FG

Fool's Gamble

Life 96

Chapter III: A Game By A Different Name

"The Velvet Room is-" The being, Philemon tried to explain to me in some most likely impressive and well thought out way, but I had been to a lot of strange places. This place was too familiar to not know what it was just from the feeling.

"A metaphysical realm situated within the mind, but hovering between the boundaries of the Human World and the reality beyond it, correct?"

Philemon froze then, his eyes both annoyed and surprised as I just grinned there in the blue void, a feeling telling me that I hit it right on the head.

"I was not aware you were… educated."

"Who do you think Stark learned it all from?" And it had been true after all. Yeah he built a suit out of scraps, but without me he never would have survived Titan.

"Regardless, the Velvet Room is a room removed from reality, and you shall be it's master." Philemon said as if that made any sense at all, the master part of it at least. I could feel from the dormant energies circling him that Philemon was deeply connected to this plane of reality, and I couldn't understand how exactly I would just usurp such a connection.

"Ah, I didn't elaborate. My apologies, but this story shall require some backstory, if I may?" Philemon begged permission then as I merely shrugged, a chair appearing to catch me as he did the same.

If I had to listen to some god's exposition, I was going to be comfortable, regardless of the place or the time.

"Once again, my name is Philemon. Few are aware, but like your master, I am an Incarnation. I am the Incarnation of Hope, and as such serve as a god of creation, but only in the metaphysical realm." Philemon explained as the empty void around us vanished, the streets of New York forming as crowds of people traveled past, all of them neatly stepping around us as they mindlessly carried on their way.

"You know Phil, the last Incarnations I met that weren't Death or my son, I killed." I said bluntly as I leaned back. I had quite a score tallied up by this point, one being or another having found themselves… offended with my existence. Chuck, the first Incarnation of Light, both the first and the second Incarnations of Darkness, and hell, I even killed Karma.

I can confirm, she was in fact, a bitch.

"I'm well aware, Avatar. I have been quite interested in your work, and now I find myself in need of your aid." Philemon said as once more the screen he had used reappeared, the six people all lined up in a row.

The boy in the mask stood out even more compared directly to the others.

"You see, just as with Death and Life, Darkness and Light, I too hold a universal opposite. His name is Nyarlathotep, he is the Incarnation of Despair." He explained as an image of a dark haired man appeared before us, a scarlet suit on his frame and an animalistic grin on his face that made even me want an adult to protect me.

"Guy sounds fun at parties."

"I assure you, any party featuring Nyarlathotep would end only in disaster. He believes that Humanity is a scourge on the Earth, and doomed to destroy themselves. He is of the belief that rather than wait for the inevitable, it is instead better to end their 'suffering' early." Philemon said as I got a pretty good idea of who Nrarly was. A real depressing cynic who wanted only doom and gloom and spouted a verbal avalanche of edge.

"First. It was a joke Phil, I'm not planning any parties with him on the guest list. Second. Now that I know of your nemesis, why exactly do you need me?" I asked with a straight face then as Philemon merely waved a hand, a thickly bound tome appearing in the air before us, a simple title on it.

The Gamble

"While my power is firmly refined to the Metaphysical realm, Nyarlathotep's power is not, though I never allowed him to learn such a fact. Knowing that he operated with such an advantage over me, I could not allow him to destroy humanity. So, I made a wager with him. Both of us would limit our interference with humanity, aside from the occasional person of no real importance, and would not take a physical form. This book contains the agreement we chose, and contains a note of every time either of us have interacted with humanity. Both he and I have a copy." At that the book's pages began to turn and I saw the examples laid bare before me, and both of their contributions.

"If he can't do anything, then why am I here Phil?"

"Nyarlathotep will break our rules in the year 1999, choosing to take a physical form in order to strengthen a man that sought humanity's end. He believed it was worth being sealed away, so long as it was too late for me to fix what he had done. Long after that, reality was reset, and I found myself once more at the beginning, with knowledge of all that was to come." Philemon explained as I took it fairly easily, as I actually realized what he meant.

When Chuck, the first Light, went mad, he destroyed most of the known multiverse aside from a single universe. When that world too fell, Jack had to rewrite reality to restore everything. Which meant that once again, things were my fault…

"The gist of all of this, of why I dragged your Spirit here instead of to the life you were meant to live for your 96th, it is quite simple. I may know the future, and how to change it, but I can not break the agreement. If I were sealed away, then humanity would be doomed to ruin… thus, you provided the perfect solution. You shall take my body and name, my powers as well, and do what I can not. As the agreement rests in the foundation of my identity, I shall not assimilate with you mentally as you are so used to. Thus, I will continue to exist among the humans as one of them, and you will be Philemon. You shall be the Incarnation of Hope."

And, that was a confusing bombshell, but the logic checked out. If the agreement they made was Incarnation-level binding, then it would be ingrained in the fiber of their being. If I only took Philemon's body, then I wouldn't technically be him in a cosmic sense, I would just be a guy in his body.

"You've planned this carefully."

"Indeed. And I shall not leave you aimless, I come bearing a gift to aid you." At that, a thick journal appeared in my hand, the cover a dark blue with only a small golden V on the face of it.

"Consider this your compendium, an archive of all events that shall transpire, and where and what you must interfere within. Do be aware, you will find Shatterpoints within time, merely steer clear as you usually do. You must do as is written, and provide guidance to your guests."

"Guests?"

At that I swore Philemon looked like he wanted to facepalm himself, I knew that look on his face well.

"I forgot to mention, apologies. As the Incarnation of Hope, you have the ability to allow humans to manifest their true nature as powerful spectors known as Persona. From time to time, a Guest shall arrive in this room. It is your place to guide them, but you may not do everything for them. Each of them shall embark on a journey, and for once in your existence my friend, you are not the one to shine or walk the path. You must be the guiding hand behind the scenes, the director, you could say." Philemon said as his form began to flicker slightly, almost like a hologram as the room around us began to change before my eyes.

Where once was a void, now stood a library of blue, a prominent desk situated at the end of it.

"Ah, so I am truly human now… Regardless, this room is not meant to be empty, Avatar. You will require assistants… No, attendants. Tell me, have you ever created life before?"

I thought about the technicalities of that for a second, before I had my answer and a smile on my lips.

It would be interesting, stepping back for once, the world on someone else's shoulders for a change.

"I'll try anything at least five times."

April 9th, 2016

Yongen-Jaya

Things had gone off without a hitch so far, at least as far as Akira could remember, though oddly he didn't have that vision of Arsène at Shibuya Crossing as he had the first time. A part of him was worried at that, fearing that it meant that even though his mask had returned, that he still held a disconnect with his true self.

However, that connection he had lost was back in full force, but Arsène was gone, only a strange faceless being inside his heart, its power tied to the mask he felt before.

The new mask, which meant his true self had likely changed, and he needed a new mask… but a part of him would miss Arsène, since he realized that perhaps he had merely changed too much for the Thief to keep up with…

He wasn't the boy that awoke in Kamoshida's Castle anymore, it would be too much to ask for a Persona that awoke from who he used to be, to stick around when he no longer was that person.

Yet, he noticed what Igor had mentioned, that things were different.

Akira knew he was meant to go directly to Yongen-Jaya to meet Sojiro after he arrived in Shibuya, but a part of him longed to travel to Central Street after having spent so much time there.

Most of it seemed exactly the same as he remembered… until he arrived where Big Bang Burger should have been.

"What the hell is Cafe Venus?" He had asked aloud as he stood outside a tasteful restaurant, one far closer to Leblanc than Big Bang Burger, and he merely wondered what all had changed.

Had the Okumura family gone bankrupt? Did Kunikazu never turn the family business into an assembly line fast food nightmare?

Too many questions to deal with for right then and there, so he went back on his way to Yongen, hoping that Sojiro wouldn't be too upset with him, though he did remember that Boss hadn't liked him at all at the start.

He wasn't looking forward to having to earn the man's affection again, when he had practically become his father, not that Inei Kurusu had been much of one to begin with. Not hard to be better than a man that left his wife to go run off with a woman he met on the street and then completely disappeared.

Sojiro had been a perfect step up from that bastard.

To his delight, Yongen looked practically identical to how it had once been, from Mr. Usami tending to his shop and gracing him with a smile despite never having met before, to the little girl and her dog that walked past Sojiro's house every day.

Despite often seeing her and even listening to her talk with her mother, he had never actually introduced himself to the girl, though he had been overcome with sadness when her dog Kotaro had died.

Did it make him a bad person, that he knew the dog's name, but not hers?

He had done enough angstful pondering though, and decided it was time to bite the bullet and meet Sojiro, hopefully he would be able to make a better first impression this time.

To his surprise, Leblanc was actually full of customers for once, after having never seen it with more than three customers in the past, he was astounded.

Did that outsider, or whatever they are, somehow make Leblanc successful?

However, his heart lifted a bit when he laid eyes on his former guardian, Sojiro looking exactly as he had before, down to the little beard and the glasses that Akira had later copied the style of when he joined the Diet.

As Sojiro had said, he couldn't keep being a hipster.

At the ring of the bell, Sojiro turned his head and… smiled at him.

He firmly recalled their first meeting, something akin to dread in Sojiro's voice.

'Oh, right. They did say that was today.'

Like Akira had been a burden he hadn't looked forward to, yet now Sojiro was smiling at him and coming closer and-

Sojiro was hugging him, and Akira had never felt more awkward.

"Akira! You should have called ahead, I thought you'd be in earlier! You had me worried." Sojiro said with a warm grin and a clap on the shoulder as he led him to a seat at the bar, the Curry timer going off in the kitchen as Sojiro sped off to get it, far faster than Akira had ever seen the man move.

"Sorry I couldn't pick you up at the station, but I couldn't get anyone to cover the shop and I wanted to have some actual food waiting for you for when you got here. I figured your mom didn't give you enough for any of the expensive trash in Shibuya Station." Sojiro said as he placed a warm bowl of Curry before him, a cup of coffee quickly joining it as Akira fell practically limp on his stool, wondering what weird alternate world he had found himself in.

Sojiro liked him, without any work…

"Mr. Sakura, what-"

"What're you calling me that for? You haven't called me that since you were five, kid. I know it's been a while, but way to make me feel old." Sojiro said with a casual, yet confused gaze, as Akira suddenly felt a throbbing, intense pain in his head as his eyes fell to the counter top.

'Akira, this is an old friend of mine, Sojiro. He's your godfather.'

'But please kiddo, just call me boss. Everyone does."

Sojiro went to his fifth birthday party. Sojiro went to school with his mom. Sojiro was his fucking godfather.

Things were happening way too fast, let alone with the memory dump, and Akira found himself collapsing at the bar, the customers and Sojiro quickly checking after him.

"Aki, you alright kiddo? Did you hit your head on the train?" Sojiro said with concern as he quickly helped Akira stand up, his arm bracing the young man as he practically dragged him to a booth.

"Just… tired." Akira managed to mutter out as he swore the room was spinning, conversations and memories he had never had quickly assaulting his mind as he began seeing memories from his last life flashing past his eyes as they mixed and conflicted with new ones.

It was quickly becoming hard to tell the difference between the two.

"Just sit here Akira, get your breath. I'll call ahead and then get you home, just let me close up the shop, okay?" Sojiro asked with a hand on his shoulder as Akira could only do a shaky nod as the man began apologizing to his customers and asking them to come back tomorrow.

He called it a family emergency.

It was at that point, as Sojiro turned to look back at him with more emotion than Akira had ever seen from the man, that he finally passed out at the booth.

He was tired...

"I'm telling you something's wrong with him, it's like he barely recognized me…" A voice at the edge of his mind, the voice distorted and strange as he floated in the dark abyss around him, his form lost and yet nonexistent at the same time.

"And Tae already said it was a panic attack."

"But he used to be so calm as a kid." A light pierced the darkness then, and Akira found himself aware, but still lingering beyond the veil of consciousness.

"And it's been over eleven years. People change Soji, could you imagine not seeing Futaba for eleven years, and then just showing up and hugging her out of the blue? She'd freak out too."

And it was then, that it all vanished and Akira felt the bed below him, could feel his body laying adrift as he felt himself come back to the world, his head a mess of pain, though he felt like he was given a painkiller by the coolness in his head.

"Shh, he's waking up." Sojiro, definitely Sojiro's voice, said aloud as Akira slowly opened his eyes, finding himself in a room he didn't recognize at all, and that definitely wasn't the attic of Leblanc.

"Hey kiddo, you gave us quite the scare there. You feeling better?" Sojiro asked him with worry in his tone, though he did keep his distance this time, though Akira didn't really care. Ann had hugged him enough that he could never turn down physical affection anymore.

Ann…

Things would be better this time.

"Yeah, sorry for worrying you, I just don't handle trains very well." Akira apologized and lied at the same time, rightfully assuming that it was easier to claim he had motion sickness, then to explain that he had traveled back in time from an alternate future, and now was having to deal with an overload of memories due to assuming the life of his alternate self.

"And here Sojiro was thinking you'd be fine taking the train, if I had known I would have picked you up myself." A woman's voice spoke aloud then as Akira's eyes furrowed a bit, not recognizing the voice at all, and wondering who could be here.

It was too old of a voice to be Futaba, and Sojiro had said he had worried THEM, and…

Wakaba Isshiki walked into the room.

"What?!" He cried out without thinking before he found himself once more falling back on the bed, the shock alone putting him back under.

"Oh, and it's my fault he passed out." Sojiro said with a joking grin as Wakaba looked ashamed of herself for a moment, her eyes concerned as she stepped closer to the boy, Sojiro right at her side.

"Still believe something's not wrong?"

Chi-Mura, Japan

1996

"What are you doing for your electives this year Sakura-kun?" A boy with dark hair asked aloud as Sojiro Sakura and he sat in the halls of Shishō Academy, the two of them trying to debate what it was they wanted to do that year, but neither could quite decide.

"I mean, I like cooking, but I don't know if I want to focus on that… I guess Theoretical Sciences? Science is cool, right?" Sojiro asked his friend for support, but the boy just scoffed aloud at the idea, his tone completely biased.

"Theoretical Sciences is just a bunch of philosophical bullshit man, why would you want to waste your time talking about imaginary stuff?" He asked aloud as Sojiro just tuned him out, as he had thought a lot about it. He hadn't really shared it, but philosophy had always intrigued him, though he didn't fully understand all of it, and the class seemed like philosophy applied to science.

Couldn't be all bad.

"I don't know Ken, it just feels right, you know?" Sojiro said with a shrug as he looked at his schedule. He could only take one of them, so he had to make a decision, something he never liked doing.

"If you want my two cents, I say go with science. You can always learn to cook." An unknown voice said then as the boys turned on the spot, an older man standing there that they had never seen approached, his hair a soft shade of brown and… what looked like a silver bird mask on his face?

What kinda psycho had wandered into their school?

"W-who are you?" Ken said with shock and alarm as the man simply laughed at him, his hands held aloft to do no harm as he slid to a seat by the boys, both of them a little hesitant of the man's sudden presence.

"A man of no consequence. I just got finished with a tour of your school, quite a nice place. But yeah, Sakura-San, was it? I would say go for that science class, you always meet interesting people in classes like that, who knows what friends you'll make…" The man said cryptically as he stood then, his suit remaining pristine as if he had never sat on a dirty school floor, that mask not moving even an inch as he moved so suddenly.

"So, you recommend science?" Sojiro asked quietly as the man smiled at him then, the man's dark eyes now smiling at him in a way his mask wouldn't allow, the man more akin to an owl than a passerby one would usually see.

"Oh yes, I think you'll have a blast Sakura-San, but do hurry up in signing up, I heard not many spaces are left in the class, and you can't really make friends if you don't even meet them." And with that, to their utter confusion, the stranger pried open a window in the hall, and jumped out of it before they could try to stop him.

They were on the fourth floor.

And yet, as they crowded at the window, the body of a crazy fool didn't rest on the ground, the man having vanished like morning mist in the afternoon sun.

"What the hell just happened Sojiro?" Ken said with wide eyes as they quickly left that hallway, not wishing to linger there in case the man's body did turn up somewhere. Neither wished to be accused of murder.

"I don't know… but I kind of want to sign up for Theoretical Sciences now, just to explain what on Earth we just saw…"

"Oh, are you signing up for Theoretical Sciences? So are we!"

"Uh, yeah, I had it recommended to me… I'm Sojiro, Sojiro Sakura."

"I'm Wakaba Isshiki, and this is my friend Aiya Amamiya, and that gloomy idiot is her boyfriend Inei."

"By the way, anyone else see a weirdo in an owl mask?"

April 10th, 2016

"Look who's awake, you scared us last night kid. Gonna make me have a stroke at this rate." Sojiro said jokingly as Akira woke up, his eyes scanning the room around him as he saw his old suitcase lying empty next to a dresser, his stuff presumably packed away.

And this still wasn't the attic either. Was he staying at Sojiro's house?

"I… what happened?"

"You passed out as soon as Wakaba walked in, can't tell you how offended she was that I woke you up, and she made you pass out again." Sojiro said casually then as it cemented in Akira's mind at this point a solid fact.

Wakaba was alive.

Somehow, in some way, Akechi never killed her.

Which… gave him mixed feelings.

Wakaba being alive was one of the biggest changes Maruki had made to reality, yet… according to Igor all that had happened in the past wasn't manipulation or mind altering like Maruki had done, this was someone actually altering the past.

All of this was real, their mysterious outsider just changed the past to make things happen… and managed to save Wakaba's life, which meant that…

Futaba wouldn't have a palace, as she can't blame herself for the death of her mother that never died…

"Anyway, I just wanted to come up and tell you that we're technically supposed to go enroll you at Shujin today, but if you're still feeling lightheaded we can do it later." Sojiro said with a pat to his shoulder, only now did Akira notice Sojiro was wearing his fedora, the hat he had only worn twice in all the time he had known the man.

However, Akira was both eager and dreading heading to Shujin, a part of him wanting to find out for himself what else had changed.

But one thing still lingered in his mind.

"I'm on probation, right Boss?"

Sojiro's eyes bugged out then in shock, his gaze even more worried than it had been before.

"Probation? Kid, you've never even stolen a pencil, what the hell would you be on probation for?"

…

Was… Did Shido not exist in this world? Had their mysterious time traveler erased him from existence? Is that why he wasn't on probation, why Wakaba was alive?

He needed answers, and he couldn't just sit here if he was going to get them.

"Sorry, must have been a dream. I'm good to go to Shujin, but before we go can I get the Wifi password Sojiro?"

He didn't search much on the way to Shujin, but he did confirm one thing.

Masayoshi Shido was in fact, alive.

He was also the Prime Minister of Japan, as the last one died a year earlier, leading to Shido throwing his hat in during the special election.

Which meant that Shido couldn't try to rape a woman in Chi-Mura, and which meant that Akira never tried to stop him.

Shido never tripped, and Akira was never sent away to Tokyo as part of his probation.

While Akira was glad that he wasn't a criminal in this world, that fact Shido was Prime Minister scared the crap out of him.

As well, he had checked the texts on his phone to find many surprises.

Aiya Amamiya, Kurusu for a short time before the divorce, was a busy woman compared to the one he had known before.

His mother worked for Kadmon Laboratories, an organization Akira was sure hadn't existed before, and Akira was staying with his godfather (And it was weird thinking of Sojiro as his godfather…) for the year while his mom worked on a new project.

And though he hadn't meant to, he found a page for Kadmon Laboratories, and another surprise had awaited him…

"Nearly five years ago, young visionary Takuto Maruki arose from Tokyo University and brought with him the revelation of a world beyond that of our own, a world all inside your mind. With his research partner Wakaba Isshiki, the two re-introduced Cognitive Therapy, a once flawed concept, now proven to be a real and possible treatment.

A method of treating deep seated trauma by stimulating change in memories, Cognitive Therapy changed the world through it's practical applications, from the military to abuse victims.

Though Isshiki later slowed down in her research, Maruki has remained a respected figure in the Cognitive Psience community, leading many to question whether the study holds more than therapeutic uses."

Maruki and Wakaba published the Metaverse, though it seems they kept it's existence as an actual place a secret, as Akira could find nothing about shadows, metaversal cognitions, or anything close to palaces.

Which, that was a total mindfuck to read through.

Wanting to give it a bit of time before he researched his other friends, he found himself quiet on the way to Shujin as Sojiro tried to make conversation.

"You know, Futaba was really upset when you just went to sleep last night. She stayed up late hoping to talk to her god brother after all. I can't even think of the last time you two saw each other." Sojiro said with a smile as Akira couldn't help but have one too.

While Futaba had practically been his little sister before, it was nice to have a closer tie to her and Sojiro, even if he hadn't been expecting it.

"Anyway, the principal was kind enough to find a spot for you on the register, so be sure to thank him when you get finished. I'll be waiting for you outside, just text me when you're finished." Sojiro said with a smile as Akira stepped out of the car, his gaze warm as he laid eyes on Shujin Academy, a place he had once sworn to never return to.

Too many painful memories.

And it was as he stood there, taking in the sights of it all, that someone ran into him, knocking them both over.

"Oh shit, I didn't see you there man, you okay?" An extremely familiar voice asked in a concerned manner as Akira pulled himself to his feet, a boy his age with dark hair in a Shujin tracksuit met his gaze.

"I'm sorry about bowling you over there pal, I tend to zone out during my runs, coach is always getting on me about it. Wait, are you new? I haven't seen you around?" The boy asked as Akira found himself confused, even more so than when Wakaba turned up alive.

"Yeah, my name's Akira Kurusu, I'm staying here for the year." Akira said with a smile that held none of his confusion as the other boy shook his hand, the boy's grin infectious as he confirmed what Akira had suspected.

And opened an entirely new can of worms.

"I'm Ryuji Sakamoto, I'm on the track team here, so if you want I can put in a good word for ya, since I kinda ran you over."

Ryuji didn't dye his hair in this world, the track team wasn't disbanded, he didn't walk with a limp, and he didn't have a prosthetic that looked more machine than man.

But he was Ryuji.

"Don't worry about it man, I wasn't looking either. I gotta go get enrolled, but do you like Ramen?" Akira asked with a grin as Ryuji's face lit up, the boy's expression as bright as the sun.

He may not be his Ryuji, but he was A Ryuji.

"Duuuudddeee, I know the best Ramen place in Shibuya, we gotta go sometime, you know when I don't have practice. Oh, we should exchange numbers, don't want to lose track of someone willing to buy me Ramen."

"When did I say I was paying?"

"When you brought up Ramen when my wallet's empty. Now do you like Kurume or Hakata better?"

Akira just let him ramble for a bit, but he did find himself smiling a bit when he heard a familiar voice echo in his mind.

I am thou... Thou art I...

Thou hast rekindled a broken vow...

It shall birth new hope and create a hold on this reality

A bond that breaketh Fate's grip on the world

With the birth of the Chariot Arcana, you have obtained the strength that shall lead you to the end of this Game…

"Have you heard anything about this… mental shutdown business?" Sojiro asked as the two arrived at Leblanc, the reason being that he had to pick up some stuff for Akira's room, or so Sojiro said.

And that's how Akira found himself led into the attic that once was his room, now completely full of boxes and old junk, like what an attic probably should be.

With Futaba not a complete hermit and Akira not a criminal, he had quickly gotten used to the idea of actually living with them, though he still was considering cleaning up Leblanc's attic for them to use as a headquarters later…

Which was an entirely different matter…

He had said yes to going back, but now it finally sunk in that he'd have to go through everything again.

Kamoshida, Madarame, Kaneshiro, Okumura, Sae, Shido, and hopefully not Maruki on top of all of that.

He felt… daunted, by what lay ahead.

"The ones on the news? I saw there's been accidents, but I can't tell you what exactly a mental shutdown is." Akira replied with ease as he chose to keep that particular card close to his chest, having to dodge when an old hat was thrown his way, the two of them searching through the attic for something that Sojiro hadn't really told him what it was yet.

"Wakaba explained it to me a while ago. It's basically when you permanently remove a part of someone's mind, and they can't function anymore so they just… break, I suppose. They usually die right after. It's… it's hard seeing something my wife worked on for so long, be used to hurt people."

Wakaba and Sojiro were married… Sojiro and Wakaba Sakura…

Not something Akira had considered, but it made far more sense than he realized, and it did explain why Wakaba and Futaba were living with Sojiro in this reality.

"I can't imagine having my work be used like that. What is Wakaba doing about all of this?" Akira asked with interest as he found a chest of sorts, one he didn't recognize at all, and Sojiro didn't seem to either.

"Um, her lab's doing an investigation, but… I have no idea what that is, it's not mine." Sojiro said with a curious glance as the two stood over it, and Akira tried to open it.

Locked tight, but he felt a sudden presence in his blazer pocket, his key to his old cell in the Velvet Room sticking out of it, and… it looked like the key would fit the chest.

But whatever was in there, he definitely didn't want to open with Sojiro right next to him.

"Something to figure out later."

"Good point, we still gotta find that thing." Sojiro said with a renewed smile as he started digging through the boxes away, wanton disregard for their contents as he searched.

"What thing exactly?"

"Hell if I know."

At the same time that Akira was digging through a musty attic, another young man found himself waking up sore in an alleyway, blood in his eyes as he slowly forced his way to his feet.

Scarlet trickling down his face from a small gash as he tried to figure out exactly where he was.

When he eventually gave up, he decided it'd be better to make a call.

"Where the hell have you been?" The man on the other side said with concern as the young man rolled his eyes at the tone, his vision wavering as he relaxed against the alley wall.

"It was a rough night." He muttered out as he pulled what was left of his coat around him, only to have a staggering pain in his left side as he almost collapsed from it alone. "Oh yeah, and I think my left arm is broken…"

"I swear you'll call me next week saying you were shot in the head."

"Close. My bag got shot." He said with an unearned smile as the ragged remains of his messenger bag clung from his shoulder, the bullet and the knife doing plenty to scatter it's contents to pieces.

"What excuse am I supposed to use this time, huh? Why do you insist on doing this to yourself?"

"You know me, I get bored too easily."