Tuesday 17th May
"Haruto, I have to talk to you."
Yusuke was staring down at him, looking more annoyed than Haruto had ever seen him before. Oh, something had definitely happened.
"Sure," said Haruto. "Is there anywhere you want to go?"
"Here is fine," said Yusuke, not even glancing around to see if anyone was nearby. No one was—the broken vending machines were usually deserted for a reason, after all, but that didn't make Haruto feel any better somehow.
"What is it?"
Yusuke seemed like he was about to say something sharp, but he bit his tongue and looked surreptitiously around before sitting down right next to Haruto and whispering in a furious tone, "Yesterday, I was confronted by several people on whether Madarame was stealing my work. Care to explain how they found that out?"
Haruto's mind was going a mile a minute. Confronted? On the plagiarism? By strangers? That didn't sound right… And Yusuke was accusing him of telling them? But who…
"Who were they?" asked Haruto.
"No one important," said Yusuke, curtly. "I believe they're students of Shujin Academy. But that's rather irrelevant."
It was anything but irrelevant.
Students of Shujin Academy—near strangers—confronting Yusuke on Madarame's plagiarism—something they could only have confirmed for themselves by… by… Ha! He'd found them! But first he needed to sort this situation out, before he potentially lost Yusuke as a friend altogether.
"I haven't spoken a word about your situation to anyone," said Haruto, trying to best to sound sincere, though his mind was going a mile a minute. "I would never betray you like that—I don't even know anyone from Shujin, so I have no idea how they heard…"
Yusuke gave a deep breath and leant back, giving Haruto some much needed space. "I see," he said quietly.
"Did they say where they'd heard about it?" Haruto asked cautiously.
Yusuke paused for a moment, biting his lip, his eyes bloodshot and shadowed from an obvious lack of sleep. "I believe they said something about hearing about it online, or some such nonsense."
He needed to approach this carefully… "I know this is a sensitive subject for you, but there have been more rumours about Madarame posted online lately. Especially since he's having his exhibition just now."
Yusuke sighed, and nodded, wiping his eyes. "Yes. Yes, you're right. I fear I might have jumped to conclusions. I'm sorry, Haruto."
"It's fine," said Haruto, automatically. "I know you're going through a hard time right now."
Yusuke gave a quiet, miserable laugh. "Yes, I suppose I have, haven't I? Not that that excuses things… Would you mind terribly if I ate lunch with you today? Somehow I don't think I will be able to focus much on my art at the moment."
"Of course," said Haruto. "Whatever you need."
He could spend the rest of lunch trying to prod at Yusuke for more information on these mysterious Shujin students but… Yusuke seemed to be in a very fragile place at the moment. Fragile enough that Haruto didn't think it was worth disturbing him just for his selfish desire for information. Besides—he'd likely find out about them after school anyway.
It wasn't long before Yusuke returned with his lunchbox.
He sat down next to Haruto with a deep sigh, and it was a good five minutes before he actually opened his box to—surprise, surprise—definitely not enough food. Haruto could feel the red creeping in at the edges of his vision. He needed to stay calm though. For Yusuke's sake.
They sat in silence for some time, until, unusually, Yusuke introduced a topic of conversation.
"I fear I may be becoming more useless by the day," he muttered, so quietly Haruto almost didn't hear it. "I wish I didn't feel like this. I never used feel like this before… so why now is it suddenly so hard?"
Haruto had an inkling as to what he might be talking about. He'd been listening on some of the teachers in the hallways, and it was beginning to get around rather quickly.
"This is about your artwork, right?"
Yusuke nodded silently. "I can't seem to find any inspiration. I wield my brush but all my ideas are gone. It was never like this before—even in the depths of despair, I could still somehow find the energy to paint—although I fear my anger likely came out in my brushstrokes."
It had certainly seemed so when Haruto saw the painting he'd done that was currently on display in the museum.
"It used to be that I'd channel my frustration into my artwork—use it to become better, but now… Now all I can think of is how much it pains me to continue trying."
"It makes sense," said Haruto, trying to piece together what must be going on in Yusuke's mind. "You want to escape but you find you can't. That would drain anyone of energy."
Yusuke laughed dryly. "Yes, I suppose you're right. Still, it's miserable. And Madarame will only make life harder for me if I fail to produce work for him. I might even lose my scholarship here—my entire worth in this world is art. If I can't produce it, what does that make me?"
The answer, of course, was that like any human being, he'd still be worthy of dignity, respect and a stable school life—but Yusuke, he knew, wouldn't see it that way. And unfortunately neither would most of his teachers. Hmm. He needed to introduce this angle carefully.
"If Madarame suddenly disappeared tomorrow, do you think you'd still be stuck in this slump?" asked Haruto.
Yusuke sighed deeply, and leant back in his seat. "If Madarame disappeared… what a strange thought. Still… maybe? I truly can't say. I've never known life without him, after all."
"I understand," said Haruto. "It's hard to think about."
"And impossible, in any case," muttered Yusuke. He still sounded so defeated… "Anyway, it's time we got back to class. We wouldn't want to add lateness to our list of misdemeanours."
"No," said Haruto, "I guess not."
Yusuke still seemed… frankly alarmingly unhappy, even if he didn't have a Palace. It was worrying…
Perhaps, before we venture back into the Palace, we should check up on his other self?
The other Yusuke… the one that resided where all the other selves did. Seemed it was finally time.
Time to go Mementos.