Before, visiting the mural would give him a sense of calm. A sense of calm that settled into his being as soon as he set sights on the bright golds and blues of the graffiti.
How could he not? CAT was so damn rad. Telling him to live life the exact way he always dreamed of, something that didn't fight his past, ah, attitude towards people.
Even now, he still respects the hell outta him.
But after the Long Game, he can't deny that there was always a small bit of… uneasiness that filled him whenever he hung around for a little too long.
But he could work through that. Only one bad life-changing incident there. No big deal.
Three years later, though, it just isn't the same.
He hasn't been in town forever, and he ends up having to look up directions to figure out how to get there.
And the second he steps foot in Udagawa, not even in sight of the mural, that same uneasiness starts to kick in. His body is telling him to run away, but also to get to the mural faster at the same time.
What if he gets there, and one of his friends is about to be brutally erased by Noise again?
He tries to push the irrational —because that's what it is, it's irrational— fear aside. Tries being the keyword. It's still clawing its way up his throat, slowly choking the breath out of him.
Mr. H's Imprint slowly washes over him. But the mural was made at least 8 years ago, so it's barely a fraction of the influence and strength it had before.
The mural itself is in bad shape, the paints dull and chipping away, no doubt due to the rain (and he's honestly surprised that it's lasted this long), the more subtle designs faded into the black background.
But it's still nostalgic and he doesn't fight the urge to reach and press his hand against it and—
He can't breathe. His stomach is tight, a lump in his throat, and a sudden wave of panic and fear and danger wrack his body.
He whips to the left, wholly expecting to find Joshua charging him with a gun, a cruel smile on his face, turns his head to where Minamimoto would be aiming his own gun at him, and whips around behind him too late to dodge Coco's bullet that rings out loud and, spins around to see Minamomoto's Noise form about to land the killing blow on Beat and even further behind him is Josh again, a frown on his face as his finger pulls the trigger—
He turns and runs, before he can realize that nothing was there to begin with.
headcount at all the stuff that's happened at udagawa:
-neku gets caught between josh and minamimoto shoot out and gets murdered
-coco murders him while josh is shooting [at her] behind him
-leo cantus almost murders beat but neku stopped him
uh yeah. thats a lot of murders.