towerofanimus | 00:00:01

Characters: Akise Aru, anyone else
Setting: Any hallway with a fair degree of people
Format: Either
Summary: Akise detectives the hell out of this situation (?).

"This is new... She really didn't take it well."

Akise is far more intrigued by this turn of events than any normal person has a right to be.

It's not like this is the first he's ever heard of the supernatural. Frankly, after infuriating Murumuru to such a degree, he expected something to happen. He just didn't foresee it to be in such a passive-agressive manner. It doesn't take a lifetime of being near his former accomplice to decipher her personality. He expected her to eliminate him in some way. Erasing him or deleting his memories are unconventional choices, but fully within her scope of power.

He did not expect to come out of it as the owner of the diary he's had for a few days now. Yukiteru needs this to stand a chance as First. Why did she not take it away...?

'The tower's freezing.', it says plainly, as if Akise is already familiarized with his predicament. It's a useful piece of information, given how it tells him that he's in such a structure in the first place, but a diary that talked about what happened to him would be so much more useful in this situation. Then again, that would hardly encourage cultivating his skills as a detective.

And yet, that doesn't bring him down. Not in the least. Matter of fact, Akise looks cheerful, navigating the halls in an attempt to feed his diary information on events he's yet to witness. He reviews the contents at five minute intervals, having noticed a large absence of electronics in this place. If there are others here, he considers, then that does not support his theory that this is a personal punishment. Even stranger is the fact that, for the first time since he's received it, his diary seems to be malfunctioning, neglecting to show events at times.

I wonder if the others are here. It sounds unlikely, since Murumuru and him were the only anomalies, but it would be a problem if she had done away with the other diary owners after he changed their futures to such a degree.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Surprise after surprise. Now he knows this doesn't make any sense, because the whole point of healing him was getting things back on track. Giving him knowledge of Akise would be counterproductive.]

[The vibration of the phone does not go unnoticed. Could it be a different one? After all, the prospect of this Yukiteru having gone through different experiences is not ignored. It's what Akise's original plan would have accomplished.]

Yeah. Are you alright?

[Let's go down this rabbit hole, he figures. Akise feigns non-chalance, acting like he's not at all puzzled by all these inconsistencies. He doesn't neccesarily have to lie. Just talk as if he knows what's going on. If this works, then he won't be kept in the dark much longer. His only regret is he didn't have the doubts he has now a few seconds ago. He can't take back his previous statement.]

[ This... this might not be a good thing. Yuno was just now starting to come down from her desire to kill him and repeat the Survival Game for a third time, things were just now starting to turn normal between them. ... sort of. Now Akise was here. Sure, Yukiteru was happy to see him, Akise was the closest thing he had besides Minene and possibly Hinata that he had to a friend. But Yuno was not going to take this well, and he didn't need his Diary to tell him that. ]

I'm sick.

[ Captain Obvious. ]

Don't get too c- [ coughing. ] close to me, I don't want you to catch it.

[ ... or for Yuno to have yet another reason to kill him. He is not looking forward to that conversation with her. ]

Sick...? We have to get you some help, then. Walking around like this may just make things worse for you.

[Now actively concerned, Akise ignores Yukiteru's words by getting closer. At least there's no physical contact. This time. Akise figures that if this place brings so many people, there must be someone with medical knowledge around. His desire to learn more about the situation is rapidly taking a backseat to helping his new friend.]

Th-The medicine d-doesn't [ Another coughing spell. ] work.

[ Akise, it's a good thing Yuno has her own thread, you're way passed her ten-foot limit. In your case, it's probably one hundred yards. ]

R-Really... I'm... [ No he isn't, and he knows it. He's been hallucinating, he's about twenty hours behind on sleep, and he has a fever. Sweating in cold weather is not a good thing. ] I-If you promise to stay clear of Yuno...

Even so, you still need to rest... Don't worry. I'll find a way to fix this for you.

[He looks mildly curious at his last words. 'Yuno'? Akise's not an idiot. He quite vividly remembers Murumuru mentioning her as the Second. He knows her actions up to the confrontation with Tsubaki. This is his tendency to go off-track backfiring on him. Worth it.]

I do. I promise, Yukiteru-kun... Come on.

[For the time being, anyways, but that is an implication even Yukki should be aware about, if he really knows him. Akise considers himself to be completely honest here. Breaking a promise to his friend is already unthinkable. Hardly befitting of a detective, and certainly not something he would do as a decent human being. The fact that it's Yukki may color his view on this a little.]

[He puts himself at Yukki's side so he can lean on him if he so wishes, contagiousness be damned. That said, he's more than willing to recognize this may be too much for his friend's stressed psyche to carry, and is willing to simply move on if he does too.]

[ Akise, if only you knew. What she did to Tsubaki wasn't even the worst Yuno Gasai was capable of. Actually, considering what she did to several other people, Tsubaki actually kind of got off easy just losing a hand. Yuno has killed people for far less.

Akise's words stung a bit. As happy as he was to see one of his best friends here, his very presence was a ticking time bomb. Even if this might not have exactly been the same Akise he knew, Yuno wouldn't care. And it was clear that he still had feelings for him, even here. That was going to complicate things. ]

Akise... you... you really don't want this cold...

[ He wasn't even sure if it was a cold. It was more like a really, really bad flu, where the fever was high enough to make him hallucinate. Well, he's of course suffered worse (as in, more realistic) hallucinations, he was just without the luxury of knowing these particular hallucinations were fake. He was forced to bring himself to look at them lucidly. The 'epileptic tree' principle, if you will.

Yukiteru opts not to use him as support, though he appreciates Akise being there. ]

It's not far to the infirmary from here.

[Akise stays still in contemplation for a second, but it's not long until he resolves to understand Yukiteru's position. It's true that this looks like something far worse than your average illness, and if Akise's going to help Yukiteru get better, then he has to be at his best. He'll defer to his friend's judgment.]

[He has so many questions he wants to ask as they walk. Back during the game, it wasn't hard to visualize Yukiteru as a real person, but he really did go through a certain degree of idealization in Akise's mind. Even now, he still believes he's looking at the future god of their world. That he is in such a sorry state does not change Akise's opinion. He will compensate for whatever obstacles may present themselves.]

Mm. How long have you been feeling like this?

[A question made out of genuine curiosity, but also with the interest of keeping track of Yukiteru's mental state.]

A week or so.

[ To be honest, he lost track of time. How long had it been? He didn't even know himself. He feels like he's been in a total daze lately, unable to tell what's real or what isn't. And the hallucinations have been getting more and more vivid. ]

B-But it's [ coughing ] not be I'm worried about.

00:00:01

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject