Trope: I Take Offense to the Last One

Time: After Forming of Good Douji Club, I guess. (Not too important this chapter.)

Characters: Musashi Murayama and Sopha

"Musashi?"

I look up and see Sopha watching me on the edge of the roof. I go back to watching the sun make its way towards the horizon. I had hoped that I could escape for a while, but apparently that's impossible.

Sopha quietly sits down next to me and pulls his knees towards his chest. It's odd how thin he becomes when he is in his human form. He isn't very big in his douji form, but his weak frame is more apparent when he is trying to look human.

"We need to talk," he says quietly, and the forwardness catches me off-guard. I turn towards him, and he turns to look at me directly too.

"Alright," I agree passively, not sure where this will lead, "I'm listening."

He looks back at the forest and bites his lip before saying slowly, "We have…a difficult relationship. Neither of us chose the other to be the other's partner. You didn't want to be my master, and I didn't have any choice in the matter. Still," he looks back up at me, "we complement either other in our own way."

I don't know what to say, so I continue to listen. He turns back to the forest and continues.

"I've tried to be a good page to you, a good douji. The week after Dunstan left us in this century I left you alone because you told me to. When you wanted me to stay with you I was overjoyed and stayed. I thought that maybe we both could bond and grow closer, but that wasn't the case."

I think back to when I woke up in the present. I was confused and injured. Once I knew what time zone I was in I knew I couldn't trust anyone. I was angry at Dunstan, and it felt even more of an insult to have a robot I didn't want following me everywhere I went.

Go away! Leave me alone! I don't want you! I'm not going to be your master!

The boy- no, douji- stares at me with wide eyes and backs away.

I continue walking through backstreets, trying to find a place I could possibly stay at for the night until I can fix my arm and hunt Dunstan down. Sometimes in the corner of my eye I can see the douji's blonde hair, but he's hidden whenever I turn around.

Finally I become desperate and ask a sushi owner for help. He is kind and helps me. Just before the shop door closes I can see the douji standing in the alley across the street watching me enter without him.

"I was injured." I'm angry that he's bringing this up. "I had lost everything and everyone I loved. Being your master wasn't exactly one of my priorities at the time."

"I was injured too!" he shouts at me before frowning at the ground below. "I still am, in fact, but you can't even love me enough to heal me."

He clenches his teeth and hugs his knees harder.

"I'm sorry," he apologizes quietly a few seconds later. "It just hurts, in more ways than just one."

I watch him and then watch the coming sunset.

"I'm sorry too," I tell him. I'm sorry that I can be a better master for him. I'm sorry I abandoned him. I'm sorry I can't love him. I wish I could explain to him about how I can love only certain people ever since my parents died- how I swore to myself not to love anyone ever again because the hurt was too deep-, but it would make me sound even more selfish.

We sit in silence for several more minutes, watching orange etch across the sky.

I never watched the sunset when I lived in the future. Why was that? Was I always so busy I never noticed the sunset? Now it seems like it never mattered. I would give almost anything to have my sister with me now and watch the sunset with her.

"We can be stronger, even if you don't love me. There are ways," Sopha says and pulls me out of my thoughts.

"How?"

"If we actually talk, for one." He looks at me directly again. "You don't talk to me very much, and when you do you treat me like I'm your slave or weapon to use without a thought. Talking and syncing together would make us stronger. I don't enjoy having, what Service calls, my ass kicked every time you challenge someone to a fight. By the way, stop challenging people to fight."

Multiple questions and statements run through my head, but I choose to ask, "Since when has Service given you his opinion on my decisions? It isn't his business."

"We have group support meetings," he explains and continues staring at the sun.

Multiple questions. "Why?"

"It's a good way to collaborate our opinions and ideas without worrying about what our masters think. What to do about you and feeling pity towards me have become popular topics. It's part of the reason why I'm telling you all of this. An unnamed individual threatened to confront you on being a better master if I didn't say anything myself."

I don't have to make any wild guesses on who it might be. Then again, it feels like most of the douji dislike me, so it could have been any one of them. "Alright then. What are some of the opinions passed around?"

Sopha is quiet for a moment. "Well…one is that I chose another person for a master because you are 'unfit'."

I don't say anything for a few seconds. "What do you think about that?" I ask after a while.

Sopha looks up at me and smiles softly. "Meh, I'm too fond of you. I figure even if you aren't the best master now, there's a chance you'll get better."

He still has hope, even after everything I've put him through. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well." He thinks about it for a moment. "I want you to teach me what wisdom is. I've been searching online, and I haven't learned much, just that it is different from intelligence and is associated with old age. Details beyond those two are vague."

"Alright, I'll do better." I smile partly out of amusement. "You're more talkative than I thought."

He smiles back. "You're not as big of an ass."

"I'm not an ass," I argue offended. "Why do people think I am an ass? Who says that?"

Sopha gives me a sideways grin while watching the fading sky. "I do, but it's okay."

I huff at him. "You better put in a good word for me at those meetings," I mutter.

Sopha bursts into laugher and laughs so hard tears start forming at the corners of his eyes. He wipes them away and beams at me. Despite myself, I smile back.

Yeah, it could get better.