💭("I don't know why you continue to sit in my thoughts..."

"It is much slower moving here, but no less.... solitary. I don't think she's anywhere around, or will be. All that's here is my memories... but less of the things that make me hate my surroundings..."

Sitting in silence, his thoughts still seemed to be focused on the absence of someone... Perhaps he really was indeed no longer among the living, and this was but another sign.

Though it seemed as if he might touch the woman's nose, he did not do it. Instead, he kept his hands away, one coiled into a fist, as his eyes closed. He seemed as if he were restraining something angry... "....I don't know what to say."

He just gave her a look, no words.

"Kokoro..." He just seemed to linger on her face for a moment. Usually that meant a certain gesture was coming, but Batsu remained still. He was notoriously hard to read, but it seemed his armor was beginning to crack.

💭("This place... even the change of scenery doesn't restore that feeling I once had. I may have to walk a different path now.")

"That's precisely it. The silence. The absence ... of many familiar faces. It almost makes me think that the end is near for me...."

"...Not long until this month is over."

"...I'm truly beginning to believe this is purgatory, Kokoro."

Sits down, and eats a rice ball, staring into space.

💭 "............."

"A tease.. all of it."

He would slowly turn to look in her direction.

"Maybe it really is the end..."

He took a moment to view a photo on his tablet. His eyes slowly blinked.

"It feels like purgatory."

💭 ("Sometimes, I wish more people thought like Leanne...")

"...And if yours are working, you should forget what you might have just seen."

"....Zaki?"

Moving through a photo album on his mobile phone, Batsu settled upon one image, placing his finger on the screen where the subject's nose was.

"That fool..."

He turned his eyes slowly to the direction of a sound he heard. His ears perked with interest, as if he were making sure he didn't hear what he thought...

"...I'll burn that bridge, when I get to it."

"........"

With a tiny bit of hesitation, he looked up the number of @theba-jibeauty.bsky.social and sent a message. 📲 "Kokoro."

He has no problem engaging with Misuzu, but when he sees @letshang.bsky.social .... he freezes.

(💭 "I don't like it... or them.")

It's late, and yet he is still on the phone with Yoko.

Batsu, sitting behing one of his keyboards, began to play a tune that was on his mind, along with the memory of someone.

"Sleeping... that sounds like something I should do more."

"No matter where I am...peace is out of reach."

Batsu reacted in kind, and he had that look on his face that seemed as if he were going to reach out and poke her nose or something similar. But the gesture never came, he seemed reluctant. "....Until then, is there anything you do to pass the time?"

"...I wonder who that might have been." He seemed struck by the sight of that person he saw standing near the store the other evening. Since he had come to this town, it was the first time he felt something familiar...

"Hope that you remember What I told you when I left..."

As he walked down a street, heading to what looked like a store for musical instruments, he spotted someone that made him look more than once....

"....You know, I don't... know how to describe it. I feel... lost in this place, if that makes any sense." [Batsu said, peering over at Kokoro in a way that indicated a bit of confusion he could not quite repress.]

"....It is, isn't it."

❝ ʙᴇʜᴏʟᴅ ᴍʏ ʙᴀ-ᴊɪ ᴅᴀɴᴄᴇ!! ❞ 🌸 ᴅᴏᴀ’s ᴋᴏᴋᴏʀᴏ 🌸 8+ ʏᴇᴀʀs ᴏғ ʀᴘ ᴇxᴘᴇʀɪᴇɴᴄᴇ 🌸 ᴅᴇs/ʟɪᴛ 🌸 ᴇxᴘʟɪᴄɪᴛ ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇs (ᴅᴍ’s ᴏɴʟʏ) 🌸 ᴍᴅɴɪ 18+ ᴏɴʟʏ 🌸 ᴅᴍ/ᴍᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴ ᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ sᴛᴀʀᴛ ᴀ ᴘʟᴏᴛ #DOARP #MVRP 🔁 + ♡?

"I see Shiranui everywhere. Yet..."

"...The latest exploits of a certain someone."

Staring idly at the screen of his tablet.

"............"

"Maybe, but I don't think that's something I should do." Batsu said to the girl in response. He had wondered what had brought her over to where he was...

(💭"There is something I want to say to Shiranui about that boasting, but it's not ....advisable.")

He was sitting, idly munching on a large rice ball.

"........."