adsum | npc contact.1

[ Yes!! Double fist pumps and an excited little dance where they stand at the apple juice reveal, but also... real food... oh they love Subaru, for various reasons. ]

It's been good! Especially with all the other students back now, and— did you see the posters we put around the school? They worked so much better than I thought; I hear people talk amongst themselves all the time trying to guess what the drawings are of!

[oh theyre so cute... subaru's intended question can wait a moment there's no need to spoil lunch with a heavy topic ♪]

They definitely do their job!! Who drew 'em, by the way? The artist's got a hell of an imagination, it almost puts Fusshi~'s talent to shame!

[but. yuzuru has a talent all his own. in making the most left turn drawings of people and animals.]

[ npc-kun stands a little taller as if it were their own work that Subaru is praising, but they scouted this talent so they're allowed to be proud in everybody's stead. ]

Tarou-nii did a bunch of them! And Sara did the alligators—- and Akira drew one for me too!

[ Encouraging words aside, they locked in on the crappiest artists they could find rather than asking somebody in the art club, but everybody's happy in the end, so all's well that ends well.

... ]

Are you any good at drawing?

[Taoru-nii, Sara, and Akira... the culprits of these monstrosities. love it.]

Of course I am! I'm a proud pet owner, so I can draw my dog like no one's business! And other animals too, but Daikichi the best~. Wanna see?

[give him a pen and paper he wants to draw his doooooog]

[ Okay... With confidence like that, he can either be very very good or very very bad and npc-kun will withhold judgement until they see. ]

Yeah! I want to see Daikichi!

[ Pen, pen... It's a pencil they have closest on hand, and the handful of papers on the counter that they take one of and flip to the other side so Subaru can use the blank backside as his canvas. ]

[thankfully it's the "very very good" end of things. while i, his player, cannot draw, it's stated he draws the most adorable shiba inu, which he will do now. tongue out and everything, paw up, he is a Good Pupper ready to be loved]

I like drawing him on the margins of my books and stuff during class~. That stuff's super boring, so I've gotta do something to stay awake. One of my friends tried drawing him once and it looked like a croquette~.

Oh... You're very good.

[ But it's said with less enthusiasm as they had regarded the indiscernible scribbles from the other artists. Good drawings are good, but they can't use this to advertise the shop; everybody would be more focused at how cute this dog is to notice the words above. ]

Like a croquette? [ They laugh a little, hands pressed on the counter before the paper. ] I want to see! Show me!

[huh..... so they'd prefer the worse drawings. subaru'll have to prove his boss wrong and figure out a good way to make daikichi marketable.

but okay!!!!! subaru makes a show of pushing up his sleeves and sticking out his tongue, drawing what his poor dear friend hokuto had done... it's very round. a lot of circles. very croquette-ish. recognizable as a dog if told it's a dog]

— There! Hokke~'s masterpiece! Whatcha think? Still too good for your liking?

Haha! That's great!

[ Much better than Subaru's very good drawing, because this is something people would stop and squint at. And since Subaru's a good artist to begin with, that means the original must be even more ...croquette ]

Makes me hungry... I want to eat croquettes. Freshly made, so that it's still crispy on the outside and piping hot inside!

[...! this is a good chance—]

How about I make you a batch? In exchange, there's something I wanna ask you about!

Oh! Are you good at them?

[ Okokok, ignoring the exchange, it's request time ]

I want to try the kind with nagaimo and shiitake mushrooms! Do you have nagaimo in the classroom? Do you need me to get you one?

Boss~, come oooon, it's sort of business related! You could probably get business out of it! And I'll make whatever you want, but I totally need to you get the nagaimo 'cause we don't have it!

[yes he's resorted to whining.]

I just wanna know about one of your wares. A friend of mine bought something from here, see, and it caught my eye.

[subaru knows he's seen the totem here. he hasn't asked after it, because it's not something he's interested in buying, but he's probably commented that they're all pretty neat. he regrets not asking earlier.]

[ Boo... It's always worth a try, but sometimes people are persistent, and they don't hate that. ]

Yeah? Which one? Was it one of the rocks? They've been very popular lately! You've seen the gacha machine outside, right?

[success...!!!]

Yeah, yeah! I think it's suuuuper cool, one of my roomies got a really pretty rock out of it too! But it's not one of those, or the ones you sell.

[it's not sunday so they're not out, which is poor planning on subaru's part, but!!!! this is the necessary build up he won't let shopkeep distract him]

It's one of those neat little wooden things you have sometimes? The animals. He has an owl, so I wanna know if it's special the way the suncatchers are special.

Everything in my store is special.

[ npc-kun starts eating the bento.

... ]

Did you want to buy one? They're cursed.

[... he'll eat his, too.]

Cursed? Like how?

Mm... [ sips their juice ] Sort of like "an eye for an eye" thing? Everything has a price. If somebody thinks it's worth it, they'd see it as a blessing.

[ But for npc-kun who likes their senses, thank you very much, they're more akin to curses. ]

Oh, so that's what he meant.

[...]

Is there a way to break the curse?

[clearly hopeful. shouldn't be in this school, given. but he's hopeful.]

He already paid the price. There's no refunds with this sort of thing...

[ Like getting to see ghosts for a week and then deciding never mind, it doesn't work like that. Even giving up that sight and stopping the progression of sight lost in his remaining eye. ]

I told him what it was. He knew exactly what the cost would be. He decided it was worth it.

[but it's not fair. subaru won't call it selflessness at least, because if he considered natsume's feelings and respected them he wouldn't be sitting here trading croquettes for info... but it's still not fair]

... He'd get mad at me for even asking you about this stuff, Boss. But Natsume's my very best friend here, and there's a lot of people who'd be upset at him for this. He doesn't get it, and even if he does he's just ignoring it.

[it doesn't matter if he can still tell fortunes or perform. natsume's focusing on that so he doesn't have to think about the people he won't be able to see anymore, the sights he'll miss while everyone him sits in awe. won't have to fully confront the fear of the unknown until it happens.]

I know he made his choice, and I know why he thought it was worth it. But I just wanna know if there's something, anything I can do to help him later on, once... we're graduated, I guess?

[ They get it, they do, it's why these are the only thing they're upfront about, unlike them making their rocks out to be more than they are. ]

...He's going to go blind in a year from now. And he's not a third year, so he won't be able to graduate. I think the best way to help him is to support him. You don't have to agree with his reasoning, but you can accept his decision, and do what you can do make it easier for him.

I'm already gonna do that, I just—

[he huffs, resolutely choosing to chew his on his frustration. and his pork cutlet. subaru's not good with working through his less positive emotions, which is why he's headstrong and defiant this way, but he's trying.]

What if I break the totem? What'll happen to him?

[ ... ]

Nothing. You can take your anger out on it, if you want, but the exchange has been made, so there's nothing left inside. It's part of him now, and he's a part of it. You'll have to take him somewhere it can't follow, I guess, before the year is up. But the damage will still be there.

That's about as good as it gets, huh.

[he puffs his cheeks out, then sighs and slouches against the counter. the only way is to get back to yumenosaki before his eyesight worsens too much, but subaru doesn't know the first step to that himself...]

Maaaaan, this blows. Why do you sell 'em in the first place, anyway? I mean, I get they might be a blessing to some people and all, but they just seem like a lot of trouble...

Natsume-san didn't think so. It depends on how you use them. Rocks can be dangerous, too... the suncatchers, the sweaters, anything in this room. Besides,

[ they set their chopsticks down and look straight at Subaru ]

I sell things that will help. I sell these because I know it will help.

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