Week 5 | Friday, post investigation

[concasse]

[The lounge is likely gonna see a lot of traffic tonight.

Which is why it's probably odd that Sanji chooses to spend any amount of time in here. It's not like he wants to be around people; him fleeing the foyer made that very clear. Luckily for him, there's a pocket of time in which it's only him around, ordering drinks and slowly gathering a collection of empty glasses that make his slightly reddened face and bloodshot eyes very, very explainable.

No one said grief was pretty.]

Comments

[axilium]

Or find one they don't know about or aren't telling us.

But as for the options we have now, yeah. The others were "bring back the dead, but we're all stuck here" and "everyone loses".

[concasse]

[... Yeah no. his expression hardens at those options]

Beauty and Beast'll hopefully be able to help with that. Or maybe there's some shit for our comrades to find on the Other Side.

[Either way, trusting Tiger and Dragon is... dangerous.]

[axilium]

... Hopefully. [one benefit to having dead friends, apparently??] I'm not keen on either Tiger or Dragon's endings, so I'll keep looking for another one.

[concasse]

... Good luck.

[...]

Try and keep off their bad sides, alright? From what I can tell, they don't like anyone who will disrupt the war too much, one way or another.

[Do not put Sanji in a position where he has to hunt you down, Belph.]

[axilium]

[that's reassuring.]

... I've been playing nice, and I'm pretty decent at my role. Dragon said it'd be a shame to lose me, so with any luck, I'm safe for a while.

[...]

Is that why they had Sousei killed? He was pretty open to me about how he had no intention of playing along with their game.

[concasse]

... Each time I'm told who to take out, I try to work out the specifics of why they're being targeted. Maybe... change their minds, if necessary.

[It doesn't work. Clearly. But--]

Sousei was uncooperative, yeah. I knew it was only a matter of time given how he seemed to be, and Dragon-sama hinted he'd been given the role of Historian so he'd have something to focus on.

... As for Jae-Ha, my assumption is they thought he'd be unruly without his partner.

[axilium]

[...]

I have one question. Just to preface: it's nothing personal for me, so don't worry about that.

Was Monika also yours?

[concasse]

[...]

Dragon-sama didn't like how unstable she was -- was sure she'd snap down the line, so wanted her taken out before she broke further. We had a real argument over that. I thought she was gonna strike me down for the backtalk.

[...]

But no, it wasn't me.

[axilium]

Your Editor partner, then? I know there are two of you.

... Anyway, this is just a heads-up that Akechi's trying to hunt you guys down—probably to take revenge for her. So, be careful around him.

[concasse]

Tch. Figured. That's why I didn't see a point in lying.

[And just. Snorting at the mention of Akechi.]

Noted. Lucky for him, Eichi's someone I want to survive as long as possible, so he gets a free pass.

[axilium]

I feel like at this point, Akechi should remember to thank Eichi every week for contributing to his continued survival.

[concasse]

[Okay, actually laughing into his glass of alcohol]

Damn right.

[Shakes head]

... Well, in any case. I need to track down my partner and see if he's still alive.

[He says it like a joke, but the threat of it is real. They didn't find that third body, after all.]

We'll keep in touch, I guess.