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zerozeroone [video]

I'm ... alive?

Well, no, reasonably I can't possibly be alive, but existing is another story, I suppose.

[ The boy on the network is muttering to himself someone curiously, looking around as the feed moves with him, tapping on doors and looking inside them, wandering into rooms he thinks might contain something special. He's so utterly baffled by his being here that he forgets his manners with some of them, turning the doorknob and just charging in without so much of a hello. Luckily, it seems these rooms are empty. ]

Oh wow... this place is big! And to think I could even-- you know-- uh... To think I could even be again! Let me tell you, it was really vague there for a bit. I'm not sure entirely where I was or how I was, but I know I was...

[ He pauses. ] Really happy. For everyone, they did such a good job. I'm glad knowing the place I treasured so much is safe.

... but this is a new place, isn't it? Can someone tell me what it is?

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...

[That voice.]

Pardon my bluntness but ... You were dead previously?

[ ... ah, he had heard rumors of people suffering such fates, of course, from his short time here, but to actually interact with someone that was consciously aware they were dead from their own world? how could he possibly pass it up? plus, this guy seemed rather jovial for something so grim. shouldn't he be upset?

and did a good job about what? there are too many questions. ]

[Souji had met Ryoji once, very briefly, so he recognizes him when he sees him on the network. He's a bit hesitant to respond, for some reason he can't name, but after a moment his confidence comes back and he does.]

Are you...Mochizuki Ryoji?

[That voice, Minato knew that voice, he knew it well, all too well. He never thought he would hear it ever again and had resigned himself to it that once everything on that promised day happened, then that was... it. He had accepted his fate and had done so too, he realized, that same day on the bridge.

To be able to hear that voice again and then actually--once Minato had overcome the initial surprise--to be able to see him?

He had to smile, and then immediately was flooded with worry. But he still smiled because he was seeing his friend, someone so close to him, someone who was with him even when he didn't know it, someone who made Minato realize that whenever he had been lonely or afraid or unwanted that he was never alone.]

... Ryoji?

Minato?

[ His response is reactionary, he doesn't actually think Minato is there, it only comes up as a force of habit. When the weight comes crashing down on him and the unfortunate truths and merry dreams collide into one, he's more emotional than he would have guessed. They made their peace, but the universe just reset something that was locked in place since the beginning of life.

Against all reason, Ryoji Mochizuki was alive and so was Minato. ]

Minato...! Where are you!

[ His communicator shakes with his apparent urgency. You can't help but be starstruck by a miracle. ]

It's less dead, and more...

[ Not being an entity of life at all. ] Well, I suppose you'd have to have died to be dead, right? So I guess I'm alive? But I really shouldn't be.

[ As much of a ditz as he is, even he's not going to greet people by calling himself Death. He doesn't even know where he is, yet. ]

I am... but I don't know you, I'm afraid. Have we met?

[ He doesn't like the apparent implication that he lost a memory. They're deeply important to him, after all! ]

...No.

[It's a bit of a lie, but it's easier to just say no than to explain that once, totally by chance, Ryoji appeared in Wonderland for an evening and they got to meet. Ryoji clearly doesn't remember it, like so often happens, so there doesn't seem to be a reason to bring it up.]

Minato's told me a lot about you.

He has? I hope mostly good things. Not that there was much good going on back home.

[ It's hard not to take the blame for it, all things considered, when Minato did everything he could to stop him and did; in retrospect it plants a seed of doubt for whether or not Ryoji could have helped him further. But he's alive, right? Against all sense, he heard his voice over the video feed. ]

[Souji softens enough to smile a bit.]

It was always good things.

[A beat. He's not entirely sure what to say, but, well, he might as well start with the most basic thing.]

It's nice to meet you finally. My name is Seta Souji.

[It really was Ryoji, and Ryoji as Minato had remembered him, though he more than clearly remembered every other form Ryoji had taken. Wonderland had decided that this was the best form to bring him in and, once again, Minato had to be grateful to this place, even if it were just some kind of glorified prison that decided to resurrect the dead and bend time.]

Sixth floor, room 100. I'll go find you though.

[Minato was already out of his room by now, doing his best too to stay calm despite how fast his heart was racing. Seeing him over the network wasn't enough, it really wasn't. He had to see him in person, in the flesh, as if that would make it even more real.]

Can you tell what floor you're on?

I don't know-- I think the third? I've just been wandering the hallways since I got here.

[ He initially thought it had to be some kind of dying dream, a last look at a part of the living world, but it rapidly became clear that this wasn't normal. How long would he stay? ]

Minato, I can't tell you how happy I am just to hear your voice!

[ It's a pure and heartfelt joy that only someone who'd lost their life could feel. The bittersweet, melancholic feeling of remorse was offset with gratitude for being alive. He could smell and taste and see things again! He could pretend the heartbeat in his chest was a part of life and not the automatic sensation this body came with. It was a blessing. ]

That sounds like him...

[ He had been so kind to him... he even spared Ryoji, and some wistful part of him wonders if it was because they had become so close in such a short amount of time. He reasonably assumed it had more to do with the fact that killing him would erase his memories, though. ]

It's nice to meet you too! Can I ask how you know him? You don't look like you went to our school. I got around a lot.

Edited 2017-06-19 23:28 (UTC)

I didn't--I met him here. You could say he's my senpai, since I'm like him.

[That seems like the easiest way to describe their relationship outside of Wonderland.]

You're like him?

There's a lot of ways one could be like him... [ Should he be discreet?

Nah, he's Ryoji. ]

Are you a persona user?

[He nods. Right on point.]

I'm a Wild Card like he is. I can use a lot of them.

I'm happy too.

[Beyond words. Minato didn't have very many of those, but if he had to come up with them, he wouldn't know how or what to say. Words weren't enough. How could he explain it to anyone else? Minato being alive was one thing, but to have Ryoji also be alive and here with him was just more than he could ask for. He knew how selfish he sounded.

But there were so many questions at the same time. What was the date at home, how much had Ryoji remembered, did he remember the same things as Minato had? It was possible that they came from different universes altogether...

Minato just sprinted down there though to the third floor, the voices inside of him whispering that this was meant to be. If Ryoji was wandering, then he had to be farther away from the stairs, thus it was another sprint, this time down the hall. It wouldn't be long.

And it hadn't been.]

... Ryoji.

[And in a moment Minato was left breathless, not from all the running around though. In that moment when he saw his friend standing before him, as much as Minato had thought it would make it more real, it had just seemed that much more surreal instead.

Here they were, some cosmic universe where they were both somehow alive, in a place where they shouldn't have existed or have been allowed to exist. But here they were.]

I didn't know there could be another one! Fascinating... are the two of you good friends?

[Alive. That word causes Sayaka to go silent on the network feed for a few short seconds. Was he... like her? Did he have a terrible fate back home?

She quickly shakes those thoughts out of her head. Now was not the time to be shaken up by those words! This guy was clearly new and he needed help. Almost as if her silence from previously didn't happen, Ryoji will be greeted by this high school idol with a bright smile.]

Hello! You are in a place called Wonderland.

[She knows how it's like to be a newbie here.]

If you need me to answer any questions, I'll be happy to!

We're close.

[Heee'll let Minato talk to Ryoji about that.]

I've been here for awhile, so if you have any questions about Wonderland, I can probably help.

[ yes, you have to die to be dead, he thinks, but that's beside the point!!! something about the last words that ryoji says stirs a strange, gut reaction in akechi. he ignores it for the time-being, pleasant smile still affixed. ]

I see... That sounds like quite the dilemma. Has anyone answered any of your questions, yet?

[ he won't pry in detail on anything the stranger has said. for now. ]

Minato!

[ Ryoji had far less reserves with staying distant and immediately threw open his arms for a hug. He'd be satisfied if it were just this, and the universe was like 'psych' and took him back into an unknowable void, but thankfully he doesn't disappear the moment he lets go of him.

He was positively beaming, and for once the burden of having to cryptically explain everything was off his shoulders. This time, he truly didn't know what was going on, and for a powerful entity like him, it was unusual but nice. Death was with pause. He was on the same level as everyone else here. ]

How have you been? How did you get here? Did you just show up too? How did you escape... ?!

Wonderland... is that what this place is? I've never heard of it before. What kind of place is it?

I heard from Souji! Though I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing here, why I'm here, or... how I'm here? I sort of ceased to be back home...

[ But all of this is secondary compared to the main question: who is this cutie and why hasn't he introduced himself? ]

... but I'm rambling. I'm Ryoji Mochizuki. And... who are you, miss? I know we haven't met, because I'd remember a pretty face like that anywhere.

Not yet... I'm not even sure what's the right questions to ask, aside from why and how. It's a very big feat to bring me here, after all!

[ Personification of death and all. That's like ripping one of Newton's laws out of the universe, especially considering he didn't come willingly. ]

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