And just like Grifter had anticipated, the bomb went off with a bang.
As he took a moment to regain his balance, with the wall behind him serving as support, Masuyo silently listened to the young architect's speech.
"...Hah..." A smirk formed on Masuyo face's as he wiped the blood going down his cheek. "Haha, hahaha haha, HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!" And then, he laughed. But it wasn't a laugh of defeat, or one of a maniac (although, given that he was laughing in a bathroom after being whacked in the face, that was up for debate), but one of someone who had heard the best joke in his entire life. "Keeping under control, eh? " Grifter said as he regained his breath, seemingly unwavered after Ken's punch, with his arms resting on his knees. "Man, I knew you were an idiot ever since the first time I saw you, but this… Oh boy, this is golden!" He stood up to his full height, with the smile still fixed on his face; but this time, however, there wasn't any sign of his usual cheerfulness in it.
"So let me get this straight: you get forcefully thrown into a Killing Game, your oh-so-precious Kaede that you so obviously care about is kidnapped and held hostage, and on top of that, you were a hair away from Death's Door when Alex sedated you, and the first thing you to "have control" over all this is to hole up in a corner like a little rat and cut yourself like some edgy teenager?" Grifter let out a short laugh. "Sure, buddy, that will totally help you get back to Kaede in one piece! While everyone's is busting their asses trying their best to escape from this shithole, you just sit around eating mangos and crying about your misfortune, what a great plan!" Masuyo shook his head. "My, how pathetic you are...And to think we have someone like you in Future Foundation.".
A forced laugh left Ken's lips as he kept his eyes on Masuyo. He kept his guard up, ready to run/defend should the other choose to retaliate, for the blow Ken had ever so kindly delivered. Remaining rather tense (exceptionally so when the other began to laugh out) he choose to stay and listen to what the other had to say. As more words left Masuyo, the tenser Ken got, as he balled up his fist while trying his damnest not to shout or get physical himself. "Stop mentioning his name." Ken growled quietly through gritted teeth, his cold gaze staying on the other, not leaving for a moment. It was annoying, so damn annoying to hear Masuyo speak, and berate him.
The more the other spoke the more Ken seemed to get riled up, to shake, to stay tense as if he were ready to just lash out himself. However, nearing the end of the others words Ken just stopped. He uncurled his hands, he straightened his back, and pushed his raven hair back some as he took a few deep breaths. "Fucking hell...haha Who would have thought Tatsuya could rub off on me huh? Getting angry over words? Come on, that's his thing not mine. Yet here I am, damn if I weren't me I would be laughing at myself~" He said with a small hum as he shook his head some. Raising his hand he rather suddenly flicked himself on the forehead as if to gesture that he was snapping out of it. Rolling his neck a few times and closing his eyes for a moment he took a few steps back as he smiled. "Done with that speech? Please tell me you are, gods I felt I was losing some braincells there haha…" He hummed as he opened his eyes, now looking back at Masuyo. "See, Mr SHSL wanna be therapist, let me tell you an itty bitty secret~"
Taking a step back and taking one hand out of his pocket he reached for the paper towels, all the while still looking at Masuyo. "I advise you spend more than lets say...two minutes with your 'patients'. Because if you did, you would be able to help them out far more. Eating mangos and crying about my misfortune? Hahah Well number one is right nooooo doubt about that. But hey, they have some really good mangos here, not my fault I enjoy fruit that isn't rotten. And two……………………….. What the fuck is wrong with wanting to cry when you are fucking alone? Crying isnt an illegal thing you know? Neither is doing what I did to myself. You saw it wasnt deep, you saw it was only two cuts, and surely you saw how it helped me calm down. Unless of course you only watched for less than a minute, rather than my initial assumption of two minutes. Or...Or, Mr. Therapist, do you think it's best i bottle it all up? Just smile and grin and laugh and play be allllll happy go lucky~ Would that make me a better member for the Future Foundation~?" Ken asked as he now knelt down with the paper towels in hand so he could begin to clean the floor.
"I thought I was alone ya know. I'm the last person who wants people to know what I do. Sadly I couldn't make it to my room, see I was having a panic attack, know what that is Mr. Therapist? I'm aware unfeeling and emotionless robots can't have things like that, so you may not know yourself~ I did what I had to do so I wouldn't suffer something worse." A sigh left Ken's lips as he took the blood soaked paper towel before tossing it in the trash, only to get another one.
" Also~You want me to be productive to find a way out huh? Haha, I'm curious Mr. Therapist. What ideas do you have that I should do to help us? I've already drawn so many possible blueprints of what we have discovered, well I have to add more now that we found another room. But other than that, what do you expect? Or….are you trying to coax me into being the next Alex. Now now thats just not nice Mr. Therapist, trying to get your patients to do something like that? Oh how horrible~" There was a smirk on his lips as he cleaned the blood off the floor with the paper towel. All the while he kept his eyes on Masuyo, watching him carefully waiting to see what he would do, and being as prepared as he could for any...negative actions.
As Ken finished making his point clear, Masuyo couldn't help but laugh yet again at the absurdity of all this. "An unfeeling robot, eh? That's a new one. I think I'll save that in my 'Petty insults people have thrown at me' list." Masuyo said, unmoved by Ken's words. "But back to the matter at hand. Just by listening to your words it is very obvious how naive you are to the world surrounding you. While it's true that feeling pity for oneself from time to time used to be acceptable someday in the past (but not cutting yourself; that shit is fucked up no matter how you look at it), have you ever looked out the window in the last several years, by any chance? We're going through the goddamn Tragedy, for chrissake! Despair is fueled by the suffering and destruction of the human civilization, and it is spread by people who are too weak willed to stand on their own two feet and oppose its influence...People, such as you, Kennyboy." Grifter pointed at Ken with his chin, with his hands in his pockets.
"And don't misunderstand, Despair is like a disease; you won't know you have it until it's too late. It usually starts with the little things: depression, self-harm, you name it. Then, if the victim didn't succumb under its influence at this point, it begins to carve a place inside their minds, slowly, quietly, until Despair takes control over their thoughts and their whole body. For some people, it's disguised under fancy terms such as revenge; for others, it's engaging in wanton acts of murder and destruction; and for us, it's taking Monokuma's words to heart and becoming the next killer in this damned Killing Game." Suddenly, Grifter's grin disappeared from his face and his tone grew more serious.
"I've seen a lot of good people slowly falling prey to Despair in my line of work (and trust me, seeing a poor fella or two jump to his death on your way to work doesn't count as "a lot", so don't even bother), so you damn better believe me when I say that you are walking a very dangerous road. And I don't give a rat's ass about your claims that you're keeping everything under control, 'cause your actions clearly tell a different tale. And when you finally give in into Despair and kill someone, and trust me, you *will* if you keep being a stubborn, self-obsessed son of a bitch, then it will be the rest of us who will end up paying for your stupidity."
Grifter pushed himself off the wall and checked his wristwatch on his left hand. This conversation has been dragging on for almost ten minutes now. It's almost a miracle that no one noticed the ruckus coming from the bathroom and decided to check it out.
"As for your other question, as a start you could go back and help Hiroshi and Momouru, who you so considerately left behind in the lab on your way here, or you could help Chikako out with the cooking. Or help Lelei in the infirmary. Or you could man up and clean up the mess in the storage room. Shit, you could even take care of the laundry right now, if you feel particularly helpful." Grifter raised his hands to his sides. "See? There's plenty of work when you know where to look...The keyword here being "look", which you didn't even try, from the sight of things."
Just like before, Ken listened to every word that left Masuyo as he cleaned up the bloody mess on the floor. Even when that was done, rather than leave right off the bat (something he was very tempted to do) he instead moved over to the sink. Washing his hands and splashing a bit of water on his face to hide the tear stains. Once he was done and after he dried his hands as well as put Loki back on his shoulder, he turned, his gaze going over to Masuyo. "Done?" He asked with a hum as he adjusted his coat a bit. "Because if so, oh boy do I have just a few things to say~" He hummed as he rocked back and forth on his heels, his demeanor having changed entirely since Masuyo first entered the bathroom.
"First let's get this out of the way. No matter what you may believe, I in fact don't hate you. Shocking I know. But you see, I save that level for people and things like Monokuma, and Junko, hell I don't even hate Alex. Which ought to tell you, to reach hate level you got to do some fucked up shit~ That being said, I can say wholeheartedly that I utterly dislike you to the highest of levels right now~Why you may ask? Weeeelllll~" Despite his words Ken kept a smile, his tone sickly sweet as he softly petted Loki's head. "I would say calling me weak took some points off right there? I would be fine if you called me physically weak, after all I'm not some sumo wrestler~ But calling me that because you saw me cut myself? Tsk tsk, such a judgemental mind you got going on there~ Sadly there is a few holes with that. For instance, if I were nearly as weak as you seem to think I am. Judging by the fact you think I would fall into despair, here, of all places. Well...then really, someone with such mental weakness would not have only offed themselves mere days after everything went to shit, but they also wouldn't have accepted some of the jobs I had the horrible pleasure of doing." The once sickly sweet voice now turned to one that lacked amusement in its tone.
This entire conversation, the situation as a whole, was in his opinion unneeded. AN all around pain in the arse to deal with. All Masuyo had to do was just ignore what he saw, rather than confront him. If he did something so utterly simple! Then they could have long since been on their merry way. But no, the other just had to stick his nose where it didn't belong didn't he? 'Such a pain.'
"This conversation, where you push your ideals onto me and such. It would have been a bit more pleasant if you listened to what i said before." Ken drawled out as he now moved away from his spot and towards the door. "I will not kill, because the only thing worse than me being here with you shit heads. Is doing an act that not even Kaede could forgive." Shrugging he waved the other off a bit as he stuffed his hands in his pocket once again. "To be rather honest. I don't give a shit about despair or hope. I would love for things to go back to normal, but I wont waste my time hoping it will happen. Take it from personal experience~ I learned years ago that having hope and believing everything will be fine? Topping that with trus-......." At this Ken immediately stopped his words as he slapped his hand over his mouth stopping him from finishing his sentence. Closing his eyes for a moment he inhaled before slowly exhaled as he let his hand fall back to his side. "Woops, my bad, almost did a no no~Lets just say. Hope is stupid, despair is stupider. I won't fall for either one to an extent that it ruins my life. "
Looking over at Masuyo he frowned frowned some as he spoke in an even voice, The earlier teasing condescending tone that he held, currently wasn't in his words. "We've all seen some shit. Anyone that goes outside, anyone that works for the Foundation in a productive way as seen more than they will ever want to. It isn't a competition to say whos seen worse, because each experience, from the sight of seeing a person die right in front of you despite your efforts to help. Or from watching a hopeless soul take their own life because it was just too much to bare. We seen it, come got a closer look than others, hell, wouldn't be surprised if over half of us had a brush with death too many times for anyone's liking. Though I don't find your words helpful, I can understand where you are coming from. I can…. But, If you can handle all of this and honestly smile? Not some fake shit to make people think you are okay. Despite what you've seen, what you may have experienced...than bravo. That's actually impressive. Sadly, not everyone can do that. It painful, hard….Smiling all the time, being carefree, just hoping everything will be okay? That hope….its painful. Everything is just too much… For some of us, for those you see as weak. It's easier to take our frustration, our anger, out on our own bodies. That way we can hide out pain, while also releasing our pain...its not good, I know. But it helps me more than you may understand…." His words trailed off before he shook his head. Stuffing his hands in his pocket (and keeping a tight grip on the knives in there) he now moved to pass by Masuyo so he could leave.
"You don't have to understand why I do what I do. I don't expect you to either. But lets face it, neither of our views will be changed from a conversation in a bathroom now will it? You think what I'm doing is wrong. And I think what you did, was annoying and a prick thing to do. So I'm going to leave, tend to these cuts and go back to the new room. Not because you offered the idea, I was going to do that anyway. Would have already been there if you didn't have to go all speech heavy on me."
After saying this he reached out to open the door, his eyes now on Masuyo (totally not watching him because he might steal or something). "I probably don't have to tell you this. But what you saw earlier isn't something the others should be told about. There's no reason for them to know, nor is it any of their business. If anything you should just forget it, I would prefer if you did."
After saying his a smirk went back on his face as that serious tone of his left him in a blink. "Now that's over~ Please don't bother me with any more speeches Mr. Therapist~ They were ear grating and honestly gotta give it a 4 out of 10 almost a three~. Not what one would call motivational, more insulting than helpful, was more of a betlitting speech trying to make me feel useless~Though I do understand what you were trying to tell me, that coupled with the fact you showed a bit of concern~ I choose not to give it not a flat 0. So my advice? Practice in the mirror. If you believe hard enough, hell you may even get yourself to cry tears of emotion~ Ta ta, lets not talk again, at least not alone hm? Thanks for letting me punch you in the face, cause that was just such a great stress reliever you don't even know~" With that he opened the door and turned to leave the bathroom so he could not only get away from Masuyo, but also tend to the cut in his arm.
Masuyo smirked as the architect left the room. "Yeah, you're welcome, jackass." he sardonically replied. When Ken had finally left the room, Grifter sighed as he shook his head. 'And just like I thought, my words fell flat on deaf ears, what a shocking surprise. Not only that, that slip-up of his about Hope and trust just further proved my point… But ah well, at least his little speech didn't leave me empty-handed...' Grifter approached the mirror to check the bruise on his face. 'Though I've gotta give it to 'im, the fucker knows how to fight.' Masuyo thought as he turned on the sink and splashed some water on his face.Then, after that was said and done, he left the bathroom, en route to the storage room. 'Well, now when that's been taken care of, I guess I could follow my own advice and make a little detour to the storage room.'
Despite the vast amount of boxes that cluttered the storage room, it didn't take long for Masuyo to find everything he needed; some paper clips, pliers, a small hammer, a pen and a stack of paper was all he took as he left the storage room and left everything in his quarters, next to the Monopad. 'I'll come back for you later.' Then, after double checking that he didn't forget anything important, Masuyo headed to the dining room. If he wasn't hungry before, then after his little conversation with Ken he was starving.
