[o20] video

[instrumented]

[The communicator is on an off-white tiled floor, possibly leaning against something, as the video displays Zero at a slight angle. He's in a bathroom, most likely. It's easy enough to tell by the bright white sink and the lower half of a toilet in the corner of the image

Comments

[voice]

[cachaemic]

[A moment of shocked silence, then tentatively--]

--What happened?

[voice]

[instrumented]

I came back.

[voice]

[cachaemic]

Huh? You went back home?

[voice]

[instrumented]

Yeah.

[voice]

[cachaemic]

...

Do you remember how?

[voice]

[instrumented]

No. I don't. But I remember what happened and how it felt.

[voice]

[cachaemic]

How it felt?

[voice]

[instrumented]

Think back to how you felt just as you were arriving.

[voice]

[cachaemic]

So it's just the same. But you came back anyway. Just like Nagi-san...

[voice]

[instrumented]

Right. The only consolation, for you, maybe, is that I now know that time does pass differently when we're here. That was my experience, at least. When I got back, I-

[the pause is almost sudden. Remembering back to the day he returned to the academy, and what was happening, isn't a good memory. The line goes silent for several moments, save for a shift of fabric.]

...It was as though I'd never left at all.

[voice]

[cachaemic]

So the people who already went back, they'll be just like I left them...

[A small pause, because he should have asked this before.]

...You're alright?

[voice]

[instrumented]

[so very much happens in a year.]

I'm- ...yeah. I'll be okay.

[voice]

[cachaemic]

Sorry... I guess most people wouldn't rather be here.

[voice]

[instrumented]

Or expect to ever return after so long.

[voice]

[cachaemic]

How long was it?

[voice]

[instrumented]

A year.