Soon she was going to meet with Yakumo to discuss the particulars of this nights venture out into the desolation. Two nights in a row, one would have to suspect that Koyuki had truly lost her mind. Maybe she had. That was something she'd been considering rather heavily for the last year or so and the most recent month only made it feel all the more evident. She felt clearer than ever before, though. In front of her was a clear purpose that she could focus on to the exclusion of all else just like she found most comfortable.

Yet, there were some hiccups along the way. Things she felt she needed to do and yet at the same time knew that she couldn't, or wouldn't, as to not risk the other lives which had become important to her. Still she couldn't leave it completely unattended.

Having put in her order for a drink, she pulls up her communicator and calls Moriko's comm.

Beeep...Beeep...Beeep...

Upon calling Moriko, Koyuki would be met with a classic beep as she would have to wait for the person on the other side to pick up. It almost seemed like she was never going to answer until the sound of someone answering on the other side. It wasn't quite an answer, considering it was met with silence but there was clearly some faint static on the other side. Someone was there but they weren't saying anything.

Koyuki's background noise filters in, the sound of a machine running, or the shout of an orders name out for those waiting for their drink to be finished. Finding her breath caught in her throat she steadies herself. She'd prepared herself. Important things first, get the hook in. Then what happens next, happens next. They call Koyuki's name, but she doesn't notice.

"I'll tell you where you can find me tonight, alone." That part wasn't true, but it was closer than what the truth might suggest. What was one idol-singer and maybe a Hare who were both instructed not to interfere going to threaten. They call Koyuki's name, but she doesn't notice. Not as much as the idea she'd be walking into a trap. "I just need to finish something first. Then whatever this is, we finish it."

They call Koyuki's name, but she doesn't notice.

"..."

There was an uncomfortable silence that followed with the sound of something solid being dragged on the table beside what is presumably the communicator sitting on the same surface. Through the sound of the bubble tea shop running in the background and Koyuki's order being called out, she might have heard breathing. Certainly not the soft kind but perhaps someone who was making an effort to abstain from speaking.

"..."

Someone grabs her attention, and for that split second her mind goes through a frenzy of figuring out where she was, and what she was doing. With the eyes on her it was hard not to feel a little foolish but there was something more important to concern herself with. Breathing in deep, exhaling out slow she finds herself a calm. Taking the drink from the counter with a brief nod to the individual behind the counter before turning off toward the establishment.

"I met your wife. Bayushi Seki? She seems-" Koyuki goes to round the corner to the seating area but stops to let someone else pass. "-seems like a bit of a bitch honestly. Guess you have a type," she chuckles to herself, but it doesn't have any mirth. Almost flavorless sound of air.

"..."

A tense silence followed the comment and the chuckle from Koyuki. It almost seemed to have invoked nothing until there was the rattling of something across the table with some static of air as the communicator was picked up by the recipient.


Bayushi Moriko

"Yeah, she is one," Moriko would say on the other line, finally finding some common ground they could agree on, for once.

Mouth agape, elation kicking in at the first syllable.

This bitch was about to cry in a Bubble Tea Shop.

She didn't though, she smiles like an idiot but she doesn't cry. Though the smile is probably as equally disturbing to see for some of the patrons. What does a Kuni have to smile about? Can they do that? All sorts of questions that random people who didn't know much of anything about any actual Kuni would ask themselves, or the friend sitting next to them.

Focusing herself, she chokes out a response,"Y-yea," she says, stumbling with her affected voice. Mind whirling for what's supposed to come next. Mind racing to all sorts of ideas on what she's supposed to say, but ultimately chiding herself so much she changes course. Voice soft and tender like it used to be with her, with just an added touch of apprehension to her tone. Eventually the pause has to end, and she just blurts out the next thought that comes to mind:

"How.. how are you doing?"

Coulda been worse, but it wasn't great.

Bayushi Moriko

Moriko had the advantage here, not being in visible sight of either Koyuki or the audience at home. There just seemed to be a stoic stillness that follow as she was either ignorant of Koyuki's emotions on the matter or didn't care for them at all. Or perhaps she was undergoing through her own path of feelings. Wherever she was, it seemed quiet. Perhaps it was just her alone in a room to herself.

"Yeah." She would say in a terse manner, repeating Kiyoshi's first words afterwards, although she didn't choke at all. There was a smouldering pause at the end of her word as she had nothing else to add to that, perhaps waiting if Koyuki would follow up with something of substance. However, it seemed her question is not what she was looking for. Talking about her was not the social contract she entered when picking up this call. "Where can I meet you then?"

Half-stumbling down into a seat at one of the booths she barely even looks at the surrounds, doing just enough to avoid the awkwardness of sitting down next to someone who was already there. Moriko's return sinking in like a hot knife. You were stupid enough to let your guard down for a second, and you get yourself hurt again. Real brilliant move. Fixing a spot to set down her tea with mechanical motions she just listens to the stillness like it was a gentle whispering that she could almost hear.

"Grove. Fitting place to die, considering. If I even come back from the Desolation," she offers, there's that edge back there. A tenderness hidden behind it like a locked cage and gritted teeth. Clenched fist tightly squeezing at the fabric of her sleeve.

Bayushi Moriko

There was near-silence once more. It was faint but there was probably some movement in the background. There could have been the sound of a fist being made and some knuckle cracking in the process. This was followed but an abrupt...

"CRASH!"

"...Do you think you're being funny here?" She would say with perhaps her mouth too close to the receiving side.

"Do I sound like I'm laughing?"

Koyuki's tone was dead. That steel to it was filled with a bit of life still, but now it could only be described as dead. A complete departure from the suggesting of a feeling human soul behind them. Mechanically she pulls up her drink, and sips. All the while this stone-cold icy demeanor playing out for any who might see her. It was a good front, if it wasn't for the fact that the hand she was fidgeting with her sleeve with was visibly shaking.

Bayushi Moriko

"..." There was a pause from Moriko but not a silent one. Moriko breathed tensely on the other side that it was audible through the communicator. It perhaps took her a moment to collect herself so that she wasn't yelling back. Not something she wanted, this was going to be deliberate and not something she did out of hot emotion. In a way, she wanted Koyuki to know that, previous outbursts notwithstanding.

"...Fine, the Grove then." After a pause, she would add in, "And don't think you're getting out of this. You will die."

Koyuki's silence is present, a wall being yelled at and uncaring.

"Midnight. You can finish what you started when you left me and broke my heart. Put the dagger in my heart yourself, instead of being a coward," she says, her voice was alike ice and it was the last thing Moriko would hear from her as Koyuki clicks the device off and throws it into the empty seat opposite her like she couldn't be rid of it sooner. Anger. Pain. Love. Betrayal. Pity. Sympathy. Hate. Despair. Everything battles at once inside her mind for dominance as she's left to just sit and try to keep composure, her fists digging into the cushion she sat on.

"Fuck," she says, exasperated and confused. Then, angrier, "Fuck fuck fuck. Fuck," and finally defeated. Taking a breath out of necessity she finds her stupid bubble tea and drinks.