Chapter 37: CH37

Chapter 37: Rise's Comfort.

-03/21-
-11:45pm-

'Who lived here now?'

'Where was time slipping?'

'Why were the words just a blur in his mind?'

'Rise, Kanji, Naoto?'

'Their voices had just become noise.'

'Sounds without meaning…'

Seated with his back against the wall, Souji stared closely at static flickering across the television screen. Lighting up the dark room around him with dancing white he was in a trance and overcome with loss.

It was strange, he found himself looking down at his worn physique...

He barely ate now and his body had grown withered.

...

Finally, he heard a voice.

It wasn't Naoto's,

Wasn't Kanji's,

Wasn't even Rise's...

"Looks like it's time..."

A softness whispered from nearby.

Souji suddenly looked up and began glancing around.

There was no one in his room...

He made his way over to the window and opened it only to welcome a cool night breeze and the sounds of flowing traffic below.

"Over here..." Called a faint voice.

Souji turned around and looked to his right at the mirror on the cabinet wall.

Looking out the window just like himself, was Minato.

Turning to meet Souji's gaze he smiled softly.

Souji said nothing, but his aggressive gaze demanded to know why he was here.

"I'm trying to save the others… Unlike you…That's why I'm here." Minato stated calmly.

In a weak but resentful voice, Souji responded, "Where the hell were you when they were taken?" He bitterly approached the mirror. "I didn't hide like a coward…" His tone building in a quiet rage...

Minato said nothing with a relaxed complexion as Souji continued.

"Don't you compare me to your worthless self. You lectured me on protecting those we lead and I accepted what you said, I accepted that I may have put Yukiko in direct danger… and I accept I couldn't save her when it mattered! But I wasn't the threat! Erebus was, you were, you nearly murdered Yukari yourself."

Minato smiled and shook his head slowly. "...You're enraged… Nothing more."

"Don't tell me what I am..." Souji said quietly now as his rage vanished upon realizing he had just admitted once more that he had let someone close to him die.

"I will… because, I see myself." Minato said slowly approaching the mirror with his head bowed and hands in his pockets.

Souji took a step back in yield. He was not at strength to take on any confrontation here and now. "I am not you…" He quietly whispered.

"Maybe that's because I see my 'younger, more stupid,' self." Minato laughed.

Souji began clenching his teeth and fists. Not now, he wouldn't tolerate this. Without warning Souji threw himself with full force and struck the mirror to shatter the glass.

Making barely a mark, he did more damage to his shoulder and ribs. This only enraged him further.

Cracking the first time only, his hits grew more frustrated by his lack of strength. Building to a crescendo of blind rage, his fists finally began to find some weight to them as they began hammering hard, again and again, to form cracks like an intricate web across the mirror.

The reflection began to distort chaotically as Minato simply watched from only an inch away from each blow, unflinching.

Finally breathing heavily, Souji stopped. His hands, shaking and bloody, were left skin-shredded as they fell to his side, lifeless. His temperature was rocketing as he broke into a cold feverish sweat.

Souji looked up at Minato who now appeared as a thousand fragments through the mirror, but the contrast between them was day and night.

"Funny… You should see what I can? It truly defines your current state." Minato whispered as he leaned just ever slightly forward towards the hunched Seta before him.

Minato clicked his fingers and in seconds the glass began to normalize... Or so Souji thought.

In fact what was happening was that Souji's room and his own body was fragmenting like broken glass and what lay beyond the mirror had stabalized.

Minato softly announced, "This is what your side of the mirror looks like from my eyes..."

...

It was chaos.

Souji looked down at his body, broken and distorted.

It showed the truth of the low he had reached, gauntness across his pale shaded body...

Souji looked at the blood dripping from his hands, it was too dark a shade for his nerves.

Minato clicked his fingers again and let Souji's world stabilize

Souji said nothing as he stared at the ground.

"The difference between you and I is that I'm no stranger to the death of loved ones. However, this may be your first encounter with it."

Seta did not respond.

"Listen carefully. I won't say this again… I can't save them alone… I'll need your help. In seven days my blades will stand beside yours… Be ready. Be rested…"

With those final words, Minato disappeared.

'But I… am not you…'

Souji thought to himself.

Suddenly a light turned on out in the room outside Souji's and light footsteps made their way over to Souji's door in panic.

"Oh no… Are you alright!? I heard a really loud noise." Rise called out desperately as she tried to open the locked door.

Souji said nothing.

Rise finally stopped. "How long are you going to shut us out like this?" She asked softly.

Souji realized he had left her in the dark long enough... It wasn't fair on his friends when he didn't deserve this much concern.

He walked over and turned the door knob slowly with a trembling hand coated red in blood.

"Souji Seta! You open this door right now!" Yelled Rise out of worry more than she demanded.

It was uncharacteristic of her to call him anything other than senpai or use such force... But Souji realized as he fell back from the impact of her kicking the door as it was being opened, the force which knocked him back wasn't all that strong, he had just grown significantly weaker.

Not fast enough to react with the lack of tuned motor skill, he was knocked back hard as the door slammed into him flinging open wide.

Rise looked about ready to cry as she heard Souji wince from the fall backwards onto his injured hand. It wasn't from the the impact of Rise 'helping' the door to open faster but Rise worried it was.

"Oh god! I'm so sorry!" She cried out as she hurried forward coming down to her knees from guilt beside him.

Souji eased her worry by hiding his injured hand and smiling, he was going to say he was fine, but she was too vigilant.

"What happened to the broken glass there? Why is there some blood on the carpet!? Souji... Show me your hand!" She pleaded.

Souji felt like a scolded child and with a slight hesitation slowly showed her.

Expecting to be scolded for stupidity, Rise surprised him by heading out to get a first aid kit from the kitchen drawers.

In haste she made her way over and began patching up his wound refusing to question how it happened. She simply looked up from time to time and turned away her gaze each time he returned his glance her way.

Souji's head felt light, he knew he wasn't losing enough blood for it to be blood-loss but perhaps he hadn't eaten enough and the sudden expenditure of energy was leaving him feeling feint.

Rise caught sight of his fatigue and stopped him just in time as he began to fall forwards onto her shoulder.

"Hey, senpai what's the..." Rise instantly realized the problem as his burning forehead came near her neck and he breathed heavily in exhaustion. "Senpai, you're sick!

"Look at you, you're so much thinner, have you not been eating any of the food we've been making for you and leaving in the fridge?" However that question was quickly answered.

As Rise looked to the corners of the room, much of the snacks and convenient store meals Souji was pretending to eat were completely sealed and untouched. Rise, Kanji and Naoto had bought these within the last three weeks, and as they were disappearing from the fridge they assumed their leader was eating but the items were completely untouched and just sitting in Souji's room.

"You've... eaten barely anything... This is nearly three weeks of food untouched..." Rise realized with sorrow.

Seta did not want this, he didn't want to be mothered by her. "I'll clean this up. Sorry, for wasting so much food."

"Come here," she softly stated as she put her arms around him to help him down at rest. "Here... Drink this," she said reaching over for a nearby sealed lemonade can. "It's a little warm but cold things might just give you a bad throat anyway..." Rise advised.

Souji found it a little strange she wasn't panicking or crying like she would have two years ago when they were in Inaba... She had matured since those days.

[Rise takes care of you as her long wavy hair falls beside her lavender night dress. She helps you lean back, seated against a nearby wall as you drink with her closely at side.]

-"Do you miss her too?"

-"I don't need this..."
[Corruption up]

-"Thank you..."
[Understanding up]

"We all miss her." Rise said gently. "In fact, Naoto's cried a few times in Kanji's room when she's thought we couldn't hear her, you know?"

Souji had feared the team wouldn't be coping well either.

"She's really opening up to him..." Rise smiled sweetly. "It's strange but I feel like I'm interrupting when I'm with them now, so I've kept to myself lately... But I really miss her too... I wish I got to know her better, you know? Stopped competing with her and really come to understand what she was running from during our little talks... You know, for a while, we used to talk a lot, Yukiko senpai and I... When you left Inaba, Chie was still her best friend, but got pretty busy with work and Yukiko senpai was really kind to me for a full year when I was away from Inaba... and then she..." Rise seemed to hesitate to say what really distanced the two. "-I guess we just grew apart, sadly… Though all this must be harder for you," Rise said comfortingly resting her head on Souji's shoulder as she continued to sooth him with her quiet words. "I don't want to pretend to know how you must feel; I can't imagine it... But she'd hate to see you like this... We all don't want to see you suffering like this."

[You notice a tear gathering around Rise's eyes which she hopes you won't notice. It's the first time you realize she's been so worried about you. Her complexion is finer, more stressed and withered like yours. She has silently been suffering without anyone to care for her... Without you reaching out for her the way she's been selflessly reaching out to you...]

- I want to see the University... Would you come with me? (Rise R.P up 6 points)

- I'm not ready to move forward... but I'll try to fight for those depending on us. (Expression up)

- Your presence is soothing... I feel so comforted by you. (Charm Lv.7 required)

"Sure," Rise said with a look of surprise, which quickly turned into a relieved joy quickly.

For a while there was silence and eventually Rise began to perk up a little as she encouraged Souji to drink more, "Hey! When you finish this, how about I make us an amazing late night desert! Waffles!"

"But you're a terrible cook." Souji said bluntly.

"Aw, well aren't you sweet?" Rise sarcastically said pulling his cheeks apart painfully hard.

As Souji tried to pull her hands away with his, she suddenly broke into a smile and stopped, "Hey... That reminds me of when we had only newly met and I attempted making an Oragami crane like you showed me by the riverside." Rise reflected fondly, "I didn't even know you at all then and I thought you were the rudest guy ever to tell me mine 'sucked'... But strangely it helped. Strangely... You've often made me feel like I'm changing for the better when I'm with you. We'll save them all. We'll find them senpai, and you'll save them like you always do."

Souji looked at her as she shyly turned away to glance out at the nearby window and realized that it was in fact he who truly needed to thank her...

She was always there for him, when he needed her support most as a friend.

... As the two of you talk late into the night, you both begin remembering each of your friends and family... You remember how crucial it is for you to return to your former strength and seek out those you care for no matter what.

And it was Rise, who helped you achieve that.

-Lovers Arcana reforged-
Dual ascension Lv.10 to 12.

Rise learned 'Healing Pulse'.