He has to get out of here. He's not ready, what happened to them was all his fault; was his fault twice over, because Katsuragi had helped design Enigma in the first place, and then stolen Ex-Aid's power when he had second thoughts.
That's just another failure on Sento's back, he had run and left the problem behind for someone else to finish. Again.
('You're not him.' a little voice that sounds like Ryuga reminds him.)
('We'restill the same mind.' rebutts a little voice that sounds like Katsuragi.)
('Shut up shut up shut up!' chants the voice that sounds like Sento.)
(It's not Ryuga, he's back in another room where Sento left him behind. It's not Katsuragi, he cut his losses and left. It's all Sento, and he's making excuses to himself.)
"I have to – I have to get out of here, I can't stay here, they're going to know it was me and they need to know that and they were nice when they thought it was someone else but it wasn't." He heads out the front door, not bothering to close it behind him. "They don't need this, don't need me here reminding them of everything that went wrong and I can't put them through that again. Where's the bike, I though I had it-" Sento stops abruptly in the driveway, having not really noticed that he was outside. "Son of a-"
He drags his hand down his face. He's not wearing his clothes, they're in the wash because they were gross. These are borrowed, so none of his few things are in his pockets. "I put the phone in my bag that I didn't grab when I ran, like an idiot."
It's still raining.
"This is terrible." Sento pants, leaning on a low wall. He'd bolted, again, and he used to be better at sprinting, but that month on the road with not enough to eat and even less rest has apparently ruined that.
"Are you okay there?"
Sento looks up at the quiet voice. It's a young man carrying an umbrella. He's about the same build as Sento, so these are probably his clothes that he's borrowing.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Fine. Great, even." Sento lies through his teeth.
The other man shakes his head. "No, you're not. I've seen that type of face in the mirror and told people that far too many times for anyone to sell me on it.
"It was a rhetorical question, anyway. I needed to get your attention somehow. Was it that there were too many people in there?"
"No, no, it's not that." Sento reluctantly answers. "It's me, it's all on me, because I ran, and I keep running away, it's the things he did and the things I did and I keep running from the messes we both made." His voice speeds up. "This keeps happening and I keep messing it up and I always either leave or I just stop or I try to fix it in the worst ways and I know I shouldn't because I'm supposed to be smarter than this but I'm apparently really not and-"
He catches himself there, rewinds his runaway train of thought, and his shoulders slump. "And I'm just doing it again, aren't I..."
The stranger's expression has been neutral throughout this 'discussion.' Not in a way that doesn't care, like it could have been towards someone who is basically a random, ranting stranger. It's neutral in the way that, looking back, Sawa or Utsumi often were – the way that says someone has practiced for a very, very long time to not let their emotions show.
In the span of an eyeblink, that enforced neutrality is replaced by something that might be sympathy? Empathy? Sento's… admittedly not always great at reading individual emotions, honestly, but maybe it's understanding?
"I get where you're coming from. Like I said, seen it in the mirror, and said it too many times. My name's Mitsuzane, Armored Rider Ryugen. Just call me Micchy, though. My brother's the only one who calls me Mitsuzane. Come on, if you need a break you can hang out in my room for a while." He holds out the umbrella, nodding towards the door.
Sento follows after him, looking at this 'Micchy.' 'He can't be more than, what, twenty? What happened here that he would get this? And how does he even know what I'm talking about? Ryuga only told Shinnosuke and Takatora anything, and I know he held back.'
He realizes he'd zoned out as they walked. "Oh, uh, I'm Sento. I'm really sorry about this."
"Don't be. We've all got our hangups." Micchy leads Sento upstairs. "Here. I'm going to fire off a text, so that the others know where you are, but just head on in."
"...Thanks. Your brother, that's Takatora, isn't it?"
"Yup." Micchy nods, after tucking his phone into his pocket. "In theory, we're both the hosts when everyone meets up here, but I usually don't join in much."
"Why not? You seem like a good guy."
Micchy chuckles dryly, closing the door behind them. "I'm really, really not. I have never been the good brother. But this is not the time to go into the numerous ways I screwed up."
"You messed up too?"
"Ha, in so many ways. I mean, nobody here in Zawame made many good decisions, but I was guilty of some of the worst."
"Are any of them related to why you called yourself an 'Armored Rider'? Gaim was from here, right? He used Kamen Rider, and I heard that Takatora does too."
"It kinda is, it's what we were called here at first. The others who made it through everything use Kamen Rider now, but. I don't think I can ever really earn that title. But honestly, it's been four years since everything here ended. You only 'got out' recently, right?"
"...yeah. Shinnosuke picked us up today, but we've been… traveling. This, uh, this is the first time we've been around this many people for a while."
"I see. What was the tipping point that made you try and run out?"
"...Parad. Not him, it's not his fault, but seeing him again, I mean. I got him trapped on our world – the Earth that Ryuga and I came here from – for two years. I didn't know that it was because of me when I met him, we thought it was someone else, but it really was my fault. And so was so much of what happened back home, including it being gone-"
Sento stops talking, his expression closing off. He slides down to the floor.
"Everyone is gone and it's my fault..."
"Did you mean to?"
"Hm?"
Micchy joins him on the floor. "Whatever it was that happened to your Earth. Was it what you set out to do?"
"There wasn't an option. There should have – I should have found another way to stop him, but there just wasn't one..."
"There you go, then. If you had no other option, if it was that or do nothing, well. Sometimes even a terrible decision is still one you have to make.
"I was on this end of the phone call earlier, when your friend was talking to Takatora and Officer Tomari. So I heard the very… redacted version of what happened. But you needed to say that yourself, right? I do hang back from everyone else, most of the time, but tonight specifically was in case one of you two needed an excuse to get out. I'm sorry that I didn't tell either of you, but you wouldn't have said anything otherwise, would you?"
"No, probably not..." Sento admits. He looks at Micchy. "Are you sure you're not a good guy?"
"I'm the worst." Micchy smirks. "I make for a great cautionary tale, though." He looks away from Sento, over towards the door, and speaks a bit louder. "I'm not the only one, though, now am I? You might as well come in now."
Sento freezes as the door opens, revealing a sheepish Parad. "Sorry. I've been out there for a while." He nods at the ground. "Can I join you?"
Sento shrugs, looking down in defeat. Parad joins the two in sitting on the floor. "None of us blame you for what happened. Okay? Especially me and Emu."
"You should, though." Sento mumbles, his shoulders slumped. "Since it turns out it was me after all."
Parad barks out a laugh. "Uh, no. No, you fixed what that Katsuragi guy screwed up, and clearly did a way better job than he would have.
"He knew I went in that wormhole with him, and given the year that went by before he… uh, left, I'm pretty sure he didn't do a thing to find me. When we met? One of the first things you did after I attacked you was get me into a bed when I passed out. If that alone doesn't say that you're two different people I dunno what other proof you need."
"Well, it's not like I could just leave you out there!" Sento shouts. "That'd be wrong!"
"And that," Micchy prods Sento in the chest, "is why you are definitely a better person than either of us were. There was a copious amount of scheming and killing on both of our parts, attempted and ambiguously successful."
"Ambiguously successful?" Sento blinks. "That sounds incredibly fake and like you're making things up to make me feel better."
"Takatora nearly drowned and was in a coma for months." Micchy slides back into that carefully neutral expression from before. "If Kouta hadn't already been turning into an Overlord, he would have died – and it would have been because he was willing to let me kill him so that he could keep me from dying."
Parad pulls one of his knees up to his chest, looking in Sento's direction without meeting his gaze. "I was literally part of Emu for ten years. At least when you became someone new, you got a fresh start. I went the 'vengeance against humanity' route. The first thing I did, as I was being split off from him, was disintegrate four people.
"And later, I did the same thing to a crowd – on purpose, just to goad him into fighting me. I mean, later we found out that they were all technically uploaded to what is basically the cloud, but. Still."
Parad huffs, leaning back against Micchy's desk. "To get me to stop… Emu had to kill me. Or, well, he at least made me think he had killed me. But it's basically the same. I stopped… being for a while." He blinks, and looks slightly down. "You couldn't have. There were no other options."
Sento and Micchy both look at him. Micchy raises his hand, asking "Uh, which of us are you-"
"No, not you guys." Parad waves them off. "I somehow forgot I was keeping the line open. Emu, it was either you kill me or you let Nico die, and you made the right call. … … Look, I'd gone too far by then for you to have any other choice. I had it coming and you know it."
"Parad?" Micchy looks concerned. "Are you there?"
"Hang on. Listen, Emu, we can talk about this later, alright?" Parad turns to look at Sento and Micchy again. "Sorry. Emu and I have been listening to what's going on in each other's conversations.'" He grins. "We're really good at multitasking.
"Speaking of which… just give me a minute." Parad closes his eyes, looking like he's concentrating. When he opens them a minute later, he's frowning. "Sento..."
'Uh-oh.'
"Yes?"
"Why would Ryuga say something about you thinking along the same lines about yourself?" Parad growls.
'Ohhh no.'
"I am aware I am already going to be in trouble. How much more trouble would I be in if I were to ask which time he was talking about?"
A voice can immediately be heard yelling downstairs.
"What do you mean which time?!"
Micchy looks at Sento. "My money's on a lot more."
Going back to when Parad went after Sento, in the main room…
"Wait, don't!"
Ryuga tries to lunge after Parad, but is blocked by a quick moving Emu.
"It'll be fine. Parad and Micchy are actually some of the best people here to go after him, when it comes to talking about crushing guilt. Plus, Parad's the one who actually met Sento for the longest of anyone here, outside of you."
"Y-yeah, I get that, fine," Ryuga tries to get around Emu, "but I can't – I can't let him get hurt, I can't make him go through this, it's not like we've got anyone else anymore-"
"Okay, no." Shinnosuke interrupts. "None of that. You've got everyone here. The both of you have people right here, right now, so cut that out."
Ryuga blinks at that. "What?"
"The two of you aren't alone now. It's okay to ask for help. You both can ask for help." Shinnosuke puts his hand on Ryuga's shoulder. "All right? It's okay."
"You let us help you before." Emu points out. "We can help you now, too. But not if you and Sento don't talk… to… us…"
Emu looks upward, narrowing his eyes. "I should have found a different option than to make you go through that."
Ryuga looks at him, and then over to Kiriya and Nico. "Is this that thing where he talks to Parad? 'Cause it's kinda weird."
Kiriya rolls his eyes. "This is nothing, I share an apartment with them."
"They finish each other's sentences a lot. It's infuriating." Nico adds. "Oi, Emu!"
"Shush, I'm busy." Emu holds up a finger. "Just give me a minute. Parad, I never should have had to kill you."
"Isn't he a doctor?"
Nico grips one of her sleeves. "There were… extenuating circumstances."
"If I had known about you sooner, I could have helped, or done something, and it wouldn't have had to come to that in the first place. … … No, but that doesn't mean it was okay."
"Um… should we be saying something here?"
Kiriya shakes his head. "Better to just let them get their chat over with."
"… yeah, sure, later." Emu seems to switch his attention back on the original discussion. "Sorry about that. We've had a lot of practice with the whole connection thing, and we can hear what's going on around each other if we're focusing enough."
"What was that all about?"
Emu sighs. "Things were going very wrong, very quickly. With all that was going on, I wasn't left with a choice aside from basically… 'removing' Parad from the scenario."
"That sounds familiar..." Ryuga mumbles. "Sento said something like that about himself."
"I'm sorry, he said what? One moment..." Emu closes his eyes. "Okay, could you repeat that for me?"
Reluctantly, Ryuga complies. "… He thought it would be better if he wasn't around after some of the things that happened..."
"Oh, really now…?" Emu grits out, his forehead wrinkled.
His eyes snap open as he yells up at the ceiling.
"What do you mean, which time?!"
Takatora grimaces. "We'd better get them back down here."
