recolle | open || the irreplaceable people in our hearts

WHO: Minako Arisato and YOU
WHERE: Peach Beach and elsewhere
WHEN: August 26th and into September
WHAT: Grieving over the loss of a best friend. A ceremonial cremation at Peach Beach forward-dated to August 30th.
WARNINGS: Death. Message me at

raynestorm if you'd like to work out a different scenario. Also a note: please feel free to create your own threads and/or threadjack for the cremation prompt, just write in the title if you'd prefer not to threadjack.

I. MISTIC
Gym, Utsuki Dojo, Hollingberry Field; August 26th to 29th

[The first thing Minako did after finding out Ryoji died was burst out of the hospital and beat up monsters with her bare hands. She's not quite as self-destructive now, but she's still pushing herself to the limits. You might encounter her either at: the gym, throwing her fists at a punching bag; the dojo, swinging a practice spear in shaky kata forms; or at Hollingberry Field, running on the track with sweat pouring down her face, but not stopping for a break at all.]

II. MEMORIES FROM 10 YEARS AGO
Expressive, Hollingberry Field, outside Minako's apartment; August 26th to 29th

[Otherwise...you might find her sitting at Expressive, nursing a cup of coffee, or at Hollingberry Field, sitting on the swing set. It's obvious that she's been crying, but it's in these moments, after she's physically exhausted her body, that she can truly start sorting through her thoughts and start the grieving process. Perhaps you'd like to join her. She wouldn't mind the company.

If you find her outside her apartment, she'll be sitting on the curb with her eyes closed, soaking up the sun with Koromaru beside her. An isopod plush is sitting in her lap, and if you're close enough, you might hear a quiet crinkle of paper beneath the sections of the isopod when she hugs it.]

III. KIMI NO KIOKU
Peach Beach; August 30th

[Minako has no idea how a real cremation is supposed to go, too young and traumatized at the time of her parents' death to remember. And honestly, she doesn't care. The ashes aren't from Ryoji's body anyways. That...will be for a later time. Today is instead her own personal good bye, and for anyone else coming. She's reserved one of the pits that's off to the side of the beach, relatively undisturbed by happy families spending one last summer day on the beach, and in it, she's burning a black kintsugi bowl. Its pair is sitting nearby.

Once the black bowl is completely burned, Minako scoops the ashes out and slides them into the white bowl before turning to the friends who have come to attend.]

There was a month a while back, when Retrospec was making our phones broadcast all of our deepest secrets and painful memories. Ryoji heard my secret that I...that I was afraid people don't like me unless I'm always smiling. That I hate burdening people with my thoughts for fear that they won't accept me anymore.

And what he did in answer...was to give me two bowls. In Japan, there's an art form of fixing broken pottery by fusing the pieces with gold-dusted lacquer. It's called kintsugi, and kintsugi pieces are considered to be more beautiful than the original, sometimes. He gave me them as a reminder that I...am perfect the way I am, broken pieces and all, because all of that, in the end, is still me. I am good enough. Me, simply being Minako Arisato, was enough for him.

[She's blinking rapidly now, tears forming and falling down her cheeks.]

I know now, seeing you all here, that he was right. That it's okay to rely on everyone else. Because everyone else is going through the same things I am. The same sadness and grief. I will-- [Her voice cracks, and she has to take a moment to collect herself.] I'll miss him so much. He was a part of me, and now that he's gone, I've become irreversibly broken again. But I'll be okay. He left me so many texts. [A watery laugh.] So many texts! And selfies, and notes, and little gifts. I won't ever be without reminders of him. But most of all, he left me the memories of his smiles and laughter. I'll use these to fuse myself together until I'm whole again.

I've burned the black bowl today...as my good bye to him. The two of us who were inseparable, now parted...but the friendship we shared can never be denied or forgotten.

[She turns to the ocean and walks to the edge, the tiny waves lapping at her sandaled feet. Scooping the ashes into her fingers, she gently blows them into the wind and whispers as they float away.]

Ryoji...are you listening? Thank you for putting me back together time and time again. Good bye.

[Anyone is free to come talk to her at any point after the ceremony. She is still nothing like the exuberant young woman she used to be, but she's more willing to respond now.]

IV. BECAUSE I WILL PROTECT YOU
Various; September onwards

[After the ceremonial cremation, Minako is...better. It's still so soon after Ryoji's passing, and there are many times where she'll suddenly hurry away, or hide her face as a bout of quiet crying starts. But she is Minako, and Minako wouldn't be herself if she wasn't helping others. She tells everyone at the cremation that she'll be available to talk to, if anyone else is seeking closure. Talking about her feelings has helped a lot in the past few days, and she wants to extend the same offer to others grieving.

She thinks...it's better to grieve together than alone.

So whether it's at her apartment, in a quiet bench at the park, or somewhere else-- if anyone asks, she'll come.

Or if you didn't want to ask...well. She made a note of who attended the cremation. She's going to check up on you eventually.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Yato shows up looking almost like he came on a whim, dressed as always in his black tracksuit with a katana sheathed at his side. He doesn't speak to anyone, just stands in the back with his arms crossed while Minako delivers her eulogy, his expression unreadable. Ryoji was an uncommonly good person, even if Yato didn't always agree with his way of life. His passing is a sadness. And -- yes, Yato can finally say without too much resistance that he's lost a friend.

Even so. The grieving attendees feel like a world apart. They find comfort in each other and give each other sympathetic looks, talk in low voices and reflect on what Ryoji meant to them. Yato watches them all and wonders if Ryoji's ghost is out there somewhere. Maybe that's the difference between so many of them and Yato: that certain knowledge of life after death.

And recently, his memories have introduced yet another concept to him: reincarnation. If gods can reincarnate, then Ryoji who was Thanatos who was a god of death...

Pharos can't be a coincidence.

Yato stares out over the crowd, lost in thought. As tempting as it is, he can't share his hypothesis with any human. When people die, the ones left behind have to learn to cope with their loss. It would be unfair of him to voice unsubstantiated possibilities and prolong that grieving process. And whoever Pharos is, Ryoji's memories are still lost...

Yato spends some time like this, watching and thinking and not looking as sad as he does spacy. After a while, once it starts to feel like he's loitering, he quietly leaves. ]

...Yato?

[She's finished the ceremony by now, listened to some people say "I'm sorry for your loss". She very badly wants to go home instead of speak to everyone, but she has to do this...at least seeing him gives her an excuse to pull away from one NPC friend of Ryoji's who is very insistently crying on her.]

Thank you for coming...

[ He hears his name and snaps out of his thoughts. He nods and offers Minako a small smile. ]

Minako. I came because I wanted to.

[ She's clearly been one of the most affected by Ryoji's passing. He has to admire her for arranging all this, as much as she must have been grieving throughout. He gestures to the crowd, the sea. ]

Has this helped you?

[She follows the gesture, glancing over the horizon for a long moment.]

Yes. A lot. But part of me will probably keep grieving for him my whole life.

Nothing wrong with that. It might be painful now, but he's one of those people you'll be stronger for keeping in your thoughts.

[ Ryoji, and also his mother. Yato dug into the obituaries, confirmed what he suspected when the Mochizuki apartment stayed unoccupied days after Ryoji's passing. To Yato, Mrs. Mochizuki's death is just as tragic as Ryoji's, if not moreso. ]

Does he have a grave?

Yes. They both do-- or they will, once the engravings are finished.

[She twists at her fingers and sighs out.]

I...haven't gone to seen them yet, I've been so busy...

[Arranging this ceremony, preparing for Mrs. Mochizuki's funeral, getting their affairs settled, contacting an endless amount of people about their deaths.]

You always take so much on.

[ She should really take care of herself more. He settles his hands on his hips. ]

And now? Do you still have business to take care of?

[She smiles wryly.]

I have to contact the school...cancel his classes. But I'm going to see some friends after this, spend some time by the lake. So. I'll be okay.

[ She's even cancelling his classes. How responsible of her. Yato frowns and clamps down on his growing exasperation. ]

You'd better. You're allowed to be selfish every once in a while, Minako. You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone else. If I find out that you're still drowning yourself in work before you're ready, I'm gonna bomb your room with glitter. Got it?

You'd be bombing your shrine in glitter too, you know.

[But she gives him a little nod, reaching up to swipe at the corner of her eyes.]

I'll try. I'll try and take care of myself.

( since the beginning, yukine has been here as an invisible presence between the bodies of the other attendees. he's wedged himself between others purposely, trying to look as small as possible as he listens to minako talk. he listens to the way her heart breaks with wet eyes, listens to her voice tremble as she extends her goodbyes, and listens to the sound of the ocean in the distance as if nothing had been different at all. the waves crash against the ocean just the same, just the same, just the same, as if one of the kindest people yukine had ever known hadn't been lost to him.

to them. there are so many people here, so many broken faces, and yukine can't help but wish he had never come. he didn't want to see this. he didn't want his last memory of ryoji to be a ceremony and a heart-breaking farewell. his fists ball at his sides. he hadn't spent enough time with him. they hadn't done enough. ryoji wouldn't ever get the chance to see colour restored to the world. he'd left when things were still grey.

the world has never looked as colourless as it does it now.

maybe that's why he spots yato when he does, catching flashes of bright blue eyes apart from the rest.

escaping from where he's been trying to hide, yukine comes to stop by him. he should say something, should try to comfort him, but he doesn't have the words for it. he doesn't know what to say when he feels like he might fall apart himself. could anything really be sad? could anything make it easier to swallow? yukine doesn't think so. nothing he can say will make the world feel a little less empty. reaching up with bandaged fingers, he tugs yato's arm lose to wrap his hand around his. )

[ Yato glimpsed Yukine's back from afar, but made no move to join him with the rest of the crowd. It wouldn't feel right to be up there with the rest, as if Yato's grief was the same as theirs. No -- he isn't even grieving yet. He isn't yet convinced that this is the end of Ryoji's journey.

When Yukine approaches, Yato looks down at him and watches him struggle. Yukine, whose own journey is barely beginning, whose journey might be tragically short. Yato's arms unfold, and he lets Yukine take his hand.

It feels a little disrespectful to think more of Yukine than Ryoji so soon after the ceremony. But it's impossible for Yato to separate Yukine from the shroud of death, and here, surrounded by black weeping mourners and a sky and sea of gray, neither can he separate Yukine from the day when these things will be his too -- tears and regrets and mourning, loved ones struggling to move in a life without Yukine, leaving him behind before he's ready to watch them go.

Yato's fingers tighten around Yukine's and he looks back out over the crowd, eyes blue and deep. Life after death. It might not be much, but it's still life. If it's inevitable, then Yato will make sure Yukine gets plenty of it. Even if it's hard, even if it's lonely. Yato will not be one of these mourners, bereft and empty and and grief-stricken. Not for Yukine. ]

open || the irreplaceable people in our hearts

III | ota but mostly yato is a ghost

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