[ic] inbox

[pheasantboy]

[God, he sounds so... pleasant.]

Hello, you've reached Goro Akechi. Please leave a message and I'll get right back to you.

[ooc: inbox for personavelvetroomdr]

contacts

Akira Kurusu. thedevilinyourdetails
Goro Akechi. fogbornphantom
Ren Amamiya. willowandoak

Comments

[midnightmaiden]

Hey, Akechi-san, are you busy?

It's okay if you are!

I just had a bad day, and I'm not sure who else I can turn to.

[pheasantboy]

Never too busy for you.

Did something happen?

[midnightmaiden]

I ran into one of the other Akechis here. The one that looks like a bird.

He said a bunch of things about me and about... my therapist.

[She needs to be careful about how she words things, just in case.]

Basically, he acted like I'm not who I think I am and got really hostile about it. He talked about me like I was some kind of puppet. Like he knew more about me than I did.

[pheasantboy]

Ah. The usual story.

[He's far from the first, after all, to try to tell either of them who they are. At this point, Sparrow is aware she can't name her therapist to him, which has allowed him to put some things together.]

What do you mean by hostile?

[midnightmaiden]

When I said he didn't know me, he got really angry.

He

Well he used that ability. The one you can't hear about without forgetting what we were talking about. He did it outside of that place you can't go.

He didn't attack me or anything, but it was so intimidating. And he did this while trying to praise "me," but he still couldn't accept me for who I am.

He thinks

[It takes a moment for her to finish that thought.]

He thinks I'm not actually Kasumi.

[pheasantboy]

[He did it outside of that place you can't go... people can do that? Just walking around in the street?]

That one took you a little while. Did you have to think about it?

[midnightmaiden]

It wasn't fun to think about, but it's not even the first time this has happened.

The other me... She took issue with me, too. I think we talked about it before. And when I tried to ask Crow-senpai to confirm that I am Kasumi, he didn't answer.

It feels like no one can accept me for who I am. They think I had to be changed in some way, and the worst part is that I don't know what to think anymore.

It's hard.

[pheasantboy]

You don't have to tell me. And since Phoenix didn't injure you, the only conclusion I can draw is that he wanted to intimidate you. How very uncalled-for.

Would it be so bad if you weren't Kasumi-san?

[midnightmaiden]

Yeah. I don't understand it.

All these compliments, but he was so heated about it. I don't know what to think about him.

To be honest, I don't know what to think in general these days.

There's another version of you here. He said that everyone in his world had been

um

Well. I guess it's similar to what Crow-senpai thinks happened in your world?

[pheasantboy]

Ah, was that Dove? He seemed to be having quite a few problems of his own.

Did he tell you about his Ren, by any chance?

[midnightmaiden]

He did, but it... wasn't pleasant.

I don't understand why—

Why my therapist would do something so awful to Ren-senpai.

[pheasantboy]

I don't understand it either. But if your therapist is the same as the one my Ren has described...

Then again, perhaps Dove's world is an outlier. Or perhaps there are many such people in my own world, and we just can't perceive them. How would we know?

[midnightmaiden]

My world is... different.

My therapist is powerful, but he's stuck working for someone awful, and he's had to do some terrible things he never wanted to.

He wants to make people happy, and he wants to make the world a better place. I just can't understand why he'd

But I guess the worlds can be pretty different. Crow-senpai is really different from Magpie-san. You're all pretty different from each other, too.

I don't think that's bad, though.

But when I think about what happened to your Ren-senpai, and how I could've stopped it if I was there...

[pheasantboy]

How could you have stopped it? Even Crow couldn't stop it. If anyone should have stopped it...

[Oh yes, he knows whose fault it was.]

I won't hear of you blaming yourself, Yoshizawa-san.

[midnightmaiden]

I have a special power.

I can stop... people like the one who hurt your Ren-senpai. Make it so they won't attack anyone.

It's what I did when we rescued you.

[pheasantboy]

Did you really?

It was the same person, wasn't it.

[Perhaps not as much of a jump as it seems; after all, people are not getting eaten every day.]

[midnightmaiden]

Yeah.

He tried to kill you. Makoto-san— not Niijima-senpai, but someone else—got attacked, too, and I had to step in and stop them both from tearing each other apart.

If I hadn't done anything, he would've tried to kill you. The last time I spoke to him down there, he was really angry, and I think he hates what you stand for.

But I don't. And I don't hate your Ren-senpai, either.

You both deserve to be happy.

[pheasantboy]

Crow called him a "counterpart". [And Sparrow has signally failed to retain what that means.] Someone violent, and dangerous. A killer.

I don't understand why someone such as that isn't stopped. Why allow someone so dangerous to continue to exist, to attack others?

[midnightmaiden]

Because if he dies, so will you.

...It's probably what he wants, but none of us want that for you.

[pheasantboy]

[And Sparrow doesn't reply; he still can't retain the idea of his own Shadow. Perhaps it's a kindness.]

[midnightmaiden]

Shoot! I think I triggered another episode.

I'm sorry.

I looked at the network. It seems like there might be some way to help you break that connection and replace it with something new.

[pheasantboy]

Yes, that was all a little public, wasn't it.

I know I should ask about it.

[midnightmaiden]

Only if you're ready for it.

I know it's a lot to think about.

Sometimes I even wonder if they're right about me. I don't want them to be, but still...