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... ... ... ... ?

What is...?

I shouldn't... be awake...

[In the Velvet Room...]

[It's courteous of whatever's going on with Igor's plan here that Hamuko is dressed. She probably shouldn't even have a body... whatever she has going on now... did her body fall comatose without her? Did it die? If it was alive, she surely should be much older. ... ... ... Maybe that all doesn't really matter, right now. She's here, gifted a chance to be around others again. The pinboard catches her attention first, of course. Signs of other people... so many little notes, talking about multiple versions of the same person running around. That's... that's charming... that's fun. ...Even if the notes about Ken Amadas make her sad...]

Hmm... I don't see any other 'me' off the bat...

[She'll take a few minutes once given a pen and some pink paper to doodle a little version of herself, signed with her name and phone number, and add it to the corner of the pinboard.]

[Inaba, Central Shopping District]

[What a fun little town! A charming place... hey, isn't this the town she went to for the volleyball camp? She loved the accommodations, but it's so nice to actually wander the streets and see the little shops. This place is SO rural, Hamuko had never really visited a place this remote, even when jumping between foster homes.] Let's see... what's the good spot for the locals? [No point being a complete tourist shmuck!!]

[Shibuya, Underground Mall]

[Well, since nothing costs anything here... might as well get some cute new clothes, right? Who knows how long she'll be around here, and 'dreaming up' new outfits didn't seem to be a thing. No lucid dreaming here - somehow, Hamuko felt a lot happier with that in mind. Still... the fashion is so different!!]

I just want one cute orange top...!! Is orange out of style? Dang it...

[Iwatodai Dorms]

[Of all of the places she's been having fun goofing off and exploring in, the dorms... she couldn't quite get the courage to open the front. Not just yet.]

Not even Koromaru is out front right now. ...I've gotta apologize...

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Easy peasy! Hamuko set to shredding the apples she'd gotten out, getting down to the core of one.

"How many apples, you think?" she asked, sneaking a bite of apple before tossing the core into the trash.

"Two should be plenty, if not slightly overboard, but I can use the rest tomorrow if there's extra." It'll go well with whatever she whips together for breakfast.

Or whatever Aragaki-san whips together for breakfast and insists everyone eat. Whichever. She dices the onion nice and quick, then turns her attention to the pork.

They're effectively cognitive facsimiles. Or, to put it another way, similar to "NPCs" in a video game.

[He watches the counter and, thankfully, the food comes up relatively fast.

Akechi grabs his order and moves over to one of the crates.]

Vi's knife skills are incredibly confident and competent! Hamuko doesn't comment, knowing after getting an earful from Shinji not to interrupt in the middle of cooking. Another shredded apple coming right up!

Another lesson from Shinji was, of course, following instructions and not asking directions. Once the apples were shredded, Hamuko set to rinsing the grater, watching Violet for her next instruction if any. If not, she'd happily help clean up as they went.

Honestly, just having someone to do the cleanup as they go is really helpful. It lets Sumire focus more on the meal itself.

And indeed, before too long they have some pork stir-fry with vegetables and a savory sauce, and some rice to carry the dish. "Thank you for your help."

"It smells so gooooood! My stomach's growling already!" Hamuko cheerfully chirped, helping to carry their bowls to the table. "You're so efficient! I got a long ways to go to catch up, ehehe. Don't be too nice if you decide to give me pointers, got it?"

She's ecstatic. Her first home cooked meal since waking up... it feels like yesterday but also a lifetime since getting to sit and eat here, in the place that feels so much like home.

The enthusiasm and approval is all over her expression on first bite. THIS IS DELICIOUS....!

"Yeah... it's not like anything I've seen before," Hamuko remarked. Thank fuck they weren't like The Lost... she didn't need that unease and uncertainty haunting her for the duration. No, they were just... distant.

"Are you used to them?" she asked, waiting for the fresh cooked croquettes to cool just enough to take a bite.

Zenkichi carefully looked at Hamuko, still surprised by the sheer will she seemed to carry—how she insisted, time and time again, that they were all human. He was still processing everything, and she wasn’t backing down from this narrative of hope she was pushing. It was both unnerving and admirable.

"Yeah," he said, his tone dripping with sarcasm, though his gaze remained steady. "You’re something else, kid. First time we meet and you’re already-" He stops and shook his head with a low chuckle, but it wasn’t one of humor. More of a bitter, self-loathing kind of laugh. "Don’t expect me to start handing out gold stars or anything. I don’t have anything savory to share."

He stopped himself, though. His words were starting to wear thin even for him. He wasn’t in the mood to keep dragging it all out.

Akane, however, was fully down for the idea. "I think it’d be great to get to know you more!" she said, all youthful enthusiasm in her voice. "I mean, you’ve been through so much, right? I want to understand. We should exchange contacts-!"

Zenkichi blinked at her for a moment. The contrast between her energy and his jaded weariness could have been a punchline in itself. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. This wasn’t a situation where he wanted to drag everyone down with his own sour mood, but he couldn’t help it.

"Gotta say though, I-" he muttered under his breath, then louder, he added, "I didn’t mean to make this feel like an interrogation or anything. Old habits die hard, y’know? But..." his gaze is fleeting. Understanding behind his otherwise unflinching mask. "-it's good that you are keeping your chin up. Maybe that's what this place needs."

With a bright smile, Hamuko was happy to open her phone so she could make contact profiles for the two of them. "I've got SO many things I could talk about. Both the awful stuff and the stuff that was always worth fighting for," she explained as she typed in names and numbers. "Don't worry, Wolf-pop, Akane-chan, I'll send more cute pictures than serious convos."

Sumire's blushing again, but she bears the praise with relative grace, this time. "I just have a lot of practice, that's all. But this is the one thing I know without question I'm good at."

And that expression on Hamuko's face is all the thanks she needs.

It takes a lot of self control to not just scarf this down!! Flavorful, tasty, satisfying~

Without any chatter, Hamuko finished the meal, basking happily. "That hit the spot! Thank you for dinner~"

"You're welcome."

It's always been nice, sharing her food with an appreciative audience. (Kasumi had that much right, at least, and her parents have always enjoyed it.)

She is definitely gonna woo her with Chocolates in a few weeks. Sumire won't escape.

"I'll finish the dishes as thanks! I can put on some tea while I do if you like, Vi."

She will Not know what to do with that. (Nor will it occur to her to do the same, whoops.)

"I - that would be lovely, thank you."

The fabric is unfamiliar to him, but he accepts her judgment without question. "It looks very comfortable. Should I try it on?"

“Wolf- pop?!” he repeated, nearly choking on the word. His head snapped toward Hamuko with an expression that was a mix of disbelief and sheer indignation. “From what angle do I seem like one?! What part of me remotely screams—” He cut himself off as his voice solemnly cracks. "Do I?"

Akane burst into laughter, her LED eyes flickering with amusement. “This NEVER gets old.” she teased Hamuko.

Unlike Hamuko, who was already pulling out her phone like a normal person, Akane simply snapped her fingers. A soft ping followed, and Hamuko’s phone lit up with a data drop notification, linked by the shared "network" app that they have installed on their phones the moment they step foot here with their respective cognitive IP address.

“You can just click that link, and you’ll get my and Wolf's contact list with a small bonus~! Akane announced proudly. "Access to my digital space!”

After taking a second to click the link, her phone whirring and accessing the new digital space, Hamuko snickered at Zenkichi.

Gestured between him and Akane.

"Wolf-pop. Wolf-pup."

"Hmm... does this place have a changing room? Let's see!" Hamuko draped the turtleneck and a few other shirts on her arm before looking further in for a spot to change. There's not much, but there's a couple of doors that close where customers can try out the clothes!

"Here we go! Here, try these all on - you can come back out wearing one of these if you want an opinion but we gotta make sure they fit, first!"

Maruki stalled for a moment, Hamuko’s careful words lingering in the air between them.

Despair. Pain. And yet—humanity’s will to fight, to persevere.

His expression dimmed slightly as he considered her perspective. Considered the sheer defiance of the people here, their refusal to be shaped by suffering, their rejection of his ideals—the ones he had built to save them from it.

And yet…

“I don’t disagree that hope can shape people,” he said at last, his voice quieter, measured. “I’ve seen it here. The strength people gain from one another, the way they lift each other up. It’s remarkable.”

His fingers tightened slightly around his clipboard.

“But...” His eyes flickered downward, toward the pavement. “The collective consciousness, the general world, the common man- doesn’t always reflect that.”

The wind carried his sigh, soft but heavy. “Not everyone makes it to the surface. Some fall too deep into despair to even see a way out. When someone has spent so long drowning, do we truly expect them to survive a relentless storm?”

Maruki exhaled lightly, shaking his head. “...In a perfect world, I would love to believe that everyone has the strength to fight. That making it through pain to find something beautiful is always an option.” His lips pressed together, and when he spoke again, it was almost to himself.

“But not everyone gets that chance.”

Solemnly, she nodded... there was absolutely no denying that some people don't have that strength to keep going on. People give up, or even fight tooth and nail to force the end on themselves and others. Pain runs deep, like that.

She remembered so, so many moments in her life.

What's the point?

She doesn't have a family anymore. All she was in these strangers' homes was... a burden. No matter how small she made herself, she couldn't deny that she DID take space, and time, and resources - and saw how it furrowed brows.

Why am I fighting?

All of her efforts hastened the death of everyone, she'd been complicit in endangering everyone and been an unwitting pawn.

I'm scared.

She would have lied if she said that she hadn't seriously considered Ryoji's offer, even if it hadn't lasted long in the face of her resolve. Those few moments of deep terror, anguish, knowing it was coming inevitably, not wanting it to hurt more... it would be so, so easy. Living without being seized by guilt, fear, by knowing that she did this, she harbored the end of the world inside of her and doomed everyone like a fucking idiot--

Akinari's smiling, pale face came to mind. Ryoji, hugging her for a final time that terrible New Year's Eve. Shinjiro, finally alive and breathing and embracing her before everything went dark, a smile on his face. Every single member of SEES, looking to her, finding comfort in her resolve, deciding that even if they die, this mattered to them too.

Life was funny, like that.

"That's why it matters for those of us who can fight, who can keep going, to reach out and help everyone else. If I can be strong for someone that isn't, and I can be there for them so they aren't alone... then I will. That's worth fighting for," she answered with a soft, melancholic and humorless laugh. "People are afraid, so often. We don't live in a perfect world because people aren't perfect, but... they deserve a chance."

Maruki watched her carefully, his gentle gaze softening as he took in her expression. The way her voice wavered just slightly, the weight behind her words—it told him more than she probably realized.

She had been through far too much. More than anyone should have to endure.

And yet, he understood.

Because he had been there too.

Even now, in the quiet of their conversation, he could still hear Rumi’s screams echoing in the halls of that hospital. The raw, anguished cries of someone drowning in grief, pleading for something—*anything*—to take the pain away.

"I want to forget, Takuto..."

"I can't- I can't do this! Not anymore!"

"It hurts!"

"It hurts!"

Ithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurts-

So he took it all away.
The pain. The hurt. The memories. Rumi wished to forget him. Forget everything related to her parents.

~~Azathoth? helped? him?~~

Not even as he failed to protect her parents, not even as he stood helplessly by while her world shattered.

He had lost so much that day. The love of his life, the future they could have had, the warm light in her eyes that once made him feel like everything would be okay. It was gone, ripped away by circumstances beyond his control.

That was why he had to take up this research.

If the mind could shape reality, if it could distort and twist under the weight of pain—then it could heal too, couldn’t it?

He wanted to use it in therapy. To pull people up before they sank too deep, to erase the burdens that crushed them.

If he could take away the suffering, if he could lift even one person from the depths of despair… then maybe they wouldn’t have to beg to forget.

Maybe they could move forward. Truly move forward—free from the pain, free from the endless suffering that bound them to the past.

And Hamuko…

He could see it in her. The loneliness. The loss. The way she fought so hard for the sake of others, but never for herself. Despite not having any sort of context.

His fingers curled slightly around his clipboard, and for a moment, he looked away, his expression dulled by something unspoken.

When he met her gaze again, it was with quiet compassion.

“…You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you, Hamuko-san?”

It wasn’t just a question. It was recognition. A quiet acknowledgment of everything she had carried—and everything she still did.

"Hasn't everyone?" she asked back, with a slight laugh, shifting her weight a bit into a more relaxed posture. "Fate can deal a really difficult, painful hand. But I made it through to the end doing the right thing, so that's what I can take pride in."

The end, huh...

"I may not have 'fixed' society, or anything like that... I might not have made things better. But I believe in them... I think it's in human nature to want to connect to others. And bonds like that are what help people that are struggling through the worst of it. Even if humanity was crying out for death, I won't let Her reach them - I want them to have the chance to make it through that despair."

"I made it through to the end."

"Even if humanity was crying out for death, I won’t let Her reach them—"

His grip on his clipboard tightened.

She was talking about herself like she was already gone.

The factors were all there. The hints, the implications, the way she carried herself—like someone who had already reached their end and had made peace with it.

He didn’t want to make assumptions. He couldn’t.

Because if he was right, if he acknowledged what was clawing at the edge of his mind, then what did that mean? That he was talking to a ghost? A lingering cognition left behind in the wake of something tragic? A memory?

A lump formed in his throat.

Maruki tucked the thought away, quickly, methodically—like pressing down a loose page in a book before the wind could carry it away. His own psyche was already a fragile enough thing. He wasn’t going to risk unraveling it further.

Instead, he exhaled quietly, carefully choosing his next words.

“…I don’t know your circumstances,” he admitted, his voice measured. “I don’t know what your timeline, your world, particularly looks like in the way you may have experienced it. But I do know that you’ve made an impact. Just by existing.”

His gaze softened, his sincerity pressing against the weight of her words.

“I believe that each and every person is a miracle in this world, Hamuko-san.”

It wasn’t just something he told his patients. He believed it. People were born into circumstances beyond their control, shaped by joys and tragedies alike, but their very existence was a defiance of the impossible.

Maruki hesitated for a beat before continuing. “And while I won’t pry into what you’ve been through… I can say that there are people out there who are striving to fix society now. People who have devoted themselves to their cause, to sort out Humanity's old habits of self-destruction, to studying cognition, to understanding the mind’s influence on reality.”

He offered a small, almost wistful smile.

“People like me, hopefully.”

~~Morning believed in it too. Right?~~

Because if cognition could shape the world, if reality could be rewritten—then maybe, just maybe, they could create a world where despair didn’t have to linger.

He just...needed to perfect the method. The answer must have been somewhere simply lingering in his mind but he will do it. No matter what it takes.

"If everyone tries, then it will get better. I'll probably end up talking more about things anyway, but there's no rush," she laughed lightly. After all, she was lonely, and wanted very badly to talk.

If she knew him better, she would've given him a playful shove. For now, she just chuckles.

"Well, being a counselor is always a good start. Most people just need someone that will listen and not judge them, right? Someone that'll believe in... them. Oh," she trailed off, seeing the sign for Junes, lit up even midday. "Wow, I really wouldn't have missed it if I kept walking, looks like part of the city encroaching on a little town. That's gotta be the place."

This was probably a very, very stupid idea, especially with how dangerous this 'Doom' Ken Amada was described to be in the network. Malicious, power-hungry... and then of course there was that Amada's post boasting about it.

She was probably being naive, stupid, to have any hope of trying to connect to this person. But this time, she wasn't going to wait or hesitate. If this is why Igor brought her here, or fate gave him the whim to do so, then she had to see firsthand.

Hello. I'd like to meet up with you. I'll wait at Naganaki Shrine tonight - come hungry.

She made sure to show up after sundown, herself. An evoker on her hip, sure, but otherwise she was just in a sweater and tights, waiting with a bag on her lap that held a couple of tuppers with omurice she made for the two of them to eat. ...Was that a stupid peace offering? Would it be read as condescending, offering it? Was this Amada far gone enough to just attack her? ...Well. She was here now, bracing and uncertain for where this night might go.

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Seeking 'Doom Amada'