7th Social Link ▫ [Text + Audio]

[jivitadana]

[That nightmare was... different. Not new, as the stuff of nightmares was something Minato was used to. But different. He had been taking a nap at his desk while working on testing something. Something had been bothering him for a long while already, and it would be a way to distract him from thinking about the dream. The nightmare was the sign of something to come. Like those event announcements. He would just be prepared for it whenever it came.

Thus once he was ready again, he began writing, solving this math problem, then the next math problem and others like it.]

...

[Done. Answers checked out. But what about something... simple?]

42 - 17 = ______
...

........ What's forty-two minus seventeen?

.....

[Blank. How could he not know this? Something had to be wrong. (And it isn't cheating to ask the network!)]

Comments

Audio;

[jivitadana]

[This is sort of embarrassing, but also kind of alarming. And Minato is alarmed in their patented silent protagonist way.]

No. I... [A beat.] Ask me a word problem instead. About subtraction.

[Maybe that'll help?]

Audio;

[eatsyourscience]

[Souji glanced to the side, thinking, then looked back.]

If I have three perfect paper cranes, but Tefra eats one, how many are left?

Audio;

[jivitadana]

[The pause here is way too long. Really way too long.]

... I need to count.

[Insert another pause here. Then he said it out loud.]

One, two, three. One plus one is two... One plus two is three. I think... two?

[This is really not... normal.]

Audio;

[eatsyourscience]

Yes. Two.

[Yeah, that was definitely weird.]

At least we don't have math tests here. [That was a question as much as it was a statement. Silver lining, right?]

Audio;

[jivitadana]

I hope not.

[Minato didn't think they'd have math tests here, but... subtraction was something practical.]

Audio;

[eatsyourscience]

So...any idea why you can't subtract anymore?

Audio; | Private

[jivitadana]

I think so.

[Minato locked this thread for now.]

It isn't your fault. It's that door.

[Always doors. He could never escape doors affecting him.]

Audio; | Private

[eatsyourscience]

The door...?

[For a minute, Souji thinks Minato means the one in their world, but then he realizes what he must be referring to.]

...We must have lost something then.

[What the heck did he lose?]

Audio; | Private

[jivitadana]

I don't know what you lost. But I can help you find it if I can.

[Minato had to wonder what Souji had lost too.]

Audio; | Private

[eatsyourscience]

I haven't noticed anything yet.

[His frown is barely audible in his tone.]

I never did before either, though.

Audio; | Private

[jivitadana]

[And Minato didn't know exactly how they would find it either, but he would try.]

It's okay. I think we can find it without looking for it then.

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[eatsyourscience]

It'll come up eventually.

Audio; | Private

[jivitadana]

I guess I should be grateful that it's just this.

Audio; | Private

[eatsyourscience]

I don't think you should have to feel grateful for having something stolen from you just because it could have been worse than it is.

Audio; | Private

[jivitadana]

But there isn't any point in getting upset over it either.

[Therefore to accept it, he was grateful.]

Audio; | Private

[eatsyourscience]

Remaining calm doesn't necessarily involve being happy about it.

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[jivitadana]

Do you think I'm happy about it?

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[eatsyourscience]

You know that isn't what I meant.

Audio; | Private

[jivitadana]

It's already happened. I'm not unhappy or happy about it.

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[eatsyourscience]

We'll work with things as they are.

Audio; | Private

[jivitadana]

I'll try not to bother you so much with it.

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[eatsyourscience]

...Minato.

[A soft exhalation.]

I upset you.

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[jivitadana]

[Minato didn't think he was upset though.]

I didn't say that you did.

Audio; | Private

[eatsyourscience]

You didn't need to.

[It isn't upset as in distraught, but Souji's comments have tainted the air somehow.]

Audio; | Private

[jivitadana]

[Minato was about to apologize for being so transparent, but kept it to himself. Souji didn't need to hear it and probably didn't want to hear it either.]

I'm not.

[Minato hadn't been upset, but because Souji thought he was, then it started to make him so. Maybe he wasn't so transparent then.]

Don't worry about it. It's okay.