It wouldn’t have been Nice if he hadn’t responded with something casual as if he hadn’t just seen the boy he thought had died years ago metaphorically appear out of thin air. Though of course the surprise did follow, like it always did with Nice, but Skill appreciated the casual introduction, as if they were young again && back on the Facultas rooftop, talking about owning the Landmark Tower && laughing at each other’s jokes && planning for their future outside the school. ( Skill’s plans had always been more like hazy dreams; he’d never made any concrete plans, even when he escaped years later as an adult. He didn’t feel he had the luxury to plan all that way ahead when he never knew when his miracle body might give out on him. )
While his somewhat-blindness didn’t pick up subtle things anymore, really, Skill had enough common sense to know that Nice would be wondering about what happened to his body. Not just now, when he was alive without a heart, but in the past, on that fateful night when Nice had found Hajime instead of him. He wasn’t sure how he knew — that night, the one that he’d later found out was the night Nice finally found out what had happened to him ( sort of ), the night Hajime’s Nihilism Minimum had been set off again due to his older brother’s careful planning … it had mostly been spent with him clutching at the space where his heart was, a far-enough away distance that he hadn’t known what was going on, && feverish half-dreams of appearing to Hajime for a few seconds, though he’d only caught some of the words the apparition of himself had spoken. Enough to know that she was the one Nice had found instead of him, though.
❝ I try not to really think about it, ❞ he said casually, as if this wasn’t an incredible meeting between two people who by all accounts should have never had the possibility of meeting again. ❝ You know about my Minimum, right ? Well, if not, it’s the Ego Minimum. I give other people Minimums. And, uh, they … ❞
Years of being called by only his assignment number. The sick horror that had spread through every bit of his consciousness as they removed his limbs. The knowledge that he was the one creating the terrible monsters kept in the basement at Facultas, kids stripped of their humanity && made into nothing more than abominations.
❝ … uh, they took me away and were, like, using that power, you know ? But after a while, uhm, I got sick of it—— ❞ Understatement. ❝ ——and, like, I left—— ❞ Murdered the staff on duty. ❝ ——I think, mostly, by that time, my Minimum had probably been used so much it kind of spread ? Or something. Or, like, well, it was in my heart, but now you have my heart, I know about that, but, uhm—— ❞ He was really fucking this up. ❝ ——I don’t know, uh, I think maybe, like, it just. Stayed. Somehow. Or like maybe they couldn’t get all of my heart out, just the part they put in you, and, uh, some Minimum was left over ? And grew back or whatever … they called me a miracle a lot, so I guess that’d make sense, like maybe before they took out my heart, my Minimum activated again ? And like kept itself inside me or something. Well, anyway, it’s not like I’m gonna open myself up to check. ❞
That had been a trainwreck. Thankfully, the other questions were much easier.
❝ You probably don’t wanna know where I was, Nice. It wasn’t a good place. You’d be really angry at Facultas for it. Uh, nii-san knows, yeah. He didn’t want to tell you yet, though. I kind of wasn’t planning to bump into you, but sometimes I drift off, and … ❞ He hummed. ❝ … I think he was planning on telling you himself, so I don’t know if we should tell him or not … ❞
He knew plenty enough about Skill’s minimum by this point. It’s probably the only reason he’s still alive right now. Though this also means he knows right where this conversation was going when Skill mentioned Facultas in relation to his questions. He knows the academy and its scumbag ways. He should’ve known that he was about to open a can of unpleasant worms with his questions. A dark truth that would threaten to make his blood boil. Too late now.
It made him feel horrid about not being there, not being there to help Skill. It makes him almost bitter as he looks back at the metallic parts of Skill’s body. It wouldn’t take a genius to deduce the culprit behind the missing limbs were probably the people at Facultas. They probably removed his limbs to- Fists clutched at that thought. People weren’t tools or items... Yet he knew Facultas didn’t care for that. Those bastards didn’t have morals, they didn’t care for human life or the rights of those in their “care”. He knows Facultas only saw them as numbers rather than living breathing people.
It makes him sick, it made him wish he had been there to help Skill... That he could’ve somehow have helped him and Hajime. Yet, the past was in the past. There was no going back and altering it. They had to keep going rather than be consumed by past mistakes right? This meant he could only just be grateful that Skill had somehow survived and escape from that wretched place, even though his heart was now inside Nice and the other shouldn’t “logically” be alive.
Skill had now plenty of time to live the happy life he deserved.
It’s what brought Nice back to being calm as he nodded to the theory about the minimum also being the reason Skill was here today. That minimum brought him back from the dead, it could likely do the same for anyone... And the idea that parts of it stayed within Skill didn’t seem all that outlandish either. It originated from him, so it staying with him in some way was easy to believe. Though this was going to make it awkward that Nice still had his heart.
“Regardless of how you came back... I’m just glad that you’re back and don’t have to deal with Facultas’ bullshit anymore. So... I guess we don’t need to really find out how you came back. Let’s just live our lives freely okay? No one is in charge of us or how we live our lives now.”
He’ll make sure it stays that way. For Skill, Hajime, Art, and everyone else. He won’t let any of them be used as tools again or be harmed like that either. He gives Skill a smile despite knowing the other probably couldn’t see it. Sure, it kinda stings a bit that Skill hadn’t want to see Nice when Nice felt differently. Then again, it’s not hard to guess why the other felt like that. There was a lot to take in here...
At the talk of Art though....
“We should probably tell him... I can't keep this a secret from him, you know how smart he is... And I’ll eventually slip up since I think it’d be wrong to keep this from him... He’ll need to know the truth...”
That and Art would be royally pissed off if he had to find out on his own. After everything they’ve gone through, he wasn’t going to be an ass and hide this. The meeting was an unexpected one and Art was Skill’s brother. There was no keeping his lips sealed.
“We can tell him together. That would probably make this better...”
