asgardeventide | 004 | audio; D496

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004 | audio; D496

[After having his bracelet returned to him, Soushi was having a difficult time readjusting to his current situation in the city. It was as thought all the memories, all the guilt, and all the emotions that were haunting him had returned at full strength; or, maybe, it had doubled in strength while he was grey. Whatever the case may be, he felt sick to his stomach. Very sick. But even so, he can be found sitting in one of the benches at the park, head lowered to the ground as he begins his latest transmission.]

...it would seem I have returned from the grey spell. I am uncertain over the length of time I had vanished, but it feels as thought it was a while... [There will be a pause before he admits.] ...my chest hurts, and I currently feel nauseous...

[Then there will be silence as he tries to find a neutral tone to his voice. Allowing his more formal tone of voice to return instead of the hollow and quite voice he was currently offering.]

What are the latest developments that has occurred or is occurring within the city? I haven't had the time to check the network as I....returned at this very moment. I would greatly appreciate to be told the latest news as I feel under the weather. [Then another pause until he remembers.] ...I won't skip my shift with the city patrol tonight, no matter how ill I currently feel...[He needed something to keep his mind off his current troubles and feelings. He wishes to ignore them as long as he is able to. That's why his job in patrolling the city was so important to him.

As he thought about his next set of words, there will be a long moment of silence as Soushi was uncertain over many things. He isn't certain if it was the guilt, current demeanor, or lack of readjusting to his current environment as he felt the need to ask an important question pertaining to friendship and self-worth. It was a question he has had in the back of his mind ever since he spoke to Jane about it. Honestly, he would normally never ask or even allow himself to be bothered by it, and yet he was. It was all so odd to feel like this.]

Before I end this transmission and if there is anyone still listening -- if you are, then I thank you for doing so -- I have a final inquiry to make. [A pause as he takes a deep breath before deciding to say.] Does an individual who has committed a heinous crime deserve to have friends even if they committed said crime in their home world and without meaning to? Would it be for the best for that individual to isolate themselves as punishment in this world? Would it be proper for that individual to cut all ties with all those surrounding him?

[And without saying anything else, he will end the transmission with a simple "thank you" as he no longer had the strength to keep speaking any more as he felt he would lose his stomach or himself as he thought about his master.]

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Well, I think you deserve the chance to experience it more often… but I’ll wait until I hear your defense as to why you shouldn’t.

[He smiles wryly.]

And yes, the whole story. My own story is long as well. I’d like to listen to everything, to make sure I understand where you’re coming from.

[He settles back against his chair, trying to signal that he’s comfortable. No matter how long he has to listen, he’ll do it, to prove to Soushi he’s a good person.]

[It'll take a moment or two for Soushi to find a good way to tell the story without revealing too much about his childhood or anything that wasn't connected to Ririchiyo. But he will begin his story, explaining that he barely has any memory of his childhood as he found it uneventful (which was both a lie, but the truth) even when he was born to a powerful family that were known as the top pharmaceutical company in Japan and one of the most well-known internationally. He will admit to being adopted, in a way, by another powerful family known as the Shoukiin clan before he became a teenager. The women that had decided to become his mentor was known as Ayame Shoukiin, she was the one who introduced him to Ririchiyo's name.

He explains further that he went to school under her watchful eye from middle school to high school. He had two childhood acquaintances that would follow him around and interact with him on a daily basis. Although, he will admit to not fully understanding the reason it became the way it did as he held no interest in them. Instead, he had interest of a girl's shadow that would follow him around throughout his childhood along with a deep longing in wanting to meet her whenever he would cross the path of other women with the same color, texture, or length of the hair he saw from the girl. He'll admit to never understanding the reason behind it other than his conscious asking him to find Ririchiyo and offer his gratitude towards her for allowing Ayame to cross his path once more. He'll explain that it was Ririchiyo who asked Ayame to adopt and raise him instead of the family he was part in. Soushi will explain he was an orphan in a way, so the main family cared for him but didn't pay too much attention to him (which was half the truth, but he wouldn't admit to it).

Then Soushi will begin to speak about the way he finally met Ririchiyo, the girl that has been following him throughout his childhood, three years after graduating from high school and trained to become an SS agent. He explained the way they met in the apartment complex he works in as her first day at said location because she was moving her boxed items into her new apartment, but had trouble picking up a box that fell over until he did it for her. After introducing himself to her, Ririchiyo began to mysteriously cry which Soushi didn't understand the reason for it at the time; however, the next morning he was even more surprise to find her apologizing to him over it by offering him a box of chocolates as a gift. He'll admit that it was the first time anyone has given him a gift before which caught him off guard, but sparked his curiosity over her.

After the incident, there weren't any in the first week of their meeting as Soushi followed her around and got to know her in more ways than one. And other than curiosity, gratitude, and surprise he began to feel very happy to be by her side, calm, protective, admiration, and felt more at peace as he felt comfortable to act like himself around her. A feat no one has ever accomplished with him before. He felt the most at peace by her side and extremely lonely when he wasn't. He always had a lot of fun with her. No matter the activity, conversation, or situation she always offered the best reactions he could ask for and the best conversations as well. The more he got to know her, the more he began to fall madly in love with her.

However, once their first week together ended, Ririchiyo ended up in the hospital.

Soushi merely explains her condition having to do with a weak constitution and having caught a high fever that affected her mental and emotional state -- she was having a panic attack over a thought concerning him that didn't happen (or at least, it did, but he will leave that part out). When she was at the hospital, crying over the situation concerning him or a man similar to him having died, Soushi had decided to make a sacrifice for her sake -- he asked her to view him as the man that she saw die and claim it was nothing more than a dream as he was quite alive. In a way, he tactfully asking her to allow him to be the substitute for the man that died in her mind. She accepted the request and they began to live the way she had envisioned in her fantasy for them.

Whenever Ririchiyo had nightmares concerning it, whenever she was triggered, Soushi would always comfort her and remind her that he was still alive and he was still the same man in her fantasy -- manipulating her to forget and accept the situation for what it was even if it was a lie. Soushi believed he was doing good in acting the way he did only to later realize he was causing her mental constitution to get worse. One of his childhood acquaintances, who happens to be her fiancee, forced her to realize that she was living in a delusion and accept reality for what it was instead of running away from it. After that encounter, she found her way to the hospital once more, where in that short amount of time she realized she was living in a delusion and was running away from her situation.

Once she had left the hospital and had asked him to go on a outing with her to the shopping center, she apologized for her behavior towards him, then ended their contract as both master and servant and the one binding them as lovers all at once. She had chosen the man in her mind over him. And even thought he accepted it by allowing her to end the contract without putting up a fight and leaving the apartment complex, he still couldn't allow it to remain the it did because he wished to fight for her, so he began to investigate more over the individual she was imagining. He found out who it was and learned over the type of person he was -- his life before meeting her and everything one could imagine.

Needless to say, he grew to hate the individual with all of his might and wanted nothing more than to prove himself to her. After a few weeks separated from her, Soushi was able to reunite with Ririchiyo by saving her from being attacked by another individual who she was in the middle of a fight with. Due to being a bodyguard, he quickly and easily defeated the girl, then turned his attention to his master as he offered to help her, but she had asked him to not touch her and keep his distance from her. He'll admit to feeling slightly angered by it, so he began to speak foully over the man she was in love with calling him "dirty" and "disgusting" for he was the type of man that slept with many women before meeting her. But when he took notice over the way she was looking at him, he will admit that for that one brief moment he saw the man that was always on her mind reflected in her eyes than himself. He lost his temper over it and yelled at her, asking her the reason she couldn't see him before falling to his knees as he cried over the matter soon after.

Then once he reached that part, Soushi will grow quiet as he tried to look through his memories as thought he was having through remembering important details.]

...after that... [Another pause.] all I can remember is her body going limp in my arms while she was bleeding in the left side of her body. [Another pause as he slowly admits.] I returned to Asgard filled with blood on my clothing... [He'll look down.] A lot of it. Even my chest was filled with it...

[And that was it. He'll end his story there with a great sadness in his heart about it. For now, he will close his eyes and await for Ryoji's judgement over his actions as he admits:] I truly am terrible as I manipulated, enabled, and harmed her in more ways than one. A true friend wouldn't have harmed her the way I did. And the more I ponder about it, the more I understand her reason for choosing a dead man over myself... [After all.] Who would bother with a mistake like myself!?

[It’s an overwhelming story. Ryoji does his best to listen carefully, never interrupting and absorbing as much information as possible. From what he can gather, Soushi was doing his best to help the girl he loved… and when he became jealous…

He smiles softly.]

You made a mistake. I won’t deny that. You did manipulate her, but I’m sure it was an accident, and your emotions got the better of you. Some of things you did were on purpose… but I understand those too. You loved her and didn’t want to see her hurt, whether it was by those visions or by the other man.

[As for the death…]

Killing is a terrible thing, but… I don’t know the whole story, and I don’t have the power to judge you because of it anyways. I… I’ve done worse.

[He swallows down the swell of guilt and sadness, shakes his head.]

What I’m getting at is… I still think of you as a friend. I don’t have any proof that you meant to hurt anyone, so I still trust you. I think you deserve to have people around you, and deserve to feel close to others besides Ririchiyo-san.

If you’ll let me be your friend, after what I’ve done… then I can be yours, despite what you’ve done.

[Ryoji's reaction and view over the way he saw the situation will leave Soushi simply nodding his head as he continue to look ashamed with his fox ears drooping and his gaze on his lap. However, when he heard Ryoji's own guilt over his actions, it will catch his attention and curiosity.]

...if you have no qualms with telling me your story, then it would be an honor to listen. [After all.] If you're able to trust me and believe I deserve better than I feel I do, regardless of my actions committed against my master, then...I would like to know... [Even if he didn't believe Ryoji was the type to commit any wrong. At the very least, from the little he had seen of him, the younger boy has always been kind and thoughtful, so it was difficult to imagine him doing any wrong was worse than his own.]

...I don’t really have any problems with telling you. It’s in the past, but… you deserve to know. You deserve to know what I’ve done before you agree to be friends with someone like me.

[And then it’s Ryoji’s turn to explain everything: how an entity of darkness known as Nyx had pieces of her manifesting on Earth, how scientists used the darkness in experiments that resulted in Death being trapped in a physical form.

He explains how Death wreaked havoc in his city, how pieces of it split off and became Shadows. He describes the battle that the Anti-Shadow Weapon, Aigis, fought, and explains that she couldn’t defeat Death, and could only seal it away inside a nearby boy… a boy by the name of Minato Arisato.

Then, he explains how Death began to develop humanity while within the boy, and how Minato was led to its missing pieces and defeated them, not realizing that it would add power to the monster within him…]

After all the pieces were defeated, Death was strong enough to escape his body and join the real world. He had a human form, and had no memory of what he truly was, so he enrolled at Gekkoukan High School… as a transfer student named Ryoji Mochizuki.

[There’s still more to explain, but he pauses there to get his thoughts in order.]

...no, there is no need to say it. I do not deserve anything. I simply wish to hear your own story to get a better idea of the type of individual you are...

[Once he had spoken his own thoughts over the matter, Soushi will intently listen to Ryoji's story over his origins which have his full attention at the mention of an entity of darkness. His face will hardened at the mention of scientists having experimented on the boy and forces they shouldn't have been playing with to begin.

Nevertheless, Soushi will continue to listen at the explanation of creatures known as Shadows, an invention to fight against them, and the way "Death" was sealed within an individual. He didn't recognize the name, but he continue to listen.

That was all he could do as his expression begins to soften and turned more neutral at the explanation of death having taken a human form in which he was the entity itself.]

Hmm, I see. You're the embodiment of the same experiment the scientist were playing with except taken in a human form...? [He'll offer that moment of silence to give Ryoji time to form his story while Soushi gave his own mind a breather, but it won't last long as he was curious to know more even if he had a feeling where it all mind end in. Then again, it was only a simple theory, nothing more.] Whenever you are ready, please continue Mochizuki-san. [Maybe the next part of the story will answer his questions over the boy like the reason he choose that particular name and the reason the entity had possessed Minato.]

Yes… Though I wasn’t exactly human before I came here. I only looked like a human and thought I was one.

[Unfortunately, once Ryoji continues his story, there are more questions than answers.]

I lived peacefully for a month, but one night, I entered a trance and woke up outside on the same bridge where the accident took place. The Anti-Shadow Weapon-Aigis-found me, and she tried to finish the job she had taken on ten years before… but once I started to remember what I was, I was too powerful for her, and I left her severely damaged… when her friends found me, I told them what had happened… and what my existence meant.

[He looks down at the ground, afraid to make eye contact.]

My presence on Earth was summoning Nyx towards us. When she arrived, she would hear the pleas of so many people… the desire to give up, start over, stop suffering and find peace. Upon hearing that, she would bring about the Fall, and all of humanity would perish. There wasn’t any way to stop it. I offered my life to them… if they killed me, they could prevent the Fall for a few months, and live in peace with their memories of Shadows gone… but that was all I could do. I couldn’t stop it. And… I couldn’t influence their decision.

In the end, they decided to let me live. I told them where they could find Nyx before getting absorbed by the darkness. Nyx found me and used me as her vessel when the day of the Fall arrived. I was instructed to bring about the end, but… they found me and tried to stop me. They couldn’t defeat Nyx, but Minato decided he could seal us away from the desires that had called us there… he sacrificed his life to accomplish this.

[It did leave more questions, but he allowed it to slide for the time being and allowed Ryoji to continue with his story. A story he wished to learn the ending to. Which he was slowly learning about the more the younger boy continue to tell it.

There weren't much reaction Soushi will offer as his gaze remained neutral, but his thoughts about the boy didn't change. He was still a good boy. The way he would volunteer for his life to end to offer his friends a chance to live freely and happily was more than enough to prove his wonderful heart and personality. And it was just as equally wonderful that the boy had supportive friends that wouldn't allow him to needlessly sacrifice his life and find a different way to solve the problem. For that short moment, he felt envy over the matter before he felt happy again.

That is until the end of the story began to reach especially the part of the boy named Minato entering the picture once more. Soushi will become pensive over the implications.]

...in other words, he saved humanity from the "Fall" by using his own life to do so? [And he can't help wonder.] What happened to you if it were the case? Were you saved or did you die alongside Minato-san? [And. One more question. Last question.] This is the second time this particular individual's name has been mentioned. How is he connected to you? Why did he have to be the sacrifice?

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004 | audio; D496

video; private

video; private (tl;dr ahoy, i am very sorry. oz)

video; private (not a problem I'll probably return it)

video; private

video; private

video; private

video; private

video; private