#tdruv

Based on the top three of the last one!

[I Can’t Help But Want To Talk To You]

[Day 2, Dining Hall, 4:04]

They’d both talked about leaving earlier, but had gotten a bit wrapped up in the conversation—bouncing from Ken worrying about if he’d kill someone or get killed to wondering if they should be taking precautions to joking about the two of them being able to take Wada. Ken learned that Kazutoshi was a crime scene cleaner and ‘damn good’ at what he did. They talked and talked, learning each other’s favorite color and their opinions on their fellow hostages. They circled back to talk about their situation—unable to help themselves. No point in ignoring the elephant in the room.

By now, Kazutoshi’s voice sounded somewhat raspy, like it was weighted by how tired he surely must be by now. But he hadn’t said anything about leaving since and Ken didn’t want to assume, so; “Should I be promising the same?”

“Hm?”

“Earlier. If someone tried to kill you, I could protect you, too.”

“I don’t need protecting.” Kazutoshi’s voice came out sharp, brittle, and dry. Breakable but likely to hurt Ken first.

“I-I’m sorry. I don’t mean it like that. I mean… like looking out for each other.”

His eyes closed for a moment, the hand holding his cheek up covering half of his face for a moment. “Oh, yeah. That makes sense. …’Sides, ya don’t really hafta worry about Yaitabashi…”

Kansaiben? Oh, that suited him, actually. “Oh? Why is that?”

“Hm?” Kazutoshi turned his face back towards Ken, and maybe Ken should excuse himself first because what if he was keeping Kazutoshi trapped in the conversation? He was clearly tired and— “Oh, I just… can take him. Don’t worry ‘bout it.”

“Like with Wada?”

“Yeah. How’s roomin’ with the doc, anyway?”

“I-I mean, technically neither of us would be able to give accurate statements on our time with our respective roommates.” Ken adjusted his spot in his chair for the fourth time. “Neither of us has gone to bed yet. Do you think we should—“

“We can still have opinions.” Kazutoshi argued. “Like Yaitabashi’s pretty tidy. So, no complaints from me.”

“Dr. Hirose is fairly neat as well, from what I’ve seen so far. My room at home is a little…”

“You’re messy? How bad?”

“I have—It’s—hmm. It’s not that, I-I have a system but it’s a bit of …organized chaos.”

“Oh, you’re one of those.”

Ken sputtered, “What does that mean?!”

Kazutoshi laughed. “It’s just—it’s like. Okay, when people say that, they’re usually just lying to themselves.”

He pouted; “What? But I do! And I haven’t even touched anything yet, so…”

“Not even your workstation?”

“Oh, are those already up? When did the rabbit do that?”

“I think when we were having that meeting earlier.”

That was fast. “…Huh.”

“I know, right? Mine’s mostly cleaning material, for my job I guess? Yours?”

“Research materials. I study a lot.” Ken smiled at him sheepishly.

“Makes sense.” He nodded before grinning at him, teasingly, he thinks. “How else will you gain those pop quiz strategies?”

“Context clues?” Ken offered up.

“Rhetorical question. ‘Sides, you’d still need to have context for stuff like that. You’re smart and intuitive, yeah. But you still need the research behind it.”

“That’s very true.”

God, Kazutoshi was so fun to talk to. He was a bit argumentative, but it seemed like he just enjoyed it. And he seemed to like when Ken wasn’t… completely ‘socially-appropriate.’ Which was… so nice.

It felt like he could finally relax around someone who wasn’t a family member.

[Does 3AM Really Count As Late Night Or Early Morning?—You Decide!]

[Day 2, Dining Hall, 2:44]

Ken was staring at his own clasped hands on the table—frankly paying too much attention to his skin—when he was joined by one of the other students.

“Well well well.”

It reminded him absurdly of an American Western, and a light chuckle burst out of his chest. “Hey.”

“Looks like I’m not the only one who couldn’t sleep.”

“Me and a few others, yeah. Frankly, I don’t know how anyone’s sleeping at all. I get we’re all tired, but…”

“Yeah, no I'm with you.” Kamimura crossed his arms over his chest, even as he got closer to Ken. His nail polish was surprisingly reflective for black. Ken noted the smudges and chips and filed the information away. Likely recently applied, but before they woke up here. “I'm not letting my guard down around any of these people.”

“And yet here you are in the dining room in the middle of the night?”

“That doesn’t count.” He fired back quickly. “You’re different. You’re fine.”

Ken chuckled again, more confused than amused this time. Though Kamimura did make him smile. If he’d understood his tone correctly. “What?”

“Well I mean like-“ Kamimura finally pulled out a chair to sit next to Ken. He hadn’t had to crane his head to look up or anything, it just felt nicer. Like they were on equal footing when they spoke to one another. “You’re not a total goddamn freak like Ogura or Okazaki or any of those guys.” The shorter boy flapped his hand in the direction he presumed the bedrooms were. “I can sit here comfortably without worrying that you're gonna stab me or something.”

“I-I guess I'm flattered.” Was it okay to joke with him yet? He’d seemed receptive to it, but maybe—

Kamimura chuckled, “You’re welcome.”

:0 Thank ye.

There will definitely be a scene. Likely several with the two. One of which coming soon, actually! …as soon as I iron out some frankly strange sentences. 😅 As for why I haven’t yet….

One part of it is that I haven’t had a scene from either of their perspectives quite yet. Or from the perspective of anyone observing them. There’s been minor interaction between the two but not enough to really be notable or noteworthy.

A second part is that I’d seen that Ninomiya’s student spotlight was coming out and I wanted to study that before I had too many Ninomiya scenes. Especially since I knew Okazaki would inevitably come up. Wanted to see how he felt about their relationship before trying to depict it.

And the third is… they’re kiiind of avoiding each other? Sort of. They’re among 32 hostages, where they’ve been told to kill each other, and they’re the only ones who know-know each other. If they’re here longer than tonight and anyone actually takes the game seriously, them knowing each other could make them targets. On top of that, someone is using a completely different name. And the other person doesn’t exactly know why she’s doing that??? And he doesn’t exactly want to just—either out or snitch on her, depending on the situation.

And the fourth reason is; Ninomiya had a feeling Okazaki would try to be roommates again and he didn’t really want to! So he ran off with Wada before Okazaki or anyone else could say anything.