crowspace | call me out v. 12.0

[When someone knocks at his door, Chuuya finds a three-tier lunch box wrapped outside his door with an anonymous note.

This isn't the first time he's seen this box. Chuuya will remember the last time, when Retasu attempted to give it to that dead author she had an ill-advised crush on, hilarity ensued, and he had to yell at her to find someone her own age. But this doesn't look like a meticulous recreation of a suggestion from a teen magazine. The food is more normal and less showy and it all looks like stuff that absorbs alcohol well. Less a gift to impress someone and more a consideration for someone she knows is having a really bad day.

He'll find Retasu herself in the library proper, face stuck in the first book she could find and trying to look like she just happens to be there. Too bad the book is not very convincing.]

[Chuuya doesn't answer the door immediately. Talking to anyone isn't high on his priorities, especially if it's someone who'll lecture him for drinking himself numb.

As if there were anything else he could do. Hah.

But he does open the door about five minutes later, and he finds the lunchbox. He recognizes the outside, and he understands the sentiment when he opens it up to find all foods that can help someone who's been drinking all day.

Against his better judgment, he goes to find Retasu. He looks pale and unsteady on his feet, but at least he's not about to yell at her.]

Anything good in there?

[Maybe she just really likes 1960s recipes. He wouldn't know.]

[Retasu jumps in her seat. The book springs from her hands and slides across the table, open to a chapter on the beauty of jelly salads.]

N-n-nakahara-san! [She claps her hands over her mouth and whispers.] I'm sorry, I'll be quiet in the library!

I'm not here to yell at you.

[...this is probably a surprise given how often Chuuya yells, but. He's not.]

[Retasu blinks. She gathers up the book into her arms and gets up.]

You're not?

No. I'm here to thank you.

[Why does she always assume he's mad... Oh. He knows why.]

[Retasu gasps. She's stunned for a moment or two before bowing.]

Thank you! You're very kind! I just thought it might be helpful if you had something. I mean, if it were mine, I'd -- um, sorry. I hope you like it.

You don't have a deathday. ...Do you?

[no one tell him about the season finale or he'll be more upset]

Well, um... I mean, I'm alive and not a ghost and don't drink ink, so, um, things are fine! I mean, I'm not dead? So, um.

[retasu, that doesn't tell him anything]

Tell me who killed you.

[he's going to murder them]

I'm sorry!

[She squeaks and covers her mouth.]

Everything is fine! Why would you think I was dead? I mean, um... well...

Normally people who haven't died don't have any clue how to deal with people on their deathday.

Who hurt you.

[Retasu makes herself small, wringing her hands and looking at the floor.]

Um, you remember when the aliens left, right? How before that, their leader awakened, there was that tower, everything was breaking in the city. We tried to get up there and stop him, get his host back to normal, but... um, well.

[Chuuya knows they were successful. The aliens who'd been plaguing the city flew into the distance. The tower crumbled. All the damage caused in the battle was repaired with the overgrowth from the release of the Mu Aqua, vines holding buildings back together, trees growing where nothing would before. Some things had to be rebuilt, like the train tracks a tree grew into that had to be remade to go around it. And a few parasites still made monsters once in a while. But Retasu's marking faded away, her powers going dormant, and the world was safe.

But.]

We had to make sure one of us made it up.

[He remembers - it's hard to forget that incident, where for a brief moment the outside world was stranger than the world inside books.

He didn't know this part.

Chuuya tries to come up with a response - 'are you okay?' is too stupid, 'did it hurt?' too probing. He doesn't have words, like she doesn't have the words for him and his death.

So instead, he takes a step closer to her and pulls her into a hug. Maybe it's not the best hug in the world, but he's trying.]

[Retasu sniffles, shudders in her seat. She doesn't do much else for a second or two. Then she just crumples, leaning on him.]

I'm sorry...

You can cry.

[The words he's never been able to tell himself, he can say to her.]

You're allowed to cry over dying.

[She sniffs and small hiccups come. She's a shaking mess in the chair, half-flopped against Chuuya.]

Thank you, Nakahara-san. I'm -- I'm really sorry.

[For dying. For making him sad about her when he was already sad about himself. For crying. For trying not to cry. For everything that made him regret so much in his life.]

No. I'm sorry.

[For her dying. For not knowing. For making her scared to tell him. For making her scared. For everything in her life that made her consider an angry drunk a worthwhile friend.]

[Retasu's shuddering turns into sobs. Already in the chair and crumpled against him, even in the library with other people who don't want to see someone's display of emotions, she clings to him back and cries for a while.]

Thank you.

[The other people in the library won't bother them, if they know what's good for them.]

Yeah, yeah. ...thanks.

[He's no good at accepting sincere thanks - just being able to thank people is something he's had to learn.]

[She shivers and breathes hard, continuing to hug Chuuya tightly before she pulls away and wipes her face on a flower-print handkerchief.]

I, um. I hope it's helpful. The food.

It is.

[Drinking on an empty stomach isn't good for you. He knows this because of how often he does it.]

...I'll be back to normal tommorrow. [Whatever 'normal' is for him.] So don't worry about me.

[Retasu hesitates, wrings her hands, and shakes her head.]

I'll try not to, but I'm not very good at that. So, um, sorry in advance. B-but I'll do my best too!

Guess that's all I can ask.

[why does he even bother tbh]

call me out v. 12.0

th chuu

here is the chuu

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