[ out getting coffee or something ]

Hey, Kasuga-san.

[ actually, was he supposed to not call him that? going straight to first names, though.....

well, anyway ]

...Sorry, he was on your team, wasn't he?

[ he's okay with it, ultimately; it's still weird for ichiban to come to terms with him and todomatsu both having existed elsewhere, but weirder shit has happened, hasn't it? ]

Yeah...but even if he wasn't, it still never gets easier, man. You know?

Yeah...

[ actually, he... kind of doesn't. if it's not someone who's been a pretty solid and immediate presence in his life for any amount of time, he doesn't feel strongly about it at all, and even less so under these circumstances. ]

I do think it kind of helps that everything feels so much more under control this time, though. Like, it feels pretty certain that everyone's going to come back at the end of it.

But people are still dying, is the thing. Even if we have that guarantee... it's still someone killing another person after we've all been hanging out and commiserating together.

[ sqq hasn't taken his eye mask off yet it's fine

todomatsu's still half asleep when the message comes in too, and he has to fumble for his phone for a few seconds before he finds it and unlocks the screen.

squints... and then raises his eyebrows. ]

Oh... shit.

This always sucks, but...man. Kinda feels like someone's got something against my team.

Seriously.

[ frowns ]

I'd kind of figured that Boothill went for Essek because he'd killed someone from the same world as him the first time, and this was the closest equivalent to that. I wonder if there was a reason like that for these two... If there is, it might just be a coincidence that the same teams keep getting hit, at least.

Kabukicho...?

[ just to himself as he looks at the surroundings and stays firmly on the sidelines of this beatdown. he is not about to get in the middle of this and risk his own nose getting bent out of shape, so he just watches.

...damn. ]

[ MY NOTIFS

he goes on for a good while; by the end of it, he's panting and sweating, though he clearly isn't fatigued, or even roughed up all that much. he wipes some blood off the side of his mouth (it's hard to tell if it's his own or that of the simulated thugs)...

and only then does he realize there's someone else with him. it's almost like a switch is flipped as his demeanor shifts to the much more familiar friendly, somewhat doofy ichiban. though... you know. still bloodied and standing over smashed up thugs. ]

Oh...shit. Uh, hi, Todo-chan. [ beat ] Matsuno-san.

[ ah. raises his hand slightly in a half-wave. ]

Whichever, it doesn't really matter to me. [ ... ] Though it might be better not to call me the same thing you called the other me.

[ forces this on you after he stops being hot and just goes back to sprace flavor. idk they're just eating shrimp or something i guess, and he slouches down tiredly in his chair, wincing a little after getting KICKED BY A HORSE earlier. ]

Ugh. Should've brought Jyushimatsu-niisan instead of me if it was going to be that kind of competition.

[ imagine if i said this is scawwy ichiban. ]

He better at sports than you?

[ is it ]

Oh god. Yeah, baseball is the love of his life, and he's just got this... insane energy. Does all kinds of things that should not be physically possible.

[ :thonk: ]

C'mon, man, I think that's unfair. Isn't that you too...?

[ HE'S SEEN THE KIND OF SHIT THAT HAPPEN TO MATSUS ]

[ ah. when he finds todomatsu, there's an evenness to his voice and posture, which normally wouldn't be an issue... if he was anyone but ichiban kasuga. ]

Hey, Tot-chan. Mind gettin' up?

[ we are playing mini golf!! perhaps this started while ichiban was still a business executive and then that curse wore off and now they're committed to finishing the game.

todomatsu is starting to swing at his cute pink golf ball when the wind kicks up and they get thrown into this memory of a memory from another timeline???? why is everything in his life so meta.

anyway, this throws him off his game really hard and he hits the ball way too hard in some random direction. looks off in the direction it went... ]

Ah...

[ that actually is something ichiban would do, yes. not even a curse's enthrall (or being freed from it) would sully the sanctity of friendly competition.

an inception memshare might, though, because ichiban's just. staring. ]

..............Okay, when you put it through that many filters, I can see how it might freak a guy out, yeah.

[ it's like the eunhyuk fridge magnet all over again except i don't think he retained any memory of that so he can't make the reference ]

Yeeeeah. That was, like... actually you and the version of me from the spaceship, right? That's a thing that actually happened?

[ haha!! mood!! ichiban is similarly deadeyed as he holds his own cup out, before dropping his face on the counter. ]

Share the love, Tot-chan.

Sure thing.

[ pours it in... then sets the bottle down and sits to do the same thing. ]

I'm so fucking ready for this all to be over. Not that I wasn't already on day one, but. God.