AUDIENCE FOR: Mikazuki Munechika

[guestservices]

Comments

[guestservices]

... Learning gets difficult, the older you are—and yet, I've found that even the most ancient of people are still capable of it.

[unsaid]

Would you say that you've been able to learn a great deal, dear Cetus?

[guestservices]

... Perhaps not in the same way as you might've, but there are still things I'm able to discover.

[unsaid]

Is that so? Could you tell me of some?

[guestservices]

Hm... I'm afraid they aren't things that can easily be put into words for others.

[unsaid]

Ha ha ha...

I suppose, that too, I understand. The heart is an interesting thing.

[guestservices]

It is, no matter what you are.

[unsaid]

Then let us hope that these hearts of ours only continue to grow and change, dear Cetus.

So we might not stagnate all the same.

[guestservices]

... That can be a rather difficult ask.

But we'll see what time brings.

[unsaid]

[ . . . ]

I possess a question.

Do you occupy your time under the impression that it will last forever? [thoughtfully,] Even humans do, I think.

[guestservices]

I'm not arrogant to believe that I can't die at any time.

But I suppose that yes, that would be the case.

[unsaid]

Ha ha ha...

[his expression softens and he lets the cherry blossom petals that have fallen into his hand scatter to the wind]

I believe the same.

To at once be certain that all things will break one day - myself, included. For their must be an end. [almost... hopeful]

And yet... I am so accustomed to existing, even as I watch all others disappear before my eyes.

So what does it mean, to exist within those two worlds?

[guestservices]

... It's a difficult thing to reconcile.

[...]

Maybe a part of you is waiting. Not for the end, necessarily, but for something you haven't been able to see in all your years alive yet.

[unsaid]

.... a heart that lacks surprises will meet its end before the body does, after all.

[softly and fondly]

Maybe so.

[guestservices]

[neutrally]

... The world is always changing, at least—even if perhaps too slowly, at times, for those who are long-lived.