☆10 [audio]

[skaterbrain]

So it's kinda coo'. Been hearin' people comin' back an' all. Phones got his butt back in Luceti so now I get ta' punch him wheneva' I want.

But uh.........

......

Been lotsa people goin' home, too. Guess that's coo' too, but...... Well.... I've been thinkin' yanno?

......

....What do people do when they get forgot? I-I mean, peeps from Luceti don't remember this place, right? ....So what'dya do then? When you get forgot?

......


...Nngh, naw, forget it. This is dumb. This is why I ain't suppose to think.

[he flips the book against the bed and flops onto it with a heavy sigh]

Comments

[action]

[so_shik]

[LALALA CAN'T HEAR YOU~

But as promised, in about fifteen minutes she's home and coming up the stairs, and when she enters Beat's room...

...it's nothing bad. She's got two bottles of soda in her hand and she crosses the room, sitting on the edge of the bed while dangling a bottle in front of his face.]

If you want. I can foist it onto someone else later otherwise.

[action] 1/2

[skaterbrain]

[OH GOD THAT WAS THE LONGEST FIFTEEN MINUTES OF HIS LIFE. Sitting on the bed, he had the pillow clutched to his chest, ready to throw it so he could use it as a distraction if he needed to leap out the window. He didn't want to move, but he also was terrified of kdf;aja; AAAAAAAAAAAH THE DOOR IS--

[action]

[skaterbrain]

--Oh. It's just Shiki. With soda. Heeeeeeeeeey, soda!

He puts the pillow down and rolls over into a sitting position next to her, taking the bottle.]

Naw, thanks. Was kinda thirsty.

[action]

[so_shik]

Probably. We don't keep enough drinks in the house anyway. [She takes a drink from her bottle, kicking back on the bed and just idling swinging her legs back and forth.]

So...let's talk about what you just asked the entire village.

[action]

[skaterbrain]

Gotta fix that.

[Which is an answer to both things, really. He stares at the bottle in his hand and doesn't drink from it, turning it over instead.]

......

So what didja wanna say 'bout it?

[action]

[so_shik]

...I guess I just wanted to say that I totally get it. I mean, obviously Neku forgetting about the last three years with me isn't the same as your sister forgetting her entire life with you, but...I get it. And it sucks.

[action]

[skaterbrain]

Yeah, but tha's why I said we gotta punch him so he---

[Wait.

Wait. Did she just.

DID SHE JUST SAY SISTER.]

W-what?! How d'you know 'bout that?!

[action]

[so_shik]

[hlfkdjsalk. She starts suddenly because wow, oops.]

...um...I've known. For years now...I found out when we got back to the RG.

[action]

[skaterbrain]

....................................[Well, he knew...that they got back, but...

He guesses it wasn't THAT big of a secret, but still, whoa. She's known this whole time. Does that mean she knows how they died? What--

No, better not think about that. He rubs the back of his neck with one hand, looking away.]

.......So she's the only one that don't know.

[action]

[so_shik]

And I'm definitely not going to be the one to tell her. [Beat, you are seriously kind of breaking her heart damn ittttt.]

...has she even given any signs that she might recognize you?

[action]

[skaterbrain]

....Yeah, I figured out how bad it sucks to be known wit'out knowin' back.

[He sighs and shakes his head, looking at the soda again.]

Jus' her partner, yo. S'all I'll be s'long as we here. Can't even help her 'cause I dunno how it all works.

[He squeezes the bottle so hard it creaks.]

An' that Prissy Kid ain't gonna be no help neither.

[action]

[so_shik]

...prissy kid? You mean Joshua?

[action]

[skaterbrain]

[Nngh]

Yeah, that kid. I ain't callin' him by name. He pisses me off too much.

[action]

[so_shik]

What'd he do to you?

[action]

[skaterbrain]

Whatd'ya think?

[He would gesture to all of him and Rhyme, wherever she was at the moment, but yeah. Three weeks in the Game, becoming a Reaper, that whole whatever the hell it was that happened to Neku - Beat is pissed about it all.]

Look, I get that we get a second chance 'cause of his game and that's cool n' all, but me n' her both be dead right now if it weren't for Coffee Man, aight? I don't think I owe that prissy kid nothin'.

[action]

[so_shik]

All right, all right. I know, you have every right to be mad at him. Joshua did a lot of stuff to all of us that he shouldn't have. But...that's not what we need to focus on right now, Beat. We need to focus on Rhyme.

[action]

[skaterbrain]

[He puts his head in his hands, the bottle clinking against his skull.]

I know. I know! But I can't think of a way to help her! Jus' tellin' her would be like droppin' a bomb on her, yanno? S'why I didn't do it in the game neither. Jus' ain't fair tellin' her stuff like that.

[action]

[so_shik]

I guess that's why none of us ever told you about the outcome when we realized you didn't know. It's too much of a shock, you know? But maybe it's just...something we have to do. The hardest things and the right things sometimes are the same.

[action]

[skaterbrain]

....

[talking to her about it. about them.

...about everything that will happen.

Beat lowers his hands and breathes out slowly.]

...Maybe tellin' her that I'm her brother ain't so bad, but what about the rest?

...She don't even know that-- ...that it's my fault she gets Erased. That she ain't never gonna be the same again.

[action]

[so_shik]

You're sure she's never going to be the same again?

[action]

[skaterbrain]

That prissy kid says she lost her entry fee and it ain't never comin' back. How'm I suppose to tell her that??

[action]

[so_shik]

Because we get our fees back after we win...

[action]

[skaterbrain]

....Shiki, she didn't win. She got Erased 'cause of me, so she lost in our first week.

[action]

[so_shik]

No. No, Beat, listen to me. There's something you haven't lived through yet, and I didn't want to tell you about it because of the whole breaking your brain and giving away the future thing, but you need to know. You, me and Neku? We go head to head with the Conductor, and we actually win the game. Because we win, we all get to come back to life...Rhyme, too.

[action]

[skaterbrain]

....

[They...win? They win and everyone comes back? ...Even Rhyme?

For a moment, he feels hope and he looks at Shiki, almost unable to comprehend what she's just told him. Then it sinks in and he pulls his hat over his eyes.]

....What 'bout her fee?