[open] Turnabout Terror

[hero0fjustice]

After saying his goodbyes and being completely fed up with peoples' foolish superstitions, Miles Edgeworth goes outside to restart his car and leave this strange place. However, as he opens the door, he is greeted by a very different landscape than he had left the night before. Where there was once paved street, there was now little more than a

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[cute_shinigami]

Tsuzuki had been somewhat saddened when he and Miles had exchanged their goodbyes at the door to his room, and he had almost tried again to warn the newcomer that leaving this place was near to impossible. But he let the other go with a friendly farewell and went in to finish folding up his bedding before tucking it away for the day.

He waits a few more minutes, then heads down, fetching his trenchcoat from the closet in the foyer of the Mansion before going out into the lingering damp left over from the rainstorm from the night before. He follows the path through the woods for a ways, the deep ruts left in the mud making it easy to trace where Miles has passed.

"Well, it might take me a while to catch up with him, considering how far he's able to drive on a road like this," he murmurs and phases into spirit form. This allows him to move more freely and quickly, but it also cuts down on his visiblity, since now all that he can see is the spirit energy around him.

But at length, several yards up ahead, he detects a spirit signature that might be Miles's rushing toward him and he quickly phases back into physical form.

[hero0fjustice]

"TZUSU--whoa!" Miles stops short and slides in the mud. He windmills his arms wildly for a moment to balance himself again, and by some miracle doesn't fall over.

He was expecting Tzusuki, sure, but not that quickly... and not to just appear magically. "Were you following me?" he asks breathlessly, still hoping for a little normalcy. "You didn't just... appear out of thin air... did you?"

[cute_shinigami]

"Well, ah, I guess I could say yes to both of your questions," Tsuzuki replies, rubbing the back of his neck a bit awkwardly. "I was a bit worried that something might happen to you out here -- I've heard there's wolves in these woods. And, well, I knew I wasn't going to keep up with you, even on a road like this, so I, ah, ...well, I phased into spirit form." He braces himself for the inevitable brain-breaking, but perhaps the weirdness that Miles has already been exposed to will help him accept this new revelation.

[hero0fjustice]

Miles just stares at the detective, his mouth agape. After a moment, he snaps his jaw shut and nods slowly. "Spirit form... right... Excuse me for a moment, I'm feeling a little light-headed..." He rests his palms on his knees and tries to steady himself, his eyes screwed shut.

"So... you really are some kind of strange, supernatural... thing. And I really have stumbled into some kind of nonsensical, magical trap with no rhyme or reason to it?" he asks.

[cute_shinigami]

He reaches out and puts a hand under Miles's shoulder to steady him, and also to let the prosecutor know his appearance has substance.

"Yes, I am," he replies, simply and honestly. "I am a shinigami, a Guardian of Death. It's my job to help the souls of the dead or the dying to cross over into the afterlife, or to find the souls that are still wandering the mortal world and help them find peace.

"But this world... I think it goes by it's own crazy logic, so it's best to just ride with it and whatever it throws at you."

[hero0fjustice]

"A shinigami?!" Edgeworth throws off Tsuzuki and stares at him anxiously. "Are you... are you here for me? Is this what this is all about?" he asks.

[cute_shinigami]

"Oh no, nothing like that," Tsuzuki replies, spreading his hands disarmingly. "Trust me: you're very much alive. I... can tell by the level of your spirit energy: it's too high to indicate anything else."

[hero0fjustice]

"So - so you're not going to kill me? Right?" Miles asks, just to make sure.

[cute_shinigami]

"I promise you that I won't," he says. Then he adds, nervously, almost wincing, "I really don't like that part of the job at all." He doesn't blame Miles for reacting this way, but the question pains him just a bit.

[hero0fjustice]

For a moment, Edgeworth forgets his panic entirely. "A shinigami who... doesn't like to bring people to die?" he asks, surprised.

Well, I suppose it's not impossible, he tells himself, rationalizing the situation. But... well, it's not something that generally would come to mind! Is it ironic?

[cute_shinigami]

"Yeah, I mean, I don't mind helping people's souls cross over if they're stuck in the mortal world, or if it's an older person who's lead a long, full life and they're ready to go home or start their next life," he says, thoughtfully, even sadly. "But when I have to actually end their lives... I know it puts some out of their suffering, but others, especially the young, still have so much to live for." He manages a short, forced laugh. "I must sound pathetic to you."

[hero0fjustice]

Miles is stunned, but his panic has fully subsided to make a place for... empathy?

"No... not pathetic at all," Miles says softly. "I never realized... Well, you know, there is the stereotypical Grim Reaper who comes to steal a soul, naturally met by terror. But you, well, you're more like... like the ferryman!" He struggles for a moment to think of the Greek myth. "Charon! It's not your fault that they've died... it's just your job to guide them afterward."

Feeling much more at ease with Tsuzuki, and feeling foolish for having insulted him, Miles asks, "May I walk back with you?"

[cute_shinigami]

"Oh yeah, I think the scythe and a robe look was a PR campaign in Europe back in the 1300s that went hopelessly wrong; we've been trying to live it down ever since, even in the East," he says with a laugh.

"Hah... I never thought of it that way, but you're right: I mean, I do try and tell people that I'm just there to help them, but some of them get so upset, it's painful to watch them flailing around," he admits.

With a smile he adds, "Of course you can walk back with me: that's pretty much why I came looking for you; if anything happened to you out here, I'd be worried sick for you."

[hero0fjustice]

Miles shudders instinctively at the thought of people flailing around in death, but tries to put it out of his mind quickly.

"You came because you were worried about me?" he asked, surprised.

[cute_shinigami]

"Of course," he says, with a friendly smile as they trudge back up the road. "I mean, we've only just met, but I think of you as a friend already, and, well, that's what I do with people I care about: I guess I'm a worrier, but it's a well-meaning worry, the kind of worry that drives you to help someone when they need it, or to at least check and see if they do."

[hero0fjustice]

Miles feels unsure of himself and undeserving of such worry, but somewhere deep inside he feels that a smile would be appropriate.

He reminds me of... him... he thinks, his rival in mind.

"Thank you," he says after a pause. "I feel... rather honored, in fact, to be considered your friend. You're a kind man, Tsuzuki."