[idk where Hikage is post-trial, but. . . when everything settles down, when Evan confesses to what happened, when everyone disperses with hearts sunk low and morale destroyed, Akira starts making his way back to the chipmunk cabin!]
[maybe on his way there he will run into a wild Hikage???]
[ perhaps!! Hikage is sitting out by the bonfire in the dorm area, looking quite idle. Maybe he's waiting for someone. When he spots Akira, though, he tilts up his chin. ]
Hey, you. Akira.
[ yes, he's immediately going to first name because he's rude ]
[ he doesn't seem too bothered about the day's events, all things considered. If Hikage had the capacity to be concerned about his lack of empathy, he lost it a long, long time ago. ]
Do you know Akechi from your world, or from the last death trap you were in?
[it's fine, Akira is pulling himself up by his bootstraps and trying not to get so up in arms about what just happened. Akechi is, in that way, a welcome distraction]
Both.
[he answers evenly, expression unreadable]
He was a big reason why we escaped from the mansion. And before the mansion, he was-- [hm. Akechi definitely wasn't a friend before the mansion] I knew of him.
[ so they've been together through two worlds? Three, now? That's either a blessing or a curse. Akira says they're friends; maybe they are, and so maybe it's a good thing. ]
Then you know him well. [ Hikage hopes he does, at least. This will be a painful awakening for Akira if he's not aware of the mask Akechi wears. ] I knew him, too. The "real" him... That's why I talked to him.
[ not extrapolating beyond that tho ]
I don't understand why you were confident he wouldn't act like this.
I know him very well. The "real" him. No masks, no pretenses. . . just what lies beneath.
[and he likes to think he knows Akechi pretty damn well, too. not perfectly-- nobody knows anyone perfectly-- but. . . well enough]
[and that's why his mouth twitches, pulled into a wry smile that still somehow manages to be sharp on the edges]
If you think he's the type of person to pull this shit, then you don't know all of him.
Akechi abhors authority. He abhors a system that requires people to mindlessly obey. He might use a system to his advantage-- I can't deny that he would-- but he'd never create one himself.
[chin up]
If there was something he wanted badly enough to kill for it, he'd go about it his way. Not someone else's.
You're assuming too much. You don't know what his role is here or what he's doing outside of it. You don't even know if that's really him. Let your emotions get ahead of you, and they'll get you killed in the end.
[ well. he probably already knows that, since this isn't his first rodeo. ]
For what it's worth, I don't actually believe he's here at all.
[after talking to Winter during the trial, he's dispelled any thoughts of Akechi actually being one of these hosts. residual effects. . . yeah. he can believe the voice was one of those]
. . . and yes. He did.
[he is not going to get into how happy that decision made him, though. for Reasons]
... You understand that much, and you're still sympathizing with the "directors."
[ less of a question, more of a statement - one laced with faint disapproval. He's not in the mood to argue about them any more than he already has, however. ]
Things like that occasionally happened in the castle. There's a chance that you're right.
[and he doesn't at all sound ashamed, despite the disapproval. and if Hikage moves on, then he isn't about to explain himself, either. he has his reasons, and those who dislike and distrust the counselors have theirs. there's no point in arguing about it]
Did they? [a curious noise] Can you give me an example?
It was at the very end. There were... illusions of people we cared about...
[ it all happened so fast that Hikage still hasn't really processed it; for him, this was barely a week ago. Barely a week ago that they managed to pull off a miracle - barely a week ago that he watched his sister try to kill him before seeing Belph shoot her in the face.
He's a practical man. He knew it was fake then; he knows it now. The image floats up in his mind unbidden nonetheless, the first time he's really thought about it since, and he feels his stomach churn. ]
...
[ there's a long pause while he curls his nails into his sleeves, his face paling, although his expression remains strangely detached. ]
... There were illusions and they attacked us. It felt real. But they were just fakes made to lead us astray.
[Akira is silent as Hikage works through those emotions. he knows better than to press, to poke at what seems to be a relatively fresh wound that has yet to scar over]
. . . I'm sorry.
[there isn't anything else Akira can offer but his sympathies. while he hadn't experienced anything quite like that back at the mansion. . . there was something similar, wasn't there?]
One week-- as encouragement to kill others-- we were given DVDs with recordings of our loved ones in distress on them.
But. . . those weren't real, either. [breathes out sharply] More illusions. More fakes to lead us astray.
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week zero, saturday post-trial
[maybe on his way there he will run into a wild Hikage???]
no subject
Hey, you. Akira.
[ yes, he's immediately going to first name because he's rude ]
no subject
Yeah?
What's up?
no subject
[ he doesn't seem too bothered about the day's events, all things considered. If Hikage had the capacity to be concerned about his lack of empathy, he lost it a long, long time ago. ]
Do you know Akechi from your world, or from the last death trap you were in?
no subject
Both.
[he answers evenly, expression unreadable]
He was a big reason why we escaped from the mansion. And before the mansion, he was-- [hm. Akechi definitely wasn't a friend before the mansion] I knew of him.
no subject
Then you know him well. [ Hikage hopes he does, at least. This will be a painful awakening for Akira if he's not aware of the mask Akechi wears. ] I knew him, too. The "real" him... That's why I talked to him.
[ not extrapolating beyond that tho ]
I don't understand why you were confident he wouldn't act like this.
no subject
I know him very well. The "real" him. No masks, no pretenses. . . just what lies beneath.
[and he likes to think he knows Akechi pretty damn well, too. not perfectly-- nobody knows anyone perfectly-- but. . . well enough]
[and that's why his mouth twitches, pulled into a wry smile that still somehow manages to be sharp on the edges]
If you think he's the type of person to pull this shit, then you don't know all of him.
Akechi abhors authority. He abhors a system that requires people to mindlessly obey. He might use a system to his advantage-- I can't deny that he would-- but he'd never create one himself.
[chin up]
If there was something he wanted badly enough to kill for it, he'd go about it his way. Not someone else's.
no subject
You're assuming too much. You don't know what his role is here or what he's doing outside of it. You don't even know if that's really him. Let your emotions get ahead of you, and they'll get you killed in the end.
[ well. he probably already knows that, since this isn't his first rodeo. ]
Did he leave with you?
no subject
[after talking to Winter during the trial, he's dispelled any thoughts of Akechi actually being one of these hosts. residual effects. . . yeah. he can believe the voice was one of those]
. . . and yes. He did.
[he is not going to get into how happy that decision made him, though. for Reasons]
no subject
[ forget what he was going to ask - that's more interesting. Hikage tilts his head. ]
You were certainly acting like you did.
no subject
That's because I did, when I first heard his voice.
[admitting that easily enough]
But that still doesn't explain why only those of us from the mansion recognized it, even though people from the castle should have, too.
To me, that signals that it's way more likely someone-- or something-- was messing with us. Purposefully trying to rile us up.
no subject
[ less of a question, more of a statement - one laced with faint disapproval. He's not in the mood to argue about them any more than he already has, however. ]
Things like that occasionally happened in the castle. There's a chance that you're right.
no subject
[and he doesn't at all sound ashamed, despite the disapproval. and if Hikage moves on, then he isn't about to explain himself, either. he has his reasons, and those who dislike and distrust the counselors have theirs. there's no point in arguing about it]
Did they? [a curious noise] Can you give me an example?
no subject
[ it all happened so fast that Hikage still hasn't really processed it; for him, this was barely a week ago. Barely a week ago that they managed to pull off a miracle - barely a week ago that he watched his sister try to kill him before seeing Belph shoot her in the face.
He's a practical man. He knew it was fake then; he knows it now. The image floats up in his mind unbidden nonetheless, the first time he's really thought about it since, and he feels his stomach churn. ]
...
[ there's a long pause while he curls his nails into his sleeves, his face paling, although his expression remains strangely detached. ]
... There were illusions and they attacked us. It felt real. But they were just fakes made to lead us astray.
no subject
. . . I'm sorry.
[there isn't anything else Akira can offer but his sympathies. while he hadn't experienced anything quite like that back at the mansion. . . there was something similar, wasn't there?]
One week-- as encouragement to kill others-- we were given DVDs with recordings of our loved ones in distress on them.
But. . . those weren't real, either. [breathes out sharply] More illusions. More fakes to lead us astray.