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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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Voices tipped Hamuko off first - her mind was still a bit foggy, and somehow, the footsteps didn't tick any warning. With the Aria playing, really, she'd somehow assumed it might be Theo.

The younger lady's voice did snap her out of her focus, and she blinked in surprise, looking at her - and she beamed. "Oh! Featherman," Hamuko laughed lightly, pointing at the mask, "I love Featherman too..."

And an older accompanying voice, too. Hamuko looked over to... wow. Okay, there was a lot to really look at here... the guy had a really severe facial scar. The outfit was a lot. Are the arms like that for the outfit, or... and then there's the hat, and the way it all looked so... so.........

...Dramatic!

"Wow. W-well... you look like you're ready to handle anything."

Zenkichi’s gaze swept over the red-haired girl, scanning her posture, her expression, the easy way she smiled and spoke. No tension, no immediate hostility—just casual, open curiosity. And innocence, almost disarmingly so.

Still, the instincts that came with being both a cop and a Shadow Weapon flickered at the back of his mind with his cognitive scan giving way to a few conclusions. A Wild Card. A powerful one, at that.

But... she sure didn’t feel like a threat.

Instead of stiffening, Zenkichi just let out a low chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. “Heh. You should see the coat, then,” he quipped, shifting his weight. “Thing belongs in a historical museum.”

There was something mildly entertaining about the way she had taken in his entire appearance—the scar, the gear, the hat—before blurting out her thoughts. Not quite flustered, but close.

Akane, meanwhile, perked up at the mention of Featherman, her glowing red optics behind the mask whirring slightly. “Oh! Yeah!” she said, her voice laced with an awkward kind of excitement. “I, um… I actually don’t know that much about the show yet, but I just started watching the first few episodes!”

She fidgeted slightly, then gestured to her mask. “I thought Pink Argus and Red Hawk were really cool, so I—uh—made this! I mean, it’s functional. Can see right through it. I even thought of just wearing the whole suit but it might have been too on the nose-”

Zenkichi exhaled through his nose, cutting in gently before she could ramble too much. “Akane.” He tilted his head towards the other. “She just woke up. Give her a bit.”

Akane blinked, then quickly straightened, processing his words. “Oh. Right. Sorry.”

She wasn’t used to this yet—talking to people like this, as herself. She wasn’t just a floating projection this time. She wasn’t just a set of programmed responses.

Edited 2025-02-01 02:11 (UTC)

"It's okay, she's just excited," Hamuko reassured, glancing between Akane and Zenkichi - especially with all of the... lights and everything. Actually, that reminded her an awful lot of a roommate...

Was she getting assessed for danger? Well... she did have her equipment thanks to Igor, but most of that was still packed up in the bag she'd set down to mess with the board. Hopefully she wouldn't need to dive for her Evoker, but Akane seemed very sweet already.

"Forgive me if it's rude to ask... are you an Anti-Shadow Weapon?" Hamuko gently ventured.

Zenkichi considered the girl’s answer for a moment before giving a slight nod. Yeah, there wasn’t a problem here. He adjusted his hat, the motion casual but thoughtful. Dealing with someone new here was… weird. He was still getting used to the place himself.

At Hamuko’s question, he exhaled, nodding once. “47th-generation Anti-Shadow Weapon. Unhuman. Augmented soldier. All that jazz.” His voice was matter-of-fact, as if rattling off his own specs was just another part of life. But then, with a small shrug, he added, “My real name is Zenkichi Hasegawa but I prefer just Wolf- saves you a few syllables.”

His tone eased slightly as he finally placed his hands in his pocket. “There’s a network post somewhere with the full rundown if you want to read it, but... yeah. That’s the short of it.”

Akane, standing beside him, took the chance to step in.

She shook her head, tapping her fingertips against her palm as she explained, “We’re a Shadow Weapon unit, but I’m not really a combat model like he is. I’m more of an assistant who supervises the field—a complex cognitive AI. Well…” She hesitated, but only for a second. “More than that, actually. But that’s what I was built as.”

"And you are..." she turns to look at the board again. "Miss Hamuko Arisato?"

Edited 2025-02-01 11:27 (UTC)

He's 47th generation? Wow... wow! That all probably means he's from the far future, right?? ... There's a future that stretches that far ahead... while there's no way to be sure that it's her world's future, that's really reassuring anyway.

"Oh! Yes, Hamuko Arisato. I was last awake, uhhh..." she trailed off in thought for a moment. When was it...? "Mmmmmm...march, of 2010."

Akane stiffened. It was subtle—just a brief pause, a flicker of tension in her shoulders—but Zenkichi caught it instantly.

Their eyes met for only a fraction of a second. A whole conversation passed between them in the span of a few milliseconds.

March, 2010.

A timestamp burned into history—the year the Kirijo Group collapsed before clawing its way back up fifteen years later, spurred on by the Cognitive Psience race. A turning point. And this girl had lived through it?

Zenkichi hummed, rolling his shoulders back, keeping his stance easy as he brought one hand up to clasp his own chin in thought, the back of the other hand resting on his waist. This time without his gloves. The exposed cybernetic hand gleamed slightly under the room’s lighting, bolts set neatly into the knuckles, blending seamlessly into his natural fingers trailing out beyond the hybrid frame. He tilted his head slightly, giving Hamuko a once-over, his eyes flicking from her uniform to the name tag she wore.

"March, 2010, huh?" His voice was casual, but there was an underlying note of curiosity. “That’d put you in Gekkoukan High, wouldn’t it?”

His expression was neutral, but there was a small furrow in his brow—just enough to show he was piecing things together.

Then, something else registered. His eyes narrowed slightly.

“Last awake, huh?” He rocked back on his heels slightly, raising an eyebrow. “That’s a hell of a way to phrase it. You make it sound like you’ve been in hibernation or something.”

"That's right," Hamuko answered softly, catching the hesitation and reaction between the two of them. She didn't make a big fuss of it... she considered.

...Well. There wasn't much of a reason to keep it to herself. She smiled, a world of different emotions behind it, as she clarified.

"Right... because I'd given up my life to protect humanity from The Fall."

Zenkichi caught the smile on her lips, and for a second, it unsettled him. It was too easy—too genuine for what she had just said.

Then the words hit.

"The Fall."

His stomach dropped.

Zenkichi gulped. His brain worked fast, piecing things together, dredging up buried knowledge. The Fall. The Kirijo Group had records on it, old reports that compared the Dark Hour to "the Eternal Sleep" which had taken over their present current world. He had been to Tartarus. He’d fought in its halls here.

And Nyx—Nyx. The goddess of death, descending upon the earth for complete annihilation.

His mouth opened, then closed. His arms, previously crossed, fell to his sides. His entire stance shifted like he’d just been hit with a sledgehammer of realization.

And then, in pure, unfiltered Zenkichi fashion—

“What-?!”

The sheer volume of it echoed through the room. He coughs, tries to catch himself. Fails. He raises an index and blinks behind his impenetrable mask. "Ahem- I mean, sorry, what?! Wait, wait, wait, hold on—are you telling me you—"

But before he could get another word out—

“OH MY GOD, THAT’S SO COOL!”

Akane’s voice practically burst out of her, excitement overriding every other thought. Her glowing red optics whirred as she stepped forward, practically buzzing. “You were the one who stopped the Fall? The one that the Kirijo Group always talked about-?! That's amazing!

Unlike Zenkichi, who was still too stunned to function, Akane was already in full admiration mode. “That means you—what, went up against Nyx? The Nyx? And you won? That’s insane!”

Well! That's a whole range of expressions from both of them. There's a lot of shock, and from Akane, admiration?

The one the Kirijo Group always talked about

Of all the things that would've hit her, that... that one hit in a way she hadn't expected. The one the Kirijo Group talked about... long, long after she was gone, Mitsuru made sure everyone remembered...

It made her unexpectedly a little teary-eyed. Hamuko touched her hand to her chest, taking a breath to not actually start crying. Save it for later - it made her happy and unbelievably sad.

"We all did what we could. I'm sealing Nyx away from humanity."

Zenkichi was still trying to wrap his head around it.

He had always imagined the people who averted the Fall were like him—soldiers, hardened veterans, people who had dedicated their lives to a cause, knowing the risks. ~~Or not having the will to continue anyway.~~ Not...

Not a teenage girl.

Not someone who still had her whole life ahead of her.

His gaze flickered to Akane, who was still fully in fan mode, practically bouncing on her heels. She looked at Hamuko like she was a legend, like she was the one who could swoop in and solve everything. Like maybe, just maybe, she could be the one to fix the mess they were dealing with back home, too.

Zenkichi exhaled through his nose, crossing his arms, suddenly feeling just a little grumpier than before.

He didn’t want to burst that bubble. Not yet.

But still…

His tone lost its usual casual edge, turning something more solemn. “What do you mean by ‘sealing’?” he asked, watching her carefully now. “Did you… pass away?”

"I... think so?" Hamuko answered honestly. "...It's been a little like... dreaming, since then. So I don't really know what happened after my friends and I met back up on Graduation Day."

Hamuko smiled at Akane, though her gaze wandered again, back to Igor, who was quietly perched as usual.

"I was... able to grow and mature my power here in the Velvet Room. The bonds that I made with the people in my life... the friendships I made... they're what made it possible to stand up to Nyx."

Zenkichi couldn’t help but think on what she just said.

I think so?

It stuck in his head like a bad refrain, looping over and over. The way she spoke about it—like it had all been a dream, like she wasn’t sure whether she was dead or alive—unsettled him in a way he wasn’t expecting.

His expression darkened, lips pressing into a thin line. A memory surfaced, unbidden. The weight of a small body in his arms. A girl. ~~Akane-~~ A child. His child. Blood staining the concrete with guns pointed on him still as she felt him clutch onto his shirt.

He blinked. Pushed it down. Exhaled slowly through his nose.

While he was stuck in his own head, Akane, completely oblivious to his inner turmoil, spoke up, tilting her head curiously.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked. “Did your friends, like… direct you to seal Nyx away?”

She paused, processing it in her own way. “That kinda seems forceful.”

She didn’t mean it in a harsh way—her tone was still light, still that same curious tone but it felt off.

"No, no, it wasn't like that..." Hamuko rebuffed gently, shifting her weight on her feet. "We didn't know for sure what to do, before then, either. We were told by..."

How many terms would be too much? How to explain succinctly? Hamuko considered, just for a beat.

"...by a Shadow called Death... that when Nyx arrived, the Fall would be inevitable. He told us that there wasn't any way to avoid dying, even if he tried to offer a mercy to us. Everyone together... we all decided on our own to keep fighting to the end. And it was when Nyx was descending that I saw Igor again, and he showed me those that I'd gotten so close to. The bonds I had with others... that unlocked the power in me to change things. And all I wanted was Nyx to leave humanity alone, so that's what the card that emerged from me got used for. I staked my life on it, of my own free will."

Akane fell completely silent, her processors whirring audibly as she tried to make sense of what Hamuko had just said.

She met Death?

Like—actually met Death? Like how they could talk to other Shadows and entities in their world? That was… new.

Zenkichi, still lingering in his own thoughts, finally let out a deep exhale and ran a hand down his face. He gave Hamuko a long, tired look, then turned slightly toward Akane, whose optics were still flickering, before glancing back at Hamuko again.

Then, completely deadpan:

“…Alright. I’m just gonna ask—do we need to get you tested for drugs now?”

He gestured vaguely with one hand, his tone somewhere between sarcastic and exhausted. “Like, I appreciate a good story as much as the next guy, but maybe next time, y’know... use a little less spice next time?”

If he didn’t joke, he was probably going to start questioning way too many things at once.

"I wish!! The closest I got was sneaking a little alcohol!!" Hamuko protested. It was probably a joke. Right? Maybe.

"I didn't even add the craziest details!"

Akane blinked, her processors catching on a different part of Hamuko’s response.

“Wait,” she said, tilting her head. “But I thought all high schoolers weren’t supposed to have alcohol at that age.”

Her tone was completely innocent, purely rule-abiding, but then she paused. Her optics flickered, and she continued, still completely serious:

“…Then again, it’s not like Wolf doesn’t have alcohol. He drinks all the time.”

It was the kind of statement only an AI could make—devoid of judgment, purely factual, yet somehow deeply morbid.

Zenkichi let out a slow, suffering sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Not all the time. Nor am I a student-” he corrected, shaking his head. “And besides—that’s personal.”

He let his hand drop, exhaling, before fixing Hamuko with a raised brow, unimpressed. Alas most of his sass was hidden by his mask.

“Right. So there are crazier details than meeting Death itself?” He crossed his arms, giving her a pointed look. “Pray do tell.”

Leaning down to whisper to Akane, Hamuko gave a tired but mischievous little smile. "I sneaked a little bit when I wasn't supposed to. Just 'cause I was curious."

Akane's optics lit up, and she leaned in with an almost conspiratorial air, whispering back just as excitedly, "Whoa—so what was it like? Did it taste gross? Did you feel dizzy? Did you get caught?"

Zenkichi groaned. "I am right here and I can hear you, and can we not encourage underage drinking? For crying out loud—Hamuko, please." His tone was half-exasperated, half-defeated.

Edited 2025-02-02 17:16 (UTC)

For Zenkichi's question, though. Where does she start? Ikutsuki's delusions? The cult, or STREGA? The way the literal moon opened up to reveal Nyx?

...All of those were probably remembered, if her name was kept.

"I think the most reeling thing out of anything we found out was that Death was sealed inside of me when I was only ten... and when he wasn't stuck inside me anymore, before he completely remembered who and what he was, he joined our high school as a transfer student," she added.

That. That was the strangest, most surreal part... it made... SOME kind of sense, for people that lived through it. But that was...

"...And he was funny, and kind... he loved life, and seeing new things, and being with people. I think that's because he was with me, for so long. I think that's why he gave us a choice in the first place. That's one of the craziest parts of everything that happened that year."

But then the conversation shifted.

Death. Sealed inside her when she was ten.

Zenkichi hated hearing that.

His mouth pressed into a firm line, arms lowering slightly as he listened. With each phrase, it felt like another wound reopening—like something he didn’t want to look at, but couldn’t turn away from. The way she spoke about him—the boy she was referring to—it wasn’t just some entity. It was someone who had lived, who had felt, who had—

He let out a slow breath, gaze dropping for a moment.

“...Death needed a friend, huh.” His voice was quieter now, like he hadn’t meant to say it out loud.

Akane, who had been fully engaged in Hamuko’s story, suddenly flickered her gaze toward him, her optics whirring softly.

What's wrong, dad?

Zenkichi flinched as the voice spoke to him through his comms, just slightly. His fingers curled, his posture stiffening. Akane, this AI assistant, given the directive to refer to him as dad by the Kirijo Group to control him. He hated hearing that. Don't call me that, he wanted to say but he couldn't. Not around Hamuko.

So he simply terminated that request to talk.

Akane didn't say a thing.

Instead, he forced himself to exhale, shaking it off, shifting his attention back to Hamuko. His usual grumbling was gone now. "I don't believe you, kid," he says- shaking his head. "Death isn't kind but...its merciful I suppose. Just a release in a way."

...

"It's not that, either... the experience of dying, I mean. Or mortality. It's not something cruel, it's not something kind..."

Hamuko replied very calmly, likely uncomfortably wise beyond her apparent age. 'It just happened a bit sooner than it will for the rest of you.'

"Death, the Shadow, though... he was a very loving person. He didn't want any of us to suffer, knowing the end was inevitable. He gave us the option to have our memories changed so we wouldn't know what was coming."

Zenkichi listened, but it only made him feel worse.

Worse than before. Somehow, guilty.

He had seen the way Hamuko’s eyes had lit up when Akane first mentioned how the Kirijo Group used the name Arisato, how they flaunted it to claim their ongoing success in society. He had seen the hope there, fleeting and fragile, a desperate kind of grasping at the thought that maybe something of her, of her name, still existed in the world.

And yet, now, listening to her talk about it, about how Death had been kind, about how it had wanted to spare them suffering—he couldn’t stomach it.

Not when she smiled like that. Not when she spoke like this.

Not when it reminded him too much of how Akane used to look when she was being “upgraded.”

Zenkichi turned away, jaw tightening. He couldn’t watch her. He couldn’t listen anymore.

“I don’t want to hear any more of that.” His voice was quieter, but firm. He exhaled sharply through his nose. “I know how higher entities act when they don’t want others to suffer. You have no idea what-”

He didn’t want to elaborate more. She just came here and whoever he spoke to were past dwellers of this place he wanted to sort help from or derive connections with. The memory of EMMA was burned into his mind—how she had convinced the world that eternal sleep was a mercy. Eighty fucking percent of it. So what if it needed a fucking friend to understand humans better? She ruined his life. She ruined so many people in the long run how dare does Hamuko think-

Before he could say anything else, though, Akane thwacked his arm.

Zenkichi stopped mid-thought, turning to look at her with a sharp, confused glance. The first time she did something like...

"What?"

"I believe her."

Her LED eyes flickered as she considered Hamuko, processing what she was about to say. “I… am not human. I am not Death. Nor am I life. But I lived within Wolf too, for the past seven years.” She paused. “I never really thought much about it before I came here. But then I did think about it. And I wanted to understand. So… I requested a human body. To learn. To assist humanity better.”

Zenkichi stilled, watching her now.

Akane continued, “Wolf was kind enough to use the wish event granted by Igor, around two weeks after we arrived, to make that happen.”

She hesitated for a moment, but then pressed on. “I’m still adjusting. I’m still learning. But… I want to be better. I want to be more helpful. I want to learn more about others- cause I am artificially intelligent right? People means information and I will be damned if I don't make use of this opportunity to learn more while I still can.”

There was something so certain in the way she said it—no hesitation, no doubt.

Zenkichi let out a short huff, looking down, rubbing the back of his neck. “It was no big deal,” he muttered, shrugging off the weight of it. “Not like I believe in Christmas wishes anyway.”

He scratched the inside of his palm absently. Not like it mattered that it had been both of their wishes.

He wouldn’t say that part.

That would be selfish. More than the act itself.

Edited 2025-02-03 00:05 (UTC)

She was willing to concede that yes, of course, maybe what remained of Ryoji had disappeared and died after the Seal as well. The Appraiser probably ceased existing, after all... he hadn't returned to school with the rest of them.

Another person dear to her that was now gone... for now, she could bear it. And if she was the only one that remembered Ryoji, then she'd keep him alive in her heart that way.

All of those thoughts, as she thought to speak them, though - fell entirely to the wayside as Akane spoke up for herself, and defended Hamuko. As she explained everything the two had been through in this place so far, how she had a body now, and all of it. It warmed the smile on Hamuko's face, seeing these two... she saw so much of Aigis in them. Finding identity and purpose.

"Even if you aren't a flesh and blood human being, you're a person. I believe that wholeheartedly - I always have," she simply said to both Zenkichi and Akane, voice soft and warm. "If you'll have me, I'd love to get to know you two more, too."

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."

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just a quick quip lol (1/2)

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