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emma-art1 · 3 months

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The one good thing about school? It’s so easy to catch up on sleep. Junpei had given it a shot when they’d gotten back to the dorm and failed horribly. If he’d stayed home he probably would’ve spent the whole day tossing and turning, imagining the sounds of ambulance sirens and Amada crying. But Edogawa droning on and on about whatever magical bullshit is like a white noise machine. It’s exactly what Junpei needs to catch a few decent z’s.

Honestly, Junpei’s amazed that Minato and Yuka-tan apparently didn’t fall asleep during class. How much sleep can they even be running on right now? Two hours? Three at most, and that’s if they even slept in the first place.

When the final bell of the day rings, Junpei sits up and stretches. He doesn’t feel quite rested, per se, but he does feel way better than this morning at least. Whatever Kirijo-senpai has to say, he’s ready for it. There’s no way this can get any worse, right?

“Let’s get going,” Yuka-tan says, not wasting any time. It sounds like she’s ready to get this over with just as much as he is. And hey, maybe if they have time after picking up Amada and hopefully seeing Aragaki-san, he can stop by Chidori’s room and say hello.

Fuuka comes out of her classroom a few seconds after they do. Moriyama’s hot on her heels, fussing over her all the way. “Promise me you’ll call me if you feel like you need to, okay Fuuka?”

“I will, Natsuki-chan, I promise,” Fuuka says, muffled by the tight hug Moriyama pulls her into.

“I really mean it, okay? Even if it’s two in the morning, I don’t care, you can call.” She lets Fuuka go to join up with the rest of their group. “I hope your friend is alright,” she says to all of them. It’s nice of her. She seems really different these days, now that she’s been hanging out with Fuuka.

They all meet Kirjio-senpai in front of the student council room. She’s apologizing to one of the other council members (the cute first year with the glasses– Junpei can’t remember her name) for being unable to attend to her duties today.

Glasses Girl bows politely and must say something reassuring, because Kirijo-senpai smiles at her. Their business concludes right after, and Kirijo-senpai turns around to see them all. Her smile falls a little but doesn’t vanish entirely. That’s got to be a good sign. “Ah good, you’re all here,” she says.

“Have you heard anything?” Fuuka asks, her voice watery. Junpei wonders how she fared all day. He’s glad Moriyama was there to comfort her a little. She seems to take her Comforting Fuuka duties pretty seriously.

“I have,” Kirijo-senpai replies. “I received a call a few hours ago. Aragaki survived the surgery.”

All of them, even Minato, even Aigis, let out a long collective sigh of relief. Okay, that’s one piece of good news today! Off to a good start!

“Oh thank goodness…” Fuuka whispers, sounding close to tears. Hell, even Junpei feels a little choked up. He hopes this means things are starting to turn around.

Kirijo-senpai nods. “He’s been given a room, and Akihiko has informed me that he’s being allowed visitors as well.” It’s only then that Junpei realizes that Sanada-san isn’t here with them. Did he skip? Damn, now he feels kind of bad for leaving him at the hospital all alone… “I haven’t received any further updates, but Akihiko should be able to fill us in once we’ve arrived.”

“Then we should all go and visit Aragaki-san, post haste,” Aigis says with a rare smile on her face. “Nothing helps one’s recovery more than companions by one’s side, as they say.”

Junpei has no idea who says that, but she’s probably not wrong.

Hopefully Amada can come home tonight too. There’s a lot that needs to be said, apparently.

“I agree,” Kirijo-senpai says. Out of all of them here, it looks like she wants to visit Aragaki-san the most. “And I’m sure the doctors would be able to aid in explaining the particulars of Aragaki’s condition. I can give you all a general idea, but they most certainly know more than I do.”

“Then what’re we waitin’ for?” Junpei pipes in. “Let’s go see the rest of our crew!” Well, except Koromaru. It really sucks that the hospital won’t let pets in, at least not the ones that aren’t specially trained or whatever. Aragaki-san would probably be happier to see him than pretty much anybody, except maybe Sanada-san and Kirijo-senpai.

Actually, on second thought, he’d probably want to see Koromaru the most.

Compared to the dorms, Tatsumi Memorial Hospital is actually pretty far away from the school. Luckily, the subway goes straight there for convenience, and Junpei knows the way there by heart by now, so the trip barely takes any time at all. Junpei is surprised to spot Sanada-san in the parking lot when they arrive, instead of inside. He’s talking to an older couple in front of a car. A pretty nice car, too– one with that classy-but-understated kinda look to it.

“Thanks again for coming all this way,” he half hears Sanada-san say as they approach.

“Don’t be silly, Aki,” the woman replies kindly, sandwiching his face between her hands. She’s tiny next to him, a whole head shorter. “It’s not far at all.”

“Especially not for something like this.” The man puts a hand on Sanada-san’s shoulder– he’s also shorter, but only by a centimeter or two. “You’ll call us if something else happens with Shinjiro-kun, right?”

“...Yeah, Dad. I will.” Oh, so these are his parents. The ones that sent that swanky care package a while back. It makes sense they’d know Aragaki-san too, Junpei figures.

Sanada-san’s mom gives him a tight hug, and he hugs her back. “And please get some rest,” she says before finally getting into the car. Once they’ve driven off, Sanada-san finally notices them.

And wow. Junpei would never say this to his face, but he looks like shit. No wonder his mom told him to get some rest. He’s got bags under his eyes like he’s planning on going globe-trotting. Has he gotten any sleep at all in the last 24 hours?

Probably not. Sanada-san’s the kinda guy that goes from one extreme to the other.

“Your parents came by?” Kirijo-senpai asks, going right to his side.

“I was surprised too,” Sanada-san replies. Junpei’s never heard him sound so tapped out before. “They dropped all of their plans today to come see me and Shinji.”

It’d be a lie if he said he’s not a little jealous. Must be nice to have parents that care.

“Ikutsuki-san came by earlier as well,” Sanada-san continues. “But he didn’t stay long.” He doesn’t sound too beat up about that.

Kirijo-senpai puts a hand on Sanada-san’s arm, and they do that thing of theirs where they don’t even speak but still know what the other one is saying. It’s pretty easy to tell from the outside what’s being not-said this time, though. She wants to know how things are going– all of them do. Junpei’s ready to hear some more good news.

He doesn’t get to. Instead, he watches as Sanada-san’s face falls and he looks away. “Shinji’s… He made it through surgery, but he hasn’t woken up yet.”

Okay…not ideal, but Aragaki-san’s probably just exhausted after such intensive surgery, right? That has to take a lot out of a guy.

“The doctors said they aren’t sure if he’ll even wake up at all.” Sanada-san barely gets the whole sentence out, and his voice still cracks a little on the last word.

A heavy silence falls over all of them. Oh.

“So he’s…” Yuka-tan says quietly. “He’s in a coma?”

“Basically, yes.”

Shit.

“No way…” Junpei mutters. This wasn’t supposed to happen. They were supposed to have gotten through the worst part and started heading for the triumphant comeback.

He remembers suddenly how he had told himself ‘oh things for sure can’t get worse!’ back at school. He really should know better than to even think something like that.

“Aragaki-senpai…” Fuuka sounds like she’s about to burst into tears. Junpei wishes he could say something to comfort her, but he doesn’t even know how to comfort himself. “He…he can’t…”

“I think it would behoove us to go inside,” Aigis cuts her off. “We can speak to the doctors and get a more detailed explanation of everything. Please, do not lose hope, everyone.”

At least someone’s optimistic. They really need someone to be, right now. Yuka-tan has her arms wrapped tight around herself and her mouth is pinched. Minato looks like he’s about to throw up, and he’s turned about the same color as old milk.

“That’s a good idea, Aigis,” Kirijo-senpai replies. Even she looks way more shaken than Junpei’s ever seen her. He doesn’t think she’d ever let herself to look like this in front of them under normal circumstances.

When they get inside, even Junpei can tell that something doesn’t seem right. It feels a little more…panicky, maybe? Then it did yesterday. Sanada-san’s clearly surprised, so it must not have been like this when he’d walked his parents out, even though he couldn’t have been outside with them for more than ten minutes.

“Kirijo-san!” The doctor from before, the one that asked for the blood donation, runs up to them. She looks even more haggard than yesterday– no, shit, earlier today, that’s insane to think about. “I was just about to call you– I’m so sorry, I don’t know how this happened–”

Junpei suddenly gets an awful feeling. Judging from how panicked she looks– No. Come on. There’s no way–

“What’s wrong?” Kirijo-senpai asks, looking just as alarmed as he feels. “What happened?”

He’s got no words for the expression on Sanada-san’s face. ‘Horrified’ comes to mind, but— that’d be underselling it big time. ‘Devastated’ isn’t strong enough either. Whatever it is, Junpei has to look away.

“It’s Amada-kun. He’s not in his room. We can’t find him anywhere.”

Oh, shit. Oh you’ve got to be kidding! How the hell do you just lose a whole-ass kid?!

It’s not the news they’d all been afraid of, but it’s not exactly a relief either. Kirijo-senpai starts grilling the doctor on when and how Amada could have snuck out. She sounds calm, but Junpei’s been on the wrong end of a lecture from her often enough to tell the difference between ‘actually calm’ and ‘so ice-cold angry that it looped all the way back around’.

She apparently doesn’t get any helpful answers from any of the doctors. Between the time she turns away from them and the moment she rejoins their group, all of that terrifying anger has drained right out of her and she just looks worried and scared. Actually, seeing Kirijo-senpai scared like this is kind of terrifying too, in a completely different way.

“I know I promised you all answers, and I’m so sorry–”

“It’s okay, Kirijo-senpai,” Yuka-tan interrupts. “We need to find Amada-kun, that takes priority.”

“I know where to find him,” Sanada-san says. His voice sounds a lot stronger than Junpei’s heard it all day, almost like his normal self. “I can go get Amada while you and the doctors fill everyone in like you planned, Mitsuru.”

“Wait, you know?” Junpei exclaims. “How the hell do you know? You didn’t see him run off, did you?” How can he suddenly sound so confident?

“No, of course not,” he replies, looking irritated. “I just– have a feeling that I know what he’s thinking, and where that would take him.”

“Should I come with you, Sanada-senpai?” Fuuka says. “If he’s not where you think he is after all, I could–”

“You don’t need to,” Sanada-san says bluntly, then immediately looks like he feels bad about it. “I appreciate the offer, Yamagishi,” he continues in a much gentler tone. “If I’m wrong, I’ll call and we can figure out a plan to search for him.”

It’s not like Sanada-san to be all cryptic like this, and Junpei can’t say he’s a huge fan of it. But since he's not usually like this, that must mean that there’s a reason he’s being this way now, right?

“You’re certain you want to do this alone, Akihiko?” Kirijo-senpai asks.

“I am. And I think– I think it should be me.” Whatever that means?

“Alright. Let us know when you find him, and whether the two of you will be meeting us back here or at the dorms.”

Sanada-san nods, looking determined. After a moment, though, some worry creeps back into his expression. “Watch over Shinji for me, Mitsuru,” he says quietly. Kirijo-senpai touches his shoulder.

“I will,” is all she says out loud, but they’re doing that senpai telepathy thing again. He can’t tell what they’re saying over their weird psychic link this time, though. After a second, Kirijo-senpai drops her hand, and Sanada-san leaves for wherever he’s so sure Amada is.

“Alright,” Kirijo-senpai sighs. “Let’s head to Aragaki’s room, and then I’ll explain everything to the best of my ability, as promised.”

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emma-art1 · 4 months

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Assorted pikmin headcanons that I might end up deleting bc I definitely haven’t already posted enough today

• Most Hocotatians can’t grow facial hair. Those who can are greatly envied (even if it’s just a few scraggly hairs like the president)

• Hocotate is mostly desert. Because of this, hocotatians generally don’t need as much water as others.

• Yonny is. Extremely in love with dingo. But he still tries to be a good wingman when dingo’s trying to talk to shepherd cause even if he’s insane he’s a good friend

• Louie tries to zone out when olimar’s telling him “stories” (which are more just olimar’s train of thought) but ends up subconsciously retaining it all. He remembers more about olimar than olimar himself.

• Collin actually has social anxiety despite being the comms guy, ironically the only way he’s found that he can calm himself is to never stop talking. So he yaps. A lot.

• Yonny’s tried to tell dingo before that his disliking of dogs probably stems from some form of ptsd from the time he thought he was being attacked during a rescue. Dingo just bragged about it because he thought having trauma made him sound more “badass.” It did not. He was very confused when he got sympathy and not admiration.

• Olimar gets frustrated with Louie very easily, but keeps it hidden because Louie gets chastised by the other employees and the president a lot and olimar wants to be the one to help him instead of just yelling at him.

• Hocotate freight, despite being tasked with large shipping jobs, is a rather small company with barely any employees. There’s pretty much no experience needed other than a basic pilot’s license to get a job there because the president is so desperate for workers

• Louie doesn’t even have a pilot license. He only managed to get hired because his nana convinced the president to hire him because of his family’s lineage of renowned pilots.

• His nana didn’t even ask Louie before getting him hired. He was looking to get a fry cook job at a restaurant nearby to save up for culinary school. He just went with it because he didn’t want to disappoint her

• Collin is aroace. He doesn’t know it, he just thinks he’s “too busy” for sex and romance (am I just saying that bc I’m projecting onto him nooooo I would neeever do that)

• Koppaites generally age physically slower than most. Giyans? What’s it called uhh. People from giya tend to physically age faster. They both have roughly the same life expectancy, though

• it’s a common practice on most civilized planets for the people to dye their hair, as they all share the trait of usually greying quickly. Only hocotatians don’t do this, as they over time have developed hair that retains its color longer—although they have less of it

• Louie hates space travel. He gets motion sickness easily. Olimar, on the other hand, loves it, and likes to do tricks with his ship when flying like spinning around. Somehow that’s never been the cause of a crash, the worst that’s happened was just louie feeling sick

• dingo has low iron levels. I have nothing more to add it is just definitely true

• whenever Louie’s on pnf-404 by himself, he survives the creatures by just ignoring them. Turns out a lot of them aren’t inherently violent or have a taste for hocotatian. The ones that do attack can be defeated easily by giving them poisonous plants

• Many of the planets are more of dwarf planets, if even that. Only hocotate, koppai, Giya, and pnf 404 are larger. Most of them are tiny and in the same solar system, making them almost more akin to different countries or continents than entirely different planets

that is all for my yapping goodbye

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