week two | dates

[showhost]

You worked up your courage and asked someone out on a date! Good job!





Now you have to hope the producers are kind re: where they send you.

Comments

[haircared]

[ Well, Josuke agrees with the sentiment. Even talking about Kira makes him angry, but picturing his head all exploded against the pavement makes him feel marginally better. ]

Yeah. Two weeks before this competition... it's why I came here for a damn break.

[ It was certifiably a lot to deal with as a high schooler. Josuke's powers, though, are perhaps the best defense against a serial killer. Only he would've ever been able to stop him, and to play support for the rest of the investigation. He loses his sense of lightheartedness now that they've treaded this far into it, picking at the grain in the wood of the table with his nail. Unbeknownst to most of the contestants, Josuke has a pretty hot, violent temper when made to think about that which upsets him, and he restrains himself to a simmer by fiddling with the table — but the aura that comes off of him feels far more dangerous than his usual somewhat silly and perpetually laid-back attitude, more fitting of his image as a delinquent. ]

We got him, but I couldn't save everybody. [ And he's never going to get over it. ] Hah, that's my greatest regret. Other than the fact I didn't get to kill him myself.

[ josuke is truly sweetie pie until he's not.... ]

[hgeegh]

[Sanji doesn't blame Josuke for harboring such a white hot rage. It's not like he hasn't tried to kill his share of people who've threatened those dear to him. And, in the case of Josuke, people were lost. A regret like that doesn't just go away, no matter how many breaks are taken.

Perhaps it's this sobering thought that washes over Sanji's own anger, allowing him to really look at Josuke, the table, and try to understand. He'll never know the depths of the loss Josuke feels, but he knows it must be painful.]

. . . You can't save everyone. The lives that were lost can't be brought back. But we can mourn them while celebrating those who've been saved down the road.

[As for Josuke . . . ]

You did good.

[haircared]

[ It's not anything he hasn't heard before. Mr. Jotaro has told him so many times that no matter how much he doesn't like it, no matter how hard it is for someone blessed with a power like his to accept, there's no force in the world that can bring someone back from the dead. It's why he's so skeptical about this wish, and has no intents on touching it. Still, Sanji's words deflate him a little, because he has no desire to let out his anger at him. He leans more into his hand, letting out a tight exhale from his nose. He forces himself to be quiet until he can cool down enough to say something normal; when he lifts his thumb from the wood, there's a sizeable indented groove from the force with which he was digging his own nail in. Slowly, he fixes that, too, with his power. ]

I know. Sorry. I just get worked up thinking about it.

[ Is he saying that to the table? To Sanji? Probably both. It's not like he wants to ruin the vibes at this date that Sanji (weirdly) asked him out on, where he also seemed interested in the waitress. Talk about mixed signals. He'll just force them to take a hard left. ]

Let's talk about something else. Like what your official opinion on the bartending here is.

[ That goes hand in hand with being in the restaurant business, right? ]

[hgeegh]

[He waves a hand, dismissing the topic as requested and the apology at once]

Don't apologize.

[It's how Josuke feels. He can mend what's broken, but that doesn't erase the emotions behind the bend in the wood. Just because his home appears safer now, doesn't mean there aren't scars borne by the people in it. And as Sanji has no intention of torturing Josuke on the latter's break, he opts to pick up his glass again.]

It's not bad—better than the food, judging from the smell.

[haircared]

Can you tell how good the food is just by the smell?

[ It smells like... well, food to him. He's not very familiar with this kind of cuisine, so it's hard for him to discern. Wanting to distract himself, he goes back to his drink, as if he's going to be able to corroborate Sanji's opinion. ]

[hgeegh]

[If Josuke is drinking, then so is Sanji again. This margarita hits the spot! . . . Maybe too well.]

When it's this strong? Yeah. I wouldn't try anything with meat if I were you.

[haircared]

...What does that have to do with the meat?

[ <--- clueless, and also a little absentmindedly, because his brain is starting to lose focus. All that anger ate up the last of his braincells defending against incoming non-soberness, maybe. ]