He walked down the sidewalks of the city- lately the small room he was renting had become too small for his pacing and he felt like he was suffocating; so he walked. It was supposed to help clear his mind but it wasn't really helping- as of late he found his every thought meandering itself back to the one person he had been trying to forget.

It wasn't that there was something wrong with Nao, (he had long since given up using any sort of formal suffix at the end of her name- at least in his own head- he just simply couldn't understand himself. He wasn't unhappy. For the first time in years he wasn't unhappy, he didn't know what was wrong with him, but he wasn't used to the sense of being so uninhibited. It was as if there had been a stone on his chest, crushing him, that he hadn't even realised existed, and for the first time in years it had been lifted allowing him to inhale fully.

It was incomprehensible, and every time he tried to discern what direction his life was taking now his head would erupt into a frenzy of thought; paths that he could take from here were unencumbered and full of potential. He had never felt like he could do anything before- and now he felt like he could take on the whole world.

He wasn't stupid- in fact he knew he was absolutely brilliant- he knew that the only really factor that had changed in his life was Nao. He guessed that perhaps her acceptance of him despite knowing that he had been in prison helped lift his thoughts- he hadn't thought that there would be any future for an ex-convict.

Not that he thought the rest of the world would be as accommodating and tolerant as she was. Quite the contrary, he expected that the rest of the world would take one look at his criminal record and immediately turn their backs; which is why as soon as he had the opportunity he had invested most of what he had won from the first two rounds of the game. He had spent most of his time in prison learning about business and carefully investing what little money he had left over from the sale of the apartment his mother had scrimped and saved for her whole life- most of that had gone towards paying for the debt she had accrued, and the various fees and funeral expenses.

He knew that there was no way he would be able to get any sort of work- legal work- and so he had planned for every worst case scenario that had occurred to him. That was part of the problem. How could he dare to associate himself with someone like Nao? She was someone who had worked hard, who instead of seeking revenge like he had, tried her best to make the world a better place. Was he by his very presence in her life becoming a blemish upon the bright spark of her life?

He couldn't stand to ruin her. She was too perfect, and he would destroy her- not intentionally, but eventually everything in his life had been destroyed.

So he walked. He walked away from her. He hadn't seen her in that day and already he was missing her simple, unaffected nature. That was why he had to leave, he told himself, he had already become attached to her- prolonging his departure from her life would only make it worse for both of them. There were wolves in the world and she needed to be protected from all of them- even if one of them was him.

When she had first approached him he had been suspicious of her. He had wondered what she wanted from him, obviously her act of kindness was so overdone that she was a half-baked actress at best (he hadn't yet been exposed to how truly awful her acting skills really were yet.) His lips quirked upwards at the thought of her attempts at being deceptive, it really was just too pathetic. He had tried his best to scare her away but she had worn him down and now he wouldn't have it any other way. Nao was one of a kind and the world was much better off for having her. That's why he had to push her away, even if she was his first real friend.

Still when she had called him he had to restrain himself from picking up the phone. He was resolute in his intentions. He would walk away from her before she finally came to her senses and turned him away.

She had made lunch for him every single day for the past 2 weeks, and sent the leftovers with him for dinner. He couldn't remember the last time someone had done that for him with such consistency. Even when his mother had been around she had been too busy working to really spend too much time around the house. Most of the meals that they had shared in those last few years he had with her had been store bought.

Even on days when she managed to take a shift working at the small family restaurant; she would pack him a bento and leave it outside her door. He had used to think that such things would annoy him; that this simple slow paced life would bore someone like him who needed constant mental stimulation.

In reality the effort that Nao put into every little aspect of her life humbled him- even when she made him character themed bentos it just made him shake his head- but not with derision as he once would have. He wasn't sure that liked the feeling of being so humbled.

The truth was that he felt like the lowest slime on earth, here she was, doing all of this for him, and all he could think about was how she was probably doing it out of the misguided notion that she owed him something.

Maybe she did owe him something. If he hadn't spent his time helping her she would already be in debt by ¥100,000,000 with no way to repay it, but then why did he feel like the most worthless cad in existence when he allowed her to take care of him. How was it possible that two weeks of home cooking and simple company were worth more than all of that money? He didn't know how it was possible. It shouldn't be. Yet it was.

The first thing that he did was go the hospital that her father was staying at. He had to settle his debt to her, but he didn't know how to settle this sort of debt. What sort of settlement was required for home cooked meals, and companionship? What sort of payment is equal to friendship?

He didn't know- he had never been close enough to anyone to find out. His mother had paid what she thought her debt was to him by doing what she did- but after having gone through what he had he doubted that Nao would appreciate that sort of repayment.

Though he couldn't assay the rankling thought that money could never be the sort of repayment that Nao would approve of, he made sure that he had covered the entire cost of her father's treatment. He also made sure that the hospital would keep him informed of any new expenses that were incurred; perhaps it wasn't much, and perhaps it wasn't the sentiment that he wished he could express- but it was all he could think to do for a girl who was so selfless.

It was the fifth day he was roaming the city sidewalks that the calls had stopped coming. He was a fool- this is what he had wanted: To keep her safe, to keep her away from all he was, to keep her protected from the poison of the world. She had been content before she had met him, he knew that she had. He had no right to feel upset when she had finally done what he wanted her to do- unless he hadn't really wanted her to do it.

He hadn't really wanted her to do it. He had wanted her to fight him. He had wanted to stay, and maybe he would have if she had kept trying. She had given up on him. Why did it surprise him? That's what people were like. They gave up. After all, his own parents had given up on him. What obligation did she have towards him?

None.

She was just like everyone else after all. He laughed to himself. Of course she was. Just like his mother had been. His mother had loved him- that's what she had told him, but in the end she had left him. Maybe that's what love was- maybe it was too fragile to survive in this world. Things break.

His resolve was only strengthened when he was approached by Tanimura. He didn't know what sort of twisted bastard was playing with him but the pieces he had of the puzzle so far all fell into place. Nao had been manipulated into the Liar Game to get to him. They had known who she was and how to get to him through using her. They had picked her because they thought that she was the type of person who would appeal to him. A sudden chill ran through him: Nao might still be in danger.

"About what happened three years ago…we want to express our gratitude." He felt himself go cold. It didn't make any sense, why wait three years for revenge when he had been a perfect target while he was in prison. He slammed Tanimura up against the wall; there was no way his answers were getting away from him before he knew exactly what he wanted to.

"The CEO from three years ago was a dummy." At this point this wasn't really unexpected news. If the CEO had been the real leader of the group the organisation would have crumbled and then there would have been no one to take revenge against him.

Still he let Tanimura go; let them think that he was clueless, in the end knowledge that he had that they didn't know he did could only prove to be advantage. Besides he now had a few scenarios he wanted to run and Tanimura would be of no more use. If the organisation was as big as he thought it was then Tanimura was just hired help.

Obviously what he had gotten himself caught up in was much larger than he had expected; but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. There were plenty of ways to use that to his advantage. So far the dividends had been high as he had made a healthy turnover investing the one billion yen he had won in the second round before returning it. Certainly nowhere close to as much as he would have if he had just kept the prize money in one final double cross, but enough that money wasn't going to be a concern for the foreseeable future. If this LGT Office wanted to test him then he was willing to bet that they either wanted to destroy him or to hire him.

Perhaps there would be some cheesy 'Shinichi, I am your father' reveal at the end- possible, but not really plausible. At one point in his life, when he had been much younger that had been his heart's desire: a well off father crawling out of the woodwork somewhere along the line and promising to take care of his mother and him. The time for that was long gone now, as if he ever met his father he was sure that he wouldn't be able to forgive him.

If there was one thing he knew about himself it was that he had an unforgiving nature.

"Why are you playing this game?"

It was a good question, and when Eri had asked it, he hadn't been able to answer her- not that he would have if he could.

"Are you playing to save her? Or are you playing to save yourself?"

He wasn't sure that this type of sadistic game could be played to save anyone, but at the moment he was content to keep Nao out of it. Just thinking about her made him change his path towards her apartment. He had promised that he wouldn't get her involved in this- he hadn't promised that he wouldn't check up on her. He continued on his walk, his steps emboldened with new purpose.

That foolish, senseless, selfless girl. Panic ripped through him. He wasn't sure why Eri had called him, but he was grateful that she had. She hadn't told him much, just that Nao was losing at whatever game was being played and having him help her would not be against the rules of this round. She hadn't needed to say anything else- truthfully he had stopped paying attention as soon as she had given him the address for the Revival Round location- he may have even hung up on her.

His every breath burned down his throat and seared his lungs. He barely noticed the people he shoved away from him as he ran full tilt. Nao was down at the harbour a full three kilometers from where he was. Normally Akiyama wasn't really much of a runner, but he somehow managed to run the full distance in less than half an hour.

Before long he stood in front of the unassuming looking warehouse that Eri had sent him to. Well it would have been unassuming if it wasn't for the pyrotechnics that seemed to flare up at random intervals. Taking a moment to calm his breathing and fix his clothing Akiyama finally walked into Kanzaki Nao's live once again. It seemed like she was going to fight for him after all.


Well here we are. I have to say writing my way through the resurrection round has really made me fonder of this part of the story. There are so many opportunities to develop the characters from here, and many more chances to add in bits that don't happen in the drama at all.

I'm definitely leaning towards pushing Nao and Akiyama a lot closer than they're shown to be. It's definitely fun to write Akiyama as Nao pulls out his conscience from where he had it hidden and dusts it off. I don't want him to be a sap, but he is a person regardless of how television pushes him into the 'cool' stereotype. In the same way I don't really agree with how Nao constantly plays damsel in distress. She's playing this game and she will get smarter and more intuitive as it goes along.

That said this is probably going to turn mildly AU as we go along because although I fully intend to stick to the drama in terms of what was shown I fully intend to alter the relationships the characters have because I assume you can't turn them off in between shots and stuff them in a closet somewhere. I realize that Japanese media has this image of the guy in a relationship being cool to the point of not really sharing any of his emotions with the girl, but I'm not buying it as the basis of a successful relationship.

Thanks so much to Hotarubi and mEEEm for reviewing, and thank you everyone else for reading so far. Please do drop me a line or two and let me know how I'm doing. See you next time!

Purple Marmalade