KAGACHI;

[crashout]

Comments

[crashout]

[He makes a face.] He didn't exactly tell us what he was doing before he pulled that trick. Guess he wanted to make it look as realistic as possible.

...we were being watched while we were in the bomb shelter. So his brilliant idea included pulling us out of sight of the cameras and making it look like a fight.

[preceptive]

... Kind of a drastic plan, but clever. Did it work?

[crashout]

Yes and no. We managed to stop our bracelets from injecting us and erasing our memories, but we found out it didn't matter when the guy watching us knew what we were doing the entire time and let us think we were getting away with it.

[So. That sucked.]

[preceptive]

[... ah. yeah, he knows the feeling.]

Sounds frustrating.

[crashout]

An understatement. [But it's fine. Sometimes you just deal.

The barrier's still up though and he approaches with the knife, poking at it to see if it'll shatter.] Why's this thing still up?

[preceptive]

Good question.

[and the answer is because it's time for round two (cw: suicide imagery), up to 1:23:30. fun.]

[crashout]

[The barrier begins to break down and Junpei's giving Kagachi a semi-bewildered look. It's not that he doesn't understand (except he sort of doesn't) and for a moment he's stewing over his options.]

...that wasn't the only timeline, was it?

[preceptive]

[ha... ha...]

Well, I don't necessarily understand all of it, but no, it wasn't.

[crashout]

So you got a do-over at least? Who...was that?

[preceptive]

I'm not sure I'd call it a do-over, but I did prevent that future from happening, yes.

Who was who? The woman?

[crashout]

Yeah, the woman. I was a little distracted. [By Kagachi working on stabbing himself! He guesses!] What was that all about?

[preceptive]

[hm.]

... That was my sister.

[crashout]

Tense family dynamics then. [Yikes.] ...when you told me you worked with souls, I don't think I really thought yours would be split like that.

[preceptive]

... That definitely isn't normal.

[crashout]

[Well neither are multiple timelines but it's fine.]

Am I allowed to ask about it, or do you wanna skip it and go back to me trying not to stab myself?

[preceptive]

I've told you about reincarnation, right?

[maybe?? he's lost track of who he's mentioned it to.]

The gist of it is that my past self had a... complicated life, and his internal conflict caused his soul to split into two after his death. I was born as half a soul.

[crashout]

You did, yeah. [But that...] Seems complicated. And you, as yourself, had to find the other half of your soul and weren't having much luck, I'm guessing? I didn't know souls could split like that.

[preceptive]

Not exactly. I didn't know I was incomplete until shortly before that fight.

All in all, it never affected me. It was a different story for the Night Devil, though.

[crashout]

The Night Devil. [Like. Just repeating because that title is. Hm.]

...kind of puts you in a shitty situation either way.

[preceptive]

My duty was to protect the people and to ensure that souls pass on. Two birds in one stone.

[crashout]

Even at the expense of yourself. [...first of all, yikes, but second of all there's...kind of a quiet sort of respect there.]

I don't remember if I've asked, but did you ever really get a choice?

[preceptive]

A choice for what?

[crashout]

Taking on that responsibility. I know you said it was, like, inherited from the guy who raised you but was it still your choice to make or did someone just decide you were bound to do it?

[preceptive]

... Well, in a way, you could say it might've been my fate from the beginning.

But to me, it was a decision I chose to make.

[crashout]

[Fate is something that's a pain in the ass, but his face seems to relax upon hearing Kagachi made a choice.]

Not that it doesn't suck still, but that's better than being forced into it the whole way.