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It had been a few weeks since the break up, and Seiji had finally managed to find and pack away all of Junko's possessions(save one or two tiny trinkets he couldn't seem to part with). Now he had to get a hold of Lizzy so he could hand the items over to her, so they would find their way back to their original owner. It was this last bit he'd sort of been dreading. Not that he had anything against Lizzy, he liked the ghoul, but he had to wonder what she might think of him now. Junko might have been the one that ended things, but she'd still been very upset over it.

He couldn't keep putting it off though. For one thing, he didn't much care to have the box remain in his room. Every time he passed it sitting on the little table beside the door it made him frown, a familiar pang making his chest tight. Nope, the box needed to go.

So he finally dug his phone out of his pocket and typed out a text to the spider demon.



Hopefully she wasn't terribly busy. It would be a relief to get things handled today instead of having it all drag out for another week or more.

Lizzy's response back to him was prompt, and Seiji let out a little sigh of relief as she hoisted himself out of his chair and made for the door. Grabbing the box with Junko's things in it as he went. It was time to get this all over with so everyone could just start moving on. Having her things around, it wasn't doing him any good. Sure, he'd kept a few things, but he'd packed those away for safe keeping in his closet. Reminders of good memories, and things far to valuable to simply get rid of. Everything in the box? Not half so sentimental.

He tucked the thing under his arm as he closed the door behind him, both hands moving automatically to sink into his pockets as she made his way down the hall then up the stairs and out of the ghost dorms. It was weird, heading towards the monster dorms, but not actually going there. Instead he kept walking, almost jogging up the stairs to the demon dormitory. This one wasn't quite as familiar to him, but he'd been there enough to know where he was going.

No more then fifteen minutes after receiving the first text Lizzy would hear a knock at her door. It wasn't so much that he was eager to be rid of the items, but he felt that returning them would help gain him a little closure.

The door cracked open to reveal a smiling Lizzy, and Seiji couldn't help but smile back. "Hey Lizzy. It has," he agreed, smile slipping just a little as he recalled their last real encounter. Prom, and all of them dancing together. It felt like ages ago, but it couldn't have been more then a few months back, could it? He frowned, caught himself, and forced the memory away. Dwelling on the past wasn't doing him a lick of good. It was time to move on, and to do that he needed to return the little odds and ends Junko had left in his room.

She asked about the box, and he blinked at her. "Ah, yes," and he held it up between them, gaze dropping to the top of it. "It's all here, for the most part." Again the smile wavered a bit, his lips twitching as he fought off whatever other emotion threatened to invade. This meeting was already awkward enough without him making things worse by falling apart.

He held the box out to her, and the forced smile slipped from his face. "So, how is she?" It was clear by tone and posture that he wasn't entirely sure he should be asking, but he couldn't deny that he was curious about how she was doing. He hadn't seen her around the school since they'd broken up, and he supposed that was probably for the best, but it did make him wonder.

She took the box from him and actually hid it from view. It wasn't a huge gesture, but he thought better of the ghoul for that little bit of thoughtfulness, and he certainly appreciated it. It wasn't as though he didn't know Lizzy was a nice ghoul, but he didn't have much personal experience with her. The way she was handling things now just confirmed everything he'd already heard and known.

A half smile tugged as his lips when she invited him in, and he ducked his head in small nod before sliding into the room and taking a seat on whatever available space presented itself. Legs apart, elbows resting over them, he leaned forward as she answered his question, and did his best not to let the tiny spurt of satisfaction show on his dark features as she mentioned how guilty Junko was feeling. It was petty, and he knew it, but he couldn't help how he felt. The best he could do was not let it show to his ex's best friend.

He nodded, not entirely sure what to say. It was good she was holding up, he supposed. He could honestly say he wished her well, not yet, but he also didn't like the idea of her really suffering. His feelings towards the ghoul were entirely mixed up. He did know though that if she'd been doing fine, he'd have been hurt by it. It should mean something, them splitting up. "I haven't seen her around campus at all. She's not hiding out in her room, is she?"

Dark eyes watched the ghoul move around her room towards a little refrigerator, then head back to take a seat beside him, offering up a juice pouch. He blinked at it, but took it, offering a half smile to her. "Thanks." Turning it in his hands, he listened as she recounted how Junko had been doing, then expanded into some words of wisdom on break ups in general. He could only nod in agreement, and hope she was right. At the moment he was still working on getting all his negative emotions out.

A process that was either helped along, or slowed up, by sharing company with an old friend.

He swallowed back a few comments before settling on something neutral. "I hope in time we're both able to put this all behind us and move on." The idea of Junko unhappy over their split wasn't a bad one, but the petty satisfaction he took from it made him feel terribly guilty. She'd wanted them to remain friends. He just wasn't there yet.

His attention returned to the juice pouch, and he rotated it in his hands again before glancing side long at the demon ghoul. If anyone knew how he was feeling, shouldn't it be her? Their situations weren't identical, but the person she loved had broken up with her. It made him frown, and he sat up a little straighter, lips pursing before he spoke. "So how've you been doing, you know, since..?" He trailed off, fairly confident she'd catch his meaning.

He continued to watch her as she spoke, and it was a tempting thing to throw an arm over her shoulder as she reopened that old wound for him. It probably hadn't been fair to ask, but he felt like knowing how others had dealt with the same pain might make it easier to deal with his own? Maybe? He hoped so. So far his method had been distracting himself from it, and trying very hard not to think about the distinct void that Junko had left in his life.

He'd loved her, and losing that loved hurt, a lot, but he also missed just having someone around all the time like she had been. They'd ate together, slept together, shared their time together, and now, for the most part, he was alone.

Yes, Sarias did keep him company, and she did provide an excellent distraction, but it wasn't as though the banshee could be around all the time.

A nod followed her words, and he dropped his eyes from the demon ghoul to the juice pouch. "I've been spending more time with friends, and trying not to dwell on things, but I feel so.." He trailed off, searching for an appropriate word, then finally settled on, "hollow." Broad shoulders rolled in a shrug, lips twitching to one side. "And Numb."

Setting the juice beside him on the bed, he turned a little so he could face her. "I mean I felt raw right after, but I got back to my dorm, and found that it had been destroyed while I was gone. And then.. " Nope, not going there, not with Lizzy. "I don't know. It feels like I'm walking through a haze, and that this isn't really my life, and maybe one day I'll wake up from it."

He nodded, relieved that someone else knew hoe he felt. Had been in his shoes. It really did honestly feel as though his entire life had just ground to a screeching halt. Junko had been such an essential part of him. Now without it, it didn't feel real. That obviously wasn't true, and he knew Lizzy was right, but logic didn't really do much to help how he was feeling.

As the ghoul kept talking, the ghost was hit was a terrible urge to reach over and hug her, and by the time she'd fallen quiet again he'd done just that. One strong hand catching her shoulder so he could pull her in for a one armed hug. It was quick, just a brief squeeze before he let her go again, but it spoke volumes to just how grateful he was to her for opening up to him. "Thank you, Lizzy."

"I really appreciate you being willing to talking about this with me." The only other person he thought would have had any idea how he felt was Shehk, and he didn't know her well enough to ask. To be fair, he didn't know Lizzy that well either, not really, but through Junko it felt as though he was some how closer to the demon.

He flashed a small grin at her, nodding. "Good to know someones looking out to keep me in line," he chuckled, then got to his feet. It hadn't yet gotten to the point where he'd over stayed his welcome, but he didn't want it to get their either.

Edging towards the door, he glanced back at the demon ghoul, and was glad Junko had someone like her to lean on. He needed a friend he could depend on like that. Jack, he needed more friends period.

"I'll talk to you later, Lizzy. Thanks again." He paused just outside her door, waggling the juice pouch at her with a grin. "For the juice, too." And with that he closed the door behind him, finally popping the straw through the pouch and taking a drink as he made his way back out of the demon dorms and back towards home.