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[hippocarnival]

YUYA SAKAKI UN: FUNDIRECTION

STATUS: Student Grade 9

ACCOLADES: (Here is a list of leading roles Yuya's has in school theater performances over the past two years, plus a glowing review of his familiar Odd-Eyes)

BIO: Hello! You can call me Yuya. I'm from Sendai, Japan. This is my second year in Daybreak Academy. I'm a Tamer, and Odd-Eyes is my familiar. He's the big red dragon that hangs out in the courtyards. He's friendly but he tries to steal food sometimes. I speak Japanese and English but not very good French. I'm also in the theater club. I'm in Lumiere 203. Let's be friends!

© TESSISAMESS

Comments

[hippocarnival]

That's not a bad idea. It'd help you track things yourself, too, and anyone else who gets powers from daemons! [He leans forward, then pauses.] But maybe don't post it on the internet. I don't know how supernatural stuff is supposed to be hidden on there.

[The Iris Network is probably fine, though. If nobody minds (they're going to mind).] Maybe... the coven that taught me summoning might be able to look something up, since we're both from Japan. I'll ask them!

[After all, a daemon isn't likely to strike only once. There must be other accounts of contracted seers.]

[yokeye]

Exactly~! I'm going to document everything~!

[He frowns a little at Yuya's internet comment.]

I think I should post it to the internet! If people like me knew about this kind of shit before, there'd be less unsuspecting victims for daemon contracts!

[He honestly has more faith in the "normal" citizens of the world at large than he does the students who monitor the Network. They will mind, and they'll be dismissive and filter it out, and then blame him for not warning them about something when he clearly did. The Network is bad.]

Do... do you think your coven would like know which daemon it was!?

[Is there actually hope for something like that?]

[hippocarnival]

Uh--[Yuya raises his hands.] I don't know what happens if you break the whole secrecy thing, and I don't want you to get in trouble...

[He's right that they deserve to know, but Yuya doesn't want to see Toki martyred for that.] But maybe? Or find other people who have similar contracts. Professor Valvatorez could also help you find which daemon it was.

[yokeye]

It should be broken! Sorry... Uhh... I don't know if Professor Valvatorez is the right person...

[He may have a bit of an issue with Valvatorez at the moment, under the impression he thinks Toki was an accessory to Kano's exploits. The number of faculty members he trusts has gone down significantly.]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya's not gonna touch that before he gives Toki any ideas. He agrees! But for all he knows the consequence for spilling magic secrets to people is death, or something.]

... Okay. Then I'll see if the coven knows anything. I'll tell you as soon as I know.

[yokeye]

Really!? Awesome! So, he like was this guy who worked at the Tokyo National Museum near the train station! Or he said he was and I saw him there a couple of times with my sister before... Anyway! He-

[Toki looks at the floor in embarrassment. He's so stupid.]

He said his name was Taro Yamada.

[hippocarnival]

[Taro Yamada... it's a bad name, but Toki's name is a bad name so he's not going to mention it.

Instead he's quickly keying in notes on his phone.] That's probably not his real name... I mean that he changes it! But there might be other victims before he did. Do you remember anything else about meeting him?

[yokeye]

Not really. He was just... so normal. But now I think it was too normal, too... fake? Like an approximation of a person, but not one. Very formal language; I think maybe he was really old.

[He basically sounded like a much less confusing version of Gongenzaka, like Seiji.]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya plugs that into his phone too. It's not much to go on, but they're more connected with the supernatural community out that way than Yuya is, so they're his best idea.]

I got it. Maybe it'll give us clues how to manage it.

[yokeye]

Maybe! You should tell them what I saw about you too! Maybe gold eyes means something!

[He's heard Yuya on the phone with his mother a few times, but doesn't really know much about his family.]

So the coven... is it like your whole family? Or more like a community of people that aren't related?

[hippocarnival]

Ah--kind of. [He looks up, smiling a little.] They're all Tamers, mages and candles, that made their own group. They're friends but they're like a family. My dad was friends with them, so after he... disappeared, they reached out to my mom and taught me about using magic. They're all really great.

[Mostly older than him, though. They were mentors more than peers.]

[yokeye]

[Toki imagines it's something like an extended family or a large group of friends who stay in touch. He's never had either, but he wants to believe a few people from Daybreak might become those types of people to him. Or would have, if not for Nightfall.

There's one piece of Yuya's story that he latches onto, even if he feels he shouldn't actually mention it.]

Your dad disappeared?

[hippocarnival]

Yeah. [Yuya saves his notes and powers turns off the screen of his phone, glancing briefly at his reflection in it.]

When I was eight. I don't really know why or what happened.

[He shrugs a shoulder.] But I've always had I mom, and I wouldn't have met Odd Eyes if I didn't meet everyone in the coven!

[yokeye]

[Toki nods. "Disappeared" made him think something suspicious had happened, but Yuya's comments seem more in line with a father abandoning his family. He won't bring up that subject again.]

I'm glad it worked out for you.

[hippocarnival]

[It feels suspicious to him.

Yuya nods once with an affirmative hum. He was lucky, at least, to be surrounded by some sort of love from the beginning.]

Toki... do you like Kano? As a person, I mean, and a friend.

[yokeye]

[I love Kano is what he wants to say immediately, but he stops. Does he love Kano? No. He loves, loved, the way Kano made him feel, the way Kano let Toki just be himself. But being himself is a problem, one he's trying to fix.

He's described Kano as a parasite or a drug to Maverick before, and that's what he is. Something Toki wants, but can't have or it will make him sick. It will eat away at him until there's nothing left.

Toki can't answer Yuya's question. So he doesn't. He pretends he doesn't hear it and just walks into the bathroom and closes the door.]

[hippocarnival]

Toki--[Yuya leans forward when he just gets up to go, but doesn't follow him. Once the door clicks he lets out a sigh, shoulders sinking as he leans back in his head and tilts his head back over the headrest.]

[yokeye]

[Toki grips the edge of the sink and tries not to cry. His non-friendship with Kano is a bad subject. He was crying earlier today, to some girl he didn't even know, about how he missed Kano. He left such a big hole. Looking up into the mirror, his reflection seems tired and hollow. Not... healthy, like he's trying to be.

He sighs and goes to turn on the shower. He pulls his shirt off and almost laughs at himself in the mirror, because what the fuck is he doing? His torso and arms are covered in marker and paint and it's the second time today that he's admitting to himself Maverick was right. He's insane. He doesn't know if he's going to get better, or just better at hiding it.

Toki runs the water as hot as he can stand it and doesn't come out of the bathroom for forty minutes. It takes a while to scrub all the eye drawings off. When he opens the door, he finally answered Yuya's question.]

I don't know.

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya, by this point, has gone on to reading a book in his lap and occasionally checking his phone. He looks up immediately when the door opens, and when Toki answers... he blinks slowly, not quite comprehending.]

You don't know?

[It's something that's always so clear to Yuya. He doesn't understand the uncertainty.]

[yokeye]

I don't know how I feel about Kano.

[He shrugs, thinking Yuya just didn't remember what he had asked.]

[hippocarnival]

Oh. [Uh--hm. He doesn't really need to follow up with that, and he's been careful not to meddle. He's not sure if one instance of a kid like Kano is really solid evidence that he's stalking Toki to the hospital or anything. But also, it's sad and he knows Kano's sad and he supposed deep down he just... really wants to know.]

It's okay, I was just really wondering, you know?

[yokeye]

It's complicated.

[He doesn't fully understand the feelings himself; mixing in suspicions and paranoia, that may or may not be true. Toki climbs up to his loft - he still doesn't remember writing "over you, so take care" on the ceiling. It's not his handwriting, but no one else would have done it.]

Yuya, did I tell you about the cat in New York? I know I told Maverick...

[hippocarnival]

There was a cat in New York? [It's the first time he's hearing about it, having missed that whole debacle except that Toki was hit by a car, and Yuya had fretted over that before he and Nana left to Japan for Spring Break.]

[yokeye]

[There's a lot less emotion in his voice; he still speaks fast, but not anxiously. This is just a retelling of facts. He's strangely detached from it.]

The cat that showed us that map was Kano. I've seen it before, the cat, in New York. I'm remembering more of it. After I left Minako's party, after everyone else had gone already, I was going to run away. When I got on the elevator, there was a cat. That same cat. Kano. It- he- followed me out of the hotel. I talked to him like he was a cat because I didn't know. I forgot what I asked the cat, but he was taking me somewhere down the sidewalk and then he darted out into the street. I didn't think, I just ran after him. I don't remember the impact, but I remember the lights. Why did he do that? Why would Kano want to hurt me if he's my friend?

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya stares in disbelief for a moment before he buries his face in his hands and shakes his head. He didn't--of course he didn't think, he just ran into traffic. Kano could have killed him. What reason would Kano even have to go into traffic?]

That idiot... [They're all stupid, reckless idiots, but really. Kano.] I don't know. But Kano always has a reason for doing things and... and he doesn't want to hurt his friends intentionally. [Yuya drags his hands down and looks up at Toki.] He just gets--sometimes his ideas are a lot worse than he thinks they are.

[It doesn't excuse the damage, in general, though Yuya's willing to be far more forgiving when it isn't intentional. He's been missing Toki, so Yuya's sure he didn't mean to hurt him that badly.]