i love submitting things for all of kusanagi's friends are dead tag 🫡 today's offering is. kusanagi and the rest of homra having to clear out space in the bar and having to decide what to do with mikoto and totsuka's things. some would be kept without question of course, like some of mikoto's jackets and totsuka's camera and photos. but what about everything else? what gets displayed, what gets stored away in a box that would rarely get opened, and what gets thrown away? kusanagi having to retrace his history with his friends and decide what would be the most important
Thinking about it this is something Kusanagi would have to face eventually, he can’t just leave all their stuff lying around forever even if part of him wants to. Imagine at some point while Anna’s in like high school Kusanagi decides to do some remodeling around the bar, the place is getting a little out of date and he’s had issues with some of the plumbing or wiring so he really needs to give the place a refresh. Anna is supposed to go to some multi-day school trip and Kusanagi decides that would be the best time to do it, he’ll leave her room alone and then he can clear out the rest without having to worry about disrupting her schoolwork. The Homra guys are all willing to help, even though they have their own stuff going on I imagine them all eagerly volunteering to help Kusanagi with the clean out just as thanks for everything he’s done for them over the years.
At first the atmosphere is pretty light, the Homra guys all chatting and finding random out of date things, look here’s a ledger from ten years ago do you really still need it or hey isn’t this jar of pickles dated from when Anna first moved in. There are a few things that everyone knows are staying, like the pictures Totsuka took are carefully stored to be put back up once the remodeling’s done so they don’t get messed up or lost, but then also imagine them finding like boxes of Totsuka’s video tapes and no one really knows what to do with them and they’re unsure about asking Kusanagi. Some of the tapes are unused too, Totsuka already labeled them for things he was planning (Yata is digging in a box and pulls up one empty videotape sleeve that says ‘Anna’s party’ on the front and he just freezes, the tape that was supposed to go in there was the one that ended up having Totsuka’s murder on it). Kusanagi walks by when everyone’s discussing what to do with the tapes and they all get quiet immediately. He looks at the tapes and then gets a rueful smile before asking if Yata wouldn’t mind storing the tapes with stuff on them in the basement, and they can throw out all the blank ones.
While everyone’s cleaning in the bar Kusanagi goes up alone to Mikoto’s room and imagine him just sitting there on the bed for a long time. He knows he needs to clean it — there’s no point in wasting a room that could be used for other things, Anna’s room is getting kinda small for a growing girl so he was thinking about letting her move some of her things in here, and the room is getting dusty anyway. Eventually he stands up like ‘okay, here we go’ and starts cleaning, thinking to himself that he really should have done this long ago, wouldn’t it have been easier then. There aren’t really a lot of things either, all told — clothes and old cigarettes, some remnants of Totsuka’s hobbies given as gifts. Kusanagi pulls out a leather jacket and sets it aside, Mikoto was buried in one but Anna might want the extra as a memento. Imagine Mikoto didn’t throw away much so there’s some old school stuff there too and Kusanagi just pauses, holding it, before telling himself that he has to put that aside too. Part of him wants to keep everything but it isn’t feasible and he knows it, knows that he needs to move on and get rid of these old things, but at the same time it’s like the moment he throws these away it will be like throwing away the memories too.
Suddenly the door opens and he hears Anna’s quiet ‘Izumo.’ She came back early and Kusanagi chides her that she didn’t need to cut her trip short for his sake. Anna just runs over to him and hugs him, telling him it’s okay, and Kusanagi’s breath catches a little as he pats her and says he knows. Anna says she wants to help with Mikoto’s things and Kusanagi tells her she doesn’t have to, she shakes her head and says Kusanagi shouldn’t have to do this alone. Imagine the Homra guys all coming over as they’re cleaning and soon everyone is helping and exchanging stories, remember when Totsuka made us all straw dolls, remember when Mikoto tore this shirt, Kusanagi telling them about this and that thing from their school days and the more he talks the more he realizes that this is what will and should remain of Totsuka and Mikoto — the things they can throw away, but if he shares the memories those will live on regardless.
