[Week 4, Thursday: Makoto, Yusuke]

[purrtagonist]

[honestly, Akira's been scourging the city for his thieves for quite some time now, getting more and more concerned when he can't seem to find them. the bookstore is the last place he hasn't checked, and when he swings the door open, it's with a bit more panicked force than usual]

[how lucky for him that his thieves are already here!!]

Comments

[justfists]

[look. Yusuke is safe.

unconscious, but safe.

Makoto made sure of it.

But she just looks... exhausted.

She's slumped against a bookshelf, looking like she's trying to catch her breath... and thinking, hard.]

[purrtagonist]

[there's a moment-- a brief moment-- where Akira takes in this sight. unconscious Yusuke, and an obviously worn out Makoto. it's a short moment, lasting no longer than the blink of an eye. because in an instant, he bolts over to them both to make sure they're not injured]

-- Makoto! What happened?!

[justfists]

[yusuke should probably get healed.

he's fine. but it can't hurt.

Makoto jumps though, before she realizes it's Akira and slumps]

We just... fought and killed the biggest Noise I've seen so far.

[purrtagonist]

[LISTEN. . . I'll ask Candace about this when she hops into this post and also Akira makes a mental note to call on Kaiba asap???]

What?? Where? And how did you get pulled into a boss fight without me??

[considering this is after the giant gecko from yesterday? Akira is understandably concerned]

[justfists]

A secret door opened up.

[and now? Now she's fishing in her pockets for.... the information that she absolutely has stolen.]

I have never read so fast before. And this isn't all the information we found.

[she pushes herself up to stand, holding out the waterlogged pieces of paper she absolutely ripped from different books, judging by the paper quality differences.]

[purrtagonist]

[Akira settles on the ground next to Yusuke so he can watch him, and monitor his status. but his gaze settles on Makoto and the damp paper she's holding]

Was it just you two?

[he asks, as he reaches out to (gingerly) take the paper from her]

And what is this. . .?

[justfists]

[she shakes her head]

Magnus and Miki were also there. Miki has the other books-- I just grabbed the pages I found that were important.

[this page says: --- Game --- brought back from the brink by the actions of --- Composer's Proxy. ---- --------, chosen because he represented everything wrong with ------- according to --- --------, turned things around in a manner no one expected. Reports from our agent say that the -- is completely different now. Perhaps other Games will be so lucky. Reports of other Games being in similar ------ have been numerous as of late, but should things turn around, perhaps we won't have to...]

[purrtagonist]

[and he just]

[falls silent while reading this, eyes scanning the page, entire body stiff like he's frozen in tableau]

[. . .]

Do you have more?

[justfists]

[this page she hands him?

is crumpled. It says:

If someone had asked me “are souls real” while I was alive, I would’ve said “fuck no.” I also didn’t believe in any form of afterlife and believed death was the sweet release into nothingness from the pain that was living.

Well. Joke’s on fucking me on all accounts.

Everything is made up of Soul. Or, well, everything that fucking matters. Players, the living, Noise, Reapers, the Composer, I could go on but I fucking won’t. What defines which category a Soul falls into is just the code binding it. So reshaping a Soul is simply a matter of having the amount of power necessary to give it a certain form. The easiest shape for a Soul to take is Noise. A living being is the hardest.

Erasure, unlike what the word implies, is just undoing the binding that makes up a Soul. Don’t get me wrong, they still fucking die. But any being powerful enough can retake and reshape a Soul as they wish, even post-Erasure.

It’s extremely easy to undo the binding of a Soul. Reshaping it isn’t. I’m sure there’s some kind of lesson to be had here about life and death, but the truth is no one is ever truly free from this bullshit. Part of you will always live on. There’s even been a rare few cases of a Composer bringing back Erased Players for their own reason.

Maybe that kind of power is the real reason “gunning for the job of Composer” is a real quest for both Players and Reapers.

Ha ha, just kidding, what the fuck kind of Reaper cares about reviving people? They just want to be top of the Reaper food chain, right? Besides, any Composer that does nothing but revive everyone is definitely getting fired. It'd take some pretty special circumstances to make it otherwise.]

... I have two more pages, after that.

[purrtagonist]

[he smooths it out, and takes a little longer to read this one, brows furrowed. when he's done. . .]

. . . this is probably from Max. I've heard him say these kinds of things before.

[wantsnudes]

[Once Yusuke is finally healed up and conscious (and has gotten himself a change of clothes and cleaned up a little, because he sure was soaking wet after that misadventure) he rejoins them both. Fortunately, aside from being a little tired from everything, he hasn't sustained any lasting injuries.]

Are you both all right? My apologies if I've caused any undue worry.

[Getting injured might have been routine for them in the Metaverse, but there's nothing routine about this place; even if he's fine, he can guess the two of them might have been left a little shaken.]

[justfists]

[on the one hand, she definitely left him on the floor to go after a treasure chest, on the other... she’s at or near her limit in terms of this place’s bs. But she’s glad to see that he’s okay.]

Thanks for what you did.

[time to push herself up from the floor, sry Akira]

[wantsnudes]

Ah... There's no need to thank me. It was the least I could do.

[Even if he couldn't do anything to protect her partner, he'll still try to protect Makoto with everything he can. He's sure Akira would have done the same.]

[justfists]

[she appreciates it, and it's obvious on her face. Maybe... she may have calmed down. Just a little bit.]

I'm glad you weren't too hurt.

And i do have plenty to share that I found while you and Magnus were fighting.

[wantsnudes]

Hmm? Ah-- yes, the books. [he may or may not have kind of forgotten that was the whole point of being there to begin with. his head's still a little foggy, okay :(]

What were you and Kuroda-san able to discover?

[justfists]

[it's ok, she also has ripcoins to give him, but realistically. they are having a phantom thief celebration again. soon.]

One second...

[WE CAN JUST HANDWAVE THAT HE HAS ALL THE INFORMATION SHE HAD after lots of sharing of paper]

[wantsnudes]

[Yusuke takes the paper, reading through all of it carefully.]

So, Noise really are just the remnants of those who are erased. Then, I hope the Noise we've fought thus far were not...

[actually that's too morbid, let's not even go there]

The Composer of this game and their intentions is still shrouded in mystery, to me. But, we're one step closer to the truth.

[purrtagonist]

[Akira is perking up from his position slouched against Makoto's shoulder once Yusuke returns]

Yusuke--






I can't believe you two went on an adventure without me.

[HE'S JOKING]

[but also :( you left leader out of your adventure :( :( :(]

[wantsnudes]

[Yusuke being Yusuke, he misses the joke and takes it seriously, looking apologetic.]

Well, we were already in the bookstore, and Magnus-san went charging on ahead. It was already quite difficult to stop him simply rushing into danger...

[He sounds a bit exasperated, being a cautious thief himself. why no sneak???]

[purrtagonist]

[. . . OH NO YUSUKE. Akira can't help but huff a laugh, and he reaches out to bump his shoulder gently against his teammate's]

I'm kidding, don't worry. I'm glad he was there to take care of you guys.

[Magnus is strong?? and boisterous???? Magnus is good people]

[wantsnudes]

[oh!! he looks surprised] I see...! You're right, of course. Despite his recklessness, he's very strong and dependable.

...ah, even if he did interrogate me rather forcefully after the previous trial...

[purrtagonist]

[. . . WELL, THIS IS NEWS]

Define "forcefully."

[wantsnudes]

Not with physical force, if that is your concern. Rather, he yelled at me under the belief I would buckle under pressure and give him the information he wanted.

He was wrong, of course. [Yusuke crosses his arms, indignant.] Even if I were guilty of those accusations, I certainly would not betray myself to such bullying tactics.

[purrtagonist]

[that was, in fact, Akira's concern. so having it dissuaded causes him to let out a little sigh of relief]

I told everyone you weren't capable of those crimes.

[HONESTLY]

Had they actually looked at the evidence, they would've known that, too.

[wantsnudes]

Yes, well, certain people had already made up their minds a cryokinesis user had to be the culprit, and that I was more suspicious than Sinbad. Even Kaiba-san interrogated me rather aggressively as soon as we found the body...

[SIGH]

Such is the nature of these trials, but even so... It's rather tiresome, to be wrongly villainised in both life and death.