Track 11 - He's Not Here

[princeofjunes]

Action - 947 Beulah - Late Morning - Open

[It was supposed to be a good day. It really was. Yosuke was up earlier than normal, but he was alive and full of energy. He'd made breakfast, had a nice stretch, and was on his way out the door. When he pulled up]

"'Ey! Mistah Hanamura! Rin almost ready? I was gonna give her a lift to school!"

[The

Comments

phone

[perfektsymmetry]

[Crowe suppresses a distressed noise.]

It's not... I-It's not for good, is it...?

[princeofjunes]

[His reply takes a few seconds - seems doing this the whole day hasn't made it much easier]

I'm... pretty sure it is, yeah. I'm sorry, Crowe.

[perfektsymmetry]

[There's a soft, frustrated sigh on his end.] I-I see. I'm sorry to hear it.

[princeofjunes]

[Yosuke's quiet for a few moments. Doing this more doesn't make it easier every time he has to]

Will you be alright? I don't know how close you two were, but it's Souji. So I wouldn't be surprised if it was close.

[perfektsymmetry]

A-Ah, yeah, I will. He's a great guy, you know. I... kinda looked up to him. I wish I could be that confident.

What about you? Will you be okay?

[princeofjunes]

... yeah. Give me a few days, I'll bounce back. Better than ever.

It's just- a hard pill to swallow right now.

[perfektsymmetry]

I-It's never easy. I've been here a long time and have seen a lot of good people come and go.

[princeofjunes]

How do you handle it, man? Ruri's right - of all the ways this place can break us, taking away the people we care about is the worst.

[perfektsymmetry]

... I wish I had some advice for you. I-I don't know if I really do handle it. Ruri's right. But I think the only thing you can do is keep going, because... well, there are still other people here who need us. And that if we give up, we may as well get droned ourselves.

[princeofjunes]

Yeah... [Deep breaths]

Right. You're right. As much as this sucks, we've just got to keep on moving. I won't let this drag me down.

[perfektsymmetry]

Good. I know it's hard to stay positive, Yosuke, but it's all you can do.

[princeofjunes]

Hey, I'm mister positive. Just you wait. In a few days I'll have bounced back better than ever.

[He hopes]