NIKKARI;

[crashout]

Comments

[uncleanse]

Mm... perhaps. He has always been a more combat-oriented spirit... ah, besides his fondness for performance.

[crashout]

And what about you? You seem to know the world a little better than your teammates. [He looks at his nails to examine them, casual and nonchalant.] What is it you really take pleasure in?

[Sometimes, to get answers, you have to match the tone of conversation.]

[uncleanse]

Do you truly need to ask, Junpei-san?

[crashout]

Yeah. Of course I do.

[uncleanse]

[ he just laughs

that's it ]

[crashout]

[Huh. Well okay, let's try another approach? Maybe he just straight-up doesn't want to believe Nikkari's only goal in life is to be slutty.]

What's funny about asking?

[uncleanse]

Truthfully? To see your reaction.

[crashout]

Are you really so interested in that?

[uncleanse]

Have you already forgotten me saying I find amusement in watching my peers squirm when I tease them?

[ a small, enigmatic smile. ]

But you're correct. Neither that, nor taking advantage of the pleasures these human forms of ours are capable of, is what I live for.

[crashout]

I didn't forget, but I'm not exactly squirming. [Or he's just very good at being stoic when he really concentrates. Either way.]

You're the sword spirit who talks the least about himself. Can you blame me for having some questions?

[uncleanse]

Haha... my lips aren't quite as loose as theirs, I suppose. Besides, it's just in my nature to be mysterious. It fits a sword whose history is so closely tied to the supernatural, doesn't it?

[crashout]

I guess, sure. The supernatural isn't really my expertise or anything.

[That was Akane.] ...sometimes that might be better anyway. We are still locked in a building with strangers we have no reason to really trust. But I'm curious because a sword used to handle ghosts isn't really something I'd think of.

[uncleanse]

Is it really that strange of a concept? Surely you've heard legends of swords who were used to slay oni, youkai, and the like.

[crashout]

Maybe. I didn't pay a lot of attention to history or anything as a kid, and we moved after I finished elementary school. [Japanese history was lost on him after that.] I was never under the impression it wasn't legendary though.

[uncleanse]

Ah... a shame, but I suppose it isn't a great loss in the grand scheme of things.

[ he regards junpei with a curious glint in his eye, then glances back at the painting, then finally meets the other man's eyes yet again. ]

We'll just have to see what the future holds for us, won't we, Junpei-san?

[crashout]

[When he looks back, he'll find that Junpei was looking up at the painting as well, but he'll let his gaze drift back to focus on Nikkari. The future, huh? What does the future look like? It's something he wonders often these days, especially on the days he isn't sure there is a future at all.]

I suppose we will. [But.] ...what about if it's a future we don't agree on?

[uncleanse]

My, how grim. Already being pessimistic?

[crashout]

[Something about that makes him smile even if it's not really cheerful.]

I'd prefer to call it realistic.

[uncleanse]

[ as someone whose name literally means "smile," nikkari returns junpei's grin with one of his own. ]

Ha... to each their own.

[crashout]

[It's enough to allow a pause, the expression wavering to something more neutral.]

No answer to the question, then? [He seems a little oddly focused on that, but it's probably fine.]

[uncleanse]

You've asked me several, you know.

[ he chuckles again, but okay, he'll stop playing dumb. ]

I take the greatest pleasure in fulfilling whatever request my current master asks of me.

[crashout]

Makes sense. If you've been serving them that long, must be some sort of benefit. But...what about when your saniwa isn't around? What then?

[SEE THIS LINE OF QUESTIONING IS HOW HE ACCIDENTALLY MARRIED TAMAMO. You'd think he'd learn, but he's working on making connections and parallels it's fine.]

[uncleanse]

[ idk why he still thinks he can easily get a straightforward answer out of nikkari, because, ]

Oh, you even know their proper title? It seems the others really can't help their mouths once they've started...

[crashout]

[Sigh. He just. Sort of flops in a chair because this is getting nowhere. He'll even stare at the ceiling.]

...depending on what they freely share with everybody else? Could be a problem.

[uncleanse]

Mm. It seems I'll have to discipline them at some point.

[ a pause, shooting a knowing catlike glance at junpei. ]

Am I frustrating you by playing hard to get like this?