 

"Holy fuck, you..." There's a pause, and then a muffled "oh goddamnit" as the speaker buzzes slightly. Then another sentence that sounds almost like "okay better" before he clears his throat, still a little winded from laughing at how stupid the two of them are and totally not embarrassed that he just laughed loudly all over the entire space station.

"But yeah, Gacchiri, you got me good, man! With jokes like that, you should've been the Super High School Level Comedian! Oh Christ, what a kneeslapper that was!" He plays a recording of, sure enough, someone slapping their knee. He's hilarious, he knows, you don't have to tell him. "Hoo boy, wow... really, though, buddy, I'd work on that comedy act a bit more, since your career as a mole didn't quite work out. Super shitty scapegoat, bro." 

But with the lights going out any coherent thought went with it.

"N-no..!" Panic bubbled in her chest as the dark pressed in around her making it hard to breath. With darkness came fear, panic, pain. 

Aaaaaaaaaaand there it is! Oh man, oh gods, this is great. C'mon, that little, admittedly decidedly not cool, giggle was totally enough warning for what happened next! Jeez, Kaoru, get your shit together! 

He watches, with his special eyes, as panic begins to set in for the DM, and though he doesn't broadcast it (yet), his snickers have turned into straight up guffaws aimed directly at Kaoru. Shinsuke, you prick. He's so absorbed in laughing that her words take him by surprise. 

Perhaps it was dangerous to be walking through the halls of the station all by herself.

But perhaps not. Now, more than ever, Kaoru felt like she could trust the others. Except maybe Hayate, but what use did killing anyone have for him now? 

And as for the rest… Kaoru was certain they were a team now. They had to be, if they wanted to get off this damned station.

But Kaoru wasn’t sure if that’s what they needed to do. She wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

She ran a hand through her hair as paused at an intersection in the halls. To be honest she wasn’t sure where she was going. Did she want to go back to her room? To the forest? The library, maybe?

She needed someplace to start going over her notes, someplace safe.

At various points since his earthly (spacely?) demise, he's watched each of them in the aftermath, ranging anywhere from seconds to minutes to even hours, sometimes but rarely. And right now, he has his attention on Hayashi Kaoru. He'd only talked to her briefly outside of trials, but even with that little interaction, he had gleaned things about her, various tidbits of information.

As Kaoru stops in the hallway, hemming and hawing over which way to go, a short, clipped sound plays over the speakers, and in fact, Kaoru might even wonder if she'd imagined it. If she had heard it, it would have sounded almost like a giggle. 

"As I’m sure you can appreciate, I’m in far from an ideal position at the moment…" he notes, slowly entering the infirmary, keeping a wary eye on the techie every several moments, a bit of confidence lost from his gait. 

"I picked up on that, yeah..." he replies with another cough, and this time he has to stifle it from becoming a full on fit of coughing. As Hayate enters, Shinsuke slowly inches in behind him, not going to give up his quest for a possible cure despite some traitor. "Listen, I'm not--" he starts before the businessman speaks up.

Coming to a stop by the door to the infirmary, he carefully reaches out a hand… However, he stops before the door is opened. The sound of footsteps had reached his ears, and it quickly approached from around the corner. With little other recourse, he turned his gaze to meet the potential threat as it approached…

His fantasy, however, is pushed aside for more serious thoughts. Yeah, he's gonna investigate, of course he is. But first, a trip to the first aid room. They gotta have like... cold stuff and antihistamine pills and shit, right? He can't remember for the life of him what, if anything, he's already tried, so hey, might as well try something.

A familiar but unfriendly voice rings out once more. 

"Don’t think I forgot about the motive, kids. The filthy traitor among you, the scum who was working with good ol’ me all along, that would be…" 

After the strange events of last night, you are relieved to discover the next morning that the lights in your room have returned to normal, and that the door will once again open. The strange hissing noise has stopped. You feel a sense of relief. 

That sense of relief is quickly replaced with a sense of eerie dread, as you walk out of your room and are confronted with an eerie silence. Attempting to contact CAL-19014 does nothing. Starting to panic, you begin to make your way around the station in search of someone else. 

Eventually you find them, the rest of the students aboard, in the viewing gallery, gathered around 

It’s late, perhaps 10 or 11 PM. You’re in your room, ready to sleep, when something… odd happens. There is a loud click from the door, and the panel where you would normally scan your ID card to get out glows a bright red. No matter what you try, the door will not open.

His self-deprecating train of thought is derailed by a gently but clumsy dab at his face. What is his roommate doing. What the fuck. That's... that's so sweet. The big dummy almost tears up at this too, but blinks rapidly to try and dispel it. "Thanks, Y-Yoshiro3..." he mumbles, a shaky smile working its way onto his face.

... Only to fall immediately. Oh. This again... fuck, he's still not sure how to handle it. It's obvious that Yoshiro's clinging desperately onto this notion, that his best friend and his boyfriend and everyone else they'd lost weren't actually... you know... murdered horribly. It's still something he doesn't like to think about, yeah, no shit, but... he honestly can't imagine how bad it is for the barista, only that it's bad. 

He reaches a hand around and awkwardly pats/rubs Yoshiro's back. Please stop being sad. No such luck. Continuing the hopefully comforting motion, Shinsuke realizes that he really, really needs to address the elephant in the room. "I... don't know." Master orator, etc. "Like... I w-wanna believe it, I r-really do, but... I don't really, sniffle snort, understand how, y'know...?" But on the other hand, it's blatantly giving the other boy a sense of hope, or at the very least, not crushing depression. He bites his lip before coughing quietly.

A familiar and hated voice fills the air once more. 

"Hello, smelly, pungent, disgusting IMBECILES! How is trusting each other and having "friendships" turning out for you? Hopefully not well, because it’s everyone favourite time, motivation time, from your favourite motivational speaker, Caligula!"

"Are you fuckers aware that one of you has been in contact with /yours truly/ since day one? That’s right, one of you little pieces of shit is a sneaky sneaky traaaaaaaaitoooooooor! If you want to find out which one of your fuckers is, as we speak, in fucking CAHOOTS with me, all you gotta do is off someone. And chop chop, seriously, where’s the fun in just watching you all chat and form emotional bonds n’ shit?" 

At the decidedly odd noise Yoshiro makes, Shinsuke almost laughs. He stifles it, though so it just comes out as a sort of weird hiccup. "H-ha... Y-Yoshiro-kun, you almost sound as b-bad as I, snuffle, do..." The sentence isn't all that funny, considering both of them sound like shit that's been on the heel of a hobo's boot for the past week. His quivery smile deflates for a moment as the barista looks up to him... before falling completely at his words.

Oh fuck. Oh Christ oh Allah oh Kami-sama oh shit. What the fuck do you even say to that? "Uh." GOOD JOB SHINSUKE!!!!!!!! "I..." Fuck. He's not sure if it's his allergies or the current conversation or whatever the fuck else is going on with his body, but his eye is beginning to water. Definitely water. There is no salt contained in these whatsoever. He's not fucking crying. "I... I don't know, Yoshiro-kun... I honestly d-don't... I wish I did, I..."