005 - Eclectic, with Minako

[otakuro]

[May 16th, action, Aquarius Ward]
[Atsuro's job at Monoceros Community College wasn't exactly stimulating. 90% of the time, computer problems could be attributed to students trying to download things they weren't supposed to be downloading; the other 10 percent were generally students trying to play things they weren't supposed to be playing. Melted motherboards could be replaced, viruses and worms could be purged. This was all pretty run of the mill and he spent the majority of his hours at his job playing gamend s and programming apps for his own amusement. ...He had managed to make a very sleek Solitaire simulation, if he was allowed to brag a little bit.

As he awaits issues in the repair center, Atsuro boots up Solitaire and idly begins to play for no special reason other than to playtest his own creation. His left hand, idle, begins to tap against the tabletop.

...2 of Hearts. Ace of Diamonds, yesss. 2 of Diamonds, whoa. Q of Spades. ...F sharp major chord. 3 of Hearts. ...Didn't he already get the 3 of Hearts? D major 7th chord. Inverted 4th. A7 -- No, Ace of...]

...

What?

[He stares at his left hand for a few moments before abandoning the laptop and placing both hands square on the table top. ...CEGEGCGCECEG holy crap.



...Late that night, the sounds of tortuous piano playing can be heard wafting out of the open-access music room in the college. Anyone who investigates will find Atsuro staring at his fingers as if they're possessed while semi-competently playing what sounds vaguely like a polka.]

[May 20th, text, public]
[By the fifth day or so, it has become patently obvious that something is wrong. I like your hair! It really suits your style. Do you dye it that color? He is quite certain that his grandfather never featured terribly prominently in his life, despite that his parents were never around. Not that he would have minded having some expectations to live up to, but he liked to think he had done a pretty good job of raising himself with minimal assistance. Jet propulsion activate. ...Did he even have grandparents? They were dead, right? ...Pretty certain. ......Vaguely certain. No, there were two sets of grandparents, of course. His mother's had passed away in -- No. No, they were the ones who had ...I'm sorta like you. My dad died an accident when I was little... You're all alone too, right?

...

Persona...?]



Hey, everyone! I've got a question for you all. It's kind of hard to explain, but... anyone else just have this feeling that something's not quite right? I guess the best way to say it is, I'm pretty sure I didn't have three sets of grandparents. ...There's probably nothing to complain about, though! Free family members; there are much worse things that could happen. I'm pretty sure it has to do with those fortunes we got last week, heh; I got the highest one for 'family'!  But... let me know if something similar has happened, OK? Don't worry, guys, I don't think it's anything serious! (≧ω≦)ｂ

Oh, and hey, Kazuya...  I've gotta talk to you about something.  ...I think there might've been something like Persona already in our world.

[May 22nd, private video to Minako Arisato]
Hey, Minako... I think we probably need to talk.

[Shinjiro-senpai...!]

I'm not sure if I have to explain or not, but... We should probably meet up in person.

[No way... why?]

Is that OK with you?

[Wait, please... we've been through too much together...]

Don't worry; we don't have to talk about any specifics or anything. Well. Let me know!

[Don't cry... Minako. This is how it should be...]

Comments

[otakuro]

Subconscious desire to die...?

[...Yes. If he threw his mind back to that memory... Atsuro brings a hand briefly to his forehead with a frown as it sets off a twinge of pain. She had been called forth by humanity's overwhelming ennui with... everything.]

But if you asked me... the clearest thing about the lockdown was how desperate everyone was to survive. They would do anything to save themselves - literally, anything. Maybe people don't realize how badly they want to be alive until they're faced with the prospect of losing it.

[greatseal]

[She nods.] That's exactly it. In the Lockdown everyone suddenly realized they could die and were afraid. But in normal situations, people don't normally worry about dying suddenly, but they do get upset or depressed or unhappy with their lives. And in those moments, it's harder to see why living is worth it. I don't agree, but I can see why it happens.

[otakuro]

It almost seems selfish, in a way. To think that people around the world could be desperately fighting for their lives... and we're sitting around wanting to die because we didn't make full marks on an exam.

[Not to mention that other peoples' death wishes had ended up requiring this kind of sacrifice from Minako.]

[greatseal]

But it still doesn't mean that the whole human race deserves to die out.

[That's the end result. Of course she wants a world where people appreciate their lives, but she can't condemn everyone for the situation, either. Everyone creates negativity sometimes, and no one knew what it could call down.]

[otakuro]

No...

It's more thoughtlessness than anything. It doesn't seem right that idle thoughts can create something so terrible.

...I guess it was the same way back home. I have to believe that humanity is worth it, all in all... but all the little things must have added up somehow to bring down the final judgement.

[greatseal]

People are complicated, huh? Maybe that's the lesson we're supposed to get out of this memory swap.

[otakuro]

I guess so! If there was any real meaning to it at all...

Oh, or maybe we're supposed to be swapping recipes. You cook pretty well, right? I found myself making hand rolls the other day for a lunchbox; I was impressed.

[greatseal]

[she giggles.] Well I'm glad you got something good out of it... If you want lessons on that when this is over, let me know. My skills still don't compare at all to Shinjiro-senpai, though.

[otakuro]

Shinjiro --

[Right. There had been other questions to ask.]

Shinjiro's a good cook, huh?

[He wouldn't have expected it from him, honestly...]

Ah, but about Shinjiro -- There was this other memory...

[greatseal]

[......


......]

I'm sure, but whether I'm going to answer or ignore you depends on what kind of "other memory" you're talking about.

[otakuro]

...Er.

[He hasn't the least idea what to make of that. ...Until he suddenly remembers their relationship status, of course.]

Oh, no, nothing like that! ...No way; that'd be -- !

[Oh god had they ever gotten intimate thank every god out there that memory hadn't come as part of the package.]

N-No, it was...

He was, er... shot.

1/2

[greatseal]

[As Atsuro stammers, Minako grins like a cat trapping a mouse. His reaction is too perfect.... even if inwardly she's relieved it doesn't seem like he actually did get any private memories. For Shinjiro's sanity, at least.]

[greatseal]

[But then he asks the serious question. It's not surprising, really. The memories she's gotten from him most recently seem very tense. If she had to apply the same filter to her own life...]

Yeah. That happened in October, before we found out about Nyx.

[otakuro]

[The most horrifying thing to come out of this event is clearly the thought that he might have remembered things that would amount to slash fanfic. Atsuro's flush dies away as the conversation returns to a more serious bent.]

...He wasn't in the Nyx memory. ...Was he OK?

[greatseal]

He...

[She pauses. That's the difficult part of the question. Okay is relative.] Yes. Though to be honest, we all thought we'd lost him then. He went into a coma and the doctors didn't think he would recover. But he did wake up, after we beat Nyx.

1/2

[otakuro]

Ah, that's a --

[otakuro]

-- ...relief.

[Or not so much. ...Imagine waking up from a four month coma to hear that your girlfriend had just died for the sins of the world or something. Atsuro shifts slightly uncomfortably.]

...Ah, it's good that the two of you were able to come here, then. You have some time.

[greatseal]

[Minako just smiles.]

Mmhm. Being here's made me really happy. So please don't feel bad, Atsuro-kun.

[She pauses.] Although, I do need to ask you... I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about what you know with other people. Especially what happened to Shinjiro-senpai, because in Minato's timeline, he didn't make it. Senpai and I don't want anyone finding out about that and then thinking it's their fault that he died in their world.

[otakuro]

A-Ah, yeah, of course. I wouldn't say anything. ...Thanks for talking about this stuff at all.

[Seriously, was it possible for a human being to be any more selfless? Shinjiro was a lucky guy...]

...Do you think you have any questions you'd like to ask me? Just to make it even.

[greatseal]

[Atsuro, you may want to reconsider that viewpoint.]

Well... you could tell me about the time that you had a crush on your tutor.

[otakuro]

My tu -- M-Miss Mari?

[why]

T-That wasn't a crush! I was... I think I was 13 or something; it doesn't count!

[greatseal]

[she has your memory you can't lie to her]

Of course it counts, everyone gets crushes when they're 13.

[otakuro]

Was there... a lot of that kind of thing in my memories?

[She would get his embarrassing memories.]

...Not that it happened a lot.

[please don't say anything about yuzu please don't say anything about yuzu please don't say anything about yuzu]

[greatseal]

Don't worry. I don't remember anything else embarrassing... It's mostly normal memories, and then the Lockdown.

[otakuro]

Good. ...Er. I didn't see her much after that year, so... it definitely didn't end up being a thing or anything.

[Atsuro pauses for a moment.]

You don't seem very surprised by that. ...The Lockdown, I mean. I guess I kinda explained it before, huh?