afterword: (pic#15702477)

[personal profile] afterword 2022-06-23 08:31 am (UTC)(link)
[ further down... well, then that's where he'll head. he will watch his step as he takes the path, coming to the fork and glancing to the radio. guess he may as well fiddle with it despite his hand. go on radio. tell us your new secrets as he takes the path that leads down. ]

Biyoo!

[ my riceball (?) ]
unsaid: (☾ are wandering like falling leaves)

[personal profile] unsaid 2022-06-23 08:32 am (UTC)(link)
[oh radio.... well.

he tunes it again, reliably. aikawa was mad about his but time to see what creepy message they get next! nice.]


... I wonder who they might make us see.

[idly, as he thinks about those voices. time to wander off to follow in that direction, trusting that aikawa will. probably go the same way? time to find out]
decaptych: ([012])

[personal profile] decaptych 2022-06-23 08:34 am (UTC)(link)
Who the fuck knows.

[ He's only barely biting his tongue from saying 'who cares', because whoever it is, at least one person is someone likely important to Mikazuki, and he likes Mikazuki enough to not be a mean ass at him.

He will kind of lag behind a little bit, but after a moment and a slight 'tch', he will follow yes.
]
afterword: (pic#14173828)

[personal profile] afterword 2022-06-23 08:46 am (UTC)(link)
[ a ball of fluff....

you can't really mistake that white fluff entirely. round, very large in size, of course he would like it for her but. what does that mean on a trip that is this? something to think about, things to consider if he was thinking more properly but

alas, he's just focused on heading in direction of that white ball of fluff. if he was less cautious maybe he'd be more careful about approaching but no he's just. going right in. biyoo biyoo biyoo ]


It's taken a lot just to get a glimpse of you, you know?
unsaid: (☾ bursts into bloom)

[personal profile] unsaid 2022-06-23 08:48 am (UTC)(link)
[oh.

everything about jiji's posture eases when they arrive. despite his own worries about the tricks, even the facsimile of his master makes something in his shoulders relax. his sword was bloodied earlier, this body crushed and maimed, but even for the chance to remember what - who - it was all for, then he cares so little.

(you, my reason has always been—)]


... let us not turn back.

[doing anything else would just leave them trapped here, wouldn't it? and ultimately - if there is even the chance that this could become even close to enough to reach his saniwa, then he likely would take this chance every time.

this is his own salvation.]
decaptych: ([008])

[personal profile] decaptych 2022-06-23 08:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ He doesn’t necessarily resist, but he certainly wants to. As it is, he just sticks his hands into his pockets and keeps his gaze downwards, not meeting the eyes of the shadowed figures. Neither Aruji, nor Nikaido.

No recognition, warm smiles, no warm reunion.

Only a cold, distant, somber quiet, not bridging the gap that she so desperately wants him to return from.
]
Edited 2022-06-23 08:51 (UTC)
afterword: (pic#15266805)

[personal profile] afterword 2022-06-23 09:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ me in tears

it's as if he expected as much, for her to not wait and he already welcomes her with his arms open. taking her right in his hold as he holds her protectively, warmly, remembering the feeling of her in his arms once more.

there's a look of fond when he regards her. that familial love a father holds for their daughter so clear on his face. she feels so warm. real. there's a sigh of relief, burying his face just slightly into her fur. ]


Biyoo, you've been very strong. But I'm here now. I promised I'd always protect you, didn't I?

[ the radio cackles and he knows it's important. they probably have to make their way. back... back out of the mines? to the start? they are gonna have quite the ways to go if so. ]

Stay with me, alright?
unsaid: (☾ that i was looking up at by myself)

[personal profile] unsaid 2022-06-23 09:11 am (UTC)(link)
[under aruji's scrutiny, mikazuki only smiles - it reveals nothing about his thoughts nor his struggle. he knows that this same smile has inspired doubt from this man before. even now, he invites distrust and yet - he wants to act as though none of these troubles have touched him.

aruji gave him this heart - and yet, all at once, he does not need to know how close it is to always breaking.]


All will be well, all will be well.

[mikazuki walks past his master, and forward.]
decaptych: ([048])

[personal profile] decaptych 2022-06-23 09:15 am (UTC)(link)
[ His hand twitches where they rest in his pockets. It hurts, being reminded.

'No matter what the real you is like...
No matter what happens...
We’ll always be — !'


It wasn’t worth existing. The man he ended up being, the man he used to be — it wasn’t worth it.

He could just forget everything. He could go back to happy days, at the Hungry Bug, loud and raucous and without a damned care as long as it was just the two of them.

’Isn’t it better if I don’t talk to Risu Nikaido, anymore…?’
]

Sorry...

I’m not that guy.

[ He walks forward — but he doesn’t look.

He could not turn to look at her as they walked.
]
afterword: (pic#15231507)

[personal profile] afterword 2022-06-23 09:31 am (UTC)(link)
[ mikaikawa: can't believe we died in the mines and had to do another timeloop
kdj: wait you guys died in the mines?

it's hard to let her slink back to the shadows again. he would much rather keep her in his sight, guide her by his side as he has back home. however, he trusts her. he trusts her as much as she trusts him. a strong bond that began when she first trusted him to save her soul in her previous life.

so he will move on. it's tempting to glance back and check up on her but he knows better than to fuss over her. so he doesn't look back. it's his trust that keeps him moving forward, his attention ahead. especially with her encouragement and acknowledging sounds. enough to know she's still following behind.

the pain is notable, the tear, the wear, the heat and stiffness of it but.. he really can't bring himself to care. to focus too much on that. it doesn't matter as much as that moment he found biyoo.

so, keep going he does. ]
unsaid: (☾ are wandering like falling leaves)

[personal profile] unsaid 2022-06-23 09:31 am (UTC)(link)
[ah.

the first step he puts on his leg that invites a wobble - there is the slightest pause. and in that moment, there is the slightest flash of anger in his expression. destroy his body, compromise his integrity, make him question the history of his own steel - but do not ever reveal his weakness to his master.

the smoke is suffocating and this body aches, but he walks forward with all the grace of an old lord. the first falter will be the last, if only through sheer force of will.]
decaptych: ([002])

[personal profile] decaptych 2022-06-23 09:36 am (UTC)(link)
[ He walks and it weighs heavy and weary. Everything Nikaido knew about him was a lie, and she’s — following someone who doesn’t exist. The only thing still ‘real’ about it is that it’s the same pinky that intertwined with hers and made that promise… but if he denies these hands drove knives into the people he loves, then how can he acknowledge the other?

But he does care. He wants her to be happy. It’s just that he doesn’t think that ‘happiness’ is with him.

They walk, and he feels the pain, but it feels distant and dull like through a haze of morphine. Just don’t think about it, has ever been his coward’s solution — but he can’t deny that he hopes that he still hears those footsteps behind him, as sad or as distant as they may be.

Stay with him, please.
]
afterword: (pic#14101579)

[personal profile] afterword 2022-06-23 09:49 am (UTC)(link)
[ on they go. step, after step, after step. keep going.

he has stopped paying attention to where he's stepping, his attention is partly there but mostly on the sounds behind him. sounds that come to stop.

ah. the ache in his body, the heat that runs along his limbs, the tear in his hand. his steps slow but.. he doesn't stop. he looks at the light, squinting at it after being in the darkness for who knows how long.

...a shakey sigh leaves him, trudging on. breath heavier now. he has to keep going. he has to keep going for her. it's what makes the most sense to him right now. ]
unsaid: (☾ a feeling such as this)

[personal profile] unsaid 2022-06-23 09:53 am (UTC)(link)
[ . . .

of course, there is quiet. they had been warned even just before - and yet, there comes with it the sense of anxiety. had aruji decided that this mikazuki munechika had gone too far? is this the moment in which his creator no longer deemed him to be worthy - to matter for anything at all?

it aches because he knows all too well how possible it is. and yet this is the path he always chose to walk, alone, for the sake of everyone else. for his citadel, his master, his home.

he could look back - but that might be the same as destroying everything.

but if he walks forward, as he always does, then perhaps he can rely upon that sentiment that has carried him through centuries of watching everyone he loves die: as long as he does not stop, maybe he will get to see them again.

on this last trail out of lotus island, he sings so softly, never enough to drown out any sounds of footsteps should they return, but enough to occupy the silence.]


Time after time, darkness falls.
Time after time, darkness falls.
Dressed in black robes.
This transient duty.
The waxing and waning moon.
A lotus pedestal shared by two - why does it exist?
A lotus pedestal to share our fate.
decaptych: ([060])

[personal profile] decaptych 2022-06-23 09:55 am (UTC)(link)
[ …

She’s gone, and he doesn’t know whether to feel relieved or heartbroken. Is that even the right word? For the immense guilt and the endless expanse of the emptiness he feels for his actions, directly contradicting with his heart’s truest wishes.

Somehow, he’s able to keep walking — the remnants of the little sparks of determination, some reason to keep living in his shithole existence, the experience of misery.

Some distant thought that tells him, at the least, this isn’t real — probably. That the real one is still out there, somewhere, held hostage in a ratty-ass yet extravagant hotel where everything is far more tangible than this place. Funny enough that the temptation of ‘reality’ is what convinces him to drag his feet, the sound of metal echoing over soft dirt, even as he softly wheezes with the strain in his lungs, even as black-red blood drops down his hands from under his sleeves.

His eyelids fall as he wheezes, having only the sounds of their own footsteps and soft song to accompany them.

Yeah. Why does it exist?
]