🌒 [Open]

[wipingallout]

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

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...

Comments

[takutomaruki]

Those words were a quiet murmur. A lost sound in the otherwise endless bounds of suffering surrounding them. The human heart.

"Alright, let's keep pushing then." He follows along, his own words long buried as he walked past her and proceeded further down his field work.

---

The air was thick with motion, the electric charge of battle sparking against Maruki’s skin as he stepped back to assess the situation. A swirl of Shadows loomed before them, thrashing and unruly—at the center of them all, a spectral, raven-like entity with piercing white eyes, its massive wings stretched wide.

It let out a hollow, echoing cry, and Maruki barely had a second to register the shift before the air itself twisted, a violent Garula spell roaring toward them.

The howling wind tore through the space they had just occupied. Dust and debris scattered in its wake.

Several more Shadows flanked the raven-like creature—vague, warped humanoid figures that skittered unnaturally along the ground. Their movements were erratic, but their aggression was solely locked onto him and Hamuko.

Maruki clicked his tongue, quickly adjusting his glasses as he took in the battlefield.

“Uhhh...looks like the raven’s leading them,” he noted. “It’s the one coordinating them all but its not that strong. Though you probably already know that."

[wipingallout]

Taking the moments to swing the weapon, however dull and unreliable, gave the chance to get a gauge on the battlefield before pulling out the Persona and expending vitality or stamina. She had to be careful, conservative - Hamuko's extremely cautious and aware as she and Maruki assess their foes.

"Raven. Got it," she nodded, though thankfully that wouldn't matter too terribly much.

Hamuko leapt back for clearance once the Raven's gaze was on her and not her escorted party. Drew her evoker. Pressed it to her temple.

Summoning a Persona tended to have a certain feeling associated with it - almost imperceptibly subtle. Each Arcana had its own tone, and an affect on Hamuko's demeanor even if it was only ever a gentle nudge. But there was one Arcana that felt different... as much intrinsically natural housed in her heart as her Fool Arcana. And it's no wonder - ever since she was seven years old, Death had been a constant companion.

"Thanatos!"

With the pull of the trigger, the highest of the Death Arcana manifested - snarling, a hollow ghastly howl coming from the reaper-like visage as it swung its blade in a Deathbound blow.

[takutomaruki]

It started the moment she spoke the name.

Thanatos!"

The gunshot of the evoker rang out, but the sound barely registered before something else ripped into existence.

It was overwhelming.

A towering figure of midnight steel, a flowing tattered cape, a face obscured by the cold, unfeeling mask of a reaper. Blades adorned its form, massive, curved like the scythes of executioners—jagged, merciless.

And...the coffins. The coffins that the persona draped on itself like accursed wings soaring over the dead and the damned. Ruling over them. Existing beyond but wearing the skin of humanity at its core.

You will die.

From its core, a howling emptiness emanated, a deep, hollow resonance that tore into Maruki’s senses.

It wasn’t just power. It wasn’t just a Persona.

It was..."What even...?"

Maruki barely registered his own breath hitching. His clipboard threatened to slip from his fingers as his knees stiffened, his entire body caught between moving forward and fleeing outright.

And then—

A wailing, endless cacophony sliced through his skull.

A B E R R A N T. U N N A T U R A L. F O R E I G N.

Azathoth thrashed. Writhing, coiling in some unseen space within his mind. Maruki felt it—an overwhelming, suffocating discomfort.

It hated this.

It—no, he—had never felt anything quite like it before.

Maruki’s vision flashed.A sudden pulse of gold overtook his irises, faint but present, a glimmer of something deep and restrained, something lurking just beneath the surface.

But the battle raged on.

Thanatos struck.

The Raven barely had time to react before the Persona’s massive blade swung, cutting through the air in a violent arc. Deathbound landed with a shuddering force—the ground cracked, dark energy reverberated outward, and the Shadows caught in the attack reeled back, their forms distorting under the sheer weight of it.

They staggered.

And that was the moment.

The perfect moment for that attack.

Maruki knew it.

He saw the way the battlefield tilted in their favor. How the Shadows buckled. How Hamuko—so effortlessly, so naturally—moved forward to seize the opening.

And yet.

He didn’t move.

His fingers flexed, breath uneven. The echoes of Azathoth’s distress still clawed at his skull. His own body felt locked.

[wipingallout]

Aberrant? Unnatural?

Death was the single most natural CERTAINTY of all.


Thanatos' power seemed potent in this dungeon, in a way that surprised Hamuko - but only briefly. Of course it was resonant here, where someone was settling themselves into their grave. Hamuko was never that special to believe that she was the only one who lived with Death walking beside her - it existed in the dying often.

Here, it was her companion. It gave her strength. And he would help her protect what she valued most.

"Maruki!! We're going!" she shouted as Thanatos faded back again, settling comfortably into her psyche like a cat curling up in a bed - she brandished the more physical blade in hand and lunged forward, counting on Maruki to pounce after being called.

1/?

[takutomaruki]

The calling of his name shook him about- ripping him from Azathoth's visceral shaking as his eyes widened. The guttural rupture that sparked from the bottom of his stomach pulled and gnawed and when he saw the flash of that blade, he moved.

2/2

[takutomaruki]

Maruki lunged.

It wasn’t graceful. It wasn’t anything remotely resembling a fighter’s stance. But he surged forward, pushing past the last remnants of Azathoth’s unease, his breath coming out sharp as he swung—

WHACK.

His clipboard slammed against the side of a shadow’s head with a hollow clap.

The thing reeled, its form distorting as if glitching through reality itself.

Maruki didn’t stop.

He jammed his pen into another shadow’s torso, the ink-tip stabbing through with all the force he could muster. It didn’t do much. But it shocked the thing just enough to make it stumble back—enough for him to slam the clipboard into its side for good measure.

Another shadow flailingly lunged at him. His arm barely came up in time to swat at it, his tiny, utterly useless peashooter nearly slipping from his grip. He grit his teeth—this wasn’t his strength, combat had never been his forte, but he had to make this count.

A shadow buckled beside him, still trying to regain balance after Thanatos’ devastating strike.

Maruki’s eyes flicked down.

He shifted his weight.

And then, without hesitation, he stuck out his leg—

The shadow tripped, sprawling forward, its already unstable form completely breaking its momentum.

"Hamuko-san-!" he shouted, already watching her movements, already knowing she would seize the moment better than he ever could. "Over to you!"

1/2

[wipingallout]

The shout-out wasn't needed - Maruki did exactly what made an All-Out Attack so potent - kept the shadows scrambling and prone.



Personas were funny, Hamuko noticed - they had subtle ways of making your fingers twitch at different times, making your impulses change, like a different aspect of yourself solidifying. Hamuko never understood what it must feel like to only ever have one self.



When aligned with Thanatos, every swing of the blade, every moment where she reached out with bare hands and grasped flesh or feathers or fur for purchase to drive a blade in deeper, over and over and over, a mix of euphoric relief and visceral calm...

Maruki was perfect. He kept the shadows distracted, reeling, which laid them out nicely to meet their final end by a blade that was likely too dull. All of the stress and anger and adrenaline flooding into every stab, every twirl of the naginata to use both hands and swing it down on the next shadow like a guillotine. Perfect clarity.

2/2

[wipingallout]

As quickly as the battle had started, it was over, the euphoria washing away immediately under satisfaction. Hamuko stood and grasped at the cards in her mind after that fight, feeling the boost of experience surging through them.

And then, this time not caught off guard, the wave of dismal dread from this place. The feeling of being resigned to death, if unwilling. This time, she didn't spiral - instead she embraced the feeling again, exhaling slowly.

Hello again, old friend. We'll make it out of here, I promise.

"Alright. How'd your first All-Out Attack feel?"

1/2

[takutomaruki]

Maruki barely had a moment to catch his breath before it was all over.

Hamuko had cut through the horde like it was nothing—like it was as natural as breathing. He barely needed to assist, barely needed to do anything except keep the shadows off balance, and even that felt more like a formality than actual necessity.

He exhaled, loosening the front of his hood with a shaky hand, tugging at the fabric before letting it slip back. His hair, damp with sweat, fell into an unkempt mess over his forehead, and he ran his fingers through it, trying—failing—to shake himself back into focus.

His body still buzzed with the post-battle adrenaline, his limbs tingling, his lungs pulling in deep, greedy breaths.

And yet—despite everything—he felt weirdly refreshed.

Not that he could say the same for his nerves.

Thanatos.

The specter of Death itself had howled onto the battlefield, and something in Maruki’s very *being* had *shrieked* in response. It was a presence that still lingered at the edge of his mind, ghostly yet imposing, like the last remnants of a nightmare just before waking.

Azathoth had recoiled—an unthinkable thing for the formless, endless person of his.

And Hamuko. Hamuko had worn it like a second skin.

Maruki barely registered her calling out to him at first. He glanced up, disoriented, and met her gaze—a perfectly relaxed, satisfied expression on her face. A stark contrast to him, still feeling like a pathetic wet cat dumped in a thunderstorm.

His lips twitched, trying—struggling—to shape themselves into something resembling a grin.

Maruki let out a breathy, incredulous laugh. He shook his head, looking down at his clipboard—thankfully not dented from the abuse it had just suffered—and then at his pen, flicking it between his fingers.

The tip was still stained with remnants of shadow, the black mist evaporating as he turned it over. He huffed through his nose. "You know, I think I actually copied some of those moves from old action movies." He grinned, albeit with an exhausted tilt. "Felt pretty badass, honestly. Just wish I had literally anything other than a clipboard and a peashooter. Maybe a real weapon. Or at least a slightly bigger pen."

He shook the pen again, watching the last wisps of shadow vanish.

But then—his expression faltered.

Because no matter how much he wanted to focus on the thrill of the fight, there was still that one thing gnawing at the edge of his thoughts.

His gaze flicked back to Hamuko, hesitant, uncertain.

Re: 2/2

[takutomaruki]

“…Thanatos.” He rubbed the back of his neck, exhaling sharply. "What the hell was that?”

His fingers twitched. His mind raced.

He’d seen a lot of Personas. He’d studied them. He’d even manifested one himself. But Thanatos was… different.

And it wasn’t just how it looked. It wasn’t just..

It was her.

You—" He gestured vaguely at her. "You looked like the Reaper out there. And I don’t mean that in a bad way! It was just—" He waved his hands, trying to articulate the impossible. "Was Thanatos influencing you during battle?"

[wipingallout]

"Oh... well. I think so," Hamuko admitted with some thought, tilting her head. "I find that it happens with most of my Personas. Sort of subtle shifts in how I feel? ...But the way you're reacting, compared to me summoning Messiah... it's probably different."

Hamuko hummed in thought, shifting the weight on her feet. Death Arcana...

"My navigator in SEES never commented about sensing anything, but... when I first awakened to my first Persona, Orpheus, Thanatos also appeared then. So you might be right... there's something different about him."

She closed her eyes in thought. "I wonder if... through him, I'm still connected to Nyx. Or maybe it's just because he's been walking with me nearly all of my life."

[takutomaruki]

Maruki hummed, arms crossing loosely over his chest as he considered her words. His hair, already a mess from the battle, stuck out at odd angles, but he made no effort to fix it. Instead, his thoughts churned over the implications.

Hamuko’s unique connection with Death... That had to be part of it, right?

“That might be one of the many reasons,” he mused, nodding slightly. “Your bond with Death isn’t just a concept—it’s tangible. A presence that’s been with you since your awakening.” His fingers tapped idly against his arm. “It makes sense that Thanatos would feel… different.”

He let out a slow breath, tilting his head in thought.

With the Persona cards he possessed, he’d never quite felt that same shift in energy that she described. That feeling of a subtle nudge in a different direction. Of something influencing the way a person moved and acted in battle.

Which… made sense, when he really thought about it.

The Personas he called upon—they weren’t Shadows. They were demons. Beings pulled from the depths of the collective unconscious and shaped into something he could wield.

Right?

But she did have multiple personas so...?

Still, he wasn’t about to make any sweeping assumptions.

“I could be wrong, of course,” he added with a small, thoughtful shrug. “Might be worth clarifying with Katsuya-san at some point.”

His fingers found their way back to his hair, running through it as he exhaled, this time in something closer to amusement.

“You know, Messiah caught my attention too,” he admitted. “But considering the… trend of Personas I’ve seen from others in our position, I expected the worst. Usually.”

Because when you’re stuck in a place like this, Personas that represented hope or salvation usually came with a price.

He let the thought linger for a moment before something else clicked in his mind—an angle he hadn’t quite considered yet.

His expression shifted, curiosity flickering behind his eyes.

“...Does Death feel like that?” His tone was different now. Less shaken. More intrigued. A clinical, almost detached interest coloring his words.

“Like a release? A severance from the weight of living?” His gaze flickered over their surroundings. The quiet hum of the forest. The strange, peaceful dissonance of this place.

“Or is it more... tranquil?” He gestured vaguely around them. “Like this?”

[wipingallout]

"I think it's interesting. I summoned Messiah by combining Orpheus, my 'true' Persona... and Thanatos, the avatar of Death. It only came to me because of our collective resolve to fight Nyx, even if we were told we would certainly die. I think Messiah is my truest self," Hamuko nodded softly, though her head tilted.

Does Death feel like that?

What did Thanatos feel like? Huh... what did Death feel like inside of her, for all of her life?

"...There's... a certainty, I think. More than anything, the most consistent feeling that I get from Death is certainty. There's been a... lot of different feelings associated with it. Like," she paused, gesturing to the forest around them, "this I have absolutely felt. My resolve aside, I felt all of these feelings when I realized what I had to do in order to stop Nyx. I had to do it, I had to carry that burden and hide it far, far away from everyone else, to keep them safe. ...If I'm reading this place right."

She trailed off for a bit, resting the end of the naginata between stones.

"I feel a lot of... love... from this place. Sadness, yes, but... you don't carry a burden like this if you don't deeply love the world you're leaving behind."

[takutomaruki]

A certainty to death.

That was a clear cut statement. Death was unfortunately, too certain. Too simple. A life extinguishes as the birds continue to sing, the skies don't thunder when all you are left with is staring at a gravestone.
"In a way Thanatos's presence serves as a reminder of your decision," he nods but doesn't particularly write anything on the clipboard. This isn't really a counselling session after all. Still, a young woman such as herself shouldn't be talking like that. To follow through with fate and seal away Nyx, leaving everything behind in the process.

"Love."

"One of the most curious human emotions that makes any research fall short. Its an easy answer to turn to but never one you could ever explain," he folds his arms to his chest. "Perhaps her sadness does come from the fact that she had to leave the world behind. I would only feel cruelty from a place such as this if I were to traverse this path alone."

"Anyways, this might be a silly request but..." he regards Hamuko carefully before gesturing at the evoker held in her hand. "Can I meet Thanatos again? Can I...touch it, if that makes sense?" The questions ends off in an awkward chuckle. "I am just wondering how it all feels like."

[wipingallout]

That request catches her off guard, for a moment - Hamuko blinks a bit owlishly at Maruki for just a beat, before tapping a finger on her evoker. Thinking it over.

"Summon him to just be looked at, huh?" she repeated the request, if not verbatim. "I've never summoned my Personas outside of battle," she added, though she pulled her evoker from its holster and held it against her chest anyway. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine it.

She's there, standing, for a few moments. Eyes closed, keeping her focus. Eventually, she even murmurs aloud.

"Thanatos... I won't ask you for a fight. Just to be... I think we can do that, can't we?"

As she spoke, she leaned down and set the naginata on the ground, further distancing them from a 'fight mode'. Hamuko took a few slow, deep breaths, pressing the evoker's muzzle to her temple. Calm... calm any adrenaline - even if that's exactly what the evoker is designed to do, to make your heart race and make you feel like you're about to die.

Instead she embraced a different feeling about death. That feeling of... gently falling into it.


Hamuko doesn't even realize that for a split second before the trigger is even pulled, the shadow of her Persona is already forming - the explosion of the evoker just hastens the beast's formation.

This time, Thanatos did not form with sword drawn - a massive hand wrapped around Hamuko in a fiercely possessive gesture, the other arm slamming forward on the ground so the avatar of Death was growling and curled over its host like a protective mother. Immediately, Hamuko's hand shot up and she grabbed the lower jaw on Thanatos' mask, yanking it back. The sharpness of it cut into her fingers and made them bleed, but she stayed calm, and the single movement to reprimand pulled the Persona back and make it stop hollowly growling. After a moment of Hamuko herself gauging the situation, she gave Maruki a nod.

TW: anxiety type skin crawling (1/2)

[takutomaruki]

"...You haven't?" He raises a brow at that statement. Why personas are always ready and at your disposal, are they not? He feels a hitch in his demeanour, like some visceral crawling under his skin like he shouldn't have known about the fact. Can't personas simply...exist in your life? Help you around with work? Help you with chores? Fight off suspicious cognitions who follow you to your house that you feel as if they are just waiting for a moment to attack you in your apartment the moment you are alone?

He didn't exactly know how to expand upon that question when Hamuko seemed to be going through her own ordeal so he let her go at it with her own pace. Even when she speaks to Thanatos, there is this quiet understanding that makes Maruki wonder if that's what true harmony felt. With your own self.

Despite being rather used to the sight of evokers, being the only one to witness a young woman such as herself bring a gun to her forehead always made him assume the worst. He couldn't help it. The imagery of it was just...so so wrong. He and Hamuko couldn't think any more different.

What if something goes wrong? What if she doesn't get up? What if he's left all alone here to-

2/3

[takutomaruki]

...

You will die.

Takuto...family...

You will die.

No-! Mom, dad! Please don't go!

You will die.

It should have been me! Not them!

You will die.

3/3

[takutomaruki]

E R A S E T H E P A I N

Azathoth doesn't screech anymore.

The howl pierces through his being and it makes him scatter. His brain crashes and skampers into a million other particles and gets compressed again when he sees the hand fly out to curl around Hamuko; the other planting itself to the ground that sent tremours on the surface. His knees shake a little as he backs up and ends up falling on his ass when he sees the sharp maw move-

He heaves deep breaths when he catches sight of red itself but not from him.

Death.

That's a personification of death- hovering before him. Holding those coffins like its very own wings.

"Holy shit," he can't help but curse as he tries to catch his bearings by trying to pick up his fallen clipboard, his shaking hands giving him away before he gets on his knees then pushes himself up.

A moment passes as Maruki rests a hand on his knee- carefully adjusting his glasses that fell to his mouth in a tilted askew fashion.

"Sorry I-Hah..." he blinks at Hamuko's nod and gulps. "I imagined this would be...something akin to putting your hand in a cage full of snakes but- its something else entirely."

He brings one index forward, silently grateful that Azathoth came with regenerative abilities to make for the mess if he- loses a limb again. It would be messy but-

His finger barely flicks the flat surface of one of those coffins. "Oh- oh my god that's real." He traces that edge of the coffin with its silver latches. "Are there..." the pit in his stomach is replaced by something else. Almost like curiosity. Too dazed. "Do those coffins carry bodies in them?"

[wipingallout]

"Ha-- hahaha," Hamuko laughed, breathy and a little airy.

She'd been keeping a focus - her hand was now against the flat of Thanatos' jaw-mask, ignoring the trickle of blood from her fingers down the metal, and the more she stood and breathed to slow her heart, the more Thanatos settled down. She felt a little smothered, like a tiger was laying on her shoulders...

In a way, she felt affection here, too. Was that from Ryoji? From Death as a whole? Or was she really at peace with herself, able and willing to love and protect herself despite it all?

Unfortunately she'd missed a lot of Maruki's gawking, whatever the feeling Death gave him happened to be. So she really only caught that last question.

"Well. You could open it and see? If they're not sealed shut," she laughed, finally opening her eyes to look at him. Thanatos' head turned to look in sync with her. "In the Dark Hour, coffins held the people that weren't exposed to the Dark Hour or Shadows yet... they safely slept in there until it passed. Or maybe there's the bodies of people I know in there? My mom and brother had blue hair, and my dad had the same auburn as me. Or, you know, maybe there's nothing."

[takutomaruki]

Oh, we were going directly into grave-robbing, weren't we?

Maruki didn't exactly follow what her laugh entailed. Whether she was uncomfortable, confused or just in shock of sorts after- well Thanatos certainly left an impression on him. He could only imagine how it is affecting her.

"Or maybe there's the bodies of people I know in there?"

Takuto falls short, eyes widening at the queestion.

The follow up of which makes it ten times worse.

...

.....

....?!

"Huh, okay you just-!" he blinks in shock and shakes his head as he tips it back. "Wow, there was a LOT to unpack just there! I am-"

"I am so sorry to hear that." The casual grotesque details of it were still settling into his head.

[wipingallout]

His surprise and shock confused her for a second - she stared in confusion, processing for a moment before she realized what she'd said.

As Hamuko laughed, so too did Thanatos, perfectly synced - eerie in that neither of them sounded menacing or inhuman in their chuckle. Just sheepish, surprised. Thanatos was in perfect sync and harmony with Hamuko... in a way Azathoth wasn't, was he?

"Sorry, sorry - I wasn't meaning to drop that bomb like that, somehow I didn't think about how I hadn't mentioned it. That happened ten years ago. Technically longer for your 'year'. It's hard to filter my thoughts with Thanatos out."

[takutomaruki]

Thanatos laughing along with Hamuko like that...sure was a sight.

Maruki found himself staring at the two of them like a child frozen in front of a shark tank, watching as the massive creature glided just behind the glass. That was exactly how Thanatos felt to him right now—something vast, powerful, unquestionably dangerous, with Hamuko as the only fragile barrier keeping it from tearing through.

And yet, the way both of them laughed—soft, in sync, natural—put him at ease and terrified him in equal measure.

“I mean...I’ve had my fair share of unsettling conversations before.” His voice wavered slightly, but he tried for something lighthearted, even if his nerves betrayed him. “Granted, most of them didn’t revolve around death quite so literally—but they did make me question how people go about their lives after they leave my office."

His gaze flickered back to the coffins, then to Hamuko again.

“...Now I’m really concerned that if I do open one of these, you might have a, um—visceral reaction to it.” He let out a breath, rubbing at the back of his neck. “But I think… I sort of understand it. How death presides over you.”

A pause.

His brow furrowed slightly, his grip tightening over his clipboard as he hesitated before adding, quieter:

“And with you.”

Because that was what truly unsettled him. Not just that she carried Death, but that she carried it so easily. Like a constant companion, like something familiar.

Like it had never truly left her at all.

[wipingallout]

"I might... it might be as difficult as having to identify them the first time," she hummed a bit. There hadn't been a full funeral and family reunion... she never really knew what her family's situation was to leave them so detached. She also never looked into it. If no one was willing to take her in, then they weren't family.

"But I've had ten years for that to fade. I think I would be more upset to see friends of mine from last year. So-- go ahead and take a look--"

Thanatos shifted, subtly, the coffins all landing standing upright on the ground with that permission given. Hamuko's will made manifest.

The lids of the coffins hissed as they unlatched, shaking dust out from the seams, and swung open - Hamuko closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, bracing to hear what Maruki saw within, giving herself a chance to anticipate.

All that was within, though, in every single coffin - skeletons. Bare, dusty, ancient bones... some yellowed, some pale, some cracked and starting to crumble. They bore a funeral shroud, but no other cloth or clothing, no trinkets or memorable items buried with them. It was naught but bones, suspended in the casket as if they were laying flat in graves still.

"...Well?"

[takutomaruki]

He could understand that. Ten years since...though if he were to see the deadbodies of his parents he might have still thrown up but he hasn't really lost someone over the course of a long time.

And not to mention he didn't exactly go grave robbing to test that theory on let's say- his grandparents and other deceased relatives.

He watched all too carefully, his guard up as Thanatos offered to line up the coffins and with that-

The skeletons.

He found himself heaving a deep breath but...one good thing was that as an academic, he had seen a fair share of skeletons. Not to mention there are far more gorey shadows and injuries he has grown queasy to but all in all- having them lined up like this felt like a funeral.

At Hamuko’s question his gaze drifts.

"All for naught, hm?"

There's nothing left in death.

All those memories you spend with others, all those promises you may have made or all the regrets you wanted to fix...all for naught.

To think Hamuko was connected like a mirror to that...

He didn't think even a life's worth of counselling would be tackle all of that abstract emotion she seemed to hold in her gaze. Then again, no science could ever fully comprehend the human mind.

But cognition could.

That's what his field was about.

There's almost a bitter smile on his face as he finds himself drifting close but not exactly pushing the boundary at desecrating the dead. All this magic. All this supernatural.

With Azathoth suspended in hate. In anger.

This was one constant. The one suffering Maruki couldn't possibly erase. Not fully.

"Thank you, Hamuko-san," he nods affirmatively. "This was very enlightening. I am very grateful."

[wipingallout]

"All for naught? What do you mean? What's in th--"

Thanatos acted before Maruki could say anything, grabbing the top of the coffin and twisting it around on the ground with an unsettling scraping of the bottom against the cobbled stone. She jolted at the sudden movement, but settled.

A myriad of expressions crossed her in that moment. It was a body - an old one... "Are there more in--" she asked, though she felt it in her heart - she somehow already knew what the others looked like. Thanatos...?

Despite her focus shifting, Thanatos didn't wane - Hamuko went to the coffin and rested a hand on the side, looking in. That was a person... she should feel sad, right? But there was... a warmth...

"...It's beautiful... I think. There you are... it's proof you lived. No matter what kind of life it was... you aren't alone. We're all bones, inside - we all live, and we all die, and we're together in this... ... ... I wonder if my body was buried? If they had a nice funeral for me... oh, maybe cremated instead. I wouldn't mind that either."

Was it Thanatos that made the thought feel so... warm? Or maybe it's just that she is dead. Normally. Maybe Mitsuru was even keeping her body under watch, waiting to see if it revived like Chidori's did... hopefully that wasn't too difficult on her, if she did.