2023-04-23: Breadbite Alliance

• Log: 2023-04-23- Breadbite Alliance
• Cast: Akane Shinjo, Gridman
• Where: Junk Shop Aya
• OOC - IC Date: 0097-04-23
• Summary: Akane and Gridman snag food after Akane makes another visit to the Wadatsumi. They talk about Gridman's ongoing mental health concerns.

---

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Another week, another round of visits to the Wadatsumi. Testing Akane's new ability to use GaoFighGar... testing her on operator stuff... it's kind of a lot. It takes up much of her Saturday; she has to Comet into class, though she's been generously accommodated by her new school.

Despite the fact that her life is a lot fuller, she still makes time to appreciate the parts of Tsutsujidai she never managed to touch when it was her city, though. She's popped into Aya; after a little deliberation on what to get, she's settled for a set meal. After a little bouncing back and forth about what she wants, she's settled on grilled fish.

She's also invited a friend via text.

[VERTEX] aumerei_seijin: hey! come over to Aya
[VERTEX] aumerei_seijin: I'm buying. thinking the fish set meal for me, what about you? i can order for you if you want so it'll be hot and ready when you get here!

One off-menu order Akane's made for a few extra bucks to share, too: ... a bowl of melted gouda and some day-old bread. (It even came with a little free teasing: 'Trying to train your palate, huh?')

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

Saturday is the Neon Genesis Junior High Students' day off from patrols. Gridman takes a turn. While he isn't as fast or as strong as they are in his Repli-Compoid form, Gridman isn't going to shirk his duties just because the others can perform more capably. Not after what happened with Hass. Alexis is still out there, and who knows what other groups might be plotting against the city.

Besides. It's easy to sit and watch the relatively small flow of people entering and leaving Tsutsujidai. That's what he's most worried about. Someone sneaking in, or trying to sneak a Repli-Compoid out. And so, the Hyper Agent spends his Saturdays like this. Motionlessly staring for hours at a time. It's a wonder he hasn't been asked to leave.

Gridman's phone buzzes. He ignores it. This is too important, he can't get distracted.

It buzzes again.

...the message could be important, too. With a sigh, he pulls the phone from his pocket. A message from Akane? She's in town? Gridman smiles. It's been ages since they've been able to actually talk to each other, and the promise of food from Aya is incredibly tempting.

But-- what if something happens--

"Huh, Akane came back?" A familiar voice says, from just above Gridman's shoulder. "Looks like patrol just got canceled."

Gridman startles, nearly dropping his phone. "Vit! This is your day off, what are you doing following me?"

With a slow smile, Sky Vitter shrugs. "Not like I have much else going on. Besides, there's someone I'm watching out for. Maybe if I wait, I'll get lucky. Get going, Gridman."

After blustering about it for a few seconds, Gridman sighs, then looks up to his comrade with a wobbly smile. "Thank you."

---

[VERTEX] gamut81: be there soon
[VERTEX] gamut81: its so cool youre in town! :)
[VERTEX] gamut81: uhhh ill have what youre having
[VERTEX] gamut81: plus a ramune :)

---

True to his words, Gridman arrives nearly immediately, accompanied by a whoosh of blurred movement. It seems Vit wasn't the only one spending his day off watching over Gridman. Max opens the door for his comrade, then inclines his head to Akane.

"Akane. It is good, as ever, to see you well. Please take good care of Gridman."

With that, he's off again, leaving behind a slightly-blushing redhead. Gridman steps forward and takes a seat next to his friend, stretching stiff muscles.

"Akane!" He greets, all sunshine in those yellow eyes. "I want to hear everything you've been up to! It's so good to see you, thanks for the invite."

The melted cheese gets a curious look. Gridman pokes a finger into it (once he's reasonably sure it's to be eaten), and taste-tests. "You do this with bread? Huh. Mind if I try?"

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Oh, hey -- Max, right?" Akane starts, giving a quick wave. "Don't worry. I've got him," she enthuses, and there's a playfulness to it that's taken her a little time to build back to. "He does seem kinda like a handful, though..."

Gridman experimentally dips his finger into the cheese, and Akane can't help but laugh. "I got it for us to share," Akane answers Gridman, with a small nod. "Go for it."

For a little while, she sits and eats her combo, giving Gridman the chance to try the food. After a little thought, though...

"I was reviewing some of the NERV footage of that kaiju. The Zetton-type," Akane says, and she sounds a little more serious. "I heard you out there." She doesn't sound mad -- indeed, she's trying very hard to sound serious without sounding mad. "I want to talk to you about two things you said out there."

She puts an elbow on the counter, spinning on her stool to face Gridman a little more directly. "This isn't your city, Gridman." A beat. "It's not mine, either."

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

Max's face is obscured by his mask, but there's a warmth to his gaze that feels like he's smiling. It seems Akane is regarded well among the Hyper Agents.

Akane seems content to eat at first, so Gridman fills the time around his own chewing with small talk. About dance, fashion, what Kaworu and Rei are up to... Updates on Borr's strange adopted son, and Calibur's cat family.

When Akane does finally speak up, Gridman looks a little shellshocked -- then embarrassed -- then guilty. "Oh. I should've known NERV would be recording."

Gridman looks away, suddenly very interested in staring at the marble trapped within his ramune bottle. "This is so embarrassing... I can't believe I lost control like that. In front of everyone!" He squeezes his eyes shut. "...I don't know why I said those things. It was just the heat of the moment."

He doesn't sound very sure of his explanation.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane is happy for the small talk; she seems enthused to hear about it. She is happy Gridman's having a good time, even if his mission remains ongoing and keeps him inextricably tied up with Yuta Hibiki. (It's something she still feels a little messy about.)

The embarrassment catches Akane a little off guard -- but she can see where it's disarming, too. Rather than let him off easy, she drills down... after dunking a piece of bread in the cheese and eating it. With a little bit still in the corner of her mouth, she says, "Lost control, huh? Because someone treated the residents of 'your city' like that." Her expression flattens out.

"Gridman?" Akane glances away toward one of the posters for a moment -- then looks him dead-on, instead. It's with a wince -- even as wrong-footed as Gridman is right now, he's still more intense than she is, and she struggles to meet that -- but...

"This city was a trap for two people. Only one of them was me." She takes another piece of bread, dunking it. For a few seconds, it looks like she's considering a follow-up -- but no, that can stand on its own for now.

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

"Messy" would be an understatement when it comes to Gridman's feelings on Yuta Hibiki. Perhaps a conversation should be had on this topic sooner than later -- especially with the state of Gridman's mental health.

He winces as Akane drills down. "Ah, you're not letting me get away with this one, are you..." Slowly, he turns his gaze back to hers. Though he may be more intense by nature, right now, the Hyper Agent looks... Very, very young. Embarrassed and a little overwhelmed.

"A trap..." Yellow eyes blink widely. "But I came here to save you. How--" He shakes his head. "No. This is my mission. It doesn't matter if it's a trap or not. Until Alexis is gone, and the city is safe, nothing else matters. Tsutsujidai only has one protector, and now that it's a part of the world--"

Gridman cuts himself off, taking a breath. "Kaworu told me he has intelligence that different organizations have taken notice of Tsutsujidai and want to experiment on the people here. Hass is proof. Maybe I'm... taking things a little far mentally, but what else can I do?"

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Popping the piece of bread into her mouth, Akane says, "Nope. You didn't let me get away with it, so now it's my turn," trying her best to sound nonchalant despite how seriously she's taking it. (She hopes that backing off a little bit will make it easier for Gridman to lower his guard.)

She takes another piece of bread, putting it in the bowl -- and then pauses. Instead, she snags a fork from over the counter, giving it a quick twirl -- and then pressing the bread down into the molten cheese.

"Pretend you don't have a fork or chopsticks or anything, 'n say that's the only piece of bread we have," Akane starts. "To get the bread back out, you have to shove your hand in there. But the cheese is still super hot, and it gets hotter the deeper in there you get. Dipping your finger in there a little's fine, but if you really shove your hand in there you're gonna get burned, right?"

Her expression turns a little impatient, her other hand winding in her dark hair. "Remind me again who got Hass out of there," she says, blandly. "Remind me who got me out of there." Lips pursing, she presses a little harder.

"Then remind me who was so scared the world outside was going to hurt 'her city' that she was willing to kill you over it." The intensity in her voice turns almost to anger, though she tries very hard to bite it down.

... in the end she can't, quite, so she settles for going back to her fish set meal.

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

Gridman shrinks into himself a little, his smile turning wobbly. "I can't argue with that. That's what friends should do, after all."

Akane takes a piece of bread and seemingly loses it into the cheese, and watches her, puzzled. Yellow eyes go from the drowning bread up to Akane's face as she speaks, accompanied by a slow nod. "Right."

Gridman practically deflates as Akane asks, his eyes returning to the cheese-layered bread. "Rikka. It was all Rikka. I know, I have to do more. I could've saved Hass, I could've done more for you, I--"

"...what?"

The anger in Akane's voice startles him, and Gridman brings a hand to her shoulder, worried. "I... It's not the same, you were abused, and manipulated. I don't blame you."

He doesn't say 'it wasn't your fault', but the intention is there, all the same.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane turns a little pink at the mention of Rikka -- but quickly forces herself to get serious. "Rikka helped a lot, but... you're forgetting about Knight and me, both, right? Sure, I put myself in the hospital overnight, but I didn't really mind that, even if it was kinda dicey..."

... she waves it off. "What I'm saying is, if it had been just you one on one, I doubt things would've shaken out that way. You and Guy had to go fight that kaiju Alexis made out of mine. And I don't think I could've gotten in on that Zonder if it wasn't for you." Reaching up and pinching at her forehead, she affirms: "It's everyone. It was a trick question."

She's going to need to be direct... which really isn't her preference. "You couldn't have done more. You're falling into the same stupid trap I did."

She nibbles at some more grilled fish. Leaning on her fist and putting a bit more of her weight on the counter, she continues, "Do you really think Alexis isn't capable of manipulating two people at once?"

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

"No, of course I didn't forget! You both were amazing, we couldn't have done it without you." Gridman says, hurriedly. "And please don't use that attack again, it was terrifying to watch you so hurt."

Taking a piece of bread of his own, Gridman dips it into the cheese and pops it into his mouth. It's a strange combination of textures, but it's not bad. Really, he likes it.

"O--oh, uh." Gridman ducks his head. "Sorry. I guess I've gotten used to thinking of things as problems I have to solve on my own. It wasn't like this when everyone was still stuck here, but since they went home... We still have the same problems, but it's just me left here. Everyone else is busy with school, and their lives. And they should be! But that means I have to pick up the slack."

"And I can do it. I've never liked school anyway." Gridman says, with a manic sort of confidence. "I can do more. There's always more to be done."

But Akane says he's falling into the same trap as she did, and Gridman lowers a fist he didn't realize he'd raised. His eyebrows draw together.

"...I haven't seen Alexis in months. He's working with that Foundation now. We've been trying to track him, but..." Gridman trails off. "...is that how he's manipulating me? Kaworu said... this information leaking might be a trick to get me to wear myself out."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"I'll use my own judgment, thanks," Akane replies, and it's at this point that she starts tapping a chopstick against the tray of her set meal. "If I hadn't done it, Hass wouldn't be back with us. If Knight and Alouette hadn't done it, I wouldn't be talking to you right now. 'No one ever gets hurt' is kind of fake."

She doesn't want to get this agitated -- but she is. The tapping speeds up a bit... though she does listen. "You should be busy with school, too, " she points out. "Right now, you're living as a human, right? I know when I started skipping, it was always because I was kinda losing it..."

Gridman starts to twig to things on his own, though -- and Akane nods along. "That's exactly it. He's trying to get us running in circles. I've been investigating that stuff myself, but Kaworu's right. It needs to be an 'everyone' thing, not a 'you' thing. At this point I'm mostly waiting on Kamuy or Alouette to get back to me with something new."

She doesn't sound totally convinced it's the right play -- but what's the alternative? Going back to the way she was?

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

Gridman lowers his head again, glancing away. "Yeah, that's true. Sorry, I just. Was worried. I understand the way you feel, I think."

He's saying all the wrong things. Gridman takes a breath, anxiously running his hands along his own arms. Akane taps things when she's agitated -- he does the same thing. The thought makes him feel warm in spite of his distress. Another little connection they share.

"I'm still going, most of the time. But I have no memory of any of this school stuff, and there's so much more I could be doing with my time. It's... hard to go and feel like an idiot every day." It's a painful admission. If it wasn't for dance club, he'd be attending far less school. "I only keep it up at all for Yuta's sake."

It seems like he's said the right thing at last, and Gridman sighs in relief as Akane goes along with him. "I agree with you there. I'm not trying to be difficult, I promise, but." A nervous drink of his ramune. "There's no organizations like that here. I don't have anyone to really turn to. No one who could be here quickly enough."

"...I can tell this is getting to you, too." Gridman murmurs. "I don't know how to help. I don't know what else I can do for you, and for everyone, besides keeping Tsutsuidai safe."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

The mention that he's attending school for Yuta's sake gets Akane to slow down a little bit. ... It does make sense, she reflects; if he's at least diligent, he might be able to get a letter of recommendation. That'd ease the burden of exam scores...

"Bet you could get study help if you tried, too," Akane fires, without a lot of thinking about it. "Namiko and Hass... well, no, they're kinda reliant on Rikka themselves... maybe Marusan and Ako? -- Oh, wait. Yonezawa doesn't seem like he has a ton of friends, and you wouldn't have to talk about kaiju stuff with him either. There's Yutaka in 3-A, too... or maybe the D girls? ... I wonder if that nickname stuck, actually. They're all in different classes this year..."

She really ought to meddle a little less -- but maybe Gridman needs a little push.

Love is an intrusion, after all.

Akane tries to digest the last point as she tries some of the soup that came with her set meal. "Mrrm... Hm." She taps her middle fingernail against her cheek, settling back into that resting posture. "Sometimes you gotta just do nothing? I dunno. I'm not very good at it either."

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

Study help. It's an intimidating thought. Gridman shifts uncomfortably. "I -- yeah, I could do that. It's hard to ask for help without a real... baseline to be working from, I guess? But it's for Yuta. I owe him at least this much."

Yellow eyes squeeze closed. He really doesn't want to do this. Fight bravely, Gridman!

"I wonder if I could just ask Kaworu, he knows practically everything anyway. That wouldn't be so bad." Gridman eases up a little at that thought. "And I could be honest with him about what's going on, too. I've been, uh. Acting like Yuta at school. Or at least trying to?"

Yellow eyes close, and when Gridman opens them again, they're a brilliant sky blue. He smiles sadly, and lets them revert after another blink.

"I'm not sure why I can do that, but it's useful." Akane looks more at ease, now, and Gridman all-but mirrors her relaxed posture. "Do nothing? I guess that's not the worst thing ever. It'd be nice to get a little more rest."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"... yeah. I can get that." Akane's lips purse a bit. "You're not gonna get that baseline until someone helps you, and you can't count on someone else like you showing up."

... that's a little too melancholy.

She gets back to her meal for a little while. Gridman needs to talk, too. "Yeah. Rikka and I are going to go on vacation some time next month or so? We're still kinda planning. Road trip. Might be worth thinking about when you wanna take a break, too." Breathing in through her nose and then gently out through her mouth, she says, "I get that I'm coming on kinda strong... just..."

A sigh. "I don't want us to just trade places. I think that'd drive me even crazier."

Fluffing out her hair -- it's grown out a little again, she notices, long enough to just barely touch her shoulder. Should she cut it again...? -- she adds, "I'll see about getting Porc-Auto assigned to the Wadatsumi full time. That way you'd at least have someone in town besides you. You really do need the rest."

Something nags at her about Gridman's ability to change eye colors on a dime, but she isn't sure how to say it. She'll let it pass, for now.

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

"I'll talk to Kaworu." Gridman promises, smiling a bit more easily. "And if that doesn't work, I'll find someone at school. Even if it sucks. Honestly, I hope nobody else has to go through this. It's pretty rough!"

A vacation! Gridman's eyes light up in excitement for Akane and Rikka. "Oh wow, that sounds awesome! Take lots of pictures for me, okay? Anywhere in particular you're thinking of going?"

"Going on a vacation myself... I never thought about something like that." Smiling a little, he tilts his head, imagining the possibilities. "Even if it was just me and the Neon Genesis Junior High Students, it'd be pretty nice. There's lots of things I'd like to see!"

Yellow eyes blink widely. "Trading... Oh."

A lot of things click into place, very suddenly.

"That's what you've been so worried about, Akane." Gridman's eyebrows tilt up in sympathy. "I'm sorry. I didn't even realize." There's an awkward little pause, then he gives her one of his trademark wobbly smiles. "I guess I better plan that vacation soon, then. My comrades have been trying to get me out of Tsutsujidai lately... I think they'll like the idea."

A breath. For some reason, that feels like a weight off his shoulders. Gridman vaguely wonders why, but it feels so nice, he doesn't worry about it for long.

"I like your hair like this, by the way. I think I've said that?" Gridman laughs. "But I'll say it again. It's long enough you could put it in a little ponytail or something now!"

A nod. It's remarkable how much the Hyper Agent's posture has loosened up so quickly. "If they don't mind, of course, that'd be really great. I know people will get here as fast as they can if there's trouble, but we're still pretty far away."

"Hey, Akane?" A full-sunshiney grin. "I think you're pretty great. Thanks for caring about me enough to take the time to talk to me like this."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane considers pressing him a little on making friends at school, whether it's Marusan or Yonezawa or someone else... but she can't find the words to really force the issue. She's not that good at this, yet, so she swaps to eating as she thinks instead.

"We're not really sure yet? I want it to be somewhere neither of us have ever seen, though," Akane answers. "Even if it kinda sucks. Something new for us together, you know?" When Gridman adds that he'd like to go on a vacation too, Akane agrees, "It's worth trying!"

The mention of her hair gets her to smile. "I'm still kinda feeling out how I want it to look. Before I lopped a bunch off 'cuz I kinda had more breakage than I could handle dealing with, but now... Hmmm, I'm not really sure! A ponytail might be kinda cute though..."

She's not sure it's her image, but that's a thing she gets to decide now -- which means at least trying it.

Gridman strips the artifice from the situation, and Akane turns an awkward shade of pink. "Ahaha -- I -- jeez, you really don't know how to read a room," she chides, though she can't quite stop herself from giggling as she says it. "Haha... yeah, I'm glad I took the time."

She finally remembers she's left a piece of bread stewing in the bottom of the cheese. "Watch this," she says, taking a few pieces of bread and spearing them onto two fingers and a thumb; it takes a little effort, but after some digging, she has four pieces of slightly stale bread covered in cheese, and eats all of them.

... She's probably proving some kind of point, though she may be too deep in the metaphor...