“ Don’t think so lowly of me. ” Confusion to quick anger and hands having to clench tight to his pants to keep them to himself. “ I’d never make Joshua choose between here and the Higher Plane nor would I ever force him to. That was never on the table. Do you not know the things I’ve turned a blind eye too? ”
Because Joshua had so much independence and individuality. It didn’t fit in the Higher Plane’s decisive concept. Does he not think of the times he’s kept silent over their ploys? All the times he could’ve reported something and have either of them punished? He cares deeply for Joshua; his own core and canon was on the line for him.
“ I know what they’d do if they ever found out… ”
… Api was right. What they’d do to him.
If his individuality was important to someone then maybe it mattered. That’s what being down here was teaching him slowly by the way he starts to enjoy connection and creativity, something that never reached him in the heavens.
“ … Do I have to choose between the Heavens and here? ”
Was a question he hoped he didn’t have to ask at least for a little while longer.
❝ i never said i think lowly of you. i want you to think about what you just said. ❞ because there was no other way to interpret it, the threat those words had. there was no ‘safe’ option in those words. only a path that would end in tragedy. because as much as hazuki was saying he’d never make him choose, he was basically walking him to the front gates and making joshua walk back by himself.
❝ i know you have been willfully ignorant to what happens in shibuya. that you have intentionally kept things from bein’ said. why else do you think they are so keen t’ keep conditioning you. they are washin’ you out so you’ll eventually be so transparent, you’ll spill everythin’. you aren’ just puttin’ him as risk, everytime they do it, you lose a bit more of yerself. that ain’ fair to him and it sure as shit ain’ fair to you. ❞ he leans forward resting his elbows on his knees to give him a hard look. he could tell the strain this conversation was having and that it was making hazuki actually have to think about things.
this situation was never going to have a simple conclusion. there were no simple answers to this.
❝ you know what they’ll do to him. you know how that would destroy him. you know because you know what its like too. we both do. and i’ve worked my ass off to make sure that it would never happen to him. i broke laws in the universe to make sure i could disconnect shibuya from the higher plane’s network an’ so he could never be touched by them. he doesn’t realize it but his code is no longer connected and thats because i’m protecting him- ❞ as he speaks, his tone changes from japanese to something thicker, more natural. enochian was always his native tongue. it was so much easier for him to say what he needs to say in enochian. he knew hazuki would understand that as well.
❝ 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝘩𝑖𝑚, 𝑘𝑖𝑛. 𝐵𝑦 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑐𝘩𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝘩𝑖𝑚… 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓. 𝐹𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡. 𝑇𝑜 𝑚𝑒, 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤𝘩𝑖𝑐𝘩 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝘩𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒, 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜. 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑔𝘩𝑒𝑟 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑒, 𝑜𝑟 𝑌𝑜𝑠𝘩𝑖𝑦𝑎, 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝘩𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓… 𝑒𝑖𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑦, 𝑦𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒’𝑠 𝑠𝘩𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝘩𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑠’ 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘. ❞ he meets the phoenix in the eye, his own a blazing hearth of golden fire that his glamour couldn’t contain.
❝ 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛’𝑡 𝑚𝑒. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝑒, 𝑠𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝘩𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑡. 𝐼 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑. 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝘩𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐𝘩𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑌𝑜𝑠𝘩𝑖𝑦𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝘩𝑜 𝐼 𝑎𝑚. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝘩𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝘩𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒. ❞
