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Where the Trail Leads; [Naoki/Akari]
Topic Started: Mar 3 2018, 09:27 AM (575 Views)
Miharu Yoshikuni
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"Then you certainly need to question the men you keep in company," Akari said jokingly.

She couldn't help but think about both Bart and Nagaru. While Bart had been described by Mildred as being "rather scrawny and frail", she knew he was more than capable of climbing fences and carrying out athletic tasks. The times they would sneak back into the manor together was a testament to that. While she had never seen Nagaru in action, however, she did know he was a boxer, and that equated to strong upper body strength. The thought of her two old male companions made Akari smile sadly for a moment. Despite wanting to keep her distance from them, she did miss them a lot. It almost broke her heart when Bart left the manor, and much like her concerns with Chisato, she worried Nagaru wouldn't be able to forgive her for running away--especially because she did it after their little talk about running away from problems.

Getting lost on thought almost made her entirely miss the little reference Naoki threw at her. Snapping back to reality, she gripped his hand lightly and smiled. She liked that Naoki knew his musicals; she couldn't say that about most of her friends. Granted, the last thing she felt like was an angel. Sure her persona was literally one but, herself? She looked at herself as more of a leech.

Once again, Akari had to try and ignore the things bothering her. She decided to play it off with a jest.

"Since I'm blind, I'm going to imagine you in a tuxedo with a dashing velvet cape and a mask from now on," she said. "And you better whisk me away on a boat through canals or you're going to be very sorry!"

She couldn't keep up the act too long, though. She ended up laughing at it. Perhaps she could enjoy herself, even if for a little bit. She would brush off the things that bothered her the way a bride would the thought of a funeral on her wedding day: desperately.
Edited by Miharu Yoshikuni, Mar 5 2018, 12:06 PM.
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Chidarake
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"Can't give any promises with the boat, but you're spot on with the tuxedo and the mask. Capes aren't my style though," Naoki said, joining her in her laughter. He was too focused on getting them safely to their hiding spot to notice any sign of her worries, but now that they had reached the house he planned to hide out in for now, they should be safe for the time being. So, after setting the violin down in the living room just around the corner of the entrance hall, he turned back to Akari.

"It's no ride in a boat through a passageway of canals, but I can at least offer you my lair," he said, leading her into the living room - closing and locking the door behind him - and guiding her to a recliner before sitting on a nearby couch. He then kicked up his feet so that his legs were laying on the rest of the couch, then turned his head towards the girl.

"Luckily for us, nobody's home, so we're free to do as we wish. Dance, sing a merry tune, talk about the weather..." Naoki said in a joking tone before his voice turned slightly more serious, "...or continue where we left off. You're wondering why I went through all this trouble to find you; well, you left me with nothing but a riddle. And the only two kinds of riddles I like are the ones I give, and the ones I solve. And this is my solution," he continued.

"So, what would you like to do, mademoiselle? he asked, adding a touch of sarcastic emphasis to the last word.
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Miharu Yoshikuni
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Akari giggled at Naoki's response. Allowing herself to be led blindly (literally) by a friend was all too familiar for Akari. Granted, she didn't know Naoki too well, but she had a gut feeling that she could trust him. Besides, if all else failed, she did have a persona, and she could get herself out of harm's way if it came to that. She doubted it, though.

You're a little too trusting, you know that? a dry and exasperated voice said.

While Naoki led her from in front, he wouldn't notice her frowning. She had managed to keep up the act of not missing her friends for this long, but could she keep it up for any longer? In what seemed like a long time, Akari was cursing herself for becoming gloomy and hoping she wouldn't just burst into tears in front of another person as she had with multiple others.

Fortunately, her mind was taken off from her concerns as Naoki led her into a house. Of course, Akari couldn't look at what the house looked like, but she managed to sit down on the recliner Naoki offered. Akari slowly smoothed out her skirt and sat with her legs crossed at the ankles, and her hands gently placed on her lap.

Naoki then offered to continue where they left off, to which Akari smiled softly.

"Well, I suppose it would be unfair to leave you dangling on a thread for too long," she said slowly. "Fact of the matter is, though, I was honestly going to say at the time that I had no answer ready just yet."

As she said the last phrase, she shrugged her shoulders smoothly--a pretty gesture. She placed a finger on her chin as she thought about how to respond next.

"If I were to be honest with you, I would have kept myself a secret from you entirely i I could," she said. "But I guess that's out of the water as you've been able to do your research."

Akari laughed as she said the last part.

"So I suppose we can start by getting to know one another even more," she said.

Akari lifted up her hands as she shrugged again.

"So, what do you know about me so far and what else would you like to know?"



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Chidarake
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Naoki was slightly disappointed in her response. That cryptic response was just her saying she didn't know? He wasn't entirely convinced, because if that was the case, it was something she easily could have just mentioned on her way out. No, he felt there was more to it than that, but apparently he wasn't going to get there easily. She'd built up quite the wall around himself. But she was offering to answer questions, so this was his chance to tear it down. Based on what he'd found, he knew a few things about her... but maybe it'd be best to let her believe he knew a bit more than that.

"Well, the Asakuras are obviously rich and all over the news, but that's your family, not you. As for you... I know you can do more than sing. I know you like to hide yourself from others. And I apologize if this is a touchy subject, but I know what happened with your sister. As for what I want to know... Well, I believe if we were to continue, it'd be my turn to ask two questions. And at the moment, they're the only two I can think of, though they're almost the same thing. Really all I want to know is why? Why the fake eyes and the legs, and why do you hide yourself?"

Of course he was only basing her tendency to hide away on the fact that she changed her hair color and chose to sing under fake names at cafes, but at this point after their previous conversation it had become pretty obvious anyway. As for her sister, he obviously knew nothing about the circumstances, but it was the only thing he had found that he felt could make her believe that he had really dug deep. He had to be vague while questioning her prosthetics, as for all he knew the two could be related, but hopefully it had left the impact he was looking for.

He wasn't going to just tear down a wall like that with a bulldozer, though. He needed to offer an olive branch, because she was the one who had to choose to leave it in the end. So before she had a chance to answer his questions, he added on a statement of his own. "And while we're here, I'll go ahead and say; While I may know about you, you know next to nothing about the true me. I haven't been completely honest with you. So if you answer those questions, I'll let you ask as many as you want, and every answer with be the complete truth," Naoki said, once again being careful about his wording. In their last two conversations, he really had been honest, except for the last little bit. But she most likely didn't know that.
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Miharu Yoshikuni
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As Naoki spoke, the eager expression on Akari's face turned into a frightened one.

No, not that... she thought. Why, why ask that?

Akari closed her eyes and clasped her hands together tightly to the point that her knuckles were a bony white. There was no denying she looked tense. In fact, after he said the first part, she barely paid attention to the second, and even his offer to answer her with the complete truth wasn't enough to assuage the decision she had come upon.

Once Naoshi finished, Akari let out a slow sigh.

"Wakahisa-san," she said softly, reverting back to saying his surname. "I'm...sorry. The thing you asked me is something I simply cannot tell you."

Whatever excitement or positivity Akari possessed upon arriving seemed to have left her and the only thing she looked like at the moment was tired and strained.

"It's...it's not that I want to hide it from anyone for my sake," she said. "It's just that...it has to do with others as well, and for their sake, I can't let them get involved. I know it's unfair, really I do, but I...I can't."

She'd stop speaking for a moment, but eventual make a small and hesitant smile.

"Do you hate me for that?"
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After Akari finished speaking, Naoki leaned back and let out an audible humming sound as he thought. Well, he certainly didn't expect it to be easy, but he didn't expect this much resistance. However, after a few moments, a small smile crept to his lips.

She may not have realized it, but she did give him at least some information; the problems involved others, at least someone close to her that she wanted to protect. Who it was and how they were connected, he had no idea, but it was a start. So, to answer her question, he decided to honor his little offer and give up a bit of info in return.

"In my world, we live by unspoken laws.
Break those laws, and not only will you be cast out, you could end up dead. One of those laws is to never betray your partners. So no, I don't hate you for that. Instead I respect it, because you refuse to give up their secrets. But I will say one thing. I wish you'd give yourself more credit. I feel like you worry about others too much, but you need to worry about yourself as well."


Naoki then stood up and walked over towards the recliner, spinning around and placing a hand on the back. "Anyway, sorry to ask something so upsetting. What do you say we make the best out of the rest of this opportunity to go have some fun? They'll probably find this place soon anyway," he offered, trying to shift the mood. He'd already upset her too much for his liking.
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Miharu Yoshikuni
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Akari managed to give Naoki a small and appreciative smile. While she felt that what he said wasn't true with regards to her not giving herself enough credit, it was nice that he respected her desire to keep it a secret. Despite her being distracted by her worry about revealing anything, she was slightly intrigued by what he had to say. It seemed that it had to do something with an affiliation or group he was in. She wondered what that entailed even more as he had mentioned his work was not "honest" in nature. She decided not to push on it as she hadn't shared anything new of her own.

When Naoki apologized and offered they do something else, she smiled a little more normally.

"It's fine, really," she said. "It's something a lot of people asked before. Also who would find this place soon?"

She already had the tiniest inkling that she wasn't in Naoki's own home, but it made her wonder where exactly where she was at all.
Edited by Miharu Yoshikuni, Mar 7 2018, 11:58 AM.
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Chidarake
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Naoki chuckled a bit at her question. "Well, based on their patrol routes, I'd imagine those guards knew you were in the courtyard, so eventually they're going to notice the fact that you're not at your house anymore. It's only a matter of time before they start searching. I'd only planned to stay in this place and talk for a bit before we moved on anyway, because staying in one place when on the run is the first step to getting caught," he said before resting his other arm on the recliner.

He knew she probably had questions; a lot of them, considering everything that had happened. And he'd dropped enough hints to let her know that there was a lot behind his own mask as well. However, he wasn't scared to let her know the truth, as he knew by now she wouldn't be the type to spread rumors about it. The problem was it was the only leverage he had to get the truth out of her, so he had to keep it to himself for now.

For now, though, he was serious about moving on. He didn't want to take any chances, so after getting up from his small resting position to retrieve the violin, he made his way back over to the back of the recliner. Guess he'd have to grab her attention again. Well, the whole 'phantom' theme fit perfectly for him right now, so he'd roll with that.

"Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams.
Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before.
Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar!
And you'll live as you've never lived before."


He softly began to sing, dragging his hand lightly across the back of her hair as he circled around to the front of the recliner, grabbing her hand as he finished the verse. "So... are you ready to delve deeper into my world, the true music of the night?" he asked, gently lifting up her arm, again inviting her to stand up.
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Miharu Yoshikuni
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Thinking about the guards, Akari's brows furrowed.

"Hm, I suppose it would be a cause of concern," she said. "Especially after that first mishap. Granted, I don't think they'll be able to track us so easily since I have no idea where you've taken me."

She said the last part with a rather playful smile. She seemed to have at the very least put the awkwardness of earlier behind her.

Soon enough, Naoki started singing again, once again something from the Phantom of the Opera. Akari couldn't help but smile even more, and even if she had slightly flinched at his sudden touch of her hair, she was more than happy to take his offer.

"I'm already in this deep," she said. "I might as well go through it all. So where do you plan to take me now, Signore Phantom?"
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Naoki smiled as he helped the girl rise to her feet, leading her towards the back door of the house. "You've lived your life in the upper levels of the opera house, whether it be the grandeur of the stage or the mishaps behind the curtains. But I doubt you've seen what lurks below... down in the labyrinth that I dwell in. I thought I'd give you a little taste of what true adventure feels like. Just make sure you stay vigilant... and always keep your hand at the level of your eyes," he said before reaching and opening the door. Good, the coast was clear.

He led Akari down into another alley, heading towards another house a good bit further into the area. There, he and his current partner for a job had set up a little hideout in the basement, and Naoki wanted to see Akari's reaction if she realized where she really was. Part of him wanted her to discover this side of him, mostly because she had just proven that she wasn't the type to spread word around, but also because he wanted to see if she could handle it. And of course, he couldn't just outright come out and say it, as that would ruin the impact.

He just hoped the guy he was working with wouldn't be there tonight, considering they weren't scheduled to meet until tomorrow. It wasn't like Akari could see any of their plans, but he wouldn't know that. Either way, they had a good fifteen minute walk to the house, so Naoki tried to keep her talking... and guessing.

"It's a long walk, so imagine yourself being led into the tunnels behind the mirror... Are you prepared to face what lies below? Can you imagine what awaits you?" he asked, hoping to get some kind of idea as to what her thoughts on him were up to this point.

He wasn't entirely sure why he cared so much, but for some reason he was fixated on Akari. Maybe their first meeting had simply had that much of an effect on him.
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