hippocarnival | Daybreak Academy

[It's just an expression of sympathy, but Yuya doesn't bother detailing that. Instead he perks up suddenly at Kano's request.]

Uh--yeah, sure! I'll make sure he's right there.

[And he'll be on the other side of the door, just in case.]

Alright, I'm trusting you to it~ I'll leave that to you, and I'll go get this filled up!

[ That'll get Yuya away, he thinks to himself, down two floors and safe down there— that Yuya would think to come back and stand in front of his bedroom isn't something that crosses his mind, so Kano heads off without another word, towing the pot with him and filling it with hot water just as he intended, and heads back to his room. ]

[Yuya nods, and when they reach the second floor he waits for Kano to continue on before he absolutely dashes to his room, scrambling to get the door open, the window, and then sticking out to call to Odd-Eyes. Stay there. Watch Kano's window. Be ready to catch him.

He knows he can trust Odd-Eyes, and the dragon sits below with a new vigilance as he keys in his senses. Yuya doesn't waste any time leaving his room, sneaking quietly up the stairs and peering around the corner and down the hallway.

He waits a few minutes until he's certain Kano is in his room again, and then makes his way quietly to his door, tilting his ear close to try and hear through it.]

[ Yuya wouldn't need to press his ear up against the door to hear anything, because the voice is sharp and clear, slightly hysteric. "—slow! Useless boy! Look what-" and the rest drowned by stumbling apologies, rushed and pressured before they too are cut off and something heavy slams into the door from the other side.

A mumble of something inaudible, and the weight shifts, footsteps back into the room. ]

[Yuya flinches as the door is hit, holding his head while his wide eyes stare out vacantly. It's only when he hears the footsteps that his shoulders ease up.

It makes him feel sick. He wants to go in there and grab Kano, but right now that really might make things worse. if Kano's trusting Odd-Eyes outside, he must have some plan for escape. Right?

He presses his fingers to the door, not far from the knob, and keeps listening. Trying to make out the exact struggle.]

[ He has no real plan. The plan is to weather it out, the same plan he had when he was four or six and now he's sixteen and he never had to think about of better way than what has already worked: let her vent, apologize, try to fix things, let her tire herself out, be more careful next time, be smarter next time, be quieter, be better--

Something else crashes to the floor- hard on hard wood, a chair, a lamp, something more fragile shattering. Yells that aren't even words, just screeches full of anger.

And then there's water that starts seeping out from underneath the door, still warm, tinged red but just barely. ]

[The escape falling through is exactly what he fears. It's still too hard to make out what's happening, exactly, but while listening his head is tilted enough that he catches sight of the water leaking out of the room.

And there's red.

Yuya sucks in a sharp breath, peeling off the door before grabbing the knob, twisting it to try and yank the door open. He hopes it's not locked, please don't let it be locked--]

[ His door is absolutely locked!!!

But it swings open the moment Yuya touches the door, and Kano gives a startled cry of surprise when he sees him there. ]

Eh- Yuya? What's up? Didn't I tell you go back to your room?

[ Like nothing is wrong... And from the looks of it, nothing is wrong with him, nothing bleeding, nothing torn, not a hair out of place. ]

You--[In lieu of answering Kano at first, Yuya looks around rapidly for the sight of Kano's masked "mother". Where is she, what she's doing, if he needs to grab Kano and run right now--]

[ Standing in the middle of the room with the pot of water overturned at her feet, the rest of the room in disarray, but she isn't making a move, nothing's in her hands, and Kano starts to usher Yuya out of the room before he can get a better look at anything else. ]

Sorry, sorry~ Now's not a good time to play! I'm busy, at the moment? I have to find a dry towel, a broom...

[Yuya stumbles back, less focused on resisting as he tries to take in what's in the room. She's not armed, and that's something, but...

He glances briefly back down at where the red-tinged water is (was?). He's seen Kano use this trick before, and he completely doubts that's the monster's blood.

He reaches out to brace his hands on Kano's arms, unable to keep worry completely off his face.] I--know where one is.

[That's not exactly what he wants to say, but it's what he finds coming out. Playing along with the lie Kano's setting up in the face of that thing.]

[ The blood's still there in the water, clinging to the bottom of his shoes and leaving tracks across the floor when Kano steps out of the room, careful to shut the door behind him again when he leaves. The blood is very real, but the ground isn't where he's hiding it; wherever he'd been hit and caused to bleed, he doesn't show it at all, rubbing a hand against the back of his neck and heaving a sigh. ]

I wish the janitor's closet were closer by... all this running around's going to be a pain.

[Yuya steps back enough to give him the room to close the door behind him.]

... Let me see how bad the bleeding is. Please. [It's on Kano. It has to be on Kano.]

Hm? It's nothing.

[ And like that, the smile is on his face again, iron grip on his illusion that he refuses to let down. However badly he's bleeding, it's not fatal, it's not important, it doesn't matter. ]

Just a small cut, but it'll heal right over, don't worry about it~ Come on, we've got to get cleaning supplies, or she'll be pissed.

I think it's too late for that! [Both her being angry and Yuya being worried. Isn't he at this school to learn to protect people against stuff like this? Why does he feel so helpless, staring back at Kano knowing things are so much worse under that illusion?]

You don't have to face this on your own. Do you want to?

[ She'll be more pissed, and then Yuya would really have something to be worried about. This is the mother that he'd grown up with, and he know how to deal with it (by not dealing with it...) or at least he knows the best way to not escalate things so the danger will die down quick. ]

It's my problem, of course I'm going to face it on my own. I should say "Sorry for dragging you into this," or something, right? I'm already asking a lot from you, to have your familiar be my lifeline, after all...

[There's a pause. Yuya shifts on his feet, tilting his head.]

I'm the one who keeps sticking my nose in it, no matter what you asked. [He can admit, he's being nosy. That's not on Kano, but he thinks it's a little allowed when Kano's in immediate danger.

He breathes deep, voicing his strongest worry.] What if you don't make it out the window?

Mm... Then, I'll probably die?

[ It's not the time for a joke, and he knows it, but it comes out as flippantly as ever, like he doesn't even care. But he does, and he's adamant about not dying, not here, and not to that thing. It's not a situation yet where there's absolutely no escape. ]

I can fool it for a little while~ The last time was my bad, I let my guard down! It won't happen again. But I can definitely make it out of the window, if necessary.

[Yuya whines in the back of his throat. He's not feeling very jokey right now.]

I--[He glances to the door again, shifting on his feet.] If you're going to face it alone, then... can I wait out here, just in case? If it's necessary.

Hmm...

[ Obviously, Kano doesn't like that idea, with how many times he's tried to insist on Yuya going back to his room where he'll stay safe, and it's not like Kano cares much for what Yuya wants, whether being stationed there will make him feel better or more useful or "just in case." It's dangerous and unnecessary and Kano doesn't have a solid plan yet for what he wants to do, so he can't rest easy knowing that Yuya's out there without one either. ]

What would you do? There are only two exits to the room: the window, and the door. Will you fight it? Can you fight it? If I take the escape route out the window, where would that leave you? If I escape out the door, wouldn't you just be in danger too? These are things you have to think about, instead of just being there because you feel like that's right.

[Can he fight it alone, without Odd-Eyes? Probably not, but he's also not completely helpless without access to his familiar.] I can definitely escape it. Odd-Eyes isn't the only thing I have.

[Yuya squares his shoulders a little, like the emphasis on size will prove his point.] I'll know if you reach Odd-Eyes. If you go out the window, I'm fine. If you come out the door, we'll run. And if it's worse than what we expect... nobody else is going to know what's happening in that room if you're alone, right?

[ There's still no point in it, in Kano's opinion. Nobody knowing what's happening inside the room is exactly what he wants- nobody would be troubled until ("if," and it's not a huge "if") he either loses grasp on the situation, and he still believes he can keep this under wraps somehow.

But if something happened to him, Ellie would be furious for sure, Minako too, probably Imelda for it being right under her own roof, Peter had told him he could call any time he needed saving, and then there's Yuya who's being told he can't do anything but be on standby and there's no more frustrating thing than that: being told to wait, feeling helpless, and opening the door to find it's too late.

That's not fair. ]

...Not very convincing. [ He heaves a sigh, rolling his shoulders. ] How 'bout you and I escape right now? It'll be angry, but maybe we can lure it out into the mountains or something? With Odd-Eyes, we'd be a lot faster, and can put a lot of distance between us. It'll buy some time.

[ And get it away from the building and the school, minimize casualties, that sort of thing. ]

[Yuya's prepared to argue, because it's probably not convincing but Kano's attempt to lock himself in the situation isn't either. And then he suggests escaping, and Yuya's shoulders ease.]

Yeah. Then there's less people in trouble, right? [He can follow the line of logic there, and Odd-Eyes is fast. And powerful. Maybe if they draw it away, they can scare it off or... at least put it in a position they can deal with it easier.] Odd-Eyes is really familiar with the mountains. He can get us somewhere clear with stable ground.

That's how it is~

[ Here is where he wishes he'd paid more attention to class, because somebody must have talked about masked monsters at one point, how to combat them or how to dispel them, but instead, his knowledge stems from videogames and the sorts where you don't even fight the monsters head on, you run and pray.

He has no god he likes to pray to, so it's running instead, down the steps two at a time until they're outside and rounding the corner of the building where Odd-Eyes would be waiting. ]

See if you can get him to fly us by my window, so we can get the monster's attention and have it give chase.

[Yuya picks up speed, still glancing over his shoulder once and a while to see whether it's picking up on their plan. That hasn't been an issue so far, but... he can't help being a little paranoid when chased by a monster in the school. For all his bravado, he doesn't have a ton of actual combat experience.

He nods.] He can't fly, but he can definitely get us in view of the window.

[It's not hard for him to scale three stories up a building, anyway. Odd-Eyes is still sitting, attention up at the window until he picks up their crunching feet and looks down at them in--confusion?

Yuya flashes a smile and waves his hand.] Change of plans. Kano and I need a ride so we can lure it away from the school.

[Not that he explained to Odd-Eyes what 'it' is yet. Yuya deftly climbs up on the dragon's back, bracing his feet on his back as he grabs one of Odd-Eyes' horns with one hand. With the other, he leans over to offer it to Kano if he needs help up.]

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