[20/11/2016 2:37 AM: hey, did u make it back to the gym safely?]
[20/11/2016 9:03 AM: not a lot happening on my side of town, what abt u?]
[20/11/2016 11:29 AM: senpai? Hello?
[20/11/2016 11:30 AM: did you see the news? what the hell is the PM thinking?]
[20/11/2016 5:42 PM: im worried abt u, pls reply]
[20/11/2016 7:56 PM: saw this video abt autism that you might be interested in… is this accurate? <link>]
[20/11/2016 8:02 PM: senpai????]
[20/11/2016 1:37 AM: Senpai, I need to know whether you are safe. I know I have a lot of explaining to do but I can’t explain anything if you won’t listen. Please. I love you. I never wanted this.]
[21/11/2016 7:45 AM: I don’t need you to forgive me. I just need you to listen.]
Lying down on his bed, Yosuke stares at his phone, dozens of messages on the screen without any reply, and sighs.
Yosuke: C’mon, senpai… Reply already, will you?
With a groan, he puts the phone down on his pillow next to him, staring up at the ceiling.
Yosuke: Such a fuckup I am…
He notices his sight slowly blurring as he drifts off to sleep, only to quickly sit up again, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes.
Yosuke: Come on, man… sleeping ain’t gonna fix anything.
Luca: Typically, no, it doesn’t. (Worldeater’s mask is sitting on the corner of Yosuke’s bed, and Luca is at his window, staring outside. The sky itself cycles between day and night rapidly, as if time had accelerated to an impossible degree) …And yes, so there’s no confusion, you are a total fuckup.
Yosuke: (startled by Luca’s sudden appearance, he jolts and yells out an expletive) W-What the hell are you doing here? Privacy, dude!
Luca: (Luca glares back at Yosuke) A shared realm of equally shared dreams has no privacy. Or did Punisher not tell you that already? (He turns his attention back out at the impossible sky) You play those obnoxious action games. You should be accustomed to getting invaded by now.
Yosuke: I dunno, man, in those games you can opt out of getting invaded? Getting the feeling that’s not an option here.
Luca: (indignant) Consider this realm always online, Yosuke. And consider me its administrator. Now, poor analogies aside… (Luca turns to face Yosuke, a grim and serious expression on his face) You are the last to see Moonlover alive. Therefore, you are the only one to whom I can turn for answers. And in case it wasn’t obvious, I’m not in the fucking mood for playing games.
Yosuke: Y-You started it with the reference, man… a-and you’re calling me the nerd?
Luca: (He takes a few steps towards Yosuke’s bed, grabbing the boy by his collar and pushing him back against the headboard of his bed. There isn’t a lot of force in the gesture itself, but Luca’s expression tells the story) Between one girl who decides to break rank and attack the rats in their nest, another girl who can’t even handle an ambush properly and is also beginning to talk back, and yet another who followed you all out into the goddamned wilderness, I’m beginning to wonder if our merry little band is capable of such a simple extermination mission. Moonlover is dead. You saw her die. Now talk. …Before you tempt me into putting the mask back on.
Yosuke: Gh… W-W-What do you even want from me? Give you the play by play? I dunno, man! T-They fought and she lost. I-It’s not like you’re gonna try to fight them next, right? Y-You’re just some guy!
Luca: (He stares at Yosuke, scanning his face for a long while before letting him go with a sigh. The sky outside continues to accelerate and flip between night and day, even more rapidly than before as he returns to the window.) …No, I do not intend to repeat Firestarter’s mistake. That’s my point, Yosuke. They have no patience. This should be child’s play… Even if that damned Conductor could disarm me with just a simple question… How? How could questioning my place of birth have had such an effect on me?
Yosuke: Wait, you’re not Italian?
Luca: How dare— (He sputters, wheeling to point at Yosuke) Don’t you dare question my heritage too, boy! I am one-hundred percent Italian! I was born eighteen years ago in Naples, the same city as Father was!
Yosuke: (he throws up his hands in defense) S-Sure, eh, boy. What do I know?
Luca: (Luca hesitates, despite the unadulterated rage practically radiating from his expression) …That set of balls on you is ironically the only thing that’s kept you alive, Yosuke. But you’ve distracted me from my question long enough. (He slowly and carefully reaches for his mask) …Yes, Yosuke, I want the “play-by-play” on Moonlover’s death. I need to know how a handful of ordinary Puellae Magi were able to take down our otherwise most invincible combatant.
Yosuke: Well, eh… (he swallows, then clears his throat) Maybe that’s something we should, like, strategize about with the whole team? I-In person?
Luca: …I know not what you scheme, Backspacer. But you’re not wrong. Such a meeting would be prudent. There’s a couple problems with the idea, wonderful though it may be, however. (He slips the mask back over his face)
Worldeater: You seem to have missed my monologue about how the team isn’t behaving as such. The other hole in your plot, Yosuke, is that you pissed me off, and I am the sole member of our squad able to get you in the door. Unless you fancy risking asking Firestarter to vouch for you again?
Yosuke: … Except I’m the one you have to thank for your fancy mask, remember? Without me, you wouldn’t have jack shit to threaten me with!
Worldeater: (He freezes, his expression no less manic than it was before. The sky outside becomes a blur of both day and night at the same time. Then, without warning, the sky freezes on a morning sunrise, and Worldeater can’t help but let out a hearty laugh) Oh my, how rich… I know not from which wellspring you draw such courage, but it would be a painful lie to say I don’t respect it. …Very well, Yosuke. Consider your gambit a success. I will do my best to gather the remainder of our bunch in person. (Luca’s eyes flash with deadly seriousness as his smile fades) …Just, do be sure you fully appreciate the gravity of your situation. You are also “just a guy,” surrounded by two of the deadliest Puellae Magi I’ve ever met. And their mood is about as good as my own. Just so you’re aware. (With a halfhearted wave, Worldeater leaves Yosuke’s dream-bedroom, closing the door behind him, leaving him alone once again.)
Yosuke: (she sighs in relief) … There really is no escaping him, is there… (he gets up, taking his camera from his desk and browsing through some of the pictures he took during the road trip with Koharu and her friends, including the group picture he took on the night they reunited with Hanako) But… (he takes out his phone again, composing another message to Koharu)
[21/11/2016 10:29 AM: I am not with them. I will do anything to prove it.]
Mitakihara Original 