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Journalist's Intuition; Intro Thread: Toru Motou [Concluded]
Topic Started: Aug 19 2012, 12:48 AM (574 Views)
The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
Seeming to take a greater effort than before to take his eyes away from his search for the fluttering glint of gold, Toru frowned at the second boy, wondering what had changed his demeanor from "antagonistic" to "forthcoming" so quickly. He opened his mouth, then realized he was about to ask essentially the same question once again: What do you know about that butterfly?

...

He physically shook his head to dislodge his sudden obsession with that topic. But what the second boy said was most interesting, indeed. He'd poked around the topic of the explosion, but found it trying to find out anything about it; hence his investigation into seemingly-unrelated rumor and speculation, where he hoped to either find something that led him to Hoculus or something that led him to the root cause of the explosion. This butterfly rumor was connected to some sort of supernatural ability that was believed to be behind the explosion at Ruwashi Part... that was a little too odd an association for the populace to make without something to actually prompt the connection. It seemed this butterfly rumor was the thread to grasp after all.

His voice calm and his demeanor once more collected as it had been when they had first approached him, Toru smiled at the second boy and said, "I certainly hope there's at least some level of discrimination when it comes to how this butterfly supposedly passes out 'super-powers.'" His smile turned into a wry one as he used the phrase that had turned up in his brief investigation into the Ruwashi Park incident. "People are too self-absorbed to be trusted with that sort of gift. In any case, this has been most illuminating. Might I ask your names...? I'd also like to be able to get in contact with you if further questions come up, if you don't mind. I'd also like to arrange a free subscription to our e-newsletter, 'Beyond Sight,' as a small token of thanks. If the two of you have no objections to it, that is."

As he spoke, he felt a sudden urge to depart the scene, as though there were somewhere he was supposed to be but had only just remembered. It would be most uncouth to just walk out without ceremony, however, and he really did think it might be a good idea to get at least occult-enthusiast's contact information; people with such beliefs sometimes noticed or remembered things others would discard as ludicrous.

Still, his mind was back to the butterfly rumor... it was oddly challenging to focus on anything else just at the moment. In hindsight, he probably should have noticed the warning signs then.
Edited by The One True Nobody, Aug 24 2012, 02:17 AM.
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FirebreathFishslap
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I'm the best! I'm the king of me! I'm gonna eat chips out of the garbage!

Was this man entirely trustworthy? He was speaking normally again, or at least, had returned to the way he was at the beginning of their encounter. And he'd latched on very quickly to the rumors Manabu had brought up. Was he delusional, or was there something more going on? And the man was asking for his name, as well. Did he really want something like this to be linked back to him?

"Yu Nakagawa," he said, finally deciding that he could handle any hits on his reputation he took as a result of this. "I hope you find what you're looking for."

"And immediately turn back and leave this town," Manabu finished. "I'm Manabu Kaerunuma. I'm not particularly interested in talking again, not unless you find the butterfly. Take care. Don't get killed."

And Manabu had gone back to antagonism. Yu honestly didn't know what was going on in that kid's head to begin with. Underclassmen were odd. Yu turned back toward Toru. "Like I said before, my brother's rather knowledgable on the rumors around school, so if you ever need help, contact him."
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
Was Toru imagining it? He got the oddest sense that there was something meaningful in Manabu's statement: I'm not particularly interested in talking again, not unless you find the butterfly. Take care. Don't get killed. The journalist arched an eyebrow and responded, "If I happen across any golden butterflies, you'll be the first to know," at least partly in jest, although the other part of him wasn't sure whether he meant it as a serious answer or not.

Then, to the first boy, he inclined his head at the first boy and said, "I'll keep that in mind, Nakagawa-san, and thank you for indulging me." He slipped his rose-etched pocketwatch out of his pocket again and clicked it open, looking somewhat distractedly at the time, and then snapped it shut, returning it to his pocket. "Well, as I still have some time left in my day, and hopefully you in yours, I'll let the two of you go. There's something I've decided to follow up on. Good day, Nakagawa-san, Kaerunuma-san."

And with a short bow, he turned to depart. The moment the two boys slid from his field of vision, though, his thoughts began to race once more. That tantalizing glimpse of gold--had it really been the rumored butterfly? A part of him feared it may have been... a part of him relished the idea. If he did find that butterfly, would it lead him to the proof that he sought, proof that there was more to the world than just natural forces and the thoughtless tendencies of self-centered animals scurrying about in some makeshift attempt to turn their petty collective consciousness into something resembling order and meaning? ...It just might, he thought, as his feet carried him away from the school and towards his car. He turned the key and got in, started the car, and drove away. It just might...

Toru had seen the butterfly at the school, but it was too crowded now to look for it again. Was his recourse, then, to come back to the school either while the students were busied with class, at night, or during a holiday, and seek to find it again when the hustle and bustle was no longer an issue? He filed the possibility away for later consideration, perhaps over a glass of wine back at the motel. Yes, wine would be most welcome; his mind was unusually jumbled at the moment. Confusing thoughts were all a-tangle up there, scrambling to be thought before all the others, from the death and duplicity of his lost love to the hazy green cityscape his mind associated with whatever had happened to him in Iwatodai, to the Midnight Channel and the fog in Inaba, to everything he had learned regarding the goings-on here in Nagashima. Suddenly he was too distracted by all of it to make sense of any individual thing...

On his way back to the motel, he nearly ran a red light. Twice. That was unlike him. He was quite the gentlemanly driver, after all, and never broke traffic law without a good reason--like a sex cult that had kidnapped a local high school teacher for use in a sacrificial ritual, that had been a very good reason. Too bad the cult itself had been utterly deluded and not at all paranormal in the slightest, but the teacher had been grateful, at the least, oh, that memory was not helping him focus at all...

It didn't happen until he'd parked his car in front of the motel, which was fortunate for him. He didn't want to think what might have transpired had he been driving at the time, and if he'd left his car anywhere else it likely would have been towed.

He opened the car door, slipped out, and locked all of the doors as he slipped the keys into his pants pocket, still trying to sort through his thoughts. He shut the door with a snap and turned toward the motel complex. It fluttered directly across his line of sight then, a glittering golden butterfly, and from that point onward his memory of how he got from Point A to Point B just wasn't there when he looked for it after the fact. Of course, he knew enough about the rumor now to surmise what must have happened...

---

[And my part in this thread is done, so feel free to wrap up yours.]
Edited by The One True Nobody, Aug 26 2012, 03:06 AM.
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