”Ah. it bothers me…”
Reizo stared at Shi Ritoru. The chuunin was insane. Obviously the med-nins thought he could get on well enough in his own home, but from what Reizo had seen so far today, he wasn’t sure…
”Aaahh… it bothers me so much…”
The trip from the medical center to the other shinobi’s house had been interesting enough. Apparently, Ritoru believed there was some sort of “seal” created by symmetry that kept “bad spirits” locked away. When things were asymmetrical, those spirits apparently could manifest and cause all sorts of trouble. The streets and towers of Iwagakure, of course, were nowhere near symmetrical. The trip from the center to Ritoru’s apartment, which should have taken perhaps fifteen minutes at most, ended up taking nearly two hours. Most of that time was spent with Ritoru hiding somewhere and Reizo having to find him and pull him out, or trying to keep Ritoru from accidentally hurting someone while trying to defeat the “bad spirits” he constantly claimed were around.
”...it bothers me…”
Reizo had corralled the older shinobi to his own home, and now Ritoru stood in front of the door to his apartment. Which, of course, wasn’t symmetrical. Ritoru shivered slightly as he rocked back and forth on his heels. The chuunin’s blue hair had been buzzed down to stubble (he had tried to rip it out when he realized it was asymmetrical), and one side of his face was bandaged (the man had two different colored eyes. He decided that cutting out the right one, which was red, was the correct solution. But with the eye covered, he apparently was satisfied). Reizo sighed softly, trying to figure out how to make the door acceptable for Ritoru. He honestly didn’t have a solution.
”Aaaaahhh! It bothers me too much!”
CRASH!
Aaand he just force palmed the door off it’s hinges…
”Uuhm… Shi-san… I… am not certain that was the best way to go about accomplishing what you desired…” Reizo said slowly, hesitantly in fact.
”Of course it was!” Ritoru sounded sure of himself, now turning in the doorway to face Reizo, ”The door was asssss-asyymmm-asymmetrical! It was un-unacceptable! It b-b-bothered me-me-me too much!”
Reizo gave a little shiver at the strange, halting speech pattern.
”There is no problem. P-perrrfect balance is t-the-the k-k-keyyy to ev-ev-every-every… t-thing.”
Ritoru then turned and stepped into his own home, and Reizo braced for impact. It was a very good thing he did. Before the mission, Ritoru had been a rather messy individual. It wouldn’t be that way for long.
”It is trash! It is all disgusting, horrible trash!”
Reizo dropped to the floor as just about everything from the apartment started to be flung out the door, off over the balcony of the downward hanging tower… like. completely off the spire, to rain down on Arcadia far below. He winced. This definitely was not going as planned.
”Shi-san.”
Ritoru continued throwing.
”Shi-san!”
More things went flying. Including a cat named Chen. What the hell? Who throws a cat, seriously?
”RIIIITOOOORUUU!”
The barrage of missiles suddenly stopped. Reizo looked up and the near-bald chuunin had his head poking out of the apartment.
”Yeeeeeessss?”
”...Do you not think it would be more effective to just rearrange everything in your apartment rather than throwing it all away?” Reizo paused to think, tilting his head to the side. ”I would imagine the more things that are symmetrical, the stronger the seal… An empty, symmetrical room would be nearly useless...”
Ritoru considered this for a moment… then nodded, ”Y-you are a-ab-bbss-olutely b-brii-ll-illiant! Y-you un-nn-ndersss-tand as-as w-well as I-I do. Per-perhaps b-bet-tter! C-come,comecome! Y-you m-must help me! It-it… it bothers m-me.” Ritoru vanished back into the apartment.
Reizo sighed. Again. Then hopped to his feet and stepped into the apartment, lifting the door up and placing it back in the doorway. It wasn’t symmetrical, but Reizo also wasn’t going to leave the apartment open for others to wander in. Not that he thought it was a likely occurrence in the village, but one never knew for sure. Maybe the ones that had put the original Genjutsu on Ritoru would return… highly unlikely, but possible…
The next several hours were spent cleaning up the mess that Ritoru had made in the first place (apparently Ritoru was very skilled with the wind element… it certainly looked like a tornado or windstorm had been through the entire apartment. Ritoru himself ended up cowering in an empty closet for most of the several hours it took for Reizo to get things to a semi-acceptable state, muttering and screaming the entire time about how the “bad spirits” would get him if he left the protection of the dark, asymmetrical room… Reizo mentally had started referring to the spirits as asymmetrical spirits, and had been tempted to start egging Ritoru on with descriptions of beings with only one eye or nostril or arm, or two arms on one side of their bodies, or any number of other things that wouldn’t be symmetrical.
But he decided that would probably be bad for his overall health, and his “mission.” (were the med-nins really sure Ritoru would be alright in his own home? Well. They were the experts… maybe a familiar environment would seem safer to him? Reizo hoped so…)
When he finally coaxed Ritoru out of his safe haven, the chuunin looked relatively relieved as he went through the small apartment. Reizo had done things “just so,” the way his sisters and mother had taught him from a young age. Which he rarely utilized, but had retained the knowledge of.
The next hurdle was making Ritoru dinner.
That went swimmingly.
Every time Reizo would get the ingredients sliced meticulously into nearly symmetrical pieces, Ritoru would have a mini-freak out and destroy all of Reizo’s hard work. And wreck a room in the process, resulting in Reizo having to go back through, make the room symmetrical again, then start on dinner once more. This happened three or four times, with Reizo being nearly done preparing food the last time and Ritoru causing it to spill all over the poor academy student.
Eventually, Reizo instructed Ritoru to sit in the apartment. Not to move. At all. Then he ran off to Noodle Dream, the same noodle shop he had helped at a few days ago to acquire dinner for Ritoru and himself. By the time he returned, Ritoru was passed out. On the kitchen table.
Reizo merely shook his head slowly, put the extra container of udon in the fridge, and left, putting the door back in the frame on his way out.
...that was just as ridiculous as the noodle shop…
[MFT, WC: 1114]
Reizo stared at Shi Ritoru. The chuunin was insane. Obviously the med-nins thought he could get on well enough in his own home, but from what Reizo had seen so far today, he wasn’t sure…
”Aaahh… it bothers me so much…”
The trip from the medical center to the other shinobi’s house had been interesting enough. Apparently, Ritoru believed there was some sort of “seal” created by symmetry that kept “bad spirits” locked away. When things were asymmetrical, those spirits apparently could manifest and cause all sorts of trouble. The streets and towers of Iwagakure, of course, were nowhere near symmetrical. The trip from the center to Ritoru’s apartment, which should have taken perhaps fifteen minutes at most, ended up taking nearly two hours. Most of that time was spent with Ritoru hiding somewhere and Reizo having to find him and pull him out, or trying to keep Ritoru from accidentally hurting someone while trying to defeat the “bad spirits” he constantly claimed were around.
”...it bothers me…”
Reizo had corralled the older shinobi to his own home, and now Ritoru stood in front of the door to his apartment. Which, of course, wasn’t symmetrical. Ritoru shivered slightly as he rocked back and forth on his heels. The chuunin’s blue hair had been buzzed down to stubble (he had tried to rip it out when he realized it was asymmetrical), and one side of his face was bandaged (the man had two different colored eyes. He decided that cutting out the right one, which was red, was the correct solution. But with the eye covered, he apparently was satisfied). Reizo sighed softly, trying to figure out how to make the door acceptable for Ritoru. He honestly didn’t have a solution.
”Aaaaahhh! It bothers me too much!”
CRASH!
Aaand he just force palmed the door off it’s hinges…
”Uuhm… Shi-san… I… am not certain that was the best way to go about accomplishing what you desired…” Reizo said slowly, hesitantly in fact.
”Of course it was!” Ritoru sounded sure of himself, now turning in the doorway to face Reizo, ”The door was asssss-asyymmm-asymmetrical! It was un-unacceptable! It b-b-bothered me-me-me too much!”
Reizo gave a little shiver at the strange, halting speech pattern.
”There is no problem. P-perrrfect balance is t-the-the k-k-keyyy to ev-ev-every-every… t-thing.”
Ritoru then turned and stepped into his own home, and Reizo braced for impact. It was a very good thing he did. Before the mission, Ritoru had been a rather messy individual. It wouldn’t be that way for long.
”It is trash! It is all disgusting, horrible trash!”
Reizo dropped to the floor as just about everything from the apartment started to be flung out the door, off over the balcony of the downward hanging tower… like. completely off the spire, to rain down on Arcadia far below. He winced. This definitely was not going as planned.
”Shi-san.”
Ritoru continued throwing.
”Shi-san!”
More things went flying. Including a cat named Chen. What the hell? Who throws a cat, seriously?
”RIIIITOOOORUUU!”
The barrage of missiles suddenly stopped. Reizo looked up and the near-bald chuunin had his head poking out of the apartment.
”Yeeeeeessss?”
”...Do you not think it would be more effective to just rearrange everything in your apartment rather than throwing it all away?” Reizo paused to think, tilting his head to the side. ”I would imagine the more things that are symmetrical, the stronger the seal… An empty, symmetrical room would be nearly useless...”
Ritoru considered this for a moment… then nodded, ”Y-you are a-ab-bbss-olutely b-brii-ll-illiant! Y-you un-nn-ndersss-tand as-as w-well as I-I do. Per-perhaps b-bet-tter! C-come,comecome! Y-you m-must help me! It-it… it bothers m-me.” Ritoru vanished back into the apartment.
Reizo sighed. Again. Then hopped to his feet and stepped into the apartment, lifting the door up and placing it back in the doorway. It wasn’t symmetrical, but Reizo also wasn’t going to leave the apartment open for others to wander in. Not that he thought it was a likely occurrence in the village, but one never knew for sure. Maybe the ones that had put the original Genjutsu on Ritoru would return… highly unlikely, but possible…
The next several hours were spent cleaning up the mess that Ritoru had made in the first place (apparently Ritoru was very skilled with the wind element… it certainly looked like a tornado or windstorm had been through the entire apartment. Ritoru himself ended up cowering in an empty closet for most of the several hours it took for Reizo to get things to a semi-acceptable state, muttering and screaming the entire time about how the “bad spirits” would get him if he left the protection of the dark, asymmetrical room… Reizo mentally had started referring to the spirits as asymmetrical spirits, and had been tempted to start egging Ritoru on with descriptions of beings with only one eye or nostril or arm, or two arms on one side of their bodies, or any number of other things that wouldn’t be symmetrical.
But he decided that would probably be bad for his overall health, and his “mission.” (were the med-nins really sure Ritoru would be alright in his own home? Well. They were the experts… maybe a familiar environment would seem safer to him? Reizo hoped so…)
When he finally coaxed Ritoru out of his safe haven, the chuunin looked relatively relieved as he went through the small apartment. Reizo had done things “just so,” the way his sisters and mother had taught him from a young age. Which he rarely utilized, but had retained the knowledge of.
The next hurdle was making Ritoru dinner.
That went swimmingly.
Every time Reizo would get the ingredients sliced meticulously into nearly symmetrical pieces, Ritoru would have a mini-freak out and destroy all of Reizo’s hard work. And wreck a room in the process, resulting in Reizo having to go back through, make the room symmetrical again, then start on dinner once more. This happened three or four times, with Reizo being nearly done preparing food the last time and Ritoru causing it to spill all over the poor academy student.
Eventually, Reizo instructed Ritoru to sit in the apartment. Not to move. At all. Then he ran off to Noodle Dream, the same noodle shop he had helped at a few days ago to acquire dinner for Ritoru and himself. By the time he returned, Ritoru was passed out. On the kitchen table.
Reizo merely shook his head slowly, put the extra container of udon in the fridge, and left, putting the door back in the frame on his way out.
...that was just as ridiculous as the noodle shop…
[MFT, WC: 1114]