[ Should he look away to give the old guy privacy? He wouldn't wear the mask without a reason, after all...
Even though Junpei was totally curious. It was like, that one Ninja manga, with the teacher who wore a face mask all the time...
Still, Junpei glanced away, obviously trying to respect the other guy's needs to keep things hidden. ]
Yeah. Shinjiro-senpai-- he was... is? An upperclassman of mine.
[ Hence the 'senpai' bit. Junpei cut off another bite of pancakes, chewing it thoughtfully as he continued, glancing out the window. ]
...He and Akihiko, one of the other senpai at my dorm, were super close, even if they argued a lot. Hahha, when I first met him? Me and Minako and Yukari had all gone to this dangerous back alley in town to investigate a mystery--
[ He paused in his explanation, raising his fork up as if to point-- and nearly looking at the other guy-- only to look away again quickly. Privacy! Privaaacyyyy... ]
Not my idea, by the way-- Yukari had a stick up her ass cause I had teased her about bein' scared of a ghost story at school and she needed to prove me wrong by going into like, gang territory, but whatever-- I get punched, and then Shinjiro-senpai just like, SWHOOPS in! Headbutts the guy like it ain't no thing! Totally saved our asses. At the time it was super scary, but... like.
[ Pause. ]
I wanna say it's funny now but nah, it's still pretty freaky how close things got there, especially if Yukari and Minako would've gotten hurt-- Annnyway.
[ Back on topic! ]
He had the same power we did--Persona, right? Can summon stuff from our heads-- you probably saw that one detective dude talk about it on the journals, right? But didn't join us right away... not till Ken joined us in the summer. And he tried to barely talk at all to any of us...
[ Another bite-- ]
...He had a super gravely voice, like he hadn't talked in forever.. Tried to keep us all at arms length, you know? He was super strong and tough and knew how to fight-- but, like. Even if he didn't wanna know us, he still looked out for all of us...
[ Chew, chew... swallow... Waving his fork around a bit for emphasis]
...Minako even got him to cook for us a few times, and he was really good at it. It was the first homecooked meal I'd had in forever.
[ Which made you wonder about his homelife. ]
...But, looking back on it all now...
[ A pause, as Junpei's eyes seemed to focus on someone not there... ]
...I'm pretty sure, he had a death wish. An' him being all 'cool' and mature and shit... might have just been him trying to convince himself he was okay with dying.
no subject
Even though Junpei was totally curious. It was like, that one Ninja manga, with the teacher who wore a face mask all the time...
Still, Junpei glanced away, obviously trying to respect the other guy's needs to keep things hidden. ]
Yeah. Shinjiro-senpai-- he was... is? An upperclassman of mine.
[ Hence the 'senpai' bit. Junpei cut off another bite of pancakes, chewing it thoughtfully as he continued, glancing out the window. ]
...He and Akihiko, one of the other senpai at my dorm, were super close, even if they argued a lot. Hahha, when I first met him? Me and Minako and Yukari had all gone to this dangerous back alley in town to investigate a mystery--
[ He paused in his explanation, raising his fork up as if to point-- and nearly looking at the other guy-- only to look away again quickly. Privacy! Privaaacyyyy... ]
Not my idea, by the way-- Yukari had a stick up her ass cause I had teased her about bein' scared of a ghost story at school and she needed to prove me wrong by going into like, gang territory, but whatever-- I get punched, and then Shinjiro-senpai just like, SWHOOPS in! Headbutts the guy like it ain't no thing! Totally saved our asses. At the time it was super scary, but... like.
[ Pause. ]
I wanna say it's funny now but nah, it's still pretty freaky how close things got there, especially if Yukari and Minako would've gotten hurt-- Annnyway.
[ Back on topic! ]
He had the same power we did--Persona, right? Can summon stuff from our heads-- you probably saw that one detective dude talk about it on the journals, right? But didn't join us right away... not till Ken joined us in the summer. And he tried to barely talk at all to any of us...
[ Another bite-- ]
...He had a super gravely voice, like he hadn't talked in forever.. Tried to keep us all at arms length, you know? He was super strong and tough and knew how to fight-- but, like. Even if he didn't wanna know us, he still looked out for all of us...
[ Chew, chew... swallow... Waving his fork around a bit for emphasis]
...Minako even got him to cook for us a few times, and he was really good at it. It was the first homecooked meal I'd had in forever.
[ Which made you wonder about his homelife. ]
...But, looking back on it all now...
[ A pause, as Junpei's eyes seemed to focus on someone not there... ]
...I'm pretty sure, he had a death wish. An' him being all 'cool' and mature and shit... might have just been him trying to convince himself he was okay with dying.