Catch-all: Taichi

[ercnerd]

Comments

w0 saturday

[goalsides]

[it's not immediately post-trial but a little later when taichi returns to the dorm. the events of the day were...a lot, to say the least, and when he eventually runs into sieghart he slows down and greets him with a nod.]

...how're you holding up?

[ercnerd]

[By now he's released the frog back into the moat. There's no sense in keeping a creature that thrives in the great outdoors. And it was way too slimy for his taste.

He stares at Taichi.]

. . . That's what I should be asking you.

[goalsides]

[he pauses before there's a shrug.]

I'm fine. I'm not the one who woke up outside without a clue what happened. [he says, like he didn't find the body.] And anyway...you were kind of friends with her, weren't you?

[ercnerd]

[That's so much worse, Taichi.]

Weren't you?

[It's a sincere question.]

[goalsides]

Not really. I've never spoken to her before. [which a.) makes this whole thing a little weirder and b.) may not even be what sieghart means, but it's what he says anyway.] I never got a chance to talk to Tomoe either.

[ercnerd]

I spoke to both of them.

[goalsides]

Then I'm pretty sure my question still stands, Sieghart.

[ercnerd]

I wouldn't call us friends, if that's what you mean. I only talked to Hiyori once, and Kaoruko's a little too closed off.

[goalsides]

[part of him wants to say that sometimes sieghart himself seems a little closed off, but he doesn't because it's not his business.]

It'd explain some of her behavior today, even without trying to get away with murder. [...] And we still don't even really know why.

[ercnerd]

[Good boy.]

She wouldn't say. Whatever the reason was, it was convincing enough for her to dirty her hands.

[goalsides]

At first I thought that maybe someone killed Tomoe to make sure they thinned out the competition. But now I'm not so sure it's that simple.

[a pause.] And we also don't know this is going to be the last of it. Do we?

[ercnerd]

Not as long as we don't know what drove her to kill Hiyori.

She didn't know why I was outside of the dorm that night, either.

[goalsides]

Did you already ask her? [that seems alarming if that's true.]

[ercnerd]

[He nods.]

She was honest when she felt like being forthright. According to her, I was already there by the time she arrived at the moat.

[goalsides]

Like. In the moat. Out in the open. On the night she was busy going to kill Tomoe.

[...]

What did you do differently than the rest of us this week? Any ideas?

[ercnerd]

As far as I know, I did what everyone else was doing. I attended some classes and even took part in the Dorm Wars. Didn't you do the same?

[goalsides]

Yeah...classes, tasks, talked to the dorm heads...[puzzling.] I don't get it. And it's not like the bear would be able to give us answers either.

Unless Dimitri was planning to kill you and changed his mind or something. [no.]

[ercnerd]

[Perhaps.]

It's possible. But that wouldn't explain how he ended up under a desk.

[goalsides]

Did Hanayagi say anything about knowing why Dimitri was outside of the dorm?

[ercnerd]

I didn't ask.

[Now he thinks he should've. Darn it.]

I'll talk to him later.

[goalsides]

Good luck. He's not exactly the easiest person to talk to to begin with. [judging by the tone, he's not sure what to think of dimitri but it borders on being agitated.]

[ercnerd]

He was cooperative earlier. If he's changed his mind since, I'll pester him until he talks.

[goalsides]

It's possible. People here change their minds pretty frequently. [but he shrugs anyway.] It doesn't have to be right away, I think. It was already a long day.

[but he wouldn't stop sieghart if he did want to go do things.]

[ercnerd]

It's too late to go looking for him now. I'll do it tomorrow.

[goalsides]

If you say so. [a pause.] What're you going to do now?