inbox — hello yes this is cat speaking

[nagano]

"—Nagano here. Actually, I'm not here. Leave a message."

TEXT • AUDIO • VIDEO • ACTION

Comments

2/2

[nagano]

[ SIGH. ]

You either hurt or murdered someone. Possibly both.

Are you seriously telling me that you... age regressed? Became younger? What other kinds of fucking magic does this place have hiding...

Do you at least remember Hibiki? Or have you met her since you... got younger? You two are friends. I'm her boyfriend.

[invinciblemikey]

(if he expected a WHAT ME NEVER from a teen... well.)

... ok

(word kaito)

fuck it if i know.

of course i met hibi-- ah.

you better be taking good care of her. or ill kick your ass back into life

(LIKE HE WASN'T THE ONE WHO GOT THEM TOGETHER IN THE FIRST PLACE.)

[nagano]

[ No, that's about what he was actually expecting. There are many question Kaito has about this blond, but he's going to leave most of them unasked in favor of... ]

I know you will.

You're the one who pushed us together.

[invinciblemikey]

i need to reassess

i don't know what kind of standards my older self had and hibiki is too precious to me to be with a STRANGER!!!!!!!!

meet me.

[nagano]

I could say the SAME, you little shit!

[ Hibiki's the most important person I've got, he doesn't add. ]

Where do you wanna meet?

[invinciblemikey]

apparently i aint no stranger

so you just look stupid with that comeback loser

meet me at the cafe at the entrance of mirth

bring money so you can buy me with sweet stuff

[nagano]

Your older self is known to me, but YOU are just as much of a stranger right now. Takes stupid to know stupid.

I'm also not buying you shit. Gotta save money for this house I'm building.

Do you like mochi? I made some last night.

[invinciblemikey]

idiot if you know my older self then you at least know something

... daifuku.

[nagano]

I know literally nothing about you other than that you've got a good hook kick.

You think I run a fuckin' parfait stand?

Okay, daifuku it'll be.

[invinciblemikey]

good?????? GOOD???????? im fucking amazing at that shit respect me

did i lose my touch as an old man

great. im waiting

[nagano]

I have a feeling that we're both about to find out.

[ A beat. Kaito walks out of an alley next to the entrance of said cafe. He's holding a brown paper bag in one hand.

Rather than properly suss out the blond's aura, he simply calls out into the street: ]

Where the FUCK is Manjiro Sano???

[invinciblemikey]

(and here's a tiny blonde sitting at a table. not sickly as he had been once, plumper cheeks, no bags under his eyes, long blonde hair, and while still petite, there's meat in those bones now. at the yell, he just covers his ears dramatically, closing hollow eyes on reflex.)

Holy fuck, you're so fucking loud. The fuck's your problem? And it's Sano-san or Mikey-san to you.

[nagano]

[ A glint of something flashes across gold pools when he hears Mikey's voice and whirls around to face him. ]

It's my girlfriend's influence rubbing off on me.

[ A beat. He slinks over all cat-like towards the table. ] Damn, you put on some weight. Or rather, you look like a toothpick as your older self.

[ Though it might seem he's about to yeet the bag at Mikey, he takes his time carefully unwrapping a small box containing a painstakingly constructed strawberry daifuku. ]

Here you go, add onto the bulk.

[invinciblemikey]

(HOPEFULLY OTHER STUFF TOO but he keeps quiet on that one. no one deserves that one.)

... I don't remember how I looked. I just know my hair was shorter, because it felt strange to have so much all of a sudden.

(but he can make a guess. silco's told him as much - if he's done drugs with that old man, most likely he did them alone, too.

his eyes squint, before he takes the treat, inspects it-- stuffs it into his mouth. immediately.)

[nagano]

You were quite gaunt. [ He isn't going to bring up the physical signs of drug use. It's not as if he'd noticed on their first encounter anyway.

Besides...

The way he digs into the snack is comforting enough for Kaito to settle his attention on other things. ]

So you remember nothing from your future? Or uh, present? Hm...

[ It's probably nothing like the phenomena he's experienced before, then. Flashes of memories that shouldn't belong to him. Images of storms and the seafloor. A song... ]

[invinciblemikey]

(mouth full, too late to answer as he sticks another mochi in it. a little sweet hurricane, there's red bean paste even on the tip of his nose, but he hasn't eaten today. busy. toman being here means one thing - he's failed. he's failed to keep them all safe and alive, and he has to make up for it.

work. get everyone a roof under their heads. worry about himself later.)

Very little. Some things I remember more, some I remember less, some not at all. It's almost like waking up with a really bad hangover.