Text: This is a public service announcement

[lighter_flick]

[After he wakes up from that weird dream, it takes him a few more hours to realize that Eikichi is, somehow, missing. And...that was it! That was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back! Because by mid-morning, there is an angry-looking text post from Tatsuya on the network, with only these words of warning.]

ATTN: HINOTO-RI

PHILEMON WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE

[That's....it. Maybe he should elaborate.]

Comments

[linefacingforever]

My friends had to face themselves. We also fought shadows regularly.

You've dealt with Philemon before coming here? Would you mind giving me more information about him?

[lighter_flick]

SURE, I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW ALREADY BUT OKAY.

HE'S THE PART OF HUMANITY THAT WANTS HUMANITY TO BECOME ENLIGHTENED. HE'S ALSO NYARLATHOTEP'S OTHER HALF. IF YOU THINK OF NYARLATHOTEP AS HIS SHADOW, THEN THAT'S PRETTY MUCH IT.

HE ALSO CREATED IGOR AND THE VELVET ROOM. PHILEMON ALSO SHOWS UP AS A BUTTERFLY SOMETIMES.

IF ANY OF THIS IS SOUNDING FAMILIAR TO YOU, FEEL FREE TO SPEAK UP.

[linefacingforever]

[...oh.]

I've been to the Velvet Room often before coming here, and I've worked with Igor before.

The butterflies I've seen on occasion, but I never met Philemon until I came here.

[lighter_flick]

[Ahahaha, aaaaaaaahahahahahaha that's funny.

You're funny, Yu.]

IF YOU'VE ENCOUNTERED WEIRD SPARKLY BUTTERFLIES AND CAN GET INTO THE VELVET ROOM, THEN YOU'VE MET PHILEMON.

ALTHOUGH I GUESS HE WASN'T SHOWING UP IN PERSON FOR YOU FOR SOME REASON??

[linefacingforever]

It was more they were around when I needed a moment to pause and reflect? I didn't actually see him in person until I was brought here.

[...wait. Freaking wait.]

Is it possible we're from the same world?

[lighter_flick]

I DUNNO, HAVE YOU HEARD OF SUMARU CITY?

[He probably has...it's a coastal city roughly the size of San Francisco. Much easier for people to have heard of Sumaru or Iwatodai than, say, Inaba.]

[linefacingforever]

It sounds familiar.

[Yeah, not even going to bother asking; he hadn't even been sure of Inaba until his parents said he was going there.]

[lighter_flick]

[...So he's not from Sumaru. And, let's be frank, if he wasn't from Sumaru, he'd be dead if they were from the same world.

Unless...if Maya's actually here, then...]

THIS MIGHT SOUND KIND OF WEIRD, BUT WHAT YEAR WERE YOU TAKEN FROM?

[Hey, he could have always been brought from before the Grand Cross happened...]

[linefacingforever]

2012

[lighter_flick]

[.....okay uh.

The next response might take awhile.

Because Tatsuya is kind of having a moment right now. So...

Please hold, we are experiencing technically difficulties]

[linefacingforever]

[...did he lose him?]

You okay?

[lighter_flick]

ISF THE EATRH OKAY????????

[linefacingforever]

[What the...?]

Not counting the issue we had with the fog and the TVs, yes?

[lighter_flick]

I'M SERIOUS, DO YOU HAIL FROM A BARREN AND RUINED WORLD THAT'S SIMILAR TO THE MAD MAX FILMS BUT IN A MUCH LESS AWESOME WAY?

OR ARE YOU FROM A NICE NORMAL CITY OR TOWN WHERE EVERYTHING'S FINE AND MASSES OF PEOPLE DIDN'T DIE HORRIBLY.

THIS IS REALLY SERIOUS.

PLEASE TELL ME THAT I ACTUALLY DIDN'T SCREW UP FOR ONCE.

[linefacingforever]

I was being serious.

I lived in Inaba before coming here, and other than the mysteries my friends and I had to solve, everything was fine.

[lighter_flick]

[...Sorry, he's...screaming internally. For lack of a better term.

It worked. Their plan to reset everything actually worked. That's why Maya was alive and she didn't remember it WORKED IT WORKED IT WORKED!!!

DID YOU SEE THAT NYARLATHOTEP???

IT WORKED AND THIS GUY AND MAYA-NEE WAS PROOF THAT IT WORKED AHAHAHAHAHAHAH SUCK HIS DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK.]

OH MY GOD SORRY I'M JUST

WHAT'S IT LIKE IN 2012??

[linefacingforever]

It's not bad, I guess. What year are you from?

[lighter_flick]

1999.

I'M SORRY THIS IS JUST REALLY

OH MY GOD.

AND EVERYTHING'S FINE EXCEPT FOR THE THINGS YOU HAD TO TAKE CARE OF, RIGHT?

[linefacingforever]

Yeah, and that's more or less resolved as well.

Were things that bad for you?

[lighter_flick]

YEAH.

WE TRIED TO RESET EVERYTHING TOO AND...I GUESS IT WORKED???

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

[linefacingforever]

[...what.]

Reset?

[lighter_flick]

RESET.

LIKE THE WORLD ENDED AND EVERYONE EXCEPT THE PEOPLE WHO WERE IN SUMARU DIED OKAY.

SO PHILEMON SAID THAT MY FRIENDS AND I COULD RESET EVERYTHING BUT WE'D NEVER HAVE MET UP WHEN WE WERE KIDS BECAUSE THAT WAS WHEN WE WERE BEING SCREWED WITH WHICH STARTED THE CHAIN OF EVENTS THAT CAUSED THE WORLD TO END, SO WE DID.

AND WE'D HAVE TO FORGET EVEN HAVING MET EACH OTHER SO WHEN I CAME HERE AND REMEMBERED EVERYTHING I THOUGHT I SCREWED UP.

BUT I DIDN'T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[linefacingforever]

[...what.]

[What.]

[WHAT?!]

[Sorry, Tatsuya, now it's Yu's turn to need an intermission.]

[lighter_flick]

[SEE.

Now you get why he was upset!!!]

MAN, I WONDER WHAT I'LL BE LIKE IN 2012

[Pause while he does some quick math.]

...DUDE I'LL BE THIRTY.

THAT'S SO WEIRD TO THINK ABOUT

[linefacingforever]

[...he's more worried about being thirty instead of having to reset the world?! Is the fact that he even exists is because this person gave up everything he knew and loved just so the rest of the world could survive?!]

That's a lot to process.