dramatispersonae | Naoto's Heart

Naoto's Heart

You find yourself falling through a black abyss, the air cold around you, although not bitingly so. Just as your eyes begin to adjust to the darkness on every side, you're dropped through a chute and tossed out into a brightly-lit area...

((#hardwired))

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"Things are a lot different back in Inaba than they are where she is now. She feels a lot more bound there."

Bones cuts in. "It's total bullshit, man. I been telling her that for a while now, though."

I'm...glad this place is good for her, then...

[deep in thought]

Is that why...she isn't sure whether she's a boy or a girl? Because she didn't want to be what people back home thought girls are?

"Girls are supposed to be girly and demure and passive and shit, and Naoto's not any of that. Doesn't mean she's any less of a girl, but that's what people have been telling her for years. So after you hear that crap over and over, you start to believe it's true."

[...................wtf]

That's...so stupid. Thinking girls are supposed to be that, I mean. Gah.

"No kidding, man. But she's got a lotta pressure besides that, too. Her family, I mean."

Her family...?

Narukami interjects.

"She's from a long line of detectives. It's important to her to live up to that."

Why?

Detectives... [running his finger lightly over the card he's still holding] ...well, she wants to, right? She was so excited about making that stuff...

"Right. It's what she loves."

Do people back home think girls can't be detectives, too? Are they that silly?

"Women can be detectives, too... but they're never on the same level as men, in nearly any field. They're looked down upon."

[s-sigh]

...that sucks.

"Like I said, total bullshit, right? But Naoto puts up with that every day, and it's not like she can shake it off that easily. None of us can."

... that was Bones, not Narukami.