[Text/Action] 002

[wishingalone]

[A: Text, to everyone]

I hope that everyone is recovering from the recent ordeal. It was worrisome, to say the very least. Nonetheless, it seems that some benefit may have been derived from it, at least.

Has anyone successfully done one of these new evolutions?

[B: Text, private to Kyouko]

[Yeah... here's why she did text. She doesn't trust herself to not get emotional talking to Kyouko about this.]

I saw it in my memories. Inside of that cave that the others went inside of. Not the real thing.

[C: Action, later, at Junes!]

[Mami promised that she would stop by Junes. She wants to go see it, besides; she could stand to buy a few things, especially a few things from home. But her friend boyfriend it's complicated really there's not a good word for him special cute buddy Yosuke works here. And that is more than enough reason to get her here.]

[You might find her browsing the aisles, looking over the various goods. Especially some of the clothing. Winter is coming, after all, and she means to be ready for it. But she's also looking for Yosuke, peering about all parts of the store.]

[And later, she's sitting down at a table in the cafe portion, sipping tea. Because of course she is!]

Comments

[Text]

[crimsonspearit]

[Kyouko isn't sure why she's responding, either.]

Didn't go. I see it all the time in my dreams.

[wishingalone]

I tried to forget those dreams, Sakura.

How could one of us ever manage to kill something like that?

[crimsonspearit]

I won't.

I'll do whatever I have to.

[wishingalone]

It didn't work. The gods themselves saw fit to remind me of its existence.

[And her dreams, and every time she thinks of her parents' faces, and every time she talks to Kyouko. The girl who is used to be her best friend.]

What if you aren't strong enough?

[crimsonspearit]

You should never forget.

I am. I can fight now.

[wishingalone]

It was easier to focus on what I could affect. Its power must be tremendous.

If you should decide to chase after it, please tell me first, Sakura.

[crimsonspearit]

Not for long.

Sure.

[Translated: No.]

[wishingalone]

Be careful. And don't lose your focus on what's important. And what happens after that thing is dead.

[She expects her to not say. And it pisses her off.]

[crimsonspearit]

What's important is ending that thing. What do you think comes after?

[Kyouko isn't exactly expecting an 'after'.]

[wishingalone]

We lived when others did not.

We owe it to them to not waste our lives, Sakura. To make those lives matter, for the the sake of the ones who can't continue.

[She's faced her survivor's guilt, to be certain... but she hasn't completely mastered it. It still informs everything she does. But... she's more conscious of it, now, at least.]

[crimsonspearit]

[Kyouko's not sure she can call this 'living'. At least Mami has friends, has some sort of future ahead of her.]

It's not a waste if it dies too.

[wishingalone]

[That... that is a knife to the gut, if it ever wants one. Mami might have teared up a little in her apartment, when she read that. The next reply is a little slower in coming.]

Sakura. Please don't say things like that.

Your life means more than that.

[crimsonspearit]

I ain't some helpless, terrified little girl anymore.

My life is my own.

[wishingalone]

[It's not what she meant, but Mami doesn't do so well with that kind of intimacy. Much less that kind of reliance on someone. Saying she doesn't want her to die for Mami's sake... it seems selfish. She can't bring herself to.]

[And so she leaves it unanswered.]