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Eleventh Curse (?)

[Audio]

You know, I've been thinking...

[Well. This is out of the blue. He continues to speak, his voice especially light and easy today.]

Hinoto-Ri isn't such a bad place, when you get right down to it. It gives a lot of opportunities you might not have had before - if you were sick, you're healthy. If you were dead, you're alive. You can do pretty much whatever you want! Philemon himself said we won't remember anything that happens here once we return to our worlds. We're technically here to save the people of Hinoto-Ri, but even if you don't do anything, there aren't any real repercussions. You'll still have a roof over your head whether you help or not.

That's a lot more than most people get.

I like it here! Sure, things could always go wrong - but that's fine. I've finally got a shot at living, not having to worry about getting sick or killed... It's about time I embraced that!

[There's a pause, but it's not hard to get the sense that he's got a satisfied grin on the other side of the feed despite the heaviness of those words.]

Ah-- Also, before I forget. Apparently there's another me going around. If you spot him, try and message me, will ya? He's probably harmless, but I think we should probably have a talk.

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Of course I wouldn't know about them...

[So passive aggressive.]

Maybe at one point... I would have told you that this was nonsense. That there was no such thing as a Devil or God, but... [Now he knew better. That rigid teenager that showed up in the afterlife in disbelief was gone.]

I'm listening. Was there really no other way besides... killing?

Say, you know what a cuckoo bird is, right?

It's kind of like those! I'm normal - enough, anyway. Nobody would suspect me of killing, so they accept me. A lot of people even enjoy being around me! After all, you keep talking to me, no matter what I do!

[You can hear the grin in his words.]

But it's still in my nature. So when the time comes, I'll start to push. One by one, I'll get rid of the humans around me, until there aren't any more left.

Yeah, I guess so... [Not that he has ever owned one. However, the feed almost picks up the hitch in his breath.]

I worry about you. I guess I can't leave well enough alone, okay? We're not talking about flaws in my personality.

['In my nature,' he says...]

How do you know? You said there were other... "Devil kin." Is that what they all did? Start taking human lives?

Bloodily! And they didn't even need to reach adulthood, first.

[Hizumi has more shame than this... doesn't he? Otonashi has never known Hizumi to cheerfully talk about the death of others.

In fact, the mint-haired boy seems to get upset at the very idea of someone else dying. So why--?]

H-how many times did that... happen? Do you know?

A number of times... not that it really matters. That was all the proof they needed before those guys started getting hunted.

But all of that... in the end, it doesn't really concern me so much! I can't do anything for them, and they can't do anything for me. Even if we're related, we're too different.

There's just no saving them. But as long as I stay here, there's a chance I can make it - well, in a manner of speaking, anyway!

That can't be. I don't believe that someone can be controlled solely by their nature alone...

[Couldn't someone have influenced these 'murderers?' Something about their environment? Nature versus nurture?

He had only been given such little information before now. The last time they had even touched the subject was back at the hospital, when--

Otonashi stops, biting his lip.]

... This is why. This is why you looked so horrified that day that you got a clean bill of health. You don't want this. I know you don't want to kill...

I said it was in my nature. I didn't say it was natural.

[It defied all logic. When he speaks again, his words actually sound somewhat... solemn, for once.]

...It's true; I don't really want to kill anyone.

But! [And we are back to chipper, here.] I don't want to die, either.

You said that you and these other children are... related, but very different. Didn't you?

Yeah, I did! But who wants to talk about them?

If you're so different, how do you know that you'll be the same? Isn't there a chance that you won't?

Because they only have half of the Devil's blood. They're just the children.

But as for me... I'm full-blooded.

It's not that my blood will imitate the effects of theirs. It's that their blood is imitating the effects of mine.

The children, huh...

[He would really rather not think too hard about Hizumi and children, but it might be an important detail, so...]

Does that mean that... you... uh.

[... Yeeeahh.]

[...Pfffft. You can hear him burst out laughing on the other end.]

No, no. I'm just the uncle!

The real devil is your brother, then. I guess I understand, but... I don't know why anyone would knowingly consent to creating... children like this. If all the evidence apparently pointed to becoming a killer...

[He's thinking aloud, mostly. This is... kind of a lot to absorb. Everyone seems so sure of these children being murderous, so why would anyone want to create them in the first place? And why couldn't anyone find a better solution than killing these children?

And--]

Where did the Devil even come from? I'd understand if you didn't know, but this is all so...

He was sent to that world by the Creator. It's... sort of like a game, I guess you could say! For the Devil to win, he needs to remove humanity from the picture. He only loses if he's killed.

So based on that... wouldn't it make sense to have lots of children? They'll blend right in with the rest of humanity until the time is right. And once their devil's blood takes over...

They can begin the slaughter!

... It makes sense. It all sounds very convoluted, but it makes sense.

[The more he learns, the more his heart sinks.]

Hizumi... Did that Devil lose this "game?" Did he become murderous and have to-- be picked off? Or did his body break him down too?

Ahh, I'm the only one with that little problem. My brother was as healthy as you can get! He was around long enough to set his plan into motion, after all... If he had the same problem, he wouldn't have ever become the Devil in the first place!

But as it was... God himself had to strike him down. In a manner of speaking, that is. They say he was so surprised someone could finally kill him - he even died with a look of shock on his face!

[He gives an amused chuckle. What a way to die, right?]

Then why make two brothers if only one of them would even live long enough to carry this... "game" out?

[He practically has to spit the word, swallowing the rest of his distaste. "Game." How grossly inappropriate.]

Isn't that just pointless and cruel? If you have all these perfect "children" to ... blend in, and an already healthy Devil, why would this "Creator" even bother? For laughs?!

Well, to be honest, Creator probably didn't intend for me to exist, really! [There was only one God and one Devil... at least, to begin with.] But apparently, my brother thought it would be a good idea to have "insurance". Someone else around with the exact same genes as him, to continue to pass them along.

[Even if that... doesn't really line up with the usual definition of "brother". But he continues on anyway.]

That's probably why my body came out like this. The world itself rejected the idea of another Devil, just like it rejected the idea of another God. But then again...

I suppose it's fine to blame science for it, too!

[With cloning technology still so new, it's only to be expected that a human subject would develop problems.]

Edited 2013-12-22 17:07 (UTC)

You can't make "insurance" for yourself, you would have to be identical twins. That's the only way you can have something carry your exact genes --

[Except it isn't.

"You could always blame science." ]

So you're -- No, that can't...

[Can't it?]

Are you... telling me that he created you as... a copy of his own DNA?

You're kind of slow on the uptake, aren't you? Even though you studied people like me so much.

It's not like this information is something you just-- encounter everyday. Maybe it's normal for you, but...

[He swallows back as much of his disappointment as he can, but it's too much. His hushed tone is a delicate veil for it, hardly the perfect stone he would like.]

... You should have told me. No -- Hizumi should have told me. Not you.

Edited (because I made a stupid!) 2013-12-22 17:52 (UTC)

Oops! Did I blow my cover already?

A long time ago. I'm sure you know -- Hizumi would never talk so easily to me without tell me to back off at least twice.

[Moreover, that mint-haired boy would never speak so cheerfully about the murder of innocent people. Hizumi could be annoying, certainly. Otonashi never relished in being the butt of someone's joke, but at the same time, it was something he seldom experienced.

In some odd way, he had almost grown fond of it. Maybe it was because they were achingly similar, even when they hated to admit it and ruffed each other up. No matter the outcome of this conversation, he had decided early on that he would be hitting up the nastiest markets once this was over.

The grossest, unhealthiest markets for only the finest in greasy foods for a certain teenager that the world had rejected. Here, he could do that much.

Maybe someday, if they remembered any of this, he would have to remember to hold onto some of the worst snacks in the afterlife. Hizumi might appreciate them there, too.]

You might have a few people going, though. You have the deceptive cheer down... [It's spoken with a twinge of bitterness.]

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bondsofsuffering - 2013-12-22 18:33 (UTC) - Expand

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