☆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]

[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?

[action]

[so_shik]

It's okay...she gets that back, too.

[action]

[skaterbrain]

[Oh. Oh God.

She gets it back.

She's going to be okay.

Beat puts his face in his hands and just tries to let that sink in. Months of worrying, fretting, wanting to beat Joshua into a pulp until he relented and gave Rhyme everything back. Months of guilt and hating himself because of what he did to her.

She'd be okay.

She'd be right again.

He presses the heels of his hands against his eyes, forcing back any display of emotion he can, the knit of his hat rubbing against his eyelids.

God. She was going to be okay.]

...

[action]

[so_shik]

...Beat...are you going to be okay?

Re: [action]

[skaterbrain]

[Breathe in and out, in and out, he drops his hands and shakes his head.]

Ch'yeah, I'm aight.

[He lets out a heavy sigh and then looks up at Shiki, smiling at her.]

Jus'-- you jus' kinda blew my mind, yeah? Nice, though. Ain't no bad thing.

[action]

[so_shik]

It's probably going to make everything easier, right?