Both Ryou and Yuuichi were sore when they finally woke up. Not because of any physical or sexual activity they may have done the day before but because they were both asleep on a tiny couch and their bodies were mashed together at odd angles.
Yuuichi had woke first with Ryou not too far behind him. Both looked at each other with Yuuichi being a little confused. When Yuuichi turned to look at his boyfriend he grimmaced in pain. His neck was so sore it hurt to move it to look at Ryou. Ryou seemed to have the same problem as when he went to move his head from off of Yuuichi's chest he cursed out before rubbing his neck with his free arm.
"You know you could have woke me…" Yuuichi sleepily grumbled while lazily smiling at Ryou.
"I know… but I couldn't bring myself to do it. You looked too peaceful."
Yuuichi gave a weak appreciative moan as he had to painstakenly move his head to rest against Ryou's chest. "Appreciated." He mumbled.
"I'm taking my arm back now…" Ryou whispered and Yuuichi felt Ryou's arm move from underneath him. Ryou gave a painful groan as he retracted his arm. "I had a dream it was cut off…" He whimpered as he now gave said arm a few good shakes to try and wake it back up.
He made an uncomfortable face as the blood was starting to circulate back into his arm.
Yuuichi wrapped his arms and body around Ryou's own body. Ryou gave a soft laugh when Yuuichi buried his nose into the crook of his neck. "What?" Ryou could only ask as another laugh bubbled up when Yuuichi increased his nose nuzzling tenfold tickling Ryou as a result.
Ryou reached over and started to pet at the back of Yuuichi's hair. Yuuichi stopped tickling Ryou after a moment and instead relaxed against Ryou's body. "I'm still tired…" He whispered.
"Same…"
They became silent, content on just holding on to one another. The silence ticked on by as they just relaxed. After a while Ryou was starting to wonder if Yuuichi fell back asleep. Then, Yuuichi spoke. "What time is it?"
Ryou had to awkwardly reach over Yuuichi to grab the phone on the coffee table. He took the phone out of sleep-mode to see the time. The phone was Yuuichi's as a picture of Suki eating some ramen greeted Ryou. "...almost two o'clock." He whispered to Yuuichi.
Yuuichi gave a tired sigh and peeled himself off of Ryou. "I guess we should be getting up. The reservation for the Hotpot restaurant is for five and I have to shower." Yuuichi started to move to get up-
That was when Ryou wrapped his arms around Yuuichi and pulled him in suddenly, causing the older boy to yelp in surprise. "We could get up, but you're warm and I'm cold!" Ryou lightly teased. This made Yuuichi laugh out in surprise. Yuuichi then responded by planting his lips firmly on Ryou's neck and blowing. He blew a raspberry causing Ryou to twitch and try to get Yuuichi off of him while he laughed.
"S-Stop!" Ryou cried between laughs when Yuuichi didn't let up. If anything Ryou's pleas spurred Yuuichi on more and caused him to intensify his raspberries against Ryou's neck. Ryou's laughs became louder at this. Ryou thrusted up as he continued to try and get Yuuichi off of him.
Yuuichi felt Ryou hook his leg against his hip-
"Uh-oh-" Was the noise Yuuichi was only able to make before Ryou managed to flip Yuuichi on to his back expertly.
Yuuichi's heart could have stopped as he looked up at Ryou. Ryou had even taken it a step farther than needed by pinning Yuuichi's arms above Yuuichi's head. Yuuichi felt himself blush as he bit at his lower lip.
"You're a bit of a brat for someone older than me." Ryou teased before leaning down to peck Yuuichi on the lips.
Yuuichi relaxed and smiled once Ryou pulled back. "I gotta keep you on your toes." was Yuuichi's response.
Finally, Ryou let go of Yuuichi's arms. Yuuichi sat up once he was free. "Anyways, I've got to shower." Yuuichi hummed and scooted off of the couch. Once he was standing up he stretched his arms above his head. His muscles seemed to scream in both pain and relief at the action. It felt good mostly. He groaned out at this and walked over towards his bag to grab some clothes for the day.
Yuuichi looked at Ryou out of the corner of his eye. And felt his mouth curl into a small, but devious, smile. "But… you know if you want you could join me." Yuuichi grabbed his clothes and looked at Ryou. "But that's up to you." He finished before walking towards the bathroom.
Ryou wasn't too far behind.
"Losing one was bad enough, but losing five of my mimics in such a short amount of time?!" Father reached up and raked his fingers out of his eyes as he frantically typed into a box.
His remaining three mimics behind him watching his every move as he then turned swiftly towards an empty space next to him. There a blank figure, one resembling his mimics, formed. The figure stood there for several long seconds before it violently seized up and collapsed into a series of sparks. It's misery only lasted for a few micro-seconds before it seemed to have exploded into a sea of sparks.
"Dammit!" Father cursed out as he collapsed to his knees.
'I can't replicate them!' He couldn't replicate them because their code was never his to begin with.
"Father-" A mimic, Number Five if Father wasn't mistaken, tried to talk to him. Father put his hand out.
"-It doesn't matter. I still have three of you. That's more than enough…" Father growled as he abruptly got right back on his feet. "We know the location of the epitaph users and that's better than just running blind. The only problem is…" Father brought up a screen and sighed. "It's in the Netslum. A place I can't get to as MaStEr ZeLkOVa has it locked up tighter than Fort Knox." Father sarcastically snarled at the image of Zelkova walking through the Netslum.
Father gave a sigh of displeasure as he narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Not only that…but we have a traitor which shouldn't even be possible! I made you all to obey…but Number Eight… he's a threat."
"...You know we are at your command. Whatever you want from us, we'll do to the best of our abilities." Number Four spoke up once Father paused.
"I know you will." Father rubbed at his face. "Because…Number Eight has a weakness with this evolving code of his. Two of them, from what I gathered." Father sent player I.D.'s and pictures to his remaining three Mimic's.
"These players, Haseo and Silabus. You are to approach with caution if you see them. Haseo is extremely dangerous and an Epitaph user to boot. He alone destroyed number Three, One, and Six. Silabus is not an epitaph user, I'm sure. but he will not come quietly…he even managed to get a few good hits in on me.-"
'Nearly PK'd me himself that one…' Father would never admit it, but he was thankful for Haseo's intrusion as Silabus would have most certainly taken him down.
"I don't want them data-drained. PK them if you must, but do not data-drain them. You bring them to me instead." He finished with a dismissive hand wave to his mimics.
"And if we run into Number Eight?-" Number Seven inquired but Number One accidently cut them off.
"-What if Number Eight is with them?"
"...Data-drain them. Send their code back to me." Was the stone-cold response Father had to say.
Seven and One both looked shocked, but Four and Five only nodded.
"There is something different about Number Eight. So, like with Haseo and Silabus, I advise you to approach with caution if you do approach. Remember They have all the same attacks and codes that you have. What you do to them can easily be turned around on you."
'Not only that, but they're smarter than the rest of you.' Again, something Father wouldn't admit out loud.
"I take part of the blame for this…" Number Four huffed. "And I apologize. I saw them that day with Haseo and Silabus and I did nothing. I knew they weren't aiming to PK and Data-drain, they just looked so… happy. They lied to me saying that they were going to PK both of them, but refused my offer of help."
"Hm. Well, what you can do now is rectify this situation we're all in and not to fall for Number Eight's lies any longer. Now, I have work to do." Father brought up a list. A friend list. Haseo's friend list to be specific.
It wasn't going to be easy trying to dwindle down who the rest of the Epitaph users were.
"Gaspard, hey!"
Gaspard felt himself smile as Silabus approached him, smiling, laughing, waving…oddly not Silabus-like-
-Wait, eyepatch.
It was the mimic.
"Hello, Mimic…" Gaspard was civil as he greeted the mimic. Last night he was a little gung-ho about helping the mimic learn who They were as a person, but after sleeping on it…it was just weird to have to help out his kidnapper. It felt a little backwards.
Still, as far as Gaspard could tell, the Mimic at least seemed nice enough…
It just didn't change the fact that the mimic kidnapped him and kind of- sort of caused Kuhn's character to be deleted. At least they seemed remorseful over the fact.
Gaspard walked up to shop Acorn and sighed happily. "Good, looks like Haseo managed to restock." He mumbled to himself, vaguely aware of the fact that the mimic was hovering close behind him the whole time.
"Are you going on an adventure today?" The Mimic inquired after a few seconds of silence. Gaspard collected the items.
"Maybe. It depends." Gaspard told the mimic as he finished collecting the items.
"On what?"
'They're like a curious little kid.' Gaspard couldn't help but observe as the mimic happily shifted their weight from the balls of their feet and back down to their soles. It was so weird hearing and seeing Silabus do this. 'It's not Silabus, remember that.' He reminded himself before clearing his throat. "I have to man the shop. I'm doing it in Breg Epona today, instead of the Netslum. So, it depends when I sell out of items if I'll be able to go on an adventure with my friends or not." He casually explained.
"Oh. I see… is it fun to man the shop?"
Gaspard smiled. "I love it, in all honesty! I was so excited when we were able to get a shop."
The mimic's eyes seemed to light up as they listened to Gaspard's excitement. "So…what do you do?"
Gaspard tilted his head at the question before reminding himself just who he was talking to. "Oh, right. I sell items to other players. It's a great set up in all honesty! Because Haseo goes on more adventures, any items he gets that he doesn't want he gives to me and I sell them to the other players! Sometimes Silabus will give items that he doesn't need or want…heh…once he gave me this pretty strong scythe I'm like ninety percent sure he was going to give to Haseo but just last week he shamefully gave it to me to put in the shop. I asked him why when I'm sure Haseo would want it, but he just waved me off."
"Oh, really?"
"Oh, yeah!" Before Gaspard knew it he was walking towards the Chaos Gate with the mimic right behind him every step of the way. Gaspard just kept on talking. "Those two are pretty funny. One time Silabus was manning the shop and Haseo had come to talk to him. Long story short; I don't let Silabus man the shop anymore if Haseo is online now. Because Silabus will ignore the customers. Not that anyone was complaining when the two of them were busy flirting. Quite the show from what I heard."
"Has Haseo ever shopkept?"
"I don't think 'shopkept' is a word… but yeah, once. He was pretty good at it." Gaspard smiled at the mimic as they both warped into Breg Epona together.
The mimic watched as several players rushed passed them to the chaos gate. They then focused on Gaspard again. "..." Gaspard felt himself go quiet as he was reminded of the night before.
How he was running from Tanu for dear-life. Now Tanu is gone. Not that Gaspard would miss Tanu, but at the same time, Tanu didn't deserve that sort of fate. "Mimic?"
"Yes?"
"Could…could you bring Tanu back?"
The Mimic's head tilted to the side as they studied Gaspard. "Why? Tanu was chasing you, last I remember. They also called Silabus ugly."
Gaspard chewed on the side of his cheek as he walked up to Shop Acorn and stood at the shop. "Yes, that's true. And It's no secret that I don't like Tanu either, but, nobody deserves having their PC deleted. I know you said you couldn't bring Kuhn back because you didn't delete him, but you deleted Tanu-"
"What's done is done, Gaspard. Once I data-drain all information goes to Father. I'm sorry."
"I see…" Gaspard only sighed. "It was worth a shot."
The mimic never got to say anything as someone came rushing past them. A little girl character. "I was hoping you'd be open today!" The girl chirped happily. "I was told that you guys might have a good broadsword for sell!"
"You're in luck!" Gaspard responded back. "We have three! All of them are plus five in alchemization to boot. Have a look."
The mimic watched with a tilted head as the girl did as instructed and looked at each sword to her liking. "Ohhh~ All of them are good… I don't know which one to get…" The girl character turned towards the mimic and smiled. "What would you recommend?" She asked.
The mimic blinked at this. "Well… that depends… what are you looking for in a sword?" The mimic whispered.
"Well…" The girl put her finger to her chin and tapped it a couple of times. "I need one that does decent damage, but doesn't everybody?!" She laughed at her own joke before straightening up when nobody else laughed with her. "I guess it comes down to the abilities all of these have. One has a hellfire skill, the other a critical attack, and the third one has a SP blocker… all are good…"
"Well, if you're looking for damage I would recommend the one with a critical attack, however if you're looking for advantage I would say go for the SP blocker. Those come in handy when in tight situations." The mimic explained.
"Oh, you're right…" A soft noise left the girl's mouth as she then scrunched her eyes up as she thought hard about it.
"However; consider this!" The mimic swooped right back in. "The SP blocker only takes up two blocks when the sword has three skill blocks, and if you're willing to take a lesser critical; I know for a fact that they have a Mantis nail for sell just the same. So you can do both damage and SP blocking."
The girl's eyes went wide. "Oh! That's brilliant actually! I'll take both!" She happily clapped.
"That's great!" The girl payed and Gaspard handed the weapon and ability over. "Have a good day!"
"Thank you!" With that the girl ran off, no doubt to try her knew sword out.
"Hey, you're pretty good at selling." Gaspard smiled at the mimic. The mimic smiled right back.
They rubbed at the back of their head while blushing. "I was just thinking logically…"
Another person came rushing up and took Gaspard's attention away from the Mimic.
Gaspard hummed. The mimic quietly sat on the edge of the shop counter and leaned back taking in the sky of Breg Epona. They listened to the faint background music and crossed one leg over the other.
The other person ran off once a sell was made and the mimic turned towards Gaspard. "Tell me something, Gaspard…"
"Hm?" Gaspard looked up from his items.
"Offline…does the sky look like this?"
Gaspard blinked at the question and turned towards the mimic. His eyes then softened as he looked up at the sky just the same as the mimic. "Yeah…I'd say it's pretty accurate. Only…our clouds move. They move and change shapes. Somedays it's cold and snowy…others it's wet and rainy, and sometimes we don't see the sun or the sky for days at a time." Gaspard explained as he went back to the inventory.
The mimic tilted their head as they continued to stare at the static sky. They then uncrossed their legs and idly kicked their feet as another customer came up to Gaspard. A beast, similar to Gaspard, but taller and slimmer than him. "I'm looking for some Noble drops. I was told you might have some?"
"That we do! How many would you like?"
"How many do you have?"
The two of them continued their conversation and the mimic looked across the way towards the other shops getting business.
They continued to kick their legs as they people watched. Watched as other players ran with parties of their own making, or even ran by themselves. 'At the end of the day, you can log out and see the sky, the real sky. But you don't even care about that, do you?' They inquired to themselves as they watched players run around.
"Ah-hem!"
Someone, a girl by the sounds of it, cleared her throat next to They. Looking down, they found the girl to the left of them. 'I recognize them.' They realized once they got a good look at them. "Uh, hello. Sakubo, right?" They inquired.
"Hmph." Sakubo shoved their nose in the air. "It's Saku, today. I figured you would know that by now." Saku huffed as she waltzed passed They and over towards Gaspard.
"Oh, Saku, that's not Silabus." Gaspard swiftly tried to explain as he finished up with his previous customer.
"..." Saku looked at They then to Gaspard and gave him a look like he was dumb. "Only Silabus would wear that much green." She commented a little haughtily making the mimic scrunch their nose up in distaste.
"Yeah, but look, they're wearing an eyepatch. Silabus doesn't."
Saku looked back at They with a raised eyebrow. "Whatever…" Saku finally said as she approached the counter and tapped it. "Look, I wouldn't normally do this, but I need something from your shop."
"Oh? Pray tell the occasion." Gaspard couldn't help but give a little joking laugh at Saku.
"It's Master En!" Saku whined dramatically. "He's been in a bit of a depressive episode as of late- and it's all your fault!" Saku pointed to the mimic.
The mimic's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?" They couldn't help but change their tone as they stared Saku down.
"You heard me! You took Haseo away, and even though Master En said he was okay with it he's really not! and he's sad now because you've gone and taken all of Haseo's attention away from him!"
"Saku, again, that's not Silabus." Gaspard quickly tried to defuse the situation.
Saku gave an angry huff. "Yeah right! I mean just look at you lazing about and letting Gaspard do all of the work!"
"I'm not liking your attitude." They warned as they jumped off the counter and stood above Saku for several seconds until Gaspard had to hurriedly run out from behind the counter.
"Easy, Mimic!- There's no need to get up in arms." Gaspard pulled on their sleeve to get them to back away from Saku.
"You know, I think I got you all figured out, Silabus. You say you're a good guy, but in all reality you don't care about others-"
"-Hey! Saku that's my friend you're talking about-" This time Gaspard jumped in, but he didn't seem as angry as They…and that made They look at him in surprise. "-And if you want something from us then I recommend that you don't finish that sentence, and for the last time this isn't Silabus even if they were it doesn't justify you bullying him."
Saku's face heated up at Gaspard's comment. She then turned her head and pursed her lips together. "..." There was a silence before Saku's shoulders slumped. "...I'm looking for armor. Light armor for Master En…" She tapped her two index fingers together.
"Okay…well, you're in luck…" Gaspard walked back behind the counter, keeping his grip on the mimic's arm the whole time dragging them behind the counter just the same. "I happen to have a Loose Holy that's plus five in alchemization. I also have a few modifications if you're interested."
They continued to watch Gaspard, confused.
"Please tell me they aren't all one-stars."
"Nope. They're all four-stars. I have a fairyleaf, a sanity fan, or a body moth."
Saku sighed. "I guess I'll take the fairyleaf as a placeholder until I can find something better."
"Okay. Are you looking for anything else?"
"No." Saku waved him off before paying and taking the items. "And thanks, I guess…" She groaned before stalking away. It wasn't until she was fully gone did Gaspard let go of They.
"...I…don't understand." The mimic confessed. "She was mean to Silabus and just all around rude…and yet you still sold to her? You still remained…civil and polite."
"Because, one: Saku doesn't really mean it. That's just how she is in all reality. Two: Saku is still Haseo's friend, thus making her our friend just the same. Three: If you upset Saku, you also upset Bo and Bo doesn't deserve to be upset. Four: Anger and violence solve nothing over a few petty comments. You really don't have to PK everyone who disagrees with you, you know?"
They listened to Gaspard's words and gave a soft hum.
"If I haven't had stopped you, what would you have done?" Gaspard asked but something told the mimic that he already knew the answer.
They shrugged guiltily. "I probably would have confronted her. Gotten mad…PK'd her-"
"-Pause, there, right there." Gaspard gave a huff and put his hands on his hips. "You look like Silabus. You sound like Silabus, and even in some aspects you act like Silabus. The moment you would have tried anything funny she would have ran right to Haseo and you would have hurt Silabus from your actions."
"How-"
"You would have gotten Saku mad at him, thus getting Bo mad at him, probably getting Endrance upset at him as well. Do you know why? Because you look like Silabus and I don't think they know the full extent of the Mimics yet."
They stared at their boots.
"You're actions have consequences. You go around looking like Silabus and exploding on those you disagree with… you're going to hurt Silabus in the process. More than that, you're going to hurt his reputation. Canard has worked hard- Silabus- has worked hard to help keep up the fact that we're a PK-free guild and won't hurt anyone. You run around PKing people looking like Silabus and… well..."
"...But I have the eye-patch."
"You saw and heard Saku. The eyepatch isn't enough. You still look too much like him."
"..." They chewed on their inside of their cheek while looking away from Gaspard. "I'll think of something else to change…" They finally whispered out.
"Please do."
They weren't exactly comfortable changing something else about their character, but if it meant that Silabus wouldn't be hurt by their actions then… They'll think of something. Maybe not something big. One small step at a time.
They crossed their arms over their chest as they sat on the edge of the counter once again. They thought about what they could change about themselves. 'Glove color? Belt color? Maybe boot color? Or maybe my hair? What about my one eye? Hm-'
That was when Gaspard clutched on to them. His hand grabbing on to their forearm and gripping hard.
'Fear.' They realized once they saw Gaspard's hand was trembling.
"?" They put in the chatbox as they looked at Gaspard. But Gaspard wasn't looking at them. No, Gaspard was looking at a player. Gaspard's eyes were wide with fear as his whole form seemed to shake and tremble. Completely opposite of how he was only moments ago.
So, They looked at the player Gaspard was looking at.
Said Player was making their way towards the shop so it made looking at them easy.
They were human, same height as Silabus, they had green hair that wasn't as dark as Father's but darker than the green Silabus wore. Their hair was put up into a high ponytail that swung with every movement. They had a male build, but that meant little with their actual gender. They wore an array of white and light purple and they were oddly…pretty to They.
The player stopped only a few feet short of the shop, like they were too scared to approach fully. The player sucked in a slow breath before speaking.
"I was hoping-" His voice was deep, rich almost, but he never got to finish.
"Leave." Gaspard all but snarled as he increased his grip on They. They were too stunned by Gaspard's tone to focus on the pain their arm was currently enduring. "You're not welcome to shop Acorn."
'What happened to being civil? What did this guy do?!' They wondered with wide-eyes.
"Please, I just want to-" The man's green eyes fell on They and he looked oddly…remorseful? But again, he never got to finish. Only this time They picked up on something. Something with this person's voice.
"-You know… I don't normally say this, but you have some nerve!" Gaspard hissed while pointing at the player. "And you need to leave before I call Haseo. I know he has more than a few things he wants to say to you."
"I understand both of your disquiet towards me. I just wish to-" He turned towards They again. "-Apologize, if you let me."
They blinked. 'I don't know.' was on the tip of their tongue, but they quickly put two and two together.
"You think an apology will make up for what you did to Silabus?" The man looked sadden by Gaspard's words.
"I know it won't."
'What did you do?' They wondered with a head tilt. They kicked their feet as Gaspard continued to argue with the man.
"Then why bother?"
"Because…it's something I have to do. I know what I did was wrong-"
"Wrong!?" Tears sprung in Gaspard's eyes. The mimic stopped their kicking as they felt their own body tense. "Wrong?! You think what you did was wrong?! It was atrocious!" Gaspard sobbed now. His voice was so loud that it was causing several players to slow down and look towards their direction. Gaspard used his free arm to cover his eyes as he started to openly cry.
They could only watch in shock. 'I've only ever seen those I'm about the data-drain cry like that…'
"...Ha…." That was when the real Silabus made himself known with only a shaky breath.
They looked over to see Silabus. Silabus's shoulders were squared, eyes hardened with, what They could only describe as, pure hatred. His breath was shaking as were his hands. If They didn't know any better, they would have thought that Silabus was reaching for his sword with his hand placement. Of course they were in hometowns and weaponry wasn't allowed.
Still, this player looked from They then to Silabus in confusion before scratching at the back of this head. "I guess that's why you weren't reacting to me…" He muttered before he made a step towards Silabus.
That one step was all it took…Silabus…untensed his shoulders, sucked in a slow breath, and focused on the mimic and Gaspard only. His eyes still held that anger and hatred however. It looked…unnatural.
"Zelkova is looking for you." Silabus simply told them as he brushed passed the player. "And Gaspard, Piros is looking for you at the Chaos Gate."
Gaspard nodded. "R-Right…"
They hopped off of the counter and shot one last look towards the player before sighing. There was a aura about this player that didn't really sit right with They. Still, they started to walk away with Gaspard not too far behind him.
Gaspard did pause once he realized that Silabus was not following.
When they both looked over at Silabus. Silabus only gave them a stiff wave. I'll be there in a minute! He typed in the chatbox.
"...Gaspard, Who was that player?" They asked as Gaspard continued to shake and tremble.
"Th…that was the player that put Silabus in a coma for two months…Sakaki…"
Silabus watched them go. He had only come to Breg Epona under Zelkova's request to fetch the mimic, apparently it was time to introduce them to the rest of the users, and the mimic was with Gaspard at the shop.
Fine by Silabus. He didn't mind fetching the mimic as he had a feeling he was going to have a lot more interactions with them. He was going to have to get use to the mimic sooner or later.
Still, seeing Sakaki standing at the shop.
Gaspard crying and clinging to the mimic for dear-life.
It made Silabus- no- it made Yuuichi angry. It made his blood rush and turn hot, while his heartbeated in his ears. His hands shook against the controller.
Still, he was glad he got Gaspard out of there, of course Piros wouldn't be waiting for Gaspard at the warp gate; it was just a lie. One Gaspard would probably be grateful for.
Silabus lowered his arm once the two of them were fully gone. He could hear Sakaki's movement as the man took another step towards him. "Silabu-"
"Don't!" Silabus snapped between clenched teeth as he spun to face the man. "-Take another step towards me." He hissed as his shoulders tensed again. "You're lucky we're in public and that there are children around because I have things I've been itching to tell you and I can't!"
"I did something unforgivable, I know that-"
Yuuichi felt a pain in his chest. One that, if he wasn't already sitting, he would absolutely would have collapsed to his knees from. Still, he ignored it.
"Don't try and act all sorry for what you did. You hurt countless amount of people. Not just me, not just Atoli, and not just Haseo. And I'm going to make this very, very clear right now. I will never forgive you for what you did. So do me a favor and save your breath!"
Another throbbing pain in his chest. Yuuichi could hardly contain his groan. Still, he tried to not let his pain or discomfort show. Not while he was staring Sakaki down.
Silabus turned away from Sakaki, but not before shooting him one last angry look over his shoulder. "If you go near Gaspard, Haseo, or Atoli again we're going to have a problem. I hope I've made myself clear, Sakaki." Was all Silabus had to say to Sakaki before storming off towards the Chaos Gate-
Once in the clear, away from Sakaki, Silabus collapsed to his knees.
Emotions welled up inside of Yuuichi like a damn fountain. He didn't know whether he wanted to sob, scream, or both. 'Ryou said Sakaki was banned, why is he back?!'
The only thing Yuuichi could hear was his own breathing as he felt another pang in his chest. His breath was loud and rapid in his ears.
"..." It was a big hand that gently touched his shoulder that brought Yuuichi/Silabus back to the present. Gaspard said nothing as he gently rubbed Silabus's shoulder. They both gave weak sniffles before Silabus swallowed hard and got back up to his feet. "Sorry about that." Silabus whispered as he dusted himself off.
"Don't apologize. Are you alright?"
"Don't worry about me." Silabus offered a shaky little smile as he lightly patted Gaspard's head.
He looked around after a moment. "Where's mimic?"
"Went to the Netslum as asked."
"Oh, good. Sorry for lying to you-"
"No, no. I understand…I understand…" Gaspard leaned into Silabus. "That was the first time I saw him since-" He cut himself off before wrapping his arms around Silabus in a hug. "-It doesn't matter." He muttered.
"I just didn't expect that to be first thing I see logging in." Silabus admitted as he only slightly changed the subject. "Regardless, it's done and over with…" He felt himself start to calm down as the pain in his chest subsided. "C'mon. Haseo is going to be busy for a while with the Mimic. Let's go on an adventure, just the two of us."
Gaspard gave a sad smile. "Okay! Sounds fun!" His voice was soft but the excitement was there and Silabus considered that a win for now.
Yuuichi frowned and hoped Silabus wasn't mimicking this. Quietly he rubbed at his freshly hickied neck and looked over at Ryou, who was now on the couch talking amongst himself and the remaining epitaph users.
Yuuichi wanted nothing more than to talk to Ryou about what just happened, but he knew better than to bug Ryou.
"Silabus?" Gaspard softly spoke and Silabus blinked as he looked back down at his friend.
"Sorry, why don't you take the lead today?" Silabus offered and Gaspard nodded.
"Okay!"
"...You better have a good reason for following me." Sakaki growled as he turned to look at his current stalker. Sakaki stood in the alleyway of Breg Epona, a deliberate choice on his part. He figured Silabus decided to give him a piece of his mind after all without others around to hear him curse Sakaki out.
Only, it wasn't Silabus. More rather it appeared to be Matsu…
"Hm…" Sakaki flicked his eyes up and down as he took the person in before him. "You fooled me once, but not again. What are you?" Sakaki demanded as he crossed one arm over his stomach.
"I don't have a name…" The person told him. Their voice was almost- almost- identical to Matsu "...but I suppose you could call me Mimic."
"Mimic? I assume it's because of your uncanny ability to mimic people?" Sakaki stepped up and circled around the mimic. "I think I can also safely assume that you aren't a normal player…an AI, perhaps?"
"Perhaps." Mimic whispered back to Sakaki.
"Why change forms to talk to me? You seemed okay with being Silabus before."
Mimic had a smile on their face that Sakaki wasn't caring for. "It was more of an unconscious decision on my part. The desire to blend in became a bit too strong." The mimic hummed as they touched all ten fingers together.
"Hm, shame you chose someone I've seen up close and talked to a lot. Other wise you might have fooled me like how you did when you were Silabus." Sakaki finished circling the mimic and sighed. "I'm sure you didn't stalk me on a whim."
"No, it was a whim. A whim to know a little more about you."
"Hm." Sakaki crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the wall. "I'm just a man who wants to atone for his sins in the past."
The mimic narrowed their eyes and put their hands on their hips, urging Sakaki to continue, and Sakaki sighed. "I just…I just wanted to apologize but, as expected it…hasn't been easy. I don't even know why I bothered coming back-" Sakaki turned away from Mimic, but Mimic grabbed his arm and pulled him a little closer.
The mimic tilted their head as they stared into Sakaki's eyes. "How…how old are you? Like, seriously?"
Sakaki's eyes widened slightly.
"I knew you were hiding your voice because of the modifier. It's faint, but your voice has a tinny sound to it. I thought maybe you were trying to hide your gender, but…no, you're one of those people that try and hide their age, aren't you?"
Sakaki gave a weak laugh. "You're rather observant."
"I have to be. I was made that way."
"..." Sakaki crossed his arms over his chest. "You're not the only observant one. You dressed up like Silabus and even sounded like him, the way you do now with Matsu. You were hanging around Gaspard, and yet, when the real Silabus showed up neither of you seemed surprised. This tells me you're at least friendly with both Silabus and Gaspard, telling me that…you know."
"Sure do."
"Then why be cordial towards me?"
"Simply because I was taught a lesson today. That if I want something from someone then I should be civil with them."
"So, you want something from me?"
"Sure do!"
"At least you're honest." Sakaki sighed. "Very well, I'll hear you out, Mimic. What is it you want?"
The Mimic only smiled. "I want you to meet my Father."