01. [ video -- week 32, day 6 ]
[ Patient steel gazes down at the Hitomi, not with surprise of frustration, but calm understanding. He's obviously not very worried about this. Perhaps he should be, but to be worked up over something so simple... it never has been his style. ]
I see.
[ He closes his eyes and takes a slow breath. No, maybe he isn't quite happy to be looking at ( Read more... )
I see.
[ He closes his eyes and takes a slow breath. No, maybe he isn't quite happy to be looking at ( Read more... )
[He's heard of these "gods", and after a bit of poking around, he's learned that they are purported to be none other than the Shinto gods themselves. And while Kotetsu is not particularly religious, he is well-aware of the lore surrounding those gods.
And he's still calling bullshit. He's already seen a man who can teleport and a young boy who is incredibly talented with his healing power. If a number of such people with powers (magic, or NEXT abilities, or whatever anyone wanted to call it) got together, it wouldn't be such a difficult matter to create the illusion that this Kannagara was some kind of pocket dimension out of time, he thinks. What they'd have to gain from it, he doesn't know, and Kotetsu still hasn't entirely ruled out Ouroboros' involvement in all this, but what's clear is the last thing Byakuya says. And it's something Kotetsu will absolutely refuse to ever accept.]
I'm not just going to sit around for people to get hurt just because someone's on a power trip.
If you're not going to tell me what you know for whatever reason, I'll just find someone who will.
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[ Call it what you will, but Byakuya knows. His power is great, greater than more than a few people, a 'god of death' in his own world, now turned into no more than a play thing for a few gods who think he has something to learn from them.
He likes it no more than the next person, but it doesn't matter if they yell or refuse to accept it, or if they have accepted it and moved on. There is no choice here. It's despicable, to say the least and he resents these gods for doing these things. He hates their very existence, but he will not wage war or deny their existence because he does not like them and what they are doing. ]
I will tell you. [ So maybe you'll shut up. ] The you that stands here is a mere imprint. I trust you understand that much?
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No, I think if enough people give a damn, we can protect each other!
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[Kotetsu lets out a quiet exhale, if only to calm down enough to hear what Byakuya has to say.]
What do you mean by an imprint? I just got here a day and a half ago. Haven't exactly been filled in on the finer details.
[Especially since, when he got here, he'd just recently walked out of the hospital on injuries bad enough to land him in the ICU to go help his partner save the city. Needless to say, he wasn't in the best of shape.]
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It means exactly as it sounds. You are home, doing the things you would usually do. The Gods did not kidnap you, they simply copied you and placed you here to learn their lessons.
[ And the rest of that? He won't even go into. You don't need to care to protect. He's already proven that much. ]
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Yeah, Kotetsu's mind pretty much short-circuited and shut down, there. That doesn't make any sense.]
...If no one ever left, how do they go back? Wouldn't that make two...copies of the person in the same place?
[Yet, as confusing as it is, part of it is...almost comforting. The idea that he hasn't left Bunny, isn't entirely cut off from his family, that his presence here won't keep him from doing his job, protecting people and keeping the peace in Sternbild. But how is that possible? That seems far beyond the scope of any NEXT power he's ever heard of.]
Lessons?
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That is why I said 'imprint'. Your existence here merges with the one on your world.
[ That is how it was explained to him, anyway. ]
Have I made that clear enough for you.
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