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[eatsyourscience]

[Souji is, surprise surprise, in the di-- Actually, this time he's in the kitchen. For a change of pace. He's got the device propped up on something so that he can talk at it hands free. Sitting in front of him is a piece of the rainbowiest rainbow cake a person could possibly make.]

Today is my sixth anniversary.

[He nudges the cake a little toward the camera.]

So I made cake. There's plenty of it, so I'll leave it here in the kitchen in case any one wants to have some.

[With a smile that seems quite tired, he shifts the cake to one side, and glances after it. With his gaze still cast away from the camera, he asks:]

How long have you been here? Do you want to go home? [He looks back at the camera again, his expression more thoughtful than tired now.] I'm kind of...doubting myself in that regard.

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[nomorules]

_{[Once he's finished wrangling Yusuke, going to war against waterproof paper and tape with Akira, and making announcements of a different nature, Ryuji has time to check the network. Monday's a busy day for more than just him.]}

People sure like their colored cake around here.

_{[Ann must be going nuts.]}

Don't imagine you can celebrate an anniversary like this without havin' mixed feelings. Havin' a life back where you came from, startin' a new one here... Must be hard.

video;

[eatsyourscience]

[Souji wonders who else likes colored cake. Aside from Mianto--who really only likes blue cake.]

It's strange.

[He pauses for a second, because normally he'd leave it at that. But he's been told he holds too much in and he's trying not to shut people out, so he goes on.]

Sometimes I think it would be okay to stay here.

[nomorules]

_{[Only people with sunglasses are going to be able to look directly at that aggressively happy cake in order to eat it. It's very... bright...]}

Do you want to stay here?

_{[That seems like the heart of the matter, no pun intended. Or maybe pun intended. This is a phantom thief we're talking about, after all.]}

[eatsyourscience]

I don't know.

[He hasn't gone quite that far off the rails. He still knows home is preferable. But if Wonderland years count, he's spent a third of his life in Wonderland already. It feels like home. Almost as much as Inaba did.]

[nomorules]

<sub>[It's bound to be complicated, tangled up with familiarity and desire, living in one place for so many years.

Ryuji had been angry with this place at first, when he'd initially crashed the prison party and found out how long Souji's been trapped--and he still is, but that reflexive indignation is tempered by time to think about it from Souji's perspective.]</sub>

You're allowed to miss both. I'm startin' to think that's the thing about Wonderland--it takes memories, but you're makin' memories every day while you're here. Good and bad ones. They're worth somethin'.

_{[Despite knowing they were better off without it, Ryuji had missed the Metaverse terribly those first few weeks. He certainly wouldn't want to give up his memories of his time there, like what allegedly happens when someone leaves Wonderland. All those moments, big and small... gone. If he were Souji, he'd have reservations, too.]}

[eatsyourscience]

Yeah, I think so. There are people I've met here who I don't want to lose.

[He's already lost some of them, though, and in some cases, he knows they went home to either nothing at all or to a grim future.]

Forgetting everyone and everything here... It would be cruel.

[To him and to them. There's something that stings about knowing that the people who leave aren't going to remember a thing about him. It makes him feel like a ghost.]

[nomorules]

Guess we'll just hafta make sure that don't happen.

_{[It sounds easy when Ryuji says it, with a smile that makes it seem easily within reach.]}

[eatsyourscience]

[Souji kind of stares for a second, then his lips quirk.]

I've already made that promise. I'm going to remember.

[At least one thing, anyway.]

[nomorules]

Well, then sounds like you got that part squared away.

<sub>[Good. Nodding, his tone carries a note of approval. That's the kind of "just try and stop me" resolve he wants to see.

It feels a little too trite and ridiculous to say under the accusing glare of that already ridiculous cake, but there's nothing they can't do if they put their minds to it.]</sub>

The Phantom Thieves don't break their promises. You don't want us to make you look bad, do you, senpai?

[eatsyourscience]

[Souji can't help a little smirk at being called senpai by a guy who, at the moment, is the same age as him. Technically.]

My team doesn't either. We've set a high bar for you.

[nomorules]

Ha! Pass the baton, old timer.

_{[Ooh, someone's getting uppity. That's the youth for you--they make 'em rowdy in the 2000s.]}

Is it just you two here? And you're from... what year again?

[eatsyourscience]

2012. And yeah, it's just me and Kanji right now. There have been others here before, though.

[nomorules]

Wow, time really is bent out of joint. It's crazy to think it should be 2018 for you.

_{[And if Souji were to leave right now, he'd be returning to 2012. Trippy, to imagine remembering everything and having that extra time jangling around in your head, only to pick up where you left off like no time had passed at all...]}

No matter what time or place, you got friends waitin' for you. That must be a load off.

_{[Souji has his own place to fit in--wherever he happens to end up. That has to be some comfort in an otherwise messy situation, or so Ryuji would like to think.]}

[eatsyourscience]

It's comforting, yeah.

[Souji does have doubts sometimes, though. Is he really alive even? Maybe the train crashed and he died and he just doesn't remember it. Maybe everyone who ends up in Wonderland is dead and none of them have anywhere to go back to. Or maybe he's simply trapped here with no hope of ever going back.

Those doubts usually dissipate pretty quickly, at least, and he doesn't feel like exploring them with Ryuji. He has the feeling that Ryuji doesn't need him complicating the whole thing further.]

I'm not sure if it's comforting or not that I won't remember anything that happened here. But it probably should be.

[nomorules]

<sub>[Ryuji is certainly not here for getting existentially down in the dumps about what it means to be in Wonderland; he's too new to feel like he's setting down roots, and as far as he's concerned this is a temporary detour. He can feel a strong and steady pulse in his neck, and he has a life waiting for him. That's all he needs to know.

He tilts his head to the side, wondering how long it took being stuck here before Souji started entertaining these sorts of thoughts.]</sub>

Forgettin's the easy way out. Nothin' comfortin' about that.

[eatsyourscience]

I don't know. I imagine remembering when I get home and it would make things difficult.

[For one thing, he'd have an extra six years under his belt. Not to mention how hard it would be pretend he didn't know some of the things he knows now.]

[nomorules]

What happened to setting a high bar?

_{[One eyebrow arches. Wasn't Souji already set on walking out of here with both sets of memories intact? As far as Ryuji's concerned, once someone signs that dotted line to themselves, second guessing the fine print just causes more problems than it's worth.]}

I get messin' around with timelines could have bigger repercussions than we're seein', and you... you've prolly got a lot of thinkin' to do. But if you're set on keepin that promise what good's it do worryin' about it?

_{[Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose, etc. etc.]}

[eatsyourscience]

[He takes a breath and nods. Ryuji is right--he can't have the determination to remember and worry about it causing problems at the same time. He's just wavering because he's letting things get to him.]

You're right.

[He smiles a little.]

You're good at keeping people on track, you know?

[This is the second time Ryuji's managed to drag him back from complacency.]

[nomorules]

_{[What the hell, man, don't get all goopey on him. A surefire way to get Ryuji laughing, edges of it tinged with embarrassment, is commend him for being something other than the loudest in the room at any given moment. The splash of pink in his cheeks says that he's heard Souji loud and clear, no matter that he shrugs the comment off.]}

I ain't the brightest guy around. _{[As if that's an answer.]} I just don't have the brains to worry about the little stuff.

_{[Also A+ at accepting compliments, as you can tell.]}

It's like with runnin'--when you run, you just gotta put all that stuff outta your head and go for it. Same deal.

[eatsyourscience]

[Well this response doesn't remind him of someone at home at all.]

You run at school?

[Little does he know clubs aren't a thing for these young uns. Clubs are just part of life.]

[nomorules]

Used to. Not anymore.

_{[#long story]}

But being a phantom thief was even better. There's plenty of free time here, though, so I still run when I get a chance. Makes you feel like this place isn't as small, like you're gettin' somewhere.

[eatsyourscience]

Yeah, I can understand that. With so much time, you have to feel like you're making progress somehow.

[So he doesn't run at school anymore. There's definitely a story there, but Ryuji didn't volunteer it. Souji can pursue it later--or pursue it indirectly.]

I like running pretty well. I played soccer at school and we ran way more laps than necessary.

[nomorules]

<sub>[Ryuji and track had a rocky relationship--had, because in recent months he'd taken great strides (no pun intended) to assigning some closure to it. He didn't mind talking about home life if someone was really interested in what a workout junkie gets up to in his spare time, but it didn't seem fair to go about blathering on about himself on today of all days, Souji's anniversary.

That said, he can't help but light up at mention of one of his favorite sports.]</sub>

Oh yeah, you play?

_{[Present tense. He doesn't feel as divorced from those hobbies and interests.]}

[eatsyourscience]

Not much here. I'm not sure I will when I get home, either.

[He'd normally leave it at that, but after a second decides to elaborate a bit.]

I was living with my uncle in a little town for a year, and I'll be going back to the city when I get home. I'm not sure what I'll do at my new school.

[nomorules]

Are you into it? I mean, the sport--like, in general. We should get a game goin' sometime when we're not off on random ski trips.

_{[Ryuji should know better than anyone that it's possible to love something and not be stoked to carry on with it at school, or in a team setting. At some point it's just time to move on.]}

Ha, you sound a bit like Akira, except the other way around. He's a country boy who moved to the big city.

Where are you from? Must've been strange, leaving all the trains and the shops behind for small town life.