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[ Out of the blue, one afternoon: ]

Hey, Souji? Do you remember anything about the end of the year? When we left Inaba on the train.

Edited 2017-12-09 22:31 (UTC)

No, I haven't remembered anything about that. Most of my memories are contained within Inaba or before we moved there.

Have you recalled something?

[ ... ]

Do you remember anything else? About the end of the case, or what happened?

[ ... this comes with a small pause as souji has to type all this out ]

I don't know if this was near the end of the case or not but I just remembered battling a goddess. She's called Izanami-no-Okami and I believe she's the goddess of death.

She was difficult to battle. It seemed like none of our attacks were even affecting her and in the end, she dragged our entire team underneath. Each one our team members pushed us aside whenever she tried to do it to us but she eventually got us too.

... I don't know what happened after that.

...

When I left... everyone was there, except for Teddie. I don't know why he was missing, but the others, they were alive.

Though the fog was still there...

... there's still a lot of gaps between our memories. We don't know if either one of our memories is the end of our journey in Inaba and what the circumstances are.

We shouldn't jump to the worst conclusions.

[ Yu stares at his phone for a long moment, but it's not his phone he's seeing. It's the faces of his friends, their quiet voices that sounded somehow dampened by the fog.

He knows that was the end of his journey. Pulling away as his friends stood on the platform and watched him leave before they were all swallowed by the fog that had never left, his bag over his shoulder... no, he was going home.

You really are leaving us. You know, it was over too quick.

Why was Teddie missing...? Why wasn't ... Dojima there ... ?

There's a cold pit in his stomach that hasn't closed up since he woke up with the memory still playing behind his eyelids, echoing in his ears.

A few minutes later: ]

I know.

[ souji can only imagine what yu is thinking behind the screen, probably thinking of the memory that he just gotten, similar to the same way that souji had to deal with the feeling of dread and helplessness when he got back his own memory. he can't leave yu alone during this ]

Where are you?

At the library.

[ the university library, he means. between semesters there's not much point to being here, but it was a quiet place to go. ]

Do you want me to meet you there?

I should be heading out anyway. Meet me at the edge of campus?

Sure. I'll be there in 15 minutes?

Yeah. I'll meet you there.

[ he doesn't really want to see or speak to anyone, at the moment, but he knows better than to spurn souji right now. especially after everything they've been through this year. they need to be open with each other...

... even if ...

well, true to his word, Yu will be waiting at the edge of campus, hiding half his face in the warm, fluffy scarf he's wearing. he's engrossed in his phone, fiddling with it with one glove off. ]

[ even over text, souji can tell when something is bothering yu. perhaps it's because they've known each other their entire lives, being twins, or maybe it's because they've been separated for so long that texting has been their main form of communication and it has become easy to spot out the disparities in the way yu texts in whatever mood he's in. regardless of how he knows, souji wants to be there for his brother and to help ease away any worries that he might have, or to at least take them on with him and to share the burden. so just like he said, he arrives at the edge of the campus and spots out yu quickly enough. ]

Hey...

[ he says as he approaches. he doesn't start with any questions, not yet ]

[ Yu glances up, and there's so much in that wordless look. Souji knows him better than anyone in the world, and all that quiet held in tension, the uncertainty he won't say or show but which lurks in the small movements of his hands. ]

.... hey.

[ A small smile. ]

[ souji returns the small smile but the concern and the worry is still there. he just looks at yu but then tilts his head in the direction that he came from ]

... let's head home.

[ he won't force yu to talk right now. the walk back to their house takes some time so if yu wants to take his time to speak up then souji will give him that freedom ]

[ To be honest, Yu will say nothing for almost the entire way home. His eyes are trained on the ground as they walk, his expression somewhere far away. He doesn't look upset, exactly, just ... drawn in, somehow. Contemplative.

Only once they near home: ]

I wish I could figure out why it's bothering me so much.

[ souji doesn't push him to speak, hoping that just his presence can be a form of comfort for yu. he knows that his brother is the more, ah, soft-spoken one and more likely to keep things to himself so he doesn't push anything. he does figure that most of their trip back home would result in silence so when yu finally speaks up, souji just glances at him. he looks back down for a second before he lifts his head ]

I can understand why it'd bother you. It would feel... unfinished, right?

... it feels like I'm missing something big ... something that should be obvious to me, but is just outside of my grasp.

[ His shoulders shift. ]

[ souji can't say that he... understands the exact same feelings of frustration that yu is experiencing since he doesn't have back this memory (and he never will) but thinks he has an idea. ]

... like I said, we still don't have the entire picture. It's possible that we were able to still get rid of the fog after we left. We truly won't know until we have our other memories.

[ he keeps referring to the person in yu's memories as "we" because why wouldn't it be them? they're the same. there's no reason to believe otherwise ]

What do you think that we're missing?

[ A long pause. ]

A reason my memories feel different from yours.

[ He can't look at Souji. At this point, it's still more of a hunch, but small things are making him worry that something is just ... wrong.

Wrong with him. ]

[ souji keeps a close eye on yu, trying to read his emotions and whatever reactions that may appear. ]

... regardless of the reason, whatever we find out, we'll still be brothers. That won't ever change.

[ he reaches out to place a hand on yu's shoulder ]

I promise you.

[ Glances at Souji, a worried crease in his brow.

But he'll sigh through his nose and nod, trying a small smile. ]

I know. Thanks, Souji.

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mid-december, ish, probably, it's fine

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