[INTERLUDE] Matryoshka Madhouse

Urato and Inasuke settle into their new lives.

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Tomiyama Urato and Akagashi Inasuke, once characters from a horrid badfic that did unspeakable things to the timeline of Japanese history, had fortunately been rescued from that mess and received timely treatment with the PPC. A reality room session stripped them of implausible family relations and gave them backgrounds that did not interfere with Touken Ranbu canon – two ordinary Osakan youths from the 23rd century – and FicPsych therapy largely helped them deal with trauma caused by an abusive Sue. Now free from bad writing, they decided to stay and join the PPC; as new members of the Department of Floaters, Agent Urato and Agent Inasuke were ready to take on the world.

However, there were certain things the PPC could not help them with.

One of those things was the state of their two-room RC. The PPC assumed no liability for the fact RC 🤘 was nested inside RC 381 and didn't have a fixed door. They could never intentionally find the door out of their RC, but it would open when and where they least expected it, into another RC no less. That they could walk in on Momoka changing clothes while buck-naked and about to take a bath (this actually happened and earned Urato a red and long-lasting handprint upon his cheek) or tumble headfirst through a drawer and land embarrassingly on Kaguya's makeup table (Inasuke ended up with a whole cake of face powder on his butt) was just something they had to deal with.

Another of those things was whether or not they would actually get along. Urato and Inasuke were like dogs and monkeys: Urato liked weightlifting and action movies, Inasuke liked pretty flowers and fluffy bunnies. The floor of Urato's room was hardly visible under the mess he created within the first few days of moving in, Inasuke's room was neat and pretty and adorned aplenty with plushes and pillows. To put it simply, their interactions were not always nice and friendly.

Last but not least, how long they would last. "They say we're subject to narrative laws of comedy and most PPC agents don't retain sanity for long. What does that mean?" Inasuke asked, feeding Booky shreds of construction paper.

"As if ya ain't drivin' me crazy enough on yer own," Urato answered before ruffling his partner's brown hair, which took him quite a bit of time to keep neat, much to the latter's disgruntlement.