You Find Yourselves Stirred By A Voice....

[strangerpeople]

[You feel as you are on a fluffy cloud of warmth and the urge to not want to move is great. However, the voice speaks again as if it is urgent...and maybe angry?]

Damn brats! Get off the merchandise before I call security on you!

[Oh. Well.

When you come to, the familiar scenes of your bedrooms fill your sight. However, the barriers are gone and strangest of all, there are people around. They can SEE you and for sure, they are gawking at the weirdos that are somehow sleeping in department store beds. But on the hands of Croix and Chariot, there's something on their hands...a phone number and a message saying 'Call me! :D' from some weird girl with an A name. But when you finally move and get away from any nosy customers, you have to wonder 'What just happened?' 'Is everyone ok?'

And why do you have the urge to go visit Cafe MYJL?]

Comments

[beguiledcard]

[ His expression tenses, and he winds up having to take a step back, though his hands move to rest on each of their shoulders. It's so he can look right at them.

There's... conflict in his eyes, however; does all of him want to stop them? H-heh... no. No, some... part of him is actually on-board, here. He hates it. Just like how he hates the way some part of him had been okay with--... ...no. Stop.

He directs a firm stare at Kurama: ]

What good would it do? If we could hop into the Metaverse and knock some sense into them, sure...

[ He looks to Goro, Kurama, Goro again... and then the floor. ]

I can't lie and say I'm innocent when it comes to wanting--... and enjoying... some revenge, but still...

[ It won't do any good!!! ]

... And I can't lie and tell myself, if either of you firmly set your mind to do something, I'll be able to stand in your way.

[ He takes a deep breath, holds a blink, lets his expression drop. ]

But... would it make a difference if I spelled out just how unhappy it would make me? How much it would hurt? Please, just this once... let it go.

[ Who needs pride when they have a mission. ]

[foolishjustice]

[He's still angry, still frustrated. But...he's hurt Akira enough, hasn't he? Maybe even more than he knows, if he counts things that would have happened if he hadn't come here and changed for the better...he still doesn't know what Akira was talking about with Ursula.

He heaves a sigh that still has traces of a growl in it and looks at Akira. With this much anger in them, it's blatant just how closely his eyes resemble the color of dried blood.]

Why can't we use the Metaverse? Assuming whatever you did to get out of there alive also kept me from shooting him, and I'm not already just angry at someone who's probably been eaten by Noise by now...

[byanyother_name]

[Yeah... Kurama has already hurt Akira more than enough. He's not sure he'll ever manage to forget the look on Akira's face in that moment where he realized what Kurama was about to do but couldn't stop it.

'Kurama, don't!'

He looks away, head lowering.]

There is still an entire system full of people supposed to prevent such things. But I... Akira, I will not -cannot- hurt you again, given any true choice in the matter.

[beguiledcard]

[ And... here it comes.

He takes a moment to regain composure; there's a confusing amount of guilt, here, on his end. After a deep breath, he reaches up to gently rest one hand on one side of each boyfriend's face. He holds a blink, lowers his hands to his sides, and comes out with it: ]

You killed the cognitive versions of myself and the guard. We learned your plan and we countered it. It definitely wasn't easy, but Futaba is an incredibly skilled hacker.

[ He's looking off to the side. Hopefully Goro isn't wanting more details, because he's hitting the skip button to loop around and answer the first question. ]

And it wasn't long after that, we took out Yaldabaoth, which means no more Metaverse.

[foolishjustice]

That system is corrupt, Kurama. Anything short of a full confession would go ignored. And with the Metaverse gone, we won't be getting one of those out of him without stooping to his level.

[He runs a frustrated hand through his hair, leaving it a bit more of a mess than he would normally allow it to be. He'll fix it when he calms down.]

Still...that is impressive. I take it she bugged my phone when she grabbed it from me?

[byanyother_name]

[Kurama's growl is quiet, angry but subdued. He leans into Akira's touch until his hand drops away.

A part of him hates that they can't just tear it all down. It's the same part of him that smiles inside with quiet satisfaction when Koenma defies his father. The same part that lit up fierce and joyful when he betrayed Yomi a second time.

He just shakes his head and listens.]

[beguiledcard]

[ He nods at Goro's last question. There's a lengthy pause, and then... he starts from the beginning: ]

After realizing you could hear Morgana, thanks to your slip-up regarding pancakes, we had Futaba monitor your phone. Thanks to that, we discovered you were working for someone else, and that you were supposed to kill me as part of some plan...

[ His expression dims a lot. ]

... It was Futaba's idea, actually. She suggested we use the Palace to our advantage. We knew, even if we found a way to directly stop you, we still had the grand mastermind to worry about. As long as he saw us as a threat, he'd never stop coming after us.

[ He twists a strand of bangs. ]

I had to work quickly but carefully so I could manage to convince Sae to show you a phone, once the interrogation was over. It was after she showed you, the Metaverse app was activated, and... we were inside Sae's Palace all over again. So... really, it was only thanks to gaining her trust, the plan even worked in the end.

[ He holds a blink and then looks right at Goro. ]

After you shot the cognitive me, it was announced that the leader of the Phantom Thieves had committed suicide. And then Sae... was let in on everything, as well as d-... Boss.

[ Mmmm... ]