inspirethefire | VOICE MAIL

From now on, I am a different person! A man who defines myself, right?! I'm not an embodiment of duty anymore! I'm me!

[He's just gotta figure out who 'me' is. EXCUSE HIM, HAJIME, but his patience is gone now so he's just gonna. Shove his way to the door.]

[Hajime's too stunned by the shove to try and get in his way again. It all feels too surreal, too messed up to be something that actually is happening. No one had ever warned him against something like this happening.

Ishimaru was surely the most stable and strong spirit he'd ever seen, and Hajime had barely touched it. What had he missed? How could he have screwed up so badly?!]

[He jerks the door open with almost enough force to rip it off its hinges, or at least it seems like it. On the way out, he leans on the doorframe and tosses a grin over his shoulder.]

Thanks for the pick-me-up!

[AAAND... HE'S.... GONE. Brace yourself for the ~~sexual~~ tension of the days to come, Hajime.]

[~~And then Hajime had the weirdest boner~~]

[Okay, so Kiyotaka might have still been a little miffed about some of the stuff Hajime said about Vivian. But if he could not convince him with his own words, he'd just have to have Vivian prove her humanity to him herself, no matter how much time it took and no matter how stubbornly Hajime refused to change his mind.

Offended as he was on his robot kinda-daughter's behalf, he still cared for Hajime as a friend, which was why he saw no point in just avoiding him due to differing opinions. Besides, there were still a few unresolved issues... Like the whole turning into a lava monster thing. Was it finally wearing off? One way to find out.

KNOCK KNOCK.]

[The door opens, and... yes, yes it has worn off.

But man, he does not look good.

The whole of his skin is raw and red and peeling, bits of crusted over obsidian still clinging in nooks and crannies. He had barely slept over the last couple of weeks, but the bags under his eyes weren't so noticeable thanks to that impressive black eye he's sporting.]

...Hello, Ishimaru. [Somehow, some way, he manages to twist his lips into the absolute wryest of smiles.] Was there something you needed?

I am here to check up on your condition!

[Don't mind him, he's just going to invite himself right on in as per usual.]

You look...

[He purses his lips, giving Hajime a good long visual inspection.]

...Better than you were, but still in terrible shape! What happened to your face?

Well, it was charred beyond the point of recognition, so all things considered, it shouldn't be surprising.

[Hajime no that's not what he's talking about.]

There isn't that much to check up on. It ended just as suddenly as it began. Faster, even.

[He moves gingerly back into the room--in part from the world's worst sunburn that covers him, and the broken ribs he's trying his best to suffer through. The earlier argument has been entirely forgotten on his part, and looking around it's not hard to imagine he had bigger things on his mind.

His side of the room, usually the far neater, still shows the damage. There's a heap of burned clothes he's put aside to throw away, along with a half-melted keyboard and phone, wrapped up in ash-stained sheets. the carpet has burn holes in it, and hardened chunks of obsidian have fused to the floorboards.]

That is most certainly not the result of fire.

[He's seen enough black eyes to know what's up with that, even if he doesn't know exactly what's up with it. Did someone... punch him? While he was a few thousand degrees? Who would be stupid enough for that kind of needless violence? ~~mondo probably~~

Then there's the state of the room itself, which... well, at least that much was to be expected, but now that Hajime's not likely to burn and melt things anymore it really should be cleaned up.]

[Hey, he's been trying. A few tools borrowed from shop class lay next to the especially large glob of hardened magma and plastic.]

What...? Ah. Er, well. This is a fighting school, after all.

[Are you planning to rebuild your entire room with those, Hajime, because that might be the only way at this point.]

It was foolish to challenge anybody to a match in your condition! You don't know how badly either of you could have been hurt, even in the safety of the stadium!

[NAG NAG... He frowns deeply and nudges what might have been a shirt at some point with his boot.]

It's good that it's finally worn off. It lasted... quite some time, didn't it? Even for here.

[The mess is bugging him enough to crouch down and start gathering up debris.]

[He bares his teeth in something like a smirk at the thought of Bowser getting hurt by him.]

Trust me, there was no chance my opponent could have suffered any damage.

[Even now, he gets back to work trying to chip and scrape the hunks of cooled rock from the floor.]

Really, this sort of thing happens often? [It's said with only the smallest sliver of the surprise he may have had a short time ago.] I've not got much of a frame of reference.

[Honestly, if he knew it was Bowser, he would have hoped there was damage. Not that he'd ever acknowledge those petty feelings.]

I haven't seen anything quite like that, but things have happened to peoples' bodies here before! I have seen men turn to women and vice versa, or human beings slowly turn into animals... Nothing ever seems to be permanent, at least.7

[AT... LEAST...]

Mmhgh.

[He tries to hide the grunt of pain as an acknowledgement.]

It seems I was vastly less prepared than I thought when I enrolled here. There's no one to blame but myself. But at least I can rest assured for the future that such desecrations of nature will be temporary.

[Yep, he's taking this all well. So well. Doin' great.]

Don't blame yourself! Nobody should be expected to be prepared for something like this!

[Even Kitty knows where to draw the line.

He dumps a small armful of burnt clothing into the now-mostly-useless trash bin, making a note to just toss the entire thing out at once later.]

That's no excuse!

[His teeth grind as he stabs into the hunk of rock.]

I've helped people in worse situations, and I came here to do the same. My one duty was to handle things just like this, and instead I let myself get caught up and lose control!

[Did the mistletoe teach you nothing, boy.]

Sometimes there are just things that are beyond anybody's control. I've learned that.

[He kneels next to Hajime, stone-faced. He really, reaaally hates admitting that.]

Besides, somebody who cannot help themselves has no chance of helping anybody else, either!

[Delicate.]

And I couldn't.

[He doesn't look at Ishimaru.]

So what am I doing here?

[Why would anyone stay here if they had the choice to leave? He won't just tell Hajime to give up and go, though.]

Learning. Change your approach. If what you've tried so far is ineffective...

[C'mon, Hajime, you can fill in the rest!]

[~~Because he'd be leaving you~~ Because he'd be a failure. More of one, at least. He remains silent for a long while.]

Ishimaru... do you know why I took up cheering others on...?

To motivate them, of course!

[Obviously. He's never considered that there might be something deeper than that.]

Mm. Yes, I wanted to help people. To help them be the very best they could be. Allowing people to see in themselves what I saw. And this was the best method that allowed me to not get to know any of them.

[He keeps just focusing on carving chunks off of his floor.]

I don't have to talk to anyone, or learn anything about them, or even make eye contact. I can't screw up by saying the wrong thing or guessing incorrectly or missing a cue. I just do a routine from a safe distance away, and skip straight past the convoluted rules making up social interaction.

[Now it's his turn for a moment of silence to mull things over. In a way, that duty doesn't sound so different from his past as a prefect - encouraging others to do their best while being detached due to his position. But his own isolation was never so voluntary. His friendships now have given him both the greatest joys and the most crushing heartaches, but he would never go back to how it was before.]

...How could you possibly see the best in people without even knowing them?

[He lowers his gaze a little, considering his words carefully. He's never really been any good at speaking on a personal level.]

I used to think it was fine to be like that. In fact, I was never close to anybody until shortly before coming here. Getting to know other people does mean getting to know their worst as well, but in doing that, you truly find out what obstacles you can help them overcome! And they can do the same for you. That's what I believe in now.

[Reaching on out to put his hand over Hajime's. You put your dumb tools down when he's talking.]

That's what you need, too!

[If there is a bit of a squeeze going on it is only one of ENCOURAGEMENT.]

Do you understand? Help yourself by allowing others to help.

[It hadn't been his intention at the start, not consciously, anyway. But recently, he's been thinking about where he's failed, and why. What he's doing wrong. There's too much to keep straight, it feels.

He sags a little at Ishimaru's touch.]

I'm a joke. I grew afraid of failure, and looked for an easy way to tell people there's no easy way and not to fear failure. As if I have any right.

[He's breathing hard. By this point he must look so pathetic that crying can't make him look any worse, but it still hurts. Physically. Damn ribs.]

If... when I fail again, when I falter, will you make sure I don't run from it again?

Of course! Failures are there to learn from and overcome, and I'll help you every step of the way if you let me!

[As far as he is capable, anyway. There's only so much he can do about people turning into lava beasts.]

No matter what this school throws at us, as long as we work together, it won't break us.

[Even if it drags them down for prolonged periods.]

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