onifukuchou | 一；Re-introductions 「voice

[It's been two years. It's been two years since he last heard that voice. Two years of cleaning empty rooms, ignoring history, pretending things were okay, trying to forget what it was like to be near friends. Two years of waiting every New Feather cycle and being disappointed.

And now, after everything that had happened, the voice was back on the network. It was unmistakably him and the feel of his stomach dropping and then turning over in fear was very real. What if this wasn't him? What if it was someone else asking for some other person named Souji? There had been one before, and the fear that it wasn't him kept Souji from answering right away.

The moment he had the courage to look at the journal, however, he saw the image, every fear was gone. It was him. It was Hijikata.

And he remembered. Oh gods, Hijikata remembered this place and two years ago, Souji knew exactly what was happening.]

I'm here. Where are you? I'll come to you immediately.

I'm by the shops, outside.

[But he knows Souji's health hasn't been good - at least, in the timeline he remembers]

Are you at the house? I can go over there.

[He's so casual about it - which he would be. No time or very little time must have passed to Hijikata. He wasn't upset, which meant certain things mustn't have happened yet.

Souji takes a deep breath before he turns his journal on to reply. He'll have to act like nothing is wrong. And pretend that everything that happened to him in the past two years was...normal? Hadn't happened? How does he even begin to explain everything that has changed?]

I'll be there in a few minutes and I'll bring your kimono for you. Please, don't move.

[Don't disappear again.

Souji doesn't wait for a response, tucking his journal away as he gathers up the set of clothes and shoes and starts running toward the village square.]

[Souji rarely asks for serious things. And while it's not a direct command, not the voice Souji uses on patrol - or used to, his mind adds treacherously - Hijikata can hear a weight in his voice, and he's inclined not to argue.

So Souji will find him standing around, looking a little awkward and out of place]

[It didn't take him long and he wasn't as out of breath as he would have been even a year prior. Two years ago, he wouldn't have been able to meet Hijikata like this. But then, two years ago, Hijikata probably wouldn't have let him run out here.

Souji turned a corner into the village square and froze, the box containing Hijikata's things clutched to his chest. He was here - really here - again. It was like looking at a picture, a moment frozen in time, that suddenly, somehow was brought back to life. After spending two years, reading how Hijikata would die, how they would all die, he was alive and safe here again.

He pressed a smile onto his face, mostly genuine as he tried to hide his shock, and jogged up to Hijikata.]

"Fish out of water" is the phrase, yes? Although I don't think fish have wings, even here.

[Souji looks... good. Better than he had the last time Hijikata had seen him, which was only hours ago - but that had been in a different place. But his memories of here were similar, if not worse. So it's a surprise, and he desperately hopes that somehow, it really is as good as it seems, that Souji isn't just hiding his illness from him and will be suffering for this later. But he does his best to let none of that show on his face]

It wouldn't surprise me here, though.

Well, Dog doesn't have any wings.

[Or he hadn't the last time Souji had fed the pet goldfish in his now impressively large tank, courtesy of a different Hijikata from a different world. Souji keeps the smile on his face, noting how it seemed that Hijikata hadn't changed at all since the last time he saw him, and slows to a stop in front of him. He holds the box of clothes out to Hijikata as bright as ever, despite the heavy pounding of his heart and the fear that seems to grip him like a vice. He knows that if he even tries to acknowledge that it's there, it'll crush him like a landslide.]

Here, you seemed like you might want these.

[Hijikata takes the box from Souji with a faint smile]

Thanks.

[He goes straight for shoes and a kimono first, feeling decidedly more settled when he isn't half-naked. Even if he can still feel the wings. Once that's done, he turns back to Souji]

You'll have to fill me on anything I've missed. Things are... a little fuzzy.

[Better fuzzy than clear in his opinion. Souji smiles and nods, feeling just a bit of relief that Hijikata doesn't seem to recall what had happened to him.]

It's been two years. Uneventful for the most part, actually.

Although I live with an angel now.

[Hijikata's eyebrows go up steadily, because uneventful is not a word that describes their lives. But more importantly:] Two years?

Mm. [The non-committal sound of agreement leaves his throat and he looks away. It wasn't easy to talk about what had happened in those two years, even if not all of it was bad. The most recent developments, other than what had happened in Zompania, could actually be called good, even.

Souji shrugs a bit.]

You remember how time works here, yes? To me, the last time we saw each other was two years ago.

[He does, but it doesn't make him feel better. The opposite, actually, though he does his best not to let it slip into his voice] I'm... not sure how long it's been. A few weeks, maybe - but you were there, too. A different you, I guess.

The me I will become when I return.

[A reset, almost. He'll lose years of his life, in a way, but return to the life he was meant to lead. He doesn't like thinking about it and how much he'll lose, so he simply tries to ignore it as much as possible.

He smiles and shrugs a little.]

I've gotten used to hearing people say that by now. I know it's strange, but-- [He paused, trying to pick out the right words. Somehow, it seemed that mentioning how he'd seen Hijikata come and go three times now wasn't it.] --over time, we'll adjust. I was last in Kyoto at the Gion Festival, after the raid on the Ikedaya.

[And that makes him feel worse - knowing that Souji will forget all of this, that his health will slowly fail him. It's hard to stay completely unfazed by that thought] I know. We've gotten pretty good at surviving, I think. [maybe the closest he'll come to joking, really] Let's go back to the house - you can fill me in there.

[Souji's smile changes just slightly at the way Hijikata looks at him. His eyes say he remembers, or that he knows. And if he knows, it means that he realizes what going home means for them both. Souji hates seeing people look at him like that, even more so when it's Hijikata - the one person he never wants to disappoint, or hurt.]

We have, haven't we?

[Souji reaches out for the empty box.]

I'll do my best to update you.

[He hands Souji the empty box, because it's simpler than arguing about it, and - well, he really does look better right, now]

I'm sure you will. [No sarcasm, only a simple statement of truth, because for all his playing around, when it comes to duty, Souji shirks nothing]

[He takes the box and hugs it close to his chest as he starts walking. Two years is a lot to cover, many parts of which he isn't sure he should cover right now. The important bits were usually in the locked community posts...but the more personal changes are the ones Souji isn't sure how to approach just yet.

Instead, he talks about the drafts and the way the war seemed to be going.]

The Malnosso leadership is in disarray, but they're regrouping after the loss of links in their command chain. Rather than being headed under the eccentric old man, it seems military command is taking over - specifically under a woman code-named the Commandant.

Most recently, we've noted an increase in Third Party movements against the enclosures. They've managed to break into and decimate at least two so far. Zompania, the locale of the most recent draft, was lost entirely after the Third Party sacrificed everyone in it to construct a bomb that would stop all reincarnations.

[A bomb similar to one that the Iron Eye, a mercenary group, had originally leveled against a Third Party establishment.]

Within the enclosure, more and more people are noting time discrepancies - moments when time slides backwards. Food that rots or ripens instantly, the disappearance of the moving "elevators" that take people up and down the buildings, moments when entire buildings will disappear. These time problems seem to be growing longer since the Zompania draft.

[He nods along as Souji speaks, a silent indication that he is, in fact, listening]

How big was the Zompania enclosure?

The enclosure itself was larger, more advanced than here in technology and structures, but it appears that the population was smaller.

[Smaller, but still enough of a loss. He frowned slightly, remembering the eerie rows of bodies stacked like rice bushels lined up like walls.]

I don't have an accurate count of the people who were lost. Some reports say there were families, likely ones started here, among the killed.

Wholesale slaughter, then. [not a battle, not something between two sides who'd trained for this, who knew their lives might be forfeit. Just simple murder. The disgust of it all creeps into his voice]

And the perpetrators?

[He nodded and then turned down the road toward the house. Sometimes he still had nightmares, although he tried to keep them from Kohaku and everyone else. Sometimes he still saw and felt something watching him from the dark, the thing that had sharpened its claws across his soul the moment everyone had died in the bomb. He still felt it and it kept him up sometimes, but it was likely just a trauma. The side effect of having to see what had been done to that poor city.]

The cultists - known as the Third Party. They have larger wings and have organized, believing that the only way to escape this place is through death.

And they'd rather take that death out on everyone else instead of just offing themselves and doing us all a favor.

[Souji paused on the road, looking up at Hijikata curiously. The man was already upset, and he'd just arrived. This wasn't how Souji wanted to welcome Hijikata back. Let alone the right situation to update him on all the things that had truly changed since the man left.]

...Are you hungry?

[He tried to smile, reaching out to tug on the corner of Hijikata's sleeve.]

I've been learning how to cook.

[He hasn't really thought about it, but he is - his last meal was several hours ago, and in a different world]

A little. And I'm sure your cooking is better than Nagakura's.

Nagakura-san was getting better at it, too, you know.

[Although Souji had to learn out of necessity and nothing would ever be as good as Ayumu's cooking, at least he was used to cooking for himself by now. It wasn't as if Kohaku could ever cook considering what she was, so it had always been up to him once his friends had left.]

But does this mean you'll eat whatever I make for you?

...I'm not agreeing to something that vague. [HE KNOWS WHAT YOU LIKE SOUJI. And some of it is horrifying]

I'll make sure it's edible!

[Jeez, Hijikata-san. It's not like he'd feed you a shoe or something. Although edible for Souji and edible for Hijikata are two entirely different things, so yeah, valid concern.]

And palatable. [Added as an afterthought there.] I promise.

...Alright. And 'palatable' has to mean someone's standards other than your's. I don't want sweets all the time.

[He stuck his tongue out and then pressed onward toward the house, tucking his hands behind his back.]

I do eat normal food sometimes, you know.

And I've had to learn to be creative since Kohaku-chan can only eat milk and honey when she does eat.

Not often enough.

[He's seen you around candy, Souji]

Only milk and honey? Really? [he's pretty sure you can't actually survive on that]

[He'd stick his tongue out again, but he just did that and he can't dry his tongue out like that.]

Mmhm~ She can't eat anything that was once alive or could be alive someday. I suppose it has to do with her being an angel. She's very good at cleaning and taking care of the animals though.

[Of which there are many: Tammy, Saizou, the fish, a chicken, and now a white cat.]

An angel? [It's kind of a question but on the other hand, Luceti. He has wings right now. Anything is possible] Good to have someone like that around though, I suppose.

一；Re-introductions 「voice | action 」

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