Catch-all; Taichi

[momming]

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[momming]

Thanks for looking out for me.

[ And she looks at him, thoughtfully. ]

You know, if there's someone else... I don't have to be the one to tell. Not if it makes you look that miserable?

[goalsides]

[he thinks of saying "someone has to" but he doesn't. otome is, actually, an adult and he knows he can take care of herself. but he finds himself trying to grin anyway even as he shrugs.]

There isn't. Not really. [...] I'd rather just get it over with anyway.

[momming]

... Mm. All right. [ Well, he's decided on this. So if that's what he wants, she'll accept it. ]

[goalsides]

[he opens his mouth...and pauses.]

...like...just...say it? [what is so confusing about this, taichi.]

[momming]

... In my ear, yes. Would you like me to go first?

[goalsides]

...yeah, actually, if you wouldn't mind? [just...to get a feel for things.]

[momming]

Mm, not at all. If a lady whispering in your ear isn't too embarrassing?

[goalsides]

Why would that be embarrassing? [even if he now sounds a little embarrassed, but it's clearly because otome's saying dumb things!!] It'll be fine.

[momming]

[ She laughs a little, but moves in closer, going on her toes a little to whisper in his ear. ]

I regret fighting against my friends the first time.

[goalsides]

[oh. he pulls back a little to look at her, blinking in surprise.]

...did you have a choice?

[momming]

... I did. We each had a stance on something we refused to budge on, but in the end, only one decision could be made... so once we had formed our groups, we fought each other.

[ She closes her eyes. ]

I'm not proud of it... and I'm glad I was defeated. I lost sight of what was really important before that happened.

[goalsides]

...that's still pretty rough though. [he says, having known a thing or two about fighting friends.]

But things worked out after that? Are they any better?

[momming]

Mm, we reconciled!

[ She smiles, a little tiredly. ]

It's a long story.

[goalsides]

Sounds like it. Maybe another time, if you want. I've wanted to ask a lot of things but...the timing's always been kinda bad.

[...but.] Guess it's my turn?

[momming]

You're welcome to ask me what you'd like.

... Maybe Thursday morning, if we're to really be bracing ourselves?

[ But she smiles, encouragingly. ]

Whenever you're ready, Taichi-kun.

[goalsides]

Yeah. Just in case something else happens.

[...but okay. he'll move back to whisper in her ear. sort of. it takes a few moments to think of how to phrase it...or maybe it's more actually bringing himself to say the words.]

I regret not finding a way to save Nishijima-sensei before I went back to Earth.

[momming]

[ She's quiet for a moment, then leans back to look at him. ]

... We don't need to talk about that if you'd rather not. [ Let's. Just say that first thing. ]

[goalsides]

Yamato doesn't know.

[which is his first thing, and why he's avoided talking about it, period.]

[momming]

Ah.

[ ... ah. ]

It seems like you've been through a lot.

[goalsides]

[...he shrugs softly.]

I don't...regret what happened to lead to that. Even if he's mad at me for it. But everything else is...

["hard, I guess." sometimes you are seventeen and have a mass amount of survivor's guilt to juggle.]

...I wanted to try to save all of us. It just didn't work out that way.

[momming]

...

[ She pauses, then gently reaches out an arm to tug Taichi into a loose hug. ]

It's never as simple as we want it to be. Even when we want to save everyone...

[ They can't. She knows that, three times over. ]

[goalsides]

[oh. okay. he will let that happen even if he's mindful of her injuries. it's touch week, so his hand rests on her arm because he's not sure what to do but also it's a thing that happens.]

That can't happen here. We've already lost more people than we should have, and we're going to lose more if we don't figure something out. This wasn't how the future was supposed to go.

[momming]

I know. [ look at him, touching her arm. Proud of him. ]

... There's still more to this that we don't understand. We just need to figure out how we uncover it and then how to use it to our advantage.

[goalsides]

[progress...]

We need to figure out why two people killed one person and neither of them spoke up. [this is apparently now more important than what he just told her, so he's doing what he's good at and shoving it away to unpack later.]

[momming]

[ ah, he's retreating.

Well. He'll talk about it when he's ready, maybe. ]

I feel as though there's something we're missing. Or we just don't understand each other all that well.