[ video ]

[thirdarrow]

[ The video feed opens to show the inside of an apartment, with a chair directly facing the camera. The interior of the room has been left untouched, and there are no visible decorations save for a single calligraphy scroll hung on one wall. There seems to be no one on-screen.

A few seconds' silence elapses before someone speaks. ]

... Hello? Is this... transmitting properly? [ Pause. ] Ah, it should be.

[ The camera shakes momentarily before settling down again. A young man comes into view from the left of the screen and sits down on the chair.

For those who have met him before, he seems... older, somehow. His features still suggest approximately the same age, but he looks more tired, perhaps even a little unwell. There are dark shadows under his eyes, and his frame shows vague signs of one too many forgotten meals.

His voice still sounds the same, though - calm and composed. ]

I suppose I ought to introduce myself again...? My name is Takakage Kobayakawa, and you may have seen me about during the Thirteenth Hour in the previous week.

From my perspective, eight years have elapsed since my last contact with this city. If I am not mistaken, only a day has passed here - therefore my momentary absence. I apologize if anyone had tried to contact me yesterday, for I was not present and thus could not take your message.

But in any case, I am here again. It has been a long while.

[ He nods, smiling faintly. ]

If there is anything I need to know and have missed, I would appreciate it if you could take the time to update me.

Thank you.

[ The feed cuts here. ]

Comments

[thirdarrow]

"At the library." He nods at this. "... I hope they haven't revoked my post, though."

[unbroken_chain]

"I doubt they fire people for missing one day."

[thirdarrow]

"I see." Well, that is good news.

There is a pause as he tries to think of something else to say.

"... nothing really has changed with the city, then?" Being here still feels a little surreal. At least he is now fully convinced that his previous visit had not been a dream.

[unbroken_chain]

"Uh...I think I may have had a prophetic dream of some sort? Which is weird for a number of reasons."

[thirdarrow]

"... Ah, is that so?" He looks more concerned now.

"You can tell me about it, if you'd like."

[unbroken_chain]

"Well, there was this kind of...chain sound? And then something tried to drown me, but I fell through the sky and into the ground, and then everything started dying around me. Then there were a bunch of Bug-types, and this...Scolipede thing that wanted to eat me, except someone I couldn't see pulled me out and told me 'it's too dangerous for you to be here alone! Come back never!'"

Her voice twists up into something utterly unlike her normal registers for a moment as she calls on her acting skills to reproduce the one part of the dream she remembers clearly.

"And then I woke up, scared out of my mind. Arthur and Scorpina told me it wasn't a normal dream, and they'd know that sort of thing, so I figured it might have been a prophetic dream, even though I don't have that kind of talent."

[thirdarrow]

Takakage listens politely, waiting for Kotoha to finish speaking before he attempts a reply. Though he isn't exactly sure who she consulted. He assumes they were her friends.

There is a few moments of silence before he starts speaking, though.

"... I see." His words are careful and deliberate. "It certainly does sound quite out of the ordinary." Right now, it seems like an even fifty-fifty chance of the dream being just a nightmare... but instincts told him that it would eventually mean something.

"Please be more careful, then." It never hurt to exercise more caution. "Though... if it is a prophetic dream... do you know if you are the only one with such an experience?"

[unbroken_chain]

"Not a clue, actually! I should probably get on that."

[thirdarrow]

He nods in affirmation.

"I pray that this is a mere anomaly."