Show me your insides!

Darumi’s pigtails swayed as she casually walked along. She twirled a knife in her hands, not really thinking about anything. Definitely not watching their surroundings. Eito could handle that, he’d let her know if there was anything to be worried about. 

Time for a Halloween event!

This is a non-canon event, separate from any timeline or story events going on. It's just for fun! A really lighthearted event with no consequences!

What do we mean when we say "Cast and Crew party"?

We've used a theater metaphor here for meta stuff before. The idea that the muses/characters are "putting on a play" and that anons are an "audience" watching and interacting. This is kind of an extension of that.

For this event, most of what we've seen is a play where the muses are actors playing themselves. Now, we're seeing a behind the scenes event! See what everyone's "really" like when they're not "on stage"!

(If you don't get it, that's fine, its mostly just something silly for a few of us muns. We're happy if you just sit back and enjoy our shenanigans, and really happy if you send in questions!)

Who exactly is participating?

Any blog in the group that reblogs this post can be considered "participating" and will engage however they see fit. (If any blogs outside of the group wanna interact our muns tend to be pretty open to that, but I'd recommend sending a quick hello and stuff first!) Oh, and anons, especially our regular anons, are welcomed! Questions and the like always make things easier for us!

Is this just a normal halloween party? You're not planning anything?

Hehehehehe.....

She made it up to the roof and found Eito's door. She rang the doorbell and waited impatiently.

[[ROUTE ???+1 | DAY 36 | LATE EVENING | A SECOND DATE]]

Okay, alright. It was last minute, but things were going well.

His double had somehow gotten back to his timeline, and Kako had already made the move to meet with Sirei tonight. Darumi was keeping watch over Takumi, at least until it was time for them to make their move. Shouma was keeping watch by the Infirmary, and he himself had managed to send Nigou - gullible as he is - on a bit of a wild goose chase just outside the grounds. It was astonishing what you could convince him of, as long as you framed it as coming from Sirei.

And to boot, those embarrassing rabbit accessories had finally come off.

Ideally, he would have talked to Yugamu about removing the bomb in him. But unfortunately, time hadn't allowed that particular conversation. And for whatever reason, the guy had locked himself up in the Bio Lab. No huge loss - the way they were doing this, Sirei wouldn't even know WHO was striking him until it was too late; while setting off the bomb in time was entirely possible, and thoroughly unpleasant, there'd be no way he'd have time to remove their Revive-O-Matic data.

And with what he knew from Takumi-san, they'd be able to pull this off without damaging any critical memory or data. Which would be vital, in terms of rallying everyone in sparing this planet without airing out the time travel secret.

You're really doing this, then? Aren't you rushing things a bit?

"You know full well I can't abide that... thing, in the Infirmary," Eito replied aloud, a chill running down his spine just thinking about it, "And as such? I refuse to risk letting my Ugly Takumi fall victim to it."

'Your' Takumi, huh? You're both freaks, I swear. Well, whatever. It had to happen sooner or later, I guess. Just hope you know what you're doing.

He paced around as he went over things in his head one more time. Just a few more hours until the scheduled meeting. Any more prep to do...?

The doorbell rings. Who is it at this hour? Did Kako maybe succeed in getting ahold of Yugamu?

"Coming!" He chirps, in the bright and friendly manner most of the current SDU was familiar with.

He did not expect to see someone in a Leap Suit on the other side.

It would be best to ignore them, she decided. They couldn't last forever.

She took off the rest of the suit and crossed her arms. She could feel the ears twitch above her head and her tail swish back and forth. She had to fight not to blush.

There were still a few hours before his own plans would unfold. He could probably help her out.

There was an odd feeling in his mind...

"Takumi-san...?" He brought a hand to his head, a puzzled look on his face.

. . .

Was he... flustered?

"Huh," he brought his hand back down, shrugging with a bemused expression, "Well, it's certainly not what you came here for, Hiruko-san, but it appears you've left my annoying little headmate at a loss for words. Never thought I'd see the day. But, seriously. What can we help you with?"

The look on her face demanded he stop clowning around.

"But surely, that wouldn't be enough of a reason to risk jumping timelines, no? I assume the reason you're here is because you need some kind of specialized knowledge?" He sits down across from Hiruko on a soft cushion that he'd tucked under the coffee table.

Since welcoming the other three into his circle, and in general trying to do more for himself, his room had gotten filled with all sorts of new things that helped it look less like a room out of a hospital or institution, and more like an actual dorm someone lived in. Extra blankets and pillows in colors that reminded him of the nature he adored, the odd plush, plenty of potted plants, the terrarium for his snails and Jorm's enclosure, even evidence of attempts at new activities. It still smelled incredibly sterile, owing to Eito's aversion to strong smells, but overall, it was far more homey.

He was quite starting to like his room, actually.

Eito takes the note in hand and glances it over. He only had the vaguest idea as to what he might be looking at.

Ancient Futuran? But... it looks recently written...? Where in the world did this come from...?

"Well, Takumi-san seems to recognize this, and is utterly flabbergasted that you have such a thing," he says, "The script is ancient, but clearly, this was written very recently. Quite the mystery..."

She shook her head. She worried for the child. There were too many dangers for their groups to be interacting. Her people could get spooked. The Futurans may punish them for speaking to the invaders. Sirei could find out. It was best for children to stay where it was safe and far away from the war.

Eito clutched his head. He felt... tired. Overwhelmingly so, it was if his thoughts were being dragged underwater.

This was wrong, he shouldn't be feeling like this.

Takumi...?

"Ah... Hiru...ko... saaan... someth... hel..."

No, no...! He had to fight this, he wouldn't keep being controlled...!

It was as if something was unplugged in his mind; his eyes and expression went blank, and he went totally limp where he sat.

A marionette, with strings severed.

One arm twitches, then another, as eyelids flutter and he straightens up, posture notably different, rolling his shoulder as he meets eyes with Hiruko with a smile.

"Hello again, Hiruko," Takumi says, slightly apologetic, "Sorry, you had to see that. But I'm not really in the mood to play 'telephone' here. Plus... looking into a few things I'd rather not he know about, yet."

He stands up from the table, and moves over to the bed, getting down on his hands and knees and reaching under it. He finds the panel hes looking for, shifting it out of the way and removing a notebook and a small, airtight container, taking both back over to the table and seating himself next to Hiruko on the couch.

Takumi opens up the container, revealing several incerdibly old-looking scrolls, and flips open the notebook, and begins examining the note Hiruko had brought. The notebook was filled with similar symbols, along with more recognizable ones - Futuran language, in different iterations, as well as charts with their own Kanji, katakana, and hiragana, and letters from other languages as well. Normally, this kind of work would make Takumi want to throw himself off of the roof of the Academy, but he'd built up quite a bit of patience over the years and besides. He had SEVERAL mysteries to unravel.

He takes Hiruko's note in hand, flipping through his notebook and comparing, "This one... shouldn't take too long, I think. I recognize quite a few words here, already. From what I can tell, it seems more like a personal message, or... trying to make contact, than anything."

"Whomever that child is though... I don't know if we need to worry about them being in danger," says Takumi, as he tears a blank page out of the book and begins transcribing what he can, "As Aotsuki was saying before I interrupted? That same child appeared in our timeline to give us flowers as well. Both of us."

"I was planning on getting his input too." She remarked, but it wasn't a strong objection. "He might have an interesting perspective if we listened to him."

She was grateful for another opportunity to talk to Takumi though. Maybe one day conversations like these would be easier. And maybe the things they'd be able to do and say would be freer.

The very cute distraction that was a cat-eared Hiruko watching him so intently didn't make the translating go any faster.

It was a shame Eito was busy tonight. He'd love to spend more time with Hiruko. In general, not just tonight. It was one of the biggest issues with his current living situation, as it were.

He paused a minute to think about her question, tapping his pen against the edge of his notebook. Takumi hums in consideration a moment, before standing and heading over to Eito's desk and retrieving a worn book from the drawer. It was considerably more recent than the scrolls he'd retrieved earlier, and looked to be some sort of religious or history book. He returned to the couch, and began flipping through the pages.

"Not specifically, and while Dahl'xia does love his history and is incredibly dedicated to his faith, the man's love really seems to be the stories that get passed around after the fact. Folk tales and legends, myths and stuff," he responds, slowing down once he'd reached a certain section, "But something that stuck out to me was the idea that as wild or embellished as a lot of those stories could be, there was usually some little grain of truth in them. That's part of why I don't completely count them out when looking for information."

It actually brought to mind something he heard from his very first Eito. It was a story about some massive statues that had been moved from one place to another a very long time ago on Earth, and the historians or whatever studying them had no idea how the ancient people managed it. Upon asking the native people, they were told a story about how the statues simply 'walked' there; and while that was what their legends stated, the truth wasn't that far off - they'd tied ropes to the heads of the statues, and using teams of people rocked them back and forth to effectively 'walk' them to their destination.

The answer was right in front of them, but the perspective was completely dismissed because of the source and how the information got passed down over the centuries.

Eventually, he stopped at what appeared to be a print of a painting in the book, and turned showed it to Hiruko, "Did the design of the mask look anything like this?"

The painting in the photo depicted a mature feminine figure, clothed in simple robes and holding a small handful of florals - blooddrops, arnica, yarrow, sage... and an unknown flower that seemed to radiate a silver glow. She was surrounded by what looked to be sick and wounded, a leper whose hand she held appeared to be healing from the touch alone. The scene had them set in some kind of shrine in deep forest.

Her tail flicked back and forth lazily as he worked. She...really would have preferred to come without it. She wondered how much longer she'd be stuck like this. Was fixing it another mission she was going to have to go on?

"I suppose stories do tend to have some truth to them; still, too often they seem to lead to chasing shadows and bad endings." Maybe it was a bitter take from her, especially since she seemed to be doing the same again. But it seemed every time they started digging into the local myths and legends, things always went wrong. Maybe it was safer if she was doing it on her own, but she really wanted to keep the team out of this.

She was dragged out of her sullen thoughts by the painting. The mask of course stood out, but she couldn't help but wonder more about their seemingly healing touch. It was possibly a metaphor, but more likely this figure was someone extremely powerful.

"A cult would be unlikely, in this case," he says, taking the book back and glaring holes into a conspicuously open, empty spot behind the figure in the portrait, "For one, I don't think any cult worshipping a Paragon would recreate their masks for their own use. If there's one thing I've learned, its that they take that SUPER seriously. It's never the same design, and you'd better not recreate it for yourself.

"Second, a cult would be... really redundant here. Ama-Sephia is one of the most widely-revered historical Paragons. Supposedly, one of the very first to gain their power from their 'God'; the first 'Paragon of Nature', and often referred to as 'The First Healer' as well. You'd have a hard time finding a Futuran that DIDN'T venerate her, to some degree."

He trusted Hiruko enough to voice his concerns here. There were no coincidences. Not where gods were concerned.

There were no coincidences. Not where gods were concerned.

There were no coincidences. Not where gods were concerned.

There were no coincidences. No strokes of bad luck. It was all intentional, all designed. What once was one became two, became shattered, and must be one again. The cycle repeats, again and again, until made whole. The Blood that binds will ascend them all, no more pain, no more danger. It ends forever.

He refused to let that happen. That wasn't the protection, or the ending he'd wanted...!

Takumi remembered. All of it.

He swallowed thickly, becoming aware of the sweat on his brow as he steadied himself, suppressing the power that threatened to tear Eito's body to shreds.

She looked at him seriously, her eyes filled with worry.

Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no...

"S-sorry, agh, just. Gimme a minute," Takumi said between breaths, squeezing her hands reassuringly, "I'm- I'm fine, now. Promise."

Fine as he could be, at any rate.

He could tell Hiruko some of it. At the very least, to ease her mind. She'd understand if he didn't want to get into all of it now, surely.

He removed Eito's glasses. It wasn't like they were the correct prescription; right now it was only contributing to the headache.

"I... when chasing that line of thought, I just... remembered something. A lot of things, actually. And... well. Put plainly, I've been suppressing my hemoanima by... Quite a lot. Eito's body can't quite handle it," it was the truth, or at least partially, "It was enough to shake me, and... I lost control, for a second. I don't want it to cause him more harm than it already has."

He pulled his hands away, shakily returning to the task at hand.

"Alright." She agreed to move on, but promised herself she'd think more on Takumi's situation later. "If the masks are as important as you say, I'm willing to rule out reincarnation as well. Unless everyone around here knows she's the reincarnation and has accepted that, they likely still wouldn't allow a duplicate mask, correct?

"Which leaves, unfortunately, a ghost. I'm...willing to say that she's a 'real ghost', whatever that means to us, because she has appeared to multiple of us. She can also interact with real objects. But if Ama-Sephia lived to adulthood, why is she a child?"

Takumi realized he was getting slightly off-topic.

Reincarnation... He supposed such a thing wasn't impossible. But...

It was also fully possible that she never really 'died', not fully. And if that were the case...

"With hemoanima... I suppose anything is possible. But we probably won't know unless she contacts us again," he sighs, "Unfortunately... the note doesn't tell us much. Seems to be a personal message."

He hands the note and transcription back to Hiruko.

'I am sorry I seem odd. I mean no harm. You Star Children are all strange, but you want to help everyone, not just yourselves. I wanted to thank you. I am sorry I cannot speak the words to say this with heart.'

The note only served to remind her why people felt so cautious around her. The rest of her team had happily accepted the gifts the child had offered, but she turned them down. She could only see danger, for her team and for them. Even still, she couldn't quite think she was wrong. If she'd had more information maybe she could act differently, but a child coming up to her with flowers was suspicious. People use children for evil things. Children are vulnerable and impressionable, too easily lead astray.

But then again, given what he knew... Well.

"I'd imagine you're right. Like I said, she approached myself and Aotsuki before, no reason to think she wouldn't again. Here, or in your timeline," he replies, noting how the very distracting cat tail and ears twitched slightly as she sat there. He was pretty sure that meant she was upset about something.

As much as he has... a bit of a thing for kemonomimi, he wasn't exactly the most skilled with animals or reading them.

All of the joy and pride, relief, progress. Happiness. Having it all ripped out from under him and burned to ash, leaving only pure, unyielding fury and despair. Feelings that brought him to where and what he was now.

It hung bitter on his tongue. He should be enjoying Hiruko's teasing. But with remembrance came the guilt. She wasn't his Hiruko. That was someone... he couldn't go back to. Not with things the way they are now.

"So then, I imagine that's the extent of what we'll get on that subject for now, unless you have more to share? If not, would you be ready to help me solve Poe's riddle? Or...is there something you'd like to talk about first, before Aotsuki 'gets back' so to say?"

She wanted him to open up to her. He wasn't sure how much he could.

"Man," he sighs, resigned, "I don't get to keep much from you, do I? I mean, not like you're twisting my arm, but..."

Maybe... just a bit. If anyone could understand his... frustration, it'd be Hiruko. He didn't have to tell her everything. Just what was lost, before his story started again.

He exhales a breath he didn't realize he was holding. It'd been quite some time since he'd been this nervous.

"We had... talked before, about something... or somethings messing with us. Your ability to speak freely, and my memories," he starts, "And... Only just now, did I remember some... important ones. Very important.

"I think I got close before, back with Sumino-kun and Vee. Kind of like something was trying to wiggle its way into place, but I couldn't quite get it. But I had the thought of, 'wait, didn't I get out of the timeloop?' And it stuck with me."

Takumi waited a moment, hesitating. A heart clad in armor was difficult to lay bare. But he decided not to back down.

"It... Well. I was right. I did escape the loop. After... shit, decades, we all got out. Survived. Stayed on the planet, fought and eventually helped forge peace between the Futuran people down here and the humans up on the Satellite. V'ehxness was taken care of, and the humans heading the Exodus Project were on track to answer for their crimes. People from both sides were resettling and rebuilding a world we could all move forward on," he was only vaguely aware of the slight climb in his voice's volume, the slightest tremble as his anger and grief threatened to break loose, "Twenty years. It'd been twenty years since we got out of the Academy. Got out of that... stupid timeloop. We'd finally been able to... to stop fighting, at least like this. We - my Hiruko, and I - we'd... We were starting a family. We'd had a kid, and...just, fuck..."

He needed to compose himself, now. He couldn't start crying, not in Eito's body. And couldn't let himself lose control again. Unclench his fists, deep breaths.

"It'd been... five years since the peace treaty was signed. Folks were out celebrating, and some jackasses that weren't happy about that took advantage. Assassinations, mass attacks. That was all it took for all that hard work to start blowing up. Friends and family, so many of them dead. I... I lost it," he was keeping his tone measured, being careful with his choice of words, "Something... happened, with Bloodspace. That - thing - that was messing with my memories. And I ended up back at the Academy. Just before day 2. Starting over. Each loop after, ending the same as the last - failure. Because of that thing."

He left out the part where that was his fault, too. He didn't need anyone getting any ideas. Not when he'd seen the consequences firsthand.

Was she jealous of the version of herself who had escaped? Who had gotten to live twenty years outside of the time loop, more than she herself ever had? Who had gotten to grow and age in ways she was seemingly not allowed to?

Or should she grieve her? She was a mother, a leader in the fight for peace, clearly a valued partner. If it were not another version of Hiruko herself, she would say she seemed like an amazing woman. And she could see how much losing her- and their child- clearly broke Takumi. She grieved for him, if nothing else.

And she pushed away the gnawing, shameful voice that spoke in the back of her head that said when he looked at her, he was only seeing the woman he lost. And she could never be her. And she would never be good enough.

"Sorry," he apologized, his gaze shifting downwards, "I... It's a lot to take in. I realize it's... probably awkward, and I probably shouldn't have unloaded on you. Even if we are a lot closer in... 'age', I guess, than the others, I shouldn't be dragging you down with my baggage. Your future probably won't be the same, so..."

Part of him honestly considered just flinging Eito back into the driver's seat to remove himself from the situation. But that wouldn't really solve anything, and would just create another weird situation for him to patch up.

A warning then.

"Best tip I can offer? When you guys get out of this?" He straightens up, and there's a coldness in his eyes and his voice that only scarcely reflected the grief and fury that ran like ice under his skin, "No matter how the dust settles? All of those researchers and scientists on the Satellite? The ones down here involved with creating V'ehxness's little 'Battle Pets'? If they refuse to come to heel? Try to flee trial or judgement? Don't waste time. Just put them down like the beasts they are. Hell, I'll give you a damn list. As long as they don't escape. Or at the very least, destroy anything they were already working on."

He knew it probably wouldn't be as simple as that. Hiruko, as hotblooded and impulsive as she could be, was usually smarter than him. Maybe she or her timeline's Eito would have better ideas. He seemed smart enough, assuming they can get him to pull his head out of his ass.

Another pressing silence, before he spoke up again.

The best she could do was listen to his words, nod, and promise seriously, "I understand."

She made it up to the roof and found Eito's door. She rang the doorbell and waited impatiently.

[[ROUTE ???+1 | DAY 36 | LATE EVENING | A SECOND DATE]]

Okay, alright. It was last minute, but things were going well.

His double had somehow gotten back to his timeline, and Kako had already made the move to meet with Sirei tonight. Darumi was keeping watch over Takumi, at least until it was time for them to make their move. Shouma was keeping watch by the Infirmary, and he himself had managed to send Nigou - gullible as he is - on a bit of a wild goose chase just outside the grounds. It was astonishing what you could convince him of, as long as you framed it as coming from Sirei.

And to boot, those embarrassing rabbit accessories had finally come off.

Ideally, he would have talked to Yugamu about removing the bomb in him. But unfortunately, time hadn't allowed that particular conversation. And for whatever reason, the guy had locked himself up in the Bio Lab. No huge loss - the way they were doing this, Sirei wouldn't even know WHO was striking him until it was too late; while setting off the bomb in time was entirely possible, and thoroughly unpleasant, there'd be no way he'd have time to remove their Revive-O-Matic data.

And with what he knew from Takumi-san, they'd be able to pull this off without damaging any critical memory or data. Which would be vital, in terms of rallying everyone in sparing this planet without airing out the time travel secret.

You're really doing this, then? Aren't you rushing things a bit?

"You know full well I can't abide that... thing, in the Infirmary," Eito replied aloud, a chill running down his spine just thinking about it, "And as such? I refuse to risk letting my Ugly Takumi fall victim to it."

'Your' Takumi, huh? You're both freaks, I swear. Well, whatever. It had to happen sooner or later, I guess. Just hope you know what you're doing.

He paced around as he went over things in his head one more time. Just a few more hours until the scheduled meeting. Any more prep to do...?

The doorbell rings. Who is it at this hour? Did Kako maybe succeed in getting ahold of Yugamu?

"Coming!" He chirps, in the bright and friendly manner most of the current SDU was familiar with.

He did not expect to see someone in a Leap Suit on the other side.

It would be best to ignore them, she decided. They couldn't last forever.

She took off the rest of the suit and crossed her arms. She could feel the ears twitch above her head and her tail swish back and forth. She had to fight not to blush.

There were still a few hours before his own plans would unfold. He could probably help her out.

There was an odd feeling in his mind...

"Takumi-san...?" He brought a hand to his head, a puzzled look on his face.

. . .

Was he... flustered?

"Huh," he brought his hand back down, shrugging with a bemused expression, "Well, it's certainly not what you came here for, Hiruko-san, but it appears you've left my annoying little headmate at a loss for words. Never thought I'd see the day. But, seriously. What can we help you with?"

The look on her face demanded he stop clowning around.

"But surely, that wouldn't be enough of a reason to risk jumping timelines, no? I assume the reason you're here is because you need some kind of specialized knowledge?" He sits down across from Hiruko on a soft cushion that he'd tucked under the coffee table.

Since welcoming the other three into his circle, and in general trying to do more for himself, his room had gotten filled with all sorts of new things that helped it look less like a room out of a hospital or institution, and more like an actual dorm someone lived in. Extra blankets and pillows in colors that reminded him of the nature he adored, the odd plush, plenty of potted plants, the terrarium for his snails and Jorm's enclosure, even evidence of attempts at new activities. It still smelled incredibly sterile, owing to Eito's aversion to strong smells, but overall, it was far more homey.

He was quite starting to like his room, actually.

Eito takes the note in hand and glances it over. He only had the vaguest idea as to what he might be looking at.

Ancient Futuran? But... it looks recently written...? Where in the world did this come from...?

"Well, Takumi-san seems to recognize this, and is utterly flabbergasted that you have such a thing," he says, "The script is ancient, but clearly, this was written very recently. Quite the mystery..."

She shook her head. She worried for the child. There were too many dangers for their groups to be interacting. Her people could get spooked. The Futurans may punish them for speaking to the invaders. Sirei could find out. It was best for children to stay where it was safe and far away from the war.

Eito clutched his head. He felt... tired. Overwhelmingly so, it was if his thoughts were being dragged underwater.

This was wrong, he shouldn't be feeling like this.

Takumi...?

"Ah... Hiru...ko... saaan... someth... hel..."

No, no...! He had to fight this, he wouldn't keep being controlled...!

It was as if something was unplugged in his mind; his eyes and expression went blank, and he went totally limp where he sat.

A marionette, with strings severed.

One arm twitches, then another, as eyelids flutter and he straightens up, posture notably different, rolling his shoulder as he meets eyes with Hiruko with a smile.

"Hello again, Hiruko," Takumi says, slightly apologetic, "Sorry, you had to see that. But I'm not really in the mood to play 'telephone' here. Plus... looking into a few things I'd rather not he know about, yet."

He stands up from the table, and moves over to the bed, getting down on his hands and knees and reaching under it. He finds the panel hes looking for, shifting it out of the way and removing a notebook and a small, airtight container, taking both back over to the table and seating himself next to Hiruko on the couch.

Takumi opens up the container, revealing several incerdibly old-looking scrolls, and flips open the notebook, and begins examining the note Hiruko had brought. The notebook was filled with similar symbols, along with more recognizable ones - Futuran language, in different iterations, as well as charts with their own Kanji, katakana, and hiragana, and letters from other languages as well. Normally, this kind of work would make Takumi want to throw himself off of the roof of the Academy, but he'd built up quite a bit of patience over the years and besides. He had SEVERAL mysteries to unravel.

He takes Hiruko's note in hand, flipping through his notebook and comparing, "This one... shouldn't take too long, I think. I recognize quite a few words here, already. From what I can tell, it seems more like a personal message, or... trying to make contact, than anything."

"Whomever that child is though... I don't know if we need to worry about them being in danger," says Takumi, as he tears a blank page out of the book and begins transcribing what he can, "As Aotsuki was saying before I interrupted? That same child appeared in our timeline to give us flowers as well. Both of us."

"I was planning on getting his input too." She remarked, but it wasn't a strong objection. "He might have an interesting perspective if we listened to him."

She was grateful for another opportunity to talk to Takumi though. Maybe one day conversations like these would be easier. And maybe the things they'd be able to do and say would be freer.

The very cute distraction that was a cat-eared Hiruko watching him so intently didn't make the translating go any faster.

It was a shame Eito was busy tonight. He'd love to spend more time with Hiruko. In general, not just tonight. It was one of the biggest issues with his current living situation, as it were.

He paused a minute to think about her question, tapping his pen against the edge of his notebook. Takumi hums in consideration a moment, before standing and heading over to Eito's desk and retrieving a worn book from the drawer. It was considerably more recent than the scrolls he'd retrieved earlier, and looked to be some sort of religious or history book. He returned to the couch, and began flipping through the pages.

"Not specifically, and while Dahl'xia does love his history and is incredibly dedicated to his faith, the man's love really seems to be the stories that get passed around after the fact. Folk tales and legends, myths and stuff," he responds, slowing down once he'd reached a certain section, "But something that stuck out to me was the idea that as wild or embellished as a lot of those stories could be, there was usually some little grain of truth in them. That's part of why I don't completely count them out when looking for information."

It actually brought to mind something he heard from his very first Eito. It was a story about some massive statues that had been moved from one place to another a very long time ago on Earth, and the historians or whatever studying them had no idea how the ancient people managed it. Upon asking the native people, they were told a story about how the statues simply 'walked' there; and while that was what their legends stated, the truth wasn't that far off - they'd tied ropes to the heads of the statues, and using teams of people rocked them back and forth to effectively 'walk' them to their destination.

The answer was right in front of them, but the perspective was completely dismissed because of the source and how the information got passed down over the centuries.

Eventually, he stopped at what appeared to be a print of a painting in the book, and turned showed it to Hiruko, "Did the design of the mask look anything like this?"

The painting in the photo depicted a mature feminine figure, clothed in simple robes and holding a small handful of florals - blooddrops, arnica, yarrow, sage... and an unknown flower that seemed to radiate a silver glow. She was surrounded by what looked to be sick and wounded, a leper whose hand she held appeared to be healing from the touch alone. The scene had them set in some kind of shrine in deep forest.

Her tail flicked back and forth lazily as he worked. She...really would have preferred to come without it. She wondered how much longer she'd be stuck like this. Was fixing it another mission she was going to have to go on?

"I suppose stories do tend to have some truth to them; still, too often they seem to lead to chasing shadows and bad endings." Maybe it was a bitter take from her, especially since she seemed to be doing the same again. But it seemed every time they started digging into the local myths and legends, things always went wrong. Maybe it was safer if she was doing it on her own, but she really wanted to keep the team out of this.

She was dragged out of her sullen thoughts by the painting. The mask of course stood out, but she couldn't help but wonder more about their seemingly healing touch. It was possibly a metaphor, but more likely this figure was someone extremely powerful.

"A cult would be unlikely, in this case," he says, taking the book back and glaring holes into a conspicuously open, empty spot behind the figure in the portrait, "For one, I don't think any cult worshipping a Paragon would recreate their masks for their own use. If there's one thing I've learned, its that they take that SUPER seriously. It's never the same design, and you'd better not recreate it for yourself.

"Second, a cult would be... really redundant here. Ama-Sephia is one of the most widely-revered historical Paragons. Supposedly, one of the very first to gain their power from their 'God'; the first 'Paragon of Nature', and often referred to as 'The First Healer' as well. You'd have a hard time finding a Futuran that DIDN'T venerate her, to some degree."

He trusted Hiruko enough to voice his concerns here. There were no coincidences. Not where gods were concerned.

There were no coincidences. Not where gods were concerned.

There were no coincidences. Not where gods were concerned.

There were no coincidences. No strokes of bad luck. It was all intentional, all designed. What once was one became two, became shattered, and must be one again. The cycle repeats, again and again, until made whole. The Blood that binds will ascend them all, no more pain, no more danger. It ends forever.

He refused to let that happen. That wasn't the protection, or the ending he'd wanted...!

Takumi remembered. All of it.

He swallowed thickly, becoming aware of the sweat on his brow as he steadied himself, suppressing the power that threatened to tear Eito's body to shreds.

She looked at him seriously, her eyes filled with worry.

Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no...

"S-sorry, agh, just. Gimme a minute," Takumi said between breaths, squeezing her hands reassuringly, "I'm- I'm fine, now. Promise."

Fine as he could be, at any rate.

He could tell Hiruko some of it. At the very least, to ease her mind. She'd understand if he didn't want to get into all of it now, surely.

He removed Eito's glasses. It wasn't like they were the correct prescription; right now it was only contributing to the headache.

"I... when chasing that line of thought, I just... remembered something. A lot of things, actually. And... well. Put plainly, I've been suppressing my hemoanima by... Quite a lot. Eito's body can't quite handle it," it was the truth, or at least partially, "It was enough to shake me, and... I lost control, for a second. I don't want it to cause him more harm than it already has."

He pulled his hands away, shakily returning to the task at hand.

"Alright." She agreed to move on, but promised herself she'd think more on Takumi's situation later. "If the masks are as important as you say, I'm willing to rule out reincarnation as well. Unless everyone around here knows she's the reincarnation and has accepted that, they likely still wouldn't allow a duplicate mask, correct?

"Which leaves, unfortunately, a ghost. I'm...willing to say that she's a 'real ghost', whatever that means to us, because she has appeared to multiple of us. She can also interact with real objects. But if Ama-Sephia lived to adulthood, why is she a child?"

Takumi realized he was getting slightly off-topic.

Reincarnation... He supposed such a thing wasn't impossible. But...

It was also fully possible that she never really 'died', not fully. And if that were the case...

"With hemoanima... I suppose anything is possible. But we probably won't know unless she contacts us again," he sighs, "Unfortunately... the note doesn't tell us much. Seems to be a personal message."

He hands the note and transcription back to Hiruko.

'I am sorry I seem odd. I mean no harm. You Star Children are all strange, but you want to help everyone, not just yourselves. I wanted to thank you. I am sorry I cannot speak the words to say this with heart.'

The note only served to remind her why people felt so cautious around her. The rest of her team had happily accepted the gifts the child had offered, but she turned them down. She could only see danger, for her team and for them. Even still, she couldn't quite think she was wrong. If she'd had more information maybe she could act differently, but a child coming up to her with flowers was suspicious. People use children for evil things. Children are vulnerable and impressionable, too easily lead astray.

But then again, given what he knew... Well.

"I'd imagine you're right. Like I said, she approached myself and Aotsuki before, no reason to think she wouldn't again. Here, or in your timeline," he replies, noting how the very distracting cat tail and ears twitched slightly as she sat there. He was pretty sure that meant she was upset about something.

As much as he has... a bit of a thing for kemonomimi, he wasn't exactly the most skilled with animals or reading them.

All of the joy and pride, relief, progress. Happiness. Having it all ripped out from under him and burned to ash, leaving only pure, unyielding fury and despair. Feelings that brought him to where and what he was now.

It hung bitter on his tongue. He should be enjoying Hiruko's teasing. But with remembrance came the guilt. She wasn't his Hiruko. That was someone... he couldn't go back to. Not with things the way they are now.

"So then, I imagine that's the extent of what we'll get on that subject for now, unless you have more to share? If not, would you be ready to help me solve Poe's riddle? Or...is there something you'd like to talk about first, before Aotsuki 'gets back' so to say?"

She wanted him to open up to her. He wasn't sure how much he could.

"Man," he sighs, resigned, "I don't get to keep much from you, do I? I mean, not like you're twisting my arm, but..."

Maybe... just a bit. If anyone could understand his... frustration, it'd be Hiruko. He didn't have to tell her everything. Just what was lost, before his story started again.

He exhales a breath he didn't realize he was holding. It'd been quite some time since he'd been this nervous.

"We had... talked before, about something... or somethings messing with us. Your ability to speak freely, and my memories," he starts, "And... Only just now, did I remember some... important ones. Very important.

"I think I got close before, back with Sumino-kun and Vee. Kind of like something was trying to wiggle its way into place, but I couldn't quite get it. But I had the thought of, 'wait, didn't I get out of the timeloop?' And it stuck with me."

Takumi waited a moment, hesitating. A heart clad in armor was difficult to lay bare. But he decided not to back down.

"It... Well. I was right. I did escape the loop. After... shit, decades, we all got out. Survived. Stayed on the planet, fought and eventually helped forge peace between the Futuran people down here and the humans up on the Satellite. V'ehxness was taken care of, and the humans heading the Exodus Project were on track to answer for their crimes. People from both sides were resettling and rebuilding a world we could all move forward on," he was only vaguely aware of the slight climb in his voice's volume, the slightest tremble as his anger and grief threatened to break loose, "Twenty years. It'd been twenty years since we got out of the Academy. Got out of that... stupid timeloop. We'd finally been able to... to stop fighting, at least like this. We - my Hiruko, and I - we'd... We were starting a family. We'd had a kid, and...just, fuck..."

He needed to compose himself, now. He couldn't start crying, not in Eito's body. And couldn't let himself lose control again. Unclench his fists, deep breaths.

"It'd been... five years since the peace treaty was signed. Folks were out celebrating, and some jackasses that weren't happy about that took advantage. Assassinations, mass attacks. That was all it took for all that hard work to start blowing up. Friends and family, so many of them dead. I... I lost it," he was keeping his tone measured, being careful with his choice of words, "Something... happened, with Bloodspace. That - thing - that was messing with my memories. And I ended up back at the Academy. Just before day 2. Starting over. Each loop after, ending the same as the last - failure. Because of that thing."

He left out the part where that was his fault, too. He didn't need anyone getting any ideas. Not when he'd seen the consequences firsthand.

Was she jealous of the version of herself who had escaped? Who had gotten to live twenty years outside of the time loop, more than she herself ever had? Who had gotten to grow and age in ways she was seemingly not allowed to?

Or should she grieve her? She was a mother, a leader in the fight for peace, clearly a valued partner. If it were not another version of Hiruko herself, she would say she seemed like an amazing woman. And she could see how much losing her- and their child- clearly broke Takumi. She grieved for him, if nothing else.

And she pushed away the gnawing, shameful voice that spoke in the back of her head that said when he looked at her, he was only seeing the woman he lost. And she could never be her. And she would never be good enough.

She made it up to the roof and found Eito's door. She rang the doorbell and waited impatiently.

[[ROUTE ???+1 | DAY 36 | LATE EVENING | A SECOND DATE]]

Okay, alright. It was last minute, but things were going well.

His double had somehow gotten back to his timeline, and Kako had already made the move to meet with Sirei tonight. Darumi was keeping watch over Takumi, at least until it was time for them to make their move. Shouma was keeping watch by the Infirmary, and he himself had managed to send Nigou - gullible as he is - on a bit of a wild goose chase just outside the grounds. It was astonishing what you could convince him of, as long as you framed it as coming from Sirei.

And to boot, those embarrassing rabbit accessories had finally come off.

Ideally, he would have talked to Yugamu about removing the bomb in him. But unfortunately, time hadn't allowed that particular conversation. And for whatever reason, the guy had locked himself up in the Bio Lab. No huge loss - the way they were doing this, Sirei wouldn't even know WHO was striking him until it was too late; while setting off the bomb in time was entirely possible, and thoroughly unpleasant, there'd be no way he'd have time to remove their Revive-O-Matic data.

And with what he knew from Takumi-san, they'd be able to pull this off without damaging any critical memory or data. Which would be vital, in terms of rallying everyone in sparing this planet without airing out the time travel secret.

You're really doing this, then? Aren't you rushing things a bit?

"You know full well I can't abide that... thing, in the Infirmary," Eito replied aloud, a chill running down his spine just thinking about it, "And as such? I refuse to risk letting my Ugly Takumi fall victim to it."

'Your' Takumi, huh? You're both freaks, I swear. Well, whatever. It had to happen sooner or later, I guess. Just hope you know what you're doing.

He paced around as he went over things in his head one more time. Just a few more hours until the scheduled meeting. Any more prep to do...?

The doorbell rings. Who is it at this hour? Did Kako maybe succeed in getting ahold of Yugamu?

"Coming!" He chirps, in the bright and friendly manner most of the current SDU was familiar with.

He did not expect to see someone in a Leap Suit on the other side.

It would be best to ignore them, she decided. They couldn't last forever.

She took off the rest of the suit and crossed her arms. She could feel the ears twitch above her head and her tail swish back and forth. She had to fight not to blush.

There were still a few hours before his own plans would unfold. He could probably help her out.

There was an odd feeling in his mind...

"Takumi-san...?" He brought a hand to his head, a puzzled look on his face.

. . .

Was he... flustered?

"Huh," he brought his hand back down, shrugging with a bemused expression, "Well, it's certainly not what you came here for, Hiruko-san, but it appears you've left my annoying little headmate at a loss for words. Never thought I'd see the day. But, seriously. What can we help you with?"

The look on her face demanded he stop clowning around.

"But surely, that wouldn't be enough of a reason to risk jumping timelines, no? I assume the reason you're here is because you need some kind of specialized knowledge?" He sits down across from Hiruko on a soft cushion that he'd tucked under the coffee table.

Since welcoming the other three into his circle, and in general trying to do more for himself, his room had gotten filled with all sorts of new things that helped it look less like a room out of a hospital or institution, and more like an actual dorm someone lived in. Extra blankets and pillows in colors that reminded him of the nature he adored, the odd plush, plenty of potted plants, the terrarium for his snails and Jorm's enclosure, even evidence of attempts at new activities. It still smelled incredibly sterile, owing to Eito's aversion to strong smells, but overall, it was far more homey.

He was quite starting to like his room, actually.

Eito takes the note in hand and glances it over. He only had the vaguest idea as to what he might be looking at.

Ancient Futuran? But... it looks recently written...? Where in the world did this come from...?

"Well, Takumi-san seems to recognize this, and is utterly flabbergasted that you have such a thing," he says, "The script is ancient, but clearly, this was written very recently. Quite the mystery..."

She shook her head. She worried for the child. There were too many dangers for their groups to be interacting. Her people could get spooked. The Futurans may punish them for speaking to the invaders. Sirei could find out. It was best for children to stay where it was safe and far away from the war.

Eito clutched his head. He felt... tired. Overwhelmingly so, it was if his thoughts were being dragged underwater.

This was wrong, he shouldn't be feeling like this.

Takumi...?

"Ah... Hiru...ko... saaan... someth... hel..."

No, no...! He had to fight this, he wouldn't keep being controlled...!

It was as if something was unplugged in his mind; his eyes and expression went blank, and he went totally limp where he sat.

A marionette, with strings severed.

One arm twitches, then another, as eyelids flutter and he straightens up, posture notably different, rolling his shoulder as he meets eyes with Hiruko with a smile.

"Hello again, Hiruko," Takumi says, slightly apologetic, "Sorry, you had to see that. But I'm not really in the mood to play 'telephone' here. Plus... looking into a few things I'd rather not he know about, yet."

He stands up from the table, and moves over to the bed, getting down on his hands and knees and reaching under it. He finds the panel hes looking for, shifting it out of the way and removing a notebook and a small, airtight container, taking both back over to the table and seating himself next to Hiruko on the couch.

Takumi opens up the container, revealing several incerdibly old-looking scrolls, and flips open the notebook, and begins examining the note Hiruko had brought. The notebook was filled with similar symbols, along with more recognizable ones - Futuran language, in different iterations, as well as charts with their own Kanji, katakana, and hiragana, and letters from other languages as well. Normally, this kind of work would make Takumi want to throw himself off of the roof of the Academy, but he'd built up quite a bit of patience over the years and besides. He had SEVERAL mysteries to unravel.

He takes Hiruko's note in hand, flipping through his notebook and comparing, "This one... shouldn't take too long, I think. I recognize quite a few words here, already. From what I can tell, it seems more like a personal message, or... trying to make contact, than anything."

"Whomever that child is though... I don't know if we need to worry about them being in danger," says Takumi, as he tears a blank page out of the book and begins transcribing what he can, "As Aotsuki was saying before I interrupted? That same child appeared in our timeline to give us flowers as well. Both of us."

"I was planning on getting his input too." She remarked, but it wasn't a strong objection. "He might have an interesting perspective if we listened to him."

She was grateful for another opportunity to talk to Takumi though. Maybe one day conversations like these would be easier. And maybe the things they'd be able to do and say would be freer.

The very cute distraction that was a cat-eared Hiruko watching him so intently didn't make the translating go any faster.

It was a shame Eito was busy tonight. He'd love to spend more time with Hiruko. In general, not just tonight. It was one of the biggest issues with his current living situation, as it were.

He paused a minute to think about her question, tapping his pen against the edge of his notebook. Takumi hums in consideration a moment, before standing and heading over to Eito's desk and retrieving a worn book from the drawer. It was considerably more recent than the scrolls he'd retrieved earlier, and looked to be some sort of religious or history book. He returned to the couch, and began flipping through the pages.

"Not specifically, and while Dahl'xia does love his history and is incredibly dedicated to his faith, the man's love really seems to be the stories that get passed around after the fact. Folk tales and legends, myths and stuff," he responds, slowing down once he'd reached a certain section, "But something that stuck out to me was the idea that as wild or embellished as a lot of those stories could be, there was usually some little grain of truth in them. That's part of why I don't completely count them out when looking for information."

It actually brought to mind something he heard from his very first Eito. It was a story about some massive statues that had been moved from one place to another a very long time ago on Earth, and the historians or whatever studying them had no idea how the ancient people managed it. Upon asking the native people, they were told a story about how the statues simply 'walked' there; and while that was what their legends stated, the truth wasn't that far off - they'd tied ropes to the heads of the statues, and using teams of people rocked them back and forth to effectively 'walk' them to their destination.

The answer was right in front of them, but the perspective was completely dismissed because of the source and how the information got passed down over the centuries.

Eventually, he stopped at what appeared to be a print of a painting in the book, and turned showed it to Hiruko, "Did the design of the mask look anything like this?"

The painting in the photo depicted a mature feminine figure, clothed in simple robes and holding a small handful of florals - blooddrops, arnica, yarrow, sage... and an unknown flower that seemed to radiate a silver glow. She was surrounded by what looked to be sick and wounded, a leper whose hand she held appeared to be healing from the touch alone. The scene had them set in some kind of shrine in deep forest.

Her tail flicked back and forth lazily as he worked. She...really would have preferred to come without it. She wondered how much longer she'd be stuck like this. Was fixing it another mission she was going to have to go on?

"I suppose stories do tend to have some truth to them; still, too often they seem to lead to chasing shadows and bad endings." Maybe it was a bitter take from her, especially since she seemed to be doing the same again. But it seemed every time they started digging into the local myths and legends, things always went wrong. Maybe it was safer if she was doing it on her own, but she really wanted to keep the team out of this.

She was dragged out of her sullen thoughts by the painting. The mask of course stood out, but she couldn't help but wonder more about their seemingly healing touch. It was possibly a metaphor, but more likely this figure was someone extremely powerful.

"A cult would be unlikely, in this case," he says, taking the book back and glaring holes into a conspicuously open, empty spot behind the figure in the portrait, "For one, I don't think any cult worshipping a Paragon would recreate their masks for their own use. If there's one thing I've learned, its that they take that SUPER seriously. It's never the same design, and you'd better not recreate it for yourself.

"Second, a cult would be... really redundant here. Ama-Sephia is one of the most widely-revered historical Paragons. Supposedly, one of the very first to gain their power from their 'God'; the first 'Paragon of Nature', and often referred to as 'The First Healer' as well. You'd have a hard time finding a Futuran that DIDN'T venerate her, to some degree."

He trusted Hiruko enough to voice his concerns here. There were no coincidences. Not where gods were concerned.

There were no coincidences. Not where gods were concerned.

There were no coincidences. Not where gods were concerned.

There were no coincidences. No strokes of bad luck. It was all intentional, all designed. What once was one became two, became shattered, and must be one again. The cycle repeats, again and again, until made whole. The Blood that binds will ascend them all, no more pain, no more danger. It ends forever.

He refused to let that happen. That wasn't the protection, or the ending he'd wanted...!

Takumi remembered. All of it.

He swallowed thickly, becoming aware of the sweat on his brow as he steadied himself, suppressing the power that threatened to tear Eito's body to shreds.

She looked at him seriously, her eyes filled with worry.

Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no...

"S-sorry, agh, just. Gimme a minute," Takumi said between breaths, squeezing her hands reassuringly, "I'm- I'm fine, now. Promise."

Fine as he could be, at any rate.

He could tell Hiruko some of it. At the very least, to ease her mind. She'd understand if he didn't want to get into all of it now, surely.

He removed Eito's glasses. It wasn't like they were the correct prescription; right now it was only contributing to the headache.

"I... when chasing that line of thought, I just... remembered something. A lot of things, actually. And... well. Put plainly, I've been suppressing my hemoanima by... Quite a lot. Eito's body can't quite handle it," it was the truth, or at least partially, "It was enough to shake me, and... I lost control, for a second. I don't want it to cause him more harm than it already has."

He pulled his hands away, shakily returning to the task at hand.

"Alright." She agreed to move on, but promised herself she'd think more on Takumi's situation later. "If the masks are as important as you say, I'm willing to rule out reincarnation as well. Unless everyone around here knows she's the reincarnation and has accepted that, they likely still wouldn't allow a duplicate mask, correct?

"Which leaves, unfortunately, a ghost. I'm...willing to say that she's a 'real ghost', whatever that means to us, because she has appeared to multiple of us. She can also interact with real objects. But if Ama-Sephia lived to adulthood, why is she a child?"

Takumi realized he was getting slightly off-topic.

Reincarnation... He supposed such a thing wasn't impossible. But...

It was also fully possible that she never really 'died', not fully. And if that were the case...

"With hemoanima... I suppose anything is possible. But we probably won't know unless she contacts us again," he sighs, "Unfortunately... the note doesn't tell us much. Seems to be a personal message."

He hands the note and transcription back to Hiruko.

'I am sorry I seem odd. I mean no harm. You Star Children are all strange, but you want to help everyone, not just yourselves. I wanted to thank you. I am sorry I cannot speak the words to say this with heart.'

The note only served to remind her why people felt so cautious around her. The rest of her team had happily accepted the gifts the child had offered, but she turned them down. She could only see danger, for her team and for them. Even still, she couldn't quite think she was wrong. If she'd had more information maybe she could act differently, but a child coming up to her with flowers was suspicious. People use children for evil things. Children are vulnerable and impressionable, too easily lead astray.

But then again, given what he knew... Well.

"I'd imagine you're right. Like I said, she approached myself and Aotsuki before, no reason to think she wouldn't again. Here, or in your timeline," he replies, noting how the very distracting cat tail and ears twitched slightly as she sat there. He was pretty sure that meant she was upset about something.

As much as he has... a bit of a thing for kemonomimi, he wasn't exactly the most skilled with animals or reading them.

All of the joy and pride, relief, progress. Happiness. Having it all ripped out from under him and burned to ash, leaving only pure, unyielding fury and despair. Feelings that brought him to where and what he was now.

It hung bitter on his tongue. He should be enjoying Hiruko's teasing. But with remembrance came the guilt. She wasn't his Hiruko. That was someone... he couldn't go back to. Not with things the way they are now.

"So then, I imagine that's the extent of what we'll get on that subject for now, unless you have more to share? If not, would you be ready to help me solve Poe's riddle? Or...is there something you'd like to talk about first, before Aotsuki 'gets back' so to say?"

She made it up to the roof and found Eito's door. She rang the doorbell and waited impatiently.

[[ROUTE ???+1 | DAY 36 | LATE EVENING | A SECOND DATE]]

Okay, alright. It was last minute, but things were going well.

His double had somehow gotten back to his timeline, and Kako had already made the move to meet with Sirei tonight. Darumi was keeping watch over Takumi, at least until it was time for them to make their move. Shouma was keeping watch by the Infirmary, and he himself had managed to send Nigou - gullible as he is - on a bit of a wild goose chase just outside the grounds. It was astonishing what you could convince him of, as long as you framed it as coming from Sirei.

And to boot, those embarrassing rabbit accessories had finally come off.

Ideally, he would have talked to Yugamu about removing the bomb in him. But unfortunately, time hadn't allowed that particular conversation. And for whatever reason, the guy had locked himself up in the Bio Lab. No huge loss - the way they were doing this, Sirei wouldn't even know WHO was striking him until it was too late; while setting off the bomb in time was entirely possible, and thoroughly unpleasant, there'd be no way he'd have time to remove their Revive-O-Matic data.

And with what he knew from Takumi-san, they'd be able to pull this off without damaging any critical memory or data. Which would be vital, in terms of rallying everyone in sparing this planet without airing out the time travel secret.

You're really doing this, then? Aren't you rushing things a bit?

"You know full well I can't abide that... thing, in the Infirmary," Eito replied aloud, a chill running down his spine just thinking about it, "And as such? I refuse to risk letting my Ugly Takumi fall victim to it."

'Your' Takumi, huh? You're both freaks, I swear. Well, whatever. It had to happen sooner or later, I guess. Just hope you know what you're doing.

He paced around as he went over things in his head one more time. Just a few more hours until the scheduled meeting. Any more prep to do...?

The doorbell rings. Who is it at this hour? Did Kako maybe succeed in getting ahold of Yugamu?

"Coming!" He chirps, in the bright and friendly manner most of the current SDU was familiar with.

He did not expect to see someone in a Leap Suit on the other side.

It would be best to ignore them, she decided. They couldn't last forever.

She took off the rest of the suit and crossed her arms. She could feel the ears twitch above her head and her tail swish back and forth. She had to fight not to blush.

There were still a few hours before his own plans would unfold. He could probably help her out.

There was an odd feeling in his mind...

"Takumi-san...?" He brought a hand to his head, a puzzled look on his face.

. . .

Was he... flustered?

"Huh," he brought his hand back down, shrugging with a bemused expression, "Well, it's certainly not what you came here for, Hiruko-san, but it appears you've left my annoying little headmate at a loss for words. Never thought I'd see the day. But, seriously. What can we help you with?"

The look on her face demanded he stop clowning around.

"But surely, that wouldn't be enough of a reason to risk jumping timelines, no? I assume the reason you're here is because you need some kind of specialized knowledge?" He sits down across from Hiruko on a soft cushion that he'd tucked under the coffee table.

Since welcoming the other three into his circle, and in general trying to do more for himself, his room had gotten filled with all sorts of new things that helped it look less like a room out of a hospital or institution, and more like an actual dorm someone lived in. Extra blankets and pillows in colors that reminded him of the nature he adored, the odd plush, plenty of potted plants, the terrarium for his snails and Jorm's enclosure, even evidence of attempts at new activities. It still smelled incredibly sterile, owing to Eito's aversion to strong smells, but overall, it was far more homey.

He was quite starting to like his room, actually.

Eito takes the note in hand and glances it over. He only had the vaguest idea as to what he might be looking at.

Ancient Futuran? But... it looks recently written...? Where in the world did this come from...?

"Well, Takumi-san seems to recognize this, and is utterly flabbergasted that you have such a thing," he says, "The script is ancient, but clearly, this was written very recently. Quite the mystery..."

She shook her head. She worried for the child. There were too many dangers for their groups to be interacting. Her people could get spooked. The Futurans may punish them for speaking to the invaders. Sirei could find out. It was best for children to stay where it was safe and far away from the war.

Eito clutched his head. He felt... tired. Overwhelmingly so, it was if his thoughts were being dragged underwater.

This was wrong, he shouldn't be feeling like this.

Takumi...?

"Ah... Hiru...ko... saaan... someth... hel..."

No, no...! He had to fight this, he wouldn't keep being controlled...!

It was as if something was unplugged in his mind; his eyes and expression went blank, and he went totally limp where he sat.

A marionette, with strings severed.

One arm twitches, then another, as eyelids flutter and he straightens up, posture notably different, rolling his shoulder as he meets eyes with Hiruko with a smile.

"Hello again, Hiruko," Takumi says, slightly apologetic, "Sorry, you had to see that. But I'm not really in the mood to play 'telephone' here. Plus... looking into a few things I'd rather not he know about, yet."

He stands up from the table, and moves over to the bed, getting down on his hands and knees and reaching under it. He finds the panel hes looking for, shifting it out of the way and removing a notebook and a small, airtight container, taking both back over to the table and seating himself next to Hiruko on the couch.

Takumi opens up the container, revealing several incerdibly old-looking scrolls, and flips open the notebook, and begins examining the note Hiruko had brought. The notebook was filled with similar symbols, along with more recognizable ones - Futuran language, in different iterations, as well as charts with their own Kanji, katakana, and hiragana, and letters from other languages as well. Normally, this kind of work would make Takumi want to throw himself off of the roof of the Academy, but he'd built up quite a bit of patience over the years and besides. He had SEVERAL mysteries to unravel.

He takes Hiruko's note in hand, flipping through his notebook and comparing, "This one... shouldn't take too long, I think. I recognize quite a few words here, already. From what I can tell, it seems more like a personal message, or... trying to make contact, than anything."

"Whomever that child is though... I don't know if we need to worry about them being in danger," says Takumi, as he tears a blank page out of the book and begins transcribing what he can, "As Aotsuki was saying before I interrupted? That same child appeared in our timeline to give us flowers as well. Both of us."

"I was planning on getting his input too." She remarked, but it wasn't a strong objection. "He might have an interesting perspective if we listened to him."

She was grateful for another opportunity to talk to Takumi though. Maybe one day conversations like these would be easier. And maybe the things they'd be able to do and say would be freer.

The very cute distraction that was a cat-eared Hiruko watching him so intently didn't make the translating go any faster.

It was a shame Eito was busy tonight. He'd love to spend more time with Hiruko. In general, not just tonight. It was one of the biggest issues with his current living situation, as it were.

He paused a minute to think about her question, tapping his pen against the edge of his notebook. Takumi hums in consideration a moment, before standing and heading over to Eito's desk and retrieving a worn book from the drawer. It was considerably more recent than the scrolls he'd retrieved earlier, and looked to be some sort of religious or history book. He returned to the couch, and began flipping through the pages.

"Not specifically, and while Dahl'xia does love his history and is incredibly dedicated to his faith, the man's love really seems to be the stories that get passed around after the fact. Folk tales and legends, myths and stuff," he responds, slowing down once he'd reached a certain section, "But something that stuck out to me was the idea that as wild or embellished as a lot of those stories could be, there was usually some little grain of truth in them. That's part of why I don't completely count them out when looking for information."

It actually brought to mind something he heard from his very first Eito. It was a story about some massive statues that had been moved from one place to another a very long time ago on Earth, and the historians or whatever studying them had no idea how the ancient people managed it. Upon asking the native people, they were told a story about how the statues simply 'walked' there; and while that was what their legends stated, the truth wasn't that far off - they'd tied ropes to the heads of the statues, and using teams of people rocked them back and forth to effectively 'walk' them to their destination.

The answer was right in front of them, but the perspective was completely dismissed because of the source and how the information got passed down over the centuries.

Eventually, he stopped at what appeared to be a print of a painting in the book, and turned showed it to Hiruko, "Did the design of the mask look anything like this?"

The painting in the photo depicted a mature feminine figure, clothed in simple robes and holding a small handful of florals - blooddrops, arnica, yarrow, sage... and an unknown flower that seemed to radiate a silver glow. She was surrounded by what looked to be sick and wounded, a leper whose hand she held appeared to be healing from the touch alone. The scene had them set in some kind of shrine in deep forest.

Her tail flicked back and forth lazily as he worked. She...really would have preferred to come without it. She wondered how much longer she'd be stuck like this. Was fixing it another mission she was going to have to go on?

"I suppose stories do tend to have some truth to them; still, too often they seem to lead to chasing shadows and bad endings." Maybe it was a bitter take from her, especially since she seemed to be doing the same again. But it seemed every time they started digging into the local myths and legends, things always went wrong. Maybe it was safer if she was doing it on her own, but she really wanted to keep the team out of this.

She was dragged out of her sullen thoughts by the painting. The mask of course stood out, but she couldn't help but wonder more about their seemingly healing touch. It was possibly a metaphor, but more likely this figure was someone extremely powerful.

"A cult would be unlikely, in this case," he says, taking the book back and glaring holes into a conspicuously open, empty spot behind the figure in the portrait, "For one, I don't think any cult worshipping a Paragon would recreate their masks for their own use. If there's one thing I've learned, its that they take that SUPER seriously. It's never the same design, and you'd better not recreate it for yourself.

"Second, a cult would be... really redundant here. Ama-Sephia is one of the most widely-revered historical Paragons. Supposedly, one of the very first to gain their power from their 'God'; the first 'Paragon of Nature', and often referred to as 'The First Healer' as well. You'd have a hard time finding a Futuran that DIDN'T venerate her, to some degree."

He trusted Hiruko enough to voice his concerns here. There were no coincidences. Not where gods were concerned.

There were no coincidences. Not where gods were concerned.

There were no coincidences. Not where gods were concerned.

There were no coincidences. No strokes of bad luck. It was all intentional, all designed. What once was one became two, became shattered, and must be one again. The cycle repeats, again and again, until made whole. The Blood that binds will ascend them all, no more pain, no more danger. It ends forever.

He refused to let that happen. That wasn't the protection, or the ending he'd wanted...!

Takumi remembered. All of it.

He swallowed thickly, becoming aware of the sweat on his brow as he steadied himself, suppressing the power that threatened to tear Eito's body to shreds.

She looked at him seriously, her eyes filled with worry.

Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no...

"S-sorry, agh, just. Gimme a minute," Takumi said between breaths, squeezing her hands reassuringly, "I'm- I'm fine, now. Promise."

Fine as he could be, at any rate.

He could tell Hiruko some of it. At the very least, to ease her mind. She'd understand if he didn't want to get into all of it now, surely.

He removed Eito's glasses. It wasn't like they were the correct prescription; right now it was only contributing to the headache.

"I... when chasing that line of thought, I just... remembered something. A lot of things, actually. And... well. Put plainly, I've been suppressing my hemoanima by... Quite a lot. Eito's body can't quite handle it," it was the truth, or at least partially, "It was enough to shake me, and... I lost control, for a second. I don't want it to cause him more harm than it already has."

He pulled his hands away, shakily returning to the task at hand.

"Alright." She agreed to move on, but promised herself she'd think more on Takumi's situation later. "If the masks are as important as you say, I'm willing to rule out reincarnation as well. Unless everyone around here knows she's the reincarnation and has accepted that, they likely still wouldn't allow a duplicate mask, correct?

"Which leaves, unfortunately, a ghost. I'm...willing to say that she's a 'real ghost', whatever that means to us, because she has appeared to multiple of us. She can also interact with real objects. But if Ama-Sephia lived to adulthood, why is she a child?"

Takumi realized he was getting slightly off-topic.

Reincarnation... He supposed such a thing wasn't impossible. But...

It was also fully possible that she never really 'died', not fully. And if that were the case...

"With hemoanima... I suppose anything is possible. But we probably won't know unless she contacts us again," he sighs, "Unfortunately... the note doesn't tell us much. Seems to be a personal message."

He hands the note and transcription back to Hiruko.

'I am sorry I seem odd. I mean no harm. You Star Children are all strange, but you want to help everyone, not just yourselves. I wanted to thank you. I am sorry I cannot speak the words to say this with heart.'

The note only served to remind her why people felt so cautious around her. The rest of her team had happily accepted the gifts the child had offered, but she turned them down. She could only see danger, for her team and for them. Even still, she couldn't quite think she was wrong. If she'd had more information maybe she could act differently, but a child coming up to her with flowers was suspicious. People use children for evil things. Children are vulnerable and impressionable, too easily lead astray.

But then again, given what he knew... Well.

"I'd imagine you're right. Like I said, she approached myself and Aotsuki before, no reason to think she wouldn't again. Here, or in your timeline," he replies, noting how the very distracting cat tail and ears twitched slightly as she sat there. He was pretty sure that meant she was upset about something.

As much as he has... a bit of a thing for kemonomimi, he wasn't exactly the most skilled with animals or reading them.

She made it up to the roof and found Eito's door. She rang the doorbell and waited impatiently.

[[ROUTE ???+1 | DAY 36 | LATE EVENING | A SECOND DATE]]

Okay, alright. It was last minute, but things were going well.

His double had somehow gotten back to his timeline, and Kako had already made the move to meet with Sirei tonight. Darumi was keeping watch over Takumi, at least until it was time for them to make their move. Shouma was keeping watch by the Infirmary, and he himself had managed to send Nigou - gullible as he is - on a bit of a wild goose chase just outside the grounds. It was astonishing what you could convince him of, as long as you framed it as coming from Sirei.

And to boot, those embarrassing rabbit accessories had finally come off.

Ideally, he would have talked to Yugamu about removing the bomb in him. But unfortunately, time hadn't allowed that particular conversation. And for whatever reason, the guy had locked himself up in the Bio Lab. No huge loss - the way they were doing this, Sirei wouldn't even know WHO was striking him until it was too late; while setting off the bomb in time was entirely possible, and thoroughly unpleasant, there'd be no way he'd have time to remove their Revive-O-Matic data.

And with what he knew from Takumi-san, they'd be able to pull this off without damaging any critical memory or data. Which would be vital, in terms of rallying everyone in sparing this planet without airing out the time travel secret.

You're really doing this, then? Aren't you rushing things a bit?

"You know full well I can't abide that... thing, in the Infirmary," Eito replied aloud, a chill running down his spine just thinking about it, "And as such? I refuse to risk letting my Ugly Takumi fall victim to it."

'Your' Takumi, huh? You're both freaks, I swear. Well, whatever. It had to happen sooner or later, I guess. Just hope you know what you're doing.

He paced around as he went over things in his head one more time. Just a few more hours until the scheduled meeting. Any more prep to do...?

The doorbell rings. Who is it at this hour? Did Kako maybe succeed in getting ahold of Yugamu?

"Coming!" He chirps, in the bright and friendly manner most of the current SDU was familiar with.

He did not expect to see someone in a Leap Suit on the other side.

It would be best to ignore them, she decided. They couldn't last forever.

She took off the rest of the suit and crossed her arms. She could feel the ears twitch above her head and her tail swish back and forth. She had to fight not to blush.

There were still a few hours before his own plans would unfold. He could probably help her out.

There was an odd feeling in his mind...

"Takumi-san...?" He brought a hand to his head, a puzzled look on his face.

. . .

Was he... flustered?

"Huh," he brought his hand back down, shrugging with a bemused expression, "Well, it's certainly not what you came here for, Hiruko-san, but it appears you've left my annoying little headmate at a loss for words. Never thought I'd see the day. But, seriously. What can we help you with?"

The look on her face demanded he stop clowning around.

"But surely, that wouldn't be enough of a reason to risk jumping timelines, no? I assume the reason you're here is because you need some kind of specialized knowledge?" He sits down across from Hiruko on a soft cushion that he'd tucked under the coffee table.

Since welcoming the other three into his circle, and in general trying to do more for himself, his room had gotten filled with all sorts of new things that helped it look less like a room out of a hospital or institution, and more like an actual dorm someone lived in. Extra blankets and pillows in colors that reminded him of the nature he adored, the odd plush, plenty of potted plants, the terrarium for his snails and Jorm's enclosure, even evidence of attempts at new activities. It still smelled incredibly sterile, owing to Eito's aversion to strong smells, but overall, it was far more homey.

He was quite starting to like his room, actually.

Eito takes the note in hand and glances it over. He only had the vaguest idea as to what he might be looking at.

Ancient Futuran? But... it looks recently written...? Where in the world did this come from...?

"Well, Takumi-san seems to recognize this, and is utterly flabbergasted that you have such a thing," he says, "The script is ancient, but clearly, this was written very recently. Quite the mystery..."

She shook her head. She worried for the child. There were too many dangers for their groups to be interacting. Her people could get spooked. The Futurans may punish them for speaking to the invaders. Sirei could find out. It was best for children to stay where it was safe and far away from the war.

Eito clutched his head. He felt... tired. Overwhelmingly so, it was if his thoughts were being dragged underwater.

This was wrong, he shouldn't be feeling like this.

Takumi...?

"Ah... Hiru...ko... saaan... someth... hel..."

No, no...! He had to fight this, he wouldn't keep being controlled...!

It was as if something was unplugged in his mind; his eyes and expression went blank, and he went totally limp where he sat.

A marionette, with strings severed.

One arm twitches, then another, as eyelids flutter and he straightens up, posture notably different, rolling his shoulder as he meets eyes with Hiruko with a smile.

"Hello again, Hiruko," Takumi says, slightly apologetic, "Sorry, you had to see that. But I'm not really in the mood to play 'telephone' here. Plus... looking into a few things I'd rather not he know about, yet."

He stands up from the table, and moves over to the bed, getting down on his hands and knees and reaching under it. He finds the panel hes looking for, shifting it out of the way and removing a notebook and a small, airtight container, taking both back over to the table and seating himself next to Hiruko on the couch.

Takumi opens up the container, revealing several incerdibly old-looking scrolls, and flips open the notebook, and begins examining the note Hiruko had brought. The notebook was filled with similar symbols, along with more recognizable ones - Futuran language, in different iterations, as well as charts with their own Kanji, katakana, and hiragana, and letters from other languages as well. Normally, this kind of work would make Takumi want to throw himself off of the roof of the Academy, but he'd built up quite a bit of patience over the years and besides. He had SEVERAL mysteries to unravel.

He takes Hiruko's note in hand, flipping through his notebook and comparing, "This one... shouldn't take too long, I think. I recognize quite a few words here, already. From what I can tell, it seems more like a personal message, or... trying to make contact, than anything."

"Whomever that child is though... I don't know if we need to worry about them being in danger," says Takumi, as he tears a blank page out of the book and begins transcribing what he can, "As Aotsuki was saying before I interrupted? That same child appeared in our timeline to give us flowers as well. Both of us."

"I was planning on getting his input too." She remarked, but it wasn't a strong objection. "He might have an interesting perspective if we listened to him."

She was grateful for another opportunity to talk to Takumi though. Maybe one day conversations like these would be easier. And maybe the things they'd be able to do and say would be freer.

The very cute distraction that was a cat-eared Hiruko watching him so intently didn't make the translating go any faster.

It was a shame Eito was busy tonight. He'd love to spend more time with Hiruko. In general, not just tonight. It was one of the biggest issues with his current living situation, as it were.

He paused a minute to think about her question, tapping his pen against the edge of his notebook. Takumi hums in consideration a moment, before standing and heading over to Eito's desk and retrieving a worn book from the drawer. It was considerably more recent than the scrolls he'd retrieved earlier, and looked to be some sort of religious or history book. He returned to the couch, and began flipping through the pages.

"Not specifically, and while Dahl'xia does love his history and is incredibly dedicated to his faith, the man's love really seems to be the stories that get passed around after the fact. Folk tales and legends, myths and stuff," he responds, slowing down once he'd reached a certain section, "But something that stuck out to me was the idea that as wild or embellished as a lot of those stories could be, there was usually some little grain of truth in them. That's part of why I don't completely count them out when looking for information."

It actually brought to mind something he heard from his very first Eito. It was a story about some massive statues that had been moved from one place to another a very long time ago on Earth, and the historians or whatever studying them had no idea how the ancient people managed it. Upon asking the native people, they were told a story about how the statues simply 'walked' there; and while that was what their legends stated, the truth wasn't that far off - they'd tied ropes to the heads of the statues, and using teams of people rocked them back and forth to effectively 'walk' them to their destination.

The answer was right in front of them, but the perspective was completely dismissed because of the source and how the information got passed down over the centuries.

Eventually, he stopped at what appeared to be a print of a painting in the book, and turned showed it to Hiruko, "Did the design of the mask look anything like this?"

The painting in the photo depicted a mature feminine figure, clothed in simple robes and holding a small handful of florals - blooddrops, arnica, yarrow, sage... and an unknown flower that seemed to radiate a silver glow. She was surrounded by what looked to be sick and wounded, a leper whose hand she held appeared to be healing from the touch alone. The scene had them set in some kind of shrine in deep forest.

Her tail flicked back and forth lazily as he worked. She...really would have preferred to come without it. She wondered how much longer she'd be stuck like this. Was fixing it another mission she was going to have to go on?

"I suppose stories do tend to have some truth to them; still, too often they seem to lead to chasing shadows and bad endings." Maybe it was a bitter take from her, especially since she seemed to be doing the same again. But it seemed every time they started digging into the local myths and legends, things always went wrong. Maybe it was safer if she was doing it on her own, but she really wanted to keep the team out of this.

She was dragged out of her sullen thoughts by the painting. The mask of course stood out, but she couldn't help but wonder more about their seemingly healing touch. It was possibly a metaphor, but more likely this figure was someone extremely powerful.

"A cult would be unlikely, in this case," he says, taking the book back and glaring holes into a conspicuously open, empty spot behind the figure in the portrait, "For one, I don't think any cult worshipping a Paragon would recreate their masks for their own use. If there's one thing I've learned, its that they take that SUPER seriously. It's never the same design, and you'd better not recreate it for yourself.

"Second, a cult would be... really redundant here. Ama-Sephia is one of the most widely-revered historical Paragons. Supposedly, one of the very first to gain their power from their 'God'; the first 'Paragon of Nature', and often referred to as 'The First Healer' as well. You'd have a hard time finding a Futuran that DIDN'T venerate her, to some degree."

He trusted Hiruko enough to voice his concerns here. There were no coincidences. Not where gods were concerned.

There were no coincidences. Not where gods were concerned.

There were no coincidences. Not where gods were concerned.

There were no coincidences. No strokes of bad luck. It was all intentional, all designed. What once was one became two, became shattered, and must be one again. The cycle repeats, again and again, until made whole. The Blood that binds will ascend them all, no more pain, no more danger. It ends forever.

He refused to let that happen. That wasn't the protection, or the ending he'd wanted...!

Takumi remembered. All of it.

He swallowed thickly, becoming aware of the sweat on his brow as he steadied himself, suppressing the power that threatened to tear Eito's body to shreds.

She looked at him seriously, her eyes filled with worry.

Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no...

"S-sorry, agh, just. Gimme a minute," Takumi said between breaths, squeezing her hands reassuringly, "I'm- I'm fine, now. Promise."

Fine as he could be, at any rate.

He could tell Hiruko some of it. At the very least, to ease her mind. She'd understand if he didn't want to get into all of it now, surely.

He removed Eito's glasses. It wasn't like they were the correct prescription; right now it was only contributing to the headache.

"I... when chasing that line of thought, I just... remembered something. A lot of things, actually. And... well. Put plainly, I've been suppressing my hemoanima by... Quite a lot. Eito's body can't quite handle it," it was the truth, or at least partially, "It was enough to shake me, and... I lost control, for a second. I don't want it to cause him more harm than it already has."

He pulled his hands away, shakily returning to the task at hand.

"Alright." She agreed to move on, but promised herself she'd think more on Takumi's situation later. "If the masks are as important as you say, I'm willing to rule out reincarnation as well. Unless everyone around here knows she's the reincarnation and has accepted that, they likely still wouldn't allow a duplicate mask, correct?

"Which leaves, unfortunately, a ghost. I'm...willing to say that she's a 'real ghost', whatever that means to us, because she has appeared to multiple of us. She can also interact with real objects. But if Ama-Sephia lived to adulthood, why is she a child?"

Takumi realized he was getting slightly off-topic.

Reincarnation... He supposed such a thing wasn't impossible. But...

It was also fully possible that she never really 'died', not fully. And if that were the case...

"With hemoanima... I suppose anything is possible. But we probably won't know unless she contacts us again," he sighs, "Unfortunately... the note doesn't tell us much. Seems to be a personal message."

He hands the note and transcription back to Hiruko.

'I am sorry I seem odd. I mean no harm. You Star Children are all strange, but you want to help everyone, not just yourselves. I wanted to thank you. I am sorry I cannot speak the words to say this with heart.'

The note only served to remind her why people felt so cautious around her. The rest of her team had happily accepted the gifts the child had offered, but she turned them down. She could only see danger, for her team and for them. Even still, she couldn't quite think she was wrong. If she'd had more information maybe she could act differently, but a child coming up to her with flowers was suspicious. People use children for evil things. Children are vulnerable and impressionable, too easily lead astray.