week two | dates

[marriagebroker]

Kiss the girl~!

Or guy.

Or person.

Or Messmer's snake.

Comments

[poans]

[He glances aside, putting the stare out of his immediate periphery.]

Indeed, for yours is a noble vocation.

[irreversal]

[ She does, too, so now they can both just stare into the middle distance together. ]

...Thanks. It's... not easy, what I do. I can say that much. It doesn't always feel noble.

[ This is a Pompompurin Cafe. . . . ]

[poans]

[They sit there together, staring at a pile of Pompompurin plushes seated atop a row of chairs against the wall.]

Is the world you hail from in turmoil?

[irreversal]

[ Just, simply: ]

Yeah. [ And a beat, before she adds, ] Well... it pretty much got turned upside-down recently. A lot of things happened. I'd say the worst of it's over, at least, so we're in recovery mode these days.

[poans]

A fortunate turn of events. [He straightens, facing her again.] Yet time flows differently to some than it does for others.

[irreversal]

[ what could he possibly mean by this... she looks away again. ]

Is that what you think...?

[poans]

[He takes a sip of tea and sets it down.]

At a certain point, time ceased to move for me.

[irreversal]

[ Absently, Shoko takes to tapping her finger against her cup of tea. At at time like this, it wouldn't be so unusual for her hand to be taken up by a cigarette. But in the absence of it... it's like she needs to be holding something to quell the restlessness that belies her usual calm demeanor. ]

...It does feel that way, sometimes.

[ Maybe that's the difference between them, that it feels like a sometimes for Shoko, while it's more absolute for Yi Sang. ]

Isn't there anything that can set time in motion for you again?

[poans]

[There's a restlessness that seems to appear whenever she has to contend with a certain mood. He notes the tapping, but mostly wonders how she manages those occasional moments, and whether his inner clock will ever begin to tick again, even if sporadically like hers.]

If there is, I do not yet know of it.

[irreversal]

[ She lets his answer hang in the air for a long stretch of silence, thinking about the other times they've talked like this. How they'd left off on the idea of change before. But how does that happen, in the first place?

Her gaze eventually centers on him once more. ]

Yi Sang. Do you want time to move for you again?

[ He has to want to change before he can experience it, she thinks. ]

[poans]

[Is it time, or is it something else that he desires? All he knows is that, at one point, he couldn't stand to be so still. All he wanted . . . ]

. . . If I had wanted to preserve the status quo, I would not have left the white square.

[irreversal]

[ ...That's a good enough answer for her. ]

Then I think you'll find what you're looking for. Maybe you'll even find it here, or at least get closer to it.

Coming here was already a big change in itself, wasn't it?

[poans]

Coming here was not a calculated decision, but the result of convenience. I had been walking for so long that my feet hurt, and a place to rest them seemed inviting.

[He peers down at his cup of tea.]

However . . . it is a change.

[irreversal]

Right...

Intentional or not, it was still a change. And one that you've stuck with. You're even doing something like going on a date with me.

[ at the pompompurin cafe— that they were probably made to go to— but just walk (hehe) with her here... ]

Maybe... all these little actions add up to things changing. Even if it's little by little.

[poans]

[He'd have done anything he was told to do, but her sentiment is understandable from the viewpoint she's taken.]

Miss Odile said something similar. That such actions change us, however small.

[Even now, he finds himself in disbelief.]

[irreversal]

You're not convinced.

[ She doesn't blame him. Everything she's been telling him, she's trying to tell herself, too. But... ]

It's hard to tell these things about yourself, though, isn't it? No matter how hard we try. Sometimes it takes another person to see it.

[ And that, she can understand better. ]

[poans]

[He doesn't know what there is to see, but perhaps therein lies the wisdom.]

Is that what transpired in your case?

[irreversal]

In my case... It was more like I was the one watching people change over time. Though... Change doesn't always mean something good.

[poans]

. . . What effected your change of heart?

[irreversal]

[ ...It takes her a while to answer. They're even served their curry in that time, and Shoko only offers a slight of nod of thanks towards the staff as they're left with such adorable plates of curry... ]

I saw how my classmates came to be alone. Like a wall had come up around them, and nothing could get through or touch them.

[ As she picks up her spoon to start eating the cute curry... ]

[poans]

[He studies the manner in which the rice has been plated, staring into the unassuming smile of the dog portrayed by its shape. Neither his chin nor eyes raise at Shoko's answer.]

A wall . . .

[irreversal]

[ No hesitation as she digs her spoon right into Pompompurin's cute lil face. ]

Mm, a wall. Do you understand what I mean by it?

[poans]

[He dips the spoon into the sauce next to the rice.]

The walls I knew were white.

[ . . . which is to say that he perhaps doesn't.]

[irreversal]

[ ... yeah, maybe not. ]

Maybe it's like when you were walking. They were so focused on just moving one foot in front of the other to take them away from where they were, and never noticed that there were people trying to walk alongside them.

[ And in this case, Shoko had been that person. She was there, too. But there had been an insurmountable distance that she couldn't overcome, and because she couldn't, her friends thought they had no choice but to be alone. ]

[poans]

[She was there. To witness such a change, she must've walked beside them for some time.]

Then those walls remained standing.

[ . . . all the way to the end, whether through separation or death.]