Parkour to survive.

[suicidal ideation tw]

Gorou had made his way into the 1-up cafe only to be met with the sight of his friend sitting at a table cold and unmoving. Ryohei was dead. Gorou clutched the front of his shirt taking miniscule steps toward the table.

“Bro, you’re not really? Haha, come-on Ryohei, joke’s over, wake up.”

The effects of the motive were gone but this was just a hallucination right? Something the bear pumped into his head to make him want to die. Good job bear. You win. In this singular moment Gorou wanted to stop existing. He wanted to crumple up in a little ball and die. Thank God Hime was there safe and sound because if he had to search for his only other friend he would have lost it.

“Moon Man. Hey. Come-on…please.”

Okay so despite Hime being there with him Gorou was still kind of losing it. His voice shook as he spoke and tears were freely cascading down his face. This hurt worse than the hallucinations. This was the worst pain Gorou had felt in a while.

“You didn’t deserve this I’m sorry.”

Someone was talking to him, a real person? The illusions voices carried through his ears like they were talking through a filter, to crip to be real people next to him. Not like this voice. Like…Ryohei? The boy was here. Oh thank god. Someone was real. As Katsyua’s voice faded Gorou snapped back into this realm of consciousness. 

“IT’s real.” Thank god Ryohei was holding on to the Traceur because it kept him from bursting into tears at any given moment. Gorou’s voice was weak and defeated as he smiled up at Ryohei. Gorou was happy that Ryohei was there.

“I mean not here but the …I mean the hallucinations.. I did it.” He held up a peace sign with his fingers and chuckled a little.

“IT’s me your local family disappointment.”

At least he can joke? Being this close Ryohei would notice irregularly shaped bruises poking out from Gorou’s Sleeves and shirt collar. Where it looked like the traceur crashed into things. Which wasn’t an abnormal sight except these looked recent and more frequent in number than usual. 

“I mean probably not very okay Ryohei but i’m sure it’ll work out.While we’re both lucid you wanna hang out and uh…Maybe do something.”

The tone implied that he was indeed begging for Ryohei to do something with him to stop from thinking about whatever hellscape he was living.

Ryohei… Really didn’t know how to deal with this. He was better at general pep talks and cheering people up not… Whatever this was. But he had to do his best! For Gorou-san!

“You’re not a disappointment, Gorou-san!” Ryohei yelped, taking hold of the other’s hand in his. “You’re super cool, and you can jump! You’ve never disappointed me ever in my life and you never will! Ever! I promise!” He pulled Gorou’s hand closer, reaching out with his free hand to grip Gorou’s other wrist. “You’re a really cool person and my friend, Gorou-san!”

Up this close, Ryohei caught sight of some marks on Gorou’s body – huh? Had he been in a fight? With who? How? Did he win? Was it even a fight? Did he fall over?

Gorou laughed it was hollow and empty but it sure was a laugh. Ryohei had managed to pull one from fresh torment.

"Shit man I sure do jump."

Friends? Ryohei was his friend huh? That made Gorous chest tight. Like he was disappointing Ryohei by talking shit about himself. Ah but that was shrodinger's disappointment if Ryohei combats his self depricating humor with concern, would Gorou think twice?

"Heh. I'm glad your my friend Ryohei but you don't really need to be for my sake." Gorou smiled at Ryohei wiggling their wrist in his grip so that he was holding hands with Ryohei. Not like fingers interlocked or anything. Just friends holding hands. A sign of mutual caring.

Gorou strolled over to their quaint corner of the cafe. A smoothie in one hand a coffee in the other. Sliding into the booth across from Him they placed the coffee down in front of the net idol. Gorou prayed she liked whatever coffee drink the machines made for her. Gorou had invited Hime out after a particularly nasty bout with the motive. She was a distraction, but in a good way. They needed to be around people. Real people.

“Do you ever think about how it doesn’t rain here?”

It was an innocent enough question, since coming to the dome they hadn’t experienced much in the way of weather. Just whatever the default setting in the dome was. Their voice was small and calm. Gorou’s face relaxed into a gentle frown as he sipped from his drink.

“It’s just you know I liked the rain. It always felt….peaceful…calming. now I don’t get that anymore.”

Slurp. Good smoothie. Now you go Hime. It’s your turn to talk.

After her interesting conversation with Timothy, Hime was glad that the person who saw her leaving the building in tears was Gorou. Okay maybe she wasn’t glad, but she felt like she could trust them a bit more than some people. She sniffled a bit, waiting at the table as she used the napkins to wipe away her remaining tears. This wasn’t very cute at all. 

She looked up at them when they mentioned the rain. She shook her head and just listened, noticing how different they were. Well… she wasn’t exactly being very Hime right now, was she? She took her coffee and just stared at it, letting the cup warm her hands a bit before drinking it. Not having to make it really sweet felt nice for a change, honestly her taste buds were dying from the abuse she made them undergo. She never really had much of a sweet tooth. 

“I… I actually used to be really scared of the rain as a kid… it was so loud and sudden that I never knew how to properly respond to it,” she said, looking down at her cup. Her voice wasn’t high pitched or even very loud. She was thankful that it was just the two of them, or else she would worry that they couldn’t hear her. 

"So then why the idol gig? I mean if you hit it big you were bound to draw crowds to yourself. Not that I'm judging I got a following by jumping off roofs and getting myself hurt I mean if there's anyone who shouldn't throw stones it's me... I'm just curious."

Okay so maybe a little out of order but after a long sip on his smoothie Gorou spoke. The way he slightly hunched forward placing one arm in front of him and another on his cup told even the most oblivious passerby he was relaxed.

"Well I don't think? I mean is there a right way to respond to rain? You can play in it or watch it from a window. He'll it could be a nuisance. It depends on your perspective really."

Gorou strolled over to their quaint corner of the cafe. A smoothie in one hand a coffee in the other. Sliding into the booth across from Him they placed the coffee down in front of the net idol. Gorou prayed she liked whatever coffee drink the machines made for her. Gorou had invited Hime out after a particularly nasty bout with the motive. She was a distraction, but in a good way. They needed to be around people. Real people.

“Do you ever think about how it doesn’t rain here?”

It was an innocent enough question, since coming to the dome they hadn’t experienced much in the way of weather. Just whatever the default setting in the dome was. Their voice was small and calm. Gorou’s face relaxed into a gentle frown as he sipped from his drink.

“It’s just you know I liked the rain. It always felt….peaceful…calming. now I don’t get that anymore.”

You couldn’t say anyone was feeling the best after that whole motive shebang. People were crying, Ryohei had already had to run to the bathroom twice, and really, it wasn’t fun for anyone. At all. Ever. But sitting around wasn’t really helping Ryohei – it just made it worse – so he left the hotel, planning on a walk, and–

“Gorou-san!” Ryohei gasped, catching sight of his friend on the bench outside the hotel and dashing over to him, a hand coming up to rest on the other’s back. “Are you okay? C’mon, Gorou-san, it’ll be fine! Whatever you’re seeing…” It’s not real. But didn’t that kind of seem like Ryohei was trivialising Gorou’s pain? He himself had just run to the bathroom after catching sight of another illusion. 

“I…” Ryohei hung his head, setting himself down on the bench next to Gorou and grabbing one of his wrists to make sure the other knew he was there for him. “It’s okay, Gorou-san, I promise…!”

Someone was talking to him, a real person? The illusions voices carried through his ears like they were talking through a filter, to crip to be real people next to him. Not like this voice. Like...Ryohei? The boy was here. Oh thank god. Someone was real. As Katsyua’s voice faded Gorou snapped back into this realm of consciousness. 

“IT’s real.” Thank god Ryohei was holding on to the Traceur because it kept him from bursting into tears at any given moment. Gorou’s voice was weak and defeated as he smiled up at Ryohei. Gorou was happy that Ryohei was there.

“I mean not here but the ...I mean the hallucinations.. I did it.” He held up a peace sign with his fingers and chuckled a little.

“IT’s me your local family disappointment.”

At least he can joke? Being this close Ryohei would notice irregularly shaped bruises poking out from Gorou’s Sleeves and shirt collar. Where it looked like the traceur crashed into things. Which wasn’t an abnormal sight except these looked recent and more frequent in number than usual. 

“I mean probably not very okay Ryohei but i’m sure it’ll work out.While we’re both lucid you wanna hang out and uh...Maybe do something.”

SWEARING TW::

Fear gas? Sounds delightful. Gorou had given up on the whole “living” thing a while ago so existing next to nightmares didn’t seem so bad.

{Disappointing child}

There was mom

{Foolish son}

Dad.

{Gorou you can’t be this irresponsible} Touya

God this was just a fucking trip down memory lane Gorou didn’t want. We’re there trees in this city? Because gorou was about ready to climb one and stay there. Drowning out the obnoxious life he left behind. A chore.

{Gorou-nii. How could you leave us alone.} Minori… Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

Gorou didn’t get far. A bench outside of the hotel. Just feet from the entrance was where fair Traceur made his home.

“Just…leave….hah… Go away. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it…I’m sorry. I’ll come home I’ll come home I promise.”

TW:Swearing.

“Hey so it’s me, Your local Trash Man, Gorou. Listen I’m not like, Well i mean i haven’t been paying attention because i literally do not give a shit. But can someone  explain why we kinda passed over Crab man? I mean yeah he was injured but like 1 out of 100 he could have done it to himself to throw us off.”

Gorou had just kinda sat there and talked because if even anyone would listen this theory would come out of left field to things that had gone on. To established evidence. He was more at this point just Trying to go over everything. 

“Don’t get me wrong i totally think Fire gremlin did it but i mean. Like life has many possibilities. I’m just putting it out there. You know just in case he’s not lying about the cloak.”

“Oh shit. Holy shit. Get a load of that contradiction you just stepped in You don’t trust SHSL’s But you were Masae’s friend? Jesus.”

“Besides Which you asked a question? How could you go home after literally killing someone. The truth is Easily. If we…if any of us even get to survive It’s not hard to go back to life with nobody even knows what you did. Heh….”

Hoshi had just been chilling outside of his room– he could only spend so many days straight in there before working got hard to do. He’d just started a little doodle to occupy his mind when the call of ‘Crab man’ summoned him. 

“Hm? Heh…doubt most of us wanna adult, except maybe one or two of us. Mm…least adult thing we could do would be laser tag or something, probably, heh…”

Well, whatever menu options appeared, looks like Hoshi opted to hang out with the cool parkour dude that he’d never really talked to before now. Seemed cool enough.

Oh thank god Gorou didn’t have to decide anything anymore. HE visibly perked up at Hoshi’s mention of laser tag. This was it. This was the best Scenario. 

“Yes absolutely. 100%. It’s like the best way to not be an adult is to shoot lasers, pew pew.” 

Gorou held his hands in the mock configuration of a gun as he made the noise. He certainly was excited.

“Although is that really what lasers would sound like? What do you think Crab man?”

Beep beep kids Gorou wasn’t feeling well, His voice was recovering from the scream marathon he had after the last trial. Still a little scratchy on the edges but otherwise back to his normal chipper self. He sure was dooting around the hotel. Trying to find something to commit his time too, the pool was cool, he could go to the gym again. Maybe he could just find a soda or something in the kitchen and just chill in the lounge? Thank god the responsibility of doing something besides laying in bed could be given to someone not himself. There was a man with crabs on his shirt.

“Hey Crab man!”

Gorou Jogged up to Hoshi. Hopefully having already caught his attention.

“I Could be considered an adult but i’ve decided i don’t wanna. so I’m holding an exclusive one person survey on how i should spend my time today. Just please. Crab man, just take away the boredom.”

Hime had finally succeeded in getting her rest! She was back to 100% charge and all those nasty feelings that she had to suffer through went away. 

But that’s only because she had managed to avoid as many people as possible. It was to recharge, so it wasn’t a bad thing at all! Sure she had to take showers when she figured others would be out and eat at really dumb hours, but it didn’t bother her! So that meant it wasn’t an issue, right?

In any case, Hime was happy again. She had the skip in her step back and could at least hum - as softly as she could - again, which is exactly what she was doing as she made her way to the kitchen. She had a cross body bag with her, containing Katashi’s PDA and key. Hime was really scared of losing them so she decided that having them on her person at all times would be better! To be honest, she was a little scared what the others would think if they had known so she put her own PDA and key in there. But no more thinking about the trial!! That was her own number one rule now! All that talk and all those feelings were supposed to be gone. The past was the past, and the present is the present. Keep your head up, Hime!

When she finally made it to the kitchen, Hime did take notice that it was already pretty late… Which meant she wouldn’t have to deal with harsh questions or sour faces! Awesome~☆!! 

She opened up the fridge and grabbed the first thing she knew for sure could be eaten without little to no preparations: blueberries. After washing them real quick, Hime didn’t even bother throwing them on a plate or anything. She just wanted to eat them quick and go back to her room where there was no possibility of sad feelings or anything. 

It did dawn on her that she was probably failing as an idol for not trying to cheer up others. She promised herself that the next person she encountered, no matter who it was, she would try to make them feel better and forget her own feelings! That’s just what idols did, right?

It’s Gorou, you know the professional disappointment. So sorry to say Hime when gorou rolled into the kitchen. Literally he rolled into the kitchen. There was a look that could be described as sour. Or perhaps, sad. But only until He saw Hime! Then his face went from sad to slightly less sad. Breaking out of the perfect egg shaped Rolling formation He stood up.

“Yo Hime-chan my friend pal.”

His voice was strained like he had been screaming a lot. HAd gorou been taking out stress by screaming into a pillow until it hurt his throat? Possibly!  He walked over to her and looked down at the container of blueberries. 

“Nice Fruit.” 

And he swiped a couple off the top. Gorou did that thing where he tosses one in the air and catches it gently between his teeth. 

“Taadaaa”

Gorou was not pleased. As he looked down at the screen proclaiming his secret Gorou was filled with a bubbling Rage in the pit of his stomach. How dare this bear. How dare this incident. How dare that bear threaten his friends. 

Gorou Ran through the streets of downtown the wind pushing his hair in every direction as he ran. No fancy parkouring today this was pure pavement pounding aggression releasing exercise. Gorou’s face was sour as he passed MacDolly’s for the fourth time. 

“They don’t deserve.”

He huffed as he turned the corner and skidded to a stop to avoid Running into the….Well This person. Who just walked in the streets. The street in front of the locked up museum. How dare they walk in front of Gorou. 

“Hey How’s it hangin M'pal.”

He was Furious. Even if his smiling face and Charming tone of voice wasn’t giving that off. Or was he stressed? His legs were sore, He knew that much.

Stella’s heart practically jumped into her throat, pulsing crazily as a figure almost crashed into her. Almost. The seer held her arms in front of her in defense mode, knees buckled and closing her eyes tightly to brace for impact. One eye opened curiously behind her sunglasses as she heard a voice rather than bones breaking. Slowly, she regained her posture awkwardly before looking up at Gorou.

“U- Uh,” Stella stuttered nervously. She cleared her throat before coughing, as if trying to scrape up the last bits of her character together. “I’m fi– uh, she, s- she is fine. Fine?” Clearly she wasn’t. That mask couldn’t hide that anxious voice and even more awkward body language. The way her hands played with each other and how the toe of her boot dug into the cement was far out of Stella’s mischievous character.

To be fair, it was hard for her to play any sort of character when knowing that one of them knew who she was.

"Hey sorry about that. Are you? I mean no duh your not okay who could be. But like physically do you need any help?"

Gorou smiled. Oh yeah question. Haha.

“E-Eh? You know my…” Well, Ryohei supposed it made sense. He was on the roster. But that was the second person who knew his name! Maybe he should have studied the roster harder so he wouldn’t feel surrounded by strangers… “Uh, yeah! That’s me! Ryohei Seijurou, SHSL High Jumper, at your service! You can just call me Seijurou, though. Everyone does!” He grinned at the other before his eyes widened.

“W-wait, jumping?” he gasped, doing a little excited hop of his own. “Are you Gorou Harada-san??? Wow!!! You’re so cool!!! I wish I could do what you do!!!” There were stars in the poor boy’s eyes. “I- I mean, I like high jump… But I need a mat to land on or otherwise I’ll hurt myself!” Ryohei hurried over to where Gorou stood, practically vibrating with excitement. 

“Let’s do our best, Gorou-san!” he shouted, probably a little too loud as he began his exercises. This was the best possible thing that could happen in this situation! Even though all that had happened, Ryohei was still meeting someone who he thought was really cool! Maybe Gorou-san would teach him how to do parkour!!

“Ah, it’d be cool to get to know each other! After all… If we all become friends, maybe– maybe people would want to kill each other less…? Wah!” Ryohei stumbled on a jump, just barely catching himself before he fell to the ground. “Not that I believe that anyone here is c-capable of… I mean…! I’m sorry, Gorou-san! I can’t believe I’m acting so uncool…”

Oh wow someone knew who he was. This was unexpected but also Nice. Nice. And it was Seijurou a fellow...well Gorou didn’t consider himself an athlete but hey there they were. okay so here they were in box world,

“Yeah that’s me m’man. Gorou, you know. From Youtube. Listen i’m glad your all hype and whatever but i’m just a dude. It’s totally not a huge dealio ya dig.”

Oh wow people used mats? Gorou Shrugged as he jumpped himself right up in the air on there. It was a good feeling. 

“You mean Nobody Taught you how to land? It’s like. Parkouring 101 you gotta learn to land before you jump off something or like, yeah you’d totally bust ass.” 

Gorou smiled and he jumped down instinctively bending his knees and kinda squatting, like he let his body absorb the shock. . Then Ryohei Stared talking about murder. oh right the bear. Duh. They were kinda supposed to murder people. Gorou was still Firmly detached from that whole Scenario. Not that he didn’t care but it seemed so implausible He kinda didn’t want to acknowledge it.  

“Hey man it’s cool Like you’re nervous and stuff i get that. and like to be honest 100% someone could murder someone. But it doesn’t like.. it doesn’t have to be like that.”

Gorou’s face went blank as he revved himself up for another jump. He went for it and Missed. But in such a way he jumped over the Pylo and his butt landed on it. He sucked in air through his teeth, which looked like he was smiling.

“Besides if anyone’s most likely to survive it’s us, Have you seen us? We’re Ripped.”

Ryohei was in the gym. It wasn’t somewhere you might expect someone to be after witnessing– well. Maybe it’d be more expected to find Ryohei in his room, or on the roof, if he could get up there. But there was something about running laps, sweat dampening his brow and his neck, that calmed Ryohei down. Every lap he stopped and dropped, lowering himself to the ground then pushing himself back up a couple of times. Counting reps left no room to think.

Except… He couldn’t help it. Every time he blinked he saw bright magenta, heard a boom louder than a clap of thunder. Ryohei hadn’t even known the guy. Had he been nice? He’d said some things that Ryohei hadn’t understood, back at the banquet. Maybe someone else could explain it to him. Crap, thinking about this made him distracted– he’d lost count of how many pushups he’d done!

So concentrated was Ryohei on his routine that he didn’t at all notice someone else walking in until he nearly slammed into them on the curve of the track.

Breathe. Breathe.

"Hey no problem there uh...Ryohei? You look like the Ryohei on the roster so u know. Your probably him." Gorou smiled at the boy with that dumb wide smile. Gorou always seemed to be up beat.

"Yo hey. So like totally wild idea m'man. Mind if I join you. Jumping is kinda my thing. Well running and jumping and hurdling and power sliding. I got a mean vertical jump is what I'm saying dude."

It wasn't like Gorou was leaving even if Ryohei said no anyway. So Gorou Politely sauntered over to where the Pylos were and waited.

Gorou Really enjoyed the aesthetics of the city in which they now inhabited with a class of really cool classmates. The feelings of buildings and boundless potential was exciting. He just wants to run and touch everything. 

So he went to the mall. There was prime parkouring material in a mall. Escalators and Elevators. Rails and stairs and hoooo. Gorou reined it in long enough to actually look around. He ducked into the clothing store and was peaking through a rack. Oh no both these shirts were his style. Guess he had to get someone to help him pick. 

There was someone. Red hair and quite fashion themselves. Gorou Grabbed both shirts and got as close as he could to the entrance of the store without setting off the alarms. 

“Hey you! Uh….“ 

Quick Gorou Make an observation that can be used as an identifier. 

“Peekaboo bangs! Hey C'mere for a minute will ya!”

It probably wasn’t going to get any better than that. Gorou Waved at the photographer from the door of the store begging their attention be turned to him.

Someone was shouting, in Felix’s direction nonetheless. They weren’t quite sure what the other person was saying, but it seemed like he was addressing Felix. Yep, he was definitely addressing Felix. What was he saying, though? Come here? Okay, Felix could do that.

They walk forward, following the stranger’s order, looking incredibly confused as they approach.

“Me?” They point to themself for emphasis. “Yes, how can help you?”

"Okay so. Which shirt. Looks better on me?"

Both were ugly, one was a plaid tank top in a color that just. Seemed to shift as Felix Veiwed it. The other was. Well I'll leave that to your imagination because we exhausted the thing I thought was ugly.

"Because you are a snazzy dresser I immediately value your opinion On this subject. Ummm.....Aadams? Is that your name? I tried to get everyone but I might maybe have forgotten."

Well this person was certainly very spirited! It was as if Hime had witnessed someone rise from the dead!! She was in awe, watching as this person rambled for a bit but brought up a solid point. Either way, the excitement of the jump was still there and very evident on their face. Hime did, however, recognize the voice a bit, but it was more a distant memory than anything. Maybe they were a fan?

Oh, that confirmed it. 

Hime offered up her own peace sign - beginning a “peace sign” battle. 

“Nice to meet you too, Gorou-kun! Please continue to support Hime.”

Had she decided to ignore the blood or did she not notice it? Who cared!

Hime was just happy to meet a fan, especially one as exciting as Gorou! Actually, this was her first time meeting a fan irl so she wanted to enjoy this moment.

“Hime-chan can lend you a tissue for the blood on your face, if you need it? Consider it a gift!”

She really wasn’t getting this first impression thing…

Gorou forgot their nose was bleeding. Their sleeve wiped across their face getting rid of most....of the blood. HE 100% didn’t do it in a way that was like. 

“So that’s cool of you and all but i got it. No need to worry. That happens sometimes!” 

He did Stand up so he was on more even footing with Hime. They were outside this grand hotel and neon city and Gorou was like this. 

“So i mean cool and all meeting you. This city huh? I mean it’s all. I’m just excited to be in this place it’s so vaporwave. Have you done vaporwave? i bet you could sing  the Heck out of some Vaporwave.”