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[isdf]

HELLO

"Greetings. This is Kisaragi Yuma."

GOODBYE

TEXT | VIDEO | VOICE | ACTION

Comments

[paenitete]

Hey...

[ she hesitates and then sets a hand on his arm. ]

You're not on any base. You won't get in any kind of trouble for thinking like that. It's just me here.

[isdf]

[He glances at her hand, then at the space between her and his arm before he stares down at the grass.]

I'm . . . not useless.

[paenitete]

Yuma...

[ for real. she felt so bad after she flunked on that answer. she feels personally responsible to right this for them both.

she squeezes his arm. ]

You don't need to have a use. It's okay.

[isdf]

No . . . I . . .

[He was supposed to come here and deliver a report—nothing more, nothing less. He knows what he must do, and it's not this. It's . . . not okay.]

[paenitete]

[ this poor eight year old....... she just keeps still and waits. ]

It is okay.

[isdf]

[ . . . No.

Yuma lifts his head with the hard set of his brow. This is the very thing he contemplated before coming back. He mustn't allow himself to be swept away.]

I am a soldier. No matter what happens to this mortal body of mine, that will not change.

[paenitete]

[ just keeps her hand there. ]

You're not just a soldier. You're a person with thoughts and feelings. You make mistakes and get stubborn and upset like any person does. You wouldn't feel that sense of duty and pride if you didn't have emotions to begin with, right?

[isdf]

[Finally, he turns his head to look at her. After several beats of doing so, the tension in his brow subsides, and he offers her one of his usual smiles.

Even if he wanted to tell her, he couldn't.]

That is what I want. [To be a soldier first and foremost.] I want it with every fiber of my being.

[paenitete]

[ well. now she knows how fake that smile is.

she also knows that something has its grip on him, although she can't say what it is. there's another person beneath all of those masks who wants to be understood.

she draws her hand back. ]

Not every wish gets to come true. I think... you'll be happier if you let that one go, even if it's just while you're here. But I can't make you.

[isdf]

. . . Thank you.

[For not making him, because what she says is fundamentally off for reasons beyond her grasp. He can't condemn her for it on his end. What he can say with confidence, though, is that Fiammetta is very kind.]

[paenitete]

[ shakes you upside down by the ankles for his lore

she tries not to be pissed about this. he's fresh out of one of those mazes. she breathes deeply as she twists open her water. ]

I heard you were all sent to a brothel to solve something.

[isdf]

[You must reach level four to unlock his backstory . . . ]

Indeed. We assumed the identities of others who shared our names and faces. Our objective was to settle a karmic debt by finding out who killed them.

[paenitete]

[ breaks in ]

Them?

[isdf]

[He nods.]

In my case, I inherited the memories of a hostage prince who'd been raised in a rival nation. Further investigation revealed that his superior in the army was responsible for his death.

[paenitete]

[ this and the human trafficking thing she heard about from hak.... hm ]

A hostage prince killed by his superior? Why would they kill him?

[isdf]

He'd been engaging in illicit activities. In order to prevent further casualties, the general took his life.

[paenitete]

The prince was doing illicit activities? Like what?

[isdf]

He and the others were dealing in human lives. As I understand it, he was the last among them to join the operation, which was mostly interested in his royal connections.

[paenitete]

[ fia looks startled. she caps her water quickly and leans in. ]

Did this prince have a brother...?

[isdf]

[He blinks.]

. . . He'd been raised by his captors since childhood. The members of his immediate family remain a mystery to me even now.

[paenitete]

[ well there goes that. ]

Oh. Sorry. I thought I might've recognized something about it...

So you ended up breaking that cycle?

[isdf]

[He tilts his head slightly to the side.]

Well, he'd died before I came into possession of his body. There was no cycle to break.

[paenitete]

Sorry. I meant about the karmic debt. You solved the mystery, it sounds like. So each of you had to do it for whoever's identity you assumed?

[isdf]

Yes.

After discovering those responsible for their deaths, we were challenged by a voice on whether those individuals had the right to live.

[paenitete]

Was there a right or wrong answer?