All Maruki's words manage to do is infuriate Kou more.
"You are SO full of CRAP!" he shouts, voice trembling with fury, "you think you can just lie to my face and that I'll believe you? Motherfucker, I watched you show Sumire the exact way and moment her sister died, when there should be no conceivable way for you to have that knowledge- let alone have a recording of it! You could have done anything- anything other than show her that! You want me to believe you're not cruel enough to force me to- to fucking relive the memories of my brother's death? To show me imagery and objects and horrorshows until I submit and beg for you to brainwash me?! I hate to tell you, doctor, but I've changed your grossly distorted heart before- and I know exactly what kind of man you are!"
He smashes his sword into a wall when it twists, and tries to herd him. It's fruitless, of course, but he doesn't care- he hopes to god that it hurts Maruki. He hopes that he can feel every single morsel of his rage.
"It's always about you!" he snarls, "everything is always about your need to further your research, your need to pry into people's lives for answers, your need to put the blame of your own fucking mistakes on other people! I didn't ask for you to lure me into your Palace with a cognition of my brother! I didn't ask for you to force me into your maze of horrors! I didn't ask you for shit! You decided that all on your own, and now you're mad at me for calling you out on your bullshit?! This is exactly why you have a Palace in the first place!"
And, as if to taunt him ever further, a very particular Metaverse mask shows up. Black, beak-like, a crack running down the side.
Kou feels the tears prick in his eyes, but he swallows them down, unwilling to let Maruki see his weakness. He doesn't pick the mask up- just ignores it, rushes by it as if it's going to burn him- only for, around the next corner, something else to show up. And the next, and the next, and the next.
A bracelet Ren gave Goro. Sunglasses Kou got as a gift. An engraved fountain pen.
A single black glove.
Kou swears he can hear Goro's voice murmuring in his ears, but he's obviously nowhere to be seen. The walls pulsate and squirm, changing from pristine to mazelike to elegant to brick back to pristine-
1/2
"You are SO full of CRAP!" he shouts, voice trembling with fury, "you think you can just lie to my face and that I'll believe you? Motherfucker, I watched you show Sumire the exact way and moment her sister died, when there should be no conceivable way for you to have that knowledge- let alone have a recording of it! You could have done anything- anything other than show her that! You want me to believe you're not cruel enough to force me to- to fucking relive the memories of my brother's death? To show me imagery and objects and horrorshows until I submit and beg for you to brainwash me?! I hate to tell you, doctor, but I've changed your grossly distorted heart before- and I know exactly what kind of man you are!"
He smashes his sword into a wall when it twists, and tries to herd him. It's fruitless, of course, but he doesn't care- he hopes to god that it hurts Maruki. He hopes that he can feel every single morsel of his rage.
"It's always about you!" he snarls, "everything is always about your need to further your research, your need to pry into people's lives for answers, your need to put the blame of your own fucking mistakes on other people! I didn't ask for you to lure me into your Palace with a cognition of my brother! I didn't ask for you to force me into your maze of horrors! I didn't ask you for shit! You decided that all on your own, and now you're mad at me for calling you out on your bullshit?! This is exactly why you have a Palace in the first place!"
And, as if to taunt him ever further, a very particular Metaverse mask shows up. Black, beak-like, a crack running down the side.
Kou feels the tears prick in his eyes, but he swallows them down, unwilling to let Maruki see his weakness. He doesn't pick the mask up- just ignores it, rushes by it as if it's going to burn him- only for, around the next corner, something else to show up. And the next, and the next, and the next.
A bracelet Ren gave Goro. Sunglasses Kou got as a gift. An engraved fountain pen.
A single black glove.
Kou swears he can hear Goro's voice murmuring in his ears, but he's obviously nowhere to be seen. The walls pulsate and squirm, changing from pristine to mazelike to elegant to brick back to pristine-