Tatsuya Yamazaki - SHSL Street Fighter
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Quiet murmurs and muted chatter slowly filled the mini-hall, causing Tatsuya to shift slightly in anticipation of Monokuma's announcement. Almost everyone had arrived by now and that meant the message was to be delivered soon, and then he could leave to go do... something. His restlessness was by no degree ill-founded when one considered how little there was for a person to do in this place, ultimately waiting upon some mark of misfortune that was sure to arrive sooner or later. This was a game of patience just as much as it were a matter of survival, and Tatsuya was never great at biding his time. Perhaps he could focus on training, or take to meditation, but...
Tatsuya's attention momentarily flitted to Ken when the overly talkative bloke had addressed him directly, his unwarranted banter concerning the fact that the street fighter had not yet taken a seat. With muscles taut and his mind grossly unsettled, Tatsuya had very little care for making himself comfortable indeed. What was the point in sitting when he did not intend to linger anyway? Ken's reasoning was derisive however, founded upon mockery as opposed to concern for his fellow graduate. Too exhausted to react in full, Tatsuya leveled Ken little more than a cold, unamused stare in response (which, to the average individual, was an unnerving thing to behold all the same), before the street fighter slowly returned his gaze to Monokuma when the bear finally thought it necessary to convey the reason they had all been gathered in the first place.
Unsurprisingly, Monokuma was quick to express disappointment in the fact that they had all failed to jump to the prospect of murdering one another. Tatsuya thought it would be stupid to expect otherwise, since the most of them had been taught to cling to ideals of hope and kinship and all that. They
were graduates of Hope's Peak Academy after all, as well as members of the primary organisation pitted against Despair in the modern age; there wouldn't be much hope left in the world if
they of all people had already lost the will to resist. Unfortunately, Monokuma seemed to understand the best methods by which to tear that willpower to shreds, though.
Tatsuya listened, his arms folded stiffly as the robot blathered on about the instance of their kidnapping and the abduction of one other, of a person closest to them. At first mention, Tatsuya's mind was rendered blank, for no significant other had immediately jumped to mind. Why would there be when he had been persisting for the last few years on his lonesome, more concerned with his survival over all else? Still, he vaguely considered the home he had departed from years before he'd entered the gates of Hope's Peak Academy itself, but quickly discarded the thought since... since they'd never learned of his origins, no.
...Or had they?
Tatsuya silently watched the numerous photos come fluttering down upon the floor before them, stepping closer as his gaze skimmed the pieces to identify the one most relevant to him, and located it with unsettling ease. Leaning down, he lifted the photographic card from the ground and stared at it for a good moment, unsure of what to feel, or whether to really
believe.
He'd been wrong. It seems there was much more pitted upon the line after all.
The taste in Tatsuya's mouth turned bitter as he ground his teeth and tried not to let his frustration, his newfound dread, breed into something worse. An onslaught of uneasy thoughts crept up, instantaneous. They had more than just his life in their hands now, but the life of a person who should never have been dragged into this situation in the first place, and if that were the case, then how responsible was
he? If she died, if he was forced to sit there and watch her die without having acted, wouldn't that amount to his fault? Would he have failed her? Wouldn't that be considered a mark upon
his honour?
But no, there was a way out. Kill a person. Great. Kill a person, and then what? One life in exchange for another? To begin the chain of discord and betrayal that would devolve from one murder to another? Was it truly worth it? Would he even
succeed in the first place? What was to say Monokuma would not suddenly end either of them, if only out of spite? Or no, worse yet, what if she was already dead? What if she were already long gone...?
Tatsuya could feel a horrible tension headache coming on in the wake of this announcement; it really was not doing him any good. Dropping his hand by his side, the street fighter balled up his fist, crumpling the photo up into something unrecognizable, willing himself not to become overwhelmed then and there. Forty eight hours, the bear had mentioned. Forty eight hours... to properly think this through.
'Just hurts more and more to think though,' Tatsuya considered in a weak attempt to distract himself, rubbing at his forehead and sighing as he pocketed the crumpled photograph and turned for the door.
'It's hard enough keeping shit together as it is...'
As if in mockery of this very plight, Tatsuya paused in response to the voice that called out to him, heeding Ken's invitation with a slight air of incredulity. Tatsuya simply stared at him for a moment, unable to comprehend the audacity of the other male and feeling increasingly vexed by it. Whether this was Ken's way of coping with what had ensued, or whether the guy just didn't give a shit in the first place, Tatsuya didn't know nor did he really care, but that childish fucking name-call and Ken being a obnoxious prick in general was not the way to go about earning sympathies in this situation; Tatsuya certainly withheld no tolerance for the other bloke's inability to remain serious for two seconds, none at all.
"Fuck off," he snapped, in a way that indicated that he had developed no measure of concern for dealing with Ken's bullshit, not now, or ever. The street fighter abruptly averted his gaze then, his dark eyes momentarily lingering on Rin (how Rin mustered the patience to put up with Ken's presence, who knows) before heading out the door. He didn't know what he would do with himself, but now there was something else for him to consider, a fantastic movie night where he was granted the opportunity to see one of his family members tortured before his eyes. Despite this, he really needed to restore his energy, to grab some food or a drink or something, and maybe some Advil as well.
...Which meant stopping by the kitchen first, the place where Ken was also supposed to be headed as well, but Tatsuya would be sure not to linger for too long.
With little intention of wandering or hanging back to chat with anyone, it was a short trip to the dining hall and, from there, the adjacent kitchen. He didn't really know what they had stocked in this place but he was hoping for a root beer or something. Shit, it'd be even nicer if there was some actual alcohol stored around here, but Tatsuya wasn't prepared to bet on it. It was a school after all...
Wouldn't kill to have a look though, he pondered with the apathetic tilt of his head, leveraging open the doors to the nearest pantry and glancing around inside.
@SolemnOath