“…The entire world?” asked the tall one, taking a rock and throwing it at the water.

It bounced a few times.

“Would he do it? Would he do that?” asked, in turn, the small one, to then also answer “I think he would do that.”

Kaneda squinted.

“That’s some serious accusation you’re making.” replied the tall one, rather snidely “What even gives you that idea?”

The small one seemed to lower her head.

“I was… hoping you’d tell me…” she muttered “I mean, you know him, don’t you?”

The tall one scoffed.

“Nobody does. Not even his own fucking friends. He’s a bag of cats.”

Then he took another rock to throw. It bounced a few more times.

The small one seemed to tilt her head.

“But he is the most powerful, right?”

The tall one leaned back with a bit of an annoyed sigh.

“By a hair, but yeah.”

“So he’s the only one who could do it… The only suspect!”

“Could you maybe stop talking like you’re fucking five?”

“And he must have a motive too, but it must be too complex for us all to understand!”

Then he shrugged.

“Sounds smug enough for him.”

“But it’s not okay!” continued the small one “When you break something you care about, you can’t just chuck it away and start over, you have to fix it! Besides… What if it’s not true? What if he’s not making a new world and we’ll just die…!?”

Then she shrank, making the tall one look at her.

“Fix it…” he mused “That’s one of those things that are easier to say.”

“But better than dying.” jeered the small one, crossing her arms, and the tall one scoffed again.

“Kaneda’s been teaching you well, hasn’t he? Always with that tough cookie shit, always staying alive no matter how much of a hellhole that fucking city is…”

Kaneda blinked in surprise at his mention, and decided to start approaching.

“It’s almost like he actually thinks it’ll be over someday…” continued the tall one, throwing yet another rock at the water “Or maybe he just doesn’t want to be a coward.”

It didn’t bounce.

“Hmm… I don’t know, I only see one coward here.” jeered, once again, the small one.

“Two.” jeered the tall one, back at her.

“Two.” reaffirmed the small one.

She couldn’t argue with that.

“Anyway…” groaned the tall one, as the small one took a rock herself, contemplated “I get where you’re coming from and yes, it could happen. He could do that. But it’s as likely as him not doing it. You just can’t tell.”

They were starting to look more defined. More recognizable.

“So… What should we do?” inquired the small one, inevitably unnerved.

She had short, dark brown hair. She was wearing a pastel colored shirt and overalls.

“There’s nothing you can do.” replied the tall one “Just don’t worry about it, it’s none of your business. I’ll deal with it.”

He had spiky hair and a cape.

“What- Really? Will you? Is it… Is it your responsibility too?”

“It shouldn’t be, but nobody else can take it.”

“Tetsuo…”

Then Kaneda stepped on something that made a crunching sound, perhaps a twig.

And both Tetsuo and Makiko turned abruptly.

And suddenly he was frozen.

Suddenly he couldn’t react, suddenly he could only watch as they promptly faded away.