<Nocturnal Harmonia>

One couldn't rely too much on a plan. Kaguya preached that in a way that seemed she pointed the words inward as much as she pointed them outward. Yugi wasn't in the business of missing cues, whether Kaguya herself realized the Freudian slip or not. "You're absolutely right. It's a crazy world... lots of crazy stuff happening. Even if it weren't, sometimes things slip. Plans, dreams, gazes... clothes. Some slips are better than others. This one isn't so bad," he said casually. At some point, perhaps someone would acknowledge they were no longer talking about Kaguya's body and Yugi's wandering eyes. Well... he was still talking about those things, even dropping the occasional hint with a spark of hope... but Yugi was also capable of having multiple conversations within a single exchange. "Surprises can be awesome too. I've had some terrible ones recently, but I'm always looking forward to the next good one."

Another explanation of Eternal Sleep occurred, and it connected directly to a new mention. Gates were understood, but what was a Dungeon Break supposed to be? There were some rational assumptions to make... but Yugi didn't like the idea he was having, or rather... the direction this naming pattern was going. "Quick guess. Gates lead to Dungeons? They're really that dumb about this naming pattern?" he wondered. Sadly, that wasn't even the most ridiculous line of thought Yugi followed at the time. When Kaguya started telling that 'ghost story' about a missing child and a random adult, things started connecting beyond what was once acceptable. His mind wandered to magical explanations connected lightly to his own experiences of late. A child gone, and a man present at the child's former site? He wasn't a fan of what thoughts that led to, but he'd still seek confirmation before judging. "... Before I jump to another dumb thing, I should say Iino Sosuke didn't lose his leg because of a Gate. He's the kind of man who gives is all. I'd say he would lose his bad leg... if it were anything other than a statement. Anyway, one more question. Since the day of that story, has anyone completely unknown been put in a position of power in the government?"

Kaguya didn't realize her slip. She didn't know she was letting her disturbed emotional state, leak into the forefront of her conversation. On one hand, her words were advice given freely to someone else, on the other, it was her reminding herself of a lesser known truth. Sometimes things didn't work out and right under the surface it was something to think about. Especially with Yugi in his more mature form, fitting all of her well known criteria. "Yeah, some slips are definitely way more fun than others~" she commented almost absently. Well, the truth of the matter was she was sure a certain kind of slip would be fun, and guilt free towards a certain individual. Permission was granted and reinforced even, if Miko offered one a bite of something on her plate, not taking it was a sin. "Surprises can be either thing, I'll agree to that~" Kaguya claimed, another of those thoughts leaking through as she casually used her thumb to swivel that ring around her finger, it felt... heavy.

No matter what, she wasn't consciously thinking about that, because there were important matters to discuss. What happened to the Iino Family was a tragedy the likes of which upset her to her core. But a minor diversion could be taken, "Yes, the Gates lead to the subspaces, they call Dungeons. It's like the laziest naming pattern ever. I can think of five different words one could have used besides Gate. Like people have to say this stuff, don't you want it to be cool?!" Kaguya complained, outwardly miffed. "Rift works both ways. A rift opening sounds badass... a Dungeon Break sounds juvenile," she chided. Of course, it was easy to get her riled up about stuff like that, but once more the Iino Family difficulties were more important than most. Yugi's thought processes about things were obviously going the right direction. "Iino Sousuke is the best man I've ever met. I know he didn't lose that leg in a Dungeon based incident. I also know he wouldn't impregnate his wife on purpose after the complications that happened with her first pregnancy. So you can see why I didn't want to talk about it..." Kaguya mentioned almost feeling defeated. The Iino Family would be what she counted as her real family, they accepted her and let her be freely herself among them. Hell, Iino Sousuke had been the one to give her the nickname she went by among her friends. "It's funny you should mention the relative unknown though... a few months back, a young detective began working very closely under the Prime Minister. Doing investigations clearing big cases and scandals. He has a pretty heavy cult following of young women and the like..." she said while scrolling through her phone. She didn't even have to click anything in particular to find an image and turn it towards Yugi. And what he would see, was a brown haired lad, in a brown trench coat, who looked like the taller male version of Iino Miko. "This guys been knocking around since that little ghost story started circulating. Weird isn't it?"

Slips could be good. Both parties agreed that some were better than others, which Yugi found... most interesting. What did she have under the proverbial rug? Rather, what did she have in the closet? Yugi figured it could be anything from a single bone to an entire skeleton, but the depth of Kaguya's turmoil was not his concern presently. He had to play the game; there was no other choice. Keeping that in mind, Yugi's eyes were repeatedly drawn toward the ring Kaguya kept touching. Did she even know what she was doing? Perhaps; perhaps not. Obviously she had some considerations about the apparent threesome Miko had on offer, but... Yugi had a solo quest to address, so the lightest of pressure would remain. "You keep touching that thing like you're trying to convince yourself it fits," he said blatantly. "It doesn't. It's at least a quarter size too big."

And so came the return of Yugi's problem with society ─ at least one of them. Gates existed. Gates contained Dungeons. Presumably, a Dungeon Break was what they called the monsters beyond Gates emerging into the overworld... through a broken Gate. That was Yugi's understanding of the matter, which came with some visible disgust ─ something else he apparently shared with Kaguya. "Why are people so fucking dumb? Why not just call them Domains or something? And when it opens, which I'm guessing is what a Dungeon Break is, call it a Rupture. Or a Rift, yeah! There's no consistency and a whole extra term thrown in like someone from another naming team jumped in with their own copyright!" he complained. Moving on though, he could indeed understand why Kaguya avoided the discussion of Miko's parents. Sosuke's missing leg was no accident. Risa's pregnancy was not something done within her marriage. Worse still, the disappearance of both had nothing to do with kidnapping or anything political in the positive sense. They were being silenced... and used. Risa's situation probably would have befallen Miko instead, if Yugi's assumption about the day they escaped his father was on the right track. Ah, and things would only become more complex and annoying from there. The Prime Minister had himself a young detective who appeared out of nowhere around the aforementioned child disappearance. Kaguya was holding her phone, only to turn it his way eventually. There, he saw... an article. "That's not a nude. Not even a lewd," he complained, as if to intentionally lighten the mood. Of course, his true purpose was keeping a certain thought from the farthest reaches of Kaguya's mind. He'd quickly move right past it regardless. "Akechi Rikuya? Where did Akechi come from? That has to be what I thought. Weird as it is... fuck it, everything's weird lately. Akechi Rikuya is the missing infant. Born of Iino Risa... and Akagami Kuroaki."

Kaguya had many things to hide and even more to get over. If one asked her friends, she needed a therapist more than the individuals who actually had one. Still, as she tried to work through the different types of feelings she was working with that ring on her finger kept being slid around. What she wasn't prepared for however as a very observant boy, noticing her newly developed habit. She couldn't say she'd touched this engagement ring so much since she first got it, and the lad's blunt address of the thing she was doing made her stop. She looked at her hand in surprise and wiggled her fingers individually. "I always thought it was a little too big. Like if it got too cold it might slip right off~" she complained just lightly. Such a sarcastic little thing to say but still, she didn't address it any further. Instead she'd simply make a conscious effort not to touch it too much.

Moving past this, a lighter topic one which could be easily ranted about. The naming patterns of the world's new systems. Thrown together by a group of unrelated individuals and forced to adhere to some oddity. "Eh, I think so too. It's one of the most annoying parts... the system itself lacks progression and the names lack creativity; bad campaign," she asserted with ease. Something that wasn't easy, was dealing with all of the magical and odd things going on in the world. But if people could awaken and use magical abilities, then what else could people do? Well apparently sending nudes or lewds was something that Yugi wanted. "I definitely don't have either of those on my phone, unless you're trying to see all the unsolicited dick pics I have to delete~" she said in a follow-up. That wasn't a joke at all, but she also wasn't trying to put a damper on the mood. Not when the thing she'd hinted at seemed to be a conclusion the same lad had come to, somehow, someway... the Prime Minister had forced a child onto Iino Risa. And beyond that point said child had turned into a grown adult in a very short amount of time and... began being used as his right hand man. "That's crazy. If you had said something like that to me a few months ago... I might have tried to have you committed but..." Kaguya held up her hands in surrender. "I thought that might be the case, it's so illogical but it's the only way to make sense of everything..." she said softly. She still couldn't bring herself to tell Miko about it. Her family was in shambles by no fault of her own, and Kaguya didn't want to see the girl lose everything. And she didn't want to be the one to deliver that kind of bad news. She had already dealt with her own unfair share of tragedies, she wouldn't be the one giving that information and actually having to look at the girl as she worked through it.

Kaguya's engagement ring was absolutely a bit too large. She was conscious of this, only just gaining certainty after Yugi's comment. He found it strange that it would be improperly sized, considering it looked like one of the pricier pieces of jewelry he'd seen since... his own mother. What sort of person was she engaged to, that a teenager would end up with such a valuable engagement ring? Even the System would probably drop a hefty sum for it. "Better keep yourself warm then, yeah? You shouldn't have a problem with that," he said ever so casually. With their mutual complaining aside a few moments later, Yugi's other cheeky commentary earned an interesting retort. Her phone contained nothing resembling lewd or nude images, but she could undoubtedly share the yet undeleted, unsolicited images of other dicks. Yugi definitely wanted nothing to do with those. He shrugged. "Can't say I'm interested. The best I can do is add to the collection~" he claimed, patting his own pockets, knowing no phone was present. "Shame though. I've got no phone. I'll organize a live show later~"

The most disturbing thing Yugi learned of late, may indeed have been the things surely done by his own father. A body-snatching plotline was somewhere near the very bottom of his desired outcomes for a life story. It seemed even avoiding such a thing, albeit only for the moment, only resulted in the Prime Minister claiming Miko's mother and crippling her father. "It gets even more illogical, I'm afraid. I think... this whole thing converges on me. Akechi here might just be a replacement, which would mean... he's also a sacrificial pawn. I've got every reason to believe that sacrifice would be bad for everyone too," Yugi explained, pausing only upon realizing he was close to a full tangent. He sighed again, switching the topic just slightly. "It's probably my responsibility. When we're settled, it's grind time. I'll figure out how to fix all of this. I don't want someone else having a shitty parent situation to deal with; least of all my partner."

Kaguya knew her engagement ring was a bit too large. She also knew that when she received it, she hadn't been expecting it at all. Her commentary about losing it due to cold, was met with the idea of keeping warm, and the idea that she wouldn't have much of a problem doing it. A man like Yugi could just be the flirty sort, but that wasn't it at all... he was actively flirting with her, he kept it up just below the surface of even their casual conversation. "I haven't had a problem yet. Still, I don't turn down good advice~" Kaguya claimed almost as casually as he had. Of course, she pointed out that her phone only contained unsolicited dick pics and Yugi claimed to be able to add to her collection but also wanted nothing to do with it. How odd. He claimed to not have a phone on him and further wanted to organize a live show. "Don't be that kind of guy, unsolicited was in the title for a reason. I'm still not good with tech, and Ai is off right now so she can't clear it for me," she said with her shoulders shrugging. Ah, but she'd not said she didn't want to see it. She hadn't mentioned not caring for the live show. She expected if Miko didn't need to get them settled in properly, that she probably would have seen it properly by now, going into the smaller young woman.

Their more serious conversation took an odd turn, as Yugi claimed that he thought that he was in the middle of all this negativity. Illogical as it was, the idea that the other lad had been made to take Yugi's place and thus was also a potential sacrifice was bad. "That is bad. It's illogical but villain trope of a evil overlord trying to steal the talents of the younger generation to take over is a pretty normal for the heavy magic light novels..." she commented. Though she wasn't sure what Akechi was actually like, she also wasn't going to want someone to be sacrificed. And after a slight shift in conversation it would seem that Yugi fully intended to take responsibility for figuring out how to fix that problem. He claimed he didn't want someone else having a bad time with their parents and even claimed specifically not to want it for his... partner. "Oh? That's an interesting word choice for you. I wouldn't have believed you knew the meaning of that word before~" Kaguya teased gently. "Still, I get it. I don't want her to suffer that either, especially not after she shared her parents with me so freely," Kaguya said thinking back of all the fun she'd had with Miko in this house, which seemed so far displaced in the past. She looked at this boyfriend of Miko's and smirked just a little, she found someone kind enough for her, who could put up with her oddities. An honest and obviously horny lad wasn't a bad fit for that girl.

"You can never account for things going completely to plan," Yugi quoted in the black-haired girl's own tone. She'd yet to encounter a problem with keeping warm, but one could never truly know what the future held. Yugi was quite sure his future could hold a shot at Kaguya, though. The System wouldn't have given him an impossible quest; that would be stupid. This may or may not become difficult, but he always rose to the challenge. Even as Kaguya continued talking about her list of unsolicited dick pics, he felt it was possible to keep things moving toward his own desired end. "You've got a Gallery button that probably looks like a flower. Press it. After that, press the three vertical dots at the top right corner. Press Select. Tap each image you don't want to place a checkmark on them. Once you've got them all, press the trash can at the bottom of your screen. How many do you have left?" he explained, ending with a question that would answer a curiosity of his. For Kaguya's fiancé to acquire a ring so expensive, yet so callous, he was surely the type to deliver an image of his erection to the girl while they were away. If Kaguya had a count remaining at all, he figured that would be a good marker for the near future's events.

What of the more serious situation though? Well, Kaguya brought up the concept of the old stealing talents from the young. She was clearly one who enjoyed fantasy tropes, so she'd surely understand where his mind was going if explanations were offered. "I can't go into much detail as to why I think it now, but... I think this is more serious. I think it's a matter of possession, like... the Demon King's new vessel. I'd rather it not be that, of course. That would put a bigger target on my back than I'm comfortable with. But, I think... he may have wanted to take me and go through Onako to make the next one. No access? Improvise. Use the next best thing. Anyway... the partner thing is still new, but I don't half-ass things I dedicate myself to. My old man wants to play a game, and if I'm a Player... Game Over~"

"Oya? Are you remembering advice from me? I feel so special~" she asked after hearing a sentence repeated back in the tone she'd used to share it earlier. She'd not know the lad was going to hang on to something she'd said like that. Even though the tone of her voice was flirty and teasing, she'd not lied, she did actually feel flattered the lad had bothered committing something she'd said to memory, even temporarily. Irrespective of that, there was the issue of Kaguya's full phone gallery. She was often airdropped or messaged images of men's genitals and it had been the case for quite a while. She found such activities to bold but blatantly unnecessary. Still, Yugi talked her through the process of deleting images. She was good enough at following directions to go along with his. She looked for the image of a flower marked gallery. She opened it, she pressed the vertical dots and used the necessary function. At which point she began check marking images. Saving only the ones she'd taken of her own accord, not of genitals but of her close friends, Fiancé and the Iino Family and deleting the rest. It was nice to not have a bunch of pictures of random cocks on her phone. "Eh? Mi-chan would call such a question invasive," she said with a casual eye roll. "But since you talked me through it, and my phone hasn't stopped functioning... none. Unsolicited is what it is for a reason. I don't ask for dick pics, nor do I want them... and I'm not the type to give lewds or nudes in return. I've already experienced the worst kind of people. I have no intention of handing over ammunition to someone or anything resembling proof that could be used to back up their nonsense," Kaguya stated honestly, going so far as to explain herself even though she was certain she didn't have to. Still, she always warned her friends of such dangers lest someone else make a bad decision.

By the time they broached the heavier topic, they found themselves talking about the major villain trope of fantasy novels. Yugi likened his situation to something resembling a Demon King Vessel situation. He couldn't be completely transparent but what he had to say, was very disturbing indeed. The idea that he couldn't get his hands on Miko and Yugi so he just used a different method to get something similar? "That's horrid. And also dumb... those villains never actually manage a full victory. Game or story, I'd root for you~" Kaguya said shaking her head. "Also, Onako? And she answers to that... and you mean it... in all the ways I understand it... Mi-chan's become such a little slut♥~" Kaguya mentioned still, it wasn't in anything but good taste. The girl was outrageous but she was happy she found someone to be herself around.

"I also don't turn down good advice. Too many people are dumb; I have to take it when I get it," Yugi said earnestly. For those who were able to speak words of wisdom that he believed, there was a special place in his memory. Given how few people he was even able to know on a first-name basis in this life, that sort of thing meant the world. Unrelated, his guidance through the removal of Kaguya's unwanted images ended with a question ─ one Kaguya called invasive. She went on to explain how she didn't keep such images, nor share them after the life she'd been through. Understandable though that kind of situation was, Yugi couldn't avoid clicking his fingers in mock frustration. "Damn, so no lewds? That's fine; I'd take a live show too. I've been really into the idea of lap dances lately. Twerking is probably the greatest thing in history," he said, keeping in mind Kaguya's mention of having no images remaining. "Also, if you want... I can disable the function that's obviously automatically saving received images."

It seemed Yugi would have another person in his corner for the upcoming terrible story/game. He and Kaguya could... click, so to speak. She thought negatively about simila things ─ especially the kind of ordeal he was now dealing with. "That puts more people on my side than I ever expected to have for any non-carry reason. Fuck it; I'll start a cheerleader cult," he joked. As for how he referred to Miko and her apparent acceptance of it, Kaguya had much to say ─ mostly commenting on how the other girl had grown into a little slut, affectionately. The way she said that was interesting to Yugi. He supposed now was a good time to address something from moments earlier. "You say that like you're welcoming her to the group. But you're engaged, and seemingly turning down all other suitors. Life must be pretty sweet here. Did you ever actually go through the slut phase you think you should've had? And why did you delete your fiancé's dick pic too?"

Apparently, Yugi was one of the people who didn't turn down good advice. He claimed that he wasn't always capable of getting it, and thus would take what he could get. "Understandable..." Kaguya confirmed. She also didn't always take advice but would do so from some very specific people. What she hadn't consciously realized as their conversation went on though, was how much information she was giving a lad, she wasn't intending to be intimately involved with. She was sharing information with him like they were on a date, getting to feel each other out after being set up. "Ah, live shows, lap dances and twerking?" Kaguya mused. She could definitely see Miko doing at least the last of those things, given her own butt related movements. Kaguya thought she'd be pretty capable of giving a decent lap dance, but why did she think about doing that in this context. Beyond that there was an offer to keep such things from being automatically saved to her phone for the future. "Oh god yes♥~ I'm so tired of having a back log cleared. If Ai-nee wasn't blind, I'd feel bad asking all the time... I should have warned Mi-chan," she explained rather easily handing her phone over, as there was nothing within that she felt the need to hide at all.

Beyond that Yugi seemed to be gaining a following. More people in his corner than he was used to having. It was interesting to hear, but that didn't matter either. He claimed he would start a cheerleader cult. "Oh? You don't have one already?~" she wondered seeming to find it amusing enough to go along with the joke. And then there was the matter of Miko's developing slut behavior which Yugi had a rather astute observation of, Kaguya had called Miko a slut in an affectionate way, and that was because she'd meant it. "I am welcoming Mi-chan to the group. She was the youngest of us and always moved around like she didn't think she could be our friend. She lacked confidence and it's good to see her with someone who'll give it to her~" she explained of her happiness for her friend. As for herself, well... "I'm decently happy I guess. I wouldn't consider myself to have done a lot of partying or anything but I got stuck with a pretty awful first boyfriend. Rumors were spread and the like so I was labeled as such. And you aren't the only one from a fucked up family... and before the engagement happened I found out what the plan was for me and started planning my exit. All this stuff with the Gates just opened up a different set of opportunities... I wished I had more time to spend with my friends. And we likely aren't getting married until sometime after my evaluation just to be safe so... yeah that's it," she ended up explaining the situation in loose terms. Ah but what about the dick pics she'd deleted from her fiancé? "No body wants to receive a picture of a dick without context. Take that advice, but I am definitely not getting hot and bothered by someone sending me a picture of a dick I see, regularly. Or even ones I don't see regularly because it's not like dicks are interesting... Like what am I supposed do, to see it and like imagine what it feels like inside? Is that supposed to get me going? Because like without some kind of marker you can't really tell how big it is, and without the packaging around it, you'd be imagining having sex with a dildo, when you could just go get the dildo," Kaguya confirmed her feelings and why she didn't mind her phone not containing random pictures of her intended's genitals.