catchall mineo

[alteracion]

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[sengokus]

... but you still had to sit there, knowing she'd walked in, for however long.

[softly]

... the not knowing is almost harder, isn't it?

[alteracion]

... I only knew for sure why she'd been awake when I woke up and didn't see her name as a victim.

[sengokus]

.... and you had to know that she'd come to see you, and be stuck with her in a room for nine hours.

[alteracion]

I wasn't scared of her. [ a little defensive? ] But I didn't know... what else we'd find.

[sengokus]

[ . . . he nods.]

You don't want to throw an accusation out without anything else. I get that too.

[alteracion]

"I know because I was awake too and I saw her" isn't exactly a great alibi, either.

[sengokus]

[ . . . . ]

You really didn't think we'd believe you, huh.

[alteracion]

Gu Yun tested me on her word alone, after we'd already found tons of evidence against her.

[sengokus]

.... Gu-san has his biases. I also think it's... well, not a bad idea to clear people when we can.

[ . . . ]

And I have my own biases too, you know. Not even counting Takeru.

[alteracion]

Yeah, well. I didn't want to risk it.

[ is she not getting which biases he means. maybe. ]

[sengokus]

[ . . . . ]

You can risk it - with me.

[he can't speak for anyone else but]

I would've chosen you. And I'm sorry that you had room to doubt that - I'll do better.

[alteracion]

[ oh. ]

... Really? You would've?

[sengokus]

[a nod, firm and certain]

Yeah. I don't want to say 'of course' because I guess I didn't make it obvious enough—

[but to him, it feels like something that's such a given that it'd warrant an 'of course']

I care about you. I don't think you'd lead me astray just to use me. I trust you.

[and he says it because - to mineo, trust is the real difficult currency to get with him. he can have friends, he can have allies, but trust is something that he's hesitant to just hand out]

... don't forget that now that I've made it clear, okay?

[alteracion]

[ well!

well.

someone's getting another hug if the first ever stopped ]

... I won't. I promise. Thank you, Mineo. [ she leans back, a little ] It's not that I didn't trust you. But I didn't know if you trusted me the same way.

[sengokus]

[i have no idea if the first one ever stopped but it's fine - he's just going to hug her back easily]

.... that's okay. [a little huff, gentle] .... I trust less than people think, so it's actually probably a fair call.

[he can count the people he really, truly trusts here on one hand]

... but I don't think you'll make me regret it. So believe in me a little more, okay? Now that we know we trust each other.

[alteracion]

I do. Really. [ this is just hug o'clock forever now, but at least she seems calmer? ] ... But hopefully this never happens again.

[ she would rather not be targeted for murder again thank ]

[sengokus]

[nodding easily in that]

Sleep soundly every Thursday moving forward, okay? I don't want you to ever deal with this again, Grace-sa—

[ . . . well.]

Grace.

[alteracion]

You finally dropped it. [ she grins a little lighter ] What does it even mean, anyway?

[sengokus]

[he laughs a little bit at that]

Ah... It's a politeness and etiquette thing - though you wouldn't guess from Takeru. Though he doesn't subscribe to a lot of Japanese customs in general. My parents sort of drilled that stuff into my head, though. It's like... Last name basis by default, and '-san' is an honorific of some distance and respect. They change as people can get closer.... '-Chan' and '-kun', and stuff.

But... I think calling someone by their first name shows that - we're close?

[alteracion]

... Huh.

[ she squints a little. it's very much not her culture so she doesn't quite get it, but: ]

It's kind of neat? But it feels like it'd be so complicated, having all those extra layers of respect.

[sengokus]

[there's just a bit of a laugh at that]

Yeah - it's probably hard to get an idea of... but everything's pretty hierarchical where I am. You gotta adjust how you talk to people at work and stuff.

But uh - it's different here. I guess I just default to being pretty polite... at least in how I address people.

[he's otherwise pretty casual]

[alteracion]

Soooo..... It's a bit like you've been calling me Miss Grace this whole time?

[ teasingly ]

[sengokus]

Oh.

[a beat]

Hmm... Kind of.... Sounds weird now that you say it like that...

[alteracion]

Well, that's what it sounds like!

[ she's muffling a laugh at him now tho ]

[sengokus]

[he's flustering]

Well - it's not anymore! It's just Grace, so....!!