Audience: Gojou Satoru

[probe]

Comments

[mukagen]

Another Lust original is going to be born...

[ Awe. He keeps nodding. ]

Yeah, that sounds good. Creating a topic is still helping them be honest—or open an avenue.

[probe]

Right. I'm giving them to you, and you can decide when to deploy them. I'll make sure Takeru and Mineo's only lasts until Friday, too.

...you don't have any other powers now, right?

[mukagen]

Got it.

[ A nod. ]

Nope! I just used the one I got recently to make our new dolphin friend.

[ It squeaks!!! ]

[probe]

[more pats for dolphin...]

That was one of mine, too. [she says this because it's sort of funny to her.]

Okay. Two gifts. Don't tell anyone I did two at a time for you though, okay?

[gojou will hear a chime on his phone! when he looks, he will see there are two new attachments to download. the first is an attachment called aphrodite. when downloaded, he will learn that this is the power to connect people with romantic feelings, altered in the way they discussed to effect three people for three days.

the second attachment is called iris. when downloaded, he will learn this is the power to allow two people to communicate openly and honestly whether they want to or not. this will also last for three days.]

They'll expire Friday no matter what. Just in case something else happens...I don't want too many distractions. But during the week should be okay.

[mukagen]

I won't! Your secret is safe with me.

[ Bless. Aphrodite Threesome Version, then Iris... What good names? He is very pleased in a playful way. ]

That's valid. I feel that things are only going to get harder even though Greed something like we won't be having trials now. Guess harder in a different way. Have to stay focused just in case!

[ dolphin cheer. ]

[probe]

[she's just glad that gojou seems to have good (?) intentions in mind, honestly.]

With what happened today, I don't know if any of you will want to kill each other now. So that makes sense. It just means we have that other people that's lurking around.

[monster...pets for dolphin instead to ignore the wavery sort of worried feelings.]

You guys are pretty good at staying focused when it's something you want to focus on. That's definitely a plus.

[mukagen]

[ "I don't know if any of you will want to kill each other now." me, looking into camera, but Lust isn't incorrect. Gojou also thinks that.

The monster. Yeah. He will leave that alone. ]

Thanks... Yeah. That's a good thing! We just need to focus on the right thing.

[probe]

[stop let her believe!! also that should have said thing not people my god. anyway. yeah. leaving it alone sounds good, thanks for being a bro gojou. brojou.]

Think that's possible with this group?

[mukagen]

[ ............................... ]

Are we going the right direction?

[probe]

To be honest? You know more than we ever did when this started.

[mukagen]

[ AHHH... AHHH. HE IS EMOTIONALLY VIBRATING CAUSE THAT'S A RELIEF. ]

I imagine it must have been harder for you guys.

[probe]

It was sort of like...none of us were expecting it to happen either. When we got here, we thought things were just going to go the way they'd been going. Then one person lost their mind and then suddenly thirty-one people were dead in a month and we had no answers.

[she says this casually, but haha wow there's some trauma there? it's fine.]

So you're definitely in a better position!

[mukagen]

Woah! That could have been me.

[ He laughs, but his emotions are very like HELLO?????????????????? Not surprised, BUT HELLO? Lust? You are supposed to be an underground idol from a regular Tokyo? You don't deserve that... Baby girl. No. ]

... I'm not going to push you into talking about it, but if you ever just want to blurt it all out I don't mind listening.

[ GENUINE. CONCERN, but also it's something he wishes he could have done with his students. He should offer it to other people, too. ]

[probe]

It's weird, right? This game is different than ours was because we know more of what's going on, but it's still not that great. [it's fine, sometimes you are just suddenly surrounded by a bunch of dead bodies. her own emotions waver a little, uncertain of what to say.]

...I don't really know where to start, y'know? This whole thing is a pretty big mess I don't think any of us thought would happen. It makes me wonder how long we would've kept going if the first murder didn't happen.

You guys are going way faster than we did, but that doesn't really feel much better either. It kind of sucks, actually. [she feels bad, basically. none of the participants knew this would happen either.]

[mukagen]

[ ... that's not okay but sure. i can say that oocly when gojou would be like yeah sounds normal for an abnormal adult. ]

Going fast means murdering within the first two weeks? Is that better than killing thirty-one people at once?

[ Gojou weighs these invisible things in his two hands. ]

I won't lie and say it doesn't suck—by the way, thank you for the hug that one week.

[probe]

We were in that settlement for three months before anyone made a move. [so. yes and no. she's about to say something else but then gojou surprises her with that.]

Oh. You're welcome. You looked like you really needed it and like the kind of person who doesn't get them often. [mostly because gojou looks like someone who outwardly usually has his shit together, or is mostly unflappable.]

[mukagen]

Why are people reading me like that...

[ Rhetoric question. Still, what the fuck? ]

Three months is quite a long time. You all must have gotten close? Messy.

[probe]

Is it wrong? [a very innocent question.]

[...but she shrugs at that.] I wouldn't say that though! Some of us still barely talk to each other even though we were together for so long. It happens.

[mukagen]

Hmm. I got a lot of hugs from girls if that counts.

[ were they meaningful? no. ]

I think more of the point is that killing thirty-one is likely to kill someone you liked...?

[ is that a better way to phrase it. ]

[probe]

I don't know if that counts, but if you want it to then I'll let it slide. [teasing.

but just like that, there's another flicker of something that could be read as...disappointment, maybe. or just something a little unsettled.]

When you put it that way, yeah. Sure. Of course we all lost people we liked. [her attention goes back to the dolphin to boop its snoot.] In some cases, some of those people died to protect us, too. It happens.

[it's a not-nice thing that happens, but you know.]

[mukagen]

[ HE HUFFS, feigning angy even though his emotions are playful. Dolphin loves boop, it boops back. ]

Do those things really need to happen?

[ Yeah, that’s not nice. He has never been in that position, but he can imagine it’s awful. He doesn’t reach out because he isn’t sure if he’s allowed to when she’s feeling the way she does. ]

Then again, I suppose despair is an indulgence.

[ jazz hands. ]

[probe]

I think it's my secondary. [it's said in a way that's teasing but also not, even if she looks up from the dolphin to face him. there's a slight smile from under the hood, and he can see there's a pink glow that's probably where her eyes are.]

But no. They don't. They just do though. [...] But you've lost people you care about too, haven't you? It's not just us.

[she's never really spoken to omi, but she kind of has a vague enough sense of what was going on around the base.]

[mukagen]

[ Secondary. He smiles though there is something unsettled by that because of week 3 of triple indulgences and just everything that happened. ]

Yeah, that's true. Everyone loses people, right? I'm pretty used to it thanks to my job.

[ But there's questioning—does it make it any better? He's still sad over the people they've lost here, too. Most of his friends are dead, after all? ]

The loneliness doesn't bother me much. The text I received also lessened it? Which is nice... So I'd say I'm doing better than some.

[probe]

[yeah that was a fun week.]

Not sure that's something people should be used to? [just lightly said, but there's a pang of sympathy anyhow.]

That's true too though. We didn't get messages like that, so I'm glad you guys get that option. That has to mean something good, don't you think?

[mukagen]

I guess no, but... Sorcerers will always die alone. Everything else is not as depressing as that.

[ He laughs and his mood doesn't sink. It stays afloat. ]

I think so! It means hope of some kind, right? Like there's a sliver of a chance things can be okay if we keep investigating. They're trying to help us, too.