>>5824144Another place you recognize, but you were surprised by it, like it snuck up on you out of nowhere. That… Was bad. A bead of sweat forms on your temple as you realize that you’re losing your mind. When you ran out of chakra, something bad definitely happened to you. Some part of you, overwritten or lost. Faded into the Pure Land.
“... I guess I’m just a little distracted. I’ll follow you. I’m… Well, you know me, I just space out sometimes…”
“Okay. Easy.” Naoki responds, walking off with confidence. Him and Masami return to their riveting discussion about the nature of the cosmos, Naoki really getting into it now that he’s emboldened by understanding what she was saying, but you can’t follow it anymore. You feel like your mouth is full of ash. You can’t help but look at your hands, as you try and remember which hand you normally used to hold a kunai. Your right hand, obviously? You remember throwing kunai at pears, it was your first memory with Juro-Sensei. You remember it vividly. You wrote right-handed as well… Most people did. If most people wrote with their right hands, it was logical that you most likely did as well, even if you were concerned about your memory. You test it.
Your hand darts down to your kunai pouch, with all the dexterity that you’ve trained for years and years to do it fast and smooth. It felt natural. Normal. It’s what you always did.
Your kunai pouch wasn’t there. It was on the other side. You’re left-handed. You return to the memory with Juro-Sensei. You were left-handed there now, of course… You try to stick your right hand in the nonexistent kunai pouch again. Clumsy now. It felt unnatural even though you just did it.
Oh no.
Oh fuck.
—
“She said I looked like a walking nutsack?” Katsuro asks between sips of his ginseng tea. “Of course I don’t, she has no idea what she’s talking about. My Masami could never have seen a nutsack before, she’s a pure, naive, and wholesome young lady.”
“I’m not naive! My grandpa is old, so I had to give him baths!”
“I stand corrected, my Masami is a disgusting, contaminated wench who handles old man balls and is never getting married. I apologize.”
She lunges out of her chair to chase him, but he darts away cackling like a lunatic as he sprints out of the barbecue restaurant the six of you assembled in after you picked up Team Yudai from the Yoshinaga dojo. You can’t appreciate the slapstick right now, you’re a little distracted.
Naoki’s eyes are closed meditatively as he eats from his protein bowl, blocking out the chaos around him. Yuzuki is scarfing down strips of grilled pork left and right like they’re the most delicious things on the planet. Only Yuna is really noticing that there’s something wrong with you.
“Are you okay?” She asks, looking a little disturbed. “You’ve hardly touched your fish.”
