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[isdf]

HELLO

"Greetings. This is Kisaragi Yuma."

GOODBYE

TEXT | VIDEO | VOICE | ACTION

Comments

[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?

[isdf]

. . . It's difficult to say; however . . . those who wished to live were able to seize their respective lives and move forward.

[paenitete]

What did you pick?

[isdf]

[His gaze wanders for a beat before flitting back to her.]

Like the others, I accepted the flower.

[paenitete]

Flower?

[isdf]

Yes. Our borrowed lives were represented by flowers in a jar.

[paenitete]

Huh.

[ weirder things have happened in this hellhole so she's accepting this ]

So what happened after you took the flower?

[isdf]

After that . . . our collective objective came to an end, and we soon returned to this side of the maze.

[paenitete]

So that was it.

[ ... ]

Did you see anyone you knew?

[isdf]

Yes. In total, I saw Tsukasa, Hien, and Soo-won, as well as the commander and the admiral. There were also the likenesses of Reirin, Elysium, and Yosuke.

[paenitete]

[ oh yuma. she bites her tongue and tries not to tell him to stop sounding off names like that. ]

Were they... okay? Nothing happened to them?

[isdf]

I can only speak for Tsukasa and Soo-won . . . but they were fine. I did not actually meet Hien, though I had memories of him.