Audience: Hanako

[becomemod]

Comments

[hanaban]

[ no it's fine!!! ]

Um... The cafe, maybe? You can buy me a drink.

[becomemod]

Sure, but it's a pretty long walk over there from here.

What do you want to drink?

[hanaban]

Just water's fine. I want to be somewhere more crowded, where we'll be hard to overhear.

[becomemod]

You know you can get water for free, right?

[hanaban]

[ goat, please, ]

But I like cafe water? We're getting something for you too!

[becomemod]

It's basically the same water wherever you go.

[ why pay $6 for water you could get for $0. ]

[hanaban]

[ bc it's goat paying and not him ]

...This is the stubbornness off a goat, isn't it. Why can't you just indulge me like Mouse does?

[becomemod]

I'll pay for your water, but it's ridiculous to pay fifteen dollars for something you can get for free.

[hanaban]

Yeah, it really is!

[ but before goat gets the chance to dunk Hanako's face into the gutter and make him drink from there, he grabs ahold of their sleeve to tug them forwards towards the cafe ]

I bet Mouse would've bought us fifteen dollar glasses of water... But Tama says you're super responsible! She respects you a lot, y'know? So I figured I'd take her advice, and that you'd be my best bet to learn some things that Mouse doesn't take seriously.

[becomemod]

[ Hanako how dunkable are you? Like an oreo or a chocolate chip cookie? ]

Huh...? Why do I keep getting volunteered into this kinda stuff...

Glad Tama-san thinks I'm responsible though...

[hanaban]

[ Hmm... Danny demonstrated on our missing mingle that he's more of an oreo, you have to dunk him a couple times before he'll crumble ]

That's the curse of an older sibling! Besides, doesn't that mean you're doing a good job? Tama thinks so.

[becomemod]

I'm a middle child.

[ Redacted are all older than him. ]

I guess it's good to hear though.

[hanaban]

[ still counts ]

Middle still means you're an older sibling to someone! What's your family like? Do you miss them? Of course you do.

[becomemod]

Of course I miss them. I have my mom and dad, two older brothers and seven younger brothers.

[hanaban]

-—Seven?!

[ there's no way. goat is lying. ]

[becomemod]

Yeah. Two older brothers, seven younger brothers. My mom wanted to have as many kids as there are people on a football [ soccer ] team.

[hanaban]

[ closes his eyes for a second because how does Goat even stand that... Hanako can't even stand the one brother he has sometimes ]

...I guess that meant you always have somebody to play with, and don't get too lonely.

[ And that no matter how annoying younger siblings are, Goat loves them. that's how family is— should be ]

I'll be direct with you, then. I want to talk about going home.

[becomemod]

[ A good question that doesn't have an easy answer. ]

Okay. I'll answer whatever I can.

[ Because they would also really like to go home. Eight months of this weird work trip is way too long. ]

[hanaban]

...really?

[ He looks surprised, actually, at that "okay," clearly expecting more resistance from somebody in another team, but also reminds himself not to get his hopes up over Goat answering "whatever they can" ]

Then, I want to know more about that book you guys took from the moon back then. Mouse says they don't know where it is now.

[becomemod]

I'm actually not sure where exactly it went. I know Silver Horse had it with them when they died.

[hanaban]

[ his hopes...... ]

And Silver Horse... disappeared? I think that's what I heard, anyways. What about a dorm room?

[becomemod]

Yeah. I wasn't there, but I think Phoenix was closer to that incident.

[ They shake their head. ]

I looked all over my place and I didn't see that book around. I guess you could ask everybody but... I think Silver Horse probably took it... with them?

[ Unsure. Did they take it with them in death? Did it go somewhere else? Much to think about. ]

[hanaban]

[ It's frustrating, letting that question hang in the air while either of them have an answer to it. ]

Hmmm... But it can't have been something that happened out of nowhere. You guys— or at least Silver Horse— had to have known about the book, where it is, what inside it, why it's so important. Don't tell me you know nothing at all about it.

[ Unless Horse just waltzed into the moon and stole it? He wouldn't blame the moon for laser beaming them all to death in that case ]

[becomemod]

My powers aren't really suited for frontline combat. From what I heard, she managed to get it away from the man in white during the fight. Then it got damaged in the struggle.

[ Goat only knows what people share with them. ]

[hanaban]

[ meanwhile there's Mouse with super strength and they can't tell him anything either! aaaaa!! ]

So it was something that he carried with him, most likely. If Silver Horse really shared nothing about it beforehand, then how did you know to come help? Who called for you?

[ or maybe Goat wasn't there directly at all, and that's why they're still here ]