blundering | golden peacock inbox

[Late morning on the day of the welcome event, after absconding with a bunch of doujins he didn't want to take home, but felt obligated to so no one else would see them, he messages Jun!]

Looks like we got lost from each other, so I thought I'd message you here! Anyway, 2 questions:

1. Did you find all those ingredients we talked about?

2. Since coming here, have you had any locker room mishaps? For example, any incidents where a girl walked in on you changing clothes and started shrieking, so you furiously covered yourself and apologized for scaring her?

I know the second one's probably embarrassing to talk about, so a simple "Yes" or "No" will do.

[ @ knights has added @ lilith to isekai shuffle. And proceeds to blow up Jun's bracelet with texts. Sorry Jun, welcome to hell. ]

Edited (the link messed up) 2024-04-04 16:21 (UTC)

[Someday he'll have an inbox thread with Jun that wasn't triggered by Monika, but today isn't that day.]

Jun-kun, Jun-kun! Guess what I heard! Some girl told me you were scheduled to give her idol lessons!

Assuming that's true, why didn't you tell me? There are 4 of us here, or at least there will be once Rinne-senpai crawls out of whatever hole he fell into, so we ought to make it a group lesson! That should help impart even more wisdom!

I guess I won't message Rinne-senpai since he still isn't responding, so for now, I'll just tell Leo-kun!

[And he's off to go do that. He's so speedy about it that even if Jun replies right away and tells him not too, he'll have already sent the message. RIP.]

[ This text comes absolutely at like 3am on the 4th or something. ]

heyyyyyy nami!! i want a strawberry cake! with lots of frosting! and sparkly decorations! and fun candles!

[ ...? He's talking about his birthday. He wants Jun to make him a birthday cake for the 5th with exactly this much warning. Couldn't this have waited for the afternoon or something? ]

[Hope Jun was checking his messages, because he's going to get pinged out of nowhere.]

Great Tit in 10 mins. Get to it.

[He might have forgotten about Jun. Sorry, Jun.]

Edited 2024-05-04 09:41 (UTC)

Hello, person I've actually never met before.

I've decided to put on a small show. Are you free on the 14th?

[On a whim, because he's been noticing things, Rinne decided to check in on people he knew. Starting, of course, with the few people who came from the same place as he did. Of course, just telling people 'Hey, I wanted to check in on you because some familiar faces disappeared. I'm glad you're okay.' would just be too easy, and you know, people will find it weird from Rinne. It isn't that he can't be honest, he is plenty honest, he just doesn't like being vulnerable.

So he does the clearly normal thing here.]

Open the door! You're under arrest, Sazanami Jun!

[Hope Jun wasn't sleeping this fine morning, because he's going to get a loud banging on the door, the demand spoken through a megaphone.]

[A few days into the month of June, something strange happens: Hiyori Tomoe begins bursting into song in public!

No, he isn't cursed. And no, this isn't the first time, which means it's not really that strange: he did serenade someone for the Lawn Games challenge (they were unappreciative), and he even tried to cheer up a brainwashed guest outside of Love Dove (which just led to him getting dragged to the Spades party—no good deed goes unpunished around here!). He's also sung a few times while Leo played the piano, in order to earn vouchers. Which is the exact same reason he's been bursting into song so often lately: he needs vouchers! Or, well, he doesn't need them, but...

He could really use them, because he has to eat out a lot this month. And though the Red Cardinal isn't as expensive as Gilded Cage or some of the other higher-end restaurants, it's still not dirt cheap.

That's why he suggested it to Jun for dinner. They enjoyed a nice meal, pay for it with vouchers, and leave to return to their suite. But before they left, Hiyori made sure to stop by the bar and pay his compliments to the chef—or rather, to the proprietress, who seemed familiar with him, if still a little wary of his motives. Jun sees all this, of course. And that leads to Hiyori doing something he should've done yesterday: on the way back to their suite, he tells Jun everything—everything about the diary entry and the quest he's on, which requires him to gather three different people's memories.

Now, back at their suite, they sit on the couch. Hiyori has a notebook out and a pen in-hand, posed to start writing. As he explains to Jun:]

I'm sure I'll remember whatever you tell me. I have an excellent memory, after all ♪ But she asked for detail, so I wanted to make sure I don't miss anything.

[There's a brief pause after that; he knows Jun doesn't have as many happy memories in his life as someone who had a pleasant youth, so this might not be the happiest ask. Which is why he takes care to remind him,]

Remember, it can be anything you want. Just so long as it's not too mundane, I guess. I don't know what exactly she's looking for, but I do want to meet her standards. So if you're not sure what to say, you can just treat this like an interview.

[He didn't get cursed on his birthday after all, which means Jun shouldn't get cursed on his birthday either. Jun's his partner and his other half (as explained previously), so he should receive the exact same treatment Hiyori receives. You either curse both of them, or you curse neither of them! That's exactly how things should work.

Although his logic might be shaky, this supposition seems to prove correct. Jun wakes up feeling fine on the day of his birthday, which leaves him free to celebrate! And Hiyori, being the generous and fun-loving person that he is, goes all out. He buys party poppers and party hats! He gets Jun a piece of muscle-training gear! (Not a facial muscle relaxer this time. Jun smiles an awful lot these days, so there's no need for that!). He has an elegantly-decorated strawberry cake ready to be delivered to their room later! And he also informs Jun that he has another present for him, too, although that will have to come later. Right now, they're going out for a late breakfast!

It's just the two of them seated together at some café (Leo and Rinne can join them for birthday cake later). The place has plenty of bread products, some of which even feature strawberries if Jun feels like enjoying a double dose of those today. But there are also heartier, more protein-based options on the menu, too. Whatever Jun chooses, Hiyori will be reaching out with his own fork to pick a piece off Jun's plate.]

Rejoice, Jun-kun! Since today is your birthday, your only job is to be spoiled absolutely rotten by your own partner! Because you're such a good boy! ♪ And that includes me feeding you, so say "Ahn~" ♪

[He guides the forkful of food up to Jun's mouth. No he doesn't care that he's being embarrassing.]

(On the night after this thread...)

[He falls asleep the same way he has the past few nights: clinging tightly to Jun for warmth, his arms around Jun's middle and his cold face pressed into Jun's neck. In his dream, however, he's alone.

His footsteps echo through a dark, frigid hallway. He hugs his arms against the chill, shuffling forward slowly—towards what, he doesn't know. Perhaps he'd been exploring and gotten lost in one of the resort's endless halls; all he knows is that there's nowhere to go but forward. He lifts his wrist and turns on his smartwatch. The glow of the screen provides at least a little illumination, which he uses to peer down the hall. Nope, no end that he can see. Then he looks to his side.

There's something on his left. When he casts his watch in that direction, he sees that it's a statue. There are several in a row, all stone statues standing on pedestals, not just on his left but also to his right; both sides of the hall are decorated with them. That's nothing new around here, but it still gives him the creeps. Then he hears a humming noise.

A light above one of the statues suddenly turned on. It pierces the darkness, bathing the statue in an eerie, ethereal glow. When he sees what it looks like in the light, his stomach drops.

He knows whose figure this is. The small stature and short ponytail, the arms held aloft like a conductor leading a symphony orchestra. That smile. They all point to one thing, one person. And yet a part of his brain refuses to accept the truth, even as he drags himself closer and looks at the statue's face.

This can't be Leo-kun. He just saw Leo not too long ago. It was close to a week ago, granted. He'd meant to check on Leo a few days ago but gotten sidetracked on the way up to his room—that was when he ran into Esikko and the whole connection thing began. But Leo has just been holed up in his studio making music, right? He failed to answer his messages because he was busy composing. That's what Hiyori assumed. Not that he disappeared. Not that the House turned him into this.

He feels too sick to continue looking. He looks down at his smartwatch instead, and his clumsy fingers fumble to pull up Rinne's contact. He gives him a ring. No response. He rings again. Still no response—a problem with the reception? He opens his messages and tries texting instead, furiously typing a stream of accusatory gibberish. Come here. You have to see this. Did you know about this? Why didn't you stop this? I look after Jun-kun. Looking after Leo-kun was YOUR job. Did you even check on him? Why didn't you do anything? You should've stopped this. We should've stopped this. It doesn't matter what he types, though, because none of the messages go through. And what's stranger still is the message he receives. ERROR: User not found. What does that mean, "user not found"?

And then a second spotlight hums to life directly behind him.

Slowly, with his heart beating wildly against his ribcage, he turns around. An icy feeling grips his heart when he sees the next statue lit up: a tall man, rambunctious body language, tufts of hair sticking out every which way on his head, a smirk carved into his face. Not an approximation of Rinne-senpai but the real thing, frozen in time, no longer a menace or a rebel but a fixture of the resort.

He's nauseous. He's shaking all over, and not just from the cold. There's nothing else to do, no one else to turn to except the one person he's always turned to. The one person he can rely on in the resort, the only thing he has left now that Rinne and Leo are like this. He rings Jun's watch.

No response.

Come here, he texts him, his fingers trembling on the tiny screen. Please come here. I'm scared.

The screen buffers endlessly. He's still waiting for the message to send when a third light hums on at the end of the hall.

Slowly, he lifts his eyes from the screen.

This time his thoughts don't race. This time his head is completely, utterly blank. He doesn't comprehend what he sees. His feet move without his brain's knowledge or consent, taking him to the end of the hall, until he's standing directly before that statue. But his eyes must be playing tricks on him. That can't be— No, that can't be—

His eyes raise higher—

(They can't)

until they fall—

(They can't take Jun-kun away)

on the statue's face.

(Anyone but Jun-kun)

He collapses to his knees on the cold tile.]

No...

[It starts out quiet. Something half-gasped, half-sobbed into Jun's shoulder.]

No!

[And then it changes to something louder. Inside the dream, his own anguished cry pierces his ears, and that's exactly how he wakes up: with a scream on his lips and hot tears spilling from his eyes, wetting the fabric of Jun's shirt, his fingers clenched tight in Jun's clothes.]

[ This is just eight picture messages in a row from Leo, from Jun's own suite, of Hiyori in his Christmas sweater holding a stuffed animal? They start from ridiculously cryptid and terribly focused and cropped (why is one picture just the head of the stuffed animal and like Hiyori's mouth? Why is one of his nose) to slow improvements to a nice picture at the end??

There's no explanation given but the explanation is Leo wanted to take a clear picture like Hiyori and Arashi and this was the process required for him to be patient enough to do it.

Praise him now thanks ]

[ on the morning of december 25, which hua cheng has come to understand is christmas day, a knock on the door will herald the arrival of a gift. it's nestled in a box and wrapped in paper of his signature crimson and tied with a gold ribbon, both very auspicious colors for such an auspicious(?) holiday! it's also addressed to both jun and hiyori, but it's getting delivered to jun because hua cheng can do a lot but he can't be in two places at once.

the box contains a short length of red thread that flashes just slightly gold in the right light. when touched, it seems to resonate with spiritual energy, and it lengthens or shortens according to the distance between them when each of the ends is held.

along with the red string is a brief note from hua cheng, in his neatest and most legible handwriting. ]

Jun & Hiyori —

Affix the string to a finger of your choosing and make a vow to one another. When imbued with evidence of your affection, the string will from that point forward always lead you to each other — no matter how far separated you may be by space or time. The string will not always be visible, but the connection will always be there.

It can be removed, but only at a cost. Be certain.

— Hua Cheng

[It's an ordinary evening. Christmas and New Year's both came and went, the festivities are over, and there hasn't been a proper "game" in several months, which gives Hiyori time to think about various things.

Including a certain conversation he had.]

Say, Jun-kun...

[He rests his teacup in his lap, turning to look at Jun on the sofa in their shared suite.]

How do you feel about slumber parties?

@eve

~04/03

@eve, backdated to the day after he makes his network post

un: knights

@hunnyB; 5/2

text, un: angel

early june;