[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/5FqwUwv.jpg?1[/img]
[h3][b][color=00aeef]Chinami Nadakai[/color][/b][/h3][/center]
[@Dezuel][@Letter Bee]

Chinami was out the door not a second after acknowledging Reverio's gratitude with a mild nod. She barely paid attention to anything else he was saying, by now certain that if she allowed herself to care, it would simply stoke her risen temper unreasonably higher. Besides, even then, she'd managed to grasp the cliff notes through her Spirit's partially manifested hearing.

Rotten world this. Survivor's guilt that. People are liars, and no amount of beauty in the world can overcome the ugliness. Words dripping with pessimism, with a frank inability to let go of the past and focus on the future. Wallowing in regrets and stagnating in obsession. There was no use in pining over a perfect world. That was an unrealistic dream, fit only to drive the dreamer to ruin. Humanity's nature was ambition, and there was no future where humanity lived in blissful harmony. That was impossible. Such a world... could only come about by way of grand scale tyranny... or a lack of humanity entirely. Chinami frankly couldn't think of anything she'd like less than to "dine" with Reverio now or in the future... Well, except maybe dining with Suzakura, but at least the latter had the advantage of having shared the same air during lunch at Kiburi's and so had some level of precedent.

It was a truly strange thought to realize that [i]she[/i] might actually be the [i]optimistic[/i] one between herself and Reverio, despite their outward presentations. When it came right down to it, they were disturbingly inverted mirrors. He seemingly saw only a glass half full, beauty overshadowed by ugliness. Flowery words and false hope spewed from him, poisoning the results. As he had said, far too many people wore masks, shadowed their intent and actual beliefs. Not so many as he seemed to think, but many nonetheless. One might wonder at the hypocrisy of wearing such a mask himself however...

She instead saw the ugliness of the world and humanity for what it was, wasn't surprised, and accepted that imperfection, content to seek the silver lining, to carve her own limited corner of peace. She didn't need to obsess over making the world into some idealized caricature. She only needed to improve what surrounded her personally, only when necessary and without coming at an innate cost to others at large. She preferred brutal honesty, speaking her mind. After all, she too was frustrated with the lies everywhere she looked, but how could she call herself truly dissatisfied if she didn't live up to her own words? So, maybe she was rude, and prickly -a bitch really, and more than a little volatile to the point that she would kill for her ideals... but she liked what she liked and hated what she hated. She'd say so upfront without shame, all but shouting her beliefs from the rooftops, and if others disagreed? Tough. They were free to be as incorrect as they liked. She despised lying, so when it came down to it, she preferred to stay silent instead. Even when her words conveyed falsities, her tone would more often than not make it perfectly clear how genuine she was about them.

She wondered how Reverio felt, to meet a person like her. She wondered if that discordant image clashed with his world view in new and amusing ways. What would it do to him to meet someone who was honest about their ugliness? Would he reconsider his position that humanity should be more honest if all that would do is create a world of honest selfishness? Somehow, Chinami could only think that such a realization would merely make him double down on his foolishness harder. He seemed like the type.

Consumed by her thoughts, her pace was languid, enough so that Ken quickly passed her by on his way to make his own departure. Apparently, his parents seemed to be picking him up this time as well. Shaking her head, Chinami's pace slowed until Ken's family was well out of sight... and then she turned on her heel. Adopting a brisk stride, she glanced around for onlookers and, seeing none, made her way around the side of the apartment complex, sticking close to the wall while retracing her path within on the outside. And after a minute, she came to a halt and tilted her head, before her Spirit launched her up to grab hold of and lever herself onto the second story of the fire escape stairwell on the side of the building.

[color=00aeef]"Good enough?"[/color] she muttered quietly, glancing around again and nodding at the seeming lack of observers.

[color=32CD32][i]"25 meters... Sufficient,"[/i][/color] was her only reply, as Chinami leaned up against the building, out of sight of easy observance from the windows, extracting her phone from her pocket. Frowning at the idea of how fast this might be moving, she settled in for what might end up being all too short a wait. The fact that the strange man in her soul had stated that Reverio's foolishness was backed with a frighteningly immediate will to act left her with little choice in whether or not to be done with matters concerning him today.

And so, she waited and listened.