irisnetwork | thanks, mav

[Yuya'a side of the room has the most stuff, but it's only slightier messier than Toki's--about as much as one would except from teenage boys. There's a bag of chips rolled closed and some chocolates in a plastic bag. His book bag against the desk chair, a couple fiction books and some manga novels shoved into the desk cubby where there's pens scattered--probably from classwork.

There is one particular photo--a picture of Yuya and an older woman, both smiling at the camera. It looks pretty recently, with Yuya not looking much younger than he does now. It's the only photo, pinned up without a frame to the wall.

The cat looks up at the loud noises and just stares down from her perch.

That's about when the door swings opens and Yuya sticks out.] Okay, thanks for waiting.

[ This room sure does scream "teenage boys," and it's a bit endearing, with its stark contrast to Kano's own room where, although it's shared now, remains almost entirely empty and devoid of any personalization aside from the things he shoves into the closet, things to keep but not to display.

Everything gets taken in, and the photo- Kano snaps a picture with his phone, shutter on mute as not to give himself away, so he can ponder over this woman someplace else. The entire time he does this, he casts an illusion as extra security: of himself sticking a hand out to offer to the cat, standing in place no matter where about the room he's actually wandering around at. When Yuya opens the door, it's this illusion he sees and Kano pockets his phone to step into his illusion's shoes, hand outstretched to the cat, palm up. ]

Hey, Yuya, Yuya~ I didn't know you got a cat! What's your cat's name?

Oh yeah! Toki wanted one, so I agreed...

[He walks over, rising on his toes to barely reach over the bed and grab the cat, dragging her off the bed and into his arms. She just pulls limply, moving to start bathing herself right in Yuys's arms.]

This is Kuroko. We've had her about a week. She's really friendly, you can pet her.

[ A good cat, not at all like Nekano who starts to bristle if somebody so much as reaches out to pet him. Kano neither likes nor dislikes cats, but he leans over and gives her a slow blink, a cat hello, in lieu of testing his luck and petting her. ]

He~h. A cute one! You said Toki's the one who wanted a cat? Does he really like cats? I wouldn't've imagined he's a cat person~

[ Sorry... if it feels like he's more interested in Toki than he is the cat. Mostly because he is. ]

[Kuroko stares at Kano... and then goes right back to cleaning herself.

Yuya shrugs.] I guess? He just kind of asked one day, and he seemed really excited about it... I've got pets at home, so I thought it'd be nice too.

[He sets Kuroko down, letting her find her own way as he goes to his desk and pulls a small box out of a drawer.]

It does sound nice~ I've never had pets before!

[ Kano steps back to give Kuroko ample room to escape, and then joins Yuya at the desk, hovering close to his shoulder so he can peer over it and almost believe he's got a hamster or snake curled up in that box, before reminding himself what he'd originally come here to see. ]

[Yuya pops open the box to reveal a stack of cards, surrounded by a couple knick-knacks. It's completely random based on whatever creatures and scenes Yuya just thought looked good. Dragons in there, definitely, and other fantasy creatures.

He takes the deck out, offering it to Kano to look through.] Here, this is it.

[ Kano leans over to peer at the top-most card, but he doesn't move to take the deck or otherwise touch it. ]

Are they valuable? The sort of "collector's cards" you aren't supposed to get fingerprints on, or breathe on, or expose to light?

[ Don't trust him with things like that? Come on. ]

[Yuya smiles with amusement and shakes his head.] None of my cards. I can make a deck with some of them, but I mostly collected ones that I thought looked nice.

[He holds his hands up, fingers spread.] And if I wasn't supposed to do anything of those things, I messed that up a long time ago!

[ If that's the case, Kano takes the cards in his hands and looks through them, slow one by one and giving each careful consideration like he's trying to memorize the pictures on each one. ]

Hm~ Does this sorta thing make you happy? Collecting things... You'll never finish, right? Won't they keep printing, so long as people keep buying?

Yeah? It's a game, too--but I'm really not trying to collect every card. Just the ones I like, and this way whenever Gongenzaka wants to play I can play with him!

[So the cards by themselves aren't where the real joy comes from. It's being able to share the experience with his friend.

Especially when Gongenzaka doing anything for fun and not control, control, control has become an increasing rarity.]

Aah, he's the one who got you into it, right? Isn't that what you said? It's surprising, hearing he plays stuff like this too! I learned something good today~

[ Surprising, he says, but it's honestly a little hard to imagine. Kano has no idea how cards can be fun anyways, having had enough of them gambling the night away in Vegas at his last mission, so what he does with Yuya's cards is start up a little house of cards on a space he clears off Yuya's desk- he's good at that sort of thing, apparently, because the cards don't wobble at all. ]

[Yuya leans away from the table so he doesn't cause it to wobble, and otherwise gives Kano plenty of room to make a card house. He's definitely better at it than Yuya, so he watches with curiosity how high he can make it go.]

Is it? I guess he doesn't talk much about things like that to people... [Kind of like Kano, except Yuya knows why Gon closes in on himself.] He's good at it, though. His deck is a lot better made than mine.

[ Kano doesn't doubt that Gon talks about that stuff with his friends, but it's just the fact of the matter that he and Gon aren't that. ...Actually, it feels like every time they talk, Kano gets lectured, like he's the younger one there... ]

Better made? So his cards are stronger? We should all play together sometime~ We could build this a lot higher with his cards too!

They work together to be stronger, yeah! [Yuya laughs, knowing Gongenzaka would definitely not approve of using his deck to make a card house.

He threads his fingers behind his head.] We could teach you how the game really works if you want. It's a lot of strategy, so you'd probably be good at it.

[ More of a reason to stack cards in front of Gongenzaka! But Yuya's right on the money about what sorts of game Kano would be good at, from planning 2349865 steps ahead to setting traps. ]

A strategy game, huh~ I dunno if I'd be any good at that sorta thing, so go easy on me, 'kay?

Gongenzaka isn't good at 'going easy'... so maybe I'll teach you to start. [Between the two of them, though, he's sure they have enough cards to make a third deck. Despite being a trading card game, Yuya's done little actual trading except with Gongenzaka.]

Hm~ Alright~!

[ He flicks the card at the very top of the tower he's constructing, and the entire structure comes tumbling down- two waves of his hands and he's gathered up all the cards into a deck once again, out of order than how it was before, but nevertheless neat and all facing the right way. ]

I'm in your care, Sensei~

thanks, mav

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