[Week 6, Friday: Belph]

[doublecrows]

[anyway after that breakdown, Akechi is going to find his favorite Vizier! he looks. um. not. . . well, expression haggard, gaze darting about like he's expecting someone to have followed him]

[when he finds Belph, he doesn't waste any time]

Who have you told about me?

Comments

[axilium]

... She does seem sincere. But if anything goes wrong...

[as someone who helped make sure this info got out to everyone? he's going to feel responsible if it blows up in their faces.]

[doublecrows]

[Akechi. shrugs]

[. . .]

Bunch. Ion-san. Souji-san.

Those are the three Heroes I'd suggest reach the end.

[notably]

[not including himself]

[on that list]

[axilium]

[... there's someone belph wishes would make it to the end, but he already knows they'd never accept that.]

I'll keep that in mind.

[doublecrows]

[it's tough to cull numbers, isn't it?]

. . . I would have wished for Ion-san to make it to the end for the Civilians. [aha] I suppose that's a moot point now.

[he]

[says that without cracking]

[which is]

[so impressive]

[axilium]

... Akechi, if I give you the possibility of a little bit of hope, can you promise not to destabilize?

[read: don't fuckin lose it.]

[doublecrows]

[honestly he can't make that promise because HE'S A FUCKING MESS, but]

. . . I believe I've pulled myself back together. So, yes.

[axilium]

... Ion's killer made a wish to revive Ion afterwards. [...] The problem, though, is that they had no idea Natsuo was going to be dying as well, and there's no guarantee it'll mesh with however the partner pairing ability functions.

So, it might not work.

[doublecrows]

[his first question: do you know who killed Ion]

[. . . the one he asks?]

We did learn this week that Editors won't be executed if they're voted guilty. Varian-san will need a partner.

[axilium]

... Mm. We'll see what happens—the Editors aren't allowed to confess, and I'm not allowed to out them, since it'd count as them circumventing the rules.

[doublecrows]

[BOY. . .]

[somewhat wryly]

My, what annoying rules to which we're bound.

[axilium]

I never did like rules.

[doublecrows]

[. . . ha]

I tied myself to them. Used them to my advantage. Hid behind them when necessary, and exploited them to my own ends.

. . . I suppose I always somewhat envied those who were free enough to remove their restraints from same.

[axilium]

[...]

My family pretty much rules the world where I'm from. When my uncle realized I didn't want to be like him, he resorted to destroying my life in order to control it.

If I could've, I would've just run away from it all.

[doublecrows]

[and there's a chuckle]

I would have liked to. It would have been better that way. To shed my father's name, and grow into my own person, uninfluenced by every shitty thing he had ever done.

[. . .]

. . . I hated him too much to do that.

[axilium]

... So you went with revenge instead?

[there's really only one path hate leads you to.]

[doublecrows]

I did.

[he lifts a hand and stares at it, fingers slightly curled]

That is what I have to return to when we're finished here.

[he says that quietly, almost wistfully. funny, how that very revenge he fought so hard to see through seems so so unimportant now]

It's the only thing I have to return to. The culmination of years of hard work. Years of killing, of lying, of pretending to be the charming detective prince. Of building him up as much as I could, just to tear him down in one satisfactory explosion near the end.

I didn't run.

[but maybe he should have]

But it sounds as though neither you nor I were able to escape our fates.

[axilium]

... The price for escaping mine wasn't one I was willing to pay.

[if it were just his life, it'd be fine. but hers? that's a different story.]

I don't regret the decision I made, exactly. But I guess that means my life was never meant to have a happy ending.

[...]

Do you regret it?

[doublecrows]

Seven weeks ago, I would have answered "no."

[a shrug]

Now, I suppose. . . I don't know.

[does he. . .? maybe that's something he still has yet to figure out]

[axilium]

... Heh. Finding people who actually give a damn about you messes with a lot of things, doesn't it?

[doublecrows]

[yeah]

[at that, though. . . Akechi just shrugs]