adsum | npc contact.1

( He isn't exactly... over what happened at the meeting, but he's calmed down now that there aren't like twenty screaming people and no one's trying to kill him or deride him or

anyway, things are Slightly Better, so off to the counselor's office he finally goes. He's kind of relieved not to find either of the twins around; he's been thinking about how best to tell them. Does he even need to? At least Hiro would understand—

two sharp knocks. )

Come in.

[ Same spiel as the other counselor threads, and today's snack is baked pita chips, which the counselor gestures at when Natsume enters. ]

Would you care for a snack?

( Baked pita chips.........

He'll take a seat on ... the ... fuck it, he's going for the beanbag. No one's gonna know. )

May I? Thank YOU. ( It's just courtesy to ask despite being offered, he'll take some anyway; he won't eat them right away, he's not that hungry, but it's rude to refuse food. ) ...So where do you want to beGIN?

[ Baked pita chips that's lightly salted and with red pepper flakes and would be great with hummus but he doesn't have hummus. ]

Wherever you want to begin, Natsume. This is time is for you, after all. Your worries, your frustrations, things you keep bottled up inside... Life advice, homework help, I can provide that too, though I will admit the social sciences elude me.

( Buy some hummus, sir... you have a paycheck... )

I suppose asking you about friends is off the table THEN. What a shame — I lost more than a handful recentLY. ( A little sigh, but he doesn't mean it; he wouldn't ask for help about that at all. ) I have been wanting to meet you for a little WHILE, though I hadn't planned on it being so soon eiTHER.

( ... )

How legitimate a counselor are YOU?

[ does he ]

I do have some experience in relationship counseling.

[ Even if that experience is Kokichi and Shuichi...

Anyways. ]

And I have a license. Would you like to see it?

( please unionize and get paid.

Relationship counseling.......... He'll never need that. )

If you wouldn't MIND.

[ He twists around to lean back and open one of the drawers on the other side of the desk, flipping through pieces of paper until he finds what he's looking for. It's an old document, yellowed with age, one edge of which looks like it had been set on fire and subsequently pulled out, and currently rests sandwiched under the thin glass pane of a frame.

It contains all the information a psychiatrist license is supposed to have, but most relevant are his listed name, graduate school, and licensure date: ]

Mizuki Arata
Tohoku University
April 1919

( everyone: freaking out in discord over this
me, who never got a notif from dreamwidth in my email about this: haha i wonder which thread they got this info from!!
me opening natsume's dreamwidth inbox:

This... is all very relevant, and Natsume looks at it with interest. He really is legit, but more importantly... )

You're looking very good for a man going into his 90s at miniMUM, Arata-sensei. ( Which is said sort of off-handedly, because he's thinking about something— ) Are you related to Rokuro Arata-senpai, by CHANCE?

Thank you.

[ It's fine. ]

Are you friends with Rokuro?

( Friends is... a difficult word right now, and he isn't one to throw it out willy-nilly unless he wants something anyway; but on the chance that the counselor is related to him in some way... )

I'd said we ARE. ( The lie comes out smoothly; it's only half of one anyway, technically. They're not on bad terms, presumably, despite the scavenger hunt he made him go on for his poison. ) But it's rude to answer a question with a quesTION, Sensei.

[ He smiles his rudeness, and doesn't take it back. ]

I'm surprised the boy has friends, that's all. But let's not talk about others in this space— I wouldn't want to breach my oath, and we are meant to focus on you today.

Would talking about Arata-senpai's family breach your OATH?

( Telling if true,

but he shrugs, continue after a little nibble of his chips and deciding he doesn't like the pepper flakes, actually, so they're getting put back on Arata-sensei's desk. )

The majority of my issues right now lie with other peoPLE. As you might exPECT, I've lost the admiration and trust of some of my PEERS, and hurt in particular ones I would've considered FRIENDS.

[ At least put them back in the bowl or—- god. okay. The counselor eats the desk chips. ]

And it feels unfair, does it? To be alienated by those who do not try to understand your position, your reason, your choice. Or do you believe they are in the right?

( Arata-sensei -10 respect points, what the fuck, the desk chips. )

It's a complicated isSUE. ( As most things are. ) On one HAND, most of them didn't try to understand what had happeNED, or they tossed aside the reasoning for it as merely an exCUSE. You would think after months HERE, with the strangest people and imps in their MIDST, they would be able to believe in something that seems a little strange to THEM.

( Natsume rests back in his beanbag, watching the counselor. )

On the other HAND, I'm not going to dismiss their feeLINGS. They're allowed to be as hurt as they WANT, for as long as they WANT... I'm certainly in no position to ask anything else of THEM. Not when I'd feel the same exact WAY. ( Not when he... has. And not that he's over any of that either, mind, so. ) But — yes, it's unFAIR. It's upsetTING.

I made friends with some of these peoPLE, or I thought that I DID. That they wouldn't even spare me anyTHING... ( That they'd let the implication of "you should have gotten stabbed first, and either died or had it be a death in active retaliation" runneth over...

...Natsume frowns, then shakes his head. ) It doesn't matTER. What's done is DONE. I've been properly scolDED, the number of friends I have now has gone back to the reasonable number of "I can count them on one HAND," and whatever happens will hapPEN. It's on them to forgive me or not; all I can do is do betTER.

( Because even if he makes amends or tries to, or even if he changes, that doesn't mean they have to accept it or forgive him or anything like that. And "doing better" is "trusting people," like Subaru more accurately told him to. To tell someone about something happening, rather than immediately going off and acting on his own — overthinking, overacting, overachieving. His three favorite over-s. )

How long have you been a counselor at this SCHOOL? ( ... ) I like trading informaTION, and I consider my answer to have been a good trade for your credenTIALS.

( that isn't how this works and these two things aren't equal anyway but whatever. )

[ Natsume is a therapist's dream. He listens intently nodding to himself, but— the question makes him laugh, deep and throaty. ]

That isn't how this works.

[ But Natsume did make him laugh, and more than that, already seems to have his mind set on his feelings and those of others. ]

I've been here a very long time. I am very fond of this school, this job, my students... By the time they graduate, most have spoken to me at least once, and I am blessed with a job that lets me intimately know my students.

( There are many, many pros to being on the good side of people, and while he's typically anti-authoritarian, he can make exceptions for the sake of learning. Natsume laces his fingers in front of him, head tilting. )

And I was only extended the invitation after murDER... ( So most students kill, for one reason or another. ) Does that mean there are students who don't make an attempt on someone else and still manage to graduATE?

( If there is any way he can get Stephanie out of here without her having to bloody her hands at all... )

Yes, of course. I remember a full graduating class without a single loss of life, once. I'm under the impression that is supposed to be the norm in most educational facilities...

[ Imagine, a Yogen without murder... It's actually easy to imagine. But sometimes, things happen. ]

Murder is a choice... even when it feels like you have none. It was your choice.

People just happen to make that choice more often than not HERE.

( ...But why? His seniors graduated without spilling any real blood; he, too, is going to graduate without doing so — or he would have, in Yumenosaki. Why is it different here?

The rules, maybe? Last year, the rules only let one person graduate; the rules are different this year, apparently. If they change every time power shifts to someone new, then it's possible there was at least one year where everything was just...

Normal.

That would've been nice. )

...It is the norm for most education faciliTIES. This school's just — ( Wrong? ) UniQUE.

( A nicer word. )

What year was THAT?

1968, in the middle of an influenza pandemic... Our class size was relatively small that year. Perhaps that contributed.

[ Still! No loss of life. Take that, world. A win for Yogen. ]

( A win for Yogen. )

Were there any special conditions for that YEAR? I know of the one for last year's graduaTION.

( "Know of" is a nice neutral term, straddling between "heard" and "remember". )

Graduation is awarded for those who work hard and do everything they can to achieve their goals. Rather than conditions... it's the people who change from year to year. Even one person can make all the difference between how things would otherwise have turned out.

( Hm. )

Do you have your eye on any potential fate-changing stuDENTS, Arata-sensei?

Of course I have my favorites. But I won't name names.

Afraid they'll be taken OUT?

counselorsan, 07/02

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