ic inbox [ota]

[pancakeboy]

[Text him! Or do whatever, I'm not the police, and neither is he, thank God. Just specify if you want the more-fun-but-less-stable pre-11/20 guy or the grumpy third semester/postcanon guy. Pancake only for VRDR guys please, he's not third semester yet]

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[fogbornphantom]

Futaba-chan, naturally.

She had quite the active fandom presence, actually.

[pancakeboy]

[Ah. The one person he excluded as a possibility.]

I didn't think you knew her in middle school. You met her online?

[fogbornphantom]

I met her much later, but we'd had a few little "intellectual debates" before I even knew it was her.

Likely because she lied about her age in order to access online forums.

Ken-kun and I both had our share of amusing encounters. And of course, when I flexed my familiarity with Yukari Takeba, she refused to believe it.

[pancakeboy]

Yes, I'm still struggling a little with that myself.

[The little dots flash as he types, and untypes. It's not really the time to ask Crow about anything serious, if it ever will be again; he knows that.]

She looked remarkably happy in that picture you showed me. [With the robots.]

[fogbornphantom]

Yes. The prospect of real robots was quite enticing to her.

Not to say she was always happy. She had quite a lot of anger toward Maruki, after all. Every time she saw Yoshizawa-san, I could feel her heart twisting into knots.

[pancakeboy]

And when her mother became sick? What happened to her then?

["Became sick"; what a euphemism.]

[fogbornphantom]

Anger and sadness intertwined with a stubborn desire to find the answers for herself. Sakura-san was less than enthused by this, but Futaba-chan didn't particularly care.

She was adamant about uncovering the truth to what happened and finding a means to undo it. Plus, she was rightfully pissed that her mother's research had been taken that same night.

Knowing that it was Maruki who did it, I bet he took the research and ran.

[pancakeboy]

[Look, he's not going to huddle into a tight little knot over Futaba Sakura. He's just not.]

So she lived with Sakura all along? She didn't go to her family?

[And she wasn't broken by Shido's men...? Because Akechi was involved in that too, up to his neck—whether at one remove or no.]

[fogbornphantom]

She remained in Sakura-san's care, yes. That was one of Isshiki-san's demands, evidently. That if anything were to happen to her, she would remain in his custody.

Thankfully, Isshiki-san herself ended up in a specialized facility meant to research and treat cognitive and Shadow-related maladies. There were concerns that Apathy Syndrome had returned.

[pancakeboy]

In other words, Kirijo and the others had those concerns. I don't think even Sae-san has made that link. Though she has, admittedly, been distracted.

[His head is spinning.]

Listen, I'm going to let you enjoy your private time. We'll meet later, I'm sure. I'll keep the whip firmly behind my back.