"Welcome!"
Yato, limping with Nora close at his side, halted just in the entry gates to the shrine of a god he admittedly didn't know personally. "Hah, nice find…," he had said upon the sight of it, and Nora had only smiled.
The two looked up to find the static silhouette projected at the doors to the actual shrine building. It spread its arms, and they could make out a crescent of black forming a smile on the Voice's features. "Yato and Nora," they said, "it's a pleasure to greet you here! Allow me to explain the properties of this building, as it has 'special effects.' All holy beings are released of limitations regarding healing and regeneration. For any unholy beings, however, these grounds have an adverse effect, and will drain them. Any wounds dealt by an unholy being will still retain all of its healing limitations, and will not heal any faster. That's all for now, so take care!"
After the silhouette had disappeared, Nora spoke, "Isn't that perfect, Yato? It's exactly what we need, and the demon's vessel can't intervene here…"
He only grunted, edging forward and prompting her to join him.
"Perhaps you should cleanse your wounds with holy water," suggested the spirit, but he only entered the building with her and parted from her half-embrace, making his way to an empty space on the floor. "After you recover enough, perhaps we should end Izaya Orihara as soon as we can. You will not rest easy until he is dead… You want revenge, and so I think that is a perfect place to start, don't you think?"
"For now," he said, "I'll sleep. That's what I want."
Tilting her head, she observed him as he lay there on the wooden flooring. "Alright," she said. "Surely it will be easier for you to rest here." Furling her legs beneath her, she knelt beside him, content with their closeness. "Goodnight, Yato."
Muse took a breath, allowing themselves to relax. They closed their eyes, smiling. "Oh, Durden, you're not supposed to interact with them… You know that."
"Nora was the one who talked to me," Durden shrugged, bringing a mug of hot coffee to his lips. "They'd have been led that way either way. Why nag me about it?" And with that, he took a sip.
"I have to thank you for that."
"My complications are the best complications," he said, and flashed a smile. "This is starting to get interesting. Only so many players left… We might see the end of this by tomorrow."
Muse didn't answer, walking placidly, silently, to their swivel chair in front of the control panels. The setting sun cast a glare in the windows surrounding them.
Durden cocked an eyebrow. "You do know it's ending soon, Muse… Every story has an ending."
"And every 'end' has an 'and,'" Muse said abruptly.
The other sighed lightly, closing his eyes as he set his coffee down on a table and crossed his arms over his chest. "Could be that there's another reset," he conceded. "After all, A-ya's pretty damned determined. I can't blame him. He's an impressive kid. He kinda fucked up – but he's still impressive."
"Impressively fucked up?" asked Muse idly, toying with one of the levers.
"That too," he chuckled. "I'm just saying, don't get upset when it's all over."
"Of course not," they said. "I always knew that this was the one."
"Well," he said dismissively, stretching, "…whatever you say. I'm actually pretty curious what the others are doing."
"Understandably so." Durden couldn't see it from there, but Muse had begun to grin. "Look at them, utilizing their agency. How cute."
Stories and stories below them, Greyson and Rainbow discussed things in hushed tones.
"There's no kind of loophole to cutting ties, is there?" uttered Rainbow.
"There's an exception to every rule, isn't there?" Greyson answered.
"An exception to him?"
"Or an exception for him?"
"Can we break the rules?"
"Not even us?"
"What about…"
"…the Harrowing Blade?"
Rainbow touched their chin, while Greyson crossed their arms. They both frowned at nothing. "Shintaro," said Rainbow, "is getting ridiculous. Can't we do something?"
"But him and Seidou…" Greyson twiddled their fingers. "I kind of—like them like that."
"You would," sighed Rainbow. "But something has to happen, or they're fucked!"
"That would be fun."
Rainbow gave Greyson a look. Greyson flashed Rainbow a smile.
When Rainbow didn't seem to appreciate the optimistic look, Greyson sighed. "Anyway," they said, "there's something more important than that."
"A-ya?"
"Us, Rain. Us." Greyson folded their hands together, eyes averted. "I'll call Aureus."
Rainbow shrugged. "Maybe he'll have some idea…?"
"I like this – let's be productive. We can get something done…"
"Let's fuck more shit up while we're at it," Rainbow rolled their eyes. "Fuuun."
"Yeah, it is!" Greyson dialed Aureus on their cell, smiling. "You know it, too." And even though Rainbow agreed in a tone dipped in sarcasm, they began to laugh.
Underground, Aureus hung up the phone after a discussion with the two. "Oh, jeez…" He ran a hand through his short golden hair, looking at the ceiling. "I'm trying, guys… I'm trying…" He leaned back on his own swivel chair, pinching at the bridge of his crooked nose and letting himself fester for a bit. Eventually he looked at the curled-up figure of Seraph, hugging her knees to her chest with her face buried in her bony lap. "Hey…"
"I already know this is a bad end route," she said lowly. "It has to be. Seidou killed Roppi. Roppi is dead. A-ya killed Suzuya. Suzuya is dead…"
"I miss them too," Aureus began, but her head whipped up to face him.
"You don't know them like I did."
He pushed back in his chair, rolling away from her with his palms facing her. "You're right. I'm sorry," he soothed. "I'm pissed about everything going wrong, myself… but we still got some stuff under our control. I mean, I really hate Izaya, but look how far you've got him…! He's, uh, not okay, but that's okay. If that makes sense. Just don't make him go completely nuts."
She frowned deeply at him.
"Okay, maybe he's already there," he shrugged, and she huffed, bringing a hand to her forehead. "And at the very least, I'm still emblematic as ever in my influences…"
"It's Muse's fault this happened." Seraph's voice was hollow. "They know which ones I was closest to."
Tentatively, he said, "Like Suzuya… or Roppi?"
"Muse is practically their KILLER!" she snapped, her voice breaking on the final word.
At the high-pitched high-volume answer, Aureus stared silently, then picked at one of his ears. "You should tone it down… just a little, when you're underground. It's even louder down here."
"It's because they know I helped Roppi save Seidou," she began with a hitch, her eyes wild. "It's because they know I was working with you. It's because I—"
"Nothing is your fault, Seraph—"
"THEN IT'S THEIRS," she shrieked. "They can die for all I care. They can die. I don't ever want to see Muse again. I don't." She covered her face and furled tighter into herself, and Aureus's gaze softened in his empathy.
"…Seraph…"
"It's not like you actually care either. You know what you've been like in other routes? You—you're like Konoha and Kuroha, it's so drastic. I hate it. How can you really be so nice? How can you care? How could I possibly believe you?"
"I know I don't," Aureus answered. He turned from her, gazing distantly into the broken screens that Roppi had shattered however many nights ago. "Maybe I'm not a nice guy at all."
She didn't answer. He thought that perhaps she was stifling tears.
"I don't know them like you did, huh…?" Aureus closed his eyes, leaning back in his chair as though the internal weight pressing on him had finally gotten him to show his fatigue. "I know that you can see into their pasts and all… that's obvious… But isn't it also true that you know where all of this started?"
She remained silent, but he sensed a new stillness about her.
"I can't remember the beginning… Neither can Greyson or Rainbow… I'm sure Muse knows, but that's a given. You… you're Depth, aren't you? So for you to be the past, then surely you know the origins of the game… and even, perhaps, the origins of all of us?"
She said nothing.
He quieted, his countenance shifting to one of gentle inquiry. A soft desire for truth. "Who are we, Seraph?"
Silence.
"What are we doing?"
Silence.
"…Why?"
Somehow, the dim lighting felt for the first time as if it weren't enough.
Apart from them, Rodd was adjusting his spectacles as he entered a darkened room. A phone screen shone, flickered, and was put out. "I bet you're wondering," he said, "why we're doing this. I bet you'd like to know the truth."
The person in the dark did not grant Rodd an answer.
The timekeeper pocketed his hands, expressionless. "That isn't to say that I'll tell you. Really, I'm just coming to check up on you. Leaving anybody in isolation for too long is unethical." Rodd's mouth upturned just slightly at the irony, if only for a moment. Pushing up the glasses on his face, Rodd turned back to the door, making the glass shine with the glare. "I've been sent on a mission, I'll have you know. I use the past tense, but I actually mean that I will be sent on one in the near future. I don't make sense sometimes. I take pride in this." He paused. "Anyway, nothing goes past Muse without them knowing. What I'm saying is… well, I guess you can figure it out yourself. You're pretty smart. You've got a front seat to the show, so kind it's of pointless if you end up losing that privilege." Rodd stuck one hand in his jacket pocket, using the other to pull his cap just a bit lower over his forehead. His spectacles were cast in shadow. "I guess it doesn't matter what you do, anyway. In the end…" – from his pocket he raised his pocket watch, ticking softly – "…nothing really matters at all. All things are just concepts, really. Don't think too hard on that, or you may come to doubt your own existence. I do that from time to time. But I think all of us do."
Rodd turned from the prisoner, repocketing his watch and holding the doorknob of the open portal with a pause that held something that could have been reverence. For what, the imprisoned couldn't tell for sure. "We're all more fragile than you think. You're the same. Everyone else, too. But actually… I have to admit…" Rodd paused, and the silence filled the spaces with an unidentifiable apprehension. "It's okay, because I like purple after all."
He closed the door behind him and locked it without further explanation.
Izaya was, after having accepted the condition of being watched ever so closely, admitted into Kaneki's group conglomerate. And after having considering carefully the implications of this decision, Kaneki slowly led them all to the area where the hospital was. They lodged themselves across the street, everyone but Kaneki taking pause to look at the hospital with its shattered second-story windows, and the torn asphalt around it, and the accent of deep red that was only just barely discernable after all the succeeding rain. But Kaneki ushered them all into the small bakery shop facing it, not a word in acknowledgment of the place.
"Aw, what a cute shop," grinned Hide.
"It's… nice," admitted Rin. "For resting."
Shirou smiled.
They got themselves comfortable in the seating area there, Kaneki going around with a gentle smile to check the wellness of everyone, particularly of Rika, Rin, and Shirou. Standing apart from everyone, out of place, was Izaya. He watched them all with a flickering gaze that suggested rapt attention, but his expression was lacking. Hide caught his eye and smiled at him, but Izaya only narrowed his eyes at him, visage otherwise unchanging. Sheepishly, Hide rubbed at the back of his head and laughed, only to be tapped on the shoulder by Konoha, who asked him a question about what a "panini" was.
Kaneki, after making sure all was well with the others, told everyone he would be showing Izaya what it was he wanted to see. He would leave the others here, and they would be back as soon as possible. "If you want to help yourself to the breads and pastries, go on ahead," Kaneki added mildly. "I won't be eating dinner with you anyhow. However, Konoha…" He looked at the perpetually hungry android with a scolding frown. "Please do leave some for Izaya-san."
Konoha blinked. "…Oh, alright. I would like to share with him, as well, I think." He turned his watermelon gaze to the informant, tilting his head. "I wonder… Do you like strawberries, too?"
Izaya quirked an eyebrow, sticking his hands in his jacket pockets. "Not particularly," he shrugged.
"Oh…" Konoha pondered this. "Sweets?"
"I find them distasteful, in fact," Izaya smiled thinly.
This saddened the android. "Ah… That was, him, of course. You're different. That's fine, though. We can become 'friends' too, maybe."
Izaya frowned.
Kaneki gestured to him, signaling it was time for him to show the other the hospital. Before they left, he and Hide looked at one another. Kaneki gave his childhood friend a small nod before he left with Izaya. There was a thick silence up until none but Konoha could hear their footfalls outside. "Okay, you guys aren't actually okay with this, are you?" asked Rin.
"What?" said Konoha. "Why not?"
"I think it's better to try and save everyone, Tohsaka-chan," said Shirou, rubbing at the back of his neck.
"Don't forget this is still a death game," she snipped.
"But we're all allies, aren't we?"
"I do get a kinda bad feeling about him," said Hide, bringing his finger beneath his nose and making a somewhat sour face. "He smells like a poisonous person, but also not. I can't tell, and that's weird. Like, I can't even see if he's good or bad. Makes me nauseous."
"What, like you're that good at judging character," Rin rolled her eyes, and Hide snickered.
"You never know~"
"Still, I know we should be wary of him," admitted Shirou, and Konoha nodded.
"Careful," confirmed the android.
"Truly," Hide said soberly, "…I wanted to go with them. But I also know… that Kaneki won't want me to see whatever's in that hospital."
The other three in the conversation all looked at one another. "What exactly is up with that hospital?" Rin asked of Shirou, who shook his head.
"I know two people in his group died there…" said the redhead, "…and it was there that Seidou was first transformed to the state he's in now…"
"Is that so…" Pensively, Hide touched his chin.
It was as they spoke that Rika, sitting isolated just nearby, found her chance to converse quietly with Hanyuu. The lavender-haired goddess lowered her voice even though no one could hear her but the ten-year-old. "Is it really true that you don't remember Izaya, Rika…?"
"I really don't," she answered quietly, closing her eyes and cradling the still-shaken Kincho in her lap. Gently, she stroked his head. "Evidently, you do…"
"B-but how is that…?" Hanyuu wrung her wrists, eyes wavering. "Surely you remember Izaya Orihara from previous routes, don't you? Don't you?"
"I don't remember him ever being in this game…"
"How…?" Hanyuu floated closer to her supposed vessel, eyes wide. "What about in the forest—when Roy…?"
"I take it that Izaya was there?"
Hanyuu didn't know what to say. "…Well… yes."
"From what I recall, after the serpent demon felled Roy, I tried to end my life. It was A-ya who surfaced from his corrupted self and convinced me not to."
"It wasn't!" Hanyuu cried. "It was… It was…"
"Izaya, I presume?"
"Well… I…"
"You seem rather conflicted about this, Hanyuu… Is that so?"
Hanyuu shook her head vigorously. "I hate Izaya Orihara!" She spread her arms. "But you liked him. You did, even to the point where you asked me follow him after he split off—I mean, Rika, I thought it was strange that you didn't ask me to check on him, but I never imagined that—that… Uu… Uauauuu…!" she wailed. "Why did everyone forget him so suddenly? I don't understand!"
"But you remember him, Hanyuu," said Rika meaningfully. "Perhaps the game masters…? Or maybe… that other god, Yatogami?"
"I-Izaya did say he had a score to settle with that one…" Her eyes widened. "They do have a particular rivalry with one another… That's true… Uu… What did he do…?"
"More importantly," Rika said to her in undertones, "if you're the only one who knows who he is… then I have to ask you: can we trust him?"
She froze. "I…" Hanyuu looked to the door where the person in question had left with Kaneki. "I-I don't know. I really don't know…"
Rika sighed, then smiled, opening overcast eyes and creating rather eerie look of amusement. "At the very least, things are changing up. I could never have expected any of this. Are we closer to the ending, then…? Maybe, just maybe…" She brought a hand to her mouth, looking at the ground. "The piece that doesn't fit… could it be…?"
Hanyuu drew back with nothing to say.
"Hanyuu…"
She looked at the human child, frowning a small frown with her brow pinched.
"…Are you willing to reveal yourself to these people? I do trust them… and regardless, I think I'd like to tell them about the repetitiveness of this game in its entirety."
"You want to tell them about the other routes?"
"I'm tired of keeping secrets." And with that, Rika stood and walked towards the others, holding the armadillo in her arms and calling, "Hey, everybody~ May I intrude for a little bit? I have something to say, that is so~"
"Is it about Izaya?" asked Rin bitterly, and the child shook her head.
"Not so, but it is of much importance."
"Oi," said Hide with a smile, "wanna get up on this table here? Then we can all see you better, how's about it?"
"Why, sure…"
"Alright, guys, official group meeting going on right here!" called Hide to the other three as he lifted the ten-year-old and set her on a table. Kincho was set on the table too, where he scuffled around for a bit before settling himself at Rika's feet. "This is super-duper important everybody, so hush up! That means you, Rin-chan!"
"I wasn't saying anything!"
Rika had to giggle a bit, grateful to Hide for his eternal lightness. "Thank you, Hide." She looked at the four who were looking intently at her, not allowing their gazes to get to her. "In regards to Izaya Orihara, I don't know enough about him. He is a special case, and so I'd like to relay all of this to you four while he is with Kaneki. At some point, one of you can pass it along to him, but for now, we will be cautious of Izaya."
"Gotcha," nodded Hide.
"About this game in general, there's something I should tell all of you…" She looked at everyone, her eyes fading into something somewhat melancholy. "This isn't our first time doing all this. We have played this game before, again and again. Some of you more often than others… This game has been reset over and over, never reaching its end. I am one of only two players that I know of who remembers these previous timelines. Having said this, we have reached a point where I am repeatedly surprised by new outcomes. After seeing so many similar paths before, this is a very important development. This may well be the end route… and if it is, I want to be able to work together with as many others as possible who know exactly what it is we're fighting for.
"I am going to work under the presumption that 'this game does not exist,' meaning that if this game reaches its conclusion, we will all be able to return home to normality, be we alive or dead. With all of the toying around with time here, I can't imagine that they would disrupt the flow of time in each of our own realms just for a game."
Raising his hand, Hide gave an addition in answer to Konoha's confused look. "For example," said the bleached-blond boy, "it wouldn't make sense for 'Neki and I to be here as we are while Takizawa's years ahead. Especially when you say, Shirou, that Takizawa was fast-forwarded when you got here… because doesn't that mean he spent time here before that? And I don't know that he or I or Kaneki would develop entirely the same way after this game… And on that token, that means we still have a life to go back to."
Rika nodded. "Just like that," she confirmed. "There are certain things that have not changed from route to route… and there are also things that are very fickle. Any new recruits aren't always the choices that were picked, but all original players are typically the same. Survivors of the female game shift, too, but the original player set does not change at all. The only problem with this… is that any player that isn't part of an original set is always fated to die."
There was a heavy pause.
"That means," she said lowly, "that yes… Hide has never made it out, nor has Rin or Shirou." She looked at Konoha. "I cannot tell whether you count or not, as you aren't always brought back unpossessed. As for your serpent counterpart, he always dies at least the first time. Whenever you return as you are, he pops up elsewhere… Who he takes as his vessel varies. For all of you, I cannot tell you that your deaths are written in stone, but I wanted to at least forewarn you of its probability… Maybe now you will be more likely to defy fate." They were all staring in utter silence. Rin swallowed. "My goal now is to find a conclusion to this game. I don't wish to repeat this any longer… And I'm coming to think that perhaps whoever makes it to the end, it is not of consequence… so long as the ending includes a shift back to normality.
"The possessed vessel, A-ya, wants to reset the game. He stands against us in that way… No doubt that it was the demon's idea. Yukiteru, the one that I was with when you found me, may now be heading towards the same end. If so, we need to oppose him…"
Seemingly from nowhere, Hanyuu appeared to them in a stance of hovering urgency. Everyone looked on her in awe. "Izaya, too! That's right! It could be, after all, that he's striving for reset!"
"Could he?" Rika asked blankly.
"A spirit?" remarked Shirou.
"A Heroic Spirit?" added Rin.
"Or, uh, that goddess she mentioned?" said Hide.
Oddly, Konoha tried, "Kido?" which none of them could make sense of.
"I am the goddess, Hanyuu," said the lavender-haired girl, horns at either side of her head. She clasped her hands firmly in front of herself. "It's a—pleasure to meet all of you. Please treat me well… But—Izaya Orihara, it is true… that he is part of the original player set. He has maintained his spot in every single route, but for some reason, everyone else has forgotten about him… L-let me clarify! Izaya was together in a group with A-ya, Suzuya, and Twelve. A-ya and Izaya got along disturbingly well… but anyway, it wasn't really—that he outright agreed with A-ya's proposal for reset. But Izaya's never really been on anyone's side, and even if at that time, he might have still been working towards the ultimate alliance… a lot seems to have happened, since then… I can't tell… what his motives are, now."
Rin crossed her arms over her chest. "This whole situation is really…"
"Yeah, I know," said Shirou.
"I guess we'll just have to find out with this Izaya guy," said Hide, hand to his chin. "I've got this feeling… that we're gonna have a real ride ahead of us."
