Post by Nakajima Kimiko on Jun 23, 2021 22:10:33 GMT -5
Kimiko could tell that her current predicament had somewhat shocked Celes in some fashion or another. Her expression, which was previously returning to its usual smiling and joyful self, had grown a bit more melancholic, and that alone was enough to make the student understand that she had said something wrong. It was not really surprising, all things considered: no one would feel like what she had said was right. To boldly admit that she couldn't bring herself to even care about the tour guide, a Shinigami in flesh and bone that she had even directly spoken, was something that could not be interpreted positively in any way by someone with a shred of sanity. When put in the way she delivered it, it all made her sound like an insensitive psychopath who only believed in the utter defeat of the enemy rather than the safety of both her comrades, Soul Society and Humanity. It was a rather horrifying thing to say to a Shinigami proper, a Vice-Captain no less, and it was why she felt so eager to just drop the conversation there and move on as quickly as possible.
Shockingly enough, though, she received no berating from her friend in the slightest. Instead, she was merely stopped and told to sit back down onto the bench. The hand on her shoulder was already a significant thing for Kimiko to consider, but it was the request that surprised her the most, so much so that she could only stare back at her friend with a blink. Eventually, she found herself slowly sitting down onto the bench as she was told, unsure of where this conversation was heading to now that her attempt to leave the subject behind had failed, and before she could even formulate as much as a simple sentence to perhaps elaborate some sort of defense for the words she dared muttering to Celes, the Vice-Captain then went on to formulate words of her own on the matter.
The student couldn't really react at first to the words that the Vice-Captain delivered to her. It had been a great while since she has had any emotional support on a matter that she believed to be personal such as this, and considering the matter at hand, she hadn't really expected to hear it from a Shinigami, of all people. In Kimiko's eyes, any other officer would have potentially told her off on this and even could have gone as far as being outraged by the prospect alone. It was just so... pleasantly surprising, really, to finally be told such things in such a manner. Then again, maybe she shouldn't be that surprised by this; after all, the Shinigami in question was Celes and not some other officer she happened to know. Throughout her entire time at the Academy, the Vice-Captain has been nothing short of supportive in every sense of the word, be it physically through treating her as her disciple or emotionally as a guide and friend to the Spiritual World.
However, despite this, the swordswoman couldn't quite say that she was ultimately satisfied with the answer. The words that Celes spoke were all facts that she was already aware of, so to be told again of their importance did not really make much of a difference in what she thought of all of this, even if they came from a person she now believed to be a close friend. The Shinigami's primordial task, her inexperience as a Soul of the Spiritual World, the fact that she somehow happened to be a sort of sword prodigy among her peers... None of these things really made her feel much better. In fact, when combined altogether, they instead made her feel more conflicted. The expectations that the people had set for her as a top student of the Academy were pretty daunting on their own, so she couldn't let herself slip the way she did too many times. Additionally, she couldn't put all of the blame on her inexperience. As new as she may be to all of this, doing such a thing would just make her look weak, and she knew that such an excuse could only last for so long before it turns against her.
Well, at least it was nice to both see and hear that Celes trusted her so much. Knowing that she could tell the Vice-Captain about such things without worry or even open judgement was a very comforting thought, even if it had been alluded that she could have already done that plenty of times before. It made Kimiko feel as though her mentor had truly taken an important place in her life, something which she couldn't have really said for all of the people she has met so far, and for that, she was thankful. If it wasn't for this very bond she has made with the Shinigami, the student really couldn't say where she would be now. Perhaps she would have just dropped out of the Academy and returned to Rukongai, or perhaps she would have turned into a very different person by now. Who knows.
"I... Thank you, Celes," Kimiko muttered shyly then with a light nod as a small smile crept through the melancholy and her eyes looked up to gaze forward into the opening Senkaimon. Well, looks like the time to leave has now appropriately come, and with that, the conversation ended on a better conclusion. Slowly, the student pushed herself off the bench, then looked towards the crater once more alongside the rest of the park as her emotional matter was pushed away back into its previous corner. "Let's, uh... If we do this again, can we do this in a forest or something so we don't hurt someone by accident...? I know there's one near a cemetery in this city," she suggested before her expression turned a bit more comical as she looked over the damage again with a deadpan. "You almost destroyed the whole park by yourself..."
With that, the student then followed the mentor through the Senkaimon with a calm step, keeping an eye over her shoulder as she did so to get a last glimpse at the Human World before it vanishes away into the gates. Her second visit to the Human World had more or less ended the same way the first had concluded: with more destruction behind its wake than possibly needed. Kimiko still had no idea how her future is going to look like, but with Celes, it seems as though she will at least be able to find her way in some shape or form as time goes on. It will take time for her to get used to it, and eventually, she will probably be able to learn how to control her feelings a bit better. All it will take until then is time, patience and reflection.
And food. Tons of food.
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