[Week 5, Friday: Setz]

[purrtagonist]

[SO HOW ABOUT THAT INVESTIGATION]

[. . . Akira is keeping to himself for the most part. but occasionally, he shows his head to the public again. like now, where he's standing in the doorway of the mattress store, shoulder pressed against it as he stares out into the distance]

[his glasses mask his expression]

[sup, Setz]

Comments

[purrtagonist]

[. . .]

Listen, Setz-- [mrrrrgh. he rubs the back of his neck, before his fingers dip into his pocket to pull out a letter]

[he hands it to Setz for his reading entertainment]

[subordinacy]

[...

He reads it, his expression indecipherable and unchanging as he does. When he finishes, he looks at Akira to see if he has anything to say on it.]

[purrtagonist]

[he folds the paper back up when Setz is finished, carefully focused]

I don't know if what Ichigo says is correct, necessarily. I don't know. I can't know.

[. . .]

But I'll reiterate what I said to you the other day. If you find you should vote for me, don't feel guilty about it.

[he'll accept that fate, too]

[subordinacy]

[He doesn't want to think about voting for Akira, even knowing it might be inevitable.]

... I don't know either yet. But, regarding what Anthy said—what matters in this Game, apparently...

[He pauses, remembering her exact words.]

"I think that if you’re only concerned about something’s worth by their ending, you’ll miss how beautiful they are when they grow."

[purrtagonist]

[his mouth twitches, a slow, curved smile. it isn't very brilliant, and it's edged with exhaustion and pain and a feeling of being done. but it's there]

Then maybe it's less about the answer, and more about how the Players get there. Hm?

[subordinacy]

I think so. Though, in the particular context of that remark, combined with the original mission we were tested on for that week... I believe the idea is that the value of a life is not what it nets you at the end, but what it gave while it lasted, however short.

All living beings die, eventually. What matters is how we lived.

[purrtagonist]

And what has always mattered most in the Reaper's Game isn't necessarily the victory, but the journey to the end.

[. . . maybe what Anthy was saying makes sense after all. . .]