An impossible city looms, both lit up under a night sky with neon and fluorescent bulbs, signs lining with a mismatch of eras, modern and antiquated, as well as a bright orange sun, though its rays don’t reach the city skyline. Directly in the center of this paradoxical city lies a simultaneously ancient and modern Italian opera hall, music emanating from its center across the entire city, yet not overpowering in volume from the theater itself. Naturally, in this portion of the Dreamscape, its current successor stood as acting maestro, directly in center stage., looking down at the front row of empty seats. 

Worldeater: You’re late…

Yosuke: N-Normal people text each other, man. (he mutters) Besides, I thought Firecracker was supposed to be my liaison. Ehm, Firestarter. I meant Firestarter.

Luca: (removing his mask, Worldeater hops off the stage. His expression is calm and neutral.) Normal people answer their phones when people text them. Fireworks has been blowing yours up, if I correctly interpret her, em… unique disposition. So it falls to me to act as a liaison. Here, on my stage of our first proper victory, Yosuke.

Yosuke: S-Shouldn’t we be using our callsigns? Err, the correct ones, that is? Or are you, like, doing an… “us guys” bit? I mean, I honestly don’t know what Firestarter wants from me. H-Half of the shit she sends me is, like, insults and dick jokes. I-I-I don’t even have anything new to report, to her, or to you. She got the pictures, and I’ll… I’ll, eh, I’ll just send Moonlover our destination when another good opportunity arises. Y’know, stick to the plan. Stick to the plan.

Luca: I mispronounced her callsign to put you at ease. I’m using your name, because without my mask, I am not Worldeater. And let’s be honest, half of Shakespeare’s writing was dick jokes. It was between them that his genius lay. So, too, do Firestarter’s points of contact.

Yosuke: Err…

Luca: Hm… so Moonlover is still active, but the Mitakihara refugees still stand. Is she keeping her distance? She does not respond to us either. She never has, much to my frustration. And Kyubey’s, to be honest. You are our only eyes out there, Backspacer.

Yosuke: She, err, might be at the bottom of a ravine? But… I mean, they assume she’s still alive, which I’m, like, sure? That seems… cinematically appropriate? Would be, err, weird and awkward if she actually went out like that. But then again, I guess, err, weird and awkward is our… thing now?

Luca: (His eyes widen in surprise) Oh my… that ragtag group of misfits held their own against the indestructible Moonlover? Enough to incapacitate her? This is concerning… Yosuke, you realize that they must not be allowed to reach Mitakihara. If they do, the threat they pose as a combined unit will be enough to match even Punisher and Firestarter. I can only do so much here, but breaking the wills of the strongest fighters Kyubey has ever pit us against is an effort that takes considerable time. Time, Yosuke, that we will not have… if they return to Mitakihara. Understand?

Yosuke: Well, I’d still put my money on Moonlover in any given scenario that does not involve a, ehm, ravine. So we… we should avoid… ravines. Yup. So, as soon as we’re somewhere where there’s not a ravine, things will be… fine… if Moonlover is still, ehm, alive, that is. Which… Which she is. Deffo.

Luca: (His eyes widen again, before they start to narrow) …How astute, Yosuke. Yes, you should absolutely avoid any ravines going forward. Good job, lad. I shall devise a plan, in case Moonlover has fallen. In our line of work, our lives are never guaranteed. We Balancers rely on our powers and strength to carry out our missions. Especially those of us eraser types, our lives are constantly in peril. But you knew that, right, Backspacer?

Yosuke: Yeah, I mean, I’m… I’m happy that we, eh, got to talk like this, us guys, cause, eh, if I had told any of the other Balancers what I’ve just told you now, they probably would have… killed me. (he coughs) Anyway, can I go back to my own dream now? It was… a good one. Probably.

Luca: (he laughs, quite heartily) Ahahaha! Yes, most certainly! Punisher has had an eye to take you out for a while now! And Firestarter? God only knows what she would do in any given situation. Moonlover? …Probably. But just for fun, more than anything—

Yosuke: — Eh, yes, eh, thank you for this… detailed account of all the horrible ways in which I could be killed by horrors beyond my comprehension —

Luca: Ah, but without my mask, you and I are both normal men. Just answer Satomi’s text messages, or come report to me here. I am easy to find. Ah… (Luca’s eyes scan Yosuke’s for a long moment) …I must advise. …Do not fall in love, Yosuke. 

Yosuke: W-What?!

Luca: You are on a mission. Romance… it is a distraction, at best. At worst, the fickle emotions, especially those of a barely pubescent lad like yourself, can turn a man’s loyalties. And…

Worldeater: (Luca slips the Masque back over his face) …I should not have to say what befalls those who betray the Balancers. In Kyubey’s history, there is only the whisper of the one who got away. And that, itself, is a fairy tale, meant to ensnare Balancers who stray from Kyubey’s path. We kill innocent men and women to maintain this illusion, Yosuke. We would not hesitate to do the same to our own. Understood, boy? (A curtain rises behind Yosuke, an odd sense of daylight peering through it, not unlike an open door)

Yosuke: (he chuckles nervously) I-I’m not sure what you’re implying here? I-I mean, it’s not like, because I’m hanging out with these girls all the time that I’m, like… T-That’s ridiculous, man! I mean, I guess you can’t relate, but it’s not like… like, I’m not like a weird pervert or anything? You don’t have a problem shacking up with Punisher and Firestarter, obviously, but—

Worldeater: Hold on now, Firestarter and I merely flirted, socially! Who said I actually decided to lay with—

Yosuke: —that doesn’t mean I’m, like—Well, what I’m saying is that it’s not because I’m a… straight dude, that every conversation with a girl I have is just me trying to chat her up, y’know, I mean, n-not that I’m err, implying anything about you or anything, or, wait! No! I’m not judging you, it’s, I guess I just kind of assumed, with the opera obsession and the gestures and the… everything, but—

Worldeater: Yosuke, please, I’m— Oh, by the gods, he… he isn’t even listening… (Exit, stage left)

Yosuke: —but that’s okay! Right?! It’s just, like, I could imagine that if you were, like, into dudes, you… wouldn’t maybe get that dudes who’re into girls don’t actually think about girls all the time, and—Oh. He’s gone. 

Still sitting in the theatre seat, Yosuke looks around him, finding himself entirely alone.

Yosuke: Can I… Can I go back to my own dream now, or…?

Outside the lavish facsimile city Worldeater had constructed as his base of operations, Luca walked, into the untamed, contested badlands that separated his bubble from his rival’s. Today, however, was not a day to antagonize her. Should she arrive, she would find a fight, as always. However, Worldeater had other, more important matters to attend to. On a particularly blank, empty plane, Worldeater cast his eyes upwards. Slowly coming into view, the frayed, static form coalesced into a human shape. A fresh soul, descending onto the Dreamscape, its inhabitant on the other side likely struck down. Luca recognized the shape, a sinister grin crossing his face as he drew his sword from its cane. Worldeater pointed his weapon up towards the soul, ready to catch it upon his blade.

Worldeater: Ah… not the soul I anticipated. But a very welcome prize, nonetheless. After this… (his eyes cast towards the equally empty horizon) …A bit of a hike. But then again, I am as a god down here…