IC Contact/Voicemail

[ardent]

[VOICE/TEXT/VIDEO; OPEN TO ALL]

"You've reached Kiyotaka Ishimaru; I seem to have missed you! My sincerest apologies for that - but if you leave your name and state your business, firmly and concisely, I'll return your contact as soon as I can!

Until then, I look forward to speaking to you; do what you can to make your day pleasant and productive, and be sure to keep your head up!"

[Please state in the subject line if OOC planning is preferred and we can handwave like the wind, but otherwise IC will be assumed!]

Comments

[superordinary]

Do you remember when Hagakure-kun said he heard sounds coming from outside?

[ If he recalls correctly, it was shortly before Monobear handed out the second motive. He pauses for a second, wondering if he should keep talking, before continuing. ]

People who watched the broadcast tried to help us, but they were gunned down. That's...what Hagakure-kun heard.

[ardent]

...I remember, yes. We thought it was...construction of some sort, I think...

[This is difficult as hell to listen to, but it's...well, it explains things, at least, so he doesn't exactly regret it.]

[superordinary]

Anyway, I got really angry at her after a while. I just...couldn't accept what she said at all. I mean, she just kept going on and on and I hadn't seen the state of the world for myself. I mean, she could be lying... And even if she was telling the truth...there's no way I'd submit to someone like her.

[ He shakes his head a little and sits back down on the bed. ]

The voting was a little different this time. We had to choose between "Hope" - punishing Enoshima and being forced to leave the school, or "Despair" - punishing me and staying in the school for the rest of our lives.

[ardent]

[And that seems to hit him strangely. Not as roughly as the information about the broadcast, but he still doesn't like it.]

...From the way Kirigiri-kun made it sound, there was a good chance that you would be killed somehow if you left the school.

[superordinary]

That's what Enoshima told us. She said we wouldn't last more than a few seconds out there.

[ardent]

[...]

It's...fortunate, then, that I wasn't with you.

[superordinary]

W-What are you saying? Why?

[ardent]

...You would have still won with the majority vote, but I don't know how I would have voted if given that choice.

[superordinary]

The vote had to be unanimous this time. If a single person had voted for despair... [ He visibly shudders at the thought. ]

[ardent]

[...Shit.]

...I see.

[superordinary]

[ Naegi just looks at him, as though he wants to ask him if he really would have screwed over the final vote. But he ultimately decides not to. ]

Enoshima came close to winning, I think... I could see the look of despair on everyone's faces.

[ardent]

[Ishimaru doesn't miss that look; for once, he's content to willfully ignore it.]

But obviously they didn't vote against you...?

[superordinary]

I had to remind the others not to lose hope. Even if things are looking grim, even if the outside world is polluted with despair... As long as we have hope, we won't lose.

[ That would have been kind of poetic and cool if he had stopped talking right there. ]

...I ended up shouting at them a lot.

[ardent]

[...Naegi, if you were talking to anyone else that might have been anticlimactic. However, this is Ishimaru, so...]

Good for you - I've been telling you lately that you need to stand up for yourself like that, because you're able to do it when it matters! I know you're capable of it, and I'm glad that you could do it then!

[superordinary]

Like I said, there's no way I would yield to her. Not...Not after she killed my friends and putting all of us through hell.

[ardent]

...I know. And you did really well.

[...]

I guess she executed herself after the vote didn't work out in her favor...?

[superordinary]

Mm. She did. It was...kind of gross to watch, to be honest.

[ardent]

[He can imagine.]

...you don't have to discuss it if you don't want to, Naegi-kun.

[superordinary]

I don't want to say what it was like, but...she was smiling cheerfully until almost the very end. She clearly enjoyed it.

[ardent]

[Ishimaru hesitates for a moment before he reaches out, laying a hand on Naegi's shoulder.]

...It's all right now; it's over.

[He really obviously doesn't know what else to say, but those words are as good as any right now.]

[superordinary]

Th...Thank you, Ishimaru-kun. For listening to all that.

[ He really appreciates it. ]

It's good to be back.

[ardent]

Like I said, Naegi-kun, you can tell me anything!

[...]

It's really good to have you back, too. Or...awake, at least!

[superordinary]

I hope flying over here to look after me for an entire week wasn't too troublesome.

[ardent]

Of course it wasn't! I'm not here because it's an obligation or my job, Naegi-kun, I'm here because you're my friend and I wanted to.

[superordinary]

I...I'm glad to hear that, Ishimaru-kun. I'm lucky to have you as my friend.